The sour jujube forest had already been sealed off by the Defense Corps.
It would remain closed until the insect infestation was dealt with.
The Defense Corps was also one of the Safe City’s methods of governing the surrounding refugee districts.
The powerful people inside the Safe City wanted to prevent unrest among the refugees. At the same time, they wanted refugees to remain outside the city walls as a buffer against beast tides.
Naturally, they occasionally handed out benefits.
The Defense Corps was one such benefit.
Su Yue spent the entire afternoon at home weaving reed-flower shoes.
The tighter the weave, the better.
She had no intention of having insects crawl onto her feet the moment she entered the forest.
Besides that, she made another trip to Huiyou Store.
There were three reasons:
First, the weapon and hair clip she had ordered were finished.
Second, she sold the low-radiation sweet potato.
Third, she bought some farming tools, tape, and a raincoat.
The custom weapon ended up being a chicken-beak dagger, polished until it gleamed.
The beak of a mutated Reed Blossom Chicken was extremely hard—almost comparable to steel.
At the same time, it was much lighter than metal.
It made excellent weapon material.
The feather hair clip made for Su Xing was also finished.
The blue-violet feather shimmered beautifully in the light.
The crafting fee for both items came to 800 credits.
The low-radiation sweet potato, being rather small, sold for 500 credits.
The farming tools, tape, and raincoat cost 209.5 credits.
After all the transactions, Su Yue’s savings dropped to 770 credits.
Sigh. Spending money is easy. Saving it is hard.
But their home was practically empty.
Everything needed replacing or upgrading.
Saving money simply wasn’t possible.
Tomorrow I have to get more crystal cores.
Not only would the Defense Corps and recruited refugees participate in the cleanup operation, but some Beast Hunters who happened to be home would join as well.
If she could get a few crystal cores—even small ones—she could exchange them for nutritional capsules and biscuits.
A handful of wealthier, stronger families even hoped to save enough crystal cores to move into the Safe City.
Which was why, despite the danger, there was no shortage of volunteers.
The next day, Su Yue woke quietly at three in the morning.
The nearly expired biscuits at home were gone.
She prepared a bowl of jujube-leaf soup for Su Xing and mixed in a near-expiration nutritional capsule.
For herself, she packed two capsules.
If she got hungry, she’d simply swallow them directly.
That way she wouldn’t accidentally reveal that she had food.
Then she began gearing up.
First came the old padded coat, worn close to her body.
She sealed the sleeves and pant legs with tape.
Then she put on the raincoat.
Next came goggles, a mask, and the raincoat’s hood.
After that, she taped shut the raincoat’s sleeves and neck opening.
It felt uncomfortable.
But her safety level skyrocketed.
Finally, she wrapped a layer of tape around the newly woven reed shoes before putting them on.
She was armed to the teeth.
Terrified that even a single caterpillar hair might touch her.
Only then did she grab her cloth bag and head out.
When she arrived at the Defense Corps assembly point, she discovered she wasn’t even particularly early.
Quite a crowd had already gathered.
The Defense Corps members stood holding rifles.
Dressed in black uniforms and bulletproof helmets, they organized people into squads and distributed equipment.
Su Yue received a set as well.
Calling it equipment was being generous.
It was basically a bug-catching net and a pair of gloves.
Still, better than nothing.
She removed the oversized gloves Song Zhizhi had given her and put the issued gloves on underneath.
Double gloves.
Double protection.
By the time everyone had arrived, it was around five-thirty.
The sky had begun to brighten.
The squads were assembled and led out by their team leaders.
Su Yue specifically checked Scarface’s position.
He was near the front.
She was somewhere in the middle.
Once they entered the sour jujube forest, the team leader gave the order to begin.
The corpses inside had already swollen, rotted, and begun to liquefy.
The stench was overwhelming.
Several people immediately ran off to vomit.
Having long grown accustomed to the smell of zombies, Su Yue adapted quickly.
Aside from the bodies, the ground was carpeted with mutated caterpillars.
The trees were covered in them as well.
Occasionally, one would fall from above.
Everyone eagerly began killing the insects.
The ones on the ground were relatively safe.
As long as one was careful, they posed little threat.
People stomped them one after another.
Unfortunately, the mutated caterpillars had developed a new trait.
Whenever one was crushed, it released clouds of poisonous hairs.
The hairs were incredibly light.
Even the slightest breeze would carry them through the air.
As more caterpillars died, the concentration of toxic hairs increased.
Before long, people started getting hit.
Painful screams erupted throughout the forest.
Su Yue wasn’t interested in killing insects yet.
Her first goal was dealing with Scarface.
She quietly tailed him.
But he seemed extremely perceptive.
As if sensing something, he repeatedly looked over his shoulder.
Not wanting to attract attention, Su Yue changed tactics.
Using a massive jujube tree as cover, she positioned herself where only Scarface could see her.
Then she deliberately took out a nutritional capsule.
Pop.
She swallowed it.
Then she took out another one.
Pop.
Swallowed that too.
Afterward, she casually patted her pocket as if there were plenty more inside.
Sure enough.
She immediately noticed Scarface’s gaze lingering on her.
Hooked.
Time to reel him in.
She deliberately walked toward a remote corner of the forest, pretending to be terrified of the insects.
Seeing her separate from the crowd, Scarface’s eyes lit up greedily.
He hurried after her.
This little girl looks poor, but she’s actually loaded.
Maybe she’s carrying even more capsules.
And if someone dies in a place like this, nobody cares anyway…
Grinning to himself, he followed.
Completely unaware that Su Yue had already removed her gloves.
The moment Scarface moved to attack—
Su Yue spun around.
A vine shot from her hand.
Its tip bore a poisonous needle.
It lunged straight toward him.
“Holy shit! Monster!”
Scarface cursed and turned to run.
But he was nowhere near as fast as her vines.
Thwack!
The vines wrapped around his thick body.
The poisonous needle pierced his skin.
Instantly, numbness spread through his limbs.
All strength vanished from his body.
“Spare me! Please! What are you?! Please don’t kill me—!”
He stared in horror as Su Yue calmly walked toward him.
She drew her newly acquired chicken-beak dagger.
“Oh?”
She smiled.
“Still planning to rob me?”
Her voice was clear and pleasant.
To Scarface, however, it sounded like the voice of death itself.
He shook his head frantically.
Begging was all he could do now.
A wet stain spread across his pants.
He had literally scared himself senseless.
“This blade can take its first blood with you.”
Without hesitation, Su Yue struck.
The dagger flashed.
It plunged into his neck.
Then she pulled it free.
Blood erupted instantly, spraying across the ground.
Su Yue calmly wiped the blade clean on his clothes.
Then she searched his pockets.
A few small crystal cores.
A large bottle of murky vegetable soup.
That was all.
She took the crystal cores.
She also took his knife.
Not much, but better than nothing.
Just as Scarface had thought—
in a situation like this, nobody cared if one more person died.
After returning to the squad’s area, Su Yue immediately joined the insect-clearing effort.
Everyone was tense and focused on survival.
No one paid attention to the fact that she had disappeared and returned.
Except for one person.
Someone whose gaze lingered on her for a moment too long.
Su Yue turned her head.
Their eyes met.
The owner of that gaze…
was the beautiful woman with the ponytail.