Chapter 31

The rewards for the English competition were generous, but it required a lot of effort.
After finishing the physics competition training session, Tao Shushu hurried to Classroom 1 to practice her spoken English.
Tao Shushu was playing the role of a princess living alone in a manor, with long and complex lines of dialogue.
It took Tao Shushu over an hour to memorize more than ten lengthy and difficult sentences.
The system prompted, [Congratulations on memorizing 20 difficult vocabulary words and 3 complex sentence structures. Reward: 10 gold coins.]
Tao Shushu happily accepted the reward, put down her script, and joined her classmates’ discussion.
Fang Le was exclaiming, “Shushu is so pretty, she’ll look good in anything. We don’t need to worry about her costume. But we have to put some thought into the male lead’s styling, especially since the P.E. committee member’s hair…”
The P.E. committee member, who was playing the male lead, lifted his head proudly. “My buzz cut is very versatile, it can handle any kind of wig. This is my sacrifice for the class to win an award, and now you dare complain about my short hair? Off to run laps as punishment!”
The conversation immediately derailed into a discussion about boys’ hairstyles.
Tao Shushu remembered that her cub’s hair had also grown longer, but since she wasn’t very good at cutting hair, she hadn’t done anything about it.
She opened the game.
Her cub was on patrol.
Nan Yuan’s bangs had indeed grown a bit too long, softly falling over his eyelids, making him seem a bit more brooding.
Her cub didn’t seem very happy.
Tao Shushu paused for a moment and gently stroked his hair.
Her cub immediately looked up, gazing ahead, the tight line of his lips relaxing slightly.
Tao Shushu had originally intended to check if something had happened to make her cub unhappy, but since he’d noticed her, she pressed the speaker button. “Cub, are you tired?”
Nan Yuan shook his head and, as if to prove his point, quickened his pace.
Tao Shushu checked the event log and found the reason for the cub's unhappiness. In just a few days, the Bloodsucking Grass thicket had changed once again.
While out searching for supplies, Nan Yuan noticed that mutated animals were avoiding a certain direction.
He explored that direction and discovered that the Bloodsucking Grass thicket had expanded.
Currently, the underground base had only two entrances and exits: one was the heavy iron door located deep within the Bloodsucking Grass territory. The grass lacked the strength to lift the iron door, so it remained relatively safe.
The other was the ventilation shaft that the cub and the others used for daily access. The ventilation shaft led to the outside and was far from the Bloodsucking Grass, but now, the grass was beginning to encroach toward the ventilation shaft.
After reading the event log, Tao Shushu noticed that many people in the hall looked dejected.
She squeezed the cub’s hand, since pinching his cheeks or ruffling his hair would be too obvious in front of others.
It seemed that leaving the barren planet was becoming increasingly urgent. Tao Shushu checked the power collection task, the cub had been working hard to find energy spheres, but the progress was only at 6.5%.
Leaving the barren planet now seemed like a distant goal.
Tao Shushu pouted and looked at the 50 gold coins she had saved through diligent effort, enough to buy just one energy sphere, which felt like a drop in the bucket.
Fortunately, there were other ways to gather power, so she could continue saving.
Thinking of the two troublemakers, the tall, thin man and the scar-faced man, who were constantly scheming to steal the spaceship, Tao Shushu switched to the room where the two were secretly conducting experiments.
As soon as she entered, she saw a dialogue bubble above the tall, thin man’s head:
"It’s all because of those ordinary people. They’re useless and eat too much, forcing us to go out hunting. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have attracted the Bloodsucking Grass’s attention."
"Even Lin Wei’s men with heavy weapons couldn’t handle it. Do you think Nan Yuan, that young brat, can hold off the Bloodsucking Grass?"
"He just needs to hold out for half a month. By then, we’ll have extracted enough radioactive stones."
The two began plotting.
Tao Shushu glanced around the room. In the center of the table stood a reaction vessel, and beside it was a small box of processed ore.
It seemed they had made some progress.
Just as Tao Shushu was about to tell the cub the good news, she heard the tall, thin man say, "Lin Wei is such a failure. If he hadn’t let Nan Yuan blow up his spaceship, we wouldn’t be stranded on this barren planet."
Tao Shushu paused. She had never known why Nan Yuan was on the barren planet, it seemed there was more to the story.
"Where did Lin Wei get that key from, anyway?"
"He used to be with the Second Legion. It might be a key to their armory. Once we get back to the barren planet, we’ll be rich."
Tao Shushu’s curiosity was piqued. Lin Wei, the leader of the Slaughterer Base, and Nan Yuan had known each other before. She recalled the memory fragments she had found earlier.
While the two troublemakers were busy processing the ore, Tao Shushu switched to their room.
She spent two gold coins and used the "Explore" function twice.
Soon, under the tall, thin man’s bed, she found a hollowed-out brick.
Inside the hollow was a box containing a structurally complex key. The top of the key glowed with a blue light and was equipped with a keypad and a scanner.
It was indeed advanced.
Tao Shushu didn’t take the key. Instead, she carefully memorized its features, restored the room to its original state, and then returned to Nan Yuan’s side.
Just after describing the key's characteristics to the cub, a game prompt popped up: [Congratulations on obtaining 1 Memory Fragment.]
Unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise.
Tao Shushu looked at the thoughtful cub.
Nan Yuan spoke up, "This kind of key is only used by the military, and only those with the highest security clearance know about it."
