Communication

Lu Heng opened his eyes.

I stared at the ceiling for a second. After a brief blank, the last sentence that had been swirling in my mind before I went to sleep last night came back.

Tomorrow, disaster will strike.

And "tomorrow" has already arrived.

He sat up, no longer lying down, grabbed the knife from the bedside table, got out of bed, and went out.

Pushing open the door, the first thing I noticed was that the color was wrong.

The broad-leaved trees at the edge of the forest were not a clean green; their leaves were covered with a rough, yellowish layer. He took two steps closer and saw clearly—the leaves were covered with tiny, pinhead-sized holes, densely packed together. When held up to the light, he could see that the leaf tissue had been gnawed down to just a thin membrane, which would crumble at the slightest touch of his fingertip. As the wind blew, several half-yellow leaves swirled down and fell, sticking to the mud.

Insect Plague.

He squatted down and turned over the fallen leaves. Several green caterpillars were crawling on the soil surface. They didn't hide when they heard the noise, but slowly burrowed under the leaves.

Lu Heng stood up and patted the mud off his hands.

Disasters, when they truly strike, often come silently. There are no earth-shattering events, no strange omens in the sky; they simply creep along the veins of leaves, slowly rotting along the bark. Today a tree is riddled with insect holes, tomorrow half the forest is yellow with leaves, and by the time the entire forest begins to shed its leaves, it's too late.

He went back into the house, grabbed a knife, tied his sleeves tightly, and went into the woods.

Before the disaster subsides, we need to get a clear picture of the situation. In a few more days, those lives will be in dire straits, and we won't even be able to see them anymore.

The light in the woods was dimmer than usual.

Lu Heng walked slowly, stepping on fallen leaves. The deeper he went, the denser the insect holes became, and there was a bitter smell in the air, the sap seeping from the gnawed leaves. He parted a clump of branches, his sleeve smeared with a layer of sticky resin, and looked down to see three or four green caterpillars crawling on the back of a leaf, gnawing away without even lifting their heads.

There was something lying under the roots of a tree in the middle of the woods.

Lu Heng paused in his steps.

A wooden treasure chest, about the size of a palm, with rough wood grain and mud on the edges, resting in a recessed spot near a tree root. It's unclear whether someone dropped it or if the system spawned it there.

He squatted down, stared at the box for two seconds, looking at it with a bit of curiosity.

A very basic wooden treasure chest. The last time I saw a chest like this, at the very bottom, was not long after I entered this world. Later, as I opened more and more chests, they were all either Black Iron or Bronze, and wooden chests had long since disappeared. To suddenly encounter such a rough thing under a tree root is like meeting an old acquaintance.

I placed my finger on the clasp and pressed it.

The lid popped open.

Bread, biscuits, and two bottles of water. The most basic ready-made food.

Lu Heng squeezed the bread bag and stuffed it into his backpack—it could be used as firewood, too.

Pack your things and keep going.

After patrolling the area, no large-scale casualties were observed, but the state of the forest had changed.

The herd of blue sheep by the stream, who would usually be grazing on the slope at this time, heads down, not even looking up, are all standing on high ground today, their heads all facing the same direction, ears twitching and nostrils flaring, sniffing the scent in the wind.

In the tree canopy, squirrels darted back and forth among the branches, not in the way of looking for food, but like they were moving house—carrying their young in their mouths, making trip after trip deeper into the forest. Several birds whose names I didn't know landed on the lower branches, their feathers ruffled, silent, their eyes fixed on the ground.

There was no communication. Lu Heng and they stared at each other from several dozen steps away, but neither of them moved.

But he understood.

These creatures live their entire lives in this forest; the forest's roots, water, and wind are their lifeblood. They are always the first to know if the environment is wrong. Things aren't chaotic yet, but that "knowledge" is already written in every pair of eyes—anxiety, vigilance, and a readiness to run at any moment.

Lu Heng didn't disturb them, silently noted their location, and turned back.

Back at the Shelter, the sun was already setting. He closed the door, leaned against it for a while, and mentally reviewed the patrol route and what he had found before sitting down on the bed.

After resting for less than ten minutes, he raised his hand and summoned the Wristband.

The chat channel is very lively.

As disaster struck, everyone was on edge, and messages kept popping up. Lu Heng scrolled up and saw that everyone was reporting on their own situation.

