A huge huge thanks to both Katy and GreenKiTea on Kofi for the donations. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

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Qi Yu examined the small card in his hand. A white card the size of a palm, with no color or patterns—just a blank surface. 

If it weren’t for the information on the Survival Panel, it would look just like any ordinary scrap of paper you might find lying on the ground—something no one would even give a second glance.

【I Love Survival Game: Have you used it yet?】

【Need a Little Money to Save Me: Nope, I haven’t had a chance to use it yet.】

【I Love Survival Game: It’s called a one-time location card, and it doesn’t have any special quality listed. I don’t think it works the way you described—that you can just enter an ID and track the other person’s movements indefinitely.】

If that were really the case, it wouldn’t be a single-use item.

After all, the 【Location Teleport Scroll】—which was also obtained with in-game currency—sounds a bit more advanced than this item, and it doesn’t have the “single-use” restriction.

One marker. However, it can only be used once, and you can’t force your way into someone else’s shelter. 

【Need A Little Money To Save Me:! Makes sense! Hey, gaming pro, hold on—I’ll find someone to test this out!】 

【I Love Survival Game: ?】

Test it? So, does he still have this item on hand? Besides, he probably has more than one. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just pull it out to test it.

【Need a Little Money to Save Me: Hehe, I got it from a treasure chest—and there’s more!】

He didn’t dare say exactly how many, but actually, this item is just like sticky notes—he got a whole dozen from the chest.

【I Love Survival Game:…】

For a split second, he felt like he understood how some players in the zone were feeling. Need a Little Money to Save Me—are you a fan of the survival game too? But how exactly does one review this item? Who’s supposed to review it?

He set aside his doubts for the moment and opened the zone chat channel.

The channel’s atmosphere, which had been so festive just moments ago, was now thick with tension.

There really were a few people who didn’t have all their marbles—because of the line “My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens,” they directed some complaints at Qi Yu. 

But Qi Yu didn’t even have to show up; someone had already started lashing out:

【I’m Domineering: “My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens”—if he causes harm to others, are you gonna blame the game’s top player? Are you really taking advantage of the fact that this top player has a good temperament? I bet in the real world, if a murderer commits a crime, you’d be the kind of morons who blame the store for selling knives to the criminal?】

【I’m Domineering: Before you start bashing people, why don’t you first release the green resource points in your inventory? You can’t very well criticize others while enjoying the resources they’ve earned, can you?】 

【I’m Domineering: I don’t think I’ve brought any minors into this game, so why do so many of you act like your brains aren’t fully developed?】

【I’m Domineering: I don’t even want to waste my breath cursing at you guys—it’s way more satisfying when Little Old Me does it.】

【Little Old Me: ??? @I’m Domineering, isn’t that a bit inappropriate? What does this have to do with me?】

【I’m Domineering: I don’t know—maybe I’m just used to it. I don’t feel right unless I’ve cursed at you at least once a day.】

【I Love Survival Game: @My Fate Is in My Hands, Not in the Heavens—Is your Mental Strength stat really that low?】 The Zone channel fell silent.

The main character has appeared.

【My Fate Is in My Hands, Not the Heaven’s: So the coward finally dares to show his face? Stop spouting all this nonsense—just wait until I take you down.】

【I Love Survival Game: I’m just worried—in your current mental state, will you even make it to the next resource zone opening?】Judging by that manic outburst just now, his mental state is clearly already very unstable. 

Qi Yu had seen plenty of lunatics like this, though most were people from his previous life who’d been driven mad by the harshness of their environment. 

Qi Yu just never expected that life in the survival game—which is supposed to be so easy—could actually drive someone insane. How fragile. 

Qi Yu’s appearance came as no surprise to many—and was what many had been hoping for.

Many people were seething with hatred toward “My Fate Is in My Hands, Not the Heaven’s” at that moment, desperately hoping that “I Love Survival Game”—this major victim and the top-ranked player in District 01—would step forward to represent all the affected players and have a good, hard showdown with “My Fate Is in My Hands, Not the Heaven’s.”

They hoped he’d descend from the heavens like a god—perhaps even pulling out some powerful item—and force a decisive showdown and take care of this scumbag once and for all. 

Qi Yu’s reaction was so calm that it seemed as if he were merely a bystander, rather than the victim of a sneak attack.

This disappointed some people.

It also brought a sigh of relief to others.

In his private chat with close friends, several people sent messages:

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: That’s it. Don’t give this kind of person too much attention—he’s just a clown seeking attention.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Gaming legend, don’t get upset, and don’t waste too much time arguing with a lunatic. He’s just giving up now—he’s not worth your time or energy.】

Qi Yu replied to both of them:

【I Love Survival Game: Thanks for the concern. I’m not upset, and I’m not going to argue.】

He didn’t even know why everyone assumed he’d be upset—he didn’t even know if my life was round or flat. As for whether the other guy wanted to kill him?

He’s seen that happen way too many times.

Not to mention underhanded schemes—in his past life, he’d seen more than one person openly display their malice and try to take his life. 

If he could actually meet them face-to-face and settle the score right then and there, that would be one thing. But in all the time he’d been in the Survival Game, aside from those who used teleportation scrolls, he’d never heard of two strangers actually crossing paths in the Star Forest.

