The strongest life skills player

Chapter 10 Lesson 1 in the Wasteland

These words immediately created an odd atmosphere around the campfire.

Old Lei and Amu opened their mouths, as if they wanted to say something, but felt they didn't know where to begin, and finally fell silent.

The scar on Zhou Yan's face twitched slightly in the flickering firelight.

"My lord... it's not that we don't want to find a safe place, it's just that we have nowhere else to go."

He pointed to the dark valley behind the camp:

"Look over there, we've cultivated a few plots of thin land to grow sweet potatoes. If we leave here, those plots will be wasted."

He then pointed to some metal parts and several bundles of skinned rat pelts piled up at the edge of the camp:

"Traveling merchants would occasionally pass by, and we could use these things to exchange for some salt, tools, or inferior nutritional pastes."

He gave a wry smile:

"If we stay here, the thorn rats will be a menace, but at least... we know their habits, we know roughly when they'll come, we know how to fend them off, and we know where we can find some food and water nearby."

"We hate the thorn rat for stealing grain and biting people, but at least... it doesn't massacre the entire camp."

Zhou Yan's last words, with an almost cruel calm, revealed the most authentic survival logic of the wasteland's underbelly—choosing the relatively familiar and controllable one among many deadly threats.

The people at Wild Grass Camp didn't not want to leave; they simply had nowhere to go and nowhere to go.

They were like people sinking into quicksand; every struggle only accelerated their descent, leaving them stuck in place, using all their strength to fight against the known threats.

Chen Huai listened quietly.

The firelight cast flickering shadows on his face, masking the turmoil within him.

This is not a base that can be moved with a click of the mouse in a game, nor is it a simulation management game where you can choose a better solution when you have abundant resources.

He knew that survival was difficult for people in the post-nuclear wasteland, but he never imagined it would be this bad.

In a true wasteland, resources are scarce and information is blocked. Every migration is a high-stakes gamble, with everyone's lives at stake.

But he clearly remembered that the game's official setting stated that before the nuclear war, humanity had built a large number of underground cities, storing not only sufficient resources but also the most advanced technology and concepts.

As players, their task is to move from underground back to the surface and then begin rebuilding their homes.

However, judging from this situation, it seems that civilization has been interrupted, and the people on the surface have returned to the era of fighting wild beasts for territory with cold weapons.

What went wrong?

As night fell, filled with confusion, Chen Huai lay down on the dry straw mat.

However, he was wide awake.

The information he received during the day came like a tidal wave, impacting his nerves in waves.

Frustrated, he decided to concentrate and brought up his personal panel, his gaze falling on the two activated icons on the skill bar.

【Life Affinity (LV1, Active/Passive)】:

You seem to have an extraordinary sensitivity to life energy.

Passive effect: You will be able to sense strong life fields.

Active effect: Allows you to attempt simple emotional communication with the living being. The effect is affected by the target's level, status, mental attributes, and the relationship between the two parties.

[Basic Combat (LV1, Passive)]:

In life-or-death battles or under intense pressure, your body instinctively records and optimizes basic patterns of force exertion, evasion, and damage absorption, improving body coordination, reaction speed, and damage tolerance efficiency in close combat.

"Life affinity... is that why the cat demon stopped? But I don't seem to find a similar connection with the thorn rat. Is it because it licked my blood?"

Recalling the bizarre scene from that afternoon, Chen Huai tried to focus his mind on the description of the passive effect of [Life Affinity].

Just as he was immersed in figuring out the skill mechanics, a cold sensation came without warning, as if someone had suddenly put an ice cube in his warm bed.

"What happened?"

Chen Huai's heart sank suddenly, and his already dwindling sleepiness vanished instantly.

He sat up silently, his movements so slow and gentle as a cat blending into the shadows.

Thanks to the improved body coordination brought about by [Basic Combat], he made no sound.

Chen Huai held his breath. His powerful mental strength allowed him to detect subtle sounds that were difficult for ordinary people to perceive. He moved silently along the rough inner wall of the shack, towards the source of the sound, which was a small crack in the tarpaulin wall.

