“Wow, so I’m the only clueless one here.”
Chang Fa slapped his forehead, feeling a bit foolish, but not regretful.
“Let them curse. As long as I upgrade fast enough, who knows who’ll beat whom when we finally meet.”
Chang Fa might be a bit reckless, but he wasn’t a coward—plus, as a lucky guy, he had his own confidence.
“How does it feel to have upgraded your shelter to level two?” Qi Jingxing suddenly asked.
“How did you know???”
Chang Fa was startled. He often bragged about opening chests in the chat, but he’d never mentioned upgrading, afraid of attracting too much envy.
He had traded with Jiang Lai before. If she guessed, that would make sense. But for Qi Jingxing to say it so confidently really surprised him.
“Just a guess,” Qi Jingxing replied casually.
“Impressive!”
“A level two shelter means your little boat turns into a raft, and the area increases. Most importantly, you get a small cabin on top, which keeps out the wind and rain and is much warmer. You were right before—once you upgrade to level two, surviving the extreme cold shouldn’t be a problem.”
Since he’d been found out, Chang Fa didn’t hide it anymore.
“If you two haven’t upgraded yet, and you have anything I could use, feel free to trade for some basic upgrade materials. After all, we’re practically comrades in hardship now—three people working together is always better.”
“No need.”
“No need.”
Jiang Lai and Qi Jingxing replied at the same time.
“If all goes according to plan, I’ll be able to upgrade tomorrow,” Qi Jingxing said, clearly having his own strategy.
“I upgraded yesterday,” Jiang Lai added. Since the others were being open, she figured there was no need to hide it either.
“!!! The real lucky one is you!” Chang Fa exclaimed.
The “Chang Fa Fan Club” group was quickly renamed by Chang Fa to “Cling to Jiang Lai’s Leg Group.”
Jiang Lai looked at the two unopened wooden boxes she’d just fished up.
With just these, was she really someone to cling to?
The contents of the two boxes were pretty ordinary: three packs of biscuits and one roll of toilet paper.
After seeing all the random stuff people offered in private messages, Jiang Lai was content. Not much, but at least it was all useful.
That afternoon, Jiang Lai spent her time making braziers.
With the soil she’d traded for, she could use the workbench to draw the shape she wanted and get a decent clay pot.
That bag of soil made five pots in total.
She had pots, but no charcoal—though burning wood would work too.
The only thing left was a fire source…
Jiang Lai hadn’t seen anyone in the chat mention starting a fire yet.
She checked the trading platform.
Everyone was looking for fire starters, but no one was selling them.
The highest bidder was Qi Jingxing.
Jiang Lai knew he wanted to make a torch, and even with such a high offer, he still hadn’t gotten a fire starter. That showed just how rare they were.
She thought about it—the weather was getting colder.
Last night, she hadn’t slept very comfortably in her little cabin.
To spare herself more suffering, she decided not to wait any longer!
Jiang Lai opened the shop and searched for a lighter.
A black windproof lighter, one shell coin each.
The price was acceptable, so she decisively exchanged for one.
The next second, a lighter appeared in her backpack, filling the last slot.
If she hadn’t already put her sweet potatoes and potatoes in the wooden crate in her cabin, who knows where the lighter would have ended up.
With pots, fire, and wood, everything else was easy.
Soon, Jiang Lai had her first successful brazier.
The wood inside hadn’t fully turned to charcoal, but the irregular, glowing black chunks still gave off plenty of heat.
The weather was already cold enough to numb her hands.
Jiang Lai sat on her raft, warming her hands over the brazier, feeling cozy and content.
With the first one done, the rest would be easy.
But Jiang Lai didn’t rush to make more—she wanted to test it out first.
That night, she tried out her brazier.
Her cabin had no windows, and with the extreme cold, she couldn’t open the door either.
So Jiang Lai lit the brazier in her room. Once she was warm and the room had heated up, she put the brazier back in her backpack.
After all, carbon monoxide poisoning was no joke.
Jiang Lai didn’t think suffocating to death was any better than freezing.
But even just lighting it for a while made her night much better than before.
In fact, the third night was the happiest she’d had since entering the game.
Even though the temperature dropped to a new low that night.
Fire brought not just warmth, but also light and dryness.
These were exactly what people drifting on the sea in extreme cold needed most.
She made it through the third day safely. When she opened her eyes again, it was already the fourth day of the game.
Jiang Lai woke up naturally, wrapped in her blanket, eating a little something in bed. The cold made it harder and harder to get up.
She snuggled under the covers, scrolling through the chat channel.
The latest player survival numbers were shocking.
Jiang Lai even thought, if deaths kept increasing at this rate, by the seventh day—the coldest day—there would be hardly anyone left.
“It’s really brutal. They promised three days of newbie protection, but so many people still died.”
“What’s the point of talking about it now? The protection period is over.”
“Last night, I almost saw my great-grandma.”
“Farewell, friends. I barely made it through last night, but I won’t survive tonight.”
“Hang in there! If we can just hold on until our boats are upgraded to level two, we’ll make it!”
In the chat, some people were already despairing, saying hopeless things.
But others still held onto hope, convinced that as long as they upgraded their shelters to level two, they could survive the extreme cold.
100 wood, 50 nails.
That was a lot, but not an impossible number.
If you could open two bronze chests, or get something valuable enough to trade, or grit your teeth and trade away your basic water and biscuits, you still had a good chance of upgrading within seven days.
It was this hope that kept people going.
Now, the trading platform was mostly for swapping warm clothing or basic upgrade materials.
Food and water had almost disappeared from the market.
After all, everyone had basic bottled water and biscuits, and with the recent rain, no one would starve or die of thirst for at least half a month.
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