Chapter 135 - 126: Card Assessment
"Okay, that’s fair," Wang Yun nodded.
Yuan Ming voiced his approval. "No problem. We’ll follow your lead, Captain."
’The atmosphere in this new team is great,’ he thought. ’Even though I passed out earlier, no one abandoned me.’
Li Yue chuckled. "We’ll follow you, Brother Qin."
Deng Guang certainly had no objections. ’I’m just an unremarkable, ordinary guy,’ he’d always thought. ’The only reason I’ve survived this long is because I’ve been smart enough to latch onto powerful people.’
’There are plenty of people in the Gated Community stronger than me, but I have a Card now and dozens of pounds of cured meat stored at home. I’m already doing better than eighty percent of the people here! Sometimes, making the right choice is more important than working hard.’
Qin Ziwen said, "Alright, I’ll hold onto these Cards for now. When we get back, we’ll discuss them and figure out what they’re worth."
He then looked over at the corpse of the Giant Toad.
Deng Guang stared at the massive carcass and swallowed. "Bullfrogs are edible, so this Giant Toad... should be too, right?"
Li Yue leaned in and sniffed. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline and burnt flesh. "It was doused in so much gasoline, the taste has probably soaked right into the meat," he said hesitantly. "Is it still edible?"
Wang Yun frowned. "When gasoline burns, toxic substances seep into the body. Besides, toads are poisonous to begin with. The most venomous toad on Earth is the cane toad from South America. It’s only about twelve centimeters long on average, but its toxins can kill a crocodile."
"And while a toad’s poison glands are on its back, if it was agitated before death and secreted a large amount of venom, the toxins could have seeped into its muscles or organs."
Li Yue found a stick, walked over to the corpse, and prodded one of the poison glands on the side of its back.
"SQUELCH~"
The scorched, blackened gland burst easily.
A thick, yellowish-brown slime shot out.
Li Yue reacted quickly, taking half a step back to dodge it.
But the tip of the stick in his hand began to sizzle and smoke...
Qin Ziwen thought for a moment. "Let’s cut off some meat from its leg. Don’t eat it when we get back—we can try feeding it to the crocodiles in the river."
The group got to work, struggling to carve two large chunks of meat from the Giant Toad’s leg.
"I don’t know if it’s because it was burned, but the leg muscles are hard as a rock. We had to slowly wear it down with a knife," Qin Ziwu grumbled.
They put out the last of the surrounding fires, then started their journey back.
「Two hours later, they passed through the dense forest and arrived back outside the Gated Community.」
The Gated Community was unusually lively tonight.
Even though it was already eight o’clock, quite a few people were still manning stalls in the central plaza.
The recent infectious disease in the Gated Community was gradually being brought under control. The infected individuals with weaker immune systems had, for the most part, already died.
Those with stronger constitutions were recovering one by one.
Furthermore, with the Giant Toad gone, a dark cloud that had been hanging over the residents lifted. For the past several days, many had been on edge, terrified that the Giant Toad by the river would suddenly go berserk and attack the apartment buildings.
This was especially true for residents on the lower floors.
Previously, they had thought living on a lower floor was an advantage, as they didn’t have to climb stairs every day.
Now, it seemed the security risks on the lower floors were far more severe.
Some residents had even nailed boards over their windows, sealing them up completely.
Qin Ziwen and his group walked past the other buildings and headed straight for Building Eight.
𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
After heading upstairs, they arrived at Apartment 502.
It was Wang Yun’s first time at Qin Ziwen’s apartment. As he stepped into the living room, his gaze was immediately captured by the magnificent Celestial Star Arrow Gallery on the balcony.
His mouth fell open, and he turned to look at Qin Ziwen in disbelief.
’No way, man. I knew you were good, but isn’t a building this huge a bit much? Are you using cheats or something?’
Wang Yun opened his mouth, but no words came out. Finally, he just gave a wry smile. "I’m seriously impressed."
Yuan Ming, the usually boisterous big guy, sat down rather sheepishly. After a long moment, he managed to say, "No wonder you’re the captain."
Qin Ziwen explained, "This is an Advanced Building, the Celestial Star Arrow Gallery. You can practice your Arrow Skill in here. It’s faster than practicing outside. In the future, any approved members of our team can come here to practice in their free time."
Yuan Ming asked curiously, "Captain, what does it take to be an ’approved’ member?"
