156487 replied quickly, as if they were glued to the game interface: “Then I won’t buy any. I mainly wanted to know—is the monster hunting going smoothly over there?”

【Yining】: Intelligence fee: 1 gold coin.

【Player】 156487: Bro, you’re being steep. Are you even a real man? You were so quick to trade when you needed me, and what I’m selling you is a rare item.

Yining thought to himself, Does it have anything to do with being stingy? He just didn’t want to see this guy. To put it politely, their auras just didn’t mesh.

【Player】 156487: Don’t monsters drop gold too? You’re definitely not short on that right now, so there’s really no need.

【Player】 156487: Here’s the deal: I’ll buy your watermelons, but give me a discount. What good loot did you actually get from killing those monsters?

【Yining】: I’ll sell you 100 watermelon seeds for 1 gold coin, and throw in a quarter of a watermelon for free.

【Player】 156487: Well…

Even 156487 could tell Yining was doing this on purpose. He didn’t back down at all; instead, he drew on the shameless, persistent tenacity he’d honed while chasing after a boyfriend back in the day: “How can you possibly know how many watermelon seeds are in a quarter of a watermelon? Even if you sold me all the seeds from a whole watermelon, there’s no guarantee they’d actually grow.”

“Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll contribute 10 logs, 2 planks, and 5 stones. Trust me, once the territory expands to Level 3, you’ll still need these resources, so it won’t hurt to stock up a little extra.”

【Yining】: Have you expanded already?

【Player】 156487: Not yet. I’m not in a rush—I’ll level up a bit first. Who knows what might be in the dark areas?

【Yining】: Add 5 hemp too. You’re playing the “Grass Roll” blind box, right? I saw on the forum that every “Grass Roll” pull guarantees 1 hemp.

【Player】 156487: …

【Player】 156487: Hey, you guessed right with a 50% chance. Alright, let’s do a system notarization.

System notarization is a third-party verification mechanism for trading intelligence. The game determines whether the information provided by both parties holds corresponding value. If the intelligence is irrelevant to the trading party, the transaction will be rejected.

If the intelligence’s value is higher or lower than the traded item, the game will automatically select items of equivalent value for the player to choose from, with any excess refunded or shortfall covered.

Yining placed the watermelon on the game’s trading page and entered the following in the intelligence field:

【Level 1 Zombie, 100 HP, takes continuous damage after being set on fire, low defense, generally vulnerable to melee weapons, strength of about 5, drops include replication cards, Gold, and Gems.】 

After both parties have finished their preparations, a prompt appears: 【Please confirm the transaction】. 

Yining clicks Confirm.

【Received 2 Planks, 10 Logs, 5 Stones, 5 Hemp】

【Bonus Trade Item: Your Half-Body Screenshot ×1】

This doesn’t look like an item meant to cover the price difference…

Yining stared blankly at this baffling “extra item”—there had been no related prompts throughout the entire game.

【Player】 156487: Dude, your character model is top-notch. Wanna date?

【Player】 156487: Ahem, sorry about that. My skill is 【Receive a Random Bonus Item During Trades】.

【Yining】: Get lost.

So this guy is so well-stocked because of that skill? Hard to say. But Yining definitely didn’t want to have anything more to do with him.

There’s just this weird feeling of being taken advantage of through the game interface.

It was late at night. As the last flickering embers of the zombie’s corpse burned out, the light within the area dimmed.

Yining took the bowl of rice—served in a disposable paper bowl—out of the system. The bowl was still warm, and the grains of rice were white and plump; the aroma alone was enough to whet his appetite.

This made him want to go to the system store and buy a grilled sausage to go with it.

If—and he emphasized the word “if”—players accumulated resources day by day and worked tirelessly, they might just be able to live a life like the one he had before his death, with three square meals a day and no worries about food or drink.

【Chat Channel: Channel 3】

【Player】 854573: Folks, I really can’t hold back anymore—I’m dying to swap for a grilled sausage.

【Pick a Nickname with High Survival Rate】: Damn it, the game system is so cunning, tempting us with grilled sausages.

【Wang Goudan】: These hardtack biscuits are disgusting. I can’t even swallow them without water.

【Player】 454691: 1 Freshwater for 10 Wood, 1 Freshwater for 10 Wood.

【Wang Goudan】: Can you please not post ads in the channel!

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

With replication cards and synthesis cards in hand, Yining headed straight for the most expensive and effective tier of burn treatments. He wasn’t worried about the price—he was worried about not finding the right one.

He immediately opened the system announcements to sift through the golden legends for the medicine.

From 6 a.m. to late at night, only a few dozen players across the entire server had obtained golden items. If there were truly six-figure real-life survival games out there, the odds would be truly dismal.

Many lucky players who obtain golden potions list them for sale on the forum by the pill, earning enough resources to upgrade their base from scratch.

【Anti-Inflammatory Medicine (Golden), 10 pills for sale, 1 pill for 10 Wood/Stone/Hemp】

【Vitamin Trio (Golden), 50 pills per bottle, 1 pill for 1 Wood】

【Hemostatic Powder (Golden)】

【Hemostatic Bandage (Golden)】

【Antibiotics (Golden)—Your go-to choice for monster hunting; 1 pill = 1 monster drop】

【Painkillers (Gold), 100 pills, 1 pill = 1 point】

【Grandma’s Health Supplements (Gold)—Fish Oil, Ginseng, and Deer Antler—Boosts Strength by ++++, 10 points per capsule!】

Yining’s grandma really does love buying fish oil—no doubt about it. But he wouldn’t buy it.

