Yes, yes, Cousin saw energy stones again.

Zhuang Xiao thought to herself: Birds’ love for decorating their nests is truly a beautiful thing.

After all, it is a bird’s nest.

A bird’s nest simply must have a sense of style.

It absolutely must be adorned with energy stones to attract a mate.

In this nest, Zhuang Xiao dug out six energy stones. Actually, she also noticed that the mother bird’s body contained an energy stone too.

But she didn’t dare provoke it. Besides, she was still lacking a pair of wings that could carry her into flight.

So, all she could do was sneak over and rob the place while the bird mom was out foraging.

Fortunately, aside from the six energy stones, she also found three edible bird eggs.

After looting the nest, Zhuang Xiao respectfully placed her green chubby toy into the bird’s home, even tying a cute little bow made of grass on it. Then, she quickly fled the “treasure trove” with her newly acquired energy stones.

The green chubby toy was her tiny gesture of compensation to the bird mom.

She wished it well—may it find a new love and lay a few more precious little eggs.

Still, green chubby toys were nothing compared to the cuteness of energy stones.

Zhuang Xiao happily roamed through the blind zone, relying on her dazzling and sharp eyes to perfectly avoid all high-radiation areas.

Once the excitement wore off, she remembered the eight-man team she’d lost.

Just as she was feeling regretful, someone called out to her:
“Zhuang Xiao (Cousin)…”

Zhuang Xiao: ……

Where did all these cousins suddenly come from?

She looked up in the direction of the voice and sure enough, saw Huo Xiao running toward her, panic written all over his face.

As soon as he reached her, he started inspecting her up and down—left, right, top, bottom—until his gaze finally landed on her face.

Letting him pull her along, Zhuang Xiao opened her mouth and asked, “What happened with you guys? Eight grown men and you still managed to get lost…”

Huo Xiao: ……

The remaining seven out of eight: ……

Who lost who, exactly?

Seeing she was unharmed, Huo Xiao actually managed a rare joke:
“Yeah, we got lost. Next time, you better keep a close eye on us!”

As he spoke, he reached out and ruffled her messy, bird’s-nest-like hair.

“Huh? You guys ran into the mutant giant snake too?” Zhuang Xiao glanced at the others behind him.

Hu Qianli had a chunk of snake skin strapped to his back—it gleamed black like polished obsidian.

Huo Xiao explained, “This is probably the one you killed. They just skinned it.”

Zhuang Xiao blinked. “So snake skin is useful too?”

Hu Qianli replied, “Of course. Mutant snake skin is tough, soft, and breathable—perfect for making protective clothing!”

Zhuang Xiao fell silent. She’d only ever heard of snakeskin bags, never clothes made out of it. Still, the skin of that mutant snake had been incredibly resilient. It had taken her everything she had to slit it open.

To gain it was fate. To lose it was fortune.

She and that snake skin… were simply not meant to be.

Zhuang Xiao turned her gaze to Feng Ziyang. Sigh… so handsome—even covered in grime and stubble, he was still a beauty.

Some people really could make a burlap sack look like fashion.

After scanning the group, she looked back to Huo Xiao and asked, “So which way do we head now?”

Though she could see the red lines marking high-radiation zones, she had no sense of direction.

After running around the forest for days, she’d already lost all bearings from when they first entered the blind zone.

Huo Xiao opened the map on his wrist device. It still didn’t show their exact location, but based on the relative positions of the safety and blind zones, he could guess a general direction.

The blind zone was northwest of the safe zone, which meant they had to move in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, even after all this time in the forest, they had mostly been heading southeast.

Which meant they were already on the way back to safety.

Huo Xiao raised his hand and pointed, “Southeast.”

Zhuang Xiao looked in the direction he was pointing…

Red lines crisscrossed the sky like threads on a loom—dense and ominous.

How were they supposed to pass through that?

She gulped and stammered, “Th-That’s not a high-radiation zone, right? And look at that bird flying up there… it’s huge!”

Everyone else: ……

That logic… honestly, 10/10.

Zhuang Xiao: ……

What can I say? I’m a logic genius.

But honestly, in the wasteland, that logic actually tracked. Creatures in high-radiation zones mutated far more bizarrely than those in low-to-mid radiation areas.

Last time, they had only wandered into a high-radiation area because they were desperately searching for her. At the border, the plants and animals didn’t look that different, which made it easy to miss.

So now that Zhuang Xiao pointed it out… it wasn’t out of the question.

“Let’s go first. If anything seems off, we’ll detour,” Feng Ziyang said.

Everyone figured that was the best they could do.

As they headed downhill, Zhuang Xiao added, “This time, make sure you all keep up. If I lose all eight of you again, I’m not coming back for you.”

The eight men: ……

Once again, who lost who?

Xiang Xu patted his chest and said, “We’ll keep up with Cousin this time—promise we won’t fall behind!”

Feng Ziyang glanced at Huo Xiao, who said, “Alright. This time, we’ll follow you.”

“Great! Don’t worry, I’ll definitely bring you all back to the safe zone in one piece!”

With confidence bursting from her pores, Zhuang Xiao walked in the direction Huo Xiao had pointed.

Even though a large red zone lay ahead…

There were always edges and borders, right? All she had to do was loop around the dense areas.

Along the way, Zhuang Xiao kept a careful eye on the vegetation.

Indeed, even when plants inside and outside the red zone looked similar, subtle differences could be spotted on closer inspection.

The closer they were to the core of a radiation zone, the less distinct those differences became—making it easier to be deceived.

That was why the border areas were the best indicators of danger—spotting the warning signs early meant avoiding disaster.

Otherwise, once you were deep inside, there might not be time to turn back.

And Zhuang Xiao wasn’t idle while traveling either—her bag, apart from energy stones and golden cherries, still had tons of room!

Plus, she still hadn’t used the two burlap sacks she brought!

Besides, aside from Huo Xiao having some nuts from a mutant squirrel, the sack of wood ear mushrooms had been lost during the snake chase.

Everyone else was in similar shape.

Since they’d already come this deep into the blind zone, it would be a waste not to bring back a haul to make the risk worthwhile.

Among the group, only Feng Ziyang and Sima Yan liked using their brains—everyone else just followed wherever Huo Xiao walked, no questions asked.