Chapter 88: Seeking Skins from a Tiger (Subscription Request)

The snow, once it started, didn't stop.

The north wind howled, and the forest rustled. The woods outside the forward base were pitch black, and it seemed as if there were people hiding behind every tree and every blade of grass was breathing.

The guards on the wall were on edge, fearing they might be killed by the plot, just like the fisherman who was ambushed.

It was truly tormenting.

Not only were the players on duty tense, but Chu Guang was also nervous.

He had already taken out two groups of the Blood Hand Clan. Logically, they wouldn't just let him be. Even if it meant severely weakening themselves, they would have to reclaim their honor.

However, the raiders from the north remained quiet, and Chu Guang felt uneasy. He sat on the upper floor in his exoskeleton for half the night, only coming down after one in the morning. The next day, he slept until noon.

On the other hand, the players were all energetic, taking turns to log in. The heavy snow seemed to have no effect on them as they worked tirelessly.

He was truly envious.

After all, it wasn't their bodies, and they couldn't feel the excessive pain. Even if their limbs were numb from the cold, eating some meat and carbohydrates and lying in the cultivation pod for a few hours would restore them.

Of course, this was only the beginning of winter, and the coldest days were yet to come.

Don't say that minus ten degrees isn't cold; try experiencing the magical attack in the south? You don't even need minus temperatures; a gust of wind could blow away half your life.

"We should add a heating pipe to this exoskeleton."

"Forget it, let's wait until they make the armor lining."

Watching the trucks of bricks being transported from the warehouse to the industrial area, Chu Guang's face broke into a smile, and he nodded in satisfaction.

Not bad.

These players were very sensible.

The budget given to Brother Toilet and Brother Lei made them more confident. The moment they logged in, they used the budget provided by Chu Guang to buy 5,000 bricks and 500 kilograms of cement from the warehouse. Under the envious gazes of other players, they transported the materials to the industrial area.

Since the silver coins were from the corporate account, they could simply transfer the funds in the ledger. Old Luca was already proficient in this task, and Chu Guang didn't need to worry about it.

As for the sand needed for plastering, the warehouse didn't have much in stock, as it was almost used up during the wall construction.

But it wasn't a problem. They could rent a cart and hire two people to go to the abandoned construction site to the north. One silver coin per cart, five carts per cubic meter, and about nine carts would be enough for now.

After all, it was only a little over two kilometers round trip, and the road was flat and easy to walk. Many people were eager to do this job.

There, the sand and gravel were piled up, used for building hundred-meter-high buildings. It was impossible to tell what they were made of, but the quality of pre-war materials wouldn't be bad.

Although some of the sand had been washed into the foundation by rain, the part buried in the soil on the surface would be enough for them to use for many years.

To build a wall 18 meters high, one square meter required 96 bricks, 10 kilograms of cement, and over 50 kilograms of sand.

A 20x10 steel mill, fully enclosed, would need about 30,000 to 40,000 bricks and 4 to 5 tons of cement. Even if they emptied the warehouse, they wouldn't have enough materials.

But it didn't matter.

In the wasteland, there was no need to be so particular. If necessary, they could first plaster the north wall, then use some scrap metal and plastic sheds to build a semi-open "Tong" character-shaped factory, saving more than half the materials.

The wasteland should have a wasteland atmosphere. Chu Guang's shack on Bet Street didn't even use a kilogram of cement, but it was still habitable.

That's called post-apocalyptic style.

At least, the two factory managers, Brother Toilet and Brother Lei, didn't care.

The top priority was to first build the steelmaking converter, then melt and cast two rolling mills using scrap metal, and finally create a set of powerful armor for the great manager!

This was their primary task at the moment.

In addition to hiring two people to transport the sand, they also hired three players who had worked on construction sites to help build the wall and the base of the converter.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

However, compared to the smooth progress of the "No. 81" steel mill, the progress of the Niu Ma Brick Factory was not as smooth.

Old Bai and Fang Chang, who logged in a bit later, were stunned when they arrived at the warehouse.

Where did all that building material go?

Yesterday, it was piled up so high, and now it was all sold out upon logging in?!

"Damn!"

"How could they be so fast?!"

"Tsk, we made a mistake."

"Let's not panic, brothers. Let's first scout the area and then think of a plan."

The four of them selected a wooden cart, shovels, axes, and machetes for clearing the land, and set out with four days' worth of rations, braving the heavy snow.

It wasn't that they wanted to save money for the shelter.

It was just that they couldn't spend the money even if they had it...

By the way, since the corporate account could only be used in the warehouse, they couldn't use it to buy guns at the weapon shop.

To verify, Fang Chang even tried, but the weapon shop owner ignored him, so he had to give up.

The snow outside the forward base was heavy, and the north wind howled.

Night Ten, holding an iron pipe rifle, gritted his teeth, wiped the snow from his bangs and eyebrows, and complained softly.

"This wind is too damn strong. It's so exaggerated at the end of September. Is it really necessary?"

Old Bai, however, was optimistic and chuckled.

"Probably to test the stability of the weather system. In the game world, whether it snows or not is just a matter of the developers' decision. I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed in summer."

