Chapter 77 Sandstorm [VIP]
After obtaining a large amount of supplies from the black market, Tang Tian stayed at home for a while.
Every day I exercise, train my mental strength, study, and figure out the system as usual.
Wei Mingxia is about to harvest a hundred kilograms of cactus with her wood-attribute ability.
Unfortunately, the shelter doesn't accept cacti. After the gerbils took advantage of the situation, the authorities raised the conditions further, obviously not wanting anyone to take advantage of them anymore, so the Tang family had no choice but to give up.
The official radio station also frequently issued several new messages:
First, thanks to cacti and gerbils, everyone in the shelter finally no longer had to go hungry, and now had two meals a day.
Of course, if you get it for free, it is still the lowest level. Only by working hard can you eat better.
The water purification plant is also operating in an orderly manner, and the rules are the same.
Humans have a strong ability to adapt and have gradually adapted to the wind and sand.
A factory has also been opened inside the shelter. Once the materials are delivered, they are used to make items such as masks, goggles, towels and filters. Many jobs have also been opened.
The medical station finally recovered from the collapse. Although manpower and supplies were still in short supply, it was much better than at the beginning.
In addition, District S has officially negotiated with neighboring areas to build a northern base, and construction is currently being accelerated.
There are no air-raid shelters in the areas north of Chuncheng, but there are many subway stations that can be used as underground areas.
However, as construction is being carried out in several areas at the same time, manpower is becoming increasingly scarce.
So the authorities began to look for ways to get those people in the unofficial shelters to join in the construction of the shelter, and they also repeatedly promised to guarantee everyone's supplies and compensation.
Of course, this also includes the Tang family who are always away.
However, Tang Tian still wanted to wait and move there until the base was almost completed.
It is unknown when the sandstorm will stop, but as long as it does not stop, there will be no other natural disaster for the time being. She also believes in China's speed.
It was almost time for dinner, so Tang Tian made some more system-based supernatural delicacies this time.
A flat wooden basin was placed on the dining table. When the lid was opened, hot steam rose up, bringing with it a rich aroma of rice mixed with a hint of fragrance.
Mixed among the crystal clear rice grains are golden petals that resemble flower petals. Judging from their appearance, they should be chrysanthemum petals.
This dish is called "Golden Rice." Tang Yi has made videos recreating ancient delicacies and knew it was a dish from an ancient cookbook.
But they are not here to try it, but for the special power that this dish brings - clairvoyance!
This ability sounds like an amazing one, and Tang Tian is looking forward to what it would feel like to use it.
There's also the magnetic garlic butter chicken, which allows you to manipulate magnetic fields, and the earth-sensing curry pork chop rice, which can sense the underground. Even for dessert, there's the lemon baba rua, which can be used to throw balls.
Although he learned so many new abilities in one go, the food he made was delicious. After Tang Tian finished eating, she leaned back in her chair and touched her belly, not wanting to move at all.
Checking the power column, she first released the power of clairvoyance.
In the blink of an eye, her pupils turned golden, looking a little weird.
But the scene before her was not just the scene in front of her, but she was directly outside!
There was still yellow sand everywhere outside, and the roads and buildings were covered with dust. Occasionally, you could see teams, vehicles, etc.
Tang Tian leaned deeper again and could see the gate of the shelter in the distance. It was also covered with sand and dust. Sometimes he could see people coming and going at the door.
But she couldn't see any deeper, and she also felt a slight headache. She quickly withdrew her supernatural power, and her eyes recovered. She picked up a few pieces of cold cactus from the bowl and ate them.
This clairvoyance ability is similar to the earth perception ability and can be used for early detection. Just like the spatial ability, it requires a lot of mental energy.
…
After enjoying a good meal, Tang Tian opened the system again.
But this time, she opened the food store that came with the system.
Every time she went online to collect ingredients, Tang Tian would make a batch of dishes and sell them. Basically, by the time she went online again, all the dishes would be sold out.
