The next day, Sandrine woke up feeling better compared to the previous day. It wasn't only because she was a morning person, she could really feel that her body was less painful and her legs had a bit more strength. She was probably starting to develop muscles.
Sandrine turned on the light and started inspecting her body. The bruises between her legs and on her butt were starting to turn black from purple. It was a bit quick for a cicatrisation, and the wounds on her thighs had already scabbed over, now she needed to take out the bandages and let them breathe.
Even her scraped hands looked good enough, she didn't even need bandages.
Following her intuition, Sandrine summoned her game screen.
[Player : Sandrine Legrand
Nickname : 84jojo84
Species : Human
Vehicle : Paquerette (Select to see profile)
Job : None
Health : 35
Fatigue : 13
Strength : 5 (Average human : 7)
Constitution : 6 (Average human : 6)
Agility : 9 (Average human : 7)]
Sure enough, her constitution had gone up again. And this time, after reaching the average human level, Sandrine could really feel the effects. Her back seemed better, as if the long term effects of sitting in front of a computer were fading away, and even her eyes that had been worn out by a screen were becoming sharper.
It was simply magical.
"I guess repeatedly using a stat raises it faster. If I was carrying heavy weight all day, my strength would go up."
This was good news. There were less than two weeks before the end of the newbie protection period, Sandrine needed to get ready for the future dangers. She really needed to add workout to her usual routine.
Feeling way better compared to yesterday, still a bit painful and nauseous but not on the verge of collapse, Sandrine got up and cleaned up her bed, then spent a few minutes stretching. It was early, about 5am, so she had a bit of time to check out the server chat while she was preparing breakfast for Paquerette and herself.
Since it was so early, the chat was calmer than usual, and people could calmly exchange tips, with a more mature tone than the frantic discussions during the day.
By silently reading the chat logs, Sandrine learned a few things. First of all, most people couldn't raise their stats. To do so, you needed an extreme overuse of the stat, like when Sandrine almost collapsed, overusing the constitution stat. To raise strength, you needed to carry heavy weight until you almost passed out and your muscles ripped. This wasn't something that anyone could do, you needed the mental strength to keep going even when you were in pain. Not everyone had it.
Another thing that Sandrine learned was that there were a lot of people that weren't opening chests at all. Not everyone had a Paquerette that warned them of danger, the other players had to always stay on edge while opening chests. A single lapse in concentration would spell death for them. For some, this anxiety was too much to bear, they preferred to directly trade unopened chests for supplies, not daring to try their luck. That way they would get less than if they had opened the chests themselves, but it was worth it to preserve their lives. In the same way, if someone was hurt or not in the best shape, it was better for them to trade the unopened chests because they weren't in perfect condition and would risk their lives if a dangerous creature was inside.
And, the last thing Sandrine learned that morning, maybe it was a direct result of the previous information. Water might be slowly losing its scarcity, but there was a famine creeping on the players.
A few of them had caught small animals coming out the chests, like rabbits or poultry, waiting for them to reproduce so they could have a steady supply of meat. Others had gained pots and seeds, ready to make their own vegetables grow. In both cases, this needed time, and right now food was scarce.
Every single player had a different luck towards the chests' supplies. Some, like AlphaWolf, always found miscellaneous objects but never food nor fuel. Some, like Sandrine, seemed to always find bread and water, and had average luck otherwise. Some would always find hygiene products, others always had desserts but never any savory meals.
The rates seemed evenly distributed, there was the same proportion of people finding cooking utensils as people finding food. However, the problem stemmed from people consuming food without finding it, like those trading their unopened chests, or those never finding food in the first place. Those that did get food were fewer, and even if they found a lot of it, they would always stockpile a portion for themselves, in case of a famine.
This in suite was creating the famine.
On the first day, people were too confused, and humans can survive a day without food, so the issue hadn't been brought up. On the second day, people could still try to endure it or exchange everything they had for a bit of bread. But now, after a night of being hungry, people were starting to complain and despair. And the more they were doing it and begging for food, the more people having food were starting to realize that there was a famine, and the less they were willing to sell their stockpile.
It was a vicious circle.
