Safe City Ch.119.2

Chapter 119.2: Advancing

They had been drenched in rain all night, but Zhong Yin didn’t feel cold at all.

In fact, her body was still quite warm.

Thanks to the blessings bestowed by her god, they had been appearing at an extremely high frequency, practically without interruption.

Thanks to the blessings bestowed by her god, Zhong Yin had been able to evade one storm after another. At that moment, she was standing on a tiny wooden plank in the midst of the raging wind and rain, with the waves capable of smashing it to pieces at any moment, yet she felt not the slightest fear.

She suddenly dropped flat against the plank, pressing herself firmly against it as they plunged down with a massive wave.

“Woohoo!!!”

Zhong Yin could feel that the location her god was guiding her toward was getting closer and closer.

The god’s gentle whisper seemed to echo in her ears, transforming into blessings that brought her an endless stream of warmth.

[Forward, my child—]

The two people on the plank were carried along by the enormous wave, which violently propelled them forward.

“Hahahahahahaha!!!”

Through her hazy consciousness, Yao Dangkong heard Zhong Yin’s laughter.

Just like when the two had first met, she was lying on the wooden plank and waving her hand.

“I’m here!!!”

With her vision blurred, Yao Dangkong spat out another mouthful of painfully salty seawater.

Through the dark sea, she saw a massive, pure-white, ten-thousand-ton warship steadily sailing ahead of them.

…

“Here, drink some lightly sweetened water. In your current condition, you can’t even drink plain water yet. Are you cold? If you are, I’ll go get you another blanket.”

Wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of warm, lightly sweetened water, Yao Dangkong sat inside a comfortable cabin, still unable to fully process what had happened.

She knew that Zhong Yin belonged to a powerful organization. After all, she’d personally seen so many Blue Sea ships before.

But Yao Dangkong had never imagined that this organization could even have a ten-thousand-ton warship.

And the warship had actually come to rescue them.

While she was still sitting there in a daze, several equally drenched people walked into the medical cabin, which was being used to care for newly rescued residents.

“What a shame. We didn’t get to see the edge of the sea.”

“Hey! We went too far out. We almost couldn’t make it back.”

A Blue Sea resident sitting in the medical cabin while receiving an IV had been bored out of his mind. Hearing the newcomers, he immediately joined the conversation.

“Didn’t they say that the ocean on Green Billow Star is constantly expanding? In theory, we shouldn’t be able to see its edge at all. We aren’t sailing fast enough to keep up with the rate at which it’s expanding.”

The five newcomers all shook their heads.

“That’s what they say, but you have to actually test it to know for sure, right?”

“Exactly. We were just putting it to the test.”

The Blue Sea resident asked, “So, did you discover anything during your experiment?”

The five drooped for a moment, but quickly perked back up.

“We did originally, but our ship capsized and everything fell into the sea. But it’s fine. Waves can’t wash away our memories.”

They chimed in one after another.

“We saw a tree growing in the ocean. It always looked like it was only a dozen meters away from us, but we could never actually reach it.”

“We saw the sun shining beneath the sea. When we cast a fishing net over it, it turned into a mirage.”

“We watched stars fall from the sky with our own eyes, only to be swallowed by the Sea of Souls.”

“We even saw another world’s scenery through a barrier caused by water vapor. The creatures there were made of individual stones. Can you imagine a bunch of rocks gathering together to watch a movie about rocks?”

“We caught a fish covered in rainbow-like colors. It came from another world, and Our God even commended us for making the discovery!”

The five of them looked particularly proud when they mentioned the last one.

The Blue Sea resident who had struck up the conversation with them also looked envious.

Yao Dangkong was even more bewildered.

She quietly said to Zhong Yin, “Why does it sound like they aren’t trying to survive at all? It sounds more like they’re traveling.”

“That’s exactly what they’re doing.”

Zhong Yin was currently munching on some dried meat generously provided by the Blue Sea warship, speaking between bites.

“I know them. They’re the Travel Team. They distinguished themselves in the past. They formed this team specifically so they could travel around and see the world.”

