【Want To Drink Milk Tea: Holy crap? “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens”? Is that the big shot who triggered the server-wide announcement? He’s actually in my server! Let’s take a picture!】

【The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes: Take a pic! Big shot, please carry me!】

【Overtime Working Dog: Photo op! Big shot, please take me with you!】

【Crispy Lemon Tea: Photo op! Big shot, please take me with you!】

【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens’: Yes, the 500-meter radius around the wooden cabin is the safe zone. Everyone, remember to explore thoroughly—you’ll get a reward chest for exploring the safe zone for the first time @The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes】

【The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes: The pro actually replied to me, holy crap! @Pro, how did you get the first kill? And what’s a silver chest? It feels like you’re playing a completely different game than us.】

Qiyu couldn’t help but chuckle.

He had a good memory, and since the user with the ID 【The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes】 posted frequently, he had a vague recollection of them.

If he remembered correctly, this guy had initially accused 【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens】 of being a plant in the survival game.

【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens: No big deal, just got lucky—I saw an animal right outside as soon as I logged in. A silver chest is just another type of chest; it’s a slightly higher tier than a wooden chest.】

The already bustling chat channel went even crazier with the appearance of 【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens】, though there wasn’t much useful information afterward—mostly people @-ing 【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens】 begging to ride his coattails, and others asking what rewards were inside the silver chest.

Qiyu glanced at it a couple of times, found it uninteresting, and closed the tab. He was just a little puzzled—an animal? He’d explored the area around the wooden cabin once, but didn’t seem to have spotted the quest animal? 

He finished half a steamed bun and drank a little less than half a bottle of water.

His fullness level was now back at 50, and his stamina had recovered to 90.

Half a steamed bun was obviously not enough to fill him up at his age. But he was used to going hungry; as long as there was something in his stomach and his stomach wasn’t too upset, he could live with it. 

This survival game seemed quite generous for now, but he had no idea what would happen once the so-called beginner protection period ended. He felt uneasy unless he stocked up on some food.

After finishing his meal, he headed out again, still carrying his axe and dagger.

This time, Qiyu didn’t go to chop down trees first; instead, he went looking for stones.

Exploring the area that morning had given him a general sense of his surroundings. About three hundred meters west of the wooden cabin, there were quite a few boulders.

【Get 1 Stone】 【Get 3 Stone】 【Get 1 Stone】

Collecting fifty units of stone wasn’t too difficult—it just took a bit of time. Carrying those fifty units back to the wooden cabin, on the other hand, required a lot more effort. 

The good news was that sisal grass was nearby, so he casually picked a hundred units of it on his way back.

The bad news was that when he returned to the wooden cabin, the survival panel started flashing red again, warning him that his satiety and stamina had dropped below the warning threshold. Qiyu had no choice but to eat half a steamed bun, barely bringing his satiety level back up to 50.

Only this time, an additional alert appeared on the survival panel.

Survival ID: I Love Survival Game.

Satiety: 50 (Recommended to maintain Satiety above 80)

Qiyu：……

Is this a dig at me?

But based on his knowledge of survival games, the system wouldn’t be giving a warning for no reason.

So, gritting his teeth, he took another bite of the steamed bun and finished the water in the bottle, barely managing to raise his satiety level to 80. 

Unsurprisingly, his stamina was now at full. Next up was the much-anticipated building phase.

Fifty units of wood and fifty units of stone had piled up in one corner of the wooden cabin.

【Materials detected. A workbench can be built. Do you want to use the materials to craft it?】 “Yes.”

A hazy white mist appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the materials on the ground.

From within the mist-shrouded area came the clanging and clattering of metal striking metal.

Thirty seconds later, a workbench measuring 1.5 meters long and 0.8 meters wide appeared before Qiyu.

A system prompt appeared, allowing the player to choose the workbench’s color and place it anywhere in the shelter. 1 Qiyu selected the default natural wood color and placed it in a corner of the wooden cabin. 3

He then brought the sisal grass over.

【Materials detected. Do you wish to consume 30 sisal grasses to craft a basic backpack?】

“Yes.”

