Slacking off in the Game of Survival

Chapter 1 Arctic World(1)

In the semi-interstellar era, a survival virtual reality game called “Ten-Day Plan” emerged, and thousands of closed beta slots were released to the entire Interstellar Alliance.

The realistic depiction in its promotional videos was astonishing, rumors have it that even the famous military force of the galaxy— the Silver Star Fleet — has intentions to use it for daily training.

In no time, the “Ten-Day Plan” gained widespread popularity.

At one point, “Have you signed up for the game? Have you drawn lots for the game?” was the first thing people said when they saw each other face-to-face.

All of this had nothing to do with Qian Yue at first.

As a biologist who often experienced internet outages, she had just returned from a barren planet, ending her half-year primitive life.
Now that she is having her rare time off, Qian Yue wanted nothing more than to laze about at home like a lazy fish with no ambitions.

But unexpectedly…

Delivery guy, “Hello, this is Galaxy Express. May I enquire where you intend to install your nutrition pod?”

Qian Yue, woken up by the doorbell, “…???”

After figuring out the situation, Qian Yue got them to wait for a moment, before immediately reaching for her phone to tell her younger brother off.

“You told me it was a discount link for Pinduoduo!”

She even felt puzzled at the time. Although she had no experience using these shopping apps, she knew it usually required just a click.

But in recent years, the interstellar network has been more strictly regulated, requiring real-name registration everywhere, so when filling in her name and address, Qian Yue paid not much mind to it.

Now faced with the delivery guys here to install the nutrition pod and the huge pod in front of her, she wished she could teleport over to the main star and give her younger brother two slaps!

Qian Chi defended himself, “Aren’t you always unlucky! So I forwarded the link to you just for fun, totally didn’t expect you to win!”

What do you do with a naughty ‘child’? Probably a well-deserved beating!

“Is someone missing my fist? I’m giving you three days to come over and take it with you to the main star,” she said to her younger brother, Qian Chi, with a sigh.

Qian Chi replied with a ‘you’re so ignorant’ tone, “But I can’t use it even if I bring it back. It’s tied to your identity information, sis.”

He dropped a bombshell, “I heard that if you win and don’t participate, it will be recorded in your credit history.”

Besides, he had won a spot himself, so he had no use for it.

However, he dared not say so out loud.

Qian Chi tried to console her like a warm-hearted man, “Just treat it as a way to relax. Girls shouldn’t be so easily angered, you’d age faster.”

“If you really don’t want to play, you can just get eliminated in the first instance.”

Qian Yue retorted, “Get lost!”

Three days later, the closed beta officially began.

Qian Yue reluctantly got up from her bed and entered the nutrient pod after carefully checking the time.

The countdown for the server opening quickly reached 00:00.

After confirming her information, she was suddenly enveloped in a bright light and found herself in an endless white space.

The next second, a mechanical voice sounded.

“Welcome to ‘Ten-Day Plan’.”

“During this closed beta event, players will face survival challenges in multiple different instances.”

“Each instance lasts for ten days, and surviving all ten days will be considered as clearing the instance.”

“During the closed beta period, players have only one life, and character death will result in elimination and termination of the game experience. Only those who clear the instance can participate in the next one. The last survivor will be the winner.”

“Note: The passage of time in the instance is not the same as in the real world. There are four hours of daylight and only two hours of nighttime. Special maps are an exception.”

—

Impatiently skipping through the previous nonsense, Qian Yue, still feeling drowsy, just wanted to quickly enter the game and lay down to continue sleeping.

“Each player has one opportunity to draw an item every day, and the range of items available varies depending on the chosen profession.”

“Please choose your profession.”

As soon as the words fell, four options appeared in front of Qianyue.

【Doctor】

Attributes: Increases maximum health by 30%.

Skill: Increases the healing effect of medical items by 5% to 10% when used on any target.

Selection Range: Medical items, Mental suppressants.

【Hunter】

Attributes: Increases maximum stamina by 30%.

Skill: Increases drop rate of prey by 5% to 10%.

Selection Range: Food, Mental suppressants.

