Chapter 7: The Giant Serpent of the Forest! Snake Gall Is a Wonderful Thing

Lin Mu stared speechlessly at the three-dimensional blueprint. Where was he supposed to put this thing? Was he supposed to hang it from the ceiling? The interior of the car’s front compartment was so cramped that there was hardly any space for the freshwater device. He began to wonder if those who ended up with sports cars were even worse off than he was—after all, those only had two seats.

A thought occurred to Lin Mu, though he wasn't certain if it would work. He tried, in his mind, to remove the backseat. Sure enough, the representation of the backseat vanished from the schematic. Lin Mu spun around in astonishment.

“Damn! It can really be dismantled!”

Since it could be taken apart, there was no reason to hesitate. He removed not only the backseat but also the front seats, leaving only the base. He then placed the freshwater collection device on the raised section where the passenger seat had been.

Well, now there was plenty of space. Still, one device wasn’t enough—he’d need to make another.

When Lin Mu opened the workbench again, he realized he was out of materials. But—why could the blueprint only be used once? He’d hoped to produce several freshwater collectors to sell at the trading market. And now he found out a blueprint could only be used a single time—what a joke.

He took a deep breath, relieved that he’d at least bought the blueprint earlier; otherwise, he’d be regretting it bitterly now. He opened his backpack and used the blueprint.

“This makes no sense, absolutely no sense,” he muttered. No matter how he thought about it, it just didn’t add up.

He glanced at the materials required for the pistol.

[USp Pistol]: Iron Ingot x2, Plastic x2

Not too many requirements, but he was out of materials. Checking his distance to the next supply point, he saw it was less than thirty kilometers away—nothing to worry about.

...

When he was ten kilometers out, a pleasant chime sounded.

[Successfully salvaged a scrap bronze resource box—received Copper Ingot x2]
[Successfully salvaged a scrap bronze resource box—received Copper Ingot x2]

Copper ingots? Well, that made sense—it was a bronze box, after all. So, by that logic, gold boxes would yield gold, and diamond boxes would yield diamonds.

He wondered how others were obtaining these resources.

Ten kilometers passed in an instant, and Lin Mu encountered his first box—an iron-black one.

“The first box from the previous two rounds was always wooden, but this time it’s black iron. Does this mean the box grade increases with each encounter?” Lin Mu mused aloud.

If that were true, then theoretically, if he drove fast enough, his first box could be gold, or even diamond. Unfortunately, with his current car, the best he could manage in a day was about 720 kilometers in daylight, and maybe 860 if he drove another four hours at night. And that was without any stops. Factoring in time lost to handling other matters, he’d be lucky to cover 700 kilometers a day. There was still a long road ahead.

He drove to within five meters of the box, then used the resource collector to open it.

[Congratulations, you have opened a Black Iron Resource Box: Gasoline 50 liters, 500ml Mineral Water x2]

A great start. The box itself couldn’t be discarded—it was worth five iron ingots. The second box was also black iron. The third was bronze. The fourth, black iron again.

Wait—no silver box?

Lin Mu opened his panel and reviewed the history of opened resource boxes. Sure enough, the progression wasn’t strictly linear; different box levels appeared mixed together.

So, he’d been overthinking it.

The fifth box—gold!

Lin Mu looked at the golden box before him and rubbed his hands together.

“Good luck, come to me! Let all the fortune come my way! Open!”

With a swing of his axe, a gigantic snake’s head burst forth, its body following, slithering endlessly from the box.

“Hiss!”

“Damn! That’s a python!”

[Forest Python]
[Danger Level: A]
[Recommendation: Run!]

Why was the answer always to run?

The snake’s head slithered closer, its massive body still emerging from the box. The vertical pupils of the python fixed on Lin Mu, then it smashed its head against the windshield.

The whole car shook.

Lin Mu quickly recovered, hurriedly throwing the car into reverse, then grabbed the axe from the collector and launched an attack on the python. Fortunately, the snake was such a large target that it was easy to land blows.

His upgraded axe was impressively lethal, each swing leaving a deep wound. Even so, Lin Mu’s heart pounded in terror—the python had to be at least seven meters long. If he’d run into this creature in the wild, he’d have been doomed.

Now he understood why so many people had died. Without his SSS-level skill, he probably would’ve perished at the tiger’s claws earlier.

Three minutes later, the python dissolved into a streak of light.

Lin Mu stared blankly ahead, sweat streaming down his face. Just before dying, the python had launched one final attack. Its jaws opened wide, razor-sharp fangs aimed at the driver’s seat. Lin Mu could see straight into the creature’s throat—utterly horrifying. Thankfully, his car had been upgraded once, boosting its defenses. Otherwise, he truly doubted the windshield could withstand those deadly fangs.

He took a deep breath and opened his panel.

[Congratulations, player, for slaying an A-level Forest Python: Snake Skin x1, Snake Gall x1, Snake Meat x10, Snake Fang x4]

Quite a haul. He checked his backpack—snake skin could be used for armor. Each piece of snake meat weighed 200g, much more filling than bread. The fangs weren’t described, but could probably be used as weapons—those things were huge.

As for the snake gall:

[Snake Gall]: Consuming this permanently increases Constitution by 5 points (Note: Swallow directly).

Lin Mu was puzzled by this description. What did five points to Constitution mean? Was everything becoming quantified now? But there was no personal stats panel. Shaking his head, he decided to set this aside for now; the sky was growing dark, and he needed to open the remaining five boxes.

The last five boxes weren’t high-level—black iron and silver. They contained mostly ordinary materials and supplies, nothing special or dangerous.

Lin Mu parked the car. The first thing he did was toss the boxes into the pit, using his Waste Utilization skill to convert them into materials. Then he opened his backpack and, satisfied with its contents, nodded approvingly.

“Time to make use of the modification function.”

With so many resources, it wouldn’t make sense not to upgrade his vehicle first. The backseat was now unnecessary, so he activated the modification skill and placed the seat into the interface.

Two options instantly popped up—there wasn’t even time to think.

Lin Mu was perplexed. Did this mean a single seat was enough? Was it all about the materials? It certainly seemed possible.