She was so weak. The mutant ants discovered so far had...

Seeing that no one was looking her way, Sang Luoluo broke off a bite of cucumber inside her space and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.

Its fresh, sweet flavor instantly filled her mouth. Finally, she did not have to eat potatoes anymore. She covered her mouth in satisfaction.

Sang Luoluo leaned against a pile of dry branches beside the fire and dozed for a while. She did not dare sleep too deeply, afraid someone might come over. Half asleep, she stealthily slipped an egg into her mouth, drank a few mouthfuls of water after eating it, then went back to dozing.

The Guard still came out to patrol at night, and their voices woke Sang Luoluo.

"Hu Tian, I only ate one of your dried earthworms. Is this really necessary? You haven't spoken to me in ages."

"Do you know that 200 grams of dried earthworms costs 200 points? You ate a quarter of mine in one bite. You have to pay me back! Otherwise, we'll take this to the captain and see who gets in trouble."

Chapter 11: She was so weak. The mutant ants discovered so far had...

"Fine, fine, I'll pay you back. I'll give you the points later." Wei Xing did not dare let this reach the captain and quickly agreed.

Hu Tian was utterly exhausted. "Our squad has been working nonstop for half a month without a single day off. I can barely keep going."

Wei Xing felt the same. "Yeah. What the higher-ups call a break is making us take residents scavenging. Tch, just 200 points in overtime pay. The base is getting stingier and stingier."

Hu Tian said, "I can't take it. I'm too sleepy. I'll find somewhere to nap. You keep watch, and I'll take over at dawn."

After speaking, the two sat on the ground beside a truck not far from Sang Luoluo, leaning against it and dozing with their weapons in their arms.

With members of the Guard nearby, Sang Luoluo felt a little more at ease and slept a while longer.

As soon as dawn broke, the people around her packed up their things and got to scavenging.

This was an undeveloped area with a patch of wild yams. As long as they patiently dug them up and tested them carefully, finding some low-radiation yams would not be a problem.

Other mutant vegetables also grew here in scattered patches. Some had gradually developed over the past three hundred years from mutant plants originally found here, while others had grown from mutant seeds the base deliberately collected and scattered in suitable planting spots outside the base.

Among these high-radiation plants, some low-radiation produce would always grow. The output of the private plantations inside the base was only enough to feed a small portion of the higher-ups. Ninety-nine percent of the people in the base ate food found outside it.

Following behind the crowd, Sang Luoluo had just found an unclaimed patch of wild yams, only for someone to seize it soon afterward.

She had been standing there minding her own business when someone suddenly struck her hard in the back. The shove sent her tumbling headfirst onto the ground, and she rolled once with the momentum.

"I've claimed this spot. Get lost!" a vicious female voice rang out.

Sang Luoluo steadied herself and looked up at the person who had pushed her. It was a woman in her early thirties, a head taller than her, holding a boy of about ten by her side. The woman gripped a hoe in her right hand, looking ready to bring it down on Sang Luoluo's head the next instant if she refused to leave.

With dirt all over her hands and face, Sang Luoluo looked at the mother and son and said unhappily, "I was here first. You're bullying me."

A trace of disdain showed on the woman's ordinary face. A girl with such scrawny limbs could be bullied however she pleased. Hearing that the girl still dared resist, she thumped her hoe down and continued threatening her. "You're exactly who I'm bullying!"

Several ways of dealing with this mother and son flashed through Sang Luoluo's mind: hitting them with stones from her space, throwing wood at the woman, or pulling a kitchen knife from her space for a surprise attack when they fought, among other things.

She realized none of them were practical. They would expose her space, so she let it go. There were no Crystal Cores here anyway, so there was no need to clash with the woman, but being threatened left her very displeased.

A wise person knew when to yield. Sang Luoluo glanced at them, picked up her back basket, and left.

As she left, she noticed several bloody scratches on the child's ankle. Some unknown mutant plant had scratched him, and blood was already seeping out. His mother had not noticed either. Sang Luoluo took another look but did not speak up to warn them, not wanting to invite more trouble for herself.

A faint smell of blood could always attract some mutant animals living nearby. Just because humans could not smell such a faint scent did not mean the surrounding mutant animals could not.

Seeing Sang Luoluo leave, the woman smiled smugly. "At least she knows what's good for her. Son, hurry up and dig."

Sang Luoluo walked around nearby, doing her best to sense any trace of Crystal Cores within five meters. After walking quite a distance, she sensed one beneath a patch of yams.

