Blue Star time, the third day after the second beta began.
Coordinates: Sighing Corridor (the junction of the heart and pulmonary artery).
In just three days, this place had transformed from a desolate calcified highland into a bustling "slum."
The influx of eleven thousand players had crammed this outpost, originally built for only a thousand people, to the brim. The ground was littered with traces of player stalls, and some had even used collected chitin fragments to build crude tents.
"Buying Flame Poison Crystal Cores at high prices! As many as you've got!"
"Grinding Sighing Corridor Sludge Monsters! Looking for obedient laborers, potions included!"
"Help! Can anyone lend me 5 Bio-Energy to repair my gear? I've been running around naked for three days!"
Yet there were even more complaints than excitement.
"Isn't this game's map way too huge?"
A newbie player with the ID Walking Grass sat on the ground, rubbing his legs. Though he could not actually feel pain, he was mentally exhausted. His face was filled with despair. "It takes two whole hours just to run to the Downwind Vent grinding spot ahead! If I die, it takes another two hours to run back after respawning! I spend the whole day just running across the map!"
This was currently the biggest pain point for every player.
Titan's body was simply far too vast for players at the cellular scale.
From the safe zone of Sighing Corridor to the nearest grinding spot, Downwind Vent, lay the endless Blood Vessel Wasteland. Random wandering monsters also spawned along the way, making solo travel extremely dangerous.
This hardcore setting of "five minutes dead, two hours running back to your corpse" had driven off quite a few fragile-hearted newbies.
Coordinates: Storm Abyss—deep within the right Lung Leaf, unexplored territory.
The environment here was even harsher than at the edges.
Fierce winds swept up scorching Flame Poison dust, reducing visibility to less than fifty meters. The ground was no longer a hard calcified layer, but soft, slick Alveoli tissue that constantly writhed.
Squelch!
A black Bone Blade precisely sliced open the core at the back of a Flame Poison Golem's neck.
Vanguard Across the Realm panted heavily and kicked aside the rubble beneath his feet. Behind him stood an elite squad with exhausted expressions.
After three days of frenzied exploration, their average level had reached LV.5, placing them among the server's highest-level first echelon. Even so, they had reached their limit.
"Brother Feng, we can't go any deeper."
Cloud Pomelo glanced at their nearly empty supply bag. "We only have three recovery potions left. If we run into another monster pack, we'll get wiped and sent back. If we die and return, today's work will have been for nothing."
Brute Force Yields Miracles was also exhausted. His beloved Chitin Shield was now pitted and battered, its durability nearly at zero.
"Couldn't this damn game put a Respawn Point farther ahead?"
Brute Force Yields Miracles cursed as he dropped onto the ground. "I don't want to run another marathon."
Vanguard Across the Realm said nothing.
He stood atop a protruding gray-white rock, his gaze piercing through the mist toward the distance.
There, the fog grew thicker and took on an eerie dark-green hue. Countless massive sac-like structures, resembling spider nests, hung in the air. Dense black shadows moved through them.
That was the real Virus Nest.
Unlike the Inflammation Golems on the outskirts, which only knew how to mindlessly smash people, the monsters there were organized.
"We really can't get through."
Vanguard Across the Realm analyzed the situation calmly. "The five of us are just a drop in the ocean. If we want to push the front line forward, we need to bring the main force over."
"How do we bring them?" Thunder King, the team's Spirit Pivot Envoy, spread his hands. "No one's stupid. Nobody wants to run for hours just to come here and die."
Vanguard Across the Realm lowered his head and looked at the massive, hard calcified rock beneath his feet.
This was a natural highland, easy to defend and hard to attack, and it lay on the sheltered side of the storm.
A bold idea began to take shape in his mind.
"Since the system won't give us a Respawn Point..."
A glint of fervor flashed through Vanguard Across the Realm's eyes. "Then we'll make one ourselves!"
He looked toward Cloud Pomelo in the team.
"Pomelo, I looked at the advancement route for Life Weavers. You can't change class until level 10, but one of your basic skills is Matter Recombination, right?"
Cloud Pomelo froze for a moment. "I do have it, but that skill can only repair shelters or create temporary obstacles..."
"If you used monster bones and shells mixed with that highly adhesive Bio-Gel, could you build a wall?"
Cloud Pomelo blinked. After thinking for a moment, her eyes lit up. "In theory... yes! This is the prototype of a Flesh Artisan!"
"Then let's do it!"
Vanguard Across the Realm issued an order in the team channel. "Stop grinding. From now on, our task is collecting materials! Brute Force, go move the rocks left behind by those dead golems! Dharma King, you guys collect monster slime!"
"We're building a Flesh Fortress here!"
High-Dimensional Perspective.
Gu Yuan watched as the squad suddenly stopped advancing and instead began frantically gathering nearby junk like ants moving house—monster corpses and remains.
"They want to build a house?"
Gu Yuan was briefly stunned, then smiled approvingly.
As expected of his countrymen. Construction workers in body and soul.
