It was time for lunch.
Feeling her stomach, the wild vegetable paste she had drunk in the morning had long since been digested.
Sitting beneath a tree—since this place was entirely peach trees, there was no need to go out of one’s way to find shade—she glanced at the 3 leaves and 1 petal she had gathered today, and ultimately chose one of the leaves.
The wide, thick leaf was as clear and translucent as jade, with a smooth surface and sharp marginal teeth.
Gently scraping away the sharp edge with her dagger, she took a bite. A wave of refreshing sweetness filled her mouth, carrying a faint hint of peach flavor.
It was insanely delicious.
She didn’t think she had ever eaten such a delicious leaf; no wonder everyone scrambled to scavenge in the peach orchard.
Shen Tangtang finished the leaf in her hand and let out a satisfied, contented burp.
Looking around at the vast expanse of peach trees, her eyes lit up with ambition.
She hadn’t forgotten that she still had a task to accomplish today.
However, with the peach orchard being so massive, she had no idea where the energy stone discovered by the original female protagonist was hidden.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
Just as Shen Tangtang lowered her head in thought, she suddenly heard something sliding across the leaves.
Turning her head, she abruptly came face-to-face with a flower snake about as thick as a thumb.
Shen Tangtang screamed internally. How had she failed to notice it…
Her body made an ultra-fast reaction, dodging the snake’s lunging head.
Yet the dagger in her hand remained unsheathed.
This kind of mutant flower snake possessed potent venom, and they especially loved living in colonies. If there was one mutant flower snake here, a massive nest of them was bound to be nearby.
She didn’t dare kill this snake; snakes held onto grudges fiercely, and she wasn’t sure if killing this one would bring a whole pack of them hunting her down.
After dodging a few more attacks from the flower snake, she suddenly sensed a surge of angry emotion radiating from it, along with a vicious, glare directed straight at her.
Shen Tangtang muttered not good to herself.
Sure enough, the flower snake flicked its tail, making a rustling sound.
With no other choice, Shen Tangtang wondered if she could pull it into her spatial storage.
After a few attempts, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. Unable to control herself, she closed her eyes and clutched her head in agony.
“Ah…”
She couldn’t help letting out a cry of pain.
Because she was far away from the crowd, no one noticed the anomaly here.
A few minutes later, Shen Tangtang finally felt like she came back to life. Raising a hand to touch her nose, the tactile sensation on her fingers was completely wet.
Sure enough, her nose was bleeding.
The flower snake that had been right in front of her moments ago was now lying motionless inside her spatial storage. Her storage currently couldn’t hold living creatures, so a mutant flower snake sent inside would directly suffocate and die.
Still, Shen Tangtang hadn’t intended to keep it alive anyway, so it didn’t really matter. However, forcibly pulling a living creature into her storage had dealt her quite a bit of backlash and injury.
“Hiss~”
As Shen Tangtang calmed down, she accidentally aggravated a wound on her arm, causing her to bare her teeth in pain.
This was the spot where the mutant flower snake had wrapped around her earlier in order to get close, leaving a gash carved by its scales, surrounded by angry red swelling.
Her physical constitution was still far too weak.
Shen Tangtang’s gaze deepened. She couldn’t afford to wait until leaving the orphan concentration camp to awaken her abilities; the wilderness was fraught with peril everywhere, and she feared she might kill herself off through sheer recklessness before that day ever arrived.
Tsk.
She needed to find some time to awaken her abilities.
Shen Tangtang checked her body and took a sniff; she hadn’t been marked by the mutant flower snake, and no other snakes had shown up after all this time, indicating that the snake den must be quite far from here. As for how that snake had appeared just now…
Shen Tangtang checked the dead mutant flower snake in her storage. It was a juvenile snake, likely born not too long ago.
Since her space couldn’t store living things, and sensing that the mutant flower snake was already dead, Shen Tangtang didn’t plan to toss it out either—she feared other mutant flower snakes might track the scent and hunt her down.
Temporarily confirming it was safe, Shen Tangtang walked back for a few minutes until she caught sight of scavengers in the distance, then casually picked another peach tree to climb.
[Scan result: Radiation level 93%, inedible.]
