Chapter 14: A Bountiful Harvest

Ying Li, who had rested at home for over ten days, was in excellent condition.

He brought the food and water he had prepared and went to the Upper City District exit gate, lining up to leave the city.

Exit inspections were much simpler than entry inspections. They swiped their Communication Terminals to enter the exit area, then could leave the city in groups of a few dozen through the exit platform.

As soon as Ying Li entered the exit area, someone who knew him greeted him. “Ying Li, long time no see. I heard you advanced to B-Rank Sentinel?”

Ying Li recognized the person immediately; he was an old classmate.

These people from the Upper City District he had known before were, to Ying Li, people he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

He had originally planned not to chat much, but suddenly thought of something and exchanged a few more words.

This classmate of his was a C-Rank Sentinel.

Because higher-rank Sentinels could suppress lower-rank ones with their mental power, a strict hierarchy existed among Sentinels.

Many B-Rank Sentinels couldn’t be bothered to deal with C-Rank Sentinels.

Though Ying Li was now a B-Rank Sentinel, he wasn’t the least bit arrogant, which made the C-Rank Sentinel feel somewhat flattered.

The two chatted all the way to the Surface Exchange. Ying Li managed to gather quite a bit of news from the other person.

This time out of the city, Ying Li planned to go alone. But in the future, he would still need a hunting team.

Team hunting was much more efficient than solo hunting. With a team, they could also take turns sleeping and resting in the wild.

However, the current Ying Li no longer wanted to join someone else’s team. He wanted to form one that beloned solely to him.

He could find some young Sentinels in the Upper City District to be his members.

Ying Li had this plan but didn’t rush to act on it.

After arriving at the Surface Exchange, he first bought some items, then went to the parking lot.

He had rented a small warehouse there to store his equipment and vehicle.

The Underground City was very crowded, but the surface was spacious. Renting a twenty-square-meter warehouse cost him only five hundred Credit Points a month.

After loading supplies onto his motorcycle, Ying Li started the engine and headed into the wilderness.

In his past life, besides that unknown mushroom, the other Heavenly Treasure he had found was called Red Ginger.

This was a relatively common Heavenly Treasure. It could enhance the strength of Sentinels and Guides, as well as increase lifespan, delay aging, and repair bodily damage.

What was even better was that its effects were gentle; even ordinary people could consume it.

In his previous life, he hadn’t recognized it. He had only subconsciously felt the plant was somewhat special and had dug it out from a crevice in the rocks.

A Yu Family member accompanying the team had immediately taken the Red Ginger from his hands. Later, that stalk of Red Ginger had been eaten by the Yu Family’s S-Rank Sentinel.

Ying Li had initially worried, afraid he had come too early and the Red Ginger hadn’t matured yet.

Upon arriving at the spot, he saw the Red Ginger had already matured. Its appearance was similar to what he’d seen in his past life.

Ying Li, fearing complications, quickly dug the Red Ginger out.

The most potent part of the Red Ginger was its root, which resembled common ginger – though only in shape. Red Ginger was red and tasted different from regular ginger.

In his past life, his body had been in poor condition and he had really needed this Red Ginger. In this life, his body had little damage, so his need for Red Ginger wasn’t great.

Furthermore, after consuming a certain amount, eating more had no effect… Ying Li ate the stem, leaves, and half of the root of the Red Ginger, saving the remaining half.

Xiang Ye had suffered from a chronic lack of nutrition, so his body was also damaged. The leftover could be given to Xiang Ye.

After eating, Ying Li found a place to rest for a day. Then he started searching for the other Heavenly Treasure.

That was someone else’s fortunate encounter. But the Sentinel who had obtained that opportunity was now a member of the Yu Family’s hunting team.

If that person found the item and hid it secretly as he did in the previous life, he would still end up with his family broken and himself dead.

If he handed it over, the Yu Family would probably just give him a little money.

As for money, Ying Li could find a way to compensate this person later.

The Heavenly Treasure that Sentinel found was, like the Red Ginger Ying Li found, relatively common. It was called Tree Gum.

Tree Gum was a parasitic plant. It was blue, as soft as gelatin, and generally parasitized relatively large Mutant Flora.

Adult Sentinels eating Tree Gum could only slightly increase their strength; the effect wasn’t obvious. But if given to an underage Sentinel or Guide whose rank was below A-Rank, it could elevate their rank.

It was for this reason that the Sentinel who found the Tree Gum wanted to take it back to give to his son.

His son had awakened as a B-Rank Sentinel right away. If he took Tree Gum, he could become an A-Rank Sentinel.

Reaching A-Rank before adulthood meant he had a chance to sprint toward S-Rank in the future!

But even if this child had a chance to consume the Tree Gum, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to become an S-Rank Sentinel.

The major families of the Underground City did not wish for new powers to appear and divide their resources. So they would unite and target those young A-Rank Sentinels, destroying their chances to advance to S-Rank.

After all, they could suppress A-Rank Sentinels. If an S-Rank Sentinel appeared, they wouldn’t be able to suppress them.

Tree Gum wasn’t of much use to Ying Li, so he didn’t eat it.

He planned to give this item to Xiang Ye.

He wanted to alter the situation in the Underground City and prevent the Beast Tide ten years later.

But his strength alone wouldn’t be enough.

Xiang Ye was a Dark Guide capable of controlling A-Rank Sentinels. This was a powerful source of support for him.

