Arc 1The Ashen Echo Team

Bai Yi survived the end of novice protection, transformed his shelter, and grew stronger alongside Little White. When Wang Ziyi’s shelter was surrounded by Rotting Corpses, Bai Yi killed the horde and joined his teammates in forming the Ashen Echo team, which began setting rules and sharing vital information.

  • Bai Yi endured the end of novice protection, gained abnormal statuses, and used a lump of flesh and bone to upgrade his shelter into a living structure with new facilities.
  • Bai Yi joined Wang Ziyi’s team, hunted Rotting Corpses, and used his shelter to process hundreds of them while replacing Little White’s damaged eye.
  • Bai Yi studied Basic Flesh Alchemy, strengthened his body, and learned the spells Boiling Blood and Flesh-Bone Conversion as his teammates warned that Wang Ziyi was in danger.
  • Bai Yi reached Wang Ziyi’s shelter and charged into the horde of Rotting Corpses, using Boiling Blood, bone blades, Little White’s Snowfield Howl, and Steel Spine Will to kill hundreds.
  • Bai Yi returned with organs from mutated Rotting Corpses, received a sanity-recovery elixir from Li Zihua, and warned the team that black fog was approaching.
  • Bai Yi and his teammates shared their talents and resources, agreed on emergency medicine priorities and fair trades, exchanged information about threats, and chose Ashen Echo as their team name.
Chapters 1–25 Vol. 1 Read

Ch. 1Starting Over in Another World

Bai Yi woke in a fragile thatch shelter in the Misty Land and learned about his survival system, attributes, and powerful talent. When an “Unseeable” entity appeared outside, the shelter’s protection began driving it away, but contamination left Bai Yi unable to resist looking through a hole in the door.

  • Bai Yi examined the Shelter Log and learned the shelter’s condition, the rules of the seven-day protection period, and his personal attributes and Steel Spine Will talent.
  • Bai Yi read the empty forums and the rapidly filling World and Regional Channels without sending a message.
  • A blood-scented gust blew the shelter door open, and Bai Yi cautiously approached and shut it without looking outside.
  • The Shelter Log warned that an “Unseeable” entity was outside and counted down as the system drove it away.
  • Bai Yi suffered contamination that reduced his reason by 21, and a piece of flesh and bone struck the door, leaving a hole.
  • Bai Yi lost control of his body and was forced to look through the hole at what lay outside.

Ch. 2The Second Day

After surviving the effects of gazing at an Unseeable entity, Bai Yi explored the fog-covered wilderness for water and food, then used his talent to gather wood quickly. He met the shelter’s upgrade requirements and began its upgrade.

  • Bai Yi survived the entity’s expulsion but spent the night unconscious and in agony as his spine hardened; at dawn, he found his room scratched up and a piece of strange flesh and bone by the door.
  • Bai Yi stored the murmuring remains, then left the shelter to find water and food, discovering a stream, edible wild fruit, and a contaminated rabbit carcass.
  • Bai Yi returned to the shelter with fruit and the rabbit, learned that daytime lasted eight hours, and spent the afternoon chopping trees for wood.
  • Bai Yi activated Steel Spine Will, gained a 2.5-fold enhancement, and gathered twenty units of wood in three minutes.
  • Bai Yi met the shelter upgrade requirements and confirmed the upgrade.

Ch. 3A Forum Brimming with Talent

After upgrading his shelter to Level 2, Bai Yi browsed the lively forum and learned about the Mist World’s dangers, its Wishing Well, and ways players could train. He ended by joining the forum’s rallying cry for humanity.

  • Bai Yi inspected his upgraded shelter and discovered its new window and Wishing Well, but stayed inside because of the nighttime danger.
  • Bai Yi read a popular post estimating the Mist World’s day and night lengths, then reviewed warnings about beasts, aberrations, and vulnerable shelters.
  • Bai Yi browsed Wishing Well reports and marketplace listings, noting that players had traded a Rotting Corpse for a premium weapon.
  • Bai Yi read exercise advice proposing that an unknown substance called spirituality aided recovery and supported different training regimens.
  • Bai Yi watched forum users unite behind the slogan “Long live humanity!” and added his own message to the chorus.

