156: Chapter 153 Acceptance
"Also—" Zheng Yuanshan picked up the communicator, "I'm contacting President Shen Qing."
It rang twice. She picked up.
"President Shen Qing."
The voice on the other end was cold and clear, but the speaking pace was half a beat faster than usual.
"Chief Zheng. We just finished our discussion on this side as well."
"Conclusion?"
"The life ring must be promoted comprehensively. I have already had Zhao Zheng take people to test it; all functions are available within the Sequence Battle."
President Shen Qing's judgment was as swift as always.
The corners of Zheng Yuanshan's mouth twitched.
"The Revival Society will post a promotional article within an hour. Your Little Life Society—"
"We will support it in the comments, pin the post, and I will write a user experience review myself." President Shen Qing interrupted before he could finish, "Additionally, I plan to use the Little Life Society's credit as an endorsement to provide installment guarantee services for life rings to our members. This will lower their psychological barrier."
Zheng Yuanshan was silent for a second.
"Understood."
"There is one more thing." President Shen Qing's tone paused slightly, "Chief Zheng, that tip—'Users who do not accept suggestions are not cute'—how do you interpret it?"
Zheng Yuanshan did not answer immediately.
Three seconds passed.
"The Fate Master requires every single person to wear a life ring," he said, "As for why—"
He glanced at the thin, silver-gray band on his wrist.
A pale blue glimmer flowed silently across his aged skin.
"We do not need to know."
President Shen Qing ended the call.
Zheng Yuanshan put down the communicator and turned to look at the people in the Command Cabin.
"Get moving, everyone."
The crowd dispersed.
Only Zheng Yuanshan remained in the Command Cabin.
He lowered his head, looking at the silver-gray life ring on his wrist—thin as a cicada's wing, naturally formed.
His fingers gently caressed the surface of the band.
"Fate Master."
He murmured softly.
His voice was very soft, carrying the simplest trust in his superior, forged over fifty years of military life.
"No matter what game you are playing, the Revival Society will always be willing to be your chessboard."
...
On a deep blue sea area tens of thousands of miles away from the Yanhuang Civilization region, a Silver Grade warship was parked quietly in the night.
On the bow deck, Victoria knelt on one knee, the sword of the sea inserted vertically into the wooden cracks of the deck before her, its golden hilt emitting a faint, warm light in the afterglow of the twin suns.
She had just finished a match in the Individual Sequence Contest and was closing her eyes to regulate her breathing.
The sword of the sea continuously nurtured her body, and her various stats for energy, spirit, and essence had long approached the threshold of 150. With these stats, she was already an undisputed top-tier Gold Tier Survivor in the entire Magic Sea.
The moment the golden notification bar popped up, she opened her eyes.
Her red pupils were extremely bright in the dim light.
[Cause and Effect Fate Platform · Version 4.0 Update]
She was not in a hurry to read further. She first glanced at the title format—consistent with the format of every previous Fate Platform update announcement. Orderly, concise, and carrying that style of action she was already familiar with, belonging to the Fate Master.
Her gaze fell on the first item.
Fix bugs, optimize the Trading Realm.
Skip.
Second item.
life ring.
Her brows knit slightly.
She read it word by word.
"The first official peripheral terminal of the Cause and Effect Fate Platform... one device per person... supports offline independent execution..."
When she read "offline independent execution," her fingers tightened unconsciously around the hilt of the sword of the sea.
Offline. Independent.
She did not need anyone to help her analyze the meaning of these six characters.
In the consciousness space of the Sequence War, the Fate Platform functions were disabled for Yanhuang Survivors—this was the only window of advantage for all Survivors of foreign civilizations over the past twenty-four hours.
Now, this window was about to be closed.
She continued to read down.
Function coverage: magic sea compass, Numerical Panel, Spatial Backpack, three-colored life spring—all basic functions.
All of them.
Victoria's breathing paused for half a beat.
She knew too well what the Numerical Panel meant. She had personally severed the arm of a Yanhuang Survivor in a Sequence Battle—the opponent had screamed and exited the match. But if the opponent had the Numerical Panel on, a severed arm would only manifest as a reduction in the health bar, the arm would recover as before within seconds, and then they would stab her with a backhand sword strike.
