Thanks to GreenKiTea for the Kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Qiyu stared unblinkingly at the silver chest in front of him, as well as the title that had already been bestowed upon him.

Wow.

Is this the benefit of a server-wide announcement?

So this is the kind of good life, My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens, has been living all along? 

For the first time, without anyone prompting him, he took the initiative to open the regional leaderboard.

Combat Power Rankings—he was still at 37.

The Wealth Leaderboard, however, has seen a major change.

He used to be 16th, but now he has moved up five spots to 11th.

He glanced at the list again. 

Region 1, diamond chest.

Regions 2–10: Diamond Chests.

Areas 11–100: Silver Chests.

Qiyu stared intently at the square for several moments.

When he exited the interface, he noticed Duo Ju standing quietly beside him. Despite the dazzling silver chest on the ground, he seemed completely oblivious to it. Was it because the wandering merchant wasn’t a player that he couldn’t see the chest?

Qiyu asked tentatively, “Do you see anything at my feet?” The golden cat looked at him in confusion.

It really couldn’t see it.

Qiyu held out the two vials of potion in his hand: “How much are these potions worth?”

When it came to business, Duo Ju immediately set aside its doubts, took the vials, and examined them closely, even bringing its little pink nose close to the potions to sniff their scent. 

“Hmm, a pharmacist’s work—judging by the quality, it’s probably just an apprentice’s practice piece.” Duo Ju answered quickly, “I’ll buy it for 10 emerald crystals each. Meow.” 

Qiyu traded them for 20 emerald crystals.

Next, he pulled out a first-tier magic crystal and a second-tier magic crystal.

Duo Ju glanced at the tower in the domain, hesitated for a moment, but with his favorability rating as high as 80, he ultimately prevailed: “Sir Human, I wouldn’t recommend selling these two items.” 

The cat’s tone was full of sincerity.

Qiyu rubbed his nose a bit sheepishly and confessed honestly, “I wasn’t actually planning to sell them—just to get an idea of the price.” To see if he could afford to keep the tower.

Duo Ju burst out laughing: “No need to go to all that trouble, meow.”

It reached into its little shoulder bag with a paw, rummaged around, and pulled out a golden slip of paper. 

“Here’s a price list for items we buy, Mr. Human. You can use it as a reference.” 

Qiyu took it. The moment the golden slip landed in his hand, it instantly transformed into a stream of golden light and merged into the Survival Game badge in his palm. A tiny cat paw print also appeared on his interface, allowing him to open the list and view it at any time.

Qiyu said earnestly, “Thank you.”

The wandering merchant, Duo Ju: “You’re too kind. I just believe you, Mr. Human, have the potential to become a very powerful mage in the future, so I’m making a small investment in advance. That’s it.” 

Qiyu took another look at the product page.

He didn’t even need to consider the Epic Felix’s Staff—he probably wouldn’t be able to scrape together the 100,000 emerald crystals even if he sold his entire territory.

The Shelter Shield wasn’t a top priority, since he already had fences and the Measurement Tower.

He quickly decided what he wanted: an Advanced Storage Backpack and Advanced Farmland. As his supplies grew, the slots in his initial storage backpack were no longer enough.

As for the Advanced Farmland, Qiyu realized he’d finally figured out how to grow gold apple saplings.

These two items would cost a total of 600 emerald crystals.

He currently has a total of 412 emerald crystals. Wait a minute.

He had the “Wealth-Attracting Treasure-Gathering” title.

He said some words to Duo Ju and walked into the wooden cabin.

Sure enough, on the table, he saw a small pile of beautiful diamond-shaped crystals. +10 emerald crystals. So now he has a total of 422 emerald crystals.

He had the VIP card Duo Ju gave him, which entitled him to a 20% discount—meaning he only needed to pay 480 emerald crystals. 

He’s still 58 short.

