Jiang Lai quickly ate a few pieces of biscuit and took a couple of sips of water.
Then she curled up in bed, listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the plastic.
The temperature difference at sea was already significant, and after dark, it could drop by more than ten degrees.
Now that it was raining, even breathing felt like inhaling pure cold air.
Jiang Lai’s little cabin was actually not bad. It wasn’t warm, but at least it kept out the wind and rain.
With the soft bedding on her bed and the thick military coat as a blanket, Jiang Lai felt a strong sense of security.
The sound of rain outside was like white noise, quickly making her drowsy. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she soon drifted off to sleep.
This was the second night for all players in the game.
The temperature plummeted, and a violent storm struck.
By the end of the night, the population in Zone 68 had dropped to (9844/10000).
Over a thousand people perished in the storm, never to open their eyes again.
————————
The third day in the game.
When Jiang Lai woke up, she was momentarily disoriented about whether it was day or night.
Her cabin had no windows, so she couldn’t see what it was like outside.
She listened carefully—no more wind or rain. It must have cleared up.
She got up and opened the door. Outside, the sunlight was dazzling, the sea sparkled, and it was a beautiful scene.
But Jiang Lai still pulled her clothes tighter. The sun was nice, but the temperature had dropped again.
She opened the system interface and saw several private messages.
They were all offers from people wanting to trade for her axe and kitchen knife.
But one of the avatars was already grayed out—clearly, that trade would never happen now.
Jiang Lai glanced at the number of survivors.
In just one night…
She suddenly thought of that sunken ship she’d fished up from the sea, and the countless civilizations that might have sunk with it.
Jiang Lai lowered her eyes.
She wasn’t a particularly empathetic person. Growing up with only her sister, she’d always been a self-interested type.
But at this moment, Jiang Lai suddenly felt a sense of shared fate.
In this vast ocean, was it really a win just to survive alone?
Jiang Lai shook her head, pushing aside these useless thoughts.
She quickly picked the two best offers and completed the trades.
The kitchen knife was traded to someone named Huang Qi for five ears of corn.
The axe went to her regular customer, Chang Fa.
In exchange, she got fifty pieces of wood and thirty nails.
At this point, besides Chang Fa, probably no one else could offer such basic upgrade materials for a trade.
After finishing her trades, Jiang Lai noticed a special private message.
It was from someone she’d traded with before—she’d swapped moldy steamed buns for nails.
“I have yellow soil, but I only trade for food. Do you still have those buns?”
Turing herself didn’t know if she was lucky or unlucky. Since entering the game, every treasure chest she opened contained weird things, but never food.
She’d gotten up early to fish for treasure chests, only to get a whole sack of yellow soil.
Was she really supposed to eat dirt?
With everyone short on food and clothing, who would want to trade for dirt?
Turing was about to give up and throw the dirt away when she saw Jiang Lai’s post.
The knife and axe were both good items.
But Turing, for better or worse, had gotten a dagger from a chest and didn’t need weapons.
Thinking of the big steamed bun Jiang Lai had traded her before, Turing swallowed.
She still had buns, but she couldn’t bear to eat them.
So she messaged Jiang Lai again.
“Yes, how much soil do you have?”
Jiang Lai replied immediately.
Soon, the two completed the trade, and Jiang Lai got a sack of yellow soil.
She set the soil aside for now.
Jiang Lai planned to take care of the most important thing first and handle the rest in the afternoon.
The most important thing, of course, was fishing for treasure chests.
Jiang Lai started fishing while opening the chat channel to see what everyone was talking about.
“Wasn’t there supposed to be a newbie protection period?? Feels more like a newbie death period!”
“So many people died all at once… sigh.”
“I nearly froze to death last night, barely made it. I thought I’d be sick for sure today, but I’m not.”
“Same here! I always catch a cold and fever if I get rained on, but today I’m totally fine. Weird!”
“Looks like as long as you don’t freeze to death, you won’t get sick in this game.”
“Yeah, who knows if we’re even people anymore or just a bunch of data.”
“Here’s something even weirder: last night during the heavy rain, a few fish actually jumped onto my raft.”
“Me too!”
“Fish? That’s nothing, I even got some shellfish, and there were pearls inside.”
After the storm, it seemed many people found fish, shrimp, crabs, and other sea creatures on their boats.
Jiang Lai looked around her own raft—nothing.
No surprise, since three sides of her raft were fenced in.
The only open side was flat, so even if fish jumped up, they’d just slide off.
Looks like she had no luck with seafood.
Jiang Lai looked at the pictures of live fish in the group chat and swallowed her saliva.
“If only we had fire, we could grill the fish.”
“Don’t be so picky! Grilled fish? If you can just scrape off the scales and eat some sashimi, you should be happy!”
“Join my pirate crew! Call me Big Brother and you can trade for all kinds of tools. If you’re smart, DM me.”
Pirate crew?
Jiang Lai checked who sent the message.
Li Haibo.
Of course it was him.
Jiang Lai laughed out loud. Was this guy watching too much anime? How old was he, still acting like a hot-blooded teenager?
“Li Haibo, don’t think people don’t know what you’re up to.
Even if we join your gang, we still have to buy your stuff at high prices.
And we have to pay tribute regularly, or your whole gang will target us. What are you, our ancestor?”
The speaker was Chang Fa.
Jiang Lai had already figured out that most people didn’t dare offend Li Haibo.
Only someone as lucky as Chang Fa would dare speak the truth.
“+1”
Jiang Lai couldn’t help herself and quietly added a message.
A few seconds later.
“+1”
Qi Jingxing chimed in too.
The usually busy chat channel fell into a rare silence.
Then, the screen started scrolling rapidly.
“+1”
“+1”
“+1”
“+1”
…
People who had always been too afraid to speak up now started joining in, all posting “+1.”
Pfft—
Jiang Lai couldn’t help but laugh.
She was happy, but on the other side, Li Haibo was furious.
“Unwise! Anyone who replied today, don’t even think about trading with me again! I’d rather throw my tools into the sea than sell them to you!”
Seeing he was outnumbered, Li Haibo flew into a rage and threatened everyone.
“Two axes have been uploaded to the trading platform. If you need one, DM me.
If you need a special tool or custom order, DM me too—prices are negotiable.”
Jiang Lai quickly listed two axes and took the chance to advertise herself.
With so many people online, it was the perfect time to promote her goods and get a good price. Not bad at all.
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