214: Chapter 210 The Riddler's Solution

The Symphony Realm went quiet for a split second, followed immediately by a collective gasp and a screen full of regret.

"Iron-Faced Ruthless (Yanhuang Civilization): Holy shit!!! That little sprout!!! I saw it the day before yesterday!!! I thought it was just a small pattern update after the interface refreshed, so I poked it with my finger, but I only tapped it once and then swiped away! Aaaaaah!!! (Crying and pounding the floor.jpg)"

"Salted Fish Turnaround (Yanhuang Civilization): I saw it too! I stared at it for a long time, thinking the Fate Platform had gotten moldy, and wondered if this thing could oxidize? Why the hell didn't I click it!!!"

"Storm Eye (Yanhuang Civilization): Hiss—! *Gasp!* This isn't just about luck; this is clearly a test of our observation skills and curiosity! Fate Master's way of hiding this is too deep; this is a Divine-Grade easter egg!"

"Old Smoker (Yanhuang Civilization): I noticed it too, but I thought it looked a bit ugly, so I deliberately swiped my hand across it... Now that I think about it, I want to chop my hand off!"

"David Reeves (Stars and Stripes): Oh, God. This is simply a cruel joke of fate. We didn't even have the qualification to click on that sprout, yet you all missed out on fifteen days of development just because you missed a few mouse clicks. I don't know whether to pity you or myself."

"Little Prince of the Grasslands (Yanhuang Civilization): Hehe, that's why it's fate. My hands were idle, and I thought the little sprout looked cute, so I tapped it a few times. Suddenly, a message popped up: 'Survivor trigger for hidden mechanism detected, loading Farm Realm...' I was stunned at the time."

Subsequently, other beta testers joined the discussion.

"Mushroom Hunter (Yanhuang Civilization): +1. I was just clicking randomly too, hahahaha! Woodland Farm, Level 2. I planted mushrooms. Six varieties. The Fate Platform had locked the keyword before; typing 'Farm Realm' would just swallow the message. Now it's finally unblocked. (Tears.jpg)"

"Old Chen by the Creek (Yanhuang Civilization): Hehehe, same here. Creek Farm, Level 2. Just stole Old Zhou's golden silk pumpkin from next door, hehehehe."

The fourth.

The fifth.

The tenth.

The thirtieth.

Beta testers emerged from the comments section like bamboo shoots after rain, and the speed increased rapidly.

"Green Pepper Warrior (Yanhuang Civilization): I was suffocating!!! For the past three days, I've been sharing planting tips with everyone in the group, but I had to play dumb the moment I entered the Symphony Realm! Do you know what it feels like to watch a screen full of people discussing the Sequence War while all you want to say is 'My tomatoes are ripe today'!!!"

"Cornfield Watcher (Yanhuang Civilization): [Image] My sweet corn. Eight rows. Golden tassels. You can smell it—even through the screen, it's sweet."

A high-quality image was posted. Golden corn cobs shimmered under virtual sunlight, green leaves unfurled, and the kernels were plump. The background was a meadow under a blue sky with white clouds; in the distance was a small wooden cabin, and a yellow guard dog was lying next to it.

The comments section went silent for a second.

Then it exploded.

"Wind-Chasing Youth (Yanhuang Civilization): This... is this virtual???"

"Little Noodle Shop Owner (Yanhuang Civilization): Blue sky. White clouds. Grass. Cabin. Dog. Corn. I see corn. I haven't seen anything growing in the soil for almost a month. My eyes are stinging."

"Old Smoker (Yanhuang Civilization): ...Damn it. I actually want to cry because of a photo of corn."

More photos flooded in.

Someone posted a patch of purple cabbage, green and purple intermingled, with dew drops hanging on the leaves. Someone posted a basket of cherry tomatoes, green and red mixed, neatly arranged. Someone posted a Rhode Island Red hen in a chicken coop with two freshly laid eggs. Someone posted the stream at the Creek Farm, the sound of water seemingly transmitted through the image.

Then, a Survivor started a live stream.

[Livestream Title: Come see what a real farm looks like]

The moment the screen lit up, eight thousand people flooded in.

The camera was in first-person perspective. Underfoot was soft black soil, with footprints visible where stepped. On the left were three rows of mature cabbage, and on the right was a simple bamboo fence with two hens pecking at food inside. In the distance was an endless grassland, and above the grassland was a blindingly blue sky with white clouds drifting slowly by.

A breeze blew. The grass in the frame swayed gently.

The livestream room was silent for three seconds.

Then the barrage exploded.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit is this virtual???"

"Grass! I see grass! It's not the sea!!!"

"Wind. There's wind. The grass is moving."

"Oh my god, what exactly is Fate Master... this technology..."

"I want to go in!!! I want to go in right now!!!"

The number of viewers in the livestream room exceeded fifty thousand within thirty seconds.

And in the midst of this wave, a long-forgotten memory was unearthed.

"Late Night Awakened (Yanhuang Civilization): Wait. Do you remember the group of people from two days ago who were vague when speaking in the Symphony Realm, saying half sentences and then stopping, and were cursed at as 'riddle solvers' by everyone?"

The Symphony Realm paused for a moment.

"Scooping the Moon from the Sea (Yanhuang Civilization): ...Holy shit."

"Storm Eye (Yanhuang Civilization): I remember! There was an ID called something like 'Auntie Pumpkin,' who posted 'Harvest is good today' the day before yesterday. Someone asked her what she harvested, and she replied with an emoji and didn't say anything else. She was cursed at with hundreds of messages for 'acting mysterious.'"

