Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

“Did you think the island only had plants and beasts? You’re dead wrong!
This time I went to Mechanical Island, and it’s insanely cool!!!
Next, I’ll be livestreaming everything I saw and heard on Mechanical Island. It’ll definitely blow your mind!”
The post was highly detailed and even attached multiple scenic photos of Mechanical Island.
There were countless replies beneath it, and Yun Luohe finished looking through all of the images. Among them was even a place she hadn’t been to yet.
But this poster hadn’t found the tree hollow Yun Luohe had discovered, or perhaps simply hadn’t noticed it.
Either way, she was definitely going back to Mechanical Island again.
On impulse, she left a comment under the post, sharing some of her own experiences from Mechanical Island—
for example, important resource gathering points and methods to deal with dangers.
Then she closed that post and opened another.
“Full-throttle action! Direct footage of a life-or-death adventure on Lizard Island!”
The poster there had uploaded only videos, making it far more vivid.
The footage showed giant lizards swarming in packs. Their skin was bluish green, and all their eyes had vertical pupils. They looked terrifying, and each one was aggressive.
Yun Luohe watched with great interest, though the video wasn’t complete, so many players flooded the comments urging for updates.
As for night market posts, they weren’t anything special to patrolling players, but for those who had never gone, they were full of intrigue.
Many left messages asking how to reach the night market.
The last trending post was originally from a player with a [Teammate Boarding Card] looking for a survival partner to land on an island together. What began as simple chatter ended up turning into a large-scale matchmaking thread.
“Going to an island alone is too lonely! Come team up with me for an adventure full of joy! I’m from the northeast, outgoing, a bit of a chatterbox… hoping to find someone just like me, an extrovert.”
Yun Luohe quickly exited.
She opened the chat channel and noticed a recruitment message:
“Day after tomorrow I’ll be using a designated Boarding Card to head to the Summer Island. Players with [Teammate Boarding Cards] and reliable strength, please DM me—let’s explore advanced resources together.”
The moment it appeared, players responded in droves.
“I’ve got a Teammate Card! I can gather and I have mining skills! Sign me up.”
“Wait, is that Yun Luohe? Yun Luohe’s openly looking for a partner?!”
“Boss, pick me! My trait has healing effects—I can protect you, heal you, and I’ve got a [Teammate Boarding Card] too!”
One after another, friend requests poured in.
It was dizzying, but Yun Luohe only added the few she felt had the strongest overall capabilities.
Some of her friends also messaged her privately.
Wu Jing, Lin Zhu, and Bai Yuemian all claimed they had [Teammate Boarding Cards].
This time, Yun Luohe’s destination was Strawberry Island. It didn’t just have a maze, a thorny swamp, and giant venomous wasps—it was highly dangerous. She needed at least one teammate with decent combat strength, someone who wouldn’t drag her down.
Of course, Luck mattered as well. After all, to secure more resources, Luck was a critical factor.
Wu Jing’s Luck value was high, but his combat power was weak, and his trait—a burst of speed—was practically useless.
Yun Luohe wasn’t eager to bring him.
Lin Zhu, with whom she had cooperated several times before, was a solid partner.
But this time he insisted on bringing another person, and wherever he was headed, she’d have to go along.
Yun Luohe wasn’t willing.
There were too many resources on Strawberry Island she had set her sights on: giant strawberries, golden royal jelly, and the ancient tree altar’s chest. She wanted them all. Adding another person meant splitting them further.
Her idea was that this time, she would remain the main beneficiary of the expedition. She would bring along just one helper, offer them some resources they needed, and in exchange receive their assistance—while she kept priority rights on all island spoils. Unfortunately, none of her association members had [Teammate Boarding Cards].
So this needed to be negotiated.
After turning Lin Zhu down, Yun Luohe narrowed her choice to Bai Yuemian and another girl.
When speaking with both of them, Bai Yuemian was far more proactive.
“I really want to team up with you to land on the island!”
“Please consider me—I’m begging you!”
She even proposed giving up her share of island resources if Yun Luohe would just provide her with twenty servings of high-grade food—the same kind Yun Luohe had just listed on the trade center.
Furthermore, Bai Yuemian introduced nearly all her personal stats without holding anything back.
