Encountering Marauders! The Players' First Battle!

Acetic acid, acetone, and methanol still have quite wide-ranging uses.

If the Shelter Outpost truly wants to embark on industrialization, then these chemical raw materials are indispensable.

Although they weren't immediately useful, Chu Guang still awarded the Player "There Really Are Mosquitoes in the WC" 1000 Contribution Points and publicly acknowledged his outstanding contribution of "successfully preparing acetic acid, acetone, and methanol using wood as raw material."

Speaking of which, does this count as a server-wide announcement in an online game novel?

Seeing "There Really Are Mosquitoes in the WC"'s proud expression and the envious looks in the eyes of the other Players, Chu Guang felt it was necessary to maintain this excellent tradition.

Hmm.

Not just in the game.

It should be announced on the official website too!

Later, he could even create a Hall of Fame, recording "On a certain year, month, and day, a certain Player achieved a certain accomplishment."

Such accomplishments could be solving a development problem or clearing a high-difficulty dungeon.

As a poor ruler, inexpensive honor was the only cost-effective reward he could offer the Players.

After finishing up, Chu Guang, along with Night Ten and Trash Lord, continued exploring north along the outbound overpass outside the Wetland Park.

They searched for traces of prey while also looking for valuable exploration targets.

Clearwater City's industrial clusters were mainly concentrated in the southeastern corner of the city, fanning out along the Third Ring Road and Second Ring Road.

The northern area, where Linghu Wetland Park was located, was primarily residential, with even many unfinished housing developments visible along the outbound roads.

Aside from well-developed public facilities like education, healthcare, and transportation, this area did not form large-scale industrial clusters. Only a few small light industrial workshops were scattered in the suburbs far from residential areas, neighboring the Incineration Plant.

Now, most of them were covered by forest.

When the nuclear war came, Clearwater City's northern suburbs, due to their large population base and extremely low strategic value, were hardly directly hit by strategic weapons.

However, relatively speaking, after the complete collapse of order, the massive number of Refugees brought another kind of disaster here.

Supermarkets, convenience stores, markets, and shopping malls were quickly looted. Next to suffer were hospitals, schools, office buildings, and even all shops along the streets, and even every refrigerator and storage cabinet inside residences.

No Shelter would risk its own safety to open its gates and accept them, and it couldn't be done anyway. The completely paralyzed transportation also made it difficult for these people to leave.

Even today, two hundred years later, one can still glimpse the tragedies that occurred here from the bullet holes in the walls and the shattered glass.

On some display windows, next to shelves, and in trash cans, there were even still unweathered skeletons hanging.

"Hiss... this is too tragic."

Looking at the two skeletons, one large and one small, huddled together, Trash Lord couldn't bear it and moved his gaze away, closing the open trash bin door.

Night Ten's reaction was relatively calm. After all, it wasn't his first time going on a long trip with Chu Guang, and he was already used to the situation here. He even put on the air of an old Player and commented.

"Honestly, the scene design in this game is pretty well done... it's like being in a post-apocalyptic world."

"This is the post-apocalyptic world to begin with."

Chu Guang replied casually with a faint tone, carefully observing the situation inside the shop window and marking it on the paper map.

This should be a clothing store.

However, there were only a few pieces of clothing left on the shelves, and the only two pieces of rags hanging were covered in black mold.

Clearly, Scavengers had visited here a long time ago.

And not just one wave.

"...I think we're wasting our time," Night Ten sighed and said, "Obviously, everything here has been looted."

"We can always find something useful... like this." Finding an unopened sewing kit from behind the almost shattered cabinet, Chu Guang threw it into Night Ten's hand.

The needles should be Alloy Material, and the thread should be Rayon. Since it was unopened, there was no issue of oxidation. Not to mention two hundred years, it could be used even after another two hundred years.

At this moment, the Outpost was most lacking in these small tools.

Tengteng should be interested in it.

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

However, just then, a mournful scream suddenly came from a distance, followed by two gunshots.

Listening to the sound, it seemed like 5mm Bullets.

Chu Guang instantly became alert, took the Pipe Rifle from his back, and crouched down in the shadow of the wall, carefully looking towards the source of the sound.

Around the corner of the street not far away, under a slanted billboard, a man in a gray jacket fell to the ground after being shot, his face terrified as he shuffled backward.

Blood seeped from his back, staining the ground.

"...Scavenger?"

After a moment, another figure turned the corner of the street.

A gunman wearing a animal skin coat, with a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, was walking towards the person lying on the ground begging for mercy, holding a Pipe Rifle pieced together from junk.

Behind him followed a person and a dog.

His accomplice was also holding a similar-looking rifle, with a Fire Axe hanging from his waist and a Dog Leash on the other side.

Chu Guang's pupils slightly contracted.

It took him less than a second to quickly identify the two individuals.

Marauders!

"What's going on outside?" Night Ten edged closer, asking in a hushed voice.

He thought he was being very quiet, but his stealth skills were clearly more than a little lacking.

"Shh!"

Chu Guang barely had time to make a shushing gesture when he saw the Mutant Hyena with the iron chain around its neck instantly turn its head and bark twice towards their direction.

