You'll become a god, you'll create Earth ONLINE

As he muttered to himself, the fat man pulled out several bright red instant noodles in a bucket and two bottles of purified water from the inside pocket of his clothes.

They bought this after gritting their teeth and exchanging the rat teeth they pulled out for gold coins at the vending machine on the first floor.

Four bowls of braised beef noodles. One bottle of water.

"This game planner is really shady. A bucket of instant noodles costs 5 gold coins! My hand cramped up after I had my tooth pulled, and this is all I got in return."

The fat man, heartbroken, distributed the instant noodles.

When Lin Chacha was assigned to him, the fat man paused for a moment.

When they bought instant noodles, Lin Chacha hadn't joined the group yet, so they only bought four packs.

Lin Chacha was clearly aware of this problem as well.

She stared longingly at the instant noodles in the fat man's hand, her throat bobbing involuntarily, and her stomach also let out a soft "gurgle".

She quickly covered her stomach, her face turning bright red.

"Um..."

The fat man scratched his head. Although he had previously looked down on this young lady, she had at least risked her pride to perform a healing dance, which saved everyone's lives.

The fat man handed over a bucket of instant noodles.

"You can eat from my bucket, I'm not that hungry."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a rumbling sound, ten times louder than Lin Chacha's, came from the fat man's stomach.

The scene was very embarrassing.

"Alright, stop pretending to be a good guy."

Su Hao casually tossed the two compressed biscuits he had just gotten from opening the blind box into Lin Chacha's arms.

"There's no instant noodles for you. These compressed biscuits are awful, but they'll fill you up. Just eat them with water."

Lin Chacha hurriedly caught the two hard biscuits, her eyes a little red, but she didn't dare to complain and whispered, "Thank you, Captain."

"Fourth Brother, how are we going to eat? This dorm doesn't even have an electric kettle or hot water."

Chen Fei tore open the instant noodle packaging and looked at the dry noodles inside with a worried expression.

"Chew it dry."

Su Hao simply reached out and broke the pancake in half.

"You expect the system to provide you with a hot water room? You should be grateful you have anything to eat. Just tear open the seasoning packet and sprinkle it on top, and treat it like instant noodles."

"Sure. I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow."

Without saying a word, Zhao Lei tore open the seasoning packet and poured it onto the pancake.

For a moment, the entire dormitory was filled with the sounds of people crunching on bread.

In the dead of night, several college students covered in monster blood and slime sat on the dusty floor, chewing on dry instant noodles.

The scene looks desolate, yet it exudes a tenacious vitality.

"Cough cough cough!"

Lin Chacha took a bite of the compressed biscuit and choked on the powder, coughing violently.

This stuff is so dry, it feels like my throat is being scraped raw when I swallow it.

Su Hao handed over the bottle of purified water.

"Take a sip, don't drink it all, everyone needs to drink some."

"Thanks……"

Lin Chacha took the bottle, carefully took a small sip of water, and then swallowed the biscuit stuck in her throat.

She glanced at the four boys who were munching on instant noodles and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Captain Su Hao... is this the kind of life we'll be living from now on?"

The sound of chewing bread in the dormitory paused for a moment.

Chen Fei sighed and leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling.

"Who knows. This game doesn't even have a logout button. I just glanced at the corner of the system panel, and it says 'Current Number of Surviving Players,' and that number keeps dropping."

Chen Fei's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"This is not virtual reality. If you die, you might really die."

Zhao Lei patted Chen Fei on the shoulder.

"Try to look on the bright side. We've had a pretty good start."

"We got the first kill and the purple gear. As long as we stick together, we're sure to survive. Maybe after we get through the newbie zone, we'll find a way back to the real world?"

"Back to the real world?"

Fatty Wang chuckled.

"Do you really think the game designers, who went to such great lengths to create this Earth Online, would easily let us go back to clocking in at work and paying our mortgages?"

The fat man was chewing on a pancake, but his mind was surprisingly clear.

"Look at these experience points, this equipment. We can level up and gain stats just by killing rats now. Once we reach level 10 or 20, I reckon one of us could take on ten Tysons."

"Are you really willing to give up this feeling of wielding extraordinary power?"

The fat man's words plunged the dormitory into a brief silence.

Yes.

The apocalypse was cruel.

But for ordinary people like them who are at the bottom of the social ladder in the real world, isn't this a chance to reshuffle the cards?

There are no class distinctions, no backgrounds, and no oppression from money.

As long as you dare to fight, as long as you can kill monsters, you can become stronger.

Su Hao swallowed the last bite of bread and patted the crumbs off his hands.

"Fatty's right. What's done is done. There's no point in thinking too much. Let's get through tonight first."

He tapped the [Basic Source Energy Storage Wristband] panel on his left wrist.

"Now that I have some free time, I'll sort out our supplies."

A purple light screen popped up, visible only to the team members.

Ten storage compartments.

Four are currently occupied.

The items are: [Source Power Coins x42], [Complete Mutant Rat Teeth x12], [Half a Bottle of Pure Water x1], [Basic Healing Potion (White) x1].

That bottle of basic healing potion was leftover from opening blind boxes before, and I haven't been willing to use it.

After Lin Chacha joined the team, the strategic importance of this potion decreased, but it was still very necessary to use it in emergencies.

"42 gold coins left."

Su Hao considered it for a moment

"Going downstairs to explore tomorrow will definitely consume more resources. Weapon durability is a big problem."

Chen Fei touched the newly acquired blue-grade dagger at his waist and chuckled.

"My weapon has a durability of 100/100. It should last a long time."

"My axe's durability is only 32/50."

Su Hao frowned. The previous flurry of attacks, especially the head-on clashes with the boss, had taken a heavy toll on his weapon. Once its durability reached zero, this green-grade axe would be useless.

"The supply depot sells basic repair hammers for 20 gold coins each. I'll have to buy one when I pass by tomorrow."

Su Hao looked away from the panel and at the crowd.

"Now, let me tell you about tomorrow's plans."

"We're on the second floor of Building 7 now. Although the monsters in this building haven't been cleared out, after the commotion caused by that boss just now, most of the ordinary rats have probably been scared away or hidden."

"The main entrance on the first floor has been breached, so going out through the front door isn't practical; there must be a lot of roaming zombie dogs there. Tomorrow, we'll climb out of the connecting corridor window and go down the water pipes on the exterior wall to the green area on the first floor."

Upon hearing the word "green belt," Zhao Lei frowned.

"That little garden between Building 7 and Building 8? The grass there usually grows taller than a person. Now it's mutated; who knows what kind of poisonous insects and snakes are lurking there. Are we just going to walk through like this?"

"You have to wear it."