Chapter 84: Crackleclaw Crab, Danger Approaches

Chu Guang never expected that the second case of non-combat death that appeared in Shelter 404 would arise... Moreover, it seemed to be caused by the crabs in the lake...

“Crackleclaw Crab.”

Looking to the shore of the lake, a big crab lay on the player's head, feasting. Chu Guang recognized the identity of the creature in just a second.

This was probably a mutated lake crab. No one knew which species it was, but it didn’t matter. After all, a crab that grew to a height of one meter couldn’t be connected to the crabs of the past.

Mud and algae hung all over its body, making it look like a mass of mud from a distance. The high bulging arc-shaped carapace was its natural armor, layered with a large amount of calcium and magnesium minerals, chitin, keratinized fiber, and other biopolymers, which could effectively disperse and buffer kinetic energy damage. Damage dealt by normal weapons was no different than tickling the creature.

And those two huge claws were even more powerful. It was said that they could cut a tree in half easily... The only question was...

Why the hell is there something like that here?

Is there a Crackleclaw Crab nest at the bottom of the lake or somewhere on the other side of the lake?

Chu Guang's brows tightened.

"What is a Crackleclaw Crab?" Ample Time, who was following him, was confused and quickly asked.

“Mutant.”

There was no time to explain.

The Crackleclaw Crab had already gnawed off half of the player's head, and the part below the neck of the hapless little player would be gnawed away if he didn't do anything.

Chu Guang adjusted the KV-1 exoskeleton from cruise mode to mobility mode, which increased the output power of the knee and elbow joints. He walked towards the crab with a heavy step, and pulled his hammer from his back calmly.

The shell of the Crackleclaw Crab was very wide, causing it to have almost no view of anything behind it.

Although they had a keen sense of hearing at close range, as long as one walked directly toward them, they would not be able to accurately distinguish one's location.

If there was no accident, in two seconds, Chu Guang would be able to take out that thing with his hammer!

However, just when Chu Guang walked out of the forest, Mosquito carried a wooden tube and rushed out from a bush nearby.

"Big crab? Where is it? Holy shit! It’s really big! Administrator, it's too dangerous to get closer to it, please don't go over! Let me deal with it!" After saying his piece, Mosquito excitedly lit the fuse behind the wooden tube and carried it on his shoulders, aiming the tube at the crab.

"Fuck!"

"It's Mosquito!"

"Run!"

The players who were rubbernecking on the side were all startled by his arrival. As though they had run into a plague, they fled the scene.

Without waiting for Chu Guang to stop, a lick of flame burst out from the wooden tube. A forearm-long firecracker-like object flew out of the tube and shot straight at the Crackleclaw Crab.

The Crackleclaw Crab probably heard the movement, but before it could turn its head, the firecracker fell into the muddy ground behind its ass.

Obviously, the homemade RPG wasn’t accurate at all. Of course, it didn’t matter since it landed so close to its target.

Boom!

A pillar of mud four or five meters tall rose from the ground. The explosion shook the crab's carapace twice, and the billowing smoke swallowed its huge body.

Nearly one kilogram of gunpowder exploded instantly. If it happened next to a normal human, even if the shrapnel didn’t turn them into a human-sieve, their internal organs would be crushed from the impact.

However, the Crackleclaw Crab was no human...

The shock wave of the explosion could not penetrate its carapace, let alone crush its inherently few internal organs.

A shrill and hoarse howl rang through the air.

The Crackleclaw Crab, engulfed in heavy smoke, rushed out in pain and quickly locked onto the nearby Chu Guang. It brandished its large claws and charged straight over.

But because its leg was broken by the blast, its speed was only a little faster than that of an adult walking.

Nearby players hurriedly raised their guns and opened fire, but the Crackleclaw Crab, which had been shot a few times, was unaffected.

"Ceasefire!" Chu Guang raised his right fist and signaled the players to stop wasting bullets, then he grabbed the hammer in his hand and walked forward with a sigh.

"That dumb player, he really knows how to create trouble."

...

Facing the Nitrogen-Powered Hammer, the lame Crackleclaw Crab was no different from the marauder who ran out of ammunition.

Chu Guang didn't waste time with it at all. He switched the hammer to Mode B and swung it hard. In an instant, the hammer destroyed half its face.

The battle was pretty much over that very moment.

