Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

“Don’t rush. Wait a little longer.”
Seeing everyone so anxious, Yun Luohe remained calm. After sending her message, she went on with her work.
Before departure, Yun Luohe completed her trade with Lin Zhu for the Dark Cuisine Recipe.
She gave him one Fire Dragon Scale and two bags of Star Sand.
She had plenty of Star Sand now; giving up a little was no problem.
As for the Fire Dragon Scales, she still had two left. Even if she needed them later, it should be enough—Lin Zhu had only asked for one anyway.
Lin Zhu quickly sent over the Dark Cuisine Recipe.
It was a thin, pure-black recipe book.
When she opened it, she found the pages were entirely hand-drawn, with each recipe illustrated, and the text written in black feather-quill script. The dark, mysterious style was carried through to the end.
The contents were jaw-dropping.
[Spider-Silk Frog Egg Porridge: Sticky spider silk mixed with soft, bouncy frog eggs. One mouthful clogs your mouth instantly.
Ingredients: Mutant Frog Egg×3, Silver Spider Silk×1, Rice×1
Effect: Stamina −20, Strength +5, body temperature rises to 30 °C for 10 minutes.]
So the effects were both good and bad.
It seemed to burn stamina to heat the body, with a temporary strength boost.
And the ingredients were truly dark—frog eggs and spider silk. Just imagining the taste was revolting.
The description of the texture didn’t help.
The picture looked like… a puddle of sludge.
She flipped through several more pages, all more or less the same.
There was no “darkest,” only darker.
For example, grilled fish made with coffee grounds, rotting fish meat, garlic, and cilantro.
Eating it restored 50 stamina but reduced sanity by 30.
It was Yun Luohe’s first time seeing a “sanity” stat.
Did that mean there would later be things that directly affected mental state?
There was also Caviar-Moss Wine.
Just from the name, Yun Luohe felt resistance rising in her gut.
A taste one could hardly imagine without retching.
Her first thought was: this dish must have an insane effect!
Sure enough, eating it recovered 15 stamina per minute for five minutes,
raised maximum stamina to 120,
but the side effect was a sudden half-hour coma after one hour.
There were more than twenty such dark recipes.
Truly a bizarre assortment.
After reading through the whole book, she found only three dishes she could currently make.
The most suitable for the season was: Octopus Tentacle Mango-Coconut Ice.
Fresh octopus tentacles with ripe mango flesh, blended with coconut and ice into a shaved dessert.
Not only did it strongly cool the body, it also steadily restored stamina.
She happened to have all the ingredients, so she immediately set to work and made it.
[Unlocked Dark Cuisine. Cooking Skill Proficiency +300]
[Reward: Sour Radish, Sour Bean, Sour Bamboo Shoot Set×1]
With this in hand, she wouldn’t have to worry as much in the desert today.
Since there was still time, Yun Luohe made five servings in one go.
Each teammate would get one later.
She closed the recipe book, deciding to study it further after returning from the desert and prepare the rest of the dishes she could manage.
Just then, Tianji Pavilion’s intel finally arrived.
Yun Luohe received a comprehensive desert map package.
Before bed last night, she had already asked Tianji Pavilion to organize such information.
She had to make sure she could locate the array node;
a Teleportation Array map alone wasn’t enough.

So this desert intel was critical.
Now with the data in hand, Yun Luohe studied the entire desert’s map routes and was able to roughly pinpoint the array node’s position.
That way, she’d have a clear direction upon entering the desert.
Otherwise, without reference, even with the array map, she wouldn’t know which way to go.
——
Entering the desert.
Heat waves and yellow sand crashed against her face; the very wind was scorching, like stepping into an oven.
“It’s too hot. I can’t take this.”
“The food Yun gave us is powerful, but honestly, I don’t dare eat it.”
“Yeah, pretty dark. That octopus tentacle is still moving.”
“Dark or not, the effects are good. If we can’t endure, we’ll eat it. Today’s heat is outrageous—ordinary food won’t keep us going for long.”
“True. Close your eyes and maybe it tastes fine.”
Yun Luohe narrowed her eyes, carefully reading the desert intel again before preparing to split up with the others.
Before they parted, she reminded them firmly:
“Stay in contact. If you run into other teams, don’t fight head-on and don’t expose our squad identity. Everyone carry a flare—if you’re scattered and in danger, fire immediately.”
She worried other teams, knowing they were in second place, might deliberately sabotage them, or seeing their strength, team up to seize their supplies.
“Got it, we understand.”
“Right, Luohe—”
Yun Luohe nodded slightly.
After watching them go, she set out alone toward the array node.
Today’s heat was the highest yet. The sand underfoot glowed orange-red, each step consuming more energy than usual.
The sun blazed overhead, scorching her body.
Finally, Yun Luohe could stand it no longer and pulled out the Octopus Tentacle Mango-Coconut Ice.
