The next morning, Sun Han woke up to the dim light filtering through the small air vent of his underground shelter. He stretched, feeling the soreness in his muscles from the previous day's exertions. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, a familiar system prompt appeared before him:
**"Congratulations! You have received 1 gold coin for surviving the first wave."**
Sun Han smiled slightly at this small reward, but his mind quickly shifted to the pressing matter of improving his base. He opened his status screen and found the new system prompt waiting for him:
**"To upgrade to a Level 2 underground house, you need 100 wooden logs."**
He sighed, realizing that gathering such a large quantity of wood in this desolate world would be a challenging task. Determined to make progress, he decided to explore the various features of the system that he had yet to fully understand.
Navigating through the status screen, he discovered the world chat feature. Curious, he entered the chat and saw a flurry of messages from other survivors. The chat was filled with desperate pleas and grim updates:
**"This world is a nightmare. How do we even survive this?"**
**"Can anyone spare some food? I'm starving..."**
**"Looking for shelter, willing to trade anything I have."**
**"Does anyone know where to find clean water? All I see is poisoned rivers."**
**"I found a group of friendly survivors! We are stronger together. Join us!"**
**"Mutated beasts attacked our camp last night. We lost three people. Stay vigilant."**
**"Has anyone figured out how to upgrade their weapons? My wooden spear is useless."**
**"Avoid the northern area. It's crawling with those three-headed dogs."**
**"I'm all alone. Please, if anyone is near coordinates 34, 75, help me."**
The sense of despair was palpable, and it was clear that many were struggling just to stay alive. Sun Han felt a pang of empathy but knew he had to focus on his own survival first.
As he continued to explore, he noticed a small shop icon in the left corner of the system prompt. Intrigued, he pressed it and a new screen unfolded before him, revealing a marketplace where people were trading items for gold coins. The listings were basic but essential:
**"1 gold coin for a bottle of water."**
**"1 gold coin for a loaf of bread."**
**"5 gold coins for a basic sword."**
**"10 gold coins for a first aid kit."**
**"15 gold coins for a set of armor."**
Sun Han realized that these resources would be crucial for survival, but he was more interested in finding ways to strengthen himself. He spotted a search icon in the shop and decided to use it. With a few taps, he typed in "abilities" and waited as the screen processed his request.
The search results appeared, showing a list of abilities and skills available for purchase. His eyes widened at the possibilities before him. Some abilities were straightforward, like enhanced strength or speed, while others were more unique, involving elemental powers or advanced survival techniques. Each ability had a corresponding cost in gold coins, and Sun Han quickly realized that his single gold coin wouldn't get him very far.
Before he could delve deeper into the options, a sudden noise from outside his shelter snapped him back to reality. He knew that the peace and quiet of his underground refuge wouldn't last forever. He had to act quickly to gather resources and upgrade his shelter and get new abilities before the next wave of mutated beasts arrived.
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