When Jian Xingyi arrived at the office carrying tools and shared the plan with Heiye, the Captain, and the others, everyone was stunned.

“Is this really feasible?”

Digging through the land on the game map, cutting down trees… While commonplace in reality, no one had ever considered doing such things in the game.

Because it couldn’t be done.

“Let’s try it.”

Jian Xingyi distributed shovels and axes to everyone.

“Thud!”

Someone swung an axe, and large chunks of wood appeared on the ground. Jian Xingyi could have clicked to store them in his backpack, but he didn’t do that just yet.

“Clang!”

Another player swung a shovel, actually digging a hole in the ground.

“Wow…”

No, no wonder they’re survival players!

They actually have these amazing tools!

The system store does sell shovels and such, but none can create permanent effects. Jian Xingyi’s… this is incredible!

Time was limited. Jian Xingyi and Heiye quickly consulted with several team leaders and sketched some design plans.

First, deep, wide trenches would be dug at all four gate entrances. Zombies lacked intelligence and followed rigid paths programmed by the system. Those unable to be stopped in time would tumble into the trenches, making them easier to eliminate and buying more time.

This plan targeted the incoming zombie hordes from outside, but the trenches had a flaw: they were useless against giant zombies, whose massive size allowed them to simply stride over.

“No problem,” said Heiye. “At least the scattered zombies will be blocked, letting us focus our firepower on the giants.”

To deal with zombies surging from within, they would use felled timber to construct more barricades and fences.

If zombies attacked from both ends, they would split into two teams. One team would climb the walls to mow down the giants and the sea of zombies in the trenches. The other team would spread out deeper into the guild’s interior, taking cover behind makeshift walls to shoot zombies emerging from the fissures. After all, they now had a rough idea of the fissures’ boundaries.

“Sounds… highly efficient!”

Once the plan was set, everyone got to work.

Jian Xingyi had only twenty tools, but the guild had over fifty members. This allowed for a rotation system, combining training with “labor reform.”

After the discussion, they divided into three groups.

One group chopped trees and dug trenches, another helped whittle the felled wood into suitable sizes and sharpened them to create stakes for the fence, while the third group focused on training their coordination.

Jian Xingyi saw people working diligently at all four gates; everyone was full of energy, wishing they could grow extra hands.

Jian Xingyi distributed the boxed meals he’d prepared earlier—stir-fried pork slices with potatoes.

“Thank you…!”

“Wow… Thank you so much!! It’s delicious—no wonder everyone spends so much to buy this…”

As Jian Xingyi handed out the meals, when it reached Chacha, she was carefully whittling the tip of a piece of wood. She accepted the box with a smile and said, “Thanks, Xinghe. If it weren’t for you this time, we might all have died… Thank you for giving us hope.”

Jian Xingyi froze, stammering, “It’s… nothing… I just wanted to survive.”

“No, it’s because you’re too kind,” Chacha insisted. “You could have left us for a better guild. With all your resources, no guild would turn you away. Yet you chose to walk this path with us…”

Jian Xingyi paused.

It was true—no guild had wanted him at first, because no one believed he could actually produce food. Before this game, management skills were just a minor part of the homestead system—unfun, pointless to play, and a waste of resources. It was only after players entered the game that the management system naturally evolved to suit their needs.

Thus, no one could fathom what benefit a Combat Power 6 could offer.

But now it was different. Jian Xingyi had proven his worth.

But…

Jian Xingyi chuckled. “When I had nothing, you were the ones who took me in.”

Chacha smiled softly.

“Then we really did hit the jackpot.”

She glanced around.

When Jian Xingyi first joined, some questioned him, and others feared him. But now, everyone gazed at him as if he were a deity.

Jian Xingyi patted Chacha’s shoulder. “Let’s keep pushing forward together.”

“Yeah…!”

Firelight and Cola also took in the surrounding scene. As they marveled, they couldn’t help but admire Jian Xingyi’s various “unorthodox methods.”

But the terrain was different. The difficulty on Grapevine Peak was on another level entirely. Building these barriers and trenches offered little advantage, and even the cannons from the Zombie Tide Mall proved only marginally effective.

