Chapter 3 Struck It Rich
Seeing no one around, Reina quickly snapped the thistle in her hand, rolled it up, and stuffed it into her backpack.
Then she hurried back.
She only had 1 Energy left, and the stuff in her bag was too valuable to risk staying out in the wild. Hanging around would only lead to trouble.
But she hadn’t gone far when she heard a noisy group of footsteps running her way.
Reina’s heart tightened. She quickly hid behind a giant patch of grass.
Peeking through a gap in the leaves, she saw a group of people in rags sprinting toward the spot where she’d just been, like they’d just found some huge treasure.
Reina let out a quiet breath. After they went far enough away, she quickly left.
Eight years of surviving in the wild had taught her one thing: don’t chase the crowd, and don’t try to snatch anything from others, or you’ll die ugly.
Even on the way back, she had to stay careful. Anyone she passed might attack.
Reina moved carefully through the brush, her eyes always scanning the area.
Suddenly, a bony hand shot out from a bush and grabbed her backpack.
Reina was startled. She immediately slipped out of the backpack, spun around, and lunged. Her dagger stabbed straight into the attacker’s arm.
“Ah!” the man screamed and let go of the bag.
Reina grabbed her bag back and kicked him hard.
Her kick was strong. He was thin and weak. He flew backward.
When the sneak attack failed, he gave up right away. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he scrambled on all fours into a nearby thorn bush.
The thorns on those bushes were like steel needles, but he didn’t even care. He was desperate.
Reina wasn’t stupid enough to follow him. She snorted, grabbed her backpack, and left.
Stuff like this happened all the time. She’d dealt with it countless times over the last eight years.
She went from getting robbed to fighting back. Took her six or seven years.
Later, she awakened her ability. Her Physique got a boost. She used to be a weakling with 5 Physique and 3 Strength, but now she could take down an average man on her own.
But only average guys.
If she ran into other ability users, she still couldn’t fight them. Her Harvesting Ability was a support-type. All her attributes were lower than those of people with Strength or Speed Abilities.
Reina ran the whole way back. Even though she was out of breath, she didn’t dare stop to rest.
That was when she realized she urgently needed to improve her speed.
She had been lucky this time. The attacker was alone and starved.
If there had been two or three of them, she’d be toast.
About ten minutes later, she could finally see the buildings of the camp in the distance. Only then did she relax.
The courtyard was packed with people coming back from their own runs. She saw a few familiar faces but didn’t stop to chat. She went straight to her rented room.
She locked the door and took off her helmet and suit. The clothes underneath were already soaked.
After collapsing on the small bed for a long rest, she sat up and started thinking about how to sell the thistle in her bag.
Trading it to the camp wasn’t the best deal. But going back to the city just for this felt like even more trouble.
The return convoys weren’t safe either. Plenty of desperate criminals liked to rob trucks heading back to the city.
After all, everyone on those trucks was a “fat sheep” with a backpack full of loot.
Forget it. I’ll just trade it here.
Running around wastes precious time.
She wanted to level up as soon as possible. Without extra attribute points, she wasn’t safe.
Reina changed into dry clothes so she wouldn’t catch a cold.
Then she put her mask back on and grabbed her bag.
She went downstairs to the trading hall. After waiting in line for a while, it was her turn.
Each booth had partitions, like the glass booths at an ATM, to give people some privacy and security.
On the other side of the window sat a camp staff member.
Reina sat down and pulled out the nine bundles of shepherd’s purse. Altogether, it was about nine pounds—one pound each. She pushed them through the window.
The staff member stared at the perfectly organized bundles.
Who harvested edible plants this neatly? They looked like they came off a factory line. Unreal.
He ran a scanner over to check them one by one. Then he tore off a small leaf and tasted it. With a hint of jealousy, he said, “You got lucky.”
At this time of year, it was really hard to find so many tender leafy plants. Most mutant wild veggies were overgrown—tough, woody, and extremely bitter. Inedible.
Even if the Contamination Value were low, bitterness meant poison. Eat it, and you might die.
The greens Reina brought in weren’t bitter at all. It was fresh and tender, and the Contamination Value wasn’t high. Rare stuff.
Still, rarity didn’t matter when it came to the camp’s strict prices. The staff member took out a price list and checked the Contamination Value before quoting the price. “These are moderate contamination. Our buying price is 10 credits per pound.”
Reina clicked her tongue and asked, annoyed, “Then how many points is a nutrition bar here?”
She remembered that at the base, they’d pay 15 points a pound for moderate contamination greens; even the worst ones were 12 points. Here, they were basically taking a 30% cut.
“18 points,” the staff member replied.
Three points more expensive than the base.
Reina rubbed her forehead and waved her hand. “Got it. Just process it.”
“90 points total. Want them sent to your account?” the staff member asked.
Reina nodded. She held out her smartwatch to scan it, and 90 points were credited to her account.
Then she took out the thistle, still rolled into a big bundle, and placed it on the trading booth. “This is a Level 4 mutant thistle. How many points can I get for it?”
“Level 4 mutant thistle?”
The staff member’s eyes widened. He grabbed his scanner.
“It really is a Level 4 mutant thistle. Contamination Value is only 68?”
He got so excited he actually called a co-worker over to double-check. He didn’t want to make a mistake and give too many points—his salary definitely wouldn’t cover that.
After running the test again to make sure there wasn’t a mistake, the staff member gave a price. “Our camp buys Level 4 mutant herbs for 2 points per gram. Yours weighs 2,252 grams. Want to trade it?”
Wow. They cut the price by more than half.
“No way. That’s too low!” Reina grabbed the thistle back and started to walk away.
A guy who looked like a supervisor quickly stopped her. “Hey, don’t go! Sit down. No need to be so impatient. If you aren’t happy, we can talk about it.”
Reina sat back down and said coldly, “Talk about what? My thistle’s Contamination Value is 68. Moderate contamination. How can you use the high contamination price to fool me? You think I’m stupid?”
She had spent years in school; the value of mutant plants was basic knowledge in class.
Trying to trick her? Not happening.
The supervisor gave an awkward smile. “Sorry, sorry. Taylor is new and not familiar with the job yet. He quoted the wrong price. How about I handle the trade myself?”
He pushed Taylor aside and sat down. Smiling at Reina, he said, “A Level 4 mutant thistle with moderate contamination is indeed different from one with high contamination. Yours is good quality, so I’ll give you 6 points per gram. How does that sound?”
When Reina didn’t answer right away, the supervisor, Blake, added, “This is the highest price we can offer. It’s the same as the internal price at the base. Even if you bring it back there, you won’t get a better deal.”
Reina thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Fine. Deal.”
She handed the thistle back through the trading window.
Blake was thrilled but tried to play it cool while he finished the transaction.
A second later, Reina’s smartwatch showed 13,512 points added to her account.
Seeing that many points made Reina feel overjoyed.
Just one branch sold for this much. She’d be filthy rich if she could harvest the entire plant!
