Chapter 96: Catching the Big Fish

"What should we do?"

"I'm just thinking about it!" Dr. Lin looked at the computer for a long time and suddenly said: "Yes. I have a way."

"Is there a way?"

Dr. Lin said: "According to needs, new creatures will be born in the game every once in a while to replace those that were killed. This is what you call refresh."

"I know this."

"Generally, the refresh is done using the original simulated thinking unit. That is to say, the killed creature and the newly generated creature are both done by the same thinking unit. Anyway, the thinking unit is vacated after being killed. The computer will automatically reset the thinking unit to zero, and then re-simulate thinking to generate new consciousness.”

"I understand this. Do you mean to use the refresh opportunity to replace them?"

"That's pretty much what it means. In "Zero", after a creature dies, the computer will not regenerate it immediately, but will do so through reproduction. After reproduction, the creature will grow rapidly and fill the vacancies caused by the player's leveling. If a dragon dies, dragon eggs will also appear. If you can get two dragon eggs and designate the dragon family to hatch them, we can use the opportunity of maintaining the system to assign the connection address of the thinking unit to these two eggs, that is Internal pointers. We keep the pointers of the two eggs on the two simulation helmets. As long as the two dragons are online during the incubation period, the system will automatically assign biological models to them according to the internal pointers. The system will not detect it after the incubation is completed. Whether the thinking module is online, that is to say, they can decide whether to go offline or not.”

"But the dragons decide to hatch their own eggs. How do I know which one they want to hatch?"

Dr. Lin said: "This is more difficult! To be honest, even if we know which one to hatch, we still have a lot of work."

A young researcher next to him suddenly said: "How about you grab two dragon eggs and make them into magic pets? This will not only ensure hatching but also make it easier for us to modify. The player's magic pets use a specialized service unit, and ours can be 'operated' 'Sex' is better."

"Magic pet?" My current direct carrying capacity of magic pets is 17, and 16 positions have been used. However, humanoid pets can carry two non-humanoid pets, and I have 6 humanoid pets, which means I can bring 12 additional pets, but 6 of them are already occupied, leaving 6 empty slots. Both dragons are not humanoid and must occupy two of the six empty spaces. After calculation, it seems to be about the same, so it should still be enough. "Then let's do it. I'll get two dragon pets, and you'll be responsible for the conversion after I get them. By the way, are there any requirements for dragon eggs? Do the types need to be determined in advance?"

"No, the main system determines the biological model based on the feedback signal from the thinking unit. After the two dragons are connected to the system, the confidence in their own thinking will automatically unify the biological model and consciousness."

"What about magic? Dragons in reality don't have magic abilities, so don't they disappear in the game?"

"Don't worry about this. Magic is a learned skill. The system will only set the slots in advance. Then you can let them follow the dragon that comes out first. In comparison, the newly entered dragons have some innate instincts. Just bring it with you. It's even more powerful than your original dragon. Oh, by the way. Your dragon named Lucky will soon show some extra-game characteristics in the game. This is related to the player's attributes. It’s the same thing with following the system.”

"I understand. I will seize the time to get two eggs, and I will let you know when I have made the decision. You can make the preparations first."

"Don't worry about this."

After leaving the network center, I went back and told Lucky about the situation. Of course Lucky was very happy. Silver Dragon said that I should let Lucky advance in the game during this period, so that I can get dragon eggs faster with his help. After struggling all night, I was lucky enough to enter the game when it went online the next day.

We are preparing to go to the United States today, so we definitely don’t have time to catch the dragon. We plan to wait until we get to the United States before looking for the dragon. Although the dragon's reproductive ability is not very strong, its adaptability is very good, and they can be found everywhere in the world.

Finding people is the hardest job. It took a whole day of work to gather all 7,000 people. This is because many of the team members in our guild are from Japan, which is equivalent to professional players. At 8 o'clock in the evening Beijing time, the fleet was ready. The huge Essinger home fleet lined up neatly on the sea outside Essinger, waiting to set off. The reason why we didn't leave was because the Great White Shark hadn't come back yet. Although the mermaid clan agreed to our arrangement upon receiving the notice, such a big ship couldn't just leave. Everyone waited until 9 o'clock before the Great White Shark's huge dorsal fin emerged from the sea.

