"Blue Angel"

Chu Guang tied the plastic bag shut and continued.

"You should be thankful you didn't go further in. This kind of mushroom usually grows near mutated leech nests."

Night Ten was startled.

"Mutated leeches?"

Chu Guang said casually.

"Yeah, juvenile mutated leeches are only about the size of a palm. Aside from their special mouthparts, they look pretty much the same as regular leeches."

"However, once they reach adulthood, their size rapidly increases to over 1 meter, and can even reach 3 meters at their longest. Their feeding methods also change. I've heard they can even swallow a living person whole... Of course, I've only heard about it."

After hearing the Manager's description, Night Ten felt a chill run down his spine.

He knew something felt off when he was picking the mushrooms, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Looking at it now, he had apparently just taken a stroll on the edge of death.

"Can't we eat it?" Gale's expression was quite regretful. He muttered, looking at the mushrooms Chu Guang had put away, "I thought it might give a buff."

"Don't overthink it."

There aren't that many buffs.

There was something Chu Guang didn't say.

Although this stuff couldn't be eaten, it was the main ingredient for making anti-radiation agents.

Chu Guang wasn't clear on the specific principle; he had heard about it from Old Charlie on Bett Street.

Blue Umbrella Mushrooms contain a special polypeptide substance that can effectively alleviate and heal non-lethal damage caused by gamma rays.

Merchant caravans from Boulder City would buy this stuff, and they offered a decent price. It was usually transported to Boulder City and sold to the factories there.

However, this stuff was really hard to get. Few scavengers were willing to risk their lives searching for mutated leech nests in swamps, subways, or sewers.

Being hard to find was one thing.

Finding it and not making it back alive was another.

Even driven by necessity, no one wanted to deal with these tentacles that ate people and didn't even spit out the bones...

He hadn't expected there to be a mutated leech nest so close by.

Chu Guang's mood was a mix of joy and worry.

He was happy that the Blue Umbrella Mushrooms could sell for a good amount of money, but worried that mutated leeches were not easy to deal with.

Salt?

Where would he get hundreds of kilograms of salt? If he had that much salt, he might as well sell the salt directly.

Fire?

This stuff usually lived in damp areas, so it really wasn't that easy to set on fire.

"Do you remember the exact location of that sewer entrance?"

Facing the Manager's question, Gale quickly took out his map and pointed to the marked location on it.

"Right here."

Chu Guang glanced at the location on the map and silently memorized it.

"I see."

The Blue Umbrella Mushrooms that Gale and Night Ten brought back were estimated to be about 2 kilograms. The usual market price was one chip for every 50g.

2000g was 40 chips!

This was almost equivalent to all the savings Chu Guang had accumulated over the past five months.

And this was the price offered by the recycling station on Bett Street.

The actual value of this stuff was at least double that amount!

Chu Guang planned to sell all these mushrooms and use the chips he got in return to buy the supplies the Outpost urgently needed.

"The Outpost's supplies need to be restocked. I'm going out for a bit. You guys stay here and remember not to wander too far."

"At five o'clock in the afternoon, Xiao Qi will open the elevator for you to return to the Shelter."

"While I'm gone, Xiao Qi will tally your work results. You can also ask it if you don't understand something."

As for the 2 kilograms of Blue Umbrella Mushrooms, Chu Guang gave Gale and Night Ten a total of 220 Contribution Points.

200 Contribution Points were for discovering the mutated leech nest, and the other 20 Contribution Points were for the Blue Umbrella Mushrooms.

The reason he only gave them this much wasn't because he was stingy, but because he was afraid that giving too much would let these players get a taste of the sweetness and risk going to pick this stuff, accidentally dying inside.

Before he found a generator that could power the "Active Matter Extractor," he felt it was better to be cautious.

Lunch was Green Wheat porridge.

Calling it porridge, Chu Guang thought it was more like unsweetened mung bean soup.

This stuff had no taste to speak of; it was purely for filling the stomach.

However, to Chu Guang's surprise, the four players devoured the food as if they were starving ghosts reincarnated.

Was it that good?

Chu Guang began to doubt his own cooking skills.

Could I actually be good at cooking?

That shouldn't be the case...

They quickly finished the meal.

Putting away the pots and pans, Chu Guang extinguished the campfire and set off alone. Only the four players and an AFK AI robot upstairs remained at the Sanatorium.

