◎Happy 52nd day: Settling down◎
Jiang Muyun had stockpiled enough staple foods, from what she bought herself to what she had collected at the Nanshan warehouse before. It was enough for her to eat for two lifetimes, and she would definitely not starve to death.
This time she came out to collect supplies, the rice and flour were just for show, the focus was still on those "flashy" things that she had not stocked up enough before.
Such as potato chips, biscuits, snacks, various soft drinks, even alcoholic beverages, precious metals, etc.
Jiang Muyun's first destination was a convenience store.
This convenience store should have closed early, but the glass window was smashed open by a piece of construction debris.
Jiang Muyun swam into the store through the broken window. The shelves in the store were basically empty. Jiang Muyun was not disappointed. He just groped his way along the wall to an inconspicuous door in the store.
The owner of this kind of small shop is most likely a resident of the community. The shop is his own, so it is normal for him to live directly in the shop.
Jiang Muyun put the door lock into the space, pushed the door open and threw the lock out.
Sure enough, there was a double bed behind the door, with some daily necessities floating around, and cardboard boxes stacked under the bed.
The cardboard box had been soaked and only its general shape could be seen. Jiang Muyun reached out to touch it, and the brown pool scattered all over the place.
Jiang Muyun dived directly under the bed, waved away the pile of brown paper scraps, and put the supplies under the bed into the space one by one.
The box under the bed was filled with snacks, drinks, condiments, and a number of daily necessities. Perhaps the owner thought these were worthless, so he left them out in the open to conceal them.
These sweet drinks are indeed worthless during periods of high temperature and severe drought. Not only do they fail to quench your thirst, but the more you drink them, the thirstier you become. No one would touch them unless they are almost dying of thirst.
Snacks are even worse; they don't provide hydration, and the more you eat, the more thirsty you become. Unless you have an abundance of water at home, no one would trade supplies for these snacks.
Of course, when the industry completely collapses and these flashy things become non-renewable resources, their prices will skyrocket and they will become luxury goods loved by the top elites.
There was rice soaked in water near the stove, and a pile of food that was so rotten that it was unrecognizable.
Jiang Muyun looked around and found another small room.
The small room was supposed to be hidden originally. One could see a layer of putty on the door, but it had now fallen off due to water damage.
Jiang Muyun was speechless for a moment after pushing open the door. The owner was also a talented person. He could actually hide all the food and water in the toilet.
Aside from a few vacuum-packed bags of rice, all the food was packed tightly in plastic buckets. The water was the usual mineral water sold outside, available in various packaging.
Jiang Muyun left two bags of vacuum-packed rice in the net bag, put a few bottles of mineral water in it, and put the rest into the space.
There was a lot of drinking water hidden here, full and almost untouched, and the food outside was half-eaten. It didn't look like it was fully prepared for escaping. I don't know where the owner of this store went.
There was silence beneath the water, and Jiang Muyun floated upwards while thinking about writing something aimlessly.
Jiang Muyun surfaced, looked around, and found that he had run quite far away from the boat.
The things she brought back this time were quite heavy. It was okay with the buoyancy of the water, but it took some effort for the people on the boat to pull the things up.
Li Anxuan was not prepared at first and almost lost his balance when he lifted the things up.
"What you found is quite solid." Qin Shiwen said in surprise.
Jiang Muyun looked out and saw that there were already a lot of things piled on the life raft, mainly water, with the most being vacuum-packed grains, and not much rice or flour.
It's not surprising. The packaging of ordinary rice and flour is not waterproof. Unless you store them in sealed plastic buckets like the convenience store owner, they will be ruined in water.
Jiang Muyun clung to the side of the boat and took a breath. "I'm specifically looking for it. If you come across an empty store when you go into the water later, you can look inside to see if there are other doors."
Jiang Muyun told them about her discovery of the small door to remind them that they could look for other doors, and also to remind them that she had already searched the convenience store over there, so they wouldn't have to waste time searching later.
And this way, she can just put the rice she finds in the store into the net bag and free up her time to search for other things.
