Everyone gathered around excitedly, and Xu Song quickly made a gesture, silencing them as they listened attentively to the voice coming from the radio.
Earlier, the radio used to broadcast information about shelters across the country, including news from other regions and updates on rescue operations. However, now they could only receive the local S City frequency, which repeated the location of the shelters and some hollow words of comfort.
Ignoring the other content, they focused on the specific location of the safe zone in S City. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at the map in Yue Zheng’s hand.
“It’s here! North of S City, by the sea!”
“How do we get there? Should we go through the city or take a detour?”
“A detour will be too slow…”
“But the city…”
The group hesitated. The finish line was right in front of them, and everyone wanted to reach it as quickly as possible. But what was the situation in the city? No one knew for sure.
They had only entered the outskirts of S City, and although there were many buildings on both sides, the road they were currently walking on was relatively wide. Despite some abandoned vehicles on the road, they didn’t see any immediate danger. But who knew what awaited them in the city…
“For safety’s sake, it’s better to take a detour, even if it’s slower.” Yue Zheng looked at the map and stood up.
“With the children in tow, we can’t fight, so Xu Song and I will definitely take a detour.” He then looked at Luo Wen’an and the others.
Luo Wen’an shrugged. “Let’s go together. It’s not like we’ve lost much time after walking for so long.”
Su Daji naturally had no objections, and neither did Liu Shishi, who rarely opposed Luo Wen’an’s decisions.
Fang Helun and the others were still hesitant. After all, no one knew which route was safer. What if the danger was concentrated on the outskirts? In that case, it might be better to go through the city center.
“Why don’t we split up and go separately?” Luo Wen’an, impatient with their indecision, suggested.
“Well…”
“Let’s go through the city. Who knows which route is safer?” Liu Su and the others couldn’t wait any longer and stood up. Liu Su, in particular, felt his legs getting numb after squatting for a while due to his heavy weight.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Cigluta!”
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“Let’s split up and meet at the shelter.” Seeing that they wanted to go their separate ways, Yue Zheng didn’t insist. They had chosen their own path, and he had fulfilled his duty of warning them. How they chose to proceed was up to them. Perhaps they would be lucky this time and not encounter any dangerous creatures in the city?
Five adults, two children, prepared to go around the outskirts of S City and head north.
There were many scattered vehicles blocking the road in all directions. There were even more vehicles here compared to when they were closer to the city. However, the majority of these vehicles were completely broken down and had no chance of being driven under the current road conditions. Since the shelter was not far ahead, it was better to walk there.
Although they were on the outskirts of the city, there were still plenty of buildings on both sides. The group picked up the pace and, as they passed by a large supermarket, they quietly discussed and decided to explore inside while collecting some supplies.
The main reason for their decision to enter the supermarket was that Mo Tianyou indicated there didn’t seem to be any danger inside.
While Yue Zheng’s group entered the supermarket to gather supplies, Fang Helun’s group ventured into the city center of S City.
“I worked here in S City before. There seems to be a small park to the north…”
“A park? Are there any mutated animals in there?!” Fang Helun and the others were startled. They were already terrified by the animals in the zoo. Hearing about another place like that immediately made their hearts pound.
“No, no! It’s just a small park, and the news about the shelter didn’t mention it being inside the park. It’s just adjacent to it,” Yu Cheng explained, shaking his head repeatedly.
“It’s a pity that only a few of them have a radio…” Li Ding’s expression darkened. When they left the county, they were lucky to remember to bring some food. Who would have thought of bringing a radio? And especially a solar-powered one?
“Alright, let’s go. Whatever we need, we can find it when we reach the shelter.” Fang Helun broke the silence and suddenly pointed to a tall building not far away.
“There’s a 24-hour convenience store down there. Let’s go and see if there’s any food!”
Living as savages for so long, they rarely encountered the convenience stores that were so common in the pre-apocalyptic world. The group’s eyes lit up at the thought.
Holding a few pieces of children’s clothing in their hands, Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou compared them on their bodies.
Xu Song picked two pieces of the same color and said, “You can try these.”
S City’s commercial sector was highly developed, and although the group was walking on the outskirts, this large shopping mall had everything. The basement had a supermarket, the first floor had jewelry and cosmetics counters, the second floor had electronics, and the third and fourth floors had clothing stores. It had a wide range of products and nearly all the necessary daily items.
Moreover, most of the clothing here were from famous brands, and the quality was significantly better compared to the merchandise in Y City. The fabric of the clothes was excellent.
Yue Zheng walked over from nearby, holding a few pieces of outdoor hiking gear. The clothes they had been wearing had become worn-out during their journey, and they couldn’t easily use the items stored in the small tree. Now that they saw clothes they could directly replace, they naturally wanted to change into them immediately.
