novelraw Chapter 29: Make up for the loopholes and lure them with benefits
Chapter 29: Make up for the loopholes and lure them with benefits
"Sewer!"
Yu Yuan hurried to the bathroom and shone his flashlight on the floor drain. When he saw the dark, straight up-and-down pipe, he finally realized what he had overlooked.
No matter how much he prepared, he had focused all his attention on how to defend against possible flooding outside the shelter, but he had completely ignored the fact that there was a sewer opening inside the shelter itself in the bathroom!
Once the heavy rain filled the city's sewer system, rainwater would likely backflow into the shelter through this drain.
Yu Yuan felt cold sweat soaking through his back. While feeling terrified in hindsight, he also felt incredibly fortunate.
Thankfully he discovered it in time, otherwise it would have been too late when the typhoon arrived and the downpour began.
But then his expression turned extremely grim.
Because he realized that it seemed... it was already too late now.
The exit from the civil defense shelter level to the sewer had been blocked by him, and he could no longer go out to gather construction materials.
After replacing a candle in the shelter, Yu Yuan lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.Before entering the wasteland, he didn't like smoking and was even somewhat averse to it.
But he had to admit, when one's thoughts were complex, this was the best way to quickly sort through ideas and stabilize emotions.
"Phew... at least the situation hasn't reached the worst level yet."
Yu Yuan temporarily thought of two ways to solve the problem.
The first was the simplest and most brutal - pour quick-dry cement into the bathroom's sewer pipe to completely block it in the physical sense. But the consequences were also serious - Yu Yuan didn't know what changes would occur to the [Bathroom] facility after blocking the sewer pipe.
It probably wouldn't be completely abandoned, so the most likely outcome was that it would need to be rebuilt, or the cement would need to be cleared. Regardless, Yu Yuan placed this option as his last resort.
The typhoon was scheduled to arrive at 3:48 AM. If he hadn't solved the bathroom backflow problem by that time, he would have no choice but to take this path.
The second option was naturally to upgrade the [Bathroom] facility.
And among the optimization routes he had previously unlocked at the East District Waterworks Center, there was indeed an optimization path for the bathroom.
Once the bathroom reached level 2, facility optimization could be performed, just like with the stainless steel waterproof door.
[Bathroom Level 2 - Washroom] required construction materials: Ceramic washbasin ×1, Corrugated hose ×2, Latex paint ×1, Stainless steel pipe ×2, Faucet ×1.
The optimized level 2 bathroom facility would then become the excellent quality [Shower Room].
It only required adding Shower head ×1, PVC pipe ×1, Check valve ×2, Anti-overflow floor drain ×2, Waterproof coating ×1 after building [Bathroom Level 2 - Washroom] to complete the optimization.
Previously at 68 Canchino Street, in the Teardrop Mole Woman's home, Yu Yuan had obtained many household materials. At that time, he had already considered upgrading the bathroom, so he had latex paint, stainless steel pipes, PVC pipes, waterproof coating, and faucets.
The remaining materials could only be obtained through trading on Taotao Hole.
After searching through everything, he was lucky enough to find two corrugated hoses and one shower head, but ceramic washbasins, check valves, and anti-overflow floor drains were completely unavailable on the market.
He could only post purchase requests.
This time he didn't use cigarettes for trading as he had done before. After three days in the wasteland world, he had gradually released nearly forty boxes. Although players' demand for cigarettes was still high, it wasn't as desperate as before.
Previously, in order to upgrade Taotao Hole and other things, he had listed over twenty boxes, and many people completed transactions and then resold those cigarettes by splitting them up and listing them to earn price differences.
Besides, he only had two boxes left now, and he needed to keep some for personal use.
This time, he listed the supplies he had obtained from the thugs, starting with melee weapons.
4 Damascus daggers, 2 6h5 bayonets, the tactical axe, and military boots that didn't fit his size were all listed. Besides trading for the materials needed to upgrade the bathroom,
he also included some construction materials for other shelter facilities, such as bicycles, wires, and rectifiers for building level 1 generators, and copper wires, switches, etc. for upgrading to level 2 lighting.
These were all facilities Yu Yuan planned to complete within these three days.
Building level 1 [Generator] actually also required an alternator and battery, as well as energy-saving lights for upgrading [Lighting]. Yu Yuan had all these things, so he only needed to gather the missing materials to build.
And the listing information Yu Yuan posted was quickly seen by other players, because after Taotao Hole was upgraded to level three or higher permissions, although still anonymous, every time something was listed, the listed items would be refreshed to the top.
Previously, when Yu Yuan listed the supplies he had searched from the thugs on Taotao Hole, it had caused quite a stir. After all, chest rigs, bulletproof vests, shotguns, rifles, grenades, military boots - these were clearly equipment specific to thugs, making it hard not to attract attention.
Therefore, as soon as Yu Yuan's purchase request appeared, attentive people immediately noticed.
They thought it was the same as before - using listings to transfer supplies, since this was already a common practice among players.
But soon someone noticed something unusual. Although the newly listed items were all melee weapons, the trading requirements were pitifully low.
Previously, a melee weapon would sell for 3,000 to 8,000 survival points depending on the category.
Weapons like daggers that only had piercing functions were basically around 3,000 survival points.
While multi-purpose weapons like tactical axes that could be used for combat and chopping would reach over 6,000 survival points.
But now these weapons could actually be exchanged for some materials. Seeing this, attentive people immediately took action.
After all, although cities and towns were high-risk areas, there were always resource points located in remote wilderness that players could discover.
Cars broken down in the wild, abandoned camping sites, highway service stations, country villas, farm estates, abandoned houses, etc.
Although scarce in number, they were basically not very dangerous.
Some people who were already exploring near these houses immediately changed direction.
Some who were about to rest saw the purchase request and remembered that among the materials they had collected, there were items that met the exchange conditions, so they immediately got up to search.
Others even rushed out of their shelters and started dismantling the broken-down RV by the roadside.
They all had the same thought - get the weapons exchanged first.
Even if they couldn't use the weapons themselves, reselling them could earn price differences ranging from hundreds to over a thousand survival points. No one would refuse such a good deal.
And this was exactly what Yu Yuan had deliberately done. He was pressed for time now, and if he wanted to quickly obtain the materials to upgrade the bathroom, he had to use benefits to make others work hard.
Limited quantity, first come first served.
It was that simple.
After seeing through the chat channel that all players already knew about the weapon trading and were discussing it enthusiastically, Yu Yuan stopped paying attention to it.
As long as there was discussion, someone would always gather materials for the survival points. He just needed to wait.
Yu Yuan suppressed his urgency and looked somewhat eagerly at the pile of loot in the corner.
"While I have this free time, let me organize this harvest!"