After all, everyone else was fighting regular zombies, while they were battling giant zombies.

The battle on Grapevine Peak… could only be won through sheer force.

But the thrill of gacha draws everyone in, and the Grapevine Peak crew bought seeds to plant.

What if they actually grew seeds more powerful than cannons? Probability is unpredictable—no one can say for sure!

Cola was watching everyone dig trenches with keen interest when a message popped up.

Shanhai: 【Cola】

Shanhai: 【Where】

Oh my, the sky must be raining red—Shanhai actually messaged him. But…

Cola gritted his teeth.

Cola: 【You bastard, I told you I changed my name!】

Shanhai: 【Not my problem】

Shanhai: 【Where】

Cola: 【Where else? In our support guild, Long Live for a Hundred Years!】

Shanhai: 【How’s the situation?】

Cola: 【Two dead, but things are still manageable. Little Chef has so many weird tools! He’s leading everyone to dig trenches and build barricades right now. Hahaha, so amazing!】

Then Shanhai went silent.

Cola felt a bit puzzled.

Huh?

So what? Did Shanhai actually come specifically to ask about the situation?

Cola pressed further, but the other end went completely silent.

Cola scratched his head. Something’s fishy! He and Shanhai were real-life brothers—he knew Shanhai wouldn’t suddenly care about a guild. But after much thought, aside from the delicious food and Xinghe’s generous resources, what else could this guild offer?

But Shanhai’s appetite was like an AI’s!

What was really going on?

Cola was dying of curiosity.

Meanwhile, Jian Xingyi, satisfied with the smooth progress of his project, headed home to tinker with his Potato Buds and trade deals.

Jian Xingyi kept monitoring the regional chat channel. With many minds working together, they quickly calculated the drop rates for Potting Buds. Perhaps due to skill or plot conditions, he discovered everyone’s rates were even worse than his own.

Even with low drop rates and inferior functionality compared to his, the 5000-coin gamble still drew enthusiastic responses. Players hoped to snag another solid support item or upgrade from a bicycle to a motorcycle.

Currently, Jian Xingyi saw players on the public screen deploying Nut Walls and Cherry Bombs just like him. With so many participants, some even unlocked plants Jian Xingyi hadn’t obtained yet—specifically, the Pea Shooter.

The Pea Shooter, as the name suggests, is a plant that can shoot at zombies—essentially like having an extra automatic gun.

Jian Xingyi watched the statistics on the public channel while checking his own account.

The zombie tide had entered its second day. Jian Xingyi could see from the public screen that many had died. Gray announcements kept flashing nonstop, constantly showing players being wiped out.

【Player 【XX】 account terminated, permanently offline】

【Player 【XX】 account terminated, permanently offline】

…

Even entire guilds were “disbanded.” Either every member had perished, or only a few survivors remained, posting requests on the public channel, hoping to be taken in by new guilds.

It felt like an exam where more and more people were falling behind.

Perhaps because of this, everyone grew more adept at finding humor in hardship and carving out unconventional paths.

Since death was inevitable either way, some even joked on the public chat about whether these seeds could sprout grave plants to give themselves a grand funeral.

In any case, Jian Xingyi’s seeds kept selling.

Jian Xingyi has now earned… 600,000! That means he sold roughly 120 seeds in just one morning and half an afternoon!

After buying the cannon, his guild had 480,000 left in funds. Combined, that totals 1,040,000—enough to buy one more cannon!

With the extra cannon secured, Jian Xingyi began debating where to place it.

Feiyi’s gate was already full. The remaining options were the back gates of Akita and Baizhou, the west gate of Lone Wolf and Haihai, and the main gate.

Logically, based on each gate’s combat strength, this cannon should go to the west gate. At the very least, the back gate. The main gate already had Cola and Firelight.

But…

Jian Xingyi hesitated.

That said, the main gate was always tougher than the others. With just the three of them plus a cannon, could they really handle it?

Last night, three giants arrived. Tonight would bring more.

