Chapter 10: Auctioning Deluxe Instant Noodles, Obtaining Advanced Bow Blueprint

Yang Ke saw that Wen Mingyue was interested and quickly replied.

Gossip Group Leader: Big boss, to be honest, I have decent luck, but I seriously lack food—especially water. I’m hoping to trade for more water and food.

Wen Mingyue: How much do you need?

Gossip Group Leader: Two liters of water and enough food for one day.

That was too much for Wen Mingyue.

In two hours, a single water purifier could only purify a bit more than four liters, and half of the water she’d put up for trade was already gone.

After all, it was only the first day, and most players were still waiting to fish up treasure chests.

Wen Mingyue: You should know that light bulb blueprints aren’t really scarce right now. You’re also well aware of how important water and food are. I can give you at most one liter of water. I don’t have much food either—do you want oranges?

Yang Ke felt that one liter of water was still too little, but considering the other party was a big boss—and he was intentionally trying to build a connection with her—and that she was even offering fruit with vitamins, he reluctantly accepted the deal.

To leave a good impression, Yang Ke quickly sent over the washbasin he got from a treasure chest yesterday.

Meanwhile, Wen Mingyue picked two oranges. She hesitated about whether to add a third one, but after thinking of her grandparents, parents, and younger sister back home, she decided against it.

She then packaged the oranges along with the water and sent them over.

Yang Ke thanked her, then took out the traded goods. Staring at the brightly colored, tempting oranges, he swallowed hard and hurriedly peeled one to eat.

The sweet, juicy flavor instantly filled his mouth. After going without for so long, it was like tasting nectar—Yang Ke felt instantly revitalized.

Then he suddenly remembered something and opened his control panel.

Back on her end, Wen Mingyue was still discussing with System 069 whether she had given away too much in the trade when she received a message from Yang Ke.

Gossip Group Leader: Thank you, boss. The oranges were really sweet.

He even gave the transaction a five-star rating and posted pictures to show off.

Yang Ke’s glowing review and pictures were quickly spotted by sharp-eyed (and bored) netizens, sparking quite a bit of chatter:

“Everyone, go check the latest review on Wen Mingyue’s Specialty Shop!”

“On my way!”

“No way, someone’s already selling fruit this early?”

“@Gossip Group Leader: Were the oranges sweet? Can I at least sniff the peel?” ��

Yang Ke responded generously and even gave the boss’s shop a bit of free advertising while he was at it.

Gossip Group Leader: “Super sweet—honestly the best orange I’ve ever had.”

“Now I’m jealous again, sis.”

“How rich is this boss? She’s even listed so much water and still won’t share with us—plus it’s so expensive!”

“200 ml of water for 6 pieces of wood? That’s like 1.5 treasure chests! Might as well be robbery!”

“Exactly. I didn’t even fish up a single chest this morning—we’re barely surviving, and she’s still charging that much.”

“I think it’s fair. We should be grateful she’s even willing to sell to us. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.”

“For real. My throat was practically on fire, but luckily I managed to grab some. That’s one more day of survival!”

The discussion in the group chat got more and more heated. For the loudest critics, Wen Mingyue simply had the system blacklist them.

Yang Ke, seeing the escalating arguments in the chat, started to panic a little.

He quickly sent Wen Mingyue a private message.

Meanwhile, Wen Mingyue had just pulled up her third wooden crate of the day—it was already close to noon.

Upon opening it, she obtained a flamethrower.

Her current pace seemed to be one wooden crate per hour.

She instructed 069 to keep watch while she took a break to prepare lunch.

When she saw Yang Ke’s message, she immediately understood his concern.

Wen Mingyue: It’s fine. It won’t affect our future trades.

Yang Ke quickly replied and breathed a sigh of relief.

To him, anyone valuable was worth forming ties with. In a survival game, what was wrong with wanting a reliable backer?

—

Elsewhere, Wen Mingyue found an empty space near the stern of the boat and sat down.

She studied the table and chair blueprint, then used 8 wooden boards and some nails to craft a wooden chair with a backrest.

After finishing it, she leaned back in the chair and looked up at the bright blue sky—feeling a sense of peace she hadn’t experienced since entering the game.

She drank more than half a bottle of water, rested for a while, then used iron and wood to craft the following items:

A small iron pot with handles

A long-handled ladle

Two pairs of chopsticks

Two wooden bowls

A metal pot stand

Finally, she broke down a batch of wood and got three wood sticks. She pulled out the flamethrower she’d just unboxed and blasted the sticks with it a few times, quickly setting them on fire.

She poured about 800 ml of purified water into the iron pot. Her daily water came from the 50-liter reserve stored in her material card, while the other 50 liters were set aside for trading.

The water boiled quickly. She carefully added one and a half packs of instant noodles, used only one seasoning packet, and even cracked an egg into the pot.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, Wen Mingyue went to the field and plucked a few leaves of youmaicai (celtuce greens), gave them a casual shake, and tossed them into the pot.

She picked the leaves from the top, which looked pretty clean—one less thing to spend resources on.

Five minutes later, a pot of fragrant instant noodles was ready—with vegetables and egg, it was both balanced and delicious.

When she was younger, Wen Mingyue and her sister used to secretly cook instant noodles together. Their family always told them not to eat it too often, saying it was unhealthy—but that never stopped the sisters from sneaking a few bowls in private.

She devoured her lunch in just a few bites and gave the pot a quick rinse.

Then, thinking of something, she cooked up another pack of noodles.

To make it look better, she placed two bright green leaves on top. That was all she had to spare.

She then had 069 list it for auction—one of the perks of owning a crown-level shop was being able to hold auctions.

Hehe, starting bid: 25 pieces of wood.

Wen Mingyue’s strategy was clear: make the rich pay up.

And sure enough, the steaming hot instant noodles were quickly snapped up by a wealthy buyer for 45 wood, 24 iron nails, and 5 iron ingots.

Wen Mingyue was very satisfied with the result. She decided that she’d definitely do this again in the future.

As expected, her deluxe noodles once again sparked heated conversation in the group chat. Most people were amazed by how well-stocked she was and started asking if she was looking to recruit underlings.

Some begged her to share, while others even threatened to find her and rob her.

But she didn’t care at all. Before arriving in the ocean world, she had already hidden her location.

—

At that moment, across the sea on another large fishing boat—

A pretty girl stared accusingly at the cold-faced man beside her, whining non-stop about wanting to eat instant noodles.

Her sulking and pleading didn’t work—on top of that, all the materials in her backpack had been confiscated under the excuse of “upgrading the fishing boat.”

Suddenly, her big, bright eyes lit up as if she remembered something.

—

Just as Wen Mingyue was about to clean up the firewood, a system notification popped up. She opened her panel—and sure enough, it was someone she was familiar with.

Zhao Lingxin: Can you cook me a bowl of instant noodles? I’ll trade this for it.

Zhao Lingxin: I was about to bid on the auction, but my brother stopped me.

She then sent over a blueprint link and a large wooden bowl as part of the offer.

Wen Mingyue tapped to view it—and wow. A bow blueprint, complete with arrows. And not just any blueprint—it was advanced.