Shen Xin’s fishing level had already risen to level 4, and the rate at which she snagged treasure chests had doubled. Even so, the appearance rate for premium chests remained at 2%.

It took her only an afternoon to catch three intermediate chests and five low-grade chests. Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie, who were witnessing someone fish up chests from the river for the first time, had luck on their side. They managed to catch one low-grade chest in the entire day.

Low-grade chests contained only raw materials such as wood and stone.

Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie watched enviously as Shen Xin pulled out gem after gem from the intermediate chests.

“All right, I’m off. Are you two coming?” Shen Xin looked at them as she retracted her fishing rod.

The road back home was fraught with danger, so of course the duo would tag along with her.

After escorting the two back to the town, Fan Qing hesitated, then finally asked in a small voice, “Hey, big shot, are we going to the beach tomorrow?”

The river was practically depleted of fish, but there were plenty of resources in the sea. Anyone would choose to go fishing at the beach over the river.

Shen Xin nodded. “Mm, I’ll go tomorrow at noon. If you guys want to come, wait for me here.”

Fan Qing didn’t expect Shen Xin to agree to bring them along, so he excitedly thanked the big shot on the way back, constantly blaming Xiao-Jie along the way.

“It’s all your fault. Why did you want to rob this big shot when he’s so good?”

Xiao-Jie was speechless.

“Bro Fan, you were the one who said we should rob him, saying that he’s an easy target.”

Fan Qing choked. “I was just trying to say we should make a show of it, but then it ended up actually happening.”

Those who played survival games had to either develop good skills or learn how to entertain. Playing honestly and focusing on survival wasn’t necessarily interesting to viewers, and there were no laws against robbery in the game, so Fan Qing wanted to add some thrilling moments.

Out of all the possible targets, he chose the farmer who seemed the richest and most defenseless. He certainly hadn’t expected that he’d end up picking the toughest customer in the game.

On the fourteenth day of spring, Shen Xin harvested her broccoli and planted the final batches of spring wheat and spinach seeds, marking the completion of all spring planting.

Jing Yan looked at the nearly 400 units of farmland and said with a sigh, “You’re really putting in a lot of effort. Do you also want to aim for 40 million points?”

“Nope, you can go for it.” She added, “Besides, it’s not worth it for me to farm for points.”

When calculating the scores for professional achievements, the points earned were multiplied by ten. Monsters spawned endlessly, allowing warriors to level up by slaying them. As long as there were residents and players consuming their services, hairdressers, carpenters, and other professions would also have opportunities to earn points.

However, seeds were limited; once they ran out, there would be no more. The limitations on the farming profession were clearly stricter than those on other professions.

After Shen Xin’s explanation, Jing Yan analyzed the situation, saying, “UOL is an established company; they wouldn’t have overlooked the balance between professions when they designed them…”

“Maybe.” Shen Xin cooked a few servings of broccoli and issued a trade request to Jing Yan.

Upon seeing the items on offer, Jing Yan hesitated visibly for a few seconds.

Shen Xin caught this detail and asked, “You don’t eat broccoli?”

“Uh… Yeah…”

As an adults, Jing Yan felt slightly embarrassed about his picky eating habits upon admitting to them.

“If there’s anything you don’t eat, you should’ve told me earlier,” Shen Xin said, canceling the trade. She then took out a few more potatoes from her storage. “There’s not much time left, so how about I quickly make some stir-fried potato strips with vinegar?”

“Sounds good!” Jing Yan let out a sigh of relief and obediently prepared the random seeds and minerals. Upon completing the trade, Shen Xin received extra coins from him, which she graciously accepted.

By noon, Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie had been waiting in town for several hours already.

But beside them stood a young man and woman; Shen Xin didn’t recognize either.

In response to Shen Xin’s questioning gaze, Fan Qing explained, a little embarrassed, “Um, well, Cap’n, these are my friends. Times have been tough lately, so I invited them along. I hope you don’t mind?”

Technically, they were new friends; Fan Qing had only recently struck up a conversation with these two.

The woman, Zhang Yunyun, was an online streamer and influencer, and the man, Meng Xianping, was a middling internet drama actor.

