Slacking off in the Game of Survival

Chapter 18 Dark Rock Incident(6)

At midnight, the group of Struthiomimus suddenly became restless, startling Qian Yue and Song Zeyang awake.

Shortly after, a minor earthquake occurred.

Song Zeyang was terrified and wished to chase after the group of Struthiomimus and run far away. On the other hand, Qian Yue stopped after leaving the cave.

Once the shaking subsided, she returned to the vicinity of the cave and continued resting against the stone wall near the entrance.

“… ” Song Zeyang silently withdrew his leg upon seeing this.

However, he didn’t cling to Qian Yue but instead observed the surroundings for a while. Finally, he sat down near a certain spot outside the cave.

He beckoned to Qian Yue, “Come over here. It’s safer in this open area.”

During a period of frequent earthquakes, it is generally safer to stay in open areas to prevent accidents such as landslides or collapses.

But Qian Yue refused.

“The cave entrance is fine.”

Seeing her resolute attitude, Song Zeyang shrugged and didn’t insist further.

However, he soon realized what Qian Yue meant by saying “the cave entrance is fine.”

“What the, why is my health dropping so fast?”

Feeling his character weakening, Song Zeyang immediately opened the status window. As he looked closely, he noticed that his health, which had been full when night fell, had already decreased by half.

He had only been outside for a short while!

He hastily consumed healing items to replenish his health. It was then that Song Zeyang noticed that the description of his status that showed 【respiratory infection】 that had been treated with antibiotics had reappeared, and its color had deepened significantly.

In his daze, a sound suddenly came from the air, and Song Zeyang instinctively dodged. In that instant, the surrounding temperature seemed to rise.

When Song Zeyang turned back, not far away, a rock the size of a football continued to emit smoke. The wild grass around it even showed signs of scorching from residual heat.

Song Zeyang instinctively wiped his face—
Everything was covered in ash.

Volcanic ash.

“Damn it, I forgot about this!”

Without hesitation, Song Zeyang covered his nose and ran back toward the cave.

In the distance, the roar of a large dinosaur could be heard. Song Zeyang suddenly tripped up and realized it was in the direction the Struthiomimus had fled earlier.

If he had followed them just now, he would probably be in his own nutrient chamber by now.

“… ”

Song Zeyang subconsciously glanced at Qian Yue, who was leaning against the stone wall, eyes closed, sleeping soundly.

Unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

This exclamation flashed through Song Zeyang’s mind as he shook his head and quietly sat down on the other side of the cave entrance.

Over forty minutes later, the night ended.

The time displayed was “Day 3 00:01:45,” but it was still dark outside.

At first, many players thought it was simply a change in weather, but upon closer inspection, they realized that the sky was filled with dust and haze.

In such circumstances, Qian Yue calmly took out a mask and put it on, leaving Song Zeyang dumbfounded.

Isn’t this a survival game?

Why does she always seem so well-prepared?!

Noticing his gaze, Qian Yue glanced at him, then leisurely put on her homemade comical face towel, covering the mask beneath.

“I bought the mask from the Item Merchant. You can probably make it there in time.”

When the sun had just risen, the system prompted that the item merchant had appeared somewhere within a one-kilometer range of them.

“I’ll go right away!”

Song Zeyang immediately got up upon hearing this.

But if he were to go like this, he might suffocate before reaching the person.

So in the end, Song Zeyang spent a huge sum of money— a mental suppressant— to buy a mask from Qian Yue, which he then packed in his backpack and hurriedly ran out.

Qian Yue casually used up the suppressant and then counted the supplies as usual after waking up.

The first item at the beginning startled her.

Hard bread x26.

Among them was the item spawn today.

At this time yesterday, she was so destitute that she had to resort to eating an apple that only added one attribute point. She didn’t expect that today she would be back on top of the bread mountain.

Of course, a large portion of it came from the compensation trap’s loss fee.

One trap = fifteen bread.

One mask = one suppressant.

Qian Yue suddenly realized that she had a talent for making money while slacking off.

Miss-secretly-a-business-genius swung her backpack onto her back, picked up her plain and unadorned bucket, and walked out while sighing, “Oh, life, so unpredictable~”

On the third day of the instance, the dust and acidic substances brought by the volcanic eruption began to spread extensively. The sky was covered with a layer of hazy gray filter, and the air quality rapidly deteriorated.

Many people belatedly remembered that the item merchant seemed to have masks on their shelves in this instance.

But when they went to find them, the masks that had been slow sellers in the early stages had long been snatched up by others.

One lucky player managed to buy the last one. After paying, he couldn’t wait to put it on his face, but within a minute, someone directly grabbed it off his head.

The player instantly got angry, “Damn it, give me back my mask!”

The person who snatched it didn’t back down and shouted at the others, “He has more in his hands, go ask him for them!”

The onlookers immediately turned their gaze over, some wanting to exchange, some wanting to buy with their supplies, and even some wanting to take advantage of the beggar’s skill to steal a few…

The player collapsed to the ground, “Damn, I really just bought one!”

