Wanting to buy a home in the safe zone; red rainstorm warning, the trading...

Whenever she came across dry branches on the ground, she picked them up to take home too. She happened to be out of firewood, having used it all up cooking green mush twice. With her space available to carry things, she put the wood she gathered inside. To avoid arousing suspicion, she bundled some firewood with wild grass and put it in her basket for show.

She also picked up palm-sized stones and put them into her space. Stocking up on these free weapons gave her peace of mind.

Some people had already passed through this area, so it was relatively safe to follow behind them. No mutant animals suddenly sprang out.

There it was again, that familiar pull.

She stopped and dug into the ground with her stone knife, unearthing a palm-sized purple Crystal Core. The instant her hand touched it, she put it into her space, and it vanished.

Then she discovered that she could enter her space now, though that was all she could do. Everything else inside remained locked.

That was already quite good. She could hide inside her space when necessary.

She went around the entire area but found nothing else.

She was a little disappointed. They were supposed to gather and head back at five thirty that evening.

She was done for the day. After walking all day and getting red scratches from the grass, she was exhausted. All she wanted was to go back and lie down.

She had only taken a few steps toward the convoy when she heard someone behind her shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Someone fell in! Get the Guard!"

"Someone, come quick! Someone's trapped!"

Sang Luoluo turned to look and found everyone running over to see what was happening.

Should I go take a look too? With so many people around, it should be pretty safe.

Sang Luoluo followed the others over, finding no trace of Crystal Cores along the way. The accident had happened deep in the woods, where someone had ventured in search of food. Three members of the Guard had gone over.

Sang Luoluo immediately spotted two familiar faces. One was the man who had fought the mutant mantis, and the other was the man who had killed the red-flowered snake. They were her two benefactors.

Going closer, she discovered an abandoned building in the woods. Now only ruined walls remained visible. Many vines had grown out of the building, along with unknown weeds as tall as a person.

Sang Luoluo glanced over. Whoa, how did someone fall into an elevator?

The building had probably once been a large shopping mall. Someone had stepped onto an escalator, and the dilapidated escalator had suddenly collapsed, trapping them inside. Its steps were covered in all sorts of dirt, weeds, and vines. The entire mall had sunk some distance into the ground. It was hard to imagine what had happened to this building in the past.

Sang Luoluo watched with the others. It was pitch-black beneath the mall, and there was no telling what was down there. All they could hear were frightened cries coming from inside. Meanwhile, some others thought that since people had come here, there might be food too, and began testing things nearby.

"Lei Qi! Use the electromagnetic blade."

"Yes, Captain."

From the sidelines, Sang Luoluo witnessed the Guard's advanced technology firsthand. The man called Lei Qi wore lightweight, silvery-white armor shaped like a skeleton. After a few simple operations, a long, thin blade of light extended from his wrist. He began physically cutting into the escalator at ground level, cutting an opening straight through it.

Then they pulled the person out.

The person who had fallen in was covered in blood. The captain switched on another machine and scanned him. Only after confirming that his wounds showed no infection or unfamiliar viruses did he let him leave.

The smell of blood attracted nearby mutant animals.

Mutant bats lived near the mall, each one as big as a goose. With red eyes, they flew out from underground and headed toward the Guard and the ordinary people.

Lei Qi was knocked down, but fortunately, his exoskeleton protected his body. After blocking an attack, he began using his weapon.

The three men continuously fired three laser guns into the air, killing a mutant bat with each shot. Some bats were more agile, dodging the attacks and swooping straight at the weaker humans.

Seeing this, Sang Luoluo hurried behind a tree trunk and ducked down. When she saw a bat approach, a stone appeared in her hand, and she hurled it straight at the bat flying toward her, knocking it slightly off course.

More than a dozen people were bitten. Fortunately, the other members of the Guard soon arrived to help. A barrage of concentrated fire took out most of the bats.

The captain ordered everyone, "Fall back, now!"

Sang Luoluo hurried after the crowd too. Suddenly, she sensed a Crystal Core inside the belly of a dead bat on the ground. After a moment's thought, she stopped. While no one was looking, she touched the bat's corpse and put it straight into her space, leaving it to examine once she got home.

Back at the convoy, Sang Luoluo climbed onto the truck, utterly exhausted, and found a corner to tuck herself into.

Unlike the plentiful supplies in everyone else's baskets, all that remained in hers was one trumpet flower and two flower buds. The firewood she had gathered had bounced out while she ran. With bats chasing her at the time, she had had no chance to pick it up.

That little bit of firewood no longer mattered. She was so tired that all she wanted was to lean into the corner and rest.

After an hour of jolting along, the truck arrived at the base entrance.

She got out and headed toward her shack.

