Chapter 3: A System from the Sky

“Are the treasure chests in this game filled with nothing but steamed buns? Why is that all I get? I’ve already got sixteen of them! Can someone trade me a bottle of water? I’m choking to death here!”

“Waaah… Where is this place? I want to go home!”

“You’re complaining about getting nothing but buns? Just wait until you’re like me and get nothing but rocks. Then you’ll shut up!”

“I’ll trade! I’ll trade! I’ll swap half a cup of water for two buns!”

“Oh my god! Help, girls! Where on earth can I find sanitary pads in this godforsaken place?”

“I have some, sis. I just added you. You can get them from treasure chests, but I can trade mine for other resources.”

“Seriously, is no one going to complain about the sky-high prices in the system shop? I won’t even be able to afford them by the late game~”

“Lmao, I don’t even know how to ride a bicycle. I’ve been pushing it all morning and haven’t seen the slightest sign of a treasure chest!”

…

Mo Yubai watched the chaotic chatter on the channel and randomly clicked on an avatar.

To her surprise, it only showed a profile photo and a name. No other basic information was visible.

The photo must have been generated on the spot, because her own profile picture showed her in the denim jacket, white T-shirt, and black cargo pants she was currently wearing.

After a moment’s thought, Mo Yubai tentatively sent a friend request to the guy selling the buns.

To her surprise, the moment she sent the request, a new message popped up in the chat box.

Bun Guy: “Mo Yubai? The first-kill player?”

Mo Yubai replied instantly: “Yes. Can I trade a pack of spicy konjac strips for one of your big buns?”

The other party’s avatar flashed. “Deal. I’m sick of choking down dry buns anyway.”

Soon, the other party sent the bun over. Looking at the soft, sweet-smelling white bun in front of her, Mo Yubai couldn’t help but swallow hard.

After quickly sending the spicy konjac strips over, she carefully put the snow-white bun into her backpack, silently calculating:

If I divide it into four portions, one for tonight and three for tomorrow, it should last me until I can trade for resources again.

Having made her plan, she closed the chat channel and began to recall the few treasure chests she had opened this morning.

She had no shortage of basic materials, weapons, and special items, but she hadn’t found a single scrap of food or water.

Thinking of the messages in the chat channel, there were quite a few players trading food and water.

It seemed it wasn’t a problem with the treasure chest mechanics; she was just unlucky.

“Whatever, I’ll just take it one step at a time,” she muttered.

The top priority now was to hurry up and upgrade her vehicle. Only with more speed could she find more treasure chests, and only with more treasure chests would her chances of getting food increase.

Opening the game panel, she checked her vehicle’s upgrade progress:

Level 1 Bicycle (Pending Upgrade): Iron Chunks 12/25, Batteries 6/8, Plastic 3/6.

It seemed she was still a bit short. Mo Yubai chose not to take a midday nap. Instead, she got up and continued forward on her creaking, squeaking bicycle.

In the afternoon, she only opened one Wooden Treasure Chest, obtaining Picnic Blanket x 1, Lighter x 2, Wood x 5, Iron Chunks x 4, Battery x 1, Plastic x 1.

Night slowly fell. Mo Yubai sat tiredly on the floral-printed picnic blanket, looking at the food in her backpack and sighing.

Sure enough, there was still no food in the treasure chest. It seemed her bizarre bad luck had struck again.

She would have to ride at night, risking it to see if she could find a way out of this predicament.

She slowly chewed on the pickled pepper pork skin. The sour, spicy flavor stimulated her taste buds, making her feel even hungrier.

Her stomach cramped, as if protesting in dissatisfaction.

Helplessly, she ate a bit more of the bun. Once her stomach had quieted down a little, Mo Yubai put on her Night Vision Goggles, grabbed her Bird-head Staff, and set off immediately.

The night was pitch black. Rustling sounds came from both sides of the road, along with faint, distant roars.

Fortunately, the game difficulty had been lowered, so they couldn’t come onto the highway right now.

Even with Night Vision Goggles, humans could not avoid their innate fear of deep forests at night.

Mo Yubai listened to the thumping of her own heart. Thinking of the triple rewards, she felt both nervous and excited.

Just then, she saw a glowing bronze treasure chest in the grass by the roadside.

Mo Yubai parked her bicycle by the roadside and cautiously observed the area around the glowing chest.

Looking through the Night Vision Goggles was indeed clear; she could even see the veins of the leaves pressing down on the chest.

However, she still played it safe and first took out an empty milk carton she had kept.

With nimble hands, she folded a paper airplane and launched it toward the chest.

The paper airplane drew a perfect parabola in the air. Before it could even land, a fish with legs snapped it up, tearing it into flying shreds.

Mo Yubai stared in shock at the monster, which had chicken claws for feet, a fish’s body, and skin patterned like leaf veins. She felt her sanity points plummeting. What an eyesore!

Without hesitation, she pulled an iron chunk from her backpack, aimed, and threw it at the monster.

Before the iron chunk could even get close, the monster leaped up and bit it hard!

But because of this, the monster’s mouth got stuck. It whimpered in panic, its long fish tail thrashing against the ground.

Now!

Mo Yubai rushed forward, raising her Bird-head Staff high and striking with all her might!

The sharp bird head sliced through the air with a piercing whistle, smashing hard into the monster’s head!

When she lifted the staff, the monster was firmly stuck on the bird head, wriggling. Its tiny, beady eyes were filled with hatred as it glared at this wicked human.

“Sorry, sorry! I’ll get you off right now~”

After apologizing to the monster with zero sincerity, Mo Yubai lifted it easily and slammed it with all her might against a large tree next to the treasure chest.

“Eighty! Eighty! Eighty!^[1]“

After a few hits, the monster vanished from the Bird-head Staff in defeat, and the iron chunk fell from mid-air, covered in the monster’s drool.

Mo Yubai took out some tissues from her backpack and picked up the iron chunk with a look of disgust.

She saw deep teeth marks on it, their inverted triangular shapes sending a shiver down her spine.

It seemed the night was indeed more dangerous than the day. There were no guardian beasts next to the treasure chests during the day.

And they were so well-hidden! Even with her Night Vision Goggles, she hadn’t spotted it right away.

Its teeth were so sharp, too. If she had just rushed over to open the treasure chest, she might have actually suffered a major setback.

Mo Yubai looked around. Although she could see clearly in the pitch black, she still felt it wasn’t very safe.

Walking over, she heaved the glowing treasure chest off the ground and ran back toward the highway.

Once she reached her bicycle, Mo Yubai set the chest down and pulled out some hemp rope, wrapping it around her private areas to cover herself.

Ready at last, she was about to open the chest when she suddenly remembered something from a weapon encyclopedia she had read: some weapons could be disassembled for use.

Mo Yubai experimentally twisted the golden falcon head at the top of the Bird-head Staff, but it didn’t budge.

She reached out again and gave the feathers near the corners of its eyes a tug. To her surprise, they actually came loose.

The shafts of these two feathers were perfectly straight, their tips gleaming with a cold, sharp light. Their edges were as thin as cicada wings and resembled blades, looking incredibly sharp.

Raising an eyebrow, she picked up one of the feathers, pinching it between her thumb and middle finger, and flicked her index finger.

The feather sliced clean through the bicycle seat cushion and flew forward, embedding itself deep into a massive tree by the roadside.

Mo Yubai stared in shock at the dirty seat cushion on the ground, completely stunned. No way.

Was she really going to have to pedal standing up from now on?

As she stood there in a daze, a clear electronic voice suddenly rang out in her mind.

[Host’s vital signs detected. Hello, do you agree to bind with the Minigame System?]