Chapter 10: Offsetting with a Radiation Detector

Shi Yuebai held a sprouted potato in her hand.

Just as she was about to hand it over, she hesitated and pulled back.

Second Sister-in-law Shi thought she was just reluctant—after all, Shi Yuebai had always been very protective of her food.

Anyone who tried to snatch food from Shi Yuebai would make her extremely upset.

She would lie there and curse nonstop, and the Shi family, who doted on her, would always indulge her.

Even though times were so tough, they still gritted their teeth and tried their best to make Shi Yuebai feel a little happier.

So, in the Shi family, no one ever fought Shi Yuebai for food.

Everyone would rather go hungry than take from her.

Second Sister-in-law Shi wasn’t surprised at all that Shi Yuebai would want to keep her potato.

But in truth, Shi Yuebai hadn’t brought the potato back because she was unwilling to part with it as food.

Rather, she felt that if someone helped her fix her flatbed cart, and she gave them a high-radiation potato in return, it just wasn’t right.

Although Shi Yuebai had done plenty of questionable things back when she was with the Wu tribe, she still had her principles.

If someone gave her something valuable, she would never take advantage of them over something so trivial.

Shi Yuebai held the potato in one hand and covered it with her other thick, fleshy palm.

She closed her eyes, summoned a bit of energy from her fat reserves, and began to transform it.

A small purification rune appeared in her palm.

The soul power converted from her fat energy flowed through the rune, purifying all the high radiation from the little sprouted potato.

A few minutes later, Shi Yuebai handed the now purified potato to Second Sister-in-law Shi.

“Take it to him.”

Second Sister-in-law Shi looked puzzled, not understanding why Shi Yuebai had changed her mind.

She couldn’t figure it out, but still did as she was told, taking the potato to the strange man in the tarp next door.

The strange man didn’t say anything at first. He took the potato and was about to wolf it down.

But the rough wristband he wore suddenly beeped:

[Scan: 0 radiation contamination detected in potato.]

Second Sister-in-law Shi’s face filled with surprise.

She instantly felt a regret so deep she couldn’t even put it into words.

The Shi family was poor and couldn’t afford to be picky.

Whenever they found food, whether it was low, medium, or high radiation, as long as it was edible, they’d eat it.

They also didn’t have money to buy devices that could detect radiation levels in food.

Such devices were rare outside the city.

Who would have thought that right next door, the strange man nobody in the group wanted to deal with actually had a device that could detect food radiation?

If the others in the group found out, they’d probably have tried to steal it long ago.

The strange, scruffy man paused, his bony hands still.

His hair was wild, like a bird’s nest that had exploded.

From the tangled, unwashed mess, his eyes shone brightly.

He looked at Second Sister-in-law Shi.

She waved her hand, indicating she wouldn’t take the potato back.

She didn’t know why, out of that whole pile of sprouted potatoes at home, there was one with zero radiation.

But since it had already been given away, there was no taking it back.

Seeing her gesture, the strange man finally relaxed and bared his yellow-black teeth in a grin.

He crunched down and ate the little potato in two bites.

He ate it with the skin, dirt and all.

After finishing, the man smacked his lips, as if savoring the taste of a zero-radiation potato.

Second Sister-in-law Shi stood by, waiting.

She watched as the man, after enjoying his snack, rummaged around and grabbed some wrenches and wire.

In just a few minutes, he fixed the four wheels on the broken flatbed cart.

When he handed it over, the strange man turned around.

He dug through his pile of junk and pulled out a very rough-looking wristband.

It was tied with ordinary hemp rope, looking especially rugged.

But in the middle was a smooth, round object, almost like an eye.

Second Sister-in-law Shi touched it, her heart pounding. “This… we don’t have money to buy it.”

The man was giving her a radiation detector.

But it was clearly not one of the types sold in the city.

Judging by its construction, it was probably homemade.

The man’s voice was hoarse:

“You gave too much. I don’t have change.”

“So take this as an offset.”

Fixing a broken flatbed cart didn’t require a zero-radiation potato.

Any food with zero radiation—even a sprouted potato—could fetch a sky-high price in the big city.

The strange man wasn’t someone who liked to take advantage, either.

Second Sister-in-law Shi nodded, and pushed the flatbed cart and the radiation detector back to her own tarp.

After she finished recounting everything, Shi Yuebai fell silent for a moment.

“In a couple of days, take him two more potatoes and ask if he has any extra radiation detectors.”

She had underestimated the strange man next door—he really was something.

He’d collected so much junk and everyone saw him as a beggar, or someone with mental issues.

No one wanted to deal with someone like that.

But who would have thought he was a hidden gem, able to cobble together something like a radiation detector?

Second Sister-in-law Shi hadn’t expected their neighbor to be such an expert, either.

She happily held the radiation detector.

“Now we can check the food we scavenge to see if it’s high, medium, or low radiation.”

The lower the radiation, the more valuable the food.

Second Sister-in-law Shi still felt a pang of regret over the zero-radiation potato she’d just given away.

But now that the flatbed cart was fixed, she could put Shi Yuebai and Shi Yaoyao on it.

The three of them could go scavenging together.

Her own eyesight was gone, but Shi Yaoyao and Shi Yuebai could still see.

Thinking of this, Second Sister-in-law Shi hurried to the pile of sprouted potatoes in the tarp.

She used the new radiation detector to check them one by one.

[Scan: 100% radiation contamination potato.]

[Scan: 97% radiation contamination potato.]

[Scan: 50% radiation contamination potato.]

…

She checked every potato in the pile, and only found two with medium radiation.

She held the two medium-radiation potatoes, unsure what to do.

If she hadn’t had the radiation detector, she’d have just eaten whatever food she found.

But now that she knew the whole pile was high-radiation potatoes, except for two below 50%, she didn’t know what to do with the two medium-radiation ones.

Should she sell them for points, or eat them herself?

Shi Yuebai saw her dilemma.

“Keep them for yourself. We never planned to sell this batch for points anyway.”

Second Sister-in-law Shi hesitated. “But…”

For a family like theirs, wasn’t it a bit too extravagant to eat medium-radiation food?

Is anyone out there?

Oh god, am I already forgotten?"