◎Product Blowup◎
Yan Lan slept soundly through the night. Rubbing her eyes, she greeted Xueqiu, who was pressed up against her cheek: “Morning, Xueqiu.”
“Jiji~”
Its condition looked much better than yesterday, its fur was glossy and smooth. She casually stroked its soft little belly and sat up.
A thick layer of snow had accumulated on the windshield, blocking the daylight outside. Even during the day, the inside of the car seemed a bit dim.
She patted her cheeks, gave herself a mental pep talk, put on her jacket and shoes, and got out of the off-road vehicle.
“Phew, it’s noticeably colder than yesterday!”
She called up the game panel to check.
【Map: Icy Snowfield | Game Day: 2 | Weather: Rain and Snow | Temperature: 5°C (Winter) | Time: 6:00 AM】
Yesterday it was 10°C, and in just one day, it had dropped another 5°C. Who knew what it would be like by the last day?
She let out a long sigh and walked over to the windshield. Taking an iron rod from her backpack slot, she began shoveling off the snow. A light freezing rain had fallen last night, and some of the snow had already frozen into ice chunks stuck firmly to the glass.
Removing those ice chunks took quite a while. It seemed she would need to figure out some kind of canopy or tarp, and a shovel would also be necessary.
After clearing the snow, she went to the trunk to check on the flowerpot. The apple seed she had planted yesterday had already sprouted into a small sapling, and the ponkan seed had actually grown into a small tree, now about 50 centimeters tall.
She worried that at this rate, the cramped trunk space wouldn’t be enough for it to thrive.
But worrying about it wouldn’t help, so she pushed the thought aside and went over to the water collector. Overnight, it had collected a full ton of water.
The water collector’s storage tank had a space-compression effect, so even a full ton looked like just a small jug. The water was drinkable and could also be used for washing. Now that water was abundant, she no longer had to worry about running out.
From her backpack slots, she took out a boiling pot she had traded for yesterday, filled it with water, and lit a fire in a spot sheltered from the wind next to the off-road vehicle, placing the pot over it.
While the water was heating, she filled all her empty bottles with water, stored the water collector back in her backpack, and then practiced two sets of punches.
As she practiced, Xueqiu flew out of the off-road vehicle, sometimes perching on her arm, sometimes on her head, playing joyfully.
Yan Lan glanced at it in surprise: “Xueqiu, you can fly? That’s amazing.”
“Jiji~” Xueqiu nodded its head like a pecking chick, looking adorable.
After finishing her punches, the water happened to be boiling. She mixed in some cold water, part of it for washing up, the rest for laundry.
Feeling fresh and clean, Yan Lan got into the off-road vehicle with Xueqiu. It was exactly 7:00 AM, time for breakfast.
“Let’s have meat buns. One for you, one for me.”
Having recovered, Xueqiu no longer needed Yan Lan to feed it. It extended its two little meaty paws, grabbed the bun, and started gnawing. The bun was half the size of its body, yet it gobbled it down in just a few bites.
Yan Lan watched it, a strange sense of panic rising in her heart. This was also a big eater! It seemed her food consumption would have to double from now on.
“Ah, I forgot to check in again.”
“System, check in.”
Every morning, she had so many things to do that she almost forgot the most important one.
【Please imitate Sailor Moon’s line “In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!” and send it to the group chat.】
Having been cursed at the first time, she was now completely unbothered. She quickly completed the task.
The people in the group were used to it by now, several players even saved her pictures as emojis.
【Check-in successful! Obtained one Attribute Enhancement Card.】
【Attribute Enhancement Card: When applied to a specific object, its effects are doubled.】
Such an amazing effect!
Yan Lan had roughly figured out the rules of the check-in system: the harder the task, the better the reward; the simpler the task, the simpler the prize.
She held the Attribute Enhancement Card, her eyes darting around the car, sizing up everything.
Currently, the most urgent and most valuable thing was this off-road vehicle.
