Li Hewei and a dozen others stood still, watching Chen Mu and his two companions' figures gradually recede into the distance, faintly hearing their laughter and conversation.
After a while, a girl spoke, "Are they going to the cold storage?"
"There's a lot of meat there," a boy licked his lips.
"What can they do with the meat? Are they going to eat it raw? Don't forget that many people have fallen sick from eating raw rice grains," Li Hewei said with a feigned disdain.
"It's hard to say. Haven't you seen they even have hand grenades? It wouldn't be surprising if they can start a fire to cook," a boy said.
"Barbecue..."
As these two words were uttered, the scene fell silent.
It was as if they could hear the sound of swallowing saliva.
"Damn it, I used to hate barbecue and hotpot the most, but now just thinking about them makes my mouth water."
"Come on, could you not talk about it!"
"Skewers, spicy hot pot, beef noodles, pickled fish..."
"Damn, why are you being so annoying..."
"That's enough, let's hurry and move our things. Don't you know how dangerous it is here?"
Li Hewei interrupted their bantering.
"If only we had their vehicle," someone complained while carrying things.
"Who wouldn't want that? But with so many of us, not a single one is an ability user. Can we compete with them?"
"On another note, look at Ziwei High School. They have such powerful people personally searching for food, and then there's us..."
"Exactly, that tall guy is probably even stronger than Qibing, but look at what Qibing has done, apart from bullying us, has he accomplished anything?"
"And the guy who threw the bomb, he seems to be skilled too. Look at the way he talks; he must be in charge. They all come out personally to find food..."
"Why is there such a huge gap between people? Look at Qibing's group; they act like they're emperors..."
"Alright, let's stop talking about useless things..."
Li Hewei stopped them while flipping through the pile of vegetables, trying to pick some fresher parts. However, just as he forcefully tore off a leaf, he saw a black whip swinging towards him.
"Damn it! A cockroach!"
"Be careful!"
"Run!"
In an instant, everyone scattered and fled.
...
...
Chen Mu and his two companions continued to move towards the direction of the steamed rice room.
"Boss, you mentioned the cold storage just now. Is that where they store the meat?" Wei Dalei, who also had a weak spot for meat, swallowed his saliva.
This guy seemed to be someone who enjoyed meat to the fullest, and he had indeed had a tough time in these days without much meat to eat.
"Yeah, but it was just a trick to deceive them. In this kind of weather, storing meat is even more difficult than vegetables, and the smell can easily attract other carnivorous animals."
"Oh." Wei Dalei sighed.
"Once we get our hands on some flour and salt, along with these celery stalks, the food situation will improve a lot. As for meat, I've considered it, and the best way is still hunting."
"Killing ants?"
Wei Dalei recalled what Chen Mu had mentioned before. Obviously, he wasn't too thrilled about the suggestion of eating ants. Ants were all exoskeleton; there wasn't much meat on them.
"Of course, we can also eat insects, like the earthworm we had last time; it was decent meat."
"Ugh..."
Wei Dalei hadn't spoken yet, but Zhao Xiaoyan started to retch.
"Do we really have to eat earthworms?"
"It was just an example. And even if we eat earthworms, it's not as you imagine. You remove the guts, then grill them on an iron plate and dry them. When they become jerky, I think they should be quite good."
After hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyan felt like she could accept the idea to some extent.
"If we can't get meat soon, we'll have to find some cooking oil," Chen Mu added.
"Yeah, no wonder I haven't had much appetite lately. There's no oil in the food," Wei Dalei patted his stomach.
Zhao Xiaoyan glanced at him and said, "You can't eat? Half of the rice cakes made by Du Jiajia every day end up in your stomach."
Wei Dalei grinned foolishly, "I have high energy expenditure."
Zhao Xiaoyan couldn't help but find his appearance amusing, but she knew what he said was true. Wei Dalei took on more than half of the physical labor in the team, so it was normal for him to eat more.
Sometimes she wondered if this guy's ability was simply a food-burning machine. While others needed a good rest after depleting their mental energy, all he needed was a full meal.
As the three chatted, they got closer and closer to the steamed rice room.
Chen Mu occasionally used his peripheral vision to scan the surroundings and behind them. On one hand, he was wary of any miscellaneous things approaching, and on the other hand, he was keeping an eye on whether those people from earlier were following them.
The steamed rice room.
As the name suggests, it was a place for steaming rice, but it served more than that. Almost all kinds of steamed cooking, including but not limited to steamed buns and pastries, were done here.
To prevent the buildup of steam, they didn't store a lot of flour and rice here. However, for Chen Mu and the others, it was like mountains and oceans of rice.
In addition, on a table in the corner, there were various bottles and jars of seasonings.
But at this moment, Chen Mu realized that this trip might not be as smooth as he had hoped.
The flour was fine, as the unopened bags of flour were placed on a wooden board on the floor.
However, the seasonings were like castles in the air.
Chen Mu immediately gave up the idea of climbing up to get them.
When they risked their lives to get the cake last time, it was out of necessity. But now, although salt was essential, it wasn't a matter of life and death.
In fact, he had another option, which was to use his ability to gradually erode one of the table's legs, causing it to tip over and knocking the seasoning jars down.
But this posed two problems.
Firstly, if the table fell, it would be disastrous for them. They might get hit by the table and the items flying around when it fell.
Secondly, the table legs now were so thick that it would take the effort of more than a dozen people to encircle them. Even if Chen Mu could gradually erode them to the tipping point, it would consume a lot of his mental energy. However, the journey back was full of dangers, and he needed his golden shield to survive, so he obviously couldn't do that.
"What should we do?" Wei Dalei obviously disagreed with Chen Mu taking another risk for the sake of salt.
"Let it go. We'll figure out a way for the salt later. Let's pack up the flour first."
They had brought two plastic pieces—one for self-defense and the other for storing things.
Chen Mu compared the size of the handcart and skillfully turned one of the plastic pieces into a large plastic bucket. Then, he pushed the cart next to the bag of flour.
Wei Dalei had already run up and raised his wolf's teeth club, using the spikes on it to continuously rub against the sturdy woven bag.
Soon, a hole was torn open.
The flour slipped out instantly.
Though it wasn't a large amount, it was enough to bury Wei Dalei. Fortunately, he was agile at this moment and quickly dodged to the side.
"Here, Old Wei."
Chen Mu threw him a plastic shovel.
Wei Dalei caught it skillfully and began to scoop the flour, one shovel after another, with practiced and rapid movements.
His appearance resembled a worker shoveling yellow sand into a dump truck at a construction site.