Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

The warm sunlight woke Yun Luohe from her sleep.
She had slept quite well last night; the sea breeze and the sound of the waves were the perfect white noise to help her fall asleep, and it had been a long time since she had felt so close to nature.
Although it got a little chilly in the middle of the night, she had good physical endurance, and after waking up, she did not feel uncomfortable anywhere.

The shimmering sea surface was so beautiful that it lifted the spirit, but Yun Luohe had no mind to admire the scenery.
Because when she woke up, she found that her Stamina Points had completely recovered.
Yun Luohe picked up the trash can that was placed beside her.

【Level 1 Trash Can】
【Experience Points Required for Upgrade: 32】
【Recycling Count: 0 times (Accumulate ten times daily to enter the Lottery, limited to once per day)】
It seemed that yesterday’s recycling count had reset.
She had thought that she had 8 chances left yesterday, and that she would only need to recycle two more times today to enter the Lottery again.

However, as long as she threw 32 more pieces of trash into it, her Trash Can would level up.
Since that was the case, she should hurry and fish for ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) shells first.
Yun Luohe took out the fishing net and cast it toward the sea.

While waiting, she did not stay idle; she took out a Red Bean Bun to eat and opened the chat channel to check out what others were up to.
There were not many entertainment activities at sea, so watching others chat counted as a kind of pastime.
Moreover, she might even obtain some useful information.

"I caught a cold last night from freezing, damn, the sea breeze almost killed me,"
"My luck is terrible today, I fished three times and didn’t get a single shell, my Stamina Points are about to run out,"
"Same here, do you think there are fewer shells in the morning? Maybe we should wait until the afternoon; I’m afraid if I use up my Stamina Points without catching anything, that’ll be bad,"
"Well, I just caught a shell earlier and got a White Pearl from it!"
"I don't think it has anything to do with the time; it's all about luck — looks like your Luck stat must be really low,"
"Yeah, it’s pretty low, just a little over twenty,"
"Only a little over twenty, hahaha, you guys are lucky to even survive the first three days — I have over sixty Luck!"
Yun Luohe’s fishing net moved a little.
She had no expectations at this point.

If people with over twenty Luck couldn’t fish up a shell.
When she pulled it up and took a look, sure enough, it was not a shell but a rotten piece of wood.
【Obtained: Rotten Wood ×1】
It didn’t matter even if it was trash!

Yun Luohe recycled it immediately.
【Recycling Successful, Obtained Wood ×3】
One large piece of rotten wood could be turned into three pieces of Wood.

That was already pretty good!
Yun Luohe decided to keep fishing.
If she still couldn’t catch a shell after two more tries, she would consider whether she should wait until the afternoon.

Maybe there really were fewer shells in the morning.
Or perhaps, she could change locations — she had been fishing from this side yesterday.
Yun Luohe walked to the other side of the Reef and cast her fishing net again.

This time she only waited for a little over ten minutes.
The fishing net stirred.
As soon as she pulled it, she felt a heavy weight.

It looked like she had caught something big this time.
Yun Luohe got a little excited; she was quite strong, and even she could feel the weight, so it must be a very large object.
But she worried that something this big might tear the fishing net.

She pulled for twenty minutes and finally dragged the fishing net out of the sea.
With the naked eye, she could see that the fishing net was wrapped around a large box.
No way — she actually caught a box!

Although it wasn’t a shell, a box seemed pretty good too!
Holding her breath, she pulled the box up onto the Reef in one go.
Once she removed the box from the fishing net, Yun Luohe understood why it was so heavy — it was filled with seawater! As soon as she pulled it up, seawater gushed out, soaking the Reef.

The lock on the box was already broken, so she could open the lid directly.
The box wasn’t empty; inside was a broken rope!
Well, that counted as two pieces of trash...

Yun Luohe threw the box and the broken rope into the Trash Can one after another.
Even though the box was bigger than the Trash Can, as long as she placed it on top, it counted as recycling.
【Recycling Successful, Obtained Wood ×5】
【Recycling Successful, Obtained Fiber ×2】

Not bad!
She had obtained quite a lot of upgrade materials.
It seemed like this direction really was better.

She became even more motivated and decided to keep up the momentum.
However, she also noticed that the durability of the fishing net had dropped a lot — it had clearly been 48 at the start, but now it was down to 37.
At this rate, the fishing net would break soon.

Yun Luohe cast the net again.
This time, she finally caught a shell.
Even though it was just a Gray Pearl, she was quite happy.

