Cheng Xuening thought it over repeatedly and still refused Xu Zhiyuan’s request. She truly could not bind herself to Xu Zhiyuan’s reef.Moreover, merging so many people together would inevitably cause all sorts of problems—family conflicts, unclear resource division, endless petty disputes.This marriage was already unhappy. If they forcibly bound themselves to the same reef, would she not be stepping into an even more painful abyss?At this point, she did not even want to share the same reef with Xu Zhiyuan.If their reefs had to be separated later, not only would it cost an enormous amount of Sea Stones, but the auxiliary reef’s level would also reset to the beginning, with only the primary reef retaining its highest level.She would not be able to leave, regardless of whether her reef was the primary or auxiliary. Separation would inevitably bring endless complications.“How about you go merge with your mother’s reef instead? Anyway, my reef is still a starter reef. If we separate, there’s no Sea Stone penalty.”“You want to stay here alone?”“Yes.”“How can you manage alone? I won’t feel at ease.”“You talk like I need your care. Even without you, I can live just fine. It’s your mother and sister who need you.”Cheng Xuening looked at him seriously. “You should go over there.”If she had the ability later, she might help out. If not, she could only fend for herself.“Go to your mother’s side. I won’t agree to let her come here anyway, so you might as well head over.”Cheng Xuening closed the holographic screen and replied to Yun Luohe’s message.“But I already agreed with them, Xuening. My mom and my sister both have decent Luck stats. They definitely won’t drag me down. Isn’t it better if everyone works together?”Cheng Xuening stared at the screen as if she had not heard him.Xu Zhiyuan was still chattering nonstop, even blaming her for coming here, completely exhausting Cheng Xuening’s patience.She immediately applied for reef unbinding, separating her reef without needing Xu Zhiyuan’s consent.The moment the separation was confirmed, Xu Zhiyuan shouted in surprise, then was forcibly teleported away by the system.“You’ll definitely regret being here alone!”Cheng Xuening: “Regret? You’re overthinking it.”She stared at the screen. No matter where she was, she could survive just fine—even alone.——The flood of new players instantly increased Zone 2’s population by 200,000.With so many people, to prevent constant spamming and irrelevant small talk from disrupting the overall communication, the system limited each player’s speaking quota.Every player could only speak 10 times per day. Exceeding the limit required spending Sea Stones to purchase additional speech opportunities.10 Sea Stones for one extra message.Mu Zitang first posted several recruitment messages in the chat channel, then switched to the forum, listing all the benefits of joining the Survival Mutual Aid Association in a pinned post.This immediately attracted many new players.Mu Zitang had Mu Dad handle the interviews for those wishing to join the Mutual Aid Association.The recruitment standards had changed. They no longer strictly required low Luck stats, but excessively high Luck was also unwelcome—such players often clashed with others.The key requirement was possessing a practical skill from real life. Those who obtained a Workbench or skill book from their newbie package were the primary targets for recruitment.Interviewing so many new players was a tedious and energy-consuming task, but Mu Dad was quite willing.Meanwhile, the Emperor’s Luck Association was also recruiting.Their requirements were far stricter.First, a Luck stat over 85 was mandatory. Second, applicants had to submit full inventory screenshots and personal information screenshots to prove their strength. After all, Luck itself was a form of strength.Anyone who earned unanimous approval from existing members could immediately join.The Emperor’s Luck Association only accepted the luckiest players in the entire zone.Their recruitment slogan was: Join us, and you will become a top-tier Zone 2 player.Not only would you receive full support from veteran members of the Emperor’s Luck Association, gaining abundant equipment, but the association would also provide vast upgrade materials to accelerate your progress.Seeing their post made Mu Zitang grind his teeth in frustration. Admittedly, the Emperor’s Luck Association had absurdly good conditions.If only his Luck were higher, even he would be tempted by so many benefits.But he believed the Mutual Aid Association would surpass the Emperor’s Luck Association and become the strongest.Even if he could not do it, Yun Luohe definitely could!Mu Zitang sent a message to Yun Luohe.“Sis Yun! We have to go all out and surpass those damned luck kings! Crush them!”Yun Luohe had just finished talking with Cheng Xuening. Seeing Mu Zitang’s message, she chuckled.