Stirring Things Up in the Wasteland 81

Chapter 81

Visibly, the spiritual energy gathered at the stone monument, and the small, glowing ball of light slowly formed, then flew towards Song Xun, whimpering.

Song Xun dodged.

The small ball of light, having missed, floated in the air, glaring at her fiercely. Well, if it had eyes.

“Why did it take you so long to wake me up? Do you know how long I was unconscious?”

Song Xun was very innocent. “How was I supposed to know you were just gone? And besides, how was I supposed to know you would disappear if the space had no spiritual energy?”

“I’ve told you so many times, so many times. But did you listen to me?”

The small ball of light bristled, no, it glowed.

It was like setting off fireworks in the space, crackling and hissing. But unfortunately, the space only had daytime, no night, so it wasn’t very pretty.

Song Xun clicked her tongue, surprised. “Is that so? Did you tell me? I don’t remember. You must not have said anything. If you had, would I not have done it? I wasted so much time looking for you.”

What they call a villain suing first, what they call turning the tables, this was it. Even though it didn’t quite understand human subtleties, the little ball of light was not a fool. It was furious.

This was clearly shirking responsibility, clearly ignoring it. But even as it bounced up and down in anger, it was helpless against Song Xun.

Song Xun held it in, and then finally couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright, I won’t tease you. It was my oversight this time. It won’t happen again.”

With her apology, the little ball of light didn’t know what to say. After all, it was just a wisp of consciousness, unable to understand the complexities of human interaction. It was simple and pure.

“Alright, I forgive you. But you have to remember next time.”

It said it with a straight face. Song Xun nodded repeatedly, then got to the point. “Little Light, I still haven’t awakened my ability. Is it also because the space lacks spiritual energy? Or is there some other reason?”

“Ability?”

The small ball of light stopped in front of her, hovering in the air, seeming to understand the meaning of her words. It had a sudden realization. “You mean the power of evolution?”

That was another way to put it. Song Xun nodded.

“Isn’t that your own fault? It has nothing to do with the White Light Stone or me.”

The little ball of light’s words stunned her. “What do you mean? What do you mean, ‘my own fault’?”

“Is there something wrong with my body?”

But Song Xun clearly felt there was nothing wrong with her body. She was fine, very healthy, could eat, drink, fight, and cause trouble.

“You could say that.”

The little ball of light was very serious. Song Xun felt her heart pound, and an inexplicable frustration washed over her. “If you have something to say, just say it. Can you not be so roundabout?”

If it continued like this, she would start to suspect she had some terminal illness.

The little ball of light swayed. “That’s just how it is. Your body has been refined by the White Light Stone’s large capacity of spiritual energy, and has already reached a certain human limit. So, with the current level of spiritual energy outside, it’s not enough to change you or draw out the power within you.”

Song Xun frowned, but she quickly understood the meaning of these words. She was a little speechless. “So you’re saying, because my body is too good, and the current level of spiritual energy outside is far below its standard, it’s not enough to make me awaken an ability. Is that it?”

“That’s about it.”

The little ball of light swayed, then reformed its body and flew freely up and down.

“So can I assume that as long as I accumulate enough spiritual energy to meet my body’s needs, I can awaken my ability?”

The little ball of light nodded. “Most likely.”

Song Xun was silent for a moment, but she still didn’t quite understand. “Then why did my sister, and Shi Tou and Ji Chao, all awaken their abilities?”

“Because they have also been baptized by spiritual energy, so they can quickly merge with it and evolve the power of evolution, which is what you call an ability.”

The little ball of light answered her, “An ability is a mutated power evolved from the spiritual energy that descended upon the apocalypse. The so-called mutated animals and mutated plants are all the same.”

It was just that animals were more suitable for receiving spiritual energy, followed by plants, and then humans.

But whether it was an ability or a mutated animal or plant, in reality, they were all a form of evolution.

“They are different from you.”

The little ball of light said, “They can’t be compared. How can a stream be compared to an ocean?”

A stream is easily filled, but an ocean is not.

A stream’s power is ultimately limited, but an ocean can create waves, surging and drowning everything.

Song Xun was silent for a moment, her tightly furrowed brow finally relaxing. With an answer, she relaxed a little.

“So, I need to store more spiritual energy…”

And for now, there were only two choices to get more spiritual energy.

One was to wait for the apocalypse to worsen, and the concentration of spiritual energy would naturally increase. And the other…

“Crystal cores or spirit stones, is that it?”

“Yes.”

Song Xun nodded, understanding.

The following days were much simpler and calmer.

Other than the second day, when they didn’t go out to hunt mutated animals, and instead left Wang Qingyao, Chang Fei, Song Ye, and He Qing at home to watch the cubs, everyone else was out.

They drove the RV out of the base, and after more than three hours, they found a deserted, dilapidated building and began their butchering operation.

They couldn’t go without meat.

Fortunately, there was plenty of spare meat in the White Light Stone space. Not just what they had stored before, but also what they had caught at the farm, and even the meat from the animals they had raised and had given birth to during this period.

But too much was also a hassle. At least, killing and chopping was a big project.

It took a whole day. Song Xun, Shi Tou, and Ji Chao killed three pigs, one sheep, and one cow. After a simple butchering, Ji Tang and Chang Wan sorted and labeled the different parts.

They had wanted to have some braised bullfrogs, and Shi Tou was craving bullfrog hot pot again, but unfortunately, it was getting dark, and they didn’t have enough time, so they had to give up.

Maybe next time. And besides, even if they made it now, Wang Qingyao and He Qing couldn’t eat it. It would be too cruel for them.

Although they hadn’t gone out to hunt mutated animals that day, they were still very tired from all the work. Fortunately, although Chang Fei and Song Ye weren’t very good at cooking, under Wang Qingyao’s direction, they had managed to make some simple dishes.

