5: Chapter 5 The Bizarre Selection Method in the Forest

Blue Star, Great Xia.

The Third Research Group under the Disaster Prevention Administration.

Lu Chen sat at his workstation with three screens in front of him; one of them was broadcasting Lin Ye's livestream.

He was in his early thirties, and the eyes behind his lenses were fixed on the pile of cloud berry remains on the screen.

Honestly, he had wanted to leave on the very first day he was transferred here.

He was, after all, a multi-disciplinary PhD in high-dimensional physics, anomalous biology, and behavioral psychology.

Was he supposed to spend every day watching people scavenge in the wilderness and then write observation reports?

He was incredibly curious about that mysterious world.

What is the supreme will? What do the Floating Islands rely on to resist gravity? The gravitational model of the Void Sea…

Any one of these topics alone would be enough for him to study for ten years.

But he could see it but not touch it; what was the point of playing if he couldn't get his hands on it?

That was why he had always been uninterested.

Until just now.

Lu Chen paused the screen and then scrubbed backward frame by frame.

The first one was pried open, then thrown away.

The second one was pried open, still thrown away.

The third, the fourth… it was the same rhythm for all of them.

Only when he reached the 9th and 12th ones did Lin Ye stop.

Lu Chen took close-up screenshots of all 13 fruits and arranged them on the adjacent screen.

Color, texture, clarity of the juice.

Looking with the naked eye or scanning with analysis software, there were no differences.

He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"It's not taste, not smell, and not touch."

His fingers tapped unconsciously on the desk.

"From prying open to making a judgment, it takes no more than a second each time."

"At this speed, it rules out any selection method involving deep sensory participation."

"There is only one remaining possibility…"

"Vision."

Lu Chen put his glasses back on and zoomed in on Lin Ye's face.

Every time he pried open a fruit, Lin Ye's left eye would blink extremely quickly.

It was so fast that ordinary viewers wouldn't notice it at all.

But Lu Chen noticed it.

"The left eye…"

He knew that it was a prosthetic eye.

But his intuition told him that the eyeball held a secret.

Interesting.

...

On the Level 1 Floating Island, Lin Ye shivered involuntarily.

"Did the temperature drop? And there's no wind either?"

He tucked the empty fruit shells into his backpack; the flesh was thick, so he would save it for dinner.

He looked up.

The sky had already darkened.

He needed to find a place to stay.

He remembered the rocky forest he had passed through earlier on the Floating Island; it was right in the center of the island.

Several giant boulders were stacked haphazardly, naturally forming some semi-enclosed gaps.

It wasn't great, but it was better than being out in the open.

Along the way, he had also collected quite a few branches.

He picked them up as he walked, taking all sizes, and by the time he reached the edge of the rocky forest, his arms were full.

This place was bigger than it looked from a distance.

Lin Ye walked around.

To the north, three giant boulders formed an irregular concave shape.

The bottom was dry, and there was a slanted boulder overhead acting as a shield.

This will do.

He placed his backpack in the innermost part, leaning against the rock wall.

Then he squatted down and began to work.

He first scavenged around the area; there was plenty of dry fallen leaves and withered grass, so he gathered two large armfuls.

He grabbed a handful of withered grass and rubbed it, repeating the process several times until it turned into loose grass powder.

He piled it into a fist-sized ball and placed it on the ground.

He took out the flint from his backpack.

He held the flint against the pile of grass powder, tilted the blade of his dagger at a forty-five-degree angle, and scraped it quickly.

Sparks flew out and landed on the grass powder.

It didn't catch.

The second strike.

"Hiss—"

White smoke emerged from the edge of the grass powder, and an orange-red bright spot ignited.

Lin Ye leaned down, brought his lips close, and blew gently.

The breath couldn't be hurried; too strong would blow it out, too weak wouldn't feed it.

The bright spot expanded into a small patch.

He quickly covered it with dry fallen leaves and continued to blow.

With a "poof," the flame flared up.

He added thin branches, then some thicker ones.

Ten minutes later, a campfire was crackling, and the firelight illuminated the three rock walls in a warm orange hue.

Lin Ye took his sleeping bag out of the backpack and laid it on the flat ground in the innermost corner.

After doing this, he sat cross-legged, the heat of the campfire washing over his face.

He took the cloud berry shell out of the side pocket of his backpack.

There was still a thick layer of fruit flesh left in the shell, which he could scrape off and eat.

He placed his dagger against the edge of the fruit flesh.

He paused for a moment.

He stared at the fruit flesh for two seconds, then put the shell back down.

He fished out the last intact cloud berry from his backpack.

"Screw it, let's hand in today's supplies first."

