An abandoned mall, unlocking the Stasis Zone, a thief in the house...

She suddenly had a business plan.

Asuo continued, "Um... how about selling me the rest of your water too? I'll see if I can sell it to other people."

Sang Luoluo: ???

After a moment's thought, she realized Asuo probably wanted to sell it to people who needed this water in the safe zone and act as a middleman. That would be much more convenient than finding buyers herself.

"I'll pay you one point for these bamboo tubes. There's a bamboo grove right outside the base, so they aren't worth much."

Asuo urged her on. It was almost time to board.

Sang Luoluo nodded. "Sure. I have seven more. I'll keep one to drink and give you the other six."

Asuo hurriedly nodded and transferred another thirteen points to Sang Luoluo, then packed everything into his basket.

They added each other as friends and prepared to queue for boarding.

As Sang Luoluo followed the line forward, she said, "If you sell this water, I have more. I don't care how many points you sell it for. I'll supply it to you at two points per bamboo tube. If you need more, contact me later. But let me make this clear first: there isn't much of this water, so supplies are limited."

Asuo readily agreed. "No problem. We'll keep in touch."

Once aboard, Sang Luoluo found a corner to settle into. With fifteen more points on her wristwatch, she suddenly felt a little more secure. Fifteen points equaled five tubes of nutrient solution. If she bought ones close to expiration, she could get another two. That was a whole week's food for her.

The vehicle swayed along, and before long, she grew sleepy. Hugging her basket tightly, she dozed for a while.

An hour passed. It was already broad daylight, though only six o'clock, when they reached their destination.

She yawned, then followed the people ahead of her in line to get off.

The Guard regularly came here to clear out mutated animals, preventing them from nesting and breeding here until they gradually became a threat to Base 71. Ordinary residents rarely came here. Mutated animals had evolved hard outer shells and enormous bodies, while humans seemed to have been abandoned by this world: exposure to radiation only made them ill, then killed them. A small number of genetically modified humans possessed greater strength and physical fitness than ordinary people and had awakened various abilities. People in the base called them Evolved Humans.

Even Evolved Humans needed various weapons, equipment, and advanced technology to survive safely in the wilderness. Otherwise, they were merely ordinary people with slightly stronger abilities. They would still develop radiation sickness under intense radiation, and they would still die.

When Sang Luoluo saw this in her memories, she had only one thing to say: the rich relied on technology, and the poor relied on mutation.

Only because Evolved Humans had evolved special abilities could they secure a place to survive in the base and live somewhat better than ordinary people.

Sang Luoluo headed somewhere with fewer people. While it was still early, she found a relatively safe patch of wilderness in an area no one approached.

Grass as tall as a person grew everywhere here, and she recognized most of it. She knew finding edible food through testing would be too difficult. She might as well take this chance to look for Crystal Cores.

So she moved back and forth within a five-meter radius around her starting point, using a wooden stick to sweep through the grass and only stepping forward once she had confirmed it was safe.

Her last encounter with the red-flowered snake still left her shaken.

Suddenly, she felt a flutter of apprehension. Though it was not particularly strong, Sang Luoluo immediately pinpointed its source: the roots of an enormous lamb's quarters plant five meters ahead.

She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, walked over, and began digging with her stone knife. After a little over ten minutes, she unearthed a pale pink Crystal Core the size of a fingernail, about thirty centimeters down.

"That's all?"

Sang Luoluo was a little disappointed. She had thought it would at least be as large as the one she had found last time.

She tossed it into her space and made a silent wish: Space, oh space, unlock somewhere with food for me.

The next moment, she felt a mu of potatoes unlock inside her space.

The potatoes were nearly mature, and most were ready to eat. She had planted all of these with her own hands.

One mu was not much, but right now, it would tide her over.

She tried putting the stone knife into her space, only to find she still could not.

The little Crystal Core probably still contained too little energy.

With that good start, she continued looking for Crystal Cores. Now that she had potatoes to eat, why would she eat grass and leaves?

Still, whenever someone passed by, she made a token show of testing a few things.

Her luck really might have been good today. A casual test actually turned up an edible morning glory flower, roughly the size of two adult hands. She picked it and carefully put it in her basket.

After walking some distance, she discovered another place with Crystal Cores: inside the buds of a vividly blooming wildflower twice a person's height beside her.

The sensation came from several directions overhead. There should be more than one.

It was a wild rose, its branches spreading onto several neighboring trees and covered in blossoms the size of human heads. Thorns covered its stems, each as large as her palm.

She looked down at her stone knife. It was not sharp enough.

