The icy wind howled across the snowfield, carrying snowflakes with it.
On a frozen wasteland, a woman in a thin coat covered in luxury brands chipped at the ice with an ice axe, glancing down repeatedly at the survival guide in her arms.
This was Lin Wan, Su Ye's ex-girlfriend.
"It's been an hour."
"Why hasn't that loser Su Ye replied yet?"
Lin Wan curled her lip, disdain written all over her face.
Sure enough, a loser was still a loser.
Couldn't even spare some food and fuel, yet thought he could hit on her again just because they'd crossed into another world?
"Hmph!"
"If Young Master Zhang wasn't in a different zone, who'd bother stooping low for him? He should take a good look at himself!"
Lin Wan had already made up her mind: if Su Ever contacted her again without showing enough sincerity, she wouldn't reply a single word.
...
Meanwhile.
Su Ye had long forgotten all about his ex. His survival guide finally showed the notification he'd been waiting for.
[Liu Ruyan has accepted your friend request!]
Almost the moment she accepted, a private message popped up.
"Got her!"
Su Ye's eyes lit up, and he immediately opened the message.
[Liu Ruyan: Sure! The icefield is really dangerous, so having an extra friend is nice. You don't have to thank me specially, I didn't really do anything. Chipping ice for supplies isn't easy either, and I have enough for now.]
Su Ye read the message and frowned, muttering softly: "Little miss, you have enough supplies — I don't!"
Without giving Liu Ruyan a chance to refuse, he immediately switched the guide to the [Friend Gift] interface.
He selected everything: the newly obtained compressed biscuits, purified water, and even the iron supply crate he was sitting on, then clicked Gift.
[Confirm sending to Liu Ruyan: Compressed biscuits ×2, Purified water ×1, Empty iron supply crate ×1?]
"Confirm!"
Su Ye pressed the confirm button without hesitation.
[Gift sent successfully!]
The moment the notification appeared on the guide, the familiar system voice boomed in his head, louder than ever before.
[Congratulations, Host! You have gifted supplies to a goddess-tier target. Critical cashback triggered! Obtained: Compressed biscuits ×1600, Purified water ×800, Empty iron supply crates ×800.]
[All supplies have been automatically stored in system space and can be withdrawn at any time. Please continue feeding the goddess!]
"Hahaha! Awesome!"
Su Ye laughed loudly, shaking snow loose from the air around him. He casually pulled an iron supply crate and a bottle of purified water from his system space, sat down, unscrewed the cap, and chugged nearly half the bottle.
"So good!"
The sweet water slid down his throat, soothing his parched body. Su Ye sighed: "Liu Ruyan's 93-point looks really are worth it! Straight-up 800x cashback! Way better than that barely-passing ex-girlfriend!"
"Pah!"
He snapped back to his senses and patted his cheek. "Why think about that bitch? She's just bad luck!"
His gaze returned to the iron supply crate under him, and Su Ye's eyes lit up: "Now I have 800 empty crates. Perfect time to test the decomposition function and see what good stuff I can get."
He wasted no time opening the guide, found the [Decompose] page, and placed his hand on the interface.
[Confirm decomposing iron supply crate?]
"Decompose!"
[Decomposition successful! Obtained: Wood ×3, Metal sheets ×2, Beast bones ×1.]
Watching the materials land on the ice platform, Su Ye looked as if he'd known it all along. He then took out iron supply crates one after another from system space and decomposed them all.
[Decomposition successful! Obtained: Wood ×3, Metal sheets ×2, Beast bones ×1.]
[Decomposition successful! Obtained: Wood ×3, Metal sheets ×2, Beast bones ×1.]
...
After decomposing more than ten in a row, Su Ye stopped and frowned: "Doing them one by one is way too slow. And my ice platform is tiny — I can't even fit that many crates."
He flipped the guide to the [Base Upgrade] page and immediately lit up.
——————
[Base Upgrade]
Upgrade to Level 2 Icefield Base: Wood ×10, Metal sheets ×5, Beast bones ×3.
Expand base area: Wood ×3, Metal sheets ×2, Beast bones ×1.
(Note: One expansion increases base area by 2 square meters and unlocks more construction functions.)
——————
Looking at the materials needed for the upgrade, Su Ye couldn't help but laugh out loud. He still had over 780 empty crates. If he decomposed all of them, he'd have thousands of materials.