It had been a long time since she had gone out to look for valuables. Before leaving, she had asked Tang Nan to help her in the black market, but there was still no news. She could only earn gold coins by making and selling delicious food.
Fortunately, among all the SR-level dishes, she also made SSR-level ingredients if she had the ingredients, which can be sold at a higher price.
Earning gold coins in a gourmet restaurant is a long-term process. As long as you don't spend the gold coins and keep saving them, you can save a certain amount.
It seems like it’s time to go look for valuables on my own. After all, it’s quick and fun to make money by spending real money.
After expressing her thoughts, Tang Yi immediately decided to go together, while Wei Mingxia and Tan Tan continued to stay at home.
After so many outings, the two have become proficient. In fact, except for the clothes on the body, almost everything else can be straightened, which is very convenient.
"The dust is thicker today, but it can also help to train your mental strength."
Tang Yi suggested that it was actually her own mental strength that was always a bit low, and she had to work harder to catch up.
Tang Tian nodded, and went out to clean the yard again.
After the two stepped on it, they could start moving using their special powers, and there was still a distance from the ground, which was equivalent to being half suspended in the air!
Today's visibility seems to be less than one meter. Just looking at it makes me feel like my mouth and nose are completely buried, making it difficult to breathe.
Fortunately, when stocking up, Tang Tian saw the breathing filters and arranged a batch of them, which have not been used up until now.
The two quickly left Jiangnan Liyuan and continued to explore endlessly in a farther direction.
"Quick, go get the outdoor first aid kit, are people okay?"
"Captain, ten out of fifteen people are injured. We must continue to rest!"
"Cover all the windows to prevent the wind and sand from blowing in. Block the car as well. Everyone, take a break!"
In a spacious abandoned building, the ground was already covered with thick sand and dust.
After hearing the order, the team members in uniform immediately began to move in unison.
Someone drove a van in and blocked most of the windows; some people tried to block other windows, while others carried the wounded and took out first aid kits from their backpacks to provide simple treatment.
Shen Boyun looked around at all this, his heart growing heavier. He hunched his waist slightly like a shrimp, looking a little listless.
This was a makeshift escort team that was ordered to go to the shelter in the next district and escort back a truck of precious supplies.
This was something that District S had to exchange for other materials, and the other party agreed to after a long negotiation.
Shen Boyun's performance in the armed team has always been good, and his superiors have noticed it. So the captain of the escort team this time fell on his shoulders.
Originally, Cheng Jing also wanted to recommend himself, but in the end he gave up because he had his own mission.
However, on the agreed day, although the wind was not strong, the visibility was probably even lower and the dust was thicker.
They had no choice but to go ahead, but when they came back, they were attacked by external forces. After they finally resolved the issue, they were taken advantage of by the gerbils again.
Even though these mutant creatures have been regarded as food by humans, if they really unite to attack, they will be difficult to resist for a while.
But fortunately, these creatures still retain some weaknesses of pre-apocalyptic animals, such as fear of fire and other things.
Finally, Shen Boyun led the team to control the gerbil group, but most of the team members were injured and had to suspend the journey.
“Captain Shen, come and see!”
A member holding a thermal imager shouted loudly.
Shen Boyun looked solemn and asked:
"Why, have you discovered another group of gerbils?"
During these days of fighting with humans, gerbils have also become smarter. When they sense danger, they burrow directly into the ground, and then come out to attack when people let down their guard.
There have never been incidents of large numbers of gerbils attacking humans before. Now, I don’t know whether it is because humans catch too many gerbils or because it is becoming difficult for gerbils to find food, so they have set their sights on humans.
In addition, the mountains and plains were covered with sand and dust, so they had to use other instruments as well, which was better than nothing.
"Not a gerbil colony, but..."
The member seemed to be hesitant to speak and handed the instrument to him.
Shen Boyun took it and looked at it in confusion, only to find that there were actually two human figures in the picture.
