The box was a small foldable space.

Once used, the system wouldn’t take it back.

The two boxes Lin Chu had opened last time were still sitting on the shelves, now used as everyday storage containers.

This time, she figured she’d use the box to store some of the daily necessities she’d gathered from the courier station.

With that in mind, Lin Chu reached in to pull out the contents.

• Sportswear ×1
• Quilt ×1
• Mattress ×1
• Sneakers ×2
• Something that looked like a diving mask ×1

That was all.

Lin Chu was starting to see a pattern.

The reward boxes from the shelter placement missions seemed mostly geared toward daily living supplies.

Which was perfect—she had just been short on quilts.

Back in the zombie world, even though she had swept through the courier station, no office worker would ship a quilt to their company.

What they’d found were mostly small lap blankets or those lazy throw blankets you wrap around your shoulders.

Now that she had a proper quilt, Lin Chu felt more at ease.

And the mattress—she had just been complaining about how hard the bedboard was, and now the system had sent her a mattress. Pretty thoughtful, really. She could use it tonight.

The sportswear and sneakers from this box were also of noticeably better quality than what she had gotten before.

When Lin Chu ran her hand over the fabric, it felt supple and resilient—clearly a different material from the sportswear back in her original world.

Everything the system gave her was perfectly fitted. She had been short on proper outdoor clothes, so this was like getting a pillow handed to her right when she was getting sleepy—just right.

Finally, Lin Chu looked at the mask.

It was very thin—unlike the thick plastic oxygen masks from her original world. This one was made of a thin, flexible material that reminded her a bit of rubber. When she picked it up, it jiggled slightly.

But Lin Chu knew this wasn’t rubber. The material was far superior.

An item description popped into her mind:

[Item: Ultra-thin Oxygen Mask]
Rarity: S
Description: Attach to face to provide one hour of underwater oxygen. After each use, requires 30 minutes to cool down. Reusable.

Lin Chu’s eyes lit up—finally, the system was being truly helpful. Everything it gave her this time was something she actually needed.

This oxygen mask was way better than the ones Ma Yan had collected in her inventory space.

Those masks had to be used with oxygen tanks, which were not only heavy but also had limited air.

But this one, crafted by the system, just had to be worn on the face—no tank required.

And it worked for a full hour.

Lin Chu had chosen to set up her shelter underwater partly to stay away from that survivor base, but also because it made scavenging underwater much more convenient.

In a place suddenly struck by torrential rain and flash flooding, many resources had been left behind and were now submerged.

Sure, scattered food items would be ruined, but anything sealed in airtight packaging might still be perfectly preserved underwater.

It was a huge resource warehouse.

Of course, there was another important reason Lin Chu had chosen to place her shelter underwater.

If things continued like this, the water level would soon start to recede.

What made a flood a flood was the sheer volume of rain and how long it lasted—far more than the city’s drainage systems could handle.

But by the time they were deployed into this world, the rain had already stopped.

The sun was shining.

With both drainage and evaporation at work, it wouldn’t be long before the water level dropped.

Of course, this was just Lin Chu’s tentative guess.

She had just been thrown into this world and didn’t know the rainfall patterns here.

It could very well be just a brief spell of sunshine.

But regardless, placing the shelter here had been her best option after weighing all the factors.

[Congratulations! You are the first among your batch of mission participants to place a shelter. Reward mission activated!]

Suddenly, a system notification popped up in her mind.

Lin Chu blinked, then broke into a grin.

So reward missions could be activated in every world.

Most of the other mission participants had headed to that small hill. Just swimming over there would take more than half an hour, let alone setting up a shelter.

Lin Chu had done it in under thirty minutes, once again making her the fastest of her batch.

She immediately opened her mission panel.

[Mission: Submit 20 live fish from the flood within 1 hour. No penalty for failure.
Progress: 0/20
Time remaining: 00:59:59
Reward: Unlock anti-theft door for this world]

Another free anti-theft door? Lin Chu didn’t hesitate—she got up immediately, grabbed the oxygen mask, and headed outside.

Better to save the 150 points for something else.

First, she spent 5 points to activate the peephole view for this world.

Once she confirmed there was nothing unusual outside, she opened the door and stepped into the courtyard.

As she pushed open the yard gate, Lin Chu was already wearing the oxygen mask.

But the expected sensation of plunging into water didn’t come.

Between the floodwater and her shelter, there seemed to be an invisible, transparent wall.

No matter how violent the floodwaters were, they couldn’t come any closer.

Not a single drop of water had touched the ground in front of the shelter.

The system had really done its job.

Lin Chu made a mental note of that, then lifted her foot and stepped out.

The moment she crossed the boundary of the shelter, the murky water instantly enveloped her.

Live fish.

Lin Chu had seen some before she placed her shelter.

But how exactly was she supposed to catch them?

Back when she lived in the countryside, she’d caught fish in creeks before.

She’d used spears or nets.

But she didn’t have either of those now.

Besides, if she used a spear and killed the fish, it wouldn’t count—the system only accepted live fish.

Catching them bare-handed was even harder. They were slippery and quick.

Just as Lin Chu was debating what to do, a black fish lazily swam toward her.

She reached out, but the fish darted away in the opposite direction.

Very alert.

Lin Chu immediately realized how tough this mission would be.

Fish weren’t like zombies—they didn’t rush at people.

If they sensed you were trying to grab them, they’d run.

And you couldn’t kill them.

The system wanted them alive.

Lin Chu was stumped.

She tried using her Swiss army knife to stab at one, but the fish were too agile and the knife was too short—she kept missing.

Switching to the Tang sword, she managed to land a clean hit—but the fish ended up in two pieces.

Very much dead.