Standing outside the tent, after getting a clear picture of his surroundings, Lin Ke realized he needed to address three urgent problems affecting his survival in this freezing climate.
First was the temperature.
Compared to inside the tent, the cave was at least below freezing.
The clothes he wore offered no insulation whatsoever; after standing outside for just a short while, his entire body was trembling uncontrollably.
He had to find a way to start a fire for warmth.
Second was securing food and water.
These were essential survival supplies.
Without nourishment or hydration, even with a fire, he would barely last two days in such harsh conditions.
Third was clothing.
This igloo-like cave was well below zero, to say nothing of the outside world, which might be tens of degrees below freezing.
Without sufficient thermal clothing, even if he dug through the snow sealing the entrance, he would never make it out and would ultimately be trapped inside to die.
Back in his dorm, aside from playing video games, he had watched plenty of survival shows starring Ed Stafford and Bear Grylls.
He knew a thing or two about cold-weather survival.
Full marks on theory—now it was time for practical action.
Lin Ke spent about ten minutes carefully exploring the entire cave.
The campsite spanned over eighty square meters with few items and a simple layout.
A tent stood in the center.
Aside from the Hunter’s Notes he had found upon arriving, it contained only a hide sleeping bag.
Three meters to the left of the tent was the cooking and dining area, featuring a furnace that had been extinguished for years and three stone stools.
Searching the surrounding area, he found no firewood, charcoal, or fire starters.
Only white ashes remained in the furnace firebox.
Behind the tent near the rock wall was an irregular circular pond of about ten square meters.
In the faint light, Lin Ke couldn’t see how deep the water was, but he could vaguely glimpse dozens of dark shadows swimming in it.
Dipping a finger into the water, to his surprise, it wasn’t as bone-chilling as he had expected; it was actually quite warm.
It was likely a thermal spring flowing from a nearby geothermal source.
Lin Ke licked the water droplets on his hand—neither salty nor bitter.
Fresh water!
It seemed his luck wasn’t bad; his food and water problems were solved at the same time.
Now all that remained were fire for warmth and proper clothing.
Lin Ke turned his gaze to the last item in the cave.
It was a wooden chest placed right near the exit—blue, over a meter wide, and waist-high.
Just from its look, Lin Ke knew it was a supply chest, identical to the ones in the game.
A chest this big must contain a fair amount of stuff, right?
“Hopefully that hunter’s Aibo left some useful things inside,” Lin Ke thought as he walked over to the chest.
He pulled his hands out of his coat pockets, lifted the lid, and bent down to rummage through the contents.
Inside, the first thing that caught his eye was a heavy set of black metal weapons.
Text floated at the corner of his vision:
[Hunter’s Dagger] Weapon Quality: Common Description: Don’t let the name fool you—this is a Sword and Shield set, standard hunter equipment.
Consists of a single-handed sword forged and tempered from iron ore, paired with a matching solid iron shield.
Sword weight: 52 jin (~26 kg).
Shield weight: 51 jin (~25.5 kg).
PS: Even starter equipment for a hunter is far beyond what an ordinary person can casually wield.
Unless you have 8 points in Strength, it’s best not to try swinging this set.
After reading the text description for the Sword and Shield labeled [Hunter’s Dagger], Lin Ke brought up the attribute panel granted to him by his cheat system.
A light screen unfolded across his retina:
Name: Lin Ke Age: 20 Identity: Player Dimensional Storage: 1 cubic meter [Hunter’s Notes, Phone] Equipment Slots: 0/3
Universal Talents
Civilization: Constant Universal Language and Script Comprehension.
Capable of understanding the language and text of the current world.
Eye of Truth: Gaze at an object to discern its basic information.
Learning: Rapidly acquire knowledge and master skills through images, text, videos, and practical exercise.
—— Physical Attributes ——
Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Constitution: 5 Spirit: 5
[Reached the average level of a 20-year-old adult male]
Strength represents muscle power, fascia toughness, and bone density.
