If a player had an inventory backpack, it would be completely destroyed and vanish along with them when they died.
Qi Xu thought this mechanic was pretty reasonable. Otherwise, highway survival would very likely degenerate into a bloody free-for-all.
Only in specific instances could you obtain another player’s inventory backpack by killing them.
Likewise, every player’s vehicle was bound to them personally—other players couldn’t claim or drive it, nor could they recycle or dismantle it.
Still… Qi Xu had a job, so maybe she could exploit a loophole. As a Scrap Recycler, she could sell scrap directly.
Qi Xu pulled out her work credential, scanned it on her light screen, and then scanned the van in front of her.
Sure enough! A prompt popped up on the light screen.
“Hello, Scrap Recycler. Inspection complete: the third-hand silver van up for sale has 55% wear, no damaged parts, and 6 scratches and dents. Appraised value: 89 Survival Coins. Confirm sale?”
Qi Xu replied, “Hold on.”
First, she cleared out all the supplies inside the van.
In total, she obtained compressed biscuits ×6, small bread rolls ×7, sesame-paste vegetarian tripe ×11, honeysuckle pomelo juice ×3, 550ml mineral water ×7, wood ×3, iron blocks ×6, plastic ×6, stone ×3, electric scooter headlight ×1, gasoline ×8, Basic Vehicle Repair Card ×1, black tape (waterproof) ×6, fever medicine ×2, and Vehicle Upgrade Card Fragment ×2!
Qi Xu glanced toward the spot where Badass PLUS had vanished and cupped her hands in salute. “Much obliged!”
Whether it was the Basic Vehicle Repair Card, the fever medicine, or the Vehicle Upgrade Card Fragments, every single one was something Qi Xu badly wanted right now. Even that half-pack of cigarettes she’d fished out of his pocket first would fetch a good price.
Had she known earlier that the guy didn’t have an inventory backpack, Qi Xu definitely would have given him a really, really proper thank-you before slaughtering him.
Pulling this many good items without getting a single inventory backpack? She didn’t know whether to call his luck good or bad.
Once everything was packed away, Qi Xu chose to sell the third-hand silver van.
Survival Coins could be spent with monster merchants and at monster shops. Monster merchants showed up at random, while monster shops were located at the stops past the traffic lights.
89 Survival Coins was enough to buy plenty of things!
Qi Xu thought back to her previous run. If she remembered right, she’d had to place in the top hundred of her regional leaderboard ranking three times in a row before breaking 100 Survival Coins. And now… tsk, tsk. What a dream start.
Back on the road, Qi Xu felt like humming a tune, only to notice before long that another vehicle was catching up from behind.
Killing and looting had probably cost her quite a bit of time, letting someone behind her close the gap.
Qi Xu glanced over her shoulder. It was a man on an electric scooter wearing glasses and a black baseball cap, which kept her from making out his face clearly. Spotting her looking back, he raised a hand and waved right away.
“Hi, wait up! My scooter doesn’t go very fast.”
Qi Xu noticed a huge bag on the back of his scooter—probably another player without an inventory backpack.
So she eased off her speed, wondering if this guy was here to make a charitable delivery too.
As he pulled closer, Qi Xu subtly glanced down at the right side of his scooter, then looked up with a smile.
“Hi there, I’m Li Zhi! Finally, another human being—it’s been three days! Oh man, I thought I was the only person left in the world. I was starting to feel depressed. Whoa, your vehicle looks awesome, all cute and pink like that. Must’ve taken a lot of work, huh?”
Li Zhi was a total chatterbox, rambling nonstop the moment he finished introducing himself. Qi Xu just nodded, said, “Hello,” and left it at that.
Unfazed, Li Zhi kept right on chatting about all sorts of things.
After a while, Qi Xu grew bored and spoke up. “I’ve got to get going. I still haven’t finished my 60 kilometers for today.”
“Ah, okay, you’d better hurry then. I added a friend on the chat panel earlier, and his avatar went dark just because he didn’t finish his mileage. You definitely can’t afford to delay that.”
Li Zhi even lowered his voice on purpose, as if letting her in on some huge secret. Qi Xu listened intently, showing just the right mix of surprise and lingering fear at the right moments, before waving goodbye.
She turned to head back to her tricycle, leaving her back completely exposed to him. The corners of Li Zhi’s mouth curved into a faint smile. Just as he thought—an inexperienced young girl. Flash a friendly smile and she immediately assumed you were a good guy. Even easier to fool than the last one.
He didn’t notice at all that Qi Xu’s body had already tensed up…
Right when they met, Qi Xu had spotted a patch of blood on the side of his scooter, instantly raising her suspicions. Once they started talking and he kept casually dropping personal details about himself, it confirmed what she thought. The source of this chapter is novelping . com.
Sure, some people really were naive or a bit slow, but he was laying it on way too thick.
Li Zhi whipped a dagger out of his pocket and thrust it straight at Qi Xu.
Yet at the critical moment… as if she had eyes in the back of her head, Qi Xu spun around, clamped down hard on Li Zhi’s raised right hand, and struck his wrist sharply, driving his own dagger straight into his chest.
Qi Xu was just about to deliver a finishing blow—a shallow stab wouldn’t be fatal, and if she was going to kill someone, she meant to make it clean—when she suddenly saw Li Zhi’s entire body turn purplish-black in an instant. In less than three seconds, he stopped breathing.
Qi Xu scanned the dagger with her light screen.
“Poison-Soaked Dagger: Even a small wound on an enemy will make them kick the bucket for good. Be sure to use it carefully—don’t hurt yourself, okay? Poison expiration countdown: 112 hours.”
Qi Xu clicked her tongue. Even the item description warned him not to stab himself—how could he still be so sloppy? What a careless kid.
She tossed his body into the black mist by the roadside as well, and to her surprise, a Silver Supply Crate popped out.
“Congratulations on triggering the double-kill reward! Killing two people within half an hour during the beginner protection period—goodness gracious, are you some elite soldier or a murder maniac?”
Qi Xu couldn’t care less what the announcement said. The silver crate was what mattered most!
Still, since a monster might jump out of it, she didn’t open it right away and searched Li Zhi’s supplies first.
A massive woven sack was tied to the back seat of his electric scooter, stuffed full.
The moment she opened it, she guessed that this had to be two people’s supplies; Li Zhi had probably already killed someone earlier.
Inside were two brand-new sets of women’s sportswear. Brand-new clothes like these basically came out of crates, matched to the style and size of whoever opened them.
She rummaged through the rest. Aside from one Vehicle Upgrade Card, nothing stood out much—just basic materials or food and water.
Practical enough, just nothing special.