Calvin's face was full of confusion.
He didn't quite understand what Charlotte meant.
"Could it be that our world is like the universe before we crossed over... no ground, no sky, just endless descent with no end in sight?"
Charlotte's imagination ran wild.
After all, they had been falling for quite a while now,
and still couldn't see what the ground looked like.
So Charlotte's theory didn't seem entirely baseless.
"What you said makes sense. No wonder you're such a top student."
Calvin said with admiration.
But soon, he seemed to think of something else.
"Then if that's the case, why are there still a sun and stars in this world?"
Calvin looked up at the sky and asked.
That stumped Charlotte.
She scratched her head, unable to figure it out.
"Anyway, this world is definitely different from the one we used to know. Haah, I'm tired. Calvin, let's sleep."
Charlotte stood up and yawned.
"Yeah, let's sleep. I'm exhausted too. We still have to get up early tomorrow to wait for a cloud or a floating island."
Calvin lay down on a dirt cube.
Even though the dirt was dirty, the softness of the soil made it quite comfortable to sleep on.
Once Calvin was fast asleep and gently snoring,
Charlotte lay beside him and secretly opened her eyes.
Then she smirked slyly,
resting her head on Calvin's stomach and copying his sprawled-out sleeping posture.
"A free pillow and not using it? That'd be stupid."
Very soon, lying on Calvin's body, Charlotte drifted off and started snoring softly too.
However, Calvin, whom Charlotte thought was already asleep, suddenly opened his eyes.
"Stupid brat. I knew it! Every night you sneak onto my stomach."
Calvin carefully moved Charlotte off his body,
and gently placed her on the dirt cube.
"You asked for this, brat."
He grumbled in annoyance.
Then he rested his head on Charlotte's stomach and went back to sleep.
"Ahhh… so soft..."
...
The next morning, the sun rose from the east, lighting up the entire dark sky.
Charlotte felt something heavy and scary pressing down on her stomach.
She opened her sleepy eyes and immediately saw Calvin using her belly as a pillow.
Calvin was sound asleep,
snoring lightly, his face blissful as if her belly was just as comfortable as his own bed.
Charlotte blushed.
She blushed hard.
She couldn't believe it.
She had stayed up until 3 or 4 AM,
waiting for Calvin to fall asleep before sneaking over to use him as a pillow.
So why why, in just a few hours, had their roles reversed?!
Charlotte sat up, about to shove Calvin off and wake him with a few punches.
But then she remembered the scene from yesterday,
when Calvin scolded her on the floating island…
Back then, she had rushed to his side like a moth to a flame,
even saying something ridiculous like, "If we die, we die together."
Calvin had actually worried about her,
even scolding her like a dad would.
For a moment, Charlotte hesitated.
"You dumb fish, lucky you."
She sat up and placed Calvin's head on her lap.
To make sure he slept well,
she didn't even dare disturb him when a cloud passed by nearby.
...
Two hours later, around 8 o'clock.
Calvin opened his groggy eyes.
Last night had definitely been the best sleep he'd had.
Normally, he'd either be on an uncomfortable cube or have something heavy pressing on him.
But then he saw Charlotte staring down at him with a resentful look.
"Ch-Charlotte, you're awake?"
Even though he was lying on her lap from his current angle, she was in full death-glare mode.
Her face still looked smooth and delicate.
Even after days without a shower, it was just a bit oily, no pimples, no visible pores.
Calvin couldn't help reaching out to touch it.
"Get up right now!"
Charlotte pinched his nose and shouted.
Calvin laughed sheepishly and sat up.
"Charlotte, why are you up so early?"
"You were suffocating me. How could I not wake up?"
"Whoa, whoa, don't say it like that! Sounds like something happened. I was sleeping on the cube all night. I didn't touch you!"
"I don't care. You were lying on my stomach this morning. I almost thought it was sleep paralysis!"
