“Because it will detect you first—and attack on its own.”
That answer from Jiang Chen’an only made Gu Xiaomai more confused. Do mutated creatures even have some kind of human-like sensing ability?
While the two were talking, Yumi had already dug out several plants in front of them.
“Brother Chen, come check these ones!”
The three of them had no real experience. They checked every plant they came across, making sure not to miss a single one.
No. 1 Mountain wasn’t tall—it was actually one of the lower peaks in the entire mountain range. But it covered a large area, and its surface vegetation was dense, making it a good place to search for purified plants.
E4 Camp had chosen to settle here precisely because of the rich plant life.
By the time the three of them finished checking the area assigned to them at the foot of the mountain, the sun had already risen to around eight or nine in the morning.
After so long, they still hadn’t found a single purified plant. All three felt a little disappointed, but quickly regained their energy and started heading uphill.
As the sun climbed higher, they finally found ten purified wild aster leaves in a large patch of Malantou-like greens.
Their first successful harvest of the day made them all happy.
To Gu Xiaomai, this plant was a relatively rare wild vegetable in her previous life.
She hadn’t expected to see it here—and in such quantity.
Unfortunately, only a small portion of them were purified.
Thinking of the Malantou dishes her father used to make—dumplings, cold salads, pickled vegetables, even tea boiled with red dates—Gu Xiaomai swallowed hard.
She wanted to eat it all. She wanted to drink it all.
It was nutritious, rich in blood-replenishing properties, and could boost immunity—exactly what she needed right now.
Too bad everything had to be handed in. She wouldn’t get a single bite.
“Do you know what this plant is?” she asked.
Yumi shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. As long as the detector says it’s a purified plant.”
Gu Xiaomai was momentarily speechless. So as long as it was “purified,” they just took it?
What if it was poisonous? Were they planning to eat themselves to death?
Yumi carefully picked the ten purified plants and put them into a bag like treasure. The three continued searching.
By noon, they had found eleven purified shepherd’s purse plants and four purified wild onions, all carefully collected by Yumi.
In the afternoon, it was Yumi’s turn to use the detector while Jiang Chen’an followed behind harvesting.
The two of them were already enough to handle the work, and Jiang Chen’an even had spare time to use his knife to clear away fallen branches and leaves, making it easier to detect plants.
Since the three of them working together was a bit wasteful, and there had been no danger so far, Gu Xiaomai suggested she go search nearby plants and rejoin them later.
“Don’t go too far,” Jiang Chen’an reminded her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay where you can still see me,” she said with a smile.
The mountain was covered in dense vegetation, and after winter, the ground was buried under thick layers of dead leaves and branches. Without clearing them away, many wild plants would be completely hidden.
Unknowingly, Gu Xiaomai climbed higher and higher, eventually leaving Jiang Chen’an and Yumi far behind.
While she was using her hoe to dig through debris, a cluster of sweet potato leaves came into view.
Her eyes lit up immediately. She quickly started digging around the vine, hoping to find more.
Even if only one of them turned out to be a purified sweet potato, she could propagate it and eventually harvest more.
At that moment, she had completely forgotten that she wouldn’t get to keep any of the purified plants.
But her excitement didn’t last long.
In the silent mountain, she heard faint “thud” sounds—like something landing on the ground—mixed with heavy breathing noises.
She looked around cautiously.
Then her expression changed from curiosity to alarm in an instant.
A one-meter-tall lop-eared rabbit was charging straight toward her from the slope above.
Its originally white fur looked corroded, mottled with gray-black patches. Under the sunlight, it looked even more eerie and grotesque.
Its blood-red eyes burned with hunger and madness.
A chill ran through Gu Xiaomai.
She turned and ran, shouting loudly, “Mutated creature!”
Even though she had never seen one before, she was certain—this was it.
She hoped her shout would bring help to those who could help, and make others run if they needed to.
As she ran, she cursed inwardly at Mi Tang. “Cleared once”? What the hell did that mean? Couldn’t they see something this crazy?
The sound behind her grew closer and closer. She knew she was too slow—it was about to catch her.
Just as the mutated rabbit was about to pounce, she gripped her hoe and turned suddenly, smashing it toward its head.
But the rabbit’s forelimb struck like a blade with immense force, knocking the hoe straight out of her hands.
The tool flew through the air and crashed into the ground, kicking up dust.
The impact sent her stumbling backward.
She tried to use Taichi techniques to counterattack, but against overwhelming brute strength, softness was useless.
In the next moment, she was pinned beneath the mutated rabbit.
It opened its mouth, aiming for her head.
At the last second, its bite was deflected.
She felt the pressure on her right arm lift—and turned to look.
It was Jiang Chen’an and Yumi.
They were restraining the rabbit’s left front leg with a purple-gold whip.
A soldier in a red uniform with a bandaged arm rushed in from the side, wielding an axe. He struck the rabbit’s leg and immediately retreated as it kicked back.
He darted in and out, leaving new wounds each time, though none were fatal.
Gu Xiaomai clenched her fist and repeatedly struck whatever part of the rabbit she could reach, trying to ease their pressure.
She could already see Jiang Chen’an and Yumi were losing control, but her strength was barely noticeable.
In that moment, she desperately wished for a weapon—any weapon.
Even a kitchen knife she once feared would be enough to end this.
At the brink of life and death, something appeared in her hand.
A bone-chopping knife.
Cold silver-gray, like it had been forged from frostbitten steel, emitting a chilling aura.
She knew this knife all too well—but she had no time to think about why it was here.
She swung it with all her strength, aiming exactly where her father had once taught her.
The blade sliced cleanly across the rabbit’s neck.
Blood exploded outward, splashing across her face.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Her mind was pulled back to a nightmare she had tried to forget—her parents lying in a pool of blood, their throats cut with a kitchen knife, that same blade soaked in red.
The shock overwhelmed her vision, and she fainted.
The knife slipped from her hand and fell.
The soldier managed to pull her out from under the collapsing rabbit just in time.
After confirming the situation, Mi Tang instructed Jiang Chen’an and Yumi to take her back to camp and have her checked for injuries.
On the way down, Gu Xiaomai kept murmuring weakly:
“Hold the knife… hold it steady…”
Jiang Chen’an soothed her. “It’s steady. It won’t fall.”
Yumi passed the blade to her. “Here, she wants it.”
The moment she felt it in her hand, she tightened her grip.
When she woke again, she insisted she was fine—just minor scrapes.
Then she looked down at the knife.
It was identical to the ancestral bone-chopping knife from her home.
But something was missing.
The rough, uneven bead that used to sit in the handle’s groove was gone.
That bead… she had once tried to pry out as a child, only to cut her hand and get punished by her father.
Now the knife had crossed worlds with her.
And at that moment, she realized something—
Her trembling hands… were steady.
She could hold a knife without fear.
And she didn’t know why.