Chapter 13: The Plague

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The third day of highway survival began at seven in the morning.

Suya woke up in her large bed right on time. After changing into her new clothes and washing up, she began choosing something for breakfast.

But no matter how she looked, nothing seemed particularly appealing.

[Supplies · Food: 10 Bottles of Mineral Water, 1 Cola, 1 Cup of Milk Tea Powder, 1 Can of Eight-Treasure Porridge, 4 Packs of Instant Noodles, 5 Bags of Potato Chips, 5 Meat-Floss Sticks]

There was neither too much nor too little food in her backpack, but when it came to things suitable for breakfast, there really did not seem to be much.

Most importantly, she was starting to get tired of eating these things. She wanted something hot for once.

Just as she was debating whether to make a cup of instant noodles, the game manual suddenly chimed.

Someone contacting her at this hour left Suya unsure whom to lock onto, so she honestly opened the game manual.

A private message had come from “Good Taste Every Day.”

[Good Taste Every Day: Are you awake?]

Suya casually replied with a period to indicate that she was there.

[Good Taste Every Day: I made breakfast. I’m sending you a portion—eat it while it’s hot.]

[Player “Good Taste Every Day” has delivered you a small gift~]

The message and gift notification appeared at the same time. Before Suya could react, a boxed breakfast had already appeared before her.

It was Huainan beef soup. The salty beef broth was rich and fragrant, with tender, fatty beef and a fresh flavor that grew even better with scallions. The soup was nourishing without being overly heavy, leaving neither a burning sensation nor a dry throat. Paired with vermicelli and shredded tofu skin, it was fresh, mellow, refreshing, and richly fragrant.

Suya’s appetite stirred the moment she smelled it. After savoring every mouthful, she could not stop praising “Good Taste Every Day” for his cooking.

It felt like finally getting to eat real human food. The college student could not help but burst into tears.

After reluctantly drinking the last drop of soup, Suya had no time to clean up. She immediately took out her game manual and gave him a five-hundred-star rating.

[Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God: Chef! This is way too delicious!!!]

There was no reply from the other side. He was probably busy. Suya did not press him and went back to minding her own business.

She casually took out a bottle of Beginner Stamina Enhancement Elixir, twisted off the cap, and began gulping it down. In less than a minute, she had finished the entire bottle.

Then she checked her basic attributes again and nodded in satisfaction.

[Strength: 27 (Not bad, considering everything.)]

[Stamina: 21 (You really need to exercise more, child.)]

[Speed: 15 (Without you, I wouldn’t watch the tortoise-and-hare race.)]

The numbers might look low, but as long as they were higher than yesterday’s, that meant she had made progress. Suya was an optimistic person and would not endlessly torment herself over low stats.

After finishing all her chores, the time had reached 7:49. Eleven minutes remained until eight o’clock.

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The system had yet to announce today’s travel distance, but Suya was in no hurry. She took out her game manual and began browsing the public chat.

[The Cockroach Fell for Rat Poison: Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!!!]

[I Entrusted My Feelings to the Flowing Water: What happened, brother? Calm down and tell us.]

[Give One, Receive Hellfire: My head hurts so badly. Why is this happening? Can anyone tell me?]

[Falling for Muscle Men Is My Destiny: Same here. I woke up coughing this morning, and I just coughed up blood.]

[Chaotic Wind Lantern: I feel a little unwell too. I’ve been shivering nonstop. What’s happening to me?]

[There’s No Medical Student Who Isn’t Crazy: Sudden onset, chills, high fever, severe headache, coughing, coughing up blood, and swollen lymph nodes. Those symptoms sound like plague.]

[Falling for Muscle Men Is My Destiny: I got a rat from a chest yesterday, but it didn’t bite me.]

[There’s No Medical Student Who Isn’t Crazy: Humans can contract plague when bitten by fleas carrying plague bacteria or when they inhale plague bacteria in the air.]

[Chaotic Wind Lantern: Please save me. I don’t want to die yet.]

The messages that followed flooded the screen. Everyone was panicking over the disease.

Suya felt a little flustered too. She had come into contact with two rats yesterday!

Then she suddenly remembered something. She hurriedly opened her supplies tab to check and, sure enough, found an item she had overlooked the day before.

[Plague-Specific Medicine: One pill restores health.]

Yesterday, she had not thought much of it. She had casually stuffed it into her backpack, thinking that if it took up too much space and proved useless, she would simply throw it onto the roadside.

But now, how could this thing possibly be useless? It was incredibly useful!

She should have realized it sooner. In a world governed by highway survival, the sudden appearance of large quantities of a particular creature or supply meant that an event related to it was about to occur.

Yesterday, all the players had collectively opened chests and found rats. Today, a whole group of them had contracted plague.

That rotten system was clearly trying to reduce the number of players—or make them waste one of their chances to revive.

Fortunately, she had ten pills. She had nothing to fear.

While Suya was searching for the medicine, the public chat continued to flood with messages. But after a few minutes, the situation began to change.

[Apologize or Show Your Household Register: (Image) Plague-specific medicine. Does anyone want some?~]

[The Emperor Has Fallen: I want it! I want it! I’m about to die!]

[Happy Landlord: I want one too.]

[…………]

[Apologize or Show Your Household Register: But I only have one pill. There’s no way I can give one to every person. Why don’t you all make an offer? Highest bidder gets it.]

Suya frowned deeply when she saw this.

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What was “Apologize or Show Your Household Register” trying to do? Showing off that he had medicine while everyone else was terrified of the plague? Profiting from a disaster?

Unfortunately, most people had fallen into a state of panic, and they actually followed his lead and began bidding.

[The Emperor Has Fallen: I’ll offer 50 iron blocks.]

[The Apple of the God of Wealth’s Eye: 78 basic materials. That’s all I have.]

[Sure to Earn Glowing Reviews: Oh my, what a stingy offer~]

[Falling for Muscle Men Is My Destiny: I’ll give you all my supplies.]

[Contentment Brings Happiness: I can give you all my supplies too. Hurry and give me the medicine—I’m about to die.]

[Player 1002: @Apologize or Show Your Household Register, are you enjoying this?]

[Professional Contrarian, First Rank: Don’t bother speaking unless you have plague-specific medicine.]

The public chat continued to scroll rapidly. Some players’ profile pictures even turned black less than two minutes after they posted.

Suya watched anxiously.

But she knew perfectly well that she had only ten pills and could not save everyone. Nor did she want to run around like “Apologize or Show Your Household Register,” shouting about her medicine and making a fortune from other people’s suffering.

A deep sense of helplessness welled up inside her. Gritting her teeth, Suya left the public chat and entered the private-message interface.

Although she could not save everyone, she could at least help a few people with whom she was close.

She opened the private-message windows for “A Billion Acts of Kindness,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Good Taste Every Day,” and “Driven Mad by Rats.” All four profile pictures were lit up. Suya breathed a sigh of relief and sent each of them one plague-specific pill.

Chi Fei was the first to reply.

[Life in the Fast Lane: I didn’t open any chests yesterday. I’m fine.]

Suya immediately felt somewhat reassured.

“Good Taste Every Day” replied soon afterward as well.

[Good Taste Every Day: Thank you. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.]

The third reply came from “Driven Mad by Rats.”

[Driven Mad by Rats: Aaaaaah, thank you, heroine! You’re truly beautiful and kindhearted!]

“A Billion Acts of Kindness” remained silent for a long time, and Suya grew increasingly anxious as she waited.

Deep down, she truly did not want anything to happen to him. After all, he had been the first person to lend her a helping hand.

About fifteen minutes later, a notification finally sounded from the private-message window.