Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

The damaged blueprint Yun Luohe had traded from Bai Yuemian was immediately tossed into the Trash Can for recycling and upgrading—it turned into a half-page of a Tools Blueprint.
As for the sheepskin fragment, she merged it with the one she already had. Now she was just one piece away from a complete piece of sheepskin.

What made Yun Luohe happiest, though, was the Trap Blueprint.
This was a great item. Once she landed on the island, if she could use a trap to catch some wild fowl or beasts for breeding, it would bring a lot of benefits.
[Trap Blueprint: A beast-trapping device. High power, capable of injuring beasts and causing continuous bleeding.]
[Required Materials: Iron Ore ×2, Bamboo ×2, Hemp Rope ×1]
She could make two traps.
They would definitely come in handy after reaching the island.

That meant she also needed to continue collecting bamboo and hemp rope.
Having just received several refined steels, Yun Luohe decided not to use them all on daggers.
If she listed too many daggers in a short time, the price would drop. It was better to save the refined steel for crafting even better weapons later.
As for the sofa and reclining chair blueprints, Yun Luohe simply looked at them and then put them away.
They cost a lot of materials, and she didn’t really need them right now.
Maybe once resources weren’t so scarce, she could make them to decorate her home.

—
At 3:00 PM, Mu Zitang delivered the day’s collected junk.
More than a hundred pieces of junk—after Yun Luohe received them, her storage box couldn’t hold them all.
She had no choice but to pile the remaining half in the wooden hut.
Now that the association had 50 members, they {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} were able to submit quite a lot of junk every day.
It not only guaranteed that the Trash Can lottery could be maxed out daily but also allowed for a stable supply of materials and experience.

It would take her over an hour just to throw all the junk into the Trash Can for recycling, and even more time to sort and organize everything.
She had a lot of things to do right now, so she decided to put that off until later when she had time to spare.
Just then, Du Ruan-tian contacted her.
It was time to divide the loot from the last batch of Water Purifiers—twenty had been sold.

Originally, they had agreed to split the profits after every 10 units sold.
But Yun Luohe found that too troublesome, so they now split them after every 20 units.
Every time she split resources, she had to go through all the materials and tidy up, which made her storage a mess. She had nowhere to put things otherwise.
So over the past two days, the profits had been kept with Du Ruan-tian for safekeeping.
Du Ruan-tian had crafted several storage boxes just to hold them all, and her backpack had already been upgraded twice with Space Stones.

“Take a look. Tell me what you want, and I’ll pick it out for you.”
“There’s quite a bit, so take your time. No rush.”
[Iron Ore ×147, Plastic ×28, Glass ×21, Cotton Cloth ×14, Bamboo ×13, Cotton ×2, Linen ×4, Silk Thread ×10, Spatula ×1, Insulated Water Bottle ×1, Binocular Blueprint ×1, Steamer Blueprint ×1, Latex Mattress ×1, Quilt ×1, Pillow ×2, Waterproof Jacket ×1, Rain Boots ×1, Carrot Juice ×1, Apple Juice ×1, Oatmeal ×2, Wafer Biscuits ×1, Oranges ×2, Instant Noodles ×1, Dragon Beard Noodles ×2, Yangzhou Fried Rice ×2, Tea Leaves ×1, Towel ×1…]
There really was a lot—food, daily necessities, blueprints, and materials.

Yun Luohe had to take her time choosing.
She first took the materials she needed.
“I’ll take half of the iron ore and glass. I’ll take all the bamboo, cotton cloth, and linen. Also, the spatula, steamer blueprint, latex mattress, oranges, instant noodles, dragon beard noodles, and Yangzhou fried rice. The rest is yours.”
Yun Luohe actually wanted more, but she had already taken quite a lot, and Du Ruan-tian had let her choose first, so she didn’t want to be greedy.

