Chapter Bonanza (1/5)

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The replies to this post have been very enthusiastic. Not only have several players privately shared their own experiences, but there are also many comments in response to the replies stacked within the thread.

: This is a great post—I’ll chime in too. I explored Feather Island this time, which is also a standard resource island. It has many water bodies, with wetlands and forests making up the majority of the terrain. There were plenty of waterfowl, though I couldn’t catch any. But I got lucky—it was their breeding season, so I picked up quite a few bird eggs. Oh, and I also collected some freshwater clay and chopped down a few trees. Overall, it wasn’t dangerous—just remember to wear waterproof boots and pants. If you’re confident in your aim, bring a slingshot.

: I’m on Pine Island. The island is full of pine trees, none of which bear fruit. The only creatures I saw were squirrels, and they were all running like the wind. I only had 3 hours to explore, so I just chopped down a few trees and headed back—what a waste.

: Hey, what’s up with that? I picked Gear Island. After an hour-long boat ride, they told me it belonged to the Steam Association and was off-limits to outsiders—they sent me right back!!! Wasted a nautical chart, it pisses me off!

: Lightning-Proof Jelly Island! Such a harmless-sounding name, but the whole island is covered in slimes! They’re slimy and disgusting. They don’t hurt when you hit them, and they don’t deal any damage. The slime on their skin seems to have a slight corrosive effect, but it’s too weak. One slime covered my arm and corroded the hair off my hand?! 

……

……

He scrolled to the end of the thread, and at a glance, there were over a hundred shares. Looks like quite a few people managed to build makeshift shelters within a day. Considering some players are still exploring or don’t have the habit of posting their logs on the forum, the actual number is probably even higher.

Also, he has to factor in “survivor bias.” The online count in the top right corner of the forum took a nosedive today, dropping to just over 80. They can’t all have been killed by giant sea creatures. Some of them must be players who crashed on other small islands.

Nan Liujing’s gaze fell on the last reply.

: Cut the crap, I just left the island. Dude, I’m having a run of bad luck—I drew the worst possible lot. If you see Feiyan Island in the options next time, steer clear of it. that godforsaken place isn’t a resource island—it’s a monster island. A monster island is home to a pack of monsters called Wind-Riding Swallows. Those things have a temper of the worst kind; they’ll attack you on sight, and when they flap their wings, they unleash wind blades—scary as hell. If I didn’t have a combat talent, I’d have really met my end today.

【Photo of a tree severed by a wind blade】 

【Photo of a Wind-Riding Swallow circling in the sky】 

【Photo of a half-grown boy crouched on a tree stump, half-covered in blood, holding a Wind-Riding Swallow carcass and giving the middle finger】 

The replies on this thread are all just spamming “666,” along with comments like “Way to go, bro” and “Little bro, you’re a badass.”

Nan Liujing was a bit shocked—he hadn’t expected players to already be getting a kick out of the combat this early on. He took a moment to note the teenager’s name.

Island of the Sole Sovereign—Zhang Han.

After quickly jotting down the situation on Fresh Fruit Island and posting it, Nan Liujing casually followed this Zhang Han.

After finishing with that thread, Nan Liujing moved on to check out other posts. The diving instructor he’d bookmarked earlier had posted an update. This Deep Sea Wanderer was growing increasingly comfortable with his talent; the coral forest of his home island was no longer enough for him. In his latest update, his photography had shifted beyond the island’s borders.

Guanhai Island – Zhao He: I got pretty lucky. On my very first exploration trip, I stumbled upon a resource island with beautiful beaches and shallow waters. The water here is incredibly clear, making diving a true pleasure. Best of all, the island is teeming with tropical fish. I caught a few parrotfish and grilled them right on the beach.

In the video, a young man wearing only swim trunks swims through the clear, turquoise water. With a casual wave of his hand, he conjures a thin stream of water that shoots rapidly toward a blue fish hiding in the coral reef.

“Hey… so his talent isn’t just about breathing underwater? It actually has combat applications too. That’s kind of scary.”

Nan Liujing muttered under his breath, feeling a touch of envy.

