Chapter 96: Replica Mask
The moment the crystal ball began to speak, Wang Moning briefly remembered her former self.
Back then, she had been a miserable high school student on Velvet Star who could barely get seven hours of sleep a day, and her impression of pirates had been limited to what she had seen in movies and television.
If the Wang Moning of that time had actually encountered pirates in real life, she probably would have been terrified, right?
But the Wang Moning of this moment had already unconsciously lit up her eyes, curled up the corners of her mouth, and automatically flashed a crooked grin.
A pirate gathering?
In her mind, the dozen or so Green Skull ships had transformed into hundreds, then thousands, and were continuing to multiply.
Also bouncing around in Wang Moning’s mind were all the supplies they had just captured: dried fish, hardtack, pickles, vast quantities of fresh water, kerosene, fuel, bandages, medicines, iron shot, naval cannons, bows and arrows, slings, old-fashioned muskets, melee weapons, cutlasses, longswords, short daggers, cloth, furs, spices—
And those were only ordinary daily necessities.
The small items they had unearthed were piled up box after box.
Even with the large number of Blue Sea people who had taken part in this battle, once everything was divided among them, everyone would still come away fairly well-off.
Not to mention that among the spoils were more than 4,000 Tier 1 crystals, more than 20 Tier 2 crystals, and 8 Tier 3 crystals.
The inhabitants of Green Billow Star knew how to use crystals. After all, they salvaged all kinds of items, and some of those items could only be powered by crystals.
The super engine of the original Inkshadow also used crystals as fuel. According to him, crystals had many different names on Green Billow Star, but whenever there was a disagreement over terminology, simply saying “shiny stones that can be used as energy” would basically be enough for any Green Billow Star resident to understand.
One Tier 2 crystal was equivalent to 10,000 Tier 1 crystals, while one Tier 3 crystal was equivalent to 20,000 Tier 1 crystals.
In other words, from the Green Skull Pirate Group alone, Blue Sea had obtained more than 300,000 crystals, along with a huge amount of resources, 32 spatial stones, and a large number of item cards.
Blue Sea had only needed 300,000 crystals to upgrade from Tier 3 to Tier 4, too.
They’d struck it rich!!!!
Blue Sea hadn’t been on Green Billow Star for very long. Its residents were essentially still in the early stages of setting out and figuring things out. Before this, Wang Moning had only heard that Green Billow Star was rich in resources and had just about everything.
But back then, she hadn’t really had any concept of what “just about everything” meant.
Now, Wang Moning finally had a complete understanding of what “rich in resources” and “just about everything” truly meant.
In other apocalyptic worlds, if you wanted resources, crystals, or item cards, you had to fight for them the hard way.
But on Green Billow Star, people here could even fish crystals straight out of the water.
A single pirate group on Green Billow Star was actually somewhat wealthier than an ordinary Tier-2 Safe City.
And they only had a dozen or so ships!
How many pirates would there be at a pirate gathering? And how many ships?
If they could wipe out all those pirates in one fell swoop, how many supplies, items, and crystals could they find?
And then they could offer all those crystals to Our God… Wang Moning was already getting carried away just imagining it.
And it wasn’t just her. Even the few Dazzling Star people beside her, who had been searching through the items, had delighted looks in their eyes.
More than a dozen people were crammed into one room. Afraid of alerting their prey, not a single one of them made a sound. Everyone stared fixedly at the crystal ball, as though they could summon thousands of pirate ships out of it simply through the sheer force of their gaze.
High school student Wang Moning had now rapidly grown into a textbook hunter within Blue Sea. She knew very well that before a hunter had figured out the full details of their prey, the one thing they absolutely must not do was act rashly.
So she immediately chose to call for reinforcements in the [Group Chat].
With that, the number of excited people instantly went from a dozen or so to tens of thousands.
Cheng Qisheng’s gaze also turned toward them.
The environment on Green Billow Star producing so many pirates wasn’t strange. What was strange was that with so many pirates, they could actually gather together and hold some kind of grand conference.
She couldn’t figure it out, so she stopped trying. Instead, she immediately switched to relay mode and sent the information back to Blue Sea’s headquarters.
The Blue Sea authorities would naturally put together a core intelligence assessment team to analyze this information and decide what to do next.
As the saying went, there was strength in numbers.
And Blue Sea had an especially large number of people.
It didn’t take long for them to figure out how to use the crystal ball.
“It’s similar to a long-distance communication item. It isn’t real-time; it’s more like a message recorder. As long as the Green Skull doesn’t reply, this message will automatically repeat once every hour.”
The assessment team’s voices were filled with deep regret.
“But the problem now is that it’s bound to its host through a special method, so we can’t use it at present.”
Ming and Ye, the X-Ray Vision ability users, also gave their conclusions.
