◎Charcoal Explodes in Popularity◎
In the dead of night, a wave of cold air swept in. Yan Lan was jolted awake by the chill. She wrapped her small blanket tighter, groggily sat up, and turned on the off-road vehicle’s heating system.
Warm air slowly filled the cabin, the temperature rose, and she drifted back to sleep.
When the weather turned cold, people tended to feel sluggish. Yan Lan rarely failed to wake up on time.
Beep beep beep beep!
Beep beep beep beep!
When the fourth round of message alerts went off, she irritably covered her ears: “Who is it?!”
A new message appeared: “Yan Lan, you’re finally online. Thank goodness!”
Seeing that it was her work partner, most of her anger dissipated: “What’s wrong?”
Shi Yuanyuan: “Have you seen the group chat? 80 people died last night! I thought you might have…”
The moment she heard about deaths, her drowsiness vanished. Trembling, she went to check the group chat.
【H-38 Zone: Remaining Population 9,900 people.】
Except for the first day when some people lost their lives by not following the game rules, everyone had since figured out the basics. Although the next two days had been miserable, they hadn’t been fatal. How had 80 people suddenly died?
Before she could ask, Shi Yuanyuan explained: “Right after midnight, the game switched to a new map, and the temperature plummeted. Many people still had wooden handcarts, no shelter from the wind. They had to endure the cold bare. The weather was too harsh, and they got negative status effects. So…”
Yan Lan’s throat went dry: “They froze to death?”
Shi Yuanyuan: “Yeah.”
Yan Lan’s body went limp. Her mind went blank. She weakly wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face in her chest, like an ostrich hiding its head.
Everyone else was freezing, but she had been sleeping comfortably in a car full of warm heating.
Their deaths filled her with guilt. When she had woken up in the middle of the night, she should have noticed the problem, seen their calls for help, and made charcoal to support them. But she had been too sleepy and missed the chance to save lives.
Dying alone, frozen on a bitterly cold night, no rescue, no companions. The despair they must have felt in their final moments was unimaginable.
They had all come from the same world, the same homeland. Even though she didn’t know them, hearing of their suffering still filled her with deep sorrow.
Shi Yuanyuan sensitively guessed that something was wrong and sent several messages in a row to comfort her: “Are you okay? Try to look on the bright side.”
“Even if you had saved them this time, they would still have fallen victim to all sorts of dangers later.”
“The protection period lasted three days. With a bit of effort, they should have been able to upgrade their handcarts. Anyone who had at least reached a three-wheeler wouldn’t have frozen to death.”
“Survival of the fittest. The outcome was sealed from the start.”
“Maybe an early release is a good thing for them.”
Yan Lan let out a silent, choked sob. She lifted her heavy head, pinched her arm hard to muster her spirits again, and said, “Yeah, thank you. I’m going to make some charcoal. I’ll need to trouble you to help sell it.”
Seeing her pull herself together, Shi Yuanyuan smiled to himself and replied, “Okay. At your command.”
Although Yan Lan seemed aloof and hard to get close to, she was kind at heart, just like his cousin.
Making one piece of charcoal took ten seconds. While waiting, Yan Lan checked the main interface.
【Map: Icy Snowfield | Game Day: 1 | Weather: Rain and Snow | Temperature: 10°C (Winter) | Time: 8:00 AM】
The map had changed, and the game day counter had reset to zero.
She remembered what the system had said at the very beginning: disasters occur every 15 days. That meant when the game day count reached 15, they would escape one predicament only to face another.
She hadn’t yet had a chance to look at the scenery outside. She slid down the car window, wanting an unobstructed view of the new map.
She opened it just a crack, but the bone-chilling wind immediately blew in. Caught off guard, she inhaled a breath of cold air, and her chest instantly turned icy. Startled, she quickly closed the window.
Just yesterday, the view outside the window had been a yellow tropical savanna. Today, in an instant, it had become a vast, white snowfield. Towering peaks pierced the sky, and thick white snow blanketed the entire earth.
As snowflakes fell, the world seemed to stand still. On the surface, it looked so pure and flawless, yet no one knew how many lives lay buried beneath.
Beyond the road was a frozen, snowy wilderness, but on the road itself, there was only a thin layer of snow. Two different landscapes in the same place, it looked eerily strange.
After making a dozen or so pieces of charcoal, Yan Lan first sent some to Shi Yuanyuan: “These are for you and your friends.”
She knew that Shi Yuanyuan had made two like-minded friends who had indirectly helped her before and seemed reliable.
At that moment, Shi Yuanyuan was huddled in his three-wheeler, constantly breathing warm air into his hands.
The cold wind blew directly outside, and the thin iron door couldn’t withstand the raging gale, it clattered noisily.
His teeth chattered, and he couldn’t help but shiver again.
