23: Today is an acquaintance party

The dark-skinned man who stepped out of the crowd was Wu Xiaowei’s older brother, Wu Dayong.

Jiang Fei’s mood was subtle.

Today was a gathering of acquaintances.

Uncle Zheng stared suspiciously at Wu Dayong: “How do you know they are good people?”

“I’ve cooperated with Miss Jiang before; she’s a very kind person.”

Believing in Wu Dayong’s character and that he wouldn't lie, Uncle Zheng gestured for everyone to put down their weapons and said to Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia: “Sorry, girls, the world isn’t safe now. Some people have lost their minds and kill for a bite to eat, so we have to be on guard.”

Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia both said, “It’s fine.”

It was rare to meet an acquaintance, and Wu Dayong was a little surprised: “Miss Jiang, how did you end up here?”

“Someone was bitten by a rat, so we came to look for a vaccine.”

Remembering Wu Xiaowei, Jiang Fei added: “Where is your father?”

“He’s resting in a room downstairs.”

Speaking of this, Wu Dayong’s smile turned to helplessness: “A while ago, Xiao Xiaowei and I finally scraped together enough money for his kidney transplant surgery, but floods broke out a few days later.”

“My dad was staying at Lincheng Second Hospital, which is an old Hospital with low floors. We were afraid he was in danger and wanted to pick him up and move him to another Hospital. Who knew that Xiao Xiaowei and I got separated midway? I was Lucky enough to find my dad, so we came to the nearest First Hospital.”

“The inpatient department here was occupied by rat hordes, so we moved to the outpatient building with everyone else, but Xiao Xiaowei still hasn’t been found…”

Every time survivors arrived at the First Hospital, he would come to check.

What if it was Xiao Xiaowei?

“I met Wu Xiaowei; she’s with a friend of mine, but I can’t contact them right now. They should be safe.”

Jiang Fei told Wu Dayong about meeting Wu Xiaowei, but did not mention the part where she was almost bullied.

“Wu Xiaowei has been trying to find you all. There are only a few Hospitals in Lincheng, and she will find her way here.”

Wu Dayong bowed excitedly: “Thank you, Miss Jiang!”

“My dad will definitely be happy to hear this news!”

“See you again when there’s a chance.” Jiang Fei was about to leave when Uncle Zheng came over with a few people.

“Girls, do you have tools to leave? Can you take us with you?”

“I want to go home and see. I haven’t been back in a long time.”

“I wonder if the statue in Central Square has been submerged. I want to see it one more time.”

“I’m tired of smelling disinfectant. I want to go out and breathe fresh air.”

Everyone expressed their thoughts.

Jiang Fei interrupted them: “I only have one inflatable boat. I can’t take you all.”

The water level had already passed the 10th floor, and now there was a rat plague.

Even if she brought out all her inflatable boats and assault boats, there would be no safe place to house them.

Uncle Zheng was stunned, then grinned: “It’s okay, we were just asking.”

“Anyway, it’s death wherever we go. The Hospital is much better than outside.”

Thinking Uncle Zheng meant they lacked supplies, Xiao Chuxia explained how to deal with rats: “With rat meat, no one will starve to death.”

“Actually, it’s not because of that.”

Wu Dayong whispered to Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia: “Uncle Zheng and most of them are cancer patients or have diabetes. Without medicine, they can only wait for death.”

“We’ve searched all the medicine in the First Hospital, and it’s enough for them for half a month at most.”

“Uncle Zheng and the others have already decided to commit suicide once the medicine runs out.”

Xiao Chuxia’s lips trembled, wanting to say something but unable to make a sound.

Only because she was powerless.

And Jiang Fei left in silence.

She couldn’t save so many people, so she shouldn’t interfere.

The only thing she could do, perhaps, was to let these people eat well in their final days.

Wu Dayong stood by the window, watching Jiang Fei’s inflatable boat drift away, when he suddenly heard Uncle Zheng’s shout.

“Xiao Wu, come and see! There are so many things downstairs!”

Wu Dayong walked downstairs in confusion.

On a platform by a broken floor-to-ceiling window, there were 10 large boxes and an inflatable boat.

Inside the boxes were convenient foods like bread, biscuits, milk, instant eggs, chicken breast, self-heating hotpot, and self-heating rice.

One of the boxes had a note attached to the outside.

“The money for the vaccine.”

Wu Dayong’s eyes reddened slightly: “Uncle Zheng, we have hope.”

To strive to live on is hope.

—

Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia returned to the media company.

Lu Yu had already cleared a live broadcast room and moved Ling Zhaorui to a table inside to lie down, and also set up bonfires both indoors and outdoors to drive away rats.

But due to a high fever, Ling Zhaorui had fallen into a coma.

Xiao Chuxia no longer had the mind to think about the Hospital. She took a storage box and went in to clean Ling Zhaorui’s wound and inject the vaccine.

Outside, Jiang Fei glanced at the pile of rat corpses on the ground and said to Lu Yu:

“Thank you for your trouble today. I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Lu Yu inexplicably had a bad premonition.

The next second, he saw Jiang Fei pick three fat rats, cut them open, and remove their internal organs.

“…The dinner you mentioned, is it rat meat?”

Jiang Fei: “Mhm, I have a bag of barbecue seasoning in my bag. It tastes good when grilled.”

