Chapter 4

She had too few Quantum Coins, so Song Xiaozhu could not bear to spend them on "Random Synthesis" yet. She wanted to proceed steadily, prioritizing unlocking recipes or synthesizing important items.

After weighing her options, Song Xiaozhu decided to unlock a recipe first.

Granted, a storage chest was important. If she could make one soon, she could store her raw materials and tools in it. The problem was that a storage chest required too many raw materials, and Quantum Coins were hard to come by. Without unlocking recipes, she would probably struggle to trigger any more achievements.

Song Xiaozhu used her only Quantum Coin to unlock the fourth recipe. She had two hopes in mind: either a food-related recipe or an "axe" recipe.

The former would spare her from going hungry. With her body properly nourished, she would have more strength to work.

The latter was a little idea of hers. If she had an axe, she wanted to try her luck at the logging site. Compared with scrap wood, timber from the logging site would presumably have a higher synthesis success rate.

There was no helping it. Synthesizing a storage chest required far too much raw wood material.

But things did not go as she hoped.

After the white mist dispersed, Song Xiaozhu saw the recipe's details-

Recipe name: Simple skinning knife.

Recipe level: 1.

Required materials: Raw wood material ×1 + raw stone material ×1.

Success rate: 60%

Disappointment showed faintly on Song Xiaozhu's face. It was neither food-related nor a simple axe. She had no use for a skinning knife right now. With her frail little body, how could she dare go hunting? Without any prey, what was there to skin?

Disappointed as she was, she still intended to make the skinning knife. Perhaps it would trigger an achievement and at least earn back the Quantum Coin she had lost.

Besides, unlike the big hoe, a skinning knife could serve as a means of self-defense if she kept it well concealed.

Synthesizing raw materials from scrap wood and scrap stone was simply too inefficient.

Song Xiaozhu worked straight through until sunset before she finally managed to make a skinning knife.

In the process, "Raw wood material" failed sixty-six times, and "raw stone material" failed seventy-seven times. Most suffocating of all, her first attempt to synthesize the skinning knife actually failed, forcing her to synthesize the "raw materials" all over again.

Even with luck this rotten, she still had not triggered the level-two "Unlucky Player" achievement.

This level-two achievement really was harder than she had imagined.

Notifications sounded in her ears:

Obtained "Simple skinning knife" ×1.

"Evaluation: A knife barely capable of processing hides and fur."

"Effect: Sharpness increased by 10%."

"Level-one 'Hunter' achievement unlocked. Reward: 1 Quantum Coin."

Song Xiaozhu breathed a sigh of relief. Not bad-the Quantum Coin was back. Although both the hoe and the knife had received mediocre evaluations, their effects were quite good. Increased sharpness would presumably make it less strenuous to use.

The skinning knife on the Workbench looked much more refined than the simple hoe. It had not only a wooden handle but also a lightweight wooden sheath.

When Song Xiaozhu picked it up, it did not grow much larger. Including the handle, it was only a little over ten centimeters long, not much longer than her palm.

It certainly lived up to the "small" in its name.

Song Xiaozhu drew the knife from its sheath. A cold gleam flashed. Though its blade was clearly made of stone, it looked sharper than iron. She tried shaving a piece of scrap wood with it. The motion felt remarkably smooth, and with

utter

ease, she shaved off a thin sliver of wood.

Very satisfied, Song Xiaozhu carefully tucked it into her clothes, keeping it close to her body.

Seeing that it was about time, Song Xiaozhu found a spot and buried the big hoe. She did not dare take it back. Even if someone dug it up and took it the next day, there was nothing she could do. She would just have to go to the trouble of making another.

The skinning knife, however, she was confident she could bring back. Even if it was discovered, she could say she had been lucky enough to find it.

Compared with a 1.6-meter-long hoe, a small knife was much more likely to have been overlooked by scavengers in a pile of garbage.

Hoisting the huge sack full of plastic onto her back, Song Xiaozhu trudged toward the recycling station. She was terribly hungry, her legs were trembling, and her vision was wavering slightly.

She was physically exhausted and ravenous. Song Xiaozhu was fairly capable of enduring hardship; otherwise, she really would not have been able to bear it.

Just as the recycling station came within sight, notifications suddenly sounded in Song Xiaozhu's ears:

"Growth Quest triggered. Please choose:"

"Quest A: Kill 'intruder' ×1. Rewards: Quantum Coins ×10, Repair Points ×5.

"Quest B: Escape the crisis. Rewards: Quantum Coins ×5, Repair Points ×10."

Chapter 4

Song Xiaozhu's heart pounded. She had spent a week in the scavenger community and knew Garbage Mountain was no peaceful place. Quite a few homeless drifters specifically targeted scavengers.

Had someone set their sights on her?

The notification was still sounding in Song Xiaozhu's mind, waiting for her to make a choice.

Quest A: Kill intruder ×1. Rewards: Quantum Coins ×10, Repair Points ×5.

Quest B: Escape the crisis. Rewards: Quantum Coins ×5, Repair Points ×10.

At last, there was another way to obtain Quantum Coins. The rewards were far greater than those for level-one achievements, and there were Repair Points too. But these two quests...

Song Xiaozhu stared at the word "intruder" and tightened her grip on the simple skinning knife.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the ground shook!

The gale stirred up by that abrupt roar nearly knocked the slight Song Xiaozhu to the ground.

Covering her mouth and nose, she turned against the fierce wind and sand and saw an enormous heavy transport truck. It was a full seven or eight meters tall, its tires alone twice her height. Even from far away, Song Xiaozhu could feel its oppressive presence.

Rumble!

Another tremendous crash rang out as countless pieces of garbage were dumped out, slamming down at the foot of Garbage Mountain.

Song Xiaozhu watched with her heart in her throat. She was thankful she had not been scavenging over there. Otherwise, she would surely have been buried alive beneath that falling garbage...

But were there other scavengers over there?

After dumping its garbage without restraint, the enormous transport truck stirred up clouds of dust once more and drove toward the towering Fortress. Standing in the distance, Song Xiaozhu could only vaguely make out the emblem on the truck: a silver set of "scales" encircled by a halo.

It was Ink City's city emblem.