Who would be thinking about taking fish oil when their life is on the line…

He was mainly torn between antibiotics and hemostatic bandages. Both are useful in many situations, but he only planned to use one copy opportunity.

What ultimately pushed Yining to make his final choice was the less-than-smooth communication with the antibiotic seller.

【Antibiotics Seller】: Why are you renting my antibiotics? I get it—you’ve unlocked the Miao Miao Gadget. Rent one bottle from me, and when you return it, give me two back—or even one and a half. Anyway, with so many antibiotics on the market, mine aren’t worth much anymore.

Well, that’s exactly how they make their money—by taking a cut when there’s not enough to go around. Blocking someone’s livelihood is like killing their parents.

【Hemostatic Bandage Player】: Can you tell me why you want to rent it? Can the system guarantee that the item you return will be exactly the same, with no issues whatsoever? So there are replication cards here, too? Trying to get something for nothing? I’m not renting it.

【Yining】: My intel fee is 10 logs. Plus, I’ve got a quarter of a watermelon. By tomorrow morning, it won’t be fresh anymore—you won’t be able to eat it then.

【Hemostatic Bandage Player】: You told me that intel voluntarily—I didn’t force you. I can buy the watermelon; name your price. 

Yining gave a resigned smile, assuming the deal had fallen through, and didn’t reply.

But about ten minutes later, the hemostatic bandage Player messaged Yining: “Fine, fine. I’ll take half a watermelon, plus a spoon.” 

Yining still ignored him.

【Hemostatic Bandage Player】: What’s your deal? Are you messing with me?

Another two minutes passed.

【Hemostatic Bandage Player】: Answer me, or I’ll post on the public chat that you have a replication card.

【Yining】: A quarter of a watermelon. That’s all I’ve got.

【Hemostatic Bandage Player】: Fine, consider it a charitable act. 

Yining took a deep breath.

Dealing with all kinds of players like this is truly exhausting.

He rented some hemostatic bandages, retrieved them from his mailbox, and found that they came in a pack containing 8 bandages. Each bandage measures 12cm × 100cm, and it provides a 【Hemostatic】 effect when used.

So be it if he was exhausted—a quarter of a watermelon and a single replication card opportunity in exchange for this? That’s a steal. It more than makes up for the mental toll.

Later, Yining spent 2 wood to buy 2 grams of salt, mixed a crude saline solution according to the ratio, and used it to clean the burned areas on his arms and calves. Hmm, that previous death didn’t diminish this body’s muscle definition—it’s still sharp and defined.

The guy who sold him gunpowder earlier said Yining’s body was top-notch.

When someone is good-looking, they’re naturally aware of it.

Right after graduation, a live-streaming agency even offered Yining a high-paying deal to cosplay as some “effeminate guy.”

Luckily, he found his own path later on; otherwise, in a moment of despair and with no other options, he might have ended up venturing into that gray area.

After wrapping the hemostatic bandage to stop the bleeding, the 【Battle Damage】 effect faded, and a busy day officially came to an end.

Looking back on the day’s events, he had the strange illusion that he hadn’t just been struggling to survive in a game all day, but had been struggling for an entire year. 

He tended to his campfire, then spread all the hemp straw he’d gathered that day inside the coffin to ward off the damp, chilly air of the graveyard. Finally, he climbed into the coffin, lay down on the pile of hemp straw, half-closed the lid, and the night settled into stillness.

The flames crackled softly from time to time. At some point, a cricket had quietly slipped into the camp, fluttering its wings and emitting a clear, lingering chirp.

Whether the watermelon in his backpack would spoil by morning, whether the synthesis cards would lose value the next day, or what other resources he still had to manage—none of that mattered anymore. Yining just wanted to get a good night’s sleep and treat himself.

In the early hours of the morning, Yining was jolted awake by something hitting him. As he came to, he heard the game’s alarm he’d set go off. He manually turned off the alarm and realized it was a book that had landed squarely on his chest. He brought the book closer to the firelight to take a look.

*Systematic Anatomy*

The book was open, and the exposed page seemed to be missing a section—whether an illustration or a passage of text had vanished, leaving a jarring blank space in the middle of the page…

Yining’s heart skipped a beat, and his drowsiness vanished instantly.

The next second, he caught the scent of a rich, meaty aroma, making his mouth water involuntarily.

Crawling out of the coffin, the moment he poked his head out, he saw a dark figure sitting with his back to him in front of the fire, holding a twig in his hand—it was the source of the enticing aroma wafting from the branch.

But upon closer inspection, what was skewered on that branch was clearly a liver! Holy shit, it’s haunted!

Yining was so startled that he tumbled back into the coffin. He scrambled to pull out the alloy thighbone and clutched it tightly, his whole body tense as he braced for the terrifying sight that could appear at any moment.

As time went on, the eerie atmosphere made even the Simplified Chinese text scrolling through the game’s chat channel seem terrifying, as if the people behind those words weren’t real humans, but cold, lifeless data…

I’m definitely just scaring myself! Yining muttered silently to himself.

This is a graveyard; it’s only natural for it to be haunted. Don’t make a big deal out of it.

You’re an adult now, Yining—you don’t lose sleep over horror movies.

The fire outside was nearly out; once the area was completely plunged into darkness, something even more terrifying might happen.

Yining gripped the alloy thighbone in his hand, steeled himself, and climbed out of the coffin in one go—only to find that the black figure by the fire had vanished, leaving the liver skewered on a branch jutting abruptly from the ground.

【Acquired: Roasted Liver ×1】

【Roasted Liver: Satiety +30, Health +1, Spirit +1】

“……”

Yining really wanted to curse. The aroma of the roasted liver was irresistible.