Clearly, at least at this stage, the Survival Game does not encourage players to kill one another—or rather, the Survival Game protects the “weak.” 

Qi Yu looked at all the random comments on the regional channel and thought they all had too much free time on their hands. He opened the Swift points leaderboard and checked everyone’s scores.

Imitating the tone of “God Has No Form” when he’s casually chatting about something: 

【I Love Survival Game: I took a look at the event leaderboard, and aside from the few at the very bottom, no one else even has a fraction of my points. Has everyone gotten too complacent? Aren’t you trying hard enough? If you have time to waste in the channel, why not go kill a few more Swifts?】

【Be a Good Person: ???】

【I’m Domineering: ???】

【Cockroach Smell Is So Weird: ???】

At that, the people who had been arguing stopped and all started spamming question marks.

【I’m Domineering: Your Majesty! We’re charging into battle for you—why didn’t you cast immunity on us when you activated the group taunt?!】

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Damn, I just got yelled at by a top player. But since I just got a free ride off him, I guess I’ll just have to slink away.】

【Liver Emperor: Awesome! Top player, you said what I’ve always been too afraid to say. Whether people are just watching the drama or arguing in the channel, you don’t get any points for it anyway—just watch and move on. If you get too worked up and invest too much, before you know it, the hardworking players will pass you by!】

【The More You Play, the Harder Life Gets: Haha, if someone else had said that, I might have thought they were making a subtle dig at someone, but coming from the “Gaming Expert,” it’s definitely heartfelt.】 

……

And just like that, the messy, toxic flame war came to an abrupt end.

Little Old Me, reading this, felt even more that “I Love Survival Game” was a truly unfathomable person. He was going crazy—as the person directly involved, no matter how he responded, there would always be someone dissatisfied.

Unexpectedly, he acted as if he didn’t care about the whole thing at all, bringing up the points event that affected everyone—and just like that, seamlessly shifted the conversation away from the topic. 

This instantly pulled everyone’s attention away from the incident. Knowing how he feels about the other, this probably stings him even more than being cursed face-to-face.

This is a form of “ignoring.”

For a man like Meiming—who is extremely concerned about saving face, cares deeply about others’ opinions, and is, at his core, actually insecure—this is more unbearable than any other response. 

He went on a few more rampages in the regional chat, but by then it was hard to generate the same level of attention as before. Some bold players even mocked him:

【My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens. If you keep acting crazy and don’t work hard, watch out—you might not even be able to hold onto your fourth-place ranking!】 

These people aren’t even calling me “Big Shot” anymore—this really shatters my “My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens” mindset.

Just then, Qi Yu appeared again:

【I Love Survival Game: Buying Swift Meat on the personal trade page—same price as last time.】 It was still an auto-trade listing for 50,000 Beast Crystals.

Thanks to the previous server-wide announcement, everyone now knew that the game’s top player was buying Swift Meat because he had a way to connect with the outside world. Just as he said: Swift Meat is not useful to them, but it might be useful to others.

Unless you’re like the game’s top player and can “explore” other regions, keeping it is indeed useless. It sold out quickly on Trade Channel 1.

【Little Old Me: @I Love Survival Game, Big Shot, can you unblock me?】

Swift meat isn’t the point. The point is that I Love Survival Game has exclusive access to certain channels, and who knows—at any moment, they might start selling irreplaceable items like the “Earthfire Dragon Thermal Set.”

Right now, he’s just exposed my “true identity”—this is the perfect time to boost my favorability, and it’s also a great opportunity to get off the blacklist. Qi Yu ignored him.

【Little Old Me: Boss, I admit I followed the wrong leader before and did some wrong things, but I really want to change. Can’t you really give me a chance? @I Love Survival Game】 

【I Love Survival Game: Nope.】

【I Love Survival Game: I only block people who insult me or my products.】

Little Old Me gritted his teeth.

How can someone be so stubborn! 

【Hot-Tempered Bro: Haha, Little Old Me, take a piece of advice from your hot-tempered bro: don’t try those underhanded tricks on the game’s big shots. Back when you were with the Temple of the Gods, didn’t you suffer enough losses? The top player is completely untouchable.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Hey everyone, we’ve got a top-ranked player in our region—the number one on the leaderboard. We get discounts from the Wandering Merchant and resource point rewards. I’m not asking you to worship them, but at the very least, show a little gratitude.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: Exactly. With that server-wide announcement just now, I can’t even imagine how envious the other regions must be of us.】

【Need a Little Money to Save Me: Boss, the review is over.】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: You’re right—with this location card, once you enter someone’s ID, the location tracking only lasts for one minute, and it expires after that—no wonder it’s called a one-time location card. I was wondering why this survival game was suddenly being so generous to me.】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: I just checked Brother Small Eyes’ review—his shelter is 215 kilometers away from me. At this distance, if you have to stay in your shelter at night, you might as well forget about using this to visit other players’ shelters.】

【Need a Little Money to Save Me: However, we all agree this thing has other clever uses.】

【Need a Little Money to Save Me: When the next resource zone opens, everyone who gets a resource zone card will be able to meet up in person!】