Chapter 56: World Four [2] Part 1

Sharks were not hard to deal with, as long as one grasped the right timing.

Li Jianwei proved this with her actions. Before the shark could bite, she thrust the wooden spear forward and mercilessly jabbed its eye.

The smell of blood spread through the seawater, and the pained shark swam off into the distance.

It had not fled but was lurking in the shadows, searching for an opportunity to launch a second attack.

Li Jianwei smoothly surfaced to catch her breath, then dove back down with a powerful plunge. She patiently waited for the shark’s second assault.

The physical attributes of survivors in the Survival Game did not improve over time. The only way to enhance them was by consuming buff foods made from specific recipes.

This meant that Li Jianwei, who could fill her display case with shark heads in her previous life, could still smoothly kill sharks in the early game even after restarting.

Even if the weapon in her hand was just the most basic wooden spear, sharks were still easy to kill in her eyes.

As long as she struck with the wooden spear the instant it opened its mouth, the shark would recoil in pain and pull back. Then she just had to patiently wait for it to sneakily attack again and repeat the process.

Sharks attacked frequently, with intervals no longer than two minutes, but the damage from a wooden spear was limited. It took fifty hits to kill one, which was utterly terrifying for newbies.

Fortunately, Li Jianwei had patience in abundance. She could cast her line hundreds of times a day, so naturally she could also standoff with a shark for two hours and eventually kill it.

A shark’s body was five times the size of a survivor’s, but when picking up the spoils, one only got a fixed amount: shark meat x5 and shark head x1.

The shark head could be worn on a survivor’s head, though it obstructed part of the view. It was said to have a chance of fooling sharks into thinking you were one of them.

Why “said to”?

Because Li Jianwei had tried it more than ten times in her previous life without once succeeding. The moment she entered the water, a shark chased after her butt and bit, forcing her to pull out her weapon and kill it.

As the most basic monster, sharks respawned when day turned to night. This meant that before sunset, Li Jianwei could use her scrap hook to dig freely under the island.

Li Jianwei did not waste time. Without an oxygen tank, however, her underwater breath-holding time was limited. If she did not surface before running out of oxygen, she would lose health at a rate of 1 point per second.

Thus, Li Jianwei had to abandon the deeper copper ore and instead dig up some iron ore, clay, sand, and scrap. She also opportunistically grabbed seaweed and giant clams.

Back on the wooden raft, she sorted the gathered materials and stored them in crates. Then she discarded the battered wooden spear, handcrafted a new one, and set off toward the island once more.

There were no dangers on the small island, so the resources were not particularly abundant either.

Chopping the ubiquitous palm trees with a stone axe was guaranteed to drop wooden planks and palm leaves. Palm seeds and coconuts dropped randomly based on luck.

Harvesting wild pineapples and watermelons yielded fruit, with corresponding seeds dropping randomly as well.

There were also plenty of flowers, but Li Jianwei only had fifteen inventory slots at the moment. She had no time to pick them, let alone save the seeds.

After spotting only two wild pineapples on the island, Li Jianwei ate them directly to restore her status.

She stuffed the two large watermelons she found later into her backpack for use when water was scarce.

Li Jianwei’s goal was crystal clear: she aimed to climb to the top of the island and search for the basic treasure chest there.

By general rules, every island had one treasure chest, either at the seabed or the mountaintop. Li Jianwei had already thoroughly searched the waters twice, digging up nearly all the clay and sand without finding one.

So the treasure chest had to be at the mountaintop. With good luck, she might even get useful blueprints or recipes.

But before finding the treasure chest, Li Jianwei first spotted a survivor in newbie gear. Out of instinct, she crouched down and hid in the bushes without exposing herself.

In the Survival Game, it was theoretically impossible to encounter other survivors while drifting. Communication between them could only happen through the Game System.

But things were different after landing on an island. Island fusions could occur around treasure chests.

In other words, spotting another survivor on an island or in the sea meant you were very close to the treasure chest.

Survivors were allowed to attack each other. Killing one had a chance to yield some items from their backpack. When a survivor died, their wooden raft would also be destroyed, along with all items and materials inside.

Most survivors did not attack their own kind. They usually just traded resources and intel before returning to their rafts.

But in the late game, some specialized in ambushing others near treasure chests, believing it was a more efficient way to gather materials.

Li Jianwei was not one of those. She was simply more cautious around others, since her previous downfall had come from overlooking someone she deemed insignificant.