It was a familiar process. Twenty seconds later, a small, drab, unremarkable cloth bag appeared on the workbench. Qiyu picked it up.

【Basic backpack detected. Do you want to bind it to your personal inventory?】

It can be bound? Qiyu selected “Yes.”

A small icon representing 【Backpack】 appeared on his survival game interface. At this moment, all ten backpack slots were empty.

【Backpack: You can store items you touch inside the backpack.】

Qiyu placed his hand on the workbench, and a prompt immediately flashed before his eyes:

【Shelter-bound functional furniture; cannot be picked up.】

Next, he tried each item one by one.

Apart from the workbench and the wooden cabin, all of his current “assets” could be placed in the backpack.

Multiple copies of the same item—such as his remaining four and a half steamed buns—could be placed in a single backpack slot, but buns and water could not. 

However, if he placed the water, steamed buns, and fabric into a wooden crate, he could store the entire set in his backpack, taking up only one slot.

In addition, a wooden crate containing items cannot be placed in the same inventory slot as an empty crate, but if both crates are filled with items, they can be stacked in the same inventory slot. 

Qiyu had a rough idea: the basic backpack appeared to have only ten slots, but if similar items could be stacked, its actual capacity would be quite large.

For now, due to limited supplies, he couldn’t determine the maximum number of identical items that could fit in a single backpack slot.

But even based on its current performance, this could already be considered a divine artifact.

The more he looked at it, the happier he became: Was this any different from effortlessly possessing a spatial ability? 

To put it simply, when he went to chop down trees, he would no longer have to carry the wood back to the wooden cabin trip after trip by hand. If he came across edible wild berries or similar items along the way, he wouldn’t have to regretfully leave them behind just because he had no room to carry them.

There was no doubt that his resource-gathering efficiency would improve significantly.

Although the blueprint description stated that it couldn’t be stacked, what if it could? Since the workbench was idle and he had extra sisal grass, he crafted another basic backpack. Only after testing it and confirming it couldn’t be bound did he finally give up.

For the rest of the time, he didn’t venture far but stayed near the wooden cabin to chop down trees.

After felling four trees in a row, he received a notification.

【Player Alert: Nightfall will occur in half an hour. Darkness represents the unknown and danger; please enter a shelter before nightfall.】

Half an hour?

He can still chop down one more tree.

Qiyu quickened his pace.

【Critical hit triggered, obtained 20 pieces of wood】

Qiyu was delighted and stowed the wood in his backpack. The display now showed that it was 5:55 p.m. Outside, the sun was still shining brightly, with no sign of nightfall.

However, Qiyu didn’t want to take any chances. He hurriedly packed everything into his backpack, entered the shelter, and closed the door. A few strands of sisal grass had fallen at the doorway. 

The wooden cabin instantly grew dim.

Although the initial wooden cabin had no windows, the rough wooden door wasn’t airtight, so a little light still seeped in. Qiyu began to tally up his day’s haul.

【Sisal Grass X99】—he’d originally had 40 left over after filling two backpacks, but while chopping trees, he’d passed a patch of sisal grass and picked some more, bringing the total to 99. Thanks to the sisal grass, he realized that the storage limit for duplicate items in a backpack was 99.

【Wood X70】—he had chopped down a total of five trees. He was lucky enough to trigger a critical hit twice, earning an extra 20 units of wood. 【Wild Banyan Berries X70】—these were found along the way and could be eaten directly.

【Stone x99】, now that he has a basic backpack, picking up stones is very convenient.

【Low Quality Wood x9】

【Dried Bark x3】, he came across a dead tree along the way; these dropped after he chopped it down with a single swing of his axe. Although he didn’t know what they were for, his backpack was empty anyway, so he picked them up on a whim. 

Suddenly, everything went black.

This isn’t a figure of speech—it’s a literal description.

The wooden house, which had been bathed in light just moments ago, was plunged into darkness in an instant; it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

Was this a sudden transition from day to night, without any warning?

Qiyu let his eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment, and the outlines of objects slowly began to emerge before him—thanks to his experiences in the post-apocalyptic world. The night in the post-apocalyptic world was just as dangerous, but he didn’t always have a safe haven like this one to stay in.