Charlotte shook her head, pouting like she wanted to be comforted.
Calvin thought for a moment and used his usual method. He patted her head.
"Maybe I was sleepwalking. At least I didn't fall off. We should build a border with cubes around this 45-square-meter area."
As Calvin patted her, Charlotte's mood improved.
The two took care of their morning routines, bathroom, breakfast, and so on.
They ate two pieces of bread and drank a bottle of water.
Then Calvin piloted the cube to look for clouds.
Since he could drive the cube, he had to take advantage of that.
Otherwise, clouds and cubes would just drift around randomly, and meeting one was purely luck-based.
Of course,
even though clouds and cubes floated around,
if someone was fishing, both would stay still until the player finished.
While Calvin was looking for cubes,
he spotted people on another platform directly below.
The setup of that platform was a bit strange.
There was a small house about 4×4×4 in size.
That meant the room was only four square meters.
Still, it made sense.
People sleepwalk at night,
and sometimes there's wind.
So it's normal to build a small house out of cubes.
Calvin figured that once they had enough cubes,
he should build one too.
In front of that house was a 4×2 platform
so together, a 4×4 house and a 4×2 platform.
A couple of players, seemingly a young couple,
were lazily leaning against each other on the platform.
When the girl saw Calvin driving, not, flying his platform over,
she was shocked and tapped her boyfriend's shoulder.
The guy looked up,
making eye contact with Calvin and the big-little-girl Charlotte behind him.
A flash of amazement crossed his eyes.
Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
But he quickly came to his senses,
his girlfriend was right next to him!
He waved enthusiastically.
"Hey bro! Hey sis!"
Calvin wasn't interested and hit the gas, preparing to leave.
"Wait, wait! Don't go! We've got blueprints! Want to trade for some food?"
The guy shouted.
Hearing "blueprints," Calvin stopped,
then slowly lowered his platform until they were on the same level,
just about a meter apart.
The next morning, the sun rose from the east, lighting up the entire dark sky.
Charlotte felt something heavy and scary pressing down on her stomach.
She opened her sleepy eyes and immediately saw Calvin using her belly as a pillow.
Calvin was sound asleep,
snoring lightly, his face blissful as if her belly was just as comfortable as his own bed.
Charlotte blushed.
She blushed hard.
She couldn't believe it.
She had stayed up until 3 or 4 AM,
waiting for Calvin to fall asleep before sneaking over to use him as a pillow.
So why why, in just a few hours, had their roles reversed?!
Charlotte sat up, about to shove Calvin off and wake him with a few punches.
But then she remembered the scene from yesterday,
when Calvin scolded her on the floating island…
Back then, she had rushed to his side like a moth to a flame,
even saying something ridiculous like, "If we die, we die together."
Calvin had actually worried about her,
even scolding her like a dad would.
For a moment, Charlotte hesitated.
"You dumbass, lucky you."
She sat up and placed Calvin's head on her lap.
To make sure he slept well,
she didn't even dare disturb him when a cloud passed by nearby.
...
Two hours later, around 8 o'clock.
Calvin opened his groggy eyes.
Last night had definitely been the best sleep he'd had.
Normally, he'd either be on an uncomfortable cube or have something heavy pressing on him.
But then he saw Charlotte staring down at him with a resentful look.
"Ch-Charlotte, you're awake?"
Even though he was lying on her lap.
From his current angle, she was in full death-glare mode.
Her face still looked smooth and delicate.
Even after days without a shower, it was just a bit oily, no pimples, no visible pores.
Calvin couldn't help reaching out to touch it.
"Get up right now!"
Charlotte pinched his nose and shouted.
Calvin laughed sheepishly and sat up.
"Charlotte, why are you up so early?"
"You were suffocating me. How could I not wake up?"
"Whoa, whoa, don't say it like that! Sounds like something happened. I was sleeping on the cube all night. I didn't touch you!"
