Chapter 2: Kill Rewards

[Congratulations to player Wen Ruyan for successfully killing the monster Gem Bird, becoming the second player to kill a monster! Reward: One Bronze Treasure Chest!]

“Tch, tch.”

Good thing she had fast reflexes, or she would have ended up with only a Bronze Treasure Chest!

What a haul!

As expected, the brave get to enjoy the treasure chests first!

Mo Yubai was overjoyed. Looking at the Silver Treasure Chest that had suddenly appeared before her, she rubbed her hands together in excitement.

She pushed it aside and walked toward the Wooden Treasure Chest first.

“Congratulations! You have obtained: Game Backpack x1, Iron Block x4, Battery x1, Hemp Rope x1.”

Mo Yubai took out the game backpack and examined it closely. It was a brownish-tan color with ten slots.

Each slot had a capacity of about 500 liters, roughly the size of a double-door refrigerator. It was more than enough for now.

She began emptying her pockets, pulling out everything and putting it all into the game backpack.

Just then, the system announcement rang out again.

[Congratulations to player Zhu Ou for successfully killing the Qingyun Insect, becoming the third player to kill a monster! Reward: One Wooden Treasure Chest!]

Ignoring the system announcement, Mo Yubai adjusted her stance, took a deep breath, and stepped to the side of the chest.

With a flick of her wrist, she flipped open the lid!

A four-tailed dog instantly lunged out of the treasure chest, foul-smelling drool dripping from the corners of its mouth.

Its blood-red eyes stared greedily at the tender-skinned human. Its four tails spun like propellers as it accelerated toward Mo Yubai.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Mo Yubai’s back. She narrowly dodged, the monster brushing past her by a hair.

Watching the monster pounce at her again, she quickly bent backward as far as she could!

Her left hand, tightly gripping her jacket, was marked with deep red lines as she gathered all her strength!

Timing it perfectly!

She swung the bulging stone wrapped in her jacket at a tricky angle, smashing it hard right into the monster’s balls!

“Awooo! Awooo!” The monster instantly collapsed in agonizing pain, letting out a miserable howl.

Seizing the opportunity, Mo Yubai ignored her aching hands and swung the jacket with all her might, smashing it toward the vital spot on the dog’s head!

The moment it connected, green blood splattered!

The monster vanished on the spot.

Mo Yubai leaned against a nearby tree, panting heavily in excitement, then casually shook out her red-marked hands.

She waited quietly for a moment, but heard no announcement. It seemed only the first three kills received rewards.

Still, she wasn’t particularly disappointed. Once she had caught her breath, she walked toward the Silver Treasure Chest with a satisfied smile…

“Congratulations! You have obtained: Night Vision Goggles x1, Lucky Cat Pendant x1, Bird-head Staff x1, Game Coins x2, Hemp Rope x4, Iron Block x8, Battery x5, Plastic x3.”

As expected, the rewards from the Silver Treasure Chest were much richer, though the monster inside was also stronger than the one in the Wooden Treasure Chest.

But it was no big deal; she could still handle it for now.

Mo Yubai walked to the chest, pleasantly surprised as she took out the Night Vision Goggles and read the description:

“Night Vision Goggles: Allows the player to see in the dark when equipped. Durability: 5 nights.”

There was actually a usage limit, but it was still good. With this, she could definitely keep moving at night without worrying about not being able to see the road.

Her gaze turned back to the chest. Mo Yubai looked at the Bird-head Staff inside with awe, carefully taking it out to admire it.

The Bird-head Staff was dark gold all over, its surface covered in mysterious magical patterns that wrapped tightly around the shaft like vines.

The beak was as sharp as a curved hook, two blood-red gems were embedded in the eye sockets, and two long feathers extended from the corners of the eyes.

She stroked the Bird-head Staff, which was as perfect as a work of art, unable to put it down. I wonder how powerful it is? she thought.

Gripping the Bird-head Staff, she used about forty percent of her strength and tentatively swung it at the Wooden Treasure Chest behind her. The chest instantly shattered into pieces!

