Ling Zhao wanted to get closer for a better look, but her intuition told her not to go any farther.
She decided to respect her intuition and asked the person beside her with the best eyesight, “Bei You, what’s in the lake?”
“…Let me see. It looks like… some kind of insect?”
“One insect, or many?”
“I don’t know,” Bei You said. “I can’t count them. Everywhere the red parts of the lake are visible to the naked eye, it’s all insects.”
Ling Zhao smiled and praised her, “You did very well.”
Excellent. She already had so many lice that one more wouldn’t make her itch, and so much debt that one more debt wouldn’t make her worry.
The distance was too great for her to see the insects clearly, so she couldn’t use her ability to determine their value.
“Lin Xiao, can you get me one?” Ling Zhao thought for a moment before adding, “Without alarming the rest of them.”
“I can, but—”
“I’ll pay,” Ling Zhao said. “Name your price. As long as it’s within reason, I’ll pay it. Get one for me.”
She was exceptionally straightforward when it came to reimbursing expenses—the most straightforward person Lin Xiao had ever met.
Was she really willing to pay a price for her own goals?
He glanced at Ling Zhao’s legs, his eyes darkening slightly. A moment later, he turned and left.
When Lin Xiao returned, he was holding a white glass bottle containing a red insect that resembled an ant.
Its body was covered in layers of red in varying shades. Under the sunlight, it looked like a dazzling gemstone, while beneath the shadows of the trees, it turned a deep crimson, resembling a streak of blood hidden in the darkness and becoming extremely inconspicuous.
【Red-Molten Scarletwood Ant: A wood-eating and carrion-eating ant with habits similar to termites. It feeds on any dry wood it can find and will also eat wet wood when food is scarce. If heavy rain or a prolonged flood season is approaching, they will leave the area far in advance.
Their bodies are covered by a relatively thick, glossy layer of natural biological wax.
This wax allows them to avoid sinking even when they fall into the polluted puddles, radioactive pits, or industrial wastewater pools commonly found in the wasteland. They can easily float on the water’s surface, moving about or “sailing” in search of new food sources or to escape dangers on the ground.
When a large number of Red-Molten Scarletwood Ants gather together, they form a vast crimson tide that makes anyone who sees it deeply uneasy.
Survivors generally avoid areas where large numbers of Red-Molten Scarletwood Ants gather. However, some shelters in the northern regions have mastered methods of extracting and utilizing the wax from their bodies. The wax of the Red-Molten Scarletwood Ant has extremely high medicinal and practical value.
Their wax is a natural sealant and can also accelerate recovery from the low-level radiation burns and mild chemical burns commonly found in the wasteland.
Their anthills burn longer than ordinary wood and coal, producing higher temperatures.
Value: Extremely high. This ant colony currently in sight is worth approximately 20,000 Management Points and 200,000 Nuts. Its future value is uncertain, but a rough estimate places it at no less than 2 million Nuts.】
What an expensive ant.
This was the most valuable and worthwhile thing she had encountered since leaving the shelter.
Fine. She could see its value now.
But what about its danger level?
Ling Zhao looked into the distance again. A water bird saw the abundance of food below and immediately dove toward the ant colony.
The attacked Red-Molten Scarletwood Ants instantly sprayed out a large amount of formic acid.
The water bird never took flight again. It was swallowed directly by the sea of ants.
Ling Zhao withdrew her gaze.
They would first need to cut down the trees in this area, leaving trees only in one designated zone to guide the ants elsewhere. Otherwise, if the colony scattered, they might very well crawl all the way to the shelter.
After making a note of it, Ling Zhao continued onward.
Their group was traveling light, and they took a short rest around noon. Lin Xiao remembered where the nearby industrial zone was located. There were still plenty of materials there, as well as a large number of vehicles.
Although many useful parts had already been stripped from the cars, and any vehicles that could still be driven had long since been taken away, the frames of the vehicles could still be recycled.
As long as she could find the industrial zone, she could later arrange for people to drag the materials back. Whether they were recycled into raw materials or repaired and reused, either option would work.
There was no way Ling Zhao was going to Shelter No. 199 empty-handed. If she went without anything to trade, she probably wouldn’t be able to buy the things she wanted. Going there just to take a look would be a wasted trip.
Ling Zhao made a mental note of Calf Killer Lake…
Pah. What a terrible name. It was way too unlucky for cows.
From now on, this place would be called Red Agate Lake.
Because the very first thing she had seen when looking at the lake was the ants, spread across its surface like agate.
…
On the other side of Calf Killer—
No. Red Agate Lake.
Deep within the Corrupted Forest.
Another pair of eyes was watching everything unfold.
They were not human eyes. Fine scales covered the area around them. Their owner had a head of messy, fiery red hair and wore a crude set of armor.
It was so crude that most of it was made from connected soda cans, with only the vital areas covered by sheets of metal.
Primitive. Savage.
If anyone were to see her appearance—
[Text appears incomplete here in the original.]
Mutated creatures possessed strong regional characteristics. Even mutated creatures of similar types differed from one region to another.
Under the influence of the strange environment, creatures had evolved through various factors, and their changes were hereditary. Examples included scaled horses, elephant-cows, and two-headed, radiation-mutated rats and other creatures.
Humans were no exception.
These people, who were now completely different from ordinary humans, were known as Exiles.
She was an Exile—an alien species rejected by humans, forever unable to enter human settlements.
Exiles generally had two choices. One was to join the ranks of the Raiders, becoming hostile to ordinary human factions and living as savages.
The other was to retreat deep into the mountains and forests and live in seclusion.
She and her tribe belonged to the latter.
