By the time Yun Mianmian woke up the next day, the rain had stopped.

The sky was still gray, as if ready to burst into more rain at any moment. Yun Mianmian opened the door, and a chill lanced through her. The morning was quite cold.

She saw that the deck was in disarray, with a few small fish even washed up on shore.

Despite the heavy rain, the ship had collected only a little water, as it had a drainage function. The water would flow down the pipes, unlike smaller Class 2 ships, where rainwater would collect and need to be scooped out manually.

Yun Mianmian picked up the fish.

"Oh, it's still alive."

She put it in a wooden box, filled with seawater, and placed the box on the side.

Maybe she could roast it later for dinner.

The System's voice echoed through the air.

Yun Mianmian paused, then looked up at the glowing screen in midair.

Two lines of text appeared on the screen with the voice:

【 The trading hall is now open; players may conduct trades there on their own. 】

【 The forums are now open; players may post at will. 】

Yun Mianmian put down the wooden box and immediately opened the trading hall to look around. Goods could now be listed for sale, and trade conditions could be set.

For example, she could put an axe up for sale, requesting two iron blocks and five pieces of wood in exchange. As long as the other party put those items in, they could directly exchange them for the axe.

She could also set the terms to require both parties' agreement before a trade could be completed.

For example, if she set the axe to be exchanged for a design blueprint, the other party would have to put their blueprint in as well.

However, she would have to check the submitted blueprint first and agree to the trade for it to be completed.

There was also an auction mode.

Within a certain time frame, anyone could bid on an item, and once the time ran out, the highest bidder would win and the item would automatically appear in the winner's inventory.

However, as the trading hall had only just opened, Yun Mianmian found nothing that piqued her interest.

Next to the trading hall was a new shop, but Yun Mianmian found it was not yet open when she clicked on it, with a message saying "please look forward to it."

The forums were accessible through the chat window.

After opening the chat window, one could choose to view regional chats or enter the forums.

"Another night passed, and hundreds more died. So cruel."

"I was frozen all night, thinking I was going to die, but it turned out I was fine. Is this a sign that I'm blessed?"

"Good thing I had my axe, or I'd have been bitten to death by that monster fish last night."

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"The rain stopped, but it looks like it's gonna keep storming. I don't know how we'll make it through the night."

"Does anyone have anything to shield against the rain? I'm begging, willing to trade weapon blueprints. Already put them up in the trading hall. PM me if you're interested."

Yun Mianmian's eyes lit up at the mention of weapon blueprints and quickly opened the trading hall to check them out.

Chu Zijia was freezing to death. He'd thought his wooden raft reaching level 2 was pretty good, but unexpectedly, such a violent storm arrived. He was soaked from head to toe, chilled to the bone, and even with weapons to protect himself, it would be difficult to survive a month of rain.

He asked in the chat for a long time, but no one mentioned having any rain protection. Gritting his teeth, he finally decided to give out the weapon blueprints.

The blueprints were no use to him now, so he figured he might as well trade them for life-saving items.

Bronze Sword (Intermediate Workbench Required)

Materials: Hardwood Longsword × 1, Bronze × 5

Effect: +40 Attack Damage, +10 Close-Combat Damage

Yun Mianmian read the description and was immediately interested. This bronze sword was quite a good item, its high attack value able to make up for her own power deficiency. However, her workbench was still at the beginner level, so she could only create the hardwood longsword, not the bronze sword.

Even so, Yun Mianmian planned on taking the blueprint first. By the time she found the blueprint for the intermediate workbench, this great item would have long since been taken by someone else.

The stranger had mentioned wanting something waterproof.

Yun Mianmian recalled that when she opened a treasure chest, she obtained an oil-paper umbrella blueprint.

Her ship came equipped with a house, which could shield against rain and wind, so she hadn't needed the umbrella and hadn't taken it out. Now that it had started raining, she figured everyone must need something waterproof, and an oil-paper umbrella would be the most suitable device.

Oil-paper umbrellas are one of China's traditional everyday items, used to block sunlight and rain; they are very practical.

Materials required: bamboo x 2, silk thread x 1, cotton paper x 1, boiled tung oil

It required quite a few materials to craft one.

Yun Mianmian happened to have all these things on hand, but her supplies were limited, so she could only make four oil-paper umbrellas.

There was enough bamboo, but she was short on paper. She'd just opened four chests today, each containing a piece of cotton paper. As for the matured tung oil, she had two bottles, but only a small amount was needed per umbrella, so one bottle would suffice for ten.

