His consciousness drifted away and then coalesced again, as if he had just woken from a nap.

Yining kept his eyes closed, yet he could clearly sense that he was enveloped in impenetrable darkness. He raised his arm and touched something hard.

He applied more pressure.

“Snap.”

His arm broke through the hard object, and light seeped in from above.

After a few struggles, Yining pushed aside whatever was blocking the light and slowly sat up.

“?”

He looked around, a sense of bewilderment washing over him.

Dirt, gravel, wood shavings, a dirt pit, mounds of earth, weeds, snails, and a long wooden box just big enough to hold a person. The wooden lid was rotten and broken, with a hole pushed through it by his arm.

A stone tablet with faint, faded inscriptions stood atop the grave, moss growing along its cracks.

Was I actually buried in the ground?

Yining touched his face; it was intact and felt warm to the touch.

Before he could figure it out, a crisp notification sound rang in his ear:

【User Login Successful】

【Player ID: 000123】

【Dear Player, hello. Welcome back to the sunlight.】

【This is the second world, the realm you enter after death. Please follow the game rules and avoid venturing into deeper realms.】

【Unread Chat ×99】

【Forum Updates ×99】

【Backpack Storage Unlocked】

【New items have been added to the in-game store. Update countdown: 23:54】

【Game Progress: Beginner Stage】

【Game Map Updated】

Wait a minute.

He died and came back to life.

His current identity is “Gamer.” Is this real?

Yining was a bit dazed, but he forced himself to suppress the swirling thoughts in his mind.

The virtual map unfolded before his eyes. A vast expanse of thick, pitch-black darkness covered 99.9% of the map. Within the tiny remaining patch of color, there was a red location marker and two gravestone icons.

The red location marker was almost perfectly superimposed on one of the tombstone icons.

【Game Announcement: Lord’s Wrath Countdown: 15 Days】

【All players, please prepare】

Before he could finish reading the text, the ground suddenly shook violently. Soil cracked, and rocks rolled chaotically. Fortunately, Yining was in an open area, and only then did he realize the strangeness of his surroundings!

Yining was inside a ring of light; outside the ring lay absolute darkness, like a spotlight on a stage, framing him alone in the center. Looking up was like a frog at the bottom of a well gazing at the sky—a blue circle the size of a bowl’s bottom hung overhead. Looking down, he saw the ceaselessly trembling ground.

As the earthquake continued, the circle of light slowly expanded, revealing scenes previously hidden by the darkness.

A few minutes later, the light expanded from the size of a mere dirt pit to fill an entire bedroom, finally coming to a rest.

Reality dealt Yining a harsh blow.

This world was completely different from the one he had known!

A sense of urgency gripped him like his mother tugging on his ear, and Yining sprang into action. In the blink of an eye, the floating panels reappeared.

Yining first checked the chat channel and the game forums.

The text in the chat channel was now scrolling rapidly, filled with players who were confused about the current situation, wailing and screaming like headless flies. The most discussed post on the forum was a photo. Clicking on it revealed a suicide note written in English.

As a college student who had passed the CET-4 and CET-6 exams, translating it wasn’t difficult, but the content was shocking. 

Player 234524: 

(Image)

【Please do your best to survive. Use the resources at your disposal. The game doesn’t set players in a no-win situation. Most die at the hands of monsters, but even more die from competition and infighting among players. 

Every player has their own territory. Protect your territory; do not become someone else’s slave, and do not venture into the dark, unknown territory.

Every choice you make affects your standing in this game.】

We’re in a survival game! Everyone has to survive in the wilderness! I found this will on the ground. We’ve all died once before, but we’re going to die a second time!

First Floor:

Looking at the world chat, all players are currently within a 10-meter radius. I haven’t spotted any other players yet; everything outside is black, and we can’t step outside that area.

Second Floor:

This isn’t a survival game, and there’s no 10-meter radius. Behind me is a wall, above me is a ceiling, and beneath my feet are matte wood-grain tiles.

Third Floor:

This is definitely not a survival game. In front of me is a large clump of prickly sandbush—it’s inedible and has a 6-day growth cycle.

Yining set the forum aside. With the information now in his mind, he gained a better understanding of his situation. A survival game: stay alive. Energy, water, temperature, atmosphere.

What to eat, drink, and sleep on.

How to avoid monster attacks. 

Don’t step into the black zones.

