Chapter 37: Picking Mulberry Leaves

On the way back to the city, Su Ning gave her horse a name: Ping’an—meaning “peace and safety.” She didn’t wish to gallop through the wind and moon, nor to carry tons of cargo; she only wished for peace and safety.

Huoyang named his big black horse Kele (Cola) and gave Qiao Duoduo’s white horse the name Xuebi (Sprite). Although Duoduo complained endlessly, she eventually reluctantly accepted these ridiculous couple-like names.

Inside a private room at the Jiujiu Restaurant:

“Two days left, at most. That’s the National Promotion Day.”

Su Ning had been hoping to avoid this day, but it was now right upon them.

“Two days left. Forget them for now—we have to go east tomorrow. Snake hunting.”

Huoyang didn’t really care about National Promotion Day. More accurately, he cared about hunting snakes. As a genuine Northeasterner, his knowledge of snakes in the past twenty-something years was limited to Legend of the White Snake, snake battles, Nüwa’s descendants, and small snakes under 20 cm long behind walls that could still scare people.

“The key is… how do we do it? I only know snakes can’t drink realgar wine; they fear it. But we’re going to kill them, not chase them away. That won’t help at all.”

Qiao Duoduo was terrified; who knew how to handle snakes?

“Hit the snake at its ‘seven inches,’” Su Ning said nervously.

As expected, Duoduo rolled her eyes. “Where’s the seven inches?”

Exactly—that’s where Su Ning felt weak. She didn’t know where the seven inches was, or even what it meant. Before the apocalypse, just seeing photos of snakes at night was enough to give her nightmares. Now she had to fight them.

“Should we fight them head-on?” Su Ning asked cautiously.

“Fight a ghost head-on?”

Duoduo shrank back.

Seeing the two of them cower, Huoyang couldn’t help speaking:

“How did you survive the zombies back then?”

“Climb trees, attack from afar. Zombies are ugly but slow, no need to fight for blood. Plus, so many zombie movies and apocalypse novels prepared us mentally. Scary at first, but once you get the hang of killing them, it’s fine. Not like now, completely clueless, sigh…”

Listening to Duoduo, Su Ning felt helpless. With snakes, climbing trees, swimming, digging holes—none of it worked. She had no idea how people from the south used to catch snakes.

Suddenly, an idea struck: were there any snake-catching tools?

She opened the store and searched “snake-catching.”

Sure enough—snake forks, snake tongs, snake nets—all displayed, with detailed instructions, though slightly pricey, starting at one silver coin.

Su Ning decisively bought them. These three were the mainstream tools—the first solid step in snake hunting.

After lunch, with time to spare, Duoduo decided to practice cooking, accompanied by Huoyang. Su Ning, however, rode her bicycle straight to the picking field.

The picking field in Xinxi Street didn’t cheer Su Ning up. No cotton, no flax, not even vegetables—only scattered fruit trees, none very lush.

Su Ning thought, “So the system stops protecting you once you leave the newbie village? That’s harsh!”

Still, she remembered the certificate for two acres of farmland, wondering if any big players had already claimed it.

Checking the trees one by one, she finally found a useful one: a mulberry tree. Her silkworms had hatched a few days ago and had been fed purchased mulberry leaves. Seeing a real mulberry tree meant she could finally use it properly.

“Beep, player has entered Level 10 picking area. Pickable species: mulberries. Guardian: Level 10 Spotted Swallowtail Butterfly. Successfully challenge to enter picking. Start challenge?”

“Challenge.”

No need to hesitate—test the waters first.

A brief scene change, and when Su Ning opened her eyes, a roughly half-meter-long “butterfly” appeared. White with black spots, it looked more like a magnified moth—ugly as could be.

“Beep, prepare. Challenge begins.”

Before Su Ning could react, the Spotted Swallowtail Butterfly launched two white light orbs at her. She dodged instantly.

She hadn’t expected this butterfly to attack at range—troublesome. Luckily, its attack frequency was low, leaving openings for Su Ning to counterattack.

Occasionally she got hit, but she healed herself in time. After a full hour, Su Ning finally defeated the butterfly.

“Beep, challenge successful. Congratulations, player, you have earned today’s mulberry picking quota: 0g/2kg.”

The quota in kilograms pleased Su Ning. Leaving the newbie zone had advantages. Previously, cotton was counted per boll; now mulberries were counted by weight.

“Beep, congratulations, player is the third to successfully challenge the Level 10 Spotted Swallowtail Butterfly. System reward: 10 mulberry saplings, one simple loom, one certificate for one acre of farmland. Best wishes for success!”

Su Ning hadn’t expected to be third place despite not trying hard. And the loom she had long wanted—unfortunately, she had no time to weave now.

Yet even as third place, she still received a certificate for one acre of farmland—a pleasant surprise. She secretly wondered what the hardcore players were doing—only grinding monsters? No enjoyment at all. Boring.

Meanwhile, the true hardcore player, Luo Nanchuan, had reached Level 13. On a leaderboard, no one could compete—he was basically a human bot grinding XP.

“Chuan, let’s eat something good tonight and rest. We’ve been fighting three days straight, sleeping in snake-skin bags. Is this a life? Think of the houses we rent, the custom clothes—are we meant to sleep in snake-skin bags? This is overexertion. We need real beds.”

Blue-Quality Snake-Skin Sleeping Bag

• Details: Made from red-stripe snake skin. Can fit the whole body. Suitable for overnight outdoor use.

Although outdoor sleeping in snake-skin bags was common, never had it been three consecutive nights.

“Custom equipment is for killing monsters.”

Luo Nanchuan ignored him. Years of military life corrected every bad habit—except talking too much.

“Can’t say that, Chuan. We were soldiers, fought for the country. Now we level up for ourselves. Life needs balance. Too fast a pace and you’ll collapse.”

“Go back tomorrow.”

Satisfied, Yan Han happily continued grinding monsters, giving Luo Nanchuan peace and quiet.

The biggest benefit of grinding? Luo Nanchuan earned lots of silver coins, enough to order more custom equipment for himself and Yan Han.

As for Su Ning, things weren’t so cheerful. She had planned to pick 2kg of mulberries, collect mulberry leaves, and leave. But as she picked, she realized that the 2kg quota included not only mulberries but the leaves as well—this game was a sneaky little trick.