Chapter 5 Doomsday Collection System

So although this ring had been passed down for many generations, Bai Xiuying had never taken it seriously, and after her son’s marriage, she casually gave it to Tang Wanning. But when Tang Wanning heard about the ring’s origins, she treasured it dearly, carefully putting it away for fear of losing it.

Now that she was about to break things off completely with Xu Zhenhua, Tang Wanning naturally would not take this ring with her. Just as she was about to put it away again, a drop of nosebleed fell onto the ring, and then the blood began to flow even more.

Tang Wanning quickly pinched the sides of her nose, pressing toward the nasal septum. After five full minutes, the bleeding finally stopped.

Before she could relax, a light screen suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. On it were the words:

【Apocalypse Collection System, bind or not. Yes/No】

Before Tang Wanning could react, the words on the screen changed:

【Because the host did not make a choice within one minute, the system will automatically activate. Activating…】

Tang Wanning stared blankly at the screen, her emotions shifting from shock to delight. Could this be her golden finger after rebirth? Heaven truly was not treating her unfairly!

But what exactly was this Apocalypse Collection System?

At that moment, the system finished activating, and an explanation appeared, clearing her doubts.

It turned out the Apocalypse System was developed by researchers on Blue Star. After the apocalypse, the entire ecological chain of Blue Star was destroyed. At that time, not even a single living blade of grass could be found on Blue Star. The only option was to collect plants and animals from other planets and transmit them back to Blue Star.

Since this was the first generation of the collection system, it could not collect on its own—it could only function through cooperation with a human. The collected plants and animals would be converted into points. The rarer the species, the more points would be earned. Points could then be exchanged in the system’s marketplace for various goods.

Tang Wanning browsed through the marketplace and found not only all kinds of capsules but also future technology, secret formulas, and more. The cheapest was the nutrition capsule—just 10 points for one, and a single capsule could provide all the nutrients a human body needed for a whole day.

The more she looked, the more excited she became. Since there were quite a few vegetables in the yard, why not try it out right now?

She glanced at the ring, which had automatically placed itself onto her middle finger. Tang Wanning tried to take it off. Even though the ring didn’t look valuable, it was still the Xu family’s heirloom. But no matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn’t budge—it stayed firmly on her finger. This gave her quite a headache.

This wouldn’t do. It was too obvious on her hand. If she stayed with the Xu family, it might not be a problem, but that was clearly impossible. When the time came, Bai Xiuying would definitely demand the ring back. No matter how worthless it looked, it was still a family heirloom passed down from her ancestors.

Just as Tang Wanning was getting frustrated, another line appeared on the screen:

【Enable ring invisibility function? Yes/No】

Seeing this, her heart leapt with joy. Without hesitation, she chose Yes. Sure enough, when she looked at her hand again, the ring was no longer visible. But when she touched her finger, she could still feel its presence.

Since the ring was now completely bound to her, she decided to treat it as compensation from the Xu family.

With excitement in her heart, Tang Wanning carefully opened her bedroom door. Passing by Xu Dingbang and his wife’s room, she heard Bai Xiuying’s dissatisfied voice inside.

“Today that little slut, I don’t know what madness she had, but when I said we should kill a chicken to nourish her, she didn’t refuse. And those two old geezers from the Tang family didn’t even come help with the field today. Dingbang, do you think that slut is planning to remarry?”

Before Xu Dingbang could reply, Bai Xiuying went on:

“No, absolutely not! She killed our son with her bad luck—she must take care of us in our old age. Otherwise, what will we do when we’re old?”

Xu Dingbang thought for a while, then spoke:

“Tomorrow you give her some money. She won’t accept it anyway—it’s just for show. While you’re at it, mention Zhenhua in front of her, to deepen her guilt. Also, you’d better control your temper and be patient, act gentle with her. After all, the rest of our lives will depend on her.”

“Fine, leave it to me.”

Hearing their conversation, Tang Wanning sneered inwardly. Indeed, the dogs that bite don’t bark. Xu Dingbang, who always looked so honest and simple, turned out to be the most cunning one, while Bai Xiuying was merely a gun in his hand.

Just as Tang Wanning was about to head to the yard, Bai Xiuying’s pretentious voice came from the room:

“Ah~ you old rascal, what are you doing?”

Xu Dingbang’s lewd voice followed:

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“You old rascal, at this age, mm~ still so shameless.”

“And do you like it?”

Hearing this, Tang Wanning felt a wave of disgust and quickly stepped into the yard.

By the moonlight, she raised her hand with the ring and scanned a nearby eggplant plant.

【Target scanned successfully, can be exchanged for 2 points. Confirm/Decline】

Her heart leapt with joy, and she immediately chose Confirm. The eggplant plant vanished instantly, leaving only a small hole in the ground.

Since she had planted all these vegetables herself, she wanted to scan them all—why let those two old bastards benefit from them? Not only that, she could earn points in the process. Though small, the gains would add up over time. Truly killing two birds with one stone.

But when she aimed at another eggplant, the message on the screen was different this time:

【The same type of plant or animal can only be exchanged once.】

This made her a bit disappointed. But thinking it through, there were so many species on Earth. Even if she couldn’t exchange duplicates, she’d still have plenty to collect. Besides, the system was an unexpected gift—she shouldn’t be too greedy.

Reassuring herself, Tang Wanning went on to scan cucumbers and tomatoes, as well as some weeds in the garden, finally gaining 10 points in total.

If it weren’t so late at night, she would have gone into the mountains already. But her life was more important—better to wait until tomorrow.

Passing by the old couple’s room again, she heard Xu Dingbang already snoring. Checking the clock on the table, she realized only about five minutes had passed since she first went to the yard. Clicking her tongue softly, she returned to her room.

Since she had just obtained the system, Tang Wanning was too excited to sleep. Lying in bed, she began browsing the system marketplace.

The selection was comprehensive—everything from clothing and food to housing and transportation was included.