Get the Crossbow !

Among the things he needed to purchase, Liam first thought of cloth. Currently, there weren't many places in the shelter where cloth was used. Tasks like washing and scrubbing pots were done with makeshift grass pads made from plant fibers.

Liam considered that if the base leaked, using cloth to plug the holes would be a reliable option.

There was a considerable amount of cloth in the trading market, whether it was from old clothes being sold or from treasure chests that had been opened - a whole jumbled pile.

"Just buy two rags and some ordinary rags to plug the holes," Liam decided.

After some trading, at the cost of 50ml of M-energy water, he purchased two rags - one grey and one dark blue - and a head-sized piece of cloth.

"I have the cloth. Next is various resources..."

Just as Liam was about to continue browsing, a private message popped up in the bottom right corner.

It was from PING chen, who had previously sold him the monster illustration.

After their transaction, they had automatically become friends, so Liam could directly see the message notification when he opened the game panel.

[PING chen: Liam, do you want composite nylon? I happen to have one]

[Liam: Yes! Do you want food or water? I can cook food now!]

Seeing the words "composite nylon," Liam was overjoyed.

He had listed a request to buy composite nylon on the trading market that afternoon, but there was no news by evening. Unexpectedly, PING chen actually had it.

"It seems his combat power is not bad. This thing can't be found in the wild," Liam thought to himself.

Having crossed over into this wasteland, PING chen, whether relying on luck or force, was the first to obtain the rare monster illustration. His strength could not be underestimated.

Based on the exchange frequency, PING chen's life shouldn't be too bad either. At least with this combat power, he wouldn't die before any large-scale natural disasters.

[PING chen: I want water, M-energy water. Can I exchange one composite nylon with you for 500ml of water?]

[Liam: Yes!]

[PING chen: What the... Are you that scary, brother? You don't even bargain?]

When he had listed the monster illustration and water pears on the trading channel last time, the trolls below were terrifyingly numerous.

Not to mention all kinds of people trying to lowball him, there were even several thousand ridiculously high offers.

Someone even directly said, "Give me some face, old brother, can you just give me this monster illustration?"

Therefore, this time during the transaction, PING chen deliberately quoted a high price, but unexpectedly...

[Liam: You can go back on your word, but this will be the end of our transactions. I will blacklist you]

To deal with this kind of person, Liam knew a basic rule -

The principle of sticking to one's word.

This was also a life lesson he had learned from his usual shopping experiences.

The same vegetables, the same price, in the market, everyone always wants to bargain, to see if they can bring the price down, regardless of whether they buy or not.

On the contrary, in the supermarket, no one can bargain, so they can only put it in their basket and take it away.

Even if the former successfully bargains, when they think about it carefully, they will still feel a little unhappy because the buyer will never know where the seller's bottom line is.

Although the latter did not bargain, based on the principle that everyone pays the same price, they will not feel how much they have lost.

If Liam agreed to PING chen's price increase now, it would plant a seed of no bottom line or principles in his heart.

Subsequent transactions would likely not be as smooth as now!

[PING chen: Liam, don't! I was joking. You are my brother, don't be angry with me! Five hundred milliliters is fine too. I urgently need M-energy water to survive. This wilderness is too dangerous, there are monsters everywhere]

[Liam: Have you gone out to explore?]

[PING chen: Yes, I chose a ground shelter, so I can only survive by scavenging resources from the map. The monsters in this wasteland are more ferocious than the last. I can only pray that there won't be any biological mutations in future disasters, otherwise... it will really be a disaster for mankind]

Looking at PING chen's words, Liam was a little curious.

Suppressing his desire to ask PING chen about the environment outside, Liam listed the trade and specified PING chen as the seller.

Back and forth, five hundred milliliters of M-energy water was successfully exchanged for a rare composite nylon.

In the short time of the transaction, the price of water was still plummeting.

Even the price of food was decreasing. On the contrary, the prices of minerals, which were usually cheap, were now slowly climbing and appreciating.

The market's rising and falling trends seemed like an invisible hand controlling the fate of the wasteland humans.

Liam was silent...

He had already guessed the reason for this development.

But at this moment, with his mouth full of bitterness, how could he calmly tell this cruel truth.

