Chapter 25
Qiao Ning quickly went to check the bed sheets and blankets, as well as the clothes, food, and other supplies in the car.
Apart from being a bit damp, there are no signs of mold yet.
The leftover chicken cutlets from last night have developed a noticeable sour taste and can no longer be eaten.
The seasonings I use for cooking are a bit damp in the jar, so I can't leave them out anymore; I have to put them in the storage box.
Qiao Ning put all the damp sheets, duvet covers, and clothes into the storage box, and would take out new ones when needed.
After washing up, Qiao Ning heated up a few steamed buns she had made in her spare time, and ate them with dumpling soup, Wujiang pickled mustard greens, and egg pancakes. She had a simple meal.
After eating and drinking her fill, Qiao Ning changed into her tight-fitting sportswear. As she bent down to change her shoes and head to the activity area to exercise and practice her swordsmanship, she discovered that a section of the wooden bed leg she was using was wet.
Moreover, the color is rather dark, and it looks like it won't be long before mold grows on it.
Qiao Ning frowned. The bed was an important piece of furniture. She slept on it every day. If mold grew everywhere, given the nature of the game, she might get some kind of disease.
Damp wood attracts insects that prefer moisture, and iron and copper are prone to rusting when exposed to moisture. Only gold and silver can withstand damp conditions.
Could it be that... the prices of gold and silver are about to skyrocket?
These two metals already have a low drop rate, so how scarce will they become?
While having the smart assistant drive, Qiao Ning contacted Li Yangxing: "How much gold and silver do you have left?"
Li Yangxing probably hadn't encountered any treasure-guarding monsters or supply boxes yet, and replied instantly: 【There are plenty! What's wrong? Are you short of these? I'll mail you a few thousand more.】
Qiao Ning quickly stopped her, saying that she had tens of thousands of gold and silver materials on hand, which was more than enough: "No, no, no, I just wanted to tell you to stock up on more gold and silver. Other metals might not last in an excessively humid environment. They might even become unusable."
"Don't forget, the main materials of our vehicles are various metals, and these metals will oxidize and rust when exposed to moisture. Gold and silver are a little better than copper and iron."
Li Yangxing, who was driving, immediately exclaimed "Holy crap!" and then quickly sent a message: [So, does that mean if the natural disaster escalates, our car will all rust?]
Qiao Ning said, "The rust on the car body isn't the problem. The real concern is that the various parts of the car will age and rust quickly, which would render the car unusable. I predict that we may need to consume a lot of metal later on, especially gold and silver, as well as vehicle maintenance cards."
How many vehicle repair cards do you have in stock?
[Not many left, only 3 cards. I encountered some treasure-guarding monsters before, and sometimes their attacks would hit my vehicle, even if I deliberately kept a great distance. It was like they were locking onto the vehicle. Fighting the treasure-guarding monsters used up some vehicle repair cards, so I only have 3 left.]
Qiao Ning stopped making vehicle repair cards yesterday afternoon. She currently has about 60 cards on hand, including those she exchanged. She mailed 20 of them to Li Yangxing.
When the skill card crafting time was up, Qiao Ning replaced the spike card with a vehicle repair card. It's a pity that the five card slots cannot craft the same card; otherwise, crafting five vehicle repair cards at once would have been better.
The vehicle repair card is issued every 3 hours, and 8 cards can be made a day. The number given to Li Yangxing is not particularly large, at least Qiao Ning herself does not think it is too many, but in Li Yangxing's eyes it is really quite a lot.
He's never gotten so many vehicle repair cards since he started playing the game, but this lucky player just casually gave him 20. Just how lucky is this player?
Li Yangxing was utterly bewildered.
He then mailed a batch of materials to Qiao Ning. Of course, it couldn't compare to the value of the vehicle repair card during this natural disaster period, but it was still a token of his goodwill.
Qiao Ning was also very satisfied. She saw Li Yangxing ask her, "Sister Qiao, can I tell my friends about this news you told me? I'm worried they might not realize these issues and take the wrong path."
Qiao Ning didn't care about that; the more people who survived in the server, the greater the benefit for her.
Even if you want to fleece someone, there have to be sheep to fleece first. Otherwise, once all the sheep are gone, where will she go to fleece them from? In this kind of survival game, even selfishness has its limits. Exceeding those limits is tantamount to slow suicide. Sooner or later, you'll kick the bucket.
Qiao Ning entered the wilderness area outside the highway at 9:00 AM today, came out at 2:00 PM, and then drove around looking for supply boxes until 8:00 PM.
Perhaps it's because of the different time we entered the wilderness, but today's wilderness mission is no longer to kill wild beasts on the grasslands, but to kill wild beasts in the jungle.
The return quest still involves killing three wild beasts.
Other tasks include killing three jungle green pythons and killing one black-backed ferocious ape.
The jungle green python is level 3, and the black-backed ferocious ape is level 4; neither of them is easy to deal with.
These two tasks are optional; not doing them won't affect your return to the highway. If a player's strength is insufficient, it's actually more worthwhile and saves stamina to grind level 2 monsters rather than doing these tasks.
High-level beasts offer a significant amount of experience, but killing one consumes a lot of stamina. Those with high strength are less affected, but if someone with weak equipment and combat power insists on challenging high-level beasts, the stamina consumption will increase exponentially.
Qiao Ning killed 3 jungle green pythons and obtained:
Green Python Leather Boots: Speed +800, Attack +300
Green Python Bracers: Speed +400, Attack +700
Green Python Inner Armor: Defense +800
There are three pieces of each of these three types of equipment.
