Chapter 9: Crazy Spending

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"Ranking?" Shen An was slightly stunned. She thought that after leaving school, there wouldn't be any rankings, but now she found out that even raising pets had rankings.

"Where can I see it?" Shen An listened to Lin Jiasheng's description and furrowed her brow. Then, she looked at her phone and followed Lin Jiasheng's instructions to open the screen on the control table, where she could see the rankings for raisers and insects.

The raiser rankings were simple, displaying the talent values from No. 1 to No. 100.

The insect rankings were more detailed, showing the specific water attribute values of each insect.

Shen An saw that Lin Jiasheng's insect, nicknamed Ginger, ranked 17th with a water attribute value of 216.

Seeing this value, Shen An didn't react at first. Her Strawberry's water attribute value was only 34, and its ranking had dropped to 92nd.

Shen An was practical and understood that her ranking might not be high, but seeing the specific difference now, it still surprised her. However, she quickly regained her composure. This was something she had anticipated. Even though the results were laid bare before everyone, it was just a fact. She didn't harbor any survivorship bias; it was merely that the god of fate hadn't smiled upon her this time. She only sighed that even if she had been selected, she still wouldn't have been able to catch up to the advantages brought by the others' talents.

For instance, Lin Jiasheng had a talent value ranked 9th, and his insect's initial water attribute value was over 100, not to mention those ranked first or second, whose water attribute values had already reached nearly 200, nearly ten times more than Shen An's.

"Ranked first is a raiser named Mao Qingming, who has the best talent value. Yesterday, his insect had an attribute value of 240, which increased by more than 160 in just one day. My insect's attribute value only increased by 15 in a day. It's simply terrifying."

Shen An hadn't expected that even raising insects could be this competitive.

"Is there a possibility that they used genetic drugs? Have you looked into the insect shop?" Shen An sent a message. She had read the Raising Manual, and genetic drugs could change the insect's genes all at once, resulting in a significant increase in attribute values. The shop also had various attribute-boosting drugs. Lin Jiasheng's talent was genuinely excellent, so he could choose that route. According to the chat room discussion, Lin Jiasheng's talent was ranked 9th, which was quite impressive.

"It's possible. Shen An, have you looked into the insect shop?" 

Shen An sent an emoticon of shaking her head.

"In the insect shop, the attribute-boosting drugs for larval period insects can increase attributes by no more than 15 at once, and they can only be used again after a 24-hour interval. So, to increase attributes by hundreds in a day is insane. Could the insect's inherent talent be this terrifying?"

Shen An didn't reply because she hadn't considered attribute drugs and, besides, she couldn't afford them even if she wanted to.

Lin Jiasheng felt somewhat disappointed. He thought he could learn something from Shen An, the top-performing student, but she seemed even less knowledgeable about this than he did.

"Shen An, you can try using the genetically modified drugs in the shop for your insect too." Lin Jiasheng sent a message. It was all he could offer to help.

Shen An saw the message, opened the shop, and found the genetically modified drugs for larval insects on the second page. Seeing the price, she gasped—10,000 yuan.

Shen An felt like a frostbitten eggplant, and she couldn't help but thank Lin Jiasheng for making her face her poverty again.

It seemed that raising insects was indeed a crazy spending activity.

"Thanks, but I can't afford those drugs. I need to go collect tree leaves now. We can chat later," Shen An looked at the time and realized that there were only a few minutes left until 2 PM. She stood up and began preparing her things for the trip.

Lin Jiasheng bid her farewell, and Shen An was already on her way with a basket.

On the surface, Shen An appeared calm, but she still felt a bit disappointed. She had to admit that she was inferior in some aspects, and for her, it seemed more difficult than she had imagined.

Raising insects, the talent of the raiser, and the inherent talent of the insect were all vital factors. And from the first day, the gap was already widening. This kind of gap couldn't be bridged with just a few more massages for her Strawberry.

It made her think of the disappointment and despair she felt in Room 87.

