Limitless Survival Game

After a day of hard work, Su Han returned home, made some food to fill her stomach and then started to browse the “Survival Enthusiasts” forum.

There are some people in the world that even if they live in a peaceful era and do not have to worry about food and clothing, they are still prepared for danger and always remained vigilant at all times. Because no one knows which will come first, tomorrow or disaster.

The members in “Survival Enthusiasts” forum are like this. They’re always prepared for any kind of crisis.

“I have already bought enough food and drinking water at home to last a year.”

“I bought a backpack, filled it with essential items. Once something happens, I can run away with just the backpack at any time. There are a lot of things inside, so the backpack’s really heavy. It’s a good thing I bought a car, I can just throw the backpack on a seat and just drive away.”

“Essential medicines are already packed, military knife, gas masks, military boots and bulletproof vests are on the way. I want to ask fellow comrades, which brand of canned food is better? Help me recommend two, I plan to stock up.”

Of course, many of them overwhelmed their sense of worry and accidentally hoard too much stuff.

 “Ten years ago, after the nuclear leakage accident, I rushed to buy edible salt and accidentally bought too much. I still haven’t finished eating it … just thinking about it is making me feel like crying…”

“Pftt” Su Han laughed out loud. She clicked open the post, she found that the floor owner’s (The poster) words were filled with sadness.

“The salt that was bought at a high price in the past, 10 yuan a pack, cannot be resold, and no one want it even if I give them away for free! After eating for ten years, there is still a lot left at home, and I don’t know when I can finish it. Fortunately, salt doesn’t have a shelf life, so at least I can take my time…troubles of life.jpg.”

After reading that post, Su Han made a mental note: ‘There’s no need to stock up on too much seasoning.’ She could learn from others’ and constantly improve her own defense plans. Then if there’s really a disaster, she could better deal with it.

After flipping through the forum for a while, Su Han was planning to go offline and sleep. At this time, a new post that had just been posted was highlighted and the number of replies under it increased sharply.

Su Han was surprised, thinking she had read it wrong, and quickly read the headline again. However, the headline clearly reads, “The world’s first VR survival game is coming soon. The game’s developer Jinjiang Group has decided to hold a competition to promote the game. Everyone is welcome to sign up.”

‘The world’s first VR survival game!’, Survival manic Su Han immediately clicked on the post to read the instructions on how to sign up.

One month later, the registration for the competition is over, and the game was scheduled to start on October 1st.

Starting from Interstellar year 3000, October 1st to October 10th were declared as public holidays. Therefore, players who signed up for the competition did not have to worry about not being able to make time.

Early in the morning on October 1st, Su Han lied down in the gaming cabin and couldn’t wait to enter the game.

At exactly 8 am, contestants started logging into the game.

*****

The scene in front of her blurred, and Su Han found herself standing in a white mist. A second later, she heard a mechanical voice saying “Welcome to ‘Limitless Survival Game’. Please choose an occupation from the following choices.”

Su Han took a closer look; the three options were –

“Occupation: Doctor

Skill (Elementary): 30% chance of receiving common drugs and a 5% chance of receiving rare drugs every day.”

“Occupation: Miner

Skill (Elementary): 30% chance of receiving gold, and a 5% chance of receiving rare gems every day.”　

“Occupation: Nutritionist

Skill (Elementary): 30% chance of receiving ‘1 bottle of milk and 1 loaf of brown bread’ set meal, and 5% chance of getting ‘3 bottles of milk, 1 buttered pork floss bread and 1 chocolate cake’ luxury meal set every day.”

“Note: The above probability events can happen at the same time.”

After thinking for a while, Su Han realized, choosing ‘Doctor’ means getting a supply of medicines, choosing ‘Miner’ means possessing hard currency, and choosing ‘Nutritionist’ would mean having food and water.

All three professions have their own advantages in different environments.

During extremely challenging times, medicines will be in short supply, and medicine will have more worth than gold, in relatively peaceful times, having money means you can buy power and resources, but if she was sent to a deserted island, then money would be worthless, food and water will be the most important items to have.

The system confirmed, “Occupation chosen, please wait, the system is processing.”

A few seconds later, a translucent panel appeared in front of Su Han, which read -　　

Name: Su Han (Verified)

Level: 1

Occupation: Nutritionist (Skill: Elementary)

Satiety: 100/100

Cleanliness: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

There were attribute descriptions below.

Satiety: 75%-100%, dark green, very full. / 50%-75%, light green, not hungry. / 25%-50%, yellow, a little hungry. / 0-25%, red, unbearable hunger.

– Eating food can increase satiety.

Cleanliness: 75%-100%, dark green, clean. / 50%-75%, light green, not dirty. / 25%-50%, yellow, dirty. /0-25%, red, smelly.

– Using daily necessities can increase cleanliness.

Energy: If satiety, cleanliness levels dropped below 50, energy will slowly decrease continuously. (The lower satiety and cleanliness are, the faster the decline in energy. When energy level dropped to 0, the player is eliminated, and cannot be resurrected.)

– If the player is sick or injured, energy will decrease continuously. (These negative states can be removed by taking corresponding medicines.)

– If satiety and cleanliness levels are dark green or if player enters “Sleep” or uses medicine, energy will slowly recover.　

