A shrill, terrified scream suddenly echoed from the distant forest.

Even from so far away, the fear in the voice was unmistakable.

This was followed by several loud crashes.

In the silent forest, the noise sounded especially piercing.

The massive creature’s antennae suddenly halted and then swiftly retracted.

Ji He remained completely still. Only when the sounds completely faded did she collapse weakly, gasping for breath.

At this moment, she realized her forehead was drenched in cold sweat. She wiped it off with a random swipe of her hand and leaned against the tree hollow, too shaken to even feel relieved at having survived.

All she felt was horror.

A creature with such long antennae—
It had to be an insect, right?

Nothing but insects had antennae like that, right?

If that woman’s scream hadn’t sounded from afar just now, wouldn’t she have had no choice but to hide in her space?

This is insane!

That was seriously terrifying.

Ji He had only one thought now: she had to be more frugal with the time she spent in her space. She needed to conserve it for truly critical moments!

Ji He curled up deeper inside the tree hollow.

That night, the forest was filled with the sound of human screams and the rustling movements of insects. Ji He barely got any rest.

She didn’t dare venture out to investigate. All she could do was wrap her cloak tightly around herself, covering her whole body, drifting in and out of uneasy sleep.

The moment she dozed off, a sound would startle her awake. Sleep was impossible.

She barely managed to make it until dawn.

Ji He flickered into her space.

She had been reluctant to use up her space’s time, even while terrified last night.

But now, she had no choice.

She had to feed the livestock at least once a day—that was the absolute minimum.

There was no way to cut back on that.

She couldn’t enter a dungeon only to let all her animals starve to death, could she?

She started by feeding them the grass she had cut yesterday. The cows, sheep, and pigs all ate contentedly.

Seeing them behave well and eat obediently, Ji He went to clean up their manure. Fortunately, the animals had been cooperative and had done their business in one spot, making it easy for her to shovel it all away. In no time, everything was clean again.

Back when she was short on money, she had only bought one male and one female of each species—pigs, cows, and sheep.

Now, she felt like that was too few. What if they didn’t grow well? That would mess up her whole plan to have plenty of meat in the future.

Once the animals were fed, Ji He flickered out of her space to have her own meal.

To avoid any strong smells spreading, she chose to eat noodles.

Noodles didn’t have much of a scent, and whatever little there was would quickly dissipate, reducing the risk of attracting trouble.

She scooped out eighteen wontons and added a generous spoonful of chili before eating with delight.

It was delicious. The wontons she made had thin wrappers and were stuffed full, the meat filling fragrant with garlic chives. Every bite was a pleasure.

The food soothed her frazzled nerves, grounding her unease.

After an entire night of high alert, her energy was completely drained. Ji He didn’t stop until she had finished every last drop of the soup, finally feeling satisfied.

Once full, she flickered back into her space.

She needed to plant vegetables in the gaps between the small mounds of earth.

Ji He first checked on her fruit trees.

They were growing well. Even tropical fruits like durians and mangoes were thriving in the space, visibly taller than before.

After the fruit tree inspection, she bent down and started pulling weeds.

The grass seeds she had scattered earlier had grown well—perfect for feeding the pigs, cows, and sheep.

After harvesting the grass, she began planting vegetables.

She picked fast-growing varieties, dug small holes between the fruit trees, and buried the seeds, hoping the soil here would be as fertile as black earth.

Once the vegetables were planted, she didn’t forget to plant the cacti, aloe, and sugarcane she had bought earlier.

She also planted some grapes and strawberries, choosing fruits that didn’t take up too much space.

The entire process took less than half an hour. Ji He flickered out of her space once again.

By now, the outside world was beginning to brighten. Ji He carefully peeked out of the tree hollow to observe her surroundings.

The giant insects from last night were nowhere to be seen.

The forest had returned to its initial calm.

The towering trees were thick and sturdy.

Each trunk was so massive that Ji He couldn’t wrap her arms around them.

Even so, she was absolutely certain—these trees were not big enough to hide those insects.

From just a single glance yesterday, she had seen that the insects’ abdomens were at least twice as thick as the tree trunks.

She had so many unanswered questions but no way to find the answers.

It wasn’t worth overthinking. The world was full of mysteries—there was no need to understand them all.

Ji He waited in the tree hollow for another fifteen minutes, making sure no giant insects were around before finally jumping out and resuming her search for medicinal herbs.

Of course, she would never, ever take off her cloak.

This wasn’t just a cloak—it was her lifeline.

The forest was silent again. Ji He cautiously moved through the underbrush, slowly making her way forward. As she passed by, she didn’t forget to use her shovel to dig up some Pulalan plants.

This was valuable stuff. The comfort of her future life depended on this Pulalan.

For over an hour, she searched the forest carefully without encountering a single human being.

Compared to yesterday, when she had frequently run into people, the difference was striking.

Ji He forced herself to be patient and focused on finding the third medicinal plant.

She was in luck.

After two hours, she finally spotted it.

The third herb was a red plant with thick, fleshy leaves.

She needed the thin membrane covering its leaves.

At the moment, there was no one else around. The forest was silent.

Ji He cautiously touched the emblem on her chest, confirming that it was still there. Only then did she lift her shovel and carefully approach the herb.

The plant, which had been completely still just moments ago, suddenly reacted.

Its front leaves swiftly snapped shut before reopening again.

Ji He stopped and waited.

Seeing that it had stopped moving, she slowly approached once more.

As she got closer, a few of the plant’s leaves moved toward her, extending in her direction.

Ji He could clearly see bite marks on them.

Had the insects bitten these yesterday?

She touched the leaves, and they immediately shrank back.

The thin membrane on the leaves was slippery and difficult to grip. Ji He first used a small knife to slice it open before tugging forcefully.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, but the membrane kept slipping from her grasp.

She worked at it for a while before finally collecting the required amount.

Just as she was about to wipe the sweat from her forehead, her ears picked up a sound from the underbrush behind her.

Someone was coming?

She had no desire to meet anyone right now. Without looking back, she immediately ducked under the leaves and ran in the opposite direction.

The newcomer pushed through the foliage just in time to catch a glimpse of a green-cloaked figure vanishing into the distance.

“Hey! Wait! Come back! Let’s form a team and complete the mission together!”

“Come back! We’re all players—we should help each other! Don’t be so selfish!”