Everyone was waiting quietly. According to their speculations, Shen Fei was the first to arrive at the oasis. If the oasis was like the wood from before and manifested physically into the world, the changes would be enormous.
One must know that there was a shortage of resources in the world, and the same was true for water resources. The worsening environment affected the climate, and some areas suffered droughts all year round without rain. Many lands were barren, and it had become a threat to human safety.
Even if the government took all sorts of measures to provide help, they had the will but not eh power. If the oasis could really appear, it would directly affect the mood of the Hua leaders. Only then did the Egyptian audience realize that the first to arrive was Shen Fei. They were so angry that they wanted to turn murderous.
The elders of Egypt were livid. It was made worse when someone who didn't know how to read the room approached them. "Should we still hold the press conference?"
They said with displeasure, "What's the point of holding a press conference? We can wait for others' press conference now."
They were livid and frustrated, but there was nothing they could do. At that moment, they felt some regret about releasing the news so early, causing the whole world to know about it. Now it was too late to take back what they had said before.
The Hua audience was in a frenzy. Some people were jealous and wanted to stir up trouble by sowing discord between Hua, Egypt and Arabia.
"I wonder how the people in Egypt and Arabia feel. They must be quite embarrassed."
"Egypt said they were going to hold a press conference. There's nothing on that press conference now. If I were them, I probably wouldn't dare to come out and meet anyone."
"Previous commenter, why are you speaking in such a weird tone? Don't wear the vest of our country if you are a spy sent by a certain country who wants to sow discord between these countries."
"There's a spy. End the transaction!"
"Everyone has worked hard and excelled, but this time, Country Hua reached the oasis first. The game has just begun. Let's see how these contestants perform in the future."
"Actually, there's no need to pit all these contestants against each other. Since this is a desert survival game, although there's competition, there will definitely be cooperation. As the old saying goes, unity is strength."
Everyone in the live stream had their own opinion.
…
After Shen Fei arrived at the oasis, his tense mood could finally relax. He observed his surroundings. Since the start of the game, his mind had been in a highly focused state.
Only then did he notice that there was an icon of a small horn flashing non-stop at the bottom left corner.
He opened it out of curiosity. It turned out to be a chat box similar to a web-based game. He could type and chat in it. There were already quite a number of people speaking on it.
"Is there anyone nearby? Please form a team with me!"
"You're too naive. There isn't a ghost, let alone a human."
"Help! I'm going to dry up in the sun. I can't feel my legs already. I really regret not choosing a means of transportation."
"So what if you have a means of transportation? F*ck! I got lost in this godforsaken place. It feels the same no matter where I go. There's no way to get out."
…
He took a look and saw that it was all meaningless conversation. There was no useful information, but it made sense. The real big shots were all traveling alone.
Who would share precious information and intelligence with others without holding back? They were not fools. After all, they were still competitors at the moment.
At this moment, the chat channel refreshed again. A message attracted Shen Fei's attention.
Korean player: "I can't hold on much longer. Is there any big shot who can give me a water source? I'm willing to exchange it with the opening item [saxaul forest]."
Shen Fei's memory was very good. He had an impression of all the items at the beginning. The saxaul forest was a pretty good item that could be used to configure a forest.
Now that he had arrived at the oasis, water source was not a problem at all. He could exchange it with this contestant.
On top of that, he opened his characteristics panel. All his attributes had been greatly improved, such as his life force, tenacity, resistance, heat resistance, and so on. It could be said that his overall physical qualities had been greatly improved.
Most importantly, the proficiency of his talents [Share] and [Desert Emperor] had increased by a lot. The changes brought about were huge, and he was a lot ahead of the other players.
That was how the disparity between games was created.
Being ahead of everyone at the start meant receiving more resources and rewards as time went by. Perhaps the difference between them was not that great now, but as the game progressed, it would become obvious.
In the real world.
The northwestern region of Hua was the driest region. Tens of villages nearby were already in ruins. The soil was dried up, revealing fissures. The ground was full of such cracks, forming a shocking sight.
It was originally the harvest season, but the crops in the fields had long died from lack of water in the drought, leaving only bare stems. The lack of food was not even the most fatal thing.
The most important thing was that there was no water.
Everyone could no longer remember when it previously rained. All the remaining water sources in the villages were already stretched thin. They had already searched all the places within a radius of ten miles. If they still couldn't find a solution, they would have to either leave their home or stay and wait for death.
However, who would be willing to leave their home before the situation became hopeless? Furthermore, there were so many of them.
The villagers gathered together to search for a water source further away. They had been searching for more than a week, but they still yielded no results.
On this day, everyone was almost suffering from heatstroke from braving the scorching sun. Their lips were so dry that they felt a burning pain every time they licked them.
They tried to swallow their saliva to quench their thirst, but their throats felt like they were on fire and they could not swallow it at all. It was obvious that their bodies were extremely dehydrated.
Even so, no one opened their mouths to ask for water. The dozen or so people only had half a bottle of water. They were like holy water at the moment, and they'd sooner consecrate it.
Not far away, there was a figure. It was someone who had gone out to investigate. However, he only took a few steps before he fell to the ground. Everyone hurriedly helped him up, only to see that his eyes were tightly shut, his breathing was rapid, and his face was flushed red.
"This must be heatstroke."
Everyone pinched his philtrum and wetted his lips with water. It took a while for the person to recover and slowly open his eyes.
"How is it? Is there a water source up ahead?"
Faced with everyone's expectant gazes, he shook his head with difficulty.
In an instant, everyone's faces turned ashen. "If we still can't find water tomorrow, I'm afraid we really have to all migrate."
The atmosphere was heavy. Just then, someone suddenly rubbed his eyes in disbelief, as if he had seen something, Even his voice was trembling a little. "Look! What… what is that?"
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing at and were stunned.