Just then, a message came from Yan Lan. He perked up instantly, as if injected with adrenaline, and happily accepted the charcoal she sent.
“Thank you! Holding this in my arms, I can only imagine how warm it’ll be.”
Yan Lan: “Wait a moment.”
Shi Yuanyuan let out a “Huh?” and then realized he had misspoken. A bit annoyed with himself, he lightly slapped his own mouth a few times: “Pfft, pfft, pfft. There I go again, speaking without thinking.”
He decided to first give the charcoal to his friends before explaining himself to Yan Lan. He opened his friend interface and entered a three-person group chat.
“I’m giving each of you 4 pieces of charcoal.”
Within a second, the charcoal was accepted, and his two friends began blowing rainbow smoke.
Xiao Hei: “Holy crap! Brother Shi, you’re amazing! You actually got charcoal, we won’t freeze to death now! Wuwuwu…”
Xiao Huang: “Brother Shi, [1]YYDS is a Chinese internet acronym that stands for “永远的神” (yǒng yuǎn de shén), which translates to “eternal god” or “forever a legend.” It is used to … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2183807_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2183807_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });YYDS!”
Shi Yuanyuan’s face darkened: “I told you, don’t call me ‘[2]In Chinese culture, adding “Brother” (大哥, dà gē) before or after a name is a common and friendly way to address a male peer, showing respect and closeness. Calling him … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2183807_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2183807_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Brother Shi.’ It sounds like a pile of crap!”
Then he added, “Also, this charcoal is from Yan Lan, she’s thanking you for helping her last time.”
Xiao Huang: “Oh, that time we lent you materials? Hey, that was nothing!”
Xiao Hei: “Exactly. Boss Yan is so kind.”
Xiao Huang: “Boss Yan is awesome!”
Xiao Hei: “I’ll wave the flag for Boss Yan!”
Shi Yuanyuan was speechless. Their loyalty sure shifted fast.
In just that short time, Yan Lan had sent over three copper hand warmers.
Shi Yuanyuan immediately accepted them, kept one for himself, and sent the other two to Xiao Hei and Xiao Huang: “These hand warmers are also from Yan Lan.”
Without waiting for their replies, he curiously studied the hand warmer in his hands.
He had just said how nice it would be to hold something warm, and she had made one right away. Her action ability was truly impressive.
It was a bowl-sized hand warmer, made of brass, with a hollowed-out lid and a curved belly. At the two ears, there was a metal carrying handle, perfect for holding in one’s arms.
It was round. But the roundness was a bit odd. Compared to the straight, angular charcoal, it almost seemed like they hadn’t come from the same place, yet they had both clearly been made by Yan Lan.
Whatever. Why dwell on it? Time to put in some charcoal and get warm!
The quality of this charcoal was excellent, clean, pure, and completely smokeless.
But compared to an air conditioner, it was still several levels below.
When the AC was on, the warmth spread evenly across the whole body. Using a hand warmer, on the other hand, was like experiencing two extremes, the hands and belly touching the warmer were scorching hot, while everywhere else remained cold.
Yan Lan picked out a packed meal from her backpack slots and, while eating, sent a message to Shi Yuanyuan: “Gasoline and fabric can also be traded.”
In the midst of his busy schedule, Shi Yuanyuan replied: “Got it!”
Having been hungry all morning, she began to eat. The packed meal, taken straight from her backpack slot, was still warm, perfect for eating in the icy snowfield.
While eating, she opened the group chat.
“Does anyone have thick clothes? I’m only wearing a thin shirt. I feel like I might as well be naked.”
“Where would we get thick clothes? I got a blanket yesterday, so I’m wrapped up in that.”
“Go buy one of Shi Yuanyuan’s hand warmers! They’re sold individually. Load them with charcoal, and they’re super warm.”
“Yeah, I was in the first batch to buy one. The effect is great. One piece of charcoal has been burning for hours and still hasn’t gone out! He said these are Yan Lan’s products, he’s just helping sell them.”
“Those two seem pretty close~”
“I got one. Anyone have a lighter? Lend it to me!”
“I do. One wood for one use.”
“Okay, private chat.”
“I couldn’t get one. Please, kind folks, can anyone lend me a little? I really can’t stand the cold anymore!”
“Can’t even spare enough for ourselves, let alone lend to you. Dream on~ Why don’t you offer something valuable and trade with them?”
“You can just burn wood directly!”
“I tried burning wood! Let me warn you, don’t even try it! The smoke is way too heavy. Opening the window lets in the cold. Without a kang (heated bed), you can only toss it in the rear compartment. That piece of metal almost burned a hole through! MD! So damn frustrating.”
“Haha, why do I feel like laughing?”
Amidst all the complaints, an explosive message popped up.
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