After waiting for more than ten seconds, the game seemed to sense An Xiaomei's hesitation and sent another message:
**"Ding! The game assistant has detected that there's an Island Attachment Token in your backpack. If you use this token, you can board the island for free.
In addition, the game will also provide a complimentary spatial teleportation channel. However, activating the Island Attachment Token will cost 100 energy stones. (Special discount: 90% off for the next 48 hours.)"**
Wait—why hadn't she seen this message before? Was the game adding new terms on the spot?
Game: "No, we're fair and transparent. There's a line of fine print under the item description—you must've been too excited and missed it at the time."
Sure enough, when she checked again, there was a line of text so small it was barely the size of a mung bean.
"So, according to what you just said… if I use this token after 48 hours, it'll cost 1,000 energy stones?"
Game: "Correct. This is part of our limited-time promotional offer. Once the countdown ends, the regular price will apply."
An Xiaomei only had five energy stones left—one of which she'd already spent earlier to activate the control compass.
"I agree to pay two energy stones for the fee."
She swore to herself: This time, I'll earn back every bit I spend—double if I can! Otherwise, I'm not worthy of the surname An!
"Ding! You may now explore Island No. ____ for a total of ten hours. The time can be split into two sessions."
It was already close to noon. The journey to this island, plus her earlier scuffle with that scummy islander from Japan, had eaten up quite a bit of time.
"I'll split the exploration time—five hours now, five later. Start the countdown in ten minutes."
She still needed those ten minutes for lunch. No point scavenging on an empty stomach.
Ten minutes later, An Xiaomei stepped onto the island again—this time choosing a different direction.
She kept the same strategy as before: the first half to mark resource points, the second half for collection.
Wearing her Speed Boots, which granted two hours of boosted movement per day, she dashed across the terrain, sketching a mental resource map.
This time she discovered:
—an iron mine,
—a wild rabbit warren,
—a jujube forest,
—a patch of poisonous thorns,
—and a rice field that provided excellent satiety.
By the time the Speed Boots' cooldown kicked in, she'd already marked about 80% of the island's resources.
For the remaining three hours, she wasted no time. The iron mine could wait.
First, she raided four mature rabbit warrens—netting 36 cuts of rabbit meat and 36 rabbit pelts.
Next, she hacked off a large bundle of poisonous thorns with her iron knife and stowed them separately. That would make a perfect ambush weapon later.
As for the jujube trees—she only took two. Each tree took ten minutes to chop down, far too time-consuming.
Then came the rice field—she harvested about one-third of it. She'd been eating mostly coarse grains like corn; white rice was far more to her taste.
If other adventurers could hear her thoughts, they'd probably vomit blood. Most of them couldn't even find coarse grains to eat—let alone rice. Even in the real world, food was under strict rationing.
Her real targets, though, were the cotton and flax fields from before. Those were priority resources.
When she reached the freshwater river, she filled up all three giant storage tanks. The rich woman of the Icefield Island had now officially achieved freshwater freedom.
With that whirlwind collection spree, her 100-square-meter backpack was soon packed to the brim.
She checked her wristwatch—one hour left. No way she was wasting that.
Unloading the bulkier items onto her 30-square-meter main island, she turned right back and continued hoarding.
Meanwhile, viewers of her livestream could barely breathe, eyes glued to the mountain of loot she'd amassed.
[I can't take it anymore. Watching her stream, I feel like I can't even stomach my dinner tonight.]
[I'm so jealous! That island's resources are insane!]
[Wait—didn't our Dragon Nation's rewards already materialize in real life? Why haven't they been distributed yet?]
[According to my friend on the inside, they're waiting for the fruit trees and carp stock to mature a bit more before allocating. Sustainability and all that.]
[I'm literally drooling. That looks way too good.]
[Auntie An always looks the happiest when she's out collecting resources—she works twice as fast then!]
[Can you blame her? Who wouldn't love rolling in resources like that?]
When the final minute ticked down, An Xiaomei reluctantly returned to her Icefield Island.
Moments later, the land island was covered in a faint shimmering barrier, blocking her view.
That night at 8 PM sharp, An Xiaomei went live again:
"Selling 17 winter outfits! Each requires 1 energy stone + 1 spool of cotton thread, or 2 energy stones per set. Limited supply!"
She kept one extra set aside—for Xu Qiang, her old trading partner. No matter what, she couldn't abandon a friend.
Xu Qiang had tried to grab one too, but his reflexes were too slow. Just as he was about to give up, a private message popped up—sent by An Xiaomei one minute before her public sale announcement:
"Friend price: one winter outfit for 1 energy stone, or 5 spools of cotton thread if you prefer."
Seeing the timestamp, Xu Qiang was deeply moved. She'd clearly gone out of her way for him. Without hesitation, he traded five spools of thread for the final set.
Meanwhile, An Xiaomei tallied her profits—19 energy stones and 15 spools of cotton thread in total.
The thread went straight back into production for the next batch.
Of course, not everyone was happy.
"Don't buy her winter sets!" someone grumbled in the chat. "She's clearly price-gouging!"
"Exactly! I know how to make them too—but I'm short on cotton, flax, and thread. Otherwise, I'd make them for free!"
...