Chapter 50: Plans for the Future

What is Lin Yifan most lacking right now?

Of course, it's all kinds of Blueprints, and all kinds of Life Skill Books!

Of course, Life Skill Books were just his own fantasy, because he didn't know whether this world would have them.

But at this moment, his fantasy had actually come true!

The two items Ruan Qing had sent him were precisely two Skill Books.

【Beginner Skinning Skill Book (After learning, you can obtain the Beginner Skinning Skill; skinning targets are limited to ordinary beasts below level 5.)】 (Learnable)

【Beginner Cooking Skill Book (After learning, you can obtain the Beginner Cooking Skill and craft beginner delicacies.)】 (Learnable)

Two Life Skill Books, even if they were only beginner-level, were enough to make Lin Yifan ecstatic.

However... the Skinning Skill he truly needed, but the Cooking Skill!

It seemed it wasn't quite so necessary!

He wasn't someone who particularly valued the pleasures of the palate; as long as food could fill his stomach, that was enough, and he didn't care much about anything else.

Moreover, his goal was to become stronger. Cooking — getting it cooked through was easy, but to cook it well required a great deal of time spent on careful refinement.

He didn't have that much time to spend on such things, so the Cooking Skill wasn't suited for him.

Of course, he could also take the Skill Book and trade it for other supplies. Since Ruan Qing had sent him this message, it meant she was willing to give him the items.

But Ruan Qing, as a lucky person who possessed a special talent, still held a certain weight in Lin Yifan's heart.

So from the very beginning, he had planned to bring Ruan Qing into his small group, to serve as Logistics.

Because her talent wasn't suited for combat either; it was only suited for the rear.

Then it would be most fitting for her to learn this Cooking Skill Book, and then for him to provide ingredients and properly train her up.

But the premise for all this was that Ruan Qing was willing to offer her Loyalty.

Even though she was a beauty, for Lin Yifan, what he needed was still a companion of value, not a vase that clung to him.

So, after hesitating for a moment, Lin Yifan didn't dawdle either, and straightforwardly sent a message to Ruan Qing asking:

"Let me ask you a question — do you want to join another organization?"

At this moment, Ruan Qing was preparing dinner for herself. Her Shelter had already been upgraded to level two, and her safety was more or less assured.

And today, opening Treasure Chests had yielded quite a few good things for her, especially in terms of food — she had even gotten instant noodles.

The only problem was she didn't have hot water, and right now she was hesitating over whether to ask Lin Yifan for some hot water!

But she wasn't the sort of person to push her luck. She had always been grateful for Lin Yifan's care for her, although on the surface, it looked like Fair Trade between them.

But she wasn't an ungrateful person. Even though he could open Treasure Chests and get good things, and put them on the Trading Hall to exchange for the supplies he wanted.

The problem was, someone had to be able to afford the supplies he wanted!

In reality, the supplies she wanted, others couldn't provide; the supplies others were willing to give, she had no use for either.

But Lin Yifan was different — he could always give her what she needed. For someone like her with no combat ability, that counted as bestowing a great favor.

Not to mention, without the meat Lin Yifan had given her, she wouldn't have survived until now at all.

So she had always remembered this kindness, and had always wanted to repay it.

She had even thought that if Lin Yifan were a worse person — bad enough to make excessive demands — maybe she could have let it go.

But the truth was, Lin Yifan had always been very measured, and had always conducted Fair Trade, not even giving her a chance to feel resentment.

Now she had given up struggling. When she asked Lin Yifan yesterday whether he had any thoughts of forming an organization, she had actually been wanting to throw in her lot with him.

She had even been extremely disappointed for a time when Lin Yifan said he didn't want to create an organization.

She hadn't expected that today, he would actually ask her such a question — it really left her a bit baffled.

What on earth was this guy trying to do?

But no matter what he was trying to do, Ruan Qing still followed her own thoughts and answered honestly:

"I don't have any plans for now. Everyone still hasn't met up yet; we're all just looking out for our own survival. I can still survive on my own right now, so I don't want to join an organization."

"But if in the future everyone gathers together, then I'll definitely join an organization, or else I'm afraid it won't be easy to get by."

"That's also why I asked you yesterday whether you wanted to set up an organization — it's just that you refused."

Ruan Qing's answer was quite honest, and quite realistic.

But her answer didn't disappoint Lin Yifan either; on the contrary, it made him all the more satisfied.

If Ruan Qing had immediately started swearing loyalty left and right, that would have been nothing but lies.

As things stood now, he was truly at ease. So he sent another message:

"I really don't plan to build a large organization. My goal is to become a powerful strongman myself; I can't waste time on such things."

"But becoming a strongman also requires a team. So I want to find a few like-minded friends I can trust with my back, and form an Elite Squad. In the future, we'll grow stronger together and survive in this world together."

"Your talent is quite good. I don't know much about your character yet, but from what I've seen so far, your temperament really suits my taste. Would you consider joining my squad?"

This time, Lin Yifan didn't keep her in suspense either, nor did he beat around the bush with indirect hints; he directly and crisply issued the invitation.

And when Ruan Qing saw his request, she was so excited she nearly jumped up!

Although she hadn't unlocked the Ranking List yet, within the District, she was certain Lin Yifan was the strongest.

She had finally managed to latch onto this strongest person's path, and had always harbored the idea of clinging to his thigh.

Now that the thigh had finally reached out to her, she naturally couldn't refuse, and hurriedly replied:

"No need to think it over — I'm willing to join! I'm a thousand, ten thousand times willing to join!"

"I promise I will trust you absolutely, and I will absolutely never betray you. If I do betray you, may I die a terrible death."

"It's just that, my talent isn't suited for combat, and I myself don't have any talent for fighting either, so... I can probably only serve as Logistics."

"What I want is for you to serve as my Logistics!" Lin Yifan had originally wanted to bring up the matter of Loyalty, but he hadn't expected Ruan Qing to beat him to it and declare her loyalty first.

As for how much of this Loyalty was real?

Lin Yifan didn't want to dig into it right now. They were still people who had never met face to face — back on Earth Star, they would have been nothing more than online friends.

Hoping for Loyalty would be pure fantasy—he knew perfectly well that whether it was Ruan Qingtan or Hong Shaoqiang, the only reason they were willing to follow him was because they'd taken a shine to his strength.

And also because he could bring them benefits, but that was enough on its own. He'd never intended to take anything for free in the first place; being able to achieve Fair Trade was more than sufficient.

So, without any wasted words, he got straight to the point:

"Your talents are suited to Logistics, and you're a girl—fighting and killing doesn't suit you either. Staying in Logistics is safer, and it lets you play to your strengths better."

"It's just that right now everyone's still scattered in different places, and there are some things I can't help you with. But I can promise that if one day in the future we're able to regroup, and you want to stay working in Logistics, I will definitely grant your request."

Ruan Qingtan immediately breathed a sigh of relief—she really didn't like fighting and killing.

Back on Earth Star she was still a university student, working part-time as a model on the side, though she wasn't very famous.

Although she occasionally exercised, it was only to keep her figure—in truth, she could barely carry anything with her shoulders or hands.

After arriving in the Survival Realm, these past few days she'd suffered terribly searching for supplies and Treasure Chests.

Being able to stay in Logistics was, for her, the best possible choice.