When game mechanics restricted them, they would find ways to use the rules to create miracles.
"Since you have the will, I'll lend you a hand."
Gu Yuan knew very well that if the map-running problem was not solved, the ten thousand players in the second beta would soon leave. Establishing an outpost in the lungs was imperative.
With a light tap of his finger, he quietly listed a set of new items in the Gene Shop and unlocked special regional permissions.
[Server-Wide System Announcement: Detected pioneering actions by player squad "Vanguard Across the Realm."] [Regional Permission Unlocked: Storm Abyss—Construction Mode.] [New Shop Blueprints:] [Biological Beacon (Simple Respawn Point)]: Requires 5,000 Bio-Energy + core materials (Flame Poison Crystal Core x100). [Chitin Wall (Blueprint)]: Requires Life Weaver skill guidance. [Defense Turret (Blueprint)]: Requires Spirit Pivot Envoy charging.
The entire server exploded the moment the announcement appeared.
"Holy shit! We can build our own Respawn Points?"
"5,000 Bio-Energy? That's a fucking astronomical price!"
"God of Blades is awesome! He actually triggered the construction system!"
At that moment, Brute Force Yields Miracles, who was moving rocks, also saw the announcement and nearly dropped the stone in his hands on his foot.
"Five thousand points? And we need a hundred crystal cores?" Brute Force Yields Miracles wailed. "Even if we sold the five of us, we couldn't scrape that together!"
Though they were in the server's first echelon, all their money had gone toward potions and equipment repairs. Their combined liquid funds were under 500.
Vanguard Across the Realm, however, remained exceptionally calm.
He opened the server-wide Regional Channel. This was his first official speech in the public chat.
Vanguard Across the Realm:
"Coordinates: Storm Abyss (334, 128). We found a safe highland here and are preparing to establish the server's first Frontline Fortress."
"Once completed, this place will have a Respawn Point, repair station, and supply station."
"From now on, anyone coming to Storm Abyss to grind monsters won't have to waste two hours running here anymore."
"However, construction costs are enormous, and we need crowdfunding."
Vanguard Across the Realm:
"Any player who donates materials or Bio-Energy will receive permanent residency rights and tax-free repair rights at the fortress."
"We won't force anyone. Those who want to keep running back to their corpses can ignore this."
After he sent those words, the channel fell silent for a full ten seconds.
Then the message feed exploded.
"I'm a Divine Guard! I've got strength! I'm coming to haul bricks!"
"I'm a Life Weaver! I can spit glue! I'm coming to build walls!"
"I only have money! I'll contribute 100 Bio-Energy! Please carry me, bosses!"
"Damn it, I finally won't have to run marathons anymore! I'm heading over right now!"
Several hours later.
A spectacular scene appeared atop the once-deserted rocky highland.
Thousands of players endured environmental toxins that drained their health every second, forming a long procession.
Some carried massive golem stones, some dragged monster corpses, and some used crude tools to level the ground.
Cloud Pomelo became the chief engineer on site.
Dozens of Life Weavers gathered around her. Under her command, they did more than spray gel—they stacked monster bones and shells like building blocks, then sealed every gap with gel.
A savage, rough gray-white Bone Wall, yet one filled with wild beauty, rose from the ground at a visible speed.
Meanwhile, Brute Force Yields Miracles led a group of Divine Guards as "pile drivers." Using their high strength attributes, they drove massive chitin spikes deep into the ground to form the foundation.
As for the massive shortfall of 5,000 Bio-Energy and 100 crystal cores?
Under the shared vision of "never running back to our corpses again," ten thousand players displayed astonishing unity. You gave 1 point, I gave 2 points, and the crowdfunding progress bar shot upward like a rocket.
In only three hours.
[Crowdfunding Progress: 100%]
Vanguard Across the Realm stood at the center of the highland, holding the Biological Beacon Core materialized by the system.
It was a crystal that emitted a soft white glow, with divine power bestowed by Gu Yuan flowing within it.
He took a deep breath and viciously drove the crystal into the altar at the center of the highland.
Boom—!
A dazzling white pillar of light shot into the sky, dispersing the yellowish-brown poison mist within a five-hundred-meter radius.
A gentle energy field spread outward, and every player within its range heard a system prompt as heavenly as music.
[Entered Safe Zone.] [Environmental toxins have been isolated.] [Health recovery speed +200%.] [Respawn Point activated.]
"We did it!!!"
Cheers resounded through the sky.
Countless players excitedly embraced one another and wept, though two chitin shells colliding only produced loud clanging noises.
This fortress, built brick by brick by the players themselves, was ugly and crude. Yet at this moment, it gave them a stronger sense of belonging than any exquisite game structure ever could.
Vanguard Across the Realm watched the cheering crowd around him, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
He turned and looked beyond the fortress.
Outside the light barrier, the thick dark-green mist seemed to have been stirred by the commotion here.
Countless pairs of scarlet compound eyes lit up in the depths of the fog.
The real Virus Legion had awakened.
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