8: Chapter 8 The Intertwining of Reason and Emotion
[Yanhuang Civilization is bound to win!]
[Yanhuang Civilization is bound to win!]
[Yanhuang Civilization is bound to win!]
A surge of hot blood rushed to Yang Hang's brain. He no longer hesitated, solemnly typing the same four characters into the input box before clicking send.
[Yanhuang Civilization is bound to win!]
Once the transmission was complete, he let out a long breath, the agitation in his chest unable to subside for a long time.
Although he had just eaten and drunk his fill and was temporarily safe, seeing President Shen Qing's post gave him a sudden, strong sense of responsibility. He could no longer be like before, thinking only about how to live comfortably.
He still had to do something for the entire camp within his capabilities.
He made a silent resolution that starting tomorrow, he would carefully study the construction and development of the Cause and Effect Fate Platform.
With this determination to work hard, he clicked on several practical posts, silently memorizing the fishing techniques, boat-securing methods, and simple seawater filter construction mentioned within.
Unknowingly, drowsiness surged in like a tide. Yang Hang let out a yawn and exited the Cause and Effect Fate Platform.
...
Meanwhile, in another identical boathouse.
President Shen Qing withdrew her consciousness from the post she had calmly released on her Cause and Effect Fate Platform about China's inevitable victory. Returning to reality, she silently looked out the boathouse window at the dark, turbulent sea night.
She pushed up her glasses. Her expression showed no excitement, only a slight firmness.
In the [faction merit] column, the number was steadily rising at a consistent pace, having already broken through the fifty thousand mark.
She came from a family of high-level intellectuals; her father was a top domestic marine biology expert, and her mother was an experienced lawyer. Influenced by them from a young age, she had developed a habit of approaching everything through logic and reason.
After Transmigration to this world and understanding the rules, she immediately realized that the 'faction merit' value would be the key to widening the gap in the Early Stages.
Although she had a phobia of the ocean, once she recognized reality, she knew she had to overcome her fear.
The sudden appearance of the Cause and Effect Fate Platform allowed her to seize the opportunity.
Combining this near-miraculous Magic Sea survival with the rules of civilizational hegemony, she realized that if she could reasonably apply this Cause and Effect Fate Platform, it would likely be possible to survive and even amass a huge amount of Civilization Merit Points.
On the first day when everyone was thrown into this unknown ocean, surrounded by fear and confusion, the most basic and effective help was to stimulate everyone's fighting spirit and unite their hearts.
Thus, she combined her own real, unbearable experience of falling into the sea to meticulously craft that post. Using the most authentic fear contrasted with the firmest conviction, she created a powerful resonance that maximized the response from all Yanhuang Civilization participants.
As it turned out, she had succeeded.
Her strategy of appearing extremely emotional while actually being rationally analytical was indeed effective.
She continued browsing the forum, noticing a large number of technical guide posts popping up like bamboo shoots after rain, covering everything from fishing and water collection to the Identification Technique. Below these posts were countless replies like "Thank you, Great One" and "May good people stay safe for life."
She analyzed all of this calmly. The vast majority of those releasing these guides did so to earn merit points, which was normal. But objectively, their actions greatly promoted the sharing and circulation of information, which was extremely beneficial for the Early Stage development of the entire Yanhuang Camp.
This was a virtuous cycle in the making. She wouldn't interfere, nor would she be foolish enough to "poke through" the paper-thin veil of their pursuit of merit points.
Her thoughts drifted further.
She could do even more.
Current guide posts were too scattered and lacked a system. Many people might see one thing and forget another, unable to form a holistic understanding of survival.
She planned to integrate, categorize, and organize all known effective information tomorrow to write a logically clear and well-structured "Rational Guide to Survival in a Sea Boathouse," helping more people establish a complete survival knowledge framework from multiple dimensions such as water, food, safety, and psychological construction.
Having made up her mind, President Shen Qing closed the forum interface.
She closed her eyes and began adjusting her breathing, letting herself enter a light sleep state to maximize energy conservation.
The night was still long; tomorrow would be the start of the action.
As consciousness returned to her body, President Shen Qing felt her eyelids grow heavy and a wave of exhaustion permeate her limbs. She curled up on the simple bedding made of seagrass; the rhythmic swaying of the boathouse became a hypnotic lullaby.
Just as she was about to sink into a deep sleep, a strange sound abruptly pierced her ears.
It wasn't the roar of a distant giant beast, nor the muffled thud of waves hitting the hull.