"I don't care. You were lying on my stomach this morning. I almost die!"
Charlotte shook her head, pouting like she wanted to be comforted.
Calvin thought for a moment and used his usual method. He patted her head.
"Maybe I was sleepwalking. At least I didn't fall off. We should build a border with cubes around this 45-square-meter area."
As Calvin patted her, Charlotte's mood improved.
The two took care of their morning routines,
bathroom, breakfast, and so on.
They ate two pieces of bread and drank a bottle of water.
Then Calvin piloted the cube to look for clouds.
Since he could drive the cube, he had to take advantage of that.
Otherwise, clouds and cubes would just drift around randomly, and meeting one was purely luck-based.
Of course,
even though clouds and cubes floated around,
if someone was fishing, both would stay still until the player finished.
While Calvin was looking for cubes,
he spotted people on another platform directly below.
The setup of that platform was a bit strange.
There was a small house, about 4×4×4 in size.
That meant the room was only four square meters.
Still, it made sense.
People sleepwalk at night,
and sometimes there's wind.
So it's normal to build a small house out of cubes.
Calvin figured that once they had enough cubes,
he should build one too.
In front of that house was a 4×2 platform.
So together, a 4×4 house and a 4×2 platform.
A couple of players, seemingly a young couple,
were lazily leaning against each other on the platform.
When the girl saw Calvin driving, not flying his platform over,
she was shocked and tapped her boyfriend's shoulder.
The guy looked up,
making eye contact with Calvin and the big-little-girl Charlotte behind him.
A flash of amazement crossed his eyes.
Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
But he quickly came to his senses.
His girlfriend was right next to him!
He waved enthusiastically.
"Hey bro! "
Calvin wasn't interested and hit the gas, preparing to leave.
"Wait, wait! Don't go! We've got blueprints! Want to trade for some food?"
The guy shouted.
Hearing "blueprints," Calvin stopped,
then slowly lowered his platform until they were on the same level,
just about a meter apart.
Calvin frowned as he looked at the couple in front of him, who were staring intently at his driving cube.
"If you're not here to trade, then I'm leaving."
The male player quickly shook his head.
"Bro, I am here to trade. We're running low on food and hoping to exchange some blueprints for supplies."
"Yeah, we barely ate anything yesterday," the female player added with a flattering smile.
"What kind of blueprints?"
"Bro, add me as a friend first. I'm Ray, and this is my girlfriend, Rebecca," Ray said slowly.
Calvin thought for a moment and nodded.
It was just a friend request.
If they really had decent blueprints, a quick trade wouldn't hurt...
Besides, Bonny and Barry had brought plenty of food yesterday instant noodles, compressed biscuits, drinks.
And with the bread he got from the silver chest,
he and Charlotte had more than enough to eat.
Soon, Ray sent a trade request.
[Flint Blueprint ×1]
[Campfire Blueprint ×1]
These blueprints surprised Calvin.
After all,
flint and campfire were a matching set.
With those, they'd have a fire source.
That raw green wolf meat could finally be cooked.
"You sure you want to trade these two blueprints for food?"
Calvin looked at Ray suspiciously.
"Bro, if it's okay… that cube with the steering wheel, can I trade for that instead? I'll throw in three more blueprints. You just need to give me a few pieces of bread."
Ray smiled casually.
Calvin's expression darkened.
Everyone knew how valuable a driving cube was by now.
Ray talked like he wanted to trade blueprints for food,
but he was clearly eyeing their driving cube.
Seeing Ray's harmless-looking face,
Calvin's gaze turned cold.The red iron sword appeared in his hand, and his entire presence changed.
"You think I'm easy to mess with?"
Seeing Calvin suddenly become aggressive,
Ray quickly put away the axe on his back.
"Bro, don't be mad! I was just kidding. How about five pieces of food for one blueprint?"
Ray smiled innocently.
But Ray didn't realize,
Calvin had already seen the axe he just tried to hide.
