It felt like he’d had a very vague dream—someone whose face he couldn’t make out was scolding him.  

When he woke up, Qiyu had already forgotten the dream completely. 

Hungry.

So hungry.

During the apocalypse, when he’d gone several days without eating, he’d experienced this kind of extreme hunger before. Every cell in his body seemed to be screaming for food, craving energy.

Qiyu propped himself up, leaning against the table leg as he sat on the wooden floor. He pulled several large bowls of food from his storage backpack; without even glancing at what was in them, he buried his head in the food and began to eat.

After downing two large bowls of rice and two bowls of vegetables, his body finally warmed up a bit, and he regained some strength. His senses also returned.

His head ached terribly.

Not only was his mind throbbing with needle-like stabs of pain, but his scalp seemed to be aching with a dull, persistent pain as well.

He instinctively raised his hand to touch it. Ouch! It was a huge bump.

Qiyu stared blankly for a moment before it finally clicked.

Before he passed out, he seemed to have been sitting at the table engraving magic scrolls, finishing all two hundred elementary magic scrolls in one go, and then… 

After that, his memory seemed to have stopped right at that moment.

Oh, so he hadn’t fallen asleep—he’d lost consciousness. 

The bump on his head must have come from hitting the table when he fell. 

He tried to stand up and move a little, but the world spun before his eyes.

He checked his reserves—sure enough, his mental energy was completely depleted, and his magical power was entirely exhausted as well.

Glancing up at the table covered with magical scrolls, Qiyu seemed to realize something: he’d become so engrossed in engraving the scrolls that he’d overexerted both his mental energy and magical power.

He fished a few bottles of mental energy potions and magical energy potions out of his backpack. The effects were immediate: the stabbing headache subsided significantly, and the dizziness before his eyes eased.

Leaning on the table leg, Qiyu slowly stood up, sat down in the chair, and let out a sigh of relief.

It was now broad daylight, and rain was pouring down outside. So, had he been unconscious all night? 

He opened his character panel.

【Current Location: Star Forest.】

【Today’s Weather: Heavy rain, 0°C–6°C, strong winds at Force 7.】

Qiyu: …So the cool sensation I felt when I woke up wasn’t because I was weak—it was because the temperature had dropped. 

His chat screen was covered in red dots; every friend had sent him a message.

Qiyu couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled. Had something happened?

Going in chronological order, the earliest message he received was from “Need A Little Money To Save Me.” Qiyu opened his chat screen; the most recent message was from last night.

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Boss, are you okay?】 The tone was cautious.

Qiyu sensed something was off.

He swiped up through the page, and by the time he’d read through everything, he was completely speechless.

As if he couldn’t quite believe it, he stepped back to check messages from others, paying close attention to the timestamps. The earliest message “Need A Little Money To Save Me” had been sent to him was three days ago. 

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Big Shot, have you been a little busy these past couple of days?】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Actually, I’m not that desperate for food right now. Big Shot, go ahead and take care of your own business first.】 

Two days ago:

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Big Shot, are you okay?】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Don’t scare me like that.  】

One day ago:

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Whoa! Farmer—what a quintessentially Chinese profession!】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Gaming Guru, Have You Gone into Seclusion?】

Last message:

【Big Shot, Are You Okay?】

Qiyu realized he hadn’t been unconscious for just one day, but for four whole days. 

No wonder he was so hungry.

【I Love Survival Game: It’s my fault—I just had some things to take care of earlier, so I couldn’t use the survival panel.】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: !!! Game Big Shot, you finally responded!】

【Need A Little Money To Save Me: Is this some kind of dungeon exploration or something? I get it! Hehe, whatever it is, as long as you’re okay, Game Big Shot!】

Qiyu handed him the food.

With some trepidation, he opened the chat pages of the others. As expected, they were all concerned about his safety.

The members of the survival squad noticed something was off with Qiyu even later than Need A Little Money Did.

It wasn’t that they didn’t care about Qiyu; it was just that he rarely popped up in the chat to begin with. When he was busy or had something else going on, it was common for him to go a day or two without speaking in the group.

Need A Little Money To Save Me was able to notice something was wrong so quickly mainly because of a “debt” between the two of them—Qiyu had to provide him with food every day.

When he didn’t receive food one day, he assumed the boss had simply forgotten amid his busy schedule, so he didn’t bother him. It wasn’t until the second day that he realized something was wrong.

It wasn’t until yesterday that the members of the survival squad truly realized what had happened to Qiyu. Because yesterday, a major incident occurred.

Click the rankings.

“Regional Leaderboard, #1.”

Yes, behind that golden ID,

Farm Owner. 

He opened the log in the Player Panel.

Yesterday, after dawn, an update appeared in the survival game.

The update stated that once a certain number of players across the server had unlocked a profession, the profession system would be activated. Players could choose to display their profession publicly or remain anonymous.

When the system asked Qiyu if he wanted to remain anonymous, Qiyu was at that moment: zzzzz… 

As a result, the default setting was to display his class publicly.

The problem was that he had two professions. The system gave him another choice, asking which profession he wanted to display first.

At that moment, Qiyu was still: zzzzz…

So the system made a random selection, and the displayed profession became “farmer.” 

