Chapter 38: Vehicle Upgrade! Public Challenge!

Ryan held the sword in his hand. Although he couldn't determine what material it was made of, he could feel how extraordinary it was. This was undoubtedly a sharp weapon! 

"The hunting knife just broke, and now I've got such a handy weapon, not bad." Ryan smiled and put it away. 

Then his gaze fell on a few corpses nearby. The deceased Liam was still clutching the broken crossbow in his hand. Ryan took a glance and recognized it as the very same crossbow he had sold, originally belonging to Ruben, then sold to Liam, and now it was completely wrecked. 

Ryan shook his head. These three had died due to their own carelessness, and he felt no pity for them. It was better to let them serve their final purpose. Ryan crouched down and began to search the bodies. 

[Extracted: Liam's Backpack] 

[Extracted: Quinn's Backpack] 

[Extracted...] 

The backpacks of these three guys didn't contain anything valuable, but even the smallest fly is still meat. Moreover, since they were dead, Ryan felt no hesitation in taking their cores, that was the main attraction. 

"Alright, alright, I've scored three cores!" His eyes lit up with excitement as he suddenly noticed that he already had five cores on him.

From what he understood, these cores were extremely valuable. They might be used to upgrade his vehicle once again.

Ryan wasted no time and headed over to his truck.

[Upgrade requires: Three cores]

Ryan was taken aback. "It actually requires three?" After a moment's thought, he realized it was likely because the truck had already been upgraded once. Using just one core for another upgrade was no longer possible.

He selected three cores and inserted them. A beam of light illuminated the area as the truck underwent a dramatic transformation, almost like a complete reinvention!

The appearance of the truck changed entirely, covered with layers of steel plating, greatly increasing its defense! The construction of the tires also evolved significantly, completely preventing the possibility of damage from external forces.

What left Ryan astounded was the huge steel ram that appeared at the front. "This is insane! Is this specifically designed for ramming into things?"

[Vehicle upgraded: Performance increased by 50%, speed increased by 50%, added bulletproof reinforced steel, added explosion-proof tires, added iron head ram!]

[Vehicle Rating: Land Tank!]

After reading this, Ryan felt immense satisfaction. His truck was now formidable, it could no longer even be called a truck!

Then, Ryan checked again to see how many cores were needed for another upgrade.

[Upgrade required: 5 cores, boss energy ×1]

Ryan was stunned. The price had indeed gone up again, and now it not only required cores but also some kind of boss energy. It seemed that as the level increased, the upgrade costs would become increasingly expensive.

"Alright, I'll take this truck and go settle the score with that Black Snake gang." Ryan said as he got into the vehicle and started it up.

...

On the other side.

Black Snake was eagerly watching the system panel, which displayed a live stream. In it, a massive Butcher was swinging a giant axe, instantly splitting Liam's head in two.

Seeing the brain matter splatter everywhere, Black Snake immediately clapped his hands in excitement. "Holy crap, this is so thrilling! I never expected such monsters to exist in this dungeon!"

"This zombie called Butcher looks absolutely invincible. Even a crossbow can't do anything to it. I suspect even a shotgun would struggle to take it down!" Black Snake exclaimed, his admiration tinged with a hint of worry.

He had thought that getting a shotgun meant he was unbeatable. Now it seemed that the game's difficulty was unimaginable.

"Boss, why are you so leisurely watching the live stream? That guy Ryan is still alive! He's competing with us for business again. The crossbows he put up have taken our customers, and the crossbows we're selling are completely ignored!" A nearby lackey shouted anxiously.

Black Snake snorted coldly and slapped him. "Shut up! Why are you so anxious? Do you think I don't know about this?"

He snorted again, jumped down from his seat, stretched lazily, and his gaze turned icy. "That guy Ryan has ruined my plans twice, and those useless Ruben idiots couldn't take him down!"

The other members of the gang approached, their faces filled with concern. "What should we do? Boss, we've been cut out of the crossbow business. We're really going to end up with nothing!"

Black Snake raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly. "What ideas do you have?"

"Why not lower the prices? Everyone is calling us heartless merchants right now. If we don't lower them soon, our reputation will plummet, and it will be hard to sell anything in the future."

"Exactly, we should drop it to cost price. Although we won't make a profit, it's the only way to salvage our reputation…" Just as this was said, the speakers noticed Black Snake glaring at them with a deathly stare, causing them to immediately fall silent.

"What the hell are you saying? Lowering to cost price? You want to bankrupt me!?" Black Snake's eyes were murderous, he absolutely could not accept the idea of lowering prices.

The other gang members were stunned. Black Snake was the epitome of gangland ruthlessness, a man who would kill without hesitation. They didn't want to lower prices either, but was there any other option except matching Ryan's prices?

Seeing their confused expressions, Black Snake mercilessly berated them. "A bunch of idiots! Do you have crap for brains? Don't forget, you're members of the Black Snake gang!"

"Our Black Snake gang has only one principle: kill anyone who stands in our way!" Black Snake raised his shotgun high, then turned to look at the abandoned warehouse not far away, where Leo and Buddy were being held captive.

"Don't forget, these two are in our hands. Ryan will probably come to rescue them. We'll just send out our location in the channel and set up an ambush!" Black Snake smirked as he laid out the plan he had already envisioned.

"As long as he shows up, you all know what to do, right?" As Black Snake revealed his plan, the gang members felt enlightened. "Yeah, the boss is brilliant!"

"No wonder he's the leader of the Black Snake. This plan is perfect!" Saying this, several lackeys immediately got to work.

Black Snake snorted coldly, as long as the plan succeeded, Ryan would be dead. Who could stop him from dominating all the players then? At that point, he could dictate everything.

He extended his hand, gazing at his palm. "Ryan, you're just a bug in my hand!"

...

Ryan drove his upgraded vehicle, barreling down the road as if no obstacles could stop him!

"Zombies?" Ahead, a few scattered zombies appeared. If it were still the ordinary truck from before, crashing into them wouldn't just fail to kill the resilient zombies, it could also damage the vehicle.

However, Ryan had no such worries now. He pressed the accelerator, and the truck roared forward.

"Crunch!" The sound of flesh colliding with metal echoed as several zombies were smashed into pulp by the iron ram.

[Acquired zombie Essences ×1]

[Acquired zombie Essences ×1]

[Acquired...]

Ryan nodded in satisfaction. Hunting zombies had become incredibly easy, and the speed of collecting Essences had increased significantly. Gathering 100 zombie Essences no longer seemed like a daunting task.

He opened the system panel and checked: [zombie Essences: 56]

"Alright, I've killed over fifty zombies." Ryan smiled. Just as he was about to close the system panel, a chat notification popped up. He squinted his eyes and opened the channel, only to see a familiar name.

[Black Snake: @Ryan, your dog and friend are with me. Come to my location before dark tonight, or I'll feed them to zombies!]

[Black Snake: (Attached photos of Buddy and Leo)]

[Black Snake: Sending location coordinates]

After Black Snake's bold message, the entire channel erupted in chaos. Black Snake's ruthless image as an unscrupulous businessman had already made many unhappy, but since he was a gang leader, most people didn't dare to speak up.

However, this message directly targeted Ryan. Even the dullest person could see Black Snake's intentions at a glance.

[Black Snake is clearly threatening Ryan, trying to set a trap for him!]

[How despicable! This guy is so dirty, that damn gang scum!]

[Ryan, please don't go! This Black Snake gang is extremely dangerous!]

[That's right! Even if Ryan is powerful, he's still just one person!]

Ryan watched the scrolling messages with a blank expression.