Chapter 61: Nemesis Of Mutant Leeches

Their transaction was quickly concluded.

After leaving the wetland park, Sun Shiqi couldn’t help but complain loudly as an angry scowl appeared on his face.

"Unbelievable!"

"I have never seen anyone in a blue coat that is as stingy as him. Where's the kindness of a civilized person? Where are his good manners? He's just like a greedy gopher!"

"I shouldn't have held out high hopes about them!"

Four of the ten most discussed topics in the pubs of the Red River Town Trading Center were related to the people in blue coats.

Someone once received a large package of treasures from those blue coats with a few words of flattery. Some people once deceived them with a pile of colorful but useless paper and managed to get into their shelter to have free food and drinks, but they still received a pack of survival supplies when they were kicked out of the shelter.

Blue coats have almost become synonymous with people who were stupid and rich, and stories about them were often inseparable from them being nothing but prodigal wastes!

Sun Shiqi never thought that he would pry open the shelter's treasure trove with mere words just like what was floating about in the market. He simply thought that doing business with them seemed to be a good choice.

However... What he experienced was completely beyond his expectations.

So much so that he couldn't help but wonder if those guys were a group of refugees pretending to be shelter residents.

Would people in blue coats really build a house above ground?!

Besides, even when they reached the end of the transaction, he still didn't see where the entrance of the shelter was...

The gunman who was walking in the front glanced back at him, then at the bulging package on the back of the two-headed cow. He wondered out loud, "So, did you make a loss?"

He has been a bodyguard for many years, has dealt with many merchants, and has rarely seen them lose money.

"It's not a loss," Sun Shiqi said angrily, "but I could have made more!"

"..."

The gunman was speechless. He shifted his attention away from Sun Shiqi and continued to look around vigilantly.

Sun Shiqi pulled out the account book from his pocket, a sad expression on his face.

Ten kilograms of salt actually only converted to thirty kilograms of dried meat.

If he hadn't dropped his plan to go to Boulder Town, even if someone pointed a gun to his head, he would definitely not accept such a harsh price!

But unfortunately, there were no ifs in this world.

It was impossible for him to drag the salt to Boulder Town, replace it with daily necessities and electrical appliances, take them to the farm in exchange for grain, and then trade the grain from the farm for meat.

If he really did go back and forth, it would take him at least four days, even a week, to finish!

The road in the city was already much harder to traverse than in the wilderness, not to mention how winter was coming. Both humans and mutants were frantically preparing for the coming winter.

In the wasteland, that was the most dangerous time.

Regardless of the time cost or the risks involved, it was impossible for him to take that detour.

The person in the shelter was clear about his dilemma.

The salt wasn’t the only thing that had been sold at a much lower price than he expected. The prices of the ten revolver rifles he brought with him and the bags of ammunition had their prices knocked off because of various reasons the guy listed.

Arms may be worthless in Boulder Town, but any survivor’s stronghold would not refuse to stock up on that easy-to-maintain, durable, and cheap weapon. It was more than enough to trade a single revolver rifle for three to four mutant hyenas. After asking a butcher to slaughter them, he could easily get sixty to seventy kilograms of meat.

That was seventy kilograms of meat they were talking about!

Was it too much to trade them for thirty kilograms of dried meat?! Even so, he would have also settled for twenty kilograms! He didn’t think that the man would only be willing to trade ten kilograms of non-marinated meat for each gun!

No matter what else he said, the other party was only willing to give him an extra kilogram of smoked fish in the end.

That damn gopher!

"I don't understand. Since it's not a loss, why are you still complaining?” The gunman said casually, "I always hear people say that you will only be happy if you are content."

"Hehe, what do you know? You can't make a fortune if you are content." Sun Shiqi didn't bother to talk to him, just waved his pen impatiently, and continued to calculate in his account book while continuing his journey.

"... These air-dried meats need to be exchanged for at least sixty kilograms of coarse salt. No, at least eighty kilograms! Otherwise, this trip isn't really worth it. I have to think about which mine to do this business with when I get back."

The gunman glanced at him, then at the cargo on the back of the two-headed bison, and said in a relaxed tone, "Then you should be grateful that it was me who came here with you. After all, I'm someone who is content with what I have."

...

One hundred thirty kilograms of dried meat and ten kilograms of smoked fish were traded for ten kilograms of coarse salt, ten revolver rifles, and two large bags of coins and ammunition.

Chu Guang was very satisfied with himself because of the transaction.

Of course, he was only able to do so because of the timing.

As the cold winter approached, whoever had food had the most say. In addition, food could be preserved by keeping it in the snow. On the contrary, salt was not so important.