The dozen or so players who came out of the base with him were basically useless. Aside from wasting a few bullets, they didn’t do any damage to the crab.

"Damn, so strong..."

"Boss Dawn is awesome!"

"I finally know why that marauder's head was missing..."

The surrounding players were whispering excitedly.

Mosquito, who was carrying the wooden tube, still had a stunned expression even after the battle was over. It took a long time before he finally came back to his senses.

"Are you fucking serious... Even my RPG failed to kill it?"

"Did you use a high explosive round? You should use an armor penetration round next time." Night Ten patted Mosquito's shoulder with a smile, "But then again, the technology you developed is pretty amazing."

Mosquito argued with a red face, "It must be the plot... It’s a plot kill! The plot is not over, so no matter how powerful my RPG was, it wouldn’t be able to kill the crab! That’s one kilogram of gunpowder... If it didn’t have plot armor, it wouldn't be able to live through the hit!”

"Hahahaha, it's possible! Why didn’t I think of that..."

“...”

Ample Time sighed. He didn't laugh at Mosquito with Night Ten. He just patted the man on the shoulder, gave him an encouraging look, and then went up to help the administrator pack up the spoils.

Such a large Crackleclaw Crab weighed three hundred kilograms at least.

Midnight Pubg swung his axe and hacked the back of the crustacean, but the attack only left a muddy mark on the back of the crab’s dirty shell.

"What the hell? Is this shell made of iron?" Shaking his aching hands, his eyes widened in shock. He even began to doubt the power of his axe for the first time.

"It should be good to use this to make armor," Escaping Mole squatted beside him, and filed the claws of the big crab with his hatchet. "The claws are so hard... Was it really caused by radiation mutation?"

"Who knows..."

Looking at the group of players curiously examining the Crackleclaw Crab, Chu Guang put away the hammer before speaking, "Find a cart and carry it back."

"Okay!"

"Okay, Administrator!"

Looking at the players who were starting to work, Chu Guang went on to find two players who had nothing to do and asked them to move the headless corpse on the ground back to the shelter.

Fortunately, they arrived in a timely manner. The player only lost his head and his clothes were basically intact. The shrapnel and burning wood tar was basically blocked by the shell of the Crackleclaw Crab.

Chu Guang was not worried that the players would die, but rather worried that they would ruin the clothes they had on their backs.

Players would come back after they died. But there were only two sets of blue coats for each player. If both got damaged, he really didn’t know where to get more of them.

......

On the way back, heavy snow began to fall. It piled up on the treetops and grass. If it continued to snow, there would probably be a layer of snow tomorrow.

Chu Guang preliminarily speculated that the temperature drop caused the range of activities of these Crackleclaw Crabs to change, but it was not known from which direction they migrated.

He only hoped that they would not make a home in front of his base.

In order to prevent similar things from happening again, Chu Guang issued an order to mark the area as a dangerous region.

Before finding out the source of those Crackleclaw Crabs, players were forbidden to approach.

At the same time, he also ordered two perception type players, one to head northeast and one southwest, to investigate along the shore of the lake and report any abnormalities immediately.

The big crab that was one meter high when it was just lying on its stomach was carried on the cart by two strength-type players.

Singing a messy victory song along the way, the players who followed the administrator out to battle dragged their trophy back to the outpost.

That high-profile parade attracted the attention of many people.

"Holy shit, such a big crab?"

"What's going on?!"

Curious, those who didn’t know what was going on stepped forward to ask someone who just came back.

"Hey man, where did you catch such a big crab?"

"From the lake."

"What the hell?! How?!"

"Hey, hey, it’s easy. Just level up your fishing skill."

Players nearby weren’t the only ones who were watching. Yu Hu from Baker Street who came to trade, stared at the scene in amazement.

Next to him stood another man. They were both holding one side of a wooden stick on their shoulder, and a strong mutant boar tied on it. They stood before the west gate and stared at the crab with their mouths wide open.

Chu Guang soon noticed Yu Hu. Walking over, he spoke with a smile, "Are you here to trade?”

Yu Hu opened his mouth slowly, but no words came out. His gaze was glued to the crab for a good minute before it shifted to the big hammer on Chu Guang’s back.

The man next to him reacted first, nodded nervously, and said, "I want to trade for some salt. I heard that we can get salt here."

Yu Hu finally recovered and hurriedly introduced the man to Chu Guang. "This is my cousin. He comes from the Li Family, and his name is Li Niu."

