◎The Scraps of Society◎
【Map: Tropical Savanna | Game Day: 2 | Weather: Sunny | Temperature: 28°C (Summer) | Time: 7:00 AM】
Yan Lan glanced at today’s weather, stretched comfortably, and made checking in her first order of business after waking up.
Eagerly, she summoned the check-in system. But when she saw the task, she sucked in a sharp breath. Today’s task seemed a bit provocative.
【Take a meme photo with the theme “Good morning, you scraps of society” and send it to the regional channel.】
Compared to yesterday’s “Make a peace sign at the sky,” this task had clearly leveled up in difficulty. But that didn’t dampen her confidence.
She struck a pose full of confidence, but the “click” of a camera she had heard yesterday didn’t come.
She flashed a smile and gave a little wave: “Hi~”
Silence.
Eerie silence.
She awkwardly switched through several poses. Her face was stiff from smiling, but still, no sound alert came.
Was she doing it wrong?
Yan Lan rubbed the rigid muscles in her cheeks and pondered.
Then, she put one hand on her hip, leaned her upper body against the three-wheeler, raised her other hand above her head with one finger extended, and slowly pointed it downward. She arched her waist and hips into an exaggerated S-shape, and put on a look of contempt and haughty pride.
Click. 【Check-in successful. Please collect your reward~】
“Phew~”
Yan Lan finally relaxed her limbs and let out a sigh of relief.
Feeling a bit guilty, she didn’t dare look at the group messages. But she couldn’t stop people from privately messaging her, her Dings and Dong notifications kept going off non-stop.
Without accepting their friend requests, these people found her through the listing link for that hair tie in the Trading Center.
Most of them were there to curse her out, saying she was petty and vindictive, that she was deliberately getting back at them.
She glanced at them coldly and didn’t reply. She smoothly scrolled down, and among the long list of familiar active users, one unexpected name stood out.
She didn’t expect him to be up this early too, and to have sent her a message.
Given their pleasant transaction the day before, Yan Lan had a good impression of him, so she opened the message.
As expected, he had come to kindly warn her: “Yan Lan, did you send the wrong thing? Take it down quickly, you’re going to get attacked!”
Yan Lan smiled faintly and replied, “Haha, it’s fine~”
How could she take it down? If she did, she wouldn’t get her reward.
“Have you not woken up yet?”
Shi Yuanyuan was baffled. This was “fine”? Had she not seen how everyone was cursing her out in the group?
Yan Lan reassured him, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Everyone’s been too gloomy, I’m just livening up the atmosphere.”
Shi Yuanyuan stared at her reply for a long time, then finally convinced himself to let it go.
She was doing much better than he was. He was the one who should be worried. Still, the first time he saw those responses, he couldn’t help frowning, and she was a girl, after all.
But it seemed she didn’t really care. In fact, she almost seemed to enjoy it.
Shi Yuanyuan took another look at the toxic flood of messages in the group chat and silently gave her a thumbs-up in admiration. This kind of mental fortitude was beyond ordinary, no wonder she had been the first to upgrade.
As if inspired, he took a deep breath, put strength into his arms, lifted his handcart, and stepped forward. Just one more piece of Glass and he could upgrade. Hang in there!
Yan Lan cleared all her unread messages with one click. Seeing the red notification dots disappear was immensely satisfying.
Then she proceeded to collect her reward from the check-in system.
【Check-in successful! Obtained Crafting Table ×1.】
【Crafting Table: A super versatile all-in-one crafting tool. You deserve it!】
“Wow!” She couldn’t help but exclaim. It was a crafting table!
With such a wonderful treasure, who cared about making a fool of herself in the group chat?
She currently had one Toilet Paper Blueprint and plenty of wood. This was the perfect chance to try it out.
The crafting table was about half a person’s height and one meter long, made from a mix of raw wood and metal. Its surface was smooth and delicate, with a great feel to the touch.
She let out an admiring “tsk tsk” as she ran her hands over it, then placed the blueprint and the wood onto the table.
The crafting table was very smart, all she had to do was click “Craft,” and it would automatically start working.
In less than 10 seconds, a roll of toilet paper without a cardboard core appeared on the table. The paper was soft, strong, and carried a faint, refreshing scent of wood.
She put it away with satisfaction. The first roll she would keep for herself, now she had a reliable supply for wiping her hands and other necessities.
She still had 30 pieces of wood in her backpack slots. She used half to make more toilet paper and kept the other half as backup.
The Toilet Paper Blueprint was permanent. After the crafting table learned the skill, producing the same item in the future could be done directly. In two minutes, 15 rolls of toilet paper were completed.
During that time, she ate breakfast: one ponkan (orange) and one meat bun, replenishing the 20 health points she had lost overnight from resting.
The ponkan was huge, a single segment could fill her entire mouth. One bite burst with juice, making for an exceptionally satisfying meal.
After the toilet paper was finished, she listed all of it on the Trading Center.
It was now 7:30 in the morning. Time to set out and search for supplies. She pressed her palms together and made a devout wish. As she got into the vehicle, her sharp eyes caught sight of the few seeds she had spit onto the ground earlier.
Following the principle of not wasting scarce resources, she picked up the seeds one by one, tore off a small piece of toilet paper, and wrapped them up.
Driving alone was inevitably boring. Out of habit, she kept the group chat floating in the upper-right corner of her view.
Since those players loved to kick up such a fuss so much, they might as well serve as her entertainment.
By now, the meme she had sent early that morning had long been buried under newer messages.
Everyone was discussing another topic.
“What’s going on? How did so many people disappear overnight? Does anyone know what happened?”
Disappeared? Yan Lan then noticed the population count at the top. One look gave her quite a fright.
