Recaps

After water monkeys made the river too dangerous for quarrying, Lu Heng crossed to the opposite bank and searched for bluestone before venturing into the forest. As he explored, an unseen creature began silently following him through its territory.

• Lu Heng abandoned his upstream quarrying plan after witnessing the water monkeys hunting and decided to cross the river to search elsewhere.
• Lu Heng carefully crossed the river and gathered the scattered bluestone he found along the opposite bank.
• After exhausting the riverbank’s resources, Lu Heng equipped himself and entered the dense forest to find more supplies.
• An unseen creature watched Lu Heng enter its territory, then began silently tracking him as he ventured deeper into the forest.

Lu Heng entered the woods to search for resources and was ambushed by a Rockhowl Monkey, which called its group to surround him. After identifying only four of the monkeys as Black Iron Tier, he prepared to fight them head-on.

• Lu Heng found a slope covered in wild fruit trees and ate one while exploring the woods.
• A Rockhowl Monkey ambushed Lu Heng, but he blocked its bite with his bracer and forced it back.
• The Rockhowl Monkey shrieked to summon its companions, and monkeys converged on Lu Heng from the surrounding woods.
• Lu Heng used his Wristband to assess the group and learned that only four monkeys were Black Iron Tier Rockhowl Monkeys.
• As the four Rockhowl Monkeys spread out to attack, Lu Heng planted his feet, gripped his hunting blade, and prepared to fight.

Lu Heng fought off a swarm of Rockhowl Monkeys and activated his Geothermal Talisman to kill them all, but the battle left him exhausted. After collecting the monkeys’ materials and Energy Cores, he recovered enough to continue deeper into the forest.

• The Rockhowl Monkeys attacked Lu Heng in a coordinated swarm while four Black Iron Tier monkeys held back and watched.
• Lu Heng cut down waves of ordinary monkeys, but the prolonged fight drained his stamina and the Black Iron Tier monkeys joined the assault.
• Lu Heng activated his Geothermal Talisman, engulfing the battlefield in heat and killing every monkey around him.
• Lu Heng rested, dismantled the corpses, and collected their materials and Energy Cores for cross-region trading.
• Lu Heng recovered, tightened his grip on his hunting blade, and continued into the deeper forest.

Lu Heng searched the Rockhowl Monkeys’ former territory, collecting Five-Leaf Vine, Monkey Wine, and a hidden treasure chest after killing a clingy infant monkey. He then ventured deeper into the forest and discovered valuable Black Iron Tier Spruce Trees.

• Lu Heng realized the Rockhowl Monkeys had lived in the area and gathered patches of Five-Leaf Vine for his Storage Space.
• A baby monkey clung to Lu Heng’s trouser leg, and he killed it after its cries and grip overwhelmed his restraint.
• Lu Heng found naturally fermented Monkey Wine in a hollow tree, appraised it, and filled several containers with it.
• Lu Heng discovered a hidden Black Iron-Level Treasure Chest lodged among vines in a high tree branch and stored it away.
• Lu Heng passed beyond the monkey den and found scattered Black Iron Tier Spruce Trees, whose fragrant, durable wood could improve his Shelter.

Lu Heng harvested 215 units of Chinese Gordonia Wood before a Dark-Spotted Leopard ambushed him at dusk. He killed the predator, treated his shallow wound, and headed back to the Stone Cave Shelter with enough timber to upgrade its defenses.

• Lu Heng cut Chinese Gordonia Trees until he had collected 215 units of wood, then stopped as dusk fell and his stamina ran low.
• A Dark-Spotted Leopard ambushed Lu Heng and left a shallow wound in his side.
• Lu Heng overcame his exhaustion, countered the leopard's attacks, and killed it with his Hunting Blade.
• Lu Heng stored the leopard's materials, washed his wound at a river, and applied Trauma Healing Ointment.
• Lu Heng continued toward the Stone Cave Shelter, planning to rest before upgrading its defenses.

Lu Heng upgraded the Cliffside Shelter with spirit-suppressing rock and other materials, strengthening its structure and protecting it from supernatural forces. After opening a Black Iron-Level Treasure Chest, he gained useful equipment and considered trading its air conditioner for high-tier materials.

