Just then, a carp roughly the size of a tuna suddenly leapt up out of the water.
Its silver scales glittered in the sunlight, and its powerfully thrashing tail kicked up layers of spray before it plunged back in with a “plop.”
As the carp broke the surface, the gold marker appeared again in Jiang Zhi’s mind.
So that’s what the radar had been signaling, this fish!
Jiang Zhi’s gaze locked tightly onto that streak of silver.
Unfortunately, as the carp swam deep into the river, the gold marker in her mind slowly vanished along with it.
Jiang Shu quickly asked, “What good thing?”
Jiang Zhi smiled. “The same kind of good thing as that bone staff in your hand.”
“!!”
Jiang Shu was instantly beside himself with excitement. “That fish just now?”
That fish was several hundred pounds at the least. If the whole thing was the kind of gold-marked item Ah Zhi mentioned, they’d be rich!
Jiang Zhi drew her gaze back and said to Jiang Shu, “We’re not prepared enough today. Let’s note this for now, and come back next time once we’re ready.”
“Absolutely!! If we really can get our hands on it, we’ll have one foot on the road to the good life!”
As Jiang Shu spoke, he was already picturing the wonderful days ahead.
Jiang Zhi laughed. “Come on, we’ve still got time. Let’s move on to the next spot.”
The siblings reined in their restless hearts, tidied up the scene, and set off.
What the two of them didn’t know was that, not long after they left, an enormous head suddenly surfaced from the river bottom in the middle of the channel. The long body rolled in the water for a moment, then slowly sank back down.
＊
There was still some time until noon, so the siblings planned to head to their destination for this trip: the wild-vegetable woods.
The wild-vegetable woods were vast. According to the mutated-creature catalog, the area came to over ten mu.
Inside grew more than twenty kinds of wild vegetables.
Beggarticks, mock strawberry, foxtail grass… and plenty Jiang Zhi had never seen before.
Jiang Zhi guessed the place had been farmland before the catastrophe, but after the mutation the wild vegetables had overrun it, and that was what had ended up benefiting them humans.
Fortunately, these mutated wild vegetables weren’t aggressive, which was why the wild-vegetable woods were the most popular spot in Collection Zone 3.
Jiang Shu packed their earlier haul into a bag, fastened it to the cart with an elastic cord, and then continued along the riverbank deeper into the valley.
Now and then there were a few crooked willow trees along the way, which showed up red on Jiang Zhi’s terrain radar.
Guessing their attack power wasn’t low, the two of them had to detour around them.
After finally reaching the wild-vegetable woods, before they’d even entered the valley, they could already see plenty of base residents’ figures.
Looking inward from outside, the valley’s terrain rose and fell. The rocky cliffs on either side were jagged, the surface soil thin, and here and there a few enormous green plants could be seen.
The valley wrapped all the way around the wild-vegetable woods.
Giant wild vegetables were everywhere, the largest reaching two meters tall.
The deep-green or pale-jade leaves were broad and plump, the stalks thick and sturdy, with clearly defined veins.
If you were lucky and came across a moderate-toxin leaf, even just one was enough to feed a whole family for several days.
The spacing between the wild vegetables wasn’t even. Where they grew thick, they completely covered the ground.
The siblings crossed the valley ditch, treading on soil mixed with fine gravel, and occasionally spotted some animal droppings.
The whole valley was suffused with the mingled smell of wild vegetables and earth.
From time to time they could see base residents weaving through the wild-vegetable woods. In the area closer to the river, the wild vegetables grew more luxuriantly, their leaves more lush.
Jiang Zhi took out the map and had a look, planning to head west. Over there, near the valley wall, there was no real danger, plus there was a grove of elm trees.
They hadn’t walked far when they ran into a middle-aged couple.
The moment the couple saw the Jiang siblings, their bodies snapped taut, and the two of them grew visibly nervous.
Seeing the siblings drawing closer and closer, the couple couldn’t hold back.
“You, you two, stop!!”
Jiang Zhi and Jiang Shu halted, looking at them blankly, completely not sure what they wanted.
