novelraw Chapter 15: Regional Isolation, Destiny Card - Debauchery Card
Chapter 15: Regional Isolation, Destiny Card - Debauchery Card
Yu Yuan pondered for a while before putting down the newspaper.
The conflict between Thug factions required some consideration. Everyone knew about fishing in troubled waters for benefits—if successful, even just looting a single corpse would guarantee substantial gains.
Weapons, equipment, ammunition, and supplies—every one of these was urgently needed by Yu Yuan.
But the risks were also extraordinarily high. The danger level being [Medium] was not something to be ignored.
However... Yu Yuan thought about the potential player invasions after the newbie protection period ended. This was absolutely a rare opportunity to enhance his own strength.
Anyway, there were still two days to prepare, which was sufficient.
He opened a can of Beef Canned Food. Because it hadn't been heated, a layer of pale yellow beef fat had solidified on the surface.
Seeing this made Yu Yuan frown slightly, but he understood that in the wasteland, fat and protein were extremely scarce nutrients. Suppressing his disgust for the greasiness, he ate a piece of beef with the fat, slowly chewing it in his mouth, relying on oral temperature to melt the fat, allowing the aroma to gradually spread throughout his mouth.
Only then did Yu Yuan's brow slowly relax. While savoring the food in his mouth, he opened the chat channel to see if anything had happened overnight.
But the next moment, his movements paused slightly. After showing a brief look of astonishment, he quickly regained composure, ate another piece of beef, and then continued browsing.Two pinned messages appeared in the chat channel.
-- Elimination Notice: Windmill Shelter (Rank 9978) was eliminated by Thugs faction. Time: 03:46. (New player entry in 12 hours)
-- Elimination Notice: Green Vine Shelter (Rank 9983) was eliminated by Stag Shelter (Rank 6743). Time: 04:28. (New player entry in 12 hours)
Two people died overnight, but the chat channel had long grown accustomed to this. There were even several people familiar with Stag Shelter asking if they had scavenged any high-value supplies.
[Stag Shelter: This was a poor bastard who actually built their shelter on a mountain peak, unbelievable! Wasted so many survival points on that invasion, such a loss!]
That's what they said, but no one believed their nonsense.
No one probed deeper either, instead focusing more discussion on that Thugs faction.
[Hive Shelter: The Thugs nearby have been really aggressive lately! This is already the third player they've taken out in half a month. What are they trying to do? How are the Thugs in your areas?]
[Angry Whale Shelter: I saw two Thug factions clashing from afar the day before yesterday. Damn, I was on a mountain a kilometer away and didn't dare show my head. Scared me to death—they had rocket launchers!]
[Babel Tower Shelter: Don't even mention it. In my area, I wouldn't encounter Thugs once in ten days or half a month before. Now vehicles pass by every few days, keeping me on edge every time.]
[Iron Tower Shelter: Do you think something might be about to happen? After all, our regions aren't connected, so why are all the Thugs undergoing changes simultaneously?]
Yu Yuan's gaze immediately fixed on the last message, his mind surging with waves of realization.
What did it mean that regions weren't connected?
His intuition told him he absolutely had to find a way to understand this.
But he was currently in the newbie period, unable to add friends or unlock private messaging functionality.
Not caring about wasting survival points anymore, he began typing a message.
[Yu Yuan Shelter: @Iron Tower Shelter, may I ask what you mean by regions not being connected?]
There were fewer people in the morning chat, so his question quickly received a reply.
[Iron Tower Shelter: @Yu Yuan Shelter, isn't this yesterday's newbie expert!! For your convenience, 50 survival points, search item number 21563 on Taotao Hole—comprehensive answers inside.]
Incredible!
When he searched on Taotao Hole, he discovered that there were quite a few answers about newbie questions available for purchase, with prices generally ranging between 40-60 survival points.
More or less the same.
Clearly this had become a mature industry chain.
He simply purchased item number 21563 directly. What he received was just a note—who knows how many times this note had changed hands, as the handwriting had somewhat faded.
After reading the information on it, Yu Yuan fell into thought.
It turned out that although wasteland players were in the same chat channel, they were isolated from each other and couldn't interact. Each player's initial region could be viewed as their own independent world.
These world backgrounds were similar but each had their differences, including world progression, civilization differences, resource variations, etc...
One could say that exploring one's own independent world was something every player needed to do. The future development of the world was closely related to the player's influence on their region.
For example, the legendary item [civilization shards] could allow a player's world to merge with civilization shards, unlocking rare evolution paths, though the specific rewards remained a mystery.
There was only one way to obtain [civilization shards]—initiate player plunder wars, meaning invading other players' worlds.
Only by achieving sufficiently high evaluation scores and obtaining war rewards could [civilization shards] possibly appear, though the probability was extremely low.
This was also why high-ranking players liked invading newbie players. Player plunder wars were currently the only way to enter other players' regions.
"So that's how it is!" Yu Yuan suddenly understood, verifying some of his previous speculations.
But the sense of urgency in his heart grew even more apparent. The threat posed by player invasions after one month was far more severe than he had imagined.
He finished the Beef Canned Food without realizing it, stored the metal can, and opened the virtual interface.
If he wanted to improve his strength quickly, hope still lay with Fate's Gifts.
The previous Fate's Gift had given him a perfect start on his first day in the wasteland.
Now it was time to obtain the second Fate's Gift.
As the Fate Cards page appeared, the usual line of text showed up as always.
-- Maxim: All gifts from fate have their prices secretly marked in advance.
The text slowly disappeared, revealing this time's three Fate's Gift options.
-- Ancient Milk Churn
Function: Place animal milk inside, harvest 5x animal milk after three hours.
-- Eternal Flashlight
Function: A flashlight that never extinguishes.
-- Positioning Watch
Function: Can locate your current position and indicate shelter direction.
Yu Yuan's gaze immediately locked onto the Positioning Watch. The other two options were also quite good, but for Yu Yuan they were somewhat impractical.
He still had food, and while the Eternal Flashlight was tempting, his current lighting was sufficient. Besides, he still had a hand-cranked lighting lamp, and continuing to upgrade [Lighting] would eventually unlock electric lights.
Only the Positioning Watch seemed somewhat interesting.
After confirming his selection, a black matte watch appeared in his hand.
The Fate Card box also began shaking. After three seconds, another earth-yellow card was drawn out.
[This Fate Card—Indulgence]
'Pebble-tier' Indulgence Card
[Indulgence Card, quality 'Pebble' tier. Player must indulge in one primal desire within two days, otherwise player dies.]
(Friendly reminder: Do not limit indulgence targets by gender or species. Open the deepest shackles of desire within your heart—everything is possible, but it must be a single living creature.)
"Holy crap..."
When Yu Yuan clearly saw the Fate Card information, the corner of his mouth twitched. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, stubbornly looking again, but the information remained the same.
He nearly spat out blood in frustration.
"Damn it! In this wasteland world, where the hell am I supposed to find someone to indulge desires with!"