Beneath the floating ice, deep on the ocean floor, a colossal creature gazed wordlessly at the humans above. Its lantern-sized eyes were filled with a peculiarly human disbelief—a strange emotion, coming from a monstrous beast of the deep, and all the more unsettling for it.

Ye Shu must have sensed something, for she spun around suddenly. "What's wrong?"

The expression on Fu Jingchuan's face melted away at once, his melancholy turning gentle. "Nothing. Maybe I was just seeing things."

Beneath the ice, the glimmer of a golden treasure chest tempted them from within its frosty prison. Ye Shu’s lips curled up ever so slightly, her manner softening in a way it never did aboard the ship: "There’s a treasure chest down there. Let’s dig it out."

"Alright," Fu Jingchuan nodded.

Thankfully the game hadn’t implemented any rules against borrowing another player's shovel yet. Despite his infamous streak of bad luck, Fu Jingchuan had managed to draw the worst tool in the history of tools—a battered wooden scrap, even less useful than Ye Shu’s ordinary iron shovel. He had no choice but to borrow from Pang Pangzi—a gleaming silver shovel studded with agate gems.

Fu Jingchuan took the hard ice below, while Ye Shu chiseled at the frozen earth above. Although this wasn't their first time working together, the practiced rhythm between them was palpable.

Before long, they unearthed a golden treasure chest.

"Keep going! Dig!" Ye Shu called, her tone growing even more amiable with each chest they uncovered.

Fu Jingchuan wasn’t a man of many words. He focused on his task, but his sharp eyes swept the floating ice for anything unusual.

"Fu Jingchuan, what is it you keep searching for?" Ye Shu asked. It had not escaped her notice—he had barely spared a glance at the golden chests since setting foot on the ice, as if something else preoccupied him.

"It's nothing... Ye Xiaoshu, don’t you feel it? Like something’s watching us from down below?" Fu Jingchuan didn’t try to shield her; Ye Shu was hardly the type to cower behind his protection.

"Mmm, of course I feel it," she replied with a cool ease. But whatever it was, disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Danger and opportunity walk hand in hand, and Ye Shu had no intention of leaving empty-handed. If she could pull another pet like Ugly—as prescient as he was—or snag some rare item, it would all be worth it.

"Clear out every chest. We’re leaving soon!"

Unlike Ye Shu’s nonchalance, Fu Jingchuan felt the danger’s breath on his neck. But his hands never hesitated.

Clank, clank, clank—the shovel crashed through the ice, opening hole after jagged hole. Three or five chests, gleaming gold and white, sat on the slick surface.

"What luck! Ha! Ugly said today was cursed for me—watch, the second I finish digging, someone will tell me my treasure is forfeit! Fu Jingchuan, let’s switch—I'll dig up the chests, you do the earth."

Ye Shu hit another golden chest, but with the thrill of discovery came a sudden, sobering realization.

Fu Jingchuan didn’t hesitate for a second. "Alright."

...

Beneath the ice, Lin Qingyue watched the pair with growing irritation—nothing would please him more than tossing Fu Jingchuan to the far side of the earth.

"Pfft...creeak..."

The enormous beast squeezed the floes tight with its tentacles, producing a tooth-grinding squeal, its beady eyes stretched wide with frustration.

Damn it. Ye Xiaoshu treated him with nothing but violence and pursuit, yet for this stranger she showed rare gentleness. Was it all because of that pretty face? He was better looking, anyway ... No, what was he thinking?

He wasn’t here to moon over that troublesome woman—and certainly not to let his mind wander. He was here to kill her and steal her rebirth ability!

The realization stung; ever since his mind had been invaded by Ye Xiaoshu’s memories of rebirth, he hadn’t been quite right.

If—just if—Ye Xiaoshu hadn't struck the first blow, then perhaps he, Lin Qingyue, was the true instigator. Suddenly, all her past irrational acts started making a twisted kind of sense.

Lin Qingyue winced, headache pounding harder still as he watched the effortless cooperation above the ice.

...

As the silver shovel’s durability wore out, Ye Shu knelt to repair it. At first, Fu Jingchuan stared dumbfounded; nobody in the game could repair tools, but Ye Xiaoshu's ability seemed to ignore every rule.

So much for his previous assumptions about how her power worked. Not only did Ye Shu possess spatial manipulation and ice abilities, she also held this rare skill. No wonder she thrived here, more at ease than even the grizzled veterans.

If Ye Shu could hear his thoughts, she might have rolled her eyes and retorted: Before entering the game, she’d been a homebody, slaving away in her mundane life. Only the hard lessons—dying seven times and learning through pain—had steeled her nerves. It was paid for in blood, not luck.

"Pfft..."

"Creeeeak—"

Ye Shu unearthed eight golden chests in quick succession, joy warming the tips of her frozen cheeks.

"No more chests on this ice! Let’s head back!" Gathering up her spoils for storage, Ye Shu shook the ice shards from her coat and sprang back onto the steel-hulled ship.

Fu Jingchuan followed close behind, certain that whatever had watched them was gone. But why hadn’t it attacked...?

Of the eight golden chests, Fu Jingchuan only took three. Had Ye Shu not fixed his shovel, he’d have only managed a single chest before it broke. The silver shovel needed a full twelve hours of rest before its durability would reset.

Back onboard, Pang Pangzi bustled over and brewed a hot cup of tea. Before Ye Shu could even feel the warmth of the seat, Ugly—her eccentric spirit pet—burst into noisy song: "Misfortune, misfortune...wait, my fairy master...half the misfortune has dispersed...luck is neutral now!"

Ye Shu raised an eyebrow, scoffing. "This morning you foretold doom—and some peach blossom calamity too! What happened to that? Changed your tune already? How reliable are you—really?"

Ugly said nothing, gnawing on a strawberry the size of its own head, muttering inwardly. Reliable? Its species specialized in reading the fortune of the world; none could rival it in divining luck. Although now, as the last survivor of its clan, perhaps it had to be the best.

[Golden Treasure Chest opened: You received 50 pieces of premium glass, one advanced protective shield, 10 jin of premium strawberries, 3 jin of blueberries.]

[Golden Treasure Chest opened: You received a mid-grade steel fishing fork, an advanced auto-fishing net, 10 jin of spiced duck neck, a set of basic winter clothes, one pair of basic winter boots.]

[Golden Treasure Chest opened: 100 units of timber, 100 units of cloth, one 20-inch cream cake.]

[Golden Treasure Chest opened: one pair of basic cotton earplugs, 222 units of steel.]

[Golden Treasure Chest opened: a crate of canned beer, a hotpot base, two jin of vegetable packs, one jin of frozen beef and lamb.]

Ye Shu was genuinely surprised; freed from the cloud of misfortune, her luck bloomed. She didn't hit any monsters this time—that alone was reason to celebrate, even if her luck still couldn't compete with Pangzi's legendary streak.

Ten jin of duck neck was too much; Ye Shu listed two jin on the trading platform, and within a minute they'd disappeared. As expected, the buyer was Fu Shiyi.

Aboard his own boat, Fu Shiyi sat in rare contentment, legs crossed and gnawing on spicy duck neck, with Fu Jingchuan scowling quietly across the table.

As the saying went, a full belly breeds mischief—and Fu Shiyi was famously unrestrained. With mock innocence and a cool glance at Fu Jingchuan, he teased, "Slurp... Third Brother, you never used to eat this junk food. What’s gotten into you today?"