Ch. 4Lottery

Bai Yi gained a little strength through exercise, used the Wishing Well to obtain a pickaxe blueprint, a damaged revolver, and a lighter, then ventured beyond the safe zone to hunt. After killing an ambushing gray wolf, he was surrounded by ten more wolves.

  • Bai Yi exercised through the night and woke feeling refreshed, with his Strength and Constitution increased to 3.1.
  • Bai Yi used the Wishing Well and received a Fine Stone Pickaxe Blueprint and the damaged revolver Shepherd's Mercy, then used the revolver to destroy a beating heart that cost him Sanity.
  • Bai Yi exchanged moldy bread for a windproof lighter and decided to make stone pickaxes to sell before heading into the forest to search for prey.
  • A gray wolf ambushed Bai Yi beyond the one-kilometer safe zone, but he dodged its attack and killed it with a revolver shot.
  • Ten more wolves emerged from the mist and surrounded Bai Yi as he finished bandaging his wounded arm and prepared to fight.

Ch. 5Blood Battle

Bai Yi fought off a pack of gray wolves and killed their wolf king, but suffered severe injuries and blood loss. As he struggled to gather supplies and return to his shelter, a Rotting Corpse followed the scent of blood and appeared in the mist.

  • Bai Yi activated Steel Spine Will and used his revolver, axe, and journal to kill the wolf king and drive off the remaining wolves.
  • Bai Yi dragged wolf corpses into his shelter, then treated his worst wounds with strips of cloth while suffering excessive blood loss.
  • Bai Yi went back to the Wishing Well to retrieve stone, realizing future resources should be stored immediately.
  • A Rotting Corpse followed the blood trail through the mist, and Bai Yi ran toward his shelter as it drew near.

Ch. 6Initial Trade

Bai Yi traded good-quality stone pickaxes for the materials needed to upgrade his shelter just before the Rotting Corpse broke through, then treated his severe injuries with supplies bought from another player. After recovering, he planned to use trade rather than gather materials himself to upgrade further while stone pickaxes remained valuable.

  • Bai Yi crafted and traded stone pickaxes for stone and wood while the Rotting Corpse battered his shelter, then upgraded it to a level-three Fine Wooden House before it could break in.
  • Bai Yi bought a Wound-Healing Injection with two stone pickaxes and obtained alcohol, bandages, and gauze in exchange for another pickaxe.
  • Bai Yi cleaned and treated his wounds, injected the medicine, and passed out.
  • Bai Yi woke after sleeping through the night and half the day, found most of his wounds healed, and checked his improved physical attributes.
  • Bai Yi decided to rely on trading to upgrade his shelter further while good-quality stone pickaxes remained scarce and valuable.

Ch. 7Talent

After securing his shelter and preparing wolf meat, Bai Yi chatted with Wang Ziyi, whose plant-growing talent and rare seeds convinced him that cooperation could be valuable. The chapter ended with Bai Yi excitedly pacing after learning she had Spirit Rice that could strengthen the body and break human limits.

  • Bai Yi searched for the missing Rotting Corpse, then fenced in his shelter and processed the Wolf King’s carcass into bedding, decorations, and dried meat.
  • Bai Yi ate grilled Wolf King meat and crafted stone pickaxes to sell.
  • Bai Yi blocked Anonymous User 9527 after rejecting his mutual aid group and discount request.
  • Bai Yi accepted Wang Ziyi’s friend request and told her he had killed nine wolves, including the Wolf King.
  • Wang Ziyi shared her Plant Resonance talent and showed Bai Yi seeds for Spirit Rice, Hemostatic Grass, and Detoxifying Grass.
  • Bai Yi became excited by the Spirit Rice’s ability to strengthen the body and break human limits.

Ch. 8Human Limits

Bai Yi tested the enhanced strength and senses he gained from Steel Spine Will and realized his physical attributes had reached the human limit. He contacted Wang Ziyi about working together, while her group reconsidered recruiting him after seeing proof of his wolf kills.

