When she saw that message, Chen Jianwei’s pupils suddenly contracted.
This was the third day since “Farm Game” had appeared.
From what they had observed in the [Forum], players had been gradually pulled into the game after the zombie outbreak began.
But in real life, they had never heard anyone mention Farm Game online.
Liu Huan suddenly adding Chen Jianwei as a friend and bringing up Farm Game shocked her.
For Liu Huan to ask this, did it mean she was also a player, and that she knew they were players too?
But how did Liu Huan know?
Staring at the message on her phone in the dark, Chen Jianwei could not make sense of it at all.
Soon, Liu Huan sent a third message.
“Your game nickname is Dawn, right?”
She really did know.
Chen Jianwei had no idea how to respond, so she simply took a screenshot of their chat and sent it to their dorm group chat.
Ying Ran and Duan Minmin might already be asleep, but when she had just peeked outside her bed curtain, she saw that Luo Mushi’s bed was still lit.
She wanted to ask Luo Mushi what to reply to Liu Huan.
Luo Mushi was also surprised. “How does she know? We are not even close with the dorm next door.”
Chen Jianwei did not understand either.
Ying Ran, who had not actually fallen asleep, also appeared in the “Wall Street Presidents Exchange Group.”
“If she is also a Farm Game player, based on the stealing range, she could have reached our farm,” Ying Ran guessed, being the most quick witted among them.
To verify this, Luo Mushi immediately opened the Farm Game app and tapped on the [Grudge Ledger] they had activated earlier.
[Grudge Ledger]
22:35:08 Player “The Moon Represents My Heart” visited your farm
22:35:08 Player “Going Crazy-ing” visited your farm
22:35:09 Player “0776597235” visited your farm
22:35:10 Player “Deep Sea Whale” visited your farm
22:35:11 Player “Destroy the World Sooner or Later” visited your farm
22:35:11 Player “0865341234” visited your farm
Luo Mushi could not help laughing.
All these people had come wandering around other players’ farms, but since they failed to steal anything, it had all been for nothing.
Following this line of thought, Chen Jianwei asked Liu Huan, “Did you come to my farm tonight?”
Liu Huan admitted it readily. “My range is only 1 meter, so the only farms I could reach were yours in 618 or 620. But I did not steal your crops.”
Chen Jianwei knew she had not, since they had harvested everything on time.
What she was more curious about was Liu Huan’s purpose.
It could not be just to clarify that she had not stolen anything.
And Liu Huan said her range was only 1 meter, which meant she had likely just entered the game.
Once a player reached Level 2, the stealing range expanded outward by 10 meters from their farm location.
There had been discussions on the forum about whether that 10 meters referred to a radius or diameter, but no one had reached a conclusion.
The game certainly would not provide an answer either.
Players were left to figure it out themselves.
Since the meteor had fallen into the sea about 200 kilometers from Yaobei District in Haishi, and the zombie outbreak had also started there, if Farm Game was related to the zombie outbreak, then the first batch of players should have been residents of Haishi.
Within Haishi University, there were definitely more players than just their dorm, but everyone seemed to be tacitly keeping it a secret.
“Would you be willing to form an alliance with me?” Liu Huan sent another message.
She laid out her advantages as part of the proposal.
At present, each Farm Game account seemed to correspond to a dorm unit, with all members sharing a single account.
In their case, four people shared one account.
But Liu Huan was alone in Room 619, meaning she managed her farm by herself. However, the planting efficiency and growth time did not change based on the number of people using the account.
From a per person perspective, Liu Huan had the highest efficiency.
She sought allies because she was living alone. Her three roommates were not on campus.
If she encountered illness or trouble, she would not even have someone to help her.
She needed to form alliances based on mutual benefit.
Moreover, in a chaotic world after a disaster, going alone was dangerous.
In the apocalypse, a single misstep could cost someone their life, and there might not even be anyone left to avenge them.
Perhaps forming alliances and helping each other was the only way to survive longer.
“My roommates are already asleep. Let me discuss it with them tomorrow and get back to you, okay?” Chen Jianwei replied, then took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to their dorm group.
[Wall Street Presidents Exchange Group]
[Weiwei Doesn’t Like to Smile (Chen Jianwei): [image]]
[Weiwei Doesn’t Like to Smile: Liu Huan just sent me this]
[Weiwei Doesn’t Like to Smile: She wants to form an alliance with us]
[Tang Poetry Is Not Song Lyrics (Luo Mushi): Wow, she wants to ally with us?]
