“Wealth, fame, power… the man who had everything this world could offer, the ‘King of the Underworld’ Cutter Roger, uttered a single sentence before his death, sending people all over the world flocking to the sea – ‘You want my treasure? You can have it if you want it! Go find it! I left it all there!’…”

It was morning on the deck of the submarine (which had already surfaced and docked). Captain Greybeard was giving a rousing speech to his crew.

Perhaps because the content of his speech was a bit far-fetched, or perhaps because he'd already given it many times, but… the crew members were either yawning or gazing absentmindedly into the distance. No one was really listening to the captain’s harangue.

"Alright, old man… no need to start from the day you first set sail at seventeen…" A childish voice interrupted Greybeard's words, reciting weakly, "Get to the point…"

The small boy speaking was Greybeard’s son, Max Grey, and he was the first mate (second-in-command) of this pirate ship (submarine).

"Uh…" Greybeard's expression faltered slightly at the words, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. He hobbled over to the little boy, leaned down, and whispered, "Son, what's the point?"

"The point is, the treasure on the island is yours, kill anyone who tries to take it," Max whispered into his father's ear in a calm tone.

"Oh! Right!" Greybeard responded, immediately straightening up and turning back to face his crew. "I! The great Greybeard, Edward Grey, one of the 'Four Emperors' of the 'King of the Underworld' era, the man who inherited Roger's will, will not allow anyone to touch my treasure!"

"Ah… what treasure… isn't it just a few tons of stock…" Before the captain could finish speaking, a crew member standing at the far left of the front row muttered under his breath.

This person was known for his sharp tongue. He always had to mutter a few words about everything he heard and saw. Right now, he was just speaking out of habit, but he never expected…

"Who's talking!" Greybeard immediately roared in his gravelly voice, glaring fiercely in the direction of the sound.

In the next second, the crew members next to the speaker all chose to betray their teammate, pointing at him in unison.

"Uh… I…" The guy immediately cowered. "...C-Captain… I…"

"What's your name?" Greybeard tilted his head, looking at him with a condescending, disdainful gaze.

"I… I, I…" A person who normally spoke very fluently was now stammering in fear. "...My name is Tom."

"Oh… Tom." Greybeard muttered the other person's name, turning his face away.

In the blink of an eye…

A second later, Greybeard drew a flintlock pistol from his holster with lightning speed (it looked like a pistol from the early eighteenth century, but its internals were futuristic technology), and fired it in Tom's direction without turning his head or looking.

Bang—

The gun fired, its report as retro as its design, as if transporting people back to the Caribbean Sea of Queen Anne's era.

Immediately afterward, there was a "glug-thump" sound… a corpse fell onto the deck.

"Phew…" Greybeard blew the white smoke from the muzzle, raised his head forty-five degrees, and gazed at the faintly brightening sky. "As I always say… my gun claims no nameless ghosts."

"Uh… Captain, I'm still alive…" Tom's voice rang out again.

"Huh?" Greybeard was taken aback by the sound, and immediately turned his head back to look. He then realized that his incredibly suave "blind-fire turn"… had missed. The bullet had hit a crew member next to Tom, right in the heart…

"Just so you know… the guy you killed is named 'Jerry'…" Tom nervously pointed at the dead man on the ground.

"Ahem…" Greybeard cleared his throat again, and casually put the gun back into its holster. "See that, Tom? If you ever speak out of turn again, you'll end up like Jerry."

"Understood… thank you for sparing my life, Captain…" Tom lowered his head, answering meekly. His real thoughts at that moment were, "Good thing the Captain's an idiot, I got my life back today!"

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't miss, I was planning to kill Jerry all along…" A few seconds later, Greybeard continued, "...In fact, I saw long ago that he was an undercover cop."

"Dad… no need to explain further, let's just drop it…" Max shook his head, facepalming.

"Hmm… alright." Greybeard shrugged. "Someone, throw this spy into the sea." He then turned his head. "You, yes, you, Tom, take a few people and go scout the island immediately. I want a definite report before lunch, or I'll chop you up and feed you to the fishes!"

"Yes! Understood! Captain!" Tom replied loudly with a stiff expression.

…

At the same time, north of Cannabis Island.

"Hey! Stephen, long time no see!" Clams Earls appeared in front of Feng Bujue once again.

Some might ask if Clams Earls and Jue-Ge were meeting too frequently? Actually, no…

According to the rules, each player can bring ten items to the competition (Feng Bujue is an exception, but the system has corrected this, the NPCs won't find anything strange about it), and each time they meet Clams Earls, they can only claim one item. In other words… players have to meet Clams Earls ten times to collect all their items. If these ten encounters are evenly spaced, then they'll meet approximately once every seven hours.

Of course, in the actual competition, considering factors such as nighttime sleep and early elimination, this time will be shortened. During the day, meeting once every five hours is also normal.

"Ah, hello." Feng Bujue replied, his mouth full, while stuffing the insect corpses (a big pile) in his hand into his mouth.

"What are you eating, Stephen?" Clams Earls asked with interest.

"Protein." Feng Bujue replied calmly.

"Heh… you're able to put aside your prejudices and treat these things that most people find disgusting as pure energy, that's remarkable." Clams Earls said, glancing at the camera again. "In the wilderness, being able to do this will allow you to survive longer than others." He paused for a moment. "However… merely 'daring to eat' is far from enough, Stephen." He gestured to the insect corpses in Jue-Ge's hand with his eyes. "Some insects and small animals contain toxins or parasites… if you don't have the relevant knowledge, it's easy to mistakenly eat something poisonous. That… would put you in danger instead."

"Don't worry, the ones I'm eating are all safe, I can guarantee it." Feng Bujue replied expressionlessly.

Although he didn't know if the bugs in his hand (mostly bugs, and some strange unidentified creatures) were poisonous or harmful, he could be sure… that they were all killed by [Bell's Everyday Knife]. Therefore… "cutting off the head makes them safe to eat", and the protein content would be "six times that of beef"…

"Alright, I hope you're right." Clams Earls saw that the other party had answered this way, so he didn't say much more about it, and immediately changed the subject. "Okay… Stephen, I'm sure you've guessed it, I've come to you with something to give."

"Hmph… I've been waiting for this." Feng Bujue smiled slightly.

"Ha! Don't get too happy too soon." Clams Earls continued, "What I'm giving you isn't just an item, but also a challenge."

(This is also one of the main rules of this program: except for the first time at the beginning of the competition, in subsequent matches, players will receive a "challenge" each time they encounter Bell. All challenges are optional, but completing them will yield certain benefits. In addition, the number of challenges completed by the players will also become a criterion for evaluating the final survivor.)

"Yes, I want a challenge." Feng Bujue replied, "In fact, Bell… I'm already desperate." His expression changed slightly. "I have a suggestion…" He stuffed all the bugs in his hand into his mouth and swallowed them. "Give me more challenges at once, like… five, how about it?"