There is a pharmacy next to the convenience store. Jiang Muyun put all the medicines and medical devices in plastic packaging that were not soaked in water into the space.
Whether it is useful or not can be discussed later. Anyway, it is better to have it than not.
After cleaning the pharmacy, Jiang Muyun put a few more bags of rice into the net bag, and then floated to the surface as usual to deliver things and breathe.
Judging from the submerged signs, there are quite a few small restaurants on this street.
Jiang Muyun never thought that she could find food in a small restaurant. The water had been out of service for so long, and she hadn't seen any small restaurant open outside.
But you can collect some detergents and the like.
There are also ultraviolet lamps for disinfecting tableware.
It is said that chickens need more sunlight to lay eggs. Jiang Muyun didn't know how long the sun would last, and she didn't know whether the light tube she removed was waterproof. But then again, what if? There's nothing to lose by trying.
There was no need to hide the light bulb, so Jiang Muyun put it directly into the net bag and sent it up together with a few bags of vacuum-packed grains.
There is no food left in the shops outside, so the only way to find food is to go into the residential buildings.
Jiang Muyun didn't want to expend too much energy underwater, so he only entered those houses with broken windows.
You can find much more things in residential buildings than in convenience stores.
The continuous rainy days have made everyone try their best to protect their food from moisture, and there are still many things to be found now.
For example, the various snacks sealed in the iron cans. Jiang Muyun weighed the can underwater and knew that there was definitely no water in it.
Sure enough, after it floated to the surface and was opened, it was found to be filled with peanut candy, fried rice candy and other things.
There are also pickles and kimchi made by residents themselves, which are all stored in sealed jars.
Jiang Muyun left a few cans to the surface and stuffed the rest into the space.
What surprised Jiang Muyun the most was the snack cabinet she found in a magnificently decorated house.
There are all kinds of beef jerky and cod fillets in it, and all are packaged intact without any water.
Jiang Muyun stuffed everything that could fit into the net bag, and stored the extra things in the space, and then he kept floating up and down and diving back and forth.
After waiting for almost two hours, the four of them climbed onto the boat, and then Li Anxuan and the others went into the water.
Jiang Muyun and his group were the first group to come here to search for things. Two hours per person was enough to make a fortune.
By the afternoon, when it was time to return, the two life rafts they had rowed out were already full. If they put a little more on, Jiang Muyun would suspect that their ship would sink.
All the supplies were covered with dark green film, and the group returned with a full load.
Although they had a lot of things with them when they returned, they had already memorized some landmarks on the road, such as a hilltop or a small slope where the water flowed quickly.
I rowed back along my memory, and the speed was actually a little faster than in the morning.
When their boat docked, the three people who stayed behind were already waiting for them.
Ten people ran back and forth five times before they finally transported all the things and the boat back to the big cave.
Even Li Anxuan was a little exhausted physically, and for a moment everyone sat on the ground and drank water frantically.
Jiang Muyun unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and drank it gulps. After finally catching his breath, he said, "How's the progress of your digging the reservoir today?"
Wu Xingyue frowned. "It's not easy to find the location. Many places look like dirt, but when you dig deeper you find rocks. When Zhou Ying and I dug around the cave during our shift change today, we could only find a small, rocky spot to start with."
Jiang Muyun screwed the cap back on and said with a smile, "That's great! It saves us the trouble of digging. We just need to dig out the rocks and move them away, and we'll have a reservoir."
Zhou Ying sighed, "I'm afraid the stone is too big to move."
Chu Buwen had experience in this matter: "Nothing is difficult to move. As long as the hole is big enough and the rope is strong enough, we can get it out no matter what."
After hearing this, Jiang Muyun added another item to his list of groceries: "It would be better to get a pulley when I have time. It will be convenient for moving things and transporting water."
This mountain is just a small wild mountain with no roads at all. When I went up the mountain before, I didn’t think it was a big deal and even thought about getting a stick to use as a shoulder pole to carry water up and down the mountain.
