The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Daytime Scavenging Chaotic Scene

Ji You was opening an email from Cheng Yu while hiding in a filthy hole, outside a fierce wind raged, carrying a sky-covering blanket of trash that seemed poised to engulf the whole ground world...

The place where Ji You was hiding was originally a burrow excavated by a Carrion Rat, but now, the poor Carrion Rat had become a ghost under her knife, its corpse still lying at her feet—

The already small cave was getting increasingly compressed and deformed by the garbage mound on top, shrinking smaller and smaller. Ji You could no longer turn around and had to curl up as much as possible to avoid being completely buried.

She wore protective clothing and turned on the oxygen circulation system inside it. Her personal safety was secure for the short term. But—since her protective suit was a second-hand and old one, it had little energy left, and the oxygen circulation system could only last for 24 hours. If the storm did not stop after 24 hours, she was done for.

Ji You regretted it internally; she shouldn’t have taken the bet. The weather forecast said no storm today, so she believed it, but she never expected that even in the interstellar era, the forecasts were still hit or miss.

And today, it just wasn’t accurate.

If she had just stayed at home and exercised her Physical Strength, there would have been no problem at all.

Sigh!

Complaining was useless.

Ji You didn’t allow herself to be too negative. Instead of fretting, she figured it was better to find something to pass the time. Thus, she connected to the Star Network, planning to go to someone’s home garden to work as a laborer...

And that’s when she discovered that Cheng Yu had sent her 99+ emails.

She casually opened one.

[Dear Master Soul Artifact Master:

Seeing this letter is like seeing you. You must feel the fervent respect and affection I hold for you, like a stormy wave! I think of you day and night, anticipating your presence...]

Ji You: ”...”

This guy really doesn’t know subtlety.

Bunch of blabber, not a single point of importance.

Skimming over everything, Ji You finally found the information she wanted, confirming her expectations as she predicted: among the two grass seeds she sent to Cheng Yu, one was a Soul Device, and the other was not.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

This meant her judgment was correct. This experiment was validated, which has significant reference value for her future Soul Device manufacturing, definitely increasing her success rate.

Then, she casually flipped through a few more of Cheng Yu’s emails, finding the content roughly the same, full of praises and cheesy lines, not worth further reading, so she replied with only one message: [Read.]

Originally, she wanted to write more, specifically asking Cheng Yu to keep his emails concise in the future, but considering her high aloof Master persona, naturally, she wouldn’t be verbose—

So, Ji You held herself back, even starting to doubt whether the aloof Master persona she had taken up that day was a mistake.

hour passed.

hours passed.

hours passed.

...

Day turned into night, Ji You was coiled up alone in this rat hole, feeling as if heaven and earth were unresponsive, unaware if the storm outside had stopped yet.

Crouching here, Ji You didn’t dare immerse herself in the Star Network in case something sudden happened outside, which she couldn’t react to in time, she occasionally went offline to check the outside situation.

Lifting her hand, she gently brushed aside the entrance of the cave, glanced outside, realized the wind had stopped, and the airborne trash, unsupported, was trickling down. Ji You was about to peek her head out only to nearly get struck by a trash bag. Fortunately, thanks to her persistent exercise, her physical response had become much sharper, allowing her to avoid it.

Besides the trash bag, Ji You’s luck was very good. After crawling out of the hole, she immediately ran towards the safety net, not forgetting the spoils she had collected while scavenging during the day. Venturing out to pick up the trash in the daytime, Ji You had quite the haul, collecting 3 abandoned energy boxes, a damaged domestic robot (just a broken shell since the internal chips and all were gone), and various other recyclable items.

All in all, these could likely fetch her 200 credit points at the recycling station.

This adventure, in one word:

Worth it!

Ji You felt a wonderful delight inside as she carried a big sack of scraps, dashing towards the protective barrier like the wind.

Then—

Disaster struck.

A large group of Carrion Rats, squeaking shrilly, swarmed towards Ji You.

Ji You’s face turned ashen.

With one hand, she clutched the sack tightly, and with the other, she firmly gripped her energy machete.

A particularly large Carrion Rat lunged at her first; Ji You lifted her wrist and the light from the energy machete harshly slashed down.

Crack.

The Carrion Rat was split into two halves.

However—

The thing about Carrion Rats that was so bothersome was that they weren’t afraid of humans at all, had no fear of death, and most annoyingly, they fought in packs without any shame!

One, two, three...

...

Ji You didn’t know how many she had slain as her second-hand protective clothing got scratched several times.

Dodging and attacking simultaneously, Ji You was nearly exhausted.

Just then, a gust of powerful wind came, and a Carrion Rat, about the size of a goat, fiercely pounced towards Ji You’s neck—

[This is the end!]

Ji You inwardly cursed.

Suddenly—

A flash of silvery-white sword light streaked past, directly piercing through the leading Carrion Rat.

Boom—

The heavy body of the Carrion Rat fiercely smashed in front of Ji You.

Ji You looked up, eyes flashing with surprise, ”Ryan!”

A hint of disapproval crossed Ryan’s handsome face as he said, ”Move behind me.”

How could Ji You dare to disobey? She quickly scrambled up, not even bothering to dust off the trash on her buttocks, and darted behind Ryan.

Ryan’s swordplay was rapid and fierce. In just an instant, he had cleared all the Carrion Rats within a meter around him... His tall figure was like a mountain, offering Ji You an immense sense of security. She hid behind Ryan, occasionally striking a few more blows.

...

Ten minutes later, the ground was piled with many Carrion Rat corpses, and the few remaining stragglers finally scattered in fear.

Ji You’s eyes sparkled brightly: ”Ryan, thank you. You’ve saved me several times already...”

Ryan turned his head, glanced at the dirt-covered girl in front of him, stayed silent for a moment, then said, ”Don’t do such reckless things again.”

Ji You nodded earnestly, ”I understand. I won’t take risks anymore.” She had thought about venturing out when the spaceship was dumping trash to pick up fresh scraps, betting on finding better items.

Fact proved, Ji You’s idea was not wrong.

But—

—Venturing out during the day to scavenge was indeed a chaotically dangerous scene.