Seeing that Qin Zhen was out of danger and there was nothing unusual about her, Ye Miao didn't stay outside any longer and turned back to her residence.

She pushed open the door of the villa, and the Pixiu, which had been anxious for a long time, seemed to see its savior. Its four short legs fell quickly, and it pounced on Ye Miao, bit her trouser leg and dragged her upstairs.

"Hey, what are you doing..." Ye Miao was nearly pulled over by it, and quickly leaned over to pick it up. The Pixiu still looked anxious in her arms, its two small front paws stretched out towards the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Ye Miao rubbed its head as she walked towards the stairs to comfort it. However, the Pixiu, which usually liked to be rubbed by her, became more irritable after being rubbed a few times, and howled in her arms.

"Okay, okay!" Ye Miao walked up the last step and came to the third floor where the master bedroom was located and put the Pixiu on the ground.

The Pixiu's claws touched the ground and it immediately ran towards the bedroom. Ye Miao followed it blankly. She pushed open the door and looked around, still a little puzzled. It wasn't until her eyes touched the windowsill that she jumped in surprise: "Little Earthworm!"

She rushed to the windowsill in two steps. In the flowerpot, the six heads of the little earthworm drooped in the soil, looking weak and hollow, and gasping for breath.

The anxious Pixiu was circling around Ye Miao's feet. Ye Miao quickly opened the panel of the mutated earthworm and took a closer look. He found that its physical strength was almost gone and its health had also been greatly reduced.

If she had seen Xiao Qiu like this outside, she would have suspected that Xiao Qiu had been beaten. However, this was her private residence; no one could enter without her permission, and Pi Xiu didn't seem like the murderer. So there was only one possibility: Xiao Qiu had simply collapsed from exhaustion.

Now it seems that it will.

She quickly told the earthworm to stop the spell, then hurriedly took out the stamina potion and the blood-replenishing potion and inserted them into the soil. The liquid in the glass tube slowly flowed into the soil, and the earthworm visibly regained some strength with each breath. After about half an hour, the earthworm was standing up again.

"Ahhh!!!" The Pixiu jumped onto the table excitedly and poked the little earthworm with its claws. Ye Miao was afraid that the little earthworm had not rested enough, so she quickly put her hand out to block it, but the six little earthworms all leaned towards the Pixiu and rubbed back and forth on its chin.

The heartwarming scene made Ye Miao couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips, as if the two of them were not the ones who were usually jealous and bickering.

After cutting some fruit slices for Xiao Qiu and placing them in the flowerpot, Ye Miao held him and lay down on the bed to rest. Two days of monster hunting was quite exhausting, and if you didn't want to drink stamina potions to replenish it, the best way was to have a good sleep.

The next morning, Ye Miao received another invitation from Fang Yuming to join a group to kill monsters. This time, he did not pick a place that was completely out of the ordinary, but chose two new monster spawning spots in the urban area of ​​T City. He said that the number of monsters was estimated to be fixed, and if the team was configured as it was yesterday, it should be easy to defeat them.

It didn't matter where you spawned monsters, Ye Miao was very interested in trying out the new dungeon and immediately sent a message to yesterday's team members. Chu Cheng and the others were all free, but Deng Wei had already accepted Zhang Tingting's invitation and couldn't join for the time being.

So after breakfast, the seven-member team formed a team at the town gate as usual and headed to City T together.

In a cave in the wild, Zhao Yin and his daughter hid here and there and finally spent the first night safely.

That night made him realize that not being attached to a territory didn't necessarily mean he couldn't survive. It seemed that most monsters slept at night, wouldn't attack players at random, and certainly wouldn't run around. If they could find a relatively safe place to stay, they could sleep through the night.

As for this "safe place," it was a bit hard to find. Zhao Yin had chosen a cave yesterday, but there were no facilities in the cave, so it wouldn't be easy to live there for a long time.