Finding Red Ginger hadn’t taken Ying Li much time. After all, in his last life, that Red Ginger was something he’d found himself.

But finding the Tree Gum took a lot of time.

Even knowing the approximate location, finding a piece of Tree Gum only the size of a chicken egg in a vast area was still very difficult.

Thankfully, it was only a few months before the Sentinel would find the Tree Gum, so the Tree Gum should already be mature.

Ying Li searched this area for two days before finally locating the Tree Gum.

During that time, he encountered many dangers.

He was attacked by Mutated Flora, ambushed by Mutant Beasts, and while sleeping, a Mutant Beast even stole part of his supplies.

If he didn’t have rich wilderness survival experience, he would likely have lost his life.

After storing the Tree Gum safely, Ying Li drove back.

He had only been in the wild for four days – a very short time for him.

But in this life, he didn’t plan to push himself too hard. So it was better to return as soon as possible.

The greatest harvest from this trip was, naturally, the Red Ginger and the Tree Gum. Besides these, he had some other gains.

Not all Mutant Flora in the wild were inedible. The fruits of very few plants contained low amounts of Corrosive Energy, which Sentinels and Guides could consume.

Eating these fruits even had certain benefits for them.

When hunting team members found such fruits, the Yu Family would take half, and they could handle the rest themselves.

In his past life, Ying Li often brought these fruits back to the city for Wu Nian to eat.

Wu Nian’s ability to advance in rank was partly related to these fruits. If one didn’t consume these fruits containing small amounts of Corrosive Energy and spent all day in the Underground City without contact with Corrosive Energy, advancing was very difficult.

Ying Li thought one of the reasons there were no S-Rank Guides in the Underground City and very few A-Rank Guides was that Guides didn’t leave the city and weren’t exposed to Corrosive Energy.

You had to know, Sentinels and Guides both emerged because of Corrosive Energy. Their energy source was Corrosive Energy.

This time out of the city, Ying Li specifically visited a Mutant Ginkgo Tree he had found in his past life and picked some Mutant Ginkgo Nuts.

Besides the nuts, Ying Li also hunted three C-Rank Mutant Beasts and five D-Rank Mutant Beasts.

Actually, he had encountered a B-Rank Mutant Beast and had almost caught it. But the beast ran too fast and he couldn’t catch up.

If only someone had been there to block it for him!

He absolutely had to form his own hunting team as soon as possible.

This time, Ying Li didn’t sell his gains at the Surface Exchange but kept everything on him.

Also, when passing through security, he used his mental power to encase the Tree Gum and Red Ginger he was bringing back.

The scanning devices at the Underground City entrance mainly scanned for crystal cores and couldn’t effectively differentiate plant species. Combined with the cover of his mental power, those people, as expected, didn’t detect the items he had hidden. They only marveled at his good luck. “You actually found so many Mutant Ginkgo Nuts. Your luck is pretty good.”

Ying Li laughed. “Luck was okay, but it was also dangerous. I was chased and pecked by a Mutated Bird.”

The security inspector laughed as well. “Being able to return alive is what counts!”

Ying Li encountered no obstacles. He quickly handed over the crystal cores and returned to the Underground City.

After entering the city, he first found a place to sell the crystal cores he had, then bought two thousand Credit Points’ worth of meat before heading home.

Opening the door upon arriving home, Ying Li saw Xiang Ye.

“Mr. Ying, you’re back!” Xiang Ye was overjoyed upon seeing Ying Li.

He was an ordinary person. Although he’d watched some videos of Sentinels hunting Mutant Beasts on the surface, he hadn’t seen many and didn’t know much about hunting.

But recently, he had been looking up information related to hunting online every day.

And then he learned the mortality rate of Sentinels leaving the city to hunt.

These past few days, Xiang Ye had been very worried. Now that he saw Ying Li, his heart finally settled.

“I’m back.” Ying Li smiled.

“Mr. Ying, go take a shower. I’ll start cooking right away. You can eat once you’re done showering, and then have a good sleep,” Xiang Ye said. From what he’d read online, Sentinels returning from the outside wanted to eat something and sleep.

After all, outside the city, they couldn’t rest properly.

While speaking, Xiang Ye had already headed to the kitchen.

Ying Li was stunned for a moment.

It felt very good to be cared for… He took out the remaining piece of Red Ginger and said to Xiang Ye, “Open up. I have something for you to eat.”

Xiang Ye subconsciously opened his mouth.

He felt he shouldn’t eat so much of Ying Li’s food, but Ying Li didn’t like him refusing.

In that case, he wouldn’t refuse. He could just find a way to repay Ying Li later.

Seeing Xiang Ye trust him so much put Ying Li in a very good mood. He stuffed the Red Ginger into Xiang Ye’s mouth. “This stuff doesn’t taste very good, but it’s good for your body. Make sure you swallow it.”

Red Ginger was very sour. He didn’t know if Xiang Ye could accept this flavor.

Xiang Ye certainly could. As long as it was edible, he could swallow it no matter how bad it tasted.

Besides, this wasn’t too unpalatable, just a bit sour.

Seeing Xiang Ye eat all the Red Ginger, Ying Li was very satisfied. He then stored the Tree Gum away.

Xiang Ye hadn’t yet awakened as a Guide; it was better to take the Tree Gum later.

Red Ginger was different. It was something even ordinary people could consume and would nourish Xiang Ye’s body.