A huge thanks to GreenKiTea and Empires for the kofis, enjoy the bonus chapters!

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Region 01 Channel: 

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: What happened to the vacation we were promised? Survival Game, please just let us off the hook already.】

【Liver Emperor: It’s the least dangerous time, the weather’s comfortable, and the drop rate for exploration rewards is up—doesn’t that count as a vacation? Although I’m encouraging everyone to grind hard, if anyone wants to slack off and sleep all day in the shelter, no one’s going to stop you.】 

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Damn it! With an announcement like this, who can just lie around anymore? Not going out to scavenge is like losing a hundred million, okay?】

【Irritable Brother: Honestly, this survival game is best played online or on your phone. If you just lie around in the shelter all day without going out, it gets really boring. The exploration event is pretty fun—just think of it as going on a trip, and you can pick up some treasure chests along the way. It’s pretty great.】

【Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan: I wonder what this “Serendipity Event” is all about. Is it a treasure map where you can actually find treasure?】

【Be A Good Person: Why is everyone talking about events? Am I the only one paying attention to whether the leaderboard locks tonight?】

【Irritable Brother: Guess why the top players on the leaderboard—the ones who usually speak up—are all quietly working hard right now.】

【Irritable Brother: To be honest, the rewards for the regional leaderboard are absolutely insane. If I came across something like this while playing on Earth, I’d be questioning whether the developers even know how to make games. I saw some server-wide announcements earlier, and some of them only gave out a silver chest. But the number one spot on the regional leaderboard gets a diamond chest right away, and anyone in the top 100 gets a silver chest.】 

【Irritable Brother: Stacking Armor, Gaming Pro—I mean no offense toward you at all; I’m actually a fan of yours! I just think the regional rewards might be a bit too unbalanced.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Just popping in for a quick comment during a break. That’s exactly it—everyone really needs to stay on their toes. The regional rewards are so generous; I suspect it’s partly to encourage everyone to actively improve their overall strength, and partly because I’m worried that the upcoming “Road to Survival” mode will require players to be even stronger.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Don’t let your guard down just because it’s a three-day holiday.】After saying a few words, Civil Engineering Brother vanished. 

Qiyu had already set out on his exploration long ago.

A faint blue glow emanated from his feet—the wind-elemental magic of “Lightness” was taking effect. Today, the Star Forest was noticeably livelier, with more mutated creatures about.

However, it was still a “Safe Day,” so Qiyu simply wanted to scout for players; he could easily speed through the area without being attacked. But as always, he had a duty to release any mutant creatures he encountered. 

Besides, there was an extra drop rate boost today.

The motto was simple: “What I see is mine.” 

He extended his mental senses and moved forward at breakneck speed.

“Hm?”

His mental senses detected something glowing in the grass.

He walked over to find an ordinary patch of grass—nothing out of the ordinary—but the leaves of one blade of grass were speckled with silver light.

【Adventure Fragment found. Do you want to pick it up?】

So this is a “Serendipity Shard”?

Qiyu chose to pick it up, and a speck of silver light flew toward him,

landing in his backpack. So “Adventure Fragments” didn’t actually have a physical form—they were just a cluster of light.

After finding the first one, the rest came more easily. 

Qiyu discovered that these Adventure Fragments could spawn anywhere. On the ground, in trees, in patches of grass, or under treasure chests.

They might even drop when he defeated mutated creatures.

Today, he had been walking steadily toward the eastern part of the shelter. Using wind magic to accelerate the entire way, by noon he had already reached the farthest area he’d ever been to before.

He found a tree and sat down, planning to rest for a bit, have something to eat, and take stock of his morning’s haul. He opened his personal backpack.

Total loot from this morning: 1 brass chest, 3 fine iron chests, 8 wooden chests. 60 kilograms of various mutant beast meat, 17 Level 1 Beast Crystals, 5 Level 2 Beast Crystals. 20 Adventure Fragments. 

There were also some miscellaneous materials dropped by the mutated creatures he’d killed, but most were of average quality, so he didn’t bother counting them one by one. This haul was more than what he and God Has No Form had found combined in an entire afternoon yesterday.

He took out a bottle of desert silver-thorn sap, carefully opened it, and took a sip. So sweet!

And it wasn’t that cloying kind of sweetness—the refreshing taste carried a subtle herbal fragrance, making it incredibly invigorating. Qiyu couldn’t resist and drank more than half the bottle in one go before putting it away.

Drinking something so delicious put him in an exceptionally good mood.

He pulled out a piece of jerky to nibble on, his gaze wandering aimlessly into the distance, thinking to himself: The Survival Game and God Has No Form have really spoiled my taste buds.

He could truly relate to what God Has No Form had said.

If Survival Game were to send him back to the apocalypse, he might not even be able to stomach that bitter food anymore. Survival Game, you’ve got to take good care of me—please, don’t ever send me back. 

But then he had a second thought: He was already dead and gone in the post-apocalyptic world, so if he were sent back, he probably wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of problem anyway. 

Amused by his own strange thought, he shook his head and chewed thoughtfully, letting the delicious food wash away those jumbled thoughts. After resting for a while, he got up and continued exploring toward the east.

3:00 p.m.

Qiyu’s backpack was now filled with a whole bunch of new finds. He was ready to head home.

Given the distance, he had absolutely no chance of making it back on foot alone—even with the boost from magic—so he would have to rely on the speed of the Azure Sky Wings. With a thought, a pair of magnificent wings appeared, and Qiyu soared skyward.

