Chapter 49: The Rescue Mission

“Liuliu, can we plant muskmelon seeds in the farmland?”
“The farmland has high requirements for the seeds you plant there. Generally speaking, you can’t. But if you encounter something in the wild that’s relatively common, the system will generate corresponding seeds for you to purchase.”
“That’s how I got wild strawberry seeds. If I spend silver to buy wild strawberries to plant, will the fruits taste really good?”
“You can give it a try.”
“I’ll do it when I have some spare money.”

In modern times, Yun Qing only ate the flesh of melons and fruits, never touching the pulp wrapped around the seeds. But now, under these limited conditions, even the pulp after eating the flesh is a valuable thing. More importantly, she wanted to see if the muskmelon seeds could be sown in the farmland.

After some testing, she was disappointed—none of these seeds were viable.

The good news was that the farmland shop had muskmelon seeds for sale, two taels of silver each.

Yun Qing bought two muskmelon seeds and planted them in the farmland. Unlike every sapling, which required nine plots, each muskmelon only needed two plots.

The muskmelons matured in six hours, just like the trees.

She still hadn’t planted wild strawberries; after all, the fruits were too small. Even if the taste improved, they wouldn’t solve her hunger or thirst.

When she left the cave dwelling, the moon had already set without her noticing, and the sun had yet to rise. It was that darkest moment before dawn.

The low-grade crafting machine had finished making a simple wooden cabinet. Placing it inside the wooden house made the space even more cramped.

The simple wooden cabinet had twelve compartments, like an extension of the system backpack. She could store infrequently used items inside, but while outside the cave dwelling, she couldn’t retrieve anything from the cabinet within.

Storing less-used items in the simple wooden cabinet gave her system backpack much more room.

After finishing all this, she lay down on the simple wooden bed, closed her eyes to rest, and started planning her next steps.

She needed to chop more trees, make more floorboards and wooden walls, and prepare to expand the wooden house. Grinding crafting experience wouldn’t hurt, either.

She needed to dig up more contaminated resources and convert more energy, so she could spend more time in the cave dwelling and be ready to exchange for more silver.

Speaking of which, she really hoped she could level up to 31 soon—then she’d be able to gather those contaminated resources barehanded.

Level 31 might just be the acquired stage. Then she could channel internal energy, spar with other martial artists at that stage, and even break through the defenses of soul corpses.

After lying in bed for half an hour, her spirit and energy fully recovered. She left the cave dwelling again. The sky was just beginning to brighten—an excellent time to gather resources.

Yun Qing didn’t let a single easily-dug medicinal herb slip by, nor did she miss any tree she could fell. When hungry, she ate roasted potatoes with wild strawberries; when tired, she returned to the cave dwelling to recover her energy on the bed, occasionally enjoying a muskmelon to improve her meals.

By noon, Yun Qing’s system backpack was once again packed to the brim. The energy converter was running, and she placed contaminated resources into it to convert more energy.

Her gathering experience had also increased by one level after collecting so much wood; her gathering skill was now at level 22.

Currently, she had 110 logs stashed in her backpack, while the low-grade crafting machine was still producing two more simple wooden cabinets.

Indeed, furniture wasn’t unique—she could have as many simple wooden cabinets as she could find space for, expanding her storage capacity with ease.

The roasted potatoes in her system backpack were running low. Normally, she would keep a three-day supply, but these past two days, her exertion had increased, and her hunger grew quickly. What was supposed to last three days only lasted a day and a half.

She was out of satiating food—not to the point of starving, but all that remained were some tasteless wild greens and wild strawberries.

There was pork belly, game, seasonings, charcoal, and flint in her backpack; what she needed now was to find a safe place to cook her food.

Looking into the distance, a cluster of buildings caught Yun Qing’s attention.

She was certain that wasn’t the direction of Leaf Family Village. Gathering herbs as she went, she drew closer to the buildings.

About a quarter mile away, Yun Qing could see clearly—those structures were all crumbling ruins, seemingly abandoned for a long time. Judging by their layout, it looked like a village.

Could it be a village once swallowed by the night?

Black miasma shrouded the village, and faintly, the roars of soul corpses echoed.

There were soul corpses, and not just one. Yun Qing said, “Liuliu, this place is dangerous. Let’s get out of here!”

No sooner had she spoken than the system popped up a quest:

“Rescue the villagers. Four villagers are trapped within a horde of soul corpses. Please locate and rescue them. Countdown: 1 day, 11 hours, 59 minutes, 27 seconds.”

Seeing this quest, Yun Qing was speechless. Rescue the villagers? At her current level 20, she doubted she had the strength to save anyone from a horde of soul corpses.

She looked at the black Labrador beside her. “Liuliu, aren’t you going to run?”

“This isn’t a dangerous instance for me. There’s no threat.”

“So, can I choose not to save them?”

“Of course, that’s your choice.”

“There’s still more than a day left. I can go back and inform the people of Leaf Family Village that some villagers are trapped here and see if they’re willing to come to the rescue.”

“If they’re rescued by others, you’ll receive no reward.”

“Without my life, rewards are meaningless.”

“But have you thought about this—why would rescuing these four villagers trigger a quest? Maybe one of them is important, someone who could increase your affection points.”

“Liuliu, are you trying to get me killed?”

Before Yun Qing could finish her conversation with Liuliu, she noticed something shrouded in black miasma rise up from the ground not far behind her. As soon as it stood, it sensed Yun Qing’s presence and started to chase her down.

“Roar!”

Soul corpse, level unknown.

A soul corpse blocked her retreat, and ahead lay the rescue mission among the ruins. It seemed she had no choice but to proceed.

She had been careful on her approach, checking her surroundings for any sign of soul corpses, but had seen nothing at the time. Now, as she ran toward the village, she couldn’t help but complain, “Liuliu, soul corpses can actually sleep lying down.”

Liuliu replied, “Don’t be surprised. They can sleep standing up too.”

Yun Qing was left speechless.

She wasn’t far from the village and, remembering to run in a straight line, managed to enter the village before the soul corpse behind could catch up. She also noticed messy footprints in the grass at the entrance—clearly, some villagers had come here not long ago.

There must be groups of soul corpses within the village. Yun Qing spotted a still-sturdy house, then used a jump skill to leap onto the roof.

Below, the soul corpse roared and tried to jump up, but its jumping ability was lacking, and its sonic attacks had little effect on her.

Large stones had considerable attack power but were hard to reclaim. Small stones were weaker. Yun Qing chose her new weapon—wood.

Though the logs she chopped weren’t as high quality as those from the farmland, their weight was similar. Each weighed over a hundred pounds, and as long as she handled them well, she could retrieve them after each attack.