Chapter 4: Defeating Monsters and Getting a Bronze Treasure Chest

Wen Mingyue’s go-to weapon had always been the bow and arrow. After being reborn, she quickly got back into form. With the previous few monsters for practice, her hit rate was back up to around 85%—not perfect, but decent.

Still, that hit rate wasn’t enough. She needed more training.

She glanced at the time left on the holographic screen. Just one last area remained—plenty of time.

Thirty minutes later.

With a bow slung over her back, one hand on her hip, and the other holding a machete, Wen Mingyue stared at the final unexplored area.

As system 069 gave a prompt in her mind, she focused intently on a nearby pond. It wasn’t large, but thick aquatic plants surrounded it, making the whole thing feel impenetrable.

When she saw bubbles rising from the water, Wen Mingyue knew something inside was about to emerge.

Cautiously, she put away her machete and instinctively gripped an arrow, ready to fight at any moment.

Before she could even make out what was in the water, her body reacted—dodging to the side at 069’s sharp scream.

The arrow in her hand loosed by accident, flying off and hitting a tree trunk nearby.

Within seconds, she landed face-first on the ground in a classic “faceplant,” nearly losing a front tooth in the process.

Lying there, she glanced over at the patch of ground next to her where the soil was hissing and corroding. She swallowed hard.

Damn. That was almost a facial disfigurement.

In her mind, the little panda system mascot also gave its chubby belly a loud pat.

That was close.

Finally, she got a good look at the creature that had ambushed her—it was a toad, covered in warts.

System notification: [Level 3 Toad Monster]

Its green skin was streaked with black, and it was about four or five times the size of any normal toad Wen Mingyue had ever seen. Its bulging eyes were like bronze bells—it was clearly not something to mess with.

So she stayed down, playing dead. After all, as far as she was concerned, life was more important than pride.

The toad monster looked at her motionless body and couldn’t help but sneer internally.

Stupid human. You think playing dead will save you from me?

What it didn’t know was that Wen Mingyue, hidden behind some shrubs, had already pulled out an arrow from her storage space. Carefully, she drew her bowstring back, half-squinting at the approaching red dot on her radar.

As the toad monster leapt at her, she suddenly sprang upright with a burst of agility. In the same instant, the arrow in her hand shot forward.

The toad monster didn’t even have time to dodge—it was pierced straight through the belly and died on the spot.

“Got it!”

She rolled up off the ground, patted away the grass stuck to her clothes, bent down, and picked up the bronze treasure chest dropped by the Level 3 toad monster. Then she quickly urged the system to scan for more chest locations.

In her world, wasting even one second was disrespectful to treasure chests.

Once she and her system finished exploring the whole island, she finally had a moment to sit down and rest, tidying her messy hair in the process.

There were less than 30 minutes left until the resource drop ended.

During that time, Wen Mingyue drank a bottle of mineral water and gnawed on a still-warm white steamed bun. It barely took the edge off her hunger—but that’s what being broke does to you.

Tired, yes—but also full of gains. After all, she’d been sprinting across the island like an Olympic sprinter, constantly fighting monsters and collecting treasure.

Besides the original 4 chests, she had collected:

20 wooden chests

8 iron chests

1 bronze chest

Still high on adrenaline, Wen Mingyue rubbed her hands together excitedly and offered a quick prayer to the God of Wealth, ready to open the chests with her 8 points of Luck.

First up: the bronze treasure chest dropped by the Level 3 toad monster.

[Do you want to open the treasure chest?]
[Opening confirmed]
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained: Beauty Card x1 — Drop rate 10/3,000,000,000 — Tradeable]
[Using it increases beauty stat]

Wen Mingyue stared at the screen full of question marks. This felt like a scam. If only it had been a Luck Card instead.

Grumbling, she broke down the bronze chest and got 5 refined iron pieces.

Then she continued opening the other chests.

Loot acquired:

Bottled water, 500ml × 6

Meat buns × 4

Instant noodles × 6

White rice, 1kg × 3

Chocolate ×2

Vermicelli (1 bag, 6 rolls)

Apples ×2

Cleaning tools set

Seafood soy sauce ×2

Wasabi sauce ×2

Wasabi seeds ×6

Random vegetable and seasoning seeds ×2

Grape sapling ×1

Plant growth solution ×3

Down comforter ×1

Toilet paper ×1 pack (8 rolls)

Underwear ×2

Backpack Expansion Card ×2

Kitchenware blueprint ×1

Normal soil (1 cubic meter)

Wood (20 × 4)

Iron nails (20 × 8)

Iron blocks (8 × 5)

Materials obtained from defeating and dismantling monsters:

Fresh beef: 100 jin (~50 kg)

Beef tallow: 10 jin (~5 kg)

Cowhide ×1

Rabbit meat: 5 jin ×2

Furry rabbit pelt ×2

Old hen meat: 4 jin

Eggs ×20

Toad venom ×3

For the first time, Wen Mingyue experienced the struggle of having too many supplies. Each Backpack Expansion Card adds 10 inventory slots, but even after using both, she still couldn’t fit everything—some items like the blueprint were still laid out in front of her.

And when she saw the Beauty Card, her head started to ache. She definitely had to trade it—but the question was, for what?

Soon, she thought of something to exchange it for.

She decided to bet on turning a “bike into a motorcycle”—after all, the Beauty Card had a drop rate of 10 in 3 billion.

Without hesitation, she listed the Beauty Card for trade, specifically highlighting its ultra-low drop rate.

Traumatized by her bad luck in her previous life, she decided to exchange it for a Luck Card. After all, the two were equally rare and ridiculous, likely with the smallest difference in drop rate. If nobody took the offer, she’d just switch to bartering for other supplies.

What Wen Mingyue didn’t know was that the moment she put the Beauty Card up for trade, it sparked intense discussion in the chat group.

Real-Time Chat, Greater China District 96
Current Online Users: 89,521

“Everyone, go check the trading zone! Someone named Wen Mingyue just listed a Beauty Card—drop rate 10 in 3 billion. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“10 in 3 billion? That’s pure fear-mongering!”

“Damn, survival games even drop Beauty Cards now? What kind of twisted dev made this?!”

“She’s actually trying to trade for a Luck Card? I’m staying tuned to watch this desperate bid war unfold!”

“Wait—Luck can be traded?!”

“For those wondering: personal luck stats can’t be traded. But click into the Luck Card she wants—it has a drop rate of 5 in 3 billion. Even crazier.”

“Am I the only one curious what the Beauty Card actually does? Use it and fish will jump ashore, monsters surrender on sight?”

“Don’t joke—at that drop rate, it might actually do something insane.”

Meanwhile, in interstellar space, a black cat was crunching on sunflower seeds while watching the players’ reactions.

“How dare they call it twisted taste!”

This system had simply seen how obsessed humans on Blue Star were with hardcore tech and decided to give them a taste of real high tech, to broaden their horizons. And now they had the nerve to complain?

This Beauty Card was 100% all-natural, non-toxic, and side-effect free.