While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 131: Chapter 122: Clearing Out Some Regular Players

Rowan Rhodes had not expected that her gifting of Eira Grass and Eira Grass Seeds would cause such a massive response, especially with so many people initiating trades with her.

Thinking about it, she had been too busy these past few days. She was basically the one initiating trades with the Resident Players, and only a fraction of those she frequently collaborated with would trade with her privately. As a result, many new players didn’t even know they could initiate trades with her.

But just looking at the content of these trades, Rowan felt a bit of a headache. The sheer volume of information meant that processing it would consume a considerable amount of her energy.

Especially after she read through several of them—there were far too many players relapsing into their old habits, trying to trade worthless junk for her rare resources. As expected, abilities could only filter for capable people, not for good character.

She decided to take this opportunity to clean house. Initially, when there were fewer people, she could still rely on her memory to keep track of everyone. But now? The number of Resident Players had already surpassed a thousand. Terminating a few wouldn’t be an issue; there were even countless replacements available.

With that thought, Rowan took action.

Among the first few batches, players who constantly asked her for handouts while turning a blind eye to her quests were all terminated. As for the newest batch of players, she also weeded out a portion of them. Players who had survived up to this point needed to have at least a working brain. Moreover, for those who weren’t the first batch to join the Sea Survival Shop, they already had the experiences of their predecessors. If they still dared to act so brazenly, there was no need for such players to remain in the Sea Survival Shop.

[You have been terminated by the Sea Survival Game.]

While many Resident Players were still immersed in the bustling excitement, they suddenly found themselves terminated. The moment it happened, they were stunned. Their Resident Player qualifications had been stripped away? On what grounds?

This fraction of players immediately wanted to cause a scene, only to abruptly realize that they had nowhere to even do so. Instead, they discovered that they had lost a crucial bargaining chip—a chip that had temporarily allowed them to throw their weight around in their regional zones. Of course, there were also a brainless few who directly started throwing tantrums in their zone’s world chat.

Many Resident Players were oblivious to all this. Only a portion of players suddenly noticed that some of their ”friends” had unexpectedly disappeared.

”I just noticed that several Resident Players I added have disappeared. Did they die?”

”A Resident Player I know is gone too.”

”Are they dead? Is some natural disaster coming?”

”Resident Players have more channels to obtain resources than regular players, so it’s impossible for them to die that easily. There haven’t been any large-scale player deaths in anyone’s zones, right?”

”No, there haven’t. Everyone knows that large-scale deaths basically only happen when the sea region faces a crisis.”

”It can only mean these Resident Players were terminated by the Sea Survival Shop.”

”The Sea Survival Shop actually terminates Resident Players?”

”It’s definitely because those Resident Players did something they shouldn’t have.”

”I actually think the Sea Survival Shop is quite friendly.”

”I think so too.”

”So it can only be that they crossed a line.”

”We’ve been very well-behaved.”

”Honestly, I was already pretty dissatisfied with some players. They constantly haggled during trades and went back on their words several times. I just checked, and all the players I felt uncomfortable trading with seem to have disappeared.”

”So these players didn’t just act like that towards other players, but they actually dared to do it to the Sea Survival Shop?”

”Right.”

”Such audacity!”

”We better be more careful in the future! Opportunities like this are hard to come by.”

”Exactly. No matter the origins of the Sea Survival Shop, at least so far, it’s constantly brought us tangible benefits!”

”...”

As the Resident Players discussed this, a sense of vigilance rose in their hearts. This vigilance served as a reminder to themselves: absolutely do not let it get to their heads and make a mistake. They had indeed gained quite a few benefits from their interactions with the Sea Survival Shop, especially within their regional zones. Buying resources at low prices and selling them at high prices in the Sea Survival Shop—the price difference alone allowed them to make a killing. How could they bear to give up such profits? They absolutely had to be careful, and then even more careful.

As for the terminated Resident Players, one could only say they didn’t know how good they had it. Any Resident Player with an ounce of intelligence wouldn’t sympathize with those terminated players. But for many of the terminated players, the sky had fallen.

Initially, they thought that without their status, they just needed to keep a low profile and not let the players in their zone find out. After all, there was only one Resident Player per zone. But in the blink of an eye, a new Resident Player appeared in their zone!

”Ashton Lynch: @Tyler Griffith, what’s going on? I suddenly became a Resident Player? Are there two of us now?”

”Having two Resident Players is pretty nice!”

”Did the Sea Survival Shop recruit new players again?”

”Does that mean the situation in our zone is considered pretty good?”

”@Ashton Lynch, how is the situation in the other zones?”

”Ashton Lynch: Uhhh, I just joined the Sea Survival Shop’s main group chat, and the people inside are discussing how a batch of Resident Players got terminated. @Tyler Griffith, why were you terminated?”

”@Tyler Griffith, you got terminated?”

”The Sea Survival Shop actually terminates people?”

”@Tyler Griffith, can you tell us about it?”

”@Tyler Griffith, my god! What on earth did you do to get terminated?”

”@Tyler Griffith, exactly! You actually failed to grasp such a great opportunity.”

”@Tyler Griffith, what a reckless waste of a golden opportunity!”

”...”

As the players discussed, their tones were filled with biting sarcasm and mockery toward Tyler Griffith. This was mainly because they had confirmed from Ashton Lynch that Tyler Griffith had been terminated, which meant their trades no longer required Tyler Griffith. Previously, Tyler Griffith had used the opportunity of becoming a Resident Player to throw his weight around in the zone, and many players had long been secretly dissatisfied with him. Back when they needed him, the majority of players sucked up to him. But now that they didn’t need him anymore, naturally, the mockery began.

Naturally, Tyler Griffith saw these comments as well. For a moment, he felt utterly humiliated, and a trace of hatred surfaced in his eyes—hatred toward the Sea Survival Shop, and hatred toward Ashton Lynch. If Ashton Lynch hadn’t exposed the truth, how would he have ended up as an outcast!

No matter how much Tyler Griffith hated it, he didn’t say a single word in the world chat. He knew very well that what he needed right now was to keep a low profile and wait for this to blow over. Otherwise, he would become too easy a target.

And this kind of situation was unfolding across various regional zones. After all, players who obtained the Resident Player status couldn’t hide it; this was a battle for profit. Because of this incident, the power dynamics in several zones were completely reshuffled. Even in zones where the Resident Player hadn’t changed, the existing Resident Players brought the matter up within their own zones.

More players came to realize one thing: the Sea Survival Shop had fangs of its own.