Chapter 21

Half a month passed, and Tong Shu's family continued to secretly conduct vegetable transactions right under Wen Shaocheng's nose. Wen Shaocheng, however, seemed quite busy and hadn't paid much attention to Tong Shu's situation.

This is very convenient for the residents in the north of the city. After picking up supplies from the supply ship, they can go to the office to get some compressed biscuits and exchange them for a few kilograms of fresh vegetables.

Tong Shu's family has expanded their vegetable selection to include more and more varieties, and residents who come to trade for the first time almost think that a small vegetable market has opened in the community.

"Little Tong, my old man caught some water chestnuts near the old ornamental pond these past few days. Here, have some." The elderly man from Building 6 stood in front of the iron gate with a basket of water chestnuts on his back, grabbed a handful, and handed them to Tong Shu. "You've been taking good care of us all this time, always giving us extra things. I know that," the old man said softly.

"Grandma, no need, don't be so polite." Tong Shu took the water chestnuts. "These can be considered as your exchange. We recently harvested some apples and pears, I'll exchange two catties for you."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

...

Hearing the voices, Wang Jie walked over. He saw the water chestnuts in Tong Shu's hand, picked one up and examined it closely: "These water chestnuts are good. Where did they come from? Do we harvest water chestnuts?" Wang Jie didn't remember growing water chestnuts on the island.

"It was this old lady's husband who fished it out of the community's ornamental pond. It must have been there before, but it floated to the surface due to the flood," Tong Shu explained.

Wang Jie exclaimed "Ah!" and took all the water chestnuts: "No, Grandma, you can't eat these water chestnuts."

"Huh?" The old man was startled, holding the water chestnut and saying in a daze, "What's wrong? Isn't this fine? The community used to pick them too, and they tasted quite good."

"That was before. Now there's a huge flood, and the water is full of bacteria. You can't eat anything that grows there; you'll get sick if you do," Wang Jie said.

Upon hearing this, Tong Shu also became serious and said to the old woman, "Grandma, my brother is a doctor, he wouldn't lie to you."

The old woman looked forlornly at the full basket of water chestnuts, her face showing reluctance: "But..." There were so many water chestnuts; they could feed her and her husband for a long time.

"Grandma, give me the water chestnuts, and I'll get you other supplies in return." Tong Shu handed the old woman a bag, gesturing for her to put all the water chestnuts in it.

"Huh? But, isn't it forbidden to eat it? There's no use for you taking it away."

"It's alright, we can break them up and sell them to farmers in H City as fertilizer, and we can also get some other vegetables in return," Tong Shu comforted her.

The old man then smiled broadly and handed all the water chestnuts to Tong Shu through the window. Tong Shu packed the vegetables for the old man by weight and also added some of the early-ripening fruits that had recently appeared on the island.

...

Besides the elderly residents of Building 6, many others also caught water chestnuts near the scenic pond. Those who could swim even dived down and dug up a lot of lotus roots. These people didn't make a fuss, only saying that they had an extra way to obtain supplies compared to others. They would secretly go and catch some every day to take home and improve their family's meals.

Within a few days, a large number of people in the community developed symptoms of poisoning.

"Hurry, hurry, where else?" Zhu Cheng was frantic with work. "What? Someone over at Building 11 has gone into shock? Quick, borrow a speedboat from the supply ship and get them to the hospital!"

Several families in the same building as Tong Shu's family also ate water chestnuts and lotus roots. Apartment 903 on the 9th floor was the most densely populated apartment in the building besides Tong Shu's family, with a total of eight people including the elderly and children. Before the disaster, only the young couple lived there. Later, when the wife became pregnant and gave birth to twin daughters, both sets of grandparents moved in to help take care of the children. A few days ago, the new father, Lin Tao, heard that lotus roots could be harvested at the ornamental pond. He thought of getting some to make soup for his wife. Even if there were no pork ribs, it would be good to taste the lotus root. After the disaster, they ate dry food. His wife was not getting enough nutrition, and the two children often cried from hunger. He felt very sorry for them.

"Xiao Tong, Master Tong, do you have a doctor in your family? Please, please come and take a look at my house." Lin Tao himself had been suffering from diarrhea all night, and was completely dehydrated. His lips were chapped and his face was pale as he knocked on the iron gate outside the Tong family's connecting corridor.

Seeing this, Wang Jie didn't waste any more words. He opened the door, called Qin Xiaoxiao and Tong Shu, and went to 903 together.

The situation in Lin Tao's family was indeed very bad. Some had fevers, some had diarrhea, and the two babies even had symptoms of pneumonia.

Fortunately, Wang Jie had a medical kit with him. He took out some fever reducers and antidiarrheal medicine and gave them to the adults. He then said to Lin Tao, "We need to get them to the hospital for an IV drip right away. Did you manage to borrow an inflatable boat?"

"No! No!" Lin Tao leaned weakly against the sofa, tears streaming down his face. "All the inflatable boats are borrowed. Director Zhu said he'd put us on the waiting list, but we don't know how long it will take! The kayaks are too slow, the child is so young, and the hospital is so far away. I'm scared... I'm scared..."

The twins had probably been crying for a long time; their little fists were clenched tightly, and now they could barely make a sound, only emitting intermittent, hoarse cries.

After a long internal struggle, Tong Shu asked Wang Jie, "How much longer can we hold on?"

“The adults should be able to wait until the inflatable boat returns.” Wang Jie frowned as he checked the situation. “The child is too young; it won’t take long.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Tao nearly lost his balance and swayed before slowly sitting down on the ground.