【Obtained: Wood ×2, Ocean Stone ×1, Black Seed ×1, Deep Sea Flint ×1, Palm Leaves ×2】
【Black Seed: A black, round seed. It is unknown what kind of plant it belongs to or whether it can be planted.】
【Deep Sea Flint: Flint from deep-sea sediments. Can be used to craft various tools, such as Stone Axes and Stone Knives. Collect two to synthesize a Fire Starter.】
【Palm Leaves: Leaves from a palm tree, can be used to craft various daily necessities such as ropes, brooms, raincoats, etc... They can also be broken down into Fiber.】
It seemed that both the Flint and the Palm Leaves were valuable items.

The only problem was that she currently had only one Deep Sea Flint, so she couldn’t make a Fire Starter yet, and as for the Stone Axe and Stone Knife, she couldn't craft them either, since she was lacking a Workbench.
"Palm Leaves don’t seem like trash — should I try throwing them into the Trash Can?"
Right now, she had no Workbench, so she couldn’t dismantle the Palm Leaves either, let alone use them to craft daily necessities.
If she could recycle them in the Trash Can, she might be able to get Fiber.

She just didn’t know if it would be wasteful.
She had no way of knowing how much Fiber she could get from dismantling versus recycling.
She decided to throw one into the Trash Can and test it.

If it worked, then she could throw in the items that were temporarily useless and at least upgrade the Trash Can first.
【Recycling Successful, Obtained Fiber ×5】
Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up!

One Palm Leaf could be directly recycled into five pieces of Fiber, which was much more than she had imagined.
At this rate, she could quickly gather the Fiber she needed to upgrade.
So she did not hesitate to throw the remaining Palm Leaves in as well.

She gained another five pieces of Fiber.
Now, she had 13 pieces of Fiber and 30 pieces of Wood.
Only the Ocean Stone was still lacking.

However, if she could trade some Mineral Water, she might be able to obtain the rest of the materials needed for the upgrade.
It just so happened that yesterday the top hundred players had been rewarded with five bottles of water.
If she could use these five bottles to exchange for the missing materials, and manage to upgrade before most people, she would definitely receive another reward — which meant she could earn back the five bottles.

Moreover, since sleeping could restore Stamina Points, she could fish one more time in one stretch, then take a nap at noon, and continue fishing in the afternoon after waking up.
Maybe, just maybe, she really could level up again today!
Yun Luohe first opened the chat channel.

Since shells could be recycled into Ocean Stones, she could try to trade supplies for shells.
Maybe shells were useless to others, and someone might be willing to trade them.
She posted a message offering to trade Mineral Water for shells.
"Half a bottle of Mineral Water for two shells, sincere offers only!"

She didn’t know if anyone would agree, but she decided to give it a try first.
Right now, she was still missing a lot of Ocean Stones.
As soon as the message was posted, many people responded.

"What’s the use of shells? Why would you trade Mineral Water for shells?"
"There must be some important use! Explain it before trading."
"Yeah, I bet shells are important materials!"
"Maybe — when I opened a pearl, I almost threw the shell away."
"Speechless! I already threw mine away; couldn’t fit it in my Backpack, just took up space."
Of course, Yun Luohe had no intention of telling everyone what she was using the shells for.
She simply ignored their questions.

However, this did stir up everyone’s interest in shells.
Several people even added her privately to ask about the use of shells.
If it really didn’t work out, she could just directly trade for Ocean Stones.

But that wouldn’t be as cost-effective as getting shells.
Moreover, shells could help her Trash Can gain more experience.
She decided to wait a bit longer — maybe someone would be willing to trade.

After all, with so many people in the whole region, she only needed a few willing to trade, and maybe someone really was desperately short of water.
Besides, she wasn’t in too much of a hurry since she hadn’t gathered all the other materials yet either.
After Yun Luohe posted the first message, many others started to post their own trading requests too.

"I’ll trade Mineral Water for Ocean Stones — one bottle for six Ocean Stones!"
"Anyone got food? I’ll trade two Ocean Stones or some Wood for something to eat."
Wu Jing: "Ocean Stones are important upgrade materials; it’s best not to trade them."
Wasn’t this the same 'lucky guy' from yesterday?

"If the pro says so, it must be true — everyone, it’s better not to trade away Ocean Stones. Save them for upgrading."
"Pro, what level are you now? With so many supplies, you must be level 3 already, right?"
Wu Jing: "Heh, no, I still need some more materials."
"Pro, tell us what you need! We’ll trade with you!"

