Since he was planning to focus on gathering supplies, there’s no need to keep the remaining 10L of low-quality rum. He’ll list it all in the trading area to exchange for wooden planks, palm leaves, and nails. He already has enough canvas scraps, so he won’t be trading those for now.

After dismantling the wooden crate, he was still short 25 wooden planks, 15 palm leaves, and 19 iron nails. It didn’t seem quite as hopeless as it might have.

However, with the Simple Shelter blueprint in hand and the required materials now known, coupled with the threat of giant sea creatures, nearly every player was frantically gathering supplies. Nan Liujing’s low-quality rum wasn’t selling as well as it had the night before.

This made him regret not selling off all his stock in one go last night, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

Resignedly raising the price to 100ml of rum for 1 material, Nan Liujing’s gaze darted back and forth between his tablet and the supplies scattered across the floor. Relying solely on selling low-quality rum wasn’t a safe bet; to gather enough materials in a short time, he needed an item with significant purchasing power.

Finally, his gaze settled on the blueprint for a water collector.

【Simple Water Collector】

【Category: Furniture】

【A makeshift water collector cobbled together from basic materials. It has low efficiency and automatically collects 2L of fresh water daily.】

【Crafting Materials: Wooden Planks x4, Plastic Items x10.】

Surviving on an island with no freshwater resources, the value of a tool capable of reliably collecting freshwater goes without saying. A person can go seven days without food, but three days without water is fatal. Nan Liujing has opened over a dozen treasure chests so far and has only found a single bottle of purified water, which shows just how stingy the system is with freshwater resources.

He hadn’t planned to get into this business before because the materials for crafting the water collector are hard to come by. Wooden planks are one thing, but gathering 10 plastic items is a real challenge.

Currently, the vast majority of plastic items in players’ possession have drifted in from the sea; they rarely appear in treasure chests. This means no player can stockpile large quantities of plastic items—everyone has only three or four scattered pieces.

The intact ones are all being used as daily necessities. Since trading requires at least one basic material, the cost is too high, so Nan Liujing prefers to trade for damaged ones. But damaged items are hard to price.

A 1:1 trade for base materials is too much of a loss, but a 3:1 trade is problematic because many players can’t even gather three damaged plastic items. Having to hunt for them in a massive trading zone with 100,000 players is a hassle just to think about.

If he used the custom-order model like sellers of wooden single beds, he could shift the burden of gathering materials directly to the buyer. But that would require Nan Liujing to constantly monitor the trading area, since he doesn’t have any finished products on hand and must make them on the spot.

So no matter what, he’d have to spend a huge amount of time in the trading zone. Until today, Nan Liujing thought it was too much of a hassle and didn’t want to do it. But today’s Nan Liujing…

【Simple Water Collector: Collects 2L of fresh water daily at a fixed location. Contract manufacturing. Costs: 4 wooden planks, 10 plastic items. Labor: Any base material (excluding canvas scraps) x5.】

Listing the item and writing the transaction details went smoothly. After listing the item, it still needs some time to “ferment.” Nan Liujing has temporarily closed the trading area, so he took the opportunity to check the other supplies in the wooden crate.

One camel overcoat, one floral small curtain.

Nan Liujing picked up the coat; it was heavy and felt thick, looking quite warm—it would come in handy if the temperature dropped later. As for the small curtain, he’d worry about that once the shelter was built.

Next, with a heavy heart, Nan Liujing chopped up a plank of wood, obtaining 10 pieces of firewood, and built a campfire to start cooking.

Today, he collected 2 liters of water from the water collector. He finally allowed himself a little luxury: he boiled a pot of soup with fresh water, threw all the clams and conch shells into the pot to simmer, and once it was cooked, he devoured it without a second thought, leaving a mountain of shells in his wake.

He tossed the last clam shell on the ground. His stamina was fully restored, but his stomach felt only about thirty percent full.

Oh well, he’d just have to put up with it. Since his stamina was fully restored, eating more would be a waste. Besides, he only had one whole-wheat bread left, and Nan Liujing was absolutely reluctant to eat it.

Tonight, he planned to stew the grouper and prepare the goose-neck barnacles; he shouldn’t have to go to bed hungry.

He hoisted his fishing rod and grabbed a cotton seat cushion to spare his butt from the hard ground. A minute later, Nan Liujing had settled into his usual spot. He kicked back, set up his rod, pulled out his tablet, and started browsing.

