In the shelter, Bai burped contentedly after eating the last bite of noodles.
Originally, it was so full it lay sprawled out on the table, unable to move, but when it caught the aroma of Lin Yue's coffee drifting over, it struggled to flip over, snorted and crawled over, and lay beside the cup, staring at Lin Yue with big red eyes.
"You want to drink this too?" Lin Yue couldn't help but call it a little foodie in his heart, dipped the chopsticks in the coffee, and let Bai lick them.
After tasting the bitter and sour flavor, Bai instantly recoiled its neck and shook its head vigorously.
However, just as Lin Yue was about to finish drinking the last sip, Bai came over again, nudged his hand, and stared at the coffee cup, tilting its little head and making "cluck cluck" sounds.
"Bai, if you drink too much, you won't be able to sleep, I'm telling you."
He cooled the last bit and poured it onto a porcelain plate, which Bai eagerly drank down.
Goodness, what kind of lizard did I raise here? Eating instant noodles and lamb skewers is one thing, but tea and coffee too?
Watching as Bai licked clean the last of it with satisfaction, Lin Yue couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
The shelter was very quiet, with the fierce wind still howling outside.
After Lin Yue resumed his original outfit, he munched on an apple and opened the game panel.
Last night, he hardly cared about the so-called points, and came morning, he had nothing prepared.
If he had known that ranking in the top three on the leaderboard would result in a short video being filmed, he would have put away all things that shouldn't be discovered into his inventory.
Of course, he did pack away quite a few items while changing clothes at that time.
Lin Yue could have changed clothes directly on the chair then, but considering that the basement was laid out with many kinds of machinery, he packed them all away one by one.
While eating noodles, he received a system notification saying that the preparation for the introduction of short videos for the top three was about to start, so he immediately went to check the game panel.
He realized only then that the top three on the leaderboard would be forcibly entered into this temporary program.
And as the first place, he would naturally be the focal point.
After all, the first place is also the one who performed best in this disaster. Everyone would mimic and learn from his experience.
Is this a good thing?
Not really, more like a bad thing.
Although the introduction is short, lasting less than a minute, and seemingly self-destructive after viewing, disappearing from the viewer's playlist, it still exposes some information.
Lin Yue looked at the leaderboard; behind each person's score was a "…" symbol, which expands to show the detailed source of points.
Lin Yue frowned.
He opened his video and found indeed that things like the fireplace and wooden plank walls were exposed, and Bai was also seen.
But on second thought, it's no big deal.
These items merely prove his method is effective, successfully keeping the shelter warm enough to survive the disaster.
The amount of information revealed in this short video is actually quite minimal, so knowing about them isn't a big deal.
At the very least, nobody discovered the guaranteed loot box system he possessed.
"Seems like there's nothing to worry about." Lin Yue looked at his name again; the video was no longer there.
Indeed, it was "self-destruct after viewing."
Survival...
Ever since the first disaster struck, more than half of the group had already died, and this number continues to rise.
Survival isn't easy, and can even be described as extremely challenging.
Everyone is desperately striving to live.
The system provided everyone the opportunity to craft and invent items using materials, and established a rule where defeating monsters might yield loot boxes, intending to aid better survival.
The brief videos naturally share this purpose.
The system wants everyone to observe how the top three maintain their shelters and endure disaster survival, encouraging all to learn.
Having survived so far, most are quite experienced now.
While they jest verbally, every single person is attentively observing the top three shelters, leveraging these insights to enhance their own survival strategies, preparing themselves for the next disaster.
Lin Yue unscrewed a bottle of water and took a sip.
He opened the third-place shelter's video.
Since others can learn from him, he can learn from others too, right?
With the 100% loot box system, he must outperform others significantly; if not, it would merely prove his incompetence.
The video was rather short, very brief indeed.
"A metal shelter? That's indeed unexpected. And the ice-made passageway seems to serve both ventilation and transit purposes... How many mutant creatures did this guy eliminate? Moreover, they all seem pretty large."
Regarding sturdiness, a metal shelter far surpasses his stone one; even a collision from a Mutant Sheep wouldn't dent its durability.
But, Lin Yue hadn't found this item through loot boxes, nor had he seen anyone selling a blueprint in the marketplace.
Yet he understood, if a blueprint existed, it must be in this person's hands.
"Belger, right."
Lin Yue jotted down this name, planning to seize the iron shelter blueprint from him if Belger desperately lacks particular resources sometime.
Among Belger's bonus items, there's "number of people in shelter," suggesting that the quantity of people somewhat influences the scores, like 20 points per person.
Collaborative survival naturally simplifies tasks compared to solitary endeavors, providing an extra labor force.
However, it also introduces a problem: allocation of work and effort.
If managed well, it's a win-win, but otherwise...
No need to elaborate.
Here arises another question.
Where is the other person's shelter?
Lin Yue planned to continue viewing the second-place video when he noticed comments discussing Du Ping dropping from second to fourth place.
Du Ping, a person Lin Yue remembered vividly and always followed.
Falling from second to fourth is not trivial.
Especially knowing the scoring system started from last night throughout the disaster until morning when it concluded, Lin Yue found it even stranger.
This sparked a thought: is Du Ping manipulating his score?
Since top three would be shot in short videos, Du Ping, not wanting others to know about his shelter's content, controlled his score...
Could such a possibility exist?
The more Lin Yue thought, the more uneasy he felt.
If true, then Du Ping...
This person, he must be cautious about going forward.
Continued viewing of the second-place video.
The duration wasn't prolonged, yet it was information-rich.
From the video, it's apparent that this second-place individual is a decent carpenter and quite an adept hunter; moreover, he crafted a fireplace from stones for heating.
He accomplished all this single-handedly.
Clearly evidencing this individual's strong capabilities.
Lin Yue meticulously examined the various arrangements in this person's house, forming some ideas in his mind.
If this person later wishes to buy water, he might exploit the opportunity to obtain various woodworking design blueprints, and further enhance his shelter.
Therefore...
Lin Yue opened his private messages.
Something he usually wouldn't check.
Typically, it's flooded with 9999 unread messages, mostly garbage, inevitably ignored.
But now Lin Yue feels exploring for business opportunities isn't infeasible.
Especially now that he's become a renowned figure in this group.