22: Chapter 22 Floating Island

However, this move by the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce did indeed cause quite a stir among the freelance players. The chat channel turned into a chaotic mess:

"Has the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce turned benevolent? They're actually raising the exchange rate to buy junk! Hurry up and sell, brothers!"

"Damn! I sold everything including my underwear at a 1:4 ratio yesterday! I've lost so much! I'm kicking myself so hard today!"

"Isn't this just like the A-share stock market?! I've transmigrated into this crappy game, and yet I still have to experience the thrill of being trapped in a bad stock investment?!"

"Don't sell! Since the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce dares to buy them, it means Tier 1 materials must still have great utility! Everyone, hold onto them!"

"Hold onto them, my ass! If you keep them and can't upgrade your vehicle, are you just waiting to die? The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce is offering us a helping hand; hurry up and cash out to get Tier 2 metal to save your lives!"

Zhou An shook his head with a smile, too lazy to pay any more attention.

He blocked the spam in the trading channel and entered keywords into the forum search box: [Floating Island, Core Crystal, Guide].

Soon, a highly-rated, paid premium post popped up.

Author: City Lord Zhao Tianyu (Leader of the Tianqing Guild).

Title: "Cloud Survival Guide: A Review of Floating Island Danger Levels and Ultimate Rewards"

Zhou An casually paid the reading fee of 1 unit of fuel and began to study it carefully with Luo Ning.

Regarding the classification of Floating Island scale and rewards:

Micro Floating Island (size of a soccer field): Low danger. Usually occupied by 1 Tier 1 Boss monster. Killing it has a chance to drop Tier 1 to Tier 2 vehicle upgrade blueprints, as well as a small amount of basic supply crates.

Small Floating Island (size of a village/town): Medium danger. Contains small monster communities, guarded by Tier 2 Elite monsters. Resources are abundant, with open-pit mines and wild edible plants appearing.

Medium/Large Floating Island (area greater than 10 square kilometers): Extremely high danger! This is a fiercely contested territory for all the top guilds!

Core Reward: Any Floating Island with a volume greater than 10 square kilometers is guaranteed to have an Ancient Altar in its central area. The altar has a 100% drop rate for [Floating Island Core Crystal]! This is the absolute core material for upgrading a vehicle to LV3!

Note: This type of large Floating Island appears as a dazzling dark gold color on radar. Once it refreshes, all major forces nearby will swarm toward it like sharks smelling blood. Freelance players must not approach, or they will be cleared out and shot.

Seeing this, Zhou An and Luo Ning exchanged a glance.

"Only those larger than 10 square kilometers drop the Core Crystal."

Luo Ning rubbed her chin.

"Boss, that largest gold dot on the radar is probably at this level. This is a hornet's nest."

"Even a hornet's nest must be poked; my nuclear-powered combat armor isn't just for show." Zhou An continued reading, only to find that at the end of the guide, City Lord Zhao Tianyu had marked a warning in extremely eye-catching red font.

[Extremely Lethal Hidden Mechanism Warning!!!]

Fellow survivors, please never treat a Floating Island as a safe land sanctuary!

In the past few days, I led my guild members to conquer a small Floating Island. When we killed all the monsters and even depleted the resources, preparing to leave, I witnessed a terrifying scene with my own eyes.

Those islands floating in the sky... they can sink!

When the core resources of a Floating Island are plundered, or its existence exceeds a certain threshold set by the system, its anti-gravity mechanism will completely fail. I watched helplessly as that massive island plummeted straight into the gray mist ten thousand meters below!

Any vehicles and survivors that couldn't escape in time were swallowed by the abyss along with the island!

Advice: When exploring an island, be quick and decisive! Once you feel a sense of weightlessness like an earthquake beneath your feet, do not hesitate—pilot your vehicle and flee immediately!

After reading this last paragraph, the entire cockpit fell into a brief, deadly silence.

"An island that sinks..."

"Not only do we have to guard against monsters and guild clear-outs, but we also have to guard against the island collapsing at any moment."

Zhou An closed the forum panel and pushed down the throttle.

"Since the big guilds are fighting over those dazzling dark gold Floating Islands in the sky, why don't we go pick up the scraps?"

"Pick up scraps? Boss, you don't mean..."

Luo Ning instantly understood what Zhou An meant.

"That's right."

Zhou An tapped on the table, his eyes flashing with excitement.

"The guide says that a Floating Island sinks because its resources are plundered or its time is up. But that doesn't mean the Floating Island Core Crystal will necessarily be taken by someone! Often, exploration teams might be wiped out by monsters, or the island might sink into the gray mist before it was ever discovered."

