Chapter 973: Water Can Carry a Boat... No, Not Many Boats
"So, before we hear all the rules, none of us can agree to rent the boat," said the old-fashioned gentleman with silver streaks in his hair. He nodded thoughtfully and raised his voice, "This pocket dimension can't be so simple... there must be more rules, right? Just tell us everything at once."
"I'm someone who dislikes trouble," the dry voice from the speaker said. "The rules I make are not complicated. Listen carefully. It will take you ten minutes to wade through the water to the opposite shore. Once you get on the boat and pedal it back, it will also take ten minutes. I'm too lazy to maintain the pedal boats, so even if you break your legs, you won't pedal any faster. It will take ten minutes each way, no matter what."
Everyone silently looked at the pedal boats on the opposite shore, listening as the speaker paused, as if taking a sip of water.
"Oh, by the way, because I really hate troublesome things, I only handle one person returning the boat and refunding the deposit every ten minutes. Otherwise, I can't handle such a workload."
"Huh?"
The girl with white skin who appeared to be from Eastern Europe opened her eyes and uttered a syllable, but was silenced by her teammate's gesture. The question she realized had also arisen in everyone's mind. Their expressions became slightly solemn as they continued listening.
"When you arrive at the pedal boat docking area on the opposite shore, I won't hear anything you say. If you want to talk to me, you have to go back to the rental point," the voice from the speaker made a smacking sound. "However, there is one exception... if you intend to extend the rental, even if you speak to me from Mars, I can hear you. It's all about the money, you know.
"Of course, I have to remind you of one thing. After the thirty-minute time limit, I won't care even if you haven't boarded the boat. If you want to extend the rental, you have to speak up to board the boat."
Upon hearing this, someone couldn't help but speak up.
The leader looked anxiously at his teammates and spoke softly, "I... I don't understand. What's going on?"
Lin Sanjiu knew exactly what his confusion was because she herself was in the same state of perplexity.
"A few of us can walk to the other side in just ten minutes, and there are at least... over a hundred pedal boats over there," the leader whispered, "We can just randomly choose one and return immediately. It would only take a little over twenty minutes for the round trip. Even if he only handles one person returning the boat every ten minutes, we can just wait here from the 21st minute onwards! As long as we pay the deposit, we can all clear this challenge smoothly. Is this pocket dimension... designed just for us to take a boat ride?"
Her teammates glanced back at Lin Sanjiu, their eyes filled with accusations.
"Since she dared to release this pocket dimension," the round-faced leader snorted, "she must have some tricks up her sleeve."
"Let's listen to the rest first. There might be more rules," the leader hesitated.
"The rules are nothing special," the speaker abruptly interrupted. "There is only one warning you need to know."
Everyone immediately fell silent.
"Although there are many pedal boats, I can't guarantee which ones are usable and how long they can last."
Upon hearing this, even Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a moment.
"What do you mean by 'not guarantee if they're usable'?" the Eastern European girl asked. Since she heard that the water level would rise, her face had been tinged with worry. The reason was simple—among the six people, she was the shortest, barely reaching one meter and sixty centimeters.
"It means exactly what it says. Many people come to the lake, and many have drowned here. But even so, I'm too lazy to repair those pedal boats... I'll just give a warning in advance. Even if they sink, it's not my problem."
"Wait," the round-faced leader immediately caught on, "Are you saying that if we randomly pick a boat, it might sink while we're paddling?"
"That's right. I can't remember how many boats are still in good condition. Most of them have some degree of leakage, so they sink after a few strokes. Every time the water is drained, I have to take the trouble to retrieve those sunken boats and put them back in place... although it's troublesome, I'm too lazy to repair them. Hmm... how many visitors came here last time? It seemed like a large family with all ages. How many of them survived in the end? Oh, right, it was four."
At this point, the voice from the speaker chuckled, "So, there should still be four sturdy boats left."
Six people, four boats?
And they were submerged in such a dense cluster of pedal boats?
The expressions on everyone's faces turned gloomy—only Lin Sanjiu suddenly let out a long breath, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. Her sigh was so noticeable that the others turned their heads, their gazes scraping across her as if they wanted to extract an answer from her flesh and bones.
Fortunately, in the unfortunate situation.
As long as the rules of this pocket dimension didn't lead to a scenario where the five-person team joined forces against Lin Sanjiu, it would be advantageous for her. No matter what happens in this pocket dimension, she knew that she would be the first one to be drowned. What she was most worried about was the opponent using the numerical advantage combined with the rules to eliminate her in the pocket dimension—after all, force wouldn't be of much help to her here.
However, once the others realize that they need to sacrifice another person within the five-person group, the situation becomes delicate.
Who should be sacrificed?
"We don't necessarily have to play along with this pocket dimension. Why should we?" The man with a frustrated expression on his face, his features drooping heavily, spoke unkindly, "She released this pocket dimension, and if she's gone, the pocket dimension might disappear too."
"But the Special Items and abilities are different..." the Eastern European girl interjected.
"Don't be foolish," the droopy-faced man bluntly interrupted her. "Once this woman is done for, whether she has Special Items or maintains any effects, it's up to us to decide, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a reply came from the speaker.
"Considering your height, your ego isn't short." The voice of the pocket dimension host sounded leisurely. "When all of you are in the water, you cannot resort to violence. Only when one party is on the boat can you begin to attack each other."
The five people fell silent. After two seconds, the droopy-faced man spoke heavily from his throat, "Then it's not too late."
The voice from the speaker didn't mention which party had to be on the boat to initiate the attack... it could be assumed that any party on the boat could launch an attack. In other words, the earliest attack by the five-person group against her would probably occur at the tenth minute of the pocket dimension's start—when they approached the pile of pedal boats and began searching for a boat.
"Killing me won't help," Lin Sanjiu almost chuckled bitterly. "Are you all foolish? I created this pocket dimension myself, why would I entangle myself in it?"
"Well, that's not necessarily true. We didn't just enter the pocket dimension yesterday," the round-faced man's eyes sharpened. Every time he raised the corners of his eyes to look at Lin Sanjiu, he appeared like a bun about to be sliced open by sharp lines. "You might be pretending to participate in the game and have some hidden advantage or plan."
"You don't suspect the one person who's missing?"
"That person is a member of our Night Wanderers group. I remember him," the leader immediately chimed in. "He has no reason to harm us. Perhaps the pocket dimension conveniently didn't include him within its range—there could be many reasons."
Lin Sanjiu could only sigh.
It had been a day and night since her last sign-in; it seemed that the phrase "life-threatening danger" would probably fall on this pocket dimension.
"Allow me to remind you," the middle-aged man with silver streaks in his hair spoke slowly and eloquently, "There are still some crucial questions we haven't asked—how do we determine which boat is in good condition? Is the initial deposit randomly deducted from someone's evolutionary ability, or can we choose?"
"Hmm?" The voice from the speaker sounded genuinely surprised. "Didn't I mention it?"
Lin Sanjiu had a sense of foreboding.
"The deposit is any evolutionary ability. It includes both advanced abilities and basic physical enhancements." As everyone's faces turned pale, unable to utter a word, the voice from the speaker continued, "As for how to determine... I haven't ridden on them, so how would I know? I heard it's easy to distinguish though. Good luck to all of you."