A lot of people began flattering Wu Jing, and several even tried to latch onto him.
Of course, there were also people who didn’t like him.
"If you have so much stuff, why don’t you take some out for trading?"
"Everyone’s short on water now, and you’re saying not to trade Ocean Stones for it — then what should we use to trade for water?"
"Easy for you to say — if we were dying of thirst without any water, of course survival would be more important than upgrading!"

Wu Jing: "I’m just giving advice; whether you listen or not is up to you."
Seeing that the chat channel was about to erupt into an argument, Yun Luohe prepared to close the light screen.
But then she saw a new message.
"I can trade shells for your water."

The one who contacted her was Yang Mian, the same person who had traded with her yesterday.
Yun Luohe quickly replied, "How many can you trade?"
Yang Mian: "Three — but it’s three shells for one bottle of water, and you have to tell me what the shells are used for."

Yun Luohe: "Sorry, I can’t tell you that."
If he wasn’t willing to trade without the explanation, there was nothing she could do.
Three shells for one bottle of water was actually acceptable to her — even better than she had hoped.

After a while.
Yang Mian: "If you won’t tell me, then two shells for one bottle."
That was fine too! After seeing the chat earlier, Yun Luohe realized her original plan to get two shells for half a bottle of water probably wasn’t going to work anymore.

Everyone was being very cautious; without knowing what shells were for, they weren’t willing to trade them away.
Unless they were truly desperate for water.
Besides, two shells could still be recycled into six Ocean Stones.

Yun Luohe: "Deal."
Yang Mian sent a trade request.
Yun Luohe sent over a bottle of water, and the transaction was completed.

After getting two shells, Yun Luohe eagerly threw them into the Trash Can.
Very quickly, she gained six Ocean Stones.
Yang Mian: "Do you have more water? Food is fine too."

Yun Luohe: "What can you trade me?"
Yang Mian: "Shells, Fiber, Ocean Stones, Wood."
All upgrade materials — not bad.

Yun Luohe still had a few small bottles of Mineral Water and one big barrel left; she could trade two more bottles.
"Here’s the deal — give me two more shells, and I’ll trade you another bottle of water."
Yang Mian: "Do you have food?"

Yun Luohe didn’t have any food — just one box of Chocolate Cookies.
She was planning to ration it, eating a few pieces at lunch and a few at dinner.
"No food."

"Alright then, one more bottle of water for two shells."
"By the way, are you still collecting trash?"
Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up. "Yes, still the same as before — one piece of Wood for two pieces of trash. We can negotiate if you want to trade other things."
Yang Mian: "Okay, if I get more trash, I’ll find you."

–
"Brother, I fished up another shell!"
Yang Mei shouted happily.
"Alright, I’ll help you pull it up," Yang Mian quickly closed the light screen and walked over to her.

The siblings had entered the game together.
Yang Mian was 26 years old, and Yang Mei was only 8.
Yang Mei had basically been raised by Yang Mian, and since their parents hadn’t entered the game, they only had each other to rely on now.

However, Yang Mei didn’t have her own Reef and was sharing one with Yang Mian.
Luckily, both of them had received resource packs, so they had two fishing nets and could build up the Reef together.
For some reason, the supplies they opened were plentiful, but there was no water or food — after fishing all day yesterday, they had only gotten one bottle of water and one bun, not nearly enough for two people.

Even though their Reef had already been upgraded, and they had even made it into the top 100 to receive rewards like materials and blueprints, there was still no water or food.
These past two days, all their food and water had been obtained by Yang Mian trading with other players.
He had traded with Yun Luohe once and with others too.

He didn’t want to trade too much with the same person, afraid it would make people suspicious about how many supplies he had.
"Meimei, come drink some water — are you hungry?"
"Not hungry."

Seeing how sensible his little sister was, Yang Mian’s heart ached.
She hadn’t even eaten anything since morning and was already out fishing for supplies.
No matter what, he had to find a way to get some food — he couldn’t let her go hungry.

But he was also just a little short of materials to upgrade to level 3, and he didn’t want to trade them away either.
Aside from filling their bellies, upgrading was very important too.
At the very least, he needed to expand the Reef a bit more so both of them could have enough space to live.

Last night, he had made his sister sleep on the stone bed while he sat up all night — they couldn’t go on like this.
That was also why he had decided to trade shells for water with Yun Luohe — even though he suspected that shells would become very important later on, right now, holding onto them was useless, and they could still be gathered continuously in the future.