Chapter 14: Raft Survival
The next morning at 8:00 AM sharp, the familiar system voice rang out.
[Welcome to Raft Survival. Total players in this round: 10,000. NPCs: None.]
[Please escape and enter the next game instance within 8 days. Failure to escape within 8 days will be deemed a game failure. Losers will be instantly teleported back to the community and will be unable to enter the next game instance. Please strive to survive.]
[In-game injury will translate to a certain degree of negative impact in reality. Death in reality occurs if a player’s heart is destroyed by another player’s attack.]
[Note: You cannot apply to leave the instance at will during this survival round.]
[The rewards for both rounds will be calculated together. Surviving for 28 days automatically clears the game.]
[Survival Days 1–10: Reward of 5 coins/day.]
[Survival Days 11–15: Reward of 10 coins/day.]
[Survival Days 16–20: Reward of 20 coins/day.]
[Survival Days 20–25: Reward of 30 coins/day.]
[Survival Days 25+: Reward of 40 coins/day.] [Clearance: An additional bonus reward of 500 coins.]
Just as the system finished its introduction, Chu Yun materialized on a crude raft. The tiny raft floating on the boundless sea was like a drop in the ocean; the surface of the water was vast, broad, and completely empty.
Immediately after, a system interface popped up on the raft, displaying: “Produced by the System. Level: 1.” Chu Yun tried clicking “Upgrade,” but a prompt indicated she lacked the corresponding materials. With absolutely no materials in sight, upgrading was hopeless.
The raft was made of six long wooden logs tied together with green cloth strips, looking like it could fall apart at any moment. It was roughly ninety centimeters wide and two meters long—a standard sightseeing bamboo raft you’d find at a tourist spot. In a little stream or river, this kind of raft might actually be quite charming.
But this was the open sea. This battered piece of wood was woefully inadequate; just one step too far and she would plunge into the ocean and be washed away by the current.
[Game Day 1. Deploying survival supply packs: 100/100.]
Before entering the game, they had guessed that the clearance requirement for this round would also be around fifteen days. They hadn’t expected the game to combine two instances, requiring twenty-eight days to clear. Consequently, their water and food storage wasn’t enough, and they would need to continue gathering supplies. However, the more urgent issue at hand was how to escape and how to deal with the various dangers they would soon face at sea.
Chu Yun lowered her body and carefully observed the direction of the current. It was 8:00 AM. Going by standard logic, the sea was experiencing the morning tide, which meant the direction the raft was drifting was the direction toward the shore.
Chu Yun faced the direction the raft was moving and pulled out her compass to note the heading. The system had given them eight days, which meant they could definitely reach the shore within eight days. As long as she kept the heading from deviating, they would reach land. Once they reached land, it would count as an escape, allowing them to proceed to the next round.
When entering the game, Chu Yun had formed a team with Yu Wenhao and Xu Dongdong. The system had stated that successfully forming a team guaranteed a 100% chance of entering the same server, but the probability of being assigned to the same immediate area was random.
Chu Yun opened the system interface. The world forum and personal interface were greyed out and unusable; correspondingly, Happy Farm was also inaccessible. Chu Yun was a bit worried that if she stayed in the instance for too long, the vegetables in her plot would grow too old.
Dwelling on it was pointless, so she started her tasks.
Until she ran into them or any other players, she was still playing a single-player game.
Chu Yun found a strip of cloth and tied it around her head to block the UV rays from above. The little raft was cramped, offered absolutely no shelter, and was so bare it felt like streaking across the ocean—leaving her with zero sense of security.
Then, she sat cross-legged on the raft and gazed out in the direction of the drift. Every time the raft advanced for a while, she would pull out her compass to adjust for any drift, ensuring the raft stayed on the correct course.
Until 12:00 PM, the sea remained completely calm, and the raft’s drifting speed gradually slowed down. Worried that moving too slowly would affect their clearance time, Chu Yun pulled out her spiked mace to use as a makeshift paddle.
“Sister Chu Yun! Sister Chu Yun!” a familiar voice called out.
After being deployed to the sea, Xu Dongdong hadn’t encountered a single soul all morning. For someone as talkative as him, it was hard to adjust to the isolation.
