Qi Xu checked the delivery. There was quite a bit more than they had originally agreed on.
Braised pork with cabbage and glass noodles, honey-glazed roast meat, stir-fried pork with potato slices, crispy fried pork belly, crispy-skin pork belly, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and cherry pork—five plates of each, 500g per plate.
And there were a full 200 pork and cabbage dumplings!
Qi Xu suspected Little Master Chef’s hands must have cramped up from wrapping all of them..
Invincible Black Whirlwind: “Why did you send so much extra? Keep some for yourself.”
China’s Little Master Chef: “Don’t worry, how could a cook like me go hungry? I mixed the dumpling filling myself and outsourced the wrapping to someone else. I inspected them already, no issues. The dumplings are all raw. Just boil them in a pot when you’re ready to eat. I’ll mix a dipping sauce for you tomorrow; I don’t have all the ingredients today.”
Invincible Black Whirlwind: “Okay, thanks. Tomorrow the Beginner Protection Period ends. Be careful when opening crates—monsters will pop out of at least half of them. If you run into traffic lights, get through quickly even when the light is green. If a monster blocks the road, don’t get out of your vehicle—just ram right through it. If you fail to cross before the green light ends, you’ll be trapped in the middle of the road waiting for the next green light. Also, trade for some cotton or padded clothes. I got word that the temperature might drop sharply, though I don’t know if the news is true or false.”
China’s Little Master Chef replied right away: “Got it, understood! Thanks, boss!”
Qi Xu did the math on the Advanced Boost Pack. Five hours had covered 2,500 kilometers. For Level 1 and Level 2 vehicles, the fastest top speed was probably only 100 or just over 100 kilometers per hour. After all, going any faster meant you wouldn’t be able to spot crates.
Since everyone had just arrived in the survival game and didn’t know there would be ranking rewards at the end of the Beginner Protection Period, Qi Xu guessed that hardly anyone else would be pushing down the road as crazily as she was.
Besides, the rankings also factored in cumulative supplies and assets. Even if someone had more supplies than her, when it came to Survival Coins, Qi Xu was confident she was ahead by a landslide.
With an edge in both distance and assets, Qi Xu held off on using any more Boost Packs, saving them for the monthly ranking push later on.
Starting at four in the afternoon, players everywhere began reporting that Supply Crates were spawning much more frequently.
Heartbroken 1999: “Even a Luckless Player like me picked up 4 crates in an hour—all supplies, zero monsters. Boohoo, my luck has finally turned around!”
Hao: “Hello everyone, I’d like to ask where this trading channel you’re talking about is? How do I upload items? I’m getting on in years and still haven’t figured it out.”
Cat in the Box: “The trading channel is in the bottom right corner. Just point your light screen at the item and take a photo to upload it. Uncle, you survived until today without trading? Mad respect!” Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Heavenly Spirit, Earthly Spirit: “I finally upgraded to a Level 2 vehicle! Hahahaha!”
Qi Xu was immensely glad she hadn’t used another energy pack. After several years, her memories of the very beginning were already a bit hazy.
Back then, almost every day on the highway had been the same routine, so anything that wasn’t particularly memorable was hard to recall in advance.
For now, what stood out most clearly was that right after the Beginner Protection Period ended, the temperature would plummet…
Still, this was a game after all, and Qi Xu didn’t know if her past experience would still hold true.
Just as Qi Xu looked up, she spotted a wooden supply crate by the roadside.
Grabbing her long blade, she hopped off the tricycle. The chainsaw was too heavy; using it right now was still a bit strenuous, and she wasn’t practiced with it yet. She needed time to figure it out first. For the moment, Qi Xu still found the long blade much easier to handle.
She pried the crate open to find nothing but supplies.
“Fabric ×1, Duck Feather ×1.”
Not bad luck—both were things she needed.
For the next stretch, Qi Xu barely twisted the throttle before she had to hit the brakes again. There were simply too many crates.
She scooped up 9 wooden supply crates in a row!
At 8:59 p.m., Qi Xu even spotted a Silver Supply Crate. Not only was it sitting at the very edge of the road, there was also just one minute left.
Vehicles were locked into fixed driving lanes and couldn’t pull too close to the edge. Even so, Qi Xu didn’t hesitate for a second. Blade in hand, she sprinted forward, lunged for the silver crate, scooped it into her arms, and bolted back toward the tricycle.
In the last few steps, Qi Xu could practically hear a monster roaring right behind her, its shadow already stretching across the ground…
Just as she was about to cross into the 8-meter Safe Zone, Qi Xu suddenly sensed danger on her right. Her breathing spiked, and on pure instinct, she swung her arm back and slashed!
Monster blood sprayed across her face in an instant.
Qi Xu didn’t even have time to see what kind of monster it was. Whirling back around, she threw herself into the Safe Zone and hit the ground hard. Thankfully, the silver crate landed inside the Safe Zone too.
Sprawled on the ground, Qi Xu gasped for breath. Looking back, she saw a big-eyed monster covered in long black hair plastered flat against the safety barrier.
It stared straight at Qi Xu, howling like crazy.
Behind it, the one lying on the ground was the exact same kind of monster…
Qi Xu silently thanked her lucky stars that she had made it back in time. Sure enough, once one of these big-eyed monsters latched onto you, there was almost no hope of survival.
Their hair was beyond disgusting—it could endlessly bind and immobilize enemies, and no matter how much you hacked at it, you could never cut through it all.
Qi Xu suddenly sat up, opened her light screen, and checked her Friends List. There were 6 people on it now: Retired Magical Boy, Peppy Girl Guo Degang, War Wolf 009, China’s Little Master Chef, Old White Dragon of the Waves, and Chief Beauty Officer.
All of their portraits were still lit up.
They hadn’t known each other long and didn’t have deep ties yet, but Qi Xu genuinely hoped they would all stay safe. At the very least, trading with them had been quite pleasant.
If she ever pulled a Group Owner Card in the future, Qi Xu wanted to set up a small chat group and try building a little team of her own.
She hadn’t thought through the exact details yet, but she knew that if she stuck to playing as a lone wolf, she would hit a wall in the later stages anyway, because almost every Bonus Instance was a team instance.
Solo entry wasn’t allowed at all, and a stroke of luck like grabbing a last-minute spot in someone else’s team would never fall into an outsider’s lap.
Qi Xu had no interest in walking on eggshells around others, nor did she know how to flatter and suck up to people. So the only option left was to build a faction of her own.
By now, the chat lobby had descended into total chaos.
Four-Eyed War God: “Holy shit!! What’s going on? Our subdivision had 9,791 people this afternoon, and now it’s dropped straight down to 8,961! What happened!?”
AAA Putian OEM Factory: “The silver crate! Didn’t you see the silver crate just now? There was only one minute left when a silver crate suddenly popped up. I hesitated, missed the window, and didn’t dare move. Now I’m so damn glad I was a coward!”
Four-Eyed War God: “I’m glad too. Glad my eyesight sucks and I didn’t see it at all.”
Player 0128: “Four portraits went dark on my Friends List. One of them still owed me money and hadn’t paid it back yet!”
Trending Female Streamer: “Does anyone have anti-inflammatory medicine? A monster clawed me and my Health keeps dropping. Am I gonna die..”