Fang Chang glanced at the only Perception player in the team and reminded him.

"Still, be on high alert. We are currently at war with the Blood Hand Clan. Although this river is within the wetland park, it's not far from the north gate. If the raiders launch a surprise attack, we might be the first to encounter them."

Night Ten curled his lips.

"Who's afraid of that! This is our home turf! When the raiders come, I'll just hiss, and it won't be comfortable for them. Hey, there's someone in front of us."

"What? For real?!"

Although Night Ten wasn't very reliable, he had the highest Perception among all players.

Upon receiving Night Ten's warning, the other three players didn't hesitate and quickly abandoned the cart, grabbing their weapons and spreading out nearby.

They had been on hunting teams before.

And they had faced raiders before.

Night Ten, leaning against a tree, had lost his usual playful expression, now only showing seriousness and alertness.

He cautiously poked his head out, scanning the snowy forest, and his gaze suddenly locked onto a spot.

He gestured in a general direction and gave his teammates a confident nod.

"Flank around."

"Got it."

Old Bai, the outermost, moved first, and the four of them moved in a coordinated manner, forming a square to surround the target.

Ten meters.

Fifteen meters.

Twenty meters!

In the thick snow, a shadow finally appeared.

The person was wearing a gray coat, a thick felt hat, and carrying an iron pipe rifle. He was pressing down the hat brim with his right hand, walking toward the forward base.

He clearly wasn't a good guy!

Fang Chang immediately made a judgment. While the person hadn't noticed them, he quickly drew his bow, nocked an arrow, aimed at the person's right arm, and released the string with a snap.

A whistling sound broke the air.

The person didn't have time to react and was hit in the thigh, screaming in pain as he fell to the ground.

"Don't move if you don't want to die!"

Old Bai rushed forward, kicked the gun out of the person's hand, and menacingly placed a spear at his head.

The person looked terrified, babbling incoherently, but no one understood what he was saying.

Fang Chang suggested.

"Let's take one of us to bring him back."

"I'll do it."

Madness raised the crossbow in his hand.

Although he was an Intelligence player, a crossbow didn't require much attribute boost.

The other three trusted Madness's attention to detail and had no objections.

Old Bai returned to the cart, found some ropes to tie up the person, and poked his back with a spear as a threat.

"If you try to escape, we'll take off your other leg!"

After that, without caring whether the person understood, Old Bai handed him over to Madness, who escorted the limping captive back to the forward base.

...

Earlier, when the Niu Ma team left the forward base, Chu Guang saw that it was getting late, so he went to the warehouse to cut off a crab leg, found a room in the former sanatorium, and started roasting it.

In such snowy weather, food wouldn't spoil easily, so the crab leg would be fine for a couple of days.

This was high-quality protein, and he needed to eat more to build muscle.

Chu Guang, with nothing to do, would walk around in his exoskeleton without power, or do push-ups and bench presses with the nitrogen-powered hammer.

After each workout, he would take a shower, dry his clothes, and cook a meal when it was time to eat. His life was much more comfortable than when he was in Bet Street.

Although the training marks on his body weren't obvious, and his attribute panel hadn't changed, he could clearly feel that his strength and muscle coordination had improved slightly.

Chu Guang speculated that the data scanned and summarized by the health check equipment mainly measured the "basic hardware" of the body, while exercise might provide efficiency boosts in the form of Buffs.

For example, "Strength +3%" or "Strength +5%."

The larger the base value of an attribute, the more noticeable the effect of exercise.

For players with Strength gene sequences, exercise could also accumulate gene sequence development progress, breaking through hardware limitations.

Currently, Chu Guang's Strength attribute was 10, and his hardware foundation was about 200% of a normal adult male (base value 5).

Even without any technique, and with muscle coordination not at its maximum, he could easily overpower opponents of the same weight class.

If he encountered a crawler again, even without the exoskeleton and nitrogen-powered hammer, he wouldn't be as helpless as before.

However,

This assumption was unlikely to hold true.

After all, even within the forward base, he always wore the exoskeleton under his leather coat, just not powered.

It was just a form of weight training.

The five-pound crab leg was mostly shell, but the two and a half pounds of crab meat was still substantial. After finishing his meal, Chu Guang patted his hands and extinguished the fire.

At that moment, a player escorted a man in a coat into the sanatorium.

The captive was brought to the main building of the sanatorium, and Madness stood at attention, reporting to the manager.

"Respected Manager... We captured a scout from the raiders!"

"A captive?"

Chu Guang wiped his mouth, squinted his eyes, and looked at the man.

The man was covered in snow, mud, and dead leaves, with a broken arrow in his thigh, and his pants were stained with dark red blood. He looked quite miserable.

He gritted his teeth and said,

"Is this how you treat guests?"

"Guests are treated as guests."

Chu Guang didn't think he looked like a raider, but he didn't seem like a nearby scavenger either. He continued in an interrogating tone.

"Who are you? Why did you enter our territory? The three entrances to the wetland park have signs clearly stating that unauthorized personnel are strictly prohibited. Even if you can't read, you should recognize the skull symbol."

"I'm here to mediate!"