  • Bai Yi activated Steel Spine Will, tested his enhanced senses and physical abilities, and found that his Strength and Constitution stopped at 10.
  • Bai Yi concluded that Spirit Rice or other special resources might let him break past the limit, then worried that Wang Ziyi could die while gathering materials.
  • Wang Ziyi discussed recruiting the powerful Lone Wolf with her group, but they urged her to verify his claims and learn more about his character.
  • Bai Yi told Wang Ziyi he wanted special plants and sent her photos of his jerky and the wolf heads he had butchered.
  • Wang Ziyi showed the proof to her group, prompting Zhang Zhen to encourage her to recruit Bai Yi and Xie Xu to ask for his name.

Ch. 9A Bountiful Harvest

Bai Yi hunted a black bear, found a damaged Tang Dao Crafting Blueprint in its cave, and gathered a large supply of meat. When heavy rain offered a way to collect mud for his shelter upgrade, he discovered he lacked a shovel and posted a trade offer for one.

  • Bai Yi noticed his strength and constitution had increased and suspected that eating wolf meat had strengthened him.
  • Bai Yi followed drag marks to a cave, lured a black bear away from its entrance, and killed it with two shots from his revolver.
  • Bai Yi searched the cave, found a damaged Tang Dao Crafting Blueprint among the bones, and carried the bear and three wolf carcasses back to his shelter.
  • Bai Yi processed the bear into 200 units of meat and used the rotten wolves for exchange attempts, obtaining a plastic barrel, an iron canteen, and wood.
  • Bai Yi learned from the forum that rain-soaked mud could upgrade shelters, then crafted an exquisite stone pickaxe and offered it in exchange for two stone axes and a shovel.

Ch. 10Leveling Up Like Crazy

Bai Yi upgraded his shelter into a stone villa, built a workshop and bathroom, and used the workshop to craft Tang Daos. After testing one of the blades, he prepared to sell the other and expected to make a profit.

  • Bai Yi gathered mud and stone, upgraded his shelter to Level 4, and unlocked the low stone wall and workshop.
  • Bai Yi upgraded the shelter to Level 5, turning it into a two-story stone villa with a proper warehouse.
  • Bai Yi built the workshop and bathroom, moved his furniture upstairs, and arranged his stored supplies.
  • Bai Yi loaded the damaged Tang Dao blueprint into the workshop, which automatically began crafting two blades.
  • Bai Yi bathed, inspected the finished Tang Daos, tested one in the rain, and kept it while planning to sell the other.

Ch. 11A Sudden Invitation

Bai Yi shared his discovery that attributes could not exceed 10 without special methods, then traded his Tang Dao for a first-aid kit and considered joining a group. Wang Ziyi invited him to her well-supplied squad and revealed that players would soon be able to meet briefly.

  • Bai Yi posted about reaching the human limit of 10 Strength and Constitution, and the forum post became featured as readers joked about his writing and praised his strength.
  • Bai Yi traded his Tang Dao to Blade for a first-aid kit and 200 wood, then accepted Blade’s friend request as Tian Dong and invited him to the combat-oriented Steel Brotherhood; Bai Yi declined.
  • Bai Yi arranged to trade a bear paw for an injection through Wang Ziyi, who invited him to join her squad, which could supply food, potions, weapons, and armor.
  • Bai Yi weighed the squad’s appeal but wondered what the group expected from him, and Wang Ziyi said players would soon be able to meet briefly.

Ch. 12Storm

Bai Yi learned why Wang Ziyi wanted to recruit him and agreed to join once they had a reliable way to meet. After enduring a day of heavy rain, he trained with his talent, grew stronger, and headed out to hunt on the final day of novice protection.

  • Bai Yi warned Wang Ziyi that his combat strength came from his weapons and talent, and agreed to join her logistics department once they could meet reliably.
  • Bai Yi stayed inside through the heavy rain, discovered he had vitamin deficiency, and trained while worrying about the approaching end of novice protection.
  • Bai Yi activated Steel Spine Will during a training session, pushed his body to exhaustion, and woke with his Strength and Constitution increased to 5.5.
  • With the rain cleared on the last day of novice protection, Bai Yi armed himself and left his shelter to hunt.

