Chapter 9: Found a Flatbed Cart

Around the time those team members returned, the elderly, weak, and women of the Shi family began talking about the Shi family’s tarp.

Several men lingered outside the Shi family’s tarp.

Just yesterday, they had righteously accused Chen Er and the others, condemning Chen Er’s behavior as inhumane.

Yet today, it was as if no one remembered their own words from the day before.

Shi Yuebai sat at the back of the tarp.

Her eyes, squeezed into two narrow slits by layers of fat, stared coldly at the grimy, still tarp.

Beside her, Shi Yao Yao and Shi Er Sao had already fallen asleep, leaning against her.

Their bodies had been infused with abundant energy.

This energy was pure—only what their bodily functions required.

This made their bodies feel extremely comfortable, as if they were submerged in amniotic fluid.

Having long suffered from radiation in the wasteland, their bodies were in considerable discomfort; now, they slept soundly like two skinny pigs, one large and one small.

Shi Yuebai quietly shifted her body.

But given her weight, losing ten pounds over two or three days made little difference.

Her thick, fleshy palms pressed against the gravel-strewn ground, struggling to move even slightly.

The thick layers of fat pressed onto the small stones, but Shi Yuebai didn’t feel any pain.

She reached out and grasped the stick held by Shi Er Sao.

Under the cover of night, she carefully moved the stones on the ground one by one.

Then, she quietly pressed these stones into the earth.

This way, the stones on the ground would not be easily displaced.

After securing the stones around her, Shi Yuebai leaned on the stick with both hands and tried to lift her hips to stand.

She failed.

But Yuebai was undeterred.

Heaven knows how much strength she exerted trying to stand.

Even if her hips didn’t lift an inch, she persevered throughout the entire night…

She needed to stand and regain mobility as soon as possible.

Otherwise, this miserable beginning would continue to torment her.

Outside the tarp, the men did not hear any sound from inside the Shi family’s tarp.

Not a single noise worthy of speculation was made.

They found it dull and were unwilling to be the first to break the team’s unspoken rules.

Eventually, they left in frustration.

At dawn, after a good night’s sleep, Shi Yao Yao opened her eyes and saw that her aunt had somehow moved herself onto the gravelly depression.

Full of energy, Shi Er Sao groped around,

“Yuebai, Yuebai, where have you gone?”

Beneath her, Shi Yao Yao had already begun to move.

She crawled along the path her aunt had made the night before, using her tiny paws.

The trail her aunt carved out bore faint streaks of blood.

Those were from the sharp gravel scraping through Shi Yuebai’s skin and fat, leaving traces of blood behind.

Shi Yao Yao also crawled onto the rocky hollow.

“Aunt.”

The little girl’s speech was slightly clearer today than yesterday, though the change was slight.

Shi Yuebai smiled warmly at the little girl, who had crawled up the gravel pile until her two small hands were scraped raw.

“Excellent!”

Instead of feeling sorry for Shi Yao Yao, Shi Yuebai encouraged her, gently patting her head.

“Yao Yao, see? Even if we can’t walk, as long as we try, we can still see different scenery.”

She pointed behind the gravel hollow, where a flatbed cart used for transporting goods before the wasteland era stood.

The cart was broken beyond recognition.

But if picked up, it might still be usable.

Now, except for this battered flatbed cart, Shi Yuebai could find nothing else that could help her and Shi Yao Yao move.

Shi Er Sao groped her way up the gravel pile, listening to the voices of Shi Yao Yao and Shi Yuebai.

Following Shi Yuebai’s instructions, she climbed over the gravel and retrieved the flatbed cart.

“All four wheels are broken.”

Shi Er Sao’s eyes were hollow as she touched the cart.

“We need to find someone to repair it. I know someone who can fix it.”

In the neighboring tarp lived a madman.

While others scavenged for food and drinkable supplies, this madman often returned with iron wires, coils, and all sorts of useless broken computers and motherboards.

He was so emaciated that he was nothing but skin and bones, often losing his dignity by begging for food inside various tarps.

The Shi family had given him food several times.

But with Shi Yuebai being such a bottomless pit, even the Shi family couldn’t feed themselves adequately, let alone support this madman long-term.

Shi Yuebai said, “Give him the points card, and he’ll definitely help us fix this flatbed cart.”

Shi Er Sao’s face showed reluctance.

Those points cards earned from Chen Er were precious and hard to come by.

She hadn’t even warmed them yet.

Shi Yuebai decisively said, “You can’t catch a wolf without letting go of the child.”

“Er Sao, give him the points cards. If he can fix it, someone like that will definitely be useful to us in the future.”

“We must take good care of him.”

Helpless, Shi Er Sao took the broken flatbed cart and the stack of points cards wrapped in a dirty handkerchief.

She found the madman in the neighboring tarp.

His tarp was large and stuffed full of all kinds of parts.

Even pieces whose purpose was unknown—rubber bands, damaged books, blueprints, and so on—

were piled inside and spilling out beyond the tarp.

Because his trash was overwhelming, the others in the team found it hard to tolerate.

So, like the Shi family, he was exiled to this area far from the team.

Shi Er Sao found him and just as she began to explain her purpose,

the madman rasped, “I don’t want points cards. They’ll only bring me trouble.”

He knew how the Shi family’s points cards were obtained.

In fact, he lived right next to the Shi family’s tarp.

But he said nothing.

When the men in the team asked what had happened to the Shi family, he remained silent.

He did not mention that he had witnessed Shi Er Sao, a blind woman, throwing the bodies of Chen family’s eldest and second sons and several others elsewhere.

Shi Er Sao anxiously asked, “Then what do you want?”

The gaunt madman chuckled hoarsely,

“I want your food. I want to eat. I want food.”

He hadn’t eaten for several days and only craved food now.

Shi Er Sao furrowed her brows tightly and groped her way back to discuss with Shi Yuebai.

The pile of small potatoes the Shi family had remained stacked in the corner.

Two or three days had passed, and yet none had been touched.

In the past, this would have been impossible.

With Shi Yuebai’s appetite, that pile of potatoes wouldn’t even satisfy one meal.

But Shi Yuebai immediately decided, “Give him one, and tell him we barely have enough food for ourselves.”

“But if he can help us repair things properly in the future, we will never deny him a share of our food.”