“Alright, we definitely can.”She instructed Mu Zitang to compile beginner survival materials and distribute them for free under Tianji Pavilion’s name. This way, new players could quickly understand what to do and avoid being completely lost.Besides, if those new players developed well later, they would become future clients.In addition, Yun Luohe asked Mu Zitang to arrange an interview for her as well.To see if she was suitable for joining the Mutual Aid Association and integrating into the group.Although Cheng Xuening was her friend and Yun Luohe trusted her abilities, it was still best to leave the evaluation to Mu Zitang.After all, he always handled these tasks.Sure enough, once he saw that she was personally recommended by Yun Luohe, Mu Zitang took extra care.As expected, Mu Zitang soon arranged an interview for Cheng Xuening.——After registering for the Reforestation Program, Yun Luohe had to carefully plan the soil restoration on her reef.First, she needed to completely restore all soil acidified by acid rain. Then, she had to collect tree seeds and produce tree fertilizer.These tasks had to be handled step by step.Moreover, since there were ratings and evaluations, it was obvious that different tree types awarded different point values—the higher the tree quality and the more beautiful its appearance, the more points awarded.Yun Luohe instructed Mu Zitang to help collect fruit pits and spoiled fruit. These could be recycled using a Trash Bin to obtain fruit tree seeds.Additionally, Tianji Pavilion could trade intel with those who had reached resource islands to acquire various tree seeds. As long as there were forests, seeds were easy to obtain.These were not expensive resources, so they casually gathered a massive stockpile.For example, pine cones, oak seeds, redwood seeds…There were also sellers on the trading center, but buyers were scarce. Only because of the Reforestation Program did people start trading materials for tree seeds.After all, even with seeds, not everyone could successfully grow trees. The process from seed to sprout to mature tree was complex. For most players, it was better to grow vegetables—shorter harvest time, less hassle, smaller land footprint.Fruit trees might take months to bear fruit. Non-fruit trees were even less useful.However, Yun Luohe disagreed. Since the system launched this event, trees clearly had practical benefits for the reef.They would not only increase the reef rating but likely had other hidden functions.Besides, having signed up for the event, Yun Luohe was determined to claim the rewards.First, she would plant a small forest on the reef.Planting 100 trees would earn the certificate. Planting 20 trees a day meant she could finish within five days. By the end of spring, they would have grown into saplings.Yun Luohe suddenly had a hunch—by summer, these trees would surely bring her significant benefits.——That evening, Yun Luohe contacted Yang Mian, expressing her wish to trade for the remaining Symbiotic Crystals in his possession using materials.At first, Yang Mian was unwilling. Although he had not figured out their exact use, it was obvious these Symbiotic Crystals were immensely valuable. Naturally, he was reluctant to casually trade them away.But Yun Luohe sent over a long list of supplies.After reading through it, Yang Mian truly could not find the words to refuse.Yun Luohe had offered far too much.Just the food alone came in over a dozen varieties, along with many essential tools, a generous amount of Anti-Acid Coating, and even a set of Crocodile Leather Armor.In the end, Yang Mian still handed over all the Symbiotic Crystal Fragments in his possession to Yun Luohe, keeping only a single complete Symbiotic Crystal for himself—no matter what, he refused to trade it.Yun Luohe had no choice but to exchange for these fragments first. She would see later if anyone else managed to obtain some on Swamp Island.Not everyone who went to Swamp Island could get their hands on Symbiotic Crystals.If their strength was not sufficient, even reaching Swamp Island would not guarantee success. Some could not even make it out of the forest alive.Yang Mian was able to return intact, so his strength was certainly not weak.——At 8 PM, Yun Luohe returned to her house to rest.She had only five Stamina Points left after planting vegetables and trees for hours.The sweet potatoes and tomatoes in the fields had ripened, and she harvested them all that afternoon.She had also opened up a new plot of land, added a large amount of Neutralizing Agent, restored the soil, then covered it with compost-enriched earth, planting over 20 tree saplings. Each tree had to be spaced far enough apart; otherwise, they would affect one another, competing for nutrients and sunlight.She had thought chopping trees was the most exhausting task, but planting them consumed Stamina Points as well.After finishing all that, Yun Luohe ate a little to restore some Stamina Points and prepared to cook dinner.Ròubāo had long been whining for food.It refused to eat fish, demanding something new.Yun Luohe said, “All I have is fish. If you won’t eat that, you can settle for sweet potatoes.”Ròubāo protested loudly, “Meow! Then I’m not eating grilled fish.”