Chapter 6: A Drop, and a Terror Crab!
Chapter 6: A Drop, and a Terror Crab!
Fish Coins: 2,576
Chen Sui gazed at his bulging Inventory, his mood exceptionally bright.
This haul had been an absolute windfall.
"Money, money, money! Why didn't I start playing this game sooner? I wouldn't have needed to grind away at that miserable job for pocket change."
Chen Sui could barely contain his excitement — his only regret was that he hadn't started sooner.
"With this money, I can upgrade my fish tank setup — a misting chamber, aquascaping… I'm going all out on the best gear!"
Chen Sui happily mapped out how he'd spend his earnings.
Just then.
A faint voice drifted over from the roadside: "Mister, could you spare some food?"
He instinctively looked over. A child dressed in rags — a girl, judging by her voice — was huddled beneath a tattered black cloth, filthy from head to toe and reeking of a nauseating fishy stench, her hand stretched out toward passersby, begging.
The NPCs paid her no mind. Even the players who walked past and were called out to merely shot her looks of disgust before kicking her aside.
Chen Sui watched for a moment.
Then walked over to her.
The little beggar tilted her head up to look at Chen Sui, her small frame trembling with fear.
Chen Sui reached into his coat and pulled out a coin pouch containing 300 Fish Coins, then crouched down and pressed it into her hands.
The little beggar clutched the heavy pouch, running her fingers carefully over it as if to confirm it was real. She froze for a moment before it registered — then a cascade of emotions crossed her face: disbelief, confusion, and pure joy.
"I… I can't."
She hurriedly tried to push the pouch back into Chen Sui's hands.
Chen Sui neither acknowledged it nor took it back. He simply let the pouch fall to the ground, stood up, and walked away.
The little beggar bent down to pick it up. By the time she raised her head, Chen Sui was already far gone.
After a brief, stunned pause, she quickly glanced left and right in a fluster, tucked the pouch deep into her clothes, and whispered softly:
"Thank you…"
Pulling off the virtual headset, Chen Sui was back in his room. A wave of deep exhaustion washed over him.
"Ugh, I'm so tired… Maybe I should just eat and come straight back to sleep?"
He picked up his phone and glanced at it.
A few new notifications had come in.
Ad push, weather forecast, and a rejection notice from the company he'd applied to last night.
Chen Sui gave it a brief look and deleted the message without a second thought. Even if they'd invited him for an interview, he wouldn't have gone — gaming paid way better than any of that.
Buzz buzz buzz~
Just then, a call came in.
The contact label read: Li Jianping (Dumb Dog) — his boss. Former boss, now.
Chen Sui wasn't particularly eager to answer, because hearing this man's voice always gave him the helpless urge to reach through the phone and slap him twice.
"Whatever, might be something important. I'll pick up."
Chen Sui reluctantly pressed the answer button.
The vibrating stopped, and a middle-aged man's voice came through — dripping with smug condescension: "Chen Sui, job hunting's not going so well, is it?"
Chen Sui felt a flare of irritation, but across the phone, he held it in and replied:
"Do you need something?"
Li Jianping's tone grew even more insufferable. "Heh, sounds like things aren't going smoothly. I won't lie to you, kid — I've got connections in this industry. I'm not bragging, but if I don't want you working, you'll never find work. You believe me?"
"Dumb dog."
Chen Sui hung up immediately, then blocked and deleted him in one swift motion.
He couldn't be bothered wasting time on Li Jianping. He certainly had ways to deal with him — he could march over to his place and beat him senseless.
As long as no one died or was permanently maimed, even if the police showed up, they'd be taking Li Jianping away. Because this was Year 2149 — not the old days. The law was more humane, enforcement was more reasonable, and that phone call alone was evidence of Li Jianping's harassment. Hand it to the police, and they'd haul him off.
But Chen Sui was hungry and tired right now, and didn't want to waste the energy. A curse word would do.
Besides, after Li Jianping had handed off the project Chen Sui had nearly finished to his newly promoted nephew, Chen Sui had already dealt with both of them thoroughly.
