What was even more frustrating was that, despite being artificially cultivated, the potato fields only had a slightly higher chance of producing edible potatoes than wild-grown ones. Not every potato could be eaten.
Xiang Ge dug up five potatoes in a row, and only two of them were medium-radiation edible potatoes.
Even with those odds, the people around her looked at her enviously. When Cheng Ye made his inspection rounds through the fields, he even spared her plot a few extra glances.
Everyone had brought baskets, but the potatoes were simply too large. A basket could only hold a few of them, so most people piled their harvests beside their plots.
To Xiang Ge, potatoes were a treasure.
They could serve as both staple food and vegetables. A potato this large could last for days, and just looking at them was pleasing.
She decided to temporarily set aside thoughts of revenge and focus on harvesting potatoes.
While digging, she quietly slipped some into her storage space.
Fortunately, potatoes grew underground, making them easy to conceal. Everyone else was bent over their own work, staring at the dirt beneath them. No one paid attention to Xiang Ge’s small movements.
Once she realized she could smuggle potatoes into her space, she worked even harder.
She switched her wristwatch to silent mode and swung her shovel with enthusiasm.
For roughly every three edible potatoes she dug up, she secretly stored one away.
During this time, she even found two low-radiation potatoes.
Low-radiation food was valuable everywhere. It caused fewer side effects when eaten and could be sold at a much higher price.
Naturally, Xiang Ge stored both of them in her space.
When people focused on work, they lost track of time.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Night had completely fallen.
The towering floodlights surrounding the fields switched on, illuminating the area like daylight.
By now, most people had excavated around one-third of their assigned plots. The faster workers had cleared nearly half.
Only Xiang Ge was different.
Her entire plot was nearly empty except for the deepest layer of potatoes still buried underground.
Meanwhile, her storage space now contained twelve football-sized medium-radiation potatoes and two low-radiation potatoes.
Many workers had already sat down to rest and eat the food they had brought.
Some were so exhausted they simply lay down on the ground and fell asleep.
Eight out of ten scavengers suffered from malnutrition. Their bodies simply couldn’t sustain intense labor for extended periods.
Cheng Ye and the others responsible for supervision clearly understood this. Seeing people resting, they said nothing.
Xiang Ge also slowed down her digging.
Not because she was tired.
She wasn’t.
But she had noticed something strange.
The deeper she dug, the more high-radiation potatoes she found.
Medium- and low-radiation potatoes became increasingly rare.
Something was wrong.
Her movements became more cautious.
After a few more shovelfuls of dirt, she suddenly noticed the soil below seemed to be moving slightly.
No.
Something was moving inside the soil.
Immediately, Xiang Ge stepped away from the disturbed patch.
Using her shovel, she carefully brushed away the dirt.
A thick potato vine emerged from beneath the soil.
The movement wasn’t coming from the vine itself.
It came from countless tiny red insects covering it.
The moment Xiang Ge saw the insects, her first instinct was to run.
If all those bugs scattered and crawled onto her body…
She didn’t even want to imagine it.
With that bright red coloration, who knew whether they were poisonous?
But she quickly noticed that the insects were completely focused on feeding.
They clung tightly to the potato vine, showing no intention of moving.
Suppressing the crawling sensation on her scalp, Xiang Ge leaned closer to inspect them.
Each insect measured about two centimeters long.
Their bodies were oval-shaped.
They had slender antennae on their heads and a pair of short tubular structures protruding from the rear sides of their abdomens.
All unmistakable characteristics of aphids.
Except normal aphids were only about two millimeters long.
These were over two centimeters.
More than ten times larger.
Clearly, they were mutated aphids.
Xiang Ge noticed that this particular potato vine was significantly thicker than the others.
Perhaps because of excessive radiation exposure, the vine was slowly secreting a sticky substance while being devoured by the aphids.
The secretion glued the insects firmly in place.
She poked one with her shovel.
As expected, it didn’t budge.
The sticky substance held it tightly.
At that moment, no one could have guessed how excited Xiang Ge was.
Using her backpack as cover, she quietly pulled out the knife she had purchased earlier.
One stab.
One kill.
The blade slid effortlessly into an aphid’s body.
Bright red blood flowed out, instantly corroding a small hole into the potato vine beneath it.
[Congratulations, Host. You have killed one mutated beast and earned 0.1 Purification Point.]
It worked!
0.1 wasn’t much.
But there were a lot of aphids.
Looking at the vine densely covered with them, Xiang Ge felt as though she had discovered a treasure trove.
She jumped back into the pit, bent over, and used her body to block the vine from view.
Then she began stabbing aphids one after another at lightning speed.
[Congratulations, Host. You have killed one mutated beast and earned 0.1 Purification Point.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have killed one mutated beast and earned 0.1 Purification Point.]
…
The notifications continued endlessly.
For the first time in her life, Xiang Ge thought a system notification sounded as beautiful as heavenly music.
By the time her hand grew sore from stabbing, she had accumulated twenty-one Purification Points.
She was rich.
Absolutely rich.
By now, the workers around her were yawning constantly.
Only Xiang Ge’s eyes shone brightly.
They gleamed almost as brightly as the floodlights overhead.
As she dug potatoes, she searched for more vines infested with aphids.
Maybe she could strike another jackpot.
Unfortunately, even after digging up every remaining potato in her plot, she never found another aphid.
At that moment, Cheng Ye happened to pass by on another inspection round.
Among all the surrounding plots, Xiang Ge’s excavation pit was the largest.
She had dug up more potatoes than anyone else nearby.
Yet despite that achievement, her face was filled with disappointment.
“Report!”
“My potato field is finished. I request another plot!”
The moment she spotted Cheng Ye, Xiang Ge immediately raised her hand.
Her arm stretched high into the air.
There was no fatigue in her eyes.
Only an endless passion for work.
“There aren’t any extra plots.”
“The fields are assigned by headcount.”
“If you want, you can look around and see if anyone needs help harvesting theirs.”
Cheng Ye was genuinely shocked by her enthusiasm.
Nearby workers, whether sitting or lying down, all looked at Xiang Ge with admiration.
A workaholic.
A true grinding king.
“Well, I can’t help it. Life’s hard.”
Xiang Ge helplessly waved her thin, malnourished arm and gave a bitter smile.
Seeing how young and frail she looked, everyone understood.
Hunger was terrible.
They were all people struggling desperately to survive.
Still, there were too many pitiful people in the wasteland.
Sympathy was one thing.
No one wanted her taking a share of their potatoes.
Standing atop a mound of dirt, Xiang Ge surveyed the entire field.
Eventually, her gaze settled on Liu Qiao and Wu Chenggang, who were sitting together affectionately feeding each other nutrient solution.
“Big Sister Liu, Brother Wu…”
Xiang Ge rubbed her hands together awkwardly.
Her intentions couldn’t have been more obvious.
“How about I help dig your potatoes?”
“No matter how many I dig up, just give me two potatoes. That’s all I ask.”
She had become so absorbed in harvesting that she had almost forgotten her enemies.
That would have been neglecting the truly important business.