Emma slowly got up and walked toward Ethan’s wooden house.
"Dong dong dong—"
"Come in."
As Emma pushed the door open, she immediately noticed how much warmer Ethan’s room felt compared to the others. Her eyes fell on the large pile of charcoal, and she understood why. There were actually two thick quilts in the room, one spread on the floor as a mattress, and another covering them. And there were only two people sleeping here!
She thought about how she had spent the first half of the night crammed in a room with ten people, unable to even touch a corner of the blanket.
Wait... two people? Elena was here too. Then who...?
This is... Emma had considered many possibilities, but never this one.
"Three people?" she murmured.
"Hee hee," Elena chuckled, clearly amused by Emma’s astonished expression. "I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t know what I’m thinking."
"Then... what are you thinking about?" Emma asked nervously.
"Take off your clothes and get under the covers to warm up a bit."
Emma blushed deeply but didn’t dare disobey. She removed her windbreaker and white sweatpants, now quite dirty, and piled them in the corner.
Elena snorted. "It’s not like my figure is better." She pointed to the spot in front of her, pulled the blanket closer, and gestured for Emma to crawl in.
After Emma complied, Elena wrapped her arms around the girl’s slender waist and whispered, "I can’t sleep. Ethan is sleeping soundly, so I wanted you to keep me company and chat."
Emma never expected Elena to call her over just to talk.
"This world is too strange. We lost half our classmates on the first day. It feels like only the thirty of us exist in this whole world. I feel so empty and lonely inside."
Hearing this, Emma felt deep empathy. "Me too... You all still have thirty classmates, but when I descended into this world, everyone I knew was killed right before my eyes..."
As she spoke, tears rolled down Emma’s cheeks. Elena also shed silent tears and gently wiped them away for her.
"It’s okay. Our tribe will live for a long time," Elena said, wiping her own tears and changing the subject. "Let’s talk about something lighter... What kind of delicacies does Washington have? I’ve never been there."
"Does vinegar fish count?"
"..."
The two girls chatted back and forth and soon became good friends. They comforted each other. Elena’s loneliness eased, and Emma felt the warmth of human connection, making a real friend in another world.
"I really miss the food from my city. I’ll never get to eat it again," Elena sighed.
"Me too."
A lazy voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.
Ethan had woken up.
Emma’s heart pounded. What if he woke up? They couldn’t stay like this.
Ethan sighed weakly. "How long are you two going to chat? I’ve been listening for a while. Go to sleep already."
"Oh, okay," the two girls said in unison.
They huddled together and closed their eyes, but Ethan called out again.
"Emma, come sleep on my left side," he said. "To stop you two from continuing to chat."
"Huh? You want to hug one on each side?"
After chatting with Elena, Emma had learned more about Ethan’s personality. She was no longer as afraid of him and could talk to him more normally, almost like a friend. Elena had told her that Ethan was a very good person.
"Nonsense. I just don’t want you two to keep chatting and disturb my sleep."
Emma pouted but crawled over to Ethan’s left side, turning her back to him.
Ethan: ??
So both girls had turned their backs, sandwiching him between two beautiful figures?
"Turn around, both of you, and hug me," he said firmly.
Elena smiled playfully and turned around first, pressing her body against Ethan’s chest. Emma hesitated for a moment but eventually turned as well. She shyly wrapped her arm around him, her face resting near his shoulder. Ethan let out a satisfied sigh, feeling the warmth of both girls against him.
With one arm around each of them, he held them close. The three of them fit snugly under the thick quilt, the charcoal fire keeping the room comfortably warm.
Elena whispered teasingly, "Happy now, you big pervert?"
Ethan chuckled softly. "Very happy. Now sleep."
Emma stayed quiet, but a small, shy smile appeared on her lips. Being held like this felt strangely safe after the terrifying day she had endured. For the first time since arriving in this world, she felt a sense of belonging.
As the night grew deeper, the three of them gradually fell asleep in each other’s embrace, the beginning of a new, unexpected bond in their strange new life.
The next day, just as dawn broke, a system voice echoed in everyone’s minds:
"Congratulations on safely passing the first night. You now have some understanding of this world. Please continue to strive to survive. The deed has unlocked the ranking function. The Eden Garden Tribe is ranked 8th in the world and 1st in the region, earning one Silver Treasure Chest. The next ranking time is yet to be determined."
Grace was startled awake by the announcement. She reached for the deed to check the rankings, but it wasn’t with her. She remembered that she had given it to Ethan earlier, so she quickly made her way to his cabin.
Seeing no response after knocking, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The moment she entered, Grace’s face turned bright red and then flushed with anger. Ethan was sleeping soundly, comfortably sandwiched between two girls, one was his girlfriend Elena, and the other was Emma, who had only arrived yesterday.
"Slap! Slap! Slap!"
Grace slapped each of their backsides. Faint red handprints were left on their snow-white skin.
"Hiss~ Ah! Chief!!" Elena woke up with a start and shouted angrily.
"Didn’t you hear the heavenly voice prompt?" Grace asked.
Ethan also sobered up instantly. "What heavenly voice prompt? I didn’t hear anything."
"The rankings have been unlocked," Grace said. "Take out the deed."
Ethan pulled out the deed, and the three of them, plus Emma, who poked her head out from under the covers, looked at it together.