• Lu Heng used spirit-suppressing rock, frost-patterned iron ore, spruce wood, and large bluestone to upgrade the Cliffside Shelter, reinforcing its foundation, floors, door, pillars, and perimeter fence while warding off supernatural presences.
• Lu Heng checked the requirements for upgrading to a bronze-tier shelter and decided he would continue working alone rather than cooperate with other survivors.
• Lu Heng opened a Black Iron-Level Treasure Chest and received a cookbook, a weapon rack, wooden table and chairs, five Spy Bugs, and an air conditioner.
• Lu Heng placed the cookbook on a bookshelf and arranged the furniture, then welcomed the weapon rack’s ability to maintain his weapons and planned to deploy the Spy Bugs around the mountain.
• Lu Heng considered the air conditioner unnecessary for his own shelter but decided to offer it in the final day of the supply trading round in exchange for high-tier materials.

After upgrading his Black Iron Fortress, Lu Heng drank Monkey Wine and publicly denounced a group of Old Federation holdovers seeking to establish a Survivors' Alliance for elderly survivors. His words sparked a wave of accusations in public chat, turning the channel against the holdovers while he slept, unaware that a major upheaval was beginning.

• Lu Heng finished upgrading the Black Iron Fortress, cooked mutant beast meat with peppers, and drank chilled Monkey Wine.
• After reading the holdovers' appeal for a Survivors' Alliance, Lu Heng posted a series of blunt criticisms of their past privileges and demands for support during the apocalypse.
• Lu Heng fell asleep at the table, and survivors in public chat began sharing suppressed scandals and grievances from the old era, including the Fishhook Incident and the Nanhe Red Cross Society controversy.
• The revelations turned public opinion against the Federation holdovers, and Lu Heng's username drew attention across the network.
• As conflicts and accusations continued to spread, Lu Heng slept through the upheaval taking shape in the survivor community.

After waking from his drunken outburst in the survivor channel, Lu Heng read the threats and support flooding in and accepted that he had become a target. He stood by what he had said and decided to survive alone, wary of the attention his words had drawn.

• Lu Heng woke without a hangover and remembered that he had attacked the Old Federation faction in the public channel.
• Lu Heng read the flood of messages, including support from ordinary survivors and threats demanding that he apologize and delete his posts.
• Lu Heng memorized the IDs of those threatening and smearing him, then decided he would no longer speak in the public channel.
• Lu Heng reflected on how years of swallowed mistreatment had fueled his outburst and concluded that he did not regret it.
• Lu Heng resolved to form no alliances, take no sides, and shoulder whatever came next by himself.

Lu Heng harvested ripe tomatoes and pumpkins, replanted their seeds, and decided to stay inside the Fortress as storm clouds gathered. While browsing the Rainforest Region’s trade listings, he found a Bloodthirsty Vine and considered offering his black iron air conditioner for it.

• Lu Heng harvested the ripe tomatoes and pumpkins, stored them in the cellar, and sowed seeds for another crop.
• Seeing storm clouds gather, Lu Heng decided to keep the doors shut and stay inside the Fortress.
• Lu Heng browsed the Desert Region’s listings but found no valuable supplies to trade for.
• Lu Heng found a Rainforest Region listing for a Bronze Tier Bloodthirsty Vine that attacked living beings approaching within one meter.
• Lu Heng decided his black iron air conditioner matched the seller’s desire for items that improved living comfort, then waited before contacting the seller.

Lu Heng traded a Black Iron-Tier Air Conditioner and a ripe pumpkin for a Bloodthirsty Vine seed, then planted it around his Shelter to create an outer defense. As storm clouds gathered, he hoped the seeds would take root and decided to stay inside for the day.

• Lu Heng offered the seller a Black Iron-Tier Air Conditioner for the Bloodthirsty Vine seed, but the seller demanded more.
• Lu Heng added a ripe pumpkin and explained that it could provide seven days of ready-to-eat food while its seeds could be saved, and the seller accepted the trade.
• Lu Heng examined the Bloodthirsty Vine seed and learned that it grew into an aggressive Bronze Tier plant that needed flesh and blood to thrive.
• Lu Heng dug holes along the fence, placed Red Cliff Jackal flesh and the seed in each one, and covered them with soil.
• Lu Heng watched the soil stir as the seeds began to absorb nutrients, then decided to remain inside as rain approached.

