She Was an Evolved Human, She Only Wanted to Survive, What Was Your Ability...

The chainsaw sliced through the mutant ant's sturdy abdomen, moving up, down, left, and right, cutting away pieces of its tough armor until it finally exposed a fist-sized pink Crystal Core inside.

She took it out with her mind and tossed it onto the soil in her space. The space absorbed it instantly.

In the blink of an eye, nearly 1,000 square meters of the stasis zone unlocked.

The good news was that 1,000 square meters was a sizable area and could hold plenty of things.

The bad news was that the unlocked section of the stasis zone was just empty ground, without a single supply, and she currently had nothing to store there either. Ha.

She had gotten her hopes up so much, and now she felt rather deflated.

She had thought she could unlock the warehouse in the stasis zone.

At that thought, her stomach started growling.

Seeing people not far away, she turned her back to them and covered half her face with a silk scarf. Beneath it, she used one hand to stuff a peeled egg into her mouth.

Her mouth hidden beneath the scarf, she chewed quietly. After a while, she stuffed two cherry tomatoes into her mouth.

Using her mind, she cut an apple into pieces in the kitchen, put them on a plate, and placed it in the stasis zone to preserve it, then secretly slipped a few pieces into her mouth.

Meat smelled too strong. Afraid the people in the distance would catch the scent and set their sights on her, she did not eat any. Another egg and a few chunks of cucumber were more or less enough. It would have been nice to have a little side dish, but unfortunately, there was none.

After eating, Sang Luoluo wiped her mouth, making sure nothing remained on her lips before finally pulling down her face covering to drink water.

Her only trouble was the heat. It was far too hot at noon.

People were practically melting even in the shade, yet these mutant trees could survive such temperatures and grow even thicker and sturdier than before. It was very abnormal.

The heat became unbearable. Fortunately, the refrigerator in the kitchen still worked. She took out two ice cubes and held them in her hands to cool down, finally feeling much more comfortable.

Chapter 13: She Was an Evolved Human, She Only Wanted to Survive, What Was Your Ability...

After eating, Sang Luoluo noticed that the Guard members were still working under the blazing sun, wearing radiation suits and using specially made tools to process each mutant ant. They removed the usable parts, piled them together, and then packed them into crates.

With so many mutant ants, the workload was enormous. The Guard members had to finish even if it meant working overtime. They had no way to ask the residents for help either. These harvesting tools made of special materials were limited in number. Each Guard member had only one, with none to spare.

The Guard could only spare a few people to patrol and keep watch. Everyone else was busy processing the mutant ant corpses. Even the Guard captains were no exception. They all had to work.

They worked until eleven that night before barely finishing, but that was another matter.

Sang Luoluo waited until three before setting out and wandering nearby. Even when she passed mutant ant corpses, she found no Crystal Cores. It seemed the one she had obtained was simply a stroke of luck. She wandered around the area searching for Crystal Cores, but her luck was worse than that morning. She found nothing all afternoon and instead gained several new wounds from walking back and forth through the grass.

By evening, she was tired too and found somewhere to rest first. Now she was covered in bruises and scabbed wounds. She was thin and frail, her hair looked as though a dog had chewed it, and her clothes were ragged, making her look like the beggars she had seen before.

Things must have gone too smoothly for her these past few days. Finding so many Crystal Cores had made her think they were easy to find. Yet after covering so much ground that afternoon, she had not found even one the size of a grain of rice.

She would try again tomorrow.

She secretly washed her hands, closed her eyes, and stewed chicken soup in the kitchen inside her space. She needed nourishment. This body had gone so long without meat, and she was craving it terribly.

She secretly ate a few pieces of apple to tide herself over.

Once the chicken soup was ready, she saw that the people around her were busy cooking. Some residents simply drank nutrient solution, while others gnawed on raw leaves.

Everyone was busy. Busy was good.

She quietly circled around to somewhere farther from the others, ladled out a bowl of chicken soup, and slowly ate it. Afterward, she did not forget to rinse her mouth and ate a tomato to cut the richness.

Only then did she slowly return to her original resting spot and prepare to sleep.

Sang Luoluo put the pot of unfinished chicken soup into the stasis zone of her space. That pot would last her several meals.

With her hunger and thirst satisfied, she finally drifted into a light sleep.

Late that night, every member of the S17 Guard Team returned to the convoy, dead tired. Only after gathering together did they finally have dinner: one tube of nutrient solution per person.

"Captain, they won't dock our bonuses this time, will they?" Lei Qi asked worriedly. He did not have many points left. If they docked his bonus too, he really would have almost nothing left this month.

Qi Feng leaned against a tire, exhausted, and said, "Hard to say. We really didn't do our last mission thoroughly enough. We'll have to wait for the lab results to know the details. Everyone's worked hard all day. Get some proper rest tonight. I'll take watch."