The fleet really started to move after Hongyan entered the Great White Shark. The convoy fleet, composed of four super battleships including the Tyrant, Eternal, Flash, and Thor, was at the four corners of the Great White Shark and guarded the Great White Shark in the middle. The small high-speed Observation boats conduct security reconnaissance around the fleet. The super fleet of nearly a thousand large and small battleships left Essinger and headed towards the Pacific Ocean with its whistle blowing. The speed of this voyage has been restricted. For safety reasons, we slowed down the ship and set off at night. We will be able to reach the west coast of the United States tomorrow night.

The Pacific Ocean is really huge. It is impossible to confirm the direction when sailing on the sea. We only rely on gyroscopes to measure the route. However, we are lucky in that we still have communication with Essinger. When we came out, we brought a lot of crystal communication repeaters, and we placed one at intervals along the way. These repeaters are all made by players in our guild after referring to the anchor mines in mines and the technology of Atlantis. The instrument itself is housed in a large spherical iron ball, which has strong buoyancy. There is a long iron anchor underneath to fix it to the seabed. The length of the anchor chain is determined on site. We must ensure that each communication machine is fixed in the middle water, that is, it cannot surface or be too deep.

The transmission distance of the communication machine is relatively good. It takes about eight repeaters in the entire Pacific to connect to the United States. In some special areas of the sea, we even installed transmitting stations directly on small reefs. For this reason, we also specially arranged some ghost fleets to come out to guard these repeaters. Anyway, they don't need supplies, so it doesn't matter if they float for a long time.

At noon the next day, we were close to the sea off the coast of the United States. It was now night here, and we needed to install the penultimate repeater while taking advantage of the darkness. The fleet stopped at sea as usual, and a repeater had been placed on the deck behind the minelayer carrying out the mission. I stood on the Tyrant next to me and watched them work. Several players skillfully attached the iron hook to the padlock outside the repeater, and then two other players pushed the anchor into the sea with force. The anchor and the chain sank by their own gravity, and the winch on the ship began to rotate rapidly. With a click, the anchor chain straightened and the winch stopped turning.

A player walked to the stern of the ship and looked down to confirm that the anchor chain was not hooked to the hull. There was also a situation where the anchor chain was hooked to the hull along the way, but it didn't look like it this time. If the anchor chain doesn't move and it's not stuck, it's usually the end. There is a braking device on the winch, and the weight of the chain itself cannot pull the winch. If it stops turning, it means that the anchor head has bottomed out.

Our operation sequence is to lower the anchor first, roll it up 1 meter when the anchor head touches the bottom, then cut off the anchor chain, connect the repeater to the anchor chain, and then throw it into the water together. Because we rolled back 1 meter, the depth of the anchor chain from the water surface after the anchor head touches the bottom is 1 meter, and the repeater is fixed at this depth.

Now that the anchor chain has hit the bottom, we started to rewind the anchor chain according to the operation sequence, but we could no longer pull it up after just a few meters.

"What's going on?" King Chuang used the ship's external broadcast to directly ask the minelayer over there.

The ship also responded with an external loudspeaker: "The anchor chain seems to be caught on something and it can't be pulled."

"Hurry up and deal with it."

"clear."

The players over there had been struggling for a long time and the anchor chain not only failed to be pulled up, but suddenly started to slide down. The winch suddenly spun like crazy, and the brakes on the bearings began to smoke. The chain slid and began to move randomly from side to side, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right of the ship. The players on the ship were already dumbfounded.

King Chuang still had sharp eyes. He took a loudspeaker and shouted to the minelayer: "Tanglefish, pay attention to the anchor chain. Be prepared to resist the impact." Only then did the people on the ship react and look for people around them. Hold on tight.

