Another long night had passed...
This was James' fourth night in the foggy world.
Yet, these four nights seemed longer than all the nights he had experienced before!
Lying dejectedly on his small bed, staring at the wooden ceiling, he felt utterly exhausted both physically and mentally.
After a brief rest, James gathered his spirits; there was much to do at night.
He took out two resource boxes, eager to see what good items they contained to lift his spirits.
Today, he had been lucky, miraculously finding three boxes.
One bronze resource box and two wooden ones.
He had already opened one of the wooden boxes, obtaining a set of fluffy pajamas, a pair of gloves, and a pound of white rice.
Now, with two boxes in front of him, James decided to try his luck with the other wooden box.
A flash of light passed by.
Three items appeared in the wooden box: a quilt, a pair of thermal pants, and five apples.
As expected, the usual warm items and food.
However, they were surprisingly practical, exactly what he needed most at the moment!
James ate an apple right away to replenish the vitamins his body needed.
While eating, he thought: based on today's probability of finding resource boxes, almost everyone would get one or two warm items.
This would significantly enhance their ability to withstand the cold!
James then crushed the light orb, and three items appeared before him.
The quilt was a cotton mattress pad!
It was a standard quilt, about 4 pounds, not too thick.
James immediately laid it on his single wooden bed; it fit perfectly.
From now on, he would no longer have to sleep on the cold, hard wood.
Thermal pants were nothing special, just the symbol of maturity: long johns!
The five apples were fresh, a rare commodity in the foggy world.
During the long winter, fresh fruits and vegetables were scarce.
The vitamins they contained were essential for the human body.
So James carefully stored the fruits and vegetables, eating some from time to time.
This included the berries he had found earlier.
...
The items from the wooden resource box were great, so James eagerly opened the bronze resource box, hoping his good fortune would continue.
A blue light spread, revealing three items:
- A 12-pound thick lamb fleece quilt (Excellent)
- A five-pound bag of high-quality flour (Good)
- A pair of snow boots (Good)
Luck still favored James!
The words "excellent quality" always thrilled him.
He had seen the "lamb fleece quilt" at the trade market before and had envied it for a long time.
But that was only of good quality; this one was excellent.
Whether in quality, weight, or warmth, it was a level higher.
When the 12-pound lamb fleece quilt appeared, it almost filled the entire single wooden bed!
Just looking at the 30 cm thick quilt, he could feel its comfort.
The white lamb fleece was warm, and its substantial weight felt secure!
James couldn't wait to get under the quilt.
But considering he hadn't bathed in three days, he decided to clean himself first before getting into bed.
Of course, he was also worried that once he got into bed, he might never want to get out again.
The other two items were also very practical.
The snow boots for going out and the flour for making food would greatly enrich James' inventory.
After the excitement, James couldn't help but worry.
The fact that such generous items came out of the resource box meant it wasn't just good luck!
Others must have found similar or even better items!
This led to a troubling thought: what kind of cold wave would make the system think that even with these resources, it would still be difficult to survive?
This wouldn't just be a few blizzards or ordinary cold weather!
This must be a cold wave beyond anyone's imagination!
The term "cold wave" seemed ordinary, but many underestimated the terror it brought!
James warned himself not to let his guard down.
Even if he was among the wealthiest and best-prepared, he could still lose his life in the cold wave!
...
James sorted and stored all the items he got from the resource boxes.
He placed warm items, like clothes and quilts, in the bedroom.
Food was stored in the studio.
In total, he had eight warm items:
- A wool blanket
- A cotton-padded jacket
- A set of winter fluffy pajamas
- A pair of leather gloves
- A quilt
- A pair of thermal pants
- A 12-pound lamb fleece quilt (Excellent)
- Snow boots (Good)
James was very satisfied with this; not many people could be as wealthy.
He had also stored quite a bit of food:
- Meat steaks
- Brick-sized compressed biscuits
- 521 grams of berries
- Four apples
- Five pounds of flour (Good)
- A pound of white rice
- 52 pounds of bean pods
- 28 half-fist-sized crystal rice grains
- Several unfinished meat steaks
This was all the wealth James had accumulated over the past few days.
He was indeed wealthy.
After arranging everything neatly in the corner, James first collected today's 500ml of spring water.
Then he watered the plants he was growing. The crystal rice, potatoes, and guardian thorns were all affected by the low temperature.
Suddenly, he remembered the trade with Oliver from the day before was still pending.
James hurriedly opened the "Survival Manual in the Mist" and saw Oliver's trade request had come in:
[Trade Request: Wisteria × 1
Message: A complete wisteria plant, the deal we agreed on yesterday. Don't forget my 50ml of spring water!]
