(A place to store your brain)
(The female lead isn't a saint, but she won't slaughter indiscriminately either. The small group is tentatively four women and two men. The male lead appears midway through the story. The female lead is clear-headed, while the male lead is romance-brained and acts like a male homemaker who handles logistics. Don't worry about the female lead being strong while the male lead is even stronger.)
(Enjoy the story! Pirate Simulator starting!)
Above her was a cloudless blue sky. Ling Chu sat on a raft covering only four square meters, with unfathomably deep seawater beneath her.
The surroundings were vast and silent. Her was the only raft floating on the endless sea. As the waves slapped against it, her pant legs grew wet and stuck clammily to her skin, bringing a faint chill.
Ling Chu looked utterly confused. Hadn't she been working overtime at the company? How had she suddenly ended up at sea?
Had she been kidnapped?
Ling Chu found it even harder to understand. Who would go out of their way to kidnap a frail college student like her? It couldn't be to inherit her Huabei debt, could it?
As if answering her question, a virtual light screen appeared in the lower-right corner. Lines of text scrolled and refreshed across it.
[Public Channel 666]
"Holy crap, where is this??"
"I was about to get a pentakill and become a god one second ago. How did I end up in the sea the next?"
"Am I dreaming? Someone pinch me!"
"Are all of you alive? Why can't I see a single other person?"
"Help, I get seasick! Puke, puke, puke—"
"Can that piece of junk upstairs even be called a boat? My dog's kennel is bigger!"
"What does seasickness count for? I have deep-sea phobia! I think I just saw a huge black shadow swim beneath the boat!"
"Great-grandma, protect me! I don't want to die!!!"
Ling Chu quietly breathed a sigh of relief. So she wasn't the only one who had been brought to this damned place.
Amid the wails in the chat channel, another emotionless mechanical voice rang out in Ling Chu's mind.
[Congratulations on entering the Sea Survival Game and becoming Player No. 29786510.]
[All five billion players have entered the game. The Grand Voyage has officially begun! All players, please remember the following Navigation Convention.]
[You will spend the rest of your life at sea. You can gather resources by salvaging floating objects, fishing, landing on islands, and other means; upgrade your vessel; and survive as long as possible.]
[During the Novice Protection Period, players are forbidden from attacking one another. Violators will be punished by the system.]
[The Novice Protection Period lasts three days. The game's difficulty will be greatly reduced during this time. Players, cherish this time and gather supplies as quickly as possible.]
[You only have one life. Please cherish it.]
["Sea Storm" will begin once the Novice Protection Period ends.]
[Friendly reminder: The storm will destroy all vessels with a Durability Value below 5. Please work hard to gather resources, upgrade your vessel, and ensure your survival.]
[The Novice Blind Box Gift Pack has been sent to every player's vessel. Please check for it. Have a pleasant voyage!]
With a "plop," a small wooden box dropped from the sky and landed beside Ling Chu's feet.
A large question mark was printed on the box's packaging. It was probably the Novice Blind Box the system had just mentioned.
Apart from the Blind Box, Ling Chu found an old-looking fishing rod and a somewhat rusty iron grappling hook on the raft.
A thought flashed through her mind, and their attribute panels appeared before her eyes.
[Old Fishing Rod] [Quality: Poor] [The beginner starting item everyone receives. Can be used for fishing.] [Old Grappling Hook] [Quality: Poor] [The beginner starting item everyone receives. Can be used to collect floating objects at sea.] [Wrecked Raft] [Durability Value: 1 (May fall apart at any time)] [Speed: 0 (You expect a wrecked raft to have speed? Just drift with the wind, young man!)] [Warehouse Capacity: 0/10 slots] [Durability: 100/100] [Upgrade requires Wood*20, Cloth*10, Seagrass*10, Iron Ore*1, Dim Pearl*1.] [(Insufficient materials. Unable to upgrade)]
After reading the raft's attributes, Ling Chu more or less understood her current situation.
Five billion people across the globe had been sent into this so-called Sea Survival Game. Each person had started with only a Wrecked Raft. They had neither food nor Freshwater, and had to face a Sea Storm three days later.
A person could barely survive seven days without food, but the Sea Storm three days from now would completely destroy these tiny rafts and send the players to watery graves. Therefore, if they wanted to survive, their top priority was upgrading the Wrecked Raft.
Ling Chu had never liked complaining about fate. Once she confirmed that she was powerless to change reality, the wisest decision was to force herself to adapt as quickly as possible.
The fittest survived, and the strongest thrived.
Ling Chu understood this principle deeply. Thus, while the Public Channel was still full of curses and complaints, she had already begun gathering resources.
