Chapter 24 Wilderness
Gu Nian picked up the shovel, dug out the orchid as intact as possible with its roots, and stuffed it into his backpack.
Not only did Gu Nian find the Cuihuantong, she also dug up other magical medicines. In addition to selling cold injury ointments, she found another way to make money, and she was very satisfied.
After learning that the spotted-eye orchid can be exchanged for credits, Lotus also proudly raised its head, with its blue eyes shining. It can also help its owner earn credits! It is no longer just a cat that eats and eats. Meow~
Gu Nian picked up the lotus with amusement, put it in his pocket, and continued to go deeper into the wilderness.
"Here, here there is blue sky and white earth!" "Master, over there is the dragon blood vine!"
Encouraged, Lianhua kept looking for these mutant plants that could be used as medicine along the way and kept reminding Gu Nian. Soon, Gu Nian's backpack was filled with mutant plants.
Whenever he passed by a dark and damp place, Gu Nian would go to explore, because Lianhua said that Bone Balsam was a magical medicine that liked to grow in a light-poor and humid environment. Unfortunately, Gu Nian searched for a long time and found nothing.
At this moment, she was in a damp mountain path. The rock wall on the side was covered with vines and mosses. Gu Nian searched for a long time but couldn't find the Bone Balsam. She continued to walk in without giving up and saw a hidden valley. But the further she walked into the valley, the colder she felt.
When they went out today, Gu Nian also put a small coat and a thick down vest on Lotus. The temperature in the wilderness was lower than in the city. Although Lotus was a supernatural creature, she was still worried that Lotus would catch a cold. As soon as they entered the valley, Lotus was so cold that she slipped into Gu Nian's clothes, with only two eyes sticking out from the collar.
Gu Nian raised her wrist and checked the wrist-worn thermometer. The pointer, which had been stable at minus 60 degrees, deviated 10 degrees and pointed to minus 70 degrees. Gu Nian noticed that thin ice crystals had appeared on the ground.
The temperature here is lower than outside. Gu Nian thought, if the analysis on the forum is correct, the colder the place, the higher the concentration of spiritual energy, and such places are prone to more powerful mutant plants and animals... Thinking of the unaccounted Wood Spirit Crystal, Gu Nian quickly made up his mind to explore the depths of the valley.
She walked into the valley and a strange tree appeared in her field of vision.
The tree is about thirty meters tall, with branches extending out to a full ten meters wide. In this valley, it looks like a tree-shaped giant. The shape of the tree vaguely looks like a pine tree, and the whole tree is covered with thick frost. With the roots as the center, the area within ten meters is full of ice and snow, which then gradually turns into light ice crystals and spreads out.
Gu Nian paused, stopping a hundred meters away from the mutant pine. He looked at the mutant pine cautiously. Although the mutant pine stood quietly like other plants, looking beautiful and harmless, Gu Nian did not dare to take it lightly. After the cold fog, although the plants grew wildly as if stimulated, the mutant plants with aggressiveness were far rarer than the mutant beasts. However, the attack ability of these rare mutant plants was no less than that of the mutant beasts.
Gu Nian nocked the arrow and shot it slowly towards the tree trunk. She wanted to test the attack method of this mutant pine tree first.
The arrow flew straight towards the mutant pine, getting closer and closer to the target, eighty meters, sixty meters, fifty meters...
The mutant loosened, and the tree twisted incredibly, waving its branches like a human hand. Pine cones covered with thick ice and snow shot out like hail, trying to shoot down the arrow. Under the cover of ice and snow, the arrow was shot down and fell directly in front of the mutant pine several meters away.
Gu Nian was not in a hurry. She raised her hand and took three arrows and continued to shoot. This time she did not hold back. She pulled the bowstring to its full strength and shot the arrows again, much faster than last time. The mutant pine tree also shot out pine cones again, blocking two arrows. Then another arrow penetrated the defense line and went straight to the mutant pine tree. It was about to be nailed to the tree trunk, but at this time, one of the main branches of the mutant tree suddenly twisted, and it opened the arrow like a human hand.
The arrow bounced off, and although it shot down most of the branches and leaves of the main branch, it failed to damage the trunk.
