More Blueprints, an Ambush

Yu Yuan stared at the opened safe as system prompts rang in his ears.

An intense rush of pleasure flooded Yu Yuan's mind.

"So locks have tiers too. That means ordinary security doors are standard-grade, while safes like this are excellent-grade. There should be rare-grade locks and even higher ones later on."

"Looks like Lockpicking has far more potential than I imagined."

His thoughts shifted as he looked at the safe.

The first thing he saw was gold.

The safe had two levels.

The lower level held three gold bars, two bundles of cash, a Glock 17 with a holster, and a box of twenty 9×19mm FMJ rounds.

The upper level contained two blueprints and a file folder.

Yu Yuan eagerly picked up the Glock 17, unable to hide the fondness in his eyes.

As Glock's most iconic model, he was naturally familiar with it.

It had a standard seventeen-round magazine, already fully loaded.

The gun was also in excellent condition, nothing like the severely worn M1911A1 in his hands.

After chambering a round, he slid it into the holster and strapped it around his waist.

Then he looked at the blueprints and file, his eyes full of anticipation.

Sure enough, the moment he touched the blueprints and documents, system prompts sounded in his ears.

[Ding... High-value supplies discovered!]

[New Optimization Path for Hideout facilities discovered. Would you like to add this Optimization Path to the—Water Collector construction list?]

[Ding... High-value supplies discovered!]

[New Optimization Path for Hideout facilities discovered. Would you like to add this Optimization Path to the—Bathroom, Security, and Wall construction lists?]

"Two rare blueprints, four Optimization Paths!"

Yu Yuan's eyes widened. He quickly brought the blueprints closer to inspect them.

[Proposal for the Water Affairs Center's Upgrades to Urban Residential Sewage Prevention and Seepage Resistance]

Quality: Excellent

Description: Optimizes the Hideout's sewage treatment path, adding waterproofing, anti-seepage, and sewage recycling paths for the Bathroom, Security, and Walls.

Effect: The Hideout gains excellent-grade waterproofing and anti-seepage effects. Hideout water consumption -20%.

[Proposal on the Feasibility of Seawater Desalination for Optimizing Household Water Use]

Quality: Excellent

Description: Optimizes the Hideout's Water Collector path and adds a seawater desalination route.

Effect: Seawater desalination can reach 45%, and grants the special resource—sea salt, pure sea salt.

Though they were only two excellent-grade blueprints, Yu Yuan was very satisfied with their optimization effects.

Especially the second blueprint. Desalinating seawater could even produce sea salt.

Salt was not scarce for Yu Yuan. In Taotao Cave alone, plenty of people were already selling all kinds of salt resources—well salt, lake salt, rock salt, and more.

There were even sellers of sea salt, but this was another way to acquire resources. No one would ever think they had too much.

As the two blueprints vanished, the Optimization Paths were added.

Yu Yuan turned his attention to the final document. When he saw the words on it, his heart skipped a beat, and the joy he had just felt turned somewhat grave.

[Investigation Report on Abnormal Organisms in the Sewers]

Quality: Bronze

In recent days, sewer maintenance workers in District 10 have repeatedly reported sightings of abnormal giant organisms. Following investigation and tracking, traces of large biological activity were indeed discovered. Based on identification and comparison of hair samples left at the scene, the organism was suspected to be a rodent, though no individual specimen was captured.

Our company's sewage inspection personnel subsequently tested the sewage in areas where the abnormal organism had been active. Trace components of a hormone catalyst agent were found, suspected to be connected to the organism's abnormality.

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Following a joint investigation by our company and the East City District Police Headquarters, it was confirmed that the hormone catalyst agent was an unknown compound poured into the sewage pipes, causing sewer rats to mutate.

The capture of the giant rat is currently underway. Based on sewage testing traces, the East City District Police Headquarters also tracked down the room where the sewage had been dumped and forcibly entered to make arrests on grounds of endangering public safety.

The room had long been abandoned. Evidence of some kind of religious ritual was found inside. The bathtub tested positive for a high concentration of hormone catalyst agent, identical to the components detected in the sewage. It was confirmed that this room was the original source of the agent.

Deputy Director Hogg of the Police Headquarters stated that he would continue supervising the case and resolutely prevent incidents that endangered public safety.

Sewers, rats, mutation...

"Why does putting those words together feel strangely familiar?"

Suddenly, Yu Yuan slapped his forehead and grinned.

"Damn, don't tell me there are four turtles too!"

He hurriedly read the investigation report carefully once more before finally letting out a breath of relief.

But his brows quickly furrowed again.

He did not care about anything else. The issue was whether that rat had eventually been caught.

If it had already been called a giant rat before the wasteland descended, then it had to be at least a meter long.

A rat like that appearing before him...

Just imagining it made his skin crawl, especially when he thought of its long whiskers, four yellow-enamel incisors, and its thick, hairless tail whipping around.

The hairs all over his body immediately stood on end. His scalp tingled, and he could not help shuddering.

He would rather face drifters than such a creature that repulsed him in both body and mind.

Below the document, he found the location of the sewer where the mutated rat had been discovered, along with the location of the room where the religious ritual had been held.

His Positioning Watch immediately scanned them.

Five red dots promptly appeared on the virtual map.

One red dot was inside a residential building in the 9th Block, while the other four were all within the sewers of District 10.

Only then did Yu Yuan relax.

The direction he had taken to District 7 was exactly opposite District 10.

"Hope I don't run into that thing."

Seeing that it was already close to twelve-thirty in the afternoon, he realized he had spent far too much time unlocking the safe.

He had to return to the Hideout as quickly as possible.

He packed all the important supplies into his backpack, then stuffed the unimportant items into the safe and locked it again.

He also locked the metal door to the director's office once more. Yu Yuan's exploration of the Water Affairs Center had come to an end.

He had to get back to the Hideout as soon as possible.

"I'm still short on Hideout construction materials. I have to find more tonight..."

As he considered his next move, he had already left the Water Affairs Center and reached the manhole cover near the sewer. His steps paused slightly before he swiftly dodged to the side.

He noticed that the thread he had previously placed in the gap of the manhole cover—was gone!

Whoosh—

At the very moment he dodged, an arrow skimmed past his head.

Immediately afterward, two figures rushed out from a nearby corner, wielding a homemade sledgehammer and a spear as they charged toward Yu Yuan.

Whoosh—

Another arrow shot toward him, but Yu Yuan had already slipped behind a trash can and avoided it.

Seeing that the two people behind him were less than five meters away, a vicious glint flashed in Yu Yuan's eyes.

He drew his M1911A1 and aimed behind him.

"Fuck, he's got a gun—" Terror appeared in the attacker's eyes before he could finish speaking.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

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