"Those abandoned Floating Islands that have sunk into the gray mist ten thousand meters below are a forbidden zone for others, but for us..." Zhou An looked at Luo Ning.

Luo Ning's eyes lit up as well.

She had the [Mad Scientist] talent, which allowed her to survive for three hours in extreme environments without dying.

And Zhou An had his own methods.

For others, going into the abyss is suicide; for them, it's like returning to their happy home!

"Boss, your thought process is even more like a lunatic's than mine!"

Luo Ning excitedly slapped her thigh. "I like it! Let's go, let's go! Let's go down and mine!"

After reaching a consensus, Zhou An immediately changed course.

[Cloud Top Fortress] dove headfirst into the depths of the clouds like a submarine.

The numbers on the altimeter began to jump wildly.

15,000 meters... 12,000 meters... 10,500 meters!

When the fortress hovered at an altitude of 10,100 meters, the light outside the window had become extremely dim. Beneath them was the gray mist rolling like boiling ink—the shallow layer of the abyss that all survivors feared to mention.

"Turn the radar to maximum power, and circle around the edge of this mist. I don't believe there isn't a sunken island."

For the next six or seven hours, this blocky metal fortress cruised slowly along the edge of the abyss like a patient hunter.

Until the sky turned completely dark, a faint but crisp "beep" finally came from the radar!

A massive, dim outline appeared in the bottom right corner of the radar screen. The altitude displayed: 9,500 meters.

"Found it! Look at this radar reflection area, it's definitely over 10 square kilometers! A proper large Floating Island!"

Luo Ning pointed at the screen, her little face flushed with excitement.

"Sit tight, we're going in."

Zhou An took a deep breath and slammed the throttle down.

[Cloud Top Fortress] dove headfirst into the gray mist ten thousand meters below.

The moment they entered the mist, the world outside seemed to have been muted. Then, a sound—extremely faint, viscous, and like tens of thousands of people whispering in their ears at the same time—forced its way into their minds.

"Hiss—" Zhou An rubbed his temples and glanced at the system panel.

[Warning: Entered the Shallow Contamination Layer!]

[SAN value decrease rate: Estimated 7 points/hour!]

Fortunately, he had the [Smallest Giant] buff, which restored 5 SAN points per hour. Offsetting this, he only actually lost 2 points per hour. His full value of 100 points was enough to last a long time in there.

As for Luo Ning, she felt nothing regarding the SAN value decrease. Her immortality talent hadn't triggered, and even if it did, she still had three hours to make an escape.

Zhou An didn't waste any words and preheated the [Twin Storm Cannon Array] and the [high-frequency tracking cutting ray].

Ten minutes later, the fortress pierced through the thick gray mist.

Through the windshield, a massive, suffocatingly dark island slowly appeared beneath them.

This was clearly an island that had been sunk for a long time. What might have once been a lush forest had long since turned into withered black charred wood, and the ground was covered with bottomless cracks, from which eerie dark purple mist constantly spewed out.

And in the very center of the island, a dilapidated, massive stone altar was vaguely visible.

"Meets the requirements! Fly straight to the altar!"

Zhou An's eyes gleamed as he maneuvered the fortress to dive toward the central area.

However, just as the fortress approached within five hundred meters of the altar, the ground of the island suddenly began to tremble violently!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Countless withered charred trees were pushed aside by some immense force from underground, sending dirt flying. Immediately after, hundreds upon hundreds of Abyss Aberrations, their bodies oozing with gray slime and their eyes glowing with eerie green light, surged out from the ground like a tide!

Unlike the flying monsters high above, these abyss monsters varied in form. There were giant bone-armored beasts the size of heavy tanks, as well as quadrupedal predators with bone spurs on their backs that moved at incredible speeds. They didn't have wings, but their jumping power was astonishing, and they all roared as they lunged at the fortress in mid-air.

"These monsters have mutated too!"

Luo Ning exclaimed.

"Perfect timing! I was just worrying about where to test my new toys!"

Zhou An felt no fear at all. He stood up abruptly from his seat, and liquid silver metal instantly covered his entire body.

The eerie blue reactor on the chest of the combat armor erupted with blinding light, and the neural link was completed instantly.

"Luo Ning, stay on the ship and provide cover with the cannons! I'm going down to deal with them!"

Before the words had even faded, Zhou An pulled open the cabin door.

Dressed in silver combat armor, Zhou An was like a humanoid nuclear bomb, leaping from the height of several dozen meters without hesitation and crashing into the dense tide of monsters with a boom!