Chapter 34: 717 Jin

Before nightfall, Yi Zhe and the mercenaries wrapped up their work for the day.

Even though the mercenaries were all tough, elite survivors—some of the best the wasteland had to offer—once night fell, the mutant beasts became unusually active.

Even the zombies grew noticeably more alert.

So, as a rule, mercenaries stopped proactively hunting mutants at night. Instead, they spread out along the defensive line, keeping watch.

Yi Zhe pushed Shi Yuebai and Shi Yaoyao along as they headed back.

Shi Yaoyao had picked up a huge pile of non-edible household goods—so many that she and Shi Yuebai couldn’t possibly carry them all. Not to mention, they also had little baby Shi Xiangrui with them.

Chen Yong volunteered, and together with a few off-shift mercenaries, helped Shi Yuebai carry everything back.

As night fell, Shi Yuebai handed Yi Zhe the last bottle of disinfectant from Shi Yaoyao’s backpack.

“Where did you get so much disinfectant?” Yi Zhe asked, puzzled.

Shi Yuebai made something up. “I just pick up things other people don’t want. Sometimes I get lucky.”

Yi Zhe didn’t press further. He took the third bottle of disinfectant and set a box of canned food in front of Shi Yuebai.

They were all expired, most of the cans dented and battered.

Shi Yuebai glanced at them—there were about fifteen or sixteen cans, and all of them were cat food.

But before the apocalypse, cats ate better than most people do now.

Shi Yuebai looked up at Yi Zhe in surprise.

He smiled at her. “You can’t just keep picking up things you can’t eat, Yuebai. People have to fill their stomachs first.”

These cans were what they’d found today. The mercenaries actually didn’t lack food or water—they were always at the front, exploring areas no ordinary survivor could reach, so their chances of finding supplies were much higher.

Yi Zhe had noticed that Shi Yuebai and Shi Yaoyao had picked up a ton of stuff today, but not a single bite to eat. He couldn’t just stand by and watch.

Shi Yuebai and Shi Yaoyao might be able to go hungry, but what about Shi Xiangrui? What about Shi Mother and Second Sister-in-law? Yi Zhe couldn’t just watch Shi Yi’s family starve to death.

Shi Yuebai stared at the box of cat food for a while, then reached out and gripped Yi Zhe’s shoulder.

She suddenly poured a huge amount of fat energy into his body.

Last time, after Yi Zhe went home and didn’t eat for a whole day, he’d felt something odd about his body. Today, he clearly felt a warm current surge into him from where Shi Yuebai gripped his shoulder.

Yi Zhe looked at her in surprise.

Shi Yuebai’s face was smeared with grime, her hair a tangled mess, water dripping down her cheeks. Her chubby hand trembled as she said, “Brother Yi Zhe, thank you for always looking out for us.”

Shi Yuebai let go.

In that brief moment, she’d managed to push two jin of fat energy into Yi Zhe’s body. She’d overdone it, though—the fat energy rushed through her meridians so fast that her whole body ached inch by inch.

Waving her hand, she didn’t wait for Yi Zhe to say anything, but turned and ducked into the tarp shelter.

She’d been gone all day, and in that time, a lot of the rubble inside had been cleared out, making the space much larger.

The area that had been paved with stone slabs was now much bigger, even exposing several steps.

Nong Yasi and Shi Mother were sweeping debris off the steps. When they saw Shi Yuebai return, Nong Yasi waved at her.

Second Sister-in-law groped her way over.

“Yuebai, we’ve dug out a swimming pool. Should we fill it in?”

There was a swimming pool right in the straight line from the Shi family’s tarp to the public toilets—they’d already dug out half of it. If they didn’t fill it in, Shi Yuebai’s flatbed cart still couldn’t reach the toilets.

Shi Yuebai pushed her cart forward and, seeing the pool, couldn’t help but grin.

The pool hadn’t been fully dug out, but just by eyeballing it, it looked big enough to fit the whole Shi family at once.

“Keep digging,” Shi Yuebai said, eyes shining. She instructed Second Sister-in-law and Nong Yasi, “Don’t rest tonight. Clear all the rubble out of the pool.”

She held a long stick and tapped Second Sister-in-law with it. Each tap, Shi Yuebai would shed a couple of liang of fat, which would flow through the stick into Second Sister-in-law’s body.

Of course, whenever she got the chance, Shi Yuebai would also tap Nong Yasi and Shi Mother, sharing the fat energy equally.

The three of them had been hauling rocks all day and were starving, but as they kept working, the hunger faded away.

They took turns resting for a bit, then lit lamps and started clearing the pool.

The pool must have been part of a water park on the riverbank before the bridge collapsed. Among the ruins near the pool, they even found a pile of brand-new swimsuits, uninflated swim rings, floating pool toys, and so on.

Nong Yasi thought these things were useless and was about to throw them away, but Shi Yuebai stopped her. “Leave them by the pool. It’s late—get some sleep.”

Exhausted, the Shi family women, even with all the extra fat energy, couldn’t fight off their muscle fatigue. The work was way beyond their physical limits.

As soon as Shi Yuebai spoke, Second Sister-in-law, Shi Mother, Nong Yasi, and Shi Yaoyao all collapsed onto the big mattress. They didn’t even have the strength to talk—just fell asleep instantly.

None of them noticed Shi Yuebai quietly moving her flatbed cart to the edge of the pool.

Everything had to be moved by hand. The pool wasn’t that big, but with the Shi women’s efforts, they’d only managed to clear about a tenth of it in a whole day. But that was already enough for Shi Yuebai’s needs.

She used a water-gathering spell, filling the depression with water for nearly three hours.

Before long, the 1.8-meter-deep, 3-meter-wide pit was full.

Delighted, Shi Yuebai dove in, her massive body landing in the pit like a boulder.

Water splashed out, soaking the nearby potato sprouts.

Shi Yuebai sat comfortably in the pit, scrubbing the grime off her arms. She scooped up water and washed her face.

Soon, the water in the pool turned murky. With all the filth on her, it would probably take several pools’ worth of water to get clean.

Happily, she piled stones around the edge to make the pool a little bigger, all the while gathering more water.

God, Shi Yuebai had never realized how blissful it could be to take a proper bath.

In this wasteland, it didn’t take much to make her happy anymore.

The only downside was that after a whole day of scavenging under the sun’s radiation, and all this effort, even after filling a whole pool, her weight had only dropped by one jin.

Shi Yuebai still weighed 717 jin.

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