Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 8 - 8: First Transaction

Xu Xin pondered for a moment and asked, ”Friends, how old are all of you?”

After asking once, it was quickly swept away in the chat, so Xu Xin had to ask several more times.

”Whatʼs up, I just graduated from college and started working.”

”Iʼm eighteen, a freshman in college.”

”Iʼm also in college, a junior!”

”You all are so young, Iʼm already 29, heading towards 30.”

”Bro, high five, Iʼm 28, single since birth, any ladies here?”

”What time is it that youʼre talking about ladies, sp.”

”Whatʼs wrong with sp, ladies are a necessity!”

Xu Xin looked at these peopleʼs ages, the youngest was 18, the oldest not more than 30; it seemed like this was the age range. He himself had just graduated from college less than a year ago. He got a second choice after the graduate school entrance exam in the fourth year, didnʼt go, studied for another year, and just got into his desired school, waiting at home to start in September.

”Looks like everyone is between 18-30 years old,” Xu Xin muttered to himself.

He hadnʼt turned off the voice input, so the sentence was sent to the chat room.

”Really is!”

”Damn, I just turned 18! Is this compensation for being restricted from gaming before 18? So that I can only play games for the rest of my life?”

”...Yesterday was my 31st birthday, if Iʼd been born just a bit earlier, I wouldnʼt have to be here. Why wasnʼt I born two days earlier...”

After observing for a while, Xu Xin gradually understood what kind of people were the survivors who came to this world.

First, they were aged between 18-30, came from all over the country, were relatively healthy, and based on some words of those around 30, either unmarried or married without children.

It seems this game is selective for survivors, like these groups of people, even if they vanished from the world, it wouldnʼt overly affect othersʼ lives. Their parents werenʼt that old, and they didnʼt have very young children who couldnʼt live independently.

To be honest, Xu Xin was relieved; he had been quite worried about his relatives being dragged into this survival game, but it didnʼt seem very likely as of now.

Of course, this is just his guess; no one knows the real reason, but he prefers to believe in something advantageous to himself.

”Folks, what should we do now!”

”Yeah, Iʼve been cooped up in the treehouse for two days, afraid to go out, and my bread and water are running out.”

”Everyone has bread and water? I thought I was just lucky to get those...”

At this moment, the frequency of chatting in the lobby gradually decreased, probably because many had already ventured out of their treehouses to work.

Xu Xin wasnʼt in a hurry to work; he was quite efficient. He took a bite of an apple and asked, ”Where did you all plant your treehouse seeds?”

”Where else could I plant, I walked for half a day and saw nothing but trees, so I just planted randomly.”

”I found a little stream and planted alongside it!”

”For real! Then you must have a lot of water resources!”

”Good friend, please spare some water! Iʼm about to run out of my five bottles!”

Xu Xin ate his fruit breakfast while watching their reactions, noticing that at least those speaking now had only found a stream, not a resource zone like he had.

”Are all of your treehouses low and small?” someone asked.

”What else? Are there different types of treehouses?”

”Itʼs just the beginner stage; getting a low small treehouse is quite good.”

”Mine is low too, really small, less than 20 square meters, about the size of our dorm room.”

Others, although without Xu Xinʼs identification ability to see item grade color, could still see item names. Like before he had this ability, he could see the treehouse seedʼs introduction, though it was very brief.

Suddenly, a personʼs message caught his attention.

”What low small treehouse? Isnʼt it just a small treehouse?”

Xu Xin noticed this person was not anonymous but used their real name in the message.

Li Wenxi, it seemed like a womanʼs name.

Though her message wasnʼt outstanding amidst a bunch of others, it quickly got buried.

It seems there are indeed lucky people, but someone like him finding a fertile soil patch, there shouldnʼt be another among these nearly ten thousand people. If this could be found by luck, that would be more than lucky, more like destinyʼs favorite.

Unless they had the same ability as him.

Exiting the chat hall, Xu Xin clicked into the trading platform, which was already brimming with trades.

”Wood (White) *20 for bottled water (Green) *1 or other water resources.”

”Stone (White) *10 for any food.”

These trades werenʼt worth a look; white-quality wood and stones were easily available to everyone, and trying to sell those to exchange for food and water, no one would agree.

Xu Xin shook his head, just about to close the trading platform and prepare to go out when he suddenly noticed a trade information.

”Iron Ore (Green) in exchange for any blue quality material, specific numbers to be discussed privately.”

”Oh?” Xu Xinʼs eyes lit up; iron ore, he remembered the raw material for the barbecue grill included iron blocks (Green), which should be smelted from this iron ore.

And the exchange was for blue quality material, meaning this person must have used an identification platform to identify blue quality material; otherwise, they wouldnʼt know that a higher level is blue quality.

Recalling the identification platform, [Beginner Identification Platform (White): Place material on it, after 10s it will emit light matching the level color, can be used to identify obtained item levels. Requires wood (White) *20, stone (White) *20], this was useless to him, but for other survivors, it was a basic necessary tool.

Seeing at the trader, Xu Xin was stunned.

Li Wenxi.

The woman who had planted a small treehouse earlier, seemed to be this name?

Really lucky, not only did she plant a small treehouse, but also found blue-quality material and iron ore.

Eh? Could this woman also be on a resource zone similar to his?

Xu Xin quickly initiated a private chat with her.

”Hi, do you have iron ore?”

The other side quickly replied: ”Yes, in exchange for blue quality material.”

”Do you also have blue quality material in hand?” Xu Xin asked again.

The other side hesitated for a while before replying: ”Yes.”

This girl is a bit cool.

”I can offer red berries with a two-hour night vision function, do you want them?” Xu Xin was straightforward.

”Yes!” The reply came quickly, ”How much iron ore do you want to exchange?”

”I want to make a long-term trade with you, but before that, I want to know the function of the blue material you discovered.”

The other party didnʼt waste words, probably because they trusted he knew about the special effect of blue material, so they directly replied: ”[Stone (Blue): When crafting stone tools, using just one significantly increases tool efficiency.]”

”Holy crap!” Xu Xin exclaimed; this is good stuff. He currently needed ten chops with a stone axe to cut down a green tree, and this could improve efficiency! Knowing a stone toolʼs durability is only 200, cutting less not only improves efficiency but also allows an axe to cut more trees.

Moreover, the current stone pickaxe couldnʼt mine blue-quality stones, making these stones even more precious.

Due to voice input, Xu Xinʼs words were sent directly, which made him a bit embarrassed.

”...” The other side sent a string of ellipses.