Yao Dangkong was even more confused.

This organization actually had people traveling all over the place?

Cheng Qisheng: Not only do we have people traveling all over the place, we even have a Creator God who treats the Travel Team like her own personal travel channel.

She had watched every single one of the scenery broadcasts that the Travel Team had encountered.

Because Green Billow Star was currently being pulled into subspace, all sorts of bizarre scenes would occasionally appear in remote areas of the ocean.

And the Travel Team specialized in heading toward remote waters.

She had to admit, those scenes were truly beautiful and breathtaking.

Especially when the sun had appeared floating in the ocean.

Cheng Qisheng swore that she had seen feathers slowly drifting across the surface of that fiery-red sphere, along with a pair of clear, crimson eyes.

It looked exactly like the Golden Crow from legends on Blue Star.

At the time, Cheng Qisheng had hesitated for two seconds between “Quickly tell the believers to evacuate!” and “Maybe Blue Sea could have its very own sun.”

She stopped hesitating in the third second, because the Travel Team had already swiftly cast their fishing net, proving that the scene they’d witnessed was merely a projection from another world.

Cheng Qisheng felt that Green Billow Star had given her more than just supplies, nuclear crystals, and the people of Lilith’s civilization.

Because of this planet’s unique circumstances, it had also given her a deeper understanding of what it meant for “the world to be vast and full of wonders.”

Ah, no.

At this point, it should be: “The universe is vast, and full of wonders.”

She was becoming increasingly curious about what marvelous sights she would encounter once the Safe City reached Tier 6 and she could travel throughout the vast universe.

The “Travel Channel” had already returned to the Blue Sea warship. Cheng Qisheng scanned the newly rescued residents aboard the ship and confirmed that none of them were in serious condition. She then continued multitasking, guiding the warship toward one group of believers after another so they could rendezvous.

As for Yao Dangkong, who wasn’t a Blue Sea resident but had been rescued thanks to Zhong Yin, all she could do was watch in astonishment as the warship seemed to have a built-in locator, accurately sailing toward one location after another and bringing back one Blue Sea resident after another.

She had already learned about Safe Cities, the Blue Sea civilization, and the great Blue Sea Creator God from Zhong Yin.

Everything sounded utterly incredible.

Yet when Zhong Yin suggested that she join Blue Sea and leave with them, Yao Dangkong agreed without hesitation.

She had nothing left.

If she had to say there was anything she still possessed, it was her good friend Zhong Yin.

Besides, life in Blue Sea was clearly far better than the life she’d had before.

At night, she no longer needed to stay on guard. She could sleep in a sturdy ship’s cabin while fully armed Blue Sea soldiers patrolled outside.

If they encountered a sea monster, people didn’t even need to fight it themselves. A few cannon shots would solve the problem.

Of course, Yao Dangkong was now carrying a loan on her back, but she didn’t feel pressured by it at all.

Wouldn’t an organization willing to give newcomers loans in the first place be proof of just how powerful it was?

As she spent more time aboard the enormous warship, Yao Dangkong gradually came to understand just how powerful Blue Sea was. Although Zhong Yin had told her about Safe Cities, Yao Dangkong had never actually seen one, so she’d imagined them as nothing more than ordinary cities.

Thus, when Zhong Yin excitedly told her, “We can go home now,” Yao Dangkong was still immersed in her emotions one moment.

The next, Zhong Yin had pulled her onto the deck.

The sight before her left her stunned once again.

Yao Dangkong tilted her head back and gazed at the enormous Safe City that had suddenly appeared before them.

A ten-thousand-ton warship was already massive and awe-inspiring enough.

Yet before that colossal city stretching across the horizon and seemingly blocking out the sky, even the warships looked so tiny.

“This… is Blue Sea?”

Cheng Qisheng looked down at the scene below.

Blue Sea Safe City had stopped at an appropriate altitude.

As the gates slowly opened, the enormous tidal barrier that had already been constructed gradually slid apart in both directions, creating a broad waterway wide enough for the warships to pass through.