James didn't hesitate and accepted the trade.
The wisteria was large, over three meters tall.
The roots were dense, making up a small half of the wisteria's length.
James dug a large hole near the potatoes in the yard and planted the wisteria.
Since wisteria was not a priority crop, James planted it rather casually.
Considering that too many flowers would consume too much nutrition, affecting the wisteria's growth, James cut off most of the flowers and branches, leaving only the main stem.
He collected 13 stems and several wisteria flowers.
He piled them all next to the guardian thorns as nourishment for their growth.
The "Guardian Thorns" slowly absorbed the nutrients from the wisteria, significantly improving their condition.
The thorns coiled around the fence became thicker and more robust, and their spikes sharper.
James estimated that after feeding them like this a few more times, the "Guardian Thorns" would be ready to reproduce.
Currently, the individual strength of the guardian thorns seemed weak, likely relying on group strength for hunting.
The information mentioned that in a guardian thorn colony, there would usually be a mother plant, mainly for breeding.
Near the mother plant, "Child Thorns" would be scattered, hunting for food and protecting the mother.
This survival method was not like that of plants, but more like burrowing animals like ants.
This was why only the mother thorn had value.
Because only the mother thorn could reproduce, while the child thorns only had a single generation.
Otherwise, James could have made a fortune by selling thorns.
After dealing with the wisteria, James contacted Karen and made a trade for dung beetles' feces.
He traded 20ml of spring water for 100 grams of dung beetle feces.
James divided the 100 grams of feces into five parts and buried them near the "Crystal Rice" in the flower bed.
Seeing that the "Crystal Rice" seeds still showed no signs of growth, James watered each seed with 10ml of spring water.
With all the plants taken care of, he just needed to wait for the harvest.
But who knew when that would be.
...
Just as he finished his tasks, Luke's message came.
Luke didn't say anything and just sent six ordinary meat steaks.
James was both satisfied and surprised, thinking to himself, "Luke is so strong! He can hunt so much food every day!"
James had only heard a few distant roars of beasts so far today.
The difference was too big, making him very curious.
James: "Are there so many wild beasts near you? Can you hunt every day?"
Luke: "I have a special tool that can find beasts! But it's very dangerous, as it doesn't show the beasts' grade, so I might encounter good quality beasts!"
So that's how it was!
Hearing Luke's explanation, James understood.
It was normal for resource boxes to contain various tools, including those for finding beasts.
James traded 120ml of spring water for the six meat steaks.
Thinking of Luke hunting beasts every day, he must not have time to find food.
And the meat he got was traded for "spring water."
What about his winter food supply?
James asked with some concern, "Do you have time to store food for the winter when you hunt beasts every day?"
Luke smiled faintly and sent dozens of types of food, including fruits, vegetables, beans, wheat, rice, nuts, etc.
James was shocked by the variety and quantity of the food, feeling a bitter sweetness and envy.
Luke: "Most animals store food for the winter. When I kill them, their food naturally becomes mine."
Luke: "Do you need some? I still have a lot."
James thought that many people must have their ways of obtaining food. He might be among those with the lowest food reserves.
He politely declined Luke's offer and said, "If I ever run out of food, I'll ask big brother for help!"
James said it half-jokingly.
After two days of interaction, their relationship had become much closer.
Luke was sincere and had a good temperament.
After James generously helped treat Luke's child's illness, Luke was very grateful to him and completely regarded him as one of his own.
The two had established a basic friendship.
...
After finishing his tasks, James decided to clean himself.
He had 5 liters of river water but no container for boiling water.
He could build a kitchen, but the resources were insufficient and needed to be exchanged with spring water.
So, James selected a copper basin in the trade market after careful consideration, trading it for 50 pieces of wood.
There were not many water containers in the shelter, so it was a good addition.
But the price was indeed not cheap, equivalent to chopping trees for half a day.
But it couldn't be helped; wood was the least valuable material. It could be collected just by spending time, just like stones, which were also facing the same situation.
Although the weather was getting colder and wood was needed for heating, the wood used for heating was only a small part compared to the harvested wood.
With the increasing number of manuscripts, the price of stones was gradually decreasing, almost the same as wood, both being the most basic resources.
James estimated that someone might be able to upgrade to a level 3 shelter today.
For some wealthy people, 250 pieces of wood and 500 stones were not impossible.
Some very valuable "good" and "excellent" resources had a high exchange rate for wood and stones.
Like the spring, if James used "spring water" to exchange for wood and stones, he could quickly meet the materials needed for the upgrade.