Chu Guang tightened the seal on the plastic bag and continued,
"You should count yourselves lucky that you didn't continue further in. These kinds of mushrooms usually grow near the nests of mutated leeches."
Night Ten froze.
"Mutated leeches?"
Chu Guang replied casually,
"Yeah, juvenile mutated leeches are only the size of a palm, and aside from specialized mouthparts, they look pretty much like normal leeches."
"However, once they reach adulthood, their size will rapidly grow to over 1 meter, with the largest even reaching 3 meters. Their feeding habits change as well. I've heard they can even swallow a living person whole... Of course, that's just what I've heard."
After listening to the Manager's narrative, Night Ten felt a chill run down his spine.
He knew there was something unsettling when he was picking mushrooms, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong. Looking at it now, he had skirted around Hell's Gate.
"Can't be eaten?" Wild Wind's expression was one of regret as he looked at the mushrooms Chu Guang had put away and muttered, "I thought they could add a BUFF."
"Don't overthink it."
Where are there so many BUFFs?
There was something Chu Guang left unsaid.
Although inedible, these mushrooms were a main ingredient for making a radiation antidote.
Chu Guang was not clear on the exact principle, having only heard about it from Old Charlie on Bet Street.
The Blue Umbrella Mushroom contains a special kind of polypeptide material that can effectively alleviate and cure non-fatal injuries caused by gamma rays.
The commercial teams of Giant Stone City would buy these things, and the prices they offered were not low. Usually, they would be transported to Giant Stone City and sold to the factories there.
It's just that these things are really difficult to obtain; very few scavengers are willing to risk their lives to search for mutated leech nests in swamps, subways, or sewer systems.
Being hard to find is one thing.
Returning alive after finding them is another.
Even those driven by necessity don't want to deal with these flesh-eating tentacles…
Unexpectedly, this close at hand, there was a nest of mutated leeches.
Chu Guang felt mixed emotions.
The good news was that these Blue Umbrella Mushrooms could fetch a decent sum of money. The bad news was that mutated leeches were not easy to deal with.
Salt?
Where could he get hundreds of kilograms of salt, and if he had that much, it would be more profitable to sell the salt directly.
Fire?
These things generally lived in humid areas and weren't so easy to set alight.
"Do you remember the specific location of that sewer entrance?"
Faced with the Manager's question, Wild Wind quickly pulled out the map and pointed to the marked position,
"Right here."
Chu Guang glanced at the map, committing the location to memory.
"I've got it."
...
Wild Wind and Night Ten had brought back an estimated 2 kilograms of Blue Umbrella Mushrooms, which usually traded for 1 chip per 50g.
2000g equaled 40 chips!
This was almost equivalent to Chu Guang's entire savings from the past five months.
And this was the price set by the recycling stations of Bet Street.
The actual value of these things was at least twice that number!
Chu Guang planned to sell all the mushrooms and use the chips to purchase urgently needed supplies for the outpost.
"Outpost supplies need to be restocked, so I'm going out for a bit. Stay here and don't wander off."
"At five in the afternoon, Xiao Qi will open the elevator on time for you to return to Shelter No. 404."
"While I'm gone, Xiao Qi will tally your work results. If there is anything you don't understand, you can ask it."
As for the 2 kilograms of Blue Umbrella Mushrooms, Chu Guang allocated a total of 220 contribution points to Wild Wind and Night Ten.
200 of those points were for the discovery of the mutated leech nest, and the remaining 20 were for the mushrooms.
He wasn't being stingy on purpose; he feared that giving too much would tempt the players into taking risks collecting these things, only to potentially lose their lives in the process.
Before finding a generator that could power the "Active Substance Extractor," he felt it was better to be cautious.
Lunch was boiled barley porridge.
Though it was called porridge, to Chu Guang, it felt more like unsweetened mung bean soup.
The stuff had hardly any taste, serving merely to fill the stomach.
But surprisingly, the four players devoured it as if they were starving ghosts reincarnated.
Was it really that delicious?
Chu Guang began to doubt his own culinary skills.
Could he have been good at cooking all along?
That shouldn't be the case...
He finished the meal in a hurry.
After cleaning up the pots and pans, Chu Guang put out the fire and set off on his journey alone, leaving behind four players and an AI robot hanging upstairs.
Fang Chang stared at the task board planted at the entrance of the sanatorium, deep in thought.
