Without attempting to lift it, she directly tapped the special detection function on her bracelet. A beam of blue light enveloped the huge stone, and after half a minute, the bracelet vibrated.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 65,941, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
The text appeared in red, a color reserved exclusively for special top-tier resources.
Fortunately, bracelets were bound to individuals, and personal information systems remained entirely confidential, so Shen Tangtang didn’t worry about others discovering it.
She stowed the entire energy stone into her spatial dimension, leaving behind only the surrounding yellow dirt.
She used the hoe to dig deeper into the earth for another five minutes, creating an opening large enough to walk through while crouching, yet she found no other energy stones.
A mutant beast lair couldn’t possibly contain just a single energy stone.
Shen Tangtang searched slowly around the cliff edge, her vines whipping this way and that, poking everywhere that looked promising with her hoe. Failing to find any more energy stones embedded in the soil, she instead discovered a dry platform. Piled high on top of this platform were many of the energy stones she had been searching for so long.
Shen Tangtang landed on the platform, and the vines retracted. Two massive purple stones were piled on the platform, only slightly smaller than the one she had just dug up, surrounded by eight fist-sized stones scattered about.
She bent down to pick up the smallest one and activated the special detection.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 13,825, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
Also marked as a red top-tier special resource, this fist-sized energy stone possessed a much higher energy level than any previously found stone of the same size, and its color was deeper as well.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 14,250, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 14,514, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 15,177, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 13,218, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 6,855, classified as an A-grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
Picking up several in a row that turned out to be S+ grade energy stones, Shen Tangtang had half expected her luck to hold continuously, so she felt rather unaccustomed when she abruptly saw special resources rendered in black font.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 7,158, classified as an A-grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 1,837, classified as an A-grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
The energy stones tucked away in this corner must have been heavily depleted of their energy reserves to end up with such low readings; there was even a pile of dust on the ground. Energy stones functioned somewhat like spirit stones—once their energy was drained, they dissolved into powder.
After finishing the tests on all eight energy stones, Shen Tangtang felt instantly refreshed, as if she could absorb several more without missing a beat.
A beam of blue light enveloped the remaining large energy stones.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 67,300, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy level 45,887, classified as an S+ grade energy stone. Please take it to the exchange hall to redeem points.]
Reluctantly stowing away the two large energy stones, Shen Tangtang scanned the platform once more, poking around with her hoe here and there, though the sheer volume of spider silk made digging rather difficult.
Her stomach rumbled loudly, causing Shen Tangtang to realize belatedly that she had only eaten a single peach since waking up from her afternoon nap.
The time displayed was 7:13:28 PM.
Was it already evening? She felt like it had only been a little past 4:00 PM when she entered, meaning three whole hours had passed inside the cave.
The cave was so dark she hadn’t even noticed when night fell, and heading back tonight was completely out of the question.
Shen Tangtang put away her hoe, grabbed the nearby vines, and climbed up.
Outside, pitch-black darkness reigned, and raindrops pattered incessantly. Shen Tangtang stood right at the cave entrance, frowning as she looked at the heavy downpour outside.
The rainy season was approaching, and these sudden showers would occur from time to time, serving as a reminder for all living things to store up food.
A streak of lightning flashed across the dark clouds, tearing through the gloomy sky before vanishing into the mountain forests a few kilometers away.
Shen Tangtang retreated back into the cave. She hadn’t heard the sound of rain at all earlier, and had no clue when this downpour would let up.
Glancing at the dense clusters of spider cocoons all around, she ultimately decided to spend the night inside her spatial dimension.
Walking over to the earthen stove she had built that day, she found it thoroughly dried out. She picked up a box of matches to start a fire, and pulled out the rabbit leg she had used to lure the mutant spider.
Looking at how tightly it was wrapped up, it was practically impossible to know where to begin.
Forget it, she’d eat roasted mushrooms tonight instead.
She threaded cleaned pieces of valley-mature mushroom onto bamboo skewers. By now, only a bed of glowing charcoal embers remained in the earthen stove, perfect for setting the skewers directly over the top. As juices began to bubble up, she sprinkled a bit of the seasoning she had traded for earlier.
The aroma of the roasting mushrooms gradually filled the air, making mouths water uncontrollably.
Shen Tangtang swallowed her saliva unglamorous.
Her eyes remained fixed unblinkingly on the roasting mushrooms.
It had been a very long time since she had smelled food this fragrant; right now, the entire space was suffused with the scent of roasted mushrooms.
Once the mushrooms were fully cooked, Shen Tangtang picked up a skewer, took a deep breath of the aroma at its tip, and smiled with utter satisfaction. After blowing on it briefly, she couldn’t wait to take a bite.
So savory.
The charred, fragrant roasted mushroom burst with juices inside her mouth, its outer skin locking in the rich flavor while keeping the inner juices completely intact.
Savory, fragrant, and mildly sweet—one piece after another. With her other hand, she flipped the remaining mushrooms over on the fire, conveniently dusting a light layer of salt and seasoning across them.
Ever since arriving in this world, her diet had consisted entirely of nutrient solution, wild vegetable soup, and wild vegetable cakes, without even tasting a single bite of meat. Shen Tangtang felt like the first thirteen years of her life had been a complete waste; she should have started cooking for herself much earlier.
Even roasted mushrooms tasted infinitely better than vegetable cakes.
Unfortunately, eyes were everywhere in the concentration camp, and when foraging outside, she had been terrified of being seen by others. Thus, she never dared enter her space, never supplemented her meals, and stuck entirely to nutrient solution, leaves, and the cafeteria’s vegetable cakes until her palate felt completely deadened.
Fortunately, after over a dozen years of habituation, it hadn’t been entirely unbearable.
Now, tasting such delicious roasted mushrooms, Shen Tangtang felt she could never swallow the nutrient solution traded in the safety city ever again.
After eating her fill, a basin-sized mushroom had vanished into her stomach before she even realized it.
Weary, Shen Tangtang returned to the bed inside the wooden cabin, set an alarm on her bracelet for 4:00 AM the next morning, and fell asleep the instant her head hit the pillow.
She slept soundly through the night without a single dream.
Shen Tangtang woke up ahead of the alarm, noticing that her arms—which had been sore and aching yesterday from digging up soil for energy stones—felt completely fine. This immediately brought the roasted mushrooms from yesterday to mind.
After jogging around a few laps inside her space, she felt her entire body grow noticeably lighter and more agile.
Food with a 0% radiation level had this kind of restorative effect too?
Well, that was simply fantastic.
Thinking of the valley-mature mushrooms she had seen yesterday, Shen Tangtang’s eyes curved into crescents filled with eager anticipation.