CH 2

Chapter 2 Arctic World(2)

The way her body went limp so naturally immediately after she laid down, left the other few players stunned for a long time before coming back to their senses.

After a few more minutes, the remaining four players began to engage each other after they had finished counting their items.

Although “Ten-Day Plan” is a survival game, it does not explicitly specify the number of players required to clear each instance.

In other words, the game itself is not highly competitive.

Similarly, from the profession settings, it can be seen that the game developers encourage cooperation among players rather than competition.

So there is no inherent hostility between players. —

Except for the beggars who unlocked the “stealing” skill.

After all, no one wants to hand over the items they painstakingly collected to others.

After confirming that their attitudes towards each other were friendly, the players gathered together to discuss going out for exploration.

“Since we were brought together, let’s form an alliance and take care of each other.”

Everyone had no objections.

“This is a survival game, so it’s definitely not a feasible idea to be staying in the hut throughout.”

After all, people play games to have fun and wander~

Someone immediately said, “The snow’s fairly light now, we can split into small teams for exploration. Though let’s avoid going too far as it may be dangerous.”

This game does not have a friend or team system function, so they had to rely on gathering physically if they want to exchange information.

“Yes, I saw someone on the forum analyzing possible dangers at night in this survival game, so it’s best for us to come back before it gets dark.”

“Also, finders keepers for items found on the road, and we only share information with each other, agree?”

“I agree.”

“No problem.”

……

The opportunity to participate in the closed beta is rare, thus, the players naturally cherish it. By clarifying their interests in advance, it made it more convenient for them to cooperate.

The four of them found common ground, and after setting up some rules, they prepared to set off.

Before setting off, someone noticed Qian Yue in the corner and remembered that there was still one more person.

Qian Yue was lying down with her body straight, her backpack covering her entire face, and her hands neatly folded on her abdomen in such a peaceful posture, which made everyone look at each other.

After a few seconds of silence—

“What should we do about her?”

“Should we wake her up?”

“I feel like my hair is standing on ends…”

“Maybe we shouldn’t bother her, she laid down as soon as she came in, what if she doesn’t want to play?”

If Qian Yue was awake, she would definitely praise them as “understanding”.

But at the moment, she was in a “low power consumption” state and naturally couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Teammate: “……”

Although they felt that “getting the opportunity to participate in the closed beta but not playing the game” was a bit strange, they finally decided to mind their own business and went out on their exploration.

Heavy snowfall.

A straw hut.

Inside, there was a person lying with their face covered by a backpack, seemingly lifeless.

When Xu Hongbo entered, he was almost scared half to death.

He turned around and whispered to his teammate behind him, “Be careful, there’s…”

Shi Wei: “Ah!”

Xu Hongbo: “…a person.”

Noticing the speechless gaze of her teammate, Shi Wei quickly covered her mouth, her heart pounding.

She lowered her voice and asked, “What… is this thing? Is it a person or a ghost?”

Although Xu Hongbo was also initially startled, after making the comparison to Shi Wei’s intense reaction just now, Xu Hongbo suddenly felt that it wasn’t that scary.

He quickly calmed down, took a quick look, and said, “The backpack’s the same as ours, so it should be a player.”

Shi Wei immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but halfway through her exhale, she heard Xu Hongbo say, “Of course, it’s also possible that some player intentionally placed a backpack on top of an NPC’s corpse.” Then he squatted down.

“You mean… there might be an ambush here?” Shi Wei immediately looked around cautiously.

However, this straw hut was really run-down. Not to mention the several holes on the roof, even the mud walls had their fair share of holes.

And there was no front door.

This didn’t seem like a place where an ambush could be hidden.

— But it also didn’t seem like a place where one could sleep.

After all, there was hardly any temperature difference between indoors and outdoors in this cold world, at most, it could provide some shelter from the wind.

So the two of them unanimously believed that the body on the floor was likely an NPC’s corpse, and the backpack might just be a distraction spawned by the instance.

“Should we touch it?” Shi Wei gave Xu Hongbo a suggestive look, feeling a little excited inside.

Although this was an “Arctic world,” according to the background setting of the instance itself, it wasn’t always this cold but rather was affected by the snow disaster.

Shi Wei and Xu Hongbo encountered many starving and suffering NPCs along the way, as well as players looting items from the corpses of deceased NPCs.

For players, a dead NPC was not an NPC, but a visible treasure chest.

There were even conflicts arising from players fighting over NPC corpses.

Shi Wei and Xu Hongbo were outnumbered and didn’t dare to compete with them, so they could only avoid them from a distance.

They did not expect to find a treasure in such a small run-down hut in the end!

Shi Wei stood guard at the door, while Xu Hongbo walked up to Qian Yue’s side.

Taking a closer look, they realized that this NPC was actually a female – but in the eyes of players, it was a mere treasure chest.

“… Sorry.”

Xu Hongbo murmured softly, extending his hand toward the player’s backpack. But as soon as his hand touched the surface of the backpack, the world before his eyes suddenly spun!

“Ah!”

Xu Hongbo screamed in agony and then fell to the ground with a loud thud, clutching his back in pain!

Before he could recover from the pain, someone stomped heavily on his chest!

“Oof!” Cough cough…

Xu Hongbo opened his eyes and saw the once peaceful corpse now holding a backpack in one hand, whilst stepping on his chest. A dangerous look was present in her eyes which were narrowed, into slits.

The woman asked coldly, “Tired of living?”

Qian Yue had no idea the thoughts that flittered through their heads just from her squinting her eyes. In fact, she had just not fully woken up yet.

