A wondrous item

Braving the biting wind, I returned to the Shelter, the chill in my body long since overshadowed by the dull pain from the lingering internal injuries in my chest.

Lu Heng raised his hand to brush the fine snow off his shoulder and stepped heavily into the Shelter. Insulated from the raging blizzard of minus forty degrees Celsius outside, the stagnant warmth inside rushed in, barely suppressing the chill surging on his skin.

He didn't rush to rest, but bent down and stacked the damp branches he had collected along the way on the open ground on both sides of the fire pit.

The wooden branches were soaked in snow water, heavy with a thin layer of ice on their surface. They were impossible to start a fire with directly.

They could only be slowly baked and dried by the persistent Geothermal heat of the Shelter.

After doing all this, he sat down against the edge of the fire pit, poked at the fire with his fingertips, and added a few dry pieces of firewood.

The flames flickered gently, their orange light casting a play of light and shadow on his weary profile.

He kept the Blizzard Monster Snow Pearl tightly clenched in his palm.

The message in the Wristband's status bar was staring me in the eye: "[ Under Being Parasitized (Suppressed)]".

It was merely suppressed, never eradicated.

As long as the hidden danger remains in his body, this time bomb could explode at any moment. Lu Heng stared at the words, his chest tightening slightly, not daring to completely relax.

After calming his breathing slightly, he raised his Wristband.

Two treasure chests floated silently in the air.

One is Black Iron Chest obtained from a regular hunt, and the other is a special environment treasure chest that was just harvested from the bottom of the hot spring.

He first took out the Black Iron Chest and unlocked it with a light touch of his fingertip.

With a flash of light, all four supplies landed in his palm.

The package includes a well-packaged family bucket of fast-growing hamburgers, two bags of quick-ripening Tomato seeds with instructions, and a five-day growing cycle. It also includes a blueprint for making a wooden bucket and a complete set of planting tools, which includes a small hand hoe, a garden shovel, and a fine-toothed rake.

The item is very practical.

Lu Heng held the two packets of seeds, his gaze darkening.

He still had Pumpkin seeds stored in his Storage Space, which he had been hoarding for a long time and had been looking for an opportunity to plant them.

But the thought was quickly crushed by reality.

Outside is frozen ground.

The ground in the entire Frost Forest was frozen harder than stone, and when the wind blew, ice formed three feet deep. With the few small farm tools in hand, it was impossible to dig even an inch of soil.

Going out to dig in the freezing cold is just asking for trouble.

Frostbite, physical exhaustion, worsening of internal injuries, and the possibility of encountering wandering monsters in open areas.

Unfortunately, we have no choice but to continue putting it on hold.

Lu Heng sighed softly, carefully collected all the planting supplies, and his gaze fell on the last special treasure chest for hot springs.

Unlock with a tap of your finger.

The Wristband displays a very brief introduction:

[Special Environment Treasure Chest: Geothermal Spring Generated Underground]

It only has a simple sentence tracing its origins.

The next instant, the outer shell of the treasure chest crumbled, the faint light faded, and a palm-sized, ancient talisman slowly fell into his palm.

The talisman is made of a peculiar material, neither wood nor stone. Its surface is engraved with fine, interwoven ancient patterns. It feels warm to the touch, not the dry heat of a campfire, but a gentle, long-lasting Geothermal temperature that has been deposited for millions of years.

The Wristband instantly displayed authentication information.

[Geothermal Talisman]

Type: Curiosities

Description: A unique artifact cultivated solely by Geothermal spring vein, it absorbs deep underground Geothermal energy over a long period. It can be bound to the soul and is exclusively for the use of its owner.

That's all.

There are no skills, no damage values, and no detailed explanations of their functions.

The two short lines of text caused Lu Heng's pupils to shrink slightly.

Strange object.

He had struggled to survive in this apocalyptic world for so long, opening countless Black Iron Chest and hunting all sorts of strange creatures and ferocious beasts, yet he had never heard of any rare items.

This is withdrawal.

It's a rare drop that you can only find by sheer luck.

My heart skipped a beat, and the long-suppressed melancholy finally broke free.

