The hottest topic in the safe zone right now was about the crystals found inside zombie brains.
Just yesterday afternoon, the safe zone issued a temporary notice, announcing they would trade supplies in exchange for these crystals. Anyone could exchange crystals for food—there was no limit to how many you could trade.
Ten crystals, each the size of a pinky nail, could be exchanged for a pound of rice.
To Ruan Ning, who knew the truth, this exchange rate was incredibly low.
But for others, this news felt like a blessing from the heavens. No one could have predicted that something previously overlooked could be worth so much food.
Currently, the safe zone only provided one free meal per day, which wasn’t enough to stave off hunger. With this new opportunity to earn extra food, it was no surprise that people were eager to take advantage.
The promise of high rewards was enough to convince even ordinary people to risk their lives and leave the safety of the zone to dig for these crystals.
Of course, a few smart individuals noticed something wasn’t quite right. They chose not to sell their crystals to the safe zone and kept them for themselves instead.
But such people were the minority. In the post-apocalyptic world, the priority was survival. Immediate hunger left little room for long-term planning.
At the entrance of the safe zone, Ruan Ning and her group had just arrived, waiting for the guards to let them through.
On their way here, all they had heard survivors talking about was the crystal news. Outside the gate, there were several people standing around, debating whether or not to leave the safe zone to hunt for these crystals.
“I heard you can really exchange those things from zombie brains for food? Isn’t that just a prank?” someone asked, skeptical.
“Brother, this was officially announced by the safe zone itself. How could it be fake? Just this morning, I saw someone trade enough crystals to get a week’s worth of food,” another person standing nearby explained.
“For real? This sounds too good to be true!” The person who had asked was still hesitant, though clearly tempted, with a gleam of interest in their eyes.
Another person chimed in, “Wake up, will you? It’s not as easy to trade crystals for food now.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t they say they’d take however many we bring?”
“They did say that. But from yesterday afternoon to this morning, the area near the safe zone has already been picked clean of zombies with intact crystals. You won’t find a single corpse with a crystal left in it. If you were planning to just scoop up what’s left, forget it. Now, if you’re going out to actually kill zombies, that’s different… But man, I missed my chance. I should have picked up more of these things when I was outside the safe zone.”
As usual, some were excited, while others were disappointed. Many regretted not checking the zombies’ heads sooner after learning what these crystals were.
…
Compared to the others, Ruan Ning and her group remained much calmer. After all, they had known about the crystals long before anyone else and were well aware of their true purpose and why the safe zone was willing to spend so many resources to buy them.
The day before, the conversation between Gu Yicheng and Xue Chen had centred around the crystals, and Gu Yicheng had casually handed over the bag of crystals that Ruan Ning had refused to accept.
Xue Chen trusted Gu Yicheng’s judgment completely. That night, he experimented with the crystals following Gu Yicheng’s advice and found they were indeed effective, showing significant results. Afterward, he had the team’s fire ability user, Xie Fei, use some crystals to upgrade his abilities as well.
Naturally, Xue Chen didn’t leave Ruan Ning out of this process.
When Ruan Ning received the half-bag of crystals from Xue Chen, she was still a bit dazed. She hadn’t expected that the same crystals Gu Yicheng had tried to give her would eventually make their way back to her hands.
Initially, when Gu Yicheng had offered her such a large number of crystals, she had refused out of guilt and concern that he had ulterior motives. But now, seeing that the other two ability users in the squad had also accepted crystals, her worries were alleviated, and she had no reason to refuse anymore.
As Ruan Ning stood there, hearing people around her discuss crystals, she couldn’t help but glance over at Gu Yicheng.
Their departure date had been set for today, but before they headed for City B, they had one last stop to make.
While they had almost everything they needed for the journey, there was one crucial item left—fuel.
Traveling all the way to the capital on foot was not feasible. Driving was their best option, but to drive, they needed gasoline. Gasoline was nearly impossible to trade for within the safe zone, especially in the quantities they needed for such a long trip. That meant they had to find their own supply.
Without space storage, they would have had to collect gasoline along the way. But now, with Ruan Ning’s space ability, they could aim for a bigger haul.
Xue Chen had managed to gather some insider information. Five kilometres outside the safe zone, there was a gas station. On the day the apocalypse broke out, a tanker truck had been parked there, and there was a good chance that it was still there now.
Their plan? Have Ruan Ning store as much gasoline as possible from that tanker truck.
Ruan Ning, of course, had a better idea. She could easily store the entire tanker truck if they wanted, or even a few more if needed.
“Ruan Ning, come ride with us,” Gu Yicheng called out as they were preparing to leave.
Ruan Ning had been about to get into the squad’s vehicle when she heard Gu Yicheng’s voice, summoning her over.
The SUV Gu Yicheng and his team were driving had been modified. It looked unremarkable from the outside but was sturdier and more durable than Xue Chen’s car. It could also carry more supplies.
With the siblings traveling together, Xue Chen naturally had no objections. Besides, Ruan Ning was now the one holding most of the team’s supplies, so she needed to be in the safest vehicle. He quickly agreed, helping her move her backpack to Gu Yicheng’s car.
Ruan Ning, feeling like she had no say in the matter, was left standing there, speechless.
As the car slowly left the safe zone, Ruan Ning turned around to take one last look at it.
She had spent some time here, and now that they were leaving, she couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental.
After all, it was unlikely that they would ever return.
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