All night long, Zhuang Xiao’s dreams were filled with scenes of being bitten in the neck by mutated mantises, devoured bite by bite until nothing was left.

Then it shifted to Feng Ziyang’s handsome face.

In short, her dreams were a chaotic mess.

When she woke up in the morning, she felt utterly exhausted, as if the mutated mantises had drained all her energy.

Because she’d been injured the day before, Huo Xiao didn’t wake her. Instead, he left her breakfast on the table.

It was still dark outside, but the yard was already noisy with clangs and bangs. Even if she wanted to sleep in, it was nearly impossible.

Zhuang Xiao struggled to climb out of bed, washed her face, and ate the breakfast—meat porridge, finally not that green stuff. After finishing it, she felt much more energized.

There was a solar-powered light hanging in the middle of the courtyard.

The air was thick and humid.

When the sun isn’t out—or just after it sets—the radiation levels are lower, making early morning and late evening the most efficient times to build houses.

Seeing that Zhuang Xiao was awake, Huo Xiao quickly set down his tools and brought her inside to change her bandages.

The weather was hot, and people sweat easily. Since her injury was caused by a mutated mantis, the medicine needed to be changed at least twice a day to avoid infection.

Zhuang Xiao greeted Yan Hu and Yan Ming before going inside with Huo Xiao.

To be honest, she hadn’t felt any pain in her wound since washing her face that morning.

Still, the medicine had to be changed.

Layer by layer, Huo Xiao removed the gauze, revealing the wound beneath.

Zhuang Xiao couldn’t help but marvel—Huo Xiao’s medicine really worked wonders.

The swelling had gone down, the once-gaping flesh had started to close, and it even showed early signs of scabbing.

Huo Xiao stared at the wound, speechless.

He thought back to her sunburn from digging up the mutated rabbit. Now, seeing her face again, it seemed like her healing speed was much faster than he had expected.

How could he describe her physique?

She wasn’t exactly useless by wasteland standards, but in most people’s eyes, she was fragile and dependent.

Yet this rate of recovery? It felt… off.

In general, there was something inexplicably unusual about her potential.

Huo Xiao couldn’t figure her out.

Once the wound was cleaned and rebandaged, Zhuang Xiao moved her left arm experimentally. She could still lift it to check her wristwatch, which meant it wouldn’t interfere with gathering work.

She just couldn’t go too far. Complicated areas like the wheat field, the mulberry grove, or even her favorite stream collection site were out of the question.

She’d nearly harvested all the purslane around the house.

So today, she decided to check out the purslane collection point.

Seeing that she was clearly fine, and since things at home were too chaotic for her to help with anyway, Huo Xiao let her go.

But only nearby—and she had to be back by 10 a.m.

Zhuang Xiao agreed eagerly, packed her bag, said goodbye to Yan Ming and Yan Hu, and headed out.

Before leaving, she sneakily grabbed the small spatula off the stove.

She left later than usual today, and by the time she reached the purslane spot, she saw that it was already crowded.

This treasure trove was no longer hers alone.

She had been hoping to find a particularly lush purslane plant to bring home and cultivate.

Clearly, no such luck today.

She had promised Huo Xiao she’d return on time, so going any farther wasn’t an option—she wouldn’t make it back in time.

Maybe the heavens thought that the low-level mutated mantis she’d bagged had earned her enough food for the next few days. After working for over an hour, she hadn’t found a single edible purslane leaf.

She felt a bit disappointed.

She decided to try another spot and began heading back, planning to go to the goosefoot plant patch instead.

That was where she had found the mutated rabbit last time.

After that incident, when the mutated rabbit went berserk and injured someone, the guards had done a thorough sweep of the area. So she wasn’t too worried about running into another mutant creature.

She really didn’t want to add a new injury before the old one had even healed.

She suddenly remembered she’d forgotten to ask Huo Xiao what level their family was considered now in terms of shantytown living standards, once their new house was finished.

In her eyes, they were still dirt poor—but this world couldn’t be judged by her old-world standards.

With some kind of benchmark, her anxious and constantly tempted heart might actually have a goal to work toward.

At least she would soon have a place of her own in the shantytown. As for property ownership—well, that was only a thing in the safe zone. There was no such thing in the shantytown.

As for basic needs? They were barely met. They had food, but the quality still needed serious improvement.

As soon as Zhuang Xiao arrived at the goosefoot plant spot, someone called out to her: “Big Sis…”

She turned to see the younger of the two kids she knew. What was his name again? “Wenxiu, where’s your sister?”

The little boy pointed at a small figure crouched in the grass nearby, diligently inspecting the plants. “Over there…”

Zhuang Xiao let out an “Oh,” and said, “Alright then, you two carry on—I’ll get going now.”

With that, she quickly walked away from their spot.

Wenxiu scratched his head. It seemed like this big sister didn’t like him very much.

Sigh, how frustrating.

His own sister said he was well-behaved and very likable.

So clearly, his sister had lied to him.

Watching Zhuang Xiao walk away, the little boy crouched back down and resumed inspecting plant leaves—earning that day’s share of food.

In the past couple of days, he and his sister had gone out with some grown-ups and managed to find some rare food. After selling it, they bought quite a bit of nutrient solution.

But his sister said it still wasn’t enough.

Summer was here, and the days suitable for gathering would become fewer and fewer.

Sigh, if only an adult could accompany them every time they went out. But their family didn’t have any.

Such a small kid, yet already so worried…

As Aunt Ma from next door always said: Why is surviving so hard?

But live you must—if you’re dead, you can’t even eat grass.

Zhuang Xiao had no idea about Wenxiu’s troubles, because she had her own.

It was almost time to go home, and she still hadn’t found anything.

Thinking about it, this was probably the first time she’d returned empty-handed since arriving here.

That might be normal for most wastelanders—but not for her.

Dragging her feet, she arrived at the gate—only to find she couldn’t get in.

That unfinished wall from this morning? It was fully built now. They had even installed a door—a solid wooden one at that.

She hadn’t paid close attention earlier, but it seemed like the courtyard was even larger than before.

She reached out to knock, but the door creaked open before her hand touched it.

Inside the courtyard, the foundation for the new house had already been laid. The work efficiency was truly impressive.

While Zhuang Xiao was still busy inspecting everything in the yard, the door to the only existing room opened, and four people stepped out.

Besides Huo Xiao, she recognized the other three—they were the mercenaries who had come to their home the night before.

All three looked pleased, nodded politely at her, and were sent off by Huo Xiao.

Zhuang Xiao entered the house and immediately saw a round pile of eggs on the table…

Ah, her mantis eggs were back!

Whatever sour mood she had left instantly vanished as soon as she saw the pile of egg-sized mantis pods.

“One, two, three…”