Chapter 5: Day 2 of Desert Survival (3): Repairing the Umbrella Is a Must…

Yu Miaomiao stood beside the workbench. Holding an umbrella in her left hand, she used her right to select “Tools/Weapons” on the interface wheel and saw the crafting recipe for a stone pickaxe.

【Stone Pickaxe ×1 = Wood (1/1), Stone (0/1), Twine (0/1)】

She didn’t have the last two items. However, she noticed that Twine also had a crafting formula under the “Materials” tab of the workbench.

【Twine ×2 = Palm Leaf (0/1)】

She didn’t expect crafting a single stone pickaxe to be so complicated, so Yu Miaomiao messaged “IsPipiThere.”

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: I’ve learned how to craft a stone pickaxe. It needs 1 piece of wood, 1 stone, and 1 twine. Twine can be crafted from palm leaves. Right now, I only have wood.』

『IsPipiThere: I’m really short on wood. Can I trade stone for wood with you? I don’t have twine either, but I might have palm leaves. Please give me a moment.』

Yu Miaomiao had been wondering why this person, who clearly had a lot of scrap iron, hadn’t made a workbench—it turned out he lacked wood.

And apparently, “IsPipiThere” seemed to have a decent amount of stones. What did he mean by “might have” palm leaves? Could you get them from somewhere? So everyone was receiving different resources?

Not even two minutes later, she received another message from him.

『IsPipiThere: People who have palm leaves had to trade water or food for them. I don’t have any extra left.』

Get them? Did that mean there was a special way to acquire this material? Since she had just arrived in this post-apocalyptic world, she didn’t know much and hadn’t seen anyone mention it yet.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Do you mind telling me where you got the stone and palm leaves? It’s totally fine if it’s not convenient to say.』

『IsPipiThere: It’s okay. It’s not really a secret. Starting today, it seems there are small resource points near where each person landed. Near my area, for example, there are a few scattered stones. And the person who had palm leaves happened to have a palm tree nearby.』

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: I saw people in the world chat saying there were no plants around?』

『IsPipiThere: Probably no edible plants. The palm tree near him is really tall, and it takes multiple hits on the trunk to maybe knock down a single leaf.』

So that’s how it worked. But what about the area near her?

She glanced around. Aside from some small sand and gravel, there was nothing else. Could it be these little pebbles?

Yu Miaomiao tried picking up a tiny pebble but found that it couldn’t be stored in her inventory—much less be traded.

Currently, she had four steamed buns in her backpack, so Yu Miaomiao returned to the temporary chat window.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: I don’t have much wood either. Are you going to trade a lot of stone for it?』

『IsPipiThere: Ah, no. I picked up some around here and only got ten pieces—not that many.』

Since stones could just be picked up, Yu Miaomiao wondered why he was so eager to craft a stone pickaxe. If it was that useful, maybe she should make one too.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: If we don’t have palm leaves, we can’t make the stone pickaxe anyway.』

『IsPipiThere: Sigh, if we can’t make it, then so be it. I just happened to get the blueprint and thought—since I’ve played other games where digging is a thing—maybe the pickaxe could help dig up extra stone or something else.』

Right, if there weren’t special resources on the surface, maybe there were underground. Now that she had the stone pickaxe blueprint, Yu Miaomiao also wanted to make one.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Can you help me ask if one steamed bun can be traded for five palm leaves? If that works, you can trade me stone in exchange for the twine I’ll craft.』

『IsPipiThere: Really? That’d be awesome! I’ll go ask.』

It was currently the hottest part of the day. Yu Miaomiao had to move the cooling mat to the doorway of the wooden hut, lean the umbrella against the wall, and use her body to keep it from falling over just to stay less exhausted.

She wasn’t sure if the interior of the hut had some kind of insulation, but despite being made of wood, it was hotter inside than outside. This made her even more determined to repair her broken umbrella.

Soon, a new message came in.

『IsPipiThere: Do you have any extra water? He asked if he could trade 10 palm leaves for one steamed bun and half a bottle of water.』

Yu Miaomiao didn’t really have a sense of the current value of things, but 10 leaves seemed like a lot, so she agreed.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Sure.』

As soon as she replied, a trade request came through. Seeing the 10 palm leaves already placed in the trade window, she wondered: Could these leaves have belonged to Pipi in the first place?

Yu Miaomiao placed the water into the trade box, confirmed it, and soon had 10 palm leaves and 3 stones added to her inventory.

Without delay, she returned to the primitive workbench with her umbrella and selected “Twine” to begin crafting. Following the on-screen instructions, her hands automatically started rubbing back and forth, gradually forming the shape of a rope.

One minute later, two pieces of twine appeared in her backpack, and one palm leaf disappeared.

Right after that, she selected “Stone Pickaxe” again.

Once she began, Yu Miaomiao realized the crafting process required both hands, so she had to set the umbrella aside and follow the guided instructions.

First, she shaved the wood into a cylindrical shape, then used a tool to grind the round stone into a cone shape, and finally tied it together with the rope.

During the process, she could even feel the changes in the physical object in her hands—it was quite magical.

Just as she hurried to pick up the umbrella again, she heard the familiar system voice.

【Luck Trait Activated: Successfully synthesized Stone Pickaxe ×3.】

Three??