Lu Heng spent a rainy day stocking seafood and agates through the trading interface before resting in the Fortress. The next morning, he discovered a hailstorm battering the mountain forest and checked whether the Bloodthirsty Vine seeds he had planted could withstand it.

• Lu Heng checked the Purifying Water Lotus and concluded that it had reached a growth bottleneck, so he left it to develop naturally.
• Lu Heng traded surplus beast meat for seafood from the Island Region and stored the supplies in the cellar.
• Lu Heng continued trading for agate until he had exactly two hundred stones, then browsed the other regional markets.
• Lu Heng spent the day inside the Fortress and went to bed early after organizing his supplies.
• Lu Heng woke to a hailstorm and watched the ground where he had planted the Bloodthirsty Vine seeds, checking whether the hail had exposed or damaged them.

During a relentless hailstorm, Lu Heng bonded with the newly sprouted Bloodthirsty Vine and protected it with a wooden shelter. Once the cross-region trading event ended, he ignored the flood of messages and settled into quiet survival tasks, beginning to make a toothbrush.

• Lu Heng inspected the Bloodthirsty Vine seedling and found it had instinctively sheltered itself from the hail beneath flesh and soil.
• Lu Heng formed a crude master-servant bond with the Bloodthirsty Vine and sensed its instincts for absorbing blood, hiding, and ambushing nearby creatures.
• Lu Heng built a sturdy, layered wooden roof over the seedling to protect it from the hail.
• Lu Heng saw that the three-day cross-region trading event had ended, ignored the public chat and unread messages, and cleared the notifications.
• Lu Heng began crafting a basic toothbrush from wooden sticks and soft animal hair while the hail continued outside.

Lu Heng used a hail-bound afternoon to make a crude toothbrush and enjoy a rare moment of rest at the Cliffside Shelter. When his monitoring system detected several kinds of mutated beasts scouting the Shelter, he replenished his arrows and readied his weapons, then heard an animal caught in one of his traps.

• Lu Heng made a crude toothbrush from a wooden stick and animal hair, then tested it successfully.
• With the hailstorm keeping him indoors, Lu Heng watched the damaged forest from the second-floor balcony and enjoyed a brief rest.
• The Silk-Peeping Bugs detected Red Cliff Jackals, forest wolves, and feral dogs gathering and probing the Shelter’s perimeter.
• Lu Heng suspected the beasts were targeting the Shelter and hurried to prepare for an attack.
• Lu Heng made thirty arrows, checked his weapons, and returned to monitor the beasts.
• Lu Heng heard pained howls from the forest and realized one of his animal traps had caught a beast.

Lu Heng watched jackals, wolves, and wild dogs surround his Cliffside Shelter during a hailstorm, then realized they had united to take revenge for his hunts. After the beasts killed and ate their injured companion, Lu Heng stayed inside the Fortress and decided to wait for them to weaken.

• The jackals, wolves, and wild dogs emerged from the forest and surrounded Lu Heng’s Shelter, keeping out of range of his Giant-Feather Crossbow.
• Lu Heng stayed calm inside the Fortress, trusting its shelter and supplies to outlast the beasts in the hail.
• Lu Heng used the Wristband to watch the Silk-Peeping Bug’s feed as the beasts devoured their trapped, grievously injured companion.
• Lu Heng concluded the beasts had united in revenge for the many jackals, wolves, and wild dogs he had hunted.
• Lu Heng remained at his observation point and waited for the beasts’ patience to run out and their defenses to falter.

As jackals, wolves, and wild dogs kept watch outside the Shelter during a day of hail, Lu Heng built and set traps to reinforce the perimeter. After exhaustion caused him to fall asleep, the beasts launched a coordinated nighttime attack, and he prepared to defend the Shelter with his Giant-Feather Crossbow.

• Lu Heng made ten ordinary beast traps and two stronger Frost-Patterned Iron traps to cover routes and blind spots around the Shelter.
• Lu Heng set the new traps along the fence and checked the existing trap at the front entrance, creating thirteen trap positions.
• Lu Heng watched the motionless beasts from the second-floor platform but eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.
• A beast's anguished howl woke Lu Heng, who used his Wristband to pull up the spying bugs' live surveillance feeds.
• Jackals, wolves, and wild dogs charged the fence together, and Lu Heng took down his Giant-Feather Crossbow to face the attack.

