"You've worked hard searching for supplies. Take a break when you're tired, and don't skimp on food and drink," Cai Si instructed Liang Ping.
"I understand. Don't rush on your way. If you encounter a robbery, even if you don't take the stuff, you still need to protect yourself."
The women in each household packed their men's belongings while nagging them to be careful. Xu Lin and Zhou Pin carried their share to the vacant apartment building.
On the surface, the two appeared to be transporting supplies, but in reality, as soon as they were out of sight, Xu Lin put the items into her spatial storage. Then, the two would wander around the area to see if there were any suitable supplies to collect.
In this way, the two of them explored all the places in the vicinity that most people would not go, and collected quite a few good things.
"Dinner's ready!"
Everyone was busy distributing the food, while the restless Grandma Ji and Grandma Wu took over the kitchen to prepare everyone's dinner. Luckily, this was a Chinese restaurant, so they had rice, noodles, oil, and gas, meaning everyone could have a hot meal for the next couple of days.
Since all the vegetables in the kitchen had rotted, they could only steam buns and rice. They scooped out two pieces of pickled vegetables from the pickle jar, and there were some pickled vegetables in the kimchi jar. They also found some snacks at their workstations in the office building. Everyone was extremely satisfied. Xiao Zhi was especially happy, jumping and skipping around. He was a far cry from the little tyrant he was before the apocalypse. The disaster had taught him to grow up.
After dinner, the men set off, while the others tidied up and stayed by the fire to keep warm. They were too tired from the day to chat and went to bed early.
Xu Lin and Zhou Pin didn't sleep. It would be better for one of them to keep watch while they stayed out overnight. They agreed that Zhou Pin would keep watch for the first half of the night, and Xu Lin would keep watch for the second half.
At 1 a.m., Xu Lin woke up and relieved Zhou Pin. Zhou Pin didn't argue with Xu Lin about this; both of them needed to conserve their energy for safety, and Xu Lin wasn't a caged canary.
At 5 a.m., Grandma Wu and Grandma Ji woke up and saw Xu Lin sitting there. They told her to go to sleep while they cooked.
At 5:30, everyone woke up one after another. They had porridge and pickled vegetables for breakfast, which was not bad. After breakfast, they were full of energy and ready to start work.
Today they were going to an office building next door. After everyone was assigned to different floors, they started searching for supplies. Xu Lin and Zhou Pin focused on collecting valuables from the boss's office, as the space hadn't been expanded in a long time.
After collecting supplies all morning, the group moved the items together, waiting for the men to come and transport them away that evening. They agreed that the men would transport the supplies once at night and rest at home during the day, thus avoiding being discovered and robbed while ensuring a continuous supply of goods could be transported back.
They worked like this for three days, and after collecting almost all the supplies in the vicinity, the group finished collecting the last batch, had dinner, and then set off to go home.
Everyone was in high spirits along the way. The trip was very fruitful, providing enough food for several months.
"The temperature is slowly rising, it's about -30°C now, which feels similar to when I went to Northeast China before."
"This trip was exhausting; I'll need to lie down for three days and three nights when I get home."
"We all need to take a good rest, we're too tired, but we still can't relax, we need to exercise, otherwise we won't be able to protect the grain."
Just as he finished speaking, the two dogs leading the way stopped and barked twice. A dozen or so men with knives emerged from the darkness.
"Leave the things and the woman; everyone else may leave."
"So what if I don't keep it?" Zheng Ming said slyly.
"If you don't stay, don't blame us for being impolite!" With that, several men rushed over with knives.
Xu Lin and the others put down their supplies and took out their weapons. Sun Wei was the first to strike, slashing the arm of the person charging at the front with one knife and the thigh with the other.
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