The next morning, Ning Yu’an opened the door and saw a small bundle wrapped in grass leaves sitting outside.
When she opened it, she found two pieces of dried sweet potato and a palm-sized piece of fish.
Ning Yu’an looked around.
Not far away, she saw the little girl sitting at the doorway, grinning and showing the gap where one of her teeth was missing.
Ning Yu’an waved at her.
The little girl ran over with a smile.
“Big Sister, thank you for yesterday. My brother told me to give this to you as a token of our gratitude.”
“If you give this to me, will you still have enough to eat?”
Ning Yu’an rubbed the little girl’s head.
“We do!”
The little girl’s eyes sparkled as she looked at her.
“Big Sister, my name is Hong Yue, and my brother’s name is Hong Yang. What’s your name?”
iframe
“My name is Ning Yu’an.”
“Big Sister An’an~”
The little girl smiled, revealing her own little missing tooth.
“Where’s your brother?”
Ning Yu’an noticed that the little girl had been here for a while but Hong Yang had not appeared, so she asked.
“Brother already went out gathering.”
Ning Yu’an nodded.
“Make sure to lock the door when you’re home. Don’t wander around.”
“Mm-hmm, don’t worry, Big Sister An’an. I was just waiting for you to wake up so I could tell you. I’m going home now. Bye, Big Sister An’an!”
Hong Yue waved as she ran back home.
Hong Yang had not locked the door that morning. Yesterday’s incident had frightened him as well. If the door had been locked, Hong Yue would not even have had a chance to run.
Her brother had also told her that if she encountered such a situation again, she should protect herself first. Food could always be found again.
Ning Yu’an watched the girl’s bouncing figure disappear into the distance.
It seemed yesterday’s incident had not affected her too badly.
The people of the Wasteland really did have strong hearts.
Ning Yu’an sighed before returning inside to prepare breakfast.
She boiled the piece of fish directly in water, adding a little wild onion and salt before taking it off the stove.
She did not know what kind of fish it was, but it had absolutely no fishy smell. The meat was white and tender, and there were no bones.
Ning Yu’an ate it happily.
After cleaning up, she went outside.
Her goal for today was a location marked by a green dot.
Apart from the long-term exploration missions, the only remaining map mission was to find one type of mutated animal.
Mutated animals had a very high danger level.
Even insects became highly aggressive after mutation.
Ning Yu’an planned to leave it to chance. She would encounter one sooner or later.
She had not used the two exploration points she had obtained to upgrade her space or unlock the map.
Her space was sufficient for now, and she had not explored all the green markers yet, so there was no need to rush.
The green marker was somewhat far away.
When Ning Yu’an passed a blue marker, she noticed there was hardly anyone around. There were only a few sparse weeds on the ground.
Ning Yu’an picked a leaf and smelled it.
Her eyes lit up.
She gave it a hard pull.
A fist-sized bulb appeared in front of her.
It was wild mountain garlic.
“Beep. Level 3 radiation.”
Ning Yu’an happily pulled up all the garlic bulbs nearby.
There were five edible bulbs of mountain garlic in total.
Garlic was good for the body, and it was also indispensable for seasoning.
After putting the garlic away, Ning Yu’an continued toward the marked location.
The marked location was a bamboo forest.
It was currently the season when spring bamboo shoots were emerging, and many people were digging for bamboo shoots in the forest.
Spring bamboo shoots were high in protein, rich in fiber, filling, and nutritious.
Even the smallest mutated spring bamboo shoots were as thick as an arm.
If eaten sparingly, a single one could provide enough food for one person for two or three days.
On the Wasteland, they were also one of the foods people especially liked to search for in spring.
Ning Yu’an chose a spot where there were fewer people.
It was not far from the green marker, and she began testing the bamboo shoot tips protruding from the ground.
“Beep. Level 5 radiation.”
“Beep. Level 4 radiation.”
“Beep. Level 5 radiation.”
She tested for a long time.
As the day grew hotter, she still had not found anything.
Ning Yu’an grew anxious, but she could only find a place to hide from the direct sunlight.
The bamboo in this area had not mutated by becoming larger.
Instead, once fully grown, it became extremely hard and difficult to break.
To avoid the sunlight, Ning Yu’an could only find a tall cluster of bushes not far from the bamboo forest.