He planned to kill time here until the evening low tide rolled in.

First, he’ll check the forum.

He clicked into the forum, but before he even looked at the posts on the homepage, Nan Liujing was startled by the number of users online in the top-left corner.

“Huh? How did it drop by over 200 people all of a sudden?” Nan Liujing clearly remembered that last night before going to bed, the forum’s online count was still 100,000—not a single one more or less.

On second thought, Nan Liujing sucked in a sharp breath: “Could it be the work of those marine creatures that have come ashore?” Only two of them had made it onto his own island, and they were barely mobile; he hadn’t fully grasped the threat posed by these massive marine creatures. But now, with the forum’s user count plummeting, the danger was thrust right in his face, causing his expression to darken.

His first thought was: The price of rum was still too high.

Even the most die-hard drunkard wouldn’t trade materials for building a shelter for a drink when facing life-and-death circumstances. Even if they had extra materials, they wouldn’t trade just this small amount.

Right now, the prices for wooden planks, palm leaves, and iron nails in the trading area should be quite high—not something that could be traded for a mere 100ml of rum.

“Should I lower the price?” After a moment’s consideration, Nan Liujing decisively adjusted the rate to 150ml. If no one traded within two hours, he would lower it again to 200ml for one material.

Time waits for no one. His material shortage was more severe than others’, so to build the basic farmhouse as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to sacrifice lower-priority supplies.

Although Nan Liujing had a tendency to hoard, his condition wasn’t severe enough to turn him into a Scrooge who wouldn’t part with anything. What good was clinging to a pile of useless supplies when death was imminent? Of course, he had to exchange them for what he urgently needed as soon as possible. To that end, he was willing to take a small loss.

There was still no movement on the discounted low-quality rum, but good news came from the simple water collector. Two players sent private messages inquiring, and Nan Liujing quickly opened them.

The first player was straightforward: after providing 4 wooden planks and 10 plastic items, they sent an additional 1 wooden plank, 1 iron nail, and 3 palm leaves as a processing fee. Nan Liujing accepted the materials, crafted the simple water collector, and sent it back, successfully receiving the processing fee.

As for the second player.

【Horizon Island – Feng Ziming: Any basic materials are fine as long as they’re not canvas scraps, right?】

【Horizon Island – Feng Ziming: Initiating trade request. Request type: Contract manufacturing. Cost: Wooden Planks x4, Plastic Products x10. Processing fee: Stones x5.】

A question mark popped up above Nan Liujing’s head.

【Unknown Island – Nan Liujing: Hey, where did you get those stones?】

It’s no surprise that stone is among the basic materials. After all, wood and stone are old partners; in games of this genre, the two are as inseparable as Jiao and Meng. Nan Liujing had already guessed there would be such a material.

But he always thought stone was a late-game resource! After all, just think about it: right now, all players’ supplies are drifting in from the sea.

How is a stone supposed to float? Doesn’t it just sink to the bottom? That’s not scientific!

【Hengtian Island – Feng Ziming: I picked them up from the coral forest.】 Damn, there’s that trick too.

He’d completely forgotten that some islands have coral forests, where you can gather shallow-water resources. Since you’re already down there, digging up a few stones from the seabed doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Since Feng Ziming had provided him with a tip, Nan Liujing agreed to his trade request, exchanging it for five stones that were offered.

Then he acted immediately to change the trade details for the simple water collector, limiting exchanges to wooden planks, palm leaves, and iron nails. Otherwise, anyone with a coral forest would come to exploit him, and he wouldn’t get anything else done today.

Posts were flooding the chat channel. On the very first day of the non-tutorial days, over 200 players were killed, leaving everyone thoroughly shaken. Although the game had warned them from the start that players would die, after two comfortable tutorial days, many had already forgotten that initial warning.

Now, faced with real death, the players were at a loss, their hearts filled with terror with nowhere to vent, leaving them no choice but to vent on the forum.

Nan Liujing didn’t want to read posts heavy with negativity. Humans are creatures that tend to be drawn to their own kind; he didn’t want to be swept up in or influenced by others’ negative emotions, so he had always deliberately avoided them. But now, needing more intelligence regarding the marine creatures’ landing, he had no choice but to open a few posts to review.

【Hey everyone, is a millstone-sized crab better steamed or stir-fried?】

The post’s title was humorous, but Nan Liujing couldn’t find it funny. Upon opening it, he saw that the poster’s name had turned gray, indicating that the person had unfortunately met with an accident.

