Chapter 17: Eternal Companions

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As a beast tamer and one of the merchants recognized by the dungeon, Shuyuan’s goods were the beasts he had successfully domesticated. Of course, there were some other items as well.

“Blackie is my companion. I hope that in the upcoming dungeon stages, the two of us can act together. Do you have any goods suitable for both of us?” Song Yu earnestly explained her intention and asked.

The NPCs in this world knew about the existence of dungeon players, and they were fully aware that they themselves were NPCs. It was quite extraordinary.

“If that’s the case, then this item is very suitable for you both.” Shuyuan waved his hand, and a permanent buff appeared before Song Yu.

[Forever Companions: Both players holding this buff will always enter the same dungeon instance together, though their landing spots may vary.]

[Exchange Price: 1000 Favor Points from Shuyuan]

“???” The currency for exchange was Shuyuan’s favor points? And a whopping 1000 favor points!

Song Yu held back her frustration and patiently continued reading.

Shuyuan was a somewhat special NPC. To be precise, every NPC in this dungeon was unique, each with a different favor system.

For example, Chen Su, whom Song Yu had encountered before, was very difficult to increase favor points with. The higher the favor with Chen Su, the more benefits could be gained.

Shuyuan, however, was completely different. His favor points were consumable, with a maximum limit of 9,999! Even higher than the storage limit of backpack slots!

Song Yu had previously thought it was easy to raise Shuyuan’s favor points—now she was thoroughly proven wrong.

30/9999

But raising Shuyuan’s favor was actually simple: complete his quests or donate supplies.

For instance, 10 bottles of water could exchange for 1 favor point, and 1 pound of fresh meat could also earn 1 favor point.

At first glance, the donations seemed easy—just 1,000 pounds of meat would suffice.

But in reality… one must not forget this was a city with extremely scarce resources; the more supplies one had, the more dangerous it became.

“...” Song Yu fell silent, contemplating whether the meat included human flesh.

If so, she wouldn’t mind conducting a little “fishing” enforcement.

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Song Yu didn’t immediately ask Shuyuan but glanced at the quest log.

Most of Shuyuan’s quests involved the animals he raised—tasks like brushing the white tiger’s teeth and bathing it, cleaning up after wild boars, or caring for wolf pups.

These quests typically granted 10 favor points, but she could only accept them after raising Shuyuan’s favor to 100 points.

That was quite troublesome.

Song Yu glanced at Shuyuan, who was holding a black cat and gave her a faint smile.

[Beast Tamer Shuyuan’s Favor +10]

The sudden favor points were as inexplicable as Shuyuan himself—seemingly easy to get along with, but in truth, utterly indifferent.

She needed to find a way to make a significant gain.

Song Yu not only wanted the [Forever Companions] buff but also the [Animal Awakening Potion], which cost 2,000 favor points.

It could make animals “speak” and possess independent thinking abilities like humans.

Since Shuyuan had such a potion, perhaps other NPCs possessed similar potions for humans?

Of course, the priority was to raise Shuyuan’s favor points, and donating meat was undoubtedly the fastest way.

Song Yu had several cans of beef stew given by the Watchers organization in her backpack.

“Humans work too,” Shuyuan said softly, stroking the black cat in his arms, his silver-white hair cascading down. His words were filled with temptation, as if a demon from hell was luring Song Yu to commit an unforgivable sin.

Although in real life Song Yu was a law-abiding citizen, inside the game she had killed many.

The difference was from passive killing to active killing.

Weighing the cost-effectiveness, Song Yu resolutely decided to do it!

But for now, her urgent task was to return to the shelter. She didn’t think Shuyuan would protect her and Blackie through the night.

Shuyuan watched the backs of Song Yu and Blackie as they left, the smile on his lips deepening.

...

Before nightfall, Song Yu and Blackie arrived at a shelter in the sewers.

The space was large enough for the two of them, though the smell was unpleasant.

After a quick dinner, Song Yu listened to the howls of zombies above, turned on her flashlight, and began to study the map of Yangliu City.

Most players were deployed to the New District and Old District, with the fewest players in the Central District, where the zombies were densest.

But besides the New and Old Districts, there was another place rich in resources.

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Song Yu’s finger rested on a corner of the map—Yangliu Harbor.

Belonging to Yangliu City, the harbor had many ships, and surely many players gathered there!

Originally, Song Yu didn’t want to go there because the zombies there far outnumbered humans.

However, after discovering that the NPC had such valuable items, she felt it necessary to take the risk.

She would make a big score, collect enough supplies, and then focus on exchanging special resources from NPCs.

Shuyuan accepted human flesh, but that didn’t mean all NPCs would. The circulated supplies remained the same.

Song Yu replanned her route, intending to hunt while heading toward the harbor.

Fishing enforcement Song Yu was deceptively vulnerable-looking, truly easy to bully.

Without a gun for a frontal fight, Song Yu would surely lose.

Speaking of which, she only had one bullet left for survival. She hoped a group of heavily injured players would drop from the sky to help her.

But that was purely wishful thinking.

Song Yu put the map back into her backpack and turned off the flashlight. She took out the talent cards from the players she had killed earlier.

One talent was Sprinter; the other was Cold Resistance.

[Cold Resistance Lv1 (0/50): Reduces consumption by 5% in low-temperature environments.]

Perfect for winter dungeons—this talent helped survival longer than most.

The prerequisite was encountering winter-type dungeons, which Song Yu casually activated.

Since the Sprinter card was a duplicate, using it again would only add 50 experience points to that talent.

Instead of letting it turn into experience points, she might as well give it to Blackie.

Blackie was already fast, and with the talent bonus, it would surely become a dog as swift as the wind!

Song Yu handed the talent card to Blackie, who cleverly tore it apart.

Though it didn’t understand the card’s function, it trusted Song Yu.

After completing all these tasks, Song Yu decisively covered herself with a blanket and drifted off to sleep.

However, her rest was uneasy.

At 3 a.m., while still dreaming, Song Yu was suddenly scratched awake by Blackie.

She didn’t blame Blackie but alertly looked outside.

Several chaotic footsteps echoed in the empty sewer, accompanied by low whispers, rapidly approaching Song Yu’s location!