The treasure chest disappeared after opening, containing three items: a shelter upgrade blueprint, a hard card, and a bottle of red liquid.

[Use the shelter upgrade blueprint?]

"Use."

[Please collect ten mutation organs from rankless mutated creatures as upgrade materials (0/10)]

'Rankless? Mutated creatures? Mutation organs?'

Lin Ye quickly left the room and returned to where he had dissected the blood-corpse earlier. Drawing his dagger, he cut off the most abnormal part of the blood-corpse.

[Submit mutation organ?]

"Yes."

The abnormal part vanished. Checking the system again, he saw the shelter upgrade quest now showed (1/10).

"So killing ten blood-corpses will upgrade the shelter. That's manageable."

Though blood-corpses were difficult to kill, they were ultimately just mutated corpses. Lin Ye hadn't been familiar with them before, but next time he wouldn't waste so many bullets.

However, using a dagger against blood-corpses was extremely dangerous. Lin Ye decided to use his talent ability to acquire more bullets tomorrow before hunting more blood-corpses.

After obtaining the mutation organ, Lin Ye continued searching for locked rooms. After walking briskly for over ten minutes, he found another locked room.

Using the red key to open the door, this room also contained a red wooden treasure chest. Inside were stacks of bread and bottled water.

The contents of the two chests were completely different, suggesting treasure chests might come in different types containing varied items.

Lin Ye packed the acquired items into backpack No. 2. While the shelter still had food supplies, in this situation, more provisions were always better.

After walking further, Lin Ye encountered an unusual fork in the path.

It was a straight corridor without any rooms, stretching beyond sight, still painted in dark red.

Drawing his dagger, Lin Ye cautiously advanced down the hallway. After walking about one kilometer, he finally reached the end where double doors stood.

'Is there a boss behind these doors?'

Pushing them open revealed a square hall. The double doors were on one side, with another set of red double doors opposite. To the left was a red wooden door, while the right had a dark red metal door with a lock.

Approaching the wooden door, a prompt appeared:

[Leave the Red Maze early?]

"No."

With no immediate danger, Lin Ye wasn't in a hurry to leave.

Moving to the metal door, another prompt appeared:

[First contact with special room detected. Door automatically unlocked]

The lock disappeared as the metal door opened by itself. Inside was an ordinary red room, except for a dark red pedestal at the center holding a glass bottle.

The bottle contained dark red liquid preserving a floating eyeball.

Lin Ye placed the bottle in his backpack and thoroughly inspected the room before leaving, ensuring nothing was missed.

Opening the opposite double doors revealed an identical long corridor. Checking the time, Lin Ye saw only twenty minutes remained.

Having conserved stamina earlier in case of monsters, Lin Ye could now pick up speed.

Running swiftly through corridors, with five minutes remaining, Lin Ye found another locked room.

Inside was yet another red wooden chest.

This one contained several bottles of red liquid, some hard cards, and a red metal key.

This key was clearly different from the previous red key, likely meant for special rooms.

Packing these items, Lin Ye continued exploring nearby rooms. With time nearly up, there was no opportunity to find another locked room.

Just before the countdown ended, Lin Ye found several red coins in a pile of garbage.

Footsteps sounded outside, but as the timer hit zero, Lin Ye returned to the shelter.

…………………

(994,759/1,000,000)

One exploration mission, over two thousand dead.

Communication functions were disabled inside the Red Maze, so when the activity ended, the group chat exploded with messages.

"Holy shit! Finally back! A zombie trapped me in a room for two hours!"

"Damn! Almost didn't make it! Thankfully I ran fast!"

"Did anyone find treasure chests? I only got some red coins."

"I opened one chest—just two mystery liquids besides the shelter upgrade blueprint."

"Huh? How does shelter upgrading work? Can someone share the blueprint?"

"The blueprint is just one upgrade material. Everyone needs their own copy to upgrade shelters."

"So many died... glad I didn't go."

"Heh, only the first three days guarantee blueprint drops from chests. After that, chest appearance rates drop too."

"What?!"

"Anyone know where to get mutation organs?"

...

When messages slowed, Lin Ye posted a photo—the image he'd taken while harvesting mutation organs.

"Goose Leg Bro? Switched from goose legs to fresh meat pics?"

"Wait—isn't that a zombie? You killed one?!"

"Insane! I didn't dare leave my room, and you're already slaying zombies?"

"Zombies aren't hard. Give me a weapon—one headshot per zombie."

"Spoken like someone who didn't go. These aren't movie trash zombies! I workout—stronger than average—but these fuckers outran me, overpowered me, kept moving after headshots, could morph shapes. Thousands died to them! I only survived thanks to a decent talent!"

"Exactly. Didn't encounter any, but everyone who joined had skills. Still this many deaths—must be brutal."

Lin Ye: Hold on. Sharing relevant info.

After Lin Ye's message, the million-member chat gradually quieted.

Not because of his authority, but because this information concerned everyone's survival.

Lin Ye then shared all maze-acquired knowledge in simplest terms, ensuring even slower thinkers could understand next steps.

Lin Ye: I believe mutation organs are weak points. I confirmed this, but since I used ten bullets, they might've just died from attrition. Proceed with caution.

"Bro's legendary!"

"Thanks for sharing! Good people deserve long lives!"

"Ugh... ten blood-corpses sounds impossible. Upgrading seems tough."

"Wait—where'd you get a gun?"

Lin Ye: If my talent can summon goose leg rice, why not a pistol?

"What god-tier talent! I want one that summons goose legs too!"