Chapter 264: Losing Money Playing Games

Yang Bo was no longer surprised by the abilities granted by creatures because he had already experimented on Green Demon Planet. The abilities given weren’t the creature’s specialty, rather they seemed randomly assigned but suitable for him somehow…

“Tear? I’ll have to give it a try sometime,” Yang Bo muttered.

“It provided 8 points, meaning it’s a C-level,” Yang Bo carefully checked the bounty again.

The bounty required collecting the creature’s blood, while the feathers could be automatically handled by the character.

“Tsk tsk.” Yang Bo had the character collect the creature’s blood, and it moved on its own.

“Could it be that this Bionic Puppet is being controlled remotely by someone else?”

“Or is it some program embedded in the Bionic Puppet?”

The reality of what was happening was different from what Yang Bo saw. On the virtual screen, his character crouched down as a progress bar appeared for the collection.

In reality, Yang Bo saw the Bionic Puppet grab the bird’s body, and a metal needle appeared near its palm. The needle bent and directly pierced the creature’s body.

“Obviously, the Bionic Puppet has the necessary equipment to collect this blood,” Yang Bo realized.

“Looks like these bionic humans are for material collection.”

Next, the feathers were collected. The creature didn’t have many feathers, with large bare patches. Its wings were fleshy. The Bionic Puppet neatly collected a stack of feathers, around two hundred in total. It pulled out a bag, packed the feathers in, and stored it in the jetpack.

“Whatever. I don’t care about the bounty anyway.” Yang Bo stood up, intending to deal with the zombies, but suddenly stopped.

The monster was massive, its wingspan easily over ten meters. Its body resembled a mix between a rat and a duck.

Yang Bo had the Bionic Puppet throw the monster over a stone wall, then got up to check.

Beyond the wall, zombies were tearing into the monster’s corpse. Yang Bo observed them closely and noticed they were eating the creature. Their skin was shriveled, and their faces were little more than skin and bones. Their gums had almost no upper or lower lips, leaving their teeth exposed and air passing through. Their eyes had no lids, leaving only hollow, cloudy eye sockets.

Yang Bo inspected the situation beyond the wall. The space was large, covering about five to six acres. One side was a steep rocky cliff with crags carved into the rock face.

He could see traces of buildings. It seemed like this area was once used for animal husbandry, though the animals were long gone.

“Looks like I’ve been thinking wrong this whole time.” Yang Bo suddenly realized his mistake.

Killing one zombie earned 10 game currency. That wasn’t even enough to cover the cost of the cheapest ammo, let alone laser weapons.

But he wasn’t there to do bounty missions. He was there to grind skills. He shouldn’t care about ammo costs. He should just grab the gun, start shooting, and leave after the bullets ran out, as long as he occupied advantageous terrain.

He could return to restock ammo, then come back. He wasn’t here to play games.

“I was misled by the game officials.” After realizing this, Yang Bo quickly returned to the respawn point to swap weapons, planning to deal with the hundreds of zombies later.

“And not just zombies. There are other animals too. I could even target the zombies at the animal drug factory, as long as they’re within gun range.” The more Yang Bo thought about it, the more he realized how stupid his earlier approach was. He wasn’t there to make money. He was there to spend it.

Yang Bo quickly returned to the respawn point. He received 50,000 game currency as a reward for the bounty, which he felt was pretty good.

He then bought a mechanical assault rifle, made entirely of composite materials, equipped with a scope, and could hold up to 300 rounds. It was the rifle with the highest bullet capacity.

There was also a sniper rifle, but it could only carry 50 rounds.

This assault rifle came with a silencer. Yang Bo quickly set off again.

Coming and going cost him some time. He arrived back at the farm. The zombies showed no signs of change.

“I wonder if zombies get stronger after eating monsters?” Yang Bo murmured as he started shooting from the top of the wall.

Though the zombies moved constantly beneath the wall, they were close enough, and with Yang Bo’s dynamic vision, every shot was a headshot.

Blade Mastery +2!

Blade Mastery +2!