It had been such a long, harrowing day.

"Look, that's her. Her brother's gone. He probably died outside. With that little bit of food she brought back, she won't last long."

"I haven't seen her brother in half a month. How could she possibly survive without him?"

"Why bother about her? Our own family's almost out of food."

"..."

The neighbors' voices reached her ears, and Sang Luoluo sighed softly. There was still no news of the original owner's brother, no word on whether he was alive or dead. Those poor siblings.

The equipment she had seen the Guard wearing at the gathering site today, though, was truly advanced. The world she had lived in three hundred years ago had had nothing like it. When would she be able to get equipment like that? Then she would not end up with red scratches all over her arms and calves from wild grass when she went scavenging.

She was truly exhausted today. She had planned to take the trumpet flower and flower buds in her basket to the trading post to exchange for some points, but it had been dark for quite a while, and she really could not walk any farther. She could just go once she had finished gathering.

Afraid the food would spoil, she put the trumpet flower and flower buds in the time-frozen section of her space to keep them fresh. At last, she felt a little comforted. She finally no longer had to worry about starving to death.

The moment she returned to the shack, she frowned. Something was wrong. She had fastened the door when she left. Why was it open now?

Suddenly seized by a bad feeling, she pushed open the door and rushed inside. A thief had broken into her home!!!!

Her pots, bowls, ladles, and basins were all gone!!!

Even the ragged quilt on the bed was missing. All that remained in the shack was a wooden bed frame, a tilted table, and a stove with no pot. She turned to check the inner room, where miscellaneous belongings had been stored. It was now completely empty.

This thief had really cleaned her out, plucking every last feather and leaving nothing behind. Among those belongings had been the winter gear the original owner's brother, Sang Yunpu, had prepared, along with her brother's clothes and shoes. Gone. All gone.

A surge of anger flared up.

For the first time, Sang Luoluo swore this foully: "%#@..."

Chapter 6: Wanting to buy a home in the safe zone; red rainstorm warning, the trading...

Only after swearing and venting for a while did she calm down.

She sat wearily on the ground. She was not even dead yet, and those people were already eyeing her belongings.

There really was no safety to speak of in this shantytown. Even when she went to sleep at night, she had to worry about someone sneaking in and slitting her throat.

When the original owner's brother had been around, the original owner had never needed to consider these problems. But now she was all alone, a skinny little bean sprout with thin arms and legs and almost no fighting ability. Of course they were picking on her.

She now desperately wanted to buy a home in the safe zone. The base's safe zone really was safe. Every home had a high-tech lock that no one could open without the owner's verification. If anyone tried to force the lock, the house would automatically sound an alarm.

She could not keep living here. Once winter came, she would have no way to keep warm in the shack district.

Remembering that she still had things to do, she entered her space and wandered around, then bathed with Spirit Spring water before coming back out.

She took some dry firewood out of her space, set it on the ground, and lit a fire in the stove. Fortunately, she had gathered some stones. She found a flatter one and covered the top of the stove with it. Then she pulled up a potato plant in her space and dug out six large potatoes and four small ones. She picked out half and put them straight into the fire to roast.

She would roast extra. She needed to save some for tomorrow's meals too.

"Beep, beep!!"

A message arrived on her wristwatch.

[Alert! Base 71-red rainstorm warning]

Sang Luoluo tapped it open. [Heavy rain to torrential rain over the next three days. Base residents are advised to minimize outings. Weather forecasts do not represent actual conditions. All residents should prepare for disasters and disaster response. Rainwater is corrosive. Please minimize contact.]

Below were more details about the areas where rain would fall.

Immediately afterward came another "Beep, beep!!"

Another message arrived: [Due to weather conditions, the base's gathering operations are suspended and will resume after the rain ends. Please await notification of the specific time.]

Her wristwatch was connected to the internet, so Sang Luoluo could see other people's reactions online.

The sudden heavy rain had disrupted many people's plans.

"This damned weather. If we don't go gathering, what's our family supposed to eat?"

"They say it'll rain for three days, but who knows whether it'll really be three days!"

"We're almost out of food at home. There's a whole family waiting to eat."

"This rain looks pretty heavy. We'd better hurry and reinforce the house."

"..."

Seeing this, Sang Luoluo hurried outside to inspect her shack. The ground beneath it was raised. When the original owner's brother, Sang Yunpu, had built the shack, he had deliberately raised it a little to prevent flooding.

Sang Luoluo breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the shack was reasonably sturdy. It just needed to hold out through these three days of torrential rain.

With that thought, she turned over the potatoes beneath the stove and continued roasting them.

She found a moment to take the bat out of her space, slit open its belly with her stone knife, and reach inside, following that pull. It was a white Crystal Core the size of a grain of rice.