Chapter 14
◎ Novice Protection Period ◎
Yu Chi squatted at the bow of the boat, her fingertips swiping rapidly across the virtual screen. In the materials column, the words “Wood 80, Stone 30, Nails 30, Palm Leaf 20” glowed with a golden light, as if silently urging her on.
She gave the screen a benevolent smile. The moment she clicked the “Upgrade” button, a system prompt suddenly popped up.
【A Contamination Crystal has been detected in the player’s possession. Choose to fuse it with the hull?】
“Huh?” Yu Chi blinked in surprise, then chose “Confirm” without hesitation, hoping this Contamination Crystal would bring her a pleasant surprise.
The entire boat emitted a dazzling white light, much more intense than the first upgrade.
Yu Chi held her breath, watching as the white light enveloped the hull like a liquid. The boat’s body gradually elongated and transformed amidst violent vibrations, the wooden structure letting out a teeth-grinding creak.
“Boom—”
A circular wave exploded on the sea’s surface, and the upgraded small boat was revealed. The hull had extended from 4 meters to 6 meters, and its width had expanded to 2 meters. The overall structure was more stable and spacious.
The surface was covered with specially treated wood, which was not only sturdier and more durable than before but also exuded a faint luster. The originally rough wood grain had become fine and neat, with each plank fitting tightly together.
The lines of the bow had also become sharper, while the stern was designed to be wider, increasing stability.
Yu Chi walked along the expanded deck of the small boat. Low guardrails had been raised on both sides to prevent accidental falls into the sea. In one corner of the deck, a small fishing platform had even been specially set up, which was extremely convenient for her.
But what surprised her the most was a small cabin, about 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide, that had been newly opened up in the center of the boat, near the stern. In the past, she could only make do with sleeping on the boat’s planks, but the upgraded small boat now had a rest area.
Yu Chi pushed open the door. On one side of the room was a single bed. The bed frame was made of sturdy wood, and the mattress was woven from soft palm leaves, covered with comfortable fabric.
Next to the bed was a simple wooden storage cabinet where she could put some miscellaneous items and clothes.
Yu Chi looked up. A small, luminous crystal hung from the ceiling. This item was not in the list of materials for the small boat’s upgrade. She wondered if it was related to the Contamination Crystal.
However, the Contamination Crystal probably wasn’t just for lighting, right?
She opened the small boat’s description panel.
【Level Two Wooden Boat
Bound to: DazedFish
Special Attributes: Contamination Resistance +30%, automatically absorbs free-floating energy at night (Energy Bar 0/100)
Upgrade Requirements: Iron Ore x20, Stone x100, Wood x200, Rope x20】
Note: Energy can be used to charge the facilities on the boat, such as the crystal lamp in the cabin.
Oho, her small boat had a new special attribute.
So the small lamp in her room needed to be charged to stay lit. But since it needed charging, it should also be able to be turned off, so she wouldn’t have to sleep with such a bright light on at night.
Yu Chi began to organize her small boat with great enthusiasm.
In fact, she didn’t have many things. They looked like they took up a lot of space in her backpack, but when taken out, there wasn’t much. She put all the miscellaneous items in the storage cabinet next to the bed, tidied up a bit, and then opened the system screen to shop again. She wanted to buy a set of a table and chairs to make cooking and eating more convenient.
Before, there wasn’t enough space, but now, of course, she wanted to enjoy a better life.
Unfortunately, after looking at the trade interface for a long time, Yu Chi couldn’t find a suitable table and chairs. She could only look at the sea and sigh.
I’ll look again tomorrow. Yu Chi yawned. She had woken up every hour last night to make bandages and adhesive bandages and had barely slept.
Today, she had been busy all day again. Only those who have experienced it know what it’s like.
Now, she could make adhesive bandages every half hour, so there was no need to be in such a hurry.
She walked into her small room, lay down on the bed, covered herself with the sweater, and closed her eyes peacefully.
She fell asleep in seconds.
The next day was another bright and sunny day. Yu Chi walked out of her room, went onto the deck, and stretched towards the sea.
Waking up to the vast, blue sea instantly brightened her mood.
She washed up simply with water. She took out a loaf of bread and a steamed bun from her backpack, poured a cup of water from the water bottle, and finished the bread and steamed bun in a few bites.
Since coming to this survival game, her appetite had improved tremendously. In the past, she would eat at most one steamed bun for breakfast. But more often than not, she would just oversleep and skip breakfast.
Today was the last day of the novice protection period in the Sea Survival game. After today, the contaminated creatures lurking around the players would actively attack.
