Ch98 Come on, There Is Meat Here
"Where should we go first?"
Meng Ci and Shen Que wrapped scarves around their necks, wore fluffy hats on their heads, and were bundled in thick coats, only their eyes visible.
Leaving the building, the two headed north.
Shen Que kept his hands in his pockets, puffing out white clouds of breath with every word.
"To the building we visited earlier."
"Mm."
Recalling what Shen Que had mentioned finding earlier, Meng Ci felt a surge of excitement.
He even swallowed hard-could this mean he'd get to eat meat soon?
A vivid image flashed through his mind.
Glancing at Shen Que, Meng Ci thought, since Shen Que couldn't do anything, he wouldn't hold back.
The security teams formed by the government earlier were now fully operational.
Each team comprised five residents, supplemented by two armed soldiers.
These patrols crisscrossed the area day and night, drastically reducing the number of troublemakers seeking conflict in recent days.
Everyone except Mao Xinyu and Ruan Qing had joined the security teams. They worked in two rotating shifts: Either Yun Jingcen and Fang Shurui took the day shift, or Duan Yan and Cheng Yu took the night shift. The key was ensuring someone was always stationed inside.
This was to prevent theft while they were out, leaving the apartment unguarded.
A couple days ago, Yun Jingcen delivered walkie-talkies to Meng Ci and the others.
Now that the security team patrolled outside, residents dared not openly come to loot.
Therefore, Duan Yan had already dismantled the iron mesh leading to the seventeenth floor. However, the main stairwell door remained locked whenever they entered, just in case.
With no need to fight a common enemy now, Yun Jingcen and the others returning the walkie-talkies was fine. The two families
would henceforth live in peace, not interfering with each other.
The temperature had now plummeted to minus forty degrees Celsius.
Meng Ci had seen several people before whose ears had frozen off due to inadequate warmth.
But the extreme cold meant they couldn't feel the pain immediately.
So this time, Meng Ci came out covered in heat patches.
Moreover, before the apocalypse, while shopping, Meng Ci had accidentally come across a male celebrity wearing a temperature-adjustable thermal suit on set.
His eyes lit up, and he immediately began scouring for such garments.
Ultimately, he managed to secure only ten pieces. Though temperature-adjustable, their effectiveness was limited in this extreme cold.
If not for the lack of electricity and internet, he would have given them a one-star review.
Meng Ci and Shen Que walked in silence to the shopping mall they had previously looted.
The mall was buried under five or six layers of snow, with only the roof protruding over a meter above the surface.
The snow on the roof had been shoveled aside, revealing a hole that had been cut out at some point. People were moving up and down through it.
Some descended with hopeful anticipation, while others climbed back up, utterly disheartened.
Even those returning claimed there was nothing down below.
Yet those heading down clung to a sliver of hope-that luck might favor them, allowing them to find food others had missed.
In these apocalyptic times, the government could only manage the living, as long as they didn't fight or cause trouble.
As for scavenging everywhere? That was utterly beyond their control.
Without hesitation, Meng Ci and Shen Que blended into the crowd and descended.
When they had come earlier, only the floors below the second level were flooded; the rest remained Intact.
Now, upon reentering, they found the building in utter disarray.
Equipment on the seventh and sixth floors lay smashed and broken, with people rummaging through the wreckage.
Meng Ci and Shen Que had a clear objective: they made their way to the supermarket on the fifth floor.
Shelves lay toppled, toothbrushes, bowls, towels-items that wouldn't fill stomachs or provide warmth-scattered everywhere.
Shen Que headed straight for the checkout area.
Typically, supermarkets placed condoms near the register for easy purchase.
Now, ordinary residents focused solely on food and clothing, paying no attention to such items.
Consequently, Shen Que quickly found several large condoms on the floor and stuffed them into his coat.
Though Meng Ci's mind was filled with explicit material, witnessing this scene still made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
He recalled some descriptions of condoms from novels he'd read before.
However, in this post-apocalyptic world, such items were scarce. People relied solely on them for contraception, so many wealthy survivors paid exorbitant prices to acquire them.
But Meng Ci didn't pick them up.
Earlier at the pharmaceutical factory, Meng Ci had taken quite a few medicines.
Among them were numerous contraceptive drugs, even some injectable ones. Meng Ci had stashed them all into his storage space.
If he needed to trade these medicines for necessities later, he could retrieve them then.
As for the condoms, Meng Ci cleared his throat. He kept the ones that fit Shen Que and himself, intending for them to use them properly.
Shen Que found what he wanted but didn't rush to leave. Instead, he continued searching inside.
"What else are you looking for?" Meng Ci asked from behind.
Shen Que paused, looking at Meng Ci. "Something for lubrication."
"Otherwise, you'll get hurt."
"Oh!"
Meng Ci no longer wanted to follow Shen Que around. Wasn't that like walking into the lion's den?
So, after telling Shen Que, Meng Ci exited the supermarket to look elsewhere.
Beyond the supermarket, the fifth floor housed only restaurants.
Knowing these places held no food, Meng Ci still wandered through them.
Shelves, microwaves, and unopened kitchenware-Meng Ci stuffed everything into his spatial pocket.
Spotting a bridge rice noodle shop, Meng Ci entered without hesitation.
He wondered if the owner had left the recipe in the shop. If so, he could take the ingredients and make it himself at home.
Meng Ci had previously bought a lot of rice noodles for his storage space and tried making them twice, but the taste wasn't great.
Therefore, upon entering the kitchen of this restaurant, Meng Ci searched quite thoroughly.
Suddenly, a rustling sound reached Meng Ci's ears.
Meng Ci quickly pulled out a long knife from his spatial pocket and cautiously approached the source of the noise.
Pushing open a door, Meng Ci was utterly terrified by the sight before him.
Squeak, squeak, squeak-
The room was pitch-black, obscuring Meng Ci's vision.
Thud.
Despite the darkness, Meng Ci's keen hearing alerted him to something lunging toward him. He sidestepped the attack, simultaneously swinging his long knife at the assailant.
When Meng Ci looked down at the creature on the floor, he nearly vomited from disgust.
A rat lay split in two on the floor, its blood not red but a foul-smelling green.
Even the rat's size was ten times larger than ordinary rats.
Soon, several more rats scurried out of the room. Apparently aware that Meng Ci had killed their comrade, they squeaked in unison and charged at him with lightning speed.
Meng Ci hadn't trained in vain these past days. No matter how fast these rats were, they were no match for him. He swiftly eliminated them all.
"There's meat here! Meat!"