The Wooden House and the Initiative

Huang Yong couldn’t tell where she was from her meager geographic knowledge.

All she knew was that night fell here much earlier than at the No. 1 Observation Base.

Around six in the evening, the sky was already hazy.

In this seemingly untouched land, moonlight was the only source of light at night.

Huang Yong and her team had fought all afternoon. They had reaped a rich harvest, but they were also bone-tired.

They planned to find a place to camp and rest.

After a brief discussion among the six, they decided to spend the night in the forest by the stream.

“Who said they could build a shelter?”

On a clearing in the dense forest, Chi Xue asked.

The simulation lasted six days and five nights.

With such a long stretch, they couldn’t just sleep under the stars every night.

For the first few days, while they still had energy, sleeping well was a strategy in itself.

“Me, me, me!” Zhong Zimei immediately raised her hand. “I’m a huge fan of Bear Grylls and Les Stroud. I know five ways to start a fire and six ways to build a shelter.”

“You’re that Zhong Zhiyi?” Wen Lan teased.

As the week passed, everyone grew closer, and the green-haired girl became more outgoing.

Apart from fighting and teasing, she was usually quite normal.

Huang Yong watched their banter with a smile, then finally chose to trust her friend’s claim. “Alright, you’re up.”

At noon, Zhong Zimei had already started a fire cleanly, proving her skills somewhat.

“Come on, you three, help me out.” Zhong Zimei pointed at Chi Xue, Wen Lan, and Jiang Qing like a general selecting troops. “To build a shelter for six, I need a lot of wood. You all need to help me cut timber.”

Jia Qianrou felt Zhong Zimei was making a big deal out of it. They only needed to sleep one night; tomorrow they would head elsewhere, so there was no need to build such a good shelter.

She quickly stopped Zhong Zimei.

“We don’t need anything that fancy. We can sleep in the open or in trees if need be. A simple shelter, then dinner and a good rest—that’s what matters.”

“True,” Huang Yong nodded, then noticed Zhong Zimei’s expression visibly fall.

For her, building the shelter itself seemed to be pure joy.

After Zhong Zimei left with the three to gather materials, Huang Yong turned to Jia Qianrou.

“Let’s prepare dinner too.”

“I’ll go catch some more fish. Xiuxiu, you can grow some fruits and vegetables.”

Just mentioning fruit made Jia Qianrou’s mouth water.

The watermelon Xiuxiu had grown at noon was the best she had ever tasted.

“Alright, be careful. Don’t walk too fast.”

Jia Qianrou nodded, hugged her sword, and headed deeper into the forest.

“Well, it’s just me now.” Huang Yong smiled and glanced at the bulky watch on her right wrist.

[Sluggish Nether Realm — Slow Down: No living being may move faster than 50 cm/s.]

This was the second rule drawn after the Choice Domain ended today.

Honestly, Huang Yong felt she had been lucky today.

This rule had almost zero effect on Squad 606.

Except for Zhong Zimei and Wen Lan, everyone in her squad was a Specialist with ranged attacks.

The rule mainly targeted close-combat Specialists.

“If I could run into a few more squads, that would be free points.”

Huang Yong shook her head and took out a pouch of vegetable and fruit seeds from her pocket.

The squad following Bai Bai this afternoon was the last team they had encountered.

Thanks to them, Squad 606’s total points had reached 50.

“Forty-two points… that means at least 21 landmarks, and we need to merge those 21 into a complete piece for bonus points.”

Huang Yong didn’t think they could run 21 landmarks in a day.

Especially under the [Slow Down] rule.

She deftly flicked open her knife, drawing blood to mutate the strawberry and cucumber seeds into maturity.

In no time, the ground was covered in vines from both plants.

Her wound hadn’t healed yet; blood dripped from her fingertips.

Then her gaze landed on a large tree in front of her, and a thought suddenly popped into her mind.

‘Let’s try it. With this rule, no one can get close to me anyway.’

She walked up to the poplar tree, pressed her right hand against it, and blood trickled down the bark.

