The large mutated lizards in her own area retreated into the canopy when they sensed that Xiang Ge was too aggressive. Not having had her fill of kills, she even went to other people’s zones to hunt them down.
【Ding~ Purification points received: +5】
【Ding~ Purification points received: +5】
……
When the other four members of the team woke up, they saw that Xiang Ge wasn’t harvesting fruit at all—instead, she was roaming everywhere killing mutated lizards.
This time, even Ye Zheng, who had never been particularly close to her, was somewhat moved.
Waking up so early, not harvesting fruit for her own benefit, but instead helping everyone clear mutated beasts and saving their harvesting time—
Where could you find such a good person?
“Sister Xiang Ge would be great if she could stay in our team forever,” Shao Ya couldn’t help but say.
The others silently nodded.
They all secretly decided to treat Xiang Ge even better in the future and try to keep her as a permanent teammate.
It had to be said—this was truly a beautiful misunderstanding.
Just then, Xiang Ge happened to chase down another large lizard. After finishing it off, Shen Cheng called her over for a team meeting.
“Today is the last day of the mission. We’re only a little over halfway through harvesting. To complete the task, we’ll need outside help. I’ll send everyone the bill for their share of the points later. Any objections?”
So their captain wasn’t careless yesterday—he was actually confident all along.
Xiang Ge felt relieved. After all, this was her first mission, and she didn’t want it to fail.
The others, clearly not new to outsourcing labor, all nodded.
Although she didn’t fully understand how it would work, Xiang Ge went along and agreed too.
Basically, the captain was acting like a middleman subcontracting the work—easy to understand.
But soon, Xiang Ge realized Shen Cheng’s abilities as a captain went far beyond simply outsourcing work.
Ye Zheng pulled a large bag out of the pickup truck. Shen Cheng took it, opened it, and squatted down to start assembling something.
Soon, five mechanical birds about half a meter long appeared, hovering in the air.
Xiang Ge’s eyes widened as she watched the lifelike mechanical birds.
A tech genius!
She looked at the captain with newfound respect.
No wonder Shen Cheng had taken on such a difficult mission without hesitation—he had clearly been prepared.
“These mechanical birds can efficiently assist with harvesting. However, their energy consumption is quite expensive.”
“We each get one. Pay for your own energy usage—use it sparingly.”
Shen Cheng tapped his wrist device, and the mechanical bird hovering above Xiang Ge’s head landed steadily.
It felt… kind of heavy.
A bit presumptuous, honestly.
But there was no denying it—the mechanical birds Shen Cheng built were incredibly useful.
They flew into the plum trees, flapping around inside the branches. Fruits dropped down like rain.
For the ones that clung tightly, the birds would grab one with their claws, hold another in their beaks, and carry them down to Xiang Ge before flying back up again in a continuous loop.
All Xiang Ge had to do was stand below and sort the fruit after the birds brought them down. Their cooperation was extremely efficient.
The mutated insects and lizards in the trees couldn’t do anything to the mechanical birds and could only glare in frustration.
The insects were too unintelligent and just got angry at the birds.
The lizards, however, quickly understood the real culprit. Seeing piles of harvested fruit on the ground, they angrily jumped down to punish the thief.
This worked perfectly for Xiang Ge.
She just stood there waiting—harvesting fruit while also killing mutated beasts for purification points.
She was getting everything.
She was very happy.
With the help of the five mechanical birds, by midday the harvesting progress had reached 70%.
Shen Cheng calculated that by noon on the third day, they had already gathered all required quotas: 300 jin of medium-radiation fruit and 200 low-radiation fruits.
In other words, everything harvested in the afternoon would be pure profit.
The mission was about to be successfully completed—but none of them looked relaxed.
The orchard was nearly fully harvested, yet the purification fruit was still nowhere to be found.
If it couldn’t be found even in such a low-radiation zone, then chances elsewhere were even slimmer.
Although they could technically stop using the mechanical birds to save energy after completing the quota, everyone still continued.
Xiang Ge did it because she could save time harvesting and earn more purification points.
The others did it because they still held onto hope of finding the purification fruit sooner.
By sunset, harvesting progress had reached 90%.
Only a few scattered trees remained in each area.
Shen Cheng recalled the mechanical birds.
Xiang Ge finished off the last mutated lizards on the final trees and sat on the ground leisurely, slowly continuing her inspections.
【Beep—High radiation.】
She tilted her wrist device.
【Beep—Medium radiation.】
She tossed the fruit to one side.
【Beep—Low radiation.】
She placed it neatly into a smaller pile.
【Beep—High radiation.】
The cycle repeated.
Since most fruits on a tree were high-radiation, her job was easy—she barely needed to move.
She was quietly calculating her earnings.
Could she afford the remaining payment for the laser sword?
Soon she’d be heading to the potato field for more purification points, so she wouldn’t have time for other missions.
If her points weren’t enough, she’d have to find another way to cash out purification points.
Then—
【Beep—Zero radiation.】
When she pointed the wrist device at a fruit nearby, the familiar yet unfamiliar notification sounded.
The world seemed to go silent.
She didn’t believe her ears and tested it again.
【Beep—Zero radiation.】
“Purification fruit!”
Shen Cheng, who was closest, heard the sound and froze for a few seconds before rushing over immediately.
By then, the fruit was already in Xiang Ge’s hand.
She examined it carefully. Its color, shape, and size were completely identical to the others.
The rest of the team rushed over as well.
“This… is the purification fruit?” someone murmured.
They had thought they would never see one in their lifetime.
Xiang Ge simply scanned it again with her wrist device.
【Beep—Zero radiation.】
This time, everyone heard it clearly.
This was the purification fruit that everyone in the wasteland longed for.