While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Day 3 of Extreme Cold, Temperatures Continue to Drop

”Iron ore??? How did so much suddenly appear?”

”Where did this player get it from? Aren’t we all out on the ocean?”

”No! Someone might have found an island first again.”

”Rowan Rhodes, the number one player on the server??”

”Oh my god! How is her Speed so fast? She just advanced to Level 8 and has already reached the third island.”

”I haven’t even seen a shadow of the third island!”

”Did she install a propeller on her raft or something?”

”That’s actually possible! A battery appeared before, didn’t it!”

”You can unlock the Engine by upgrading to Level 6. Rowan has probably unlocked it long ago.”

”The Engine requires an Engine component! And a Steering Wheel! Where do you even find those?”

”I really want to learn her secrets!”

”But if she’s getting this much iron ore, does that prove the third island is rich in ore?”

”Ore is great! I saw that a lot of upcoming raft upgrades will require metal.”

The players’ guesses were spot on this time. After all, Rowan had already left a deep impression on them as an absolute powerhouse. Putting the clues together, they were certain that the only person capable of pulling this off was none other than Rowan.

For a moment, many players were filled with envy, while those who had advanced to Level 6 and above began to double their efforts. They were all searching for traces of an Engine and a Steering Wheel. They knew very well that as long as they had an Engine and a Steering Wheel, they could definitely catch up. However, let alone the Trading Hall, there wasn’t even a trace of an Engine or a Steering Wheel in the Sea Survival Shop. Feeling the difficulty of propelling their rafts forward, many couldn’t help but mutter their complaints.

”Ahhh, please don’t let me be in the same district as Rowan! Otherwise, she’ll hoard everything when the time comes.”

”Exactly! She’s so far ahead of us. But since she’s just one person, it should be fine, right?”

”How could it be fine? Just look at her mining Speed.”

”Her Equipment must be top-tier.”

”Given that she’s Level 8, it must be C-level!”

”A C-level Iron Pickaxe must be incredibly efficient to use.”

Similar discussions continued to spread across the world channels of major districts, and the District 122 world channel was no exception. As an insider, Zelda Parrish couldn’t help but laugh when she saw players—who had previously desperately wished for Rowan to be in District 122—now begging the heavens that she wasn’t. Sure enough, self-interest dictated logic.

Looking toward the still-unseen third island, Zelda began to ponder whether there was a way to increase her raft’s Speed without an Engine. According to her calculations, no matter how fast she went, it would likely take until after the extreme cold disaster to reach the third island. Rowan’s raft upgrade wasn’t just a recent development. An early lead cascaded into a permanent advantage. What many players speculated was actually highly likely—by the time they arrived, the entire island’s resources would probably be wiped clean by her Collection.

However, Zelda didn’t feel any resentment. It was simply a matter of inferior skill. All she had to do was focus on improving herself as much as possible. Additionally, she could check if she had anything Rowan wanted to trade for resources.

Rowan was oblivious to the uproar outside; her attention was entirely focused on the iron ore in front of her. It had to be said that mining was incredibly physically demanding work. During this time, Rowan’s condition continuously dropped, but she didn’t mind, even increasing her Speed a bit more. It wasn’t until midnight approached that she finally used the Heart of Life. Although she still had a slight surplus of Life Value, using the Heart of Life wasn’t a waste. Once her condition was fully restored, she resumed mining. Having slept for a few hours earlier, Rowan was in excellent spirits. Seeing her status maxed out, she enthusiastically dug into the iron ore.

Watching the amount of iron ore constantly multiply, Rowan felt quite a sense of accomplishment. Especially since it was minus 74 degrees outside, yet she was warm and cozy, gathering massive amounts of resources without anyone bothering her. Just thinking about it felt pretty exhilarating. Since she didn’t need to rush her progress at the moment, she split her attention to check the information on the control panel.

[Sea Survival Calendar: January 9, 0:00. Weather: Cold. Today’s temperature: -74 degrees. Extreme cold weather; please be mindful of your safety.]

[District 122: (96,493 / 100,000)]

”God! It really is different from the extreme heat disaster. The temperature is still dropping!”

”Sigh, a few dozen degrees above zero can be called extreme heat, but a few dozen degrees below zero can’t even be called extreme cold!”

”It’s heading toward minus one hundred degrees!”

”With the temperature this low, there shouldn’t be any marine life left, right?”

”Probably not! On the third day of the extreme heat disaster, only the Abyssal Heat Bacteria showed up, but the impact wasn’t even that huge.”

”Oh, right! Didn’t we collect a lot of Abyssal Heat Bacteria before? We even traded sand for a bunch of glass bottles to store it. The Introduction said it could generate heat, but now that the extreme cold weather is here, I haven’t seen it take Effect!”

”Harold Thompson: That was the mysterious big shot’s doing! This just goes to show that even big shots aren’t always reliable!”

”Right, right, right, I think so too!”

”So there’s no need to blindly follow the big shots in everything.”

”Sigh, there’s still a whole day left! How are we going to survive this?”

”Luckily, I have the White Bear Suit.”

”The price of the White Bear Suit has really been inflated to the heavens.”

”After all, the White Bear Suit’s cold resistance stats are stronger. But other warming Equipment isn’t bad either! Since they last 8 hours, preparing 3 sets is enough.”

”If you have other warming Effects, just using one set for sleeping is fine.”

”Sigh, it’s the middle of the night, and these items have time limits. I’m really terrified of dying unknowingly in my sleep. I can’t even sleep well because of it!”

”But it’s the last day anyway, so we can still push through.”

”Let’s wait until 1:00 AM to see how many degrees the temperature drops! We’ll see if we can endure it.”

Rowan saw that the players’ fears regarding the third day of the extreme cold had not ceased. But this was simply human nature. Throughout all of this, Celia Lynch, Zelda Parrish, and Faye Sinclair had not spoken up in the chat. It seemed they knew very well that stepping out at a time like this would only attract resentment. Compared to the uncertainty faced by the rest of the players, they were absolutely guaranteed to survive. Jumping out when the masses were at their most panicked would just be foolish. Knowing how to protect oneself was a good thing.

Finally, Rowan’s gaze landed on the Abyssal Heat Bacteria that a player had mentioned. The Abyssal Heat Bacteria itself could be used as a heat source, but unfortunately, the current temperature wasn’t low enough yet! In another two hours, when the temperature dropped to minus 76 degrees, the Abyssal Heat Bacteria would officially take Effect. It was the key for the majority of players to survive the third day of the extreme cold. As long as most of the players in District 122 had the Abyssal Heat Bacteria in their hands, then... the survival rate of District 122 this time around would still be nothing to worry about. As for her, she could still use the Abyssal Heat Bacteria in her hands to make a killing in the Sea Survival Game.