Jian Xingyi wasn’t exaggerating about being self-sufficient. Having traded all his precious in-game items and experience points for management skills and focusing solely on leveling them up, he possessed an impressive array of business abilities!

For instance, after maxing out gathering and crafting skills, the system granted him a special ability—Turn Stone into Gold.

Jian Xingyi could use this skill to directly extract seeds from wild plants and hatchlings from animals for breeding.

Whenever he activated the skill, all living creatures would appear as clickable glowing dots in his vision. Clicking one would add a bag of seeds to his backpack.

But…

This skill worked like a gacha system—Jian Xingyi never knew what he’d get. Grapes might yield watermelon seeds, while watermelons could produce lotus root segments.

Jian Xingyi hadn’t fully figured out the odds, but he knew that higher-difficulty maps and rarer creatures tended to yield superior seeds.

As long as he had guild-owned farmland, he could support himself.

“I’ll discuss it with them.” Heiye’s expression was grave, but he still managed a wry smile. “Don’t worry! They might object a bit, but once I decide to bring you back, I’ll see it through. I won’t go back on my word.”

“Come back with me now!”

The Long Live A Hundred Years’s base wasn’t far from Jian Xingyi’s former guild. At top speed, the motorcycle reached it in two hours.

Long Live For A Hundred Years, Grapevine Peak, and Jian Xingyi’s former Blue Sky and White Clouds were all built along Peace Mountain—this was the system’s default map.

The guild base was enclosed by the system’s default wooden fence, with clearly divided plots inside. Members could choose which plot to use for building their homes.

“Our base has few members, so there’s plenty of empty land!” ” Upon reaching the gate, the two realized… Jian Xingyi couldn’t pass through.

Only then did Heiye recall that Jian Xingyi’s membership application hadn’t been approved yet.

Membership applications required unanimous approval from the Guild President, Vice President, and any one Guild Administrator to be valid. Yet the management group seemed… rather critical of him bringing someone back.

Heiye froze.

Uh.

Separated by a door, they stared at each other, seeing mutual awkwardness in their eyes.

Heiye scratched his head, set Jian Xingyi as his visitor, and brought him inside.

“Here’s the deal… Visitors can still place homes, so at least you’ll have a place to stay…”

Jian Xingyi: “…”

Jian Xingyi understood.

Good grief, since Heiye couldn’t persuade him, he’d just smuggled him in!

Oh dear.

Jian Xingyi eyed the guild leader, Heiye, suspiciously.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

Heiye patted his chest. “I’m the guild president! Relax, relax!”

“Alright…”

Heiye led Jian Xingyi to the most remote plot in the entire guild. This patch lay near the back gate, deserted and overgrown with weeds, hidden by thick greenery—easy to miss if you weren’t looking.

Heiye desperately tried to save face. “Though it looks unsafe, it’s actually pretty safe…”

“Oink oink oink—”

Just then, a strange… pig-like squeal erupted from the waist-high grass.

Next, a herd of blue infected boars charged out.

Nowadays, it was not only humans who could be infected—even animals couldn’t escape.

This made hunting in the wild incredibly difficult. Sometimes, after finally succeeding in a hunt, they’d discover the game was already infected.

Take these boars, for instance. Their bodies were covered in terrifying spikes, dripping with sticky, unidentifiable fluids and bits of flesh. Their once-brown fur now glowed with an eerie blue light.

Heiye: “?!?”

Jian Xingyi: “… “

Blue Sky and White Clouds, Grapevine Peak, and Long Live A Hundred Years were all built nestled against the mountainside.

Exiting through Long Live For A Hundred Years’ back door led directly into Peace Mountain. Now, it seemed the beasts from Peace Mountain had escaped and even made their home here.

Strange occurrences like this had been happening frequently lately. Perhaps because the bug persisted, many of the game’s previous rules were gradually becoming obsolete.

The Grapevine Peak Guild shared their observations from monster clearing on the public channel. For instance, monsters used to stay within designated zones—chasing them out would cause them to automatically return, and killing them would trigger respawns. But now, those mechanics are gone, and respawns aren’t guaranteed.

This is rather unsettling—as if the game has become reality, and reality has become the game.

The most obvious example is that eating in the holographic game used to be tasteless, merely restoring a bit of stamina and energy. But now, hunger, taste, fatigue, and death within the game mirrored reality exactly.

