Raft for All: I'm guaranteed to get a golden affix when I upgrade!

Xiao Zheng closed the trading panel and stopped placing orders.

Twenty cups are enough.

Scarcity drives up prices; releasing the first batch to whet appetites is enough. If you dump the entire batch into the market at once, prices won't hold.

He glanced at the pile of fruit at his feet.

There were seventeen coconuts left, four bunches of bananas weighing nearly forty pounds, and six breadfruits.

Bananas and breadfruit are temporarily unavailable for sale.

The biggest shortage for everyone in the channel right now is water. Anyone can catch fish, and even the worst food can sustain them with half a piece of raw meat. But dehydration won't last more than a few days.

Coconut juice can be sold at exorbitant prices; what they're selling is their lives.

Bananas and breadfruit can only fill your stomach. A person on the verge of dehydration would never spend ten planks to buy a banana; he would rather exchange it for half a mouthful of water.

The food shortage will only fully erupt after the drinking water crisis eases in a couple of days.

If it's put back on the shelves then, the price will at least double.

Xiao Zheng moved the remaining coconuts, bananas, and breadfruits into the storage box on the raft.

After doing all that, he stood up straight and flexed his wrists.

The total number of wooden planks exceeded 340. There were more than 40 metal sheets, and plenty of rope and glass.

The shortage of infrastructure materials has been completely filled.

He glanced back at the raft, which was clinging steadily to the rocks on the shore, the eerie blue flames of the central barbecue grill remaining motionless in the sea breeze.

The worries are gone.

Xiao Zheng turned his gaze to the depths of the island.

Since arriving on the island, he has been circling the coastline. Behind the coconut groves lies an unknown, dense forest.

The divination slip clearly states – "A very auspicious sign."

This kind of good fortune cannot be satisfied with just a few fruit trees.

Xiao Zheng pulled the iron-tipped spear out of the mud, picked up the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow with his left hand, and filled the black iron quiver with bolts.

We strode straight into the dense forest.

The weeds underfoot grew thicker, soon reaching waist-high. The branches of the low shrubs intertwined haphazardly, and he used the shaft of his spear to push them aside, advancing towards the rising terrain.

After 40 or 50 meters, the vegetation suddenly becomes sparse.

The view ahead suddenly opened up. In a clearing shaded by tall tree canopies, the ground was covered with only a thin layer of green moss.

In the very center of the open space stood something.

Xiao Zheng abruptly stopped in his tracks.

A box about half a person's height was wedged on the stone base.

The surface was tightly entangled by moss and vines, but the right-angled edges and flat cut surfaces were not the kind of shapes that could grow in nature.

Xiao Zheng gripped his spear and stepped forward, using the spear tip to precisely pierce the thick vines on the surface of the box.

The moment the vines peeled off, large clumps of moss fell to the ground.

The dark gray metal casing was exposed, with the corners covered by dark red rough iron sheets, and a fist-sized lock was clamped on the front.

Above the latch, a line of text floats silently.

[Epic Chest (Orange)]

[Activation Requirements: None. Activate directly.]

Xiao Zheng stared at the words "epic".

Before this, the only top-quality item he had ever pulled out from 300 meters deep in the ocean was a perfect-grade purple treasure chest, which contained the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow.

Orange outranked purple by a whole tier.

In the entire 996 channel's hundreds of thousands of chat records, not even an epic one appeared.

Xiao Zheng leaned the crossbow and spear against the tree trunk next to him.

Press the latch with both hands and pull it down forcefully.

Click.

The lid of the box flew off.

A thick orange beam of light burst forth from the bottom of the box, its radiance several times greater than that of the purple treasure chest, piercing directly through the dense canopy above and shooting straight into the sky.

The beam of light lasted for a full three seconds before dissipating.

Xiao Zheng peeked at the bottom of the box.

Inside the empty tin box, a book lay quietly.

The system panel pops up.