"Iron-Faced Ruthless (Yanhuang Civilization): And that 'Green Pepper Warrior'! Yesterday in the Help Realm, he asked 'Does anyone know how to prevent pests?' A group of people asked him what kind of pests—where would there be pests on the Magic Sea?—and he didn't reply. Now it looks like—he was asking how to prevent pests on the farm."

"Wind-Chasing Youth (Yanhuang Civilization): F***, f***, f***! So those 'riddle solvers' were all beta farm owners! They wanted to tell us but couldn't! The Fate Platform locked the keywords!"

"Auntie Pumpkin (Yanhuang Civilization): Exactly!!! I wanted to shove the photos in your faces back then, but I couldn't send the message if I typed the word 'farm'! You even cursed me for acting up! I felt so wronged! (Crying.jpg)"

"Green Pepper Warrior (Yanhuang Civilization): That's right!!! Nobody answered my pest control question until now! You were all too busy cursing me! The bugs ate my two chili plants! Compensate me!"

A large wave of Survivors who had previously cursed the "riddle solvers" apologized one after another.

"Old Smoker (Yanhuang Civilization): Auntie Pumpkin, I'm sorry! I take back those things I said before!"

"Wind-Chasing Youth (Yanhuang Civilization): Brother Green Pepper Warrior, I'm sorry! I even said you were 'bored and looking for bugs on the sea'... I was wrong."

"Green Pepper Warrior (Yanhuang Civilization): Apologies are useless. When you enter the Farm Realm, I'm going to steal your vegetables."

"Wind-Chasing Youth (Yanhuang Civilization): ...Fine, go ahead and steal. You deserve it."

And the beta players no longer had to hide things, and their posts became increasingly uninhibited.

"Old Chen by the Creek (Yanhuang Civilization): Let me tell you a truth—the vegetables grown in the Farm Realm taste amazing after they are materialized into reality. It's not that standardized, assembly-line taste; it's that real taste, earthy, uneven, some sour, some sweet. I stir-fried a plate of water bamboo shoots today, and I felt like I came back to life after eating it."

"Mushroom Hunter (Yanhuang Civilization): And it's cheap. One karma point for three catties. Buying a vegetable salad at the food god shrine costs 2.5 karma points for only 150 grams. You do the math on the difference."

"Cornfield Watcher (Yanhuang Civilization): The most important thing is—you can choose the varieties yourself! You can grow whatever you want to eat! I planted sweet corn, purple sweet potatoes, okra, small cucumbers..."

"Little Prince of the Grasslands (Yanhuang Civilization): There's one more thing. Time in the Farm Realm is at five times speed. You stay inside for five hours, and only one hour passes outside. What does this mean? It means you have at least five hours every day to stand on the soil, breathe fresh air, and look at the blue sky and white clouds. We've been drifting on the sea for almost a month; do you know what this represents?"

No one replied under this post.

It wasn't that no one saw it.

It was that too many people were speechless.

Twenty-eight days of drifting on the Magic Sea. Twenty-eight days of the fishy smell of seawater, twenty-eight days of the rocking of the ship deck, twenty-eight days of looking out at nothing but endless deep blue.

Now, someone tells you—there is a place with soil, grass, sky, and wind, where you can stand, grow vegetables, raise chickens, and build a house.

So what if it's virtual?

The feeling of feet on the ground is real.

The silence lasted for nearly ten seconds. Then the style of the comments section changed completely. No more jealousy, no more questioning.

"Little Noodle Shop Owner (Yanhuang Civilization): I'm going in."

"Wind-Chasing Youth (Yanhuang Civilization): I'm going in too. Chose the grassland."

"Old Smoker (Yanhuang Civilization): Woodland. My hometown before Transmigration was in the mountains."

"Salted Fish Turnaround (Yanhuang Civilization): Creek-side. I don't know why, but the moment I clicked in and saw that little stream, I cried. A thirty-two-year-old man crouching by a virtual stream and crying."

A large number of Survivors began to pour into the Farm Realm. The online data for the Fate Platform changed visibly.

The posts from Survivors of other civilizations became much quieter. But a few remained in the comments section.

"Victoria (Fog City): I admit, I'm envious. Not because of the vegetables. It's because of the land. We have also been drifting on the sea for twenty-eight days. (Sigh)"

"Igor (Polar Bear): In the freezing waters where I am, I rarely even see sunlight. If one day the Farm Realm opens to us... I want to plant a sunflower."

"Solomon (Hebrew): The person behind this Fate Platform, every step he takes, shows me what a civilization should look like. The bank is the Foundation of the economy; the farm is the Foundation of agriculture. He is not just helping people survive—he is helping people live like human beings."

This post received over seven million likes.

Yanhuang Survivors left messages below to comfort them.

"Big Brother Igor, don't worry. Given Fate Master's style, the Farm Realm will eventually open to other civilizations. When that happens, you plant a field of sunflowers, and I'll help you water them."

"Sister Victoria, stop sighing! When it opens, I'll treat you to the tomatoes I grew!"

"Solomon said it perfectly. Fate Master is building a civilization. We ordinary people are the luckiest batch of farmers in this civilization."

And just as the civilizations on the Fate Platform were empathizing with each other, another post from a beta Survivor in the Farm Realm ignited the discussion for everyone.

The post title was very simple.

"Grassland Zhou Liang (Yanhuang Civilization): Regarding the last sentence of the Farm Realm announcement, I have a bold guess—that 'first brave farmer' might just be me."