It was a... scratching sound.
Creeak... creeak...
The sound was very light yet extremely piercing, with a texture that set one's teeth on edge, as if someone were unhurriedly scratching the wooden boards of the boat's bottom with their fingernails.
Once, and then again, with great regularity.
She jolted, instantly wide awake, all sleepiness gone.
She held her breath and listened intently, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.
That's right, the sound was coming from the bottom of the boat! And along with the sound, she could feel a very slight, rhythmic vibration from the scratching.
It wasn't the waves, nor was it the normal swaying of the boat.
Something... was clinging to her boat!
A chill ran from President Shen Qing's tailbone straight to the top of her head. Posts from the forum about marine creatures instantly flashed through her mind, mentioning various eerie creatures encountered by survivors, some of which would even actively attack boats.
What should she do?
Go out and look?
This thought was snuffed out as soon as it appeared. It was pitch black outside; god knows what was in the water. If she were dragged under, she wouldn't even have a chance to call for help.
But if she ignored it... and let it keep scratching, if the boat broke, the result would be the same!
Fear and reason fought a frantic battle in her mind.
Right, the Identification Technique!
President Shen Qing suddenly remembered an important, high-heat post she had scrolled past on the forum.
[Focus your gaze on an item for a few seconds to obtain information, similar to an "Identification Technique"!]
Although she couldn't see the thing at the bottom of the boat right now, the sound and vibration were so clear.
President Shen Qing immediately flipped over and lay flat on the wooden floor, pressing her ear tightly against it. She closed her eyes and used her will to concentrate all her attention on the source of that "creeaking" sound.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
A line of cold text surfaced in her mind without warning.
[Wood-Rot Parasitic Snail]
[A common marine parasitic organism that lives by devouring wooden structures; its secretions are highly corrosive.]
[Warning: Your boathouse durability is slowly decreasing!]
The boathouse... durability is decreasing!
This line of text was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, making President Shen Qing's hands and feet go cold for a moment. Her red lips were pressed tight, and her teeth were clenched.
These damn things were eating her boat!
This was her only shelter, her only reliance for surviving on this godforsaken sea! If the boat was gone, she would fall into this cold, dark ocean filled with unknown monsters; the outcome was easy to imagine.
Her fear of the darkness and the unknown waters quickly lost ground in the face of the more direct threat of "the boat being destroyed and the person dying."
She couldn't wait!
President Shen Qing gritted her teeth and grabbed the rusty harpoon she had obtained from a Bronze-grade sunken sea treasure chest from the corner.
Holding the cold iron weapon gave her a sliver of insignificant courage.
She bent her slender waist and moved step by step toward the small wooden door of the boathouse, her palms already slick and sticky with cold sweat.
President Shen Qing took a deep breath and suddenly pulled open the wooden door.
"Splash—"
The sound of the waves instantly amplified, and a cold, salty wind blew against her face.
Under the night sky, only faint starlight sprinkled onto the sea, reflecting shimmering, unsettling ripples.
President Shen Qing held onto the doorframe with one hand and leaned half her body out, her slender arm tightly clutching the harpoon in her other hand as she carefully looked toward the lower side of the hull.
By the dim starlight, she saw them.
Right near the boat's waterline, clusters of fist-sized, grayish-white things were attached. Their appearance was very much like snails without shells, their bodies covered in mucus, shimmering nauseatingly under the moonlight.
Their bodies expanded and contracted, wriggling rhythmically. That scalp-numbing "creeaking" sound was precisely coming from where they contacted the wooden boards.
It was these damn things!
A flash of ruthlessness appeared in President Shen Qing's eyes as her survival instinct overrode everything. She no longer hesitated, aiming at the nearest cluster of grayish-white flesh and stabbing the harpoon down with all her might!
...
Dawn broke.
To be precise, a long, narrow grayish-white band of light appeared on the horizon, barely tearing a gap between the sky and the sea.
Yang Hang was woken up by hunger.
Although that Silver-Scaled Flying Fish from last night had helped, it couldn't withstand a whole day of exertion. His energy was heavily depleted, and his stomach had long been rumbling.
He rolled over, his back pressing against the rough wooden boards, and his bones let out a crisp crack.
"Let's check the Fate Platform first."
His consciousness sank into his brow, and the interface of the Cause and Effect Fate Platform unfolded in his mind.
Online population: 1,247,683,441.
1.2 billion.