Additionally obtained: Skill Card - Venom Corrosion, Skill Card - Thorns, Skill Card - Blazing Flames
A total of 6000 experience points were gained.
50 pieces of snake meat and 3 snake gallbladders.
Stamina Potion (Medium) *3 bottles, each bottle restores 10 stamina points.
Qiao Ning didn't touch the Green Python King, mainly because she was too exhausted and might not have enough energy left to kill it.
As for the black-backed ferocious ape, Qiao Ning only glanced at it from afar and had no intention of killing it today. To kill that big guy, she would need at least 40 small-sized stamina potions.
In addition, use the invincible defensive shield from the defensive ring once. Otherwise, forget about it.
Qiao Ning had used the defensive ring before, and it had a three-day cooldown. She planned to wait until the cooldown was over and then save up some stamina potions before going into the wilderness to farm properly.
Qiao Ning's main focus today is killing level 3 beasts.
Not all level 3 beasts are equally strong; they each have their own characteristics. Some have high defense, while others have strong attack. The green python, for example, has high attack and is poisonous, but its defense isn't particularly high.
Qiao Ning brought the most complete set of medicines when entering the jungle, followed by a mix of miscellaneous equipment, food, and water.
You'll get hungry and thirsty while grinding monsters in the wild.
Supplies obtained in the highway area must be manually brought into the wilderness area before they can be used; otherwise, they will be unusable and will not appear in your inventory.
Similarly, items obtained in the wilderness will be locked in the system inventory instead of being placed in your own backpack. These items will only be usable the next time you enter the wilderness. Only items placed in your own backpack can be taken to the highway area.
In addition to the three green pythons, Qiao Ning also killed ten level 3 beasts, including four beast kings and six elite monsters, as well as five level 2 beasts.
Qiao Ning's stamina is only 100 points at most, but the drop rate of stamina potions is quite good, allowing her to farm in the wilderness for a long time.
The 15 beasts yielded a total of 30 skill cards, 40 pieces of equipment, 200 pieces of beast meat, and 100 pieces of materials such as beast hides.
Stamina Potions remaining: 1 large bottle, 5 medium bottles, 20 small bottles
In addition, there are two special materials: Black Flame Stone *1 and Basic Gem Inlay Box *2
Black Flame Stone Item Description: A stone that emits a strange energy. Legend has it that collecting a certain number of Black Flame Stones can repair or strengthen the Black Flame Bone Blade. Only the wielder of the Black Flame Bone Blade will have the opportunity to encounter it.
Gem Socket Box: Opening this box will randomly yield a low-level gem that can be socketed into any equipment, significantly boosting its attributes. (The number of gems that can be socketed into each piece of equipment is limited; socketed gems can be removed and replaced.)
Qiao Ning opened the gem-inlaid box and obtained a low-level corrosion gem*1 (+2000 attack, inflicts corrosion damage on equipment, duration of which is displayed after being inlaid and combined with equipment attributes).
Low-level speed gem *1 (+1500 speed, additional effects will only be displayed after considering equipment attributes)
Qiao Ning's speed is relatively low compared to some wild beasts, which greatly affects her combat power. This speed gem came at just the right time!
She embedded both gems into the Black Flame Bone Blade, planning to replace them later when better gems were found.
The crafting section has equipment categories, which are further subdivided into many areas, such as inlaying, fusion, reforging, and refining.
Qiao Ning used only two gems, which were then inlaid with a single click, and the Black Flame Stone was also fused in, refreshing the attributes of the Black Flame Bone Blade.
Black Flame Bone Blade: Attack +2000 (total value unknown), Defense 0, Speed 1500
Side effects:
1. 5% chance to trigger the corrosion effect, reducing the enemy's defense by 30% and causing them to lose 50 health points per second.
2. Teleportation, lasting 3 minutes. Can be used 3 times daily, with a 1-hour cooldown time per use.
These attributes... are really appealing!
Qiao Ning looked at the Black Flame Bone Knife in her hand with sparkling eyes, and gently stroked the back of the blade with her other hand.
Big Black, from now on, I'll feed you the best food first!
The Black Flame Bone Blade seemed to have truly heard Qiao Ning's thoughts, and trembled almost imperceptibly.
Qiao Ning sensed something, but she just assumed it was a special reaction after the inlay and fusion were completed and didn't take it to heart.
Back on the highway, Qiao Ning instructed the smart assistant to continue driving. She had been playing games all morning and hadn't eaten properly, so she was feeling hungry and craving something. She decided to cook some rice, braised beef with potatoes, and her favorite twice-cooked pork and shredded pork with garlic sauce.
These dishes all took time to prepare. Just as Qiao Ning was about to start eating after all the dishes were ready, she suddenly received a notification from her smart home assistant—
[Master, an obstacle has appeared 1000 meters ahead on the road. It cannot be avoided; you must pass through it.]
Qiao Ning paused with her chopsticks, frowned, and asked, "Is it a treasure-guarding monster?"
[According to the tests, the obstacle is not a living thing, but there are signs of life activity inside it.]
Qiao Ning was completely confused, so she simply asked, "Can you use your detection function to take a picture and show it to me?"
【Yes, please wait a moment, Master.】
Two seconds later, Qiao Ning saw the virtual image displayed by the smart home assistant.
Qiao Ning stared in astonishment.
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