It was not until today, when he climbed back and forth five times with a load on his back, that Jiang Muyun realized that this short hill was not to be trifled with.
If they have to carry supplies and fetch water back and forth every day, they will probably be exhausted.
Jiang Muyun fanned himself twice with a piece of paper. "I'm going to go back and change into my diving suit first, and then come over to move the things. I need to finish it quickly because I still have to dig the reservoir tonight. Remember to call me when you're on night duty."
Tomorrow it was Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen's turn to stay behind. According to their shift schedule, Chu Buwen would be the first on the night watch, followed by Jiang Muyun.
They had agreed on the daytime shift schedule, changing shifts every two hours to prevent one person from getting eye pain from staring at the water for too long.
Wu Xingyue, who had been involved in several moves, was so tired that her eyes were dull. After hearing what Jiang Muyun said, she immediately decided that she must find something to make a pulley device as soon as possible when she went out tomorrow.
She had spent a long time digging the reservoir today, and her back and waist were already sore. When Jiang Muyun and the others first came up the mountain, she was still at the foot of the mountain helping to look after the supplies. She had only run behind them twice and was almost out of breath.
If she went out to fish things out by herself, after a tiring day she would have to carry the supplies back and forth up the mountain, and after that she would have to dig a reservoir.
This is totally beyond the level of intensity that a physically weak person like her can bear!
But each of these matters is a matter of life and death, and she has no choice but to take responsibility, so she can only find a way to make a shortcut.
Wu Xingyue turned around and looked at her good sisters, and found that they all had the same idea, except that Zhou Ying, who had been doing farm work since childhood, was a little stronger.
Of course Jiang Muyun was not tired either.
Her current physical condition was quite good, but it certainly couldn't compare to the body she had after ten years of hard work in her previous life. With this level of activity, she wouldn't be able to endure it for long.
But there is no other way. Time is really too tight.
The reservoir not only needs to be dug but also needs to be filled. She was afraid when she looked at the bright sun outside, fearing that one morning when she opened her eyes, she would find that the water underneath had receded.
At that time, she would either dig mud and water with everyone, or carry her bag and find a place in the deep mountains and forests to live alone.
Before things got to that point, Jiang Muyun still wanted to live a life where he had someone to talk to.
Jiang Muyun put down the engineering shovel, stretched, washed himself, and took out a few plasters from the space to apply on himself.
She spent most of the day picking and choosing from the cooked food stored in the space, and finally chose garlic oysters as her midnight snack.
There is space for people to talk, live not too far away, and eat without being discovered as long as it is not too outrageous.
When you think about it this way, it’s worth being a little tired now.
Xiaobai smelled the fragrance and wanted to come over to have a share.
Jiang Muyun didn't dare to feed it something with such a strong taste, so he found a fresh oyster from the space and pried it open. However, Xiaobai spit it out after chewing it twice. Jiang Muyun was so angry that he punished it by making it dig a hole outside the door to make a grave for the oyster to make amends.
Xiaobai had dug the pit, but before Jiang Muyun buried the oysters in it, the two chickens got angry.
The two little mutes were so lively for the first time, flapping their wings and making "oh oh oh" sounds in the cage, their green eyes staring straight at the oysters in Jiang Muyun's hand.
Jiang Muyun tried to put oysters in the two cages, but the two chickens started to peck at the oysters, leaving a hole every time they pecked. Jiang Muyun was terrified and thought that he really couldn't keep these two chickens.
The two chickens devoured a large oyster clean in a few minutes, and then turned around to eat the various broken grains fed by Jiang Muyun. They even looked a little well-behaved.
Jiang Muyun rarely felt a little pity for them.
These two little mutes have been locked up by themselves since they were born. The greatest range of their activities is that they are kept in the bedroom for a period of time after the extreme cold.
There's no sunshine, so it's not your fault that you two don't lay eggs.
But it was not convenient for her to find materials for making a fence these days, and she really did not have the time to make a fence for the two cubs, so she could only let the two cubs endure it for a while longer.
As compensation, Jiang Muyun decided to put them at the entrance of the cave so that they could at least get a few hours of sun.
