Tang Yun had been busy outside all day, and after fighting the Mutant Wolf to the point of being half-dead, she felt extremely exhausted and tense in this unfamiliar environment.
Lying on the wooden bed covered with a wolf-skin blanket, it took her a while to finally relax. As she watched the Safe House slowly accumulate more items, a sense of comfort washed over her.
Moonlight filtered through the window. While food was temporarily sufficient, wolf meat was unpalatable and grew tiresome day after day. Moreover, the lack of vegetables meant a deficiency in vitamin C, increasing the risk of scurvy.
A monotonous diet couldn’t ensure the intake of essential trace elements needed by the human body. Continuing like this was unsustainable—she might fall ill before even being taken down by a Mutant Beast.
While browsing the bullet comments, she noticed that many players had already lost their lives in Paradise within just a single day. This pressure weighed heavily on Tang Yun’s mind.
In the face of a survival crisis, no one could escape.
As drowsiness set in, Tang Yun glanced at the relatively sturdy wooden house, placed her Tang sword by the bedside, and finally drifted off to sleep.
On her second day in Paradise, Tang Yun opened the door early, ready to collect stone materials to upgrade the Wooden Safehouse into a stone house. The wooden house couldn’t withstand attacks from Aberrant Beast hordes, so she needed to speed up the upgrade process.
Before heading out, she used the Mutant Beast Guide to scan the area. Even though the Primary Aberrant Beast Scanner could only cover a range of three kilometers, it was far better than being completely in the dark. Being unprepared and ambushed by Aberrant Beasts would spell disaster.
Collecting stone materials was more challenging than chopping wood. After walking for half an hour, the stones she had gathered were far from enough to upgrade the 40-square-meter Safe House.
Fortunately, she hadn’t encountered any danger along the way.
But danger lurked in the wilderness, and she needed to hurry and collect more stones.
Having walked for over an hour, Tang Yun unscrewed her water bottle, took a few sips, and quickened her pace.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a struggle and tensed up.
“Could it be an Aberrant Beast?”
She cautiously followed the noise, hiding in the tall grass. About a hundred meters away, she saw a man fighting a Mutant Brown Bear!
Tang Yun thought for a moment and decided to use the Mutant Beast Guide’s function.
[Alert: A Mutant Brown Bear is located 100 meters directly ahead of player E01. Based on the player’s current strength assessment, the Danger Coefficient is 95. A Mutant Wolf is located 200 meters directly ahead. Due to the player’s prior experience in killing wolves, reassessment places the Danger Coefficient at 60.]
Suddenly, she felt a weight on her shoulder and saw a chubby squirrel perched there.
“Host, go for it!”
“Go for it! It’s all resources!”
007 urged Tang Yun to kill the wolf. Having tasted the rewards of dropped items, she found it hard to resist the temptation, even knowing the risks.
She licked her dry lips, took a few sips of water, and tightened her grip on the Tang sword.
Crouching low, she continued to move forward cautiously, her pace slow.
She hoped the Mutant Wolf wouldn’t join the Mutant Brown Bear’s fight. She didn’t want to face the bear—its Danger Coefficient was too high.
At the same time, she also hoped the man could successfully take down the bear.
However, things didn’t go as planned. The Mutant Wolf was clever and intended to ambush the man fighting the Mutant Brown Bear.
Tang Yun was getting closer to them. Her hands, gripping the Tang sword, grew slightly sweaty, and her entire body tensed up.
Just as the Mutant Wolf pounced on the man, she leaped out and launched a swift attack on the beast based on her past experience.
This time, she wasn’t as disheveled as during her first fight with a Mutant Wolf, at least avoiding serious injury.
Being able to save the Spirit Spring left her quite satisfied with this operation.
“Bang!” At the same moment, the man also killed the Mutant Brown Bear.
The young man wore a black T-shirt with cargo pants underneath. Tall with long legs and broad shoulders, his sharp eyes exuded strength from every angle.
As a green light flashed, Tang Yun didn’t even glance at what had dropped before immediately storing the loot in her inventory.
She watched as the man quickly collected the resources dropped by the Mutant Brown Bear. Then, despite being covered in wounds, he handed over five oranges and a 500ml bottle of drinking water—something she hadn’t expected.
“Hello, my surname is Xie, Xie Chen. Thank you for your help earlier. These are for you.”
Seeing his gift, Tang Yun noted that the oranges represented the vitamin C she lacked, while the drinking water was a precious survival resource. It was clear this person sincerely wanted to repay her kindness.
She wanted the oranges. As for the water, she already had some, but she had to take it anyway—otherwise, others might realize she wasn’t short of water for the time being.
“You’re welcome, and thank you for the gifts. I’m Tang Yun.”
After all, the account for that rogue software was E01. As long as she didn’t reveal it, no one would know Tang Yun was E01, and she couldn’t be bothered to come up with another name.
After accepting the gifts, Tang Yun left. They were all players, and without understanding each other, forming an alliance was impossible. Moreover, she had to guard against others seizing the resources she had painstakingly accumulated.
As evening fell, Tang Yun returned to the Safe House under the fading light.
Sitting on a chair made of Lumber, she opened her inventory to check the loot obtained from hunting the Mutant Wolf earlier.
Spirit Spring +50ml
Assorted Vegetable Seeds +1
Phoenix Crossbow +1
Points +5
Tang Yun took a deep breath. The soil outside was contaminated, making it impossible to plant the vegetable seeds for now—unless she had a vegetable cultivation medium.
When she obtained the Phoenix Crossbow, she smiled. This was an extraordinary weapon.
With high combat effectiveness, it could silently eliminate enemies and even take down large animals. Its long range made it suitable for dealing with distant Mutant Beasts in the future.
But there wasn’t a single arrow included!
She tallied her current Points: a total of 14.
One arrow cost 5 Points—far too expensive to sustain.
However, she could collect iron materials to craft arrows.
Thinking of this, Tang Yun felt a surge of motivation.
While roasting wolf meat, she took out her phone and opened the trading section. She had too much wolf meat and could list it to exchange for other portable dry rations. She didn’t want to eat wolf meat every day in the Safe House or carry wolf jerky when going out.
[Player: E01]
[Trading: 500g Wolf Meat (up to 50kg)]
[Exchange: 200g Bread, Instant Noodles, or similar dry rations]
[Player: E01]
[Trading: 20ml Drinking Water (up to 1L)]
[Exchange: 1 Iron]
After posting these two trade listings, Tang Yun began browsing others’ trade information to see if there was anything she needed.
Water was precious, and she didn’t want to trade too much of it. But now she needed iron to craft arrows, which was why she offered up to 1L of water for trade. The rest she needed to save up.
The barrage went wild again, with more and more items being traded, but currently, only E01 was trading water.
Their water all came from drops when hunting Aberrant Beasts—feast today, famine tomorrow—unlike Tang Yun, who had a Deep Well Water Generator providing her with a steady daily supply of water.
“Holy crap!! E01 is too lucky! How does he have so much water, and he’s generously trading it away.”
“E01! E-god, please carry us!”