[Ragdoll Cat (Ying Ran): What kind of alliance?]
[Ragdoll Cat: Even though our dorms are next to each other, there is still a wall between us]
[Ragdoll Cat: We are not the type to take advantage of others casually]
Chen Jianwei felt that made sense.
If Liu Huan wanted to form an alliance, the most convenient option was nearby dorms.
But her relationship with Room 620 did not seem very good, so she had approached Chen Jianwei from Room 618 first.
However, Room 618 felt their current situation was quite good.
After living together for a year, they had already built strong mutual understanding. At this stage, they were not very willing to spend extra energy adjusting to new relationships.
After discussing a bit more in the group chat, Chen Jianwei yawned, placed her phone aside to charge, turned off the bedside lamp, and lay down to sleep.
Even though she was tired, she found it difficult to fall asleep and kept tossing and turning.
Her mind was filled with thoughts of zombies and the unknown dangers ahead.
Regarding forming alliances, she had other thoughts as well.
As they had considered before, in a world dominated by zombies, threats did not only come from external dangers, but also from betrayal among people.
Human nature was complex. In apocalypse stories, both unity and betrayal could drive the narrative.
But in the face of zombies and disasters, human strength was too weak.
Even for those who chose to lie low and hoard supplies, it was still better to consciously cooperate with neighbors.
However, the word “alliance” carried too much weight. Simply helping each other was enough.
While thinking about this, Chen Jianwei felt it was too cold. She tucked the edges of her blanket tighter, quietly got out of bed, took the fully charged hot water bag, and brought it back under the covers.
Only then did the warmth gradually return.
This October was truly cold. Was this also caused by the disaster?
Holding her soft plush rabbit, Chen Jianwei emptied her mind and finally drifted into sleep.
Cold weather was a natural sedative.
Even in what should have been a bright and sunny October, the same principle applied.
The next morning, Chen Jianwei was startled awake by the 11 a.m. alarm.
This was the alarm they had set the night before. In five minutes, it would be time to harvest crops.
She had not expected to sleep until this late.
As soon as she stretched her hand out from under the blanket, she shivered.
She pulled open a small gap in the bed curtain, grabbed her fully charged phone, opened the Farm Game app, and brought up the floating interface. The crops were not yet mature, but only about three minutes remained.
She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open. All she wanted was to lie back down in the warm bed.
But if she was not careful, the crops could be stolen.
She forced herself to stare at the screen, and the moment the crops matured, she immediately tapped the [Harvest] tool.
After seeing the successful harvest, she lay back down and closed her eyes.
So sleepy.
She did not want to plant new seeds or get out of bed.
She wondered whether the school would still deliver lunch and dinner by drone today.
Everyone was waiting anxiously, hoping to have food at noon.
After a while, she heard rustling from the neighboring bed. Judging by the sound, Luo Mushi had gotten up.
Luo Mushi opened the Farm Game app on her phone, causing the floating interface to shift to her side.
But Chen Jianwei, lying under the blanket with her eyes closed, did not see it.
When Luo Mushi entered the [Farm] page, she saw that the crops had already been harvested but not replanted.
She went to [Market] → [Seed Storage], casually bought two Level 3 seeds, and planted them.
Half asleep, she remembered that their growth time was 13 hours.
She set an alarm for 11:30 p.m., then collapsed back into bed and continued sleeping.
Hearing the dorm fall silent again, Chen Jianwei had no intention of getting up. She hugged her plush rabbit and pulled the bed curtain closed to block out the light.
If she could just sleep until the end of the world, that would be nice.
That was her last thought before falling asleep again.
This time, she did not know how long she slept. When she woke up, she only remembered having a long nightmare, though she could not recall the details.
She still did not want to get up. That was her second reaction.
She did not even feel hungry, she just wanted to sleep.
It was too cold outside. The cold dulled all other senses.
What time was it now?
She vaguely knew her phone was nearby, but she did not want to check.
Until she vaguely heard Ying Ran’s voice nearby.
The voice grew closer. Ying Ran seemed to climb up, pull open the curtain, and squeeze into Chen Jianwei’s bed, reaching out to touch her.
“So cold!” Chen Jianwei murmured, trying to avoid the chill Ying Ran brought in.
Then she heard Ying Ran exclaim, “You are burning hot.”
Burning hot?
Chen Jianwei’s mind was foggy. She pulled at the blanket that had been moved, then slowly understood what Ying Ran meant.
No way… was she running a fever?
At that moment, Chen Jianwei’s mind snapped fully awake.