Chapter 15 - 14: Wood Element Crystal Core

Sev’s heart trembled. "You want me to take care of it?"

The mother bamboo rat nodded with great difficulty, then pawed something out from under her body. It was a crystal-clear green crystal, only the size of a thumb, emitting a soft glow.

"Is this... a Wood Element Crystal Core?!" Sev’s pupils shrank sharply.

In The Wasteland, a Crystal Core was the Energy core condensed within the body of a Mutated plant or Mutant Beast. A Wood Element Crystal Core, containing immense Life Force, was the most precious of all elemental Crystal Cores. As an ordinary person, the original owner of her body had only ever seen one in the promotional pictures hanging in the trading hall. Even a Low Tier one was worth at least Fifty Thousand Points, and the one before her was estimated to be at least Third Tier or above.

After all, for a pregnant mother to fight such a massive and ferocious Mutant Snake to a draw, her strength was clearly not weak. A Crystal Core treasured by her would certainly not be of a low Level.

Wood Element Crystal Cores were always priceless and unavailable on the market; they could only be stumbled upon by chance, not sought out. It was said that they could stimulate a person’s potential, allowing children with latent Wood attributes to awaken their Wood Ability early.

A Spiritual Light flashed in Sev’s mind. She suddenly remembered that the original novel seemed to mention that Rose, the fourth of the four little ones, awakened a Wood Ability when she grew up. This thing would absolutely be of immense use to the fourth child!

Suppressing the excitement in her heart for the moment, Sev looked at the mother rat again. The mother rat pushed the Crystal Core toward Sev and gently nudged her cub with her snout, her eyes fixed intently on Sev. Then, she slowly closed her eyes.

"Don’t worry, I will take good care of your Baby," Sev said softly, her eyes filled with unquestionable sincerity.

She carefully tucked the Crystal Core away, then wrapped the bamboo rat cub in a piece of cloth and cradled it in her arms. The mother rat finally closed her eyes with deep reluctance. Sev placed her hand under its snout, but she could no longer feel its breath.

She was dead!

The little one in her arms seemed to sense its mother’s passing and let out a faint whimper. Its tiny claws tightly gripped Sev’s finger, as if seeking some sort of comfort.

"Don’t be afraid, little one. Mommy will take care of you from now on." Sev gently stroked its little head.

Anyway, she was already raising four cubs; raising one more wouldn’t hurt, right?

"Let’s give you a name... How about ’Silvy’?"

The little guy let out a "SQUEAK," seeming very satisfied with this name, or perhaps, it was simply responding to her.

Sev whittled a bamboo shovel with her cutting knife and dug a hole, burying the mother bamboo rat next to the tallest and thickest purple bamboo tree. She planned to bring Silvy back to pay its respects to its mother once it grew up.

She then cut the Mutant Snake’s body into fifty-centimeter-long segments. The capacity of the Tactical Backpack was too small to fit this massive snake. She picked up the scales scattered all over the ground, cut off the Poison Sac, and then severed the snake’s head. These were the most valuable parts of the Mutant Snake. She had no intention of skimming anything for herself, nor was it even possible to do so. However, just these items already filled the entire backpack. The snake’s body simply couldn’t fit inside.

Therefore, if she put the remaining parts into her sacks, it wouldn’t count as skimming—if anything, they could only blame the backpack for lacking the capacity!

Sev took out three torn sacks from her backpack. Using her cutting knife, she peeled off the Snake Skin, selected a few of the largest and most tender pieces of Snake meat, and stuffed them all into the torn sacks. Then she tied the mouths of the sacks tightly with hemp rope, fastened them to her waist, and dragged them along as she walked.

Although these things weren’t as valuable as the scales, Poison Sac, or Snake Fang, the Snake Skin could at least be used to keep out the cold, and the Snake meat was highly nutritious. The children had never eaten meat in their entire lives, so she decided it was time to give them a real feast.

As for the snake bones and scraps she couldn’t take away, she could only reluctantly abandon them. Bury them and come back tomorrow to take them? That was impossible. This was the wilderness. Many Mutant Beasts had very sharp noses, and such a massive commotion would definitely alert a multitude of them. They would soon follow the scent of blood and devour the remains of the Mutant Snake until not a single crumb was left.

As for why they hadn’t come yet, it was simply because they didn’t dare approach. With two powerful Mutant Beasts fighting, other Mutant Beasts would naturally avoid the area. Who would dare to offer up their human head—oh, no, beast head?

Having finished all this, she held Silvy and quickly turned to leave Virenswood. If she didn’t leave now, she would become a dish for the Mutant Beasts.

On the way back, Sev stroked the cub in her arms and said softly, "Silvy, from today onward, you are the fifth cub I’m raising!"

The little guy nuzzled against her chest, letting out a satisfied "SQUEAK."

The next second, it suddenly opened its mouth and clamped tightly onto her index finger. A sharp pain shot through her. Sev abruptly yanked her finger out of its mouth, only to see beads of blood welling up on it. She glared angrily at the instigator, but the little guy simply leaned its head over again, opened its mouth, and took her finger back in. This time, it didn’t bite hard but gently sucked on her finger.

"Little thing, you were just hungry!" Sev beamed, her slight annoyance at the little guy vanishing into thin air. Looking for food when hungry was a basic instinct for all living creatures.

She felt a bit troubled. How was she supposed to raise such a tiny cub? However, at the thought of the Mutant Beasts that might be gathering behind her, she couldn’t afford to worry about it anymore. Holding Silvy, she sprinted madly toward the safe zone.

The afternoon sun beat down on Sev’s back. Her steps were somewhat heavy, but each stride was firm and powerful. The little guy in her arms slept soundly to the rhythm of her swaying body, even letting out tiny snores.

When Sev returned to the gates of the safe zone, it was still early. Scavengers usually returned before sunset. After all, every trip outside consumed a lot of time and energy; it would be too much of a loss if they didn’t gather a good amount of supplies.

When Guard A and Guard B saw her, their eyes swept over the three bulging sacks trailing behind her.

"Yo! Miss, you’ve got quite a haul today!" Guard A greeted proactively.

Sev pretended to be shy and nodded. She looked around and, seeing that there was no one else nearby, finally took off her Tactical Backpack and handed it over.

Guard A took the backpack and placed it on the inspection table. Seeing that she was a young woman dragging three heavy-looking sacks, Guard B offered to help lift them onto the table. Before Guard A even had time to press the blue settlement button on the backpack, a voice broadcast chimed from the inspection table:

"System detects special supplies. Please proceed to the special window for settlement."

Upon hearing this, Guard A and Guard B’s eyes immediately widened.

"Special supplies" was actually a veiled term. It meant that the items in the backpack were far beyond the ordinary and highly precious, requiring an appraisal by professionals to estimate their true value. What kind of dumb luck did this woman have? Yesterday she brought back a rare mutated wild yam, and today she brought back special supplies!

However, they didn’t dare waste any time. After all, some special supplies had very high preservation requirements, and every passing minute could decrease their overall value.