Chapter 26
What is that?
Is this a tollbooth?
But this isn't a highway, so why would there be a toll booth?
Qiao Ning instructed the smart assistant to continue driving, and when they got closer, they finally saw clearly what the metal pavilion was.
It really is a tollbooth!
However, the people in charge of collecting fees inside weren't humans, but several alien monsters. Their levels and health bars were marked with dark red question marks, indicating that their strength far surpassed Qiao Ning's; she couldn't even see their levels.
An alien stuck out its head, its mouth wide open like a blooming flower, with sticky liquid dripping from it. Qiao Ning strongly suspected that it had spotted some delicious prey and was drooling.
"In District 1408, at Toll Station No. 1 on the Damp Highway, player Qiao Ning needs to pay 900 experience points. Please complete the payment within 1 hour. Failure to pay on time will result in consequences."
Qiao Ning was experienced and readily paid the fee.
The vehicle passed through the toll station smoothly. Qiao Ning saw in the rearview mirror that the aliens drooled for a while in the direction she left before reluctantly pulling their heads back into the booth.
It's not hard to imagine what would have happened to Qiao Ning if she hadn't submitted 900 experience points within the stipulated time.
This is just tollbooth number 1. If there's number 1, there will be number 2, 3, and 4. With so much experience points each time, you can't get past many tollbooths just by opening supply crates.
Clearly, this is the game's way of leading players to discover that the jungle is an experience dungeon, forcing them to enter the jungle to grind experience.
Opening the chat channel, it was clear that Qiao Ning wasn't the only one who had encountered a tollbooth; in fact, she was relatively late in encountering it. Most people encountered tollbooths shortly after starting their cars in the morning.
[This toll booth is outrageous! I've only driven less than 700 kilometers during this disaster period, and they charged me 700 experience points! What legitimate toll booth charges like this? It's a total rip-off!]
I spent a lot of experience points at the service area, and now I only have 500 experience points left. Those monsters at the tollbooth want 1200 points from me! What should I do? I can't afford it! If I can't pay, will I be unable to continue driving and find supply boxes?
[Upstairs, you're too naive. It's not just that we can't continue our journey; didn't you notice how those aliens were looking at me like I was food? Their mouths were practically watering! If we can't pay the toll, I bet they'll just tear us apart!]
[Agreed. I got scared looking at them too. I was reluctant to give up the experience points, but I gritted my teeth and paid anyway. Now I'm on my way smoothly and have found a supply crate. Luckily, I haven't encountered any monsters guarding the crate yet. For those of you with experience points, don't hesitate to use them. Staying alive is the most important thing. You only have one hour to pay, so if you don't have enough experience points, hurry up and pay them.]
Qiao Ning was wondering how to tell everyone that the wilderness area outside the highway was an experience dungeon. Most people exchanged supplies for experience in the chat channel, but the experience points were often hundreds or thousands, which was not something everyone could accumulate in an hour, so many people still didn't have enough toll money.
Before she could even consider how to send the message, Qiao Ning saw that someone had already taken the initiative to be the "bad guy" and informed everyone.
The area outside the highway is another space, which I call the wilderness. There are many different kinds of wild beasts there, occupying various areas, and their attack and movement range is restricted by the area.
Killing these beasts will yield a large amount of experience. The higher the level of the beast and the greater the difficulty, the more experience you will gain.
Even beasts of the same level do not give the same amount of experience points when killed.
The experience gained from killing a level 1 beast, depending on its species, is usually between 10 and 1000 points.
Level 2 beasts have a score of 20 to 2000.
Level 3 beasts have a score of 50 to 3000.
Experienced beasts are often very strong. Do not provoke them rashly without proper equipment and items. Even if you want to gain experience, you should consider your own strength.
Players unlock stamina upon first entering the wilderness. The maximum stamina is 100 points. Stamina is lost through any activity within the wilderness, and recovers at a rate of 5 points per hour after returning to the highway area.
I haven't yet discovered a way to actively restore stamina, so if you're able, try killing more beasts that give higher experience points to maximize your stamina usage.
Players with weaker skills should avoid getting greedy in battles. Instead, complete the survival tasks given by the system after entering the wilderness area. Killing some low-level beasts should be enough to cover your travel expenses. Currently, the wilderness areas are not interconnected, so there's no one to help you if something happens.
Most wild beasts have attack power comparable to high-level treasure-guarding monsters, making the wilderness extremely dangerous with a high mortality rate. Please consider this carefully, and don't blame me if anything happens. I don't take responsibility for the consequences of others' choices.
The message sender is Hara Yoko.
This information is mostly correct, except for the stamina value. Qiao Ning is unsure whether Yuan Heng intentionally concealed the stamina potion or for some other reason.
However, stamina potions can be obtained by defeating monsters in the wilderness, so there's no need to hide them.
After thinking for a moment, Qiao Ning sent a message to the chat channel's public screen about the stamina-replenishing potion:
There is a chance to obtain stamina potions by killing wild beasts. Small stamina potions restore 5 points, medium potions restore 10 points, and large potions restore 50 points.
The higher the level of the beast you challenge, the greater the difference in strength between you and it, and the faster you will consume your stamina during the battle.