At this point, Nan Yuan paused. He hadn't been old enough to join the military before, and his father and brother never discussed military secrets at home. So why did he know about this?
"The key is controlled by both a password and identity verification, only designated individuals can use it," Nan Yuan explained.
Tao Shushu thought for a moment. "Cub, the key might be yours."
Nan Yuan tried to recall, but nothing came to mind for the time being. He nodded. "Perhaps Lin Wei stole it from my father."
Tao Shushu opened the description of the memory fragment.
This time, the description was again just two sentences: [The treasure trove of humanity hides a treasure that can set everything right. Only the key can open the vault's door, and only the youth can wield the key.]
The explanation was cryptic, but Tao Shushu had read plenty of treasure-hunting novels. She smiled, wasn't this just the usual treasure-hunting trope? She understood.
The previous memory fragment mentioned that artificial intelligence couldn't find it, and now it spoke of humanity's treasure trove. This suggested that what the key could unlock was likely powerful enough to counter the apocalyptic crisis caused by artificial intelligence.
"Cub, let's take the key with us when we leave," Tao Shushu said.
Nan Yuan nodded.
Tao Shushu accompanied Nan Yuan through the crowd of anxious people and back to their room.
To conserve energy, the personal rooms were unlit.
Nan Yuan sat quietly on the bed, fiddling with items in his backpack.
He was swallowed by the night, just as he was swallowed by loneliness.
Suddenly, Tao Shushu was reminded of her past life in the apocalypse, when she lived in constant fear every day.
On impulse, she said, "Cub, let me take you out to see the Bloodsucking Grass Grove."
"Hmm?" Nan Yuan looked up.
Tao Shushu laid out her plan. "I'll carry you. You have night vision, so we can take a look from above the Bloodsucking Grass Grove."
Nan Yuan agreed and packed some tools into his backpack.
Tao Shushu urged Nan Yuan through the ventilation shaft, and they quietly made their way outside.
Above the barren planet stretched a vast sea of stars.
In the darkness, Tao Shushu ruffled the cub's hair. "Cub, it's so beautiful out here."
She had seen the cub at night before, but he was either busy traveling or forced to fight mutated beasts.
In no mood to admire the night sky.
Who would have thought the nightscape on this barren planet could be so beautiful?
"Then let's take a look," Nan Yuan said.
The beasts in this area had all been cleared out, leaving the night quiet and serene. Tao Shushu moved her screen to appreciate the raw, natural scenery.
Nan Yuan activated his special ability, and his hearing became exceptionally sharp.
He could hear the rustling of leaves ahead and the tapping on the oddly shaped stones to the left.
He locked onto Shushu's position this way, imagining her curious movements and expressions.
Without even realizing it, the worry between his brows had eased considerably.
Nan Yuan walked forward and dug out a cluster of mushrooms beneath the leaves, slender stems topped with tiny, glowing caps.
After taking in the view, Tao Shushu returned to her cub's side.
At a glance, she noticed the glowing mushroom clusters beside the cub. Just as she was about to examine them closely, the screen centered on the cub holding up a flower wreath.
"Shushu, for you."
Under the starlight, Nan Yuan's face was somewhat indistinct, but his pupils clearly reflected the small wreath made of glowing fungi and various wildflowers.
Tao Shushu was instantly enchanted.
The cub is so romantic, ahhhhhhh!
"Thank you, cub."
Tao Shushu slipped a finger through the wreath and pressed it against the cub's palm, as if they were holding the wreath together.
Neither of them mentioned the fact that Tao Shushu couldn't actually take anything from Nan Yuan.
Through the screen, Tao Shushu and Nan Yuan quietly admired the stars and the moon together.
Only when the glow of the fungi began to fade did Tao Shushu say, "Let's go, cub. We'll go check on the Bloodsucking Grass."
Tao Shushu and Nan Yuan stood on a piece of wood, which she lifted and carried all the way above the Bloodsucking Grass.
Originally, she had only brought the cub out to see the state of the Bloodsucking Grass so he wouldn't be stuck anxiously waiting in the base.
But seeing it for real, Tao Shushu marveled, it was worth the trip.
The Bloodsucking Grass had limited usable energy. Now, not only did it have to twist together to pull at the iron door, but it also had to divert energy to explore in this direction. As a result, the middle section of the Bloodsucking Grass had become sparse.
Tao Shushu said, "Given a bit more time, these grasses will be able to move."
"Their roots run deep. If they need to relocate on a large scale, they can only slowly re-root, which will take a long time," Nan Yuan explained. This time gap was their chance for survival.
Tao Shushu nodded. "By the way, cub, let's do something exciting!"
"What?" Nan Yuan's hand trembled instinctively, and he slipped the fire source and dyeing wild fruits he had secretly taken out back into his pocket.
Tao Shushu examined carefully. "I can mark out an area to keep the Bloodsucking Grass from entering. Then we can collect a lot of the grass's stems, leaves, and root mucus."
"Alright," Nan Yuan agreed.
Tao Shushu smiled and got straight to work. She tested that she could steady the cub with one hand, so she picked up a shovel with the other and dug out a large circular trench, enclosing the Bloodsucking Grass.
The Bloodsucking Grass reacted and began sending reinforcements to the center.
But most of their energy was directed to the two ends, so the stems and leaves weren't long enough, and their growth rate was slow.
The enclosed Bloodsucking Grass in the middle trembled.
Nan Yuan threw a bomb and leaped into the air.