A new "Ranking" option has appeared. When they clicked on it, the top ten tribes in the world were displayed:
World Rankings
1st: [Milf Hunter (Level 2)] — Tribe Rating: 3221
2nd: [Cradle (Level 2)] — Tribe Rating: 3109
3rd: [Sacred Mountain (Level 2)] — Tribe Rating: 2968
...
8th: [Eden Garden (Level 2)] — Tribe Rating: 2176
They then checked the regional rankings:
Regional Rankings
1st: [Eden Garden (Level 2)] — Tribe Rating: 2176
2nd: [Freedom Tribe (Level 1)] — Tribe Rating: 607
3rd: [Sleepy Dog (Level 1)] — Tribe Rating: 434
...
Emma stared with wide eyes. "Our tribe is this strong? First place! We’re first!" She held her head as if she were dreaming. "Heavens, we’re more than three times the score of second place!"
Elena’s breathing quickened with excitement, but she also looked a little worried. "We’re the sixth tribe in the world to reach Level 2. We received so many resources, plus your talent upgrade and all those S-rank members... yet we only ranked 8th globally."
"Yeah," Ethan said seriously. "There are too many powerful experts out there. First and second place both broke 3000 points, while we’re just over 2000. Just how many... mothers did the guy in the first place hunt to get that strong?"
Grace rolled her eyes. "A name like ’Milf Hunter’ must belong to some uncultured man."
"But they’re strong," Ethan replied.
Emma tried to cheer them up. "Ranking 8th in the world and 1st in the region is already very impressive, okay? Before coming here, we were just college students. There are billions of people in this world. Think about it, ranking 8th among hundreds of millions of tribes is ridiculously strong!"
It had to be said that Emma was far more optimistic than the others. At least for now, they were very powerful. Only seven tribes were stronger than them, and those were still out of reach. They just needed to keep working hard.
Grace nodded, agreeing with Emma’s words, but her mind soon drifted elsewhere.
’How can he be so big...?’ she thought. ’Yesterday he already took Jessica, even though she was our teacher. Next, is he going to take me? Will he ask? Should I refuse or accept? Although I should refuse... for the tribe’s benefit, maybe I should accept. Besides, he used to be my personal attendant. He already knows me deeply...’
Without Ethan saying a single word, Grace had already begun overthinking everything.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud scream coming from outside.
"Ahhhhh—!!"
The scream was filled with panic. Everyone in the room tensed up.
Ethan immediately sat up. "That sounded like one of the girls from the other house!"
Elena and Emma quickly got dressed. Grace’s expression turned serious as she rushed toward the door, the others following right behind her.
When they stepped outside, they saw everyone gathered in the tribe’s open ground, sighing heavily. The sky had brightened, and the surrounding darkness had finally receded.
When Ethan arrived at the scene, even he was startled. What greeted his eyes was complete devastation.
The resources that had been neatly stacked were knocked over and scattered everywhere. Wild fruits were trampled into pulp, leaving behind dark stains. The large beef legs from yesterday, which had been a substantial amount of food, were now reduced to just two smooth bones, so clean that even flies wouldn’t land on them.
"What attacked this?" Ethan asked the guards who had been on duty the previous night.
"We don’t know," one of the female guards replied, trembling. "It was dark, and we kept hearing strange noises all night. We didn’t dare get close. When dawn broke, we found it like this." She looked terrified that Ethan would punish them.
Elena held Ethan’s hand and whispered apologetically, "I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for making you open the Silver Treasure Chest. If you had made a Wooden Storage Box yesterday, the important supplies would have been protected."
"It’s not your fault," Ethan shook his head. "It’s a good thing no one went into the darkness. The heavenly voice prompt was right, there are mysterious and terrifying things out there at night. We’ll light more bonfires from now on. The meat is gone, but some fruits are still intact. Everyone, help clean this up."
Ethan’s gaze shifted toward the direction of Jessica’s previous base. He walked over slowly and stopped in shock. The corpses of the fallen classmates had already been reduced to piles of white bones.
Grace, who had followed him, along with a few girls from the logging team, felt goosebumps all over their bodies.
"This is..."
"Without yesterday’s goblin sneak attack, the others probably wouldn’t have survived until today either," Ethan said quietly.
He shook his head. This was truly a cruel world.
"Bury them quickly," he ordered. "There’s a new mission today."
Then he turned to Grace with full confidence and said, "Teacher, we need more resources. I think it’s time for you to receive the blessing."
"What?" Grace’s voice came out panicked. She had just been thinking about this possibility a few minutes ago, and now he had already asked.
She didn’t know how to reply.
Ethan gently took her hand and rubbed her palm soothingly. "Chief, it’s time to think about the tribe. Don’t worry, it won’t take long."
In the end, Grace nodded. She had already mentally accepted it that morning. She knew she couldn’t refuse him, not just for the benefits, but for other reasons she didn’t want to admit.
Seeing the Chief walking into the room with Ethan, the other girls were shocked at first. Then they started whispering among themselves.
"Is the Chief also going to become Ethan’s wife?"
The others nodded.
"Then who will be our Chief later?" one girl asked.
"Obviously it will still be Teacher Grace," another replied. "Ethan should just be known as the Chief’s husband."