The gentle light emitted by the Human Communicator brought a faint glow to the log cabin. Although it remained dim, it was like hope in the darkness—small, but ever-present.
“Phew...”
He let out a breath and removed his damp windbreaker.
The moisture in the mist had long since seeped through his clothing, and the nerves that had suddenly relaxed after being tense made Li Qinglang feel exhausted.
Even so, unmistakable delight still showed on his face.
“It’s time for another thrilling treasure chest opening!”
Although the previous Bronze Treasure Chest had yielded an excellent-grade Purified Water Pearl, the supplies were still too limited, containing neither the food nor the warmth items Li Qinglang wanted.
The temperature in the Mist Continent was dropping so drastically that it could no longer be judged by ordinary standards. It had still been around 10 degrees Celsius during the daytime, but as soon as night arrived, the Weather Forecast showed that the current temperature was only 2–5 degrees Celsius.
The cold air combined with his damp clothing had already made Li Qinglang feel extremely cold.
“Snap.”
The iron treasure chest opened!
This time, no colored light appeared, as though he had opened an ordinary box.
“As expected, the lowest-grade chest has no prestige at all.”
Although he said that, Li Qinglang still eagerly inspected the items inside.
There were three items in total.
A folded air-conditioned quilt occupied ninety percent of the space, while two light spheres rested on top of it.
“A quilt! It came at exactly the right time.”
By now, Li Qinglang’s teeth were chattering from the cold. He hurriedly removed his damp sweatshirt and draped the air-conditioned quilt over himself.
The quilt was only a thin layer, but it was surprisingly warm. Its fabric was also extremely comfortable and very soft.
After stabilizing his body temperature, Li Qinglang directly crushed and opened the remaining two light spheres.
They contained 30 wood and 30 stone, respectively.
There was no food as he had expected, but it was still quite good.
Li Qinglang had felled trees for an hour himself and obtained only 30 wood, while he had not found a single piece of stone. This island seemingly had no stone mine resources.
After a day of diligent exploration, the harvest was satisfying as well. The previously empty log cabin had now gained quite a few things.
First was the area by the entrance, where Li Qinglang had piled wood measuring approximately four or five meters in length. Stacked layer upon layer, it amounted to a full 60 units and occupied half the wooden house’s space.
Beside the wood was 20 units of stone, each piece about the size of a brick.
Li Qinglang’s position was at the diagonal opposite the door. Beside him were two empty treasure chests. One contained approximately 2,500 milliliters of purified seawater, while the other held the clothing he had removed.
The earliest Azure Treasure Chest had been stuffed beneath him and was serving as a stool.
Besides that, there were two coconuts the size of winter melons. One had had a third of its coconut water drunk, while half of its coconut meat was gone.
The millstone-shaped homeland spring eye, together with the Purified Water Pearl, was placed beside the coconuts.
After being purified, the spring water had changed. Originally, it had been like this:
【Sweet Spring Water（Fine）】
Description: spring water flowing from the homeland spring eye. It produces 300 milliliters per day, and the spring water has the effect of slightly improving one’s physique.
After evolution:
【Sweet Spring Water（Excellent）】
Description: purified spring water. Its originally excellent quality has been further improved. Drinking it improves one’s physique and also regulates the body.
Note: Mom will never have to worry about me getting sick again!
Looking at this loot, Li Qinglang felt that life had suddenly become beautiful.
“It’s a pity I didn’t get any proper food. Coconut meat can barely fill my stomach. It would be great to have some staple food.”
He rubbed his stomach. “I wonder whether the Exchange has any high-quality food to trade.”
As he thought, he picked up the Communicator and opened the World Chat Channel.
Sure enough, it was already bustling. Countless Survivors far from home could only find some familiar feeling here.
Seven hours of daytime and seventeen hours of dark night!
Humans were always prone to melancholy at night.
Even on Blue Star, with its wealth of entertainment, people could not avoid the “online depression” that came with the dark night.
Let alone being in the unfamiliar and dangerous Mist Continent, where loneliness, homesickness, panic, and other emotions were infinitely magnified.
People urgently needed somewhere to vent their emotions, and the World Chat Channel was undoubtedly the best choice:
“I’m a student. Quickly send me a bucket of fried chicken and cola, and hurry up and send me back to Blue Star.”
“I am Qin Shi Huang. I urgently need a bowl of pork knuckle rice as military rations. Once I send my army to conquer the Mist Continent, I’ll make you a prince.”
“Stop talking about food. The more you say, the hungrier I get. I spent all day searching today and didn’t find anything edible.”
“Isn’t that the truth? Not only did I fail to find food, but the unidentified creature that scratched around outside the door last night has come again. I’m hungry and panicking right now.”
“I have a plan! Brother, why not look through the crack in the door to see whether it’s human or ghost? I’ll say just one thing: if you’re brave enough, Sadako will take maternity leave. Brave bull, fear no difficulty—just do it, let’s go!”