Ch. 13Final Preparations

Bai Yi killed two gray wolves, then chose to save the grievously wounded white wolf and used a Wishing Well offering to obtain an incomplete alchemy book. As the wolf recovered and became his companion, the newbie protection period began its final countdown and the system warned players to stay indoors.

  • Bai Yi ambushed two gray wolves after they killed a white wolf, then finished off the wounded survivor and collected the bodies.
  • Bai Yi discovered the white wolf was still alive, treated its wounds, and used a Wound-Healing Injection to save it.
  • Bai Yi traded five pieces of crude iron through the Wishing Well and received an incomplete volume of Basic Alchemy.
  • Bai Yi read the forbidden alchemy book, lost 27 sanity, and watched the white wolf recover beside him.
  • Bai Yi received notice that newbie protection would end in eight hours as the system began updating and told players to lock their doors and stay inside.

Ch. 14Sudden Surge in Difficulty

After the novice protection ended, Bai Yi faced deadly anomalies and Rotting Corpses outside his shelter, while Little White helped him uncover a hidden threat. He returned to safety with new abnormal statuses displayed on his panel.

  • Bai Yi named the white wolf Little White and reassured it as the system update transformed the fog and the shelter’s surroundings.
  • The novice protection ended, disabling cognitive protection and anomaly screening as illusions and a group of Rotting Corpses threatened Bai Yi.
  • Bai Yi discovered a black clump hidden in Little White’s mouth, pulled it out, and killed it to break the effects silencing and freezing them.
  • Bai Yi killed four Rotting Corpses outside the shelter, then saw that he had gained the abnormal statuses The Displaced and Wail of the Dead.
  • Bai Yi hurried back inside, where his disorientation faded and his status panel showed Where the Heart Finds Peace and Wail of the Dead.

Ch. 15Log Update

After newbie protection ended, Bai Yi reviewed the system updates and learned that shelters could now be attacked, players could trade and form groups, and aberrant demons threatened survival. He used the recycling bin to obtain a Mist Coin and confirmed Wang Ziyi was alive, then prepared to upgrade his shelter with the lump of flesh.

  • Bai Yi checked the update log and learned that newbie protection had ended, leaving shelters vulnerable to aberrant demons.
  • Bai Yi reviewed the new shelter features, forum, plaza, channels, team options, abnormal statuses, and Aberrant Demon Encyclopedia.
  • Bai Yi killed another Shadow of a Thousand Throats and recycled its corpse for a Mist Coin.
  • Bai Yi messaged Wang Ziyi, confirmed he was alive, and agreed to discuss joining his team later.
  • Bai Yi took the lump of flesh from storage, and the log identified it as a special item that could upgrade his shelter.

Ch. 16Fleshweb Bone Nest (Part 1)

Bai Yi upgraded his shelter with the Flesh and Bone Fragments of Endless Proliferation, transforming it into a living Fleshweb Bone Nest that obeyed his commands. He explored its new facilities and discovered it could craft Fine bone weapons from blueprints and convert corpses into materials.

  • Bai Yi upgraded the shelter despite warnings, and it mutated into a living structure made of flesh and bone.
  • Bai Yi tested the shelter and found it recognized him, provided bone slippers, and could move its log and furnishings.
  • Bai Yi examined the shelter’s information and discovered that it had gained new facilities and an Insulation Ward.
  • Bai Yi scanned damaged weapon blueprints in the Workshop and unlocked crafting recipes for a Bone Pickaxe and a White Bone Tang Dao.
  • Bai Yi ordered the shelter to digest four rotting corpses, which yielded additional flesh and bones.
  • Bai Yi declined to build anything and let the shelter carry him toward another room.

Ch. 17Fleshweb Bone Nest (Part 2)

Bai Yi explored and rearranged his upgraded shelter, discovering new flesh-and-bone facilities and learning how they worked. After preparing to join Wang Ziyi's team, he saw that Wang Ziyi was attempting to upgrade her shelter in a forest.

