Chapter 47

Glancing around, there was no bread, no milk. Su Han felt a twinge of regret, but she didn’t get discouraged. She stood up, grabbed the venison, and started to grill it.
Bit by bit, the delicious scent of roasting meat filled the air.
“Time to eat.” Su Han called out to her partner.
Zhong Rui shot her an unreadable look, eyes dark. First she says solo play, now she’s inviting him to a meal, how exactly is he supposed to keep up?
Su Han noticed nothing. She took a big, savage bite of the barbecue, feeling completely satisfied. With a soft sigh, she mused, “If we hadn’t stocked up enough supplies, having to stumble out hunting in the rain… that’d be a disaster.”
Zhong Rui replied casually, “On rainy days, the animals barely come out. Even if you go hunting, good luck catching enough food.”
“Too much food isn’t all sunshine either. We’re stuck figuring out how to consume or preserve all this venison.” Su Han grumbled with feeling.
Zhong Rui fell silent.
The two exchanged a look, then sighed in synchronized resignation.
In the newly built wooden shelter, Lei Ming was crouched in a corner, sheltering from the rain. His cheeks were flushed, his forehead burning hot, definitely not normal.
Definitely a fever… Lei Ming felt uneasy, but kept his face calm. After hearing that getting soaked could cause a fever, his teammates had all beaten their chests and declared, “Never abandon, never give up.” No matter what, they’d support each other and tough it out together.
Soon after, a teammate came back with one sad little sparrow and three measly bird eggs. The haul was embarrassingly light.
Lei Ming took a deep breath, steadying himself. “I’ve got a fever.” In his opinion, there was no need to hide it from the team. Only by being honest about everyone’s condition could they come up with the best plan to survive the upcoming challenges.
Who could’ve guessed,
Old Li scowled, his voice tinged with unmistakable disgust: “We’re already struggling. If we have a sick teammate dragging us down, we’re done for.”
The kicker? Out of everyone, Old Li had always been the most afraid of being abandoned. He’d asked over and over if the team would ditch him if he got sick. Every single time, Lei Ming had sworn up and down, “We’d never do that.” But now, when the moment actually arrived, Old Li was the first to throw someone under the bus.
Old Zhang tried to play it cool and explained, “We’re running out of food and water. If we try to act all loyal and warm-hearted, all three of us are just going to die together. This is just a game anyway…” He was hoping Lei Ming would leave of his own accord.
Lei Ming covered his face with his right hand, almost laughing out loud through the tears. “Just a game,” huh? These so-called friends couldn’t even stomach hardship together. What else could he count on? To hell with all that “never abandon, never give up” crap! Some people talk a big game, but when it matters, you can’t rely on them at all!
He drew a deep breath, grabbed his machete, and before anyone could react, hacked down the support posts of the wooden shelter.
The shelter crashed down with a roar, Old Zhang and Old Li yelling in shock as it fell.
Grinning with satisfaction, Lei Ming said, “I built this shelter by myself, and caught a cold doing it. If we’re splitting up now, why would I leave it behind? When disaster hits, everyone’s on their own. Figure it out yourselves.”
No sooner did he finish speaking than he drew the machete across his neck, knocking himself out of the game.
“What the hell! What the hell! What the hell!” Old Li couldn’t stop cursing, before sneezing loudly.
Old Zhang snapped, “Move! Find some place to take cover!”
The two of them hurried off.
But finding shelter was near impossible. They wandered through the rain for ages, never finding a spot to stay dry. And just like that, both of them caught the “Fever” debuff in succession.
Bei Bei held a lotus leaf over her head as an umbrella, scooped up a handful of stream water to drink, and splashed her face for good measure. These were make-or-break days, she had to keep calm and clearheaded.
Rainy days meant hunting was near impossible. Some players, desperate, started targeting other players, hunting them for their backpacks instead.
Just now, she’d watched someone get mugged for their backpack, left with nothing, collapsed on the ground. Lucky for Bei Bei, her hiding spot was solid, or that would’ve been her!
“Ugh.” Bei Bei sighed, completely baffled. It was only the fifth day and this game had already gone off the rails?
She’d started out with two teammates. One got sick and, without medicine, was eliminated. Another left to hunt and never came back, who knew which jerk ambushed him?
“Five days left…” Bei Bei looked lost as she spoke. She honestly had no idea how she was supposed to survive to the end.
“Here, clean drinking water.” An Rongyue handed over two bamboo canteens, face expressionless.
The man in front of her, skinny, sharp-faced, perked up instantly, then hesitated as he produced three massive sweet potatoes. “Skill reward item. Just got them today, super fresh!”
“Thanks.” An Rongyue replied coolly, swiftly stuffing the potatoes into her backpack and looking ready to bolt.
The man tried again, “A girl wandering around alone, it’s way too dangerous. How about you join our team? We’ll keep you safe!”
“No need.” An Rongyue cut him off, rejection blunt as a slap.
“Wait, ” The man started to say more, but An Rongyue was already striding away.
When she was sure she’d left his line of sight, she finally slowed down and let out a quiet exhale. Then she muttered under her breath, “Dangerous alone? Please. I ditched the temp team because things were getting iffy, and that’s the only reason I’m still alive. Otherwise, I’d be toast by now. ‘Keep me safe?’ Go feed that line to someone who’d believe it.”