"Brother, will your acupuncture work?" Tong Shuchong winked at Wang Jie.

"Acupuncture... acupuncture?" Wang Jie and Tong Shu exchanged a glance and quickly understood. "It's possible, but I have to go home first. All my things are at home."

"Brother Lin, why don't you wait here for the speedboat, and we'll take the babies home for acupuncture first?" Tong Shu said to Lin Tao.

"Yes, yes!" At this moment, Lin Tao didn't care whether such a young child could undergo acupuncture. He couldn't think about it any longer and grabbed Wang Jie's hand as if it were a lifeline. "Please, doctor, you must save my little girl!"

Wang Jie picked up a baby and nodded to him: "I'll try my best."

After leaving a few pills for Lin Tao, Tong Shu and the other two took the two babies home.

The elders left behind at home were very surprised, wondering where they had gotten two such small children. After hearing the explanation, they urged the children to get treatment immediately, as it was difficult for adults to survive in the apocalypse, let alone such small infants.

People without work permits couldn't enter the island, so Tong Shu, following Wang Jie's instructions, retrieved the nebulizer and IV stand from the island's hospital and started nebulizing the two infants. Wang Jie then prepared the medication from the island's pharmacy and gave it to Qin Xiaoxiao, who quickly administered the injections to the two children.

The IV drip had a noticeable effect; the twins felt less pain, blinked their swollen, walnut-like eyes, and sobbed as they drifted off to sleep.

"Huh? Shushu, what's this?" Wang Jie stood in the medicine storeroom, looking at the several coins that had appeared out of thin air in his hand, feeling a bit curious.

Tong Shugang had just taken the coin from Wang Jie when he heard the system announcement.

[Congratulations, Island Owner, on unlocking a hidden way to obtain Faith Points! Utilize your expertise in each role to help everyone to the greatest extent possible! The island will distribute Faith Coins based on your contributions~]

As soon as the coin reached Tong Shu's hand, it transformed into tiny orbs of light, flickered, rose into the air, and then quickly flew towards the service center.

Tong Shu's faith point collection quest has made a slight progress again.

That's great! We don't have to rely solely on selling vegetables to earn faith points anymore.

Tong Shu breathed a sigh of relief. During this period, the whole family had been planting, harvesting, and selling vegetables, and had to travel to various places. Everyone was exhausted. Even though it was just Wang Jie who was earning faith points, it was still another path. Tong Shu saw hope again.

"Can you gain faith points by using your expertise?" Wang Jie asked thoughtfully. "Then why didn't my second aunt's husband get any despite planting so many vegetables?"

Tong Shu was also a little surprised to hear this, so the two of them turned around and went to the farm to find Qin Jiaqiang.

"Oh? Faith Points? I didn't know that." Qin Jiaqiang was still diligently pulling up a batch of newly ripened taro in the ground. "But I do have some coins, but aren't those Sen coins? I was wondering why they weren't deposited directly into my account."

Qin Jiaqiang patted the dirt off his hands and pointed, "What a huge pile! I threw it all in the break room. It just randomly fell at my feet, and it's all coins. You guys get so many when you go to buy vegetables, and coins are really heavy! I had to go pick them up. Shushu, could you transfer the money directly to my account?"

Tong Shu and Wang Jie had an "I see" look on their faces. After explaining to Qin Jiaqiang, they went to the rest room and sure enough, they saw several baskets of faith coins stacked together. Tong Shu went up and put her hand on them, and the mission progress suddenly jumped forward a little.

"It seems the island isn't so heartless after all. I almost thought we were going to be selling vegetables like this, sneaking around, for the rest of our lives," Wang Jie remarked.

Once outside the island, the two twins had already woken up, and Qin Xiaoxiao was playing with them using a small ball.

"Sigh, the little rascal is so adorable." Shuli sat to the side with nothing to do, knitting a sweater with Grandma Tong. "It's just the three of you now, all grown up, and none of you have found a partner."

“Auntie, you can’t say that.” Qin Xiaoxiao looked up and retorted, “It’s a good thing we didn’t find partners and get married. Look, if we were like Brother Lin’s family, having to take care of such a small child, we wouldn’t be able to survive. It would be too much suffering for the child to be born.”

Shuli thought about it and agreed, but she still couldn't help but scold him: "Our family is much better off than the Lin family. Anyway, I have no objection to your brother finding a partner."

"No, Mom," Wang Jie shook his head. "We're only able to work on this island thanks to Shu Shu. If we really have a child, what about the mother? What about her family? All those relatives and extended family would be impossible to manage. Even if everyone went to work on the island, the child would be so young. Forget about the island not accepting child laborers; even if they did, they'd be baby laborers at best. What could they do? The child can't even speak properly. Would they even get a work permit? If there's any danger, all the adults would hide on the island, leaving the child crying outside? I can't do that..."

"Alright, alright! You're all talking back! I'm not talking to you anymore!" Shuli glared at Wang Jie, put away her knitting, and said, "Your aunt and I are going to cook. Remember to feed these two kids some formula. Poor things, it's a good thing that people still have children, otherwise, with young people like you, humanity would have been wiped out long ago."

Tong Shu heated up two bottles of milk, and she and Qin Xiaoxiao each fed the baby one.

Yes, the world has become like this, but people are still trying their best to live, supporting the elderly, raising babies, and continuing their own and their loved ones' lives.

Humans are truly amazing.