Blade Mastery +2!

After emptying a full clip, Yang Bo noticed that all the points went into Blade Mastery. He didn’t have time to inspect them in detail, and continued shooting. Of the 300 bullets, 28 remained.

The zombie corpses piled high beneath the wall, spreading outward.

“272 zombies killed, resulting in 2,720 game currency, or credits. Bullets cost 30 game currency each. Purely on paper, each zombie costs me 20 in losses, not to mention the time spent online, weapon durability, character food and water… Tsk tsk.” Yang Bo calculated. In just under five minutes, he had lost at least six to seven thousand game currency.

Most of the skills he gained were Blade Mastery, followed by cooking. He also received about ten tracking skills.

Yang Bo jumped off the wall and began exploring the farm.

When he reached the stone chambers in the cliffside, he saw hundreds of knives inside. The material of the blades was strange, unlike any metal.

“No wonder I’m getting Blade Mastery skill. All the zombies here must have used these knives during their battles with other zombies.” Yang Bo now understood why killing these zombies gave him Blade Mastery skills.

On the other side of the farm stood a stone wall. Beyond it was a cliff. Looking down, Yang Bo saw a pile of bones at the base of the cliff. Over the years, bushes, weeds, and vines had grown around the bones.

“What a world!” Yang Bo sighed, seeing the bones. Among them were various human bones, recognizable at a glance to a trained eye. He didn’t dare think further.

These people may have been vicious criminals during that chaotic era, yet in all the zombies Yang Bo had encountered, there were no smaller ones.

Understanding what happened here was likely impossible now.

As he searched the farm, the system kept notifying him of task items, but Yang Bo wasn’t concerned.

Yang Bo returned to the respawn point to restock ammo and repair his weapons.

While his character was at the respawn point, Yang Bo took a quick bathroom break, swinging both arms loosely.

“It seems this advanced Blade Mastery has also increased my reaction speed.” Swinging his arms, Yang Bo felt his hands were quicker and more agile.

Yang Bo’s Blade Mastery skill had now reached an advanced level.

Looking around, Yang Bo decided to test his theory by tossing a few coins with one hand to see if his agility had indeed improved.

“If Blade Mastery improves agility, that would be great. Though even the highest agility can’t match high-tech weapons, not every situation allows the use of advanced technology.”

After being kidnapped, Yang Bo realized that real personal combat often occurred in places where high-tech weapons couldn’t be used, like sewers, dormitory buildings, and submarines.

In those places, not monitored by the Planetary Defense System, Yang Bo relied solely on his speed to neutralize all the enemies in one move.

The enemies wielded laser guns but didn’t even have time to react.

The distance was too close! Yang Bo used to think equipment was crucial, but now it seemed unnecessary in many cases.

“Time to grind monsters again. Let’s check out the other farms to see if there are any mutated animals. Mutated animals or zombies won’t leave their original habitats.”

What Yang Bo didn’t know was that after he left the farm, several new monsters appeared in the sky, landing directly among the zombie corpses.

Even though the zombies had been shot in the head, these monsters devoured every bit, including the shattered fragments.

Yang Bo restocked 300 rounds of bullets, brought a handgun, but left behind shields and cold weapons.

Studying the map closely, he located a large farm in a valley, covering several hundred acres. The place was called Qingshan Farm.

“This map must be old, possibly the original city map. The farm I just visited still showed intact buildings, yet it’s all ruins now.”

An hour later, Yang Bo smoothly arrived at the farm. It too was in ruins, with all the metal rooftops having collapsed.

Inside the farm, he saw thousands of shriveled goats, numbering in the thousands.

There were also zombies, mutated cats and dogs, and dozens, if not hundreds, of mutated cows.

“Holy cow?” Yang Bo looked at his gun and the 300 rounds.

From a distance, Yang Bo used binoculars to observe. Seeing so many monsters, he realized he was in for a huge loss, at least tens of thousands of credits, maybe hundreds of thousands.

Each game currency was equal to one credit.

