A night without dreams.
Her biological clock woke Shen Tangtang up right on time. Around her, quiet murmurs filled the air as people discussed where they planned to go scavenging today.
The two younger girls hadn’t come to apologize to Zhang娜 (Zhang Na) last night. When Zhang Na came back, she felt around under her pillow where her food had been hidden and found it had been moved. Her gaze only darkened slightly, and she didn’t say anything.
Presumably, she wouldn’t dare leave food in the dormitory next time.
Shen Tangtang didn’t join the surrounding discussions. She and Lin Daiyu grabbed their small basins and walked to the middle of the courtyard to fetch water for washing up.
“Tangtang, you guys came over to wash up too.”
“Yeah, Sister Zhang, you guys woke up so early too.”
Seeing that it was Zhang Na and her group, Shen Tangtang wore a smile on her face, took the bucket from Zhang Na’s hand, and dropped it down the well to draw water.
“Sigh, no choice. The wastelands with food are getting further and further away, and the trucks leave earlier now.”
Li Qin looked somewhat worried. The further the wasteland, the higher the danger. Even though food could be found, everyone knew that if danger struck, ordinary people like them had only death as their outcome.
“It’s fine, don’t be too discouraged. Being able to find food means we’re still alive, and as long as we’re alive, there’s hope.” Shen Tangtang offered a casual word of comfort.
“I suppose that’s all we can do.”
Li Qin nodded, pressed a damp towel to her face, shivered from the chill, and felt her mind clear up quite a bit.
Zhang Na beside her was also deep in thought, giving Li Qin’s shoulder a comforting pat.
Another girl, Zhou Zhizhi, cast a surprised look at Shen Tangtang. She felt like Shen Tangtang had changed.
Lin Daiyu also looked at Shen Tangtang with puzzlement. She had felt for a while that Tangtang was acting very strange. The old Tangtang always seemed dead inside, just drifting through the days, but what had happened these past few days? She felt so much more vibrant.
Sensing the surrounding gazes, Shen Tangtang smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Why are you all looking at me? I just feel like we can all save up credits and leave the concentration camp, so the future looks more and more hopeful. As long as we work hard, surviving won’t be a problem.“
The group of close friends gave her a look that screamed, Is that really true? Don’t trick us.
Still, they didn’t say much more. Everyone had their own secrets, and besides, the wasteland world was full of perils where you never knew when you might die; worrying about others was a waste of time compared to worrying about oneself.
Shen Tangtang dropped her towel into the basin, wrung out the excess water, and pressed it to her face, the cold waking her up thoroughly.
After washing up, Shen Tangtang and Lin Daiyu walked to the cafeteria.
Walking to the wild vegetable soup window, Shen Tangtang took out the wild vegetable soup ticket she earned yesterday from carrying firewood and got a bowl of soup.
Finding Lin Daiyu sitting in the corner, she saw a wild vegetable flatbread in Lin Daiyu’s hands.
Flatbreads were more filling than soup, but eating them dry was very choking and required a lot of chewing. Most people would share one bowl of soup and one flatbread between two people, eating them together.
Accepting the half-bread handed over by Lin Daiyu, Shen Tangtang poured half her bowl of soup into Lin Daiyu’s bowl and then dunked her own piece of flatbread into it.
As Shen Tangtang was enjoying her rare breakfast, she heard a commotion break out nearby.
“Zhou Jiabao, if you’ve got any spine, stop hiding behind Lu Che! You stole our food yesterday, and now you’re sitting here gloating. Do you think everyone’s going to let you get away with it? Just wait, we’re going to teach you a lesson today.”
“Zhang Bin, you’re going too far. Putting aside whether Zhou Jiabao actually stole your food, aren’t you afraid of the director holding you accountable for threatening people like this?”
“Tch, the director doesn’t care about these things. Just a troublemaking piece of trash. Besides, the concentration camp doesn’t forbid competition. Are you guys brain-dead from staying in here too long? Hahaha…”
“Exactly. Look at Lu Che—he’s such an idiot, actually thinking Zhou Jiabao treats him like an older brother.”
