Chapter 15: I Don’t Want to Level Up Either, But There Are Just Too Many Materials

That afternoon, Lin Mu gathered another batch of materials. During this process, two of the crates unexpectedly contained wild beasts.

But to him, this was hardly a significant problem.

He planned to make another round in the evening.

He had accumulated so many materials that he could hardly use them all; just the gasoline alone amounted to 340 liters, including what he had broken down using his [Waste Utilization] ability.

This gasoline was enough to drive him 3,000 kilometers.

With the last diamond crate taken care of, his work for the day was done.

Lin Mu parked his vehicle and stretched lazily. After all, he had driven for a solid ten hours today—he truly couldn’t take it anymore.

He’d originally intended to stew that half a hen, but on second thought, decided against wasting the time.

He would just make do with something simple.

He made a bowl of instant noodles, added two sausages and a bag of bread—this would be his main meal today.

Afterwards, he opened the regional channel to check how everyone was doing.

90,652!

What the hell! Five thousand people gone, just like that?

Sure, opening these crates did involve some risk, but surely you could at least find some kind of weapon? Things like machetes, spears, and iron axes didn’t even require blueprints.

Lin Mu still couldn’t make sense of the situation.

He turned his attention to the chat window.

“I’ve summed it up: the first batch of crates each day seems to be free of danger.”

“I agree—the first batch is safe, and the second batch is only slightly risky. The further you go, the more dangerous it gets.”

“That can’t be right. I remember someone ran into danger on the first round.”

“Then they must’ve set out late. The past couple of days, I’ve gone out right away and encountered nothing.”

“…”

Lin Mu stroked his chin. The first wave is supposed to be safe?

Both yesterday and today, he’d opened plenty of crates and encountered danger. But it hadn’t affected him much—after all, he was inside his vehicle, and barely felt any threat.

Especially now that his vehicle had reached level three—danger was even less of a concern.

But that wasn’t what he was interested in; he wanted to know what had really happened. How could so many people have died?

He scrolled back, not knowing how far he’d gone, until he finally found some relevant messages.

“Help! I just opened a crate and twelve wolves came out! I’m hiding in my car, but my windows are about to shatter.”

“Damn it, my window’s broken, I—”

“Everyone be careful, today’s dangers are much worse than yesterday’s.”

“I’m out of gas. My car’s completely stopped. I think I’m going to freeze to death.”

“…”

Some people were simply unlucky, running into overwhelming dangers from the crates; others froze to death, having run out of gasoline.

After his meal, Lin Mu began his modification plans.

The first order of business was to upgrade his vehicle.

He didn’t particularly want to upgrade, but with so many materials, what choice did he have? Waste not, want not.

[Vehicle: Garbage Collection Truck]
[Quality: Grade D]
[Level: Lv4]
[Fuel Tank: 150L/150L]
[Fuel Consumption: 1L/10km]
[Speed: 90km/h]
[Features: Intermediate Cold Resistance, Basic Heat Insulation, Basic Defensive Strength]
[Vehicle Skill: SSS-Class Vehicle Skill (Unique): Infinite Modification]
[Special Trait: [Waste Utilization]: Feed scrap materials through the backseat recycling port into the rear garbage processor to break them down into usable items.]
[Upgrade Requirements: Iron Ingot x30, Silver Ingot x5, Copper Ingot x5, Mustard Stone x1, Vehicle Core Lv3]

A larger tank, slightly faster speed.

Better features, changed materials, but not much of a difference otherwise.

Lin Mu shook his head, finding the upgrade rather uninspiring.

He glanced at the upgrade requirements: he had all the materials, except for the vehicle core.

“So, charging ahead on upgrades just with materials was a bit naïve,” he thought.

Apart from upgrading his vehicle, he also built a freshwater collection device.

Now he could gather 7 liters of water a day.

Though he still couldn’t take a bath, he no longer had to worry about his water supply.

And the number of items he could trade for scrap increased significantly.

Lin Mu opened the trading center and put all his water up for trade.

People might hesitate to trade for materials, but for junk? No one would think twice.

As for trading directly for materials?

Could 10ml of water get him a piece of plastic? Obviously not.

But he could get a plastic water bottle, which could be broken down for a piece of plastic—a much better deal.

After a simple wash post-dinner, Lin Mu climbed into his small bed and closed his eyes.

“Mmm~ This is so much more comfortable than yesterday’s chair.”

The next morning, at seven.

Lin Mu stretched and sat up in bed, glancing at the low ceiling nearly brushing his head.

“I wonder when I’ll be able to raise this roof. It’s such a hassle to move around in here.”

He made a simple breakfast, sat in the driver’s seat, and glanced at the regional channel.

84,776!

Another 5,000 people gone overnight?

Sixteen thousand lost in two days—at this rate, wouldn’t everyone be gone by the seventh day?

Lin Mu shook his head. Surely it couldn’t be that grim.

The later it gets, the fewer deaths there should be. The survivors would all be experts at staying alive.

He started his vehicle and began today’s treasure hunt.

Two hundred kilometers passed—no resource crates appeared.

Lin Mu wasn’t worried; thinking back to yesterday, he suspected today’s crates would appear at the 300-kilometer mark.

But what about tomorrow? Would they be at 400 kilometers? Not everyone’s vehicle upgraded as quickly as his. Even driving flat out, most could only cover…800 kilometers a day. Actually, that seemed possible.

At his current speed, 700 kilometers took eight hours.

If his speed increased later on, the time could be cut down further.

Damn!

This really lived up to its name as a road survival game—so it was all about driving, all the way through.

He glanced out the window—the sun was shining brightly.

Yet the temperature outside remained bitterly low.

Outdoors: -17°C.
Indoors: 24°C.

At this rate of cooling, by the seventh day the outside temperature would reach around -25°C.

After that would come the Wrath of Winter—who knew how cold it might get then.

…

A little after ten, Lin Mu encountered his first crate.

As usual, it started with a wooden crate.

[Congratulations! You have opened a wooden resource crate and obtained: Sunglasses x1]

…

Damn it… What use are sunglasses!?

He took them out and inspected them—they were just ordinary sunglasses, practically useless.

He moved on.

The second crate turned out to be a silver crate.

“Hey, my luck’s not bad.”

Thud!

Pack after pack of hungry-looking gray wolves leapt out of the crate.

He checked—ten wolves.

“Those people yesterday really knew how to spin a tale—this is what they call ‘no danger in the first wave’?” Lin Mu was at a loss for words.

Still, they weren’t entirely wrong. On the first and second days, fewer than 0.1% of people encountered danger in the first wave.

But today was different. The road survival game was simply exploiting human habits of thought.