[Appraisal Skill Book (Epic)]

[Type: Active Skill]

[Effect: Appraises any target within the field of view, obtaining detailed information about the target, including but not limited to—name, grade, attributes, special effects, hidden characteristics, and current status.]

[Usage times: Unlimited.]

Cooldown: None.

[Learning method: Click to learn.]

Xiao Zheng's opinion on this appraisal technique is presented.

Xiao Zheng reached out and picked up the skill book.

Pointing to the cover with my finger.

The dark gold leather instantly crumbled in the palm of the hand, turning into a cloud of extremely fine light particles that seeped into the skin.

The warmth from my fingertips traveled along my nerves and blood vessels straight to my eyes.

The heat circulated around the back of my eyes before subsiding.

[Learned Skill: Appraisal (Epic)]

Xiao Zheng scanned his surroundings.

The view remained unchanged.

But as long as he locks his gaze on the target, his skills will naturally dismantle it.

Xiao Zheng looked up at the nearest breadfruit tree.

Activate the skill.

A semi-transparent panel immediately appeared.

【Name: Breadfruit Tree (Common)】

[Status: Healthy, fruit ripeness 78%]

[Note: The fruit can be eaten directly or roasted. Roasting increases the taste and satiety by about 40%.]

Not only can you tell how mature it is, but you can also completely uncover the hidden benefits.

This means he could simply stuff raw fruit into the grill, cook it, and then sell it for double the price.

Xiao Zheng turned his head to look at the coconut tree next to him.

Name: Coconut Tree (Common)

[Status: Healthy, 11 fruits remaining]

[Note: Coconut shells can be used as containers; with simple processing, they are better than wooden cups for storing water. Dried coconut meat can be stored for a long time.]

It contains highly practical survival information.

Xiao Zheng picked up the repeating crossbow, walked around the open space, and swept over all the surrounding plants.

Most of them were ordinary goods, with blank panels.

He stopped at the northeast corner of the open space.

A short tree was hidden in the corner.

The trunk was less than the thickness of a forearm and barely reached three meters in height. The crown was sparse, with a few large leaves displaying an extremely deep dark green color.

Unlike other trees laden with fruit, this tree has only one fruit.

It hangs alone on the top branch.

The fruit is about the size of an egg, and its skin is an extremely strange dark red, which even has a very faint blush under the dim shade of the tree.

Xiao Zheng stared intently at the fruit.

The identification technique is activated.

【Name: Dragon Blood Fruit (Epic)】

[Rarity: Epic (Orange)]

[Current status: 97% ripeness. Expected to be fully ripe in 3 hours and 12 minutes, at which time the peel will turn from dark red to deep gold and emit a strong, bloody odor.]

[Effect: Permanently increases all user attributes upon consumption: Strength +50, Agility +50, Constitution +50, Spirit +50. The fruit must be consumed within ten minutes of being picked; otherwise, the effect decreases by 10% per minute, and after thirty minutes, it completely decomposes into rotten mud.]

[Hidden Trait: Dragon Blood Fruit is produced by an extremely rare mutated plant from the sea, ripening only once every hundred years. The aura released when the fruit ripens attracts high-level mutated creatures from within a radius of several miles to compete for its consumption. These creatures typically arrive near the fruit tree several days in advance, devouring the fruit as soon as it ripens, thereby completing their bloodline transformation.]

[Warning: There is a high probability that a guardian-level beast is lurking around the Dragon Blood Fruit.]

Xiao Zheng's breath hitched for a second.

All attributes increased by fifty.

He currently has a level 3 stat sheet with 17 Strength, 17 Agility, 15 Constitution, and 18 Spirit.

Eating this fruit will instantly grant you 67 Strength, 67 Agility, 65 Constitution, and 68 Spirit.

The average value for ordinary people is 10.

What does 67 points of strength mean?

With a strength of 17, he can break wooden planks with his bare hands and wield a two-meter-long spear with one hand. Multiply that by four...