Chapter 20 Firethorn Fruit
Next, all the scavengers in the tent, along with the two mercenaries in charge of the inspection, sat around and watched quietly as the man took out pine cones one by one from the burlap sack on the left side, and then used a cutting knife to cut the pine cones into strips about the thickness of a little finger.
The pine nuts from this mutated pine tree are each as big as a pecan, and usually you have to use a steel spoon to dig them out.
But Cui Dapeng was worried that he would miss out, so he insisted on cutting each pine cone into thin strips, which made everyone scoff.
"Wow! He's so patient. If he put that much effort into checking, he definitely wouldn't miss a single edible pine nut!"
"Heh, a fool wouldn't pass up a bargain, right? This Cui Dapeng usually relies on his mercenary brother to rob other people's gathering points all the time. Today he's thinking of getting a quarter of the reward after reporting him. Can't he be a little more careful?"
"I think he's just wasting his time. Instead of watching others, he should be thinking about which tree to choose this afternoon to get the most harvest."
Bored by the sight, some people couldn't help but whisper among themselves. Cui Dapeng had already cut down five pine cones but hadn't found a single pine nut, not even the shriveled ones without kernels.
Zuo Shan sneered inwardly. Pine nuts are so nutritious! When she was digging for pine nuts, her eyes were practically popping out of their sockets. How could there possibly be any that slipped through the net?
In fact, the other scavengers were in the same boat. After all, there would be no more than ten pine cones with moderate radiation that could be detected on a single pine tree. They would work hard all morning and barely be able to test one pine tree.
When digging for pine nuts, who isn't extremely careful?
Zuo Shan felt unlucky today. A total of five pine cones with moderate radiation and one with low radiation were detected. In the end, a total of 54 pine nuts were moderately radioactive, and only 6 were lowly radioactive.
The Ding brothers gave her a total of 25 pine cones. She was too embarrassed to ask how many pine cones they had dug up, but it must have been at least 300.
What she didn't know was that there were no more than five scavengers who had tested positive for low-level radiation pine cones, and the price of low-radiation pine cones was at least 500 times that of medium-radiation ones, and they were the kind that were in high demand but not available.
When Cui Dapeng cut the 15th pine cone, his hands started to tremble.
There were four sacks in total, filled with at most thirty or so pine cones. He had already cut them in half, but hadn't found a single pine nut that had slipped through the net.
But now he was in a bind, and he could only grit his teeth and continue.
Finally, he finished cutting the last pine cone and collapsed to the ground, his body limp.
The two mercenaries ruthlessly changed the name on the vacuum bag containing half of his earnings to Zuo Shan's name and added Cui Dapeng's name to the Flying Tiger Mercenary Group's blacklist.
Cui Dapeng lay on the ground, clutching his head and wailing loudly, but no one showed him any sympathy.
The two mercenaries began inspecting the pine nuts in the backpack handed over by Zuo Shan. They were using a detector that resembled a photocopier, the same kind they had seen in the exchange hall, which could test twenty pine nuts at a time.
When they saw the detector automatically sort out six low-radiation pine nuts, their eyes lit up.
These were the only low-radiation pine nuts in the tent they inspected, and there were a full six of them!
They have carried out countless missions and know that many times it is impossible to find a single low-radiation pine cone on an entire pine tree, and the number of pine nuts produced from low-radiation pine cones is even smaller.
Getting three is considered lucky, but this girl got six at once!
Both are low-radiation foods, but pine nuts are much more expensive than alfalfa leaves, since one is a high-energy, high-nutrient nut, while the other is a wild vegetable leaf.
To protect the safety of scavengers, mercenaries keep the detection of low-radiation food a secret, fearing that other scavengers might take risks for profit.
Of these six low-radiation pine nuts, the mercenary group will take half, and the remaining three will be sealed in the personal vacuum bag on the left side.
Zuo Shan noticed that they had even taken notes, which greatly increased his trust in the mercenary group. Thinking about it, it made sense; for scavengers, a few hundred or a thousand silver coins might just be pocket change in the eyes of these mercenaries.
Classes always exist, no matter where you are. She is now a typical proletarian, still in abject poverty, while those mercenaries should have already escaped poverty. If not yet in a comfortable life, they should at least be able to make ends meet.
While Zuo Shan was secretly envying the mercenary in front of her, Jia Yiming was also secretly envying her good luck.
This girl was participating in their group's scavenging mission for the first time today. She first won half of the spoils from Cui Dapeng, who had falsely accused her, and now she had obtained three low-radiation pine nuts. Each pine nut could be exchanged for at least 500 silver coins at the exchange hall.
If he had that kind of luck, why would he risk his life as a mercenary? He could just go out gathering with the mercenary group every time.
His monthly allowance is only 3,000 silver coins, and the rest can only be earned from commissions earned during missions.
However, every time they go on a mission, they need to spend money to buy weapons and equipment, clear out the mutated beasts in advance, and then they can bring the scavengers to collect resources.
Half of the remuneration received, after deducting expenses, was turned over to the group as a reserve fund, which was used to purchase large weapons and equipment or to pay for the medical expenses of seriously wounded patients.
For example, in this mission, the final commission each person can receive will definitely not exceed 1,000 silver coins, which is less than what this little girl Zuo Shan earned today.
Completely unaware that she was being envied, Zuo Shan was currently torn between selling the three low-radiation pine nuts and keeping them to supplement her and her baby's nutrition.
This is a real dilemma. God, why does a poor person always have to face such a difficult choice?
To get rid of this dilemma, Zuo Shan decided to keep working hard this afternoon. If he was lucky enough to find another low-radiation pine cone, he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. He could sell half and eat the other half.
The scorching sun finally moved away from overhead, and all the scavengers roused themselves and began their busy work again.
Zuo Shan decided to go check the tree she had tested that morning. Mao Li sensed a shrub with a potential wood spirit core, which had an energy value of 15 points. Although it was buried a bit deep, she still couldn't bear to give up.
She decided to make a cut first, just in case the bush had low-radiation leaves, it would be a bonus.
Following the direction indicated by the chestnut, she walked to the front of the bush. She had only glanced at it briefly before and hadn't really seen what its leaves looked like. But now, looking at it closely, oh my god!
It turned out to be a firethorn!
I recognized it because its leaves are obovate with blunt serrations along the edges, the tips of which curve inward.
Its fruit is bright red, and its branches are covered with sharp thorns, which is very similar to the firethorn bonsai they keep on their balcony, only a larger version.
The fruit in her pot was only the size of a pea, and it grew in clusters, ranging from a dozen to several dozen fruits.
The red fruit on this plant is as big as a longan, but unfortunately there are only two fruits, and one of them has been bitten in half.
Both fruits were wilted and almost completely dried out; they were probably the last ones that had slipped through the net and been overlooked by the mutated animals.
The moment Zuo Shan recognized the firethorn berries, her heart pounded, and for the first time, she felt the urge to plant them.
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