Zhang Yunyun had a large following among young men, just the type of fanbase Fan Qing craved. As a devoted follower, Fan Qing had purchased every product she had ever promoted.

As soon as he entered the game and saw Zhang Yunyun, Fan Qing knew he would be glad to have joined this competition!

Unfortunately, before he could strike up a conversation with his goddess, their ship capsized, and they were both knocked onto the shore.

Fan Qing had internally cursed UOL for several days after that.

Still, he held on to some small hope: After arriving at the town, he could always strike up a conversation with his goddess, right?

Yet, after arriving at the small town, the famous players avoided the crowd, choosing to live in a very remote area where they couldn’t even be seen. Fan Qing didn’t have the chance to run into his goddess, despite his best efforts.

On their way back yesterday, Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie ran into Zhang Yunyun, who was out searching for food.

Fan Qing got so excited that he lost sight of himself, boasting about knowing a big shot friend and catching a whole school of fish, naturally omitting the part where he tried to rob Shen Xin.

Initially uninterested, Zhang Yunyun changed her mind upon hearing about the school of fish.

“Um, is your friend going fishing tomorrow? Can I come along?”

Being asked this question by the girl he admired filled Fan Qing with immense joy, to the point he couldn’t locate his own head. After vaguely agreeing, he realized the next day that he was just a noob being carried by the big shot, and that it wasn’t quite right to agree on Shen Xin’s behalf—but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse his goddess.

Just as he was about to ask Shen Xin for her permission, Zhang Yunyun brought another person: Meng Xianping.

“Sorry, I’m friends with him, and we’re all having a tough time lately. Can I bring an extra person? Sorry to trouble you.”

With Zhang Yunyun’s soft request, Fan Qing had agreed without hesitation, setting the stage for this standoff.

Shen Xin rubbed her forehead. “Sure, but don’t bring any more people, it’ll be too troublesome.”

“Okay, okay! I won’t bring anyone else.” Fan Qing agreed hastily without noticing the displeasure in Zhang Yunyun and Meng Xianping’s eyes. He cheerfully gestured for the other three to follow Shen Xin.

Fan Qing was internally ecstatic; he finally gained some face in front of his crush.

“Um, Yunyun…” he tried to strike up a conversation with Zhang Yunyun, who responded politely before turning to chat happily with Meng Xianping.

Xiao-Jie witnessed all of this and knew Zhang Yunyun was clearly using his friend as a spare wheel.

He wanted to intervene but both parties involved were willingly participating in this toxic dynamic. If he did try to talk, his friend might even distance himself from him.

This was the most difficult kind of conflict to resolve.

Xiao-Jie sighed and followed Fan Qing in silence.

Perhaps because they had cleared out most of the slimes yesterday, the group didn’t encounter a single monster on their way to the beach today. They arrived at the shore without any obstacles blocking their path.

Zhang Yunyun and Meng Xianping whispered a few words to each other before taking up a good spot at the pier and starting to fish.

Fan Qing walked over and stood next to Zhang Yunyun, and Xiao-Jie followed close behind.

Shen Xin wasn’t blind, and she could more or less guess the relationships between these people. She wasn’t interested in inserting herself into their affairs, so she kept her distance, sitting on a corner of the pier by herself to fish.

The soothing sounds of the ocean waves and passing birds filled the air.

“I originally thought it would be incredibly dangerous to come to the beach, but I’m surprised we’ve been safe the whole way here,” Meng Xianping said quietly to Zhang Yunyun. “Could it be that ‘it’s dangerous beyond the town walls’ is just a rumor?”

“It’s possible… Did you receive the quest? The one about Utopia Island’s secret. Maybe this is a clue.” Zhang Yunyun turned her head to glance at Shen Xin. “Speaking of which, this big shot certainly surprised me; I never expected them to be a woman.”

“Ahem, ahem, ahem.” Meng Xianping coughed twice, and Zhang Yunyun realized her mistake, regretfully shutting her mouth.

Everything they did in the game was streamed live, and with those gender-biased comments, internet police would surely be flooding their social media comments section again.