In this weather she couldn’t wait a second longer—she had to stuff it straight into her mouth.
The octopus tentacles still wriggled on her tongue, paired with the sweet mango. Apart from being a little tough to chew, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
The seafood sweetness didn’t really match the fruit, but Yun Luohe had no time to care about flavor.
What mattered was how good it felt.
[Obtained “Cooling Shelter” effect for 15 minutes. Restores 5 stamina per minute for 8 minutes.]
Her body eased, and her pace quickened.
After about an hour’s walk, she came upon a strange cluster of sand sculptures. Some resembled giant spiders, some bats, sharks, mermen, and twisted humanoids. The desert winds had scoured their surfaces into rough ridges.
Yun Luohe’s eyes narrowed. This terrain matched a mark on her map.
So she was on the right track.
Those sculptures couldn’t have formed naturally.
But this was a game—normal logic didn’t apply.
She studied her comprehensive desert intel again. It marked such unusual sites as clue points.
Near this cluster was another area labeled “Quicksand Forbidden Zone,” with a huge red X.
Obviously dangerous.
Yet judging by her array node estimates, that was the path she had to take.
Without hesitation, she pressed forward. Taking another route might mean never reaching her destination.
So she moved carefully along the edge of the forbidden zone, testing each step.
Fortunately, her [Perception] never failed her. Whenever danger loomed beneath her feet, she felt it and adjusted her step.
Her pace slowed, but no mishaps.
After ten minutes, a sudden gale lifted a wall of sand, blinding her view.
When it cleared, she saw an old stone tablet not far away.
Symbols carved upon it—identical to those on the Ancient Civilization Tablet!
She was close!
Suppressing her excitement, Yun Luohe quickened her steps.
Ahead lay a black-obsidian disk—the array node.
She pulled out the Desert Teleportation Array Blueprint. The node responded with a humming vibration.
Perfect.
She could build it here.
Yun Luohe set the blueprint, materials automatically deducted from her inventory.
The array flared gold, then a countdown appeared.
Four hours.
That was exactly the time she had left in the desert.
She checked her watch. Off by a second or two—she wasn’t sure.
If the system force-teleported her back to the Reef before ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the array finished, everything would be wasted.
Tension twisted in her chest.
She asked her teammates in chat if they remembered the precise time.
Their estimates matched hers, but no one knew the exact seconds.
Troublesome.
Forget it. She couldn’t just stand idle for four hours. She’d have to stay nearby, dig for treasure, do something.
But she couldn’t stray too far. If someone sabotaged the array, it’d be a disaster.
Until it completed, she had to stay.
So Yun Luohe activated [Scanning Eye] to check for nearby resources.
Immediately, she sensed danger behind her.
She whipped out the Thunder Vortex Trident—three desert lizards burst from the sand.
Covered in earth-colored scales, they blended perfectly into the dunes. Without [Scanning Eye], she would only have noticed when they struck.
These things could hide their presence, no wonder she hadn’t sensed them sooner.
Their vertical crimson pupils locked onto her. Not good.
Each stood half her height, their teeth black-green with venom.
But Yun Luohe remembered a recipe from the Dark Cuisine Recipe—Lizard Venom Fang Soup, made with mutant lizard fangs and cactus sap.
Its effect: radiation resistance.
Excellent.
Danger always carried opportunity.
These lizards had come at the perfect time.
Yun Luohe smirked and sidestepped the nearest bite.
Her Thunder Vortex Trident drove into its skull.
Though meant for sea beasts, the weapon tore through the non-boss creature easily—killing it in one strike.
A high-grade weapon indeed.
One mutant lizard fang dropped at once.
She turned to the other two.
They were smarter, circling to flank. One suddenly spat highly corrosive venom.
Yun Luohe rolled aside. The venom hit sand, raising a plume of white smoke.
Potent poison.
The first kill had also dropped some mutant lizard meat. If she killed the rest, she could roast it for later.
She vaulted behind another lizard, planted her trident in the sand for leverage, and used it to smash down hard.
Three lizards slain.
Her score ticked up—
+50 points. Not bad.
These mutant lizards were worth far more than sandworms or scorpions.
But when she reopened the leaderboard, the top squad still had 1,000 more points than hers.
Despite her team’s hard grinding—points steadily rising—the District 1 squad’s total was skyrocketing.
She couldn’t bet everything on the Teleportation Array. She needed to push the score herself.
Whether they took first or not, she had to try.
Her eyes swept the desert.
If only she could find more of these mutant lizards.
Three kills = 50 points. What about a hundred?
That was the thought burning in her mind.
If there was a nest nearby…
She had to look.
Yun Luohe activated [Scanning Eye] again.
This time she expanded it to maximum range, scanning a wide area—but found nothing.
Then she changed her approach, probing deeper.