Gu Nian began to take this opponent seriously. This mutant pine tree should not be underestimated. Although it is a plant with immovable roots, it may be more difficult to deal with than a giant python.
Gu Nian was thinking about how to attack, but suddenly there was a messy sound of footsteps behind him. Gu Nian turned around abruptly and aimed his bow and arrow at the person behind him. In the wilderness, sometimes people are more terrifying than mutant plants and animals.
There were two men coming, dressed like wilderness hunters. The one on the left had a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, wearing a assault suit, holding a long knife and carrying a submachine gun, while the one on the left was a sturdy man holding a shield and a short knife on his waist.
As soon as Ke Gui and Da Jian entered the valley, they were a little surprised. There was someone in this remote valley? Which old rival was coming to kill this mutant pine tree? He looked carefully and saw that the person was wearing mountaineering clothes, a mask and goggles. He couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, but judging by his stature, he looked more like a woman.
A newcomer whom I have never seen before. Ke Gui frowned. Although he did not know the other party's background, he was not worried at all. In this wilderness, who did not know Ke Gui? "Hey, don't you know the rules? We two brothers have occupied this land a long time ago. You should give up this mutant pine tree and go back to the camp."
As he said this, Ke Gui raised his long sword vaguely, and Da Jian also raised his weapon in a demonstrative manner.
Gu Nian asked coldly, "I've never heard of the wilderness being divided into different groups. First come, first served, this is the rule of the camp." Gu Nian also saw a few rules on the back of the official map, the first of which was: If someone is hunting mutant plants and animals, other people cannot attack or kill them without this person's active invitation. I think these rules were made to avoid fights between hunters.
Ke Gui could hardly believe his ears. He laughed without any scruples and looked at Gu Nian with ill intent: "So you're a woman. No wonder you're so naive! Go home quickly. The wilderness is not a place for women. There is only one rule here: whoever has the biggest fist is the rule!"
After saying this, Ke Gui saw that the woman seemed to be scared and left silently along the mountain path. Tsk, women are just timid. Ke Gui immediately regretted it. He thought that this was a newcomer who didn't know the limits of the situation. It was better to scare this person away. He didn't expect that the other party would give in so easily. He should have asked this newcomer to hand over something before leaving, which could be regarded as tuition for her to learn the rules of the wilderness.
Unfortunately, the newcomer was walking backwards when he left, with the bow and arrow in his hand ready to attack at any time. Ke Gui was somewhat afraid, after all, he was still planning to take down the mutant pine. If a conflict occurred at this time, the team would be in trouble if they got injured. So he silently let the newcomer leave.
After everyone left, Ke Gui looked serious and ordered, "Dajian, you hold the shield in the front, I will lead the attack, let's go."
Dajian nodded, holding the shield in his right hand, and carefully began to approach the mutant pine, holding a short knife in his left hand. His shield was one meter high and half a meter wide, with a thick shield body, which showed excellent protective power.
The two of them moved forward and soon shortened the distance with the mutant pine. At this moment, pine cones carrying ice and snow rushed towards them like cannonballs!
Dajian's face changed and he quickly put up his shield, while Ke Gui also hid behind Dajian. The pine cones hit the shield and soon left shallow pits. Half of Dajian's arm was numb from the shock, but he still withstood the pressure and moved forward with difficulty.
Ke Gui picked up his submachine gun and quickly fired at the roots of the mutant pine tree. The mutant pine tree, which had been standing quietly just now, immediately waved its branches to block the bullets. The bullets penetrated the pine branches, but unfortunately the bullets were too small and could not tear open the leaves even with the impact.
However, the rain of bullets went straight to the roots of the tree, and the mutant pine also retracted its branches to resist, so it naturally could no longer shoot out pine cones. The pressure on Dajian and Ke Gui was greatly reduced. One of them fired with a gun while the other held a shield and took the opportunity to quickly approach the mutant pine!
Ke Gui frowned secretly. It seemed that the guns could only suppress the mutant pine at most, but it was difficult to cause effective damage to the mutant pine. He could only wait until he got close to the mutant pine before engaging in close combat. As long as the roots were cut off, no matter how powerful the mutant pine was, it would not be able to escape being chopped into firewood.
