Chapter 5: Contact with Wanderers and Night Haunters
Time: October 6, 2074. Location: Night City, Badlands.
Adrian spent a moment thinking before deciding to pack some essentials and leave the Shelter to scout the area.
"Even though there's no sign of human activity nearby, what if there are Wanderers or Night Haunters farther out? That would put this Shelter at serious risk."
"Should I block off the current entrance and dig a new one to the surface from underground?"
"But if the exit isn't marked, I might not find it again. And if I do mark it, others might spot it. That just circles back to the same problem."
Adrian frowned. If there really were people nearby, the situation could quickly become complicated.
Rubbing his temples, he sighed. "Whatever. I'll figure it out when the time comes. First, I need to explore the surroundings—overthinking won't help."
As he lowered his hand, he suddenly remembered something. "Ah, right. I still haven't made the yarn mixer."
"Might as well do that now. I'll use it for small batches of thread later."
After a bit of crafting, he finished the yarn mixer and stashed the leftover materials in a chest.
"That should be everything for now. Time to grab the essentials and head out."
He pulled out his iron sword, axe, pickaxe, and shovel from storage, along with some wood, iron ingots, sand, a bucket of water, and the last few pieces of bread.
"Alright, let's move out."
"Oh, almost forgot—set the respawn point."
Too lazy to use a command, Adrian simply focused on the bed in the corner and mentally clicked it, setting his respawn point.
"Okay, now I'm really ready."
———
Climbing the ladder to the surface, Adrian removed the stone covering the passage in the rock formation.
He stepped out, then carefully replaced the stone behind him.
"I'll mark this spot with an extra stone block layer. Square blocks are easy to recognize."
After placing the marker, he chuckled to himself. "What are the chances someone just happens to pass by, notices this random stone, and decides to break it open out of curiosity?"
"No way anyone's that unlucky. Or bored."
He struck a confident pose, finger raised like a professor making a point. "Plus, I used materialized stone blocks—no item drops if they're broken."
"And for extra safety, I added three layers of stone in the passage. Unless they blow up the whole rock, they won't find the Shelter."
"And most importantly..." he dropped his voice, raising his finger again, "...I blocked the underground passage entrance with even more stone. Foolproof."
He paused dramatically for three seconds, but of course, there was no applause. Sighing, Adrian returned to normal and grabbed his iron sword.
He decided to scout behind the rock formation first.
Walking for a while, he eventually found a narrow path nestled between the rocks. It widened after a few dozen steps, revealing... more rocks. And more wasteland.
Just as he started to feel bored, a sharp crack echoed in the distance—gunfire.
Adrian immediately perked up, ears straining. After confirming the direction, he built a sand pillar to gain elevation and peered toward the noise.
A black silhouette appeared on the horizon, flickering lights dancing within the shadows as more gunshots rang out.
"Looks like there's a Badlands town over there," he muttered. "And someone's in the middle of a shootout."
He considered the risks. With his shovel, he could quickly dig into the sand for cover. If things went south, he'd just dig and duck.
"And as long as I avoid showing off any powers—like placing or breaking blocks in unnatural ways—I should stay under the radar. People will just assume I've got some kind of excavation-grade prosthetics."
Decision made, Adrian stashed the sand he'd used and began jogging toward the town. His max speed was only around 10 m/s, but it was enough.
As he got closer, the details of the town slowly came into focus. He approached an abandoned house on the edge, shield up.
He dug a hole into the wall, slipped inside, and resealed the entry behind him.
Peering through a narrow window, he watched as dusk deepened and wind whipped up dust—signs of a coming sandstorm.
Two houses faced each other nearby, both illuminated by the flashes of gunfire. Vehicles were parked on either side.
"Judging by the car logos and styles, it's a firefight between a Wanderer clan and a Night Haunter gang."
Adrian carefully tunneled out of the house on the opposite side and resealed the wall as before.
"Probably doesn't matter if I don't seal it, but the fewer traces I leave behind, the better—for now."
He circled around to the back of the combat zone and peeked from behind a wall.
Sure enough, five Wanderers and six Night Haunters were in a firefight.
Just then, the AI's voice rang out in his mind:
"Ding! Sufficient elements detected.