311: Like spring

Jiang Fei looked at the sun above: "Whether the extreme day has ended, we'll know tonight."

"Plant growth could be a good thing, or it could represent a new natural disaster."

In the previous life, when the extreme day began, nothing ever grew from the ground again.

The disasters in this life had all changed.

She also didn't know what she would face next.

"I hope it's a good thing."

Xiao Chuxia said with hope, and got into the car with Jiang Fei to go to the main street.

The stall owners who set up stalls here had already reached a tacit understanding.

No matter how late Jiang Fei arrived, the coolest spot was always reserved for her.

Upon reaching the stall, Jiang Fei took out a stool and missing person posters from the car.

Each stall was not far apart, so she could hear conversations from both sides,

"Now that plants are growing, does it mean the extreme day is almost over?"

"Today, I feel like everything is full of life, and the temperature is very comfortable, how should I put it, it's like spring has arrived."

"Is the apocalypse finally ending?"

"Don't get happy too soon, maybe this is a sign of a new disaster, the wretched heavens won't let us off so easily."

"Sigh, it's already the third year of the apocalypse, I don't know when these hard days will end."

Suddenly, a sputtering sound came.

On the street diagonally opposite, several electric tricycles stopped.

Four or five women sat in the open-air compartments.

Some were in their thirties, some around twenty, with different skin tones, and their clothes and hair were neatly arranged.

They each held a plastic fake flower.

As the women got out of the cars, all the men who had been standing by the roadside gathered around.

Xiao Chuxia, who loved gossip, asked the stall owner next door: "Who are they?"

The stall owner: "Prostitutes from Mos City."

"They usually stay in the bungalows in the Old Alley District, and come out once every seven days to find people for transactions, earning enough supplies for a few days' living before returning."

"The price is a bit expensive, a pack of noodles is only enough to choose one girl for one session."

Xiao Chuxia was stunned: "Doesn't anyone manage this?"

"It's all consensual transactions, who would manage it?" The stall owner said indifferently:

"Haven't you noticed, their bodies all have some problems, either an arm is missing, or a leg is broken, or they are mentally incomplete, or they are sick and very weak."

"Most women are naturally weaker than men in terms of physical strength, and if they accidentally get injured or sick, it's even harder to survive in the apocalypse."

"Mos City has no military or official management, and no philanthropists. If they scavenge, they'll just be robbed. How else can they live if they don't sell their bodies?"

Speaking of this, the stall owner sighed:

"These physically disabled women gather together for warmth, at least they won't be bullied by other men and get nothing in return."

To survive, they were beyond their control.

Xiao Chuxia felt a knot in her stomach, but then noticed Jiang Fei next to her, staring intently into the distance.

Following her gaze in confusion, her pupils suddenly constricted.

"Second Miss You?!"

The girl forcing a smile in the crowd was none other than You Yuxi, whom she hadn't seen in months.

Her once delicate and fair small face was now sallow and haggard.

Her autumn eyes, which should have been bright, had become a pool of lifeless stagnant water.

Hearing someone call her, You Yuxi looked around blankly.

Suddenly, her gaze met Jiang Fei's.

She froze instantly.

After a moment of hesitation, You Yuxi still limped over, leaning on a wooden stick.

"Long time no see, Sister Jiang, Sister Chu Xia."

Her voice was much rougher and hoarser, and if one listened carefully, a hint of tremor was mixed in.

Jiang Fei inexplicably felt a lump in her throat: "Your leg..."

You Yuxi feigned cheerfulness: "The day of the tsunami, I was hit on my right leg by a tree. I don't know if the bone was broken or shattered, but anyway, after I drifted to Mos City, those sisters helped me with treatment."

"But it left sequelae; my right foot can't bear weight, so I'll be a cripple for life."

Saying this, You Yuxi pulled up her loose pant leg, revealing a hideous scar on her calf.

Because it hadn't received proper treatment, the flesh on her calf was pitted and uneven, a circle larger than her left leg, and her foot was also deformed.

It looked swollen.

Noticing the fake flower tightly clutched in her hand, You Yuxi pursed her lips: "Sister Jiang, Sister Chu Xia, will you look down on me?"

"To survive, to find my brother, father, and mother, I chose to be..."

You Yuxi struggled for a moment, ultimately not saying those two words, but instead said:

"A prostitute."

It wasn't that she hadn't been a scavenger.

Even crawling to search for supplies, her hands bloody, she gritted her teeth and persevered.

But what then?

Being bullied by other scavengers, having the supplies she painstakingly found stolen, being beaten... nowhere to go, no one to rely on.

The knowledge of fashion design she had learned before was useless in the apocalypse.

She couldn't survive.

Ultimately, she walked this path.

The apocalypse didn't need young misses, nor did it lack people with tragic experiences.

As long as she could live, she would do anything.

Jiang Fei looked at You Yuxi and answered seriously, word for word: "I don't despise you, you haven't done anything wrong."

"Do you want to live with me?"

"I can afford to support you."

The kindness Yu Xi had once shown her could be repaid in her own way.

You Yuxi refused: "I don't want to cause you trouble."

"I can support myself."

Hearing this, Jiang Fei didn't insist, but simply returned to the car and got a backpack for You Yuxi.

Inside were medicine, guns and ammunition, drinking water, and food.

And a sturdy trekking pole.

"I live in Tube Building 301, Lu Yu, Su Liuyuan, and Ling Zhaorui live in 302. I come here to set up a stall every day. If you need anything, come find us."

As if thinking of something, Jiang Fei lowered her voice: "Don't go to the refugee camp."

"Mo Yanan is there."

You Yuxi's face turned pale: "Thank you, Sister..."

"If I hear any news about Uncle Jiang and them, I'll let you know."

With the backpack on, You Yuxi, leaning on the trekking pole Jiang Fei gave her, returned to the street diagonally opposite.

After saying something to a man, she followed him away.

Where she went, Jiang Fei didn't know.

"Actually... Yu Xi's leg could be treated, but now medical equipment is incomplete, so we can't know the condition of her bones, and we can't directly cut it open and reattach it."

Because of this, Xiao Chuxia hadn't said anything just now.

She was afraid of giving You Yuxi hope only to disappoint her again.

Xiao Chuxia couldn't help but sigh: "Yu Xi should have always been carefree, but because of a tsunami, she became like this. Fate truly plays tricks on people."

"If You Chengyu knew all this, he would probably go crazy."

Jiang Fei remained silent.

This was the apocalypse.

Ruthless and cruel, forcing people to drift and sink in a chaotic world, waiting for that unseen tomorrow.

Having no mood to sell goods anymore, Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia packed up their stall early and drove home.

More new sprouts appeared by the roadside, among them colorful flower buds.

The car window was open, and the warm, gentle breeze blowing in carried a faint scent of fresh grass.

It had a bit of that spring feeling the stall owner mentioned.

Jiang Fei calculated the days.

It was late March, just past the vernal equinox.

Everything starting to grow was indeed normal.

She just feared this was another trick from the heavens.

Upon returning to the Tube Building, as Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia came up, they heard intermittent crying from 302.

"I'm sorry, Brother Lu, I'm the one who harmed you..."