Chapter 60: World Four [6]

The advanced bed’s effects were far superior to those of the simple bed. Lying on it not only boosted health recovery speed, but also greatly slowed the decline of hunger and thirst.

Li Jianwei and Shu Heng had tested it. If they stayed in bed the whole time, they only needed one bottle of water and three tilapia per day to survive comfortably.

If the first layer had plenty of collection nets, theoretically, survivors could sleep all day, gather resources from the nets upon waking, replenish their status, and go back to sleep—an incredibly laid-back survival routine.

Of course, that lifestyle suited only the most relaxed survivors, not the duo of Li Jianwei and Shu Heng, who dug up even the stones they passed by.

【Name: Li Jianwei】

【Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (88/100), Thirst (90/100)】

【Survival Days: 28】

【The sea breeze carried a hint of violent aura. The deity dwelling in the sea domain grew restless. Please keep watch on the sea surface at all times. When the sea grows uncalm, do not remain outdoors.】

The system’s reminder echoed in Li Jianwei and Shu Heng’s minds simultaneously. Their actions matched perfectly: they pushed open the door from the third-floor bedroom and gazed out at the vast, boundless sea.

“All survivors got this reminder. It’s also the system’s subtle warning,” Shu Heng analyzed while browsing the world channel. “The deity’s agitation might whip up unusual waves. In a bit, I’ll use nails and metal ingots to reinforce the outermost base panels.”

“Enough metal ingots left?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng recalled their stock: “The current metal ingots should cover fixing the base panels. Then I’ll fire up all six furnaces. The chests still have plenty of unrefined metal ore—we should stockpile twenty or thirty metal ingots.”

“That’s plenty. We’ve got our weapons and gear fully stocked,” Li Jianwei said.

“But today looks like another rough day for wind. No telling when we’ll reach the destination.” Li Jianwei let out a breath, casually vaulting over the third-floor railing to land on the second floor.

After finishing the radar’s construction, the pair received the system’s prompt, finally understanding the purpose of the note they’d found on the sunken ship.

Once they entered the numbers from the note into the radar, a stable signal source appeared on its display screen.

The signal was still very distant from the wooden raft. Without the sail they’d gotten from a treasure chest—which let them steer the raft’s direction—Li Jianwei and Shu Heng would have been stuck paddling with plastic oars, doing daily arm workouts.

Shu Heng descended the stairs properly and stood beside Li Jianwei. “Current ocean current is 2 nautical miles per hour. At this pace, we’ll reach the destination in five days.”

“If waves kick up on the surface, it might speed us up even more.” Li Jianwei’s eyes fixed on the radar. “Stock up on more metal bow and arrows too. Better to stay cautious if we venture deep into the island.”

Shu Heng got it immediately. “Then let’s dig extra metal ore while the wind and waves haven’t hit yet.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Stock more wooden planks too—if the hull takes damage, we can patch it right up.” Li Jianwei smiled as she spoke.

This was precisely why Li Jianwei loved teaming up with Shu Heng. Their thinking synced perfectly on these matters—no arguments needed, just a quick chat to agree.

After drifting for an hour, Li Jianwei spotted a large island through the telescope. She promptly adjusted the sail, steering the wooden raft toward it.

Shu Heng hammered away with the building hammer while smelting metal, squeezing in time to collect fresh water from the water purifier with empty bottles.

Li Jianwei held position on the second floor, scanning the surroundings and sea with the telescope. She whipped up dishes from recipes, soothed the animals, and checked for eggs, milk, or wool.

Half an hour later, they dropped the fixed anchor.

The fixed anchor came from a blueprint they’d unlocked while exploring a prior island. Unlike the single-use throwable anchor, this one—crafted from metal—could be reused indefinitely, just like on a real ship.

“Sea surface is still calm. No sign of vultures on the island yet—might be a wild boar habitat.” Li Jianwei rubbed her hands in anticipation. “Six more leather pieces, and we’ll have enough for two full sets of leather gear.”

“We need metal ore more. Seabed first, or island first?” Shu Heng asked.

“No issue. Shark first—grilled shark meat fills hunger nicely. For the destination, we’ll just need to pack shark meat as our food.” Li Jianwei replied.

Without donning oxygen tanks or flippers, Li Jianwei leaped straight into the sea.

