Chapter 8
Su Jing crouched in the shadow of the giant blade of grass, repeatedly scanning the 15-kilogram giant mushroom in the space with her mind—the grayish-white cap faintly glowed in the darkness, and the stem was as thick as a small tree trunk.
Previously, my mind was focused on completing the task of collecting 100 kilograms, but now it suddenly dawned on me: the system only said "collect 100 kilograms of edible plants", but did not say that any excess should be handed over.
"The excess supplies... are they mine?" she murmured to herself, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the edge of the entrenching tool, her heart suddenly racing.
In the apocalypse of my past life, resources were more precious than life itself. If you could stock up on giant mushrooms and sweet grass roots in the dungeon, whether you kept them for yourself or sold them to the system for points after the dungeon ended, it would be a sure-fire way to make money.
Every item and weapon in the system shop requires points! How come she hadn't thought of that before!
This idea sprouted like a seed, and Su Jing instantly had a new goal—not only to complete the task of collecting 100 kilograms, but also to collect as much as possible and hoard as much as she could.
She put away her entrenching tool and was about to continue walking towards the lower terrain when she suddenly heard a faint "crunching" sound under her feet, like the sound of some hard-shelled object crushing grass stalks.
She looked down sharply and saw a completely black ant crawling past her sneakers—
This is no ordinary ant. It is half a meter long, with a metallic sheen on its exoskeleton. Its six legs are covered with fine barbs. Most frightening are its open mouthparts, which are serrated and so sharp that you can clearly see the cold light. The "snap" sound just now was its mouthparts biting through a thin blade of grass.
"Giant ants!" Su Jing instantly remembered the system's notification—giant ants with a danger level of 45, indicating they are aggressive. She subconsciously took a step back, but didn't notice that two more identical giant ants crawled out from the gaps in the grass behind her. The three ants formed a triangular shape and slowly surrounded her, making a threatening "crunching" sound as their mouthparts opened and closed.
She quickly took out a large machete from her spatial storage and aimed it at the ant in front of her—but she hesitated: the ant's shell was hard, what if she couldn't cut through it?
Just then, the giant ant at the front suddenly accelerated and lunged at her, its mandibles aimed directly at her calf! Su Jing reacted extremely quickly, dodging to the side. The ant's mandibles snapped into the ground where she had just been standing, sending dirt flying and creating a small dent.
She glanced down at her sweatpants—when the ants swarmed over, the edge of their mandibles grazed the hem, tearing a gash in the fabric. Had she been any slower, her calf would have been bitten.
"We can't fight head-on!" Su Jing quickly retreated, her gaze sweeping over the supplies in her storage space—she suddenly spotted the medical alcohol she had stockpiled before, 20 bottles of 500ml each, all high-concentration alcohol and flammable!
She immediately used her mind to retrieve three bottles of alcohol, uncapped them, and threw them forcefully around the three ants.
The alcohol spilled on the damp grass, spreading instantly and filling the air with a strong smell of it. Su Jing then pulled a lighter from her backpack (which she'd grabbed when buying tools), lit it, and threw it in the direction the alcohol was spreading.
With a loud "boom," flames shot up instantly, forming a fire ring three meters in diameter, trapping the three giant ants outside the ring.
The flames were very hot, sizzling the surrounding grass. The giant ants, afraid of fire, paced anxiously around the fire, their mouthparts opening and closing, but dared not approach the flames even a step closer.
Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief and, taking advantage of the ants being trapped in the fire rings, quickly retreated until she was out of the flames' range before turning and running in the opposite direction—she dared not follow the original route, for who knew how many giant ants were still hiding under the grass.
She ran for about ten minutes before stopping, leaning against a thick stalk of grass, panting, and glancing back at the grassy field behind her—
The flames in the ring of fire were gradually diminishing, but the giant ants shouldn't be chasing her anymore. She checked herself: her sweatpants had a tear, her calves were fine, and she still had 17 bottles of alcohol left in her storage space—a close call indeed.
“It seems we need to be more careful in the future,” Su Jing wiped the sweat from her forehead. “We can’t just focus on edible plants; we also need to be aware of the dangers around us.”
Just as she was about to continue walking forward, a system notification suddenly sounded in her mind:
[Environmental Scan Tips]
500 meters to the northeast, a dense cluster of edible plants—sweet grass roots—was detected, estimated to be more than 50 plants. The root diameter of each plant is 10-15 cm, and the weight of each plant is 1.5-2 kg. The danger level is 1 (microscopic poisonous insects are present on the roots, and the plants must be cleaned before consumption). It is recommended to collect them first.
Su Jing's eyes lit up—sweet grass roots! The system said that a single plant weighs 1.5-2 kilograms, so 50 plants would weigh 75-100 kilograms. If she could dig them all up, she could not only complete the task of 100 kilograms, but also stockpile a lot more.
