Ye Mian clicked “Yes” without a second thought.
Whether it was trash or treasure, she would know once she picked it up and took a look. Once both items were in her storage, Ye Mian clicked on each to inspect them.
The Two-tailed Snake carcass had only one option: exchange for ten points.
The greenish-yellow stone, however, had three options: View, Use, and Exchange.
[Shuo Stone (A rare metal ore)]
[Currently unusable (Lacks forging tools)]
[Exchangeable for 100 points]
Although it was an ore she had never heard of, Ye Mian was quite interested in the “Use” option. After thinking it over, she left it alone for the time being and only exchanged the Two-tailed Snake carcass for ten points.
Afterward, she hid the system interface and looked around, deciding on a destination—a sparse grove of trees located by a small creek.
After all, the botanical manual stated that most fungi are parasitic on certain plants and trees, particularly favoring decaying and damp environments. While she was at it, she could also chop some wood, killing two birds with one stone.
Likely because all the mutated beasts in the vicinity had been devoured by the Two-tailed Snake earlier, the journey was peaceful, and no further accidents occurred.
Da Hei, however, remained vigilant. His three heads looked in different directions, and his noses were busy sniffing the air, his red eyes flickering with a faint sense of anticipation.
He had clearly developed a taste for the benefits of battle.
Seeing his excessive energy, Ye Mian simply handed the axe to him and commanded him to chop the nearest tree.
Having evolved once, Da Hei no longer needed a demonstration. He clamped his teeth onto the axe and lunged forward. In the next second, a “crack” rang out, and a tree nearly three meters tall snapped and fell.
“?” Ye Mian froze for a moment. “Huh?”
If she had just taught Da Hei how to mow grass, wouldn’t a single sprint have leveled an entire patch of weeds?
However, this thought only lasted a few seconds. Ye Mian soon discovered that it wasn’t because Da Hei possessed innate divine strength that allowed him to fell a tree with one swing.
[Would you like to pick up “Rotten Wood” x3?]
Ye Mian walked over quickly and found that the tree, which had looked normal moments ago, had withered and rotted instantly upon hitting the ground. The roots were also blackened, as if they had died a long time ago.
“How could this happen?”
Ye Mian frowned slightly. She picked up the wood first, then directed Da Hei toward another tree.
[Would you like to pick up “Rotten Wood” x5?]
[Would you like to pick up “Rotten Wood” x3?]
[Would you like to pick up “Rotten Wood” x2?]
Watching the useless wood in her warehouse stack up to over thirty units, Ye Mian couldn’t help but fall into thought. Just as she was speculating about a certain possibility, a familiar text box popped up.
[Attack Immunized]
Beside her, Da Hei also barked toward a specific direction.
Hmm?
Ye Mian instinctively looked down and saw a tree root quickly retreating into the ground. After a rustling sound, it vanished.
But she had a dog with three noses!
“Da Hei, after it!”
“Woof!”
Wind rose beneath Da Hei’s paws as he vanished in a blur, following the scent.
Seeing him run off, Ye Mian realized she should have had him carry her along. But it was clearly too late now; she could only run after him helplessly.
Fortunately, the grove wasn’t large. Before Ye Mian could run herself out of breath, she successfully spotted the thing Da Hei was fighting.
[Mutated Root-Eating Tree: No direct threat. Weakness: Bark.]
A Root-Eating Tree?
So this was the tree that had devoured the roots of all the others, causing them to rot and wither?
But why was the bark its weakness?
Ye Mian focused her gaze. It appeared to be an ancient tree with a trunk thick enough to require two people to encircle it. Several green vines hung from its lush canopy, which were currently working in tandem with the roots bursting from the ground to toy with the originally high-spirited Da Hei.
Da Hei couldn’t do anything to it, but it couldn’t harm Da Hei in the slightest either.
Ye Mian now understood what “no direct threat” meant, and why the bark was its weakness. Whether it was the green vines or the roots shamelessly tunneling through the earth, they were all positioned to protect the trunk.
Just as she thought this, she saw Da Hei accidentally get snagged by a Root-Eating root in a sneak attack. Immediately, other roots and vines followed suit, tightly binding and entangling Da Hei.
Da Hei struggled with all his might to no avail, only able to let out pitiful “whining” sounds for help.
“…Hold on!”
Ye Mian ran closer, weaving through the vines and roots that tried to attack her. She picked up the axe Da Hei had dropped and walked straight toward the trunk.
Once Ye Mian arrived and slammed the axe into the trunk, the mutated tree finally realized something was wrong. It hastily retracted all its green vines and roots, lashing them all toward Ye Mian.
At the same time, two “thud” sounds rang out. Aside from Da Hei being dropped, something else was also set free.
Ye Mian didn’t bother looking back. She raised the axe and struck again.
Boom.
The ground beneath her feet vibrated. Subsequently, Ye Mian found the other side of her axe tightly entangled, and her vision was completely blocked.
“Oh? Quite smart.”
Ye Mian had originally intended to handle it herself, but now she could only helplessly order: “Da Hei, go!”
“Awoo~!”
As if he had finally found the correct way to counterattack, Da Hei howled with extreme excitement and lunged, biting down on the notch Ye Mian had just carved into the trunk.
The green vines and roots that were focused on stopping Ye Mian tried to divert a portion to entangle Da Hei, but Da Hei flicked them away with a whip of his tail. In desperation, they could only turn all their attention back to Da Hei.