Shu Heng followed right after. Wielding machetes, they took down the shark in under twenty minutes.

True to habit, Li Jianwei slapped on the shark hat and charged into deeper waters, geared up.

She easily picked off pufferfish with bow and arrows. Eyes lighting up, she sped toward the silver seaweed.

Just as it came within reach, a stranger entered Li Jianwei’s view. She swapped her scrap hook for a bow and arrow.

The stranger wore an oxygen tank too. Spotting the bow trained on him, he froze, then waved frantically to signal no threat.

Li Jianwei stayed vigilant, gesturing upward for him to surface and talk.

The stranger hesitated three seconds before nodding and swimming up.

“I mean no harm. I just wanted to dive deeper for stuff,” he said, removing his oxygen mask for proof.

The moment she saw his face clearly, killing intent flashed in Li Jianwei’s eyes.

“Cao Luping?” Li Jianwei tightened her grip on the bow, feigning a shift in aim while switching to a deadlier metal bow and arrow.

“Eh? How do you know my name? We met before?” Cao Luping looked baffled. Who was this shark-hatted figure—someone from an earlier encounter?

Before he could press further, the survivor aimed again. A gleaming metal arrow streaked toward him.

Cao Luping dodged fast, kicking through the water.

But the arrow was quicker, burying into his shoulder.

“Why attack me?! We’re both survivors!” With health plunging, Cao Luping backpedaled to create distance.

Li Jianwei stayed silent, sighting and firing relentlessly. Metal arrows rained toward Cao Luping.

Cao Luping cursed up a storm, cramming healing food into his mouth while drawing his own bow to shoot back at Li Jianwei.

No chat? Fine—let’s see who was stronger. He was a man; no way he couldn’t take a woman.

Whoosh—

Another metal arrow sank into Cao Luping. Health dipping below fifty, he stowed his weapon and bolted.

Live to fight another day. She’d ambushed him; one-on-one fair, he’d crush her!

Fleeing was smart, but his direction wasn’t. Moments later, he ran into Shu Heng.

“Beauty, quick—run! Crazy woman’s back there trying to kill me. She’s some extremist! No cops here, so she…” His words cut off as this beauty leveled her weapon at him too.

What the hell?! He hadn’t messed with them! Why the unprovoked attacks?!

Shu Heng didn’t know Cao Luping, but she’d seen Li Jianwei burning precious metal arrows on him.

Pre-dive, they’d noted the wooden raft’s metal ingot shortage. Metal arrows were one-and-done; they’d planned mixing them with stone ones for vultures.

Inference: this random male survivor had done something unforgivable, worth Li Jianwei wasting metal arrows to kill.

Trust a stranger or her proven ally? No contest—Shu Heng backed Li Jianwei.

With Shu Heng hounding him too, Cao Luping’s curses grew louder. He dove deep, banking on escaping the co-op zone to save his skin.

Whoosh—whoosh—

A metal arrow and a stone one struck Cao Luping at once. He didn’t even utter last words before his body dissolved, leaving small resource packets bobbing on the surface.

“He’s my enemy,” Li Jianwei explained. “He fed me fake info once before—nearly got me killed.”

Truth was, she’d actually died, swallowed by a monster. But she’d lucked into a second chance. She added that silently.

“Good thing we dropped him clean. Otherwise, he’d scam more people.” Shu Heng asked no more, trusting Li Jianwei fully.

After all, on their first meeting, Li Jianwei had charged in to help her fend off wild boars. Later collabs, she’d shouldered all the risky scouting. Good person through and through.

“Yep, public service right there.” Li Jianwei’s killing intent and anger evaporated, replaced by easy cheer.

“Let me check his drops.” Li Jianwei scooped up the packets into her backpack.

【Obtained: Plastic Bow1, Scrap29, Grilled Tilapia5, Barbecue Recipe】

“Not bad—some resources and a barbecue recipe.” Li Jianwei grabbed Shu Heng’s hand. “Come on, let’s hustle. Nearby treasure chests might yield useful recipes and blueprints.”

Shu Heng didn’t pull away or suggest it’d slow their swim.

–

Good news: Li Jianwei and Shu Heng scored silver seaweed and even blueprints from treasure chests.

