Chapter 25: A New Game, A New Life

After settling everything, Chen Fang went to sleep early due to exhaustion, while Chen Lai took his new friend, Zhang Long, out for a meal.

"You’re the 'Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon' who evacuated from the [Shibuya Incident]!?"

Zhang Long had only asked for Chen Lai’s gaming ID out of casual curiosity; he never expected to hear the name that had been trending so widely on the forums lately.

"A pleasure, truly! You’re a real hidden gem. I watched your livestream playback—you were incredible, brother. Your tactical logic is so sharp, and your understanding of that dungeon is profound. You earned every penny of that payout!"

Zhang Long shook Chen Lai’s hand with excitement. Seeing the strange looks from other patrons in the restaurant, he lowered his voice to continue the conversation.

Chen Lai waved it off. "Just luck, pure luck."

"Too modest! Come, let’s have a drink... Tsk, tsk. I was actually going to offer to teach you some build strategies, but it seems that would have been like teaching a fish how to swim!"

"No, no, I really don't know the ins and outs of this stuff. Managing to extract with good loot was mostly down to luck. I only just received my academy acceptance letter, so I still need to ask the pros about a lot of things..."

"Hahaha, straightforward! Tell you what, buddy, let’s hop into the game after we finish this meal. We’ll run a session together!"

Zhang Long was clearly the outgoing, generous type of gamer. Having taken a liking to Chen Lai, he invited him to join him for a dungeon run.

Chen Lai actually had some questions regarding the [Great Maelstroms], such as what they were supposed to do when none of the dungeons had any major events active.

"What to do?" Zhang Long swirled his glass slightly. "Enter dungeons you think have potential, gather intel, and bring it back to discuss with friends at the Dumpling Academy. They’re quite adept at synthesizing experience."

"For example, a player once entered the [Titan] dungeon. The supernatural power in that realm was weak, with only the Nine Titans being truly rare, but the player couldn't find any items marked as [Unique]..."

"He waited until the one-month limit to extract, then discussed it with instructors at the Dumpling Academy. Their advice was: 'Eat!'"

"Since the Titans eat humans, the player likely needed to consume them to seize their power. The player returned to the dungeon, devoured the [Jaw Titan], and sure enough, collected a gold-tier unique item and successfully extracted."

"All that to say, for those of us who are deep-sea gold miners, this game is both our life and our job. Everyone in this apartment is busy studying different Maelstroms, trying to decipher the composition of the powers within. Maelstroms appear and vanish at any time; that means we have to race against the clock!"

As they spoke, Zhang Long’s phone alarm went off. He checked it to see a notification from the Deep Sea Forum.

"Look at this. The [Shibuya Incident] closed less than a month after it opened. That means our deep-sea collision with that planet has ended."

Chen Lai took the phone. The Maelstrom known as the [Shibuya Incident] had indeed vanished from the seafloor, replaced by a new one named [Pretty Friend].

"Judging by the size, this one should be a tier below the Shibuya Incident. It’s not a classified-level dungeon, so the entry fee shouldn't be too high."

"Want to head in and check it out together?" Zhang Long suggested, glancing casually at the name of the new Maelstrom.

Chen Lai hesitated. He had actually wanted to go back into the more familiar dungeons to make money—places like [Ninja Era], [2077], or [Great Voyage]... dungeons where he knew exactly what to expect.

"How about we head into [Great Voyage] and look around?" Chen Lai tried to stick to his comfort zone.

"Those stable Maelstroms you mentioned? I’d advise against it. Veteran players have already picked those dungeons clean, and the gold miners' actions have provoked the natives. It’s a lot of effort for very little reward right now."

Zhang Long shook his head, unwilling to elaborate further.

"Alright then." Chen Lai nodded. If the "plot" he knew had already been altered by other players, he would indeed be at a disadvantage. It would be better to try his luck in a new dungeon.

Seeing Chen Lai agree, Zhang Long grinned, greeted the restaurant owner, and insisted on picking up the tab before dragging Chen Lai out the door.

Chen Lai had intended to pay, but realized that students admitted to the [Vinegar Academy] clearly weren't short on cash, so he let it go. He figured he could just give him a larger share of the loot in the dungeon to make up for the meal.

Among men, a greeting is enough to become friends, and a meal is enough to walk with arms draped over each other's shoulders. And so, Chen Lai and Zhang Long walked back to the dormitory in high spirits.

Several students were discussing matters in the dorm lobby. They greeted Zhang Long upon seeing him and were quite friendly toward Chen Lai as well.

"Hey guys, how much did you pull from the Maelstrom? Any unique items?" Zhang Long asked with a smile.

A man with long hair, looking somewhat like an art student, gave a wry smile. "Don't tease us, Brother Zhang. Unique items aren't that easy to come by."

Zhang Long nodded, gestured to Chen Lai in front of his own room, and agreed to meet at nine o'clock.

Chen Lai signaled his understanding and opened his own door. His mother, Chen Fang, was busy cleaning their new home and didn't pay him much mind as he entered.

Grabbing an apple from the table, Chen Lai slipped into his room and called out, "Mom, I’m going to play some games, don’t worry about me."

He locked the door, stripped off his shirt, and stood before the massive, twenty-to-thirty-square-meter deep-sea fish tank that occupied the room.

The room was dark, but the fluorescent blue glow of the tank created a dreamlike atmosphere, reminiscent of the man-eating lake from *Life of Pi*.

Shedding the rest of his clothes, Chen Lai jumped in, sank to the bottom, and let his consciousness drift away.

[Welcome to the Deep Sea Game]

Icebergs, a penguin island—a fat seagull flew over from the distance and dropped several codfish, which were actually friend requests. Chen Lai ate them one by one.

"Deadly Tiger" had been livestreaming from a 5,000-credit entry Maelstrom, but as soon as he saw Chen Lai come online, he chose to abandon his gear and drift over to Chen Lai’s location.

At this moment, Chen Lai was chatting with Zhang Long. Zhang Long’s avatar, [Reincarnated Dump Truck], looked quite stylish as a western-style penguin wearing a cowboy hat.

"Here’s what you do: buy a box of Kowloon Potion, get a Military-Grade Martial Arts skill, and finally, grab some General-Purpose Deep Sea Powder to sprinkle into the fish tank."

"That’s going to cost about 400,000... do you have enough?" Zhang Long pulled up a few cheap items from the [Deep Sea Market] and held them out for Chen Lai to see.

Chen Lai checked his bank account. Between the 140,000 from his livestream and the 300,000 from Qing Bingke, it was just enough to cover the cost.

"Enough," Chen Lai said, gritting his teeth.

"Good. That’s all you need for your early-stage physical growth. Now, let’s get into the dungeon." Zhang Long nodded and eagerly pulled him toward the [Pretty Friend] Maelstrom.

"I’ll set it to passive mode and livestream your run, is that okay?" Deadly Tiger caught up, his eyes fixed on Chen Lai.

"It’s up to you, I don’t mind." Zhang Long glanced at Chen Lai and flapped his wings.

"Fine, just the three of us. [Pretty Friend], initiate!" Chen Lai nodded and was the first to jump into the newly opened Maelstrom.