Chapter 5
I didn't feel anything while traveling, but once I settled in, my stomach was burning with pain.
It's no exaggeration to say that their chests were pressed against each other's backs.
Looking at the few kilograms of rice and two boxes of instant noodles left, Ye Qingyun wanted to give her two children a good meal, but she didn't know where the food would be for tomorrow, so she didn't dare to eat as much as she wanted.
With a determined look, Ye Qingyun took out the fanged rabbit's heart and declared, "Tonight, we'll use the fanged rabbit's heart to make porridge!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu jumped up and exclaimed, "Long live Mom!! I'll go fetch water right away!"
Having made up his mind, Ye Qingyun no longer felt the pinch and smiled, "Go quickly! Remember to bring back plenty of money. I'll burn some later so the whole family can take a bath."
When the family came up just now, they all saw the public shower room around the corner.
They had been staying at the base for several years, living in constant fear, and had never been able to take a proper bath. This was torture for Ye Qingyun, who loved cleanliness. Now that he finally had the chance to take a proper bath, how could Ye Qingyun let this opportunity pass?
Jiang Shu issued a military order: "Understood, Your Majesty!"
Ye Qingyun laughed and scolded, "You brat!"
After Jiang Shu left, Jiang Zhi said to Ye Qingyun, "Mom, I want to go to the base store."
Ye Qingyun felt it wasn't safe for Jiang Zhi, a girl, to go out at night and was about to refuse when Jiang Shan said, "Go ahead, and check out the prices at the base while you're at it."
When Ye Qingyun saw Jiang Shan speak, he stopped talking and simply reached out to his daughter.
Jiang Zhi feigned ignorance: "What?"
Ye Qingyun snorted: "Are you playing dumb with me? Hurry up and give me the testing equipment."
Jiang Zhi quickly covered her watch, saying, "I found this."
Ye Qingyun raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips: "You've always been a big spender since you were a child. You've never saved any money. If you manage the money, our whole family will starve!"
Jiang Zhi: "How about giving me 10 points as a reward?"
"Don't even think about it, all the points we find this time will be confiscated!" Ye Qingyun always had a firm word when it came to the steward.
Seeing that her mother was about to get angry if she continued talking, Jiangzhi had no choice but to obediently take off her watch and hand it over.
Ye Qingyun's expression softened slightly.
Unexpectedly, just as she was about to take it, Jiang Zhi pulled her hand back, saying, "Mom, you've worked too hard today. I'll keep it for you for another night and give it to you tomorrow!"
Jiang Zhi finished speaking quickly, slipped, and ran out.
Ye Qingyun called out "Hey—" and chased after her out the door, but Jiang Zhi had already dashed downstairs.
Ye Qingyun was both annoyed and amused.
"That brat!"
Jiang Shan laughed too, "Our girl is much more cunning than that silly boy."
Ye Qingyun complained, "It's all your fault for spoiling her too much. This brat must have underestimated the points on the detector, and now she's planning to sell them."
Jiang Shan: "It's good that you're a little cunning. You don't want both of our kids to be stupid, do you?"
Ye Qingyun couldn't help but laugh, thinking of how her silly son always got tricked by her daughter. "How can you talk about your own child like that? Be careful the trees don't protest."
"He dares!"
The couple joked around as they continued tidying up.
Jiang Zhi slowed down when she reached the first floor.
Ancheng Base is very large, but the residential buildings are very close together. There is a wire mesh that can be raised and lowered automatically around the outermost edge. Jiang Zhi guessed that the layout was designed to prevent attacks from mutated beasts in the air.
Residents occasionally hurried by on the road.
Jiangzhi arrived at the base store.
The shop floor is cement, and although it's a bit rough, it's been cleaned very thoroughly.
A large open space was left in front of the counter, and a few dim light bulbs hung from the ceiling, emitting a yellowish glow.
Jiang Zhi squinted, and it took her a while to make out the layout inside.
The store has several wooden counters arranged in an "L" shape against the wall, with various goods neatly displayed on them.