[Wang Hao: I was in the city area, near a large river. The area boss was a giant fish, but luckily it only stayed in the water. It took a lot of effort and methods to defeat it.]

[Li San: I was at the zoo. That monster took over the entire park, and it took a lot of effort to get rid of it.]

[Yun Lei: Where are you all? We're not all in the same place, are we?]

[Guo Haifeng: I'm Zombie here, and I even have henchmen with me!]

Lu Heng watched quietly without saying a word.

[Li Feng: Stop arguing, let's think about how to cope with the natural disaster first.]

Just this one sentence, without any beginning or end, but the channel actually went silent for a few seconds.

Lu Heng's gaze lingered on the name for a moment before sliding down. He didn't speak, minimized the channel, and leaned back against the headboard, thinking for a while. He should go check on the Communist base.

When disaster strikes, some people will inevitably run to the base because they can't hold on any longer. Whether there are survivors who have built new Shelter or new supply points, these are questions you can't figure out sitting in a room.

He got up and checked his equipment. He paused at the door, then glanced back at the Bone Demon lurking in the corner.

The thing sensed his gaze and raised its head.

"Stay put."

Lu Heng only uttered two words. The Bone Demon froze, then lay back down.

I'm not bringing it this time. There are too many people and too many eyes at the base, and the Bone Demon's appearance is too conspicuous. I'm just going to check the situation; there's no need to bring any combat power.

He walked to the door to the inner room, grasped the doorknob, turned it, and stepped inside.

Heading towards the base.

Upon arriving at the base, Lu Heng turned on the channel.

Several unfamiliar faces appeared in the channel. Scrolling up the chat history, there was a bunch of unread mentions, all directed at him. He didn't reply to a single one.

[Wang Haoyu: Holy crap, Lu Heng already built Shelter? We're still getting soaked in the rain, and he's already living in a house?]

[Li Na: What a difference... Do you need a companion, boss?]

[Zhao Haifeng: They can't all be in the same place, can they?]

Lu Heng stared at the messages, his finger hovering over the input box for a moment, but he didn't reply. Several days had passed since then.

The people in the back of the channel had already started chatting amongst themselves.

[Wang Haoyu: I'm in the city area, near a large river. The area boss is a giant fish, but luckily it only stays in the water, and I managed to take it down.]

[Li Na: I was at the zoo, and that monster took over the entire area. It took a lot of effort to get rid of it.]

[Zhao Haifeng: You guys are having such a smooth ride? I'm surrounded by Zombie, hordes of them! I don't even dare leave the house.]

Lu Heng looked at these messages and gave a slight smirk.

Is it that simple?

He encountered a Silver Tier monster, however.

After thinking for a moment, he typed a few words in the input box and sent it.

[Lu Heng: Outer city area, python.]

Less than three seconds after the message was sent, the notification sound rang four times.

[Wang Haoyu: Boss!!!]

[Li Na: Boss, you finally spoke! Outer city area? Boss, are you familiar with that area?]

[Zhao Haifeng: Is the outer city area very close to the city center? Are there many Zombie there?]

[Li Yun: The outer city area is difficult to navigate.]

Lu Heng looked at the names flashing on the screen and noticed a detail— the Wristband automatically displayed everyone's real name, not a number or a nickname, but the real name as it appears on their ID card. He glanced at the four names, said nothing, and typed a line of text on the screen.

[Lu Heng: I don't know. There are many dangers in the city. To confirm whether we are in the same district, we need to actively explore. But the city is too risky, so we can only proceed slowly.]

The message was sent, followed by two seconds of silence.

[Zhao Haifeng:... I really don't dare to run around recklessly. This area used to be the old city, the population was too dense, who knows how many Zombie are hiding in the buildings? If there's any movement, it will attract a whole bunch of them, and there's no way to escape.]

[Wang Haoyu: Yeah, I haven't even left this building yet.]

Lu Heng Wristband, leaned against a pillar, and looked down at the end of the square.

The wind whipped up dust as it rolled across the open space, and in the distance, a broken window rattled loudly in the wind. The Wristband's screen was still lit, and messages scrolled up line by line.

As he looked at those names, only one thought occupied his mind.

So he's the only one who's unlucky, Silver Tier ghost.

Despite being caught in the same natural disaster, the crises faced by each person are vastly different.