“Are you Shen Tangtang?”
Shen Tangtang pulled off her straw hat and immediately spotted a tall man standing before her. Judging by his uniform, he was a mercenary assigned to patrol the surrounding area. She replied calmly, “I am. Is there something you need?”
“Is this yours?”
With that, Zhang Yi opened his palm. Lying right there in his hand was Shen Tangtang’s wooden plaque.
Shen Tangtang didn’t deny it. She touched her neck, confirmed her plaque was indeed missing, and said with a solemn expression, “It’s mine.”
Her name was carved right into the wood, which explained why this guy had walked straight toward her. But how had he pinpointed her? Had someone seen her running back earlier?
Ever since she bound it, the spatial storage had merged into her sea of consciousness, making the wooden plaque useless. Still, it was left behind by the original owner’s parents, so she had always treasured it.
It must have fallen out somewhere earlier. But would a guy like this really be kind enough to track her down just to return a piece of wood?
Were there really good Samaritans like that in the wasteland world? Besides, it was just a chunk of wood—there was no logical reason to bother.
Noticing Shen Tangtang’s suspicious gaze, Zhang Yi gave a light cough and said, “We found traces of mutant ants nearby, and Miss Shen’s wooden plaque was discovered right around there. So I wanted to ask—did Miss Shen happen to run into any mutant ants just now?”
A trace of excitement laced his tone. Mutant ants lived underground; as long as you found their nest, you had a shot at uncovering countless energy stones—an opportunity every mercenary group drooled over.
Shen Tangtang blinked her big, innocent eyes and lied without missing a beat. “I didn’t see anything. I just wandered over that way around noon and didn’t find a damn thing, not even any food.”
“Miss Shen, no need to rush your answer. I suggest you think it through carefully before speaking.”
Zhang Yi’s tone turned somewhat unfriendly. He had spoken softly at first because she was just a young girl, but that didn’t mean she could fool him.
Shen Tangtang choked back a retort, thinking this guy was truly bizarre, and forced down the urge to roll her eyes.
Whatever. He wasn’t someone she could afford to provoke.
He was currently keeping his temper in check solely because he wanted to squeeze information about the mutant ants out of her. If she actually crossed their interests, things would get ugly fast.
Her face cooled, and she replied flatly, “This is my first time scavenging in this sector, and I only went west this morning. Besides, as you can see, can a frail little girl like me possibly escape from the jaws of mutant ants?”
“Deputy Captain Zhang, stop giving a hard time to a little girl. The captain found something over there and called for you.”
Another man wearing the same uniform walked over, his gaze sweeping across Shen Tangtang’s entire body with blatant contempt. He didn’t believe for a second that a weak girl could slip away from mutant ants either.
Zhang Yi dropped the subject. He stood up, rubbed the wooden plaque in his palm for a second, tossed it into Shen Tangtang’s lap, and walked away alongside the other man.
Wearing specialized anti-radiation suits to block out the harsh sun, they stepped away step by step until they vanished into the distance.
“Tangtang, are you okay?”
Lin Daiyu asked cautiously from the side.
She had been scared out of her wits just now. She had never been in such close contact with people from a mercenary group; they radiated an aura of lethal violence that made it hard to breathe.
“I’m fine.”
Shen Tangtang waved a hand and picked up the wooden plaque from her lap. The cord must have aged over time, and because she had been running in such a panic earlier, she hadn’t noticed when it snapped.
Bai Yanjun looked at Shen Tangtang with a complex gaze. He felt that Daiyu’s little friend had quite a bit of nerve. He had been holding his breath the whole time, terrified of drawing the mercenaries’ attention, yet Shen Tangtang had managed to answer questions with complete composure.
It seemed Shen Tangtang might be worth getting closer to as well…
Sensing the two burning gazes fixed on her, Shen Tangtang secretly rolled her eyes.
She tucked the wooden plaque safely into the small inner pocket pressed against her chest, then looked up at Lin Daiyu.
The desire in Lin Daiyu’s eyes hadn’t been tucked away fast enough, landing squarely in Shen Tangtang’s line of sight.
Could this supporting-character white moonlight have been eyeing her wooden plaque all along?