All the humans who crossed over to the wasteland were not short of water, nor were they short of food.

The real reason was...

Those who could not survive the initial stage, who had no means to stably obtain water and food in the wilderness...

Were already dead!

It was already the evening of the fourth day of the apocalypse calendar. After four days, those who had no way to obtain water had forever fallen on this wasteland.

Without specific numbers, Liam could not guess how many people there were.

He could only judge the fate of the human community from the current market prices.

In the trading channel, seeing the increasingly chaotic market price fluctuations, Liam had to take action himself and start collecting materials.

This time, the focus was still on base development materials, trying to collect as much iron and copper as possible, as these were the most frequently seen materials.

"Oreo, go watch the door, I'm going to make dinner".

Calling out to the silly dog, Oreo followed the order, ran to the door with a "huff and puff," and squatted down obediently.

The stone door could not block the smell.

Oreo's role in this environment was no less than a monster illustration.

Carefully scrubbing the iron pot clean with a rag, Liam added 600ml of water to the pot, and then continued to add the big Lieba bread according to the morning's recipe.

As the fire grew stronger, the water began to boil.

Adding some seasoning and vegetable packets.

Two bowls of steaming bread soup were ready.

After dinner, the sky in the wasteland had completely darkened, and only a few warm spots remained in the shelters throughout the entire wilderness.

The iron and copper blocks listed for sale before dinner had also been mostly collected.

Good luck.

Most people had not yet reached Liam's stage and had not yet realized the importance of hoarding basic resources.

Unfortunately, no one chose to sell ordinary nylon.

Just when Liam thought he couldn't get ordinary nylon today, the 100ml listed on the trading channel was instantly bought twice, successfully sold, and he obtained two pieces of nylon.

With this, the materials for the hunting crossbow were complete!

"It's all here!"

Liam was overjoyed and opened the manufacturing page.

At this moment, in the weapon section of the manufacturing page, the blueprint for the hunting crossbow was lit up, and the hammer symbol behind it was the sign that it could be made!

Clicking on the blueprint with his mind.

Liam selected to make the hunting crossbow and five matching arrows.

Confirm crafting!

Clang, clang, clang, the small hammer struck the blueprint, and the materials in the inventory gradually disappeared.

The iron blocks turned into molten iron and began to be poured into the shape of a crossbow. The copper blocks rose from the ground and began to change shape from standard squares.

The two pieces of nylon were stretched taut, and the composite nylon was pulled back and forth, tightening on the crossbow shape.

[Record]: You have lost wood -10, iron blocks -9, copper blocks -4, nylon -2, composite nylon -1

[Record]: You have obtained a hunting crossbow

[Record]: You have obtained crossbow arrows *5

Watching the progress bar complete.

A crossbow, which looked cold and sharp, suddenly appeared in the inventory. Five crossbow arrows, completely identical as if copied from a mold, also appeared on the ground.

"Good heavens, although this structure is simple, the precision is not bad at all?"

Carefully examining the structure of the crossbow, Liam couldn't help but be shocked.

Chapter 22: No One Can Sleep Peacefully Tonight

Crossbows were standard controlled weapons on Earth, and civilians basically couldn't get their hands on them.

Liam had only been to a shooting range once before, when his former boss had taken him for entertainment, where he had come into contact with modern crossbows.

The crossbow crafted from the blueprint was yellow, silver, and black, with a hint of coldness and mystery.

Two small discs, polished from brass, hung on either side of the crossbow, responsible for supporting and pulling the nylon string.

A simple opening and closing mechanism in the middle was responsible for releasing the crossbow arrows!

Liam tried it out, and it could hold five arrows at a time.

Although the crossbow couldn't fire continuously and needed to be reloaded after each shot, the ammunition storage was still impressive!

After loading the crossbow, Liam started to use the cocking device to cock it.

The first arrow smoothly slid into the launch chamber.

Holding back his excitement, Liam took out a unit of wood from his inventory, crafted it into a wooden board, and placed it in the corner of the shelter.

Aiming at the wooden board, he pulled the trigger.

Whoosh!

With a speed no less than that of a small police pistol, it instantly pierced the wood.

"Damn, as expected of something directly cast and formed, this power is a bit abnormal..."

