"Is this... a supply crate?"
Chen Chen stood shivering in the knee-deep snow, staring blankly at the glowing wooden box at his feet. His breath formed a thick white plume in the air, instantly crystalizing on his eyelashes.
Just moments ago, he had been sweating in the humid heat of a crowded subway car, scrolling through his phone on the way to a job interview. Then, a piercing blue light had engulfed the train. There was a sensation of weightlessness, a collective scream, and then silence.
When he opened his eyes, the subway was gone. The city was gone. He was standing in a world of blinding white.
He shifted his weight, trying to regain feeling in his toes, and heard a sickening crunch under his heavy boot. He looked down. He had inadvertently crushed a fist-sized, pale white beetle that had been burrowing into the snow.
Ding!
The wooden box appeared out of thin air, hovering slightly above the crushed insect.
Before Chen Chen could process the absurdity of a video game loot box appearing in reality, a mechanical, synthesized voice echoed directly inside his skull.
"You have obtained a [Wooden Supply Crate]."
Chen Chen rubbed his ears, his hands already turning numb from the biting cold. As he reached out to touch the crate, he noticed a thick, leather-bound book half-buried in the snowdrift next to it.
The cover was embossed with icy blue letters: Global Survival Manual.
He picked it up. As soon as his fingers brushed the leather, lines of holographic blue text projected into the air before him.
[Welcome. Like the other 8 billion humans from Earth, you have been transported to the Glacial Era!]
[Survival is your only objective.]
[This world is trapped in an eternal winter. The temperature will never rise above zero. Every seven days, a Cataclysm will descend. Three days prior to the event, a forecast will be issued.]
[Your Shelter is your lifeline. If your Shelter is destroyed or the Core freezes, you will lose your qualification to survive. In this weather, that means death within the hour.]
[The elderly, children, and the disabled have been placed in a stasis buffer and will be reassigned to surviving relatives after the first Cataclysm, provided you survive.]
[This world is cruel, but fair. Resources are hidden in the snow and carried by the Mutated Beasts. Kill them, and you may obtain a Supply Crate. But be warned: you are also prey.]
[The night is dark and full of terrors. The temperature drops drastically after sunset. Do not wander.]
[Concentrate your Spirit to summon the Game Panel. It contains everything you need to manage your existence.]
[Remember: Death here is absolute. There are no respawns.]
[Good luck, humans. May your blood remain warm.]
The holographic text shattered into particles of light and faded away. The leather manual dissolved into his hand.
"Global Survival... Glacial Era?" Chen Chen wrapped his thin suit jacket tighter around himself.
The reality of the situation hit him harder than the wind. He wasn't hallucinating. The biting pain in his ears and the stiffness in his joints were far too real.
He looked around.
It was a world of monochrome desolation. Rolling hills of ice, jagged glaciers in the distance, and a sky the color of bruised iron.
"Wait," Chen Chen muttered, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. "Kill mutated beasts to get crates?"
He looked down at the smear of white goop under his boot. "That frozen bug counted as a beast?"
He reached out and tapped the floating wooden crate. The lid creaked open.
[You have obtained: Self-Heating Rice Meal (Kung Pao Chicken Flavor) x1]
[You have obtained: 500ml Bottled Water (Frozen) x1]
[You have obtained: Wood Units x2]
"Self-heating rice?" Chen Chen's eyes lit up.
As he grabbed the items, the wooden crate dissolved into light.
"Okay. Priorities," Chen Chen said to himself, trying to keep his mind from freezing along with his body. "The manual mentioned a Shelter."
He scanned the horizon. About twenty meters to his left, nestled against a large rock formation, stood a pathetic-looking wooden shack.
It was slanted, gray, and looked like a stiff breeze would knock it over.
"That's my lifeline?" Chen Chen felt a surge of hopelessness. "That's supposed to protect me from a blizzard?"
He trudged through the snow, his dress shoes completely unsuited for the terrain. He pulled the creaky wooden door open.
The door hinges screamed in protest. One of them snapped, leaving the door hanging crookedly.
Chen Chen stared at the broken hinge. "Quality craftsmanship," he muttered sarcastically.
He stepped inside. The wind chill dropped slightly, but it was still freezing. The shack was about ten square meters. The walls were made of thin, drafty planks. The floor was packed dirt that was frozen solid. There was nothing inside except a cold, black fireplace in the center the Shelter Core.
"If I sleep here tonight without a fire, I won't wake up," he realized grimly.
