A radiance flickered, and a dark red short blade—identical to the one crafted by Yunzhou—landed in his palm.

【Yining】: A blood knife (stats screenshot). I’ll sell it to you for 10 wood. Interested?

【YuYuYu】: What an awesome knife! Bro, are you cheating? You definitely can’t get a weapon like this from a blind box!

【YuYuYu】: Buy, buy, buy! I’m definitely buying it. 10 wood is a steal. Bro, is there anything else you need?

【Yining】: Yunzhou has the blueprints, but I need some rare materials… 

He suddenly remembered something.

【Yining】: How many gems do you have right now?

【YuYuYu】: 4. I got 2 from the Queen Bee, 1 as a reward for expanding my domain, and 1 from a blind box yesterday.

［Yining］：……

【Yining】: Seriously, what kind of luck do you have?

【YuYuYu】: But I didn’t get any gold coins. A prophet said the in-game store will start buying back gold coins tomorrow—100 points per coin.

It’s hard to say. In terms of practicality, gems are undoubtedly important, but gold coins are the economic foundation—without that foundation, there can be no superstructure.

【Yining】: Then give me two gems. I don’t need the wood.

【YuYuYu】: I’ve got it all—I’m not short on anything. I even have an extra queen bee skin here. If you equip it in the 【Hollow Puppet】 skill slot, it’ll produce honey. It lasts for 12 hours.

Yining’s eyelids twitched.

【Yining】: How does it produce honey?

【YuYuYu】: It just drops out of the skill slot.

【Yining】: …Got it.

Having witnessed too many strange occurrences, Yining had become a bit on edge.

The two gems he obtained increased critical hit rate. Yining gave one to Yunzhou and kept one for himself, so he wouldn’t have to worry about expanding his domain later on. Before nightfall, Yining finished processing the bone meal, sold it for points, and successfully saved up enough money to buy a lantern.

When the points counter in the system store hit 500, a pop-up window appeared out of nowhere.

【Congratulations on reaching 500 points for the first time】

【You will experience a special event. Please do not leave your domain for the next 48 hours.】

What is this…

Yining’s hand paused over the control panel. Is the story line about to begin?

YuYuYu told him, “The Prophet says the system store will buy back gold coins tomorrow, with each gold coin worth 100 points.”

【Prophet】 is most likely a player skill. The value of gold coins corresponds to what Fanfan said on the first day of the game: “You can trade items worth 100 points to trade for gunpowder.”

If the prophecy comes true, after the fifth day of the game, a large number of players will be able to unlock the storylines, and the game content will explode. If he hadn’t been so determined to buy a lantern to test the enchantment blueprint, he wouldn’t have accidentally stumbled upon this opportunity and opened this door early.

Sometimes, fate works in mysterious ways.

Actually, using Yining’s original approach—testing enchantment blueprints with non-durable gear—would have required trading a massive amount of items and farming bone meal from shadow phantoms.

But as things stand, the blood knife is too precious, the electric heater is useless, and the Lantern is both practical and disposable. If it breaks, I’ll just curse under my breath—it’ll just mean a couple of days’ work down the drain.

500 points, one-click payment.

【Obtained: Solar Lantern ×1】

【Usage: Connect to the solar panel and leave it in direct sunlight for 15 hours to fully charge; when fully charged, it provides 8 hours of light】

Designed to resemble a gas lantern, it features a brass shell and a glass shade, exuding a rustic, high-quality feel—a classic model often seen in movies, TV shows, and video games.

Yining deeply cherished this 500-point item, remembering its healthy and peaceful appearance at that moment.

After all, “enchantment” doesn’t exactly sound like a positive term.

The enchantment blueprint’s description is limited: it consumes 100 health to randomly select one of six resistance attributes. Whichever one you draw is similar to exploring a new world.

Yining used his own methods to fully replenish his health. For the short term after the enchantment ritual, he had White Rabbit creamy candies to restore health; for the long term, he would use bloodflesh flowers to slowly recover.

After making all the necessary preparations, Yining took the enchantment blueprint out of his inventory.

It was a parchment inscribed with runes, featuring a background of intricate black ink. A sheep’s head, drawn with three strokes, was painted in red at the top. Yining placed his lantern on the scroll, and a game panel popped up:

【Do you wish to begin the enchantment ritual?】

The game’s prompt UI was imbued with an air of mysticism. Without much hesitation, Yining selected 【Yes】.

On the parchment, the static black runes suddenly came to life.

Like living tentacles, they peeled away from the paper, rising slowly into the air, where they intertwined and swirled, eventually encircling the lantern to form a mysterious, pulsating magical array. Inside the lantern, which had been completely empty, a blindingly bright white flame suddenly ignited out of nowhere, illuminating the entire area with a light so intense it was almost painful to the eyes.

Yining held his breath, his mind captivated by this scene that defied all common sense.

At some point, the red ram’s head on the parchment vanished. Yining felt a searing, excruciating pain in the palm of his hand, followed by a notification from the game.

【You have appeased the demon with your blood. You will gain the ability to resist Contamination.】

【Health -100】

It felt as though all the blood in his body had truly evaporated. The excruciating pain drained him of all strength, and Yining’s vision went black as he collapsed to the ground.

Gradually, Yining felt a pain in his chest—a piercing, agonizing pain. He wasn’t sure if the pain was causing him to hallucinate, but it seemed as though something had fallen from his body and landed on the parchment.

And on that enchantment blueprint, a beating heart suddenly appeared.

