Thanks to GreenKiTea for the kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters! I’m glad you guys are enjoying the story as much as I am!

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After a quick tally of his loot, it was already 5:00 a.m. Three hours until dawn. Qiyu repaired the fence with wood, then used some wood and iron chunks to fully restore the shelter’s durability. He planned to wait until dawn to properly map out the territory. 

For now, he’d take a shower and get some proper rest. Entering the bathroom, he was just about to take a quick shower as usual when something suddenly occurred to him. He stepped out and walked to the door. 

【Energy Crystal Card: 

General Consumable.

Crafting Material: 1/5 Energy Orb.】

The survival challenge had brought him quite a few good items. Now, in Qiyu’s backpack, there was 1 fire energy bead. The drops from Nighttime Kills and Resource Packs were all energy beads, bringing the total to 11. 

Qiyu selected five pitch-black energy beads and chose to synthesize them. A mysterious black card, glowing with a dim, eerie light, appeared in Qiyu’s hand. 

The black card had no decorations or patterns, and only when Qiyu’s interface scans it does a number appear: 

【Energy Crystal Card: Energy Remaining 1000/1000.】

Qiyu inserts it into the card slot. The hot water tap in the bathroom finally had a use. Nineteen years in his previous life, plus three days in this one—Qiyu, a country bumpkin from the post-apocalyptic world, was taking a hot shower for the first time in his life. 

If, during his first cold shower, he had approached it with a mindset of “treasuring the moment” and “what a luxury,” then at this moment, he felt only one thing: comfort. 

He unconsciously closed his eyes, letting the gentle flow of water soothe his weary body, and was almost immediately lulled to sleep. Of course, it was only almost. 

After stepping out of the shower, Qiyu felt nothing but bliss; every inch of his body felt perfectly at ease. In such a great state, there was only one thing to do—Cultivate his mental power! 

Based on his experience the night before, meditation was far more effective than mere sleep. No sooner said than done, he sat cross-legged on the wooden bed and quietly closed his eyes. 

Silver particles invisible to the naked eye swirled around him, and the world fell silent at that moment. Last night’s survival trial had passed without incident, allowing many anxious players to breathe a sigh of relief. 

At 8:00 a.m., the moment the light broke, Qiyu opened his eyes. He keenly sensed something different. 

He got up, stepped out of the small wooden cabin, and looked up at the sky. The unchanging, cloudless sky of the beginner phase was gone. 

Today’s sky was still azure blue, but compared to the previous days, it was filled with large, billowing white clouds. Occasionally, the sun would hide behind them, casting a layer of faint shadow. 

Qiyu opened his character panel and noticed a string of red dots. He didn’t click on them immediately, but instead looked at the panel, which now displayed several new pieces of information compared to the previously bare time display.【Current Location: Star Forest.】

【Today’s Weather: Sunny turning to cloudy, 23°C–31°C, light breeze (Level 3).】

【Congratulations on completing the beginner phase. Welcome to the real survival game world.】

【Beginner Perks Removed: Basic backpack capacity remains unchanged; unlimited freshness preservation feature removed; 5% transaction fee applies to trades.】

【Regional Leaderboard feature enabled, click to unlock.】

The real survival game world?

Qiyu immediately checked his backpack.

He saw that all the meat in his inventory now displayed a freshness countdown of three days. Boxed milk and other food items showed expiration dates ranging from three to six months.

Three days…

Even with a hearty appetite, he couldn’t possibly finish his remaining meat supply in three days.

He opened the chat page.

‌‌All his friends had sent him messages.

【God Has No Form】 was just checking in to say he was safe.

【Civil Engineering Brother】, on the other hand, had initiated several trades, accompanied by a long string of messages.

【Civil Engineering Brother: Boss, these are the proceeds from selling the Sunflowers. I also made a detailed spreadsheet; please take a look.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Are you already resting, Boss? Then check it when you wake up tomorrow morning.】

Both the transactions and the messages were sent early yesterday morning.

Judging by the time, Qiyu must have just finished inventorying his items and gone to take a shower and meditate; he hadn’t checked his interface yet.

The message below was clearly sent after dawn.

【Civil Engineering Brother: Holy crap, are they charging transaction fees now?】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Good thing I sent it all to you last night.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: With my current skills, I’d probably be bleeding money.】

Judging by his tone, although he was complaining a bit, he seemed to be taking it fairly well.

Qiyu accepted the trade and sent a “Thanks.”

【Civil Engineering Brother: The big shot finally checked the interface. 】 

【Civil Engineering Brother: I noticed that even though transactions have fees, as long as you have enough intimacy with a friend, there’s a gifting feature—hehe.】

【It costs money, but at least I can get a little freebie.】

【Have you checked the regional leaderboard yet?】

【I Love Survival Game: Not yet.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: I figured as much. You always seem so laid-back, never in a rush. Go check it out first, then check the group chat—we’ve analyzed some info that might be helpful.】

The regional leaderboard is next to the player’s ID, marked by a small golden crown icon. Click on it:

【Player Combat Power Rankings】

【Player Wealth Rankings】

【Shelter Rankings】

Top 10 Player Combat Power Rankings: 

My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens;

I Am Domineering;

Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens; 

Traveler in the Misty Rain Of Jiangnan; 

***; 

***; 

Tranquility Yields Transcendence; 

I Am the Handsome One; 

Little Old Me; 

The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes. 

He had just finished looking when he noticed that the “***” in fifth and sixth place had changed to ID.1—one named “Tide Rising in the Blue Sea,” the other “Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze.”

