◎ Occupation Appears ◎
Thanks to the supplies from the instance dungeon, everyone had a good night’s sleep.
She had wanted to sleep an extra hour due to exhaustion from the previous day, but unexpectedly, Xueqiu, who usually loved staying in bed, woke up on time for the first time. It rolled around on her face and tried to tickle her with its fluffy fur.
Left with no choice, Yan Lan got up and, as promised, made mushroom soup for the little glutton.
While she was washing the mushrooms and the hen in the sink, the little snowball took the initiative to go to the balcony to water the plants and pick fruit.
Now, the oranges and apples bore fruit every day. Each day, they could harvest nearly 20 pieces of fruit. She and Xueqiu consumed 4 pieces a day, and she stored the rest in the refrigerator or her backpack.
The mushrooms she took out of her backpack’s inventory were as fresh as they had been the day before. Even the soil clinging to the roots still carried the scent of fresh grass.
Looking at the mushroom roots, an idea struck her, and she went to the balcony.
The two fruit trees in the flowerpots were each about a meter tall, almost taking up the entire space. However, there was still some empty space at the bottom of the pots. Yan Lan planted the soil containing mushroom spores there.
If she was lucky, new mushrooms might grow.
Looking at the cramped flowerpots, Yan Lan felt a little melancholic. If she got a few more types of plants, these pots would be bursting.
Returning indoors, she quickly chopped up the hen and put it into the pot to stew.
It was a tough, free-range wild chicken, so it needed to simmer for quite a while. After handling everything, she sat at the table, eating an apple while checking the game panel.
【Map: Icy Snowfield | Game Day: 6 | Weather: Heavy Snow | Temperature: -15°C (Winter) | Time: 7:00 AM】
The temperature had dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius. One brazier of charcoal wasn’t quite enough at this temperature, so she added another one in the RV.
With two braziers and two hand warmers, the temperature inside the vehicle became a bit more comfortable.
If she had enough gasoline, she would have kept the RV’s air conditioning running all the time.
The friends interface showed unread messages, from Ji Zhou, no less.
He sent a greeting: “Good morning! Could you spare me a few mushrooms? I want to stew them with some chicken.”
He had given her so many durians yesterday, so a few mushrooms were nothing. Yan Lan picked out a few clusters of the best-quality ones and sent them over.
Ji Zhou: “Thanks. I’ll let you taste my cooking once it’s done.”
Sending a few mushrooms in exchange for a bowl of chicken soup, what a great deal! Yan Lan suspected he didn’t know how to do business, but for some reason, she didn’t turn him down.
Then came a message from Luo Wen: “Yan Lan, I’ve got great news! I obtained a profession: Pharmacist. Every day, I have a chance to get a medicine item. I have you to thank for this, if it weren’t for you, I’d probably be dead by now.”
“This is the medicine I got this morning. It’s for you. No refusing~”
A profession! A profession had actually appeared!
Yan Lan was genuinely happy for her. She congratulated her and accepted the item. It was a compound snake fat ointment, specifically for skin itching caused by frostbite.
With the temperature dropping, frostbite was extremely common. It went without saying how precious this ointment was.
After replying to messages and sending Shi Yuanyuan a visitor request, she opened the group chat.
Quite a few people in the group had obtained professional skills.
Player 1: “My profession is Miner. Every day, I have a 50% chance to get 1 metal/rubber/glass, and a 5% chance to get 1 electronic component.”
“Awesome! One free item every day. Damn! Why am I not that lucky?”
Player 1: “This was from a skill card I found in a hidden chest during yesterday’s instance dungeon.”
Player 2: *”Same here, but my skill is Housewife! Every day, I have a certain chance to get 1 toothbrush/toothpaste/shampoo/laundry soap, etc. Today I got a bar of laundry soap. Anyone want to trade?”*
“Life skills are great! Save up enough and you can trade for supplies.”
“So jealous!”
Player 3: “I’m a Nutritionist. I got an Oreo this morning. It’s not much, but I’m already very satisfied.”
It wasn’t just the other players who were envious, even Yan Lan started to feel a twinge of jealousy. Who wouldn’t want the joy of opening a daily mystery box?
But she had the check-in system. As long as she completed the designated tasks, she had a chance to obtain various supplies and items, essentially a fusion of all the different professions.
Speaking of the check-in system, she took out the rewards she had received over the past two days: a Backpack Expansion Card and an Automatic Cleaning Card.
The Backpack Expansion Card was from yesterday. Thinking back to how she had obtained it, Yan Lan felt a brief moment of awkwardness. That was really tough on him.
She clicked “Use,” and her backpack inventory expanded from 10 slots to 20 slots. With plenty of space now, she stored the 48 durians, cotton, and upgrade materials that had been crammed inside the RV. The thousands of cotton and thousands of wood that had been stored at Shi Yuanyuan’s place now had room as well.
The RV came with a shower and toilet, but the wastewater and sewage had to be emptied manually. After so many days, she had already started noticing an unpleasant smell. The Automatic Cleaning Card came just in time.
The card had three uses. She clicked “Use,” and the RV was instantly refreshed.
The clutter inside was now neatly organized. The floor was spotless, gleaming without a speck of dust. Even the kitchen waste, wastewater tank, and black water tank had been emptied. The entire space even carried a fresh, delicate scent of daisies.
Truly impressive for an automatic cleaning props card.
She carefully stored the card in a hidden compartment under the dining table. The remaining two uses would have to be used sparingly.
Just as she finished handling all this, Shi Yuanyuan was teleported over. Xueqiu took the initiative to open the door for him.
