Chapter 5

Every time Song Chunshi visited the Great Oasis, the goods she exchanged were always the same few items.

Besides the essential small pills, there were also earth potatoes and energy cards, occasionally exchanging some salt and nutrient supplements.

Earth potatoes are the roots and stems of a certain plant, which can be used as a staple food and are the main crop of the barren planet.

Song Chunshi’s territory was too small to meet the conditions for cultivation, and she didn’t have time to manage it, so for convenience, she chose to exchange directly with the Great Oasis.

The coming winter, the coldest time, the temperature could reach minus thirty degrees. In the first year, Song Chunshi had no experience and almost froze into an ice sculpture. She had no choice but to hide in an underground mine to barely survive.

Later, she exchanged for a second-hand heater with someone, which could generate heat when plugged into an energy card.

The energy card is similar in size to an ID card. Buying cards with different denominations will result in different amounts of energy contained.

Song Chunshi once tried to let the system absorb the energy in the card. As a result, she prepared to use all three cards for the winter, but the panel data remained unchanged.

According to the system, about one hundred such cards would allow it to increase its energy value by a small amount.

After hearing this, Song Chunshi silently swallowed a mouthful of blood and honestly mined from then on.

As for nutrient supplements, it is said that residents of other planets use them as food. A small stick can meet the body’s energy and nutrition needs for the whole day. Song Chunshi occasionally buys some to supplement trace elements. She eats meat every day and worries about her malnutrition.

Small pills, energy cards, and nutrient supplements are not products of the barren planet.

Although this planet is backward, it is not closed. Foreign commercial spaceships often land, bringing some common gadgets from the outside world in exchange for a large amount of resources from the barren planet.

It is said that there are also residents of the barren planet who leave on spaceships. The tickets are very expensive, to the point of bankrupting wealthy families.

Song Chunshi was curious about the outside world, but she didn’t have any plans to leave for the time being. Firstly, she didn’t have an identity, even if she could afford the ticket, she didn’t know where to go. Secondly, with the system, a gold-devouring monster, she didn’t know if she could still mine freely if she went elsewhere.

It’s just that energy mines are becoming increasingly difficult to find on the barren planet. Sometimes, it’s necessary to dig deep underground to collect a few points of energy value.

Sooner or later, she might have to find another way out.

After exchanging for the necessary items at the store, Song Chunshi pulled her cart and left. The young man at the store saw her off all the way. Even when she was far away, she could still hear him enthusiastically shouting “See you next time.”

“Stop looking,” the old shopkeeper poured cold water on him. “She obviously doesn’t belong here, she’s different from us.”

The young man’s smile remained undiminished, and he sincerely sighed, “I know, I know, but she’s really special, it’s hard to take your eyes off her, isn’t it?”

The old man glanced at him coldly, without saying anything, but he didn’t refute.

Leaving the shop, Song Chunshi walked slowly along the shadow of the street.

As she turned the corner, a little girl timidly called out to her, “Big sister, please take a look.”

The child had some messy things in front of her, including colorful stones, metal fragments of unknown use, withered fruits, and black plant roots. They seemed worthless, like they were dug out of a trash heap.

Song Chunshi had already exchanged all the items she brought at the store, leaving only a small bag of meat strips, which she had prepared as food.

She looked at the child’s dirty face and those eager big eyes, and finally squatted down in front of the stall.

A big smile instantly appeared on the child’s face, and she said happily, “Sister, just choose whatever you like, they are all clean, I washed them well.”

There was nothing Song Chunshi needed here, but she still carefully picked through them, choosing a few beautiful stones, and asked, “Where’s your brother?”

She had seen the child several times in the city, and she was always with her brother. The small robot that only glowed in the cave was bought from them.

“He went out of the city with the hunting team! Brother said, as long as we can hunt a star beast, we won’t have to go hungry all winter!” The little girl’s eyes were bright, her voice was crisp and cheerful.

Song Chunshi barely understood her meaning. She casually picked up a few stones, took out the meat strips and handed them over. Seeing the girl’s happy appearance, she paused, and in a stiff common language, instructed, “Don’t go with strangers, don’t go out of the city.”

The child smiled with her eyes narrowed, and she nodded repeatedly, “I remember, brother said the same thing, thank you big sister!”

Song Chunshi nodded slightly, glanced at the sky, the two fireballs above her head were already slanting westward, and she pulled her cart out of the city.

On the way back, the feeling of being followed by something vaguely came again.

She didn’t show anything on her face, and secretly complained to the system, [Don’t let me catch you, otherwise…]

Otherwise, I’ll hang it outside the cave and dry it into jerky.

About thirty kilometers away from the territory, Song Chunshi encountered those strangers again.

They were surrounding a small wild beast. This wild beast was small, cunning, and ran very fast. It wasn’t on Song Chunshi’s menu.

But she didn’t catch them, but they treated her as a sucker. Several times, as soon as her jerky was dried, the whole family came in groups to steal it.

At that time, Song Chunshi’s “Shadowless Bow” hadn’t been practiced to perfection, and she was often forced to be in a panic. Her jerky was also heavily damaged.

