novelraw Chapter 2: Gift of Fate, Green Forest City Daily
Chapter 2: Gift of Fate, Green Forest City Daily
Congratulations, Yu Yuan's shelter has joined the Leaderboard. Current rank: 10,000th. Reward: 100 survival points.
Yu Yuan was just about to examine his shelter's details more closely.
A mechanical prompt suddenly sounded in his ear.
[Detection: Shelter construction completed. Player Yu Yuan has gained the attention of Fate. Obtained 'Fate Cards'.]
What the...?
Fate Cards?
On the virtual screen, within the [Survival] page, which originally only had the [Shelter Management] option, a new option now appeared – Fate Cards.
He clicked to open it.
The virtual screen was bathed in a mysterious deep purple glow. A simple, unadorned wooden long box appeared at the center of the screen.
Wooden Long BoxA line of text slowly materialized beneath the wooden long box.
-- Maxim: All gifts from Fate have their price secretly marked in advance.
This line of text began to dissipate after three seconds, transforming into three options.
[Choose one from the three Fate's Gifts below as the present Fate bestows upon you.]
-- Shabby Dining Table
Function: Obtains one free breakfast daily (includes one glass of milk, one piece of bread). There is a chance for additional food items requiring survival points to appear.
-- Shabby Newspaper Rack
Function: Obtains one free newspaper daily. It may contain some intelligence. There is a chance for additional items requiring survival points to appear.
-- Shabby Wooden Table
Function: Obtains one free item daily (Medical, Energy, Construction, Electronics, Tools...). There is a chance for additional items requiring survival points to appear.
[Friendly Reminder: After choosing a gift, as the price, one Fate Card will be drawn. Please choose carefully.]
Hiss...
Looking at the three options on the screen, Yu Yuan's heart began to race.
Each option was incredibly tempting; he wanted them all.
But that was clearly impossible.
The safest choice was obviously the food. No matter the situation, choosing food is never wrong.
But...
The other two options, intelligence and items, were also quite good.
Intelligence could provide some information, and the items would likely offer some assistance in building up the shelter.
After pondering for a few seconds, his gaze locked onto the [Shabby Newspaper Rack].
He made his final decision.
While food and items could provide a certain level of security, compared to them, intelligence held limitless possibilities.
[The Shabby Newspaper Rack has been placed in your shelter. Please check it yourself!]
After Yu Yuan made his choice, the wooden long box also began to shake.
Three seconds later, the long box stopped shaking. A long, earth-yellow card adorned with mysterious patterns appeared before Yu Yuan.
[This Fate Card -- Slaughter]
'Pebble-tier' Slaughter Card
[Slaughter Card, Quality 'Pebble-tier'. The player must kill one human within two days. Otherwise, the player dies.]
(Friendly Reminder: Humans! They don't necessarily have to be enemies, right?)
Yu Yuan's pupils contracted. He immediately understood the meaning behind the so-called 'gifts from Fate' and the 'marked price'.
"As long as I choose a Fate's Gift, I must fulfill the requirement on the Fate Card."
He took a deep breath. His originally anxious mood unexpectedly relaxed considerably.
Pushing open the wooden door of the shelter before him, inside was a space of roughly over sixty square meters, empty and barren. The only object in the entire room was an old-fashioned, three-tiered book and newspaper rack.
He opened the virtual screen and called up the shelter information from the Shelter Management page.
[Yu Yuan's Shelter] (Rank: 10,000th)
Owner: Yu Yuan
Area: 60㎡
Security Level: 0
Comfort Level: 0
Energy Level: 0
Defense Level: 0
Sanitation Level: 0
Within the [Facility Management Log], several [Facility Construction] options appeared: [Security], [Rest Area], [Water Collector], [Ventilation], and over twenty different construction projects in total.
However, all of them were displayed as unbuildable. Yu Yuan checked them one by one.
[Rest Area Level 1 -- Makeshift Bedding]
Construction Materials: Lighter ×1, Yoga Mat ×1, Old Cloth ×3
[Security Level 1 -- Shabby Main Door]
Construction Materials: Wood ×10 units, Screwdriver ×1, Screws ×15, Hinges ×2
[Restroom Level 1...]
After reviewing them all, the sense of urgency in his heart grew even stronger.
Supplies, supplies, and more supplies.
Building up the shelter required a massive amount of supplies. Furthermore, food and water also had to be secured today.
Otherwise, if his physical condition deteriorated by tomorrow, searching for supplies would only become more difficult.
Based on the information gleaned from the chat channel and the intensity of the gunfight between the thugs, Yu Yuan knew that if he wanted to acquire supplies, he could only pin his hopes on the night.
The daytime was completely out of the question. Any random sniper or even a thug could potentially kill him.
This highlighted the advantage of building the shelter in the sewer system. The sewer network ran beneath all the city's streets and buildings. Here, he didn't have to worry about the threat of snipers.
The virtual panel had a built-in time display. It was already 4:32 PM. Darkness would likely fall in just two or three hours.
Time was tight. He had to take action!
His gaze fell upon the only object in the room – the Shabby Newspaper Rack. There was already a neatly folded newspaper placed on it.
All his hopes rested on this.
Unfolding the newspaper, he found most of the content was blurred and illegible, as if stained by ink. Only two sections had relatively clear text.
Overjoyed, Yu Yuan immediately began to read.
[Greenwood City Daily]
Date: Wasteland Calendar, Day 1
Weather: Sunny turning cloudy. Expect light acid rain around 23:50, lasting approximately half an hour.
Temperature: 19°C ~ 26°C.
Publisher: Wasteland Fate Press.
————————————
[Neighborhood News Section]
Quality: Pebble-tier
Danger Level: Low
Today at 14:45, a gunfight occurred at Wutong Apartments, No. 48 Firwood Street, East District 13, followed by a chase within the urban area. A total of eight deaths and seven injuries resulted.
According to investigations, Wutong Apartments was a surveillance outpost established by the Thug Prison in East District 13. It was raided and destroyed by the Black Shield Police Department. All supplies were confiscated, and tripwire mines were placed at the doors of rooms 401 and 402.
However, a small amount of supplies were overlooked in rooms 408, 503, and 506.
The apartment has been marked by nearby scavengers. They will enter to explore after midnight.
———————————
Looking at the information presented in the newspaper, Yu Yuan took a deep breath to suppress his excitement.
Thug Prison and Black Shield Police Department were likely the two factions involved in the gunfight and chase two hours ago. The timing of the conflict also matched up.
This was something that happened today.
His gaze moved down, and his heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
"A small amount of supplies overlooked in rooms 408, 503, and 506, and marked by city scavengers..."
The precise supply information and the potential dangers made Yu Yuan feel profoundly grateful for his decision to choose the Shabby Newspaper Rack.
"Danger Level [Low], city scavengers?" His eyes shifted to the earth-yellow Fate Card on the screen, and his gaze gradually sharpened.