Chapter 84

Chuguang never would have thought that the second non-combat casualty in Shelter 404 would actually be due to crabs in the lake?

"Claw Splitter Crab."

Looking towards the lakeshore, where a large crab was feasting on a player's head, Chuguang took only a second to recognize the creature.

This crab was probably a mutant of some kind of lake crab. No one knew exactly what species it was, and it didn't really matter. After all, a crab that grew to a meter tall didn't fit in with any known relatives.

Its body was covered in mud and algae, as if it could never be cleaned, and from a distance, it looked like a lump of mud. The highly arched, round carapace served as natural armor, composed of large amounts of calcium and magnesium minerals, chitin, keratinized fibers, and other biological polymers, effectively dispersing and cushioning kinetic damage. A typical light weapon would do little more than tickle it.

The two massive claws, however, were incredibly powerful, reportedly capable of cutting through tree trunks as thick as thighs... But how did this thing end up here?

Could there be a Claw Splitter Crab nest at the bottom of the lake or on the other side?

Chuguang's brows furrowed.

"What's a Claw Splitter Crab?" Fang Chang, who was standing beside him, was completely confused and quickly asked.

"An anomaly."

There was no time to explain.

The Claw Splitter Crab had already gnawed off half a head, and if they waited any longer, the unfortunate player's body would be completely devoured.

Chuguang switched the KV-1 exoskeleton from "cruise mode" to "maneuver mode," increasing the output power of the knee and elbow joints. He walked heavily towards the Claw Splitter Crab and calmly drew the hammer from his back.

The wide carapace of the Claw Splitter Crab left it with almost no rear vision.

Although it had acute hearing at close range, as long as one approached it head-on, it couldn't accurately determine the direction of the threat.

In about two seconds, he could knock it down with one hammer blow!

However, just as Chuguang took a few steps out of the forest, still about twenty to thirty meters away, Mosquito suddenly emerged from the grass with a wooden tube.

"Big crab? Where?!!! Damn, so big! Administrator, it's too dangerous over there, don't go! Let me take care of it!"

With that, Mosquito excitedly lit the fuse at the back of the wooden tube, shouldered it, and aimed the black hole at the crab.

"Damn!"

"It's Mosquito!"

"Run!"

The players nearby were frightened by his actions and scattered like they had seen a plague.

Before Chuguang could stop him, the wooden tube spat a flame, launching a fist-sized grenade towards the Claw Splitter Crab.

The Claw Splitter Crab probably heard the noise but didn't have time to turn around before the grenade landed in the mud behind it.

Clearly, this RPG had no accuracy.

But it didn't matter.

With a "boom," a mud column shot up five meters, the explosion's light shook the carapace, and the thick smoke enveloped the massive creature.

If a human had been standing that close, even if not killed by shrapnel, their internal organs would have been shattered.

But the Claw Splitter Crab was not human.

The shock wave from the explosion couldn't penetrate its carapace, let alone damage its already minimal internal organs.

A shrill, hoarse scream echoed.

The Claw Splitter Crab, enveloped in smoke, charged out in pain, quickly locking onto the nearest target, Chuguang, and lunged forward with its massive claws.

However, its legs were probably "fractured" by the shock, so its speed was only slightly faster than a human's walking pace.

The nearby players quickly opened fire, but the Claw Splitter Crab, hit by several bullets, seemed unaffected.

"Cease fire!"

Chuguang raised his right fist, signaling the players to stop wasting ammunition, then weighed the hammer in his hand and sighed as he stepped forward.

"You really know how to give me trouble."

...

The limping Claw Splitter Crab, in front of the nitrogen-powered hammer, was no different from a scavenger with an empty magazine.

Chuguang didn't waste any time, switched to B mode, and delivered a heavy armor-piercing strike. The instant explosion of the nitrogen armor shattered half of its face.

The battle was over.

The dozen or so young players who had come out of the base with him were only responsible for scratching the surface. Apart from wasting a few bullets, they did no damage at all.

"Too strong..."

"Leader Dawn is awesome!"

"I finally understand how the scavenger's head was missing..."

The surrounding players whispered excitedly.

Mosquito, carrying the wooden tube, looked bewildered and only came to his senses after the battle ended.

"Damn... It's still alive?"

"You're using HE rounds on a target. At least switch to AP rounds," Ye Shi said with a grin, patting Mosquito's shoulder, "But to be fair, bro, your aim is terrible."

Mosquito's face turned red as he tried to defend himself.