She had restocked a batch of food, which gave her peace of mind.
There were staple foods, enough to last her several days on her reef.
She sent the finished Water Purifiers to Du Ruan-tian.
With those, she had now completed all fifty Water Purifiers.
Du Ruan-tian sent her another batch of materials, hoping she would continue making more.

Yun Luohe declined. “I’ve got other things to do tomorrow. I’ll make more the day after. Just send me the materials then. You can hang onto the workbench for now.”
Du Ruan-tian: “Alright then, I’ll get back to my stuff.”
Du Ruan-tian was also getting ready to land on the island. She estimated that by the day after tomorrow, she’d have enough canvas to finish her sailboat. She wouldn’t have time to sell goods for the next couple of days either. Taking a break wasn’t a bad idea—there was no end to earning resources anyway.
—

The fish head soup she had listed was now completely sold out.
In the last few trades, she’d received another refined steel and a chicken coop blueprint.
Because the fish head soup had performed so well, someone even left a message asking when she’d restock it.
Yun Luohe crafted two more daggers.

She planned to list one in the Trading Center first to test the market.
This time, she used auction mode.
Thanks to the reputation she gained from selling the fish head soup, many players had already favorited her shop. Yun Luohe decided to strike while the iron was hot.

Once a player had favorited a shop, they would get a notification when the shop listed a new item.
So as soon as the dagger went up—
It was visible to everyone who could afford fish head soup—meaning those with some wealth.

People like Wang Zhifei, Du Ruan-tian, Zhang Bailing…
All three were members of the Lucky Club.
The moment they saw the dagger, they immediately decided to bid. But they received a notice that it was in auction mode, with bidding to begin in one minute, and the seller would choose a buyer from among the bidders after 30 minutes.
There was no starting bid, but the seller had noted: bids must include at least one blueprint, one upgrade material, and one food item. Seeds, clay, sand, and linen were also accepted as bonuses.

Wang Zhifei’s eyes lit up when he saw the dagger.
He was determined to win it.
He placed his bid:
[BBQ Grill Blueprint ×1, Wife Cakes ×2, Cotton Candy ×1, Clay ×1, Cabbage Seeds ×1, Linen ×2]
He was offering some high-quality items from his backpack.

But whether he would actually win the dagger would depend on the other bids—and what the seller preferred.
He figured he could always add more later after seeing what others offered.
Du Ruan-tian already had weapons, but the dagger suited her better than the longsword she had made. So when she saw the dagger, she thought for a moment and decided to bid as well.
She had plenty of supplies anyway—selling Water Purifiers recently had earned her a ton.
Other players also rushed to place bids.

Soon, the chat channel was buzzing with mentions of the auction.
"The bigshot who sold fish head soup is suddenly selling weapons."
"What kind of weapon? That serious? Got that many resources? I heard you need a special workbench to make weapons."
"It’s a forge! Way rarer than a regular workbench. Barely anyone has one right now."
"Must be some top-tier lucky bastard. Selling weapons and stamina-boosting soup? Probably doesn’t lack anything at this point."
"I’m tired of saying how jealous I am."
"I just checked it out. Several people have already bid. Come watch the bigshots compete!"
Yun Luohe, meanwhile, listed the item and moved on. She went out to fish and gather materials.

She had planned to check back after 30 minutes, but got so into fishing she forgot about it entirely.
As the sky began to darken, it suddenly started raining.
It came down hard and fast, with no time to prepare.
Yun Luohe had been fishing on the steps. When the heavy raindrops hit her face, she realized it was raining and quickly opened her umbrella and returned to the house.

She had just caught two more fish, so it was time to stew another batch of fish head soup.
That afternoon’s fishing net harvest was also good.
She had pulled up two shells—one gray pearl and one white pearl.
Yun Luohe didn’t open them immediately, worried her backpack wouldn’t have enough room. She took them inside the hut first.

