prynovel Chapter 20 Gas Station is a Monster's Lair! Su Chen picked up a shovel and rushed in!
Chapter 20 Gas Station is a Monster's Lair! Su Chen picked up a shovel and rushed in!
"Gas station."
Three words popped out of Su Chen's mouth.
The chat in Da Xia's live stream exploded even before he did.
[Gas station! Gas station! We have gas, vehicles, and supplies!]
[This is great! Finally, those three-wheeled vehicles can get a proper ride, right?]
There must be a spare vehicle at the gas station, at the very least a pickup truck! Su Shen finally doesn't have to pedal a tricycle anymore!
If there's fuel in it, just fill up the tank and it'll run for hundreds of kilometers!
[Brothers, calm down, this is a gas station in the game, not a highway rest area...]
[Calm down my ass! Su Shen has been wading through the mud for eight hours, and you want him to keep wading?]
……
Lin Xiaotang glanced at the comments and pressed her earpiece.
"Professor Zhao, gas stations are usually equipped with fuel, repair tools, and even spare vehicles."
"If Su Chen can complete the vehicle change and equipment upgrade here, his mobility will undergo a qualitative change."
Zhao Mingyuan did not respond.
He stared at the outline of the gas station on the screen, his hand holding the teacup frozen in mid-air.
Lin Xiaotang noticed something was wrong.
"Professor Zhao?"
"Don't rush to celebrate." Zhao Mingyuan put down his teacup and leaned forward slightly. "Let's see what experts from other countries have to say."
Sakura Country Studio.
Masaki Fujino pushed open the door and walked in.
He changed into a new pair of gold-rimmed glasses, the lenses of which were polished to a shine.
He buttoned his suit jacket all the way up, combed his hair, and exuded a taut, sharp aura.
His partner was taken aback when he saw him.
"Mr. Fujino, you're not...?"
"I'm well rested."
Masaki Fujino pulled out a chair, sat down, picked up the documents on the table, flipped through a couple of pages, and didn't even look up.
It was as if the incident of him breaking his last pair of glasses with his own hands had never happened.
He glanced at the gas station image on the screen, his finger pausing as he turned the page.
"Are the audience at Daxia celebrating?"
His partner nodded: "The comments are all saying that there's fuel and a spare vehicle at the gas station, so Su Chen can switch vehicles."
Masaki Fujino closed the documents, took off his glasses, and slowly wiped them with a velvet cloth.
"They forgot one thing."
He put his glasses back on and looked at his partner.
"In this game, all fixed buildings..."
Masaki Fujino looked up.
"They're all monster lairs."
The smile on his partner's face vanished instantly.
"The buildings along the highway are never intended as refuges for the athletes."
Fujino Masaki leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of him.
"They are bait. Fuel, supplies, shelter—these things exist for only one purpose—to lure the players in."
He paused for a moment, then his voice turned cold.
"Gas stations have enclosed structures, complex internal spaces, and underground oil storage tank and pipeline systems. Such places are perfect nests for advanced aberrations."
"If Su Chen goes in, he will most likely encounter C-level or even higher-level monsters."
Masaki Fujino's analysis was translated and broadcast live on DaXia's live streaming platform.
The chat was silent for two seconds.
Then, the anger of netizens in DaXia was ignited.
Here we go again! The Japanese jinx is at it again!
【Mr. Fujino, do you remember how your last pair of glasses broke? Would you like us to help you recall?】
[Don't you know what attributes Su Shen has right now? 26 times the strength of an average person, 32.5 times the physique, and a perception range of 200 meters. Want me to review them for you?]
Even if there are C-level monsters inside, Su Shen's current physique is enough to crush a D-level mutant head-on, and he might even be able to fight a C-level one!
[I suggest Mr. Fujino prepare several pairs of glasses, otherwise I'll have to break them open by hand again today.]
[Last time they said we were doomed without weapons, and then Su Shen just burped while eating an apple. This time they're saying there's a monster at the gas station, Su Shen's probably going straight in for a meal.]
Masaki Fujino couldn't see Da Xia's comments, but his own comment section was flooded with Da Xia netizens.
He ignored it and just kept looking at the screen.
In the scene, Su Chen is riding a tricycle on an asphalt road.
The tracks rolled over the broken road surface, making a rhythmic "clack-clack" sound.
The outline of the gas station became clearer.
Large areas of cement have peeled off the exterior walls, the frames of two rusted cars stand at the entrance, and a crooked metal sign stands.
500 meters.
Su Chen removed his foot from the pedal and stepped on the rear wheel brake.
The tricycle made a short, metallic scraping sound and came to a steady stop.
The entire chat room was stunned.
[It's stopped? Why did it stop?]
There are still 500 meters left, why aren't you riding forward?
Zhao Mingyuan nodded repeatedly in the studio, tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest twice.
"Oh, right."
Lin Xiaotang turned to look at him.
"That's right." Zhao Mingyuan's lips curled up slightly, revealing a rare expression of satisfaction.
"Five hundred meters is exactly the limit of his current enhanced auditory perception."
"He's trading distance for a sense of security."
He pointed to the screen.
"See? The car is parked on the right side of the road, with open wasteland behind it and no obstructions on either side. The view and escape route are perfectly preserved."
"This kid has a principle ingrained in his bones: no matter how great the temptation is in front of him, his first reaction is not to rush in, but to check if there is any danger."
The viewers in the live chat immediately realized what was going on.
[Understood! Su Shen isn't unwilling to go; he just wants to scout ahead first!]
[A precise 500-meter parking maneuver—that's top-notch tactical skill!]
[If Professor Zhao says it's good, then it really is good!]
On the screen, Su Chen sat on the tricycle, motionless.
He closed his eyes.
The rustling sound of the wind sweeping across the parched, cracked wasteland.
The faint cracking sound of asphalt pavement expanding due to heat.
The metal signboard in the distance swayed gently in the wind, its hinges creaking.
Su Chen's hearing scanned forward like radar, traversing three hundred meters, four hundred meters, and penetrating all the way into the interior of the gas station building.
There were no unusual noises under the metal ceiling.
There were no unusual noises near the frame of the abandoned car.
Inside the building...
Quiet.
A deathly silence.
Su Chen listened for another thirty seconds.
There were no sounds of breathing, scratching, or bones grinding inside the gas station.
At least within his hearing range, the outer area was clean.
He opened his eyes.
The tricycle has been restarted.
But he didn't walk in the middle of the road.
Su Chen rode his bike close to the rightmost ditch on the road, keeping his speed very low and minimizing the noise from the tracks.
The car bumped slightly and silently on the gravel on the shoulder of the road.
He circled around in an arc, approaching quietly from the side and rear of the gas station.
Four hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
The chat in Da Xia's live stream room almost stopped.
Three hundred million people stared at the screen, even their breathing became soft.
150 meters.
Su Chen was able to hear more details.
Inside the refueling equipment under the canopy, residual liquid was sloshing slightly.
On the second floor of the building, a broken window frame was blown by the wind, hitting the wall repeatedly with a dull thud.
There was still no sound of living things.
One hundred meters.
The tricycle stopped.
Su Chen pushed the car to the side of the road next to a partially collapsed concrete culvert and made a simple camouflage with dry branches and gravel.
He stood up.
Turn around.
He reached his right hand into the truck bed and gripped the familiar wooden handle with his five fingers.
The rusty shovel was pulled out.
On the shovel, there were still dried, dark bloodstains from the swamp's devourers, which gleamed with a dull red light in the morning sun.
Su Chen shouldered the shovel and took his first step toward the gas station.
The comments section finally came alive.
[Shovel! My old friend, you've made another appearance!]