Chapter 9: Isn't This Material Easy to Get? Survival Game? Is That All?

Lin Mu glanced at the odometer; sure enough, it had reached two hundred kilometers.

As for the blueprint, what else could he do? Of course, he’d just let it go—what other choice did he have? Everything else could wait until he finished what he was currently doing.

He approached the chest.

Using the collection device, he opened it directly.

Congratulations! You’ve opened a Black Iron Resource Chest and received: 100g Bread ×2, Braised Beef Instant Noodles ×2.

Excellent stuff. Lin Mu swallowed; this was far tastier than mere bread.

He mustn’t forget the chest itself—it was an iron ingot, after all.

Hastily, Lin Mu tossed the box into the processing device at the back.

Congratulations! You’ve opened a Black Iron Resource Chest and received: Electronic Components ×2, Glass ×4.

Congratulations! You’ve opened a Silver Resource Chest and received: 100L Gasoline, Small Purified Water Collector Blueprint ×1, Steel Knife ×1.

Whoa!

A blueprint for a purified water collector!

No wonder they said resources were better at night. Not only were there more supplies, but another blueprint as well.

But why give him a steel knife? What was that supposed to mean? Was he expected to fight a ten-meter-long snake or a two-meter-tall tiger with a steel knife? Who was crazier—him or the system?

Shaking his head, Lin Mu continued driving.

When he arrived at the next location, he saw a gold chest by the roadside. His heart skipped a beat.

Could there be another monster here?

His hand hovered over the gear shift, ready to throw it into reverse at any moment.

Thunk!

Congratulations! You’ve opened a Gold Resource Chest and received: Mustard Stone ×1, Cloth ×5, Cotton 100g ×5, Kenjiki Family Bucket ×3.

So there were so many things in a gold chest!

Damn tigers, damn giant pythons.

Wait, he shouldn’t curse; after all, they’d provided plenty of materials.

Though he didn’t yet know what the first three materials were for, their names gave him a vague idea.

Forget instant noodles with meat tonight—he was going to eat Kenjiki!

He was beginning to fall in love with the night’s chests; they were simply full of good things.

On to the next one.

A Black Iron Chest, opened instantly!

Ghost-faced Mandrill

Danger Level: B

Suggestion: You can fight it, but if you can’t win, run!

A giant monkey sprang from the chest, the patterns on its face glowing eerily in the headlights.

Roar!

With a thunderous roar, Lin Mu could see that the sharp teeth were no less frightening than the giant python’s.

“You actually call that thing a mandrill? It’s got to be at least four meters tall!”

He’d seen mandrills before, but never one like this.

The mandrill leapt and grabbed the car’s front, lifting it slowly off the ground.

“Damn! Damn!” Lin Mu was startled by the sudden attack and gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Staring at that ghastly face so close, he couldn’t help but swallow hard.

Truly ferocious.

Quickly, he maneuvered the collection device and struck at its neck.

Blood spattered across the windshield and trickled down as the mandrill clutched its neck, leaping around in panic. In less than ten seconds, it collapsed onto the ground.

What?

Still shaken, Lin Mu stared blankly at the scene before him.

“Wait… wasn’t your name supposed to be intimidating? Weren’t you a B-level threat? That’s it?”

He had thought it would be as tough as the giant python, yet it died in a single blow?

Congratulations! You’ve slain a B-level Ghost-faced Mandrill and received: Ghost Face ×1, Hide ×1, Thigh Bone ×4.

Huh?

What was this? No meat, no teeth, just three things?

Lin Mu shook his head. It made sense, after all; since it was so easy to kill, it probably wouldn’t yield anything valuable.

Now he knew what he truly lacked: weapons!

Even though the collection device could kill, it wasn’t quite good enough.

He stored the items from the chest, then opened the modification skill menu.

He placed the rather useless steel knife inside, then added an iron ingot.

Option 1: Offensive weapon—extend the steel knife; attack range is one meter from the front of the vehicle.

Option 2: Fixed weapon on the front of the vehicle.

Option 3: Steel knife as a decorative item.

What kind of idiotic decoration was that? Couldn’t this modification skill be a bit more intelligent? Even attaching the knife to the hubcap would have made more sense than just a decoration.

Lin Mu was too exasperated to complain any longer.

There was no need to think—it had to be option one.

Now for the main part. He dragged the newly crafted steel knife weapon into the skill bar beneath the modification skill.

That’s right—drag and drop, a virtual shadow.

Anything that existed inside the vehicle could be dragged and dropped.

After that, he could make targeted modifications; the only catch was that the item couldn’t be used during the process.

He’d only discovered this during some experiments earlier that afternoon.

Next, he put in an iron ingot, and sure enough, there was an option to extend the range.

Perhaps due to the weapon’s nature, the range was only extended by one meter.

Combined with the steel knife’s own length, the attack range reached 2.5 meters—more than enough.

“Come on, try me again. Let’s see if you can survive this time!”

He paused, then tried adding various materials one by one.

Hmm?

Inserting a silver ingot worked.

Option 1: Enhance the weapon’s sharpness.

Option 2: Increase the weapon’s control sensitivity.

He checked the properties of his silver ingot—he wanted both!

He modified the weapon twice.

Once finished, he tested the weapon’s control; the flexibility was now as if he were wielding it with his own hand.

Not bad, not bad—this was more like it.

He started the vehicle; there were still five chests left to collect.

From four of the chests, he obtained Iron Ingot ×4, Wood ×5, Plastic ×2, Braised Beef Instant Noodles ×5, Iced Black Tea 1L ×1, and a Down Jacket ×1.

These things were pretty easy to come by; was this really a survival game?

What surprised Lin Mu was that he’d acquired a down jacket.

Thinking of the disaster coming in seven days, it seemed this was probably an item everyone would receive; he’d check the regional chat later to confirm.

“Just one resource chest left—after that, I’ll eat.”

As for hurrying on the road?

Forget it. Better to get a good night’s sleep.

One kilometer later, there was a chest in the middle of the road—larger than any before.

A Diamond Resource Chest!

Could it be that such chests only appeared at night?

“I’d better get something good out of this, or I’ll be really angry.”

Thunk—

Congratulations! You’ve opened a Diamond Resource Chest and received: Mustard Stone ×2, Rubber ×5, Pistol Ammo Blueprint ×1.

Only three items, but two were excellent, and one was a blueprint…

A pistol ammo blueprint!

Lin Mu rubbed his eyes, but he hadn’t seen wrong—it really was a pistol ammo blueprint.

If that was the case, did it mean…?

The pistol blueprint he’d exchanged for earlier was just for the pistol itself?

He couldn’t use it without ammunition?

Suddenly enlightened, Lin Mu realized why someone had sold it. They must have anticipated this issue.

He’d thought the other party was foolish for trading such a good item for mere materials.

But the real fool was himself!