Qiyu continued rummaging through his backpack while opening the price list Duo Ju had sent him, comparing it to the items he owned. For basic resources like 3 units of wood, the purchase price was 1 emerald crystal coin per 10 units. In other words, cutting down a tree earned him 1 emerald crystal. Green-quality items were worth double, with 10 units exchanging for 2 emerald crystals.

Previously, the friend from Server 88 had given him red crystal stones, sand crystal stones, and other resources of equivalent value to green-quality items—all at a rate of 10 units for 2 emerald crystals. 

Magic Crystals… Qiyu’s eyes widened.

A single Tier 1 Magic Crystal is worth 10 Emerald Crystals.

A second-tier Magic Crystal is worth five times as much—a whopping 50 emerald crystals per stone.

Last night’s survival trial really was a precious gift to himself. A single Quantity Pearl is worth 1 emerald crystal.

A single dark crystal can fetch up to 50 emerald crystals.

An alchemy puppet is worth 350 emerald crystals.

Qiyu realized that if he really wanted to sell his items, even just shaking out his backpack wouldn’t net him much in emerald crystals…he didn’t even want to sell them.

Given his past experiences and his attitude toward Duo Ju, it’s not hard to see that the wandering merchant is certainly out to make a profit from his transactions. As for the items he’s using, it’s obvious that if he were to sell them now, he would surely acquire new ones in the future.

Worth it.

What he needed now were emerald crystals.

And since he possesses the blueprints, constructing an ordinary Energy Tower requires only 100 units of green-quality resources, which translates to just 20 emerald crystals, saving four-fifths of the cost.

In the end, Qiyu selected the items he would sell.

1 Basic Mana Restoration Potion, 4 Basic Stamina Potions.

One bottle of Basic Stamina Potion is worth 10 emerald crystals, while Basic Mana Restoration Potions are even more valuable, worth 20 emerald crystals.

He was still 8 emerald crystals short.

Qiyu was about to rummage through his backpack again when Duo Ju stopped him.

The golden cat generously offered, “For the remaining 8 emerald crystals, I’ll round it down for you. Thank you for treating Duo Ju to some delicious grilled meat, meow.”

It stretched out its paw and accepted the 472 emerald crystals Qiyu handed over.

【Obtained Advanced Storage Backpack x1.

Obtained Advanced Farmland x1.】

Qiyu thanked Duo Ju sincerely: “If I manage to grow a miststar flower, I’ll give you one the next time you visit.” 

Duo Ju replied cheerfully, “Good luck, Mr. Human.”

With the transaction complete, it waved its paw at Qiyu and prepared to leave.

“Wait a moment,” Qiyu called out.

He took out a fluffy little white ball and handed it to the creature: “Here, this is for you.”

The cat’s eyes lit up instantly: “It’s a White-Crowned Bird Fluff Ball!”

It told Qiyu, “These are very expensive because our Golden Maneki-neko clan loves them, and we’re all very wealthy. If you’d sold it to me, you wouldn’t have had to work so hard to scrape together the emerald crystals.”

The cat tilted its head: “If you’d given this to me earlier, I might have given you an even better discount.” 

Qiyu shook his head slightly: “This is a gift for my friend Duo Ju.”

The cat understood what he meant.

It happily reached out a paw to accept the gift, pinned it to its blue hat, stood tall and proud, and swayed it cheerfully. 5 【Wandering Merchant Duo Ju’s Affection for you +5, current Affection 85.】

“Well then, see you next time, I Love Survival Game.” The golden cat raised a paw and gave Qiyu a gentlemanly bow. 

Qiyu also gave a slight smile: “See you next time.”

After seeing the wandering merchant off, Qiyu opened his personal panel. To his surprise, he found countless red dots indicating new messages.

He checked his friends’ chat messages first.

Civil Engineering Brothers and others probably figured he was busy, so they all tacitly agreed to send just one congratulatory message.

