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Liu Mu chimed in gleefully, "Why would she bother chopping trees? She's probably already gone back to the community to sell that iron axe!"

Qiu Shuyu exploded. "Stop the truck! I'm not going!"

She had felt terribly guilty. She had agreed to work, only to bring a useless stone axe. It was like going onto a battlefield without a gun-a serious mistake.

But her anger swept that guilt away.

She had been wrong. They could blame her or kick her off the truck, but what gave them the right to slander Song Xiaozhu!

They didn't know her at all. How could they make wild guesses after just one look!

"All right, all right!" Tian Man knew Qiu Shuyu's temper and appreciated her abilities, but that personality... Ah, there was no teaching her. Once she had suffered enough setbacks, she would understand.

Tian Man certainly didn't want

Qiu Shuyu getting off. They were already on the road. Going back to pick someone else up would be a waste of time. Besides, there really weren't many people in the entire logging yard who could match Qiu Shuyu's strength.

A stone axe would have to do. Logging didn't require an axe for everything.

With her strength, Qiu Shuyu was an excellent hand at hauling trees, too.

"Don't be angry, Xiao Qiu. I ran my mouth. I'll apologize to Sister Song later!" Tian Man was only saying that. Later, his ass. He certainly wasn't going to see that sickly girl.

Qiu Shuyu's anger subsided a little. She hugged the stone axe tightly and said sullenly, "I won't hold everyone back. But if anyone slanders my little sister, don't blame me if my fists don't watch where they land."

Liu Mu sneered, stood up, and switched seats with someone nearby so he was no longer next to Qiu Shuyu.

What an idiot. Don't fucking let it rub off on me.

Qiu Shuyu held back. She secretly swore that once she had earned this money, she would buy Xiaozhu the very best iron axe first!

Meanwhile, Song Xiaozhu knew nothing about the argument on the truck.

She had always been observant, so naturally, she knew Qiu Shuyu had left with the stone axe.

Song Xiaozhu had deliberately not reminded her. In her eyes, the stone axe she had synthesized was much better than an ordinary iron axe.

Perhaps its durability wasn't quite enough, but when it came to chopping trees...

The 20% bonus would make it very comfortable to use.

Song Xiaozhu had felt this when using the simple hoe earlier. That had also been made of stone and only had a 10% bonus, yet even a "pampered young lady" like her, unused to physical labor, had found it very easy to handle. A 20% bonus needed no further mention.

Song Xiaozhu also had something else in mind.

She wanted to make money.

Compared with scavengers, loggers were clearly a little more orderly. People who chose logging as their work were, at least, relatively hardworking, preferred stability, and were a little more grounded.

So Song Xiaozhu wanted to make her first pot of gold from the logging yard.

Qiu Shuyu had taken the stone axe to cut trees, and she was working on a big order. Those going with her were presumably skilled hands from the logging yard. Once they experienced the stone axe's advantages, they would surely want to buy one afterward...

Even better, they would have just completed a big order and would have plenty of money on hand...

Well, Song Xiaozhu wouldn't rip off Sister Shuyu's friends. She would sell at a fair price.

It was just that synthesizing things came far too easily to her...

With no costs, whatever she made was profit!

Song Xiaozhu hadn't gone far from the logging yard. Along the way, she also encountered some logging

workers. Every one of them was hurrying along, busy heading off to cut trees. Never mind looking at Song Xiaozhu-they were practically afraid she might look at them.

Clearly, with Song Xiaozhu's build, she didn't look strong no matter how they looked at her.

The loggers feared she would approach them and shamelessly insist on tagging along.

Song Xiaozhu had no interest in that. Other than Qiu Shuyu, she wouldn't follow anyone to cut trees.

Besides, her little storage box held enough [raw wood material]. What she lacked was [raw stone material].

There was no shortage of stones in the forest.

It was probably something about the area. Although she hadn't heard of any mineral deposits here, there was quite a bit of loose stone exposed on the surface.

Song Xiaozhu even suspected that there had once been a "quarry" here, where stone had been collected to build the Fortress.

After Ink City landed, the quarry had been abandoned, too.

Whatever the reason, the abundance of stone was a good thing for Song Xiaozhu.

Especially around the logging yard, where the trees had all been felled and even the stumps had been pulled out by machinery, leaving deep holes. A little digging turned up stones.

Song Xiaozhu summoned the "workbench" directly and covered it with her clothes, concealing the weapon in her palm. As for the [raw stone material], it automatically entered the little box after synthesis, which saved a great deal of trouble.

However, the synthesis rate for loose stones was very low, much like at Garbage Mountain. She had to rummage around for twenty or thirty pieces just to barely synthesize one [raw stone material].

Song Xiaozhu wasn't only stockpiling [raw stone material]. Rather than blindly trusting herself to cut down trees, she picked up plenty of branches along the way and barely managed to synthesize one [raw wood material], too.

Twenty [raw wood material], four [raw stone material]...

She could synthesize another little box now.

Song Xiaozhu found a spot out of the light and hid behind a sufficiently large stump, her palm sweating slightly.

Should I synthesize it?

Or wait a little longer?

What if that 60% success rate decided to "show its power"?

I'd lose everything in an instant!

Better save up...

Once Sister Shuyu comes back, I might have to make simple axes in bulk. I'll urgently need basic [raw material] then.

No...

One little box only has five slots. That really isn't enough.

Song Xiaozhu steeled herself and tapped the "Crude Storage Box" recipe.

A notification sounded. "Consume materials to synthesize a Crude Storage Box?"

Song Xiaozhu agreed inwardly.

The notification sounded again. "

Sufficient materials detected in the storage box. Use them directly?"

Sure enough, having the little box made everything much more convenient. Song Xiaozhu continued, "Yes."

Who knew the notification would sound again? "The current success rate is low. Spend Quantum Coins to increase the success rate?"