Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 1159 - 310: Treasure Hunt in the Ruins, Former Overlord

The farther into the depths of the ocean one goes, the scarcer the players become.

The Floating Skateboard carried him two meters above the sea surface, cutting through the blue waters. From a high altitude, it looked like a silver blade sliced through blue silk, leaving a silver trail on the sea.

The wind howled past his ears, and occasionally flying fish leaped out from beneath the water.

In flight, the Explorer felt utterly at ease.

As noon arrived, the sky and sea changed color.

Thick clouds loomed from the horizon, lead-gray as iron.

The sea turned turbulent, like the arching and collapsing back of a giant beast.

The only choice was to increase the Floating Skateboard's altitude, weaving between storms and surging waves.

The earlier choice of flying close to the sea surface wasn't to enjoy the view but to conserve energy.

When flying close to the water, the airflow beneath the skateboard slowed due to sea-level blockage, increasing air pressure and creating additional lift, known as the ground effect.

During long-distance flights, this can significantly reduce energy consumption losses.

Soon, the erratically cloudy sea surface was hit by heavy rain.

The sky and sea merged into chaos, leaving only a gray-blue roar in sight.

The skateboard engine roared amidst thunder, traversing between lightning and thunderclaps.

The sea below seemed like a furious giant beast, with undercurrents stirring and occasionally erecting walls of waves tens of meters high, only to collapse instantly. The skateboard brushed past the crests of leaping waves, water spray cooling his ankles slightly.

Suddenly, a blue shadow broke the water surface.

It was a three-meter-long fish, its dorsal fin cutting through the waves like a blade. As it leaped into the air, the fish's eye met the Explorer's for a brief moment before it splashed back into the sea.

"Green Steel Fish!"

Seeing the fish's shape, the Explorer immediately identified the species.

Then, even amidst the storm, he switched to commentary mode, explaining that it was a very valuable spirit fish with a Trading House price not less than 1000 sacrificial power.

As the head of the Exploration Faction, the Explorer's live stream initially gained popularity from the "Qi Die Incident."

But later on, his abilities attracted a large audience of fans.

His stream was also recognized on forums as one of the most insightful among live streams.

In his live stream, players could always learn various knowledge, whether useful or not.

By late night, the Explorer finally emerged from the isolated storm zone, with the sea ahead calm as a mirror.

The skateboard continued to skim the water surface, startling a school of flying fish.

Nearby, there were hardly any signs of players, and out at sea, there were no landmarks to guide direction.

But as a player, having a map means never getting lost anywhere.

By evening, the outline of Mist Conceal Island gradually emerged in the distance. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Gray-white mist writhed like a living thing, enshrouding the island in an amorphous mystery.

Exposed outlines resembled the back of a giant whale, with black rocky reefs jagged and interlocking, sea spray exploding into white foam among the crevices.

The skateboard plunged through the wall of fog and slowly descended, the engine noise startling a flock of seabirds that flapped into the mist and vanished instantly.

Leaping off the skateboard, the vehicle automatically decomposed into pixel blocks adhering to him.

As he stepped onto the slippery rocks, the mist tangled around, carrying a chill that made him uncomfortable.

He even had a strange thought that the mist seemed hostile to him.

The sound of the sea behind him also became faint at this moment, as if entering another world.

The lush vegetation area on the island wasn't at the landing site. After checking his map, he moved toward the southeast.

Although he could travel faster using the Floating Skateboard, the island had numerous Monster encounters.

Flying vehicles were too conspicuous, easily attracting Monster attacks.

Walking along, he saw numerous caves with dark openings lining the coastline.

Glow-in-the-dark moss covered the stone walls, charting a bioluminescent pattern like a covert surveillance network.

During this time, the Explorer also analyzed his speculations in the live stream:

"Brothers, our landing site is on the southwest side of the island, while the dense vegetation area visible on the map should be to the southeast, where the terrain is higher and the mist thinner. The advertisement image back then didn't show any mist, so the southeast will be my next exploration target."

It wasn't his first visit here; many plants had already been documented in his illustrated guide, so there wasn't much scientific introduction along the way.

Just then, a roar echoed from afar, prompting the Explorer to quickly crouch behind a boulder.

He cautiously observed the surrounding situation.

Seeing the taunting comments in the live stream, the Explorer looked a bit helpless:

"It's not that I'm scared, but I want to avoid confrontation considering safety. It wasn't easy getting here, I don't want to die and return to the little black room."

Hearing his words, a torrent of bullet comments filled the stream, with the Taunt even louder.

This made the Explorer blush slightly, and he retorted:

"Actually, being scared can be categorized into two types."

"Some gamers are as cautious as if walking on thin ice, mainly due to survival anxiety in the real world reflecting into the game world. They aren't afraid of game Monsters, but subconsciously interpret death penalties as workplace KPIs, instinctively equating reckless behavior in the game with performance evaluation, letting the timidity in real life seep into the game world, turning game-playing into a nerve-wracking experience. This essentially duplicates a corporate drone's DNA into the game, this is true cowardice."

"The other kind of fear arises from rational risk assessment, which is also a sign of respecting the exploration journey. Essentially, it's not cowardice, it's... caution."

The Explorer's candid analysis had the live stream players and guests laughing out loud.