Swoosh—

"Piercing Arrow!"

-100.

Swoosh—

"Powerful Arrow!"

-200.

The insect, covered in bamboo arrows, was finally defeated 50 meters away.

Archery is naturally silent, and it's not a game, but Zhang Fan felt that this made it more ceremonial, so he said something after each arrow shot.

stupid.

With no one to speak, he began to suspect that he would lose his ability to speak if things continued like this.

At first, although no one spoke in the "Bird's Nest", at least there were voice control devices and system computers that could have voice conversations. But in the insect nest, there really wasn't anyone to talk to. You can't exactly talk to the insects, can you?

Zhang Fan pried off the crystal from the insect's forehead and then used a sickle to cut off the insect's chelicerae.

Chelicerae are good materials for making arrows.

Zhang Fan couldn't remember how many insects he had hunted, but judging from the decreasing number of insects he encountered each day, he must have killed quite a few.

Without cockroaches, every insect killed is one less to be found.

Zhang Fan turned on the spotlight on his helmet, put the crystal inside, and turned the spotlight back on.

He only recently discovered that this thing could actually be used as a battery.

However, the arm monitor still didn't respond. The internal components were broken, and there was no way to repair it here. The arm monitor was like a computer with a broken main unit.

What's the use of having a monitor but no computer?

Zhang Fan carved the path he had walked that day into the tree bark, then prepared to return. He was running low on provisions; he had been away from the treehouse for three days.

It should be three days, right? Who knows...

The return journey was much faster than the way there, without any detours. Zhang Fan chose the shortest route according to the map, and after a day's walk, he returned to the dome in the evening.

The fluorescent dome was as bright as the morning sun.

It must be nighttime, right?

Oh well, who cares! I said it, so it is!

Several rows of bamboo poles were stuck in the outer layer of the treehouse, with the other end of each pole sharpened and planted at a 46° angle to the sky.

Why not look up at the sky at a 45° angle?

So what if I have OCD and need 46 degrees? Why are you arguing about that? Can't I be one degree more passionate than Guo Degang?

Outside the bamboo spike formation is a "moat".

It's called a moat, but it's actually just a small ditch less than a meter wide and less than 30 centimeters deep. But Zhang Fan thought calling it a "moat" sounded more imposing.

It took him a week to bring in water from the underground river outside.

Insects dislike water; they don't like their bodies getting wet. Although the "moat" is small, it has a very good defensive effect.

Moreover, this method makes water collection more convenient.

Zhang Fan jumped over the moat, moved aside the bamboo barricades, walked under the banyan tree, reached out and pulled on a vine, and a bamboo ladder descended from the tree.

Zhang Fan climbed up the bamboo ladder to the treehouse, put the ladder away, entered the treehouse, and then took the bark off his back and placed it on the wall opposite the bamboo bed.

The entire wall was covered with maps made of tree bark.

Zhang Fan took off his equipment and sat on the bed, quietly looking at the large map made of tree bark on the other side.

If asked what the map opposite looked like, Zhang Fan would say it looked like rows of trees planted side by side.

The further down the map goes, the fewer branching paths there are. If you look at it from the bottom up, it's like a series of trees, with the trunk at the bottom and more and more branches and twigs at the top.

If we continue down this line, will these trees eventually connect and become one tree?

If that's the case, then what would be at the "roots"?

This is exactly the answer Zhang Fan has been searching for these past few days.

On his next expedition, he will venture even deeper underground. The deeper he goes, the longer the journey will take.

Zhang Fan decided to schedule his next trip for a week, and for that, he had to prepare a week's worth of supplies.

After climbing down from the treehouse, Zhang Fan headed to his backyard.

With water and land, it would be a shame not to farm.

The first problem to solve in farming is the seed issue. The nest has many plants collected by insects, some of which are seeds brought back from the production chambers of the "bird's nest".

Although most of the seeds had been eaten by insects, some seeds were scattered in the nest for various reasons and sprouted under the nourishment of moisture and light.

Every time Zhang Fan went out to explore, he would carefully dig up the seedlings along with the soil and transplant them back into the dome.

Over time, a sizable farmland has been created inside the dome.

The crops grown include potatoes, cucumbers, and corn. Thanks to genetically modified technology, Martian crops ripen once a month, which has truly solved a major problem.

Potatoes can be a staple food, corn can even be eaten raw, fresh cucumbers can be preserved for a period of time, and other vegetables such as daylilies and watermelons can be used as nutritious side dishes.

We're doing alright.

Mashed potatoes made into pancakes, corn and daylily soup, plus a side of smashed cucumber—although it's all vegetarian, the addition of watermelon as dessert makes it quite a nice meal.

Zhang Fan placed all the food on the small wooden table, removed the arm monitor from his spacesuit, propped it up with chopsticks, and placed it opposite him, eating while watching a program.

Since he was able to receive a signal, Zhang Fan suspected that the "giant beetle" had not been completely destroyed; at least the signal receiver and solar panels on the roof were still working.

Perhaps the "giant beetle" was stuck somewhere on its own head, and the funnel-shaped crater caused by the nuclear explosion actually created a clustering effect, making the signal clearer.

"That concludes tonight's news program..."

Good grief, we can only see the ending.

Zhang Fan felt frustrated, probably because of the influence of Mars' rotation. He could only receive signals from Earth for one hour each night, and could only hear the closing remarks of news programs each time.

The arm monitor can also be used as a TV, which is pretty good. I thought I could learn about recent events on Earth, but...

The next hour's program is...

WARING FBI!

Good heavens, I just have to say "good heavens"!

Then a pop-up window appears on the screen, indicating that this is paid content and requires 0 virtual coins to watch.

Good grief, the components of the arm monitor are broken, so it only has the display function left, and there's no way to input anything.

All you can see for this hour is a screen displaying "WARNING FBI".

wdnmd!

Even just showing the cover would have been better than this, this is ridiculous.

Zhang Fan felt that the people on Earth were too stubborn. Couldn't they change the program or the time of day? Stop taking up an hour of his screen with "WARNING FBI" all the time!

This can't go on forever.

Zhang Fan picked up the arm monitor and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Inside a large wooden box in the treehouse were various parts and equipment he had collected from all over the nest.

To be precise, these were equipment parts that the insects dragged back from the "Bird's Nest" base, parts they hadn't yet managed to gnaw on.

Zhang Fan couldn't figure out what the parts were for yet, but he made sure to collect them little by little until they filled the big box.

Okay, let's see if we can piece together something like a keyboard.

Let's see what we have first.

This chip is equivalent to a CPU, and this could be considered a graphics card. The arm monitor can only be used as a display. It has a controller, an optical drive, no keyboard, and a headset. I wonder if it can input text via voice? It seems not, there's no voice conversion program.

As Zhang Fan thought about it, he assembled the parts, eventually creating something...

Little Tyrant Learning Machine?

Zhang Fan stared blankly at his cobbled-together work.

This really is like a Little Tyrant learning machine without a keyboard, only with a CD drive.

Now all that's missing is a game cartridge...

Wait a moment.

Zhang Fan rummaged through the drawers and cabinets again, and soon found a CD in one of the boxes:

The only personal item he brought to Mars.

Zhang Fan stared wide-eyed as he inserted the game disc into the optical drive and turned on the power.

Buzz—

Once the game was running, Zhang Fan scrolled to the bottom of the game directory and selected the only online game at the top, "StarCraft 4".

Will anyone still be online in an old online game from 10 years ago?