Chapter 41
The supermarket sat about a kilometer from the Ecological Wetland Park, with a few industrial zones slightly to the north. That area was closer to the city, but unlike the wetland park, it held more resources; the mutated plants had already overrun nearly every man-made structure in sight. Yun City had always been lush with vegetation, and after the government army sent to intercept the dandelions was wiped out, these places went untended and went from bad to worse. Almost no one set foot there unless they were desperate for supplies.
In the car, Zhang Haizhi had just finished explaining this to Lin Tu and was about to urge her again to wait for military rescue when she saw Lin Tu stomp on the brake, gaze at the plant-covered street ahead, push open the door, and draw her big blade in one fluid motion.
"Huh?" Zhang Haizhi reached toward the driver's seat, trying to grab her, but before she could, Yi Ying and Luo Yongzhi in the back seat also got out.
Yi Ying held a whip. She had bought it on a whim long ago, only to realize she had no idea how to use it. In disaster worlds, few people used whips, so she couldn't sell it at a decent price, which is why the whip had been tucked away at the bottom of her coupon folder until today.
"In a disaster world where everyone had mutated to be skilled with whips, they could crack them with incredible force, even cutting things like a blade..." Yi Ying muttered to herself, her back to the car, shining her flashlight at herself.
Zhang Haizhi looked at Lin Tu leading the way—wearing loose athletic wear, her figure still slim and delicate, but wielding a large blade—followed by Luo Yongzhi, nearly two meters tall and holding a steel pipe, and Yi Ying, who had a whip, a hot figure, and a radiant face but exuded an inexplicable sneaky vibe. Zhang Haizhi found it all utterly bewildering.
"What are you all doing..." Zhang Haizhi began to ask, but was pulled back by Yuan Que beside her—
"Let them go."
Then, the three charged at the first mutated plant ahead. Zhang Haizhi watched, dumbfounded, as the trio worked in perfect sync, quickly taking down that plant, then moving to the next. Their strength was extraordinary, like superhumans from a movie. Though they rested from time to time, even so, the mutated plants along the entire street were cleared in no time.
"There are survivors!" Zhang Haizhi suddenly exclaimed.
Behind the dead vines, the pockmarked building surfaces came into view, hung with several brightly colored sheets and curtains. This had originally been a distress signal suggested by some radio station, and later everyone started using it. Together, they rescued the survivor, who had been trapped for nearly a month. He broke down crying at the sight of living people.
Lin Tu had no choice but to drive back and take him to the Ecological Wetland Park. After Lin Tu and the others had cleared the street, there was still plenty of usable supplies to scavenge. With that in mind, Zhang Haizhi called over half a carload of people to follow and haul the supplies back.
Over the next few days, they encountered a few more survivors. More and more were sent back to the wetland park, and more and more people came out to help clear the streets and carry supplies. By the time Lin Tu and the others reached the first industrial zone—a steel production plant—the entire wetland park turned out to help clear the mutated plants and haul steel building materials.
Iron was food for the mutated plants. By hauling this iron back to the wetland park, they wouldn't have to worry about feeding the plants for a while and could start developing other areas. For instance, some had already begun preparing to make house paint from the cage materials, and others had penned a small flock of wild ducks, ready to start large-scale breeding. Everything was moving in a positive direction.
Next, Lin Tu scoured a pickled vegetable factory, a dried mushroom factory, a rice wine factory, and a small cured meat workshop. Leaving aside the steel parts factory, there were also several clothing factories and a tobacco factory. Lin Tu didn't know how much the wetland park people had stockpiled, but she herself had hoarded nearly ten jars of pickled vegetables, for making pickled fish and golden soup; a whole shelf of dried mushrooms, including medicinal ones like poria, gastrodia, and cordyceps, as well as edible ones like tea tree mushrooms, matsutake, and morels. She only hoarded four jars of rice wine because she didn't have space at home and wasn't fond of it, using it only for making fermented glutinous rice balls.
Cured meat was what Lin Tu stocked up on the most. Recalling the dire prophecy that "all worlds are falling," she felt that these long-shelf-life, flavorful—i.e., not unpleasant—foods should be hoarded as much as possible. So she generously took the entire stock of cured meat from the small workshop's warehouse, and even brought the curing sauce back to her shelter, waiting for the right time to start making her own.
Finally, she stocked up on some locally distinctive clothing from the clothing factory and also went into the city to pick up some silver and gold jewelry. Yi Ying happily followed her, and the two nearly cleaned out the jewelry stores of their gold and silver items. Not to mention how nice they looked, even if money got tight, as pure gold and silver items, they could be sold temporarily or used to barter for supplies—either way, it was a sure win.