Chapter 38

A translucent panel popped up in front of Su Han, displaying,
Name: Su Han (Real-name verified)
Level: 3 (Exp: 5/30)
Class: Nutritionist (Advanced level Talent, Exp: 5/30)
Satiety: 360/360
Cleanliness: 360/360
Stamina: 360/360
Then came the system voice: “Processing, please wait.”
About thirty seconds later, it went on, “You’ve earned 15 (survival days) * 5 = 75 points.”
“You have received a bonus! Please pick any two of the following rewards.”
“A. +5 Exp.”
“B. One med kit, containing: antidote pills x5, burn ointment x5.”
“C. +50 points.”
After some thought, Su Han chose options A and C. Exp was a must, and more than med kits, she desperately needed points to bulk up on supplies from the shop. Surviving this third round, she knew better than to trust her luck on scavenging after entering each instance.
Her experience became 10/30.
Once choices were made, the system did its usual: “You have advanced! Please report to round four tomorrow morning at 8 sharp.”
With that, the game logged her out and the VR pod smoothly opened up.
Su Han jumped to her feet, couldn’t wait another second before racing off to check the forums, dying to see how everyone else had fared.
The forum was already buzzing with a new hot thread: “Criminal gangs showing up in-game, is anyone doing anything about this?”
The OP spilled everything, he’d been on a server where people poisoned the water supply! So, on the very first day, after lunch at the cafeteria and a sip of mineral water, BAM, he was poisoned! Stamina plummeted to 52%; then he got mugged, and finished off for good measure!
The original poster was absolutely losing it: “I have a portable inventory with more supplies than I could ever use! I could’ve survived a hundred days just hiding in the mountains. But no, poisoned! That’s how I go out? What kind of crap game is this?! I demand the devs punish those criminals and resurrect the victims!”
While the OP fumed, the replies underneath were downright giddy.
1st reply: “If someone managed to poison you, that just means your guard was down. Rookie mistake, man.”
2nd reply: “This is a multiplayer survival game. Of course there’s both PVE and PVP! Getting targeted is normal, did you think you were playing solo or something?”
3rd reply: “What do you think the apocalypse is, anyway? Let’s be real, if a game instance like this happened for real, people would be way more dangerous than any disaster.”
4th reply: “They managed to poison the masses, that’s skill, not a crime! In chaotic times, people like this are the kings. They took out that many people at once? Impressive. If you’ve got the chops, why not dominate a whole server yourself?”
5th reply: “Survival games mean teamwork and outlasting the odds, sure, but becoming the villain and eliminating everyone else is another way to win. If you win through skill, deal with it!”
OP was about to blow a gasket, “Seriously?! So now being a psycho is justified??”
16th reply: “Some people think players who go wild in games become serial killers in real life. Can you seriously not tell reality from the virtual world? It’s a game! Taking people out is basically the norm.”
17th reply: “Suddenly reminded of my mom. Watch too many horror flicks, you’ll be violent; play hunting games, you’ll become a criminal; watch an 18+ movie, you’ll turn into a deviant. I’ve done all that a million times, and guess what? Still a model citizen.”
18th reply: “LOL, the person above just exposed themselves! All I want to say is, show receipts!”
Not until the 25th reply did anyone speak up for the OP: “C23 server, right? I’m a victim too! Day one was absolute chaos, day two the system said only 117 out of 1000 people were left, 108 players, 9 NPCs. Barely finished reading the message before, boom, I was knocked out too.”
26th reply: “My server was way more chill. Spent the first 10 days living off my stash, then pirates showed up and I noped out. Honestly, finishing all the days is tough, but lasting 10 days wasn’t so bad.”
27th reply: “Report! Ban! Clean up the game environment already!”
28th reply: “Aren’t these people way too dangerous? Is the developer going to say anything?”
29th reply: “Say what? It’s not like they’re cheating.”
30th reply: “Wait, isn’t this game real-name verified? I feel like the cops should at least have a chat with the guy who did the poisoning.”
31st reply: “Chat about what? Arrest them because they poisoned people in a game and knocked out other players? Get real. What law is that? At least wait until they actually do something in reality before you drag someone off.”
32nd reply: “You just can’t predict what C23 players will do! Someone literally used poison water to put out a fire. It vaporized instantly and took out a group of us. Luck of the draw, I guess, getting landed on C23.”
After that, the two camps started bickering, but neither could convince the other.
100th reply: The GM finally showed up, “After investigation, no C23 server players violated the rules. Please refrain from repeat reports.”
