Chapter 45

Early the next morning, before his partner even woke, Zhong Rui slipped out of the cave. He made his way to the beach, only for his fishing partners to say, “That’s it, we’re done working with you.”
“What’s wrong?” Zhong Rui blinked, surprised.
The other guy scoffed and complained, “Finally found a new partner, time to swap you out! You always hog that fishing net, and every time we go out, you make a million demands. Won’t let the boat go out far, nag about turning back as soon as we catch twenty fish, I’m over it!”
“Now that I’ve got a replacement lined up, why don’t you go chill somewhere else?”
What went unsaid: the real grudge was the loot split. Even if it wasn’t 50-50, at least give me 60-40! But 70-30? Ha, who wants to work long-term with that?”
Zhong Rui, “……”
Go too far and what if bad weather rolls in and you can’t make it back? Controlling a boat isn’t as easy as it sounds, you know.
And heading home after twenty fish? There’s only so much space, wait too long and you’ll capsize!
Long story short, if someone’s already annoyed, everything you do ticks them off.
Zhong Rui just nodded. “Fine. Whatever. We’re done.”
He wasn’t worried about starving, he could just switch up his strategy. With that, he walked away.
At exactly 9am, the system’s robotic voice boomed: “Day 3 of the game. Survivors remaining: 76.”
The noise woke Su Han.
Her daily alarm clock isn’t aspirations or dreams, it’s the system’s weird robot voice.
She rubbed her eyes and slowly came to. A glance around cautioned her, nothing unusual in sight, so her innate skill hadn’t triggered.
She didn’t dwell on it. After finishing her roasted sweet potato for breakfast, she slung on her backpack, grabbed her trowel, and headed out.
Pitfall traps could be as deep as you wanted, but dig them too deep and you’d tire yourself out; too shallow and things just wriggle away.
After some thought, Su Han settled on forty centimeters. Deep enough that small prey wouldn’t escape, shallow enough that it wouldn’t break her back to dig.
With her plan set, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
Whenever she got hungry, she’d catch and roast a critter. When out of water, she hiked to refill her canteens. Time flew, and already most of Day 3 had slipped by.
Meanwhile,
Zhong Rui had just brought down a full-grown sika deer and was slumped against a tree, catching his breath.
There were only 100 players on the D16 server, and not many of them had boats. Worse, he had no clue who even did.
With the risk of robberies and other players snatching tools, those who put out to sea were always hyper-cautious, choosing deserted coves and odd hours so run-ins were almost impossible.
So, Zhong Rui stuffed his fishing net back in his bag and switched to hunting with a knife instead. Luckily, his haul had been decent.
He eyed the huge sika deer on the ground, thinking, How the hell am I supposed to get this back? No handcart, no tricycle, not even a bike, not like I can carry it on my back…
Right then, two male players emerged from the brush, eyes gleaming with greed. “Heh, an entire sika deer!”
Zhong Rui sized them up, his gaze chilling, though his face stayed calm. “Wanna help? If you carry this deer back to camp, I’ll give you two legs as payment.”
Deer leg, practically legendary delicacy. Tender as could be, and not a bad deal for them at all.
One guy curled his lips in a mocking smile. “Why settle for two legs when I could take the whole deer?”
Zhong Rui sighed helplessly. “Isn’t living good enough? Why are there always people lining up to get themselves killed?”
“Fake it till you make it, huh?” scoffed the other guy. “Your stamina’s at 67%. You think you can handle a two-on-one?”
“It’s not a guess,” Zhong Rui smiled, sly and unreadable, and drew a finger across his throat in a clear, unmistakable warning, “I absolutely can.”
“Total crap!” The guy didn’t buy it for a second and charged straight at him with the knife.
But before he could take two steps, someone dropped down from the tree and slammed both of them on the back of the head with a wooden stick, no hesitation at all!
It was Lin Xinghai!
Zhong Rui shrugged, “That throat-slitting move? Wasn’t meant for your eyes.”
He’d already spotted Lin Xinghai perched on the branch, nimble as a monkey. The threatening gesture was an actual signal, cuing Lin Xinghai to attack from behind so they could pincer them together.
“Uh…” The two would-be deer thieves swallowed hard, suddenly in perfect sync. Two against one, they’d been all bravado. But now it was fair odds, and suddenly neither felt so confident.
“Told you: you two have a death wish.” Zhong Rui got up, slow and unhurried, and jumped right in. Each punch landed loud and solid, beating them both halfway to oblivion.
Don’t be fooled by that 67% stamina, his total’s 360, so he still had 240 left.
Most players make it through ten days in an instance, get out at level 2, and never even break 200 max stamina. Zhong Rui still topped them easily.
The would-be vultures wound up with nothing but bruises, knocked out and eliminated before they could touch the prize.
Zhong Rui flopped back down, lazy as ever. “Alright, we’re even.”
He’d saved Lin Xinghai once, now Lin Xinghai had his back, call it a tie.
Lin Xinghai gave him a long, searching look, then turned and left in silence. The whole time, he never so much as glanced at the fallen deer on the ground.
Zhong Rui had no clue if the guy really took anything to heart. With a shake of his head, he leaned back to catch a quick rest.
