Chapter 426: Bound to the Birth System and Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 427 Wasteland Gathering Daily (55)

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Shen Yao slowly straightened her waist, raised her head, and looked toward the direction the voice came from.

What a coincidence, it was the place she had just left, and the one shouting these words was that passerby auntie.

The pomelo grove was huge; even though it was not yet the season for harvesting pomelos, there were still many ordinary people around, most wanting pomelo leaves to eat and use, while a few unbelievers were eyeing the pomelos themselves.

One thing rising meant another falling; pomelos only fetched a price when yields were low, and once yields surged, the Exchange Center's purchase price would drop.

Fragmented, noisy discussion filled her ears, along with the auntie's overly sharp and desperate pleas for sorrow, making Shen Yao frown tightly.

"Mommy, gone."

Manman blinked her beautiful big eyes, raised her hand to point at the auntie's position, and spoke softly.

Shen Yao's heart stirred, she half-squatted and asked Manman if she had seen that missing child.

Manman nodded and shook her head, "Mommy, left with Auntie, Manman doesn't like it."

After hearing this, Shen Yao hurriedly picked up Manman and walked two steps into the pomelo grove, "Manman saw that child leave with the Auntie Manman doesn't like?"

Manman made two "mm" sounds, indicating that earlier when Mommy was picking pomelo leaves, she had been squatting on the ground playing with mud, and that child was being dragged away by the disliked Auntie while throwing a tantrum.

Shen Yao:...

Just as the mother and daughter were talking, the auntie had already stumbled out of the pomelo grove, looking somewhat mad, rushing up to anyone she saw to recklessly ask about her own child's whereabouts.

The big shots were all focused on themselves while gathering; who would be idle enough to pay attention to others?

Of the few who had seen something, the information they spoke was dubious at best, the more one listened the more confused one became, completely at odds with the correct answer.

Shen Yao made a quick decision, had the system send an anonymous message to the auntie's wristwatch, and reminded the Patrol Team at the base entrance.

According to Manman's account and her own speculation, the child taken away had a 90% chance of returning to the base.

The system was surprised, 'Host is so kind-hearted?' Helping for free.

Shen Yao rolled her eyes, 'In such a world, a child staying with relatives might not even grow up safely; being taken by someone with ulterior motives can basically be called a dead end.'

She wasn't exactly kind-hearted, at most she felt some empathy seeing Manman.

Perhaps because the other party had once thought of harming Manman, evil people, just catch them, consider it a contribution to the stability of the base order.

System:...

The system hurriedly sent out two anonymous messages, it also secretly located the child and found the result was just as the Host speculated—the child thieves were on their way back to the base.

Wow!

Are child traffickers this arrogant? Although the child had been fed a potion to sleep soundly, they were openly discussing how many points selling a child could earn; the system clapped and took several high-definition photos again and sent them to the Patrol Team, hehe, please call it a good person!

……

The child theft incident in the pomelo grove made some parents with children a bit nervous.

Shen Yao wasn't afraid (the system had cheats), but in crowded places there would be some seeing enemies in every bush and tree, affecting her gathering work greatly.

Helpless, Shen Yao had to take Manman deeper into the pomelo grove again.

Manman pouted unhappily; until now, she hadn't caught any prey.

Mommy clearly said this forest had many small animals, where did they go?

"Look, there are small birds right ahead," Shen Yao pointed upward, only to see deep in the branches hung a bird's nest the size of a washbasin.

Manman:... gaze surprised and delighted

Shen Yao did not climb the pomelo tree to pick down the bird's nest; after the mutation, birds, even sparrows smaller than a palm, had swollen several times, and with Manman's current size, encountering mutant birds might not necessarily be her winning.

Shen Yao first used the bird's nest to divert Manman's attention, then pointed out there were other small animals in the pomelo grove, such as the most common butterfly larvae, and wild chickens and wild rabbits living in the pomelo grove.

Clenching her fist to encourage her daughter a couple of times, Shen Yao had the system pay attention at all times, while she continued picking pomelos and pomelo leaves, striving to fill the back basket she brought (filling the space as much as possible).

Busy all at once until noon, Shen Yao wiped the sweat drops on her forehead.

Manman carried a wild chicken chick whose neck had long been twisted, running over with pattering steps to show off.

Successfully receiving Mommy's praise, Manman smiled like a little red flower, then turned and brought several wild eggs and two wild chicken chicks on their last breath.

Even the system secretly sighed to Shen Yao, children's eyes were just good, always able to find wild chicken nests with good luck.

These wild chicken chicks and wild eggs were all Manman's harvest from sneaking into the wild chicken nest while the wild chickens went out to find food.

