After resting for a full day, at the first hint of dawn, Chi Xiaochi roughly packed up his things, planning to make a trip to the neighbouring city.
Mother Ding wasn’t much at ease, wanting to tell Father Ding to drive there together with him.
Firstly, motorcycles truly weren’t safe, and secondly, there was enough space in a car, but with a small motorcycle, it would be hard to transport even a barrel of fuel.
Chi Xiaochi comforted Mother Ding, saying, Ding-jie, I’m used to driving this motorcycle. Besides, if something happens over here at the rest stop, and I’ve taken the car with me, what are you and Old Ding supposed to do?”
Bringing the two elders with him to gather materials, wasn’t very practical.
According to Ding Qiuyun’s memories, in the early days of the apocalypse, there wasn’t any looting near the rest area. Jing Zihua even managed to make a few deals, exchanging seventy litres of oil for a mechanical crossbow used for hunting.
Only half a month after the world turned cold did a small group of old humans looking to rob the place come.
Not only did they have no intentions of making trades, they even spewed obscenities about Jing Zihua, planning to take her with them as a battle prize, forcing Jing Zihua to pull out her crossbow and shooting dead one person right then and there and harming another.
The other people didn’t have any long-range weapons and, seeing how fierce this lady was, guessed that she might have someone supporting her. Not daring to test their luck, they could only flee.
Hence, at least for now, staying at the rest stop was the safest choice.
But Chi Xiaochi couldn’t be completely at ease.
He went off to gather a large amount of freeze-dried branches from nearby, swiftly stripping them of frost and tidily storing them in a corner of the breakroom for future use. He told his parents that he’d be back in three days, then called Yan Lanlan over to give her a few words of advice. The contents of his words were simple, detailing nothing more than how to deal with wild animals, new humans, and old humans looking to leech off of them if they came.
Yan Lanlan was, after all, still young, and was deeply aware of the great responsibility placed on her shoulders. She nervously scratched her ear. “Ah? You’re leaving everything to me?”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Two old ones, two young ones, I’ll have to trouble you and Jing-jie to take on a little more work.”
Seeing the smile on the face of the person before her, and feeling the weight of the object in her hands, Yan Lanlan suddenly felt a lot more secure. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of everything for you.”
Yan Lanlan was young, but she was absolutely loyal.
Since she had promised to “take good care of everything”, then she wouldn’t miss even a cent. Even if she needed to keep her promise at the cost of her own life, she would grit her teeth, and bravely go up to meet it.
After handing out responsibilities, Chi Xiaochi began to fill his motorcycle with diesel oil, looking like he fully intent on going off on a long journey.
Seeing Ding Qiuyun’s busy figure through the window, Xiao Han, whose teeth were chattering from the cold, finally laughed.
In just two short days, he’d already had enough of being confined within the tiny convenience store.
Not to mention how there weren’t any electronics to pass the time, and putting aside how eating, drinking, and relieving himself were all done in this tiny enclosed space of a few tens of square metres, Xiao Han was truly afraid that the group of people would come to rob his little convenience store, and was also afraid that he wouldn’t wake up at all one of these ice-cold days, so he simply forced himself to stay energised, not sleeping a wink, running circles around the aisle to keep warm, and tormenting himself until his eyes were fully bloodshot.
When he truly couldn’t hold on any longer, he wanted to drink a cup of coffee to keep himself awake, but unable to find hot water anywhere, he could only pour a box of coffee grounds into a bottle of mineral water filled with a mixture of water and ice. Even after shaking it for half a day, he couldn’t mix it well. When he poured it all into his mouth, he got a mouthful of paste, utterly disgusting.
Fortunately, it was all soon going to be worth it.
As long as he waited for that damn obstruction to leave, he could find that group of people and have a good “talk” with them.
He rubbed his hands, which were already numb from the cold, together, stepping over the chocolate wrappers strewn about on the floor and around the counter. Holding the switchblade in his hand, he then disdained it as not enough, and placed an inch-long fruit knife in his pocket.
As he made his preparations, he even came up with all his excuses.
