That night, just as Jiang Lai had planned, she worked until two in the morning, only going to sleep after finishing the last ship cabin.
She put away the brazier, which had been burning for hours, into her backpack for safety.
Still wearing her down jacket and cotton boots, Jiang Lai lay down without undressing, simply pulling her military coat over herself as a blanket.
Even as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she could still feel the howling blizzard raging outside.
But none of that mattered to her anymore.
——————
Day six of the Sea Survival Game. Morning. Clear skies.
Jiang Lai slept in again, waking up naturally as usual. She had always been a heavy sleeper.
In times as tough as these, when she couldn’t satisfy her cravings for good food or comfort, Jiang Lai refused to deprive herself of the last pleasure she had left—sleep.
When she got up, she didn’t hear the wind howling outside anymore.
She opened the door, and sunlight spilled over her, bringing a hint of warmth.
Jiang Lai curiously stretched out her hand, carefully feeling the temperature today.
Why did it feel even warmer than yesterday?
Wasn’t the extreme cold supposed to arrive after seven days? It was only the sixth day—why was it getting warmer?
Or was this just the calm before an even bigger blizzard?
Jiang Lai couldn’t figure it out. She set up her fishing rod and went back inside, munching on biscuits and drinking water as she prepared to check the chat channel.
But as soon as she opened the system page, a huge announcement popped up.
[System Announcement: Due to the number of survivors falling below half during this extreme cold crisis, the event will end early.
Rewards will be settled tonight at 8 PM. All players, please be online and ready.]
Wow! What a surprise first thing in the morning.
Jiang Lai was genuinely happy reading the announcement.
Even though she hadn’t suffered much from the cold, these freezing days had definitely lowered her quality of life.
Of course, for those who survived last night and had no idea how they’d make it through tonight, this was the best news they could hope for.
Jiang Lai clicked into the chat channel, and sure enough, it was like New Year’s in there.
People had somehow dug up red firecracker emojis, filling the channel with a festive atmosphere. The whole screen was awash in red.
Jiang Lai couldn’t help but smile, infected by the mood.
But when she glanced at the survivor count for Zone 68 in the upper right corner, her smile faded a little.
There were only 5,628 people left in Zone 68.
Over two thousand people had died just last night—more than the previous four days combined.
No wonder the system decided to end the extreme cold event. If this kept up, in another day or two, there’d hardly be anyone left.
But the announcement said the total number of survivors across all servers had dropped below half.
Yet Zone 68 still had more than half its players alive. As bad as things were here, it was still better than other zones. That was sobering.
Of course, a lot of that had to do with Jiang Lai sharing her fire starter.
After all, with the humidity out at sea, trying to start a fire by rubbing sticks together would have left everyone frozen solid long before they got a single spark.
The system had said that in the future, everyone on Earth would enter this game.
But so many players had already died just after the game launched. Would that make the rest of humanity enter the game sooner?
Jiang Lai asked the system.
But the system only told her to wait for tonight’s announcement and said nothing else.
Would there be some new development tonight?
Jiang Lai could only keep that question in mind for now.
In the chat channel, everyone was in high spirits. After these days of crisis, it was clear that many people had gotten to know each other.
Just like Jiang Lai and Qi Jingxing, a lot of people had become good online friends, chatting privately all the time.
Everyone had put last night’s suffering behind them and were eagerly discussing what kind of rewards they might get tonight.
After all, the announcement seemed to suggest that everyone should wait until 8 PM, so there was a good chance everyone would get a reward.
After all, anyone still alive now was a winner in this crisis.
“”Those who can should upgrade their dwellings or increase their ratings while there’s still time,”” someone suggested.
“”Didn’t they say there’d be a stage evaluation? Tonight might be the first one.””
There were plenty of smart players in the game.
“”Like we don’t want to! After barely surviving last night, my backpack is emptier than my face.””
“”Yeah, just being alive is enough. Who cares about anything else?””
It was obvious that everyone felt a sense of gratitude for surviving the ordeal.
Still, it reminded Jiang Lai that she needed to boost her rating before tonight.
Fishing for treasure chests.
Increasing her rating.
Tallying up the resources she’d earned last night.
Waiting for the 8 PM announcement.
Jiang Lai had a lot to do today.
The temperature outside was rising quickly, and soon Jiang Lai could feel the sun growing warmer.
She’d spent most of the past few days holed up indoors for warmth and hadn’t breathed fresh air in a while.
So she dragged her chair outside onto the raft to bask in the sun.
She opened her backpack and started calculating how many resources she’d earned yesterday.
From morning until 2 a.m., she’d built a total of 68 ship cabins.
Each cabin earned her 5 wood and 5 nails.
So 68 cabins meant 340 wood and 340 nails.
Add in the two braziers she sold yesterday, plus the leftover supplies in her backpack…
That made 2,015 pieces of wood and 1,004 nails.
Jiang Lai’s heart raced—she finally had enough wood and nails to upgrade!
Now she was just short 20 pieces of glass, and she had no idea where to get them.
Jiang Lai rummaged through her backpack again.
Now that the extreme cold was over, cold-weather gear would be worthless.
She couldn’t trade her island pass or the mysterious iron box.
She didn’t have any extra wood or nails.
And there was no way she’d part with her silver.
After taking stock, the only thing she could really offer was food.
She had to upgrade her dwelling to level four before 8 PM tonight, so glass was crucial.
But for others who hadn’t upgraded yet, or had just reached level two, glass might not be that useful.
After thinking it over, Jiang Lai took out two oranges and carefully sliced each one into ten pieces with her kitchen knife.
She pointed her wristband at the orange slices on the table and silently took a photo.
Soon, Jiang Lai posted the picture of the juicy, golden-orange slices in the chat channel.
Normally, she didn’t like to show off, but today was different—she urgently needed glass.
She was afraid people might miss it on the trading platform, so she posted it directly in the channel.
[Fresh oranges, packed with vitamin C—delicious and nutritious.
Players with glass, please DM me. One slice of orange for one piece of glass.
First come, first served—limited quantity!]
(End of chapter)”
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