The first night in the Misty Forest felt especially long.
After catching up on the dropped episodes, Yun Ruoxi ran to various communities and started scrolling through fan creations related to Stellar.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see other content from this alternate Earth dimension, but she only had permission to watch videos related to Stellar; everything else was blocked.
She browsed through over a dozen high-energy mashups involving herself, a misunderstanding-themed MAD mixing her with other gourmet shows, and two completely incorrect analysis videos.
Yun Ruoxi yawned repeatedly, unknowingly slipping into sleep.
When she woke up again, it was a rare sunny day.
The brilliance of the twin suns shone brilliantly, casting golden edges on the colorful leaves above the sea of trees.
The entire forest seemed like cotton candy woven from rainbows.
Yun Ruoxi rubbed her stomach, her mouth watering.
She was hungry.
***
After hours of intense trekking yesterday without a drop of water, the raw meat she ate the night before simply couldn’t sustain her.
“Today, I have to find the Food Airdrop and the weapon supply.”
Yun Ruoxi stood up and stretched toward the morning sun.
Shielding her eyes under the shade, she looked into the distance, faintly seeing the shadow of a massive object descending on the clouds far away.
That was the Diamond-shaped Base—their destination!
Estimating the distance in her mind, there were still hundreds of kilometers to go.
A long and arduous journey lay ahead!
Yun Ruoxi nimbly slid down the tree trunk and continued forward in the direction she had confirmed.
Half a day passed on this trek, but still nothing.
Along the way, she only saw some fresh White Bone scattered around, covered in Strange Insects feasting on the meat scraps.
In just one night, the corpses had been picked clean down to the white bones…
This was seriously exaggerated.
Time passed by the second, yet the sky showed no change.
Yun Ruoxi concluded that this daytime would last for a long time.
So, despite her stomach growling and her limbs growing weak, she gritted her teeth and pushed forward.
Finally, as she brushed aside some bushes, a familiar buzzing sound suddenly came from the sky.
Four cylindrical robots she had seen at the base flew in parallel, forming a square-shaped transport unit.
They were carrying a massive metal box several meters wide, flying right over Yun Ruoxi’s head.
“Food Airdrop!”
Her eyes lit up, and she dashed after it.
She sprinted wildly, crossing rivers and climbing slopes.
After a full quarter-hour of running, she finally saw the box crash down into a clearing ahead.
Yun Ruoxi didn’t rush forward immediately. Instead, she scanned the area, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it toward the waist-high grass some distance away.
“Come out, I see you!” she said in a low voice.
From the rustling came a burly figure with a fierce look, a cadet emerging from the grass dotted with purple spots.
He instinctively looked at Yun Ruoxi’s face, a flicker of admiration mixed with subtle greed flashing in his eyes.
Then his gaze landed on the collar around Yun Ruoxi’s neck.
Upon seeing her Number 219 tag, that greed instantly vanished, and his whole expression tightened.
Why is it this guy……
As he scrutinized her, Yun Ruoxi quickly recognized him.
Number 498, a character linked to her.
Physically powerful but precociously lustful, a prime candidate for the Divine Scion of Lust.
At the end of episode three in the original storyline, this guy would spot her during a chance encounter and try to take advantage of her under the pretext of bullying.
But he was stopped by Lin Zhen passing by.
That was the original first meeting between Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen.
Yun Ruoxi had drastically altered the story and ended up exposing herself in front of all the cadets.
She thought she wouldn’t run into this guy again.
But the story correction force was so strong that since episode three had changed too much and they couldn’t meet, the production team forcibly placed their encounter into episode four.
You’ve got to be kidding me, production team!
“219, there’s so much food here, why don’t we split it evenly?” 498 shouted loudly from over ten meters away, his eyes filled with caution.
The annual assessment rules didn’t restrict conflicts between cadets, and they even deliberately set up the Food Airdrop to gather everyone.
Obviously, they expected some fighting.
Though the girl in front of him looked gentle, sweet, and easy to bully, her higher number… made him wary of judging her by appearance alone.
“Sure!”
Yun Ruoxi agreed cheerfully, flashing a sweet smile.
“There’s enough food here for over a dozen people; there’s no need to fight.”
“Alright then, I’ll get it first?” 498 pushed his luck, testing the waters.
Yun Ruoxi still nodded, smiling and stopping in her tracks, signaling for him to go ahead.
Only then did 498 relax and quickly walk up to the airdrop, opening the heavy Alloy Supply Box.
Inside, hundreds of sealed rations were neatly stacked, each bag labeled in small print: one bag satisfies one cadet’s meal; recommended to carry a three-day supply.
Like Yun Ruoxi, 498 hadn’t eaten for two days.
Looking at the full box of rations, he swallowed hard and grabbed dozens of bags at once, then looked up at Yun Ruoxi, hesitating for a moment before saying,
“219… strength in numbers. How about we stick together?”
“No.” Yun Ruoxi rejected decisively.
Seeing this, 498 didn’t press further and, clutching a full armful of rations, dashed back into the grass.
Yun Ruoxi watched his figure disappear from sight before she went forward to take food.
Her earlier quick agreement was because all of 498’s actions had only occurred in the original plot.
She couldn’t target him for events that hadn’t yet happened.
Besides, there was indeed enough food.
Not just for two people—enough for a dozen cadets—there was no need to fight.
And now she refused for the same reason.
Since she already knew what kind of person he was, there was no need to fake friendliness.
Unlike 498, Yun Ruoxi didn’t take more than necessary.
She only took nine bags, enough for three days, as the label suggested, then left.
Afterward, cadets arrived one after another to take food from the airdrop.
Only one or two took nine bags like her; most grabbed as many as they could, obviously starving.
By the time the tenth cadet came, the entire airdrop box was already empty.
He slammed his fist on the box in frustration and left angrily.
Not long after the tenth cadet left, rustling came from the trees on the other side.
Several ragged adults crawled out.
Leading them was a man whose eyes and nose were both prosthetic.
He looked at the empty Food Airdrop box and kicked it hard.
“Too late.”
“What now?” someone in the group grumbled.
“No rush.” The man’s mechanical eyes glinted red, and his prosthetic nose opened and closed like a kettle spout—seemingly sniffing something.
He spun around on the spot several times, stopping frequently before finally pointing in a direction.
“Move out, there’s someone there!”
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