But those two human figures could move on the ground without moving their legs, and at a very fast speed!
Even Shen Boyun, who was always calm, couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat when he saw this scene.
Could it be that another mutant creature besides the gerbil has appeared? And it's in human form?!
"Captain, gerbils are afraid of noise. Although we don't know what these are, should we try to scare them away first?" asked the team member.
Shen Boyun nodded and agreed to the suggestion.
And if they were real people, how could there be a team of only two people who dared to go out now?
The team member immediately took out a few loudspeakers, turned them on in that direction, and played various single noises.
Just a few minutes later, the two figures in the thermal image actually moved closer and asked through the loudspeaker:
"Is anyone there?——"
It sounded like a normal human voice, and... it sounded familiar.
Shen Boyun gestured to have the speaker turned off, which made the sound clearer and also made him startle.
He hurried to the gate.
Two figures could be vaguely seen stopping in the dust. In fact, both parties had their faces covered tightly at this moment, but Shen Boyun seemed to know who the person was at a glance.
"...Tang Tian, is that you?"
He asked loudly, and there was a slight vibration at the tail that was covered by the wind.
The man didn't answer, but just walked forward silently. Shen Boyun subconsciously touched the pistol on his waist.
It wasn't until they were quite close that the other party asked:
“Shen Boyun?”
"It's me!"
Shen Boyun didn't notice, but he did unconsciously move forward and get closer.
For some reason, my face under the helmet felt hot as if the blood was rushing up, perhaps because I was a little excited.
Maybe it was because he hadn't seen Tang Tian since leaving Hexinyuan.
However, everyone around him had actually seen the latter, and he could even hear various anecdotes about her from them, and then connect them into stories himself.
He didn't know why he was so excited, but seeing Tang Tian, he felt a surge of joy for no apparent reason. This kind of joy was rare in the apocalypse.
Tang Yi's eyes squinted under the goggles.
This is a bit obvious.
She could indeed notice something unusual, but unfortunately she didn't dare to assert that Tang Tian could also notice it.
Her silly sister has always loved eating, and her Engel coefficient is always full.
She did have suitors in college, but in her eyes, nothing was more tempting than lychee ice milk, sour cream mousse, braised pork ribs and braised pig's trotters.
It's the end of the world now, and she probably doesn't think about anything else except eating, drinking and having fun.
Tang Yi still chose to remain silent.
…
Tang Tian didn't notice anything, so she just asked again:
"My sister and I just passed by here, what's wrong with you?"
As they passed by, they heard a lot of noise coming from that direction and realized that it was not an outside force that was robbing and pillaging.
Otherwise, if they saw there were only two of them, they would have ambushed and rushed over. Why would they do this?
So the two sisters concluded that this was most likely an official team.
When I got closer, I found that it was actually an abandoned building with a van parked at the door. It didn't look like the behavior of those external forces, so I dared to go forward.
After all, Tang Tian would not miss any opportunity to deal with the officials and gain their favor.
But she didn't expect that when she saw Shen Boyun here, she had the illusion that she was in another world.
Since they were members of the Tang family, Shen Boyun was not surprised by what he had just seen on the thermal imager.
Perhaps because they often go out and find some new equipment to use, they are always well prepared.
So he hurriedly explained the cause and effect and led the two into the abandoned building.
Seeing that he seemed to be an acquaintance of Shen Boyun, the team members naturally did not say anything and continued to do their own work.
One of the team members came forward and spoke urgently:
"Captain Shen, one of our team members' wounds can't stop bleeding!"
Tang Tian and Tang Yi followed Shen Boyun to check. There was tarpaulin there to simply set up a small tent for the wounded, trying to isolate them from the sand and dust.
With items like helmets and goggles removed, it's easy to see the face.
When Tang Tian saw clearly, her face changed.
That member turned out to be Gu Bin!
Gu Bin had been following around when supplies were distributed to external personnel before. It was originally a kind of escort, and this time the task just happened to be his turn.