“Are you all really suffering this badly? My spawn point is right beside a river, and there’s a patch of Sweet Potatoes not far from my Shelter. I have both food and drink, and I’m currently studying how to make fire by drilling wood so I can roast Sweet Potatoes.”
“!!!”
“!!!”
“!!!”
“Good grief, Sweet Potato Bro, you’re the true chosen one. Honestly, are there also lots of dogs where you are?”
“No. Why?”
“Then why have you stepped in all the dog shit in the world?”
“I’m crying to death. Sweet Potato Bro, give me some water. I’m on a cliff, and I nearly fell to my death when I went outside. There’s nothing nearby except stone. I’m dying of thirst.”
“Sweet Potato Bro, the handsomest man in the universe, give me some water too. I won’t take it for free—I’ll trade wood with you!”
“Bah, you shameless bootlicker. Do you think licking my dad like that will help? Dad, look at me! I’m your eldest son who’s been lost outside!”
“Uh... I’m only nineteen this year.”
Li Qinglang silently lurked and watched the screen. Sure enough, chatting with these absurd netizens greatly relieved his pressure.
“But why do I still feel like something’s missing?”
After pondering for a moment, Li Qinglang edited some text, attached a picture, and sent it all in one smooth motion.
“Sigh, I didn’t find much today either. I only found two giant coconuts the size of winter melons, so I can barely get by eating coconut meat and drinking coconut water.”
Attached image: two large coconuts.jpg
“???”
“???”
“Versailles! Believe me, I’ll follow the internet cable and chop you up!”
“Dad, I mistook someone else earlier. You’re my real father. Get me a cup of coconut water （cry）”
The corner of Li Qinglang’s mouth lifted slightly. “Phew, that feels good!”
The strategy of quietly amassing wealth was not applicable in the Mist Continent. Since he did not need to worry about anyone plotting against him, showing off appropriately could bring considerable emotional satisfaction. Ultimately, this was the inferior root of human nature: seeing that most people were living worse than oneself would not quite make one gloat, but it naturally bred a sense of satisfaction.
After the initial stage of bragging and idle chatter, the conversation gradually got back on track.
Those who wanted water resources no longer tried to get something for nothing, but instead actively proposed trade conditions.
“One unit of wood for 100 milliliters of water. Is there a big shot willing to trade five portions?”
“You want to trade one wood for water? I’m offering two wood. Private Chat me if you want to trade.”
“I’m offering three wood! Quickly give me a cup of water.”
“Big shots, stop driving up the price. Many people have their spawn points by rivers, where the water is practically inexhaustible. If the price increase continues, none of us will be able to afford water.”
The spontaneously established trade prices were extremely chaotic. Some people had indeed been thirsty all day and feared they would be unable to buy water, but there was also no ruling out that some water sellers were mixed in and maliciously driving up prices to make a profit.
“I’d like to sell water, but I don’t have a container. Also, I have bad news for everyone. I just checked the Exchange, and each person can only make three trades per day, regardless of whether they’re buying or selling.”
As soon as he heard this, Li Qinglang hurried to the trade section to verify it and found that it was indeed true.
The limit of three trades per day was undoubtedly terrible news for all survivors, greatly restricting their development and survival.
Some Survivors with advantageous terrain had originally planned to rely on their natural resources and simply lie back, but discovered in despair that the Mist Continent would not let them exploit loopholes. Even if they controlled an entire great river, they still had to fell trees.
At this moment, a new Profession was born in the chat channel: resellers!
Because of the trade limit, those with water naturally wanted to sell large quantities at once to maximize their profits.
The resellers, meanwhile, sacrificed their own trade opportunities specifically to resell water resources. Fortunately, most people had no utensils for holding water, but everyone had at least two treasure chests, and each empty chest could hold approximately five liters of water.
This directly led to the chat channel being filled with shouts such as:
“One treasure chest of water for 200 wood!”
What? You say no one has that much wood right now? Sorry, plenty of people are trading.
With more than eight billion Survivors, there would always be lucky ones who obtained a large amount of wood on the first day.
After the large quantities of water had been sold, the resellers came out and sold half a chest of water for 150 wood. Then came the third-tier resellers...
It was not until an hour later that the water-selling craze gradually faded. At last, the chat channel began displaying some highly practical items offered for trade.
Li Qinglang browsed through the chat history. His current water resources were completely sufficient for his own use, and he was not urgently short of food either.
His goal was tools for sustainable development, such as a better axe, or weapons and traps for self-defense.
Actually, that young man’s Sweet Potatoes were quite good—not for eating, but for planting.
Sweet potato plants had a high survival rate, low environmental requirements, and a high output. However, Li Qinglang was not in a hurry to trade for them. His primary task now was to stay alive!
Long-term cultivation would have to wait until things stabilized. At the very least, acquiring them should rank after the Shelter Upgrade Material.
In the current trading market, wood had already become a temporary currency. After all, everyone possessed a battered stone axe and had at least some wood.
Just as Li Qinglang was considering whether to exchange purified seawater for some wood, the Human Communicator sent a vibration notification.