Chapter 251: Not Giving It, Do You Still Want to Go Again?
Pierce and Jonas returned to Faye Yardley’s raft and wiped the seawater from their faces with a towel.
Zachary Pierce said, "It’s exactly as you described down there. But it’s strange... If people are affected based on their Attributes, how are those weak little fish and shrimp able to swim around in there so freely?"
"Perhaps their brains are too simple to be influenced by those violent emotions," Eleanor Jonas suggested casually.
Faye Yardley, who was standing nearby, nodded in agreement with Eleanor Jonas.
Zachary Pierce nodded. "I’d like to take some more of the Black Sea Water with me."
Spreading her hands, Faye Yardley said, "Be my guest. It’s not like it’s my private property anyway."
"If you found it, it’s yours. That’s how everyone operates out here, isn’t it?" Eleanor Jonas said, voicing a common rule of the sea.
Faye Yardley just smiled noncommittally.
’If it belonged to whoever’s raft was nearby, wouldn’t that make me a thief for treasure hunting in the waters where Logan Langdon’s team is?’
’Of course, they hadn’t found it. I found it first, so it’s mine.’
’In any case, the rule in this world was probably "might makes right."’
’After all, people dying at sea was far too common.’
’People were dying every second, and the total population count was constantly dropping.’
"Go ahead. It’s not like you can pump it dry anytime soon. See? The hose is still there. You can just use that."
The gloomy morning weather gave way to a scorching afternoon sun. As it happened, the temperature under the thorny branches was more pleasant than anywhere else on the raft.
Zachary Pierce thanked her and got to work.
"Miss Jonas, what’s your favorite color for a flower? I’ll pick one for you."
"Could I have that one? The one that’s shining a brilliant gold in the sunlight?"
"Of course."
Faye Yardley plucked the flower and passed it to her. As she did, she realized it was a translucent, orange-yellow color. "Here you go."
"Thank you, thank you." Eleanor Jonas held it to her nose and sniffed. "It smells wonderful! I feel like my Spirit has improved just from the scent, and my mind feels so much clearer."
"Oh, it has that effect? In that case, Mr. Pierce, let me give you one, too. What color would you like?"
Zachary Pierce was about to refuse, but he opened his mouth and said, "I’ll take a white one, then."
The moment they left, the Bramble eagerly extended its submerged branches into the dark region of the water and began absorbing the energy within.
Cole Kensington still hadn’t managed to fish up a Treasure Chest. Meanwhile, Eamon was in the planting room, lost in a daze. One moment he felt he should plant according to his people’s teachings, the next he thought he should try to innovate on his own. He was completely torn.
Bella looked up at the thorny branches that had extended over its stable. It felt no urge to eat the flowers or leaves on them. Compared to those, it much preferred the plain green leaves its master fed it.
So, it continued to lie down, resting and conserving its energy.
After cleaning the house, Willow Yardley came out. She glanced at the raft, which had been drastically transformed by the Bramble, and walked over to Faye Yardley. "Sister, are we going to be stopping here for a while?"
"Yes, we’ll probably be here for a while. Why?"
Willow Yardley said directly, "Rainie asked if I could go over and help her. It seems like she’s very busy."
"My brother’s crew is busy? With what? Oh, right... they took in twenty new kids, none older than six. Rainie isn’t looking after all of them by herself, is she?" Faye recalled her brother saying he wanted to recruit some women to care for the children and improve the team’s gender balance.
"It’s not just Rainie. But besides caring for the children, they have many other tasks. She said that over at the guild base, they’re so busy clearing land and planting fruit trees every day that they barely have time to sleep."
Faye hummed thoughtfully. "Can you stay there for an extended period? If you just use an Invitation Card, you can’t stay very long. Are you just going to help cook a meal? You’d be better off having her send the ingredients here. You could cook it and send the finished food back to her."
Willow Yardley smiled. "You must not have looked into my functions, Sister. I’m your personal housekeeper robot. As long as I have your permission, I can temporarily stay on someone else’s raft for a period of time. The maximum length for a single stay is seven days."
"Oh, I didn’t know you could do that. Okay, you can go."
After speaking, Faye Yardley contacted her brother. He quickly and excitedly agreed, repeatedly assuring her that it wouldn’t cause any inconvenience for her.
"Brother, let’s be clear about this. Willow can only work in front of your people for eight hours a day. After that, she must stay inside your house. Don’t let anyone else see her. I don’t want people finding out what’s special about her."
"Don’t worry. I promise."
Faye Yardley gave Willow special instructions as well, for which Willow was very grateful. Although she didn’t mind others knowing she was a robot, since her sister preferred for her to act human, she would naturally see herself as a person.
Then, Ethan Yardley sent the invitation for Willow.
After Willow left, Faye Yardley had the nagging feeling she had forgotten something.
As she took out her fishing rod and prepared to sit down to fish for Treasure Chests, she suddenly slapped her forehead. "Ugh, I’m such an idiot. I have another brand-new one in my warehouse."
’I originally got three of them. My brother and I each used one, and I stored the last one away.’
’I don’t really need another smart housekeeper robot here, so it wouldn’t be a big deal to give it to my brother.’
In the end, however, Faye Yardley decided against it. ’I’ll just pretend I never remembered it,’ she thought.
’My brother has too many people over there now. The more people there are, the more loose lips there are.’
’Lending him someone to help is already more than generous.’
As for whether the 100 slots Willow had mentioned were all used up, Faye Yardley wasn’t willing to gamble on an unknown.
’Maybe one day, if I manage to take over an island and become an Island Master, I’ll take the last one out and use it.’
While her mind was wandering, she hooked another Wooden Treasure Chest.
"Faye, can I use your fishing rod for a minute?"
Faye Yardley turned to the troubled-looking Cole Kensington. After unhooking the chest, she handed the rod right to him. "Here. Kingston, don’t tell me you haven’t caught a single thing all morning?"
Cole Kensington’s face instantly flushed red.
"Well, give it another try. If you still can’t catch anything, it might just mean this event isn’t your thing. You can always do something else."
"I can definitely do it."
’He doesn’t sound very confident, for someone trying to pump himself up.’
Faye Yardley could only offer encouragement. "You can definitely do it."
In that short amount of time, the Bramble had grown so fast it had nearly wrapped a full circle around the outside of Goliath.
The patch of Black Sea Water was, imperceptibly, shrinking at an extremely slow rate.
BEEP BEEP BEEP~
Faye Yardley looked at her friend notifications. To her surprise, it was a message from Ms. Leah Chandler: Faye, I got another special Island Entry Order for that cursed island. Do you and Zephyr Sterling want to go again?