Lifting her eyes to look at the man standing there like a stone sculpture, she couldn’t help the twitch of her lips. “Big Brother Bai, don’t you need to go look for food?”
“Jun-ge is coming with me to forage, so Tangtang should come too!”
Before Bai Yanjun could say anything, Lin Daiyu chimed in eagerly.
Right. A woman in love has the IQ of a brick, so she’d better just steer clear!
It wasn’t even about anything else—she was mostly just scared of catching whatever airborne delusion was floating around.
“No thanks, Daiyu-jie. You and Big Brother Bai go on ahead!”
“Tangtang, you’re not coming with us?” Lin Daiyu asked, looking heartbroken. She felt like Tangtang had been growing a bit distant these past couple of days, even though they used to be inseparable companions.
“Hehehe, I’m afraid my lightbulb is way too bright. Alright, I’ll catch you guys later!”
With that, Shen Tangtang bolted. If she stayed to haggle with Lin Daiyu any longer, the entire morning would be wasted right here.
Watching Shen Tangtang scramble away on her heels, Bai Yanjun’s eyes darkened with a sinister glint. He could tell Shen Tangtang was deliberately dodging him.
Hmph, just another cheap trick to catch his attention. He had zero interest in that kind of woman.
Lin Daiyu was much easier to handle—she believed whatever she was told, making her the ideal type of woman to marry and bring home.
Thinking of the hungry mouths waiting for him back home, Bai Yanjun smoothed out his expression, plastered on a tender, gentle smile, and said, “Daiyu, which direction should we head out to look for food today?”
“Ah, well… this way, let’s go this way!”
Snapped out of her trance by Bai Yanjun’s drop-dead gorgeous looks, Lin Daiyu blushed furiously and pointed randomly in a direction.
She had no clue which way to go either, but since she always managed to find food anyway, she wasn’t picky about the route.
Shen Tangtang sprinted all the way back to the spot she had visited yesterday morning.
The clivia plants on the ground had been trampled flat by some kind of creature, and with no sign of yesterday’s two corpses along the path, she briefly wondered if she had run to the wrong place.
Recalling the people who had interrogated her yesterday, she figured the remains of those two guys had probably been cleaned up by the mercenary squad.
As for what the mercenaries did with human bones, Shen Tangtang had no idea.
It was only after she found the energy stone yesterday that she remembered: the nests of mutant beasts almost always housed energy stones.
Since mutant ants frequented this area, their nest shouldn’t be too far away—she just wasn’t sure if it had already been raided clean by yesterday’s mercenary corps.
She wanted to go take a look and see if there were any scraps left to scavenge.
Following the general route those two guys had sprinted along yesterday, she walked farther and farther.
Pushing through a thicket of brush, she emerged into a relatively open clearing.
What kind of leaves were these? They looked awfully familiar.
Tangtang squatted down to pick up a fallen leaf from the ground. It looked remarkably like a sweet potato leaf.
[Scan result: Radiation level 41%, edible.]
It was an edible leaf, about the size of two palms put together. It must have fallen yesterday and gotten a bit withered, but luckily it had landed in a sheltered corner, otherwise it wouldn’t have even been here waiting for her.
She skipped putting this leaf into her spatial storage, slipping it straight into her hand-held sack instead.
If there were sweet potato leaves here, there had to be a sweet potato patch nearby.
Rounding a massive boulder, she discovered a huge crater bearing scorch marks and the faint, acrid smell of gunpowder.
Could this be the mutant ant nest?
Judging by how those two yesterday had bolted back in such a panic, they must have actually scored.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she finally walked right up to the cave entrance.
Since the mercenary squad had forced their way inside, the opening had been widened enough for a person to duck and walk in.
At first, the ground was barely visible, but as she went deeper, it grew pitch black, forcing Shen Tangtang to pull out a torch she’d grabbed from the cafeteria this morning on a hunch that she might need it.
After walking for five winding minutes, she finally reached the end.
A strange, indefinable odor hung heavily in the air, mingled with the metallic tang of fresh blood.
The ground was a chaotic mess littered with bones—both human and mutant beast. A patch of soft earth had been churned up completely, exposing shallow, jagged pits underneath.
