Packing the meat and vegetables into his backpack, Lin Ye continued jogging down the corridor.

To be honest, the loot from treasure chests had been too abstract, and he was considering whether to keep wasting keys.

If this kept up, he was worried his backpack wouldn't have enough space.

With so much food, there was no way he could eat it all by himself. The shelter didn't have a refrigerator, so fresh meat and vegetables couldn't be stored long-term.

As for selling to other survivors... Lin Ye doubted he was the only one getting food from chests.

Fortunately, Li Ji had previously stocked his car with plenty of seasonings, otherwise Lin Ye wouldn't know how to handle all these ingredients.

After running through ten more corridors, Lin Ye encountered his third locked room.

"One more try. If it's more food, I'm done."

Having made his decision, Lin Ye used the red key to open the door.

This time there was no treasure chest, but long-awaited shelves - it was a storage room.

Lin Ye thoroughly searched every corner of the room, finding 5 bottles of nutrient solution, 3 Mutation Cards, 1 metal key for special rooms, and 1 dagger on the shelves.

The Mutation Cards were all higher-numbered ones. The dagger had a 7cm blade with a gray wooden grip, appearing extremely sharp - likely a spiritual energy item similar to the Cross Necklace.

After storing these items in his backpack, Lin Ye continued exploring the maze.

This time he ran for half an hour without encountering a single locked room. Just as he found this strange, he came across a dark red hallway without any rooms.

'So that's how it is... But there aren't any monsters in the hallway... Does that mean they're all in the hall ahead?'

Reaching the end of the hallway, Lin Ye set down his rice and supply-filled backpack before pushing open the red double doors.

Inside was the familiar hall, but standing at its center was a humanoid figure.

"Heh heh heh..."

The figure wore pitch-black robes with a hood, from beneath which came a creepy, withered laugh.

"You can speak?"

This was Lin Ye's first encounter with a mutation creature willing to communicate.

"Thank you for opening the door. I thought this trip would be wasted."

The figure's words carried inexplicable arrogance, like a higher lifeform addressing a lower one.

"Are you a survivor too? Did the system make you guard this place?"

Lin Ye ignored the tone but needed the figure to keep talking for more information, so he provoked it slightly.

"Survivor? Guard? Don't lump me together with you wretches! I'm not some pitiful creature forced to survive here - I came voluntarily."

The figure's voice dripped with disdain.

"But you're still guarding for the system, aren't you? What's the difference? At least I don't have to stand guard."

Lin Ye matched the disdainful tone.

"Hah. Trash. You can't possibly comprehend the system's greatness. Countless dimensions, all races - except for some extremely dangerous ones - everything exists under the system's management. With your intelligence, you couldn't begin to imagine what the system truly is."

The figure showed no urgency to kill Lin Ye. There was still time to properly handle this prey.

"But we're in the same position now, aren't we?"

Lin Ye didn't waste more words - he wasn't talkative to begin with. This was just a first-tier pawn; any information it had couldn't be that important.

They stood close enough that Lin Ye could cover the distance in a single step.

As he drew the Red Blade, an invisible spiritual energy slash aimed for the figure's chest - where its only mutation organ was located.

"Seeking death!"

The figure pulled its robe, summoning a spiritual energy barrier while simultaneously drawing a pistol and firing two shots at Lin Ye.

Apparently conserving ammunition, the figure didn't continue firing, confident Lin Ye couldn't dodge those two bullets.

Lin Ye indeed couldn't dodge bullets yet, but he could block them. A thin spiritual energy shield easily stopped the two energy-infused bullets, making his second prepared shield unnecessary, let alone the third he'd been preparing.

In contrast, the figure's robe failed to stop Lin Ye's slash that carried partial cutting attributes, leaving both robe and chest split open.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye plunged the Red Blade into the figure's chest during its scream, piercing its mutation organ.

The CL0 Pistol in his left hand had already mutated the bullets, ready to fire. Had the opponent not been so pathetic, he would have shot already. This was a first-tier spiritual energy creature - Lin Ye wouldn't give it any chances.

As Lin Ye said, they were in the same position - a fight to the death. But the opponent apparently didn't understand.

"...How... impossible? You're not... even first-tier... How could you... break my equipment?... Block... my attacks?"

The figure's despairing voice came in broken fragments. Until death, it never understood what had happened.

"While I don't know much about the system or these countless dimensions and races you mention, I believe the system maintains basic fairness. If you're first-tier, then I couldn't possibly be an ordinary survivor. But honestly, you're so weak it makes me doubt whether the system really has that basic fairness."

Lin Ye sighed.

This was his first encounter with such a weak first-tier creature.

The figure died just like that. Its eyes were quite large though.

Lin Ye stripped the corpse's equipment and examined it thoroughly. It resembled a human but had many differences from Blue Star humans - likely some humanoid species.

A complex circular mark resembling a tattoo adorned its chest, its meaning unknown.

After dissecting and processing the corpse, Lin Ye obtained a damaged black robe, a pistol with eight bullets remaining, and a first-tier mutation organ.

Submitting the mutation organ to the first-tier spiritual energy crystal maker's blueprint mission brought progress to (2/10). He'd previously obtained another first-tier mutation organ from the station mission. Just eight more to complete it.

Lin Ye hoped to finish this mission quickly - perhaps then he could absorb spiritual energy within the shelter to strengthen his body.

The nutrient solution contained too little spiritual energy. With his current reserves, he couldn't complete many cycles.

Moreover, he couldn't keep drinking nutrient solution indefinitely. The stuff was mainly for nutrition - the description clearly warned against excessive consumption.

Having dealt with the idiotic mutation creature guarding the hall, Lin Ye examined the doors inside. They remained unchanged: red double doors opposite, a red wooden exit door to the left, and a locked dark red metal door to the right.

'An item room? Perfect timing with that new special room metal key.'

Using the metal key to open the door revealed an ordinary room with the dark red pedestal, though this time it held a manufacturing blueprint.