The two of them had been busy until evening.

Huo Xiao made another call to Old Yu, informing him about the additional items they needed, and said the payment would be settled when they visited the shop in the next couple of days.

Just before dinner, a sudden notification popped up on their wristwatches.

Wheat Collection Notice:
Time: Tomorrow morning at 4:00 AM.
Meeting Point: North Plaza.

It had begun.

Hadn’t Yan Ming said it would only start in a few days? Why the sudden change?

Huo Xiao, who was cooking in the yard, also received the notification and was just as surprised—it was all too sudden.

In the past, messages like this were usually sent out at least three days in advance so people could make arrangements at home. This kind of last-minute notice was completely unheard of.

The moment he saw the message, Huo Xiao’s mind started spinning with possibilities, wondering what could have caused such an urgent rescheduling.

Should he ask his old mercenary teammates?

Wheat collection only happened once a year, and each time lasted just five days.

Wheat, as an essential grain and major source of starch, was incredibly precious in the wasteland.

After all, eating leafy weeds every day left you starving quickly.

So when Zhuang Xiao came out of the house to ask about the wheat collection site, Huo Xiao had already sent out a quick message. Now it was just a matter of waiting for a reply.

The person he contacted was his old teammate from the mercenary team—Feng Ziyang.

Feng Ziyang was now the captain of the Future Mercenary Squad, and apart from Yan Hu, one of the few people Huo Xiao could truly call a friend.

Feng Ziyang was originally from the safe zone and had joined the mercenary squad simply because of his personality. He never participated in any gene modification programs.

So unless something major happened, he was likely to remain team captain until retirement.

Soon, a message came back: “Weather change.”

When he saw those two words, Huo Xiao’s face showed a moment of conflict. He had originally hoped to finish the house renovations early so they could join the wheat collection effort.

But fate had other plans.

He had to choose—house or wheat—and based on their current savings and food stock, housing had to come first.

The wheat collection zones were limited, and each person only got a small area. Finding edible grains was a matter of luck and effort.

Besides, even without this additional wheat income, they could still scrape by for now.

“How about it? Are we going tomorrow?” Zhuang Xiao asked eagerly.

She really wanted to go. Day in and day out it was either nutrient solution or bitter grass. She missed flour-based foods like steamed buns, dumplings, and noodles.

There was once a time she had precious noodles in front of her, and she had given them away.

That was her mistake. It wasn’t the noodles’ fault.

She used to hate noodles so much—now she realized the noodles were innocent. She was the problem, especially now that she was exiled to this godforsaken wasteland where even eating grass depended on luck.

Huo Xiao hadn’t figured out how to tell her yet, but Zhuang Xiao quickly went on, “How about this: you stay home and take care of the house renovations, and I’ll go to the wheat collection area by myself.”

“I’ll stick with the main group. Just follow everyone else and do as I’m told. Easy enough, right?”

“Besides, I wouldn’t be much help with the construction anyway. Might as well make myself useful at the collection site!”

“Tell me now—what should I look out for at the wheat collection zone? So I’m not totally clueless when I get there.”

She didn’t even give Huo Xiao a chance to argue—she had already made up her mind.

Even if there wasn’t a wheat collection event, she wouldn’t have stayed home with all the strangers coming to work on the house tomorrow.

There’d be no peace or privacy—might as well be out doing something instead.

Well, in the end, every girl has to learn to face the world on her own.

Just to be sure, Huo Xiao also checked in with Yan Ming and Yan Hu. He worried they might be torn between helping with the house or going to the collection site.

But the two brothers replied without hesitation—they weren’t going to the wheat zone.

Why? Simple: the harvest was always slim. Helping Huo Xiao with his house was a much better deal.

That night, Huo Xiao took out a radiation-proof suit he’d bought from Old Yu and told Zhuang Xiao to wear it the next day.

He also packed her sleeve darts—her aim still wasn’t great, but at least they’d scare off any common thugs.

He stuffed her backpack with a full day’s worth of nutrient solution and water, and even included a dried river shrimp.

In short, everything he could think of—he packed. She didn’t have to worry about a thing.

Assembly time was 4:00 AM.

Which meant she’d have to get up at 3:00 AM. Given the labor ahead of her, they suspended her training for the night, had dinner, and both went to bed early.

At exactly 3:00 AM, the alarm started beeping.

Zhuang Xiao shut it off and cracked one eye open to see the pitch-black sky. She turned over, ready to go back to sleep.

But before she could doze off again, Huo Xiao’s voice came from the next room, “Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the wheat collection site?”

Right. How could she forget?

She’d fought for this opportunity just last night!

She jumped out of bed, quickly tied her hair into a ponytail, and was grateful for her foresight in wearing her outfit to bed.

She grabbed her bag from the table, splashed her face with cold water, and dashed out the door.

North Plaza was located between the shantytown and the safe zone. She’d seen it before on trips to the safe zone, and with the number of people heading the same way, she wasn’t worried about getting lost.

By the time she arrived, the plaza was already packed.

The convoy hadn’t arrived yet…

She queued up behind a slightly shorter line, standing behind an older lady.

The lady was chatting enthusiastically with the uncle in front of her.

Zhuang Xiao listened quietly but didn’t hear anything useful—just talk about how the event was arranged, how many family members each brought, and how last year’s harvest had gone.

They sounded like neighbors or at least lived in the same part of the shantytown.

Half an hour later, the convoy finally arrived—late.

But the first dozen vehicles didn’t even stop at the plaza. They were already full and just rolled on through.

From the jealous complaints of the older couple in front of her, Zhuang Xiao realized something: those were safe zone residents. Even though everyone paid the same amount of points, the safe zone people got boarding priority.

Zhuang Xiao sighed inwardly: This is the difference between people. The difference between classes.

The first batch of trucks left—and there were still hordes of people ahead of her.

The second batch left—still a sea of people ahead.

…

Finally…

When the last batch of vehicles showed up, Zhuang Xiao finally managed to squeeze onto one.

Behind her, the line still stretched endlessly into the distance.