In fact, Meng Lei's reason for rejecting Divine Dragon was very simple.
He simply did not like being controlled by others.
It was not easy for him to break away from the impenetrable social system of the Blue Planet and live as he pleased.
However, once he joined the fleet, they would definitely be controlled by the new system.
It was equivalent to jumping from one cage to another.
Moreover, in such an environment without legal restrictions, the establishment of a new system would inevitably be accompanied by extreme bloodshed and filth.
Meng Lei did not like those things. It was good to be alone and free.
Moreover, he had a game cheat that could detect most potential threats in advance.
It was not difficult to live a carefree life in this ocean abyss of the alien planet.
Of course, if the game progressed to the intermediate and late stages, the fleets of various major factions and organizations would gradually take shape.
At that time, in order to seek stability, he would eventually have to find a big tree to seek protection.
Or, if the time came, he could personally build his own fleet.
But at this stage, it was still too early to think about these issues.
In addition, Meng Lei could not be sure of the captain's character.
Moreover, rapidly expanding ambitions and desires could completely change a person in an extremely short period of time.
If he rashly joined the fleet and something happened in the future, it would be difficult for him to escape!
Currently, he could treat the Nine Provinces Fleet of Divine Dragon as a partner, but he could not plunge himself into it.
Therefore, Meng Lei rejected Divine Dragon's invitation without hesitation.
Regarding this, Divine Dragon could only express his regret.
[Divine Dragon: If that's the case, it's a pity…]
[If our Nine Provinces Fleet can recruit talents like you, it will definitely grow rapidly and be ahead of other countries at the starting line, laying a solid foundation for future development!]
[However, since you don't want to do this, we won't force you.]
[If we encounter any trouble in the future, as fellow countrymen of the Nine Provinces, I hope we can support each other…]
After sending this message, Divine Dragon quickly sent another message.
[Divine Dragon: The supplies are ready. Let's start trading now!]
Meng Lei put away his chaotic thoughts and opened the trading system.
At this moment, no one had chosen to buy the three portions of fish that he had put up 20 minutes ago.
Obviously, the resources currently available to players were not enough to meet the transaction requirements.
However, he could not rule out another possibility. Some people had enough resources, but they did not need the fish that Meng Lei had put up.
However, none of that mattered anymore.
He took down all three units of fish and entered the private chat.
After adjusting the content of the trade, Meng Lei took the initiative to send a transaction request to Divine Dragon.
On the other side, Divine Dragon immediately chose to accept it.
After Divine Dragon placed all the materials into the trading column, this private transaction was instantly completed.
At the same time, Meng Lei received a System notification.
[System notification: You have obtained iron x12, aluminum x12, plastic x12, titanium x6 through trade. All items have been received. Please check the storage chest!]
"This is quite magical. It feels like a game."
Meng Lei grinned and nodded in satisfaction.
At this moment, Divine Dragon sent another message.
[Divine Dragon: Friend, I've received the goods. They're heavier than they look in the picture. They're indeed worth it!
[Happy cooperation! I look forward to the next deal!]
Meng Lei replied with a smile.
[Bottomless Valley: Happy cooperation!]
Then, he closed the communication interface, stood up, and left the cockpit.
However, even though he had gathered all the materials, Meng Lei did not repair the gravity ball immediately.
After leaving the cockpit, he walked straight to the freshwater extractor.
After nearly half an hour of operation, the extraction volume shown on the freshwater extractor had only reached 100ml.
In that case, it would take at least five hours to extract 1,000ml of fresh water.
Meng Lei scratched his head helplessly. Such a low efficiency was really not flattering.
He licked his dry lips.
It had been four to five hours since he transmigrated, and he hadn't drunk a drop of water. His throat was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Meng Lei pondered for a moment and did not wait for the machine to accumulate more water.
He turned on the tap and opened his mouth directly under it.
Gulp, gulp…
The slightly cold taste had a hint of sweetness, like sweet dew moistening the taste buds.
Meng Lei immediately perked up!
However, in just two mouthfuls, before he could feel satisfied, the freshwater reserves in the machine had already been drained.
Licking his lips greedily, Meng Lei was somewhat unsatisfied.
This 100ml of fresh water was really not enough to drink.
Fortunately, he had temporarily replenished some water in his body, allowing his overall condition to recover to a certain extent.
Next, Meng Lei kept the freshwater extractor running and turned to the submarine's storage chest.
After opening it, he counted the items. Currently, the inventory of Bottomless Valley was as follows.
Clean fish meat x2, damaged small gravity ball x1, iron x12, aluminum x12, plastic x12, titanium x6, copper x10, bone powder x5kg, and light essence x1.
There were a total of nine different materials, occupying a total of twelve slots in the storage chest.
Among them, iron, aluminum, and plastic all exceeded the upper stacking limit of a single slot.
The small storage chest with a total of 30 slots had already been half filled.
It did seem like a lot, but Meng Lei knew very well that it wouldn't be long before he squandered all these resources.
In the early stages of the game, these basic consumable resources could not be saved at all.
Everything was ready, and Meng Lei didn't delay any longer.
He took out the small gravity ball from the storage chest and placed it on the manufacturing station.
The repair interface was activated.
[Damaged gravity ball. Repair requirements: Iron 5/5; Aluminum 5/5; Plastic 3/3; Titanium 3/3; Copper 3/3]
[System notification: Current repair requirements met. Do you want to repair it?]
Meng Lei decisively chose to repair it.
The next second, the various resources in the submarine's storage chest were automatically extracted by the manufacturing station.
Then, they turned into streams of light that lingered around the gravity ball and quickly filled the cracks and damaged parts of the ball.
A minute later, the light gradually faded.
Tiny electric currents followed the exquisite and complicated patterns on the surface of the ball and danced around.
The cracks on the upper half of the ball had all disappeared after the light faded.
A new and complete small gravity ball appeared in front of Meng Lei.
[System notification: The damaged gravity ball has been repaired and can be used normally!]