Seeing the message from Ren Yuanyang, all the survivors were stunned for a moment before breaking into a heated discussion.
"Who do you think you are? Blocking us! You really think we can’t survive without your food?"
"I can’t stand people who act all high and mighty. Blocked."
"Even if I’m gonna block them, I’m going to mess with them first. I’ll send a few spam messages and then do it!"
Seeing the survivors clamoring to block him, Ren Yuanyang preemptively blocked them instead and reminded Qin Haonan to do the same.
After receiving Ren Yuanyang’s message, Qin Haonan casually blocked those people and slowly brought the speedboat to a stop. He had arrived near the location of the survivor with the ginger.
He designated a meeting point, telling the other party to paddle over. This way, he could wait for them at his leisure.
After confirming the surroundings were safe, Qin Haonan opened his phone to browse the group chat, periodically looking up to scan the sea around his speedboat.
"To the guys above, don’t be so rash. It’s always better to make friends than enemies. What if you really need to buy food from Peach Blossom Base in the future? Aren’t you just cutting off your own escape route?"
"Hmph, I’d rather starve to death than buy food from Peach Blossom Base!"
"Don’t speak in such absolutes, you’ll end up eating your words! Peach Blossom Base is just trying to improve trading efficiency, so they obviously have to weed out people who are just there to chit-chat. I think it’s understandable!"
"Exactly! Idle chatter just wastes the Peach Blossom Base staff’s time. They have to take measures to stop it!"
"Are you guys just sucking up to them because they have food?"
"We’re just speaking the truth. How is that sucking up?"
Seeing them start arguing again, Qin Haonan pursed his lips, put his phone away, picked up his automatic rifle, and, after putting on a raincoat, cautiously made his way out of the cabin.
Most of the gaps in the speedboat’s railings were blocked by soft mats woven by Hua Lingfang from aerial roots. As long as Qin Haonan didn’t stand up, it was difficult for anyone outside to spot him.
He did a circuit along the railing but found no other boats. He replaced the used Spray Melon at the stern with a new one, then slipped back into the cabin.
After about half an hour, a park-style duck boat slowly approached from the distance.
Seeing the duck boat, Qin Haonan immediately sent the other party a private message.
"I see you. Head directly to your left. There’s an inflatable boat there with ten Cherry Tomatoes on it. Put the ginger in and take the Cherry Tomatoes!"
"Okay!" the other person replied instantly.
The duck boat immediately turned left, approaching the inflatable boat.
A figure furtively poked its head out of the duck boat, took the Cherry Tomatoes from the inflatable boat, and put something else inside.
Seeing the exchange was complete, Qin Haonan immediately pulled the inflatable boat back. There was indeed a piece of ginger inside, but it was half the size of the one in the photo.
"Brother, that’s not cool! I bought the piece of ginger in your picture, but this is clearly only half of it!" Qin Haonan immediately sent a message. "Give me the rest of it, and I’ll forget about you trying to scam me! Otherwise, you’ll face the consequences!"
After sending the message, Qin Haonan grabbed his automatic rifle and started the speedboat, closing in on the other boat.
Although this small piece was enough for Ren Yuanyang to cultivate more ginger, the other party’s petty trick really pissed Qin Haonan off.
Besides, there would be more trades in the future. If everyone acted like this, wouldn’t Peach Blossom Base suffer huge losses?
This kind of behavior absolutely could not be encouraged.
Qin Haonan was now about thirty meters away, but the other person still hadn’t replied.
"I’ll count to three. Come out now! Or I’ll start shooting!" Qin Haonan began the countdown. "Three, two..."
SPLASH!
Before Qin Haonan could finish his countdown, he heard something fall into the water from the other side of the duck boat.
He froze for a second, then immediately fired the nearby Spray Melon at the duck boat’s canopy.
The duck boat’s canopy was just a simple waterproof tarp, and the Spray Melon’s attack instantly tore a large hole in it.
Qin Haonan shone a high-powered flashlight inside. Under the canopy, there was only half of a bloody, mangled corpse!
Although startled, he quickly composed himself.
Having been through several battles and seen his share of dead bodies, Qin Haonan was mentally tough enough.
Seeing no one else in the boat, Qin Haonan understood immediately. That splash he’d heard was someone jumping into the water.
He immediately ducked back into the cockpit and started the speedboat!
Qin Haonan was a decent swimmer himself. He knew that if a skilled swimmer got underneath the speedboat, they could cause some serious damage.
When the speedboat was stationary, its propeller wasn’t spinning. The person could easily jam something into it, preventing it from turning!
Qin Haonan was right. At that very moment, the person had reached the underside of the speedboat. Just as he was about to sabotage it, the engine roared to life.
’Damn it, he’s fast!’ the man cursed inwardly. He found a handhold on the speedboat’s hull and flattened himself against the bottom.
After starting the speedboat, Qin Haonan tossed a grappling hook onto the duck boat.
’I’ll just take your boat with me. Let’s see how long you can last in the water,’ Qin Haonan thought, steering the speedboat toward the next Second-level Wind Sea Region.
While underway, Qin Haonan reported what had just happened to Ren Yuanyang.
"He jumped straight into the water?" Ren Yuanyang sounded surprised.
Normally, a survivor wouldn’t abandon their boat. The entire world was water now; without a boat, you couldn’t last long.
"Yeah, I find it strange too. Do you think he might be a Water-Type Evolver?" Qin Haonan frowned slightly.
"Even if he is a Water-Type Evolver, he can’t stay in the water forever. Once his Mental Energy runs out, he’ll still need to get on a boat to rest," Ren Yuanyang said, shaking his head.
"Could he have accomplices nearby?" Qin Haonan speculated.
"Seems unlikely. Didn’t you say there was half a corpse in the duck boat? If he had accomplices, he wouldn’t have brought half a corpse with him to trade with you," Ren Yuanyang replied, shaking his head again.
"Then that’s really weird!" Qin Haonan couldn’t for the life of him figure out why the man had just jumped into the water. If he had just admitted defeat, the whole thing would have been over.
Ren Yuanyang thought for a moment, then asked, "How far is the next trading location?"
Qin Haonan switched to the map interface and made a rough estimate. "About three hours. There are several survivors in that Second-level Wind Sea Region who want to trade. It’s pretty far, but I’m planning to make the trip."
"Three hours, about three hundred kilometers. That should be fine," Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly.
He was worried that the survivor who had jumped into the water was indeed a Water-Type Evolver and might be following the boat, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
With Qin Haonan traveling for three hours and three hundred kilometers in one go, Ren Yuanyang believed that no current Evolver would have the ability to keep up for that long or over such a distance.
Qin Haonan smiled. "I was actually worried he might try to follow me, which is why I chose this particular Second-level Wind Sea Region!"
Ren Yuanyang gave him a thumbs-up but then added with a serious expression, "But you still need to be careful. This world isn’t the same as it used to be."
"Got it, Boss!" Qin Haonan replied.
And their entire conversation was overheard by the survivor clinging to the bottom of the speedboat.

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