In this world, mushrooms were controlled by major families.
However, because mushrooms grew quickly and had high yields, every household relied on them for food.
As long as one worked, they could afford to eat.
But meat was different.
Only large cities raised disaster beasts.
In villages, aside from experienced hunters, very few people could afford meat.
“Station Master, I’ll go back and think about it. But thank you.”
She didn’t reject him outright, leaving herself room to maneuver.
Huang Tao looked at her frail, skeletal body and was certain she would come back.
People at the bottom of society, if they wanted to survive, had no choice but to enter the factories.
Jiang Li was sent to the door by one of the women from the trading station.
In this apocalyptic world, survival for low-status women was extremely difficult.
Especially for those with even a hint of attractiveness—whose status was worse than cattle or dogs.
The only way to survive was to attach themselves to men.
However, compared to the villagers she had seen earlier suffering from Gray Mist Disease, this woman’s skin was healthy, with no trace of infection.
As she stepped outside again, Jiang Li saw the corpse still lying outside like a pile of rotten flesh.
After a moment of hesitation, she finally asked:
“Who was that person?”
The woman escorting her out had slightly curly hair hanging over her shoulders.
Hearing the question, she leaned in like a snake, pressing close without any disgust toward Jiang Li’s worn, shabby clothes.
Her soft hand hooked onto Jiang Li’s collar, her voice sweet and alluring.
“Customer, do you want the truth or a lie?”
Her tone was so seductive that Jiang Li felt a strange tingling at her ears.
Worried that the woman might notice she was female, she subtly stepped back, avoiding her wandering hand, and feigned shyness.
“Of course, the truth.”
She didn’t expect honesty—after all, she was an outsider, while the woman belonged to Huang Tao.
The seductive woman leaned close to her ear and whispered:
“He was a warehouse worker at the trading station. Business has been bad recently, and the station master delayed his wages. His family was starving, so he risked stealing food from the warehouse—and got caught.”
In Spark Village, workers like him were everywhere.
Many had parents suffering from Gray Mist Disease and were unable to work, leaving the younger generation to support the family.
Not all employers had a conscience.
Huang Tao, however, had none at all.
He had investigated the worker’s family situation in advance, knowing full well how desperate he was, and still hired him.
People like that, for the sake of their families, dared not slack off—they only worked themselves to exhaustion.
And in the end, this was their fate.
The woman smiled faintly as she finished.
“Does the customer have anything else to ask?”
Jiang Li couldn’t tell whether her smile was genuine or fake.
She chose not to ask further and politely said, “Please stop here. Thank you.”
The woman froze slightly at her words.
At the trading station, women like her were tools used by Huang Tao to attract customers.
Every time she escorted someone out, those customers would seize the opportunity to take advantage of her.
But this man—unlike the others—not only didn’t try anything, he even thanked her politely.
In this world, that kind of person hardly existed anymore.
Jiang Li, unaware of her thoughts, looked up at the sky.
No sunlight was visible.
Lead-colored clouds covered the entire sky, and distant mountain silhouettes were faintly visible through the dim light, gradually making the world clearer.
She briefly surveyed the village.
At its center, the buildings were arranged in a rough ring around the trading station, built on uneven terrain with houses rising and falling in height.
At the village entrance, she noticed an ancient, dilapidated temple.
As she approached, she saw the clay statue inside.
This immediately reminded her of the game’s description:
Every village had a clay temple.
Inside was a clay idol, and the “god” within it protected the village through the faith and incense offerings of its people.
Under the idol’s protection, low-tier Evil Wraiths and disaster beasts would not approach.
However, if mid- or high-tier Evil Wraiths appeared, the village would be in serious trouble, and they would have to rely on Flame Star Stones.
Should I move my shelter into the village?
The thought flashed through Jiang Li’s mind—but she immediately rejected it.
Her system binding meant she had too many secrets.
If the villagers discovered them and word reached the powerful elites in Dongyao City who monopolized resources…
She didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to her.
Besides, her shelter could be upgraded.
She didn’t need the protection of the clay idol.
Without stopping, she left the village and headed toward Crescent Moon Mountain, where she planned to build her shelter.
Spark Village was built against the mountains, with its back to Crescent Moon Mountain.
The mountain stood tall and imposing, hiding who knew how many disaster beasts within.
Even villagers rarely dared to venture deep inside, let alone outsiders.
The temperature was slightly low, though the season was unclear.
A cold wind brushed against her clothes, carrying a chill.
Is winter coming? Jiang Li thought.
She clearly remembered that winter in the game was extremely harsh.
Players had to gather firewood, buy cotton clothing, and stockpile food to survive.
Because it was a survival-focused game, winter lasted a long time.
Most players could only stay inside their shelters.
For the first time, Jiang Li felt a sense of urgency.
She needed to find a water source near her shelter today.
As for why she didn’t use the village well—
The village was crowded and full of eyes watching.
If she drew water there and was followed even once, her shelter location would be exposed.
Then she wouldn’t just have to guard against disaster beasts during the day—but also the villagers themselves.
She didn’t dare go deep into Crescent Moon Mountain on the first day, so she only searched nearby.
Fortunately, water sources in the mountains were not rare.
Less than an hour later, she heard the sound of flowing water.
It was a shallow stream.
The water was murky and muddy, with damp soil on both sides.
Dense footprints of disaster beasts were scattered everywhere.
Jiang Li had no container to store water, but confirming the water source alone already made her very satisfied.
If there had been no water nearby, she would have had to venture deeper into the mountain—where the danger would be unbearable.
Just as she was about to return to her shelter, a faint rustling sound suddenly came from her side.
She reacted instantly and fled.
BOOM—
The ground beneath her feet trembled.
Where she had just stood, a Cockroach Beast the size of a golden retriever was lying in wait.
It was an adult Cockroach Beast.
This creature was likely the owner of this water source.
It had been hiding nearby and launched a sudden attack after detecting her presence.
Although Jiang Li was prepared, she still felt a surge of shock.
The Cockroach Beast in her eyes looked extremely similar to a real cockroach—except the roles had been reversed.
She was now the prey.
In front of it, she was nothing more than a lamb awaiting slaughter.
With a mortal body, there was no way she could fight such a massive creature.
She had to run!
At the brink of death, Jiang Li grew even calmer.
Using the dense dead trees of the barren mountain as cover, she nimbly dodged the Cockroach Beast’s attacks.