I Just Want to Make It to Shore

[Original title: Sand in a Box Garden]

The full manuscript is finished. Once it starts updating, it will update according to the rankings before going premium, then update daily afterward.

Expected to begin on November 26.

The year is 2284.

The surface is severely polluted and no longer fit for human habitation. Humanity has been divided into low-class refugees and the Chosen, who live in underground cities and sky cities, respectively.

Ying Xueyu wakes up in a dump in the underground city and discovers she's an ordinary person.

She has no money in her account, no apparent talent, no home, and no idea what her surname is or where she came from. Even her name was randomly picked by the identity registration office from the "2284 Hottest Name Predictions" list.

Never mind. A person has to survive.

So Ying Xueyu finds a job joining a scavenging team to explore the polluted ruins on the surface.

First, it's the only job that asks for nothing but that you're alive and human.

Second...what if she finds treasure? Then she'll be rich!

As for the sky city's new full-immersion game, "God's Box Garden," randomly selecting players in the underground city for a limited time, that has nothing to do with her.

Even though the top-ranked player in this round will win residency in the sky city and a cash prize worth...

Wait, how many zeroes is that...?

If she could just take a gamble...

Ying Xueyu looks at the promotional screen, tempted, then looks at herself...

Forget it! She can't even afford the protein block that comes with a raffle ticket!

This sort of thing has nothing to do with a rat like her. She'd better get on with her work and be grateful to survive one more day.

But when an opportunity lands right on your head, there's no escaping it.

Her teammate suddenly does a good deed and gives her a protein block, with the excuse:

"Eat more. Eat well."

Hello, the protein block comes with a raffle ticket.

Hello, the ticket wins.

It wins.

It wins.

It wins!!!

Her luck has turned! She's the Chosen One!

She's going to make it out of here!

[Story Preview]

What era is this tunnel maze from? Why can't we get out no matter which way we go?

Why are there eight-foot-tall humans who keep saying they want a partner?

Why is there a man-eating mermaid in the sewer?!

Is this really a game? What exactly is the scoring system? Why don't the number of enemies killed or our progress toward the exit matter? And why is it impossible to tell the NPCs from the real players?

Mom, can I please give up this prize money?!

A dystopian adventure with wasteland and cyberpunk elements: the surface is a ruined wasteland, the underground is cyberpunk, and the sky is a futuristic metropolis. The early part focuses mainly on game exploration and puzzles; in the middle, she enters the utopian sky city; in the end, she defeats the boss and takes their place.

Mild horror and suspense...not too much, with the focus mainly on the utopia.

There is a proper romance plot. This is a romance, and there is a male lead, a male lead!

The protagonist's name comes from the first three characters of Ying Xueyu Hanling. It has no special meaning and isn't her real name.

The worldbuilding is inherited from an earlier fanfic in my author profile, which was abandoned, so don't go digging for it. The remnants are on Lv Bai. Some changes were made after removing its mysterious elements.

Even though I'm not writing that fanfic anymore, I really miss the worldbuilding from back then, so I've decided to recycle and reuse it. What, you?

Theme: Work hard to rise and succeed.