The Workbench

The remaining two Cold Stiffs pressed in one after the other, moving slowly and heavily. Their movements remained stiff and rigid, capable only of lunging and grabbing straight ahead.

Lu Heng glanced out of the corner of his eye at the broken stone axe embedded in the first corpse, a thought stirring in his heart as he wanted to find a time to pull the weapon back out.

He sidestepped in small increments, deliberately leaving half a body's width to lure the leading Cold Stiff into lunging forward.

Taking advantage of the opponent's stiff limbs and clumsy moves unable to change form, he sidestepped around the corpse, gripped the exposed axe handle with one hand, and pulled outward with a sudden burst of force.

The axe blade was wedged tightly in the bone gaps, and no matter how much his wrist bones strained and ached, the stone axe remained completely motionless.

Delaying for just this single instant was enough for the other Cold Stiff to turn its body and reach out with grasping claws.

Lu Heng had no choice but to abandon pulling the axe and immediately retreated to widen the distance, temporarily giving up the idea of retrieving the stone axe.

His gaze swept toward the edge of the forest at his side, where a large, angular blue stone half-buried in dead leaves caught his eye.

The stone was not small in size, and trying to lift and drag it with one hand only made it sway slightly, making it completely impossible to lift it up entirely.

Lu Heng immediately moved over, wrapped both arms around the sides of the stone, and exerted a sudden burst of force from his waist and back, forcibly lifting the giant rock off the ground.

The Cold Stiff in front of him happened to rush close with a rigid body, its head facing him completely unprotected.

Lu Heng did not hesitate any longer, raising the stone high with both arms and smashing it fiercely downward at the top of the opponent's head.

A muffled sound of bone fracturing burst out, muffled within the layer of dead leaves.

The Cold Stiff's rigid body trembled violently, its upper body collapsing directly downward, and after its limbs twitched twice, it collapsed completely.

The last monster still did not know how to evade, and as usual, strode forward stiffly.

Lu Heng quietly extended his spear shaft out with his foot, precisely wedging it right in front of the opponent's stepping lower leg.

The Cold Stiff's steps were already clumsy and stuck, and tripped by the wooden spear, its center of gravity instantly lost balance, causing it to lunge forward straightly.

A prime opportunity presented itself before his eyes.

Lu Heng stepped forward, gripped the wooden spear tightly with both hands, and thrust down fiercely from top to bottom. The spear tip pierced straight through the back of the skull, completely ending the last Cold Stiff.

Several successive bouts of close combat came to an end.

Lu Heng released the wooden spear, a thin layer of sweat already oozing across his back, and slowly slid down against the tree trunk to sit on the piled dead leaves.

The tremors in the hands gripping the spear shaft had not yet dissipated, still the muscular stress response after a state of high tension. There was not the slightest fear in the depths of his heart, only the fatigue that followed intense tension.

He sat quietly to regulate his breathing, taking large, even breaths, letting his rising and falling chest slowly calm down.

The commotion just now from lifting the giant rock and engaging in continuous combat was not small, and the sounds of the stone striking bone and the wooden spear piercing traveled very far through the dense forest.

This forest held dangers other than just Cold Stiffs, and the loud noise made it highly likely to attract other alien beasts hurrying over by the sound.

He dared not linger for long.

Lu Heng braced himself against the tree trunk to stand up, not daring to delay, and walked quickly over to the bodies of the four Cold Stiffs.

His wristband scanned the corpses one by one, and light-blue spots of light rose successively from the dead bodies, condensing into several physical material cards that floated in mid-air.

He raised his hand and swept them all into his palm, having no time to check the corresponding material quantities on the cards in detail. Gripping the wooden spear tightly, he stopped lingering, turned around, and walked quickly back in the direction of the cave refuge, swiftly distancing himself from this forest patch bearing distinct traces of the fight.

Lu Heng gripped the wooden spear tightly, not daring to stay a moment longer at the spot where the fight had taken place.

The commotions of lifting and smashing with the stone and thrusting with the wooden spear had burst out consecutively, traveling extremely far through the dense forest. Regardless of whether it attracted alien beasts or other survivors wandering outside, once they tracked along the traces and found their way along his path back to the cave refuge, his base stronghold would be directly exposed in the open, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

He did not retrace the route home, but instead deliberately turned his steps, walking briskly through the terrain in the exact opposite direction of the refuge.

As he walked along, he casually snapped off a branched twig, carving a shallow mark on a thick tree trunk at regular intervals to mark his route of travel. The marks were carved covertly so that outsiders would find them hard to notice, yet they would be clear at a glance when he looked back himself, so he did not need to worry about walking in circles and getting lost.

Walking briskly for hundreds of meters, the lingering aura of the fight and the bloodstains were all left far behind him.

