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In the abyss of the inky sea, moonlight means nothing. But Avery isn't afraid. When desperate players in Global Chat beg for light, she sends a single picture. Not a selfie, but a forest of glowing ribbonfish swarming her submarine. \"Holy crap! My trypophobia is going crazy!\" \"I was just scared of the dark... Now I've lost it.\" While others cling to sinking rafts, she's surrounded by living light, gr1nding her way to the top. Experience raw, terrifying survival where beauty is monstrous. Dive into a world of absolute darkness where your only shield is a primal, cunning will. The sea is hungry. Will you light your way with fear or become the predator? Read Avery's story now. #DarkSurvival #MonstrousBeauty #GrindToNumberOne🌪️🚨 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 A Perfect Start "Pay me another 300 bucks," the diving instructor growled, "or I'll hold you under until you stop moving." Then he shoved Avery Vance's head beneath the surface. Avery struggled on instinct, arms and legs flailing as if she were panicking. Under the water, however, her expression stayed calm, even slightly amused. 'So that's how it is.' The friendly tour guide act was gone the moment they were alone at sea. What was left was a man trying to shake her down. In her mind, the situation was already simple. 'You started it. That makes this self-defense.' One of her hands stopped moving and slipped toward the small dive pouch at her waist. Inside was a switchblade. She pulled it out, flicked it open, and drove it into his abdomen without hesitation. Once. Twice. Three times. Her grip stayed steady the entire time. A faint red cloud spread through the water. Now the instructor was the one thrashing, panic taking over every movement. At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed in the air, "Welcome, player, to The Great Oceanic Survival. Life begins in the sea, and it ends in the sea." Avery paused for half a second, eyes narrowing underwater. 'What is that supposed to be?' She didn't wait for an answer. She drove the blade into his chest three more times. The instructor stopped moving and slowly floated face down on the surface. Only then did Avery lift her head out of the water and start treading water. The voice was still there. "Congratulations, player. You have achieved the first kill on this server. Do you want to make a public announcement?" Avery listened while keeping herself afloat. If she had ever played survival games or read anything like them, she would have known the obvious answer was yes. Public announcements usually came with extra rewards and early advantages. In a situation like this, that kind of head start mattered. It would also put her name on the map in a bad way, which could keep trouble away. That was the kind of opening hand every gamer dreamed of. Pocket aces. Bonus chips. The whole table nervous. It was a clean early advantage. But Avery didn't know any of that. Why not? Simple. Assassins didn't read web fiction. Yes, Avery was an assassin. The diving instructor had been her target for this job. Her clients were a middle-aged couple who had sold their house to afford her fee. Their only daughter had gone on a vacation dive, and the instructor had held her underwater to squeeze an extra 300 dollars out of her. That time, he had gone too far. The girl had actually drowned. Three years later, the instructor got out after serving time for negligent homicide and went right back to the same line of work. Avery was his 404th customer after prison. Fitting, really. Some people were better off not found. The job was done. Now Avery just needed her phone so she could take a few clear photos of the body. Once she sent them to the clients, she could collect the rest of her payment. Her phone was on the inflatable boat. Avery looked around. 'Wait a second. Where the hell is the boat?' The inflatable boat the instructor had used to bring tourists out here had been less than thirty feet away. There was no wind today. The ocean was calm. It could not have drifted off that fast. 'So where is it?' Avery ducked beneath the surface and scanned the water around her. Nothing. The boat was gone. Her phone was gone too. Avery did not panic. In her experience, when a person lost something, they usually gained something else. For example, she had just gained a very annoying question: "Congratulations, player. You have achieved the first kill on the entire server. Would you like to make a public announcement?" "No announcement," Avery said immediately, still treading water. "Absolutely not." She had no idea what the voice in her head was, but she had just killed a man. Broadcasting that sounded like something only an idiot would do. Avery preferred to keep a low profile. 'Public announcement? Hard pass.' [Congratulations, player. You have received the first-kill reward: two bottles of bottled water.] [Congratulations, player. You have received the title "Player Killer." This title may be equipped on your personal stats panel.] Two bottles of water appeared in Avery's hands. The first-kill reward should have included food, first-aid supplies, survival gear, and basic tools. Enough, at least, to give her a serious head start. But because she refused the announcement, all she got was two bottles of water. She had been handed a killer opening hand and folded before the flop. Any other player would have been furious enough to punch the ocean. Avery, however, stared at the bottles in her hands. "Two bottles of water?" she said, genuinely impressed. "For me? Just like that? "I don't have a boat. I'm stuck in the middle of the ocean. I've got no food and no fresh water, and you gave me bottled water? "And two bottles, not one? That's generous." After thinking it over, Avery offered sincerely, "As thanks, I can kill someone for you free of charge. I'm pretty good at it. Got anyone you need gone?" The system, which had been quietly judging Avery for being too clueless to claim the announcement rewards, suddenly reconsidered. 