Chapter 38

Actually, there was no choice at all.

Xia Yan was well aware that with only one leg, it would be difficult for her to even walk out of this street, let alone return to the Giant Rock City.

What would be the point of going back anyway?

Although she had been a mercenary for quite some time, she hadn't saved much money. A decent neural-link bionic prosthetic could cost tens of thousands of chips, and even a mechanical transmission prosthetic would cost thousands.

The price was comparable to a set of chemically powered exoskeletons.

Even if she were sold, she couldn't afford it.

She could either go with these people or wait to die here.

The choice wasn't that hard.

Sitting on the edge of the swaying wooden cart, bouncing up and down with the fully packed burlap bags, Xia Yan sighed inwardly.

Perhaps this journey would be her last bit of freedom.

Apart from being taken back to bear a child, she couldn't think of any other use she had for the man in front of her.

A special skill?

A job?

Ha ha.

After much thought, she realized that her body was the only thing left that had any value.

She had heard it would be very painful, but she didn't know if it was true...

"We've arrived."

The voice from the front interrupted at least 200,000 words of non-existent imagination.

Coming back to her senses from her daydream, Xia Yan suddenly lifted her head and found that she had been brought to a small forest by this group of people.

In the center of the forest, there was an open space with wooden stakes scattered around, and an unfinished concrete wall stood there.

Next to the concrete wall were kilns emitting smoke, and further back were pits for smoking meat and fish.

The air was filled with the smell of grilled meat, and the sound of hammering filled her ears.

Some people were hammering stones, some were operating bellows to fan the furnaces, and others were moving stones, building walls, or cutting trees.

It was like a large construction site.

Primitive and busy.

These people... were his subordinates?

Looking at everything in front of her, Xia Yan's pale face was filled with surprise. She roughly counted and found that there were quite a few people here, at least a dozen or twenty, all wearing the same blue uniforms.

The moment she saw the clothes, she guessed their identity in less than a second.

Shelter residents!?

She hadn't heard of any shelters nearby.

But...

What were they doing?

Xia Yan was puzzled.

Shelters weren't uncommon in Qingquan City. Some had been opened for many years, while others were still sealed, waiting for the unlocking period to arrive.

Those successful shelters could sometimes be a force, while the less fortunate ones had mostly become food for mutants or other creatures.

Xia Yan remembered that there was a shelter not far from Giant Rock City, but the survivors inside were quite xenophobic and unwilling to interact with outsiders. They were very cautious and rarely came out of the shelter, let alone build on the surface.

What was the point of this wall?

It was indeed sturdy, probably bulletproof, but no matter how sturdy, could it be stronger than the shelter's door?

That thing could even block gamma rays.

"... You're from a shelter?"

"Yes," Chu Guang glanced at her injured leg and said, "I thought you had passed out."

She had been very quiet on the way, with no movement.

Chu Guang's attention was mostly focused on the surroundings, and he hadn't paid much attention to her, assuming she had passed out from blood loss.

He didn't expect her to still be awake.

"I'm not that fragile."

Xia Yan lifted her chin, her eyebrows and expression as stiff as if they were filled with lead. She thought this might make her look a bit more resolute.

At least not timid.

Unfortunately, no one cared about her attempt to appear strong, or even noticed it.

"I can see that," Chu Guang said casually, his gaze returning from her bloodied and mangled leg, "Your wound is healing faster than an ordinary person's."

Using the attribute template from Shelter 404, this person's constitution was at least 8 points, with an error margin of ±1.

For an ordinary person, even without excessive blood loss, they would have been unconscious with a high fever by now.

But this person was still holding on, just sweating and pale, with a slightly unclear consciousness.

Of course, it might also be due to a "talent."

Survivors in the wasteland more or less had some mutations, and it wasn't unusual for them to have some unusual physical traits.

Chu Guang turned to two players and instructed them.

"Take the food to 'Tomato and Egg' and have him store it properly."

A few days ago, Chu Guang had instructed Egg to build a granary to store grains and meat.

If everything went as planned, it should be completed by now.

Whether the food was dried and stored or just piled in bags, he trusted the chef to be more professional and reliable than himself.

With players around, Chu Guang didn't bother with these trivial details.

The last time he tried to smoke meat, it was a nightmare. If he planned the granary himself, the food would probably mold or be eaten by rats before winter.

