Chapter 79: The Noble and Pure Councilor Xiao En

Land, ocean, and sky—the three combined make up the world.

Taking Blue Star as an example, land is the primary area for human activity, yet its total area accounts for only 29% of the planet's surface.

The ocean is far more vast than the land.

Although most instances currently focus on land, it is foreseeable that instances with the ocean as the main stage will inevitably appear in the future.

Even in island settings like the Quiet Town, the ocean is an unavoidable factor.

Once they fall into the sea, the vast majority of players can only exert ten to twenty percent of their true ability.

When that time comes, having or lacking an Ocean Kin transformation will directly decide the outcome of the match.

The Deep Water Society mentioned by Jianxing sounds like an organization centered on water attributes and the ocean; the importance of the Ocean Kin transformation to them goes without saying.

If they could obtain the Ocean Kin transformation, or directly grasp the secret of Quiet Town to secure a stable source of Deep Sea Gifts, it would allow the Deep Water Society to achieve a qualitative leap.

To be even bolder, it is not impossible for them to become the ocean overlords of the Abyss Game by relying on this.

No wonder the other side dispatched so many veterans into a C-rank instance that had only recently appeared.

To be honest, Wu Chang was tempted too.

If the fish-man form were a permanent change, he might hesitate; even if the change only occurred within the Abyss Game, the ugly appearance of a fish head on a human body, combined with the heavy, fishy stench emanating from the body, made him feel disgusted.

Strength creates beauty, but in the Inner World, when taking down Cold Stone, the fish-headed monsters had to rely on fish-sea tactics and the weakening effects of the Divine Envoy, which shows that the fish-man form is not strong enough on its own.

But if it were just a skill that could be toggled at will, the temptation would be much greater.

Having more skills never hurts; if he ever ran into Cthulhu in some instance plane, he could even use his appearance to negotiate a job change.

The problem now is how to obtain enough Golden Flying Fish and get them safely into his hands.

When he caught the Golden Flying Fish, in addition to the item attributes, the Town Councilor badge also popped up a notification.

"Due to the scarcity of Golden Flying Fish, mass harvesting will trigger the hostility of the townspeople. If more than five Golden Flying Fish are gathered together, they will emit an Ocean Kin aura. The Ocean Kin aura will attract townspeople who have just consumed Golden Flying Fish, leading to their continuous pursuit. Spatial abilities or items cannot mask the Ocean Kin aura. Ocean Kin aura duration: one hour."

Simply put, as long as he catches more than five Golden Flying Fish, he will be marked and hunted by the townspeople.

But obtaining the Ocean Kin transformation requires 15.

Who is five fish supposed to feed? If the foreigners next door saw this, they would think Councilor Xiao En couldn't afford to eat.

Wait, everyone in Brifer Town is a foreigner, so that's fine.

Wu Chang narrowed his eyes. His gaze flickered between the townspeople enjoying themselves in the water and the direction of the town. After thinking for a moment, he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, his eyes were gleaming with greed.

Opportunity knocks but once.

The Golden Flying Fish only appear once a month; if he misses this wave, he won't see another one before the instance ends.

The bold get stuffed, the timid starve! Screw it! Although the townspeople were extremely thirsty for the Golden Flying Fish, they were restrained by the rules, so they harvested them with great caution, which kept the density of the school of fish from dropping significantly.

Wu Chang reached out and grabbed, and two Golden Flying Fish appeared in his hand.

Taking advantage of the townspeople being immersed in the joy of eating fish, he threw the two Golden Flying Fish into his spatial backpack, reached out again, and threw two more into the backpack.

With four Golden Flying Fish in the spatial backpack, the townspeople indeed did not notice his anomaly.

The first step was a success.

The following steps were the focus of his plan.

The True Self clone, far away in the grocery store, opened the spatial backpack using the same permissions and transferred the four Golden Flying Fish into the store.

On Wu Chang's real body side, he quickly caught four more Golden Flying Fish and threw them into the backpack.

The townspeople in the scene still did not notice.

At this moment, the True Self in the town moved quickly, arrived at a forest, and took out the four fish from the spatial backpack.

When Wu Chang threw four Golden Flying Fish into the spatial backpack for the third time and the townspeople still hadn't noticed, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, revealing an expression that said, "Gotcha."

He had hit a bug in the judgment system.

The townspeople who had eaten the Golden Flying Fish had now revealed their true forms, turning into fish-headed monsters, floating on the water surface with their faces toward the sky.