'Maybe she is not so bad.' After all, a few lucky players had already pulled in floating loot chests and opened them for supplies. Not one of them had said thank you. But Avery had received two bottles of water and immediately offered murder as a courtesy. In its own unsettling way, that was almost polite. With that in mind, the system replayed the rules for Avery, who had apparently missed them earlier while she was busy killing a man. [First, please take this game seriously. If you die in the game, you die in the real world. You only have one life. [Second, everyone on Earth between the ages of thirteen and forty has entered the game. Those outside the age range will be properly cared for in the original world. [Third, watch the ocean surface. Loot chests may drift by at any time. Use your starter tool, the grappling hook, to pull them in. [Open a loot chest, and you will receive supplies. Of course, you may also receive something else. [Fourth, unless you have special equipment, do not enter the water casually. Marine life can be extremely dangerous.] Avery glanced down at her wetsuit, then at the switchblade in her hand. 'Do these count as special equipment,' she thought, 'or am I about to find out the hard way?' [Fifth, during the seven-day beginner protection period, your vessel will not be actively attacked by marine life. [Your survival environment is relatively safe, so collect supplies and upgrade your vessel as quickly as possible. [Sixth, once the beginner protection period ends, things will get ugly if your vessel cannot reach five knots and outrun marine life. [Seventh, please monitor your health points. When your health reaches zero, you will die. [Good luck. [Now, please choose your vessel.] Avery blinked. 'Where do I even look for that?' A pale blue screen materialized in front of her, with five tabs at the bottom: [Status Panel], [Inventory], [Global Chat], [Vessel], and [Marketplace]. She tapped Status Panel first. [Day 1: Ocean Survival, 12:02 PM, Sunny, 77°F [Player: Avery Vance [Age: 25 [ID：66640420260444 [Nickname: Pending [Title: Player Killer (Not Equipped) [Health: 91 (That ingrown toenail is still giving you grief.) [Fatigue: 15 (Did a little diving, nothing tiring.) [Strength: 63 (Built like a linebacker.) [Endurance: 92 (Tough as nails. Seriously, what are you, a cockroach?) [Agility: 75 (Quick enough to make a jackrabbit look lazy.) [Carried Items: 16.9 fl oz bottled water ×2, switchblade ×1 [Equipment: Tactical bikini wetsuit ×1, standard wetsuit ×1, diving goggles ×1, fins ×1, scuba tank set ×1] Avery grimaced at the title. 'Who the hell puts "Player Killer" on their forehead? That last kill was self-defense, plain and simple.' Not just that one—every job she'd ever taken was airtight. Target either died in an "accident" or ended up on the wrong end of her "self-defense." Even if the cops showed up now, they'd find nothing. 'So how am I a Player Killer?' She scoffed. '.' But when her eyes landed on the title, a small description faded in: [Equip to deal +3% damage to players. [On attack, 3% chance to inflict 0.5 second stun. If the target has never killed anyone, stun chance doubles.] Avery's eyes lit up. For a killer who lived by precision hits, that half-second stun meant everything. She shrugged. 'Player Killer it is.' She equipped it, then set her nickname: DefensiveOverkill. 'Androgynous enough. I like it,' she thought. Next up: Inventory. Ten empty slots. She dropped both water bottles into one slot, then stripped the floating diving instructor of his scuba tank and goggles, stuffing them into two more slots. Then Global Chat. It was buzzing. Westhaven Server 66, Zone 888, Player Count: 99,999 / 100,000 [I just paid off my student loans and finally landed a sweet corporate job! I don't want to be stuck in some survival game, I just want my 401k and paid vacation!] [Holy crap, sharks! Three of them circling my raft! What do I do?] [Chill. The system said marine life won't attack during the newbie protection period.] [I was paralyzed from the neck down. Now I can move again. Thank you, The Great Oceanic Survival. Everyone stay alive.] [99,999 people? Where's the missing one? Did he die already?] Avery patted the floating diving instructor. "Strangers are already worried about you. Guess you're pretty well-liked, huh?" Most players were discussing what vessel to pick. [Rafts are trash. I sneezed and mine fell apart. Now I'm floating in the water. Anyone wanna give me a lift?] [But all three of my options are rafts. No other choice. What do I do?] The guy who said that posted a screenshot of his Vessel page: three identical selection boxes, all showing rafts with the same description. [Same here. Looks like three options, but it's just rafts.] [Raft +1.] [I get it now. Rafts have the highest drop rate. Two of my three options were rafts—speed 1 mph. The third was a speedboat—5 mph."] CuteButLethal: [I'm stuck with rafts, so jealous. The system said if your boat can't hit 5 mph after the protection period, you're screwed. [Dude, your speedboat doesn't need upgrades at all, saving you materials. Can you take me with you?] [But speedboats are gas hogs. I ran it for a bit and it's almost empty. Got any gas? I'll trade you for upgrade materials.] [Picked wrong. Can I reroll?] [Bro, what did you get?] That guy posted his Vessel page too. [Vessel Name: The Citadel (Battle-Damaged Aircraft Carrier) [Current Level: 1 [Speed: 1 mph [Upgrade Materials: Iron ×2000, Timber ×1000, Rubber ×500, Plastic ×500, Glass ×100] [Holy crap, bro, that thing's a resource black hole. My raft only needs 20 wood to upgrade.] [And?] [That's it. Just wood.] [Damn.] After skimming Global Chat, Avery picked up some selection wisdom. Don't pick a steel giant. It eats too many upgrade materials, and she can't get it moving in the early game. A medium boat with one strong stat, like a speedboat, could work. Sure, it guzzles gas, but it's fast, and early on she don't have the pressure to upgrade. Plus, Avery figured that by the time a basic raft reached five knots, it'd probably be burning fuel anyway. Of course, that assumed she even had a choice. From what she saw in Global Chat, over 95% of players got rafts across all three options. Armed with that, Avery opened her own Vessel page. She blinked. Her page showed a single giant, dusty question mark. No selection boxes. No vessel info. Not even a word. She waved her hands, trying to tap the blue screen. Nothing. She frowned, then switched back to Global Chat and typed her first message in the game. DefensiveOverkill: [No boat. Should I wait or just jack one?] Chapter 2 You Guys Got a Boat? Before Avery posted, everyone was enjoying a sideshow. [I've got a Rolex Submariner. Trading