Over the years, he had developed the ability to see in the dark. After taking inventory of his supplies, he walked over to the workbench.

【Materials detected. Do you want to use 50 pieces of wood to craft a wooden bed?】

Thirty seconds later, a wooden plank bed measuring 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters long appeared in the shelter. Qiyu placed it against the wall.

Although he could see now, he could barely make out outlines, and there was nothing else for him to do. He decided to sit on the wooden bed and open the area chat channel.

As soon as he did, he froze: at the top of the chat channel, the previous count of 99,999/100,000 had changed to 99,987/100,000.

The chat channel was clearly buzzing with this topic:

【I Want To Drink Cola: What’s going on? How did we lose over a dozen people all at once?】

【Silence Does Not Mean I Am Wrong: Help! They said it would get dark in a second, but they didn’t even give us a buffer. Now I’m blind!】

【Misty Rain Of Jiangnan: I have a question—the survival panel is lit up. If we’re chatting in pitch darkness, won’t we end up with myopia?】 

【Believe In Science: Don’t leave the cabin under any circumstances! I’d also received a survival game alert before, but I was right outside my door chopping down a tree. I was almost done with it, and since the sky showed no signs of getting dark, I figured I’d finish it first. But the moment I finished and was carrying the wood back, the world went pitch black in an instant. I sensed something was wrong and sprinted toward the door—thank goodness it was close! The second I pushed the door open, I felt something grab my back from the darkness. My back is still numb to this day!】

【Young Master: @My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens, do you know what’s going on?】

My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens actually came back to reply.

【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens: I’m not exactly sure either, but the survival game has issued a warning—everyone should avoid taking unnecessary risks.】

【Monkey Number One: There’s nothing in this room, and we can’t go out. Are we just supposed to sit here all night? Sleeping on this floor all night would make our bones ache!】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Didn’t you guys chop down trees and gather resources during the day? Prioritize gathering enough materials for a workbench. You can find blueprints in chests and craft the items at the workbench.】

【Monkey Number One: I chopped for a whole day and only managed to cut down one and a half trees. That crappy axe is absolute junk. I’ve got five or six blisters on the palms of my hands, and it hurts like hell. My arms are so sore I can’t even lift them. Plus, chopping trees drains your stamina. When you’re out of stamina, you get exhausted and have to eat, but all there is to eat is plain steamed buns and water. I just want to die. Might as well just put me out of my misery—I don’t want to live anymore.】1

【Guo Guo: Hey big shot, do you have any extra wood or stone? @Civil Engineering Brother, I’ll pay you back once I’ve gathered enough resources tomorrow.】

Qiyu checked the chat channel while opening the trading page.

Last time he checked, the trade channel was completely empty, but now it was packed with listings:

【Item (1 pair of men’s socks), trade for 10 wood】

【Item: 10 wild berries, trade for 200ml of freshwater】

【Item: Wood x10, Trade for any meat dish 200g】

……

Qiyu actually spotted something that caught his eye:

【Item: 400g Fresh Fish, Trade for Any Blueprint】

The words “fresh fish” made him instinctively swallow hard.

He had eaten fish once, when he was very young. A senior member of the base had caught a huge mutant fish. As one of the children at the base, he was given a piece of fish the size of his thumb.

It was a delicacy he had never tasted before.

But an elderly man who had lived for many years remarked that this mutated fish wasn’t very tasty. Decades ago, before the apocalypse struck, that fish had been delicious—its flesh was fresh and tender, whether grilled, pan-fried, or simmered in soup…

Qiyu almost drooled at the thought. He shook his head to snap back to reality.

Fresh fish looked great, but he had no fire.

Even if he had a fire, he wasn’t short on food right now, and trading something as precious as a blueprint for it clearly wasn’t worth it. He remembered something and searched for blueprints in his inventory. 

Unsurprisingly, it was empty.

He continued searching for 【Hay】 and 【Cotton】. A list of items appeared.

【Hay x10, exchange for wood x5】

【Hay x5, exchange for 50g of any food】

【Cotton x5, exchange for 100ml of clean water】 

【Cotton x10, exchange for 20 pieces of wood】