SWDnovel Chapter 59: Spending a fortune to upgrade the pirate ship
Chapter 59: Spending a fortune to upgrade the pirate ship
The entrance to the Pirate's Secret Realm in the Jiangnan region is even more elusive than its name suggests.
It is not in any officially marked node hall, but deep in a coastal industrial area that has been abandoned for many years.
The air was filled with the salty sea breeze and the smell of rust. The towering gantry crane, like the skeleton of a prehistoric behemoth, stood silently under the gloomy sky.
The entrance to the secret realm was not the energy portal one might imagine, but rather a rusty iron gate to an air-raid shelter.
The iron gate was unlocked and ajar, and a cold, eerie smell seeped out from the cracks, like the lingering odor of a decaying corpse.
Lu Yan pushed open the door, and a strong musty smell hit him.
Behind the door was not a deep tunnel, but a dock shrouded in eternal twilight.
The sky was a murky orange-red, and a setting sun hung on the horizon, neither rising nor setting.
Dozens of dilapidated wooden sailboats were moored on the dock, their sails patched up, their hulls covered with barnacles and moss, emitting a strange smell of rotten wood mixed with seawater.
A pirate NPC, dressed in tattered clothes and with a fierce face, wandered around the dock, his eyes empty and numb, completely ignoring Lu Yan's arrival.
Lu Yan walked along the stone path to the end of the dock. There, a flagship, larger than the other ships, was moored, with a statue of a one-eyed, one-armed pirate captain standing at its bow.
A living, breathing pirate captain, also one-eyed and one-armed, was leaning against the railing of the ship's side, scrutinizing him with his single eye.
"Another fool coming to throw money away," the pirate captain said, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against the deck. "Kid, want to get rich? My crew can help you retrieve treasures from the deepest trenches that even the gods would covet."
His words carried a strange, seductive power, like some kind of mental manipulation skill.
However, since returning from the illusion after being bewitched by God's spell last time, it seems that he has developed some resistance and it didn't seem to have much of an effect on him.
A semi-transparent interactive interface popped up in front of Lu Yan.
Please select the operation you wish to perform:
Option 1: Hire a treasure-hunting fleet that employs "One-Eyed"
Option 2: Invest in upgrading the "One-Eyed" flagship "Siren's Howl".
Lu Yan directly chose the second option.
A new interface unfolds, displaying the upgrade tree for "Siren's Howl".
【The Siren's Howl (LV.0)】
[Current Status: Extremely dilapidated (Very high risk of sinking upon departure)]
[Treasure Hunting Efficiency Bonus: 0%]
Rare item discovery rate: Base value (extremely low)
Upgrade Options:
[LV.1: Repair the hull. Required funds: 1 Huaxia Coin. Effect: Treasure hunting efficiency +10%, sinking risk reduced.]
[LV.2: Replace sails. Required funds: 10 Huaxia coins. Effect: Treasure hunting efficiency +20%, sinking risk reduced.]
[LV.3: Reinforce the keel. Required funds: 100 Huaxia Coins. Effect: Treasure hunting efficiency +30%, sinking risk reduced.]
……
The upgrade list has ten levels, and each level costs ten times more than the previous one. Reaching the highest level, the tenth, requires an astronomical sum—one hundred million Chinese Yuan.
The attribute improvements at each level are clearly marked, and after reaching the maximum level, the ship's rare item discovery rate will increase to an astonishing 2200%.
This is an extremely malicious pay-to-win trap.
For ordinary Awakened players, spending hundreds of thousands to level up five or six times seems like a high-value proposition. However, the drop pool in the Pirate Realm itself has extremely low quality, with a base drop rate close to zero.
Even if you multiply that zero by a hundred, the result is still zero. Only when the invested funds reach a threshold that can cause a qualitative change can you possibly access that hidden reward pool.
That threshold is the highest level.
Most people simply don't have the financial means to fill this bottomless pit. After investing a large amount of money and losing everything, they'll curse the scammers and leave dejectedly.
Over time, this place became a deserted ruin.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Yan chose to upgrade.
Should 1 Huaxia Coins be injected into "Siren's Howl" for an upgrade?
"Yes."
Should 10 Huaxia Coins be injected into "Siren's Howl" for an upgrade?
"Yes."
……
Should 1,000,000 Huaxia Coins be injected into "Siren's Howl" for an upgrade?
"Yes."
His personal account saw a torrent of funds flowing out like a floodgate being opened.
Meanwhile, in the capital city, at the Dragon Guard headquarters, seventeen stories underground.