"It's snowy outside, come in."

With Chu Guang leading the way, no one stopped them as they entered the outpost. Of course, there were still people who would stare at them with caution.

Yu Hu was used to it. After all, he had been to Shelter 404 several times. It was Li Niu's first time there and he felt a little uncomfortable.

"Please don't take it to heart, they have been underground for a long time and have never seen anyone outside of the shelter, so they will be curious when they see outsiders."

Seeing the important figure in a blue coat speaking to him, Li Niu quickly waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I don't mind it."

Chu Guang nodded as he led them to the warehouse. He directed them to Luca who was standing nearby.

The old slave recognized Yu Hu, and immediately understood what he had to do. He brought the man named Li Niu to the Butcher Shop with practiced ease.

Yu Hu handed over all the prey to him, but this time, instead of following along, leaned close to Chu Guang and stared at the big hammer curiously.

"Brother Chu, is this your weapon?"

"Mhm, for now."

"Why is it so big?! Can you even use it properly?”

"Of course."

"Then... Did you kill the Crackleclaw Crab with it?”

"Yes."

The young man’s eyes nearly popped out with his affirmation. It took a long time for him to digest the shock he was feeling.

He’s so strong! That’s a Crackleclaw Crab...

It was a monster that no scavengers would want to encounter.

That creature was fast even in narrow terrain, and it had great explosive speed. It also had a very simple mindset. The moment it locked on to its target, it wouldn’t stop until its target was slain.

Unless one could find a higher place they could climb up to avoid the pursuit of the crab, there was practically no escaping.

Almost nothing could defeat the monster head-on. Even the mutant brown bear was unwilling to fight it.

Chu Guang smiled without going into more details.

It didn't matter whether he was strong or not. As long as the power of technology was good enough, nothing else mattered!

A nuclear-powered sledgehammer, coupled with a chemically-powered exoskeleton, could smash a building, let alone a beast’s face.

"Speaking of which, how is the situation on your side? It seems like this snow isn’t going to stop anytime soon..."

"It's almost the same every year, we can only make do with it," Yu Hu was much more optimistic than Chu Guang expected. However, he quickly continued, "but winter came too early this year, and we had to rush our preparations. Originally, in October, there would still be caravans or merchants coming to restock us. Who would have thought that they would stop in September this year... Sigh."

Chu Guang comforted him. "Think about it from another angle, the meat will last longer in cold weather."

Yu Hu shook his head and sighed, "But it's hard to find prey. If we want to catch any, we’d have to continue walking into the city to find the nests of those mutants."

Chu Guang raised an eyebrow in interest. "Oh? Do you have any experience hunting in the city?"

Yu Hu nodded. "It's not much of an experience. Many small animals love to build nests in those kinds of buildings that are upside down or something, especially the kind where trees grow into them. Some hyenas, jackals, and carnivores would also follow them in. You can find prey in such places all year round... It is just a bit risky."

"Is it because of Crunchers?"

"Mhm, Crunchers like to hide in buildings, but they don’t go too high up. We normally start sweeping from the fourth floor. But even so, it’s hard to say what we will encounter. Maybe we might run into a nest of ten thousand mice, or maybe it is a resting Creeper. Without a gun, we don't dare to go too deep. The furthest we dare to go is the Fifth Ring...”

Chu Guang sighed, "It's snowing, and it won't be easy to go inside."

Yu Hu said with a wry smile, "Even without snow, it is still not easy to go into the city. The road there is like a maze, and some streets are flooded all year round!"

The straight line distance from Baker Street to Boulder Town on the map was more than ten kilometers; that was, from outside the fifth ring of Clearspring City to the edge of the third ring. The wetland park was a little further away.

Chu Guang couldn't find Clearspring City in the parallel world, but he could draw a line of more than 10 kilometers on a map from the riverside to the city downtown by comparing its distance from the river to the city where he once lived.

As for what the distance meant...

It meant that one would be able to traverse that distance by car in half an hour if the roads weren’t jammed up. It would take close to an hour if there were more forks in the road...

As for walking?

Chu Guang has never tried to travel that far, but even if he couldn't generalize his experience for everyone else, he still wouldn’t be able to run across twenty flyovers or underground tunnels.

Not to mention the fact that it was under the assumption that the path was clear!

To traverse the ruins was a completely different concept.

