nucmednet Chapter 15 New Map! Pearl Harbor
Chapter 15 New Map! Pearl Harbor
The next morning, the sea breeze, carrying a salty tang, gently blew across Rainbow Village.
The road to the pier was unusually quiet today.
The entire village of over eighty people was now neatly lined up on both sides of the road, their eyes all focused on Lin Shengtu and the "warriors from another world" behind him.
Today, Lynn took off his GM hat and put on a windbreaker to protect himself from the sea breeze. In the eyes of the players, this was like an NPC getting a new skin.
He stopped and turned around.
From the crowd, the old village chief Lucas slowly walked out, leaning on his cane.
He walked up to Lynn, said nothing, and instead took off a huge package from his back.
The coarse cloth covering the package was peeled away layer by layer, revealing what was inside.
Those were dried meats, firm in texture, with even specks of salt crystals visible on the surface.
Next to the dried meat, there were three ceramic jars that were tightly sealed with resin, and several wine bottles.
"grown ups."
Lucas held up the package and handed it to Lynn. "Sir, there's enough pork in the hold for a few days. Take this dried meat and fresh water to Pearl Harbor to enjoy at your leisure. If anything happens, this rum can also serve as a small gift."
He stared quietly at the package in front of him.
Although the village has a very good pork reserve after yesterday's frenzied hunting by the players, Lynn is also aware that the jerky in the package still comes from the best parts of the Floating Pig.
This was not just food, but the highest form of respect that Rainbow Village offered to its lord, this saint.
Lynn accepted the parting gift without hesitation.
"Stay put, Lucas," Lynn said calmly. "Keep an eye on the village and wait for us to return."
Upon hearing this, Lucas handed the wooden staff to his left hand and bent his right knee to kneel down.
This is a standard and ancient knightly salutation.
Seeing this, more than eighty villagers around also knelt down on one knee to bid farewell to the village's savior.
In the silence, only the sound of the sea breeze rustling through the leaves could be heard.
"My lord," Lucas said, "the forces in Pearl Harbor are complex and intertwined, so please be very careful."
Lynn glanced at the old village chief.
"I've got it."
He turned around and strode toward the dilapidated sailboat moored in the shallows.
Behind them, the players known as "Otherworld Warriors" followed.
Even after the merchant ship's mooring lines were untied and its sails were slowly raised, the villagers of Rainbow Village remained kneeling on one knee, like statues, watching the ship sail towards Pearl Harbor.
…………
In stark contrast to the solemn and dignified atmosphere of pilgrimage on the shore, as the sailboat sailed away, the deck outside the cabin was now filled with a joyful atmosphere devoid of any reverence.
Several players gathered at the bow of the ship, feeling the realistic sea breeze blowing in their faces and looking at the churning waves in the distance. They couldn't help but exclaim loudly about the game's incredible NPC interaction system.
"The part where the old village chief knelt down was unfortunately recorded by no phone!"
As he ran off carrying the bucket, he stroked his chin, marveling, "Those micro-expressions, that delivery of lines! Is this really a game NPC? Anyone who didn't know better would think we were filming some epic fantasy blockbuster. That scene just now got me all pumped up."
The agent leaned against the ship's railing, practicing tossing a rusty iron dagger over and over again.
"The realism is ridiculous. Those AAA games are really weak in comparison. When I boarded the ship just now, I deliberately stepped on the water stains on the deck. The slippery feeling of the soles of my shoes and the feedback of the shift in my center of gravity made me feel like I wasn't playing a game."
"But don't you guys find it a little strange?" Xiaoyu sat on an empty wooden barrel, looking at the horizon receding into the distance, and couldn't help but ask a question:
"According to the settings in the game MapleStory we played before, Pearl Harbor should be a scenic and very friendly starting village. Why did the old village chief's tone just now make it sound like we're going to war?"
The storyline of this game is completely different from the ones we've played before, isn't it?
Upon hearing Xiaoyu's question, everyone fell silent for a moment.
Indeed, in their real-world memories, MapleStory's Pearl Harbor should be a port similar to Santorini.
The overall style and background music are relaxing.
In old Lucas's words, Pearl Harbor was a deep and seemingly dangerous place.
The little snail leaned against the mast, listened, and then smiled as it gave a concluding remark:
"So what if they're different?"
When I played MapleStory before, the core of the game wasn't about fighting monsters, leveling up, or farming equipment; it was about social interaction.
It's about chatting together in the free market after school, the atmosphere of a group of friends getting together. As long as this core social element remains unchanged, it's still MapleStory.
The specifics of whether the game was modified by the developers into a dark fantasy or post-apocalyptic style are not, in my opinion, the point.
At this point, the little snail weighed the iron sword in its hand, which was also a parting gift from the old village chief.
His eyes gleamed with excitement: "Besides, the darker the setting, the higher the difficulty, the more excited we should feel!"
"Brother Snail is right!"
The whole roasted lamb immediately chimed in, rubbing his hands excitedly, "Who cares about Pearl Harbor or Dark Pearl? As long as they dare to show their health bar, we'll kill even the gods!"
Lynn stood at the edge of the second-floor control room, listening quietly to the group of players talking below.
He didn't interrupt, and this mentality of the players was exactly the weapon he needed.
