Green Crystal Core, Spirit Spring Unlocked

Even while sheltering from the sun's radiation, Sang Luoluo did not leave the patch of purslane around her unchecked. She tested its leaves one by one, receiving a string of high-radiation alerts.

Finally, in the center, where the sunlight could not reach, she found a newly grown leaf only half the size of her palm.

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 37. Moderate radiation. Recommended for consumption!"

Holding back her delight, Sang Luoluo carefully plucked the little leaf, put it in her basket, and continued waiting.

As three in the afternoon approached, the fullness in her stomach gradually faded, replaced by hunger. The nutrient solution was very filling; it was already quite good that it had sustained her until now.

But looking at the leaf half the size of her palm in her basket, she thought... this was not enough to eat.

Without enough food, she would have no strength. Without strength, she could not keep looking for food, and without food, she would starve to death.

Sigh. She had to keep searching before nightfall.

There was no one left in sight nearby. Sang Luoluo crawled out and tested the leaves she had already picked out in the surrounding area, one after another.

The leaf she had just gathered made her think newly grown leaves were more likely to test low in radiation.

She walked on with that in mind. As four o'clock approached, her hands moved faster. Just as she pushed aside an enormous leaf, a figure larger than she was suddenly sprang out.

"Aaaah!!!!!"

Sang Luoluo screamed in fright, feeling every hair on her body, including those on her head, stand on end. It was an enormous mantis. She could not tell whether its two basketball-sized eyes were looking at her. Her legs trembled, and she scrambled away as fast as she could.

With a single leap, the mantis actually landed ahead of her. She could only run in another direction. Even as she sprinted, she remembered to grip her basket tightly. Leaves sliced open her exposed calves, but she endured the pain and kept running. She could even distinctly feel her rapid breathing and the sweat dripping off her body.

Caught off guard, she tripped over the weeds beneath her feet and went flying into a low-lying patch of ground. Pain followed immediately. She had scraped her forehead, palms, and knees, and her clothes were smeared with mud.

As she watched the mantis catch up, its gigantic mouth coming at her, a gunshot suddenly rang out. A hole blasted open in the mantis's head, and green fluid spattered out. Some of it inevitably splashed onto Sang Luoluo as well.

Sang Luoluo looked toward the gunshot. A convoy of trucks was passing by. On the truck closest to her, a handsome young man put away his gun. He wore a Guard uniform. The man withdrew his gaze and sat back inside, while another young man beside him called out a friendly reminder, "It's getting late. Hurry home! Don't lose track of time while scavenging."

Watching the convoy recede into the distance, Sang Luoluo checked her wristwatch. It was already five. In another hour, it would be completely dark, and she might not make it back in time.

She glanced at the disgusting mantis, intending to hurry home, but after taking just one step, Sang Luoluo suddenly felt an unfamiliar pull.

To be precise, it came from her space. She could sense something roughly five meters to her left that her space desperately craved.

Chapter 2: Green Crystal Core, Spirit Spring Unlocked

Any response from her space was a good thing. Sang Luoluo immediately took six steps to the left and discovered that the thing exerting that pull was right beneath her feet, about... half a meter deep?

Her space was far too important to her. Even if this turned out to be a wasted effort, she had to see what lay beneath her feet that attracted it.

Picking up the stone knife beside her, she started digging. Sang Luoluo dug quickly. She knew she should not linger here; the wilderness would only grow more dangerous after dark. Enduring the hunger in her belly, she dug again and again, until she finally reached half a meter down and touched a hard stone.

More precisely, it was a strange stone. Sang Luoluo dug it out and cleared away the dirt before she could see that it was a translucent green stone the size of an adult's palm. It felt cool in her hand, and she could sense her space's frenzied attraction to it.

The moment Sang Luoluo let go, the stone vanished, absorbed by her space.

The next moment, she suddenly felt the Spirit Spring inside her space unlock. Its water resumed flowing with a rush, and the areas through which the spring water flowed were unlocked as well.

Sang Luoluo was so excited she nearly cried. Her space had responded. It was because of that stone.

Then she realized that if one stone could unlock the Spirit Spring, did that not mean she could restore her entire space if she had more stones like it?

She held out a hand, and a stream of clear water appeared in her palm.

She tried entering the space herself, but unfortunately, she still could not. For now, it seemed her space had only unlocked the spring water for her use. She tried putting the stone knife in her hand beside the spring, but that did not work either. She still could not put anything into her space.

Never mind. This was already a good start.

Hoisting her basket onto her back and carrying her stone knife, she quickened her steps toward home.

In the last truck of the distant convoy, Lei Qi, who had a short crew cut and scrapes on his cheeks, pulled an original-flavor nutrient solution out of his backpack. Holding it between his lips, he drank in small sips and said with a goofy grin, "Captain, you're too kind. That kid couldn't even deal with an ordinary mantis. She probably won't live long anyway."

