Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

After checking the panel, Yun Luohe saw that her stamina had dropped to 40 points.
Previously, she hadn't noticed it much, but now she could clearly feel her body growing tired, along with distinct sensations of hunger and thirst.

She could only afford to use the fishing net one more time — otherwise, she would pass out from exhaustion and be unable to do anything.
Luckily, she had just obtained a bottle of mineral water, temporarily solving the drinking problem.
Yun Luohe opened the bottle and took a small sip, careful not to drink too much.
She only had one bottle and didn’t know how long it would need to last.
After another small sip, she tightly closed the cap and put it away.

Looking up, Yun Luohe noticed the sky was beginning to darken.
The reef she stood on was too small, and waves often splashed over the edges.
If she could manage to upgrade it before nightfall, she might be able to sleep peacefully.
She cast the fishing net once more.

This time, she waited for a very long time without any movement.
Sitting motionless on the reef, her legs eventually started to feel stiff.
After half an hour, she finally spotted an exclamation mark by the net.
Something had been caught!

She quickly pulled it up and found a shell.
Inside, there was another gray pearl.
【Obtained: Broken Stones ×2, Broken Glasses ×1, Waterlogged Wooden Planks ×3, Empty Mineral Water Bottle ×1, Rotten Cabbage Leaf ×1】
Bingo!
Nothing but trash again!

Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up with excitement as she quickly threw everything into the trash can one by one.
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Ocean Stone ×1】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Glass ×1】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Wood ×1】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Plastic ×1】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Cabbage Seeds ×1】
What a harvest — so many useful resources at once.

【Congratulations! You have recycled ten items and earned one lottery chance!】
A prompt appeared above the trash system, notifying her of the lottery opportunity.
Without hesitation, Yun Luohe clicked to use it.
【Starting Lottery】
【Congratulations! You have obtained: 3L Barrel of Mineral Water】

As soon as the voice finished speaking, a large barrel of water materialized in front of her.
Finally!
At least she wouldn’t have to worry about drinking water for the next two days!
Relieved, Yun Luohe set down the invisible weight on her heart.
Before drawing the prize, she had been genuinely anxious.
It seemed that the lottery wouldn’t just reward trash!

—
Yun Luohe quickly sorted through her supplies:
【Inventory: Ocean Stone ×3, Wood ×14, Plastic ×5, Seaweed ×1, Flour ×1, Patterned Cloth ×1, Bottled Mineral Water ×1, Fiber ×1, Portable Tissues ×1, Glass ×1, Cabbage Seeds ×1, 3L Mineral Water ×1】

She had already used up all three shell-fishing chances for the day, and her stamina was down to only 20 points.
However, she was still missing quite a few materials for the upgrade:
She needed {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} 7 more Ocean Stones and 6 more pieces of Wood.
Yun Luohe opened the chat channel, planning to observe if anyone was offering to trade upgrade materials.

[Zone 2 Public Chat]:
"Looks like I’m the lucky one. My starter pack had 10 Ocean Stones, 10 bottles of mineral water, and some seafood noodles. Not bad, right?"
"Damn, you’re a total luck god. I’m so jealous!"

"I don't believe it. Screenshot or it didn’t happen. Anyone can brag."
The player really did send a screenshot.
In fact, he had understated it —
besides what he mentioned, his backpack also contained 20 pieces of Wood and a full set of sportswear.
Even Yun Luohe couldn’t help but feel envious of his luck.

The chat exploded with excitement.
Everyone was trying to curry favor, begging to add him as a friend and trade supplies with him.
Yun Luohe clicked on his profile.

Name: Wu Jing (Zone 2)
Gender: Male
Age: Private
Signature: Nothing to say
Other Info: None
There wasn’t much visible information.
After posting the screenshot to prove himself, Wu Jing stopped speaking.
The player who had doubted him, on the other hand, quickly tried to flatter him, even offering to become his follower.

It was obvious that Wu Jing would be able to upgrade his reef immediately.
Because of this little incident, Yun Luohe didn’t find the trading information she was hoping for.
Most players were still discussing what kind of supplies they had pulled from the pearls.
Some said they had fished several times without catching a single shell and had exhausted all their stamina points.
Others had also drawn nothing but trash.

Whenever Yun Luohe saw the word "trash," her eyes sparkled.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Your trash is my treasure!

Maybe she could trade for other people’s trash?
Surely someone would be willing, right?
If she could gather enough junk, she might be able to exchange it for upgrade materials!
No sooner thought than done — Yun Luohe quickly posted in the chat:

"One piece of Wood for three pieces of trash. Anyone interested?"
The chat immediately blew up:
"Are you crazy? Trash is worth something?"

