“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
On an island shrouded in mist, not far from a dilapidated wooden house, a youth wearing a white hoodie was chopping away at the stone axe in his hands with all his might. Since its sharpness was truly questionable and the stone axe’s design was not at all ergonomic, it would be no exaggeration to say that he was putting in twice the effort for half the results.
Despite the cold wind blowing, Li Qinglang was still sweating profusely from exhaustion. His original black windbreaker had already been hung on a small branch nearby.
Accompanied by the friction sound of cracking wood, the tree before him, about as thick as a thigh, finally fell.
【Tree（ordinary）】
Introduction: An ordinary tree commonly seen everywhere. Decomposing it yields 16 units of wood.
“Damn! What a rip-off!”
Li Qinglang released the stone axe and let it fall freely. Then he plopped down on the tree trunk he had just felled and panted lightly.
“I chopped for a full half an hour! And this is all I got? Are you trying to feed a beggar?”
“At this rate, I’ll obtain about 30 wood per hour. It’ll take more than three hours to gather 100 wood.”
“And that’s only the theoretical condition. With such high-intensity chopping, it’s impossible not to rest during the process, not to mention dragging the tree back to the Shelter.”
“For the vast majority of Survivors, during the seven hours of daytime, at least four hours must be set aside to inspect the environment and search for food and water resources. The time that can truly be used for chopping trees is only around three hours, which is nowhere near enough to collect many supplies.”
It was the first time he had realized how precious daytime time was. Li Qinglang no longer rested, but stood up and began chopping away at another tree.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Because of the stone axe’s material, every time it made contact with a tree, the sound it produced was not that of a sharp blade entering wood, but rather the dull thudding of a blunt weapon.
After approximately twenty minutes, Li Qinglang obtained another 14 units of wood.
“The efficiency is too low. Fortunately, the Communicator has a trading function. I’ll see tonight whether I can exchange some water resources for material or a better tool.”
“Sigh, opening treasure chests is still more comfortable. The items are good, and it doesn’t take any effort.”
Still, Li Qinglang was content. After all, the announcement had said that there would definitely be an iron treasure chest near every Shelter, whereas he had obtained a Bronze Treasure Chest and even opened an Excellent Grade item.
“Wait! There’s something wrong with this announcement!”
“If everyone is guaranteed an iron treasure chest as a newbie gift pack, then logically speaking, my Bronze Treasure Chest shouldn’t count. In other words, there’s still an iron treasure chest around my Shelter—that must be my newbie gift pack!”
At this thought, Li Qinglang’s eyes lit up.
He spat toward the fallen tree. “Chop trees? Even dogs wouldn’t chop them! I’m going to find a treasure chest!”
That was what he said, but Li Qinglang still dutifully dragged the two trees back to the Shelter. Fortunately, the tree-felling site was not far from the log cabin, though he was still panting heavily from exhaustion.
“The nine-to-nine-six lifestyle ruined me! I’ll have to exercise more from now on.”
After gulping down a few mouthfuls of coconut water, Li Qinglang hurried out while there was still time. There was now less than an hour until nightfall.
At that moment, the sky was gradually darkening, and his vision became blurred. The mist in the surroundings was so thick that it seemed ready to drip. Nightfall was about to arrive, and the temperature was dropping rapidly along with the darkening sky.
The extreme cold current was getting closer and closer!
The area directly in front of the Shelter had already undergone an initial exploration, while the area to the left was the tree-felling site. Therefore, this time Li Qinglang planned to advance from the right, circle around to the rear, and return from there, thereby expanding the search area as much as possible.
Besides searching for the treasure chest, Li Qinglang also had to see whether there were any other useful resources nearby, such as the stone needed to upgrade the Shelter, or food.
At present, apart from trees, the only truly obtainable resources were five coconuts. It could be said to be extremely barren.
But this time, luck did not seem to favor him. Looking around, all he could see were trees and disorderly thatch. There were no other resources at all.
