Currently discovered Mutated Ants include…
"Alright, alright, I’ll pay you back. I’ll return the Credits later," Wei Xing quickly agreed, not daring to let the matter reach their captain.
Hu Tian was utterly exhausted. "Our team has been working nonstop for half a month without a single day off. I’m about to collapse."
Wei Xing felt the same. "Yeah, what they call ‘rest’ is just making us take residents out Scavenging. Tch, they only give 200 Credits as Overtime Pay. The Base is getting stingier."
Hu Tian said, "I can’t take it anymore. I’m too tired. I’ll find a spot to nap first. You keep watch, and we’ll switch at dawn."
With that, the two sat on the ground near the truck not far from Sang Luoluo, leaning against the vehicle with their weapons in their arms as they dozed off.
Feeling somewhat reassured by the presence of the Guard Corps nearby, Sang Luoluo managed to sleep a little longer.
As soon as day broke, everyone around immediately packed up and threw themselves into Scavenging.
This area was an Undeveloped Zone with a Wild Yam Field. With patience and careful testing, finding yams with low Radiation wouldn’t be a problem.
Scattered throughout were other Mutated Vegetables. Some were the result of Mutated Plants that had existed here for three hundred years slowly evolving, while others grew from Mutated Seeds deliberately collected by the Base and sown in suitable areas outside.
Among these High Radiation plants, there were always some fruits with low Radiation. The produce from the Private Plantations inside the Base was only enough to feed a small portion of the higher-ups. Ninety-nine percent of the Base’s population relied on food sourced from outside.
Sang Luoluo followed behind the crowd and had just found an unclaimed patch of the Wild Yam Field when, unexpectedly, it was quickly taken over.
She was standing there peacefully when someone forcefully shoved her from behind, sending her tumbling headfirst to the ground and rolling over once.
"I’ve claimed this spot. Get lost!" a harsh female voice rang out.
Sang Luoluo steadied herself and looked up at the person who had pushed her—a woman in her early thirties, a head taller than her, holding a hoe in her right hand and pulling along a boy around ten years old. The woman’s stance made it clear that if Sang Luoluo didn’t leave, the hoe would come down on her head next.
Covered in mud on her hands and face, Sang Luoluo glared at the mother and son and said unhappily, "I was here first. You’re bullying me."
A hint of disdain flashed across the woman’s ordinary face. This girl was all skin and bones—easy to push around. Hearing her dare to resist, the woman thumped the hoe on the ground and continued threatening, "Exactly! I’m bullying you!"
Several ways to deal with the pair flashed through Sang Luoluo’s mind—throwing stones from her Space at them, hurling a piece of wood, or secretly pulling out a kitchen knife from her Space to attack while fighting.
But she realized none of these were practical. Doing so would expose her Space, so she decided against it. Besides, there were no Crystal Cores here, so it wasn’t worth starting a conflict. Still, being threatened left a bitter taste in her mouth.
A wise person knows when to yield. Sang Luoluo glanced at them, picked up her Back Basket, and left.
As she left, Sang Luoluo noticed several bloody scratches on the child's ankle—likely from being scraped by some mutated plant—that were already oozing blood. The mother hadn't noticed, and though Sang Luoluo took an extra glance, she didn't speak up, not wanting to invite more trouble for herself.
Even a faint scent of blood could attract nearby mutated animals. A scent too faint for humans to detect didn't mean the surrounding mutated animals couldn't smell it.
Seeing Sang Luoluo walk away, the woman smirked triumphantly. "She knows better. Come on, son, hurry up and dig for the yams."
Sang Luoluo wandered nearby, focusing on sensing any traces of crystal cores within a five-meter radius. After walking quite a distance, she detected one beneath a patch of yam plants.
She stopped to dig for the yams. This time, the crystal core was buried about a meter deep. Glancing around to ensure no one was nearby, she reached into her basket—actually retrieving a small hoe from her space warehouse—and crouched down to start digging.
After digging about half a meter deep, she heard a woman's rough scream in the distance, coming from the direction she had just left.
"Ahhh! Mutated ants! So many mutated ants!!"
"Help!!!!"
Sang Luoluo turned toward the terrified cries and saw a swarm of mutated ants, each half a person tall, swarming toward the middle-aged woman. At a rough glance, there were over a hundred of them.
Her heart sank. How could there be so many mutated ants? She had assumed only one or two mutated animals would be attracted.
Members of the Guard Corps quickly arrived to provide support.
"Alert!! Alert!!"
"A swarm of over a hundred mutated ants has appeared 1,500 meters southeast of the convoy, attacking residents. S17 Squad, dispatch personnel immediately for rescue."
Sang Luoluo had just stood up to get a clearer look. If just a small amount of fresh blood could attract so many mutated animals, perhaps she could find a way to use this to her advantage in the future.
As she pondered this, a figure suddenly swept past her like the wind, moving so fast she could only catch a blurry afterimage.
What was that just now?
Was it a person? It must have been a person.
