Chapter 1 "Isn't this supposed to be a welfare game? Why are people still dying?"

Lu Xiaoyao was confused. What kind of trick was this, where Charlie just ate a boxed lunch and then kicked the bucket?

The others exchanged glances, and suddenly their boxed lunches didn't seem so appealing anymore. Eating any more gave them the eerie feeling of attending a funeral feast.

"It's still a survival game series, after all. Did you really think nothing would happen just because it's a 'welfare game'?"

Ming Mei's clear, cold voice reminded everyone that even a "welfare game" was still a survival game wearing a welfare disguise.

Couldn't you at least maintain some semblance of vigilance?

However, her reminder immediately drew everyone's attention back to her.

"So, there's something wrong with the boxed lunches?"

Someone voiced the question, and Ming Mei immediately denied it. "Didn't you all say it was an allergic reaction to seafood? It has nothing to do with my boxed lunches."

How could there be quality issues with her boxed lunches?!

Wouldn't that be ruining her own reputation?

"We said what we thought, but do you have any new ideas?" Madison sensed a loophole in Ming Mei's words and looked at her. "Are you hiding something?"

As he spoke, Ming Mei seemed to see herself cast as some kind of villain in Madison's eyes.

Ming Mei: ??

Was she not busy enough, that she needed to create more work for herself?

Wasn't the identity of a mysterious merchant selling boxed lunches enough? Did she need a villainous persona on top of that?

Ming Mei suddenly remembered Madison saying that he had barely seen the mysterious merchant in the previous game. Combining that with the way he was looking at her now...

He ate her boxed lunch, knew that she was the mysterious merchant, yet he was still suspicious and thought she was wearing two hats. No wonder he never encountered the mysterious merchant.

Even if he did, with his attitude, Ming Mei doubted that any NPC would bother with him.

What was this?

Take it or leave it. Why should she put up with his suspicion?

"If I wanted to hide something, why would I sell seafood paella? Arsenic trioxide-flavored rice would be much more effective!"

"What's that?" Lu Xiaoyao didn't react at first, but Wang Wenfei whispered a reminder, "A highly toxic substance passed down since ancient times on Hua Lan Star, called pi shuang."

"Oh... then why not just say the name?"

"If I said it, would you understand?" Ming Mei, who had already overheard Lu Xiaoyao and Wang Wenfei whispering, added, "Wouldn't you ask, 'What is pi shuang?' after I said it?"

Lu Xiaoyao: "..."

"Ah, that's not what we meant."

Julian noticed that Ming Mei seemed a little angry and quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "However, this is ultimately our own negligence. We didn't pay attention to whether we had any physical contraindications."

He then looked at the others, who nodded in agreement, indicating that they didn't have any problems either.

However, everyone secretly sighed that Charlie was truly unlucky.

It was supposed to be a welfare game, and he hadn't even earned back the academic points he spent before he kicked the bucket.

Seeing that everyone wasn't eating their boxed lunches and that they were avoiding her gaze, feeling awkward because they seemed to have offended her, Ming Mei conveniently played the role of a quest-giving NPC, pointing the way for the players. "You guests haven't been to your accommodations on this island yet, right? How about I take you there? This is the peak tourist season, and there are many activities waiting for you to discover!"

With that, Ming Mei packed up her things and led the players towards their accommodations.

As they went deeper into the resort island, clusters of island-style B&B buildings gradually came into view. The deeper they went, the more crowded it became, living up to the claim that it was peak tourist season.

There were so many NPCs here, and they were all tourists like them, here on vacation.

Outside the B&B complex was a small plaza, an open-air music plaza combining barbecue and music. According to the signs, there would be a bonfire party here after eight o'clock in the evening, with music performances and free barbecue for tourists to enjoy.

Even Ming Mei couldn't help but feel tempted to try it out.

The music plaza was surrounded by various road signs, leading to the gourmet street, the beach, the amusement park, and many other places.

It was here that Ming Mei parted ways with them, her accommodation being on the gourmet street, where she had her own shop, while the players were staying in the B&Bs.

The players found their accommodations, and each of them found their own rooms. Inside the rooms was a manual about the various activities they could do during their three-day vacation to reduce their stress levels.

After settling down in her shop, Ming Mei went to watch Lu Xiaoyao and the others' live stream. After the "releasing their inner selves" screams that morning, Ming Mei was very much looking forward to seeing what stress-relieving activities they would engage in next.

She didn't know until she looked, and when she did, Ming Mei realized that her uncle's design of this welfare game had some tricks up its sleeve.

"These stress reduction points are too low, aren't they? A roller coaster only gives 3 points, bungee jumping 6 points, a free fall ride 4 points, and the pendulum ride 2 points. What's wrong? Is my pendulum ride not worthy?!"

Lu Xiaoyao defended the pendulum ride.

[Forget it, forget it, look on the bright side. Eating a delicious meal only reduces one stress point. Food is the biggest rip-off, okay?]

[Sleeping is pretty awesome, though. Sleeping for 10 hours straight reduces 8 stress points, which is super good!]

[Taking a walk on the beach is also good, 2 points per hour. It's better than running and screaming on the beach...]

For a moment, everyone remembered the scene of Lu Xiaoyao and the others howling into the wind with distorted expressions at the start of the game.

Ming Mei watched Lu Xiaoyao continue to complain about the stress-relieving activities in the amusement park that she was looking at through the camera: "These scores are so low, what's the point? No way, I have to come back here tomorrow and bungee jump over and over again!"

Lu Xiaoyao had already set her sights on the activity with the highest stress reduction points.

As she continued to look down, Lu Xiaoyao was shocked to find that, besides activities that reduced stress levels, there were also activities that increased them!

"Why does waiting in line for a ride increase stress levels by one point for every half hour?!"

Lu Xiaoyao's expression became unpleasant again when she saw this, but she could understand it. Waiting in line causes anxiety. However, she felt that some of the subsequent scoring points were just wrong.

"Waking up after nine in the morning also increases stress levels by one point for every half hour?! Didn't it say above that sleeping for ten hours would reduce stress levels?"

Lu Xiaoyao said in a daze, "Why don't you guys fight each other, and I'll listen to whoever wins? Or is it that you can't actually get full points for sleeping that long?"

"Idiot, this clearly wants you to go to bed early and wake up early." Ming Mei was speechless at Lu Xiaoyao's train of thought. Wouldn't it be fine to just fall asleep earlier? Why did she have to get hung up on the time she woke up in the morning?