Slacking off in the Game of Survival

Chapter 37 Ten Square Metres Island(14)

Originally, choosing the beggar profession was purely because Qian Yue was lazy and wanted to effortlessly obtain items from various professions.

As for the accompanying talent skill, “Stealing,” it was an unexpected development. The upright and honorable young lady had never intended to rely on deceitful means like stealing to survive.

But in reality, history is often surprisingly similar, and the gears of fate have their unique logic of operation…

“Is something broken? I’ll compensate, I will. But I don’t have bamboo. Can I use other materials?”

The male player, who had previously been arrogant, became timid the moment he saw Qian Yue pushing him into the water.

Seeing Qian Yue remain silent, he assumed that the items were still not enough and quickly continued to take things out.

“These are special blueprints I just obtained today. With iron ore, you can make weapons!”

Qian Yue glanced at them. If it was a secret recipe for food or something like an anti-inflammatory medicine or serum, she might have been more accepting. But what use was a blueprint if she couldn’t gather the necessary materials? Besides, wasn’t her ship more valuable than a blueprint on the current map?

Qian Yue kept a cold face and didn’t answer. The man had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue taking things out. He started with normal items, but later it became a chaotic mix of everything.

Torn cloth, fruits, and even a bunch of random weeds.

The male player anxiously asked, “I’ve given you most of my belongings. Can you leave the backpack for me?”

Qian Yue was still holding the backpack she had taken from the man earlier and raised an eyebrow at his words, “What do you think?”

The male player remained silent for a moment, and his tone subsequently became low, “In that case…”

Qian Yue thought he was about to make a big move, but as soon as the man finished speaking, he quickly grabbed his items while she wasn’t paying attention, then turned around and jumped into the water!

Qian Yue wanted to remind him that there were things underwater, but as soon as she took a few steps forward, the man struggled even more fiercely. In one breath, he swam several meters away.

Qian Yue， “…”

Forget it.

“Maybe there are some gentle little creatures down there.”

She shook her head, gathered the items the male player had left on the ship without retrieving them, and turned to study how to repair her bamboo house.

*

On the other side.

After jumping into the water, the man swam desperately while cursing in his mind.

This was a really unlucky day.

In fact, he wouldn’t have been in such a miserable state if not for this— at least that’s how he felt.

When he was fighting the other two people earlier, he had also exerted a lot of effort and received a few minor injuries.

Combined with Qian Yue’s last move, which was truly frightening, he carefully considered and made the decision to escape at the last moment.

“This is to preserve my strength. As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood!” He consoled himself in this way.

With this in mind, the male player turned his head and noticed that Qian Yue seemed to not have followed him. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“No, even though what she has on her is just a bunch of junk, I can’t swallow this anger. I must gather a few more people to reclaim what’s rightfully ours.”

With these thoughts in mind, he continued swimming in the direction of the archipelago. However, for some reason, the further he went back, the stranger things felt.

The feeling was very subtle, as if some danger was approaching.

But at this moment, the various factions were probably engrossed in fighting over the airdrop, so apart from those solo players, there shouldn’t be many people on the island.

Moreover, most of the people on the archipelago were familiar to him, and without any conflicts of interest, it shouldn’t be possible for him to feel this way.

Could it be that the woman saw that his backpack wasn’t taken from him while her own was snatched, and she felt resentful, wanting to retaliate against him for his surviving backpack?

The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
Coincidentally, at this moment, the water flow behind him felt a bit off. The male player instinctively turned around, preparing to catch her off guard—

A gaping mouth suddenly burst open on the water’s surface, emitting a foul stench!

Before the man could clearly see what it was, the sharp teeth in his field of vision instantly snapped shut!

He only had time to feel a pain in his waist, not even enough time to scream. The next moment, the scene completely turned dark.

…

After a while, a hint of blood color quietly spread in the water, and the massive creature, whose full appearance was unseen, slowly sank into the depths. The world returned to silence once again.

*

At this moment, Qian Yue was still tinkering with her boat.

Although the bamboo house was damaged from the collision, fortunately, it didn’t break apart; it just got knocked out of alignment. However, upon inspection, Qian Yue noticed that the wooden blocks she had inserted into the corners of the bamboo house and the corresponding corners of the bamboo raft had shifted due to the misalignment of the bamboo house.

To secure the bamboo house, Qian Yue used two pieces of wood to create eight blocks, pairing them up to form mortise and tenon joints at the four corners of the bamboo house and the corresponding four corners of the bamboo raft.

Fixing the wooden blocks on the bottom of the bamboo house was relatively easy; she could simply drill holes in the bamboo joints.
However, dealing with the four points on the bamboo raft posed a greater challenge.

When drilling holes in the bamboo, she had to be mindful of the positioning of the upper and lower blocks and calculate the angles accurately. Because the bamboo itself had a smooth surface, even a slight misalignment could prevent the upper and lower blocks from fitting perfectly.

