Chereads / Love and Grind, Cut Through the Wasteland / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: What’s Free Is the Most Expensive

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: What’s Free Is the Most Expensive

Time rewinds to yesterday.

Daytime.

In front of the market.

Lu Meng stood in a long line, just like an ordinary scavenger.

He watched a boy in the other line, who left quickly amid mocking laughter, seemingly trying to escape, and he couldn't help but reflect on it.

Even though he had been here for almost half a year, the harsh reality of this world still moved him.

Of course, his life wasn't easy now, and reality didn't allow for much sympathy.

Lu Meng was a traveler.

And he was currently in the world of Swordsman.

[Swordsman is a sandbox-style single-player game. The gameplay is completely free and open, allowing for battles, controlling teams, and city-building... You can do whatever you want in a vast open world with a wasteland style.

The prerequisite is to survive first.

Surviving in such a ruthless world with cannibals, hungry bandits, slaves, and beasts is not easy.]

This is the official introduction to the game Swordsman, and Lu Meng was an old player attracted by its features.

Without realizing it, he had already spent at least two thousand hours on Swordsman.

Because of Swordsman's high freedom and lack of fixed plot lines, no matter how many times you finish the game, there's always something fresh.

Lu Meng was intimately familiar with the game's scenes, characters, and world view.

At the time when artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology were developing, the game's developer announced a free update, upgrading Swordsman from a computer game to an immersive holographic game through the "Real World" expansion.

However, because the project was huge and Swordsman was not a pay-to-win game, the company did not have enough staff to manage it. They decided to invite a group of experienced players to help test the "Real World" expansion and eliminate any potential bugs before releasing the official version.

Lu Meng naturally got the qualification.

Early access version, hey.

Totally worth it.

Unexpectedly, this test led to a problem—he was completely pulled into the game.

For "modern people," time travel wasn't necessarily a bad thing; at least, it wasn't strange.

Especially when traveling into a game that he had already spent over 2000 hours in—it seemed like good luck.

...If this game wasn't Swordsman.

In Swordsman, character death and starting over were part of the process. It was common for players to be beaten up, captured as slaves, or even unexpectedly killed by a monster while innocently mining at the gates.

For an ordinary person truly struggling to survive in this wasteland, life would be even harder.

This was Lu Meng's current situation.

"This is definitely a malicious bug."

Luckily—he still had his in-game status panel.

Lu Meng focused, and a pale blue light screen opened up in his view.

[Name: Lu Beiyou (Lu Meng)

Race: Human (Son of the Wasteland)

Base Attributes: Strength 5, Speed 5, Endurance 5, Constitution 5, Perception 7

Combat Level: 1 (Unskilled)

Melee Skills: None

Ranged Skills: None

Life Skills: Engineering 2 (Beginner), Lockpicking 8 (Beginner), Handyman 15 (Basic), Stealth 12 (Basic)

Hunger Level: 112/300 (Normal)

Health: Malnourished (Mild)

Permissions: E

"Lu Beiyou" was the in-game character name Lu Meng created, and his appearance was also designed by himself. Fortunately, Lu Meng always focused on immersion, so his character didn't look like some ancient, non-human god.

He retained a bit of his old handsomeness.

It was just that the flashy white hair was a bit of a bad habit of his when playing games, and he didn't expect it to carry over into real life.

At least in this world, gene mutations were common, so having different hair colors wasn't unusual.

"Swordsman"'s attribute system, in short, was based on "proficiency." The more you practice or use a skill, the more proficiency you gain, which in turn levels up the skill.

For example, for "Base Attributes," the average level of a normal young adult human was 5 points, and Lu Meng had worked hard over the past six months to restore his stats to this normal level.

Skills that required specific learning started at level 0. For instance, to build a shelter, Lu Meng had to gather materials and make countless mistakes before finding a viable solution.

In this process, he even leveled up his engineering skills by 2 points.

The most important thing was that, in order to survive, Lu Meng prioritized leveling up "Stealth" to about level 10, as it was a life-saving skill.

