Chapter 30: She’s Always Thought of All of Us

Shi Yuebai’s words made Yi Zhe stop in his tracks.

A flicker of surprise flashed in his deep eyes.

And it wasn’t just him—even the two mercenaries he’d brought along were staring in disbelief.

They all wanted to crack open Shi Yuebai’s head and see what on earth was going on inside.

This group of old, weak, sick, and disabled people were already struggling to survive. Shouldn’t they be making the most of every minute and second to scavenge for supplies?

These past few days, Yi Zhe had been patrolling the area where the Shi family’s group was camped, always bringing his mercenaries along.

You could say Yi Zhe was abusing his authority a little, showing some favoritism toward the Shi family.

After all, it was definitely inconvenient for the Shi family to go out scavenging.

If he happened to run into Shi Yuebai and the others while on patrol, he could lend them a hand.

But as it turned out, Shi Yuebai and her family rarely went out scavenging at all.

He almost never ran into them.

Yi Zhe had worried for days—how were the women of the Shi family managing?

He couldn’t help himself and came to check on them today, only to find Shi Yuebai actually organizing them to do manual labor.

And it wasn’t just the Shi family women—she even wanted to recruit Yi Zhe and his men.

Annoyed, Yi Zhe led the two mercenaries into the Shi family’s tent to help move out a huge boulder.

It really was big and heavy—no wonder Shi Yuebai wanted a few strong men to handle it.

With a stern face, Yi Zhe called over the other two mercenaries.

The three of them rolled up their sleeves and, while they were at it, moved a few more large stones out of the tent.

“Put them over there.”

Shi Yuebai, looking very much the boss, pointed out a few spots with a long stick.

With the strength of Second Sister-in-law Shi and Nong Yasi, there was no way they could have moved those big rocks.

Shi Yuebai’s abilities were still limited—just barely enough to keep the women in the tent fed, and that was already a struggle.

Moving all those heavy stones was really too much for her.

Yi Zhe had done her a huge favor.

“Try not to work your family so hard from now on.”

Yi Zhe put down the stone he was carrying, pressing one hand to his shoulder and shaking out his arm.

He glanced inside the tent—only some rubble was left.

Then Yi Zhe brought over a cardboard box and set it down in front of Shi Yuebai.

“This is some formula I exchanged for with my points.”

Yi Zhe’s family was all either dead or missing—he was the only one left.

He had all those points, but not much use for them.

Thinking of the child in Mother Shi’s belly, Yi Zhe couldn’t help but worry.

So he used his points to get some formula and a few small packs of biscuits from the big city.

He squatted down in front of Shi Yuebai, looking at her—built like a mountain of flesh—and spoke to her like an older brother, earnest and sincere:

“If anything happens, come find me. I’ll try to patrol around here more often for a while.”

“Yuebai, Shi Yi always doted on you the most. You should really go out scavenging properly—stop making trouble.”

Shi Yuebai pressed her lips together, not really wanting to respond to Yi Zhe.

But she caught a whiff of blood in the air—it was coming from Yi Zhe.

She turned and took out a bottle of disinfectant.

“Let’s clean up your wounds first before anything else.”

Yi Zhe was stunned for a moment, looking down at the bottle of disinfectant she’d shoved into his arms.

But Shi Yuebai was already wheeling her flatbed cart into the tent to inspect the rubble pile in the back.

She left Yi Zhe to be entertained by Second Sister-in-law Shi and Nong Yasi.

After all, as a shaman, she was good at fighting, not socializing.

It had to be said, after a whole day spent clearing the rubble, there was some real progress.

At least now, a large open space had been cleared inside the Shi family’s tent.

And on that open ground, there were even flagstones laid out.

Shi Yuebai looked up at the towering pile of rubble. Underneath it, there was probably a flagstone path leading straight to the public restroom.

And if you kept going up, you’d reach the bridge.

“Yuebai, I’m heading out. Tomorrow I’ll take you all scavenging.”

Yi Zhe’s voice called from outside the tent.

Shi Yuebai waved her hand impatiently, not even bothering to look back.

In the wasteland, unless you were a mercenary or had special abilities, not scavenging would make you stand out.

So Shi Yuebai didn’t refuse Yi Zhe’s offer.

Yi Zhe, still uneasy, came back up.

He looked up at the pile of rubble that reached the bridge overhead.

Yi Zhe frowned and asked,

“Yuebai, what are you planning now?”

Second Sister-in-law Shi stepped forward, apologetic.

“Yuebai wants to clear a path for us old, weak, sick, and disabled folks to get to the public restroom more easily.”

“She’s always thinking of all of us.”

“Captain Yi, it’s not that we don’t want to go scavenging. It’s just that the food you gave us last time is enough to last us a long while.”

Second Sister-in-law Shi was very protective of Shi Yuebai—she didn’t want anyone to misunderstand her.

But she didn’t tell Yi Zhe that, in fact, they hadn’t eaten anything these past days.

And, strangely enough, they didn’t feel hungry at all.

Yi Zhe didn’t say anything, just gave Shi Yuebai a long, searching look.

But the two mercenaries behind him snorted.

“Second Sister-in-law, your young lady here still doesn’t know what’s important.”

Anyone who followed financial news would know about the Shi family.

Father Shi had built his fortune from nothing, becoming one of the richest men in just a couple of decades.

Shi Yi might have had a tough childhood, but he grew up to join the garrison, which suited his personality.

But Shi Yuebai was born with a silver spoon in her mouth—spoiled and pampered all her life, raised to be self-centered.

That’s why people in the wasteland often mocked her for her unyielding “princess” attitude.

Even now, with Yi Zhe as the mercenary leader clearly looking out for the Shi family—

He was willing to take them scavenging, with the whole mercenary group as their backup.

So why was Shi Yuebai still so cold and indifferent?

Yi Zhe turned around, a warning in his eyes.

The mercenary behind him wanted to say more, but finally lowered his head, full of resentment.

Second Sister-in-law Shi looked even more embarrassed.

“Captain Yi, Yuebai, she…”

“It’s fine. Yuebai’s still young.”

Yi Zhe comforted Second Sister-in-law Shi, then turned and left with his two mercenaries.

Once they were a little ways off, he shoved the bottle of disinfectant into one of his men’s hands.

“Think before you speak next time.”

Chen Yong was still indignant, about to say something about Shi Yuebai, when he looked down and saw the unopened bottle of disinfectant in his hands.

“Huh?”

Chen Yong’s eyes widened. “Disinfectant?”

And it wasn’t even expired.

For mercenaries, medical supplies like this were as precious as life-saving elixirs.

Especially disinfectant.

When mercenaries fought mutant beasts, they were bound to get injured—disinfectant got used up fast.

But if you didn’t use it, and your wounds got infected by mutant creatures, you could end up as a zombie.

Merchants in the big city knew this and jacked up the prices of medical supplies sky-high.

Especially for mercenaries—they had to pay several times more points than ordinary people for things like disinfectant.

Most of the time, there wasn’t even any in stock.

Did Shi Yuebai not understand how much a single liter of disinfectant meant to mercenaries?

Otherwise, why would she so generously give it away just for moving a few rocks?

(National Day release.)"