Upon seeing the sight inside the room, Chen Jia was completely stunned. Ye Mian and Lu Ning also exchanged a surprised glance, both confirming that this was likely the location marked with the star on the treasure map.
However, this “treasure” was a bit too practical. As this thought crossed her mind, Ye Mian looked at the boxes of instant food, biscuits, and bottled water filling the room. They weren’t lacking food or drink, so these items were merely a nice bonus.
Ye Mian thought for a moment and said, “Just take some things you want to eat or drink. Let’s leave the rest for whoever comes next.”
Compared to instant noodles and biscuits, Lu Ning preferred having hot meals every day, especially meat. She turned and walked away decisively. “You guys choose; I’m going to check the other rooms.”
Chen Jia didn’t know where she was going with Ye Mian and Lu Ning. Fearing they might run out of food later, she cast aside her shyness and stepped forward to pick some instant noodles and mineral water.
“No need for water; we have plenty at home,” Ye Mian said. She stored several boxes of instant noodles in her system warehouse and looked at the other snacks. Her predecessor had been a diligent student who mostly ate at the cafeteria, so she wasn’t familiar with the various fancy-packaged foods. “Is anything else good?”
“Ah…” Seeing Ye Mian acting like she was at a convenience store wanting to try everything, Chen Jia actually started helping her choose. “This self-heating hotpot is good, and the dry noodles are tasty too. Wafers and Oreos are okay, but they make you thirsty.”
“As for drinks, except for the Cola which might taste a bit weird, the juices and other things are mostly just sweet.” After her introduction, Chen Jia couldn’t help but mutter, “It seems the person who hoarded these wasn’t very old.”
Ye Mian immediately understood—these were all flavors popular with young people. That settled it. After taking a box or a dozen of each type and tidying her system warehouse, she heard Lu Ning call out from the other side, her voice echoing from afar.
“Ye Mian, over here!”
It was rare for Lu Ning to shout like that, and she didn’t even come over to get her. Ye Mian guessed it must be a major discovery. When she saw what it was, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
“Is that… fuel!?”
This was the room in the furthest corner. The windows were tightly covered with black cloth, letting in no light. Only the faint light from the open door revealed rows of cylindrical drums. The air was filled with a thick, pungent smell.
“Yes, it’s all diesel.” Lu Ning speculated, “The owner might have planned to use a diesel generator, which is why they hoarded so much. I guess they never got to use it.”
But it was incredibly useful for them! Although they didn’t have any proper farm machinery yet, they would surely find some if they looked! Without a word, Ye Mian went in and collected every single barrel into her warehouse.
“This must be the ‘treasure’ the map was really guiding us to find,” Ye Mian said, a bit of an afterthought. Lu Ning nodded, thinking the same.
A confused Chen Jia silently tried to make sense of everything. The map was a treasure map, and the star marked the treasure, which meant Ye Mian and Lu Ning had come up the mountain for a treasure hunt. But they had no idea what the treasure actually was. Chen Jia looked up blankly; had the world really become like this?
Ye Mian and Lu Ning had no intention of explaining further. Actions spoke louder than words. Their goals for this trip were basically achieved, and it was time to go back.
Just as Ye Mian was about to speak, Big Black, who was guarding outside, suddenly started barking ferociously with a hint of aggression. Lu Ning reacted first and rushed out.
“Let’s go!” Ye Mian followed closely behind, pulling out her new wood-chopping knife.
Once outside, she saw the large creature Big Black was fighting. Ye Mian relaxed slightly and shook her head at Lu Ning. “Let’s see how it goes first.”
[Golden Toad, Intermediate Mutant. Mucus is highly toxic and corrosive. Weak spot: belly.]
This was the third time Big Black had faced an intermediate mutant, but it wasn’t just him getting stronger—the enemies were getting more troublesome too. Although the Golden Toad was massive, it had pea-sized eyes bulging out all over its body. No matter where you attacked from, it would dodge in advance. Plus, its tongue was a meter long, flexible and lightning-fast.
After several exchanges, Big Black hadn’t managed to get close once. Instead, he was covered in slimy mucus, which was why he sounded so frustrated. Lu Ning couldn’t help much since she didn’t have the same tough fur or poison resistance.
Ye Mian put away her knife. As Big Black retreated toward them after dodging another attack, she called out calmly, “Don’t get impatient. Start running around it first, then look for a chance to use your tail flick.” She made the corresponding hand signals and pointed to the toad’s belly, which remained close to the ground.
Big Black let out a howl and stopped trying to bite or scratch blindly. He began to use his long legs to his advantage, running in circles and shaking off the disgusting mucus. At first, the toad could barely keep up, jumping to change direction and lashing its tongue, but gradually it seemed to get dizzy. Its movements slowed visibly.
Eventually, it gave up on attacking and just used its many eyes to track Big Black. The large lumps on its sides pulsed, as if it were accumulating enough mucus for a finishing blow.