Jiang Muyun continued to work after having his midnight snack. Just as he pried up a stone, he heard the rope hanging on the wall being pulled and making a jingling sound.
Look at the time, it's time to change shifts.
Jiang Muyun took the telescope and went out with Xiaobai.
The outside world had been relatively peaceful these past few days. From the moment Jiang Muyun and his companions found this mountain to the city, they hadn't seen anyone else along the way. The day Jiang Muyun stayed behind was a cycle of shift changes, digging pits, shift changes, digging pits, and so on.
When she ate, she would eat the food she had put into the space before. Chu Buwen would often go up the mountain to chat with her when she was on duty.
Jiang Muyun asked him why he didn't dig a reservoir. Chu Buwen said that he happened to find a place with few big rocks, so he dug the pit last night and just needed to find some gravel to pave it today.
Jiang Muyun's head was buzzing from prying the rocks, and jealousy was written all over his face.
Chu Buwen smiled and said, "Give me a can of braised beef, and I'll dig a reservoir for you today. How about that?"
Jiang Muyun pretended to chase him away: "Then you're quite valuable. Do you know how much a can of meat costs out there these days?"
"No, half a can will do." Chu Buwen bargained: "Boss, please take a look at me. I am very useful, strong and healthy."
Jiang Muyun was puzzled: "Being physically strong is fine, but what about good looks? It's impossible for that stone to jump out of your body just because you look good, right?"
Chu Buwen said confidently: "If I look good, wouldn't that be pleasing to the eyes for you, the boss? I can even get an extra two dollars in tips if I serve dishes in a restaurant."
"It's just two dollars, what are you so proud of?" Jiang Muyun pointed at the water below the mountain: "See? Your brain is more complex than this water below."
Chu Buwen, whose food was complicated, dug a hole and transported soil for the old landlord Jiang, and also laid gravel inside to make a waterproof layer. In the end, he got two cans of mushroom stewed chicken from the old landlord Jiang.
Landlord Jiang had just taken advantage of a shift change to check on the progress of the project in his cave. When he came back, he stuffed the army green can of food into Chu Buwen's hands, sighing as he did so: "I am such a generous and good landlord."
Chu Buwen: "Don't think I don't know. You don't like mushrooms, so you gave them to me."
Jiang Muyun's face turned serious. "How can you talk like that? I gave it to you because I know you like mushrooms. Otherwise, how can you explain why you ate mushrooms every day before?"
Chu Buwen: I ate mushrooms every day because at that time, there were only mushrooms and insects!
The poor laborers did not dare to talk back to the landlord, but they dared to stay near the landlord.
Chu Buwen opened a can of chicken stewed with mushrooms. Although it was not heated, the unique aroma of mushrooms still wafted out.
Jiang Muyun handed a pair of chopsticks to Chu Buwen, and then took a piece of chicken from it.
"Although I don't like the taste of mushrooms, the aroma of shiitake mushrooms is still acceptable." Jiang Muyun commented.
In their previous lives, the mushrooms they ate were all mutants of the higher-yielding oyster mushrooms and straw mushrooms. They could fill their stomachs, but the taste... wasn't anything special.
Chu Buwen picked up a piece of shiitake mushroom and said, "The boss has really made a fortune. The taste is different. In the past, if I had a piece of shiitake mushroom, I would hold it and smell it for a whole day, and then put it in the pot and cook it until it melted before I was willing to eat it."
In the past, there wasn't much wood available for growing mushrooms. Most of the wood was used to grow high-yielding mutant mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms and straw mushrooms to feed people. Mushrooms like shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, which didn't have high yields, had to be left for later.
For people like Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen who have no fixed place to live and can't save any money, mushrooms are a luxury item, so they have to cherish them when eating them.
Jiang Muyun snorted and laughed, "Of course. Now I can open a can of chicken stewed with mushrooms and smell the mushrooms without eating the chicken. I don't feel bad at all. How arrogant."
Chu Buwen expressed his respect: "Will you come back with me to make a fortune? I still have some skills left in the western suburbs."