[Opened Gray Pearl: Obtained Century Egg ×1, Moldy Tofu ×1, Gravel ×1, Broken Bamboo Basket ×1, Fiber ×5]
[Opened White Pearl: Obtained Iron Ore ×2, Wood ×4, Crystal Stone ×1, Bamboo ×2, Spicy Kimchi Fried Rice ×1, Milk ×2, Slippers ×1]
Opening both the gray and white pearls side by side really showed the difference in quality.
Still, Yun Luohe was easily satisfied. These items were already great for her.

At least she managed to pull up pearls—that was a win in itself.
She crushed a strawberry and put it into a plastic bottle with some water. Now she just had to wait for the seeds to float up and separate them. It would probably take a day or two.
Tonight’s dinner was the Spicy Kimchi Fried Rice she just pulled from the white pearl.

While eating, Yun Luohe picked through the materials she had just gathered. Useless junk was tossed to one side, and the trash Mu Zitang had delivered was stacked nearby to be thrown into the Trash Can later for recycling.
The useful materials were sorted into boxes for storage.
Among them was a crystal she hadn’t seen before.
[Crystal Stone: A mysterious, glittering stone with spatial energy. Can be used to craft Space Stones.]

Being able to make Space Stones—now that was fantastic.
Even though her backpack had gained five more slots, it was still nowhere near enough.
After finishing her meal, Yun Luohe finally opened the interface.

The chat channel was buzzing with onlookers, and players were visibly anxious.
“Why hasn’t that bigshot shown up? The auction was supposed to end after thirty minutes, but now it’s been two hours.”
“Maybe they’re busy? High-status people have a lot on their plate. Luck gods are always busy!”
“Seriously, the emperor isn’t in a hurry but the eunuchs are freaking out. The actual bidders are all quiet while the spectators are losing their minds.”
“Who said the bidders aren’t anxious? A few of them are from our Lucky Club. We’ve been arguing about this for half the day.”
“The entire club’s in chaos. Didn’t we say the seller was definitely one of our members? Been searching for hours, and no one’s come forward.”
Yun Luohe ignored the chat channel and went straight to the Trading Center.
She had just remembered the dagger auction.

She’d kept everyone waiting for so long—time to go check the bids.
Wow. So many good offers!
Hmm, this one was nice... that other person offered great stuff too...
She couldn’t decide.

As she was hesitating, Wu Jing sent her a message.
“Did you make more fish head soup? Got any left? If so, give me three bowls.”
This guy finally showed up.

“Can you make me a sailboat now?” she replied.
“Sure, I’ll trade for fish head soup.”
Wu Jing had just returned from the island, having gathered a huge haul. His stamina points were completely depleted, and he couldn’t even use his fishing net. When he saw the group chat discussing fish head soup and daggers, and realized it was the same seller as the pan-seared fish meat, he rushed over.
He needed to regain some stamina so he could do two more collection rounds. He had gone to the island early this morning, and if he couldn’t gather materials, he’d lose out on the equivalent of three pearl pulls.
For players with high Luck like them, the resources pulled from three pearls were easily worth far more than three bowls of soup.

Time was running out—he had to hurry and collect materials.
As for the sailboat, he’d already come back from the island and received the exploration rewards. He didn’t mind helping someone else build a sailboat now.
Yun Luohe was thrilled.
She had just caught fresh fish today—cooking another pot of fish head soup was no big deal.

“I’ll make it now. I’ll send the materials over. You build me the sailboat, and we’ll trade soup for it afterward.”
“Deal.”
Wu Jing sent her a screenshot of the materials needed for the sailboat.
Yun Luohe had already prepared everything in advance. But she wasn’t about to hand it all over so easily.
Even though Wu Jing wasn’t likely to scam her—he was practically a public figure in Zone 2—just posting a screenshot in the chat would damage his rep, it was still better to be cautious.

Yun Luohe: “I’ll give you the materials first. Can you put down some collateral for me? I’ll return it to you during the trade.”
Wu Jing was a little taken aback by the lack of trust, but didn’t say anything.
“Alright.”