The standard length of these anchor chains is only 1,500 meters. Once used up, you can use the lock to connect another one. In most cases, this length is enough. But now it was about to end. The people on the boat grabbed the things around them and stared at the winch nervously. Everyone watched helplessly as the anchor chain on the giant winch became less and less, and finally there was a sudden bang as the anchor chain was released.

The chain instantly stretched straight, but its other end was already fixed and would not slide off the ship. As soon as the chain stretched straight, it immediately transferred huge power to the battleship. The tail of the Triggerfish plunged into the water due to the huge force and then floated up again. The large minelayer itself was a modified destroyer, and its dead weight was more than 30,000 tons. Normal things could not pull it.

The hull tilted slightly and immediately regained its balance, but the anchor chain suddenly began to move diagonally forward, causing the ship to turn around and move forward.

"What the hell is going on?" King Chuang muttered to himself in confusion and turned to the players behind him: "Send a few steel claws into the water to see what's going on."

Su Mei said: "It doesn't matter, you must have caught a fish."

Rose stood next to me and said: "The anchor is like a three-pronged fishhook. If something really bites the hook, it will definitely not be spit out. It seems that some marine creature must have swallowed the anchor head."

"That big iron lump weighs seven or eight tons. How could it be so stupid to eat an anchor?"

"That's not certain."

I watched the Triggerfish spinning around, and said to the people behind me, "I'll go down and have a look." After that, I jumped in.

"I'll go too." Ziyue jumped down as well.

"Take me one."

With a crackling sound, seven or eight of us jumped off at once, and we all swam down together. We quickly found the chain, held it and dived down to see something ahead. The chain moves very quickly underwater. The battleship above is too big and is only moving slowly. The creatures below must not be able to pull the battleship around in circles below.

A few of us climbed down the chain for a long time and finally got a clear look at the thing. I didn't expect that it was really a fish, and it was very huge. It's too dark underwater and I can't tell what color it is with my night vision, but I'm sure it's colorful. Seen from here, this thing is not much smaller than the battleship above. No wonder it was able to pull away a warship of tens of thousands of tons with such force.

"Let's go up."

After resurfacing, everyone immediately gathered around and asked what they saw. Ziyue replied: "What a big fish!"

"Isn't it? Did you really catch the fish?" King Chuang asked.

Eagle said: "Then don't you kill it?"

"That guy is too big. I'm afraid it won't be easy to deal with in the water, and there are too many surface warships. Using large-scale magic may endanger the safety of the fleet." Su Mei also went down with us just now, and she also decided not to move yet. .

"What should we do?" People who have not entered the water are more anxious.

I said: "There's nothing to do, it's just a fish. Don't move around now, find more boats to fix the Triggerfish, and then let the big guy turn around below, and we'll wait until it exhausts its strength." Then take up the line and hoist it up.”

"Dizzy! Do you really want to attract fish?"

"What should we do? Go down and fight it?"

"It's safer to hang fish."

Everyone finally decided that it would be better to hang the fish. The Triggerfish started the propeller and pulled against the fish. Anyway, as long as it was not dragged too far, it would be fine. After an hour, the guy's speed obviously slowed down, and we began to experimentally retract the anchor chain. The fish was still struggling at first, but soon gave up resistance and was soon pulled to the surface. By the time we pulled it out of the water, it was so tired that it had no strength left. I summoned several giant dragons and put this guy on the deck of the Great White Shark. No other place could accommodate such a big guy.

"What a big fish!" Players in our guild all came to see the super big fish. There are no such big creatures in the real world. Who has seen a 0-meter-long fish?

"It's really big and scary!" Everyone pointed and commented on this big guy. This fish was already very tired, but the extreme lack of oxygen after it came out of the water started to struggle again, and the big guy actually jumped up on the deck. This fish was at least nearly a thousand tons. It was no joke to jump up with such a big size. Even the Great White Shark began to shake. The deck of the Great White Shark is the back of the shark. Not only is it sloping, but there is no protective fence. When this big guy jumps up, everyone around him can't stand. Many players accidentally rolled from the deck into the water.