With a red flash, her inner energy drained rapidly.

The poplar began to mutate and deform. The bark cracked, and the trunk expanded outward.

Its overall height dropped sharply.

Huang Yong maintained her output of Void Energy, focusing on the image in her mind to control the direction of mutation.

Creak, creak…

The sound of wood cracking was clear in the silent night, startling birds from the treetops.

After a while, Huang Yong breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

“It actually worked!”

Staring at the two-meter-tall, five-meter-wide matchbox-like wooden house in front of her, she smacked her lips, feeling as if a fantasy had become reality.

“As expected, watching anime on Old Yuan Fei’s advice is useful. I can barely imitate the Wood Release Four-Pillar House Technique from Naruto!”

Huang Yong crossed her arms and nodded with satisfaction.

Who says a matchbox isn’t a house?

What, you don’t agree? Then be ready to face the wrath of MC players!

The wooden house had no door—the hinge structure was too complex for Huang Yong to mutate.

‘But I can mutate a curtain.’

As the thought came, she took out seeds, sorted through them, and then threw out a handful of bean seeds.

The beans mutated quickly, parasitizing the door frame and turning into a dense, dark green curtain.

“Combining two plants works pretty well…”

Looking at the wooden house, Huang Yong suddenly had an idea about developing her ability.

In plant cultivation, there is grafting.

Could she apply that property when mutating plants?

By mutating two different plants into a single entity, she could create entirely new mutated plants.

‘Theoretically, it’s absolutely feasible, but I’ll need to test it. Maybe during training after the boot camp.’

Boot camp was too packed with activities and restrictions. Huang Yong had the idea but no chance to try.

She pushed aside the curtain and entered the wooden house. The floor had several raised sections, forming simple benches and bed platforms.

She jumped on them; they were stable since the roots were still in the ground, and the structure was solid.

The wooden house consumed less energy than mutating a tree giant—about one…

Huang Yong nodded in satisfaction. Her initial idea had been to mutate this poplar into a living house.

Like Howl’s Moving Castle—livable, mobile, and equipped with attacks.

But as she started trying, she realized that with her current mercury-like energy level and ability development, she couldn’t achieve that degree of mutation.

If she insisted, she would only exhaust her Void Energy and fail.

In the end, she had to cut those fanciful ideas.

‘Once I reach Gold Rank, maybe I can try then.’ Huang Yong eagerly looked forward to that day.

By then, anyone fighting her would first have to break through the protection of either a tree giant or a wooden house.

Both safety and mobility would be greatly enhanced.

While waiting for her teammates to return, Huang Yong picked the strawberries and cucumbers from the ground and placed them on a rectangular raised area in the house.

‘Honestly, without me, Squad 606 would fall apart!’

Huang Yong was full of pride, already anticipating the shock on her good ‘daughters” faces when they saw the wooden house.

Sure enough, when Jia Qianrou returned with six fish and saw the wooden house, she was dumbfounded.

“What is this thing?”

Usually calm and emotionless, Jia Qianrou’s mouth dropped open wide enough to fit an apple.

The fish floating beside her fell to the ground with a slap.

She turned to look at Huang Yong. “Yongyong, did you do this?”

“Hmph!” Huang Yong puffed out her chest and raised her chin, her face clearly saying, ‘Go ahead and praise me; I’m ready.’

“Amazing!” Jia Qianrou shook her head, using her ability to levitate the fallen fish back up.

She walked over to Huang Yong and pinched her cheek hard.

“Yongyong, every time I think I know you completely, you surprise me even more.”

“Talk properly, don’t pinch my face.” Huang Yong slapped away Jia Qianrou’s mischievous hand.

After a while, the group who had gone for shelter materials returned.

Zhong Zimei was in front, carrying a tree trunk as thick as Huang Yong’s waist.

She chatted with Chi Xue and the others, who were carrying branches behind her.

“I’m telling you, I used to build these with my dad in the grove behind our house…”

Before she could finish, Chi Xue interrupted, “Zimei, I think you might not be needed tonight.”

