Of course, Song Xiaozhu did not dare carry too much [medicinal raw material] on her, either. If someone accidentally discovered it, explaining it would be quite troublesome.
If it then attracted unwanted covetous attention, the losses would outweigh the gains.
She had been extremely efficient that day.
The [raw wood material] and [raw stone material] she had accumulated were enough to synthesize another twenty tools.
At this rate, Song Xiaozhu would have enough experience points by tomorrow or the day after!
Seeing that it was getting late, Song Xiaozhu put away the Workbench, dusted herself off, and got up to head toward the logging camp...
Qiu Shuyu should be back by now.
She wondered how the stone axe had worked out.
When Song Xiaozhu returned to the logging camp, she ran straight into Qiu Shuyu and the others. Qiu Shuyu braced a hand on the edge of the cargo bed and vaulted down, landing steadily on both feet.
Song Xiaozhu was terribly envious of those nimble movements.
How wonderful. She wanted such a capable body, too!
Qiu Shuyu looked
her over. Only after seeing that she was perfectly fine did she relax and ask, "Why didn't you go home?"
Song Xiaozhu did not explain much, either. She smiled brightly. "I was waiting to go with you."
Qiu Shuyu smiled as well. "Mm, that's good. It's a bit safer here at the logging camp, anyway."
From the vehicle, Luo Liuzi called, "Xiao Yu, time to collect our pay!"
Qiu Shuyu said to Song Xiaozhu, "Come on, come collect the money with me."
Song Xiaozhu hurried after her. She was very curious about prices here and wanted to see how much everyone earned.
Sharp-eyed, Song Xiaozhu spotted the stone axe tucked at Qiu Shuyu's waist. Its crack was quite conspicuous, running all the way across the axe.
Its durability really was poor. She wondered how long it had been used. She would ask Qiu Shuyu in detail once they got back.
Tian Man spotted Song Xiaozhu at once. His Adam's apple bobbed, but ultimately, he said nothing.
Speaking up would not do much good, anyway.
Even if the little stone axe really had belonged to Song Xiaozhu, she must have found it while scavenging. Presumably, after she brought it back, Qiu Shuyu had taken pity on her and traded for it. Or perhaps the girl was scheming and had coaxed Qiu Shuyu into making the trade...
In short, the little stone axe might have something to do with Song Xiaozhu...
But definitely not much.
Song Xiaozhu did not volunteer anything, either. She obediently followed behind Qiu Shuyu, avoiding eye contact as much as possible while keeping her ears pricked, listening carefully and gathering useful information.
Qiu Shuyu and the others had brought in quite a haul. Over their trips back and forth, they had felled four trees that met the requirements. The largest had a diameter of a full meter.
Luo Liuzi was outgoing and had already struck up a conversation with the other logging teams.
"What does Lao Mu need so much large-diameter timber for?"
"Yeah, didn't the lumber mill in the city just stock up a while ago?"
"Who the hell knows? We're getting paid, anyway!"
"Shit, haven't you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Liu Family Village! Half the village was destroyed!"
"What happened? Did they get into it with the people from Deer Town again?"
"Was Deer Town that ruthless this time? Have the downtrodden finally risen up?"
"Bullshit. I heard Deer Town's 'Planter' ran off overnight and hid in the Fortress."
"If it wasn't Deer Town, who did Liu Family Village fight? Surely not Old Madam Hu... They actually dared provoke the community?"
"Something happened to the isolation barrier!"
At those words, the surroundings abruptly fell silent for three seconds.
Then
someone gave a dry laugh. "Don't scare us. The isolation barrier was built by the big shots in the city. It's plenty sturdy. How could... how could anything happen to it...?"
"Something really did happen to the isolation barrier. I heard a huge hole opened up, facing right toward Liu Family Village..."
"Fuck, don't you fucking scare us."
"Why would I scare you? This morning, I saw Lao Mu looking all rushed. After taking a phone call, he immediately started placing rush orders."
"Could all this large-diameter timber be for plugging the hole?"
"Of course. People have come from the city. Repairing the isolation barrier will take a lot of timber... Probably stone, too. Too bad our quarry's long since been abandoned. Otherwise, we could make some money quarrying stone, too!"
Someone timid kept asking, "Just what is over at the isolation barrier? How did Liu Family Village end up suffering?"
"Who the hell knows what's there..."
The timid one asked nervously, "Well, what if they can't fix the isolation barrier?"
"Just shut up. The people in the city value their lives far more than we do. They'll definitely repair the isolation barrier at any cost!"
Someone bolder chimed in, "Stop scaring yourselves. Instead of wasting time on this, why not take the chance to make some money? At these purchase prices, one day's worth of work pays as much as three!"
At that, most of them grew excited and stopped caring about the distant isolation barrier.
Someone even said, "If something hadn't happened to the isolation barrier, how would we ever get to make this money?"
Many of the loggers joined in the laughter, their mood thoroughly festive.
As Song Xiaozhu listened to all this, her heart kept lurching.
The situation at the isolation barrier was quite serious.
If repairs actually required so much timber, just how big was the breach?
Even if they really repaired it, what about the "things" that had gotten in?
The big shots in the city valued their own lives, but they did not care about the refugees' lives.
Of the "things" that had escaped through the isolation barrier, even one that slipped through the net would be enough to kill ordinary people a hundred times over.
Unfortunately, there was nothing Song Xiaozhu could do now. She had neither money nor strength. If disaster really struck, she could only watch helplessly.
Level up!
I have to raise the Synthesizer's level as soon as possible.
There had to be medicine-related recipes among the level-two recipes, and those would undoubtedly be key to surviving.
Qiu Shuyu and the others had earned 240 yuan altogether. After deducting the vehicle rental fee, they had 170 left. As team leader, Tian Man took an extra ten yuan, and the rest was divided equally. Qiu Shuyu earned 40 yuan.
After a whole day of backbreaking
work, felling all that timber, she had earned only 40 yuan in the end.
Song Xiaozhu silently worked out the comparison. In her own world, a tree with such a thick trunk would sell for at least one or two thousand yuan. Four would fetch at least five or six thousand.