"Fuck, this necklace packed way too much of a punch!"
Lin Ye lay sprawled weakly on the floor, staring at the dark red ceiling as static and stars occasionally flashed before his eyes.
Only after lying there for over ten minutes did the Cross Necklace's aftereffects fade completely. Lin Ye got up from the floor, walked over to the corpse, and began processing it.
This monster was different from the Blood Corpses he had encountered before. They were life-forms on entirely different levels, and its corpse was quite valuable.
It took Lin Ye half an hour to fully dismantle the pile of flesh and blood, and he found six Mutation Organs inside.
He dissected these Mutation Organs. Their internal structures were complex and chaotic, with extremely high degrees of mutation and extremely poor stability.
So that was why this monster was so... so... jumbled.
For a moment, Lin Ye could not decide what word to use to describe this monster.
Continuing the dissection, Lin Ye memorized the structures of these Mutation Organs and eventually found some irregular, dark red crystals in the two main organs.
Stones? No, they should be energy crystals. Otherwise, these organs would have had trouble releasing so much energy when they moved.
Lin Ye found a small bag and put the crystals away. He was very interested in these crystals.
He submitted four Mutation Organs to complete the mission, then put away the crystals and the remaining Mutation Organs.
Lin Ye ate something and returned to the open room, where he found a Mutation Card he did not have. Only after putting the card away did he continue exploring along the corridor.
He was not in great shape now, and he had run out of bullets. Encountering another monster would be troublesome.
Fortunately, this place was large enough, with few inhabitants spread across a vast area. It took a long walk to encounter a single monster.
With fifteen minutes left on the countdown, Lin Ye came across another long red corridor with no rooms.
Lin Ye quickly ran to the end of the corridor and pushed open the red double doors. It was the same hall again, with red double doors opposite and the same red wooden door on the left, except this time, the locked room on the right was pale yellow.
Huh? Quite a few variations.
Lin Ye knocked on the door. After confirming there was no sound inside, he first tried the Red Key. Only when it failed to open the door did he use the metal key for special rooms. Once the door opened, the metal key disappeared.
He pushed the door open. Inside was a standard pale yellow room.
There were two machines in the room. After a couple of glances, Lin Ye figured out what they did.
It was simply too obvious. Whoever had made these two machines must have wanted to make something even an idiot could use.
On the left was a vending machine, and on the right was an automated purchasing machine.
The currency was Red Coins, and the goods were displayed inside the glass cabinet.
Although there were no item descriptions, Lin Ye had seen some of the goods inside before.
Red liquid, 1 Red Coin per bottle.
An unidentified Mutation Card, 10 Red Coins per card.
An unidentified Mutation Card, 5 Red Coins per card.
An unidentified Mutation Card, 3 Red Coins per card.
Those were the only four types of goods in the machine that Lin Ye recognized. There were several Mutation Cards priced at 3 Red Coins, two priced at 5, and only one priced at 10.
Besides these, the machine also held more expensive, darker red liquid, as well as other goods whose effects Lin Ye did not know. The most expensive was a blood-colored bone blade worth 100 Red Coins. He had no idea what effects it had.
Lin Ye only had 47 Red Coins on him, most of which he had obtained through trading.
"I'm so poor. I can't afford anything."
Lin Ye wanted to buy a wondrous item like the Cross Necklace, rather than consumables like cards and Nutrient Solution.
It was not that cards and Nutrient Solution were useless, but Lin Ye had no use for these consumables at this stage. Items were simpler and more useful.
But even the cheapest item cost 50 Red Coins, putting it just beyond what he could afford.
After thinking it over, Lin Ye took the small bag out of his backpack, picked out the smallest crystal, and placed it into the purchasing machine beside him.
Some coins dropped out of the coin slot on the machine's left side. Lin Ye counted them: 10 Red Coins in total.
He had five more crystals larger than this one. After some thought, Lin Ye sold another for 15 Red Coins.
He did not plan to sell the rest. After all, he had no way to determine their value, and selling them to the purchasing machine might mean taking a huge loss.
Lin Ye spent 50 Red Coins on a ring, then another 20 on the three most expensive Mutation Cards, before leaving the pale yellow shop room.
He did not attempt to damage the vending machine. It was very likely system equipment, and Lin Ye would not have been surprised even if it turned into a monster after being attacked.
Perhaps it had no protective measures at all, but people ought to maintain due respect for the unknown.
Lin Ye had no desire to die in a place like this over a failed attempt to rob a vending machine.
When the countdown ended, Lin Ye returned to the Shelter.
[Shelter tier advancement mission complete. Would you like to advance the Shelter's tier?]
"Yes."
Lin Ye received this notification as soon as he returned to the Shelter. Yet as he watched expectantly, nothing about the Shelter changed.
"Huh?"
[Advancement complete]
Lin Ye hurriedly checked the Shelter's information. Sure enough, it had changed.
[Shelter information] [Level: Tier 1] [New functions: Utilities, basic information inspection] [Status: Absolutely safe (14 days)] [Note: Please raise your Shelter's level within 14 days]
Only after studying them for a while did Lin Ye figure out the Shelter's new functions.
First were the utilities. The Shelter now had water, and not just running water: electricity and gas were available too. However, Lin Ye currently had little equipment that could use electricity or gas.
He could turn on the lights at night, allowing him to do things besides checking the group chat and sleeping.
Lin Ye happily took a shower, then boiled a kettle of water. The Shelter was absolutely safe, so he did not think there would be anything wrong with the water. If the system wanted to kill him, it had plenty of other ways.
Unfortunately, the Shelter's water could not be traded. Otherwise, Lin Ye could have sold drinking water in bulk.
The other function, basic information inspection, was precisely the item information function Lin Ye needed. He could now check item information through the system.
For example:
The red liquid was Nutrient Solution.
[Nutrient Solution] [Edible. Can replenish certain special forms of energy and nutrients] [Note: Please drink in moderation, or bear the consequences yourself] [Mutation Card No. 2] [Apply to the surface of an organism's body to mutate it] [Note: Collect Cards No. 1-10 for a special surprise] [Mutation Card No. 4] [Apply to the surface of an organism's body to mutate it] [Note: Collect Cards No. 1-10 for a special surprise]
Apart from No. 1 and No. 3, Lin Ye had already collected the other eight Mutation Cards. He had found No. 2 in that monster's room, Zhang Liang had given him No. 4, and he had bought No. 5 and No. 6 with Red Coins in the shop. He had already owned the other types.
Of these, Card No. 10 mutated the arms, No. 9 mutated the legs, and No. 8 randomly mutated an organ in the abdomen. No one had used the other cards yet.
Before you continue