Now that the wooden blocks had been knocked out of alignment, the size of the holes on the bamboo raft had changed, and all four points were affected, with one even showing a crack.

To perfectly solve this problem, Qian Yue would have to replace all these bamboo pieces. However, that would mean dismantling the bamboo raft.

“…Tsk.”

The thought of unnecessarily adding more complications made Qian Yue frustrated.

She realized she shouldn’t have been captivated by those peculiar sights in the first place.

Qian Yue wasn’t lazy in the traditional sense; on the contrary, she could be considered hardworking when it came to creating a comfortable environment for herself.

However, that only applied to the initial phase of the game when she was completely broke. Once she had the opportunity to lazily exploit the game’s mechanics, she just wanted to lie comfortably on the boat and wait for the end of the game while casually sightseeing.

If she were given a safe sanctuary and a bed right from the start, she reckon she could laze through the entire game.

After thinking for a while, Qian Yue eventually found a compromise.

“I wonder what this person’s preferences are. I’ll stuff some weeds in my bag.”

At least she benefited from it.

Indeed, Qian Yue used all the weeds left by the man to fill the gaps between the bamboo tubes, increasing the friction between the wooden blocks and the bamboo tubes. It also allowed some flexibility for the wooden blocks, making them even more stable than before.

Last night, she had picked up some torn cloth lying nearby.

When the male player fled, he was too focused on grabbing the important items and left behind a lot of miscellaneous stuff.
However, among all the materials, only this piece of torn cloth had some usefulness to Qian Yue.

When she spread it out, it was about half the size of the bamboo raft. She could use it as a door curtain or a blanket. However, she didn’t need either of those for the time being.

As she replenished her stamina, she pondered, “Perhaps I can make a sail.”

That way, she wouldn’t need to paddle and could still move the boat forward.

But having the canvas was not enough; she also needed a mast. Qian Yue could substitute it with bamboo, but the challenge was— how to make the bamboo stand upright on the bamboo raft.

After all, in Qian Yue’s recollection, she had never seen anyone add a sail to a bamboo raft.

“Well, let’s give it a try.”

She took out the bamboo and tried placing it on the raft, but it didn’t seem right no matter how she positioned it. If it stood upright at the front of the bamboo raft, it would likely be blown by the wind, causing the whole boat to capsize before long.

“There needs to be support on the side.”

Qian Yue suddenly thought of the trees in the city that were supported with wooden boards like crutches. During extracurricular activities in her botany classes, she had interacted with her classmates from landscape architecture.

While Qian Yue learned how to treat tree diseases, her classmates were responsible for beautifying and correcting the alignment of trees.

Some trees didn’t grow properly in their initial stages and ended up with crooked trunks. In urban greening projects, this significantly affected aesthetics and hindered the trees’ growth. In such cases, several wooden boards were used to prop the tree up, and after correction, the tree could withstand wind and rain and maintain an upright position.

“Perhaps I can lean the bamboo against the entrance of the bamboo house or insert it into the bamboo house?”

Qian Yue contemplated, but she didn’t feel like moving and just leaned against the bamboo house.

Although storms were terrifying, they were also limited in scope and couldn’t cover the entire sea area at once.

The dark clouds were still some distance away from her, and Qian Yue guessed that she had unintentionally moved away from the storm zone.
There wouldn’t be a threat of storms for a short period of time.

After enduring days of continuous rain, she finally encountered a clear day, and now all she wanted was to lie on the bamboo raft and take a nap.

“The weather is so comfortable.”

The warm sun shone overhead, a gentle breeze caressed her face, and the fragrance of sea vines enveloped her…

Just as Qian Yue was about to fall asleep, she suddenly caught a whiff of an unusual scent of blood.

Qian Yue snapped open her eyes, instantly wide awake!

The sea breeze carried a salty scent, and the smell of blood was faint but distinct. Having stayed in the wilderness for a long time, Qian Yue was highly sensitive to such scents.

She supported herself against the bamboo house and stood up, squinting her eyes as she looked into the distance. Soon, she noticed something reflecting light about four to five hundred meters ahead to the right.

“That is…”

An airdrop crate?

For most people, seeing an airdrop crate would be like a hungry wolf spotting meat, but Qian Yue’s first reaction was to turn and run.

The reason was simple: she didn’t want the trouble.

However, halfway through turning away, she realized that there didn’t seem to be anyone around the airdrop crate.

Ever since the first airdrop she witnessed, Qian Yue hadn’t heard the sound of a helicopter again, so it was reasonable for her to suspect that this crate was the same one from before.

But why did the crate float here?

There were clearly so many people chasing the airdrop before, so why was there no one around now?

Combined with the faint scent of blood in the air, Qian Yue instinctively felt that something was amiss.

