Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 201: Level 1 Scavenger Camp

Half an hour later, George returned to the temporary camp at an easy pace. Li Yue was bustling around like a little engine, but there was no sign of Liang Yuzhi — she had to be in the parking lot.

He deposited the clay in a room on the first floor, then went to the parking lot. Sure enough, Liang Yuzhi was in her element — she had already stripped half of a pickup truck to its bones. When she spotted George approaching, a brief flash of wariness crossed her eyes, before her expression softened into a smile. "Xiao Wei, what is it?"

"Auntie, I was wondering — could we put together a handcart of some kind?"

George chose his words carefully. He genuinely wanted her cooperation.

He was willing to let Liang Yuzhi take credit for assembling it — as long as it was donated to the family, it would count as a fixed asset. A benefit to everyone.

But Liang Yuzhi shook her head. "Xiao Wei, it's not that simple. For one thing, these tires are basically shot — no pump either, and I've already checked. On top of that, the dimensions don't line up. But give me time to think it over."

George read her clearly. She had a way forward. She just wasn't going to share it — whatever came out of it, she intended to keep the advantage.

Fine. As long as she eventually donates whatever she builds to the family.

George let it go without any fuss and went back to digging clay. He made four trips that afternoon, hauling back roughly eight hundred kilograms in total.

Liang Yuzhi and Li Yue hadn't been idle either.Liang Yuzhi had stripped several more vehicles — producing a number of sheet-metal panels, plus a few wooden doors she'd pried loose — and stacked them at the top of the first-floor staircase. Beside the pile sat a collection of rivets and expansion bolts she had evidently brought from home. She had clearly done her research before this mission.

Li Yue, for her part, had sealed every window on the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors using chunks of concrete — except for the large gap in the third-floor wall.

"Xiao Wei, Xiao Yue — I'm going to rivet the sheet metal onto the wooden doors. That's going to make a lot of noise. Keep an eye outside for me. I'm worried the Rat King might come up."

Liang Yuzhi called to them both.

Neither George nor Li Yue had any objection. Making a proper door could well be the key step in upgrading their temporary shelter to a Level 1 Scavenger Camp — something that benefited everyone. And if the Four-Star Mutant Rat King happened to show its face in the process, fighting it in the open air was considerably better than hunting it in underground tunnels.

What he hadn't anticipated was Li Yue promptly trotting up to the third-floor gap and positioning herself there — very much in the 'I'm ranged support, covering from the high ground' style.

Interesting.

George glanced at Liang Yuzhi. Her expression had gone slightly sour.

Stripping vehicles and producing sheet-metal panels wasn't the hard part. Even bringing her own rivets and expansion bolts wasn't much of a contribution in itself.

The real issue was that the installation work would be extremely loud — and this was a ruined town with a Four-Star Mutant Rat King somewhere in it.

Without George and Li Yue covering her, she genuinely didn't dare start.

"Fine."

George made up his mind, walked to the first floor, retrieved his Three-Star Noble Crest Armor and put it on, then laid the Bloodthirsty Spear and the One-Star heavy training sword to one side. He pressed two Two-Star armor-piercing sniper arrows and five One-Star penetrating arrows into the earth ready to draw, strung the Three-Star War Bow, pulled out a precious piece of Three-Star dried venison, ate it — and then waved a hand to Liang Yuzhi behind him.

Begin.

What had to come, would come. This was only the second day of the month, and the odds were against them — but this obstacle had to be crossed sooner or later.

Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe they'd wake the Four-Star Rat King.

So what?

Then they'd fight.

Right now, George wasn't at his absolute peak — but the fighting instinct in him was burning hot.

At the same time, the layout of the first floor occupied one part of his mind — every room, every angle, every structural detail. If the Four-Star Rat King actually showed up, a head-on collision was the wrong play. This building could be used. Maneuver inside it, keep moving. He'd bet seven chances in ten on being able to kill it, if it dared to come in.

Bang!

Liang Yuzhi raised a large hammer and began — first light taps, then heavier blows.

Thunderous echoes rolled through the building and out into the ruined town.

George exhaled slowly, closed his eyes, let his body go completely loose. Not carelessness — composure. The ease of someone who had faced Four-Star Final Bosses before.

There was pressure. It just didn't touch his footing.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Liang Yuzhi's rhythm accelerated. Fastening car body panels to wooden door frames was not a trivial task — the hammering rolled like thunder without ceasing.

This was as blatant a provocation as anything imaginable. Theoretically, no mutant creature should have been able to ignore it.

But minutes passed — and George's eyes opened in genuine surprise. He stepped forward and stared in the direction of the town center. Nothing. Silence.

The Four-Star Mutant Rat King wasn't responding?

Unexpected.

Even so, he didn't lower his guard — it could emerge from an entirely different direction at any moment.

But the quiet held. Not just the Rat King — not a single mutant creature stirred.

Liang Yuzhi hammered on relentlessly for a full thirty minutes, until an ugly-but-absolutely-solid reinforced door was mounted in its frame, expansion bolts driven into the surrounding wall — and the town center remained untouched, undisturbed. The Rat King did not come.