【H-38 Zone: 9,980 people.】
A full 20 people had vanished overnight, and this was still the novice protection period! Logically, there shouldn’t have been any fatal danger.
Obviously, many others had noticed the issue as well. The group chat was buzzing with discussion.
“Who knows what happened~ But my guess is they must have driven at night. The game said from the very beginning not to drive at night!”
“I swear that’s not the reason! I drove at night myself because I forgot the rules. Some weird things did bother me, but they seemed bound by some kind of rule. They just scared me, no actual physical attacks.”
“Yeah, same here. I found that as long as I stayed huddled in my vehicle, they wouldn’t come near.”
“So, there’s only one explanation, their health must have dropped to zero.”
“That’s just tragic. They literally starved to death!”
“Boo hoo, that’s so sad! I saw those brothers and sisters begging for handouts in the chat just yesterday. If only some kind soul had helped them back then, they wouldn’t have lost their lives for no reason.”
As soon as the girl spoke, the tide of public opinion shifted, and more men chimed in agreement.
She was so distinctive that Yan Lan had already remembered her name from yesterday, Jiang Tiantian.
Her profile picture was as sweet and cute as her name, especially those big, innocent eyes, looking at you all dewy and hard to refuse.
“Exactly. Some people are raking it in but refuse to give even a tiny bit to help others. They have no conscience.”
“We’re all compatriots. Why can’t we help each other? Especially certain ‘leading’ types.”
Yan Lan, quietly lurking behind the screen: “…”
“Leading types”?
She felt vaguely targeted. Were they talking about her?
That little white lotus continued to fan the flames in her tepid, gentle way: “Brother, it’s so nice that you think that way. It’s a pity not everyone is as kind as you.”
This is what they call kind?
Could someone please tell her—
What exactly had he done?
Yawned and whined in the group chat?
Yan Lan was so angry she felt like steam was about to blow out of her nostrils. She was just about to lash out when she saw someone post a new message in the chat.
“Hey, if you’re really so kind-hearted, then go ahead and give them supplies yourself. Who are you trying to impress with all this fake generosity?”
“You woman, have you no moral conscience? It’s only natural for the rich to help the poor!”
“Which law says the rich have to help the poor? Just because you’re poor, you think you’re in the right?”
“You, you shrew! You’re completely impossible to reason with!”
“Oh my, look at the dog backed into a corner, jumping over the wall!”
After lying low for a while, Jiang Tiantian chose just the right moment to step in and smooth things over: “Brothers and sisters, please don’t fight because of me, okay? It’s only natural for us to look out for each other when we’re all out here. You help him today, and he’ll help you tomorrow.”
“What a good sister. If only this shrew were half as kind as you.”
“Pah! All day long it’s ‘brother this, brother that.’ Are you a hen about to lay an egg? And some of you men have absolutely no self-awareness. Just because someone calls you ‘brother,’ you actually think you’re all that charming? The truth is, you’re just cheap and easy to fool! So, mister, how many supplies have you been scammed out of?”
As soon as she said that, several men went quiet. It seemed she had struck a nerve.
Seeing things take a turn for the worse, Jiang Tiantian’s heart gave a big jolt. She quickly tried to salvage the situation in the chat.
“Brother~ Brother~ Don’t let her mislead you. I’m just a weak girl, and I really have no other choice but to ask everyone for help.”
The tide of opinion instantly reversed. Yan Lan, however, immediately felt a surge of goodwill toward the outspoken female warrior. She couldn’t help but privately message her and sent a friend request.
The request was quickly approved, and a message arrived: “Hello, my name is Yuan Zhou.”
“My name is Yan Lan.”
Yuan Zhou: “I know. You’re the big celebrity of Zone H-38!”
Yan Lan couldn’t help but scratch her head sheepishly: “Haha, a little awkward~”
Yuan Zhou: “But don’t pay too much attention to their opinions. This is a survival game. Your own interests come first.”
Yan Lan: “Yeah~ And thank you for today. Please accept a small token of appreciation~”
With that, she sent over a roll of toilet paper.
The other side didn’t reply, nor did they accept the toilet paper.
Just as Yan Lan was wondering what Yuan Zhou was thinking, 20 pieces of wood were sent over to her.
“One shouldn’t accept rewards without merit. Besides, I wasn’t trying to help you, I just really can’t stand their behavior.”
One piece of wood could make one roll of toilet paper. 20 pieces of wood meant 20 rolls. To be honest, this deal exceeded Yan Lan’s perceived value of the trade.
She sent 10 pieces of wood back. “10 pieces of wood is enough.”
This time, Yuan Zhou was very straightforward. She accepted the supplies without hesitation: “Okay, thank you!”
The mutual exchange was complete. Yan Lan’s backpack now had 10 extra pieces of wood, while Yuan Zhou had a pristine white, soft roll of toilet paper.
She cherished it, running her fingers over it lovingly, and carefully placed it into the plastic bag hanging from her handlebars. Such a tightly rolled piece, if used sparingly, it could last her a long time.
There was no denying it, toilet paper was in high demand, especially among women.
Soon, another girl sent a private message: “Can wood really be traded for toilet paper?”
Yan Lan replied: “Yes, 10 pieces of wood for 1 roll of toilet paper.”
The other side responded almost instantly: “Alright then, I’ll take one roll.”
Yan Lan silently confirmed, and the transaction was completed in an instant.
The girl was absolutely delighted with her toilet paper. To be honest, even though it was only the second day, she had truly had enough of living without toilet paper.
The more she looked at it, the more she liked it. She took a photo of the toilet paper and posted it in the group chat with the caption: “Bought it from Yan Lan~ 10 pieces of wood for one roll. What a great deal!”