The ocean was unfathomably deep, the water so blue it looked black. He constantly felt as if a massive eye was staring at him from the seabed, ready to swallow him whole at any moment. The imaginary eye made his heart race and cold sweat pour down. One careless glance downward gave him the illusion of being sucked into the deep sea, making him feel dizzy and lightheaded.
Many people suffered from deep-sea phobia, feeling a profound sense of dread just looking at an aerial photo of the ocean. He used to think people were exaggerating—it was just a picture, after all. But now that he was personally in the environment, he realized it really was that intense. He felt like he could faint into the sea at any second; this tiny raft provided absolutely no sense of security.
He endured a grueling morning. By the afternoon, he finally spotted a figure in the distance. Judging by the silhouette, it was a woman, and she looked a bit familiar. Because she was facing away from him, he couldn’t see her face, but when she finally turned her head, Xu Dongdong discovered it was none other than Chu Yun.
He thanked the system up and down; thank goodness for the team function.
Subconsciously, he felt Chu Yun was incredibly capable. In the last round, she was the only one in the entire community who had held out until the final day to clear the instance. With her around, Xu Dongdong’s confidence instantly surged, and his dizziness vanished. He stood up and shouted excitedly toward Chu Yun.
Chu Yun stood up and looked into the distance. A hundred meters away, a person was waving wildly; it was indeed Xu Dongdong.
He looked incredibly excited, standing on his raft and waving non-stop. Because his movements were a bit too violent, they caused the tiny raft to rock slightly on the calm sea.
He spread his arms to barely steady his swaying frame as the raft rocked, then sat down and used his pocket knife as a paddle, rowing with all his might toward Chu Yun.
Whether because his technique was wrong or because a pocket knife was practically useless for rowing, Xu Dongdong’s raft just kept spinning in circles in that one area, leaving him frantically looking around in frustration.
“Sit down and don’t move, I’ll row over!” Chu Yun shouted to him. Seeing Xu Dongdong’s clumsy movements, she was worried he would accidentally flip himself into the ocean.
Hearing her words, Xu Dongdong waited peacefully for Chu Yun to come rescue him.
Chu Yun was truly amazing. That spiked mace could be used not just as a weapon but also as a paddle, and she was rowing remarkably fast. With a few sharp splashes, Chu Yun closed the distance, appearing on the water just a dozen meters away.
Then, Chu Yun tossed over a long rope. Holding the other end, she gestured for him to tie his end to his raft. Just like that, his raft was towed over by Chu Yun along the line.
“Sister Chu Yun, I finally ran into you. You have no idea how grueling my morning was.”
The moment he got close, Xu Dongdong poured out his bitter grievances to Chu Yun.
Unfortunately, Chu Yun couldn’t empathize with him. Her mental strength was far superior to that of average experts, so she didn’t suffer from those anxieties at all. Right now, she was busy upgrading the raft.
[Do you wish to upgrade?]
Chu Yun clicked yes without a moment’s hesitation.
Instantly, a flash of light erupted. After the smoke cleared, the two small rafts merged into one, upgrading to Level 2. It transformed into a small wooden boat 1.8 meters wide and 2 meters long, and the system additionally provided a paddle and a sail. The sail was just a simple long pole erected in the middle of the boat with a one-meter-long piece of cloth wrapped around it.
Chu Yun took the compass out of her backpack and readjusted the wooden boat to the correct heading according to the needle. Although the paddle was crude, it was vastly superior to the spiked mace. Chu Yun rowed back and forth, driving the wooden boat forward.
“Sister Chu Yun, let me do it.”
Xu Dongdong didn’t dare let Chu Yun do all the heavy lifting. Even though Chu Yun was stronger than most men, she was still a girl, and his good upbringing told him that girls should be properly protected.
Chu Yun didn’t refuse. She directed Xu Dongdong, teaching him the key techniques and precautions. Xu Dongdong was clumsy and uncoordinated at first, but as he rowed, he gradually got the hang of it.
“Sister Chu Yun, you’re seriously incredible. How do you know how to do everything?” Xu Dongdong flattered her. He increasingly felt that Chu Yun was a major powerhouse, resolving to firmly cling to her coat-tails.
Chu Yun smiled and said nothing.