A while later, he gathered some twigs and vines, whipped up a simple frame, heaved the deer onto it, and dragged it back to the cave.
Su Han was taking a breather in the cave when Zhong Rui, stamina down to 50%, huffed and puffed his way in dragging a whole deer behind him. She just stared, speechless.
“That’s huge. You seriously think you can finish it?” she muttered under her breath.
Zhong Rui answered like some weathered veteran, “I’ll figure something out.”
Some people hunt a deer, but because the meat spoils easily, they’ll only carry off a few legs and leave the rest behind. That’s a rookie move Zhong Rui would never pull.
Su Han jumped in to help without being asked.
Every part of a sika deer is valuable, the antlers, bones, tail, blood, tendons, all prized ingredients.
Inside the instance, though, only two really mattered: the blood and the meat. The blood could be drunk, the meat would fill their stomachs.
Zhong Rui hadn’t had water for ages; his mouth was bone dry. He just made a cut in the deer's side and gulped down the hot blood.
Amazingly, not long after, his stamina popped back up to 62%, so deer blood actually restored stamina!
Su Han got to work skinning and butchering the deer, sorting every piece into neat piles, and stared at the literal mountain of venison. She fell silent, feeling an unprecedented pressure.
No way, no how, could any of this go to waste.
“The cave's cool enough for now,” Zhong Rui muttered, eyes closing. “Deer’ll keep a day or two. We’ll decide what to do tomorrow.” And with that he started resting.
“Should I help you use some up?” Su Han offered. Sure, they’d agreed to solo play, but a whole deer was honestly a bit much. If she didn't help, loads would spoil, and that was an absolute no-go for her.
“Whatever you want,” Zhong Rui replied, not bothered at all.
Su Han gathered up leaves, packed the antlers, tail, bones, and other parts into a bamboo basket. The tendons gave her pause, but eventually she chose to stash them in a willow hamper just in case.
Next, she chunked up fifteen pieces of venison, each about a pound, roasted them all, stuffed two into her mouth on the spot, set aside three for when her friends woke up, and dumped the remaining ten in her basket.
Finally, she slipped on her backpack, grabbed the basket, and headed to camp.
Night was falling. Most players, berry-pickers, hunters, fishers, woodcutters, were finally wrapping things up and returning. The camp buzzed with noise and laughter. Makeshift stalls sprang up everywhere, people hawking their finds.
“Sweet, fresh spring water! Trade for food!”
“Custom-made spear! First choice for hunting! Food, water, medicine, gear, will swap for anything! Get it while it lasts!”
“Sweet potatoes, delicious sweet potatoes! Roast ’em, eat ’em, easy as that!”
Su Han found herself a quiet corner, peeled open the leaves wrapping her venison, and instantly, a mouthwatering aroma swept out across the camp.
Every player froze where they stood and looked over, noses twitching, tracking the irresistible scent.
Su Han announced, every word crisp, “Cooked venison. Trading for rare supplies. Limited stock, first come, first served.”
An Rongyue was nothing short of awestruck. Bosses really were on a different level, every move they made was a scene-stealer.
First in line was, unexpectedly, Lin Xinghai himself. He offered up three rabbit pelts for Su Han. “He’s been looking for animal hides. Here.”
Su Han immediately understood, Lin Xinghai’s ‘he’ was obviously Zhong Rui. She took the pelts, handed him back two chunks of venison, and even tossed in the antlers for good measure.
“No need,” Lin Xinghai tried to refuse.
But Su Han was determined. She shoved the venison at him, tone brooking no argument. “Take it!”
There were huge piles of deer meat in the cave already, letting it sit around would be a crime. If she liked the look of someone, she was handing out extras, no questions asked.
Spoiled for resources? She’d earned the right to be picky!
In the end, Lin Xinghai accepted. He shuffled off to a corner, unwrapped the meat, took a bite of the roast, and his eyes went wide as saucers. Shock and delight flashed across his face. It was, hands down, the best thing he’d tasted since landing in this island instance.
Even Lin Xinghai, who usually couldn’t care less about food, couldn’t hold back, let alone the others who’d been tortured for days by that hellish “experimental” cooking. Anyone with half a brain rushed to Su Han, eager, desperate, even, to trade for her roast venison.
But An Rongyue was faster than anyone, quick hands, sharp eyes, and damn good reflexes. She plunked down ten bamboo tubes like a boss. “Drinking water and coarse salt in here. I want all the remaining venison!”
Su Han checked each tube. One held coarse salt, the real treasure here, and the other nine were fresh water. The water was whatever, but a full tube of salt? That could turn a mountain of venison into enough provisions to last a week!
She immediately agreed, giving An Rongyue every last scrap and sliver in the basket.
The crowd let out a collective wail of despair.
But before Su Han could even rise, An Rongyue plopped herself down in Su Han’s spot and called out, “Still want venison? Line up right here!”
The truth was, in a world where money was useless, bartering was a pain. Player A (everyone) wanted Player B’s (Su Han’s) goods, Su Han only wanted Player C’s (An Rongyue’s) stuff, but C was eyeing items from A. Round and round it went.
If even one person was willing to play middleman, suddenly everyone could get what they wanted. An Rongyue just naturally stepped into that role.