CH 57

Chapter 57: The First Snowflake on the Wasteland

The antibiotics produced by the shelter had a really good effect. Not long after taking the pill, the eldest son of the Yu family not only stopped having a fever, but even the swelling of his leg was reduced. He even came down to the ground and limped for two steps.

The two brothers from the Yu family were grateful for Chu Guang and vowed to repay his kindness in the future. And seeing that it was getting late, the younger brother said goodbye to Chu Guang and walked towards the door with his elder brother.

When passing by Ample Time, Yu Hu stopped, took out a finely crafted knife from his backpack, which did not look like a knife made in this era, and handed it to Ample Time.

This was a good thing he picked up when he was picking up waste.

Then Yu Hu said in a deep voice that was different from his looks.

"You are strong and can dodge my arrows. But if it's one-on-one, I won't lose."

"Keep this knife for me, don't lose it. In the coming year, we will have a fair fight again. If I win, I will take it back."

Ample Time didn't understand what he was talking about, but he figured out that the young man probably wanted to give the knife to him.

'Is this thanking me for saving his relative indirectly?'

Ample Time pointed at the knife, then pointed at himself, seeing the NPC nodding, he happily took it.

"There's really no need for you to do this!" 

Yu Hu also didn't understand what he was talking about, but when he saw that he took the knife, he bobbed his head in recognition and helped his brother away.

Watching the two disappear behind the gate of the base outpost, Ample Time played with the knife in his hand, suddenly looked at Gale beside him, and said with emotion,

"This game is too detailed. Look at the expression of that NPC. Every frame is so detailed! I just can't praise enough how good it is."

Gale: "...Do you understand what he said?"

Ample Time shook his head.

"No, it doesn't matter."

Night Ten leaned in and said with a smile,

"Maybe he wants to marry one of his sisters to you, and this knife is a token of marriage contract."

"Scram!"

...

Helped his elder brother out of the base.

Yu Hu looked back at the wall behind him and said,

"Brother, I told you he's not an ordinary person. At that time, I persuaded you and Dad to marry Xiaoyu to him. You disagreed, now you must regret it, right?"

Yu Xiong was in a complicated mood and sighed.

"Why would I regret it? He is our benefactor, so don't think about these unrealistic things... Also, I didn't disagree with it, I just didn't say anything about it, dad also didn't oppose it."

Yu Hu frowned.

"Why didn't it work out?"

Yu Xiong stretched out his hand weakly and rubbed the head of his foolish brother.

"You are too optimistic. Have you ever thought that he wants it or not? Have you seen the girls in the group of people next to him just now... Which one of them is not better than our Xiaoyu?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Hu became very defensive.

"But they are not our little sister. Moreover, Xiaoyu was also very cute when she was a kid. She's just a little bit skinny now, but what does it matter? When we go back, let's coax her to eat more meat. I will give her my share too. Once she gains enough weight, she will not be worse than them."

Yu Xiong almost burst out laughing. He glanced at him.

"Why are you in such a hurry to find a man for our little sister?"

Yu Hu smiled foolishly, but what he said next wasn't foolish at all, "Whether I'm in a hurry or not, our younger sister will be old enough to get married next year. According to the rules on Bett street, she will be counted as a single household at that time. If you look at our harvest this year, we can barely manage to meet the requirements, so how can we afford to pay for one more household next year?"

According to Bett Street's regulations, once a kid reached 16 years of age, they would be counted as one single household. During the mobilization order every fall, no matter whether they were married or not, they should prepare enough material to hand in.

This was like a kind of "poll tax".

It would be fine for boys. Generally, they could go out hunting and scavenging with their elders from the age of 13 or 14, and could become qualified scavengers or hunters in two or three years, which was considered a labor force. If it was a girl, it would be more difficult in these troubled times. Few could make a living by themselves at this age, so they tend to get married early.

The reason why Xiaoyu would stay at home carefree up to now was mainly because her father could still work, her sister-in-law hadn't had a child yet, and her second brother had not yet got a family. The three men could barely support this big family.

But once Yu Hu got married, or Yu Xiong had a kid, even if they didn't want to, they had to find a man for Xiaoyu.

Survival is often a heavy topic.

"...She will marry someone eventually. So it's better to find a good family for her earlier, lest she would live a hard life with us."

Yu Xiong glanced at the sky and squinted.

"The third son of the Wang family is also old enough now, and their family is also pretty good. It just so happens that his youngest daughter can also be your wife."

Yu Hu shook his head quickly.

"That won't work. I don't like Wang Defu. He pushed Xiaoyu last time! If Xiaoyu marries him, he will definitely beat her at home."

"The Li Family..."

"Uh, is it appropriate? Our mom came from the Link family."

There were only a hundred households on Bett Street. So there weren't many choices.

Yu Xiong was speechless when he was rebutted and only gave his younger brother a meaningful look.

"Then you have to think about it carefully. If she marries anyone outside, you will have to find a wife yourself?"

"It's okay. Are you worried that I won't be able to get a wife?"

Yu Hu smiled, and after a while, he muttered again.

"I just don't want you to worry about this for me all the time! I can find one by myself... I don't want to sell my little sister."

...

At dusk, it was getting late.

The players who went out returned to the outpost one after another.

Just like yesterday, many players set up stalls in the open space inside the north gate of the outpost, shouting the stuff they were selling, and the noise of bargaining was endless, and it was like a bazaar.

