Zhang Shi had a good impression of Ge Dalong. When everyone was first teleported to the wilderness world, Ge Dalong had reminded them about the newbie gift pack, and seemed like a helpful person. However, Ge Dalong didn't answer questions directly in the chat channel, but instead sent private messages, which made Zhang Shi a little suspicious.

Zhang Shi (VIp): Yes, what's up?

Ge Dalong: I know a little about wilderness survival and can teach you some ways to find water. But I want to know where you got your VIP status and what privileges it entails.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Shi decided that he would rather endure the thirst than reveal the existence of that heaven-defying cheat ability. In any case, in this desolate world, honesty couldn't put food on the table, so he made up a lie.

Zhang Shi (VIP): This membership card is obtained from a treasure chest. It doesn't offer any special privileges, except that it allows you to pin your posts.

The other party remained silent for a long time, clearly not believing what he said. Just when Zhang Shi thought the matter was hopeless, Ge Dalong sent another message.

Ge Dalong: Observing animal tracks can guide you to the location of water sources, especially birds, which fly low and straight when heading towards water. Insects like bees also typically gravitate towards water sources.

Zhang Shi felt a headache coming on. Although the knowledge taught by the professor was indeed valuable, finding traces of these animals in the wilderness was equally difficult for him.

Seemingly sensing Zhang Shi's predicament, Ge Dalong sent another long message.

Ge Dalong: Of course, you can also search near the shelter. If you find plants like berries, palm trees, or bamboo, you can collect them, as these plants are rich in or store water. Finally, you can make some containers and go out to collect dew during the day-night cycle. Although the amount is small, it's easy to obtain. If none of these methods work, you can wait for the trading market to stabilize and then exchange resources for water. However, in the early stages of the game, few people can find water, so the price may be relatively high.

Zhang Shi carefully read the message sent by Ge Dalong and got a general idea of ​​how to solve the water source problem.

"We'll stick to the original plan this morning: explore and search for water. If all else fails, we'll exchange resources for water. If we can get through today, we can try collecting dew tomorrow."

After replying to Ge Dalong's message and thanking him, Zhang Shi stood up and slowly cycled around the shelter along the forest path.

After wandering around for quite a while, Zhang Shi still hadn't found anything. For someone who had lived in the city for a long time, asking him to search for resources in the wild was indeed a bit of a challenge.

Upon checking the system, Zhang Shi saw that it was almost 11 o'clock. Seeing that his plan to find a water source was not progressing, he temporarily put it aside, put away his bicycle, took out his stone axe, and prepared to chop down trees and collect some wood.

"Hey!"

Zhang Shi used all his strength to strike a tree as thick as a man. With a muffled thud, the stone axe cleaved through the bark, leaving a shallow mark on the trunk.

Unwilling to give up, Zhang Shi swung his axe three more times at the same spot, but unfortunately the stone axe was too dull, and he only managed to cut a small notch in the thick tree.

"This axe is too dull."

Zhang Shi touched the stone axe with his hand, calculating in his mind the cost of cutting down a tree.

"It might take half a day to chop down a tree with this stone axe."

Zhang Shi squatted on the ground to rest for a while, silently admonishing himself: Don't rush, be patient.

After about 5 minutes, Zhang Shi calmed down, picked up the stone axe, changed to a thinner tree, and began to cultivate silently again.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho..."

After working at high intensity for more than half an hour, Zhang Shi's hands were red and swollen from the hard work, but he finally managed to cut down the sapling.

"Damn, I'm exhausted."

System notification: Congratulations on obtaining:

[Wood (White) x3: A basic resource with a wide range of uses; you can't do without it.]

Wiping away his sweat, Zhang Shi looked at the pile of wood in one of the compartments of his backpack and began to reassess this wilderness. Just these three pieces of wood had taken him half an hour and a great deal of effort. He was still far from having the 100 units of wood needed to upgrade his shelter.

