59: Chapter 58 Demon Sea

He understood the weight of this form in an instant.

On the surface, it was a restoration of student records, but in reality—every column was a filter. Talents, treasure chest records, family relationships, merit points—any abnormal data in a single column was enough to fish someone out of a sea of 1.4 billion people.

For example, if a graduate named "Yang Hang" honestly filled in "Talent: Lord of Causality," "Merit Points: over 1000," and "Treasure Chest Record: Diamond-grade on the first day"—then he would probably receive a solemn meeting invitation from the top brass of the Revival Society tomorrow.

Of course, he wouldn't fill it out like that. But that wasn't the point.

The point was—someone was using a giant net to filter for "Yang Hang" from every possible channel.

It was so detailed that they practically wanted to dig out the color of the survivors' underwear.

Yang Hang leaned back in his recliner, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

Information gathering? Student profiling?

This excuse was quite high-sounding. Combined with the activity of the Revival Society on the Fate Platform over the past few days, this was clearly a carpet-search across the entire network for that top-ranked "Yang Hang" under the guise of a massive population census.

He tapped his screen lightly and replied, "Instructor Qin, I've been graduated for three months. Do I still have to be under the jurisdiction of my alma mater in the Magic Sea? The Magic Sea survival Law doesn't include that, does it?"

Qin Feifei replied instantly, attaching a "cat crying" emoji.

"Oh my, as expected of the man who shares the same name as the top-ranked Fate Master, your airs are certainly big. It seems even I, your former counselor who once cared for you so much and was loved by everyone, can't invite this great Buddha of yours. Forget it, forget it, it was all a waste of affection after all. I'll just go back and take the scolding from my superiors honestly; just pretend you never saw this. Wuwuwu."

Yang Hang looked at the screen, his mind automatically filling in the image of Qin Feifei pretending to be aggrieved.

He didn't buy it, and instead replied with a yellow face emoji wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar.

"Rise, my subject. It is good that you know it was a waste of affection. If there is nothing else, you may retire. I have a big fishing order worth 500,000 karma points to handle urgently; hundreds of thousands are at stake every second, I'm very busy."

The two exchanged banter back and forth in their private messages for a few rounds.

After enough atmosphere had been built, Qin Feifei's tone finally became serious.

"Alright, I won't joke with you anymore. In all seriousness, I don't want to be a beast of burden either! But here in the Magic Sea, merit points are the hard truth. Those leaders and principals who used to be high and mighty now have to be polite when speaking to me. This census is voluntary; whether you fill it out or not is up to you."

"Then why are you private messaging everyone one by one?"

"Because there's a commission!" Qin Feifei sent a voice message sounding perfectly justified. "The more information I collect, the better the rewards the organization gives. Otherwise, who would want to do this tedious job?"

Yang Hang teased, "Is this 'voluntary' guaranteed to be ripe?"

"Absolutely guaranteed to be ripe!" Qin Feifei immediately sent a long list of benefits. "Once you fill out the form, you're considered a member of the organization, and you can get priority in exchanging internal resources of Donghai University. You can even apply for interest-free karma points loans if you encounter sea beast attacks. If you make a significant contribution to the organization in the future, you might even get a spot for the 'assembly order' from the Revival Society. That's a life-saving skill that can teleport you directly to a safe zone, and it can even be used to bring family members together. How many people are envious of that!"

The messages paused for about five seconds.

"I'll tell you something, but don't spread it."

Qin Feifei sent an emoji of someone sneaking a look to both sides.

"This comprehensive information gathering is ostensibly to restore the organizational structure, but in reality, it's also a massive population census. Besides the legitimate goals of counting survivors and distributing talent... there's another purpose."

Before the next message popped up, Yang Hang had already guessed it.

"Finding the Fate Master."

"Finding people named Yang Hang."

Qin Feifei's tone became chatty.