The moment he stepped inside, he held up a quarter of a rooster with an expression that clearly said praise me: “Here, my cousin gave this to me. I’m sharing some with you.”
Through the bare, featherless chicken, Yan Lan could vaguely recall its familiar appearance from when it was alive.
The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. Smiling, she took it and said, “Thanks! Come on in and have a seat.”
Shi Yuanyuan sat down on the sofa chair, sniffing the air. “What’s that smell? It smells amazing!”
Yan Lan smiled. “What a coincidence. I also caught a hen yesterday. We’ll have some together in a bit.”
Shi Yuanyuan stood up abruptly in shock, looking at Yan Lan suspiciously. “Such a coincidence? My cousin got durians and a wild chicken, and you also got durians and a wild chicken?”
Yan Lan laughed. “What a coincidence! Maybe your cousin went to the same instance dungeon as me? You know how many people are on the world channel, there’s always a chance of matching up.”
Shi Yuanyuan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, the world’s a big place. If you had run into my cousin, you’d definitely remember him. He’s always the most eye-catching person in any crowd, tall, handsome, and really manly.”
Yan Lan kept her head down. “Ahaha, is that so? Too bad I didn’t run into him.”
After chatting about his cousin for a while, she turned the topic to the recent buzz about professions.
“Man, guess who I saw on the world channel yesterday?”
“Who?”
Shi Yuanyuan: “That disgusting Sha Renfan! A scumbag like him actually got a profession too, something called a ‘Cigarette Peddler.’ It sounds shady as hell!”
At the mention of Sha Renfan, unpleasant memories surfaced in Yan Lan’s mind.
She frowned and asked, “Cigarette Peddler?”
Shi Yuanyuan replied, “Yeah, he was posting ads on the world channel, attracting a bunch of heavy smokers.”
He then pulled up the photo to show her, deliberately covering the caption, probably because it contained something unspeakable.
“These look like some kind of secondhand smoke. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
Yan Lan took a close look. The items obtained by other players with professions in the group all existed in real life, Oreo cookies, Dove soap, Crest toothbrushes.
But these cigarettes were completely unfamiliar. There wasn’t even a brand or flavor listed, which was genuinely strange.
Shi Yuanyuan frowned. “I’m thinking of buying some to have someone analyze them. There’s definitely something fishy going on.”
Yan Lan nodded. Even if there wasn’t anything suspicious, smoking wasn’t a good thing.
Shi Yuanyuan continued, “Speaking of which, Jiang Tiantian is at least somewhat tolerable. Sure, she’s a bit fake and often sells knockoffs, but at least she provides supplies to players.”
Speaking of knockoffs, just yesterday, right after Yan Lan listed sunglasses and clothes at the trading post, Jiang Tiantian immediately started gathering cotton and glass, copying her at lightning speed.
After sitting for a while, Shi Yuanyuan took the initiative to work at the crafting table.
He still had the thousands of wood and cotton that Yan Lan had stored at his place, which could be turned into charcoal and clothing.
“Wow, this is so fun!”
Putting in one piece of wood turned it into a piece of charcoal in just five seconds, like magic. Shi Yuanyuan played around with it, thoroughly entertained.
He probably found it novel and kept busy without stopping. Yan Lan, on the other hand, had practically spent entire days at the crafting table and was already tired of the repetitive work, so she let him have at it.
One piece of charcoal every five seconds was still too slow. She hoped to get another stat-boosting card.
While Shi Yuanyuan produced, Yan Lan took charge of selling.
Charcoal was always in high demand, every time she listed new stock, it sold out instantly. Aside from trading for wood and upgrade materials, Yan Lan also exchanged for quite a few unusual items.
These were all things players had obtained in dungeons, things like a rice cooker and a kettle.
She still hadn’t found blueprints for snow chains or a car rooftop awning, but she had managed to commission a professional designer to draw one.
To ensure the physical structure was accurately represented, the designer even gathered people with relevant work experience through the world channel.
Each person who offered useful advice or pointed out errors would receive a piece of charcoal. Many were happy to take on the task.
Zhu Yuanyuan submitted the final version of the blueprint and said, “If you need any more drawings in the future, feel free to reach out. I can handle clothes, daily necessities, a little bit of everything~”
Yan Lan clicked to accept. The blueprint was extremely detailed, with every joint and part labeled with dimensions, truly the work of someone from a major design firm.
She replied, “Alright, no problem.”
She then paid the design fee: 40 pieces of charcoal and 10 rolls of toilet paper.
With the blueprint in hand, Yan Lan quickly produced the finished product. After installing it on her vehicle, the chicken soup that had been simmering for hours was finally ready.
The two of them and the little spirit sat down at the dining table. The moment the pot lid was lifted, a rich aroma spread through the air, making them unconsciously take a deep breath.
The wild chicken had been stewed until tender and falling off the bone, while the chanterelle mushrooms were deliciously smooth and delicate. Simmered together, the soup turned a golden color with a deep, rich flavor. On this cold winter day, a warm sip of chicken soup was both comforting and nourishing.
Yan Lan also cut up a plate of fruit to balance the meal with meat and produce, making it nutritious.
Halfway through their hearty meal, Shi Yuanyuan suddenly took out a large bowl of delicious chicken soup, piled high with chicken until it was almost overflowing.
“Hehe, my cousin just sent this to me. Yan Lan, try it and see how it tastes. My cousin doesn’t usually cook, but when he does, it’s a feast!”
Yan Lan glanced quietly at her friend interface, then guiltily took the bowl Shi Yuanyuan handed her. She took a sip, and her eyes immediately lit up.
It really was delicious. Too bad she already had an identical bowl herself.