[Nano-healing needle: Primarily used for non-fatal trauma. Capable of strengthening tissue repair within a short time to accelerate wound healing.]
This gadget was something Chu Guang had opened from a blind box.
Seeing how strong her recovery ability was earlier, Chu Guang had originally planned to save this injection. But after discovering that her wound had already begun to inflame and suppurate, he weighed the pros and cons and ultimately abandoned the idea of cutting costs.
If the wound were left to worsen, an amputation might well become necessary.
The shelter currently had no doctors capable of performing surgery, lacked even anesthetics and rubbing alcohol for disinfection, and had nowhere near a sterile environment suitable for major operations.
At this thought, Chu Guang silently made up his mind.
Never mind anesthetics for now—at the very least, he had to get Brother Mosquito to produce some alcohol!
Watching Chu Guang approach step by step, Xia Yan instinctively wanted to back away. Yet with only one leg and half her life remaining, she slumped limp in the chair, with nowhere to retreat.
"D-don't come any closer."
Chu Guang didn't bother wasting words on an explanation. He jabbed the needle into her right leg.
"Aah—"
Huh?
It didn't hurt?
Xia Yan cut off mid-shriek. Bewildered, she watched the man in front of her withdraw the syringe from her leg.
What just happened?
Why didn't she feel a thing...?
Xia Yan was about to whisper the question, but before the words could leave her mouth, her consciousness suddenly wavered into a daze.
"What... did you do to me?"
"Saved your life. No need to thank me."
Actually, thanking him was fine too—just work hard.
However, Chu Guang didn't expect the natives of this world to be as diligent as the players from that other world.
Xia Yan tried to say something more, but her tongue was already numb and unresponsive. Her consciousness swiftly plunged into darkness, and her ragged breathing gradually evened out.
"Didn't expect this thing to have a sedative effect."
"Good thing I didn't use it in combat..."
Observing her reaction quietly, Chu Guang fetched a pen from a drawer and silently jotted down her clinical response in a small notebook.
The nano-healing needle has side effects including drowsiness, numbness, and mental cloudiness. Unsuitable for use in combat.
After finishing this, Chu Guang carried her next door, found a room where none of the four incubation pods were activated, and set her down on the floor.
The effects of the nano-healing needle were already beginning to show.
The red, swollen, pus-filled wound was slowly subsiding, and some color was gradually returning to her pale cheeks.
Though it was impossible to expect her missing calf to regrow, at least she wouldn't need an amputation.
The temperature and air quality in the shelter were generally stable within the optimal range for human habitation. Although the floor was a bit chilly, it was far better than being outside.
All that remained was rest and recuperation.
Her Constitution was fairly good; Chu Guang felt she should be able to hold out.
Leaving a piece of chocolate and a bottle of purified water produced by the outpost on the floor, Chu Guang used his manager privileges to lock the room's door, preventing her from wandering around the shelter after waking up.
Next, Chu Guang returned to the resident hall and eagerly gave himself a physical examination.
[
ID: Chu Guang
Gene Sequence: Manager
Level: LV.5 → LV.7
—Basic Attributes—
Strength: 9 → 10
Agility: 6
Constitution: 7 → 8
Perception: 7
Intelligence: 6
]
"I actually leveled up twice in a row?"
Although he had faintly felt he was nearing a breakthrough before, he hadn't expected this crisis would propel him straight from LV5 to LV7.
Chu Guang's face was filled with surprise and delight.
Then again, the attribute changes resulting from the advancement of the 'Manager' gene sequence's development progress didn't seem to follow any clear pattern.
Other players had primary attributes, but he didn't; the gained points seemed to be distributed at random.
Still, adding one point to Strength and one to Constitution wasn't bad at all.
These two were essentially the most useful and cost-effective attributes in the early game.
With 10 points in Strength now, his physical power was nearly double that of an ordinary adult male, which was reflected in the medical report's entries for endurance, explosive power, and related metrics.
The increase in Constitution meant a sturdier physique as well as stronger resistance to negative status effects.
Of course, what drew Chu Guang's attention most was the talent section beneath the attribute panel.
Compared to his last examination, a new line had appeared in the talent section:
[Talent: Wild Instinct (Can awaken wild instincts under extreme conditions. Increases all attributes by 10–15% for the duration; fatigue accumulation rate increases by 20–30%.)]
"'Wild Instinct' isn't bad..."
Chu Guang couldn't help feeling the term sounded a bit odd.
Still, he could understand it.
After all, the first-generation manager who designed this attribute panel and conversion formula had quite a twisted sense of humor.
Comparing it with his previous examination data, Chu Guang made a rough conjecture.
Simply put, the purpose of this talent was probably to boost the working and metabolic efficiency of somatic cells throughout the body for a certain period, or stimulate adrenaline secretion.
The effect was somewhat similar to a stimulant.
Yet it was only similar.
The biochemical reactions involved were bound to be quite complex.
Moreover, the panel data measured by physical exams was ultimately just a reference.
For instance, with the Crawler he encountered today, going strictly by panel data, that beast undoubtedly crushed him as a human with zero suspense.
Even so, killing him would still be no easy task for the beast.
Entering the exam data into the computer to archive it, Chu Guang turned his gaze back to the backpack he had tossed onto the floor earlier and reached down to pick it up.
Inside was the equipment Ye Shi had looted from the corpses of those three mercenaries.
The moment he pulled open the zipper, a look of delight immediately surfaced on Chu Guang's face.
Four pistols, two stockless submachine guns, a pump-action shotgun, and an assault rifle snapped clean in half.
Regardless of whether that assault rifle could be repaired, the haul from this expedition could easily be described as a bumper harvest!
"Struck it rich!"
A massive windfall!
Besides the firearms, there were around one or two hundred rounds of ammunition in total. Some were loaded in magazines, while others lay loose, stuffing the waist-high backpack to the brim.
It was evident that Ye Shi had looted the bodies with great care, leaving nothing behind—he had even crammed the empty magazines into the pack.
However, the materials of these rounds were quite mediocre. Most were forged entirely of steel, with only a few loose rounds having copper-jacketed steel cores or copper-jacketed lead cores.
Chu Guang also noticed several bullets with tips painted red and made of rather unusual material; they were likely special ammunition.
Though these mercenaries weren't wealthy, they certainly packed plenty of firepower.
"Looks like Boulder City's strength isn't to be underestimated..." Weighing the red-tipped bullet in his hand, Chu Guang tossed it gently back into the pack.
A region's overall strength was usually tied to its productivity.
The marauders in the outskirts, for example, used homemade pipe rifles or scavenged weapons, and some even resorted entirely to melee weapons.
To arm mere 'drifters and stragglers' to such an extent, Boulder City's industrial capacity was probably even more astonishing than the rumors he had heard.
Chu Guang resolved firmly in his heart.
Once this winter passed, he definitely had to go check it out!
Preferably, he would organize a caravan to go along.
The outpost would only grow larger, making trade with other survivor settlements inevitable.
He couldn't always count on unscrupulous profiteers delivering goods right to his doorstep; if he didn't want to get ripped off, he'd have to make the trip himself sooner or later.
Chapter 40