Wang Yun shook his head with a wry smile. ’This big oaf, did he get his head knocked silly by a tree?’ "The captain was willing to bring you to his home," he said. "What do you think? Are you approved or not?"
Yuan Ming looked like he was about to cry.
After hearing about the building’s purpose, a glint flashed in Yang Cunshen’s eyes. "With this building, couldn’t we quickly train a batch of proficient archers?"
"Our team is small," Qin Ziwen said. "I noticed a problem during today’s hunt. We used Incendiary Bottles this time, but what about next time? The gasoline will eventually run out. Having a reliable ranged attack is crucial for hunting beasts. I don’t expect everyone to become a Divine Archer, but mastering the Bow and Arrow shouldn’t be a problem, right?"
"No problem, Brother Qin! I’ve always felt I was a Divine Archer in the making, just waiting for my chance! Now I can finally prove it! From now on, you can all call me Little Yang Youji!" Li Yue exclaimed.
Yuan Ming coughed. "I think Little Li Guang sounds better."
Qin Ziwen then added, "Oh, right. Dr. Wang, Young Brother Yuan, I forgot to tell you both something. The next map is the Gobi Desert. You should spend the next few days collecting as much water as you can, along with anything that can be used for storage."
Hearing this, Wang Yun’s expression turned serious. "Understood, Captain."
After that, the group began to discuss the contribution points required to redeem the six Cards they had acquired.
Although the debate grew heated enough to make their faces flush, the overall atmosphere remained positive.
"Since the next map is the Gobi Desert, the value of this Spring Eye has to go up. We can’t price it like a regular Resource Card."
"But what if the map after that is an Island?"
"That’s not the problem right now. Let’s focus on surviving the next map first."
"Well, this Healing Spring is also a spring by name. Maybe its water can quench thirst in addition to healing injuries."
"The Woodworking Hut is good. Huang Tao’s business is booming. He’s earned a lot of resources with his hut recently."
"Have you considered that the Woodworking Hut doesn’t come with a Carpenter? It’s like how ’Wife Cakes’ don’t come with an actual wife."
"But if you run it well, you should still be able to make a lot of money."
"It’s not that easy. First, a skilled Carpenter is hard to find. Second, if you use the Woodworking Hut to do business, you’ll be competing directly with Huang Tao. The Gated Community is only so big, and there are only so many customers. High-stakes business warfare often resorts to the simplest methods. People might ambush you after work, send someone to poach your Carpenter..."
"An orchard? Does it just give you a whole orchard? That’s a god-tier Card!"
"Probably not. It’s likely similar to a farmland card, just giving you an area where you can plant fruit trees, and they’ll grow faster there."
"My God, then you’d still have to find the fruit trees yourself? What a rip-off. I guess not all Cards are useful."
The group debated heatedly for nearly half an hour.
Finally, they came to an agreement on the redemption values.
They also decided that these values would only apply to the current batch of Cards. If the map changed in the future, or if their overall survival situation improved, any newly acquired Cards would have to be re-evaluated. However, the redemption values decided upon today would not change.
First, the [Building Card] Level 1 Orchard was deemed the least valuable Card of the bunch, requiring only 3 contribution points.
The [Building Card] Level 1 Woodworking Hut was valued slightly higher, but it required active management and faced competition since a similar building already existed in the Gated Community. It was set at 5 contribution points.
The [Expansion Card] Blank Expansion Card (Small) was a necessary prerequisite for buildings with a land area requirement. The extra 400 square meters of space was very tempting; it was worth it for the storage space alone. It was set at 8 contribution points.
The [Resource Card] Level 1 Spring Eye would be extremely valuable on the next map, making it a high-value resource Card. However, its output was extremely limited, only guaranteeing enough water for personal use and leaving little to trade. Thus, it was set at 6 contribution points.
The [Advanced Resource Card] Level 1 Healing Spring was suspected to function like a regular spring eye while also possessing a healing effect. Combined with the fact that it was an Advanced Card, it was considered a universally useful, high-value, god-tier Card, and was set at 25 contribution points.
The [Building Enhancement Card] could randomly grant a building a special effect. In theory, its value was no less than an Advanced Building Card, but its random nature cast a shadow of uncertainty over it. If it rolled a useless special effect, the Card would be wasted. Its value was therefore heavily discounted and set at 8 contribution points.
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