Later, she practiced hard, and after practicing it to perfection, she spent half a month doing nothing but searching for their nests in the desert. When she found one, she would kill it. After that, these wild beasts would avoid her and never dare to appear in her oasis again.

Several military academy students were now in a stalemate. The star beast they were trying to capture, although not strong in combat, was very fast. It took them a lot of effort to trap it in a circle, but they still couldn’t catch it.

Now they could only wait and see who would run out of stamina first.

At this moment, one of the students was blinded by the wind and sand, and his movements were slightly slower. The cunning star beast immediately seized the opportunity, slipped past him, and escaped from the encirclement.

The audience on the star network were anxious.

[Sigh! It ran away again!]

[Not surprising, this star beast is much faster than humans. Without the right tools, it’s impossible to catch it—

[Look, the girl appeared! Huh… Why isn’t the star beast running anymore? It’s back!]

In the picture, after escaping, the star beast ran in a certain direction. As it ran, a figure suddenly appeared in front of it. The star beast saw her, its happy steps stopped abruptly. After a pause of less than half a second, it suddenly turned around and plunged back into the encirclement of the students.

Song Chunshi glanced at it expressionlessly and pulled her cart away.

The team leader was the first to react. He seized the opportunity to press down on the star beast’s neck and quickly tied it up with a rope.

The students couldn’t understand what was happening. They looked at the struggling star beast, then at the girl’s receding figure, and hesitantly said, “This thing… was scared back?”

The audience who had watched the whole thing were very excited.

[I knew the passerby girl wouldn’t disappoint. Every time she appears, it’s a crushing defeat!]

[What passerby girl, this is clearly the passerby queen!]

[I don’t understand. Didn’t they say that star beasts like to attack humans and are very bloodthirsty? Why do they run when they see the girl?]

[Star beasts are just bloodthirsty, they’re not stupid! Knowing that it’s an insurmountable power, why wouldn’t they run and wait to be shot to death?]

[I’m only concerned about one thing. Has this team completed its graduation assessment? Are they going to leave the barren planet soon, and we won’t see the girl anymore?]

[No! I don’t want to leave my passerby little sister! Who will go bribe the military academy principal and let him judge the team as failing, so they can stay on the barren planet and continue the assessment?]

[Are you a devil upstairs?]

After preparing her winter supplies, Song Chunshi originally planned to go find a new energy mine and earn some more energy points before winter arrived.

However, now that she realized she was being followed by an unknown creature, she decided to change her plans.

For the next few days, Song Chunshi didn’t go out. She stayed in the cave and studied the “Eternal Spring Manual.”

The more she delved into it, the more she realized that this energy point was worth spending. Besides internal energy, this martial art also included martial arts skills that matched the internal energy. Among them, there was a move called “Spring Wind Caressing Willows,” which was a light-footed martial art. After mastering it, one could move as fast as the wind, a kind of light-footed skill.

There were also martial arts skills like “Spring Rain Drizzling,” “Spring Cold Stinging,” and so on, a total of eight moves. If she could master them all, her strength would at least be several times stronger than it is now.

But that would require hard work and wouldn’t show results in the short term. She didn’t have much time for now, so she could only put it aside for the time being.

Song Chunshi was now thinking about how to combine her internal energy with her bow and arrow to make the arrows more powerful.

She tried to control the ball of internal energy in her lower abdomen and input it into the arrow. The first time, she didn’t control it well. The moment the internal energy surged in, the arrow shaft snapped with a bang, breaking into several pieces.

Looking at the debris on the ground, she gritted her teeth and asked the system, “Is there a place in the store where I can buy arrows separately?”

A bow and twelve arrows were a set. She wasn’t used to being short one.

[Yes, but the host can’t afford it.]

The system brought up the panel, which showed that this kind of arrow cost two energy points each, while her total assets were only one point. She could only buy half an arrow.

“… Damn it.” Song Chunshi gritted her teeth, silently picking up the arrow shaft debris. The arrowhead could be reused, and the arrow shaft could be used for firewood. In short, nothing could be wasted.

After realizing her poverty once again, she became extra careful when inputting internal energy into the second arrow.

People can always unleash amazing potential under pressure. At least Song Chunshi was like that. Although this was her first time trying to control internal energy, under the shadow of poverty, she could quickly and meticulously control it.

The second arrow emitted a grating creak, as if it couldn’t bear it, but finally held on stubbornly.

Song Chunshi’s forehead had already broken out in a fine sweat. She didn’t dare to stop for a moment. She drew the bow to full draw, her fingers loosened slightly, and the arrow feathers flew like lightning.

Her cave was about twenty meters deep. When practicing archery, she stood at the entrance of the cave and shot arrows at the rock wall at the bottom of the cave.

Before she had internal energy, Song Chunshi could shoot the arrow into the stone, with the arrowhead going about a palm’s depth.

This time, there was a dull thud. She went forward to check and found that the whole arrow had sunk into the stone, with only the arrow feathers sticking out and trembling slightly.

Good news, she succeeded, the power of the bow and arrow had doubled.

Bad news, this arrow also broke.

Above Song Chunshi’s head, the shadow of poverty expanded by another half.