Yahrum reached a rather strange conclusion that there might be more than one person behind the wall.
Knock knock
However, before he could think or do anything further, he heard a sound like someone knocking on the wall.
His attention and face turned toward the message wall.
[I have a special event to offer you. 'The Aqua Festival']
[For the next 3 days, you must complete a daily mission each day to receive rewards from this special event.]
[The rewards will depend on the number of cleared daily missions.]
[Are you interested in participating in the special event 'The Aqua Festival'?]
The red messages were slowly written letter by letter.
When Yahrum finished reading, he naturally asked the cliché question.
"What are the rewards? Tell me first so I can make a proper decision."
[If you completed missions for one day, the reward will be '50 small water balloons']
[If you completed missions for two days, the reward will be 1 Hand-pump Water Pumper.]
[If you complete missions for three days, the reward will be 1 Jetcumber seed.]
[Are you interested in participating in the special event 'The Aqua Festival'?]
The messages slowly explained the rewards and finally asked Yahrum the same question again.
"What is this...?"
He mumbled in confusion after reading about the rewards.
Why water balloons? What was a hand-pump water pumper? And only one Jetcumber seed?!?
One part of him thought this plant must be incredibly powerful to only be able to get just 1 seed.
But the other part of his thought it probably wasn't anything special, just that the quantity given was small.
Just another typical prank from the person behind the wall.
"And what are the daily missions? If I failed, will there be any punishments?"
Yahrum asked again with suspicion. Though it sounded paranoid, after today's experiences, he wouldn't dare to be careless.
[You will receive details of the missions after you agreed to participate.]
[If you failed to complete each day's mission, there will be no punishments.]
[Regarding your disease, I will put the spreading on hold during these three days.]
[Are you interested in participating in the special event 'The Aqua Festival'?]
"!..Huh? That kind?"
"I knew it wouldn't give me details beforehand, but no punishment is quite interesting."
"So if I accepted, I'll only waste three days of time..."
Yahrum was slightly surprised that the special event had no punishment.
He was silent for a moment, contemplating.
"It's asking again... does it want me to play...?"
He noticed the wall had asked the question thrice already, so he felt it might be interesting to try, since he'd only lose time at worst.
But at the same time, he was suspicious that the missions might be extremely difficult or that he was being tricked into making another grave mistake.
In the end, he shook off all of his suspicions and decided to give it a try.
"Alright. I'll try playing along."
Just three seconds after he agreed, everything he saw before him gradually blurred until darkness covered everything.
But the darkness didn't last long either. Within seconds, Yahrum's vision gradually brightened again.
"What?!"
[Welcome to the special event 'The Aqua Festival'!]
[Since during this period is an important occasion in a certain country, I wanted you to have fun with it!]
[You've been moved to a new battlefield. Here, you can use everything freely. Think of it as trial days for premium services!]
As everything became clearer, Yahrum found that the broken wooden shack had transformed into a modern-looking room.
He heard welcoming voices, but his attention was drawn to his surroundings instead.
The room was slightly larger than the inside of the shack, but what surprised him the most was how incredibly modern look of this new room.
There were several soft-looking sofas. Ceiling lights that were neither too bright nor too dim.
A thick glass entrance door with an even thicker steel door above it.
It seemed to be a double-layered door system. The glass door for observing outside and the steel door for protection against the monsters.
The wooden wall that had displayed blood-colored messages had become a large monitor, yet the messages were still red.
And what made him exclaim in shock and joy was a door that was slightly opened on his left side.
Behind that door, he could see a toilet! A shower! Even a large bathtub!
"old on!"
Yahrum said urgently before hurrying into the bathroom and locking the bolt tightly.
Even though he hadn't eaten anything since leaving his room, his body still needed to expel waste.
[Time remaining before The first special wave begins: 0:17:00]
As soon as he sat on the toilet, he heard a man's voice reading the message on the monitor in a flat tone like a robot.
"It even has sound..."
While relieving himself, he began to feel eager to quickly conquer the normal waves.
He never imagined that upgrading his base would be so wonderful. So wonderful that he forgot how terrifying everything was.
...
[Time remaining before The first special wave begins: 0:15:26]
Not long after, he opened the bathroom door and looked at the monitor displaying the time.
"Alright! What do I need to do? Tell me."
He spoke with seriousness and a hint of excitement.
[The main objective of this special event is to make all 4 plots of 'rice' grow into golden ears within these three days.]
[Please look outside the front door.]
The flat robotic voice explained, so Yahrum turned to look through the glass door.
Outside, in front of his new base, he saw a large plus.
It was a paddy field ridge.
There were rice plots on both the left and right, 4 in total.
In those plots, he could see small green seedlings arranged in rows everywhere.
"I was just about to ask. If I have to grow veggies for myself, how long will it take? And can these rice plants really grow in just three days?"
Yahrum turned back to ask the monitor with furrowed brows.
[Don't worry. The soil in this place is special. It can accelerate the growth of plants.]
[But don't get too comfortable with it. Real life doesn't grow this fast.]
The monitor spoke again.
Soon after, it continued with more details.
