Initial Trade

The Rotting Corpse's bluish-gray fingertips scraped past the gap in the door, and its foul breath blasted against Bai Yi's neck, making his hair stand on end.

The instant he slammed the bolt shut, the clang of metal and scratching erupted at the same time.

[ Shelter Durability: 99/100 ]

Through the gaps between the logs, Bai Yi saw that rotten face pressed against the door.

Maggots rustled down from the Rotting Corpse's hollow eye sockets, yet it kept scratching as if it felt no pain. Every few seconds, its impacts made the entire cabin tremble.

[ Durability -1 ]

[ Durability -1 ]

"System, you bastard!" Bai Yi quickly calculated that the shelter could last at most four minutes. Furious, he cursed, "What the hell is the point of this newbie protection period?"

Not daring to waste time, Bai Yi staggered into the wooden table. He grabbed the stone pickaxe blueprint, prepared all the materials, and began crafting.

[ Used Fine Stone Pickaxe Blueprint. Durability -1. Crafting Countdown: 00:59 ]

When he saw the countdown, Bai Yi was so angry he nearly spat blood onto the table. What he lacked most right now was time.

With every tick of the countdown, the scratching outside grew more frantic.

Bai Yi tore off a blood-soaked strip of cloth and wrapped it around his wrist. His trembling fingers opened the plaza trading interface, where dozens of stone pickaxe offers streamed past his eyes like a waterfall.

"Good quality... highest offer is 200 wood... not enough..." He stared at a completed transaction record, his mind racing.

When the first stone pickaxe solidified in blue light, Bai Yi did not even look at it before listing it on the plaza.

[ 1 Good-Quality Stone Pickaxe for 50 Stone ]

Almost the instant he confirmed it, a system notification appeared.

[ Trade Successful! ]

A pile of stones fell from thin air and crashed down. Bai Yi nearly ground his back teeth to dust. "Keep crafting!"

[ Durability -1 ]

[ Durability -1 ]

Crafting notifications popped up one after another, while the countdown timer kept splitting in his vision, forming three overlapping afterimages.

Bai Yi barely suppressed his dizziness and looked at the prompt in the log.

[ Shelter Durability: 5/100 ]

The instant the second stone pickaxe was completed, he bundled both together and listed them.

[ 2 Good-Quality Stone Pickaxes for 200 Wood + 50 Stone ]

This trade notification came even faster, accompanied by a vibration from a stranger's private message.

"Anonymous User 9527: Bro, got a direct supply?"

Bai Yi's face was tense. He had no time to reply, and his fingers kept swiping.

[ Shelter Durability: 2/100 ]

The instant the upgrade materials filled the corner of the room.

"Confirm upgrade!"

The moment white light swallowed the cabin, the Rotting Corpse's howl pierced through the walls.

He fell flat onto the brand-new oak floor, watching the mortise-and-tenon ceiling of the composite structure slowly take shape.

The crackling sparks in the fireplace sounded more beautiful than any symphony at that moment.

The original wooden bed expanded to 180×200 cm, and the house's area also expanded to 80 square meters. Pine resin gleamed across the polished floorboards.

[ Fine Wooden House ]

[ Level: 3 ]

[ Durability: 500/500 ]

[ Capacity: 0/500 ]

[ Trait: None ]

[ Upgrade: 0/300 Stone, 0/30 Mud ]

[ Description: Good. It finally looks like a proper shelter, barely capable of resisting a Rotting Corpse scratching at the door. ]

[ Unlocked Fireplace. Unlocked Wooden Fence. One Wooden Fence: 3 Wood, 4 Thatch. Unlocked Bathroom, Bedroom, Living Room. ]

The scratching outside became extremely faint.

Bai Yi pushed himself upright against the brand-new solid wood table. Through the double-paned glass window, he saw the Rotting Corpse still relentlessly ramming the door, but the shelter's durability was no longer decreasing.

The crisis with the Rotting Corpse was over, but Bai Yi had no time to catch his breath. His injuries were too severe, and he had lost too much blood. His vision was already darkening, and his ears kept ringing.

The crafting list was still ticking away. Bai Yi set the newly produced stone pickaxes aside and continued crafting.

Then he focused on searching for medical supplies.

[ Medical Scalpel ] [ Anti-Inflammatory Medicine ] [ Painkillers ]...

There was a wide variety of items, but for Bai Yi's severe injuries, they were nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

He kept searching. Suddenly, one item made his eyes light up.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you do not lose it next time.

