Jian Xingyi was a bit puzzled. The Big Merchant System had leveled up as expected, but how come the Savior System had leveled up while he was just buying and selling?

Jian Xingyi opened the page.

If it had leveled up, that meant he’d completed an achievement, right? That wasn’t bad at all! Achievements not only came with Dawn Coins but also Wish Bottle rewards—he’d earned another Wish Bottle!

Huh…?

Jian Xingyi took a look, but there were no completed achievements on the achievement page?

Confused, he returned to his personal homepage and noticed a row of experience points below his ID. The experience points had already reached halfway to Level 1, but below them… There seemed to be a new row of something?

【Reputation Points: 103】

Huh?

When did the Savior System add this?

Jian Xingyi clicked on the details.

【Detected that player 【Xinghe】’s World Reputation has exceeded 100. Reputation Progress Bar unlocked!】

Jian Xingyi thought about it for a moment and realized that “World Reputation” essentially referred to his fame within this game and this world.

Looking at the details, he saw that trading—which allowed players to get to know and trust him—contributed significantly to the data. Other activities, such as serving as a nominal director for 【I Can’t Hear】 and 【It’s Really Cold】, or securing funding from 【Grapevine Peak】… and so on, were also factored in.

And since 1 point of reputation could be converted into 10 points of experience, no wonder he had suddenly leveled up—it was because the reputation system had been unlocked!

Not only that, but there’s a small 【Click to View Details】 button next to the Reputation Points.

When Jian Xingyi clicked it, he saw that higher Reputation Points come with more rewards.

【100: Unlocks Reputation Points; Reputation Points can be converted into Saviour System experience points.】

【200: The Savior can create a 【Guild】. The guild can conduct cross-server trading with no restrictions on players, amounts, or goods, and can use the 【Recruit】 member function.】

【300: The Savior can create an 【Alliance】 and use the 【Recruit】 ally function.】

【400: 【Feature not yet available】】

Jian Xingyi was speechless.

The 【Alliance】 system wasn’t explicitly described—he’d probably have to unlock it to find out—but it certainly sounded pretty cool. As for the benefits of a guild… those were massive!!

In other words, once he reached 200 reputation points, he’d never have to deal with system restrictions when selling items again!

Basically, he could create his own system and marketplace—that’s absolutely amazing.

But…

Jian Xingyi scratched his head. Since all the players were trapped in this game, he’d sold so many items. Even though he was now a familiar face on the public chat, he’d only managed to accumulate 103 reputation points, which meant reputation points were inherently hard to earn.

Jian Xingyi studied the details carefully and discovered that it wasn’t just about “fame”—it also required positive emotions from others, such as “respect,” “recognition,” and “admiration.”

That’s going to be a bit tricky…

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, “He’s not Bai Jie—he has no idea how to accumulate these things either.”

For now, he’d just let things take their course. After all, the immediate priority was to survive the zombie horde first!

Just as Jian Xingyi was about to close the Savior System, he suddenly remembered something.

What are the benefits of upgrading the Savior System?

The Merchant System gave him farmland and breeding zones the moment it upgraded, and even unlocked a marketplace that provided items based on the current environment. Why is there no sign of anything with this upgrade?

Jian Xingyi asked the system.

【The higher the Savior System’s level, the more wishes it can grant.】

Alright.

It seems to be a long-term benefit—no immediate rewards, and nothing tangible to see right now.

All in all, after looking at it for a while, it was all just empty promises.

Jian Xingyi closed it with a sigh. The most urgent task right now… was to sleep!

In a few hours, he’d have to get up and head out with Shanhai to work and farm Bond Points. After finishing up with the terminal, Jian Xingyi hurried off to sleep.

When he woke up, Jian Xingyi looked at the payments in his backend and was stunned.

People were tagging him in the guild chat, too.

Heiye: 【Holy crap, so you’ve been hoarding all that good stuff just waiting for this moment! So smart—you’re amazing!】

Lone Wolf: 【Who can blame me? When I opened the guild backend and saw that amount of Dawn Coins, I thought the system had glitched! Xinghe is awesome!】

Akita: 【Xinghe is awesome!】

Jian Xingyi glanced at the guild chat in a daze before immediately opening the backend to check.

……!!!

Jian Xingyi jumped in shock and snapped to attention.

Holy cow!

All his food items were sold out, and it had earned him… 173 million!

In the past, a single transaction with food would earn him at most 30 million, but now it had skyrocketed to 173 million—that’s nearly six times as much!

A single transaction was worth as much as six transactions combined—no wonder everyone was stunned.

The Grapevine Peak members were also shocked by Jian Xingyi’s earnings.

Jian Xingyi’s personal wealth and earning power… were enough to rival their entire guild!

So that’s why they say Shanhai is so amazing…

How on earth did he manage to lure Xinghe back home?

Did he just bring home a gold mine?

