Chapter 9

Su Jing leaned against the thick straw, unscrewed the mineral water bottle, and took a sip. The cool water flowed down her throat, slightly relieving the dryness.

She glanced down at the entrenching tool in her hand—the edge of the tool was already somewhat chipped. She had just dug up 30 kilograms of sweet grass roots, relying entirely on this entrenching tool to dig, and the efficiency was getting lower and lower.

"This won't do," she frowned, scanning the tool area in the space with her mind—

The folding shovel I bought at the supermarket is still unopened. It's a military-grade shovel with a sharper head and a retractable handle. It can handle hard soil without any problem, so it will definitely be easier to dig this soft black soil.

She immediately took out a folding shovel with her mind, unfolded it and held it in her hand—it was lighter than an entrenching tool, the handle was the perfect length to fit her palm, and the shovel head was sharp enough to easily cut through grass.

“Let’s test it out,” she said, walking up to an undigging sweet grass root and aiming at the soil around the root. She then shoveled it in forcefully—the folding shovel easily cut into the soil, bringing out a large clump of soil, at least twice as fast as an entrenching tool.

Su Jing's eyes lit up, and she sped up the digging.

With the folding shovel working in sync with her movements, she could precisely dig the soil around the roots of the sweet grass with each stroke, eliminating the need for repeated digging as before.

After digging for a short while, she suddenly felt that her arms were much stronger than before—before, they would ache after digging for half an hour, but now, after digging for an hour, her arms were still strong, and even her breathing was not so rapid.

"Could it be the effect of the sweet grass root?" She stopped what she was doing, recalling the system's prompt when she dug up the first sweet grass root. At that time, she only paid attention to the ingredients and storage, and did not carefully check whether there were any other effects.

She quickly brought up the system panel and found the substance identification record of sedge root:

[Substance Identification: Sweetgrass Root (Edible)]

Additional notes: After consumption, it can temporarily increase the user's strength by 100%, and the effect lasts for 24 hours. The duration can be stacked with multiple uses. Contact with the roots has no effect when not ingested.

Su Jing was stunned for a moment, then realized—while resting just now, she casually took a small piece of sweet grass root from her space and ate it raw. At the time, she only thought it was slightly sweet, but she didn't expect it to have the effect of increasing strength!

No wonder digging is so easy now; my arm strength has obviously increased, and even the folding shovel feels lighter.

"This is such a pleasant surprise!" she thought with delight. She took a small piece of sweet grass root from her space and put it in her mouth. The sweet taste melted in her mouth, and soon she felt a warm current going down her throat, and her arms felt stronger again.

She gripped the folding shovel and continued digging. This time, she could easily cut off even the thickest roots, increasing her efficiency even further.

As the sun gradually slanted westward, the light filtering through the gaps in the giant blades of grass grew dimmer, and the surrounding temperature dropped slightly. Su Jing didn't stop; only when she occasionally heard a faint vibration in the distance would she hide behind the grass stalks and use spatial concealment to observe—

Each time, the giant would pass by from a distance without approaching the depression, so she would seize the time to continue digging.

The sharpness of the folding shovel, combined with the strength boost from the sweet grass roots, allowed her to dig faster and faster. At first, she could dig up one plant in three minutes, then she could do it in two minutes, and sometimes she could even finish digging up a small plant in just one minute.

She quickly cleaned away the tiny poisonous insects from the surface of the dug-up sweet grass roots (the insects quickly become inactive upon contact with air), then stored the entire plant in the "edible plant area" of her space, separating it from the giant mushroom she had previously collected.

She deliberately kept a few intact sweet grass roots, planning to study whether they could be cultivated like spirit herbs after the dungeon ended.

During this time, she also ate half a piece of chocolate to replenish her energy and drank some water. The high-energy food she had stockpiled came in handy, and with the added power of the sweet grass root and the giant mushrooms she had eaten before, her physical condition remained excellent, and she even sweated less than before.