it for 100 bottles of water and 100 food packs. Someone shot back: [Dude, in a sea survival game, food and water are way more valuable than your watch. How can you even ask for that?] [Hey, I'm open to negotiation.] [One hardtack. You in?] [Deal! I already sent the trade. You better keep your word, man.] [Whoa, I was just kidding.] [A hardtack is dirt cheap. I'll even take half of it back. Come on, please trade with me!] [Sorry, man, I really don't need a watch out here. I'll pass.] Then Avery's message popped up, and Global Chat instantly filled with question marks. [What do you mean 'no boat'?] [And what do you mean, 'jack one'? Stay the hell away from me!] [At least make your lie sound believable. How can there be no boat in The Great Oceanic Survival?] Avery looked down at the body underneath her. She had stretched herself over the dead dive instructor to save energy and keep a little body heat. She stared at him for a second, then thought, 'Fine. Technically, I do have a boat. 'It just moves slower than an inflatable pool toy, takes way too much arm strength. 'And in a few days, it's going to bloat, split open, and turn this whole survival plan into a floating biohazard.' A desperate player typed: [Bro, they don't believe you, but I do. My raft just fell apart. Did yours break too? Was it because you sneezed? Help me!] [Pics or it didn't happen. DefensiveOverkill, send a photo. If you can prove you really don't have a boat, I'll give you the Submariner.] Avery did not understand why the guy needed proof. She could only shake her head. 'Rich people make no sense.' But she did want that watch. She had a full diving setup, but no dive watch. The shady rental shop had not provided one, which meant she had no proper underwater timer. The [Status Panel] did show the time, but she did not fully trust it. A real watch would be backup insurance. Without hesitation, Avery rolled off the corpse, opened the photo function on her screen, and snapped several pictures of herself in the water. She carefully kept her face and chest out of frame, making sure no one could tell her gender. A moment later, the other player replied: [Holy crap. You really don't have a boat. That's even worse than me. The Submariner is yours.] A friend request appeared almost immediately. Avery accepted it. There was no small talk. The other player sent the watch through the trade system right away. It was a genuine Rolex. Avery strapped it on, changed the player's nickname to [Submariner], and sent a short reply. DefensiveOverkill: [Thanks.] Submariner: [No problem. It's useless to me anyway. What are you going to do without a boat?] DefensiveOverkill: [Working on it.] Submariner: [Got anything yet?] DefensiveOverkill: [Not yet.] Submariner: [I'll check in later.] While Avery was completing the trade, someone else started making noise in Global Chat. CuteButLethal: [How can she not have a boat? She's probably just fishing for sympathy. First day in the game, and she's already running a scam. Everyone, be careful.] CuteButLethal: [You didn't actually give her the Submariner, did you? You got played.] CuteButLethal: [She just found the right angle to hide her boat. How can you not see that?] Avery raised an eyebrow. She remembered CuteButLethal. Earlier, when CuteButLethal had asked the speedboat player for a ride, he had at least given a reasonable answer. He wanted fuel in exchange for upgrade materials. But CuteButLethal had gone completely silent. Avery narrowed her eyes at the chat. 'A scammer thinks everyone else is scamming too.' More importantly, CuteButLethal had a boat. She claimed it was only a raft moving at one mph, but that still sounded better than riding a corpse. Right now, a seaworthy vessel to keep her alive was the single thing she needed most. DefensiveOverkill: [Anyone want to hire me to take out CuteButLethal? No payment needed. Just give me her boat. You can keep everything else, but you have to get me to her vessel.] CuteButLethal: [What the hell? You got caught lying, and now you're desperate? Don't trust this guy. He's calling for murder on day one. Total psycho behavior!] Another player suddenly asked: [Hey, can you help me kill three sharks? I'm losing it over here. I'll split all future loot chests with you, fifty-fifty.] DefensiveOverkill: [I don't take payment in future promises.] [I feel like he's serious. This is a survival game, not a murder simulator! Please don't go full Rambo on day one. My heart can't handle this.] CuteButLethal: [Oh, so you think you can scare me? You think I'm afraid of you? Come on, then. Let's see who gets who first.] [We're all just trying to survive out here. Can we please keep things peaceful?] CuteButLethal: [I'm not the one starting trouble. We just got stuck in a zone with a psycho. Lucky us.] DefensiveOverkill: [You're right. Let's all stay nice and peaceful. So, anyone want to hire me? No? I'll ask again later.] Meanwhile, the game system was panicking. There was a bug. Avery did not have a boat. It was a real system error. During the global player introduction, Avery had somehow scored the first kill. The huge data spike from that kill had interrupted the vessel distribution process, and her vessel never loaded. The system trembled as it searched for a solution. 'She cannot find out about this bug.' It quickly scanned Avery's surroundings, looking for anything that could pass as a boat. Then its attention landed on Avery's wetsuit. The system paused. 