【Welcome, player Ye Shu, to the Survival Game!! Welcome home.】
Welcome? Home?
Home? To what home, exactly?
If she could, she’d run as far from this damned ghost game as possible.
Ye Shu pried her eyes open and realized, to her surprise, that this time she wasn’t appearing in that endless, suffocating darkness. The wall before her shimmered with a faint blue glow, almost like a web—no, this was a web!
Ye Shu quickly understood what was happening.
That blue light: it really was a net, and she was caught square inside.
What was this system up to now?
Was it planning to catch her off guard and kill her?
Ye Shu gazed around, alert as a cat, but aside from the web a few meters away, she could see nothing at all.
A translucent screen materialized before her eyes.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cards with different patterns appeared.
【This is your eighth successful clearance, so as a reward, you get an extra chance at the draw!】
Ye Shu let out a breath.
Good. At least it was the same as before, just a different place.
She tapped at a few random cards without much thought.
【Confirm selection.】
【You have obtained: Durable Iron Shovel x1. Function: Mining assistant—maximizes efficiency and saves time and effort.】
【+1 Strength.】
【Lucky Star x1. Function: (Consumable) Points you toward fortune, improves luck for 72 hours.】
【Blank Card x1. Function: You receive nothing.】
Ye Shu: “……”
Game, you’re pushing your luck!
What do you mean, nothing? Was it mocking her now?
……
The moment she was transported into the game,
Ye Shu froze in place.
Everything was dark; the air was thick with the earthy stench of damp soil. She felt distinctly uneasy.
She fished a flashlight out of her inventory and swept it around, discovering she was confined in a narrow cave—barely more than four square meters. Beneath her feet she uncovered a lump of black-purple crystal, more like coal than anything else.
Other than this, there was nothing at all within the cavern.
Ye Shu pulled up the system screen to review this round’s information:
【Player: Ye Shu】
【Game ID: 10096】
【Current Zone: D-202】
【Players Alive: 10,000/10,000】
【Starting Resources: Clothes x1, None】
【Game Introduction: The underworld of Planet Y. Here, people survive by mining ore. Remember: ore is your greatest resource; it can be traded for essential supplies %￥-（*&……).】
【Game Role: In the underworld caves, you’re a most unremarkable female miner.】
【Objective: Survive for thirty days.】
Seeing the glitched-out introduction, Ye Shu pressed a hand to her forehead. It was just like this game: never giving anyone a break, never playing fair.
Aside from the new skin, the level-up system didn’t seem much different.
Or at least, she hadn’t noticed anything yet.
So, mining, bartering, surviving—was it really this simple?
She turned the lump of black crystal in her hand; inside, a faint violet gleam pulsed.
This wasn’t any ordinary ore, more like the crystals they used in-game.
【Ding! You collected a low-grade mining crystal x1.】
The system didn’t bother explaining what it did. Ye Shu shrugged and chucked the thing into her inventory.
With the spirit of plant life always close by, even the depths of the underground could not stifle her. She felt no discomfort.
Others, however, wouldn’t be so lucky. In the world below, oxygen was always in short supply; each step for other players left them panting for breath.
【Ding dong! Survival Game Notice: On Day One, there are no limits to the number of tunnels players can dig.】
What was that supposed to mean?
Day One? No limits?
Before Ye Shu could think it through, she got a message from Su Bai.
Su Bai was in area D-889. Though the cave networks connected all zones, the two of them were separated by a vast distance.
【The Sexy Mother Cockroach in Black Stockings: This round’s a mining mini-game. Something different. Be careful out there! I’ll head back as soon as I beat it!】
【I’m Your Dad: I’ve got storage space. You’re the one who needs to be careful.】
They exchanged a few quick lines before Su Bai’s screen winked out automatically.
With darkness pressing in, Ye Shu had nothing with her but her wits and empty hands.
A survival game set in the underworld…
It was more like a honeycombed underground labyrinth than anything else.
Truly worthy of an upgraded version—the old game never had anything like this mineshaft underworld.
Just as Su Bai was examining her surroundings with due caution, Ye Shu transported over a hand-crank flashlight and a crossbody bag stuffed with treats: strawberry milk, caramelized seeds, pumpkin cakes, sesame buns, milk candy.
“She never disappoints… this is so her style.”
“It’s hard to imagine: if I could always stay at Shu Shu’s side, I’d be the happiest little girl alive… And we could have cats, though Da Piaoliang still doesn’t like me.”
Muttering to herself, Su Bai turned her attention to a bulge in the dirt wall. Something was hiding there.
She dug into it with determination, unearthing a crystal chunk.
【You have obtained: Standard Mining Crystal x1.】
“Is this the resource the game was talking about?”
“Just like gold mining—interesting.”
……
Having sent over some supplies, Ye Shu got right to work clearing earth with her iron shovel.
As advertised, the shovel was spectacular—heavy clay crumbled under its edge with barely any effort.
“Whump—”
The packed earth fell away, opening a passage in the wall.
Sweeping her flashlight through, Ye Shu found only another empty cavern beyond.
The tunnels were interlocked, tightly packed—like the cells of a giant subterranean hive.
She smashed through all six walls of her first cave. Each led to another empty chamber.
It simply couldn’t be that the mining game offered nothing at all… Ye Shu methodically explored each chamber, finally unearthing some crystals hidden in the earth. Some were buried in the walls themselves.
Six cavities, and she only managed to collect four standard mining crystals.
【Beep beep! Durability for the Iron Shovel is now at 65%!】
【Upgrade successful.】
【Iron Shovel upgraded to Silver Shovel—durability increased by 200%.】
Tools like this were a godsend down here. Ye Shu was loath to let it break, so she upgraded it right away.
She opened up two more caves—not a single crystal in either.
Veteran players scoured the honeycombed caverns with studied purpose, but newbies wandered in circles, clueless and lost.
In the cramped dark, many could do nothing but grope along with bare hands—several newcomers with claustrophobia were already on the brink of breakdown.
【Cogito Ergo Sum: Hello! I’m new here. Any tips for surviving in the game? I'm 59 this year, not really up to date with these game rules.】
【Rich Blossoms: What a coincidence, I’m 59 too. Young ones, could you help us out? My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and I can’t read the screen…】
【Old Seventeen from the Closet: What’s this? They’re putting people this old into the game?!】
【Handsome Shirou: Hard to say, honestly! Sixty is the upper age limit. That tracks, I guess!】
Ye Shu cracked open more than ten caves in a row, gnawing on a sesame bun as she kept watch on her screen.
“Tch. So this new 2.0 version just means dragging old folks in?”
“Guess that’s a kind of ‘improvement’…”
Within the system space,
The Survival System was gripped by a sudden pang of shame.
Was this really its fault?
Being able to filter for children and the elderly was already being merciful.
It hadn’t interfered at all… merely followed the rules.
Wrapping up her half-finished bun, Ye Shu tucked it back into her inventory and continued mining.