Chapter 58: More Surprises Tonight?
An electric tricycle?
If the gacha pool had something this good, the system should have said so earlier!
Why hesitate?
Ling Jing immediately tapped “Yes.”
[Upgrading in progress…]
In the lower-right corner of the draw panel, a line of fine print appeared:
Items in the prize draw pool do not overlap with those in the System Mall. The system reserves all rights of final interpretation.
She could not be bothered to roast the second half, but the first half meant… things you could not buy in the mall were exclusive to the lucky draw?
No wonder she had combed through the menu before leaving and found nothing about upgrading the tricycle.
Turns out there was a hidden mechanic like this.
A flash of white light enveloped the tricycle beneath her. Once the glow faded, the vehicle had taken on a brand-new look.
—The cargo bed in the back was reinforced with thicker paneling, making the overall frame visibly sturdier and a size larger.
The pedals were still there, but the handlebars were completely revamped.
They now resembled a standard electric trike, complete with a twist-throttle grip on the right.
Right between the handlebars sat a brand-new speedometer.
Nice!
Ling Jing looked up at the golden, colossal mutant still fleeing into the distance, and twisted her right wrist—
The tricycle surged forward under its own power!
The digital speedometer ticked upward in real time, shooting from 0 km/h straight to 40 km/h in the blink of an eye!
No pedaling required—just twist and go.
This was the life. Pure bliss!
Before long, the electric trike had carried her right on the heels of the behemoth!
The golden monstrosity was visibly startled.
Seeing the human and that terrifying dome of white light grind to a halt earlier, it had assumed the persistent hunter had finally given up.
Even while the human was idle, it had kept running, albeit slowing down to catch its breath.
Running flat-out for three hours was exhausting even for a mutant.
So what was happening now?! How had someone so slow suddenly blown past like a gale?!
That perilous white dome was right on top of it!
Scrambling into motion, the golden mutant threw its countless branch-like legs into overdrive and bolted for its life.
Aaaaargh! The human is right behind it!
Ling Jing watched the flustered titan accelerate, the corners of her lips curling into a smirk. She twisted the throttle down even further.
Faster!
What a joke—how could mere legs outrun an electric motor?
“Beep-beep. Excessive speed detected. You are speeding.”
“Beep-beep. Excessive speed detected. You are speeding.”
“Beep-beep. Excessive speed detected. You are speeding.”
A robotic voice chimed monotonously from the trike’s console.
Ling Jing: “?”
Seriously? It was not like she was in a designated city bike lane with a speed limit.
It was the apocalypse, out in the middle of nowhere. Even if she pushed it to 120 km/h, would a traffic cop jump out from behind a bush to write her a ticket?
Ignoring the pointless warning, she twisted the grip to the stop.
The speedometer climbed from 30 km/h to a hard cap of 50 km/h.
Twisting further did nothing.
It looked like 50 km/h was the ceiling.
Still, it was more than enough.
The mutant clearly could not match that pace. Though it had kicked its legs into a frenzy to open a gap, it could not shake Ling Jing off.
With her sudden burst of speed, she was practically about to ram right into its backside—
“Rooaaar—!”
Pushed into a corner, the mutant was not about to go down without a fight.
Seeing that collision was inevitable, it slammed on the brakes, wheeled around to face Ling Jing, and unfurled every branch across its massive body—
The tendrils moved like lightning, snagging all manner of twisted flora rooted nearby.
With a violent heave, the branches tightened, ripping the surrounding mutant plants out by their roots like a massive, bristling net.
Realizing it could not outrun her, the beast intended to crush the human on the spot.
Boom—!
The creature stomped the earth with earth-shattering force, hurling the tangled mass of uprooted plants straight at Ling Jing—
Whoosh—!
The instant the wall of mutant foliage struck the protective barrier, it dissolved on the spot into neat piles of pine nuts, wild berries, and Chinese chives.
The mutant: “?”
Ling Jing: “?”
Talk about an unexpected windfall.
Well, thanks for the generous donation!
Catching the beast frozen in disbelief, Ling Jing did not slow down. She drove straight into it.
Swish, swish, swish—
This was the closest she had been to the golden behemoth all night, finally letting the white light press flush against its towering bulk.
Due to its sheer scale, the process of the white light “consuming” it took considerably longer than it did with lesser beasts.
Puff, puff, pop, pop… Crack!
As it was dismantled by the barrier, the creature let out a bizarre, sputtering screech.
Up close, Ling Jing finally realized just how absurdly complex the beast’s composition was.
Its base form seemed to be… corn?
The golden shimmer flashing before her eyes was a sea of swollen corn kernels.
They formed the primary mass of the creature’s body.
So that strange sputtering sound… was the sound of corn screaming?
First time hearing that.
Not that she’d ever had the chance before.
The midsection of its spinning-top frame was pure corn. Looking higher, two dense rings of wild mushrooms circled its girth.
Heaven only knew how many toxic fungi it had swallowed in the wild; they were a garish explosion of bright colors, twisted into every shape imaginable.
It practically contained every hue of the rainbow.
Perched atop the mushrooms was a massive, bulging ring of earthy yellow laced with green veins, giving the creature the comical silhouette of the God of Longevity. Ling Jing recognized that texture instantly—it was potato.
Wedged among the potatoes were haphazard clusters of dandelions, honeysuckle, marigolds, and gymnadenia…
The sheer variety, warped further by mutation, meant Ling Jing could barely identify a handful.
The vast majority were distorted beyond all recognition.
This world likely harbored flora that had never existed in her old reality anyway.
For this creature to grow so gigantic, there was no telling how many fellow plants it had preyed upon in the wastes.
Of course, the golden giant did not disappoint.
As the barrier broke it down, she noticed that the countless “legs” supporting its immense weight throughout the chase were made entirely of rice stalks.
A good chunk of the tendrils sprouting from its torso were mutated paddy plants as well.
Crack-crack-crack-crunch!
With a final, desperate wail, the golden behemoth was consumed clean by the electric trike’s protective barrier.
Along with it went the thick perimeter of mutant plants it had caught in its branches, all funneled directly into the storage chest on the back of Ling Jing’s trike.
In a wide radius centered on the tricycle, the terrain was stripped completely bare.
Not a wasted trip. Not by a long shot.
Ling Jing inspected the ingredients filling the storage chest, nodding in deep satisfaction.
The sheer variety rivaled the accumulated inventory of the Item Exchange Box after days of trade.
Better yet, there was minimal overlap with the exchange box’s haul—the produce scavengers brought in came mostly from abandoned farmland, whereas this golden mutant was composed of species harvested from the deep wilderness.
Purple loosestrife, lousewort, wild yams…
And most importantly, rice.
Ling Jing glanced at the metrics: the haul yielded over four hundred catties of rice.
At the restaurant’s current traffic of a hundred and fifty diners a day, that was enough to last at least a month.
An incredible harvest.
Hm?
Tucked right behind the rice was… rice seeds?
Corn seeds, too.
Wait, what was this—a plant core?
Ling Jing tapped the entry and retrieved the plant core to look at it.
It looked remarkably similar to the beast core she had obtained the previous night.
Like a cut gemstone, just a different hue.
This one was a vivid, pure violet.
She wasn’t sure what it was used for…
Before she could stash it back into the chest, a system notification chimed.
[Ding-dong! The host has collected the key items ‘Beast Core’ and ‘Plant Core.’ Unlocking a new feature!]
[You have unlocked the [Farm] module!]
Ling Jing: “?”
More surprises tonight?
