Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

The clear bluish-green seawater and the white sand beach complemented each other perfectly. Scattered across the beach were many broken stones, and in the distance were red rock formations. The beach was vast—because the entire island itself was vast.
[Welcome to Butterfly Island.]

So the island was called Butterfly Island. It was likely teeming with butterflies.
Environments suitable for butterflies were generally quite beautiful—at the very least, they would be full of flowers, lush vegetation, and fresh water resources. If all those conditions were truly met, then she could probably obtain a substantial amount of supplies here.
It was currently 8:00 in the morning.

She had at least twelve full hours to explore the island.
The token’s description said she could stay on the island for a day. It wasn’t that she couldn’t spend the night here—but it wasn’t worth it. By nightfall, she would definitely be out of stamina. She would have to sleep to recover it. At night, the island didn’t have any lights, so she wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway. There was no point in sleeping here.
Yun Luohe surveyed the surrounding environment and decided to first gather all the resources she could find along the beach before heading inland.

She took out a shovel and started digging in the sand, testing whether she could collect it into her backpack—and sure enough, she could.
[Sand: A common construction material.]
The entire beach’s sand was hers for the taking. This feeling was way too satisfying.

But once she filled up one wooden box, she realized a single box could only hold 50 units of sand. And upgrading the reef required 100 units.
It cost her 20 stamina to dig up one box of sand.
She had made five boxes in total, but she couldn’t afford to fill all of them. Otherwise, she’d run out of stamina—unless she relied entirely on food that restored stamina.

She decided to dig up three boxes first and assess the situation later.
She’d keep two boxes for herself, and use the extra to trade or distribute to members of the Association.
If she managed to explore the whole island and still had stamina and time left, she could dig up one more box to take back.

Thankfully, she had brought quite a lot of food that replenished stamina this time. Otherwise, with how quickly she was burning through it, she would’ve been heartbroken staring at all these resources without being able to collect them.
Compared to her initial excitement upon seeing the island, Yun Luohe was much calmer now. No matter how many trees were here, she couldn’t carry much wood—because her stamina was limited. Even with food supplements, it wasn’t like she could stuff herself to bursting.
She had to plan carefully.

In addition to sand, she used her pickaxe to break apart the stones scattered on the beach and collected them, obtaining: Gravel ×38.
Gravel could be used to make Water Purifiers, so there was no way she was passing that up.
An hour later, Yun Luohe slowly walked into the forest.
The enormous forest was filled with unevenly grown trees—dense and chaotic. She didn’t spot a single butterfly.

These trees could all be chopped down with an axe.
Yun Luohe decided to test it out.
She randomly chopped down a thick tree—it took eight hits to bring it down, and she obtained: Wood ×15.

But if it was a thin tree, it only took five hits to fell it, yielding: Wood ×10.
Each tree chopped consumed 2 stamina.
Yun Luohe thought to herself—even if she drained all her stamina, she wouldn’t be able to gather much wood.

Upgrading required 3,000 units of wood, and with the stamina she had left, she’d be lucky to get 300.
No matter what, she had to chop wood. But—not now.
Probably because of all the recent rain, the soil was damp. The forest felt a bit humid and stifling.

Yun Luohe kept heading deeper in. She planned to find a good spot to set a trap.
Based on the vegetation’s distribution, she searched for signs of water. Where there was water, there were usually traces of wild animals.
Soon, Yun Luohe discovered footprints—wild chicken tracks.

Nice!
Good thing the soil was moist enough to leave prints—and judging by the size, this wild chicken was quite big.
Yun Luohe set one trap at the spot where she found the wild chicken’s footprints.

She wasn’t sure what wild chickens liked to eat, but figured it wouldn’t be too different from domesticated ones. She crouched down and searched the ground, found a few ants and bugs, mashed them up, then picked two tender leaves from a nearby tree and wrapped the bug corpses inside. She placed the bundle in the trap. If the wild chicken came to eat, it would be caught in the trap.
Just as she finished setting it up, she saw a lizard.
It was lying motionless on a tree trunk. Its tail was long, its eyes pitch-black and shiny, and its skin was a beautiful bluish-green with speckles. Compared to the brownish lizards Yun Luohe had seen before, this one’s color was far more vibrant—and frankly, much more attractive.

Lizards could be used in medicine, and their meat was edible too.
Yun Luohe took out her dagger, planning to take it down.
But the moment she made a move, it darted off at lightning speed. It was so fast that Yun Luohe couldn’t catch it. She could only watch it run ahead. Yun Luohe marked the spot where she had set the trap and then gave chase.

She didn’t manage to catch the lizard—but she found a tree!
A vibrant green cashew tree, full of cashews. They weren’t fully ripe yet and were composed of two parts: a red pear-shaped fruit on top and a brown nut at the bottom. They looked a bit strange.
Cashews.

