Chapter 33 p1
After returning to the home she had been away from for many days, Ji Yang felt a sense of relief as soon as she closed the main door.
She quickly took out a few burning logs from her space and relit the fireplace. It was precisely to prevent this kind of situation that she would usually store one or two brightly burning logs in her static space when the fireplace was normally lit.
Starting a fire was very convenient now.
It was the same steps as before: two charcoal basins, batteries, and heaters were all prepared.
Ji Yang disappeared from the living room and went to her space to take a good hot bath. When she came out, the room was already warm again. She was too lazy to blow-dry her hair. The supplies, which were dry from the heating, could be humidified by her wet hair.
Seeing its owner come out, Xixi also wanted to pounce over happily.
But at this moment, the room was bright. Ji Yang looked at Xixi, which still had grass clippings on its body, and the smell of soil on its four paws was so obvious. She immediately scolded, “Stop!”
Xixi tilted its head. “Awoo?”
Ji Yang said seriously, “You should take a bath too.”
Xixi: !
Its resistance was futile. Xixi was also sent into the space and was washed clean from head to toe. It had been in the breeding area these past few days, rubbing against things, so its body was really not that clean anymore.
Fortunately, after the wash, it was a cute and beautiful dog again.
But she had to blow-dry the dog’s fur.
Xixi was really big now. It was originally a large breed of dog. With her good food and drink, it was even bigger. Ji Yang was tired after blow-drying it. Only after she had groomed it did the human and the dog come out of the space and have a good cuddle.
After that, it was their respective meals.
She hadn’t eaten for a long time. After Xie Muzhi’s cooking, Ji Yang was a little picky. She looked at the cooked food area for a long time, chose a steak, a lamb chop, and a fresh and tender steamed egg with sea urchin.
One bite, and it was delicious!
She had successfully thrown Xie Muzhi’s home-cooked dishes to the back of her mind.
Xixi was also eating a piece of meat with each bite, its tail wagging from time to time. Although it hadn’t been starved in the space, being with its owner was the happiest time for a dog.
Having just returned from outside, Ji Yang was in a homesick mood, so she was too lazy to go out.
Anyway, the jade stored on Xie Muzhi’s side would definitely not be lost. If anything really happened, Xie Muzhi could also contact her through the walkie-talkie. If there was no contact, then there was nothing.
For three consecutive days, the human and the dog stayed at home, eating and drinking.
It was also on the third day that Li Yi and Jiang Jing came to knock on the door.
Li Yi handed over a jewelry box, her expression much more relaxed than before. “Yesterday, we sent Grandpa and Grandma to be cremated. In the current situation, we can’t hold a funeral. This is to thank you for the dumplings you gave us before. My grandmother said to give them to you to play with.”
Ji Yang was surprised and hesitated for a moment. “If you give these to me, they’ll be gone. I’m not collecting these, but I’m learning to carve.”
If she gave them to her, and she put them in her space, they would be absorbed by the space. If she didn’t put them in her space, it would be inconvenient to carry them with her. But these things were the two old people’s last belongings.
Li Yi said calmly, “It’s fine. What’s given to you is yours. You can do whatever you want with them. Anyway, these things, in this world now, can’t be exchanged for much. It’s just taking up space for us to keep them.” For the first time, she was a little firm and stuffed the box into Ji Yang’s hand. “We’re going to the base tomorrow. I feel like you probably won’t go. I don’t know if we’ll see each other again in the future. I wish you all the best in the future.”
“Same to you,” Ji Yang did not refuse again.
After Li Yi had given her gift, Jiang Jing also presented a gift: some jade and some fried fish pieces. “This is for you. Don’t give me anything else. We’re going to the base, and we can’t carry too many things. This fish is from the exchange point. It’s said to have been transported from a coastal city. This extreme cold has some benefits, that is, things won’t go bad. These seafood and the like can all be transported over, and the price is also much cheaper than pork and beef. I made some for you to try.”
Ji Yang’s eyes lit up slightly, but she was a little disappointed when she heard that it was sea fish.
The coastal waters were probably frozen, but the government had icebreakers. No matter how cold it was, the Antarctic and Arctic were not completely frozen, so it was definitely still possible to fish in the open sea. When the seawater froze, there would be a lot of fish and shrimp gathering in the places that were not frozen.
In the later stages of the extreme cold, it was a source of protein for many people.
But freshwater fish basically didn’t appear much.
Ji Yang thought of her small pond. The four little guys were still living well. She had already put them back in their nests. She had also tasted the water. It was freshwater. She had to find a way to get some live fish and shrimp.
But that was for later.
At this moment, she accepted the gift and also seriously thanked her. They had lived in the same building, and there had been no conflicts. They had even helped each other a few times. Now that they were separating, she felt a little emotional. But in the apocalypse, the thing one needed to get used to the most was people coming and going. No one would stay in the same place forever.
After a simple chat, the three of them went back to their respective homes.
Li Yi and Jiang Jing resolutely refused to take Ji Yang’s things. She had already helped them too much. The base was already a very safe place, and they could handle it themselves.
—
The next day, Ji Yang heard the sound of moving.
