"Hey! Grandpa is back! What goodies did you bring back from the survival base this time?"
"Towels, soap, shampoo... brown sugar... hahaha, these are the most popular items in the shelter..."
"Huh?! There are actually three steel knives here! These knives are pretty good, they look pretty sharp!"
The things that Old Man Yan and Gugu brought back from the survival base were traded directly with the survivors in the shelter every time. Old Man Yan didn't worry that his things would be stolen by other people in the shelter. He would just throw the things into the cafeteria and spread them on the ground, and ask someone in the cafeteria to help watch over them. Then he would take the big owl for a stroll.
But today is the first day after all, and the old man still stood in front of his "stall" diligently, trading and shouting with the survivors, and talking about how difficult it was for him to brave the wind and snow this time.
Xia Runrun glanced at the people who were still bargaining, and walked towards the table with her short legs.
Xiaobai, 666, Egg Yolk and Big Black followed Xia Ruanruan closely.
This scene.
The many survivors watching the restaurant were filled with envy, wishing they could take their place. With so many mutant beasts, they could just give one to them! They were truly envious!
"Sigh... Old Seven, you said that life is different for people with mutant pets... We risk our lives outside every day, working ourselves to death, yet our lives aren't as comfortable as this old man and this kid. It's truly a waste of all our size."
A thin, muscular man with a shaved head rubbed his head with a sigh. "We're young and strong now, but we're already living like beggars. When we're older... how are we going to get through this?"
The thin man frowned and expressed his deepest concerns. In fact, this was also the deepest worry of all the survivors.
"It would be great if we could have a mutant animal... Then we could collect supplies in advance and store them. Maybe we could even get a spot in the survival base. Even when we are old, we can still spend our old age peacefully in the survival base." The bald and thin man looked in the direction of Xia Runrun and Old Man Yan and muttered again.
"Who doesn't think this way nowadays?... According to the standards in our shelter, on average, only 2 out of every 100 people own mutant animals... With this probability, we don't know when we will be able to have a mutant animal of our own." The middle-aged man next to him shook his head, unable to hide the depression in his heart.
If someone had told him three years ago that he would toss and turn for days at night because of a cat or a dog, he would have definitely called that person insane. But now, not only him, but even his once most fair and strict boss, yearns every day for the day when he can own a mutant beast.
"Hey, why don't Old Man Yan just live in the survival base? The environmental conditions there are so good, there is no need to worry about mutant beasts and ferocious beasts, it will be so safe for the elderly and children to live there... If I were him, I would have moved into the survival base a long time ago. How could I still stay in this shelter..." The middle-aged man clicked his tongue twice, not quite understanding Old Man Yan's choice.
If Old Man Yan is willing to join the survival base, the leader of the other party will definitely agree on the spot. The owl mutant beast can fly in the sky.
"If Old Man Yan lives in the survival base, do you think we can still trade other things for daily necessities like we do now?" The bald, thin young man glared at the middle-aged man. "Old Man Yan stayed here because he saw how hard the people in our shelter were suffering - out of righteousness!"
"Huh...? Look, look who those three people are. Is that guy your former company leader? Why is he going straight for the little girl?"
"Huh? Buy a cat?... Hey! As expected of someone who used to run a company, you have a quick mind. How come we never thought of buying a cat from that little girl before?"
"The girl is young, maybe she will agree." The bald and thin young man was chatting with his brother when he noticed a middle-aged couple with a little boy of eleven or twelve walking towards Xia Ruanruan. He could vaguely hear voices coming from the other side. He almost regretted it so much that his intestines turned green.
If he had known this would be possible, he would have brought the gift himself!
…
Xia Ruanruan was holding a small spoon in her hand, shaking her short legs and eating the food in the bowl slowly, spoonful by spoonful.
Today's meal was once again the prey Dahei had brought back from outside: a large pot of frog stew with a gray starchy root paste, considered one of the best meals in the shelter. However, after only a few bites, three shadows, two tall and one short, suddenly blocked the light in front of the little girl.
Xia Runrun blinked slowly, looked up, and saw a family of three, two adults and one child, appear in front of her.
This is a family of three who seem to be well off. They are wearing clean down jackets and holding about half a pound of candy and chocolate in their hands.
The woman first turned to Xia Ruanruan and said with a smile, "Xiao Xia, is it okay for Auntie to call you Xiao Xia? This is Auntie's brother, he is 12 years old this year... If you need anything in the future, Xiao Xia, you can ask your brother to take you out to play every day."
Xia Ruanruan: “……?”
There was a slightly confused expression on Xia Runrun's little face. She completely couldn't understand why the family of three in front of her were suddenly so enthusiastic.
Could it be that the fish soup from yesterday worked, and she came here today to thank her?