The taste… was alright. At least it was edible.

But thinking about the bullfrog hot pot, Shi Tou still shed a few bitter tears.

After that, things got back on track. Those who were recovering recovered, those who were watching the house watched the house, and those who were out hunting mutated animals continued to hunt.

Perhaps because martial artists had a good physical constitution to begin with, and with the help of the spiritual water, He Qing’s body recovered very quickly.

In just half a month, she could already get out of bed and walk. She even wanted to go out and join the mutated animal hunting team, but Song Ye didn’t agree.

She knew she was strong, but she couldn’t push herself.

Among the group that had been rescued, He Qing’s injuries were the most serious. Half a month was already very fast, but she hadn’t fully recovered.

And especially now, the mutated animals were not like before. Not only were there more of them, and their reproductive ability was stronger, but perhaps because the concentration of spiritual energy was increasing and the disaster was getting worse, the rate of crystal core formation in the mutated animals was also increasing.

And this meant that their evolution was becoming more complete, and their attack power was getting stronger.

The crystal cores they had obtained in this half a month had already exceeded the total of the previous few months.

Although the fights were not easy, it wasn’t all bad. Chang Wan and Chang Fei had successively awakened their abilities.

Just like in her past life, Chang Wan had a water-type ability, and Chang Fei had a wind-type ability.

There was no change in that.

But, well, although they also took turns going out to hunt mutated animals, Ji Tang and Wang Qingyao had not yet awakened.

Similarly, neither had Song Xun.

That day, Chang Wan was so happy, she almost didn’t care that her leg had almost been torn off by a mutated black bear. But thinking that Song Xun and the other three still hadn’t had any movement, she forced herself to calm down.

Song Xun was speechless. There was no need.

After talking with the little ball of light, she didn’t really care that much anymore.

Even without an ability, her own strength was not weaker than most people, even in the ancient martial arts world. And besides, it wasn’t that she couldn’t awaken, it was just not the right time yet.

Seeing that she herself didn’t care, the others all breathed a sigh of relief and started chattering excitedly again.

He Qing was almost recovered, and the bullfrog hot pot Shi Tou had been dreaming of was also on the agenda. In the afternoon, Song Xun, Ji Tang, and the others brought the dogs back early. She took out over 20 bullfrogs from her space, put them in a basin, and killed and cleaned them.

Everyone pitched in. The beef and lamb rolls they had hoarded before were almost gone. This time, they didn’t plan on using them, but all fresh meat.

Paired with vegetables, various balls, and seafood, the spicy aroma filled the air.

But to accommodate He Qing and Wang Qingyao, who didn’t eat spicy food, they used a yin-yang pot, with one side spicy and the other a tomato broth.

The cubs were almost 4 years old. Having been nourished by the spiritual water all this time, their physical and intellectual development was far beyond that of ordinary children. Smelling the fragrant aroma, they didn’t even want to eat their usual egg custard and shrimp.

In the end, the tomato pot was almost a decoration, untouched.

Even Wang Qingyao, who didn’t eat much spicy food, went for the red, bubbling bullfrog pot.

He Qing loved it, and in this regard, she had a lot in common with Shi Tou. She wasn’t a very talkative person, but when it came to eating, she became exceptionally chatty.

She had been craving it for so long. Although Song Ye didn’t approve of her eating like this, she didn’t stop her.

Let her be reckless for once.

With so many things to do in the future, and being so busy, they didn’t know when they would be able to eat it next time.

On the third day after dinner, as expected, the news that there were crystal cores in the heads of mutated animals had spread widely.

With the increasing rate of crystal core formation, this situation was bound to happen sooner or later, not to mention the base’s pushing.

Although ordinary survivors didn’t know the use of crystal cores, when they accidentally opened the head of a mutated animal and saw the strange, evolved stone inside…

Other than the brainless, everyone would notice that this was unusual.

It wasn’t until the evening of the third day that Song Xun and the others learned that the base had officially announced the name of the crystal cores and their exchange rate.

Although they were divided into three grades, upper, middle, and lower, based on their appearance, even the lowest grade crystal core could be exchanged for an ridiculously high number of points.

This day had finally come.

Shi Tou was annoyed. If everyone knew about the existence of crystal cores, and with such a high exchange rate, the number of people going out to hunt mutated animals would surely increase.

It would definitely have an impact.

He thought for a moment and suggested, “Since the base can exchange points for crystal cores, why don’t we do the same? As long as we disguise our identities and trade with supplies, what do you think?”

Chang Fei directly vetoed it. “What’s the point? Isn’t that openly opposing the base?”

Although it was the apocalypse now, and there weren’t many investigative methods, he didn’t think the base really couldn’t find out. And then there would be endless trouble.

For example, where did the supplies come from?

Why did they know the secret of the crystal cores?

For them, although the crystal cores were very tempting, it was not a good thing to be in the spotlight like this.

Shi Tou was a little dejected. “Then we can only go out and fight.”

“Actually, Shi Tou’s suggestion is not impossible.”

Song Xun was thoughtful. Shi Tou’s eyes immediately lit up. “Big Sis…”

“But not now. Little Fei’s concerns are still right.”

Song Xun sighed. Maybe there would be such a day, but that would be when the secret of the crystal cores was no longer a secret, and there were more ability users, and it was exposed to everyone. Not now.

He Qing stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

This was the third time she had said this.

As she spoke, He Qing’s faint gaze fell on Song Ye. Song Ye hesitated for a moment, and in the end, she didn’t say no.

He Qing was not a delicate flower, nor was she a weakling.

In the end, under her faint gaze, Song Ye could only nod in agreement.

“Okay, let’s go together.”