A High-Value Find in Room 503

Room 503 of Phoenix Tree Apartments was much like the others: a studio of just over thirty square meters, with its own bathroom and balcony.

Yu Yuan shut the door. Ignoring the revulsion, he pulled the Flashlight from Key's mouth, wiped off the blood, then checked every corner of the room, including under the bed, inside the wardrobe, and behind the door.

He drew all the curtains as well, blocking the light.

Only after confirming there was no danger did he return to the body and begin the time-honored practice of looting it.

Key had only a cloth crossbody bag, stuffed with odds and ends.

Electrical Wire, a gel pen, two batteries, a dagger, two small pieces of compressed biscuit, and a little cloth pouch.

The pouch held several different Lockpicking tools. Yu Yuan was delighted.

He slipped them all into his pockets, along with the lockpick Key had been holding.

He folded up the crossbody bag and put it away too. A little blood on it didn't bother him.

In the Wasteland World, containers like bags were bound to be scarce. He couldn't pass one up. Even if he didn't need it, he could try trading it later.

With the looting done, he turned his attention to the room.

Compared with the others, it was fairly clean and tidy, though there were signs its occupant had fled in a hurry. The person who lived here was probably a single man.

There were few toiletries in the bathroom. Shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser, men's face masks, toothpaste, and a toothbrush lay scattered across the sink.

Yu Yuan packed them all into his backpack. They were scarce supplies. He even folded up the shower curtain and towels and put them away.

His backpack was bursting again, mainly because the shower curtain alone took up half the space.

Fortunately, Yu Yuan had considered this possibility earlier. There was something he wanted to try.

He opened the Virtual Light Screen to the [Special] page.

He selected the [Wasteland Taotao Cave] page. He had discovered it while exploring the Virtual Light Screen that afternoon. It worked like a flea market where players could trade with one another.

[Spend 1,000 Survival Points to join Wasteland Taotao Cave?]

Yu Yuan frowned. This was why he hadn't joined earlier.

If he hadn't unlocked the City Shadows title path by chance, he wouldn't even have qualified to trade. Even now, he had only 1,100 Survival Points in total.

Joining would all but wipe him out.

Reluctant as he was, Yu Yuan confirmed the purchase.

He would have to unlock it sooner or later. Might as well start using it now.

[Congratulations! Fish Abyss Shelter has joined Wasteland Taotao Cave. You can now trade with other players.]

Yu Yuan listed the shower curtain. He had no idea what it was worth and no time to check, so he set the price at 2,000 Survival Points.

To him, that was an astronomical price. If someone was willing to pay it, he would gladly make the trade.

And if nobody bought it, he didn't mind. All he needed was space in his backpack.

[Listing successful. Maximum listing duration: 12 hours. Please keep track of the time! For each hour beyond the limit, a storage fee of 5% of the asking price will be charged. Any fraction of an hour counts as a full hour!]

Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes at the notice.

"It actually worked!"

The entry requirement for Taotao Cave was absurdly high, but at least it was worth the cost.

He checked his backpack again. Everything left was either too small to bother listing or valuable Wasteland commodities like cigarettes and chocolate. He wasn't about to part with those, even at an inflated price.

In the end, he listed the larger bottles of toiletries for 500 Survival Points each.

If they sold, great. If not, he would use them himself.

He checked the bathroom ceiling and toilet tank for hidden supplies, found nothing, and gave up.

Room 503 had a simple layout: a bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe, and a desk.

The only other thing that caught his eye was a metal cabinet in the corner with three locked drawers.

Yu Yuan listed the bedding and mattress on Wasteland Taotao Cave. He tried to list the bed too, but a notice told him he couldn't.

So much for clearing out the room. He pursed his lips and let it go.

Only a T-shirt and a long coat remained in the wardrobe. Yu Yuan took them without hesitation; he badly needed a change of clothes.

After a full day, the clothes he was wearing were covered in dirt and blood.

He stuffed the clothes into his backpack and went to the desk, which had three drawers and a single-door cabinet.

Opening the cabinet, he found an unexpected prize.

More than half a bag of Weiwei Soy Milk Powder remained, with over twenty individual packets inside. To Yu Yuan, it was a gift.

Soy milk was high in calories and contained plenty of protein and fat. In the Wasteland World, it was excellent nutrition.

And the taste of soy milk powder would be a treat here.

Yu Yuan had no intention of listing something this good. He stuffed it all into his backpack.

He found several books and notebooks in the desk drawers. After a quick look, he listed those too.

He could read them when he had time. There might be useful information inside.

But after he listed the desk lamp, a notice suddenly appeared from Wasteland Taotao Cave.

[Maximum number of active listings reached!]

What?

Yu Yuan checked at once and realized he had only Level 1 Access Level for Taotao Cave, which allowed fifteen active listings at a time.

To list more, he would have to raise his Access Level. Upgrading to Level 2 would cost 2,000 Survival Points.

"Damn it! What's next, an SVIP membership?" Yu Yuan was getting tired of this.

At least he had already listed most of the room's bulky items.

All that remained was the locked metal cabinet.

He took out his Lockpicking tools and inserted a pick into the keyhole. It was as though he could feel the lock's entire mechanism through the tool, instinctively knowing how to open it.

In less than a minute, Yu Yuan had opened all three drawers.

The first two brought him a huge surprise.

Drawer one: hand-crank radio with built-in lights ×1, windproof candles ×2, batteries ×2, adjustable wrench ×1.

Drawer two: car first-aid kit ×1.

The hand-crank radio was made for disasters. Roughly the size of a brick, it combined hand-crank power generation, solar charging, an LED Flashlight, a desk lamp, a radio, and more.

The car first-aid kit contained a ratcheting tourniquet, trauma dressings, elastic bandages, disinfectant wipes, an emergency blanket, and over a dozen other first-aid supplies.

It gave him enough to handle ordinary bleeding, bandaging, immobilization, disinfection, and dangerous heat loss.

As a survival enthusiast, he knew both items inside and out. He even had more than one set of emergency equipment at home.

These two finds would greatly improve his chances of surviving in the Wasteland, especially the car first-aid kit.

With it, he could deal with danger to some extent.

Both items took up a fair amount of space. Yu Yuan slung the crossbody bag across his chest and filled it with the soy milk powder, windproof candles, batteries, gel pen, and other small items.

He put the hand-crank radio, car first-aid kit, and adjustable wrench into his backpack. Both bags were now packed full.

He quickly opened the third drawer. The other two Refugees could arrive at any moment, and time was running out.

But the instant Yu Yuan touched something inside, a sudden alert made him perk up.

[Ding... High-value supplies detected...]