Even with good enough equipment to kill high-level beasts, players will still die if they don't have enough stamina.
Store plenty of stamina potions to replenish your stamina when fighting high-level beasts.
As soon as she posted this message, she immediately received private messages from Li Yangxing and Yuan Heng—
Li Yangxing: [Sister Qiao!!! Is the news about that stamina potion true?!]
Hara Yoko: [You got a stamina potion from killing monsters?]
Qiao Ningtong replied "Yes" and then attached pictures of three stamina potions.
[Sister Qiao, you're so lucky! Including the last natural disaster, I've been farming the jungle for three days and haven't gotten a single bottle! Do you have any extra? *starry-eyed emoji*]
Is it for sale? The price is negotiable.
So, it turns out that some strong players were already exploring the jungle during the last natural disaster? No one said anything then, probably because they didn't want to cause trouble. Because back then, exploring the jungle wasn't a necessity for survival.
Qiao Ning replied, "Not for the time being. The quantity is small, and I don't have enough for myself."
After replying to the private message, Qiao Ning switched to the general chat and found that everyone was still discussing the jungle and tollbooth issues.
Qiao Ning watched as she ate her meal.
As expected, after some people went into the jungle and lost contact or died and disconnected, a considerable number of people began to gang up on Yuan Heng.
He was subjected to all sorts of moral blackmail, with people feeling that he shouldn't have told everyone the news and that he was responsible for the deaths of the players who died in the jungle.
Could Yuan Heng be subjected to this kind of kidnapping? Of course not.
He not only refused to be kidnapped, but also openly allowed other players to exchange equipment with him using animal meat and materials obtained in the wild.
Those pieces of equipment were dazzling, and Qiao Ning thought some of them were quite good and wanted to buy them.
Yuan Heng didn't say anything, but he was more forceful than those who did and argued.
Yuan Heng had previously topped several leaderboards, unknowingly gathering a group of fans. The fighting power of those followers was also terrifying, with each of them being sharp-tongued, practically serving as Qiao Ning's game system's mouthpiece.
In a server with 100,000 players, judging from the chat channels, multiple factions have clearly emerged.
This situation didn't exist during the previous natural disaster cycle; it only gradually became apparent after leaving the service area.
Qiao Ning suspected that someone had already formed a clique while at the service area.
But thinking about it carefully, it's quite normal. She's played so many online games, and in almost all of them, various guilds and factions form.
From a benefit perspective, joining a group is indeed better than going it alone.
After all, not everyone has the luck of Qiao Ning.
Moreover, many rewarding dungeons and events in online games require multiple players to team up, which is where the advantages of guilds and factions become apparent.
Qiao Ning currently has no plans to join any faction. Everyone is just starting out, and it's uncertain how long this makeshift group can last; none of them are reliable. Furthermore, there's the issue of trust.
We can only take it one step at a time.
After finishing her meal and cleaning up the pots and pans, Qiao Ning placed desiccants in the damp areas of the car.
Produced by the system, the effect is immediate. Given today's humidity levels, each packet of desiccant can keep a 5-square-meter space dry for approximately 4 hours.
Her car has a large interior space. In addition to the flat space, there are all sorts of nooks and crannies. She needs to use at least 4 packs each time, and she changes them about three times a day.
[An hour is almost up, and I'm still 300 experience points short. Experience points can be transferred between accounts now, so can anyone lend me some? If you help me get through this level, I'll give you half of all the resources I get afterward!]
[Didn't you go grind monsters in the wilderness? I just killed a few and have enough experience. But I'm running out of potions. Looking to buy some healing potions. Does anyone have any?]
I went in, but I didn't dare to kill the powerful ones. I only completed the return quest and came out. Even so, I lost two pieces of equipment. I really had no other choice...
[...Speechless. Since I'm going to die anyway, why not give it a shot? 300 experience points is enough to complete the second survival quest, with some to spare. With a bit of luck, killing a few more level 1 beasts can give me enough; level 1 beasts don't consume much stamina.]
I'm just 20 experience points away from paying, but I'm out of stamina! Does anyone have stamina potions? Or can someone transfer 20 experience points to me? I'm willing to trade any resources, including healing potions!
[Looking at my private messages upstairs, I'd like to exchange your healing potions.]
Goodbye everyone, it's time to pay the toll. I don't dare kill any wild animals, and I'm far from enough to cover the toll, so this is the last I can go. I hope you all survive...
Shortly after this person sent the message, their profile picture went gray, and the number of online users in the entire region decreased by one.
I originally wanted to curse her, but seeing that she's already dead, I decided to be more mindful of my words. However, I would like to advise all the women in this server that this is a survival game world. Here, just because you are a woman or a fairy who can have children will not make an exception for you.
Those girls who spend all day flirting in the server chat, posting pictures of their legs in black stockings to seduce men, and even hiding their gender—I could guess their gender and background with my toes. They're probably shameless gold diggers in the real world too.
I'd be too ashamed to even curse you.
When Qiao Ning saw this message, she was completely dumbfounded. What the hell? How could she see such misogynistic remarks in a survival game? She almost thought it was a comment section on Douyin or Kuaishou.
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