Chu Guang tightened the seal of the plastic bag and continued.

"You should be thankful that you didn't continue walking inside. This mushroom usually grows near the nest of mutant leeches."

Night Ten was stunned.

"Mutated leeches?"

Chu Guang casually kept talking.

"Mhm, the juvenile mutant leeches are only as big as a palm. Except for their special mouthparts, they look no different from normal leeches."

"However, once it enters adulthood, its size will quickly increase to more than 1 meter—the longest can even reach 3 meters—and its eating style will also change. I heard that they can even swallow a living person in one bite... Of course, I've only heard of it."

After listening to the administrator's explanation, Night Ten felt a chill in his body.

No wonder he felt like something was wrong when he was picking mushrooms but couldn't pinpoint what was. Now, it seemed like he had just narrowly escaped his death.

"Can't we eat it?" The expression on Gale's face was rather regretful. Looking at the mushrooms that Chu Guang had put away, he muttered, "I thought they could add Buffs."

"Don't think too much."

How could there be so many Buffs?Although this thing cannot be eaten, it was the main raw material for making radiation-reduction agents.

Chu Guang didn't know the specific principle either. He had only heard about it from Old Charlie on Bett Street.

Blue Umbrella Mushrooms contained a special peptide substance that could effectively alleviate and heal the non-fatal damage caused by gamma rays.

The caravan in Boulder City would buy this thing. The price was not low, and it was usually shipped to Boulder City and sold to the factory there.

It was just that this thing was really not easy to get. Few scavengers were willing to risk their lives to search for mutant leeches' nests in swamps, subways, or sewers.

It was already hard to find.

It was another matter to find it and bring it back.

Even if it was unavoidable, no one wanted to deal with these cannibalistic tentacles...

Unexpectedly, there was a nest of mutant leeches just a short distance away.

Chu Guang was in a mixed mood.

The good thing was that the mushrooms could be sold for a lot of money, but the drawback was that the mutant leeches were not easy to deal with.

"Do you remember the specific location of the sewer entrance?"

Facing the administrator's question, Gale quickly pulled out the map and pointed to the marked location.

"Right here."

Chu Guang glanced at the location on the map and remembered it in his mind silently.

"I see."

...

The blue mushrooms brought back by Gale and Night Ten were estimated to be about 2 kilograms. Generally, every 50g could be exchanged for a chip.

2000g meant 40 chips!

This was almost equivalent to all the savings Chu Guang had saved in the past five months.

And this was the price quoted by the recycling station on Bett Street.

The actual value of this thing was at least more than twice this number!

Chu Guang intended to sell all these mushrooms, then use the exchanged chips to purchase urgently needed supplies at the outpost.

"The supplies at the outpost need to be replenished. I'll go out to get the supplies. You stay here. Remember not to go far."

"At five o'clock in the afternoon, Little Seven will open the elevator for you on time so you can return to the shelter."

"When I'm away, Little Seven will count the results of your work. You can ask it if you don't understand anything."

As for the 2 kg of the Blue Umbrella Mushrooms, Chu Guang gave Gale and Night Ten a total of 220 contribution points.

Out of total, 200 contribution points were due to the discovery of mutant leech nests, and the other 20 contribution points were from Blue Umbrella Mushroom.

He was really not trying to be stingy by giving so few points. He was just scared that by giving them too many points, it would encourage these players to take the risk of picking those mushrooms; they would probably be killed.

Before finding a generator that could power the "active substance extractor", he thought he had better be cautious.

...

They had green wheat porridge for lunch.

Saying that it was porridge, Chu Guang felt that it was a bit like mung bean soup without sweetness.

This thing had no taste at all, as it was purely to fill the stomach.

However, to Chu Guang's surprise, the four players gobbled it up like starving people.

‘Is it that delicious?'

Chu Guang had doubts about his cooking skills.

‘Am I actually good at cooking?'

‘It can't be..'

Quickly finishing the meal and putting away the pots and pans, Chu Guang put out the fire and set off on the road alone. There were only four players left in the nursing home and an AI robot guarding upstairs.

Ample Time stared at the mission board inserted at the entrance of the nursing home, lost in thought.

