“That’s right,” Ya Tong said with a faint sigh. “But the situation there was the complete opposite of what you’d imagine from the na ‘Hope City.’ It was a war-torn urban wasteland, devastated by endless artillery fire.”
Hope City was vast, divided into six main areas: the main city, the auxiliary city, the suburbs, the pastoral zone, the forest zone, and the mountainous region. Its sheer size gave Ya Tong enough room to engage in guerrilla tactics while scavenging for hidden resource caches. Over ti, she managed to increase her initial ten-item inventory limit to twenty.
However, even twenty slots barely scratched the surface of what a traveler truly needed. For one thing, vehicles couldn’t be stored in the inventory. In a station where societal order still functioned, that wasn’t much of a problem. But in a place like the Desolate Land, walking or biking through the endless wilderness couldn’t compare to the comfort of driving across the arid expanse.
Here, the blistering dayti heat and the bone-chilling nightti cold multiplied the difficulty of every journey.
But once soone crossed the desert and reached the northern black wall, the station’s core task would essentially be complete. The wall itself was the hidden departure platform. All travelers had to do was confirm the station and pass through a specific entrance to board the train.
This information was an open secret among travelers. The Desolate Land was unique: the black wall was clearly constructed with advanced engineering, yet the technology both inside and outside the wall was alarmingly outdated—like sothing from a century ago in the teorite world.
Vehicles were patched-together relics, and firearms were modified antiques.
Ya Tong had a theory: this world once boasted sophisticated technology, but so disaster must have shattered its society, causing a collapse that left a technological and cultural void. The environnt deteriorated, resources dwindled, and mutated creatures overran the desert, turning the world beyond the wall into a wasteland.
Every traveler who stepped off the train arrived in the southeastern Red Rock Badlands. Unless they were blessed with spatial skills and enough supplies—including a car—they were forced to complete the grueling trek through the desert.
“Luckily, I’ve got a car,” Yu Xi said casually, running her hand over the cold, uneven stone of the cavern wall. “I never had a bound weapon, so my skill beca spatial storage. It’s smaller than what I had before, but it still works.”
She glanced at the rough cave floor and the dusty sleeping mats in the corners. “Let’s set up a proper camp, then have a late-night snack while we brainstorm about the fragnt.”
Without waiting for a response, she opened her spatial inventory and began retrieving gear: two tents, a collapsible camping table and chairs, a portable lantern, insulated sleeping mats, and warm sleeping bags.
Ya Tong raised an eyebrow and ruffled Yu Xi’s hair with a teasing laugh. “Turns out you’re the lucky one we’ve been looking for.”
**
Half an hour later, their camp was ready, and the three of them sat by the lanternlight with freshly washed hands and faces.
“If the fragnt signal only appeared once we entered the underground city,” Ya Tong mused, “then the fragnt must be hidden sowhere in this structure.”
Her thoughtful expression froze when Yu Xi casually produced their late-night snacks: Cantonese-style dishes, chocolate mille-crepe cake, brown sugar boba milk tea, lattes, cherry tomatoes, and fresh lychees.
Ya Tong pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re so extravagant. It’s just a midnight snack…”
“Exactly,” Yu Xi said with an innocent shrug. “That’s why I picked the lightest set: Cantonese cuisine.”
Ya Tong’s gaze drifted to the spread: roast pigeon, pork chops, stir-fried vermicelli, crispy roast goose, char siu, sautéed greens, century egg and lean pork congee, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.
“Light? Seriously?” she choked out.
“Go on, dig in. It’s a single-serving al anyway, so the three of us can split it.” Yu Xi handed disposable chopsticks to Lin Wu and gestured for him to join them.
Lin Wu hesitated. “I’m not really hungry… dinner hasn’t even settled yet. I’ll peel the lychees for you instead.”
The warmth of the mont struck Yu Xi as they began eating. They were deep in a dangerous desert, discussing mission strategies, yet here she was—sharing a al with old friends who had survived impossible odds by her side.
She couldn’t help but smile.
“This team might end up being bigger than just the three of us,” she said suddenly.
Ya Tong paused mid-sip of her milk tea and gave her a questioning look.
Yu Xi set her chopsticks down. “Think about it: none of us have received a main mission yet. What if that’s because we aren’t all here yet?”
Ya Tong considered this for a mont. “Could be. Everything about this world feels off. The way it’s restricted our spatial storage and adjusted our abilities… it feels like it’s deliberately suppressing us.”
Lin Wu gave a slow nod. “I agree. It’s like the world’s stacked the odds against us. But rember, before we arrived here, she told us to find Yu Xi.” He glanced at Yu Xi. “That makes you the key.”
Yu Xi inhaled deeply. “If the person who spoke to you was really Leng Mian, then yeah… she might have sent you both here for . And if that’s true, then maybe these restrictions aren’t to weaken us.”
Ya Tong leaned forward. “Then what?”
“Maybe,” Yu Xi said, her voice low, “it’s to prepare us for sothing much bigger.”
Yu Xi thought back to “Yin Yin” from the Subordinate World. To this day, she still didn’t know who had been sent by Leng Mian to help her in that world.
But now that Leng Mian had entered the Inner Tower World and gained the power to send soone once, it ant she could do it again. If she could send one person, she could send more.
The question was: who would be next?
Aside from Lin Wu and Ya Tong, Yu Xi didn’t know any other taskers from the System Tower. Could it be… that the next person would be Leng Mian herself?
**
When the three of them finished their midnight snack, the voice of Gou Dan, one of the native residents, echoed through the cave entrance. He called for his boss, saying that more “fat sheep”—no, wait, “outside travelers”—had arrived near the underground city. He needed her to co out and “talk business.”
