Video game I Can Turn Waste Into Treasure novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4 First Player Achieving the Goal

Andrea tapped Accept.

Jason: [Keep in touch.]

Andrea: [Hit me up if you find anything useful. Honestly, I’ll even take junk.]

Jason: [Wait, what?]

Andrea didn’t bother explaining. She closed the chat and pulled up her crafting interface.

She had twenty-three units of wood left, which was enough to put together eleven campfires.

Once they were finished, she kept one for herself and listed the rest on the Trading Post.

She jumped into the chat to broadcast the update.

Andrea: [Campfires are live on the Trading Post. Five units of wood each. If you want them pre-lit, it’s seven units.]

Next, she traded half a bottle of water for a heavy pot. She got her own fire roaring and started heating a can of soup.

Night had fallen over the ocean, and the temperature was plummeting.

Fortunately, Andrea was wearing her thermal survival suit, so the freezing wind didn’t bite quite as hard.

As the savory scent of the soup filled the air, she stared into the dancing flames, still feeling a bit dazed by everything.

‘This feels like something straight out of a survival movie,’ she mused, her mind drifting. ‘I can’t believe this is actually my life now.’

The system notifications began to chime rapidly as her inventory cleared out.

All eleven campfires were gone in seconds. Most buyers had opted for the pre-lit version, since a steady flame was currently more valuable than the wood itself.

[Andrea! Please, list more. I missed the drop!]

[I need four fires right now. I’m trying to ring my raft with them. All I found today was wood, and I’m freezing and starving over here.]

[To the guy above me: you sound like you’re about to cook yourself.]

The chat was a frantic mess of people tagging her and begging for more stock.

Andrea didn’t reply. She kept her head down and worked, using the wood she earned to craft more fires.

She set the price to seven units of wood, stone, or soil for a lit fire.

It was more efficient this way, as buyers could just grab what they needed without her having to manage a hundred private messages.

She took a quick break to inhale her food before it got cold. ‘I can’t waste a single calorie,’ she reminded herself, scraping the bottom of the tin.

Three hours blurred by in a cycle of crafting and listing.

By 10:00 PM, her arms felt like lead.

Realizing she still had a “day job” as a dentist to worry about tomorrow, she decided to call it a night and sent one last message to the channel.

The chat immediately erupted in a chorus of complaints.

[Andrea, come on. Just a few more! I’m freezing!]

[Yeah, don’t quit now. Keep going!]

Andrea: [I’m tapped out for tonight. I’ll be back at it tomorrow. You guys should try lighting your own logs or wait for someone else to list a fire.]

[But your campfires are way better than just burning raw wood. They last longer!]

[Wow. Talk about selfish. You’re really just going to sleep while the rest of us suffer? Must be nice to sit on a pile of resources.]

Jason: [Look, I want a fire as much as anyone, but give her a break. If she passes out from exhaustion, nobody gets anything tomorrow.]

[Seriously. Who the hell are you to her? She isn’t responsible for your survival.]

Marlon Waller: [Andrea, look at Denice. She literally gives her supplies away for free. Meanwhile, you’re charging us and still acting like a diva because you’re “tired.” What a joke.]

Denice: [Marlon, you can call me a pushover for being generous, but don’t use my name to bully other people.]

Marlon: [Denice, honey, you’re just too kind. You shouldn’t be sticking up for someone who’s clearly just in this for the profit.]

Denice: [Don’t call me “honey.” It’s creepy. You’re blocked.]

Jason: [I’ve got some burning logs for sale if anyone is desperate. DM me. Let’s just try to survive the night.]

[I’ve got some too. Fair prices. Don’t freeze out there, guys]

Soon, the chat was filled with other people selling basic lit wood. Marlon went quiet, likely stung by Denice’s public rejection.

Andrea watched the drama unfold with cold indifference.

She had expected this.

Most of these people had been thrust into a life-or-death situation against their will, and they were looking for a villain to lash out at.

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