So sound alone doesn't provoke it. Or perhaps they hadn't entered its territory yet.

While he was still turning it over, a string of notifications appeared silently before him.

【Family Member Liang Yuzhi has constructed a simple reinforced metal door and completed its installation with your assistance. A ruined but still-solid abandoned building now has its first defensive barrier.】

【Family Member Li Yue has sealed all windows in this abandoned building. Though it cannot yet keep out wind and rain, the basic defensive coverage is in place. All family members can finally sleep without keeping one eye open.】

【Congratulations — you have located a Scavenger shelter capable of providing cover from the elements. With the establishment of a basic defensive perimeter, your Temporary Camp has been upgraded to a Level 1 Scavenger Camp. Resting inside the camp will grant all family members +1% Stamina recovery per 24-hour period. Family Contribution maximum has increased to 800 points.】

【Note: within a Level 1 Scavenger Camp, the importance of mandatory night watch will continue to decline. Night watch now yields only 10 Contribution. Since there is currently no Head of Household and no Monthly Main Task can be issued, all family members who choose to sleep through the night must voluntarily offer 5 Contribution to compensate the night watchperson.】

【Family Member Liang Yuzhi has gained 5 Contribution. Total: 67.】

【Family Member Li Yue has gained 5 Contribution. Total: 96.】

【Family Member Li Wei has gained 20 Contribution. Total: 205.】

—

George blinked.

Liang Yuzhi and Li Yue had worked all afternoon — and each walked away with 5 Contribution, with Liang Yuzhi having spent her own rivets on top of it. Meanwhile George had done comparatively little, and now he was standing here with 20 Contribution from the camp upgrade.

Was there some mechanic hidden in that? Or was it specifically because he'd voluntarily taken first-floor guard duty?

Even though nothing had happened — was that act somehow weighted more heavily than the iron door itself?

George turned this over, and something clicked. The Pioneering Mission and the Rookie Mission were different at a foundational level. Hathaway, with all her games and misdirection, hadn't given him a complete picture.

In a Rookie Mission, if Liang Yuzhi had been hammering away and George had stationed himself nearby to provide guard cover, that combination would have been laughable — the butt of every joke in the building.

But here, standing guard like that had yielded this kind of result.

He filed it away.

George then moved to just outside the reinforced door and stacked concrete blocks against it, building up a secondary barrier wall to maximize the defensive effect.

After that, in the gathering dusk, he clambered up the building's exterior wall and squeezed back in through the third-floor gap.

Done. Not pretty — but there was something that felt like home about it now.

"Xiao Wei, Xiao Yue — I'll take night watch tonight. You two have been at it all day. I'm still fairly fresh."

Liang Yuzhi spoke into the dim light of early evening. Both women's expressions were faintly complicated. Whatever else you could say, a Rookie King who came along once a century had his qualities. She and Li Yue were beginning to see them clearly — in courage and in generosity alike.

Success was never accidental. The truth of a person showed in the small things.

In this game, they were probably going to lose.

"Thank you, Auntie."

George had no objection to Liang Yuzhi taking his watch. Food had been scarce. He'd been eating less and working more, and if he couldn't rest properly over time it would wear him down. This was the right move.

"That — all right then, Auntie. Call us if anything happens." Li Yue added warmly.

"Yes, yes, go rest, both of you."

In the dark, Liang Yuzhi's smile was bright. But the moment they each turned away, all three wore neutral, private expressions, keeping their careful distances from each other.

Li Yue went to the fourth floor. George went to the fifth, ate a small amount of food, set up his tent, crawled in, and was out within moments.

He woke in the small hours of the morning — hungry.

Outside was quiet. Li Yue's breathing on the fourth floor was steady. So was Liang Yuzhi's on the third floor. Both were alive.

They were in reasonable shape — they'd eaten their fill. They had brought plenty of food and water.

George, on the other hand, was not in reasonable shape at all.

Should he go eat some rat meat?

Even conserving carefully, the food in his Resource Card would last three days at most. After that, rat meat was going to be the reality.

Not enough depth, that was the honest assessment. If he'd had one more Resource Card, he'd have loaded it to the brim with food and water.

'Forget it. Just eat. It's not the end of the world. I've eaten worse.'

He rose silently and went to the fourth floor, retrieved a skewer of dried rat meat threaded on a length of rebar, then gathered some wood scraps and cloth fragments from the fourth and fifth floors. He brought it all up to the fifth floor, lit a small fire near the staircase to the roof, and started cooking.

He was genuinely grateful to his little maid right now — she had insisted on packing him a portion of spices before he left. He sprinkled a little salt on the meat.

Actually, that should be decent enough.

【Note: You used personal spices and salt, so this meal will not generate any Family Contribution.】

【Note: You have missed four scheduled family mealtimes without eating. As compensation, you may draw from the family's food supply at no charge up to three times. Once these draws are exhausted, drawing food outside of designated meal times will require Contribution payment.】