Chapter 8: This Game Even Includes Eating!

**[Instructions for the Active Material Extractor:]**

1. Active material is the primary ingredient for synthesizing clones, including, but not limited to, minerals essential for human bodies, 20 common amino acids, and 2 rare amino acids.

2. The raw material for the Active Material Extractor is animal corpses, with the highest extraction efficiency of 90% found in primates from the Mammalia class of Chordata. Non-primate species yield slightly less, while invertebrates provide the least, with extraction efficiency under 10%.

3. The extraction efficiency also depends on the degree of decay of the materials.

With the completion of the recruitment task, both the rewards and the manual were delivered.

Inside Shelter 404.

Chuguang, while perusing the manual projected onto his retina by the system, scrutinized the contraption next to the conveyor belt—a machine that looked strikingly like a coffin.

According to the manual, this device was intended to produce "raw materials for synthetic clones"—or, in other words, "active material."

In simpler terms, it functioned as a kind of corpse recycler?

However, judging by the description, the bodies of foreign species seemed to be within its scope for recycling as well.

Having grasped the basic usage of the machine, Chuguang dragged it onto the elevator using a cart he had found, and ascended back to the surface. 

He had no intention of bringing the bodies into the shelter.

As for the power supply...

There would always be a way.

The elevator ascended slowly, and the doors opened with a soft hiss.

Just as he was hauling the cart out of the elevator, the voice of Xiao Qi reached his ears almost simultaneously.

"Master!"

"What's wrong?"

"There's a situation with your players... A large black bird is attacking them! On the north side of the infirmary!"

A black bird?

Chuguang was taken aback for a moment, but his expression quickly shifted. He immediately abandoned the cart and rushed toward the infirmary's exterior.

...

"Shit? Brother Ye, you're amazing."

"That roll just now—smooth!"

"Shut up, I was scared out of my wits! Stop standing there, hurry up and help me!"

In the woods to the north of the infirmary.

A black bird perched on a ten-meter-high branch, its sharp eyes locked onto the group of players below.

Its legs were slightly bent, and its kite-sized wings were folded back, ready to launch at a moment's notice.

Hearing the commotion from Ye Shi's side, the other three players immediately dropped what they were doing and ran toward the scene, axes in hand.

Perhaps seeing the crowd below, the black bird did not immediately dive for a second attack but instead hovered just out of reach, waiting for the perfect moment.

Kuangfeng bent down and picked up a black feather from the ground, staring at it intently.

"It looks like a crow."

"A crow that big?" Ye Shi glanced at the claw marks on the nearby wood, retreating cautiously, still shaken.

"This thing is probably a mutant… A gamma-ray or some other type of mutation. I saw it in the game's official setting." Fang Chang watched him carefully, not relaxing for a moment.

Ye Shi: "There's a setting on the website?! Isn't it just a pre-order page?"

Kuangfeng: "That was a few days ago... the website updated with new features yesterday. Didn't you check?"

"Stop talking nonsense. What do we do now? Just keep standing around?" Ye Shi nervously retreated another step.

Now, Kuangfeng was the closest to the bird.

The four players and the bird were at an impasse.

At that moment, a sharp whoosh sounded overhead, and a stone came hurtling toward the bird.

"Argh!"

Although the stone missed, it startled the bird, which flapped its wings and shot upward, landing on another branch.

As it steadied itself, it saw the person below pick up another stone and throw it once more.

The bird was furious.

It had never encountered such audacity within its own territory.

Its legs suddenly tensed, and with a powerful leap from the branch, it shot like a cannonball straight toward Chuguang.

Its sharp claws extended, resembling open hooks.

Yet, despite its fury, the beast was still just that—an animal. No matter how many heads it grew, it would never understand the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of Chuguang's mouth.

Chuguang discarded the stone in his hand and deftly grabbed a steel pipe lodged in the ground. He thrust the sharp end directly at the bird.

In the blink of an eye, the bird had no time to react.

The moment it noticed Chuguang pick up an unfamiliar object, it flapped its wings to escape, but the momentum made it impossible to dodge in time.

The pipe shot forward like a spear, plunging deep into its chest.