He'd stripped the two of them down to their underwear, tied them up, and hung them outside the company entrance for passing pedestrians to use as free punching bags…
After that, he'd gotten his compensation back and quit. So Chen Sui didn't have much anger left to spare on the man.
He set down his phone, got dressed, headed out, and went downstairs to eat.
The city at night was a beautiful sight — people dancing, strolling, kissing, debating whether Diga could beat Daina in a fight.
Chen Sui found an open-air food stall. The electronic billboard outside was still cycling through ads for "Azure." Chen Sui ordered a generous spread of crab dishes, then casually checked on the Red-Mantled Tide Crabs he'd listed on the trading market.
Already sold out.
After the ten percent transaction fee, 2,653 yuan had been deposited.
"Oh? Sold fast — demand really is something. Gone already. I thought it'd take at least until tomorrow."
Chen Sui rubbed his hands together. "Perfect timing — I'll use this chance to crack open those 29 eggs."
He started hatching.
The luminous image of a Strange Egg materialized before Chen Sui.
He glanced around — even though people occasionally looked his way, none of them seemed able to see the [Strange Egg] that Chen Sui was seeing.
Crack crack…
The egg shook, then released a burst of white light.
[Red-Mantled Tide Crab]
Quality: Common
Talent: Waterglide (increases swimming speed in water by 10%)
"Got a talent one — not bad."
Chen Sui nodded at the crab. As long as it had a talent, anything was fine.
Then came 25 with no talent…
Right on cue.
Chen Sui was almost used to it by now.
"If it doesn't drop, it doesn't drop. These guys without talents can still sell."
It was still the early-access period, and useful early-game sea beasts like the Red-Mantled Tide Crab were nowhere near market saturation.
Chen Sui shook his head and kept hatching.
Another egg appeared before him and began to rock.
Crack crack…
Chen Sui had already turned his attention to anticipating his dinner.
But the next second, a burst of green light erupted from the shattered shell.
A completely different kind of Red-Mantled Tide Crab broke free — its carapace jet black, its appearance ferocious, standing as tall as a person. Sharp spines covered its entire body, and barnacles and dark green algae grew in the gaps between its plates, making it look like something out of a sea monster horror film.
[Shallows Terror Crab]
Quality: Fine Quality
Rank: Wavecrest Rank, Tier 3
Talent: Intimidate (reduces all opponent attributes by 10%), Agility (increases movement speed by 20%)
An apex predator of the shallows — with a body capable of high-speed movement and terrifying strength, it tears apart everything that stands before it.
Chen Sui's expression went blank for a moment…
"It… it dropped."
How could he have expected this? After so many duds, the last few eggs still managed to produce something.
And not just any crab — one of higher Fine Quality than the originals.
"Is the gap between Fine Quality and Common really that big?"
Chen Sui looked it up online and found that, apparently, no player currently owned a Fine Quality sea beast.
He was probably the first.
No wonder — the Fishfolk Wavecrest could punch that monster to pieces with a single blow. The gap between Fine Quality and Common Quality was genuinely absurd.
It was hard to imagine how powerful sea beasts of even higher Quality would be.
The difference in Quality truly was like a chasm — that saying was no exaggeration.
Looking at that impressive stat panel, Chen Sui's eyes lit up. A dual-talent sea beast — how much would this be worth?
Of course, this one was definitely not for sale anytime soon. This crab had strong defenses and an imposing size, filling a role his Fishfolk couldn't.
Besides, he played the game mainly to earn money and to decorate his fish tank — rare sea beasts like this were primarily for his collection.
"Here are your dishes. Enjoy your meal."
At that moment, a server brought out several plates of crab, speaking with polite deference.
"Thank you."
Chen Sui breathed in the fragrant aroma, pushed everything else to the back of his mind, slipped on a pair of disposable plastic gloves, and prepared to enjoy his meal.
But what Chen Sui didn't know was that, at that very same moment —
Back in his fish tank at home.
A massive black Terror Crab had appeared, standing just outside the Fishfolk settlement.