"For real? Someone’s collecting trash in-game?"
"Maybe you can sell trash for scrap?"
"What are you thinking?"

"I bet she has some trick up her sleeve!"
"I only have one piece of trash. Will you still trade?"
Instantly, Yun Luohe received a flood of friend requests.
Since the trading center wasn’t open yet, they had to become friends to trade.

She had a dozen pieces of Wood, which meant she could theoretically exchange for dozens of pieces of trash.
However, she had been too optimistic.
Most people adding her weren’t interested in trading seriously.
Instead, some players tried to probe her for information:

"Miss, what do you need the trash for?"
"I only have one piece of trash. Can I still trade for your Wood?"
"Are you crazy? Are you gonna eat the trash or something?"

"I have a plastic bag — does that count? You want it?"
Yun Luohe: "..."
Speechless, she immediately deleted all of them.

From now on, if someone didn’t clearly state what they wanted to trade, she wouldn’t bother accepting their request.
Fortunately, she eventually found someone willing to make a real trade.
"I have two pieces of trash — a worn sweater and a plastic water bottle. Want to trade?"

Two was two.
It was rare for players to even have that much junk to offer.
Yun Luohe accepted the friend request.
"Alright. Send me a screenshot. If everything checks out, we’ll trade."

Player: Yang Mian
"It's two pieces of trash for one piece of Wood, right?"
He sent a screenshot of the items.

Yun Luohe checked and confirmed that it matched what he said.
"Okay," she replied.
She initiated the trade and placed one piece of Wood.

Very quickly, she received the two pieces of trash in return.
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Yarn Ball ×2】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Plastic ×1】
And just like that, her plan to collect trash collapsed.

Apparently, not many players were lucky enough to obtain lots of junk.
Besides, now that people suspected there might be some hidden use for trash, no one was willing to give it away for cheap.
After all, Yun Luohe didn’t have anything truly valuable to offer in return.
Moreover, even if she recycled more trash, there was no guarantee it would turn into upgrade materials.

At this point, her top priority was still upgrading her reef.
She thought it over.
The only real asset she had for trading was the 3L barrel of mineral water.
If she rationed carefully, it would last her two or three days.
Exchanging one bottle for upgrade materials might just work.

Still, one bottle probably wouldn’t be enough to cover all the materials she needed.
Meanwhile, the sun had already set, and the temperature had dropped sharply.
She glanced at the floating screen:

7 PM — 12°C
By the time night fully arrived, it would probably get even colder.
When she arrived, Yun Luohe had been wearing only a single thin garment, and now she could already feel the chill, as the wind whistled against her body, and if she had nothing to cover herself with while sleeping at night, she would definitely catch a cold.

Fortunately, Yun Luohe had a piece of patterned cloth, and with the one-meter by one-and-a-half-meter cloth covering her body, she felt much warmer.
As the sky gradually darkened, the wind over the sea grew even stronger, howling fiercely, and the waves crashing against the reef made loud noises.
There were no lights on the reef, and everyone could only stay in the darkness, and combined with the sound of the waves, it truly felt eerie and frightening.

Yun Luohe could feel the seawater rising, and if the sea rose any higher, or if the reef were any lower, the splashing waves would surely reach her body.
In such cold weather, if her clothes got wet, she would definitely catch a cold.
At this moment, someone was already complaining in the chat channel.

Wrapped in the patterned cloth, Yun Luohe sat on the reef, staring into the distance in deep thought — would she really have to endure the night like this?
Suddenly, her gaze fell upon the shells she had just fished up.
Right — the shells!

After extracting the pearls, the shells hadn’t disappeared; perhaps the shells could also be recycled as garbage!
She had three shells!
Yun Luohe hurriedly threw one shell into the trash can to try.

The result — success!
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Ocean Stone ×3】
Amazing — a single shell could turn into as many as three Ocean Stones!

It seemed that shells were precious!
Yun Luohe continued to throw in the shells.
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Ocean Stone ×3】
【Recycling Successful! Obtained: Ocean Stone ×3】

It seemed that each shell consistently turned into three Ocean Stones.
The result exceeded her expectations!
Originally, she still lacked a lot of materials for the upgrade, but now, hope was rekindled in an instant.

The Ocean Stones were already enough, and now she only lacked seven pieces of Wood to upgrade the reef.
Yun Luohe perked up her spirit and reopened the chat channel.
She needed to think about how to exchange for seven pieces of Wood.