【Acquired: Enchanted Lantern ×1】

【Enchanted Lantern: When it was a mortal creation, you could charge it with the power of the sun; now it takes only 8 hours to fully charge. Additionally, you can feed it with blood, allowing it to operate indefinitely.】

【Charge: 100%】

【Special Effect: Resistance to Contamination】 

【Contamination: Dark areas inflict sustained damage to players’ health, intellect, and spirit; the source of this damage is the god who rules over darkness.】

Yining has never felt so weak.

At this moment, he had only 1 HP left; any damage could kill him.

He had no strength to eat, no strength to chew, and not even the strength to summon the system panel. Yining lay collapsed on the ground, his eyelids heavy, his breath faint.

He couldn’t sleep; the surroundings were unsafe.

It was likely his strong will that kept Yining from falling asleep immediately; otherwise, who knows what might have happened. After a long while, the 【Growth】 skill of the bloodflesh flower took effect, restoring 1 HP.

Yining mustered every ounce of strength, fished a White Rabbit creamy candy out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and shoved it into his mouth. The sweetness melted in his mouth, and the candy slid down his esophagus into his stomach, finally injecting a faint, warm current into this body on the verge of collapse.

So he was still alive.

With a little health restored, Yining managed to crawl to his feet. It was 7:00 p.m. 

Alright, he’ll go to bed early tonight.

That enchantment ritual was terrifying.

When Yining woke up on the morning of the 5th, he rubbed his eyes—his health had recovered to 13 points.

He’d slept for a full 11 hours, and his body felt light, as if something important had left his form.

But it wasn’t a big deal—after all, he was still alive. He was probably just sleep-deprived.

In the open space, 62 shipping boxes were piled up like a small mountain.

From 6 p.m. on the 3rd to 6 a.m. on the 5th, he hadn’t touched a single point awarded by the system.

But he had no interest in opening blind boxes right now.

He had casually tucked the enchanted lantern into a corner of the coffin, and now it was quietly emitting a soft, steady white light. Last night, during those long eight hours, it illuminated the area, keeping everything peaceful.

Bright and reassuring.

In his previous life, Yining was an ordinary person who had never encountered anything supernatural.

In his previous life, most people were ordinary folk who never had any contact with the supernatural.

He had absolutely no idea what an enchantment ritual entailed, yet he dared to charge in headfirst.

Looking back now, he was filled with nothing but dread. Yining pressed his hand against his throbbing temple, barely able to comprehend the madness of his former self.

“Ugh…”

He hadn’t slept well last night, and his lower back ached.

The enchantment blueprint had turned into a blank sheet of parchment, worth 2 units of paper, and recyclable.

It had been sunny for five straight days within the domain. Yining connected his solar lantern to the solar panel, and a pop-up appeared: 【Energy 5%, charging…】 There was still some power left.

An idea sprang to mind, impossible to suppress.

As a man of action, Yining wouldn’t just keep that thought to himself. He picked up the lantern and walked to the edge of his territory. The dim yellow light illuminated the area, as if tearing open a gap in the depths of hell.

No anomalies were triggered, so Yining took another step forward.

He took small steps into the dark area. A chill seemed to pierce his skin, banishing the drowsiness he’d felt upon waking and jolting him fully awake.

He immediately checked his interface.

It was clean—no signs of 【Contamination】.

Within the glow’s reach, the outlines of decaying soil, scattered bone fragments, and low gravestones were faintly visible.

Unlike the last time, when he had walked into the darkness completely unprepared, the light from the lantern now illuminated only a small area around him. He was standing on a crumbling grave mound, with the coffin and bones exposed. Several gaunt, dark figures that had been crouching in the shadows were startled by the light, making eerie rustling sounds as they scurried swiftly into the deeper darkness.

Last time, however, he had been able to see the entire scene in the dark with his own eyes.

Those lurking, ravenous monsters still sent a chill down his spine when he thought of them now.

The memory brought a sense of urgency. Yining quickly bent down, plucked two grayish-white 【Singing Mushrooms】 from the edge of the mound, and immediately retreated back into the circle of light.

Just as he turned around and extinguished his lantern—a figure appeared within his personal space!

Yining was terrified inside, but outwardly, he showed no sign of it. It was an old woman.

Her hair was streaked with gray, her face kind and gentle, and her appearance and style of dress were more Western. She was slightly stooped as she walked toward Yining from the other side of the aura.

It took immense effort for Yining not to step back, and he maintained the calmest demeanor he could muster.

“Young man…” the old woman said as she walked, “Could you do me a favor?”

Yining thought to himself, “I haven’t even opened my package yet,” but what came out was a gentle inquiry: “What can I do for you?”

As he asked, Yining’s gaze casually swept over the old woman’s hands.

It wasn’t hidden behind her back or tucked into her pocket; it was simply resting on a wooden walking stick. Her knuckles were thick, her skin rough—hands worn from years of hard labor.

Old Lady: “I came here to pick some fruit to take to town to trade for lamp oil, but I’m too old to climb the tree. Young man, would you be willing to help me? I can pay you a little.”

Fruit, a small town, lamp oil.

Yining suppressed the urge to scrutinize the old woman before him, suspecting she might be a “native” of this world. No player over the age of 50 had ever appeared on the game forums.

【Name: Lifu Beixi】

【Age: 65】

【Gender: Female】

【Abilities: Anti-Pollution and Anti-Erosion Aura, 5-meter radius.】

Yining inwardly gasped; the time had come to make a choice. But his current health was down to just 13 points.

His bleak health stats made Yining instinctively touch his chest.

【Heart: Growth Cycle 167:46:23】

……Huh???