On the tactical panel of the Internal Audit Center, a red alert for high cash flow suddenly popped up.
"Report! We have detected an extremely large continuous expenditure in the personal account of Lu Yan, a member of the Dragon Guard First Squad! In just three minutes, the total expenditure has reached 1,111,111 Chinese Yuan!" A young analyst suddenly stood up from his seat, his voice trembling.
The person in charge at the scene was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. When he saw the source of the alarm, he almost dropped his thermos.
The first team was still led by Lu Yan.
If anything goes wrong, he can forget about his bonus this month.
"Investigate! Find out where the funds went immediately! Was the account hacked? Or did you fall victim to a financial scam or a hidden trap?"
"Reporting, Chief! The funds are heading towards... the hidden secret realm S-074, 'Pirate's Treasure'!"
"A pirate's lair?" The person in charge was stunned. "Wasn't that already blacklisted? What's he going to that godforsaken place for? To waste money?"
The alarm is still in effect.
Should 10,000,000 Huaxia Coins be injected into "Siren's Howl" for an upgrade?
"Yes."
The number in the account has decreased significantly again.
The atmosphere in the audit center was extremely tense. The person in charge had already picked up the internal hotline, ready to contact Li Tianshan directly.
If Lu Yan lost this money himself, that would be one thing, but what if it was embezzled public funds...?
Just as his finger was about to press the dial button, an encrypted, highest-level permission command directly overwrote the entire audit center's system.
Sender: Li Tianshan.
The instruction contained only two words: "[Release]".
The person in charge looked at those two words, silently withdrew his hand from the dial button, unscrewed his thermos again, and blew on the goji berries floating on top.
"All clear." He sat down nonchalantly. "Everyone, go do what you were doing."
The auditors in the office looked at each other in bewilderment, and finally had no choice but to obey orders and manually set the red alert that was still refreshing the screen to "ignore".
Pirate's Secret Realm, Dock.
Should 100,000,000 Huaxia Coins be injected into "Siren's Howl" for an upgrade?
"Yes."
When Lu Yan confirmed the final investment, the entire dock seemed to come alive.
The once dilapidated flagship "Siren's Howl" is undergoing a transformation at a visible speed amidst a blinding golden light.
The rotten planks were replaced with dragon bone wood that gleamed with a magical sheen, and the patched sails were transformed into a huge magical sail embroidered with a golden sea monster totem. Dozens of enormous oars even extended from both sides of the ship, moving automatically without wind.
The one-eyed captain, leaning against the ship's railing, had transformed his tattered clothes into a magnificent captain's uniform, and his empty eyes now held a hint of the vitality that only a living person could possess.
【"Siren's Howl" has been upgraded to LV.10 (MAX)】
[Current Status: Legendary Flagship (Resistant to deep-sea storms and sea monster attacks)]
[Treasure Hunting Efficiency Bonus: 1000%]
Rare item discovery rate: +2200%
"Your Excellency, the shipowner!" The one-eyed captain knelt on one knee, his one arm resting on his chest, and gave Lu Yan a perfect knightly salute. "The 'Siren's Howl' and its entire crew are at your service! Please give the order, and we will bring back the legendary treasure for you!"
A brand new interface pops up.
Please select the treasure hunt option:
[Option 1: Shallow Sea Salvage (costs 100,000 Huaxia Coins, estimated time 1 hour, chance to bring back rare items)]
[Option Two: Deep Sea Treasure Hunt (Consumes 100 million Huaxia Coins, estimated time 6 hours, chance to bring back epic items)]
[Option 3: Expedition to the Ruins (costs 10 million Chinese Yuan, estimated time 24 hours, chance to bring back legendary items)]
[Option 4: Hunting the Mythical Siren Leviathan (costs 100 million Chinese Yuan, estimated time 72 hours, with a chance to bring back a mythical item)]
Looking at the four options, Lu Yan chose the last one without hesitation.
Another 100 million.
In total, he had already spent over 210 million Chinese yuan on this secret realm in just a few minutes.
This amount of money is enough to arm all the main members of a second-rate guild.
"Your will is our direction!"
The one-eyed captain rose and, full of vigor, blew the horn to signal departure.
The flagship "Siren's Howl" slowly sailed away from the port. The pirate sailors on board were no longer numb. They sang ancient nautical songs and skillfully maneuvered the ship, heading towards the endless sea under the twilight sky.
A countdown timer popped up on Lu Yan's screen.
[The "Siren's Howl" is currently on an expedition, with an estimated return time of 71 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds.]
After doing all this, Lu Yan turned and left the secret realm.