Lu Heng defended the Shelter from a nighttime assault by wolves, wild dogs, and jackals, using traps and his Giant-Feather Crossbow before fighting the pack leaders at close range. He killed the Wild Dog King and Jackal King, while the wounded Wolf King remained as the courtyard fell quiet.

• The beasts climbed over the Shelter’s side walls and triggered Lu Heng’s traps, leaving many injured or dead.
• Lu Heng shot down more than a dozen beasts with his Giant-Feather Crossbow as the survivors regrouped at the stone entrance.
• The Wolf King, Wild Dog King, and Jackal King clawed and rammed the reinforced door while Lu Heng exhausted his bolts clearing the courtyard.
• Lu Heng dropped from the platform and killed the wounded beasts that attacked him with his Bronze Hunting Blade.
• Lu Heng killed the Wild Dog King and Jackal King in close combat, then watched the panicked survivors blunder into the remaining traps.
• The courtyard fell quiet with the fleeing beasts trapped, and the wounded Wolf King was the only pack leader left alive.

Lu Heng discovered that Thread Parasites had driven three Black Iron Tier beast leaders to attack his courtyard, but his Geothermal Talisman destroyed the parasites that tried to infect him. After salvaging the carcasses and feeding materials to the Bloodthirsty Vine, he began cleaning up as snow started falling.

• Lu Heng approached the Wolf King's body, where Thread Parasites emerged and tried to burrow into his hand.
• The Geothermal Talisman activated and dissolved the parasites beneath Lu Heng's skin.
• Lu Heng concluded that the parasites had amplified the three leaders' aggression, turning the beast packs against him.
• Lu Heng dismantled the leaders, recovered a Flesh Core from the Jackal King, and processed the remaining beast carcasses.
• Lu Heng fed some materials to the Bloodthirsty Vine and noticed it had grown after absorbing blood from the battle.
• Hail stopped and snow began falling as Lu Heng used his Wristband to clean the courtyard.

After surviving the beast tide, Lu Heng stored most of his traps and saved the leader’s Flesh Core for emergencies. He set out downstream to explore the forest, but the chapter ended with him reaching the still-flowing river.

• Lu Heng left four animal traps at the fence’s corners, stored the rest, and classified the Flesh Core as an emergency supply.
• Lu Heng reasoned that unexplored areas must contain enough herbivores to support the many predators and decided to explore downstream at daybreak.
• Lu Heng rested in the Shelter and woke after daylight had already arrived.
• Lu Heng headed through the hail-damaged forest, clearing a path and collecting fallen branches for firewood.
• Lu Heng reached the river, found it flowing freely, and continued along the easier path beside it.

Lu Heng followed the river downstream and discovered a vast wetland where numerous herbivore herds had migrated for winter, explaining why predators gathered in the upstream forest. He watched a wolf pack skillfully isolate and harry a Giant-Horned Deer, leaving the hunt underway.

• Lu Heng saw that the crater had a remarkably regular shape and noticed traces of an ancient river channel at its base.
• Lu Heng reached a broad downstream wetland and scanned its abundant deer, sheep, and cattle herds, finding no mutated beasts among them.
• Lu Heng concluded that herbivores had fled the hail-damaged, snowbound upstream forest, drawing carnivores there and creating an ecosystem with hunters but few prey.
• Lu Heng spotted seven or eight wolves stalking a Giant-Horned Deer and concealed himself to observe their hunt.
• The wolves scattered the deer herd, isolated the Giant-Horned Deer, and began wearing it down with coordinated feints and attacks.

Lu Heng explored the wetland, found supplies in a wooden chest, and was attacked by a Marsh-Ridged bull. He drew the bull away from its herd and wounded it repeatedly, then pressed forward as it began to weaken.

• Lu Heng searched the wetland’s edge and found packaged bread, purified water, and towels in a wooden chest, which he stored in the Wristband Space.
• Lu Heng passed a herd of Marsh-Ridged Cattle, but an adult bull charged him and continued pursuing him despite his attempts to retreat.
• Lu Heng lured the bull away from the herd to open ground and drew his Bronze Hunting Blade.
• Lu Heng dodged the bull’s charges and slashed it repeatedly, gradually draining its strength with blood loss.
• Lu Heng saw the wounded bull begin to falter and take fright, then stepped toward it with his Hunting Blade ready.