She wrapped one end of the grappling hook's rope around her wrist and aimed at a wooden plank about five meters straight ahead. She put strength into her wrist and began swinging the iron hook. Borrowing the hook's own inertia, she sent it flying through the air with a whoosh.
Her first throw missed the edge of the plank, and the iron hook sank beneath the sea.
Ling Chu pulled the rope and reeled the iron hook back in.
She had underestimated how fast the hook would fly. The floating object was also drifting slowly forward with the current. Learning from her second attempt, she shortened the lead on her throw, and the iron hook landed precisely in the center of the plank.
A perfect hit!
Ling Chu pulled the rope and dragged the plank to her side, only to discover a bright green strand of Seagrass wrapped around its underside.
[You obtained Wood*1 and Seagrass*1]
One hook, two gains!
The floating objects she collected were automatically stored in the raft's warehouse. At the same time, the raft's capacity became 2/500.
Ling Chu didn't dare stop and immediately fixed her sights on the next floating object.
[Wood+1]
[Cloth+1]
[Seagrass+1]
After hooking without rest for three hours, Ling Chu had mastered the use of the grappling hook. Other than some soreness in her wrist, she could practically hit ten out of ten of the floating objects she aimed at.
She looked over her haul. She had already hooked twenty-three pieces of Wood, eleven pieces of Cloth, and ten strands of Seagrass.
She had enough Wood, Cloth, and Seagrass to upgrade the raft. She just didn't know how to obtain the Iron Ore and Dim Pearl.
She happened to glance at the Public Channel and discovered that everyone had begun discussing the Novice Blind Box.
"What a trash Blind Box. I only drew five Wood???"
"I got two bottles of Mineral Water. Thank goodness, I was about to die of thirst."
"Five Wood +1."
"Five Wood +2."
"Five Wood +10086."
"You've learned all the tricks of those pay-to-win online game lotteries!"
"Giving it is the same as not giving it. Even if it's a beginner benefit, you can't be this perfunctory!"
"Don't blame the system for your bad luck. Look at the divine weapon this European emperor drew!"
Among the countless complaints, an occasional discordant voice appeared, proudly posting the attributes of the item they had just drawn.
[Shark Tooth Dagger] [Quality: Common] [A dagger made from a shark tooth. Fairly sharp. Damage dealt to sharks is doubled.]
The Blind Box could actually produce weapons?
Ling Chu continued scrolling through the channel. Players who had drawn weapons were in the minority. Most had drawn basic supplies such as Wood and Cloth.
Some people had drawn food and Freshwater. Others had drawn practical items such as Telescopes and Flint. One incredibly lucky player had even drawn one hundred Dim Pearls.
The raft upgrade also required one Dim Pearl. Ling Chu still didn't know how to obtain one, but it was clearly far more valuable than basic supplies like Wood.
The player who had drawn the pearls immediately began hawking them in the Public Channel: "Selling excess Pearls. One Pearl for 200 Wood/Cloth/Seaweed."
"Two hundred Wood for one Pearl? You might as well rob people!"
"I just caught a Large Oyster with my beginner fishing rod. There was a Pearl inside after I pried open the shell. If you want Pearls, everyone should fish more!"
"Could our beginner fishing rods be different? Why have I been sitting here for almost an hour without a single fish biting?"
"Same here. I didn't catch any fish, and I almost slipped and fell into the sea."
"Common sense: You need bait to fish. I tore off a small piece of the bread I drew from the Blind Box and tied it to the hook. A fish bit soon after."
"Could it be that I'm fishing because I have no food?"
"No food means you can't fish up food for bait, and no fish means you have no food. What a terrifying logical loop!"
"Selling 150g of Wheat Bread for 200 Wood. First come, first served."
"Brother above, you're even more shameless than the guy selling Pearls!"
"I, Wang Aotian, would rather starve to death than trade you people for a bite of food!!"
"Trading a Novice Blind Box for five pieces of Wheat Bread!"
"Why are you even selling the Novice Blind Box?"
"My luck is too bad. Getting five Wood is less useful than trading it for some bread."
Everyone had only just entered the game and was facing a shortage of Freshwater and food. Those who had drawn extra food began charging exorbitant prices.
After hooking floating objects for half a day, Ling Chu felt a little hungry, but it was still bearable. Unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn't use her resources to trade for food. That would simply amount to working for someone else.
She picked up the Novice Blind Box on the raft. Trading the Blind Box for Wheat Bread might have been the smarter choice than opening it and getting five Wood, but Ling Chu still wanted to gamble on her luck.
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