Survival at Sea: I Became Number One by Growing Mushrooms

The base leader smiled and said, "Everyone else went to the base gate to greet them. Those outside haven't returned yet; they're still leveling up."

For example, Xu Jiawei knew about Si Yunming and the others, since Little Grey, Little Pink, and Red Earthworm hadn't returned yet. They were with Si Yunming and the others, so naturally, Si Yunming and the others hadn't come back.

That's why she decided to attend this meeting. None of the high-level players have returned, leaving only a group of old, weak, and disabled people who will be bullied to death by those nobles.

Even if players have earned prestige, if they only talk about cooperation with players at level 30 or 40, it will not only seem like they are not valued, but even these high-ranking nobles will look down on them, making cooperation even more difficult to negotiate.

The leaders knew this, but nothing was more important than the players leveling up. They tried their best to protect the players and let them level up in peace. So the message they sent was just a casual question: come back if you can, and if you can't, keep leveling up.

Xu Jiawei's seat was very close to the front, arguably the most important one. Soon, a commotion arose outside, and a large group of people entered the conference hall. Among them were player leaders, officials, nobles, and their servants. Leading the way was the king of the powerful nation who had made a bet with Xu Jiawei.

He was dressed in magnificent clothes, adorned with all sorts of gemstones, even his shoes were inlaid with pearls. His beard was meticulously combed and tied up with gemstone ornaments. On his head was a uniquely styled crown ornament. Perhaps it couldn't be called a crown, but Xu Jiawei felt that the ornament served the same purpose as a crown—both were symbols of status.

Upon seeing Xu Jiawei, he nodded slightly to her, a sign of respect for this powerful woman. Although Xu Jiawei was of low rank and very young, her strength was by no means weak and she deserved respect. This proud king did not mind greeting a strong person and partner politely.

Xu Jiawei nodded in return, maintaining the same politeness.

Upon seeing Xu Jiawei, the previously noisy crowd instantly fell silent, and the contemptuous looks from the nobles disappeared. Xu Jiawei's previous battle with old man Henry had proven her strength, making them extremely wary.

She can take on eight people by herself; her strength is among the highest in the room, and she deserves our utmost respect.

These nobles greeted Xu Jiawei one by one, and Xu Jiawei responded politely, her smile almost stiff. The players who had originally gone to greet them were all very shocked. They had never seen these annoying nobles be so polite to them before. They were all arrogant and never looked at people directly.

This gave players a clearer understanding that this is a world where strength reigns supreme, and they must become stronger in order to earn the respect of others.

Commander Zhang's face was sour. He thought he could finally slap these arrogant nobles in the face, but these nobles were still as arrogant as ever, and they didn't look down on the players at all. If they didn't look down on them, why did they come to cooperate with them? It was like they were begging for help but couldn't bring themselves to do it.

If they had been more assertive, they would have just driven the person away.

Unfortunately, they couldn't muster any backbone, since they were currently lacking in combat power. Of course, they couldn't show any desire for combat power here; they had to firmly grasp the initiative.

Commander Zhang clenched his fingers.

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone sat down to begin their discussions. The discussions were incredibly boring, and Xu Jiawei yawned several times, feeling like she was in a high school math class—it was very soporific.

Before she knew it, she had fallen into a drowsy state, the kind of drowsy state where she thought she was awake and was forcing herself to stay awake, but in reality she had already closed her eyes, and when she woke up, she found that she had already fallen asleep.

Xu Jiawei suddenly woke up with a start. No, had she been given some kind of sleeping drug? She thought her willpower was already very strong, and she could even go for days without sleep. How could she fall asleep here all of a sudden?

The negotiations were probably going very smoothly, which made it a bit boring. Of course, the meeting was able to proceed so smoothly thanks in part to Xu Jiawei's intimidation efforts; otherwise, there would have been a lot of wrangling and haggling.

Xu Jiawei then saw that everyone had signed the contract, which meant that the cooperation had been completed.

However, she didn't know what kind of cooperation was reached, since she had fallen asleep during the meeting.

After the meeting, everyone else left, and Xu Jiawei no longer had to endure it. She simply lay down on the table and fell asleep. The base leaders even asked others to be quiet when cleaning up the mess so as not to disturb her rest.

After all, Xu Jiawei's hard work was evident to all. She finally got a chance to rest, so they let her rest a little longer. They even lowered their voices.

Suddenly someone turned back. The base leader looked up and was very surprised. Why had the leader of that noble family returned? Shouldn't he be resting and preparing for the evening banquet? Why was he back? And why was he walking straight towards Xu Jiawei?

He seemed to want to talk to Xu Jiawei, and the base leader didn't know whether he should stop him or not. After all, Xu Jiawei was sleeping, and if this guy wanted to take advantage of her now, he couldn't stop him.

He thought about it and realized that even if he tried to stop them, he couldn't. He might as well just keep an eye on things from here. The staff finished cleaning up the meeting room and left, leaving only the base leader, Xu Jiawei, and this nobleman, maintaining a strange balance.

Xu Jiawei woke up as the nobleman approached. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the person walking towards her.

"I'm very sorry to have woken you up." The elderly king looked very polite.

Xu Jiawei shook her head, yawned, and said, "It's okay, I'm a light sleeper. Is there something you need?"

Otherwise, why would he turn back? This person definitely has something to ask him.

Sure enough, he nodded and looked at Xu Jiawei with a complicated expression, saying, "You are very strong. To defeat an 89-level veteran mage with a level 70 body is unheard of. Very few people can do a challenge above their level. You are the most special person I have ever met."

Xu Jiawei chuckled and shook her head, saying, "You're wrong. Most of the players here are capable of challenging opponents of higher levels. I'm not an isolated case."

The elderly king was quite surprised, seemingly not expecting Xu Jiawei to say such a thing: "You said most of the players here can challenge opponents far above their level? How is that possible?"

"Nothing is impossible," Xu Jiawei said calmly.

Why do you say that?

Xu Jiawei thought for a moment and said, "They all grew up under high pressure, always facing opponents far superior to themselves, teetering on the brink of life and death, so their combat power is naturally different from others."