"Raw meat! Fresh squirrel meat, whether you want to fry it, roast it, or boil it, it will always be delicious! One for one silver coin. The price is affordable and the quality is great!"

"Who would buy it! How much meat would a squirrel even have!"

"There is a lot of meat. A mutant squirrel weighs 2 kilograms! If you go to the granary to buy meat, you can only buy 0.24kg for one silver coin. Think about it!"

"I don't have money."

"No money then get out of my sight!"

"..."

"Mutated hyena's teeth! You can make accessories with it! Each one is only one copper coin. There are only ten pieces in stock! If you want to buy them, buy them as soon as possible!"

"Who would use this thing to make accessories? It's so ugly!"

"You are so dumb. What if there's an accessory system in the future? The price of accessories that can provide buff will definitely increase a lot!"

"Really?"

"Really! Believe me!"

"Then... give me two."

"Okay, here you go."

In addition to players who were selling hunting materials, there was also trash picked up from the wasteland.

Although it was now year 211 of the Wasteland Era, if they searched carefully, one could occasionally find some good things that had not been taken away in time.

Especially in some locked doors and cabinets, or buried under the ruins.

Some alloy products with a good anti-oxidation effect could be an excellent weapon after a little modification. For example, Chu Guang saw that a fire ax with the anti-rust paint still intact was marked with a price of seven silver coins.

It was really worth the price.

But not many people could afford it.

"Does anyone want gold? I found a gold chain when I searched the townhouses! It's only three silver coins, it can't be cheaper!"

"It's too expensive. You can buy a lot of food for three silver coins! But what's the use of this gold chain? I can't make a weapon with it or spend it!"

"Give me one. Fuck it, I can't afford it in reality, at least I want to have some satisfaction in the game."

"... Sigh. What a prodigal! If we don't complete the initial accumulation of capital now, how can we rank among the first echelon in the future?"

"Brother, don't get addicted. This is just a game!"

The most popular stall was still Ya Ya.

Every time, after she performed the unique skill of eating big mushrooms, the players would applaud.

Of course these players also wouldn't just watch, and the mushrooms in front of the booth were quickly sold out.

Yesterday, it was still three copper coins for 600g of mushroom. But today it rose to four copper coins, but players were still coming to buy it.

In addition, she also used the picked berries to make a bottle of Ya Ya secret jam, which was priced at only one silver coin.

However, it was a pity that no one seemed to want to buy this bottle of jam.

After all, it was green, which looked so disgusting.

Then there was Xia Yan's weapon shop. Although all the weapons on the shelf were priced at hundreds of silver coins, this did not stop everyone from coming to see the proprietress.

"Proprietress, can you say that you are Kiri from Empyrean? Just say it, please!"

"The proprietress is too cold. She ignores us! It must be because we are too poor! Damn it, why is this game so real?"

"Have you noticed? The expression in her eyes looking at the administrator is obviously different!"

"Does this NPC already fall in love with our administrator?"

"Fall in love with my ass, the handsome Brother Dawn is obviously my husband, no one is allowed to snatch him away from me!"

"Are you daydreaming? What's your favorability level now? You just came online a few days ago, but you are already thinking about starting a relationship with NPCs?"

"What do you think the NPCs will do after we go offline?"

"...Wait for us to go online?"

"Psycho!"

Coincidentally, someone else was also thinking the same.

Although Xia Yan didn't understand what these players were saying, she was thinking of this sentence at this moment.

"This group of psychos..."

Muttering something in her mouth, she glanced at the direction of the nursing home and then at Chu Guang.

'So hungry.'

'When can I go back to the shelter?'

'I wonder if there will be dessert tonight too.'

'That chocolate, it's quite delicious…'

...

Perhaps because there were twenty newcomers, today's market was more lively than yesterday.

Standing in front of the nursing home, Chu Guang couldn't help but start to imagine how lively it would be when all 100 players gathered here.

"Life has started to get better." As Chu Guang thought about this, his face showed a contented smile.

He was happier than anyone.

After all, this was a game for players, but for him, it may be the second half of his life from now on.

At this time, a slight coolness suddenly touched the bridge of his straight nose.

Chu Guang raised his head and saw a small piece of silver falling lightly.

Reaching out and touching the tip of his nose, he wiped off the cold water. Chu Guang stared at his fingertips and mumbled thoughtfully.

"...Snow? Or hail?"

The temperature has not yet reached zero degrees.

To be precise, it should be between ten degrees and fifteen degrees.

There were no cumulonimbus clouds in the sky, or even thicker clouds, and sunlight was faintly visible from the horizon.

Preliminary speculation was that it was probably the strong cold air passing through the border, coming in contact with the hot and humid updraft, and condensing at low altitude to form ice crystals... He was thinking nonsense.

This was probably not snow, nor hail but rather like some unique climate on the wasteland.

But in any case, this was not a good sign.

Chu Guang sighed softly in his heart after flicking the water droplets from his fingertips.

"...It seems that Old Charlie is right."

"This winter will arrive earlier than previous years."

'Food.'

'Fuel.'

'Materials and weapons.'

'Ugh!'

There are so many things to consider.

However, human sorrows and joys are not interlinked.

He could vaguely hear the players' "heartless" cheers and the joyful twitterings in the distance

That was a female player who had just joined the game, and she was looking at the sky.

"It's snowing!"