Cheng Shuili, buzzing with excitement, immediately opened up her inventory to check her loot.
Each player could equip up to two titles at once. She didn't hesitate—just tapped "Equip." With the additional 10 stat points from the title, her attributes now totaled 30 across the board—10 higher than the average survivor!
Even if she ran into another sudden "highway merge," she had enough juice to put up a fight now.
Feeling the power coursing through her limbs, Cheng Shuili couldn't resist stretching. Guided by blurry college memories, she swung out an awkward set of Tai Chi moves.
It looked like nonsense, but with the stat boost? Kinda decent. Almost elegant.
Next up—the silver treasure chest.
Unlike the crude wooden box from before, this one was intricately engraved with delicate floral patterns and had a blood-red gemstone embedded in the clasp.
Classy.
[Silver Chest: Low chance to obtain Rare items. Very high chance to obtain Legendary items.]
Cheng Shuili paused.
Another bug?
Yep—definitely a bug.
A lucky one.
Rubbing her hands together, she cracked it open without hesitation.
"Congratulations! You have obtained: Vehicle Upgrade Core ×1 [Legendary], Pre-cooked Meals ×10 [Rare], Self-heating Rice ×4 [Rare], Self-heating Hotpot ×4 [Rare]"
"…Huh?"
Three rares and one legendary?
She blinked, reread the item description—and yep, it clearly said: "Low chance for rare, very high chance for legendary."
Well damn.
She didn't even know what face to make. That was some rare European-luck right there.
So annoying! Why blow all her luck on something so ridiculous?!
Cheng Shuili stomped twice in frustration—then noticed the "Announce or Hide" toggle.
Her mood brightened. She chose to announce it publicly.
[Congratulations to player "Crow Takes Flight" for securing the server's First Kill achievement! Survivors, pick up the pace—gather supplies and fight to stay alive!]
"WTF?! First Kill already? It's only been three hours since launch!"
"Bro, you cheating?!"
"Crow Takes Flight, you're a legend! Please post a monster guide!"
"Tch, pure luck. I could've done it too if I ran into a monster first."
Cheng Shuili ignored the flood of envy and disbelief. Honestly, she just wanted to indulge in a little vanity. Who didn't crave a bit of attention?
And hey—worst case scenario?
"Crow Takes Flight" got all the heat. Had nothing to do with her real name, Cheng Shuili.
She loaded the food into her cart and revved the engine. From what she remembered from apocalyptic highway novels, the protagonists were usually "Pioneers"—leading figures the system rewarded generously.
She wasn't interested in leading. But the rewards? Oh, she wanted those.
So long as the cart had juice, forward was the only way to go.
Only then did she take a proper look at that legendary upgrade core.
[Upgrade Core: Used in combination with 10 Vehicle Upgrade Fragments. Once applied, your vehicle's final tier is guaranteed to be Legendary.]
Not bad. An auxiliary item, then. The fragments were the real bottleneck. Maybe she could trade for some later.
Cheng Shuili drove on. The landscape on both sides of the highway remained desolate, and the sky above stayed a permanent dull red.
She hummed a little tune to herself, in unusually good spirits.
And then—there it was again.
That familiar black shape by the roadside.
"Another wooden supply box?" she raised an eyebrow. As expected, a brown crate appeared up ahead.
She braked. The cart's obnoxious sales ad jingle cut off mid-note. All that remained was the wind rustling through the withered brush.
Cheng Shuili hopped down. A system prompt popped up instantly:
[Wooden Supply Box Detected. Open it?]
Last time was a monster. No way it'd be another one, right?
"Open," she confirmed without hesitation.
With a creak, the box opened.
Inside: a 500ml bottle of mineral water and a pack of peanut-flavored compressed biscuits.
Way worse than the silver chest, but hey—free is free. Who complained about extra supplies?
She reached in to take them. But unlike last time, the box didn't vanish.
Cheng Shuili froze.
Then cautiously tapped on it again.
[Wooden Supply Box Detected. Open it?]
"…It's reusable? Another bug?" Her eyes lit up, and she clicked "Yes" again immediately.
This time: a can of canned peaches and a small utility knife.
Still no disappearance.
That was it—SSS-tier Bug Magnet, confirmed!
Wasting no time, Cheng Shuili started grinding the box for loot.
Third pull: 10-meter rope and a thick winter coat. Fourth: a box of 15 matches and a chunk of nut chocolate. Fifth: a foldable entrenching shovel and a bottle of multivitamins (500 tablets!).
When she reached out for a sixth try—the box finally vanished.
No matter. Five hits was already a huge win.
Cradling her treasure, Cheng Shuili trotted back to her cart, loaded everything up, and floored the pedal again.
She brought up her character panel with satisfaction:
[Player: Cheng Shuili
ID: AAAJCCJ8888
Username: Crow Takes Flight
Vehicle: "Supermarket Promo" Electric Shopping Cart (Current charge: 840%)
Health: 60 (perfectly average human)
Strength: 30 (your punches will hurt)
Stamina: 30 (great durability)
Agility: 30 (you're fast as hell)
Combat Power: 45 (pretty dang good)
Inventory: Vehicle Upgrade Core ×1, Pre-cooked Meals ×10, Self-heating Rice ×4, Self-heating Hotpot ×4, 500ml Water ×1, Compressed Biscuits ×1, Canned Peaches ×1, Utility Knife ×1, 10m Rope ×1, Thick Coat ×1, Matches (15) ×1, Nut Chocolate ×1, Folding Shovel ×1, Multivitamin Tablets (500 pills) ×1]
Cheng Shuili squinted at her stats with a nod.
Yeah. She was doing pretty well for her first morning. Compared to the average survivor, she was practically swimming in supplies.
With a smirk full of arrogance, mischief, and a little sass, she popped into the regional chat.
It was lunchtime, and people were flaunting their meals.
Most of them were downright miserable—half a biscuit here, a dry piece of bread there. Someone was even trying to fill up on digestive tablets.
"Tsk. Is that it?" Cheng Shuili scoffed, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth and snapping a photo of her bubbling self-heating hotpot.
Crow Takes Flight: [Image] Just a little something for lunch.
The channel exploded.
"Holy crap! A self-heating hotpot?! That even spawn in early game?!"
"Crow-senior, need a sidekick? I eat light and punch hard!"
"Fake! Gotta be photoshopped. I opened three boxes and got nothing but water!"
"Bruh. You think we have P-shop access here? Starvation scrambled your brain."
Cheng Shuili grinned wickedly and uploaded a second pic: canned peaches.