Chapter 11: Still 738 Pounds to Go

The new stretch of wasteland, designated by the city’s management, was still some distance from the survivors’ settlement where Shi Yuebai and the others lived. Therefore, every day the team had to assemble and set out before dawn. By the time they reached the wasteland to scavenge, the sun was already high in the sky.

Mutated creatures roamed at night, so everyone had to return to the safe zone before sunset. The round trip itself took nearly two hours on the road. Adding to the difficulty was Shi Yuebai’s special situation: her sister-in-law, who was blind, had to push her in a cart while carrying little Shi Yaoyao on her back. This made their journey even more time-consuming.

That was why at four in the morning, Shi Yuebai opened her eyes and woke her sister-in-law and Shi Yaoyao. They needed to prepare ahead and set off earlier than the rest of the team.

Her sister-in-law hurriedly got up and stepped out of the tarp shelter. As her hands reached out, searching for the flatbed handcart parked just outside, she immediately sensed something was off. Perhaps because she was blind and her vision was completely dark, her other senses had become extraordinarily sharp.

“Yuebai, aren’t the wheels on this cart higher than before?” she asked, pushing the cart back inside the tarp.

Shi Yuebai, supporting Shi Yaoyao in her arms and channeling some fat energy into her body, glanced back. Sure enough, the flatbed cart they had yesterday had been swapped for one with four large caster wheels, raising the entire platform so that Shi Yuebai’s flesh wouldn’t scrape against the ground when she sat on it.

No one else could have done this but the strange neighbor next door.

“If we find any food today, let’s send some to the neighbor,” Shi Yuebai said, pushing herself up with her hands and moving toward the flatbed cart.

She hadn’t eaten a single bite or even drunk water for several days, relying solely on converting her body fat into energy to keep herself functioning. At the same time, she channeled fat energy into her sister-in-law and little Shi Yaoyao.

Even so, Shi Yuebai still weighed 738 jin (about 369 kilograms). Without food, her weight hadn’t increased further but was only dropping very slowly. Starvation diets were utterly ineffective in the wasteland.

Little Shi Yaoyao carried a backpack filled with small potatoes. Once the three of them left the tarp, it would be completely empty. There was no doubt someone would come to loot it once they were gone.

Thus, her sister-in-law decided that Shi Yaoyao would carry the valuable small potatoes—the most precious belongings of the Shi family.

Shi Yuebai felt this was unnecessary. Their tarp was protected by her dizziness formation—a trap that made anyone not approved by her collapse upon entering. However, she didn’t know how to explain this to her sister-in-law, so she let her handle it.

Before dawn, members of the team gradually began to rise. Shi Yuebai’s sister-in-law pushed her along while carrying little Shi Yaoyao on her back and set off.

The flatbed cart with caster wheels was incredibly convenient. Aside from Shi Yuebai’s heavy weight, the path was free of impassable obstacles.

“Besides all the trash everywhere, there probably isn’t much food here,” Shi Yuebai said, observing the desolate scenery in the growing daylight.

Her memories told her that this had once been a highly civilized world, with advanced technology and great achievements. But after an apocalyptic disaster struck, this once flourishing civilization was reduced to wasteland.

The road beneath their feet, which should have been paved with cement, was now cracked, exposing the yellow earth beneath. The wind blew up swirling dust storms, and no grass grew. Trash littered both sides of the road.

Nearby were ruined buildings, their identities unrecognizable, half collapsed. Anything inside had long since weathered away and was useless. Anything salvageable had likely long been taken by scavengers.

Her sister-in-law pushed harder upon hearing this and quickened her pace.

“Beyond here, we leave the old safe zone and enter the newly reclaimed wasteland,” Shi Yuebai said, looking ahead at a fragile wire fence marking the boundary.

The safe zone’s limits were not fixed. Each month, the city’s management redrew the boundaries based on how far the hired mercenaries could drive back the mutated beasts. If the mercenaries were effective, the safe zone expanded; if lazy, everything outside the city remained dangerous.

This month, the mercenaries were evidently quite capable. They not only held the old safe zone but pushed the boundary outward, creating a new wasteland to scavenge.

Shi Yuebai used a stick to lift the wire fence. Her sister-in-law didn’t hesitate, sweat pouring from her body as the three of them stepped into the new wasteland.

Don’t ask why a blind woman had such courage. With all the men in the family dead, survival demanded nothing less than sheer grit.

“Looks like there’s something over there,” Shi Yuebai said, pointing with her long stick at a glimmering object ahead.

The sun had just risen, its rays hitting a small patch of shining surface, dazzling their eyes.

Her sister-in-law quickly stopped, carrying Shi Yaoyao, and carefully climbed the nearby ruins. Following Shi Yuebai’s guidance, she found a shard of mirror.

“Seems to be in good condition,” she said.

Shi Yuebai, the great shaman, had never seen such a bright mirror before. She took the small intact piece from her sister-in-law and looked at her reflection, wanting to throw the mirror away in frustration.

Though she had never cared much about her looks back in the shaman tribe, valuing strength above all else, her current appearance was simply hideous.

Underneath a dark, greasy, pancake-like face hung a massive double chin. The mirror was too small to even capture her entire face.

Shi Yuebai immediately handed the mirror to Shi Yaoyao.

“Here, play with it. Don’t break it—it can be sold for points.”

Shi Yaoyao was delighted. She had been bored strapped to her mother’s back but now had a little mirror with a small playmate inside it.

She had found a friend and no longer felt alone.

“Sister-in-law, look, there’s a basin here,” Shi Yuebai said, sitting atop the flatbed cart, poking at the soil with her stick.

Clearly, this new wasteland held no edible plants or fruits. Before the apocalypse, this area had probably been part of the city, full of ruins.

From the ruins, scavengers only found household items.

Her sister-in-law turned over chunks of cement and stone and uncovered a large, intact basin—big enough for an adult to sit in.

Her face betrayed her disappointment.

Shi Yuebai, however, smiled and said, “I think it’s great. We’ve made a good haul.”

“When we get back, we can use this basin to wash ourselves.”