“Would you like to know about honey? You’ll need to plant flowers around the beehive, and the bees will produce honey three days after the flowers bloom,” Mayor Wang explained how to grow flowers.

“Flowers bloom only during their designated seasons, and they can last for an entire season.”

“You’ll need to plant flower seeds in a field like any other crop, and once more than three of the same type of flower bloom, you can harvest them to obtain seeds.”

“Also, flowers no longer produce honey after they’ve been picked, but they can be given as gifts. The residents of our town love flowers, but each person has a different favorite.”

“Furthermore, freshly picked flowers can be processed into essential oils and other products, which can either be used to improve relationships with friends or sold to produce honey, making them an excellent item to have on hand at all times.”

Shen Xin took all this information in, and then asked, “Where can I purchase these?”

“Ah ha! You came at just the right time.” Mayor Wang pointed toward the exhibition area. “Once the flower-viewing ceremony begins, we’ll sell flower seeds. You can choose your favorite types to buy.”

So that’s how it is.

The purpose of the flower-viewing ceremony was clear: to provide players with an opportunity to grow flowers.

Fishing and gardening were both relatively casual activities, though perhaps not so much in a survival game…

Shen Xin picked a spot near the exhibition area so she could conveniently purchase seeds later.

And so, the scene transformed into this:

A long table stood in the middle of the room, with Zhou Yi seated in the middle and Mingyue at the farthest left. Practically everyone else circled around them, talking to one or the other.

Only Shen Xin sat at the farthest right, engrossed in her thoughts about arranging the beehive boxes, staring intently at the flower seeds on display, looking quite out of place.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi stood up, and the people surrounding him made way. He walked straight toward Shen Xin.

“Trying to look different to stand out!” Zhang Yunyun spat, then watched as Zhou Yi walked right past Shen Xin toward the entrance.

Shen Xin seemed surprised by this, quickly standing up and chasing after Zhou Yi.

Zhang Yunyun scoffed, then grabbed her friend, “I told you, don’t waste your time. Didn’t you see how Zhou Yi didn’t even acknowledge you? Your little tricks aren’t going to work.”

Shen Xin gave her a puzzled look. “Who?”

She realized in the next second that the person who just walked past her was indeed Zhou Yi.

She had heard his songs but never seen him in person.

Zhang Yunyun took in Shen Xin’s bewildered expression, thinking she was putting on an act, and felt her disdain grow. “Pretending to be pure and oblivious? Do you really think this will make him notice you? Good heavens, these old tricks are so last century!”

Shen Xin remained silent.

Zhang Yunyun was ready to continue her barrage of mockery when Shen Xin suddenly asked, “Do you know what the AII Engine System looks like?”

Zhang Yunyun was baffled. “Huh?”

“Do you know the core structure of the Lotus Machinery?”

“Do you know how to assemble a virtual仓?”

Shen Xin fired off a series of questions, and Zhang Yunyun could only respond with a bewildered expression.

“What’s your problem? Who knows what the hell you’re talking about?” Zhang Yunyun snapped.

Shen Xin smiled. “The assembly and structure of these machines are taught to all new students at our academy. Every student in the Faculty of Engineering is well-versed in these fundamentals, which are widely applied across various fields. Why wouldn’t I know about them?”

Zhang Yunyun, now thoroughly enraged, said, “Why should I know about these things?!”

“Then why should I know who Zhou Yi is?” Shen Xin replied indifferently. “We move in different social circles, and it’s perfectly reasonable for me to not know or understand you. You’re being a fool by trying to force your worldview onto the world.”

Zhang Yunyun stared, incredulous. “You just called me a fool?”

Shen Xin paused, wondering how this person had managed to hear only that one line despite her lengthy speech. “Yes, I did, and what’s wrong with that?”

“I-I…” Zhang Yunyun reached for her nails, wanting to scratch Shen Xin’s eyes, but Shen Xin calmly reached into her backpack, pulling out a small pistol.

The moment Jing Yan entered the venue, Zhou Yi stopped him.