'That works. At least it's less creepy than a corpse.' It quickly registered the suit on the Vessel panel. For now, it only needed something to fill the slot. Whether the suit could really be upgraded, or what it might become later, was a problem for later. [Ahem. Please remain calm, player. You do have a boat.] Avery climbed back onto the dead body and gave it a reluctant pat. "This? You're calling this a boat?" She shook her head. [I wasn't referring to the body. I meant your dive suit.] Avery looked down at the suit clinging to her body. "That makes even less sense." [Just check the Vessel page again.] Avery opened the Vessel tab. The gray question mark was gone. In its place was a simple icon of a dive suit. [Vessel Name: Standard Dive Suit [Level: 1 [Speed: 0.5 knots, unpowered and carried by the current. Up to 20 knots, in strong currents. [Maximum Diving Depth: 65 feet [Upgrade Materials Needed: Iron ×30, Rubber ×30, Plastic ×10, Glass ×5] Avery stared at the screen for three full seconds. Then she tugged at the suit and spoke in disbelief. "So because it shows up on the panel, it counts as a vessel?" [Yes,] the system answered quickly. [Other players have vessels that stay on the surface. Yours can go underwater. [Surface loot is limited, but the real resources are below: oil, gas, methane hydrate, metals. You can collect them before anyone else even reaches them.] The system did not sound ashamed. It sounded almost proud, as if it had given her a hidden advantage. That part caught Avery's attention. Her eyes narrowed. "The game manual says not to enter the water without proper gear. Marine life is dangerous. The system tensed. It knew this answer mattered. [You would not be swimming freely in the water. You would be inside your registered vessel.] Avery was silent for a moment. "Fine. Let's say I accept that. What happens when I upgrade it? Do I get propulsion? Better speed?" The system's voice became more confident. [Of course. Those are small problems. They can be fixed. [Think about it. Other players are stuck on the surface, fighting the current, avoiding sharks, and fighting over whatever loot boxes drift by. [You can go below the surface, gather resources quietly, and upgrade before anyone knows what you are doing. That gives you a much better path forward.] It continued without giving her time to interrupt. [Collect the materials. Upgrade the vessel. This suit has far more long-term potential than a basic raft or even a small speedboat.] The more eagerly the system explained, the more suspicious Avery became. 'Something is wrong here,' she thought. She was about to ask another question, but the system spoke first. [Battery is low. I need to recharge. Please explore on your own for now, player. I will support you when I return.] Then it vanished. Avery's mouth tightened. 'Definitely suspicious.' She looked around. Staying on the dead body was only delaying the inevitable. She still had strength left, and she still had enough air. Diving down to collect resources and upgrade the vessel was the most practical choice. 'The risk is manageable,' she thought. 'It is worth trying.' She used her switchblade to cut the instructor's dive suit into strips, then tied the strips together into a rope about one hundred feet long. She fastened one end around her own belt and the other around the instructor's ankle. She could not afford to lose the body. Without a raft, it was her only float. The rope would also help her find her way back up if she became disoriented. In an emergency, she could use it to pull herself toward the surface faster. It was a safety line. She checked the knots. They held firm. Then she looked at her watch, adjusted her goggles, took several deep breaths, bit down on her regulator, let go of the body, and slipped underwater. She moved with ease. Her body stayed controlled, her kicks were steady, and she descended smoothly through the clear water. Other players were fighting to survive on the noisy surface. Her hunting ground was the quiet seafloor. From its own view, the system watched her dive and let out a long, silent breath. 'One problem at a time,' it thought. 'Just keep things moving. There was nothing else it could do.' At about sixty-five feet down, sunlight still reached through the clear water, spreading shifting patches of light across the sand. Avery had already checked the area on her way down. Debris lay scattered across the seafloor and wedged between rocks. She went straight for the largest object: an abandoned scuba tank. The moment she grabbed it, the system's voice sounded in her mind. [Acquired: Discarded Scuba Tank ×1. Automatically dismantled into Stainless Steel ×1 and Iron ×1. Added to inventory.] The system's tone was cautious, almost apologetic, as if it was waiting to see whether she would be satisfied. To make up for the questionable vessel, it had unlocked automatic dismantling for her at no cost. Other players would have to build a basic crafting station first. Avery did not know that. She simply kept collecting. She checked her air gauge. Twenty-five minutes left. She needed five minutes to ascend and three minutes as an emergency reserve, which gave her seventeen minutes to gather supplies. Including the instructor's tank, she had less than forty minutes underwater in total. Every second mattered. She reached for a glass beer bottle half-buried in the sand. Then something moved at the edge of her vision. It was a fishing net, spread wide and rushing straight toward her. Chapter 3 Someone Tried to Catch Avery The fishing net drifted lower, slow and steady, almost like a hand reaching down with its fingers spread apart. Avery stayed still on the seabed and didn't react. She tilted her head slightly and traced the rope upward. Above her, a dark shadow cut through the surface light. It was a fishing boat. Not large, but big enough to control these shallow waters. It had just struck the diving instructor moments ago. The body was still spinning up there near the surface, carried by the impact. Avery reached for the rope tied at her waist. No tension. Completely slack. She pulled it in quickly. The end was cleanly cut. Either a propeller had shredded it or someone had cut it on purpose. It didn't matter. This boat was clearly after her. She wrapped the rope tightly around her waist and tucked the loose end under her belt so it wouldn't catch on the net. The boat kept circling above. The net kept dragging through the water, but it didn't go too deep. The people on the boat were careful, avoiding the rocky seabed. As long as she stayed low, it couldn't reach her. So she stayed pressed against the seafloor and kept moving. System notifications appeared one after another. [Picked up intact beer bottle ×1. Auto-dismantled into Glass ×1. Stored in inventory.] [Picked up abandoned car tire ×1. Auto-dismantled into Rubber ×2. Stored in inventory.] [Picked up damaged PVC lifebuoy ×1. Auto-dismantled into Plastic ×1, Rubber ×1. Stored in inventory.] [Picked up waterlogged leather bag ×1. Auto-dismantled into Leather ×1. Stored in inventory.] [Picked up discarded boat anchor ×1. Auto-dismantled into Iron ×7. Stored in inventory.] Avery moved along the seabed with one hand and both feet, keeping her other hand free to grab whatever she saw. She worked fast, like she was clearing out a store without looking at price tags. 