That many mutated squirrels in one place meant the danger level was undeniably high.

However, strangely enough, even after they had retreated far from the edge of the blind zone, the mutated squirrels never chased after them.

At this moment, Zhuang Xiao couldn’t care less about her tears and snot. She took the bag from Huo Xiao’s hands and began checking her belongings. Aside from the two now-melted chocolate bars she had kept for sentiment since arriving, nothing was missing.

Even the pearls were all still there.

Clutching the pearls she had recovered from the brink of loss, Zhuang Xiao was overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry tears of joy.

She pulled them out and placed them in Huo Xiao’s arms. “You’d better keep them.”

Wiping her face with her sleeve, she slung the bag back onto her shoulders.

Huo Xiao put the pearls away and followed in her footsteps.

The brief episode was quickly pushed to the back of Zhuang Xiao’s mind because she discovered a large number of black fungus mushrooms growing on a dead tree in the forest.

“Beep beep, moderate radiation mutation—edible.”

“Beep beep, moderate radiation mutation—edible.”

…

Who would’ve thought that such an unremarkable dead tree would yield black fungus mushrooms, and over 60% of them were edible?

Mutated squirrels? Already forgotten.

“Beep beep, low radiation mutation—edible.”

Was there anything more beautiful to hear than the words “edible”?

Absolutely not.

“Good fortune lies within misfortune; misfortune lurks within good fortune.”

The ancients were right.

If she hadn’t chased after the mutated squirrels, she might never have stumbled upon this mushroom jackpot.

Even if they found nothing at the stream later, just this haul of black fungus mushrooms was already a major win.

Black fungus is often praised as “meat among vegetables” and is extremely nutritious. Once dried, it can be stored for a long time—unlike meat, which spoils easily in summer and was hard to keep at their place.

No one knew why the tall tree had died and dried out like this.

After testing the mushrooms at the roots, Zhuang Xiao climbed the tree—there were still plenty up high that needed scanning.

But once she got up there, she discovered a large tree hollow, pitch black inside. She couldn’t see what was in it.

Not daring to rush in, she called down, “Huo Xiao, there’s a big tree hollow up here!”

Huo Xiao looked up in the direction she pointed. Sure enough, about four or five meters above the ground was a hollow roughly half a meter in diameter.

That high up—could it be a nest for those mutated squirrels? Or maybe birds?

Just as Zhuang Xiao finished speaking, rustling sounds came from inside. Her entire body tensed, and she grabbed the trunk and slid down in a flash.

The bark scraped her palms raw with burning pain.

Right after she landed, a furry head peeked out from the hollow. Who else could it be but a mutated squirrel?

It glanced around, bared its teeth at the two below, then retreated back inside.

Zhuang Xiao turned to Huo Xiao. “What do we do?”

There were still plenty of mushrooms on the tree!

Then a thought hit her: Don’t squirrels love storing food? Couldn’t that tree hollow be full of supplies?

And right now, only one mutated squirrel was in there.

Nothing to be scared of.

Huo Xiao tapped the trunk with his knife and listened closely.

The squirrel inside seemed annoyed by the sound and suddenly leapt out entirely, standing on a branch and squeaking furiously.

Zhuang Xiao: ……

No doubt it was cursing, and it probably wasn’t polite.

No matter how angrily the squirrel squeaked, Huo Xiao kept knocking on the tree.

That hollow sounded empty. A promising sign.

Once the squirrel realized its intimidation wasn’t working, it angrily scampered off.

Zhuang Xiao watched it flee and said, “Is it going to call reinforcements? We better move fast—time to raid their lair.”

That’s what you get for robbing my bag.

Once Huo Xiao confirmed the hollow was empty, he climbed up the tree.

Since a mutated squirrel had been living there, it was unlikely any other dangerous creature had taken up residence.

The opening was wide enough for an adult to enter. Huo Xiao tied a hemp rope around the trunk, turned his wristwatch light to maximum brightness, and crawled inside.

Zhuang Xiao, abandoning her mushroom scans, stood below on alert.

The dim light from the watch immediately lit up the pitch-black interior of the hollow.

As expected, the tree was hollow from within. The inner walls were uneven, likely scratched by squirrel claws.

What really thrilled Huo Xiao was this: it was not a wasted trip.

At the bottom of the hollow were numerous nuts, dried mushrooms, dried black fungus, and some unidentifiable plant fruits. Whether humans could eat them would have to be tested back home.

For now, the only task was to gather everything.

He pulled out a sack and packed up all the food at the bottom first. Then, slowly using the rope, he scraped the squirrel food off the inner walls and stuffed them in as well.

By the time he emerged, the sack was full to bursting.

Zhuang Xiao had been anxiously waiting, and only when she saw him come out did her heart settle.

Then she spotted the bulging sack behind him and her mood lit up like spring blossoms.

Huo Xiao tossed the sack down, pulled out another, and proceeded to scrape all the black fungus mushrooms from the tree. He filled a second sack before climbing down.

He weighed the two sacks, handed the mushroom one to Zhuang Xiao, and slung the squirrel food over his shoulder.

“Let’s go!”

Any longer and they might get mobbed by squirrel reinforcements.

Mutated squirrels: ……

Home invaders!

Two sacks’ worth of food—no way it was all edible, and there was no need to lug it all home.

It was still before noon.

So they found a shaded, relatively safe spot and began testing the mushrooms and squirrel food.

About 30% of the mushrooms were edible. For the squirrel food, less than 10% of the fruits were edible. But for Huo Xiao, this was already a satisfying result.

They repacked the edible items.

After both drank a nutritional supplement, they resumed their journey toward the stream.

The squirrel encounter? Just a total fluke.

But today seemed to be one of those domino days, where one surprise just led to another…

Before they even reached the stream, they heard a ruckus up ahead, full of shouting—very lively.

This kind of noise, outside of the crowd waiting for the wheat collection at the north square in the shantytown, was something Zhuang Xiao had never encountered on any gathering mission.

So—what was going on?

Was someone organizing a summer hunting event out here, or what?

But then, a string of gunshots tore through the air—shattering her thoughts.