Chapter 47: Living Is Just That Simple

The team leader smiled at Shi Yuebai, his face creased with wrinkles.

“Yuebai, your Shi family has suffered before, and it’s all because I, as the team leader, didn’t take good care of you.”

Second Sister-in-law Shi was sitting just behind Shi Yuebai. She turned her head, her expression sour.

“The child died, and now you come to show concern.”

Back when people in the group wanted to bully her, calling her whole family idiots, this team leader was nowhere to be seen.

But now, upon hearing that Yi Zhe was going to stay here, he rushed over in a hurry.

Hearing the team leader’s warm words, Second Sister-in-law Shi felt a nameless anger rise in her chest.

Shi Yuebai, on the other hand, was calm, expressionlessly watching the team leader.

The survivor group the Shi family belonged to was actually quite small.

Compared to the large survivor teams, this little group had no advantage whenever they went out scavenging.

Even scavenging in the wasteland had its own hierarchy.

After mercenaries secured a new safe zone, the city’s management would send people in first to sweep it clean.

That usually only took a day or two.

Only after that would the management officially announce the boundaries of the new safe zone.

But before the announcement, some well-connected large survivor teams would go in for a second sweep.

Only after the official announcement would the small and medium teams rush in to scavenge whatever was left.

Even so, fights would often break out between teams over territory while scavenging.

The Under-the-Bridge Team lost every time.

Their members were always grumbling and complaining.

Many families with some strength had already moved out, joining other teams.

It was said the Chen family wanted to leave too. Chen Huaihai was just waiting for his two sons, Chen Da and Chen Er, to return.

They’d already said that as soon as the two came back, they’d move out immediately.

So, in this power dynamic, having a mercenary team leader join their group was a big deal.

Of course, the team leader wanted to get close to Shi Yuebai and build a good relationship with the Shi family.

At this moment, the team leader was sitting inside the Shi family’s walled yard.

He was, after all, the team leader, and he’d greeted Shi Yuebai very politely when he arrived.

Shi Yuebai had let him in.

Now, the team leader acted as if he hadn’t heard Second Sister-in-law Shi’s words.

He glanced around the yard and praised,

“Shi Yuebai, you really have a lot of stuff here. It’s like a little open-air warehouse.”

Shi Yuebai replied bluntly,

“We’re not moving, but you need to deal with Qu Zhongshun’s corpse and the Qu family.”

She had no patience for small talk.

He was only here because he saw the value in the Shi family.

And Yi Zhe moving in was to back them up.

If Shi Yuebai said they weren’t moving, then Yi Zhe wouldn’t leave either.

The team leader froze for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief.

After a while, he felt awkward again.

He said, “Yuebai, you know your situation. Ever since the men in your family had their accident, the team hasn’t collected any food from you.”

“So this time, with the water distribution…”

He looked troubled.

Every time they went scavenging, the team would collect a portion of the food as dues to buy water from the city.

The Shi family, being old, weak, sick, or disabled, hadn’t gone scavenging with them.

So the team leader had nothing to collect from them.

Since they hadn’t paid dues, naturally, they couldn’t get any water from the team.

He’d come partly to build relations with the Shi family, and partly to inform them of this.

Second Sister-in-law Shi’s face showed a hint of sarcasm.

Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.

The Shi family had so much clean water—why would they want the team’s water, which was 100% radioactive?

“In the latest safe zone announced by the city management, there’s actually quite a bit of food,” the team leader said, watching Second Sister-in-law Shi’s face, afraid she’d get angry.

“How about you come scavenging with us tomorrow?”

“Yuebai, since you can’t move, let Second Sister-in-law and Dr. Nong come with us.”

Before Second Sister-in-law Shi or Dr. Nong could reply, Shi Yuebai refused,

“Second Sister-in-law and Dr. Nong can’t protect themselves. Let’s talk about it another time.”

She made it clear she didn’t want to continue the conversation.

The team leader glanced again at the crowded Shi family yard.

He sighed, got up, and left.

Life being hard isn’t scary.

What’s scary is not working hard to improve.

For the sake of the mercenary team leader, he’d wanted to give the Shi family a hand, but Shi Yuebai had refused.

That was fine too.

Taking a blind woman like Second Sister-in-law and a pretty woman like Dr. Nong out scavenging—who knows what trouble that might cause?

As soon as the team leader left, Dr. Nong came over,

“Yuebai, see? People are so pragmatic. Now that we have someone backing us, he can’t wait to cozy up to us.”

Ahong, while building the wall, sneered,

“That’s how people are, especially in the wasteland. No one bothers to pretend anymore. The warmth and coldness of human relationships is on full display.”

Shi Yuebai waved for Shi Yaoyao to come over.

She said to Shi Yaoyao,

“Remember this: this is normal. We don’t need to stand on a moral high ground and criticize the team leader.”

“For useless burdens, he didn’t kick us out—he just ignored us. That’s already pretty humane.”

Shi Yaoyao nodded, half-understanding.

Ahong’s son, half-lying on a rock, also fell into thoughtful silence.

Shi Yuebai turned, pushing her tablet cart toward the tarp,

“If the environment is harsh, then use everything you have to make yourself valuable to others.”

“Living is just that simple.”

Don’t talk to Shi Yuebai about feelings or sentiment.

Even two lovers deeply in love—if neither can meet the other’s needs in any way,

they’ll break up.

Whether it’s physical needs, emotional value, or material needs—

at least one must be met.

Let alone someone like the team leader, who’s barely connected.

The Shi family didn’t need to be too harsh on him.

As long as things were passable, that was enough.

Faced with the cold and warmth of human relationships, Shi Yuebai was frighteningly calm.

But as soon as she entered the tarp and saw the message on her communicator, her cold expression instantly melted.

[Yi Zhe: I’ve settled in. Let everyone go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll take all of you out scavenging.]

According to Yi Zhe’s nice-guy plan, they’d get up at 4:30 am tomorrow, and he’d take Shi Yuebai and the others to meet up with the mercenaries.

They’d have to be on the defense line before dawn.

Shi Yuebai, her face scrunched like a pancake, stared at the scratched-up communicator screen for a long while,

[Shi Yuebai: No need for everyone to go. Yaoyao and I will take Xiangrui, that’s enough.]

[Yi Zhe: I’m not comfortable leaving Second Sister-in-law and Auntie here alone.]

This team’s survival situation was dire.

After leaving the Shi family’s yard, the team leader immediately went to Yi Zhe, chatting him up for quite a while.

It was obvious he wanted to bypass the Shi family and curry favor with Yi Zhe.

Ah, school starts tomorrow."