Jiang Muyun didn't have any secret warehouse, but Chu Buwen didn't know about it. He would think it was normal for Jiang Muyun to have a place to hide supplies like him.
Jiang Muyun thought about the arsenal in Nanshan and said, "Let's wait and see. At least until the water recedes. Otherwise, you won't be afraid that once the door is opened, your 'abilities' will be flooded."
Before the two of them agreed on when to return to South City, the rope tied to the top of the mountain was pulled and the metal sheets began to clink.
It was Yamashita who was reminding them that the people who went out to retrieve supplies had returned.
The two of them put the used chopsticks into a plastic bag, wrapped them up, stood up, dusted off the dirt, and headed down the mountain. Jiang Muyun sighed swayingly, "It would be best if we could get some tables, chairs, and benches back in a few days. Sitting on the floor like this all the time isn't a good idea."
They originally had those camping tables and chairs, but they didn't bring them with them when they fled to the western suburbs. Now they wear dirty gray clothes when they work during the day, and clean up before sleeping at night.
Chu Buwen thought more: "Should we find some more electrical appliances? I think solar power generation is quite efficient nowadays. If we can get some usable electrical appliances back, life will be much more convenient."
Nowadays, many electrical appliances, especially digital products such as mobile phones, are waterproof. If there is outer packaging to block the water pressure, they may still be usable.
If there is still plastic wrap on the outer packaging, there is a greater chance that the appliance inside is intact.
Jiang Muyun calculated the time: "Didn't we plan to go to the Comprehensive Plaza in four days? There should be a lot of things to find there."
According to their schedule, everyone stayed behind exactly once in four days and searched for supplies three times.
Moreover, there was a week between the time the tsunami hit and four days later, by which time those with minor injuries would have almost recovered. There would surely be more and more people outside, and if anyone wanted to salvage a large amount of food, they would risk being robbed.
The Comprehensive Plaza is the largest shopping mall in Yi City, but it is not the most prosperous place. There is only one chain supermarket that has been cooperating with the Comprehensive Plaza.
If people who are short of food and clothing after the end of the world want to collect food, the comprehensive plaza will definitely not be their first choice.
But they want something a little bit mixed, and the comprehensive plaza is perfect for them.
There are only brand name stores there, so the product packaging is definitely better, the possibility of finding intact items is greater, and there are not many people.
As Jiang Muyun walked, she added several more items to her list of groceries, which frightened Chu Buwen, who was afraid that she would fall down the mountain.
Jiang Muyun finished writing in his notebook and stuffed the things into his pocket. He looked at Chu Buwen who was standing in front of him and said with a smile: "I didn't fall when I was chased down the mountain by a mutant bird before. Are you worried that I might miss a step now?"
Chu Buwen was helpless: "This kind of thing will make you worried just by looking at it, right?"
Jiang Muyun took two steps at a time and jumped down a few times: "Look at how worried you are every day. Am I the kind of person who doesn't care about his life?"
Chu Buwen also jumped next to her: "Okay, then don't let me watch, otherwise I can't help it. I'll walk side by side with you."
The two arrived at their temporary dock, but saw that no one had any intention of starting the moving work. Instead, they gathered together to study something.
Jiang Muyun leaned over to take a look: "What are you doing?"
Qin Shiwudao: "I found the bell and pulley device."
Wu Xingyue's eyes sparkled. "I found the pulley! It looks like it's from a crane. I got all the parts around it back!"
None of them had ever seen what the pulley on a crane looked like, but the one Wu Xingyue brought back looked indeed strong and durable, a pile of heavy metal parts.
Jiang Muyun suspected that they had gone to some construction site.
The pulley set that Wu Xingyue brought back didn't look like an ordinary one for household use.
The bells Qin Shiwu brought back were even more outrageous. One was a large bell the size of a washbasin with a metal hammer-shaped spring in the middle.
There were also some small round bells, which Jiang Muyun thought looked like they had been taken from pet collars.