Under the shelter of a huge, leafy tree, two men, one plump, one skinny, were waiting out the rain, passing the time with idle chat.
Fatty was the first to bring it up. “Remember that guy in camp, the one who 1v3’d those guys?”
Skinny was busy brushing raindrops off his clothes, but stopped at that. “You mean the one who somehow never runs out of fish, no matter how many he trades?”
“That’s the one!” Fatty replied, his tone full of certainty. “I’ve been watching him. Since day one, he’s never actually stayed in the camp.”
“So what?” Skinny didn’t care. “If I had a never-ending supply of fish, I’d keep my distance too, people are just waiting to rob you. Not living in camp is smart.”
Fatty pressed on, “But he comes to camp all the time to trade! If you ask me, he must have found somewhere else to live, and it can’t be far from camp since he goes back and forth so much. I tried following him. Lost him, though.”
“A place to live?” Skinny froze, then couldn’t help the greed lighting up his eyes. “Think of all the supplies he must have stashed! Enough for the two of us to clear this game, right?”
But reality hit quickly. He wiped the look off his face. “Just the two of us? That’s basically walking into a death sentence. Don’t forget, he’s got a female teammate, and both of them are absolute monsters.”
Fatty only grinned, a little too sly. “But what if we find a few more people?”
“You mean…” Skinny couldn’t help perking up.
“Gather a crew, twenty people, take them both on like a boss fight!” Fatty said, dropping the bomb. “Whoever helps out gets a share. We wipe out the boss, split the loot, everyone clears day ten together. He can 1v3, maybe even 1v10, but both of them at once? No way!”
“Actually, that might work.” Ideas were already spinning in Skinny’s head as he started working out the details. Then he hesitated, “But do you even know where his base is?”
Fatty shrugged it off. “Just start from camp and search outward, leave no stone unturned. We’ll find it.”
The two were deep in scheming, when suddenly, a lazy male voice floated down from above. “Don’t even think about touching those two. Drop it now.”
Both guys, huddling out of the rain, froze and looked up. When had someone climbed up there? A teenager was perched on a tree branch overhead, looking as comfortable as if he owned the place.
So… their whole plot had been overheard? Fatty’s face went sour.
Skinny, however, called out, “Hey man, you’d never handle those two alone. Don’t kid yourself.” He thought the newcomer considered the duo his own prey and was warning everyone off.
Silence. The kind that makes your hair stand on end.
After a long moment, the teenager finally spoke, slow and calm. “You really starting something here?”
“Of course! If not, we’ll starve!” Fatty answered, completely justified.
The teenager let out a soft sigh, his voice barely above a whisper. “Guess I’ll have to knock you both out first, then.” And with that, he leapt from the tree.
“Aah!”
“Wait!”
Their screams echoed through the trees.
A moment later, one tall and one thin figure both dissolved into white light. Lin Xinghai calmly wiped his dagger clean and walked away, unhurried.
Peace returned, as if nothing had happened.
The next morning, the system’s mechanical chime rang out right on schedule: “Day six. Thirty-eight survivors remaining.”
The numbers had thinned again.
But Su Han was too distracted to care, her mind was stuck on “What am I supposed to do with all this venison before it rots?”
An adult sika deer weighs around 150 pounds; after cleaning, that’s still more than a hundred pounds of meat. She’d traded as much as possible, salted as much as she could, and eaten herself half-sick, but she was running out of extra hands and coarse salt.
And it just had to be raining today. An Rongyue was nowhere to be found, so even if she wanted to trade, she couldn’t chase anyone down.
“We’ve done what we can. Just toss whatever we can’t eat,” Zhong Rui sighed. “No need to get ourselves sick over it.”
Su Han knew he was right, but her heart ached; not even finding a whole bottle of milk or a slab of black bread could cheer her up.
It took her forever to steel herself. When she finally spoke, she forced her voice flat and uncaring. “Fine. Just toss it. Throw it out!”
Zhong Rui had just started to get up, but she waved him off. “I’ll do it. I’ll grab some maple sap on my way, shouldn’t be long.”
Their water supply was almost gone, after all.
Zhong Rui nodded. “I’ll hold things down here.”
“Okay.”
Once they’d agreed, the two split up.
Decision made, Su Han didn’t hesitate, she dumped the leftover venison, making sure to leave it where other players would spot it.
Who ended up picking the meat up, other players, wild animals, she didn’t care. Not her problem anymore.
No sooner had Su Han left than An Rongyue strolled by. Seeing all that venison lying around, she was left speechless. Ordinary players were practically starving, while the big shots had so much game they couldn’t finish it before it spoiled. Inequality, much?
An Rongyue sighed dramatically. Then she moved in, carefully picked out two decent cuts, and walked off in style. The perks of sharing a dungeon with a big shot, if you don’t take it, you’re just being stupid. Of course, she only took what she could eat in a day; any more and it’d just go to waste.
Meanwhile, Su Han collected maple sap, filling every single bamboo tube before heading back to the cave. On her way, she checked her traps and brought back every last bit of game.
On Day Seven, the system’s announcement finally changed. “Clouds have lifted, the sky is clear, and temperatures are rising fast.”
“Looks like the next challenge is the heat. We’ll need a lot of clean drinking water,” Zhong Rui said as he knocked back some maple sap, totally chill.
Su Han, though, couldn’t stop daydreaming about the giant ice blocks stashed in her personal inventory.