Visibly, there were numerous mutated goats, and who knew how many were hidden behind the ruins.

“I need to come up with a plan.” Yang Bo quietly sneaked away.

Most people wouldn’t dare come here, and few would provoke so many monsters even if they did.

Surveying the terrain carefully, Yang Bo hid the guns and ammo in a secret spot, then returned to the respawn point to buy more firearms and tools.

After running back to the respawn point, his wristwatch beeped. It was a message from Fat Boss, telling him it was time for dinner.

“I feel kind of bad.” Seeing the message, Yang Bo felt a bit awkward.

“Forget it. If Fat Boss hadn’t found that Longevity Energy Stone and made a fortune, I wouldn’t feel so bad.” But it was only for a moment. Yang Bo quickly rationalized that Fat Boss owed him.

He washed his face in the bathroom and stepped out. On the first floor, he saw fierce wind and rain outside. The glass panes were pounded by the storm, as if sprayed by a fire hose. Occasionally, objects thudded against the glass, and Yang Bo even saw a fish slam into it.

The fish was scarred and battered. It was clear that after the storm, the courtyard would once again be filled with a thick layer of debris.

“Yang Bo, drink some juice!” As soon as Yang Bo came down the stairs, Zhou Rui handed him a bottle of unopened juice.

“Thanks, Assistant Zhou.” Yang Bo glanced at Zhou Rui’s outfit. She was dressed to kill, which made Yang Bo think suddenly, everyone’s putting on a show here.

Today, Zhou Rui wore a white shirt, loose casual pants, and slippers.

To be honest, Zhou Rui was still pretty, with a great figure. But Yang Bo had never trusted beautiful women.

He had dated a lot in his last life, so he could easily tell by touch which well-shaped women weren’t natural.

Some women looked glamorous, but after getting to know them, you’d find they were filthy inside, revolting even.

In his past life, Yang Bo rarely chose the most beautiful women to date. Someone slightly above average was good enough.

Plus, Zhou Rui’s image as the bald man had been imprinted too deeply in his mind. Imagine turning from Lin Qingxia into Michael Hui in an instant. Even though this Michael was muscular, it was still disorienting.

“No need to thank me!” Zhou Rui replied with what she thought was a charming smile.

Yang Bo rushed to the kitchen to see what Fat Boss was cooking, but was blocked by Zhou Rui.

“I’ve already finished. Try mine first. I also have some good news for you.” Zhou Rui pointed at two plates on the table.

Fat Boss, in the kitchen, was gnashing his teeth, as Zhou Rui had taken over.

“Thanks, Assistant Zhou.” Yang Bo wasn’t sure what the good news was, but he sat down anyway.

“Eat up. I’ll tell you while you eat.” Zhou Rui urged Yang Bo as he sat down.

Yang Bo nodded, picking up a fork. In this world, most meals were eaten on plates.

“After this storm, members from the Thief Sect will come to evaluate you. But don’t worry. I’m sure they already know your record.” Zhou Rui finally shared the good news.

Hearing this, Yang Bo wasn’t surprised, but Fat Boss seemed shocked.

The secretive sects had many rules about recruiting new members, and this was fast.

“Thanks for the heads-up, Assistant Zhou!”

“Let’s have a drink to celebrate this good news.” Zhou Rui raised her juice and gestured for Yang Bo to do the same.

At that moment, Fat Boss hurried over with two plates, exclaiming, “Yeah, this news is worth celebrating!”

“Thanks!” The three clinked their bottles, and Yang Bo again thanked them.

“Yang Bo, remember one thing: nothing in this world is free. Whether it’s a sect or our guild, it’s all about fair exchange. The same goes for sects. If you want to learn more, you’ll have to give more in return.”

“Don’t be fooled by sweet words. Competition within sects is fierce because no sect can evenly allocate all its resources.”

“Your talent is good. Unless you make mistakes, you’ll naturally receive more resources, but some of your fellow disciples won’t be happy. Ask your boss about how brutal internal family competition can be.” Zhou Rui said after drinking her juice.

Continuing into the second update.