NOVPUBChapter 88: Chapter 88 New Search Direction
Chapter 88 -88 New Search Direction
“Everything is packed,” they searched the canteen building once more and found nothing else. Thus, they left and planned to look for daily necessities in the dormitories and offices.
Gu Pan still brought up the rear. She was quite interested in this “real vacuum grain storage.” Walking at the back made it easy for her to pick up things carelessly. Now that her “Space” was somewhat bigger, storing something like this was not a problem.
Lu Ruisheng naturally knew what his wife meant, and he covered for her, preventing others from noticing. He easily managed it, and the two also followed everyone out to the car.
They went to the dormitories, where the first floor had been flooded, so they searched from the second floor upward.
There were many goods here, but after the extreme cold and heat, a lot of vacuum-packed food had spoiled. Only instant noodles and hot pot ingredients remained well-preserved. Compressed biscuits were not to be found here at all—who would prepare compressed biscuits in a peaceful society when everyone preferred delicious treats?
But now, after the apocalypse, the expiration date didn’t matter much. As long as the food wasn’t moldy, it could be eaten.
In the girls’ dormitory, Gu Pan and Duan Shumei found a good amount of sanitary pads, toilet paper, wet wipes, cosmetics, and clothes.
In the boys’ dormitory, they found plenty of daily supplies, and surprisingly, a few power banks still had charge. This excited Cheng Yang immensely, as it meant they might still be able to watch short clips on their phones when they got back.
After searching the dormitories, they moved on to the office building. Most of the people who worked here were not laborers but white-collar workers, so the contents of the drawers were somewhat better. Of course, they mostly took only what was useful. Only Gu Pan took what she fancied according to her mood, even if it was useless, for she could store it in her “Space.”
Their haul for the day was truly great; their vehicle was fully loaded. However, with so many supplies, they couldn’t bring everything near their villa and attract unwanted attention. They had to leave the car at a spot not too far from where they stashed their supplies and used pushcarts to move them.
Gu Pan and Duan Shumei stood guard while the men moved the goods.
It took them until dawn, but they finally returned to the villa with a small portion of the items.
Just as they arrived, they saw Squad Leader Fang and Fang Lanlan at the entrance. They too had just returned, carrying some goods behind them.
Upon seeing them, Fang Lanlan zipped home at an astonishing speed. Gu Pan had always found Lanlan’s speed of escape faster than Usain Bolt’s.
Cheng Yang blinked incredulously and shook his head, mentally sighing, “My idol, indeed.”
Lu Ruisheng greeted Squad Leader Fang, “Squad Leader Fang, has everything been smooth for you these past few days?”
Squad Leader Fang nodded, “Not bad. I’m skilled and managed to set traps to catch rabbits and such. As long as I can maintain living, I’m content.”
Gu Pan took out two packs of sanitary pads, a bar of soap, and a pack of tissues from her backpack and handed them over, “Squad Leader Fang, these are for Lanlan.”
Squad Leader Fang took them with heartfelt thanks, “I really don’t know how to thank you guys enough.”
Gu Pan smiled, “Don’t mention it, we’re heading back now. The sun’s about to rise.” 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
The rising sun used to signify something beautiful and hopeful, but now it was a danger signal: when the sun rose, everyone had to hide at home.
Squad Leader Fang politely said goodbye, happily taking the supplies home with him. In this world, they were truly precious.
Gu Pan and the others first visited Feng Zhekai’s house to deliver their share of the goods. Whether one was watching the house or had gone out, they all deserved an equal share of the loot.
Feng Zhekai and his spouse were thrilled to hear about the night’s gains. These supplies, if nothing went wrong, could last them a year.
Normally, eight people would consume three pounds of rice per meal, which meant nine pounds a day, and two hundred seventy pounds a month.
They couldn’t afford extravagance now, but they still needed close to two hundred pounds a month since there wasn’t much other food. They couldn’t survive like others purely for the sake of living, so two hundred pounds a month was necessary.
That’s four bags of rice a month, forty-eight bags a year, a little over sixty bags, which should last about a year and a half.
If they were to go to the base in the future, they would likely need to contribute food to gain entry. These supplies should be sufficient to get them into the base, a very important resource for them.
Even without going to the base, they could eat for a long time, and in the meantime, they could find more supplies. It wasn’t as if they were sitting around running through their stash.
They had concluded during this time that the more affluent one was, the easier it was to get supplies. Their food security allowed them to look further afield.
The next day, they all took a collective day off. Lugging rice was exhausting yesterday, so they just planned to organize the stash a bit and call it a day.
In the evening, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng went to fetch water from the mountain, with Cheng Yang and Chen Lang wanting to join to see if they could hunt for something to bring back.
Passing by Squad Leader Fang’s house, they happened to see Fang Lanlan, who was carrying a potato on her way home. Upon seeing them, Lanlan immediately quickened her pace, zipping back into the yard. However, in the moment she entered the yard, the potato rolled out of her hand onto the ground.
Gu Pan and the others, not wanting to startle Lanlan, simultaneously stopped in their tracks to allow her to pick up the potato and go home without pressure.
But at that moment, Lanlan seemed to freeze in place. Torn between picking up the potato and escaping from the others, the potato represented her and her father’s dinner, yet escaping was also crucial. Her inner conflict was clear, her body tensed, and she remained frozen in the pose of running.
Gu Pan, holding back laughter, turned around to pretend to talk to the others, giving Lanlan time to pick up the potato and go home.
However, when she turned, she saw Cheng Yang unable to suppress a burst of laughter. She had been holding back, but now she too broke into laughter.
Chen Lang found it hard to contain himself, and seeing Gu Pan laugh, he bent over with mirth.
Lu Ruisheng usually didn’t laugh unless he couldn’t help it, and at that moment, he laughed as well.
Hearing their laughter, Lanlan made up her mind. She decided to leave the potato and dashed back inside.
Despite trying their best to control their laughter, knowing it wasn’t polite, the scene before them was hard for anyone to manage.
Cheng Yang blamed himself, “It’s all my fault, I just couldn’t hold it in. Otherwise, none of this would’ve happened. What should we do now? I hope we haven’t made the girl more introverted.”
Gu Pan replied, “At this time, being introverted might not be such a bad thing. She doesn’t interact with others, can find supplies, and can survive. It’s actually a very good survival tactic.”
Lu Ruisheng nodded, “That’s true. If she runs into bad people, she could end up in serious trouble.”
Chen Lang looked at the potato on the ground, “What should we do with that?”
Cheng Yang picked up the potato, “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t laughed, it wouldn’t have come to this. I’ll go apologize and make sure she doesn’t think we’re bad people.”
Gu Pan said, “Let’s go together. After all, we laughed too.”
With that, the group headed together toward Squad Leader Fang’s house.
