"""
[Active Substance Extractor User Manual:]
[1. Active substances are the primary materials for producing synthetic clones, including but not limited to minerals required by the human body, 20 common amino acids, and 2 rare amino acids, etc.]
[2. The raw material for the Active Substance Extractor is animal carcasses, with Chordate Mammalia Primates being the most efficient, reaching an extraction efficiency of up to 90%. The efficiency is lower for non-primates and lowest for invertebrates, under 10%.]
[3. Extraction efficiency is also related to the degree of decomposition.]
With the completion of the player recruitment task, rewards and the manual were both credited to his account.
Inside Shelter No. 404.
Chu Guang was examining the iron lump that looked like a coffin next to the conveyor belt while reading the manual projected onto his retina by the System.
According to the manual, this device was for producing "the material to create synthetic clones"—in other words, "Active Substance."
So, was its function similar to corpse recycling?
But it seemed from the manual's description that the bodies of Variants were also within the scope of recycling.
After briefly understanding how the device worked, Chu Guang used a handcart he had found outside to drag it to the elevator and then took it up to the surface.
He certainly did not want dead bodies inside the Shelter.
As for electricity.
There would always be a way.
The elevator ascended slowly and came to a stop as its doors opened.
Just as he was pulling the cart out of the elevator, Xiao Qi's voice nearly coincided with this moment from upstairs.
"Master!"
"What's wrong?"
"There seems to be something going on with your players... A huge black bird is attacking them! It's on the north side of the sanatorium!"
A black bird?
Chu Guang initially paused in surprise but his expression changed rapidly, and he immediately dropped the handcart and rushed toward the exterior of the sanatorium.
...
"Damn? Night, you're amazing."
"That forward roll dodge just now was something!"
"Buzz off, I was freaking scared! Stop standing there like an idiot, hurry and give me a hand!"
In the woods north of the sanatorium.
A black bird perched on a tree limb ten meters high, its piercing gaze locked onto the group of players below.
The bird's legs bent slightly, and its kite-sized wings folded back, ready to spring into action at any moment.
After hearing the commotion from Night Ten and the others, three more players immediately put down their work and rushed over with axes in hand.
Perhaps intimidated by the crowd below, the black bird didn't immediately dive into a second attack. Instead, it perched out of reach, biding its time.
Wild Wind bent down to pick up a black feather from the ground and examined it closely.
"It looks a bit like a crow."
"Crows are this big?!" Glancing at the scratch marks on the nearby wood, Night eleven backed away nervously as he spoke.
"This thing must be a Variant... a mutant resulting from Gamma Rays or some other thing. I saw the setting on the official website," said Fang Chang, cautiously keeping his eyes on the bird without letting his guard down.
Night Ten: "The official website has a setting?! Wasn't it just a pre-order page?"
Wild Wind: "That was several days ago... The official site updated with new features yesterday, didn't you see?"
"Let's stop the nonsense for now. What should we do? Just stand here doing nothing?" Night Ten took another nervous step back.
Now, Wild Wind was the closest to the bird.
The four men and one bird were at a standoff.
At that moment, a whooshing sound soared over their heads and smashed straight toward the big bird.
"Caw!"
Though the stone missed, it scared the bird enough to make it flutter away, jumping onto another branch.
As it finally stabilized itself on the tree limb after flapping its wings, it saw the man below picking up another stone and hurling it.
The big bird was now thoroughly enraged.
It had never before encountered such insolence in this territory it considered its own.
With a powerful spring from its bent legs, it launched itself from the branch like a cannonball aimed straight for Chu Guang.
Its sharp talons reached forward like open hooks.
Yet ultimately, the beast was just a beast. Even with an additional head, it could never understand the sneer at the corner of that man's mouth.
Chu Guang, dropping the stone from his hand, skillfully grabbed the steel pipe planted in the ground and thrust its sharp end fiercely forward.
In a flash, there was no time for the bird to avoid.
Even though the bird was startled and flapped its wings trying to distance itself upon seeing Chu Guang pick up an unfamiliar object, it was nearly impossible to adjust in time due to its inertia.
The steel pipe, like a javelin, pierced straight into its chest.
"Caw—!"
A shrill cry echoed in the forest.
Feathers streaked with blood scattered about.
Watching the big bird struggle to fly away, Chu Guang silently moved forward and picked up the bloodied pipe from the ground.
"This is no crow."
"Its scientific name is Falco... probably from around two hundred years ago."
The four players watched him, dumbstruck by the smooth sequence of actions, leaving them rooted to the spot.
Damn!
So strong!
However, they didn't realize that for the vast majority of survivors able to walk the Wasteland alone, this level of skill was merely basic training.