Without hesitation, Lu Heng confirmed: Soul Binding.

The moment the binding command is confirmed.

Buzz--

A subtle tremor erupted from the talisman in the palm of the hand.

There were no blinding lights, no exaggerated phenomena.

All the fine lines on the talisman instantly came to life, transforming into countless tiny golden runes that flowed through the pores of his palms and directly into his limbs, bones, flesh, and meridians.

Warm.

An extremely pure and intensely rich Geothermal current instantly filled my entire body.

The cold, aching sensation that had been building up in my chest, and the tingling, itchy, and chilling feeling deep within my body caused by the parasite, were instantly dispelled by this surge of heat.

Before Lu Heng could fully appreciate the comfort...

Suddenly, I felt a dense, extremely subtle wriggling sensation on my skin.

It didn't hurt, but it was incredibly uncomfortable, like countless tiny insects struggling and scurrying under the skin.

Lu Heng froze, his gaze fixed on the skin of his forearm.

The next second.

Visible to the naked eye.

Countless tiny, transparent worms, no bigger than pinheads, were forced to pierce the skin's surface and frantically crawled out of the flesh.

It was the Snow-Hiding Worm Variant lurking within him.

The Geothermal Talisman binds to the surging high-temperature energy from underground, making it the absolute nemesis of these cold, parasitic creatures.

They cannot hide or escape; they are forcibly expelled from the body through the flesh and blood.

Countless tiny insects crawled on the skin of my arm, frantically curling up and trying to escape. In just two seconds, they were scalded to death by the pure Geothermal surrounding my body, turning into tiny specks of transparent water vapor and completely dissipating.

It is silent from beginning to end, yet has a very strong visual impact.

Lu Heng felt a slight tingling sensation in his back.

If it weren't for this strange object, and these insects had been allowed to parasitize and multiply inside my body, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He immediately looked up at the status bar of the Wristband.

The previously persistent entry for "[Being Parasitized Parasites]" has completely disappeared, leaving no trace whatsoever.

My body felt completely empty; all sensations of foreign objects, numbness, itching, and dull pain vanished.

Completely eradicate it.

A sense of relief, like surviving a disaster, slowly crept up my spine and into my heart.

The huge weight that had been pressing on my heart for the past few days has finally been lifted.

At the same time, a large amount of fragmented runic information silently flooded into his mind.

It wasn't the Wristband that gave the explanation, but the ancient heritage carried by the Geothermal Talisman itself, that was directly imprinted deep within his consciousness.

He finally understood the true power of this strange object.

It can continuously absorb Geothermal energy from underground, which can be controlled and guided by the user to release an ultra-high temperature Geothermal scorching attack. The temperature can reach 120 degrees Celsius, which can instantly scald and kill small and medium-sized ferocious beasts and monsters.

More importantly--

He understood the entire basic rune structure.

The logic of replication clearly emerged in my mind.

With this heritage, he can handwrite and replicate simplified Geothermal Runes to create low-cost Simple Geothermal Talisman.

Without needing the artifact itself, one can manipulate weak Geothermal energy simply by using hand-drawn runes.

Lu Heng stared at his fingertips, his mind churning with thoughts.

The Frost Forest is now shrouded in extreme cold, and everyone suffers from the cold, fears the cold, and is freezing.

Simple Geothermal Talisman can provide warmth, ward off the cold, and has a slight antibacterial effect; in such dire circumstances, it is a real bargaining chip.

It can both protect itself from enemies and facilitate future trade and exchange of resources.

A wondrous object born from the depths of a hot spring directly filled his biggest current weakness.

It provides warmth, eliminates parasites, enhances combat effectiveness, and enables reproduction.

They made an outrageous profit.

The flames still burned quietly beside me, providing a warm and cozy feeling.

Lu Heng looked down at the Geothermal Talisman in his palm, which had completely fallen silent. Its patterns were subtle and warm, lying quietly in his hand.

The depression, anxiety, and despair of the past few days vanished completely at this moment.

He leaned against the fire pit and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The wind and snow may be outside, but peace and security remain within.

With all the hidden dangers removed, the road ahead is finally clear again.