The scorching fireball struck the Cockroach Beast’s head without the slightest deviation, burning it into charcoal.
Even after losing its head, the Cockroach Beast was still able to move. Driven by instinct, it fled wildly like a headless fly, crashing into nearby dead trees without stopping.
Jiang Li wiped away the cold sweat densely covering her forehead. Enduring the needle-like pain in her head, she strode forward and approached the beast’s corpse, pulling out her axe. She chopped off its limbs—though without its appendages, the cockroach-like creature could still move, just far less actively.
Like real-world cockroaches, even without a head, their bodies—packed with a dense nervous system—could still survive.
What surprised Jiang Li was that a cloth bag appeared beside the Cockroach Beast.
【Congratulations, player, for killing a Tier 1 Cockroach Beast. Reward: Green-quality Cloth Bag】
【After killing a Disaster Beast, there is a chance to obtain rewards.】
She blinked in surprise and froze in place.
Last time she killed the Withered Leaping Frog, she received no reward—but this time, killing the Cockroach Beast actually dropped one.
That’s right—this game’s monsters could drop loot.
The drop rate was not 100%, and the quality of drops depended on the strength of the Disaster Beast.
Quality tiers: White, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange.
The higher the quality, the better the reward.
When the False Human Specter appeared on the first night, Jiang Li had obtained a green-quality cloth bag in the morning.
Inside were gourd mushroom seeds and eggplant mushroom seeds, as well as a water filter and a backpack.
Meanwhile, white-quality cloth bags only contained water and food—nothing else.
The value difference of green quality was obvious.
Jiang Li looked at the Cockroach Beast with newfound approval. Even the exhaustion of her mental energy suddenly felt worthwhile.
Unfortunately, she could only cast Fireball once per day.
Otherwise, she would have cleared all the Disaster Beasts in Moonfall Mountain and farmed loot bags endlessly.
Still, she was satisfied.
She dragged the Cockroach Beast back to her shelter first, then went to collect water and gather mud.
Mud was very useful—not only for making planting pots, but also for many structures like the fireplace.
With time still early, she carried two buckets of water back to the shelter.
By the time she arrived, the sky had already been dyed crimson. The entire horizon was filled with blood-red clouds, casting a disturbing hue over everything.
Jiang Li was already used to it. She glanced at the sky, closed the door, and began sorting today’s gains.
First were the mining rewards: those three miners each carried food bags—twelve pieces of Dried Mushroom total.
The mining station’s daily food allocation had also increased—she received twenty pieces of Dried Mushroom.
This was because she had looted seventeen Flame Star Stones from the three robbers, far exceeding the quota.
In addition, she found a map on the “leader.”
It was a crude map of the region, marking only major locations: Starfire Village, the mine, Moonfall Mountain, Dongyao City, several other villages, and Huiwood Town.
Dongyao City was far away from Starfire Village, so it was not her immediate concern. But Huiwood Town was relatively close.
One city, multiple towns, and many villages.
Dongyao City itself was massive—several times larger than a town, and towns were in turn larger than villages.
The routes drawn on the map twisted and turned, clearly showing that travel between settlements was not easy.
And this was only Dongyao City’s territory. There were several other major cities beyond it.
There were teleportation arrays in the game, but once inside, players still had to travel step by step.
Without transportation, travel on foot meant facing dangerous terrain, steep mountains, and wide rivers—natural barriers that made travel nearly impossible.
Maybe I’ll spend my whole life here.
Jiang Li did not like a wandering life anyway. With a shelter, she had no reason to leave.
Besides, cities did not allow villagers to enter. In the eyes of city dwellers, villagers from the wild were filthy, disease-bearing, and disasters in human form.
…
Aside from food and the map, there was nothing else.
Those three miners were poor—none of them even had iron weapons, only stone axes like hers.
She set everything aside and opened her shelter storage panel.
【Storage: Wood 87, Stone 56, Charcoal 2, Mud 13, Flame Star Stone 2】
All of it came from her wooden cart system—two wheels pulled by hand. Thankfully, her 7-point stamina made it possible.
She upgraded the shelter.
Unlike when she first discovered it, the cave did not instantly transform. Upgrading took time.
【Upgrade time: 30 minutes】
Fortunately, it would finish before nightfall.
Then she turned her attention to the green-quality cloth bag.
As usual, she prayed in all directions she remembered, silently reciting every deity she knew:
Please… let me get Purification Mushroom seeds!
Seeds were rare and not sold at trading posts. She could only obtain them from loot bags.
Purification Mushrooms were extremely important—she already had two Disaster Beast corpses waiting for purification. If she got the seeds, she wouldn’t need to rely on the trading post anymore.
But this time, the heavens did not respond.
The contents of the bag appeared before her.
【A cotton quilt】
【A bag of edible salt】
【An Abyss Invitation Card】
Only three items—and no food. But two of them were things she urgently needed.
The temperature at night kept dropping. She could still sleep by the fireplace for now, but that was not a long-term solution. She needed bedding.
Salt was also essential. A vital mineral for the human body—lack of it would lead to serious consequences.
And the last item—
Jiang Li picked up the card.
It was the size of a bank card, completely black. Under the firelight, a faint eerie glow seemed to flow across its surface, giving it a mysterious and unsettling aura.
She had never seen such an item in the game before.
【Abyss Invitation Card: a one-time-use item that allows the player to enter the Abyss】
【Abyss: a place buried with countless treasures… ruins…】
The explanation was long, and it took her a while to understand.
It was similar to inheritance ruins in cultivation novels—places filled with treasures.
This card allowed her to directly enter those ruins, but naturally, danger within was equally abundant.
Jiang Li did not dare use it now. She had no idea how dangerous it was inside.
But since it appeared in her hands, it meant this world also contained the Abyss. She could ask others about it later before deciding.
She put the card away.
Sorting was complete, and the shelter upgrade finished as well.
【Shelter: Level 2】
Looking at her now-changed shelter, Jiang Li showed a surprised smile.
It had doubled in size. There was even an additional chamber.
Besides the rear room, a new right-side room had been carved out next to the front chamber. Though smaller than the main room, it was more than enough for her.
The front chamber was now over sixty square meters—far more spacious than before.
Not only that, but a toilet had been added in the right room. It was a “void toilet,” meaning waste disposal required no manual cleaning.
For someone who had been relieving herself outdoors for days, this was a luxury she had long wanted.
She couldn’t help but laugh softly.
This was the part of the upgrade she was most satisfied with.