Volume One, Chapter 32: Red Ocean 3: The Star-Sea World

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Rumble—!

Everyone standing near the bathhouse was startled and instinctively retreated several steps. From where they stood, the entire bathhouse had turned deep crimson.

Through the rough glass door, they could see thick red currents of electricity racing through the interior. They moved so quickly that they seemed even faster than the thunderbolts in the heavens.

The entire bathhouse appeared to have become a pool of lightning!

The red lightning was blindingly bright. Even with the thick glass door between them, their eyes still stung, and tears streamed uncontrollably down their faces.

The sight was utterly terrifying. They had lived for decades, yet never witnessed anything so shocking.

Amid the crowd’s cries of alarm, Song Ling’er and Yun Yi arrived. The moment they saw what had happened to the bathhouse, their eyes widened.

“Could it be an electrical leak?” Yun Yi asked.

He refused to believe that such an extraordinary phenomenon had been caused by Chen Fan. He would much rather believe that it was an accident.

Accident or not, however, he did not dare approach recklessly. He did not believe he could withstand those terrifying red bolts of lightning.

“Is it an electrical leak? Should we go save him?” the people nearby asked, bewildered and uncertain of what was happening.

“How incredible.”

Song Ling’er stared fixedly at the glass door, her eyes shining.

She did not believe this was an accident. Her instincts told her that the man inside the bathhouse was far from ordinary.

“Everyone, disperse. He’s fine.”

Ye Feng’s voice rang out. He stood on the open-air deck in the distance, one hand resting on the railing as he instructed them.

Everyone nodded and scattered like frightened birds and beasts.

Ye Feng stared at the bathhouse door, his eyes filled with astonishment.

“He isn’t even a Level-One Executor, yet he has mastered a secret art… A man like that must never become an enemy, even if he cannot become a friend!”

His gaze shifted repeatedly. Then he thought of the mountain of troubles awaiting him in the Southern Region and sighed inwardly.

If he could bring Chen Fan back to the Southern Region and make use of him, perhaps many problems would resolve themselves.

Inside the bathhouse.

The thunderous lightning lasted less than thirty seconds. Every parasite inside and outside his body had already been electrocuted to death, so he voluntarily dispelled the Shock Formula.

His body trembled. He reached out to brace himself against the wall, his cheeks deathly pale.

He had previously taken two Longevity Potions. The red Longevity Potion increased the speed of cellular repair, while the golden Longevity Potion strengthened his cells.

After being continuously tempered by the golden Longevity Potion, his cells were now far stronger than before.

Although he could still endure the Shock Formula for only forty-some seconds—less than fifty—the backlash after dispelling it was no longer as severe.

At the very least, he no longer suffered from excruciating pain in his large and small intestines. There was only slight discomfort, which could be completely ignored.

He lowered his head and looked at the floor. The white tiles were covered with layers of dead maggots and roundworms.

They had been scorched into granular and elongated pieces of black charcoal.

He turned on the faucet and twisted it as far as it would go. Under the waterfall of cold water, the charred remains on the floor were washed into fine black powder and carried down the drain.

The parasites attached inside his body had also been destroyed by the power of the lightning. Though he could not see them, it was obvious that they too had been reduced to tiny pieces of black charcoal.

After washing himself clean, he took out a blue shirt and pair of trousers, intending to change. But the clothes passed straight through the bathroom door and landed on the floor outside.

“What’s going on?” Chen Fan asked, puzzled.

Catherine replied, “Idiot. Whether you’re retrieving an item or taking one out, the process is fundamentally based on ignoring physical obstacles. You don’t understand something so obvious?”

“I see! That’s actually a good thing. From now on, I can throw bombs through safes!”

Chen Fan truly had not known that. He gave an embarrassed smile, then took out the clothes again and changed.

He opened the bathroom door and retrieved the clothes from the floor, putting them back into his backpack. His movements were discreet, so no one noticed anything unusual. Even if they had, they would only have assumed it was some kind of superpower.

When he looked up, he immediately saw Ye Feng in the distance. Ye Feng stood on the deck with his back to him, both hands resting on the white railing as he gazed into the distance.

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Chen Fan looked around and immediately spotted Yun Yi.

This time, Yun Yi could no longer act arrogant. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

Although he stood perfectly straight, his legs trembled uncontrollably.

The tremors were barely perceptible, but they were real.

Clearly, he was afraid.

