Xiang Ge didn’t recognize the stone.
Out of habit, she used her wrist device to scan its radiation level.
“Beep. Radiation-free Pure Gem.”
[Pure Gem: A zero-radiation gemstone native to the wasteland world. Every Pure Gem possesses a unique special ability and is activated by blood.]
The system proactively provided an appraisal.
A Pure Gem.
Just from the name alone, it sounded valuable.
Earlier, while hurrying along, Xiang Ge had gotten a cut on her arm from a plant blocking her path. The wound was still fresh.
Without hesitation, she pressed the stone against it.
The red stone flashed briefly upon contact with her blood.
Then it dissolved into countless specks of starlight and vanished into the air.
At the same time, Xiang Ge sensed something new appearing in her mind.
It was actually a storage space!
The space wasn’t large—roughly one cubic meter.
It couldn’t hold many items, but Xiang Ge was already extremely satisfied.
Items could be stored and retrieved entirely through her thoughts.
More importantly, she could sense that time inside the space was completely frozen.
In other words, anything placed inside would remain perfectly preserved.
In the apocalypse, space-type ability users were not uncommon.
Every one of them was considered invaluable and was protected by their entire team.
And now Xiang Ge had a storage space of her own.
Hiding treasures, gathering supplies, storing food—
Everything would become far more convenient.
“I get it now.”
“In this world, anything unaffected by radiation is valuable.”
“Radiation-free fruit is called a Purification Fruit.”
“Radiation-free humans are called Purifiers.”
“Radiation-free stones are called Pure Gems.”
“In that case, can I use Purification Points from the system to create Pure Gems?”
A bold idea suddenly occurred to Xiang Ge.
And she was genuinely curious about the abilities of other Pure Gems.
Could they grant supernatural powers?
Or perhaps reduce radiation levels to zero?
In reality, her speculation was still far too conservative.
Pure Gems were like the highest-tier mystery boxes in the wasteland world.
Every possible reward within them was something countless people dreamed of obtaining.
[No.]
[The system’s Purification Points can only affect living organisms.]
[Pure Gems are non-living objects.]
This time, Xiang Ge’s imagination had ventured somewhat beyond the system’s capabilities…
She understood immediately.
The problem had to be the name.
Purification Fruit.
Purifier.
Those clearly belonged to the same “Purification” family as her system.
If Pure Gems were called Purification Gems instead, then surely it would work.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking.
The storage space was wonderful.
But for Xiang Ge, who currently possessed neither wealth nor resources, it couldn’t solve her immediate problems.
She stored the box of roasted meat, the empty purification-agent container, and the instruction leaflet inside her space.
The wrist device still displayed morning time.
However, Xiang Ge could already feel the air growing hotter and hotter.
Though she didn’t yet fully understand the rules of this world, her instincts told her this wasn’t a good sign.
Opening the map function, Xiang Ge located Morningstar Base.
At her current pace, if she hurried, she could reach it in about forty minutes.
So she set off immediately.
Pulling a large leaf from a nearby plant and holding it over her head for shade, Xiang Ge headed toward Morningstar Base.
Along the way, the sunlight became increasingly intense.
Having gone without water for so long, Xiang Ge felt as though she were about to dehydrate.
Even so, she pushed herself to move as fast as possible.
She didn’t dare waste a single minute.
Her radiation level currently sat at exactly 89.
She was terrified that if she arrived too late, it would rise above 90 and prevent her from entering the base.
Fortunately, when she finally arrived at the entrance, her radiation level remained steady at 89.
She displayed the reading on her wrist device to the inspection officer at the gate.
She had worried that being right on the threshold would cause trouble.
But it didn’t.
The officer glanced at it and immediately waved her through.
“Go buy a purification agent as soon as possible.”
“Once your radiation level reaches 90, your wrist device will automatically send an alert to the base command center.”
Perhaps because Xiang Ge looked so young, the inspector kindly offered a warning.
“Where can I buy purification agents?”
Xiang Ge asked politely.
“The shops inside the Protected District sell them. As long as you have enough points, you can buy one.”
“Thank you.”
Xiang Ge decided to visit the original owner’s residence first.
She wanted to see whether there was any useful information or equipment left behind.
Morningstar Base covered an enormous area.
To Xiang Ge, it was about the size of an entire town from her former world.
The base was divided into two distinct areas:
The Shantytown District.
And the Protected District.
The shantytown occupied nearly two-thirds of the base.
Only the central area was designated as protected.
They felt like two completely different worlds.
One for scavengers and the poor.
The other for the privileged.
Tiny houses stood packed tightly together in the shantytown.
They were low, shabby, and filthy.
Xiang Ge could smell all kinds of unpleasant odors there.
Rotting food.
Human waste.
Even the smell of people slowly decaying from illness.
Long-term radiation exposure caused countless diseases.
Many of the people she saw in the district were unhealthy, some even visibly deformed.
Most houses were built from mismatched wooden boards and roof tiles.
Families with slightly better circumstances would cover their roofs with radiation-resistant cloth.
It provided protection from radiation and helped reduce heat.
Unfortunately, Xiang Ge’s home clearly wasn’t wealthy enough for such luxuries.
Looking at the flimsy door that seemed capable of falling apart with a single shove, Xiang Ge sighed softly.
She pushed it open.
Within seconds, she had surveyed the entire room.
A wooden plank bed.
No bedding.
A table.
A chair.
A small basket resting on the chair.
The only decoration on the wall was a broken fragment of a mirror.
Despite being only about five square meters in size, the room somehow still felt empty.
Poor didn’t even begin to describe it.
Xiang Ge walked over to the mirror fragment and examined herself.
Dry, brittle short hair.
Sunken cheeks.
The original owner’s appearance resembled Xiang Ge’s by seventy to eighty percent.
She was even slightly taller than Xiang Ge had been in her previous life.
Overall, aside from being dangerously thin from long-term malnutrition, Xiang Ge was quite satisfied.
After looking around, she found almost nothing useful.
There was nothing under the bed.
Even the table was little more than a plank supported by four sticks, lacking so much as a drawer.
If there was anything worth taking, it was the basket.
But the basket was woven with open gaps.
Anyone could immediately see its contents.
It was hardly suitable as a cover for her storage space.
Leaving the house, Xiang Ge headed toward the shops in the Protected District.
She wanted to find out exactly how much a purification agent cost.
The base did have public transportation.
Unfortunately, she was too poor to afford it.
So she chose to walk for an hour instead.
The journey from the shantytown to the Protected District felt like traveling from hell to heaven.
Every building in the Protected District was constructed from radiation-resistant materials.
The environment was cool, comfortable, and secure.
The streets were wide and spotless.
As Xiang Ge walked, she almost felt as though she had returned to the world before the apocalypse.
The store was easy to find.
A three-story white building with a constant stream of customers entering and leaving.
It was the largest store in Morningstar Base.
And the only one.
A shop operated directly by the base itself.