Ning Yu’an sat cross-legged beneath the bushes and took out a piece of dried sweet potato that the siblings next door had given her that morning.
The dried sweet potato was not very sweet, but it was extremely chewy.
Ning Yu’an bit off a piece with some effort and slowly chewed it.
At the same time, she checked the map to confirm her position.
Based on what she had seen so far, the map could currently mark an area of roughly five square meters around a resource.
The place she had just searched should therefore be quite close to the edible bamboo shoots.
As she watched the map, she suddenly noticed a yellow marker appear nearby.
The yellow marker was moving rapidly.
What was going on?
Ning Yu’an was somewhat bewildered.
What kind of resource could run around on its own?
Seeing the yellow dot getting closer and closer, Ning Yu’an suddenly had a thought.
Resources could not run.
But there was no guarantee that an animal could not carry a resource away.
Ning Yu’an immediately pulled out her tiny dagger, which was not even as long as her palm, and cautiously watched her surroundings.
She divided her attention between the yellow dot on the map.
It approached.
Overlapped.
Passed by…
Ning Yu’an kept a tense expression as she watched the small yellow dot.
Its speed gradually slowed.
Finally, it stopped in the bamboo forest she had just searched and overlapped with the green marker.
Ning Yu’an hesitated.
But once the sun was no longer as intense, she returned to the area she had searched earlier.
She was worried about encountering a mutated beast, but her food reserves were truly running low.
Green indicated abundant resources.
Now there was also a yellow resource marker.
Fortune favored those who took risks.
After another half hour of searching, Ning Yu’an finally found a Level 3 radioactive spring bamboo shoot.
Unwilling to waste her dagger, Ning Yu’an used a tree branch to slowly dig away the soil around it.
A bamboo shoot as thick as her arm and as long as her lower leg was gradually revealed.
Ning Yu’an happily stored it away.
Just then, she heard a faint squeaking sound.
The sound came from the hole she had just dug.
It was very soft.
Ning Yu’an looked at the yellow dot that was still on the map.
After hesitating for a moment, she poked around inside the hole several times.
A section of the ground beside the bamboo shoot suddenly collapsed.
The squeaking became clearer.
Not daring to reach in with her bare hands, Ning Yu’an carefully dug away the soil above.
A nest of fluffy gray rats appeared before her eyes.
There were four rats in total.
One was about the size of her palm.
Its eyes were still closed, and it squeaked as it crawled around inside a nest made of grass.
Ning Yu’an was dumbfounded.
Could these things be eaten?
There were still people nearby.
She had no time to think too much.
She tried to store the gray rats directly inside her space, but unexpectedly, they could not be stored.
She could only put them into her gathering basket.
There were bamboo leaves with relatively low radiation inside the basket.
Ning Yu’an used them to cover the rats.
She was just about to cover the nest back up with soil when she noticed a faint flash of light inside it.
Ning Yu’an casually scooped up the glowing object and stored it in her space.
She loosely covered the nest with soil before turning and leaving.
The map had just notified her that she had detected a “mutated bamboo rat.”
The mutated beast mission was complete.
The location on the map had now also turned into a blue marker.
It seemed there were still edible plants in the bamboo forest, but she had no time to investigate them.
She avoided the crowds because she was afraid the squeaking of the baby bamboo rats would attract other people’s attention.
When she passed a patch of Ula grass, Ning Yu’an cut another handful.
Then she hurried home.
On her way back, Ning Yu’an encountered Hong Yang.
He was standing beside a vehicle with two boys around his age and several mercenaries, apparently discussing something.
When Hong Yang saw Ning Yu’an, he smiled and raised his hand toward her.
Ning Yu’an nodded.
She did not approach to speak with them and simply continued toward her home.
It was around five in the afternoon.
Not many people were returning yet.
Ning Yu’an went inside and took out the bamboo rats.
After testing them, she found that two were Level 3 radioactive and two were Level 4 radioactive.
Bamboo rats were edible, and their meat tasted quite good.
But Ning Yu’an had no intention of eating them.
She glanced at the time and went outside again, heading toward the outer city.
She planned to sell the bamboo rats.
Raising them was impossible.
Not to mention whether she could keep them alive, there were simply too many unknown factors.
Besides, she needed to buy many things, and the house also needed repairs.
All of that required contribution points.
Ning Yu’an had no connections to rely on, so she went directly to the official exchange hall.