Who would have thought that they were attacked by a group of gerbils on the way. The largest of them, the king gerbil, had a body as big as a large dog, with a mouthful of extremely hard teeth that could easily bite off human bones and even take away a large piece of meat.
The Tang family had caught and studied gerbils before. They found that gerbils of the same size had teeth as hard as steel, which was why they needed construction metal to sharpen them. They could also bite people without making a sound.
Gu Bin closed his eyes tightly and looked pale, probably because of excessive blood loss.
Tang Tian took out gauze from her backpack and seemed to be bandaging something, but she was actually secretly using her healing ability.
If you don't want others to see your supernatural powers, you can make them invisible and colorless, which is very convenient.
Of course, we can't do too much. Tang Tian didn't cure it all, but after bandaging it, he said:
"It seems the bone is broken. I need to go back to the medical station to set it."
The team member who had helped with the outdoor first aid kit was surprised to see that the bleeding had miraculously stopped.
But when he saw the thick gauze wrapped around his leg, he didn't think much about it and just expressed his gratitude.
Tang Yi also went to help treat other injured team members, using some of her special abilities to a greater or lesser extent, which did not require much of their mental energy.
Shen Boyun nodded:
"We were on our way back because the situation was really bad, so we were planning to rest first. Meeting you guys was a real help!"
Every outing in the apocalypse is full of unknowns and uncertainties, especially in a sandstorm where it is easy to lose your way, and it is also more likely to fail or even lose your life.
But if we don't go out, we will have no chance of survival. Not to mention that this is an official order, it will also be beneficial to the future of the shelter.
…
Tang Tian shook her head:
"No problem, you're welcome. My sister and I also want to take a break."
This is true. They have already passed several large commercial plazas while driving.
But after entering, I found almost nothing, and occasionally I would find some jewelry in the corner that had not been taken away.
Nowadays, such valuable items are becoming increasingly rare to find outside unless someone intentionally preserves them.
However, it was still early, so they were not in a hurry to go back, and that’s when they met Shen Boyun and his group.
Tang Yi looked at the time and asked:
"We need to replenish our energy during the rest period, and it's also time for dinner. Why don't we fill our stomachs first?"
Shen Boyun immediately agreed:
"Sure. We all brought some dry food. Do you have any? If it's not enough, we have some here."
Now even the few team members sitting nearby had some strange looks in their eyes.
The captain is acting like this... seems like he's trying to be courteous?
Even if they are acquaintances, how can you just give away the food you brought with you?
Tang Tian cleared her throat and declined:
"No, we brought food."
Shen Boyun realized that he was indeed asking for trouble. The Tang family was well-equipped, so they must have brought enough for their outing. He felt a slight burning sensation on his cheeks, and his earlobes turned red like small tomatoes.
The escort team's dry rations were still mainly compressed biscuits as the staple food, the meat was processed dried gerbils, the vegetables were cacti, and the drinking water was purified water mixed with cactus juice to supplement the sugar.
In the end times, this set can be said to be an excellent meal with both meat and vegetables.
Tang Tian and Tang Yi wanted to eat more conveniently, so they took out the multi-grain pancakes they made at home, spread homemade chili sauce on them, and put various pickled vegetables and dried meat in them.
Wrap it tightly and take a big bite, your mouth will be filled up, feeling full and satisfying, with rich flavor.
I made this when I was free at home, specifically for when I go out to eat. After all, I can't eat too normally when I'm out.
Those are mainly simple foods, such as steamed buns, dumplings, sesame cakes, and flower rolls.
Of course, there are also rice balls, steamed dumplings, pot cakes, roujiamo, etc. with fillings, which can be taken out and eaten when there is no one around.
But if you want to eat better, you need to make a fire and you can make more food.
In short, even when Tang Tian is outside, she will not let her mouth and stomach suffer and must be satisfied.