This weapon was truly extraordinary! She could finally stop abusing her jacket.

However, that brief exertion made Mo Yubai’s stomach growl in protest again.

She hadn’t had time for breakfast before her 8:00 AM class, so she had just stuffed a pocketful of snacks and run to the classroom.

Before she could even take a bite, she had been blasted to this place while going to the restroom!

Now she felt like her stomach was burning. It was aching slightly, and she was so hungry she felt a bit nauseous.

Mo Yubai raised her hand to cover the aching spot, gently rubbing her chest to ease the pain, feeling a bit listless.

[Warning! Warning! Player Mo Yubai has intentionally damaged a game prop. 100 gold coins have been deducted! For the next offense, the penalty will be doubled!]

Hearing the announcement, Mo Yubai instantly perked up!

She blinked and looked at the fragments of the treasure chest behind her. No way.

“A broken wooden chest costs me 100 gold coins?!!!”

Unscrupulous merchant! I’ll sue you for extortion!

[Ding. Detected that the player does not accept the judgment. This treasure chest has a void-locking function and is not an ordinary chest. 100 gold coins is a ninety percent discount for the newbie period. We hope the player gains some common sense!]

Hearing the system’s retort, Mo Yubai was speechless. She hadn’t expected a broken wooden chest to be so valuable!

With a thought, she tried to collect the fragments of the wooden chest on the ground, but the moment she touched them, they instantly vanished!

“You already fined me, so the chest is mine! Why did you take the fragments back?!”

Mo Yubai complained in dissatisfaction. She had paid for it!

[Keep dreaming! 100 gold coins is just the repair fee. The entire chest is a different price!]

Fine, a different price then. A system with such a bad temper is bound to crash sooner or later!

After silently complaining in her head, Mo Yubai got on her beat-up bicycle in a gloomy mood and set off.

But after riding for about another three hours, she still didn’t see any sign of a treasure chest.

She didn’t know if treasure chests were just rare, or if the highway survival^[1] system had caught wind of her silent complaints and was maliciously retaliating against her.

Shaking her head to stop overthinking, Mo Yubai began to prepare lunch.

She parked her bicycle in the middle of the road, opened her game backpack, and counted her pitifully small amount of food.

Pickled pepper pig skin x8, konjac snacks x6, milk candy x3, wheat milk x2.

Looking at her health value, which had dropped from 7 to 5, she sighed, rubbing her temples.

“We’re all trying our best to survive… through the sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy…”

Humming a little tune, Mo Yubai pulled out a carton of near-expired wheat-flavored milk and three packets of pickled pepper pork skin.

She even plated them, arranging the food in front of herself in a fancy display.

Squatting next to her bicycle, Mo Yubai savored her remaining food while opening her game panel to continue studying it.

The system shop, which had been locked earlier that morning, was now accessible. Excitedly, she browsed the items on sale…

Mechanical Race Product: Auto-Loot Device (90% off): 999 Gold Coins

Mechanical Race Product: One-Click Game Creature Identifier (90% off): 888 Gold Coins

Mechanical Race Product: Random Housekeeper of the Myriad Worlds (90% off): 1,000 Gold Coins

Mechanical Race Product: All-Purpose Mechanical Butler (90% off): 9,999 Gold Coins

Mechanical Race Product: Fully Automatic Repair Device (90% off): 8,888 Gold Coins

Mo Yubai glanced at her gold balance: -98.

“…”

She said nothing, silently closing the system shop as she wept rivers of tears internally.

QAQ, just let me die of poverty already!

Unwilling to humiliate herself any further, Mo Yubai opened the free chat channel, wanting to see if everyone else was having just as miserable a time.

“Holy crap! I was in the middle of a shower when I got teleported, so I only had a bath towel wrapped around me. I’ve been riding naked all morning! I thought it didn’t matter since there was no one else around, but it turns out there are monsters inside the treasure chests! Who’s willing to trade some clothes with me? I’ll offer five nails!”