“Alright, let me see.”
Lin Zhaoyang looked through the in-game mall for a long time before finally pulling out a white item.
“Look, a meat bun!”
“This costs 5 points.”
[.]
[Is there really that big of a difference from a steamed bun? Isn’t there quite a variety of items in the mall’s food section?]
The food in the mall was simply akin to health recovery potions in other games. As levels increased, the selection would grow larger. They didn’t just sell one thing, and the variety wasn’t small at all. The only real difference was the price.
“Of course there’s a difference! This one has meat in it, and it’s 3 points more expensive than a steamed bun!”
When Lin Zhaoyang mentioned those 3 points, his pitch went up by several octaves. A single meat bun could buy two and a half steamed buns.
[Fine, whatever. But you are forbidden from buying plain steamed buns! Other players might not be affected by lifestyle habits in the game, but you definitely are! You need to eat properly!]
“Pfft.”
“Okay.”
Lin Zhaoyang couldn’t help himself. Hearing a soft, baby-like voice giving him fierce little instructions in his ear to eat properly was just too funny.
Today’s dinner: a meat bun paired with bottled mineral water!
“Tomorrow is the fourth day. What if I don’t even reach 2,000 points after ten days?”
[No, you will. You definitely will.]
“Well, my stamina increased to 12 points today, so I made a little progress.”
[That’s great!]
“Can we build a well at level five? I should hit level five tomorrow.”
[Yup, you can build a well once you reach level five.]
Every single one of Lin Zhaoyang’s muttered remarks received a response. No matter what he said, 999 would always reply.
“No, I’m scared of the dark. I’m going to take a bath and go to sleep. I still haven’t set up anything to boil water, so that’s going to take forever.”
[It’s fine. Once you get it sorted today, tomorrow will be much easier.]
Between continuing to gather materials and going to sleep, Lin Zhaoyang chose to take a bath and go to sleep. The nighttime forest was genuinely a bit creepy, and he always felt like it carried its own gloomy atmosphere.
Inside the small wooden cabin, light could only shine in through the window now. The rest of the room was pitch black.
“A plastic bucket costs 50 points. Thank goodness they sell plastic ones. If they had given me wooden or stone buckets, I wouldn’t be able to lift them at all.”
“If it gets damaged, can I use an empty plastic bottle for repairs? Is this a plastic bottle recycling program?”
[Of course. It would be such a waste to just destroy them directly, and honestly, we really don’t have any plastic materials in the early game.]
Lin Zhaoyang had previously gathered plastic bottles and piled them all up in one spot because 999 had mysteriously told him they would come in useful.
If a game pursued absolute realism, it would have to account for the strength differences between individuals. Plastic buckets were by far the lightest, and bottled mineral water was the most convenient water source for carrying around.
Even people who genuinely loved survival games couldn’t truly live in hardship. After all, this was just a game. He wasn’t really stranded on a desert island, and game developers always shared the exact same ultimate goal.
Scamming people out of their money!
“I need to buy a pot, chop firewood, boil water, go fetch water, come back and boil it again, and then carry it over to take a bath. Wow.”
“999, why don’t you have a physical form? How nice it would be if you could help me do the chores. QAQ”
Lin Zhaoyang calculated his remaining stamina. Even taking a bath was exhausting. This really felt too much like real life. Every day, so much time was wasted simply because of a lack of stamina.
[???]
[You called me a little kid earlier, and now you want me to do chores? Despicable!]
“Hahaha.”
“A soft, cute little kid like you should have a physical body so I can pet you all over from top to bottom, left and right.”
[qwq, you’re a pervert.]
Actually, Su Xiaonan’s companionship method was quite effective. At least for now, even though Lin Zhaoyang had to start doing chores the moment he opened his eyes every day, his mood remained fairly decent.
He even had the energy to tease a little kid.
Though that was largely because his adoptive parents were able to start new lives, meaning he no longer carried the sorrow of losing loved ones. His family had simply chosen a different way of living, much like he had.
After a grueling effort, Lin Zhaoyang carried a bucket of perfectly warmed water, pushed open the door to the small wooden cabin, and suddenly froze as he looked at the darkness enveloping the room.
“Aah. I forgot how dark it is inside now. You scared me!”
[Aah, let’s buy a kerosene lamp.]
Lin Zhaoyang’s words seemed to echo because 999 would always chime in to agree.
“Aah, we have to spend points again.”
[Aah, it’s a necessity!]
Lin Zhaoyang looked at the bathroom, hesitant and speechless. The four walls were clean to a fault, with nowhere at all to hang a kerosene lamp.
Opening the mall to buy, buy, buy, Lin Zhaoyang had previously thought it very strange that a survival game allowed you to buy so many things. It felt remarkably convenient. Now he finally understood.
“Actually, the game is just designed to scam points, isn’t it?”
[Hehe, you guessed it!]
999 was now bold enough to admit that the game was just a money-scamming scheme. The human and the system hadn’t known each other for very long, but through endless talking and replying, the initial awkwardness between them had unknowingly vanished.
“One kerosene lamp feels a bit dim, but whatever. You can head out now. I’m going to take a bath.”
The bathroom did have a window, but since the cabin itself was tiny, the bathroom was naturally minuscule as well, and its window was just a shrunken version.
999 was quite obedient, though instead of retreating into the system space, he lay down in the moonlight shining through the window to wait for Lin Zhaoyang.
Using the combined light of the moon and the kerosene lamp, Lin Zhaoyang quickly took a bath. After all, to save money, he hadn’t bought shampoo or shower gel.
There was a kerosene lamp in the bathroom, but the cabin only had natural moonlight. Naturally, Lin Zhaoyang walked toward the light source and, as expected, stepped right onto 999.
[Hey, you stepped on me!]
“Huh? You’re lying here? What are you doing here?”
“Wait, you don’t even have a physical form. I just stepped on the moonlight.”
[qwq, you definitely stepped on me. I was waiting for you to go to sleep together.]
He was here to keep a human who was afraid of the dark company while sleeping. He truly was a wonderful system.
“Alright, my mistake. I’m sorry, let me pet you.”
Lin Zhaoyang squatted down halfway, reached out toward the light, and stroked the empty air.
999 actively burrowed his head into Lin Zhaoyang’s hand.
[Hmph, I forgive you.]