Looking at the still slightly trembling arrow, Liam quickly approached the wooden board placed on the ground.

Turning over the wooden board, which was a full 6cm thick, he saw that the sturdy crossbow arrow had penetrated the wood, with half remaining on the front and half on the back.

Although this power was not comparable to the high-precision crossbows manufactured by major arms companies in the civilized era, it was definitely not bad.

If the chameleon from before had taken such a hit, it would probably have died on the spot.

"Try again..."

Suddenly obtaining such a powerful weapon, Liam was excited.

However, he also knew that although the crossbow was powerful, this was based on steady accuracy.

Just now, Liam had aimed at the center of the one-meter by one-meter wooden board, but when he fired, his hand trembled, and the arrow pierced the upper right corner, almost missing the target.

Such a deviation could occur at a distance of only ten meters.

Not to mention the accuracy at fifty meters or one hundred meters.

From accuracy to power, trajectory, shooting feel, and how to cock the crossbow, Liam began to slowly experiment with firing.

Crossbow arrows were not consumables. Basically, one arrow shot at the wooden board could be repeatedly retrieved more than five times.

Only after many uses would the arrow slightly deform.

Furthermore, five crossbow arrows only required two units of wood and one unit of iron blocks, which was completely affordable.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Shot after shot, studying and judging the angle of the shot and the accuracy of the aim.

Liam's proficiency skyrocketed.

Such extravagant training in a shooting club on Earth would cost tens of thousands a day, but in the apocalypse, he could squander it recklessly.

With each shot, Liam sought not speed or power, but accuracy.

After repeatedly practicing twenty or thirty times, Liam turned his attention to the laborious task of cocking the crossbow.

Cocking a crossbow had always been a major problem.

Not to mention the composite quick-cocking crossbow in his hand.

From the earliest crossbows, also known as stirrup-type cocking devices, all crossbow enthusiasts had been on the path of researching how to cock them more easily.

Later came the hand-cranked gear type, the pulley type, and the dedicated cocking device.

The efficiency of cocking became higher and higher!

After continuously cocking the crossbow thirty or forty times, Liam felt his arms go numb and weak. At the same time, he also tested his current speed limit.

The first three arrows could be cocked, aimed, and fired within a minute.

After that, each arrow required half a minute to a minute to prepare.

After ten arrows, each arrow required at least a minute and a half to complete this series of actions.

"If it could be modified to be electrically cocked, it would be so comfortable..."

Thinking of the powerful upgrade in the apocalypse survival system, Liam's heart was filled with excitement.

Focusing his attention, he called out to the system in his mind and looked at the crossbow.

[Hunting Composite Crossbow (Normal)]

Description: A long-range combat tool with a slow loading speed and high initial velocity. It has considerable lethality and is an essential tool for wilderness survival.

Shooting speed: 140m/s

Range: 80m (maximum damage), 165m (effective damage), 330m (maximum range)

Upgrade direction 1: Upgrade the crossbow material, increase the draw weight of the crossbow, reduce the pressure of cocking. Requires survival points (180)

Upgrade direction 2: Upgrade the crossbow material, add an electric cocking device, change the design mode, add automatic firing and burst mode, increase ammunition capacity. Requires survival points (400)

Introduction: Liberal arts students use Cupid's arrows to shoot girls' hearts, only science students use powerful crossbows to confess! Praise machinery!

"Holy shit..."

At a loss for words, a "holy shit" expressed it all.

At this moment, looking at the second attribute in front of him, Liam was a little shocked and excited.

Before this, the option of an electric device had also appeared when upgrading the wooden spear.

However, the electric device of the wooden spear and the crossbow in front of him could simply be described as worlds apart.

After adding the electric device, the crossbow completely changed its firing method. Not only could it fire continuously, but it could also be cocked electrically.

As long as there were enough arrows, with just this one crossbow, Liam was confident that he could achieve a Gatling gun-like effect.

And this upgrade only required 400 points!

At the current rate, as long as he could survive for about ten days, he should be able to gather this amount.

By then, his combat power would soar.

"Unfortunately, it still requires electricity. Without developing electricity or finding a device to convert electricity, this thing is useless," Liam sighed.

Once again, he truly felt the importance of restoring