After seeing this, Qiyu figured it was fine—after all, he’d sold mutated plants in the region before, so even if his “farmer” class wasn’t explicitly revealed, other players would likely have guessed it anyway. 

He scanned down the leaderboard and noticed that almost every player on it had their own profession.

“My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens.” Class: Monster Hunter. 

“Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens.” Class: Paladin.

“Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan.” Class: Paladin. 

“I’m the Boss.” Class: Thief. 

……

Liver Emperor. Class: Adventurer. 

“Tranquility Yields Transcendence.” Class: Artifact Forger. 

“Civil Engineering Brother.” Class: Merchant.

Dare Not Open My Eyes: The Pharmacist. 

……

Need A Little Money To Save Me. Class: Alchemist. 

Because of this class-related issue, the regional chat was buzzing with activity, and the 01 survival squad was naturally discussing the topic as well.  

It wasn’t until then that they realized something was wrong—and only then did the others in the group catch on.

Qiyu replied to everyone in the small group chat:

【I Love Survival Game: Thanks for your concern, I’m fine.】 

【I Love Survival Game: Just a minor setback—I slept for a few days.】 

As soon as he appeared, the others immediately replied.

【Civil Engineering Brother: Holy crap! Gaming Expert, you’re finally here.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: If my friends list hadn’t stayed normal the whole time, I would’ve been scared to death.】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters.】

Qiyu briefly checked in with the group to let everyone know he was okay, then went to check the messages from his last friend. On the chat page for “God Has No Form,” the messages were posted in rapid succession.

But he had sent the most messages. 

The most recent message was from yesterday at noon.

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

At first, God Has No Form had mentioned this gift.

About ten minutes later.

【God Has No Form: Busy? If you see this, be sure to claim it.】

The next message came half an hour later.

【God Has No Form：？】

Another half hour.

【God Has No Form: Where are you? Where are you?】 

After that, the messages basically kept coming at a rate of one every half hour, right up until six o’clock. At six o’clock, his tone changed.

【God Has No Form: I Love Survival Game, Speak Up!】

When Qiyu read this far, his expression faltered for a moment.

He knew why God Has No Form had changed his tone: as was his habit, even when busy or engrossed in other things, at a mealtime like 6:00 p.m., he would never forget it. 

No message—that’s probably the way to go. Seven o’clock.

【God Has No Form: Let me know when you get here.】

8:00 p.m.

【God Has No Form: If you don’t respond, I’ll take the gift back. You’ll never know what you’ve missed.】 

9:00.

【God Has No Form: Just kidding—it’s actually a gift I prepared just for you.】

10:00.

【God Has No Form。】

……

2:00 a.m.

【God Has No Form: If you’re going to do something important, at least let me know beforehand. Don’t you realize this is really worrying?】

Judging by the sporadic messages he’s been sending, it’s highly likely that God Has No Form didn’t get much rest last night. The last message was half an hour ago.

【God Has No Form: I made some soup last night and simmered it for most of the night. It’s incredibly flavorful. If you don’t come, I’m going to eat it all by myself.】 

【I Love Survival Game: Is there any soup left? Give me a bowl.】

There was a reply. But—

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

Qiyu looked at the chat screen, where new messages were scrolling in.

【I Love Survival Game: Sorry, I ran into a little unexpected trouble. I’m glad you’re okay.】

Now, the message popped up.

【God Has No Form: What happened? Are you okay?】

【God Has No Form: Accept the gift. This soup is made from the bones of a high-level mutated creature—it’s quite nourishing.】

【God Has No Form: You can take the previous one too.】 Qiyu chose to accept the gift.

【Obtained one bowl of Sky-Ripper Broth and the special item “Sky Wings.”】

【Skywing: Special flight device, upgraded. Equipped effect: Flight. 

Current flight duration: 1 hour per use; cooldown: 24 hours.】

Qiyu was so caught up in it that he didn’t even have time to eat.

A flying device?

【I Love Survival Game: Is this for me?】

【God Has No Form: Didn’t we agree earlier that I’d bring you a souvenir?】

【God Has No Form: It’s not too bad, right? Do you like it?】

How could he not like it? 

When it’s in his backpack, it appears as an icon of a pair of sky-blue wings.

When he took it out, it turned out to be a pair of massive wings with a wingspan of several meters, with a dense wind element swirling around them—the elemental power made the wings shimmer. 

Both its appearance and its function were exactly what Qiyu wanted.

【I Love Survival Game: This is very valuable.】

【God Has No Form: Just tell me if you like it or not.】

Qiyu couldn’t bring himself to lie against his conscience:

【I Love Survival Game: I really like it.】

【I Love Survival Game: Did you get this from a treasure chest? Or did you buy it?】

Dan Xingyu let a hint of a smug smile cross his face, but tried to keep his tone casual:

【God Has No Form: Neither. I crafted it myself.】

【I Love Survival Game: You’re so awesome!】

That was exactly the compliment he’d been waiting for. All the restlessness he’d felt all night was soothed, and he was no longer in a hurry. 

【God Has No Form: Have some soup first. Eat your breakfast, and we’ll talk after you’re done.】