1 Material Boxes

"What … what the hell was that?"

The bright white light enveloping Liu Xue slowly dissipated like a rainbow without rainfall. There was a sudden cold tickling his feet. He stumbled two steps backwards, feeling the wetness seeping into his leather shoes.

To say he was in a daze was an understatement. In front of himself was a vast stretch of an endless blue sea. A salty breeze in the air blew by and ruffled his clothes, handing in the air as he gazed into the horizon. The cool sensation made the hair on his arms prick up. The sky, a paler reflection of the blue sea, was clear of clouds and in its centre stood a circular brightness emitting warm gentle rays that could not help but run shivers up his spine.

Roaring waves tumbled in and out of the shore, splashing water onto the sandy beach. His eyes followed a trail of pebbles and rocks to find a dense and heavy rainforest standing behind himself. He could not see through the crevices between the trees. Together with the eerie vines, chirping, and darkness, they washed another wave of oppression over himself.

Liu Xue sucked in a deep breath. "The bright light brought me here?"

With a quick swing of his legs, he kicked a nearby pebble. It landed with an almost inaudible 'plop' in the water. He reached into the sands with his hands. The grains sifted through his fingers in its familiar coarse dryness.

"It'd be a paradise vacation if I weren't suddenly stranded here."

Liu Xue took another glance around his surroundings: the palm trees, the travel-agency-commercial-like scene, and then towards himself.

The reflection in the water stared back. Eye bags, acne, and a rather characteristic pair of square frames hung on his face. He unbuttoned his office suit and lifted his white t-shirt, an action he regretted almost immediately: the pale skin, the bony ribs, the thinness of his limbs was frightening. Since when did he become so malnourished?

"When I lived in the countryside before, I was quite lean and wiry from toiling in the fields, but those damn hours of sitting and studying and working have reduced me to this thin pitiful state. How am I supposed to survive on an island like this?"

Liu Xue did two jumping jacks and ran up down along the shore before collapsing onto the sand. Out of self-loathe, he could only grumble about his miserable chances for survival inwardly.

The sun continued to shine down on him through the few minutes he laid in the sand, almost mockingly so. When he covered his eyes from the glare that grew too much to bear, he noticed a blue dot pinging like a notification under the frame of his glasses.

"What's this?"

Out of curiosity, boredom, and desperation—a mix of all three, he clicked it. A holographic game-like window appeared in his peripheral vision.

Liu Xue's eyes widened. "This, okay, maybe this is not reality, but some sci-fi shenanigans?"

Upon noticing there was nothing abnormal—his malnourished physique was brought upon by himself—or the island surroundings so far, Liu Xue leaned and squinted forwards. Through a closer look, he found another blue notification beside a tab that read [Public Channel].

When he tapped it, a familiar text channel appeared. It was an obvious group chat.

At the top, a string of white text read:

[Region 727: 5,000/5,000 Members] [World Population: 5.7bil/7.9bil]

"The rest of the world is in the same predicament as me?"

Liu Xue wrinkled his nose. The revelation was too much of a revelation; he did not know what to feel or think.

"And judging by the numbers, it seems that only able-bodied people were thrown to sea. What happened to the elderly, disabled, and children? Did they all get axed?"

Another fearful thought about the end of humanity began to slowly creep up in the corner of his mind. The inauspicious slash between the two populations was frightening.

The thought passed and immediately extinguished when the first message appeared in the text channel.

[I think God just pulled a Kayaba Akihiko.]

Almost instantaneously after, a flood of text swarmed the channel.

[F*ck, the power of God and anime are really not by my side?!]

[Lord have mercy! Are you all at sea too?]

[I have a two-meter square island, a broken fishing net, a stele, and a tree!]

[I pulled an all-nighter and was just about to sleep, but now I'm stranded]

[Sender above, please close your eyes again, this is all a figment of your imagination~]

[Anyone? I'm so scared, I want to go home!]

Liu Xue was amazed. His jaw hung agape. "These guys are so headstrong … how can you still find the humor to joke like this?"

At the same time, he caught notice of other messages regarding the island.

"An island? Two meters? A fishing net? What is a stele? Everyone is not on a jungle island?"

The stifled Liu Xue stood up and was three-quarters his way to kick another pebble into the sea when the stream of text had slowed. He stopped.

"Is there something wrong?"

Liu Xue quickly found a message he believed was the source of everyone's disappearance.

[Don't waste time, everyone! There should be a material box drifting in the sea nearby you. It has materials that we need to survive!]

The sun's glare seemed to have grown brighter when Liu Xue turned his attention to the sea. He put a hand above his glasses and squinted hard. Drifting up and down the waves was the faint outline of a black box.

The relief in his heart quickly turned to anxiety when he noticed the box was nearly a full four meters away and did not seem to be drifting closer to shore.

"Will it sink? They're like loot crates. This really is becoming a survival game. What if something invaluable is inside and I lose it?"

Liu Xue glanced around before turning to the dense jungle rainforest behind him.

"Could I try to grab a stick and direct the box to shore that way?"

Liu Xue shook his head. There was no way he could find and maneuver a stick that long; he probably needed to move a whole tree. Plus, the jungle reeked an ominous vibe. He did not want to step even a foot near the jungle though he wanted the material box damn badly.

Out of options and almost out of hope, Liu Xue turned to back to [Public Channel]. Sifting through the continuous stream of fear, complaints, and advice on how to use a fishing rod, he found that nobody was in the same predicament as him: rodless. His heart sank.

"Do I have to swim?"

Fear grasped his heart again. Growing up as a countryman near the seaside meant he heard many horror stories about ocean currents, riptides, and sharks. While he had swam quite a bit during his childhood, it was years since. There were no fields to toil or hay bales to move in the busy city. Zero physical activity. With his sickly figure, there was no need to mention his stamina.

Who knew if he could even swim, or if so, make it that far to the material box?