That meant there was a real chance giants would come nonstop to “greet” them tonight. If that happened, he and Cola would have to fight giants the entire time, while Firelight single-handedly handled the zombie tide inside and out…

It all felt precarious.

Jian Xingyi ultimately decided to place the cannon at the Main Gate.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if his decision was right. But for now… trial and error was the only option. The cost of mistakes was high, but Jian Xingyi had no other choice.

After buying the cannon, he had only 40,000 left. He could only hope the Pot Buds would earn him more by tomorrow. Otherwise, if the cannon wasn’t fully purchased by the fifth day, things would get tough.

Their guild wasn’t Grapevine Peak—they couldn’t just rely on strength to push through.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just outsiders now. Fellow guild members had also purchased Pot Buds to plant. Tonight, he wouldn’t be alone—others would wield Cherry Bombs and Nut Walls too.

The only regret was that he had to plant these Pot Sprouts himself. Otherwise, he’d gladly let Lone Wolf handle it.

Jian Xingyi buried his face in his hands, agonized.

Waaah, why does he never get lucky in any game? Just because he grinds hard and plays a lot, does it deserve this?!

Jian Xingyi took a deep breath and resigned himself to his fate.

He went to the field, crouched down, and began opening the mystery boxes.

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has gained Luck. Better items will appear next time!】

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has obtained Cherry Bomb x2】

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has obtained Nut Wall x1】

Same old.

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has obtained Jet Mushroom x1】

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has obtained a Cowardly Mushroom x1】

Huh?

Jian Xingyi looked and saw something new had appeared.

Two mushrooms!

The Jet Mushroom was similar to the Pea Shooter, both being small projectiles. The Cowardly Mushroom, however, had stronger firepower but retracted its projectile once zombies got close.

Not exactly ultra-rare, but extra help is always welcome. Having one more thing to shoot at zombies is good—every little bit helps!

【Player obtained R-grade plants twenty times consecutively, unlocking achievement 【Sourpuss】. Reward: 6666 dawn coins. Keep up the good work!】

Jian Xingyi: “…”

There’s actually an achievement for this?

Alright then, thanks for the 6666, System.

But the System Announcement continued.

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 has surpassed Management Level 8 and unlocked 5 entries in the Plants vs. Zombies encyclopedia, activating the Synthesis Machine! Rewarded with 5555 dawn coins!】

The greatest perk of being a Management Player is the Synthesis Machine. Things others can’t synthesize? Management Players can. Think recipes, turning animal carcasses into useful items, using wood to synthesize steel and glass… even synthesizing farmland levels.

Jian Xingyi hadn’t expected this item could be synthesized either.

With some anticipation, Jian Xingyi opened the synthesizer. Five gray slots were already activated, each displaying images of nuts, cherries, two types of mushrooms, and peas.

Jian Xingyi was somewhat surprised. It turned out that since the seeds originated from the “Xinghe Exclusive” VIP store, other players’ unlocked recipes also counted for him. For example, the Pea Shooter—he hadn’t unlocked it yet, so its icon was gray, indicating no materials were available for synthesis. But it was indeed unlocked!

This meant he gained an extra perk: he could synthesize it!

Jian Xingyi studied the description carefully. It stated that any plant could be synthesized together.

He proceeded to combine his most abundant Nut Wall with Cherry Bombs, experimenting several times. The results were random, but only three outcomes emerged:

One: Red Exploding Nuts;

Two: Harder and larger Cherry Bombs;

3. Nothing happens, and both materials were consumed.

Jian Xingyi had an epiphany.

This was essentially… hybridization!

After several syntheses, new instructions were unlocked.

The system implied that crossbreeding different species might produce strange plants or result in failure. However, synthesizing plants of the same or similar species offered a chance to obtain rarer variants of that species.

Jian Xingyi pondered this, then combined the Jet Mushroom with the Timid Mushroom.

【Congratulations! Player 【Xinghe】 successfully synthesized an R-grade Jet Mushroom and an R-grade Cowardly Mushroom, obtaining an SR-grade Destruction Mushroom!】

Jian Xingyi: “!”

