Chapter 273: Highway Survival 5

Perry Yates casually stored the egg in her space. As for the blueprint, it was for an incubator, specifically designed for hatching pets.

She then checked the required crafting materials: glass, iron ore, flint, electronic components, an incubator blueprint, a botanical garden blueprint...

"Why does it need even more blueprints?"

Fortunately, she had all of them.

After stowing the blueprint away, Perry Yates continued on her way.

By afternoon, a strong wind had begun to howl outside.

Perry Yates’s car was protected by the Flame Barrier, so it wasn’t affected much, but other players weren’t so lucky.

Some larger vehicles could remain stationary against the gale-force winds, but the players who had chosen small cars, like Perry Yates, were in for a rough time.

There weren’t many people like that, though.

Seeing that the fierce winds were obscuring her view of the road ahead, Perry Yates decided to simply stop the car.

She had protected the area around the car with her barrier, so even after getting out, Perry Yates remained comfortably warm. The clamor outside seemed to have nothing to do with her.

Perry Yates took out a campfire, then produced a marinated suckling pig and began to roast it over the flames.

As the pig’s skin began to sizzle and drip with fat under the flames, a number of special "guests" gathered outside the barrier.

Leading them was a five-meter-tall wolf with deep blue fur, a white underbelly, and three heads.

Upon reaching the barrier, the three-headed wolf opened all three of its mouths at once, simultaneously blasting it with rays of three different attributes: ice, fire, and lightning.

Perry Yates felt the commotion behind her but didn’t even turn her head. Her eyes remained fixed on the roasting pig as if it were the only thing in the world.

Of course, she had noticed the disturbance outside the barrier. She wasn’t blind, after all, and more than one wolf had gathered.

There was only one three-headed wolf, however. The rest had either two heads or just one.

’It seems these wolves establish their hierarchy based on the number of heads they have.’

The wolves paced restlessly outside the barrier, their dark green eyes fixed intently on Perry Yates inside.

At that moment, Perry Yates glanced at The Wolf King behind her, which seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion, and said nonchalantly, "This card of mine is a five-star card. If you could break its defense so easily, wouldn’t that mean I wasted all that Emperor’s Liquid?"

The cards Perry Yates had fused were always her greatest trump cards.

As the highest tier of cards, a five-star card’s defense could not be broken unless it was attacked by another five-star card.

Seeing that the pig was almost ready, Perry Yates acted with a thought. Instantly, countless vines erupted from the ground around the barrier. They swiftly wrapped around the wolves’ necks, and with the sound of cracking bones, the pack breathed their last.

Perry Yates pulled all the wolves inside the barrier, then began to feast on the now-roasted pig. Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, she took out various tools and, sharpening her knives, approached the three-headed wolf.

With practiced movements, Perry Yates dissected every part of the three-headed wolf’s body, not even letting the blood go to waste.

Over the past few days, she had come to realize just how wasteful her previous actions had been.

The players here had likely entered the game a bit earlier than her group, but not by much—maybe about half a month sooner.

During that time, they had adapted to this world’s rules of survival, but resources were extremely scarce. Things they wouldn’t have given a second glance before were now items people fought over.

After butchering the materials, Perry Yates listed the parts she didn’t want on the trade channel. The prices weren’t high; they were the kind that anyone could afford.

After she finished dismantling the three-headed wolf and was about to start on a two-headed one, an alarm suddenly blared from her car, startling her.

Seeing this, Perry Yates hurried over to the car to see what was going on.

When she reached the car, she saw messages popping up frantically on the screen next to the driver’s seat, hitting 99+ in the blink of an eye.

Thinking it must be some kind of emergency, Perry Yates quickly checked the messages.

Then, she saw that the previously muted chat group had been unmuted at some point, and the people inside were now frantically @-ing her.

Because Perry Yates had hidden her name the moment she joined the group chat and picked the random nickname "Scream," the chat was now filled with:

[@Scream, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t I say that all future resources should go to group members first? We’re all players, why are you being so selfish? Are you that desperate for resources? If you’re that desperate, we can give you some!]

[@Scream, apologize now!]

...

[@Scream, you can’t be so selfish!]

...

Perry Yates was left speechless.

’This is so ridiculous. They’re my things; I can do whatever I want with them.’

Perry Yates had initially wanted to just leave the group chat, but she hesitated as her finger hovered over the exit button. She decided against it. ’Might as well keep it. It could be good for a laugh.’

Then, she set the chat to "Do Not Disturb."

When dealing with this kind of moral grandstanding, the more you engaged with them, the more fired up they got. The best approach was to ignore them and let them put on their one-man show.

「On the seventh day of the game.」

Perry Yates stretched, having finally finished processing all the wolf carcasses.

Looking up, she saw that at some point, the world outside had become a blanket of white. The snow was deep enough to cover her car’s tires.

A heart-suited poker card appeared in Perry Yates’s hand. As she sent the card flying, a fire dragon emerged, roaring as it completely melted all the snow on the path ahead.

As the snow melted, white treasure boxes hidden beneath it were revealed.

She opened one of the white treasure boxes and found a fluffy scarf inside.

Then the second, third, fourth, fifth...

Snow boots, cotton socks, a down jacket, thermal underwear, padded pants...

’It seems these white treasure boxes contain warm clothing.’

Driving the car, Perry Yates casually opened the chat group she had muted yesterday and scrolled through the chat history.

The chat log showed that, at first, people had been furious, as if Perry Yates had committed some heinous and unforgivable crime. But after a while, when Perry Yates still hadn’t appeared, someone commented, "You don’t think she missed the group announcement, do you?"