Rachel crawled out of a depleted, deactivated cryogenic pod.
She squinted to adjust to the light and temperature, gently flexing her limbs and feeling out this body. Good, it was still her own - a legitimate 20-year-old woman. At the very least, she was still human.
This was rare, considering that after the spatial fracture, essence from another world had seeped into Planet X, causing drastic environmental changes. As anomalous objects invaded, the living conditions for the native inhabitants grew increasingly harsh.
Ordinary people could become contaminated just by approaching anomalous objects, so these were also called sources of contamination. The lucky ones might activate their cellular potential and become Awakened Ones of different levels. The unlucky might lose their sanity and become tools for spreading contamination, known as contaminants.
Rachel observed the details of her surroundings and realized she may have been in this cryo pod for a long time. Even without any time-telling devices nearby, only a fool would think it had been just a few days.
Rachel vaguely remembered being slightly injured after that battle against the anomalous tide. She was sent to rest in what was supposedly the most advanced recovery pod at the time, located in the G District Hospital. It should have been very safe and reliable.
But now, as she looked around, an old and battered humanoid pod was placed in what looked like a tree hollow. Looking up, she could see the sky directly through the hollow trunk... This didn't seem like a reliable place at all.
There was no other supporting equipment here, just solar power to keep it running. Presumably after a long time in service, the machinery started to naturally break down, so the person inside began to thaw naturally.
Rachel checked the cryo pod again, confirming there was no chance of restarting it. Only then did she sigh softly, preparing to temporarily abandon this thing. She couldn't exactly lug a cryo pod around everywhere, and it would be a shame to destroy it if she encountered danger.
A moment later, Rachel held onto the edge of the tree hollow, speechlessly feeling the cold wind blowing from what she estimated to be at least several hundred meters above the ground. She wondered how the culprit had found such a tall tree hollow.
Although the environment of Planet X had been polluted and some animals and plants accelerated their growth, how could it grow so tall in just a few years, or even a decade or so?
The wind stung her face. For now, she needed to figure out how to get down.
After considering several feasible options, Rachel deleted "lying in the cryo pod and rolling down, while also testing its impact resistance" from her mind. Instead, she chose a safer but more tiring method - climbing down.
She didn't know if other Awakened Ones could fly, but she certainly couldn't.
Rachel silently hugged the tree trunk, slowly crawling down from the terrifying height using a very plain and unadorned posture.
She was very careful and cautious, even prepared for attacks by anomalous crows halfway down. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any living creatures nearby.
Thinking carefully, for this cryo pod to remain undisturbed for so long, either this place was too remote for even anomalous objects to bother with, or there was something unusual about it.
But now wasn't the time for overthinking. Rachel had just calculated that she should be about halfway down when suddenly a faint whooshing sound came.
She keenly turned her head. Her excellent eyesight allowed her to clearly see an aircraft hovering about a kilometer away. It was silver-white all over with an exquisite body, sized for human piloting rather than an unmanned drone.
Although Rachel didn't know if they were friend or foe, encountering living people was always good. Otherwise, looking around, this whole area was dense forest, and it would be quite difficult to walk out on her own.
She felt relieved and was about to find a way to greet them, indicating she was a harmless civilian, when suddenly a jet of flame shot out from under the aircraft with a sharp, piercing wind.
Rachel: "..."
What was going on? Why attack without a word?
Did she really look that much like a heavily contaminated sloth?!
On the aircraft.
"Emergency call to Aoki Base, this is Aircraft 925. We've detected a human female climbing an anomalous tree in a high-risk restricted area, currently 200 meters above ground. Please advise on how to proceed."
"Aoki Base received. No need for confirmation. Any human who can enter a high-risk area and dare to climb an anomalous tree can only be a contaminant, devoid of reason and highly dangerous. For safety, please open fire immediately!"
The base commander didn't dare to be careless. Some people were unremarkable and harmless while alive, but after being contaminated and dying, they might learn to attack living things from a distance to expand contamination.
"Aircraft 925 received. Executing cannon fire immediately."
The young pilot pressed the red button and muttered to himself: "At least this will give her a quick end, poor thing."
Three seconds later, the barrage was complete.
The anomalous tree was snapped in half, and a shadow flame shot up into the sky, incinerating the upper part of the broken trunk within seconds, so that half of the tree trunk didn't even have time to fall to the ground.
"Calling Aoki Base, barrage complete. Shadow flame bomb has taken effect. Half of the anomalous tree and humanoid contaminant have vanished."