In the pre-war era, even the shortest buildings within the fourth ring were basically over six hundred meters tall. The magnetic base and magnetic nodes laid on the external walls of highways and buildings were the foundation for supporting three-dimensional traffic with a hundred and twenty vertical lanes.

In that era when maglev technology was popularized in private cars, the meaning of high-rise buildings was no longer just a mere structure. It was also a part of the road, especially for buildings close to the main road where the height requirement was pretty rigid.

Of course, those were all speculations made by Chu Guang based on the stories told by Old Charlie and limited information. They were not necessarily true.

But by just imagining those row upon row of dominoes, he could feel the oppression brought by this reinforced concrete cemetery.

People always had instinctive awe or even fear for creations that were hundreds of times bigger than themselves. It was not an easy task to search for prey in the ruins...

Chu Guang suggested, "Why don't you all move to my place? I happen to be short of manpower."

Although a little tempted, Yu Hu still shook his head, "No, no, we can't trouble you."

Chu Guang smiled, "This is no trouble at all. I am not feeding you for free. We’ll be helping each other here."

Yu Hu shook his head a little faster. "It's okay. We can come here and help you out when you need it, and we can live here for a few days too. However, we can’t move over completely. We still prefer Baker Street to living underground. After all, it feels a little weird. Besides, we can’t understand anyone here other than you. It’s definitely hard for us to get along with other people."

Chu Guang didn't insist on it anymore.

Although Chu Guang wanted to say that they were actually different from the traditional blue coats who came from shelters and lived underground, that clearly wasn’t the problem there.

When a person refused based on consideration of multiple reasons, the reason given was often the most irrelevant one.

The most typical example was...

You’re a nice guy, but I’m not ready...

So Chu Guang never listened to explanations.

Trust took time to build. He couldn’t force it.

Moreover, it wasn’t as though they didn’t have a home.

He couldn’t just demolish other people's homes and force them to live with him.

Yu Hu changed the subject and asked with a silly smile, "Speaking of which, Brother Chu, is the meat on that big crab edible? This is the first time I have seen someone catch a creature like that."

Chu Guang chuckled in response, "I don't know, I was thinking about asking you."

"Me? How would I know? I heard that the mother's crab roe can be eaten, but I haven't heard anyone say whether the crab meat can... If it can be eaten, it would be great! Such a big crab, imagine how much meat there is."

The more he thought of meat, the more drool started pouring out of Yu Hu’s mouth.

Chu Guang smiled and waved his hand. "Maybe next time! I still need to find out whether it is poisonous or not. If it is not poisonous, you can eat as much as you want when you come again!"

Yu Hu nodded like a chicken pecking rice. "Okay! Next time, I will bring my big brother, father, and Xiaoyu!"

"Haha, you can just bring their portion home for them!”

The two chatted for a while, and it didn’t take long for the prey they brought to be cut up into pieces.

Probably because winter had begun, they managed to obtain a harvest of 60% of the boar’s meat. A total of one hundred and fifty kilograms of meat was obtained.

Twenty percent of it was a reward for the shelter. The remaining one hundred and twenty kilograms were given to Li Niu and Yu Hu.

Wild boar skin was also considered high-quality leather, especially when it came to making armor. Although it wasn’t as rare as deerskin, its value was still much higher than that of hyena skin.

After Luca asked Chu Guang for instructions, he weighed three hundred grams of coarse salt for the man. They eventually priced the skin of the boar at that of deerskin.

After getting the salt, Li Niu looked happy as he thanked Chu Guang and Luca for some time before leaving with Yu Hu.

“Luca.”

Hearing his master speak, Luca bowed his head respectfully. "Do you have any orders, sir?"

Chu Guang asked, "Can the meat of the Crackleclaw Crab be eaten?"

Luca froze for a moment, frowned, and thought for a while, then said cautiously, "I, I have never seen anything like it... But if you are unsure, I can taste it to check if it is poisonous."

"That's not necessary."

If he really needed someone to test if it was poisonous, he could simply use those players. After all, even if they were poisoned, they would recover soon if they went to rest in their nurturing chambers.

Even if the poison acted quickly and they died before they could return to the cabin, they would be able to come back online again after three days.

Chu Guang was thinking about the many possibilities when a face appeared in his mind. His eyes lit up at the thought of her.

That’s right... How did I forget?!

I can just give it to Yaya for identification!