Survival Queen of the Frozen Wastes novel Chapter 5

Riley stared at the dead chainsaw in her hands and shook her head. Without power, it was just an expensive paperweight.

If she wanted more wood, she'd have to do it the old-fashioned way—pick up the axe or the manual handsaw from the toolbox and go to war with frozen timber.

But eight more trees were eight more trees. Her stockpile was looking healthy.

"First things first. Get these back."

She sucked it up, stowed the chainsaw in her inventory, and started hauling.

Her body screamed even louder than yesterday. Every muscle felt like it had been replaced with concrete. She dragged each log back one at a time, moving like a zombie.

Drag. Rest two minutes. Drag again.

The wind howled in her ears. Riley lost track of time, lost track of everything except the mechanical rhythm of work.

By the time the sun was high—not that you could really see it through the clouds—she dragged the last log into the campfire's radius. It dissolved into light, absorbed by the system. Riley all but collapsed into the snow.

"Acquired: Wood x40"

She lay there for a moment, chest heaving, staring at the number in her inventory. A tired smile crept across her face.

She had enough.

Combined with the coal and steel from yesterday's trades, she had everything she needed for the upgrade.

Riley forced herself upright and walked to the campfire.

On the floating translucent panel, the "Upgrade" button glowed that tempting gold.

"Upgrade Primitive Shelter to Lv.2?

"Cost: Wood x50, Stone x20, Coal x10, Scrap Steel x5

"Remaining after upgrade: Wood x16, Stone x3, Coal x0, Steel x0"

"Upgrade."

Riley took a breath and pressed it.

"Hmmmm—!"

A blinding white light erupted from the heart of the campfire, swallowing everything. Riley squeezed her eyes shut.

No explosion. No thunder. Just a sound like Legos snapping together.

A few seconds later, the light faded.

Riley opened her eyes. And stopped breathing.

The campfire wasn't just a campfire anymore.

The rough stone ring had transformed into something neat and intentional—a proper firepit with a stone border for insulation, a place to set things, even a simple steel grate attached to the side.

But that wasn't the big news. The heat that used to push back the cold within a six-foot radius now stretched a full fifteen feet.

Inside that circle, snow was actively melting, revealing dark frozen soil underneath. In one corner, she spotted a patch of moss stubbornly poking through.

Riley spun around.

Behind the big wooden crate, a small log cabin stood waiting.

It wasn't much—maybe forty feet square, built from rough-hewn logs. Nothing fancy. But it was solid. Four walls and a roof, blocking wind and snow completely.

Riley walked over and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

If InvincibleWarrior had been standing in front of her right now, she'd have knocked his teeth out. Guys like him—useless themselves, but always ready to tear down anyone who actually accomplished something. Sewer rats.

Her private messages exploded too.

She'd set it to only accept trade offers, but people had found a workaround—using the "trade note" function to send spam.

"Hey beautiful, I'm a personal trainer. Great shape. Wanna see? Hit me with some wood and I'll do a voice call with you!"

A photo of some guy flexing in a mirror, shirt off.

Riley glanced at it, unimpressed. Decent abs. Pathetic attitude. Dude was clearly strong enough to chop wood—why was he wasting time on this?

She'd never mentioned her gender, so most people probably assumed anyone who'd gathered that much wood must be a guy. The messages reflected that assumption.

Some women sent selfies too, trying to flirt their way into favor.

Didn't matter. Shameless cut across all demographics.

From the backgrounds in the photos, everyone seemed to be in different locations. But one thing was consistent: they all had trees nearby. The system must have arranged that—a new player perk.

"A bunch of degenerates."

Riley's face went cold. She changed her privacy settings to "Friends Only". Then she added a line to her trading post description. "No spam. Send junk, get blocked."

Silence. Blessed silence.

She took a breath, let the noise drain away, and focused on what mattered.

"First-place upgrade reward..."

She opened her inventory. Sitting there, glowing faintly purple, was a gift box.