They were solid: combat strength above average, Luck over 80.
Most importantly, her trait was excellent.
After her [Resolute] trait awakened, she gained a new skill:
When hunger and thirst became severe, her speed and strength both increased.
If stamina points fell below 20, all resource gathering speed tripled, and during that time stamina points would not decrease, lasting for five hours.
In other words, once she dropped below 20 stamina, instead of replenishing it, a buff triggered. For five hours, she could consume stamina endlessly without it dropping.
But the side effect was harsh: once the five hours ended, she would collapse into a 24-hour coma.
So normally she never used it. As long as she kept her stamina above 20, there was no issue.
But on an expedition, the ×3 gathering speed was extremely useful.
With it, she could harvest vast quantities of strawberries in no time.
In the end, Yun Luohe chose to team up with Bai Yuemian. She set the departure time for 8 a.m. the day after tomorrow and shared some intel about Strawberry Island, urging Bai Yuemian to prepare in advance.
Bai Yuemian was ecstatic.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make full preparations. You can count on me.”
She had been quietly following Yun Luohe for a long time.
Though she had added Yun Luohe as a friend, she never dared disturb her without reason. She hadn’t expected Yun Luohe to be looking for a partner now—and she just happened to have a [Teammate Boarding Card]. So she mustered her courage to send the message.
Since she had already taken that step, she decided to go all in.

She hadn’t expected it to actually succeed.
She felt incredibly lucky.
Immediately, she shared the news with her in-game friends.
——
That night, before finishing her day, Yun Luohe recycled the massive pile of gathered resources using the [Trash Can] upgrade function.
The appearance of those high-grade foods caused a sensation in the Mutual Aid Association. Rumors had already spread that Yun Luohe was the association’s hidden founder. Some in the chat suspected as much, but no one had confirmed it—and Yun Luohe herself would never admit it. So it remained speculation.
For association members, obtaining high-grade food was far easier than for other players. They only needed to exchange designated resources of low value—things everyone collected daily. Since this would happen again many times, it wasn’t costly.
As a result, all the food was quickly exchanged away, and Yun Luohe received several hundred resources in return.
She let Roubao toss out the ordinary junk, but handled the electronic scrap and broken schematics herself.
Then she performed her daily lottery draw.
Today’s result: one blueprint—[Incubator Blueprint ×1].
[Incubator: Accelerates poultry egg hatching; juvenile survival rate +30%]
[Materials: High-Grade Hardwood ×20, Insulation Cotton ×6, Temperature Control Chip ×1, Battery Pack ×2]
By midnight she still hadn’t finished opening all her shells.
Then came the chime of a Reef upgrade success.
The moment she heard it, Yun Luohe stopped what she was doing.
【Reef Upgrade Successful.】
【Congratulations! You are the third player in Zone 2 (first place) to upgrade your Reef to Level 8!】
【Rewards: Rare Furniture Blind Box ×3, High-Grade Livestock Pen Blueprint ×1, Complete High-Grade Planting Compendium ×1, Fishing Encyclopedia ×1, Silo Blueprint ×1, Mutant Plant Cultivation Base ×1, Reef Base Robot Butler Blueprint ×1】
Excellent. First place again!
Yun Luohe’s eyes went straight to the rewards.
Though not many in number, each was a top-quality prize.
[Reef Level: 8
Area: 10,000 sqm
Rating: 505 points
Upgrade Requirements: High-Grade Hardwood ×100,000; Iron Ore ×5,000; Copper Ore ×5,000; Blue Crystal Ore ×100; Geocrystal ×100; Ruby ×100; Reef Rating 1,000]
Yun Luohe wanted to step outside to inspect the changes, but it was pitch dark. Even with lights, visibility was poor. Yet she was still shocked.
At Level 7, the Reef was already massive, with an ecosystem forming. Now at Level 8, it had become a small island.
She stood at its center. In the distance lay a stretch of sandy beach lined with coconut trees she had planted earlier.
The former shell-harvesting site had turned into a high cliff battered by crashing waves.
At its edge stretched a salt-alkali zone, covered in mutant seaweed.
In the forest, her sea buckthorn and red willow had grown tall, with new saplings sprouting.
The aloe and cactus could now all be harvested.