【Ding, the initial vehicle can only be upgraded. Cannot use on this.】
It seemed she had been overthinking it, she had hoped it might do something special to the off-road vehicle.
She shifted her target, climbed into the back seat, and pressed the Attribute Enhancement Card onto the crafting table.
【Attribute Enhancement Card is merging. Please wait~】
The light screen on the crafting table changed!
She was extremely excited, staring at it without blinking.
After a flash of white light, the crafting table’s appearance remained unchanged, but it had a new description.
【Crafting Table: Enhanced crafting table production speed is halved, and there is a 1/1000 chance of obtaining attribute items.】
Previously, everything she made was ordinary. With the upgraded crafting table, however, it could produce attribute items. Moreover, this probability could be accumulated and used all at once. Yan Lan decided to make good use of this chance, who knew, a miracle might happen.
With production speed halved, making one piece of charcoal, which previously took 10 seconds, now only took 5 seconds. In the future, she could save half the time and do more things.
Overjoyed by this great fortune, Yan Lan was in a good mood. She returned to the driver’s seat and happily hummed a song.
“I had a little donkey, I never rode it along. One day I went to the market, riding it to the song~”
“Hmm? Xueqiu, what are you doing?”
While she was singing, Xueqiu flew onto the steering wheel and started bouncing up and down.
She understood its desire to be cute, but it was affecting her driving.
She had no choice but to reach out with both hands, pick it up, and place it on the passenger seat. She lightly tapped its head and pretended to be angry: “Xueqiu, no mischief. If you affect my driving, we won’t find treasure chests. And if we don’t find treasure chests, there’ll be no food, okay~”
“Jiji~ Jiji~”
Xueqiu stretched out its little paws and kept gesturing, then flew back onto the steering wheel in the blink of an eye, looking stubborn.
Yan Lan picked it up and put it back on the passenger seat again, saying sternly, “Xueqiu, if you do that again, I won’t take you with me.”
This threat worked very well. Xueqiu sulked and curled up on the seat, though its round, black eyes kept glancing her way.
Everything back on track, she opened the regional chat again to see how everyone was doing.
What she saw was quite something.
Chen Shengsheng was a 20-year-old male college student. Like most people, he had unfortunately been pulled into the game.
For the first 20 years of his life, he had been buried in studying. His parents, hoping he would become a dragon (a great success), had been extremely strict with him.
He had only ever known how to study. He had never done any housework, so his life skills were terrible. He suffered from severe social anxiety, just communicating with people made him afraid.
But he was lucky. During the novice period, he had collected enough materials to upgrade to a three-wheeler. Then the heavy snow came. He met Jiang Tiantian, and through her introduction, he joined the Jin Gang.
Life in the Jin Gang was not as wonderful as he had imagined. The gang leader, Jin Buwei, was overbearing and aggressive, always looking fierce. Chen Shengsheng never dared to speak with him.
Fortunately, the vice leader, Jiang Tiantian, was gentle and kind, always asking how he was doing. She handled all of his external affairs for him. He was very grateful to her.
Then he got lucky again. This time, he obtained a Skill Card.
As long as he was given an item, and provided he had sufficient materials, he could learn the method to manufacture that item.
Chen Shengsheng told this news to his best friend, Jiang Tiantian. Jiang Tiantian came up with a plan: he would be responsible for production, others would handle promotion and sales, and the proceeds would be split according to an agreed ratio.
Chen Shengsheng thought Jiang Tiantian was simply a kind little angel. She knew he didn’t like communicating with people, so she had thoughtfully come up with this solution.
But today, she seemed a bit harsh.
“Chen Shengsheng, what’s going on? Some players are complaining that the charcoal you made has too much smoke and burns for a short time. They’re demanding refunds!”
Chen Shengsheng stopped what he was doing and wiped the sweat from his forehead: “I don’t know either. I followed the charcoal you gave me to learn from.”
Jiang Tiantian: “Are you saying the charcoal I gave you was faulty?”