“Hello, I’m Zhou Yi.”

“Mm, hello.” Jing Yan looked to the side, watching a woman stop one of his companions.

Zhou Yi turned to glance at the person in question, then said, “I’ve heard you’re quite impressive.”

“Ahem!” Just as he finished, Jing Yan coughed up a mouthful of blood. “That’s right, I’m very impressive, but also very sick, so can you let me pass so I can sit down?”

Zhou Yi stared blankly.

Before he could react, Jing Yan had already dashed off toward his companion.

How could someone so sick move that fast?

“What? What are you doing?” Jing Yan walked around to Zhang Yunyun’s back, noticing her long fingernails. “Wow! Look at the length of your nails! There must be tons of bacteria on them!”

Zhang Yunyun’s fingers were slender and pretty, often praised by others for their beauty. This was the first time someone had, upon meeting her, immediately commented on how unsanitary her long nails were.

“I take care of my nails every day!” She turned to lash out, but seeing Zhou Yi follow her, Zhang Yunyun swiftly transformed into the victimized party.

“You’re ganging up on me!” She scurried behind Zhou Yi, denouncing Shen Xin for being mean and manipulative, and detailing how she had bullied her.

Shen Xin unsheathed her sword. “Don’t make things up. When have I ever wanted to bully you? I’ve clearly been wanting to kill you with this sword.”

Zhang Yunyun stared, stunned. “You dare to kill people?” she gasped.

“Good thing I did,” Shen Xin grinned brightly, undeterred. “I just killed four yesterday.”

Zhang Yunyun’s face fell, and she fully hid behind Zhou Yi. “Help me, save me.”

Yet when Zhou Yi saw Shen Xin’s sword, his eyes lit up, and he stepped forward to ask, “Your sword—”

“Is your sword legit?!” Jing Yan cut in.

Zhou Yi was confused. What kind of question was this? Shouldn’t you usually ask if it’s strong or not?

Shen Xin gleefully showed off the sword to Jing Yan, “Super legit! Here, take a look!”

After glancing at the description, Jing Yan cried out in excitement, “I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it!”

Shen Xin tucked the sword away into his backpack as if it were a treasured possession. “It’s not for sale!”

“I’ll buy it! If you don’t sell it, I can make a request!”

“No sale! You can’t make me sell it!”

Zhou Yi stared at them, baffled. Was there something wrong with the intel he’d received? How could this legendary expert act like an idiotic grade-schooler?

“Ahem, ahem, ahem!” Jing Yan suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, startling Shen Xin into stopping his antics.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ahem…let’s talk over there.” Jing Yan covered his mouth and nose with one hand, and Shen Xin guided him to a chair with the other.

“How did you get so sick?” Shen Xin handed him a paper napkin to wipe his mouth.

Jing Yan had seemed perfectly fine and energetic yesterday—how had he deteriorated so quickly?

Face pale, Jing Yan produced his own manual and tapped open the Status tab to show Shen Xin.

A string of negative status effects greeted Shen Xin’s eyes:

Bleeding, Weakened, Slow, Nauseated.

“Good grief, did you encounter a boss?”

Shen Xin couldn’t think of any mobs other than a boss that could inflict so much damage on a player.

“Mm-hmm,” Jing Yan confirmed quietly. “There’s a boss in the thirtieth level.”

Yesterday, he had just entered the thirty-first level when he was immediately attacked by a giant slime monster. He and the monster exchanged more than ten rounds of blows, but Jing Yan realized that this slime monster not only possessed powerful attacks, but also split into five smaller slimes every minute.

The combination of the big and small slimes would have been manageable; Jing Yan could just dodge the big slime’s attacks while picking off the smaller ones.

But once the smaller slimes reached a certain number, they fused back into the big slime, becoming more formidable.

At that point, Jing Yan could no longer endure.

Seeing the situation was dire, he retreated, only to be ambushed by several giant slimes on his way out and sustain some injuries.