And among Jian Xingyi’s massive earnings, a significant portion came from the strong support of Rainforest Mountain players. After all, Rainforest Mountain players had been hearing players from other regions praise Jian Xingyi for so long; now that they could finally buy his goods, almost every player wanted to try them out during the first listing. Since they’d never bought them before, they were all busy stocking up.

Aside from Flag-Raising Mountain, Rainforest Mountain and Wave Mountain have the largest player populations.

But it wasn’t just Rainforest Mountain players who pitched in; players from other regions were just as enthusiastic.

There’s no helping it—the meat and lychees that boost combat power are just too tempting. Even though the prices are steep, everyone is rushing to buy them. Jian Xingyi had already stocked up his backpack beforehand, so the supply is absolutely massive.

For a variety of reasons, Jian Xingyi made 160 million.

And that’s not all. Everyone had already witnessed the power of the Pot Sprout last time, so when Jian Xingyi listed the upgraded version this time, people went crazy snapping it up.

A single gacha pull for 3,000 yuan—not cheap, but not overly expensive either—but it was a must-have.

Now that the “pot sprouts” had just hit the shelves and was still hot off the press, everyone kept snapping it up, earning Jian Xingyi another… 80 million yuan.

…?!

Eighty million?!

Jian Xingyi was speechless.

But… 80 million sounds like a lot, but upon closer inspection, if each pot sprouts costs 3,000, that means they’ve actually sold nearly 27,000 of them. When you consider that players across all five regions have been buying them repeatedly—and likely more than one each—it actually makes sense.

So, combining the food and pot sprouts sales, Jian Xingyi has earned a total of 240 million.

A fortune… a massive fortune!

Jian Xingyi felt like he was floating in the air.

Although he had more than enough to buy the Bond Value Quest Cards, Jian Xingyi didn’t dare to spend it recklessly. He decided to wait until everyone had farmed their Bond Values today and check the data first.

Jian Xingyi saved the money.

Hehe, with his financial luck so strong right now, maybe his overall luck would improve too?

Jian Xingyi skipped out to the courtyard to prepare breakfast and harvest the sprouts from his pots.

Now that he had more fields, Snow Lotus was temporarily useless and didn’t need to be planted anymore, so he returned the 15 Grade-A fields originally used for Snow Lotus to the Food category and planted more lychees and feed instead.

After all, the guild members had chopped quite a bit of wood for him, so Jian Xingyi upgraded his greenhouse to Level 3 and even bought an extra one from the shop that had finally refreshed.

Now he had more greenhouses to grow lychees in.

As for the remaining 165 plots of B-grade farmland, Jian Xingyi used them all to grow potted sprouts.

Jian Xingyi was extremely pleased. Previously, he had successfully merged an SSR with just a handful of plots; this time, with a full 165 plots, things were bound to go even more smoothly.

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for obtaining Cherry Bomb x2】

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for obtaining Nut Wall x1】

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for obtaining Pea Shooter x1】

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for obtaining Luck—better items are sure to appear next time!】

……

Jian Xingyi: “……”

165 plots.

165 plots!!!

Dude!!

165 pulls, and they’re all SRs and Rs?!

Jian Xingyi was dumbfounded.

It seemed absurd at first, but when he thought about it happening to him, it actually made sense.

This is just… too amazing… Bad luck isn’t usually this effective, is it?

Jian Xingyi gritted his teeth, his face flushing red for once.

He decided!

Next harvest, he’ll have Shanhai do the harvesting—maybe it’ll work wonders?

Jian Xingyi grumbled as he began synthesizing.

After enduring the ordeal last time and redeeming countless rewards since then, his synthesis station had unlocked many new features. For instance, he could not only synthesize seeds to obtain larger quantities but also had a chance to synthesize new SS, S, or A-grade seeds—the same applied to the sprouts in the pots.

He could randomly synthesize R and SR seeds—maybe he’d get nothing, maybe he’d get another low-tier seed, or maybe he’d suddenly get lucky and snag something great.

Not only that, but the system had previously unlocked the guaranteed drop synthesis feature for him.

【Guaranteed Drop Synthesis: Players have a 75% chance of obtaining an SSR seed when synthesizing 10 SR-grade plants of the same species but different types!】

Now that he’s harvested 165 plots of land, he’s collected a total of 31 SR seeds.

Among them are 3 varieties from the Mushroom family and 4 from the Pea Shooter family.

Jian Xingyi still needs to keep planting and collecting, and so do the others in the guild. That way, if he’s ever short on anything, he can just ask his own people for it.

After Jian Xingyi replanted everything, Shanhai arrived.

“Good morning!” Jian Xingyi smiled. “You’re just in time—I just finished tending to the seedlings in the pots, and breakfast is ready! Come on in and join us.”

Shanhai sat down at the table in the yard.

It was Shanhai’s first time in Jian Xingyi’s backyard, and he looked around in surprise.

