"If you don't raise pets, hurry up and upgrade your vehicle, or you might get eaten by monsters."
Seeing this, Qi Xu sent Bian the 66 types of metal as well. "Go upgrade it—it’ll take eight hours."
Luo Xinpan stared at the vehicle upgrade card and the gift pack of 66 metals for a long time.
Before joining the survival game, there had been plenty of people around her—friendly, considerate—but she knew most of them had ulterior motives.
They wanted their names added to her thesis, or to join her research group to polish their resumes, or they thought she was young and easy to manipulate...
Bringing a dessert cake, taking a photo together to post on social media as "best friends," helping with trivial daily tasks, and then casually making requests she could easily fulfill.
Luo Xinpan understood all of it, yet she was still addicted to the feeling of having people around, as if it gave her the illusion that she wasn’t alone.
After researching and sorting through her emotions, she decided it wasn’t so bad.
I give you tangible benefits, and you give me emotional satisfaction—a fair exchange. But over time, it all felt meaningless.
On the verge of suicide, she suddenly found herself in this survival game, experiencing another possibility for life, and that sparked a faint desire to keep living.
Everyone knew.
In this environment, losing the ability to protect yourself was practically asking for death. But Luo Xinpan... wanted to die. Yet there was also a stubborn, irrational thought lingering in her mind.
If she could survive like this, then she might as well live properly.
After the survival game began, she helped many people and even felt some warmth in return—but it was all through cold, text-based exchanges on the screen, which felt hollow.
You could easily craft personas and fabricate stories.
Until she met Qi Xu, met the team she wanted to rely on, and the people behind her.
Looking at the Level 6 vehicle upgrade card sent by Master Chef and the message "careful you don’t get eaten by monsters," Luo Xinpan suddenly found it all very interesting. She really, really wanted to live—to go far with everyone and see what lay ahead.
Bian Never Speaks: "Then I won’t hold back."
Master Chef: "No need for all the politeness. What do you all want for lunch? How about some spicy rabbit heads?"
Qi Xu immediately perked up. "Yes, yes! That’s the best. But tonight’s the end-of-month settlement—everyone should push hard. If you need a boost, just ask me."
Old White Dragon in the Waves: "Heh, been waiting for the end-of-month settlement. Aiming for top three, fighting for second!"
Bian Never Speaks: "So confident, Dragon Bro? I just made a windfall at school the other day—I was thinking second place might be mine."
Old White Dragon in the Waves: "No worries, no worries. If I win, how about you join me at the gym again, Bian?"
Bian Never Speaks: "Win or lose, we’re all on the same team. But the gym? No thanks. Sister Cut You, do you think Old White Dragon doesn’t like me?"
Sister Cut You: "Bullying Bian again? Old White Dragon, let’s settle this outside!"
Old White Dragon in the Waves: "Sis, my bad."
Maybe because they’d grown closer, their way of interacting had changed—occasionally devolving into bickering and teasing. Qi Xu found it amusing.
Mostly, Old White Dragon tormented Bian, while Sister Cut You evenly disciplined everyone...
Today, Qi Xu’s loot luck was good. A pile of crates had accumulated on the second floor, so after parking for the night, she took the two little ones down to open them.
If they ran into monsters, she’d let Little Seven and Sweet Girl handle it while she coached from the sidelines. She only stepped in if they were truly outmatched. Lately, their nightly crate-opening routine had followed this pattern.
Little Seven had gotten injured a few times as a result. Though Qi Xu felt bad, she didn’t go easy on the training.
I can spend extra resources to heal you, but daily practice is non-negotiable.
Sweet Girl, perhaps due to her nature, was always cautious. Unlike Little Seven, who preferred head-on clashes, she liked ambushing from the shadows for a one-hit kill.
This aligned well with Qi Xu’s combat strategy for them. By now, the two had developed a decent back-and-forth synergy.
If Qi Xu joined the fight, they’d immediately fall into position, showing the beginnings of real teamwork.
Qi Xu casually pried open a crate, and a dark mass instantly burst out. Thinking it was a monster, she immediately leaped back to create distance.
Little Seven pounced forward, jaws wide—only to realize something was off. This... seemed to be another crate? A crate inside a crate?
"Little Seven, back!"
"Woof."
Qi Xu eyed the pitch-black supply crate with disdain. On its lid was a "dice" pattern, faintly emitting a dark mist.
Calculating the timing... this thing was due to appear.
It wasn’t purely "evil," but it always left players torn between love and hate.
[Congratulations, player! You’ve encountered a Gambler’s Supply Crate. This crate’s opening method is a game of high or low! Care to guess whether it’s high or low?
Wager any supplies—the higher the stakes, the better the potential rewards! Want to turn your luck around? Want to become a top player? Place your bets now!
Note: The crate accepts any valuable supplies—survival coins, energy stones, pets, vehicle upgrade cards, even your vehicle or your life... If you win, your wager is returned along with generous rewards. If you lose, your wager is forfeited, and you get an empty crate.]
The Gambler’s Supply Crate lived up to its description. It offered high/low, odd/even, and even more complex games. Gamblers had an unshakable belief that they’d "definitely win," and when emotions ran high, they’d bet anything!
Pets, for instance—raised by players from infancy—were sometimes wagered for a shot at turning things around. This had led to many cases of pets rebelling.
The overall win/loss ratio was hard to gauge. Qi Xu used to think it was tied to luck. But after getting familiar with the world’s deeper mechanics, she... stopped thinking so naively.
Qi Xu had an idea and equipped the title [I Have X-Ray Vision].
"No, no, no! No cheating in gambling!"
Well, that loophole was closed.
Qi Xu simply bet 10,000 survival coins. "I bet high."
Then, without hesitation, she opened the crate. It wasn’t that Qi Xu was a gambler—it was just that in the previous round of the game, players had discovered a pattern.
The first time you encountered a Gambler’s Supply Crate, no matter what you guessed, you’d always win...
This was a semi-open secret. No point in passing up free loot, so Qi Xu crossed her arms and waited calmly for the rewards.
She wondered how much 10,000 survival coins would amplify the loot.
But then the screen’s announcement glitched into garbled text.
【％#@###√&&‖＃￥}√％@#&！】
..........
