Chapter 11

Qiu Shuyu really knew nothing about this and did not dare offer advice at random.

Song Xiaozhu thought for a moment and ventured, "Could it also depend on a person's constitution? Just as people differ in stamina and strength, everyone's ability to sense and use Force might be different?"

"Possibly," Qiu Shuyu said.

Song Xiaozhu patched up her own story. "Then maybe I'm very talented, and my Force was abundant as soon as I awakened?"

V-very talented?

Qiu Shuyu fell silent for a moment, then made a valiant effort to reassure her. "Th-that's possible."

Song Xiaozhu was in a wonderful mood, feeling comfortable all over, just as if she had drunk that "low-contamination water" with its special effects.

She had a handle on things now. Even when Bai Jing returned, she would be able to argue her case with him.

No one could see the "Synthesizer" anyway. If she said she was a "craftsman," then she was a "craftsman."

As for the Awakening Stone...

She did not even need to make up a story. She could simply say she had no idea where it came from. In any case, she had mist (Force) in her hands, and her "class" had awakened!

By the time they finished talking, it was well past midnight.

Song Xiaozhu yawned. "Sister Shuyu, stay here tonight."

Qiu Shuyu had been planning to do just that. "All right."

"Get some rest," Song Xiaozhu said. "You still have to go to the logging site tomorrow."

Qiu Shuyu lay down on Bai Jing's plank bed. With a turn onto her side, she was face-to-face with Song Xiaozhu.

Song Xiaozhu smiled at her.

Qiu Shuyu smiled back.

Neither of them mentioned Shang Bao again...

This was their unspoken understanding. No one had broken in tonight. Nothing had happened tonight.

This was a secret they would not reveal even when Bai Jing returned.

Only after Qiu Shuyu fell asleep did Song Xiaozhu quietly prop herself up on her plank bed and summon the "workbench."

The Quantum Coin field showed a quantity of: 3.

A simple storage chest required 2 Quantum Coins.

There were exactly 3 recipes still locked in the first row.

After a little thought, Song Xiaozhu unlocked all 3 remaining recipes. She had more or less caught on to the pattern: synthesizing a recipe for the first time would most likely earn an achievement, and achievements rewarded Quantum Coins.

She was confident she could earn back all 3 Quantum Coins she was spending now, then save them to synthesize a storage chest. In any case, the 20 units of raw wood material needed for the chest were still nowhere in sight.

Song Xiaozhu opened the three unlocked recipes one by one:

Recipe name: Simple pickaxe.

Recipe level: 1.

Required materials: Raw wood material*1 + raw stone material*1.

Success rate: 60%

Recipe name: Edible simple meal.

Recipe level: 1.

Required materials: Any food ingredients*3.

Success rate: 60%

Recipe name: Medicinal raw material.

Recipe level: 1.

Required materials: Any medicine.

Success rate: 1-99%.

Song Xiaozhu's eyes lit up as she read the final recipe's information. If there was "medicinal raw material," did that not mean there was also "medicine"?

Thinking of how Bai Jing was a "healer," and of those miraculous antibiotics, Song Xiaozhu was quite curious about this recipe for "medicinal raw material."

Unfortunately, she had no suitable materials on hand.

She was in no rush to synthesize it, though. It was late at night, and she was already so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open.

Song Xiaozhu put away the "workbench" and lay down on the plank bed. Holding the skinning knife tucked against her chest, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The day had truly been full of ups and downs, and she had worn herself out.

Not just physically, but mentally as well.

Fortunately, she had gained a great deal.

With the "Synthesizer," she could synthesize clean water, edible food, tools, storage chests, and medicine...

In a wasteland world, these were the most valuable things.

Song Xiaozhu fell asleep. She still had nightmares, but this time her dream was no longer pitch-black. There was a beam of light piercing the gloom.

After a full week in this world, Song Xiaozhu looked forward to "tomorrow" for the first time!

Chapter 11

Song Xiaozhu woke very early. The horizon outside had only just begun to brighten. It was the time she usually got up to cook.

Waking without hearing a whistle felt quite unfamiliar to Song Xiaozhu.

She had not thought much of it before, but now that she considered it, Bai Jing had his reasons for waking her so early.

She was alone and weak, and an outsider to boot. If she happened to leave the community when the scavengers were heading out in a crowd for Garbage Mountain, she might well be followed.

Leaving a little earlier allowed her to avoid the others and find a relatively safe place to scavenge.

Song Xiaozhu sighed inwardly. Though Old Man Bai was demanding and sharp-tongued, he was a decent man. Otherwise, Qiu Shuyu would not have been so devoted to him.

Qiu Shuyu had not woken yet.

People in the scavenger community generally did not wake until broad daylight.

Song Xiaozhu had found this surprising at first. In her memory, the villagers back home went to bed late and rose early, starting their busy days before dawn. They would never sleep until broad daylight.

Later, she understood.

Most shacks in the scavenger community had no electricity and relied entirely on sunrise for light. Besides, the scavengers had no sense of belonging. Apart from the family workshops along the main road, most were single men living from one day to the next.

With only themselves to feed and no family to worry about, they had little motivation to work hard.

There was little difference between going out early and going out late. All they needed was enough for that day's "rent" and food.

Rather than make the effort to get up early, they might as well pull the covers over their heads and sleep a little longer.

Song Xiaozhu moved very quietly as she got up, but the plank bed refused to cooperate. The moment she sat up, it creaked, waking Qiu Shuyu too.

"Morning."

"Morning..."

Qiu Shuyu was still groggy and probably had not even figured out where she was.

"Sister Shuyu, sleep a little longer," Song Xiaozhu said.

Qiu Shuyu suddenly came fully awake. The events of last night surged up, driving back a jumble of fragmented nightmares.

Song Xiaozhu added, "I'm going to cook some wild vegetable gruel."