[You Hua]: “(Rolls eyes) It’s precisely because we’ve reached a critical moment that buying it is even more necessary. Since our copper coin counts are still far off and we definitely won’t collect enough before 7:00 AM tomorrow, we might as well copy the Big Boss’s homework so we at least have some idea of what threats lie ahead.“
[Du Qiu]: “If death is our fate, I accept this destiny. If I must bleed tomorrow to pay for past sins, sharing the resources in my hands with everyone today can at least fulfill our fellowship as fellow human beings.”
[Wan Zifan]: “The Big Boss is the person most likely to pull through. I’m willing to give my copper coins to her. If even someone with bad luck like the Big Boss can’t make it, I can only lie down and feed the monsters.”
In a short span, He Miaomiao received even more notifications.
Out of the 71 survivors currently in Despair Village 4, a staggering 46 purchased the guide. She received an inflow of 230 copper coins, bringing her total count to 775—just 425 away from 1,200.
Victory was right ahead!
Her Energy Points fully restored, He Miaomiao stood up once again.
This time, she didn’t wield her broken blade. After calculating her EXP, she cast Sparks Slash directly, combining it with basic attacks to accelerate her kill speed.
[Corrupted Rabbit HP -36!]
[Corrupted Rabbit HP -29!]
[Corrupted Rabbit HP…]
[Raw Rabbit Meat ×8! Copper Coins ×1! EXP ×160!]
[Raw Rabbit Meat ×8! Copper Coins ×1! EXP ×160! (Critical Hit)]
[EXP: 4510/450 (Upgradeable)]
[EXP overflow exceeded 10x, starting automatic level-up!]
Player: He Miaomiao (Lv2 → Lv3)
[HP +15!]
[HP +15! (Critical Hit)]
[Attack Power +2!]
[Attack Power +2! (Critical Hit)]
[Defense +1!]
[Defense +1! (Critical Hit)]
[Agility +1!]
[Agility +1! (Critical Hit)]
[Energy Points +60!]
[Energy Points +60! (Critical Hit)]
Attribute panel updated.
Player: He Miaomiao (Lv3)
Coordinates: Despair Village 4 (71/100)
HP: 120/120 (90 → 120)
Attack Power: 13 (9 → 12) (+20)
Defense: 6 (4 → 6)
Agility: 11 (9 → 11)
Energy Points: 225 (105 → 225)
EXP: 4060/700 (Upgradeable)
[Congratulations to player He Miaomiao for being the first to reach Level 3! Obtained Green Chest ×1!]
[Green Chest ×1! (Critical Hit)]
He Miaomiao: (＾－＾)V
Chest opening time!
Bathroom Construction Blueprint ×4, Copper Coins ×80!
Another huge step closer to 1,200!
He Miaomiao carefully stored the copper coins away like treasures, then took the construction blueprint over to the workbench.
[Safehouse level too low, unable to learn.]
“Wow, seems like a really great item.”
Besides, He Miaomiao could tell from the name alone that the blueprint was meant for building a bathroom.
During the grace period, players experienced no normal human physical states like hunger, thirst, or sweating. But judging from how many players had felt thirsty earlier today, all those states would manifest once the countdown reached zero. Their impact would undoubtedly be far harsher than in the normal world—quite possibly fatal.
That made a bathroom where one could wash up and use the toilet extremely important.
He Miaomiao was short on everything, and the chests were effectively free loot. She loved and was thrilled by whatever she got, not to mention that these contained the copper coins she desperately needed.
“Caw— Caw—”
A sharp, piercing screech suddenly echoed from outside the safehouse.
[Safehouse Durability -25!]
He Miaomiao instantly grew vigilant, peering outside.
However, it was far too dark; she could only see layer upon layer of red eyes belonging to the Corrupted Rabbits on the ground.
It wasn’t them.
If rabbits actively attacked the safehouse, with such immense numbers, the house would have collapsed long ago.
He Miaomiao continued searching, pacing a full circle without spotting anything.
[Safehouse Durability -25!]
He Miaomiao forced herself to calm down, slowing her breathing to listen carefully.
Distant wolf howls, dog barks.
Nearby sounds of bone grinding against bone from the Corrupted Rabbits.
And then—
Flap!
He Miaomiao snapped her head up, looking toward the sky.
Found it!
Above the rotten roof, two crimson eyes were flickering and shifting about.
“Appraisal!”
[Corrupted Crow: HP 100, Attack Power 25, Defense 0, Agility 8]
[Special Skill: Dive Blindness. Launches an aerial dive attack. Upon hitting a player, blinds them for 2 seconds and reduces player accuracy by 50%.]
So fast!
Among the earlier Corrupted Rabbits, Corrupted Dogs, and Corrupted Wolves, even the fastest—the wolf—had an Agility of only 3.5. The crow actually had an Agility of 8!
This meant its attack speed was blindingly fast, capable of dealing twice as much damage as a Corrupted Wolf within the same span of time.
He Miaomiao didn’t dare delay, blasting 1 cast of Sparks Slash up toward the sky.
Fortunately, the broken house already lacked more than half its roof, allowing her to attack directly while standing inside. Otherwise, she would have had to risk stepping outside the safehouse into the dark, launching her offensive while standing right in the middle of a mob of Corrupted Rabbits.
[Corrupted Crow HP -52!]
Huh?
He Miaomiao realized after the fact: she had leveled up, her base attack power had risen to 13, and the damage of Sparks Slash had scaled up accordingly!
With one more cast, the 100-HP Corrupted Crow was gone.
He Miaomiao’s eyes widened.
Mom, I’m so strong!
[Feather ×2!]
[Feather ×2! (Critical Hit)]
A new item—she had no idea what it was used for.