As for combat, he needed to actively engage in battles to improve his level by dealing damage to enemies. Since he was lacking in life-saving methods, he couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks by putting himself in danger.

The higher the level, the fewer proficiency points you gained from the same difficulty, making progress slower.

But it was just too slow.

Now, Lu Meng's grind faced both resource and time constraints.

The key issue: in order to survive, Lu Meng often had to give his all, leaving him with no time to improve himself.

Moreover, he had been eating nothing but dried cactus, lacking enough protein. Even though Lu Meng was considered well off among scavengers, his status panel now showed that he was malnourished.

He couldn't even get enough food, yet he was thinking about fitness?

If it were just a game, the high difficulty would be part of the fun.

But now that he was in this world, he wasn't here to struggle and dry up like a mummy at the central station for the rest of his life.

He had no choice but to cheat…

Step one.

Get a welcome gift.

Lu Meng wrapped a headscarf to cover his hair and face and walked toward the long line at the counter.

Bang!

Lu Meng bumped into another scavenger, and they both stumbled.

"Watch where you're going!" the scavenger, with a scruffy face, growled.

He turned around, but the person who had bumped into him was already gone.

Hmph, probably scared of getting beaten up, lucky they ran fast.

"It's your turn," a scavenger behind him urged.

"Oh, right." He began pulling out the junk he had prepared for trade, and then remembered the electrical components he had picked up earlier from the boy named Huo Buyang. He happily reached into his pocket and smiled ingratiatingly at the black-market merchant behind the counter, "Sir Wei, I have a good thing here…"

Unlike the naive boy Huo Buyang, he was always obedient and was well-acquainted with the merchant, Sir Wei.

This electrical component was in great condition. Sir Wei would lower the price for Huo Buyang, but maybe he'd give him a bit of face and buy it for 100 scrap coins.

But after searching his pockets for a while, he didn't find anything, and his face suddenly changed.

He realized, after being bumped earlier, and immediately shouted, "Thief!"

"Stop acting," the black-market merchant named Wei waved his hand. "That trick won't work. 40 kai coins, next."

"Please, Lord Wei..." The scavenger groaned, but another urging voice rang from behind.

---

[Stealth Skill: Level 12 (Basic)]

[Master of Hands Skill: Level 15 (Basic)]

To promote positive energy, the panel had reworded the "Thieving" skill into "Master of Hands"—a feature unique to the game that couldn't be overlooked.

After using it, Lu Meng quickly departed from the scene. He didn't have a habit of lingering to admire his work.

Such high-level Master of Hands skill wasn't something Lu Meng had honed just by sneaking around.

Clearly, the system considered his actions when scavenging various ruins as fitting the "Master of Hands" criteria. After all, the Holy Kingdom had never relinquished its claim over the hub station, and everything in the ruins was, theoretically, still the property of the Holy Lord. Occasionally, when items appeared with descriptions, they'd even show as being [Owner: The Holy Lord].

Stealing from the Holy Lord was still stealing, and for the Holy Kingdom, all the scavengers in the hub station were thieves.

Everyone had more than one sin to their name, but the Holy Kingdom had no power to intervene.

Lu Meng fiddled with the electrical component for a moment before placing it back in his pouch.

At level 15, this skill could be considered an "expertise" in the real world, but Lu Meng typically refrained from targeting scavengers; everyone had it hard enough.

But taking something from his little brother, Huo Buyang, certainly required returning it.

Yes, although Huo Buyang didn't know him, Lu Meng had recognized him in the game long before.

—Born in the hub station, a recruitable teammate, free and handy. Lu Meng didn't know how many cycles they had fought together in the world of Swordsman.

However, in the game, Huo Buyang had been a seasoned adventurer who had traveled the world.

It wasn't until Lu Meng arrived in this world that he saw Huo Buyang as just a child, with only faint features resembling his character design from the game.

After observing for a long time, Lu Meng confirmed that this teenager was indeed Huo Buyang.

Of course, just because he was a character from the game and now a real person didn't mean Lu Meng felt obligated to take care of Huo Buyang.

For some players with no conscience, "friends" in the game had another name—"consumables."

