Qiyu liked this kind of shiny, golden color.
He wasn't in any hurry to open the chest. Instead, he placed the brass chest into his backpack, where it occupied an entire slot.
At the moment, his backpack contained the following:
The brass chest occupied one slot. The fine iron chest occupied another.
Three unopened wooden chests shared one slot.
Food and water: 500ml of clean drinking water x 4, steamed buns x 4, half a cake, and 70 wild banyan berries, all stored in a wooden box.
Miscellaneous items: 1 dagger, 1 piece of cotton cloth, 1 packet of sunflower seeds, 2 pieces of leather, and 10 rabbit furs, all stored in another wooden box.
The two wooden boxes occupied one slot.
50 pieces of wood occupied one slot.
500g of gale rabbit meat x3 occupied one slot.
There was also an empty wooden chest sitting alone in a separate slot.
Seven of the ten slots in his basic backpack were already occupied.
Qiyu began collecting the loot dropped by the Level 2 mutant barbarian fang boar.
Fortunately, all 100 kg of barbarian fang boar meat fit into a single backpack slot.
【Fine leather x30, excellent crafting material.】
Qiyu opened his personal panel. He remembered that leather was one of the materials required to upgrade his wooden cabin, but he wasn't sure whether fine leather would count.
The wooden chest he used for miscellaneous items had limited capacity and couldn't accommodate all thirty units of fine leather.
He filled the empty wooden chest to capacity, then placed the remaining stack of leather into the backpack slot directly before it.
This freed up another slot in his backpack, leaving three slots available.
There were still two glowing orbs on the ground.
At first glance, both appeared white, but a closer look revealed subtle differences.
One glowed white with a faint green tint, while the other had a slight bluish hue.
【Barbarian Fang Bracers: Unique equipment. Equipping grants +3 Attack. Can be equipped.】
【Barbarian Fang Dagger: Fine-quality equipment. Increases damage by 10% and has a 10% chance to crit. Can be equipped.】
Qiyu chose to equip both items.
The barbarian fang bracers were made of black leather. Once equipped, they fit snugly around his right wrist, looking rather like a stylish accessory.
The +3 Attack bonus was immediately noticeable. Qiyu could feel that he had grown stronger.
The barbarian fang dagger, meanwhile, automatically attached itself to his waist in a manner that completely defied scientific explanation.
Qiyu was currently wearing a white cotton shirt, yellow linen trousers, and black cloth shoes.
Of course, these weren't his original clothes. There was no such thing as clothing this clean and comfortable in the post-apocalyptic world.
At first, he had assumed they were the standard beginner's outfit provided by the survival game. However, after browsing the chat channel yesterday, he realized that wasn't quite right.
Apparently, the clothes players started with depended on what they had been wearing when they were brought into the game.
As a result, some players had arrived fully armed, while others complained about being dragged into the game wearing nothing but underwear and flip-flops.
As for himself...
Qiyu thought about it for a moment.
Perhaps it was because his body had been so badly mangled, or because he had been hovering on the brink of death when he entered the game.
The system might as well have given him a complete outfit makeover with a single click.
Hmm, and not just his clothes. His body, too.
In any case, his current outfit was quite casual, which suited both the wooden cabin and the surrounding primeval jungle.
The little sunflower hat he had traded for last night matched his clothes so well that it almost looked like part of the same outfit.
Qiyu drew the silvery dagger, examined it for a moment, and then slipped it back into its sheath.
He had to admit, the movement looked pretty cool.
Afterward, he continued patrolling the safe zone like an inspector making his rounds.
Unfortunately, it seemed there were only two mutated creatures in the area today. No matter how carefully he searched, he couldn't find a third.
By the time he returned to the wooden cabin with his abundant haul, it was already 11:00 a.m.
However, Qiyu still had plenty of stamina left, and he had no intention of wasting it.
Picking up his wooden axe, he instantly transformed into a tireless logging machine.
Thanks to the bonus provided by the barbarian fang bracers, he felt noticeably stronger, and his tree-felling speed had increased as well.
After chopping down six trees in succession, he finally received a low-stamina warning from the system.
He opened the interface to check the time.
It was exactly 12:30 p.m.
He had felled six trees in just an hour and a half.
Two critical hits had triggered during the process, bringing his total harvest to 80 pieces of wood.
Qiyu sat down to rest for a while, drank some water, and ate the remaining half of last night's cake for lunch.
Since he had enjoyed such a productive morning, he even treated himself to some of the wild banyan plums he had gathered earlier.
The fruits were only about the size of his little finger. They were more sour than sweet and didn't taste particularly good, but Qiyu still ate them with relish.
After lunch, Qiyu rubbed his hands together with an almost reverent expression.
Before him sat a brass chest, a fine iron chest, and three wooden chests.
It was his first time having so many treasure chests to open at once, and he felt a rare surge of excitement.
He was particularly eager to open the brass chest.
Not only was it the first chest of its kind he had encountered, but it had also dropped from a Level 2 mutant barbarian fang boar.
The barbarian fang boar alone had yielded a massive amount of edible meat, along with valuable equipment such as the barbarian fang dagger and barbarian fang bracers.
Surely the rewards inside its treasure chest wouldn't be disappointing?
【Treasure chest detected. Open?】
Qiyu decided to start with the wooden chests.
【Congratulations, player. You have obtained 500ml of water x3, cream-filled bread x3, 500g of flour, 1 Men's Universal Clothing Set, 1 Daily Necessities Set, and 1 flint】
What an unexpected haul.