With no spare storage space left at home, He Miaomiao set them down right beside the storage chest.
Having dealt with the newly appeared monster, He Miaomiao resumed slaying rabbits.
Equipped with the green-tier Stone Blade, her basic attacks dealt 33 damage. Combined with her exponentially expanded Energy Point pool and scaled Sparks Slash damage, her killing speed surged.
Raw Rabbit Meat ×80, Copper Coins ×8, EXP ×1600!
[Congratulations to player He Miaomiao for accumulating 100 rabbit kills and achieving the Rabbit Killer achievement! Rewarded with Blue Chest ×1! Warrior, please continue fighting!]
[Blue Chest ×1! (Critical Hit)]
“There are chests to be earned from slaying lots of rabbits too?”
He Miaomiao glanced at her logs. To her surprise, she had already killed 126 Corrupted Rabbits, 4 Corrupted Dogs, 6 Corrupted Wolves, and 1 Corrupted Crow so far.
She took the opportunity to review the chest rewards she had received in the past.
“It seems this world encourages players to become stronger, wanting us to slay more monsters.”
To this world, monsters were likely bad entities that needed to be purged, and the rewards given out by Despair Valley served as bounties for monster hunting.
He Miaomiao: “Open chests.”
[Rabbit Fur Three-Seater Sofa (Blue) ×1! Apple ×1! Copper Coins ×50!]
[Rabbit Fur Three-Seater Sofa (Blue) ×1! Apple ×1! Copper Coins ×50! (Critical Hit)]
Open again.
[Rabbit Fur Three-Seater Sofa (Blue) ×1! Apple ×1! Copper Coins ×50!]
[Rabbit Fur Three-Seater Sofa (Blue) ×1! Apple ×1! Copper Coins ×50! (Critical Hit)]
He Miaomiao let out a gasp of surprise, immediately freeing up an inventory slot to stow a sofa away.
A three-seater sofa was too large. The entire safehouse was under 10 square meters, already containing a campfire, a storage chest, and various miscellaneous materials, leaving absolutely no room to set it down.
Apples were the very first fruit she had seen since arriving in Despair Valley, and pulling them from a blue chest meant they were undoubtedly precious.
However, since there were only a few apples, He Miaomiao temporarily placed them on top of the storage chest.
What excited her most was the 200 copper coins!
With these coins added, her total copper coin stash finally crossed the 1,000 threshold, reaching 1,065—just 135 short of the 1,200 needed to upgrade the safehouse!
“As expected, chests yield the most copper coins.”
Regrettably, acquiring chests was no easy feat.
But none of that mattered.
After organizing her items, He Miaomiao raised her Stone Blade, ready to continue hunting rabbits.
“Awoo—”
“Woof! Woof!”
“Flap—”
Even faster than her movements were the chaotic noises echoing from outside the house.
He Miaomiao looked closely. On the ground and in the sky in the distance, red eyes were rapidly approaching. The Corrupted Rabbits that originally surrounded her house were being stomped into burst clouds of mist by them.
She immediately focused her mind, gobbled up 1 piece of cooked rabbit meat, and dropped 6 consecutive casts of Sparks Slash toward the area where they were about to arrive.
[Corrupted Wolf HP -49!]
[Corrupted Dog HP -51!]
[Corrupted Wolf HP -49!]
[Corrupted Crow HP -52!]
[Corrupted Crow HP…]
A rapid series of 6 red prompts flashed across the dark night, but He Miaomiao had no time to keep tally.
Their numbers weren’t large compared to the Corrupted Rabbits, but every single monster arriving this time was targeting her safehouse.
She munched down her second piece of cooked rabbit meat, continuing her Sparks Slash barrage.
Then came the third piece, the fourth piece, all the way to the very last piece allowed within this timeframe.
However, after using her final Sparks Slash cast, one wolf remained.
The sky was still pitch black, and the rabbits’ red eyes were still densely packed together. He Miaomiao grit her teeth and stepped out of the safehouse.
This was her first time leaving the safe zone at night, and she felt the transformation of the entire world in an instant.
Cold.
A bone-chilling cold that felt long-buried deep underground.
Stinky.
Every breath brought a thick stench of rotting meat—a complete torture.
And dangerous.
The moment He Miaomiao stepped beyond the campfire’s glow, she heard the howls of even more monsters in the distance, along with the sound of them sprinting in her direction.
She guessed that players going outside at night held a fatal attraction for monsters, much like living humans attracting zombies.
Therefore, she had to end this battle fast!
She was immensely grateful that even at night, the Corrupted Rabbits retained their habit of not attacking proactively. Otherwise, with so many rabbits, a single strike would have taken her life.
Unfortunately, the Corrupted Rabbits were packed tightly together at night, meaning He Miaomiao had to step over them to kill the Corrupted Wolf.
And that action would trigger a counterattack from the Corrupted Rabbits.
Thus, she fought her way forward while slaying rabbits.
Thankfully, her max HP stood at 120, her basic attack damage with the green Stone Blade reached 33, and her Agility was a high 11, giving her rapid attack speed and swift movement.
After taking down the most dangerous Corrupted Wolf, He Miaomiao even had time to retrieve the drops left by the monsters killed earlier.
Loot, loot, loot!
Crit, crit, and crit again!
Raw Rabbit Meat ×14, Raw Wolf Meat ×16, Beast Hide ×16, Raw Dog Meat ×12, Feather ×24, Copper Coins ×60, EXP ×1980!
[EXP: 7640/700 (Upgradeable)]
[EXP overflow exceeded 10x, starting automatic level-up!]
He Miaomiao: Huh? Didn’t I just level up? How am I leveling up again so fast!