“Fine, just wait.”Coincidentally, she planned to make Tomato Fish.Yun Luohe still wanted to become a professional chef as soon as possible, so no matter how busy she was, she grilled a few fish every day. That was why Ròubāo had been eating the same grilled fish over and over—it had gotten sick of it, no matter how tasty it was.Yun Luohe first sliced the fresh grouper into thin pieces and did a simple seasoning.After marinating for a bit, she pan-fried the fish fillets in a skillet for several minutes, then tossed in the freshly sliced tomatoes, stir-fried them together, and added water to simmer.The method was simple, but the fusion of tomato and fish created an exceptionally rich, sweet, and savory flavor. Ròubāo hovered nearby, meowing non-stop: “Meow, meow! So hungry! When can we eat? I really want to eat!”Yun Luohe told it to be patient and went outside to check if there were any new catches in the fishing nets.Ròubāo grumbled, “Meow, you already pulled in three batches today! You’re not opening them yet.”Yun Luohe replied, “There might be two more batches. I’ll open them all at once later.”The shellfish caught today were piled in the corner. She planned to open them all at once to save time and avoid sorting repeatedly.Reluctantly, Ròubāo went out and returned with another shellfish.Yun Luohe patted its fluffy head approvingly.“You’ve eaten twice today already. Feeding you doesn’t even raise Beast Taming EXP anymore. I still don’t know what other taming actions increase it.”So far, she had only discovered that feeding Ròubāo raised EXP. But constant feeding stopped working, and Ròubāo had become quite fat from overeating. After forming the Basic Pet Contract, it had slimmed down significantly, resembling the agile Leopard Cat it was supposed to be. Now it looked more like a lazy, overweight housecat. Fortunately, it remained nimble enough to fight Giant Seaweed and could handle fish monsters with ease.Once the Tomato Fish was done, the sweet potatoes roasting in the furnace were ready too.The fragrant roasted sweet potatoes had cracked open, releasing golden honey-like syrup, filling the whole house with sweet aroma.Ròubāo was already impatient beyond measure.Yun Luohe opened the roasted sweet potato’s description. Ordinary Roasted Sweet Potato, without special processing, only restored 10 Stamina Points—pretty weak.It seemed she needed to put more effort into crafting higher-grade food.Maybe next time she could make Candied Sweet Potatoes…Not that she had many other options. Ingredients and seasonings were lacking.——The new players were experiencing their first night on their reefs.After the acid rain, they were terrified by the sight of Seaweed growing out of control and their wooden houses being corroded.They flooded the chat channel, crying for help.“Help! How do we deal with these Giant Seaweed? You can’t even tear them off, and they’re attacking people!”“I think my reef is almost completely corroded… will it collapse and sink to the bottom of the sea?”“Is this really how you survive every day? Can we even live through this?”“It’s horrifying. My wooden house is practically melting from the acid rain.”Veteran players were overwhelmed too, but they were already used to it.At that moment, Mu Zitang appeared on behalf of Tianji Pavilion, posting in the chat channel with survival tips and reef upgrade strategies for new players.“New players, don’t panic. It’s alright if you don’t know how to survive—I, from Tianji Pavilion, am here to help. Tianji Pavilion is Zone 2’s premier intelligence organization, dedicated to serving all players and providing the most accurate, high-quality intel.”“To welcome new players to Zone 2, Tianji Pavilion is giving out free starter benefits. Contact our customer service to claim your package—it includes more beginner survival tips and effective methods to deal with Giant Seaweed…”“If you have questions, come to Tianji Pavilion. All new players get one ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) free B-rank intel inquiry, valid for the first three days only.”Mu Zitang’s speech quota ran out exactly as he finished those lines.He had timed his messages perfectly—he would not let the system steal his Sea Stones.After finishing the advertisement, Mu Zitang contacted Yun Luohe and sent today’s sorted materials over to her in batches.Upon seeing the materials, Yun Luohe knew she would be dumping trash like crazy again.Today, she planned to use her [Turning Trash Into Treasure] skill to throw in those accumulated damaged blueprints and see if anything good came out of it.She could also run more tests to try unlocking new Trash Bin achievements.She grabbed a damaged blueprint and a piece of Black Metal Fragment, tossing them into the Trash Bin.This was Yun Luohe’s first time using such an odd combination.[Recycling successful. Obtained Black Weapon Blueprint.]A pitch-black blueprint floated out of the Trash Bin.[New Blueprint Unlocked. Achievement "Trash Creation" completed. Reward: Diving Suit Blueprint ×1.]

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