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Chapter 236 - Chapter 237: National Fate World – Cannon Fodder Old Lady (3)

"Ding! Congratulations, Adventurer An Xiaomei, for discovering a resource-rich island. Its number is — you now have five hours to explore this island. Please be mindful of safety and the time limit."

In the live broadcast feed, An Xiaomei gripped her machete tightly in her left hand. All her other supplies, along with the cane she'd brought into the game, had already been stored neatly in her backpack.

This in-game backpack had only a space limitation — every adventurer started with 30 square meters of storage — but there was no restriction on the number of items one could carry.

Meanwhile, other adventurers were also beginning to encounter new islands one after another.

[I've got to say, Granny An's luck isn't bad. Her first encounter is a resource island — that's a good sign for her.]

[My god, I just left another player's stream — an athlete — and she ran into a hostile adventurer from another country! Luckily, she was a fencer and managed to counter-kill him, though she got lightly injured.]

[Looking at Granny An's calm, steady expression, for a moment I thought she was some kind of hidden master. Turns out that was just my imagination.]

An Xiaomei moved swiftly. As soon as her ice island touched land, she leapt off without hesitation, wasting not a single second.

Following her memory, she headed straight toward the densest part of the jungle, marking the route as she went so she could gather items more efficiently on the way back.

Here — a few medicinal herbs. She marked them on her in-game map.

There — a cluster of banana trees. Marked.

Five hundred meters ahead — a sweet potato field. Noted.

To the audience, though, she just looked like an old lady charging blindly forward, ignoring all the resources around her.

Many viewers started to grumble that she must be too old to see properly — how else could she miss all these treasures right before her eyes?

[So many good things right there, and she's just walking past them?!]

[I knew this old lady would be unreliable, but this is worse than I expected. I'm out of here.]

[Come on! When you find good resources, you should hold on tight. What's in your hand is what's truly yours.]

[She's been power-walking for half an hour already! That's one-tenth of her time gone and she still hasn't stopped!]

Just as the Dragon Nation's audience was getting anxious for her, An Xiaomei finally stopped — and everyone gasped when they saw what was in front of her.

A field of cotton and flax stretched out before her.

At this, An Xiaomei smiled faintly. Of course she couldn't skip this — the game-issued thermal outfit only lasted for seven days. After that, you either went back to wearing your thin real-world clothes… or froze to death.

Resource islands occasionally contained materials for making cold-weather gear — that was a rule summarized by the government in her past life. An Xiaomei was simply putting that knowledge to use.

The audience watched as she swung her machete with practiced ease. From the cotton fields, she only cut the upper portions; for the flax, she chopped the stalks off cleanly at the roots. The blade moved so fast it left afterimages.

Viewers were stunned. Compared to other adventurers who were gingerly hand-picking materials, Granny An's wild, sweeping efficiency looked downright thrilling.

Twenty minutes later, she stopped right on time and sprinted toward the next target — a cornfield not far away.

There, she repeated the same process, chopping down the corn along with part of the stalks — after all, the stalks could later serve as firewood.

Everything was going smoothly… until a dark shadow flickered across the screen.

The viewers immediately noticed it — but An Xiaomei, busy gathering corn with her back turned, hadn't yet reacted.

When the camera zoomed in, the chat collectively gasped in horror. It was a massive wild boar, at least two meters long, charging straight at her.

The boar's fury was understandable — its "food storage" had been disturbed. It had gone to drink water, only to return and find some thief stealing from its pantry.

But An Xiaomei had actually sensed its presence five minutes earlier using her special ability. Calm and composed, she'd quietly picked a few "illusion herbs" from the ground — herbs invisible to most viewers.

The audience thought she'd simply sat down to rest. Only the experts monitoring her feed noticed that subtle move.

She ground the herbs into juice and coated a single ear of corn with it. To the audience, though, it just looked like she was preparing to eat again — and of course, the trolls wasted no time sneering:

"This old lady's a total glutton — can't stop eating even now!"

But after finishing, she calmly stored the "special" corn into her spatial inventory and continued gathering, not pausing once.

When she finally heard the heavy pounding of hooves behind her, An Xiaomei spun around sharply and hurled that corn with perfect aim — straight into the boar's open mouth.

A few seconds later, the beast slumped lazily to the ground, drooling as if trapped in a blissful dream.

An Xiaomei seized the opportunity. Using the momentum of her body and the weight of her machete, she swung down hard at its head.

The illusion herb was truly miraculous — even under excruciating pain, the boar didn't awaken. No wonder she'd collected that rare spirit grass before.

After a dozen heavy strikes, the boar finally collapsed for good. An Xiaomei quickly stored the carcass in her backpack and fled the area before the blood scent attracted larger predators.

Expert log:

Subject: Granny An

Likely tool type: predictive or anesthetic aid

Function: auxiliary, high effectiveness — details unknown.

Just as the experts surmised, many viewers also believed her successful counterattack must have been due to her initial drawn item — after all, her frail body seemed far too deceptive for such a feat.

Watching the stream, Yang An — her son — finally exhaled the breath he'd been holding. That had been way too close. His palms were slick with sweat.

An Xiaomei checked her wristwatch — half the allotted time had passed. She had to hurry back and gather the materials she'd marked earlier.

She reached a patch of fruit trees and, seeing her machete now bent at the edge, decided to climb instead. She picked fruit for thirty minutes straight before moving on.

The audience stared in disbelief — how could an old lady climb and move so nimbly? It was almost humiliating to think how clumsy they'd be doing the same.

On her way back, she reached a freshwater stream. With only two empty bottles on hand, she filled both — that was all she could carry without drawing suspicion, since she had no visible containers beyond those.

At the banana trees she'd marked earlier, she hooked the stems down with her cane and chopped off the fruit bunches with her dulled blade.

For the next hour, An Xiaomei retraced her path, collecting every marked resource as she retreated toward her island.

Finally, with one minute to spare, she stepped back onto her ice island.

She then recorded the island's coordinates and identification number in her navigation device. After all, a resource-rich island like this shouldn't be harvested only once — that would be a waste.

"The first Island Defense Battle has now concluded. The system is calculating each adventurer's loot.

The top three nations whose players performed best in this event will receive materialized resource rewards. Please stay tuned…"

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