“I wonder whether my spawn point is relatively remote, or if everyone is like this?”
Then he thought of the desert guy in the chat channel, whose spawn point seemed to be in the desert. Li Qinglang instantly felt that he was actually rather lucky.
He simply did not know whether there would be a way to change the Shelter’s location in the future, or even leave this island.
The sky grew increasingly dim, and the mist in the Light Mist Zone thickened somewhat. The air also became extremely humid. He wiped a hand across his face and flung off droplets formed from condensed moisture. Even the clothes on his body felt damp, making Li Qinglang very uncomfortable.
“How is there a fallen tree here?”
Just as he was about to reach the edges of the Light Mist Zone, Li Qinglang discovered a large tree that had not fallen naturally. Judging from the break, the moisture and color of the tree trunk were still fresh and vibrant. It should have broken within the past two days!
The sudden situation put him on edge. After confirming that there were no other abnormalities nearby, Li Qinglang cautiously approached to inspect it.
The tree trunk was as thick as a person’s waist and had broken at a height of approximately two meters. Looking toward the section that had fallen onto the ground, he saw extensive splintering.
“These cracks in the tree must have been caused by an external force. What could it have been?”
Following the cracks with his gaze, Li Qinglang’s pupils suddenly contracted. “This is a palm print—a human palm print!”
Judging from the size of the palm print, this person was at least more than three meters tall!
“In other words, an unknown human exists around my Shelter, and they appeared here within the past two days!”
“What could it be? A native creature? A wild man?”
“Damn it, what kind of person can knock down a tree with one slap?”
The fear of the unknown swept over him like raging waves. His rapidly pounding heart made it impossible for Li Qinglang to calm down and think.
“Calm down! Calm down!”
After taking several deep breaths in succession, Li Qinglang recovered a little of his reason.
“Looking at it from another angle, this is a good thing! At least I’ve discovered its trace and can make plans in advance. That way, I won’t end up dying without even knowing how I died.”
There was still half an hour until nightfall. The surroundings grew increasingly silent, and the atmosphere now made Li Qinglang sense a trace of danger.
“Time to head home!”
He had not found any trace of a treasure chest on the right, so Li Qinglang could only hope for a surprise on the way back.
Relying on his sense of direction, he felt his way to the rear of the Shelter and began returning.
The good news was that he had not discovered any abnormalities resembling the fallen tree. The bad news was that even after leaving the Light Mist Zone, he still had not found the shadow of an iron treasure chest.
Li Qinglang emerged from the mist and looked at the log cabin in the distance before sighing.
“Sigh, finding a treasure chest the size of a bedside cabinet within a thousand meters is really not easy.”
There were only a dozen or so minutes left until nightfall. He could only try his luck again tomorrow. He also did not know whether the newbie reward treasure chest would disappear tomorrow.
When Li Qinglang reached a position about seven or eight meters from the Shelter, a flash of black metal flickered in the corner of his vision.
“Hahaha, so you were hiding here!”
Behind the Shelter, a black iron treasure chest was practically touching the log cabin, lying there quietly.
“This really took no effort at all. It was right under my nose!”
Since Li Qinglang had always begun exploring from the front door, he had never actually checked the back of the log cabin.
Moreover, he had found the Bronze Treasure Chest on a tree branch, which subconsciously led him to believe that treasure chests were all hidden in concealed places.
Thinking about it, that made sense. The announcement had clearly stated that this iron treasure chest belonged to the newbie gift pack. How could it possibly be hidden so thoroughly that people could not find it?
【Iron Treasure Chest】
Introduction: A treasure chest exclusive to Survivors. Other creatures cannot open it. An iron treasure chest can yield three common items, with a small chance of yielding one fine item.
Li Qinglang was excited as he picked up the treasure chest and carried it into the Shelter. Even the panic caused by the unknown creature’s palm print faded somewhat.
The crude wooden door slowly closed, as though cutting off the darkness outside.
Nightfall had arrived....