Along one wall was a row of tall shelves, piled high with a dazzling array of daily necessities, food, and agricultural supplies. In a corner, there was a special fabric counter, with rolls of fabric stacked up, mostly in dark gray, with only a few pieces that were quite bright, but the prices were also very attractive.
Behind the counter, there was a small storage room for goods. The door to the storage room was half-open, and you could see cardboard boxes and wooden crates piled up inside.
I glanced at the ginger branches; almost all of them were products of the Great Cataclysm. There were many varieties, but they were nothing like before, and the prices were different as well.
Especially everyday items from before the disaster, such as pots and pans, were sold at ridiculously high prices.
She approached the glass cabinet and saw that it contained the seed heads of some kind of plant, each about the size of a marble, arranged in a wooden box, making them particularly eye-catching.
This is... a foxtail tassel?
Seeing that Jiang Zhi was interested, the salesperson introduced, "This is a new mutated grain that we have grown at our base. It tastes similar to rice, but it is more filling. Two ounces is enough for an adult, and it only costs 15 points per pound."
Jiang Zhi's lips twitched.
if only……
A house only costs 10 points a day, and a pound of this dogtail tassel can only last for five days at most, one meal a day. How can an ordinary family afford it?
Seeing the ginger's disgusted expression, the salesperson said, "Our whole grain products are all grown on our own farm. They are a mixture of low-toxin and medium-toxin products, and they are very cost-effective."
"Although the proportion of low-toxin foods is very small, long-term consumption of small amounts of low-toxin foods can detoxify the body, and even improve physical condition. This is already considered a benefit that the base provides to ordinary people."
Jiang Zhi was somewhat surprised and pointed to the more than ten kinds of grains in the glass cabinet, saying, "Are these all grown by the base itself?"
She glanced at it; inside were mutated soybeans and buckwheat...
These are all common grains that were common before the Great Cataclysm. I didn't expect Ancheng Base to be so amazing as to be able to grow them.
Jiang Zhi couldn't help but take a serious look.
The prices of several agricultural products, except for the mutated sweet potato, are about the same. The mutated sweet potato weighs seven or eight pounds each and is more expensive.
One pound costs 30 points, which is almost a third of the price of meat, and the yield is not high. All grains are subject to purchase restrictions.
Salesperson: "That's right. Our base's grain research is the best among all the bases. If our Professor Chen says we're number one, no one dares to say we're number two. Although the yield isn't high now, we'll definitely be able to feed everyone in the future!"
Jiang Zhi disagreed.
Just listen to those kinds of words and forget about them.
In the post-apocalyptic world, the soil is radioactive, so even if crops can be grown, the yield is unlikely to be high.
Jiang Zhi was about to continue looking at the items in the glass display case when she heard her brother's loud, boisterous voice ring out in her ears:
"Ah Zhi! You actually abandoned me and came to the store to shop, that's too much!!"
Jiang Zhi paused, and sure enough, she saw Jiang Shu standing behind her, holding a red plastic bag, looking furious.
Jiangzhi: "If you don't fetch water honestly, Mom will beat you."
Jiang Shu huffed, "Don't think I don't know you're trying to sneakily buy something!"
“How could it be a secret purchase?” Jiang Zhi said matter-of-factly. “Ms. Ye said I found the detector and gave me a special reward of 10 points.”
Jiang Shu asked suspiciously, "When did Mom become so generous?"
“She’s always been very generous,” Jiang Zhi pushed the person aside, “Don’t block my way while I’m buying things.”
Jiang Shu immediately put on a smiling face, "Ah Zhi, look, wasn't I good to you before?"
Jiang Zhi knew exactly what he was up to.
She pretended not to hear it.
Next to the staple food, a glass cabinet displays mutated fruits and plants.
Almost all of them are moderately toxic, and they are not cheap. The most conspicuous one on the top is a mutated tomato.
Jiang Zhi's gaze sharpened; it was actually a low-level poison!
Let's look at the price...
Her brother was still nagging in her ear: "Azhi, I don't need much, 5 points is enough. You see, I always took the blame for you when you did something wrong before—what the heck! These tomatoes grew on gold coins? They actually cost 500 points each!"
