After some conversation at the gate, Wei Gang and the two men left with their team.
It might have just been her imagination, but Gu Xiaomai felt that when Wei Gang was speaking with the “one fat and one thin” men, all three of them glanced at her.
Soon after, the two men walked up to the wasteland team. The tall, thin man pointed to the other and introduced him:
“This is the logistics team leader of the camp, Jiao Yang. I’m Mi Tang. From now on, I’ll be in charge of you. Your main task is to cultivate and farm on the eastern wasteland. After the soldiers take down and clear new areas, you will go harvest purified plants…”
“Of course, from now on, you can keep one-tenth of your harvested purified plants—either for yourself or to exchange for points. One-tenth of the crops you grow will also belong to you.”
“You will also be provided with one nutrient solution per day and 500 ml of drinking water to ensure basic survival. Tools, housing, and daily necessities will all be provided by the camp. However, you are not allowed to waste, damage, or discard them. If you do, you will be required to pay full compensation!”
“As long as you work properly and don’t slack off, your daily points will be credited to your identity card.”
“Oh right—those who were sent here as punishment labor will not receive points or purified plants. Don’t come to me complaining later—it won’t help!”
“Now is the season of rapid plant growth. Although this area has been cleared, there is no guarantee that mutated creatures won’t appear. For your lives, you must stay within the designated zones. Especially those of you here as punished criminals—if you leave the zone, it will be treated as an escape attempt, and we have the right to shoot you on sight!”
After this mix of rewards and threats, Mi Tang and Jiao Yang led the wasteland team to the eastern barren field of the camp and pointed to an area near the base.
“Clear all the weeds here first. Your dormitories will be set up in this area.”
The wasteland team obediently went to pull weeds.
As she worked, Gu Xiaomai wondered: these two came here empty-handed—how were they going to build dormitories?
Then she saw Jiao Yang wave his hand, and five large pale-yellow bags suddenly appeared in front of him.
Gu Xiaomai rubbed her eyes. What was going on?
Where did all this come from?
So much—where did he hide it?
She stopped pulling weeds and stared closely at Jiao Yang as he took things out.
Twenty-nine wooden beds appeared, followed by bedding, daily necessities, nutrient solutions, drinking water, farming tools…
Yu Mi’s low voice came from beside her: “Cheng-ge, is that spatial ability?”
Gu Xiaomai heard Jiang Chen’an respond with a quiet “Mm.”
Spatial ability?
People here really have such incredible powers?
Does that mean she might have one too?
Gu Xiaomai got excited.
“Wow! That’s great! When can I awaken an ability? I don’t ask for much—just give me strength enhancement.”
The envy in Yu Mi’s tone was obvious, and Gu Xiaomai could clearly hear it too. She wanted it as well!
Not just him—the entire wasteland team showed envy and desire, including even Jiang Chen’an, who rarely showed emotion.
Abilities were special powers gained when humans successfully mutated during the global biological catastrophe 20 years ago. Those who failed the mutation became zombies.
Those who neither succeeded nor failed underwent partial physical strengthening, gaining sharper senses and strength about twice that of pre-catastrophe humans.
In recent years, zombies had not appeared in public. No one knew whether they had gone extinct or were hiding in the unexplored wastelands.
Meanwhile, the number of ability users had continued to decline. Spatial-type ability users in particular were extremely rare and usually belonged to the military or elite squads, rarely seen by ordinary people.
The most commonly seen ability users were physical enhancement types like strength or vision, followed by elemental users such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
But compared to ordinary people, ability users were still a minority. Because of this, the five major bases had largely remained confined to their own territories for survival, only conducting limited exploration near their regions.
Jiang Chen’an recalled what his parents had told him before they died and said quietly, “I’ve heard that the healthier your body is, and the more purified plants and animals you consume, the higher your chance of awakening abilities.”
Yu Mi asked, “Really? Then people like us who can barely afford nutrient solutions basically have no chance, right? So should we still exchange purified plants for points later?”
“I’m going to eat them directly,” Jiang Chen’an said.
He trusted his parents’ words.
He remembered being forced since childhood to eat various purified plants. Some tasted terrible, but his mother still made him finish them all and required daily training.
Unfortunately, his parents died early—but thanks to that childhood foundation, he had survived until now.
Otherwise, he would have died long ago.
“Then I’ll eat them directly too,” Yu Mi said firmly, deciding to follow Jiang Chen’an’s lead. He also planned to give any extra to Granny Gu and share some of his earned points so the children in the orphanage could eat better. Maybe they could even raise an ability user, and then the orphanage wouldn’t struggle anymore.
Although Gu Xiaomai didn’t know what purified plants were or how they related to awakening abilities, she also thought she would just eat them directly if she had any.
But Yu Mi had already told her on the way here: the original owner had lost too much blood, had bone marrow extracted, and had been punished for stealing a special energy stone, sentenced to six months of labor reform in the wasteland team.
So for the next six months, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t get anything.
Thinking of this gave her a headache. She felt like giving up.
Damn it.
Who on earth would leave a “special energy stone” lying around for a 14–15-year-old girl to steal?
There had to be something suspicious going on.
And the original girl hadn’t even left any memories—how was she supposed to clear her name or take revenge?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
Not just them—others nearby who overheard also started thinking about collecting purified plants later.
The more they collected, the more they could keep, eat, or exchange for points. That meant food for themselves or their families. It sounded perfect.
As for the team members’ thoughts, Jiao Yang and Mi Tang didn’t know—and even if they did, they would probably just pretend not to.
After finishing distribution, Jiao Yang left after a few words with Mi Tang.
Once the clearing was done, Mi Tang had two people carry one of the pale-yellow bags to an open area and gathered everyone to teach them how to set up tents.
Half an hour later, the first tent was successfully completed under his guidance.
With an example, the rest of the wasteland team worked together, and the remaining four tents were quickly finished.
Five bright yellow tents were lined up from south to north along the edge of the E4 camp, with two-meter-wide gaps between them for ventilation. The vivid yellow brought a rare sense of life to the barren land.
Mi Tang gathered everyone in front of the tents.
“From now on, all gathering and farming will be done in small groups, especially when going outside. The work is dangerous, and grouping reduces risk—it’s for your own good. You should already have some understanding of each other, so form your own teams first.”
“Officer Mi, how many people per team?” someone asked.
“Three.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd began to move and murmur among themselves.
Yu Mi leaned toward Jiang Chen’an. “Cheng-ge, who should we team up with? We need someone strong and capable, someone who can actually work. Otherwise they’ll just drag us down.”
He scanned the group. “How about that guy on the left? His arms look solid. And that big man in front too—he looks strong…”