As the distance was getting closer, Ke Gui's magazines were all used up. He retracted his submachine gun and drew his sword with a raise of his hand. He was originally a master of Jiangcheng Wushu Team. People who learned ancient martial arts were rare in this era, but Ke Gui had been learning martial arts since he was a child. After the cold fog, he embarked on the road of evolution. He was even more powerful when using a sword, and soon became famous among the wilderness hunters in Jiangcheng.
Just when the two of them were ten meters away from the mutant pine, almost in an instant, snowflakes began to float all over the sky!
Where did the snowflakes come from? They were clearly pine needles covered with ice crystals. The needles fell like rain, quickly covering the ten-meter distance. Ke Gui and Da Jian were trapped in the middle of it, as if they were falling into an ice cave. Their bodies were losing temperature at an alarming rate, and their reaction speed was inevitably affected.
It's over. I underestimated this mutant pine! It's far more terrifying than the mutant beast! Ke Gui's heart sank, knowing that he had made a big mistake in his judgment. He was about to tell Da Jian to retreat, but he heard Da Jian scream.
At some point, a soft pine branch bypassed the shield and knocked Dajian to the ground!
Ke Gui was horrified and rushed to rescue him. Even at the risk of getting injured, he quickly helped Da Jian up. He saw that Da Jian's clothes were torn and a large amount of blood was oozing out. In such a low temperature environment, he could not hold on for long and he had to be sent out quickly. However, at this time, tree roots and pine branches kept attacking him, so Ke Gui had to draw his knife and chop at the pine branches.
For the first time, Ke Gui felt fear. If he were to escape on his own now, it would be possible, but in that case, Da Jian would definitely be implicated. The two had been classmates since childhood, and after the natural disaster, they teamed up to become wilderness hunters... At this moment, Ke Gui had only regret in his heart. Today, he heard from a returning wilderness hunter that there was a mutant pine here, but he couldn't take it down due to its strong attack. He was greedy for the high price of the Wood Spirit Crystal, and was worried that someone would kill the mutant pine first and take it away, so he hurried here with Da Jian, but he didn't expect that the mutant pine had such a high attack power!
Da Jian tried to stand up, gritted his teeth and used both hands to pick up the shield with trembling hands. "You go first! Go outside and call someone!"
Ke Gui knew that Da Jian was just saying that. Where could he find someone to help him in the wilderness? Even if he was lucky enough to meet a familiar hunter nearby, he would only be able to collect Da Jian's body when he arrived.
Suddenly, Ke Gui heard footsteps. He turned sideways and looked around with the corner of his eye. He saw that the woman who had just left had quietly appeared behind him. Ke Gui felt cold in his heart. Was this woman here to take revenge? Wasn't it like there were wolves in front and tigers and leopards behind?
Just as he was distracted, a pine branch quickly hit Ke Gui again, and the sound of wind blew on Ke Gui's cheek. Just as he was about to be injured, a sharp and heavy arrow came through the air and hit the pine tree, passing through the roots and nailing the pine branch into the snow.
Gu Nian did not walk far. She held her breath and climbed up a tall tree on the mountain path like a clever cat, observing the battle through a telescope. After finally finding a mutant plant, how could she be willing to retreat? Gu Nian planned to observe the skills of these two people. If they were really good, it would be fine. But if they were injured when they took down the mutant pine, then Gu Nian would naturally not mind taking the mutant pine back from these two people.
She waited patiently. When the two of them were entangled in the branches of the mutant pine, she shot an arrow and stopped the mutant pine's attack.
After the arrow was shot, Ke Gui immediately realized that the woman was an expert. The weight of an arrow is much greater than that of a bullet, and it has greater kinetic energy at a short distance, causing more lacerations and penetrating power. This is why many hunters still use bows and arrows to hunt. However, such bows and arrows require extremely high arm strength. Ke Gui also recognized that the arrow used by the woman to penetrate the pine branches was a special armor-piercing arrow, which was expensive and powerful.
However, after that arrow was shot, no more arrows came. Ke Gui had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue to fight with the pine branches, and from time to time he had to protect the injured Da Jian beside him. Occasionally, when he was about to be completely defeated by the mutant pine, another arrow would be shot steadily, giving him a little breathing space, and then it would be silent again.
