NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
As Yun Mianmian munched on the violet rice bread, she pondered what she wanted most and what she needed most.
This violet rice bread, though seemingly ordinary, was quite tasty. The soft bread was stuffed with cream and sweet, chewy violet rice, making it both delicious and filling. One piece was enough to fill Yun Mianmian's stomach.
She drank a couple more sips of water.
Yun Mianmian opened the chat window to see what everyone was talking about.
"Sun's blazing! I'm going to get sunburned, I wish I could jump into the water."
"Died another hundred or so people, so scary! Why is my mental health bar dropping nonstop? Am I going to die?"
"There's no shelter on the raft, so it's easy to fall asleep and then fall into the water. I didn't dare sleep last night."
"The treasure chests today aren't bad. I fished up a few loaves of bread, super yummy."
"Want to trade bread? I'll give you water for your bread."
"No thanks, I don't even have enough for myself."
"I got a blueprint for an intermediate fishing rod, but unfortunately, I don't have any fishing line. If someone gives me some fishing line, I'll upgrade my rod and give you the next treasure chest I catch."
"Anyone want to trade for an intermediate fishing rod blueprint? I'm willing to offer food and water."
Someone else asked what the benefits were of upgrading a fishing rod.
Soon, someone replied.
"After upgrading your fishing rod, you can catch three treasure chests. Everyone should hurry and upgrade so we can obtain more materials."
Yun Mianmian looked at the person's name: NIE Yangguang.
He was also the one who had reminded everyone that treasure chests could be disassembled earlier.
He seemed to be a warm-hearted person, and his luck must not be bad either, as he had already upgraded his fishing rod like herself.
NIE Yangguang was very active in chat, and it seemed that he had a good relationship with others, for every time he spoke, many people responded to him, and he would reply to each of them individually.
"NIE Yangguang, do you have any extra nails? I can trade you some wood."
"NIE Yangguang, you don't have enough nails? Here, I can trade with you."
"Five pieces of wood for two nails. I need ten nails, PM me if you can trade."
"What do you need so many nails for? To upgrade your raft?"
"Yes, I just caught three treasure chests and have enough wood. I'm short ten nails to upgrade."
"You're so lucky! I only have ten pieces of wood right now, and it'll take me a while to gather a hundred."
As Yun Mianmian saw that other people's rafts were also close to upgrading, she felt as if she was being chased. She needed to hurry as well.
Since she didn't know exactly what she needed, she could only hope that the next three treasure chests would all be bronze chests. That way, even if each chest gave her fifty wood, she'd still have more than enough to upgrade, and she'd also gain other items from the chests.
This was a win-win situation!
Even better would be if she could get some goods that others didn't have!
Yun Mianmian picked up her fishing rod and sat on the little stool to begin fishing.
Soon, she caught her first treasure chest.
【 Bronze treasure chest acquired. 】
Yun Mianmian eagerly opened it.
【 Congratulations! Everything is going your way! 】
【 Acquired: Blueprint for beginner's workbench, planting guide, large and round seedless watermelon × 1, apple juice × 2, roses × 3. 】
Everything was top-notch!
Especially the workbench—she'd never seen anyone mention it in chat before.
However, all of these items were new to her, and Yun Mianmian's inventory was already full.
If she couldn't fit them into her inventory, she'd have to put them outside, but some items would be easily damaged if exposed, so she'd have to figure out how to expand her inventory.
Yun Mianmian clicked on her inventory's properties.
【 Beginner's Inventory: Can hold ten items. 】
【 Upgrade materials: Ten second-order deer hides, five silk threads. 】
She lacked both deer hides and silk threads, so for now, she couldn't upgrade.
She'd have to make do with squeezing everything into her current inventory.
She picked up the blueprint for the beginner's workbench.
【 Beginner's Workbench Blueprint: Can be used to craft a beginner's workbench. 】
【 Materials required: Stone bricks x 5, Iron x 2. 】
Yun Mianmian had never seen these materials before.
She continued flipping through the "Planting Guide."
After only a few glances, her eyes began to shine.
This was certainly a treasure trove of information.
The guide described all kinds of plants and fruits that could be grown here, as well as the conditions for planting and cultivation methods, with clear timelines for each plant's growth cycle.
It turned out that it was possible to grow things on ships, as long as one followed the proper methods. The process was much simpler than in the real world, and the growth cycles were significantly shorter.
For example, the potato's growth cycle was typically sixty to one hundred days, but here, it only took six to ten.
It was ten times faster!
Wonderful.
In her starter pack, she had received Chinese cabbage seeds.
When the time came, she would definitely plant them. The thought of eating tender, stir-fried cabbage leaves filled Yun Mianmian with anticipation.
Yun Mianmian picked up the large watermelon, slightly troubled. She didn't have a fruit knife, nor did she know how to eat this watermelon, so she could only set it aside for now.
However, apple juice was quite refreshing and replenished her vitamins.
And these three roses, though seemingly useless, were pleasing to look at and smelled wonderful; she quite liked them.
Yun Mianmian had no immediate use for wood, so she didn't disassemble the bronze chest and instead set it aside, continuing to fish for more treasure chests.
The second treasure chest arrived shortly after.
【 Bronze Treasure Chest Obtained. 】
Another bronze chest, and Yun Mianmian quickly opened it.
