Chapter 1: The Shattering Beginning

“Youth has no price; giving up is right now!”

“Instead of forcing yourself, why not cut yourself some slack?”

Suya said this just after completing today’s travel distance.

After speaking, she lay down on the spot to rest. Her eyes showed no trace of desire for ranking or supplies, only the purest, most fundamental state of giving up.

The story actually began this morning.

She had purposely gotten up early today to attend the 8 a.m. class, but as soon as she stepped out of the dormitory, her vision went black, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself on this endless highway.

Thick mist shrouded both sides of the road, from which eerie howls, sounds of animals chewing, and the slithering of elongated creatures could be heard.

From years of never uninstalling her novel-reading app, Suya quickly deduced that she had traveled into a novel—specifically, a highway survival genre.

A game where you drive, move forward, open boxes, seemingly simple but actually extremely deadly. And it had chosen her—a college student with poor physical fitness, intelligence, and luck; someone who had failed the driving test seven times and crashed into trees; someone who dreaded the early classes more than any ghost.

Suya: “If melancholy is a talent...”

She wasn’t joking about her gloominess.

Others entered highway survival with supermarkets to roam, moving houses, or stockpiles to check—in short, they had a bunch of supplies on hand. She, however, had nothing but a hammer cobbled together from hardware scraps, no original supplies at all.

While others started with billions in materials, she began with a single hammer.

Such is the cruelty of fate.

Just as she was sinking into despair, a playful system notification suddenly sounded.

[Welcome to Highway Survival: Nightmare Illusion]

[You are in Region 1521 of Dragon Kingdom Server 23]

[I am System 2712 of this region, reluctantly at your service. Now, let me introduce the game rules:]

[1. Players must select an initial vehicle upon entering the game. The vehicle is crucial for your survival journey. If you fail to choose within five minutes, the system will assign one randomly. Vehicles can be upgraded; make sure to strive for upgrades~]

[2. Current region: Nightmare Illusion 1521, with 10,000 players. Each player starts with 100 health points; health reaching zero means death. (For your survival experience, a one-time revival chance is granted, usable only during the newbie protection period~)]

[3. Treasure chests of various qualities spawn randomly in the illusion. Feel free to pick them up, but beware of the special rewards inside!]

[4. The Nightmare Illusion is calm during the daytime (yet beware hidden dangers), but night is fraught with crises and nightmares. Defeating nightmares grants experience points and supplies~]

[5. Players must complete the required daily distance. Failure to meet the quota will result in system elimination~]

[6. Daily driving hours are from 8:00 to 20:00; 8:00–16:00 is the parallel highway, and 16:00–20:00 is the intersecting highway. Remember, no reverse driving on the highway~]

[7. Night falls from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. when driving is prohibited. A safety zone extends five meters around your vehicle. Do not go out after dark~]

[8. The system will automatically issue you a game manual, which you can use to check information, chat with other players, and more. The manual can be minimized into a wearable accessory~]

[9. More surprises await your discovery. Come on in and play~]

Despite her despair, Suya—who spoke of wanting to die but secretly cherished life—obediently listened to the system’s rules.

Once the introduction ended, the game manual was quickly handed to her.

Suya opened it to check her attributes.

[Player: Suya (initial nickname can be changed)]

[ID: 152120040713]

[Age: 20]

[Vehicle: Pending selection]

[Supplies: Hardware Hammer]

[Health: 100]

[Strength: 26 (barely acceptable)]

[Stamina: 18 (Why don’t you exercise? Don’t you like it?)]

[Speed: 13 (No Turtle-Rabbit race for you)]

[Overall Combat Power: 21 (Low, but on a certain level)]

[Identity: None]

After reading these body-shaming little remarks, Suya silently changed her nickname to [Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God].

As soon as she finished, the vehicle selection screen popped up automatically.

Once again, Suya felt the weight of her cruel fate.

She had no idea what vehicles the lucky players or protagonists drew. Her choices were threefold:

Vehicle One: Gale Across the World, Great Fortune Truck (Driving Difficulty: Five Stars)

Vehicle Two: Interstellar Shuttle, Mechanical Airship (Driving Difficulty: Unknown)

Vehicle Three: Plain and Simple, Shared Bicycle (Driving Difficulty: One Star)

Sometimes, life really feels helpless.

Though it seemed she had three options, in truth, she had no choice but the shared bicycle.

Faced with such helplessness, she laughed sarcastically, selecting the shared bicycle while saying:

“I really want to see how unlucky a person can get.”

Suddenly, a white mist appeared before her eyes. It quickly dispersed, revealing a shared bicycle resting quietly in front of her.

At the same moment, the system notification sounded again.

[2712 reluctantly at your service; now announcing today’s mileage]

[Today’s distance: 1 kilometer (newbie protection period)]

...

Back to the present, having completed today’s distance, Suya rested on the spot, unwilling to take another step forward.

She had read highway survival novels and knew that players covering greater distances could earn extra supplies. But what did that have to do with an unlucky, non-lucky player like her?

If a person has no dreams, then they are no different from being carefree and worry-free!

There is no difficulty in the world, only the willingness to give up!

Here, she just needed to survive. Find some food and drink each day, complete the minimum required distance, and otherwise avoid any conflicts!

That was her survival goal!

During her rest, Suya opened the game manual and found the chat hall flooded with messages.

[Player 1002: Wow, wow! I finally crossed over, and it’s my favorite highway survival genre! Thank heavens, thank the earth, thank the sunshine for bringing us together.]

[AAA Great Fortune Heavy Truck King: @Player 1002 Are you crazy? If you want to die, go die yourself and don’t drag others along. Does anyone know how to go home? I just want to go home!]

[Falling Flower Destiny Ends: What is this survival game? Please explain, I’ve never heard of it.]

[Player 1128: Didn’t you read the rules?]

[Daily Miles of Virtue: Drive on the road, complete the required daily distance, pick up boxes to find supplies, and if you can, kill monsters.]

[Even Gods Fear Me White Certain: CPDD! CPDD! CPDD!]

[Eye of Lu Yan: Let’s go! Eye of Lu Yan!]

[Daily Miles of Virtue: Everyone select your vehicle first. Pick as many good ones as you can. After the system announces today’s distance, start driving. Remember to pick up boxes but don’t open them recklessly; some boxes may spawn monsters. Keep your supplies well and don’t throw them away casually. The trade market is in the bottom right corner of the manual.]

[Daily Miles of Virtue: Study the system rules well to avoid pitfalls. The coming days will be tough. Do your best to survive; survival brings hope.]

Suya silently read the chat without commenting.

She planned to regain some strength before opening the three wooden boxes she had found along the way.

At that moment, the system notification sounded again.

“Detected strong intent to give up. Identity has been automatically assigned. Your identity is: Salted Fish. Identity Explanation: The more you give up, the luckier you become.”

“Receiving without effort, enjoying without labor; gaining without work, soaring in one step.”