Chapter 2 The First Lesson That Will Never Be Forgotten
The original owner went out to collect waste early this morning with a scavenging team. Luckily, he dug up a moderately irradiated edible yam weighing over 50 kilograms.
She originally planned to sneak back, but halfway there, she was ambushed by an old woman following behind her.
She was the old woman who had died in the mouth of the mutated squirrel. Because her hair was all white and she walked unsteadily, looking like she might collapse at any moment, the original owner of this body was not on guard against her, and as a result, she was ambushed by her.
Now that she's transmigrated, it's like she's been given her first unforgettable lesson!
From now on, we must be extremely vigilant and always be alert to anyone, any animal or plant, that gets close to her.
After sorting out his thoughts, Zuo Shan quietly returned along the same route.
The mutated squirrel had long since devoured the old woman and left, leaving behind only two tattered hemp sacks. One of them was bulging and must have been the original owner's scavenging bag.
Zuo Shan leaned over, opened the bag, and sure enough, there was a brown plant root that was more than a foot in diameter and more than a meter long. This should be the mutated yam.
The mutant squirrels only know how to hoard dried fruit. They would never bother with yams like these, which are covered in mud and difficult to preserve, unless they were starving. Otherwise, why would they leave them there waiting for her to come back and pick them up?
Next to the bag, there were old hoes scattered on the ground, and an old inspection cutter with all the silver paint on its surface peeled off.
This type of knife, often called a cutting knife, is semi-mechanized and shaped somewhat like large scissors.
Simply open the blade, align it with the part you want to cut, and gently press the red button on the handle to effortlessly cut off a branch as thick as a bowl.
It can also automatically detect the radiation level of food and then automatically announce the result via voice.
If it's highly irradiated, then of course you can't eat it. Eating too much of it can cause hair loss, rashes all over the body, and then cancer and death.
These are all bloody lessons learned at the cost of countless lives.
Moderately irradiated plants and animals can be consumed in small quantities, but eating too much will still affect lifespan. However, the scavengers in District 50 mainly rely on moderately irradiated food for their diet.
Occasionally, someone might be lucky enough to obtain food with low levels of radiation, but they would definitely exchange it for silver coins; who would be willing to eat it?
After all, besides filling their stomachs, they also need to buy daily necessities. In any case, the scavengers in District 50 can't eat low-radiation food every day, so they just have to make do with medium-radiation food to stay alive.
A cutting knife is the best tool for scavenging and gathering; you should never lose it.
Zuo Shan put all the tools into the bag and then went to search for the bag left behind by that wicked old woman.
Apart from a worn-out cutting knife whose display screen was barely visible, there was only a small digging shovel with a broken handle, which was used to dig up the roots and stems of small mutant plants, making it easier than using a large shovel.
This old woman probably can't even lift a big shovel anymore, yet she still managed to knock the original owner out with a single blow. She must have used every ounce of strength she had.
Inside the old woman's tattered burlap sack was a bunch of large, thick, succulent-like leaves. These were the most common mutated weeds, bitter and astringent, extremely unpalatable, and not very filling. After eating a few pounds, your stomach would rumble with hunger a few hours later.
Zuo Shan took the cutting blade and tested each plant one by one. The piercing machine beeped repeatedly, saying, "Beep! Highly radioactive plant, not edible, please discard immediately!"
Zuo Shan cursed under her breath, "What bad luck!" No wonder that wicked old woman hit her on the head with a stick. It turned out that she couldn't find anything to eat today and was probably planning to eat some highly radioactive food to end her miserable life.
As a result, he accidentally peeked into the original owner's bag and found it to be quite heavy. Looking at the shape of the bag, it looked a bit like a mutated yam or a mutated potato, so he followed behind her with malicious intentions.
Even though the wasteland residents have large appetites, these fifty-odd kilograms of starchy yams can last for ten days. If they are mixed with wild vegetable leaves, they can last for one or two months.
A person who is so hungry that they want to commit suicide, but suddenly sees a glimmer of hope for survival, will definitely take the risk.
However, she was ruthless and had even worse luck. After harming the original owner, she didn't even have time to enjoy the fruits of her labor before being targeted by a mutated squirrel.
Zuo Shan packed up the tattered sack, worried that she might encounter other people who coveted her large yams.
After thinking it over, I took out a cutting knife and cut the yam into dozens of pieces. I also picked a bunch of wild vegetable leaves and put them all into two bags, regardless of whether they were edible.
Then, the chopped yam pieces were mixed with thick, large grass leaves, and the bag was not even tied tightly. It was just dragged loosely home.
When she encountered other people on the road, they saw that she was dragging two bags of wild grass leaves, all of which were the worst kind of grass. They all cast disdainful glances at her and hurried away without even bothering to look at her again.
In District 50, no one has extra time to waste. If you're not diligent, you'll go hungry. The hungrier you are, the weaker you become, and eventually, the harsh weather will take your life.
This time, he finally arrived home safely. Zuo Shan unlocked the door with his fingerprint, locked the door, and immediately collapsed to the ground.
We're safe now!
Having never lacked food or clothing since childhood, this was the first time in her life that she was willing to risk her life just to get something to eat!
The journey back was no less dangerous than an underground party member crossing a blockade. She was terrified of revealing even the slightest flaw, lest her belongings be stolen and she be ambushed. It was incredibly perilous!
After catching her breath, Zuo Shan carefully examined the house. Although the original owner's memories of it were very clear, the actual visit still made her want to cry.
When she first learned the phrase "a family with nothing but bare walls," she thought it was an exaggeration. After all, although she was born in a remote rural area, she had never seen a family so poor that they had nothing at all.
There was no bed, no cupboards or wardrobes, only a stone stove, a pot of some unknown metal that had turned a yellowish-brown color, two broken plastic bowls, two wicker baskets, and a pile of tools that were so old they were about to fall apart.
In her memory, the basket originally contained two sets of tattered clothes belonging to the original owner and Qi Yang. Now that Qi Yang is gone, the original owner forced him to pack up all his clothes and take them with him when he first came back to see her.
In the wasteland, winter clothes are also very precious. Her and Qi Yang's winter clothes were made from the rotten hides of small mutated animals that they had collected for a long time, and were pieced together with the fibers of the red leaf vines they had pulled out.
It wasn't that she disliked Qi Yang's worn-out leather jacket; she was just afraid that Qi Yang's new wife would cause her trouble because of it in the future.
After all, Lin Dandan could easily find out about her relationship with Qi Yang with just a little inquiry if she wanted to.
She didn't want to be cheated on and then have her ex's current boyfriend come looking for her.
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