After all, his own talent had absolutely no combat capabilities—it took him a herculean effort just to kill a single zombie. If anything, his talent was more like a set of life skills, all geared toward gathering and storing supplies.

Thinking that others who went out to sea to explore certainly wouldn’t be able to gather as many supplies as he did, Nan Liujing’s spirits settled once more.

“Oh well, you can’t have everything.”

After browsing the forum for a while, Nan Liujing clicked into the trading section. He first dealt with the backlog of orders for simple water collectors that had piled up over time, then took a look at the homepage.

Sure enough, the trading section was filled with all sorts of new items. Almost every player returning from an exploration mission chose to immediately list the surplus supplies they’d gathered on the Resource Islands to trade for other necessities.

Nan Liujing spotted honey, roses, Wind-Riding Swallow feathers, waterbird eggs, and other items.

Wait a minute, a slime?

Nan Liujing couldn’t resist clicking on the trade listing. Look at that—it looked like a giant mochi, with no limbs or facial features, just some sort of orifice that might be an eye or a nostril.

It actually looked kind of cute.

【Slime x1, Live. This is just the Grass-type one. I don’t know what it’s good for, but it looks decent. Basic. Sea charts are expensive!】

Come to think of it, I seem to have a blueprint for a Slime Farm—just green slimes. Nan Liujing couldn’t help but ask the question every player would ask—

What on earth is this thing good for???

Does he really need to gather materials to build a Slime Farm?

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like a total loss…

After grinding here and there, he finally made it to the end of the exploration phase. The small wooden boat hoisted its sails and set off, rocking gently as it sailed.

Nian Gao, which had been lying quietly on Nan Liujing’s belly, suddenly lifted its head and began to whimper uneasily.

Nan Liujing let out a sigh of relief and put down his tablet: “We can finally go back.” He reached out to scratch the little fox cub’s chin, then ruffled its fur a couple of times, quickly soothing the little creature. “It’s okay, we’re going home.”

“Yip.” Nian Gao rested its chin on Nan Liujing’s chest and wagged its tail gently.

An hour later, the small wooden boat returned to the makeshift dock on Unknown Island.

Nan Liujing slowly climbed out of the boat and grabbed a hemp rope to secure it.

“Woof!” 

Nian Gao leaped off the boat and ran back and forth across the sandy beach, leaving a trail of plum-blossom-shaped paw prints behind him.

The hour-long voyage had stifled it; now it was so happy it wanted to spin in circles and chase its own tail.

Nan Liujing also wanted to hurry home, but his stamina—barely at 10—left him feeling restricted. Afraid that moving too quickly would cause his stamina to drop further, he could only get off the boat slowly and then shuffle step by step toward the shore like an old man.

By now, it was past nine o’clock at night. Not only had he missed the low tide, he hadn’t even caught the high tide. Missing this chance to gather supplies left Nan Liujing with a sense of regret. But when he thought about his haul from Fresh Fruit Island, this minor disappointment became easier to accept.

His remaining stamina wouldn’t allow him to do anything else, and there was nothing urgent enough to warrant using food or potions to recover it. After a moment’s thought, Nan Liujing decided to sort through today’s haul tomorrow. That was it for today—he’d just head home and go to sleep.

Back at the Basic Cottage, Nian Gao followed him inside.

“Woof!”

The little fox cub padded across the wooden floor, bringing in a pile of sand between its paw pads. As soon as it entered, it tried to leap onto the bed, but Nan Liujing was quick on the draw and stopped it in its tracks. Ma lost a bit more stamina due to this sudden burst of activity.

“……” After the dizziness subsided, Nan Liujing poked the little fox cub’s forehead in exasperation and declared solemnly, looking into its innocent eyes, “You can’t get on my bed, understand?”

“Wah?”

Nian Gao tilted its head, looking aggrieved.

“I said no, and that’s final. You’re filthy.”

“Wah! Wah-wah-wah! Woof!”

“Protesting won’t help either.” Nan Liujing propped his forehead in his hand, shone his flashlight into the pile of junk, and dug out the cotton cushion he’d previously obtained from a treasure chest. He tossed it onto the floor and placed the little fox cub on top of it. “You’ll just have to sleep here for now.”