'Take it first. Think later,' she thought. System: [Upgrade materials complete. Do you want to upgrade your vessel?] She checked her dive watch. Only nine minutes had passed since she went underwater. The system was not exaggerating. There really was a lot of usable material down here. Above her, the boat and net kept circling. "Upgrade," she said. Her wetsuit suddenly tightened. The fabric began to shift and seal itself. The sleeves locked against her body. The material between her legs fused together. In seconds, she was wrapped in a single continuous layer of material, even covering her head. Her switchblade slipped out of her gear pouch. She caught it immediately. The material kept hardening. It felt like an iron grip closing around her body, squeezing tighter and tighter without pause. Her body was forced into a curled position, knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs, forehead almost touching her knees. She didn't choose it. The space simply allowed no other position. Then came darkness. A small light appeared ahead. A tiny porthole was embedded in the metal in front of her, barely larger than her face. From this angle, she couldn't see the net anymore. [Vessel upgrade complete. Congratulations. [You are the first player on the server to upgrade your vessel. Do you want to announce it?] "No announcement," she replied. It wasn't just about staying hidden. She genuinely didn't know what her vessel had turned into. If the system broadcast something like "Player DefensiveOverkill upgraded into a piece of junk," that would be a problem she didn't need. The vessel interface opened. First came the icon: a black egg. [Vessel Name: Ovoid Sub [Current Level: 2 [Speed: 3 knots (silent propulsion) [Maximum Diving Depth: 130 feet [Hull Integrity: 10 (thin shell, but curved structure reduces impact; wooden boat collisions cause no visible damage) [Tools: Micro Grappling Claw (can lift objects up to 22 pounds) [Upgrade Materials Required: 1 Vessel Upgrade Card, 100 Stainless Steel, 100 Iron, 100 Rubber, 50 Plastic, 50 Iron Nails, 20 Glass] A prompt followed. [Please choose fuel or electricity. Fuel uses gasoline. Electricity uses batteries. [One unit of gasoline lasts six hours. One battery lasts four hours.] Avery thought for a moment, then chose electricity. Batteries could be recharged with solar power. That meant long-term independence. Gasoline would require a constant supply and regular trading. Sooner or later, that would become a bottleneck. [Player has selected electricity. This upgrade includes 1 free battery unit. Enjoy the game.] Then another notification appeared. [Congratulations. You are the first player on the server to upgrade your vessel. Reward: campfire tomato pasta with egg.] Avery stared at it for a second. "Water and now hot food?" she muttered with a dry laugh. "Damn, I'd literally kill a guy to repay you right now." The System wisely remained silent. 'As long as you are happy.' Truthfully, the System was just as pleased. Avery's submarine had successfully leveled up, and the previously empty upgrade tree was finally glowing. This route worked. It wanted to suggest that she choose the announcement option to gain extra rewards, but it could not. Some helpful rules were hidden from players. They had to discover them on their own. Inside the submarine, there were no complicated controls. Just a single joystick positioned directly in front of her because the space was so tight. Avery grabbed it. Left and right controlled horizontal movement. Forward and back controlled ascent and descent. She rotated the submarine once, scanning her surroundings. Then she spotted the net again. It was still circling above, refusing to give up. "Hey," she said, "is that boat made of wood?" The system responded immediately. "First, don't call me 'hey.' Call me System. And yes, it has a wooden hull." Avery's expression stayed calm for another second. Then she made her decision. 'Ram it.' She pointed the egg-shaped submarine straight at the fishing boat and drove forward. Chapter 4 Cute ButLethal Hitting the boat was not the hard part. Getting past the net was. The submarine was small enough to slip through tight spaces, but that also meant it could get wrapped up in the net if Avery made one bad move. Its smooth, rounded shell did not help either. If it slid into the wrong opening, the net could tighten around it like a trap. Avery kept the sub quiet and steady. She eased it past the left side of the net with only a few feet to spare, moving at three knots as she angled upward. A rope scraped across the viewport. A thin, rough sound traveled through the hull. On the boat above, someone seemed to notice the change in tension. The engine slowed. Maybe the captain thought he had caught something. Avery looked up through the porthole. The bottom of the wooden boat filled her view. Barnacles clung to the hull. The lower boards were stained dark green from the water. A few frayed rope ends hung loose beneath it, probably what was left of the line that had been tied around her waist. She did not slow down. The impact was not loud. Underwater, it came through as a deep, ringing vibration. The submarine shook hard. Avery was thrown against the inside of the hull. Her chin clipped the control stick. Her knees hit first, then her back, then her hip. Pain flashed through her body all at once. She sucked in a breath and kicked the wall in frustration. 'No seat. No seatbelt. Great design.' She curled up for a second, then checked the cabin. No leaks. No warning lights. No dents that she could see. The shell had taken most of the impact, which was more than she could say for her own body. She tested the controls. Everything still worked. Avery looked through the porthole again. There was now a hole in the hull, roughly the size of a basketball. Water poured into it, twisting into a tight little swirl as it disappeared inside the boat. Fish and shrimp spilled out through the gap with the incoming water. They spun downward, then scattered into the open sea. The boat had stopped moving. The net was still in the water, but the ropes had gone slack. It no longer looked dangerous. It looked like trash. Avery stared at the damaged hull. This was the first time she had made this much noise while trying to kill someone. It felt strange, but not strange enough to make her stop. She leaned closer to the controls. 