During the day, Zhao Yin pondered over it and decided to take his daughter to City T. After all, City T was a fairly large first-tier city before the mode arrived. Even after several rounds of looting during the apocalypse, there were still many abandoned houses and vehicles to shelter in. Furthermore, many players had invested heavily in safe houses at the beginning of the game. As time went on, the territory began to develop, and players moved there. Those safe houses that couldn't be moved had to be eliminated. They should have everything from barrier stones to basic infrastructure.

If such a place can be found, it would be a good choice for both father and daughter.

Admittedly, Zhao Yin knew that even with such a place to live, they would still be in great danger without the support of their territories. However, after so long since the apocalypse, Zhao Yin knew all too well how the territories could exploit ordinary players. His wife's death had instilled in him a deep hatred for those territories. He would never set foot in those territories again, even if it meant death!

Zhao Yin and his daughter hurried along, finally arriving in T City around noon. Like countless other players, Zhao Yin's first stop in T City was the Sunset Bar. He gritted his teeth and ordered two orange juices, reluctant to drink them himself, giving them all to his daughter while he chatted with the proprietress, asking about accommodations.

The proprietress of the Sunset Bar was a know-it-all, and she could indeed answer his questions. But when she heard he was looking for a place to live, she was surprised: "You're alone, with a child, and you're out here on your own instead of staying in your territory?"

The landlady only sighed. She didn't intend to delve into the guests' privacy, nor did she want to waste time on pointless persuasion. She simply provided the information they needed: "The RVs can be moved, so they've probably all been taken away by the players. As for the immovable safe houses, they're usually square blue. They're very durable and won't collapse even if attacked by monsters. So if you find a blue house standing alone in the ruins, it's probably a safe house."

"Although most of these safe houses have been abandoned, they still have owners in name. If you try to enter, a panel should pop up for you to contact the owner. If you want to buy it, just negotiate the price. I don't think it will be too expensive. They don't come here often anyway." The proprietress spoke in a rhythmic manner, her tone revealing a shrewd enthusiasm.

But that wasn't what Zhao Yin wanted to hear. After hearing what the proprietress said, he hesitated for a long time. Although he felt a little embarrassed, he still asked carefully, "Are there any that are... completely abandoned, with no owner anymore?"

When the boss lady heard this, she understood that he wanted to save money.

She actually didn't despise this behavior, because it was not easy for everyone in the apocalypse, especially for those with children, but...

"That's going to be hard to find," the landlady said with an embarrassed laugh. "It's mainly because there's a bug here. The barrier stone recognizes its owner. So, unless you seize the ownership of the barrier stone first, even if the original owner of the safe house dies, it won't become open to occupation. Then no one else can enter, and there's no way to occupy it."

"Oh, I see..." Zhao Yin smiled bitterly, thanked the proprietress for the information, and prepared to leave with his daughter.

The proprietress hesitated for a long time, but finally had some good intentions and took out a small sandwich from the counter and handed it to Zhao Xiaoge: "Hey, today happens to be my daughter's birthday, and all children who come to the store will get a gift!"

"...Thank you." Zhao Yin looked at the proprietress gratefully, and his smile became more bitter.

In fact, as a well-known "know-all" on the map of T City, much of the information about the owner of Sunset Bar is semi-public, such as being single, unmarried, and childless.

But in the face of her kindness, Zhao Yin certainly did not expose her. After thanking her repeatedly, he left with his daughter in his arms.

In the botanical garden on the south side of T City, Ye Miao was very excited about the new species of monsters.

This new spawn point is based on a botanical garden setting, and most of the monsters there are plants. For example, there's a giant three-meter-tall Piranha Plant, a pitcher plant that sprays mucus that can drown people, and a giant creeper that appears to have been magnified several times, but actually has thoughts and can actively attack players.

These monsters have various shapes and rich skills, but their levels are not too high, generally around level 30-50, and occasionally there are a few bosses that can be level 60 or 70.

So for players starting at level 90, this wave of monsters was just there to give away equipment. Several people fought heartily in the botanical garden, and soon reached the exit, where they faced the final boss, the Crazy Tequila.