'Tsk tsk tsk, heartache for the wild chicken finding food,' working hard every day to support the family, only to return and find the home gone.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao said Manman did well; although the wild chicken chicks couldn't be raised, selling living wild chicken chicks to the base would earn more points.

"Go back tonight, Mommy will stew meat for Manman," use this dead wild chicken chick for the meat; this was not the palm-sized yellow-feathered wild chicken chick of modern society; nowadays with inflation, carrying one weighed several jin.

Shen Yao and Manman stayed in the pomelo grove for a whole day; Shen Yao harvested a back basket of pomelo leaves and several immature but tested edible pomelos (the space held more pomelos and pomelo leaves matured in advance), Manman harvested several wild eggs and wild chicken chicks half alive and half dead.

Packed up, took the bus back to the base.

Shen Yao first went to the Exchange Center to sell the living wild chicken chicks, then returned home to pluck feathers and cut up the wild chicken chicks dead for a long time to prepare stewed meat.

During this time Shen Yao received from the system news about the subsequent situation of the child traffickers.

The little one abducted today was successfully rescued and handed over to relatives.

After the child trafficker who did this was caught by the Patrol Team, they followed the vine to the melon, directly turning over two temporary footholds in the Outer District and Slum District.

During this time they also successfully rescued several children who hadn't been acted upon yet, all from the Slum District; most importantly, they weren't abducted by child traffickers, but sold by their own family relatives.

'... Those people rely on children as pearl earrings to catch mutant beasts in the wild; there's also the matter of the Mercenary Team here.'

Mutant beasts in the wild eat people, but a mutant beast's entire hide is quite valuable.

To capture mutant beasts as much as possible, the various methods thought up were like the Eight Treasures crossing the sea.

Using people as pearl earrings, the default assumption is generally an adult; for example, mercenary teams occasionally issue notifications offering high prices to hire people from the Slum District, and regardless of whether that person ultimately lives or dies, a large sum of points will be credited.

This counts as a gray-area transaction that cannot be prohibited; has it actually developed to the point of targeting children now?

"Children are easier to control—not only is the price cheap, but there are no follow-up troubles," especially children sold by their own relatives.

It's just that this gang was too greedy, switched to human trafficking, directly capsized and hit the gun, and this gray industry chain was exposed along with it.

Shen Yao:...

"How do you think the Base will handle it?" Whether they strike hard or handle it lightly, neither solves the core problem.

Life difficulties lead to phenomena of selling sons and daughters; essentially, children born cannot survive, so it's better to sell them to earn points to subsidize the household.

Of course, there are inevitably those who simply rely on bearing children to sell points for a living. Even in Modern Times society this is repeatedly banned despite efforts; in a mutated world, it's even harder to say much about it.

The System said it doesn't know, because the Base Upper Echelon hasn't reached a unified stance; this kind of thing has happened before, it's just that certain smart people brought it into the open now, forcing the Base to seriously consider it.

Shen Yao lowered her head to process the chopped chicken pieces, placing them into Clear Water to rinse clean.

They didn't continue discussing this topic deeply; the whole matter, big or small, depends entirely on how the Base wants to handle it.

In the Evening Cheng Qi got off work; the first thing he did upon entering the door was confirm the human trafficking incident that happened today with Shen Yao.

"The Base will probably handle it seriously, explicitly prohibiting such transactions from appearing."

Cheng Qi's tone was serious; while speaking he wiped the water droplets off his hands with a tissue.

Shen Yao guessed the key point: "Is it connected to someone relatively important?"

Otherwise the initiative would be in the Base's hands, because the missing child has already been found, and ordinary people facing the Base Upper Echelon are not at an advantage; as long as the Base itself wants to conceal it, it won't fail.

"The child lost today has a father who manages a small-to-medium Mercenary Team.

When the child was found by the Patrol Team at the Base doorway, the child's father was at the scene.

And their timing of appearing was very coincidental; at that time, the Base Upper Echelon responsible for Security watched the whole process." This is slapping the Base in the face directly; no matter what the Base Upper Echelon thinks inside, they must give the entire public an explanation on the surface.

Shen Yao turned her brain, analyzing possible hidden internal causes within it.

Putting down the food brought out from the Kitchen, Shen Yao called Manman over to eat Dinner.

"A real coincidence or someone intentionally leaked it? The Base just caught a wave during the hot rainy season," Shen Yao muttered softly, stopping immediately upon seeing Manman come over.

Cheng Qi shook his head, "Don't know," bent down to pick up Manman running over with small steps, then arranged the stacked bowls and plates on the table.

Shen Yao removed the apron tied around her waist; Cheng Qi no longer continued saying anything depressing, and the family of three tacitly finished Dinner.

Manman lay on the Sofa playing with the wooden toy in her hands; Shen Yao and Cheng Qi chatted about the topic they had left halfway before.