Not just the human female, but the upper branches, trunk, and even the tree hollow had all turned to ash floating in the air.
"Aoki Base received. After confirming target destruction, please return to base immediately for contamination inspection."
The young pilot wiped the sweat from his palm. Although he tried to stay calm, he knew that while the shadow flame bomb was powerful, an aircraft could only carry one. If that had been a mutated contaminant, he might have been killed in retaliation the moment he launched the attack.
He circled around the surrounding airspace for a while to ensure there were no other anomalies, but didn't approach the anomalous tree to check. That would be like risking his life as fertilizer. Whether hit directly by the shadow flame bomb or falling from 200 meters high, that humanoid creature couldn't possibly have survived, so there was no need to insist on seeing a corpse.
The aircraft left this anomalous forest, slowly becoming a small black dot in the distance, gradually disappearing on the horizon.
At this time, under that tall anomalous tree that had been half-burned, Rachel crawled out of a tree hollow at the very bottom, covered in ash.
At the moment the anomalous tree was cut in half and the shadow flame bomb exploded, she had slid down the inside of the hollow trunk at a speed incomparable to normal people.
Rachel didn't quite understand the eyesight of that aircraft. To burn a fresh, newly-thawed living person like firewood - if the situation wasn't so unclear, she would have insisted on giving them an eye exam.
Unfortunately, the cryo pod had truly become a relic of history now. Rachel looked up at the sky that was still continuously raining ash, as if covered by a layer of smog... What terrible pollution.
She wiped her face and identified a direction, slowly walking towards where the aircraft had departed. It wasn't deliberate nonchalance - her stomach was a bit empty so she couldn't move quickly.
The anomalous forest classified as high-risk was a large restricted area. It was located in a desolate place rarely visited by people. Every day it relied on 24/7 drone patrols, and only when anomalies were detected would personnel be dispatched to deal with them.
The closest base to this dangerous area was Aoki Base, stationed over 200 kilometers away in the outskirts of Su Hai City. Because it bordered many desolate areas yet was a rare large safe city in the vicinity, wanderers from the wastelands occasionally tried to sneak in.
Li Xiang had been watching the city gates of Su Hai for many years. This job was a proper government position eating imperial grain (being employed by the government). Back then, he had fought tooth and nail to stand out among a crowd of talents, living up to his reputation as an outstanding human graduate, and successfully secured this important doorkeeper position.
He was now keeping an eye on the communicator beside him while registering a wandering young girl.
The communicator's display was broadcasting live news. Reportedly, a major contamination incident in a high-risk restricted area that morning had been dealt with, and the contaminant that appeared had been completely purified.
"These times are really tough, living with high risks every day," Li Xiang sighed after watching a detailed description of the incident from a young pilot in the news. "If it had been resolved any later, the contamination source would have kept expanding, leading to more uncontrollable mutations."
"If an anomalous tide occurs, never mind others, the doorkeepers would be the first to be sacrificed."
"Indeed, these times are so dangerous. You really have it tough," the young girl sitting opposite nodded and sincerely agreed.
Li Xiang raised an eyelid to look at her. Though covered in dirt and ash, he could tell she was quite pretty and very young, in the prime of her youth.
It was a pity. If she had been born in the city, even a low-status human could take exams to enter school, and find a job to make ends meet after graduating with decent grades.
He asked routinely: "Name?"
"Rachel."
"Age?"
"...Should be 20."
"What do you mean 'should be'? Either it is or it isn't."
"Then it's 20!" Rachel shamelessly subtracted the time spent in cryosleep.
Li Xiang wrote down the basic information on a temporary ID card and scanned the chip on the card to enter it into the city's smart control system. After completing this simple registration, he asked solemnly: "Where are you from, and what are you doing in Su Hai City?"
Rachel answered honestly: "I came out of the forest."
After saying this, she confidently pointed in the direction she had come from.
As for the reason for coming here, she couldn't exactly say she had followed that aircraft. Rachel thought for a moment and said: "I came to see where I could find work."
As an unemployed citizen, she was now with empty pockets and a growling stomach.
Li Xiang looked south in the direction of the woman's fair finger, muttering: "Is there a forest where wanderers gather in that direction... Never mind, you wanderers can't remember the zoning given from above anyway. I'll just record that you came from the Southern Wilderness."
Rachel neither agreed nor disagreed, just nodding slightly.