Seeing Jiang Shu's country bumpkin appearance, the salesperson said speechlessly, "Young man, this is a low-toxicity food. This price is already a rock-bottom price. If it weren't for the recent good tomato production, we wouldn't have any left to buy."
As if to confirm her words, no sooner had the salesperson finished speaking than someone pointed to the tomato the size of a face plate and said, "Please wrap this up for me."
The sales clerk smiled and said, "Okay! I'll wrap it up for you right away."
Jiang Zhi and her brother watched in disbelief as the burly man, nearly two meters tall, left with the gift box.
The salesperson raised her chin at them and said, "See? I told you that low-toxin products are in high demand."
Jiang Shu clicked his tongue in surprise. There really were suckers willing to buy it?
However, that burly man looked different from ordinary people; he seemed to be incredibly strong in combat.
Jiang Shu leaned closer and whispered, "A-Zhi, that person isn't a mutant, is he?"
Jiang Zhi looked around and, seeing that everyone around her seemed to take it for granted, casually said, "Maybe."
Just then, someone rushed in from outside the store. Seeing the empty glass display case, they anxiously asked, "Where's that low-toxin tomato that was here just now?"
The salesperson gave a professional smile and said, "Sorry, it's already been bought. You'll have to wait another week for the next batch of low-toxin food to be available."
The man immediately panicked, "Didn't I just tell you I was going to collect points?! Why didn't you save any for me?!"
The salesperson's face immediately fell: "I'm sorry, our store has always operated on a first-come, first-served basis. As I told you before, we do not accept pre-orders for low-toxin products."
The man's face flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead, but he only mumbled, "I said what I wanted, I just want to go back and accumulate points—"
The salesperson ignored him, turned around and shouted inside. Two tall and burly guards came out, grabbed the man by the collar, and threw him out.
The salesperson said coldly, "Anyone causing trouble will be thrown out and blacklisted for no further transactions."
Upon hearing this, the man broke free from the two burly men's grasp, his eyes red-rimmed, and knelt down at the door with a thud.
"I didn't cause any trouble! I just want something with low toxin levels! Please, sell me one. If you really can't, just tell me who bought it. Ah Xu's toxin levels are at a critical point. She'll die if she doesn't eat something with low toxin levels soon!"
After saying that, he kowtowed several times, looking quite pitiful.
The saleswoman was only a little older than Jiang Zhi, around twenty-five years old. She finally took pity on him and gave him directions.
"We're really out of stock here. If you have any connections, try looking in Zone B. Maybe they'll still have some."
The man was bewildered. If he could go to Area B, he would have gone there long ago. Why was he wasting his time here?
The man knelt there blankly for a moment, then left like a walking corpse with red eyes.
A moment later, the onlookers around the shop began to discuss the matter with great interest.
"Isn't that Dali from your self-built district? What happened to him?"
"It seems that the toxins in his wife's body have accumulated to a critical point, and he's in a hurry to buy something with low toxins to detoxify her!"
"Did he fail to buy it?"
"How could it be his turn? The low-toxin food in the store is always bought by mutants. Ordinary people don't have spare money. He's already collected several hundred points this time, but he still hasn't collected enough..."
Some people sarcastically remarked, "They have money to buy land in their self-built area but not enough to buy low-toxin food? Who would believe that? Maybe they're deliberately trying to avoid it."
"Then you're wrong. He's actually quite good to his wife. If it weren't for his family dragging him down and taking away his points, things wouldn't have come to this."
"I heard he also has a six-year-old son. What a pity, he's so strong, yet he has two burdens like this..."
"You can't say that. He's not very smart. If it weren't for his wife, he'd still be completely at the mercy of the Niu family!"
Jiang Zhi listened to the whispers of the crowd, lost in thought.
—From what these people are saying, low-toxin foods can counteract radiation poisoning?
She thought for a moment and asked the salesperson, "Hello, I'd like to ask, how many points do you charge for low-toxicity mutated beast organs?"
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