Chapter 23 Rental Function? Then I Want Half the Supplies

[The other party’s supplies are always stored within the vehicle core. Once a player selects them, extraction is immediate.]

Hearing this, Lin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the items were there, things would be much easier.

“After extraction, the vehicle core remains, right?”

[Rest assured, player, it will definitely stay.]

That put his mind at ease.

“What if I choose to upgrade the core directly?”

[The materials disappear instantly.]

!!!

He knew it! This was a trap, as expected. Fortunately, the vehicle core was of a low level; if it had been higher, he might have upgraded it without a second thought.

Lin Mu believed others would upgrade their cores the moment they obtained them. After all, vehicle upgrades required certain core levels. Most people’s cores were only at level one, and their vehicles were stuck at level two. It would be strange not to upgrade when given the chance.

Suppressing the urge to complain, Lin Mu opened his backpack. He clicked on the core, and indeed, an extraction button appeared.

Extract!

[Ding! Extraction successful!]

It was completed almost instantly. The material numbers changed only slightly, and there weren’t many new items. When it came to the variety of materials, no one could compare to him.

But...

Staring at the new items, Lin Mu’s eyelid twitched violently.

You thick-browed, round-faced little brat, what are you doing with these things? Are you trying to ruin your own life?

What use are these to him?

[Used white stockings], [Used lettered tights], [Used original underwear]...

A full dozen of them!

All items of this nature.

Lin Mu’s face was filled with disdain as he took the items out and tossed them directly into the waste recycling space.

“What a pervert!”

Ding!

A crisp sound echoed, and Lin Mu opened his panel in confusion. The mailbox showed a new message.

“Weird, someone actually messaged me?”

Opening the mail, he saw it was from the person he’d traded with earlier.

“Brother, could you lend me a weapon? I’ll return it in a bit.”

Lin Mu curled his lips. Lend you something? You think you’ll give it back? Do you take me for a fool?

“Listen, just because we’ve traded twice doesn’t mean you can trick me. If you want to borrow a weapon, forget it.”

On the other side, Shu Xin blinked at the chat window, puzzled. What did he mean by that?

She simply wanted to lease it, not trick anyone.

“Sis, what does he mean?”

Shu Yi glanced over. “Explain clearly that you want to lease it. He probably doesn’t know there’s a leasing function.”

Such a minor feature hardly anyone paid attention to. Not everyone studied the panel as thoroughly as Shu Xin did.

“Big brother, I want to lease a weapon for three hours. You name the price.”

Ding~

The glare from the snow hurt Lin Mu’s eyes, and the message sound annoyed him even more. But when he saw the words, he froze. There was a leasing function? It seemed there really was.

“What weapon do you want?”

“One that can handle vehicles.”

So they needed to deal with a car—perhaps to get the core? Most likely, he couldn’t give it.

Lin Mu’s eyes flashed.

“I can lease you a weapon, but I want half of the materials from the other party. If you agree, we can proceed right now.”

Lin Mu wasn’t worried about rejection. This was a win-win. If you lack weapons, I provide them, but taking half the loot is only fair. Without my weapon, you wouldn’t even get half.

Two minutes later, the other party agreed.

The collateral was simple: twenty units of common materials. Even if they backed out in the end, Lin Mu would still profit, though he’d blacklist them afterwards.

...

“Sis! It’s that pistol and ammo we traded for before. If only we’d kept them.”

Shu Xin’s heart ached; both items had been theirs. This was too painful.

Shu Yi’s mouth twitched. “The thing is, we didn’t know we’d get the blueprint for the ammo later. Forget it, what’s done is done.”

Shu Yi had good luck, but it wasn’t always reliable. Most of their finds were useless blueprints and materials; food and water were pitifully scarce. Forced by necessity, they had to sell things to keep themselves alive.

“There might be a collision soon. Be careful. You go to the back, and when the window breaks, shoot at the other party.”

Shu Xin swallowed nervously. “Fire at them directly? Kill them?”

Her hand trembled slightly. Wasn’t this wrong? She’d never even killed a chicken.

“Shu Xin, remember—we’re in an unknown world now. Look at the dwindling population every day, then think about us two sisters. You have to act,” Shu Yi said sternly.

“Look at that man’s expression. Do you think he’ll spare us?”

Shu Xin turned to look, and the man’s smile was chilling.

“I... I understand.”

Shu Xin crawled to the back, gripping the pistol with her right hand, breathing deeply.

“Get ready. He’s coming.”

At the moment of collision, Shu Yi stepped on the brakes.

Bang!

Crash!

The rear window shattered after several impacts.

The man in the back fared no better. The sudden violent collision sent him into the steering wheel, leaving him dazed.

Shu Xin stood up immediately, braving the biting wind, and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

Several shots rang out in succession, the man’s face twisted in terror as he slumped in the seat.

Shu Xin gasped, hands trembling, the icy wind clearing her mind.

“I killed someone! I killed someone...”

Shu Yi shook her head and quickly opened the car door, heading to the back.

She jumped onto the man’s SUV, searched through it, and frowned.

“Ask the panel if we can switch to this vehicle, and where the warehouse is!”

Ten minutes later, the two women drove away in the SUV.

The man’s corpse and their previous van were left behind.

If Lin Mu knew, he’d say they were wasteful.

How much space was in the back of the SUV? The van had so much more; they’d suffered a big loss.

“Oh, this guy has so many supplies. Do we really have to give half to the other party?” Shu Xin looked at the extra materials and food, reluctant to part with them.

“We agreed, so let’s do it. If you borrow and repay, it’s not hard to borrow again. We’ll have weapons in the future, but who knows what else we might need?”

Shu Yi glanced at the shotgun in her backpack, feeling a wave of fear.

Without the borrowed weapon, they both might have died here.

“All right, I’ll send it over.”

After deducting the collateral left with Lin Mu, Shu Xin sent him some food and three blueprints.

“My heart aches, sending back so much at once.”

“It’s nothing. Hurry and upgrade the vehicle. Once we get a stove, we can start a fire; this cold is unbearable.”