Lu Heng raised his eyes and selected a tall arbor with thick branches and stable forks, using his hands and feet alternately to grasp the protruding knots of the tree trunk and climb upward with the aid of leverage.

He climbed up to a thick horizontal branch several meters off the ground and sat firmly. The branch had sufficient bearing capacity to steadily support his figure, making it hard for threats from the ground to get close.

Only at this moment did his taut nerves relax slightly. He sat securely with his back against the primary trunk, finally having the surplus energy to tally his spoils of war.

He raised his hand to tap open the wristband's storage inventory, and the four physical cards he had just picked up emerged in sequence.

[Cold Zombie Bones]

Description: Long-term immersion in the erosion of cold breath has made the bone texture dense and hard, with toughness far exceeding that of ordinary beast bones, suitable for crafting bone-age melee weapons.

The second card was still [Cold Zombie Bones], with an identical card description.

[Cold Poison Gland]

Description: Stores concentrated extreme cold poison, currently without an antidote; can be directly smeared onto weapons, causing physical stiffness and continuous stamina drain upon a hit, and can also be further purified and refined into poisons.

[Blueprint: Bone Dagger]

Description: Unlocks the forging scheme. By consuming Cold Zombie Bones, bone daggers can be crafted directly through the wristband's forging function.

After reading the four items, Lu Heng furrowed his brow slightly, a headache welling up in his heart.

He instinctively tested the wristband, wanting to figure out how the cards should be used.

The next instant, the wristband transmitted a clear mental prompt that projected directly into his mind:

Physical prop cards can be recorded into the system, unlocking permissions and storing materials, simply by crushing them with bare hands.

Lu Heng snorted instantly, giving up without a single thought of doing so.

Crush them?

Are you kidding me.

The wilderness was full of crises right now. Crushing them casually to record them into the system on the off chance that it occupied the wristband's scarce storage sorting and crowded out the positions for subsequent supplies was purely asking for trouble for himself.

He simply raised his hand and put all four cards back into the wristband's storage inventory, sealing them away properly.

There was no need to rush for this moment.

Once he safely and securely returned to the cave refuge, he would slowly deal with the matters of forging, recording, and poison-making.

What truly made him mutter doubts to himself was that bone dagger blueprint.

Turns out blueprints could not be synthesized directly in the wristband.

A workbench had to be present in order to forge weapons and tools.

Lu Heng clicked his tongue inwardly; the rules of this survival world were more rigorous and troublesome than he had imagined.

Without a workbench, even holding the blueprint in hand and having the bone materials fully prepared was completely useless.

He raised his eyes to cast his gaze far into the distance, taking advantage of the high vantage point to scan the entire dense forest below.

Just as his thoughts settled down, his line of sight suddenly froze.

In the bushes not far below, amidst the cover of dead leaves, a section of light-wood-colored edge was vaguely exposed.

Regular, square, definitely not a natural creation.

It was a treasure chest!

A simple material box crafted from raw wood, with the greater part of it blocked by dead leaves and bushes, hidden extremely covertly.

A trace of joy flashed across the depths of Lu Heng's eyes instantly.

Thank goodness!

Luckily he had not acted with a hot head just now and directly retraced his steps back to the refuge.

An extra bit of caution, an extra bit of risk-avoidance and detouring, had unexpectedly yielded a hidden resource for free.

This momentary prudent mindset directly traded for solid, tangible gains.

He dared not linger in the tree for long, carefully gripping the tree trunk's branch knots and landing firmly on the ground step by step.

He parted the messy dead leaves with light steps, exposing the complete wooden treasure chest.

The box body was intact, without a lock clasp, its surface merely covered with a layer of thin dust.

Lu Heng reached out and directly lifted the box lid.

Three wisps of item micro-light lit up successively, lying quietly at the bottom of the box.

One [Basic Processing Table] placement card, two bags of packaged bread, and two bottles of purified water.

He checked the item descriptions one by one.

[Basic Processing Table]

Description: Unranked basic survival facility. Relying on various blueprints, it can process and forge basic tools, weapons, and consumables. The facility can accumulate usage experience, supporting subsequent upgrades to unlock advanced forging permissions.

A few simple lines of text instantly resolved the biggest dilemma before his eyes.

The predicament of lacking a workbench and being unable to forge daggers was directly solved with a ready answer.

Lu Heng's heart steadied slightly as he stowed away all the supplies entirely.

The bread and water replenished his consumed reserves, and the basic processing table was even more the most crucial rigid-demand facility at the moment.

After tidying up the treasure chest site and wiping away the traces of his stay, he raised his gaze to look into the depths of the forest.

The decision to detour and avoid danger had ultimately been the right bet.