"""
Over these past five months, Chu Guang hadn't learned much other than how to throw a javelin with lethal precision, ensuring his target was hit within ten meters.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the chance to stand here showing off.
"Wild Wind! A hawk that big?" Wild Wind exclaimed, his understanding of birds thoroughly upended.
Fang Chang swallowed nervously.
"Because of Gamma Rays?"
"Not just Gamma Rays. Viruses, bacteria, genetic weapons… a variety of factors contributed to everything we see today. Of course, the Variants are merely one of the threats we face. In certain situations, humans can be more dangerous than them."
Chu Guang looked up at the pine trees in front of the four players and continued.
"The hawk from before must have made its nest in this tree, no wonder it didn't leave despite so many of you being here."
Generally speaking, birds rarely provoke land creatures that are larger than themselves, their diets mainly consisting of mutant cockroaches, and rodents such as mice and squirrels.
The beast may have flown away, but it couldn't have gone far; it was probably perched on a tree nearby waiting to die.
These water pipes with a sharp end might not have strong penetration power, but their hollow insides were natural bleeding channels. Just one hole in the body was almost certainly fatal.
Forget about birds, even if a person were hit by one, it would be challenging to stitch up the wound properly.
Night Ten hung his head in shame.
"I'm sorry… I was preoccupied with chopping wood and didn't notice."
"No need to apologize," Chu Guang said, looking up. "Bird eggs are quite the treat."
There would be a delicacy to enjoy in a short while.
...
Chu Guang's prediction was quickly confirmed.
Beneath a crooked tree, he found the black bird that had breathed its last.
After bleeding the bird with his dagger and plucking it clean, he tossed it into a pot and placed it on a makeshift stove formed from bricks. He stuffed dry branches and leaves beneath the pot and lit it with matches he had bought earlier.
Smoke began to curl upward.
Before the water boiled, Chu Guang fished the blanched bird out of the pot, skewered it on a rod, and roasted it directly over the fire.
He also roasted the eggs that he'd found.
There was no salt, no spices.
But even so, it was far better than the undercooked grain mush they had been surviving on.
"Can we actually eat this thing?"
Night Ten couldn't help but feel a natural aversion to the "mutated" creature roasting on the iron rack, but the fragrance relentlessly tantalized him, making him swallow his saliva despite himself.
To be able to eat in the Game was definitely an unexpected delight for a foodie.
And it made all the hard work of the morning seem worthwhile.
"It's edible once it's cooked. I'll let you know about anything that's not safe to eat," Chu Guang slowly rotated the spit, ensuring every side of the food was thoroughly cooked.
Opportunities to eat game meat were rare in the Wasteland.
Even on the rare occasions when they could catch something edible like this, it would spoil quickly due to lack of preservation methods.
Here, salt was a commodity scarcer than electricity.
Especially for survivors living in inland cities like Qingquan City, using a large amount of salt to preserve food wasn't exactly practical.
As for a fridge, he'd heard that the Mayor's castle in town had one, but Chu Guang had only heard stories and never actually seen one.
Of course, survivors weren't completely without options.
For example, the Survivor Base next door—Mr. Brown's farm—produced tobacco leaves rich in tar and acetaldehyde. Even without salt, smoking them could extend the shelf life of food for a few months.
"Manager, may I ask what amount of wood do we actually need?"
Waiting for the food to cook was torture.
To distract themselves from thinking about food, Fang Chang struck up a conversation of his own accord.
Upon hearing this question, Chu Guang responded offhandedly.
"Chop as much as you can."
The players looked at each other, not particularly motivated.
Chu Guang didn't pay much attention at first, but then a thought suddenly struck him.
They were "players," "outsiders."
Unlike himself, who had made the crossover, they could leave at any time and didn't face the same urgency to survive.
Even if he explained the importance of stockpiling wood, they would never truly understand what those words meant.
The players' identity meant they approached problems from a different perspective than his own. Even if they didn't mind the grind, it was unlikely they would continue to exert themselves without reward.
There had to be tasks.
And naturally, there had to be rewards.
"Let me think…"
Chu Guang pondered as he stroked his chin.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
"At four in the afternoon, we'll tally up today's achievements."
"A tree as thick as an arm will be worth 1 Contribution Point per meter. A tree as thick as a thigh will be worth 2 Contribution Points per meter—"
However, what Chu Guang didn't expect was that no sooner had the words left his mouth than four figures holding bowls shot up vigorously.
"Manager, I suddenly don't feel very hungry."
"Me neither."
"There's still some time before we eat, I'll go chop a couple more trees!"
"I suddenly feel like cutting something else!"
Chu Guang: "…?"
He hadn't even told them what the Contribution Points could be used for…