Chapter 54

The truth was, Su Han didn’t dislike Yu Baowen’s approach, in fact, she kind of admired it. At the end of the day, whoever can do whatever it takes to survive in a pinch is impressive.
Only problem was... this wasn’t exactly a desperate situation right now…
Su Han opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say or how. With them both still feeling out each other’s secrets, blurting out "I’m loaded, my inventory’s fully stocked" didn’t exactly seem wise either.
"What’s wrong?" Yu Baowen shot Su Han a curious look.
A beat later, her face lit up with sudden understanding. She said gently, "If you’re not used to drinking rainwater, don’t force yourself. But just a heads-up: if you finish off all the bottled water, it’ll be tough to get more later."
"It's fine, I have the Nutritionist innate skill," Su Han insisted, trying to justify herself.
"Talents are all about chance, no way yours works every single time," Yu Baowen shot back, clearly unconvinced.
Su Han thought to herself, I’m not your average player. Never mind that I’ve cleared every level, across four instances, I’ve survived twenty or thirty days longer than most people, and on top of that, I’ve snagged a total of twenty bonus experience points from special rewards alone. Put together, that puts me a full two levels ahead of the crowd!
"I just get lucky, my talent triggers a lot," Su Han continued, doubling down on her excuse.
"Alright, whatever you say." Yu Baowen didn’t press. Instead, she started filling an empty water bottle with rainwater.
Su Han watched for a bit, then couldn’t help asking, "Where’d you get all those empty bottles?"
"I save the bottles whenever I finish a drink," Yu Baowen replied, "keep 'em stashed in my inventory."
"Rainwater’s not exactly safe to drink, you know. What if you catch a debuff or something?" Su Han finally found her opening to warn her.
She was about to suggest purifying it with bleach, but Yu Baowen just grinned, "Eh, whatever. We’re not that fragile!"
Su Han, "…"
It’s your stomach, do whatever you want.
Soon, there was only a single bucket of rainwater left to collect.
Yu Baowen checked one last time, "You sure you don't want any? Don't blame me if I drink it all."
"Knock yourself out. All yours!" Su Han waved it off, not the slightest bit concerned.
So Yu Baowen filled her last water bottle with the remaining rainwater, too.
Just then, the system’s mechanical voice chimed in: "Day 3 of the game. Current number of white supply crates: 27 out of 50."
A loaf of dark rye bread and a carton of milk appeared in her backpack out of nowhere.
Su Han was starting to realize stuffing the crate way too full may not have been her brightest idea. Now, even getting at the tools stashed at the bottom was a serious pain.
But with food and water in abundance, neither of them had any reason to step outside. They just holed up indoors.
Day 4: White supply crates left: 22 out of 50.
Day 5: White supply crates left: 18 out of 50. Of those, 15,838 survivors remain in E44 City, 823 players and 15,015 resident NPCs.
Meanwhile, their potato stash finally ran out, forcing Yu Baowen to head out again.
Su Han thought it over for a long time. She didn’t feel safe letting her teammate go alone, so she decided to tag along.
But as soon as they reached the front door, both of them froze, the house with the wooden sign that read "Infectious patient inside, keep away" now had three men and two women standing around in its garden.
"Even five people are worried about getting jumped out here?" Yu Baowen muttered under his breath.
In the blink of an eye, Su Han realized something. "Wait, this isn’t their house!" The five clearly had no idea what was planted in the garden, they were actually yanking plants out by the roots to inspect them, as rough as could be.
"You’re saying… they’re intruders?" Yu Baowen’s face fell instantly, and he started to turn back, too late. Their eyes met, and the five newcomers all smiled, predatory; two helpless little prey, nowhere to hide.
"Split up and run! At least one of us might make it!" Yu Baowen made a snap decision, yanked out a barrel of oil from her inventory, and dumped it all over the grass. She flicked his lighter, and instantly, a wall of flames roared up, cutting the two sides off from each other.
"Good luck," Su Han called out, wasting zero time. She picked a direction at random and bolted.
Yu Baowen dashed the other way, legs pumping as fast as she could make them go.
"After them!"
No sooner had the words left their mouths than two guys and a girl took off after Yu Baowen, while the other man and woman chased Su Han.
She fled, they pursued, soon enough they reached a fork in the road. The man and woman looked around, confused. "Where’d she go?"
"No way she got far!" The woman snapped her fingers. "Let’s split up and look."
Her partner nodded, not forgetting, "Han Song, keep your guard up. Shout if anything happens."
"Got it," Han Song answered offhandedly, taking the right fork.
The man headed left.
But Su Han hadn’t gone either way, she was crouched, hidden in the knee-high weeds. She noticed it was only the two of them chasing her, so she tossed out any idea of running and switched to offense instead.
Weighing her options, she decided to go after the man first. Catching him off guard, she came up behind and bashed him hard,
"Aah!" The guy flinched; he clearly hadn’t expected a two-on-one to go this way, with his target suddenly attacking.
"Han Song! Over here!" he shouted, spinning around to face his assailant.
At the same time, Su Han’s mouth quirked up in a light, satisfied smile. She muttered, "So that’s his stamina cap, huh?"
Judging from the drop in his stamina bar, his max was around 200.
Whereas thanks to her gear and her meds, her full stamina was 460!