“The resources on this island are so plentiful, but my backpack is almost full. I wonder if we can expand it later.”

“Wooden planks and palm leaves are essentials—I can’t toss them. Seeds and flowers seem useless; maybe ditch them first and use the slots for better stuff.”

“Damn, why can’t cups of clean water stack? The fish I catch can stack just fine.”

The survivor seemed to have a habit of talking to herself. In short order, she muttered a bunch of things. It was unclear if it was her nature or a way to ease her nerves.

After observing for a bit and seeing no strong hostility, Li Jianwei quietly backed away. Once out of the other’s line of sight, she stood up and deliberately made noise as she approached.

“Who’s there?” The survivor drew her wooden spear and warily looked into the distance.

“Who are you?” Li Jianwei also gripped her wooden spear, her eyes even more guarded than the other’s.

“Uh, maybe we’re allies?” the survivor said, proactively putting away her wooden spear. “I just wanted to try the game, but for some reason, after logging in, I can’t log out. The content doesn’t match what I knew either.”

“I got a reminder from the Game System, so I came to this island.”

Li Jianwei also stowed her weapon. “Same here. Li Jianwei—that’s my name.”

“Just call me Xiao Ding. That’s the in-game nickname I picked,” Xiao Ding said. “Where’s your wooden raft anchored? I drifted on the sea for ages without seeing any allies. Didn’t expect to run into you right after landing.”

Li Jianwei: “Roughly southeast of the island. Been docked for about five hours.”

Xiao Ding looked surprised. “I’m in the southeast too, but I didn’t see any other rafts. Did you forget to anchor it? I landed two hours ago.”

Li Jianwei shook her head. “I secured it with a throwable anchor. I even went back to it two hours ago.”

Xiao Ding pondered, her gaze falling on empty air as she presumably checked the World Channel.

“Someone else met an ally on an island too, but they vanished while walking together. Wonder if this game lets you add friends,” Xiao Ding muttered, slipping back into her habit of rambling.

“In that case, want to give it a try?” Li Jianwei suggested.

Xiao Ding agreed without much thought. The two kept about two meters apart as they headed in the same direction.

Li Jianwei understood the matching mechanics of this ‘co-op’ perfectly. Once Xiao Ding’s figure vanished, she quickly turned back toward the mountaintop.

Co-op was completely random. Leaving the co-op zone and re-entering meant a reconnection, and the next person might not be Xiao Ding but someone like Duanmu or Youyou.

Li Jianwei had no intention of sharing key resources with others in the early game, nor did she want to attack this seemingly kind survivor Xiao Ding. So luring her out of the matching zone was the best option.

By probing the co-op boundary, Li Jianwei easily reverse-engineered the chest’s location.

The basic treasure chest was inconspicuous, looking rather drab and gray. But when she opened it, it dropped quite a few items, instantly filling her empty inventory slots.

【Obtained: Scrap x2, Metal Ore x1, Wooden Plank x3, Stone x1, Recipe: Simple Stewed Fish, Nail x1】

Her luck was decent—the first chest gave her a recipe. Her stove was not built yet, though, so it was destined for the bottom of her inventory for now.

The wooden planks could stack with her existing ones, but the other five items each took a slot, greatly limiting her resource gathering.

After some thought, Li Jianwei temporarily discarded the stone and nail, replacing them with more wooden planks and palm leaves.

When the durability of her stone axe finally bottomed out and broke, Li Jianwei picked up the overflowing wooden planks and hurried southeast toward her wooden raft.

Her carried food had long been consumed, leaving only the two large watermelons in her inventory.

Facing the sunset, she returned to the wooden raft and unhesitatingly dismantled the throwable anchor. Using the simple paddle made of plastic and wood, she adjusted direction and let the raft drift with the waves again.

After sorting her inventory, Li Jianwei pulled out the previously dug sand and clay. She researched them one by one, unlocking the recipe for bricks.

Two clay and two sand could synthesize a wet brick, which turned into a craftable dry brick after sitting on the wooden raft for a while.

The resources under the island were not plentiful. Li Jianwei had only dug up clay x15 and sand x20. After research costs, she could make just seven bricks.

Researching bricks unlocked the blueprint for the simple furnace. If she remembered right, six bricks were exactly enough to build one?

Li Jianwei mulled this over while stuffing potatoes into her mouth. She placed the seven wet bricks in a safe spot, then pulled out her simple fishing rod and started fishing.