Just as Lin Chu had predicted, no one wanted the few crates of expired food and water.

“What a waste. So much food spoiled. If it were still good, it’d be enough for us to survive another high-difficulty world.”

This was Yu Hongfei’s fourth mission world, and he fully understood how important food was.

Sure, when a person is starving to the extreme, they’ll eat even grass without caring if it’s expired.

But right now, he wasn’t short on food or water. What they lacked were proper medical conditions, so eating spoiled food and falling ill would be dangerous and hard to treat.

Lin Chu, however, picked up on a different part of what he said.

“High-difficulty world? Then what level is the world we’re in now?”

Yu Hongfei remembered that both Lin Chu and Zheng Ziyu were still newcomers, so he decided to explain it to them.

“World difficulty ranges from C-level to S-level. Your luck is… average. This one is a B-level world.”

“Newbies with better luck are usually first thrown into C-level worlds. The survival rate is higher there.”

Lin Chu didn’t comment on Yu Hongfei’s assessment of their luck.

Although this was a B-level world, it surprisingly suited her.

Because of her profession, the daily tasks in this world were very compatible with her, making it ideal for early-stage development and earning points.

If she had been sent to a different world, she might have lost that initial advantage.

“What kind of difficulty are we talking about for a C-level world?” Zheng Ziyu asked for once.

Yu Hongfei was happy to answer.

“My first world was a C-level one — a high-temperature world. Temperatures reached up to 70°C. It was hot, dry, and severely lacking in water. Food was also scarce.”

“When we arrived, it was during a famine, and all the food had already run out.”

“There was nothing to eat at first. Shops were completely empty, and society had already descended into chaos. We survived on the food from the newcomer gift packs given by the system.”

“The only good thing was that the shelter had a water supply. I could trade clean water for food from people who had more than they needed.”

“Plus, there were daily missions from the system — submitting improved crop seeds native to the mission world could be exchanged for food. That’s how I got by.”

“The upside compared to B-level worlds was that, even though social order was collapsing, as long as you avoided conflict, you didn’t need to fight anyone.”

At this point, they started to understand why Yu Hongfei said their luck was “average.”

For people who had lived in peacetime, suddenly being thrown into a post-apocalyptic world was already terrifying enough. To face such bloody scenes and constant betrayal from others on top of that — the difficulty was undeniably high.

“In the shelter, is the temperature synced with the mission world?” Lin Chu asked.

Yu Hongfei nodded and added:

“That’s the second thing I wanted to mention. The shelter’s temperature is synchronized with the mission world. The harder the mission world, the greater the impact on the shelter.”

“So take more thick clothing. I’ve already experienced an extreme cold world — I have winter clothes.”

As he spoke, he took four down jackets from the shelves and gave two each to Lin Chu and Zheng Ziyu, keeping none for himself.

Though the sizes varied, the girls had no warm clothes at all right now, so they didn’t care about the fit.

They didn’t stand on ceremony. Lin Chu stashed the jackets in her space, and Zheng Ziyu stuffed hers into the large burlap sack beside her — something they’d found while searching the courier station.

“The harder the world, the more the shelter is affected — what exactly does that mean?” Lin Chu asked, carefully thinking through everything Yu Hongfei said. These details could be the key to survival.

“In C and B-level worlds, it’s just temperature. Starting from A-level, water gets affected too.”

“In an A-level high-temperature world, the shelter will also face water shortages. And if the water in the mission world is contaminated, the shelter’s water supply will be contaminated too.”

In other words, higher-difficulty worlds meant you also had to worry about clean water.

No wonder Ma Yan had stored two large water buckets in his space.

Before she reached higher-tier worlds, Lin Chu knew she had to gather more containers and stockpile clean water.

“Is the mission world difficulty assigned randomly?” Zheng Ziyu asked while handing out tissues.

“The difficulty increases as your system level goes up. But sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can get special items that let you choose the difficulty.”

“This time, I got a B-level mission card, which is why I was sent here. Otherwise, I’d have been in an S-level world.”

At this point, Yu Hongfei glanced at Lin Chu, silently thanking his luck.

He had chosen to use the B-level card now because he was worried he didn’t have enough points saved. In an S-level world, he would’ve been at a disadvantage. He specifically chose a B-level world to stock up on points.

He never expected to run into that vicious guy Ma Yan, which forced him to activate the security door for safety.

He had thought this mission would be a waste — that the B-level world would amount to nothing — but in a twist of fate, he met Lin Chu, a total game-changer.

He was truly grateful for her appearance.

Lin Chu and Zheng Ziyu asked Yu Hongfei a few more questions about A-level worlds while they sorted through the unpacked parcels.

They split the feminine hygiene products evenly.

Thick clothing was also divided equally between the two women.

As for lighter everyday clothes, they chose based on gender and personal need. Any extras were evenly divided so they could be used later for bartering.

Daily necessities were distributed according to who needed what.

Items like tissues, toothpaste, and toothbrushes — the basics everyone used — were split evenly.

Functional single-use items went by individual need: the hairdryer went to long-haired Zheng Ziyu, the electric shaver to the only man, Yu Hongfei.

They also divvied up electric cookers and portable stoves, each taking what they needed, making sure no one felt shortchanged.

They even found electronics — smartwatches, tablets, smartphones, e-readers, portable hard drives, and data cables.

But since they couldn’t access the internet, those devices could only be used offline, making them of limited value.

Still, they each kept one or two to help pass the time.