Chapter 248 - 249: If You Want to Get Rich, Build Roads First

The scorching sun blazes, and the sand dune buggy moves forward relentlessly across this uneven desert.

Even though sand dune buggies are nearly maxed out on "shock absorption," the rough terrain still fills Lin Yue with irritation.

Following him, the four Little Ice Lizards seem quite uncomfortable as well.

"This lousy road... wait, is there even a road?" Lin Yue grips the steering wheel. As he grumbles, an idea strikes him.

Should he build a road in this Otherworld?

Building roads is actually quite simple for him.

Previously, he had brought back a lot of asphalt and concrete surfaces from the Secret Realm and, after breaking them down, obtained blueprints. As long as there are enough materials, constructing a few hundred meters should be no problem.

But where to build the road, where would be the perfect spot?

"Speaking of, there’s quite a shortage of stone materials right now. Wouldn’t it be better to build it toward where Belger’s Shelter used to be?"

Lin Yue recalled the time he encountered raiders over there.

Back then, he was just trying to loot the empty shelter, but it turned into an unexpected encounter with a group of raiders who wanted to attack his shelter, forcing him to jump into the mining area where he accidentally discovered the remains of Belger and his lover. Ultimately, he fought back and eliminated all the raiders.

It feels like it happened ages ago, but upon reflection, it’s been merely over ten days.



Now, there’s a shortage of stone materials, but Lin Yue didn’t want to use his hard currency to trade for something any Survivor could supply in abundance.

How about using the robotic dogs for some real mining, while also boosting the Iron Block reserves?

"Let’s build a road here too, it’s essential to transport the ores back to the shelter."

Despite the bumpy terrain of the desert, Lin Yue was more determined than ever.

After all, the infrastructure genes run deep within him; how could he not build roads?

To get rich, build a road first.

The resources on the Natural Sulfur Ore Mountain could take him a year and a half to mine if he were to do it daily, and even after filling up six shelters’ worth of ores, it’s still not sufficient.

Currently, he has 6 blueprints left, just enough to build a large warehouse over there.

"Squee squee!" At this moment, the Little Ice Lizards suddenly issued a warning to Lin Yue.

"What’s wrong?"

"Roar!!"

Amidst the roar of the engine, a new sound of growling interjected unexpectedly.

Lin Yue scanned the surroundings, spotting several creatures in the rear side. Their heads resembled leopards, but their bodies took on the form of wild cattle.

Well, are they delivering food?

Like the Horror Pig, Lin Yue hadn’t seen similar mutated creatures before, at least around his shelter.

Right now, they were baring sharp teeth, persistently following his sand dune buggy, harboring considerable hostility.

They occasionally exhibited aggressive postures, even sprinting alongside the dune buggy.

Lin Yue stopped the buggy.

With the engine still rumbling, he took out the sprewer and wore the earmuffs.

After ensuring no other mutated creatures were around, Lin Yue loaded the Alloy Tactical Crossbow with Armor-Piercing Arrows, while also preparing the sniper rifle.

You want to attack? Who am I afraid of? Are you tougher than giant creatures?

The sniper rifle fired, the closest creature let out a wail and fell, a Copper Treasure Chest appeared as a result, and the others were so startled by the sudden turn of events that they jumped aside.

Lin Yue didn’t stop, the second Armor-Piercing Arrow flew into another’s jaw, piercing its head directly!

"Roar!" The remaining ones hurriedly retreated, but Lin Yue was not about to let the tigers return to the mountains, two Copper Treasure Chests are treasures!

Two more sniper shots pierced the legs of two creatures, as he approached with the sprewer.

They’re attacking, huh, let’s see.



Do they really have to... hmm?

Lin Yue walked up to the struggling mutated creature, ready to finish it off with the sprewer, when he suddenly noticed a hole on the ground. A Lizardman’s head emerged from it.

Its hand reached for the treasure chest, almost ready to grab it.

Bang!!

After the booming explosion, two bodies lay on the ground while two Copper Treasure Chests appeared simultaneously.

They actually thought they could snatch the bounty? Dealing with the corpses of those who tried to rob Levik before was already exasperating, and now this?

Taking the treasure chests, Lin Yue kicked the half-shattered Lizardman back into the hole and looked at the bodies lying there.

"Mountain Lion? The name’s good, but its strength is clearly lacking." Lin Yue opened his compendium, confirmed the name of the creature, then abruptly paused.

That’s not right.

Previously, after defeating Poison Celestial Dragon and Storm Flying Lizard, their names popped up instantly from the system.

How is it that in this Otherworld, one needs a compendium to identify them?

Furthermore, not just that.

The Lizardman cave’s appearance coincidentally here, what’s going on?

Is it possible that they can dig out tunnels anywhere in the desert?

Lin Yue pointed the sprewer at the roughly meter-diameter cave, the Lizardman’s corpse still sprawled inside. The interior seemed rather spacious, but the light inside was too dim for Lin Yue to discern much.

Contemplatively, Lin Yue brought out a torch, ignited the Lizardman’s corpse, and used the Iron Spear to jab it down further.

Let it burn, in case there’s an unlucky Lizardman ambushing from behind, then...

[You’ve obtained a Copper Treasure Chest]

Well!

There really was one!

But this Copper Treasure Chest is beyond his reach, let the Lizardman have it.

[You’ve obtained: 50kg of Mountain Lion meat]

[You’ve obtained...]

Not bad at all, this meat.

Lin Yue carefully sliced with the dagger, unsure of the taste of this thing’s meat.

In just a short while, he had cleaned up the four Mountain Lions thoroughly.

He skinned them, though didn’t take anything else.



Restarting the dune buggy, he noticed even more beasts had begun encroaching from afar.

Although he could indeed make it so none of them escape, there’s no need. His destination is the mining field, not here for food gathering.

What happened here was merely a side episode.

He glanced back at the cave where the Lizardman appeared, recalling the moment the Lizardman tried to seize the Copper Treasure Chest, becoming somewhat convinced of his prior hypothesis.

Lizardmen sneaked off to mine Natural Sulfur Ore Mountain while he was away, proving these creatures possess knowledge of making explosives, which is highly contradictory for a low-intelligence species in the stone age.

Thus Lin Yue speculates, the explosives the Lizardmen once made might actually be technology obtained from treasure chests.

While it’s uncertain if they can acquire treasure chests from taking down other mutated creatures, their usage of treasure chests seems veritable.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have such a clear motive toward treasure chests.

"Looks like I need to pay closer attention to this. It feels like something’s wrong, maybe it’s time for a thorough clearing of those Underground Ruins."

Lin Yue drove onwards, slowly, the shadow of the Natural Sulfur Ore Mountain appeared ahead.

However, as if confirming every previous bad omen, there was no exception this time.

In the distance, hundreds of silhouettes were constantly moving around!