Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

Du Ruan-tian rummaged through her belongings. Aside from three empty Mineral Water bottles and an apple core, she really did manage to find one more unwanted item.
A milk carton.
She had finished drinking the milk, but had not yet thrown the carton away.
"Hee hee, I just discovered another piece of trash. I'll give it to you too."
[Trade successful. Obtained: Ocean Stone ×5, Wood ×10, Mineral Water Bottle ×3, Apple Core ×1, Milk Carton ×1]

It had to be said, the results of this trade were much better than Yun Luohe had expected.
Du Ruan-tian felt the same. By trading some garbage she no longer needed and a small amount of materials, she had obtained the Flint she most urgently needed.
Yun Luohe hurriedly threw each piece of trash into the Trash Can, and quickly obtained: Plastic ×3, Sprouted Apple Tree Seed ×1, Wood ×1.

The fact that the carton could be turned into Wood was a pleasant surprise.
And the sprouted apple seed was an even greater delight!
Although an apple core could itself serve as an apple seed, it would normally require a certain amount of time and special treatment to sprout.
Now, with a directly sprouted seed, she had saved herself a lot of trouble.
It seemed that the Trash Can's functionality was even better than she had imagined.
Once she had accumulated enough materials, she could establish an entire recycling station, trading for all the trash from other players.
Wouldn’t that be a massive fortune?
But for now, it could only remain a fantasy.
She barely had enough materials to trade, her Backpack capacity was limited, and her Reef was still pitifully small.

Thinking about how she was just a little short of the materials needed for an Upgrade, Yun Luohe closed her eyes in satisfaction and took a nap.
——
Three hours later, Yun Luohe opened her eyes.
The first thing she checked was her Stamina Points.

Only 15 points had been recovered.
Sleeping for eight hours at night could fully restore her Stamina Points, but napping for three hours only recovered 15 points.
It seemed that the amount of Stamina Points restored varied depending on whether the sleep was deep or shallow, or perhaps the longer hours of sleep restored more Stamina Points toward the end.
In short, casually sleeping just to recover Stamina Points was not a viable strategy.
It was only acceptable when there was nothing else to do in the early stage. Otherwise, it would be better to spend the time working.

Nevertheless, Yun Luohe now had 40 Stamina Points again, enough to use the Fishing Net twice more.
She stretched lazily and then cast the net into the sea.
At the same time, she opened the light screen and saw that she had received messages.

Two messages, one from Yang Mian and one from Du Ruan-tian.
Yang Mian: "I fished up some trash. Do you want it?"
Du Ruan-tian: "Do you have anything flammable? I managed to strike a spark with the Flint, but I have nothing flammable, so I can't get the wood to catch fire."
Yun Luohe quickly replied to each of ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ them.

"I do want the trash. Same as before—one Wood for two pieces of trash. If you have a lot, we can trade for other things too."
"Flammable materials? I have tissues."
Du Ruan-tian had already messaged several other friends but had only received negative replies.
Since Yun Luohe took a while to respond, Du Ruan-tian had nearly given up hope and was about to send a message in the chat channel instead.

"That's great! Can we trade for a full pack of tissues? I'm afraid a single sheet won't be enough."
Yun Luohe had originally intended to keep the tissues for later use, but since Du Ruan-tian needed them to start a fire, she was willing to part with them.
Besides, she could also trade them for something she wanted.
"Sure. We can trade for shells."
Come to think of it, trading for shells was the most profitable deal for her.

"Would five be enough? I happen to have five shells."
Du Ruan-tian had no use for shells. She had fished up three yesterday and two today, for a total of five.
"My Stamina Points are used up. I only managed to fish up two shells today."
For her, tissues were an urgent need, while shells could still be obtained later. Trading them was not a problem at all.
"That's fine."
Exchanging one pack of tissues for five shells completely exceeded Yun Luohe’s expectations.

She quickly found the Portable Tissue Pack.
"If that’s not enough, I also have plastic, which counts as flammable. I can give you one piece too."
"Mm-mm, that’s perfect! Then please give me one piece of plastic too. I’ll trade something for it. I’m worried the tissues alone might not be enough to maintain the fire. The sea wind is too strong, and the Reef is too damp. It's very hard to start a fire. Better to have a backup plan."

Yun Luohe directly sent both the Portable Tissue Pack and a piece of Plastic to Du Ruan-tian.
Since the other party was offering five shells so generously, giving an extra piece of plastic was no big deal.
She had several pieces of plastic, all obtained from recycling trash, and they weren't urgently needed for now.
"Here, take them and use them first."