Chen Shengsheng quickly said, “No, no!”
Jiang Tiantian asked suspiciously: “Are you sure you didn’t cut corners?”
If he didn’t know Jiang Tiantian couldn’t see him, Chen Shengsheng would have raised his hand and sworn an oath: “Tiantian, I really didn’t. I followed every step. It takes 20 seconds to make one piece of charcoal!”
There was a moment of silence on Jiang Tiantian’s end, then she sent another message: “Fine then. We need 2,000 more pieces of charcoal. How long will it take you to make them?”
Chen Shengsheng was shocked by the number: “It… it should take about 11 hours.”
“What?!”
Probably feeling that her tone was too direct, Jiang Tiantian recalled the message and sent a new one: “Alright then. You might have to work overtime today.”
Chen Shengsheng thought for a long time, then finally mustered the courage: “Tiantian, did you forget something?”
Jiang Tiantian looked at that stupid bowl-cut avatar and let out a cold, mocking sneer. What era was this? Such an old-fashioned hairstyle.
She pretended not to understand: “Forget what?”
Chen Shengsheng: “The… the supplies you promised me. I haven’t gone to search for treasure chests for the past two days.”
Jiang Tiantian was utterly annoyed with him. If Chen Shengsheng had been a handsome guy, she might have been willing to continue chatting. But with that disgusting bowl-cut? No way. If he weren’t useful, she wouldn’t bother wasting her time on him.
Chen Shengsheng had been brought into the gang by her, so the supplies were also distributed by her. Every time she split the commissions, she would pick one or two items from his share and add them to her own little treasury, then transfer the rest to him. He was such a pushover, even if she shorted him a few pieces, he wouldn’t dare say anything.
And as for the Jin Gang itself, if she hadn’t been so desperate back then, she would never have joined in the first place.
Not only did she have to hand over supplies every day, but she also had to listen to that insufferable Jin Buwei’s lectures. But she was afraid of being publicly criticized online by Jin Buwei, if that happened, it would leave a black mark on her record and make it harder for her to do big things later. So she had no choice but to swallow her pride and stay.
Sure enough, just after finishing her chat with Chen Shengsheng, a message from Jin Buwei came in: “What did Chen Shengsheng say?”
Jin Buwei was the owner of a martial arts gym and had been practicing combat techniques for decades. Jiang Tiantian didn’t dare be careless: “I asked him. There’s nothing we can do. The quality of what he copies can only reach this level.”
Jin Buwei: “Then what do we do? More and more people in the group are complaining!”
Jiang Tiantian was also frustrated. These big, crude men were relying on her, a woman, to come up with all the ideas. They were so stupid it was infuriating!
Jin Buwei’s profile picture showed a muscular build but a very small head, it looked like a gorilla, extremely disproportionate.
Jiang Tiantian had accidentally glimpsed it once, and her eyes practically rolled into the back of her head.
How could someone look like that! Even setting aside his ugly face, his physique wasn’t her type either. He wasn’t like Shi Yuanyuan.
Thinking of Shi Yuanyuan, Jiang Tiantian’s eyes sprouted little hearts. But that guy was also a fool, she had tried to add him as a friend several times, and he never agreed. What was he being so aloof about?
“Tiantian, are you there?”
Another message alert. Jiang Tiantian snapped out of her fantasy, her expression turning disgusted: “Let them complain. We’re selling cheap to begin with. Isn’t it normal that cheap goods aren’t good?”
Jin Buwei, completely unaware of her aversion, replied: “Yeah, Tiantian, you’re absolutely right. We’ll just stick to that line.”
After dealing with Jin Buwei, a flood of private messages came in, all asking her why the quality of their charcoal was different from Yan Lan’s.
She rolled her eyes and cleared them all with one click.
Were they stupid? How could it be the same quality when it was so much cheaper?
Besides, she wasn’t the person in charge of the Jin Gang. If they had a problem, they should go find Jin Buwei.