"I wasn't planning on asking you to fill it out. Although I'm ten thousand percent sure you couldn't be that Fate Master—come on, you couldn't even finish the 1000-meter physical test in your junior year... but with the current situation, anyone named Yang Hang will be focused on later. I'm afraid of causing you trouble."

"So when I submitted the list of alumni group members, I deliberately left your name out."

Yang Hang raised an eyebrow.

"And the result?"

"The result was that someone found out. A classmate mentioned 'There's a Yang Hang in our group too' while chatting with the higher-ups, and then they came to ask me. 'Teacher Qin, there's a Yang Hang among the students you guided, why isn't he on the list?'"

She sent an emoji of someone lying on the ground crying.

"I had no choice! I had to come and find you."

"But you really don't have to feel pressured! I'm just going through the motions. If you don't want to fill it out, I'll just report that you refused. It's the principle of voluntariness; no one can force you. With a name like yours, it's like having a VIP exempt channel in this world; who would dare make things difficult for you? Being named Yang Hang is like having a Golden Bell Shield, okay?"

She paused for three seconds and added another one.

"I'm really jealous that you're named Yang Hang. Why didn't my parents have the foresight to name me Yang Hang? Now, anyone named Yang Hang on the Magic Sea gets special care, priority resources, and focused protection—your name might not be comparable to a Gold treasure chest, but it's definitely worth more than a Silver treasure chest."

Yang Hang finished reading the long string of messages and was silent for a few seconds.

Then he replied with one line.

"Teacher Qin."

"Hm?"

"Are you always this talkative when chatting with students?"

"...What did you say! I'm usually very aloof as a teacher, okay! I'm only talkative with you! Be grateful!"

Yang Hang chuckled and typed a few words.

"Give me the form, I'll fill it out."

Qin Feifei's reply was so fast it was like a direct neural link.

"Wait! Are you sure? You didn't agree because of what I said, right? Is it really voluntary?"

"It's voluntary."

"Confirm again?"

"It's voluntary."

"Last time—"

"Teacher Qin Feifei, if you ask one more time, I won't fill it out."

"Okay, okay, okay, fill it out! The form is right in front of you, right! Send it to me after you're done! I'm going to brew a cup of virtual tea and wait for you!"

She sent an emoji of someone gulping tea and nodding vigorously, and finally a line of small text floated over.

"By the way, because you're named Yang Hang, the reward after successful entry is especially generous—two hundred karma points plus one-third of an assembly order candidate spot. These are all for you; I don't want a single cent."

Yang Hang didn't stand on ceremony and replied, "Okay."

The two chatted a bit more about their current situations. Qin Feifei said she had formed a small fleet with some classmates from the alumni group and was getting by. Yang Hang said he was lucky and had opened a Silver-grade Houseboat, and his life was okay, which led to Qin Feifei jealously greeting him with aggressive words.

Then they both disconnected.

Yang Hang exited the private message interface, and his consciousness returned to reality.

The sea breeze on the deck was just right, and the twin suns were suspended directly overhead.

He looked at the detailed information registration form in the Fate Platform, but didn't start writing immediately.

Instead, he turned and walked to the center of the Houseboat.

The faint blue halo of the fishing spot was pulsing quietly. Today's sunken sea treasure chest hadn't been opened yet.

The Power of Causality surged out, searching and locking onto something among the countless strands of Karma.

Golden light burst forth.

Gold-grade.

Inside the chest lay a semi-transparent card as thin as a cicada's wing. Pale gold numbers flowed across the card, and a string of numbers was printed in the center.

[Magic Sea Survivor Anonymous Account: 8542369524 (Gold-grade Artifact)]

[A survivor account officially recognized by the Magic Sea authorities, can be bound to any survivor, possesses all basic functions of a Magic Sea survivor's own account, such as joining a camp sequence, personal merit leaderboards, and recording basic survivor information.]

[Note: The merit points of this account are generated by diverting from the survivor's own account; it cannot obtain merit points on its own.]