The jumper was Zhang Yan from the eighth floor.
Before she died she had asked for help in the chatroom a few times, but no one helped.
Her desperate leap did not earn sympathy in the chatroom; instead, it was met with a chorus of insults.
Some players were still out scavenging suppliesâher stunt would only make things harder for everyone, they said.
Xu Lang remained silent.
Beside him, Cao Yaxuan was woken by the sound of the fall and the zombiesâ snarls. After checking the chatroom, she told Xu Lang, âXu Lang, Zhang Yan jumped!â
âI know.â Xu Lang nodded calmly.
Cao Yaxuan pursed her lips. âXu Lang, a lot of people saw that my room number matches yours and theyâre asking me whatâs going on.â
âSay whatever you want.â Xu Lang replied to Cao Yaxuan while editing a message in the chatroom.
âOkay.â Cao Yaxuan nodded.
She didnât tell anyone about the private deal she and Xu Lang had; she only said she happened to be in his room when the game started.
[200 Xu Lang: Buying one weapon, offering ten paper cups of purified water, total one liter]
[24 Zhou Tao: Where did you get that much water? Stop boasting]
[112 Li Ming: Damn, itâs real, Xu Lang put it on the auction house]
[32 Ye Fan: Hidden depths, Brother Lang!]
[24 Zhou Tao: No one will trade with you. Weapons are the rarest right now; theyâll definitely be useful later. Whoever has a weapon, Iâll also trade supplies.]
Xu Lang really didnât want to post in the chatroom, exactly because he feared this kind of reaction, but there were no weapons for sale on the Trading Network, so he had to shout in the chatroom.
[200 Xu Lang: @Zhou Tao, one more word out of you and tomorrow when you go downstairs Iâll be staring you down!]
Dorm 24.
âDamn! You really think the supplies I found wonât last until the end of the game?!â Zhou Taoâs face turned dark as he pounded his fist on the bed.
At that moment, several friends sent him private messagesâplayers who had scavenged supplies with him earlier.
These people, unknown to the higher-tier players, had added each other as friends and developed a tacit understanding.
All the private messages told Zhou Tao not to act rashly.
They still wanted to enjoy their dividends; if high-tier players really stirred up trouble, it would be like losing everything.
âGroup save for you!â
Grudgingly, Zhou Tao decided to back down.
âŠ
After Xu Lang finished scolding Zhou Tao, he began to check friend requests.
Soon, one request caught his eye.
[12 Wang Zhiwei: I have a baseball bat. Want to trade?]
Xu Lang accepted the friend request, and the other party sent the item details.
âŠ
[Baseball Bat]
[Type: Weapon]
[Level: 1]
[Damage: 8]
[Durability: 14/14]
[Disassembly yields: Birch Wood x9]
[Upgrade requirement: 50 Nightmare Coins]
[Description: Dong dong!]
âŠ
[12 Wang Zhiwei: Right now weapons are rarer than food, and this is still a level 1 weapon, so I want 2 liters of water. Is that okay?]
[200 Xu Lang: If you have a weapon, it should be easier to find resources tomorrow. Why trade it?]
[12 Wang Zhiwei: I just found this today. My girlfriend is still on the eighth floor and I want to bring her some drinks. And if I give this to you, you wonât give it to someone on the first or second floor, right?]
This Wang Zhiwei loved his girlfriend, but he wasnât a foolâhe knew giving a weapon to fellow scavengers would increase competition.
[200 Xu Lang: Fine]
[12 Wang Zhiwei: Oh, and hereâs a tip: if youâve played online games, you know many supply points are guarded by major guilds. Ordinary people die if they get close. Even if you get down there, you wonât get the supplies.]
Xu Langâs mind tightened for a moment, then returned to calm.
That information didnât seem useful to him.
He planned to just lie low and develop himself!
Still, he prepared one extra cup of water.
The trade panel opened, and twenty-one stacked paper cups in his inventory disappeared, replaced by a baseball bat.
Xu Lang took out the bat and swung it twice, then posted another message in the chatroom.
With security in hand, he could begin the next step of his plan.
A dorm could have two tenants, after all!
[200 Xu Lang: 2 liters of water. Dorm 200 recruiting a little beauty, one tenant spot left (image)]
[88 Cao Bin: Boss, 866, are you even acting?]
[112 Wu Leiting: Brother Lang, Father Lang, Grandpa Lang, please spare me some support!]
[89 Zhou Li: Xu Lang, where did you get so much water? Arenât you with Cao Yaxuan?]
[9 Lin Han: Donât care who heâs with. A person like that couldnât survive even if he were with Wonder Woman!]
[48 Qin Yun: Why does someone like this have such good resources?!]
[78 Zhao Juan: Xu Lang, add me as a friend. I canât come, but I can send voice messages.]
[5 Zhu Yan: Bro, do you know how hard it is to find supplies outside? Donât be stupid.]
[186 Wu Huihui: @Zhu Yan, are you kidding? Oppressing women now?]
A stone sent ripples across a thousand layers.
Many normally quiet people suddenly spoke up, flooding the chatroom with messages.
At the same time, a lot of people sent friend requests to Xu Lang.
âŠ
Dorm 5.
Zhu Yan was criticized and his face darkened.
âŠ
Dorm 1, Jin Xin snorted with laughter.
âHoly crap, there really is such an overpowered thing!â He complained to his friends on floors one and two about Xu Langâs stupid move while replying to messages from some female students.
Several girls had already sent him private photos, and quite a few were calling him husband.
For the sake of face, he gave them a bit of supplies.
Of course, only a little.
He believed his actions were noble rescue behavior, very different from Xu Langâs idiocy.
Even if lustful, heâs classier than you!
Directly demanding women? Ugh, how crude!
But then again, Liu Qianqian on the fourth floor wanted to be his girlfriend.
Is there any way to get her down?
Living alone in such a small dorm is lonely.
Isnât that how many apocalypse novels go?
Have power, have womenâkill who you want, sleep with who you want.
âŠ
Xu Lang hadnât recruited a second little beauty before because he feared a big, tough guy might be behind her.
Now that he had a weapon, he wasnât so intimidated even if there was someone strong.
A measured risk was worth taking.
Only, Comfort Level seemed related to how he rated women.
For example, if Cao Yaxuan took off her stockings, his Comfort Level would drop; odor and filth would similarly decrease Comfort Level.
âXu Lang, what did you say in the chatroom? Recruiting a little beautyâwhat does that mean?â Cao Yaxuan stared at Xu Lang angrily.
Although theyâd known each other a short time, she had really started to feel like he was her boyfriend.
And now he was doing this.
âYouâre so cold,â Xu Lang scolded.
âWhatâs wrong with me?â Cao Yaxuanâs delicate body trembled with anger.
âDonât you want to help classmates? Can you bear to watch classmates starve? How could you be so cruel?â Cao Yaxuan snapped, no longer playful but with a solemn face. âXu Lang, donât think Iâm stuck with you!â
Xu Lang answered without flinching: âIf you donât want to stay, you can leave. But donât think this is a rule-of-law societyâif you leave, you canât split half my supplies.â
Cao Yaxuan was important, no doubt, but if someone canât tell primary from secondary roles, their value needs to be re-evaluated.
Hearing that, Cao Yaxuanâs face stiffened and she calmed down a little.
âCome here on my count! Iâll count to three!â Xu Lang put his hands on his hips. â3âŠ2âŠâ
âIâm coming! Canât you be nicer? Why so fierce!â