“It’s more like a machine-made object. There are intricate mechanisms inside that I can’t understand. I believe that if we forcibly change its bound host, this crystal ball will automatically reset, and its contacts will be deleted as well.”
Put simply, the crystal ball was like a social media app. There was a personal account on it, and once that account was linked, other people couldn’t hijack it. If they wanted to use the crystal ball, they could only register a new account.
But there wouldn’t be a pirate waiting for them on the new account.
Everyone once again wore disappointed expressions.
Qi Yi was lamenting along with everyone else when he suddenly remembered that mask. His eyes immediately lit up.
“I know something! It’s definitely a treasure, and it was definitely being carried on the person of one of the Green Skull higher-ups. It might be useful!”
Blue Sea’s people might have only average memories when it came to other things, but when it came to matters related to combat and weapons, they could remember them with absolute clarity.
Qi Yi clearly remembered that everyone being escorted to the area where he had found the mask had been a high-ranking member of the Green Skull. He had been among the first Blue Sea people to reach the kitchen of the Green Skull pirate ship, so he had kept his eyes firmly fixed on the pirate leaders the entire time.
Only after confirming that they were dead did the anger in his heart finally subside completely.
Perhaps this mask was some kind of key.
Otherwise, why had those pirates not kept the crystal ball on their person when they surrendered, but instead carried the mask close to them?
The soft white mask was quickly brought over.
Cheng Qisheng was able to watch the entire process directly through the perspective of her believers. As Aether was an artificial intelligence whose viewing range was limited to the area around the Safe City, it couldn’t see what was happening out in the sea.
But Blue Sea Safe City had illustrators.
Following Cheng Qisheng’s instructions, an illustrator at Blue Sea’s headquarters quickly drew a white mask that was almost identical to the actual one.
Aether, who had originally been sitting on Cheng Qisheng’s shoulder, floated down when it saw the finished drawing and moved closer to the large screen, analyzing it for three seconds.
“City Lord, this is the Tier 7 Safe City Mall item Replica Mask. Its mall price is 500 million crystals.”
Having spent a long time with the City Lord, Aether had also learned that she placed quite a bit of importance on crystals. So this time, it deliberately stated the price first.
“How much?!!!”
Cheng Qisheng had remained fairly calm when she saw that Blue Sea had gained more than 300,000 crystals this time, but now she was completely unable to remain calm.
Five hundred million?
Was that even a number that someone at Tier 4 like her was supposed to be seeing?
Although she had heard figures in the hundreds of millions before when listening to Aether gossip about those high-tier Safe Cities, which confirmed that the higher the tier of a Safe City, the more ways there were to obtain crystals in the worlds they visited, Cheng Qisheng had always treated it as nothing more than remote gossip. After all, no matter how enormous those numbers were, those crystals didn’t belong to her.
But this mask was different.
This one was now part of Blue Sea’s spoils of war.
Moreover, as the City Lord of a Safe City below Tier 5, the items she could purchase were also limited to Tier 5 and below. The items in the mall were nothing like the weakened world items found on Dazzling Star.
Tier 7 mall items were only available through a mall access channel that would unlock after reaching Tier 5.
And now, a high-tier item had simply become Blue Sea’s property.
This was worth 500 million!
Even though it wasn’t 500 million crystals in cash, but an item worth that many crystals, it was more than enough to make her ecstatic.
It was like going out and entering a lottery, only to win a computer. Even if you had never planned to buy a computer before, winning one would still be something worth celebrating!
Cheng Qisheng, who had suddenly struck it rich, scooped up Aether and let it sit in her palm.
“Aether, tell me exactly what this mask does.”
The jellyfish-shaped AI, once again glowing in a pink gradient, quickly replied:
“Replica Mask. After the user comes into contact with another person’s bodily fluids, they can replicate that person’s appearance, including their abilities, looks, scars, voice, physique, and language, but not their memories.”
“Replica Mask is an automatically binding item. It will automatically bind itself to an intelligent life-form as its host. After the host dies, it will automatically detach. Before the host dies, no one else can use it.”
The Replica Mask couldn’t be found in Cheng Qisheng’s Tier 5 mall, so Aether simulated a demonstration of the item’s use.
As long as the user came into contact with the bodily fluids of the intelligent life-form they wanted to replicate, they could become that person. No machine or detection method could see through the disguise. Only a Tier 8 or higher ability user with a Detection-type ability could spot something amiss.
Even Ming and Ye, who possessed the X-Ray Vision ability, would be unable to see through the Replica Mask even after reaching Tier Eight. No matter how thoroughly they used their x-ray vision, what they would see would be a bodily structure completely identical to that of the original person.
The reason Aether knew about this mask was because the previous City Lord had reached Tier 5. As an artificial intelligence, any products it had scanned would be permanently stored in its database.
