Chapter 75

Chapter 75: ke li nuo grasslands

“It’s already dark out. Going out now is dangerous. We’ll stay here for the night and leave tomorrow.”

Ling Mo said it like it was no big deal.

She’d already shocked them plenty, but this still hit them hard. The two of them couldn’t help thinking back to the last few days—sleeping rough, eating whatever they could scrape together.

In the first round and second game round, they’d had food and lodging. As long as you finished the tasks on time and didn’t do anything suicidal, you basically wouldn’t be eliminated.

In third game round, the difficulty went up. Nights were dangerous, but daytime was still safe, and you never had to worry about food or water.

This fourth round, though… Jiang Xin and Ye Kai didn’t know how other people were doing it, but the two of them had been unlucky from start to finish.

Other than the one job where they’d run into Ling Mo, every task after that hadn’t been hard so much as miserable. None of it was difficult, but it dragged on forever—half a day at a time, grinding you down.

And the reason they still couldn’t collect their wages was simple: they’d been rushing, and they’d gotten so hungry on the road they couldn’t take it anymore, so they’d chewed on random roots to keep going.

They didn’t dare touch mushrooms at all. They’d seen a player eat a gray one and start foaming at the mouth on the spot.

When neither of them spoke, Ling Mo didn’t bother coaxing them. “Are you coming to eat? If you are, keep up.”

“They even feed us?” Ye Kai put on an exaggerated, deeply moved expression. “This is too blissful.”

He immediately earned two eye-rolls—one from Jiang Xin and one from Ling Mo.

Jiang Xin even kicked him. “Stop embarrassing yourself. Move.”

The three of them headed to the canteen, and it felt like a dwarf had wandered into a land of giants.

Even the trays were almost as tall as Ling Mo.

“I think the three of us could share one and be fine,” Ye Kai said sincerely.

Ling Mo shot that down without hesitation.

Share one? Then how was she supposed to take full advantage of the situation?

In the end, thanks to Ling Mo’s insistence, each of them ordered their own meal.

Fortunately, robots delivered the food. Otherwise, with trays this big, Ling Mo could barely lift one empty, let alone heap it with food and carry it to a table.

Just imagining the scene made it hard not to laugh.

As talent users, all three of them ate more than ordinary people, but even so, Ling Mo only managed about a quarter before she was stuffed. The remaining three-quarters sat untouched.

Jiang Xin and Ye Kai did a little better, but they still tapped out at around a third.

“I’m so full,” Ye Kai said, rubbing his stomach. “I haven’t eaten this much in ages.”

“It’s a shame,” Jiang Xin muttered, staring at the food still covering the tray.

Ling Mo saw the unwillingness in his eyes. “Relax. It won’t go to waste. Why do you think I made you order three?”

As she spoke, she pretended to pull things out of her pocket space, but what appeared were three stainless-steel basins.

She dumped her portion and the other two portions into the basins, sealed them with plastic wrap, and stored them away to eat later.

Judging by how smooth and practiced her movements were, this clearly wasn’t her first time doing it.

In the past, Jiang Xin and Ye Kai would never have touched leftovers. Now, hunger had a way of curing picky kids fast.

And blue star’s crisis wasn’t just the heat. According to the data, seed germination rates had already dropped below thirty percent.

That meant ten seeds that would normally sprout could now yield only two.

Food might end up becoming a non-renewable resource.

After eating their fill, Ling Mo still didn’t move to leave.

Jiang Xin and Ye Kai stayed put as well. They were strangers here, they couldn’t understand the language, and even if they wanted to go, they wouldn’t know where to go. Besides, they had a nagging feeling Ling Mo was doing this for a reason.

Finally, when the dining hall had mostly cleared out, Ling Mo quietly slipped into the kitchen.

The chefs were still busy. Ling Mo walked up boldly and introduced herself. “Hello. I’m a recycler. Do you need a hand with anything?”

A beastman in an apron bent down to look at her. “So it’s you—the capable little one with the pitiful background. Perfect timing. There are leftover ingredients and food over there. If you don’t mind, take them.”

“Not at all,” Ling Mo said brightly. “Not at all.”

She headed to where the beastman pointed.

Jiang Xin and Ye Kai followed after her in a daze until she stopped in front of a heap of ingredients and called for their help. Only then did they snap out of it.

“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help.”

If they hadn’t tagged along, she could’ve collected everything with a single thought. Now she had to stuff it in piece by piece.

They hurried forward.

Once they’d packed away all the ingredients, Ling Mo turned her attention to the leftover dishes.

Jiang Xin and Ye Kai were almost numb by this point. This was beyond frugal—but they liked it.

After they’d gathered everything, Ling Mo led them to their lodging. There were two rooms. She took one.

“You two can make do with the other room,” she said casually.

That night, Ling Mo lay in bed, replaying Jiang Xin and Ye Kai’s behavior in her head. So far, they seemed trustworthy—but she still needed to watch them. They hadn’t known each other long.

Sleepiness crept in. She closed her eyes and drifted off.

She didn’t know that, in the other room, the two of them were discussing her too.

“Old Boss,” Ye Kai whispered, “do you think Soy Sauce Drunk’s talent might be a pocket space talent, like Mo Mo’s pocket space?”

“If you want to know for sure, you should ask him yourself.”

Ye Kai curled his lip. “Who knows how many people are looking for Soy Sauce Drunk, but nobody can find him. And if he catches anyone trying to dig up his real identity, he blocks them without a word. Now no one dares to make a move.”

Neither of them connected Ling Mo with Soy Sauce Drunk.

After all, Ling Mo had already told them her in-game name. Once they left the game, a quick search would confirm it. There was no reason to lie—especially when they knew each other.

The next morning, the three of them mooched off one more breakfast before leaving.

“Why didn’t you go to the kitchen today?” Ye Kai asked.

“No room left in my pocket space,” Ling Mo huffed, thinking, [As if it isn’t because you two have been glued to me.]