He casually grabbed some food from his backpack and sent it over.
[Scallion Pancake ×2, Salted Egg Pastry ×2]
“How long will production take? I need to prep some fish head soup too.”
“One hour.”

“OK.”
Wu Jing had plenty of things to do—he was sorting through all the materials he brought back from the island. No time to chat with Yun Luohe. He dropped the materials onto the workbench and went off to handle his own business.
Yun Luohe reviewed all the dagger bids and ultimately chose Wang Zhifei.
His bid didn’t offer the most or the priciest items, but it matched her needs perfectly.
Plus, he had placed two bids, and the second included a bunch of basic materials and food she wanted.

Once she made her choice, the chat channel exploded into debate again.
Some people were unhappy about not being selected.
But Yun Luohe didn’t have the time or energy to care.
She still had a mountain of tasks to deal with tonight.

—
The rain came down harder. Yun Luohe placed the Trap Blueprint and its materials in a corner and muttered to herself—why hadn’t any fish monsters shown up yet?
Now that she had a reliable weapon, she could probably kill them much more easily.
She really wanted to test the dagger’s power.
Hopefully the more fish monsters, the better. If she could kill a few, she’d get more fish meat and trade it for even more valuable goods.

Oddly, even though fish monsters used to show up frequently, none had come to her reef tonight. She checked the chat—other people were already seeing fish monsters on their reefs.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t killed any fish today. No blood scent to draw them in.
Well, she was about to make fish head soup anyway. Time to go down the steps, kill some fish, and let the blood soak into the reef to lure monsters over.

The dagger made butchering fish very efficient, and her technique was getting sharper by the minute.
Still, the dagger was a bit too small. A full-sized kitchen cleaver would be even better.
She deliberately left the guts and blood right on the reef’s edge, so things got a little messy.
She had also set up an umbrella outside the hut, tied to a wooden frame, with a stove underneath for light.

That way, if fish monsters showed up, she’d be able to see clearly and react quickly.
Meanwhile, she was inside stewing fish soup and tossing the hundred-plus pieces of junk into the Trash Can.
There was just too much of it. She couldn’t be bothered to sort—she just threw in whatever she grabbed.

The Trash Can’s notification sound kept going off.
As the junk went in, all kinds of materials popped back out.
She hadn’t thrown in much when she heard a noise outside!

Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up—they’re here!
She grabbed her dagger and dashed outside.
She was startled by the massive fish monster sprawled across her reef.

Even with the firelight, she couldn’t see the whole creature—it had half its body submerged beneath the reef, while the other half lay atop it, licking up the blood and fish guts.
Yun Luohe crept forward cautiously, her expression tightening, though there was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.
It was a mutant moray eel.

A beast this size was bound to yield a lot of meat.
And moray eel meat was delicious!
Moray eels were already aggressive and fierce, and this was a mutant. Its body was half a meter thick and a full two meters long—just looking at it gave people the chills.
The skin was speckled and splotchy with patterns that would make anyone with trypophobia deeply uncomfortable.

Yun Luohe focused all her attention, eyes fixed warily on the mutant moray eel.
It had clearly noticed her. Its eyes gleamed coldly, and its mouth opened wide, exposing sharp, jagged teeth.
It was fast—too fast for her to drop her guard. She wondered if she should strike first.
The dagger in her hand gleamed in the firelight.

Just as the moray eel began to slither forward with a sudden surge of motion, Yun Luohe pulled a stone hoe from her backpack and charged, slamming it hard into the eel’s body.
Even though the stone hoe wasn’t sharp and didn’t deal as much damage as a dagger, the sudden forceful blow still inflicted some damage.
After all, daggers required close combat—and against something like a moray eel, that was risky.
As the eel thrashed in fury, Yun Luohe found her opening, leapt forward, and drove her dagger hard into its head.

