Over the next few days, Yun Luohe would head for the desert in the mornings and return at noon to work and produce supplies.To finish the Tidal Windmill and fully power every building on the reef, she urgently needed more cables and wires.Recycling electronic waste was proving fairly efficient.So lately she had been trading at the exchange for old cell phones, mechanical arm remnants, and drone parts — and, with some luck, even scoring large broken appliances like busted televisions and computer towers.One amusing find was a broken alarm siren. After recycling and upgrading it, it became a device she could attach to her detector that emitted a sharp beep-beep-beep whenever it picked up resources. Now she didn’t have to keep checking for color changes on the display; she could just stop digging as soon as she heard the sound.The desert was full of hidden resources — all you had to do was dig them out with a shovel.Every morning at first light, she and her teammates set out. Sometimes they only had to walk a few dozen meters before the alarm blared.The more she used the modified detector, the more adept she became with it.Combined with her own [Scanning Eye], which could pinpoint targets, she could tell the exact location of buried resources the moment the siren sounded, without having to dig blindly through the sand.She could usually lock onto the spot with precision.The others watched her stop in the exact right place, swing her shovel, and consistently uncover valuable finds — and they couldn’t help feeling envious.Some of them bought similar detectors. They didn’t have her siren add-on, so they weren’t as effective, but still far better than nothing.Survival Day 21.The heat had stopped climbing, but now sandstorms had started to appear in the desert. Before heading out, Yun Luohe used the weather forecast to confirm there wouldn’t be one in the morning, then set out confidently with her team to explore.The sunlight was still brutal, waves of heat radiating off the sand.As they crossed the desert, Yun Luohe’s detector suddenly let out a shrill, urgent alarm — loud enough to be heard from dozens of meters away.Her pulse quickened. This had to be a big one.The sound drew her teammates over at once."Sis Yun, could there be some kind of robot under there?""Maybe there’s a building buried here?""Or… could it be the Desert Ruins?"Yun Luohe shook her head. "It’s not that easy to find the ruins. I just checked — it’s a rectangular object, about the size of a person. Probably some kind of big cabinet.""That’s still good. Let’s dig it out."They gripped their shovels and went to work.Soon, the sand gave way to a black object, its surface uneven and pitted.With more digging, a massive broken refrigerator emerged."Whoa, a fridge!"Mu Zitang heaved it upright.Yun Luohe examined it closely. Despite its poor condition, she knew there’d be plenty of salvageable parts inside — she could break it down or toss it in the Trash Can to recycle and upgrade.If it upgraded into a working refrigerator, all the better. Her current one was stuffed with food, and a spare would be invaluable."Wait — there’s something else underneath."Her eyes lit up as she spotted a sheet of metal under the fridge.She quickly pushed the fridge aside and kept digging, revealing an iron chest.Just as everyone eagerly stepped forward to haul it out, Yun Luohe’s expression changed sharply."Back! Move!"She yanked Cheng Xuening, the closest to her, out of the way — just in time for the sand beneath the chest to collapse.A massive, spike-covered claw burst from the ground, each talon over ten centimeters long.Moments later, a hulking desert lizard emerged, its body covered in hard scales, eyes glinting with hostility.It planted a foot squarely on the iron chest and looked ready to attack.Yun Luohe already had her bow in hand, drawing an arrow, while the others reached for their weapons.The lizard bared its sharp teeth, glaring at each of them in turn as if deciding who to strike first.But Yun Luohe’s shot was faster — an arrow punched straight through one of its eyes.With everyone working together, it didn’t take much effort to bring the creature down.Its drops included lizard hide, a pile of Desert Fragments, and some ore.But all eyes were on the iron chest."I’ve got a key," Yun Luohe said. "Sisi, you open it."She handed the key to Qin Sisi, who quickly unlocked it.