That didn’t make any sense, though. The plaque was just a piece of hard, low-radiation wood from the wilderness that the original owner’s parents had carved into a protective amulet, which was why Shen Tangtang’s name was carved into it.
It was just that she had rubbed and fondled it constantly since childhood, giving it a smooth, glossy patina that made it look like a piece of fine jade from a distance.
“Tangtang, I… can I take a look at your jade plaque?”
Lin Daiyu finally voiced the thought in her mind. She felt as though something inside the plaque was drawing her in fiercely, and she wanted to snatch it over.
“No.”
Shen Tangtang shook her head decisively and even patted the small pocket over her chest.
As if. If I hand it to you, are you ever going to give it back?
Even though she had already bound the spatial storage to herself, the wooden plaque was still a keepsake from her parents; there was no way she was handing it over to just anyone.
Lin Daiyu twiddled her fingers awkwardly and shot a pitiful look at Bai Yanjun.
A dark flash crossed Bai Yanjun’s eyes as he spoke up, “Tangtang, I think—”
“Don’t say it. I know I need to go look for food. I’ll take my leave now, see you at six.”
Shen Tangtang cut him off mid-sentence, stood up, gave them a deadpan look, and resolutely dove straight into the nearby patch of tall grass.
Leaving Lin Daiyu and Bai Yanjun staring at each other in blank astonishment. Neither of them had anticipated this reaction from Shen Tangtang, and they were left temporarily dazed.
In the end, Lin Daiyu broke the silence. “Jun-ge, let’s go look for food too! The sun isn’t as harsh as it was a minute ago.”
“Alright, whatever you say.”
A smile crossed Bai Yanjun’s handsome face as he nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Shen Tangtang pushed through the tall grass and arrived by the bank of a river.
The water was crystal clear, though not a single fish was in sight. However, plenty of water dropwort and wild water bamboo lined the banks.
Shen Tangtang’s eyes lit up. Some scavengers were already scanning plants for radiation levels around here.
Everyone was playing it smart, keeping their audio notifications muted, so Shen Tangtang had no way of knowing how well they were scoring.
Walking over to a less crowded spot, she squatted down, sliced open the stem of a water dropwort stalk, and pressed a bit of it against her wristband.
[Scan result: Radiation level 62%, inedible.]
[Scan result: Radiation level 68%, inedible.]
[Scan result: Radiation level 88%, inedible.]
…
For the next half-hour straight, Shen Tangtang struck out completely.
It seemed she didn’t have the protagonist’s knack for picking up scraps—not a single leaf was safe to eat.
She rubbed her aching legs and surveyed her surroundings, noticing a few scavengers sneaking freshly scanned leaves straight into their pockets.
So jealous.
Looks like she didn’t have the luck to eat tasty water dropwort today. Time to check out somewhere else!
Shen Tangtang followed the small river upstream and spotted a massive patch of taro leaves ahead. There must have been dozens of stalks, and mutation had made them grow taller than Shen Tangtang herself.
She licked her dry, cracked lips, her mind instantly conjuring up every possible taro-based delicacy.
She walked over and diligently sliced off a chunk of leaf tissue.
[Scan result: Radiation level 98%, ultra-high toxicity, inedible.]
Fack. She had forgotten that wild taro leaves were toxic.
Still, giving up was a genuinely painful prospect. Let’s look a bit closer; what if there was an edible one hidden in here?
[Scan result: Radiation level 96%, ultra-high toxicity, inedible.]
Everything felt like a write-off.
Stepping past the towering mature leaves, she pushed deeper into the patch.
Suddenly, she spotted a small taro shoot that looked like it had only sprouted a few days ago. Her eyes lit up. She squatted down and used her stone knife to slice open a leaf.
[Scan result: Radiation level 20%, trace toxicity, edible.]
Shen Tangtang swallowed hard. This radiation level was astonishingly low! Even with trace toxins, it was completely edible.
She scanned the remaining three leaves on the shoot, and all of them checked out as edible. That meant this entire baby taro plant was fair game.
Better yet, what she wanted most of all was the actual taro corm buried right beneath the leaves.
She had struck gold.