—
Du Ruan-tian stacked the Wood into a three-sided square structure to block the wind.
The sea breeze was too strong; it could easily blow out a tiny flame.
She tore the tissues into shreds and placed the Plastic beside them, ready to use.

After completing the preparations, Du Ruan-tian picked up the Flint.
The Flint was very difficult to use; it required a great deal of force to strike a spark.
Her Strength stat was relatively low.
The first time she had tried, it had taken her over a dozen attempts to succeed.

Now, with experience, she managed to strike a spark after just five tries.
The spark landed on the shredded tissue and quickly ignited.
"Success!"

Du Ruan-tian exclaimed in delight.
She immediately added more shredded tissue strips to sustain the fire, then fed in the Plastic.
Although burning Plastic produced thick smoke and harmful gases, it had to be said that Plastic was highly flammable and burned for a long time.
With it, the fire would grow larger and be able to ignite the Wood.

—
After receiving the five shells from Du Ruan-tian, Yun Luohe immediately threw them into the Trash Can without hesitation.
The number of Ocean Stones in her Backpack instantly increased by 15, enough to meet the Upgrade requirement—and with extra to spare.

At that moment, Yun Luohe’s mood could only be described with one word: exhilarated.
It seemed that today, she would successfully complete the Upgrade.
She wondered whether she could move up in the Upgrade rankings this time.

For the few missing materials, Yun Luohe planned to trade using the surplus resources she had accumulated.
However, she did not intend to post a message in the chat channel right away.
She had posted several trade messages throughout the day and was starting to attract attention.
For now, she decided to message her friends first and observe the chat channel to see if anyone else posted trade offers.
At that moment, Yang Mian replied to her.

"I just opened two useless items from a pearl. Take a look if you want them.
But I still want to trade for food and water."
"Let me see them first."
She was only 7 Experience Points away from upgrading her Trash Can.
So no matter what, if there was trash available, Yun Luohe was not willing to pass it up.
As long as the items were worthwhile, even if it was only two pieces of trash, she was willing to trade food and water.

Yang Mian sent her a screenshot.
[Rotten Nylon Bag: So tattered it’s completely useless.]
[Damaged Hemp Rope: Soaked in seawater for too long; snaps with a single tug.]
They were indeed two completely useless pieces of trash.
But with her growing experience in trash recycling, Yun Luohe guessed that these two items would likely be recycled into Fiber.

She happened to be short on Fiber, so they were worth trading for.
"If you don't want materials, I can give you one Chocolate Cookie."
Yang Mian glanced at Yang Mei, who was intently watching the sea for movement in the Fishing Net.

Chocolate Cookies were her little sister’s favorite snack.
Since Yun Luohe could offer a Chocolate Cookie, she probably had more than one.
"Two cookies... and I’ll give you one extra piece of Wood too."
If there were only one cookie, his sister would insist on sharing it with him.
That would leave her with only half a cookie—far too little.

It seemed he really wanted the food.
Coincidentally, Yun Luohe also needed Wood.
"Alright."
The trade was finalized.

Yun Luohe tore open the Chocolate Cookie package, took out two cookies, and sent them to Yang Mian.
As she had predicted,
the two pieces of trash she obtained were both recycled into Fiber.
Even better, the quantity was slightly more than she had expected.
After recycling the Rotten Nylon Bag, it surprisingly turned into Fiber ×3.
The Damaged Hemp Rope, after recycling, became Fiber ×2.

Currently, her upgrade material inventory was: Ocean Stone ×46, Wood ×49, Fiber ×15.
With this, she was just short of 1 Wood and 5 Fiber to complete the Upgrade.
She decided to simply ask Yang Mian directly.
"Do you have any extra Fiber you can trade? I still have a few Chocolate Cookies."

Yang Mian had just given the Chocolate Cookie to Yang Mei to eat.
Watching her carefully savor the cookie with such satisfaction stirred something in Yang Mian’s heart.
He did have some Fiber, but not much, and he was saving it for his own Upgrade.

If he traded it for a Chocolate Cookie, it would delay his Upgrade.
Although he felt sorry for his sister, he knew clearly that upgrading was more important at the moment than letting her eat a few more cookies.
He needed to address the root of their problems as soon as possible, and he understood well that the sooner he upgraded, the greater the benefits would be.
Having thought it through, he decisively replied, "I don't have any left."
Yun Luohe was not disappointed.
After all, Level 2 Upgrade materials were not easy to trade for.