Yu Miaomiao had always assumed her “Lucky” trait would double an item or give her something special—she didn’t expect it to actually triple the result.

She glanced at the time—it had taken five whole minutes just to craft a single pickaxe. No wonder she felt dizzy after working so long under the scorching sun.

She pulled out half a bottle of water and drank it in one go. The cold liquid slightly relieved her frustration from the heat.

After resting for quite a while, the swelling feeling in her head finally subsided. Yu Miaomiao sent out a trade message.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: I’ve finished. Go ahead and send the trade request.』

『IsPipiThere: Okay.』

After giving him one of the pickaxes, Yu Miaomiao took out one from her backpack and tested it on the ground—it felt rather heavy.

『IsPipiThere: Could I trouble you to make two more? I can pay you for your labor. As for materials, can I continue trading stone for the twine?』

Labor fee? That actually sounded like a pretty good idea. But it was too hot right now, and if she stayed out any longer, she might get heatstroke.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Sure, but is it urgent? I’ll have to do it later—it’s too hot right now. Also, I tried using the pickaxe and it barely scratched the ground. Are you sure you want two more?』

Yu Miaomiao had only briefly tested the pickaxe and didn’t really know what it could do. Now she was so overheated she had collapsed onto the ground.

Although she had two pickaxes on hand, one had already been used twice and its durability had dropped a bit—there was no way she could trade that one.

『IsPipiThere: I tested it a little—it can dig the ground, but I ran out of stamina, and it’s too hot. I plan to try again when it cools down. My classmates heard about it and all want one too. What kind of materials do you want as a labor fee?』

Classmates? Could it be that some people weren’t sent here alone, but in small groups?

She was just thinking about it and didn’t ask out loud.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: For the labor fee, I’ll need it paid in flax or flax leaves, or plastic blocks. This thing is really tiring to make.』

『IsPipiThere: Does it have to be flax leaves? We really don’t have that. Is something else okay?』

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Nylon fabric is also fine.』

『IsPipiThere: One of my classmates actually got some nylon fabric, but that’s all she has. She’d probably rather save it to trade for food or water. I’ll go ask her.』

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Okay.』

Based on how he said “go ask,” it seemed his classmates weren’t in the exact same location. But still, having a few familiar classmates enter this apocalyptic world together was a good thing—they could help each other out.

Yu Miaomiao hoped that if her best friend ended up in another server, she would also manage to survive well.

After she had recovered a bit, he messaged her again.

『IsPipiThere: The classmate who wants the pickaxe said she could spare some food for the one with the nylon fabric, but she still lacks water. Now that water is becoming scarcer, I don’t think it’ll work out. Sorry to trouble you.』

Yu Miaomiao had also posted on the world channel offering to trade water or other materials for nylon fabric or its crafting components, but no one responded. Most people were asking for water instead.

The weather was getting even hotter. As time passed, her arm holding the umbrella grew more and more tired. Glancing up at the torn umbrella, she decided to “sacrifice water” to get the nylon fabric.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: I need 2 pieces of nylon fabric. If she has them, I’ll throw in half a bottle of water and craft 2 stone pickaxes as a bonus.』

『IsPipiThere: Wow, you’re actually willing to spare water—amazing. She’ll definitely agree.』

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: It’s already unbearably hot here. I absolutely need the nylon fabric. And don’t tell anyone else that the items came from me—not even my username.』

『IsPipiThere: Got it, got it. I won’t say anything. I understand the rules :)』

The chat interface didn’t support emojis, but he still managed to type out a smiley face using symbols.

Yu Miaomiao continued watching the world channel. It had been a while since she’d heard from “Pipi,” and she wondered if the person with the nylon fabric was unwilling to trade.

She hadn’t seen anyone in the world channel mention their umbrella being broken. Could it be that she triggered some kind of bad luck trait and ended up with a torn umbrella?

『IsPipiThere: Sorry, my classmate isn’t willing to hand over the items to me directly. She said she’ll post ’19’ in the world channel three times. If you’re interested, just click on her to start a conversation. But don’t worry—she’s a good person, just extremely cautious. I don’t think she’d leak any of your information.』

Yu Miaomiao had been wondering earlier how “IsPipiThere” had earned so much trust from his classmates—they were all willing to give him their stuff first. Turns out, there were still people who weren’t comfortable doing that.

Sure enough, someone in the world channel posted a message saying “19,” and their ID was “IsLuluThere.”

Fixing the umbrella had become a top priority—Yu Miaomiao truly couldn’t hold it up any longer. So when that person posted “19” a second time, she immediately opened the temporary chat window.

『MeowMeowNotLackingWater: Nylon fabric for water?』

『IsLuluThere: Sure.』

As soon as the message was received, a trade request came in simultaneously.

She must’ve been in a real hurry.

After confirming the trade, her water supply was down by half a bottle, but she gained two pieces of nylon fabric.

Now, no matter how hot it was, Yu Miaomiao was going to fix that umbrella right now—no delays.

She placed the umbrella on the repair station, tapped “Repair,” and, following the prompts, used a small hammer to strike left and right. Just like that, the umbrella was fixed.

When she retrieved it from the repair table, it looked completely different—brand new, as if it had never been damaged.