Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

Sapphires could be used to craft high-grade armor and weapons.
That piece of intel came from a high-level player who had obtained the blueprint for the Stardust Set. One of the required materials was Sapphire.
In addition, crafting AI Chipsets also required Sapphire Fragments.
And AI Chipsets were an essential material for building the Robot Butler.
At present, Blue Crystal Ore was still rare, so no one knew that grinding it with the Grinding Machine had a chance of producing Sapphire Fragments.
Yun Luohe decided to test it herself. Over the next few days, she would grind 20 Blue Crystal Ore each day and record the drop rate.
While feeding Blue Crystal Ore into the grinder, she sent a message to Si Qi, asking her to assign a team to develop Bio-Batteries. Since Si Qi was a biologist, it shouldn’t be difficult. As long as Yun gave her the recipe, she should be able to produce them quickly and far more efficiently than Yun could on her own.
Next, Yun Luohe contacted Du Ruan-tian.
Through her, she received a list of apparatus currently available for trade from the European Emperor Association.
Du Ruan-tian already knew Yun Luohe was connected with the Mutual Aid Association—possibly even its hidden founder. But she didn’t see herself as an enemy just because she was in the European Emperor Association.
On the contrary, she admired Yun Luohe even more and wanted to cooperate with her as much as possible.
After their last joint expedition, she had realized her own combat power was too weak. Since then she had been training hard. Her Strength had improved drastically—she was no longer a player who survived only on luck.
So if Yun Luohe needed help, and the task wasn’t unreasonable, she would always lend a hand.
Besides, the disasters were bound to grow harsher. The players’ survival environment would only worsen. High-level players needed to unite and cooperate.
There was no reason to keep distance just because their associations were different.
As Vice President of the European Emperor Association, Du Ruan-tian’s view had influenced others in her group as well.
Originally, their members had looked down on the “unlucky” Mutual Aid Association players. But with the Mutual Aid Association’s rise, many of those players had become top-tier, while the European Emperor Association’s death rate climbed. That sense of crisis had humbled them.
After all, in this apocalyptic survival game, if you relied only on luck without real strength, one day you were bound to flip over and die.
The list Du Ruan-tian sent contained over twenty items, including cooking utensils, gathering tools, furniture sets, and two anti-radiation devices.
——[Diatom Filtration Respirator, Sonic Resonance Pickaxe, Low-Temperature Molecular Preservation Box, Massage Chair, Double-Burner Gas Stove, Reef Monitoring Projector, Folding Sofa Bed, Rechargeable Soil Compactor…]
Yun Luohe picked ten, marked the quantities she needed, and sent the list back. She also sent her own list of apparatus for Du Ruan-tian to choose from.
The two quickly completed the trade.
Yun Luohe kept one copy of each item she needed and sent extras to Mu Zitang and Cheng Xuening.
She had meant them as gifts, but the two were embarrassed to take them for free, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ and sent her food and basic gear in return.
Sorting supplies kept Yun Luohe busy until late at night. By the time she lay down, she was exhausted.
——
Summer, Day 29.
At six in the morning, the system blared an alarm.
Along with a high-temperature warning came a thunderstorm warning.
On the final two days of summer, the temperature spiked again, and thunderstorm frequency surged. The odds of lightning striking reefs increased dramatically.
Many players who hadn’t upgraded their bases were hit.
A lightning strike dealt devastating damage to a reef—igniting buildings, panicking animals, sending them bolting from barns and coops, only to collapse from dehydration in the heat or even drop dead from fright when lightning cracked overhead.
The disaster escalation didn’t affect high-level players too badly, but for the lower ranks it was catastrophic.

New players were wiped out in droves.
Within just a few hours, District 2 lost several thousand online players.
Yun Luohe and her teammates had planned to head into the desert early, but the disaster delayed them. They stayed busy shoring up the reef.
Still, her first priority that morning was to plant the Starwish Seed.
She carefully retrieved it.
At the prepared plot of Black-Gold Soil, she dug a moderate pit, placed the seed inside, and gently covered it with fine soil—only a thin layer, to help the sprout break through quickly.
Her hands were exceedingly careful. After covering, she followed the compendium’s instructions and poured in 10 ml of Golden Nutrient Solution.
Meanwhile, the new workshops were already running.
Last night, she had posted buy orders at the Trade Hub to collect raw ingredients: wild vegetables, chili peppers, fruits, honey.
With those, the workshops would produce agricultural goods.
Not only easy to store, these would also restore stamina and strength—sure to sell well in the market.
And the kiln’s clay jars and bricks could be traded for other resources without issue.
