When Yinxing woke up again, she was awakened by hunger. Her stomach was rumbling loudly, but just as she reached down to rub it, she discovered a layer of leaves wrapped around her body.
Instead of feeling a trace of fear, she stroked the leaves with interest. The tender, tiny vine tip trembled slightly, like a kitten having its chin rubbed, as it happily wagged its tail.
“You’re so thoughtful, little guy. But I need to eat something now, so I have to light a fire.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the vine suddenly snapped as if severed by an invisible hand. Its vitality was drained dry, leaving behind nothing but a pile of withered, yellowed stems and leaves.
It was just right to use as tinder. What a considerate little guy indeed.
The one thing an abandoned building never lacked was stone, weeds, and rotten wood. She piled up a campfire to disperse a bit of the night’s chill, then tucked the sweet potato she had taken a small bite out of deep under the firewood.
Fortunately, back when she was in the Bearded Man’s squad, she had kept a lighter in her pocket after helping someone hold onto it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t even be able to eat a warm bite of food right now.
Once she finished the hot, sweet, fragrant sweet potato, warmth filled Yinxing’s stomach, and she finally recovered her strength. Her gaze fell upon the remaining two sweet potatoes.
To ensure a warm meal the next morning, her fingertips rested on the two sweet potatoes once more. Taking advantage of the lingering embers, she buried both inside. Immediately after, her body couldn’t hold up any longer; her head tilted to the side, and leaning against the wall, she fell into a deep sleep once again…
Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep-beep…
Yinxing was startled awake by the noise coming from her smartwatch. A thick layer of leaves was covered over her body, allowing her to sleep remarkably well through the night.
Perhaps because her stomach was full from the previous night, her spirits were unusually high today. Her fingertips tapped lightly on the green leaves covering her.
Liking the feeling, the little vine stretched out and burst forth in growth once more, extending quite a long distance.
“Alright, alright, I’m getting up now.”
In the next second, all vitality was drained from the leaves once more. They turned into a withered leaf that snapped with a light squeeze.
The smartwatch on her wrist kept beeping incessantly. With a casual swipe of her finger, a virtual projection displayed from the watch.
A woman dressed in a white dress appeared on the virtual screen, her hands folded in front of her, bearing a polite, distant, and standardized smile.
“Respected Class D User, hello. Skynet has detected a large amount of credit debt in your account. To avoid malicious debt evasion, the community has automatically matched a job for you. Please head to the turnstile gate before nine o’clock. Evading work will trigger automatic location tracking and capture. To avoid impacting your daily life, please actively cooperate with community affairs.”
After the intelligent robot finished speaking, it sent over a map marker that wasn’t too far from where she was.
Digging out one of the sweet potatoes from the ashes, she peeled back the skin and walked out the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the morning glory vine crawling along the base of the wall, smiling as she said, “Little Morning Glory, guard our home well~”
The leaves of the morning glory trembled in the wind as if responding to her words.
…
Following the map marker, she spotted a makeshift entrance from afar.
“Community task. Scan code to enter and exit.”
Just as she reached the turnstile gate, a staff member reminded her to scan her smartwatch against the machine.
“Today’s job assignment has been sent to your wrist. Pick up your tools over there.”
Yinxing tapped it open to check. The task was to clear out a four-square-meter area; once scanned and confirmed, she would receive 4 credits.
Not bad at all! 4 credits a day meant 40 credits in ten days. That meant the three-hundred-plus credits she owed would only take a little over three months to pay off. It really felt… infinitely far away…
“Another one coming out to court death.”
A familiar, mocking voice sounded gloomily nearby once again. Raising her eyes to look, sure enough, it was that limping, sullen man from yesterday. With just a single glance, Yinxing withdrew her gaze and continued heading toward her task target.
Unexpectedly, the man was like a cat with its fur rubbed the wrong way, shouting endlessly.
“You idiot, do you look down on me too? Do you really think you can survive? Clearing mutated plants for a mere 4 credits per 4 square meters—those sanctimonious bastards in the safe zone clearly intend to use your life to feed the mutated plants’ bellies! Then they’ll step in to reap the rewards, getting a good reputation without having to bleed a drop themselves! How hypocritical! Hahaha…”
“Just look at you fools. 4 credits! It’s like handing out change to beggars, yet you still rush in to throw your lives away. Fools, you’re all a bunch of fools…”
This person was so noisy. Yinxing quickened her pace and walked deeper into the area, selecting a zone that contained only a few small saplings.
As her fingers brushed across the trunks, the leaves trembled slightly, welcoming her arrival.
“Be good now. I need this plot of land, so move to a new home!”
With that, she swung her saw and began cutting at the small trees. The vitality of the saplings seemed to be drained dry as well, quickly turning into a pile of branches so dry they couldn’t be any drier, snapping with a gentle fold.
As for the wild weeds, they obediently lost their greenery as well; a single spark could burn the withered grass completely clean.
The entire four-square-meter area was cleared spotless, without exceeding the limit by even a single centimeter.
The task was completed effortlessly, but since she was already here, she couldn’t return empty-handed~
The moment she stepped deeper into the woods, a intensely familiar aura wrapped around her entire body. It really was much more comfortable inside the forest~
Walking a few paces, she spotted a patch of lush, densely growing bracken fern beneath the shade of a tree.
While riding in the minibus, she had seen people setting up stalls at the entrance of the market selling this.
That meant it was edible and could be sold for money.
“Give me a few of your tender shoots. Make sure they’re edible ones—my body is far too weak.” To show her sincerity, Yinxing pressed her palms together and coaxed softly, “Please, please~”
Curled, tender green stems slowly emerged from the center, growing and extending faster and faster. Before long, countless bracken ferns so tender they could burst with water stood tall across the patch of land.
Yinxing was thrilled and couldn’t wait to start harvesting, praising them as she snapped the stems, “Little Ferns, you are all amazing! Such fresh vegetables!”
The thin, long fronds of the little ferns gently swayed beneath.
Only when she had snapped a large handful of bracken ferns—so many that she had to hold them in her pulled-up shirt—did she quickly speak up, “Enough, enough, I can’t hold any more! I’ll come find you again next time.”
Passing by a massive willow tree, she patted its trunk. “Willow Tree, Willow Tree, give me some willow branches! I want to weave something to carry things in!”
With a loud swish, a pile of willow twigs dropped right over her head, nearly burying her inside.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
The rustling sound of the leaves and willow twigs swaying sounded remarkably like laughter.
“Big Willow, you’re using public duty to settle a personal grudge! Don’t go too far, or I won’t come visit you next time!”
Before her words even settled, another massive bundle of willow twigs dropped over her head. Yinxing was utterly out of options.
“Alright, alright, I was wrong, I was wrong! Thank you for all these willow twigs~”
Only when she showed weakness did the old willow tree finally calm down. Following her vague memories, she wove a crude little basket. As long as the bracken ferns didn’t fall out, it was a good basket. Spotting a cluster of wild chrysanthemums blooming along the path, she didn’t forget to pluck a handful to decorate her little basket.
Who said this community task was dangerous? This harvest was far too bountiful!!!