Crossing To The Primitive With A Game Panel

Outside the control room, it’s still misty, but there’s a clear space in the middle. A few people, including Shan Pu, are staring blankly. Even though they know it’s a dream, they dare not move. When they see Lu Yu walking over, their expressions brighten.

“Witch!” Shan Pu runs over.

In the dream, he directly calls him “Witch”. He felt awkward calling him by his name before.

“What’s going on? How can I still see Le Shui and the others? Is this fake? Is this a dream?” Shan Pu is babbling like a pea shooter.

“You’re the fake one!” A tall, beautiful girl walks over and un-ladylike, knocks Shan Pu on the head. Then she quickly regains her composure and smiles at Lu Yu. “Witch.”

Lu Yu also smiles at her. She’s Xia Hua, Xia Cao’s sister. Although they’re sisters, their personalities are completely different. Xia Hua is more straightforward and fierce.

Lu Yu walks up to everyone and explains, “Sorry for not informing you in advance. The training ground can accommodate multiple people now, so that’s why I gathered everyone.”

Shan Pu rubs his sore head. “Multiple people training?”

Lu Yu continues, “I’m not sure about the specifics, but let’s first—”

“Whoosh~~”

Before he finishes his sentence, a gust of wind mixed with rolling sand blows over, dispersing the surrounding mist.

The scenery around them also becomes visible.

Endless yellow sand stretches as far as the eye can see, with sand dunes rising and falling. There’s no hint of greenery around, and the sky reflects a dry yellow color. The sun is nowhere to be seen, yet the temperature feels like there are two suns.

Shan Pu opens his mouth wide. “W-where is this…”

Even Lu Yu doesn’t know. It seems to be a large desert.

He furrows his brow and summons the panel in his mind.

A light blue screen appears before his eyes.

[Basic combat scenario simulation activated—Desert]

[Next scenario will only unlock after clearing this one]

[Countdown to clearance—72:00:00]

Below, there’s a [Start] button.

The information is scarce, but it seems the condition for clearance is spending three days in this desert.

Without much thought, Lu Yu presses start. It’s just a dream anyway, and he must clear it to unlock the next one. He saw the upgrade condition for the training ground earlier—it’s no longer about the number of training sessions and time, but about clearing the multi-player training ground three times to level up.

After pressing start, the countdown begins ticking.

Lu Yu glances at it and closes the panel. “We need to spend three days in this place.”

Shan Pu is shocked. “Huh???”

Xia Cao wasn’t shocked; instead, based on Lu Yu’s words, she quickly thought of the problem that would arise. “Witch, even though it’s a dream, we’ll still feel hungry and thirsty. There doesn’t seem to be any rivers here, and food…”

Lu Yu also thought about survival when he saw the task, but he wasn’t worried. Others might be in trouble, but he was a man with two storage rings filled with supplies.

“It’s okay,” Lu Yu said, preparing to take out a can of water from his storage ring.

A second later, his expression froze.

Lu Yu looked down at the ring on his finger, and his heart called out for a long time with no response. These two rings seemed no different from ordinary ones.

Could it be that the combat scenario disabled the storage rings?

“Witch?” Xia Cao said, puzzled.

Lu Yu clenched his fist and coughed. “Um, let’s quickly search nearby. As far as I know, places like this also have oases…”

Shan Pu snapped out of his shock and exclaimed enthusiastically, “Then let’s go!”

Everyone’s spirits were high. Although it was their first time in such a place, they were full of novelty, and they were strong and robust Matai people. They could survive in any environment!

Lu Yu’s expression, however, wasn’t as relaxed as before. Although he mentioned oases, blindly searching without preparation would be extremely difficult. He had initially thought that with sufficient supplies, it would be no problem in a few days. But now…

This level won’t be easy.

Lu Yu glanced at Tai Lie.

Tai Lie remained calm. “Let’s go.”

Lu Yu nodded.

The group randomly chose a direction and set off.

The simulated desert in the combat scenario was identical to the real desert.

Lu Yu and the others were dressed in vests and shorts, their skin exposed to the merciless sand and wind. Tai Lie and the others were fine; their physical fitness was extremely strong, and their endurance was high. Lu Yu, on the other hand, was struggling a bit. If it weren’t for his physical training, he probably wouldn’t last long.

Seeing his struggle, the others instinctively surrounded him.

Lu Yu tightened his fingers but didn’t say anything. His relationship with the Matai people was at a point where apologies for being a burden were unnecessary.

What he was more concerned about now was whether he would have to spend every subsequent clearance here. If he had to, the difficulty would increase significantly.

Two hours later.

After aimlessly walking for half a day, the scenery ahead seemed unchanged—just yellow sand.

Everyone, including Tai Lie, was slightly out of breath.

Usually, they could walk for several days in the jungle without getting tired, but here, every step they took sank into the sand. They were still wearing woven grass shoes, and every time they lifted their feet, they were covered in sand…

Moreover, with the intense physical activity and weather, sweat was flowing like water, and everyone was starting to feel thirsty, although no one spoke out.

