Judging solely by quantity, the items sold in the Script Shop were pitifully sparse compared to those in the community store.
However, the variety was entirely different. A single glance was enough to tell that the goods available here were fundamentally distinct from the everyday items sold in the community store.
[Item Name: Guam Rail (Male/Female)]
[Item Price: 50 Points]
[Item Grade: Common]
[Item Quantity: 18/18]
[Note: A healthy, living Guam Rail. Buy a male and female pair, and you can produce your own eggs, provided you know how to raise them, of course.]
To think the Script Shop actually sold living creatures. More importantly, the items purchased here seemed capable of being brought into the next Script. There was no special warning like the "restricted to community use only" tag found in the community store.
This meant that the goods in the Script Shop were the only things of true value for his ongoing survival.
However, the prices were also exorbitantly high.
Although Bai Mu lacked the clearance records of other Players for reference, judging from the final evaluation of his first Script, Deserted Island Survival, his performance in the novice Script had been flawless.
It was impossible for every Player participating in the Deserted Island survival to be like him, repairing that marine Walkie-Talkie and establishing contact with the outside world.
Furthermore, judging from the "Unique" attribute of the "Walking Headline" Title he had obtained at the end, it was highly likely that he was the only individual out of all the Players thrown into the Script by Paradise to successfully contact the rescue fleet, return to human civilization, and be interviewed by the media.
Even with such an outstanding performance, his Points balance remained at a pitiful 300.
Buying six Guam Rails would completely wipe out his assets.
Assuming a Guam Rail weighed one kilogram, its total value sat at 50 Points per kilogram. In the community store, a single Point could buy five kilograms of frozen chicken, averaging 0.2 Points per kilogram.
The price difference between the two was two hundred and fifty times, comparable to the difference between iron and gold.
"Fifty Points for a single chicken. That's way too extravagant," Bai Mu muttered, clicking his tongue before quickly skimming over it to check the next item.
[Item Name: Whiskey]
[Item Price: 10 Points]
[Item Grade: Common]
[Item Quantity: 1/1]
[Note: A vintage, discontinued bottle of whiskey. It was the prized collection of a certain captain.]
Bai Mu could see the image of the product. He instantly recognized it as the bottle of foreign liquor he had found in the Captain's Cabin.
The items in the Script Shop seemed to be randomly drawn from the things he had seen or interacted with while participating in the Script.
The shop only displayed five items to him. Aside from the rail and the whiskey, the other three were a "Marine Walkie-Talkie", a "Sailor's Uniform", and a "The Times Model Photobook".
Their prices were 100 Points, 30 Points, and 5 Points, respectively.
With the exception of the Guam Rail, the quantity available for every other item was limited to one.
With Bai Mu's current wealth, he had the capability to completely clear out the shop. The problem was, he failed to see the value these things held for him.
He had no intention of purchasing any of the items for the time being. Of course, he fully understood that money which couldn't be spent was nothing more than waste paper. He needed to think on it a bit longer and cautiously utilize the Points he had on hand.
However, aside from these commodities, there was another feature he could interact with. Within the Script Shop sat a roulette wheel. His remaining Roulette Draw attempts were two, stemming from the two Hidden Quests he had completed.
The roulette wheel featured dozens of large and small rewards. He spotted all the items currently displayed in the shop on it, but beyond those, it also included firearms. He even saw the pistol worn on the waist of the hotel security personnel.
Some options were unknown, presented to him only as "???".
"This has got to be a completely luck-based lottery wheel," Bai Mu remarked, his finger hovering over the draw button.
The items in the Script Shop were all pulled from the options on the roulette wheel, yet the wheel encompassed so much more—things Bai Mu had seen and even things he had never laid eyes on.
The most ridiculous item he saw was a car. It was the very same black commercial van that Stephen had taken him in after coming ashore.
If a single chicken cost 50 Points, the value of this vehicle was easy to imagine. To buy it outright with pure Points would cost tens of thousands at the very least. Just thinking about it felt completely out of reach.
'If completing a single Hidden Quest rewards one chance at a Roulette Draw, then the value of a Hidden Quest is incredibly high. It seems I need to dig out as many Hidden Quests as possible in future Scripts,' Bai Mu reasoned.
'But that's provided this roulette wheel isn't a massive scam. I'll test the waters first. It's free anyway, so it'd be a waste not to spin,' he mused.
[Spin the roulette wheel?]
[Yes/No]
"Yes."
The wheel with its dozens of options began to spin. Its rotation was entirely out of Bai Mu's control, operating purely on randomness.
The pointer ticked past each option. The prize Bai Mu desired the most was, without a doubt, that pistol.
During the apocalypse, firearms were the weapons he utilized most frequently. Handguns, shotguns, rifles, sniper rifles... He had handled all sorts of firearms and possessed actual combat experience with them.
Given the right materials and tools, he could even modify guns and manufacture bullets himself.
Guns were his closest companions. In the past, whenever he slept, he would always keep three guns within reach. One was placed in plain sight, another tucked beneath his pillow, and the third was hidden securely in his right hand.
He would typically keep his right hand slipped into his pocket. In the early days of the apocalypse, he had spent a brief period fleeing alongside a group of survivors. Harboring malicious intentions towards him, they assumed that by kicking away the rifle next to him, he would be rendered weaponless.
But he immediately pulled his second gun from under his pillow, pulling the trigger with his left hand.
At the exact same moment, the muzzle of the handgun in his right pocket took aim at the sneaky bastard behind him, blowing their head off with a single shot.
Whether man or woman, anyone who harbored malice against him would be killed without hesitation.
He never gave anyone special treatment based on age or gender. In his eyes, everyone was equal.
If you don't strike, we remain at peace. If you want a fair trade, I'll gladly accept. But if you hold evil intent towards me, then don't blame me for showing no mercy. This was Bai Mu's philosophy of survival.
Without a gun in hand, he always felt a slight lack of security. He stared at the roulette wheel with anticipation, but regrettably, his first draw did not go as hoped. The pointer eventually ground to a halt on a narrow sliver.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the prize "Solar Panel" from the Roulette Draw.]
[Name: Solar Panel]
[Type: Item]
[Quality: Common]
[Note: An intact Solar Panel that can be utilized in various scenarios. In conditions with ample sunlight, it can collect solar energy and convert it into electricity. Extremely beginner-friendly.]