The Boss Behind The Game - Chapter 192
Chapter 192: Mu Te Coffin
Liu Chai broke into a smile as he watched the super warship gradually sink into the water due to the overwhelming weight.
When the Zero Guild’s Warship had entered the safe zone, he was certain that the operation to encircle it would be a complete failure. Yet, at that exact moment, a player gave a quick suggestion.
His strategy was very simple, which was to gather the strengths of each player. By stacking up their supplies, they would be able to overwhelm the weight capacity of the unsinkable warship that had invaded them.
At the same time, to prevent the crew from escaping the Zero Guild Warship after it had entered the safe zone, that player also provided a key solution, forcing the opponent to remain in battle mode.
As he listened to that player’s explanation, Liu Chai realized that at the current stage of this game, there were still certain loopholes present within the ocean’s safe zones.
It was similar to the time when they intruded on the Mansion of the Dead. Despite the fact that it was a safe zone at the time, the rules were utterly inapplicable to other living creatures that were not players. If they were to attack, even within the safe zone, players would still be forced into battle mode.
On a similar basis, the strategy was for the players to release tamed but not-yet-digitized zombie wolves before the Zero Guild Warship resurfaced. The zombie wolves scratching the surface of the warship forced the players aboard to enter battle mode, making them unable to go offline.
Under these conditions, they immediately boarded the huge warship and began stacking supplies on the deck. The increasing weight of the supplies eventually overwhelmed their weight capacity, causing it to sink.
As for the Zero Guild Warship, despite its ability to dive underwater, they had already exhausted all three hours of its diving skill’s time limit. The underwater protection layer had dissipated a while ago, causing large volumes of seawater to flood the warship, further increasing its weight. This, combined with the weight of the supplies, led to the warship sinking deeper and deeper, which resulted in the durability of the ship degrading tremendously as well.
Soon, cracks began appearing on the body of the ship. Under the expectant looks of the more experienced players, the Zero Guild Warship’s durability eventually depleted, disappearing into a black mist.
Without the protection of the warship, the Zero Guild’s members quickly swam to the surface of the water.
Yet, as soon as they reached the surface of the water, they watched in horror as enormous zombie wolves leaped down one after another from the surrounding warships, pouncing toward them.
The forum was in a celebratory atmosphere after they successfully managed to seize victory in the end by counterattacking in unity.
Crayon_Shinchan: “Who’s your daddy now!? Haha! To defeat a super warship by taking advantage of loopholes in the game – where’s the guy who came up with this idea? You’ve got to be a genius (laughing emoji)!”
Captain_Of_Demolition_Officers: “I have to agree that the player’s strategy was truly ingenious. He gave two suggestions: first, force the opponent into battle mode using external creatures, then overwhelm the warship’s weight capacity. How amazing!”
Crayon_Shinchan: “New GIF added into the Battle sticker collection – sinking due to unbearable pressure.gif”
Xueli_The_Strongest: “Hehe, great job brothers! Since they were the one who attacked first, once we get rid of the Rocks, we’ll invade their territory (laughing emoji)!”
Strike_Gold: “We’ll leave them to develop in peace for a while, then we’ll pay them back double when the time comes! Our Beiqi Army is the strongest, there’s no need for explanations (laughing emoji)!”
Invincible_Loneliness: “This is strangely soothing to my mood, how exhilarating!”
This naval battle lifted the spirits of many of the original players.
The crisis stirring in the Void Ocean for the past two days caused by this humongou warship’s harassment had finally been resolved as well.
In anticipation of future invasions, the players began diligently upgrading their warships to prepare themselves for the next big naval battle.
As a result, materials in the shop experienced inflation once again.
This elated Lu Wu as each transaction completed in the shop yielded commission for him. His depleted stock of soul coins had once again received significant replenishment.
In the meantime, a personal Specter Ship bobbed up and down upon the crest of the Void Ocean’s waves.
Hu He, who was seated on the ship, was staring intently at a compass in his hands. Occasionally, he would raise his head and glance at the water surface, as if he was reconfirming his location.
At that moment, the compass value suddenly jumped and its needle began spinning.
“Here it is!” Hu He glanced at the surface of the sea excitedly.
Recently, he had tried more than a hundred ways of cultivating Hiderigami. Due to the huge strength difference between them, though, merely breaking through his protection layer was challenging enough, much less any attempt to fully cultivate him.
After being convinced that cultivating Hiderigami was impossible, Hu He proceeded to spend a significant effort in escaping the safe zone. Since then, he had sailed the Specter Ship, starting his escape journey on the sea.
After all, he would not dare to return to land anymore as long as those two jinxes were there. No matter where he hid, he would still be sentenced to the safe zone by the cruel backstab.
Left without a choice, Hu He decided to go on a corpse-searching journey at sea, returning only when he was powerful enough.
He had originally planned to search for islands where powerful individuals might have been buried, but as he passed by the northern region of the Void Ocean, his compass suddenly responded.
Realizing that there might be a powerful corpse nearby, Hu He decided to probe around a little.
He glanced at the empty-headed Cha Na zombie spirit beside him before opening the store and making a search in the special tools inventory. He reluctantly bought a special diving suit, which he proceeded to change into.
With everything prepared, Hu He leaped into the water and anchored the Specter Ship before heading deeper to explore.
Despite the diving suit’s protection, the temperature underwater was freezing. Rays of light swayed in ripples underwater. Looking down, there was nothing but darkness.
As he dove deeper, Hu He had the illusion that he was swimming down into the gaping mouth of a giant water beast.
