Sang Luoluo stepped forward and sliced open its lower body with the chainsaw. Wearing gloves, she successfully felt around inside and pulled out three palm-sized Crystal Cores.
She tossed them straight into her space, instantly unlocking ten mu of sweet potatoes.
She had only planted ten mu of sweet potatoes in total before, and now all of them were unlocked.
This counted as a blessing in disguise.
She did not throw away the giant mutant snake's corpse either. She put it in her space, tested it, and found high radiation levels. She could give it to the laboratory when she returned.
Sang Luoluo left her space and returned to her original spot. There were no giant mutant snakes here anymore. Perhaps Jian Cheng and An Ping had lured them away.
Where should she go now?
Should she wait here or head forward to look for them?
With her combat ability, she had better stay in this eggplant grove and look for them.
At least she had discovered a new way to fight.
Pull the mutant animals into her space before fighting them.
The eggplant grove was huge, and the signal came and went. Sang Luoluo sent the S16 Squad a message: [I'm still alive. I'll wait for you in the eggplant grove.]
With nothing else to do, Sang Luoluo looked around nearby for edible eggplants and Crystal Cores.
She tested them as she walked.
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 77. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 97. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 90. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 102. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 128. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 33. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"
After searching for a while, she actually found an edible one. She climbed a ladder, sawed it off with the chainsaw, and put it into her space.
She also discovered several clutches of bird eggs.
Sensing that familiar pull, Sang Luoluo approached and found that it came from the base of a nearby tree trunk.
It was roughly two meters down.
Sang Luoluo took out the excavator, climbed aboard, and began operating it, digging at the base of the thick trunk. The tree was particularly sturdy, so she could only dig from the side. She unearthed several giant mutant earthworms along the way. Fighting the prickling sensation in her scalp, she kept digging. A few scoops later, she finally dug out the Crystal Core.
Sang Luoluo jumped down and fished the Crystal Core out of the dirt. It was glossy black and the size of an egg. She tossed it into her space.
Together with the one mu of potatoes she had unlocked before, the remaining nine mu of potatoes were now unlocked too. Not only that, the entire pigpen was unlocked as well.
Over a hundred pigs of various sizes inside returned to normal, oinking and grunting.
She would have an endless supply of pork from now on.
Sang Luoluo tested the giant mutant earthworms from a distance.
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 75. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 55. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 52. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 45. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"
Three out of the four mutant earthworms were actually edible. That made sense. Radiation underground was much lower than on the surface, so it was normal for earthworms, which lived underground, to have low radiation levels. No wonder dried earthworms were the meat she had seen them eat most often since coming here.
Wearing gloves, she put the three edible earthworms into her space.
Chapter 44: Just You Alone? Corn-That's Carbs!!...
She put the excavator away in her space and looked at the tree in front of her, its roots half dug out. It was so tall and sturdy. Her brother had told her to bring some wood back from the wilderness.
She might as well take this one. Compared to the trees from three hundred years ago, this single tree was worth ten of those.
She used the chainsaw to sever all the exposed roots. The huge tree actually began to lean, and Sang Luoluo followed the direction of its tilt, sawing away bit by bit.
After nearly two hours of sawing, even the chainsaw's spare battery was almost drained. The huge tree came crashing down.
Sang Luoluo put it into her space's Stasis Zone.
Only then did it occur to her: why was there still no word from Captain Yan and the others?
It was almost dark. If they did not regroup soon, it would be dangerous at night.
Their equipment was still in the eggplant grove. Surely they would return.
Sang Luoluo walked around, then went to the place they had left earlier. She stayed by the equipment, drank some Spirit Spring water, and rested.
The signal still came and went. During a moment when she had reception, a reply finally arrived.
Lei Qi: [We're on our way back.]
Within twenty minutes, she finally heard people approaching.
Yan Lang and the others were all injured, their bodies covered in scratches from trees and weeds.
"Why are you alone? Where's Assistant Jian Cheng? Where's An Ping?" Yan Lang asked Sang Luoluo when he could not see the others.
"We got separated," Sang Luoluo said helplessly.
"Not long after you left, we ran into giant mutant snakes and split up to escape. Those two ran too fast. By the time I was out of danger, I had no idea where they'd gone. Maybe they went looking for you," Sang Luoluo continued.
Sang Luoluo had not forgotten how those two had run off without looking back when she cried for help. But even so, she could not blame them. The wilderness was dangerous to begin with, and she could not expect others to risk their lives to save her, could she?
