The vast wasteland world.
Not only was he completely unfamiliar with the unknown underground ruins, but he also knew nothing about the nearby mountains, rivers, and terrain. Su Mo was still utterly blind to it all.
"Bring a bottle of mineral water, and a bottle of Psionic Water. Take all fifty crossbow bolts, the Beech Spear, and the Wolf Tooth Club—emm, bring that too."
"Bring some materials as well. We can take them out in case of an emergency."
Su Mo packed his things away one by one.
Exploring outside was no child's play. He had to put on all his equipment properly. That was the best way to show respect for the apocalypse.
After gathering everything together, Su Mo opened the shelter's main door.
It happened to be noon.
A blazing sun descended upon the heavens like a god, releasing its mighty divine radiance.
However, too little time had passed, and the rainwater on the ground had yet to evaporate. Puddles and potholes were everywhere.
"I wonder if the Mutated Beasts survived in this kind of environment."
Su Mo's expression changed.
He began recalling the Black Dog he had encountered in the ruins of Liangfang Town.
If the Mutated Creatures in the wasteland had truly become like that, it would be no less terrifying to present-day humans than the impending extreme cold disaster.
Either the Mutated Beasts would die as soon as they came into contact with rainwater, just like humans—
Or—Su Mo also hoped it was the former.
After inspecting the surrounding environment and confirming that nothing was amiss, Su Mo returned inside the shelter. He took out some plant fibers and began weaving a raincoat for Oreo.
There was a great deal of standing water on the ground, and merely touching it with bare skin was harmful.
For outdoor exploration, he had to rely on Oreo's scouting and early-warning abilities.
It did not take long. After placing it in the wardrobe and using 10 Survival Points to replicate the process, a brand-new dog raincoat came off the production line.
Oreo, who had been cooped up in the shelter for two days and unable to go outside, was overjoyed when he saw his new clothes. He bounced around excitedly.
After putting on the raincoat, he darted out of the shelter and began sniffing wildly around the vicinity.
Seeing this, Su Mo also closed the shelter's main door. After checking several times that he had brought everything, he turned and returned to the second passage, then climbed upward along it.
The current design of the shelter's main door was incredibly stupid. It could only be opened and closed from the inside, not from outside.
Fortunately, there was a second passage. Otherwise, if someone stole his home while he was away, it would be over.
After climbing out through the shelter's second passage, Su Mo opened the stone door covered by a layer of dirt and arrived behind the hill.
Under the blazing sun, Acid Rain Lake glittered with rippling waves.
He glanced at it twice, then checked the place where he had buried the bodies last night. After confirming that nothing was wrong, he closed the small door and covered it with dirt before turning around and walking toward the main entrance.
The straight-line distance between the underground ruins and the shelter was three and a half kilometers.
Without considering detours, he could reach it in half an hour.
"While it's broad daylight, I need to explore as quickly as possible. I have to return before sunset."
Su Mo strode forward.
Although there were potholes on the ground, the nearby terrain was fairly familiar, so walking was not difficult.
Oreo maintained a distance of 200 meters from Su Mo at all times, responsible for patrolling and scouting for Mutated Creatures.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
After walking more than 700 meters, Oreo, who had remained calm the entire time, suddenly barked, making Su Mo's heart tighten.
"Are there monsters?"
"Woof!"
After receiving Oreo's affirmative reply, Su Mo did not hesitate and immediately activated the Monster Compendium's scanning function for the first time that day.
Detected six Unicorn Sand Wolves 331 meters from the player. Danger rating: 48. Please proceed with caution.
Uses remaining today: 2/3
Su Mo froze.
"Unicorn Sand Wolves—and six of them together?"
He opened the Monster Compendium and quickly skimmed through it, immediately understanding the animal's traits.
The Mutated Beast food that had sold the most in the Trading Market before had been from this genus of sand wolves. As pack animals, they were not very strong in combat.
Normally, an adult man with a weapon could easily defeat two sand wolves.
Moreover, sand wolves offered extremely high returns. They provided not only meat, but also sand wolf pelts, sand wolf blood, and possibly treasure chests.
Licking his lips, Su Mo suppressed his thoughts. With a thought, he took the crossbow from his Storage Space.
Oreo was usually lively, but upon encountering an enemy, he immediately displayed extremely professional combat instincts.
Keeping his body low, he sniffed the air while occasionally twitching his ears to listen. Man and dog advanced at an unhurried pace.