Before starting, she had to roll her lucky dice.

With a thought, Yun Mianmian produced the dice from her pocket.

Today's lucky number was three.

【 3: Everything Goes as Desired: Similar to "Everything Works Out as You Wish," you know how it goes~ 】

"Everything Works Out as You Wish" again, but that wasn't bad.

Yun Mianmian secured the fishing rod, then placed the materials needed to make the oilpaper umbrellas on her workbench. While waiting for a bite, she began fishing for treasure chests.

As she caught one, she made a wish.

There were quite a few things she wanted at the moment.

For example: glass, cotton paper, pitch, shells, clay, bamboo...

And food, of course—she was almost out.

Also, blueprints for useful items; preferably a blueprint for an intermediate workbench.

Her wish complete, the fishing rod finally budged.

Filled with anticipation, Yun Mianmian reeled in the treasure chest.

The first one was a locked bronze treasure chest.

Yun Mianmian was delighted.

She had the key! No need to painstakingly search for key fragments to craft a whole key like she had before.

【 Opened a locked bronze treasure chest. 】

【 Gained: Blueprint for an intermediate fishing rod, glass x 1, cotton paper x 10, shells x 3, honey peaches x 5, silk thread x 5. 】

The blueprint for an intermediate fishing rod.

Her fishing rod had been upgraded long ago, so this one was useless to her, but she could trade it for something else. Many people would likely want it.

The other items were things she needed.

Now that she had cotton paper and silk thread, she could craft a few umbrellas.

[Obtained: Oil-paper umbrella × 1]

A brand-new oil-paper umbrella appeared on her workbench. Yun Mianmian picked it up and opened it; it was an oil-paper umbrella in teal, its surface soft, smooth, and translucent, yet surprisingly sturdy. The faint sky-blue hue made it exceptionally beautiful.

She was about to head to the trading hall to contact the person she'd met there when Luo Luo sent her a message.

"Here's today's supply drop."

Three bamboo stalks, two cotton paper, one seashell, and two pairs of socks appeared in Yun Mianmian's inventory.

Seeing the socks made Yun Mianmian happy. The weather was getting cold, so socks were a necessity.

Luo Luo truly kept her word; these past few days, she'd faithfully sent Yun Mianmian the items she'd obtained from opening chests. Her fishing rod could only catch one treasure chest, so this meant she hadn't kept anything for herself.

Yun Mianmian had given Luo Luo a fishing rod earlier, but it had only contained one piece of wood and one fishing line in exchange for one piece of her key. Luo Luo hadn't gained much from the trade, yet she still sent Yun Mianmian supplies every day.

Yun Mianmian decided to give Luo Luo the intermediate fishing rod blueprint she'd just obtained, to help her upgrade her fishing rod. It would be beneficial to herself as well.

With this, Luo Luo would be able to catch even more supplies.

Yun Mianmian went to the trading hall and exchanged five iron blocks and two steamed buns for five fishing lines. She sent these, along with the blueprint for the intermediate fishing rod, to Luo Luo.

Luo Luo stared at the hologram in shock. She had given Yun Mianmian the supplies simply to fulfill her commitment, never expecting that Yun Mianmian would give something so valuable in return.

With the blueprint and the five fishing lines, she could upgrade her fishing rod.

Luo Luo had been working diligently recently. She carefully budgeted her resources, drinking only one bottle of water and eating one steamed bun per day. With the extra food and water, she managed to scavenge enough iron and wood, and yesterday, she acquired an axe from Nie Yangguang. Last night, a fish monster had bitten her wooden raft, but she was able to fend it off with the axe. Without it, her raft would have disintegrated and she would have perished.

She worked hard in order to survive until her younger brother arrived in the game.

Every day, she told herself that if she died, her brother would be all alone.

Last night, she killed a fish monster and obtained two pieces of fish meat and a seashell. She sold the fish meat for wood, then gave the seashell to Yun Mianmian.

Today, she could upgrade her wooden raft to level 2.

However, she was still far away from reaching level 3, and she wasn't sure if she could upgrade within seven days. Every day, she could only catch one treasure chest, making it very difficult to save up resources.

But Yun Mianmian's gift of an intermediate fishing rod design gave her hope.

"Thank you," she said, overwhelmed.

Beyond thanking Yun Mianmian, Luo Luo didn't know what else to say.

Luo Luo vowed to herself that, from now on, any materials she obtained from chests would first be given to Yun Mianmian to choose from, with the leftovers for herself.