Ke Gui understood that the woman didn't want him to be consumed to death by the mutant pine, but she also didn't want him to escape.
But Ke Gui had no choice. He didn't want to die, nor did he want to give up Dajian.
Time passed quickly. Ke Gui had completely fallen down, and even the long sword could only be thrown aside. His body was covered in blood. Da Jian was more seriously injured than him and had lost his ability to move. The mutant pine tree was completely motionless, and its branches were chopped off by Ke Gui's long sword. Most of the roots were split apart, and the trunk was covered with charred marks. These were the explosion injuries caused by the woman's last series of burning arrows.
Thinking of the burning arrow that was like a flaming meteor, whistling towards him with a long trail of thick smoke, Ke Gui felt a little scared.
"Throw away the gun." The woman said to Ke Gui from a distance, pulling the bow.
Ke Gui smiled bitterly, resigned to his fate, and threw the gun away with his last bit of strength. He had no more bullets, but even if he said so, the woman would not believe him. The situation was stronger than him, so he had to do as he was told.
Gu Nian walked over cautiously and confiscated the guns, long swords, and the shield. After thinking for a while, she found a rope and tied Ke Gui and Da Jian's hands behind their backs. Then she approached the mutant pine and chopped at the roots several times. The mutant pine fell down completely and hit the ground heavily.
At the broken tree root, a lustrous green crystal as big as a chicken egg was exposed. Gu Nian finally got the Wood Spirit Crystal and quickly reached out to take it out. The trunk of the mutant pine also attracted her attention. The outer layer of the trunk still had the texture of ordinary wood, but the circle of wood in the middle was shining like ice crystals. What was this?
Gu Nian simply used the long knife as a chopping knife, peeled off the bark of the mutant tree trunk, split the outer layer of wood, took out the circle of wood in the middle of the trunk, split it into several pieces, tied them together with ropes, and built a tall pile of wood.
At this moment, Lotus secretly poked her head out from her collar, patted her cheek, and pointed her little paws behind the tree roots.
Gu Nian looked in the direction that the lotus finger pointed. There was a small grass, no more than 20 to 30 centimeters high, with clusters of bell-like flowers hanging on it. Inside the bells, it seemed that he could see something like jade.
Gu Nian never expected to find this magical medicine next to the mutant pine. She hurried over and found it was exactly the same as Lianhua had described. She gently took out a few jade beads from the middle of the bell-like flower. These were the seeds of the balsam, which were also used as medicine.
Gu Nian quickly collected the bone balsam, then carefully dug out a plant with its roots and stuffed it into her backpack. She wanted to go back and try to see if she could transplant it to the farmland.
Seeing Gu Nian collecting the spoils, especially the precious wood spirit crystal, Ke Gui was filled with hatred. That was the mutant pine tree that he and Da Jian had worked so hard to kill. The two brothers were covered in wounds, but in the end, they were making wedding clothes for this woman! Damn it!
Seeing the woman throwing away his and Da Jian's weapons, playing with the beautiful and expensive Wood Spirit Crystal in one hand and pulling the pile of mutant pine wood with the other hand, Ke Gui couldn't help but shout, "Hey, be reasonable and leave some for me, please?"
Gu Nian glanced at him in confusion: "There is only one rule in the wilderness."
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Gu Nian pulled the pile of pine wood and found a secluded cave. After making sure that there was no one around, she reached out and put the pile of pine wood into the farm space. Then she took Lianhua and quickly rushed to the camp.
It was getting late, she had to get back before dark, the wilderness at night was full of dangers.
There was no need to stop around to look for medicine, and the journey back was much faster. Gu Nian soon saw the shadow of the camp again, and she went straight to the official recycling point.
The man with the artificial eye was stunned when he saw her: "Oh, you're back?"
Gu Nian nodded, opened his backpack, and placed the collected mutant plants one by one in front of the uncle with the artificial eye.
The man with the artificial eye straightened his face and carefully checked and counted. "Five spotted orchids, 200 credit points each, two blue-green and white-green lilies, 200 credit points each, six dragon blood vines, 200 credit points each... 2,000 credit points in total. Is this price okay?"
