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I Am Domineering received a friend request. He’d deleted everyone he’d added from the Temple of the Gods earlier, and “Little Old Me” was naturally no exception.

Under normal circumstances, if he’d seen this friend request, he would’ve ignored it without a second thought—or even blocked the person.

But tonight was different.

He guessed that “Little Old Me” had added him for much the same reason.

Friend request accepted.

【Little Old Me: Let’s skip the pleasantries between the two of us.】

【Little Old Me: Domineering, tell me—right now, who’s the person he hates the most?】

【I Am Domineering: I Love Survival Game, you, and me.】

Both of them knew exactly what the other was thinking.

【I Am Domineering: But he can’t do anything about “I Love Survival Game”; as for you and me, we might not be a match for him.】

After all, with his early-game advantage plus last month’s ranking rewards, there’s no telling what kind of good stuff “My Fate” might have on hand.

【Little Old Me: Yeah, he can’t do a thing about the game big shot—he might even have to worry about the game big shot coming after him. But taking care of the two of us? That’s something he can definitely pull off.】

When he saw those two lines, he got goosebumps. He couldn’t help but say:

【I Am Domineering: Can you stop being so gross? You’re constantly calling him a “big shot” around me?】

【Little Old Me: What’s the problem? He really is the best player in Server 01 right now.】

【Little Old Me: Plus, he’s got a good personality—unlike My Fate, who’s managed to piss everyone off. He won’t hold a grudge against us.】

I Am Domineering just can’t bring myself to swallow his pride. He’d even mocked the guy to his face back in the day. Now, expecting him to act as if nothing happened and grovel? He just can’t do it.

【I Am Domineering: Enough with the nonsense. What do you think?】

【Little Old Me: My Fate is definitely going to give us trouble. Even if not in the next few days, once he remembers, he won’t let us off the hook.】

Especially if he ever rises to power—there’s no way he’ll spare those two.

【Little Old Me: My suggestion is to strike first.】

I Am Domineering actually had a similar idea.

But he wouldn’t readily agree out loud—since Little Old Me came to him first, he was the one taking the initiative.

【I Am Domineering: Just the two of us? How can you guarantee we can take him down?】

After a lot of people died, there were more than just one or two players who “stabbed him in the back” and left the Temple of the Gods.

A few of them are particularly despicable, and since they’re afraid of really pissing people off, Little Old Me is confident he can rile them up.

【Little Old Me: Domineering, are you in?】

I Am Domineering, of course I’m in—he still remembers I Am Handsome’s death.

But he said:

【I Am Domineering: Come up with a concrete plan first.】

【I Am Domineering: I’ll order that beast—who cost so many lives in Server 01 back then—to be dealt with. Who knows, maybe we won’t even have to lift a finger; someone else will take justice into their own hands.】

【Little Old Me: Let’s hope so.】

Deep down, he was actually pinning his hopes on Qiyu.

Deep down, he felt that this top-ranked player was a bit too merciful—who knows how long it would take for him to actually take action?

He didn’t know that Qiyu hadn’t truly forgotten the saying, “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens.”

However, the Ice and Snow Boss event is currently underway, so collecting frost gems is the priority right now. He certainly couldn’t let some trash player get in the way of his limited-time rewards.

He planned to wait until the Ice and Snow Boss event ended, then use some in-game currency to buy a few Location Cards and take care of him.

However, plans don’t always go as expected.

Day four of the Ice and Snow Boss event, just as dawn was breaking.

An announcement rang out to everyone:

【Announcement: This Month’s Resource Zone Is Now Open. Starting now, players holding Resource Zone cards may enter the Resource Zone using their cards.】

The resource zone is open?

Qiyu tapped his forehead lightly—he’d completely forgotten about this.

It opens once a month, at a random time.

Why did it have to happen right during the end-of-month event?

Almost at the same moment, the teleportation portal lit up.

He guessed why God Has No Form had come and quickly agreed.

Sure enough, as soon as Dan Xingyu arrived, he asked, “The resource zone—are we going?”

Qiyu asked him, “How’s your event token collection coming along?”

Dan Xingyu replied, “Not bad. Ever since the Little Golden Dragon woke up the day before yesterday, my collection efficiency has improved significantly.”

The Little Golden Dragon can not only fly but also possesses exceptional intelligence and formidable combat prowess.

Moreover, due to their contract, the rewards from the Little Golden Dragon’s kills also count toward Dan Xingyu’s total.

At first, Dan Xingyu had been lagging significantly behind Qiyu, but by yesterday, his progress had nearly caught up to Qiyu’s.

Over the past two days, Qiyu had collected a total of 500 frost gems.

His pace was slightly slower than on the first day, mainly because after exploring the area around his territory several times, the drop rate for Ice and Snow bosses had decreased significantly, forcing him to travel farther afield in his magic sled.

On the first day, he collected 268 gems, used 100 to upgrade his magic sled, and spent 50 to obtain the event-exclusive Ice and Snow Knight set.

He now has a total of 618 frost gems left in his inventory.

That’s already enough to redeem the most expensive territory skin in this event.

Qiyu hasn’t redeemed it yet; he wants to save up a bit more so he can redeem all the remaining items in the store at once.

Now the resource zone event has popped up…

He thought for a moment: “There are still four days left in the Ice and Snow Boss event. If I spend 1–2 days on the resource zone, it shouldn’t have much of an impact.”

