LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 52 - Someone
By the time Mai Dongzi reached the eighth dried and dead mutated pine tree, she felt that she had finally distanced herself from the presence of “that other discovery” without drawing attention.
She then focused on the base of the eighth dried and dead mutated pine tree. When she “saw” that the mutated poria in the soil was larger than any she had seen before, she couldn’t help but crouch down to dig it out.
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that shortly after meeting with Vice-Admiral Chen, Mai Dongzi had changed her weapon.
When Vice-Admiral Chen’s team delivered the nano-tagging robot to her, they also provided her with a new weapon.
The new weapon looked similar to the dagger provided by the production team. Viewers in the livestream had watched for several days, and no one noticed that the dagger in her hand was not the original one.
As soon as Mai Dongzi took the new weapon in her hand, she knew it was much heavier than the one provided by the production team, and the blade was wider.
Though it appeared to be a dagger, it was actually a weapon that could transform and combine.
The dagger provided by the production team was a civilian-grade weapon, while the one given by Vice-Admiral Chen was a military-grade, specially-made weapon.
However, under the livestream’s scrutiny, no matter how specialized the weapon was, it still had to be presented as a dagger to the public.
However, the specialized quality made a noticeable difference. Mai Dongzi found that using the dagger to dig was incredibly smooth and effortless.
She quickly unearthed a piece of mutated poria and, as usual, weighed it in her hand to estimate its weight.
The energy contained in this piece of mutated poria was very rich, comparable to the best-mutated Polygonum multiflorum she had previously found.
However, Mai Dongzi sensed that the energy from this mutated poria was not one she could absorb, suggesting it was of a different attribute. She identified it as likely being of earth-type energy.
Suddenly, Mai Dongzi put the mutated poria away, covered the hole with soil, and marked it.
To avoid drawing attention to her discovery, she dug another hole in a different direction and pretended to have found nothing. She then stood up with a look of disappointment.
After this, when she stood up, she noticed that the “individual discovery” was now not far behind her. Mai Dongzi turned around as if sensing something.
Earlier, while scanning her surroundings with her mental power, she had detected a cave with someone inside.
Not wanting to invade anyone’s privacy, she immediately redirected her attention upon realizing someone was in the cave.
To her surprise, even though she had deliberately distanced herself from the cave, the person inside had come out and was approaching her quickly.
Mai Dongzi recognized that this person was the adventurer she had seen the day before, who had been pursued by the mutated giant python.
She scanned the man with her mental power and noticed that he had no injuries. It was clear that he had either successfully evaded the mutated giant python or had killed it without much effort.
“Hello, Miss Xi. I am Adventurer 088,” the man said with a smile from a distance.
Mai Dongzi did not ask foolish questions like how he recognized her. Given the original host’s notoriety on the Star Network after her rebirth, it was likely that all the adventurers in the same group were aware of her.
“Hello,” Mai Dongzi replied with a professional smile.
“Miss Xi, what are you digging for?” the man asked, his curiosity evident.
From the moment Mai Dongzi saw Adventurer 088 walking towards her quickly, she suspected he had some scheme in mind.
Now, seeing his unabashed curiosity, it was clear that he was interested in what she was holding.
Although their adventurers’ light brains were interfered with by the program team’s communication block, and could not directly contact the outside world, they interacted with the live stream viewers for an hour each night. As long as arrangements were made in advance, information could definitely be transmitted during those interactions.
Since discovering the mutated ginseng, Mai Dongzi has been checking the Star Network and the Huangguo Live Platform forums during her breaks each day to see if anyone reported on her new activities.
She found that neither of these places had mentioned her discovery of energy plants. Not even her daily plant-digging activities were reported or discussed—no one had brought her up at all.
Previously, she had appeared on several hot topic lists on the Star Network and Huangguo Live Platform forums.
So, it was very likely that information about her had been suppressed. As for who ordered the suppression, Mai Dongzi didn’t need to guess—it was obvious.
However, since the live stream was ongoing, even though she had tried to conceal her energy plant activities, a lot was still exposed.
If someone were truly interested, they would likely already know about her discovery of special plants on Shui Lanxing.
Mai Dongzi was still only partially familiar with this world. After all, the original host was very reclusive and had been deliberately kept uninformed, so she was not well-acquainted with much of the information.
Although Mai Dongzi couldn’t accurately estimate the value of the energy plants, since Vice Admiral Chen had said her discovery was of great significance, it meant the value of these energy plants was definitely considerable.
Human nature is hard to change, so even after over two thousand years, the pursuit of profit remains a fundamental trait of humanity.
And this man was likely interested in the energy plants.
However, Mai Dongzi couldn’t determine whether his interest started from the incident with the mutated giant python the day before yesterday, if it was a spontaneous decision today, or if he had been waiting here based on her route.
“Nothing much,” Mai Dongzi said coldly.
She hoped that his disinterest might cause him to stop pursuing her.
But Adventurer 088 seemed to ignore her cold demeanor and continued walking toward her.
Mai Dongzi noticed that his gaze was fixed on the spot where she had dug up the mutated poria, ignoring the cover she had put in place.
So it was clear that he had been paying attention to her actions for a while. Judging by his behavior, he was likely using his identity as an adventurer to find an excuse to dig up the root of that mutated pine tree in an unpretentious manner.
Mai Dongzi had only managed to dig up one piece of mutated poria. If this person followed the traces she had left, he would definitely find other mutated poria.
A few days ago, when Mai Dongzi handed over the energy plants to Vice Admiral Chen, Chen mentioned that he could also sense a faint energy fluctuation when holding them.
Although Adventurer 088 was a level lower in cultivation than Vice Admiral Chen, once he unearthed the mutated poria and held it, he would likely detect the energy contained within it.
Furthermore, if he had been paying attention to her for a while, he would have noticed her focus on the dried and dead mutated pine trees, leading him to deduce that mutated poria might be found beneath these dead trees.
From any angle, Mai Dongzi felt that if she didn’t take action, Adventurer 088 would definitely discover the secret of the mutated poria.