The next morning when the first ray of light illuminated the world, the darkness gradually faded into the bloody red chaos. The people in the room opened their eyes as morning arrived.
It was a long night for everyone, and the people who went to sleep hungry felt even worse. Chang pushed himself up a little in his bed and he looked at the other families in the room – they looked like a group of ravenous wolves.
Chang also felt hunger in his stomach; every bit of the vegetable soup had been absorbed by his body. The feeling of hunger was so bad that it felt like a black hole in his stomach, and all of his attention and desire for food were directed to this single spot.
Hence, he decided to do something so that he wouldn't need to think of food all the time.
“Will the military be distributing food today?” Chang sat up and asked while putting on his shoes.
“Maybe, but the portion will definitely be smaller than yesterday’s.” Qing Shui also sat up in his bed. He stared at Chang’s shoes and asked abruptly, “Is it possible for you to walk outside without your shoes?”
“What do you mean?” Chang loosed the shoelaces that he had just tied, removed his shoes and rubbed the bottom of his left foot. “I don't know how well I’ll do with the cement blocks and rocks on the road…”
“I’m talking about going hunting together today.” Qing Shui walked around in the room with bare feet and said, “It’s because we are going to face different kinds of animals and their hearing is much more sensitive than a human’s. For example, a dog’s sense of hearing is 16 times greater than a normal human; the sound of our shoes touching the ground is probably too loud, so it doesn't help us when we try to approach them.”
“Indeed.” Chang also stepped on the ground with bare feet; he could immediately feel the coldness of the ground from the bottom of his feet. “If I were to walk for a long time in the grass and bushes, it wouldn't be a good idea; but if it’s just for a short while, it should be fine.”
“That’s good; try not to tie your shoelaces too tight. Once we find our prey, you can take off your shoes to reduce the sound you make.” Qing Shui nodded and put on his shoes, and then he turned his head to the other three people. “You guys wait here for food distribution; we’re going out to make a weapon.”
“Weapon?” Pang Zi looked confused.
“Yes, a weapon will increase our chance of getting a prey significantly.” Qing Shui explained when he picked up his backpack. “Chang, put on your shoes first, we’re getting a spear.”
“Got you.” Chang nodded. He put on his shoes and followed Qing Shui to the world outside of the base.
The following 2 hours, the two had found a wrecked courtyard around the military base. This kind of courtyard was very common in small cities. It was enclosed by a wall and had an iron fence on the wall to prevent people from trespassing. The iron fence consisted of welded steel bars, each having a pointy tip.
These steel bars looked like unfinished and unpolished spears, they were exactly the type of materials that could be made into a weapon. They walked around the wall and tried to pull on every iron bar to see if one of them could be loosened. Qing Shui found one that wasn’t welded securely, and the two worked together to pull it out from the fence. Chang sharpened the tip against the wall while Qing Shui carefully wrapped the bar with green ivy so that it looked similar to the surroundings.
After two hours of work, Chang finally had a green spear in his hands. Although it wasn’t made as well as a real spear, it would still help Chang a lot in this new world. The spear was about 160 centimeters long, and the width was about two fingers, and it weighed about 15 pounds.
“This will be much more helpful when hunting than using your scalpels; first, this spear is long enough – one of the most difficult things in hunting is approaching your prey, so it would definitely be easier for you to shorten the distance between you and your prey. Second, fighting big animals won’t be as scary and dangerous as before, since you can kill them with this spear.” Qing Shui nodded with satisfaction when he saw Chang hold the spear.
“I agree with you. If I were fighting the dog from yesterday with this, I probably wouldn't have even gotten injured.” Chang nodded determinedly. Obviously, he agreed with Qing Shui’s thoughts.
“Let’s go back to the base. It has been almost 3 hours; the military should be sending food around now.”
“Sure.” Chang tightly clenched the spear showing how much cherished his weapon as the two found their way back to the base.
When they walked into the base, the spear in Chang’s hand caught the crowd’s attention – the base was extremely crowded and a lot of them didn't get accommodated into the buildings and hangars. Almost everyone in the crowd showed their interest in Chang because he was holding a spear; some stared at him as if they were deep in thought while others took a glance and lost interest. However, everyone could guess the purpose of Chang making this spear.
Food.
Because of their hunger, everyone’s minds were almost controlled by their stomachs. Although Chang’s look obviously revealed that he was a hunter, even if his appearance wasn’t so obvious, in the eyes of these hungry people, as long as it could be linked to food, they could make a connection in their minds. Therefore, when they saw someone go out, this idea immediately came to mind in some people.
However, Chang had been lived in an urban area for his entire life, and so did these people; they had no idea how hard it was to hunt for something in this bloody world.
“I was thinking that the most difficult part hunting isn’t fighting, but rather looking for a suitable prey. The time we spend on searching for a prey is much longer than the actual fighting.” Qing Shui and Chang were exchanging useful knowledge about hunting while they walked to their dorm room. “In other words, searching is harder than capturing. But fortunately we have Jing, so the most difficult part has become relatively easy for us.”
“I agree.” Chang nodded as he glanced at the crowd. Chang obviously knew what Qing Shui was talking about because what he was hinting at was obvious. Qing Shui was saying that they didn't need to worry about other people in the city who might interfere with their hunt since they simply couldn't find prey.
“But if more people go out for hunting, even if they don't know how to find their own prey, there’s still a chance they’ll disturb us.” Chang lowered his voice, “Plus, if we succeed in our hunt, we still need to be careful to prevent other people robbing us. It’s natural that they’ll be jealous if they can't find anything.”
“I know, that’s why we need to stay low key and protect our future gains.” The two walked to their room while they talked. When they reached the door, they stopped talking and pushed open the door.
“You’re back!” The sound of the door opening and closing had attracted everyone’s attention in the room. Jing’s face was full of joy and could be heard in her voice. “They’ve sent out some food! However, the portion is smaller than yesterday’s, and they’ve seemed to run out of canned food; there’s only a small piece of hardtack for each of us.”
She limped towards Chang and showed off the two pieces of hardtack in her hand – one was smaller than the other. She said, “this is your portion.”
“Jing, this is more than one piece of hardtack.” Chang looked at the two pieces in her hand and frowned, “Did you not finish yours again?”
“The piece of hardtack was too big for me; I’m full. You can have my leftovers.” Jing smiled.
“But…”
“Take it; you’re the main force of today’s hunt.” Qing Shui interrupted Chang’s hesitation. He said, “I’ll carry her on my back today. Her feet haven’t recovered well enough for her to walk. If she does, she could get a serious infection or even get necrosis. She shouldn’t use too much strength.”