The downpour ended-finally, no more gnawing on potatoes every day...

Crates of cargo filled the innermost part of the truck compartment. Although they were all tightly packed, Sang Luoluo could still smell the heavy stench of blood coming from them. One crate had not been closed properly, revealing the teeth and claws of mutated animals inside.

Had they come out to collect these things?

She suddenly remembered the mantis carcass she had missed out on. When she went back the next day, there had still been fragments of its shell on the ground. She had not paid them any mind then, but now she felt a little regretful. Those things could be exchanged for points. The hides, fur, claws, and teeth of mutated animals could all be processed into other goods.

She could also faintly hear the sounds of mutated animal cubs inside the crates.

Suddenly, a cool voice carrying a hint of authority rang out. "I remember you. You were the one attacked by that mantis, weren't you?"

Sang Luoluo looked up at him and met a handsome face. How should she put it? She had never seen such a good-looking man. Before she transmigrated, the male celebrities on television had been handsome too, but now that she compared them, it was different-a completely different style. There was a sharpness to this man, a quality that had clearly been honed naturally through countless life-and-death battles.

He merely looked at her calmly. Completely forgetting that her hair was now a mess of unevenly cropped strands, Sang Luoluo nodded.

How should she put it? Only after coming to this world had she learned that most of the base's population had been gestated in artificial wombs. Once the young men and women in the base turned twenty, they were required to fulfill mandatory reproductive duties. Anyone unwilling to do so had to pay a fine of 10,000 points every year.

Many of the children in the base came from the most perfect genetic combinations automatically matched by advanced technology, with certain disease-causing genes excluded. This was also intended to improve survival rates and optimize their genes. Her parents had used artificial wombs to have her and her older brother, Sang Yunpu. She and Sang Yunpu were both good-looking, too. Unfortunately, they often went hungry, leaving them thin and frail, which greatly detracted from their looks.

"Captain, you know her?"

An unfamiliar team member beside him leaned over and asked.

Sang Luoluo explained, "My name is Sang Luoluo. A few days ago, I came out scavenging and ran into a mutated mantis. Your Guard happened to pass by and shot it dead."

Sang Luoluo expressed her gratitude again. "Thank you."

Her thanks left several of them feeling a little awkward. Qi Feng studied her. Her raincoat and rain boots were made from acid-rain-resistant materials, which were not cheap. Would someone who could afford an outfit like that brave a downpour to search for food? Yet her hair seemed rather at odds with her clothing.

Qi Feng asked, "You came out looking for food in a downpour like this?"

Sang Luoluo's heart skipped a beat. Of course she had noticed him examining her clothes just now. With no other excuse available, she could only put a handful of sour jujubes into her pocket.

"Mm," she said quietly. "I hid some food nearby before it rained. I was afraid the rain would wash it away."

The unfamiliar team member beside him immediately laughed. "With rain this heavy, weren't you afraid the downpour would wash you away? With those skinny arms and legs, making it back alive couldn't have been easy."

Sang Luoluo twitched the corners of her mouth. What he said was true, of course, but who could have guessed she had a space? Whenever danger came, she hid inside. Making it back alive was nothing unusual.

Qi Feng continued, "You live in the shantytown, right?"

Sang Luoluo nodded. She did now, but she would not for much longer. She had already rented a place inside the safe zone and could move there in a few days.

"What does your family do?" the unfamiliar young man beside him asked.

What else could we do? Sang Luoluo thought. "Scavenging. We depend on whatever nature provides."

Qi Feng gave a quiet laugh. "But that raincoat you're wearing doesn't look cheap. Not many shantytown residents could afford one."

Sang Luoluo was speechless. Was he really looking that closely?

When away from home, you could give yourself whatever identity you liked. Sang Luoluo said casually, "My family used to farm. We've fallen on hard times now."

There was nothing wrong with what she said. She really had been a farmer before, leasing a large farm and doing very well with crops, livestock, and agritourism. Now that she had transmigrated here, had she not fallen on hard times?

But as soon as she finished speaking, she noticed everyone in the compartment looking at her strangely. She glanced around at them. Why were they looking at her like that?

"Why are you all looking at me like-"

Before she could finish, the compartment gave a tremendous jolt. Sang Luoluo was thrown forward, her forehead struck something solid, and another jolt sent her tumbling to the floor. She grimaced in pain.

The sour jujubes in her pocket spilled all over the floor.

Amid the confusion, she also heard a muffled grunt.

"Enemy attack!" Qi Feng's voice was urgent, and an alarm sounded inside the compartment at the same time.

Voices from the other vehicles came through their comms.

"Captain, the mutated monkeys have caught up! There are eight!"

"Captain, two at three o'clock and two at nine o'clock!"

"Captain, two on the roof of your truck! Another two behind you!"

The compartment opened with a crash, and Sang Luoluo immediately saw a monkey half the size of the compartment leap toward them with its mouth wide open.

