Following the glowing dot, Xu San San noticed a special metallic bracelet wrapped around her right wrist.
The bracelet was about the width of a finger, lightweight and flexible, clinging so closely to her skin that she hadn’t noticed it during the earlier injection.
Xu San San’s heartbeat suddenly quickened. Could it be that she was living out a system storyline?
This high-tech bracelet—could it be her golden finger?!
A flicker of secret delight rose within her, and she gently tapped the bracelet.
Suddenly, a palm-sized light screen appeared before her eyes.
Displayed on the screen were several large characters: “Turn off privacy mode?”
For some reason, Xu San San felt an inexplicable sense of guilt, as if she were a thief.
She quickly scanned her surroundings—it was unusually quiet—but cautiously selected “No,” choosing to maintain privacy mode.
The screen soon switched—
Centered on the display was: Wound Infection Index Decreasing
A numerical value was counting down one by one: 7999, 7998, 7997, 7996…
In the upper left corner of the screen was a line resembling a date and time:
Star Calendar 336, Flame Season Day 67, 23:57
Below the screen, from left to right, were several functional modules:
Identity Info, Contacts, Map, Database, Others
Clearly, this bracelet wasn’t some system golden finger but rather a technological product—similar to a mobile phone.
Sigh.
Xu San San sighed. Had she traveled to some future world?
It was also strange—this body clearly wasn’t her own, yet she had no memories of the original owner!
Apart from those few seconds of falling from the ruins, she was completely in the dark about this new world, knowing absolutely nothing.
Wasn’t this starting point a bit too difficult?
Who am I?
Where am I?
Where am I going?
Holding onto these three ultimate philosophical questions, she tapped on Identity Info, and the interface quickly changed:
Name: Xu San San
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Identity: Scavenger
Permission: Outer Base City Z District 7-4566 (2 Days)
Contribution Points: 38
It seemed the owner of this body shared the same name as her.
Scavenger… Did the original owner survive by scavenging through trash?
Outer Base City Z District 7-4566… It looked like an address.
But what did (2 Days) mean?
And Contribution Points again…
Unfamiliar terms and information flooded Xu San San’s mind.
Filled with question marks, she quickly switched to the Contacts interface.
The contact list was short, with no more than ten people.
Just as she was about to check each contact’s information, a name at the end of the list suddenly began blinking.
Immediately after, an interface labeled “Landlord” popped up with a brief message:
One day remaining until housing expiration. To renew, please pay 5 days’ rent—400 Contribution Points—before 14:00. Otherwise, please vacate by 18:00.
The message didn’t include any specific salutation, appearing to be an automated reminder.
Automated… reminder…
Thinking of this, she hurriedly switched back to the main interface. The time in the upper left corner had already updated to:
Star Calendar 336, Flame Season Day 68, 00:00:53
It was just past midnight—already the second day.
Opening Identity Info again, the address under the Permission section had updated to:
Outer Base City Z District 7-4566 (1 Day)
It seems this address is the rented residence of the original owner, and it’s about to expire.
Five days’ rent requires 400 Contribution Points, which brings to mind the 38 Contribution Points shown in the identity information column.
The gap is huge!
It’s probably going to be very difficult to renew the lease.
Disappointment aside, at least she found the original owner’s residence. She needs to get inside and check it out before the lease expires, then make further plans.
Opening the map function on her wristband, three large characters appeared prominently beside the real-time positioning cursor on the interface:
“Refugee Camp”!
Five minutes later, Xu San San finally had a general understanding of her surroundings:
This is the Refugee Camp outside Base City 103.
Outside the city walls, besides the Refugee Camp, there are also the Shantytown and Exile Zone.
Among these, the Shantytown covers the largest area, surrounding almost two-thirds of Base City 103’s walls and extending outward about 1.5 kilometers.
The Shantytown is arranged with densely packed small squares of varying sizes and shapes, all tightly packed together. Between each row is a narrow, elongated empty zone.
The small squares are likely the houses built in the Shantytown, while the empty zones are probably the roads between them.
In comparison, the Refugee Camp and Exile Zone appear much simpler, with several dozen large blocks neatly arranged, also extending outward about 1.5 kilometers along the base city walls.
Each large block in the Refugee Camp has a number, ranging from 1-001 to 9-009. The closer to the base city walls, the smaller the warehouse number.
The “Warehouse” where Xu San San is currently located is marked as 9-004 on the map, almost right on the 1.5-kilometer extension line.
The layout of the Exile Zone is quite similar to the Refugee Camp, also using numbers for identification, though the specific functions and purposes of these two areas remain unclear.
In contrast, the Base City is demarcated by a thick indicator line.
The Base City is enormous, roughly a massive circle with an 80-kilometer diameter.
Perhaps due to wristband permissions, for the map inside the Base City, Xu San San could only see one familiar address—Z District 7-4566.
This address is very close to the city wall, not far from the west side of the southern gate.
As for other information within the city, the map is almost entirely blank…
“Hiss—”
At that moment, the stinging pain in her left arm interrupted her thoughts.
Switching back to the main interface, she saw that the wound infection index was still continuously dropping.
It seemed the tetanus shot was taking effect…
Using the screen’s faint light, she opened the medical kit with one hand, took out an alcohol swab to clean her right hand, then endured the intense pain to slowly clean the wound on her left arm. Using both hands and her mouth, she sutured the wound, and finally administered an anti-inflammatory injection.
By the time she finished all this, it was already Star Calendar 336, Flame Season Day 68, 00:53 in the morning.
In the small medical kit, one-fifth of the alcohol swabs and sutures had been used. There were three doses of tetanus shots left, three doses of anti-inflammatory shots, one surgical scalpel, and one pair of surgical scissors.
These were all her current possessions.
Perhaps due to the medication taking effect, Xu San San felt utterly exhausted and sore all over after treating her wound. With the last bit of clarity, she glanced at the infection index:
7005, 7004, 7003…
Excellent, steadily descending… then unable to hold on any longer, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
As the sun began to appear on the horizon, the side door of Refugee Camp 9-004’s barracks was opened…