Zhuang Xiao pointed them in the right direction and turned to leave.

“Big sister…” came the little boy’s voice from behind, but she didn’t look back.

Wen You watched Zhuang Xiao’s retreating figure as she walked faster and faster, then pulled Wen Xiu’s hand and said, “Let’s go, little brother. We’ll head to the security team.”

She remembered this big sister — they had run into her three times.

The first time was in the collection area near the shantytown; the second was when they went fishing at the creek with Brother Yan; the third time was now.

Among these three encounters, this time was the only one where the sister had said more than two sentences — and she was pretty fierce…

The first two times, she hadn’t said a word.

Clearly, the woman wanted to keep her distance — and that was fine.

At least today, she helped them protect the food they had gathered.

Zhuang Xiao didn’t go back to Sanglin either. Sigh, offending a group of little brats had made her quite gloomy too.

Maybe she should go back and ask Huo Xiao to teach her a few moves — that way, next time she got into a fight, maybe she wouldn’t lose so badly.

Somehow, she had a feeling there’d be a lot more fights on the wasteland.

She had to make them count! Try to win every one!

Huo Xiao: …
Your wish… I don’t think I can make that come true.
After all, your skills are what they are.

As she walked, she once again ended up near that familiar patch of shrubs.

This time, though, she stayed farther away, in case she accidentally disturbed that egg-brooding mutant turtledove again. She was alone today, and even though she had her sleeve dart, with her accuracy — ten shots, nine blanks — it was better not to provoke it.

Soon, Zhuang Xiao spotted a plant with white blossoms that looked very similar to protective herb.

Protective herb could repel stinkbugs, mosquitoes, and moths — a fantastic mosquito repellent in summer and much better than that foul-smelling fishmint.

She used her dagger to collect some sap.

滴滴 — Highly irradiated mutant. Contains large amounts of neurotoxins. Ingestion is life-threatening.

Zhuang Xiao: …

Wait a second — was protective herb always this powerful?

Or… was she remembering wrong?

She quickly pulled up the plant’s detailed info. Sure enough — it wasn’t protective herb at all. It was a plant called toxic water hemlock.

She had heard of this one. Every part of the plant was poisonous — even a light touch could cause redness, burning, and blisters. Ingesting it could lead to nausea, vomiting, unconsciousness… or death.

And this one had mutated.

Which meant it was probably more venomous than most snakes or scorpions in the world.

Which also meant — oh no — her fingers! She hadn’t cleaned off the sap from her wrist device. Sure enough, her index and middle fingers were red and swollen. Luckily, the amount was small, so there wasn’t any burning sensation.

But… could this insanely potent toxin be refined and used on her sleeve darts?

In movies and TV shows, people were always coating hidden weapons in deadly poisons, right?

And this mutant toxic hemlock looked even more dangerous than things like datura or belladonna…

Zhuang Xiao took a photo of the plant and sent it to Huo Xiao, casually asking whether it could be used on sleeve darts. About ten seconds later, he replied.

He said she could bring it back.

So, Zhuang Xiao once again regretted not bringing a small shovel with her. Even a wok spatula would do.

Digging with a dagger was really not efficient.

This time, she was super careful. She didn’t want to snap any of the vines or let the sap get on her. That’d be the end of her.

She put in 120% focus, determined to dig the whole plant up intact.

Besides, with something this toxic, it could even serve as a bodyguard on the way back. Anyone who dared bully her — BAM, get swept by the plant.

After thirty minutes, the flower — pure and delicate on the outside, venomous as a snake inside — was finally unearthed.

Zhuang Xiao found a particularly large leaf nearby and wrapped the whole thing up like a bouquet, only leaving the pristine white blossoms visible.

Which, by the way, were the most poisonous part.

Just as she was about to pick it up, she spotted something under a large tree not far away.

Two very strange creatures were standing there.

Their heads were pointed, with huge, bulging eyes. Their bodies were slender and a pale green color. Their long wings were thin as silk, and they had four legs. The front pair had thick, serrated claws — sharp as blades.

Mantises?

Had to be.

Zhuang Xiao slowly crouched down, trying to make herself less noticeable.

Clearly, now was not the time to make noise. The two mantises were very obviously in the middle of a brawl.

She could feel the killing intent in the air — it was practically slapping her in the face.

Why did she always run into mutant creatures while digging?

These mantises were almost as tall as she was when they stood upright.

And word was, these things were vicious — even ate their own kind.

She still remembered the childhood trauma of getting slashed by a mantis’s foreclaws — it had felt like being attacked by a guillotine. These mutant ones could probably rip her to shreds.

Suddenly, the two mantises reared up and began hissing like snakes — the battle cry.

Sure enough, a brutal fight broke out.

No need to describe the details here.

Because the fight ended very quickly. The larger mantis locked its heavily serrated claws around the smaller one’s body, pinned it down with its limbs…

And without giving it a chance to struggle, it struck — biting into the other’s slender neck.

Then, without hesitation, began devouring its bloody meal.

Zhuang Xiao crouched in silence, not daring to move a muscle. Sweat pooled in her palms, her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

Mantises… mutant mantises… this was terrifying!

How was she supposed to escape? She was right under its nose!

She quietly touched her sleeve dart.

Hopefully she wouldn’t need it…

The victorious mantis, seemingly starved, polished off its meal quickly — leaving behind only two gossamer wings on the ground.

Then, it strolled around a bit before settling in front of a large rock.

That rock was only about eight or nine meters from Zhuang Xiao — close enough that any movement from her would surely get noticed.

But then the mantis just stopped moving after climbing onto the rock…

A little while later, white foam began to bubble from its rear.

Was it… pooping???

Or…???

Forgive her ignorance — Zhuang Xiao had no idea the mutant mantis was laying eggs!

All she could think about was how to escape from the death grip of this monster.

Another hour passed.

The creature was still standing on the rock, its rear end continuously spitting out white foam. The dried foam was already the size of half its body.

Suddenly, Zhuang Xiao felt a tickle inside her nose — incredibly itchy and uncomfortable.

That… that feeling…

She rubbed her nose and clamped her hand over her mouth—

But it was too late.

A loud and powerful ACHOO burst from her nose.

Followed by a second one.

Then a third…

Damn this cursed plot development… Zhuang Xiao howled in her mind.