She only had time to shrink back. The members of the Guard had no time to put on their helmets. Their laser guns fired shot after shot into the monkey, but they could only leave a few wounds in its vulnerable spots. Its claws, head, and legs had already mutated to the point that even laser fire could no longer penetrate them.

Qi Feng fired several shots in succession at its vulnerable areas before finally killing it. The other monkey was much smarter. It hammered the compartment with all its might, denting the massive, heavy structure in several places as it tried to overturn the truck.

The trucks stopped and concentrated their fire. In less than two minutes, all eight mutated monkeys had been killed, their bodies falling into the water.

"Captain, should we take these bodies back?"

Qi Feng nodded. "Anyone hurt?"

"Xiao Li hurt his arm. A mutated monkey clawed a bloody mark into it," a chubby young man said, bringing Xiao Li over.

Sang Luoluo glanced at him from a distance. That was far more than a bloody mark. Nearly half his forearm was gone, and his protective suit was torn as well.

Qi Feng's expression darkened. "Pick up the pace and get back. Get Xiao Li medical attention."

"Yes, sir."

The convoy set off again. Having just gone through a battle, the tension on everyone's faces had only just faded.

Sang Luoluo lowered her head to pick up the fallen sour jujubes. A few seemed to have fallen out of the truck earlier, but that no longer mattered.

"What's that?" the chubby man asked after taking a look. He had never seen anything like it before.

Sang Luoluo eyed him warily, gathered all the sour jujubes into her pocket, and said flatly, "A kind of sour jujube."

Qi Feng shot him a glare, then looked at Sang Luoluo and warned her quietly, "You mustn't tell anyone about those mutated monkeys."

Sang Luoluo hurriedly nodded. Seeing a lump gradually reddening and swelling at the corner of Qi Feng's forehead, she reached up to feel her own. Good grief, she had hit a person earlier.

Riding in the truck, she soon reached the shantytown. The convoy dropped her off before quickly entering the safe zone.

This was also the first time Sang Luoluo had seen mutated beasts more terrifying than the mutated mantis and mutated snake. Compared with them, the mutated mantis that had attacked her was small fry.

Luckily, she had caught a ride with the Guard. On her own, even with her space, she would have had a hard time noticing such powerful mutated beasts nearby. The mutated monkeys feared neither water nor acid rain, and their combat strength was formidable.

Thinking of the cub noises she had heard in the compartment earlier, she wondered whether they had been mutated monkey cubs.

As Sang Luoluo walked toward her shack, all sorts of thoughts ran through her head. Her forehead hurt terribly.

Back at the shack, she found that it had collapsed even further, and the hole in the roof had grown larger. She could not be bothered to patch it. There was no dry spot left on the wooden bed either, but that did not matter. She barred the door from inside and entered her space.

After enjoying a comfortable bath, she changed into pajamas and lay down to rest on the villa's large bed. She had spent the entire day running around outside and was exhausted. Chuanchuan lay in the little bed beneath hers. Sang Luoluo had not forgotten to get her something to eat, either. She mashed up a piece of roasted potato, put it in her dog bowl, and stroked her head. "Chuanchuan, times are hard. Having something to eat is good enough. We can't be picky."

Chuanchuan sniffed the potatoes in the bowl, then lowered her head and began eating.

Seeing her eat, Sang Luoluo ate a piece herself and drank a large cup of Spirit Spring water before finally pulling the covers over her head and going to sleep without worry. Her head throbbed faintly, and she thought she would have to take advantage of lighter rain tomorrow to buy some ointment to put on it.

At the base, it was nearly dark by the time the S17 Guard Team returned. Qi Feng had someone take Xiao Li for medical treatment before directing the others to unload the cargo and deliver it to the laboratory. He also sent people to deal with the bodies of the mutated monkeys killed outside the base.

After the compartment had been cleaned out, he felt something beneath his foot. He lifted his foot and saw that it was one of the "sour jujubes" Sang Luoluo had dropped. He bent down and picked it up. He had crushed the fruit flat, but he could still see that the flesh inside was fresh. The little thing was only the size of a fingernail.

He had never seen such a small sour jujube either, so he raised his wrist device and scanned it.

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 2. Low radiation. Recommended for consumption!"

Qi Feng's pupils shook in shock. A radiation level of only two-he had never found food with such a low radiation level in his entire life. Supposedly, only the private cultivation bases owned by the higher-ups produced food with such low radiation or none at all.

Could that girl really have been a grower before? Her combat ability was so weak, but her luck was quite good.

"Captain, Elder Yan heard you were back and wants you to come over!" someone called.

Qi Feng put the sour jujube in his pocket, got out of the truck, and headed for the office building.

Chapter 10: The downpour ended-finally, no more gnawing on potatoes every day...

On the top floor of the base Guard's office building, everyone wore a well-fitted uniform. Those allowed in here were all senior members of the base Guard.

Qi Feng took the elevator all the way to the thirty-third floor and knocked on Elder Yan's office door. Only after hearing a response from inside did he push the door open and enter.