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Qiu Shuyu watched Song Xiaozhu deftly climb out of bed, pick out tinder grass and dry firewood, light a fire, and heat the pot. Then she scooped wild vegetable powder from the crock behind the stove, briskly added it to the pot with water, and stirred slowly with a spatula.

Smack!

Qiu Shuyu gave herself a slap as usual, scolding herself inwardly: Qiu Shuyu, get a grip. Wasn't it just... wasn't it just... killing someone?

Song Xiaozhu was a year younger than her and had already sorted out her emotions. What the hell was she still being so precious about?

Qiu Shuyu pulled

herself together and climbed out of bed too, telling Song Xiaozhu, "I still have a few breadfruits at my place. I'll go..."

Song Xiaozhu stopped her. "Don't. Let's just make do with something for now, so we don't disturb anyone else."

Qiu Shuyu thought that made sense. "All right."

Song Xiaozhu cooked two generous portions of wild vegetable gruel. She wasn't worried about Bai Jing "settling accounts later": first, Qiu Shuyu was doing well enough to have breadfruit to eat, so she could hardly be short of a little wild vegetable gruel; second, Song Xiaozhu had come to realize that Bai Jing wasn't as frightening as she'd imagined. He was more bark than bite.

The wild vegetable gruel wasn't particularly tasty, but the piping-hot mush still soothed stomachs that had been cold all night.

One mouthful for Qiu Shuyu was three for Song Xiaozhu, and she soon drained her bowl. Her expression relaxed, and she seemed to be in quite good spirits. "This bowl of wild vegetable gruel tastes so good..."

As she spoke, she looked at Song Xiaozhu and asked, "Um, Xiaozhu, you didn't use Force, did you?"

Song Xiaozhu knew what she was worried about and answered with a smile, "No."

Qiu Shuyu scratched her head. "You didn't? Then why does it taste so good?"

Song Xiaozhu didn't explain, only saying, "Probably because you were hungry."

Qiu Shuyu nodded and couldn't resist eating every last scrap left in her bowl.

Of course Song Xiaozhu hadn't used Force. In fact, she didn't have any Force at all.

Yesterday, she had unlocked a new recipe-

"Edible simple meal."

That morning, she had considered whether to synthesize the wild vegetable gruel into an "edible simple meal," but then she'd thought about that 60% success rate and her luckless-player constitution...

Forget it, forget it. If Old Man Bai returned to find only a spoonful or two left from an entire bag of wild vegetable gruel... he wouldn't just be all bark and no bite. He'd want to beat her to death.

Of course, the wild vegetable gruel really did taste better.

That was because she'd added "low-pollution water."

The wild vegetable powder itself didn't taste very good. Mixed with heavily polluted water, the resulting gruel not only looked like poison, it tasted like it too.

Water made up a large proportion of wild vegetable gruel-a full seventy percent.

Replacing that seventy percent with the relatively more palatable "low-pollution water" instantly improved the taste.

As the two ate breakfast, Song Xiaozhu asked Qiu Shuyu about the logging camp.

Qiu Shuyu held nothing back and explained everything in detail.

Like the scavenger community, the logging camp was under the protection of Ink City's conglomerates, and likewise had to deliver sufficient resources to Ink City at regular intervals.

The logging camp in particular shipped ninety percent of its timber into Ink City every month. Given Qiu Shuyu's position, it was hard for her to know what happened to it after that.

Song Xiaozhu was quite curious. "Is all the logging done by hand?"

Qiu Shuyu shook her head. "There are lots of big machines, like logging machines, tree-cutting machines, and sawmills... but those machines all belong to the conglomerates. They're expensive to build and need energy stones to run. When you work out the costs, manual labor is cheaper... though, of course, it's less efficient."

Song Xiaozhu had heard another new term: energy stones.

They sounded a little like Awakening Stones, though their functions were different.

Song Xiaozhu could understand what Qiu Shuyu was telling her.

In her world, machinery had long since replaced manual labor and become synonymous with efficiency. But in this wasteland world, with its severe resource shortages, human labor was more economical than machinery.

Or perhaps she should say that at Garbage Mountain, human labor was more economical than machinery.

After all, the refugees here had lives worth no more than weeds.

Song Xiaozhu asked again, "Then what's a day's work like for you, Sister Shuyu? Is there a set number of trees you have to cut down?"

Seeing how curious Song Xiaozhu was, Qiu Shuyu explained in greater detail.

"The logging camp isn't strictly managed. For one thing, the forest is huge-bigger than you can imagine. For another, Boss Mu is kind and generous. Anyone with an axe can go logging. It's just that the pay depends on how capable you are..."

From Qiu Shuyu's account, the logging camp's management system was somewhat like that of the scavenger community. Both sent people out to cut timber (or scavenge), then paid them according to the quality of the timber (or garbage) when they returned.

The logging camp simply had a higher barrier to entry: you needed your own tools, and cutting trees required strength. It was also safer and more stable. The downside was that the earnings weren't as high as scavenging, especially during a scavenging rush, when you could get rich overnight.

Hearing this, Song Xiaozhu had an idea. "Sister Shuyu, could you bring me some timber? I'll buy it from you, at a higher price than the logging camp..."

Before she could finish, Qiu Shuyu cut in. "What are you talking about? If you want wood, just tell me. No charge!"

Song Xiaozhu said, "I can't let you do all that work for nothing..."

Qiu Shuyu laughed and flicked her forehead. "You're an awakener now. I'll be counting on you to give me a hand in the future!"

Warmth stirred in Song Xiaozhu's heart, and she stopped standing on ceremony.

She wouldn't take Qiu Shuyu's wood for nothing. She would slowly make it up to her later.

"All right, then," Song Xiaozhu said readily. "Tonight, I'll make you

something delicious!"

Qiu Shuyu assumed she meant wild vegetable gruel and didn't think much of it. "Sure. I'll come here for dinner tonight."

She didn't know whether Master Bai would be back, and she was uneasy about leaving Song Xiaozhu alone in the shack.

After breakfast, Qiu Shuyu picked up her axe and headed for the logging camp. Song Xiaozhu also stepped out of the shack, treading through the mud covering the ground.

Song Xiaozhu went to the spot where she had buried the "simple hoe" yesterday. Rather than immediately digging it up, she carefully examined the garbage heap, guided by her memory.