With her calculations set, Su Han drew her dagger and closed in, planning to finish this guy off as fast as possible.
The two of them fell into a scuffle.
Han Song heard the shouts and rushed over. But by the time she arrived, her teammate was already gone in a flash of white light. The person standing there, facing her, still had seventy-two percent stamina, a cold smirk on her lips, trouble, all over her face.
Their eyes met. Han Song felt a chill run down her spine. Almost on instinct, she turned and ran for it.
Now, prey and hunter had switched places.
But Su Han had no intention of letting anyone escape. She sprinted ahead, then lunged, pinning her target flat on the ground. "You’re Han Song, right? I’ve got some questions. Answer honestly and you won’t get hurt."
Han Song could feel just how strong this girl was; she wasn’t going anywhere. All she could do was submit. "Ask."
Su Han started the interrogation. "You a player?"
"Yeah."
"What level?"
"Level two." At that, Han Song’s tone was bitter. Their team of five was just short of hitting level three. The fastest one needed just one more experience point, while the slowest lagged behind by five. That tiny difference, that last little breath, cost her teammate the game.
Han Song couldn’t help but wonder, If I were already level three, would I be the one turning the tables right now?
But in this game, there are no ifs.
"Why’d you try to rob that house?" Su Han pressed her advantage, continuing the questioning.
Han Song’s tone was cool and flat. “Supplies are low. We need to restock. Doesn’t matter if you steal or rob, as long as you make it out alive, who cares?”
Su Han instantly realized Han Song had misunderstood her. Of course, she knew some people were fine with crossing the line, that wasn’t news. What she’d wanted to ask was: why target that specific family?
She didn’t bother to correct her. Instead, she pressed on, “How’d you pick your target? There’s a wooden sign outside their door, says there’s someone sick inside, right?”
“You actually fall for that crap?” Han Song let out a low scoff. “If there really was someone contagious, they’d live alone, so as not to drag their family down. But it’s a family of four in there, no way they’re telling the truth.”
Su Han stayed expressionless, quietly thinking: not bad, these people have some brains. Their logic actually holds up. “You already hit them once. So why'd you come after me next?”
“That house with the ‘quarantine’ sign? Packed with supplies. So the one marked ‘radioactive contamination’, bet there’s even better loot inside. Only two girls living there? You’d have to be an idiot not to make a move.” Han Song’s voice was almost bored.
Now that she had what she wanted, Su Han sent Han Song packing, efficient and merciless. Out of the game.
Han Song tried to stall, desperately hoping her three teammates would catch on and swoop in for the rescue. But after ages with no one showing up, all she could do was admit defeat and accept her elimination.
Su Han’s stamina dropped again, down to just 61%.
She stuck on a medical bandage, mumbling to herself, “Three left to go…”
After a second’s thought, she decided to double back and check on things. If Yu Baowen had been captured, maybe she could help. If not, well, time for everyone to go their own way. She’d only teamed up in the first place for safety, but honestly? It was way more hassle than it was worth. Working solo was a whole lot simpler.
When she got back, she saw the fire from before had already spread from the grass to the house itself. Flames roared, the roof about to cave in at any moment.
Neither Yu Baowen nor any of the three pursuers had returned.
Su Han let out a quiet sigh, picked a new direction, and walked off on her own.
Day 6: White supply crates, 15 out of 50 left.
Day 7: White supply crates, down to 11 out of 50.
The white crates were disappearing at a glacial pace. No clue where the rest might be hidden, probably stuffed in some obscure corner somewhere…
Su Han found herself another apartment building, hunkered down in a room, and spent her days eating, drinking, and using up daily necessities. At last she burned through part of her stockpile (mostly just the daily-use stuff…) and freed up a bit of space.
She didn’t hesitate, backpack went straight back into her portable storage. From now on: travel light, go with empty hands.
Over the past two days, she’d been turning things over in her mind. And finally, she caught something off: it wasn’t just the lighter that drew attention, the backpack too. Must’ve been, far as the NPCs were concerned, anyone carrying a backpack must be loaded. The perfect target to mug.
She also remembered people ranting about this on the survivalist forum: “Having a personal inventory is awesome,” “if you carry stuff around, NPCs all think you’re loaded and worth robbing,” and “if you put everything in storage and walk around empty-handed, they’ll just assume you’re broke.”
So Su Han wasted no time eliminating any safety risk. Once she got everything sorted, she walked out of the apartment building hands free.
If all she cared about was finishing the round, she could’ve just stayed shut in her room, plenty of food and water meant no worries there. But if she wanted to clear the instance, she’d have to get moving and prepare in advance.
So far, Su Han figured, the real challenge of this instance was hunting down food and potable water. Sometimes she had to look out for robbers, but usually, tossing some valuables as bait was enough to distract them. No big deal.
The last five days, though, the system was certain to crank things up. But from which angle?
Unconsciously, Su Han started thinking about the round’s backstory, “Trapped by War.” With how shameless the system could be, she wouldn’t be surprised if the war was lost, enemy troops stormed the city, and survivors were forced to fight a guerrilla war among the ruins!
…Kind of thrilling, honestly! If only her nerves could handle it.
To be ready for the worst, Su Han decided to make preparations now. After all, she only had one goal: survive to the very end!