Just as the toad was preparing to strike, Big Black suddenly lunged from above. The toad had been waiting for this; it raised its head, lashed out its tongue, and sprayed a massive amount of yellow-green mucus, enough to cover all three of Big Black’s heads.
However, Big Black made a sharp turn in mid-air. His tail, which he hadn’t used yet, swerved past the long tongue and slammed heavily into the toad.
Squelch— The toad was hit squarely and fell backward, involuntarily spraying even more mucus. Big Black, rushing in again, was drenched, but he was unaffected. He bit down hard on the toad’s vulnerable belly, and yellow-green fluid immediately began to leak out.
The battle was over.
Ye Mian breathed a sigh of relief, but then her heart tightened as she sensed something. She shouted instinctively, “Big Black, come back!”
Big Black let go immediately and leaped back to Ye Mian’s side. In the next instant, several silver-gray arrows whistled down. Two pierced the toad’s belly, causing it to collapse completely, its struggles ending. Another arrow landed exactly where Big Black had been standing, its tip sinking deep into the ground.
“Huh.”
A female voice sounded, followed by two figures darting out from the lush forest. They reached Ye Mian’s group in an instant. Passing Lu Ning, who had instinctively moved to shield her and Chen Jia, Ye Mian raised an eyebrow as she looked at the newcomers.
They were a young man and woman who looked seventy to eighty percent alike. They were well-dressed and had a distinguished air. The woman, holding a heavy-looking bow, had the “Piercing” initial skill. The man, who was holding her arm, had the “Teleportation” skill.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was with you,” the young woman said with an apologetic expression, adding, “We mean no harm; we just wanted to help.”
The man nodded in apology as well, his eyes flickering with curiosity as he looked at Big Black. Seeing their polite attitude and sincere apology—and that they weren’t prejudiced against Big Black for being a mutant—Lu Ning stepped aside slightly and looked at Ye Mian.
Ye Mian thought for a moment and said, “Then let’s make a deal.”
“Ah?” The young woman was startled. “Go ahead.”
“Give us the mutant’s corpse. In exchange, I can give you some food.”
“Uh…” They didn’t really need the ugly toad’s body anyway. Besides, if they hadn’t misunderstood, the three-headed dog could have finished it off even without their intervention. After thinking it over, the woman said, “The corpse is yours as compensation. We don’t need the food; keep it for yourselves.”
“Fine, then I’ll take that as you agreeing to the trade.” After saying that, Ye Mian went to the off-road vehicle, opened the door, and pretended to rummage around before pulling out a box of food.
The box was a transparent insulated lunch box Xue Kai had scavenged from the supermarket. Inside were some flour-based foods that Chen Jia had also eaten on the way up—corn buns, rabbit meat buns, scallion pancakes, and the like. Xue Kai had put a lot of effort into preparing them.
The young woman, who was about to refuse again, was stunned when she saw the food. The man beside her actually swallowed his saliva audibly. Ye Mian stuffed the lunch box into the woman’s hands and signaled to Big Black. “Go ahead.”
“Woof!”
With her permission, Big Black eagerly bounded over to feast. Before long, the massive toad began to wither, eventually leaving only its outer shell, a puddle of mucus, and two gleaming silver-gray arrows.
[Pick up “Toad Remains”?]
[Pick up “Shuoshi” (Glistening Stones)?]
After collecting these items, Ye Mian signaled Lu Ning and Chen Jia to get into the car. She then nodded to the young pair, who were restraining themselves from moving. “We have things to do, so we’ll be going. See you if fate allows.”
“Big Black!” After directing the dog into the cargo bed of the truck, Ye Mian hopped into the passenger seat and they drove off without a second thought.
“…?” Just like that?
“Sis, give me a bun, quick.” Now that the outsiders were gone, the young man dropped his cold act and stared at the lunch box in the woman’s hands.
Xu Ziyue couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “What’s the rush? Let’s check inside first.” Although she said that, she opened the lunch box as they walked. Each took a bun and started eating while searching the villa.
They immediately found the room filled with food and drinks and froze in their tracks.
“They really aren’t short of food,” Xu Zijia said, blinking. “Was that her trying to make friends? But that’s way too much food to just give away.”
Xu Ziyue also felt something was off. After all, the vehicle had space for cargo, but those three only used it for the mutant beast. With that in mind, she checked the other rooms and stopped at the door of the corner room.
“Did they only take the diesel?” But where did they put it?
Regardless, the supplies in that room weren’t left behind because they couldn’t be taken; they were left intentionally. Moreover, even though the siblings were the ones who had made a mistake, they had received a box of food for free.
“We really owe them a lot.” Xu Ziyue smiled helplessly. “Oh well, this trip was quite a harvest. Go back and get Brother Yuan and the others.”