Xi Xi had originally planned to sell the chilled plum juice before its value completely plummeted, but to her surprise, less than a second after sending the message, her private messages exploded like a string of firecrackers. Had water resources become that scarce? Xi Xi frowned, somewhat shocked, and opened her private message list.

"I'd like some plum juice. Can I have 5 pieces of gravel? If not, 8 pieces are fine too!"

"Little sister, I'll trade you half a bowl of millet porridge. Don't worry, I only ate half of it, there's still plenty left!"

"Hello, I have a flashlight, would you like to use it?"

"Please have pity on me, I'm dying of thirst from the heat..."

"I'll trade! What do you need? Would you like an Ilbis lollipop?"

...

There's plenty of sand and gravel around here; she can chop it herself with a sickle. She's also stocked up on several flashlights at the convenience store, including both rechargeable and battery-operated models, so she doesn't need any for now.

As for the half-eaten food… having just finished a meal, she didn't need to make do with that. Speechless, Xi Xi shook her head.

There were even some who wanted to get something for nothing. Xi Xi could empathize with others, but she couldn't solve their urgent problems. After all, this was a survival game, not a charity event. Expecting her to give it away for free was simply a pipe dream.

Having experienced six years of devastation during the apocalypse in her previous life, Xi Xi was all too aware of the wicked side of human nature.

Civilization, morality, laws, and regulations are things that constrain human behavior for the sake of collective sustainable development after social order has stabilized. When basic human survival cannot be guaranteed, order will gradually become chaotic. When stability completely collapses, everyone becomes a primitive creature. Morality and civilization are not as practical as a full meal, let alone the scarce commodity of gratitude. It would be good enough if the strong were not preyed upon by the weak.

Of course, the game had only been going on for half a day, and Xi Xi assumed that the people in the public chat were still rational and wouldn't harbor the kind of malice one would have six years after the apocalypse, so she didn't actually retaliate. She didn't want to become the target of everyone's criticism so soon after starting the game.

"Leave a way out for others, so you can meet again in the future." Xi Xi coldly closed one private message after another. Just as she was getting a little tired of it, a private message caught her eye.

Liu Yunyan (Xiao Ji): "Hello, miss, can I trade you chilled plum juice using my Car Curtain Charm?"

Yoo Yoon-yeon's "Little Lucky": "Screenshot from the Light Screen"

Xi Xi clicked on the screenshot and saw it was an item description screenshot: [Item Description: One-time consumable. A charm that automatically installs a blackout curtain kit in all light-transmitting areas of a vehicle.]

Feeling extremely uneasy, Liu Yunyan waited for a while, and seeing no reply from the other end, she hurriedly said, "I'm really not trying to play the victim, it's genuinely terrible. My car's air conditioner broke down, and I kept putting it off because I thought I wouldn't need it in the fall, but then I inexplicably ended up in a game world..."

I've already opened three boxes this morning, and there's not a single bottle of water. I'm thirsty, hot, dizzy, and nauseous. If you don't need the curtains, can I owe you some? I can give you what I just got as collateral!

Good heavens, I've already opened three boxes, and how come there's such a big difference between the same ? Xi Xi felt dizzy and silently complained to herself that she had only seen one box all morning.

However, since this person opened three boxes and didn't get a single bottle of water, it's hard to say whether they're lucky or unlucky.

Seeing that there was no reply from the other end, Liu Yunyan's eyes dimmed. She leaned back in the car seat, closed her eyes, and gently rubbed her temples. The symptoms of weakness in her limbs, blurred vision, and tinnitus were signs of heatstroke. She had to cool down and replenish her fluids as soon as possible.

Xi Xi (Xiao Ji): "What did you get from your three treasure chests?"

Upon seeing the reply, Liu Yunyan sat up abruptly and hurriedly said, "Besides the gasoline being automatically loaded, the first box also contained instant noodles and a car curtain charm. I ate the instant noodles as instant noodles. The second box contained a diary and an insulated food container. The third box had two portions of gasoline, so only a comb was left. That's all..."

Oh, by the way, I still have an unopened premium car air freshener I brought from the original world in my car. The air in the desert is really uncomfortable, so it'll definitely come in handy. It smells amazing, really!

This girl only got three items from each treasure chest, while she just opened a mid-level treasure chest with the original four items plus system bonuses.

Xi Xi pondered that this treasure chest was probably different from the intermediate-level stone treasure chests she had encountered before. Since it was missing one item, it was most likely a beginner-level treasure chest.

Aromatherapy... Xi Xi wasn't particularly interested, but the word "desert" gave her a jolt. Just as she had expected, this semi-arid and semi-desertified region would enter the desert a little further on.

She must have spent too much time on the magic pen system, otherwise the process would be so slow.

“You’re feeling dizzy and lightheaded; it’s probably heatstroke,” Xi Xi said. Having experienced seven months of extreme heat during the apocalypse, she had become quite adept at treating illnesses herself.

In movies and TV dramas, heatstroke is often portrayed as "Qiong Yao-style weakness"—rolling one's eyes, collapsing with weak legs, and passing out.

In fact, true heatstroke doesn't immediately cause fainting and loss of consciousness. Instead, it progresses from heat exhaustion to mild heatstroke, and then the symptoms gradually worsen. "If you want to cool down, you can't drink ice water directly. You must gradually transition from room temperature drinks to chilled drinks."

It's just a precursor to heatstroke, a very minor symptom compared to the various illnesses in the apocalypse.

"How about this... I'll give you a 550ml bottle of chilled plum juice and a 350ml bottle of room temperature drinking water, and you give me the car window curtain charm, diary, insulated food container, comb, and aromatherapy diffuser, okay?" Xi Xi paused for a moment, then secretly started to calculate in her mind.

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