The pink card Chief Beauty Officer sent was actually a Special Station Invitation.
Some Stations past the traffic lights could only be entered with an invitation, and these colored cards wouldn’t reveal their contents until the holder reached the designated Station.
Pink was for the Beauty Salon.
Inside the Beauty Salon, ordering a full-body massage not only cleared Fatigue quickly, it also boosted Health. You could buy face masks, toiletries, and other products there too.
Everything sold at the Beauty Salon either increased Health or reduced Fatigue.
Qi Xu replied, “This card might turn out to be something good later. Final sale—no backsies.”
Chief Beauty Officer: “I get it, I get it. I’m not some dumbass blockhead like Player 1212. No matter how good this thing turns out to be, I won’t get salty over it. Nothing’s more important than my life. Trust me, even if it could boost a Vehicle by 10 levels, I wouldn’t regret it.”
“Alright, deal.”
Qi Xu traded a single fever pill for 5 Vehicle Upgrade Card Fragments, a wooden table, and one Beauty Salon Invitation.
While she was at it, she accepted Chief Beauty Officer’s friend request.
Right before bed, Donut sent Qi Xu a private message.
Donut: “Brother Whirlwind, I pulled a folding mattress today, but I got hurt.. sniffle, I need someone to blow on it.”
Qi Xu was completely baffled. She was hurt and wanted a blow? What kind of logic was that? Would a slap make it better?
Wait—if she slapped her once, Donut would hand over a folding mattress? That would actually be pretty tricky to pull off. Aside from occasional highway intersections, players basically had no chance of running into each other right now.
“Big Brother Whirlwind, are you busy? I don’t know why, but your name makes me feel so close to you… My dad has the character ‘Feng’ in his name too..”
Qi Xu still couldn’t follow this person’s train of thought. Was she trying to adopt her as a dad?
She really couldn’t be blamed. Qi Xu hadn’t had a normal conversation with anyone in years, and nobody bothered with romance in Highway Survival anyway. On top of that, back in her previous run she’d just been a nobody on the sidelines, an invisible little rookie—nobody had ever pulled this routine on her.
For a moment, her mind genuinely didn’t go anywhere else.
Invincible Black Whirlwind: “What do you want for your folding mattress?”
Donut: “As long as you want it, Brother Whirlwind, I’d be happy to just give it to you.”
Qi Xu raised an eyebrow. Something that good was just falling into her lap?
Invincible Black Whirlwind: “Great, thanks. Send it over then.”
Quite a while passed before she finally sent: “Brother Whirlwind, did you trade fever medicine to Chief Beauty Officer? Do you have extra Vehicle Upgrade Fragments left over? I’m just 4 fragments short of upgrading my Vehicle.”
Qi Xu turned her down without a second thought. “No deal.”
Talk about delusional. One folding mattress for 4 of her Vehicle Upgrade Fragments? In her dreams!
Donut: “Please, Brother Whirlwind, I really need those 4 fragments. [Image]”
The photo showed a girl pressing her palms together and pouting for the camera to act cute…
Qi Xu didn’t know whether to call this person an idiot. Giving away her real face that easily?
Stupidity was contagious.
Qi Xu decisively hit Donut with the full block-and-mute combo.
Moments later, she spotted Donut in the chat lobby asking if anyone needed a folding mattress.
Qi Xu privately messaged Peppy Girl Guo Degang.
“Go trade for Donut’s folding mattress for me. See what price she’s asking.”
Peppy Girl Guo Degang: “Got it! Right away!”
“She wants one Vehicle Upgrade Fragment.”
Qi Xu didn’t want to spend a fragment. She seemed to have zero luck with those things—she’d never pulled a single one from a crate. Every fragment she owned had either been looted off someone or traded for.
Invincible Black Whirlwind: “Not that. Ask if she’ll take anything else.”
Peppy Girl Guo Degang replied quickly: “She’s also taking weapons.”
Qi Xu currently had two weapons on hand: a long blade and a dagger. The poison on the dagger had completely worn off, leaving it an ordinary blade.
She sent the dagger to Peppy Girl first. This time, though, Donut took ages to answer before finally accepting the trade.
The corner of Qi Xu’s mouth twitched.
Well, well, well. Something a plain dagger could buy, and Donut had tried to squeeze 4 fragments out of her! Did she look like some gullible sucker?
Qi Xu sent Peppy Girl a small pack of sesame-paste mock tripe and a dinner roll. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Thank you, big shot! Sniffle, I’m so touched—I was about to pass out from hunger. You seriously saved my life.”
Puzzled, Qi Xu asked, “You already upgraded your Vehicle. How are you completely out of food?”
Peppy Girl Guo Degang: “My luck’s always been pretty good and I usually pull plenty of food every day, so I didn’t think much of it and traded away all my supplies for upgrade fragments and materials. Then… I went the entire day without snagging a single crate, and I almost got scratched by a rat. I regret upgrading so much. This Level 2 vehicle is jinxing me!”
Qi Xu let out a snort, nearly laughing out loud. It was just a streak of bad luck—how did the vehicle take the blame for jinxing her..
Thinking about Vehicles reminded Qi Xu of the very first friend she’d added.
Retired Magical Boy, that poor sap who’d picked a heavy truck.
She glanced at the avatar. Still hadn’t turned black.
Qi Xu clicked her tongue. Lucky kid.
If a heavy truck actually managed to develop, it was an absolute monster late-game. You could build it out like an armored war rig—practically invincible in guild wars.
Too bad no truck ever made it that far. Pretty much all of them died off early when supplies were scarce.
Qi Xu took out the folding mattress and tapped “Open.” A 1.2 m × 1.8 m twin mattress unfolded in seconds.
She flopped straight onto it, feeling so blissful she could float.
After sitting on an electric tricycle all day, her lower back felt worn out—not sore exactly, and hard to put into words, just deeply uncomfortable.
Now, stretched out flat with arms and legs sprawled, the ache through her whole body seemed to melt away a little. Pure comfort.
Pulling a jacket over herself, Qi Xu drifted into a deep sleep before long, serenaded by the lovely, melodic roars of monsters outside.
A dreamless night. It was the best sleep Qi Xu had gotten in years.
Even when she’d had decent sleeping setups before, nothing beat how well she slept last night.
Maybe it was because she actually had something to look forward to. While washing her face and brushing her teeth that morning, for instance, she found herself wondering: what would China’s Little Master Chef make for breakfast today?
Qi Xu had never thought of herself as someone ruled by her appetite. As long as her stomach was full, that was enough. Plenty of times, even with food that clearly would’ve tasted better steamed or warmed up, she hadn’t bothered—it filled her belly either way.
Ever since that first breakfast, though… everything felt different.
Halfway through her workout, China’s Little Master Chef sent breakfast over.
Tomato soup with minced-shrimp dumplings and crispy pan-fried dumplings.