Chapter 52

Around four in the morning, Qi Tianyang's parents finally arrived. Seeing their once healthy and sunny son now lying on the bed with bruises all over his body, tears welled up in their eyes, and they were immensely grateful to Wang Fusheng. After talking with Qi Tianyang's parents for a while, Wang Fusheng left the hospital. Wang Fusheng did not ask why Qi Tianyang was beaten, and Qi Tianyang did not say anything.

After returning to his residence, Wang Fusheng took a shower and checked the time, which was almost five o'clock. In a couple of hours, he could go to school. At this moment, Wang Fusheng was not sleepy, so he picked up the game helmet and entered the game again.

"Are you okay?" As soon as he logged in, Peach Eyes sent a message.

"Why haven't you logged out yet?" Scavenger was taken aback. After all, whether it was Peach Eyes, Wrench, or Scavenger himself, unless it was the weekend, their logout times were very fixed. However, it was past midnight, and not only was Peach Eyes still online, but Wrench was too. A warm current surged in Scavenger's heart. The fact that the two of them had stayed online until now clearly had something to do with Scavenger's sudden logout.

"Wrench said his research is almost complete and wants to finish it in one go. I stayed to witness it, but it hasn't succeeded yet. Is everything okay on your side?" Peach Eyes found a lame excuse.

"Everything's fine. A friend got drunk and had a bit of a conflict, but it's been resolved. If everything's fine, log out quickly. It's Monday, and everyone is pretty busy today." Scavenger explained. In the past, the three of them only cooperated in the game and were just relatively close friends.

However, today's actions by Peach Eyes and Wrench made Scavenger, who had always felt somewhat depressed after retiring from the battlefield, feel that in the ordinary world, he had two more friends besides Qi Tianyang. Men's friendships aren't complicated; a little care and a bit of emotion can lay the foundation for a lifelong friendship.

"Good to hear. Since we have a few more hours to be busy, going to sleep won't help much. I might as well stay up. By the way, I've contacted Gambler as you asked. Flower Rain is offering 50,000 points, and I'm offering 40,000 points for the mechanical bees. The price is about what I expected. Do you want to sell?"

"Sell if you think it's good. You know I'm not familiar with this." Scavenger smiled. After a few days of gaming, hearing such a large amount of money for equipment no longer surprised him.

Now, the ratio of points to real-world RMB is roughly 10:1, and this ratio is expected to remain for a while. Later, as players' levels increase, the ratio will expand again. However, 90,000 points, or 9,000 RMB, still made Scavenger sigh a bit.

"By the way, Gambler asked me to tell you to complete the main quest as soon as possible. Get some more equipment; his team's equipment is almost complete, and they are waiting to level up."

"How does their waiting to level up relate to our quest?" Scavenger frowned.

"The game 'Fate' has been open for a week, and the highest level player is still a 6th-class private, with no one reaching the rank of corporal. Doesn't that seem strange? A 5th-class private only needs 3,200 points to level up to a 6th-class private, and a 6th-class private only needs 10,000 points to become a corporal. Some monster-killing fanatics have already met the upgrade criteria after buying a set of equipment and learning skills. But the system seems to be blocking the upgrade."

"Is this blocking related to our quest?" Scavenger seemed to understand something.

"Probably, the main quest is a level-opening checkpoint. Once you complete it, the checkpoint will be opened, and everyone can level up. Players think the system hasn't opened the corporal rank yet. But the main quest is likely the bottleneck. After all, Gambler and his team competed with us for the werewolves, so if he says this, it must be true."

"Got it, I'll do it as soon as possible. Officer Pete asked us to check out the Blue Bay River. Hack into the security base's satellite system and get me a detailed map. Otherwise, with a 300-mile distance and only a general direction, and so many monsters on the way, it's easy to get lost."

"I've already prepared it for you. Check your mailbox. However, the satellite map is just a top-down view. You'll need to judge the specific terrain yourself. I tried to hack into the base's database to get a military map, but I almost got caught."

"Almost got caught? Are you okay?" Scavenger asked in surprise. After all, Peach Eyes' computer skills were top-notch, and even in Scavenger's memory, he was the best. In the chaotic star domain in Africa, Scavenger had met many top scientists, a place where various new equipment was tested.

Even so, Peach Eyes was still the best. Hacking into a military satellite without being detected, but just looking at the base's database and getting a military map almost got him caught. The security base's system defense was incredibly strong.

"Nothing happened, but I feel like the security base is watching us. Getting a satellite map is much harder than before. Level up quickly, and I'll earn money faster. Once we have money, we can get our own satellite. Otherwise, if we keep sneaking around, we'll get caught one day."

"I think you enjoy it, don't you?" Scavenger rolled his eyes. They say a wife is not as good as a mistress, a mistress is not as good as a secret affair, and a secret affair is not as good as an unattainable one. This man's psychology, applied to his own things and others' things, fits perfectly. In a popular phrase, "It's all about the thrill." What's the fun of playing with your own things? Playing with others' things is more exciting.

