Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 239 - Matryoshka blind boxes

The system really wasn’t cheating him.

What Yang Yi pulled was worth twenty times the value of the tiny blind box. A full two hundred points.

【Name: Welfare Blind Box (Small) Voucher】

【Type: Consumable】【Quality: Special】【Description: Use to redeem one Welfare Blind Box (Small). Must be inserted into the vending machine.】

He got two vouchers like this, but he still couldn’t feel happy.

Objectively speaking, he had profited. He used a hundred points to get items worth two hundred.

But in reality, he hadn’t gained anything except two slips of paper.

Whether he actually profited depended entirely on what those slips could turn into.

Yang Yi fed both vouchers into the vending machine and received two small welfare blind boxes. He opened them.

There was nothing inside, but the system notifications popped up.

【You obtained Wood x1】

【You obtained 10 Shell Coins】

This was basically the same as getting nothing.

He glanced at the shelf.

Below the small blind boxes, a “2/10 guaranteed” indicator had appeared.

After hesitating a moment he bought eight more boxes, spending eight hundred points, and opened the first seven.

【You obtained one High Energy Protein Bar】

【You obtained 1000 Shell Coins】【You opened an empty box. Inside was written: Buy one more】…【You obtained a 1000-minus-50 Points Discount Coupon】【You obtained one Concealment Capsule】

Not until the seventh box did he get something that wasn’t a loss.

As for the discount coupon, it almost made him laugh.

【Name: 1000-minus-50 Points Discount Coupon】

【Type: Consumable】【Quality: Special】【Description: When redeeming an item worth over 1000 points, this coupon deducts 50 points. Only one can be used at a time. Please don’t throw it away. What if you happen to be missing exactly 50 points?】

Spending a hundred points on a blind box only to get a “save 50 points when spending 1000” coupon was brutal.

But that wasn’t the main issue. What mattered was the guaranteed reward.

Yang Yi opened the last small box.

“What the hell?”

He swore out loud and almost twisted himself around, nearly flinging the two medium blind box vouchers out of his hand.

The system was clearly nudging players toward opening higher tier boxes.

If you didn’t, you got next to nothing.

He used the two vouchers and got twenty units of wood and then landed in a very awkward position. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

If he stopped now, he would swallow a silent loss worth several hundred points.

But if he kept going…

He looked at the 2/10 guarantee indicator and topped it off without hesitation, spending 7,950 points to complete the ten-box guarantee.

The first nine boxes yielded:

Boxed protein bar x1, boxed concealment capsule x1, a minus-500 points discount coupon x1, plus assorted resources: 5,000 Shell Coins, 220 units of wood, and 100 units of steel.

The last box, unsurprisingly, gave him a Large Blind Box Voucher, though only one.

Yang Yi paused and did the math.

Up to this point he had spent a total of 8,850 points, and in return he had a voucher for a large blind box worth ten thousand points, plus a pile of small items and materials.

It looked like a profit, but not a clear one.

Everything still depended on what the final large blind box contained.

He inserted the voucher into the vending machine and soon received a large blind box, about the size of a shoebox.

Yang Yi opened it, and the system message appeared.

【You obtained a box of Rainbow Filled Gummies. They’re even fruit flavoured!】

The box was packed full of colourful gummies. They looked delicious.

But Yang Yi felt his heart plummet. It was a complete loss.

He had been ready to let it go, until he noticed something else about the large blind box’s guarantee.

Under the “1/10” guarantee indicator, a twenty four hour countdown had appeared.

This meant the guarantee for large blind boxes did not carry over.

If he didn’t draw now, it would reset. That would be an even bigger loss. A real one.

He checked his points. At most he could afford seven more large blind boxes. Not enough to reach the guarantee.

He could try pulling small and medium boxes to gamble for more large box vouchers. Maybe he could gather enough.

But who could promise that the guarantee would give vouchers, or even two of them?

If it didn’t, he would be trapped. Completely drained.

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Yang Yi’s forehead. He finally saw through the system’s design.

It lured players deeper into spending, then pushed their losses as far as possible.

So, the most rational choice was to stop now and accept the loss.

Or… maybe…

“What are you doing?”

The voice was as clear as a bell. It was Suna.

She had put down her work and come to the captain’s room, only to find Yang Yi standing in front of the vending machine, surrounded by piles of empty boxes of all sizes. One of them was filled with gummies.

“Perfect timing. Lend me some points. I want to finish the guarantee and test what the blind boxes can actually do.”

“Guarantee?”

Suna still hadn’t caught up, so Yang Yi explained everything from the start.

“So, you’re telling me the blind boxes almost emptied all your points?”

“I didn’t!” Yang Yi denied it immediately. He insisted he was just running tests, nowhere near being drained.

These lost points were simply the cost of research.

He had already seen through the scam.

Suna didn’t argue. She gave him a look full of quiet amusement, then shifted her gaze to the machine’s display.

Under the large blind box slot was the “1/10” indicator and the countdown.

【You received Player Points gifted by Suna.】

A system prompt appeared. His balance jumped by twenty thousand points.

Player points couldn’t be traded, only gifted to crew members of the same ship.

To join the same ship, you needed a Ship Fusion Card, and Suna happened to fulfill the requirement.

But before drawing another large box, there was one more test to run.

Suna stepped in front of the machine. The number representing points changed.

And the “1/10” guarantee indicator vanished.

So, the guarantee followed each individual player. Each crew member had their own count.

“You draw.” Suna stepped aside, letting Yang Yi take the spot.

She was curious about the blind box contents too.

Like the rainbow gummies, which turned out to be a high grade item. They tasted amazing.

“Alright.”

Yang Yi looked eager, almost confident.

“Next time it’s your turn, but only if I get something good this time. Otherwise, we’re done with blind boxes.”

He spent the points. His remaining balance instantly dropped to 2729, and he received nine large blind boxes.

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