The two warships would cut slowly through the water and sail into the newly constructed inner waterways of Blue Sea Safe City.

Yao Dangkong’s pupils remained tightly contracted the entire time as she stared through the window at scene after scene outside.

She watched as the ten-thousand-ton warship sailed forward.

In the distance, she saw countless elevated roads suspended high in the air, with vehicles traveling along them.

She saw towering buildings and enormous factories.

She saw a gigantic steel-frame bridge stretching overhead, with people directing traffic as the warships passed beneath it.

She saw vast stretches of floating farmland, where she could vaguely make out residents working the fields above.

Along both sides of the inner waterways, she saw children in neat clothes running around, laughing and playing.

The warships slowly docked, and the residents began disembarking one after another.

Yao Dangkong could hear people discussing where to go for a meal. Others were calling their friends, planning to head to a place called the Points Exchange Office. Young people with backpacks embraced the parents who had come to meet them. Their clothes and faces were covered in grime, but their smiles were radiant.

Yao Dangkong followed Zhong Yin off the ship as well.

Listening to the voices around her and looking at the smiles on everyone’s faces, she felt as though she were living in a dream.

So, what was she supposed to do next?

—Bzzzz.

A matte dark-gray quadcopter patrol drone stopped directly in front of her, its target clearly identified.

“Your information has not been entered into the household registry.”

“Confirmed as a new resident. Welcome to Blue Sea Safe City. New resident, please proceed to the Civil Affairs Household Registry to obtain your resident identification documents.”

Zhong Yin hurried forward.

“I’ll take her there. She’s my friend, and I’m the one who brought her back.”

The red camera on the drone rotated slightly, as though examining Zhong Yin.

“Confirmed: Inner City resident Zhong Yin, Resident ID 342223, has agreed to sponsor the new resident. Please bring the new resident to complete the relevant documentation within 24 hours.”

—Bzz!

The drone rose into the air and flew away.

Yao Dangkong stared after it.

“Oh my god…”

Zhong Yin was also watching the drone disappear into the distance.

“Right? I also think the gun equipped on the patrol drones is really cool. Maybe I’ll buy one just like it someday.”

Yao Dangkong had been stunned by the fact that Blue Sea actually had drones—and such sophisticated, high-end ones at that.

Yao Dangkong: “……”

She was still debating whether she should tell Zhong Yin the truth when Zhong Yin had already thrown an arm around her, still grinning cheerfully.

“Come on! I’ll take you to get your documents!”

“From now on, you’re a Blue Sea resident! Once you’ve got your ID sorted out, I’ll take you out to have some fun! You know about the Duel Arena?! It’s so much fun!! I’m going to spend at least five hours in there today to get my fill!”

…

A new resident had joined Blue Sea.

Cheng Qisheng withdrew her gaze.

She had mainly been watching Zhong Yin just now, making sure that this child, who had endured two whole days and nights of raging storms and nearly died, had recovered enough to be her usual energetic self.

Apparently, she had.

She was even a little too energetic.

But considering she was one of the Old Eights, that was perfectly normal.

As the residents aboard the warships continued disembarking, every single Blue Sea resident had now returned.

The Safe City’s floating device had also been modified a day ago, becoming a type that could be upgraded using nuclear crystals.

The great Blue Sea Creator God looked once again at the warehouse, where crystals were piled high.

There was no other reason.

She simply wanted to look at them a few more times before using them up.

As Cheng Qisheng tapped her wooden fish and closed her eyes, she tried to brainwash herself:

Money is meant to be spent. You have to let go of the old before you can welcome the new. Once Blue Sea grows stronger, we’ll have even more crystals. Blue Sea may be poor afterward, but the residents will be living better lives than before.

Aether swayed its jellyfish-like body beside her, providing background music by playing a Blue Sea song called “The Money Will Come Back.”

As the lyrics reached “When I have money, I’ll donate to the Temple,” Cheng Qisheng opened her eyes.

“Aether, advance the tier.”

“Go directly from Tier 4 to Tier 6.”

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