So that’s how it works!

Breaking news: The management player got a backdoor from the system!

While others relied purely on luck, he could keep synthesizing until he got something good. After reading the Destruction Mushroom’s description, Jian Xingyi discovered this thing could fire powerful projectiles—essentially a low-tier cannon. If SR was already this satisfying, wouldn’t SSR be mind-blowing?!

Except… how exactly isn’t this just another form of unlimited gacha grinding, pay-to-win shop mechanics, forced gacha pulls, and shady collection of corpse fragments?

Hmph…

Jian Xingyi rubbed his face.

Alright, he got it—in the end, it all came down to grinding!

No problem. He was a seasoned player through and through.

This meant he had to change tactics. First, he’d buy seeds nonstop and plant them, setting the time to the shortest possible interval. He’d keep pulling R-tier cards, synthesize enough SRs, and then figure out how to fuse those SRs into SSRs!

It was all about quantity over quality.

And during this process… what if a miracle actually happened?

What if, right?

Jian Xingyi took a deep breath and got to work.

It was already afternoon now, with half a day left until the midnight zombie tide. Everyone was working hard.

While Jian Xingyi focused on seeds, the guild members outside prepared fences and trenches. The sound of rehearsals drifted in intermittently, filled with fervor.

Not only that, but the guild members also scoured their backpacks for anything sellable, eager to earn extra money for Jian Xingyi.

By evening, Jian Xingyi had sold even more seeds, boosting his inventory from a mere 40,000 to 620,000.

620,000 wasn’t enough to repair all the fences, but Jian Xingyi calculated that once the shop refreshed tomorrow, he could buy some acceleration potions and plant two plots of lychee to tide him over.

The lychee he’d sold earlier should be nearly used up by now.

And after Jian Xingyi worked hard all day…

Good news: Jian Xingyi’s backpack was packed with SR-grade mushrooms, pea shooters, cherries, and nut walls.

Bad news: SR items could only be synthesized. After spending the entire day opening R-grade items and relying on luck, Jian Xingyi unlocked a new achievement.

【Player obtained R-tier plants 100 times consecutively, unlocking achievement 【Unlucky Chump】. Reward: 6666 dawn coins. Keep up the good work!】

Jian Xingyi: “…”

Because of these crappy achievements, his personal account had already accumulated 20,000 dawn coins.

What’s even more infuriating? Jian Xingyi saw three players in the public chat unlock SR-tier plants: the advanced version of Pea Shooter—Triple Pea Shooter; the upgraded Cherry Bomb—Spicy Chili; and a cactus that looked useless and indeed served no practical purpose beyond being a cosmetic.

Still, Jian Xingyi could console himself: even if others pulled good stuff, the encyclopedia was still his.

He’d unlocked 12 encyclopedia slots so far. Spotting an achievement panel in the corner, he knew reaching certain milestones came with rewards.

He hoped it was something worthwhile.

Before he knew it, midnight arrived.

【Attention Dawnbreaker V2.0 Players: Zombie Tide Carnival – Day Three will commence at a system-wide time!】

Jian Xingyi waited at the gate once more.

…Who could have guessed? He’d originally planned to stay in logistics and not join the fight. But because of Lychee and the shortage of manpower, he unexpectedly became a crucial member of the three-person team at the Main Gate. If he’d said he couldn’t come, Firelight and Cola wouldn’t have agreed.

The Main Gate was the most difficult gate, but at least the other gates had 15-20 people each.

The trio waited for the zombie tide to begin. Firelight and Cola checked their ammunition while Jian Xingyi nervously double-checked his own gear.

His nerves made him unconsciously rub his fingers.

He and the guild had prepared extensively for tonight’s zombie tide. He only hoped the battle wouldn’t be too brutal.

“Xinghe.”

“Xinghe.”

Jian Xingyi snapped back to attention and looked at Firelight. “Ah…!”

Firelight smiled. “You’ve done everything you can. Don’t be too nervous. Just focus all your energy on the battle ahead.”

“Okay.” Jian Xingyi nodded obediently.