She immediately changed direction and headed northeast, walking lightly and quickly, while using her mind to sense the entrenching tool in the space, ensuring that she could retrieve it immediately if needed.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, the surrounding grass gradually became sparse, and the ground changed from hard soil to soft black soil. A faint sweet smell wafted in the air—we should be getting close to the area where sweet grass roots grow.
Su Jing slowed her pace, used spatial concealment for 3 seconds, and only continued forward after confirming that there were no traces of giants or giant insects around.
Turning past a dense patch of grass stalks, she finally saw the area where the sweet grass roots grew—a depression about twenty meters in diameter, with many green plants half a meter tall growing on the ground. The leaves were slender, and the roots were partially exposed from the soil. The thick, pale yellow roots were about 10 centimeters in diameter, exactly as described in the system.
Su Jing walked quickly to the roots of a sweet grass, squatted down, and touched the exposed roots with her hand—the surface was very smooth, and she could vaguely see tiny hairs. Was that the "miniature poisonous insect" that the system mentioned?
Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the fuzz was actually a type of tiny black insect, smaller than a pinhead, densely attached to the roots, making it virtually invisible without careful observation.
“No wonder the danger level is 1,” she muttered to herself, took out a pair of disposable gloves from her storage space and put them on (she had stocked up on them when she bought medicine), and then took out an entrenching tool and began to dig along the soil around the roots.
The roots of the sweet grass root are very deep. She used an entrenching tool to dig away the surrounding soil little by little, carefully avoiding the roots with each dig to prevent breaking them—broken roots would affect the weight and also make it easier for bacteria to grow.
After digging for about five minutes, the entire root of the sweet grass was finally exposed—the roots were up to a meter long, like a thick yam, and the tiny poisonous insects attached to the surface slowly curled up and lost their activity after coming into contact with the air.
Su Jing gently wiped off the poisonous insects with her gloves, then cut off the roots with an entrenching tool, picked it up and weighed it—it was at least 1.8 kilograms.
[Substance Identification: Sweet Grass Root (Edible, doubles strength)]
Hazard level: 0 (Microscopic venomous insect has detached and is non-toxic)
Composition: Starch 35.2%, Moisture 49.8%, Vitamin C 12.5mg/100g, Trace minerals (Magnesium, Zinc)
Consumption suggestion: It is slightly sweet when eaten raw, and has a soft and glutinous texture when cooked. It can be used as a substitute for staple food.
Storage recommendations: Store at room temperature for 15 days; after drying, it can be stored for 90 days.
Current collected weight: 1.8 kg, total collected weight: 16.8 kg (100 kg from target, 83.2 kg remaining)
Su Jing was delighted and put the sweet grass root into the "edible plant area" of her space, then continued to dig for the next one. She became more and more skilled at digging, from digging one plant every five minutes at the beginning to digging one plant every three minutes later. She went through two pairs of gloves, the entrenching tool was covered in mud, and the sweat on her forehead dripped down her cheeks and was instantly absorbed by the soil.
She encountered a few minor troubles during this time—on two occasions, when she was halfway through digging, she heard a slight vibration in the distance. She immediately stopped digging, hid behind the grass stalks, and used spatial concealment to observe. Only after confirming that the giant had passed by in the distance and had not approached the area where the sweet grass roots were growing did she continue digging.
On another occasion, a giant grass worm crawled past her feet, which she gently pried away with an entrenching tool, posing no threat.
Time passed slowly, and the sun moved gradually across the sky overhead, causing the dappled sunlight filtering through the grass to shift its position.
Su Jing glanced at the time on the system panel—a full hour had passed since she started digging. She stopped what she was doing, leaned against the grass stalks to rest for a moment, and scanned the sweet grass roots in the space with her mind—a total of 17 plants, each averaging 1.76 kilograms, for a total of 30 kilograms. Adding this to the 15 kilograms of giant mushrooms she had collected earlier, the total weight collected reached 45 kilograms!
“45 kilograms,” Su Jing smiled and took a sip of mineral water from her spatial storage. “At this rate, we can complete the task of 100 kilograms in another two hours, and we can use the remaining time to store more.”
She stood up, dusted herself off, put her gloves back on, and picked up her entrenching tool—there were still quite a few sweet grass roots left to dig up, and she had to hurry to dig up as many as possible before the giants got close again.
From the gaps in the distant grass, the faint sound of giant footsteps could be heard, farther away than before, and the vibrations were less noticeable. Su Jing didn't panic; instead, she quickened her digging pace. Her entrenching tool spun rapidly through the soil, unearthing, clearing, and storing the thick, sweet grass roots into her spatial storage, their weight gradually increasing—
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