Chapter 37: Lingkong Grass
Su Qing never imagined she would actually find Lingkong Grass here on Baihua Mountain!
Su Qing rubbed her eyes and took a closer look, confirming that she wasn’t mistaken. It was a fresh Lingkong Grass, light purple all over, with slender, curled leaves marked by golden veins. The golden veins shimmered in the sunlight, appearing to flow slowly.
The plant before her was dull in color, but it was undoubtedly Lingkong Grass—the same Lingkong Grass that was incredibly difficult to find even during the apocalypse.
However, this Lingkong Grass wasn’t growing in the ground; it was wedged in a crevice between two rocks. If it weren’t for her sharp eyes, she might not have seen it at all.
But how could Lingkong Grass, something so rare even in the apocalypse, appear in this world? ’Logically, a plant like Lingkong Grass shouldn’t even exist in this time and place.’
In the apocalyptic world, Lingkong Grass was nearly impossible to find. This was because it had a special ability: it could help a Superpower User create a personal dimensional space. For instance, a Gold Ability User could create a metal space, an Earth Element Superpower User could create a space like a cellar, and a Wood Ability User like herself could create a wooden box.
But Lingkong Grass was just so hard to find. ’How could there be one here?’
Suddenly, a thought struck Su Qing. ’Could it be...’
The last mission her squad undertook in her previous life had been to find Lingkong Grass. They had already found the general location where it grew, and it was right there that they were overrun by a zombie horde.
’Don’t tell me there just happened to be a Lingkong Grass right where I was bitten to death by zombies? Did it follow me here? Or am I only here *because* of it?’
’That’s probably a riddle I’ll never solve.’ There was likely no one who could give her a definitive answer. After a moment of thought, Su Qing decided to stop speculating. Whatever the reason, both she and the Lingkong Grass were here now.
Su Qing pulled the Lingkong Grass from the crevice. As she suspected, it was only half a plant. Perhaps because it had been deprived of soil and nutrients, the half-plant looked like it was on its last breath. Even its leaves were incredibly dull. A Lingkong Grass in this state shouldn’t be able to function anymore.
Su Qing quickly channeled a ball of green mist into the Lingkong Grass, hoping to preserve its faint spark of life. This was the plant that had come with her from the apocalypse. ’If possible, I want it to live, even if it might not have any special properties anymore.’ She felt her transmigration was very likely connected to this plant. In a way, the Lingkong Grass had saved her life.
The green mist slowly sank into the Lingkong Grass. Before her eyes, the plant’s leaves gradually regained their luster and slowly unfurled.
Su Qing felt a surge of joy. ’Once I get home and plant it in a small pot, it should survive, right?’
Before Su Qing could finish her thought, she suddenly noticed little green dots appearing within the Lingkong Grass’s golden veins. She blinked. ’No, I’m not seeing things. They’re green dots. If I’m not mistaken, is that the green mist I just channeled into it?’
Suddenly, the Lingkong Grass vanished from her palm.
Su Qing: ...
’Could it be...’
Su Qing quickly focused her senses and was immediately overcome with wild joy.
’Oh my god!’ This half-dead plant had actually created a dimensional space for her. However, the space wasn’t a complete wooden box. Instead, it was half wooden box and half square basket woven from vines.
The cross-sections of the wooden box and the vine basket were seamlessly joined, forming a complete space. The box and basket were each about three meters in length, width, and height, making the total space roughly the size of a room in her house.
Su Qing felt this was already quite large. She was more than content; after all, she had never dreamed she would have a dimensional space of her own again.
With this space, things would be much more convenient. She could store anything she found on the mountain inside it.
’But I wonder if this altered space can hold living things.’ After all, back in the apocalypse, the spaces created by Lingkong Grass could only store inanimate objects; living creatures couldn’t be placed inside.
But Su Qing quickly figured out how this space worked.
After catching a wild rabbit, Su Qing tried to place the living creature into the space.
’It went in!’
Elated, Su Qing peered into the space. She saw the rabbit had been deposited into the vine basket half. Though still alive, it was held in stasis, completely immobile.
’It seems the vine basket can store living things and automatically immobilizes them.’
Next, Su Qing picked a few mushrooms and tried storing them. As expected, the mushrooms appeared in the wooden box half of the space.
Now Su Qing understood completely, and her heart filled with even more joy. Making money at the black market would be much easier now.
After all, without a storage space, no matter how capable she was, she could never carry that much to the county town in one trip. What’s more, it was the busy autumn harvest season. She could get away with asking for leave once or twice, but if she asked too many times, the brigade leader would almost certainly refuse, no matter what.
But now, she could go into the mountains every day and stock up her space. After the autumn harvest was over, she could look for a chance to sell everything at the black market. It was far more discreet and convenient.
Thrilled with her new acquisition, Su Qing was in high spirits. She quickly dressed the rabbit, roasted it, and enjoyed a delicious meal. Afterward, she gathered a few more things from the mountain and started heading back down. It was almost time for the afternoon work shift, so she had to hurry back to work.
However, what Su Qing didn’t expect was to run into Zhang Erlai just as she rounded a bend in the mountain path.
The original owner of this body had some memories of Zhang Erlai, so Su Qing recognized him immediately.
A thought immediately popped into Su Qing’s head. ’He didn’t come up the mountain specifically to corner me, did he?’ A few days ago, Zhang Erlai’s mother had spread rumors about them in the village. Although Su Qing had publicly embarrassed her, who’s to say the Zhang family had given up? ’Did he see me go up the mountain alone and decide to come intercept me? To make the rumors of us meeting in private a reality?’
With this in mind, her gaze toward Zhang Erlai turned hostile. She braced herself. If this Zhang Erlai tried anything, she would make sure he learned why flowers are red.
Zhang Erlai, however, hadn’t expected to meet Su Qing on the mountain at all. When he returned home earlier, he overheard some of the village women talking about how his mother had tried to frame Su Qing a couple of days ago. He had gone home and confronted her about it.
To his surprise, his mother had admitted it immediately, then launched into a tirade about how Su Qing didn’t know what was good for her. Furious, he’d had a huge fight with his mother and stormed off into the mountains to cool down.
Who would have thought he’d run into Su Qing so coincidentally?
Mortified, Zhang Erlai stammered, "Uh... I’m sorry."