“Beep beep beep!”
Star Calendar Year 336, Flame Season Day 71, 05:30 in the morning.
Xu San San was promptly awakened by her Optical Brain – another day of diligently collecting supplies!
She went through the familiar routine of waking up – public toilet – washing up…
Before leaving, Xu San San opened the medical kit and found there were still 3 tubes of Nutrient Solution inside. Clearly, Xie Yuan hadn’t drunk any yesterday.
Thinking about her Contribution Points balance of 76 and the Nuclear Crystal worth 500, she considered herself somewhat wealthy now. This could exchange for over 50 tubes of Nutrient Solution!
Then her professional habits kicked in – meals should be regular. She didn’t want to be half-dead from stomach problems before even getting bitten by an Infected.
She immediately took out one tube of Nutrient Solution, opened it, poured half into her mouth from a distance, and handed it to Xie Yuan:
“I declare that starting today, we’ll eat at least two meals a day – breakfast and dinner. If needed, we’ll add lunch.”
After speaking, she gestured for Xie Yuan to drink quickly.
Xie Yuan, still dazed, finished the Nutrient Solution and his mind turned to mush again:
She, she, she’s sharing a tube of Nutrient Solution with me again… and two meals a day? How are we going to survive like this…
“Remember to guard our supplies at home!” Xu San San lifted the plastic sheet and went out.
…
Sitting on the Spaceship, Xu San San looked at the small flatbed cart with its deeply concave middle section, feeling quite distressed.
She hadn’t had time to repair it yesterday…
She also remembered the small hoe that was lost before she could even get used to it.
Ah, as expected, things that come too easily don’t stay!
Soon, the familiar broadcast sounded:
The Spaceship has arrived at Wasteland 13. The protective shield is being deployed. Preparing to land…
…
The cabin door will open shortly. Please note: do not leave the protective shield range…
Looking at the dense forest ahead and breathing in the air from the plant kingdom, the Wasteland had significant advantages compared to the City, especially for someone like her without weapons or mechanical assistance.
Because the cart’s bed was severely sunken, with the deepest part lower than the plane of the Wheels, the Handcart didn’t move smoothly on the ground. It bumped and jolted, making “clunk clunk clunk” sounds. If not for the soft soil and grass in the dense forest, Xu San San would have been reluctant to use it.
But ultimately, it was still a Handcart – nothing could change its destiny of hauling goods!
Due to the small flatbed cart holding her back, Xu San San failed to keep up with the main group again today.
She wasn’t a complete novice anymore, unlike her first aimless, disorganized Scavenging attempt. She felt that through her previous Wasteland experience, she might have grasped some special tricks.
So this time, Xu San San had a very clear purpose – she headed straight for large trees with vines, then picked up the vines one by one for testing.
Why vines?
Because during her last Scavenging trip, her lucky goddess had first appeared among the vines. Since the Wasteland relied on mysticism, she decided to be superstitious to the end.
Unfortunately, her lucky goddess hadn’t woken up today. After over 4 hours, she had visited all the surrounding large trees but failed to find a single useful vine.
Ah! Truly mystical – completely baffling…
Today’s special Base mission was walnuts. Maybe she should join the excitement?
Xu San San looked around. Well, she had fallen behind again today and now had no idea where the walnut trees were…
It seemed she had to implement Plan B – the indiscriminate testing method.
So she began again, walking while scanning, testing everything she saw without any specific target or discrimination.
Surprisingly, this “never abandon, never give up” comprehensive strategy proved more effective. Although she didn’t find anything edible, she did collect quite a few moderately polluted but usable dead branches.
By noon at exactly 12:00, when the sun was at its fiercest, Xu San San found some shade under a tree to sit and rest. While drinking water, she watched a line of ants crawling past her feet.
The ants in the Wasteland had clearly mutated too, each about the size of a finger. Fortunately, they posed no threat to humans – neither afraid nor aggressive.
After observing them for a long time, Xu San San finally couldn’t resist scanning them.
Ant meat was still meat after all!
But while the ideal was beautiful, reality was harsh:
“Beep! Severe pollution!”
“Beep! Severe pollution!”
“Beep! Severe pollution!”
…
Unfortunately, aside from the continuous “severe pollution” alerts, no miracles occurred.
By 13:05 in the afternoon, feeling disheartened and ready to throw caution to the wind, Xu San San simply pulled her small flatbed cart and followed the ant procession deeper into the dense forest.
Of course, she was also genuinely curious – why were these ants endlessly crawling in one direction? Were they moving their nest?
But her intuition told her these ants must have discovered something…
Naturally, while following the ants, she continued her scanning.
Passing through the previous dense forest, she suddenly heard:
“Beep! Moderate pollution, usable!”
Xu San San looked at the tree trunk lying across her path, utterly delighted.
The trunk was quite long, about 8-9 meters, though only about 20 centimeters in diameter. It seemed extremely hard – even after repeatedly cutting it with her Surgical knife for some time, she couldn’t make a scratch.
It seemed she’d have to take the whole trunk with her.
With great effort, Xu San San slowly moved the trunk onto the Handcart, then used rope to tie it together with the collected dead branches and secure everything.
Since the trunk was so long and the small flatbed cart was overly “petite,” the trunk extended over 4 meters beyond the front of the cart, and similarly over 4 meters beyond the back. Although it looked rather odd, the trunk’s center of gravity rested on the cart’s center, maintaining balance well enough that it didn’t significantly hinder movement.
