Chapter Summaries

Song Xiaozhu tried to turn rotten food from the garbage mountain into an edible meal and discovered that low-contamination water helped it synthesize. She ate some of the resulting food and gained a Quantum Coin from unlocking the Cook achievement.

• Song Xiaozhu reviewed her unlocked recipes and achievements, then dug through the garbage mountain for crafting materials and ingredients.
• After three failed attempts to synthesize an edible simple meal from rotten ingredients alone, Song Xiaozhu suspected the recipe required something more.
• Song Xiaozhu collected wastewater and synthesized it into low-contamination water, then combined one portion of that water with two portions of rotten ingredients.
• Song Xiaozhu successfully made an edible simple meal, unlocked the Cook achievement, and received one Quantum Coin.
• Song Xiaozhu scooped the meal into a plastic bottle and drank several mouthfuls, finding it bland and difficult to swallow.

Song Xiaozhu scavenged Garbage Mountain for materials and medicine while relying on synthesized food and water. She crafted a simple axe and pickaxe, earning achievements, but still lacked the wood needed for a storage chest.

• Song Xiaozhu finished a simple meal, eased her stomach pain, and unlocked the level-one Cook achievement.
• Song Xiaozhu searched Garbage Mountain for medicine and crafting materials, gathering five raw wood and five raw stone materials by noon.
• Song Xiaozhu realized that the storage chest’s 60% success rate meant she needed extra wood to account for failed attempts.
• Song Xiaozhu synthesized a simple axe on her first attempt and unlocked the level-one Logger achievement.
• Song Xiaozhu crafted a simple pickaxe on her second attempt and unlocked the level-one Miner achievement.

Song Xiaozhu used Quantum Coins to randomly synthesize a basic pickaxe and a plastic bottle, receiving useful speed-boosting honey candy and another useless ginger candy. She then returned to scavenging and gathered more materials and recyclables while Bai Jing was away.

• Song Xiaozhu spent a Quantum Coin to randomly synthesize a basic pickaxe, which became honey candy that increased speed but caused irritability.
• She used another Quantum Coin and a plastic bottle in hopes of getting milk candy, but received inferior ginger candy instead.
• Song Xiaozhu gave up on random synthesis and decided to save her remaining Quantum Coins or use them only to dispose of unwanted materials.
• She made several trips to the shack to store raw wood and stone, and collected rotten tubers while Bai Jing was away.
• Song Xiaozhu took her sack to the recycling station and exchanged her finds, including plastic bottles, old glass, and rusty iron.

Song Xiaozhu learned that Bai Jing would be away for at least five or six days, leaving her worried that Shang Bao’s family would discover what happened before he returned. She weighed her options and decided that fleeing to Liu Family Village would be even more dangerous.

• At the recycling station, Xia Fengshou warned Song Xiaozhu to hide how much scrap she was collecting and told her Bai Jing would be away for at least five or six days.
• Song Xiaozhu overheard Shang Dayuan arguing with his wife and learned that Shang Bao had not come home overnight.
• Song Xiaozhu reasoned that Shang Bao’s family might not worry for up to three days, but would eventually search for him at Bai Jing’s shack.
• Song Xiaozhu considered going to Liu Family Village, then rejected the idea because her instincts told her it was more dangerous.

Song Xiaozhu gathered materials for a storage box and prepared food while waiting for Qiu Shuyu to return with timber. Qiu Shuyu brought back several bundles of New Poplar, and the two shared Song Xiaozhu’s simple meal.

• Song Xiaozhu counted her supplies, noted she still needed ten raw wood materials for the storage box, and made four portions of edible simple meal.
• Qiu Shuyu returned carrying three large bundles of timber and said she could bring more the next day.
• Song Xiaozhu learned that Qiu Shuyu had cut and prepared young New Poplar trees because their softer wood would be easier for her to use.
• Song Xiaozhu gave Qiu Shuyu low-pollution water and reheated the simple meals, explaining that eating could restore Force.
• Song Xiaozhu served Qiu Shuyu nearly three-quarters of the meal and kept the rest for herself.

