After burying the locust, holding the Iron Spear and Shovel, Lin Yue returned to the house.
He took a big bite of bread, chewed it slowly, paired with sweet mineral water, and swallowed it all down.
Lin Yue could clearly feel the return of energy, which had been quite depleted by the day's activities.
That feeling...
It's like a drought met with sweet rain, encountering an old friend in a foreign land, dry wood meeting fierce...
Ahem, in short, it's very refreshing.
However.
This Shelter is not yet in a perfect state.
Wooden walls, a wooden door, and... a thatched roof with holes.
Things can't remain like this.
Who knows if any mutant bugs or bats or birds might fly in from there at night.
He opened the game panel.
[Torch: Wood X1, Dry Grass X3]
He tidied up the dry grass on the ground, put it into the item bar, and selected to confirm the creation.
Soon, a torch with a blackened tip appeared in his hand. Lin Yue took out the matches he had just received and lit it.
Red flames suddenly burst up!
The glow of the fire illuminated the dim Shelter.
The burning duration of the torch is 12 hours.
Pretty handy for gauging vague time.
He dug a pit, buried a portion of the torch to secure it, and Lin Yue looked up at the ceiling.
If the roof had been replaced with wood back then, how could giant locusts have crawled into the house?
Lin Yue accessed the panel related to the Shelter and immediately selected the wooden roof option.
[Wooden Roof: Wood X8]
Goodness, quite a bit required.
Lin Yue had no choice; after selecting and crafting, a flash of white light resulted in a complete wooden house.
"Seems like something is still missing?"
All the dry grass was used for the torch material; now there's nowhere to lie down.
Lin Yue spent four units of wood again to make a wooden bed.
He gathered the remaining dry grass and tossed it on this reasonably decent-looking wooden bed, and Lin Yue lay down with a sense of flop.
Comfortable!
A lot happened today.
Being transported here, survival game, treasure chests, giant locusts...
Everything seems surreal but is undeniably real.
Lin Yue pondered what kind of power could transport the entire world to this Otherworld while giving everyone a system-like capability?
And what exactly are these mutant creatures?
Can we return to Earth?
As he contemplated these questions, Lin Yue started off alert but eventually, his eyelids grew heavy over time.
The sense of security within the wooden house made him stop worrying about potential dangers of the night.
After a while, he clutched the dry grass and finally entered the realm of dreams.
By comparison, others couldn't even think about sleep; lacking torchlight, basic water and food couldn't be guaranteed.
Some people's Shelter was initially located in forests and mountains, allowing them to extract considerable wood, stone, and Iron Block, enabling them to build wooden and even stone houses, and various tools and weapons.
But the continuous labor left them parched and starving.
These people only achieved temporary safety, holding some resources.
But the most crucial—water and food—they fundamentally lacked.
Thus, they had to browse the marketplace repeatedly, hoping for water to appear.
Some chose to craft simple weapons, others ignored weapon crafting to attack mutant creatures, yet the painfully low drop rate of treasure chests continually challenged their nerves amidst their repeated disappointments.
After all, hunting mutant creatures also expends substantial energy.
A few fortunate ones managed to get a treasure chest, but the contents only barely sustained basic survival needs.
And there were unlucky souls who opened some bread from a box, choking to death in the absence of water.
However, this wasn't the main reason for human majority loss.
Come evening, in shabby thatched cottages without the protection of torchlight, the survivors faced more abundant and vigorous mutant creatures than during the day.
Those who ventured out, believed themselves strong, or idled all day perished silently during the night.
...
In the wilderness, the howls of beasts, incessant cries of birds echoed.
Poisonous insects roamed freely, unknown ancient beasts loomed and disappeared in the mist.
But with the rising and falling of day and moon, all this eventually faded away.
In the wooden house Shelter, the torch flames dwindled.
Finally, it flickered rapidly, emitted a crisp sound, and extinguished.
Lin Yue was startled awake by the noise, opening his sleepy eyes.
"Did I actually sleep for almost twelve hours?"
He stared at that torch, intrigued.
Sore muscles all over, he sat up as his stomach grumbled simultaneously.
After listening to the external sounds and confirming nothing unusual, Lin Yue unbarred the door with the Iron Axe in hand, letting in the intense sunlight.
Outside, merely a gentle breeze caused the sparse wild grass to make soft noises.
However, a strong stench filled the air now.
Lin Yue circled around the Shelter for inspection and discovered excrement left by something unknown not far behind the house.
Numerous in quantity, large in size, and an exceptionally pungent odor.
Having seen documentaries, Lin Yue knew carnivore excrement is much stinkier than that of herbivores.
Seems like there were quite a few unwelcome visitors near his Shelter last night.
Could it be the same for others in their Shelters?
Back inside, Lin Yue took out the Shovel, dug a pit nearby, and pushed the excrement into it.
He was very cautious not to let even a speck touch the Shovel.
Having dealt with this, the air was considerably fresher, and Lin Yue felt up to cooking.
Cooking wasn't just about dry bread washed down with water.
From the item bar, he opened the roll of aluminum foil, ripped out two equal-sized sheets by hand, and shaped them into a small double-layered bowl.
Pouring a bottle of water into the aluminum bowl to test for leaks, a few didn't escape, then he picked up the Shovel, digging a triangular pit.
Once he placed the aluminum bowl atop the triangle, Lin Yu found some dry grass, went to the grove to chop down some branches, and placed them inside the pit.
Using matches, he ignited the branches, poured more mineral water into the aluminum bowl, and waited for the water to boil before throwing half the Kangshuaifu instant noodles inside one at a time.
"Pot" was still too small.
Skillfully adding spices, vegetables, sauce...
The aroma quickly wafted out.
Lin Yue, who hadn't touched any oily food the previous day, couldn't help but take a deep breath of the scent.
Zhi made a pair of chopsticks from branches, Lin Yu picked up the wonderfully fragrant noodles, devouring them swiftly with vigour, not even leaving the soup.
Delightful!
For that moment, the instant noodles were better than gourmet cuisine!
Sweating profusely from eating, Lin Yue eagerly put down the second batch of noodles.
But right as he added the remaining sauce, Lin Yue suddenly had a thought.
Can this half-bag cooked instant noodles be traded for something good?
Good thing, naturally not the consumables from a Wooden Treasure Chest, those he doesn't lack.
What he lacks are things that make survival easier, the Shelter more solid and secure.
Did others crack open Iron Treasure Chests besides him?
After all, there are quite a few experts in the group, maybe someone did score well against multiple mutant creatures to get Iron Treasure Chests.
If Iron Treasure Chests could yield useful items like matches and aluminum foil, then surely other good stuff could come from them?
Lin Yue opened the trading marketplace and began searching.
Soon, a message popped out.
[Seller: Zheng Jing]
[Auction Item: Small Soilless Cultivation Kit]
[Requirements: Drinking water 2L]
[Seller's Note: Hard to get from a Copper Treasure Chest, deserves the price, doesn't it?]