The greenhouse and livestock pen hadn’t changed much, but the forest was visibly broader. By daylight, the transformation would be even clearer. The villa, however, had completely changed—it was now a European-style luxury mansion. The courtyard and garden were overgrown with plants.
The wider scenery would have to wait until tomorrow.
The Tidal Windmill hummed, the villa’s lights were bright, and every workshop kept working as long as materials were supplied.
The chicken coop and livestock pen were silent; all the animals asleep.
The hot sea breeze carried the sound of rustling treetops and crashing surf, instilling a rare sense of peace.
If this was Level 8, she couldn’t imagine what the final stage would look like. But the next upgrade’s requirements were multiplied yet again.
【At Level 8, certain zones are immune to disasters. Players can plant crops, raise livestock, and cultivate fish year-round regardless of season.】
The system prompt stunned her.
Searching around, she found the mentioned area: a wild clearing of several hundred square meters, overgrown with weeds and scattered with rocks. The soil was moist, unlike the dry, cracked earth elsewhere.
It was perfect for new planting and breeding zones.
Returning indoors, she found the interior changes minor compared to outside, but still notable. With modern furniture and appliances, and some finishing touches, the villa could rival the mansions of the real world’s wealthiest.
Her favorite was the bedroom’s glass balcony, jutting outward, with an unobstructed view of the beach.
She moved on to inspect the rewards, each clearly high-grade.
[Rare Furniture Blind Box: Contains random rare furniture; boosts Reef Rating +50 per piece; no crafting needed; obtained instantly on opening.]
[High-Grade Livestock Pen Blueprint: Raise advanced animals; increased yield; chance to produce golden materials.]
[Materials: High-Grade Hardwood ×200, Iron Ore ×100, Crystal ×10, High-Grade Resin ×30]
[Complete High-Grade Planting Compendium: Four volumes. First three contain methods for planting, seed cultivation, pest control. Fourth unlocks rare plant cultivation methods.]
[Fishing Encyclopedia: A professional book covering fishing techniques, advanced fish habits, fishing spots. A must-have for fishing enthusiasts.]
[Silo Blueprint: Automated feed storage; 5,000-slot capacity; automatically refills feeders within 10 m.]
[Materials: Iron Plate ×500, Copper Wire ×200, Crystal ×50, Obsidian ×20]
[Mutant Plant Cultivation Base: Allows cultivation of mutant plants; environment increases mutation chance; supports hybrid varieties.]
[Materials: Glass ×300, Crystal ×50, Mutant Resin ×100, Sandworm Skin ×100]
[Reef Base Robot Butler Blueprint: Intelligent AI butler; automates planting, breeding, defense; can monitor all Reef conditions (harvestable crops, animal satiety, animal moods, building repair states…).]
[Materials: Electronic Parts ×200, Superconductive Cable ×10, Nano Alloy ×5, Crystal Core ×3, AI Chipset ×1, Blue Crystal Ore ×20, Bio-Battery ×10]
Every single one was premium. Especially the robot butler—having it would lighten her management burden immensely. With the Reef this vast and filled with structures and animals, she had too much on her plate. Even with Roubao and Yúntūn, she couldn’t handle everything alone.
But the materials were far from easy to gather.
She opened the rare furniture blind boxes first.
Out of the three, one was the Woven Starry Sky Hammock.
Exactly the one she had eyed at the night market but hadn’t bought.
She was overjoyed.
What a stroke of luck! That piece had been priced at 50,000 Sand Coins.
The details differed slightly from the night market version, but it still boosted meteor shower event chance.
And now, at midnight, the hammock had a special effect: fireflies floated and glimmered around it, dreamlike and beautiful.
The other two items were a Windproof Observation Pavilion and a Volcanic Rock Fireplace.
The first could forecast weather, though it needed a high-grade telescope, making it somewhat underwhelming.
The second was clearly for winter use, useless in the current heat.
As for the Fishing Encyclopedia, Yun Luohe studied it thoroughly.
The first pages explained fishing methods and rod types.
Her current rod turned out to be the most basic. It worked for ordinary fish, but rare species demanded both strength and skill. Fishing wasn’t brute force—it was technique.
High-grade rods made the process much easier.