Before long, Su Mo, treading carefully, spotted the Unicorn Sand Wolves a hundred meters away. They were lying beneath a huge boulder, taking shelter from the disaster.
"Phew. So these animals have an instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm as well."
With his excellent eyesight, Su Mo saw at a glance that four sand wolves were lying on the ground resting.
The remaining two sand wolves warily watched their surroundings.
When they spotted Su Mo in the distance, the sand wolves froze for a moment before beginning to bark frantically.
Whoosh! A crossbow bolt pierced through a wolf's throat, taking the life of the growling sand wolf.
While rapidly reloading, Su Mo carefully observed the remaining five sand wolves.
After being attacked, all the sand wolves had risen to their feet and were roaring furiously in Su Mo's direction.
They tried their best to look intimidating, relying on their numerical advantage to put on a show of strength.
Unfortunately, the sand wolves clearly knew how powerful the Acid Rain was. The wet ground kept them from charging forward, leaving them able only to rage impotently in place.
"What a great opportunity."
After loading the bolt, Su Mo took only a moment to aim before firing again, taking another sand wolf's life.
The remaining four sand wolves immediately began howling in panic. One even prepared to flee, but when it touched the not-yet-dry ground with its foot, it recoiled as if it had touched fire.
Seeing the sand wolves' reaction, Su Mo raised his eyebrows.
"The first time I used the crossbow, I had full-map vision. The second time, the enemies couldn't move at all. This luck is ridiculous."
He did not know whether to praise the sand wolves for being clever or call them stupid.
They had no idea why the distant human could shoot one arrow after another from his hands. With Oreo threatening them from the side, all the sand wolves could do was remain where they were and serve as targets.
"Die!"
Without expending any effort, Su Mo easily harvested the entire pack of sand wolves with just six crossbow bolts.
In the distance, the six sand wolves dropped two treasure chests: one wooden and one iron.
Even if he could not enter the underground ruins on this trip, he had already gained something.
When he reached the spot, he first retrieved all the crossbow bolts embedded in the sand wolves. Then he placed all the wolves into his Storage Space.
Oreo came over to Su Mo's feet, shaking his head and showing off his battle achievements.
Su Mo rubbed Oreo's head and laughed. "Once we get this meat processed, it's all yours. Don't worry, I won't take any!"
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Oreo immediately became incredibly excited, rubbing his dog's head wildly against Su Mo's palm.
Record: You opened a wooden treasure chest. Record: You obtained 1 Fanta Soda. Record: You obtained 1 Master Kong Pickled Cabbage Noodles.
As the wooden treasure chest's radiance faded, a bottle of soda and a cup of instant noodles were left behind.
"Hiss."
Seeing the instant noodles on the ground, Su Mo immediately felt saliva flood his mouth. His taste buds seemed to burst open one after another, as if he could already absorb the rich broth of the noodles.
Reluctantly, he placed both items into his Storage Space. Then he turned to the Iron Treasure Chest, filled with even greater anticipation.
Record: You opened an iron treasure chest. Record: You obtained 1 Workbench Design Blueprint. Record: You obtained 1 Simple Tool Pliers. Record: You obtained 1 beaker.
A series of resource-acquisition notifications appeared.
On the ground lay a blue blueprint, an iron pair of pliers as long as a forearm, and a glass beaker.
"The Workbench Design Blueprint isn't very useful at this stage, but I should learn it first."
After picking up the blueprint and crushing it to learn it, Su Mo grabbed the other two items and tossed them into his Storage Space.
"What a pity. If I'd known, I should have made a ranged weapon sooner."
"But I was only this lucky today. Otherwise, if those six sand wolves had started moving quickly, they would have been quite troublesome."
Su Mo sighed as he straightened up and continued onward.
The entire confrontation between the man, the dog, and the six wolves, including collecting the spoils, had taken barely ten minutes. With the advantage of timing, terrain, and morale, Su Mo was brimming with confidence as he looked down the road ahead.
After setting off again, he compared the terrain with the map as he traveled. This time, Su Mo walked two kilometers without finding any trace of Mutated Beasts.
"Maybe Huang Biao and the others cleared out all the Mutated Beasts they could deal with along the way. This pack of sand dogs was unlucky too. They probably came here to avoid the rain, only to be caught by me."
Su Mo, who had remained tense throughout the journey, suddenly relaxed.
In the distance, he could already see the terrain marker indicated on the map.
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