Her luck wasn’t going to magically turn around in a single day. Shen Tangtang accepted it gracefully and moved on to scan the next leaf.
Deciding against scanning all the peaches first this time, Shen Tangtang looked at her mostly empty storage and resolved to pick a few more peaches to take back. Even if their high radiation made them inedible, bringing them back had no downsides; throwing them in her space wouldn’t contaminate other food.
After eating a peach leaf, Tangtang spent the entire day in the peach orchard without leaving. She harvested 50 peaches with radiation levels below 70%, two leaves with radiation levels of 46% and 48% respectively, and five petals with radiation levels of 38%, 45%, 44%, and 39%.
Leaving two leaves in her burlap sack, she stored all the rest away, took out the hoe she had traded for yesterday, and stared at it with a blank expression.
She had originally intended to hunt for the energy stone buried 5 meters deep beneath a peach tree as described in the novel, but with so many peach trees in the orchard, she had no clue which one it was. Weighing the hoe in her hand, she reluctantly put it away—her preparations had been for nothing.
Though, while putting the hoe away, Shen Tangtang caught sight of the large taro root tucked in a corner of her space. She recalled that the entire plant had low radiation, meaning a peach tree with an energy stone beneath it probably wouldn’t have very high radiation either.
Just as a smile broke across her face, she glanced at the time on her wristband: 4:51 PM… Never mind, she’d come back tomorrow.
She just needed to go get her abilities awakened first; otherwise, running into a high-level mutant beast meant she wouldn’t stand a chance of escaping.
“Tangtang, you’re finally out! Where did you go? Why couldn’t I find you all this time?”
As Shen Tangtang was lost in thought, a loud, gentle voice rang out from ahead.
Raising her eyes, she saw Lin Daiyu carrying a large bag, while Bai Yanjun stood right beside her carrying another burlap sack with an expression of utter doting fondness. Looking closer, one could spot the underlying excitement in his eyes.
Stepping forward quickly, she said, “Sister Daiyu, let’s head back!”
She nodded at Bai Yanjun, then walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Daiyu, listening to Lin Daiyu ask about her harvest for the day. Shen Tangtang could only helplessly lift the small bag in her hand. “Just two leaves. There’s no way I can meet the quota today.”
A look of desolate, pitiful sadness hung on Shen Tangtang’s face.
Lin Daiyu instantly felt a pang of heartache, rubbed Shen Tangtang’s head, and scolded with a smile, “Serves you right! I kept telling you to search together with me, but you insisted on going off alone. Can’t even earn back tomorrow’s bus fare now!!”
“Wuuu wuuu X﹏X, Sister Daiyu, you have no pity for me at all, you’re just scolding me. And I only did it to leave some private space for the two of you, you know!”
Shen Tangtang pinched a soft spot on Lin Daiyu’s waist with a cheeky grin.
Feeling a sudden pinch at her waist, Lin Daiyu watched Shen Tangtang scamper off into the distance, cast an indignant glare at Bai Yanjun, and gave chase.
Bai Yanjun: …
What did this have to do with him?
Shaking his head helplessly, he hoisted his burlap sack and hurried after them.
Catching sight of the crowd, Shen Tangtang slowed her pace. Her bitter, aggrieved expression made the chasing Lin Daiyu’s mouth twitch—this sister of hers was acting again.
Then again, she didn’t even need to act today; two leaves… really was pitifully unlucky.
Seeing that everyone else had half-bags full of leaves, it seemed most people had a decent harvest this time around.
Lin Daiyu tightened her grip on her burlap sack, put on a numb, blank expression, and followed along.
With this scavenging run yielding more or less edible leaves and petals for everyone, the crowd’s steps grew notably quicker.
Soon, they reached the morning drop-off spot. The morning buses were already waiting in place. Counting them up, there were three vehicles in total—it seemed a lot of people had come to the peach orchard today. She just wondered if anyone else had run into a mutant flower snake like she had.
Sweeping her gaze across the surrounding crowd, Shen Tangtang spotted that same off-road vehicle from last time parked in the shade of a corner, where two young men were discussing something while glancing periodically at the surrounding scavengers.
Tangtang’s eyes narrowed, and she quickly lowered her head, putting on a numb, deadpan expression.