Ye Mian took the opportunity to pull back her axe and continued to chop without a word.
After several repetitions, the Mutated Root-Eating Tree couldn’t hold out much longer and lost all resistance. The green vines and roots hung limp and began to wither. Shortly after, a dark green liquid began to flow steadily from the trunk.
Da Hei couldn’t resist taking a small lick. After tasting it and finding it decent, he began to lap it up greedily.
Ye Mian couldn’t help but think to herself—this trip was basically just an outing to find food for Da Hei.
Still, a full belly makes for better work.
Once Da Hei finished drinking the liquid, Ye Mian silently handed the axe back. “Keep chopping it.”
“Woof!” Da Hei replied. He bit onto the axe and began chopping the trunk, which had not yet withered, stroke by stroke.
Ye Mian clapped her hands. After circling the large tree and inspecting it carefully, she successfully found some parasitic fungi nestled in the crevices of the roots exposed above the soil.
[Mutated Shiitake Mushroom (Polluted): Delicate flesh, no threat (Edible only after purification)]
Since no weakness was listed, there wasn’t one. Ye Mian reached out and picked a few. They felt thick and soft in her hand, emitting a faint fishy scent.
She had found ingredients for lunch; she just didn’t know how they would taste.
After storing the shiitake mushrooms in her warehouse, Ye Mian looked around again, but aside from some dead trees that had returned to a withered state after losing their support, she found nothing new.
By the time she returned to the trunk of the large tree, Da Hei had nearly finished chopping, and the entire tree crashed to the ground.
[Would you like to pick up “Wood” x20?]
After clicking yes, Ye Mian breathed a sigh of relief. “Whose idea was it for woodcutting to be this difficult?”
Even though Da Hei had done most of the physical labor.
“Good job, Da Hei.” Ye Mian took the axe from his mouth and was about to give his head a symbolic pat of comfort when she saw him staring straight behind her, letting out a bark.
Ye Mian thought something else had arrived and tightened her grip on the axe as she turned around. Instead, she found herself staring wide-eyed at another human.
It was a young man dressed in black. He looked cool, but in reality, he was shivering while clutching a black bag to his chest.
Ye Mian remembered now—when Da Hei was dropped earlier, something else had hit the ground too. She hadn’t expected it to be a person.
Seeing her look over, he seemed a bit uncomfortable and frightened, but he still forced himself not to look away. He gave her a polite nod. “Thank you for saving me.”
Ye Mian didn’t respond immediately. she was reading the information popping up in her mind with some surprise.
[??? (Evolver), Initial Skill: [Fortress]]
Because she had no relevant memories in her head, she had assumed she could only perceive information about mutated species.
It seemed the original owner of her body had been so unwilling to accept this mutation that even the skills she could actively use were a form of escapism.
Seeing that Ye Mian had no intention of responding to him, Xue Kai scratched his head to hide his awkwardness. Just as he was about to say his goodbyes and leave, he heard the girl—who looked a few years younger than him—finally speak.
“You, do you know how to farm? Or cook?”
Xue Kai: “…I actually do know both.”
“?” Ye Mian looked surprised. “How come?”
“Uh,” seeing that she likely meant no harm, Xue Kai relaxed slightly. “Because I’m an agriculture graduate, and I live alone, so I learned to do both.”
“That’s impressive.”
Ye Mian’s praise came from the heart. After all, she lived alone too, but so far she only knew how to heat up convenience store fast food.
Another factor was that ingredients on Blue Star were scarce and rare. The food that lower-class citizens like her could eat was processed by machines from low-quality, potentially contaminated experimental materials.
Middle-class citizens with some assets never ate such food, choosing instead to consume clean, healthy, and slightly expensive nutrient solutions.
Being praised so sincerely made Xue Kai feel a bit happy, but then he remembered his current situation, and his mood darkened again.
“You have nowhere to go, right?” Ye Mian caught the change in his expression and seized the opportunity to extend an olive branch. “Want to come see my farm? If you help me farm, I can keep you fed and sheltered, and you won’t have to worry about safety.”
“Huh? A farm?”
Ye Mian’s expression was so serious and sincere, without a hint of a joke in her eyes, that even though Xue Kai found it incredibly absurd, he couldn’t help but lean toward believing her.
Furthermore, her first sentence struck a chord. He truly had nowhere to go, and he might run into another mutated species before he got very far.
But could he really follow a stranger who seemed a bit eccentric?
Even though this stranger had just saved his life.
“You can come and take a look. If you don’t want to stay, you can leave.”
With that, Ye Mian gestured to Da Hei toward the path home. “Let’s go, we’re heading back.”
The girl and the dog left immediately, walking out of the grove without looking back.
In truth, what really scared Xue Kai was that three-headed hound named Da Hei. But from just now until now, seeing how it had listened to the girl so obediently, his defenses slowly began to crumble.
After a moment of hesitation, he set off, following the girl and the dog from a distance.
Halfway there, the girl seemed to suddenly remember something and directed the three-headed dog to change directions, heading toward a small, distant village.
Xue Kai quickened his pace to keep up, but he didn’t follow them into the village. Instead, he looked around warily.
Suddenly, Xue Kai heard a “rumbling” sound coming from the direction of the village. When he looked toward the sound and saw what was happening, he was momentarily stunned.
But what he saw next made his eyes widen even further in disbelief.