Fang Chang stared at the task board posted at the entrance of the Sanatorium, deep in thought.

Night Ten asked from the side.

"What are you looking at?"

Fang Chang said.

"Looking at the Manager's attitude, these Blue Umbrella Mushrooms shouldn't be completely useless, but the reward for the task only gives you 20 Contribution Points, which is equivalent to chopping down two trees... Do you think that's reasonable?"

Night Ten was stunned for a moment.

"Is there a problem?"

Fang Chang said.

"Of course there is. Normally, the profit players get from a task should be positively correlated with the difficulty of the task. You not only unlocked a new dungeon but also gathered high-value materials. Logically speaking, the reward shouldn't be so little."

Gale pondered.

"Then why do you think that is?"

Fang Chang snapped his fingers.

"Priority!"

"Pri, priority?" Night Ten was confused.

"Exactly." Fang Chang nodded. "Do you remember what the Manager said in the previous plot? The current top priority is survival!"

Did he?

Seems like it.

Night Ten hadn't listened too carefully. In most games, he skipped the plot and just Ctrl-ed through. Although this game couldn't be Ctrl-ed, zoning out for a few minutes made no difference.

Fang Chang continued.

"...So I speculate that the tasks on the task board are not all the tasks. This game gives us a lot of autonomy. Tasks can not only be issued by NPCs but also actively triggered."

Gale frowned.

"Reason?"

"Haven't you already received rewards?" Fang Chang said. "Although you didn't find the generator, you discovered a Mutant lair and gathered valuable materials."

"So I conclude that as long as our actions meet the current needs of Shelter 404, we can obtain Contribution Points. And the value of the reward is positively correlated with the value created by our actions!"

"For example, building latrines and toilets was a task issued after the Manager adopted our suggestions. Old Bai and I both received a reward of 200 Contribution Points."

Old Bai nodded.

"Seems like it."

"I think I get what you mean," Gale said, stroking his chin. "But completing the tasks on the task board also gives you Contribution Points, doesn't it?"

And the points aren't low.

"That's my second point," a mysterious smile appeared on Fang Chang's face. "Do you remember the Affection setting the developer told us about?"

A look of realization flickered across Gale's face.

"So that's it... I understand what you mean."

Night Ten and Old Bai were still completely confused.

"What exactly do you guys understand?"

"Speak clearly!"

Fang Chang said slowly.

"Simply put, completing the fixed tasks on the task board step by step, while providing a guaranteed basic reward, cannot showcase our abilities. In contrast, actively triggering tasks can better reflect our own capabilities! Theoretically, this should improve the Manager's evaluation of us."

Of course, these inferences are based on the assumption that Wasteland Online is a "completely realistic" immersive virtual reality game, and the Manager's behavior is governed by program logic, not human setting.

If his intelligence level is not as high as imagined, this inference is likely not valid.

However, currently, the Manager's intelligence level seems quite high. Normal communication is not a problem at all. He even couldn't help but suspect if this guy was being played by a real person.

Having understood Fang Chang's explanation, Old Bai stroked the stubble on his chin and nodded.

"This line of thinking is interesting, worth trying... So what do you think we should do?"

"How exactly to do it, I'm still exploring, but my intuition tells me that compared to Contribution Points, accumulating more NPC Affection before the second Closed Beta is more crucial. This will ensure that we have a higher 'starting point' than other players in the second Closed Beta."

After a pause, Fang Chang snapped his fingers.

"I propose we team up!"

"Team up? What do you mean?" Night Ten asked, confused.

Old Bai nodded.

"I have no objection."

Gale also nodded.

"I agree too."

Night Ten looked stunned.

"I don't object either, but can you explain the details of teaming up?"

Fang Chang patiently explained.

"Simply put, from now on we are a team. We share information and help each other. Beyond that, what we need to do is leverage our individual strengths."

Fang Chang looked at Gale and Night Ten and continued.

"Gale, Night Ten, you two scout along the lake shore of Wetland Park. Pay attention to the distribution of mutants and their movement patterns. If you find any suspected nest areas, mark them... But remember, absolutely do not get too close, especially avoid combat. We need a safe water source."

Gale nodded.

"Okay."

Then, Fang Chang looked at Old Bai.

"As for us, what we need to do now is chop more wood."

"When we go offline later, I'll look up some information online. Tomorrow, we'll figure out how to make use of this wood we've stockpiled!"