Chapter 13

It seemed "mineralogist" was another profession for the awakened.

But there didn't seem to be any mineral deposits around Garbage Mountain.

She had only heard of a logging camp, never a mine.

After consuming three units of [Raw Material], Song Xiaozhu earned two more achievements, along with their fixed Quantum Coin rewards. She now had six Quantum Coins.

Two of them definitely had to be saved for synthesizing a "basic storage chest," so as for the four extra coins...

Song Xiaozhu's palms itched.

All ten recipes in the pegboard's first row had been unlocked. To get new recipes, she would probably have to wait for the "Synthesizer"

to reach level two.

The experience bar was only a quarter full. Level two was still a long way off.

Before she reached level two, the Quantum Coins didn't seem to have any other use?

Of these ten level-one recipes, none required any more Quantum Coins except the basic storage chest.

So, why not try her luck?

Song Xiaozhu took the "ginger candy" out of her clothes, hoping to cool her enthusiasm and calm herself down so she wouldn't waste precious Quantum Coins on inferior candy...

She would have been better off not looking. The sight of it made her angry.

She refused to believe she could get another useless ginger candy this time!

Song Xiaozhu purchased one random synthesis and put the basic pickaxe she had just made onto the workbench.

It wasn't that she had lost her head. She had thought it through carefully.

There was no mine in the scavenger community, so a basic pickaxe wasn't worth much. Although the identity of a "craftsman" made a good cover, Song Xiaozhu didn't want to expose herself before Bai Jing returned.

Rather than bury it here for someone else to pick up, she might as well use it for random synthesis.

Song Xiaozhu placed the basic pickaxe on the workbench, and the notification sounded: "Corresponding recipe not unlocked. Proceed with random synthesis?"

Corresponding recipe not unlocked?

She had the basic pickaxe recipe... No, Song Xiaozhu realized. This meant she hadn't unlocked the recipe that used the "basic pickaxe" as a material.

This basic pickaxe was actually a material for some higher-level recipe...

Then did the basic hoe, basic axe, and skinning knife also have corresponding higher-level recipes?

She would probably have to wait until the Synthesizer leveled up to find out.

Song Xiaozhu selected random synthesis.

A basic pickaxe wasn't hard to make. If she needed one later, she could just make another.

Mist enveloped the basic pickaxe. Before long, she heard the notification:

"Obtained 'honey candy' ×1.

"Evaluation: a piece of honey candy that causes irritability.

"Effect: increases the target's speed by 50% for three minutes."

Chapter 13

Another piece of candy. Random synthesis certainly favored candy, though it was also possible that the "Synthesizer's" level was too low, imposing certain restrictions on random synthesis.

Song Xiaozhu took the "honey candy" off the workbench and examined it closely.

It was rather unusual: a miniature candy jar about the size of her thumb, containing a solidified, honey-like liquid.

The "honey candy" had a good effect. It could actually increase speed by 50%, making it suitable for escaping.

Song Xiaozhu looked at the evaluation again...

This irritability...

Did that count as a side effect of the honey candy?

Making someone irritable was not something to underestimate.

In a crisis, emotions were crucial.

That little bit of irritability might cost someone their ability to judge calmly and make them miss a crucial opportunity.

Song Xiaozhu thought of that bottle of "low-pollution water" that put people in a pleasant mood. She wondered whether using the two together could cancel out their effects.

Unfortunately, both the "honey candy" and the "low-pollution water" were synthesis products that Song Xiaozhu could only stumble upon for now, not obtain at will.

That one Quantum Coin had been quite well spent.

Song Xiaozhu glanced at her balance and purchased another attempt.

This time, she had no good materials at hand. With that lifesaving "milk candy" constantly on her mind, Song Xiaozhu carefully picked out a clean, intact plastic bottle and cautiously placed it on the workbench.

"Give me a piece of 'milk candy'!"

White mist enveloped the plastic bottle. Song Xiaozhu couldn't help closing her eyes and praying quietly in her heart, carrying on the ancestral tradition of the people of Huaxia by appealing to every god and Buddha in the heavens.

The icy notification was like a bucket of cold water, thoroughly dousing the little flame in her heart.

"Obtained 'ginger candy' ×1."

"Evaluation: a piece of inferior ginger candy.

"Effect: edible."

Song Xiaozhu: "..."

The sea of gambling is boundless; turn back, and there is the shore.

The ancients truly did not deceive me.

Song Xiaozhu took the ginger candy off the workbench in a huff and called it quits.

At least the last "ginger candy" had served to destroy evidence.

This time, it was a complete waste.

She would save her Quantum Coins. Even if she did use random synthesis, it had to double as "disposal."

Since Bai Jing wasn't in the shack and her scavenging spot was very close to it, Song Xiaozhu wasn't afraid to return all day as she had been over the past few days. Instead, she made several trips back and forth that afternoon.

Mostly, she carried her accumulated [Raw Wood Material] and [Raw Stone Material] back. Fortunately, they were small, and with trash as camouflage, getting them back was easy.

The shack's lock was just for show.

But as long as she didn't flaunt any valuables, the people in the community wouldn't force their way in over a bit of trash.

After all, Bai Jing had only gone out to take care of something. He would be back.

As for Shang Bao, he was an exception.

Even if another Shang Bao came along, he wouldn't be after the things in the shack.

Song Xiaozhu also collected a lot of rotten food, mostly tubers. Other foods rotted too quickly and had long since dissolved into the muck.

These tubers looked hideous too: moldy, green, purple... They practically had "poisonous" written all over them.

It was lucky no one saw her.

Otherwise, the people in the scavenger community would have thought Song Xiaozhu had had enough of living and wanted to poison herself.

Song Xiaozhu had left early and returned early too.

She dragged her large sack over to exchange its contents for money while there were few people at the recycling station.

With the hoe, Song Xiaozhu's digging efficiency had soared. She had found not only plastic bottles but also a large piece of old glass and even some thin, rusty iron.