Chapter 104: The Unlucky One in the Survival World (Part 5)

The next morning, Zheng Haoyun was frozen awake. When she opened her eyes, she realized the three wooden planks she had added to the fire before sleeping had already burned out.

She had been wearing thermal clothes to sleep, but was still frozen awake. Checking her status panel, she found that the temperature inside her snow shelter had dropped to minus 8 degrees Celsius.

Based on the typical temperature difference between the snow shelter and the outside, it meant that outside was likely around minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Shivering all over, Zheng Haoyun quickly pulled a burning wooden plank from her backpack and began to warm her frozen face and feet. Thankfully, she had crossed her arms inside her jacket while sleeping, or else her hands might have been frostbitten too.

As she warmed herself, she kept an eye on the world chat, which was constantly flashing with new messages.

When she checked the regional channel, the number of survivors had already dropped from 200,000 to just over 190,000 overnight.In other words, thousands of people had died in just one night.

The chat channels were full of discussions about last night's sudden temperature drop and the disappearing survivors.

Someone named Survival King:

"Do you think the people who disappeared last night will respawn?"

Keep Going Every Day:

"Don't hold out false hope. The game made it very clear from the start—death means you're truly gone."

I'm a Future Big Shot:

"Didn't the game say we'd have a three-day adaptation period? How come so many people died on the first day?"

You Understand Me:

"Guys, by now you should have realized how this game plays with wording. It said 'adaptation period,' not 'protection period.' The subtext is: if you can't adapt, you can still die."

...

Many survivors were venting in the chat, especially their frustration about being dragged into this brutal survival world.

Zheng Haoyun skimmed through the messages, picking out the insightful ones. One survivor called "A Little Survivalist" really hit the mark:

"This whole game feels like a breeding ground for the strongest. It's survival of the fittest. If you don't grow stronger, you're bound to get eliminated."

Zheng Haoyun rinsed her mouth with a sip of water—that counted as her morning wash since she didn't have much water left.

After a simple breakfast and another sip of water, she focused on the crafting table blueprint she had "extorted" from a kid from the Wokuo (derogatory slang for Japan).

The construction requirements:

20 wooden planks

3 copper ingots

Copper ingots? She realized she hadn't gotten any yet—but wait! She remembered she still had the bronze treasure chest from day one, which she hadn't dismantled.

Yesterday's busy grind had made her completely forget about it.

"Ding! Bronze treasure chest can be dismantled into four copper ingots. Proceed?"

There was no hesitation. She immediately dismantled it—every second wasted would be an insult to that treasure chest.

She quickly grabbed the necessary wooden planks from her backpack and started building the crafting table. The countdown said it would take one hour to complete.

Originally, Zheng Haoyun had wanted to use this hour to go hunting outside, but seeing the heavy snow and poor visibility, she abandoned the idea.

Instead, she took stock of all the supplies she currently had:

88 wooden planks

25 ice bricks

1 copper ingot

3 fruit seeds

15 pieces of beast meat

1 rabbit hide

1 bottle of water

1 broken shovel

1 pair of torn socks

1 pair of flip-flops

The rest, like her cotton jacket, boots, and makeshift leather pants, she was already wearing.

Looking at her inventory, she had plenty of materials—but water was a serious problem.

Technically, she could try melting snow, but she didn't have a pot and wasn't sure if the snow here was safe.

In the original storyline, the previous host had once killed a snow rabbit and gotten injured as a result.

Later, the original host had returned to her collapsing snow shelter with useless loot, and she was too timid to even eat snow. The meat she had found during the day was all eaten by then, and she ended up starving and freezing to death.

What a tragic, powerless child.

Soon after, someone in the world channel, the first to "test the waters," shared their experience:

"Do not eat snow directly. Otherwise, you'll get hit with a double debuff: frost sickness and mental contamination. I've personally tested it—seriously, don't do it."

After reading this warning, Zheng Haoyun tried summoning Xiao Tian, the nine-tailed celestial fox, but it was still suppressed by this world's laws and remained in a deep sleep.

Xiao Tian had only managed to explain one sentence before going completely unresponsive.

As for Bi'er, since this world lacked spiritual energy and had an environment Bi'er (a different-world fire spirit) disliked, she rarely appeared either. Zheng Haoyun could only communicate with Bi'er via spiritual power.

Left with no better options, she went browsing on the trading platform. After last night's deadly cold snap, wooden planks had gone up in trade value.

Blueprints, however, had dropped in price—because if people couldn't even survive, holding onto blueprints was meaningless.

She didn't bother with the now-cheap, low-tier blueprints, but even the good ones she wanted were still out of her budget.

While she browsed, time flew by. When the crafting table was ready, she immediately checked its functions.

At Level 1, the crafting table could:

Convert snow blocks into snow bricks

Turn wooden planks into wooden fences

Combine copper ingots and wood to make copper shovels, axes, or hoes

Her next goal was clear: within the remaining two days of the adaptation period, she would build a wooden fence around her snow shelter. This would at least provide some defense in future dangers.

Over the next two days, Zheng Haoyun hunted and opened treasure chests in the mornings, and built fences in the afternoons.

Finally, by sunset on the third day, she had successfully completed a circular fence with a 25-meter diameter.

"Ding! Congratulations, player 'LuckWillTurnAround' is the first to successfully build a fenced enclosure. You are awarded a Silver Treasure Chest."

This announcement flashed three times in the world channel, and many survivors were curious—after all, it was the first Silver Treasure Chest reward.

But Zheng Haoyun's excitement was muted. She suspected the game had given her such a good reward because it was planning something nasty next.

She immediately opened the Silver Treasure Chest.Inside, she found:

A quilt

A set of thermal underwear

A set of cookware

A strange, fully black plant

Surprisingly, the loot this time was actually decent. Zheng Haoyun was quite satisfied.

(Game: This player is unbelievably unlucky—she literally pulled the bare minimum loot from a Silver Treasure Chest and she's still happy. I just don't get it!)

The next day, at 6 AM, the game issued a worldwide announcement:

"As all survivors have now passed the adaptation period, the real survival war begins now.In two days, random one-on-one arena battles will be activated.Specific battle rules will be announced on the day."

This announcement sent shockwaves throughout the entire survival world.