"I really am interested in that item of yours," An Xiaomei said, "but I'm not going to take it for free. I'll trade you thirty catties of food for it."
Without dragging things out, she handed over twenty-five catties of sweet potatoes and five catties of fruit.
The reason she paid in food was simple—she didn't want to take advantage of a kind-hearted fellow Longguo citizen. If it had been some black-hearted scoundrel instead, she'd have robbed them outright and slept soundly afterward.
After settling the exchange with Xu Qiang, An Xiaomei noticed a new friend request—from Lu An'an.
"Goddess, add me as a friend! I just want to get along well with you—I won't cling shamelessly, I promise!"
Reading the message, and recalling the girl's behavior earlier, An Xiaomei hesitated briefly, then accepted. This girl—who called herself An Lulu—might not be strong, but she was quick-witted.
An Xiaomei didn't expect that this small decision would one day save her life.
With that done, she opened the regional chat channel. The moment she entered, she saw M-nation adventurers spreading "news" about her.
"Everyone, be careful! There's a middle-aged woman from Longguo who has some kind of theft-type item. If she touches you, your backpack resources will decrease!"
"That sounds way too far-fetched. I don't believe it. You M-nation guys are always slandering Longguo players—probably just another smokescreen!"
An Xiaomei paused when she read that comment. Clearly, M-nation's past shady deeds had caught up with them—now even when they told the truth, no one believed them.
"Please believe me!" another M-nation female adventurer interjected desperately. "I was one of the victims too!"
"That's just what you M-nation people say. Has anyone from another country had the same experience?"
That question came from a Y-nation player. Their country used to be the world's top power—until M-nation surpassed them. Ever since, Y-nation players took every chance to oppose M-nation.
"Exactly! Only your country is crying foul. If no one else has seen it, why should we believe you?"
"This kind of dirty trick? M-nation's been doing it forever. Even before the game, their leaders were known for these tactics. Guess their adventurers are just following their example."
...
Indeed, when someone's reputation is rotten enough, even the truth sounds like a lie. The ten M-nation adventurers An Xiaomei had robbed were fuming as they read the sarcastic comments—but there was nothing they could do.
Still, An Xiaomei took note. Next time, she thought, I'll do it wearing someone else's face. After all, if she pulled this trick again, people might start getting suspicious. Fortunately, she had her gender-morphing disguise mask—problem solved.
After scrolling through more meaningless chatter, she simply closed her wristwatch's game display.
Then she decided to check what loot she'd actually gained from the M-nation adventurers during the red-blue battle.
"Adventurer An Xiaomei, you have obtained the following items:
Seasoning Set ×2
Candles ×5
Fire Basin ×1
Beef ×6
Cotton Thread ×7
Ginger Seeds ×6 …"
All basic supplies, really—but free loot is the sweetest kind, and An Xiaomei was perfectly satisfied.
Looking around her nearly barren main island—only a few farm plots and open ground—she decided it was time to properly organize her home.
For the past eight days, she had been running herself ragged collecting materials just to survive.
Then came the familiar chime of the system:
"Ding! Attention all surviving adventurers. The world will soon enter a continuous three-month Frozen Winter Season.
You have three days to prepare your survival supplies.
Please be advised:
During the winter, all seas will freeze over.
Indigenous creatures will enter a berserk vengeance phase.
Resource islands will become inaccessible."
What truly worried An Xiaomei was that second part—the berserk indigenous creatures.
She hadn't forgotten that she was still under a kill order from the mutant Fishman King.
Naturally, many of the Longguo viewers watching her live stream immediately thought of the same thing.
[This is bad news—our Madam An is in real danger now.]
[All these warnings are giving me a headache.]
[The key point is: this frozen season sounds extremely deadly. And with that fishman kill order still active, she's in double trouble.]
[If the sea freezes, there'll be ice paths. That means hostile natives—or even other players—could reach her island.]
[Exactly! The system's warning about the natives going berserk must mean something like that.]
[Yeah, I've noticed this game always hides clues in its messages. The slower players never catch on and end up suffering for it.]
[You can bet some people will only focus on gathering resources, ignoring the real threat. I was like that at first too.]
[Haha, same here. My brain doesn't work that fast either. Not everyone's as sharp as these analysts!]
Inside the game, panic spread among the survivors. Most players were still lacking even the most basic resources—and now, they only had three days to prepare for a deadly winter.
An Xiaomei, however, wasn't wasting time. She used her island's teleportation array to travel straight to her subsidiary island, saving time and effort.
During her absence in the red-blue match, her main island—an icefield island—had drifted far away with the currents. It was now a long way from the resource islands.
Learning from past mistakes, An Xiaomei had already emptied her backpack of nonessential materials, neatly stacking them on her icefield island instead.
With the alarm device now guarding her home, she wasn't worried about thieves.
This time, her main goal was to collect Thorned Brambles—perfect for traps—and fuel for heat.
Three months of winter was no joke. She doubted the in-game temperature would be anywhere close to real-world levels—she needed to prepare for something much worse.
After gathering plenty of brambles, she set off toward the mineral mountain she'd discovered earlier. There, she found not only iron ore but also coal—a lifesaver for long-term warmth.
But as she scurried about collecting resources like a diligent hamster, a strange ship was silently approaching her main island.
On board, a hook-nosed man peered through his telescope, eyes gleaming greedily at the sight of a small mountain of supplies piled atop the seemingly empty ice island.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!——Alert! Adventurer An Xiaomei, please return to your main island immediately.
Enemy invasion detected. Estimated time to contact: 5 minutes."