Seeing the discussion in the Chat Channel, Clara secretly admitted she had priced them too low. After all, in the apocalypse, things that could save lives would never have trouble selling. Clara glanced at the friend requests and ignored them outright. Once she accepted, her real name and profile photo would be exposed.
With her face... combined with the
“High-Energy Milk”
on the Trading Platform. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could guess her background. By then, the ones showing up at her door wouldn't just be survivors... She just felt...
No longer dwelling on it, she immediately selected [Repeating Crossbow] to craft in the
“Build”
interface of her wristband. The bolts were built into the Repeating Crossbow. As long as you had a bow or crossbow, it unlocked automatically. All materials vanished, and a one-minute crafting progress bar appeared on the light screen. She let out a long breath and slumped in her seat, then took out bread and started restoring Stamina.
She didn't know that the output and efficiency of
“Essence Condensation”
were directly tied to her
“Stamina”
stat. The higher her Stamina, the higher the conversion efficiency and output, and the less strain on her body. Just then, a system announcement popped up on every survivor's wristband.
AnnouncementNoticeDetailsSystem AnnouncementStarting daily. From 12:00 to 17:00 each day, supply crates will spawn in the wilderness on both sides of the highway.•WarningUnknown dangers exist in the wilderness. Explore with caution.
Just as Clara was thinking, the Repeating Crossbow finished crafting. An intricately designed repeating crossbow appeared in the Storage Space, along with 10 crossbow bolts. She took it out immediately. Its heavy weight filled Clara with an unprecedented sense of security.
“With this weapon, I can check out the wilderness.”
Also, zombies would attack in seven days. She had to gather enough resources within the next few days. Otherwise, she would most likely die in the zombie tide. She put it in the passenger seat, started the car, and kept moving forward. After driving about ten miles, a fork appeared ahead. Both the left and right roads led into the unknown.
Clara stopped the car and frowned. Which way? She had no intel, so she could only go with her gut.
“Guys go left, girls go right... I'm a girl now, so I should go right?”
She shook her head and called herself ridiculous.
“I'm going left. Even if God Himself showed up, I'd still go left.”
She cranked the wheel hard and drove onto the left road. Clara didn't notice this when she chose to turn. The front right tire, slightly low on air pressure, left a deeper mark on the road than the other tires. The left road seemed to have more resources.
Over the next hour, she encountered three supply crates in a row. Two brown ones and one white one. Opening them went smoothly. She didn't run into any monsters. She got some bread and water, and even managed to collect every material needed for the A-rank water collector in that one run.
Inside the white supply crate, she found a tire manufacturing blueprint.
Appraisal📐D-rank Tire Manufacturing BlueprintMaterials: ¦ Rubber x20, SteelIngot x12, Iron Ingot x8.After installation, reduces fuelconsumption by 10% and improvestraction by 10%.
Clara took a look. She didn't have Rubber, so she figured she'd gather some from the Trading Platform later. After all, this thing could reduce fuel consumption by 10%, letting her drive farther than others to explore. The sooner she used it, the greater the payoff. But for now, she could only build the water collector first. With a stable water source, she'd be able to trade for other resources more effectively.
Soon, the corresponding materials disappeared, and an A-rank water collector, roughly the size of a water dispenser, appeared at the rear of the vehicle.
Appraisal🚰A-rank Water CollectorCollects 2.1~2.6 gallons ofPurified Water every 24 hours.(Note: fluctuates according toenvironmental humidity.)
“Now I don't need to worry about water,” Clara murmured to herself.
Then she opened the construction interface and selected the vehicle upgrade option. Chose Upgrade.
SystemSpend Iron Ingot x30 and Steel Ingot x20 to upgrade the vehicle?YesNo
A white light wrapped around the entire battered Santana. Soon, the light dispersed, and the old battered Santana disappeared. What replaced it was a brand-new black SUV, with metal protective grilles added over the windows.
VehicleNotice¦ Vehicle upgrade complete!Model¦ SUV — LV2Owner¦ Clara BennettDefense200/200Fuel Tank43/55Max Speed ¦ 43 mphUpgrade requires:Iron Ingot×100Steel Ingot×50Energy Crystal Core×1
“Now this is starting to look like a real doomsday ride.” Clara nodded, satisfied.
