in the Tucson area, Barbara will be conducting

The Desert Protocol: Barbara’s Awakening in the Tucson Area The searing heat of the Arizona sun felt unusually heavy as Barbara pulled her car to the side of the road. She had traveled to the desert for a simple research trip, but the air was now shimmering with a strange, digital distortion. According to the local bulletins in the Tucson area, Barbara will be conducting what she thought was a geological survey, but the ground beneath her feet began to pulse with a rhythmic, neon glow that defied all scientific logic. Suddenly, a semi-transparent screen flickered into existence before her eyes. It looked identical to the interfaces she had spent hours studying on NovelNext. Before she could scream, a mechanical chime resonated through her mind: “Geographic Scan Complete. Initializing the Urban LitRPG System.” Barbara realized with a jolt of terror and excitement that she was no longer in a world of rocks and dust. The cacti around her were now tagged with level indicators, and her own "Survivalist" skill tree was rapidly unfolding in her peripheral vision. The desert wasn't just a landscape anymore; it was a high-stakes zone where every drop of water was a resource and every shadow was a potential mob. As the sirens of a nearby town wailed, Barbara gripped her geological hammer, ready to level up in a reality that had become a live-action webnovel.