He said 1–2 days, but in reality, he hadn’t obtained any new resource zone cards this month at all—otherwise, he wouldn’t have completely forgotten about it.

He asked Dan Xingyu, “Do you still have any cards?”

Dan Xingyu opened his palm, and a pitch-black card appeared in his hand.

Qiyu was delighted: “What a coincidence—I have a black one too.”

He’d drawn a total of two resource zone cards: one black and one green.

He’d visited the green resource zone last time, and now he still had one black card left unused.

Dan Xingyu, on the other hand, was quite surprised: “I thought someone as lucky as you wouldn’t be able to draw a black resource zone card?”

As someone who had visited a resource zone before, he was also familiar with the color classifications of these zones.

Green represents safe zones, red represents moderately dangerous zones, and black represents uncontrollable, extremely dangerous zones.

Qiyu was actually quite curious: “How was the red resource zone you visited last time?”

Dan Xingyu: “It was fine—you just have to be careful.”

They had teleportation scrolls on hand; if things got really bad, they could always use them to escape and save their lives.

He suddenly remembered: “Since we’re both heading to the black resource zone, can we team up and go together?”

“Yes,” Qiyu said with certainty. “Last time I was in the resource zone, I ran into a brother and sister who had gone in as a party.”

While they were talking, the survival panel’s countdown continued.

There was a confirmation period of about five minutes.

Qiyu asked Dan Xingyu, “Have you got everything ready?”

Dan Xingyu replied, “I’ve got my backpack—it’s really convenient.”

Players’ essential items are usually kept in their backpacks, so they can head out on a moment’s notice.

With several minutes still left, Qiyu opened the zone chat to take a look. Sure enough, everyone had been caught off guard by this announcement.

【Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens: Why does this have to happen right now? If I go to the resource zone, I’ll probably run out of time for the event.】

【Liver Emperor: Exactly. The Ice and Snow boss is a limited-time event, but the resource zone cards will still be usable next month, so I don’t plan on going.】

Most players felt the same way.

For one thing, a limited-time event was currently underway, and the rewards were tangible and visible—so the zone event was definitely more important.

Another reason was that during the last resource zone event, quite a few players hadn’t actually gotten anything good. That Premium Resource Zone required an additional 5,000 gold coins.

No matter how you looked at it, it just wasn’t worth it.

Of course, there’s another reason: this month, very few players actually drew resource zone cards.

Most people didn’t even have a choice.

The 01 Survival Squad is also discussing this topic:

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: I’m not planning to go this time; I’ll prioritize the zone event.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: +1.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: I have no choice—haha, I don’t even have any cards.】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: I’m skipping it too. I feel like even after seven days, I won’t be able to get all the rewards from the Snow Festival event.】

【I Love Survival Game:.】

【I Love Survival Game: I’ll go with God Has No Form.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: With your progress, gaming pro, you’ll have no problem at all.】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: The rewards from that last Speed Carnival event were really great. That way, no matter where you guys go, you can look out for each other.】

Qiyu felt the same way.

Thanks to Survival Game for pairing him and Dan Xingyu in the same arena.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have seen such a beautiful Golden Desert, nor would he have been able to see his good friend every day.

Just as he was about to enter the resource zone, he remembered something.

“Dan Xingyu, wait a second.”

He quickly pulled a stack of magic scrolls from his backpack and shoved them toward him.

“Take a few more of these. If anything happens, just throw them.”

Dan Xingyu: “You’ve already given me so many before—I haven’t even used them yet.”

Qiyu’s reaction was completely unexpected: “You haven’t used any of them? Then you’re really something—you’ve handled every danger all by yourself.”

Dan Xingyu chuckled helplessly, shook his head, and carefully put the magic scrolls away.

He said, “Qiyu, please don’t praise me so much from now on.”

Qiyu looked puzzled: “Why?”

“It’ll spoil me,” Dan Xingyu said, gazing deeply into his eyes. “Qiyu, people are greedy by nature. The more you get, the more you want.”

I’m afraid I’ll never be satisfied—no, I’m afraid I’ll become even more insatiable.

Qiyu didn’t understand.

But he knew one thing: “What’s there to be greedy about? If you want to hear it, I can praise you every single day.”

Dan Xingyu’s tone was inexplicably strange: “What about later?”

Qiyu: “What do you mean by ‘later’?”

“I mean your future,” Dan Xingyu said. “Do you really think we’ll stay together like this forever? Haven’t you ever thought about the rest of your life?”

He asked this question with a certain hidden thought in mind, only to be met with a bewildered face.

Qiyu really hadn’t thought about the future.

Life in the apocalypse had taught everyone to take each day as it came.

The future—that was too elusive.

You could spend all your energy devising a bunch of plans, but in reality, you might not even live to see the sunset on a cloudy day.

Qiyu felt that life in this survival game was already very, very good.

Spending a lifetime like this would be fine, too.

“From now on, just like this—isn’t that good enough?”

If it could really be like that, he would feel grateful and happy every single day.

He stared intently at Dan Xingyu: “You’re strange, Dan Xingyu.”

“How am I strange?”

Qiyu analyzed the situation earnestly: “I can tell you really like me, and I really like you too. Since that’s the case, as long as we don’t die, we’ll definitely be able to stay together forever.”

“So what kind of nonsense are you thinking about?”

“……”

There was no reply for a long while.

Qiyu looked up and saw that the young man with the dark, desert-tanned face had turned bright red.