The fight for the first resource chest gave most players no sense of involvement. They hadn't even reached the chest's location when the marker on the map disappeared.
So fast?! It must have spawned right under another player's feet! Who's this lucky! — This is totally unfair.
By the time they angrily returned to the base, they immediately ran into the monsters that were destroying it.
Monsters: Ah, you're all this fast?!
The monsters delivered right to their doorstep made these players slightly less angry. After all, it was a free punching bag, and defeating them would even add a survival point.
On the way back to the base, the Fang siblings and Sheng Wujie found that Xia Yun not only returned with the chest but had also gone to the lakeside with a wooden bucket, bowls, chopsticks, and tongs, cleaned them, and brought them back.
When they returned, they saw Xia Yun and Mu Anqi drinking the water from the pot with wooden bowls, the iron chest placed aside, still unopened.
"You're amazing!" Fang Xunjiu couldn't help but praise, "I thought there would be a tough battle, but… why don't you open the chest to see what's inside?"
"Isn't it better to wait until everyone is here before opening it?" Xia Yun smiled, drinking the water in her bowl in one gulp, and glanced meaningfully at Sheng Wujie. "So that no player thinks we're hoarding the resources."
Sheng Wujie: You might as well just report my ID then.
But he didn't dare object, after all… these two players seemed really strong, and besides, it was indeed his fault at the start. So he could only force a stiff smile and stand aside.
Fang Xunjiu and Fang Yunjiu were obviously aware of this dispute too, having overheard a bit when they first arrived. But in matters like this, why get involved? Fang Xunjiu laughed and waved his hand: "There's nothing to be afraid of. Even if the game gives you resources for free, they're probably the most ordinary things imaginable."
"Besides, Miss Xia, you got the resources. Even if you don't share them with us, we have no complaints," Fang Xunjiu said, shrugging with a helpless expression. "After all, we did get a survival point too."
"Mm." Fang Yunjiu just followed behind her brother, letting out a cool "mm" in agreement.
"..." Sheng Wujie gritted his teeth but finally decided to go all in. "I was blinded by greed at first and thought you two female players were easy to bully. That was my fault. After all, it's a team game. During the game, I won't bother you two again or anything. Let's… let's just get through this game first."
"Why so serious? Xia Yun was just joking a little," Mu Anqi exchanged a glance with Xia Yun and smiled. "Let's see what treasures are actually in the resource chest."
Xia Yun summoned her life sword and with a single strike cut through the rather flimsy lock, opening the iron chest.
"Ah, this…"
Five bottles of mineral water, five small packets of compressed biscuits. A small iron pot. A box of matches. A small bag of salt.
Xia Yun was speechless. All this stuff, and you need such a big iron chest to hold it?!
And this wasn't even the stingiest part. What was even more annoying was when Mu Anqi picked up a bottle of water, the item's prompt popped up.
[Mineral Water]: Ordinary mineral water, can be consumed directly. (Note: Quest item, cannot be taken out of the game)
Mu Anqi skeptically checked all the items in the chest and found that each one had the same note at the end.
The organizers of this game must really fear players taking advantage. Mu Anqi was exasperated. She put a bottle of water and a packet of compressed biscuits into her storage space. "Let's just use the matches and the iron pot together. This big iron chest… would be good for storing sweet potatoes too."
"We can use the small iron pot to make fish soup!" Fang Xunjiu took his and his sister's share of the supplies, handed the water and biscuits to his sister, then looked at the iron pot and the fish wrapped in leaves, suggesting, "There's salt too, and we can add some sweet potato leaves."
"You know how?" Mu Anqi asked, glancing over. "If you do, then go ahead."
"I do, leave it to me." Fang Xunjiu smiled and said this, just as Mu Anqi took five more fish from her storage ring. These fish weren't as big as the two on the ground, but still enough to eat.
"Help prepare these too, we'll roast them later." Mu Anqi said, passing over the trimmed wooden skewers, then looked at Sheng Wujie. "Go grab some stones to make a campfire."
Having obtained the first resource chest, everyone seemed quite happy. The previous sense of urgency and crisis had also lessened considerably. Fang Xunjiu quickly processed the two large fish, carefully rinsed them in the water from the big iron pot, then chopped them into pieces and put them back in the pot. Fang Yunjiu went to the sweet potato patch to pick sweet potato leaves, brought them back, washed them, and planned to cook them with the fish soup as a vegetable dish.
Meanwhile, Sheng Wujie carried back several stones, which Xia Yun flattened and stacked into a circle, placing firewood in the middle and lighting it with matches, completing the nighttime campfire. Mu Anqi used this time to make five pairs of chopsticks and painstakingly began crafting wooden spoons.
The fish soup was put on the stove, and Fang Yunjiu carefully took the cleaned and skewered fish from Fang Xunjiu, sitting by the campfire to turn the roasting fish. Fang Xunjiu dug a pit, placed the firewood, lit it, and buried five sweet potatoes inside.
