Chapter 52

After a moment’s thought, Su Han copied her neighbor’s trick and stuck a sign up in front of her door: "Radioactive Material Inside, Keep Away."
Then she locked up tight and took a casual walk around.
To her surprise, people had even turned green belts and flowerbeds into mini-fields, planting dandelions and hazelnuts everywhere.
Dandelions, once de-rooted and cleaned, were basically wild greens. Hazelnuts, of course, were high-calorie, nutrient-packed nuts. Both survival gold.
Su Han stood in front of the flowerbeds, face blank, staring for a long time. Finally, with a helpless sigh, she moved on, time to raid her food stash again. Her backpack was practically bursting! She’d have to eat some of it just to make space for more loot.
After scoping out the whole area and confirming it was still safe, Su Han headed back to her room.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she used a bar of soap to clean up, then considered her next problem: what to eat first for maximum bag space efficiency?
Just then, Yu Baowen burst in, grinning from ear to ear. “Guess what? I dug up a load of potatoes! We can share them for dinner.”
Su Han: “……”
Girl, why are you such a star at this?
She couldn’t exactly blurt out, “No thanks, I’m low-key drowning in snacks right now.” So she smiled and forced herself to say, “Awesome, dinner’s sorted!” even though it was a total fib.
Yu Baowen made a solemn promise: “Don’t worry! I’ll hunt down as much food as possible so both of us can clear the round, no problem.”
Another person wanting to “support” her… Su Han felt inexplicably conflicted. No way could she reveal her insane stockpile. There’s a saying: “To hold treasure is to invite trouble.” And another one: “People hate the rich.”
So she cranked her acting skill to max, put on a cheerful face, and said, “Let me start the fire!”
“I’ll help with the wood,” Yu Baowen chimed in, piling twigs.
Su Han whipped out her lighter and sparked the fire. Soon, the flames were crackling high.
Potatoes were survival MVPs. Roast them, sprinkle a little salt, and they turned into pure comfort food.
Once they were done, Su Han split the batch evenly with Yu Baowen.
“What’s up with the sign by the door?” Yu Baowen asked as she waited for her potatoes to cool. “I almost didn’t dare go in when I saw it.”
“Heart pounding, right?” Su Han grinned. “That’s exactly the point. Stick a scary warning out front, everyone else will keep their distance. Instant home security.”
Yu Baowen was honestly impressed. Dodging danger with tricks like that? Genius.
“Did you run into anything risky outside?” Su Han wanted to know.
Yu Baowen replied calmly, “I ran into a few groups chasing people or looting, but I dodged them all. Took a big detour back, pretty sure no one tailed me.”
“Any backup hideouts?” Su Han pressed.
Yu Baowen shook her head, looking glum. “There are people everywhere, running or searching through the buildings. Even if I find a backup hideout now, by the time we actually need it, it might not even be safe anymore. So I came back.”
Su Han reassured her, “Then let’s just stay flexible and adapt.”
The two of them ate and chatted as the sky darkened outside.
Night fell. With fire blazing, they would’ve been sitting ducks. So Su Han quietly put out the fire, locked up, and leaned against the wall to rest.
Yu Baowen picked a random corner and shut her eyes for a nap.
The night passed uneventfully.
At dawn, they split the leftover potatoes and Yu Baowen got ready for another food run.
Su Han, worried, decided to tag along.
Everything went smoothly… until they reached the destination and were about to start digging, when an old man sprinted over, looking utterly heartbroken as he yelled, “Those are my potatoes! Mine! How can you just steal them?!”
He looked ready to have a meltdown, completely genuine pain twisting his face. But he kept his voice low, not wanting anyone else to overhear, so his furious rant came out in a hiss.
Yu Baowen: “……”
Su Han: “……”
Honestly, potatoes planted in a roadside flowerbed, who could really say who they belonged to? But this was a survival game. Sometimes, it just wasn’t possible to play nice.
But since it was an old man facing them, Su Han felt guilty. She had food for days, but he depended on these to survive. That guilt just got sharper.
“We honestly didn’t know someone owned these… Is there anything you’d like? Let’s swap, fair and square,” Su Han said, forcing patience into her voice.
The old man was still furious. “Trade? What could you have to trade?” Two broke kids, stealing his potatoes? What a joke!
“Anything, you tell us. At least you won’t lose out,” Yu Baowen coaxed. She’d thought it was just a system resource point, who’d have guessed it actually belonged to an NPC? She felt pretty conflicted herself.
The old man muttered and grumbled to himself for a while. Finally, he grumbled, “Food, water, fuel, lighters, household stuff, what have you got?”
Su Han was about to reach into her pack for some soap, but Yu Baowen acted first, grabbing a random handful of lighters and holding them out. “Will these do?”
The old man’s eyes nearly fell out of his head.
“Not enough?” Yu Baowen asked, ready to toss in more if needed.