[Chest opened. Acquired: Copper Coil ×1, Battery ×2, Cable ×2, Bat Glider Blueprint ×1, Desert Crystal Core ×10, Insulated Glove Blueprint ×1]Everything inside was high-grade material.The bat glider blueprint was especially exciting — using bat wings to craft a glider that could greatly boost movement speed.In a desert this vast, gliders would make exploration much faster; walking alone barely covered ground.Yun Luohe had plenty of bat wings — probably enough to make one for everyone — but the gliders also required a frame.From recycling electronics, she already «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» had three drone frames; she’d need two more and could figure something out later."Didn’t know there were chests in the desert. We really should dig more often.""Yeah, and this one was hidden under a fridge. If we hadn’t checked carefully, we’d have missed it.""Good thing Sis Yun’s eyes are sharp.""It’s getting late — let’s keep moving and see if we can reach the spring today."Their goal was the spring coordinates Yun Luohe had acquired. She’d also told Yu Chenjin, so he was likely heading there as well.After rehydrating and resting, they set out again.But luck wasn’t on their side. A swarm of sandworms blocked their path, forcing a long fight and burning precious daylight. Six hours passed.They never reached the spring, returning to the reef instead.For the day’s haul — besides the fridge and chest loot — Yun Luohe had dug up:[Cable ×2, Copper Ore ×21, Lithium Battery ×2, Copper Coil ×3, Old Cell Phone ×1, Earphones ×1, MP3 Player ×1, Radio ×1, Mouse ×1, Charger ×2, Power Strip ×2]Almost all electronics — which made sense, since only that type triggered the detector.The others speculated there might be other kinds of resources hidden in the desert, but without a way to scan for them, they couldn’t just dig at random.Electronic components like these were perfect for advanced equipment crafting, so Yun Luohe stored them all away until she had the right blueprints.——Within two days of receiving the sharkskin, Si Qi’s team had another breakthrough.They’d extracted large amounts of protein from the fluorescent jellyfish and crafted several protein lamps, sending the first batch to Yun Luohe.She handed one to each teammate.Now they just needed more jellyfish — dead or alive — so Si Qi could refine the extraction process.She had also used the Blue Crystal Lizard’s saliva to develop a rock-dissolving reagent capable of melting stone almost instantly, and even ore given enough quantity and time.——Lately, exploration in the desert left Yun Luohe with little time to visit other islands. She could only occasionally dive for ocean resources.With summer’s arrival, players were finding more in the sea — copper ore, ice crystal stone, and obsidian among them. These high-grade minerals existed in undersea veins but were rare, often vanishing after a single encounter.The seabed’s resources refreshed randomly; only the locations of underwater ruins were fixed.And since players spawned in random underwater spots near their reefs, with the terrain often looking similar, finding the same vein twice was extremely difficult without precise navigation.So even now, few had discovered an underwater ruin.Yun Luohe had the advantage: she could explore the seabed at night, breathe underwater, hear the calls of intelligent marine life, and move faster with the Pearl Scale Armor’s aquatic boost.She’d already found two ruins before.In three days, she dove twice, finding another ruin on the second trip.Late at night, she followed a school of glowing fish to a massive coral arch.It was carved with luminous runes, its ring flanked by twin merfolk statues — the left holding a trident, the right cradling an enormous pearl.Beyond the arch lay a giant giant clam.It seemed every underwater ruin had one, and there was always treasure inside.But from experience, she knew better than to approach carelessly. Giant clams always had dangerous sea creatures nearby.She scanned the area — coral reefs, swaying seaweed, and shoals of colorful fish.Many sea creatures could camouflage themselves, blending perfectly into their surroundings, and at night, they were nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.But her [Scanning Eye] could detect even minute differences.This time, though, she saw nothing threatening.Despite a faint sense of foreboding, she decided to move in.It was quiet. She stepped carefully toward the clam, every nerve on alert.Just as she was about to touch it, a powerful current surged from behind.Yun Luohe reacted instantly, spinning around without hesitation.Good thing her reflexes were sharp — the massive shark lunging at her from behind would have bitten her in half otherwise.She dodged behind the clam, forcing the shark to wheel around for another pass.A shark this big couldn’t have been here the whole time — she’d have noticed.That meant it must have arrived by some other route.There could be more of them, but first she had to deal with this one.It was huge, moving with terrifying speed — this was its domain, after all.Compared to the hungry shark in the dark river, this one was at least three times larger.And while she could move freely underwater, she wasn’t as agile as on land. The water slowed her down, forcing her to use a blade instead of a bow.But getting close enough to injure the shark at all would be anything but easy.

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