Chapter 19: Fighting Violence with Violence
Right away, other male players who had drawn sanitary pads from their boxes followed Lin Huai’s example. They listed their extra pads at very low prices in the trading hall.
For the first time in this cruel survival game, everyone felt the genuine warmth and strength of working together. Even Lin Huai felt her eyes sting with emotion for a brief second.
Just then, Jiangzhehu Inheritor sent her a private message.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Big Boss, first of all, thank you so much for stepping up and helping us out. That was an enormous favor.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Second, I have a small piece of advice. Please think it over if you’d like. It’s completely fine if you don’t take it, or if you just pretend you never read this.
Lin Huai did not reply right away. She watched the screen in silence, waiting to see what the girl had to say.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: I saw that you put your pads in the trading hall for only one underworld coin each. That’s dirt cheap, and almost anyone can afford it. However, I noticed you didn’t set any purchase limits on the listing, which is extremely dangerous.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Your intentions are good, but the people in this game aren’t all good. Without a limit on how many one person can buy, scalpers will jump in. They’ll sweep up the whole stock at rock-bottom prices and flip it for a fortune later. If that happens, it will damage your reputation, too.
In her previous life, Lin Huai had only traded items in small amounts. As long as someone bought what she put up, she was satisfied; she had never paid attention to how the top players manipulated the market. Because of that, she hadn’t given the listing much thought when she first posted it.
Jiangzhehu Inheritor truly lived up to her reputation as a wealthy heiress from a business family—she was exceptionally sharp when it came to trade.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: What you said makes total sense. Thank you for the advice. I’ll go change it to a limit of two per person each month.
She sent the message and tapped into the trading hall immediately to set the limit.
Unfortunately, she was one step too late. All one hundred packs had already been purchased.
[Cute and Sparkling]: No way… I was only a second too slow, and they’re already sold out?!
[Little Grass Don’t Float]: Sob… Big Boss, I didn’t get to buy any…
Lin Huai opened the transaction log. Aside from the first five or six packs bought by different women, every single remaining pack had been snapped up in one clean sweep by someone named Gold Medal Salesman. Even the pads listed by the other male players had been wiped out.
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: @Gold Medal Salesman, I advise you to return those items right now. That was emergency aid meant to help women survive a difficult time. Don’t push things too far.
[Old Wang from Building Materials]: @Gold Medal Salesman, luckily I set a purchase limit on mine, but you’d better be smart here. Don’t go making enemies of the entire chat.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: @Gold Medal Salesman, even a crooked merchant needs some moral limits. If you want to inflate prices, don’t do it with basic survival necessities. Business is about profit, but you shouldn’t throw human decency out the window!
[Gold Medal Salesman]: The market decides the price! What did I do wrong? Whoever has the money gets the goods. I took a financial risk by hoarding inventory, so why shouldn’t I profit from the price difference?
[Gold Medal Salesman]: Besides, this is a survival game. Troublesome burdens like you women ought to die off early anyway. Without pads, you won’t be able to hit your daily mileage, will you? If you want to live, you’d better sell yourselves to us men. Survival of the fittest—the strong rule everything! Wake up to reality, you naive little girls!
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: @Gold Medal Salesman, return the items. I am only warning you once.
[My Charm is Unrivaled]: @Jiangzhehu Inheritor, hey little girl, you need pads? Come get them from me. I’ve got plenty. As long as you make me happy for one night, you can have whatever supplies you want. I’ve been stuck in this game for weeks without seeing a woman’s face. It’s driving me insane.
[Pillar Holding Up the Sky]: @My Charm is Unrivaled, hey, I heard Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar is only sixteen years old. We’re in a game world now, so messing with minors isn’t against the law anymore, hahaha!
[Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar]: You bastards are crossing the line! I have a gun!
[Pillar Holding Up the Sky]: Tsk, tsk, tsk! Big Brother is so terrified! Guess what? Big Brother has a teleportation talisman, too. I’m coming over to find you right now~ Go take a nice shower and wait for me.
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: @Don’t Run a Fever Everywhere, aren’t you going to keep your dogs on a leash? Aren’t they taking this way too far?
[Old Wang from Building Materials]: Screw you, you filthy scumbags! If you have the guts, come after me instead! What kind of pathetic men bully a sixteen-year-old girl?!
[Don’t Run a Fever Everywhere]: Aren’t you guys supposed to be Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice’s little lapdogs? Look at her—we’re attacking her people, and she doesn’t even dare to squeak. Since she decided to target me, I’ll teach her who really runs Zone 444!
Lin Huai posted no further replies in the lobby. She knew all too well that in an apocalyptic wasteland like this, human virtue and unity would not bloom first; instead, the darkest, ugliest evils of human nature would awaken.
In a lawless world where people could do whatever they pleased without rules or punishment, sin was always the first thing to explode.
Fairness and justice did not exist here. Using violence to crush violence was the only method that worked.
Lin Huai checked the timer.
There were only three minutes left until her vehicle upgrade was complete.
Far away on a straight stretch of asphalt, a young girl sat behind the steering wheel of a modified ambulance, glancing nervously in every direction.
She clutched a small handgun tightly in her hands.
She had no other weapons. She had never been lucky enough to find one in her supply boxes, so this little pistol—a gift from Boss Bone Ash—was her only protection.
Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar was terrified. She would rather be torn to shreds by a vicious ghost than fall into the hands of a scumbag like Pillar Holding Up the Sky. She refused to let herself be degraded like that.
She drove her level-two ambulance as fast as it would go, keeping her foot flat on the gas pedal, terrified that Pillar Holding Up the Sky would track her down.
Looking down at the gun in her lap, a dark thought crossed her mind: if she failed to kill Pillar Holding Up the Sky when he caught her, maybe she should just turn the gun on herself. Dying by her own hand was far better than being tormented to death by a monster in human skin.
As she sped forward, her eyes constantly darted toward the rearview mirror.
The road ahead suddenly expanded into two wide lanes. A moment later, a massive black SUV materialized out of thin air on the road beside her, roaring loudly as it accelerated to match her pace.
The SUV had clearly been upgraded to level two. Its front bumper had been reinforced with heavy off-road steel bars, fitted with sharp, wicked metal spikes. If it slammed into her side, it would crush her ambulance with ease.
Her ambulance was heavy and cumbersome. Try as she might, she could not outrun an SUV built for speed. In less than a minute, the dark vehicle pulled up right beside her driver’s window.
The SUV’s window rolled down, revealing an ugly, leering man who blew a loud, mocking whistle at her.
“Whew~ What a tender little thing! Big Brother really hit the jackpot today!”