“Who’s to say? If it weren’t for him, Zhou Jiabao wouldn’t be swaggering around in the wilderness, stealing food other people found.”
“What do you mean ‘stealing’? You hadn’t even cut it off yet; once I cut it, it’s mine.”
…
Shen Tangtang watched with relish as a chubby little fellow argued with righteous indignation against a group of seven or eight people.
On the other hand, the young boy sitting right in front of him was quite interesting. He was tall, dressed in black patched cloth clothes, and maintained a completely expressionless face despite the taunts of so many people.
Lin Daiyu whispered from the side, “Lu Che used to be helped out by Zhou Jiabao’s parents. Later on, Zhou Jiabao’s parents mysteriously went missing in the wilderness, and the district chief chased people out, so the two of them ended up in the orphan concentration camp.”
Shen Tangtang was somewhat surprised by how much Lin Daiyu knew, asking doubtfully, “Sister Daiyu, how do you know all this?”
“Nana and the others told me. Lu Che is pretty famous among the boys; I heard he’s a great fighter.”
Lin Daiyu’s tone was flat. She had no interest in Lu Che, but she was quite curious about gossip, which was how she picked up on it while chatting with Zhang Na and the others.
Shen Tangtang was thoughtful. No wonder this bunch of people only dared to run their mouths.
Lu Che’s name had appeared in the novel. In the later stages, he became an extremely powerful ability user, someone even the male and female leads didn’t dare to easily offend.
She wondered if this young boy in front of her was him. If so, how on earth did he end up in a concentration camp? He was the youngest son of the Lu family.
The Lu family, Shen family, Ling family, and Yang family were the four prominent aristocratic families in Dawn Safe City’s elite district. They were already famous clans before the apocalypse, and after the apocalypse, they quickly secured their footing by leveraging their resources and power, later participating in the construction of Dawn City.
Over these 600-plus years, the Lu family had only changed its head three times—and not because the previous heads died, but because they needed to go into seclusion, which adequately proved the Lu family’s immense strength.
Of course, the other three families were not to be underestimated either. Ordinary people knew nothing of these matters; Shen Tangtang only remembered the novel’s description of the Lu family when she heard Lu Che’s name.
After eating her fill, Shen Tangtang stopped pondering these matters. With a year still remaining before the novel’s plot officially kicked off—and having already decided to stay far away from the male and female leads—she didn’t pay them much more attention.
Shen Tangtang and Lin Daiyu stood up and left the cafeteria. It would take another half-hour to reach the gathering point, and they would be late if they didn’t leave now.
Lu Che lifted his gaze toward the cafeteria entrance, watching two girls leave one after the other.
Chewing his wild vegetable flatbread irritably, he stood up, gave the back of Zhou Jiabao’s head a smack, and said, “Let’s go.”
“Oh, oh, Brother Lu, wait for me.”
Zhou Jiabao hurriedly finished the remaining soup in his bowl, smacked his lips in lingering satisfaction, left the bowl on the table, and ran to catch up.
By the time Shen Tangtang and Lin Daiyu reached the city gates, only the transport trucks heading to the southern wasteland remained. The route passed through multiple collection points, ending at a peach orchard cleared out by the First Mercenary Corps.
Word had it that dangerous mutant beasts still inhabited the peach orchard, but for some reason, last night’s administrative meeting had decided to open the peach orchard up anyway. Several extra public transport trucks had been added for the peach orchard today, leaving plenty of empty seats.
Shen Tangtang and Lin Daiyu paid their fares and squeezed into the bus.
Just as Shen Tangtang was celebrating her luck at not running into Bai Yanjun today, she caught sight of a figure darting out from behind a tree near the city gates. She looked closer.
Well, well, it was the male lead, Bai Yanjun, yet again.
Shen Tangtang cast a complex, unspeakable look at Lin Daiyu.
Completely baffled by Shen Tangtang’s inexplicable gaze, Lin Daiyu asked doubtfully, “Tangtang, what’s wrong?”