Different players spawn in different areas, and he spawned in the graveyard. Got it.

Climbing out of the grave, he stuck a long plank into the ground. He noticed he had a shadow, so he needed to confirm whether players spawned on the planet.

It was January in-game time, and by a little past 6 a.m., it was already hot, with the temperature feeling close to 30 degrees Celsius. Yining had grown up in the Northern Hemisphere on Earth, where January was the dead of winter.

His previous life had ended rather abruptly. Perhaps because he’d studied journalism, he couldn’t find a job after graduation and decided to become a content creator, traveling across the country to expose unscrupulous businesses.

Since he had the chance to live again, he decided to take it seriously.

With his mindset shifted, his thoughts cleared up. He opened the game interface once more.

The main page is divided into several sections. In the top-right corner is a parchment scroll; hovering over it reveals that it is a map. The red marker indicates your current location, and the colored circles surrounding it—with the red marker at the center—represent “Yining’s territory.”

At the very bottom are ten storage slots, with a note indicating a stack size limit of 99 per item.

On the left are icons for chat channels and the game forum, while on the right are your personal information, the in-game store, and the trading market.

The scrolling text at the very top of the page displays game announcements.

The center displays Yining’s main view, excluding the game interface.

Apart from the fact that you are actually sitting inside a coffin, everything else looks exactly like the game.

【Personal Information】 ▼ Player: 000123

Nickname: Yining (can be changed)

Health: 99/100 

Satiety: 97/100 

Sanity: 86/100 

Strength: 3

Defense: 2 

Luck: 4 

Goodwill: 5

Anyone who has ever played a game understands stats like Health, Satiety, Strength, and Defense, but what does the Goodwill stat mean? Yining had no idea, so he could only keep scrolling down.

【Game Progress: Beginner Stage】▼

【For 7 days, players have the privilege of drawing random items. Defense +50%, Satiety rate reduced by 50%, and stamina consumption reduced by 50%. Player vs. Player combat is prohibited.］

As the names suggest, the 【Game Store】 and 【Trading Post】 serve different purposes: in the 【Game Store】, you use points to purchase items, while the 【Trading Post】 is where players can freely trade—exchanging goods for goods, money for goods, or information for money, and so on.

【Game Store】▼ 

1. Wood: 1 Point

2.  Stone: 1 Point

3.  Hemp: 1 Point

5.  Matches: 5 points

6.  Fresh Water: 10 Points

7.  Grilled Sausage: 10 points

8.  Tent: 100 points

【Store Recycling】 ▼

You can sell certain items to the in-game store to earn points.

There are only 8 items available in the store, and players are discussing this on the global chat channel.

Yining is currently unsure how to earn points, and given the difficulty of obtaining 10 points by buying fresh water and Grilled Sausage, he can’t determine which items offer the best return on investment.

Just as he was wondering, a new panel popped up:

【Express Blind Box】

【Countdown 02:15】

A lottery page?

The special lottery caught Yining’s attention.

The countdown clock made Yining pause for a full thirty seconds.

By the time he realized it, the countdown had dropped to just over a minute.

With the time left, he decided to browse the trading market. Currently, there were all sorts of random items—various wild plants that didn’t look very promising, tin cans, half-used cosmetic bottles, shopping bags, stainless steel bowls…

Could these be items other players had picked up from their own domains?

But why didn’t they choose to recycle them through the system store instead of listing them on the trading marketplace?

The moment the countdown ended, Yining heard a soft sound behind him.

“Click.”

【Express Blind Box】

【Countdown: 30:00】

Yining turned around, and sure enough, a delivery box appeared on the empty ground.

From this, he learned that the game allowed him to draw an item once every 30 minutes.

The tape on the delivery box peeled off easily, and Yining opened the two pieces of corrugated cardboard that were stuck together.

【Obtained: Wood ×1, Medium Delivery Box ×1】

He took the wood to the in-game store and selected “Recycle,” only to find that 1 piece of wood was worth just 0.5 points.

……

Sell one, get fifty percent back.

Where’s the complaint button?

And where’s the hotline?

So this is what the afterlife is like?

Yining had no time to lament this unfair fate; with a blind box draw every half hour, he had to calculate the drop rates. A survival player must have the mindset of a survival player.

The rest of the features were self-explanatory. He returned to the forums and chat channels, where players were sharing their blind box loot—a motley assortment of items, most of whose purposes were unknown.