Translation: the developers were totally fine with cutthroat tactics.
Some people lost their tempers, cursing out the devs for corrupting the youth.
Others shrugged, “It’s a game. Sabotaging and competing is the whole point.”
120th reply: The GM again, “Survival games have an age limit: only citizens 16 and up can register. No children allowed.”
So, sixteen and up. Adults. Old enough to know right from wrong.
Still, players weren’t having it and kept arguing. The GM never posted again after that.
“Knew it, it works,” Su Han thought, quietly upping her own vigilance as she kept reading.
Suddenly, she noticed an old viral thread had resurfaced, a poster claiming to have discovered the ultimate secret to becoming a big shot, ready to take over the leaderboard.
Wondering what happened next, Su Han clicked in, a little curious.
But instead of bragging, the OP was crying about their fate: “I spent the last game hoarding gold and jewelry. Sold it all cheap in the next instance for a quick cash grab, was finally on the road to success! And then, plot twist: the third game is set on a cruise ship. No supplies, money is worthless. Of all the rotten luck!”
Su Han couldn’t help it. She snorted with laughter.
Underneath, the comments were pure chaos: “HAHAHAHA”, “That laugh sounds like a pig”, “I feel for OP, but I have to laugh.”
67th reply: “Is the OP an idiot? Why would you share your hard-earned secrets?”
The OP shot back, “Already knocked out of the third instance. My shot at being a big shot is gone forever!”
70th reply: “Thanks for the tip, OP, got a new trick up my sleeve now. Just wait, one day I’m taking your spot.”
After that, the OP fell silent, maybe too down to even reply.
“Guess since they’re already out, there’s no reason to keep secrets anymore?” Su Han sighed softly. Staying ahead of the game was getting harder.
Elsewhere, heated debate about survival essentials raged: “When it comes to resource scarcity, it’s tools > daily necessities > water > food. Honestly, if you’ve got the skills, just having tools and basic supplies is enough to get by.”
Someone snarked, “Must be a real big shot, huh…”
“Easy to talk, let’s see you survive in the game for real.”
“Water's easier to get than tools? Don’t buy it! If I had the supplies, water, and food, I’d outlast any survival pro.”
“Competing to see who lasts longer with unlimited supplies? Now that’s shameless…”
People were still wailing, crying over their own tragic mistakes. "I must've been a bit of an idiot. See, there were three job options at the start, so I assumed those were the only three classes in the whole game. Later, I ran into a player whose job I'd never heard of, and I actually asked them how they unlocked their hidden class... Ahhh, I'm mortified!"
1st comment: "Pffft, haha! There are tons of classes in-game! When you first log in, you’re just shown a random three to pick from."
2nd comment: "So it’s been pure luck from the start. I got stuck as a miner, one gold nugget weighs 20g and is worth 500 coins. Then someone else is a jeweler; their gems go for tens of thousands per piece. I literally cried. My poor heart can’t take this."
3rd comment: "The lucky players get three choices: premium, awesome, and ultra-rare. Us unlucky scrubs get: garbage, garbage, and, oh look, more garbage. Fine, guess it's time to play the game. (sobs in despair)"
4th comment: "I had to pick the best trash out of all the trash classes. My teammates were like, why not choose a better job? Bro... when did I ever get a choice? I’m so upset I can’t even talk about it."
Su Han scrolled through all the posts. Unsurprisingly, any real useful tips were pathetically scarce. Then again, who would put their hard-earned secrets on a public forum for free?
She lingered a bit longer, and finally someone dropped the latest official stats in the thread. Su Han perked up and checked them at once.
"15.7 million players entered the third round. 8.95 million advanced, meaning a 43% elimination rate. The good news is, way more people survived this time, the first ten days were just about staying alive; actually clearing the round was the hard part."
"Final results: 310 players cleared the instance. HOW? That can’t be real! How did ANYONE beat this round?!"
"I gotta admit, the gap between me and the top dogs is just... on another planet. Respect."
"310 clears." Getting the info she wanted, Su Han was about to shut the forum when a new friend request popped up.
She clicked, and found it was from Zhong Rui. The message was brief: "Team up."
Su Han paused for a moment, right, she’d nearly forgotten about that.
She accepted the request, and together they sent in a team application. Fifteen minutes later, their squad was official. From now on, as long as neither of them was eliminated, they’d spawn on the same server every round.
System notification: "You and your teammate will be placed on the same server, but your starting locations are random. That means you’ll need to find each other inside each instance."
Su Han: "…"
Zhong Rui: "…"
Wow. What a scam.