She would try using mineral water.
Perhaps some players without water would be willing to trade.
Yun Luohe posted:

"One bottle of mineral water for eight pieces of Wood, anyone willing?"
She asked for one extra, in case someone haggled, and even if they bargained a little, she could still trade for seven pieces.
"Eight pieces of Wood for one bottle of water is too much!"

"How about five pieces of Wood for a bottle of water? Eight is too many."
"We should save Wood for upgrades, it's better not to trade."
"If you die of thirst, what good is upgrading? I think survival is more important."

"Just endure it — maybe tomorrow we'll fish up some water?"
"But if there's still no water tomorrow, maybe by then even eight pieces of Wood won’t be enough to trade!"
Before Yun Luohe could say anything, the players in the chat were already arguing among themselves.

Whether water or upgrade materials were more important — that was hard to say.
After all, no one knew what tomorrow would bring.
Yun Luohe kept her eyes on the messages, watching to see if anyone would be willing to trade with her.

Although many players added her as a friend, very few were genuinely looking to trade.
Having learned her lesson, Yun Luohe no longer casually accepted friend requests — she would only approve those who clearly stated how they intended to trade.
Finally, she saw a message:

"Wood for water, seven pieces of Wood for one bottle of water, deal?"
"Deal!"
Wasn’t that just right!
After completing the trade, Yun Luohe immediately had enough materials for the upgrade.

She clicked the upgrade button right away.
The reef was instantly shrouded in a cloud of white mist, and the system notification sounded:
【Upgrade in Progress. Time Remaining: 30 Minutes】

It seemed she just needed to wait half an hour for the reef to successfully upgrade.
She hadn’t expected to manage the upgrade tonight, and Yun Luohe, in an exceptionally good mood, hugged the trash can in excitement.
"Baby Trash Can, I’ll be relying on you from now on! I’ll upgrade, get rich, and reach the peak of life!"

However, her stomach was so hungry.
Since entering the game, she had only drunk half a bottle of water and hadn’t eaten anything, and her stomach was completely shriveled from hunger.
There was not a scrap of food in her backpack, and seaweed and flour probably couldn't be eaten raw.

She was so hungry that she couldn’t sleep.
In the game, when stamina was depleted and not replenished, the feeling of hunger would become even stronger.
It seemed that only by eating or sleeping could she restore stamina.

Finally, half an hour passed.
The white mist dispersed.
【Reef Upgrade Complete!】

The tiny reef had expanded, growing from 5 square meters to 15 square meters, and it looked much more spacious; the previously rugged surface had smoothed out significantly, and the height had increased by 10 centimeters.
A new platform had appeared on the reef, resembling a stone bed, and it seemed she could sleep on it tonight.
【Congratulations, Player! You are the 99th player in Zone 2 to upgrade your reef to Level 2!】

【Rewards: Red Bean Bun ×2, Chocolate Cookie ×1, Bottled Mineral Water ×5, Ocean Stone ×5, Wood ×20】
Food!
She hadn’t expected happiness to come so suddenly —
there was food among the upgrade rewards!

She had barely made it into the top 100 — 99th place; if she had been just a second or two slower, she probably would have been surpassed.
It seemed that she would have to upgrade faster from now on — the earlier the better.
The top 100 rewards were already this good; if she could make it into the top 50 or even the top 10, the rewards might be even better...
Yun Luohe picked up a red bean bun.

The snow-white bun was soft and fluffy, and the moment she took a bite, the rich aroma of red beans filled her mouth.
The red bean paste had a delicate, slightly grainy texture — soft, sticky, and sweet — and the small bun was gone in just two bites; it didn’t fill her stomach at all and instead only made her even hungrier.
It was delicious!

Yun Luohe couldn't stop herself, but after thinking about it, she decided not to eat the other one.
Better to save it for tomorrow —
given her luck, she might not find food tomorrow.
Yun Luohe opened the reef information panel.

【Reef Level: 2】
【Area: 15 Square Meters】
【Rating: 5 Points】
【Upgrade Requirements: Ocean Stone ×30, Wood ×50, Fiber ×20】
The materials required for the next upgrade had increased significantly.
The difficulty had also risen a lot.

Wrapping herself tightly in the patterned cloth, Yun Luohe lay down on the stone bed; although it was hard and uncomfortable to sleep on, there was nothing else she could do.
It was already late, and she needed to rest early, so she could continue fishing for shells and pearls tomorrow.