Awakening

Lu Heng woke up from the cold.

His back pressed against a hard, icy ground, digging into his spine and stiffening it, completely lacking the soft warmth of a rental room mattress. The earth beneath him was coarse and dry, mixed with rotting, blackened fallen leaves, and the soil layer was frozen hard, exuding a piercing chill that slowly drilled into his body along his spine.

Cold.

Piercing cold enveloped his entire body, making him instinctively shrug his shoulders and take a sharp breath.

He remembered very clearly.

He had just finished a full month of rotating night shifts and finally encountered two days of complete leave. After getting off work, he simply bought some alcohol in his rental room to relax and drink a little. It was just a regular small drink, and in the time it took to close his eyes to rest, the surroundings should have been the quiet of his rental room, so where did the wind of the wilderness come from?

Lu Heng propped himself up with his arms and sat up stiffly.

Raising his eyes to look around, the surroundings were a boundless expanse of barren, frozen earth.

The ground cast a pale frosty color and was frozen and cracked, sparsely hanging with long-withered and rotted weeds and fallen leaves. A cold wind swept across the wasteland carrying fine, chilly air. Within his field of vision, there were no buildings, no streetlights, no streets, and even less the slightest trace of human life.

The bone-chilling cold lingered not just on the surface of his body, but also left his mind completely blank.

His fine rental room instantly transformed into this unfamiliar, icy wasteland.

Just as his mind shook and he fell into utter astonishment, a cold, neutral, and emotionless global prompt suddenly rang through the minds of all people across the world.

[Global forced awakening]

[All of humanity has been randomly and individually deployed]

[All starting resources, environments, and terrains for humanity are completely randomized]

[Civilization has paused]

[Survive, pass on the spark of fire, and only then will you be qualified to enter the next reincarnation]

The brief announcement, clear in every word, hammered into Lu Heng's mind.

Lu Heng froze entirely, staying still for several seconds before a ridiculous and explosive emotion welled up from the bottom of his heart.

He had just worked a month of overnight shifts, finally waited for a break, and had a little drink to relax.

He broke no laws, caused no trouble, and did nothing out of line.

It was just an ordinary person's mundane vacation and relaxation.

As a result, he was directly thrown into this ghost place?

And all of humanity was deployed together?

It was absurd, ridiculous, and left one with no room to refute.

He did not have to go to work.

No clocking in, no staying up late for coverage, and no enduring the boring, monotonous assembly line.

This was the only tiny, insignificant surprise.

But the next second, the piercing cold wind blew through his thin clothes once more, freezing his skin numb and instantly shattering this cheap sense of relief.

He did not need to work, but this place would genuinely cost people their lives.

All the conveniences of the modern world vanished completely; there was no hot water, no heating, no food, and no shelter from the wind and rain.

At his feet was frozen earth, before his eyes was a barren wasteland, and over his head was a biting cold wind.

Global random deployment, zero protection, zero preferential treatment.

He was all alone, landing in this frigid death zone.

Lu Heng fell silent, his fingertips digging into his palms and failing to let go for a long time.

His brief vacation had ended.

Replacing it was a wilderness survival game with no end in sight, where one could only grit their teeth and live on.

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Lu Heng caught sight of a simple, dark-colored bracelet that had inexplicably appeared on his wrist.

He raised a hand to touch the bracelet, and a cold prompt immediately rang in his mind.

[Host detected, the Survival Bracelet is binding...]

[Binding successful.]

The bracelet floated with a faint white light, and its interface listed only a few minimalist functions.

[Basic Functions of the Survival Bracelet]

1. Environmental Monitoring: Displays current environment and temperature

2. Message Prompts: Receives global announcements and regional anomaly alerts

3. Trading Channel: Cross-region material exchange

The entire interface was clean and straightforward, with no flashy special effects, and no gamified content like levels, attributes, crafting, or building, retaining only the most basic notification and interaction functions.

Lu Heng looked at the bracelet and gradually recovered his senses.

The cold wind blew incessantly, slicing across his face like blades, and the bone-chilling cold soaked completely through his clothes via his collar and cuffs.

What felt even more uncomfortable than his body was his feet.

He was wearing only thin cotton socks on his feet at the moment, with no shoes.

The thick layer of frozen earth was hard and uneven, strewn with broken twigs and rotten leaves. He had been sitting still for a long time, and the cold had already seeped through his socks and clamped around his feet. The soles were icy and numb. Bone-chilling cold crept up from his toes, leaving his flesh stiff and aching. Every trace of cold felt as if it bored straight into his bones.

He couldn't stand for long.

Lu Heng gritted his teeth, enduring the numbness and stabbing pain in his frozen feet as he looked around the wilderness.

The immediate priority wasn't to panic or dwell on his situation. It was to find shelter from the wind.

The open wilderness offered no cover, and the wind howled fiercely. If he stayed out on the exposed frozen earth, he would be stiff with cold before long.

He moved slowly, each step on the hard, icy ground bringing a bone-deep chill.

Looking in the direction opposite the wind, he spotted a hollow in the frozen earth's edge not far away, where the soil cliff curved inward.

It was low-lying and sheltered from the wind-the only place in this desolate wilderness where he could take cover from the icy gusts for now.

He had no choice.

Lu Heng hunched his body against the wind that whipped through his clothes. Dragging his numb, frozen feet, he slowly made his way across the icy ground, one step at a time, toward the hollow in the soil cliff.

First, shelter from the wind. Then, stay alive.

That was the only thought in his mind.

With every step Lu Heng took, the cold beneath his feet grew worse. A dull ache gradually set in across his numb soles, and they could barely support him. He stopped, bent down, and took off both thin cotton socks. Then he gathered a large handful of dry grass beside his feet, loosened it up, and stuffed the socks full.

He put the socks back on, with the dry grass padding his soles. At last, it kept the frozen earth's direct chill at bay, and his steps grew a little lighter. He straightened up, looked once more at the hollow in the soil cliff, and continued on.

The dry grass padding his feet eased the bone-chilling cold, though he could still feel the hard ground beneath him. Lu Heng lowered his head and walked carefully. The frozen earth was uneven, littered with rotten leaves and broken twigs that occasionally pressed into his soles.

It was only a short distance, but it wasn't easy to cover. Shoulders drooping, he let the cold wind sweep over them, his eyes fixed on the hollow in the soil cliff ahead.

As he neared the cliff, the wind weakened considerably. He sidestepped into the hollow and stopped with his back against the icy earthen wall. The cramped space could barely fit one person. The walls on either side blocked the howling wind, and its roar faded considerably.

Lu Heng drew a faint breath and moved his stiff hands and feet. Looking down at his feet, he saw that the dry grass inside his socks had been flattened by his weight, but it could still offer some protection from the cold.

He looked out at the wilderness. The land stretched bleakly in every direction, and not a soul was in sight. All around him, the only sound was the faint rush of wind against the cliff. Cold still hung in the air.

He had found shelter from the wind for the time being, but hunger, cold, and the lack of fire and food still confronted him. Leaning against the earthen wall, Lu Heng slowly steadied himself and began examining this temporary place to stay.