There was a special marker on it—a glowing highlight—to indicate that this was a gatherable item. The cashews glimmered faintly in the sunlight, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) dazzlingly bright.
[Cashew: The cashew apple has a sweet and sour pear-like flavor, juicy and refreshing. It quenches thirst and soothes the lungs. The apple can be eaten raw or made into juice, jam, preserves, canned goods, or wine. The nut beneath must be cooked and dried before eating. The outer shell contains a layer of cashew shell oil, which is toxic. Contact with skin may cause pain, redness, swelling, or blisters. Can be used to make preservatives or waterproofing agents.]
These cashews were really something. The top part was a fresh fruit, and the bottom part could be processed into a nut.

This one tree had at least dozens of fruits.
Yun Luohe narrowed her eyes, planning to pick them all.
But she had to be careful of the cashew shell oil. When picking them, she had to grab the apple on top.

Carefully, she picked every last fruit from the tree. Then, on a whim, Yun Luohe took out her axe and chopped down the cashew tree.
[Cashew Wood ×12, Cashew Tree Seed ×2]
[Cashew Wood: This wood is resistant to rot and has a relatively high density, making it more lightweight and suitable for furniture, flooring, and window or door construction. Also a good material for boatbuilding.]
As expected, Yun Luohe could tell this wasn’t ordinary wood.

Since the cashew tree was valuable from root to crown, she was definitely going to plant a few back home.
She wasn’t sure if they’d grow well—but she had to try. She had two seeds, after all.
She checked her backpack. She had 43 cashew fruits, and her bag was now full. From here on, if she acquired anything else, she’d have to make space.

There was only one cashew tree in the area.
Yun Luohe still had half her stamina left. She decided to eat something first. She hadn’t eaten anything all morning, and after landing on the island, she’d been too focused on collecting resources. If it weren’t for her growling stomach, she would’ve forgotten to eat entirely.
Yun Luohe decided to restore her stamina with a bowl of fish head soup, followed by a serving of grilled eel.

Food tasted better when she cooked it herself.
After finishing her meal, she felt especially satisfied.
She didn’t stop moving while eating. Right after finishing, she heard the sound of flowing water.

Looks like this island really does have freshwater resources.
She quickened her pace and soon saw a thin stream. The current was fast, but there were plenty of animal footprints along the banks.
Seems like the animals on this island also come here for water.

She figured she’d place another trap around here.
Yun Luohe set the trap beneath a tree, covered it with leaves, and placed a cashew nut inside—figuring some animal would probably be fond of it.
She stared at the stream. Using the wood she had just chopped, she traded for some plastic and mineral water bottles at the Trade Center, filled them with water, and listed them there with a note that said: [Tap water. Must be boiled before drinking.]

Should be able to trade them for something useful.
Besides, listing items at the Trade Center didn’t take up backpack slots.
After collecting over ten liters of stream water, Yun Luohe finally stopped.

She saw a butterfly fluttering by from who-knows-where, circling twice above her head before flying off.
She’d been on the island this long and only just now saw a butterfly.
That was… strange.

Yun Luohe hesitated, then decided to follow it and see where it led.
The butterfly flew slowly, meandering along as if it was just wandering without much purpose, then eventually drifted downstream along the creek.
While following it, Yun Luohe chopped down two more trees along the way.

The butterfly gently fluttered into a cave entrance. Afraid of losing sight of it, Yun Luohe quickly rushed forward.
Passing through the cave, she found a whole new world on the other side.
The ground was covered with blooming flowers and greenery, and butterflies fluttered everywhere.

At the center of the flowers lay a massive lake, with butterflies dancing in the air above it.
Sunlight shimmered across the surface, making the lake look like a sparkling, translucent emerald.
Yun Luohe stared in awe at the scene before her.

She thought, if she could bring back some of these plants and grow them on her reef, it would look amazing. As for the butterflies—there was no need to capture them. Her reef was nothing like this place. Turning it into something like this would take a long time. The butterflies definitely wouldn’t want to live on the reef in its current state.
Still, if such vibrant flowers and plants could grow here, the soil quality must be excellent.
If she could bring back some of this soil, maybe it would improve the reef’s dirt.

She still had a few wooden boxes left. Might as well use them to carry soil.
Yun Luohe didn’t hesitate. She grabbed a shovel, found a relatively open spot, carefully used a hoe to dig up the flowers and plants along with the topsoil and set them aside, then began digging.
[High-Quality Black Calcareous Soil: Rich in humus, loose and well-aerated, nutrient-dense. Suitable for cultivating a wide variety of flowers and crops.]

This was basically hitting the jackpot.
The soil back on her reef was just low-fertility dirt. But this was premium soil. The difference was massive. If she used it for planting crops, she could definitely grow more—and better—produce.
Whether it was for flowers, vegetables, or trees, she’d need a lot more of this good soil.

And there were earthworms all through it.
Earthworms were valuable too. Not only could they loosen and enrich the soil, they also decomposed organic matter and promoted plant growth.
And that was just their use in soil.

They had tons of other uses too—they could be used for fishing, and even to raise chickens.
Even if it wasn’t for the quality soil, the earthworms alone made it worth hauling back a few more boxes of dirt.
Yun Luohe decided she might as well spend the rest of the day digging soil here. Once her stamina ran out, she’d eat to replenish it.