“I think…”

Crack—Jiang Fei chopped off a rat’s head with one stroke and looked up: “What’s wrong?”

The girl’s gaze was indifferent.

It was clearly a very ordinary question, yet due to the blood and internal organs on her hands, it eerily conveyed a sense of threat, as if saying—

“You’d better think carefully.”

Lu Yu swallowed the words he was about to use to politely refuse and said with a smile: “The water outside is dirty and cannot be used. You can use the water I brought from home.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Fei took the bottle Lu Yu handed her in surprise and rinsed the rat meat.

Water sources were very important now, and Lu Yu was quite generous.

Jiang Fei didn’t use too much water. After washing the rat meat clean and skinning it, she used the barbecue tools she found in the company to grill it over the fire.

She then pretended to rummage through her backpack, but actually took out a bag of barbecue seasoning from the Supermarket warehouse and sprinkled it evenly over the rat meat.

Soon, the aroma of meat filled the air.

Jiang Fei gave the first grilled rat to Lu Yu, then continued to grill the remaining two.

Lu Yu hesitated for a moment, then finally tore off a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

Resources were scarce; eating rats was something they would have to face sooner or later.

Unexpectedly, the skin was crispy, the meat was tender and firm, and the spicy barbecue seasoning perfectly masked the earthy taste of the rat meat.

His neighbor’s cooking skills were indeed good.

When Xiao Chuxia came out after finishing her work, she smelled the barbecue aroma in the air: “It smells so good!”

Jiang Fei handed the specially reserved grilled rat meat to Xiao Chuxia: “Eat it while it’s hot.”

“I love you, Miss! I haven’t eaten meat in so long!”

Xiao Chuxia, who was craving food, didn’t look closely at the shape of the meat. She took a big bite directly, her eyes sparkling: “It’s so delicious!”

“Does the media company still store raw meat?”

Xiao Chuxia’s voice stopped abruptly as she caught sight of the internal organs, rat heads, and rat skins in the corner.

“This isn’t… rat meat, is it?”

Lu Yu nodded.

Jiang Fei hummed in affirmation.

Xiao Chuxia instinctively wanted to spit out the meat in her mouth, but she couldn’t bear to. She closed her eyes and swallowed it.

It really was delicious!

As long as she didn’t see it, it wasn’t rat meat!

Xiao Chuxia self-hypnotized herself through dinner: “Miss, Brother Lu, we’re staying here overnight.”

“Ling Zhaorui’s fever has gone down, but he’s not awake yet. We need to observe him for a night.”

Jiang Fei: “Okay, we can continue to look for supplies in the company. We didn’t find much during the day.”

Lu Yu and Xiao Chuxia didn’t object.

With bonfires to drive away rats, the three of them split up to search for supplies with peace of mind.

Just after the 520 and 521 Valentine’s Day before the typhoon, there were quite a few samples left in each live broadcast room.

Red wine, cookies, chocolates, candy gift boxes, snack gift packages, and many nut sets, etc.

Jiang Fei didn’t take too much food, only collecting bags, tableware, cookware, vases, dolls, daily necessities, and women’s underwear.

After checking the half-empty shelf of tableware and kitchenware in the Supermarket warehouse, Jiang Fei felt relieved.

Finally, she had pots to cook with!

Jiang Fei returned to the 5th floor, not forgetting to fill her backpack with food as a pretense.

Lu Yu and Xiao Chuxia also returned, each carrying two large bags, enough to eat for a long time.

The live broadcast rooms were adjacent to each other.

They tidied up two rooms, and Jiang Fei went to rest with Lu Yu.

Xiao Chuxia stayed in Ling Zhaorui’s room to observe his condition, waiting until midnight to switch shifts with Jiang Fei and Lu Yu.

Closing the door, Jiang Fei opened the window, took out the inflatable boat, and left.

When she came back today, she saw a small shopping mall nearby, and she might be able to find gold there.

Jiang Fei quickly arrived at the small shopping mall, lit a torch, and walked in.

The small shopping mall must have been scavenged; not many useful things were left.

After browsing for over an hour, Jiang Fei finally found a gold shop.

System: [Ding—Gold detected: 967 grams.]

So little.

If it weren’t for the too many rats underwater now, she could dive to the jewelry store downstairs and salvage some.

Jiang Fei walked downstairs in disappointment, then suddenly saw a white light illuminate in the distance and quickly extinguished her torch.

The rats lingering around, seeing the fire gone, excitedly rushed forward and were cut down by Jiang Fei.

Rats have the intelligence of an 8-year-old child. Knowing that Jiang Fei was not to be trifled with, they retreated.

And Jiang Fei, using the cover of the wall, secretly observed.

Three assault boats stopped at the shore.

Six or seven people got off, all carrying guns, and also carried down three cardboard boxes.

“Today’s haul isn’t great. We searched all day and only found some instant noodles, mineral water, and compressed biscuits.”

“Be content. It’s better than coming back empty-handed. We’ll make do here tonight and go look for ‘Ink Snake’ tomorrow.”

“I don’t know where He’s hiding. Lincheng is only so big, and we still haven’t found any clues. Could it be that He left?”

“Impossible. Floods are everywhere, and there’s a rat plague. Leaving Lincheng would be a dead end for Him.”

The few people had weapons and not many supplies. Jiang Fei, hiding in the dark, didn’t want to cause trouble. She quietly took out her inflatable boat and was about to leave.

Bang!