6: Chapter 6 The Runner-up of the Beautiful Country and the Oddball White Elephant

The surface of the wooden box had no markings; it was just plain wood.

Just as Lin Ye was about to lift the lid, the upload broadcast sounded again.

"Japan Challenger: Matsushita Teruko, successfully uploaded resources!"

"Resource: cloud berry"

"Quality: Flawed"

"Triggered 500x critical hit!"

Lin Ye pulled his hand back and brushed the dust off his knees.

500x.

100,000x.

A full 200x difference.

...

In the Great Xia Live Stream, the barrage comments practically blew the roof off.

"Is this the same fruit? I'm dying of laughter, guys!"

"The gap is just that big, get it? This is what you call dimensional reduction strike!"

"Brother Eye-Gouger is the GOAT!"

Overseas barrage comments also flooded in.

"Japan: You Great Xia people are rigging the system! Why is the gap so big!"

"Great Xia: Rigging my ass, if you've got the guts, go file a complaint!"

"Japan: Baka..."

"Great Xia: Look, getting anxious now, aren't you."

"Japan: ..."

"Great Xia: Run out of words? Learn from your daddy; at least know how to say 'fuck you'."

After a few snarky retorts, the Japanese ID played dead and went silent.

Not long after, the next broadcast arrived.

"USA Challenger: William Davis, successfully uploaded resources!"

"Resource: Dream Hemp Leaf"

"Quality: Good"

"Triggered 9,900x critical hit!"

The Great Xia Live Stream went silent for 0.5 seconds.

All the viewers burst out laughing, spitting out their food on the spot.

"Leaves! It's leaves again!"

"Good quality! 9,900x! Just 100 short of 10,000x!"

"This batch... it's definitely purer than the last one! Breaking Bad confirmed!"

"I just came back from the USA Livestream, they're all celebrating, the whole screen is William!"

"Celebrating for leaves... typical USA."

"Being able to find 'Good' quality shows they are professional in their line of work."

"USA Select, quality guaranteed."

Commentator Chen Guofeng's mouth twitched, and he forcibly held back his laughter.

He was a military expert after all; he absolutely could not lead the mockery of an allied nation.

Must maintain the demeanor of a great power!

Although... he really wanted to.

Su Qinglan immediately steered the topic back on track: "It seems Challengers from all countries are stepping up their efforts, let's continue to watch."

As soon as she finished speaking, a new broadcast arrived.

"India Challenger: Gupta, successfully uploaded resources!"

"Resource: Rock-Spined Lizard (Injured)"

"Quality: Standard"

"Triggered 1,000x critical hit!"

The style of the barrage comments changed abruptly.

"Wait a second, what does 'Injured' mean?"

"Guys! I just fled back from the India Livestream, I... I almost got a stye in my eye!"

"Tell us more! What happened?"

"Their Challenger, he... anyway, it was automatically censored, but the action was definitely unmistakable."

"...Huh?"

"Action? Using... a human stick?"

"Yeah, the sound that lizard made... it sounded painful just listening to it."

"No wonder it's injured, even an elephant would be crippled!"

"Lizard: In the end, I bore it all."

"Let's go! Group up to observe enemy intelligence! Let's see the India guy's stick technique!"

The number of people in the livestream dropped instantly, and Xu Mingyuan was shocked to find that Commentator Chen Guofeng beside him had already pulled out his phone.

"Teacher Chen, are you going to... observe too?"

Commentator Chen Guofeng didn't even look up, his thumb scrolling rapidly.

"Those brats are reckless; what if the intelligence is wrong? And I... am a professional."

Su Qinglan turned her head away, her shoulders trembling slightly.

In the following dozen minutes, upload broadcasts from various countries rose and fell one after another.

Other Great Xia Challengers also uploaded resources one after another.

The quality was mostly between "Standard" and "Flawed," with critical hit multipliers ranging from a few hundred to two or three thousand.

Nothing special.

When all the broadcasts ended, a bizarre reality was laid out before the world.

Apart from Lin Ye's 100,000x Perfect quality, the global second place in quality and critical hit multiplier was that leaf from the USA.

9,900x, Good.

"USA, took global runner-up with leaves."

"It's too surreal."

...

Level 1 Floating Island.

Lin Ye scraped the last bit of pulp from the shell, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed.

It wasn't full, but at least there was something in his stomach.

Rubbing his hands, he lifted the wooden box in front of him.

