Yu Zhiye had a teensy weensy bit of hope before, but now… all hopes were dashed.
“No way… how do I even play this game?”
A fishing system sounds OP and all. But where the heck will he find a fishing spot in a desert biome?! Even an arctic setting would be better right?
“Ugh. Whatever. Just leave it up to fate. Fishing is just a bonus, anyways.”
Though slow, he still got a daily energy generator to fall back on.
What’s more important was resource gathering.
“Time to explore and see what I can find… aside from sand.”
As soon as he shoved open the door, Yu Zhiye felt the heat wave battering his face.
It felt like he just passed from one world to another!
“Seriously, how does this store stay air-conditioned in this hellish hot weather?”
That’s a mystery.
But even if his body was begging him to stay in this cool place’s comfort, Yu Zhiye still trudged out into the sea of sand.
He wasn’t the first out here. The other men were already exploring all over the place.
Not far out on a low sand dune, Yu Zhiye spotted the scruffy uncle observing the distant horizon with hands on his hips.
Yu Zhiye trekked up the dune and approached the man.
The scruffy uncle glanced over. “Yo, it’s Steve.”
Yu Zhiye kept a straight face and nodded back. “Jack, find anything interesting?”
Uncle “Jack” rolled his eyes, but didn’t correct him.
He simply turned his palm face-up. On there, a cobble-sized, rounded stone appeared out of thin air and he tossed it over.
“Here. I managed to collect a few of these off the ground, but besides that and sand, I see nuthing else for miles.”
Catching the stone, Yu Zhiye weighed it in his hand for a sec then stored it.
Appearing in his inventory hotbar was a rather familiar broken-stone-textured block tooltipped
But there were some minor differences from its counterpart in the game.
First and most noticeably was what appears to be a red durability bar anchored at the bottom of the item slot.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Then, there was a x0 anchored to the top right corner.
Yu Zhiye’s lips twitched. “Since when did items have zero count? And why does cobblestone have durability?”
“Yeah? You noticed the difference, too?” Jack grinned. “Not everything follows that game’s template I suppose.”
“But it doesn’t take much to figure out how it works. Just pick up a few more stones and the durability bar will fill up. Once it does, the counter will start ticking.”
From that explanation, Yu Zhiye got the gist of it.
In real life, he can’t expect to collect perfect blocks of the same size.
Hence, this was probably the game system’s way of standardizing a unit of stackable resource.
This simplifies some of the problems that might appear in crafting and construction later on.
“Thanks. Good to know.” The cobblestone reappeared in Yu Zhiye’s palm and he handed it back.
Jack waved him off. “Keep it. I can pick up more if I need em’.”
Yu Zhiye nodded and put the stone away. His vision then swam around to get a lay of the land.
True to Jack’s words, there was nothing around except endless sand.
Here and there was a stone half-buried in sand. But that was it.
Well, at least he knows cobblestone and sand gathering won’t be an issue. Can’t say the same about wood though.
Yu Zhiye frowned. “Wonder if there is an oasis out there? If not, water will be an issue.”
“Yeah?” Jack looked over. “Can’t get it from the faucets in the stalls?”
“Nope.” Yu Shiye sighed. “Even the toilets are dry.”
“Well I’ll be damned.” Jack’s face looked as if he just ate a fly.
Just imagining their future life here made both men sweat even more.
Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead then shaded his squinted eyes. “Huh? Steve, look. What’s going on over there?”
Yu Shiye looked over to where Jack was pointing.
Far out in the distant, he could barely make out a few grouped up men stuck in a heated argument.
One of them broke away from the group and started running over while waving his hands in the air to get their attention.
Yu Shiye and Jack exchanged a glance. “Go over?”
“Yeah, maybe they discovered something?”
If they did, will they be kind enough to share it?
Yu Shiye didn’t have high hopes for that, but what if?
The two walked down the dune and headed over towards the running man.
When they got closer, Yu Zhiye recognized him to be Lackey A and the panic on the man’s face was clear as day.
“Uh oh. Looks like trouble.” Jack grunted and picked up his pace.
Yu Zhiye followed along and the two sides met up halfway.
Lackey A stopped and panted for breath, then pointed back. “T-That! We need help! Someone fell into… ha… the sand!”
“Yeah? Fell into the sand?” Jack arched a brow. “Quicksand?”
Lackey A: “Yes, yes! That’s right! Quicksand!”
“…” Yu Zhiye and Jack exchanged a dumbfounded look.
Since when was quicksand part of the game?
Oh right, this was a real-life adaptation. Anything goes.
“So… how exactly do you want us to help?”
When Yu Zhiye asked that question, Lackey A looked back at them with a dumbfounded face.
Okay. Never mind. Shouldn’t have asked.
Jack scratched his scruffy beard. “Uh… how about we head back to the store and see if we can find some rope? Or a long bar?”
Huh? Perhaps… An idea flashed through Yu Zhiye’s mind. “Great idea. You do that.”
Jack looked at the calm Yu Zhiye. “Yeah? What about you, Steve?”
“I’ll head over to see if there’s anything I can do.”
Jack’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “Yeah? Sounds good. Then I’ll catch ya later.”
“Later.”
Jack waved bye and started trotting back to the store.
Lackey A still had a confused face, but he quickly chased after Jack. “W-Wait up! I’ll help, too!”
Left alone, Yu Zhiye set his sights on the arguing group not far away.
Four-eyes, Lackey B, Muscle-head, and the pot-bellied uncle.
Except for the lady in red, those vying for leadership were basically all here.
This was the best chance to sell himself. As for what to sell?
There’s nowhere to fish around here, but that doesn’t mean his rod had to collect dust in the corner!
Now that he bumped into his god-given opportunity, he should make the best of it…
“Crisis marks the beginning of my story. Let’s see if I can net myself a good start.”