Soon, the figure paused briefly, aiming a laser weapon at the mutated ants and firing rapidly. The attack drew the ants' attention, and they swarmed toward him. In an instant, he shifted positions with incredible speed and continued firing. By the time other Guard Corps members arrived to assist, he had already taken down over fifty mutated ants on his own.
"Hurry, locate any nearby ant nests. There must be more mutated ants than just these," Lei Qi said, his expression grim as he coordinated with his teammates to eliminate the remaining ants, speaking urgently into the mic.
"What?! Mutated ant nests? Weren't they cleared during the last sweep of Zone 31B? Damn it, how did they reappear? The mission reward from last time is definitely going to be docked now." He Fei's voice came through the walkie-talkie, filled with shock, regret, and a hint of lingering fear. The incomplete cleanup from the previous mission had left a hidden danger.
"We must locate the ant nests and ensure not a single ant escapes. This area is too close to the base—we must eradicate every last one," Captain Qi Feng's cold voice transmitted over the walkie-talkie.
Before Sang Luoluo could fully process the shock of the blurry, lightning-fast figure, she saw the mutated ants being wiped out. The other Guard Corps members appeared tense as they conducted a thorough search of the area.
What I just saw must have been an Evolved Human. That freakish speed is something only possible in humans after genetic mutation.
How enviable.
Sang Luoluo quickly refocused her attention and continued digging downward.
She casually dug up seven yams clustered together and tested them one by one.
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 77, High Radiation—not recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 79, High Radiation—not recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 91, High Radiation—not recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 32, Medium Radiation—recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 49, Medium Radiation—recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 84, High Radiation—not recommended for consumption!"
"Beep beep beep! Radiation Level 99, High Radiation—not recommended for consumption!"
Huh, there were actually two edible yams. Looking at their size—almost as thick as her arm and nearly as tall as she was—she didn’t really want them. After all, she had no intention of eating irradiated food.
But to keep up appearances, she broke them in half and placed them in her backpack basket.
After twenty minutes, she finally reached a depth of one meter and felt a brown Crystal Core about half the size of a fingernail.
She tossed it directly into her Space, instantly unlocking a ten-acre apple orchard.
Well, that’s good. Now she’d have fruit to eat.
She began refilling the soil when suddenly, a chilling sensation crept over her scalp. Something seemed to be moving underground—the Crystal Core was shifting. That familiar pull appeared about five meters below the surface before moving away again.
Based on the intensity of the pull, it should be a rather large Crystal Core.
This was something she’d learned from her recent Crystal Core hunts.
The Guard Corps members had spread out, each holding a device to scan the area. They uploaded the scanned data to their captain’s computer, who then coordinated their actions.
The Guard Corps also reminded the nearby gathering residents to retreat to a safe location.
One Guard Corps member used a loudspeaker to announce nearby, "Mutated Animals have been spotted in the area. All gathering residents, fall back."
"Ah, Mutated Animals? How could they suddenly appear here?"
"Didn’t the Guard Corps clear all the Mutated Animals from the gathering grounds? How are there still some?"
"Run, quick! If we’re too slow, the Mutated Animals will catch up."
"Look! Something’s crawling out over there!!!"
Sang Luoluo only heard the fearful voices of the nearby gathering residents. Following their gaze, she looked back and indeed saw Mutated Ants emerging from beneath the grass, each about half a person’s height.
A nearby resident, who was close by, swung their tool and smashed one of the Mutated Ants to death with a few strikes.
Seeing this, Sang Luoluo also started running. She wasn’t that strong, so she headed toward where the crowd was thicker.
The uneven ground made it difficult to run, and after just a few steps, she tripped over a moving plant.
She tumbled forward, and the mutated yams in her backpack basket spilled out.
Clutching her short hoe, she grimaced in pain, wanting to get up. But the fall had been a bad one—her knees, elbows, and chin were all scraped. It hurt so much she couldn’t move for a moment.
Someone passing by saw the items that had fallen from her basket, swiftly picked them up, and ran off without a second thought, completely unconcerned about whether she would chase after them.
"That’s mine!"
Sang Luoluo could only watch as the person’s figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance, paying her no mind at all.
Robbery so blatant.
If it weren't for the food in her Space, she would have starved to death—unable to fight back, doomed to die sooner or later.
A snicker came from nearby. Lei Qi charged the weapon in his hand, then glanced away and gestured for the captain to look in the direction he pointed. "Captain, she's so weak. Still alive, huh? It's a miracle."
Qi Feng followed Lei Qi's pointing and swept a glance, uninterested. The next moment, he withdrew his gaze, focusing intently on the scan data transmitted by his Wrist Device. The area had become the territory of Mutated Ants, with the ground teeming with them.
He spoke coldly, disdainfully, "Are you that idle?"
Lei Qi immediately wiped the smirk off his face. "Captain, I'm busy charging the equipment."
Qi Feng stated flatly, "Over three thousand Mutated Ants have been detected so far."
"H-how many?" Lei Qi doubted his ears. Over three thousand Mutated Ants—they couldn't have reproduced that fast in such a short time. The only explanation was that the squad had overlooked this spot during the last cleanup of Mutated Animals in Sector 31B.