Chapter 22: Chapter 22: End and Rewards
Ye Yun fell silent for a moment as he read through the chat messages.
’So it’s not that the danger was too simple,’ he thought. ’It’s that I’m just too strong right now.’
He had also forgotten something: this was only the first wave of danger.
Following standard game logic, the difficulty was bound to increase with each wave.
Unless the aliens didn’t want any humans to survive, there was no way they would use their ultimate move right from the start.
This was clear from the chat, where most people were reporting that they had successfully eliminated the mutated cockroaches.
For most, the first wave of danger hadn’t been a true life-or-death crisis.
Of course, those who were unprepared would certainly have to pay a hefty price.
Ye Yun saw quite a few people mention that their bionics had sustained severe damage.
As for those claiming their bionics couldn’t fight back, Ye Yun wasn’t sure of their exact circumstances, but he guessed they most likely didn’t even have basic white-tier equipment.
Then there were the ones who hadn’t recalled their bionics to the shelter before the deadline.
For both types of people, Ye Yun could only think that if they died, it was their own damn fault.
The bionics’ efficiency at gathering parts wasn’t slow. Even on a bad day, they could collect twenty to thirty white-tier parts. With good luck, they might even find some extremely valuable green-tier ones.
Everyone had a full ten days to prepare. Even with terrible luck, as long as you didn’t send your bionics on a suicide mission from the get-go...
...you should have at least several hundred white-tier parts in your warehouse, if not more.
With that many white-tier parts, you could buy some cast-off white-tier armor and weapons from the exchange and grit your teeth through the first wave.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Ye Yun saw many managers, inspired by the success stories, begin to mount a counterattack.
But even more managers failed to actively engage the enemy for one reason or another. Time, however, waits for no one.
The basic Shelter Entrance only had a paltry 10,000 durability, which was nowhere near enough to withstand an assault from a large number of mutated cockroaches.
Soon, Ye Yun noticed the shelter count in the upper-right corner of his system interface begin to plummet.
In just ten short minutes, the number of shelters dropped from the initial 100 million to 99 million.
The decline didn’t slow down; instead, it accelerated wildly.
98,000,000...
97,000,000...
95,000,000...
92,000,000...
The numbers were changing so fast that it was impossible to make out any digits below the hundred-thousands place.
But as time went on, this frantic decline finally reached a turning point.
After the shelter count fell to 91 million, the rate of decline slowed noticeably.
The numbers stopped their frantic descent. Another half an hour passed, and the count stabilized completely. In the end, the number of shelters that survived the first wave of danger was 90,200,000.
The very instant the number stopped changing...
...the alien voice that had spoken in everyone’s minds ten days prior echoed in Ye Yun’s ears once more.
[Congratulations on successfully surviving the first wave of danger.]
[As for the managers who died, I can only say it is most regrettable.]
[Their inability to handle such a simple assault only proves they were not suited to live on this dangerous planet.]
[They have lost their lives forever. At the same time, some of the resources from within their bases will become treasures buried beneath the ruins.]
[These treasures will be awarded to the managers who were quickest to kill the mutated cockroaches that attacked the shelters.]
[The massive assault by the mutated cockroaches has caused quite a stir.]
[Your shelters may have been noticed by others.]
[A far more brutal danger will descend in another ten days.]
[All shelter managers are advised to proceed with caution.]
[Of course, those of you who survived will also receive some rewards.]
As the alien’s voice faded...
...Ye Yun noticed several new notifications on his system interface.
[You have unlocked new Manager Permissions.]
[Map], [Members]
[You have received the coordinates to one abandoned shelter.]
[You have received 1 random green-tier armor blueprint.]
[You have received 5 random green-tier parts.]
Ye Yun had no interest in blueprints or parts; he immediately clicked on the newly acquired functions.
In the next instant, an immense map unfolded before him.
Most of the map, however, was shrouded in a gray fog of war.
His shelter’s location was marked with a red star in the bottom-left corner.
Only a very small circle around it was illuminated—the area that No. 1 and No. 2 had explored.
He carefully pinched and spread his fingers, and the map instantly began to zoom in, following his gesture.
The map was incredibly detailed; Ye Yun could even make out individual trash cans on the streets.
He zoomed the map back out and quickly spotted a treasure chest icon not far from his shelter.
When he focused his gaze on it, the relevant information popped up.
[Abandoned Shelter]
[A shelter that was overrun by mutated cockroaches. There may be unexpected resources inside.]
A glint flashed in Ye Yun’s eyes. He knew exactly what the coordinates to this abandoned shelter meant.
In this dangerous world, every single resource could be the key to survival, to say nothing of an entire shelter’s worth.
If he was lucky, he might even find the wreckage of bionics and construction robots inside.
If they were in good enough condition, he might even be able to repair them.
However, he had no intention of acting immediately.
’The system must have assigned these abandoned shelters based on proximity.’
Even so, this abandoned shelter was still quite a distance from his own.
Based on the map distance illuminated by No. 1 and No. 2, he estimated the shelter was at least a twenty-hour journey away.
Ye Yun had never sent No. 1 and No. 2 so far away before.
Even though they now had a full set of white-tier armor and weapons, the risks of such a long-duration exploration were still very high.
[Assessment Type: External Exploration]
[Assessing Mission Risk...]
[Mission: 24-Hour Random Exploration]
[Assessment: White Item Probability: 60%. Green Item Probability: 34.2%. Blue Item Probability: 6.75%. Purple Item Probability: 0.05%. Risk Factor: 20.25%.]
???
Seeing the risk factor, Ye Yun frowned slightly.
’It’s not that the risk is too high. On the contrary, it’s actually much lower than before.’
He had tested the risk of a 24-hour exploration for No. 1 and No. 2 before, and the answer had been 65%.
’Could it be that because the first wave of danger has passed, the associated risks have also decreased?’
’Initially, I speculated that the external danger level was constantly rising because of a mutated cockroach nest near the shelter.’
’Could it be that the nest disappeared when the first wave of danger ended?’