His mental energy spread out instinctively. Just as Qiyu was about to head back, his mental senses suddenly picked up something. He focused his gaze in that direction, his expression turning serious.

He landed silently, concealed his presence, and crept closer.

He watched the figure not far away in silence.

The person wore a peculiar suit of armor, had hair of medium length tied in a ponytail, and was holding a sword, currently engaged in battle with a mutated creature.

While fighting, the figure kept muttering strange things, as if providing a voiceover for himself:

“Watch my basic attack! Hey! Handsome guy, twist your waist—you won’t hit me!”

“Monster! Take this—my self-created Barbarian Sword Technique!” 

“Here comes another ‘King Qin Circling the Column’—oh… positioning!”

“……”

He seemed like a very optimistic person. That was a Level 2 mutated wild boar, and the two were trading blows back and forth. If the player kept at it for a while, he should be able to wear the boar down and kill it. 

Qiyu slipped away quietly; neither he nor the monster noticed anyone had been there the whole time. The Azure Sky Wings reappeared and carried Qiyu, soaring into the air.

While releasing his spiritual energy to continue searching and staying alert to his surroundings, Qiyu thought to himself that he needed to step up his efforts in his formation studies.

Following Money’s encounter, he had now come across another player in the same area.

This likelihood might continue to increase as players grow stronger. Who knows when someone might find his sanctuary?

Having his sanctuary discovered by someone he didn’t consider a friend gave Qiyu a strange sense of being offended. He had to find a way to hide his sanctuary.

On the way back, he made a few more finds.

It was 5:30 p.m. when he returned to the hideout; barring any unexpected circumstances, Qiyu had already mastered timing his return with remarkable precision. He took a look in the backyard and saw that the seeds he’d planted that morning had already grown into mature plants.

This time, out of the six plants, only the sunflowers had mutated. And it was a familiar sight—all the sunflowers he’d planted had mutated into Bright Sunflowers. 

Other than that, the three edible varieties—soybeans, strawberries, and cherries—all failed to mutate.

Qiyu didn’t feel the least bit sorry about it: judging from previous cases of plant mutations, once a mutation occurred, the first fruits they produced would be inedible.

Coincidentally, these were the three foods he had enjoyed the most. He wanted to taste them.

As for Moonlight Grass and honey crystal flowers, being magical plants, their original properties were already quite effective. Glancing at the countdown, he realized that by tomorrow morning, everything would be ready for harvest.

Two figures stood beside the farmland, seemingly lost in thought; they didn’t even notice when Qiyu walked right up beside them.

They were two farmers from the estate.

Qiyu approached them. “What are you looking at?”

Qiao and John, startled, hurriedly bowed to him.

“We’re amazed by your farmland,” Qiao said, gazing at Qiyu in awe. “My Lord, you must be a chosen one favored by the Goddess of Nature to grow such fine crops.” 

John was a bit more reserved, merely nodding along repeatedly.

It seemed they, too, found it most strange that Qiyu could grow crops that were ready for harvest in just one day. Qiyu: “Are my crops growing well?”

John: “The produce you’ve grown is even more beautiful than the finest varieties on the market.”

Qiyu was delighted: “Perhaps it’s because I have a natural talent for gardening.” He said generously, “Once they’re ripe tomorrow, you can all try some.” 

“Thank you, My Lord.”

After sorting through today’s entire harvest, it was just beginning to get dark.

That afternoon, he had rushed back, focusing on finding treasure chests and adventure fragments, so he’d killed fewer mutated creatures.

So today’s final haul: 1 brass chest, 6 fine iron chests, and 14 wooden chests. 80 kilograms of various mutant beast meat, Level 1 Beast Crystals, and Level 2 Beast Crystals ×6. Adventure Fragments ×46.

When he opened the Survival Panel, a glowing page popped up. He clicked on it, and it turned out to be a prize wheel. 

The wheel was divided into many segments, presumably corresponding to different rewards. However, each segment displayed a question mark, making it impossible to tell what was inside. Instead of spinning the wheel right away, Qiyu opened the chat channel. 

01 Survival Squad:

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Has everyone gone home yet?】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Did any of you figure out that Adventure Fragment lottery? I drew some random junk—I think I watched a weird holographic game trailer, but I didn’t really get it.】 

【Civil Engineering Brother: Just got home; still have time to check it out.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: 10 Adventure Fragments for one pull—man, I barely have enough for one pull.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Me too—barely enough for one pull.】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: Well, I’m a bit better off—I have exactly 20 fragments, so I can draw twice.】

In the regional chat, some people were saying today was a bumper harvest, while others were complaining that there were so few Adventure Shards they couldn’t even scrape together enough for a single draw. Qiyu tapped open that glowing page once more.

【Do you want to spend 10 Adventure Fragments to spin the wheel?】

“Yes.”

The wheel spun slowly, and a golden light shot out, landing on the space between Qiyu’s eyebrows. 

Countless images flashed rapidly before his eyes. 

It was a beautiful forest, with lush trees and flowers blooming everywhere, and all sorts of fluffy little animals hopping and darting about. The thumb-sized winged creatures he’d seen before in Aegnor’s mind were there, too. 

The scene suddenly darkened, and everything vanished.

Qiyu finally understood what Money meant by “a baffling holographic game trailer.” What was that? 

Qiyu pondered for a moment; he couldn’t shake the feeling that the place in the scene looked somewhat familiar.