There were all kinds of items for trade. Qiyu looked around for a while and picked one with relatively reasonable terms. There was a chat icon on the trade page; clicking it allowed him to send a private message to the seller.

When posting a trade, buyers can choose to use their real name or remain anonymous; the same applies to sellers.

Qiyu chose to remain anonymous; in the chat window, his ID appeared as a string of numbers. He started by testing the waters.

【ID013578: Hi, I’m offering 5 Stones for 10 Hay. Interested?】 

The buyer wasn’t anonymous; their ID was 【Good Night Want To Sleep】.

【Good Night Want To Sleep: ? I don’t need stones. Let’s make it 5 pieces of wood instead.】

【ID013578: It takes chopping down a whole tree to get 10 pieces of wood—that’s way harder to get than your hay.】

In fact, Qiyu found this strange. He had explored the area around the wooden cabin very thoroughly and hadn’t seen any hay at all. He even tried pulling up a dozen or so wild grasses to see if they could turn into hay.

The result was clearly a failure.

He had initially guessed that hay might only be obtainable by opening treasure chests, but seeing the large quantity listed on the trade page—and that most of the items required in exchange weren’t expensive—he realized something was off.

The other player was clearly just asking for an exorbitant price to test the waters.

【Good Night Want To Sleep: What about three pieces of wood?】

【ID013578: Resources I can just pick up anywhere—trading them for wood would be a total rip-off. I’d have to haul the stones back, and if I hadn’t been busy chopping, I wouldn’t have needed to find someone to trade for hay.】

【Good Night Want To Sleep: What do you mean “just lying around”? You have to go looking for fluffy grass, too!】

Fluffy grass? Qiyu had his answer.

But he was certain he hadn’t come across anything called “Fluff Grass” today.

【ID013578: How about this: 15 stones for 20 bales of hay? I’d like to get some hay to make my bed more comfortable. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll just make do.】

Those words seemed to hit a nerve with the other person.

【Good Night Want To Sleep: Sigh, never mind. The floor is freezing; getting some hay would definitely be more comfortable.】

The other party initiated a trade:

【Good Night Want To Sleep】 has initiated a trade with you: 20 Hay for 15 Stones. Do you accept? 

Qiyu chose to agree.

【Good Night Want To Sleep: Hope we both get a good night’s sleep tonight. Bye.】The 20 units of hay arrived in Qiyu’s backpack, and he took them out.

Instantly, Qiyu understood why this grass was called “Fluffy Grass.”

The 20 units of hay formed a small pile; when he pressed his palm against it, it sank in immediately, though it wasn’t particularly soft.

Spreading them evenly on the ground, it was indeed much better than the cold, hard floor. Cotton was much more demanding than hay.

Qiyu found a buyer willing to trade gloves for cotton and, in the end, traded half a piece of cotton cloth for 20 units of cotton. Now he had all the materials needed for the mattress.

After the familiar thirty seconds, a 150×200 mattress appeared in the wooden cabin. 

Qiyu placed the mattress on the wooden bed, lay down on it, and felt his body sink slightly, gently supported by the mattress. He wasn’t sure if it was the effect of regaining his stamina, but he found lying there exceptionally comfortable.

However, after enjoying the sensation for only a moment, he got up; it wasn’t time to rest yet.

To be honest, sitting in the quiet wooden cabin right now, he felt that this leisure time was a real luxury. The long, safe night was meant only for rest.

Thanks to the survival game!

He opened his personal interface.

He took a close look at his stamina and satiety levels.

Satiety: 31/100

Stamina: 39/100

No wonder the warning light hadn’t come on yet.

He recalled that the first time he ate, his stamina reached 90. After exploring the area around the wooden cabin and chopping down two trees, it dropped to 30.

The second time, after restoring his stamina to 90 with food, he picked up and carried 50 units of stone, and the interface issued another warning.

But this afternoon, following the survival game system’s advice to raise his fullness to 80 before working, he chopped down five trees almost nonstop and still had 39 stamina left.

Chopping five trees only consumed 61 stamina points.

Compared to before, the difference is like night and day. The only difference was his satiety level.

Qiyu: So the survival game encourages players to eat their fill? 

He tapped back and forth on the touchscreen for quite a while but couldn’t find the suggestions or customer service page.

“What a shame,” he said regretfully. “I really wanted to give you a five-star review. You’re the best game I’ve ever seen.” 

In this silent, dark night, the only response he received was, of course, silence. No, perhaps it wasn’t quite that quiet?

Qiyu pricked up his ears; in the deathly silence, he thought he heard a faint sound.

He strained to listen, but it stopped. A moment later, a faint, muffled sound drifted in, as if from beyond the heavens. It was probably just the wind blowing outside, but it was so weak that it wouldn’t even be enough to knock over a sapling. He calmly ignored it and decided to proceed with the most important ritual of the day—dinner.

A six-inch-tall, sweet, cream cake! The system had even thoughtfully provided cutlery.

Everything was perfect, except for one minor flaw: the room was too dark, so he couldn’t appreciate the beautiful food as he would during the day. But that minor flaw vanished the moment the first bite of cake touched his tongue.