【Scholar】

Attributes: Increases maximum mental capacity by 30%.

Skill: Increases the effectiveness of items crafted from blueprints by 5% to 10%.

Selection Range: Blueprints, Mental suppressants.

Seeing this, Qian Yue pondered for a moment.

She decisively summoned her character panel and unsurprisingly saw three bars showing her stats: health, stamina, and something called mental points.

【Mental points】: Represents the player’s mental state. If the mental points index is too low, the player is likely to fall into confusion, mental instability, or even a berserk state. However, mental suppressants can be used to restore the character to normal.

Qian Yue was taken aback.

Unlike the interstellar fantasy creative works imagined in the past(novels, movies, etc.), the semi-interstellar era does not have something called “spiritual power”.

However, as an explorer who frequently roams the wilderness, Qian Yue is well aware that the “mental state” is easily overlooked by various survival enthusiasts.

Surviving in the wilderness is not as glamorous as it is portrayed in some live-streaming shows, as it is filled with dangers and can be incredibly lonely.

Qian Yue has seen many predecessors who stayed in the wilderness for long periods of time slowly withdraw socially or develop mental disorders.

The fact that the “Ten-Day Plan” pays attention to this issue pleasantly surprised Qian Yue.

It even sparked a little interest in her— albeit just a tiny bit.

“Interesting.”

She continued reading further, and the description said:
These three values affect the player’s survival status, any of them reaching a value of zero may result in the character’s death.

Interestingly, the attribute bonuses of the Scholar, Doctor, and Hunter professions are all related to these three values.

As for the last profession…

Qian Yue glanced lazily, but suddenly her eyes lit up!

【Beggar】

Attributes: Default NPC favorability +30%.

Skills: Pickpocketing.

Selection Range: All.

If Qian Yue had visited the official forum of the game before logging in, she would have known that the Beggar profession was actually the least favored among players.

Although “Ten-Day Plan” is a vr online game, the NPCs in this game are said to exist in name only.

Except for occasional lucky encounters with a few NPCs who may give out hidden quests, most NPCs in the game are too busy protecting themselves and cannot afford to offer daily quests with rewards like other online games.

Therefore, in the analysis of various forum posts, the “+30% NPC favorability” attribute of the Beggar profession is considered almost useless, especially considering the Beggar’s disdainful skill.

There have even been complaints to the official team requesting to remove this lackluster profession.

However, there is also a small group of people who find this profession unique and potentially fun to play.

Qian Yue murmured to herself, “You can draw once a day, and the selection range includes all professions.”

Doesn’t that mean she can easily collect items from different professions and breeze through the game while simply laying on her back daily?

She was originally racking her brains for a solution to deal with this headache-inducing game, but wow, fancy finding it by sheer luck!

As mentioned before, once an instance is opened, it cannot be exited midway.

In other words, Qian Yue can either die to leave, or patiently stay in the instance for ten days until it is cleared and she can naturally exit.

Qian Yue didn’t even hesitate to pass on the first option.

She had never considered taking her own life and going against the core values of the game — what if she ended up with a disability?

Fighting bosses would also be troublesome – the key point being that she couldn’t fight back and had to take hits passively, which sounded frustrating;

Similarly, Qian Yue didn’t want to experience the feeling of starving to death, exhaustion, or even losing her sanity.

On the other hand, extreme survival was something she was used to in her job, so it would be more convenient to just casually endure it.

She only needed to prepare the necessary consumables and find a safe place to lie down quietly.

Moreover, this profession seemed tailor-made for slacking off, perfect for Qian Yue!

“I choose Beggar,” Qian Yue said decisively, praising the game designer of this profession in her heart several times.

“Profession has been confirmed.”

“The character setup is complete.”

“Game loading…”

“Newbie rewards have been distributed. The first instance, ‘Arctic World,’ is now open. Good luck.”

Once again, a burst of white light flashed, and Qian Yue quickly closed her eyes.

Cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

Qian Yue abruptly opened her eyes and found herself lying in a straw hut.

The hut didn’t even have a door, and outside it was heavy snowfall, the icy winds blowing in had just woken Qian Yue up from the cold.