Bad news: Before they could finish harvesting the seabed’s metal ore and copper ore, the sea turned restless, waves threatening to rise any second.

Flush with loot, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng hopped back aboard the wooden raft in short order.

“Wind’s picking up—now it’s a tailwind.” Li Jianwei eyed the fluttering wind flag.

“Wait out the waves for more gathering, or shove off now?” Shu Heng asked, sorting her backpack’s haul into the chests.

“Islands aren’t going anywhere, but tailwinds like this don’t come every day.” Li Jianwei said, “I say hoist sail now. Destination’s bound to have richer pickings.”

Shu Heng agreed, cranking the handle to retrieve the fixed anchor.

Li Jianwei unfurled the sail, tweaking direction to match the radar’s signal.

Per the radar, the wooden raft’s speed jumped from 2 nautical miles per hour to 5—and climbing.

Faster speed meant wilder rocking side to side.

“Waves are building—inside.” Shu Heng shut down the radar and tugged Li Jianwei back to the second floor.

Baa—

The milk-producing bouncy sheep bleated uneasily. Chickens huddled in the pasture’s corner, while the alpaca chomped grass like nothing was amiss.

The second floor had windows. Li Jianwei and Shu Heng settled into chairs by the boiler—one poring over the new recipe, the other grilling shark meat. Perfect division of labor.

【Pause for a sec: Holy crap, massive waves! Sisters, add railings to your wooden rafts!】

【Update again: Bigger waves = pricier fish! Feels like big one’s coming! Let’s fish!】

【Suizuki: No seagulls or sharks. First time ever.】

【541: This looks spooky. Hope no waterspouts spawn?】

Waterspouts? Li Jianwei snatched the telescope and peered out the second-floor window.

The sky hung heavy and dark, visibility worse than a moonless night. Storm vibes everywhere.

Li Jianwei had seen tornadoes on the sea surface before and knew that if the wooden raft’s area was less than 100 square meters, it was highly likely to be destroyed by a tornado.

But now the wooden raft they survived on exceeded 100 square meters, approaching 200, with 200 basic panels. If the areas of the second and third floors were included, the total area approached 500 square meters. Even if they encountered a sea storm, they no longer needed to worry about the wooden raft being destroyed.

“Sea waves are crashing over. Our forward speed seems to have picked up a bit,” Li Jianwei reported.

“I wonder how long this storm will last.” Shu Heng handed the barbecue she had made to Li Jianwei, then pulled out some clay to make clay bowls.

Food made in the cooking pot replenished a large amount of status effects, but serving it out of the pot required clay bowls, which could not be reused and were one-time consumables.

Li Jianwei glanced at her own data, then devoured the barbecue in two or three bites.

“My hunger is at 100 now. The recovery effect for hunger is over 50, thirst hasn’t changed much—it seems to have some insulating effect, but it’s negligible,” Li Jianwei said.

“The ingredients are simple and the speed is fast. It’s an upgrade over grilled shark meat,” Shu Heng concluded. “Without considering other dishes, we can make about twenty portions with our current materials.”

Li Jianwei checked the inventory. “Let’s make ten portions first. When we head to the man-made island, we can pick up some fruit. Fruit replenishes thirst and recovers hunger too.”

“No problem.” Shu Heng agreed and kept busy at the cooking pot.

Having finished grilling the shark meat ahead of time, Li Jianwei pulled out her fishing rod and tentatively cast the line, wondering if this unusual weather might yield something different.

Half an hour later, Li Jianwei reeled in hard. After a three-minute tug-of-war, a still-steaming Fortune Cat appeared, dripping wet, in Shu Heng’s hands.

“You can fish this up too?” Shu Heng’s eyes were full of surprise.

“Evidently. The sea doesn’t just yield fish—you can pull up all sorts of strange things,” Li Jianwei said. When she discovered the Fortune Cat’s hand could bob up and down, a smile spread across her face.

Li Jianwei: “I think this is a good omen. Maybe after we reach our destination, we can get rich.”

Shu Heng nodded in deep agreement. “Then let’s put it on the third floor. I’ll make a shelf and set it by the bed.”

And so the cleaned Fortune Cat was placed on the bedside table on the third floor. Under the glow of the fireplace, it looked quite luxurious.