Closing the game interface, he surveyed the 10-meter radius around him. There were two mounds of earth—one he had just crawled out of, and the other still intact.

Weeds grew on the ground, the soil was fairly damp, and the air quality was decent. The moss on the tombstone was a vibrant green, but due to the recent earthquake, the soil had shifted, and the gravestones had developed fine cracks, giving the whole scene a somewhat chaotic appearance.

Neither tombstone bore a complete inscription. Yining had originally been lying in a wooden coffin; as he looked over, the game system popped up a prompt:

【Coffin: Shows signs of decay; unsuitable for reburial. Value: 3 units of wood】.

To his surprise, he had burial goods. 

Kindness Gold Coins ×5, Notebook ×1, Carbon Pen ×1, *systematic anatomy* ×1. That’s all.

It was spiritual sustenance.

At night, he could sleep in the coffin; using the “dig three, bury one” strategy, his survival rate would increase significantly.

Upon inspecting the notebook, he found 60 sheets of paper. The game system indicated that 60 sheets of notebook paper = 6 units of paper, and 6 units of paper could be sold to the in-game store for 6 points—not enough to buy a single bottle of water or a single grilled sausage.

But he discovered a way to earn points.

【*Systematic Anatomy*: Published by People’s Publishing House. For every page memorized, your sanity decreases by 1. Memorize all the key points to earn the “Medical Student” achievement. Players who have memorized this book in their previous life will receive *Histology and Embryology*.】

Just looking at the titles of these two books was enough to drain Yining’s sanity.

No wonder he didn’t study medicine in college.

He’s the type who looks mild-mannered on the outside but has a passion for adventure deep down. He can’t sit still, loves to tinker, and can’t resist the allure of new things.

Next, he took the *Systematic Anatomy* and gold coins he had in his possession and sold them one by one at the shop, concluding that only paper and wood could be recycled.

No wonder the items sold at the trading market were so bizarre.

Finally, with only the edge of the inspection circle remaining, Yining walked over in a few strides, reasoning that if the circle was considered a player’s “territory,” there must be a way to expand it.

Sure enough, a game prompt popped up.

【Yining’s territory: 10-meter-diameter graveyard (can be seized)】

【Territory Structures: None】

【Territory Population: 1】

【Domain Ability: Every January 1st is your death date; you receive one natural disaster card】

【Domain Restrictions: Cannot grow ordinary crops; cannot construct buildings such as churches, hospitals, schools, or factories】

【Territory Evaluation: A wild graveyard with decent feng shui; it is quite a distance from the public cemetery and a world apart from the imperial mausoleum】

【Territory Expansion: Planks ×4, Lumber ×10, Stone ×10, Hemp ×10】

Wood, stone, and hemp can be exchanged for points at the in-game store, but how does one obtain wooden planks?

Yining could perhaps dismantle his own coffin. But doing so would feel like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Even if he did, the coffin is only worth 3 planks—still one short.

Let’s wait and see for now; after all, the game has just begun. Suddenly, the notification sound rang out again:

【Game Announcement: Congratulations to player “Yining” for obtaining the item “natural disaster card”】

The moment his name popped up, Yining’s eyelid twitched violently.

Looking at the time the announcement was posted—January 1, 1013, 6:12 a.m.—the entire bulletin board contained only these two entries.

???

The natural disaster card is in the first backpack slot. Yining inspects it and receives a hint:

【Natural Disaster Card (Brown)】

【With frequent disasters in the game, you can use this natural disaster card to trigger a natural disaster affecting 3 regions, including earthquakes, fire rain, freezing, and tornadoes, or use it in “Lord’s Wrath”】

He needed to take a closer look at this card.

The thought crossed his mind, and the card actually popped out of the panel. Yining quickly reached out to catch it. The material of this item was a copper plate; based on his gaming experience from his previous life, this likely indicated the item’s rarity.

【Hint: Players’ resentment toward you is too high; your domain area has been reduced by 10%】

【You may choose to use kindness gold coins to offset this penalty】

Before Yining could react, the light before his eyes suddenly dimmed—it happened in the blink of an eye.

He had been standing at the edge of the light circle, inspecting the expansion, but after the domain shrank, he found himself right outside the circle!

【You have entered the Unknown Realm】

Negative Status 【Contamination】: -3 Spirit, -2 Health, -2 Satiety per second. A barrage of system notifications flooded his mind.