Chapter 31

Qiao Ning returned to the green wisteria area. The dead green wisteria were still scattered on the ground. They hadn't disappeared, but they were slightly withered than before and didn't look as fresh and green.

Qiao Ning pondered for a moment, then suddenly had an idea and tried to put them into her spatial backpack.

Player Qiao Ning has obtained 20 complete Green Wisteria and 80 broken Green Wisteria.

It can be stored!

So what are these? Materials? Food? Or props?

Qiao Ning clicked on the item information:

The mutated green vine corpse, corroded by dark radiation, retains residual dark radiation energy that is harmful to all living things; it is neither suitable for human consumption nor for use.

It can't be used? Then why can it be put into the backpack?

Qiao Ning has played so many games and seen countless game items, but anything that can be put into her backpack is utterly useless.

Since survival games allow these plant corpses to be put into backpacks, it means they must have some unknown use.

Qiao Ning didn't care about all that. Anyway, all those green vines only took up two slots in her backpack: one slot for the whole vines and one slot for the broken ones.

She returned to the rose section and put the rose corpses into her backpack; there were 285 intact ones and 215 broken ones.

Qiao Ning carefully observed the difference between the intact and broken pieces and found that all the intact pieces were cut off from the root, while the broken pieces were often branches, leaves, and petals that had been cut into pieces.

Seeing the remaining plant roots on the ground, Qiao Ning tried to dig them out with her Black Flame Bone Knife. She could dig them out, but as soon as they left the soil, the roots turned to ashes and disappeared.

It seems that transplantation is not a viable option.

Qiao Ning decisively gave up.

I wonder if new plants will grow from these roots again?

Qiao Ning felt that it would most likely grow back, just like wild animals in grasslands and valleys would respawn after a period of time after being killed. These mutated plants would grow back as long as their roots were not destroyed.

As for making all the roots disappear...

Based on the descriptions of the items, they were all corroded by some kind of dark radiation, which is harmful to normal organisms. Eliminating them shouldn't be considered destroying vegetation... right?

Qiao Ning felt a stirring in her heart; her damned curiosity about the game resurfaced.

A few minutes later.

Qiao Ning dug up all the plant roots in the entire rose and wisteria area and then disappeared.

[Congratulations to player Qiao Ning for successfully clearing 2 Dark Radiation Contaminated Zones. Reward: 2 Dark Stone Fragments]

Dark Stone Fragment?

Qiao Ning clicked to view the item information and found that the description of the fragment's use was vague and ineffective:

[A fragment possessing mysterious energy, rumored to be a remnant of the shattered source of dark radiation. No one knows how to use it. However, it holds immense appeal for creatures mutated by dark radiation. Many radiation-mutated beings become exceptionally powerful after fusing with it.]

This description sounds like the prelude to starting to gather certain fragments.

Qiao Ning has a lot of experience in this area. After all, she is a game booster. She often receives orders from clients to help her collect all sorts of random fragments. It's a regular occurrence for her.

Qiao Ning put the Dark Stone Fragment into her backpack. Since she had run out of Earth Wall Cards, she didn't linger there and returned to the highway.

I spent five hours in the wilderness today, harvesting four seeds and 35,000 experience points. It's not a bad deal, but compared to previous rewards, it's not a huge gain either.

It was already 2 PM. Qiao Ning had eaten a simple meal in the jungle, and now she was a little hungry again.

She instructed the smart assistant to drive, and then took out a plate of twice-cooked pork rice, hot and sour shredded potatoes, and West Lake beef soup from the storage box. She opened the chat channel and read everyone's chat messages while eating.

I really can't take it anymore. My blankets and clothes are all unusable. They're covered in mold, and when I squeeze them, a lot of greenish liquid comes out. It's terrifying to look at.

Yesterday I advised everyone to conserve their desiccant balls and to be patient, but today I'm proven wrong. How can I tolerate this? It's unbearable! The car is moldy everywhere, with many places covered in a green, fuzzy thing that looks like moss or mold.

Can you believe it? A bunch of mushrooms have grown in my car! And they're all different colors—they're obviously poisonous! I've been agonizing over this all morning. I don't know whether I should remove them, or how to do it. What if the toxins accidentally get on my hands?

[Have any of you gotten fungal infections? The system says my car was too damp and had a rampant fungal infestation, causing me to get one. My entire left arm is peeling. If I don't treat it with a specific fungal medication soon, it will quickly ulcerate and ooze pus, eventually ruining my whole arm.]

[Oh my god, is this the damp disaster? It's terrifying. Luckily, I didn't linger in the wilderness for too long. I always left after farming about enough experience for the day's toll fees. I encountered a lot of treasure-guarding monsters, so I got a lot of moisture-absorbing orbs. I've been using moisture-absorbing orbs all the time, and there are only a few very small moldy spots in the car.]

[I regret it. I shouldn't have been so greedy for that little bit of experience. If I had just fought more of the treasure-guarding monsters, things wouldn't have turned out like this.]

I've also caught a fungal infection, and it's on my face. I must look terrifying... I hope I run into more supply crates and treasure-guarding monsters this afternoon. If I can find a miracle cure, I'll thank all the gods and Buddhas.

I don't have a fungal infection, but rather some kind of fungal infection. I don't seem to have any specific symptoms right now, just a little difficulty breathing, like a stuffy nose from a cold.

[Upstairs, I advise you not to be careless. This game is full of traps. Quickly find supply boxes and fight the monsters guarding them. Only by opening them can you get special medicine to survive. Don't expect your illness to heal on its own.]

