Chapter 96 Pandora Encounters a Strange Wood Spirit Core

The gathering points in District 48 are relatively safe because mercenaries patrol every ten days and will hunt down any aggressive mutated beasts of Tier 2 or higher they encounter.

Zuo Shan only dared to let Xiao Bao wander around freely because there weren't many people around at the moment.

As she walked, she suddenly smelled a peculiar, rich aroma, like the scent of grass mixed with the pungent smell of garlic.

She recognized the smell all too well; it was toon sprouts!

Every spring, her mother's favorite wild vegetable is toon sprouts, without exception.

However, the massive tree in front of her, over fifty meters tall and so thick that three people couldn't encircle it, was completely different from the Chinese toon tree she had seen before, which was over two meters tall and as thick as a bowl.

To avoid being disappointed, she plucked a leaf, about ten centimeters long, from a small, tender branch that was about thirty centimeters tall growing from the base of the tree.

I held it under my nose and took a deep sniff—it was him, it was him, it was him! It really was Mom's favorite toon sprouts! Of course, it was also one of her favorite wild vegetables.

The best toon sprouts are the new shoots at the top. If they are left for too long, the leaves will become old and lose the unique aroma of the new shoots, becoming no different from ordinary tree leaves.

But the tree in front of her was too tall, and her small frame couldn't climb it at all.

But it's okay, she can get help!

When Xiao Bao ran past her once, Zuo Shan immediately called it back and repeatedly told it to climb to the highest point and pick the newly sprouted buds.

Xiao Bao frowned deeply, clearly disliking the smell of the toon tree, but it was determined to do it for Sister Fan!

Xiao Bao's ability to climb trees is almost innate. He was climbing up and down the bamboo forest before he was even a month old. Now he has broken through to the second level, so his tree-climbing skills are naturally beyond question.

Enduring the unpleasant smell, Xiao Bao scurried up to the top of the tree in no time, quickly breaking off the tender buds with his little paws and storing them in his spatial storage.

It swept through the canopy of more than a dozen branches, plucking off all the tender buds, before quickly sliding down from the top to the bottom.

Its descent was as fast as a roller coaster, making the left fan extremely nervous, fearing it might accidentally break.

After finishing this job, Xiao Bao wrinkled his nose and ran away quickly, seemingly afraid that Sister Fan would find another smelly toon tree for him to suffer.

Having harvested some toon sprouts, Zuo Shan felt that he had already made a profit today, and he would just let things take their course for the rest of the time.

On the other hand, Pandora tested more than a dozen leaves of different shapes, but none of them were edible; they were either poisonous or highly radioactive.

She continued walking dejectedly into the depths of the dense forest, when suddenly a strange feeling came over her, as if she were suddenly bathed in the warm spring sun, with a gentle breeze blowing and bringing the fragrance of grass and trees.

People who spend their years scavenging in the wild are already tired of the smells of plants and rarely find the fragrance of certain plants refreshing.

But at this moment, the fragrance intoxicated Pandora.

She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths of the intoxicating fragrance, and, drawn by it, walked step by step toward it.

Suddenly, Mao Li jumped out from behind her and said, "There's a strong wood-attribute energy fluctuation 50 meters ahead, suspected to be a wood spirit core. Hurry up and dig it up!"

Pandora was already heading in that direction, but after Mao Li reminded him, he started running.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a pile of spherical hay, encasing a bead that shimmered with a faint green light.

Because it was before dawn, and the surroundings were pitch black, the faint green light was able to appear.

Pandora carefully reached out and peeled back the straw covering the bead. Just as her hand touched the pale green bead, her index finger was pricked by a blade of straw.

The next second, Pandora felt all the blood in her body rushing to the spot where her index finger had been pierced. She tried to break free, but her whole body was weak and she quickly collapsed to the ground.

Mao Li, who was watching from the sidelines, then noticed the problem. He extended his mechanical arm, cut off the dry grass surrounding her fingers, picked her up, and ran quickly towards the left side.

"Something's happened! Lele's been knocked unconscious by... this Wood Spirit Core!" Mao Li stammered as soon as he saw Zuo Shan.

Zuo Shan was also anxious, but this godforsaken place had neither a clinic nor a doctor, so she had to reach out and feel her carotid artery first. She found that although the pulse was weak, it was still relatively stable before she spoke: "Calm down first, and tell me the specific situation."

Mao Li felt ashamed. As a mechanical race member, he should be the most calm and rational person, but now he was being asked to calm down by a human girl.

"It's like this..." Mao Li explained, adding at the end, "It's all my fault. I should have checked whether the wood spirit core was aggressive before letting Lele dig it up!"

Zuo Shan looked at the green bead that was tightly attached to Pan Duole's fingertip, took out a dagger and tried to pry it off her fingertip, but it seemed to sense the threat and suddenly burrowed into Pan Duole's fingertip and disappeared without a trace.

"Holy crap! It's possible? Could this thing have developed sentience?" Zuo Shan exclaimed in shock.

"Mao Li, quickly check your database. Is there any precedent for this?" she said, looking at Mao Li, who was equally shocked and stunned.

"Oh, oh, I'll check the database right away!" Mao Li said in a panic.

Zuo Shan wasn't idle either. She sent Mao Li to find Xiao Bao, while she herself quickly made a stretcher and put Pan Duole on it.

When Xiao Bao was recalled, it was a little reluctant. It had just found a rare metal ore and hadn't had time to absorb it yet, so it simply put the whole piece into its space and ran back with Mao Li.

Zuo Shan and Mao Li carried Pan Duole back, while Xiao Bao followed beside them, panting heavily. Every now and then, he would anxiously pat Pan Duole's arm with his little paws, trying to wake her up.

After running for about ten kilometers, it was already getting light. If they went any further, they would encounter scavengers. Zuo Shan had no choice but to hide Xiao Bao and make Mao Li invisible, while he continued to walk alone, dragging the stretcher.

Pan Duole didn't wake up even after they entered the city, so Zuo Shan had no choice but to take her to the hospital.

After hearing her description, the doctor determined that she was hallucinating. He then performed a series of tests on Pandora, which revealed that her fainting was caused by hypoglycemia and anemia.

After administering glucose and artificial plasma, and then prescribing a bunch of nutritional supplements, seeing that the person still hadn't woken up, and looking at the homemade linen clothes Pan Duole was wearing, fearing that they couldn't afford the expensive medical bills, Zuo Shan told them to take the person home to recuperate.

He then instructed her to improve the patient's nutrition, and went on and on about such things before sending her away.

Left with no other choice, Zuo Shan paid the 1260 silver coins medical fee and then dragged the stretcher back home.