Chapter 33

In the hallway, the bespectacled man stared at the frosty bottle, absolutely shell-shocked.
His companion tapped him on the shoulder, voice low, “Who knows if this is luck or a trap? Keep your head on straight.” This guy practiced what he preached, he didn’t spare the water bottle a single glance, just in case he got tempted.
The refined man’s throat bobbed. Then, with a dramatic solemnity, he declared, “I’ll take on the noble task of testing for poison!”
With that, he twisted off the cap and chugged it down in big gulps.
“Hey!” His friend tried (and failed) to stop him, watching as half the bottle went down in one go.
“Ahh, that hits the spot!” The bespectacled guy looked blissful, every pore singing.
His companion kept his mouth shut. Suddenly, he snatched the bottle and downed the rest himself.
“Not worried about poison?” the glasses-wearer asked.
His friend finished the last drop, trying to look stoic. “Bro, we’re war buddies. If we’re dying, we die together!” It sounded heroic, but really, he just couldn’t resist another swig…
“What’ll we say when we get back?” His companion started to look worried.
The bespectacled man answered confidently, “Hey, we’ve got legit clean water from the trade, don’t we?”
“But the chilled mineral water’s all gone,” his teammate reminded him.
“Hey, that was just a freebie anyway.” The bespectacled man sounded perfectly justified. “Besides, if you don’t finish the cold stuff quickly, it’ll just go lukewarm!
His friend was floored by the sheer shamelessness, honestly, who was he trying to fool? As if nobody knows the portable inventory can keep things cold.
But, seeing as he was in on it too, he simply waved a hand, playing dumb. “Whatever, whatever, let’s go see if we can trade with other survivors. Didn’t someone mention a girl on deck hustling mineral water? Let’s find her.”
“What if something’s already happened to her...”
He’d barely finished when his pal slapped a hand over his mouth. At the same time, a tense growl slipped out: “Would you quit jinxing us?!”
An Rongyue huddled in the shadows, heart pounding. It was already Day 8, just two more days, and she’d be able to walk out of this instance alive.
With that in mind, she decided to change her hiding spot. But the moment she slipped out, someone blocked her path.
An Rongyue: “…”
She backed up three steps in a row, looking intensely wary.
“We’re not here to hurt you.” The bespectacled man tried his best to look gentle and harmless.
“Then keep your distance,” An Rongyue retorted, blunt as ever.
The man was completely unfazed by the cold shoulder, keeping his smile bright. “How about a little trade, then? I’ve got a stash of daily essentials, interested in swapping?”
“No, thanks.” At that moment, the only thing An Rongyue wanted was to bolt. Trading was the last thing on her mind.
“What about meds? Will you trade for that?” Sensing she wasn’t biting, he switched gears without missing a beat.
You can never have too many meds… An Rongyue was tempted. After a pause, she asked, “What do you want?”
The bespectacled man smiled. “Didn’t you stockpile a ton of mineral water? Just need water, that’s all.”
An Rongyue’s face froze on the spot.
He blinked. “What’s the matter?”
Expressionless, she answered, “I’m out of large quantities of drinking water.”
The bespectacled man: “…”
His teammate: “…”
They couldn’t believe it. The whole reason they hunted her down was to trade for water!
His friend couldn’t take it anymore, blurting out, “How come you’re out? Did someone rob you?”
An Rongyue debated making up some wild excuse, but after a moment, decided to be upfront. “I have a special device that can desalinate seawater. But after the last fire, the seawater’s turned black, looks like it’s full of toxins. Would you actually drink that?”
Of course not. The bespectacled man’s face showed nothing but disgust.
“So yeah, no deal.” An Rongyue sighed, genuinely disappointed.
“Not even a spare bottle?” he pressed, still unwilling to let go.
An Rongyue stayed silent. Of course she still had some clean water, but she also needed to look out for herself. What if the next instance had some weird survival twist? What if she never found another supply drop?
Essential resources, a smart player never gives those up without a fight.
But if she gave them nothing, she’d never shake them off. So, with a heavy heart, she relented: “At most, I can give you ten bottles. Only for medicine, at a rate of one bottle for one and a half doses.”
He finally relaxed a little. “Thank you.”
Ten bottles of water, plus the milk they’d just bartered for, enough to get them through the next two days. After that, everyone would be free to leave the instance. Figuring out the rest could wait.
Once the deal was done, the two sides went their separate ways.
His teammate muttered, “What the hell? We might as well have traded with the folks in Room 107.”
More supplies, dirt cheap. And they threw in cold mineral water for free!
“How were we supposed to know?” The bespectacled man sounded a little regretful. He’d assumed she’d been hoarding water on purpose, how was he supposed to guess she had a desalination rig?
Shaking his head, he sighed, “Whatever. Let’s go back. At least this is enough to survive till Day 10.”
