Wasteland Queen: My Harvest Power novel Chapter 3

Seeing no one around, Reina quickly snapped the thistle in her hand, rolled it up, and stuffed it into her backpack.

Then she hurried back.

She only had 1 Energy left, and the stuff in her bag was too valuable to risk staying out in the wild. Hanging around would only lead to trouble.

But she hadn't gone far when she heard a noisy group of footsteps running her way.

Reina's heart tightened. She quickly hid behind a giant patch of grass.

Peeking through a gap in the leaves, she saw a group of people in rags sprinting toward the spot where she'd just been, like they'd just found some huge treasure.

Reina let out a quiet breath. After they went far enough away, she quickly left.

Eight years of surviving in the wild had taught her one thing: don't chase the crowd, and don't try to snatch anything from others, or you'll die ugly.

Even on the way back, she had to stay careful. Anyone she passed might attack.

Reina moved carefully through the brush, her eyes always scanning the area.

Suddenly, a bony hand shot out from a bush and grabbed her backpack.

Reina was startled. She immediately slipped out of the backpack, spun around, and lunged. Her dagger stabbed straight into the attacker's arm.

"Ah!" the man screamed and let go of the bag.

Reina grabbed her bag back and kicked him hard.

Her kick was strong. He was thin and weak. He flew backward.

When the sneak attack failed, he gave up right away. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he scrambled on all fours into a nearby thorn bush.

The thorns on those bushes were like steel needles, but he didn't even care. He was desperate.

Reina wasn't stupid enough to follow him. She snorted, grabbed her backpack, and left.

Stuff like this happened all the time. She'd dealt with it countless times over the last eight years.

She went from getting robbed to fighting back. Took her six or seven years.

Later, she awakened her ability. Her Physique got a boost. She used to be a weakling with 5 Physique and 3 Strength, but now she could take down an average man on her own.

But only average guys.

If she ran into other ability users, she still couldn't fight them. Her Harvesting Ability was a support-type. All her attributes were lower than those of people with Strength or Speed Abilities.

Reina ran the whole way back. Even though she was out of breath, she didn't dare stop to rest.

That was when she realized she urgently needed to improve her speed.

She had been lucky this time. The attacker was alone and starved.

If there had been two or three of them, she'd be toast.

About ten minutes later, she could finally see the buildings of the camp in the distance. Only then did she relax.

The courtyard was packed with people coming back from their own runs. She saw a few familiar faces but didn't stop to chat. She went straight to her rented room.

She locked the door and took off her helmet and suit. The clothes underneath were already soaked.

After collapsing on the small bed for a long rest, she sat up and started thinking about how to sell the thistle in her bag.

Trading it to the camp wasn't the best deal. But going back to the city just for this felt like even more trouble.

The return convoys weren't safe either. Plenty of desperate criminals liked to rob trucks heading back to the city.

After all, everyone on those trucks was a "fat sheep" with a backpack full of loot.

Forget it. I'll just trade it here.

Running around wastes precious time.

She wanted to level up as soon as possible. Without extra attribute points, she wasn't safe.

Reina changed into dry clothes so she wouldn't catch a cold.

Then she put her mask back on and grabbed her bag.

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