She quickly sat up from the ground, and at the same time, she saw another figure faintly appearing not far away, looking like someone who had just been teleported in.

The next moment, before Qian Yue could marvel at the wonders of the game, she felt a weight on her shoulders.

Only then did Qian Yue notice that she was actually carrying a backpack on her back.

She took off the backpack, and the moment she touched it, the attributes of the backpack were immediately displayed.

【Personal Storage Compartment (Small)】

Description: A personal storage compartment that looks like a backpack, capable of holding up to fifty items.

Qian Yue opened the backpack, inside of which lay a newbie gift pack and a blueprint.

Beggars can receive a random item every day, and this blueprint should be Qian Yue’s item for today.

【Blueprint: Roasted Meat (Common)】

Description: Can be crafted into Roasted Meat (restores 10% stamina) by collecting materials, with 1-3 portions randomly.

Required materials: Item Fragment (Meat) x3, Wood x1, Synthesis Stone x1

Since Qianyue had never seen a blueprint before, there was a small system prompt below.

*All blueprints are disposable.

*Materials can be obtained through hunting or exploration.

*For players with the Scholar profession, the effect of items crafted from blueprints is increased by 5% to 10%.

Qianyue remembered what was mentioned in the profession introduction: when a doctor uses a medical item on any target, the effect is increased by 5% to 10%.

Different items used by different professions will possess their respective bonuses – it seems like the game is encouraging team formation by the game developers.

Qianyue clicked her tongue, “…So troublesome.”

She only reluctantly entered the game but had not expected the need to use her brain to play a game (:з」∠).

Tired and not loving it.jpg

Qianyue opened the newbie gift pack again and obtained 10 Spirit Suppressants, 10 Hard Bread that felt like bricks, 10 vitamin C, and 600 yen.

【Mental Suppressant】: Able to calm down restless emotions and restore 30 points of mental stamina.

【Hard Bread】: Looks like a hard piece of bread, maybe it can be used as a brick. Restores 10 points of physical stamina.

【Vitamin C】: The cure-for-all vitamin C, restores 10 points of health and eliminates or slows down certain negative effects.

What’s left is the currency of 600 yen.

Overall, the items given by the system are quite practical, especially the Spirit Suppressants. This item seems to be rarer than other items, but equally important.

The fact that the newbie gift pack provides ten of them at once is actually a considerate gesture toward players.

It’s just a pity that there are still differences between the game and reality. For example, Spirit Suppressants, which are stored in test tubes, can only be used directly and glass test tubes used to store these cannot be kept after drinking the liquid inside.

Otherwise, Qian Yue could have used these glass tubes to make many things.

At the very least, she could have used them as containers for boiling water, drinking hot water, and keeping warm.

Qian Yue sighed as she looked at her thin attire.

This is a world of extreme cold, and if the situation improves, the temperature might stay at this level. But if the situation worsens, the next few days might be even colder.

“…”

Qian Yue cursed her younger brother countless times internally, then silently accepted the reality of her situation.

However, accepting reality did not mean she was going to give up.

The immediate priority was to understand the consumption pattern of the various values so that she could calculate how long her current resources would last, and then prepare supplies and find a shelter.

Qian Yue’s goal was to stock up on everything she needed in one go, and then lie down comfortably till the end.

After quickly making a plan in just a couple of minutes, Qianyue stood up and walked around the small straw hut.

By now, several minutes had passed since the game started, and several people had come into the small straw hut one after another,

Whilst busily checking their stats and inventory, they kept a distance from each other out of tacit understanding, not one person disturbed another.

But right this moment, someone suddenly stood up. The other players in the room immediately became alert. All eyes were on the young woman.

What was she going to do?

What was she planning?

Everyone had different thoughts, and they instinctively held their breath. But the person in question seemed unaffected by the attention.

She looked around the door, circled the room a few times, and finally found a relatively sheltered corner, then—

She laid down, peacefully.

Instance* definition from urban dictionary: Instances are dungeons and special areas in which many copies can exist at once. An instance allows many groups of players to traverse the same geography and battle the same enemies at the same time, without interfering with each other.