[Soil checked, next, you need water for plants to grow normally.]
[Throughout these three days, you must find a way to provide water to the rice and help them grow.]
When the monitor's voice ended, Yahrum immediately thought of a watering can and looked around the room.
But no matter how thoroughly he searched every corner, he found that there were no agricultural tools at all.
[Time remaining before the first special wave begins: 0:13:21]
Yahrum looked back at the time on the screen because he had spent quite a while searching for equipment.
Thump Thump Thump
However, just a second after his brain registered the time on the screen, he heard a heavy and ominous sound outside.
Aside from the sound, he could also feel vibrations from the ground even though he was inside his new base.
Startled, he rushed to the door and looked outside.
He saw a massive fish-like creature not far from the paddy fields.
Its body was deep blue, almost black with sparse white spots.
But what made him more fearful than its size was a strange large pink tube on its back.
This fish had no dorsal fin, but instead it had that large pink tube.
The tube seemed to be aiming at his base.
Yahrum guessed that the tube might be some kind of coral.
The fish looked like it was suffocating, but it wasn't thrashing around or doing anything.
It just lay there motionless while the coral on its back moved left and right.
"What the heck is that?! Where am I supposed to get water from, and do I have to fight that monster too?"
He wondered with great confusion, but didn't say anything out loud.
With not much time left before the special wave began, he didn't want to waste time asking the person behind the wall.
Besides, he wasn't sure if asking would reward him any good answers. He would've ended in being teased and wasting time.
He slowly slid the glass door open and cautiously walked outside.
The coral creature, seemingly noticing him coming out, aimed its tube tip at him.
Yahrum flinched and stepped back with one foot.
However, before he could retreat, the coral's tube turned away, making him feel relieved.
"It seems it won't attack me... at least not now?"
He thought quickly before walking toward the paddy fields.
At that moment, the gray fog that covered the horizon that Yahrum could see gradually faded.
The next thing he saw was a pile of sand built up to resemble a pagoda on the left.
On the right was a large outcrop bigger than the strange fish, along with coral, shell fragments, and various things commonly found underwater.
The scene on the right made him feel like he was in a game designed with an underwater environment, but what was that sand pile on the left?
The sky above his head had a pale blue color, obscuring the light from the round star up there.
He felt like he was really underwater.
He was amazed by the scene before him for nearly a minute before he quickly regained his focus and walked around observing everything around his new base.
No agricultural tools, no seeds to plant.
This meant there must be something else to use to pass this special mission.
Then he found four strange-looking plants when he turned back.
Each paddy field had two of these plants. They were planted quite far apart from each other.
When Yahrum walked closer to observe them, he found that they looked like water faucets growing out of the soil.
A slender, dark green stem grew from the soil, curved in an inverted L shape.
At the curved top were six blooming bright yellow flowers; the center one being the largest.
When Yahrum compared it with his hand, he found it was about the same size as his palm.
He immediately understood that these plants must be for battling that fish.
But how?
He walked behind the tree and discovered vines wrapped tightly around the stem.
Two vines hung down behind those flowers, not particularly long.
Yahrum bent down, grabbed them with both hands, and the next moment—
Pop!
A strange sound, like air being forcefully pushed, came from the front of the strange tree.
Yahrum saw a pale green bubble floating out from those six flowers.
The bubble floated forward as it rose upward at a moderate speed.
Boom!
After about five seconds, the bubble floated high above the rice fields to the right of the base and burst.
What followed was a violent ripple in the sky accompanied by a sound like an explosion.
Yahrum's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He was so stunned that his hands unconsciously released the two vines.
Just now, he wanted to try poking the bubble, but felt suspicious so he observed it first.
He was grateful for his instinct not to touch the bubble.
He looked back down at the tree, which stood barely higher than his knees then used both hands to grab the vines again.
Pop!
Boom!
Another bubble was released from the flowers and floated up to explode in mid-air again.
This time Yahrum noticed that the explosion made the pale blue sky above ripple as if he were truly underwater.
He was quite amazed.
Then he walked to a nearby tree on his left out of curiosity.
He discovered that this tree didn't have blooming flowers like the previous one.
Instead of six yellow blooming flowers, there were six green petals enclosing yellow flowers inside.
The center petal remained larger than the others just like the other one.
Apart from the flower characteristics, nothing else had changed.
Yahrum understood instinctively and quickly used both hands to grab the two vines behind this tree.
Zsssss!
This time he saw very pale green water shooting out from all six flower buds before merging into a single stream that rush forward.
The force of this water stream was so powerful that he could feel the vibration through the small vines he was holding.
"Shit!"
Unfortunately, he wasn't careful enough. The pale green water stream shot forward at tremendous speed, cleanly cutting through some rice in the paddy instantly.
Seeing this, Yahrum panicked and quickly used his hand to bend the stem to the left instead.
Because one hand had already released the vine, the water stream could be shot out for a moment before gradually losing its power.
Besides the rice directly in front of him being completely cut, some rice in the furthest field to the left were also cut before the water stream weakened.
"Oh sh*t..."