“You were injured?” Shen Xin looked at Jing Yan, who was half-dead, “Is this what you call ‘injured’?”

“I ran out of potions, and the clinic isn’t open today because of the festival…” Jing Yan opened the trading menu and sold Shen Xin the ore he had collected yesterday.

“Do you have any potions? I can sell you some.”

Shen Xin handed him a few from her inventory. “That’s all I have on me right now; the rest are at home.”

Jing Yan removed the bleeding and slow debuffs, his complexion looking better.

Shen Xin poured him a cup of warm water from the dining area. “You’re in such a state. Why aren’t you resting at home? Instead, you’ve come to participate in the event?”

“I’m here to look for you.” Jing Yan took the cup, and then suggested, “Why don’t we go fight the boss together?”

Jing Yan had originally come to purchase food supplies from Shen Xin, but upon seeing her new weapon, he changed his mind.

“It’s too difficult to fight both big and small slimes alone, but if someone helps me take care of the smaller monsters, I’m confident I can defeat the boss.” His eyes glistened. “It won’t waste too much of your time, and you can choose the loot first when we’re done.”

Shen Xin imagined that if Jing Yan really were Stumpy, he would be wagging his tail at her right now.

As it happened, she also wanted to go to the monster cave to verify something.

“Sure, when are we leaving?”

“Today?”

Shen Xin was shocked. “But your injuries haven’t healed yet.”

Jing Yan put down the cup. “I’ll stock up on some more medicine at your farm later.”

“You’re really going all out…” Shen Xin glanced at the time. “Can you wait until I buy some flower seeds?”

“Of course!”

Having successfully recruited his farming buddy into their boss-fighting team, Jing Yan ran off to the dining area to pick out snacks.

The gossiping goddess Bibi took this opportunity to sneak over. “Elder sister! What’s going on?!”

Shen Xin jumped at the sudden appearance of the girl. “What do you mean?”

Bibi’s gaze was filled with pink bubbles of gossip. “Everyone else is playing survival games, so how come you’re off here playing love games instead?”

Shen Xin stared at her in disbelief.

“Love games? Me?”

Bibi nodded vigorously, pointing in Jing Yan’s direction. “The two of you were whispering to each other earlier! As a professional love hunter, my eyes are sharp—you can’t fool me!”

Shen Xin paused, then recommended, “Maybe you should get your eyes checked.”

“Who’s that?” Jing Yan returned with a tray of food, and Bibi swiftly retreated.

A professional love hunter would never ruin the ambiance of a budding romance!

“What happened to her?” Jing Yan sat back down.

“Nothing, what were you doing just now?” While pointing at Jing Yan, Bibi asked.

“Oh, Zhou Yi wanted to form a team with me,” Jing Yan said lightly. “I refused.”

“Huh?” This was something Shen Xin couldn’t understand. “Why would he want to form a team with you?”

“I suppose because they know I’m pretty strong and wanted to hire me to help them get first place,” Jing Yan answered, picking up a cookie to eat. “But why can’t I just take the first place for myself?”

This certainly sounded like something he would say.

Shen Xin asked, “How did you refuse him?”

“Me? I told them I was going to form a team with you, and he said it’d be fine if we were three, so I had no choice but to reveal my intentions and say that I also want to get first place.” Jing Yan seemed quite irritated. “He laughed! It wasn’t obvious, but he definitely laughed!”

“Good thing you revealed yourself. I don’t want to work with him either.” Shen Xin sighed in relief.

“What, do you dislike him?” Jing Yan asked curiously. “Zhou Yi’s reputation is pretty good, isn’t it? There’s nothing black mark-worthy about him or his fans.”

“It’s not exactly that I dislike him, it’s just that listening to his voice makes my scalp go numb.” Shen Xin looked uncomfortable.

“I lived in a four-person dorm during my first year in college, and one of my roommates was an obsessive fan of his. Even the alarm clock was set to his songs. We had early classes, so can you imagine how painful it was to be woken up by a man’s voice every morning before class…”