He was nothing more than an ordinary person. Even as a rich heir, he had only dared bully those weaker than himself. Once he encountered someone he could not afford to provoke, he too would feel… fear.

Hesitation and inner struggle appeared in his eyes. After a moment, he raised his foot and walked toward Chen Fan, prepared to offer a proper apology.

But Chen Fan turned his head away and walked forward, having no intention of acknowledging him.

Yun Yi froze where he stood, his expression becoming extremely ugly. No one had ever dared ignore him so completely.

He was furious, but he knew he could only endure it.

Chen Fan was absolutely not someone an ordinary person like him could afford to provoke.

He knew very well that if Chen Fan wanted to kill him, all he had to do was move a finger.

Under such circumstances, did he even have the right to be angry?

He did not.

Song Ling’er stood ahead and blocked Chen Fan’s path. She stared at him excitedly, as though admiring a rare treasure.

Chen Fan could not be bothered with her and prepared to walk around her.

“What do you mean by that? I’m your savior! Is this how you treat the person who saved your life?”

She looked displeased. Once again, she blocked Chen Fan, placing her hands on her hips and lifting her chin with an air of arrogance.

“I believe I already thanked you. What more do you want?”

Chen Fan spoke impatiently. He had never shown a pleasant expression toward people with ulterior motives.

She frowned delicately, unable to understand how Chen Fan could be so cold. No matter how she thought about it, she could not figure out what she had done wrong.

“Move.”

Chen Fan shoved her aside and strode toward Ye Feng in the distance.

“You…”

She glared fiercely at Chen Fan’s back, grinding her teeth as anger blazed across her face.

Chen Fan drew his long saber and stopped ten meters from Ye Feng.

Ye Feng was a Level-One Mutant, possessing astonishing speed. Although he did not display any obvious hostility, Chen Fan still had to remain on guard.

Ye Feng turned around, the corners of his mouth lifting into a faint smile.

“You should know by now that there are nine Primal Chaos Stone Inscriptions in this world, one in each region. To obtain one of these inscriptions, you need to gather various materials.”

He looked directly into Chen Fan’s eyes.

“The Skull Crystal is one of those materials.”

“But I must tell you that Skull Crystals are also divided into grades.”

“My immediate priority is obtaining the Primal Chaos Stone Inscription in the Southern Region. As for the one in the Eastern Region, I have no interest in it for the time being.”

“In the Southern Region, the required quality is a Level-One Skull Crystal, corresponding to a Level-One Mutant. And you still seem to be a long way from becoming a Level-One Mutant. Therefore, removing your head would be completely useless to me.”

“I understand.”

Chen Fan nodded. After confirming that Ye Feng had no intention of attacking, he put the saber back into his backpack, walked onto the deck, and stood at the edge, looking into the distance.

From the higher vantage point, Chen Fan’s field of vision was broader. At the same time, his brows drew together even more tightly.

Dozens of skeletons still floated on the surface of the water. They drifted silently, rising and falling with the waves.

Ye Feng also looked toward the endless sea of bones.

“Do you know where these skeletons came from?”

He did not make Chen Fan guess. Instead, he said solemnly, “There are many man-eating… monsters in this red ocean. The density of the red seawater is extremely high. After those monsters devour all the flesh from a human body, the remaining bones continue floating on the surface. That is all there is to it.”

“As for what kind of monsters they are, I’m not interested. I don’t care either.”

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Chen Fan’s heart jolted. He looked at Ye Feng in astonishment.

“If that’s the case, how dare you pilot a cruise ship here? Are you trying to get everyone on board killed? Do you have any humanity at all?”

Ye Feng laughed as though he had just heard the funniest joke of the year.

“This was arranged by the company. What choice do I have?”

He turned his head toward the passengers, who were chatting and laughing.

“Besides, this was their own choice. Before boarding, they all signed liability waivers. If they aren’t afraid of dying, why should I be?”

“It’s all for money?”

Chen Fan’s heart sank. His understanding of these capitalist conglomerates deepened once again. In any world, they seemed exceptionally skilled at extracting wealth and treating human lives as worthless.

Ye Feng looked at Chen Fan as though he were an idiot.

“What else could it be? Do you know how many Starsea Coins the Starsea Century Cruise Company can earn from a single voyage like this? Let me put it this way: we can go ten years without doing business, then live off the profits from one successful venture for the next ten years. Do you understand now?”