Thanks, I'm already looking. I've accumulated a lot of experience points, and I plan to avoid going into the wilderness for the next few days to try and find more supply crates.

Qiao Ning flipped through dozens of pages of chat messages, and just as she had thought, the dampness was spreading rapidly, with many players suffering from mold and fungal infections, but they didn't seem to have noticed the vehicle problem yet.

Qiao Ning has a smart home assistant that monitors the car in real time. Every change inside and outside the car is recorded by the assistant, and any abnormality will alert Qiao Ning so that materials can be used to repair it in time.

For other players, the system interface should also provide information about vehicles, but it won't be very specific or detailed, and it won't be explained clearly enough, which might cause players to overlook vehicle-related issues.

Qiao Ning didn't want to be in the limelight, nor did she want to be either a good person or a bad person. So when the vehicles weren't affected much, she didn't voice her concerns in the chat channel, and she didn't plan to speak up herself later.

Because she knew that Yuan Heng would definitely inform everyone.

That's just the kind of person he is.

When I first met him at the service area, I felt that he was quite aloof and unapproachable. But after spending some time with him, I found that he wasn't actually that cold and was a nice person.

His repeated announcements in the chat channel are enough to show that Yuan Heng has his own moral compass.

What's remarkable is that he doesn't have an excessive tendency to help others. At least, Li Yangxing told her privately that Yuan Heng rarely asks for help from others, and even less so helps others.

However, when faced with matters of principle, Yuan Heng is like a lone warrior, with absolute principles and bottom lines. These principles and bottom lines are ingrained in his bones, and they have never changed, even when he is in a survival game full of danger and testing his humanity.

In this respect, Qiao Ning felt that she was not as good as Yuan Heng. After she spoke out once and was attacked and insulted by many people, she subconsciously did not want to face such pressure again.

Call her cowardly or lacking in common sense, but in her opinion, she would rather avoid being subjected to cyberbullying.

She would rather exchange more supplies at a lower price when people need them, as a small contribution.

After finishing her meal, Qiao Ning cleaned up the pots and pans and tidied up the makeshift kitchen.

Her car now has five areas: a driver's area, a rest and entertainment area, an activity and exercise area, a luxury bathroom, and a kitchen.

Each area isn't large, but she keeps it clean and tidy. Furniture and other items are all provided; if you have the blueprints, you can make them yourself; if not, you can trade them in the trading area. In short, the car now feels like a small house of about ten square meters.

Once a Tier 3 vehicle is upgraded to Tier 4, its interior space will be roughly equivalent to that of a large RV, making each area more spacious.

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any car upgrade blueprints during this disaster cycle. If all else fails, I'll have to spend blind box coins to open wish boxes after the disaster ends and see if I can get some car upgrade blueprints.

Before 8 p.m., Qiao Ning turned off the engine and parked the car. She had collected a total of 12 supply boxes today.

Most of them are still high-star items, with none below 3 stars.

Total loot from 12 supply crates:

100 boxes of highly effective medicine for fungal infections and mold diseases

There are twenty or thirty kinds of fresh food and dishes, serving eighty-five portions.

280 cans of food, 100 cans of fruit, and 10 jin of freeze-dried vegetables.

The daily necessities include: napkins, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, sanitary pads, toiletries, wet wipes, etc., totaling more than a hundred items.

250 units of gasoline, 20 liters of drinking water

There were other miscellaneous items, which Qiao Ning only glanced at briefly and did not count carefully.

Qiao Ning was in the wilderness at noon, so she mailed food to Yuan Heng and Li Yangxing in advance. Everyone usually ate dinner after parking the car at eight o'clock.

Qiao Ning finished cooking dinner and was just about to contact the two of them when she received their messages at the same time.

Li Yangxing: [Sister Qiao, I'm hungry, please feed me!]

Hara Yoko: [What are we having for dinner tonight?]

For some reason, Qiao Ning had the illusion that she was raising two large pets.

Considering the generous amount of money they sent for the meal, Qiao Ning was particularly quick to prepare the food: two spicy beef rice bowls, two curry beef rice bowls, creamy tofu soup, two bottles of Fanta, two bottles of mineral water, and a plate of 1000 grams of fruit.

With meat, vegetables, and fruit, the meal was nutritious, delicious, and filling. The two busy eating didn't feel they had wasted their money at all; on the contrary, they felt they had made a great deal.

After a busy day, as Qiao Ning finished tidying up and lay in bed watching a movie, she glanced at the shrunk chat interface next to her. One message on it caught her eye:

Pei Jing: [Selling mutated creature corpses; 10 jin of meat in exchange for a serving of high-sugar food or drink.]

"Hey miss, this mutated creature corpse of yours is inedible, untouchable, and unusable. What are we going to do with it? Just display it? It doesn't even look good to me."

Pei Jing: [This stuff is really useful. I have a multi-purpose toilet bowl; it breaks down these things into fertilizer, which helps accelerate the growth of the plants in my pots.]

[That sounds like it might be useful, but all the food available now is ridiculously expensive, and you can't eat the meat of this mutated creature.]

Pei Jing lost her patience: [Are you stupid? If you don't have food, can't you grow your own? With fertilizer, you're not afraid it won't grow! Things in planting pots aren't affected by damp environments. Haven't you noticed that the things in your planting pots show absolutely no signs of mold or rot?]

Her words were like a thunderclap, exploding in the chat channel.

Qiao Ning was also stunned.

Right, why didn't she think of using a universal toilet bowl to decompose all those green vines and roses in her backpack?

Could it be that the nutrients needed by the carnivorous flower seeds are the fertilizer produced by the decomposition of these mutated organisms?