Zaika puffed out her throat. At her throat was an organ similar to the vocal sac found in certain amphibians. Whenever she needed to sound a warning, she could inflate it and produce a loud cry.
But at this moment, she didn’t want to warn anyone.
She was just annoyed.
This was a water source they had finally managed to find. After filtering it several times, the water had barely become drinkable. But now that these ants were here, they couldn’t get anywhere near the lake.
She had originally come to fetch water…
Irritated, the tail behind Zaika swished back and forth, flattening the nearby grass. When she noticed what she was doing, she hurriedly grabbed her tail to stop it from leaving more traces.
She snarled viciously at it, “If you keep swishing around, I’ll chop you off!”
With no other choice, Zaika could only return.
She went back to her tribe deep within the forest and found the tribe’s Great Elder.
“I found ants in the lake. The kind that spray at people. Lots and lots of them.”
She drew a large circle, then drew a small circle inside it, using the drawing to indicate just how many there were.
“Hmm…”
The Great Elder tugged at his beard, looking somewhat irritated.
“Troubled times. Today, someone also discovered signs of movement in that human settlement over there. They may very well move over to this side.”
“We may be at risk of being exposed,” the Great Elder said. “If our luck is bad, we may have to start preparing to migrate right now…”
Their settlement was located near an industrial zone.
Tianshui City was not part of a desertified region. Over the long years, wild and rampant nature had swallowed everything.
Greenery climbed up skyscrapers, flowers engulfed the roads, tree roots burst out from landscaped areas, and vines grew unchecked across the metal walls of factories. Among the increasingly collapsing buildings, only the plants grew more and more luxuriant.
Only a few buildings remained standing in this industrial zone, and even those were on the verge of collapse. But after they moved in and repaired them, they had become quite decent homes that could keep out the wind and rain.
“We can kill those people, Great Elder.”
A young and hot-blooded voice suddenly interrupted from nearby. It belonged to another warrior of the tribe, the leader of the hunting team.
“Kill them until they never dare come here again. Make them afraid to set their sights on this area. This is our home!”
“And then?” The Great Elder’s already troubled expression became even more sorrowful. “You kill them, and then what? As long as even one person escapes, people will know that there are still Exiles in this area. They all believe that the mutations on our bodies are a disease. To prevent this disease from spreading, every human settlement will send soldiers to kill us.”
“Then kill them all. Don’t let a single one escape.”
The young warrior spoke again.
“I’ve already contacted another tribe. They call themselves Bloodfang. If we’re willing, they’re willing to take us in.”
“A name like that is not something a normal settlement would use… You’ve been in contact with Raiders!”
The Great Elder finally pulled out the strand of beard he had been constantly twisting between his fingers.
“How dare you! No tribe that has come into contact with Raiders has ever ended well! They’re a group of lunatics—a pack of beasts wearing human skin!”
“You didn’t reveal where we are, did you?”
Zaika bared her teeth. Her upper lip curled back as far as it could, revealing sharp fangs. Her golden eyes were intimidatingly fierce.
“Even if the Great Elder exiles me afterward, I’ll kill you right now.”
“Of course I didn’t.” The young warrior sounded confused. “But they’ve already found a new target. They should have gone there by now.”
“They said it was some town that had been attacked by Night Demons. Even the mayor is gone, and it has almost no defensive strength left.”
“They also said that if I wanted to, I could go with them.”
He paused, thinking.
“The name of that town was a bit hard to pronounce. Let me think…”
“Lingfeng Town? I think that was what it was called.”
…
Li Qingshan didn’t have to cut trees today.
Together with Sentinel Type I, she was heading to Lingfeng Town to meet up with the people who were still staying there.
The people who had gone there previously had not yet returned. Many people were reluctant to leave their old homes. They had been urged to pack up for several days now. Some were already on the road, while others had yet to depart.
But even the mayor had already left, and half of the town’s guards had been taken away. Among the remaining half, the strongest fighters were already at the shelter.
What was the point of those people staying behind?
Li Qingshan couldn’t understand it.
The owner of this shelter was generous and straightforward. They were given three meals every day.
Three meals!
Back when they were in Lingfeng Town, they generally ate only two meals a day even during the busy seasons. To preserve food, it was usually made into rye bread or rye flatbread. The former could practically be used as a weapon, while the latter could last an entire week if you broke off pieces to eat. By the end, it would be as hard as a stone.
In winter, they had only one meal a day.
Li Qingshan had a large appetite. She had always been hungry, but she never dared say so because people in the town would consider someone like that extremely lazy and wasteful.
Only here at the shelter did the Administrator make sure that everyone who worked had enough food to eat. In the future, she could even support herself by earning water vouchers.
She only ate two jin a day. Even on days when she ate more, it was no more than four jin. She was easy enough to support. She didn’t need to marry into another family—she could support herself.
Anyone willing to go to Lingfeng Town to help with the relocation would receive an extra water voucher, along with employee points. Li Qingshan signed up without a second thought.
Their group traveled quickly. Since they had already come this way before, they had carved out a path.
They arrived at Lingfeng Town before lunchtime.
Only some elderly people and young people who refused to leave remained in Lingfeng Town.
“I’m not leaving!”
The elderly man who spoke blew out his beard and glared.
“I’m already this old. What do I have to be afraid of? It’s not like Raiders are going to come, right?”
Author’s Note:
To improve my word-count ranking while I’m on the featured list, and also because I’ve caught a cold—and because this is a really good place to split the chapter—I’m breaking it here.
This chapter is only about 3,000 Chinese characters. Sumimasen.
Tomorrow’s update will be at 11 p.m. I think I’m getting featured tomorrow.
Apparently, a certain word got censored. I can’t take it anymore…
After the featured period is over, I’ll go back to updating 6,000 characters a day.