But she was even more unwilling to give up just like that. Going back for tools and returning would mean far too much running around. Putting these Crystal Cores into her space would let her unlock more things.

After identifying the flowers, Sang Luoluo used her stone knife to hack the thorns off a flower stem. It took a full hour of work before she cleared a spot she could grip.

Grasping the flower stem with both hands, she pulled down hard and finally snapped that section, then cut off the bud with her stone knife.

Holding the bud, she slumped onto the ground. Sang Luoluo tore it apart with her hands and finally dug a red Crystal Core the size of a fingernail out of its interior.

She hastily tossed it into her space and pressed her palms together. Space, oh space, let me enter and leave.

The space did not listen to her. This time, it unlocked one square meter in the Stasis Zone. She could put things inside and take them out at will, but she could not enter herself.

That already made her very happy.

She opened her bamboo tube and drank half the water.

She continued working. The remaining flowers were too high, and the branches below were too thick. Using the same method would take too much time. After thinking it over, she cut a few handfuls of grass nearby, braided a simple rope long enough to reach, tied a stone to it, and threw it up.

Once the stone wound around a branch near a bud, she pulled hard, hooking the bud and yanking it down. She repeated the process until she had taken down all four buds she had picked out. It was exactly nine thirty by then.

With practiced ease, she dug four fingernail-sized Crystal Cores out of the depths of the buds and tossed them into her space together. They were absorbed instantly.

Chapter 5: An abandoned mall, unlocking the Stasis Zone, a thief in the house...

The next moment, she discovered that the five Crystal Cores found inside the wild rose buds had unlocked a total of ten square meters in the Stasis Zone.

Before transmigrating, that little space would not have seemed like much, but now it could save her life.

Sang Luoluo did not throw away the grass rope she had just braided either. Seeing that no one was watching, she slipped it into her space's Stasis Zone. It might come in handy later.

She looked at the buds scattered across the ground. The wild rose bush had dense foliage, making it just the place to shelter from radiation.

She tested the buds scattered on the ground.

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 89. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

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

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 74. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 27. Low radiation. Consumption recommended!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 57. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"

After peeling off their outer coverings, half the insides of two buds were edible. If her wristwatch recommended eating them, that meant they were not poisonous.

She packed the two buds into her basket.

It was already ten o'clock, and she hurried into the shade.

Some people nearby noticed the shade and came over to rest as well. They saw wild rose buds scattered all over the ground a short distance away and two more in this scrawny young girl's basket. That meant the buds were edible.

Noticing people looking over, Sang Luoluo hurriedly grabbed a handful of weeds and spread them on top, blocking their appraising gazes.

Those people turned their eyes toward the wild rose nearby. There were still plenty of untouched buds on it. Did that not mean there was still plenty to eat?

Greed showed in their eyes. Once the sun had passed, this little girl would be no match for them in grabbing the buds.

Sang Luoluo sat a little farther away from them. So what if they had their eyes on those wild roses? She already had the Crystal Cores she wanted. They could fight over the rest however they liked. Besides, however good this food was, it would not taste as good as roasted potatoes.

She still remembered the texture of these mutated plants from the original owner's memories. Their fruits had grown larger, but so had the fibers inside. Most plant fruits tasted worse than they had before mutating. Of course, a small fraction of plants had evolved to become more delicious, but plants like those were even harder to find.

At noon, the temperature was extremely high. Members of the Guard patrolled outside in radiation suits, weapons in hand, maintaining order at the gathering site.

Sang Luoluo felt unbearably hot. In places without vegetation, the air shimmered under the scorching sun. All she could do was sip Spirit Spring water to replenish the moisture her body was rapidly losing.

Feeling hungry, Sang Luoluo downed the rest of the nutrient solution she had drunk a third of that morning.

Though nutrient solution tasted bad, it was convenient and filling.

She took a mouthful of Spirit Spring water to rinse her mouth, then quietly waited for the temperature to drop.

After finally waiting until three in the afternoon, she did not head out immediately. Instead, she waited until the temperature became bearable and only joined the gathering crowds at three thirty.

Sure enough, as soon as three o'clock came, all the people who had been sitting beside her rushed toward the wild rose. She did not stay to watch them fight tooth and nail. Instead, she turned in another direction and headed toward an area with fewer people, though most of it had already been gathered from.

Walking slowly, she noticed nothing unusual for the moment, so she did not stop.

Along the way, she saw a knee-high stone. After a moment's thought, she bent down, reached out, and put it into her space's Stasis Zone. She had nothing to defend herself with. If she encountered danger, she could only use a stone to save her life.