“Yeah.” His friend let out a long sigh. “If it hadn’t been for that explosion, our guild would still be, ”
This time, the bespectacled man was the one silencing his partner with a hand over his mouth. He warned, “Watch what you say.”
His friend realized he’d slipped up and clamped his mouth shut.
The next morning, exactly nine o’clock, the system’s mechanical voice chimed: “Day 9.”
Su Han paused. Besides a carton of milk and a hunk of black bread, her inventory had something else in it this morning.
Nutrition capsule: rare-grade food. Restores 60 satiety, 60 cleanliness, and 60 stamina.
She counted, five capsules in total.
So this is rare-grade food? Not bad, one pill and boom, three stats up. Pretty handy.
Hearing the system announcement, Cai Sheng nearly exploded with excitement. “Tomorrow we get to leave this instance!!!”
“Congrats,” Zhong Rui replied coolly.
Cai Sheng glanced left, right, then blurted, “You guys aren’t leaving?”
Zhong Rui answered offhandedly, “I usually wait for the system to teleport me.”
Auto-teleport meant you’d cleared the instance.
Cai Sheng hesitated, dying to beg for a spot on their team and breeze through with them.
But Zhong Rui wasn’t about to let him ride for free. “We agreed to keep you alive to Day 10. If you want a full clear, that’s extra.”
Cai Sheng: “…”
Usually, something went wrong before anyone got close to clearing an instance. And now, with his resources running low, he figured he might as well hoard gems for shopping in the next round.
So Cai Sheng gave an awkward laugh and feigned indifference. “No worries, I’m not planning to clear anyway.” Meanwhile, his heart was bleeding.
“That’s for the best,” Zhong Rui nodded.
Cai Sheng sobbed internally. Best for who, exactly? You just want to shake me off, don’t you?
Time whirled by, and Day 9 passed peacefully.
The next day, the system intoned, “Day 10.” Cai Sheng wasted no time applying to leave. Instantly, he dissolved into a flash of white light and vanished.
Right on cue, the system’s robotic voice buzzed in Su Han’s ear. It chimed in again, “Experience points: 30/30. Congratulations, player! Level up to 1. Maximum satiety 100, cleanliness 100, stamina 100, innate skill level 1.”
Across the translucent stats panel, it read,
Name: Su Han (Real-name verified)
Level: 3 (XP 0/30)
Class: Nutritionist (Advanced level Talent, XP 0/30)
Satiety: 340/340
Cleanliness: 340/340
Stamina: 340/340
Innate skill (Advanced): In each instance, there’s a 60% chance per day of receiving a “milk & black bread” meal set. There’s a 15% chance of getting a “three bottles of milk, a meat floss cream bun, and a chocolate cake” deluxe set. There’s a 2% chance to score rare foods.
Note: The above probabilities can trigger at the same time.
Knowing she was about to level up, Su Han had stopped eating or using consumables since yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, as soon as her level rose, all three attributes snapped back to full.
Now that the distractions were gone, Zhong Rui and Su Han could finally talk in peace.
Su Han was the first to break the silence. “Did you get your hands on that high-grade Doctor class medicine?”
Zhong Rui didn’t bother hiding anything; he took the vial right out.
Vitality Serum: pale blue liquid, sour plum juice flavor. Restores all three stats to full and removes all negative status effects after use.
Su Han whistled, impressed. “That’s some serious stuff. Basically a one-up mushroom.”
If you chugged this mid-brawl when you’re almost dead, you’d bounce right back and give the other guy the shock of their life.
“It’s great, but insanely rare. I’ve played this game how long, and this is the only one I’ve found,” Zhong Rui said, regretting it. Still, he perked up, firing back, “What about you?”
Su Han took out her nutrition capsules and displayed them like treasures.
Zhong Rui looked thoughtful. “Minor injuries, missing some daily necessities, or low on food? Pop a capsule. But if you’re in a real fight and it’s life or death, go for the Vitality Serum.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” As she spoke, Su Han handed over three capsules to her teammate.
“I’ll ask when I really need them,” Zhong Rui sighed, resigned to her stubbornness.
“No, just take them now,” Su Han insisted. She’d accepted his protective vest, after all, fair’s fair.
“Fine,” Zhong Rui said, too lazy to argue. He pocketed the capsules without protest.
Only then did Su Han flash a satisfied smile.
At that moment, the system chimed in, “Temperature back to normal. There are now seven survivors aboard the C23 cruise ship.”
In just a few short days, the headcount had plummeted from 1000 down to 7. A terrifying rate of loss. A handful had left the instance on their own, but most… simply hadn’t made it.
“Seven left…” Su Han muttered, mind already racing a mile a minute.
Zhong Rui mumbled, “Biggest question is, out of those seven, how many are with Moonfall Guild?”
Su Han froze in sync with him, locking eyes, they instantly understood what the other was worried about: if all five remaining players besides them were Moonfall members, they’d be seriously outnumbered.