It had to be said that Xu Dongdong’s luck was truly excellent. They had only been rowing for a short while when they encountered a supply pack. Chu Yun tied one end of the rope to the boat and the other end around herself, then dived into the sea like a fish, swimming rapidly toward the foam box.
Standing on the boat, Xu Dongdong watched Chu Yun reach the foam box ten meters away in a matter of seconds, his face full of shock. There was literally nothing Chu Yun couldn’t do; by comparison, he was a total waste.
Chu Yun floated on the sea, holding the large foam box with both hands. The box was very heavy. Xu Dongdong pulled the rope from the boat to bring Chu Yun closer; the rope pulled Chu Yun, and Chu Yun held the foam box.
Soon they reached the edge of the wooden boat. Chu Yun pressed against the rim, pushed upward with her arms, and executed a beautiful vault back into the boat. Following that, the two worked together to haul the foam box aboard.
While Chu Yun was busy untying the rope from her waist, Xu Dongdong excitedly went to open the foam box.
Inside were two life jackets with air bladders, a fishing rod, four 500ML bottles of fresh water, and a few small buns.
Chu Yun stared at the two life jackets on the boat and fell into deep thought. The game would never hand out gear for no reason; it was absolutely related to clearing the final stage. So the secret to clearing the game might require them to swim across? She had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“Do you know how to swim?” Chu Yun looked at Xu Dongdong earnestly.
“I do, but I’m scared, Sister Chu.” Xu Dongdong seemed to guess Chu Yun’s intentions, and his legs suddenly went a bit weak.
“From now on, you’ll go into the water to swim for an hour every day. Fear can be overcome.” Chu Yun walked up behind Xu Dongdong and delivered a merciless kick to his rear. With a loud splash, water sprayed into the air.
The moment Xu Dongdong entered the sea, he felt an icy chill wash over his lower body, constantly imagining someone lying in ambush to drag him under. Paralyzed by fear, his limbs grew stiff, his mind went entirely blank, and he forgot every single skill he had learned at the swimming pool. He began to flail wildly like a drowning chick, splashing up and down and swallowing quite a bit of seawater.
Suddenly, his body was pulled up by a warm, powerful hand, and he broke through the surface of the water.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t overthink it. Just pretend you’re in the swimming pool.”
Chu Yun’s words carried a steady weight, instantly calming his frantic heart. His limbs began to recall the swimming strokes, and as he gradually adapted, the fear in his heart diminished considerably. Seeing that he was on the right track, Chu Yun climbed back onto the wooden boat.
After tidying up the supplies, she retrieved the fishing rod from the foam box. In the end, the foam box was kept on the boat rather than thrown back into the sea; foam possessed immense buoyancy and would likely prove useful later.
It was an exquisite black-and-gold rod, perfectly suited for sea fishing. Thus, she sat on the edge of the wooden boat, fishing while keeping an eye on Xu Dongdong as he swam in the sea. In her past life during the apocalypse, she had always engaged in life-or-death struggles and had no time for such leisurely pastimes, so after an hour or so, she hadn’t caught a single fish.
“Do you know how to fish?” Chu Yun asked Xu Dongdong, holding the rod as he climbed back aboard.
“I do, I do!” Xu Dongdong raised his hand, thrilled that he finally didn’t have to endure swimming bitterly in the sea.
Thus, Chu Yun took charge of managing the wooden boat’s heading, while Xu Dongdong fished from the side.
It turned out Xu Dongdong really knew a thing or two about fishing. Within two hours, he had reaped a massive harvest: three small groupers around one pound each, one meter-long hairtail, and one yellow croaker around two pounds.
There was also a massive Spanish mackerel weighing over fifty pounds. The two of them put in quite a bit of effort together before finally hauling it aboard. Chu Yun stored them all inside her storage ring. The storage ring could keep items fresh, so pulling them out to cook at any time would yield a delicious meal. With so many fish, they wouldn’t have to worry about food for the next few days. She had traded for flint in the last instance, but unfortunately, there was no wood on the boat to start a fire, and they had no desire to eat raw fish.
The entire afternoon passed without wind or waves; the surface of the sea was deathly silent.
The calm before the storm, however, precisely heralded the beginning of a nightmare.