She used almost all her strength, but the dagger only sank half an inch into its skull.
Even with a headshot, Yun Luohe didn’t relax.
Moray eels were notoriously resilient—some could still bite even after being cut in half, and getting bitten now would be a huge problem.
She twisted the dagger deep into the mutant eel’s head as its body flailed wildly, trying to escape, but she pinned it down with all her strength.

Truthfully, this mutant eel was incredibly strong. It hadn’t even managed to unleash half its combat potential before she struck a fatal blow.
Now it just wanted to sink the venom from its fangs into her body.
But Yun Luohe gave it no chance.

With steady hands, she used the dagger to saw off the eel’s huge, grotesque head, then stabbed the blade down between its eyes to wedge its mouth shut.
Once it was over, she looked down at the mutant eel’s corpse, very satisfied.
[Mutant Moray Eel defeated. Decompose?]

It was a massive eel. If she tried to butcher it herself, it’d take too much time and energy. Better to let the system handle it.
[Obtained Moray Eel Meat ×30]
[Moray Eel Meat: Tender and flavorful, high in protein. Restores vitality and blood, strengthens the body. Mutant moray eel meat has enhanced nutritional value. Cooking enhances its effects.]
Thirty portions. Sounded about right for something that size.

Grilled moray eel sounded amazing!
And she had just acquired the BBQ grill blueprint—time to build it. Tonight’s midnight snack would be grilled eel. She’d make some extra to take on the island tomorrow.
After killing the eel, Yun Luohe checked her stamina—it was nearly gone.

Even though the fight only lasted twenty minutes, restraining a mutant eel required her full focus and strength. Her stamina had drained fast from the intense, unrelenting effort.
Still, it was worth it. She had nothing left tonight that required heavy stamina use. She had already pulled two pearls.
She would eat some grilled eel to recover stamina, pull one last round from the net, then call it a night.

—
She dumped all one hundred-plus pieces of junk into the Trash Can, earning back over a hundred basic materials.
Mostly wood, ocean stones, fiber, and glass, plus some bamboo, linen, cotton, and cotton cloth.
All consumables—materials she used daily. Getting them back through recycling saved her a lot.
And she triggered a lottery pull again.

Yun Luohe rubbed her hands together, a bit excited.
[Lottery Success]
[Obtained: Gathering Skill Book ×1]
[Lottery Success]
[Obtained: Waterproof Fabric Recipe ×1]
[Gathering Skill Book: Learn to acquire the Gathering skill. Allows identification and harvesting of useful plants and animals. Higher skill levels increase the chance of collecting higher-quality resources.]
[Reach level 5 to unlock the “Gatherer” class. Gatherers have a chance for double yields and high-quality drops when harvesting trees, wild fruit, or herbs.]

This gathering skill seemed very useful.
At level 5, double gathering rewards?
If she used it for logging, it could double her wood income!
Her Cooking skill was only level 1 and already gave great effects—who knew what would happen at level 5?
Yun Luohe felt like she still had a lot of room to grow—more and more to do.

She immediately learned the Gathering skill.
[Waterproof Fabric: High waterproof performance, heavy and non-breathable. Can be used for waterproof roofing, raincoats, and tents.]
[Materials: Cotton Cloth ×5, Plastic ×2. Requires an industrial sewing machine.]
With the constant rain, waterproof fabric would be incredibly convenient. She could make a large camping tarp or canopy. Raincoats were a must—she wouldn’t need to carry an umbrella when fishing.

Only problem—she still didn’t have an industrial sewing machine.
Maybe she could trade the other dagger for a blueprint?
She’d have to see if anyone was willing.
Just then, Wu Jing messaged her—the sailboat was complete.
Yun Luohe had already prepared the fish head soup. She had cooked a full pot and split it into ten portions, trading three to Wu Jing and keeping the rest for herself.

[Sailboat: A standard sailing vessel capable of stable ocean travel.]
With the sailboat in hand, she could finally go ashore tomorrow.
Time to prepare.
She needed a shovel for sand, a pickaxe for stone.