【Name: Crazy Tequila】

Level: 82

[Health: 17000, Mana: 23000]

[Attack: 7000, Agility: 1500, Defense: 6000]

[Skill: Crazy Needle]

[Other descriptions: Afraid of fire skills. Using fire skills will cause critical hits, weakening effects, etc., the probability depends on the level.]

Tequila approached with heavy steps, shaking the greenhouses wherever it passed. However, the players before him were clearly uncooperative, not even a trace of fear on their faces. Ye Miao leaped up with both swords in hand, unleashing his skills without mercy.

As she walked, arrows and silver darts also hit Tequila, and Tequila's health bar dropped faster than the money in the fund account.

Just a few minutes later, Tequila fell to the ground with a loud bang, stirring up a huge cloud of dust.

"Cough, cough, cough—" Ye Miao was too close, choking and coughing violently. Then, she smelled a subtle, peculiar smell from the smoke and dust. Frowning, she turned around and teased her teammates, "Shouldn't it smell like cactus? Why does it smell like tequila?! Is it fermenting alive?!"

Before he could finish his words, Tequila behind him struggled to get up a little.

"Ye Miao, be careful!" Fang Yuming's expression became stern, and he threw three darts at the same time, stabbing at the thorny head of the agave.

With a "puff", this time the tequila's health bar was really emptied. Ye Miao, who was looking back at it, encountered its big green head exploding head-on, and mucus fell from the air. Because it was too sudden, he had no time to dodge.

"..." Ye Miao was hit all over the face and body by the slime, and his whole body seemed to be wrapped in a lump of glue, sticky and slimy.

"Hiss—" Yi Hang and Chen Qibin turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight. Chu Cheng's expression couldn't help but twist for a moment, but he managed to hold it together. He strode forward and generously pulled two blue cloaks from his backpack for her to use to dry herself.

Fang Yuming's heart skipped a beat as he pulled out a bottle of water and handed it over. Ye Miao quickly washed her face, wiped it with her cloak, and couldn't help laughing: "Hahaha..."

She laughed out loud, and her teammates, who had been holding back their laughter, finally laughed too. Ye Miao wiped her body a few more times while laughing. When she was almost done, she raised the cloak in her hand and said to Chu Cheng, "Sell these two to me! I'll give you the others someday!"

"Okay." Chu Cheng accepted it calmly, "100 gold coins each, 200 gold coins for two."

"Okay." Ye Miao nodded seriously.

This was a fair price. In the Get Rich Overnight Town, buying blue-quality equipment directly would cost around 150 gold coins. However, that was referring to brand-new equipment with full durability. The two pieces Chu Cheng handed over had been used for a while before, so their durability was not full, so the price would be cheaper.

Beside Ye Miao, Fang Yuming looked at Chu Cheng in confusion, not understanding why he would accept this money from Ye Miao.

Chu Cheng noticed his gaze and turned away indifferently, not wanting to explain.

In the town where people became rich overnight, Xin Lu and Zhang Xiangqian struggled for several days before finally plucked up the courage to go to the World Auction House, put the [Primary Resurrection Coin] up for auction, and started a 14-day auction.

[Name: Primary Resurrection Coin]

【Quality: Gold】

Description: When you receive a fatal attack and lose a life, you will enter a 24-hour "Soul Retention Period." During this period, you cannot attack, gather, or eat, but you can move freely. You can choose a safe location within 24 hours to revive. Upon revival, all your levels, equipment, skills, and gold will be reset to zero.

In short, this is equivalent to having an extra life, but after resurrection you will return to the novice village in one second and everything will have to start all over again.

In the current system, starting from scratch is obviously difficult for a newbie. However, life is precious, and having another life gives you the chance to continue striving. Therefore, even with these attributes, the [Primary Resurrection Coin] should still be very valuable. Xin Lu and Zhang Xiangqian want to see if they can make a fortune with it.

Anyway, this coin was dropped when they defeated the [Mutated Worm King] a while ago. As players participating in the battle, each of them has one, and as a couple, they can sell one and still keep the other alive.