When he finally got his grip, he quickly released both hands from the strange tree and hurried back to the base.
"I accidentally cut some of those rice. Is the mission failed?" he asked anxiously.
[The mission still goes on.]
[The main objective is simply to make all the rice grows.]
Hearing this explanation, Yahrum relaxed his furrowed brows and sighed with relief.
[But that doesn't mean you won't be punished at all.]
[Punishment for accidentally destroying some rice: The first special wave will begin immediately. Now!]
Before Yahrum could feel relieved, the announcement sounded again, leaving him stunned and flustered.
He quickly ran outside without caring whether the coral pipe would attack him or not.
He hurried to behind the tree that had shot the water stream earlier and immediately grabbed its vines.
Zsssss!
This time, he used both vines to direct the barrel toward that strange fish, and the powerful water stream was fired.
When the water stream hit the enormous strange fish, it let out a loud cry of pain.
Yahrum couldn't describe what the sound was like; he only knew he had to quickly cover his ears or else his eardrums would surely burst.
The water stream that had been fired gradually weakened and finally disappeared.
When the water stream vanished, the strange fish gradually stopped wailing.
Yahrum found that the skin of the strange fish where the water had hit had a small amount of red liquid flowing out.
He was certain that the force of that water could cut through diamonds, as he had seen videos of high-pressure water cutting through thick steel before.
But the fish's skin seemed to be merely scratched...
However, before he could think further, the pink coral tube on its back appeared to turn toward the rice paddies on the left.
He frowned but didn't take any action yet. He thought he should wait and see the situation first.
And the very next second—
Poof!
The pink coral appeared to release an enormous bubble.
Seeing this, Yahrum's eyes followed the bubble as it's slowly floating toward the base.
"Sh*t!"
After nearly ten seconds, Yahrum finally understood what that bubble was.
He immediately ran toward the rice paddies to the left of the base.
As he ran, he kept looking up at the approaching bubble.
When he reached the field, he bent down and quickly grabbed the vines of the tree on the right side of the paddy.
"God damn it!"
While holding the vines and waiting for bubbles to emerge from the flowers, he noticed that this was a water-shooting tree.
He had mistakenly assumed all the trees on the right side of each paddy were bubble-shooting trees, so he hadn't noticed that the trees in the left field were arranged differently.
He quickly ran to the tree on his left and grabbed the vines swiftly.
Meanwhile, he tried to pull the barrel upward.
Pop!
A very pale green bubble was fired from all six flowers.
It slowly floated up into the sky.
However, Yahrum's eyes widened in shock.
The bubble released from the coral quickly passed by the green bubble.
In just a few seconds, the green bubble would float up and hit that bubble.
Stunned, he slowly stood up and watched the bubble floating slowly above the base.
His legs gradually walked backward away from the base while he kept watching the bubble.
When the bubble from the coral floated high above the roof of the base, it exploded.
Boom!
The explosion, louder than the tree's bubble, made Yahrum's ears ring for several minutes.
Besides the strong wave ripple that hit the base's roof, some water gushed out from the exploded bubble.
That water crashed down onto the flat roof of the base, splashing onto Yahrum despite him being a considerable distance away.
The roof, hit by the explosion and the falling water, bent and warped out of shape.
From below, Yahrum couldn't tell if the roof at the explosion's epicenter had been completely destroyed or not.
He wanted to run back to check but realized that this wave probably wasn't over yet, so he stopped running at the entrance stairs.
Even the stairs were tiles with a concrete foundation.
Seeing those stairs, he could only hope that the new base would have a similar structure that wouldn't be easily destroyed.
He turned back to look at the coral on the fish's back again and watched it intently.
This time it slowly turned toward the right side of the base.
Yahrum quickly responded, he ran and then stood between the two trees.
Suddenly, the strange fish opened its mouth slightly. Yahrum saw visible air currents being sucked in, as if the fish were sucking water.
He understood immediately and hurried to the back of the left tree and crouched down.
Zoom!
A sound like violent waves crashed out along with an enormous amount of water from that coral tube.
Yahrum quickly grabbed the vines with both hands and aimed the tree's barrel toward that massive water current.
Zzsss!
Pale green water shot out from the tips of all six flower buds before merging into a single stream that collided with the massive water.
He found that the water stream from the tree was much thinner, so he worried whether it could withstand the impact.
What he saw next eased his concern.
Although the tree's water stream was much smaller, its force was strong enough to stop the coral's water mid-air.
The image of both streams—one white and one pale green—colliding in mid-air created a large disc of water, quite a wondrous sight.
Water splashes from the collision fell onto both rice paddies on the left, causing the ground to become slightly waterlogged.
A moment later, Yahrum saw the strange fish slowly closing its mouth, and he immediately understood.
But he still didn't release his grip, just to be safe.
When the water stream from the coral was gradually pushed back by the tree's water stream, Yahrum released his hands from the vines, allowing the water pressure to gradually dissipate as well.
When both water streams stopped, Yahrum found that the small green rice shoots in the paddy fields had grown taller, almost reaching his neck.
"I see…."
At last, Yahrum finallys understood what his special mission was about.