Chapter 7: Crafting the Advanced Water Purifier

Based on her observations, large-scale exchanges for water purifiers in the survival game usually occurred around day 20 after the game started. Right now, there was a high chance she was the only one with the blueprint.

In the ocean survival scenario, water resources were abundant, so she had to seize this opportunity to stockpile water and exchange for essential materials, especially those needed to upgrade the fishing boat.

She completely ignored the private messages from other players cursing her as “cold-blooded” or “greedy.” After all, this was a game, not a charity. Her only goal was to survive—and survive well—with her family.

She briefly skimmed through her private messages. Half were people asking to be her underlings, while the other half were there just to hurl insults.

Some even sent her selfies, like this one:

[Username: Long-Legged Manga Prince]
Message: “Moonmoon, need a little brother to warm your bed?”
Attachment: One glamour shot.

Wen Mingyue accidentally opened the picture. One glance—nope. Not her type. She preferred abs and definition.

About half an hour later, 069 gave her a notification, prompting her to open a private message:

Zhao Lingxin: “Hello.”

She glanced at the name and raised a brow. Well, well—an old acquaintance.

Wen Mingyue: “Hi.”

Zhao Lingxin: “Do you have a blueprint for the water purifier?”

Wen Mingyue: “I do, but it requires quite a lot of materials.”

Zhao Lingxin: “I only have Glass x15, Plastic x4, Refined Iron x4. Can I add one durian or other items to make up the difference?”

As she replied, Zhao Lingxin glanced at the durian in her backpack with disgust—she couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

She had put the durian up for trade before but wasn’t satisfied with other offers. However, swapping it for glass to complete a purifier? Totally acceptable.

On the other end, Wen Mingyue thought it over. She was short just 5 pieces of glass for one more unit. While she didn’t like durian herself, her family loved it—especially her mom.

Given their tight finances, they only bought one or two durians a year, and she and her sister were always in charge of opening them.

She didn’t like eating them but enjoyed cracking them open—a little sensory satisfaction. On a certain music-themed video platform, her favorite de-stress videos included durian opening, barnacle scraping, hoof trimming, and mushroom foraging.

Just as Zhao Lingxin was thinking about what else she could add to sweeten the deal, Wen Mingyue had already sent over the updated trade offer:

Wen Mingyue:
[Glass x15, Plastic x4, Refined Iron x4 + 1 Durian = 1 Advanced Water Purifier]

Zhao Lingxin quickly confirmed the trade, letting out a deep breath of relief. Even the air around her felt fresher.

Wen Mingyue: “I’ll deliver it in 10 minutes.”

Zhao Lingxin: “Okay, thanks a lot!”

Wen Mingyue: “No problem.”

To her, Zhao Lingxin was basically a walking treasure chest.

In the following hour, Wen Mingyue completed trades with six other players. After subtracting the material costs, she still had two water purifiers left for herself, and had gained:

Wood ×160

Nails ×96

Iron Blocks ×80

Refined Iron ×5

Glass ×6

Plastic ×5

Blueprint (Table & Chair) ×1

Vegetable and Seasoning Random Seed Packs ×3

Coconut Tree ×1

Common Soil Plot ×1

“With this, I’ve got enough wood and iron blocks to upgrade the fishing boat tomorrow!”

She sorted the materials neatly. Food items were converted into cards and stored in the camera space.

After the busy work, Wen Mingyue curled up in a down comforter, leaned against the transparent wall, munching on an apple while checking her personal info:

Name (Real): Wen Mingyue
Gender: Female
Avatar: A glowing God of Wealth holding a stack of gold ingots
Game Nickname: Wen Mingyue

System auto-hides the following:

Age: 23

Height: 172 cm

Backpack: 10 + 20 slots, same-item stacking limit: 99 (no recursive nesting).
Time flow in backpack matches items of similar type on Blue Star (Earth).

Overall Physique: 20 (Upgradable)
Game average: 10

Details: Strength: 17 (Average: 10)

Agility: 20 (Average: 10)

The girl wasn’t just surviving—she was thriving.

Mental Power: 23 (Average player: 10)
Luck: 9 (You are Heaven’s chosen one. Max: 10)

Talent:
S+ Insightful Eye – Can instantly pinpoint monsters’ fatal weak points and execute a one-hit kill.
Saves time and resources.
Unlimited uses per day, no cooldown.

Inventory includes:

Wood ×750

Nails ×180

Iron Blocks ×330

Moisture-proof Stone ×100

Refined Iron ×10

Protective Shields ×3

Common Land Plots ×7

Beef ×100 jin

Rabbit Meat ×10 jin

Old Hen Meat ×4 jin

Eggs ×20

Fruit Trees ×5

Various Vegetable & Seasoning Seeds

…………

Looking at the materials stuffed in her backpack and camera space, Wen Mingyue hugged her blanket, muffled a giggle, and whispered:

“I’m rich, I’m rich!”

Then, wearing a completely content expression, she drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Meanwhile—

Somewhere in a gridded corner of the interstellar network, a chubby, fluffy panda avatar was furiously hammering away at a keyboard.

She slept deeply and peacefully until a “Ding-ding” audio broadcast woke her up.

[Ocean Survival deployment in progress…]
[Time: 9:00 AM]
[Today’s weather: Sunny, avg. 28°C, light breeze]
[Game mode: Ocean Survival]
[Difficulty Level: ★★★½]
[Resource Index: ★★★★½]
[Estimated Duration: Over 6 months]

Game Rules:

Rule 1:
All participants must live entirely on the ocean.
Starting supplies include: fishing boat, fishing rod, fishing net, protective shield.
Protective shields only guard the residence (currently: the fishing boat).

Rule 2:
Treasure chests will randomly appear on the sea surface.

Fishing rods can catch them—no daily limit.

Fishing nets can be baited to capture marine materials.

Rule 3:
Game hours: 9 AM to 6 PM.
From 6–7 PM, it’s still daylight and marked as free time—players may manage personal affairs.

“No 996 labor in the game world!”
(Small print: Subject to minor overtime. Note: the ocean is rich in resources but also full of danger. Weak players, do not leave the shield lightly.)

Rule 4:
Common sense is extremely important—please experience and learn through gameplay.

For more details, check the Newbie Guide.

Have fun, players!

After the broadcast ended, Wen Mingyue found herself standing on a 10-square-meter fishing boat.

Without delay, she activated all three protective shields.
In an instant, the entire boat was enveloped within a Level 3 protective dome, which blocks any monsters level 3 or below from entering.

She walked from the stern to the bow.
At the front was a 2-square-meter wooden cabin, with a small white sail fluttering like a flag just ahead.

Inside the cabin, there was:

A leather chair

An operation panel

A steering wheel

A lamp overhead

This little cabin was the boat’s control room.
Below the steering room was a 1-square-meter fish hold—which required a lot of fuel to keep the catch fresh.

Likewise, fuel was needed to drive the boat itself.

But she had her camera space that could preserve food, so the fish hold could just serve as a storage closet for now.

She wasn’t worried about encountering other players anytime soon.
In her previous life, it had taken her two full months of sailing before she ran into someone.

And even then, her boat was under 100 sqm, while the other person looked even poorer—
the moment they saw her, they turned tail and ran, afraid of being robbed.

Also, the fishing boat couldn’t stay in one place for too long.
From her past observations, if she lingered at one spot for over three days, both treasure chest spawns and fish yields would drop to virtually zero.