Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

The sandworm larvae surged forward like a tide, countless wriggling bodies crawling up their legs.
Though the larvae themselves had little attack power, if left unchecked, the toxins coating their bodies would soon cause no small amount of trouble.
Yun Luohe’s pupils constricted sharply.
She quickly pulled a self-made flamethrower from her pack. In an instant, tongues of orange-red fire licked across the front row of larvae. The stench of charred flesh mixed with rot rushed straight at them.
Yu Chenjin swung his zen staff. The weapon had been modified with some unknown special material; the crystal core at its head burst forth with a gale sharp as blades, sweeping the incoming swarm into the air and shredding them to pieces.
The others swung their weapons, smashing the eggs into splatters of green slime.
Yun Luohe suddenly shouted, “Not good! This slime releases poison gas! Put on your masks, quick!”
Only then did the others notice faint purple vapor seeping from the ruptured eggs. The moment it touched skin, it left swelling red welts.
“Look over there!” Mu Zitang suddenly cried out.
The purple smoke was condensing into a solid °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° form—at the very spot where the phantom had just appeared.
A gigantic larval body, curled up, emerged.
“What is that?”
“Looks like… the true body of the Sandworm Queen.”
Qin Sisi’s voice trembled: “I can feel it—the altar is sucking away our life force. The Sandworm Queen can resurrect through that larval body!”
Only then did Yun Luohe notice the dark red lines creeping along the ground, branching out from their footprints like pulsing veins.
She decisively drew her hunting knife and slammed it down against the altar, trying to destroy it.
But it had no effect.
Yu Chenjin also raised his zen staff and smashed down. At best, it only left a crack—far from breaking the formation.
The red lines flared with light, and the cavern filled with a rancid stench.
The sandworms they had slain began to tremble, as though about to revive.
“What do we do? It looks like the Sandworm Queen is about to resurrect!”
Yun Luohe had only one thought.
The altar had to be destroyed.
She thought of the Damaged Thunderwhirl Trident. Though not yet fully repaired, it had absorbed the energy of a single [Thunderstorm Stone]. Perhaps… it might work.
It was the best weapon she had. No better option remained. Yun Luohe immediately pulled the trident from her golden sharkskin pack.
She lifted it high and brought it crashing down on the crack Yu Chenjin had left with his staff.
Mu Zitang rushed forward, shouting, “Everyone, together!”
The instant the trident struck, lightning erupted, thunderous force blasting sparks across the altar. The crack widened, and the others joined in, hammering away with their weapons.
Finally, the Sandworm Queen’s body above the altar wavered between solid and phantom. The suspended eggs quivered violently.
At that critical moment, Yang Mian pointed at the shifting phantom and shouted in alarm: “Not good—it’s growing again! It’s turning into a human form!”
He was pointing at the Sandworm Queen.
Yun Luohe increased the speed of her strikes.
The Sandworm Queen, unwilling to let its ritual be ruined, poured energy into hastening the transformation.
But doing so weakened it.
Yun Luohe sensed the danger pressing in. She knew one thing for certain—they must not let the Sandworm Queen truly revive. The one they had met before at the spring might only have been a copy, or not the real Queen at all.
She gritted her teeth. A plan struck her.
“Attack the stone gate! Knock down the crystals embedded there!”
Though the gate was shut, destroying it could still shake the crystals and crystal cores loose. She had noticed earlier that the grooves were not firm.
Yun Luohe and Yu Chenjin stayed behind to assault the altar. The others turned to hammer the stone gate.
The Queen’s accelerated rebirth twisted its body into a grotesque half-human, half-insect form. Its upper body was vaguely human, but its limbs were covered with chitinous claws, its head neither insect nor human, with a mane like withered grass.
It was close to gaining the freedom to move—and could already command the sandworms to rise again.

Under its direction, the smaller worms grew more powerful.
It turned its gaze on Yun Luohe and Yu Chenjin. Sensing their strength, it drove the swarm against them.
Luckily, Yúntūn and Roubao held some of them at bay, or Yun Luohe would have had no hands free.
But the sandworms kept spewing poisonous mist. Even through gas masks, they all began to show signs of poisoning.
The worms’ green slime splattered across their masks with a corrosive “zzzt.”
Yun Luohe realized—the Queen was sending its brood to die like moths to flame, using their slime to corrode the masks.
This was bad. Their odds of survival plummeted.
She glanced at the murals carved into the stone walls. Symbols and twisted worm-shapes she had not understood before now made sense.
The crystals they had placed in the gate grooves—she had helped the Sandworm Queen revive.
This was indeed a treasure cave. The chest was real.
But they might not leave alive.
“The gas is seeping through!” Qin Sisi’s voice was faint.
In moments, the purple haze condensed into liquid, seeping through the seams of their masks and trickling down their collars.
Yang Mian staggered and fell, his arm erupting in red blotches that quickly merged. He tore off his mask, desperate to breathe, but the smoke choked him into violent coughing.
Just as Yun Luohe thought this time they might truly perish—
Voices echoed from outside.
Someone else had arrived?
The group exchanged looks, shocked at the sudden chance of salvation.
If the outsiders opened the stone gate, they could escape.
But things were never that simple.
The Sandworm Queen had no intention of letting them be rescued—not before devouring them.
