Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

Zhang Shi had a good impression of Ge Dalong. When everyone was first transported to the wilderness world, he had spoken up to remind everyone about the newbie gift packs, seeming like a warmhearted person. However, he didn't answer questions directly in the chat channel, but instead sent a private message, which made Zhang Shi a little suspicious.

Zhang Shi (VIP): Yes, what can I do for you?

Ge Dalong: I know a little about wilderness survival and can teach you some ways to find water. But I want to know where you got this VIP status and what specific privileges you have?

Zhang Shi thought about it and felt that he would rather be thirsty than expose the matter of the golden finger. After all, in this wilderness world, honesty cannot be eaten, so he just made up a lie.

Zhang Shi (VIP): This membership card was opened from the treasure chest. It doesn’t have any special privileges, except that I can pin my comments to the top.

The other party was silent for a long time, obviously not believing what he said. Just when Zhang Shi thought this matter was hopeless, Ge Dalong sent another message.

Ge Dalong: Observing animal tracks can point you to water sources, especially birds, which fly low and straight when heading for water. Insects like bees, for example, usually stay near water sources.

Zhang Shi felt a headache coming on. Although the knowledge the other party taught was indeed valuable, it was still difficult for Zhang Shi to find the traces of these animals in the wilderness.

As if sensing Zhang Shi's dilemma, Ge Dalong sent another long message.

Ge Dalong: Of course, you can also search around your shelter. If you can find plants like berries, palm trees, and bamboo, you can collect them. These plants are rich in or store water. Finally, you can craft some containers and go out to collect dew at the turn of day and night. While the amount is small, it's easy to obtain. If all else fails, you can wait for the trading market to stabilize and then trade resources for water. However, in the early stages of the game, few people can find water, and the price may be high.

Zhang Shi carefully read the message sent by Ge Dalong and had a general idea of ​​how to solve the water problem.

"This morning, we'll stick to our original plan. We'll explore and search for water. If that doesn't work, we'll trade resources for water. Once we get through today, we can try collecting dew tomorrow."

After replying to the message and thanking Ge Dalong, Zhang Shi stood up and rode slowly along the forest path around the shelter.

After wandering around for a long time, Zhang Shi still found nothing. For someone who has lived in the city for a long time, it is indeed difficult for him to look for resources in the wild.

When he turned on the system, he saw that it was almost 11 o'clock. Seeing that his plan to find a water source had not made any progress, Zhang Shi put it on hold, put away his bicycle, took out his stone axe, and prepared to chop down some trees and collect some wood.

"Hey!"

Zhang Shi used all his strength to strike at a tree as thick as a man. With a dull thud, the stone axe cleaved through the bark, leaving a shallow mark on the trunk.

Zhang Shi was unwilling to give up, so he chopped at the same position three times. However, the stone axe was too blunt and only made a small gap in the thick tree.

"This axe is too blunt."

Zhang Shi touched the stone axe with his hand and calculated the cost of chopping down a tree in his mind.

"It might even take half a day to chop down a tree with this stone axe."

Zhang Shi squatted on the ground and rested for a while, silently reminding himself in his heart: Don't be anxious, be patient.

After about 5 minutes, Zhang Shi adjusted his mood, picked up the stone axe, changed to a thinner tree, and began to work silently again.

"Hey, hey..."

After working intensively for more than half an hour, Zhang Shi's hands were red and swollen, but he finally cut down the sapling.

"Holy shit, I'm exhausted."

System prompts, congratulations on obtaining:

[Wood (white) x3: Basic resource, widely used, you can't do without it.]

Wiping the sweat off his face, Zhang Shi looked at the lumber stacked in a grid in his backpack and began to reassess this wilderness. Just these three pieces of lumber had consumed Zhang Shi's time and energy, expending a great deal of energy. He was still far from the 3 units of lumber required to upgrade the shelter.

Zhang Shi knew that there was no hope if he continued like this. He would starve to death or die of thirst before he could chop 100 units of wood.

"A good craftsman must first sharpen his tools. Ultimately, this stone axe is just rubbish."

Zhang Shi muttered to himself, wondering if he could get a handy axe. He glanced into his backpack and landed on Old Duan.

"Hey, I forgot I had this thing. It's an iron tool after all. It shouldn't be more difficult to chop wood than a stone axe."

After looking at Lao Duan's description of the item again, Zhang Shi decisively picked up the broken kitchen knife and chopped at the tree trunk.

"Whoosh!"

Old Duan's blade cut the tree like tofu. Although he didn't cut through the tree directly, the blade penetrated the wood and got stuck in the trunk. Zhang Shi's eyes lit up, and he took a lot of effort to pull Old Duan out of the trunk.

"Fuck, it really is a magical weapon."

Zhang Shi learned his lesson and cut the tree trunk diagonally, creating a V-shaped notch. When he reached two-thirds of the tree's diameter, he changed direction, pushing the trunk with one hand and swinging his knife with the other, carefully chopping the wood from the opposite side.

System prompts, congratulations on obtaining:

[Wood (white) x6: Basic resource, widely used, you can't do without it.]

In just two minutes, a towering tree was taken down. Zhang Shi was so excited that he wanted to offer Lao Duan to him immediately, and kowtowed to him three times.

"Old Duan, I was too loud just now. From now on, I will follow you. I hope you can let me eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks."

After the mad attack, Zhang Shi began to kill people everywhere in the woods, specifically targeting the big and thick ones.

In just two hours, Zhang Shi had already harvested 300 units of wood. Most importantly, Zhang Shi didn't have to exert much effort, and his energy remained high.

Seeing that his wood supply was sufficient, Zhang Shi turned to search for stone. The requirements for upgrading the shelter were 100 wood and 30 stone. Even with the VIP privileges and discounts, the stone quantity was still a challenge for Zhang Shi. But thinking of his leaky shack, Zhang Shi decided to gather the resources and upgrade the shelter before sunset.

Zhang Shi wandered along the woods for a long time and picked up some scattered stones on the road.

System prompts, congratulations on obtaining:

[Stone (White) x1: A basic resource with a wide range of uses. You can't do without it.]

There are not many of these small stones available, so if you want to get large quantities of them, you still need to collect them.

It took Zhang Shi a long time to find a huge rock on a hillside.

Holding Old Duan, he enthusiastically attacked the boulder. As expected, Old Duan sliced ​​through the stone like mud, easily splitting it in half. However, the system didn't prompt him to obtain resources.

Zhang Shi was suspicious for a moment and then started cutting the big rock into square stone blocks, but there was still no reaction. Zhang Shi tried to put the stone blocks into his backpack again, but found that it could not be operated.

"It seems that things that the system doesn't recognize cannot be put into the backpack."

Zhang Shi gave up on carrying the stone pillar back home. Since the system didn't recognize it, even if he took it back, he probably wouldn't be able to use it as material to upgrade the shelter.

"Does it have to be hammered with a pickaxe before it counts as mined material?"

Zhang Shi unwillingly took out his worn pickaxe and began hammering at the intact half of the boulder. After a considerable effort, he finally received a system reminder.

System prompts, congratulations on obtaining:

【Stone (white) x1】

Looking at the five stones in his backpack, Zhang Shi fell into deep thought. With Old Duan around, the efficiency of felling trees had greatly increased. Instead of wasting time hammering away at the stones, it would be better to chop down a few more trees and see if they could trade them later on the trading interface.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shi immediately decided to give up quarrying until he got better tools.