Agility represents neural reflex speed in the limbs, as well as coordination and flexibility.
Constitution represents cellular activity, internal organ function, immunity to viruses, and stamina recovery rate.
Spirit represents brain processing speed, memory, sensory acuity, and resistance to negative statuses.
[Each point increase in an attribute boosts physical capabilities by 0.5 times based on the current stat.
Example: 5 Strength can overhead press a 60 kg barbell; 6 Strength can lift 90 kg; 7 Strength can lift 135 kg.]
[World information collection complete.
Generating Class…] 47%
Lin Ke had very average baseline attributes across the board.
Even these stats had been reinforced and boosted when he received the cheat system.
Otherwise, with his shut-in gamer lifestyle, how could he hit the average of a twenty-year-old adult male?
Furthermore, the system had fixed various minor ailments in his body.
His lower back no longer ached, his legs weren’t weak, his myopia was corrected so he no longer needed glasses, and even his decayed molar had been repaired—he no longer had to worry about girls buying him Extra gum.
This cheat system, named [All-Worlds], was his greatest source of confidence for surviving in this hunter world, not to mention the class currently loading.
He wondered what class the system would grant him once loading completed; he was genuinely looking forward to it.
Flashing through these thoughts, Lin Ke used both hands to lift the sword and shield out of the chest.
Yes, *lift*—this set forged from pure iron was ridiculously heavy.
He couldn’t pull it out with one hand.
In the faint light, Lin Ke examined this starter Sword and Shield set from the game.
The single-handed sword, though called a sword, had the shape of a single-edged saber—resembling the heavy broadswords used by revolutionary ancestors to chop down invaders.
The hilt was 30 cm long, providing ample space for a two-handed grip.
From hilt to tip, it was about a meter long, pitch-black overall, with the dark sheen unique to iron.
The blade was 20 cm wide and 1 cm thick at the spine.
Just looking at it, one could tell no ordinary person could wield it single-handedly.
Lin Ke gripped the hilt with both hands and exerted all his strength just to raise the heavy blade in front of him.
Looking at the cold gleam of the edge and its deep blood groove, Lin Ke shuddered involuntarily.
Using this weapon against large monsters might be a bit underpowered, but against humans, it was total overkill—one chop, one kill, no questions asked.
Lin Ke stowed the sword into his Dimensional Storage, then lifted the thick, heavy round shield beside it and stowed it as well.
The system’s storage currently had a capacity of only one cubic meter, and stowing or retrieving items required both hands.
After storing the Sword and Shield, Lin Ke leaned half his body into the box to keep foraging.
[Spoiled Potion] Potion Quality: Common Description: A potion long past its expiration date.
Consuming it restores minor injuries.
PS: As the price for consuming expired goods, you will suffer stomach cramps for half an hour.
[Dried Rations] Food Quality: Common Description: Dehydrated meat of an herbivorous monster prepared in a dry, cold environment.
Consumption restores stamina.
PS: Feels like a rock that has been hard for three years.
[Carving Knife] Tool Quality: Fine Description: A sharp knife used for carving valuable materials from prey.
PS: Better not try using it to attack large creatures.
[Binoculars] Tool Quality: Common Description: 10x magnification.
Can be used for long-distance observation.
PS: I see you.
[Damaged Shock Trap] Tool Quality: Common Description: A trap capable of halting a giant beast and paralyzing its body briefly.
Its core Thunderbug is dead.
PS: Reloading a Thunderbug will repair the trap.
Lin Ke stowed six cola-can-sized potion bottles in glass casing, two fist-sized pieces of dried meat, an exquisite sharp knife, a pair of binoculars, and a disc-shaped shock trap into his storage.
With that, the chest was completely empty.
He hadn’t found any firewood or fire starters inside.