Shen An arrived at the highest step of the air cabin and looked up at the sky. The clouds covered most of it, but she knew that clouds were precious in this new world, and this new world was indeed so different.

The so-called "survivorship bias" varied from one individual to another.

Shen An thought, if she had the ability to excel in raising insects, what would she rely on? But for now, thinking about it was unrealistic.

Now, she could only take each step steadily and follow her plan and goals.

Some things, she had to learn to endure and let go.

Shen An decided to go to a place called "White Cotton Tree Forest" in the southern part of Area 86. According to her research, the white cotton tree leaves in this area were of higher quality due to their proximity to the South Sea.

Moreover, she saw purple lightning strike the White Cotton Tree Forest yesterday, and she inexplicably wanted to follow that purple light. Perhaps she could find some fish in the sea to solve her financial problem.

Of course, white cotton tree leaves were not the only insect feed available.

White cotton leaves were just the most accessible feed for the larval period, distributed almost everywhere in Area 112, and their quality and size were larger than in other areas, resulting in a slightly higher data estimate.

So, Shen An decided to go see for herself.

The manual stated that the growth environment of white cotton trees had a significant impact on the attribute of the leaves. She speculated that the white cotton trees near the sea might have higher trees and leaves, but it was still just a guess.

Besides, yesterday, she had seen the purple light strike the White Cotton Tree Forest. This made her curious, and she wanted to see if there were fish in the sea that could solve her financial problem.

However, she knew that going too far would be dangerous, so she didn't venture too far from her designated area.

Shen An rode her balanced scooter and followed the navigation to the White Cotton Tree Forest. With the balanced scooter, she expanded the search area of Area 86 to twice its original size.

Upon arrival, Shen An stood at the highest step of the air cabin and looked up at the sky, which was almost completely covered by clouds. She couldn't help but feel a bit lost.

It seemed that raising insects was a crazy activity that required a lot of money.

"Thank you, but I don't have the money to buy those drugs. Right now, I need to go collect tree leaves. Let's chat later," Shen An looked at the time. There were only a few minutes left until 2 PM. She stood up and began preparing her things for the trip.

Lin Jiasheng sent a farewell message, and Shen An was already on her way with a basket.

On the surface, Shen An seemed calm, but she still felt a bit disappointed. She had to admit that she might not be as good as others in certain aspects, and it seemed more difficult than she had imagined.

Shen An thought about it and realized that even if she wanted to use attribute drugs, she couldn't afford them. Moreover, she wasn't even sure if attribute drugs were the solution to her problem.

Lin Jiasheng seemed somewhat disappointed. He thought he could learn something from Shen An, but it turned out that she knew less than he did.

"Shen An, you can try using genetically modified drugs for your insect. Thank you, but I don't have the money to buy those drugs. Right now, I need to go collect tree leaves," Shen An sent a message. There was only a few minutes left until 2 PM, and she needed to start her collection trip.

Lin Jiasheng said goodbye, and Shen An set off with her basket.

Even though she looked calm on the surface, Shen An couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She had to admit that she might not be as good as others in certain aspects, and it felt more challenging than she had imagined.

Shen An couldn't help but think of the disappointment and despair she saw in Room 87.

Raising insects seemed to involve insane spending.

"Thank you, but I don't have the money to buy those drugs. Right now"

In Shen An's Area 86, the distribution of white cotton trees was highly unreasonable. The area near the air cabin had very few mature trees, and they were scattered and sparse, with only two large patches of white cotton trees - one in the southernmost area and another in the northernmost area. The 2nd-level Jade Beetle Vine was found on a northern hillside, but the map did not display the distribution of other feed options.

"Beep beep beep, warning, the area ahead is beyond the scope of Area 86 and is prohibited by the Alliance," suddenly, the balance scooter in Shen An's hand issued a warning sound.

In the chat room, many areas were mentioned to have large patches of Jade Beetle Vines, and when fed in sunny areas on slopes, it increased the attributes by 6 to 8 points.

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