Many of the top ten IDs looked familiar, and there was significant overlap with the rankings from yesterday’s Survival Trial. Qiyu scrolled down and found himself ranked thirty-seventh on the Combat Power Leaderboard. He couldn’t help but look puzzled. Judging by the physical capabilities of Earth humans, it was unlikely that any of these people’s individual attributes would exceed 10. Why were they ranked so high on the Combat Power List?

Top 10 on the Wealth Rankings:

My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens;

I Am Domineering; 

Little Old Me; 

Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens; 

Traveler in the Misty Rain Of Jiangnan; 

Civil Engineering Brother; 

I Am Handsome; Dare Not Open My Eyes; 

The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes; 

The Hardcore Gamer.

Qiyu noticed that his ranking on the Wealth Rankings was actually a bit higher, ranking 16th in the region.

Last but not least is the Shelter Rankings.

The top ten, in order, are: 

My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens;

Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens;

I Am Domineering; 

Traveler in the Misty Rain Of Jiangnan; 

The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes; 

The Grind King; 

I Love Survival Game; 

I Am Lily; 

Twilight Morning Song; 

Little Old Me.

He actually ranked so high on the Shelter Leaderboard.

A survival panel popped up with a notification:

【The regional leaderboard is updated monthly and settled on the first day of each month. Rewards are distributed based on the final ranking. The regional champion receives a Diamond Chest, ranks 2–10 receive a Gold Chest, and ranks 11–100 receive a Silver Chest.】

【Players may choose to remain anonymous; however, anonymous players do not receive rewards.】

【Remain anonymous? 】

Qiyu’s eyes lit up instantly.

Originally, he had been relatively indifferent to the rankings until he saw the rewards.

Silver Chests? Gold Chests? Diamond Chests?

Of course, he couldn’t be anonymous!

He chose “No.”

To everyone else, Qiyu’s spot on the leaderboard—marked as “***”—was immediately replaced by the ID 【I Love Survival Game】.

Qiyu opened the regional chat channel. Unsurprisingly, everyone was buzzing with excitement over the sudden appearance of the leaderboard:

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Holy crap, the leaderboard is out! ‘My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens’ big shot has lived up to expectations—number one on all three lists!】

【I Am Domineering: Announcement: “Temple of the Gods” is recruiting new members. Players in the top 1,000 of the region leaderboard can apply. The guild master is ‘My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens’ big shot! 】

【Little Old Me: “Temple of the Gods” is recruiting new members. Players ranked in the top 1,000 on the regional leaderboard can apply. The guild leader is the big shot. “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens”!】

【Your Humble Servant Handsome: “Temple of the Gods” is recruiting new members. Players ranked in the top 1,000 on the regional leaderboard can apply. The guild leader is the big shot. “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens”! Just look at our rankings—does the “Temple of the Gods” really need any proof of its strength?】

【Don’t Mention It: Man, those are all top-tier players on the leaderboard.】

【Lazy Fish: I really want to join, but the top 1,000…The bar is way too high.】

【Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens: The “Timeless Elegance” team is recruiting. We don’t restrict by rank—anyone with a special skill is welcome to apply.】

【Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan: That’s right, we’re all players here. Welcome to “Timeless Elegance”—let’s grow together.】

【Lazy Fish: Wow, another big shot!】

A few top-ranked players chimed in, and most people were discussing the team. There was also a group analyzing the leaderboards. Qiyu‌ noticed his name had been mentioned several times. Unlike other players, especially those in the top ten, who had rankings that were fairly close to one another. Only he had a gap of thirty places across the three leaderboards, particularly between the Combat Power and Shelter rankings. 

Many jealously remarked that he must have “had some kind of crazy luck.”

Qiyu read the comment and nodded in agreement: ever since entering the survival game, he had constantly felt that he was truly lucky. If it weren’t for that luck, how could this survival game—which was clearly targeting Earth—have dragged him into it? 

Given that he’d managed to enter the survival game and live such a good life, being called “lucky” really wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

At the 01 survival squad, someone was @-mentioning him. 

【Civil Engineering Brother: Boss, I saw your ranking. Surrounded by several teams, you actually managed to crack the top ten in the Shelter rankings. That’s seriously impressive (like) (like).】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: That’s truly impressive. In the top ten, several spots are just inflated stats from teams pooling resources.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: I can barely make sense of the Combat Power and Wealth rankings, but the Shelter ranking is a complete mystery. You’re amazing, boss.】

【I Love Survival Game: You flatter me. You’re all on the leaderboard too.】Qiyu hesitated for a moment, then decided to return the compliment:

【I Love Survival Game: You’re all amazing @Civil Engineering Brother, @Tranquility Yields Transcendence, @Dare Not Open My Eyes.

Civil Engineering Brother couldn’t hold it in and let out a laugh. 

At first, he thought 【I Love Survival Game】 was a shy, reserved type. After getting to know him a bit more, he changed his mind and thought he was a cool, aloof big shot. As he got even more familiar with him, he felt that while he wasn’t very talkative, he was definitely not aloof.

At times, his speech even had a faintly robotic quality.‌ Take the Big Shot’s reply right now—you can tell he’s trying hard to walk a fine line. Civil Engineering Brother had a fleeting suspicion: Could the Big Shot actually be the same age as Teacher Tranquility Yields Transcendence?

Qiyu felt he’d exchanged enough compliments to fulfill his duty, so he started scrolling up through the chat log. He recalled that the Civil Engineering Brother had mentioned they’d previously discussed some analysis of the three leaderboards in the group chat.