"At this point, I'm afraid that if people see Paquerette, they will try to kill and eat her."
This wasn't an unwarranted worry, some players that were used to a peaceful life were already losing their minds because of hunger, trying to gnaw on the wood of their chests.
This survival game was really malicious, introducing food scarcity during the newbie protection period.
"If they make players meet in a few days, when some have lost their minds because of hunger, we might witness cannibalism…"
Sandrine shuddered. This was really possible.
She shook her head, trying to chase this idea away. Let's not panic, nothing of the sort has happened yet, let's calm down and do what we can.
After eating a loaf of bread with a bit of pâté and giving Paquerette hay and water, she checked on the mare's legs. Maybe it was because she had rested well, or maybe because she had leveled up and her constitution had gone up, but her legs seemed less sore, less swollen, and slightly warm but not hot.
"Good ! We're both in better condition today !"
There was still a bit of time left before 6am, so Sandrine did what she was too tired to take care of yesterday. She organized the content of her inventory and the chests that were on Paquerette's back yesterday, and traded what she didn't need. This included a dozen loaves of bread, as well as vehicle upgrade materials she didn't need, like batteries, glass and plastic.
As she had guessed, water prices had gone down during the night because of people's hunger. Now she could buy 2L of water with one loaf of bread, and this would continue to go up as the day progressed.
Sandrine smiled while looking at her inventory. Next to the icon for the 1L bottle of water, there was a x39. With 39L of water, she had 2 days worth of water !
She hesitated for a while, glancing at the time. There were still 15 minutes before it was 6am. She couldn't resist, she needed to clean up, at least a little bit.
She exchanged more bread for a clean t-shirt and a bra, and undressed. In order to use the least amount of water possible, she cut a piece of fabric, wet it with water, and wiped herself down. Then she applied a bit of soap on the fabric and rubbed herself down. She finished by taking another piece of clean fabric and wetting it to rinse herself.
In the end, she succeeded in becoming absolutely clean with less than 2L of water. Sandrine was proud of herself, even if she regretted she couldn't wash her hair right now. At least she felt more comfortable.
She put her dirty clothes in the washbasin then in her inventory, and put on clean underwear, socks, and a t-shirt. She still didn't have any pants without inner seams, so she could only stay as she was.
Putting her shoes back on, Sandrine looked at the washbasin icon in her inventory. The little image showed a basin full of dirty fabric.
"If only I could wash them…"
There were also the bandages for her thigh wounds that she had taken off, clean bandages could be useful. She must continue to stockpile water.
Anyway, it was almost 6am now. Sandrine cleaned up her camp and tied the two chests to Paquerette's side. When she tied the last knot, the world suddenly became bright and a loud buzzing sound filled her head.
[Players who didn't reach the required mileage will disappear]
[8,983 players enter the third day]
[Congratulations on entering the third day]
[You are the 8th player to upgrade your vehicle to level 2, rewards have been sent to your inbox]
[Required mileage for today : 20km]
[Time left for the newbie protection period : 12 days]
Why did the required mileage suddenly go down ? Wasn't it supposed to keep going up ?
Before Sandrine could frown, another message appeared.
[Today is an event day !]
[Event : Roadside opening]
[The black mist will disappear from the roadside. Players are encouraged to explore the roadside]
[The roadside has more opportunities, but also more dangers]
[To encourage exploration, chests on the road will appear 50% less often, and will contain 50% less supplies]
[This event will last 3 days. Enjoy !]
As soon as the hologram disappeared, the black fog started receding, revealing the roadside.
It was a familiar landscape. Tall grey buildings punctured with glass openings, cement and asphalt mixed, parks filled with trees, artificial ponds and light panels. It was a city.
The more the mist was vanishing, the more things were revealed under the light gray sky. Then, Sandrine noticed that the building had cracks, some windows were gone, there was debris on the sidewalks. This city was in ruins.
"What the… Are we really not on Earth ?"
This was a landscape that seemed directly taken from an apocalyptic movie centered around the collapse of the civilisation. But it had only been two days since people were taken to this survival game, such a degree of destruction couldn't have happened overnight !
