Chapter 5

Su Han just started heading for a quieter corner when a drunken man suddenly staggered into her, bumping her hard.
The drunk flopped to the ground, eyes bleary and utterly confused, as if he had no idea what had just happened.
But Su Han’s face immediately darkened. “Cut the act. Hand over what you stole.”
Her stuff in the portable space was untouched, but her backpack felt noticeably lighter. Clearly, the guy in front of her was up to something.
The drunk acted like he hadn’t heard her, turning up the drunken theatrics and howling nonsense.
“Want me to toss you in the river? That might sober you up.” Su Han’s voice was pure chill.
The drunk: “…”
Damn! She looked like a gentle girl, but she talked like a crime boss.
His eyes cleared as he gave in. “How’d you notice?”
“My bag got a lot lighter. You must’ve grabbed the steel pellets,” Su Han said coolly. “If you’d taken something else, maybe I wouldn’t have noticed.”
The drunk looked utterly defeated. Just his luck! Grumbling, he fished a half-used pouch of steel pellets out of his jacket and tossed it back to her. “Here.”
Su Han caught it, eyeing him curiously. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll beat you up?”
This guy had been caught stealing, but didn’t seem bothered in the least.
The drunk snorted lightly, “Fighting’s a waste of energy, isn’t it? Nobody’s got enough to eat these days, we should save our strength.” He was a bottom-feeder anyway. The desperate don’t fear the desperate.
Su Han weighed the pouch and suddenly asked, “Player?” The way he’d swiped it seemed too slick for a regular thief, had to be a talent skill.
The drunk froze mid-motion, then looked up, asking seriously, “Got anything to drink?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Su Han asked, puzzled.
“If you’ve got a drink for me, I’ll admit I’m a player and chat with you. If not, you can go.” The drunk sounded lazy, almost bored.
Huh. That was as good as admitting it, no drink, no cooperation.
After a moment’s thought, Su Han pulled out a bottle of milk and dangled it in front of him. “Answer well, and it’s yours.”
The drunk’s eyes lit up as if he’d just won the lottery. “Didn’t realize you were living so large!” Pulling out milk like it was nothing, clearly she wasn’t worried about food or drink.
“Shut up.” Worried some NPC was lurking nearby, Su Han lowered her voice, firing off her words in a low, rapid rush. “Let’s find somewhere quiet to talk, follow me.”
The drunk looked unimpressed, but his hunger for milk was stronger than his pride. Unable to help himself, he trailed after her.
A few twists and turns later, after finally shaking off the pursuers, Su Han had time to size him up. He reeked of booze, way too authentic to be faked. His hair was a mess, cheeks flushed, eyelids puffy, he looked thoroughly miserable. “All right, spill. What do you know?”
The drunk held out his hand. “Pay first.”
Su Han tossed the milk his way, then immediately pulled out another bottle, saying lightly, “Give me good answers, and this one’s yours too.”
The drunk’s cheeks went even redder, this was clearly the highlight of his week. He immediately started spilling everything he knew. “Name’s Wei Minzhe. Profession: thief. As long as I touch someone, there’s a thirty percent chance I’ll snatch something.”
“You worried about the locals overhearing us? Don’t bother. I’ve tested it, if I say ‘player,’ the system automatically censors it. Even if we shouted about the game right in front of an NPC, all they’d hear is random nonsense from crazies.”
“And about my innate skill, it’s all touch-based theft. Sounds super sketchy, right? But the NPCs? Don’t bat an eye if you steal from them. They act like there’s nothing odd about suddenly missing stuff. I figure the system must be smoothing things over behind the scenes, making sure it all makes sense in their world.”
So that’s how it works. Su Han looked thoughtful, then shot the drunk a sidelong glance, incredulous. “How are you doing this badly?”
Even if you spent all your points converting them to food and supplies, surely you wouldn’t end up in this sorry a state.
“Don’t get me started.” Wei Minzhe launched into a tirade. “The game system absolutely screwed me!”
“How d’you mean?”
“After reading the character stats, you’d think all you need to do is stockpile food and supplies to survive, right?”
“Like, since all food raises your satiety and daily necessities boost cleanliness, doesn’t it seem like any type will do?”
"There's not much use for bottled water in the game. Wouldn't it be better to trade it for other supplies?"
Wei Minzhe let out a mirthless chuckle, then deadpanned, "If you're thinking like that, you're about to get swindled."
Su Han kept her cool. "Oh? How so?"
"Bottled water does barely nudge your satiety meter, that's true. But if you drink less than 500ml a day, you'll start showing dehydration symptoms by the next day, your stamina keeps dropping. But I figured out it doesn't have to be bottled water specifically. Soda, milk, even alcohol can count. Technically, as long as your daily water intake hits 500ml, you're safe."
"Sure, washcloths and toothbrushes will boost cleanliness, but if you go seventy-two hours without using soap or body wash, your odds of getting 'infected' shoot way up."
"Same idea with chocolate or candy, they’ll fill your satiety bar. But in any seventy-two hour window, you have to eat a staple food too, rice, noodles, whatever. I haven’t tested what penalty you get if you don’t, but someone I know paid the price."
