Everyone exchanged glances, silence heavier than words.
Ye Shu’s gaze drifted to the bleak, ink-dark sky. So, if this wall could be broken, humanity would no longer suffocate.
She rifled through her bag, intent on uploading the video, but realized the internet had been down for days.
Forget going online—making even a simple phone call was impossible now.
Nevertheless, Ye Shu found another way. She uploaded the satellite footage to the public light screen.
The scene of a transparent wall rapidly enveloping Planet E appeared—every player saw it.
[Wanwan Qingyi: Oh my god! So it’s this wall that’s behind everything? If we just smash it, the oxygen will flow again?]
[Little Crocodile Loves Baths: Why should we care? We’re just players. Survive 20 more days and we’re back to reality. I just want to clear the stage safely.]
[Someone Answered the Call: Right, it’s just a game world after all. What does a disaster have to do with us? Just surviving is hard enough.]
[Meow Woo Woo: Wait, boss, where the heck did you get this visual? Did you hack the officials? Awesome! I tried to snuggle up to the national boss once, nearly didn’t make it out alive!]
[Boatman's Resentment: Are you even paying attention? Boss means if we break the wall, we can clear the stage early! Don’t you want out? There might even be a reward.]
[Strawberry Bear: That’s right! We really have been too narrow-minded.]
Ye Shu: "..."
That wasn’t what she meant at all.
Stop adding drama on her behalf.
She just meant to drop a hint; if someone could take care of that wall, all the better.
After resting for only a moment, Ye Shu and her companions pressed on.
Day 15.
Oxygen scarcity lasted over four hours.
No one dared waste time—they marched on, day and night.
Traveling by foot and vehicle, they finally arrived at P City.
Once the nation’s commercial heart, now its vibrancy was gone—a city of wounds, crooked roads, shattered glass, overturned lamps and trees blocking the streets. Humanity, once so proud, now hid like rats in the dark.
The sky was blue, yet no birds or insects sang.
A silence so deep it chilled the bone.
Even so, compared to G City, P City was only shabby, not devastated by massive sinkholes—one of the few livable places left.
They found a mall—filled with survivors.
Seeing the four newcomers well-supplied and carrying bags of oxygen bottles, the locals eyed them warily.
Anyone thriving under such dire circumstances couldn’t possibly be good people.
For all they knew, those oxygen tanks were looted goods.
Pang Pangzi, ever friendly, greeted them, "We’re from G City. You guys from here—P City locals?"
The survivors gave them nothing but cold silence.
Pang Pangzi was unfazed, simply finding a spot to rest.
The other three?
They didn’t bother making small talk either.
The mall was vast. Food stocks remained, but luxury goods and jewels littered the floor like trash—yesterday’s prizes, today’s refuse. The only real treasure left was oxygen, the prize everyone fought for.
Ye Shu found an empty storeroom.
When alone, she’d never shortchange herself.
She pulled out the lazy camper’s tent from an earlier draw—a one-click setup.
With a portable stove bubbling hotpot nearby, her hand brushed against a green potted plant abandoned in one corner of her storage.
"When did I even draw this?"
Ye Shu had no memory of receiving the palm-sized potted plant.
[Unknown-grade Item—Ever-Blooming Green Plant. Effect: Absorbs any gas in the air, emits oxygen. Range: 3 meters. Never worry about oxygen again! Bind this item?]
The memory clicked into place.
It was a card item she’d drawn—a portable oxygen generator...
Had she been wishing for a pillow? Now one had fallen into her lap.
With this plant, oxygen bottles were obsolete.
Only—the range was a bit small. Three meters wasn’t a lot.
[Binding successful!]
The pot vanished from her hands, replaced by a green-leaf tattoo on her wrist.
[Congratulations, Player Ye Shu, you have obtained the Ever-Blooming Green Plant. Upgradeable. Current Level: 1. (No cooldown) (Absorbs gas for unlimited upgrades) (Skill unlocked: Third Gender—can generate spores)]
Third gender...
Ye Shu nearly dropped her food in shock.
Still—with an infinitely upgradable oxygen generator, suffocation would never be a problem. Turns out, the luck-bringer was herself!
From the very start, the game had handed her the key to victory. She just hadn’t known how to use it—so it gathered dust until now.
Oxygen Crisis, Day 16.
Asphyxiation lasted over nine hours.
Anxiety gnawed at everyone, fearing their oxygen would run out. But Ye Shu slept the first peaceful night on E Planet—free from breathless desperation.
She awoke refreshed, alert—her little green companion had even leveled up.
Yes, she had named her plant Little Green.
It was a wood-spirit, and once bound, it had its own will.
[Player Ye Shu, your wood-spirit has reached Level 2. (No cooldown) (Oxygen range doubled)]
Now, within a six-meter radius of Ye Shu, pure oxygen abounded. Little Green automatically purified the air.
Ye Shu opened the storeroom door and nearly bumped into Fu Jingchuan—his dark circles pronounced, dried blood flaking at his ears. Clearly, no one had slept.
“Morning, Lady Ye!” Pang Pangzi greeted her, still lugging a giant oxygen tank, every breath a struggle.
“Morning.”
To avoid trouble, Ye Shu slung an oxygen tank over her back too.
Fu Shiyi offered a bright smile, but it faded quickly as he grew serious. “Yezi-jie, dawn hasn’t even broken yet—should we be moving? The mall’s survivors are struggling for oxygen. We already shooed away a group earlier.”
A shadow crossed Fu Shiyi’s face.
Just standing near Ye Xiaoshu seemed to lift his spirits, and his oxygen tank lasted far longer than usual. Could that be real—or just a trick of his mind?
Fu Jingchuan also sensed something different about Ye Shu, but pretended not to notice.
Pang Tong, as always, was slow to react—he hadn’t realized that breathing had become easier. He chalked it up to his own improved constitution, adapting to a world starved of air.
“No need to move. It’s safe here.”
“It’s the same everywhere. And this is the safest spot nearby—unless there’s a sinkhole… If we stay put, we’ll make it to Day 20.”
If anyone dared try to steal from her, they'd best be ready to vanish from this world entirely.
By now, the building’s windows were long shattered.
Only now did Ye Shu notice—the clock read 8 AM, and yet darkness pressed outside.
The oxygen was disappearing.
Sunlight depends on atmospheric oxygen for refraction—give it another couple of days, and if the oxygen crisis kept spreading, this world would know no more dawns at all.