[Welcome to the Apocalypse Survival Game. As you can see, everyone has arrived in a strange place.]
[Survival is your only goal, and to try to live as long as possible, be sure to remember the following key points:]
[1. Disasters refresh every seven days; all survivors will receive a notice before the refresh.]
[2. Do not casually place your shelter; finding a suitable location will significantly increase your chances of survival.]
[3. Danger and opportunity coexist; there may be survival resources in the wild, but there could also be dangerous mutated creatures. Defeating mutated creatures can yield surprises.]
[4. Search for survival resources as much as possible; this is your key strategy for survival.]
[5. Once placed, the shelter cannot be moved; you will have the choice between above-ground and underground upon first placement.]
[6. If you accidentally encounter other survivors, congratulations; perhaps you can ally, trade, or even plunder their hard-earned resources.]
[7. Concentrating can open the game panel; more functions await your exploration.]
[8. There's no need to worry about the elderly and children; their placement time will be significantly later than yours, and family members will be prioritized during placement. Enjoy the game!]
A vast, desolate wilderness.
Somo frowned as he looked at the survival manual in his hands.
The small black text on the first page was floating, and when he turned to the second page, a burst of dazzling light suddenly erupted.
When the light disappeared, the book was gone, replaced by a luminescent tortoise shell.
"An apocalypse survival game, huh?"
With the bright blue screen swaying with his gaze, Somo quickly accepted the reality.
On December 22, 2022, nobody expected the Mayan prophecy to be delayed for another ten years, only to come knocking unexpectedly.
A solar flare erupted, and an asteroid collided with Earth, and in an instant, he watched the flames of the apocalypse fall, before fainting.
By the time he woke up, he found himself in this place.
[Shelter]:
1. Choosing to place it above ground will form a 120-square-meter wooden house with weak disaster resistance but high development potential.
2. Choosing to place it underground will create a 4-meter-high, 100-square-meter underground pit with weak disaster resistance and poor development potential.
Holding the tortoise shell in his hand, Somo examined it carefully. Two lines of dark text appeared on it.
Looking at the wilderness beside him, he dismissed the idea of placing it without further thought and recalled the previous prompts, concentrating his mind to summon the game panel.
It was similar to existing game functions.
The panel had different options.
[Chat], [Trade], [Craft], [Items]...
In the upper right corner of the panel was an icon showing the number of days.
5 days.
As Somo concentrated on the day count, a prompt appeared.
[Countdown to the next disaster event: 5 days]
[Disaster event (New Player Protection): Acid Rain]
"Five days until the acid rain hits? Good thing I didn't choose to place the base right away."
Somo's expression turned serious as he shifted his gaze to the chat button.
The page changed.
Two brand-new buttons appeared.
[World Channel] and [Regional Channel]. He entered the World Channel first.
"I'm not in a shelter? How did I suddenly end up in this place?"
"I have a lion next to me, help, I'm being targeted!"
"The end of humanity has come, haha, everyone is going to die!"
"Do you all only have one shelter that can be placed?"
Messages slid by one after another.
Somo noticed a small trumpet icon next to the send button.
It was followed by the number 1.
[Small trumpet: At the start of the game, you can only send one message in the World Channel each day. Each time you survive a disaster, you gain +1 daily trumpet. For more chat, enter the Regional Channel.]
"Is the game limiting player alliances? Or is it restricting national power?"
Somo's gaze shifted.
From the current known situation, it could be concluded that everyone was trapped in the wilderness; everyone started on equal footing, using the shelter as a starting point.
"One message a day? Even a national machine can't gather enough people in this environment; not to mention, who knows how vast this place is?"
Somo exited the World Channel.
He then took a look at the Trade function.
The trading platform allowed players to exchange items.
The rules for trading are fair and free, and items can also be designated for specific players.
The Trade function even included an auction feature.
No intermediary fees.
"Open the Craft page."
Somo looked at the other function.
Swish!
There was a whole page.
[Wood Plank: Wood 0/1]
[Wood Box: Wood 0/4]
[Charcoal: Wood 0/1, Fire Source]
[Ordinary Shovel: Wood 0/2, Iron Block 0/2]
...
There were dozens of basic items, each item requiring different materials to craft.
Evidently, gathering and producing materials are crucial in the survival game.
Looking at the final function—Items—Somo stored the shelter in the inventory, then recalled it to his hand as he focused on the game's basic functions.
"I need to choose a location for the shelter quickly."
Seeing the sun positioned directly overhead, Somo's heart sank, and he hurriedly looked around.
In the seemingly endless plain, half-human-high unknown trees were scattered everywhere, with slightly overgrown grass covering the ground, making it appear less barren.
In the visible area, there wasn't a trace of rivers or lakes.
"I can only choose a high ground to place it."
He walked along the area he had spawned in, occasionally crouching to examine the terrain's ups and downs.
Eventually, he settled on a small sand dune.
Taking out the shelter tortoise shell, the selection options reappeared.
Above ground or underground.
The first choice, an above-ground wooden house, seemed to be a more conventional option, providing stable refuge to safely weather the early new player disasters while avoiding excessive concern for future development.
As long as they could continually expand on the land next to the shelter, it might even lead to the formation of a city down the line.
The second choice was underground, which naturally offers advantages in safety—such as avoiding beast hordes or extreme cold during disasters, making it likely to have better protection against disasters that are arduous above ground.
However, if adequate drainage facilities could not be constructed underground before the acid rain disaster, it could result in catastrophe.
Somo pondered for quite a while.
If the first option's keyword is development potential,
Then the second option's keyword is safety.
In most cases, in this apocalypse, speed is of the essence; having set a foothold, the subsequent disaster can be overwhelming.
"Acid rain... high ground... development potential is extremely important..." "So, I choose..."
Somo shook his head, playing with the tortoise shell in his hand, and decisively chose the second option.
[You have selected to generate an underground shelter. Generating terrain...]
The tortoise shell emitted a red glow, jumping from his hand and landing on the ground.
As the light grew brighter, the stones atop the sand dune slowly melted away, replaced by a transformed terrain.
The originally elevated terrain now appeared steep, like a small hill was being raised.
As the red light gradually faded, a wooden door embedded in the ground appeared before Somo.
[Congratulations, the underground shelter has been completed. Current shelter attributes can be checked on the panel.]
"Beep! The system has detected that the host has a complete shelter. Would you like to bind to the Apocalypse Survival System?"