[ Wound-Healing Injection ]

[ Quality: Good ]

[ Description: A wound-recovery medicine with excellent effects on cuts, lacerations, puncture wounds, and other injuries. However, it can only heal flesh. To prevent infection, please clean any dust from the wound before use. ]

"Seller's note: Private message me with an offer. Do not disturb me with ridiculous bids. I'll block you directly."

Bai Yi opened a private chat.

"Lone Wolf: A fine good-quality stone pickaxe. Interested in trading? (Detailed pickaxe attributes)"

"Seller: One? No. Medical supplies are more valuable."

"Lone Wolf: Two."

"Seller: Deal!"

Bai Yi bought it, and the medicine appeared on the table.

He did not use it immediately. Instead, he continued searching for disinfectants.

In the end, Bai Yi used one stone pickaxe to buy a medical kit: [ 500 ml Medical Alcohol + 5 Bandages + 5 Gauze ].

Bai Yi soaked the gauze in alcohol, then pulled the cloth stuffing from his left shoulder. After biting down on something, he picked up the gauze and took two deep breaths.

His fingers pushed the gauze deep into the wound. The alcohol's sting made cold sweat pour from him, and repeatedly treating the wound widened it further.

But he already had the medicine. He only needed to clean the dust and sand from inside the wounds. (The sand had gotten in when he stuffed them with cloth earlier.)

After finishing the most difficult parts—his left shoulder and left arm—Bai Yi treated the three wounds on his chest and the rest of his injuries one by one.

The entire process was pure torture. The drowsiness from blood loss and the lucidity caused by the alcohol kept intertwining, leaving Bai Yi utterly exhausted.

With his last bit of strength, he injected the medicine into his neck. The ice-blue liquid automatically flowed in.

Bai Yi passed out.

[ Weather: Clear

Location: Misty Land

Time: Afternoon

Temperature: 20°C ]

After sleeping for a full night and half a day, Bai Yi finally woke up.

His mouth was dry, his whole body ached, and he felt as though he were falling apart.

After gulping down a few mouthfuls of fresh water, Bai Yi felt much better.

"I survived!"

The [ Wound-Healing Injection ] was extremely effective. All the minor wounds on Bai Yi's body had completely healed, while the injuries on his left shoulder, left arm, and chest had all scabbed over.

The only problem was that the injection healed wounds without handling the aftermath, leaving Bai Yi covered in scars of all sizes. Still, he did not care about them.

After getting up and moving around, Bai Yi found that his shoulder, chest, and arm—the three most severely injured areas—were still slightly sore. The blood scabs that had not yet fallen off marked those terrifying wounds.

[ Bai Yi: Healthy ]

[ Age: 30 ]

[ Strength: 3.8 ]

[ Spirit: 9.1 ]

[ Physique: 3.8 ]

[ Sanity: 100/100 ]

[ Talent: Steel Spine Will ]

Looking at his personal panel, Bai Yi was overjoyed. Risking his life had not been for nothing.

And his body was still somewhat sore. He believed that once he fully recovered, his attributes would increase even further.

With his current attributes, if he activated his talent, his strength and physique would surge to 11.4, surpassing human limits.

"Strength beyond human limits!"

Bai Yi looked at his hands thoughtfully, then clenched his fists.

"Everything is for survival."

Although it was already afternoon, Bai Yi was not worried. He no longer planned to upgrade his shelter by chopping trees and mining stone.

Yesterday's trades had made him realize once again how important stone pickaxes were at this stage.

Because starting from level three, shelter upgrades no longer required wood, while stone would become increasingly useful later on.

But since the system did not provide a free pickaxe at the start, mining stone had become extremely difficult. Using an axe to break stone was terribly inefficient.

Although some wilderness survival experts could craft stone pickaxes by hand, the best they could make were ordinary-quality ones, and supply could not meet demand.

Players on the forum had already calculated that good-quality tools were about twice as efficient as ordinary tools.

In other words, in the same amount of time, an ordinary pickaxe could mine 10 units of stone, while a good-quality pickaxe could mine 20 units.

At present, good-quality tools could only be obtained through the Wishing Well or crafting blueprints, but as time passed, more and more players would acquire stone pickaxes.

So while stone pickaxes were still priced high, Bai Yi planned to upgrade his shelter directly through trading.

Another recent piece of news was that a player had already upgraded their shelter to level five, yet could not continue upgrading it. In other words, this was Bai Yi's chance to catch up.

At the same time, he could not help but sigh in relief. Fortunately, the logs existed. Otherwise, with players fighting alone, who knew how many people would have died?