She stopped to dig up the yams. This time, the Crystal Core was about a meter deep. After checking that no one was around, she pulled a small, short hoe out of her basket-actually from her spatial warehouse-and crouched down to start digging.

When she had dug about half a meter deep, she heard a woman's harsh screams in the distance, coming from the spot she had just left.

"Aaah! Mutant ants! So many mutant ants!"

"Help!!!!"

Sang Luoluo looked over at that last terrified cry. An army of mutant ants, each half a person's height, had already crawled up to the middle-aged woman. At a rough glance, there were over a hundred.

Her heart lurched. How could there be so many mutant ants? She had thought it would attract only one or two mutant animals.

The Guard quickly rushed over to provide support.

"Alert! Alert!"

"Over a hundred mutant ants have appeared 1,500 meters southeast of the convoy and are attacking residents. S17 Squad, dispatch personnel for an immediate rescue."

Sang Luoluo had just stood up to get a clearer look. If just a tiny bit of fresh innards could attract so many mutant animals, could she make use of that in the future?

As she was thinking, a figure suddenly swept past her like the wind, moving so fast that she could only see an afterimage.

What just went past?

Was that a person? It was a person, right?

Soon, the figure paused for an instant and fired away at the mutant ants with the laser weapon in his hands, drawing their attention. The mutant ants turned to surround and attack him, but he instantly sped to another position and continued firing. By the time the other Guard members arrived to help, he had killed over fifty mutant ants on his own.

"Quick, search for the ant nest nearby. There must be more mutant ants than these." Lei Qi worked with his teammates to kill the remaining mutant ants, speaking into his mic with a grim expression.

"What?! A mutant ant nest? We didn't find it when we cleared Zone 31B last time? We're screwed. How have they shown up again? They're definitely going to dock our bonus from the last mission." He Fei's shocked, regretful voice came over the radio, with a little lingering fear as well. Their last sweep had been incomplete and left a hidden danger.

"Make sure you locate the ant nest. Don't let a single one escape. This place is too close to the base. We must ensure none remain." Captain Qi Feng's icy voice came over the radio.

Before Sang Luoluo had recovered from the shock of that figure moving fast enough to blur, she saw that the mutant ants had been wiped out. The other Guard members looked tense as they searched the surrounding area.

That must have been a genetically Evolved Human I just saw. That freakish speed could only appear in a human after genetic mutation.

How enviable.

Sang Luoluo quickly brought her attention back and continued digging.

She also tested the seven yams growing together that she had dug out along the way.

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 77. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 79. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 91. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 32. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 49. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 84. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 99. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

Oh, there were actually two edible yams. They were nearly as tall as she was and as thick as an arm. In truth, she did not want them. She did not want to eat irradiated food.

But to keep up appearances, she still broke them in half and put them into her back basket.

Twenty minutes later, she finally reached a depth of one meter and felt a brown Crystal Core half the size of a fingernail.

She tossed it straight into her space, instantly unlocking ten mu of apple orchard.

Mm, very good. Now I have fruit to eat.

She filled some of the soil back in, then suddenly felt her scalp prickle as she turned her head. Something seemed to be moving underground. It was a Crystal Core moving. That familiar pull appeared about five meters underground, then moved away.

Judging by the pull, it should be a very large Crystal Core.

This was experience she had gained from searching for Crystal Cores lately.

The Guard members spread out, each holding a device to scan the area and uploading the scanned data to the captain's computer, with the captain coordinating their movements.

The Guard members did not forget to have the residents gathering nearby retreat to safety.

One Guard member shouted through a megaphone nearby, "Mutant animals are active in the vicinity. All residents gathering here, fall back."

"What? Mutant animals? Why would mutant animals suddenly show up here?"

"Didn't the Guard clear out all the mutant animals in the gathering area? Why are there still more?"

"Run! If you're too slow, the mutant animals will catch you."

"Look, something's crawling out over there!!!"

Sang Luoluo heard only the frightened voices of the residents gathering around her. She looked behind her in the direction they indicated, and sure enough, some mutant ants crawled out from beneath the grass, each half a person's height.

Some residents close by swung the tools in their hands, smashing a mutant ant to death with several consecutive blows.

Seeing this, Sang Luoluo hurried to run too. She did not have that kind of strength, so she took off toward the crowd.

The ground was difficult to run on. After only a few steps, she tripped over a clump of grass that could move.