Just the durability increase of 300 alone greatly improved her chances of survival.
He Ni eagerly clicked on the “Upgradeable Facilities” details, and the description of the first expanded facility popped up:【Facility: Simple Sunshade (Constructed, upgradable after Sanctuary advancement)】
【Function: A resting place for scavengers, providing basic shelter to reduce the direct effects of scorching sun and rain/snow on survivors. Function Rating +2, Environment Rating +1】
【Maintenance: 1 Fiber/5 days】
He Ni checked her personal panel and only then noticed that after stepping into the shade of the sunshade, a special [Scorching Sun Shelter] effect appeared on her.
The negative effects caused by the scorching sun were reduced by 70%, and her stamina and body moisture naturally depleted 20% slower.
The shading effect was truly comparable to the Sun Umbrella.
The advantage of the sunshade was that it didn’t require holding, while the Sun Umbrella’s strength was flexibility.
With these two sun-blocking devices, no matter which area of the Wood Raft she was in, she no longer had to fear sunburn.
He Ni was so excited she wanted to spin around.
These past few days, the sun had been getting fiercer by the day.
Yesterday’s high was 38 degrees Celsius, and now it wasn’t even 7 a.m., but the temperature had already reached 34 degrees.
It was expected to hit at least 38 degrees by noon.
With the sunshade and Sun Umbrella combined, she was no longer as afraid of the next disaster: the extreme heat.
Happily, she checked the second facility:【Facility: Drifting Scavenger Net (Constructed, upgradable after Sanctuary advancement)】
【Function: A scavenger’s good helper, automatically capturing seafood with an attack ≤3 and drifting trash weighing ≤10 kilograms within range. Function Rating +2, Environment Rating +1】
【Durability: 100/100】
【Maintenance: -1 durability per retrieval. When durability reaches zero, repair requires 15 Fibers, 8 Rough Ropes, and 1 Resin】
Blinking, He Ni read it again, barely believing her eyes.
“Automatic capture” within range!
Is this what they call “simple automated collection”?
This meant that from now on, anything drifting or swimming past the fishing net—covering an area of over ten square meters—would be caught.
As for maintenance, the cost was actually low.
“Each retrieval” referred to pulling the net back to unload materials.
If she pulled it once a day, it would take 100 days to wear out the durability.
With this scavenger net, how much stamina and effort would she save daily?
Even while sleeping and resting, she’d have a “little helper” diligently working for her.
Awesome!
The other two facilities not yet expanded showed: 【Compost Bin: can be expanded after obtaining Core Material】 and 【Easter Egg Facility: unlockable after obtaining Core Material】.
Core material?
Easter egg facility?
He Ni scratched her head.
This was a bit difficult—there were hundreds, if not thousands, of miscellaneous items in the Trading Hall.
How could she know what the so-called core materials were?
Although upgrading facilities wasn’t mandatory, and she could still upgrade without expanding, based on her earlier guess about upgrading the Level 2 Dayuan Boat, she wanted to expand all of them.
Who knew what use they’d have later?
Maybe if she didn’t expand at Level 1, she’d miss the chance once she reached Level 2.
He Ni glanced at the large plastic bucket she’d been using as storage.
The Wood Raft now had not only a plastic bucket but also an iron bucket.
Logically, these two items should be convertible into compost bins.
Wasn’t a compost bin just a bucket?
What core material did it still need?
She searched the World Channel for keywords but found nothing.
Besides “expand by spending 16 Wood,” there was no information on “Upgradeable Facilities.”
Her heart pounded wildly.
Thinking about the phrase “scavenger’s xxx” in the descriptions of the two expanded facilities, He Ni faintly guessed that these four upgradeable facilities were unique to the “Drifting Trash Station.”
They were created through her talent modifications.
Like hitting the jackpot, He Ni couldn’t help but chuckle.
The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.
The function of the Easter Egg Facility was unknown, but the Compost Bin obviously matched her [Scavenger] identity.
Sure enough, her original decision was correct.
Modifying the Sanctuary might be her only way to leapfrog ahead.
Those 20 energy points had been well spent!
The sun slowly rose, casting a faint grayish shadow from the sunshade onto the Wood Raft.
He Ni moved the Stone Fire Basin into the shade and sat down comfortably.