Qiyu said nothing.

He simply savored the delicacy, bite by bite.

After a while, a soft exclamation came from the darkness: “So this is what cake tastes like.” He restrained himself and ate only half, then drank some water to rinse his mouth. 

He opened his personal panel. The chat channel was bustling:

【Tell Me To Do Homework When You See Me: Help! I hear something outside my door—it sounds like claws scratching at it.】 

【Mi Qiou: Me too, but I feel like someone’s crying outside my wooden cabin, sobbing “wuu wuu wuu”—it’s so scary, aaaah!】

【Choosing A Name Should Not Be Too High Profile: I’m freezing! Nobody told me it would be this dark at night. Not only is there no electricity, but there isn’t even a single candle. I’m scared of the dark!】

【Turkey Falling In Love With The Oven: Even prison isn’t this bad, is it? During the day, I thought life in these deep mountains and wild forests wasn’t so bad, but now I really just want to die.】

【Benbo’erba: Isn’t everyone different? I’m hearing this faint, mournful music—it’s absolutely terrifying!】

Being alone in this unfamiliar environment is scary enough. It’s a bit better during the day, but at night it’s pitch black, and the fear just explodes. With this kind of stress, a lot of people are starting to crack.

Qiyu：？

He listened intently, puzzled, and confirmed there was no sound where he was. 

After a moment’s thought, he gripped his axe in one hand and crept silently toward the door, holding his breath.

Still, he heard nothing.

Looks like he was in luck. Qiyu thought with relief.

【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens: Torches for sale. Details and requirements are posted on the trading page. Feel free to check it out if interested.】 

Qiyu opened the trading page and saw “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens” had listed a batch of torches; currently, 37 remained. The listing was set to auto-trade, with the price set at 2 units of wood.

【Torch: A burning flame that may dispel the cold and fear. Burn time: 3 hours.】

By the time he finish reading this line, there were still 35 torches left.

【Monkey Number One: I worked my butt off chopping down a tree and only got 10 units of wood. A single torch costs 2 units of wood—that’s way too expensive!】

【Five Blessings: How did you get the fire starter, boss? Can you give us a hint?】

The chat screen buzzed with activity due to the sudden appearance of “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens” and his torches. Qiyu didn’t buy any torches; instead, he listed the extra basic backpacks he’d crafted on the trading page.

Crafting a workbench requires 50 units each of wood and stone. Judging by the many posts in the channel, it seemed some players hadn’t unlocked it yet. After thinking it over, he listed the wooden bed on the trading page as well.

He didn’t set either item to auto-trade; instead, he let buyers make their own offers. Since he had nothing else to do at the moment, he figured he might as well use this opportunity to test the waters.

Once the basic backpack was listed, there were indeed plenty of people looking to trade for it.

However, no one was willing to offer wood—a basic resource everyone needs—instead offering all sorts of random trinkets. Things like sour wild berries, gold rings, and even someone asking if they could trade using badges of their own favorite character. 

Qiyu: ? I don’t get it. 

He turned them all down. Soon, he found what he was looking for.

【I Am A Little Unlucky Myself: Hi, I have a bag of sunflower seeds. Are you interested?】    【Sunflower Seeds: Contains 50 sunflower seeds】

Qiyu: Huh?

He didn’t hesitate.

【ID223987 has sent you a trade request】

When he finally got his hands on the basic backpack, 【I Am A Little Unlucky Myself】 was still a bit dazed.

That went so smoothly?

He had expected the other party to ignore him or try to drive the price down.

After all, he’d encountered that many times before.

Following the advice of the local big shot, 【My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens】, he explored the area around the wooden cabin and found a wooden chest.

Inside the chest, besides a bottle of water and a pair of gloves, he found this packet of seeds. 

Never mind whether he’d even survive long enough to plant flowers in this survival game—the real issue was that he was a plant killer!  Whatever he tried to grow died; he’d even managed to kill a cactus!

He might as well trade them for something, but it seemed other players were thinking the same thing—no one even bothered to respond when he initiated a trade. Even those interested in the seeds asked if he had any vegetable or grain seeds instead. 

As a total couch potato, he spent the whole day diligently chopping down trees—and only managed to fell two. Now he can’t even lift his arms. Even after dismantling the two chests he found, he’s still 10 units short of wood.

When he saw someone selling a basic backpack, he decided to try his luck—and to his surprise, the seller agreed immediately. Seems like a cool, taciturn big shot.

The next moment, the aloof and taciturn big shot sent a message:

【ID223987: Do you have any seeds left?】

【I Am A Little Unlucky Myself: Nope, big shot, I just opened a pack. 】 

Qiyu fell silent.

“I Am A Little Unlucky Myself” was also socially awkward, so the conversation ended there. 

This transaction opened up a new line of thinking for Qiyu.

After realizing his special ability was cultivation, he tried cutting a few branches and sticking them in the ground, digging up grass by the roots to replant it, and burying wild fruit pits in the soil.

None of them triggered any reaction.

It seems that if chests in the game can drop seeds, maybe you have to plant them yourself? But how do you plant them?

No one ever taught him how.