Chapter 4: Hallucinogens and Healing Potions
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Yu Jiang continued handling the next transaction. The Purehearted Cockroach seemed anxious.
“Your nickname looks so familiar, are you that top collector on the server?”
“How do you want to trade? If you think one bottle of water for a can isn’t fair, we can negotiate again.”
Yu Jiang replied, “Bread, canned food, and compressed biscuits all have different exchange rates.”
She wasn’t one to haggle; she simply stated her terms.
“One can for three bottles of water, one compressed biscuit for one bottle, or two whole wheat breads plus a braised egg for four bottles. Your choice—if none work, then forget it.”
Compressed biscuits fill you up but leave you thirsty; canned food is different—moist and carrying that damned pre-made meal aroma—such things were precious on a road like this.
“Damn! You have so many items. No wonder you’re the top collector, QAQ,” the Purehearted Cockroach was stunned.
“I’ll take the compressed biscuit and the two-bread combo.”
She had eighteen bottles of water—these few bottles weren’t an issue. The bread combo was better value than the can, which was rather small.
“Alright.” Yu Jiang sent the trade request.
After confirming the items were correct, she clicked confirm.
Then, the other party sent a friend request with a message: “Boss, we can trade again if you have stuff later.”
Yu Jiang accepted. Trading with straightforward people saved both sides trouble.
She didn’t bother wasting time with those who always haggled over every trade’s fairness.
With water secured, Yu Jiang prepared to indulge a little—today she’d eat a self-heating tomato hotpot.
Suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar environment and forced to survive a deadly game, she needed something good to soothe her nerves.
As Yu Jiang unwrapped the package, poured water in, and waited, the sky outside the vehicle had already darkened.
Over a meter-high wild grass swayed in the wind, gradually turning into dark silhouettes.
The temperature dropped to 21 degrees Celsius, and the weather shifted to light rain.
Yu Jiang hurriedly grabbed a wooden board and plastic bags to cover the broken rear windshield.
At the right car door, having run out of plastic bags, she used the wooden board and bundled small branches from the roof to cover the gap.
It wouldn’t be perfectly sealed but was better than nothing.
Next, Yu Jiang began studying the pharmaceutical skills she acquired during the day.
Hallucinogenic powder: requires two blue mushrooms, with a 60% success rate.
Basic hemostatic herbal powder: the horse’s mane fungus ranged from football-sized large to fist-sized small, with different dosages.
One batch of small-sized material could produce two portions of hemostatic powder, with a 60% success rate.
This was far more cost-effective than using the spores directly from the horse’s mane fungus.
Upgrading her Alchemist title would improve success rates.
Yu Jiang opted to make hallucinogenic powder first. With only two materials, success was imperative!
Making the powder only required completing the process on her interface, with the appropriate tools.
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[Player successfully obtained ‘Hallucinogenic Powder’ *1]
[Player successfully obtained ‘Basic Hemostatic Herbal Powder’ *9]
She failed twice making the hemostatic powder; her luck was neither good nor bad. Yu Jiang first tried one portion of the herbal powder to restore her health to 100.
She then took out a sharpened wooden stick from today’s trade—a roughly half-meter-long branch crafted from suitably thick wood.
The pointed end clearly showed it was carved with a knife.
The description was blunt—“With your attack power, using this will still be a bit strenuous.”
Once past the beginner phase, gaps between survivors would likely widen rapidly.
Realizing this, Yu Jiang looked at her simple tricycle with renewed determination to explore and stockpile supplies, and to improve herself quickly.
The nighttime public chat was lively; besides some playful banter, many were asking for help.
[Requesting medicine! Attacked by a monster, lost half a bar of health, help!]
Many such messages flooded in, with offers to trade supplies or moral appeals.
Player 220: “When we meet in survival games, we should help each other in tough times. Those with medicine, please help out—don’t be selfish!”
Yu Jiang didn’t reveal she had medicine easily.
She wasn’t sure how much more pharmaceutical material she’d find, and she had only eight doses of healing powder left—enough for 80 health points.
As night deepened and rain continued, those without shelter still felt cold.
A kind player shared how to build a simple rain shelter using long branches and grass.
The worst off were those without even branches.
Player 6857: “Pushed a supermarket trolley 50 kilometers during the day, cold and hungry, can anyone spare me a free wooden stick, please?”
Sicily: “Waaah, it’s too dark, no trees nearby, afraid to go near the road, anyone willing to guide me? I can be your partner.”
Lightning Mage: “I suggest finding a grass pile or weaving a grass cloak for some protection.”
Sicily: “...Thanks for the advice, someone kind has already contacted me.”
Then some took advantage by offering unused cling film and plastic sheeting at absurd prices.
One roll of cling film was priced at two days’ worth of food and water—only luckiest players could afford that.
Soon, Yu Jiang’s tricycle windshield was covered with droplets. Nighttime driving in the game wasn’t based on time but on sky darkness.
At over 6 p.m., it wasn’t fully dark yet, so it wouldn’t count as night. The interface predicted nightfall in about 40 minutes.
The tricycle’s small interior light still worked; having obtained batteries, Yu Jiang could keep it on, setting down two wooden boards on the front seats as a makeshift table.
She sat in the back, watching the gentle rain through the window, feeling the cool breeze, eating the tomato hotpot.
8:40 p.m.
All was silent; the whole world except the small light on the tricycle was plunged in darkness.
Having never spent a night on such a desolate highway before, Yu Jiang lay in the back seat, listening to rain tapping on the roof, unable to sleep.
She was particular about lodging and safety, having scrimped and saved after starting work, preferring to endure the scorching sun on the bus rather than buy a car.
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She had spent all her money as a down payment on a house, just wanting a better place to live.
But things hadn’t gone well—she hadn’t even saved enough for renovations, and here she was, starting with a highway and a tricycle.
5:10 a.m.
Outside the window, the sky was still deep blue; the interface had updated.
[Nickname: “The King Asked Me to Patrol the Mountains.”
Health: 100
Wellness: 76
Fatigue: 15
Overall Fitness: 6
Agility: 5 + 2 (Title bonus: “If I See It, It’s Mine”)
Attack: 5 + 1 (Title bonus: “If I See It, It’s Mine”)
Defense: 1]
[Vehicle: Simple fully enclosed electric tricycle (40% battery)
Wear Level: 2%
Defense: 12
Attack Bonus: None]
[Survival Time: 2 days
Weather: Light rain turning cloudy, Temperature: 22°C, Humidity: 100%, Southeast wind, level 2]
Yu Jiang had slept poorly, waking several times during the night, but it had been a long time since she’d gone to bed early and woken early. She felt fairly refreshed.
The damage level on the vehicle from the earlier scrape was irritating to her perfectionist eye, but she didn’t know how to repair it yet.
It was still early; daytime only started at 6 a.m.
Yu Jiang picked up the sharpened stick and tested it on the road, training her arm strength.
When the time was right, she rested a moment, then took out a 200 ml bottle of fresh milk and a slice of whole wheat bread for breakfast.
After eating, she continued onward.
Still gathering resources along the way, by midday she was already running out of space.
Without plastic sheeting, occasional rain dampened her wood and grass supplies, so she had to store them in the back seat.
Her six inventory slots were long full.
She urgently needed to upgrade her vehicle’s interior space or inventory slots; the tricycle’s heavy load made it prone to flipping over.