Li Xiang handed the completed ID card to this wanderer, reciting in a tone as if he had done so countless times: "This is a temporary card that only allows you to stay in the outskirts of Su Hai City for seven days. If you can find formal employment within seven days, you can apply to extend the temporary card's duration."Here's the improved translation:
"If you maintain stable employment for five years and have three city residents as guarantors, you'll have a chance to be selected as a city resident. Once chosen, you can officially settle in this safe urban area, no longer living in terror in the desolate outskirts, struggling with hunger and cold, unsure of survival from day to day."
Rachel wasn't particularly afraid of living in the wild, but given the choice, she'd definitely prefer to live somewhere with good internet and food delivery.
Li Xiang looked at the young, energetic face before him. Finding such bright eyes in this wasteland seemed rare, so he couldn't help but say a bit more: "You're lucky. If it weren't for the recent frequent appearances of anomalies and the spread of contamination, Suhai City wouldn't accept so many drifters as free labor. But this is also an opportunity for you."
He hesitated, then lowered his voice slightly: "I suggest you don't be afraid. Try your luck at the official offices closest to the city walls first. The work you can get there tends to be safer."
"Lastly, good luck, drifter."
It was a small blessing from a fellow human.
Rachel nodded and smiled, "Pardon me, but may I ask your name?"
Li Xiang was surprised. He had met many grateful people before, some sincere, some tearfully thankful... Of course, there were more who didn't thank him or even insulted him. He couldn't expect all drifters to have manners, so they had to accept re-education after being expelled from the city.
But regardless, this was the first time a drifter who had thanked him had asked for his name.
"My name is Li Xiang."
"Thank you, Li Xiang."
Rachel walked in with her black-and-white ID card, making a mental note of the gatekeeper's face and name. It was a sincere way of showing gratitude, and if she ever encountered a situation where she could help him in the future, she wouldn't overlook it.
Her stomach let out a small growl, and Rachel couldn't help but press her abdomen. How long had it been since she'd eaten... 500 years? No, it was since the cryo pod stopped working, plus the physical toll of thawing out. She was nearing her limit now.
As the saying goes, food is the staff of life. With a full stomach comes spirit. Rachel decided that before going to job interviews, she'd first get something to eat on the other side of the city gate. She had seen free porridge being distributed there earlier, which apparently could be claimed with a temporary ID card.
On her way to the porridge station, Rachel passed a dark alley. She was initially going to mind her own business, but suddenly heard some heavy male breathing.
Rachel glanced curiously into the alley. With her excellent eyesight, she saw a man and a woman getting it on in the darkness.
In broad daylight... though they did choose a place without light.
Rachel had no intention of disturbing them and was about to slip away when her keen ears caught the sound of a woman whimpering and struggling, as if her mouth was covered.
Rachel turned and stepped into the alley, quickly approaching the man. He had just raised his head in shock, his eyes red and cruel.
The next second, his head received a powerful flying kick.
The 6'3" burly man was kicked so hard his entire body flew deeper into the alley, crashing into suburbia's signature limestone wall, making the sound of breaking bones.
Rachel ignored the moaning man and bent down to help the woman lying on the ground, removing the man's sock from her mouth.
"Are you hurt..." Rachel had just begun to ask when the woman, eyes filled with terror, looked at her and then stretched her neck to let out a scream.
"Help! Help!!" The woman shouted as she ran, using her torn dress to cover her chest and lower body, while glaring fiercely back at Rachel.
Although Rachel was a bit bewildered, she understood that it was a normal reaction for a victim to be on edge and run for help. In the woman's eyes, Rachel probably didn't seem as safe as the city guards.
She looked at the man who had already passed out from pain, thinking there was nothing left for her to do here. She was about to leave when she was suddenly surrounded by a group of city guards.
The victim, now wearing a man's coat, was cowering in the arms of a tall guard, angrily pointing at Rachel: "It was this drifter and her accomplice who tried to kidnap and extort me, and... and violated me. They even put on an act of rescue to deceive me. Do they think I'm stupid..."
"Yang Qing, I'm so scared, I'm really so scared!" The woman's shoulders shook as she nearly broke down in tears, covering her face. The tall guard held her comfortingly and said, "It's okay, it's all over now. Xiaoxiao, don't be afraid. I'm here, don't be scared."
After saying this, he gently patted the woman's delicate back, then looked up at the man and woman in the alley, his eyes cold as ice, as if they were looking at something stuck to the bottom of their shoe.
"We really shouldn't have let so much trash into the city," he said coldly.
Meanwhile, the city guards all raised their electric batons.
Rachel was completely baffled. A question mark seemed to slowly appear above her head: "?"