Lin Ke let out a sigh, then looked at the empty wooden box and said expressionlessly, “I wanted to save some energy, but since you’re so uncooperative, I have no choice but to destroy you.”
“Take my sword!
Wait, take my blade!”
Lin Ke bellowed, exhaling gusts of white vapor.
He pulled out the 52-jin iron blade from his storage, gripped the hilt with both hands, muscles bulging in his arms, using all his strength just to lift it halfway.
“Damn it, this blade feels way heavier than fifty jin!”
Barely raising the blade 20 centimeters above the box, Lin Ke couldn’t lift it any higher.
For a hunter, the Sword and Shield was a light weapon, but for a normal person of average build like Lin Ke, let alone holding the shield, even handling just the sword was no easy feat.
“What kind of muscle monsters are hunters?!” Lin Ke complained internally, swinging the heavy blade down with all his power onto the empty box.
*Whoosh—BANG!*
The blade cut through the air and slammed into the wooden chest.
Splinters flew as the heavy blade cleaved a long split directly through the box.
*Hah!*
Exhale and strike!
Lin Ke raised the long blade again, shifted it half a meter to the left of the split, and chopped diagonally down with full force.
*Crack!*
Still attached by a splinter.
One more small tap!
*Crack!*
After three chops, a V-shaped notch was carved out of the box.
However, Lin Ke felt a sharp ache in his shoulder—he had likely pulled a muscle from overexertion.
This blade was still too heavy for him.
Still, it was worth it.
Lin Ke obtained a triangular piece of wood weighing around 5 jin.
Next, he needed to break this large piece of wood into smaller kindling suitable for burning.
Lin Ke rubbed his shoulder, rested for a moment, then wedged the blade into the notch of the box with the spine facing down.
Gripping one corner of the wooden board, he struck it down against the upward-facing edge of the blade.
*Crack!
Crack!
Crack!*
With each strike, a thin wooden stick flew out.
After doing this a dozen times, he had over a dozen sticks suitable for burning.
*Brilliant as always.*
Lin Ke curled his lips into a smile.
He pulled the blade out from the box, stowed it in his storage, and happily picked up the scattered sticks, carrying them to the furnace.
Squatting before the furnace, Lin Ke picked up a stick, pulled out the carving knife, and began scraping the wood.
The stone stools near the furnace felt like blocks of ice when he touched them earlier—he had no intention of suffering by sitting on them.
With a series of *scrape-scrape* sounds, a thin layer of wood shavings quickly covered the ground.
Now he had tinder; all he needed was a heat source.
Lin Ke gathered the wood shavings, pulled out his phone from his storage, and pressed the power button.
He had to press it several times before the screen lit up.
By now, his hands felt numb, and when he made a fist, he lacked strength.
He had to get a fire going immediately.
Lin Ke checked his phone screen: 70% battery remaining.
Under the glow of the screen, with a solemn look on his face, he dragged the Twitter app icon into the trash, cleared his browser history, and once everything was clean, laid the screen face down on the cold stone ground.
This brother who had accompanied him through his entire college life—since he came into this world clean, he must leave clean.
Covering the phone with the scraped wood shavings, Lin Ke stood up and drew the ridiculously heavy blade from his storage.
Pointing the tip downward through the wood shavings onto the phone, he closed his eyes in a moment of silent mourning.
“Brother, help me one last time!
I’ll remember your kindness forever.”
Opening his eyes again, Lin Ke thrust the blade down with resolute determination.
With a faint crunching sound, the tip pierced through the phone’s casing and stabbed directly into the heart of the phone—its lithium battery.
As the battery ruptured, the lithium ions reacted violently the moment they met the outside air, rapidly oxidizing and generating intense heat.
A wisp of white smoke rose from the shavings, followed by a sudden *BOOM* of deflagration!
Bright flames instantly illuminated the entire cave.
Reflected in Lin Ke’s pupils, the firelight shone with a glow called hope.
Now he had a fire source, and the first problem was solved.