Chapter 25: Wow, Your Health Has Increased

Yu Jiang was stunned by the "luck-god's" prowess; he actually possessed so many crafting materials and scrolls.

"It’s a deal, then! I’ll send you a Qi-restoring drink that recovers 30 fatigue points later," Yu Jiang replied, adding a handshake emoji.

She needed the cushions, as well as the thermal cotton socks and defense-boosting shoes—all of them were high-quality items. Someone had previously pulled agile-stat shoes from a chest; the selling price was astronomical, and a group of people couldn't even haggle the price down. A player named "Cutting Wires with a Kitchen Knife" had already offered to bring them along on the next dungeon run, yet the seller was still hesitant. Yu Jiang hadn't bothered to negotiate; in such a situation, if you couldn't offer the highest price, you wouldn't get the item.

To her surprise, she had managed to secure a deal with "Purple Buttock Can Do It" that very evening.

"I have a scroll for crafting solid wood car interior trim. If you provide 50% of the materials, I’ll craft it for you. This will provide a significant boost to your wealth score," Yu Jiang messaged him.

"Purple Buttock Can Do It" had the materials, and she had the scroll—it was a perfect match. Besides, since he was focused on scroll crafting, he was likely aiming to climb the wealth rankings. As expected, upon learning she had the interior trim scroll, he immediately replied to discuss the details.

"How about this? I’ll help you take on a few orders, and I’ll take a 10% commission. I have several friends who specialize in gathering crafting materials—some gather, some are blacksmiths—they all need wealth points and life-saving medicine."

They were practically becoming a merchant squad. Yu Jiang thought it over; it was worth maintaining these connections. "I can provide you all with 10 basic healing potions in exchange for medicinal ingredients and crafting materials. If anyone has snake venom, I want that too."

"!!! Don't worry, Boss. We have the materials. We'll take all 10 potions."

"Purple Buttock Can Do It" was thrilled and immediately sent messages to his contact list. The prices the "Boss" offered were far better than buying on the trading platform. If they could maintain a long-term partnership, they could earn a nice profit from the price difference—it was definitely worth pursuing!

The other three friends who received the potions also sent messages of gratitude along with supplies.

[Received from player 'X': Mutant Snake Venom *8, Battery *6. Note: I'll send more if I find more mutant snakes later.]
[Received from player 'Cold River Shadow': Solar Power Converter *1.]
[Received from player 'Lightning Mage': Mutant Super Calamus *4, Aconite *2...]

Yu Jiang sent a fist-bump emoji to everyone. Having cooperated for mutual benefit so many times, they didn't waste time on empty pleasantries. However, Yu Jiang was genuinely curious and asked X, "Where did you manage to kill so many mutant poisonous snakes?"

She hadn't encountered any; she had nearly stepped on one while foraging today and had spent a long time circling it, not daring to try and catch it. She was naturally terrified of things with no feet or too many feet. In the end, she had simply jumped around like a monkey, holding a sharpened wooden stick, until she hammered it to death.

X was silent for a moment. "80% of the chests I've opened in the last two days contained them. One chest even had two inside."

Yu Jiang: "…My apologies for asking."

What kind of luck was that? Anyone else would have been bitten countless times—basic healing potions wouldn't have been enough to save them.

Closing her friend list, Yu Jiang took out a plastic container she had scavenged and picked half a box of blueberries. Since she started using the Sunlight Card and the plant thermal cover, the yield had been quite impressive.

[Grumpy Blueberry: La la la~ I’m in a good mood today! My fruits are sour, sweet, and bitter—a rich flavor profile. Don't you feel like you've struck gold!]

Darn it, she’d eaten a bitter one. Yu Jiang hurriedly ate two more to neutralize the taste, resulting in a whirlwind of sour, sweet, and bitter flavors from the dozen berries. Fortunately, they weren't unpleasant and all carried a natural, fresh aroma.

[Wow! Your health value has increased after eating blueberries, and your body's fatigue has been reduced!]

Raising this plant was truly a treasure find! Yu Jiang excitedly opened her panel; her health had increased by 1, reaching 79. Her fatigue had dropped by 30 points. The health bonus only happened once, but the fatigue reduction effect was a daily occurrence with a 60% probability for every ten berries consumed. As long as the blueberry harvest was good, she could ignore the probability!

After recovering her fatigue, Yu Jiang immediately crafted another batch of basic healing potions. She wasn't willing to go to sleep without maxing out her fatigue; it felt like a loss. Yu Jiang kept 10 basic and 1 medium healing potion for herself. She also kept one detox pill and one cold-remedy powder, keeping half of the hallucinogens and listing the remaining four.

She added an advertisement: "On the road of life, you never know when you'll get stabbed. Buy now or miss out."

After finishing her tasks, Yu Jiang lay down on her spacious bed-car, rolling around comfortably. If only she had some soothing car music and a portable kerosene stove to brew some medicinal tea, it would be perfect.

Messages on the trading platform poured in quickly—notifications of sales and inquiries from buyers.

[Wait, don't you guys sleep in the middle of the night?! I was just about to buy the detox pill, hesitated, and it was snatched up! Who is so fast?!]
[The big player who appeared in this zone and can craft basic healing potions is now already making hallucinogens and detox pills… and can even craft medium healing potions??! This is too powerful.]
[Boss, I'm begging you, I really need various medicines. Can you list more?]
[The Boss seems to only list supplies at night, which puts my mind at ease—at least they aren't secretly grinding mileage.]

Yu Jiang shook her head. She wasn't grinding mileage, but those driving gas-guzzlers might be. "My fatigue is full. Ingredients for high-level medicine are hard to find, so I don't have many on hand right now. I'll list more when I have them."

She didn't have many ingredients left for the Qi-restoring drinks either, and she planned to hoard some rather than using them all for crafting. After replying, drowsiness washed over her as she lay in bed, and she fell asleep just like that.

The temperature dropped rapidly in the middle of the night, and when the rain grew heavy, it was quite noisy inside the car. Yu Jiang was woken up by the cold and pulled out her down duvet to cover herself; then she started getting hot. She had no choice—she only had one blanket and one down duvet. Sweating was better than catching a cold, so she kept the duvet over her stomach. In her sleepy state, she didn't forget to glance at the public chat. Several people were still typing, mostly posting requests for help or offering higher prices for tents and sleeping bags.

Yu Jiang turned over, her exhaustion allowing her to ignore the sound of the rain lashing against the roof.

The next morning, Survival Time: 7 days.
[Weather: Heavy rain, Temperature: 12°C, Humidity: 100%, Northeast wind, Force 8.]

Out in the open, these conditions were already severe. Yu Jiang stretched and was thinking about what to have for breakfast when she saw someone cursing early in the morning.

[Damn it! Whoever sold me that tent at a high price yesterday, get out here! At around 4 AM, the tent was blown apart, and half of it was swept away by the wind. Do you have any idea how desperate I felt standing in that storm? Refund me two portions of self-heating rice!]
[My scooter was blown over, and the durability is pretty low. Does any kind soul have a repair card?]
[Forget tents, a piece of the iron sheet I just installed on my car was blown away.]
[The cushions in my vehicle are all soaked. I'm just sitting on the hay I stored earlier, haven't slept a wink all night.]
[Who has a raincoat? Asking for a fair price—the ones on the trading platform are ridiculously expensive.]

Yu Jiang pulled back the curtain, looking at the gloomy sky outside, and felt that this was only the beginning. Today, she planned to finish her weekly mileage task and wouldn't stop unless she found a chest on the road.