She first checked the resources in her Backpack to see if she had anything that might tempt other players into trading with her.
It was worth trying.
Yun Luohe took the initiative and sent a message to Wu Jing.
"Do you have any Fiber you can trade? I can offer Plastic, Glass, or Leather in exchange."

She only had a few of each herself, and although they were not useful to her right now, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be useful to others.
The priority right now was to complete the Upgrade.
Whether these materials would have greater value later on was something she could not afford to worry about.
Wu Jing replied: "I can trade for Glass."

Yun Luohe only had one piece of Glass.
Since Wu Jing needed it, it must be something valuable.
She could not afford to trade it cheaply.
"One piece of Glass for 6 pieces of Fiber."
Wu Jing: "Six Fiber is too much."

Yun Luohe thought for a moment.
Currently, Glass had no immediate use.
Wu Jing’s desire to trade for Glass likely meant it would be an important material for future upgrades.
There probably were not many people who had it.
Six Fiber would only be too few, not too many.

"It can’t be less," Yun Luohe insisted. "Otherwise, five Fiber plus three Wood."
Wu Jing: "Five Fiber, two Wood."
After a moment’s pause, Yun Luohe replied, "Alright. Let's trade now."

When she saw Wu Jing send over the materials, Yun Luohe felt a surge of excitement.
She was about to Upgrade!
At the same time, she confirmed that Glass was indeed a critical and rare material.
After obtaining the Fiber and Wood, Yun Luohe wasted no time and immediately clicked Upgrade.

After deducting all the Upgrade materials, Yun Luohe found herself right back at the starting point—only one Wood left in her inventory.
But her mood was exceptionally good.
She had upgraded again!
She wondered what rank she would achieve this time.

[Upgrade countdown: 3 hours.]
The notification chimed just as the Fishing Net showed movement.
Yun Luohe quickly pulled with force.

Now experienced, her pulling speed was much faster, and with the upgraded Fishing Net's improved quality, it was much less strenuous.
Upon opening it, she found yet another White Pearl!
[Obtained: Ocean Stone ×5, Wood ×10, Iron Ore ×1, Sheepskin Scroll Fragment ×1, Lidless Wooden Box ×1, Coconut Shell ×1, Torn Linen ×1, Bamboo ×1]

Now, whenever Yun Luohe opened a prize, the first thing she checked was how many pieces of trash were inside.
However, this time, it seemed there were fewer trash items among the materials.
Just by looking at the names, the only one she could immediately identify as trash was the Torn Linen.

She would have to open the details for the others to confirm.
[Sheepskin Scroll Fragment: A torn fragment of a sheepskin scroll, just one part of the whole.]
[Coconut Shell: Though it looks like just a coconut shell, it can be very useful. At the very least, it can be used as a bowl.]
The Trash Can was only five Experience Points away from upgrading, so Yun Luohe was eager to throw in more trash.

She decided to start by tossing in the Torn Linen.
[Recycling successful. Obtained: Fiber ×10]
Yun Luohe laughed.
She had just traded Glass with Wu Jing for Fiber, and not even a few minutes later, she obtained 10 Fiber from recycling.

But the more, the better.
Who knew—maybe these few minutes of advantage would let her climb a few ranks higher in the Upgrade leaderboard.
Anything was possible.
Thus, Yun Luohe did not regret the trade at all.
She thought for a moment about whether to throw the other items into the Trash Can to see if they could also be recycled.

There was no rush anyway—Trash Can upgrades did not require racing against other players.
She took the opportunity to glance at the chat channel.
"It's already dark. Thank goodness I upgraded. I really didn’t want to spend another night with half my body soaking in water like last night."
"I still haven't upgraded. All I fish up is garbage. And that’s not even the worst of it—my Fishing Net broke too. Some garbage Fishing Net it was. I hauled up a big rock and it tore straight through."
"LOL, you're seriously cursed."
"Level 1 player, broken Fishing Net... brother, you're doomed!"
"Haha, the worst part is I didn’t eat anything all day. Now I’m not just a starving ghost, I’m a freezing ghost too!"
"You might as well trade whatever’s left in your Backpack for food. You’re already screwed anyway..."
"LMAO... My Backpack's full of garbage. How am I supposed to trade for food? Rotten Wood, Rotten Vegetable Leaves, Rotten Rocks!"