But this is taking too long, isn't it? Besides, it's just a bowl of fish soup, there's no need to bring so much candy and chocolate.
Before Xia Ruanruan could guess any further, the couple had already revealed the answer. The man placed the half-pound candy he was carrying on the dining table, pushed it forward, and handed it to the little girl, saying in a gentle tone, "Xiao Xia, uncle will just say what he wants to say... I'm not good at speaking, so I don't know how to say anything nice, but I heard that your parents seemed to have died in the mutant cat monster riot in the northwest district ten days ago? Now you're the only child left living alone in the shelter..."
"You are so young, it's not easy for you to live alone. If you don't mind, your uncle and aunt would like to adopt you as their goddaughter. What do you think?" The middle-aged man said earnestly, and it seemed that his voice was full of concern for the little girl.
"Yes, yes... From now on, let your uncle, aunt and brother love you, take care of you and help you wash clothes and cook for you like a real family, okay?" The woman echoed her husband with concern in her eyes.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Xia Runrun never expected that the couple in front of her would suddenly come up and give her such a big surprise.
Holy crap! These two actually want to be her parents?!
Xia Runrun, who already knew that her physical condition still only affected Maomao Runrun, didn't believe at all that the two people in front of her simply wanted to be her parents.
Besides, she was fine, so what would it matter if she suddenly had an extra pair of parents?
Xia Runrun didn't notice at all that Xiaobai's body was slightly stiff at this moment, and even his whiskers and tail were motionless.
"Thank you, uncle, aunt, and brother, for your concern...but I can't accept these candies."
The little girl tilted her head back, her dark grape-colored crystal eyes filled with seriousness as she spoke, "Although my parents are no longer in this world... I will only have them two in my life... and I'm living well on my own now, and I don't need anyone else to take care of me."
"This..." The woman looked at her husband with some embarrassment.
She didn't expect that the child was so young and had just suffered the blow of his parents' death, and was not moved at all by their proposal.
"Hey, Cao Feng, what's wrong with you and your wife? Why do you suddenly want to adopt Xiaoxia as your goddaughter?" Huang Haichao, who had just put down his bowl and chopsticks, heard the noise. He took two steps to the four people, frowned subconsciously, and looked at Cao Feng and his wife with great displeasure.
"Cao Feng...Aren't you two trying to take advantage of this little girl?"
"This child has four mutant beasts taking care of him and has enough food every day. He lives much better than ordinary survivors... Although you two are very capable on weekdays, you are still not as good as this child... Do you two want to take advantage of this child by adopting him as their godparent?" Huang Haichao's words were extremely impolite, and he almost pointed at the couple's noses and scolded them.
In fact, not to mention Huang Haichao, even the other people around him had this feeling in their hearts.
If this was before the virus outbreak, and the Cao couple were still the couple with a net worth of over 100 million, when they saw an orphan who had just lost her parents and wanted to adopt her as their daughter, others would naturally think that they were kind-hearted and good people.
But now the girl is obviously living better than you, but you act like you care about her and want to take care of her... Aren't you trying to take advantage of the girl?
"No, no, no, you misunderstood!"
The woman shook her head repeatedly, a trace of sadness in her eyes. "We didn't intend to take advantage of this child... It's just... There are some things I want to discuss with this child."
"What are you discussing?... Just say whatever you want to say. Why are you hesitating here?" Someone nearby couldn't stand it anymore and urged.
"We saw that this child has four mutant beasts, three of which are already adults and are fully capable of taking care of this child. So we wanted to discuss with this child whether we could transfer this underage mutant cat to Xiaoqing..."
"It will take at least several years for a young mutant beast to grow to adulthood... The child's mother and I don't want to take advantage of this child... So we thought of exchanging some supplies for it first, and then taking care of the child until he reaches adulthood."
"After all, the child is young, and it will not do without an adult to take care of him all the time. What's more, the child is so young, he can't be illiterate and not study, right? Our A Mei used to be a university teacher, so she is more than qualified to teach a child. Xiao Qing is not too old either, so he can be a playmate for this child." Cao Feng sighed, pointed at Xiaobai and directly expressed his thoughts.
In fact, they really didn't think of taking advantage of such a little kid.
But he was indeed attracted by the underage white mutant cat next to the child.
Getting a mutant animal to recognize its owner wasn't easy. Even with a cub and a minor, a 10% success rate was a blessing. He and his wife were so enthusiastic because they thought that since the cat didn't reject the child, as long as Xiaoqing played with the child, the cat would probably gradually accept Xiaoqing over time.
"Amei and I have stored a lot of military canned goods, food, medicine, weapons, etc., which can all be used for this exchange. As long as the child is willing, we can exchange directly according to the market price." Cao Feng looked down at Xia Runrun, waiting for her answer.
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