Song Xiaozhu persuaded Qiu Shuyu to eat the meal she had cooked, then asked her to split the gathered wood for synthesis. Song Xiaozhu successfully made two units of [raw wood material] from one piece, suggesting the better wood improved her results.

• Qiu Shuyu tried to share the meal equally, but Song Xiaozhu persuaded her to eat more by pretending she felt guilty about having no money for the wood.
• Qiu Shuyu devoured the simple meal and praised its taste, while Song Xiaozhu promised to make more the next day.
• After dinner, Song Xiaozhu asked Qiu Shuyu to split the wood bundles into four pieces each.
• Song Xiaozhu used her workbench to synthesize one piece of wood and received two units of [raw wood material].

Song Xiaozhu discovered that her Workbench could synthesize raw wood material far more efficiently than she could by hand, then learned from Qiu Shuyu about danger near Liu Family Village. With Shang Bao’s disappearance likely to bring trouble from his family, they planned to leave for the logging camp before anyone came looking.

• Song Xiaozhu synthesized two pieces of [raw wood material] at once, and Qiu Shuyu described the wood grain she could see in the cube.
• Song Xiaozhu continued synthesizing and told Qiu Shuyu that they needed to hide their abilities.
• Song Xiaozhu told Qiu Shuyu that Stationmaster Xia had said Master Bai would be away for five or six days because Liu Family Village was in serious trouble.
• Qiu Shuyu explained that an isolation zone near Liu Family Village grew restless each year and that unknown things sometimes escaped from it.
• Song Xiaozhu and Qiu Shuyu agreed to deny knowing anything about Shang Bao and to go to the logging camp the next morning before the Shang family started looking for him.

Song Xiaozhu used Qiu Shuyu’s timber to synthesize enough raw wood material, then made a Crude Storage Box. She configured it on the Workbench, leaving the box attached to its side.

• Song Xiaozhu continued synthesizing raw wood material from the timber Qiu Shuyu had brought, scoring another critical hit and obtaining twenty-one pieces.
• Song Xiaozhu selected the Crude Storage Box recipe and placed the required twenty-four raw materials into the Workbench’s newly appeared recesses.
• Song Xiaozhu synthesized the Crude Storage Box, unlocked the level 1 Spatial Master achievement, and received two Quantum Coins.
• Song Xiaozhu configured the Crude Storage Box, which appeared attached to the left side of the Workbench.

Song Xiaozhu discovered that her crude storage box let identical items stack, and she tested its capacity and what kinds of supplies it could hold. Qiu Shuyu misunderstood Song Xiaozhu’s crafting and storage abilities, and the chapter ended as she urgently tried to stop Song Xiaozhu from putting food away.

• Song Xiaozhu placed raw wood materials in the storage box and discovered that identical items stacked in a single slot.
• Song Xiaozhu found that each slot held a maximum of 10 raw wood materials, with excess items moving to the next slot.
• Qiu Shuyu watched Song Xiaozhu craft and mistakenly concluded that her repeated failures made the Craftsman class useless.
• Song Xiaozhu stored her Simple Hoe and skinning knife, then confirmed that lightly contaminated water could stack.
• Qiu Shuyu cried out to stop Song Xiaozhu as she reached for a simple meal, believing she was wasting supplies after a breakdown.

Song Xiaozhu hid her storage chest crafting from Qiu Shuyu, who mistook her repeated attempts for reckless failures and comforted her. The next morning, Song Xiaozhu received new workbench quests and a choice for Growth Quest 2.

• Qiu Shuyu stopped Song Xiaozhu from crafting and urged her to rest, believing she was wasting resources on failed attempts.
• Song Xiaozhu played along with Qiu Shuyu’s misunderstanding, then was moved by her concern and her promise to help gather wood.
• Song Xiaozhu regained her resolve, hoping that becoming stronger might eventually help her return to her family in another world.
• Qiu Shuyu stayed overnight in Bai Jing's shack, and Song Xiaozhu woke to notifications unlocking level 1 recipes and achievements and triggering a workbench repair quest.
• Song Xiaozhu received the requirements for upgrading the workbench and a prompt to choose Growth Quest 2.

