He Ni’s heart skipped a beat as she read those words.
Was something watching her from afar?
Goosebumps prickled all over her skin, that prickly unease causing her heartbeat to quicken sharply, her neck involuntarily tightening.
She hurriedly pulled out the tar torch from her backpack.
The flame flared instantly, the fire flickering and crackling softly in the gentle sea breeze, dispelling the eerie darkness that the deep sea naturally carried.
The seawater lapping at the edges of the raft was dyed with layers of shimmering orange-red by the firelight.
Around the raft, a semicircular glow softly radiated.
The [Negative Fear of the Unknown] status hadn’t vanished with the torchlight, but He Ni’s heart felt much steadier.
Humans really are creatures drawn to light.
The sea was like a monstrous void, pitch black and constantly shifting, as if monsters might surface at any moment.
Farther out on the ocean, there was nothing but darkness.
He Ni recalled what some players had said about the underwater creatures dragging them down, trying to drown and devour them.
What exactly those creatures were, no one knew—players couldn’t see or guess.
It was precisely that unknown terror that made one’s skin crawl.
Swiftly, she took a dried tree leaf from a crack in her plastic bucket—prepared in advance—and skillfully lit the lamp wick from the tar torch.
A faint yellow-green glow suddenly brightened, accompanied by the subtle crackling of the flame as it grew bit by bit.
The light shone outward through the glass cover in all directions.
Under the combined illumination of the torch and lamp, the surroundings brightened noticeably.
[Bright Area: Sufficient lighting brings you comfort and increases your nighttime work efficiency. (When gathering, crafting, or other tasks, stamina consumption -1)]
Although this didn’t dispel the [Negative Fear of the Unknown], it was at least a positive effect.
Unlike during the day, players expend extra stamina when salvaging debris or fishing at night.
Throwing a grappling hook costs 5 stamina, and fishing once consumes 8 stamina.
Thus, even with stamina consumption reduced by 1, working at night was less efficient than during the day.
The game’s basic design encouraged players to explore and gather by day, then trade and rest by night.
Still, even with this benefit, lighting both torch and lamp while scavenging was a costly and losing proposition.
Tar torches were good fire sources but very expensive.
Still, she could take advantage of the night to run a business selling “Burning Wood.”
The stone fire basin came in handy.
He Ni placed three or four logs inside, then held the tar torch close.
Soon, one log flared up with a crackle, flames burning steadily.
She first sent a piece of Burning Wood to Zhou Jingxi, then started making a second one.
The waves slapped the raft rhythmically, the only sounds besides her own heartbeat being the ocean’s murmurs.
Every time He Ni made a piece of Burning Wood, she carefully scanned her surroundings to ensure no monsters had climbed onto the raft before continuing.
There was no denying it—the first night after the Beginner Period was great for the fire business.
Setting reasonable prices, she only posted one advertisement before customers kept coming.
However, as she had predicted, the business wouldn’t last long.
As more players obtained fire sources, the price plummeted rapidly.
Less than 20 minutes into the night, charging a mere one unit of any resource for making Burning Wood became standard.
He Ni decided to cash out while the going was good. In just a few minutes, she earned 23 liters of distilled water and 87 units of miscellaneous resources—a decent haul.
She then opened the Trading Hall, aimlessly browsing—partly to shop on Tao Bao, partly to seek inspiration for what the final upgrade for her raft might be and what core materials it would require.
Before she could think it through, her friend message notification blared nonstop.
Zhou Jingxi’s avatar flashed repeatedly in the top-right corner of the trading platform.
Expecting Zhou Jingxi to be in trouble, He Ni quickly opened the chat, only to find a screenshot of a broadcast from the World Channel.
[Images][Images][Images]
“Ahhh, Xiao Ni, are you okay? Hurry and check the World Channel!”
He Ni quickly scanned the dozen or so messages Zhou Jingxi sent, her heart sinking.
Players had died.
A total of 127 players.
She glanced at the time: 19:37.
It had been dark for only 37 minutes, yet so many had perished.
The World Channel was plunged into panic over the mass deaths, the entire page chaotic: [——: Ah my God, why did the total player count drop by 127? Did they really die? Are monsters here? Ahhh I’m so scared and I don’t even have fire. The system keeps warning me that something is watching me.]
[Fishing Master: Terrifying! I just noticed at 7:03 there were 9 fewer players, now it’s down 127, and it’s only been half an hour since nightfall.]
[Player 215556: You guys encountered monsters? What should I do? I’m [Severely Exhausted], my spirit is low, but I also have [Negative Fear of the Unknown]. Sleeping reduces spirit further. What now?]
[No Cilantro: There must be monsters. The newbie tips say night is dangerous. Come buy fire from me—monsters fear fire. Limited tar torches left, negotiate price if interested.]
[Mint Juice: Damn those price gougers selling fire torches. We’re all from the same world—if you profit off others dying, I won’t forgive you even if I die!]
While He Ni scrolled through the messages, the player count dropped another six.