'One more hit. End it fast.' Avery pushed the stick forward and aimed for the edge of the hole. The submarine slammed into the boat again. This time, the crack was sharp and ugly, like wet wood splitting under pressure. The sub jerked back, then steadied. Avery had braced herself with both arms and legs against the hull, so the impact hurt less than before. The hole widened. Water rushed in faster. For several seconds, the boat groaned above her. Then it gave out. The hull split in two. The front half tilted left. The back half rolled right. A jagged gap opened between them as water flooded both sides. The net sank lower, its ropes drifting down in loose coils. A man fell into the water. He was heavyset, wearing an orange life jacket and black swim trunks. He hit the surface awkwardly, backside first, with a loud splash. He flailed until he grabbed a broken plank. Then he clung to it with both arms and stared down into the water, eyes wide. He had no idea what had hit him. Avery turned the submarine toward him. 'One more hit will finish it.' Killing him did not bother her. Then a notification sound went off. [Ping.] [Ping-ping-ping-ping-] Avery froze. She stared at the control panel. "System, seriously? That's your alert sound?" The System replied calmly, [You can buy different notification sounds with Seacoins. We have music clips, pet sounds, romantic voice lines, dramatic alarms. Plenty of options.] Avery frowned. "What are Seacoins?" [The official currency of The Great Oceanic Survival.] "And how do I get them?" [Island games, loot chests, special events. You'll figure it out as you explore.] Avery exhaled through her nose. Since the alert had already interrupted her, she opened Global Chat to see what was going on. CuteButLethal was flooding the chat. CuteButLethal: [DefensiveOverkill, I'm sorry.] CuteButLethal: [DefensiveOverkill, I was wrong, okay? I shouldn't have called you a liar. I'm sorry.] CuteButLethal: [DefensiveOverkill, I wasn't trying to trap you with the net. I was fishing. I swear.] CuteButLethal: [DefensiveOverkill, Please let this go. It won't happen again.] Other players jumped in right away. [Wait, you actually went after him? How did you even get to him that fast?] [Hold on. He didn't come to you? You went to him?] [What happened to sticking together and helping each other survive?] Avery took a picture of the wrecked boat with the man still alive in the water. Then she posted it. The chat went quiet for a moment. Then it exploded. [Did you ram him? What kind of boat are you using?] [Wait. CuteButLethal, is that fat dude in the water you? You're a guy? So the leg picture you traded me for my iron scrap earlier was yours? You scammer. Give me my iron back!] [Look at this and tell me I'm not crazy.] Then the angry player uploaded the fake photo to the channel. [Gross. That is not what I expected.] [I knew it. He was acting cute to get supplies. Total catfish.] Embarrassed, CuteButLethal started typing fast. CuteButLethal: [She's trying to kill me, and you people are making jokes? Real classy.] CuteButLethal: [Yeah, I went after her. But only because she said she was going to kill me. What was I supposed to do, wait?] CuteButLethal: [And I wasn't totally wrong, DefensiveOverkill. You said you didn't have a submarine, but you clearly do. That's lying. You were trying to trick people into giving you supplies.] Avery's eyes narrowed. 'Now everyone knows about the submarine.' That was bad. She did not like attention. Attention made people curious. Curious people became dangerous. Sure enough, the word "submarine" took over the chat. [Wait, a submarine? That's actually insane.] [I've been watching chat all day. Nobody said anything about submarines. Is it a rare drop or something?] [I'm not jealous. I'm sure it's expensive to repair.] [Just teach him a lesson. Don't kill him. If you start killing players, everyone's going to freak out.] [We're still people. Let's not turn into psychos on day one.] CuteButLethal: [DefensiveOverkill, my boat is gone. I've got nothing left except a few planks. If that's not enough for you, then you really are overkill.] Avery brought the submarine to the surface. Through the porthole, she looked at CuteButLethal. He looked back at her, pale and terrified. Avery opened the hatch and climbed out. She stepped barefoot onto the top of the submarine and tested her balance before standing straight. Her diving gear and oxygen tank had been absorbed when the submarine upgraded, so now she was wearing only a black bikini. In one hand, she held a switchblade. When CuteButLethal realized the person coming after him was a woman, his fear shifted. It did not disappear. It mixed with anger, humiliation, and something uglier. Avery spun the knife once in her hand. "So," she said, keeping her voice calm. "How did you find me?" Chapter 5 CuteButLethal Goes Down CuteButLethal spread his fingers across the wooden plank in a clumsy attempt at surrender. "Okay, okay! Some guy came to me and sold me a GPS tracking card. "That's how I found you. It wasn't even my idea. Somebody wants you dead, and I got dragged into it." Avery shifted the knife from her right hand to her left. "Who?" His eyes stayed fixed on the blade. "Taylor Vance. His name's Taylor Vance. This was all him. You should go after him." "A GPS card isn't cheap," Avery said. "What did you trade for it?" "Fish. I caught a lot. All edible. I gave him a bunch, maybe two or three hundred." "Fish. I caught a lot. All edible. I gave him a bunch, maybe two or three hundred." He shook his head so fast he looked ridiculous. "No! No, that's not it. Taylor said I couldn't even keep that many fish. "Our backpacks don't preserve food. After two days, they'd rot. So he talked me into trading them. It made sense at the time. "I'm on a fishing boat, okay? Fish aren't hard for me to get. "He also said he'd keep buying from me. Seriously, this is on him." Avery studied him for a moment, then opened her blue system panel. "I accepted your friend request. Screenshot the whole chat between you and Taylor. "Send it to me. I want to see everything." "Uh…" CuteButLethal's face tightened. "I might not remember it exactly." He hesitated for a few seconds before sending the logs. One glance told Avery exactly why he had been stalling. Taylor had not contacted him first. CuteButLethal had added