Jian Xingyi’s backyard was beautiful, with wisteria blooming everywhere and morning glories thriving on the fence—it felt just like a hidden paradise.

Jian Xingyi brought two cups of coffee and two bowls of steaming hot porridge to the table, along with pickled radish and pork meatballs as side dishes.

Shanhai raised an eyebrow. “You could open a restaurant.”

It looked the part.

Jian Xingyi paused. “You’re right.”

Shanhai’s words reminded him—perhaps once he unlocked the guild features and was no longer restricted, he might actually be able to open a restaurant?

He now had an increasing supply of seeds and ingredients, and the recipes he’d unlocked were becoming more diverse.

However, serving this kind of slightly more varied and refined food would require a time when everyone no longer had to worry about survival crises, and when he could sell the food at more affordable prices. That time certainly hadn’t come yet.

After they finished eating, Jian Xingyi yawned and said, “Shall we head out?”

Shanhai paused for a moment and asked, “If you’re tired, you can sleep.”

Jian Xingyi was indeed a bit tired. Not only had he not gotten enough sleep, but he wasn’t exactly in the best physical shape to begin with. After saying goodbye to Shanhai last night, he’d spent a lot of time and effort listing food items and managing the system.

Jian Xingyi blinked. “How am I supposed to sleep?”

Shanhai lowered his gaze slightly, as if considering how to phrase it, a faint blush visible on his ears.

Jian Xingyi: “…… ”

Ah…

Alright, he seemed to get it.

Anyway, Shanhai was the one driving the motorcycle. Sitting in front of him, wrapped in his arms, he could easily lean against his chest and sleep.

Jian Xingyi swallowed hard.

Jian Xingyi had always been a comfort-first kind of person. To make himself feel better or eat better, he could even swallow his shyness and just go for it.

So…

Jian Xingyi gave a nervous laugh. “Since you put it that way… I’m going to sleep, okay?”

And so, for the rest of the ride, Jian Xingyi sat facing Shanhai, his legs wrapped around his waist as he held onto him, resting his head on his chest and sleeping soundly.

Shanhai’s grip on the motorcycle’s handlebars was just right to cradle his in his arms, keeping Jian Xingyi sleeping soundly.

Their destination was the summit of Peace Mountain.

After all, their goal was to boost their bond points without traveling too far, so Shanhai decided to take Jian Xingyi to defeat the boss at the summit of Peace Mountain.

Shanhai took a shortcut on the motorcycle, racing up at full speed, cutting the day’s journey down to just half a day.

When they reached the summit, Jian Xingyi, feeling wide awake, stretched lazily with a touch of embarrassment before hopping off the bike, still feeling a bit shy.

He was genuinely embarrassed, but he was also genuinely comfortable.

Jian Xingyi had been to Peace Mountain many times, but he had never actually made it to the summit.

Now that he had finally reached the summit, Jian Xingyi looked around.

The summit of Peace Mountain was just as he had imagined—just as lush and green as the slopes below, and he could even see the sea of clouds all around.

Jian Xingyi began collecting Essence Points from the surroundings. Although Peace Mountain didn’t have many Essence Points, the summit definitely had more than the mid-slopes or the base.

Jian Xingyi currently had 1,350 points; after tapping, it rose to 1,410.

After finishing his scan, Jian Xingyi entered the nearby cave with Shanhai.

Shanhai gently took Jian Xingyi’s wrist.

“Stay close to me; the paths here are incredibly winding.”

The biggest difference between Peace Mountain and Volcano or Snow Mountain is that Volcano has only one core, and Snow Mountain has only one Snow Heart, but Peace Mountain is full of pits and hollows, all interconnected. It has no fixed underground area, yet an underground map could appear anywhere.

This is also why the epitaphs for 01 and 02 have yet to be found—because while Peace Mountain’s map appears simple, it follows no pattern.

“Oh, okay!”

As soon as the two stepped into the cave and the surroundings grew dim, Jian Xingyi immediately heard the shrill cry of a Dodo Beast.

Jian Xingyi paused in his tracks, feeling a bit puzzled…

That cry sounded strange.

“What’s wrong?”

Jian Xingyi scratched his head. “Shuixi, do you feel like…that this Dodo Beast sounds really distressed?”

Shanhai paused.

He didn’t notice?

Shanhai asked curiously, “Is there a difference?”

Jian Xingyi nodded, “Yes! Every Dodo Beast cries differently. For example, the ones at Lava Mountain sounded really angry, while the ones at Snow Mountain sounded hungry and like they wanted to eat us.”

Shanhai: “?”

Do Dodo Beasts’ cries… actually reflect different emotions?

But Shanhai chose to believe it. “A sorrowful cry isn’t a good sign. Be careful.”

Shanhai pulled Jian Xingyi behind him, and the two pressed forward along the narrow path.