Chapter 28: Additional Rules, Countdown to Death!
Sun Yuan’s words startled the girls, and they turned their heads over in unison.
“Why?” Xu Jing blurted out.
His actions made them feel a difference in treatment.
Why do I have to labor while that junior gets to rest?
This isn’t fair.
Xu Jing was angered.
Who wasn’t their parents’ beloved baby?
She was someone who rarely washed the dishes at home but was now forced to gather firewood for some food. Despite feeling aggrieved, she was faced with such unfair treatment.
“Because I contributed one pheasant!” Sun Yuan replied confidently.
“S-So what if you contributed a pheasant?” Xu Jing snapped back.
“Hehe, I don’t care if you want to gather the firewood; that’s your group’s problem. I’ve already done my part by contributing a pheasant. All that matters is you guys provide the firewood!”
Sun Yuan looked toward Xu Qingshan, “Am I being unreasonable?”
“Not at all!” Xu Qingshan nodded.
He had worked part-time every holiday and had experienced how cruel society was. If you wanted to earn money, you had to forgo the notion of fairness.
Food delivery platforms would always find a reason to deduct his wages, while the foreman would scold him when he slowed down a little when moving bricks. He would even be bullied because he was an outsourced temporary worker and was assigned the most grueling tasks…
“Xu Qingshan, do you still have balls?” Xu Jing yelled, “What’s with your nonchalant attitude when he’s taking advantage of us?”
“Senior, it’s fine. I’m not tired. I can go gather some firewood!”
Zhen Yu didn’t want to cause trouble for Sun Yuan over such a small matter but was secretly happy with his care for her.
“B-But what he said wasn’t wrong!” Xu Qingshan said as he scratched his head.
“You…” Xu Jing’s outburst was stopped by Zhao Siyu.
“Can’t you keep your mouth shut for a while?” Zhao Siyu scolded while she walked into the woods, “I’ll gather both Zhao Caiwei’s and the junior’s share of firewood!”
She was clear that Sun Yuan was annoyed with how Xu Jing complained that Zhao Caiwei got to rest while she labored. He wouldn’t have uttered such words otherwise.
Hearing this, Xu Jing’s expression softened. She was satisfied that she didn’t have to do anything beyond her assigned part.
“Senior, I’ll go gather firewood!” Zhen Yu chased after Zhao Siyu; she wouldn’t be lazy.
“You like her?” Sun Yuan evaluated Zhao Siyu. Her looks were a seven out of ten, and she was too skinny but had a noble and scholarly aura.
She was also intelligent and could determine the reason for his unhappiness with a glance.
“I-I don’t!” Xu Qingshan was too shy to admit the fact.
“Give it your best shot; she’s a keeper.”
Sun Yuan was impressed with how she was able to take the initiative to delegate roles and defuse the conflict in such circumstances. Not only was she a natural-born leader, but she was also kind-hearted.
Xu Qingshan was an honest person and was usually quiet because of his inferiority complex. He only answered when Sun Yuan asked him a question.
However, he wasn’t stupid.
He could see that Sun Yuan was easy to get along with and didn’t discriminate against himself for being a mountain kid.
…
Somewhere within the forest.
“Xiao Yu’er1, how many honeydew mushrooms have you guys found?” Zhao Siyu spoke softly with a gentle aura; she was like a kind elder sister from next door.
“More than ten!” Zhen Yu was honest because Sun Yuan planned on selling them.
“Come again?” Not only was Zhao Siyu surprised, but so were the other three girls. It was a ridiculous amount of honeydew mushrooms.
“More than ten!” Zhen Yu thought to herself, wouldn’t you be shocked to death if I told you that senior had already sold some away?
“Can you give me three?” Although Xu Jing didn’t want to interact with Zhen Yu, she couldn’t help but ask when honeydew mushrooms were involved.
“Since those mushrooms were found by senior, it’s not my decision to make!” Zhen Yu was unable to help.
“How did he manage to find so many mushrooms?” Xu Jing asked. There must have been a trick to it.
“I don’t know!” Zhen Yu gave a business smile, “You can go buy it from him if you have the points!”
“Where am I supposed to get points?” Xu Jing was depressed.
Zhao Siyu looked at Zhen Yu with envy in her eyes.
The girls took an hour to gather sufficient firewood before returning to camp.
Xu Qingshan had made a simple wooden grill for Sun Yuan.
As night arrived, popping sounds could occasionally be heard from the campfire.
When Xu Jing was done with her meal, she glanced at Zhao Siyu, who was prettier than her. If Zhao Siyu was to approach Sun Yuan for the mushrooms first, there wouldn’t be any left for her.
Xu Jing no longer hesitated and stood up to walk toward Sun Yuan.
“Sun Yuan, I was at fault previously. I shouldn’t have angered you.” She apologized cheerfully.
“It’s fine; you don’t need to apologize when we’re all unfamiliar with each other.” Sun Yuan said indifferently.
Although she was embarrassed, she bit the bullet and stated her intentions. “I heard from Zhen Yu that you had additional honeydew mushrooms. Can I have three of them?”
“No!”
Her face fell with his blunt refusal. Even though Xu Jing wanted to turn and leave, she stopped herself from doing so. She thought back to all the hardship she had endured; she searched the whole afternoon but failed to find a single honeydew mushroom.
