Chapter 3: Community 135
Chu Yun stepped inside. It was a small one-bedroom apartment with a living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchenette, measuring roughly thirty-five square meters.
The bedroom contained a 1.5-meter double bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, while the living room held a two-seater sofa and a low coffee table.
The apartment came with its own running water and electricity, the bathroom had hot water, and the kitchen was equipped with a small refrigerator. The facilities were fully comprehensive, though she currently had no ingredients to use.
Combined with the Community 135 Convenience Store outside, it looked exactly like an apartment complex for ordinary urban office workers—if one ignored this inexplicably appearing game.
Chu Yun lay on the bed, spreading her arms and legs wide like a starfish. The mattress was soft and comfortable, possessing a kind of magic that rapidly alleviated fatigue. It was perfect for sleeping. If possible, she really just wanted to be a salted fish and laze around forever.
After lying down for ten minutes.
“Chu Yun, are you done looking around your place? Let’s go explore the island together and see if we can find anything,” Xu Dongdong shouted from outside the door.
Chu Yun flipped herself up with a carp kick and walked out. Being a salted fish was impossible. It was never going to happen in this lifetime.
“Let’s go.”
A moment later, the three added each other as friends. By clicking a friend’s avatar, they could initiate a chat or form a team together.
Xu Dongdong and Yu Wenhao had already agreed to team up for tomorrow’s game, and they invited Chu Yun to join them.
Chu Yun replied, “Not for now. I want to experience the game’s difficulty on my own first.”
They had only just met and weren’t familiar with each other yet. Chu Yun wasn’t used to partnering with people she had known for less than an hour.
“That’s fine, but since you’re a girl, you should be careful out there,” Xu Dongdong said considerately.
Chu Yun nodded. She could tell their concern was genuine.
They went to the edge of the island first. Passing through a small patch of woods would bring them to the beach. The woods consisted entirely of ordinary tropical forest greenery, growing tall and massive.
It was entirely quiet inside, without even a single bird chirping. It seemed that aside from their group of inexplicably abducted humans, no other living creatures existed here.
Stepping out of the small woods, a six-foot-tall burly man came walking toward them from the beach, cursing under his breath the whole way.
“Don’t bother looking. Who knows what kind of ghost place this is. I wanted to leave but I got blocked.”
Having said his piece, he bypassed them irritably and walked away.
It was exactly as the burly man said; there was an invisible wall here. At a spot two meters forward from the edge of the beach, no matter how hard Chu Yun pushed outward, she was blocked and repelled by this invisible barrier.
The island seemed to be covered by a protective shield. Movement on the island was free, but the people inside couldn’t get out.
The three looked at each other, all of them falling into a silent, heavy mood.
This game was mysterious and bizarre, completely transcending their understanding. There wasn’t a single clue on how to leave. Even if they did get out, where would they go? Not a single sail could be seen on the vast, boundless ocean. Without food or rescue, they would eventually just die at sea.
It appeared that, for now, the best strategy was to comply with the game and work hard to clear the stages.
“Let’s not lose heart, everyone! There will always be a way out!” Xu Dongdong proactively livened up the atmosphere. “Heaven never seals off all exits. How do we know it’s impossible unless we give it a shot?”
Both Chu Yun and Yu Wenhao strongly agreed.
Compared to her days in the apocalypse—where she slept among zombie piles every day and fought wild dogs for food—life right now was considered a bit better, wasn’t it? As long as she worked hard to clear the stages, she wouldn’t starve. She really didn’t want to experience going a week without anything to eat ever again.
Having found nothing on the beach, they went to the Community 135 Convenience Store. Inside stood four vending machines. Chu Yun clicked open the ordering interface, which was divided into four major categories: Clothing, Food, Daily Necessities, and Medical Supplies. Under each category, there were only a mere handful of items.
The clothing category was divided into men’s and women’s, featuring two sets each for various styles like spring, summer, autumn, and winter outerwear, as well as undergarments. The food category only had plain white mantou, compressed biscuits, five types of bread, water, and instant noodles. Daily necessities consisted of pots, pans, and toiletries, with only one style per item. Medical supplies only featured medical bandages, rubbing alcohol, and cold medicine. One could browse through all the items in a single minute; the supplies were scarce to the extreme.
If one wanted to obtain other items, they could only do so by killing monsters in the game instances.
This was yet another piece of advanced technology she hadn’t seen before. No physical items were visible inside the machine. But once you selected the item you wanted, the machine would scan your iris, deduct your gold coins, and the purchased items would then arrive via the delivery box at the bottom of the machine. There was no limit on the stock of all items. As long as you had gold coins, you could buy as much as you wanted.
Water and food were survival necessities. She had tested the drinking water in her room, and the system had prompted that the water was only for washing; drinking it would cause negative effects on the body. She didn’t know what setbacks she would encounter in the upcoming stages, and she didn’t want to experiment with her own body.
In the end, she bought five 3L bottles of drinking water for 20 gold coins, five pork floss breads for 15 gold coins, ten plain white mantou for 10 gold coins, ten medical bandages for 50 gold coins, a set of the cheapest innerwear for 35 gold coins, and a universal backpack for 70 gold coins.
[System Prompt: Your gold coin balance is: 0. Please manage your spending carefully.]
Chu Yun: “?”
Looking at her dirt-poor interface, and then looking at the plain white mantou and cheap innerwear delivered from the slot, Chu Yun fell into deep thought.
The cost of living was truly high. Working herself to death killing monsters and risking her life to escape only earned her a hundred or so gold coins, which wasn’t even enough for a single hotpot meal in reality.
Xu Dongdong and Yu Wenhao also exchanged for their own items, though not as many as Chu Yun. First, it was because they lacked gold coins, and second, because even if they did exchange for them, having too many supplies made doing missions a massive drag. They each bought a military backpack, then bought some compressed biscuits, dry bread, water, and medical supplies, with only a small quantity of each.
Yu Wenhao asked, “Need some help?”
“Thanks, but I can manage.”
The two of them didn’t seem to possess any spatial-type items, and Chu Yun had no intention of exposing herself. So, she carried two jugs of mineral water in one hand, stuffed the rest into her backpack, and walked back with it on her shoulders.
Yu Wenhao, Xu Dongdong: “…”
With that brisk pace and completely effortless expression, she really didn’t need help!
As expected of a woman who could clear the labyrinth so quickly!
By the time they came out again, the sky had turned completely dark. The streetlights had long since turned on automatically, and the lights in some of the houses had also lit up.
Everything here operated according to established rules. Just like their fates, there always seemed to be a massive hand pushing them forward from behind. Even if they were completely unwilling, there wasn’t a single thing they could do about it.
By this point, twelve hours had passed in the game, and more people had successively escaped.
Just like the three-person squad when they had first emerged, they were full of complaints about this game, but they also slowly adapted and began exploring the island.
“Goodnight Chu Yun, goodnight Bro Hao. Everyone do your best in the game tomorrow!”
The three bid each other goodnight at the doors of their white houses.
Chu Yun placed her purchased items into her storage ring. All the supplies occupied only a small corner; it could really hold a lot. Lying on the bed, she wanted to find clues from her limited experiences, but ultimately there was nothing, so she simply blanked her mind.
The system had notified them that there was a new game to participate in tomorrow morning. What she could do right now was get a good rest and build up her energy.
Chu Yun ate the remaining half of her chicken burger, closed her eyes, and fell asleep within seconds.