Lu Meng's concern for Huo Buyang was partly due to his system mission:

[Achievement: Find the First Companion (0/1) — Uncompleted.

Current Permission Level: E, unable to unlock module slots.

Completing the achievement will increase permissions.]

In plain language:

"Newbie task not completed."

Game testers weren't simply early access players. The official recruitment of Lu Meng and others was to handle real tasks.

For example, Lu Meng's assigned job was to test the new DLC of Swordsman for compatibility with community mods (mod).

The official content included a wealth of excellent mods from Zhao'an.

Lu Meng had to test whether these mods worked in full-holo mode across different stages of the game.

To his surprise, this task, along with his journey to this world, was integrated into his system.

"Quick crafting, new weapons, more moves, clothes can be removed..." Lu Meng quickly browsed through.

The higher the permissions, the more mods could be active simultaneously.

He could also select mods with stronger effects or more game-altering capabilities.

In short, the higher the permissions, the more overpowered the mods.

After previewing the available mods, Lu Meng already knew which mod he would select first.

"Experience boost mod."

Lu Meng thought, "Or in more immersive terms, it would enhance 'potential,' 'comprehension,' and 'aptitude.'"

The world of Swordsman was filled with ancient remnants, monstrous creatures roaming the wilds, and various insane individuals banding together in groups.

Furthermore, people feared fame. The more well-known he became in Hub City, the more eyes would be on him.

The only way to increase his proficiency speed was to improve his strength if he hoped to survive in this world.

As for how to complete the newbie achievement, Lu Meng had his own plans.

Though he had found Huo Buyang, he was now a real person, no longer just an in-game character who would join him with the right choices.

He had to earn Huo Buyang's trust.

Moreover, Lu Meng knew Huo Buyang's backstory. Losing his mother at a young age was part of this seasoned adventurer's character design.

Lu Meng was the type of player who pursued immersion in games.

Since the past "Huo Buyang" had treated him like a brother, fighting together through thick and thin...

Now that Lu Meng was back in time before the tragedy struck, he didn't mind saving Huo Buyang's mother to make up for this everlasting regret.

Lu Meng weighed his kai coins, about seven hundred.

For a scavenger, this was a considerable sum, but it was far from enough to buy medicine.

Moreover, Lu Meng wasn't planning to spend it directly. These coins had other uses.

"Younger Huo doesn't realize it, but the key isn't in the money; it's in the connections."

"Even if he had enough kai coins, the channels required to purchase the medicine that could cure his mother were far beyond a scavenger's reach."

The description of the electrical component appeared in Lu Meng's memory.

[Electrical Component: Made from copper, produced at an electronics workstation. Required research: "Electrical Forging Technology."

Value: 216 open coins.

Description: "It's a complex thing, you won't understand."]

Though the item's value didn't equal its actual market price, the marketplace treated the electrical component as scrap copper, buying it up in bulk and then reselling it at a standard price to merchants arriving at Hub Station.

The profit margin was astronomical.

Merchants in the market wouldn't leave Hub Station for no reason. They imported their own consumables and traded goods with scavengers.

If scavengers could deal directly with merchants, they would cut out the middlemen.

The merchants controlled the trade channels, and their enforcers dealt with anyone who dared to disrupt the order.

Incoming traders were more than happy to have stable business partners; it made their deals last longer, and they kept a tacit understanding not to trade directly with regular Hub Station residents.

This was a mutually beneficial alliance.

The only ones who had the medicine to cure Huo Buyang's mother were the outside traders.

At present, effective medicine was scarce. Even the head of the market would keep it for themselves in case of illness. Who didn't have small injuries and ailments? Why sell it to scavengers who were practically disposable?

Lu Meng's target was precisely those outside traders, as he happened to know the background of one of the merchants' bosses.

This could be of use to him, opening up possibilities.

Not only could he get the medicine and complete his newbie achievement,

but it could also help him escape his scavenger status and leave the hopeless Hub Station.

For a player, the attributes panel was just a game mechanism. It didn't determine whether one would be a pro or a newbie.

But for Lu Meng, his real advantage in this world was his familiarity and understanding of Swordsman!