Unexpectedly, the more Flame Star Stones she turned in, the more food she received—and she was even rewarded with two additional Flame Star Stones.
After leaving the mine with her spoils, Jiang Li walked along the road.
She glanced at the heavily damaged stone axe and let out a quiet sigh.
The workshop could only craft stone tools and weapons. Only after unlocking iron ore would she be able to craft iron equipment.
Stone tools were cheap in materials and simple to make, but their durability was low. After chopping down just two people, the axe was already on the verge of breaking.
The wooden handle was stained with blood, and a thick, nauseating smell drifted into her nose.
This was Jiang Li’s first time hurting people. Though not outright killing them, it was close enough—the three had had their hands severed, and two of them had been struck in the shoulder. Their injuries were severe; death was only a matter of time.
In this disaster world, technology had regressed. There was no advanced medical system. They were just ordinary miners who relied on strength in numbers to rob others. Their lives were cheap, and they had no chance of treatment.
Jiang Li felt no guilt, nor remorse. Only disgust.
Deep, visceral disgust…
Her mind kept replaying the three men’s twisted faces, the axe cutting into flesh, blood splattering, and the dull cracking sound of blade meeting bone.
It was completely different from killing animals.
She looked down at her slightly sticky palm. A few drops of blood had fallen onto her hand and already congealed. She wiped hard, and the dried blood crumbled like ash and scattered into the air.
Her eyes gradually grew firm.
This world was cruel. If the enemy didn’t die, she would.
If she hadn’t severed their hands, they would have eventually come back to cause even more trouble.
So she couldn’t be soft-hearted. She had to eliminate threats at the root.
Not just now—but in the future as well.
Jiang Li pushed away her negative thoughts and did not rush to count her gains. Instead, she carefully scanned her surroundings, wary of another ambush like yesterday.
Before she had fully left the mining area, she heard the rumble of engines in the distance. The ground trembled slightly.
On a slope ahead, she saw two military trucks heading toward the mine.
For a moment, Jiang Li thought she had returned to reality. But upon closer inspection, the trucks were old models—loud engines, fuel-hungry, with camouflage canopies. No one knew how many people were inside.
What exactly is in this mine that even the defense bureau of Dongyao City has been dispatched?
Unease rose in her heart. She felt something bad was about to happen.
Regarding the “newbie village” of the game, her memories were already blurry. By the late game, she only remembered nights growing longer, many places being occupied by evil specters, and human living space shrinking drastically.
Entire major cities fell, and civilians were slaughtered by evil specters.
In the early game, players’ main enemies were gray mist and disaster beasts. In the mid-to-late game, it was the evil specters.
As humans grew stronger, so did the specters—and they evolved even faster, becoming nearly impossible to confront directly.
This caused a massive increase in demand for Flame Star Stones.
Jiang Li carefully recalled the early stages of the game.
When it first launched, countless players flooded in and even created forums. Those who had played said the early game was extremely grind-heavy—not really a horror game, more like a survival game.
The main reason was that evil specters had very low presence early on, and with system warnings, few players dared to go out at night.
The death penalty in the game was extremely harsh—not only would all gathered resources disappear, but even upgraded shelters would be wiped out and had to be rebuilt from scratch.
She had been playing since launch. Unlike other games, this one had no pay-to-win system—only grinding.
But what exactly was the main storyline?
No matter how she tried to recall, she could not remember.
Is this the penalty of reincarnation?
Jiang Li forced herself to calm her shaking thoughts.
Her gaze drifted to the side quest. She considered abandoning it.
The mine was not simple. With her current strength, going deeper could easily get her killed.
But she knew very well: if something happened in the mine, nearby Starfire Village would also be affected—and she would not be spared either.
A sense of urgency rose within her, and she quickened her pace back to the shelter.
Before noon, she returned.
After dropping her bag, she immediately began gathering resources.
There were fewer dead trees knocked down by the cockroach beast now, so she built a simple transport cart from wood. It could carry three logs at once. After several trips moving wood, she went to collect stones.
The cart saved a lot of effort, though it consumed a significant amount of wood—about 20 units.
After finishing most of the hauling, Jiang Li carried a wooden bucket to the water source.
During her trips, she found no trace of the cockroach beast.
But she knew it had not left. Moonfall Mountain was vast and deep, filled with endless disaster beasts.
A low-tier creature like the cockroach beast would only guard this water source and not venture deeper.
Disaster beasts had territorial instincts. Otherwise, it would have attacked her the moment she approached last time.
The cockroach beast was like a blade hanging over her head.
Every time she went out to gather supplies, she had to stay on full alert.
Jiang Li placed a piece of Withered Leaping Frog internal organ near the water source as bait.
Then she hid at a distance where she could still observe, blending into the grass and watching carefully.
Thump… thump…
She listened to her heartbeat, gradually calming her mind.
It was the simplest baiting method—but for a mindless cockroach beast, it was enough.
As she expected, the beast did not abandon its territory despite sensing danger. Water was too valuable—not only humans needed it, but disaster beasts as well.
Rustle… rustle…
The cockroach beast’s limbs wriggled as it approached, stopping intermittently. Its long antennae swayed in the air, and its dark eyes scanned left and right.
Jiang Li’s expression grew serious.
She was not fully confident she could kill it.
Unless her fireball struck its head precisely, it would not be a one-hit kill.
She had already used fireballs against disaster beasts twice, so her control was fairly familiar now.
The dumb beast did not notice anything unusual. The organ meat at the water source drew it in.
Disaster beasts not only ate humans—they also ate each other.
Only by doing so could they survive in a world where everything withered under the gray mist.
Hungry for days, the cockroach beast quickly began feeding.
The fireball attack from last time had left a deep wound on its front leg, still not fully healed. It urgently needed food to recover.
Completely absorbed in feeding, it failed to notice a figure approaching.
Very soon, it felt a sudden wave of scorching heat—but by then, it was already too late.