Through the crack, by the faint red glow of the remaining campfire outside, he could see the source of the sound—in the shadow of another slightly larger tent not far from his hut.

"Boss, this is a golden opportunity!"

Chen Huai was familiar with this voice. Although it was filled with an uncontrollable eagerness and greed, which was completely out of place with the fawning smile that had been directed at him at dinner, he still remembered this guy. His name seemed to be Da Tian.

"You can see it too, he's just a pampered rich kid from the city, raised on a mountain of gold!"

Zhou Yan's figure remained silent in the shadows, only his eyes gleaming with a complex light in the darkness.

Seeing that he remained silent, Da Tian leaned forward even more eagerly, almost spitting out words:

"He's definitely carrying something good! Valuable stuff! Maybe even that gene serum you mentioned! How much can that stuff be exchanged for on the black market? Enough to feed our entire camp for years! Even if we can't beat him head-on, we can poison him."

You're being too naive.

Zhou Yan finally spoke.

"Those thorn rats from this afternoon, how swiftly they died? Even if he's just a fledgling young master who can afford gene serums, his body has been genuinely enhanced. Can you guarantee that the poisonous herb juices we struggle with even against alien beasts will be effective? What if the superhuman has a special constitution, or possesses some kind of antidote?"

His voice was even lower, and the chill was even greater:

"If we fail... it will be annihilation! Even if he only suffers minor injuries and wakes up... do you think there are enough of us for him to kill? The entire camp will be wiped out!"

Compared to the refugees in the camp, Zhou Yan had indeed seen some of the world... but not much; the cost of this gamble was too high.

Da Tian seemed taken aback by Zhou Yan's description of the impending doom, but greed quickly overwhelmed his fear, and he eagerly argued:

"Boss! The bold get rich, the timid starve! There's no such thing as getting a full meal without taking risks. Let's be careful, act quickly while he's fast asleep..."

"That's enough!"

Zhou Yan abruptly interrupted him, her tone carrying an undeniable decisiveness:

"That's the end of it! You better keep your mouth and hands shut! If a single word slips out tonight, or if I find out you've been up to something behind my back... I won't even need that sir to lift a finger, I'll kill you to clean house! Go back to sleep!"

The last sentence, filled with chilling murderous intent, was directed at Da Tian, ​​but it also clearly conveyed Zhou Yan's decision—he rejected it.

It wasn't out of morality or gratitude towards Chen Huai, but simply because the risk and cost were too high, too high for him, a struggling leader of refugees, to bear.

He dared not gamble, nor could he afford to.

Da Tian seemed to want to say something more, but under Zhou Yan's cold gaze, he finally only let out a resentful snort, and glared fiercely at Chen Huai's shack, a stark contrast to his ingratiating expression at dinner.

Zhou Yan stood alone in the shadows for a while longer, the flickering light of the charcoal fire obscuring his expression.

Da Tian had considered what he said, but he only saw the immense wealth that would follow success, selectively ignoring the bottomless abyss of failure.

However, what held Zhou Yan back even more than this fatal risk was the unknown.

What if this superhuman really got separated from the team and didn't bring any valuables with him?

They risked the lives of over a hundred people in the Wild Grass Camp for a gene serum that they couldn't even find.

Zhou Yan's fingers dug deep into the wood grain of the knife handle.

It's not that he's afraid to gamble with his life; in the wasteland, life is the cheapest thing.

But he dared not gamble on a game with such slim odds of winning and a very high probability of zero profit!

He recalled an old saying that circulated among scavengers, which now seemed particularly clear:

"When you're starving, even if you see gold, you have to think twice about whether you'll live to spend it."

If Chen Huai really has the gene serum, then no matter how great the risk, even if it means sacrificing the entire Wild Grass Camp, he will definitely take action.

A profit of 50% can drive people to take risks, a profit of 100% can make them dare to trample on all rules, and a profit of 300% is enough to make people risk being hanged and commit any crime!

Gene therapy represents far more than 300%! It represents 3,000% or even 30,000%! It's a ladder to heaven, a sliver of hope to escape this abyss and reach the clouds!

But the problem is—uncertainty!

Therefore, he disagrees with taking action, at least not now.