Then, in the “01 survival squad” chat, things got really lively—most of the conversation revolved around him and the “Wandering Merchant” who had suddenly appeared. The other topic was “God Has No Form.”

【God Has No Form: You posted that announcement, right?】

【God Has No Form: You’re awesome, bro.】 

【God Has No Form: Could you share some details about the “Xiang”? I’ll trade resources with you.】

Qiyu replied with a single sentence:

【I Love Survival Game: Let me organize the info and I’ll send it to you later.】

【God Has No Form: Got it, bro.】

【God Has No Form has sent you a gift.】

【You have received 100g of spicy beef jerky.】

【God Has No Form: I’d love to say, “Here’s some tea for the boss,” but unfortunately, water and tea leaves are too rare in our district—we can’t even buy them.】

【God Has No Form: Why not make some snacks yourself and give them a try?】

Snacks? To eat?

Qiyu looked at the jerky cut into tiny strips in front of him, picked up a strip, and tentatively put it in his mouth. His eyes suddenly widened. 

What is this taste?

Fragrant, numbing, spicy, salty—several flavors exploded on his tongue in an instant, completely stunning this well-traveled little country bumpkin from the post-apocalyptic world. 

He stood frozen in place for a moment before coming to his senses. Reluctant to bite into it, he gently held the jerky in his mouth, carefully savoring its flavor. 

Dan Xingyu was busy slaying monsters. 

Today, he discovered a green-quality resource point—a sand crystal mine—and realized that this mine served as a nest for a mutated creature called the sandworm. Truly stirring up a monster’s nest.

He just took a quick break from his busy schedule to send Qiyu a couple of messages.

Knowing this guy as he does, he figured Qiyu probably wouldn’t reply until he’d finished off this nest of monsters.

Just as he thought that, his survival panel flashed several times in quick succession:

He deftly slashed the sandworm charging at him from the front, sending it flying, then spun around to draw a dagger from his waist and take down the sneak attacker behind him. After looting the drops, he quickly retreated to a temporarily safe blind spot.

【I Love Survival Game: That was delicious.】

【I Love Survival Game: Did you make it yourself?】

【I Love Survival Game: For sale?】

Qiyu finished a strip of jerky and resisted the urge to eat another—he’d already been completely won over by this entirely new flavor. 

Dan Xingyu glanced over and chuckled:

【God Has No Form: Tasty, huh? I worked at a restaurant last summer break. After just half a month, the head chef insisted on taking me on as an apprentice. I was like, “If I keep this up, and I’d end up learning everything, so he just gave me some money and let me go.】

【God Has No Form: I’m not bragging at all—that’s just how lonely it is to be a natural talent.】

【God Has No Form: Oh, I mean, back when I was still a student ten years ago.】

Qiyu fully realized there was something wrong with his patch, which was riddled with holes. At that moment, God Has No Form’s standing in his eyes skyrocketed, far surpassing what it had been before. He replied with an extremely reverent attitude:

【I Love Survival Game: It’s so delicious—I’ve never tasted anything like this before.】

It tastes even better than the cream cake you get in this survival game.

【I Love Survival Game: I don’t want you to trade resources for it. I’ll send you a copy of the information I’ve compiled on the wandering merchant once I’m done. Do you have any jerky left? Can give me some.】

Dan Xingyu：？

Confused, he pulled a piece of jerky out of his backpack, popped it in his mouth, and chewed, chewed, chewed. 

He’d made this himself one evening when he was bored at the shelter. It really was delicious—he hadn’t been exaggerating just now. But… was it really that over the top?

As a member of Earth, a country known for its rich culinary culture, everyone has had their share of delicious food—why does this guy act like he’s seen too few?

Dan Xingyu carefully recalled his chat history with this guy and gradually fell silent.

He’d initially guessed this guy was a sourpuss, but why did it feel like he was even more bitter than expected? 

He thought wryly: Does adding a friend in this survival game actually trigger some kind of “bitter melon” matching mechanism?