Before his death, he had livestreamed the entire process in the thread—from discovering the giant crab to his own demise. At first, he’d even taken a lighthearted approach, bantering with the comments that appeared in the thread.

“I’ve been starving for two days—finally, I’ll get a proper meal.” 

“What do you guys think I should do with it?”

The replies were a jumble of suggestions. The poster then shared photos of several tools he’d bought in the trading section: rope, large scissors, and a wooden spear identical to the one used by Nan Liujing.

“Guys, I’m going for it! Let’s do this!”

And that was the last they heard from the OP.

Nan Liujing felt uneasy watching this. After confirming he couldn’t glean any more information about the giant sea creature’s combat capabilities from this thread, he quickly closed it.

【I won’t say anything else—just watch the video, everyone.】

The original poster is still alive. He didn’t write anything in the thread; he just uploaded a video.

A giant octopus, as tall as a person, sprawled menacingly on the beach. One of its tentacles reached out, wrapped itself around an oak barrel, and crushed it to pieces in less than three seconds.

The comments below were also very fitting.

2L: The oak barrel—

3L: No—

4L: Holy crap, I feel for it. Why did it have to destroy the treasure chest too? That’s so heartbreaking!

5L: Holy cow, this Kraken looks so powerful! Is the OP okay?

The OP replied to this post with a meme of someone lying flat and ascending to heaven. A bunch of people lit candles under this reply.

Though it was a bit out of place, Nan Liujing couldn’t help but laugh. His previously heavy heart felt a little lighter.

【Successfully moved into a makeshift shelter in one hour—what do you think?】

“Huh?” Nan Liujing raised an eyebrow, his scrolling fingers pausing. “Someone’s already built a makeshift shelter?”

Upon closer inspection, the post had been published at 7 a.m.—before the tide had even receded.

That was surprisingly fast!

Before his brain could process it, Nan Liujing’s fingers had already clicked on the post. Upon closer inspection, wasn’t this the seller of those wooden single beds?

“Mom, I Never Have to Work Again” Island – Li Shechu: “No need for small talk—here are the pics! 【Pictures of a makeshift shelter】 x9. Come on, everyone, today I’m going to give you a tour of my little home. Let’s do a live room tour!”

What followed was a flood of photos. Nan Liujing opened a clear front-view shot and fell into a long silence, staring at the rickety thatched hut in the picture.

The wooden planks are scattered haphazardly and slanted, barely holding up a trapezoidal frame. The roof is triangular, haphazardly covered with thatch, and the window openings are gaping empty. A small wooden door stands half-open, blocking the view inside.

Clicking on the interior photos, Li Shechu provided a 360-degree, unobstructed view of all the furnishings inside the shelter.

Simply put, the room was bare. In this small space, which looked to be less than 10 square meters, a lone wooden single bed sat across the floor, while the rest of the area was piled high with materials and supplies, leaving barely any room to stand.

The comments under the post also veered off-topic.

3L: This place is really run-down. It’d probably blow away in a gust of wind, right?

4L: Holy crap, that much gear? You’re loaded!

5L: We all joined the game at the same time—why do you have so many supplies?!

8L: Open your eyes, guys. Look at that bed in the shelter—doesn’t it look familiar? This guy’s a bed seller! It’s not that he has a lot of supplies; just think about how many beds he’s sold over the past couple of days.

9L: Damn, what a damn nouveau riche.

491L: Serious question: does this shelter actually provide any protection? It looks like any adult could kick it down with one foot—how is it supposed to hold up against that horde of sea monsters?

“Mom, I Never Have to Work Again” Island – Li Shechu replies to 491L: Dude, this is a game. Looks don’t matter—it’s all about the stats. 【Screenshot of Simple Shelter Info】

【Li Shechu’s Simple Shelter】

【Category: Buildings】

【A makeshift shelter built with wooden planks and leaves—don’t expect it to keep out the wind or rain.】

【Durability: 40/40】

“40 durability? Doesn’t seem very reliable.” Glancing once more at the makeshift shelter’s dismal appearance, Nan Liujing furrowed his brow. “As expected, I’d better just build a Basic Farmhouse.”

He prayed to the heavens that he wouldn’t encounter any dangerous sea creatures tonight—though, of course, it would be even better if he could gather all the materials before nightfall.