She had enough iron ore—and even some refined steel. She could make iron shovels, iron pickaxes, and even steel versions of both.
She also needed to make more boxes. One box at a time—she couldn’t collect sand piece by piece.
She didn’t have any gear that could auto-pickup materials.
She’d also need a bow and arrows.

So much to do—she wasn’t going to bed early tonight.
While crafting tools, she sent out materials to Mu Zitang for tomorrow.
She wouldn’t have time to manage things, and if she didn’t check the interface, he wouldn’t be able to reach her.

Yun Luohe reminded him not to send her trash tomorrow. He should hold onto it.
She also gave him some iron ore and ocean stones so he could make one wooden storage box and a few stone boxes—otherwise he wouldn’t have space to store all the trash.
Mu Zitang: “Yun-jie, I can’t make those—I don’t have a workbench. But I can find someone to do it for me.”

Yun Luohe: “Alright, ask someone else then. I can’t help right now.”
Mu Zitang: “Got it. But Yun-jie, where are you off to? You’re giving me so much stuff.”
Yun Luohe: “I’ll be busy all day tomorrow. Just prepping in advance.”

Mu Zitang: “Ohhh, I see.”
Yun Luohe paused, then asked: “Did you level up?”
Mu Zitang: “Just did. Tomorrow I’ll finally be living in a big house.”

He had seen people posting pics of their Level 4 reefs and houses in the chat.
Yun Luohe: “Good. Let’s talk again tomorrow night.”
—

The next morning.
It had rained all night. Level 3 players’ reefs were now completely flooded. Their thatch huts were leaking badly. If the rain kept up, even their houses would be submerged.
Yun Luohe’s little wooden house was just fine.

She didn’t eat breakfast right away. Instead, she planned to head to the island first.
She could eat after spending some stamina—it would restore her energy and fill her up.
Last night, she had pan-fried a batch of moray eel meat using her skillet.
There hadn’t been time to build a BBQ grill, so the skillet had to do.
The cooked mutant eel meat had excellent effects.
Besides restoring stamina, it temporarily boosted strength. Only five minutes, but still a nice surprise.

Moray eel meat already helped replenish energy and blood—adding a strength buff made sense.
Before departing, Yun Luohe watered her crops and swapped out the Water Purifier’s plastic bucket.
Then she checked her backpack:

[Dagger ×1, Iron Axe ×1, Iron Shovel ×1, Iron Pickaxe ×1, Iron Hoe ×1, Sickle ×1, Bow and Arrow ×1, Pan-Fried Moray Eel ×10, Fish Head Soup ×7, Wooden Box ×5, Trap ×2, Sailboat ×1, Island Entry Token ×1, Plastic Umbrella ×2]
She only had one slot left. Once she started collecting materials on the island, it’d fill up fast.
She’d keep the dagger, Entry Token, and bow on her person.
If she really ran out of space, she’d just list some tools in the Trading Center and remake them later.
Once everything was confirmed, Yun Luohe took out the Island Entry Token and clicked “Use.”

[Preparing for island entry. Please board your sailboat…]
Yun Luohe stepped down the stairs and summoned her sailboat. A 2-meter-wide, 5-meter-long vessel appeared on the water, complete with two sails. It looked like a small tour boat.
She climbed aboard and sat down. A strong wind blew in moments later.

[Teleporting to Island]
The sailboat sped across the waves, but Yun Luohe’s vision was swallowed by thick white fog—she couldn’t see a thing.
After five minutes of ocean travel…
The fog cleared.

And a lush, green island appeared before her eyes.
Yun Luohe was overwhelmed with joy.
She had prepared herself for the worst—maybe a rocky wasteland, or a trash heap, or a tiny island with only mangroves and reef.
But this?

All this greenery meant rich resources.
She couldn’t wait—she stood up eagerly, ready to leap ashore.