Chapter 31: Raider encounter! First PvE battle!

The uses of acetic acid, acetone, and methanol are still quite extensive.

If the outpost base wants to truly embark on industrialization, these chemical raw materials are essential.

Although they may not be useful at the moment, Light Chu still rewarded Mosquito with 1000 contribution points and publicly recognized his outstanding contribution in successfully preparing acetic acid, acetone, and methanol using wood as a raw material.

Is this considered a server-wide announcement in a gaming novel?

Looking at Mosquito's proud face and the envious expressions of other gamers, Light Chu felt that it was necessary to maintain this fine tradition.

Hmm.

Not just in the game.

It should also be announced on the official website!

In the future, a Hall of Fame can be set up, where it will be recorded, "On a certain year, month, day, a certain gamer achieved a certain achievement."

These achievements can be solving development problems or clearing a high-difficulty instance.

As a poor ruler, inexpensive sense of honor is the only cost-effective reward he can give to gamers.

After finishing up, Light Chu, accompanied by Nighten and Trash-kun, continued to explore northward along the elevated road outside the wetland park.

They searched for traces of games while looking for valuable exploration targets.

The industrial cluster of Springvale is mainly concentrated in the southeast corner of the city, distributed in a fan shape along the No.3 Highway and No.2 Highway.

The northern part, where Wetland Park is located, is primarily residential, and even unfinished buildings can be seen along the outbound highway.

In this area, apart from relatively well-established public facilities such as education, healthcare, and transportation, there hasn't been a large-scale industrial cluster formed. Only scattered light industrial workshops can be found in the suburbs far away from residential areas, along with the neighboring garbage incineration plant.

And now, most of them are covered by forests.

At the time of the nuclear war, the northern suburbs of Springvale, due to its large population base and low strategic value, hardly suffered direct hits from strategic weapons.

However, after the complete collapse of order, the massive influx of refugees brought about a different kind of disaster here.

Supermarkets, convenience stores, farmer's markets, and shopping malls were quickly looted, followed by hospitals, schools, office buildings, and all the shops along the street. Even every refrigerator and storage cabinet inside residences fell victim.

No sanctuary would gamble with their own safety to open the gates and accept them, and it was impossible to do so. The completely paralyzed transportation system also made it difficult for these people to leave.

Even two hundred years later, the tragedy that occurred here can still be seen from the bullet holes and broken glass on the walls.

In some shop windows, next to shelves, in trash bins, and even to this day, partially decomposed skeletons can still be found hanging.

"Sss... This is too tragic."

Looking at the two skeletons huddled together, Trash-kun couldn't bear to look and averted his gaze, closing the open garbage bin door.

Nighten, on the other hand, remained relatively calm in his reaction. After all, he had followed Light Chu on distant journeys before and had long become accustomed to the situation here. He even commented with the air of a veteran gamer.

"Truth be told, the scene design in this game is quite well done... It feels like we're really in a post-apocalyptic world."

"We are indeed in a post-apocalyptic world here."

Light Chu casually replied, carefully observing the situation inside the store windows and marking a note on the paper map.

This should be a clothing store.

However, there were hardly any clothes left on the shelves. The only two tattered rags hanging there were covered in dark mold.

Apparently, scavengers had visited this place a long time ago.

And not just one group.

"...I think we're wasting our efforts," Nighten sighed. "It's quite obvious that everything here has been looted."

"We can always find something useful... like this thing." From behind a nearly shattered cabinet, Light Chu found an unopened box of sewing needles and threw it to Nighten.

Needles should be made of alloy material, and as for the thread, it should be synthetic silk. Since it hasn't been opened, there's no issue with oxidation. Even after two hundred years, it can still be used.

At the moment, the outpost station is most in need of these small tools.

Vine_vine should be interested in this.

With nothing else to search for, the group prepared to leave this store.

However, at that moment, a distant, piercing scream suddenly rang out, followed by two gunshots.

Judging by the sound, they seemed to be 5mm ammo.

Light Chu instantly became alert and took out his steel pipe rifle from behind. He crouched down and hid in the shadow of the wall, carefully looking towards the source of the sound.

At the street corner not far away, under a tilted billboard, a man wearing a gray jacket was shot and fell to the ground. His face was filled with fear as he moved backward.

Blood was seeping from his back, forming a pool on the ground.

"...Scavenger?"

Before long, another figure turned around the street corner.

A gunman wearing a fur jacket, holding a makeshift steel pipe rifle made from junk, was biting a half-smoked cigarette. He walked towards the man on the ground, who was begging for mercy.

Behind him, there was another person and a dog.

The companion also held a similarly shaped rifle in his hand, with a fire axe hanging from his waist and a dog leash on the other side.

Light Chu's pupils slightly contracted.

In less than a second, he quickly determined the identity of the two.

Raiders!

"What's the situation outside?" Nighten approached from the side and whispered.

He thought he was already speaking quietly, but his stealth skills were still lacking.

"Hush!"

