Any movement in the Space was a good sign. Sang Luoluo immediately took six steps to the left and discovered that the highly attractive object was right beneath her feet, buried about half a meter deep.
The Space was far too important to her. Even if it turned out to be a wild goose chase, she had to find out what was attracting the Space beneath her feet.
Picking up a nearby stone knife, she began digging into the ground. Sang Luoluo worked quickly, knowing she couldn’t linger—the wilderness would only grow more dangerous after dark. Ignoring the hunger gnawing at her stomach, she dug relentlessly until, half a meter down, her tool struck something hard.
To be precise, it was a strange stone. Sang Luoluo unearthed it, brushed off the dirt, and saw it clearly—a translucent green stone about the size of an adult’s palm. It felt cool to the touch, and she could sense the Space’s intense pull toward it.
As soon as she loosened her grip, the stone vanished, absorbed by the Space.
The next moment, she suddenly felt the Spirit Spring within the Space unlock. Clear water began flowing once more, and the areas touched by the spring’s flow were also restored.
Sang Luoluo was so overwhelmed she nearly cried. Her Space had reacted—it was all because of that stone.
It suddenly dawned on her: if one stone could unlock the Spirit Spring, then with more stones like it, perhaps the entire Space could be restored to its original state.
She extended her hand, and a stream of clear water appeared in her palm.
She tried to enter the Space herself, but unfortunately, she still couldn’t. For now, it seemed the Space had only unlocked the spring for her use. She attempted to place the stone knife near the spring, but it was no use—the Space still couldn’t store objects.
Oh well, this was already a good start.
Hoisting her basket onto her back and gripping the stone knife, she quickened her pace toward home.
…
In the last vehicle of the distant convoy, Lei Qi—his hair cropped short, a fresh scrape on his cheek—pulled a plain-flavored Nutrient Solution from his backpack. He took small sips from it, grinning foolishly as he said, “Captain, you’re too kind. That kid couldn’t even handle an ordinary mantis. She probably won’t last long.”
Qi Feng twirled a specially crafted throwing knife in one hand while using the other to operate his Wrist Device, organizing the day’s mission report. All gains from the day had to be documented and reported to Old Yan. Without even glancing up, his voice remained as cool as ever. “A life is still a life. The Base is short on people. By lending a hand, we give her a better chance to survive.”
“Captain, have you noticed the missions are getting harder lately? There are more large beasts in the woods, and our hauls have been shrinking. The guys come back covered in injuries. We barely earn any Credits on these runs, and most of what we do earn goes straight to the Medical Department.” Lei Qi muttered dejectedly. If only he’d pursued a career in the Medical Department as a child—just prescribing medicine or treating patients to earn Credits, without risking his life. Wouldn’t that have been better than this?
Glancing at the pitifully small amount of game in the truck ahead, Lei Qi voiced his concern. “Captain, we lost six men this time. Old Yan will…”
Qi Feng paused his movements, tilting his head to signal him to look at the report on his Wrist Device. His face showed exhaustion as he said, "I’ll report this mission in detail. There were too many beasts, so casualties were unavoidable. But we brought back the sample data the Laboratory requested intact, so the mission can be considered completed. Even if Old Yan has any dissatisfaction, he won’t be too harsh."
Lei Qi still felt it was unfair to their captain. "I just can’t stand Yan Lang. He rides roughshod over you just because he’s Old Yan’s son. Every time we go on a mission, it’s you who carries the team, while he takes the credit. And when something goes wrong, he pushes the blame onto you."
Qi Feng gave him a light knock on the head, a faint, weary smile appearing on his face. "After all, he is Old Yan’s son. Be careful he doesn’t hear you, or he might throw you to the beasts."
Lei Qi rubbed his forehead but had to admit the captain was right. He just couldn’t understand why Yan Lang, with such a powerful father and no shortage of food or clothing, insisted on joining their missions and making life difficult for them, the people at the bottom.
Of course, he didn’t voice this question to the captain.
…
Dragging her exhausted body back to her shack under the cover of night, Sang Luoluo was covered in sweat from the day, and the stench was unbearable.
She set down her basket first. She was starving, but she had to save the leaves for breakfast the next morning; otherwise, she wouldn’t have the strength to search for food.
Taking out a bamboo tube, she filled it with Spirit Spring Water and gulped it down, filling her stomach with water to stave off the hunger.
Having the Spirit Spring made things much more convenient for her. She no longer had to fetch water from outside. In this Shantytown, everyone shared a single well, and they had to queue up daily to draw water. Two buckets cost one Credit, and the water contained moderate Radiation. Drinking it long-term was harmful, especially for those with poor physical constitutions, who were prone to Genetic Collapse and Radiation Sickness.
Bathing was an even greater luxury. Most people in the Shantytown rarely had the chance to bathe.
Thinking of this, Sang Luoluo found a basin and filled it with Spirit Spring Water, scrubbing herself from head to toe several times. Without soap, she could only soak a little longer. When the Spirit Spring Water touched her wounds, it didn’t hurt as much as she expected; instead, it provided some relief.
Her body was thin and frail, severely malnourished, with dry, yellowish hair and a face no larger than a palm. At just sixteen years old, she stood only about one and a half meters tall. She wondered if she would ever grow taller.
After discreetly disposing of the bathwater, making sure no one outside her shack noticed, Sang Luoluo collapsed onto her bed, utterly exhausted. Her hair hung over the edge of the bed, drying in the air.