He looked Chen Fan up and down.

“You descended into the wasteland of the Eastern Region, so perhaps you don’t know this yet. This world is called the Starsea World. It is divided into nine regions, and Starsea Coins are the universal currency of the Starsea World. Of course, Starsea Coins are useless in the Eastern Region. Ha ha!”

He laughed again, then looked at Chen Fan with pity and patted him on the shoulder.

“Do everything you can to obtain the Primal Chaos Stone Inscription in the Eastern Region, then enter the Southern Region. The Southern Region is a prosperous world comparable to Earth. Danger and opportunity coexist there. I believe you can carve out a place for yourself.”

Chen Fan felt a chill in his heart. Capital’s instinct truly was the pursuit of profit. As long as there was money to be made, they would undertake any venture, no matter how dangerous. As long as the money was right, nothing else mattered.

Not even the lives of others.

Ye Feng knew what he was thinking.

“I don’t know what you plan to do next, but I’ve already made up my mind. If I can return, I will. If I can’t, I’ll simply live in the Southern Region from now on. The Southern Region is no worse than Earth—perhaps it is even better.”

Chen Fan remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“You may not care whether these people live or die. Their lives truly have nothing to do with you. But aren’t you afraid of losing your own life here?”

“And why can people from the Southern Region freely enter the Eastern Region, while people from the Eastern Region cannot freely enter the Southern Region?”

“That involves the level of the game’s laws. In the Southern Region, there is an official institution called the Starsea Pavilion. It has published a total of 1,356 verified game laws. Among them are two laws known as the Level Restriction Law and the Movement Restriction Law.”

He looked toward the boundless red sea.

“Under the Level Restriction Law, the highest level in the Southern Region is only Level Two, while the highest level in the Eastern Region is only Level One.”

“No creature’s… mutation level can exceed the maximum level permitted by the region. Take me, for example. I was originally a Level-Two Mutant, but after coming to the Eastern Region, I became a Level-One Mutant.”

“By the same principle, Level-Three, Level-Four, and even higher-level Mutants will automatically be reduced to Level One upon arriving here. This is the power of the law. It cannot be violated.”

“In other words, in this desolate Eastern Region, whether human or beast, the highest possible level is Level One.”

He lowered his head and looked at the red seawater beneath the cruise ship, a trace of disdain in his eyes.

“There may indeed be man-eating monsters in the sea, but they are ultimately only Level-One Mutated Creatures. This cruise ship is equipped with more than two hundred super cannons, enough to blast them to death.”

“I see.”

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief. He suddenly felt that his earlier thoughts had been somewhat extreme. Capital might pursue profit, but that did not necessarily mean every capitalist was heartless.

“You’ve already explained the Level Restriction Law. I’m all ears regarding the Movement Restriction Law.”

Ye Feng said, “Then let’s talk about the Movement Restriction Law. This law is actually the easiest to understand. The Eastern Region is the Primordial Land, equivalent to a prison that outsiders may freely visit.”

“The reason people from the Southern Region can come here so casually is that we are… ‘tourists’ visiting a prison.”

“Every creature inside the prison is a prisoner, regardless of where it came from. It must remain in this prison for its entire life and cannot go anywhere else. Naturally, it cannot enter the Southern Region at will.”

“As a prisoner, there is only one way to leave this prison: obtain the Primal Chaos Stone Inscription and raise your mutation level to Level One.”

“A Level-One Mutant is the minimum requirement for entry into the Southern Region.”

He looked at Chen Fan and smiled.

“Mutation level is merely the common term. Its official name is Starsea Level. The skills acquired upon advancement are not called mutation skills, but Starsea Skills. As for Mutants, that is only a popular term. Their official designation is Starsea Executors.”

“To use myself as an example, my Starsea Level is Level Two. In other words, I am a Level-Two Executor.”

Chen Fan nodded. A sense of enlightenment filled his heart, as though the clouds had parted and he could finally see the blue sky. Many of the doubts shrouding his mind were dispelled in that instant.

While they were talking, word of Chen Fan’s ability to control lightning had already spread throughout the entire colossal cruise ship.

Chen Fan had now become a god worshiped by tens of thousands of people.

They gathered at various locations across the ship and looked toward the open deck, all of their gazes fixed upon Chen Fan as they revered him as a divine being.

Even from far away, their cries of alarm and murmured discussions had already reached Chen Fan’s ears.

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