When he came to, Lin Ye had already returned to the road in the abandoned area.
Those drivers weren’t dead, just in a terrible mental state.
Lin Ye swept his gaze across the ground. He had no idea whether the master of that abandoned area had been taken out by him, after all, the guy was inside a stable system facility, so he couldn’t go down and check on his condition.
However, the spatial lockdown had been lifted, the drivers could leave at any time, and Lin Ye could return to the shelter as well.
“You can go now. Next time you’re looking for work, be more careful. Don’t end up in a job that screws you over like this.”
Lin Ye adjusted the Parasitism Network slightly, grabbed his previous gains, and chose to return to the shelter.
…………………………………………
[Exploration Mission Completed]
[System Evaluation Increased]
[Obtained: Abandoned Sector Authority *1]
[Obtained: Exploration Chest *1]
[Please draw today’s card]
“My turn! Draw a card!”
The card’s face this time was a lizard. On the card, a black-and-red lizard was painted. As the card dissipated, a lizard about as thick as an arm appeared in the center of the shelter.
That lizard lay on the shelter’s tiles like a sculpture, completely uninterested in moving.
This was Lin Ye’s first encounter with this kind of creature. He grabbed the lizard and felt its horny layer, which had a texture similar to some kind of fabric.
The lizard didn’t resist. It obediently lay in Lin Ye’s hand, completely different from those lively Card Creatures.
Lin Ye placed the lizard on the bedside table, planning to organize his loot first and then feed it something.
First came the decomposition products that filled up the spatial items.
Lin Ye started checking the system info on the various decomposition products. The info on them was mostly what he had expected.
After inspecting all the products, he stashed them all inside the Storage Room.
Only when placed in the shelter’s Storage Room would these products not destroy the containers holding them.
After handling the decomposition products, Lin Ye took out the damaged Doll and checked its system info.
[Substitute Doll]
[Relic. Can take the place of its bearer in death.]
[Note: Please do not carry it for long periods, or it will gradually replace its bearer, causing the bearer to die in its place.]
“… Knew it wasn’t anything good.”
Lin Ye directly tossed the almost-fully-restored Doll to Little Black. Little Black carried the Doll into the basement and threw it among the other collectibles.
Next were the nine Black Cards drawn from the Black Box.
[Stability Card (1/9)]
[Integrate into this set of cards to create a system tending toward stability.]
[Note: You can use this set of cards within most systems.]
‘Seems pretty useful after all.’
Lin Ye put away the Stability Card and then opened the Exploration Chest.
Inside the chest was a colored card, just like the last chest.
[Specific Area Teleportation Card]
[Using this card, you can forcibly teleport a target to a specific area filled with pollutants, temporarily locking that space. (1/1)]
[Note: This is a quick way to deal with trash.]
Lin Ye silently put the card away. This card was quite insidious—if it teleported someone to that trash heap filled with pollutants, even an enemy much stronger than him wouldn’t escape unscathed.
Finally, there was the Abandoned Sector Authority. Lin Ye checked the authority’s info in the system interface and found that because his shelter rank wasn’t high enough, he couldn’t use this authority yet.
After finishing with the loot, Lin Ye started taking care of the plants and animals in the shelter and making his breakfast.
But since it was still a while until morning, he didn’t wake up the animals that were still sleeping.
Soon, Lin Ye had prepared a hearty breakfast. He opened the Group Chat and the Music Box and started eating.
(466326/1000000)
“Why do I feel like the value of red coins has gone up again?”
“No shit. You have to spend red coins to get out, and as long as you’re willing, you can go out several times a day. Of course their value goes up.”
“Huh? There are people going out several times a day? I’m half dead just from going out once.”
“Tryhards are everywhere. Have you guys gotten the shelter upgrade blueprints?”
“Get nothing. You only get blueprints from completing Exploration Missions. Exploration Missions are even more troublesome than personal random missions.”
“Then why don’t you pick an easier Exploration Mission?”
“I’m already eating at the cheapest restaurant. How much more can I pick?”
“According to tests by the big shots in the group, buying stuff on Commercial Street makes it easier to get simple Exploration Missions. But you can’t buy anything too expensive or too distinctive.”
“What counts as a non-distinctive item?”
“Not sure. Buying the same thing can still trigger a hard Exploration Mission.”
“So it’s completely random?”
“I think Exploration Missions are related to events that occur while the system is running. If you’re unlucky, buying a piece of candy could trigger a super dangerous mission.”
“That tracks.”
“I mainly want to get some red coins. Can you tryhards tone it down? I can’t even scrape together red coins to go out.”
“Relax, there are cards for going into the Red Maze. Everyone’s power has gone up now. One trip to the Red Maze gets you a lot of red coins. Everyone’s holding onto red coins for blueprints these days. Once those big shots get their blueprints, they’ll put up the extra red coins.”
“That’s what I figured. Hey, have you guys gotten in touch with Survivors from other districts?”
“After upgrading the shelter, you can message friends from other districts, but each message costs one Trade Point. I don’t even know what Trade Points are.”
“Didn’t Bro Lin say Trade Points are a higher-level system currency? Collect a thousand and you unlock the advanced trading area.”
“Huh? When did he say that?”
“He mentioned it once before. You didn’t even listen carefully to what Bro Lin said?”
“Damn, I might have just missed it.”
“Any big shots have Trade Points? I want to chat with a friend.”
“I have some Trade Points, but only a dozen or so. I got them from trading with locals during events. This stuff has insane purchasing power—one point can be exchanged for a ton of red coins.”
“Huh? You’re not trying to jack up the price, are you?”
“If you don’t believe me, ask Bro Lin. And I’m not planning to trade with you guys anyway—I’m trying to unlock the advanced trading area.”
“Forget it then. Sending one message here is more expensive than a satellite call from overseas.”
“Not like there’s much to say anyway. Other districts are way worse off than ours.”
…
Lin Ye finished his breakfast. He turned off the Group Chat and the Music Box, then lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