A strange color suddenly flashed in her field of vision. She looked down and immediately recognized it—it was blood.

The blood wasn’t thick; it seemed to have been diluted and only left faint traces.

Something was off.

Qian Yue glanced into the distance and noticed that it was the same situation all around. Moreover, the closer she got to the direction of the airdrop, the thicker the blood became. The blood clearly drifted from that direction!

Qian Yue’s expression changed instantly.

Player conflicts usually ended without escalating to this extent.

The only creatures capable of creating such a scene were the ferocious beasts in the sea!

If it weren’t for the system automatically reclaiming player corpses, the sea surface would probably be littered with bodies by now.

“This is truly risking your life for supplies.”

Qian Yue immediately turned around.

The strong scent of blood here would soon attract other dangerous creatures. That’s when the real danger would arise.

Her bamboo raft had been in this area for quite a while, and it wouldn’t be surprising if it had picked up the scent of blood.

Qian Yue didn’t want her freshly repaired bamboo raft to be damaged, so she quickly chose a direction and made her escape.

However…

There’s a saying: “Fear brings about what you fear.”

Just as Qian Yue was about to plunge the bamboo pole into the water, a dark shadow swiftly passed through her field of vision.
The shadow was underwater.

Qian Yue’s movements froze instantly.

Despite the intense portrayals in movies and TV shows, underwater actions were nearly soundless. However, it was precisely because of the absence of sound that it made it even more frightening.

The creature was almost the size of two of Qian Yue’s bamboo rafts, and from the shadow, it appeared to have a flattened shape. In the moment it glided through the water, it looked like a gigantic fan.

It resembled a catshark or perhaps an electric ray.

The former was a harmless small shark, while the latter was a “generator” in the sea, both being flat-bodied fish with a dark back.

However, neither of these species could grow to such a large size, nor would they be found near the sea surface because they were creatures that resided on the seabed year-round.

“Could it be a new species?” Qian Yue felt a mixture of excitement and unease.

Excitement was inherent to her profession, while unease was a natural response.

But the combination of the two miraculously calmed her down.

In times of crisis, the worst thing was to lose composure.
Therefore, the closer she got to danger, the more composed Qian Yue became.

The sea creature continued to circle her bamboo raft instead of launching a direct attack, indicating that it was trying to determine if what lay before it was edible.

The bamboo raft indeed had the scent of blood, but because the entire raft was filled with sea vines, the smell of the plant, unique to vegetation, was even stronger.

Presumably, just like the previous shark, this sea creature was also confused by the sea vines entwined on the bamboo raft.

Qian Yue’s body stiffened, and she didn’t dare to make any sudden movements. However, she tightened her grip on the bamboo pole in her hand.

One end of the bamboo pole had a blunt bamboo node, which Qian Yue often used to prop things. The other end had been shaved into a serrated shape for self-defense in special situations.

If the creature made any unusual movements, Qian Yue wouldn’t hesitate to strike. The outcome of the encounter was still uncertain.

…

Time passed minute by minute, and each moment felt incredibly long.

The sea creature tirelessly circled Qian Yue’s bamboo raft, gradually becoming silent.

But in the next second, a monstrous mouth suddenly emerged from the sea surface, and with a crunch, it bit into Qian Yue’s bamboo raft as if devouring a biscuit!

Qian Yue, !!!

She wasn’t startled by its sudden appearance but rather distressed because her newly repaired bamboo raft was now damaged!

Qian Yue frowned and thought, “Now I have to replace the entire bottom deck.”

Bamboo naturally has resilience and isn’t so easily bitten through, but that creature managed to leave behind a row of uneven bamboo pieces with just one bite.

Qian Yue, “…”

Her emotions were complicated.

The sea creature probably had never tasted bamboo before. After biting into it, it quickly spat it out with a “gulp” sound. The remaining debris floated back to the surface within Qian Yue’s field of vision.

Having confirmed that this thing wasn’t tasty, the sea creature wiggled its tail and swam away to another location.

Qian Yue, “Damn it, my mood seems even more complicated now.”

According to the usual tropes in strong female leads stories, at this point, Qian Yue should have been enraged and fought the sea creature, ultimately slaying it effortlessly to vent her anger.

After all, that’s what she did to the male player when they first met.

But in reality, Qian Yue, at this moment, was not only not enraged, but also wanted to take advantage of the sea creature’s relaxed vigilance to quickly steer her small boat away from this troubled area.

Because…

Another big creature appeared!

And it wasn’t just one, but a group of them.

Qian Yue watched the silvery dorsal fins vying for the lead and couldn’t help but fall into contemplation.

Although she always talked about wanting to slack off and fish, she had never thought of catching such large fish!

The group of sharks: Surprised or not? Expected or unexpected?

[T/N: Just noticed that I numbered the chapter wrongly, was too tired from work yesterday Q.Q edited to 37, happy reading!~]
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