The moment she stepped outside, Ye Shu spotted the clownfish luxuriating in the stainless steel basin.

Ugly Duckling, just as Ye Shu wished, immediately began its tirade: “Mistress Fairy… misfortune is at hand… joy begets sorrow… misfortune again, joy turns to sorrow!”

Ye Shu’s good mood was immediately dampened by half.

Did she really not deserve a stroke of good luck?!

Suppressing her displeasure, she mustered a few words of praise for her pets.

“Xiao Bai, Da Piaoliang—you both did great!”

“Tonight, you’ll get an extra meal!”

She gazed at the treasure chests, and despite her exhaustion, Ye Shu felt a flash of renewed energy.

Of course, what truly delighted her was Pang Pangzi’s streak of luck—every time he fished, he never returned empty-handed. Each catch was a treasure chest—at worst, a solid wood box.

“Pang Pangzi, good job! Keep up the good work…”

Ye Shu was about to say more when a system prompt rang in her ear.

[Beep beep beep! The Sea Survival Game has now fixed the bug: Other players can no longer help you fish for treasure chests. Any such treasure chests caught will be recalled… Recalled!] [All treasure chests fished up through cheating today will be revoked!! They will be revoked!! Bug fixed, the matter will not be pursued any further.]

Ye Shu’s face turned stormy.

‘Recall’… What nonsense is this?!

Pang Pangzi was only lending her a few chests out of kindness—how was that against the rules?!

Ye Shu swore she’d never typed so fast in her life.

She located the Sea Survival Game’s feedback box with pinpoint accuracy and, in under two minutes, hand-wrote a five-hundred-word complaint before submitting it.

Naturally, the system’s reply came swiftly.

[Visiting Player Ye Shu, your valuable feedback has been forwarded to Survival Headquarters. In the spirit of courtesy, we will return… one solid wood chest. Goodbye! ]

Damn it!

All her gold and silver chests had been taken back…

And they’d only returned the lowest-tier solid wood chest. Stingy. Trash.

“Ye Nüxia… It’s not my fault! It’s the game,” Pang Tong stammered, watching Ye Shu’s darkening expression, as lost as a child caught in a misdeed.

“It’s fine. Really, it’s nothing.”

“Just a few chests. I, Ye Shu, can take it!”

She forced a cheerful smile, sunlight-bright and warm—if you ignored the shadow in her eyes.

Still, the solid wood chests fished up by Jiaoren and Da Piaoliang were spared.

Probably because these low-level chests weren’t worth confiscating anyway.

…And so this was what Ugly Duckling meant by ‘joy begets sorrow’?

The clownfish’s fortunes were eerily accurate—foretelling doom with chilling precision.

Solid wood chests were mostly just fresh water and simple food. Sometimes, you’d get steel or lumber. Ye Shu had thousands of these hoarded in her warehouse already.

…

Day Nine. 8:01 a.m. Weather: Cloudy turning overcast, with occasional drizzle Temperature: Minus 14 degrees. Waves: Moderate. Beware of storms brought by the rain.

Ye Shu stepped out of her cabin, only to be enveloped by a biting chill that made her pale skin seem even paler.

She hadn’t slept well last night—the Steel Ship had spent the night bombarding other vessels.

On the horizon, several massive fishing ships and the upgraded Steel Ship—now more like a super-sized icebreaker—drifted across the waves.

She felt a pang of envy, then opened the chat window, and broadcast a public message.

[I’m Your Daddy: I have fire basins, fresh water, and food. Players with glass, come quick! Hurry!!]

The loudspeaker blared her offer to every player, pinned at the top for three whole minutes, but still, no one replied.

What Ye Shu didn’t realize was that it wasn’t for lack of glass—the other players simply didn’t dare trade with her.

Her invention of cheap fire basins had thoroughly offended Sang Biao and the rest of the profiteers.

They’d now banded together, intent on punishing Ye Shu.

With numbers and influence stretching across the entire map, most players were too terrified to defy them—and forced to play deaf.

She gazed out over the ocean.

Now white blocks, large and small, began to dot the waves. The nearest, Ye Shu soon realized, was a sheet of floating ice drifting in from beyond the safe zone…

At these temperatures, there shouldn’t be floes like this. But this was the game—logic, science, none of it mattered here.

If it exists, it makes sense!!

Small boats lingering at the edge of the ice moved too slowly to escape the floes—they’d be sucked under, vanishing beneath the ice. Even from a distance, Ye Shu heard the brittle creak and pop of splintering planks.

She snapped a quick photo and posted it in the chat.

[I’m Your Daddy: The safe zone is no longer safe! Beware of floating ice—do not go near! ]

[Aaaaah! Thank you, big boss, we’ll be careful! ]

[Boss, are you open for business today? My fire basin’s almost out—I’m waiting at the trading platform for your next batch!]

[Even the safe zone has floating ice? How are we supposed to survive? Forget it, just let it end! ]

[Are you alive? Why give up? If the game wants us dead, we’ll live just to prove it wrong! Let it know humanity isn’t so easily crushed! ]

[Yeah, exactly! Sea survival is just the beginning. So easy!]

[We’ll make it to the bitter end, won’t we?]

[Of course we will.]

The chat channel bubbled with camaraderie, even stirring something in Ye Shu’s heart.

For a brief moment, she was touched.

She’d played this game many times before—this being only the ninth day, not yet at full difficulty. She knew all too well what was coming.

…

With the appearance of the ice floes, things were starting to look grim for the players.

Those who hadn’t upgraded their wooden ships had already begun to perish under the drifting ice. Vessels built of wood stood no chance—like ants beneath a boot. Even the larger fishing ships were outclassed.

From all directions across the sea came the sound of boards groaning and cracking under weight.

“How are we supposed to dodge this?”

“Ice that big? There’s nowhere to run! Heaven help us! Goodbye, everyone!”

“Somebody save me! My sailboat’s too slow—I’m about to crash into an iceberg. I can’t abandon ship either… I think I see my great-grandma coming to fetch me…”

“Help! Staying aboard is as good as waiting for death at this point…”

Some players tried diving into the water to flee; others resigned themselves to fate. Those lucky enough to have protection clung close for safety. By midday, the player base had shrunk by hundreds of thousands—and the toll was only mounting, dozens per second lost at sea.

From the initial eight billion, scarcely half remained now.

Even Ye Shu, seasoned and often cold-blooded, felt a pang of sorrow for the fallen. She sighed.

Back on deck she discovered a new item added to the game—a metal shovel.

[Standard Iron Shovel Description: Use to dig up treasure chests buried under the ice floes. Hardness: Low (only breaks ordinary ice) Unlimited uses. Durability: 78%. Once depleted, the shovel is useless.]

Ye Shu upgraded the shovel on the spot.

[Optimization successful!] [Upgraded to: Low-grade Black Iron Shovel. Hardness: Medium. Can break through a decade’s worth of permafrost layered over the ice. Durability: 100%.]

Casting her gaze to the floes a few hundred meters away, she started to form a plan.

At that moment, Fu Jingchuan messaged to say he was heading to the ice to search—and dig for treasure chests.

Soon enough, Ye Shu piloted her steel ship within a dozen meters of the floes.

Fu Shiyi and Pang Pangzi stayed behind to guard the boat.

With her army boots crunching on the ice and Fu Jingchuan at her heels—a gentle expression almost lost in the cold—Ye Shu pressed onward.

Suddenly, he felt a presence—a gaze locked upon him…. Fu Jingchuan, whose senses far surpassed those of ordinary people, could easily discern malice from goodwill. Whoever was lurking in the shadows held no friendly intent toward him.