Only when darkness completely fell and the surrounding giant blades of grass turned into blurry black shadows did Su Jing stop digging. Leaning against the grass stalks, she scanned the sweet grass roots in the space with her mind—a dense, piled-up mass; the system panel showed a cumulative collection weight of 165 kilograms!

She calculated that she had previously accumulated 45 kilograms, but today she dug up 120 kilograms of sweet grass roots, far exceeding the target of 100 kilograms.

“165 kilograms,” she muttered to herself, a smile creeping onto her lips. “Even if the dungeon ends now, these supplies will be enough to last me a while in the apocalypse. If I could dig up some honey fruit, it would be perfect.”

Just then, a shrill scream suddenly came from afar, followed by a loud thud, like the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

Su Jing tensed up instantly and quickly hid behind a stalk of grass, using spatial concealment for 3 seconds. The moment she exited the spatial concealment, she heard several men shouting not far away, their voices filled with fear.

"Don't go! Are you crazy? Those are giants!"

"He tried to ambush the giant, but he was cleaved in two by a single axe blow! Even his bones were shattered!"

"Run! Giants are coming this way!"

Su Jing's heart sank—someone tried to attack the giant? And ended up being cleaved in two by an axe? She quickly held her breath and peered through the gaps in the grass towards the direction the sound came from—

The giant blades of grass in the distance shook violently, and a tall, dark figure (a giant) could be vaguely seen walking away from her. The tremors on the ground were getting weaker and weaker, so it must have gone far away.

After about ten minutes, the surroundings became completely quiet, with only the rustling sound of grass blades rubbing together.

Su Jing slowly straightened up, her back already covered in a layer of cold sweat—the words of those men just now echoed in her ears like an alarm bell: "Chopped in two with an axe" "Even the bones were shattered."

She knew beforehand that giants were dangerous, but she hadn't expected them to be this terrifying. The system indicated a giant danger level of 85 and an attack power of 120. Now it seemed that these numbers were not exaggerated at all; ordinary people simply couldn't fight them, and even a sneak attack would only lead to certain death.

"We must never confront giants head-on," Su Jing silently resolved in her mind. "If we encounter giants in the future, we must hide in the space or find a place to hide immediately. We must never have any thoughts of confrontation."

She had previously considered trying to attack the giant with her greatsword, but now it seemed like that would be suicide.

Su Jing put away her folding shovel, took a sip of water, and began to think about the next step of the plan—120 kilograms of sweet grass roots had already been dug up, and there weren't many left in this depression. Moreover, the screams just now might attract other participants or giant insects, so it was not safe to stay here any longer.

"Time to head to the honey fruit tree area," she muttered to herself, bringing up the system panel to check the location of the honey fruit trees—the system notification read, "There is a honey fruit tree grove 1000 meters to the southwest, danger level 3 (accompanied by giant bees)."

The fruit of the Honey Fruit Tree can double your speed. With this speed boost, it will be easier to escape when you encounter danger.

After confirming the direction, she used spatial concealment to observe the surrounding environment. Only after confirming that there were no traces of giants or giant insects did she crouch down and slowly move southwest along the gaps in the grass.

As night deepened, the giant blades of grass around her resembled shadows, and the occasional chirping of unknown insects could be heard. But Su Jing's steps remained steady—with the support of the space, the power boost from the sweet grass roots, and her previous experience, she was confident that she could safely reach the Honey Fruit Tree area and collect more supplies.

After walking for about twenty minutes, a faint buzzing sound came from afar, like the sound of bees flying.

Su Jing slowed her pace, knowing that she was almost at the Honey Fruit Tree area. The buzzing sound must be from the giant bees mentioned in the system notification. She gripped her folding shovel tightly, preparing for any unexpected situations, while mentally calculating: the giant bees had a danger level of 3, so they should be easier to deal with than the giant ants. As long as she carefully avoided them, she should be able to collect the Honey Fruit Tree fruits smoothly.