Seeing the two stop, the middle-aged man relaxed a little, though he still didn’t lower his guard. “Don’t you know the rules? We got here first. Hurry up and leave!”
The siblings exchanged glances.
Jiang Shu said, “This is our first time here, we don’t really know the rules. Brother, could you explain them to us?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll leave the moment you finish telling us.”
At this, the middle-aged man sized them up for a moment and was won over a little.
“In the collection zones, spots are first-come, first-served. Whoever claims one first, no one else can take it or come within a ten-meter radius.”
So that was it.
It made sense.
After all, Ancheng Base had several million people. If everyone swarmed to one spot, it’d be a miracle if they didn’t end up cracking heads.
Now that they knew the reason, the two of them thanked him and left.
After walking another kilometer deeper into the valley, they finally found a spot with hardly anyone around.
Jiang Shu set down the cart.
He looked around and muttered, “Ah Zhi, there aren’t many resources here.”
Compared to the tall foxtail clusters on the other end, the wild vegetables here were only half a person’s height.
And by the looks of the marks, they’d been pretty thoroughly searched too.
Jiang Zhi felt the spot wasn’t great either. She idly pushed aside the shepherd’s purse in front of her and saw a familiar hemispherical thing.
This was… velvetleaf?!
She crouched down and plucked the fruit she’d seen for a closer look. It really was velvetleaf!
Jiang Zhi quickly kept pushing aside the mutated shepherd’s purse above, and after finding several more, the smile on her face grew bigger and bigger.
“Brother, we lucked out!!”
Jiang Shu pushed aside the shepherd’s purse for a look too, but didn’t see anything special.
Wasn’t it all just wild vegetables?
Was the kind growing underneath somehow more high-class?
Jiang Zhi, who rarely smiled, did now. “This is velvetleaf, also called buttonweed. The leaves and flowers are both edible, and most importantly, it can be pressed for oil.”
In fact, when Jiang Zhi first saw the velvetleaf’s leaves, she hadn’t recognized it. It was only because its fruit was so distinctive, though much larger than what she’d seen before, that she recognized it at a glance.
“Oil!!” Jiang Shu got excited.
“It’s not a mainstream cooking oil, but eating a little is fine.”
“And velvetleaf bark is very tear-resistant. We can collect some and patch up the hole in the fishing net.”
Jiang Shu immediately said, “Then what are we waiting for, let’s get to it.”
Looking at the dense velvetleaf growing beneath the shepherd’s purse, Jiang Shu stopped being impatient.
After all, this place was their final destination today, and there happened to be a slope a hundred meters ahead where they could go rest at noon.
Jiang Shu cleared out a patch of ground.
With the bone staff on him, they weren’t afraid of bugs and ants either, so the siblings just sat there, one pulling wild vegetables, the other testing.
“Beep. High toxin level. Not edible.”
“Beep. High toxin level. Not edible.”
“Beep. High toxin level. Not edible.”
…
“Beep. Moderate toxin level. Limited consumption recommended.”
They finally hit one, a big batch of shepherd’s purse leaves, weighing maybe three or four pounds.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
They’d genuinely been afraid of wasting this whole half-morning without a single edible thing.
“Ah Zhi, not one of these velvetleaf is edible. Should we switch spots?”
Jiang Zhi hesitated too. Seeing the sunlight growing fiercer, she feared they’d come up empty if they kept on. Unwilling to give up, she plucked a volleyball-sized velvetleaf fruit. “If this one’s no good either, we’ll switch spots.”
—”Beep. Low toxin level. Edible.”
Jiang Shu instantly went wide-eyed. “Low toxin level?!”
“Shh! Keep it down!”
Only then did Jiang Shu lower his voice.
He took the velvetleaf fruit from Jiang Zhi’s hand and turned it over, studying it, but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
But Jiang Shu hadn’t forgotten that at the base store, a tomato weighing a few pounds sold for several hundred points.
This was probably an unripe one, the skin wasn’t very hard. Jiang Shu tore off one side, and the fruit inside was a creamy white, with a faint fresh fragrance.
