Chapter 21: Weight Down to 735 Jin

Shi Yuebai was fighting an ongoing battle against the omnipresent radiation.

She’d spent all last night working on the Water Gathering Spell, and on today’s scavenging trip, she kept urging her mother and little Yao Yao to drink more water.

Whenever their bottles ran dry, she’d use the spell to refill them.

Shi Yuebai hadn’t checked on her mother or Yao Yao’s physical condition yet, but after all her running around, her own weight had finally—thankfully—dropped to 735 jin.

The difficulties were right in front of her, but as long as Shi Yuebai kept working at it, there was still hope she could get back on her feet.

She watched as Yao Yao sat on the toilet, while her mother obediently queued outside the door.

Shi Yuebai handed another water bottle to her second sister-in-law.

Second sister-in-law wanted to say she wasn’t thirsty, that the water should be saved for the others, but then she remembered that this morning, they’d managed to fill another basin with water.

She fumbled for the bottle and took a sip.

How could she describe that feeling?

It was like drinking nectar from the heavens.

“Yuebai, this water is so good. Did you have any?”

She handed the bottle, after just a small sip, back to Shi Yuebai.

Shi Yuebai pushed it back to her, her gaze sweeping over the ruins.

She told her, “There’s enough water. Don’t feel like you have to save it. When we get back today, let Yao Yao take a bath.”

At night, Yao Yao had to sleep pressed up against her, and Shi Yuebai often woke herself and Yao Yao up from the smell.

But second sister-in-law was startled by her words.

“Yue… Yue… Yuebai, what kind of people do you think we are?”

A bath? With water this good, even with a hint of sweetness and purity?

Second sister-in-law felt as if a dark cloud had gathered over her head—surely she’d be struck by lightning for such extravagance.

“There’s enough water,” Shi Yuebai repeated simply.

If there wasn’t, she could just keep using the Water Gathering Spell.

Even though the spiritual energy, soul power, and fat energy kept flushing through her blocked meridians, she couldn’t deny that after persistently using the spell for a dozen or so hours, she was getting faster and faster at gathering water.

Hard work paid off, even if the pain far outweighed the reward.

It was still worth it.

This time, Yao Yao filled half the toilet with poop.

Shi’s mother pinched her nose and shouted angrily, “If you don’t flush, I’m telling your grandpa!”

She held up a panda-faced meme at Yao Yao.

“Look, your granddaughter won’t flush the toilet.”

Second sister-in-law hurriedly got up and instinctively flushed.

There was still water.

Even though the water was black, the city’s sewage system beneath the ruins was still somewhat functional.

Second sister-in-law carried Yao Yao out of the outdoor toilet and set her on the bed frame next to Shi Yuebai.

The little girl’s cheeks were flushed, and she looked nervously at her aunt, afraid she’d be scolded for not flushing.

Shi Yuebai didn’t seem to mind at all. She thought for a moment and said,

“Let’s take this desk and chair back.”

She pointed to the child’s posture-correcting desk and chair set in the room.

The previous owner must have just bought it before the apocalypse—the plastic wrap was still on.

Shi Yuebai brushed off the debris from the desk and, to her surprise, found a brand new set of pencils and an electric sharpener.

“Yao Yao, now you’ll have pencils to write with.”

Sitting on her makeshift cart, Shi Yuebai kept searching and found a stack of scrap paper and some exercise books with grid lines.

Second sister-in-law came over from the collapsed wall, looking hopeful.

“Can Yao Yao write?”

What she really wanted to ask was—Is Yao Yao able to write?

She’d seen the changes in her daughter over the past few days.

But being able to express her physical needs clearly and being able to write were two entirely different things.

Second sister-in-law never had high hopes for her life. She just wanted to leave the wasteland with Yao Yao, painlessly, before she died.

For that, she had a desperate plan hidden deep in her heart.

She wanted to find a kind of medicine from before the apocalypse, so Yao Yao could just fall asleep and never wake up.

Of course, she’d only do that if her illness got to the point where she was on her deathbed.

Otherwise, how could Yao Yao survive?

How could she survive?

A mentally disabled daughter, left without her only protector and support.

Who knew what might happen to them in the wasteland?

A layer of tears suddenly welled up in second sister-in-law’s empty eyes.

She felt a stinging around her eyes, and when she blinked, blackish-yellow tears rolled down her cheeks, carving tracks through the grime.

Shi Yuebai saw her rubbing her eyes with filthy hands and quickly called her over, taking out some clean water,

“Don’t rub! What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“Maybe a bit of grit got in.”

Second sister-in-law squatted in front of Shi Yuebai, who tilted her chin up.

Soon, she felt something cool and refreshing being poured over her eyes.

She quickly tried to dodge. “Yuebai, no, that’s water!”

It was pure water, with zero radiation.

No, no, she couldn’t let such precious stuff be wasted on her.

Shi Yuebai grabbed her by the neck, as if she were about to strangle her.

Impatiently, she said, “I told you, there’s enough water. As long as I’m here, stop fussing.”

Just like that, Shi Yuebai used a whole bottle of clean water to rinse second sister-in-law’s eyes.

Second sister-in-law started crying again.

This time, it wasn’t because of her plan to end her daughter’s life.

It was for Shi Yuebai’s generosity.

Such wastefulness.

Second sister-in-law wept with heartache.

“Huh? Your tears…”

Shi Yuebai looked curiously at the tears streaming down her face.

Her tears were different from others—blackish-yellow.

But Shi Yuebai had just rinsed both her eyes clean.

Was it because people’s bodies had mutated in the wasteland, so even their bodily fluids had changed color?

Shi Yuebai thought it was likely. She refilled the bottle with water and rinsed away the fresh blackish-yellow tears.

Just then, Shi’s mother finished in the toilet.

She held her panda-faced meme and, very conscientiously, flushed the toilet.

The four sick, weak, disabled, and pregnant members of the Shi family had barely started scavenging before Yao Yao and Shi’s mother had to take turns at the toilet.

It looked like they wouldn’t get far today.

Shi Yuebai decided they might as well head home.

She had Shi’s mother and second sister-in-law carry the desk and chair back.

As soon as they got under the Shi family’s tarp and set up the desk and chair for Yao Yao, Shi Yuebai taught her to write the character “天” (sky).

“Yuebai, but my stomach still hurts,” Shi’s mother said, coming over and touching her tight, swollen belly.

“Auntie,” Yao Yao said fearfully, glancing at her grandmother’s feet, “Grandma, she…”

Shi Yuebai looked down, and her heart skipped a beat.

“Oh no, she’s going into labor.”

She was a lifelong spinster, and no matter how much theory she’d read, faced with this situation, she was at a total loss.

“What do I do?”

Ahhh!"