Song Xiaozhu reviewed her Synthesizer progress and chose a growth quest that required trading with humans rather than plundering them. She tested her storage box, found that its contents could stack, and prepared to pursue more materials and business.

• Song Xiaozhu checked the Synthesizer panel, calculated that she needed more experience and repair points, and planned to gather materials at the logging site.
• Song Xiaozhu rejected the quest to plunder ten humans and chose Quest B, which required completing ten transactions.
• Song Xiaozhu tested whether simple meals could stack in the storage box and found that meals, water, and fertilizer each occupied a stackable slot.
• Song Xiaozhu stored the fertilizer without opening it, considered making additional storage boxes, and hid her big hoe from Qiu Shuyu.

Song Xiaozhu and Qiu Shuyu ate a breakfast of simple meals mixed with wild vegetable powder, then prepared to work at the logging yard. When Qiu Shuyu traded her iron axe for Song Xiaozhu’s stone axe, Song Xiaozhu’s quest progress increased to 1/10, leaving her wondering whether the remaining trades could be made with the same person.

• Song Xiaozhu cooked simple meals with wild vegetable powder and low-pollution water while Qiu Shuyu slept.
• Qiu Shuyu woke to the smell of breakfast, and Song Xiaozhu convinced her that using Force made it stronger rather than wasting it.
• After breakfast, Qiu Shuyu gave Song Xiaozhu her iron axe in exchange for Song Xiaozhu’s stone axe.
• Song Xiaozhu received a notification that her quest progress had reached 1/10 and wondered about the trade requirements.

Song Xiaozhu considered how to make money and accompanied Qiu Shuyu to the logging camp, where she learned about the New Poplar tree farm and saw the camp’s timber. She left eager to synthesize tools from the logs, though Qiu Shuyu reminded her that her Force was limited.

• Song Xiaozhu reasoned that Quest B probably would not let her complete all ten trades by repeatedly trading the same item, and decided she needed capital to improve her life.
• Song Xiaozhu and Qiu Shuyu headed toward the logging camp beyond the scavenger community.
• Qiu Shuyu explained that Purifiers had restored the land and that a planned fortress had never been built, leaving Ink City with an artificial tree farm.
• Qiu Shuyu told Song Xiaozhu that the camp mostly harvested New Poplar, while rarer species were handled by other workers.
• Song Xiaozhu saw the camp’s neatly stacked logs and calculated how many tools she could synthesize and sell.
• Qiu Shuyu read Song Xiaozhu’s excitement and warned her not to overwork herself because her Force was limited.

Song Xiaozhu stayed behind at the logging yard after Qiu Shuyu left for a lucrative timber job with Tian Man. On the truck, Qiu Shuyu’s coworkers noticed she had brought the stone axe Song Xiaozhu made, and Tian Man assumed the girl had taken advantage of her.

• Tian Man recruited Qiu Shuyu for an urgent order paying three times the usual price for large-diameter timber.
• Qiu Shuyu hesitated to leave Song Xiaozhu alone, but Song Xiaozhu told her to go and promised she could manage by herself.
• Qiu Shuyu joined Tian Man’s crew and left Song Xiaozhu at the logging yard.
• On the truck, Liu Mu mocked Qiu Shuyu for bringing a stone axe, and Tian Man realized she had given her proper axe to Song Xiaozhu.
• Tian Man complained that Song Xiaozhu seemed shrewd and had persuaded the trusting Qiu Shuyu to give her a good axe.

Song Xiaozhu planned to profit from the logging yard by selling her synthesized stone axes, while gathering materials to make another storage box. She began synthesizing it, but was warned that its success rate was low and that Quantum Coins could improve it.

• Qiu Shuyu defended Song Xiaozhu from the loggers’ insults and stayed on the truck, vowing to buy her a fine iron axe with her earnings.
• Song Xiaozhu reasoned that her stone axe’s bonus made it better than an ordinary iron axe and planned to sell axes to workers at a fair price.
• Song Xiaozhu gathered loose stones and branches near the logging yard, synthesizing raw stone and raw wood materials.
• Song Xiaozhu used her collected materials to start synthesizing a Crude Storage Box, then received a prompt offering to raise its low success rate with Quantum Coins.

