Chương 3: Treasure Chests

Nyx dismounted from the E-Bike, and picked up the small yet heavy chest of pitch black, polished iron. There was a question mark at the corner of the chest. He mentally nudged it as an evaluation window sprung up. [Iron Treasure Chest] Evaluation: Better than wooden chests, I'm full of good stuff that can make your journey ahead a lot easier. Lad, open my lid to get rich! Nyx gave the chest a pained smile, "Talk about a colorful description."

Though, this bit of textual humor did help lighten up his otherwise grim situation. He opened the lid as instructed, as several streaks of black light shot to his face. [Acquired Gold x4, Iron Plates x5, Electrical Parts x5, Universal Bullets x200] The chest in his hand vanished and broke into motes of light almost immediately after he'd claimed the resources.

"The resources are significantly more plentiful in iron chests than in a wooden one, huh." Nyx smiled to himself at this stroke of luck and got back onto his vehicle. He opened his inventory next. Inventory: [Gold x8, Fuel x1, Leather x2, Iron Plates x5, Electrical Parts x5, Universal Bullets x288] He nodded in satisfaction at the feedback. So far, through his skill, he'd looted resources, mainly gold, off nine dead zombies, which had netted him x0. 9 Gold in total.

Plus the one he'd killed himself, his total earnings stood at one gold. He reopened the exchange panel to check for supplies.

"Bullet prices are reaching sky high, and fuel too." The price of a hundred universal bullets stood at a staggering two gold, with each unit of fuel going for as high as five gold. He looked up at the sky to check the time.

"There's still six hours of daytime remaining. And it's already this bad." He shook his head.

"But there's also an opportunity present in this scramble." Specifically, the resources needed for vehicle upgrades, like iron plates, rubber, and mechanical and electrical parts, were all going for dirt cheap prices.

"The prices are most likely to climb once night falls." Basically, right now, most survivors hadn't even encountered any threatening zombies. And the ones he had encountered, mainly the first one, wouldn't be much of a threat to anyone with a vehicle better than his and a weapon better than a Glock. He'd checked the regional chat while searching for zombies. And based on that, most people were boasting about their AK47s and AR15s. Some had even gotten outright heavy machine guns.

"If the night turns out to be as dangerous as I'm imagining, an AK47 with a few hundred bullets won't suffice." There was a reason even the system's own announcement had recommended staying within the safety of one's vehicle once night fell. For now, he browsed for cheaper Electrical Parts.

"Doesn't seem like many people have gotten E-Bikes." The price of Electrical Parts was touching rock bottom at only 0. 1 gold per piece. And nobody was buying them, while more were being listed for sale every minute. He contacted a few sellers through the messaging channels and negotiated fifteen pieces down to one gold. As it turned out, an item couldn't be sold for less than 0. 1 gold on the exchange, and anything cheaper required a personal transaction.

"Guess there's a boon to bad luck too." He laughed to himself, and reopened the upgrade panel for the Engine Core. [Engine Core] Upgrade Path: [Extended Battery] Increases the auto electricity recovery speed by 30%, and the electricity storage doubles. The motor and gear would be upgraded alongside the battery as a whole, doubling the acceleration. [Upgrade Requires: Gold x5, Electrical Parts x20] [Advancement Available] Nyx clicked on the advancement, as a golden light covered the related section of his E-Bike.

The light disappeared as quickly as it had come. [Dilapidated E-Bike] Grade: Tier 1 Vehicle Level: 1 Max Speed: 50km/h (+25) Durability: 45% (Slowly decreasing) Remaining Fuel: 0. 95 unit (Can travel 300 kilometers) Owner: Nyx (Only Owner May Use It) This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Upgraded Parts: Engine Core (Level 1) Upgradeable Parts: Frame, Tires Vehicle Advancement Requirements: Gold x20, Mechanical Parts x10, Iron Plates x10, Pulse Core x1, Rubber x100, Iron Beams x3, Electrical Parts x3, Leather x10 (Advancement can only be unlocked when all base parts are upgraded) Nyx finally felt a bit more relaxed.

"With this speed, I at least have a chance at running away. And that extremely low fuel consumption means I won't have to worry about the vehicle running out of battery." It still seemed a little odd how fuel was just a standardized resource that could be used on vehicles that needed electricity and had no combustion engine. And level basically tracked the number of vehicle parts you've upgraded.

"Either way, I only have a few hours of daylight left now." He still had three gold pieces remaining. While stealing loot from dead zombies that had died from extended sun exposure, Nyx had discovered more aspects of his ability. Mainly, that he couldn't use Usurper to steal if the target wasn't clearly visible to him. He also needed to be within two hundred meters of the target he planned to use the skill on. The most interesting aspect he'd found was the cost of using the skill.

It basically only ever consumed his mental energy. The consumption, though, wasn't much—even after using the skill ten times, he'd only slightly noticed the supernatural pull of consumption. It felt like someone was tugging his hair, minus the pain, replaced instead by a numb, suction-like sensation.