He Fei was still thinking about the young girl he had seen during the day. After quickly drinking his nutrient solution to replenish his energy, he asked, "Captain, do you remember the young girl who caught a ride with us during the rainstorm a couple of days ago? Today, I saw an ant beside her vanish into thin air."

Seeing everyone in the squad turn toward him, He Fei stressed again, afraid they would not believe him, "I'm telling the truth. I saw it with my own eyes. It just suddenly vanished. An ant that huge. I'm not blind."

"You mean it suddenly... vanished?"

"What kind of ability is that?" Lei Qi was burning with curiosity.

Qi Feng also sat up straight, quickly recalling his few encounters with that girl. After a moment's thought, he said, "You mean she's an Evolved Human?"

Lei Qi remembered the girl. "If I remember right, that girl's from the shantytown, isn't she? Since when could the shantytown produce Evolved Humans?"

He Fei said, "Why don't we grab her and ask? An entire ant that huge just vanished without warning. If her ability is useful to our S17 Squad, we could recruit her."

Qi Feng also found the matter strange. "As far as I know, all the Evolved Humans in the base have awakened different abilities, but there's never been one this strange. We might as well bring her over and ask. He Fei, I'll leave it to you. Take someone to find her and bring her to me."

He Fei smiled at that. "Yes, Captain."

He turned and grabbed Lei Qi. "You've seen that girl. Come on, help me find her."

Lei Qi, who was so tired that all he wanted was rest, was dragged away with a look of utter despair.

There were so many residents who had come to gather that evening, sitting scattered around. Many stayed alone, with some distance between them and everyone else. He Fei dragged Lei Qi through half the resting area without finding any sign of the girl.

He Fei asked, "You saved that girl. Do you know her name?"

Lei Qi said, "I didn't pay attention."

Lei Qi continued, "Why don't we look tomorrow? It's almost one in the morning. I'm exhausted. I need rest. If I don't rest soon, I'm going to die."

He Fei was tired too. After a whole day of physical labor, he was exhausted to death as well. But the scene he had witnessed that day was like an itch in his heart. He could not feel at ease without asking her himself.

When they returned to the convoy, Qi Feng asked, "Where is she?"

He Fei spread his hands. "It's pitch-black. We couldn't see where she was. We're too tired today. Let's look tomorrow."

Qi Feng nodded. "Go get some rest first."

Qi Feng turned off his wrist computer and sat atop the truck, leaning against a crate to rest for a while. Days of nonstop work had kept his nerves stretched taut.

Early the next morning, the base sent dozens more large trucks. They were not there to transport people, however. They unloaded equipment and scanned one location after another, completely clearing out the ant nests here without missing a single corner.

That was the scene Sang Luoluo saw while scavenging in the distance.

Clearly, the base placed great importance on the ecosystem outside the safe zone. Not a single threat could be left behind.

Her luck was good that morning. She dug up a Chinese yam with a radiation reading of 47 first thing.

She found a rice-grain-sized Crystal Core and successfully unlocked one square meter of the stasis-zone warehouse. It was full of blueberries!

As Sang Luoluo walked, she secretly grabbed a handful of blueberries and slipped them into her mouth beneath her scarf.

Her mouth filled with the fresh sweetness of blueberries. It felt wonderful. Even gathering no longer seemed so painful.

After walking around the area for nearly an hour, that was all she had found.

Feeling tired, she found some shade beneath a tree and stood there for a while, opening her bamboo flask and gulping down water.

Perhaps she drank too quickly. Sang Luoluo coughed sharply twice, and a little water spilled from the corner of her mouth onto the ground.

She had to hand it to herself. She could even choke on a sip of water.

Before she could continue drinking, the vine at her feet shuddered all over upon touching the water and instantly began moving. Sensing the grass beneath her feet move, Sang Luoluo screamed and immediately ran, only to trip after two steps.

Her face instantly contorted in pain. Fear rose in Sang Luoluo's heart. The agility of this vine was different from the mutant weeds she had encountered before. Its grip was stronger.

Before she could climb to her feet, the vine had already reached one of her ankles. It gradually tightened and slowly lifted her up.

She hurriedly swung the short hoe in her hand, trying to chop through the vine wrapped around her. Unfortunately, it extended several more tendrils to attack her together, winding directly around her wrist and her other ankle, suspending her entire body in midair.

It seemed intent on slowly tightening around her.

Sang Luoluo did not know whether she would die here. She wanted to use the chainsaw in her space, but it was already too late. She could not operate it at all now, with her hands and feet bound tight.

Had mutant plants already become this powerful?

"Help!!!"

"Help!!"

"Someone, please save me!!"

Hanging upside down, Sang Luoluo soon felt blood rushing to her head, and everything around her looked dizzy and blurred.

Seeing someone pass in the distance, she hurriedly cried, "Help!!! Don't go! Please call the Guard for me! I'll give you points!"