Its defense and speed had both improved. Best of all, she no longer had to drive that beat-up Santana. She was too caught up in the thrill of upgrading her ride to think about the tires having been punctured. Luckily, the upgrade would repair them. After driving for about another half hour, Clara spotted another brown supply crate.
“There are so many supply crates on this road,” she muttered.
As before, she used the axe to press the latch, her other hand holding the Repeating Crossbow in case a creature suddenly burst out and attacked. A white shape shot out of the crate and lunged straight at Clara's face. It was a rabbit with blood-red eyes, front teeth as long as daggers, and a savage aura pouring off it. Her pupils contracted, but Clara was already prepared.
The instant the white shape shot out, she pulled the Repeating Crossbow's trigger without hesitation.
“Whoosh!”
The crossbow bolt flew through the air and hit the mutant rabbit square in the head. The powerful impact sent its body flying backward, and it slammed hard onto the ground. The rabbit twitched twice and then went still. Then an Energy Crystal Fragment drifted out of the corpse.
“Close one.” Clara let out a sigh of relief. The Repeating Crossbow was even more powerful than she had imagined.
Just then, her wristband popped up a new notification.
— Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
DismantleDismantle the mutant corpse?YesNo
“Dismantle.”
DismantleNotice¦ Ding! Dismantle successful.ItemDetails🍖 Rabbit Meat 1 lb x10Meat from a mutant rabbit. Fills the stomach.🟫 Animal Hide x1Beast hide. Crafting material for clothing and armor.🪢 Beast Sinew x1Tough beast tendon. Crafting material.
“Dismantling can yield materials too?” Clara's eyes lit up.
That meant as long as she could kill mutant creatures, she would have an endless supply of resources. After driving for most of the day, she was starting to feel tired. Then Clara built a fire in front of the car, planning to roast Rabbit Meat and get some proper rest. She first walked to the back of the car and checked the water purifier. Some water had already collected in the storage tank.
“First, I'll trade for some containers on the Trading Platform.”
With that, Clara used an empty water bottle to collect about 3.4 ounces of Purified Water, then listed it on the Trading Platform.
MerchantItemTrade💧 Purified Water 3.4 ozEmpty Water Bottle x10
Almost instantly, the trade went through. Right after, she used nine empty bottles, filled each with about 3.4 ounces of Purified Water, and listed them on the Trading Platform again.
MerchantItemTrade💧 Purified Water 3.4 oz⚫ Rubber x3
When she finished, she used the last bottle to collect about 3.4 ounces of milk.
MerchantItemTrade🥛 High‑Energy Milk 3.4 ozEnergy Crystal Fragment x5•NoteNote: ¦ Miracle drug, if you know,you know. Also: buying all kindsof blueprints, DM me.
Once all that was done, the Chat Channel went wild over her again.
Chat Channel💬Anonymous Player-Holy crap! Purified Water? I haven't had a drink in almost a day. I've got Rubber. Traded.-💬Anonymous Player-Damn, I was too slow. 9 portions gone in an instant? Water-selling boss, do you have more? I'll pay 4 Rubber per bottle.-💬Anonymous Player-Stop yelling, upstairs. Look at the last one. The High-Energy Milk boss is back, this time trading for 5 Energy Crystal Fragments? What's that stuff even for?-💬Anonymous Player-You can get them by killing zombies or mutant creatures. The drop rate is low. I killed 7 before one dropped.-💬Anonymous Player-This fragment is a required material for upgrading an LV2 vehicle. Don't get scammed, everyone!-💬Anonymous Player-Too late... I already traded... But this milk? Worth it.-💬Anonymous Player-What do you guys think, did this milk-selling boss awaken some kind of talent?-💬Anonymous Player-No way, right? I think it's more likely he got some special item. No talent is that broken.-💬Anonymous Player-Not necessarily. If it‘s not a talent, where’s he getting the milk from?-💬Anonymous Player-I bet it‘s a female player. That’s why she doesn't show her face, afraid of being harassed.-💬Anonymous Player-Huh, that makes sense!-💬Anonymous Player-Makes sense +1.-