The laws of real life were gradually manifesting within the game.

Heiye sighed helplessly, “It’s fine, just a boar. I’ve got this!”

He drew his knife and began breaking through the encirclement.

But Jian Xingyi suddenly remembered—this was… a meal delivered right to their doorstep!

Using the gathering skill required the creature to be alive; if it died, the materials would be lost. Frantically, he activated the skill and hurriedly clicked to gather before Heiye finished off the boar.

He watched as Heiye dodged and stabbed his way through a circle of ten blue, spiked mutant boars.

After finally eliminating all the boars, the area around Heiye was littered with their bodies.

Heiye cut the spines off the boars.

Jian Xingyi guessed these were materials for upgrading weapons.

Heiye sighed helplessly, “Ugh… Seriously, it seems no one has been in this area for far too long. Our guild is too small, with many low-level members. We simply can’t handle these open areas.“

After Heiye collected all the spikes, Jian Xingyi asked, ”You’re done… Can I have the carcasses?“

Heiye looked at Jian Xingyi with a very subtle expression. ”What do you need them for?“

Jian Xingyi: ”To eat.”

Heiye: “…”

Heiye’s expression grew even more pitiful.

“If you really have no food, you can come find me. I’ll try to help out! Don’t eat these infected creatures—what if you get infected and mutate while eating them?”

Jian Xingyi: “Thanks…”

But…

Jian Xingyi said, “Haven’t you unlocked the recipe function?”

“What recipes?”

“Besides the formulas for crafting weapons and attachments in the synthesizer, there are also recipes you can unlock.”

Heiye tapped through the terminal interface, distributing the boar materials to the guild chat for members to claim, while responding with resignation, “This is a combat game… Who has the time to bother unlocking recipes?”

…Well, someone like me, for instance.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, He’s even completed the entire recipe collection…

But most players only possessed the basic recipes gifted by the system—white rice, bread, and energy drinks. Previously, players consumed food solely to boost combat efficiency; the specific item didn’t matter.

Consequently, Heiye had no idea how recipes actually functioned.

Rare recipes like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, mille-feuille cakes, and foie gras salad did require precise ingredients, yielding far tastier results.

But for more common recipes like fried rice, the synthesizer only requires one portion of rice and one portion of meat.

The type of meat isn’t strictly specified—any meat will do. So Jian Xingyi could easily toss this seemingly inedible meat into the synthesizer, turning waste into treasure.

Upholding the spirit of not wasting anything, Jian Xingyi swiftly stowed the entire field of wild boars into her backpack’s inventory slots under Heiye’s ghostly gaze.

His backpack held 100 slots. Twelve wild boars took up only twelve slots.

But that was enough to sustain Jian Xingyi for a while, since the meat from one boar could be cut into several portions.

Heiye’s mouth twitched. “I don’t know if your recipe actually works, but don’t push yourself.”

“I won’t,” Jian Xingyi assured him. “It’s definitely edible. I can even cook it for you.”

“No need, no need.” Heiye glanced at the disgusting boars and waved his hand dismissively.

After packing up the boars, Heiye, wary of potential surprises, cautiously tossed stones into every nearby bush. None stirred.

Seemed there were no other threatening creatures around.

Heiye said, “Still, I can’t guarantee what might be lurking nearby. If anything else appears, send me a private message for help.”

Jian Xingyi obediently replied, “Okay.”

“Don’t leave this area for now. Don’t let others find you. I’m sorry for the inconvenience…” He Ye sighed helplessly. “I’ll talk things over with them properly. Until then, stay put here. It’s at least better than being outside.”

If Jian Xingyi stayed outside, she’d either starve or face constant attacks.

Jian Xingyi sincerely said, “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

With that, Heiye departed.

Jian Xingyi glanced at the empty plot before her.

【Do you confirm placing your home on this plot?】

After clicking confirm, a… mansion materialized before his eyes.

Indeed, Jian Xingyi, with his Combat Power of 6, had spent a year playing the game, focusing solely on recipes and upgrading his home system.

Jian Xingyi hadn’t expected the system to recycle his backpack but not his mansion. Perhaps the house was categorized as a basic item like a bow and arrow—something every player started with.

