Chapter 73: Fight for What You Deserve

Before the wasteland, Pang Zhenggong worked in search and rescue excavation.

It was a volunteer-based civilian job, with most of the funding coming from donations through partnerships with celebrity charity organizations.

Wherever there was a natural disaster or catastrophe—earthquakes, shipwrecks, and the like—these charity groups would hire them, using the team’s selfless efforts as publicity for the celebrities, while also assisting the authorities with rescue and excavation.

But they were a truly professional excavation team.

That’s why, in the wasteland, Pang Zhenggong and his teammates could rely on their expertise to consistently find more food than anyone else.

In the beginning, they had also banded together, working side by side with Captain Qiao to save many people during the apocalyptic disaster.

Everyone was passionate and united, fighting against the end of the world together.

But when did things start to change?

Pang Zhenggong himself wasn’t sure.

Maybe it was when every time their team dug up food, it would be snatched away in a frenzy, leaving not even a scrap for them.

Or maybe it was when they rescued survivors who were still barely alive, but no family would claim them or take them for treatment.

In the wasteland, there were too many reasons to abandon faith.

Pang Zhenggong’s excavation team had always been highly sought after by every group.

If Pang Zhenggong didn’t go with them, the team’s value would drop dramatically.

Naturally, the excavation team was very unhappy with Pang Zhenggong.

But Pang Zhenggong had no choice—he didn’t want to leave.

If he left the team under the bridge, his wife and child would be in grave danger.

But if he stayed, he’d have to rely on himself from now on.

He would no longer have teammates to fight alongside him.

Going out to scavenge for supplies would become much, much harder than before.

At the very least, he no longer had access to those professional excavation tools.

In the Shi family’s courtyard—

Pang Zhenggong watched as Shi Yaoyao and Pang Ziyuan worked together to unpack dozens of children’s mushroom-growing kits, placing them one by one in the shady corners of the yard.

The two kids each held a bottle of water, carefully watering the mushroom boxes one after another.

Pang Ziyuan’s skinny face was full of innocence.

“Yaoyao, in a few days we’ll be able to eat mushrooms!”

Shi Yaoyao nodded happily.

“Yeah! Mushrooms! We’ll eat mushrooms!”

She clapped her hands and started spinning in place, twirling around and around.

Shi Yuebai frowned, raised the long stick in her hand, and tapped Shi Yaoyao’s waist.

“Don’t spin in place.”

It had been two months since Shi Xiangrui.

Every day, Shi Yaoyao changed just a little bit, almost imperceptibly.

At first, she could barely speak, but now she could clearly say long sentences.

Her constant head-shaking had lessened, replaced by spinning in place.

Shi Yuebai had never studied medicine, so she didn’t know what kind of bad habit this was.

But whenever she saw Shi Yaoyao shaking her head or spinning, she would stop her.

Otherwise, Shi Yaoyao would spin until she herself got dizzy.

Pang Zhenggong looked at the supplies filling the courtyard, and at the peaceful, contented expressions on the faces of the Shi and Pang families.

All his worries melted away.

He was more determined than ever to stay here.

Yes, he hadn’t made the wrong choice.

He and Ah Hong returned to their own walled-in home.

The wall had already been put up—Ah Hong worked quickly, and in just a few days, she had built a wall around the Pang family’s place too.

“Yuebai is a good person. She may seem fierce on the outside, but she’s actually very generous,” Ah Hong chattered as she sorted through the food in the tent.

“I couldn’t find the right stones for the wall, so I borrowed a few red bricks from Yuebai. She agreed without even thinking about it.”

The red bricks Shi Yuebai used to build the wall had all been traded for with the Shi family’s food.

After the wall was built, there was a small pile left.

Shi Yuebai usually didn’t even bother to look at them, but when Ah Hong asked to borrow some, she told her to take them all.

That way, the Shi family’s yard would have more open space.

Shi Yuebai was so generous with her own people that it warmed the heart.

Pang Zhenggong helped Ah Hong sort through the food in the tent.

“Staying with the Shi family is so much better than being in any other group.”

At least now, the Pang family had a wall, and more food than they could eat.

It was true that Pang Zhenggong was good at scavenging, and Ah Hong brought back four potatoes and two bottles of water every day.

Pang Ziyuan was at the Shi family’s place, eating his fill every day.

The three of them lived like this, not only having enough food, but even stockpiling quite a bit.

Looking at the little mountain of potatoes in the tent, and the boxes of instant noodles, crunchy snacks, bottled water, and vacuum-packed spicy strips that Pang Zhenggong had scavenged from the corners—

A sense of security he’d never felt before filled Pang Zhenggong’s heart.

He looked at Ah Hong with determination.

“I’m planning to split up with Ah Cheng and the others, and divide up the search and rescue excavation tools.”

Professional search and rescue tools were invaluable for scavenging.

Ah Hong paused, turned her freshly washed face toward Pang Zhenggong.

After a while, she said,

“That’s probably for the best. They’ll be fine too.”

Ah Hong actually knew every member of Pang Zhenggong’s search and rescue team.

Before the wasteland, they were all good people, always greeting her with a smile and calling her “sister-in-law.”

But things changed. In a world starved of food and resources, selfishness and malice were stripped bare and magnified.

She didn’t know when it started, but the way Pang Zhenggong’s teammates looked at her and Pang Ziyuan—

It was full of disgust and annoyance.

It was as if they were looking at two burdens who should have died already.

Ah Hong had thought about telling Pang Zhenggong’s teammates about their current situation.

It was good here—there was water, potatoes, and soon there would be mushrooms.

If everyone stuck together, life would slowly get better.

Just like the Pang family.

The Pang family now had enough food to last for months.

But she didn’t dare take the risk.

After all, the Pang family had once lent out all their food, nearly starving Pang Ziyuan to death.

What’s more, when Pang Zhenggong’s teammates tried to persuade him to leave the team under the bridge, they never considered things from her or Pang Ziyuan’s perspective.

Splitting up was the best solution now.

“Don’t tell them about the Shi family.”

Ah Hong warned Pang Zhenggong.

She looked at him with worried eyes.

“I know you’re all brothers, and you used to be close, but… don’t test human nature.”

“And also, fight for what you deserve. Yuebai really values loyalty and usefulness.”

She was telling Pang Zhenggong: either be absolutely loyal to Shi Yuebai—treat her like a faith—or prove your worth.

Pang Zhenggong had to get a good, useful excavation tool.

Pang Zhenggong nodded. “I understand. I want to try for the Snake-Eye Detector.”

Their team’s search and rescue tools fell into five categories: detection, demolition, lighting, communication, and protection.

They were all communal property.

If they were going their separate ways, these tools would have to be divided up too.

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This morning, my stomach started cramping. I’m speechless—why would the fat on my belly cramp?"