Survival on the Internet: A Bizarre Start at Sea

Su Zhisu was awakened by a strange buzzing sound in the air, which seemed to carry a kind of anxious rhythm.

He struggled to open his eyes, his vision blurry for a while before refocusing. Beneath him lay the cold wooden planks of the deck and cabin. His last memories from before losing consciousness last night flooded back—the hiss of the Deep One (juvenile), the watchful flames burning on the chilling harpoons, the crackling sounds of the eerie bone arms shattering…

I struggled to sit up and felt a gentle push from behind.

Looking back, he saw several eerie skeletal arms gently pressing against his back with their knuckles, their movements so gentle they didn't seem like those of skeletons. Once he was settled, they suddenly flew away, hovering, intersecting, and tumbling in the low air, their trajectories so light they were almost playful.

They can't speak or express emotions, but Su Zhixu could still feel that...excitement.

"Thanks so much to you guys last night!"

A smile appeared on Su Zhisu's lips.

He glanced at the weather forecast and his own status information:

[Current Area]: Sea of ​​Mysteries

[Time]: 11:03 AM the next day

[Environmental Conditions]: Cloudy, moderate visibility

[World's Strangest Value]: 67

[Area Oddity Value]: 9↑

[Health Points]: 61%/100%

[Rationality]: 78/100

After a whole night, his health points had miraculously recovered by 20%. Even more strangely, now that he'd just woken up, his health points were still steadily increasing—

[Health Points]: 65%/100%

"I didn't use any medicine..." Su Zhisu murmured to herself.

He suddenly remembered that before he lost consciousness last night, tiny white particles had been floating in the air, which remained unchanged after being burned by the Night Watch Heart Flame. He reached out his hand, and sure enough, a few more particles landed in his palm.

【Mysterious Dust】

[Information]: Angel among devils, a bizarre event that only occurs when the bizarre value is below 10. Each unit of dust restores 50% of health within 10 seconds after use.

[Hidden message: Even the best angel among devils is still a devil! So, what is the price?]

"The price..." Su Zhisu frowned. "My talent seems to be a bit of a riddle." He shook his head and decided to seize the immediate benefits first.

Knowing that the area's strangeness value was about to rise back to 10 points, Su Zhisu hurriedly gave orders to the ghostly bone arms.

"Collect this dust! Quickly!"

The skeletal arms immediately sprang into action. They opened their palms slightly, and the Night Watch Heart Flame ignited, forming a weak force field that gathered the white particles drifting in the air.

As the area's strangeness value slowly recovered to above 10 points, the [Strange Dust] suddenly disappeared. Su Zhisu opened the warehouse interface and found that he had collected a full 100 units.

Just then, the notification from the comprehensive website seemed to arrive belatedly.

[New Player Quest]: Survive for 24 hours, progress 100%, completed.

[Reward]: 500 Disaster Coins from the Comprehensive Network, Gathering Technique

The 500 Calamity Coins are secondary; the more crucial thing is the skill called [Gathering]!

This was to him like a thirsty man finding an oasis in the desert.

【Gathering Skill (Lv.1)】

[Description]: This is a gift from the game's community, given to players who have truly begun their journey to survival. After use, it allows you to gather resources from targets; the quality of the gathered resources depends on the user's gathering skill level. Note: Only applicable to non-living targets.

(Hidden information: The first time you collect a species of the same kind, it will always be a perfect collect.)

"Perfect harvest..." Su Zhisu's eyes lit up. He turned his gaze to the corpse of the Deep One (juvenile) lying on the deck.

If he, who hadn't yet mastered the [Gathering] skill, were to dismantle it, he would probably only obtain scattered materials. But now…

He reached out and used the Collection technique on the Deep One (juvenile).

There was no flash of blades, no tearing; only a few seconds later, the corpse collapsed silently like a sandcastle, turning into three items that floated quietly in the air:

【Crystallization of Strange Blood - Deep One】×1

[Quality]: Purple Epic

[Information]: An extremely rare blood crystal. A blood essence that can only be extracted from rare Deep Ones (larvae). It can be used directly to obtain Deep One blood, or for alchemy, rituals, or high-level enchanting.

(Hidden information: When using this, you need to complete a mental check with a difficulty of 80. Regardless of whether you succeed or fail, you will lose 100 mental points.)

[Deep Diver (Juvenile) (Complete Specimen)] ×1

[Quality]: Excellent Blue

[Information]: Only a perfectly collected specimen, a complete Deepdiver, has far greater research and trading value than fragmented material. This specimen retains its complete physiological structure and some spiritual remnants, making it suitable for scholars, collectors, or cultists (the latter should trade with caution).

[Condensed Resentment] ×1

[Quality]: Excellent Blue

[Information]: Formed from the extreme hatred and resentment of a Deep One (juvenile) before death. Can be used as a medium for curses, fuel, or alchemical material.

[WARNING]: Direct contact will lead to serious mental pollution.

Su Zhisu took a deep breath and put all three items into the warehouse. Especially the [Crystal of Strange Blood] containing the bloodline of the Deep Ones, the name alone exuded danger, but he knew that bloodline items were often the most valuable.

After dealing with the spoils, he went into the ship's cabin to check the inventory. When the warehouse interface opened, he was stunned.

Pale Sunfish x14

"So many?" He remembered that he had only caught three of the eerie bone arms yesterday, but he didn't expect that fourteen had accumulated overnight. It seemed that these bone arms were still working silently after he fell into a coma.

Just then, her stomach growled. Su Zhisu realized she hadn't eaten lunch yet.

He picked out the freshest pale sunfish, skillfully gutted it, removed the swim bladder, and sliced ​​it. The pan was bought yesterday, and the fish was fried right now. As the fish hit the pan, it sizzled, and the aroma of caramelized meat filled the air once more.

He tossed the fish bladder to the Ghostly Bone Arms, instructing them to make the Pale Water Bag, and also to process the remaining sunfish. Su Zhisu planned to sell the Pale Water Bag for money.

During a break from eating, Su Zhisu opened the pale water bag; the seawater that had been filled in yesterday had already been purified.

[The bizarre seawater after purification]

[Quality]: Excellent (Green)

[Information]: The purified waters of the Strange Sea can slowly restore one's sanity after drinking them.

"This is good stuff!"

Upon opening the personal information panel, I discovered that my sanity had indeed begun to slowly recover.

At this moment, Su Zhisu noticed that her level had reached lv.2 and her free attribute points had increased by 4.

Considering that she currently relies mainly on physical attributes to fight and does not yet have skills that involve mental attributes, Su Zhisu decided to add all 3 free attribute points to physical attributes and only keep 1 point for mental attributes.

[Player]: Su Zhisu

【ID】: Su

[Health Points]: 70%↑

[Level]: 2 (5%/100%)

[Occupation]: Survivor (Initial)

[Occupational Characteristics]: The Path to Survival

[Passive Skill]: Survival

[Skills]: Polearm Mastery lv.4, Gathering skill lv.1

[Talent]: A yearning for true freedom

[Free attribute points]: 0

[Physical body]: 12+1

[Mental Strength]: 10+1

[Rationality]: 78↑/100