Chapter 7: Opening a Shop, Planting Thermostatic Flowers
When she heard Zhang Li’s inquiry, Su Ning didn’t think Zhang Li was genuinely concerned about her.
She turned and looked at Zhang Li.
Su Ning said, “Mm, I found a good hiding spot, so I wasn’t attacked by the dangers inside the instance.”
Hearing this, Zhang Li felt even more insanely jealous.
While her whole family had been frantically fleeing for their lives inside the instance, Su Ning had managed to stay safe and hidden. It was just unfair.
“Hmph!”
Zhang Li snorted coldly at Su Ning.
Su Ning thought Zhang Li was mentally unstable.
She pointed behind Zhang Li.
Zhang Li asked, confused, “What is it?”
Su Ning replied, “If you don’t stop the bleeding for your dad soon, Uncle Zhang might die from blood loss…”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
Zhang Li suddenly realized and remembered her father was still in danger, and quickly went back to stop his bleeding.
The survival game was extremely dangerous. Although players had the chance to obtain survival supplies, it was by no means easy.
So, after returning, many people never came back to reality again — they left this world forever.
But all that had nothing to do with Su Ning.
At this moment, she directly opened the [Shop] tab in the game—
To see if she could buy useful items from other players’ shops.
As for the money, she noticed her game currency balance.
“So you get 1 gold coin from the system each time you survive an instance.”
Su Ning also learned from the system that if you encountered native NPCs inside an instance, you could trigger missions through them, and completing those missions would also grant rewards.
[Ding! Player Su Ning, do you want to spend 1 gold coin to open your own shop?]
“So that’s why the shop only opens after completing your first instance.”
You needed 1 gold coin to open it. Those who hadn’t survived an instance weren’t even eligible.
Su Ning opened it without hesitation.
[Please name your shop!]
Su Ning thought for a moment, then entered the name:
[Ding! Survival General Store has opened!]
She named her shop Survival General Store.
There were no items in it yet, but Su Ning noticed that she could set her goods to be purchased with either items or money.
But she didn’t have anything worth putting on sale!
Wait, she did collect items from the instance — she could list those for trade.
Of course, now wasn’t the time for that. She wanted to see what other shops had to offer first.
She soon found that many players had opened shops, but like her, most were empty because they’d just opened them.
However, a few stood out.
[Daxia Official Shop]
Just seeing the name, Su Ning knew this was a government-run store.
And it only sold one item:
[Compressed Biscuits]
Restriction: Only available to Daxia citizens. Each person can only buy one per day!
There were even purchase limits.
“So the government is offering support… but why isn’t there water?”
Sure enough, water was still a critical resource. Even the government didn’t dare let people buy it freely.
After browsing the shops, Su Ning began organizing her scavenger backpack.
First, she put the food from her home’s safe into the backpack.
She had gathered all sorts of things during the Virus Town instance.
If she thought something might be useful, she took it.
Currently, her 50-slot scavenger backpack had over 30 slots filled — about 20 were left.
Su Ning couldn’t stand the stifling heat in the air.
So, she pulled out a flowerpot she had collected, filled it with soil, and then took out the Thermostatic Flower Seeds she had obtained from a treasure chest.
There were 10 seeds in total, but Su Ning didn’t plant all of them at once.
She only planted three, fearing that the extreme weather might prevent them from growing.
In reality, many crops and vegetables couldn’t develop due to high temperatures.
However, as soon as she planted the three seeds in pots, Su Ning immediately felt the air around her become cooler.
Su Ning was amazed. “Could it be that the Thermostatic Flower can already adjust the surrounding temperature just by being planted?”
Although the change was subtle, it made Su Ning very happy.
Each pot could reduce the heat in her room. She immediately moved them into her bedroom.
Her first goal was to improve her living environment.
This kind of good thing had to be kept secret, of course. Luckily, the flower’s range was limited to her bedroom.
As long as she didn’t let others in, no one would discover the temperature difference.
Su Ning glanced around her old home. Ever since those disgusting relatives came swarming in after her parents died, treating the house like a plague of locusts, many things had been taken.
Now, aside from some basic furniture, the house was almost completely empty.
Which was just as well — the things she gathered from the instance world could now be put to use.
The living room remained the same, but she focused on tidying her bedroom.
She couldn’t let anyone find out how different her home had become.
Her house had three bedrooms and one living room. One of the rooms was now filled with flowerpots.
She planted various plant seeds she found in flower shops — and even some vegetable seeds she had collected.
She wanted to see if she could grow her own vegetables.
While Su Ning was busy indoors, chaos raged outside due to the survival game.
After the initial disasters, some people previously suppressed by the government gained special talents from the game — and some began stirring up trouble again.
Chaos had returned.
Su Ning was still tidying her room.
Someone knocked on her door.
Su Ning walked over. Even before opening it, she could hear a commotion outside.
When she opened the door, a group of people stood there.
They were from the neighborhood committee.
After the apocalypse began, and with national intervention following the early riots, each residential complex had assigned managers.
They were responsible for handling community issues.
The man in front was the manager — Liu Zhengnan.
Liu had a military background and lived in the neighborhood too. Everyone knew him well.
Liu Zhengnan said, “Su Ning, the government is now requiring all returning players to register their talents from the survival game, for better management.”
The purpose, of course, was to prevent people with special abilities from stirring up trouble.
“If your talent is special enough, you can even join the national task force. With the apocalypse here, we need all the help we can get to rebuild the country!”
Su Ning listened to Liu Zhengnan’s words calmly.
No change in expression.
The Sixth Shelter nearby was currently under construction — she already knew that. But getting a position there was extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, Zhang Li’s family next door was also registering. Thanks to timely medical aid, Zhang’s father had survived.
From Duan Meixia, the local loudmouth, Su Ning learned that in the instance, they had been chased by wild beasts. Just before returning to reality, Uncle Zhang had been attacked.