…

People like Qian Yue, who had already anticipated this situation in the early stages and consciously hoarded goods, were ultimately in the minority.

But there were also exceptions.

“Brother, want to buy a mask?”

A voice came from beside her, and Qian Yue turned around, “Why is it you again?”

Yu Chengyi was taken aback, looking at the person in front of him with a piece of cloth tied to their face, but he couldn’t remember who it was.

However, his good professional ethics made him continue the conversation even when puzzled.

He lowered his voice and said, “Yeah, it’s me again. Brother, this piece of cloth on your face won’t work at all. I have masks, do you want one?”

Qian Yue, “…Why do you always act so shady whenever I see you?”

Yu Chengyi, “Hey, for this kind of business, we have to stay low-key.”

Indeed, they had come to snatch business from the item merchant, so if they weren’t low-key, it would probably end in a very ugly death— in every sense.

Qian Yue happened to be here and didn’t plan on buying anything. But after encountering Yu Chengyi, she changed her mind.

If she didn’t remember wrong, this person was also a sucker.
Qian Yue, “How much are your masks selling for?”

“Hush!”

Yu Chengyi quickly pulled her to the side. “Let’s speak softly, don’t let others hear. Many players have been robbed before.”

“The price.”

Yu Chengyi gestured with his hand, indicating “five.”

“Five loaves of bread?” Qian Yue asked.

Yu Chengyi smirked. “Five suppressants.”

Usually, people like to bargain in business, so Yu Chengyi deliberately raised the price high, expecting the other party to haggle.

Unexpectedly, Qian Yue raised an eyebrow and said, “Deal.”

Yu Chengyi was stunned.

Before he could rejoice, he heard Qian Yue say, “I still have dozens of masks. How many do you want to buy?”

Yu Chengyi, “?!”

He thought it was a big customer, but it turned out to be someone who came to disrupt the market. Yu Chengyi’s face instantly turned ugly.

Yu Chengyi’s tone was unpleasant. “Are you playing with me?”

Qian Yue replied nonchalantly, “You set the price yourself.”

Yu Chengyi sneered, “Do you believe that I can shout right now and let everyone know that you have masks?”

Qian Yue shrugged, “Then go ahead.”

Let’s see who can run faster when that time comes.

Yu Chengyi’s fierce demeanor weakened instantly, caught between a sneer and an angry stare. He realized who this person was.

Isn’t this the woman who tricked him into losing a weapon and made him pay for items and information?

Yu Chengyi was about to say something when Qian Yue preempted him, “In the previous round, selling those two suppressants to you didn’t make you earn any less, did it?”

“…”

Yu Chengyi’s momentum weakened instantly.

“You actually know?”

Qian Yue nodded. “…I didn’t know before, but now I do.”

Yu Chengyi, “…”

In fact, Qian Yue wasn’t shooting in the dark either.

From the situation of those players going crazy in the later stages, it could be seen that suppressants were in high demand in the first instance.

Because of this, before the start of this instance, many people would have bought a large number of suppressants during their resupply, ultimately causing relative inflation.

The scarcity of masks further devalued suppressants.

Smart players could see the business opportunity in this. Yu Chengyi’s idea was to engage in resale.

Qian Yue mocked, “Daring to resell right under the nose of an NPC, there’s truly no one else like you.”

Yu Chengyi replied, “Haven’t you heard the saying ‘the bolder you are, the luckier’? Making a fortune is all about the excitement.”

Qian Yue lazily continued to waste time with him. She had only come here to search for items, but she unexpectedly encountered a random person nearby.

“Do you accept or not?”

Yu Chengyi hesitated and said, “…I do, two suppressants.”

Qian Yue narrowed her eyes. “Can you show me one of the two I’m buying?”

Although she said that, she immediately regretted it. She had sold them too cheaply to Song Zeyang in the morning.

Yu Chengyi exclaimed, “But there’s still a transaction fee! I buy for the price of two and sell for the price of three, only earning one. This business can’t get any smaller!”

Qian Yue lazily listened to his nonsense.

“If you have item fragments, I can consider this price,” she said.

Yu Chengyi suddenly became alert. “What do you want?”

“Crafting material fragments,” Qianyue replied.

Yu Chengyi jokingly said, “…My heart is also a crafting material, made of glass. If it falls, it’s guaranteed to shatter into pieces. Do you want it?”

Qian Yue responded, “My slap is made of iron, and if it lands, it’s guaranteed to be scorching hot. Do you want it?”

Yu Chengyi immediately became serious. “It’s a newly added resource, as mentioned in the patch notes, but I haven’t come across it yet.”

It seemed to be a rare item indeed.

Qian Yue did not feel discouraged. After instructing him to keep an eye out, she made her way back to her own base, taking a meandering path.

The river was still the same as yesterday, but in consideration of her safety, Qian Yue moved upstream.

On the mountainside, with the distant sound of flowing water and lush trees, there was a conspicuously erected stone house made of volcanic ash and water on the lawn.

[TL Note: Happy reading~]
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