"Let's go, I'll take you to the courtyard to get them."
Liang Chao picked up the kerosene lamp and led the way towards the stairs.
The courtyard was an ordinary farmhouse yard, with a water pool on the right side near the gate.
"They're in here," Liang Chao said, pointing to the bottom of the pool.
By the faint light of the kerosene lamp, Yun Xiaoxiao saw the colorful crystals at the bottom of the pool.
Most of them were level one or two, with a few level three and four crystals.
There weren't many level three and four crystals, but there were plenty of lower-level ones.
The entire pool probably contained several thousand crystals.
"Did you find all these yourselves?" Yun Xiaoxiao asked in surprise.
Liang Chao nodded. "Yes, we accidentally discovered these shiny things inside the zombies' heads and thought they looked pretty, so we brought them back and threw them into the pool."
"But is there really that many zombies around here?"
Yun Xiaoxiao asked this because she found it strange.
This was just a small village at the foot of a mountain.
Other than the strawberry plantation, this area was mostly scattered farmhouses.
Logically, there shouldn't be too many zombies.
So, where did this group of people get all these crystals from?
"There aren't many here, but there are plenty on the other side of that mountain," Liang Chao said, pointing to the mountain where Xie Youcai's coal mine was located.
"There are several large warehouses over there, serving as logistics hubs for major online shopping platforms like JD.com and Taobao. There were tens of thousands of employees working there.
We occasionally go there to find some food, and if we encounter zombies, we kill a few.
At first, we just thought these shiny things were pretty, but later we discovered they work well as fuel.
Every time we cook, we throw a few into the stove, and the fire burns much stronger.
So, after that, we started taking these crystals whenever we killed zombies.
We use what we need for cooking and throw the rest into the pool.
It looks nice, and we keep them for future use."
Yun Xiaoxiao: ...Using crystals as firewood!
And they even used them to prop up table legs earlier!
This was truly...
Yun Xiaoxiao's mouth twitched.
She had an overwhelming urge to tell them the real purpose of the crystals.
But thinking about the crystals' true function, it gave her another question.
Since they didn't know the real use of the crystals, they probably hadn't consumed any.
So, how did they improve their abilities?
From her observation, the lowest ability level among them was at the peak of level two.
The highest, Liang Chao, had already reached the middle stage of level three.
She voiced her question.
"Are you talking about the strange power in our bodies?" Liang Chao asked.
Yun Xiaoxiao nodded.
"Well, it's no secret," Liang Chao said, quite straightforward.
"It was probably due to some wild berries we ate before.
It was quite a coincidence. Once, we went to the warehouses on the other side of the mountain to look for supplies. We didn't find any, and we almost got bitten by zombies.
Luckily, we managed to escape.
While we were resting, we found a patch of wild plants.
Most importantly, those plants, which looked like grass, were covered in bright red berries.
They looked a bit like strawberries, but they were small and round, about the size of a fingertip."
Liang Chao gestured roughly and continued.
"We were hungry and had nothing to eat, so we picked and ate those berries.
They weren't as sweet as strawberries, but they had some flesh, so we ate quite a few.
As we ate, we noticed something strange.
At first, we felt a burning sensation in our stomachs, like being roasted by fire.
That feeling didn't last long.
Then we realized that the strange energy we had exhausted had returned, and its power was even stronger than before.
We knew it must have been the effect of those berries.
We originally wanted to pick all the berries, but we were worried they might spoil if we kept them too long.
And if we ate them all at once, we weren't sure if there would be any side effects.
So, we didn't pick them all at once. Instead, we went back every few days to eat some and pick a few more."
Hearing this, Yun Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow.
No wonder these people didn't go to the strawberry plantation.
With those berries full of strange energy, who would bother with ordinary strawberries?
"Do you still have those berries?" Yun Xiaoxiao asked.
Liang Chao shook his head and quickly explained, "It's not that we're afraid you'll eat them. It's just that those berries haven't been growing lately. We haven't had any for over ten days."
Because there were no berries, and they still had some food at home, they hadn't rushed to the warehouses for supplies.
This also led to them running out of tobacco.
Not having any cigarettes was driving them crazy.
Looks like they'd have to go out tomorrow.
"By the way, as compensation for him using the infrared laser on you earlier, you can take as many of these shiny things as you want. They're not worth anything anyway," Liang Chao said.
Yun Xiaoxiao's big, round eyes fixed on Liang Chao, then slowly curved into two crescents.
"Really?"
"Of course."
"You won't regret it?"
"Why would I regret it?"
They're just prettier than stones, not diamonds or gold.
Besides, even diamonds and gold aren't worth anything now.
A pound of rice is much more practical.
"Since you say that, I won't be polite," Yun Xiaoxiao said with a kind smile.
However, this smile made Liang Chao and the others feel like they were about to lose big.
But they couldn't figure out how these things from zombies' heads could make them lose out.
Yun Xiaoxiao took out several large sacks from her backpack and then took off her shoes, stepping into the pool to pick up the crystals one by one and throw them into the sacks.
Zheng Yuner helped her.
In no time, all the crystals in the pool were picked up.
Looking at the bulging sacks, Yun Xiaoxiao smiled cheerfully at Liang Chao and the others.
She took out ten bottles of evolution fluid from her pocket.
"This is for you."
She couldn't be too unfair. These evolution fluids were her compensation to them.
They were high-level evolution fluids corresponding to their current strength, which would help them advance.
"What's this?"
Liang Chao and the others looked curiously at the small bottles in Yun Xiaoxiao's hand.
Yun Xiaoxiao gave them a cute smile.
"This is called evolution fluid. It can be used to enhance the abilities of an evolver. It works the same as those berries you mentioned. Do you want to try it?"
Looking at Yun Xiaoxiao's innocent face, Liang Chao picked up a bottle of evolution fluid and examined it from side to side.
"Alright, I'll try it."
After a moment, he unscrewed the cap and drank it down.
His companions watched him.
"Brother Liang, how is it? Did it work?"