She could only try begging again.
“Why do you need so many honeydew mushrooms when every player only needs three of them? Can’t you just give me three?” Xu Jing followed with some nice words, “I’ll pay you cash when we get out of here. How does 1,000 yuan for a mushroom sound? Isn’t it a good deal?”
Xu Qingshan’s group all looked at her.
“I’m not selling no matter the price,” Sun Yuan said as he looked straight at Xu Jing, “because I dislike you as a person!”
“You…”
Although Xu Jing wanted to lash out at him, she still held onto a shred of hope that he might give her the mushrooms. Hence, she held her tongue and disappointedly wandered back to the campfire.
The other girls sighed at the sight.
They too entertained the thought of begging Sun Yuan for some mushrooms.
Xu Qingshan got a rundown of the situation from Zhao Siyu and couldn’t help but be impressed. “He’s amazing. He must have watched tons of wilderness survival shows.”
Xu Jing rolled her eyes at the comment and focused her gaze on Zhao Siyu, “Siyu, since you’re so beautiful, I doubt he’ll reject you if you asked him for some mushrooms!”
Xu Qingshan was startled like a cat who had its tail stepped on when he heard these words and looked nervously at Zhao Siyu.
“I’m not going.” Zhao Siyu shook her head.
Her parents were university lecturers. Descending from a family of scholars, she wouldn’t stoop to begging for mushrooms.
“Don’t worry, Siyu. I’ll find some mushrooms tomorrow!” Xu Qingshan quickly assured.
Xu Jing sighed at these words.
She spent the whole afternoon thinking about how great Xu Qingshan was, but he was outclassed compared to Sun Yuan.
He had more pheasants and mushrooms.
F*ck!
Why aren’t I the one beside him right now?
“We should all work hard tomorrow too!” Zhao Siyu encouraged them.
If she was being honest, she didn’t like Xu Qingshan. However, she could feel his love for her, and she didn’t know what to do with those feelings.
Sigh, if only you were more handsome!
She didn’t mind that he was poor, but his appearance was too lacking. She paused her thoughts as she subconsciously looked over at Sun Yuan.
The red hue reflected on his face from the campfire amplified his face. He was calm and handsome with deep eyes; even the way he pondered was dreamy.
Sigh!
She was suddenly envious of Zhen Yu.
Zhen Yu had her meal and sat on a mushroom the size of a seat cushion. She supported her face with both hands as she looked at Sun Yuan.
As it got later into the night, the frequency of explosions lessened and eventually stopped.
It meant that the players were done for the day.
“You should rest, senior; I’ll keep a lookout!” Zhen Yu hugged her knees as she felt cold.
“You should sleep; I’m not feeling sleepy.”
With an endurance of 9, Sun Yuan could easily stay awake for two days straight. Besides, he wasn’t used to sleeping in the wild.
“I-I’m not sleepy either!” Zhen Yu hesitated for a moment but managed to squeeze out, “C-Can I sit nearer to you? It’s getting chilly!”
“…”
Sun Yuan was silent. He only had a t-shirt on his body; wouldn’t he be shirtless if he gave it to her?
“Hehe, Silence means consent!”
Zhen Yu picked up her mushroom seat and placed it beside Sun Yuan. She sat down with a sense of security, “Senior, what do you usually do at this time of the night?”
“Gaming!” He bluntly replied.
“Hehe, I thought you’ll claim to be studying!” She felt that he was very honest and deserved some praise.
“I’m usually streaming at this time. My audiences are fascinating; there are many talented people.”
As she babbled on, her chatter slowed to a sob.
She initially led a wonderful life but was thrown into this cruel game. She would have died if it wasn’t for Sun Yuan.
The spore monsters and corpses were terrifying.
She tried her best to be goofy and imagined the world as an online game to forget her fear, but the horrors returned to her now that it was night.
It came like a tsunami and threatened to drown her.
“I’m scared, senior!” She leaned against Sun Yuan.
“Don’t worry, I’ll clear the game and return the world to the way it was!” Sun yuan consoled her.
Zhen Yu, who cried herself asleep, slept leaning against his body.
On the other side, despite the simple layout of the camp, everyone had labored half the day and was beginning to fall asleep.
“You should rest, junior Sun; I’ll keep a lookout!” Xu Qingshan called over to him. It was a waste for two people to stay awake.
“You should rest up and let me keep a lookout instead. You’ve got more girls to look after.” Sun Yuan teased.
Xu Qingshan blushed furiously and stammered, “I-I’ll leave it to you then!”
Despite knowing each other for only a few hours, he felt that Sun Yuan was a trustworthy person. He promptly curled up into a ball and fell asleep.
Sleeping in the wilderness was nothing to a mountain kid like him.
The beautiful moon watched over the silent night.
Silver Trojan started his patrol and was unhappy to find all the players resting within the Gu Cheng tower of god.
How dare all of you rest during the game.
The divine beings weren’t here to watch you sleep!
It immediately added a death rule.
Every player’s game panel popped up with an invigorating tone, jotting all the players awake.
When the notification tone sounded out, it automatically played the system notification.
[The first game will end tomorrow at noon. Players without three honeydew mushrooms will be punished with death!]
The message wiped off any thoughts the players had of sleep as they broke into a cold sweat.
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1 A nickname for Zhen Yu
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