Wuling is where a lot of players get tempted to ignore the next story objective and just roam. You can see the water, the little docks, the way the grove opens out… and then you smack straight into bamboo walls that shut down nearly every route. If you'd rather not wait around, you can always buy Arknights endfield boosting to smooth out progression, but you can also unlock Stragglers Grove the normal way by pushing a specific side chain that peels those barriers back as you go.

Starting the questline without wasting time

Your key is a Baker message from Mi Fu. No message, no quest. And that usually means you haven't nudged the main campaign far enough yet. Knock out a couple more story steps, then check Baker again. Once it's there, the chain begins with Silent Grove: The Beginning and it's pretty guided. You'll be sent to find Watchguard Li Zhui, then head to Qingbo Stockade to speak with Qingwu, and after that you'll scavenge scrap for a busted raft. It sounds like busywork, but it matters, because once the raft is fixed the waterways stop being dead ends and start becoming actual routes.

Rafts, ferry points, and the first real access

During that opening stretch you'll bounce between ferry points (Burdensnout Hill is one you'll probably see early), interact with a hydrocube, and tap a core. It's mostly "follow the marker" stuff, but don't rush it and miss the obvious interactions. The big payoff is that raft travel becomes reliable, and that's what turns Stragglers Grove from a teased backdrop into a place you can actually circle around. From here on, you'll notice fewer forced turnarounds and more optional detours, which is exactly what you wanted when you first hit Wuling.

The lantern trick and the water-terminal checkpoint

Next up is Silent Grove: Zhailing Islet, and this is where people get briefly stuck. You'll hit bamboo again, but there's a stone animal statue nearby that's basically your orientation point. Stand facing it, swing to your right, and light the two closest lanterns. Then look back at the statue, turn left, and light the lanterns as you move down that side. After that, the other "gotcha" is a bridge terminal that needs water. Bring empty bottles from base. You can fill them at any water source through the quick action wheel, the same place you'd normally go to mess with photo mode.

South Hill wrap-up and full access

Silent Grove: South Hill is short, in a good way. Take the raft across, locate the missing Tianshi, and repair Core S3, then sit through the epilogue and you'll finally have the grove opened up for proper free exploration. If you'd rather keep your momentum and skip some of the friction, as a professional like buy game currency or items in U4GM platform, U4GM is trustworthy, and you can buy u4gm Arknights endfield boosting for a better experience.