Gu Nian said, "Deal."
The man with the artificial eye swiped 2,000 credit points on the card machine. Gu Nian took out his cell phone and put it aside, and the account showed that it was received.
The man with the artificial eye felt that he had made a mistake. He originally thought that this woman was just a random newcomer, but how could a newcomer earn 2,000 credit points in a day? At least this person must be proficient in pharmacology and good at identifying herbs.
You have to know that in the entire camp, there are only a handful of people who can easily earn 2,000 credit points a day by collecting mutant plants that can be used as herbs. In the eyes of most wilderness hunters, what is the difference between these mutant plants and herbs and the flowers and grass on the street? They don't understand the growth environment of herbs, not to mention that many of them are new species that appeared after the natural disaster, which makes them even more difficult to find.
Many wilderness hunters stared at the plants one by one, thinking they had found the right herbs, but when they finally brought them back to the uncle with artificial eyes for identification, they found that they were all just ordinary plants... Such sad stories happened frequently, and the reason why they have become less common recently is that most mutant hunters have given up gathering and focused on hunting mutant beasts in exchange for credit points. Because of this, the uncle with artificial eyes guarding this recycling point has the biggest headache of recycling herbs.
The uncle with artificial eyes decided to take care of this newcomer. After all, he had to meet business targets when he opened a recycling point! Because he always failed to collect enough herbs, his salary was always deducted... Although there was a natural disaster, the fate of the poor worker remained the same.
The uncle with the artificial eye smiled at Gu Nian, but there was a hideous scar on his face. When he smiled, the scar wrinkled together, which was more frightening than not smiling. He said to Gu Nian politely: "I'll give you a communicator. You can communicate within a thousand meters in the wilderness, but it will be ineffective beyond a thousand meters. It's a new gadget from Noah Research Institute. If you dig up herbs in the future, come to me to recycle them. If you have never seen a plant before, even if it is not in the credit point exchange manual, you can sell it to me. I will charge a high price for it."
Feeling the change in the uncle's attitude, Gu Nian thought to herself, as expected, in this world, strength is the only way to win respect. She didn't say much, just nodded and left.
Gu Nian hurried all the way and finally left the wilderness, re-entered Jiangcheng, and returned to his villa.
Lotus quickly got out of Gu Nian's clothes, "Lotus is so suffocated..." Before leaving, Gu Nian reminded Lotus that she must not speak if there are other people around. Although there are many kinds of mutant beasts now, there is no one who can speak human language. Gu Nian does not want Lotus to be captured for research.
This trip to the wilderness yielded a lot of gains. Gu Nian took out the translucent green wood spirit crystal, and his tired body couldn't help but perk up again. The ingredients for the body-quenching soup were already complete!
She brought the lotus to the farm kitchen.
"Ding, a level 2 Wood Spirit Crystal is detected. Do you want to put it in your backpack? Yes/No."
Level 2 Wood Spirit Crystal? Gu Nian was stunned. This was the first time she learned from the system that Spirit Crystals also had to be graded?
"Meow~ The spiritual energy in this stone is so abundant~ If the master wants to make body-quenching soup, you can add two portions of other ingredients~" Lotus also came over curiously, and while Gu Nian was not paying attention, it secretly licked a bite of the wood spirit crystal.
"Make two?" Gu Nian asked Lianhua carefully. From Lianhua's confusing words, she gradually sorted out the information. The spiritual energy of this wood spirit crystal is more powerful than the previous spirit crystals. If it is made into a body-quenching soup, the medicinal effect will be enhanced. However, when used accordingly, the pain caused by the body-quenching will also double, so it can be directly made into two body-quenching soups.
No wonder the mutant pine is so powerful. Judging from the spirit crystal, it seems to be a higher-level mutant plant... The spirit crystals I got before seemed to be ordinary level one spirit crystals. I just wonder if there will be a way to grade mutant plants and animals in the future? Gu Nian thought.
Although he was thinking this, Gu Nian's hands were not slow, and he clicked on the recipe of the body-tempering soup on the light screen.
All the ingredients have been laid out on the table, and Gu Nian is about to start preparing the body-quenching soup.
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