【 Congratulations! All your dreams come true, everything is perfect! 】
【 Obtained: Key Fragment x 1, Stone Brick x 5, Iron Piece x 1, Thread x 5, Honey Peach x 5. 】
Everything she needed, just as she wished. It was truly incredible!
However, it wasn't all she required. To craft the workbench, she still needed one more iron piece, and to upgrade her inventory, she still needed deer hide. Regardless, there was now a glimmer of hope. After all, she still had one more chance at a treasure chest!
Yun Mianmian continued fishing.
The final treasure chest seemed particularly difficult to catch.
Yun Mianmian sat for half an hour without any movement or indication of a bite. Her waist began to ache, and she could only open the chat window to pass the time.
The chat channel was abuzz with activity.
Nie Yangguang: "I finally upgraded my raft! Here's a look at my little wooden boat."
The photo was high-quality, almost 3D; it depicted a brand-new wooden boat with several wooden crates placed on top. One of the crates was opened, revealing a water cup inside.
"Wow, that's so much better than the raft! I'm jealous!"
"I want to upgrade too, but I'm still missing quite a few planks."
"Nie Yangguang, you're so lucky!"
"It's all right, it's mainly because there are more treasure chests after the fishing rod upgrade, so I have a lot more resources. You guys should upgrade your fishing rods first, and then you'll have a much more comfortable raft."
"Ah, but the problem is, none of us have the blueprint for the fishing rod."
"Never mind the fishing rod blueprints—I haven't eaten in a day. Can someone spare some food? Please!"
"Ten pieces of wood for a bottle of water! Seriously, my throat is about to smoke."
"That offer might have worked yesterday, but today's probably a no-go; everyone's running out of water."
"If only I'd known this was gonna happen, I would've exchanged with that person yesterday."
"Does anyone have a bottle of water they can spare? I'll repay you handsomely in the future!"
Among the posts offering wood and nails for water, a new post suddenly appeared with something different, catching everyone's attention.
"Key fragment for two bottles of water and food."
"At least everyone else offers wood or nails for one bottle of water. How dare you try to exchange that worthless key fragment for so much?"
Many people mocked this person, laughing at them for dreaming up such an unrealistic trade—asking for so much water and food in exchange for a random fragment whose use was unknown.
However, Yun Mianmian was attracted to this key fragment because she had just opened one herself, unsure of its purpose.
Suddenly, she received a private message.
It was Hu Yuan, asking if she had any water to trade.
"Is there still no water in your treasure chest today?" Yun Mianmian asked.
"Yep, it's all materials. No water or food."
One could endure without food, but one couldn't survive without water, especially under this blazing sun. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to ask Yun Mianmian again.
Yun Mianmian remembered that she only needed one piece of iron to make her workbench. She asked, "What materials did you get?"
"Stone bricks, iron nails, wood, and fishing line."
There was quite a variety, but no iron.
Yun Mianmian was a little disappointed.
"What do you need?" Hu Yuan asked.
Yun Mianmian thought about it briefly and felt there was no need to hide it, so she told him, "I want an iron piece, but you don't have one."
"How many do you want?"
"Just one. If you can give me an iron piece, I can give you half a bottle of water."
"Only half a bottle?"
Yesterday, an iron piece was worth much more than an iron nail, and they were also much harder to come by.
Yesterday, thirty pieces of wood could be exchanged for two bottles of water, but today, one piece of iron was only half a bottle? What a swindler!
Yun Mianmian knew that offering half a bottle of water was a bit stingy, but she was counting on the fact that everyone had very little water now and no one would be willing to swap.
She didn't respond, and after some time, Hu Yuan indeed relented. "I don't have any iron here, but I can get some for you. How about this? I agree to this trade, but in the future, if you have extra water or food, you'll swap it with me first."
Yun Mianmian happily agreed. She also wanted to keep Hu Yuan as a trading partner.
One minute later, Hu Yuan sent a trade request, and Yun Mianmian saw that he had put an iron piece in the request.
He was quite fast.
Yun Mianmian didn't hesitate and exchanged half a bottle of water with him.
At this point, Hu Yuan probably wouldn't care that she'd already drunk half the bottle.
Having water to drink was already quite something.
As expected, Hu Yuan thanked her with a "thank you."
"For any materials you need, feel free to ask me. I'll always need food and water in the long term."
Yun Mianmian thought that perhaps Hu Yuan had accepted the fate of never obtaining food and water from her. She didn't ask where he'd acquired the metal block; she just was glad he had it.
She was preparing to construct a workbench when the fishing rod suddenly jerked. First things first, treasure chest.
Yun Mianmian yanked with all her might, but the chest refused to budge.
"It's so heavy; it must be a good one."
Maybe even better than the bronze chests, a silver chest!
At the thought of being able to obtain even more valuable items, Yun Mianmian redoubled her efforts. Finally, she pulled the chest out of the water.
It seemed to be a bronze chest, just like before.
Upon closer inspection, this bronze chest was different from the others: it had a lock!
The previous two chests hadn't been locked. Yun Mianmian received the notification:
【 Locked bronze treasure chest acquired. 】
She tried to open it, but the game prompted her:
【 Locked treasure chest; open with key. 】
Locked chests must contain better items than those that opened easily.
Maybe I can even get something really rare!
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