Su Yue suddenly remembered Liu Si, whose name had come up during the argument earlier.
“Zhizhi, do you know who Liu Si is?”
“Of course. He lives in the house across from the well.”
Liu Si’s wife would probably be very interested to learn how her detector had mysteriously disappeared all those years ago.
After telling Su Xing to stay and play at the Song family’s house, Su Yue hurried off to Liu Si’s home.
At this hour, most people were out scavenging, and Liu Si’s family was no exception.
But his wife was home.
After Su Yue knocked, the door opened to reveal a fierce-looking woman in her thirties with slanted eyebrows. Her greasy hair was tied into a thin braid.
“Auntie, Auntie Zhao and Auntie Yang from Second Block are fighting! Auntie Zhao asked me to come get you!”
Without waiting for a response, Su Yue turned and ran.
Being in the body of a thirteen-year-old girl certainly made this kind of thing convenient.
She hurried back and took a drink of water.
“Where did you go?” Song Zhizhi asked while munching on wild eggplant fruit.
“Nowhere. Just went to add some fuel to the fire.”
Not long afterward, Liu Si’s wife arrived.
The moment Auntie Zhao saw her, she shouted:
“Liu Si’s wife! Do you know how your detector disappeared? This old hag stole it! She slept with your husband and sold your detector while she was at it!”
Liu Si’s wife was famous for her fiery temper. Upon hearing this, she immediately joined the battle with a string of curses.
The hair-pulling, face-scratching war continued until members of the guard squad arrived to break it up.
“Yang Su! This isn’t over!”
Even after being separated, Liu Si’s wife pointed at Auntie Yang and continued cursing.
The next day, Su Yue heard that Liu Si’s wife had scratched Liu Si’s face so badly it looked like a flowerbed.
Meanwhile, the scandals involving Auntie Yang and Auntie Zhao spread throughout the entire district.
Neither woman enjoyed much peace at home afterward.
Whenever they crossed paths, another fight would break out. One day one would dump sewage in front of the other’s house; the next day the retaliation would come in the form of garbage tossed at the doorstep.
Within days, both women moved away—one to Fourth Block and the other to Third Block.
Only then did Second Block finally become peaceful again.
And new neighbors moved in.
To Su Yue’s surprise, it was the sweet-potato judge from that day—the woman in green, Guo Juhua.
Upon discovering that Su Yue was her neighbor, Guo Juhua happily asked for her contact information.
Now all her neighbors were acquaintances.
In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-September.
Winter was drawing closer.
Mutated animals had begun descending from the mountains more frequently in search of food.
Even creatures from the high-radiation zones were becoming increasingly active.
Scavenging was growing more dangerous by the day.
The beast hunters and miners also started returning one after another.
If they failed to return to the refugee district before winter arrived, chances were they would never come back at all.
The most important holiday in this world was called the Festival of Peace.
It was held every year on October 1st.
The annual beast tide always began around mid-October, and every year people died during the attacks.
Most beast hunters and miners searching for Light Diamonds also returned home by October 1st.
As a result, October 1st had become the most family-oriented and festive day of the year.
During the Festival of Peace, people stopped scavenging for a day.
They gathered in the square beside the well, lit bonfires, and sang songs of prayer.
Praying for safety during the coming beast tide.
Praying that radiation syndrome would strike a few years later rather than sooner.
Praying they would survive the winter without starving.
Guo Juhua’s son had also returned home.
His name was Li Zheng, a beast hunter.
He belonged to a fairly famous hunting squad and served as its vice-captain.
Su Yue encountered him once while out scavenging.
He appeared to be a straightforward and cheerful man.
He had a square face, a crew cut, and a scar running through one eyebrow. Years spent outdoors had given him bronze skin, and his body was packed with solid muscle.
After Guo Juhua introduced them, both Su Yue and Song Zhizhi exchanged contact information with Li Zheng.
It was useful for neighbors to stay in touch.
Besides, Su Yue wanted to learn more about beast hunting.
She needed crystal cores.
“Brother Li Zheng, where do beast hunters usually go?”
While heading out to scavenge, Su Yue dragged Song Zhizhi over to him and asked.
Li Zheng scratched his head.
“The mountains, of course. Fewer people means more beasts.”
“What about hunting methods? What weapons do you use?”
Li Zheng glanced at her.
“Why’s a little girl asking about that? Don’t tell me you want to hunt beasts yourself? Hahaha!”
“I’m just curious. We’ve got nothing else to do on the road, so tell me about it.”
“Usually we look for isolated beasts first, then target their weaknesses. We mostly use crystal-core energy guns.”
“Ohhh.”
Crystal-core energy guns.
Su Yue knew about them from the original owner’s memories.
They used crystal cores as power sources and fired laser-like energy blasts.
The guard squads carried higher-quality versions distributed by the Safe City authorities.
Teams like Li Zheng’s, however, only had a few workshop-made guns.
Su Yue wanted to ask more, but they had already reached the scavenging area.
There would be time later.
What she truly wanted to know was the weaknesses of various mutated beasts.
As long as she knew their weaknesses, hunting them would become far easier.
She needed to accumulate enough crystal cores before winter and the beast tide arrived.
Her Wood Element ability had to reach Level 3.
Her Healing ability needed to reach Level 2.
After returning from a productive day of scavenging, Su Yue messaged Li Zheng again.
Seeing how interested the young girl was in beast hunting, Li Zheng’s vanity was a little tickled.
Whatever she asked, he answered.
Eventually, he even lent her a mutated beast handbook he had compiled himself.
Inside was detailed information on the common mutated creatures living around the Safe City.
Treasure.
Absolute treasure.
From then on, Su Yue scavenged during the day and studied the handbook by lamplight at night.
Three days later, she had memorized most of its contents.
Theory completed.
Time for practice.
She was going to hunt beasts proactively.
Previously, mutated beasts had found Su Yue.
Now she intended to find them.
Leaving Su Xing at Song Zhizhi’s house with a biscuit and several wild eggplant fruits, Su Yue headed alone toward South Cliff Mountain.
The mountain contained several fruit trees, making it home to many herbivorous mutated animals.
Although mutated herbivores were still highly aggressive, they were nowhere near as terrifying as carnivorous ones.
The moment she entered the mountain, she could feel the temperature drop.
The sun had not fully risen yet, and a layer of frost coated the vegetation.
When the wind blew, icy gusts slipped through her sleeves and pant legs, making her shiver.
The northern side had more people and fewer beasts.
The southern side was a cliff.
So Su Yue circled toward the western slopes, hoping to find signs of mutated animals there.
Following the tracking methods for mutated rabbits described in Li Zheng’s handbook, she searched carefully.
To her delight, she actually found rabbit droppings.
Promising.
Following the trail, she eventually located a rabbit burrow.
Mutated rabbits possessed excellent hearing.
They were small, incredibly fast, and practically maxed out their evasion abilities after mutation.
They also maintained numerous interconnected burrows, forming an underground labyrinth.
If danger appeared in one tunnel, they immediately escaped through another.
Even with her vines, catching one directly would be difficult.
She would need traps and patience.
Just as Su Yue prepared to set a few simple traps around the area—
The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end.
A terrifying sense of danger flooded her instincts.
She instantly rolled sideways.
Looking up—
A mutated tiger had landed exactly where she had been crouching moments earlier.
When it saw its attack miss, it let out a thunderous roar, opened its blood-soaked jaws, and lunged at Su Yue once again!