“Witch, where’s the oasis?” Shan Pu, who was initially enthusiastic, now seemed a bit sluggish.

Lu Yu also didn’t know where the oasis was; he had never been to a desert. They were empty-handed now, without any tools, and he was at a loss.

Should they just continue walking blindly?

Lu Yu furrowed his brow.

Actually, they could stop now and conserve their energy.

But the Matai people might be able to endure these three days with their robust physique. But he couldn’t. In this environment, he would definitely die of thirst within three days.

What should he do…

—

Inside the treehouse in the inner stone city.

Zhou Shan and Zhou Lang stood respectfully, waiting for the person to enjoy the food.

The person elegantly took a few bites. “Was this made by people from your tribe?”

Seeing him eating without any intention of stopping, Zhou Shan knew that this food must suit his taste, so he felt delighted. However, upon hearing his question, Zhou Shan hesitated. He wanted to say that it was made by people from his tribe and take all the credit for the Dao Ma tribe. But, if the people from the Witch tribe wanted to investigate, they would surely find out…

Zhou Shan’s mind raced, but in the end, he flattered obediently, “No, it was exchanged by Lang’er from a small tribe. He accidentally tasted it and thought that the Witch might like it. He’s a foolish child who doesn’t care whether others are lions or not, so he exchanged a large amount of goods to offer them to you.”

The person curled his lips. “Good child.”

Zhou Lang shivered again.

The person slowly took a sip of the soup.

Zhou Shan’s eyes lit up. “Do you want me to bring the cook to you?”

The person picked up a leaf and wiped their lips. “No need to rush.”

—

Lu Yu and the others walked for a full six hours.

But they saw nothing.

Everyone’s throats felt like they were about to burst into flames from thirst.

Lu Yu scanned the surroundings, sighed, and was about to say it was time to call it quits, to return and consider it a failure, when suddenly, not far away, a gust of sand blew up.

Everyone’s expression tensed.

They had encountered such small sandstorms before, nearly getting buried in yellow sand.

They had encountered such small sandstorms before and almost been buried by the yellow sand.

Tai Lie stood in front of Lu Yu, his expression serious.

But they soon realized that this time, the sand was being stirred up not by the wind, but by a group of running camels.

Lu Yu’s eyes instantly lit up.

Shan Pu didn’t recognize these strange beasts, but he knew that as long as they were beasts, there must be blood and meat.

Shan Pu couldn’t wait. “I’m going to catch one!”

“Wait.” Lu Yu quickly grabbed him, “Don’t rush. Let’s follow them first.”

If so many camels could survive, there must be an oasis nearby. For now, they needed to find the oasis first.

Hearing Lu Yu’s words, everyone dared not delay and set off to chase the camels.

Tai Lie squatted halfway in front of Lu Yu.

Lu Yu pursed his lips and didn’t pretend anymore. He jumped directly onto Tai Lie’s back.

The two figures, one ahead and one behind, moved forward in the endless yellow sand.

Chasing a group of galloping camels in the desert was something only Matias could do.

After running for about an hour and climbing over a sand dune, a lush oasis appeared before them.

Shan Pu jumped for joy. “Oasis!”

Lu Yu was also ecstatic. Finally, they could drink water. Later, they could catch a camel and roast its meat to eat—it couldn’t get any better than that.

“Let’s go over there.”

“Okay.”

They headed towards the oasis.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred.

The sand in front of them violently churned, and a huge, earth-yellow monster burst out from the ground.

—

Lu Yu returned to the control room, looking at the game panel showing the completion failure, he sighed helplessly.

This low-level instance seemed a bit too difficult.

Desert, thirst, fatigue—those were all manageable. But why were there monsters too?

Thinking of the scene he had seen in the last few minutes, where a giant creature the size of a house, like a bug, rushed towards them and swallowed them whole, Lu Yu couldn’t help but shiver.

Lu Yu tapped his fingers on the panel, lost in thought.

That monster’s combat power was obviously overpowered; even the Matais couldn’t defeat it. But it was guarding the oasis. They had to deal with it somehow, but how?

Lu Yu glanced at the clock in the upper right corner of the panel.

He found that the current time was almost the same as when he entered the combat simulation scene, meaning that time in the real world didn’t change in the combat scene. No wonder the completion requirement was set to three days.

But, if time didn’t change, should he try again?

Lu Yu clicked on the avatars of Shan Pu and the others.

The same group of people.

The same endless desert.

The same group of galloping camels.

Shan Pu, usually confident and fearless, showed a rare hint of hesitation. “Witch, should we continue following the camels? That big beast is beyond my ability to handle.”

Lu Yu smiled. “Of course, we should follow. But you’re right, we need to deal with this camel trouble first.”

Although the storage ring was unusable, he still had something he could use.

Lu Yu opened the game panel and aimed the halo at the camels, starting a search.