Lu Heng killed the Marsh-Ridged Cattle after it pursued him across the wetland, then harvested medicinal herbs from the surrounding marsh. He decided to return to the enormous meteorite crater and retrace his route to better understand the area's terrain.

• Lu Heng crippled the Marsh-Ridged Cattle by severing its hind-leg tendon and vocal cords, then killed it before its blood scent could attract predators.
• Lu Heng stored the cattle's carcass in his Wristband Space and withdrew from the exposed mudflat.
• Lu Heng searched the wetland and harvested abundant White Fuzz Grass and rare Silt-Root Orchid.
• Lu Heng judged the deeper wetland too risky to explore and chose to return to the enormous crater by following the river.

Lu Heng returned to the meteorite crater and discovered that an unknown object at its center created an increasingly powerful gravitational field. After storing the meteorite and finding Falling Star Sand and a Star Chest beneath it, he began collecting the sand before opening the chest.

• Lu Heng returned to the meteorite crater and tested how its crushing gravity intensified as he approached the center.
• Lu Heng crawled through the strongest pressure and found a meteorite surrounded by silvery grains.
• Lu Heng scanned the grains and identified them as Bronze Tier Falling Star Sand, then stored the meteorite in his Wristband.
• The crater’s gravity abruptly vanished, and Lu Heng collapsed into the snow before recovering.
• Lu Heng began digging up the Falling Star Sand and uncovered a Star Chest beneath the meteorite’s former position.
• Lu Heng scanned the chest and continued carefully collecting the sand, intending to open it afterward.

Lu Heng collected the Falling Star Sand and stored the Star Chest just before a pack of Spotted Hyenas charged into the crater, drawn by the scent of blood on his blade. He fought off their opening attacks and struck down several beasts, but the pack continued pressing him as the battle began.

• Lu Heng gathered the last of the Falling Star Sand and stored the Star Chest when more than twenty hyenas rushed down into the crater.
• Lu Heng scanned the pack with his Wristband, identified them as Spotted Hyenas, and spotted a larger beast he believed was their leader.
• Lu Heng shot two hyenas with his Giant-Feather Crossbow, then switched to his Bronze Hunting Blade and bracer as the pack closed in.
• Lu Heng slashed one hyena and kicked another down, then wounded a third as it circled him.
• Lu Heng evaded a hyena's ambush at his thigh and kicked it into a frozen rock, leaving it unable to move.

Lu Heng returned from the meteorite crater after defeating a pack of spotted hyenas and discovered a human skeleton in the cave where he had spent his first night. He cleared hail-damaged branches from the mountain path and reached the Shelter.

• Lu Heng killed the wounded spotted hyenas, donated their carcasses, and confirmed the crater held no resources worth staying for.
• Lu Heng visited the cave where he had spent his first night and found the remains of an unknown person, which he left untouched.
• Lu Heng cleared fallen branches from the mountain path, storing the wood and cutting down branches still hanging from trees.
• Lu Heng emerged from the obstructed trail and walked toward the Shelter along the path he had repaired.

Lu Heng returned to the Cliffside Shelter with two minerals and a Star Chest from the crater expedition. The chest yielded three stellar treasures that offered a way to regulate his growing room, acquire resources, and resist supernatural interference.

• Lu Heng cleaned up in the Cliffside Shelter and briefly felt the gravity-pressing stone's field before storing it and the featherlight falling star sand.
• Lu Heng opened the Star Chest and found a crystal pearl, a stone pedestal, and a silver-patterned scroll.
• Lu Heng scanned the crystal pearl and learned that the Star Tear produced Star Water, repelled malevolent entities, and regulated nearby plant growth.
• Lu Heng scanned the pedestal and discovered the unique Star Altar could turn sacrificial offerings into random equipment, materials, or special items.
• Lu Heng scanned the scroll and learned the Starlight Meditation Method could cultivate mental energy to dispel evil, break illusions, and resist mental intrusion.
• Lu Heng set the altar inside the Shelter and considered how to place the Star Tear and practice the meditation method.