"Hehe, the guy who designed the security base's system is pretty good, but a bit rigid, clearly a military style. When I was a kid, I loved playing the thief in the cops and robbers game. Watching the cops scratch their heads and can't find me, it's very satisfying."

"Psychological distortion is psychological distortion. Don't overdo it. The equipment and computers you use are not on the same level as the security base's." Scavenger reminded him.

"Don't worry, I know my limits. By the way, I'm a bit short on cash. How about we exchange the money from selling the equipment and split it?"

"I'm not short on cash recently. Captain, keep it for me." Wrench said at this moment. Although he hadn't teamed up with Scavenger, he always called him Captain.

"It's just a minor conflict, nothing to worry about. Thanks!" At this moment, Scavenger understood why Peach Eyes wanted to exchange the money from selling the equipment. Although Scavenger said it was just a minor conflict, how could a minor conflict take from 7 or 8 PM the previous night until nearly 5 AM the next morning?

Clearly, Peach Eyes did this because he was afraid Scavenger might need money but was too embarrassed to say so. After a few days of interaction, it was obvious that Scavenger wasn't well-off, even without saying it.

"You're weird. Why say thanks for nothing? Anyway, I'm logging out. Staying up all night is bad for your skin. By the way, a player named Kantu added me as a friend and wants to find you. Since you reject friend requests from strangers, he added me. Don't you need a partner to kill monsters? Add him and see if he's useful." Peach Eyes found a random excuse to log out. Wrench also logged out after doing a small experiment.

Although Scavenger didn't know who Kantu was, since Peach Eyes mentioned it, he searched for the name. However, the other person was not online, so Scavenger wandered around for a while and then logged out.

Scavenger spent the whole day in a half-sleep, half-awake state. In the battlefield, he could go three days without sleep, but that wasn't because he wasn't tired. It was due to high concentration and the surrounding danger that suppressed sleep.

Now, after staying up all night, Scavenger didn't need to concentrate on enemies or be wary of snipers. Without the mental pressure, falling asleep during class was normal.

However, although he was drowsy all day, in the evening, Scavenger felt very energetic and picked up the game helmet to start playing. Instantly, he felt that this kind of life was also quite good. Since retiring, this was the only time Scavenger found a sense of belonging in this ordinary world.

Logging into the game and seeing the busy players around him, Scavenger felt he no longer felt out of place in this world. The gloomy mood from Qi Tianyang's incident was also gone. Checking the electronic map, Scavenger started heading towards the Blue Bay River.

The Blue Bay River is to the southeast of the security base. From the satellite image, it is a winding river running east-west, flowing slowly through a forest, but it hides danger. In this post-nuclear war world, the real danger is not the mechanical monsters, as they were still rare at that time. The real danger is the various mutated creatures.

These creatures include animals, insects, and plants. The monsters encountered in the ruins of past towns are not very dangerous. Animals have a natural fear of humans, just as humans fear tigers. So, despite the ruins, the number of mutated creatures is not high, and most are domestic animals.

However, the wilderness is different. It is truly the domain of other creatures. Although it sounds silly to call it a home-field advantage, the monsters in the wilderness are indeed more powerful and troublesome than those in the ruins.

The sky was still gray, always giving the impression of a bright glass surface covered with a layer of dust, making one want to wipe it but lacking a large enough cloth. The sniper rifle was taken by Wrench for testing, and without it, Scavenger felt a bit uncomfortable. He could only use binoculars to observe the distance.

"Such a large insect, if it appeared before the nuclear war, it would probably be a target for scientists to dissect and study. But now, if scientists came to catch them, it would likely be the scientists who end up as snacks." Looking at the oversized insects through the binoculars, Scavenger couldn't help but comment.

Scavenger didn't know the scientific name of the insect he was observing, but players now call it the "fart bug." It got this name because its attack method is to fart. When injured, it turns its butt and sprays a noxious gas, which is toxic and can make people who breathe it dizzy. Then the hunter and the prey switch roles, and the fart bug, which was being hunted, turns around and makes the hunter its snack.

The fart bug is not very large, each one about the size of a washbasin. Compared to the mutated earthworm king, which is over ten meters long, it is a small creature. The fart bug has wings and can fly, though not very far or high. This adds many uncertainties to player battles. You can't predict whether the fart bug will give you a stinky fart while on the ground or fly up and give you a stinky fart in the face.

Some readers say not to mix too much real-life content into the story. I will try to control this. The hospital conflict was designed mainly to create a touching moment in this chapter. After all, there is no love without a reason. To make the characters cooperate sincerely and become true friends, there needs to be some emotional foundation. In the future, I will try to set up such scenes within the game. Personally, I feel that as long as the purpose is achieved, whether in reality or in the game, it doesn't matter much. However, achieving this in the game requires more battle scenes, and writing too many might be criticized for dragging the plot.