What a pathetic attempt!
Suddenly, Calvin struck, slashing Ray with his sword.
The unexpected move startled everyone present especially Charlotte,
who had just been joking around with Calvin moments ago,
now saw him strike down someone without hesitation.
What the hell was going on!?
But Calvin's next words cleared up her doubts.
"What were you doing with that axe? Trying to kill me?"
With 47 points of damage, Ray's health dropped by nearly half!
As Ray stood there stunned in pain, Calvin struck again right to the head!
Calvin wasn't being ruthless without reason.
If Ray had just wanted to trade, Calvin wouldn't have gone all out.
But Ray first used valuable blueprints to tempt him,
then pushed further, hinting at a trade for the driving cube.
When Calvin refused, Ray backpedaled, called it a joke,
and moved in close, clearly ready to ambush him with the axe.
He was planning to kill Calvin and loot him.
"Bro, I was wrong! Don't kill me..."
Two strikes had brought Ray's health to the brink. He knew one more hit and he was done.
And his girlfriend?
She had already run into the cabin and sealed the entrance with wooden blocks.
In other words…
Ray's territory now only covered four blocks in a 2×4 area.
"You're not sorry. You're just afraid of dying. The moment you wanted to kill me, your fate was sealed."
Calvin growled coldly, then slashed once more.
In the cramped space, Ray couldn't dodge and was killed.
Calvin gained five attribute points,
and looted everything on him including the two blueprints, some wood and stone, three pieces of cloth, and two pieces of silk.
After what happened with Bonny and Barry the night before,
Calvin understood if he showed weakness, he'd be bullied.
And when dealing with players, always stay on guard.
From last night to now,
in just a few hours, he'd already encountered two players.
Which meant the density of cube platforms was quite high!
And these platforms couldn't move. They just drifted randomly.
Once two platforms touched and connected,
with five bonus attribute points and access to the other's supplies…
It was manageable now,
but in a few days, once everyone realized the rules,
there would definitely be fights!
Even if they didn't fight, they'd be on guard.
As Charlotte stared at Calvin's blood-stained sword,
she tugged at his sleeve.
"Calvin, link the platforms, then find a way to kill the girl inside."
Calvin gave Charlotte a surprised look.
But quickly remembered how she had changed last night.
"I thought you'd tell me to spare her. You used to scroll through TikTok a lot, seemed like you believed in that girl-help-girl stuff."
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"She's trash. Leave her alive so she can come back for revenge later?
Also, I don't use TikTok for feminist nonsense. I use it to search for useful stuff."
With that, Charlotte walked to the driving cube.
The platforms were already drifting at a similar pace, maintaining a one-meter gap.
Now, she adjusted the speed, just enough to connect the two platforms.
"You actually understand 'eliminate the root'? I'm impressed."
Calvin gave her messy hair a rough pat.
Charlotte stuck out her tongue,
then pulled out her wooden axe and started chopping at the wooden block.
Inside, Rebecca was trembling in terror.
She had thought hiding in the cabin would make the two devils leave her alone.
Sure,
her boyfriend had pulled out an axe and tried to attack.
But… he put it away afterward, didn't he?
These two were heartless! They killed Ray!
Ray didn't even get to attack!
And she thought the sweet-faced, harmless-looking loli would convince Calvin to let her go.
Instead, she was the one who wanted her dead the most!
Unbelievable!
"Don't kill me! I never tried to hurt you. It was all Ray's fault!"
Calvin was also hacking away with his red iron sword.
Hearing her voice from inside,
his face briefly showed hesitation.
But it quickly turned to resolve.
If he didn't kill her now,
he'd be the one in danger later.
Who knew if Rebecca would team up with someone else and seek revenge?
What if she set him up the next time they met on a floating island?
Charlotte's face showed a flicker of guilt,
but this was another world, no law, no morals.
If she didn't act ruthless now...