Since they didn't know how much the item was worth, they didn't dare to set a high starting price, and the increments were set very moderately:

[Item: Primary Resurrection Coin]

【Quality: Gold】

[Starting Price: 10,000 Gold Coins]

[Minimum price increase per time: 500 gold coins]

[Deposit: 5000 gold coins]

【Auction period: 14 days】

The announcement sent shockwaves through all players who could see the auction house. Within the town of overnight riches, players who hadn't participated in the original battle against the Mutated Worm King were utterly shocked: "How could such a thing exist?" We were all forced to play the same game, yet some players were given an extra life?!

Players who also have primary resurrection coins are also craning their necks to wait and see how much they can be sold for. If the price is particularly good, it’s not that they can’t sell it… After all, the Get Rich Overnight Town is very safe, and as long as you don’t spend too much, you are unlikely to die.

As for Tiaodeng Town, even the lord An Ruoying was shocked: "What do you think they have?!"

The subordinate repeated seriously, "Primary resurrection coin. If you die, your soul can float to a safe place and be resurrected within 24 hours. However, after resurrection, all your equipment, gold coins, levels, and skills will be reset to zero."

"Take me to see it!" An Ruoying said as she walked out and headed straight for the auction house.

When she walked into the auction house, she found that what her subordinates said was actually true. She was shocked, but at the same time, she also felt a little bit of envy and jealousy... but not hatred.

Unlike most lords in T City who focused on increasing their combat power while establishing their territories, An Ruoying, a dedicated fan of management games, understood the importance of supplies from the outset. So, almost from the time Tiaodeng Town was still Tiaodeng Shelter, she had been intentionally recruiting players with cooking and gathering skills. As a result, food supplies within her territory were always plentiful and relatively cheap, generally costing only about one-third of what they would outside.

For this, An Ruoying has always been complacent and thinks she is really smart!

It wasn't until another town emerged in City T, and the two sides began to interact through auction houses, that she was surprised to discover that prices in the legendary "Pure Land" were actually lower than their own. Judging from the prices of items listed at the auction house, although she wasn't sure about the food sales in the "Pure Land," the prices of various equipment and medicines were much lower than in Tiaodeng Town, and the variety was extremely rich.

Because of this, An Ruoying had been spurred on by a damned desire to win these past few days, and she had begun consciously recruiting talent in blacksmithing, tailoring, and other fields for her territory. Unexpectedly, the auction house now blatantly revealed to her that not only was the variety and prices of goods in this "Pure Land" far superior to her own, but the members also possessed even rarer items?!

What’s going on?! Why is this happening?! Are we all playing the same game?!

An Ruoying kept complaining in her heart, but her hand raised up as if possessed by a ghost, and pressed "Confirm to participate in the auction", "Confirm to increase the price", "Confirm to increase the price", "Confirm to increase the price" on the panel in sequence...

At the same time, countless other players were bidding like her. In just five minutes, the price of the [Primary Resurrection Coin] had risen from 10,000 to 15,000, and the increase showed no sign of stopping.

When Ye Miao returned to T City in the evening, the price increase of [Primary Resurrection Coin] had slowed down, but it had already risen to 50,000.

Hearing that someone had actually put this up for sale, Ye Miao also ran to watch the auction. When he walked into the auction house, he saw that many players who were having dinner were standing there with their bowls in hand watching the fun. As long as the number moved up, everyone would cheer, as if they could all get a share of the money.

Ye Miao opened the management panel to see who was consigning the items. She immediately recognized the name of an old player and thought to herself with mixed feelings: Are the old players in her territory too ignorant of the dangers? They're selling these things! This is a life-saving item!

But then she realized that since they even dared to sell resurrection coins, it was obvious that her territory really provided a sense of security for the members, so that everyone didn't have to care so much about the issue of death.

If possible, she hopes to increase this sense of security even higher!

