Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

After everyone finished their discussion, they called Yu Xiaofei’s mother over and told her to stay at the base to take good care of Xiao Fei for the time being.

It would take at least two or three weeks for Xiao Fei to fully recover.

This trip was going to be dangerous; it made no sense to let the mother and daughter duo face the risks with them.

However, Yu Xiaofei’s mother was firmly against this arrangement. She insisted that since they were a team, they had to depart together.

She even planned to cook delicious meals for them on the road, vowing to use all her culinary skills to ensure they ate and drank well. Her insistence left everyone unsure whether to laugh or cry.

”Aunt Cen, please don’t worry. We’ve already prepared food for the road. Things like steamed buns, zongzi, and dumplings are more than enough to get by,” Song Kexin said reassuringly. ”Xiao Fei still hasn’t fully recovered. She needs you by her side.”

”Just stay here at the base and rest easy. All you need to do is wait for us to come back.”

Song Youxuan smiled and handed a Contribution Points Card to Cen Yun. ”This is half a month’s salary, paid in advance to cover your living expenses for the next few days.”

After all, they would be gone for anywhere from a few days to half a month, so the mother-daughter pair would need some basic provisions to live on.

Once all the arrangements were made, Xie Ning returned to her private little cubicle.

She closed the door, took out Little Spider again, and patted its head with a benevolent smile. ”Open the system store.”

Little Spider said weakly, ”Host Ningning, isn’t it a little too soon to be checking the system store’s sales?”

”We could just wait and check tomorrow night.”

”I just want to take another look at the Krypton Gold Roulette.”

Little Spider had a bad feeling, but it timidly opened the store’s interface.

Xie Ning lifted her hand and tapped around on the holographic screen, navigating to the roulette page in the store.

The great X Realm system was surprisingly user-friendly. The moment you entered the roulette page, a dazzling burst of digital fireworks would go off, encouraging you to spend money.

”Host Ningning, I must gently remind you... Us putting over a thousand little cabbages on the market all at once was a rather conspicuous move.”

”So, if you want me to use this opportunity to hack the system for free draws—oh, I mean, free spins on the roulette—that would be a bit...”

’Too conspicuous!’

It was almost guaranteed that the internal staff of the X Realm system would quickly notice the anomaly.

”Will it affect you in any way?”

”Can they attack you?”

Hearing this, Little Spider immediately puffed up with pride. ”I’m the most advanced, top-tier intelligent brain in the world! A one-in-a-million, completely unique existence.”

”How could those pieces of junk possibly attack me?”

The moment it finished its boast, Little Spider regretted it.

Sure enough, it heard its unreliable host, Ningning, say, ”Then what are we waiting for? Let’s do this!”

”Look, it says ten points per spin. Get me a thousand points’ worth. I want to give it a try!”

Little Spider drooped, slumping onto the table. ”Do we really have to?”

”Is there really a danger?” Xie Ning asked with a serious expression, casually patting its head. ”We’re going to be best friends who face life and death together. If it’s really, *really* dangerous, you have to tell me, and we won’t take the risk.”

Hearing this, Little Spider perked up, its smugness returning. ”Danger? No, there’s no real danger. It’s just highly conspicuous.”

”If the great X Realm system targets you, can they remotely alter your core data?”

Little Spider grew even more cocky. ”If they had that kind of power, I’d be impressed! They wouldn’t have let me run circles around them for this long.”

Xie Ning nodded. ”Then what are you waiting for? Let’s begin.”

Little Spider huffed. ”But I really do think they’ll target you, Host.”

”It’s very likely they’ll follow the trail I leave right back to you, Host Ningning.”

”And from there, they’ll figure out that you’re the one causing all these anomalies.”

Xie Ning gave it a maternal smile. ”So what? Let them come!”

The moment Little Spider saw the eager, battle-hungry glint in its host’s eyes, it knew it had been worrying for nothing.

Host Ningning wasn’t the least bit afraid of the people from the X Realm.

This host of its... was completely different from anyone else.

”Alright then. Let’s start with one hundred draws.”

”Sounds good!”

Little Spider’s seven or eight legs clattered away, and in a moment, it had the Krypton Gold Roulette sorted out.

The spin counter on the roulette, which had been empty, suddenly jumped to one hundred.

Xie Ning felt like her new best friend was a miracle worker!

She reached out and solemnly grasped one of Little Spider’s metal legs. ”Friend, as long as I’m here, you’re here. I’m with you. From this day forward, we’re blood brothers, ride-or-die companions.”

Little Spider: ...

’Can I refuse?’

With a tap of her finger, Xie Ning sent the roulette wheel spinning with a WHIR.

The arrow on the wheel spun rapidly before stopping on several prizes in succession.

A military dagger.

Six bottles of Nutrient Liquid, a one-time supplement for bodily needs.

One perfectly ordinary slipper.

A Super-speed Whip.

Finally, the Krypton Gold Roulette flashed with red light and spat out a strange seed.

With the first ten-pull finished, Xie Ning started examining her prizes.

She couldn’t help but grimace as she looked them over.

”What is all this junk?”

”Why is there only one ’perfectly ordinary slipper’? Even as a gift, what’s anyone supposed to do with a single slipper?”

”And this Nutrient Liquid... isn’t this the stuff made from poop?”

Little Spider: ...

”Host Ningning, I must remind you, this is a basic Nutrient Liquid, not the crude version made from waste. This kind eliminates fatigue and gradually improves your physical condition.”

”Oh.” Xie Ning nodded, only half-understanding. ”So you’re saying there are different kinds of Nutrient Liquid in the X Realm, then?”

”Mhm, that’s right.”

”The one you got is the basic, standard version. It’s not exactly high-grade, but I guarantee one bottle can keep hunger and thirst at bay for a whole day.”

”Then what is this stuff made of? It’s not poop?”

Little Spider was speechless.

’Host Ningning is really stuck on that crude Nutrient Liquid, isn’t she.’

”It’s not poop. Absolutely not.” Little Spider barely had the energy to argue. ”Host Ningning, didn’t you and the others make your own simple Nutrient Liquid back at the Golden City Base?”

”It’s similar to that.”

”But the version you made from the fruit of mutated plants definitely isn’t as nutritious as the X Realm’s basic version, you know.”

Xie Ning nodded.

That made sense. The crude Nutrient Liquid they had made from the ”Fruits of Hope” found outside Golden City Base hadn’t been enough to fill their stomachs, but it was just enough to scrape by, allowing them to survive the harshest six months of the ice age.

”So what’s the deal with this ’perfectly ordinary slipper’?” Xie Ning muttered, slipping on the cotton slipper, which looked just as ordinary as its name suggested.

She froze.

”Whoa, it has a built-in foot massager?”

”Mhm, some of the X Realm’s little tech gadgets are actually pretty useful.”

”So what’s the deal with only getting one?”

”Guess you’ll have to draw again! Get the other one and you’ll have a matching pair!”