  • Bai Yi discovered that the Modification Room could fuse organs into the shelter, modify bodies, and provide medical treatment, then ordered it not to display organs without permission.
  • Bai Yi tested the shelter's kitchen, realized its delicious steak was made from rotting corpse meat, and ate it anyway after stopping Little White from taking a bite.
  • Bai Yi rode an escalator chair to the second floor, inspected the bedroom and self-cleaning bathroom, and rearranged the shelter's rooms and facilities.
  • Bai Yi learned that shelter facilities consumed flesh and bone, received 2 Misty Coins for the Shadow of a Thousand Throats corpses, and made an extra medical pod for the bedroom.
  • Bai Yi opened the log to keep his promise to join Wang Ziyi's team, while Wang Ziyi nervously pressed the upgrade button on a tree seed in a dense forest.

Ch. 18Joining

Bai Yi joined Wang Ziyi's team and learned about his teammates' talents and resources. After hunting Rotting Corpses proved inefficient and dangerous, he returned to the shelter and came up with an idea for a better way to kill them.

  • Bai Yi accepted Wang Ziyi's invitation to join the team chat and met the group, including the wealthy scout Zhang Zhen and the blunt fighter Tang Zheng.
  • Bai Yi told his teammates he planned to hunt Rotting Corpses, while Zhang Zhen said the shelter had been upgraded but Xie Xu and Mu Mu were unreachable.
  • Bai Yi and Little White killed two Rotting Corpses, then fled from a small group and lost the corpses they had been carrying.
  • Bai Yi realized that hunting far from the shelter was inefficient and dangerous, and he thought of a way to kill Rotting Corpses near the fungal carpet.

Ch. 19Rotting Corpse Processing Assembly Line

Bai Yi devised a safer way to kill Rotting Corpses from inside his Level 6 shelter and processed 237 of them, though their growing numbers suggested a coming corpse tide. He then used the accumulated resources to give Little White a new eye, and its attributes appeared in his personal information.

  • Bai Yi killed a Rotting Corpse with the shelter’s bone spikes, then tested how much Flesh the shelter consumed when it restrained him.
  • Bai Yi created eye-level holes and a blade slit in the shelter wall so he could kill Rotting Corpses without letting the shelter attack.
  • Bai Yi had Little White lure Rotting Corpses to the shelter and killed them one by one, processing 237 over four hours as they arrived increasingly quickly.
  • Bai Yi brought the assembly line to a stop and took Little White to the modification room to replace its necrotic eye.
  • Bai Yi’s shelter grew a dark golden eyeball from Little White’s genes, transplanted it, and Little White woke up delighted with its new eye.
  • Little White’s attributes appeared on the third page of Bai Yi’s personal information.

Ch. 20Modification and Basic Flesh Alchemy

After Little White awakened a powerful Snowfield Howl talent, Bai Yi underwent a fifteen-hour physical modification while learning Basic Flesh Alchemy. He emerged with greatly enhanced attributes and two beginner spells, then saw an urgent message saying Wang Ziyi was in danger.

  • Little White awakened Snowfield Howl, and Bai Yi praised the wolf before beginning iris color change surgery.
  • Bai Yi chose to study Basic Flesh Alchemy during the operation as the shelter rebuilt and strengthened his body.
  • Bai Yi completed the surgery with Strength and Constitution raised to 12, and learned the knowledge of Basic Flesh Alchemy.
  • The shelter helped Bai Yi understand the spells Boiling Blood and Flesh-Bone Conversion, though mastering them remained difficult.
  • Bai Yi found messages from his team, including a warning that Wang Ziyi was in danger and a demand that he come immediately.

Ch. 21First Gathering

Bai Yi joined the team and traveled through its portal to Wang Ziyi's shelter, where Rotting Corpses had surrounded the group. After learning that the shelter was close to collapsing, he prepared to go outside and kill the attackers.

  • Bai Yi accepted Zhang Zhen's team invitation, inspected the new team functions, and used the portal to reach Wang Ziyi's shelter.
  • Bai Yi met Zhang Zhen and the other teammates, who introduced themselves to him.
  • Wang Ziyi explained that Tang Zheng's abnormal status had drawn hundreds of Rotting Corpses to the shelter, whose defenses were failing as nearby nutrients ran low.
  • Bai Yi checked the status log and learned that going out alone would not trigger [Autism].
  • Bai Yi told the team to open the door and announced that he would kill the Rotting Corpses.

