StarCraft 4, a 10-year-old game, uses the same old monster-slaying and leveling-up formula. It's a niche online game that's long since lost its popularity.

Zhang Fan kept the game on the game disc because he played it with a group of close friends and roommates during his freshman year of college.

When they played it, the game was already in the very end of its life cycle, but everyone has a time when they are a newbie to games. The important thing about games is not what you play, but playing with your friends.

However, after their sophomore year, the game experienced a massive server rollout, with a new server appearing almost every day. This led to a severe player exodus, and the new servers were practically deserted, becoming what are commonly known as "ghost servers." Zhang Fan and his roommate had already switched to other, more popular games.

It's been about five years since I left this game, or even two years if you count from the start of the new era, right? Is this lousy game still running? It should be shut down by now, right?

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Enter the game.

Holy crap! It still works!

Zhang Fan stared blankly at the familiar game login screen. What was his old account again? He'd forgotten his password too.

Even if I remember, I can't type it in. There's no keyboard, just a mouse-like controller. The input box doesn't have a soft keyboard either. What am I supposed to do?

There was no other way, so I created a new account, clicked frantically all the way through, and selected all the system defaults!

Enter the game!

Zhang Fan looked at himself in the game, ID: Southern Wild Pig, what a cringeworthy name.

The attributes are all 1s, no need to look at them: HP 100, MP 100.

But Zhang Fan didn't come here to play games.

"Is anyone there?" Zhang Fan shouted into the newbie village, wearing a headset. "Anyone is fine, can someone please say something?"

The starting village was quiet; apart from a few NPCs and wandering monsters, there were no other players.

After all, it was a niche online game that started 10 years ago, and it's already a miracle that it hasn't shut down after the new era.

Zhang Fan opened the player rankings and scrolled down dozens of pages, finding them all grayed-out avatars without exception.

Zhang Fan opened the game's world chat and sent a message:

"Is anyone there? If you're still breathing, make a sound."

Speaking in the world chat requires the "Command of the World" item, which is obtained by killing monsters. However, the beginner set will give you one as a gift.

There was no response.

His single sentence was displayed on the world channel.

Zhang Fan still remembers when the servers were being rolled over, players would chat in the world chat channel. There weren't many people left in the game, and the chat content would be refreshed every few minutes.

Zhang Fan has been sending voice messages for a long time now, but there's still only one message from him displayed in the world chat.

Zhang Fan wandered around the beginner village with a beginner's sword and beginner's clothes.

After wandering around, I didn't encounter a single player, but I was forced to accept a newbie tutorial quest, which I completed under duress and leveled up.

This is really frustrating.

He did want to explore outside the starting village, hoping to encounter real players on the larger map, but due to level restrictions, he needed to be at least level 10 to leave the starting village.

Damn it!

I didn't come here to play games!

An hour had passed, and Zhang Fan logged out of the game.

Perhaps if you go to the main city of the game, you might encounter real players?

If only I could meet a real person, maybe I could make contact with humans on Earth through the game and other players.

As long as we can get in touch with Liao Changtian, everything will be easy.

However, we shouldn't have too high hopes. The fact that this game is still running after the new era is itself a strange thing.

Tomorrow I still need to continue preparing for my week-long exploration trip.

The water problem is easy to solve. Zhang Fan has already marked the places with groundwater on the map. He doesn't need to carry too much water at a time. As long as he can start a fire, he can get clean water to replenish his supply.

The food mainly consisted of roasted corn and roasted potatoes, which also required fire. However, it was inconvenient to carry fire starters, and it was too much of a waste of energy to start a fire by rubbing sticks together every time.

Zhang Fan decided to make a few tinderboxes to take with him.

First, collect some dried bay leaves and crush them. Because of their high oil content, bay leaves have a special fragrance when burned.

Then collect some mud vines and crush them, using the stickiness of the mud vine juice.

Some smoldering charcoal is pounded into a fine powder, mixed with bay leaves, and then kneaded together with mud vines. The mixture is then adhered to bamboo strips to make charcoal sticks, which are then dried.

Then, take a bamboo tube that is slightly larger than the charcoal rod and divide it into two sections. Use the shorter section to fix the charcoal rod, and put the longer section on top of the charcoal rod. Carve two ventilation holes on the bamboo tube above and below the charcoal rod.

The simple outdoor tinderbox is now complete.

Light one end of the charcoal rod, insert it into the bamboo tube, and the charcoal rod will slowly burn inside the bamboo tube for a day.

As long as you make several tinderboxes and keep the embers burning, starting a fire in the wild will not be a problem.

Zhang Fan cut down a lot of bamboo to replenish his arrows.

Bamboo grows quickly and can be used as building material, containers, and weapons. Bamboo shoots are also edible, making it practically a cheat code for wilderness survival.

Zhang Fan spent three days preparing these things.

Thirty arrows should be enough, because arrows can usually be retrieved after being shot, so the consumption is not too great.

Unless he encounters several insects at the same time, but if he does encounter such a situation, Zhang Fan won't be foolish enough to try to fight three at once, so 30 arrows are enough.

He also carried a sickle at his waist, which was Zhang Fan's last and most important weapon, as well as his most important tool, which he rarely used.

50 ears of corn, all decocted and dried for easy storage, can be steamed later.

Fifty fresh potatoes, all dried to remove surface moisture, are ready to be roasted.

Three cucumbers, mainly because they don't keep well, so I'll eat one a day as a snack.

According to Zhang Fan's estimate, three meals a day, with two corns and two potatoes per meal, should be enough.

If that's not enough, there are a few cornbreads left, which are for emergencies. Zhang Fan usually wraps the cornbreads up and keeps them in his pocket, and he won't eat them unless it's the last thing in the world.

Planning the route is the most important thing. Zhang Fan's planned route ensures that he has a relatively safe place to rest at regular intervals or times.

Starting a fire in the wild is important, but there isn't much firewood available. However, this isn't a big problem, as Zhang Fan has already found a type of ore similar to "coal." As long as there is ignition source, it shouldn't be a problem.

Zhang Fan increasingly felt that the insects on Mars weren't as annoying as they seemed on the surface; at least they had actually terraformed Mars to make it somewhat habitable for humans.

If we really want to delve into it, the Martian worms don't seem to have done anything to themselves, do they? They're disgusting to look at and might scare people, so we can't blame them, can we?

On the contrary, it was I who destroyed their nest for no reason, as if I were the big villain.

Oh well, never mind.

From now on, if I encounter insects, I'll let them go if I can.

Even if they're the most detestable creatures, they're still Martian life. The significance of a lifeless Mars and a life-bearing Mars is incomparable.

Zhang Fan lay on the bed, staring blankly at the fluorescent dome.

What kind of instinct could drive them to build something like this...?

Early the next morning, Zhang Fan shouldered his food and arrows, carried water in a bamboo tube, held a bow in his hand, a sickle and a tinderbox at his waist, and a map made of tree bark in his other hand, heading deeper into the nest...

Set off!