CH 9

Chapter 9 Arctic World(9)

Ultimately, that group of people obediently paid the “tuition”.

When the group got pulled out of the icy pool by Qian Yue, they were almost frozen silly. They trembled as they speak, showing no trace of their previous arrogance.

The old man beside them seemed hesitant to speak but eventually took a few fish out of the bucket quietly as a gesture of gratitude.

“Alright, alright, old man, that’s enough. Just lend me the shovel again,” Qian Yue said.

If Qian Yue’s backpack wasn’t already full and her hands weren’t too occupied, she would have gladly accepted everything.

“The shovel? Just take it and use it,” the old man threw the item directly to her and reminded her, “But it’s not a gift, it’s on loan.”

Qian Yue replied, “I’ll return it to you shortly.”

Can there be a bit of basic trust between people? Was she the kind of person who borrows and never returns? (Remember these words.)

“Forget about returning it shortly. You can give it back to me when we meet again. I should go now. The snow is getting heavier, and I probably won’t be able to leave my house in a couple of days,” the old man sighed.

“Fortunately, the spot you chose yesterday is good. This hole produces more fish than others. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to do at home,” he added.

Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment and whispered, “Little girl, the snow cave is still not safe. If you have nowhere to stay, you can come to the village west of here and find me. My last name is Xie.”

Qian Yue was taken aback by his words. In the current situation, everyone hid from each other, afraid of being targeted.

Initially, Mr. Xie even had to be cautious about traveling with her, but now he willingly invited her to stay at his place.

This was truly…

“Thank you, I will consider it,” Qian Yue replied.

This time, Qian Yue completely believed what Yu Chengyi had previously said about “favorability.”

On the fifth day, the fierce wind howled outside, and the snowfall was so heavy that it could be described as “smashing.”

Next to her own snow cave, Qian Yue dug another large snow cave in the shape of an arc, somewhat resembling a hearth.

Due to the wide opening of the cave, it wasn’t particularly warm inside, but it was resistant to the wind. Moreover, because of the spacious entrance, Qian Yue could light a fire inside without worrying about melting snow water in the room.

As for the other snow cave used for living…

Last night, Qian Yue kept her guard up and didn’t sleep through as usual. Instead, she got up in the midst of the night to take a look.

As expected, the snow at the entrance of the cave had already piled up to about half its height. If Qian Yue hadn’t cleared it in time, she would probably have been buried inside by now.

During the process, Qian Yue also encountered several wolves, but they ended up becoming meat and fur in her hands.

“Is it going to keep snowing for another ten days?” Qian Yue murmured as she looked at the snow. The bowl placed on the fireplace next to her was bubbling.

This bowl was the begging bowl she had picked up when she was mistaken for a beggar. Qian Yue cleaned it with snow water, sterilized it by heating it over the fire, and used it to cook fish soup.

The water was boiled with clean snow, the fish meat was obtained from Mr. Xie, and most of the firewood used was the “tuition” paid by the group of people from the icy water.

However, what Qian Yue did not expect was that after all the hard work, the food she made wasn’t very effective.

【Fish Soup】

Description: Cooked with snow water and fish meat, it has no taste other than the flavor of the meat and a hint of fishiness. It restores 1 point of stamina.

Just 1 point…

Could it be any more stingy?

Qian Yue remembered the situation when she dug the first snow cave and pondered: So regardless of the quality of the item itself, as long as it’s a product outside the game system rules, it either can’t be recognized or it defaults to the lowest attribute?

Indeed, it’s just a closed beta game and can’t truly achieve complete freedom.

Qian Yue sprinkled some seasoning she bought yesterday, and she watched as the attribute of the fish soup changed from “1” to “5.”

“…” Well, it’s better than nothing.

Anyway, she didn’t have many other things with her, but there was plenty of fish meat, and snow.

With that in mind, Qian Yue noticed something sharp-eyed. There was an additional line in the item attributes of the seasoning:

【Remaining uses: 9】

“…” She temporarily put away the bowl of heart-wrenching fish soup and silently took out her braised pig elbow.

【Specialty Food – Braised Pig Elbow】

Description: Made with selected pig elbow and a secret recipe, it is incredibly delicious. Rich but not greasy, with a beautiful color, aroma, and taste. It restores 30 points of stamina.

“It smells really good…”

The girl, wrapped in a thick cloak, watching the snowflakes falling outside the cave and sitting cross-legged by the warm fireplace while biting into the fragrant braised pig elbow, couldn’t help but squint her eyes slightly.

This is the lazy life one should have.

On the sixth day, the snowfall noticeably decreased.

Early in the morning, Qian Yue shoveled away the accumulated snow at the door. Looking around, she couldn’t see any living creatures within a kilometer.

At this time, her inventory looked like this:

Hard bread x24, Vitamin C x23, Item Fragment (meat) x14, Mental Suppressant x5, Item Fragment (fur) x5, Firewood x5, Straw x3, Blueprint (roast meat) x2, Blueprint (bandage) x1, Flint x1, Seasoning x1, Oil lamp x1, Ice pick x1, Shovel x1, Rope x1

Due to the backpack’s capacity of only fifty items, Qian Yue took out the ice pick, shovel, oil lamp, and straw separately.

Similarly, items like Vitamin C, Mental Suppressant, and meat, which were not prone to moisture damage, were partially hidden by Qian Yue in the snow house; otherwise, they wouldn’t fit.

If we include the items Qian Yue squandered in the past couple of days, the quantity is probably astonishing.

When Qian Yue planned her “slack-off” strategy earlier, she only considered how many items to collect, but she didn’t think about how to store them.

Now, the surplus items are hidden in the snow, and even if she leaves for a short while, she can’t help but worry about them being discovered and stolen.

Qian Yue couldn’t help but sigh, “Being too wealthy is also a sin.”

…

Who knows what emotions those people who were tricked by Qian Yue before would have if they heard these words (:з」∠)

After sighing, Qian Yue checked her character’s stats, quickly made a fire, and used the remaining seasonings to make three servings of meat soup.

In theory, under normal circumstances, anyone would probably get tired of eating the same food repeatedly for several meals.

But Qian Yue was no ordinary person. For her, having cooked food was already enough, and the taste didn’t really matter.

With three bowls of meat soup as a base, she also ate a piece of bread, and her stamina returned to a healthy line of 80. Qian Yue burped symbolically, leaned against the wall, and idly looked outside the cave. She felt like the snow was getting smaller and smaller.

“I hope it won’t stop dwindling tomorrow…”

It was but a casual comment, but she did not expect to wake up the next morning to a burst of golden sunshine.