Qi Feng toyed with a specially made throwing knife in one hand while holding the other before his chest, using his wristwatch to organize the report on today's outing. Everything they had gained today had to be compiled into a report for Elder Yan. At those words, he did not even lift his eyelids, his voice as cool as ever. "It's still a life. The base is short on people. If we lend a hand, she has a better chance of surviving."

"Captain, have you noticed how missions have been getting harder lately? There are more and more large beasts in the forest, and we've been bringing back less and less these past few trips. The guys all come back covered in injuries. Not only do we barely earn any points on a mission, but most of what we earn goes to the medical department." Lei Qi grumbled quietly, somewhat dispirited. If he had known, he should have aimed for the medical department as a child. He could earn points just by prescribing medicine and treating patients, without risking his life. How would that not be better than what he did now?

Glancing at the pitifully small amount of prey in the truck ahead, Lei Qi said worriedly, "Captain, we lost six of our brothers this time. As for Elder Yan..."

Qi Feng's hands paused. He turned his head and gestured for Lei Qi to look at the report on his wristwatch. Weariness showed on his face as he said, "I'll give a detailed report on this operation. There were too many beasts, so casualties were unavoidable. But we brought back the samples and data the laboratory requested intact, so the mission counts as completed. Even if Elder Yan is dissatisfied, he won't go too far."

Lei Qi still felt his captain deserved better. "I just can't stand Yan Lang. Just because he's Elder Yan's son, he lords it over you at every turn. When have we ever gone on a mission without relying on you? He takes the credit, then blames you whenever anything goes wrong."

Qi Feng flicked him on the forehead, a faint, gratified smile appearing on his tired face. "He is Elder Yan's son, after all. Be careful he doesn't hear you say that and throw you out to feed the beasts."

Lei Qi rubbed his forehead, but he had to admit his captain was right. He simply could not understand it. Yan Lang had such a powerful father and never lacked food or clothes, so why did he insist on going on missions with them and making things difficult for people at the bottom like them?

Of course, he did not ask that question in front of his captain.

Dragging her exhausted body through the darkness, she returned to her shack. She had sweated all day and smelled terrible.

Sang Luoluo set down her basket first. She was very hungry, but she had to save that leaf for breakfast tomorrow, or she would have no strength to look for food.

She took out her bamboo tube, filled it with Spirit Spring water, and gulped down a bellyful, filling herself up on water alone.

Having the Spirit Spring made things much more convenient for her. She no longer needed to fetch water outside. The shantytown shared a single well, and everyone had to line up for water every day. Two buckets cost one point, and the water contained moderate radiation. Drinking it over a long period did the body no good. Those with weak constitutions could easily suffer genetic collapse and develop radiation sickness.

Bathing was even more of a luxury. People in the shantytown essentially had no opportunity to bathe.

At that thought, Sang Luoluo found a basin, filled it with basin after basin of Spirit Spring water, and scrubbed herself from head to toe several times. Without soap, she could only soak a little longer. When the Spirit Spring water touched her wounds, it did not hurt as much as she had imagined. Instead, it eased the pain a little.

This body of hers had thin arms and legs and was severely malnourished, with dry, yellowish hair and a palm-sized face. She was only sixteen and barely a meter and a half tall. She did not know whether she could still grow any taller.

She secretly emptied out her bathwater, making sure no one outside the shack noticed. Only then did Sang Luoluo lie down on the bed, utterly exhausted. Her hair hung over the edge to dry.

Her long hair reached her shoulder blades and felt somewhat rough after being washed without shampoo. Once it dried, Sang Luoluo took her stone knife and cut the tangled, shoulder-blade-length hair down to her ears. The stone knife was not sharp enough, leaving some sections long and others short, with messy layers that looked as if a dog had chewed them. But none of that mattered. She was already in a wasteland world, and whether she could even stay alive was another question. Who cared whether her hair looked good?

Thinking of the translucent green stone she had dug up today, she suddenly recalled from the original owner's memories that it was very likely a Crystal Core, an extremely rare energy body.

The base's radiation shield was supposedly powered by a large Crystal Core, allowing it to reduce the effects of radiation inside the base.

Only part of the inner section of their shantytown lay within the edge of the radiation shield. Sang Luoluo's shack was on the outskirts of the shantytown. Beasts attacking from the wilderness could overrun this place at any moment, turning the people here into food.

She could not stay here for long. She had to work hard to move into the base proper. Here, she risked losing her life at any moment.

Sang Luoluo searched for information about Crystal Cores on her wristwatch.

A series of details about Crystal Cores immediately appeared before her.

Crystal Cores were energy bodies that had gradually formed from meteor showers falling onto Blue Planet over the past three hundred years. They had no fixed form and came in many colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, as well as other colors formed by mixtures of those seven. Based on their energy values, Crystal Cores were divided into eight grades: SSS+, SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, and D. There was a vast difference in energy between each successive grade.