But the old man, desperate not to appear greedy, nodded so fast it looked like he’d snap his neck. “Enough, enough! Seriously, take all the potatoes you want!”
He stuffed the seven or eight lighters into his pockets and dashed off even faster than he’d arrived, suddenly nimble as a teenager.
Yu Baowen looked baffled. “Why is a lighter worth more than food? What, do they think it’s encrusted with diamonds or something?”
Having survived the deserted island instance, Su Han caught on quickly. “No matter how much food you have, it’s useless if you can’t cook it. Sure, rubbing sticks together to make fire sounds easy, but in practice? Not so much. And they can’t just burn wood nonstop to keep a spark alive, that would chew through all their fuel. When you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense that lighters are top currency here.”
“Lighters are worth that much?” Yu Baowen still looked dazed. She'd always assumed her innate skill was trash. Who’d have thought in the right situation, it’s a game changer?
She was about to mention that she had maybe a hundred lighters stashed away in her portable inventory, normally just gathering dust, but as she opened her mouth, she thought better of it and swallowed the words. Flashing your fortune was just asking for trouble. Not that she didn’t trust Su Han, but there was no need to tempt fate, or people.
Su Han, however, suddenly recalled something else. “So that’s why there were two lighters in the white supply crate. In this instance, lighters must be a crucial, rare resource.”
“Well, that’s great news,” Yu Baowen tried to keep her tone breezy. “Should make clearing this instance a breeze.”
“Yeah. Let’s dig up the potatoes, the owner said we could take them, after all.” Su Han smoothly changed the subject.
The old man looked like he’d just scored an amazing bargain, so the two didn’t stand on ceremony. With teamwork, they dug up a good haul of potatoes to take back.
On the way back, out of the blue, the system’s robotic voice chimed in: “Day 2 of the game. White supply crates currently: 42/50.”
As soon as the announcement ended, Su Han’s backpack suddenly got a lot heavier.
Su Han pressed her lips together. Judging from the extra weight, it was probably another set of black bread and chocolate cake. Too much stash, not enough time to eat it all. What now?
Meanwhile, Yu Baowen was still lost in her own thoughts and didn’t notice her teammate’s strange expression.
Back in their temporary shelter, after storing the potatoes, Yu Baowen took a deep, solemn breath. “So! Food’s handled for now, but drinking water is still a nightmare. White supply crates are nearly impossible to find, counting on bottled water to survive is a fantasy.”
“So what’s the plan?” Su Han countered.
Yu Baowen answered, word by word: “We dig our own shallow well. DIY water supply.”
Without waiting for comment, she jumped right into her explanation. “From what I know, there’s a super simple kind of shallow well, perfect for a situation like this. The backyard is filled with weeds, isn’t it? I’m willing to bet there’s groundwater not far below.”
“If we had a drill, we’d go down, what, six or seven meters? And if we’re lucky and don’t hit any rock, we should find water. Sure, no power tools right now, but we can dig by hand. With the two of us, give it a day and we might pull it off.”
“I’ve read up on this! During the world wars, people in besieged cities across Europe made shallow wells just like this to get through.”
Su Han thought for a moment. “But what if we’re not lucky? What if we hit rock, or there’s no water table at all? And what if trouble arrives and we have to make a strategic retreat? The well can’t come with us. That’d be a lot of wasted effort.”
Yu Baowen couldn’t help but argue back. “So what, we shouldn’t even try because it could fail? What if no one comes after us, and we end up with food and water and breeze through the fifth instance? Who knows what the future holds? All we can do is give it our best shot. If you’re always paranoid about what could go wrong, you’ll just live in constant fear, and that’s no way to exist.”
“You’re right.” Su Han smiled suddenly. “That’s exactly how I see it. So let’s try, but if it doesn’t work, we quit before wasting too much time. At most, we dig for two shallow wells, if nothing turns up, we’ll switch tactics.”
“I was only planning on one well…” Yu Baowen muttered under her breath.
Su Han couldn’t help but laugh, though internally, she was a little skeptical. This teammate knew a ton of survival trivia, could even spot a water table by eye, but seemed totally clueless that even if you find groundwater, it still needs to be disinfected with bleach before it’s safe to drink. So much for a well-rounded education!
“All right, tools up, let’s get digging!” Yu Baowen announced enthusiastically.
Su Han moved in to help.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t with them. After barely a meter of digging, they hit solid rock, and that was the end of that.
Yu Baowen, “….”
She looked utterly crushed, mourning the death of her brilliant plan.
Su Han, for her part, thought their luck could be worse. Imagine if they’d dug five meters before hitting rock, they’d have wasted so much more effort.
Clearing her throat, she reminded, “Remember the water carriers we passed earlier? There must be a lake or river somewhere in the city. Find that, and we can haul water straight away.”
Still, whether it’s lake or river water, it’d have to be disinfected before drinking.
“Yeah.” Yu Baowen exhaled slowly, trying to get her mood back under control.