“It’s a pity there’s hardly any food left in the supermarket.” It seemed like this place had been thoroughly looted, whether it was during the early stages of the apocalypse or after the establishment of safe zones. The scattered fruits and food in the cold storage section of the supermarket were emitting a strong odor of decay.
“Well, luckily we still have plenty of food.” The beverages and convenience foods in the supermarket had long disappeared, and even bags of rice and noodles were gone. Even the first-floor jewelry stores had been completely cleared out. However, there were still a good number of electronics and clothing items remaining.
“Why would they take not only food and drinks but also jewelry?” Xu Song couldn’t understand it for a moment. He helped the younger brothers change their clothes and then started changing his own.
“No one can say for sure whether the prices of jewelry and gold will rise again once the chaos is over.” Yue Zheng sighed with regret. He had hoped to find something like Mo Tianyou and Mo Tianyou did, to see if he could find something to store the crystals in and keep them close to him. Unfortunately, all the jewelry counters on the first floor were empty, not a single thing left. There were no necklaces, earrings, or even ear studs.
“Ah… I wonder what the shelter will be like.” Xu Song sighed. He hoped to enter the shelter soon and see the environment of the S City shelter, which would give him a general idea of what the B City shelter might be like. If the living conditions there were relatively stable, his mother should be in a better situation.
“We’ll be there soon, don’t worry.” Yue Zheng raised his hand and rubbed his head, his eyes filled with comforting warmth.
Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou raised their heads together, looking at each other and then at Xu Song. They tilted their heads and said, “Xiao Shu said it has grown.”
“Huh? What? What has grown?” Luo Wen’an and the others had gone to the fourth floor with Liu Shishi to look for women’s clothing after picking up some clothes on the third floor, so they were not around at the moment.
Xiao Shu twisted its body from the pocket of clothes Xu Song had placed on the ground and proudly walked out with a cat-like step using its roots. Its crown was swaying.
“It says it can grow bigger after eating purple mushrooms.” Mo Tiancheng faithfully translated for the two.
“Purple mushrooms?” Xu Song didn’t understand and looked at Xiao Shu.
“Ah! I remember now! It grabbed a mushroom with its roots when we ran out of the animal group on the highway, and then it shrank and returned to my pocket!”
Xu Song slapped his forehead. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but now… Could it be that it could grow by devouring its own kind?
“What effect does eating purple mushrooms have on it?” Yue Zheng went straight to the most important question. With the little translator around, they could directly ask many things without having to guess like they did before.
Xiao Shu twisted its body, and Mo Tiancheng nodded his head. They communicated for a while before looking up. “It says it has grown bigger, and its hollow space has also become larger! Moreover, it can emit the same purple mist as the mushrooms.”
The two of them exchanged astonished glances. Xu Song hurriedly asked, “Purple mist? Does it have the same effect as those mushrooms?”
Xiao Shu suddenly raised one of its roots and extended it in front of the two. It was then that they noticed tiny purple spots on the previously smooth stems, which were almost identical in color to those purple mushrooms.
“It can!”
“What about the other green mist it produced before? What was that for?” Xu Song quickly asked. He hadn’t forgotten the strange mist they discovered during the initial test of Xiao Shu’s abilities, which they hadn’t found a use for.
“It’s the itching powder!” Blinking its big black eyes, Mo Tiancheng pointed at a root that Xiao Shu had raised. “It says it’s similar to the purple mist, and anyone who comes into contact with it will feel itchy!”
After saying that, the little fellow giggled, and when Mo Tianyou heard the words “itchy powder,” he laughed along with his brother.
Xu Song couldn’t figure out what was so funny about the kids, but he understood an important point: “brother Yue… It’s another area-of-effect skill that doesn’t differentiate between friends and foes, right?”
“Yes, that’s why it didn’t want to test it on us back then.” Yue Zheng nodded silently. Regardless, having more new skills was always good. Although it didn’t have much use at the moment, it would have its place sooner or later.
Laughter could be heard coming from the direction of the elevator as Luo Wen’an and the others descended from the fourth floor.
“It’s been a long time since we went shopping.” Liu Shishi held a few bags and exclaimed happily.
“Yes, today is the fastest I’ve accompanied a woman shopping in years!” Luo Wen’an followed behind with a cheerful smile, wearing two down jackets.
Su Daji had colorful scarves hanging around his neck, and it was impossible to count how many he had.
The small tree’s tree cavity had become larger, so they should be able to fit more things in it. Unfortunately, now that they had people around and couldn’t collect much from the supermarket below, it was not immediately useful.
Happy family shopping trip…pfft! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳
Shopping spree whoo ~ thank you for the chapter 💐