She poked around with a stick for a good long time, but sure enough, all the good stuff had already been looted.
Those mercenaries were way more professional than she was; what leftovers could she possibly expect to pick up? She might as well stick to honest food scanning.
Sighing, Shen Tangtang turned to head back out when something suddenly dropped onto her head. She instinctively glanced upward.
…Mother of Mary… Was she the universe’s absolute favorite daughter or what? Embedded in the soil above her was a green stone, with just a fingernail-sized patch exposed—she couldn’t yet tell how big the actual energy stone was.
Using a tree branch, she frantically scraped away the surrounding dirt until the energy stone slowly emerged into view.
It was even larger than yesterday’s find, easily the size of two clenched fists combined.
[Ding ~ Energy stone detected, energy capacity 8,378, classified as a Grade A energy stone. Please take it to the exchange lobby to trade for credits.]
The energy yield was higher than yesterday’s too.
Shen Tangtang didn’t even have time to marvel at her luck before she hurriedly swept it into her spatial storage.
Because a voice had just echoed from the cave entrance.
“Hello, Miss Shen. We meet again.”
Zhang Yi hadn’t been entirely sure when his men reported that someone had slipped into the ant nest, but seeing Shen Tangtang holding a torch right here erased any lingering doubts.
“Hello. That makes twice we’ve crossed paths, and I still don’t know your name.”
Shen Tangtang’s expression was as cool as a cucumber, looking nothing at all like someone caught red-handed in the middle of scavenging.
“My name is Zhang Yi. May I ask, Miss Shen, how exactly you managed to find your way out here?”
Zhang Yi’s face was locked in a stern glare. He wasn’t buying any nonsense about stumbling here by accident; this area was right on the edge of the newly designated reclamation zone, where the spawn rate of mutant beasts was astronomically high. Ordinary scavengers didn’t have the guts to wander around out here alone.
Shen Tangtang skirted past Zhang Yi and started walking toward the exit. “Deputy Leader Zhang, don’t you think the air quality in here is atrocious? Let’s talk as we walk out, shall we?”
Zhang Yi stood his ground, sweeping his gaze across the cavern. Aside from the scattered bones and churned-up mud looking even more disturbed than before, nothing else seemed out of place.
His eyes narrowed slightly. He just hoped she wasn’t a plant sent by a rival mercenary corps—if she was, he wouldn’t hesitate to snap that slender little neck of hers.
Emerging from the cave, Shen Tangtang spotted three other men waiting outside, clad in the exact same grey-green uniforms as Zhang Yi. They must have belonged to the same mercenary outfit.
Zhang Yi stepped out behind her and gave a brief nod to one of the men.
The man standing on the far left stepped forward. “Miss Shen, you wouldn’t mind if I inspect your sack, would you?”
Could she say she minded a whole lot?
Shen Tangtang pressed her lips together and softly murmured, “Is a check really necessary?”
Her big, innocent eyes welled up with instant tears, making her look like she was being subjected to some monstrous injustice.
“Yes, Miss Shen. This sector has been assigned to our mercenary corps for reclamation, and unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited before it is officially opened to the public.”
Li Feng stated with a completely expressionless face.
“Oh, is that so? I’m so sorry, I had no idea entry wasn’t allowed here.”
Shen Tangtang blinked away her tears with a speed that left the surrounding mercenaries utterly astounded.
With acting skills like that, Miss Shen was practically born to be a double agent.
To be fair, Shen Tangtang genuinely hadn’t known this was a restricted sector. This wasteland had only been opened up for about a month, so it made total sense that the reclamation corps hadn’t finished sweeping the area for supplies yet.
That being said, expecting her to hand over an energy stone was pure fantasy. Once something was in her hands, it belonged to her.
She docilely handed her burlap sack over, giving herself a couple of pats to signal that she had nothing hidden on her person.
Li Feng took the sack, unfastened the top, and peered inside. Aside from a water canteen, there was nothing in there except a single palm-sized leaf.
He twitched a brow. Making a fuss over an inspection for this tiny handful of junk—did she really think they’d stoop to stealing a single leaf from her?