You have to admit, the appearances of these three changed drastically—they all looked much more approachable overall. The monster merchant was the odd one out, though; with no skin and features seemingly embedded in darkness itself, it looked rather strange as a whole.
The monster merchant was naturally quite pleased. Before leaving, it insisted on giving Qi Xu a gift. Although they were all worthless little trinkets, the goodwill it earned boosted the favorability by another 10 points.
All the unpleasant memories between them completely dissipated. While they didn’t become inseparable best friends, Qi Xu clearly felt that at this stage, if he ever needed help from those three, they wouldn’t just turn a blind eye.
It was a fruitful gain.
After the monster merchant left, the Chinese Master Chef finally dared to approach. “Boss, you’re amazing.”
“It’s not me who’s amazing; it’s you. If it weren’t for your cooking skills, my family’s Easter egg probably wouldn’t have hatched for quite a while.”
The Chinese Master Chef chuckled and patted his belly. “Then let’s just say we’re both amazing.”
“Oh, by the way, Master Chef, I’ve used up all the food you gave me. When I went to Area 01, Sector 01, I ran into some... old friends, I guess. They hadn’t eaten anything good for years.”
The Chinese Master Chef’s eyes lit up. A few days ago, he suddenly received nearly a thousand positive reviews, all from new customers. Thinking about the timing, it must have been the day the boss was in a particularly bad mood.
“No wonder! I was wondering why I suddenly got so many good reviews and earned a lot of great stuff. Boss, it’s always you. Don’t worry, I don’t have much except food, but I have plenty to eat. Come on, I’ll fill up your backpack again!”
Qi Xu smiled. What a divine teammate this was.
The Chinese Master Chef couldn’t figure out the reason and didn’t want to overthink such complicated matters. All he knew was that his cooking could help the boss, so he earnestly did his part.
If he weren’t with Qi Xu, with his own combat strength, he probably would have kicked the bucket long ago.
Only after refilling Qi Xu’s backpack did the Chinese Master Chef stop.
“Boss, your friends love my cooking. You should send them more food. Now that I have two robots helping me, they eat faster than I can cook.”
“Don’t worry. If I need anything, I’ll definitely ask you. How’s Big Shell doing lately? Has he awakened after returning from the training camp?”
The Chinese Master Chef nodded vigorously and immediately showed the data of Big Shell.
[Combat Dog Big Shell — Level 1 Mutated Pet]
HP: 16,398
Status: Normal
Attack: 75
Defense: 1,728
Spirit: 99
Special Talents: Shield, Healing
Skill 1: Protective Healing Barrier
As long as the enemy’s attack power does not exceed Big Shell’s HP, the shield’s duration persists, and all life forms within the shield will have their fatigue reduced continuously at a rate of 5 points per minute.
Qi Xu was stunned after reading this. Little Seven’s HP was just over 7,000, but Big Shell’s was nearly 16,000. Although its attack was weak, its defense was incredibly strong! It truly maximized a particular strength to the extreme!
“Big Shell is seriously awesome.”
Hearing Qi Xu’s praise, Big Shell, who was beside the chopping board, even poked his head and legs out of his shell to nod in thanks.
Qi Xu gave a thumbs-up again. "Not bad, not bad. If you stack your skills with the Great Shell and your weapon’s abilities, I might not even be able to beat you in a one-on-one fight. When the arena challenge comes around, you’ll probably be the main force."
The Chinese Master Chef never expected that, with so many battle wolves already in place, he might still snag a spot in the arena challenge. It was utterly unbelievable... but honestly, that feeling of being needed wasn’t half bad.
Back on the vehicle, Qi Xu first opened the 【Life Skills Pack】.
【Congratulations, player Invincible Black Whirlwind has mastered Swimming Proficiency!】
Qi Xu was more than satisfied! Because… before the survival game, he had barely ever gone swimming in a pool—he was a textbook dry duck, even somewhat averse to it, disliking that drenched, sticky feeling all over.
Before the survival game, you could resist it, but after? No choice at all.
Any time a water-related dungeon popped up, he’d agonize over whether to join or not. Now, no worries—straight to swimming proficiency.
He could even go head-to-head with Old White Dragon in the Waves to see who was more at home in the water~
The vehicle upgrade card blind box was handed straight to Bian, who immediately scored three maxed-out 999 cards... that’s the power of Lady Luck.
Next, Qi Xu pulled out the 【Netherworld Chest】.
He took a close look at the item description: “A one-time-use offensive tool that instantly unleashes dozens of dark-attack throwing weapons.”
Perfect for ambushes, capable of zero-frame startup.
Qi Xu felt light and unburdened, enjoying a few easy days, patiently waiting for the Easter egg to hatch. When idle, he’d take the two little ones out beyond the protective shield to train and open some boxes, optimizing their routines.
Opening boxes had lost much of its fun though, since the stuff he wanted wouldn’t drop from ordinary supply crates, and high-level obsidian supply crates were rare.
Even if monsters appeared in the supply crates, Qi Xu barely got a chance to act—Little Seven and Sweet Girl would immediately divide the spoils. It was a rather peaceful, idyllic feeling.
The monthly leaderboard was almost unchanged: Invincible Black Whirlwind held first place, core team members split ranks 2 through 10, and players in the Golden Group Chat Card and the 444 Zu’an region shared spots 11 through 50.
Qi Xu specifically checked on Master Huixin—his rank had already dropped to 200.
The last time Qi Xu tried to talk, Master Huixin didn’t reply, and Qi Xu hadn’t pushed further.
Though he hoped to add more strong players to the team, it wasn’t worth chasing after someone unwilling to cooperate. That would be pointless.
The new round of calamity was called 【Peril Without Pause】. As the name suggests, danger lurked every second, a disaster Qi Xu quite liked.
Originally, from before 6 AM until after 9 PM, within an 8-meter radius of the vehicle, it was absolutely safe—monsters couldn’t enter or attack. Under the 【Peril Without Pause】 calamity, this restriction would no longer exist.
Perfectly suited for the ultimate grind, players equipped with an autopilot system are in luck—they can drive non-stop, 24 hours a day. However, the frequency of monster attacks will increase significantly, and there’s even a chance that these creatures will directly assault vehicles moving at high speeds. Not only must players fend off monster invasions, but there will no longer be any truly “safe zones.”
Qi Xu glanced at the number of people in the chat hall—4,386. He had heard from various sources that this group of players was generally very strong. Those with unstable minds or ill intentions had all been filtered out by the “Heart Demon Sky Avoidance” system.
........
