Chapter 272: Road Survival 4

She’d opened plenty of treasure boxes over the past few days, but not a single blueprint had appeared. There weren’t any in the trading area, either.

Perry Yates certainly didn’t believe that no one had found any blueprints. The fact that none were listed in the trading area could only mean one thing: blueprints were so rare that no one was willing to part with them, not even to store them temporarily on the market.

Seeing Perry Yates’s interest in the blueprints, Anna Kane gave her a knowing look. "My friend, you’ve got a good eye. It took me a lot of effort to get my hands on these."

Perry Yates didn’t buy it. It was like her holding up a three-star card and telling another player, ’My friend, you’ve got a good eye. It took me forever to achieve this Ascension.’

’So, that’ll be extra.’

In the end, after some haggling, they agreed on a price of fifty pounds of meat per blueprint, trading two thousand pounds of meat in total. They also exchanged another ten blueprints for ten animal hides.

Both parties got what they wanted and were very satisfied with the deal.

Anna Kane needed all that food to feed her flock of "fluffies."

Although the little critters had been a great help since they hatched, their appetites were enormous. She could barely afford to feed them anymore.

Anna Kane didn’t think much of Perry Yates wanting so many blueprints. After all, her vehicle was completely bare, so she would obviously need them. ’As for the duplicates,’ Anna thought, ’she’s probably planning to resell them for a profit.’

Just as they were about to part ways, Anna Kane said to Perry Yates, "Oh, by the way, you should stock up on more fuel, food, and warm supplies. The weather might be about to turn."

Spurred on by their pleasant transaction, Anna Kane couldn’t resist giving her a friendly warning.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for the heads-up."

Perry Yates smiled and waved goodbye before climbing back into her vehicle.

’For her to say something like that, she must have received some kind of intel.’

’Warm supplies? Is it going to snow?’

Perry Yates glanced at the sky. ’It’s not impossible.’

’Speaking of which, do I need to change tires if it snows?’

’As for fuel, I’ll go trade for some more in the trading area later. I still have plenty of food in my storage space; I’m not foolish enough to trade it all away.’

She had also kept the two best-quality animal hides for herself.

Opening the trading area, Perry Yates immediately bought up all the fuel currently for sale. In the process, she noticed others were doing the same.

However, their fingers were clearly no match for Perry’s. She managed to snag most of the fuel for herself.

It wasn’t just fuel; warm supplies were also being snapped up. By the time most players realized what was happening, it was already too late.

Meanwhile, after stowing away the fuel, Perry Yates began to examine the blueprints she had acquired.

[Crafting Table: Allows for the creation of various tools.]

[Materials: Stone x10, Iron x10, Wood x10]

[Insufficient building materials. Insufficient space. Construction failed.]

Besides that, there were blueprints for a sewing machine, a stove, a water purifier, and more. Quite a few of them were duplicates.

Perry Yates stored the blueprints away, having no intention of building anything just yet. ’I want to see if I can take these back with me,’ she thought, ’and if so, what’s so special about the items they create.’

The vehicle continued on its way.

「On the sixth day of the game.」

When Perry Yates woke up, she saw a thick fog had settled outside.

The trap she had set outside her barrier yesterday had, as expected, caught two beasts. They were a pair of bear-like creatures with golden fur, at least two sizes larger than any bear from Cerulea. Their canines were exposed; a single bite would likely run a person straight through.

However, the two ferocious beasts were already dead, lying lifeless in the trap with a layer of white frost coating their fur.

Perry Yates felt the cold air outside and couldn’t help but shiver.

’The temperature has really dropped.’

It was a good thing Perry Yates had slept with the Flame Barrier active; otherwise, she probably would have been frozen awake in the middle of the night.

Activating the insulation mode on her Protection Suit, Perry’s clothes changed in the blink of an eye. Fluffy trim appeared around the cuffs and collar, and the suit itself looked much thicker and warmer.

After collecting her quarry, Perry Yates got back in her vehicle and continued on her way.

While she was handling things with ease, other players weren’t so lucky.

The unprepared players, especially those without a fire, were left shivering uncontrollably through the night.

While the temperature last night wasn’t low enough to freeze anyone to death, the cold wasn’t the only danger players faced. There were also the beasts that prowled in the darkness.

Perry Yates glanced at the player count in the chat channel. The number had dropped from the original seven million to just over five million.

Losing so many people at once... this was more terrifying than any natural disaster.

In the chat channel, many people were desperately trying to buy warm supplies, even offering to pay a premium. However, no one was responding.

Perry Yates took a deep breath. Just as she was about to close the chat channel, a "Friend Request" notification suddenly popped up.

This was the first time Perry Yates had ever received a friend request. The message attached to it was particularly noteworthy: "Ten thousand."

That was a number only players like them would know.

After a moment’s hesitation, Perry Yates hit "Confirm."

The moment she did, she was pulled into a group chat.

There were already several hundred people in the chat, and the member count was still rising.

The group owner had muted the chat, so no one could speak. All anyone could do was watch the member count continue to climb.

Among the group members, Perry Yates was surprised to see a familiar name—no, a familiar vehicle. It was the mobile castle she had seen the day before.

’What’s going on? Isn’t this supposed to be a player-only group? How did that person sneak in?’

’Did they add the wrong person?’

Perry Yates considered pointing it out but decided against it.

’Besides, I only joined to see what they’re planning.’

Seeing that the chat would be muted for a while, Perry Yates stopped watching it. She closed the window and focused on driving, keeping an eye out for any treasure boxes on the roadside.

Soon enough, she spotted the tell-tale glow of a treasure box from behind a large rock up ahead.

A purple glow. This was a first.

Using a vine, she pulled the purple treasure box out from behind the rock. Judging by how ornate it was, a purple treasure box had to be a higher tier than a silver one.

’I wonder what’s inside.’

As the treasure box opened, an egg with purple and gold patterns was revealed inside. Next to the egg lay a yellowed blueprint.