The lesser zone's got a solid 17 stashes waiting for you and i'd start at the unknown stalker's spot beneath those military spheres, just watch out for the acid tunnels on your way down. When you're ready to move on, check the garbage sector where there's this sweet journalist cache near the south minibus, and another one up by northern checkpoint with some special gear.

The post office is pretty straightforward - climb that blue truck to reach the roof stash for meds and ammo. Industrial hospital's basement is tougher since you'll need to deal with mutants, but the smg ammo makes it worth it. Something interesting about the magnetic cave, if you talk nice with gloomy he'll point you to a stash plus an eye artifact bonus.

Here's a good tip - always loot pdas off bodies since they'll mark new stashes on your map automatically, and keep those bolt throwers handy for checking anomalies blocking your path. Watch for stuff like broken walls or piles of debris, they usually hint at hidden spots. The plant complex basements are packed with good loot but you'll have to fight bloodsuckers, and that vehicle graveyard west of hlynka has some nice armor blueprints if you can handle the bubble anomalies.

Northern checkpoint needs you to finish behind seven seals first, and don't forget shah's special stash opens up after no honor among thieves, though you'll need to track down that heavy key. Just remember to grab that sphere tunnel stash while you're escaping after meeting solder, timing matters there.