He tossed the fruit in his hand.

"Back home, there must be people more anxious than me."

...

In the Great Xia Live Stream, the speed of the scrolling comments suddenly slowed down.

[…He didn't even eat it himself, and he's thinking about uploading first?]

[There's only one left, and he's going to upload it?]

[Brother Eye-Gouger, eat your fill first! How much can this thing be worth!]

[Damn… who's cutting onions…]

In the video, Lin Ye placed the cloud berry on the open ground.

He pressed the terminal on his left wrist.

A translucent blue 3D light frame, one cubic meter in size, projected out and enveloped the lone cloud berry on the ground.

A prompt popped up on the right eye's light screen.

[Target material detected: cloud berry × 1]

[Confirm upload?]

"Upload."

The light frame contracted, and the cloud berry dissolved into points of light.

Immediately after, the voice of the National Destiny Challenge rang out simultaneously across Blue Star.

[Great Xia Challenger: Lin Ye, successfully uploaded material!]

[Detecting…]

[Material: cloud berry]

[Quality: Perfect]

Lin Ye was stunned.

Perfect?

He remembered that when he watched the livestream before, the first batch of Challengers had uploaded quite a few things.

Most were "Standard," and the highest one was only "Excellent."

What tier is Perfect?

Before he could collect his thoughts, the broadcast rang out again.

[Triggered 10,000x Critical Hit!]

Lin Ye swallowed hard.

10,000x?

That would be…

[Due to the first appearance of "Perfect" quality material, the critical hit multiplier has increased…]

[Triggered 100,000x Critical Hit!]

[The material will be dropped into the Great Xia official dedicated warehouse.]

Once the news was out, the whole world froze.

Whether domestically or abroad, everyone was stunned.

Great Xia.

In the plaza of the dedicated warehouse for National Destiny resources.

Logistics staff member Old Zhao was holding an enamel cup, which slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground.

"Clang!"

Countless cloud berries poured down, piling into a small mountain on the ground.

Old Zhao's legs were shaking as he picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Re… report, the plaza is completely piled up!"

Meanwhile, in the Great Xia Live Stream, countless viewers flooded in.

[100,000x! 100,000x critical hit ahhhhh!!]

[One fruit! Just one fruit!]

[Perfect quality! The first in the world! Brother Eye-Gouger, what kind of deity are you!]

[I'm crying, I'm really crying; this kid didn't even eat earlier!]

[Who said he was a waste earlier? Stand up!]

The comments in the overseas livestreams also went crazy, but this time, it was Great Xia IDs counter-attacking abroad.

[South Korea: Sibal! Why? Our strongest Challenger is only "Excellent"!]

[Great Xia: Because you don't deserve it.]

[USA: Cheating! It's definitely cheating! Demand a thorough investigation!]

[Great Xia: Did we say anything when you uploaded leaves? We upload one fruit and you break down?]

[Japan: Baka! How can a cloud berry be of Perfect quality!]

[Great Xia: Picked 1 out of 13, did you see that? If you're bad, practice more; if you can't afford to lose, don't play!]

[USA: Fuck you…]

[Great Xia: Look, you're getting anxious again! Read more books and go learn some new words!]

Commentator Chen Guofeng slapped the table, causing the microphone to bounce.

"Good lad! Damn it, that was beautifully done!"

"Did that bunch of jealous foreigners see clearly? Are your eyes working or not!"

Although Xu Mingyuan was happy, he truly didn't understand.

For the same item, the highest before was only "Excellent"; why was Lin Ye's "Perfect"?

This isn't scientific!

Su Qinglan stood up, her tone steady.

"Congratulations to Lin Ye for creating the world's first 'Perfect Quality' material feedback record for Great Xia."

"100,000x critical hit."

"Not only is it a replenishment of resources, it is also a loud slap in the face to all the doubters!"

The comments were filled with exclamation marks and national flags.

...

Lin Ye sat in front of the campfire, his mind still a bit dazed.

One cloud berry, 100,000 back to Great Xia.

100,000x critical hit, Perfect quality.

He could almost conclude that this had everything to do with whether or not that fruit had gray spots.

Before he could fully process it.

A voice appeared alone in his ears.

[Congratulations to Challenger Lin Ye, you are the first Challenger to provide feedback on "Perfect Quality" material.]

[Achieved special achievement: A Perfect Beginning!]

[Reward has been dropped!]

"Thud."

A wooden box descended from the sky and landed next to the campfire in front of him.

The dagger in Lin Ye's hand was still in the position of scraping the fruit flesh.

The firelight reflected on the wooden box, flickering incessantly.