To be honest, hearing Lanlan say that gave Tang Mo a strange feeling.

In her previous life, the three of them had nearly starved to death in their dorm room. They hadn’t been full of life like they were now.

Back then, Tang Mo had been so worried about her mother that she was determined to go out. She had to find her, dead or alive. That’s how she’d felt at the time.

Death meant nothing to her then. It was better to risk it all than to live like a walking corpse.

And because Song Qing and Li Lanlan couldn’t stand the hunger and were worried about Tang Mo, they ended up signing up with her.

In the end, because of the school’s disastrous decision, Li Lanlan died in the mist. Tang Mo and Qin Ling were trapped together for a week before An Yang and his people rescued them, all thanks to Song Qing.

This time around, they had food and water, and her mother was safe at home, just a call away every day. ’Who in their right mind would go on a suicide mission?’

As for the Crystal Cores inside the mutant beasts?

’You have to be alive to get them.’

Tang Mo had never been greedy for things that didn’t belong to her.

However, everyone had feared the mist for too long. Far fewer people were willing to take the risk than the school had anticipated.

So, the school simply assigned a quota to each college. If they failed to meet their quota of participants, their future food supplies would be reduced.

Tang Mo’s Biological Science College had the most remaining students, so it was assigned the largest quota.

Seeing that no one wanted to go, the school’s teachers organized a drawing of lots.

There were three slots for the 48 people left in the college. Whoever drew a slip with a word on it had to go. It was perfectly fair.

In fact, a male student in the college with a high attribute value had volunteered, so they only had to draw for two slots.

’I can’t be that unlucky, right...?’

Tang Mo grabbed a paper ball and prayed silently. She opened it and, sure enough, it was blank!

A wave of joy washed over her.

"I didn’t get picked! This is great, I don’t have to go!" Li Lanlan bounced on her feet, patting Tang Mo’s shoulder.

But Song Qing stood off to the side, silent, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Tang Mo’s heart tightened. She took the slip of paper from Song Qing’s hand and looked at it.

Go.

A single, large black word was written on it.

"Will the students who drew the slips with ’Go’ on them please come forward," the teacher announced from the front.

Song Qing pulled the slip from Tang Mo’s hand and walked forward, one step at a time.

Besides the boy who had volunteered, the other two chosen were Song Qing and another girl.

Unlike the calm Song Qing, the other girl who was chosen burst into tears the moment she saw the word on her slip, her legs going weak.

"If there are no other volunteers, then these three students will be the ones participating in the Mist Team," the teacher announced.

Li Lanlan stomped her foot anxiously, looking around and hoping for a miracle.

"Wait!" Tang Mo raised her hand.

"Tang Mo, do you want to go?" the teacher asked, puzzled.

"Teacher, I have something to say," Tang Mo said, stepping forward.

"It’s like this. My roommate, Song Qing, doesn’t want to join this team, but she drew the lot, so she has to accept it. However, I’d like to offer food in exchange to see if anyone is willing to take her place."

Tang Mo said, enunciating each word clearly.

As long as the number of participants was met, it didn’t really matter who went. So, if someone was willing to volunteer in Song Qing’s place, it was perfectly acceptable.

But there was no such thing as a free lunch, a principle Tang Mo understood well.

A quiet discussion started among the students below. Joining the Mist Team wasn’t necessarily a death sentence. If you were lucky, you might even come back with a Crystal Core.

But staying at the school would definitely be a death sentence in the end.

Food and water were already so scarce that they were sending students on suicide missions. It was obvious the school wouldn’t last much longer.

"How much can you offer?" someone from the crowd asked.

"Ten bottles of mineral water, five packs of instant noodles, and five chocolate bars," Tang Mo stated, revealing the price she had already decided on.

Four months into the famine, it was an amount that almost no one trapped in the school, who had exhausted all their supplies, could produce.

Tang Mo had always lived by the principle of keeping a low profile. This was the first time she had ever revealed her wealth.

But for Song Qing, Tang Mo felt it was worth it. Even double or triple the amount would have been worth it.

She had saved her life. Tang Mo might not be able to trade her own life for another, but trading these items, which were trivial to her, for a life? She felt that was more than worth it.

Besides, Tang Mo knew the kind of near-death dangers they would face in the mist. Her conscience wouldn’t be clear if she offered too little.

Sure enough, once she announced the price, the students below erupted in an uproar.

Tang Mo’s dorm usually kept such a low profile. No one had expected them to have so many good things stored away.

Immediately, several students raised their hands, wanting to take Song Qing’s place. Even the teacher looked tempted.

Tang Mo chose the boy with the highest Life Value and Strength Value, tossed a large bag from her backpack to him, and led Song Qing down from the front.

Song Qing practically had to lean on Tang Mo to get down, her entire body trembling slightly.

"Thank you," Song Qing said earnestly, her eyes incredibly red.

"We’re friends, there’s no need to be so formal," Tang Mo said casually.

For her, right now, these things were truly nothing.

The boy happily took the supplies and stepped into Song Qing’s spot. He had been hesitating about whether to go or not, and now he was getting all this extra stuff for free. It was the best deal he could have asked for.

The first volunteer, a much stronger-looking boy, felt a tinge of regret. ’Looks like I missed out.’

"Can anyone take my place? I don’t want to go either."

The girl who had drawn a slip along with Song Qing saw her get replaced and immediately asked, her eyes filled with tears, looking pitiful.

But in this day and age, there were no knights in shining armor.

What was a pretty face compared to one’s own life? The crowd below was silent.

"You saved her, can’t you save me too?" the girl cried out, turning her gaze to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo shook her head. "I have nothing left. We used everything in our dorm to trade for my roommate’s spot. Otherwise, you could try asking your own roommates."

If she tried to save everyone, she truly couldn’t afford it. Her own power was meager, and she had no grand ambition to save the world.

"Can you guys..."

The girl turned her gaze to her own roommates, only to see them all turn their heads away, pretending not to see her.

She didn’t need to finish her sentence. The girl lowered her head in resignation and said no more.

’So not everyone gets to have such good roommates.’ She truly envied Song Qing.

And so, the dust settled. In two days, the school would organize the team to enter the mist.

Back in the dorm, Tang Mo was tidying up the remaining items in her cabinet. After taking some out, what was left didn’t even fill half of it.

As she was tidying up, her gaze fell upon a package at the very bottom.

She suddenly remembered—she seemed to have forgotten something very important!