She also knew what the Life Spring meant. The opponent would be beaten to half health, drink a mouthful of spring water, and revive to full status, while she could only grit her teeth and endure when beaten to half health.
This was not a gap.
This was a dimensional crushing.
Victoria's jawline tightened.
Something was burning in her red pupils.
Then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"So what."
The voice was very low.
English. But in her own ears, the All-World Text had translated it into clear Chinese—"So what."
She stood up.
The sword of the sea was pulled from the crack in the deck, and the golden blade hummed in the night wind.
The sea beasts she had killed in these fourteen days were more than what the vast majority of Yanhuang Survivors had seen since coming to the Magic Sea. Every bit of her combat power and merit was earned through real blades and guns, not by relying on the compass to avoid danger, not by relying on the spring water to extend her life, and not by relying on the panel to tank damage.
The life ring changed the rules.
But it could not change her sword.
Her Battle Intent surged in her chest for a few seconds, and then she suppressed it herself.
Impulsiveness would not solve any problems.
She continued to read down.
Pricing.
Yanhuang Civilization Survivors: 200 karma points.
Foreign civilization visitor system users: 400 karma points.
Victoria looked at these two numbers without any dissatisfaction.
Rather—if the pricing were the same, she would actually feel something was wrong.
The Fate Master was a Survivor of the Yanhuang Civilization. The Fate Platform was built by him. He prioritized the interests of his own civilization; this was not called favoritism, this was called normal.
If it were her sitting in that position, the price for Britain would only be lower than Yanhuang's, and the prices for other civilizations would only be higher than 400.
On this point, she had no complaints against the Fate Master Yang Hang.
She even felt a hint of admiration.
A person who could maintain a sense of proportion regarding "differential treatment rather than extermination" in the face of absolute power was ten thousand times better than those hypocrites who shouted about equality while stabbing people in the back.
Her gaze continued to move down.
Fourth item.
visitor system permission expansion pack—consume one karma point to gain ten speaking opportunities, no upper limit.
Victoria's eyes lit up.
They really lit up.
Not Battle Intent, not vigilance, but a kind of—pure joy, belonging to a young girl in her early twenties, that had been suppressed for too long.
Ten times.
One karma point. Ten speaking opportunities.
Her stats for energy, spirit, and essence were close to 150, which was more than enough to exchange for karma points every day. Ten karma points meant one hundred speaking opportunities. Twenty points meant two hundred.
Enough.
Completely enough.
For these past ten-plus days, she had only had one speaking opportunity every three days. One. Three days.
She watched as over a billion Yanhuang Survivors on the Fate Platform chatted, argued, showed off food, posted memes, discussed leaderboards, and teased each other—while she could only watch.
Like standing outside a lively party separated by a glass wall.
She could see, she could hear, but she could not participate.
Before her Transmigration, she was a student at the University of London, an active user on social media, who would pull her roommates on weekends to film dance videos to post online, and mingle with fans in the comment section.
After her Transmigration, fourteen days of survival on the lonely sea.
One person.
One ship.
One sword.
The blood of sea beasts, the saltiness of seawater, the stench of the deck—day after day.
When the invitation for the Fate Platform visitor system appeared, she almost cried.
Not because the functions were so powerful, not because the compass was so easy to use—but because she could finally see people talking again. Seeing someone discussing what treasure chest they caught today, someone complaining that the food tasted bad, someone sharing hunting techniques.
The voices of living people.
Traces of civilized society.
That feeling was like having sunk in the dark seabed for a very, very long time, and finally surfacing to take the first breath of air.
But the speaking restriction of one message every three days was like that air being rationed, only letting you take a small breath at a time.
Now.
The shackles had loosened.
Victoria's hand gripping the sword of the sea loosened slightly, and the curve of her mouth spread from the inside out.
She wasn't smiling at anyone.
She was smiling at herself.
Then she saw the last line of the announcement.
[Cause and Effect Fate Platform Tip: The life ring is very important for the future of the Fate Platform, oh. We strongly recommend all cute Fate Platform users to enable and bind it. Users who do not accept suggestions are not cute~ Acting cute.jpg!]
The corner of Victoria's mouth twitched.