Yun Luohe planned to set aside part of the workshop output every three days to list at the market. She also intended to rotate in a batch of her own dishes. Recently, other players had been asking in chats why she hadn’t posted any new ones.
She didn’t even need to respond herself—others jumped in to answer for her.
——
Noon was the hottest time of the day.
The temperature soared to 68°C. If they went to the desert now, the sand would probably be smoking hot.
Most players, after collecting their consecutive login rewards, had no desire to enter the desert.
That noon, the Desert Event leaderboard was released.
Yun Luohe’s team ranked #1 in District 2, #3 overall across all districts.
Their score trailed #2 by just over 800 points.
But they were still 1,300 points behind #1.
With only two days left, catching up by hundreds of points wasn’t impossible. With the right methods, it might even be easy.
But just as her team was striving, the squads above them weren’t going to sit idle. Others would chase hard too.
The final outcome wouldn’t be clear until the very end.
When the rankings dropped, their team chat exploded with messages.
Mu Zitang: “We need to hurry to the desert. A few hundred points isn’t much—if we mine enough Blue Crystal Ore, we can catch up.”
Yang Mian: “I can kill more sandworms and scorpions. Wipe out a sandworm nest, that should give a lot of points.”
Qin Sisi: “Everything at the reef is settled. I’m ready to go anytime.”
Cheng Xuening: “I think we should plan carefully once we get there. With six hours, do we split up or move together?”
Yun Luohe: “We still have hundreds of Desert Shards and nearly a hundred Desert Cores. We can cash them all in for Oasis coordinates at once. Then send two people to the nearest oasis to collect resources for points.”
“And the others?”
Yun Luohe: “Leave one at the Blue Crystal vein to mine. I have a mission to complete that should yield points, and I’ll also use the Blue Crystal Lizard to scout more veins.”
“And the last?”
“Assigned to kill sandworms, scorpions, and sand rats.”
——
With the plan set, Yun Luohe’s group entered the desert again.
This time they were teleported into the same cave where they had mined yesterday.
They agreed that Cheng Xuening would remain.
Qin Sisi, with her Animal Affinity trait, would search for desert creature nests. Yang Mian would accompany her to hunt for points.
Yun Luohe and Mu Zitang would head for the oasis. At the oasis, Mu Zitang would stay to gather resources while Yun Luohe searched nearby veins and hunted for Liu Xiaoluo.
They had six hours. Every second counted.
The leaderboard updated in real time.
On the chat channels, players were already dissecting the point rules.
“Killing ten sandworms for a single point? That’s stingy.”
“I picked tons of cacti and only got two points.”
“So how do you rack points fast?”
“Oasis animal captures are best. I caught an ostrich and got ten points.”
“Forget it. At this point where am I supposed to find an oasis?”
…
When Yun Luohe and Mu Zitang emerged from the cave, the desert heat was brutal. The sand underfoot felt hot enough to burn through their heatproof boots.
The air shimmered, twisted by heat waves. The sky itself had turned amber.
Yun Luohe had already traded shards for five Oasis coordinates.
Opening her map, she saw them glowing. The nearest one was northwest, three kilometers away.
Normally, a half-hour walk.
But in this weather, it would take longer.
Thunderstorms made the desert eerie and menacing. Lightning and thunder flashed without warning. A direct strike with no defenses meant instant elimination.
Yun Luohe and Mu Zitang pressed forward across the scorching sand, their stamina draining fast.
The blazing sun hammered down. The air temperature had climbed to 70°C. The cold drinks in their packs turned to warm water before they could drink them.
After half an hour, Yun Luohe’s vision was blurring.
Mu Zitang was taking deep, labored breaths, close to collapse.
Yun Luohe quickly pulled out golden-quality food from her backpack. After eating, their strength returned and their pace quickened.
Just as the oasis came into sight, Yun Luohe suddenly stopped and grabbed Mu Zitang’s arm.
A lightning bolt smashed into the ground barely half a meter ahead.
If they hadn’t stopped, they would have been struck.
Mu Zitang’s face went pale. He let out a shaky breath. “That was close!”
Yun Luohe narrowed her eyes, focusing on a depression in the sand dunes a hundred meters ahead.
A charred figure lay there.
Thin, frail—probably another explorer, struck down by lightning.
“Should we check?” Mu Zitang whispered, having noticed it too.
“Let’s go. Maybe they’re still alive.”
Yun Luohe quickened her pace.
They reached the collapsed figure.
Yun Luohe crouched, lifted him up, and saw a torn backpack scattered with tools and parts. The bag was still bulging, clearly packed with more inside.