– Every 30 days of survival in the game will reward the player – [+1 level, +100 satiety, +100 cleanliness, +100 energy, +1 skill level.]

Su Han thought, ‘so this game is basically surviving and fighting for assets’.

‘The lower the satiety and cleanliness, the faster the decline in energy. So, in order to maintain the energy level, it’s necessary to continuously consume food and daily necessities to make sure satiety and cleanliness levels are above the green safety line.　

Almost instantly, Su Han made “hoarding supplies” her top priority.

After reading through everything, Su Han closed the panel.

*****

The system notified,

“The player has obtained 100 points and can now purchase materials in the system mall.”

“Note 1: Player is not allowed to enter the system mall if he/she is in an instance (A special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy of the location for each group or for a certain number of players.).”

“Note 2: The number of goods in the mall are limited, and the mall operates on a first-come-first-served basis. After all units of a product is sold, a ‘sold out’ sign will be displayed. Players can purchase the product again once it’s restocked. (Products are restocked before players enter the next instance).”

Su Han, “!!!” ‘The goods in the mall are limited? Doesn’t that mean players who took a long time choosing their occupations (and spent time analyzing the attributes) are going to be unlucky then.’

She swiftly opened the system mall and activated panic buying mode.

The system mall appears to have everything a player would need to survive in an apocalyptic world. There’s everything from things to eat, to wear, and to use such as military knives, sabers, daggers as well as all kinds of electronic devices.

As expected of a mall in a VR game.

Su Han who only has 100 points, felt that this pitiful amount of money is definitely not enough for her to buy everything she wants.

Seeing the continuous decrease in the inventory of goods in the mall, Su Han sighed, quickly determined the goal, and instantly spent her 100 points.

The items she selected were—　

[1 personal warehouse, costs 50 points. There are 10 slots inside and each slot can hold up to 100 pieces of the same item.]

[1 great value gift bag, costs 40 points, contains 10 bars of soaps, 10 bottles of mineral water, 10 buttered pork floss bread, and 5 medical bandages.

Soap: Cleanliness +25, costs 2 points.　

Mineral water: 250 ml, satiety +10, costs 2 points.

Buttered pork floss bread: Satiety +25, costs 2 points.

Medical bandage: Energy +10, “Bleeding” buff disappears after using item, costs 4 points.]

In other words, buying everything separately will cost 80 points, instead one can buy the gift bag which includes same amount of items for only 40 points.

‘It’s really a great deal!’ Su Han bought it without hesitation.

After buying the above items, Su Han saw that the personal warehouse which initially had a total supply of 100,000 in the mall dropped to 70,000 in a blink of an eye. The other players have started their own shopping sprees.

Fortunately, she has finished buying everything.

*****

The remaining 10 points were exchanged into the currency of the game and she got 1000 bei. (The name of the currency in circulation in this instance is called “bei”.)　

On the surface, it seemed like it should be easy to buy food, necessities, and medical supplies in the instance with game currency so it didn’t make sense to use points to exchange goods.

But… no one can guarantee that these materials can be bought in the instance she’s going to end up in.

‘And even if I can buy them, who knows how the currency works inside. What if I need to pay 1000 bei just to buy a bottle of water, wouldn’t I be losing out then?’ (T/n: The currency of the game is “bei”, but I’ll just use “coins” from here on.)

That’s why, after thinking about it carefully, Su Han selected these three items (Warehouse, gift pack, 1000 coins). Although she wouldn’t say she’s 100% prepared, and there are still many things she’s lacking, the things she bought should be enough to deal with most scenarios.

She heard the system asks, “The preparations are done, does the player wish to enter the game now?”

Su Han chose “Yes” without hesitation. With a flash of white light, Su Han officially entered the game.

*****

The system began its introductions, “The goal of this round is to survive in a world that experienced hyperinflation, please do your best.”

“Note 1: After surviving for 10 days, the player will have met the requirements to achieve pass conditions and may request the system to leave the instance at any time.”

“Note 2: Once energy level reaches 0, the game character dies, and the player is disqualified from the competition.”

“Note 3: The more days you survive, the more rewards player will get after clearing the instance.”

“Note 4: If you completed the round in extreme challenge mode – survive for 20 days in the instance, you will receive additional rewards. After 20 days, the surviving players in the instance will automatically be transferred out.”

“Note 5: A5 Town (The server where the player is located) has 100,000 players and 400,000 resident NPCs.”

“Note 6: Hyperinflation officially begins at 9 am. (Generally, the monthly increase rate of price exceeding 50% is defined as hyperinflation. The data has been adjusted in the game.)”

‘Hyperinflation starts from 9 am?’ Su Han paused. She entered the game at 8 in the morning, choosing an occupation, reading the information, and shopping for goods took about five minutes.

The time in the game right now is exactly 8:06 am.

Suddenly, Su Han had an inexplicable sense of urgency in a race against time, as if every minute could not be wasted!

‘It’s difficult to choose not knowing what kind of world she’s going to end up in…’

After thinking about it for a minute, Su Han made a decision. “I choose Nutritionist.”

‘No matter what the environment is, if I want to survive, I can’t lack water and food.’ As for medicine and money, she can exchange those with food and water if she needs to.