The storm still raged after nightfall. Once they realized fishing yields were low, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng didn’t stay up late. After replenishing their status, they crawled into the warm bedding.

“If this weren’t a game, an environment like this wouldn’t be a bad spot for retirement,” Li Jianwei said, stretching out luxuriously on the bed.

“Once we get out, we can buy a seaside villa and renovate it,” Shu Heng said.

Li Jianwei wriggled into a position facing Shu Heng. “Hmm, what if we modified a cruise ship? Wouldn’t that feel more authentic?”

“It would, but outside the game, there are more things to watch out for. Long-term living is better on land,” Shu Heng said as she tugged at the blanket. “We could buy a yacht instead—take it out for a couple days now and then, try some sea fishing.”

“I feel like my fishing skills have improved a ton. Who knows, maybe I’ll reel in a massive grouper or some tuna!” Li Jianwei said, unable to contain her excitement for the bright future ahead.

This had become their fixed pre-sleep topic since forming their alliance: imagining a wonderful future to weave sweet dreams, so they could wake up full of energy the next day and dive back into the survival game.

Judging from their efficiency these past days, the method worked well. Nights with a companion felt far warmer than lonely ones spent alone.

“Shu Heng, when the time comes, would you be willing to live with me?” Li Jianwei suddenly asked.

“Of course.” Shu Heng’s answer came quickly—she had only pondered for less than three seconds.

“In the same room?” Li Jianwei asked. Their face-to-face position let her clearly feel Shu Heng’s breath.

Shu Heng’s eyelids fluttered. She realized Li Jianwei was holding her hand, their fingers interlocked.

Understanding what Li Jianwei meant, the corners of Shu Heng’s mouth curved up slightly. A smile bloomed on her face in the fireplace glow. “Something like this is fine too—sleeping in the same bed.”

“That’s what I think. We’re sisters who’ve been through thick and thin,” Li Jianwei said with a smile. She shifted closer to Shu Heng.

“Through life and death, shared hardships,” Li Jianwei emphasized.

“Mm. We’ll leave this place together,” Shu Heng said. She took hold of Li Jianwei’s other outstretched hand and placed it proactively on her lower abdomen.

The gesture was as good as permission for Li Jianwei to continue.

Li Jianwei didn’t miss the chance. Her nimble fingers soon found their mark.

“Have to say, the game’s auto-clean feature is fantastic,” Li Jianwei remarked before pressing her lips to Shu Heng’s, leaving no room for words.

In the game, certain physiological needs were omitted, but human anatomy remained intact.

The varying heights and faces among survivors proved their in-game bodies were exact one-to-one replicas of their real ones.

Could a datafied body experience human pleasure?

Li Jianwei had wondered this long ago. Tonight, she got her answer.

Yes. Survivors felt pain when attacked, so they felt ecstasy at the peak.

The only drawback was that the game didn’t allow full nudity—either the upper or lower body had to remain partially clothed.

This meant that after finishing with the lower half, Li Jianwei had to duck her head under Shu Heng’s top to work on the upper half.

Not losing hair was a plus too—otherwise, with the force Shu Heng gripped her head, she’d have shed at least twenty strands!

Li Jianwei grumbled to herself inwardly while memorizing Shu Heng’s more sensitive spots and working diligently.

“Li Jianwei…” Shu Heng whispered in overwhelmed protest, her fingers clutching the bedding tight.

–

【Name: Li Jianwei】

【Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (56/100), Thirst (48/100)】

【Survival Days: 28】

【Name: Shu Heng】

【Status: Health (100/100), Hunger (59/100), Thirst (43/100)】

【Survival Days: 28】

Hmm. Comparing the data showed last night’s cuddling in a certain light.

Li Jianwei had burned more energy; Shu Heng, more thirst.

Noticing she had no backache or sore hands, Li Jianwei inwardly praised the perks of datafied bodies once more.

As long as hunger and thirst stayed above 20, she could go all day without tiring!

“The distance has shortened a lot—down to just 100 nautical miles. If things go smoothly, we can arrive tomorrow,” Shu Heng said, oblivious to Li Jianwei’s thoughts. She checked the radar and nodded in satisfaction at their 4-nautical-miles-per-hour pace.

“Then let’s make more metal bow and arrows today,” Li Jianwei said cheerfully, humming a light tune.