“To think we actually scooped up a bargain.” Jiang Shu, unusually, gave it some extra thought. “Tell me, how come no one’s discovered this whole patch of velvetleaf?”
Jiang Zhi shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.
But privately, she had a vague guess.
It probably had to do with the fact that even after mutating, velvetleaf still didn’t grow tall. These velvetleaf were buried among the dense, tall, big shepherd’s purse, without a bit of effort it was hard to spot them.
On top of that, the velvetleaf fruit had grown larger and dropped straight to the ground, making it even harder to see.
It was only someone like Jiang Zhi, who knew a thing or two about plants, who had a shot at scooping up a bargain like this.
“Stop looking! Put it away first.” As she spoke, Jiang Zhi tucked the fruit into the bag.
Now that they’d opened up shop, the siblings didn’t give up and kept fleecing the velvetleaf.
As it turned out, not giving up was the right call.
Over the next hour and more, the two of them gathered five moderate-toxin velvetleaf fruits and a big handful of moderate-toxin velvetleaf stalks.
All together it came to over a hundred pounds.
Jiang Shu felt a surge of relief. “Good thing we brought the cart. Otherwise, having me lug this much back would’ve wrecked my back by the next day.”
As noon approached, Jiang Zhi didn’t plan to keep going. She and Jiang Shu came to a cliff face that could block the sun and rested.
There were plenty of people looking for a place to rest like them, but they all tacitly kept a distance of three meters or more.
Jiang Zhi took two foxtail-millet rice balls out of her pack, each the size of a fist.
These had been bought specially by Ye Qingyun at the base store so they could eat a bit better out in the wild.
Jiang Zhi handed one to Jiang Shu.
After working hard all morning, they were both starving, and Jiang Shu wolfed his down in big bites.
The foxtail millet was plump and chewy, with a bit of crunch.
It tasted a little like konjac of the old days.
Ye Qingyun had even sprinkled in an instant-noodle seasoning packet, salty and spicy, and Jiang Shu ate it with great relish.
He finished off the last few bites and couldn’t resist sucking his fingers.
“I gotta say, this base foxtail millet is actually pretty tasty, and really filling too. I actually feel about half full now, it’s just too expensive.”
Jiang Zhi agreed.
Ever since the cheat ability had appeared in her head, her appetite had been growing.
This foxtail millet made her feel like there was something in her stomach. She wasn’t full, but the panicky hunger was gone.
Twelve noon.
The sun mercilessly scorched the earth. The blazing orb in the sky gave off an unbearable heat, its light glaring and searing.
Jiang Shu glanced at the plants outside and muttered, “It’s getting hotter and hotter.”
Even out of direct sunlight, it was still hot enough to be unbearable.
Sweat kept beading on his forehead, sliding down his cheeks and leaving trickling tracks.
Beads of sweat hung on Jiang Shu’s brows and lashes, and the sweat on his neck soaked his collar through. The shirt on his back had long been drenched, clinging tightly to his body. Sweat dripped endlessly from his arms, vanishing the instant it hit the dry ground.
Jiang Zhi handed him a bottle of water, then took out the mutated-creature catalog and went on reading.
There was still a third of it left from last night.
Jiang Shu wiped away the sweat that wouldn’t stop running down and was thoroughly in awe of his sister.
“Ah Zhi, you push yourself too hard! Can’t you cut me some slack?”
Jiang Zhi said, “The base catalog is really useful. Memorizing it saves a lot of trouble.”
Jiang Shu really couldn’t stand the heat anymore.
Tired and drowsy, he spread out a handful of freshly picked velvetleaf leaves on the ground and lay down. “Fine, you keep watch. I’ll rest a bit, then switch with you.”
At noon the ground temperature hit a full 70 degrees, and it wouldn’t cool down until after three.
They wouldn’t really be able to move until after four in the afternoon.
Generally at this time everyone could only find a place to hide. Few chose to head back to the base, since the trip wasn’t short.
Jiang Zhi glanced at the young man sitting next to them, and the moment she saw him dealing with the prey in his hands, she sat bolt upright.