Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Mo Ka Forest

Back in pocket space, Ling Mo organized her haul, storing ingredients neatly and setting aside Energy Rawstone in a dedicated box.

Looking at how full and lively her pocket space had become, she felt a quiet, steady satisfaction.

This must be what people meant by security.

When she harvested plants in the forest, she’d deliberately kept the roots intact whenever possible—just to see if she could transplant them.

One by one, she planted the rooted plants into soil, then arranged a ring of Waterwood Stone around them.

By the time she left pocket space again, the night had already passed.

Dawn was just breaking when a sharp, nauseating stink hit her.

She followed the smell and froze.

A massive pile of poop sat nearby like a warning marker.

Only then did she notice trampled plants around the area.

Ling Mo didn’t stay to admire it. She immediately left.

Right before she went, she glanced back, lifted a hand, and stored the entire pile into pocket space.

In the forest, weaker creatures did everything they could to hide their presence. But predators didn’t bother.

With no natural enemies, they had nothing to fear. They didn’t have to mask themselves.

The way lions marked territory with urine came to mind.

The forest was calm again—eerily so. Ling Mo was used to it by now, though she still found it strange that such an enormous forest seemed to have no birds at all.

She didn’t dwell on it. The world had plenty of secrets. Besides, they would leave when the game ended. It wasn’t worth wasting time.

The parrots she’d released yesterday began returning one by one.

Led by them, Ling Mo found a grove of pines tall as a two-story building, sunflower heads larger than a car, walnuts the size of human heads, and chestnuts as big as fists. She also raided more than a few unknown animals’ food stores, collecting so many nuts her hands nearly cramped.

She tried to avoid people, but she still ran into players.

Seeing her apparently empty-handed, some looked disappointed.

A few tried to rope her into their group.

One of them was the girl in the white dress—the same one Ling Mo had met before.

The dress was no longer pristine. It was smeared with dirt, dead leaves clinging to the fabric, and the choking perfume she’d worn before was gone.

“You can’t just refuse us,” the girl snapped.

“And why not?” Ling Mo asked flatly.

The girl lifted her chin. “Your vegetable basket is already gone. You might as well help us finish the game. We’re all the same kind of people—we should support each other. Don’t be so selfish.”

Ling Mo let out a short, incredulous laugh.

Moral blackmail? On her?

Please.

What they meant was: Be our free labor. Be our shield. Be our idiot.

The people behind the girl stepped forward with ugly looks, clearly deciding force would work where words didn’t.

To them, Ling Mo was someone doomed to lose her qualification anyway. Once the game ended, they’d never see her again. Might as well squeeze out whatever use she had left.

Ling Mo took two steps back.

The girl took it as fear and started to smirk.

Then something black slammed into her face.

A stench exploded into the air.

The companions behind her met the exact same fate—each of them getting smeared full-on, the smell so strong it made them gag.

They realized instantly that Ling Mo was behind it. Abilities of every color and shape blasted toward the spot she’d just been standing.

But Ling Mo was already gone.

And so were the vegetable baskets in their hands.

If people didn’t mess with her, she didn’t mess with them. But Ling Mo had never claimed to be a good person—especially not now, not in a world like this.

If they wanted to make her an enemy, then she’d take away their qualification and make sure they couldn’t come after her later.

She ran until she was sure no one had followed.

Only then did she finally stop—and break into laughter, breathless with it.

That pile of poop had become useful faster than she’d expected.

And she’d just confirmed something important: if her mental power paired with pocket space could handle telekinesis, then sending objects flying at someone from a distance worked, too.

She slipped into a patch of grass and entered pocket space.

Once inside, she transferred the points from the stolen vegetable baskets into her own. Her ranking jumped to fourth place.

Ling Mo clicked her tongue. No-cost deals really were fast. Stealing points was far quicker than gathering them one ingredient at a time.

But now that she’d stolen their vegetable baskets, those people would search for her like mad.

She stripped off her army-green outfit, washed, and changed into black athletic wear. She added a black mask and cap, fingerless gloves, and a flashy cross earring.

Tying weeds to herself for camouflage was out—those people had already seen that disguise. She needed something new.

When she returned to the forest, a budgie found her.

Ling Mo counted. Aside from this budgie, five parrots still hadn’t come back.

She followed the budgie—and after a while, she felt something was off. She pulled her mask down.

The air was filled with the sharp, clean scent of mint.

Ling Mo knew that smell. The orphanage where she’d grown up had mint in the yard. There was no way she’d mistake it.

She called the budgie back and signaled for it to wait.

Mint was good—repelled mosquitoes, could be brewed into tea.

Following the scent, she finally found the source.

The mint was enormous. The leaves were big enough to use as a blanket.

But her experience told her something else, too: giant plants often hid Energy Rawstone beneath their roots.

Judging by how lush this patch was, there had to be a lot.

Ling Mo first cleared space in pocket space, choosing a spot where she could attempt a transplant.

When the first mint plant vanished, she knew it worked.

Her mental power wasn’t limitless, so she only transplanted the biggest plants, watered them, and laid Waterwood Stone around them. She cut the rest down with a sickle and stored it away.

With the mint gone, the Energy Rawstone’s fluctuations finally revealed themselves.

As usual, Ling Mo swept up every last piece with mental power. By the time she left, the minty scent in the air had almost completely faded.