Wasteland Development Diary

The guest departed.

Linqin looked at the Farmer Doll on the chair, waving its tentacles: "Sir, this is important treasure information we have. I'm worried about telling it to them directly..."

"He'll go alone in secret?"

"Sir, since Zhou Yi was able to salvage the 'Sea Crossbow' under the noses of the Shuanghe region before, it's not impossible. We must be careful."

"Reasonable."

The doll's active jaw moved up and down: "If Zhou Yi bypasses me to attack the Sashimi Man, I can see how much he's really capable of."

"However, he won't do that."

"Currently, the Wasteland Development Company... or rather, the entire Development Alliance, is being sanctioned by the Mechanical City Clusters. He needs to find a way out of this tight blockade. Creating more enemies and further escalating regional conflict is not what he wants to see."

The doll paused for a moment: "Failure is always unavoidable. The most important thing is to live in the present. He needs to recognize who can be a friend and who is an enemy right now. Zhou Yi and I are the same in this regard."

"Last winter, he and I were enemies. Now we can be friends with aligned interests. Only by rationally utilizing each relationship cycle can we find opportunities in the changing environment."

"Zhou Yi will agree because he also needs to change."

A look of realization dawned in Linqin's eyes, and it gestured with its tentacles, sighing: "Sir, you are truly far-sighted, seeing through the essence of things."

"Do you know what your biggest problem is?"

The doll suddenly asked.

"I am ignorant, please remind me, sir."

"Your acting is terrible."

A hint of disdain appeared in the doll's eyes: "Those crude attempts to play dumb, those exaggerated flattery and praise, might be enjoyable if I didn't use my brain. Unfortunately, I'm a professional when it comes to acting. It's hard not to be distracted."

Linqin lowered its head and said: "I'm very sorry for distracting you."

"Do you know where your flaw lies?"

The doll stood up, gesturing with both hands: "When you enter praise mode, you often unconsciously add physical language, like a masking instinct or to strengthen your emotional output. It's too focused on performance."

"Observe those two mountain dogs behind you more. Their flattery is very natural. Sometimes, I can't tell if they're doing it on purpose or if it's genuine. At least in the field of performance, they are indeed natural."

"In the future, I will definitely work hard to improve."

Linqin said seriously.

...

Outside of Harvest City.

Inside Room 3101 of Emerald City.

Zhou Yi told Yuanxiao about the proposal regarding the Overwhelmed Duke.

"This involves highly dangerous combat in the Dead Sea. Your opinion is crucial."

"I am willing to participate in the battle."

Speaking of battle, her red eyes immediately sparkled: "Hunting and combat are the areas I have honed for many years."

Zhou Yi's main concern was:

The core of the strategy against the Sashimi Man is the Annunciation Angel and its mutual explosion.

"Can you withstand it?"

"I can."

Yuanxiao revealed a look of reminiscence: "There are rumors about the Sashimi Man in the distant ocean. It is a very rare and uncommon special monster, born with A-level strength. I didn't expect to find it here."

"Although I have not directly dealt with it, the previous generation Annunciation Angel that gave birth to me, my mother, encountered it while hunting."

The Sashimi Man is more like a walking disaster. Wherever it swims, the life there will suffer. It will be restrained, causing them to become slow-moving creatures, and their lives will continue to decline.

The only favorable thing is that it does not actively attack other life forms.

"My mother followed it all the way, collecting a lot of information about it."

"For example, the Sashimi Man attracts some gregarious light-Na species to gather around it because the Sashimi Man is a natural umbrella, able to deter enemies."

"Another thing is that it neither communicates with the outside world nor uses tools. It moves as it pleases, like the simplest form of life."

Yuanxiao said, "My mother ultimately did not attack, but another group of people attacked the Sashimi Man."

"They were two Skywalkers. They endured the festering all over their bodies to get close to the Sashimi Man, touched it, and obtained a treasure. My mother was too far away and didn't see what it was."

"The Sashimi Man's strength soared after it was activated, directly entering the light-core body stage. One of the Skywalkers was directly melted into ashes. Only the one who obtained the treasure survived."

"So my mother believed that only the person who obtained the treasure from the Sashimi Man could survive. You must fight it, there is no shortcut. Other methods are not recognized and will be eliminated and attacked."

"However, it will quickly disappear at this stage."

Her words gave Zhou Yi a preliminary understanding of the Sashimi Man.