"Time to get started on my second plan." For that, he first needed to upgrade the vehicle's tires. [Tires] Upgrade Path: [Hybrid Tires] Significantly increases the rolling efficiency of the vehicle. Comes with a set of super suspensions and an extra shock disperser. [Upgrade Requires: Gold x3, Rubber x10, Mechanical Parts x10] He looked up the prices for the required parts.

"Hmm, rubber's cheap—I can probably get ten for half a gold. As for mechanical parts, they're a bit more expensive." The mechanical parts had some demand, mainly because not many people were selling them. They were going for exactly 0. 2 gold a piece. That, combined with the cost of rubber, came to a 2. 5 gold price total.

"Hmm, I should do some more hunting for chests," he decided, and got into his vehicle. Twisting the throttle, he felt a distinct rush of wind brush his face, more intense than before, as the bike zipped forward through the plains, reaching a top speed of 50 within a minute. While traveling, he took stock of the regional chats. They tended to provide decent information amid all the bragging about their accomplishments. Regional Chat [Just finished taking out my third zombie of the day.] [Just three? Lol, I've already gotten my sixth kill, and about 0. 6 worth of gold as loot! Not gonna lie, gunning down these slowpokes with an AK47 is just as fun as it was in-game.] [Dude, where are you even finding that many live zombies? All I've found so far are these dead, sun-dried, withered husks. And only a single wooden chest.] [Yeah man, I've been running around on my Sedan for hours, and have only found the mostly dead ones. I wish I could still get loot even after stabbing these dead ones.] [Night's only a few hours out, and I'm stuck on this stupid motorcycle. How am I supposed to survive the night...] [Ah, about the live zombies—you can find them around the Outskirts of Stardew Mountain (yeah, I gave it that name myself, lol, the game was epic!) to the west. It's got lots of maple trees.] [If you don't have a decent vehicle, you should just give up and join someone who does. Though, you'd basically have to be their subordinate in that case.] [Yeah, I've just recruited a guy with a motorcycle myself—my Humvee has tons of extra space. Turns out, after abandoning your vehicle and coming under another's, you can't use your gold on your abandoned vehicle anymore, and can only spend it on the vehicle you've taken refuge in, at the owner's discretion. Good for me though, I'll be able to upgrade it faster.] [Lucky bastard.] Nyx turned his vehicle toward the west, where he could see many maple trees at the foot of the mountain.

He felt a strong aversion to taking refuge in another's vehicle after seeing those chats. That would mean all the effort he spent under them would go directly toward improving their lives, with the vehicle remaining in their name too. Early on, it might not be an issue. But later, who's to say they wouldn't just abandon him for someone with better skills and weapons?

Also, the guy the Humvee owner had taken in came with his own freaking heavy machine gun. That guy's initial treasure chest had been Bronze too. By taking him in, the owner had basically increased his firepower without losing anything. Because, from what he'd heard, the subordinate could still use their own vehicle normally. The real issue with coming under another's vehicle was how the system itself treated you afterward.

You'd no longer be able to upgrade your vehicle through it, and would instead have to rely on external blacksmiths and fixers with certain skills to upgrade it. As he got closer to the foothills of Stardew Mountain, squinting a bit, he could make out a zombie sprawling about aimlessly. He pulled the gun from his inventory with a thought, and the gold weapon materialized in his hands. He aimed at the creature. With a crisp bang, the first shot flew a few feet wide of the creature.

The zombie immediately turned toward him, and with a groan, began to "walk" in his direction—at a speed that made "walking" seem like the wrong word entirely. He kept firing, and the fifth shot struck squarely at its chest, dropping it. He breathed a sigh of relief. A notification rang in his ears, announcing the creature's death. [Successfully killed a Walker Zombie! Gold +0. 1! Universal Bullets x10] One thing he'd come to appreciate about this system was how he never needed to reload the gun by flipping a magazine. The only catch was a three-second pause after firing fifteen shots.

"On the way here, I hadn't seen a single dead zombie. Are their numbers decreasing?" Looking up at the sky, he saw noon slowly giving way to evening. There was still time, so he resumed his journey. Along the way, he found two dead zombies and used Usurper to collect the relevant loot. [Usurpation Successful] [Acquired Gold 0. 1] [Acquired Gold 0. 1, Universal Bullets x15] His goal was still mostly to loot from the dead.

The reason he'd come to this more active zombie area was simple: more live zombies in one place meant a higher concentration of zombies overall—which could net him more dead ones from a single location, without having to drift about aimlessly. He kept driving around the area, avoiding the mostly live ones, and continued looting the dead. [Usurpation Successful] [Acquired Gold 0. 1, Iron Plates x1] [Acquired Gold 0. 1, Universal Bullet x5] [Acquired Gold 0. 1, Mechanical Parts x1] After a while, as his gold collection reached three point six, he stumbled upon another wooden chest. This one sat right beneath a maple tree, around which roamed five live zombies, with several dead ones sprawled about nearby.