Chapter 62: Chapter 56: Taoyuan Village
Taoyuan Village was a rural village near T City. Most of its young people had gone to T City or other nearby cities to make a living, leaving only some of the elderly and women with children to live there.
Every month, they relied on the money their relatives sent back and the vegetables and poultry they raised in their own yards to live a self-sufficient, pastoral life.
Taoyuan Village wasn’t originally called that. It was just a name the villagers gave it after the era of famine began—a self-deceiving act born from their deep longing for a better life.
Taoyuan Village’s location was marked on the map on her ID Watch, which meant someone had obviously been there before.
However, it wasn’t a base under the Alliance’s jurisdiction. There was no exchange, no mission center, and no rumors of any rare treasures or materials.
All that was there was a group of old, weak, and disabled common folk, so no one ever stayed for long.
But there was one thing Tang Mo wasn’t sure was a coincidence: later on, several of the young prodigies on the spiritual power rankings came from Taoyuan Village.
Many people guessed that it was because Taoyuan Village’s location was overflowing with Spiritual Energy, which nurtured such children.
Unfortunately, by that time, Taoyuan Village had already been destroyed by mutant beasts. When people later visited its ruins, all they found was a desolate forest, no different from anywhere else.
Right now, Taoyuan Village was still intact, and Tang Mo, who placed particular importance on her Spiritual Attribute value, had no reason not to investigate.
Following the map, she cut straight through forests and grasslands. Tang Mo was somewhat grateful for the current topography, which turned what would have been a long detour into a journey of less than a day.
Of course, this was also inseparable from her sufficiently high attribute values and physical fitness.
Intermediate Beasts were still a rare sight, presumably lying dormant somewhere, gathering their strength.
Tang Mo just had to be careful to avoid packs of mutant beasts, so her journey was quite smooth.
The current terrain made driving almost impossible. A car with even a slightly low chassis wouldn’t make it 200 meters. So, Tang Mo gave up on the idea of finding a car for transportation.
This rapid travel allowed her to hunt lone mutant beasts to collect Crystal Cores and train her combat skills. At the same time, it improved her agility, as she constantly channeled her spiritual power into her feet.
The roadside scenery was much the same: towering trees, dense or sparse thickets, and occasionally, she would unwittingly stumble into a small forest.
The closer she got to the edge of the city, near the foot of the mountains, the taller and denser the trees in the forest became, and the stranger the plants looked.
It was as if nature itself had partitioned this area off, creating a different world entirely.
This place was very far from the nearest base. Generally, unless it was for a special mission, people wouldn’t travel this far just to hunt mutant beasts.
Tang Mo had barely seen another soul on her journey. Just as she was starting to feel a bit bored, a tall, sturdy figure up ahead caught her attention.
It was a man, half a head taller than Tang Mo. Given that Tang Mo was 1.7 meters tall, the man had to be at least 1.9 meters.
Paired with his brawny frame, he was quite intimidating at first glance.
At that moment, the big guy was swinging an axe, chopping at a tree as thick as Tang Mo’s waist.
After a moment’s thought, Tang Mo decided to go and say hello.
"Hey there. Chopping down a tree?"
Tang Mo put on her most pleasant smile, which looked particularly simple and sincere on her grimy, dark-tanned face.
"Ah, hehe."
Seeing someone come to greet him, the big guy stopped swinging. Axe in one hand, he scratched his head with the other.
His smile was even more sincere and simple than Tang Mo’s, which made her feel a little embarrassed.
’I lost,’ she thought. ’My acting skills aren’t up to snuff. I’m nowhere near his level.’
"Could I ask you something? Is Taoyuan Village near here?"
The map showed Taoyuan Village was right here, but after wandering around in circles for a while, Tang Mo still hadn’t found the entrance.
Hearing the two words "Taoyuan Village," the big guy’s face showed a clear reaction.
"I’m from Taoyuan! Are you going there? I can take you!" Undisguised excitement was written all over the big guy’s face.
"Oh no, that’s too kind. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your tree-chopping. If you could just point me in the right direction, I can go by myself."
After what happened with Ah Lian and at Huacheng Base, Tang Mo clearly couldn’t bring herself to trust this big guy, whose Strength was obviously a cut above her own.
’If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. In this apocalypse, anyone this enthusiastic was either a fool or had ulterior motives.’
Hearing Tang Mo’s words, the big guy didn’t say anything. Instead, he raised his axe again.
CRACK!
With just one more swing, the tree, which had only been halfway cut through, came crashing down.
He tucked the axe into his belt, bent down, and hoisted the tree onto his shoulder. The big guy turned back to Tang Mo and gave her a bashful smile.
"Let’s go."
"..."
’So this guy wasn’t even trying before,’ she thought. ’He was just playing around.’
Tang Mo was speechless.
She couldn’t think of any more excuses to refuse, and she really couldn’t find the entrance to Taoyuan Village on her own.
Her only option was to follow the big, tree-lugging guy. It was a desperate move, but she was out of options.
As they walked, Tang Mo struck up a conversation with the strongman beside her to learn more about Taoyuan Village.
After exchanging a few words, Tang Mo began to think that this man probably wasn’t trying to harm her. He was likely the first case she’d considered: a fool.
How to put it...
Calling him a fool didn’t seem right, but he definitely didn’t seem very bright.
"Why did you come out to chop trees?"
"Uncle Village Chief said we need to fence in the village to make it safer," the big guy said with a simple laugh.
"So you weren’t using your full strength at first? Why were you chopping the tree like that?"
"Uncle Village Chief says my Strength is too great and I don’t control it well. He told me I have to hit a tree ten times before it falls. This one only took six."
The big guy looked older than Tang Mo, but his face wore the bewildered look of a child who’d made a mistake. His small eyes drooped pitifully, like a puppy’s.
It made Tang Mo feel a bit guilty, so she quickly changed the subject.
"Aren’t there trees everywhere? Why come so far to chop one? It must be a pain to carry it back."
Before she knew it, Tang Mo had been following the big guy for over ten minutes. The man himself, carrying the large tree, showed no signs of fatigue.
"We’re chopping trees to fence in the village. If we chop the ones near the village, it’ll be all bare, and that would be even less safe."
The big guy looked at Tang Mo as if she were the fool, a hint of pity in his eyes.
’Everyone says I’m a little slow, but I’m not. This young lady is even slower than me. How pitiful.’
"..."
Tang Mo stumbled. It had to be because she hadn’t eaten enough for lunch and her brain wasn’t getting enough blood. Otherwise, how could she have asked such a stupid question?
After winding through who knows how many paths and passing through an exceptionally dense forest, Tang Mo finally saw the village, encircled by the trunks of waist-thick trees.
The village wasn’t large, but it must have taken countless trees to build the wall. It was clear how much effort the villagers had put into securing their home.
The village gate consisted of two large, sturdy iron doors. Inside, two men were peering out through peepholes. When they saw the big guy returning with the tree, they hurried to open the gate.
"Tiegen, you’re back!" the men inside greeted him warmly.
Both men were surprisingly young. One of them had a rugged sort of handsomeness and looked like he had been to college, not like someone who would settle for a quiet life in a village.
"And this is?"
Seeing the short-haired girl following behind Tiegen, both men were clearly surprised.
Taoyuan Village rarely had visitors. Their Tiegen was so innocent; they worried he might have been tricked by an outsider and gotten into trouble, leading them right to their doorstep.
Seeing that Tang Mo was young and tall, the handsome man’s expression soured. He grabbed Tiegen, who had just set down the tree, and pulled him behind him.
"Miss, may I ask what business you have in Taoyuan Village?"
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