Another scoop of sand vanished from Yu Zhiye’s palm, filling a durability bar and resetting it back to red.
“And that’s 27 sand blocks…”
Yu Zhiye paused for a breath and looked around at all the pits dug along the quicksand shore.
“That’s a lot of shoveling around, alright. But this is the best use of my hour-long-plus wait.”
Too bad he can’t go too far from his fishing rod. Or else he would’ve done cobblestone collection as well.
But there’s no loss in temporarily forgoing that.
The basis of all upgrades was core energy, and earning that was at the top of his agenda.
And so far? His
Even if all the edibles in the market disappear one day, sashimi can keep his belly full!
“But just to be safe, it’s best to wait for a fire or stove. Who knows if these sandfish has some alien parasites.”
Yu Zhiye preferred having no fish on the menu instead of getting sick.
Alas, those weren’t the only possibilities on the menu.
His focus moved a few slots over on the inventory hotbar. Here was an all new item:
That’s right. Not a wand. Not a branch. A stick.
Looks exactly like the game icon, but its size was actually half as big as an axe handle.
Where did he get this? Same place as he got the sandfish.
“Sigh. This must be the rare junk chance in the fishing game mechanics. Can’t say this is bad though.”
Even junk is a treasure in this place where birds don’t shit. Such a big stick can even be used to kill three men in a bar!
And the cost for all of this?
Yu Zhiye glanced at the
“The rest of that bottle went poof just like that… not cool. Why can’t the game just remove the heat and let me enjoy a slice-of-life fishing journey?”
Sad, but that’s just how life is. How can it be as relaxing as a game?
Yu Zhiye checked on the bobber again. “No bite yet…”
Just when he was about to go back to sand scooping, the bobber sunk ever so slightly!
Hands reacted faster than his brain and Yu Zhiye jumped on the rod like it was his lifeline!
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Sweet heavens above, another! Come to papa!”
Backing up step by step, Yu Zhiye lugged at the rod, watching the taut line drag through the quicksand…
This time… it was a real heavy one!
It wasn’t until the bobber reached the quicksand shore that a toy-box-sized, wooden casket got pulled out onto land.
“Huh? What’s this? A treasure chest?”
Yu Zhiye went up to collect the three spawned XP orbs, just enough to bring his level up to level two.
He then inspected the old chest that somehow got hooked by its padlock hasp. How rare is that? Plot-armor rare!
“But since when was this part of the fishing loot table? Another difference from the game I suppose.”
Yu Zhiye was kinda excited to see what was inside, but this was really not the place to open it.
He hurriedly tried to find a way to store the chest.
A simple touch didn’t work, but picking up the heavy box using both hands did the job.
[Treasure Casket (Green)]
“An uncommon loot!” Yu Zhiye checked left and right then wiped the salty sheen off his forehead. “Lucky me, there’s nobody around to see that.”
He didn’t want to argue with any greedy, braindead moral kidnappers.
After kicking up some sand to mess up the tracks of the chest, Yu Zhiye gazed up at the sky that was beginning to turn orangish-red.
“Time sure does fly. I should really head back now.”
He’s unable to tell the exact time, but he definitely didn’t want to be out here when night falls!
It’s Day 1, and the unknown is the most dangerous.
Back to the store he went. This time, he took the back entrance to avoid drawing too much attention.
First stop? The toilet stalls of course…
Back in his hideout, Yu Zhiye dropped off the collected sand in the shed, only keeping a bit as a placeholder.
In the shack, the used-up bottle of water got set aside in a corner to dry off uncapped. The coke joined the food corner.
As for the oranges? Unlike the non-perishable food like instant ramen, these might have to semi-permanently occupy a slot in his inventory to stay fresh.
Nothing he could do about it.
Finally and most importantly...
A treasure casket thumped down onto the dirt floor.
Yu Zhiye stood to the side to avoid any possibility of getting hit by any traps.
“Now, let’s see what’s in here…”
No key was required to pop open that lock latch. The chest creaked open…
Nothing shot out. No jump scares. “Phew. Safe.”
Yu Zhiye flipped open the casket lid.
At a glance, he saw three items inside. A long piece of string, a compass, and a rolled-up scroll.
“As expected, this chest is not empty. This means…”
This treasure casket can actually bypass the restriction on non-stackable items! Just throw them into the chest and store them all in one!
Since the inventory hotbar only had nine slots, it goes without saying how useful this feature was!
“No wonder this chest is rated the uncommon green grade. But such a feature was…”
Yu Zhiye looked around at his spacious hideout that was basically his portable storage space…
“Uh… a chest like this is rather tasteless for me. But… I can’t say it’s obsolete.”
After all, there should be nothing wrong with breaking this chest apart to use as wood, right? Even if not wood, it’ll be planks, right?
“Well, that can be tested once I get my hands on extras.”
For now, he won’t break this unless it’s a last resort.
“Never know when I’ll need such a handy chest. Maybe it can help keep up my disguise someday?”
After all, he didn’t want anybody to discover the secret behind his resource hoarding behavior.
Anyways, enough for lootbox inspection. Time to check out the loot!
A string—white common. Nothing special there.
Next was the compass. Store it into his inventory bar and the tooltip told him it was another uncommon green item!
“Cool. Cool. Not too surprising though, considering its in-game effect.”
In the game, a compass always pointed to the player’s world spawn point. This was the perfect treasure for directionally-challenged peeps!
As for its effect in this mysterious survival game…
Yu Zhiye held the compass and moved around.
No matter where he walked and which way he turned the compass, it pointed to the exit portal.
“Hmm... Guess it points to the affiliated outpost outside since I spawned in there...”
Honestly, this was quite magical. Kinda like the Eternal Pose in an anime pirate world.
“Very useful. Now I shouldn’t have to worry about getting lost out there if I go exploring someday. But for now, just leave it in here to keep an inventory slot free.”
After setting aside the compass, Yu Zhiye picked up the final item: the scroll.
“Now, let’s see what’s inside…”
The parchment unrolled... and a glimpse at what’s inside shocked Yu Zhiye to the core!