Chapter Eight: Fairness and Unfairness

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When Liang Yi heard the words “unfair,” she clenched her teeth in anger.

Fairness, fairness.

Those advanced beings who created the game had forcibly dragged people into playing this wretched thing without caring about their wishes. Had they ever asked whether anyone wanted to play?

And now they had the nerve to speak righteously of “fairness” and “unfairness.” It was truly laughable.

But when she thought of the environment her family was in, Liang Yi did not dare completely fall out with the Game Assistant and the others just yet.

After all, even if she was a playtester in this game, making a request once or twice might amuse and satisfy those “advanced beings” by giving them something new.

But if she made too many requests, it would no longer be novel. It would become irritating.

By then, they might simply abandon her, regardless of whether the game was still in its testing phase.

Or they might destroy the game outright.

After all, it would probably be easy for those people to start another game.

So Liang Yi began adjusting her emotions.

[Playtester, you did very well.]

[In the game, only by maintaining stable emotions and quickly adjusting your mindset can you improve your chances of survival.]

The Game Assistant’s cold, mechanical voice carried a hint of approval.

The corner of Liang Yi’s mouth twitched. She felt that the Game Assistant was mocking her incompetence.

For now, however, the most important thing was reaching the service area before nightfall.

Ignoring the Game Assistant, Liang Yi focused on driving.

After more than forty minutes, Liang Yi finally saw a sign in the distance bearing the words “Service Area.”

At the bottom, it showed that the distance remaining was “1,000 meters.”

She checked the battery. At most, it could keep the vehicle running for another ten minutes.

As for the road, it was still nothing but dirt.

Liang Yi felt somewhat fortunate. Luckily, she had Wu Can tied behind her. If they failed to make it there later, she could have him help push the vehicle.

Fortunately, the vehicle reached the service area just before the battery ran out.

The service area was much like those in the real world. Charging stations, a gas station, toilets, hot-water facilities, convenience stores, and everything else one might need were all available.

The strange thing was that, so far, not a single vehicle had stopped there.

Liang Yi parked in front of the convenience store, beginning to feel that everything was deeply bizarre.

Could she have found the wrong service area?

“Wu Can, it seems we came to the wrong service area, but the vehicle’s out of power now. You may need to get down and—”

Before she could finish speaking, Liang Yi climbed out with the key in hand and was startled to discover that the rope she had tied to the back—along with the rope itself, the pedal car, and Wu Can—had all vanished without a trace.

Had the poor dirt road snapped the rope?

Still, Wu Can was unbelievably good at enduring pain. He had fallen off without making a sound.

[No!]

[To ensure that players can enjoy the game and rest more comfortably at night, we have specially provided every player who arrives within the allotted time with an exclusive service area.]

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Liang Yi did not quite understand. Independent rest was one thing, but how had Wu Can, who had been tightly tied behind her, disappeared?

After the Game Assistant explained, Liang Yi more or less understood. Wu Can was actually in the same service area, but the space he occupied was similar to a parallel dimension.

When Liang Yi saw that there were still one thousand meters to go before reaching the service area, the two of them had already been separated by space.

At present, Wu Can was most likely pedaling his pedal car toward the service area on his own.

After learning that Wu Can was safe, Liang Yi nodded.

Since this was an exclusive service area for players, she did not need to worry about being attacked by monsters.

She looked around and saw that the charging station was right in front of her.

Somewhat awkwardly, she took the tricycle’s charger from the storage compartment beneath the seat, connected it to the charging station, and then checked the time displayed on the game panel.

Six-thirty.

The rules said not to leave the vehicle after seven in the evening. There was still half an hour, which was enough time for her to observe the surrounding area.

So Liang Yi decisively took the key and entered the convenience store.

“Are the supplies here still unusable for trading and impossible to keep until tomorrow?”

Liang Yi picked up a bucket of hot-and-sour broad noodles, two corn-flavored sausages, and a marinated egg. She also grabbed some potato chips and spicy strips.

Looking at the shelves stocked to the brim, Liang Yi asked hopefully once more.

If she put all these supplies into the tricycle, they would be enough to last her a long time.

[Yes,] the Game Assistant replied.

“All right.”

Looking at the snacks in the store, Liang Yi could only turn away regretfully.

She went to the hot-water station and prepared the broad noodles. After using the restroom and washing her hands, she came out and began to eat.

The flavor was excellent, exactly the same as in the real world.

It seemed that this wretched game had not only plagiarized the game ideas of human companies, but had even copied their food.

What shamelessness.

Though she cursed it, Liang Yi did not forget to eat.

Once her stomach was full, the time had passed ten minutes before seven.

Liang Yi did not delay any longer. She took the remaining snacks and returned to her vehicle.

After thinking it over, Liang Yi decided to spend the night inside the carriage.

Looking at the wooden blocks stored there, Liang Yi decided to process them first.

She placed two one-meter-long wooden blocks into the [Crafting] interface. Before she even clicked the crafting button, four gray squares appeared on the other side.

They represented the things the wooden blocks could be made into.

She clicked craft, and before long, the four squares were placed into the inventory of the [Crafting] interface.

At present, Liang Yi’s [Crafting] level was only level one, so the inventory could hold only ten different items.

Each item could have a maximum quantity of ten.

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To increase her [Crafting] level, she needed to make all kinds of things.

Once the wooden blocks were removed, there was space in the tricycle’s carriage, and Liang Yi hurried inside.

Since she had not found any lighting equipment throughout the day and the vehicle had not been upgraded, she could only spend the night in darkness.

However, after her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was no longer as frightened.

Besides, the convenience store was still lit. As long as she did not close the door completely, the inside of the carriage would not be too dark.

Only after climbing into the vehicle did Liang Yi remember that it would have been better to point the rear of the carriage toward the convenience store.

That way, she could have light throughout the entire night.

But just as she was about to get out, Liang Yi glanced at the time.

Seven-oh-one.

Seven o’clock had already passed. It would be better not to leave the vehicle.

It seemed she would have to spend the night in darkness.

Liang Yi had a fairly good state of mind. Once she adapted to the darkness, she continued studying [Crafting].

She placed the four wooden blocks on the crafting workbench. Soon, the shape of a wooden plank appeared on the other side.

Liang Yi clicked craft again.

In less than a minute, she obtained sixteen wooden planks.

The wooden planks could then be crafted into sticks.

When she placed the sticks on the workbench, she discovered that crafting anything further required a blueprint.

Liang Yi looked at it and found that this really was very similar to the sandbox games she had played before.

[Game Assistant, so you’re saying this is plagiarism?]

Unable to fall asleep for the moment, she had simply found a topic of conversation.

[This isn’t plagiarism. We copied it directly.]

The Game Assistant’s voice remained mechanical as it said this, without the slightest hint of guilt or any other emotion.

Liang Yi’s mouth twitched. If the creators of that sandbox game learned that they had been plagiarized, she wondered whether there was any way they could sue them.

When she finished crafting, Liang Yi looked at the points panel again.

Communicating with her family required twenty points.

There was no way Liang Yi would be able to see them today, so she could only exchange the points for supplies.

After going back and forth among the choices, Liang Yi decided to buy two packets of instant noodles and a bottle of mineral water.

As for distributing them, she could only rely on her memory.

[Game Assistant, can one packet of instant noodles be divided into two portions?]

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