After a round of busy work, the steaming fish soup gradually gave off its aroma. The soup was simply seasoned with some salt and a few sweet potato leaves—there were no better conditions. Yet even so, in the Eternal Night Forest, being able to drink a bowl of steaming fish soup and eat roasted fish with a crispy outside and tender inside was already quite satisfying. They were content.
Mu Anqi ate the fish extremely cautiously; she didn't want to get a fishbone stuck. She slowly finished one fish, then served herself a bowl of fish soup. At this moment, Fang Xunjiu took out the buried sweet potatoes, but they were scorching hot, so hot he couldn't hold them for a moment. With his sister on his left and… Fang Xunjiu quickly tossed them into Sheng Wujie's arms. "Brother, you eat!"
Caught off guard, Sheng Wujie yelped from the burn. But despite the heat, he didn't want to throw them away—there were only a few bowls of soup and one roasted fish, and that wouldn't be enough to fill him. Sheng Wujie tossed the sweet potatoes between his hands, inhaling sharply from the heat, and finally bit the bullet, peeling the sweet potatoes while blowing on them to cool them down.
Once the sweet potato skin was peeled, the fragrant sweetness instantly spread. The sweet potato had thin skin and thick, golden flesh that flowed like oil, looking irresistible.
Mu Anqi took her portion, carefully blew on it to cool it, and eagerly took a bite. The sweet flavor immediately filled her tongue. She couldn't help but sigh, "Life… isn't so bad after all."
Survival games didn't seem so difficult after all.
After eating and drinking their fill, there were still eight hours before the next resource chest appeared. Xia Yun had flown on her sword multiple times today and had used her life sword to make quite a few things, consuming a lot of energy. Mu Anqi told her to lie down under the wooden shed and rest. After all, the Eternal Night Forest had no day or night, never brightening, so sleeping wouldn't be affected at all.
"I'll keep watch first. You guys rest if you need to. We'll take turns…" Mu Anqi looked at Fang Xunjiu and Sheng Wujie. "Two hours each—who wants to take over after that?"
"I'll do it." Fang Xunjiu smiled. "I'll keep watch first, then Brother Sheng takes over. Two hours per shift. Brother Sheng won't be able to keep watch for long; the next chest will appear soon."
After deciding the watch order, Mu Anqi sat by the campfire, staying alert. She stared at the flickering flames, lost in thought, wondering if the general was watching her. In this PvP dungeon… the general should be watching, right?
With Xia Yun here, they had a big advantage in grabbing the chest. Of course, the first time was a surprise attack; next time wouldn't be so easy. After all, the game's monsters wouldn't just let Xia Yun monopolize all the chests. In competitive dungeons… if players didn't clash or fight, what kind of competition would it be?
With just 10 survival points, they could obtain the clearance map, and the chest appeared every eight hours. If their Red Team got another chest, wouldn't they be able to get the map directly? Mu Anqi's intuition told her it wouldn't be that simple. Could it be… that something only unlocks after obtaining the map?
Various speculations kept surfacing. Mu Anqi twirled a dagger in her hand, letting it spin and dance on her fingertips. She had learned this trick from watching General Ji throw knives back then and thought it looked extremely cool. Sighing, she took out some candy canes, shot two marshmallows into her palm, and chewed them.
"Wuuu…"
"Wuuuu…"
In the dark forest, the wind howled, eerily resembling human cries. Amid the faint, wavering sounds of weeping, Mu Anqi looked up at the pitch-black thicket, feeling as if the eerie cries mixed with the wind were drawing closer.
"I'm so hungry, wuuu…"
"Little girl… kind little girl, help me… save me… I can't find my way…"
Mu Anqi straightened from her bored posture. She slowly stood up and looked toward the thicket.
"I can't find… my head!" The crying suddenly turned piercing, mixed with a sinister "heh heh" laugh, as a headless corpse lunged forward:
"Give me your head!—"
Her fingertips brushed the brooch, and a white light shot straight at the headless corpse. Mu Anqi remained calm, drew her gun, and fired three consecutive shots—each hitting the corpse. "Good luck and great fortune," she muttered, then fired four more shots, precisely hitting the corpse's limbs. Sliding in a new bullet card, Mu Anqi fired once through the corpse's heart. The body, trembling and exuding a constant aura of yin energy, finally faltered. The eerie wind blew past, leaving no trace.
Another survival point was added.
Mu Anqi glanced toward the wooden shed. The four players had woken up, staring at her with strange expressions. Mu Anqi blinked, looked down at herself to confirm she hadn't activated any rich-girl aura, and returned their puzzled gaze. "What's wrong? I just… cleared out a monster trying to ambush the base."
"Nothing." Fang Xunjiu shook his head earnestly. "I just suddenly realized… having money power is really nice."