There were two escape stairs in the apartment building. The Li family’s moving would not disturb this side. Xixi only paid a little attention and then ignored it.
The noise quickly disappeared.
Ji Yang looked at the balcony. Many people had chosen to leave again. Counting the number of times, there was only one last move left, so this time, it should be the vast majority of people who were leaving.
Those who were still outside were either reluctant to leave here, or they didn’t want to suffer in the base, or they had a way to get by better outside than in the base.
Ji Yang watched for a while and saw the Li family and Jiang Jing go out together.
They were all carrying large and small bags. The four adults and one child gathered with the other survivors who were also leaving at the community entrance. Finally, they went to the location designated by the government together. The cold wind was biting, and the group walked cautiously, not knowing what the future held.
Ji Yang tilted her head. She knew a part of the future, but she couldn’t see any hope at all.
That was why she had such an attitude, to live every day well.
They didn’t know, and she didn’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate.
However, soon there was no time to sigh. The walkie-talkie, which had been quiet for a long time, rang. Xie Muzhi’s voice came through, “Ji Yang, I have some time these few days. Do you want a sparring partner? Meals included.”
Xixi’s ears twitched. As soon as the walkie-talkie rang, it had picked up the chain that Ji Yang had hung up and brought it to its owner.
Ji Yang took it, pressed the button, and replied, “No problem! Then I’ll provide the fruit.”
On the other end of the walkie-talkie, the man’s slightly low voice held a hint of a smile. “Okay.”
Ji Yang also raised her lips and looked at Xixi. “Come on, want to go out and play?”
“Woof!” Xixi was also excited and wagged its tail in response.
Ji Yang began to get dressed. After she was fully armed, she opened the door. Suddenly, she remembered something. She had promised to bring something good to eat for Luo Laosan, and she couldn’t forget. So, she took out two packs of spicy hand-shredded rabbit from her space. This was an order she had placed online. It was vacuum-sealed. When she took it out, the grease inside had melted a little, but soon, almost visibly, the grease gradually solidified.
She casually put it in her bag, closed the door, and took Xixi downstairs. All the way down, the building became more and more deserted. All the way out of the community, she didn’t feel anyone looking at her, which was different from the feeling of countless gazes on her when she had gone out before.
However, as she slowly approached the exchange point, the number of people increased again.
There were too many people in a city. Even if only a small portion wanted to stay, it was still a very large number.
Fortunately, the government officials had been appearing frequently recently, and everyone was very well-behaved, so the safety had improved a lot.
It was just that when the government officially focused on the base, the outside would definitely become very chaotic.
She just hoped that when that group of people were throwing their weight around outside the base, they wouldn’t come to disturb her.
Speaking of which, the house in Jiafu Community was on the fifteenth floor. It was very comfortable during the extreme cold and floods, but during the extreme heat, it would probably not be very good. At that time, she could look for a suitable villa area, preferably with a basement.
Her original grandparents’ house did not have a basement, and the geographical location was low. The scenery was good, but after the floods, it would definitely be soaked and ruined.
Why not go to the base after the floods?
Ji Yang’s heart stirred, but she was a little repulsed. The life in the base in her previous life was too stifling. The small single room, the neighbors who were always prying, and the environment where she could never sleep peacefully all made her treat the base as a last resort.
Even though her situation was different in this life.
It wasn’t until she saw the familiar building that Ji Yang stopped her wild thoughts.
Upstairs, sensing the movement, Xie Muzhi immediately went to the balcony to check. He happened to see the back of a red snowmobile. He tutted. Ever since the mission had ended, this person had disappeared. She had a walkie-talkie, but there was no movement at all.
It was he who couldn’t hold it in and spoke first.
Since he was the one who had started it, then he wouldn’t go down to greet her, right?
To avoid being too eager.
Xie Muzhi rubbed the string of beads he had casually picked up. This was an extra from a transaction two days ago. The person had said it was a sarira and was very valuable. He had not intended to take it at first, but ever since the mission, he had always felt a little uneasy. Playing with it could slightly divert his attention.
But at this moment, this thing seemed to have no effect.
He listened carefully to the movement downstairs, calculating the time. Why isn’t she up yet?
Luo Laosan is so talkative. He’s probably holding her up.
Xie Muzhi frowned, put down the string of beads, and opened the door to go down. He had just reached the third-floor stairwell when he saw Ji Yang coming up. The unknown anxiety in his heart seemed to have instantly vanished. He raised an eyebrow. “Looking at your rosy complexion, you’ve been living quite well these past two days.”
Ji Yang also glanced at him and replied, “Looking at your dark circles, you don’t seem to have been living too well these past two days?”
Xie Muzhi subconsciously touched under his eyes. Thinking of the reason why he hadn’t slept well these past two days, he looked at her deeply and fell silent.
As they were talking, Ji Yang took two quick steps and came to the same step as Xie Muzhi. The two of them then went up together, completely ignoring Luo Laosan. “…”
So why did the boss say to let him bring her up?!
He could have come down to get her himself.
However, thinking of the two packs of hand-shredded rabbit, Luo Laosan swallowed his saliva and quickly went down, for fear that they would all be eaten by that group of animals!!!
—