Nothing else she had was as valuable as this soil.
Even if she couldn’t spread it directly on the ground, she could still use wooden crates or plastic tubs for potted plants. Either way, she’d bring it back.
The problem was, she only had two boxes left—not nearly enough.

Yun Luohe thought for a moment. At first, she considered contacting Du Ruan-tian to ask her to make a few more wooden boxes. But then she realized—Du Ruan-tian didn’t know she had a workbench. If she asked her to make boxes, she’d definitely wonder why Yun Luohe couldn’t do it herself. That might expose the fact that she had landed on the island.
It’d be better to find someone on the Trade Center to do the processing.
Yun Luohe opened the Trade Center and searched for players offering custom processing.

She saw a familiar name.
Bai Yuemian.
She had a good impression of Bai Yuemian, so she messaged her directly.

When she’d sold her fish head soup, it was anonymously, so Bai Yuemian wouldn’t recognize her. It was fine to use her real name now.
And Bai Yuemian’s custom processing fee was reasonable—just three upgrade materials per job.
Yun Luohe wanted to make five lidless wooden boxes. Including materials and processing fees, it came to a total of 90 pieces of wood.

Bai Yuemian happened to be free at the time. Yun Luohe sent over the materials, and not long after, the finished boxes were delivered.
Bai Yuemian: “They’re done. Go ahead and collect them!”
“But why’d you go for lidless boxes? Sure, you save some wood, but they don’t hold as much stuff.”

Wooden boxes with lids had ten slots, but if you stored mixed materials inside, you couldn’t put the box into your backpack. Since you could only store one type of item anyway, it really wasn’t much different from a lidless box.
And it saved five pieces of wood.
Yun Luohe: “It’s fine. I just want the lidless ones.”

“All right. Well, if you ever want to recycle or get some made with lids next time, you can come to me!”
Yun Luohe replied briefly and then closed the interface.
She still had digging to do.

[Obtained Clay ×1]
Huh!
She just dug up clay!

That works too.
After digging a bit longer, she quickly unearthed more clay.
A pleasant surprise, really.

The only issue was that her backpack was full—she had nowhere to store the clay.
She glanced through her inventory. Everything in it was essential—except the plastic umbrella.
It wouldn’t rain during the day, but if it started pouring after dark, that’d be a problem.
Then she thought of a good idea—she could list the plastic umbrella on the Trade Center with an absurdly high price. If it didn’t sell, she could just take it back later and use it.

She could do the same with other items, like her sickle and hoe. She’d list them too and just delist them once she returned to the reef.
A bug exploit, basically.
After filling the remaining wooden boxes, she ended up with an extra 13 units of clay.
At that point, Yun Luohe noticed dozens of flowers and plants she had already dug up and laid on the ground.

She had made sure to dig them out roots and all so they wouldn’t be damaged.
But she definitely didn’t have time to plant them here.
Might as well take them back with her.

Yun Luohe bought a sack from the Trade Center, packed all the plants into it, and slung it over her back.
It was getting late.
Aside from the butterflies and the plants, there didn’t seem to be anything else of note here.

Well, except for the lake.
The lake water was pristine, but there wasn’t a single fish in sight.
Too clean to sustain fish, perhaps. Yun Luohe could swim, but not well, and she didn’t have enough confidence to jump in. She hadn’t brought a fishing rod either, so fishing was out of the question.

She walked a full circle around the lake—and suddenly, her eyes lit up.
Among the rocks near the shore, one of them looked oddly familiar.
The lake water was green, so the rocks submerged in it had a green tint too. She crouched down and picked up a peculiarly shaped stone.

[Obtained Crystal Stone ×1]
It really was a crystal stone.
If she hadn’t taken a second look, she would’ve completely missed it.

To think such a valuable item could be found lying around the lake.
Yun Luohe kept her eyes peeled and carefully inspected every stone along the shoreline—but didn’t find any more crystal stones.
So it had just been a coincidence.

Even so, she had already gained far more than expected from this trip.
It was only a bit past 4 PM. She still had time to check out a few more areas, inspect the traps, eat something, and chop down a few more trees before heading back.
She’d gathered so many things this time. There was a mountain of work waiting back on the reef—she could hardly wait.

Once out of the cave, Yun Luohe headed straight for the trap.
From a distance, she already felt something was off.
There were a few wild chicken feathers inside the trap, and some bloodstains too—but no chicken. On top of that, the area was a mess of random footprints.

Strange!
Where’s the chicken?
Could it have escaped…?
Impossible.

Yun Luohe dismissed that thought immediately.
Because there were clearly other animal tracks nearby…
But the prints looked blurry, like they’d been intentionally trampled over.

Yun Luohe picked up the trap and tried to follow the trail of blood on the ground. After tracking it for a few dozen meters, she came across a pile of chicken feathers.
……
Was someone else on the island?

Didn’t seem like it. If another player had been here, why didn’t they take the trap too?
If it were her, she definitely would’ve taken the trap along with the chicken.