"It must be a plot... a plot kill! The plot hasn't finished, so it can't be killed. One kilogram of explosives, it would definitely be dead if not for the plot!"

"Hahaha, possible! I never thought of the plot thing, hahaha."

"..."

Fang Chang sighed, not joining in on the teasing, but patted Mosquito's shoulder, giving him an encouraging look, and then went to help the administrator collect the spoils.

This Claw Splitter Crab weighed at least three hundred pounds, possibly even four or five hundred.

【Midnight Chicken】swung an axe at the Crab's back, but the thick, dirty carapace only left a mud mark, and his hand ached from the impact.

"Damn? Is this shell made of iron?" His eyes bulged, doubting the power of his axe for the first time.

"It should make good armor," 【Canyon Escaped Mole】squatted beside it, using a woodcutting knife to scrape the Crab's claws, "The claws are also incredibly hard. Is this thing really a radiation mutant?"

"Who knows."

Seeing the players gathered around the Claw Splitter Crab, touching and examining it, Chuguang put away his hammer.

"Find a cart and carry it back."

"Yes!"

"遵命！管理者大人！"

Seeing the players start to work, Chuguang found two idle young players and had them carry the headless body back.

Fortunately, they arrived in time, and the player had only been eaten from the head, with the clothes mostly intact. The explosion's shrapnel and burning wood tar were mostly blocked by the Crab's shell.

Chuguang wasn't worried about the players dying, but rather about them damaging the clothes.

A person could be revived, but the blue coat only had two sets, and if damaged, it would be hard to find a suitable replacement.

...

On the way back, the snow grew heavier, and the tree branches and leaves were already covered in snow. If it didn't stop by nightfall, it would likely start to accumulate by tomorrow.

Chuguang initially speculated that the drop in temperature had caused the Claw Splitter Crabs to change their activity range, but he didn't know from which direction they had migrated.

He hoped they hadn't settled near his home.

To prevent similar incidents, Chuguang issued an order to designate the area as a danger zone.

Until the source of the Claw Splitter Crabs was identified, no one was allowed to approach.

He also instructed two perception-type players, one to the northeast and the other to the southwest, to patrol the lakeshore and report any abnormalities immediately.

The Claw Splitter Crab, which was a meter tall even when lying down, was carried onto a cart by two strength-type players.

Singing a chaotic victory song, the players who had accompanied the administrator on this "expedition" carried the trophy back to the forward base.

Their high-profile return drew the attention of many.

"Damn, such a big crab?"

"What's going on?!"

Curious players who didn't know the situation pulled one of the group and asked.

"Bro, where did you catch such a big crab?"

"We fished it."

"What? Such a big one can be fished?!"

"Heh, we used a fisherman as bait, and it worked."

Not only were the nearby players stunned, but so was Yu Hu, who had just arrived from Bet Street for a trade.

Beside him stood a man, both shouldering one end of a wooden pole, with a large mutated wild boar tied to the other end. They stood at the West Gate, staring at the crab in amazement.

Chuguang noticed him and walked over, smiling.

"Here to trade?"

Yu Hu opened his mouth, his eyes moving from the big crab to the large hammer on Chuguang's back.

The man beside him reacted first, nodding nervously and said honestly,

"I want to trade for some salt. I heard you can trade for salt here."

Yu Hu finally came to his senses and introduced him to Chuguang.

"This is my cousin, Li Niu."

Li Niu was fine.

Chuguang's expression was strange, thinking about what they would do if they ran out of the twelve zodiac signs and common animal names.

"Since it's snowing, come inside."

Under Chuguang's lead, the two men moved through the forward base, drawing curious glances from others.

Yu Hu was used to it, having been there several times, but his cousin, who was visiting for the first time, felt uncomfortable.

"Please don't mind. They've been underground for a long time and are curious about people from outside the shelter."

Seeing the blue-coated figure speaking to him, Li Niu waved his hands, saying, "No, no, I don't mind."

Chuguang nodded and led them to the warehouse, handing them over to the warehouse manager, Luca.

The old slave recognized Yu Hu and immediately understood his task, leading Li Niu to the butchery stall.

Yu Hu handed over the game and didn't follow, instead staying close to Chuguang, eyeing the large hammer curiously.

"Brother Chu, is this your weapon?"

"Sort of."

"Such a big one? Can you use it?"

"Of course."

"Then, did you use this hammer to kill the Claw Splitter Crab just now?"

