Xu Xin thought for a moment and asked, "Friends, how old are you all?"
The question was quickly scrolled down, so Xu Xin had no choice but to ask several more times.
"What's up? I just graduated from college and started working."
"I'm eighteen, in my first year of college."
"I'm also in college, in my third year!"
"You're all so young. I'm already 29, approaching my thirties."
"Brother, shake hands! I'm 28, single since birth. Any ladies here?"
"At a time like this, you're still looking for ladies? Seriously?"
"What's wrong with that? Ladies are a necessity!"
Xu Xin looked at their ages. The youngest was 18, and the oldest was just around 30. This seemed to be the age range. He himself had graduated from college less than a year ago. In his senior year, he had applied for graduate school but was redirected, so he didn't go. He studied for another year and had just been admitted to his desired school. He was now at home waiting to start in September.
"Looks like everyone is between 18 and 30,"
Xu Xin muttered to himself.
He hadn't turned off voice input, so this sentence was sent to the chat room.
"It really is!"
"Damn, I just turned 18! Is this compensation for being restricted from playing games before I was 18? Allowing me to only play games for the rest of my life?"
"…Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I almost didn't have to come here. Why wasn't I born two days earlier…"
After observing for a while longer, Xu Xin gradually understood what kind of people the survivors in this world were.
First, they were between 18 and 30 years old, from all over the country, and generally healthy. According to the words of a few people around 30, they were either unmarried or married without children.
It seemed that this game had principles in selecting survivors. People like them, even if they disappeared from the world, wouldn't greatly affect others' lives. Their parents weren't too old, and they didn't have young children who couldn't take care of themselves.
To be honest, Xu Xin felt relieved. He had been worried about his relatives being dragged into this survival game, but now it seemed unlikely.
Of course, it was possible that this was just the age range for their area, but Xu Xin preferred to believe what was favorable to him.
"Folks, what should we do now?"
"Yeah, I've been holed up in my treehouse for two days, afraid to go out. I'm almost out of bread and water."
"Everyone has bread and water? I thought I was lucky to get those…"
At this point, the frequency of chat in the main hall gradually decreased. Many people must have left their treehouses and started working.
Xu Xin was in no hurry to work; he was very efficient. He took out an apple, took a bite, and asked, "Where did you all plant your treehouse seeds?"
"Where else could we plant them? I walked for half a day and saw nothing but trees, so I just planted it randomly."
"I found a small stream and planted it by the stream!"
"Really? Then you must have a lot of water resources!"
"Good brother, please share some water! My five bottles are almost gone!"
Xu Xin ate his fruit breakfast while watching their reactions. At least those speaking now had at most found a small stream, and none had found a resource-rich area like he had.
"Does everyone have a small, low treehouse?" someone asked.
"What else? Are there different kinds of treehouses?"
"It's just the beginner stage. A small, low treehouse is not bad."
"Mine is also low and small, less than 20 square meters, about the same size as our dorm room."
Although others didn't have Xu Xin's identification ability to see the color-coded levels of items, they could still see the item names. Just like when he didn't have this ability, he could also see the description of the treehouse seed, although it was very brief.
Suddenly, one person's message caught his attention.
"What small, low treehouse? Isn't it just a small treehouse?"
Xu Xin noticed that this person wasn't anonymous but used their own name to send the message.
Li Wenxi, it seemed to be a woman's name.
However, her message wasn't very prominent among the flood of messages and was quickly scrolled down.
It seems there were still some lucky people out there. But someone like him who found a fertile piece of land, among nearly ten thousand people, there probably wouldn't be another. If this could be found by luck alone, it wouldn't just be about being extremely lucky, but being the chosen one of this world.
Unless they had the same ability as him.
Exiting the chat hall, Xu Xin entered the trading platform, which was already full of trades.
"20 Wood (White) for 1 Bottled Water (Green) or other water resources."
"10 Stone (White) for any food."
These trades weren't even worth looking at. White quality wood and stone were easily obtainable by everyone. Trying to sell these things for food and water, no one would trade.
Xu Xin shook his head and was about to close the trading platform when he suddenly saw a trading message.
"Iron Ore (Green) for any Blue quality items, specific quantities to be discussed privately."
"Oh?" Xu Xin's eyes lit up. Iron ore, he remembered that the raw materials for the grill included Iron Ingot (Green), which should be smelted from this iron ore.
Moreover, the exchange was for blue quality items, so this person must have used an identification platform to identify blue quality items. Otherwise, they wouldn't know that the higher level was blue quality.
Thinking of that identification platform, [Basic Identification Platform (White): Place materials on it, and after 10s it will emit light of the same color as the item's level. Can be used to identify the level of obtained items. Requires 20 Wood (White) and 20 Stone (White)]. This thing was useless to him, but for other survivors, it was the most basic tool they must have.
He glanced at the trader's name and was surprised.
Li Wenxi.
Wasn't that the name of the woman who grew a small treehouse earlier?
She's really lucky, not only growing a small treehouse but also finding blue quality items and iron ore.
Wait, could this woman also be in a resource-rich area similar to his?
Xu Xin quickly initiated a private chat with her.
"Hello, do you have iron ore?"
The reply came quickly: "Yes, in exchange for blue quality items."
"Do you also have blue quality items?" Xu Xin asked again.
There was a hesitation before the reply came: "Yes."
This girl seems a bit aloof.
"Red berries that provide two hours of night vision, interested?" Xu Xin got straight to the point.
"Yes!" The other side replied quickly this time. "How much iron ore do you want?"
"I'd like to establish a long-term trade relationship, but before that, I want to know the function of the blue quality item you found."
The other side didn't beat around the bush either. Seeing that he knew blue quality items had special effects, they seemed to trust him more and replied directly: "[Stone (Blue): When crafting stone tools, only one is needed, which greatly increases the tool's efficiency.]"
"Holy crap!" Xu Xin exclaimed. This was a good item indeed. Currently, it took him ten swings with a stone axe to cut down a green tree. This item could improve efficiency! Considering that a stone tool only has 200 durability, this improvement not only increases efficiency but also allows one axe to cut down more trees.
Moreover, the current stone pickaxe couldn't mine blue quality stones, making these stones even more valuable.
Because of voice input, Xu Xin's words were sent out directly, making him feel a bit embarrassed.
"…" The other side sent a string of ellipses.