"Argh—!"

The anguished cry echoed through the forest.

Bloodied feathers scattered in the air.

As the bird struggled to fly away, Chuguang approached silently and picked up the blood-soaked pipe from the ground.

"This isn't a crow."

"Its scientific name is 'Falco'... probably from around two hundred years ago."

The four players stared in stunned silence, awestruck by his swift and fluid movements.

Damn! 

So strong!!

They didn't know, though, that for the vast majority of survivors who roamed the wasteland alone, such skills were mere basics.

In the five months since, Chuguang had mastered the art of spear throwing—he could hit anything within ten meters, without fail.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even have a chance to stand there showing off.

"Falco?! Is it really that big?" Kuangfeng asked in shock, his perception of birds completely overturned.

Fang Chang swallowed hard.

"Because of the gamma rays?"

"It's not just the gamma rays. Viruses, bacteria, genetic weapons... various factors have combined to create what we see today. Of course, mutants are just one of the threats we face. In certain cases, humans can be more dangerous than they are."

Chuguang glanced up at the pine trees in front of the players and continued.

"That falco, it must have built a nest in one of these trees. No wonder it didn't leave with so many people around."

Typically, birds rarely challenge larger creatures like humans. Their diets mainly consist of mutated cockroaches, rats, and squirrels.

Although the beast had flown off, it hadn't gone far; it was probably waiting to die in a nearby tree.

The sharp pipe, though lacking in penetration, had natural blood-draining holes, and once a wound was inflicted, it was almost a certainty that the creature would perish.

Even if it were a human, the wound would be nearly impossible to stitch up properly.

Ye Shi lowered his head in shame.

"Sorry… I was too focused on chopping wood and didn't notice."

"No need to apologize," Chuguang looked up. "Bird eggs are a good thing."

Soon, there would be a feast.

...

Chuguang's judgment was quickly confirmed.

Under a crooked tree, he found the black bird that had met its end.

Using a knife, he drained its blood, plucked its feathers, and tossed it into the iron pot. He placed it over a stove made of bricks, feeding dry branches and leaves beneath to start a fire with the matches he had bought earlier.

The smoke began to rise.

Before the water boiled, Chuguang fished the bird out, skewered it on a steel rod, and roasted it directly over the fire.

Along with the bird, a few of its eggs roasted as well.

No salt, no seasoning.

But even so, it was far better than the undercooked, mushy barley gruel.

"Can... can we actually eat this?"

Looking at the mutated bird on the iron rack, Ye Shi instinctively recoiled, but the rising aroma made him swallow involuntarily.

This game even had eating!

For food lovers, this was an unexpected delight.

And it made him feel like the hard work of the morning was worth it.

"Once it's cooked, it's safe to eat. I'll tell you if something isn't edible," Chuguang said slowly, turning the rack to ensure even heating on all sides.

Opportunities to taste wild game in the wasteland were rare.

Even if one occasionally managed to catch something edible, it would spoil quickly without proper preservation methods.

Here, salt was a rarer resource than electricity.

For survivors living in inland cities like Qingquan, it wasn't practical to use large amounts of salt for preserving food.

As for refrigerators—Chuguang had heard the mayor's castle supposedly had one, but he had never seen one in person.

Of course, survivors weren't completely without alternatives.

For instance, at a nearby survivor outpost—Mr. Brown's farm—tobacco leaves rich in tar and aromatic compounds could be smoked to extend the shelf life of food by months, even without salt.

"Administrator, how much wood do we actually need?"

Waiting for the food to cook was torture.

To distract from the hunger, Fang Chang opened his mouth first.

At the sound of his question, Chuguang casually replied.

"Cut as much as you can."

The players exchanged uncertain glances, their enthusiasm waning.

Chuguang didn't initially pay much attention, but then, a sudden thought struck him.

They were "players," outsiders.

Unlike himself, who had crossed into this world, they could leave anytime. Survival wasn't their immediate concern.

Even if he explained the importance of stocking up on wood, they wouldn't fully grasp the implications.

The very nature of being a player meant they would approach things differently than him. Even if they didn't