Chu Guang's face instantly changed.

Holy crap!

Did this beast put all its skill points into Perception?!

In a flash, the two Marauders also instantly looked over, reacting incredibly quickly, raising their rifles and firing.

Bang bang!

With two consecutive gunshots, Chu Guang quickly pulled his head back, but he soon realized he was being overly cautious.

Those DIY rifles probably didn't have rifling.

From a street away, they were just shooting into the void. As expected, the few bullets didn't even come close to the door next to him, all landing on the cement road.

"Engaging?! What's happening?! Did we run into Mutants?!" Trash Lord, hiding inside the shop, wasn't flustered at all, even rubbing his hands together in excitement.

Night Ten was the same, drawing his javelin immediately.

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

"Look at what?!"

Seeing that these two guys weren't scared at all, Chu Guang was so angry his nose was practically crooked. He freed a hand and pressed down on Night Ten's head, pushing him back.

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

"Respected Manager, why should we retreat? They're just two people and one beast, and we don't have fewer people than them!" Trash Lord clenched his fists. "We can fight too!"

"Exactly! We can fight!"

Night Ten also nodded excitedly, picking up the crossbow the Manager had just dropped, his morale high. "Even though we only have one gun, we still have Molotov Cocktails... and this two-meter-tall lizard. I don't believe we can't beat a dog."

Hearing that, the tense Chu Guang instantly snapped back to reality.

Right.

Why run?

Before, when he was a lone wolf, risking his life to explore the wasteland, it was normal to hide when encountering such vicious bandits.

Now he had guns and people, why the hell would he run?!

Besides, there were only two of them on the other side.

Chu Guang's reaction was also very fast. He immediately made a decision, and at the same time, he pulled the bolt to chamber a round.

Let's get them!

"You, take the Molotov Cocktail over there." Chu Guang threw the Molotov Cocktail and matches into Night Ten's hand, pointing casually towards the diagonal corner of the street.

"Listen to my command, the moment my gun fires, light it and throw!"

The other side didn't know how many people they had. Seeing someone rush out, they would definitely pursue.

Night Ten, who had taken the Molotov Cocktail, was stunned for a moment.

"How, how do I get over there?"

"Run over there, or do you want me to carry you? Don't worry, their guns don't have rifling, they won't hit you." Saying that, Chu Guang reached out and pushed him.

Night Ten stumbled to the doorway.

Although he was extremely nervous, thinking this was an opportunity to show off in front of the Manager, he gritted his teeth and bravely went for it.

Damn it.

Go for broke!

What's there to be afraid of in a game?!

Indeed, just as Chu Guang expected, seeing Night Ten rush out of the shop, the two Marauders immediately let out a string of strange shouts and fired two shots at him.

"Haha, my little darling, where are you running?"

"Give up, you can't escape. Surrender now and we might spare your life!"

Night Ten couldn't understand what these people were saying, only feeling the bullets whizzing past his scalp.

He didn't dare to stop for a moment, nor did he dare to look up, rushing headfirst into the shop on the other side of the street.

The two Marauders exchanged glances, smiled wickedly, and advanced with their guns, one in front and one behind, and released the dog leash.

No guns on him.

Probably a Scavenger picking up trash nearby.

For them, crushing a Scavenger was no different than stepping on a cockroach.

Hiding inside the shop, Chu Guang remained motionless, quietly waiting for his chance.

Listening to the dog's barking getting closer and closer, he suddenly poked out half his body, aimed at the charging Mutant Hyena, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A 9mm bullet tore out of the barrel. At a distance of less than five meters, there was no way to dodge. The shot went straight through the beast's flank—

Although Chu Guang had aimed for the head.

Before it could even cry out, the hyena fell to the ground, rolled about two meters, and stopped moving.

The Marauder who had rushed closer was startled at first, clearly not expecting the other party to have a gun.

When he came back to his senses, his companion, with whom he had spent day and night, was brutally killed. The expression on his face instantly twisted with rage.

"I'm going to skin you alive!"

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

Before the words could even fully leave his mouth, a Molotov Cocktail was thrown over, smashing with a crack against the wreckage of a scrapped car behind the two of them.

Flames leaped up along with the scattered glass shards.

Seeing that the other party actually had a Molotov Cocktail, the Marauders hastily dodged, retreat already forming in their minds. However, with their escape route blocked by the flames, they found themselves with nowhere to go for a moment, trapped in a passive dilemma.

Just then, one of the Marauders suddenly caught a terrifying figure out of the corner of his eye, glimpsed from under the eaves of a street-side shop.

It was a lizard with dark green skin.

Or rather, a humanoid lizard.

"Monster—"

Swish—!

A sound of something cutting through the air severed the Marauder's half-finished sentence. The Javelin that came flying towards him directly pierced his chest, pinning him to the burning scrapped car behind him.

Until his last moment of life, he couldn't figure out why a monster that looked like a Mutant would be mixed up with Scavengers.

He had heard of people domesticating Mutant Hyenas as pets, and even heard of people raising bears and horses, but this was the first time he had heard of someone being able to domesticate this thing.

This was just too ridiculous!