This data was way better than the four cars she got at the beginning.
Electric-powered, long battery life, huge storage capacity, and durability through the roof.
A blessing in disguise.
Cheng Shuili stared at the newly upgraded shopping cart. The basket gleamed with LED lights, and a tiny speaker looped the same jingle:"Le Jia Le Supermarket! Everything 50% off! Le Jia Le Supermarket! Everything 50% off!"
What the hell…
She stared blankly for two seconds, wanting to say something but completely at a loss. Then she broke into a grin.
"Whatever. At least it's electric now."
She jumped on the cart, pressed the acceleration button, and sped down the highway as the maddening jingle echoed through the vast space: "Everything 50% off…"
The road was wide, and the same jingle bounced off every corner of the environment. Cheng Shuili opened the system panel and twitched at the data scrolling across it.
[Player: Cheng Shuili
ID: AAAJCCJ8888
Username: Not Set
Vehicle: "Supermarket Promo Edition" Electric Shopping Cart (Current Battery: 1000%)
Health: 1 (A human in abysmal condition—chronic late nights, erratic sleep, and years of junk food… Honestly, how are you not dead yet?)]
Cheng Shuili: "Thanks, I just did die and come back."
And what the hell was 1000% battery supposed to mean? Another bug?
She kept reading.
[Strength: 1 (Total weakling)
Stamina: 1 (Have you even moved? Are you the type to pant after climbing one flight of stairs?)
Agility: 1 (Can run, but slow.)
Combat Power: 0 (The first player in Survival World with an actual 0.)
Supplies: None]
"Congratulations, Player Cheng Shuili, on unlocking the achievement: 'Worst Newbie Ever.' You've earned a unique title: [Help Me, I Suck]. Would you like to broadcast this to the whole server?"
"Title: [Help Me, I Suck]Effect: Sets Health at a stable 60, prevents sudden death, and boosts all stats to the level of an average human. Equip now?"
Cheng Shuili: "…?"
Excuse me? Worst newbie? "Help Me, I Suck"?
She laughed aloud. The name sucked, sure, but the buffs were great! She didn't hesitate to equip it.
The moment the title took effect, Cheng Shuili felt it—she was alive again. All her stats shot up to 20. Not bad at all.
It was the first title in the entire server.
Cheng Shuili liked making waves, just not with her real name.
She set her username to "Crow Takes Flight" and then accepted the global announcement.
[Congratulations to Player "Crow Takes Flight" for obtaining the first server-wide title. All players are encouraged to gather supplies and survive!]
Grinning, Cheng Shuili squinted at the notice, finally spotting the chat channel below. Most players were still dazed, while a handful frantically asked how to earn titles.
"What the hell? Didn't the game just start? How'd she get an achievement already?"
→ The confused type.
"Crow Takes Flight? I'm Elephant Doing Taekwondo! That makes us long-lost family! Carry me, Queen!"
→ The long-lost sibling type.
"What's going on? Where is this? I don't wanna play some survival crap! I wanna go back to my 9-to-9 job!"
→ The mental breakdown type.
Cheng Shuili tugged at her lips. This channel was useless. She decisively turned it off.
She drove her electric shopping cart down the highway, the "50% off everything" jingle looping endlessly. The empty road echoed the ad like a curse, the dark red sky casting an eerie glow over the grey asphalt that stretched endlessly into the horizon.
There was nothing out here. No people, no buildings. Just the road under her wheels.
Two hours passed. Still nothing. Judging from the chat before she closed it, some players had found supply crates. Not much in them, but at least it was food.
The sun wasn't scorching, but it was definitely hot.
Cheng Shuili tilted her head back and raised her hand to block the sun. Through the gaps between her fingers, she saw it hanging like a cruel, distant eye. When she dropped her hand, her eyes narrowed.
About 100 meters ahead, on the right side of the road, was a dark, boxy shape.
As she got closer, its form grew clear.
A wooden crate, about half a meter tall, worn in places with a visible lid seam.
[Supply crate detected. Open?]
The system prompt appeared right on cue.
A supply crate!
Cheng Shuili slammed on the brakes. The cart screeched to a halt, the ad cutting off abruptly.
She hopped off and cautiously circled the crate. It looked normal on the outside. Whether it held goodies or monsters—only one way to find out.
"According to game logic, supply crates could hold surprises… or jump scares," she muttered, stroking her chin. "But it's still the newbie protection period, so scare chances should be low…"
"Tch." She clicked her tongue.
Who was she kidding?
What was there to hesitate for?
This was a survival game—she couldn't not open it! What was she gonna do? Starve?
She had no choice.
Taking a breath, she stepped forward—then quickly backed off. She rummaged through the cart for something to use. It was mostly empty, but the cart's parts could probably be salvaged.
After a moment of fumbling under the basket, her fingers touched a loose metal rod—one of the cart's support beams. Removing it wouldn't affect the structure.
With a hard tug and a satisfying snap, she yanked out a sixty-centimeter-long metal rod.
"Nice. Feels good in the hand."
She weighed it experimentally, then walked up to the crate. Gripping the rod with both hands, she jammed the tip under the lid and pried it open—then immediately jumped back.
A yellow-green fuzzball launched from inside and smacked her square in the face.
She flailed, trying to claw the thing off. It was slimy and limp, and it refused to come off. Worse—it tried to crawl into her nose.
"Ugh—what the hell is this thing?!"
She finally managed to grab it and hurl it to the ground.
It hit the pavement with a wet "splat," jiggled a little, then began oozing back toward her like some low-effort slime monster straight out of an old anime.
It looked harmless—kind of cute, even—but Cheng Shuili was not falling for it. That disgusting sensation still clung to her face.
She grabbed the metal rod and bashed it with everything she had.
The slime split in two, glitched like a broken game file, then popped with a splatter into a green puddle and stopped moving.
[Congratulations, Player Cheng Shuili, on achieving the server's First Kill! You have earned the unique title: [The First Reaper]. Announce to server?
Title: [The First Reaper]Effect: All stats +10. Equip now? Bonus reward: 1x Silver Loot Crate]
Panting, Cheng Shuili stared at the descending silver crate, then at her goo-covered weapon.
Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "Hahaha… This is way more exciting than overtime!"
Now it finally felt like real survival.
And to that, Cheng Shuili could only say one thing: Hell yeah.
If she was gonna die out here—starve, get eaten, whatever—she'd still rather this than debugging spaghetti code back home.