But everyone’s house was the system’s default: one room, one hall, plus a toilet. It was barely better than a doghouse, made of ramshackle wooden planks, designed just to shelter you from wind and rain.

Some had upgraded their shabby planks to premium ones or bought templates for one-click placement, but the exteriors were still pretty much the same. No one bothered opening blueprints for meticulous planning.

Yet the three-story mansion before him was clearly the result of its owner’s careful design. Blue bricks and stone tiles blended Chinese aesthetics with modern minimalism, complete with balconies, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a fountain.

Its opulence felt completely out of place with the game’s art style.

It was like playing Minecraft within Dawnbreaker.

Returning to the home he’d built himself, Jian Xingyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Whew, finally no more roughing it!

Jian Xingyi hurried to his backyard to check on his planting area.

Every homestead’s backyard allowed planting and breeding. Now that the homestead was summoned again, Jian Xingyi could finally tend to his garden.

Most players had low homestead levels, but Jian Xingyi was different. He’d maxed out his homestead level, so his farmland and breeding areas were five times larger than others’, and his crops matured much faster.

Where others had one plot of land, he had five.

Where others’ crops took five days to mature, his typically needed no more than two.

Now, only a few scattered grains of rice remained in his fields.

Jian Xingyi felt a flicker of relief. Thankfully, though he lacked combat prowess, these minor skills could keep him alive.

Jian Xingyi pondered his next move. His immediate priority was gathering seeds to replant his fields.

The guild members refused to accept him because they saw him as a resource drain. But what if… he could prove he could support himself?

Fearing another expulsion, gathering became urgent. Though it was already midnight, he didn’t sleep. Instead, he immediately began searching for plants near his home.

The guild was quiet in the dead of night, with no one around. Jian Xingyi started his work.

Heiye felt somewhat apologetic for the area being so overgrown with weeds, unaware that this was practically hitting the jackpot for Jian Xingyi.

These living things—flowers, grasses, trees—were all harvestable. Though each plant could only be harvested once, its sheer abundance made it manageable.

【Harvest successful. Obtained 【Wheat】 seeds x5】

【Harvest successful. Obtained 【Wheat】 seeds x3】

【Harvest successful. Obtained 【Rice】 seeds x8】

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

【Harvest successful, obtained 【Radish】 seeds x1】

Jian Xingyi sighed. It seemed that clicking to harvest within the guild’s safe zone only yielded these common, basic crops.

Unless he got incredibly lucky, but Jian Xingyi was a guaranteed-reward gacha player—he didn’t count on such things.

Jian Xingyi promptly planted all the harvested rice, wheat, and radish seeds, filling the fields to capacity. Unfortunately, though the fields—like the homestead—hadn’t been reclaimed by the system, they had been reset.

The homestead, being a player-built area, had been spared. However, Jian Xingyi’s fields were part of the upgrade system. After being reset, they now looked completely neglected—hard, barren, and uneven, with quality that left much to be desired. Perhaps only five or six out of ten vegetable seeds would survive, and even those would be barely edible, lacking freshness. Jian Xingyi could already picture the harvest: wilted, yellowed leaves, torn and tattered.

But hey, it’s the apocalypse… as long as it’s edible. Upgrades required massive amounts of resources and money, which Jian Xingyi couldn’t manage right now. He could only console himself, telling himself to make do.

Not only that, but the wild boar had also added a lot of… lambs to his backpack.

Jian Xingyi sighed. So that’s why collecting pigs resulted in lambs.

The system had a bit of a twisted sense of humor.

Jian Xingyi had originally planned to pen the lambs in the breeding area of his backyard, envisioning a future where mature rice and carrots would be paired with game meat and lamb.

But then he remembered he had no feed for the lambs. Unable to think of a solution for now, he had to put the plan on hold.

By the time he finished tending the fields, it was already midnight. Having spent the past two days in the wilderness, his nerves were frayed. Now, finally back in his warm, soft bed, he fell into a deep, snoring sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Yet that night brought restless sleep, plagued by nightmares. He dreamed the guild rejected him, discovered his hiding place, and expelled him.

Jian Xingyi had always been easygoing, his mind occupied solely with planning his next meal. His sole purpose was creating delicious food—so for a foodie, the punishment of starvation felt worse than being devoured by zombies.

In his dream, Jian Xingyi resolved to cultivate every inch of the mountain slopes.