As long as they maintain this fearless, playful mindset, this group of people can unleash destructive power far exceeding common sense in this cruel world.
The sailboat sailed smoothly on the sea...
More than three hours later, as they passed the last cape, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene.
What appears before the players is no longer the dilapidated wooden houses like Rainbow Village, nor the industrial base shrouded in black smoke as imagined, but a blue and white city rising abruptly from a steep cliff.
On the cliff face, white buildings stand side by side, with jewel-like blue domes covering the white walls.
Sunlight streamed down, merging the entire port city with the azure sea and sky.
So this is the Pearl Harbor of my childhood memories.
Xiaoyu stood at the bow of the boat, staring wide-eyed at the scene before her, completely forgetting everything else.
Everyone was quiet for a while, then burst into a gasp.
"Holy crap... this is Pearl Harbor?! You guys call this another world?!"
Xiaoyu excitedly pointed to the city ahead and shouted, "Isn't that the Aegean Sea?! Isn't that Santorini?!"
"Amazing! This load-bearing structure built into the mountainside, and this unbeatable sea view!"
The civil engineering guy's eyes lit up; his professional instincts kicked in, and he exclaimed, "Did the developers just copy a real-world resort island verbatim into the game?"
However, this amazement at the game's architectural modeling lasted for less than ten minutes.
Just as Lynn's dilapidated merchant ship was about to lower half its sails and enter the outer main channel of Pearl Harbor, an unexpected event occurred.
Suddenly, the loud roar of an engine came from behind the cape ahead.
Two jet-black speedboats, like sharks that have smelled blood, emerged from the blind spot, one on the left and one on the right.
On their masts hung black flags depicting crossed white bones.
What the hell... there are pirates in Pearl Harbor?? Isn't that the Nautilus's business?
As it turns out, the players were wrong. This had nothing to do with the pirate class that allows job changes; it was simply someone looking for trouble.
"Enemy attack?!" The little snail instinctively crouched down, its hand reaching for the iron sword at its waist, its eyes suddenly becoming urgent.
Lynn did not order a counterattack, but simply watched quietly as the two speedboats approached; he had seen these ships before in Pearl Harbor.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Several ear-piercing whistling sounds rang out as five or six grappling hooks with steel barbs were launched from the black ship and clamped tightly onto the hull.
Immediately following, accompanied by a rude curse and the sound of leather boots pounding on the deck, a dozen burly men dressed in standard leather armor and carrying gleaming steel knives nimbly swung onto Lynn's ship along the mooring ropes.
The leader was a bald man.
He had a hideous scar on the left side of his face that stretched from the corner of his eye to his chin, and there were even traces of dark red blood on his leather armor.
The whole roasted lamb thought to itself: We're both bald, but the guy across from me looks much cooler.
The scarred man scanned the deck, his gaze lingering for two seconds on Lynn and the others' meager equipment, before spitting a thick wad of phlegm onto the deck.
"The ship from Rainbow Village?" The scarred man's voice was laced with disdain.
He didn't wait for Lynn's reply at all, and strode straight to Xiaoyu, who was closest to him.
With a whoosh.
A steel knife was pressed directly against his neck. The blade pressed against his skin, even leaving a thin line of blood.
The air on the deck froze instantly.
"Don't you even know the rules? Who gave you permission to drive this junk into the Pearl Harbor shipping lane?"
The scarred man sneered, pressing the steel knife down even further in his hand.
"Listen up, you hillbilly. This is the waters under the jurisdiction of Lord Bolton, which is part of the Treasure Island Trade Arbitration Committee."
Now, pay me a port management fee of 10,000 gold coins.
He flashed a set of yellow teeth and threatened menacingly, "If you can't pay this fee, get out of here and stay in the shipwreck area! Don't pollute the main channel!"
He stared intently into Xiaoyu's eyes, trying to see the despair and fear he loved most in this country bumpkin.
But he was disappointed.
The scarred man felt not only disappointment, but also a sense of absurdity.
Despite having a steel knife held to her neck, Xiaoyu's legs didn't tremble; instead, her eyes widened in shock.
There was no fear in those eyes; instead, they gleamed with...excitement?
Looks like the plot has been triggered!
The storyline is already so engaging before we've even arrived in the main city of Pearl Harbor. This game is really great!
Xiaoyu not only didn't dodge, but even deliberately brought her neck closer to the blade, feeling the real pressure. Then, she frantically signaled to her teammates behind her out of the corner of her eye: "Will killing the NPC trigger the hidden quest?"
The iron dagger in the agent's hand had already quietly slid into his palm, and his fingers excitedly rubbed the hilt.
The little snail licked its lips, its gaze fixed on the money pouch at the scarred man's waist.
He demanded 10,000 gold coins right off the bat; this elite monster must have dropped a lot of gold coins!
The scarred man was completely dumbfounded.
The way these people looked at him wasn't like they were looking at a villain; it was more like they were looking at a treasure chest.
In the midst of an eerie standoff, Lynn made a move.
He slowly walked down the steps of the second-floor wheelhouse, rhythmically tapping the handrail with the wine bottle in his hand.
Faced with more than a dozen steel knives pointed at him simultaneously, Lynn did not panic or become angry.
Instead, the scarred man instinctively tightened his grip on the knife.
"The shipwreck area?" Lynn's voice was unreadable.
"Lead the way."