Night Ten asked.

"What are you looking at?"

Ample Time spoke.

"According to the Administrator, Blue Umbrella Mushrooms can be used as a raw material for the production of anti-radiation agents, but the reward given to you by the mission is only 20 points, which is equivalent to cutting two trees.. Do you think this is reasonable?"

Night Ten was dazed.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

Ample Time said.

"Of course there is. Typically, the revenue players get from the missions should be positively related to the difficulty of the mission. You have not only unlocked new areas but also collected high-value materials. Normally speaking, there should be more rewards."

Gale thought.

"Then what do you think the reason is?"

Ample Time snapped his fingers.

"Priority!"

"Pr-priority?" Night Ten was confused.

"That's right." Ample Time nodded. "Do you remember what the administrator said in the previous plot? The current priority is survival!"

Did he say that?historical

It seemed he did.

Night Ten didn't listen carefully at that time. In most games, he didn't read the plot; he often skipped most of the dialogues. Although he couldn't skip it in this game, being distracted for a few minutes could also have the same effect.

Ample Time continued.

"... So I guess that the missions on the mission board are not all missions. This game gives us a lot of freedom. Not only can missions be issued by NPCs, they can also be triggered by players."

Gale frowned.

"What makes you say that?"

"Didn't you already receive the reward?" Ample Time said, "Although the generator was not found, the mutants' nest was found and valuable supplies were collected."

"So I judge that as long as our behavior meets the current needs of Shelter 404, we can get contribution points. And the value of the reward is positively related to the value created by our behavior!"

"For example, building cesspits and toilets are missions released by the administrator after adopting our opinions. Both Old White and I were rewarded with 200 contribution points."

Old White nodded.

"It seems to be like this."

"I think I understand what you mean," Gale said, touching his chin, "but by completing the missions on the mission board, you can also get contribution points, right?"

And the points were not small.

"This is the second point I want to say," Ample Time showed a mysterious smile on his face, "Do you remember the Favorability setting that the dev told us about?"

Realisation dawned on Gale's face.

"I see... I understand what you mean."

Night Ten and Old White were still at a loss.

"What do you understand?"

"ELI5!"

Ample Time said slowly.

"In simple terms, although we can get a fixed guaranteed reward in completing the fixed missions on the mission board step by step, we can not show our abilities. In contrast, actively triggering missions can better reflect our own abilities! In theory, it should be able to improve the administrator's evaluation of us."

Of course, these speculations were based on the fact that Wasteland Online was a "completely real" immersive virtual reality game, and that the administrator's behavior was governed by program logic and was not artificially set.

If his intelligence was not as high as they imagined, this inference was likely to be invalid.

However, from the current point of view, the administrator's intelligence was still quite high. There was no problem with normal communication. He even wondered if this guy was a real person.

After understanding Ample Time's explanation, Old White touched the stubble of his chin and nodded.

"This idea is a bit interesting. It's worth trying... What do you think we should do?"

"I'm still groping for what to do, but my instinct tells me that it is more important to accumulate more NPC favorability before the second round of testing than contribution points. This can ensure that we have a higher ‘starting point' than other players in the second round of testing."

After a pause, Ample Time snapped his fingers.

"I propose to form a team!"

"The meaning of teaming..." Night Ten was confused.

Old White nodded.

"I have no objection."

Gale also nodded.

"I agree too."

Night Ten was dazed.

"I have no objection, but can you tell me the details of forming the team?"

Ample Time explained patiently.

"To put it simply, we are a team from now on. We share information and help each other. Then, what we have to do is to use our strengths."

Ample Time looked at Gale and Night Ten and continued.

"Gale, Night Ten, you can investigate along the lakeshore of the wetland park. Pay attention to the distribution of mutants and the trajectory of their activities. If you find areas that look like their nest, mark them... But remember, don't get too close, especially to avoid fighting them. We need a safe point to get water."

Gale nodded.

"OK."

Then, Ample Time looked at Old White.

"As for us, what we have to do now is to chop more wood."

"Later, when I go offline, I'll check some information on the Internet and find a way to use the stored wood tomorrow!"