She had already prepared herself for the possibility of finding no food at all today.
But unexpectedly, the morning had gone quite smoothly.
Thinking about the drafty roof at home, Su Yue decided to bring back some dirt and dry grass stalks to patch it up.
She picked some broad leaves and wrapped the shepherd’s purse leaves inside them, placing them at the bottom of her cloth bag. Then she planned to fill the bag with dirt.
The only troublesome thing was the ground berry.
The berry was as large as a fist. If she carried it inside her clothes, it would be too obvious. If she put it in the bag, she was afraid the dirt would crush it.
Just as she was at a loss, she suddenly thought of her insulated thermos.
The thermos had been left behind by her father and had a wide body.
She opened it and drank the plantain leaf soup she had stored that morning.
The soup was still warm.
As it flowed down her throat, it brought a little warmth to her body.
She had gone to bed with nothing but water in her stomach the night before, and after a busy morning she was starving. Half a thermos of ordinary grass-leaf soup made her feel surprisingly satisfied and restored some of her strength.
After finishing the soup in a few gulps, she tried fitting the ground berry into the thermos.
It fit perfectly!
She hid the berry inside the thermos, then tied a bundle of dry sticks together with hemp rope and slung it over her back.
She stuffed the thermos into her cloth bag and filled the rest of the bag with dirt mixed with dry grass.
Then she started heading home.
Very few people returned to the refugee district at noon. Most were heading out to scavenge.
A young girl like Su Yue walking against the flow of people naturally attracted attention.
Quite a few people looked her over.
Secretly, they wondered whether she had found something valuable to be returning so early.
But when they saw that her bag contained nothing but dirt and dry grass, and that she carried only firewood on her back, most quickly lost interest.
Only one young girl, who was also scavenging alone, continued watching Su Yue as she walked away.
After hesitating several times, she finally decided to approach and strike up a conversation.
Having survived three years in the apocalypse in her previous life, Su Yue’s senses were keen.
She had already noticed someone watching her.
What she hadn’t expected was for the owner of that gaze to come over and talk to her.
In this world, people were extremely wary of strangers. Everyone was busy gathering resources, and conversations with strangers were uncommon.
“Hello. I don’t mean any harm. Could I have a word with you?”
Su Yue glanced at her.
The girl looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, roughly Su Yue’s age and just as skinny.
Judging from her appearance, she was on her way to gather food.
“What is it?”
Only Su Yue’s eyes were visible beneath her mask and hat. The other girl was dressed the same way—a common look among refugees.
The girl’s eyes curved into a smile as she tried to appear friendly. She deliberately kept a distance of two or three steps.
“It’s like this. I saw you yesterday too. You’re scavenging alone, right? I was wondering if we could become partners—”
Su Yue had considered finding a partner herself.
But she wasn’t going to choose just anyone. She wanted someone reliable.
The girl in front of her seemed kind and knew how to respect boundaries, but Su Yue still cautiously shook her head.
She didn’t know this girl.
It was better to be careful.
Besides, two skinny girls teaming up wouldn’t be much of a deterrent to anyone.
“No thanks.”
The girl wasn’t discouraged by the rejection.
“That’s okay. My name is Song Zhizhi. Can we at least exchange contact information?”
Su Yue thought about it.
She still didn’t know what kind of person Song Zhizhi was, but exchanging contact information didn’t seem risky.
So she took out her detector from an inner pocket and added Song Zhizhi to her contacts.
“Sorry to bother you. I’m off scavenging now. Bye-bye.”
After adding Su Yue, Song Zhizhi waved and left.
Su Yue added a note to the contact: Song Zhizhi.
Then she headed home.
After arriving safely, Su Yue first locked the door.
Carefully, she removed the shepherd’s purse leaves from her bag.
Then she took the giant ground berry out of the thermos.
“Wooow!!!!!”
Su Xing’s eyes lit up like stars.
Looking at the berry, she was practically drooling.
“Sister, what’s that? It looks sooo delicious! (✪▽✪)”
When their parents had died, Su Xing had only been four years old and remembered very little.
Afterward, simply having enough to eat while living with her sister had been a blessing.
She had never seen a ground berry before and had tasted sweets only a handful of times in her life.
Using her small knife, Su Yue cut off two quail-egg-sized pieces of fruit.
One for herself.
One for Su Xing.
The flesh was cool and juicy, sweet with a touch of tartness, filling their mouths with flavor.
Su Xing held the fruit in her mouth, reluctant to chew it.
Grinning foolishly, she mumbled through the mouthful,
“Si-sis, it’s sooo sweet! I wuv it!”
“Even if you like it, Xingxing, you can’t eat too much. It’ll upset your stomach.”
Su Xing nodded.
Still unwilling to chew, she slowly sucked the juice from the fruit.
Su Yue was thinking about turning the rest into jam for winter.
To make jam, she’d need white sugar or rock sugar.
The family also needed salt.
Going without salt for too long wasn’t sustainable.
So Su Yue decided to visit a shop and trade for some supplies.
Sugar and salt were necessities.
She also needed a glass jar to store the jam.
After repairing the roof that afternoon, she planned to look for reed fluff and straw and see if she could weave a pair of winter shoes for Su Xing.
People here rarely carried cash.
First, because they might lose it.
Second, because thieves could steal it from their homes.
As a result, everyone preferred using the payment system built into their detectors, similar to mobile payments before the apocalypse.
Su Yue opened her detector and checked her balance.
14.5 credits.
Wonderful.
Her balance was even emptier than her face.
Fortunately, shops didn’t only sell goods—they also bought them.
Low-radiation edible plants were especially popular.
There were three shops in the refugee district where Su Yue lived.
The closest one was called Huiyou Store.
The owner was a woman in her thirties named Wang Churan.
She had been Su Yue’s mother’s childhood friend.
After Su Yue’s parents died, she occasionally looked after Su Yue and Su Xing.
Otherwise, the two little girls would never have survived the harsh winters.
But life was difficult for everyone in the wasteland.
Aunt Wang had children of her own to support and could only offer limited help.
The shepherd’s purse leaf Su Yue had found that morning had a radiation value of 653.
It barely qualified as low-radiation produce.
Since shepherd’s purse also tasted relatively good, it should fetch a decent price.
Carrying the cloth bag would attract attention and wasn’t safe.
The leaf wasn’t very large, so she could simply tuck it inside her clothes.
“Xingxing, I’m going to the shop. Want to come?”
“Yes, yes, yes! Xingxing wants to go too!”
Because the outside world was dangerous, Su Xing was rarely allowed out.
Especially when Su Yue went scavenging, she strictly forbade her little sister from stepping outside.
Children were naturally energetic and playful, and Su Xing was often bored out of her mind.
The moment she heard they were going to the shop, she became excited.
Su Yue quickly wove together some vines and broad grass stalks into a crude pair of sandals that fit Su Xing’s feet.
Once she found reed fluff, she would make proper winter shoes.
After surviving three years in a zombie apocalypse in her previous life and spending long periods hiding in the mountains, basic weaving was second nature to her.
The two sisters held hands as they left the house.
After locking the door, they headed toward the shop.
On the way, they happened to run into their neighbor, Aunt Yang.
Seeing how happy little Su Xing looked, Aunt Yang immediately suspected that Su Yue had found something valuable.
Her small triangular eyes darted about as she thought it over.
Then, putting on a warm smile, she hurried over.
“Well, well, Xiaoyue. Taking your little sister somewhere, are you?”