The Detoxification Pill tasted slightly bitter, accompanied by a distinct herbal aroma. After placing it in her mouth, He Miaomiao swallowed it. At first, she didn’t feel much of a difference.
Before long, however, she clearly felt the pain across her body diminish.
Surprised, He Miaomiao squeezed her right hand. When she had first woken up, she couldn’t even clench her fist tightly, but now she could.
“So feeling so terrible by the river wasn’t just because I fought for too long, kept my mind too tense, and over-exhausted my physical strength… but also because I was poisoned?”
She opened her attribute panel, where nothing had changed. Both her Energy Points and Health Points were full, with no section indicating whether she had been poisoned before or if she was cured now. Yet the physical reality of her body’s changes provided her with the answer.
Feeling somewhat thirsty, He Miaomiao brought out the bottle of water she had only taken a small sip from earlier, gulping down three big mouthfuls in a row.
As her throat was moistened by the pure water, her entire body felt significantly more comfortable.
Shifting her posture from lying on the sofa to sitting up, He Miaomiao temporarily paused organizing the chest materials and opened the group chat.
“What changes have you noticed in your bodies?”
[You Hua]: “It’s the Big Boss! Going Home Bro, hurry over! @Qi Yi”
[Qi Yi]: “Waaaah, thank you Big Boss for saving my dog life! A small gift as a modest token of gratitude!”
He Miaomiao tapped to receive it.
3 portions of Clay.
Just what she needed.
After her house reached Level 1, He Miaomiao had unlocked more trading system permissions. For this transaction, Qi Yi genuinely intended to give it to her rather than sell it, so the price tag was set to 0 with a designated trading partner.
Faced with this token of gratitude, He Miaomiao accepted it cleanly, casually soliciting more clay and resin in the group as well.
[Qi Yi]: “It’s fantastic that the Big Boss can make use of it, waaaah!”
The Big Boss was so powerful; he was truly terrified of finding no way to repay her.
[You Hua]: “Clay? Resin? New materials again? How come I haven’t seen them? Big Boss, you’re in the same world as us, right? Huh?”
[Wang Shouyi]: “Tsk tsk tsk, she’s different from trash like us. With real skill, what can’t she get? Look at @Qi Yi, rushing to send her free stuff—did she pay you any mind? Besides, clay is so precious and she has pricing authority, so why didn’t she trade something else with you? Fool, she’s taking advantage of you while you sit there giggling—sooner or later you’ll be sold with not even bone splinters left!”
Qi Yi, who had been quite happy, knitted his brows tightly together.
Is this Wang Shouyi insane?
Just as he was about to curse back, Duanmu Jing posted a message.
“Combat exhausts us more easily now. Even if Energy Points are full, continuing to fight becomes impossible—we must return to the safehouse to rest. The required rest duration is two to three times longer than waiting for Energy Points to recover, and full physical recovery cannot be achieved. Furthermore, we feel hungry and thirsty much faster than in the normal world. Clothes get dirty during combat; wearing dirty clothes continuously causes red rashes and fever. No solution besides resting has been found yet.”
Only then did Qi Yi recall the Big Boss’s question, hurriedly sharing his situation as well.
“I’m slightly better off than Sister Jing. My clothes got dirty, but I didn’t get a fever, though I developed red rashes too. By the way, ever since returning from the river, every breath I take gives a burning pain in my chest, along with cold sweats, heavy dizziness, and a throbbing headache. Resting for a while has made it much better now, though.”
[Zhang Na]: “I feel pretty much the same as usual. Though now that Sister Jing mentions it, reflecting on it, I do tire faster than usual. Several times when I clearly had Energy Points left, I simply lacked the physical strength to keep chopping trees and had to stop and rest. Resting outside doesn’t work—we have to return to the safehouse.”
[Chai Nianyao]: “Same here.”
[Zhuang Yu]: “Me too. I originally thought it was because my health wasn’t good to begin with, I didn’t expect you guys to experience this too.”
[Yun Cailiu]: “Mm… apart from feeling thirsty and hungry even when doing nothing, I don’t feel anything else. Could it be because I spent less time outside today, only cutting grass and chopping trees near the safehouse?”
[Xia Ning]: “Sister needs resin and clay? I have some! Sister, adjust the resource requirements for my installment plan, and I’ll give them to you.”
[Xia Ning]: “Are you guys telling the truth? Why didn’t I feel anything at all? I even went out to explore new areas today.”
Resin and clay were discovered over there.
[You Hua]: “Someone drag her out for me! God knows how terrifying my debuffs were today—a Corrupted Dog almost bit me to death—and you actually say you felt NOTHING AT ALL?! Confess honestly, do you have some secret identity, like being the biological favorite daughter of this world’s Heavenly Dao?!”
He Miaomiao skimmed through the group members’ descriptions and found her answer.
Those who slayed more monsters and traveled further experienced the most pronounced physical changes and were in the worst shape.
Qi Yi hadn’t slain the highest number of monsters, but he had visited that massive river and been attacked by the monsters inside, thus developing specialized symptoms.
It appeared that monsters and the ambient environment both carried a form of corruption, continuously eroding their bodies and minds.
One could imagine how terrible everyone’s physical condition would become once they killed more monsters, explored more new areas, and spent a longer duration in Despair Valley.
Could detoxification only be achieved using Detoxification Pills?
He Miaomiao looked at her 3 remaining Detoxification Pills—they were completely insufficient.
Was there another way?
Lacking immediate leads, she could only log this question down to await future experimentation.
He Miaomiao tapped over to the installment items section, adding resin and clay to the required resource list for the purple-tier rabbit fur carpet Xia Ning had purchased on installments.
Xia Ning immediately delivered 5 Clay and 3 Resin based on what she lacked.
