Chapter 451 - 450: Escrow Certificate

Chapter 451: Chapter 450: Escrow Certificate

"I only have 30, but I’m willing to pitch in!"

"Night Owl himself put up 1,000, so I have to contribute at least 200!"

Night Owl wasn’t just talking, and these people weren’t just making empty promises.

The initiator, Night Owl, used a Deposit Certificate. The 2,000 Black Fog Coins he pledged, along with the amounts other survivors announced, were all deposited into this certificate.

The purpose of the Deposit Certificate was simple. The survivor who created it could set a specific requirement in the channel and place a certain number of Black Fog Coins into the certificate as a reward.

Once the system determined that a survivor had fulfilled the creator’s requirement, that survivor would receive all the Black Fog Coins in the Deposit Certificate.

Night Owl’s call to action was met with a massive response.

Which of those poor souls whose Moving Cabins had been infiltrated by larvae, but had no idea how to eradicate them, didn’t need an answer?

Who wasn’t hoping someone could untangle this mess?

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t want a monster suddenly popping up while she was eating, splattering the whole room with writhing flesh and blood, and naturally, neither did these survivors.

As a result, in just over ten minutes, the number of Black Fog Coins in the Deposit Certificate had become quite substantial.

Seraphina Sinclair carefully counted the digits, making sure she wasn’t seeing things, before announcing the number: "Eighty-six thousand, two hundred and thirty Black Fog Coins!"

’All this for answering one little question...’

Seraphina Sinclair read the discussion in the Zone channel:

"Master Blacktiger probably doesn’t care about this small amount of Black Fog Coins, right? She’s a master with a 3S Evaluation! I’ve never seen anyone at that level before!"

"I think so too. Otherwise, she would’ve said something by now. The gap between people is just too big. That’s over eighty thousand Black Fog Coins! If that were me, I’d be celebrating all day! But her? She couldn’t care less!"

’Couldn’t care less?’

’Who says I couldn’t care less!’

’Getting over eighty thousand Black Fog Coins just for lifting a finger to answer a question? Yes, please, I’ll take as many of these opportunities as I can get!’

Seraphina Sinclair immediately opened the system’s virtual keyboard and typed out three words—

"Burn with fire."

The Zone channel was already focused on the Deposit Certificate, so when the person the certificate was waiting for finally appeared, the survivors went wild!

Of course, most people were more interested in the answer Seraphina Sinclair provided.

"Burn with fire? Will that work?"

"These things are afraid of fire? For real? Whatever, I’m trying it now! I just happen to have a torch!"

"Fire? Then can’t we just douse them in gasoline and light it up? Good thing my cabin is made of stone, otherwise there’d be no way to do it!"

Amidst a flood of replies from people who felt like they’d struck gold, one message popped up abruptly: "Fire? Blacktiger, you have a reputation to uphold. How could you say something so misleading? I already tried burning them!"

Seraphina Sinclair saw the sudden message and raised an eyebrow slightly.

’Tried it?’

She didn’t rush to rebut, but instead waited with interest to see what else this person had to say.

Sure enough, the person quickly sent another message—

"I used a torch! I even lit several of them at once just to be safe! And what happened? The larvae weren’t scared at all! I burned them for ages, and they just kept scurrying into the cracks. I nearly set my own cabin on fire!"

The channel went quiet for two seconds, then all hell broke loose.

"What? Not afraid of fire? So Master Blacktiger’s method is fake?"

"No way, would a master with a 3S Evaluation really mislead people?"

"It might not be misleading, maybe she was just being casual..."

"For eighty thousand Black Fog Coins, ’just being casual’? That’s way too irresponsible!"

Seraphina Sinclair read these fickle comments, but she wasn’t angry.

The system hadn’t accepted her answer either, and the Black Fog Coins weren’t actually in her possession yet. It was true her answer had been too simple; that was on her.

So, a more detailed reply popped up.

[Blacktiger Ford]: Use the flame from a D-level Talisman, and a regular Iron Basin like one you’d use to wash your feet. When the larvae sense danger, they’ll come out of their hiding places on their own. That’s when you can smash them dead with the Iron Basin.

As soon as the message was sent, the onlookers, the doubters, the accusers, and those who had been quietly waiting for an answer all fell silent.

After a long moment, someone finally mustered the courage to ask: "Does a D-level Talisman have a large area of effect? How many talismans did you use?"

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment before carefully replying: "It’s alright. I only used a few dozen. Most of the larvae were burned to death, so it took quite a few."

Her words plunged the entire Zone channel into an even deeper silence.

A few dozen.

D-level Talismans.

A few dozen D-level Talismans.

Someone silently opened the trade channel and searched for the price of D-level Talismans.

The cheapest ones cost three or four hundred Black Fog Coins each. Slightly better ones went for five or six hundred, seven or eight hundred, with no upper limit.

A few dozen, and they were talismans with a decent amount of power... that would be...

Tens of thousands of Black Fog Coins.

And this Master Blacktiger had used tens of thousands of Black Fog Coins’ worth of talismans to burn a swarm of larvae, then smashed the stragglers with an Iron Basin, and finally, nonchalantly said, "I only used a few dozen."

Everyone: "..."

Finally, someone in the channel couldn’t hold it in any longer.

"Master... do you, uh, have a different definition of ’alright’ than the rest of us?"

"A few dozen D-level Talismans, how much does that even cost?! I can’t even earn that much in a month!"

"So the key isn’t burning them with fire, it’s the *quality* of the fire, right? A regular torch won’t work, you need the fire from a talisman?"

"Duh, how can a torch compare to a talisman? One is mundane fire, the other is graded!"

"But Master, what do we do if we don’t have any D-level Talismans..."

Seraphina Sinclair saw the pitiful message, thought for a moment, and typed a few more words.

[Blacktiger Ford]: If you don’t have talismans, use gasoline. Douse the entire house and then light it. The effect is similar, it’s just a bit rough on the house.

The channel fell silent again.

Someone chimed in gloomily: "So what you’re saying is, to kill these larvae, I have to burn down my own cabin first?"

Seraphina Sinclair seriously considered this question.

[Blacktiger Ford]: The house refreshes tomorrow. But if those larvae grow up...

This time, no one questioned her anymore.

That’s right. The house would refresh tomorrow, but if the larvae weren’t dealt with completely, they would just grow bigger, then explode, and then spawn even more larvae.

Night Owl scratched his head. He found this top-ranked player rather interesting.

[Night Owl]: Um... Master, how are you so sure the cabins will refresh? Your Zone should have had the bug infestation too, right? The cabins eaten by those bugs didn’t refresh.

Night Owl could swear he wasn’t trying to find fault with his question at all; it was a genuine doubt from the bottom of his heart.

Blacktiger’s reply was as matter-of-fact as ever: "Bugs and monsters aren’t the same thing."