Just as Light Chu made a gesture to keep quiet, he saw the mutant hyena with an iron chain around its neck suddenly turn its head and bark in their direction.

Light Chu's expression instantly changed.

Damn it!

Did this damn creature allocate all its skill points to perception?!

In the blink of an eye, the two raiders also looked over, reacting swiftly. They raised their rifles and started shooting.

Bang! Bang!

Two consecutive gunshots rang out. Light Chu quickly pulled his head back, but soon he realized that he was just being overly cautious.

That handmade DIY rifle probably didn't have rifling.

With the distance of a street between them, their ammos were just wasted. They didn't even touch the door next to him and landed on the cement road.

"Engagement?! What's happening? Did we encounter mutants?!" Trash-kun, hiding in the shop, showed no signs of panic. He was even excited, rubbing his hands together.

Nighten was the same, pulling out his javelin as his first move.

"Don't panic, let me take a look first—"

"Take a look my ass!"

Seeing these two acting fearlessly, Light Chu was infuriated. He freed up a hand and pressed down on Nighten's head, forcing him back.

"They're raiders! Both of them have guns, and they have a dog with them! You guys retreat through the back door, and we'll meet up at the bus stop 300 meters to the south—"

"Respected Governor, why should we retreat? There are only two people and a damn animal on the other side, and we have no fewer people than them!" Trash-kun clenched his claws tightly. "We can fight too!"

"That's right! We can fight!"

Nighten also nodded excitedly, picking up the crossbow the governor had just thrown away. With high morale, he said, "Although we only have one gun, we also have molotovs... and this two-meter-tall lizard thing. I don't believe we can't win against a dog."

Upon hearing these words, Light Chu immediately snapped back to reality.

"Yeah, why run?"

In the past when he was alone, he would occasionally hide when encountering such ruthless bandits while scavenging outside. But now, they had guns and people, so why the hell would they run?

Moreover, there were only two enemies on the other side.

Light Chu reacted quickly and immediately made a decision. He also chambered a round by pulling the bolt.

"Take the Molotovs and go over there." Light Chu threw bottles and matches into Nighten's hands and pointed to the diagonally opposite street corner.

"Listen to my command. When I fire, you light it up and throw!"

The other side didn't know how many people were on Light Chu's side. If they saw someone running out, they would surely give chase.

Nighten took the molotovs and hesitated.

"How...how do I get over there?"

"Run over there. Do you expect me to carry you over? Don't worry, their guns don't have rifling, so they can't hit you." Light Chu pushed him forward.

Nighten stumbled and reached the doorway.

Although he was in a panic, he thought of this as an opportunity to perform in front of the Governor. He gritted his teeth and went for it.

Damn it.

Let's give it all!

Who's afraid in the game?

As expected, just as Light Chu had anticipated, when the two raiders saw Nighten rushing out of the shop, they immediately started yelling and fired two shots at him.

"Haha, my little baby, where do you think you're running?"

"Give up. You can't escape. Surrender now, and maybe we'll spare your life!"

Nighten didn't understand what these people were saying, but he felt bullets whizzing past his scalp.

He didn't dare stop or look up. He rushed into a shop on the other side of the street.

The two raiders exchanged glances, grinned evilly, and pressed forward with their guns, releasing the dog leash.

He didn't have a gun.

Most likely, a scavenger picking through trash nearby.

Killing a scavenger was no different for them than squashing a cockroach.

Light Chu, hiding in the shop, remained still, quietly waiting for the right moment.

As he heard the barking getting closer, he suddenly leaned out, aimed at the charging mutant hyena, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The 9mm ammo pierced the air, and at a distance of less than five meters, there was no chance to dodge. The bullet hit the side of the beast, even though Light Chu had aimed for its head.

The creature didn't even have time to let out a whimper. It collapsed to the ground, rolling two meters before coming to a stop.

The raider who had rushed forward was stunned, clearly not expecting the other side to also have a gun.

As he snapped back to his senses, his companion, with whom he had spent so much time together, was already dead, and his face contorted with anger.

"I'm going to skin you alive!"

"John, calm down! There's more than one of them—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a molotov was thrown. It landed with a loud thud behind the two raiders on a pile of wrecked cars, setting them ablaze.

Seeing that the enemy also had Molotov cocktails, raiders hurriedly tried to dodge, but with their escape route blocked by the flames, they were trapped in a dilemma.

At that moment, one of the raiders caught a glimpse of a terrifying figure from the corner of his eye, under the eaves of a nearby shop.

It was a lizard with dark green skin.

Or rather, a humanoid lizard.

"Monster—"

Swish!

A whistling sound cut off the raider's words halfway, and a javelin flew through the air, piercing his chest. It nailed him to the burning wrecked car behind him.

Even at the last moment of his life, he couldn't understand why that creature, which looked like an alien, partnered with scavengers.

He had heard of people domesticating mutant hyena as pet dogs and even heard of people raising bears and horses, but it was the first time he had heard of someone taming this thing.

This was simply outrageous!