Wei Minzhe laid it all out, a heavy weariness hanging in his words. Every tip came with a price, he’d paid it, more than once.
Su Han couldn’t really relate. Yet for some reason, she suddenly remembered that mega value gift pack.
It had everything, soap, bottled water (water resource), meat floss cream bun (staple), medical bandages (health supplies), all essentials. Looking back, the system had let the hints slip early on.
Her portable storage could only hold ten items, so she’d copied the gift pack setup out of caution. To think she’d accidentally played it exactly right.
"How do you not know any of this?" Wei Minzhe eyed her suspiciously. "You’ve been in the game seven days. You seriously never picked up a single debuff?"
Su Han shook her head, then explained, "I work at a noodle shop, so I always eat noodles with broth. I'm used to buying soap, too."
Wei Minzhe was speechless. Noodles, staple food; soup, water resource; soap, cleanliness handled. No wonder she’d never suffered, she was living on easy mode while everyone else struggled to survive!
Su Han asked back, "Didn’t you buy the portable storage and mega value pack?"
Wei Minzhe looked a little embarrassed. "I swapped all my points for game currency. Got a whopping ten thousand Bei out of it. But once the game started, I realized that buying a ton of stuff doesn’t help if you’ve got no way to carry it. And I stockpiled all the wrong things..."
"Right now, my only water intake comes from booze. I can’t even stand drinking, but here we are. And to top it off, drink enough and you get 'drunk' or even 'alcohol poisoning' debuffs."
"And of course, the supermarket shelves get cleaned out fast. These days, it’s almost impossible to buy bottled water or any kind of drinks."
Su Han blinked. "It never occurred to you to just boil water?"
Wei Minzhe froze.
Su Han went on, "I stockpiled water because I was worried about the power and water going out, doing some prep work, just in case. But why not just...boil some tap water? Fill up, boil it, drink. That’s how I make noodle soup."
That’s literally how noodle soup is made.
Wei Minzhe looked down at himself, suddenly overwhelmed with regret. He’d had money, so he threw it around buying anything he could, never stopping to consider just doing things himself...
Who knew that drinking too much actually drains your stamina faster and burns through your cleanliness too!
All at once, Wei Minzhe’s energy drained away. He suddenly felt like a total idiot, a guy who fumbled every card in a winning hand.
"Anything else up your sleeve?" Su Han casually changed the topic, pressing for more. She was already more than happy with his info, but couldn’t resist trying to squeeze out just a little more.
Wei Minzhe slumped, sighing. "With the unemployment crisis, lots of people can’t afford food, so theft and robbery are starting to pop up. It hasn't gotten violent, yet, but it probably will."
"People are trading off their valuables for scraps to eat. But once that’s all gone...to survive, there’s nothing people won’t do."
"The supermarket restocks every morning at six, but folks are lining up by four or five. Most shelves are wiped clean by 7 a.m."
"As far as I know, families with nothing left have started picking through trash for wilted veggies at the market. Some are trying to fish or hunt birds, just to get by."
"I don’t know much else."
"Thanks," Su Han said, tossing him her carton of milk before strolling off like a boss.
Wei Minzhe couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. Now that he knew you could just boil water, he realized the milk was nice and all, but irrelevant.
One-thirty p.m., in Four Seasons Park, a handful of people were gathered by the lake, fishing.
Suddenly, one man’s face lit up. "Got one! Fish on!" He reeled in as fast as he could.
Sure enough, he hauled up a fat, wriggling fish.
Face splitting with joy, he turned to his elderly companion. "Hey, Old He, how many have you caught today?"
The two sat side-by-side. He already knew full well Old He’s haul was a solid zero.
Old He tried to save face, grumbling, "Shut it, Old Ding! You yelling like that scared all the fish away!"
Old Ding just made a face. "Don't go blaming me when you’re the one who can’t catch anything."
Old He was fuming now.
Old Ding kept going. "Seriously though, if you can’t fish, why do you need two poles? Why not swap one to someone who actually needs it?"
"I like it this way!" Old He stubbornly stuck out his chin, though he felt a little guilty. It had been three days, everyone else had hauled in at least something. But him? Nothing. Zilch.
He was almost out of rice at home. If he didn't figure something out soon, his family would be left hungry. He didn’t really care about himself, old or not, what’s a few days one way or the other? But his granddaughter...she was just a child.
That thought made Old He sink deeper into worry.
Just then, a clear, pleasant female voice piped up, "Excuse me, whose fishing rod is this? Is anyone using it?"
"Not for sale!" Old He snapped irritably.
"Then can I rent it?" The woman persisted.
“Rent it?” Old He raised his head in surprise and found a short-haired girl talking to him, she looked sharp and self-assured.
It was Su Han.
“How do you want to rent it?” Old He relaxed, honestly just lacking any faith in his own fishing skills.
“Let me borrow your fishing rod for four hours. Whatever fish I catch, we split fifty-fifty.” Su Han flashed a confident grin.
Old He almost asked what if you catch nothing, but the words got stuck in his throat. The rod had sat beside him all day without a single bite, couldn’t get worse anyway…
“Alright then, have a seat and fish with me.” Old He figured, really, what was there to lose?