Ye Miao breathed a sigh of relief and opened the territory panel. Within a territory, a "town" is upgraded to a "city," the highest level currently displayed by the system. The maximum population will increase from 3,000 to 10,000. Of course, the upgrade is expensive, requiring 1,000,000 gold coins alone. Furthermore, there are various quest requirements, which generally require a certain number of people and facilities within the territory.

"This is a big goal!" Ye Miao took a nap, stretched his muscles, then turned off the panel, and his eyes fell on the [Primary Resurrection Coin] that was being auctioned again.

Red Maple Village.

As the sun gradually set in the west, the high temperature in the territory dissipated for the most part, and it finally became much cooler.

In the hotel in the territory, high-level players eat and rest leisurely in their rooms. If they want cold drinks or desserts, they just need to send a message to the logistics team and someone will deliver them to their door. Some are charged, and some are free.

But the younger players clearly weren't entitled to such excellent service. In the corner, inhabited by humble wooden and thatched huts, the younger players, after a day of toiling away at monster hunting, returned exhausted after handing in their gear. Gazing at the hotel not far away, they felt as insignificant as dust, their lives utterly unimportant.

"Selling fruits! Fruits soaked in well water! So icy and cold!" Knowing that most of the players had returned, the small vendors began to walk the streets.

They buy fruits from gathering players, soak them in well water for half a day, and then resell them at a price of three to five gold coins on top of the purchase price, making hard-earned money.

In fact, soaking in well water does not add a cool buff to the fruit, nor does it completely solve the health problems caused by high temperatures. It just makes you feel a little more comfortable, so many young players who can't bear it any longer will buy it.

Xie Liang had been one of the buyers before, and when he heard someone selling their body today, he immediately went over to meet the vendor. However, before he even got to the vendor, his wife, who had just returned from outside, pulled him back into the house: "I have something to tell you."

"Let me buy some fruit first, and we'll talk while we eat!" Xie Liang was about to leave without saying anything, but Zhang Xiaoli pulled him hard, "Sit down first!"

"..." Xie Liang had no choice but to sit down. Zhang Xiaoli, with a mysterious look on her face, went to close the door first, then came back and lowered her voice and said, "Guess who I saw when I was collecting outside today?"

Xie Liang: "Who?"

"Zheng Minhui!" Zhang Xiaoli enunciated each word.

However, Xie Liang's reaction was: "Who is that?!"

"Hiss... have you forgotten? The guy who was in our territory before, his wife and kids have all disappeared. He was hanging out with an old colleague, and he was in a terrible situation. We even helped him out. Then one day, he suddenly disappeared. We speculated for a while, wondering if he had an accident!"

"Oh oh oh..." Xie Liang suddenly realized, "Now that you mention it, I remember! How is he? Is he okay now?"

"That's great." Zhang Xiaoli's expression became complicated. "When I saw him today, he was eating a cold drink on a hillside. It looked like smoothies. It made me jealous. You say..." Zhang Xiaoli paused, her expression becoming a little embarrassed. "What if I go there tomorrow to wait for him and borrow some money from him? I really can't endure this. I heard that if you endure it for too long, you will die of the heat! At least I can buy a glass of ice water every day!"

"Lend me some money, I think that's fine." Xie Liang lowered his head and agreed easily. Zhang Xiaoli was so happy that she ignored the glint in her husband's eyes.

"Then I'll leave early tomorrow!" Zhang Xiaoli planned seriously. "Gatherers tend to go to relatively fixed places and don't change places every day, so there's a good chance I'll run into him. I won't lend him much, just three to five hundred gold coins, and negotiate a good interest rate with him. Once we're through this, we'll pay him back with interest!"

"Okay." Xie Liang responded.

If Zhang Xiaoli had taken a closer look, she would have noticed that he was clearly distracted. However, she was so immersed in the joy of temporarily escaping the predicament that she didn't notice this detail.

Xie Liang lowered his head, his mind racing:

If he remembered correctly, Zheng Minhui had always been a gathering player, and his combat skills were better than nothing, so it shouldn't be possible for his strength to suddenly increase.

The author has something to say:

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