When spring started the following year, the situation would be different.

After all, it was impossible to preserve food for a long time if air-dried meat in spring and summer was made without using salt.

But then again, when that happened, would his outpost still rely on merchants to sell them food?

Chu Guang didn't think so.

In short, one hundred and thirty kilograms of dried meat and ten kilograms of smoked fish cost sixty to eighty silver coins in the shelter.

Even if it was calculated based on the purchase price of the granary, he would only need to give the players one hundred and forty silver coins.

However, players currently would only sell their prey directly to the granary and temporarily not butcher the prey and smoke the dried meat by themselves. As such, it was more appropriate to use the production cost to do his calculations.

In fact, it didn't matter which price was used.

After all, Chu Guang now had an extra five hundred kilograms of the currency he had been giving out.

Money was really just a number for him as an administrator...

...

After dragging the coins into the shelter alone, Chu Guang placed them in an empty room. Looking at the shiny coins, he couldn't help but smile with relief.

It would be great if he could replace them all with chips!

Not to mention an exoskeleton, he might even be able to buy an airplane if he had that many chips!

That is, if there were people selling airplanes...

Money that didn’t enter the market had no value.

Chu Guang admired his masterpiece for a while, then turned to leave the shelter. He returned to the surface, and began to look at the glass jar he obtained from Sun Shiqi.

Ants the size of fists, which were squeezed into a ball in a glass jar, waved their legs about as they tried to look for an exit.

One of the Ironback Ants with its face facing outward was the most energetic. It used its pincer-shaped mouthparts to hit the inner wall of the glass jar repeatedly.

However, the inner arc surface of the glass jar was too slippery, and the ant couldn’t bite anything. No matter how strong its jaws were, it failed to do anything. It could only struggle anxiously against the transparent wall.

Chu Guang was not interested in insects, but he wanted to know how the little creatures became natural enemies of mutant leeches.

After all, even baby mutant leeches were much larger than adult Ironback Ants.

Chu Guang went to players who were fishing by the lake, borrowed a baby mutant leech, picked an Ironback Ant that looked vigorous and energetic, and placed them both in another bottle.

Something interesting happened.

The mutant leech did not immediately attack the prey in front of it, but slowly stretched its mouth forward.

Just when the edge of its mouth was about to reach the Ironback Ant, the mutant leech suddenly retracted as though it had received an electric shock. It then twisted its plump body and moved to the other side of the bottle as if hiding away from something.

The ant's reaction was also very interesting. It seemed to realize that there was another big creature near it.

Surprisingly, it didn’t panic and try to escape. Instead, it moved around the inside of the bottle while waving its antenna.

What is it doing? Could it be...

Chu Guang, who was squatting on the ground and watching the creatures in the bottle, stroked his chin pensively. Suddenly, a trace of suspicion appeared on his face.

"I see......"

"It should be looking for a companion."

He seemed to guess the reason why the Ironback Ant could restrain the mutant leech.

When Chu Guang was about to further verify his conjecture, players who were watching not far away whispered to each other.

"What is the Administrator doing?"

"I don't know, he seems to be playing with ants."

"I saw him ask for a baby leech from those fishermen. Does he want to watch the ants fight with the leech?"

"Uh, why does he have such a strange hobby?!"

Yaya, who was walking towards the granary with the mushrooms, happened to hear the conversations of nearby players. She felt chill behind her back and couldn't help shivering.

Lee, leeches?

How can anyone play with such disgusting creatures?! This is too creepy...

...

After several repeated controlled experiments, Chu Guang finally verified his conjecture.

First of all, leeches had no eyes and relied mainly on smell to search for prey. Mutant leeches were the same, and because of their superior sense of smell, they were quite sensitive to the ants’ scent.

After the Ironback Ant discovered its prey, it did not choose to attack immediately, but like other ants, immediately released a pheromone and told nearby companions that there was a fat sheep for them to hunt as prey.

Although the digestive secretion of mutant leeches could corrode most prey, it was almost ineffective against Ironback Ants. Even if the ant was swallowed whole, it would not be digested at all. Instead, it would chew its way out from the inside.

Therefore, its fear of natural enemies was written into the gene of mutant leeches. The moment they smelled the pheromone released by Ironback Ants, they would run away almost instinctively. In fact, they wouldn’t even look back when they ran!

"... I got it! It really is because of this stuff...”

Looking at the translucent gelatinous substance the size of a nail in his hand, Chu Guang squeezed it lightly. It reminded him a little of spoiled sago.