Zhang Shi knew that if things continued like this, there was absolutely no hope. He would starve and die of thirst before he had even cut down 100 units of timber.

"To do a good job, one must first have the right tools. In the end, it's just that this stone axe is too rubbish."

Zhang Shi muttered to himself, wondering if he could get a suitable axe. His gaze swept through the backpack and landed on Lao Duan.

"Hey, I forgot I had this. It's an iron tool, after all. It shouldn't be any harder to chop wood than a stone axe, right?"

After glancing at Lao Duan's item description again, Zhang Shi decisively picked up the broken kitchen knife and slashed fiercely at the tree trunk.

"Whoosh!"

Old Duan sliced ​​through the tree like it was tofu; although he didn't cut the tree in half, his blade penetrated deep into the trunk and became lodged there. Zhang Shi's eyes lit up, and it took him a lot of effort to pull Old Duan out of the tree.

"Holy crap, this is truly a divine weapon."

Having learned from his mistake, Zhang Shi used a chopping motion, making cuts from both the top and bottom, and then angled the knife to create a "V"-shaped notch in the tree trunk. When he had cut about two-thirds of the way through the tree's diameter, Zhang Shi changed direction, pushing the trunk with one hand and carefully chopping the wood from the other side with the knife.

System notification: Congratulations on obtaining:

[Wood (White) x6: A basic resource with a wide range of uses; you can't do without it.]

In just two minutes, the towering tree was taken care of. Zhang Shi was incredibly excited and wished he could immediately offer Old Duan up, so he kowtowed three times to him.

"Old Duan, I was too loud just now. From now on, I'll follow you. I hope you'll make sure I live a life of luxury."

After his outburst, Zhang Shi began to wreak havoc in the woods, specifically targeting the thickest and largest animals.

In just two hours, Zhang Shi had harvested 300 units of timber. Most importantly, Zhang Shi hadn't exerted much effort and still had plenty of energy.

Seeing that he had enough wood, Zhang Shi turned to look for stones. Upgrading the shelter required 100 wood and 30 stones, and even with VIP privileges, the amount of stones was still a challenge for Zhang Shi. But thinking of his own drafty, dilapidated shack, Zhang Shi decided to gather the resources and upgrade the shelter before sunset that day.

Zhang Shi wandered around the woods for half a day and picked up some scattered stones on the road.

System notification: Congratulations on obtaining:

[Stone (White) x1: A basic resource with a wide range of uses; you can't do without it.]

These readily available small stones are not plentiful; to obtain a large quantity of stones, it is still necessary to collect them.

It took Zhang Shi a long time to finally find a huge rock on a hillside.

With great enthusiasm, Lao Duan began to work on the boulder. Unsurprisingly, Lao Duan sliced ​​through it like butter, easily splitting the boulder in two. However, the system did not notify him of any resources gained.

Zhang Shi was puzzled, so he cut the large rock into square stone blocks, but there was still no response. He then tried to put the stone blocks into his backpack, but found that he couldn't do it.

"It seems that items not recognized by the system cannot be put into the backpack."

Zhang Shi abandoned his plan to carry the stone block home. Since the system didn't recognize it, even if he took it back, he probably wouldn't be able to use it as material for upgrading the shelter.

"Does it mean I have to use a broken pickaxe to break it down for it to be considered mined material?"

Reluctantly, Zhang Shi pulled out his worn-out stone pickaxe and began hammering at the other, intact half of the boulder. After expending considerable effort, he finally received a notification from the system.

System notification: Congratulations on obtaining:

[Stone (White) x1]

Looking at the five stones in his backpack, Zhang Shi fell into deep thought. With Lao Duan around, the efficiency of chopping trees had greatly improved. Instead of wasting time breaking stones, it was better to chop down more trees and see if he could exchange them for other items in the trading interface later.

With this in mind, Zhang Shi immediately decided to give up quarrying until he obtained better tools.