Her hair reached down to her shoulder blades. Without shampoo, it felt coarse and tangled. Once it was dry, she took a stone knife and cut the messy hair from shoulder-length to just above her ears. The stone knife wasn’t sharp enough, leaving her hair uneven, with some strands longer and others shorter, giving it a jagged, haphazard look. But none of that mattered anymore. In this Wasteland World, survival was uncertain—who cared about how her hair looked?
Thinking of the green, translucent stone she had dug up earlier, she suddenly recalled from the original owner’s memory that it might be a Crystal Core—an extremely rare energy source.
It was said that the Base’s Radiation Protection Shield was powered by a large Crystal Core, which helped reduce the effects of Radiation within the Base.
Their shantytown only had a portion of its inner area within the edge of the radiation protection shield. Sang Luoluo's shack was located at the outskirts of the shantytown, where it could be overrun by wild beasts from the wilderness at any moment, and the people here could easily become food for those beasts.
This place was not suitable for long-term residence. She had to strive to move deeper into the base, as staying here carried the constant risk of losing her life.
Sang Luoluo searched for information about crystal cores using her wrist device.
Immediately, a series of details about crystal cores appeared before her.
Crystal cores were energy bodies that had gradually formed over the past three hundred years after the extraterrestrial meteor shower fell on Lanxing. They existed in various forms, and their colors were diverse—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, as well as other colors mixed from these seven. Based on their energy values, crystal cores were classified into eight levels: SSS+, SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, and D, with significant energy differences between each level.
All bases jointly established a unified standard for classifying crystal core energy values.
The lowest-level D-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 0 to 999.
The next level, C-grade crystal cores, had energy values ranging from 1,000 to 9,999.
B-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 10,000 to 99,999.
A-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 100,000 to 999,999.
S-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 1,000,000 to 9,999,999.
SS-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 10,000,000 to 99,999,999.
SSS-grade crystal cores had energy values ranging from 100,000,000 to 999,999,999.
SSS+-grade crystal cores had energy values of ≥1,000,000,000.
Sang Luoluo was overwhelmed by the sheer number of zeros. It was a pity she hadn’t had the chance to test the energy value of that green crystal core earlier today.
But there was nothing she could do about it. She currently had no equipment to test crystal cores. The trading market did sell them, but even the cheapest one cost 1,000 credits. She didn’t have a single credit to her name—the last three credits had been spent by the original owner on the final bottle of nutrient solution, which was already consumed.
Crystal cores were extremely difficult to find. Most people in the shantytown had never seen a single crystal core in their entire lives. Even if they encountered one, it was easy to overlook, as some crystal cores were incredibly small—the tiniest being no larger than a grain of sand. Who had eyes sharp enough to spot something like that?
It was said that Base 71 used an SS-grade crystal core to power its radiation protection shield, which had been supplying energy to the base for twenty years without running out.
Beyond that, crystal cores had a wide range of uses. They could be absorbed by a small number of people with special constitutions to enhance their physical condition, heal injuries, or repair genes. They could also provide energy for new-type weapons, functioning similarly to disposable batteries. The base’s research labs were still studying the potential uses of crystal cores. Unfortunately, as extraterrestrial objects, even after three hundred years, humanity had only scratched the surface of their development.
The base offered very generous exchange terms for crystal cores, converting them into credits at ten times their energy value.
There were several historical examples in the base where people from the shantytown, while scavenging in the wilderness, accidentally discovered crystal cores, handed them over to the base, exchanged them for a large number of credits, bought houses in the inner safe zone, lived comfortably without worries, and died of old age.
This truly was an overnight fortune, and even she felt tempted.
After reading more information about crystal cores, she gradually grew drowsy and closed her eyes.
The next day, before dawn even broke, the alarm on her Wrist Device rang.
Sang Luoluo snapped back to reality, remembering her current situation. She scrambled out of bed, pulling at her wounds and hissing in pain, then hurried to start a fire and make something to eat.
Breakfast was the green paste made with Spirit Spring Water. Without any Nutrient Solution, she still gulped it down in one go, barely managing to feel half-full. The taste was astringent and bitter. After finishing, Sang Luoluo took a few sips of Spirit Spring Water to rinse her mouth. Only then did she shoulder her basket, pick up her Stone Knife, and head out.
She wanted to go back to the place she had visited yesterday.
A Crystal Core had been found there—maybe there were more nearby.
She set out earlier today, arriving at the dense purslane area from yesterday by eight o’clock. There were far fewer people around now, likely because they had discovered there was no food here and moved on to other places.
Sang Luoluo went to the spot where she had found the Crystal Core yesterday. The mantis corpse was long gone, leaving only two chewed-up, spiky forelegs on the ground. It must have been eaten by other wild beasts during the night.
A shiver ran down her spine. She wandered around the area but found no trace of other Crystal Cores. She also tested the purslane she hadn’t had time to check yesterday—not a single leaf was edible.
With a soft sigh, she didn’t dare linger here any longer and followed the crowd toward more distant areas.
If she arrived too late, she would only be left to scavenge and test what others had discarded, which was pointless and inefficient.
If only she had a vehicle. With a car, she could venture deeper into the dense forest or travel farther. But now, relying solely on her two legs, if she didn’t find a suitable place to shelter from the intense midday Radiation, her life could very well end out here.
From somewhere in the distant crowd, someone shouted, “The Guard Corps is here! Hurry and follow them!”
Sang Luoluo saw people nearby running toward the east.
In her memory, everyone liked following the Guard Corps while Scavenging. If wild beasts attacked, the Guard Corps would be there to ensure safety.
As long as they didn’t interfere with the Guard Corps’ work, the members usually turned a blind eye to those trailing behind them in search of food.
Seeing this, Sang Luoluo also ran to catch up.