When others saw the two sisters eating, the food in their hands immediately lost its flavor.
Although there is no shortage of food in the shelter at present, it is still impossible to eat the same thing every day. Even the reward for the guard this time is mostly the same food, and other foods can only be seen occasionally.
Furthermore, with the opening of factories in the shelter, one factory specializes in making compressed biscuits using grain. These are both filling and have a long shelf life.
It can be said that what people eat most nowadays are compressed biscuits with bland taste.
Shen Boyun didn't care. He just ate while unable to help looking at Tang Tian, as if it could go along with his meal.
Gu Bin slowly woke up and was naturally surprised to see Tang Tian and Tang Yi. After hearing that they had saved him, he was even more grateful.
Tang Tian pushed him a few times and told him to eat quickly to restore his strength, as they still had a long way to go before returning to the S Area Shelter.
…
Shen Boyun bit off a piece of gerbil meat fiercely, but felt that the meat was still hard to chew and the taste was just a monotonous salty one.
Seeing Tang Tian's cheeks puffed up like a hamster and almost finishing the big sandwich, he asked cautiously in a deep voice:
"Tang Tian, why... don't you want to come to the shelter? It's not that you have to come, but..."
Shen Boyun felt that he couldn't explain it well, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
His hair has grown longer, but it is still longer than his ears.
Perhaps deep down in his heart, he was still thinking about Tang Tian coming to the shelter as well. It would be even better if they could work together.
Tang Tian wiped his mouth and simply repeated what he had previously told Yang Gan and others.
Anyway, no one can really force her to go now, and Shen Boyun is not such a person - even if she is really forced, she has the strength to resist.
Shen Boyun didn't say anything after listening to it, but his expression seemed to show a little disagreement, but more of it seemed to be...disappointment, even his thick eyebrows drooped slightly.
In Tang Yi's eyes, he looked like a large dog that had suffered a little injustice.
Looking at Tang Tian again, she was finishing the last pancake and was still eating it with gusto.
Shaking her head helplessly, she lowered her head and took the last few bites.
"So you are Tang Tian?"
The team member sitting closest to him, who seemed to be a vice-captain, was probably one of the most prestigious figures in the shelter. He smiled faintly and said:
"We've heard of you for a long time, but we've never seen you in person. I heard you donated a lot of food like pickled vegetables and dried meat. Many of us have tried it, and it tastes delicious. That's what kept us going back then!"
At that time, food was scarce, and having some pickled vegetables and dried meat was like a divine experience.
Even though there is no shortage of food to fill their stomachs now, they still miss the taste of that time.
Speaking of dried meat, Shen Boyun also remembered it.
He had tasted the dried meat that Tang Tian had given him a long time ago, and he remembered the taste very clearly. He always felt that it had a unique flavor.
So when the official gave it to him as a reward, he felt the taste was familiar.
Later he heard that the dried meat was voluntarily exchanged by some citizens for supplies. At that time, he wondered if it was Tang Tian, but he never confirmed it.
Tang Tian responded with a smile and didn't say much.
The government has no shortage of supplies recently, and I haven't proposed an exchange for a long time. I'm afraid I'll have to wait for this opportunity, or I may never be able to get it.
But judging by the current situation, this is actually a good sign - it proves that the shelter has become self-sufficient and that everyone has food to eat.
After eating and resting, the rest is complete.
Those with leg injuries could not walk and had to get on the bus. Those with upper body injuries still chose to get off the ground and walk with the vehicle.
Even during the rest period, team members take turns guarding the vehicle to prevent any mistakes.
After confirming to set off, the driving team member got in the car first, and the rest of the team members packed their luggage. Tang Tian and Tang Yi also packed their luggage in a proper manner.
However, at this moment, Tang Tian noticed that the stairwell was shaking slightly.
This is the same situation as when I was in the abandoned building!
Tang Tian's face darkened instantly and she shouted:
"Oh no, hurry up! There's a swarm of gerbils!"
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