[Bathroom: Wood 15 (Completed), Stone 12 (Completed), Hemp 10 (Completed), Beast Hide 10 (Completed), Iron 2 (Completed), Clay 8 (Completed), Resin 5 (Completed)]
[Construct Bathroom now?]
“Yes.”
The corresponding materials flew automatically toward the workbench, where a 1-hour countdown appeared.
“It takes this long?”
Crafting items previously had been extremely fast; items were practically finished the moment materials were put in.
Thinking about it, though, a bathroom differed from a tool; it was quite large, so taking extra time was perfectly normal.
Leaving the workbench to craft on its own, He Miaomiao carried the 4 Rice Seeds pulled from the chests into the yard.
The Detoxification Pill worked well; she no longer felt particularly uncomfortable.
In the yard sat the 4 soil plots added when the house upgraded.
He Miaomiao hadn’t had time to study them carefully before. Standing beside the plots now, she scooped up a handful of dirt and squeezed it: it indeed differed from Despair Valley’s soil, consisting of normal, unpolluted earth.
“I can grow my own food now.”
He Miaomiao felt slightly excited.
Although she had never planted a single crop in her life, it didn’t hinder the innate agricultural yearning embedded in her genes.
Besides, her inventory held all kinds of meat, yet lacked any staple foods. Every meal felt like it was missing something, leaving her stomach feeling hollow.
Rice was great; harvesting it would yield rice to eat.
He Miaomiao dug a small hole in a 1m × 1m plot of soil, reverently placed a single rice seed inside, and covered it with a thin layer of earth.
She had seen farming game advertisements where seeds sprouted and were harvested moments after being planted, filling her with high expectations.
However—
After a short while, nothing happened.
He Miaomiao checked her territory status, only to see that under Arable Farmland, all 4 soil plots were listed as vacant, with nothing planted.
A question mark surfaced above her head. She carefully scraped the soil open again.
“It’s right here, not lost.”
The rice seed was still in the exact same spot, not stolen or eaten by any strange creature. Why did it display the plot as vacant?
“Did I plant it incorrectly?”
He Miaomiao tried making the hole larger and deeper—failed.
Then smaller and shallower—failed.
Switched to another plot.
Failed.
After tossing and turning for over half an hour, all four plots remained stubbornly listed as vacant.
Pondering left and right, He Miaomiao looked toward Grandma Temporary Citizen 1.
The house had already been cleaned. After being told to rest earlier, Grandma was sitting upright on the sofa, neither speaking nor moving, her gaze hollow.
Inside the 30-square-meter home, from the wooden floors to the walls, from the storage cabinet to the wooden door, everything shone brightly as if freshly polished.
He Miaomiao fell into thought.
Could it be that these plots require a specialized person to farm them?
That would be terrible—if recruitment lacked a guaranteed farming baseline, she definitely wouldn’t pull one!
Still… since the plots existed, according to game mechanics, a citizen capable of farming had to appear somehow, right?
With the recruitment countdown still running, she couldn’t recruit again just yet. He Miaomiao logged this matter down, reminding herself not to forget tonight.
Looking at the Primary Plant Nutrient Solution, it was clearly intended for farming—similar to fertilizers in farming games that could accelerate plant growth and shorten cultivation time.
Since she couldn’t use it yet, she stowed it away first.
Next were the Dual Blades and Small Clay Jars.
Both were blue quality. Primary Appraisal:
[Dual Blades: Two-handed weapon.]
[Small Clay Jar: Water container.]
The descriptions differed little from saying nothing at all, so she decided to test them herself.
He Miaomiao pulled out a Small Clay Jar.
Calling it a small clay jar was no understatement—it was indeed small, only about the size of a basketball, resembling a common open-mouthed, wide-bellied ceramic tub. She had seen people use such tubs to keep tiny goldfish before.
Since it was a container for holding water, water naturally had to be put inside.
He Miaomiao had only encountered two types of water so far: the Pure Water she pulled from chests, and the black river water.
Pure Water was limited in quantity and precious.
The river water was black and foul-smelling, teeming with troublesome monsters.
After weighing her options, He Miaomiao pulled out an unopened bottle of water, poured half of it into the clay jar, hesitated for a moment, and poured the remaining half in as well.
The emptied bamboo tube was placed in the storage chest; if she found clean water sources in the future, it could still be used to hold drinking water.
After capping the water-filled clay jar with its lid, she set it beside the storage cabinet. He Miaomiao then pulled out an empty Small Clay Jar, chose a spot in the yard to set it down, thinking that perhaps dew or rainwater might collect outside.
As for the river water, He Miaomiao had no intention of retrieving any.
That water looked like touching it would result in corruption, and retrieving water might lead to being dragged into the river by strange creatures. Even if she retrieved water smoothly, she feared the dirty water might ruin a Small Clay Jar.
Having finished studying the clay jars, He Miaomiao pulled out the Dual Blades.
Assembled together, the Dual Blades resembled an S-shaped fan blade, forming a circular blur when spun. Separated, they formed two short blades as long as a fore-arm.
A player could equip only one weapon type at a time. He Miaomiao unequipped her original Stone Blade first before equipping the new weapon.
Stone Blade (Green): Attack Power +20
Dual Blades (Blue): Attack Power +45
He Miaomiao let out a gasp of unsophisticated awe.
She was Level 8 now. Even with her critical hit multipliers, her base attack power was only 39—yet this pair of Dual Blades added a full 45 Attack Power!
“This way, a single basic attack from me will deal 84 points of damage!”
Sparks Slash reached 156, bringing combined damage over two hundred!
He Miaomiao raised her new weapon, charged out of the yard, and headed straight for a pack of Corrupted Dogs she had bypassed on her way back.