He lifted the lid.

The firelight shone inside, revealing a metal bracer lying at the bottom of the box.

It was matte black all over, and its length was just enough to cover his forearm.

The inside was lined with fine fabric, and at the top of the golden outer shell was a firing port, embedded with a three-clawed grappling hook.

The right eye's light screen automatically popped up with information.

"Name: Wind-Chasing Claw"

"Type: Special Equipment · Forearm"

"Built-in high-strength metal fiber cable, 100 meters long, with one-button rapid retraction."

"During the hook's flight, it is guided by weak air currents, slightly improving accuracy and stability."

Lin Ye took it out of the box and turned it over in his hands.

It was much lighter than expected, but the material felt cold and hard when pressed.

"This thing looks ten times better than the starting grappling hook!"

"South Korea: Unfair! Why do they get equipment rewards!"

"Get lost, if you have the ability, go turn in a Perfect quality resource yourself."

The viewers in the livestream saw a tool for island exploration.

But what was going through Lin Ye's mind was completely different.

100-meter range, rapid retraction.

What if it wasn't anchored to a cliff, but to an object?

Or vice versa, hook onto a high support point to pull himself away from a dangerous area.

Attack, or retreat to safety.

A tool for island exploration?

No, this is a god-tier item for a sneaky player.

He slid the Wind-Chasing Claw onto his right forearm; the fabric lining clung to his skin, fitting perfectly.

He slightly rotated his wrist; it didn't hinder any movement.

The initial grappling hook on the side of his backpack could now serve as a backup.

Lin Ye stood up and began the final preparations for the night.

First, he added a few thick branches to the campfire.

The flames flared up, illuminating the three rock walls surrounding him.

During the day, when he crossed the Floating Island, he hadn't seen any traces of other large creatures.

But not seeing them didn't mean they didn't exist.

In this world, no amount of caution is excessive.

Afterward, he crouched down and used his dagger to rake out the wood ash from the bottom of the campfire.

He scooped up a handful and sprinkled it carefully in a circle along the opening of the U-shaped enclosure formed by the three giant boulders.

The ash line wasn't wide—two fingers' width was enough—but it had to be continuous, without any breaks.

The alkalinity of the wood ash would irritate small reptiles and insects, and they would instinctively avoid it.

Regardless of whether the bugs of the Void Sea bought this or not, it was better than doing nothing.

After finishing all this, Lin Ye crawled into his sleeping bag.

He held the dagger in his hand, keeping it close to the edge of the sleeping bag.

With his back against the warm rock wall, the campfire crackled two meters away.

He stared at the dancing fire shadows, his nerves, which had been taut all day, finally relaxing a little.

At this time, Mom... must be worried sick!

Two and a half years since he transmigrated, the mother in this world had been excessively good to him.

She gave him a sense of belonging he had never experienced before.

Understanding that his left eye was inconvenient, she would always stuff a pack of tissues into his left pocket before he went out.

When washing dishes, she would place them all on his right side.

The furniture at home was all arranged around the field of view of his right eye.

As for his cheapskate of a dad... never mind.

In the two and a half years since he transmigrated, he'd only seen him once.

Even in the original owner's memories, the impression of his father was just one word... distant.

Regardless, he had to live.

Then he would scour this fucked-up world clean, to extend the lives of his family, and to extend the life of Great Xia.

The firelight gradually blurred.

Lin Ye closed his eyes, his breathing becoming long and steady.

...

Blue Star, Disaster Prevention Administration, Third Research Group.

The screen in front of Lu Chen was still lit, with two screenshots side by side.

On the left, it was the "Perfect" cloud berry uploaded by Lin Ye.

On the right, it was the "Flawed" cloud berry uploaded by Japan.

He had already used Great Xia's best analysis software to scan and compare them frame by frame several times.

Hue, saturation, texture distribution, juice refractive index...

All quantifiable visual parameters had deviations within the reasonable range of normal individual plant differences.

Lu Chen took off his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and put them back on.

He wrote two lines on a draft paper.

"Same species, same environment, no macroscopic visual difference."

"But the quality judgment results have a world of difference."

The pen tip hovered for a few seconds, then he added another line.

"Lin Ye saw something we cannot see."

The coffee on the table had long since gone cold; he picked it up and took a gulp.

Afterward, he created a new encrypted document on his computer.

"Challenger Lin Ye · Left Eye Hypothesis"

The cursor blinked on the blank page.