Yu Xi stood up, ready to join her, but Ya Tong pushed her back down. “Relax. I’ll handle it. You two stay here and work on the fragnt puzzle. Oh, and by the way—Gou Dan knows these tunnels like the back of his hand. I’ll leave him here with you. Ask him anything you need.”
As she spoke, she ruffled Yu Xi’s hair again before striding off into the tunnel.
**
After tidying up the table, Yu Xi and Lin Wu stepped outside the cave and found a scrawny, wiry young boy waiting for them. He grinned broadly, thumping his chest with enthusiasm. “Big Sis, I know every single tunnel in this underground city! I’ve been exploring these caves since I was little!”
Yu Xi decided not to beat around the bush. “We’re looking for the most precious gem in this barren world. Does that ring any bells?”
Gou Dan’s eyes widened. “Oh! If you an gems, I know exactly where they are!”
Yu Xi blinked. “Wait… what?”
**
Half an hour later, she and Lin Wu followed Gou Dan through the labyrinthine corridors of the underground city. The boy led them deeper and deeper, through twists and turns that soon left Yu Xi completely disoriented.
Judging by the direction and slope, they were now far beneath the surface, in an area opposite the underground spring. Unlike the main paths, there were no torches here.
Gou Dan instinctively reached for a wall-mounted torch, but Yu Xi stopped him and handed him a flashlight. “Here. It’s yours.”
The boy’s eyes lit up as he turned the flashlight on and off, marveling at the bright beam.
With three flashlights to guide them, the group continued into a narrow tunnel that opened into a chamber. The path ended here. The cave’s base was solid rock, but the ceiling extended high above them in a vertical shaft.
“We’re here,” Gou Dan announced, pointing around the cave. Seeing their confusion, he smiled mischievously and switched off his flashlight.
Yu Xi and Lin Wu followed his lead.
Darkness swallowed them—then the cave walls ca alive.
Ghostly green lights dotted the walls like fireflies frozen in stone. Tiny glowing specks stretched upward along the walls, climbing the vertical shaft until they vanished into the shadows above.
“What… is this?” Yu Xi stepped forward and summoned a small rock hamr from her inventory. She tapped one glowing spot and pried it loose.
The chunk of stone ca free easily, revealing a rough crystal core that pulsed with a faint green luminescence.
“Whoa! Big Sis, you’re amazing! I never managed to dig one out that fast!” Gou Dan exclaid, eyes wide. “Yeah, these are the gems I was talking about. If you clean them up, they look super pretty. People beyond the wall sotis wear them as jewelry.”
Yu Xi turned the rough crystal in her hand, light from the flashlight refracting through the surface. The stone’s deep green color, clarity, and luminosity reminded her of a gemstone she’d seen once before.
“They really like these stones,” Gou Dan continued, shrugging. “We tried mining them to trade, but their side has caves like this too. They say ours are dirty and worthless. Even if we work all day digging out a big one, it barely trades for a cup of water.”
Yu Xi froze.
This… was an erald.
A raw erald the size of her palm, with stunning transparency and natural fluorescence.
And here, in this barren desert, people treated it as trash?
Lin Wu spoke up, “He’s right. The process of mining, cleaning, and cutting eralds is incredibly complicated. If the people beyond the wall have similar mines, these raw stones wouldn’t sell for much. No one would risk coming to a monster-infested exile zone just for a few gems. Besides, what this place really lacks is water, weapons, and fuel. Compared to those essentials, these gemstones are just pretty rocks.”
Yu Xi nodded. No matter how beautiful they were, these gems couldn’t be eaten, drunk, or worn for warmth. In this desolate world, practicality always won over aesthetics.
“It’s a sha,” she murmured. “I’ve never seen eralds this big in my world.”
“If you like them, Big Sis, you can take as many as you want,” Gou Dan said cheerfully.
Yu Xi turned to stare at him.
The boy waved his hands quickly. “No, no! You don’t need to trade anything! You’re the boss’s friend—our friend. Take as many as you want, really!”
Yu Xi stood there speechless.
“Do any of the other travelers know about these gems?” she finally asked.
“Nope,” Gou Dan said, shaking his head. “Nobody ever asked, not even the boss. And these things don’t fill bellies or water bottles, so no one cares.”
Yu Xi fell into silence again.
Eralds might be worthless here in the Desolate Land, but in a future station with a functioning economy, gems like these could trade for food, water, and crucial supplies.
The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning: within this barren wasteland, these stones truly were the most precious gems—at least for travelers like herself.
As that thought solidified in her mind, her phone vibrated in her pocket.
[Easter Egg Activated: Fragnt Collection Rate (20%)]
[Site Fragnt: 1 (Collected)]
[View Collected Fragnt? Yes/No]
Yu Xi tapped “Yes” without hesitation.
The mont she did, the cave around her vanished, replaced by a flash of white. Images appeared in her vision:
Two bottles of high-temperature perfu.
A tube of disguise lipstick.
An air hair dryer.
A bottle of repair foundation.
A case of tal ice…
She recognized these items imdiately—they were part of the ten items in her initial inventory.
In the vision, a pair of hands passed over the objects. From their size and the angle of view, she knew instantly that they were her own. Then, more items appeared: a crate of nutrient liquids, neatly stacked.
Yu Xi froze.
Was this… her mory of choosing her initial supplies?
But how?
When she had woken up on the train, she rembered nothing about packing these items.
Wait.
Her breath caught in her throat.
This wasn’t just a vision.
This was her own mory—one she had lost.
The collected Easter Egg fragnt had restored it.
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