When she regained consciousness, Xiang Ge could only tell that she was lying on the ground. Something was smeared across her face—warm, sticky, and reeking of blood.
Extreme danger.
Her eyes snapped open in alarm, and she wiped at her face with her hand.
What met her gaze were chunks of bright-red flesh.
Not zombie flesh.
Not the kind she was used to killing.
Xiang Ge immediately sat up and tried to get to her feet, but her body was so weak that she couldn’t stand. She could only remain seated and cautiously survey her surroundings.
Less than a meter away lay the corpse of a gigantic beast, at least two or three meters long. It hadn’t even gone cold yet.
The surrounding plants were far larger than anything Xiang Ge had ever seen.
Within a single minute, she confirmed one thing:
This was not the apocalypse she knew.
It was an entirely new world.
She had transmigrated.
The moment her awareness fully returned, a splitting headache assaulted her.
A flood of information poured into her still-groggy mind.
Fortunately, she processed it quickly and soon understood her situation completely.
This was the 107th year since the outbreak of nuclear radiation.
Everything in nature was contaminated.
Food was scarce. Only plants with low or moderate radiation levels could be eaten.
Animals whose genes had been twisted by radiation had become mutated beasts that preyed on humans.
Terrifying radiation sickness lurked everywhere, silently eroding people’s bodies.
The survivors had established numerous settlements of varying sizes, with Ark Base as the largest among them. They banded together for survival, stubbornly keeping humanity’s flame alive in this wasteland world.
The owner of this body was also named Xiang Ge.
Twenty-one years old.
Living alone in Morningstar Base.
After being framed by someone and accidentally entering a high-radiation zone, her radiation level had exceeded ninety, leading to her expulsion from the base.
Later, she encountered a mutated beast in the wilderness and fainted from fright.
No.
More accurately, she had been scared to death.
After sorting through all the memories, Xiang Ge stretched her limbs, slowly sat upright, and tried standing again.
She had struggled through ten years in the apocalypse.
Relying on overwhelming combat strength, she had climbed step by step to the top and survived until the very end.
But along the way, she had lost too many family members and friends.
In the end, she had even been betrayed by the person closest to her and lost her life.
She was tired.
Maybe living in another world wasn’t such a bad thing.
Looking at the tusked beast corpse before her, Xiang Ge didn’t find it frightening at all.
Compared to zombies, it was practically pleasant-looking.
“So this new world isn’t exactly peaceful either.”
She sighed softly.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of fear on her face.
After taking a few steps forward, Xiang Ge frowned.
This body felt as though every part of it were clogged and blocked.
Even walking a few steps left her exhausted.
With difficulty, she made her way to the beast’s corpse and inspected it carefully.
What she found shocked her.
It wasn’t dead?
Though its belly had been torn open and it lay completely motionless, Xiang Ge’s ten years of experience killing zombies and mutant zombie beasts allowed her to detect the faintest trace of breathing.
She reacted immediately.
Breaking off a long, sturdy branch from a nearby plant, she thrust it into the beast’s open body cavity and stirred around before accurately driving it into the weakly beating heart.
[Ding! Wasteland Purification System successfully activated.]
[Congratulations, Host, on killing one mutated beast. You have obtained 5 Purification Points.]
[Purification Points can be used to reduce radiation levels. Please keep up the good work.]
The voice in her head left Xiang Ge momentarily stunned.
Not only had she transmigrated—
She had also obtained a system.
If not for the fact that this body was so weak it could barely walk two steps without panting, she might have thought she was heaven’s chosen heroine.
Kill mutated beasts to earn Purification Points.
Hmm.
Wonderful.
She had just arrived in this new world and was already being encouraged to go back where she came from.
At her current condition, asking her to hunt mutated beasts was no different from forcing an eighty-year-old grandmother to go bungee jumping.
They might as well just tell her to die.
What kind of useless system was this?
Xiang Ge was speechless.
[Detected negative work attitude from Host.]
[Friendly reminder: Host’s current radiation level is 97, classifying you as a highly contaminated individual. Genetic collapse may occur at any time.]
[Host’s maximum radiation tolerance is 100.]
[Upon reaching 100, immediate death will occur.]
[Please complete tasks diligently and reduce your radiation level promptly.]
[Wishing you a long life.]
Oh, so that’s how it was.
No wonder her body felt so terrible.
Her radiation level was practically at its limit.
Genetic collapse?
Instant death?
Fine.
A death-start scenario, huh?
Xiang Ge nearly laughed from anger.
No matter how she listened, the system’s final sentence sounded dripping with sarcasm.
But she had no time to argue with it.
Her immediate priority was getting out of here.
The mutated beast had probably died less than an hour ago.
In the original owner’s final memories, she had heard people talking in the distance before losing consciousness.
She had never managed to meet them.
Whether they had been injured or might return remained unknown.
Still, Xiang Ge had no intention of waiting here for death.
Fresh blood in the wilderness would attract even greater dangers.
To Xiang Ge, this mutated beast was like a ticking time bomb.
She knew nothing about the environment.
Nothing about the situation.
And she possessed absolutely no means of self-defense.
Leaving the scene as quickly as possible was the smartest option.
Dragging her heavy body forward, Xiang Ge moved into the distance.
As she walked, she plucked leaves from nearby plants and used them to wipe the beast’s blood from her face and arms.
One leaf brushed against the wrist device on her left arm.
[Beep. High-radiation plant. Inedible.]
She plucked another.
[Beep. High-radiation plant. Inedible.]
And another.
[Beep. High-radiation plant. Inedible.]
Understanding dawned on her.
Most plants in the wilderness were highly radioactive.
Finding edible food with low or moderate radiation levels was far from easy.
At the moment, she couldn’t find food.
And she also had to worry about becoming food herself.
A disastrous start didn’t get much worse than this.
Just as Xiang Ge staggered forward on heavy legs, the sound of rustling leaves suddenly came from nearby.
Something was approaching.
She wanted to speed up and flee, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.
Instead, she hid herself behind the enormous roots of a nearby plant.
Voices gradually drew closer.
“Since we’ve confirmed there are no other mutated beasts nearby, we’ll rest here tonight.
This mission is extremely important. We can’t carry too much weight. We’ll roast this beast’s meat into jerky tonight and take some of it with us.”
The speaker was a middle-aged man with a deep, powerful voice.
“We’re pretty lucky to run into a weakened mutated beast out here.
If finding a Purification Fruit could be this easy too, that’d be great.”
Someone nearby sighed.
“Lucky?
The Legion Commander gained another two radiation points saving that girl. He’s almost at the critical threshold of ninety.
If you ask me, what’s the point of saving someone whose radiation level is already off the charts? Even if you save them, they’re just waiting to die.”
“Enough, Ao Guang. Stop talking.”
The deep voice sounded again.
“Well… Legion Commander, if we really find a Purification Fruit this time, maybe you should eat it yourself.
Don’t give it to those old scholars at the Ark Research Institute. We’ve already found them two fruits, and they still haven’t developed a new purification agent.”
This voice sounded much younger.
“Don’t say such foolish things.
My life isn’t more important than humanity’s hope.”
Listening to their conversation, Xiang Ge blinked.
Several thoughts flashed through her mind.
She rubbed her face, then poked her head out to look at the newcomers, putting on a pleasantly surprised expression.
“Was it you who saved me?” she asked.