In the darkness of the system’s void, countless screens flickered before Lin Qingyue, each one displaying crystalline footage of players entering the space to draw their cards. For a few seconds, his gaze lingered on Ye Shu.

Even as the game’s orchestrator, he could not see every card Ye Xiaoshu drew—especially that very first entry, which had already triggered the system’s alarms. The Survival System’s calculations predicted: this woman might one day become the greatest threat to the game.

Thus, as the enforcer, Lin Qingyue’s duty was to eliminate this potential virus.

Yet… something about his feelings toward her seemed to be changing in subtle ways.

"Ding! Survival game refreshed successfully. Location—Desert of Planet R!"

"For this round, it is advised the enforcer erase player Ye Shu directly; scan indicates player 10096’s resurrection skill likely resets every day."

"Last round, leniency was shown. I can wipe those memories—let’s pretend it never happened."

"If you wish to continue as an enforcer... eliminating aberrations in this game world is your mission."

Within the blackness, Lin Qingyue remained silent.

…

Ye Shu was teleported into the game.

[Player: Ye Shu]

[Game ID: 10096]

[Current Survivors: 1,000,000/1,000,000]

[Initial Supplies: One 596ml bottle of Xihaha purified water, Multigrain Biscuit x1]

[Game Intro: Exiled humans to R-wasteland planet, everywhere barren, no sign of life—(*&%#-)]

[Game Mission: Survive for twenty days.]

Suddenly, there was a palm-sized biscuit and a bottle of water in her hand—her starting supplies.

Anything else in the introduction was smudged and unreadable.

Ye Shu could derive nothing further; only that she was on a wasted, barren planet.

She looked around. Far as the eye could see, endless yellow sand, nothing but dunes beneath a blazing, oppressive sun—a desert suffocating in its silence.

So, she had been thrown into a desert. To simply survive for twenty days and clear the round? That almost seemed too easy.

Sunlight roasted her black, glossy hair, sending wisps of smoke from her scalp. Beads of sweat like peas stung her eyes. Instinctively, she reached for something in her space—but discovered part of her storage had been sealed.

[Ding! Spirit pets are restricted for this game!]

[Ding! Due to gameplay requirements, your space is temporarily limited.]

[A single square meter of space is available. Random draw mode enabled!]

[Space draw complete! Check your inventory for results.]

Ye Shu’s face turned ashen. The small black cat on her shoulder disappeared in the next instant.

From eight meters squared to one, and that was filled with nothing but weapons.

In this desert, high temperatures were the deadliest threat. With her water supply so scarce, dehydration would surely come quickly. And now, even her quirky spirit pet was barred—she couldn’t shake the feeling that the game was targeting her.

Under the furnace-like sun, sweat glued to the corners of her eyes, making her feel like a slab of smoked meat—her whole body basted and roasted atop open flames.

She gulped down half her water; the heat in her body eased.

Guided by survival skills she’d learned from textbooks in Huaxia Country, she gauged her bearings and began the trek east.

The sand, soft and treacherous beneath her feet, threatened to trip her with every step. Heat seeped mercilessly through her thin shoes. After walking two hours without seeing a single plant, Ye Shu reasoned: this place was even grimmer than the infamous Black Desert of Blue Star.

Exhausted, Ye Shu rested, ate half her biscuit, and drank more water—her strength restored, but only halfway.

It was desert noon, the sun’s ray at their fiercest.

Sweat drenching her white t-shirt, every exposed patch of skin burned. It had been eight hours since she entered the game, each one spent in relentless motion.

Suddenly, she remembered: Wasn’t she ice-powered? She so rarely used her cryo ability, she had almost forgotten it.

Ice equals water. And coolness.

With a thought, she conjured a lump of ice and hugged it to her chest. The oppressive heat and agitation immediately dissipated, and she even treated herself to the occasional ice pop. With ice at hand, her progress grew lighter.

On she walked, resting intermittently, until dusk fell and temperatures plunged.

In this endless wasteland, she could not spot a single living thing—not even a cactus, not a blade of grass. She finished her last crumb of biscuit; with nighttime’s cold gnawing to near zero, she dug a pit, burying herself in the sand.

Fortunately, among her remaining supplies, she found a scrap of floral cloth from a previous game—it shielded her face so sand would not sting her eyes.

Across the wastelands, deserts, and grasslands of R-Waste Planet, countless players had been scattered.

First-timers entered excitedly—only for reality to set in.

[Man's Heart Like Needle at the Ocean Floor: Damn! I got in! Haha... And I drew a Fire Ability! It's my time to shine.]

[Li Jingui: Why was I thrown into a desert? Isn’t this supposed to be a game? They give us a biscuit and a bottle of water—how are we supposed to survive? I want to file a complaint.]

[Garlic Crawfish: If I knew, I wouldn’t have prayed so hard to get in. The power card I got is ‘Strip Zhang Qiang’s ability’. Who the hell is Zhang Qiang? Let me snag some luck from you!]

[Pineapple Bun Fried Rice: I’m dying over here. Never heard of a power like that before. Zhang Qiang, you’d better hide—upstairs is gunning for you! By the way, can it strip Li Qiang’s ability too?]

[Spicy Rabbit Head: Huh? Did the newbies skip the survival manual? This is a survival game, not a dating show. A biscuit is a godsend. I had nothing at sea—nearly got yanked off my raft by sharks.]

[Super Long Standby Sweetheart Mengnan: I spawned on the grassland—except there’s barely any grass! Bold move calling this a grassland.]

[Divorced With Two Kids: Be grateful, grassland newbie! I’m dead center of the Black Desert! No supplies, running a fever... Has anyone got it worse than me?]

Only now did Ye Shu notice the game had tagged every player’s location.

Her own? The absolute center of the Black Desert. The nearest patch of gravelly Gobi was two or three hundred miles away.

There wasn’t a single good place on this planet—it was all wasteland and sand, with oases buried deep within the great cities. At her current pace, it would take months to reach one.

She got in touch with Pang Pangzi—he was faring far better.

At least, on the Gobi, there were ruins to shelter from the elements, and cacti to eat.

Night passed quickly.

Huddled in her sandpit, Ye Shu felt no chill and made it through the night without incident.

The second day dawned.

By sunrise, not yet six, the desert was already searing.

Brushing sand from her body, Ye Shu discovered the skin on her arms had peeled from sunburn, but the soreness in her legs was gone.

She moved fast, taking advantage of the early hours to head from the desert’s center toward the Gobi. Last night, Pang Pangzi had teleported her two fist-sized cacti—enough to stay alive another day.