They bathed in the moonlight, clutching the Golden Flying Fish in their hands, taking a bite from time to time, and making soft, murmuring sounds in their mouths.

The whole person—or rather, the whole fish—was floating in ecstasy.

What a perfect night; working hard for a whole month was just for this day.

The happy hour was about to begin... Huh? Mayor Harrison finished his first Golden Flying Fish first, and just as he reached out to grab a second, he found he had grabbed nothing.

Where were the fish?

Where was that huge school of fish!

Surprise and anger jolted him out of his intoxication.

He looked around frantically and discovered that the school of Golden Flying Fish was diving back beneath the surface, and the moonlight that had illuminated the entire water area was also being covered by clouds.

This was clearly a sign that enough Golden Flying Fish had been harvested and the divine grace had ended.

But the problem was, he had only eaten one! Harrison wanted to shout, "Who is going to make up for the nutrition I'm missing!"

The other townspeople also noticed the disappearance of the fish and woke up from their intoxication one after another, scanning each other with hostility and hatred.

Whoever ate their fish was their enemy!

Harrison was the first to lose his patience, shouting hysterically: "The divine grace has dissipated! Someone must have eaten more than they should have!"

"No, we cannot let that wretch go! We must drag them out, cut open their stomach, and wash their dirty heart and lungs with holy seawater!"

"Haha, I've got it! The beast who ate more fish must have a stronger scent of divine grace than anyone else. I can smell the scent of divine grace in that beast's mouth!"

The townspeople agreed with Harrison's words completely; they spontaneously stood in a line, waiting for Harrison's inspection.

Harrison hunched over, clutching a fish-killing knife, his gaze filled with murderous intent, reflecting an eerie light under the glow of the torches.

He checked all the townspeople one by one, but he did not find the culprit he had imagined.

"Impossible! They cannot not be here!"

"They must have used some method to hide! You can't fool me!"

Harrison clutched his forehead in distress, growling in pain, when suddenly he thought of something. He straightened up abruptly, flicked the fish-killing knife in his hand, and pointed it at Wu Chang, who was outside the crowd.

"It's you! It must be you, you filthy outsider! You ate the extra fish!"

Facing the biting blade, Wu Chang raised his hands high, holding one Golden Flying Fish in each hand.

He opened his mouth and said openly and honestly: "Mr. Mayor, I haven't eaten any fish yet. I am willing to accept any inspection."

Harrison walked around Wu Chang twice. He found nothing unusual about Wu Chang and immediately fell into painful wailing again.

Only this time, his gaze was fixed tightly on the fish in Wu Chang's hands.

Noticing Harrison's gaze, Wu Chang said with a smile:

"I participated in the ceremony held by the Town Council not for divine grace; I simply love this town from the bottom of my heart, this town that is like heaven."

"Being recognized by everyone and becoming a member of the town is more important than anything else. I owe everything I have today to the support of the Mayor and the Sheriff, so I would like to give the two fish that belong to me today to the Mayor and the Sheriff."

After speaking, he took the initiative to hand the Golden Flying Fish to Harrison and Mo Leina.

Harrison snatched the fish. Having obtained the Golden Flying Fish and replenished the nutrition he was missing, his conscience and reason returned to his body.

Recalling what he had just done, he was so ashamed he couldn't find a place to hide.

Oh my god! What have I done! I actually slandered such a noble, upright, and pure young man! Harrison said self-reproachfully: "Xiao En, you are a good child. Forgive me; I lost my reason just now. In my heart, you are the last person who would ever do such a thing."

"Your selfless act brought me back to my senses and kept me from letting everyone be blinded by anger. Thank you for everything you have done for the town."

"Believe me, I will definitely compensate you."

Wu Chang smiled nonchalantly, "This is what I should do."

Look, he even has to thank us.

Harrison gripped the fish in his hand tightly and said to the townspeople: "Today's events might be a problem with the divine grace; it is not the fault of anyone among us. After I go back, I will investigate with Sheriff Mo Leina..."

Before Harrison could finish his sentence, all the townspeople in the scene, except for Wu Chang, suddenly turned their heads, their gazes fixed on the town.

They felt a familiar aura there.

It was the aura of divine grace.

A thief!

There really was a thief! Kill that fish-stealing thief!

In an instant, anger once again clouded the townspeople's reason, and they roared as they rushed toward the town.

(End of chapter)