Shit, it’s all Shen Xin’s fault.

Zhang Yunyun was in a bad mood, so she paid even less attention to Fan Qing than usual.

Having run into multiple walls, Fan Qing finally let out a bitter laugh and stood awkwardly to the side. If he couldn’t understand the situation by now, he might as well have wasted his past twenty years of life.

His heart wasn’t in a good place, so he could only bury himself in fishing.

Perhaps because he was disheartened in love, he found success in fishing. The float dipped violently, and before Fan Qing could react, the bar representing his stamina had already been depleted by more than half.

“Fuck! What kind of big shot are you?!” This was the first time Fan Qing had encountered such a situation, and he quickly called out to Shen Xin for help.

Shen Xin responded immediately, arriving at the source of the commotion in no time. He immediately assessed that this was at least an intermediate-level treasure chest or higher.

“Eat!”

Fan Qing had been killed with a few slashes from Jing Yan’s blade, meaning he hadn’t earned enough XP to level up; he only had 100 stamina points left. Opening a high-level chest would force him to expend all his energy, leaving him unable to catch the box.

Afraid that Fan Qing would lose the box after exhausting his stamina, Shen Xin shoved a piece of bread into Fan Qing’s mouth with even more force than he had when feeding Jing Yan. If he had to describe it, it would be exactly like how vaccines were stuffed down vaccines at a livestock farm.

Zhang Yunyun and Meng Xianping craned their necks to look toward the commotion.

With Shen Xin’s help, they successfully reeled in an iron chest.

Fan Qing was stunned after seeing the box’s attributes, and upon realizing how close he had come to exhausting his stamina, he felt a shiver of fear run down his spine.

Just as he was about to thank Shen Xin, Zhang Yunyun scooted over, her eyes fixed on the box in his arms.

“Ooh? There’s a box in the water? I don’t play these games often, what’s inside? Can I take a look?” She held out her hand.

Xiao-Jie cried out in his mind, “Uh-oh.”

“Fan-ge—”

Before Fan Qing could respond, Shen Xin stepped forward and shoved Zhang Yunyun aside.

“Out of the way. I helped fish this up, so shouldn’t I get to look at it first?”

Xiao-Jie clenched his fists in excitement.

That’s our badass! he thought.

Shen Xin remained blissfully unaware that she had once again elevated herself in Xiao-Jie’s eyes.

She wasn’t there to put a stop to the classic “greedy gold digger” move; Shen Xin simply wanted the items in the box for herself.

High-level treasure chests were notoriously difficult to obtain, so Shen Xin turned to Fan Qing with a proposition. “Anything could be inside this high-level treasure chest, and its value is purely dependent on luck. How about I trade you thirty loaves of bread for it?”

Previously, thirty loaves of bread had cost only six silver coins, but now their value had skyrocketed, enough to cover an entire ten-day supply.

The other four were first surprised to find that Shen Xin had kept so many loaves of bread with her, then quickly realized how much she valued the treasure chest.

Zhang Yunyun saw an opportunity for negotiation and turned to Fan Qing. “Thirty loaves of bread? That’s way too little. Don’t think we don’t know the market value, just trying to bargain us down.”

Though she appeared to bargain on Fan Qing’s behalf, deep down, she hoped Shen Xin wouldn’t be able to purchase the box.

Zhang Yunyun was a professional salesperson, but before she could show off her skills, Fan Qing had already handed the box over to Shen Xin.

“What are you doing?!” Zhang Yunyun screeched.

Fan Qing stood up, still shaken. “Without this big shot here, I wouldn’t have been able to lure this box out. Besides, food is scarce now, so I think the price is quite fair.”

Zhang Yunyun was speechless with anger. She held back the urge to roll her eyes and scolded him, “You fool!”

Then she returned to her fishing.

Shen Xin hadn’t expected Fan Qing to be so straightforward; she had even prepared to lower her offer to fifty loaves of bread.

After some thought, she once again proposed a trade and handed two portions of stir-fried broccoli—the dish she’d planned to give Jing Yan in the morning—to Fan Qing.

“This dish has a buff; eat it when you’re in danger.”