[Acquiring Fragments] Seeking Follows, Seeking Favorites

"Striving to survive, but what are we supposed to survive on? With just this barren island, there isn't even tree bark to gnaw on! Relying solely on the food we fish up won't last us very long at all!"

Just as someone had stepped up in the Communication Channel to boost morale, someone else immediately stepped in to pour cold water on the situation.

"Sigh, those people in the top ten of the Regional Island Prosperity Ranking definitely don't have to worry about food or drink, especially since they get so much Common Bait every day."

"Exactly, exactly! We're all human beings; they should be helping those of us who have no resources!"

"Heh, is someone your father or something? Why should they take the resources they worked so hard to fish up just to bail you out?"

When Su Yu saw these messages on the Communication Channel, his brows arched slightly.

He wasn't the least bit surprised that some people were starting to stir up trouble and target those of them at the top of the rankings.

After all, there were five thousand people in a single region, and it was a mixed bag of people. It could range from high-ranking officials and nobles from before the transmigration to ordinary commoners, street thugs, lawbreakers who had been imprisoned, vicious criminals, and even students who still retained their innocence and naivety.

With so many different types of people mixed together in one region, it was easy to imagine that these kinds of issues would inevitably arise in the Communication Channel.

Furthermore, Su Yu suspected that there might already be some naive fools out there who had been swindled out of their supplies and were still helping the scammers count their money.

Sure enough, just as this thought flashed through his mind, Su Yu, who was casually scanning the Communication Channel, discovered that exactly such a thing had already happened.

"Everyone, be careful. A woman named Wang Tiantian scammed me out of a bag of food."

"Brother above, can you give us the details on how you were scammed? Did you get scammed while trying to cyber-flirt?"

"You're still getting scammed at a time like this? You're really something, brother!"

After glancing briefly at these messages, Su Yu directly edited and sent out a message of his own.

"Acquiring Island Area Fragment. Owners can private message me. Can trade for food, fresh water, or other items."

After sending the message, Su Yu chose to pin it to the top.

"Holy crap, what is the top-ranked big shot trying to buy now?"

"Are you stupid? It's literally written there, can't you tell what it is? Island Area Fragment—it's obviously used to increase the size of an island!"

"Damn, I thought I was going to starve to death, but heaven never closes every door, brothers! I just fished up a Two-Star Wooden Treasure Chest with my guaranteed daily portion of Common Bait, and I opened it to find an Island Area Fragment that adds +1 square meter. I'm going to find the top-ranked big shot to trade!"

"Envy, jealousy, and hatred."

Not long after Su Yu pinned that acquisition message, people immediately started sending him private messages.

In fact, this Island Area Fragment was exactly what was found in the ranked treasure chests awarded to those in second through tenth place on the Regional Island Prosperity Ranking, with the only difference being the amount of area the fragment added.

For instance, Su Yu, as the top-ranked player, had opened a +5 Island Area Fragment, while second place received a +3 fragment, and third place received a +2 fragment.

As for those in fourth through tenth place, they all received +1 Island Area Fragments.

However, those who could squeeze into the top ten would naturally not be like other survivors who used these fragments to trade for daily necessities.

For them, the daily supplies they possessed, while perhaps not as varied as those of Su Yu, were sufficient to cover their basic needs.

[Ding, survivor Wu Zhe has met the private chat conditions you set and is requesting a private chat. Do you accept?]

"Accept." Upon hearing the private chat notification, Su Yu silently muttered his agreement.

"Are you there, top-ranked expert? I wanted to ask how much food and water one +1 Island Area Fragment can trade for."

At this moment, Wu Zhe, who was on his own island, looked slightly pale with cracked lips—a sign that his body was already beginning to suffer from dehydration.

As it turned out, this guy Wu Zhe didn't know if he was cursed by a god of misfortune or what; he hadn't managed to fish up any fresh water with the ten Common Bait provided for beginners, and of the ten treasure chests he had hooked, eight were Damaged Treasure Chests containing nothing but tattered socks, withered branches, and similar junk.

As for the other two chests, they were Common Wooden Treasure Chests, from which Wu Zhe had harvested a total of ten units of wood. Seeing the results of his ten baits nearly sent Wu Zhe to an early grave on the spot.

Fortunately, from the beginner survival chest provided, Wu Zhe had managed to open one piece of whole wheat bread and a 500ml bottle of mineral water; otherwise, he felt he might as well have jumped into the sea and ended it all.

That's right, this unlucky fellow Wu Zhe was the same guy who had claimed in the Communication Channel earlier that morning that he had relied on his own righteous aura to survive the night.

At this moment, Su Yu fell into deep thought after seeing the message sent by the other party on the private chat interface.

It wasn't that he was worried about not having enough to give, but rather that Su Yu was considering how much to offer for the trade.

The traded items certainly couldn't be too few, but they couldn't be too many either, otherwise, it would become difficult for Su Yu to acquire these items later from other lucky survivors.

Having someone try to trade was within Su Yu's expectations; after all, for survivors who were lucky enough to fish up fragments but couldn't even maintain basic living standards, trading them for supplies was a much better deal.

After all, adding 1 square meter of island area had no real significant use for them in the early stages.

After pondering for a while, Su Yu offered Wu Zhe a price.

"One +1 square Island Area Fragment can be traded here for 15 liters of fresh water, 10 kilograms of rice, and one Windproof Lighter."

At this moment, Wu Zhe, who was staring intently at the private chat interface, saw the message Su Yu had sent.

To be honest, Wu Zhe hesitated; he wasn't sure if the price offered by the other party was low or otherwise.

However, once he realized that if he didn't sell this item to the expert to trade for some supplies, he probably wouldn't survive the night, Wu Zhe made up his mind instantly.

"Screw it, I'll trade. If I sell to others, I might get lowballed even further. After all, the only ones who can bring out large amounts of supplies right now are probably the experts in the top ten."

Actually, Wu Zhe still wanted to shop around, but he only had ten chances to send messages per day. Since he had already used up several of them while hanging out in the Communication Channel earlier, he might not even be able to private message other experts.

After all, he still had to reply to Su Yu in a moment!