Chapter 134: 689 Jin—At the Limit

The small spirit-gathering arrays that Shi Yuebai had drawn were all intricately linked together by her with extremely complex array symbols.

The entire Shi family compound, starting from her position at the center—the family courtyard—spread outward in a circular pattern.

The array extended all the way to the ditches and the swimming pool.

And the very spot where Shi Yuebai stood was the array’s core.

As long as Shi Yuebai infused spiritual energy into the core, it would flow along the array symbols she had drawn, spreading out in all directions.

The energy would gather but not dissipate, nourishing the people and crops living within the array every day, with only a minimal daily loss.

Because she poured in a lot of spiritual energy but only a little was consumed, the energy accumulating in the ditches would only grow denser over time.

Eventually, those white wisps of mist would overflow from the ditches.

The elderly, the two pregnant women, and the disabled children only needed to sit by the ditches, eating and drinking, to absorb the spiritual energy.

There was no obvious change in the short term.

But over time, the effects would become quite pronounced.

While continuously channeling spiritual energy into the array’s core, Shi Yuebai checked her weight internally.

After all her efforts, she was now up to 690 jin.

With another push, she compressed the spiritual energy in the array—689 jin.

This was her limit.

Shi Yuebai looked around in dissatisfaction. The current spirit-gathering array was still too small; it simply couldn’t store much spiritual energy.

Some parts of the array were already overwhelmed, and spiritual dew was being squeezed out.

But so what?

If a spirit-gathering array can’t help her lose weight, then it’s not a good array!

Zhang Xueyao had been sent back to her own tarp shelter, fuming with frustration.

In Xiao Lingye’s group, she had never been treated as a person.

But because she was cooperative, open, and proactive, she got more food.

That was how she managed to survive.

But after returning to the team under the bridge, those old geezers even threw stones at her.

What right did they have to throw stones at her?

She could use her body to earn food—could those old fossils do that?

She lived at the very bottom, while those old things lived in the landfill layer!

Zhang Xueyao felt deeply wronged. The more someone is looked down on and slighted, the stronger the backlash when they finally snap.

She raged helplessly in her tent.

A woman who had come back with her, named You Zhizhen, filthy from head to toe, scooted over.

“Xueyao, it looks like the old folks in this group are going scavenging. Should we go too?”

Many people said the under-the-bridge group was finished, that it had been in decline for a long time.

Now, Leader Qiao was just a commander without an army.

All the able-bodied men had left.

You Zhizhen had thought she’d find lots of corpses of starved old people and children here.

But that wasn’t the case.

All the old folks were alive and well.

Today, they’d even organized themselves to go scavenging.

Zhang Xueyao shook her head. “Scavenging? At their age, shouldn’t they just wait to die?”

She didn’t believe for a second that these old people would really go out scavenging.

“Xueyao, do you think this group could actually find any food by scavenging?” You Zhizhen looked at her hopefully.

Zhang Xueyao snorted, “Are you dreaming? Look at them—their average age must be at least seventy-five.”

“If they can scavenge food, then the other groups with strong young men are a joke.”

She flopped onto the ground, too lazy to move.

Sitting beside her, You Zhizhen said uncomfortably, “But we can’t just sit here and wait for our food to run out.”

Back in Xiao Lingye’s group, Xiao Lingye had stopped sending men to bring them food.

But every so often, a big bag of food would be tossed into their tent from outside.

They’d gotten used to lying around and waiting for food.

Now that You Zhizhen was hungry, of course she felt miserable.

Seeing Zhang Xueyao remain silent, You Zhizhen nudged her again.

“What should we do from now on? Give us some direction—we’ll all listen to you.”

Zhang Xueyao was exasperated. “How should I know? I’ve rested enough. Maybe I’ll go outside the city and look for some business?”

From her tone, she still wanted to make money lying down—food was easier that way.

You Zhizhen’s lips twitched. “That again? We barely managed to escape that life.”

She didn’t want to earn food by lying down—at least not now.

She wanted to go scavenging with the old folks.

Zhang Xueyao sneered, turned over, and faced away from You Zhizhen. “Suit yourself. But don’t say you’ll listen to me for everything from now on.”

If You Zhizhen didn’t agree with her, she couldn’t be bothered to lead her.

This was just fine.

Sitting behind Zhang Xueyao, You Zhizhen was silent for a long time before finally sighing and going outside.

She saw the old folks lining up in front of the Shi family’s second wall.

Behind the ten elderly people was a pregnant woman.

Behind the pregnant woman was a child who walked with a limp.

You Zhizhen quietly approached.

She’d seen Zhang Xueyao get pelted with stones before, so she was extra cautious.

Someone in the line glanced back, and she gave an awkward, shy smile.

Leader Qiao, who was organizing the group, saw her and glanced at the paper airplane flying overhead.

Yuebai hadn’t given any instructions,

so no one said anything to You Zhizhen.

Following behind the child at the very end of the line, You Zhizhen let out a sigh of relief.

As long as no one chased her away, she could give it a try.

At first, You Zhizhen thought the scavenging site would be far away—she’d braced herself for hunger pangs.

But after just a few steps, the group stopped.

Pang Zhenggong was lying on a patch of open ground amid the garbage, wearing sunglasses and napping.

When he saw Leader Qiao bringing people over, Pang Zhenggong immediately got up and started assigning people to enter a nearby stairwell.

“Your task today is the same as yesterday—dig out stones. Get all the stones and supplies out, and you’ll get food.”

“Yuebai said, anyone who slacks off goes hungry.”

With his pale, chubby face, Pang Zhenggong made the rules clear from the start.

He had no choice—there was just too much good food at Yuebai’s house.

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t lose weight.

Leader Qiao walked over and stood at the top of the underground passage with Pang Zhenggong, watching as the elderly, the pregnant woman, and the child all went down into the underground mall.

No one questioned You Zhizhen.

Feeling anxious, You Zhizhen followed the group down the dark stairwell.

She was worried something bad might happen.

But she was just too hungry. Sticking to the end of the line, she soon reached a pile of blocked stones.

The scavengers ahead were already carrying baskets of stones out.

Someone comforted You Zhizhen, “Don’t worry. Pang may sound fierce, but if we’re really exhausted, he’ll still give us food.”

You Zhizhen looked at the old lady beside her in surprise. “We get food just for moving stones? What kind of food?”

Could it be… people?

Guess what I did today?

I went to sign up for a ride-hailing driver’s license exam. Once I pass, if there’s ever a day I can’t write anymore, I can go drive ride-hailing cars."