Hearing the manager's instructions, Fang Chang and Ye Shi nodded and accepted the task.

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

Chu Guang didn't say anything.

He simply reached out and lifted the mercenary woman from the cart, ignoring her exclamation, and carried her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the backpack that Ye Shi had taken from the other three mercenaries and strode toward the sanatorium.

Ye Shi and Fang Chang were impressed.

This woman and a full backpack of equipment must weigh at least a hundred kilograms.

To carry both with one hand was incredible!

Old Bai, noticing the situation, quietly approached.

"What happened? Who is the person the boss is carrying?"

"Ask Fang Chang, he's the one who finished the plot, I just watched in silence," Ye Shi said, feeling like a tool, either licking bags or being a hostage, with a gloomy face.

Fang Chang made a helpless expression.

"Don't look at me, there are no subtitles in this game, and I couldn't understand what the NPCs were saying during the plot... Just consider her a new NPC."

He could guess the general idea, but it was hard to explain it clearly. He would wait for the official website to update.

Old Bai was stunned.

"Okay... But, how did she get so badly injured?"

"Ha, not only was she badly injured, she almost didn't make it," Ye Shi sighed, "You don't know what we encountered on the way back."

"What did you encounter?"

"Crawlers!"

"What the hell?" Old Bai looked at Ye Shi in surprise, "You encountered crawlers? What do they look like?"

The official website had information on crawlers, but it was just a few abstract descriptions with no combat stats or reference images.

Old Bai only remembered that they were similar to feeders, both symbiotic mutants born from fungal infections, and possibly related to biological weapons, with no traceable ancestors.

He thought they were probably just fictional monsters, and the game company might not have even made the models yet.

But these two actually encountered them!

"They look really ugly, with four long arms, about half a person's height when crawling, and probably two meters tall when standing. They are incredibly strong and incredibly fast! We fired a round with three guns and didn't hit once. In the end, the manager was amazing, he picked up a steel pipe and killed it in a few strikes."

Ye Shi vividly described the situation, but his abstract narrative style didn't really clarify much.

Old Bai looked to Fang Chang for help, who sighed.

"I can't explain it clearly in a short time, but basically, as Ye Shi said, the feeder was incredibly strong."

"I think the new patch not only updated in-game events but also added more mutants, new NPC factions, and related quests. We'll talk about it after we log off... The manager asked me to deliver the cart to Egg, I need to complete the task."

Although he wanted to discuss his new discoveries with Fang Chang, there were only three hours left until nightfall, and there was no time to waste.

Old Bai sighed and nodded.

"Alright, go ahead... I'll think about the blast furnace for steel, and you come help me when you're done!"

"Sure, see you."

...

On the other side, inside the sanatorium.

Players working on the scaffolding noticed the manager returning from outside.

They also noticed the woman he was carrying on his shoulder.

"Damn, look, the manager is carrying someone!"

"Who is that person???"

"A new NPC?"

"And it's a girl!"

"Finally, a new NPC! Brothers, we're one step closer to the beta test!"

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

Thinking they were one step closer to the beta test, the players were energized and worked even harder.

Xia Yan, carried on Chu Guang's shoulder, felt her cheeks burning, not just from the position but from the gazes that made her feel like she was being pierced by thorns.

She didn't understand what they were saying, but she didn't need to.

She could guess the kind of crude comments they were making, just like the lecherous looks in their eyes.

She imagined they were like hyenas in the wasteland, fawning and flattering the leader to get a bone or a sip of soup after he finished his meal.

Clearly, she was the tender and delicious lamb.

Xia Yan felt more and more afraid, her teeth chattering, and tears welling up in her eyes, even spilling over.

She suddenly regretted it. Rather than being humiliated and then torn apart by the wolves, she wished she had ended her own life, dying with more dignity.

But her body wouldn't listen to her.

The elevator went down.

Arrived.

Chu Guang strode through the shelter's door, through the buffer room, into the residents' hall, threw the bag of equipment aside, and then threw Xia Yan onto a chair.

"Ouch, be gentle... What are you going to do?"

Sucking in a breath of cold air from the pain, Xia Yan stared nervously at Chu Guang, who was approaching.

"Be still."

Ignoring her, Chu Guang casually pulled open a drawer, took out a silver metal tube, popped off the plastic cap with his thumb, and flicked it with his index finger.

"It shouldn't hurt, just bear with it."