A gold-tier rod could effortlessly haul up a shark, while a basic rod would never even get a bite from one.
Though her rod was the weakest, she now understood the techniques.
The latter sections described advanced fish species: yellowfin tuna, giant humphead wrasse…
Many she had never seen before. In the past she fished or netted common catches, but none of these.
Eight were rare deep-sea species, four were seasonal exclusives, six were giant high-grade fish, and two were high-risk fish. Some weren’t even marine, but freshwater, found only on specific islands.
Each species required a specific bait. Only with the right bait could it be caught.
The game clearly had far more depth than she’d imagined—even fishing held endless possibilities.
Fish meat was a premium ingredient. These rare cuts could unlock high-grade dishes, crucial for leveling her cooking.
Then she remembered she already had one high-grade bait:
[Phosphorescent Krill Bait: Summer-limited; usable only on stormy nights; 85% chance to catch Lightning Sailfish.]
She checked the encyclopedia entry:
[Lightning Sailfish:
Habitat: Summer shallow seas
Condition: Thunderstorm weather; must use Phosphorescent Krill Bait
Traits: 3 m long; dorsal fin triggers lightning when biting
Effect: Raw meat boosts movement speed +30% for 1 hour; can be used in gold-grade dish Lightning Sashimi Platter]
Perfect synergy with cooking.
And tonight was stormy. It was worth a try.
But sailfish couldn’t be caught from shore—she needed a boat.
——
It wasn’t too late yet, and night fishing had higher success rates. So Yun Luohe sailed out more than a hundred meters.
She baited her rod with the glowing krill, its faint blue light striking against the darkness.
As it sank into the waves, a massive bolt of lightning split the sea nearby.
Her sharp eyes caught the bait stirring.
Something huge was approaching.
The rod bent under an immense pull. Yun Luohe braced, pressing down with her body weight.
Then a silver shape burst from the water like lightning itself.
A three-meter fish, its body crackling with arcs, dorsal fin glowing. Each whip of its tail churned the waves into explosions of spray.
The struggle lasted twenty minutes. It felt less like she was fishing and more like the sailfish was toying with her.
Her rod was far too weak.
But recalling the techniques she had just read, she stopped pulling blindly. Each # Nоvеlight # time the fish thrashed, she gave slack. Each time it tired, she reeled in.
Her rod held firm. The fish never broke free.
Both waited for the other to collapse.
But Yun Luohe cheated. One hand gripped the rod, the other reached into her pack for food. Each time her stamina flagged, she restored it instantly, even eating strength-boosting meals.
No matter how long the fish fought, she would outlast it.
After forty minutes, she finally reeled the Lightning Sailfish in.
She dropped it straight into her pack.
【Congratulations! Lightning Sailfish entry unlocked.】
The illustrated encyclopedia in her inventory lit up, the sailfish icon glowing.
Nineteen fish icons remained black.
She wondered what reward awaited for completing the set. The idea thrilled her—she wanted them all.
Her next target was already chosen: the Thunder Catfish.
[Thunder Catfish
Habitat: Subterranean river beneath Thunderwood Forest
Condition: Thunderstorm weather; bait with Sand Scorpion Tail
Traits: Electric constitution; releases 100,000 volts when biting
Effect: Bones craftable into lightning-infused weapons; meat for gold-grade dish Thunder Catfish Meatball Soup]
If she got to Thunderstorm Island, she would head straight to Thunderwood Forest for it.
Were it not so late, she would’ve experimented with the sailfish’s gold-grade dish tonight. But tomorrow she needed to rise early. So she washed up and went to bed.
Tomorrow morning she would inspect the Reef’s changes in detail—and cook her first sailfish meal.
——
Summer, Day 26, 6:30 a.m.
Yun Luohe hadn’t slept long, but she was refreshed. Too many things weighed on her mind.
She opened her curtains. In the distance, the white beach stretched, coconut trees tall and heavy with fruit.
She hurried downstairs and discovered that the flowers and grass growing in the courtyard weren’t scorched by the blazing sun. Though they were only wild plants of little use, they delighted the eyes.
The forest was lush, alive with insects: flies, butterflies, cicadas, beetles.
Beyond it rose low hills. Perhaps, in time, they would grow into towering mountains.