Song Xiaozhu successfully synthesized and installed a second storage box, then ventured deeper into the tree farm and tried using foxtail grass to make medicinal raw material. After ten failed attempts, she confirmed that the grass met the recipe’s requirements and continued working toward medicine that might help her worsening health.

• Song Xiaozhu spent two Quantum Coins to raise the storage box synthesis success rate by twenty percent, and the synthesis succeeded.
• Song Xiaozhu installed the second storage box beside the first one on the Workbench.
• Song Xiaozhu found foxtail grass in the tree farm and wondered whether it could be used to synthesize medicinal raw material.
• Song Xiaozhu fed the grass into the Workbench, but her first synthesis failed.
• Song Xiaozhu failed ten attempts in a row, then kept trying after concluding the grass qualified as medicine.

Song Xiaozhu discovered that combining several weeds allowed her to synthesize Medicinal Raw Material and advanced her Repair Quest. Meanwhile, Qiu Shuyu and the others reached a stand of unusually large New Poplars and prepared to fell a tree.

• After eighty failed attempts, Song Xiaozhu tried combining several Big and Little Thornheads and successfully made Medicinal Raw Material.
• Song Xiaozhu completed the Repair Quest’s third requirement, stored the red capsule, and decided to keep gathering materials.
• Qiu Shuyu, Tian Man, Liu Mu, and Luo Liuzi arrived at a thinning stand of large New Poplars.
• Tian Man split the group into teams to fell a tree, and Luo Liuzi asked Qiu Shuyu to swap axes.

Luo Liuzi discovered that Qiu Shuyu’s stone axe made chopping far easier than expected, while Liu Mu mistook his amazement for flattery. The loggers continued cutting the New Poplar, with Luo Liuzi increasingly absorbed in the axe’s effect.

• Tian Man rearranged the workers so Qiu Shuyu and he chopped on one side while Luo Liuzi and Liu Mu worked on the other.
• Luo Liuzi exchanged axes with Qiu Shuyu, then made a surprisingly deep cut with her stone axe.
• Liu Mu accused Luo Liuzi of flattering Qiu Shuyu and challenged him by swinging harder.
• Luo Liuzi kept chopping and marveled at how good the stone axe felt to use.
• Tian Man assumed Luo Liuzi was sucking up to Qiu Shuyu, while Qiu Shuyu focused angrily on finishing the job.

Qiu Shuyu discovered that the stone axe Xiaozhu had made was far more powerful than she expected. After she used it to fell the nearly cut tree with one blow, the others were left astonished.

• Luo Liuzi outperformed Liu Mu while using Qiu Shuyu's stone axe and the running shoes' boost, leaving Liu Mu exhausted.
• Tian Man called for a break and criticized Liu Mu for relying on brute force so early in the day's work.
• Luo Liuzi praised Qiu Shuyu's stone axe and insisted it was nearly as good as Mu Qing's axe, prompting Qiu Shuyu to reconsider it.
• Qiu Shuyu swung the stone axe at the partly cut tree and felled it with a single blow, stunning Luo Liuzi, Tian Man, and Liu Mu.

Qiu Shuyu’s stone axe made chopping a tree unexpectedly easy, but it cracked when Tian Man tried it. Qiu Shuyu kept the damaged axe and refused Tian Man’s offer to pay for a replacement.

• Qiu Shuyu felled a short tree with the stone axe, and the group dragged it back to the truck with ropes.
• Tian Man found another tree and asked Qiu Shuyu to let him try the stone axe.
• Tian Man chopped the tree several times before the stone axe cracked, leaving him and Luo Liuzi stunned.
• Tian Man offered to pay Qiu Shuyu back or buy her a new axe, while Liu Mu listened and hoped to learn where it came from.
• Qiu Shuyu tucked the cracked axe into her belt, said she did not need compensation, and hoped Xiaozhu could repair it.