But that didn’t mean she was oblivious to the danger around her.

On those desolate planets, letting down your guard meant death.

Therefore, she was even more alert in her sleep.

“You’re not dead?!”

Qian Yue raised her head at the sound of the voice and saw a girl standing by the door, probably an accomplice of the person in front of her.

Qian Yue rolled her eyes expressionlessly and asked, “Do I look dead to you?”

“…”

You don’t just look like it? Could this be a zombie spawned by this instance?!

Shi Wei trembled with fear.

Xu Hongbo quickly tried to explain, “Miss, you’ve misunderstood! We didn’t do anything, we just wanted to wake you up earlier!”

Qian Yue made a sound of acknowledgment and her tone softened slightly.

Xu Hongbo breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she is willing to listen.

He was just about to speak and negotiate with Qian Yue to see if she could move her foot away and have a proper conversation, but she kicked him hard in the chest once again and asked impatiently, “Got nothing to do?”

Xu Hongbo coughed up blood.

Qian Yue said impatiently, “Speak up, what’s your purpose?”

Shi Wei quickly glanced at Xu Hongbo on the ground, but he was in no condition to pay attention to her at the moment.

Qian Yue said, “One.”

Shi Wei said hastily, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Please let him go.”

Before Qian Yue could speak, Shi Wei quickly explained, “We thought you were an NPC that froze to death and wanted to search for items on your body.”

Qian Yue calmly finished her previous sentence, “One very beautiful snowy-white picturesque scenery.”

Shi Wei, “…”

Xu Hongbo, “…”

Shi Wei gritted her teeth, “I’ve already told you, shouldn’t you let him go now?”

Qian Yue glanced at her with a smirk, “Did I promise that I’ll let him go if you speak?”

Shi Wei, “You!”

She instinctively wanted to retort, but suddenly realized that Qian Yue hadn’t actually promised anything.

On the contrary, she was the one who had been too impatient and subconsciously assumed that the exchange was established.

Shi Wei: I’ve been tricked!

Qian Yue yawned, “I suppose you’ve already searched quite a few corpses, so this is easy — give me three items, and I’ll pretend we never met.”

Qian Yue smiled, “Don’t worry, I’m not picky. Considering your apologetic attitude for the mistake, any three items will do.”

“!!!”

Shi Wei was shocked.

How dare she say she’s not picky! How could there be such a shameless person in the world!

Although they did offend her first, Xu Hongbo, in fact, had not even touched her!

Instead, she misunderstood her, and now they were told to dish out three items!

A flash of anger crossed Shi Wei’s face, but she hesitated for a moment.

“Is your word trustworthy?”

Qian Yue just looked at her silently.

Shi Wei clenched her teeth, took out one hard bread and two vitamin C, then walked towards Qian Yue.

“As we exchange items, let him go—” Before she could finish her sentence, the vitamin C disappeared from her hand.

The next moment, she swung the hard bread towards Qian Yue’s face, her expression fierce, completely different from before!

“Die!”

Shi Wei by no means had a slow reaction speed, her movements were clean with a hint of fierceness— an indication of her familiarity with martial arts.

If it were any other ordinary person, they would likely be fighting by now.

However, Qian Yue appeared to have anticipated it early on. She casually lifted her head, then sneered contemptuously.

“Is that all?”

Two minutes later, two people with bruised and swollen faces lay in the straw hut, begging for mercy repeatedly.

Qian Yue patted Shi Wei’s face and said with a smile, “Since you’re offering, it would be impolite for me to hold back.”

“Ten items, anything will do, you decide.”

Shi Wei wondered if her ears had malfunctioned. “Didn’t you say three earlier?” Even if it doubled, that would be six, right?

Qian Yue, “Eleven.”

“Are you crazy?!”

“Twelve.”

“Keeping quiet? In that case thir…”

As Qian Yue increased the number, Xu Hongbo quickly interrupted,

“Eleven! Just eleven!”

Qian Yue’s face switched instantly, and reluctantly said, “Okay, you’re the one who said it, no going back on your words. I was about to say ten will do.”

As much as they were fuming internally, the two did not dare to raise their objection. They did not even dare to hand the items over to Qian Yue and quickly counted out eleven items and put them to the side.

“…That’s correct.”

Qianyue glanced over and confirmed that there were indeed eleven items.

She sighed and said, “Aww, you guys, if you’re going to come, just come. There’s no need to bring gifts.”

As she spoke, she quickly put the items into her own storage.

Shi Wei and Xu Hongbo, “……” So angry, but we’re no match for her!

Qian Yue’s mood instantly improved as she stored the items away. “Okay, hurry up and leave.”

Throughout her half a lifetime, she had never heard such beautiful words!

The two didn’t hesitate to rush out the door, seeming as if they were being chased by ghosts.

Qian Yue waved them goodbye, “You’re welcome to come again.”

The response she got was the two gradually disappearing figures wildly running off in the heavy snow. One of them even tripped upon hearing her words.

After this series of events, all traces of sleepiness escaped Qian Yue.

It had been more than three hours since the start of the game, and they were about to enter the first night. Based on Qian Yue’s survival experience, the danger level would increase exponentially at night, such that newbies wouldn’t dare to go out easily.

Moreover, it was very likely that the person who had teleported with her to this straw hut would be returning.

Therefore, she wasn’t worried that the two would bring reinforcements to retaliate.

With nothing to do, Qian Yue simply sat cross-legged on the ground and began to examine the fruits of her half-day slack-off.