Cheng Qi propped his chin with one hand, "Don't go too far from the Base when going out recently; the Lei Mercenary Team accepted a time-limited mission issued by the Base, we will probably go on a long trip."

Going on a long trip means Cheng Qi won't be at the Base for a period of time.

Only Shen Yao and Manman, mother and daughter, remain at home; they must definitely keep as low a profile as possible.

Shen Yao nodded, "I'll pay attention," even when going out, prioritize choosing several Collection Points around the Base.

Like today's Pomelo Grove, not only are there pomelos and Citrus Leaves, but also Wild Chickens and Wild Rabbits.

Comparing food yield, time spent, safety level, and other aspects, this is a very good place to go.

Seeing this, Cheng Qi reached out and patted Shen Yao's shoulder, his tone carrying comfort, "Our whole family is in the Inner District; the policies issued by the Base are favorable to us."

"Hope so," Shen Yao leaned against Cheng Qi's embrace, thinking that managing the entire Base must take how much effort; she hopes the Base gets better and better, and before Manman grows up, she doesn't want to cause trouble.

The matter of losing the child didn't cause a big stir; in the following days, when Shen Yao went out, she didn't hear any discussion voices.

On the third day after Cheng Qi said he would go on a long trip, he left the Base with the Lei Mercenary Team people, preliminarily estimated to take half a month to return.

Helplessly, Shen Yao could only continue taking Manman out to collect every day.

The Collection Points in several directions around the Base were all toured by the mother and daughter.

As a mother, Shen Yao was responsible for collecting Wild Fruit and Vegetables; as a daughter, Manman was responsible for fresh meat; their three meals a day were just the food they brought back.

Ten-odd days passed; not only did they not touch their savings, but they also accumulated quite a bit of dried meat and dried vegetables.

Shen Yao occasionally confirmed with the System the progress of the Cheng Family and Shen Family on the road.

Back then they were unfamiliar with the road conditions, plus taking care of children made them slow; it took about one month on the road.

Nowadays the Cheng Family and Shen Yao have been on the road for more than half a month; with the System's help, they are about to cross the desert, and victory is near.

"However, the team conflicts are quite large," the System is not optimistic that they can reach the Base safely.

At least that Chen Family person is very sneaky, always likes to pull small moves behind the scenes; Shen Yu and Chen Jia are caught in the middle, at a loss, and the relationship between the Shen Family and Cheng Family has become somewhat delicate; who let it be that Cheng Ma was the one who introduced Shen Yu and Chen Jia back then.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao was speechless; not seen for one year, how could the home become like this? Is it that sharing hardships and joys is very difficult? Or does distance create beauty?

System:...

The System was also speechless; it asked the Host how to handle and arrange this; they are too far away, powerless to help, and can only beat around the bush to remind them.

But whether these are useful... probably useless, because the four families still fight and quarrel without separating, even though Shen Jiancheng and Cheng Ba were injured because of this.

"Let them reach the Base as soon as possible; the housing prices here are not cheap," by then Shen Yao can only manage a few elders in the family; as for other relatives, they all live by their own abilities.

The System continued to use anonymous messages and dream transmissions, working hard to help with both approaches; with its guidance, several families on the road had narrow escapes but were safe; however, this also amplified the grudges between both sides, causing the crux to be serious and difficult to resolve.

When the Zhao Family's car completely could not start, the conflict between the Chen Family and Shen Family directly escalated; even though Song Ling stood in front, and Shen Jiancheng supported, the Shen Family's car was still secretly driven away by the Chen Family people.

"Idiot! How could I give birth to you, this idiot, get out!"

Song Ling angrily scolded Shen Yu away, then held the child and patiently coaxed him.

Who let the birth mother also run away; now the Shen Family, besides a completely wrecked car and a few cheap Nutrient Agents on the car, is just a bare commander.

Finally Cheng Ma helped them, letting them follow the Cheng Family's car.

"It definitely won't fit on the car, but this car, besides not being able to start, can still be towed; by then let Eldest Brother use Rope to tie the front and back together; you don't think too much; once we arrive at the New Base, everything will be fine."

In-laws like the Zhao Family are also hard to deal with, but compared to the Shen Family's overly bizarre experiences, Cheng Ma felt strangely somewhat comforted; at least the Zhao Family didn't drive away with people and car together, and the Cheng Family still has a way to live.

Song Ling:...

Song Ling thanked Cheng Ma profusely, holding the child as she called for Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu to get in the car and sit down, and they drove on like that, big car pulling small car.

Using several Nutrient Agents frugally and pairing them with the edible wild vegetables and wild fruit they could pick every day, their efforts were not in vain—the group finally saw the outline of the New Base.