Well, for the sake of supplies, as long as she could still pull the cart, Xu San San didn’t really mind these details.
Over the past two days, she’d also noticed her physical condition seemed to have improved, especially her stamina and strength. Otherwise, given her weak state when she first arrived, she wouldn’t have been able to escape the Infected’s pursuit yesterday, nor move this long piece of wood today.
It must be because of that giant egg – healing power was truly remarkable, not only curing all ailments but also strengthening the body!
The ant procession was very long, but the further she followed, the sparser the trees became, and the shorter their height, until a large shrubbery appeared before her. Calling it shrubbery wasn’t quite accurate – it was more like a vast field of vines.
The vines were thick and sturdy, intertwining and spiraling as they grew in all directions. Countless leaves hung from the vines – large, dense leaves that blocked the sunlight and obstructed Xu San San’s view into the interior.
Before she could even process her shock, she saw the ant column gradually dispersing as they entered the vine-covered area.
Looks like we’ve arrived!
Xu San San secured the handcart and randomly chose a direction to venture deeper.
Not far in, she spotted numerous spherical objects hidden beneath the vine leaves, each twice the size of a yoga ball.
“Green skin with dark green patterns… This… this…
Could these be watermelons!”
No wonder the ants were crawling here—they must have caught the scent. These watermelons must be incredibly sweet!
Her mouth watered uncontrollably as images of eating watermelon while enjoying air conditioning flashed through her mind.
But her daydream lasted less than a second before reality snapped her back.
Quantity didn’t matter—what mattered was whether they were edible!
So she began working her way from the outer edge of the watermelon field, systematically moving inward in concentric circles. The field echoed with continuous mechanical announcements:
“Beep! Severe contamination!”
“Beep! Severe contamination!”
“Beep! Severe contamination!”
“Beep! Severe contamination!”
…
Soon, over an hour had passed, and Xu San San had progressed from the outer perimeter to near the center.
Disappointment was inevitable, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave empty-handed.
Wiping sweat from her forehead, she readjusted her small scarf, bent down, and continued testing further in.
“Beep! Lightly contaminated, edible!”
Indeed, heaven rewards the diligent—her lucky goddess had arrived!
Xu San San stared at the mutated watermelon before her, roughly the size of a washing machine, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
She repeatedly scanned it with her device:
“Beep! Lightly contaminated, edible!”
“Beep! Lightly contaminated, edible!”
“Beep! Lightly contaminated, edible!”
Each mechanical tone sounded like the most beautiful melody in this post-apocalyptic world, bringing boundless joy.
But while she could indulge in the moment, work couldn’t wait.
Xu San San grunted and strained to roll the giant watermelon out of the field, planning to return after finishing her survey of the central area to figure out how to load it onto the handcart.
Reinvigorated, Xu San San returned to her previous spot and didn’t even spare the watermelon vines and leaves, testing them all thoroughly. Sure enough, the vine that produced low-contamination fruit was no ordinary plant!
After another “Beep! Lightly contaminated, edible!” confirmation, a realization dawned on her:
If this watermelon vine was also lightly contaminated, did that mean lightly contaminated roots could grow lightly contaminated fruit?
Then if she took some soil home to plant it, wouldn’t she be able to grow watermelons every year from then on?
Action followed thought. She carefully dug up the watermelon vine, though unfortunately, the surrounding soil was all severely contaminated.
How strange—severely contaminated soil could actually grow lightly contaminated watermelons…
Xu San San couldn’t make sense of it, but time waited for no one. She had no choice but to continue working diligently, testing toward the center.
As she progressed through the relentless “severe contamination” alerts, a single “moderate contamination” suddenly stood out.
Xu San San paused, not looking down on this moderately contaminated watermelon at all. Even if it wasn’t edible, it might still have other uses.
She reached out to touch the green watermelon—cool and smooth to the touch, but somewhat sticky…
Huh? Sticky?
Why would it be sticky?
Xu San San frowned, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Looking closer, the watermelon was enormous, larger than any she’d seen before.
Size doesn’t matter—the bigger, the better! It means there’s more usable parts!
But why does it feel different from the watermelon earlier?
Her gaze drifted downward, and suddenly, she spotted a large leaf nearby that looked remarkably like a flipper.
Xu San San, puzzled, instinctively scanned the leaf out of habit. With a “Beep! Moderate contamination, usable!”, she finally got a clear look at what was in front of her!
This wasn’t some leaf that resembled a flipper—this was damn well an actual giant flipper!
Taking a closer look, where was the big watermelon? What she had been touching and feeling earlier was actually the Xeno-beast’s massive rear end!
Xu San San jolted alert, immediately stopping her scanning motion. She bent down, held her breath, and tried to minimize her presence as much as possible, slowly retreating step by step, terrified of making any noise that might disturb the Xeno-beast before her.
Stay calm, stay calm, retreat slowly, retreat slowly…
Another cold sweat drenched her. Over ten minutes passed before she finally managed to back out of the center of the melon field. The pace was too slow; she worried something might go wrong.
Xu San San observed her surroundings again and saw that everything remained as before, with no signs of abnormality. Gradually, she turned around and then broke into a sprint back the way she came!
Just as she turned, a massive Xeno-beast covered in patterns identical to watermelon rinds slowly rose and turned its head.