"Should we kill it? If it keeps jumping like this, I will get seasick!" Xiaoyao shouted from behind.

"How do you kill someone so big?"

"Just break the head." Da Guofan came up with a super stupid idea.

"This is not the goldfish in your fish tank. That guy's head is like a battering ram. How can we move it?"

The body of this fish is similar to the red carp raised in ponds in many scenic spots, but its head has a very strange shape, with sharp edges and corners and a pointed cone facing forward. The red fish head is simply a special impactor, and the neat rows of fangs in its huge mouth also show that this guy is definitely not docile. If we hadn't accidentally caught it and tired it out for more than an hour, we might have allowed it to capsize the boat.

"I wonder if Dongxi has intelligence? It would be great if he could communicate." Su Mei said.

Xiaoyao said: "I just want to calm it down as soon as possible. The boat is about to capsize! If it jumps a few more times, we will all go swimming!"

I wanted to call Ariana to be the translator, but she didn't show up. Then I remembered that I asked her to be responsible for the rescue work in Atlantis. He quickly switched to letting the phantom act as a translator, and a little experiment proved that this thing had basic intelligence. First, Phantom calmed the thing down and promised to water it, which really calmed the thing down. We used the fire-fighting device on the nearby battleship to spray water on its head so that it could breathe temporarily.

"Phantom, tell it we want to negotiate with it."

The Phantom immediately communicated and then created a water ball in the air. Phantom said: "Just speak directly, and I will translate. The sound will be transmitted through this ball as a medium, and you can hear its words directly."

It's convenient to have Phantom around.

"First of all, let me introduce that we are a fleet passing by here." I said tentatively.

The water ball fluctuated, and a voice that seemed to come from a glass bottle said: "I am the free creature devil fish here."

"Isn't it? Is the devil fish as big as you?" Da Guofan interjected.

"I am an evolved manta ray. The creatures here generally call us King Kong manta rays. Our type is relatively large. And I am the leader of my group, so I am relatively big."

"Evolved? No wonder it's so big. Why do people call you King Kong Devil Fish?"

"Because the horn on my head is very hard, I call it the King Kong Devil Ray. The one on our head is the King Kong horn."

I said: "Okay, that's it for introducing each other. What we want to say is that we were installing instruments just now, and when we were lowering the anchor, you suddenly swallowed our anchor head, and then you started to pull us The warships are running around, we didn’t mean to capture you.”

The King Kong Devil Fish also said aggrievedly: "I didn't want to bite that thing. I was chasing a king jellyfish at that time. When I opened my mouth to swallow it, your hook happened to fall off. As a result, I shut up. The hook has also gone down, and if you spit it out again, it won’t come out!”

"It turns out it was a misunderstanding!" The people around finally understood why some fish were stupid enough to bite the anchor. It turned out that the anchor just fell into its mouth when it was catching food, and it swallowed the food together.

I said: "Look, this is all a misunderstanding. We are installing equipment, and we don't mean to hang you up. You are eating, and we don't mean to cause trouble. So what do you think about our reconciliation?"

"I have no objection. But you should at least remove this hook from my mouth. It's so uncomfortable!"

"Of course. We'll help you remove the hook and let you into the water, and we won't owe each other anything."

"agree."

The peace talks went smoothly. Although this guy looks very fierce, he is quite reasonable. Next we started to help remove the anchor, which was quite troublesome. The anchor head weighs only seven or eight tons. Several people couldn't move at all, and large creatures couldn't get in. Fortunately, we had a cart for loading cannonballs. A large group of people went in and even carried the frame, and finally loaded it on the cart and got it out. The big mouth of the King Kong Manta Ray is like a cave. With so many of us entering, it was not crowded at all.

After the anchor fell, I asked the dragons to push it into the water, and the manta ray came back to life as soon as it hit the water. After circling around us twice, it gradually dived and disappeared on the sea.