"The upgrade cost is nothing! I'll max this out in no time, or people will think I can't even afford a base upgrade!"
Just as he was about to expand his base first, a bold idea popped into his head.
These crates were duplicates returned by the system. So were the decomposed materials also considered duplicates?
If not… and he sent them to Liu Ruyan, could he trigger cashback again?
"Whoa —"
Su Ye took a sharp breath and immediately asked inwardly: "System, are materials from decomposed supply crates considered duplicates?"
But the system stayed as cold as ever, not responding at all.
"Tch, ignoring me? Fine, I'll test it myself!"
Su Ye flipped the guide to the [Friends] section, and a prompt popped up instantly.
[You have 6 unread messages, including 1 private message from a friend.]
He ignored the rest and opened [Friend Gift], sending all 4 units of wood, 4 metal sheets, and 4 beast bones he'd just decomposed to Liu Ruyan.
The next second, the system voice echoed across the icefield.
[Congratulations, Host! Successfully gifted supplies to the goddess. Cashback triggered! Obtained: Wood ×2000, Metal sheets ×2000, Beast bones ×2000.]
"I knew it! It works!"
Su Ye slapped his thigh in excitement, then frowned again: "Wait, this time it was 500x, not 800x. Could the multiplier be random between 100 and 800?"
He had a guess but didn't overthink it. No matter the multiplier, as long as there was cashback, he was winning hard.
...
On the other side, somewhere else in the icefield.
Liu Ruyan was chipping hard at the thick ice with her ice axe when her guide suddenly shook violently.
[Your friend Su Ye has sent you: Wood ×4, Metal sheets ×4, Beast bones ×4. Please claim in time!]
"Huh?"
Liu Ruyan froze, stopped what she was doing, and stared at the guide in confusion.
"He just sent food, water, and a supply crate… and now materials? Who exactly is this Su Ye?"
She lowered her head and thought, then suddenly remembered: "Could he have watched my livestreams before? Saying he was looking for his sister was just an excuse, and he's actually my fan who couldn't afford gifts before, but now wants to impress me in this world?"
Liu Ruyan bit her lip lightly, mixed feelings swirling inside her. She had to admit, Su Ye's ability to get supplies was way beyond her imagination, and he was extremely generous, not stingy at all.
"Whatever, if he wants to send them, let him." She shook her head and muttered to herself, "The icefield is huge anyway, the chance of meeting is tiny. Even if he has ideas, he won't get the chance to act on them…"
Before she finished, the guide started shaking wildly again.
[Your friend Su Ye has sent you: Wood ×10, Metal sheets ×5, Beast bones ×3. Please claim in time!]
"Again?!"
Liu Ruyan's eyes widened as she stared at the newly arrived materials, completely dumbfounded: "Where is he getting all these materials? Doesn't he need them to expand and upgrade his own base?"
...
Back to Su Ye.
[Congratulations, Host! Successfully gifted supplies to the goddess. Cashback triggered! Obtained: Wood ×2000, Metal sheets ×1000, Beast bones ×600.]
Listening to the system, Su Ye scratched his head, confused: "Only 200x this time? Why is it getting lower? Is the multiplier not random, but decreasing with each gift?"
After thinking for a while with no answer, he simply stopped caring. He already had more materials than he could use; he could figure out the system's rules later.
"Materials are more than enough. Let's check Liu Ruyan's messages, then upgrade the base properly!"
Su Ye flipped through the guide and opened Liu Ruyan's private messages.
——————
(Sent at 14:00)
[Liu Ruyan: Survival is already so hard, I feel really bad accepting things from you all the time!]
(Sent at 14:10)
[Liu Ruyan: You don't actually have a sister, do you? Did you watch my livestreams before? Are you my fan?]
(Sent at 14:13)
[Liu Ruyan: How do you have so many materials? Don't you need to expand and upgrade your own base?]
[Liu Ruyan: Thank you, Brother Su Ye!]
——————
After reading the messages, Su Ye chuckled: "This little miss really jumps to conclusions. She thinks I'm her fan?"
"Whatever, if she used to be a streamer. I don't care. As long as she stays alive and behaves as my personal cashback tool, that's all that matters."
He didn't reply to Liu Ruyan. Instead, he flipped the guide back to the [Base Upgrade] page, pressed the Upgrade button firmly, and prepared to build the first max-level base on the entire icefield!