She then took off the Sun Umbrella, which had been tied to her collar, and placed it at her side.
With the shadows overlapping, the heat subsided a few degrees.
The modifications had consumed a lot of materials.
Now, the remaining materials for upgrading the Wood Raft were: Wood x25, Iron Nails x14, Rough Rope x27, Fiber x36, Waterproof Canvas x7, Resin x6.
The trash, however, was almost all still there.
Why did it feel like holding onto this trash was useless?
He Ni was torn over whether to keep hoarding this junk.
She counted—there were 46 large supermarket shopping bags alone.
Plus, plenty of household trash bags, paper towel packaging, snack packaging, plastic wrap…
Why were there so many trash bags in this sea of plenty?
Was she a Scavenger or a Cleaner?
If it were just trash bags, it wouldn’t be so bad—they could be stacked and compressed, taking up little space.
The hard-to-store items were the various plastic bottles: mineral water bottles, soda bottles, shampoo bottles…
He Ni stuffed two big hemp bags full, stacked to the brim, making the “Drifting Trash Station” name all the more fitting.
Case closed—she was holding the script for 《I Have a Cheat》!
He Ni was nearly in tears.
Fortunately, her naturally optimistic nature cheered her up after a short rest.
Trash or not, these were just misplaced resources.
She had to keep everything!
After inventorying and tidying the items, she picked up the Hook Claw and proceeded to fish up two pieces of Wood, two Coconut Leaves, and one Coconut.
Before she knew it, the time was 14:24 in the afternoon.
Her earlier guess had been too conservative. Today’s temperature soared to a shocking 39 degrees Celsius.
Even standing in the shade, sweat poured down her body.
Her fishing rod had 30 durability left.
After sipping some coconut juice, He Ni leaned against the Stone Fire Basin and continued fishing.
This wait was especially long—more than half an hour passed before the bobber suddenly plunged underwater.
He Ni perked up immediately.
The longer the wait, the higher the value of the catch.
The last time she waited this long, she had reeled in that mysterious key!
The fishing line stretched taut.
He Ni used half her strength, steadily reeling in the rod.
She could clearly feel a big catch on the hook, heavier than the broken iron bucket she’d caught before.
What could it be this time?
Surely not such heavy trash again?
Could it be a big fish?
A sea fish weighing tens or even hundreds of pounds? Was she finally going to catch a big one?
As she speculated wildly, splashing sounds erupted.
Under the afternoon’s brilliant sunlight, the fishing rod bent into a bow shape under the heavy load.
A huge pink large flip-top trash can spun round and round, clearly full of seawater, splashing around and reflecting a tiny rainbow.
【Obtained Large Flip-top Trash Can x1】
Heavy.
He Ni rolled her eyes.
How could she have been so naive to think there was no heavy trash in the sea?
The trash can was huge—about 80 centimeters tall—with water inside and sediment of silt and fine sand settled at the bottom, making it especially heavy.
If her strength weren’t 4, she really wouldn’t have been able to reel it in.
As she reeled the rod in, the pink trash can “clanged” onto the Wood Raft.
He Ni was about to open the flip-top to see what else was inside besides seawater when several notifications popped up:【Flip-top Trash Can: Large-capacity household trash can with odor-proof flip-top design for peace of mind】
【Specifications: 44x44x75 cm (80 liters capacity)】
【Obtained Core Material “Trash Can x1.” Expand special facility—Compost Bin?】
【Compost Bin: Reject dirt, disorder, and odor! Say goodbye to mosquito troubles! Can decompose any organic waste into precious resources】
【Expansion Materials: Trash Can x1, Organic Waste x5, Trash Bags x5】
He Ni was completely shocked.
Wow, who gifted her this luck?
Even making a wish wasn’t this effective!
She had been racking her brain just moments ago on how to expand the Compost Bin, and now casually—casting a fishing line—she got the core material straight from sea fishing.
Luck was unreal.
She blinked and barely recognized herself.
She had plenty of trash bags, and organic waste was even more abundant.
After these two days of crazy exchanges, she had over 4,000 portions of fresh seafood meat in her backpack.
When food rotted, it became kitchen waste—i.e., organic waste.
Of course, some wasn’t even rotten yet.