So from now on, she would work hard to get stronger. Even if her physical strength was lacking, she needed to think of more solutions and find ways to keep herself alive.
Seeing their puzzled looks, Sang Luoluo waved a hand, took out the giant snake's corpse for everyone to see, then put it away again.
"You killed a mutant snake that big all by yourself?"
Lei Qi stepped forward in surprise. He remembered that Sang Luoluo had not been this strong in combat before. She could not even handle a mutant mantis.
Only then did Sang Luoluo notice Li Tai on Lei Qi's back. He was badly injured and had already lost consciousness.
A little embarrassed, Sang Luoluo said, "I got lucky. I nearly died."
Yan Lang ordered them to set up camp where they were. Li Tai's injuries were too severe, and he needed immediate treatment.
By the time they reached him, Li Tai had already fallen from a great height and ended up caught in a tree, injuring his lumbar spine. Fortunately, his exoskeleton had protected him and cushioned the impact, saving his life. Whether he could recover remained unknown.
Yan Lang sent people to look for An Ping and Jian Cheng while the rest waited there.
They had been out for less than two days and had already run into so much trouble. As soon as darkness fell, Sang Luoluo hid in her tent to eat. She took a serving of beef brisket rice from the warehouse in her space's Stasis Zone and wolfed it down while no one was watching.
After a whole day of running around, she was starving. She felt as though she could eat an entire cow and polished off the beef brisket rice.
At nearly ten that night, Sang Luoluo listened to the commotion outside.
"Captain Yan, we found them! They're both alive. Assistant Jian Cheng is injured and has lost a lot of blood."
Yan Lang hurried over to check. Jian Cheng held a special position, particularly as an assistant to Dr. Wang, and was irreplaceable. The base was even less willing to lose someone like him.
Yan Lang told them to rest and contacted the base to have someone come take them back.
"Assistant Jian, your injuries can't wait any longer. The smell of blood can easily attract mutant beasts. You should return to the base as soon as possible. As for the specimens, we still have Sang Luoluo, don't we? Whatever you need, I'll have her bring it back for you."
Jian Cheng felt a little guilty, and also somewhat puzzled. "Sang Luoluo? She... she's all right?"
Yan Lang noticed nothing amiss. "She's perfectly fine."
Jian Cheng glanced at the tent and did not refuse again. "I thought the giant mutant snake had eaten her. It was an emergency. The snake had already coiled around her, and other mutant snakes were attacking us. Even I thought I was done for."
Yan Lang had no intention of pursuing the matter. "You're lucky enough to have made it back alive. Don't dwell on it. What matters is going back and recovering properly."
Jian Cheng said, "Mm."
Li Tai had been given an anesthetic and a sedative and was already asleep. The other teammates had provided some basic stabilization to keep him from being jostled.
After speaking with Yan Lang, Jian Cheng headed toward the tents, looking for Sang Luoluo.
"Are you looking for me?"
Sang Luoluo suddenly appeared and spoke.
Jian Cheng froze for a moment. Looking at the completely unharmed Sang Luoluo, his face filled with puzzlement. "You... hadn't the giant mutant snake already coiled around you? How..."
Sang Luoluo was not in much of a good mood upon seeing him either. She said flatly, "Oh, I got lucky and wasn't eaten. Made it back alive."
Jian Cheng hurriedly said, "Under those circumstances, I couldn't guarantee I could save you either."
Sang Luoluo looked at him. "I don't blame you. Your own life matters most."
Relieved to hear that, Jian Cheng nodded and said nothing more.
Looking at his current state, Sang Luoluo could see that he was badly injured.
His entire arm was covered in blood, and his face was pale. She had no idea what he and An Ping had encountered after running off.
An Ping, on the other hand, was barely injured.
Sang Luoluo settled down to sleep in her tent without worry. An electric fence and alarms had been set up outside, and people were on watch through the night.
At two in the morning, the base's helicopter arrived and took Jian Cheng and Li Tai away, along with three other seriously injured teammates.
Only seventeen people remained altogether. If those seriously injured people were not taken away, staying here would mean certain death.
At daybreak, Sang Luoluo was woken up and hurried out to gather the mutant eggplants.
Having unexpectedly discovered an eggplant grove, Yan Lang did not want to pass up such good food either.
Sang Luoluo's main task was to collect experimental samples.