"My mother was always unable to let go of her retreat from that hunt. In subsequent deep-sea hunts, she always hoped to encounter the Sashimi Man again and fight it. But she never encountered it again until her death."

"Some things, once missed, may never have a chance again in this lifetime."

Yuanxiao said with a serious face, "Please believe me, I can do it this time."

Zhou Yi thought about it, and indeed, there was no reason to refuse.

However, he still suggested: "I will cooperate with you to attack the Sashimi Man at that time. Everything must be safety first. Retreat if things are impossible."

"Please rest assured, I understand."

Zhou Yi immediately contacted the Overwhelmed Duke.

"Agreed."

"Then it's better to start preparing now. It just so happens that the locust plague is covering us, which is a very good opportunity. I can take action at any time, it's up to you."

Zhou Yi decided decisively: "Then let's set off now."

He could have summoned the Focusing Body over.

However, considering the characteristics of the Sashimi Man, only the member who obtained the treasure survived from the previous two-person group.

From the results, the Sashimi Man's mechanism encourages solo fights, or only recognizes the final treasure winner.

It is safer for the Annunciation Angel to conduct a solo hunt.

...

Under Linqin's lead, Zhou Yi and Yuanxiao boarded a small speedboat. Besides them, there was also the Overwhelmed Duke in the form of a Farmer Doll.

Zhou Yi was a little surprised: "Can you drive away those light squids in this body?"

"Don't worry."

The Overwhelmed Duke said, "The main force for dealing with light squids is them."

It pointed to the deck behind.

The entire ship, apart from Zhou Yi, Yuanxiao, and Linqin, the deck was full of neatly arranged dolls, like an army ready to set off.

Zhou Yi observed through [Alertness] and found that the dolls were all D-level. Although their strength was not bad, it was too difficult to deal with groups of B-level lifeforms.

"Light squids have phototaxis. They will approach places with strong dead light. This is an irresistible instinct. Although they have a high ability to shield perception, we don't have to confront them head-on. We just need to lure them away."

The Overwhelmed Duke explained, "These dolls have been modified by me. They can emit strong dead light. I will control them to lure and disperse the light squids, making it difficult for them to gather again in a short time, enough to buy time and space to drive away the Sashimi Man."

During the previous War of Honor, the Overwhelmed Duke's doll self-destruction legion was extremely troublesome.

Now Zhou Yi further confirmed that it is very good at micro-managing a large number of dolls and can also modify these dolls.

In other words, the Overwhelmed Duke's ability is to be an army of one.

The ship's speed was extremely fast, and it only took half a day to reach the target sea area.

The entire ship plunged into the Dead Sea like a fish.

The altitude continued to decrease.

It can be seen that there is a huge canyon at the bottom of the sea, like a crack in the seabed, extremely deep.

Continue to sink.

Reach the solid bottom.

Zhou Yi sensed that there was indeed a high-pressure sensation here.

Luminous bands began to appear in front.

That was the light emitted by the light squid's tentacles.

He had heard of this kind of creature before. It belonged to the same level as gray whales, but the single body was much weaker, but it was better in flexibility and gregariousness.

"I'll lure them away first."

The Overwhelmed Duke gave an order.

The doll army on the ship began to disembark and act, divided into many small teams. They emitted light, like moving light bulbs.

Before long, two light squids were lured over. They ate one or two dolls and then began to chase and hunt.

The Overwhelmed Duke continued to operate, constantly dispersing, attracting, and pulling this group of B-level creatures.

Thousands of dolls on the ship became bait and navigators.

It only took more than an hour to pull the squid group apart. The smaller the number of groups, the worse the squid's cooperative awareness was. These monsters quickly went their own way, scattered, and released themselves to chase the dolls.

On a cliff behind the squid group stood a blurry shadow.

Under Zhou Yi's alert perspective, he saw that the huge thing emitted purple light throughout its body.

A-level monster, Sashimi Man.

"Next, I need to rely on you."

The Overwhelmed Duke looked over.

Zhou Yi instructed the young female assistant next to him: "Go, be careful."

"Understood."

The Annunciation Angel flew towards the enemy.

Not long after.

The Overwhelmed Duke's wooden head suddenly turned slowly, and a pair of emotionless colored eyeballs looked at Zhou Yi: "Now you are the only one left. If this is a death trap I designed specifically, what would you do?"

Zhou Yi said lightly: "You can try."