Lottery

The message sent successfully. Bai Yi felt a little embarrassed. He quickly shook his head, banishing the other thoughts as his determination to survive once more filled his mind.

Bai Yi closed the log, feeling somewhat emotional. In just two days, the top players had already pulled so far ahead of ordinary players. Not to mention that he was still a day behind everyone else.

He figured he was currently among the very last tier and could only do his best to catch up.

Bai Yi steadied himself and stood up. He was going to try that exercise routine.

First came breathing. Bai Yi continuously adjusted his breathing according to the method described in the post. Supposedly, pairing it with the routine would thoroughly work the muscles and maximize the results.

Before long, he had grasped the essentials and began warming up and exercising. The movements were simple, just the most common bodyweight exercises, but Bai Yi practiced with great enthusiasm.

Bai Yi kept exercising until late at night. He only stopped when his muscles felt as though they were tearing apart. Completely exhausted, he crawled onto the wooden bed and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

[Weather: Clear

Location: Misty Land

Time: Morning

Temperature: 18–20°C]

The sky had only just begun to brighten when Bai Yi woke up.

He felt wonderfully refreshed after that sleep. He stretched, and his entire body crackled and popped.

Bai Yi moved his body around and remarked, "The post was right after all. Even after being exhausted like that, one night's sleep restored everything."

Thinking of this, he called up his status panel.

[Bai Yi: Healthy]

[Age: 30]

[Strength: 3.1]

[Spirit: 9]

[Constitution: 3.1]

[Sanity: 100/100]

It had increased by 0.1? Bai Yi was delighted. It seemed he needed to add exercise to his daily must-do list. No one disliked the feeling of growing stronger.

After a simple warm-up, Bai Yi came to the Wishing Well. Beside it lay five wild fruits, five pieces of wood, five stones, a bundle of thatch, and a polluted rabbit corpse. This was everything he owned.

Bai Yi rubbed his hands together excitedly. It was time for the lottery.

A faint gray mist drifted over the mouth of the Wishing Well, obscuring its depths. Moss covered its inner walls.

He looked around, then picked up a wild fruit first. When he tossed in the first one, a plop sounded from the bottom of the well.

[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 4/5]

[Moldy Bread]

A blackened loaf of bread shot out of the well and landed by Bai Yi's feet.

The second wild fruit traced an arc through the air.

[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 3/5]

[500 ml Purified Water]

The third fruit, then the fourth.

[Withered Thatch x1]

[Wood x1]

[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 1/5]

"Hey?" Bai Yi raised an eyebrow. Why was his luck so bad? After thinking it over, he put down the last wild fruit and replaced it with wood.

One unit of wood fell into the well.

[Crumpled Paper Ball]

A paper ball flew out of the well, and Bai Yi caught it casually.

"There's writing on it?"

Bai Yi unfolded the paper ball, then took out his log.

[Fine Stone Pickaxe Blueprint]

[Quality: Good]

[Durability: 20/20]

[Description: Wood x1, Stone x3, clank clank clank clank. Isn't that simple?]

[Wood Exchange Attempts: 4/5]

He had gotten something, and it was a big one at that. Bai Yi was delighted. He felt that his luck had finally arrived.

He tossed in four pieces of wood.

"What a scam!" Bai Yi angrily threw the four clumps of grass in his hand onto the ground.

[Wood Exchange Attempts: 0/5]

Fine. He would never use wood to make wishes again.

Bai Yi turned around, picked up the stones, and poured them in one by one.

[Withered Thatch x1]

[Wood x1]

[Stone x2]

[Wild Fruit x1]

Bai Yi closed his eyes and pretended he could not see this pile of trash.

The next second, a gun appeared. Bai Yi reacted instantly and snatched it out of the air. He could not bear to let such a treasure fall to the ground.

[Shepherd's Mercy (Damaged)]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Durability: 5/5]

[Description: This was once a master's proudest work. Unfortunately, time had passed, and the gun was now badly damaged, with only the last trace of its former brilliance remaining.

Each shot consumes a point of durability. When durability reaches zero, the weapon is scrapped. The weapon automatically restores one point of durability every hour. Each bullet has a 5% chance to trigger "Painful Wail" (causing the target to become rigid for 1 second).]

It was a bloodstained silver revolver. Its cylinder held ten rounds, but five chambers were clogged by some unknown substance and could no longer be used.

[Stone Exchange Attempts: 0/5]

Bai Yi's breathing grew heavy. This was precisely the weapon he lacked most right now. Though he was powerful after activating his talent, that did not change the fact that ordinarily, he was a weakling with attributes of only 3.

Without hesitation, Bai Yi tossed the polluted rabbit corpse in as well.

This time, the well water boiled and churned. The blast of air it spewed out lifted his bangs. The clattering exchange item made Bai Yi's pupils contract sharply—it was half of a beating heart.

[You have discovered a beating heart. Sanity -15]

Without another word, Bai Yi grabbed the revolver, aimed, and fired in one smooth motion.

Bai Yi's hand went numb. The tremendous recoil nearly knocked the gun from his grip.