Cola watched Jian Xingyi, still preoccupied with the afternoon’s events. He asked, “Xinghe, has your guild ever interacted with Shanhai?”

Jian Xingyi thought for a moment. “To my knowledge, no. But maybe some individual players have? I’m not close with everyone…”

Cola: “Oh.”

Firelight opened his mouth, desperately wanting to say, “Didn’t you yourself share the nectar and ambrosia mission with Shanhai?”

But Firelight remembered Shanhai’s warning, so the words died on his lips. He could only swallow his frustration.

He met Cola’s probing gaze and thought to himself: Next time, I’ll tell Cola in private. This whole thing seems strange to me, too.

【Attention Dawnbreaker V2.0 players: Zombie Tide Revelry – Day Three commences in half a system hour!】

It’s coming…!

The trio ended their conversation and went on high alert.

This time, they climbed the ramparts early. With such low numbers, staying below ground and getting swarmed by zombies offered no advantage.

Moments passed.

Thud…

Thud… Thud…

The appetizer: two giant zombies.

Beneath their feet, countless snarling, hideous zombies swarmed. Two fissures also opened within the guild building, spewing forth waves of undead.

Jian Xingyi’s gaze sharpened.

The scale was similar to yesterday’s, but the pace was much faster.

This overwhelming onslaught left them no chance to catch their breath.

Jian Xingyi and Cola immediately targeted the giants, while Firelight focused on clearing the zombies within the guild.

Fortunately, the zombies inside the guild were contained by the newly erected barricades, making them easier to concentrate and eliminate. Meanwhile, most of the external zombie horde had fallen into the trenches, buying them valuable time. At least until the trenches were completely filled, they could prioritize dealing with the giant and the zombies within.

BOOM———

The cannons proved invaluable at this moment—truly… invaluable!

Though firing infrequently, each shot cleared numerous smaller zombies, relieving pressure on the trenches. The giants were also slowed by the artillery’s shockwaves.

Otherwise, Jian Xingyi and Cola would have had to take down the two giants one by one.

Jian Xingyi couldn’t help but feel fortunate he’d placed two cannons at the main gate.

“BOOM!!”

The giant crashed to the ground.

Listening to the Heiye broadcast, Jian Xingyi sensed the other three gates were holding up reasonably well. Tonight, everyone had plenty of Plants vs. Zombies-style gadgets to throw, had practiced their formations, and had cannons and new fences to counter the threat. Thus, they weren’t as disorganized as the previous two nights.

Of course, the most crucial factor was that everyone now possessed confidence and fighting spirit!

At that moment, the system voice sounded.

【Good evening, players of Dawnbreaker! The war has reached its climax on this third day. The surviving players have demonstrated their abilities and resolve to the enemy 【General】, eliminating countless of its foot soldiers and elite troops. Therefore, the 【General】 will now dispatch its 【Vanguards】 to confront the players! Tonight, the Vanguards will engage players at the main gate!】

Wait…?!

What does this mean?!

Jian Xingyi shuddered.

This announcement packed a lot of information. Foot soldiers were the zombies forming the sea of corpses, while the Giants were the large ones. That meant the leader of their zombie army was a General!

Was this General the boss for Day Five?

But the situation left Jian Xingyi no time to ponder, because the 【Vanguards】… had arrived.

The Vanguard appeared only at the main gate that night. Jian Xingyi spotted another giant approaching nearby, preceded by a small group of zombies wielding cleavers as weapons. These zombies were slightly taller than ordinary ones, their rotting flesh less decayed, and their facial features more intact—yet more grotesque. Their round, bulging eyes held pools of dark, bloodshot fluid.

Their advantage lay in… inhuman speed.

While most zombies shuffled along, dragging their mangled bodies, these vanguard creatures practically ran. After tumbling into the trench, they swiftly pulled the remaining low-tier zombies out, then charged the barricade, swinging their machetes with brutal force, tearing at the barriers with frenzied abandon.

Jian Xingyi: “…!”

Facing this fierce little army, Jian Xingyi felt his legs go weak.

These… are really zombies?!