After completing the trade, Ye Shu finally noticed—once again, the safe zone had refreshed, and, for the umpteenth time, she'd been dumped into the farthest reaches of open water from safety.
Black fog rolled out across the sea with a speed visible to the naked eye, fusing into the dark of night. If one didn’t look closely, it would be nearly invisible.
But as quick as the dark mist spread, the steamship was faster! Soon, she was well ahead of its creeping edge, always keeping a step ahead of the darkness.
The temperature settled steadily between eight and nine degrees. Though the sea’s surface remained deceptively calm, sudden gales swept by, whipping up waves and rain that threatened to capsize the little boat at any moment.
Yet, in the face of such roaring conditions, Ye Shu’s steamboat was the embodiment of tranquility. The brazier Da Piaoliang used to warm her feet hadn’t so much as flickered—Ye Shu could feel the toasty heat radiating even from over a dozen meters away.
The Jiaoren picked up a bread crab, his pointed fangs crunching through its hard shell. He licked away a trace of blood from his hand and mumbled, "Master… should we bring the starfish into the cabin? The barrels are already full."
Ye Shu refused, instead uploading several barrels of seafood to the trading platform, reserving some for Lao Kemu Taotie, who visited her personal page every day looking for leftovers.
[Wo Shi Ni Die: If you have coal or steel, message me directly. Trades can be made in exchange for a brazier. I’ll say it three times: this is important.]
[Wo Shi Ni Die: If you have coal or steel, message me directly. Trades can be made in exchange for a brazier. I’ll say it three times: this is important.]
Zhang Yingying was the second to notice Ye Shu’s odd seafood listings.
After learning that braziers could only be bought with steel and coal, she instinctively cast her fishing rod into the water, only to be greeted by a system message: no treasure chests in the sea at night, and she’d have to wait until 8am to fish again—right now, it was just ordinary sea fish.
She messaged Ye Shu privately.
[Yingying Guai: Big Boss Ye, it’s Zhang Yingying here—can I reserve a brazier in advance? I don’t have coal yet, only a dozen steel bars, but I promise, as soon as I fish up some coal tomorrow, I’ll use these two steel blocks as a deposit. Would you let me have one first?]
[Wo Shi Ni Die: Sure.]
Ye Shu appreciated people who got straight to the point.
No sooner had she posted her trade info than she received a flood of returns from players who’d previously traded for braziers.
She anxiously scoured the comments, finally tracking down the culprit—a player by the name of Lü Xiaochá. This wasn’t her first time with trouble; years back she'd tried to sabotage a deal with Taotie—a troublemaker through and through.
[Ni Die Da Lao wants to trade for coal?]
[And steel, too?]
[@Lü Xiaochá tagged Wo Shi Ni Die: Hello, how should I address you? D Planet is in crisis; as fellow survivors, why are you selling supplies to others? If you know how to make a brazier, why not share the recipe with all of us?]
[Lü Xiaochá: If it were me, I’d share the method for making braziers with everyone. We’re all humans from D Planet. How can he be so cold-blooded? Making people trade steel and coal just for warmth… If it were up to me, I’d give them away for free!!]
[It’s obvious the brazier’s made from coal! Damn, why didn’t I think of this before?]
[If I’d known, I’d have kept it for myself and crafted one slowly. Ni Die is so stingy. We’re all players and yet he charges us extra. I want a refund! I don’t want the brazier anymore.]
[Me too, I want a refund. Haven’t even used the thing!]
[…………]
Ye Shu’s inbox was soon flooded with over ninety-nine private messages of abuse—even those who once praised her in comments for the brazier now piled into her trading page, clamoring for refunds.
She fell silent for a moment.
It seemed, perhaps, she’d been too softhearted.
A basic brazier required a workbench, two pieces of steel, and one piece of coal. She only charged three pieces of steel and one of coal—a losing business, yet people still screamed 'scam'.
She ought to raise the price to ten steel and twenty coal apiece!
Even if they brought her that much now, Ye Shu wouldn’t want to do business with these players.
After a moment’s thought, scrolling through the forced refund requests on the platform, she decided to reclaim the braziers.
In this survival game, few besides her were selling braziers, and no one else could match her prices.
A normal brazier, once used, couldn’t have its durability restored.
It wasn’t as though she lacked materials, but losing more than ten braziers still felt like a gut-punch.
[Wo Shi Ni Die: To players who bought braziers, if you want to return them, you have five minutes to do so—no exceptions after the deadline.]
[Ha ha ha—what a shameless profiteer. Guess you’ve got a conscience after all. I have my down jacket—I don't need your brazier.]
[Tsk, the brazier only lasts ten hours and you dare charge three steel bars?]
[Profiteer, we won’t put up with you! The game gave me a refund!]
Ye Shu ignored the comment section’s meaningless noise.
She reclaimed about a dozen braziers, with five or six players declaring no intention of returning theirs—in fact, they wanted to buy more.
[Wo Shi Ni Die: ?? All these braziers have already been used; only nine hours left on each. Let me be clear: no returns or exchanges after delivery.]
[Taotie: Boss, a few of my brothers need braziers too—sell them to me, alright? I’m an old player from Blue Star, not one of those clueless newbies from D Planet. Everyone from Blue Star knows your reputation.]
Taotie wanted a few more braziers, and soon, several veteran survival gamers reached out as well. They didn’t care that the braziers were used—paying in advance with steel and coal just to reserve even low-grade braziers.
Zhang Yingying sat hunched atop her canoe, fingers trembling as she typed:
[Yingying Guai: Ye Boss, I am freezing. Could I use five bars of steel—no, even seven, if it’s a used brazier?]
She soon received a brazier.
It was a plain, charred bowl, still burning with a small, stubborn flame. As its warmth seeped through her stiff body, she adjusted her drafty dress and clutched the brazier tight. Little by little, the pallor faded from her cheeks.
Zhang Yingying had been frail and cold-sensitive since childhood. Without this brazier, she’d likely have fallen ill before dawn. Supplies on the sea were scarce, medicine even more precious—a fortune wouldn’t buy it when you need it most.
Privately, she was relieved; had those players not demanded refunds, there’d be none left for her.
…………
Morning came.
The sea temperature stubbornly clung to ten degrees, no higher—gone was yesterday’s sunshine, replaced by a blanket of gloom.
Some players, imitating Ye Shu, called for steel and coal in the comments, claiming they’d share any braziers they managed to make, no conditions attached.
Yet, in the teeming comment section, few were willing to trade away their coal.
Everyone knew coal was the linchpin for making braziers—nobody wanted to part with it.
But without the crafting recipe or a workbench, even the right materials were useless. The new players didn’t grasp this—Ye Shu saw no reason to explain.
[Sea Survival Log: Attention! At 7:56 a.m., treasure chests will refresh in all major sea regions in four minutes. They’ll remain until 6 p.m.—fishermen, your time has come!]
[This round, the safe zones are being reduced to 100,000 total. Reminder: players’ boats can be seized! Players’ boats can be seized! Good luck!]