The beating heart exploded directly into fragments.

"Whew—"

Bai Yi let out a long breath, only to abruptly hold it the next second. He found a branch and used it to poke at the fragments. Only after confirming that they were completely motionless did he cautiously take a small breath.

Only after making sure everything was truly fine did he begin breathing deeply again.

Bai Yi calmed himself and continued the lottery. Next came the thatch.

[Stone x1]

[Stone x1]

[Stone x1]

[Stone x2]

[Stone x1]

[Thatch Exchange Attempts: 0/5]

He took out the wild fruit from earlier and tossed it in. Looking at the final wild fruit, Bai Yi had a feeling that something good was coming.

[Withered Thatch x1]

[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 0/5]

Bai Yi calmly caught the blade of grass, then tore it to pieces.

He had exchanged everything he had prepared, but the next second, Bai Yi took out the moldy bread. He had read on the forum that items exchanged from the Wishing Well could also be exchanged again.

Of course, the log could not. It seemed to be unique and would be teleported directly back to the shelter.

Bai Yi raised his hand and tossed the bread down.

[Windproof Lighter]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Durability: 100/100]

"Good stuff. At least I won't have to eat raw meat anymore."

Bai Yi was very satisfied with this lottery and decided to stop while he was ahead. He still had things that could be used for the lottery, such as that lump of flesh or even the gun in his hand.

The former had too sinister an origin, and Bai Yi was afraid it might yield an unpleasant surprise. As for the latter, after thinking of those gambling addicts cursing on the forum, he decided it was better to quit while he was ahead.

Next, Bai Yi did not plan to chop down trees. With attributes of only 3, he would not be able to gather much wood even if he chopped all day. Combined with the stone pickaxe blueprint he had just obtained, Bai Yi decided to make several stone pickaxes and sell them in the square.

This was the third day. Many players already needed to mine stone to upgrade their shelters, but they had started with only an ordinary-quality worn stone axe, not even a pickaxe.

This had caused the price of ordinary pickaxes to soar over the past few days, let alone good-quality ones.

At this thought, Bai Yi became even less worried. A stone axe in his left hand, his log in his right, and the revolver—which had just reloaded to full capacity—tucked into his belt, he was fully armed and ready to explore the surroundings in search of prey.

Through the forum, Bai Yi had learned that the log would not be lost. Even if it was damaged or left outside, it would be teleported back to the shelter.

It could not be damaged, could not be lost, and could inspect item information. It truly was an essential tool for exploring and gathering in the Misty Land!

Bai Yi stepped over rotting leaves and slowly advanced deeper into the forest. The barrel of the silver revolver at his waist gleamed coldly.

He spent half a day searching the entire area within a kilometer, but found no prey. He only found a pile of fruit and several freshwater sources.

Thus, several minutes ago, he had already stepped beyond the one-kilometer safe zone. Now, he was even more cautious.

Suddenly, Bai Yi felt something trip him beneath his feet. It was a thorny vine buried under the leaves. The instant he fell forward, a black shadow shot out from the mist behind him.

The moment he heard the low whimper, Bai Yi knew something was wrong. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

Bai Yi fell forward with the momentum. At the same time, his right hand released the log and reached in front of his body. As he hit the ground, he bent his arm slightly, then pushed off and threw himself to the left.

The black shadow streaked past Bai Yi's upper right side. His right arm went numb, followed by a warm flow slowly running down it.

Bai Yi had no time to care about that. He rolled once with the momentum and sprang to his feet, the revolver already in his right hand.

Having missed its first strike, the black shadow swiftly turned and pounced again. Bai Yi raised his gun to aim but did not fire immediately.

For Bai Yi, who had no shooting experience, the odds of hitting the target from a distance with such a high-recoil gun were minuscule.

As the saying went, beyond seven steps, a gun was fast; within seven steps, a gun was both accurate and fast.

Now! Bai Yi's gaze sharpened, and he fired.

The black shadow's head burst like a watermelon. Its body dropped limply at Bai Yi's feet, its four legs still twitching.

The creature that had died before Bai Yi was a gray wolf.

Bai Yi stood where he was. The flood of adrenaline kept him from feeling any pain. The hand holding the gun trembled slightly. This was Bai Yi's first battle, and he had been ambushed, but he had won.

Bai Yi glanced at his right arm. A ten-centimeter wound ran across it. It was not too deep, but blood was flowing continuously. He took out a prepared strip of cloth, wrapped it around his upper arm, and used his left hand and teeth to tie it.

"Awoo~ Awoo~"

One wolf, two wolves, three wolves...

A full ten wolves crawled out from the mist. Saliva dripped from their fangs onto the rotten leaves as they slowly surrounded Bai Yi.

Bai Yi remained silent. Instead of doing anything else, he continued tying the knot. With a tug from his left hand and teeth, the bleeding from his right arm stopped.

Then, he switched the gun and axe, adopting a stance with the gun in his left hand and the axe in his right.

Bai Yi opened his mouth. His low voice sounded slightly hoarse, carrying the viciousness of someone making a desperate final stand.

"Just my luck."