When surnamed Ding left, he’d be gone for at least ten days to half a month. This group of women, children and elderly didn’t have any food to eat and had rested in that rest stop of theirs for a full two days. How could they go without paying a thing?
Even though this was a free parking area, now that the world had changed, the rules should change too.
If the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled didn’t obey the rules, then it would be up to him to teach them what……
Just as Xiao Han was happily lost in thought, he suddenly heard a jangling from the door.
When he looked up, he actually found the huge Ding Qiuyun standing at the door to his store, his head lowered as he messed around with the handles on the outer side of the door.
His first thought was “robbery”. In a panic, he flicked out his blade, but because he wasn’t very practiced, cut his own hand.
Outside, Ding Qiuyun saw him holding his bloody right hand to himself and huffing from the pain. Unexpectedly, he raised an eyebrow, then placed a hand against the outside of the glass door and said in a gentle voice, “This mister, I know that you really treasure your current supplies very much. You can be at ease, we’ll look for our own supplies, and won’t come to rob yours.”
When Xiao Han looked at the door, his eyes bugged.
On the outside door handles, a huge U-shaped lock, twice as big as the bicycle lock he had placed on the inside, was secured.
Ding Qiuyun gently patted a hand on the glass door. “You’ve placed a lock on the inside, so in order to express our sincerity, we’ve placed a lock on the outside. This way, it’s fair, isn’t it?”
……Fair my ass!!
But Xiao Han didn’t dare to lose his temper in front of the Ding Qiuyun who was a whole head taller than him. He didn’t even dare to say a word, only able to watch as Ding Qiuyun got onto his motorcycle and sputtered off into the distance.
The veins on Xiao Han’s forehead bulged, really wanting to kick down the door.
However, without this door, wouldn’t anything and anyone be able to come in to get things?
After a bit more than a day, Xiao Han had slowly begun to realise that if the electricity and the AIs didn’t go back to normal, then this little convenience store would be his territory from now on.
But the fuel outside and the fuel storage below the ground together were an even greater sum of wealth. If he used it well, he would probably be able to get more than a few benefits out of it.
Jing Zihua had always been shrewd. Expecting her to give up such a big slice of cake by her own will, was obviously a fool’s hope.
Xiao Han impatiently paced around the smelly convenience store. He came up with a plan, to break the back window in the middle of the night, and crawl out to have a talk with Jing Zihua and get her to chase these strangers out as quickly as possible. At worst, the both of them could form an alliance, and share the resources of the convenience store.
He thought, the more people there were, the more trouble there would be. After they chased this group of unexpected guests out, he could spend a little more time with Jing-jie. Maybe he might even be able to get all he wanted, and form a good relationship with her.
As a feisty divorcee who was even dragging along a bottle of oil with her, if she wanted to find another partner, it wouldn’t be easy.
He had never been married before. If he got together with Jing-jie, it would be Jing-jie’s fortune.
However, he wouldn’t disdain Jing-jie. They would be spending their days together after all, wouldn’t they have to forgive each other a little something?
This little flight of fancy, managed to get Xiao Han through until twilight, when it began to get dark.
The fragrance of steaming rice wafted over through the air.
The rice was the top-quality big grain. It had been sterilised with UV light, so even in the summer, it could be stored for a very long time. The cooked rice was like pearls, both soft and sticky.
Everyone scooped out a spoonful of shiitake mushroom sauce from the can and spread it over their rice.
The shiitake mushrooms were soft, yet supple. Chewing them felt like chewing meat, and the taste was salty and delicious. It was the best thing to have with rice.
Smelling the fragrance that was drifting over nonstop, Xiao Han’s saliva flowed like a fountain, but he could only chew on his instant noodles. His mouth was filled with the taste of the seasoning packet and preservatives, but he could only stare as he swallowed, choking until his eyes rolled back into his head.
He resisted his impatience until the smell of rice was gone and the sound of washing up stopped. Then, he grabbed a shirt, wrapped it around and around his fist, and smashed the glass pane of the back window in a few hits. After pulling out the remaining shards of glass from the edges, he clumsily climbed out the window.