Island Preparations

Building Scratch Card—simply put, it gave you a functional building, but you had to scratch it to find out what kind. Once scratched, it could no longer be traded.

Ding Shi went to wash his hands again...

Using his fingernail, Ding Shi slowly scratched away the prize area. The first character revealed was "Martial," and his heart immediately soared with joy. Turning around, he saw Little Angel floating by his shoulder, staring unblinkingly at the scratch area. When Ding Shi looked at her, Little Angel slowly drifted away, though not far—she just swayed back and forth nearby.

Ding Shi chuckled and scratched the rest open: Cold Weapon Dojo.

The system explained that there were three types of dojo cards: Fist-and-Foot Dojo, Cold Weapon Dojo, and Firearms Dojo. A level-one Cold Weapon Dojo would teach the use of sabers. Obtaining another Cold Weapon Dojo card would upgrade it to level two and unlock three weapons.

The Cold Weapon Dojo cost 50 dollars to build and required neither maintenance nor additional fees. It could be moved or demolished; moving it cost 20 dollars, while demolition cost 10.

There was no shortage of open land on the island. Ding Shi went outside, looked around for a while, and set the dojo beside the teleportation array. Once he confirmed it, a thirty-square-meter room rose from the ground.

Upon entering the dojo, the system prompted him to create a robot instructor. The first step was customizing the robot instructor's face. Ding Shi was not a vulgar man, so he did not enter the customization system and simply selected random. After randomly rerolling more than four hundred times, a beautiful female instructor was freshly created.

The female instructor introduced the different types of sabers. Some of the more famous ones included the Tang Sword, Embroidered Spring Saber, Horse-Cleaving Saber, and so on.

Ding Shi drew a Willow Leaf Flying Knife. "I want to learn the Willow Leaf Flying Knife."

The female instructor said, "Sorry, the Willow Leaf Flying Knife is actually a concealed weapon. You need a level-three dojo to unlock it."

Ding Shi disagreed. "It's called the Willow Leaf Flying Knife. Knife—the knife in flying knife."

The female instructor said, "Sorry..."

What now? He could only file a complaint. Every game had some lousy complaint system, and most of them were just for show. Hopefully Ita World would not be so vulgar.

"Hey, you. I want to file a complaint." Ding Shi went outside and pointed at Little Angel.

Little Angel flapped her wings and flew over. "My name is Little Candy, not 'hey, you.'" She puffed up angrily.

Ding Shi said, "I want to file a complaint."

Little Candy asked, "Why are you filing a complaint with me?"

Ding Shi said, "Your existence is very abrupt. If you're a pet, you're not affectionate. If you're a living creature, you can interact with people. During the past few days in the instance, I've occasionally considered one question: what is the meaning of your existence? I came up with two answers. The first is that you are an observer sent by higher-dimensional aliens, and they use you to watch humanity so they can fully understand humans. The second is that you are here to solve humanity's problems anytime and anywhere, including accepting complaints and finding bugs in Ita World."

Little Candy truly was there to monitor and observe humanity. By observing billions of humans, they could build profiles of most human thought patterns and behaviors, then uncover traits possessed by only a small number of people.

Naturally, Little Candy would not admit that she was an observer. Following Ding Shi's line of thought, she asked, "What is your complaint?" Interaction was also a means of observation, but the aliens did not want their observers to be overly proactive, lest humans deliberately flatter them in pursuit of benefits.

Ding Shi explained the situation with righteous indignation, then added, "In Earthling culture, a knife is a knife. Whether it's a large knife, a small knife, a pencil knife, a nail clipper, or even a U.S. dollar, they're all knives."

Little Candy said, "The Willow Leaf Flying Knife is a throwing weapon."

Ding Shi said, "Every knife, every weapon can be thrown. Likewise, the Willow Leaf Flying Knife can be used in close combat."

Little Candy thought... connected to the main brain... The main brain searched and confirmed that throwing was indeed one method of using bladed weapons.

Little Candy nodded at the female instructor, then floated away with her hands behind her back. She looked a little cool and a billion times cocky.

The robot female instructor began tailoring a training plan based on Ding Shi's preferences.

No rush. Ding Shi returned to his room to wash his hands and flipped over the fifth random logistics card.

Blue-card item: heated kang bed. Construction cost: 10 dollars.

It was a good thing, but there was no need to rush.

Ding Shi went to the vending machine and began studying its products. After all, he was now someone with 100 dollars.

Basic daily necessities such as toilet paper, toothbrushes, and toothpaste all started at 1 dollar. Taking toothbrushes as an example, prices ranged from 1 dollar to 10,000 dollars, though Ding Shi could only view toothbrushes priced at 100 dollars or less. The description said that the bristles were made from the tentacles of a shelled creature living ten thousand meters deep in the seas of Hulk Star, produced by the Clean & Fresh Toothbrush Company of Summer Insect Planet.

Clean & Fresh toothbrushes had one special feature: once placed in the mouth, they automatically cleaned the oral cavity, brushing wherever was dirty. They were extremely gentle and did not even interfere with chatting. When paired with Clean & Fresh toothpaste, they could completely eliminate oral bacteria.

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After looking through everything, Ding Shi came to one conclusion: the poor had their way of living, and the rich had their pleasures. Interestingly, the vending machine seemed to price items based on their production costs. Taking food as an example, one pound of beef cost 1 dollar, one pound of flour cost 1 dollar, and one pound of salt cost 1 dollar. Three dollars could make many servings of beef noodles. Yet beef instant noodles, which did not even contain beef, cost as much as 5 dollars. Fresh beef over rice cost 10 dollars.

In short: it encouraged players to be self-reliant.

The prices of materials were rather fantastical. Simple A4 paper and pens were very cheap, giving Ding Shi the chance to learn the Five Thunder Talisman. Yet tiny mechanical components like springs were extremely expensive.

Ding Shi summed it up: things that could be produced in ancient times without modern factories were cheap. Items that required lathes or energy such as electricity to make were expensive.

Weapons were especially expensive. The set of Willow Leaf Flying Knives Ding Shi had brought out was priced at 380 dollars in the vending machine. A Tang Sword cost as much as 500 dollars. But with a different way of thinking, weapons could also be very cheap—for example, a kitchen knife cost only 1 dollar.

Electronic entertainment products such as televisions, phones, and computers were outrageously expensive, while a complete encyclopedia weighing 129 kilograms cost only 1 dollar.

Based on the available goods, he decided not to replace the bed. With two layers of cotton quilts spread over it, it would not be much different from a Simmons mattress. He replaced the table, chairs, and everything else with cheap sets.

He used honeycomb coal, priced at 1 dollar per hundred kilograms, as fuel and bought a full set of pots, bowls, ladles, and utensils. He could basically bid farewell to the days of eating steamed buns. For safety, Ding Shi followed the system's recommendation and spent 20 dollars to expand the house by ten square meters, turning that space into a kitchen to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

The system specifically noted: cheap goods could not deviate from their original functions.

For example, an iron bowl was a cheap container. It could hold rice, soup, or dirt. But it could not be modified into an iron weapon through processing.

After buying this and that, Ding Shi had only 25 dollars left in his bank account. He spent 1 dollar on a cheap ingredient pack containing one pound each of noodles, vegetables, pork, and mushrooms. He washed the ingredients, boiled water, added them in order, seasoned everything, and finished the meal.

Ding Shi could not be bothered to wash another bowl. Carrying his chopsticks and wok, he sat on a rock outside, enjoying the sea view as he enjoyed his food.