“Captain, there’s some here!”
“Captain, I found more over here!”
Everyone excitedly searched around.
Tu You avoided the group and quietly hopped back onto Sang Chu’s shoulder:
【You could’ve just sold it to them directly… why go through so much trouble?】
Sang Chu didn’t reply—she simply watched them search for the gold nuggets.
Forming these didn’t take much effort, but she couldn’t produce many.
“A-Chu, aren’t you going to look?”
“I’m done. Brother Zuo, you guys keep searching slowly. I’ll head out first.”
The moment Sang Chu said she was leaving, the mercenaries all stopped what they were doing and gathered around her.
Yuan Ke asked, “Why are you leaving already?”
“I’ve been out almost a month. I’m planning to return to the city while checking nearby areas on the way—maybe I’ll find more places like this earth dragon nest.”
Zuo Xuefeng knew Sang Chu probably preferred working alone. With a large team, she might feel restrained.
He took out his light-brain. “Let me give you Dr. Li’s contact. Add her ID—if you find anything in the future, you can sell directly to her. She’ll give you a fair price.”
“Thank you, Brother Zuo.”
Sang Chu walked out of the cave with Tu You.
Tu You asked:
【So we’re going back now?】
Away from the group, Sang Chu finally answered softly, “Mm. It’s inconvenient to move with them around. During the trip back, I’ll try to form more gold blocks—that should sell for a good amount.”
“Then why did you give the golden sword to Zuo Xuefeng? You worked so hard to make that!”
Sang Chu fell silent for a moment, then lowered her head with a small smile. “Maybe because he’s a good person.”
“That’s it?”
Sang Chu nodded. “Mm. In the apocalypse, people fight tooth and nail to survive. Even good people turn cold—because you never know if the person you save will stab you in the back. Other than Mu Xue and Lu Minfeng, I haven’t met real good people in a long time.
“Mu Xue is my childhood friend. Lu Minfeng likes her. They’re connected to me. But Zuo Xuefeng and the others were complete strangers. Yet they saved me, sheltered me, fed me. Honestly, they gave me a chance to live in this world. A golden blade in exchange for their safety—it’s worth it.”
Tu You didn’t really understand this logic, but it flapped its big ears.
【Fine, fine. It’s yours anyway—you can do what you want.】
“Mm. Let’s go back.”
The girl and the rabbit boarded the hovercar.
Watching Sang Chu’s departing figure, Cao Dianhui put a hand on Zuo Xuefeng’s shoulder. “That girl is a bit silly, but she’s a good person. When you sell that stuff to the doctor, remember to ask for more. Don’t let the girl suffer a loss.”
“I know. I’ll tell the doctor first. She can appraise it ahead of time. We’ll be in the wild for a while anyway. Once we return, we’ll deliver it. Have you finished searching?”
Yuan Ke walked over. “There’s another layer below. We’ve finished this one—fifteen gold beads total. Looks like that golden longsword she found was the biggest item.”
Zuo Xuefeng said, “Tell everyone to be cautious and keep searching downward. Even the smallest bit of golden material shouldn’t be overlooked.”
“Got it.”
While the group continued exploring the cave, Sang Chu collapsed in exhaustion inside the hovercar.
This time she had formed round golden spheres instead of a sword—the sword consumed too much mental power.
Her time was limited—so she shaped them casually, making as many as possible.
A City
After putting away the hovercar, Sang Chu walked toward the mercenary guild.
The moment Hua Xi saw her, she ran toward her, half complaining, half relieved. “Thank the stars—you finally came back safely!”
Reaching her, she couldn’t help but pat her up and down, checking for injuries. “You really don’t let people relax! If I knew, I wouldn’t have helped you get that mercenary ID! I told you to rest, and you ran straight out of the city!”
Though her tone was stern and worried, she sounded more like a scolding parent than someone talking to a grown woman.
People in the Mutated World generally lived long lives—someone who looked in their twenties like Hua Xi was actually around sixty or seventy.
Sang Chu said, “Sorry, Sister Hua Xi. I can’t sit still. I killed a lot of mutated creatures—I can pay back the money now.”
Hua Xi glared at her. “I went looking for you the next day to talk about exactly that—but you vanished!
“Dr. Li said the material taken from you had extremely high attack power against mutated creatures. She wanted to ask if you preferred star coins or something else. But you were gone, so we discussed it, and Dr. Li paid off your mercenary equipment debt for you.”
“Ah? Those things were worth that much?”
Weren’t they just scrap metal? Worth that much?!
Hua Xi laughed at her shocked expression. “Materials like those have never appeared on Guangxing before. Dr. Li has researched weapons for over a hundred years. Our weapons keep improving while mutated creatures evolve stronger defenses.
“But she found your material could pierce a mutated frog’s skin. So she believes your discovery greatly contributed to weapon development—and paid your entire debt.”
“Who’s Sang Chu? Where is she?”
Dr. Li rushed in the moment she heard Sang Chu was back.
She had beautiful silver hair tied neatly in a high ponytail.
She wore a crisp white lab coat with a glowing badge on her chest indicating her identity.
Her smart glasses scanned the room—displaying everyone’s body information instantly.
Spotting Sang Chu, she hurried over, grabbing her hands excitedly, eyes sparkling.
“You’re Sang Chu? I’m Li Yue—everyone calls me Dr. Li. Zuo Xuefeng said you found some golden material in the wild. He hasn’t returned yet, so I’m asking—do you still have more?”
Startled by the scientist’s enthusiasm, Sang Chu nodded quickly and pulled out all the gold spheres she’d stored on the way.
“After learning that the earth dragon nest produced these things, I kept diving underground on the way back. I didn’t find another longsword, but I did find these.”
“Wow! So many! Sang Chu, you really are our lucky star!”
Dr. Li’s eyes sparkled like molten gold. Sang Chu was honestly scared she might swallow the gold out of excitement.
“Sang Chu, can I buy all of these? Price is negotiable!”
Sang Chu hesitated, then asked, “Dr. Li, I saw on the light-brain that we can build houses using a Construction Device. Can I buy one of those? Sometimes the wild isn’t safe—I could build a small place to rest and avoid mutated creature attacks.”
(End of this chapter)