"Yes."

Getting a positive answer, the young man's eyes bulged, taking a while to process the shock before managing to say,

"Too strong!"

Claw Splitter Crab!

A monster no scavenger wants to encounter.

This creature moves quickly in narrow terrain, has explosive power, and a simple mind. Once it locks onto a target, it pursues relentlessly.

Unless one can find a high place to climb, escape is almost impossible.

Almost nothing can face this monster head-on, not even a mutated brown bear would fight it.

Chuguang smiled, not explaining.

His strength wasn't important; the power of technology was.

A nuclear-powered hammer, combined with a chemically-powered exoskeleton, could shatter a wall with one blow, let alone a beast's face.

"Alright. Speaking of which, how's the situation on your side? This snow doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon."

"It's the same every year. We just make do," Yu Hu said optimistically, "But this winter came early, and we were caught off guard. Usually, caravans come in October, but this year, the last one was in late September... sigh."

Chuguang consoled him.

"Think of it this way: the cold helps preserve meat longer."

Yu Hu shook his head.

"But prey is hard to find. To hunt, we have to go deeper into the city, to the nests of anomalies."

Chuguang was interested.

"Oh? Do you have any experience?"

Yu Hu nodded and explained.

"Not really experience, more like intuition! Half-collapsed buildings, especially those with trees growing through them, are often filled with small animals, even nests. Predators like hyenas and wolves also go in, so these places are good for hunting year-round... but they're risky."

Chuguang: "Scavengers."

"Yes, scavengers love hiding in buildings, but they don't go too high. We usually start clearing from the fourth floor up. Even then, it's hard to predict what we'll find. It could be a nest of thousands of rats or a resting crawler. Without guns, we don't dare go too deep, usually only to the fifth ring."

Chuguang sighed.

"With the snow, it's even harder to go deeper."

Yu Hu smiled bitterly.

"Not just the snow, even without it, it's hard! The roads are like a maze, with some streets flooded all year round!"

From Bet Street to Boulder City, the straight-line distance on the map is over ten kilometers, outside the fifth ring of Qingquan City to the edge of the third ring, with the Wetland Park even further.

In the parallel world, Qingquan City couldn't be found, but Chuguang compared it to Jiangcheng, where a ten-kilometer line on the map could stretch from the river to the outskirts.

What does this distance mean?

Without traffic, a good car could make it in half an hour, maybe an hour with more intersections.

Walking?

Chuguang hadn't tried walking such a distance, but he imagined it would involve at least twenty overpasses or tunnels.

This was under normal traffic conditions.

If crossing the ruins, it was a completely different concept.

In the pre-war era, even the shortest buildings within the fourth ring were over 600 meters tall. The magnetic bases and nodes on the roads and building exteriors supported a 120-lane vertical transportation system.

In the era of magnetic levitation technology, high-rise buildings were not just "houses" but also part of the "road," especially those near main thoroughfares, which had strict height requirements.

Of course, these were Chuguang's speculations based on Old Charlie's stories and limited information, not necessarily accurate.

But just imagining the towering buildings, he could feel the oppressive atmosphere of this concrete graveyard.

Humans have an instinctive reverence and fear of structures hundreds of times their size. Searching for prey in this ruin was not an easy task...

Chuguang suggested.

"Why don't you and your family move here? I could use some help."

Although tempted, Yu Hu shook his head vigorously.

"No, no, we can't be a burden to you."

Chuguang smiled.

"This isn't a burden. I'm not just supporting you; it's mutual help."

Yu Hu shook his head even faster.

"Helping is fine, staying for a few days is fine, but moving here is not an option! We're comfortable where we are, living underground... it feels strange. Besides, I don't understand the others here, and it would be hard to get along in the long run."

Seeing his response, Chuguang didn't insist.

Although Chuguang wanted to say that the "blue coats" were not always underground, this wasn't the key issue.

When someone refuses for various reasons, the reasons given are often the least important.

A typical example is "my mom doesn't allow it."

So Chuguang never listens to explanations, and if he does, he pretends not to hear.

Trust takes time to build and can't be forced.

Moreover, they had a home.

He couldn't just tear it down.

Yu Hu changed the subject, smiling.

"Speaking of which, Brother Chu, can the meat of the big crab be eaten? I've never seen anyone catch one before."

Chuguang laughed.

"I don't know, I was going to ask you."

"You? How would you know? I've only heard that the female crab's roe can be eaten, but I've never heard about the meat... If it