The Chest

With a light tap of the fingertip on the Wristband's screen, the Bestiary of the Lurewater Lotus slowly retracted.

Lu Heng lowered his eyes, looking at the lotus with its broken stem in his palm. The pure white petals were still intact, and the broken part was fresh. This Black Iron-Tier Mutant Plant had completely lost its vitality. He didn't linger in the park and directly put the lotus into his Wristband's Storage Space. The wild was not a place to dismantle supplies; all processing had to wait until they returned to the Shelter.

He looked up at the river in front of him.

Wild grass spread crookedly along the bank, and old exercise equipment was rusted and stuck fast, covered with a thin layer of dust. The whole park was unusually quiet, except for this still pool of water in front of us, its surface flat and barely rippling even in the slightest breeze.

Lu Heng stood on the shore.

In an ordinary park, ambush-type mutated plants like the Lurewater Lotus the mud. If such dangers lurk on the surface of the water, who knows what might be slumbering beneath? It could be a dormant monster, or it could be supplies left over from a disaster.

The thought only flashed through his mind before he abandoned the idea of going into the water himself.

The underwater water is murky, and the depth of the silt is unknown. If an accident occurs, there will be no room to escape. It's not worth taking that kind of risk.

He turned his head to look at the Bone Demon beside him.

The river wasn't deep. The Bone Demon, a skeleton that didn't need to breathe, was the only one that could safely dive underwater to investigate.

"Go into the water and search the bottom of the river. If there are any monsters, eliminate them; if there are any supplies, bring them up," Lu Heng said, his voice low.

The Bone Demon stepped into the river.

The icy water washed over each bone, trickling down the seams of the skeleton, and soon the massive figure sank into the water. Ripples spread across the surface of the river, but soon returned to calm.

Lu Heng stood on the shore and waited.

He remained vigilant, his eyes fixed on the river surface, his ears listening for any unusual movement underwater. After a long wait of several minutes, the water suddenly stirred.

The Bone Demon rose from the water and waded ashore. In one of its bony paws, it steadily held a Black Iron Chest, its surface covered with a thin layer of water rust. There was nothing else besides it—no remains of strange beasts, and no other miscellaneous supplies.

Lu Heng was slightly surprised.

Before going into the water, he was more prepared to encounter strange beasts and even anticipated an underwater battle, not expecting much from finding a treasure chest. Unexpectedly, his biggest find was this.

If you had simply turned around and left to save time, you would have missed this opportunity completely.

He looked around the entire park.

There was very little left to scavenge; beneath the weeds lay only soil and pebbles, making it pointless to linger any longer.

"Walk."

Lu Heng turned around and walked back the way he came, with the Bone Demon following quietly behind him.

After walking a short distance, a low-rise building came into view by the roadside. The faded sign was mostly incomplete, but the words "police station" could still be vaguely made out; it was just a small Police Station attached to a residential area.

Throughout his life of survival, firearms remained a constant thought in his mind. He was willing to look into them whenever there was even the slightest chance.

Clutching at this faint hope, Lu Heng stepped inside.

The door was forced open, revealing a chaotic scene inside. The desk was overturned, all the drawers were roughly ripped open, scraps of paper littered the floor, and thick dust accumulated in the corners. A stale, musty smell filled the air.

It's clear that this place has been ransacked by more than one group of people.

Lu Heng led the Bone Demon through each room, storage room, office, carefully examining every cabinet and corner. All the equipment cabinets were open and empty, with no equipment left inside.

The little bit of expectation in my heart sank little by little.

He took a deep breath and walked out of the Police Station.

Not far away, rows of residential buildings stood amidst the wilderness, many with broken windows. Lu Heng glanced at them from afar.

There must be a lot of household items, food, and daily necessities in the building. But searching floor by floor and household by household would take an unimaginable amount of time. Most civilian supplies are scattered, and even if it took most of the day, the final profit would probably not be as much as a ransacked supermarket. After weighing the options, he gave up on entering the community.

Without lingering, he continued on his way.

Before long, a familiar light screen appeared in front of me. Taking a step across it, the sense of crisis that had been constantly hanging over my heart in the wilderness outside eased a little.

Back inside the Shelter.

The stone house was quiet, isolated from the wind and desolation outside. Lu Heng opened the storage interface of his Wristband, took out the Lurewater Lotus, and lightly tapped it to start its decomposition.

A pale blue light enveloped the entire lotus plant, causing it to slowly dissolve and disintegrate within the light. Moments later, entries for the three materials appeared on the screen.

Lurewater Lotus Root: Edible, it can quickly replenish energy and produce a strong feeling of fullness after eating.

Flower Stem Fiber: extremely tough, making clothing sewn from it durable and wear-resistant, while also having excellent breathability.

Lotus Fragrance Gland: can continuously emit a light fragrance, masking human sweat and blood odor, and significantly reducing the probability of being tracked by the sense of smell of exotic animals.

Lu Heng's gaze first fell on the section for Lurewater Lotus Root.

This is the most direct way to fill one's stomach quickly, making it extremely useful during long periods of exploration. Unfortunately, there are no instructions on how to cultivate it. He decided that he wouldn't store it for long and would eat it within the next couple of days.

Their attention shifted to the remaining two items of supplies.

The clothes he was currently wearing already possessed good durability and odor-masking properties, so there was no rush to use these two materials. However, the mutated material Flower Stem Fiber, was not a common resource, and it might come in handy when he improved his armor in the future. The scent-masking ability of the Lotus Fragrance Gland was also an additional layer of protection.

Both items have value in being preserved.

Lu Heng took out the three materials one by one and put them into the Shelter's storage area for safekeeping.

After doing all this, he finally took out the Black Iron Chest he had obtained from the bottom of the river.

The cold, rough iron shell pressed against my palm; the rust on the surface hadn't completely dried.

He once found Awakening Potion in Nightmare Chest, which completely changed his path to survival. He still remembers that surprise to this day.

Although it's just an ordinary Black Iron-Level Treasure Chest, far inferior to the Nightmare Chest, it's still the first Black Iron Chest in this ruined world. Its environment is completely different from the Black Iron Chest in the Frost Forest, so no one can say for sure what's inside.

Lu Heng gently stroked the box with his fingertips, his anticipation rising little by little.