The whole thing felt eerie and Sandrine had a bad feeling. However, the rules were clear : If she stayed on the road, she would have less supplies. In a situation where food was scarce and she needed to prepare for the end of the newbie protection period, Sandrine couldn't afford to lose a day of productivity.
Ultimately, she had to take the risk and explore the roadside.
She didn't know what would be hiding in the ruins, so she needed to stay alert and ready. This meant that she wouldn't climb on Paquerette's back, getting up and down took too much time and made her vulnerable.
Sandrine put on her long forgotten pair of jeans in order to offer minimal protection to her legs, and took a step towards the city. She thought that Paquerette would wait for her on the road, but the mare followed her immediately.
"Nice, I got an off road vehicle !"
Joking to release the tension, Sandrine cautiously got off the road and started walking amongst the desolate streets. There was so much debris, pieces of collapsed walls, glass shards and dust that it was difficult to walk around. Even Paquerette was struggling, it would have been impossible even for an off road vehicle to pass.
"I guess I'm the only one walking around with her car."
This thought was somewhat reassuring.
As she was cautiously exploring, Sandrine was looking through the buildings' windows and taking everything that looked even slightly useful. Plastic sheets, tarp, steel pipes… A lot of things had rotten away and the contents of the pantries were moldy or turned to dust, but there was still a lot to find.
After walking for a while amongst the high rise buildings that didn't offer much to scavenge, Sandrine stumbled upon a narrower path flanked by restaurants and shops, with apartments on higher floors. This was the perfect place to search for more supplies.
Just as she was walking towards an old shop whose sign was unreadable, Sandrine was suddenly thrown forward by something pushing her hard. She almost fell on her face, and Paquerette's anxious neighing filled her ears, missing the sound of the old signboard wiping the air, and crashing down at the same place she had been a second ago.
Sandrine slowly got up, looking at the metal sign that had fallen with such force that it was embedded into the sidewalk. If she had stayed at the same place, she would have been sliced neatly into two.
"Paquerette, you're really my bodyguard…"
It was now the second time that the horse had saved her life. Sandrine wasn't about to forget.
The girl walked around the sign to check on Paquerette. Thankfully, the mare had pushed her with her head and immediately backed down, so she wasn't hurt.
"Having a higher agility is really useful to dodge things."
The danger might be gone, but the mare still wasn't calming down. Her eyes were darting everywhere, her ears glued to the back of her neck, nostrils flared and stomping in place. It looked like the whole area was dangerous.
But it made sense, this was a commercial street with high scavenging value, the survival game wouldn't be so nice as to give free things.
Readjusting her mindset, Sandrine slowly walked along the wall, glancing inside the shop. This looked like a typical cookware shop, the kind you saw in every French commercial street, with every kind of pan, pot, or cooking utensil you could dream of. They were a bit dusty, some had rotted away, and some shelves had collapsed, but there were still some salvageable things. Most of all, behind all the sales displays and the cardboard boxes of food processors, Sandrine could see something very familiar. A wooden chest.
"It's really too small and too cluttered, I don't think you can go in with me."
Paquerette just couldn't get inside, that was impossible.
Sandrine decided that she would go anyway, the chest was too tempting. She emptied her backpack by putting some things in Paquerette's chests, took out her machete, and cautiously stepped inside the shop.
The entrance must have been surrounded with baking utensils before, like cake moulds or piping bags, as well as birthday candles and cupcake wrappers, but now most of them had lost colors, crumbled into pieces, or just weren't usable anymore. As Sandrine walked further, she encountered spatulas and wooden spoons which had rotted away. There were also metal ones, but rust covered most of them.
She still looked carefully and managed to get a few that were still in a fairly good state, even if they needed a good scrub. A bit further, there were pans and pots. As she was bending down to grab one, Sandrine suddenly heard some grating noises, like small critters scurrying away.
She immediately backed up and raised her machete, just in time to block two sharp teeth aiming for her head.
It was an enormous rat.
She heard more noises and looked further inside the shop, around the wooden chest.
Okay, a small correction : There were several enormous rats.
And despite Paquerette's frenetic neighing, she couldn't get inside. So it was several enormous rats against one Sandrine alone.