The total was now just 499,867.
She shuddered, gripping her crowbar tightly, her heart pounding wildly.
Strictly speaking, all players in the test server had died once before.
According to newbie tips, they were pulled into the game post-death.
But the death in reality was intangible—as with He Ni, eyes closed and opened, they entered the game.
These past few days in the Feng Rao Zhi Hai had been hot and resource-scarce, but with effort, survival was barely possible, even fate-defying.
Many players on the World Channel had dreamed of living until the end, fantasizing about becoming gods and returning to reality, already planning what they’d do then.
Their words were more entertaining than any reversal novel on Green River Literature City.
Who would have thought that on the very first night after the Beginner Period ended, players would start dying one after another?
The pitch-black sea churned outside the raft, like a bottomless abyss breeding countless demons.
He Ni didn’t dare to look closely at the water.
She noticed that staring too long at the sea caused a symbol “I” to appear beside her spirit value, accompanied by a negative status: [Deep Sea Stare: When you gaze into the deep sea, it also gazes back at you. Under this status, spirit value -1/second]
This was a terrifying status that appeared if one stared at the sea surface for over three seconds after sunset.
Swallowing hard, she held her crowbar firmly, refusing to relax even a little—there would be no sleep tonight.
Fortunately, she had prepared well, having replenished her spirit value beforehand.
Her virtual screen remained fixed on the World Channel.
She dared not browse the Trading Hall again but wanted to monitor chat for any monster resource tips so she could prepare early.
Surprisingly, the panic didn’t last long.
After ten, twenty, thirty tense minutes with no monsters appearing nearby, most players, clutching onto hope, breathed easier.
Perhaps those 133 dead players were just unlucky.
Soon, everyone’s attention returned to “fire.”
The recent wave of fear caused fire prices to rebound slightly.
But even splurging on tar torches was expensive—one lasted only 4.5 hours.
To keep light all night meant using 2 tar torches plus 2 Burning Woods.
Few players could afford such huge expenses.
A player named “Ada Sells Water” stepped forward to share a method.
[Ada Sells Water: If wood is scarce, burn the flammable debris you scavenged or fished during the day! This game isn’t the real world—those scraps burn a long time once lit. The players selling distilled water have all been doing this. You thought they burn wood to boil distilled water? Think again! They burn various junk they catch. For example, a big shopping bag dragged from the sea can burn for over ten hours—more than enough for a whole night.]
Everyone knew the game differed from reality.
In the real world, a piece of wood would never burn for 45 minutes, but in-game it did.
Similarly, plastic trash was far more flammable and longer-lasting in the game.
Breaking down a large plastic bag into smaller pieces and burning them one by one yielded much longer burn times than wood.
Besides plastic, fishing nets, broken shoes, tattered clothes, even dried leaves and seaweed—all served as fuel.
Some players had even compiled burn times for various junk.
Plastics and rubber lasted the longest and, unlike reality, didn’t emit harsh odors.
Shoe burn time depended on material; rubber shoes burned well.
Clothes burned less than wood but were better than nothing—a form of recycling.
What if those flames were small and dim?
That didn’t matter.
Candle-like light was better than none and helped dispel fear, especially on a night when players kept dying.
Once “Ada Sells Water” spoke up, many players chimed in agreement.
A single stone stirred a thousand waves, unsettling buyers and sellers alike.
Especially those who had fished junk and tossed it away now regretted deeply: [Super Angler: Unbelievable. I caught at least a dozen huge plastic bags and piles of broken tables, chairs, and stools these past few days. I threw them all far away. Now you tell me those are precious fuel?]
[Old Popsicle: I’m so regretful. Three minutes before dark, I caught a huge, thick transparent plastic sheet—the kind used for greenhouses—at least ten square meters. That could have burned for ten days! I threw it away! I treated it as trash!]
[Evening Breeze Knows: Feels like the game is messing with us. The purpose of junk isn’t explained, environment and sanity points get deducted for carrying it, backpack only has 15 slots and no stacking—who would hoard this crap? Catching junk feels like bad luck.]
[Xiao Luo Hao: Be careful burning junk. Put a stone underneath or something. Watch the raft’s temperature. Don’t accidentally burn it down.]
[Big Black: Just letting everyone burn trash? Aren’t you afraid of polluting the environment? What if acid rain happens? That would be a big problem.]
[Amy: Don’t worry about acid rain. Plastic in the game isn’t the same as in reality. Besides, surviving the moment is what matters most.]
As the discussion spread, tattered shoes and clothes that had been ignored in the Trading Hall suddenly sold out instantly.
Plastic bags, bottles, and pipes became hot commodities.
He Ni skimmed through the World Channel posts, her eyes brightening more and more.
Her initial fear of the night slowly morphed into wild excitement.
What luck!
She had so many flammable junk items.
After all, she had spent four full days fishing for trash—never caught a single fish, only scraps.
Among the half-million players, if anyone deserved the title of Junk King, it was her.
She had struck gold.
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