Taylor himself and asked about the card. CuteButLethal: [Hey, that GPS card you have. Can it track a specific person?] Avery looked up from the screen. CuteButLethal's lips trembled. His eyes darted everywhere except toward her. She looked back down and kept reading. Taylor: [Yeah. Just type in their username.] CuteButLethal: [How much?] Taylor: [What do you have?] Then came the bargaining: a small pile of fish, a medium pile, or a big one. Some of Taylor's messages made Avery raise an eyebrow. Taylor: [You want to kill DefensiveOverkill, right? Then you need to move fast. She already called you out. If you don't hit first, you're dead.] Taylor Vance: [He said if you hired him to kill you, he'd only take the boat, not your supplies. [I could just hire him myself, let him kill you, and take all your fish after. No more bargaining.] Taylor: [Yeah, I agree. He's lying. No way he doesn't have a boat. It's probably just a raft. [Your fishing boat is way better. Track him, ram him, and you're done. That card gives you the advantage.] Taylor: [You only get one life. Better play it safe.] Avery looked away from the screen and back at CuteButLethal. "See? He pushed me!" CuteButLethal blurted out. "It was him. All that stuff about hitting first and only having one life. I wouldn't have come if he hadn't said all that." "I get it." Avery nodded. "So I'll send you to him. You two can argue about whose fault it was on the way." CuteButLethal froze. "Send me? Do you have a GPS card too?" "No." "Then how?" "I'll kill you first. Then I'll kill him. You'll meet up on the road and figure it out." With that, she turned and headed back toward her submarine. "No, no, no!" CuteButLethal splashed in panic. "I'll give you all my fish. I've got supplies too. Gas, even. "You can use gas for your boat, right? Take everything. Just let me live. I swear I'll never come after you again." Avery stopped. "Hand it over." He rushed to open the trade menu. Trade panel: [Herring × 93, Sea Bass × 22, Mackerel × 19, Gasoline × 1] Avery confirmed each item and accepted the trade. "I gave you everything," CuteButLethal said quickly. "I only kept one bottle of water and a little food. I swear. Please." "Good," Avery said. "You kept a few things. Now I can test whether items drop after a player dies or just disappear." She ignored his pleading and cursing, climbed back into the submarine, backed up, and rammed his boat. Once. Then again... His body collapsed, bent at an angle that made the result obvious. Avery surfaced to check. There was no supplies. She looked over the wreckage and thought for a moment. 'So backpack items vanish when a player dies. Same with the wreck. I guess killing the owner doesn't let you steal the boat.' She settled back into the pod and stared at the pile of fish in her inventory. She had no idea what to do with them. Avery frowned at the list. 'I'm not eating raw fish. Not now. If I get sick, I'm dead. And fish go bad fast. My backpack's almost full too.' She listed the fish and gasoline for sale. The fish were cheap: five fish for one basic material. The gasoline was listed for one battery unit. After posting the trade, Avery opened Global Chat to advertise. But people were already talking about her. [Holy crap. CuteButLethal's icon just turned gray.] For one second, the chat went quiet. [Gray? What does that mean?] [He's dead.] [Our server count is 99,998 out of 100,000 now.] [No way.] [DefensiveOverkill, did you actually kill him?] [For real? I thought you were just going to teach him a lesson.] [How could you do that? What were you before this, some kind of killer?] [Are we really acting surprised when his username is DefensiveOverkill?] [CuteButLethal went after him first. He tried to trap DefensiveOverkill with a net. That's attempted murder. Getting killed in self-defense isn't exactly shocking.] [Live by the sword, die by the sword.] [Still, he didn't deserve to die. He was a real person.] [You're complaining about consequences in a survival game? First day here?] [DefensiveOverkill, can you say something? Everyone's freaking out.] Everything that had happened over the past hour, especially the vessel upgrade, had made one thing clear to Avery. This was not the real world anymore. This was a game. And right now, everyone was testing everyone else. They were trying to figure out who was weak, who was useful, and who could be pushed around. Avery usually preferred to keep a low profile, but that would not work here. Not anymore. A little force now could save her a lot of trouble later. She decided not to hide. DefensiveOverkill: [I killed him. Anyone else who comes after me gets the same.] DefensiveOverkill: [And that doesn't just mean the person holding the weapon. Anyone who stirs things up behind the scenes or helps them does not get a pass.] DefensiveOverkill: [I'm buying GPS tracking cards. I'll trade vessel upgrade materials for them. Also selling fish. Check the listings if you're interested.] [GPS card? Who are you tracking, boss? Who helped CuteButLethal?] [Who is it? Just tell us. You're killing me here. My blood pressure can't take this.] [Seriously, spill it.] [Whoa, the fish are cheap. One upgrade material for five fish.] DefensiveOverkill: [Quick note: the fish are small, about palm-sized. They look fresh and smell fine. No returns on perishables.] [Bought some. That should last me two days if I stretch it. Now I can focus on grinding upgrade mats.] [Got some too. Lucky me.] [Missed it. I'm actually crying.] [I think I know who he's after.] [Who?] [Taylor Vance?] [Never heard of him.] [Check the chat logs. When DefensiveOverkill and CuteButLethal were arguing earlier, Taylor Vance suddenly started advertising a GPS card. [Then CuteButLethal tracked her down. That means Taylor sold him the card, right?] [No way. You kill someone just for selling something?] Chapter 6 The Merchant Avery had made up her mind. She was going to kill Taylor. While waiting for her GPS tracking card to arrive, she started digging into her target. She had noticed the search function in Global Chat. When she typed in "Taylor Vance," every message he had ever sent popped up. Almost all of them were ads. His early posts were the kind of desperate bait people threw out when they had nothing and wanted something for free. [Learn how to fish and never go hungry at sea. Selling a fishing guide. Includes three pieces of bait. Will