【Use 20 stamina to expand Compost Bin? Expansion time 30 minutes】
She still had 22 stamina left—what was there to hesitate about?
He Ni propped up her Sun Umbrella and eagerly walked to the Wood Raft’s edge, chose a spot to place it, and clicked confirm.
Her steps were light on the way back.
The sunshade and scavenger net were both so powerful—what about the compost bin?
Was it for producing fertilizer?
Would it transform rotting trash into plantable fertilizer, maybe even generate biogas or something?
Her mind was crawling with ants, and the time dragged painfully slow—she wished she could jump ahead 30 minutes in a second.
To distract herself, she opened the World Channel.
Tonight would be the first night after the Beginner Period ended.
Xiao Luo Hao had warned everyone early this morning that monsters might appear after dark, urging caution.
As time ticked down to nightfall, players grew increasingly anxious:【I Have a Cheat: One Tar Torch consumes 10 liters of water and burns for 4.5 hours. Monsters appear after dark. Torches can repel monsters. Essential for survival. Don’t miss out!】
【Baboon Ruined: @Xiao Luo Hao big shot, can you predict what monsters will appear? How do you fight them?】
【Weak But Can Eat: Anyone with weapons? Urgent! Willing to pay dearly.】
【King of the Sea: You greedy merchants, torches and weapons are so expensive. We’re all players—why so much?】
【Pei An: If you want to live, buy torches from me. Broke freeloaders stay away, I block anyone who comes.】
The prices for fire and weapons skyrocketed within hours.
He Ni patted her chest, relieved she’d managed to trade for some.
Her friend Zhou Jingxi sent her a long string of complaints:【Did you see that player called “I Have a Cheat” in World Channel? He’s been spamming ads for selling torches since yesterday. At first, he said one torch costs 3 liters of fresh water, and many wanted to buy, but he didn’t reply. Then the price kept going up. Now it’s 10 liters of water. Ridiculous, way too expensive!】
【I’ve been messaging him since afternoon, but he never replies—just keeps spamming ads.】
【They’re deliberately messing with the market, driving prices up! They keep claiming players will be killed by monsters after dark and so on.】
He Ni pondered.
No wonder the price of fire sources in the Trading Hall kept climbing and so many players had “detailed chat” on.
Turns out some wanted to make a big profit tonight and were stoking panic.
If monsters really appeared after dark, in extreme fear, people would pay dearly—ten liters of water or even their entire fortune for a torch.
Especially if fire truly could repel monsters.
He Ni comforted Zhou Jingxi:【Don’t worry. These people are probably waiting to sell torches and fire starters just minutes before or after dark. But those who pay high prices won’t lose out.】
【As long as there’s something flammable, fire can spread easily. Players who spent a fortune on Tar Torches will join the torch-selling ranks to recoup their costs. Buying a Tar Torch with 10 liters of water, lighting wood, then reselling for 3 liters of water—someone will buy for sure.】
【Bought at 3 liters of water, then reselling at half price—soon, fire starters will flood the market, and prices will drop. After dark, if you persist 20–30 minutes, you should be able to buy fire starters at fair prices.】
Zhou Jingxi wasn’t dumb, just panicked and frozen in thought.
He Ni’s words calmed her, and she quickly replied:【True.】
【Xiao Ni, do you have a fire starter? Did you buy a Tar Torch or Flint Firestarter? If you do, can you sell me some Burning Wood after dark?】
During the Beginner Period’s three days, many players had bought one-time fire sources called “Burning Wood”:【Burning Wood: A piece of burning wood, handle carefully.】
【Burn Duration: 45 minutes】
【Crafting method: In oxygen-rich environments, directly touch wood with an item heated ≥280 degrees Celsius for 3 seconds】
Simply put, with enough wood, buying one Tar Torch lets you make unlimited “Burning Wood.”
However, Burning Wood isn’t special material.
Once in the backpack, it stops burning and turns into “Charcoal,” so it can’t be stored as fire source.
Zhou Jingxi was He Ni’s fish oil supplier, and the two had gotten along well over the past two days.
After thinking for a moment, He Ni replied:【No problem, I can give you a piece of “Burning Wood.” By the way, do you have a relatively stable lighting device? I have a Fish Oil Lantern. Interested?】
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