Night Ten asked on the side.
"What are you looking at?"
Fang Chang asked.
"Considering the Manager's attitude, these Blue Umbrella Mushrooms must not be useless, but the task only awarded you 20 contribution points, which is equivalent to chopping down two trees... Do you think that's reasonable?"
Night Ten was taken aback.
"Is there a problem?"
Fang Chang asked.
"Of course, there is," Wild Wind pondered. "Normally, the profit a player gains from a task should be positively related to the difficulty of the task. Not only did you unlock a new instance, but you also gathered high-value materials. It doesn't make sense for the reward to be so little."
"What do you think is the reason?" Fang Chang snapped his fingers.
"Priority!"
"Pri, priority?" Night Ten was baffled.
"That's right," Fang Chang nodded. "Do you still remember what the Manager said in the previous storyline? The top priority right now is survival!"
Was there such a thing?
There seemed to be.
Night Ten didn't pay much attention; in most games, he didn't bother with the storyline and would just Ctrl-skip it. Even though it wasn't possible to Ctrl-skip in this Game, zoning out for a few minutes was no different.
Fang Chang continued.
"...So I guess, the tasks on the task board are not the only tasks. This game has given us a lot of autonomy. Not only can tasks be issued by NPCs, but they can also be actively triggered."
Wild Wind furrowed his brow.
"Reason?"
"You have already received a reward, haven't you?" Fang Chang said. "Although you didn't find the generator, you discovered an alien nest and gathered valuable materials."
"So, I surmise that as long as our actions meet the current needs of Shelter No. 404, we can get contribution points. And the value of the reward is positively correlated with the value created by our actions!"
"For instance, building latrines was a task issued by the Manager after adopting our suggestions. Old White and I both got a reward of 200 contribution points."
Old White nodded.
"It seems to be the case."
"I think I got your point," Wild Wind stroked his chin, "but aren't we also gaining contribution points by completing the tasks on the task board?"
And those points weren't low.
"That's the second point I was getting to," Fang Chang's face revealed a mysterious smile. "Do you remember what the planner told us about the favorability setting?"
A flash of realization crossed Wild Wind's face.
"I see... I understand what you mean now."
Night Ten and Old White were still confused.
"What do you two understand?"
"Explain it clearly!"
Fang Chang spoke leisurely.
"To put it simply, by methodically completing the fixed tasks on the task board, we can get a guaranteed minimum reward but can't showcase our abilities. In contrast, actively triggering tasks better reflects our capabilities! Theoretically, it should enhance the Manager's evaluation of us."
Of course, these conjectures were based on the premise that Wasteland OL was a "completely realistic" immersive virtual reality game and that the Manager's actions were governed by program logic, not a human setting.
If its intelligence wasn't as high as he imagined, this guess might well be invalid.
However, given what they had seen so far, the Manager's intelligence seemed quite high. Normal communication was not an issue, and Fang Chang even couldn't help but wonder if the Manager might be played by an actual person.
After understanding Fang Chang's explanation, Old White stroked his chin beard and nodded.
"This train of thought is quite interesting and worth a try... So what do you think we should do?"
"As for what to do specifically, I'm still figuring it out, but my intuition tells me that, before the second round of closed beta testing, it's more critical to accumulate more NPC favorability than contribution points. This will ensure that we start the second round with a higher 'starting point' than other players."
After a pause, Fang Chang snapped his fingers.
"I propose we form a team!"
"Forming a team means...?" Night Ten asked, puzzled.
Old White nodded.
"I have no objections."
Wild Wind nodded, too.
"Neither do I."
Night Ten voiced his agreement as well.
"I don't mind either, but could you explain the details of the teaming?"
Fang Chang explained patiently.
"In short, from now on, we are a team. We will share information and help each other. Next, we need to play to each of our strengths."
Fang Chang looked at Wild Wind and Night Ten and continued.
"Wild Wind, Night Ten, you will scout along the lake shore of Wetland Park, paying attention to the distribution and movement of Variants. If you spot any areas that look like nests, mark them... But remember, don't get too close, especially avoid engaging in combat. We need a safe water source."
Wild Wind nodded.
"Got it."
Then, Fang Chang turned to Old White.
"As for us, we need to chop more wood right now."
"I'll look up some information online when I log off later, and tomorrow we'll figure out a way to make use of all this wood we've stockpiled!"