“What? Does someone else know how to…”

Zhong Zimei turned her head in confusion and saw the matchbox wooden house.

She froze, looked down at the trunk in her arms, then back at the smooth, burr-free wooden house.

At that moment, she felt like a clown, a primitive man bombarded by modern weaponry.

With a thud, the trunk fell from her arms, and Zhong Zimei walked away in despair.

She crouched in a corner, trapped in self-pity.

“Should we comfort her?” Looking at Zhong Zimei, Huang Yong didn’t know what to do.

Jia Qianrou shook her head. “She’s way more resilient than you give her credit for. Just let her be.”

…

‘Damn…’ Huang Yong felt belittled, but she couldn’t argue with Jia Qianrou at that moment.

And as it turned out, Jia Qianrou was right.

After eating grilled fish and fruit, Zhong Zimei bounced back to life.

She couldn’t build the shelter, but she could make leaf mattresses!

Watching Zhong Zimei excitedly drag Chi Xue and the others outside, Huang Yong hesitated, but ultimately didn’t tell her that she could mutate the mattresses too.

Considering Zhong Zimei’s mental state, Huang Yong held back.

Late at night, they all settled into the wooden house.

In the center of the house, a fire pit ringed with stones held a crackling campfire.

Flames danced in the middle of the wooden room.

The six of them sat on beds made of leaves and vines, discussing their plans.

“Those two squads this afternoon were targeting me.”

The other five nodded; Huang Yong had already told them about the incident.

“I don’t know how they teamed up, but assuming they have a way to locate each other,” Huang Yong said seriously, “we can’t just sit and wait for them to gather enough forces to attack us.”

“So?” Jia Qianrou asked.

Fire flickered in Huang Yong’s lively eyes.

“I want to take the initiative!”

“On one hand, unite our Tian Du University squads; on the other, hunt down squads from the other three organizations.”

‘I think this simulation will eventually turn into large-scale team battles between organizations. Before that, every time we eliminate a strong opponent from a rival organization, we gain a huge advantage.’

… Just like… In the cave, Jiao Le was analyzing.

“Huang Yong is absolutely key. She alone can handle reconnaissance and coordination. If we in the Administration Bureau and you in the High Court want to win the big battles later, we must take her out first.”

“Otherwise, once she gathers enough people, we’ll have no chance.”

Pop… The wood crackled, sending sparks flying.

The person sitting opposite Jiao Le shook his head.

“We won’t be helpless. We still have Gu Yushu.”

“That top talent is indeed strong, but can you guarantee he’s stronger than an S-rank?” Jiao Le sneered.

“The key is Gu Yushu. We need to find him quickly, use his offensive power to take down the S-rank.”

He then turned to a pockmarked boy beside him.

“Xu Honghua, how many beacon users are left?”

“Only thirty-eight,” Xu Honghua shook his head. “Among those I specially marked, Li Xiushan and Ke Xiangshan are already gone, and another beacon user near them disappeared too.”

“As the main ability user, he can specially mark beacons to confirm their identities.”

“Of course, limited by distance, he can only sense which beacons are clustered together and their general direction, not the exact location.”

“Is that so?” Jiao Le rubbed his chin.

“It seems there’s a strong enemy there. To eliminate a squad led by three A-ranks, besides a Gold Rank Netherworld creature or an S-rank, I can’t think of anyone else.”

Hearing this, the others’ minds raced.

Gold Rank and S-rank… Jiao Le already considered S-rank equal to Gold Rank in combat power?

Wasn’t that a bit too much?

Jiao Le looked up, sighed, and said to the person across the table, “If your Gu Yushu had agreed to be marked, we would have found him by now.”

His tone carried a hint of complaint.

“Tomorrow, we can try to hunt the S-rank. What does your guy think? Does he agree to gank an S-rank?”

“He’s always been like this—hard to read,” the person across the fire replied. “But rest assured, he’s already stated that he wants to settle things with the S-rank.”