Chapter 79: The Noble and Pure Councilor Xiao En

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

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

The ocean is far vaster than the land.

Although most current instances are land-based, it can be foreseen that in the future, instances with the ocean as their main stage are inevitable.

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

Once one falls into the sea, the average player can only bring out one or two tenths of their full ability.

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

The Deep Water Society that Jian Xing mentioned sounds at first hearing like an organization built around water attributes and the ocean; the importance of the Ocean Kin transformation to them goes without saying.

If one could obtain the Ocean Kin transformation, or directly master the secret of Tranquil Town and gain a route that steadily produces Deep Sea Gifts, it would allow Deep Water Society to achieve a qualitative leap.

To be bolder, using this to directly become the ocean hegemon of the Abyss Game is not impossible.

No wonder they sent so many veterans into a C-rank instance that had only just appeared.

To be honest, Wu Chang was tempted too.

If the fish-person were a permanent change, he might have hesitated; even if the change only manifested within the Abyss Game, the ugly look of a fish-headed, human-bodied creature and the heavy fishy stench emanating from its body both disgusted him.

Strength begets beauty, but when taking Cold Stone in the Inner World, the fish-head monsters still had to rely on fish-sea tactics and the weakening from the Divine Envoy — clearly the fish-person form isn't strong enough.

But if it's merely a skill that can be toggled on and off at will, the temptation is far greater.

More skills never weigh one down; if he ever ran into Boss Cthulhu in some instance plane, he could leverage his appearance advantage to discuss a job switch.

The current problem is how to obtain enough Golden Flying Fish, and to do so safely.

When he caught a Golden Flying Fish, besides the item's attributes, the Town Councilor Badge also popped up a prompt.

"Because Golden Flying Fish are scarce, mass harvesting will incur the townsfolk's hostility. When more than five Golden Flying Fish gather together, they will generate an Ocean Kin aura. The Ocean Kin aura will attract townsfolk who have just eaten Golden Flying Fish, drawing sustained pursuit and killing from the townsfolk; spatial abilities or items cannot mask the Ocean Kin aura. Duration of the Ocean Kin aura: one hour."

Simply put, as soon as he harvests more than five Golden Flying Fish, he will be marked and hunted by the townsfolk.

But obtaining the Ocean Kin transformation requires fifteen.

Just five like that — who is that even enough for? If the foreign devils next door saw, they'd think Councilor Xiao En couldn't afford more.

What, everyone in Bluff Town is a foreign devil? Then never mind.

Wu Chang narrowed his eyes; his gaze drifted between the townsfolk in the water eating themselves silly and the direction of the town, and after a moment's thought, he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, greed flickered in his pupils.

Opportunity knocks but once.

The Golden Flying Fish only appear once a month; miss this wave, and even waiting until the instance ends won't bring another.

The bold die of fullness, the timid die of hunger! Damn it all! Although the townsfolk crave the Golden Flying Fish intensely, constrained by the rules they fish with extreme restraint, so the density of the school hasn't noticeably dropped.

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

While the townsfolk were immersed in the joy of eating the fish, he tossed two Golden Flying Fish into his spatial backpack, struck again, and tossed two more into the spatial backpack.

With four Golden Flying Fish sitting in the spatial backpack, the townsfolk indeed failed to notice anything amiss.

First step, success.

The next step was the real focus of his plan.

His True Self avatar, far away in the general store, opened the spatial backpack with the same authority and transferred the four Golden Flying Fish into the general store.

On Wu Chang's true body's side, he swiftly caught four more Golden Flying Fish and tossed them into the backpack.

The townsfolk in the area still hadn't noticed.

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

When Wu Chang threw four more Golden Flying Fish into the spatial backpack for the third time, and the townsfolk still hadn't noticed, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, revealing a "gotcha" expression.

He had found a loophole in the judgment.

The townsfolk who had eaten the Golden Flying Fish now all revealed their true forms, transforming into fish-head monsters, floating belly-up on the water's surface.

They bathed in the moonlight, Golden Flying Fish clutched in their hands, occasionally lifting them to their mouths to take a bite, soft murmurs spilling from their lips.

Their whole being — to be precise, their whole fish — was floating in bliss.

Truly a perfect night; working hard for a whole month was all 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 for a second, he found his hand closing on empty air.

Where are the fish?

Where is my huge school of fish!

Shock and fury jolted him awake from his reverie.

He looked around frantically, and saw the Golden Flying Fish school diving back beneath the surface; the moonlight illuminating the waters was also being covered by clouds.

This was clearly the sign that enough Golden Flying Fish had been caught and the Divine Blessing had ended.

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

The other townsfolk also noticed the school vanishing, and one by one snapped out of their reverie, faces full of hostility and hatred as they scanned each other.

Whoever ate their fish was their enemy!

Harrison couldn't hold back first, shouting hysterically: "The Divine Blessing has dissipated — someone must have eaten what they shouldn't have!"

"No, we can't let that bastard off! We have to drag him out, cut open his belly, and wash his filthy heart and rotten lungs with holy seawater!"

"Haha, I've got it — the beast who ate more fish must carry a stronger Divine Blessing than anyone else; I can smell the Blessing on that beast's breath!"

The townsfolk wholeheartedly agreed with Harrison's words, and voluntarily lined up, waiting for Harrison's inspection.

Harrison hunched over, a fish-gutting knife gripped in his hand, killing intent radiating from his gaze, reflecting an eerie light in the torchlight.

He inspected every townsfolk one by one, yet did not find the culprit he had imagined.

"Impossible! He can't not be here!"

"He must have used some method to hide — you can't fool me!"

Harrison clutched his forehead in anguish, groaning low in pain, then suddenly thought of something and jerked upright, flicking the fish-gutting knife in his hand to point at Wu Chang outside the crowd.

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

Facing the glint of the blade, Wu Chang raised both hands high, each one holding a golden flying fish.

He opened his mouth and declared openly, "Mr. Mayor, I haven't eaten any fish yet. I'm willing to submit to any inspection."

Harrison circled Wu Chang twice. He found nothing unusual on Wu Chang, and immediately fell back into anguished wailing.

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

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

"I took part in the ceremony held by the town council not for the divine blessing, but because I genuinely love this little town from the bottom of my heart — this little town that is like paradise."

"Being recognized by everyone and becoming a member of the town is more important than anything. Everything I have today is thanks 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."

Having said that, he took the initiative and handed the golden flying fish to Harrison and Mo Leina.

Harrison snatched the fish at once. Getting the golden flying fish made up for his missing nutrition, and conscience and reason returned to his body.

Recalling what he had just done, he was so ashamed he wished the earth would swallow him up.

Oh heavens! 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 least likely person to do such a thing."

"Your selfless act has sobered me up and stopped me from letting everyone be swept away by anger. Thank you for everything you've done for the town."

"Trust me, I will definitely make it up to you."

Wu Chang smiled lightly, as if it were nothing. "It's what I should do."

Look, he even has to thank us.

Harrison gripped the fish tightly in his hand and said to the townsfolk, "What happened today may have been a problem with the divine blessing; it isn't the fault of any one of us. When I get back, I will investigate with Sheriff Mo Leina…"

Before Harrison could finish speaking, every townsfolk in the field except Wu Chang suddenly twisted their heads, their gazes turning in unison toward the little town.

There, they sensed a familiar aura.

It was the aura of the divine blessing.

Thief!

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

In an instant, anger once again clouded the townsfolk's reason, and they howled as they charged toward the little town.

(End of this chapter)