Qin Shiwen proved that Jiang Muyun's guess was correct. When Qin Shiwu fished them out, they were indeed connected with the leather rings.
Jiang Muyun had actually made a few small pulley systems in her previous life. She flipped through the parts Wu Xingyue had brought back and said, "It feels quite complete. I can build at least one complete pulley system."
Wu Xingyue said that she had retrieved all the surrounding parts. Jiang Muyun felt that this statement was not only genuine, but also somewhat modest.
She brought back more than just spare parts; she also brought back six pulleys of various sizes.
Not only is it complete, but it's also a semi-finished product, with the base used to fix the fixed pulley still there. Although the base is a little crooked, it can be used with a hammer and it is not a problem at all.
Zhou Ying also brought back a bunch of big iron nails. She said that these were mountain nails used to nail rocks. She could just go up the mountain and find a big rock and use it to nail the pulley base.
If she didn't know that Wu Xingyue and Zhou Ying were not very strong, she would have suspected that the two of them had directly taken a set down from somewhere.
As for the rope connecting the pulley, there is no need to worry about it. They had previously obtained a lot of military parachute ropes in Nanshi. The quality is higher than the eleven-core 750 parachute ropes sold on the market. It is a piece of cake to transport such a small amount of supplies with just a pulley.
The pulleys have been brought back, so there is no reason for several people to carry the supplies up the mountain.
Junior high school students can do this simple physics experiment, so everyone simply divided into two groups, first found a good position, and put together the pulley device.
The only difficulty is that you have to nail the iron nails into the stones, and the stones on the mountain must not be small, otherwise they cannot bear the weight.
It is extremely easy to find a huge rock buried in the mountainside on such a barren mountain that may not fall down even if a landslide occurs. They don’t need to go anywhere else, the one protruding from the living room door is it.
Jiang Muyun dug for a long time and finally confirmed that the stone was at least half the size of the cave and could fully support it, so he directly decided on the location for the installation of the fixed pulley.
The lower end was not too difficult, and if it didn't work, they could manually apply pressure to it, so several people chose an area that was within the range that could be moved by manpower.
In this way, if the water recedes in the future, they can still move the position of the pulley underneath.
If they hadn't used it for a long time, it would be convenient for them to hide the pulleys. This would prevent someone from discovering that there were people on the mountain and that they seemed to be living well, and then come back with some bad intentions.
A few people arrived at the small pier at around five o'clock, and the pulley system could officially start working before seven o'clock.
Technology has changed our lives. Things that used to require four or five trips back and forth can now be pulled up in just over ten minutes.
Wu Xingyue was so excited that she jumped up on the spot and made a bold statement that she could catch three tons of grain the next day.
Those who went out today learned from the lesson of Jiang Muyun and others yesterday. They did not run thousands of miles to a place where they didn’t know if it was a supermarket. Instead, they just found a residential area to go swimming, and the harvest was quite good.
Tomorrow they can try to collect supplies in a closer place, and some urgently needed items, such as buckets for transporting water, can also be found in advance.
If the boat can’t fit it, the worst that can happen is we’ll have to make a few more trips.
Anyway, with the pulley device, there is no need to worry about not being able to transport it up the mountain.
For this purpose, Jiang Muyun and others set their sights on an ancient town scenic area closest to them.
That scenic spot is called an ancient town, but it is actually a commercial street.
The original residents of the ancient town have moved to resettlement houses outside the town. Apart from bars and B&Bs, there are some shops selling small commodities and extremely expensive snacks.
The tourist map shows that this scenic area has two community chain supermarkets and several national chain convenience stores.
If you want to search for food here, you can only go to the residential area outside the ancient town. The efficiency is definitely not as high as in the city, but the possibility of finding miscellaneous items is much higher than in the city.
There are no high-rise buildings here, and not many houses have collapsed, so relatively few daily necessities have been damaged. You can also find some commercial stainless steel thermos barrels and other items.
Using this large stainless steel thermos bucket to transport and store water is much more convenient than using a plastic bucket.
Of course, before setting off the next day, they had to install the early warning device first.
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