That was the pheromone gland of the Ironback Ant, which grew under its butt and could be pulled off without much effort.

After removing the pheromone gland of the big ant, Chu Guang threw it back into the bottle again.

This time, the mutant leech was much more courageous.

After several probes, it might have felt as though the smell of the any wasn’t quite similar to its natural enemy and it mustered up the courage to swallow its prey. The next moment, its body started to wriggle.

About five or six minutes passed. The baby mutant leech, which had previously been squirming, suddenly stopped moving.

Chu Guang poured it out of the bottle and dissected it with a knife.

The ant inside was suffocated, but there was a piece of flesh in its mouth. It was probably torn off from a certain part of the baby mutant leech’s innards.

The small injury was not enough to kill the leech. The fatal blow was most likely the formic acid the Ironback Ant released into the leech or something.

"It's unrealistic to get rid of the leeches in their lair."

"But if the pheromone gland extracted can be used to disguise someone as the natural enemy of the mutant leech... Wouldn't it be possible to clear the lair of the mutant leech without any injuries?!"

Realizing the implications, Chu Guang revealed an excited expression. The look in his eyes changed when he looked at the glass jar.

It’s a jackpot! Twenty kilograms of Blue Umbrella Mushrooms can be exchanged for 2000 chips, if I can harvest two hundred kilograms...

Of course, two hundred kilograms may be a bit exaggerated, but harvesting a hundred kilograms shouldn’t be a problem, right?!

It's a pity that these

Ironback Ant

s are all worker ants and that there is no queen that can reproduce, otherwise, my players will be able to harvest the mushrooms inside the mutant leech lair every day!

"... I have to find a player with high proficiency in gathering in order to harvest more mushrooms..."

Chu Guang's gaze began to cruise around the outpost, looking for the lucky fellow. When he reached the granary, his gaze stopped.

Yaya!

Chu Guang's eyes lit up the moment he saw her.

I almost forgot about her!

If I remember correctly, she has Toxin Intuition and Blue Umbrella Mushrooms would emit green light in her eyes!

Other players might need light sources when entering the mutant leech lair, but Yaya basically had a night vision hack when she entered the lair. It would be very easy for her to harvest mushrooms.

Feeling the gaze of the administrator, Yaya, who had just completed her punishment mission, felt chills running down her spine.

Her intuition allowed her to predict the danger that was about to arrive.

However, at the moment when she was about to run away, Chu Guang predicted her prediction and stepped forward to stop her.

"Have you completed your punishment mission?"

Hearing the sound coming from behind, Yaya looked back cautiously, looking at the administrator while stuttering, "Mh... Mhm, I just completed it. I’ve already handed in one hundred kilograms of mushrooms..."

Chu Guang nodded. "That’s great. From now on, your status will be restored to a Shelter Resident. In addition, I have a glorious and arduous task for you."

In normal situations, Yaya would definitely be happy. After all, who would not love triggering hidden missions? She might even be able to increase the NPC’s favorability!

However, her right eyelid had been twitching repeatedly since just now and her instincts were telling her that she was about to fall straight into a massive trap.

"I may not be able to do it. Can you find someone else..."

"Believe in yourself, you can do it, and this task can only be done by you!"

Without giving Yaya a chance to refuse, Chu Guang interrupted her with a serious face, and after a two-second pause, he continued, "I will give you a bottle of special paste, and you need to apply it over your body. It can ensure that you will be able to enter the mutant leech lair without being detected. What you have to do is collect the mushrooms that emit green light inside."

Yaya’s eyes almost teared up, especially after hearing about the mutant leech lair again. She was so startled that she almost lost her connection. However, she paused for a second after hearing his explanation, “Will I... Will I be able to come out without any problems?"

Chu Guang said in an affirmative tone, "Theoretically, it is possible."

"???"

In theory?!

Chu Guang didn't give her a chance to protest and continued.

"Don't worry, the success rate is above 90%. Even if you fail, you will die in a special mission. There will be no punishment other than the resurrection cooldown."

As it turns out, there’s still punishment!

The most unbearable thing to do is to wait for the respawning cooldown!

Yaya said pitifully, "Can you also get rid of the respawning cooldown?"

Chu Guang paused for two seconds and chose to ignore whatever she said.

"The mission I am about to give you is very simple. You will have absolute safety of ten minutes and you should be relatively safe for another twenty minutes.”

"After entering the lair, you need to avoid the leeches, and collect the blue mushrooms that emit green light. Before the time is over, you need to collect as many of them as possible."

"For every five hundred grams of Blue Umbrella Mushroom you bring back, I will reward you with four copper coins and five contribution points!"