**This idiot!**
Su Han hoisted the black-haired girl onto his shoulder. Just as the zombies lunged, he jumped, swiftly placing a wooden plank block with his right hand.
*Thump!*
They were now two blocks high. A dozen shadowy figures slammed into the wood below with dull *thuds*.
*CRACK!*
Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface of the block beneath his feet.
Su Han's heart lurched. He jumped again, placing another plank block. He'd barely steadied himself when the second plank shattered under the zombies' assault, scattering splintered wood everywhere.
*Definitely not exactly like the game!*
*Thank god gravity physics for blocks aren't fully implemented!* He mentally sighed in relief, wiping imaginary sweat from his blocky brow with a cube-hand.
Suppressing his pounding heart, he jumped repeatedly, stacking blocks until they were six blocks high. He peered down. Nearly thirty zombies crowded the base, clawing desperately at the wood with fingers made of tapering smaller cubes. Soon, the third block splintered and fell.
**"RRRROOOAAARRR!"**
The guttural roar of hunger echoed around them. Su Han crouched, studying the horde below. Confirming they couldn't reach the fourth block, he finally relaxed.
*"Phew… Thank goodness there are no modded super-zombies here,"* he muttered.
Moving quickly, he began placing planks around their perch. *Thump! Thump! Thump!* A 5x5 platform took shape. With enough space secured, he lowered Xiao Ling onto the platform and pointed sternly at the zombies below.
"If you run around and fall off, I'm not jumping down after you."
"Y-Yes… I… I understand…"
She trembled violently, curling into a tight ball in the platform's exact center.
Ignoring her for now, Su Han reinforced the platform's edges with two more layers of planks, then sealed the top. A crude, functional shelter – the iconic 'matchbox house' – was complete.
*Next step: basic tools, then wait for dawn. But first… intel.* He turned to Xiao Ling, his voice softening slightly.
"Do you know where this place is?"
"It's… the Blocky World…"
She then explained everything she knew. The origins of the Blocky World were lost to time, but recorded history spanned three thousand years. Life had flourished in an explosion of species. Among them, rare mutations occurred – like Xiao Ling herself, a mutant born from a Wither Skeleton.
The world thrived… until yesterday. A voice from the void announced monthly disasters. The first: Bio-Virus. A single drop of infected blood meant transformation. Countless died in a single day; survivors hid trembling in mineshafts. Then, at midnight, the voice declared the fusion with another planet, assigning each native a Collaborator. That's why she'd ventured out and found Su Han.
Su Han's blocky face twitched involuntarily. *So… Earth really got pixelated? Those city buildings out there are proof enough.*
*"Sigh."*
He looked back at the girl. "What's your name?"
"W-Wither Skeleton…"
*Using the species name as a personal name?!*
"Ahem. From now on, you're Xiao Ling."
"Eh…?" Xiao Ling hugged her knees tighter, looking bewildered by this sudden renaming.
Su Han didn't elaborate. He opened his inventory, ready to craft a crafting table. *Thump-thump-thump-thump!* Four planks went into the 2x2 crafting grid. But… nothing appeared in the result slot.
*Huh?*
A trickle of dread ran through him. He tried again. Same result.
*No crafting tables here?! Without one… I can't make anything useful! Am I supposed to poke zombies with sticks?*
He turned to Xiao Ling. Her answer was unexpected.
"There… there are no crafting tables here… All items… depend on species and region… dropped from chests… or mob kills…"
*Damn it!*
*Survival crafting turned into survival horror!*
*The thing that created this world…*
*Heh. A damn genius, alright!*
Su Han slumped onto the wooden floor. He crafted sticks from two planks, gripping one tightly. *If the zombies are still here at dawn… this is all I've got…*
Exhaustion, mental and physical, finally overwhelmed him. Amidst the terrifying roars below, he fell into an uneasy sleep.
**[BEEP—!]**
A piercing electronic shriek exploded inside his skull, jolting him awake. Blurry text filled his vision:
**[Congratulations on surviving Day 1. A Starter Kit has been deposited in your inventory.]**
**[Enjoy the rest of your disaster-ridden existence!]**
The text faded. A sharp, pins-and-needles pain shot through his right leg – the familiar ache of prolonged pressure. Rubbing his eyes to clear the blur, he looked down at his leg.
Xiao Ling's dark hair (composed of tiny black cubes) was visible. Her cubic head and flat face made a "side profile" impossible, but her steady breathing confirmed she was still asleep. Su Han reached out, gently touching the ear hidden within her blocky hair.
Softness registered through his touch.
*Hmm…*
*Blocky outside, feels human inside…*
*Poke, poke, poke… So soft…*
The persistent poking startled Xiao Ling awake. Her surprisingly well-proportioned figure jolted, silver eyes wide with panic. She frantically scanned their shelter, confirming no zombies were present, then patted her trapezoidal chest (a stack of smaller blocks) and slowly sat up.
Seizing the moment, Su Han dragged his numb leg to the shelter's edge. He started punching the wall. *Thud-thud-thud-thud!*
*Pop!* A plank block broke free, floating into his inventory. He crawled through the opening and peered down.
Instantly, a dozen zombie heads snapped up. Bloodshot eyes fixed on him. Arms raised, they began jumping, unleashing a chorus of guttural roars.
**"ROARRR!"**
Su Han watched them, expressionless. These weren't the familiar green, dopey mobs. Their heads were split vertically down the middle. Their mouths were nightmarish planes crammed with rows of square teeth. Their bodies were gaunt, hunched, with an extra pair of thin, prehensile tentacles sprouting from their backs. They lacked skin entirely; their bodies were raw, exposed musculature formed from smaller, fibrous, *fleshy cubes*.
A chilling realization struck him: *Inside, I must be made of similar cubes. If I die… it won't be vanishing into smoke. Earth… truly pixelated. Everything… down to the smallest components… made of blocks.*
*"Got it… No reckless moves… Open the starter kit, then get out of here fast…"*
He pulled his head back in and opened his system inventory. Beside the wooden planks, a square box pulsed with a glowing white question mark.