The wooden chests he had opened yesterday had mostly contained basic necessities such as food and water.
Today, however, the three wooden chests had yielded only three bottles of water and three pieces of bread, each smaller than a steamed bun.
On the bright side, he had also received a clothing set and a daily necessities set.
Qiyu picked them up and examined them.
The universal clothing set turned out to be identical to the outfit he was currently wearing, containing a shirt, trousers, cloth shoes, and underwear.
Excellent!
The daily necessities set came in a large box containing toothpaste, a toothbrush, shampoo, body wash, laundry detergent, and toilet paper.
Qiyu handled each item carefully before placing everything back inside the box.
In his previous world, every single one of these things would have been considered a luxury.
When simply staying alive was already an unimaginable luxury, who had the time or energy to worry about anything else?
He had never imagined that dying once would actually give him the chance to live like a human being.
There were still two treasure chests left: a fine iron chest and a brass chest.
Qiyu had a feeling that their contents might be quite different from what he had imagined.
"Open the fine iron chest."
【Congratulations! You have obtained 2 units of universal farmland, 2 units of plant nutrient solution, and 1 packet of gale grass seeds】
Farmland and seeds!
Earlier, he had been wondering how he was supposed to grow sunflowers when the area outside the wooden cabin refreshed every day.
Now it seemed that he needed to use the "farmland" provided by the game itself.
Qiyu was extremely satisfied with the rewards from this chest.
Now for the next one.
"Open the brass chest."
【Congratulations! You have obtained 1 mysterious card and 1 drifting bottle】
The brass chest had yielded only two items.
The first was a beautiful, translucent green card. Its surface was smooth and cool to the touch.
The second was an unremarkable glass bottle, half-filled with snow-white sand.
【Mysterious Card: May have unexpected effects under special circumstances.】
【Drifting Bottle: Throw it into water, and it may appear in any area.】
Qiyu: ?
He examined the card from every angle, even trying to interact with it using his ability, but nothing happened.
With no other options, he could only put it away for the time being.
As for the "drifting bottle" filled with sand?
Come on!
He was still relying on treasure chests just to obtain drinking water. Where was he supposed to find a body of water large enough to throw a bottle into?
He decided to put everything away for now.
Next, he opened his personal interface.
Shelter: Initial Wooden Cabin (Durability 100/100), upgradeable.
Next Level: Level One Shelter (Sturdy Wooden Cabin).
Upgrade Materials: Wood x200, Stone x100, Leather x20, Iron Chunks x20.
He tried submitting the materials he had collected.
【Wood 130/200】 【Stone 99/100】
【Fine Leather 30/20 (met)】
【Iron Chunks 10/20】
Qiyu was delighted.
Fine leather counted!
Wood and stone were relatively easy to obtain, and he could also get iron chunks by dismantling fine iron chests.
Leather was a different matter.
He had only obtained two pieces of ordinary leather so far, both from killing mutated creatures.
And that gale rabbit had dropped only two pieces.
If fine leather hadn't counted toward the upgrade requirements, collecting twenty pieces of ordinary leather would have been a real headache.
With his goal finally within reach, Qiyu felt as though he had limitless energy.
He grabbed his wooden axe and headed outside.
Two hours later, he returned to the wooden cabin with his backpack filled with 70 units of wood and 50 units of stone.
【Wood 200/200 (Met)】 【Stone 100/100 (Met)】
【Fine Leather 20/20 (Met)】
【Iron Chunks 10/20】
All that remained were the iron chunks.
Qiyu opened the chat channel.
He noticed that the number of players had fallen to 99,832/100,000.
More than a hundred people were already missing.
【Civil Engineering Brother: Looks like mutated creatures have started spawning in the safe zone today. Killing them gives rewards.】
【I Am Really Out Of Options: I wouldn't dare! I can't even bring myself to kill a fish.】
【Today Is Also A Day Of Slacking Off: I'd actually be willing to try. I just saw this gorgeous wild pheasant, and after two days of eating steamed buns, my mouth started watering the moment I saw it. The problem is, I can't catch the damn thing!】
【National First Class Trash: I ran into a mutated dog. I chased after it but couldn't take it down. If it hadn't been so close to my wooden cabin, I might not have made it back alive.】
【Pure Peace Music: I encountered one too. Animals are so cute. Why do we have to kill them? It's too cruel! Can't we just live together peacefully?】
【A Van Full Of Bread Men: Everyone, don't be too scared. I've been observing them, and as long as we don't provoke them, these mutated creatures won't attack us.】
【Civil Engineering Brother: Those aren't real animals. When you kill them, they turn into white light and disappear. Just think of them as strings of data. The treasure chests they drop contain plenty of useful stuff, so everyone should give it a try. We're in a survival game, after all. This is something we have to get used to.】
This 【Civil Engineering Brother】 had always been very active in the chat channel, and he seemed surprisingly willing to help others.
Judging from the conversations, it appeared that players had begun encountering mutated creatures all over the safe zone today.
Qiyu scrolled through the trading page and, as expected, couldn't find anyone offering iron chunks.
That was understandable.
After all, iron chunks were essential materials for upgrading wooden cabins. Unless they had absolutely no other choice, no one would willingly trade them away.
Qiyu had no choice but to dismantle a fine iron chest.
【Obtained iron chunks x10】
Qiyu let out a long sigh of relief.
At long last, he had gathered all the resources needed to upgrade his shelter.