Chapter 24: Kicked the Bucket

Twenty-seven units of supplies.

Why did that sound like… a lot?

Turtle Hermit hesitated for a moment. “Brother, let me tell you something—news hardly anyone knows. Maybe you could take a little less? I swear it’s a rare tip!”

Turtle Hermit continued, “Of course, I’m not trying to take advantage of you. You totally deserve the fee—you’ve got the food supply Easter Egg. But see, I’ve got a big appetite, and the amount of food I can get is limited. A single unit of food barely counts as a meal for me. I want to stockpile more. But you? You’re different.”

Not having any staple food was already taking a toll on him.

A bottle of water and a slice of strawberry cake barely met the body’s basic daily energy needs. There was no other form of nutrition.

In other words, it was enough to keep him alive, but not enough to let him live like a human being.

If surviving in the apocalypse meant enduring constant hunger, he’d rather just drop dead now.

Su Xiao thought for a moment before responding, “You’re worried that since one type of treasure chest got discontinued today, other colored ones might vanish soon too?”

Because she’d considered that possibility as well.

Just because food wasn’t scarce now didn’t mean it wouldn’t be in the future.

If green treasure chests could disappear today, then white ones could vanish tomorrow.

There were only six days left until natural resources expired. No one knew whether food would simply vanish then or just spoil.

If white food chests were the only usable ones left, that would mark the true beginning of the apocalypse.

Turtle Hermit replied, “Exactly. It’s not necessarily that they’ll disappear, but in this apocalypse game, the disaster is just the beginning. Resources are what truly matter. No one knows what’s coming next.”

Su Xiao asked, “You’re opening all twenty-seven chests and converting them into supplies now? Why so urgent? That takes up a lot of space.”

After all, stacking them in the warehouse was much more convenient.

Turtle Hermit faltered.

Then, after a pause, he confessed, “You’re the only one with the food Easter Egg… and, well, you know, the apocalypse is dangerous… so…”

Oh boy.

Su Xiao instantly got it—he was afraid she’d kick the bucket!

Fair enough.

With that in mind, she glanced back at her own Easter Egg.

It dawned on her—she would never run out of food or materials, because these survivors would all become her worker ants. That meant her focus should remain on purple and blue treasure chests.

Thinking this, her tone toward Turtle Hermit softened considerably. “Alright then. What’s this piece of news? If I really don’t know it, I’ll take only half the fee this time.”

After all, she didn’t want her worker ants dying on her.

Turtle Hermit brightened and quickly sent a message, speaking with exaggerated mystery: “It’s about upgrading safehouses. You didn’t know this, right? If your safehouse says it’s Level 1, that means it’s upgradeable!”

Su Xiao: “…I already knew that.”

Turtle Hermit: “Wait, are you messing with me???”

Su Xiao wasn’t trying to brag—she truly already knew. In fact, her upgrade blueprint was set to be released in nine hours.

The other end went silent for a long time.

Su Xiao messaged, “Not messing with you. So, give me another tip—something I don’t know.”

Turtle Hermit was stunned. “…Don’t tell me you’ve already found three safehouses and upgraded before me?”

Su Xiao thought for a moment, then replied, “Binding two safehouses gave me a prompt: ‘Find three for a surprise.’”

Turtle Hermit vaguely recalled something like that but couldn’t remember the exact wording.

Given the situation, he could only try another piece of intel to impress her. “Then you definitely don’t know what the upgraded safehouse is like! You’ll find out eventually, sure, but hear me out. If I find more unclaimed safehouses, I’ll trade them with you first, help you upgrade faster.”

Now that he had the speed booster, he could roam the desert and spot unbound safehouse points.

Su Xiao considered it. “Alright, go on.”

Turtle Hermit explained, “Once you’ve upgraded three safehouses, they unlock teleportation tunnels. You can transport between them. That’s why I only use my turtle when I’ve got fuel for the booster. Also, except for the underground sand fort, both the plants and the turtle can be carried outside the safehouse. So if I turn the safehouse back into a toy, I can carry it into another mobile one. Then I just throw it down at the marked spot—like a portable anchor point.”

Su Xiao stared at the message, stunned. She hadn’t expected the saying “a cunning rabbit has three burrows” to be literally true.

What Turtle Hermit described was definitely possible… but something about it still felt off.

She mulled it over and asked, “If the toy-version safehouse is placed outside, can other survivors pick it up?”

Turtle Hermit froze for three full minutes. “Damn! I hadn’t thought of that! If someone else picks it up, I’m screwed!”

Su Xiao: …

So this kid hadn’t even considered that? And she was the one who reminded him?

Fine. Consider it a way of adding some brain cells to her worker ant.

Whether it was a ship or a car, Su Xiao’s greatest concern was losing the toy safehouse when she wasn’t inside it.

Sure, “three burrows for a cunning rabbit” might work—but only until someone else took off with her safehouse.

And if that person placed her safehouse in a dangerous zone and waited for her to show up… they could ambush her and take everything.

That was a real threat.

Still, Turtle Hermit had given her valuable information. With her upgrade plan about to drop, she might even be able to make adjustments based on this intel.

As promised, Su Xiao kept only three white chests as her handling fee and sent the remaining supplies back to Turtle Hermit after opening them.

With three safehouses, she didn’t have to worry about storage space.

Then she noticed a second message from Turtle Hermit: “Brother, once the safehouse is upgraded, a new Advanced Player Exchange Channel unlocks in the center. Only upgraded safehouse owners can access it. Also, the safehouse owner ID gets reassigned based on upgrade order. My new ID is 03. I’ve already chatted with the No. 2 owner—nice person. But No. 1 never showed up. Since upgraded safehouses are now bound exclusively to their owners, if the survivor dies, the safehouse dies with them. I suspect No. 1 might already be dead.”

Su Xiao read that and fell silent.

Why did all her partners either worry she was going to die or assume she already had?

She tapped on Turtle Hermit’s profile. Sure enough, his info had changed.

【Turtle Hermit (Advanced House Owner No. 03)】
【Tag: Red Treasure Chest】

Wait, there were clickable tags now?

Su Xiao tapped the tag and got a message:

【Your current safehouse level is too low. Access denied.】

Su Xiao: !!!

She was the first survivor to own three safehouses—and yet she didn’t have access?

Fine.

She consoled herself with the thought that custom-made goods are always worth waiting for.