"Mediate?" Chu Guang narrowed his eyes, his tone unfriendly, "Are you with the Blood Hand?"

"No! I belong to no one!"

Feeling the hostility in the tone, the man quickly clarified, but the pain from his wound made him wince.

After a while, he regained his composure and, with a strained voice, said,

"...Can you treat my wound first? I might not make it if you wait any longer."

It's fine if you die.

Seeing how calm he was, Chu Guang thought the injury wasn't serious.

He smiled but didn't make it difficult for him.

He gave five silver coins to Madness, dismissing the small player, and then took a roll of bandages from his pocket and threw it to the man.

He hadn't tried the bandages' effectiveness in stopping bleeding.

It was a good opportunity to test them.

The man clearly knew how to use them. He skillfully opened the bandages, broke the arrow shaft, and used the tools inside to extract the arrowhead, enduring the pain.

The blood flowed like a faucet, staining the ground.

Chu Guang frowned, but the man seemed unaffected. After binding the bandages, he sighed in relief.

"Do you feel better?"

"A bit better," the man nodded, took a deep breath, and continued, "My name is Hein, a merchant from Red River Town."

"Why would a merchant from Red River Town be with raiders?" Chu Guang looked at him with interest, "And it's about fifty to sixty kilometers from Red River Town to here."

"Fifty to sixty kilometers? Ha, that's a straight line. To avoid the city clusters, you'd have to walk at least 130 kilometers! Of course, for safety, you'd have to avoid the highways... about 150 kilometers."

"So?"

Chu Guang raised his chin, looking at him, "You haven't answered my question. Why are you with the raiders?"

"Not exactly with them, just... we have some business dealings."

Hein's eyes wandered, and after a moment of awkwardness, he continued.

"Alright, I'll be straightforward. I'm a merchant from the horseshoe iron trade in Red River Town... or rather, an employee. Because of my boss, we occasionally do business with some trustworthy raider tribes in the southern part of the River Valley Province, mainly involving people. Don't look at me like that; without us, those captives wouldn't survive the winter. At least we give them a chance to start anew!"

"So you're in the slave trade?"

"Exactly!" Hein nodded, continuing, "This time, my boss sent me to Clear Spring City to buy some slaves. But when I got here, I heard you were at war?"

Chu Guang smiled warmly.

"Yes, and your trading partner's enemy is now considering something. Assuming your boss doesn't know you came here..."

Hein swallowed, nervously interrupting Chu Guang.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's meaningless. People die every day in the wasteland. My death means nothing to my boss."

"Is that so?"

"Instead of deciding my fate, don't you want to hear my proposal?"

"Go on."

Hein spoke quickly.

"The Blood Hand wants to cease hostilities. They are willing to pay 20 points in ransom for each captive... of course, if they are missing limbs, they'll only pay half."

"Oh, and what about their contract with you?"

"My contract? What contract?"

"Enough, stop pretending," Chu Guang said impatiently, looking at Hein, "Do you think you can fool me? You said people die every day in the wasteland. Would someone risk their life for no benefit? Or does a ceasefire benefit you?"

Hein smiled awkwardly.

"I'm not deliberately hiding anything... it's just that we don't have a contract. Fine, I'll be honest. Their leader promised me that if I could bring their people back, they would sell the injured to me at a discount. But this is actually beneficial to you, isn't it?"

"No one wants to fight in the snow, and your neighbors are also troubled by this weather. Why not sit down and talk? It's not a life-or-death conflict; the misunderstanding can be resolved."

"I'll bring the captives back, you'll get war reparations, and you'll make peace with your neighbors... a win-win for all three parties!"

Chu Guang smiled.

But the curve of his lips was cold.

Misunderstanding?

Resolved?

Ha ha ha.

He had never heard a funnier joke.

If it weren't for him and these players, other survivor outposts would have been stripped to the bone, regardless of gender.

Peace?

Those people were just waiting for an opportunity.

Like when the snow stops.

"Mr. Hein, I feel like you're trying to make me laugh. Peace with raiders? Do you believe what you're saying?"

Hein's expression was awkward.

Actually, before entering this forward base, he had a feeling that these people were different from the other survivor outposts he had visited.

Walls, trenches, guard posts, and scouts...

No one here was a professional soldier, but everyone seemed capable and willing to fight.

They wore blue coats but had no illusions about the world's kindness.

This negotiation might fall apart...

"I understand. You have your reasons. If we can't reach an agreement, I won't force it... can you let me go? I'll keep everything I've seen a secret." Hein made a quick judgment to cut his losses.

However, Chu Guang didn't speak, just stared at his eyes, looking at him for a long time.

Hein felt uneasy, as if being watched by a crawler, and sweat trickled down his back. Unable to withstand the pressure, his lips trembled.

"Killing me won't benefit you... why bother? We have no grudges. You can continue fighting, and I promise not to interfere."

"But it won't harm you either."

For a moment, Hein felt his heart stop.

But Chu Guang's next words gave him hope.

"You said you're in the slave trade?"

"Yes, yes!" Hein nodded frantically, like grabbing a lifeline, "Do you need slaves? I can serve you! We don't just