The moment he stepped back onto the Island, Lin Bei felt the sea wind howl in his face and saw the surrounding waters churning with waves.
"So this is the weather of Storm Season? These waves… must be over five meters high, right?"
"And this is only day two. At this rate, tomorrow they'll hit ten meters, and the final days… will probably bring full-scale tsunamis."
Lin Bei looked around the Island; it was now a vast continent.
Resource points dotted the landscape everywhere he looked, and figures bustled about in every direction.
Those figures were the robots Qingqing had mass-produced through the production lines inside the manor-castle; every one of them was Perfect grade.
With their cutting-edge gear, if they went all-out, each could rival an ordinary Survivor whose Combat Power exceeded ten thousand.
To Lin Bei, that strength meant nothing, but out on the open sea it was enough to dominate a region and become the leader of a Survivor faction.
Now that the Third Calamity Season had arrived, the Survival World had undergone another hundred-zone merger.
Within the zone Lin Bei currently occupied, there were several hundred Major Powers, and every faction leader had Combat Power above ten thousand.
Lin Bei was rather surprised by this.
According to the intel he'd first obtained from Da Hei, once a Survivor upgraded their Island to a certain level and their own strength entered the extraordinary realm, they could leave the Island World and directly enter a High-Level Survival World.
Yet the current situation was far too abnormal.
Furthermore, Da Hei had said that in previous sessions, no Survivor had ever raised their Combat Power so quickly.
After all, they were ordinary people; even with good luck and a few high-grade treasure chests, it was impossible to push Combat Power past ten thousand within a few days!
Unlike him, the others lacked both the Critical Hit System and the Plunder System, nor could they enter the King-Level Dungeon World ahead of time.
Unless… someone behind the scenes from another faction was secretly backing them, just like the people from Order Beacon before—culminating in the appearance of Blood Puppet warriors whose Combat Power exceeded a million.
If he himself weren't a cheat, he'd probably be long dead.
As for talent abilities, he now understood them quite well.
Normally, a Survivor could only draw a talent ability when advancing from a Low-Tier Survival World to a High-Level one.
To unlock a talent early, you needed a big-shot backing you; otherwise it was nearly impossible.
In short, the Low-Tier Survival World was just a preliminary screening ground; the Major Powers focused on the High-Level Survival World.
But the present circumstances… were off.
For some reason, those factions were now investing effort into the Low-Tier Survival World.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him and he thought of a possibility.
"Could it be… those factions have discovered something?"
Lin Bei frowned, lost in thought. "Cultivating talent in a low-tier world is extremely difficult and slow; normally it's a thankless task."
"Unless… they've found a bug—intel that entering the King-Level Dungeon World from a Low-Tier Survival World lets you ignore world-rule restrictions!"
"But even that doesn't quite add up, because the only reason I could enter the King-Level Dungeon World from a low-tier world was that Aleria the Overseer opened a back door for me.
Without that connection, even if other Survivors gained power beyond the norm in a low-tier world, they still shouldn't be able to enter the King-Level Dungeon World, right?"
"In any case… something feels wrong here."
Lin Bei's frown deepened, but he still couldn't untangle the mess.
After a while he sighed and stopped overthinking.
"Forget it. Whatever tricks they want to pull, as long as they don't provoke me."
"If they do… I won't mind killing them all. Then the entire Island Survival World will answer to me alone!"
"What's that saying? Make lots of friends and few enemies—kill all the enemies and you'll have very few left; whoever remains will be friends."
"Hmm… I'm such a genius."
Lin Bei's lips curved in satisfaction with his own idea.
Then, silently in his mind, he opened the system panel deep in his consciousness.
It showed he could now check in and unlock his third system ability.
While his Super Luck status was still active, Lin Bei didn't hesitate; he chose to check in at once.
Soon, the system interface in his mind flickered with multicolored light.
Finally, the glow settled into a dazzling golden radiance!
"Golden flash!"
Lin Bei's heart leapt; this time… he was about to soar again!
As expected, an ethereal voice echoed in his mind.
[Check-in successful! You have unlocked your third system—Super Rebate System!]
[Super Rebate System: every item gifted to others can trigger a rebate reward, up to a maximum of ten-thousand-fold.]
"Holy crap! I'm really taking off! Worthy of a golden flash—awesome—!!!"
Lin Bei was overjoyed, barely restraining himself from dancing.
"Let's test the effect!"
He took a deep breath, stopped in his tracks, and from the depths of his storage space pulled out the pink wristband he had previously sealed, releasing the seal.
The instant the seal lifted, the pink wristband seemed to spasm, vibrating wildly with such force and frequency that, despite Lin Bei's current astronomical stats, he nearly lost his grip and dropped it.
"Damn, Aleria must've been furious; this vibration is insane,"
Lin Bei muttered, but thinking of the world origin fragments he was about to send her, he felt no panic.
He contacted Aleria at once; she picked up instantly and began cursing him non-stop.
"Beiming! Why'd you hang up on me? Why didn't you answer for so long? You freaking—"
Lin Bei's head throbbed; if he didn't stop her, she could probably rant for three days and nights.
So Lin Bei acted directly.
He opened the trade window in the chat interface, threw over a hundred world origin fragments onto it without a word, and hit confirm.
"Hmph! Don't think you can brush this off with a few gifts, punk! Let me tell you, this matter—"
Her voice cut off abruptly.
Next came a piercing shriek that nearly knocked Lin Bei unconscious.
"Ahhh—!!! Th-th-th… this many world origin fragments?!!!! Am I dreaming?!!!!"