He sat on the frozen ground, shivering violently. He needed to figure out this 'System'.
"Concentrate Spirit..." he whispered.
Immediately, a translucent blue interface popped up in his vision.
[Status]
[Chat]
[Crafting]
[Shelter]
[Market (Locked)]
"It really is like a game." Chen Chen focused on the [Chat] icon. It expanded into two tabs: [World Channel] and [Regional Channel].
The [World Channel] was scrolling so fast it was a blur of text. Billions of people screaming into the void.
He switched to [Regional Channel]. This one covered a 1000km radius and had exactly 10,000 people in it. The avatars were real photos of their faces some looking confused, some crying, some angry.
"Holy crap, it's so cold! I'm in my boxers! Who has clothes? I'll trade my watch! It's a Rolex!"
"My shelter has a hole in the roof! It's snowing inside! Help!"
"Is this a prank? Which TV station is this? I want to speak to the producer!"
"Forget the producer, I just saw a wolf the size of a cow. I'm hiding in my shack and holding the door shut."
"Has anyone found food? I killed a weird white rat, but it didn't drop anything. I thought the manual said they drop crates?"
"Yeah, the drop rate is garbage! I killed three ice snakes and almost lost a finger. Got nothing. Zero crates."
"I got one! I killed a Snow Hare. Got a piece of bread. But the hare bit me. Does anyone have antiseptic?"
"The drop rate must be like 1% or something. This is impossible!"
Chen Chen watched the chat scroll by. The panic was palpable. But amidst the chaos, he gleaned vital information.
Everyone was starting with nothing. The cold was the immediate killer. And the "drop rate" for supplies seemed abysmally low. People were risking their lives fighting monsters and getting nothing in return.
"Low drop rate?" Chen Chen frowned.
He looked at the empty wrapper of his self-heating rice (which he hadn't eaten yet) and the wood he had obtained.
"I killed one bug and got a crate immediately."
Was it beginners' luck?
He looked out the gap in his wooden wall. The wind was picking up. He needed wood to start a fire in the fireplace, or he would freeze to death tonight. The two units of wood from the first crate wouldn't last an hour.
He needed to test a hypothesis.
Chen Chen ate the self-heating rice quickly, feeling the warmth spread through his chest. It gave him just enough energy to stop shivering for a few minutes.
He stepped back out into the snow.
His eyes scanned the ground. The white landscape concealed many things.
Skitter.
A movement by his foot.
It was another one of those pale beetles, digging into the ice.
Chen Chen didn't hesitate. He stomped down hard with his heel.
[System: You have killed a Glacial Mite.]
Ding!
A wooden crate appeared instantly.
Chen Chen's heart skipped a beat. He opened it.
[You have obtained: Pine Wood Log x2]
[You have obtained: Rusty Lighter x1]
"A lighter!" This was a godsend. But more importantly... that was two for two.
He looked around frantically. He spotted a slow-moving, sludge-like creature made of blue slush a Slime? sliding near the back of his shack.
He grabbed a loose rock from the ground and approached it carefully. The Slime was slow.
He smashed the rock onto the creature. It splattered into icy water.
Ding!
A crate appeared.
[You have obtained: 500ml Bottled Water x2]
[You have obtained: Iron Scrap x1]
"Three for three," Chen Chen whispered, his breath coming in short gasps.
He spent the next ten minutes scouring the immediate area around his shack. He found a nest of four Glacial Mites huddled under a dead bush.
Four wooden crates materialized in a neat row, glowing with a soft, inviting light against the bleak gray snow.
Chen Chen stood there, surrounded by treasure chests, while the Regional Chat continued to fill with despair.
"I've killed ten things now! Nothing! This game is rigged!"
"I'm so hungry... I just want one crate..."
"I lost my arm fighting a wolf... and it didn't even drop a bandage."
Chen Chen looked at the chat, then back at the pile of crates at his feet.
He had killed seven weak creatures. He had received seven crates.
A realization washed over him, warmer than the self-heating rice.
In this survival game, where resources were scarce and the probability of loot was a cruel joke for everyone else...
He had a 100% Drop Rate.
He crouched down and opened the crates one by one, a manic grin forming on his frozen face.
[Wood x5]
[Wool Blanket x1]
[Chocolate Bar x2]
[Blueprint: Wooden Spear]
"Cold?" Chen Chen chuckled, picking up the wool blanket and draping it over his shoulders. "What cold?"