Yu Chi wasn’t too worried. The mini-boss in her sea area was a level 3 mutated shark, which meant that the other contaminated creatures living in this sea area would not exceed level 3 at most.
It was within the range she could handle.
The uses for the All-Purpose Fishing Rod had refreshed again. Yu Chi sat on the new fishing platform of her small boat, cast the rod into the sea, and lurked in the chat channel.
However, as soon as she opened the chat channel, she found that she had received several private messages last night.
[SurfingTheSea] was still looking to buy bandages and adhesive bandages from her. [GrumpyBro] had sent her a period, and she didn’t know what it meant. The other person was [ZhangSanAskedMeOut], who politely asked if she had any extra bandages and adhesive bandages.
Yu Chi replied to them one by one.
She sold 10 bandages to [SurfingTheSea] as usual, and 20 adhesive bandages to [ZhangSanAskedMeOut]. Then she sent a question mark to [GrumpyBro].
After dealing with the leftover matters from yesterday, she finally opened the chat channel to quietly enjoy the drama.
【ILoveBlueSkies】: Family! I just saw someone auctioning oranges in the trade section, live oranges! Is this reasonable?!
【FruitSis】: Brother Blue Skies, are you sure they weren’t “dead” oranges—like orange peels or something?
【ColdTossedNoseHair】: You’re thinking too small. I caught a fish yesterday. It said it was a grape in its past life and now wants to be reincarnated as an orange (takes a deep drag from a cigarette.jpg)
【GrumpyBro】: This is what humans who are crazy for oranges are like.
【ZhangSanAskedMeOut】: I saw it too, ahhhh! I’m craving them so much!
【ColaFromAllDirections】: Huh, you’re not dead?
【ZhangSanAskedMeOut】: …I’m gonna kick your ass.
【DumplingOfHeaven】: Can you guys focus on serious matters? The novice protection period is almost over, ahhhh!
【DayDoesntKnowNightsMadness】: Sigh, don’t want to live, but don’t want to die either. This life is so damn messed up!
People’s joys and sorrows are not interconnected. Yu Chi found that many of the people who had the leisure to chat in the channel were powerful players. At least, the few IDs she was familiar with were indeed quite strong.
Hmm… The chat channel scrolled too fast. The IDs that liked to chat but were not familiar to her were probably all gone.
However, someone was already selling oranges now. Yu Chi rubbed her chin and put up three watermelons.
Apples and durians would waste the uses of [Lucky Match-3], but she had 10 watermelon seeds in her hand. After eating the watermelons, she could collect the seeds and use her elf ability to grow them directly.
After growing them yesterday, she had specifically checked the flowerpot and found that this thing was indeed magical. It could be planted without watering or fertilizing. And after her rapid growth inducement, the soil had not lost its vitality and could still be planted in.
Besides the watermelons, she also put [Mr. Wang’s Smelly Shoes] and [A Pack of Men’s Underwear (five pairs)] up for auction.
Some things were put up for auction because their value was not high and difficult to judge. Some things were put up for auction because no one was interested in them on the trade section, so she had to look for a sucker—
Of course not. Although the name [Mr. Wang’s Smelly Shoes] wasn’t very pleasant, they were indeed a pair of sneakers. They looked a bit old but had no odor (otherwise, she would have quietly thrown them back into the sea long ago).
And she wasn’t worried about finding a seller for the pack of men’s underwear. Yu Chi was still thinking about where to find a pack of women’s underwear.
It was only the third day of the Sea Survival game. There would eventually be daily necessities. Yu Chi wasn’t in a hurry. If it really came down to it, it wouldn’t be a problem to buy a piece of cloth and make them herself—that pack of men’s underwear was really too big for her. It would fall off even if worn on the outside, so it wasn’t very useful.
She continued to scroll through the chat channel and found that people were already discussing the watermelons she had put up for auction. Some were even guessing whether she was a man or a woman.
This reminded Yu Chi of some subtle memories, like the private messages at the very beginning. She remembered that many people had recommended themselves, wanting to have an online romance with her.
They must have been spamming “CPdd” like crazy.
On the last day of the novice protection period, everyone was chatting and joking around, but the tense atmosphere hadn’t dissipated much. Instead, there was a tacit silence in the air.
Yu Chi felt the All-Purpose Fishing Rod move. She focused her attention on the sea and pulled it up with force.
***
Translator’s Notes
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CPdd (CP滴滴): This is Chinese internet slang. “CP” stands for “couple,” and “dd” (滴滴) is an onomatopoeia for a beeping sound, often used in games to mean “message me” or “hit me up.” So, “CPdd” means “looking for a partner/couple, message me.”