“The user of the Replica Mask can perfectly replicate the original owner’s abilities, as long as that person is below Tier 5. The Replica Mask cannot replicate the abilities of a City Lord who is already bound to a Safe City.”
“The number of times it can be used depends on the user’s mental strength. A Tier 1 ability user can use it approximately once a year, a Tier 2 ability user two or three times, a Tier 3 ability user five or six times, and so on.”
Cheng Qisheng understood.
“So the reason it’s so expensive is because it can replicate the original owner’s abilities.”
“Yes, City Lord. Even abilities below Tier 5 can be highly sought after by higher-tier Safe Cities.”
Take Tian Buke’s Luck, for example.
He was only Tier 1 right now, so he could only unleash a major bout of luck once every six months or so.
And that one instance had eliminated the language barrier throughout Blue Sea Safe City, while Cheng Qisheng had also absorbed a new rule and greatly increased her mental strength.
And that was when Tian Buke was only Tier 2. What about once he reached Tier 5?
At that point, using the Replica Mask to replicate Tian Buke’s ability would be equivalent to Blue Sea having two Tier 5 Luck-type ability users.
Cheng Qisheng already felt pretty lucky right now.
No wonder everyone said that the Sea of Souls had everything.
They could even fish out a Tier 7 mall item.
Clearly, that pirate captain knew exactly how to use the Replica Mask. His so-called surrender had merely been a way to lie low temporarily. Once he figured out Blue Sea’s situation, he intended to use the Replica Mask to replicate the person he had set his sights on.
In theory, once that happened, the pirate captain could kill the original and then infiltrate Blue Sea without anyone noticing.
His choice to pretend to surrender first had also been a cautious move. After all, the Replica Mask couldn’t replicate memories. Without first figuring everything out, it would be very easy for him to give himself away. Then the whole effort of making the copy would have been for nothing.
The pirate captain was probably the type who could only use the mask once a year. From the pirate captain’s perspective, the best choice would naturally have been to infiltrate Blue Sea first and observe it for a while, then find a Blue Sea person who was powerful, held a high position, and whose circumstances he had more or less memorized, and replicate them.
But the pirate captain had miscalculated. Blue Sea had never even considered taking sl*ves, and Old Eighth had been deeply provoked by the fact that the pirates had eaten people.
When ordinary people are badly provoked, they might need time to recover and distance themselves from whatever triggered them.
But Old Eighth was different.
After being provoked, all they wanted to do to calm themselves down was fight and quickly eliminate everyone who had provoked them.
The principle was probably similar to what would happen in primitive times: if the place where Old Eighth lived were attacked by a wild beast once, then no matter where it ran or hid, they would have to track down that beast and kill it. Otherwise, Old Eighth wouldn’t even be able to sleep soundly at night.
So, the pirate ship was captured at three in the afternoon, and by three-thirty, the pirate captain had lost his head.
By then, it was already too late to use the mask. He was bound tightly from head to toe, with Blue Sea people watching him from every direction. Before he could even finish begging for mercy, it was all over.
Cheng Qisheng thought for a second about what would have happened if the pirate captain’s plan had succeeded and he had actually replicated the appearance and abilities of a Blue Sea person.
The conclusion was: nothing much would have happened anyway.
If the Replica Mask failed to replicate that person’s faith in Cheng Qisheng, she would immediately notice that something was wrong with this supposed Blue Sea resident.
If the Replica Mask did replicate their faith in Cheng Qisheng, the Absolute Loyalty Mark would make the pirate captain switch sides instantly.
After learning that this kind of mask couldn’t be used to infiltrate Blue Sea, Cheng Qisheng breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn’t think anyone would use a mask worth 500 million crystals merely to infiltrate Blue Sea and target a Tier 4 Safe City like hers.
Still, eliminating even that possibility put her mind at ease.
Cheng Qisheng’s gaze fell back on Aether.
“You just said that the Replica Mask automatically binds whoever comes into contact with it as its host?”
Then, after the pirate captain’s death, who was the first person to come into contact with the Replica Mask?
…
Just as Qi Yi was seriously thinking about how to take down all the pirates and obtain more crystals to offer to Our God, he suddenly felt a warmth welling up from the depths of his heart and enveloping him.
Our God had patted him on the head.
Through the faith chain, Cheng Qisheng could sense the tremendous desire surging in the heart of the person who had just become the new host of the Replica Mask—the overwhelming urge to wipe out every last pirate.
—The great Blue Sea Creator God already knew exactly how Her believer was going to use this mask.
Perhaps no one would use a Tier 7 item worth 500 million crystals to infiltrate a Tier 4 Safe City.
But someone would definitely use a Tier 7 item worth 500 million crystals to infiltrate the pirate gathering on Green Billow Star.
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