Within its illusions, no sound from inside could reach beyond.
The trident’s lightning clashed violently with the altar’s glowing red lines, scattering sparks.
Yun Luohe poured her strength into it. The altar was nearly broken—she had to push further.
The Queen’s warped half-human body flickered in and out within the haze. It did not need to attack them itself. It merely directed its brood.
But Yun Luohe’s nose suddenly bled. Her body was weakening, her breath ragged. If this continued, she would faint.
Fortunately, Yu Chenjin beside her seemed in far better condition.
She remembered—his body was different. Enhanced. Perhaps through some fortune he had grown even stronger.
Yun Luohe quickly pressed the trident into his hands, whispering, “Take this. You must destroy the altar.”
She was no longer certain it would even matter—the Queen had already revived.
But she had no other choice. Her instincts screamed—the altar must not remain. The Queen’s rebirth hinged upon it.
Yu Chenjin took the trident. Zen staff in one hand, trident in the other, he struck in alternating blows. Finally, the altar split in two.
The Sandworm Queen shrieked, its insect limbs clawing sparks from the ground.
The sound pierced through the cavern—those outside could hear it too.
It worked!
Yun Luohe’s heart surged with hope. She pinched her arm hard to keep from collapsing.
Now the Queen’s upper body was fully human in shape, though wormlike markings writhed faintly beneath its skin.
But with the altar destroyed, its form wavered.
The barrier sealing the cave shattered.
Outsiders could now hear, and see the stone gate.
They noticed the rare crystals embedded there and, greedily, pried them free.
At once, the cavern quaked.
The Queen’s body blurred back into phantom.
Simultaneously, the entire nest convulsed. Sand rained from above like a storm, pounding down upon them.
Yet this was hope itself. Even struck, they were glad.
After the tremors, the right-hand sand wall collapsed inward, revealing a massive pit—and a tunnel.
The others were badly poisoned. Yun Luohe forced herself to rally them to retreat.
Yu Chenjin seized her wrist. “We have to go. The cave is about to collapse.”
But Yun Luohe’s gaze clung to the treasure chest.
She looked at Yúntūn. No words were needed. It understood.
Two thick silk threads shot toward the chest, wrapping it tight.
Just then, the ground split open with jagged cracks. Dark red energy spewed like magma, as if determined to bury them here.
The sandworms surged again, stacking their bodies into a wall to block escape.
But Yúntūn’s speed was great enough.
Yu Chenjin shoved the weakened Yun Luohe toward the tunnel, sweeping his staff in a wide arc, hurling sand and worms aside, before leaping in after her.
Three seconds later, the cave roof collapsed in a thunderous roar.
Exhausted, they swallowed antidotes and rations in the tunnel. Their stamina had been drained to nothing by the desperate assault on altar and gate.
After a short rest, they pressed forward—only to find a dead end minutes later.
They prepared to dig upward with tools, or else wait until desert time ended to return to the reef.
If nothing else, they could wait it out.
At least they weren’t trapped forever. If the desert cycle reset, they could refuse to return.
But just then, the system’s voice sounded:
【Consume Desert Crystal Core ×10 to teleport out of the Sandworm Queen’s Treasure Cave.】
Stunned, everyone pulled out their cores. They all had enough.
White light flashed. In an instant, they stood upon the desert sands.
By now, they had been inside more than five hours. They could either return, or linger one more hour to explore.
“Why don’t we open the chest, then head back?” someone suggested.
All were drained. Even with food to restore stamina, they needed rest.
There was nothing else worth staying for.
Yun Luohe also wanted to return and prepare—she still had to visit the night market later.
Mu Zitang groaned, “Yeah. I’m fine with that.” He was thoroughly worn out.
“I’ve no objection,” said another.
“But this chest—Yúntūn retrieved it. Shouldn’t we just leave it to Yun Luohe?” Qin Sisi said softly. Without her, none of them would have made it out alive.
Yun Luohe shook her head. “No, we’ll still split it. If not for the coordinates from the last chest, we wouldn’t even have come here. I share responsibility.”
Cheng Xuening added, “Exactly. We took the benefit—we also share the risk.”
“Then let’s open it first,” someone said. “Same rules. Yun Luohe picks first, then we divide.”
Yun Luohe had a strong feeling this chest would contain something valuable.
Qin Sisi lifted the chest. “It needs a key.”
Yun Luohe immediately produced one herself, unlocking it.
Others reached for their own keys, but she was faster.
Still, Qin Sisi made no complaint.
Brilliant light burst from within.
[Obtained: Sandworm Queen’s Shedding ×5; Magnetic Storm Vein Core ×1; Symbiosis Crystal ×3; Thunderstorm Stone ×1; Desert Ruins Map Fragment ×1; Ancient Civilization Stone Tablet ×1]
[Sandworm Queen’s Shedding: Can be used to craft top-tier armor; key material for Desert Wings.]
[Magnetic Storm Vein Core: Can refine into Magnet ×500. Place in a mining field for one hour to generate a permanent vein.]
[Ancient Civilization Stone Tablet: Records stories linking the desert to the undersea ruins.]
Yun Luohe’s smile spread wide.
It was a stroke of fortune that she had ordered Yúntūn to take the chest.
Otherwise, all these treasures would have been lost forever.