The deeper he dove, the greater the water pressure upon him. The limit of diving for humans is 332 yards, but by relying on strengthened physical fitness levels within the game as well as protection from special gears, diving to a depth of 500 yards was still easily manageable.
At this point, Hu He was completely enveloped in darkness. A person’s perception of fear usually intensified under such environments, and even a slight movement of the currents around him made him feel like an enormous sea creature was swimming past him. If it was not for his desire for powerful corpses and assurance of immortality, there was no way Hu He would be doing such a thing.
As his vision was unclear, Hu He turned on the lamp fastened to his forehead.
A strong beam of light streamed forward, lighting up the darkness within ten yards before him.
Hu He suddenly turned pale.
At the end of the light, an enormous fish eye, three yards in diameter itself, was staring straight at him, the capillaries within the eye socket clearly visible.
“Holy shit!” a stream of bubbles escaped Hu He’s mouth as his heart thumped in his chest.
This experience was way more terrifying than a horror movie, the shock almost knocked him unconscious.
[Giant Grouper (Spiritual Fish): Docile giant spiritual fish, with a diet mainly composed of seaweed, small shrimp, and fish.]
Seemingly disturbed by the intense beam of light, the giant grouper quickly dove downward with a flick of its tail. It was gone in the blink of an eye.
Hu He was still recovering from the shock even after the giant grouper swam away.
As he checked his compass to determine the intensity of the surrounding zombie energy, he felt a little hesitant. Even his ancestors were not as hardcore as himself, to extend the search for corpses all the way into the sea. Was this considered a business expansion?
“I don’t need to be afraid of dying anyway!” Hu He grit his teeth and continued diving downward.
He continued on for a further 200 yards. By now, the water pressure could clearly be felt as Hu He sensed his breathing growing more difficult. However, he was not going to give up after coming so far so he continued swimming downward. Behind him, Cha Na’s zombie spirit followed along thoughtlessly.
After diving for a while, Hu He glanced at his current depth on the map and realized he had already reached a depth of over 1,200 yards.
Just as he was about to continue his journey downward, a ghostly beam of green light shone through the darkness from his right. Hu He’s heart jolted as he turned abruptly toward the source.
A worn and decayed Specter Ship was cruising slowly toward him from the right.
The Specter Ship appeared ancient, its surface covered with a thick layer of green moss. What Hu He found eerie about the ship was the oil lamp hanging on the half-broken mast that was still giving off a ghostly green light.
Each time the oil lamp swayed, the dark inner parts of the ship became vaguely visible, as if numerous black silhouettes were hidden within, writhing with each sway.
Hu He shuddered at the sight of the eerie scene before him.
“A game, this is only a game!” Hu He mumbled words of encouragement to himself.
As the underwater Specter Ship drew closer, Hu He’s compass began twitching. The value displayed turned red almost instantly as a beeping noise sounded.
The powerful corpse is in the Specter Ship? Hu He was surprised.
However, the creepy aura given off by the Specter Ship made him hesitate a little.
As he watched the Specter Ship cruise by him, Hu He grit his teeth and muttered in his heart, “The bold will be full but the timid will starve to death!”
He reached out and grabbed onto the decaying rails, drifting along with the ship as it slowly continued forward.
He steadied himself and landed slowly on the ship’s deck.
Then, he waved at Cha Na’s zombie spirit hovering next to him.
Upon receiving his command, Cha Na’s zombie spirit drifted toward the inner part of the ship as Hu He trailed after it cautiously.
In the endless darkness of the deep sea, Hu He was without a doubt under heavy psychological stress. It was similar to watching horror movies, even if one knew that everything was unreal, the approaching terror would still be enough to cloud up one’s judgment. Currently, being in the midst of a horror scene, the chilling atmosphere made him extremely tense.
Huff! Hu He inhaled deeply and calmed himself down. He then began swimming toward the cabin of the ship.
As he went in further, Hu He noticed that there were still small organisms residing within the mossy habitat of the decaying ship. However, the interior space was closely packed and most of the objects were already severely corroded, disintegrating into a cloud of musty dust upon the slightest touch.
The further he went in, the stronger Hu He’s compass vibrated.
Eventually, he stopped before an inner wooden door that corroded in several parts.
A little force from Cha Na’s zombie spirit caused the wooden door to break into smithereens of drifting rubble.
There was a cloud of fine sawdust wafting in the dim light. Hu He waved his hand around in an attempt to dispel the sawdust obscuring his vision.
He then turned his gaze slowly beyond the wooden door frame.
The light pierced through the dusty, brownish water to reveal half of a black skeleton within Hu He’s line of sight.
Seeing the skeleton, Hu He’s expression lifted. He knew that he had found his target.
However, his expression clouded as he noticed something odd about the black skeleton. It appeared as if it had been gnawed upon before. The torso’s fracture did not match up with the lost half, and the surface of the fracture was jagged and sharp, with multiple bone spurs poking out. It looked as though the owner of the skeleton had been forcibly torn in half.
Despite his suspicions, Hu He did not dwell on the matter. He was only after the corpse anyway. Moving his arms, he entered the room and swam toward the black skeleton.
As he got closer, the black skeleton’s statistics appeared.
[Mu Hu (Mu Te Sea Warrior)]:
Character details: Clansman of the ancient Mu Te Sea Empire. A martyr in the battle against the underwater Dead Clan’s invasion. As a warrior of the Mu Te Sea Clan, he was buried in a Mu Te Coffin and left to wander at the bottom of the sea with only a ghost lamp for company.
Strength level: Mid-Stage Ghost Commander