"Why don't you take the opportunity to scratch some more oil and water?" Jin Coin asked standing behind me.

"Still scratching? We should be thankful that it didn't retaliate." He turned around and said to everyone: "Okay, okay, throw that damn converter down quickly. I don't want to wait any longer." The United States is just on the opposite side of the earth. The time difference is completely reversed. It's past 3 pm Beijing time now, which means it will get dark soon in Beijing, but here it means it will get dawn soon. It would be good for us to land during the dark, but I can't guarantee that anything will happen when it gets light. Although such a large fleet was brought out this time to prevent a naval battle with the Americans, it would be best not to fight.

Everyone knew what I was worried about, so they all worked quickly. The anchor was quickly returned to the stern of the Triggerfish. The anchor head hit the bottom and the anchor chain was retracted. Then the chain was cut off and replaced with a repeater. It will be ok if several players work together to push the repeater into the sea. With these things, you can maintain basic communication with Essinger.

After the fleet set sail, it continued to approach the coast of the United States, but did not encounter any American fleet along the way. It's early morning in the United States now, and it's almost dawn. This time period is generally the time when the number of people online is the smallest. Night owls have already rested, and those who get up early have not yet gotten up. It can be said that there are basically few players online in the United States at this time.

Ours is a large fleet, and most of them are heavy warships. They need special deep-water ports to dock, and there is no way to get to the beach. But deep-water ports must be city ports. This problem troubles us very much. After planning for so long in Essinger, I actually forgot about the issue of landing. What a mistake!

"What should we do now?" Everyone looked at me and waited for me to make a decision.

"There are three methods. The first method is to search along the coastline. There must be a natural deep-water port, but how long it takes to find it is a question. The second method is to use magic pets and guardian beasts to help. Use small boats to go back and forth between the coast and deep water areas to unload cargo. This method is slower and time-consuming, but it will definitely work. There is also a third method, we will land in the city, find a system city, and then send people to find it. The npc logs in there. I remember that the game setting here in the United States is that as long as it does not harm the principle, you can buy anything. The npc will meet almost all requirements, it just depends on how much you pay. Do you want to choose Which one?"

"First" "Second" "Third"

Everyone's opinions are mixed, and there is no unified answer.

Su Mei said: "I think the first method won't work anyway, it relies too much on luck!"

Rose said: "It may cost more to use the third method."

Ziyue said: "The second method is too slow. What if we are discovered after dawn?"

"How about we decide by guessing?" Big Pot Rice suddenly popped up and said, but he was quickly drowned in everyone's murderous gazes.

I thought about it and said: "The first option is indeed not very good. Let's choose between the second and third options. The main members of the guild will come and vote. Those who think the second option should be used stand to my left, and those who think the third option should be used Those who find a way to stand stand on the right side, and those who abstain stand in front of me."

After taking stock, most people support the third option - buy it with money. I really didn’t expect that so many people supported this in the end. I thought everyone would choose to move slowly!

Seeing that the fleet was approaching the coast of the United States, the coastline could already be seen in the telescope. We decided to let the fleet stop and wait while we deployed the last repeater. In addition, we need to quickly select a few people to enter the city first to contact the NPCs. We cannot let the fleet drive in directly, as that is unsafe.

This time we are negotiating, not going to fight, so not too many people can go there, they need to have strong negotiation skills, and there are only a few people who can stand up to the situation. According to this requirement, Rose and Su Mei are the ones who must go. These two are both master negotiators. Of course I can't run away, it's up to me to support the scene. For safety reasons, bring along True Red, Shadow Spring, Ziyue and Shura Ziyi. These are the ones that can be particularly beaten in the guild. I also found a player who can drive a boat.

After everyone was ready, they found an assault boat and set off. This was the lifeboat, but it was equipped with a magic propeller produced by Essinger. The Zodiac was very fast and quickly approached the coast. Two coastal cities have appeared in sight. I looked around. "Which one?"

"The one on the left. The port on the right is too small."

"Okay, that's it."