Having spent over ten hours in this game, Song Jian found that the loot drop rate in the game was pretty low. Moreover, the majority of the drops were mostly materials, and the chance of getting equipment was even lower. Even scavenging for supplies offered a much higher chance of acquiring equipment compared to battling monsters.
However, when you discover and defeat a new type of monster in the game, the first of these new monsters to die often drops some pretty good items.
For example, the first time he killed a mutated zombie, it dropped a puppet card, or like now when he killed the first mutated canine beast, it dropped a Skill Book.
Picking up the skill book radiating a milky white light from the ground, Song Jian discovered that this skill book contained the same skill the mutated canine beast had just used.
Skill Book: Earth Teeth Assault (Common), grants the skill Earth Teeth Assault upon use. Earth Teeth Assault (Active), Level 1, Skill effect: Shoots a tooth-shaped burst of energy at a target in front, dealing 45-55 points of damage. Has a chance for critical damage, cooldown time of 10 seconds. Skill cost: 10 Vitality Points;
This was the first Skill Book Song Jian had encountered in the game. When he focused his gaze on the Skill Book, two options appeared on it, "Use" and "Destroy". Without hesitation, Song Jian immediately learned the skill.
Only after he had learned the skill did he suddenly realize that he didn't defeat this level-three mutated canine beast alone. He had killed it together with Ke'er.
"Ke'er, I'm really sorry. We killed this beast together, but I took all the loot," Song Jian said somewhat apologetically, feeling like a villain who had stolen a little girl's lollipop.
"I promise, if I get any Skill Books that would suit you in the future, I will save them for you, okay?" Song Jian quickly promised.
"Okay." Ke'er nodded expressionlessly and said: "But before that, you have to give me some tasty meat as interest."
Song Jian heaved a sigh of relief, hurriedly took out all the roast meat, and handed it over piece by piece;
Seeing so much roast meat, Ke'er's eyes slowly curved upwards and the smile she had been forcing finally spread across her entire face.
"Hahaha, I forgive you, Uncle. In the future, just remember to save the good stuff for me, haha!" Ke'er patted Song Jian's arm and said loudly.
"Bru... Brother, help... help me! Cough, cough." The man leaning diagonally against the wall in the distance groaned.
"Damn, I almost forgot that there's another person here." Song Jian picked up the gun and quickly approached the man.
The man was covered in blood and it was clear without looking that his Vitality Points were probably low, and he was definitely suffering from many negative conditions, such as "Fracture", "Weakness", "Bleeding", etc.
"Br... brother, help, please help me," The man's body was completely immobile, he had a pleading look on his face as he spoke to Song Jian.
Song Jian examined him closely. The man's legs were broken, a large piece of his left rib had caved in, and he was constantly spitting out fresh blood.
"Damn, your injuries are pretty serious, bro. How much Vitality do you have left?" Song Jian sucked in a breath and asked.
Normal people only have seventy to eighty Vitality Points. The Earth Teeth Assault skill of the mutated canine beast could deal 50 points of damage in a single hit, which was almost two-thirds of the health pool. Combine that with his continuous bleeding and his Vitality Points were probably in a very dangerous situation.
The most important thing now is to stop his bleeding first. Otherwise, he'll bleed out soon and his Vitality Points will drop to zero, causing him to die.
"I have... eighteen left. Every dozen or so seconds, I lose one. Am I going to die soon?" The man murmured as he spat out blood, looking as though he was on his last breath.
"I don't have any medicine to treat you right now. All I have is a piece of roast meat that can increase your Vitality recovery rate by ten percent, but you're still bleeding, so it's useless." For a moment, Song Jian felt quite helpless.
The rate of Vitality recovery in the game wasn't fast. The twelve Vitality Points that Song Jian had lost hadn't fully recovered yet. Although the wound on his shoulder no longer bled, the three scratches were still clearly visible.
"Use... use this." The man opened his palm and a syringe shimmering with a milky white light appeared in his hand.
"Miniature Healing Injection (White): Medicine, Usage Effect: Immediately increases the user's Vitality Points by 20, removes the bleeding effect, and reduces the severity of the user's injuries for the next 30 minutes."
The man looked nervously at Song Jian, his heart pounding somewhat. Such a medicine could sometimes really save a life, and he wouldn't have let Song Jian help him use it if he wasn't currently on his last dozen or so vitality points, severely wounded and weakened, and unable to muster any strength.
If Song Jian were to try and take this healing injection from him right now, he would be absolutely powerless.
"Huh, you actually found healing medicine? Lucky you." Song Jian seemed unaware of the value of the medicine, walked straight up to the man, took the syringe, rolled up the man's sleeve, and injected it into him.
The medicine slowly entered the man's body, giving him an immediate feeling of relief.
"Thank you, my name is Wang Qi, and I owe you my life!" Wang Qi felt a surge of warmth enter his body, his continuous bleeding stopped, and his vitality was restored to nearly thirty points. He was finally out of a life-threatening condition, which let him breathe a sigh of relief.
"My name is Song Jian," Song Jian said with a faint smile. "Now that we're in this damned game, we have to help each other."
"Yes, help each other." Wang Qi sighed. His body shivered slightly and his complexion seemed to have improved somewhat.
"Here, I'm Ke'er, take this. It can speed up your Vitality recovery." Ke'er walked up to him, handed him a piece of "roast meat", but quickly retracted her hand, took out a dining knife from her bag, carefully cut it in half, and handed it back. She muttered quietly, "Half should be enough for you."
Wang Qi was somewhat amused but after seeing the attributes of this half piece of roast meat, he gobbled up the whole thing.
The vitality of players can recover over time, but there's a prerequisite that the hunger and thirst level must be above 50%. Once it drops below 50%, Vitality no longer recovers automatically.
"Uncle, my offline time is approaching." Ke'er tugged at Song Jian's sleeve and whispered.
"All right, Wang Qi's injuries won't heal soon, let's take him to the safe house too," Song Jian nodded and said.
"Thank you, brother," Wang Qi finally relaxed. In his current state, he would be completely vulnerable if left here alone. Any monster could easily take him down.
With both legs and ribs broken, he really should be carried on a stretcher. But now there was only Song Jian and no stretcher, so Song Jian had no choice but to carry Wang Qi as they made their way to the safe house.
...