Chapter 38: Meeting Gift

"My name is Su Rui, ID Su Yuntian, want to be friends?" Su Rui slowly lowered her raised hand and extended her right hand toward Cheng Shuili.

It was a handshake, but Cheng Shuili ignored her words and also ignored the hand she offered.

Snowflakes pelted her face; Cheng Shuili squinted and sized up the uninvited guest.

The collar of Su Rui's leather jacket was stained with half‑melted snowflakes, showing she had gotten off the vehicle before meeting Cheng Shuili. Yet her boots were unusually clean, as if just polished.

Cheng Shuili had placed a tattered shirt on the floor of the carriage to wipe shoes, but she was cleaning the soles—she couldn't have melted snow sloshing everywhere.

She still cared a lot about hygiene.

Cheng Shuili's baseball bat remained perfectly still; she tilted her head, smiled, and said bluntly, "Do you really need to stop the car just because you're passing by?"

Su Rui's smile froze for a moment, then quickly relaxed again.

She lowered her hands and naturally patted the empty tactical belt at her waist.

"The Newbie Protection Period just ended; I'm looking for a reliable teammate." She pointed at the empty bottle crate behind Cheng Shuili. "Looks like your luck isn't great?"

Cheng Shuili didn't notice what she was saying; after the woman patted the tactical belt, Cheng Shuili's eyes never left her.

This was a good thing.

The dagger that had been pressing against her lower back finally had a good place to go!

Want it.

"Yeah, you opened a box of trash."

Cheng Shuili replied casually, then lifted her foot and kicked the supply crate over.

Wha—

Empty mineral water bottles tumbled out of the crate, clattering crisply on the snow, some bouncing a few times and producing light "ka‑da, ka‑da" sounds.

Su Rui's expression stiffened a bit; she thought that getting close would be the best way to draw the relationship nearer.

When the relationship gets close, carelessness is inevitable.

Su Rui then had a chance to act.

But although this person chatted casually, she was airtight; after those few sentences, Su Rui got no information at all.

She had come up to introduce herself just to extract the person's ID, but didn't expect this person to have no social courtesy at all.

Su Rui harbored resentment in her heart, yet any intention to act vanished.

This person was probably the former type.

Overwhelmingly strong.

She couldn't afford to provoke her.

Su Rui noticed Cheng Shuili's gaze on her tactical belt, thought for a moment, then untied it and tossed it to Cheng Shuili.

"Meeting gift." She raised her hand and waved, "Remember, my ID is Su Yuntian; we're in the same zone. If you see me asking for help, remember to assist me once."

Cheng Shuili watched her get back into the off‑road vehicle, which then ignited and sped away in a puff of smoke.

Cheng Shuili's sharp eyes spotted a long spray‑shaped blood trail behind the vehicle. Whose blood it was was unclear, but Su Rui was certainly no good person.

Cheng Shuili frowned, glanced at the tire tracks left by the off‑road vehicle, then at the tactical belt in her hand.

What is this?

A tribute?

Hey, ran into someone with good eyes today.

Cheng Shuili stopped dealing with the water bottles, grabbed the tactical belt, and returned to the shopping cart.

She examined the item carefully; it was indeed just an ordinary tactical belt, which she then properly wore.

She inserted the fine‑steel dagger into it, and it looked quite proper.

Cheng Shuili tried it; both drawing and sheathing the blade became much easier.

That was her first gain of the day.

She hummed a tune, pressed the accelerator, and kept moving forward.

Many people on the regional channel were complaining; today they encountered either monsters or trash, and a wave of grievances filled the air.

That was hard on those who turned to the regional channel for help.

【Yu Zhao】: This damned place is uninhabitable without a heater. Early this morning all my water froze solid, and my fuel tank did too. I clearly added new antifreeze, yet the tank still cracked. I traded supplies for a bit of hot water, melted a little gasoline and repaired the tank, then finally drove forward.

【Yu Zhao】: Now this car won't start again. I'm only 20 this year, just a sophomore, not even graduated. I don't want to die—can anyone save me?

It's truly a pity for such a vibrant life to be lost like this.

But in this damned place, fresh lives are everywhere; they don't want to die, does that mean others do?

There's only one heater; you must bear the consequences of your own mistakes.

Cheng Shuili, lacking extra sympathy, shook her head and closed the regional channel.

Snowflakes struck the windshield, producing a fine pattering; Cheng Shuili's vision blurred a bit. This shopping cart had been upgraded twice, yet still hadn't evolved windshield wipers.

Fortunately, her heater was three meters outside the vehicle, so snow that landed on the car melted quickly and didn't obstruct her view.

Cheng Shuili yawned, stared ahead out of boredom, and what she saw was astonishing: a distinct protrusion standing out on the distant snowfield.

Good, another supply crate for her to encounter.

Cheng Shuili accelerated toward it, stopping just before colliding with the supply crate.

She opened the door and stepped onto the snow, then realized the crate wasn't the usual wooden kind; it was sturdier, its surface covered with mottled copper rust and its edges inlaid with coarse metal rivets.

Not good.

It's a bronze supply crate.

The last wild boar came from a bronze supply crate.

Cheng Shuili had no good impression of this grade of crate; she tightened her small face and suddenly had a strong premonition that it definitely contained a monster.

She stepped back two paces, pried the lid with her baseball bat, intending that if any mishap occurred, she'd use the vehicle as cover and then execute a Qin King Spin!

Cheng Shuili took the opportunity to use the Abyssal Ring's "Insight"!

After performing this smooth little combo, not to mention being able to kill monsters, Cheng Shuili thought staying alive was no problem.

After equipping the title "Supreme King", Cheng Shuili's agility reached 42!

Having made full preparations, he naturally burst forth with his greatest speed; the instant Cheng Shuili pried open the bronze supply crate with a baseball bat, his whole body shot forth like an arrow from a bow, flashing to the other side of the vehicle.

Three seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds.

Cheng Shuili's silent chant paused, and she suddenly realized something was wrong.

She heard nothing at all.

There was no wild boar's howl, no monster bursting from the box with a huge roar, only the wind and snow whistling over the road.

"Empty?" Cheng Shuili frowned, her knuckles turning white from exertion.

She slowly poked her head out; indeed, the shadow of the bronze supply crate was empty.

A layer of thin snow piled on the lid slid off considerably, and a few remaining snowflakes, under the heater's effect, were slowly melting.

Yet it looked peaceful.

Could it be that she didn't open it?

Cheng Shuili blinked, momentarily doubtful; according to her experience, that amount of force definitely would have opened it.

What about the things inside the box?

As she frowned in thought, Cheng Shuili suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck—not the wind and snow, but some kind of viscous, foul-smelling breath.

Cheng Shuili's heart clenched suddenly, and her blood ran cold throughout her body.