The system’s mechanical voice, silent for a long while, spoke up: “Congratulations on unlocking the Fish Pond. The pond space’s time flow is normal. Rewards: automatic water-quality optimization and oxygenation, superior water-plant growth, promoting an ecological cycle. Keep up the good work!”
Meng Shiwan’s eyes went round and bright.
She nearly bounced on the spot with excitement and planted a big kiss on Taxue’s head. “Taxue, you really are my precious treasure.”
If Taxue hadn’t taken a fancy to that little fish tank, she’d never have brought such a useless decoration home.
And so she’d never have discovered that the RV could unlock a fish pond.
Taxue was dazed, still unaware what a great thing it had done, it only knew that when the poop-scooper was happy, it was happy too.
Meng Shiwan couldn’t wait. She opened the fridge’s space and used her mind to move some of the seafood inside it into the fish pond.
In an instant, those fish and shrimp appeared in the pond space.
The fish swam about merrily, the shrimp and crabs scuttled over the colored stones, sometimes clinging to the water plants in search of food.
These fish and shrimp were the live ones Meng Shiwan had scooped from the supermarket’s tanks earlier and put straight into the fridge space.
The space’s time was frozen, put in alive, they came back out still alive.
Watching the fish swim to and fro in the water, Meng Shiwan said in delight, “So that’s how it is.”
Supplies in the RV’s expanded spaces could be moved directly between the spaces.
No more of the hassle of digging them out of the fridge and carrying them over to put in the little tank.
The system had just said the reward was water-quality optimization, superior plant growth, promoting an ecological cycle.
The pond was covered in water plants, and many of the fish and shrimp fed on those plants, this tiny pond had its own ecological cycle and barely needed her to tend it.
“Good stuff. Truly good stuff.”
No matter how much she stockpiled, it wasn’t as precious as a renewable resource in the apocalypse.
Then a thought struck Meng Shiwan: if a little fish tank could expand into a fish pond, then what about a little flowerpot, could it expand into a farm?
The more she thought about it, the more excited she got, and the more possible it seemed.
She fought down the urge to rush out and find a flowerpot right now, and tidied the RV’s spaces first.
Having just moved some fish and shrimp over to the pond, she’d freed up half a cubic meter in the fridge space.
She still had one crystal core in hand, and after careful thought, decided to use it to upgrade the RV’s second-floor space.
Thinking it over, the five hundred bags of table salt stored on the second floor weren’t enough.
Salt was something the human body couldn’t do without, it would become extremely precious later on.
She decided to get it over with in one step: stock a full cubic meter of table salt, a full two tons, enough for a lifetime.
She’d never have to worry about salt again.
No sooner said than done. She used the one crystal core to expand the second-floor space, packed the five hundred bags of salt in, and freed up another patch of room on the second floor.
Meng Shiwan pulled her cart straight for the supermarket.
The mountain of supplies inside had been resorted by the survivors and placed back on the shelves, or heaped by category on the floor.
As she came in, Wei Ye was gathering all the survivors together for a big meeting.
He was encouraging everyone. “This disaster may last a long time, and we don’t know when a rescue team will come for us. We have to unite and find our own way to survive.
“Here’s my proposal. The zombies outside are basically cleared now, so it’s relatively safe. We can’t just sit idle. Let’s gather all the edible food, medicine, and other supplies from the shops out there.
“Eat the perishable first, then the long-keeping. Cherish the food, so we can hold out as long as possible. And fill every container with water in reserve, in case something cuts off our water supply, so we’ve got enough food and water while we wait for rescue.
“What do you all think?”
His proposal won the support of most of the survivors. The remaining timid few who didn’t dare leave the supermarket took on the task of collecting water.
Meng Shiwan was rather surprised, she didn’t expect this man to have a brain.
Seeing Meng Shiwan arrive, Zhang Qiang hurried over. “Sis, here to haul things?”
Meng Shiwan nodded. “Mm. Open the door.”
Zhang Qiang knew the drill and quickly fished out the keys to open the warehouse.
Meng Shiwan wheeled the cart in and grabbed salt first, then cured meats, cured fish, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, and other processed goods.
Finally she took some trash bags, sanitary pads, and tissues, everyday necessities.
Say what you would, this supermarket was big, and its warehouse held no small amount of stock.
Once she’d hauled off a good deal, she went into the cold room for two more durians before wheeling the cart back out.
The crowd at the meeting outside saw the boxes packed to the brim on her cart.
One man said resentfully, “She doesn’t come to the meeting, doesn’t help gather supplies, what gives her the right to haul away this much?”
He’d just come down from the second floor with Wei Ye and didn’t understand the situation below.
The person beside him quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and warned in a low voice, “Shut up, are you tired of living? You dare provoke her? Everyone who’s provoked her is dead now. She may be a woman, but she doesn’t hesitate one bit when it comes to killing.”
The man didn’t believe it and shook off the hand over his mouth. “I’m just saying, surely she wouldn’t kill me over a couple of words?”
Meng Shiwan’s departing footsteps came to an abrupt halt, she stood rooted in place.
At her movement, the whole room went silent, everyone holding their breath.
From what they knew of this brute, at the slightest disagreement she really would kill.
For a moment, all eyes fell on the man, gazes full of pity.
The man wasn’t afraid of Meng Shiwan, but being stared at with the pity people reserve for the dead sent a chill through him.
“What are you all looking at me like that for?”
In the hushed atmosphere, footsteps sounded. They saw Meng Shiwan closing in step by step, gripping a trowel.
This trowel had smashed open many a zombie skull and slit more than a few throats.
Zhang Qiang started. Trading on the fact that he could exchange a few words with Meng Shiwan, he hurried after her. “Sis—Sis, he’s got eyes but doesn’t know Mount Tai. [1] failed to recognize someone important jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2841510_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2841510_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); Don’t stoop to his level. If it comes to it, I’ll make him apologize. Haul whatever you want from the supermarket, we’ve got no objections. Please don’t be angry.”
Watching this, Wei Ye felt his scalp tingle too.
He’d heard in the supermarket how this girl operated, provoke her, and she really would kill.
Wei Ye added his own persuasion. “Um… it’s not worth it. A trivial thing isn’t worth a clash.”
“Right, right, haul away, without you, we wouldn’t have the peace we do now. I might still be hiding somewhere, too scared to come out. We’ve got no objection to you taking supplies.”
“He doesn’t know any better. Just let him off like a fart.”
As Meng Shiwan drew closer and closer to the man, the crowd rushed to smooth things over.
The zombies outside were frightening enough, they really didn’t want to witness a killing.
The atmosphere they’d whipped up unnerved the man, and he began to feel guilty too. As Meng Shiwan bore down on him, he backed away again and again and plopped down on the floor.
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