Chapter 14

A day had already passed...

She had at least two days left.

She had to make the storage box as soon as possible. At worst, she and Qiu Shuyu could pack up their bedding and hide in the garbage mountain together.

She had "low-pollution water" and "edible simple meals." Even deep in the garbage mountain, neither of them would starve.

Song Xiaozhu steadied herself and strode back to the shack. After carefully shutting the door, she took stock of today's haul.

10 [raw wood material], 4 [raw stone material], a piece of "honey candy," a crude hoe, a crude axe, and assorted rotten food.

The storage box only needed 4 [raw stone material]. Once she had gathered that amount, Song Xiaozhu focused on synthesizing [raw wood material].

On average, every sixty pieces of scrap wood produced one. Those 10 [raw wood material] had consumed over 600 pieces of scrap wood.

That number alone showed how hard Song Xiaozhu had been working.

She still needed 10 [raw wood material]. Hopefully, the timber Qiu Shuyu brought back that evening would be useful.

Song Xiaozhu did not rest, either. She picked out suitable rotten ingredients and synthesized four portions of "edible simple meal."

The success rate for "simple meals" was low. Even with "low-pollution water" added, it took five or six attempts to succeed once.

One simple meal weighed 300 g. Song Xiaozhu could still eat another portion today.

Perhaps eating a little over the limit would not matter.

The recommended standards provided by the "Synthesizer" were clearly intended for normal people.

There was nothing remotely normal about Song Xiaozhu's circumstances.

The "Synthesizer" simply could not evaluate them. Otherwise, it would probably have directly advised against drinking that highly polluted water or eating that wild vegetable mush.

Still, unless absolutely necessary, Song Xiaozhu had no need to eat more.

Just as the sky darkened, Qiu Shuyu's voice came from outside. "Xiaozhu, I'm back."

She sounded a little breathless, but the joy in her voice was unmistakable.

Song Xiaozhu looked out through the window and froze for a moment.

The tall girl outside carried a large bundle of timber on her left shoulder and another on her right. More incredibly, she had yet another large bundle balanced on her head.

That sight...

Was utterly irresistible!!

Chapter 14

Song Xiaozhu hurried to usher Qiu Shuyu inside.

Fortunately, Bai Jing's shack was fairly large, or there really would not have been room to pile up so much timber.

Qiu Shuyu relaxed her arms and lowered all the timber from her shoulders. She said, "...I couldn't bring it all back in one trip. Use this for now, and I'll bring you more tomorrow."

Song Xiaozhu's eyes lit up. "Sister Shuyu, how much can you cut in a day? You brought this much, and there's still more?"

Qiu Shuyu smiled. "This is hardly anything, just two skinny little saplings. I was worried that if I brought anything too big, your Force... ahem, it would be awkward for you to use, so I picked some thinner ones."

Song Xiaozhu nodded repeatedly. "Exactly, exactly. Anything too big would be awkward. This size is just right."

Qiu Shuyu had clearly put a lot of care into it. All the wood before her had been processed in advance, cut into cylinders about a meter long. The extra branches and shoots had been chopped off, and even the bark had been tidied up a little. Judging by the cut surfaces, the trees were young.

Song Xiaozhu was "illiterate" in this area. She asked another question. "Sister Shuyu, what kind of tree is this?"

Qiu Shuyu said, "New Poplar."

Song Xiaozhu had only heard of poplar, never New Poplar.

But this world was different from the one she had lived in. Humans were not the only ones to suffer after the Great Cataclysm; plants and animals had also faced annihilation.

The tree species that could survive now were probably quite different from those she knew.

Qiu Shuyu added, "New Poplar is pretty common. Its wood is relatively soft, so it's easy to cut down. Of course... I can cut harder wood, too. I just thought, since you wanted to make things, um... something less dense would be better..."

Song Xiaozhu suspected the "Synthesizer" would prefer harder wood.

But she could not bear to rebuff Qiu Shuyu's kindness, so she quickly said, "Right! I can't work with anything too hard, either. New Poplar is great!"

Qiu Shuyu wiped the sweat from her forehead, her eyes curving with her smile.

Song Xiaozhu quickly handed her a bottle of "low-pollution water." "Have some water and rest first. Dinner will be ready soon."

Qiu Shuyu took the bottle and drank deeply.

The water had no special effects, but Qiu Shuyu still felt refreshed all over.

Song Xiaozhu poured the "simple meals" into the pot and reheated them.

Compared with the wild vegetable mush, the "simple meals" were a little thicker. As they warmed, a faint aroma drifted out, reminiscent of thin rice porridge.

Qiu Shuyu leaned over curiously. "What's this?"

She had never

drunk purple rice porridge before, so she found this pot of purplish-black food hard to understand.

People always had a genetically rooted aversion to green and bluish-purple food.

In nature, green meant something would taste bad, while bluish-purple often signified poison.

Song Xiaozhu did not explain in detail, only saying vaguely, "I made it with Force."

Qiu Shuyu immediately frowned. "What a waste!"

Song Xiaozhu knew what she was worried about and quickly said, "It doesn't use much. I know my limits. Force isn't something you can only use once. It comes back after you've rested properly. I just have to be careful when I use it."

Qiu Shuyu's expression softened. Ultimately, she was not an awakened one and did not know enough about these things. But as Song Xiaozhu had said, Force could surely recover, as long as she did not overdraw too much of it at once.

Thinking of how Song Xiaozhu had nothing else she could make right now and could only use her Force to cook...

Qiu Shuyu could not bear to say anything more.

How had a perfectly good awakened one been reduced to this?

Song Xiaozhu added, "Eating can restore Force, too. The better the food, the more it restores."

Qiu Shuyu asked doubtfully, "Really?"

She had never heard of food made by a "craftsman" having that effect.

Song Xiaozhu said, "Let's try it."

Qiu Shuyu understood. "You little glutton."

Song Xiaozhu chuckled and hurried to serve the "simple meals" from the pot. She gave Qiu Shuyu nearly three-quarters and kept only a quarter for herself.