trade for any material, food, or drink.] [Water is life. Friendly reminder: drinking seawater will kill you. Selling a basic desalination device blueprint. Easy materials, good odds of making it. Will trade for any material, food, or drink.] Later, after he had probably scammed enough starter supplies, his ads became a lot more serious. [Need a lot of wood to upgrade your raft? Selling wood. Two upgrade materials for one piece of wood.] [Buying glass. Paying in timber, iron, plastic, whatever you need. One to one. No haggling.] Then Avery found the argument with CuteButLethal. Only a few seconds after that fight ended, Taylor posted another ad. [Selling GPS Tracking Card. PM for price.] [You may not want to track someone, but you definitely don't want someone tracking you. Better to keep the card in your own hands. Materials can always be earned again. You only get one life.] After that, he went silent for about ten minutes. Then the deal was clearly done. He had sold the GPS card to CuteButLethal, because right after that, he started selling fish. [Selling grilled fish. One basic material per fish. Three materials for two fish. Big fish go first. Late buyers get the small ones. Limited stock, so don't wait.] Avery read the fish ad twice, then slowly shook her head. She hated to admit it, but the guy knew how to sell. 'He sells fish better than I do,' she thought. 'And he has a grill. Kill him, take the grill, then I can sell grilled fish too.' Then something clicked. She opened her trade history. Most of the fish she had sold had gone to Taylor. Avery had gotten 134 fish from CuteButLethal. She kept four for emergencies, then split the remaining 130 into twenty-six stacks of five and traded them for materials. Every stack sold. In the trade log, Taylor appeared eighteen times. He had bought eighteen stacks by himself. That meant he had taken ninety fish, grilled them, and flipped them for at least forty-two basic materials in clean profit. Taylor was a real merchant. More accurately, he was a player who had chosen to play the merchant role on purpose. She was still scrolling through the chat log when a friend request popped up. It was from Taylor. Avery narrowed her eyes. 'Speak of the devil.' She accepted. Taylor: [Hey. Heard you bought a GPS card so you could kill me.] He did not bother dancing around it. Avery leaned back and typed just as bluntly. DefensiveOverkill: [Yeah. So?] Taylor: [Everything's negotiable. Everything has a price. Even my safety.] Avery pushed open the hatch and stood up. Her legs had gone stiff from sitting curled up for too long. DefensiveOverkill: [So how much is your life worth?] Taylor: [Before I make an offer, let me correct one thing. I'm not buying my life. I'm buying safety.] Taylor: [You don't know for sure that you can kill me. I saw your photo. That's a wooden fishing boat. [Sure, you could ram it, but my vessel is already tier two with an iron frame. Are you sure your sub wouldn't take damage? [Also, coming after me costs you at least one GPS card. That's part of the price. [So here's my offer. We meet in the middle. I pay a fair price, and you save yourself the trouble and the risk of damaging your sub. We both win. How does that sound?] DefensiveOverkill: [What do you call fair?] Taylor: [I'll give you an Inventory Expansion Card.] Avery actually did need one. Her ten inventory slots were already full. Now that she thought about it, most other players had traded wood for her fish, but Taylor had paid with a little bit of everything. Different materials took up different slots, which was exactly why her inventory was packed. She looked at the chat window and frowned. 'He was setting this up from the moment he bought my fish,' she thought. 'That card is exactly what I need.' Even though Avery was not a hardcore gamer, she knew an Inventory Expansion Card was valuable. It was worth far more than basic materials. But she also knew how to bargain. DefensiveOverkill: [Not enough.] Taylor did not reply right away. Avery waited. After a short pause, his next message came in. Taylor: [Fine. I'll add a few things. If this works, we're done. If it doesn't, come kill me. [I'll throw in one Antidote Tablet, three Grilled Fish, and one Battery Cell. I noticed you're selling gasoline at one unit of gas for one battery. Your sub runs on electricity, right?] Avery did not accept immediately. One thing still bothered her. DefensiveOverkill: [How do I know you won't try to kill me after I take the deal?] Taylor: [We sign a contract. I have one right here. Take a look.] Taylor sent over a contract scroll. It read: [Taylor Vance and DefensiveOverkill hereby agree to a mutual non-aggression pact. [This agreement takes effect immediately after DefensiveOverkill receives the following items from Taylor Vance: 1 Inventory Expansion Card, 1 Antidote Tablet, 3 Grilled Fish, and 1 Battery Cell. [DefensiveOverkill agrees not to harm, attack, threaten, or otherwise endanger Taylor Vance in any way, unless Taylor Vance harms, attacks, threatens, or otherwise endangers DefensiveOverkill first. [Taylor Vance agrees to the same terms regarding DefensiveOverkill. [Any violation will result in instant death.] The terms looked fair. Avery read the contract word by word. Then she read it again. Then again. She went through it more than a dozen times, trying to find a loophole. She could not find one. Still, she kept staring at the scroll. 'Who knows if this thing actually works?' she thought. 'Maybe it's just a mind game.' DefensiveOverkill: [I read it. Looks fine. But I want a Vessel Upgrade Card too. Add that, and we have a deal. We both walk away clean.] Avery badly needed to upgrade her vessel. Her sub was far too cramped. Sitting in it was uncomfortable enough. Sleeping in it would be miserable. She wanted it large enough to lie down in before nightfall. On top of that, she needed to push its speed to five knots before beginner protection ended. Materials did not worry her. The real problem was the Vessel Upgrade Card. That was not something she could just pull out of the ocean. Taylor: [I don't have a Vessel Upgrade Card. The Inventory Expansion Card is the best I can offer right now.] Avery sighed. 'Bargain hard, then fold when there is nothing left to squeeze.' DefensiveOverkill: [Fine.] She leaned back against the hatch frame and closed her eyes for a second. 'Trading is exhausting.'