Ch. 22Slaughter

Bai Yi fought the hundreds of Rotting Corpses that had poured into Wang Ziyi's shelter, using flesh-bone alchemy, Little White's freezing howl, and Steel Spine Will to overcome the horde. He killed every corpse, including a mutated attacker, while his sanity remained locked at 1 and his body and mind were severely strained.

  • Wang Ziyi opened the shelter gate, and Bai Yi transformed the approaching corpses into a bone passage before charging into the horde alone.
  • As the Rotting Corpses overwhelmed Bai Yi and his Tang Dao broke, he activated Boiling Blood and formed bone blades from his hands.
  • A fast mutated Rotting Corpse attacked Bai Yi, but he broke its fingers by hardening his abdomen into bone and called on Little White.
  • Little White slowed and froze the remaining Rotting Corpses with Snowfield Howl, allowing Bai Yi to split the mutated attacker apart.
  • Bai Yi activated Steel Spine Will and beheaded the remaining Rotting Corpses, killing the entire horde of three to four hundred.

Ch. 23Sanity Recovery Elixir

After Bai Yi slaughtered the Rotting Corpses, Li Zihua gave him an elixir that restored his sanity and eased his pain, helping the group rebuild trust. As the team resumed its meeting, Bai Yi noticed black fog outside the shelter.

  • Bai Yi returned carrying organs from mutated Rotting Corpses, unsettling everyone inside the shelter.
  • Bai Yi entered the shelter, accepted cigarettes from Zhang Zhen, and joined the team as they discussed their plans.
  • Li Zihua recognized that Bai Yi was enduring severe pain from low sanity and gave him a Sanity Recovery Elixir made with Wang Ziyi's ingredients.
  • Bai Yi's sanity rose as the elixir eased his pain, and he thanked Li Zihua and asked the team to call him Brother Dog again.
  • The team gathered in the meeting room, where Bai Yi warned them that black fog had appeared outside.

Ch. 24A Brief Meeting (Part 1)

As the black fog spread toward them, Bai Yi and the others hurriedly discussed how their newly formed team would cooperate. They shared their abilities and resources, and Xie Xu ended the meeting’s first part with a warning about the danger of prophecy.

  • Xie Xu estimated that the black fog would replace the white fog within five hours, so Zhang Zhen urged everyone to quickly establish team rules.
  • Zhang Zhen, Li Zihua, Bai Yi, Wang Ziyi, Tang Zheng, and Wei Fen described their shelters, talents, and ways they could help the team.
  • Bai Yi asked Li Zihua to prioritize emergency wound treatments and sanity-recovery medicines, while Li Zihua agreed to shift his research focus.
  • Wei Fen gave Tang Zheng a tactical pistol blueprint, and Tang Zheng revealed that his firearm talent let him create bullets by consuming sanity.
  • Xie Xu explained that using his future-sight talent had attracted an 'Unhearable' entity and raised his mental strength and sanity; he warned Bai Yi that knowledge could be poisonous and prophecies could kill.

Ch. 25A Brief Meeting (Part 2)

Bai Yi revealed the many functions of his Fleshweb Bone Nest, and Zhang Zhen organized the team’s trade and information-sharing rules. The group named itself Ashen Echo and ended the meeting ready to continue through the mist.

  • Mu Mu described her talent for enchanting equipment, and Bai Yi realized Xie Xu might have precognition.
  • Bai Yi explained that his shelter could craft and upgrade equipment, treat and modify bodies, and provide food, while warning that its services required scarce materials.
  • Zhang Zhen proposed that team members trade at sixty percent of marketplace prices and share discoveries to prevent deaths from missing information.
  • The group exchanged records about creatures and abnormal statuses, including Wang Ziyi’s Rotting Marsh Gazer encounter.
  • The members suggested team names, chose Xie Xu’s Ashen Echo, and agreed to keep moving forward together.
Arc 1 of 2
Arc 1 of 2