Nian Gao crouched on the soft cushion, tentatively pawing at it a couple of times before closing his eyes in bliss at the comfortable feel under his paws. 

Alright, he guess he’ll just have to make do and sleep here for now.

The little fox cub lay down right where it was, curling itself into a ball with its tail wrapped around its nose, gently patting the cotton cushion.

Seeing that it had settled down, Nan Liujing let out a sigh of relief, wobbled over, and plopped down on the bed. After staring into space for two seconds, he finally crawled into the covers.

“Xiao Nan, turn off the light…”

Click.

The flashlight’s glow faded, and the room fell silent.

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Day 6 of Survival, a peaceful day. 

Since he’d forgotten to set an alarm before going to bed the night before, Nan Liujing slept straight through until 8:30 a.m., finally being woken up by a kick from Nian Gao.

No one knows why a little fox cub would be parkouring around the house like an excited kitten.

The only thing that could stop its madness was sleep. Nian Gao happily made a burst of speed, leaping off the bed, and landed with a thud on Nan Liujing’s stomach with all four paws, causing him to let out a muffled groan. Only then did it belatedly realize it had probably caused trouble.

In a panic, it jumped off the bed, but its hind legs accidentally kicked out again. Its paws skidded on the floor, sending it sliding forward for several seconds before it finally bolted out of the room in a fluster.

“Pfft…”

Nan Liujing curled up in agony on the bed, clutching his stomach—which had suffered twice over—feeling as if his stomach acid was about to be stomped right out of him.

“Damn it!”

“Eep…” The little fox cub emerged dejectedly from the corner, too afraid to look up, peeking out furtively with its ears flattened.

You have to spank a child to teach them a lesson!

Furious, Nan Liujing got out of bed, grabbed the little fox cub by the scruff of its neck, and—amidst its pitiful, whiny cries—gave it a hard… gentle flick on the head.

“If this happens again, you’re not allowed in the house,” Nan Liujing warned, tapping the little fox cub’s black nose with a sour expression.

Nian Gao knew he was in the wrong; after grunting in protest, he silently licked his own nose.

Setting the little fox cub down, Nan Liujing scratched his head and turned to look for his tablet: “What time is it now… 8:30?!”

Oh no, the tide is going out! 

Just as he rushed out the door, he caught a glimpse of a conch shell clumsily shuffling across the sand in pursuit of the waves.

A few scattered items lay on the beach. Without a moment’s hesitation, Nan Liujing didn’t even have time to put on his shoes; he ran over barefoot and began quickly gathering the supplies.

The little fox had forgotten the pain as soon as the wound healed. That bump on its head hadn’t really hurt much to begin with, so its little brain quickly forgot the earlier anxiety and started worrying again.

Not knowing what Nan Liujing was up to, it ran over to join the commotion. Seeing Nan Liujing picking things up from the beach, the little fox pup tilted its head and watched for a moment before mimicking him and starting to gather supplies as well.

The fox pup, which—not counting its tail—was about the size of a single cotton slipper, couldn’t possibly carry a wet wooden plank in its mouth, Nian Gao ran around the beach with great seriousness, but could only drag back an empty glass bottle with its little bottom sticking out. It placed it at Nan Liujing’s feet and wagged its tail proudly: “Yip!”

Nan Liujing found it both amusing and heartwarming. He reached out and gently rubbed the little fox cub’s face with the second knuckle of his relatively clean index finger: “Thank you.”

The little fox cub was overjoyed by the praise and immediately scampered off to drag another one.

Twenty minutes later, thanks to their joint efforts, they had finally gathered all the supplies and carried them back to dry land before the tide came in.

Nan Liujing plopped down on the plastic stool he’d found earlier that morning, glanced at the supplies beside him, then looked at the little fox cub crouching in front of him.

Nian Gao sat upright, and his stomach growled.

Nan Liujing smiled: “Even though we’ve got a mountain of work piled up… let’s eat first.”

The little fox cub’s ears perked up instantly: “Woof!”

Food!