"Let's stay in the slums. Have Xiao Hei find a decent place. If we live in the underground Black Market, we will be trapped if we get exposed." Snake hissed the words, his thin, dark tongue flicking out in the stale air as he spoke.
Yang Yang's plan was to push their mercenary squad up to S-rank within ten days, but their real goal was the same; they intended to haul away as much material from this city as possible. Whether they succeeded or not, getting caught in the Black Market would mean getting sealed inside a trap with no way out.
Jing Shu had the same thought, though for a slightly different reason. She was afraid a sudden earthquake might bring the whole underground structure down on their heads.
Xiao Hei didn't get it. They had just become B-rank mercenaries, so why the hell were they still living in the filthy slums? Damn it, he had just finished bragging about their promotion too. But it wasn't his call to make. With a helpless, frustrated sigh, he went to rent the only first-floor villa left in the slums. It cost twenty Black Market coins a day. The place was overcrowded now, packed with refugees pouring in daily from the border of Mexico.
The real issue was that the second floor was already occupied by some shady people whose background no one knew.
"Hey, this is already the best spot in the slums," Xiao Hei said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "After the floods, all of Sacramento's poor ended up crammed here. Having even one floor of a villa is lucky. You could buy it, sure, or go live in the underground Black Market. It's way cheaper for registered mercenaries and cleaner too. It feels just like before the apocalypse."
"Fine, we will make do for tonight," Tank muttered, already regretting his choice as he looked at the grime on the walls. The slums were filthy beyond belief. As they carried their heavy gear inside, the upstairs residents leaned over the rotting railing, eyes wide with suspicion. They stared especially hard when they saw a dog and what might have been a chicken among the equipment.
Staying in the truck might have been better, but Xiao Hei's truck was a rental that cost ten Black Market coins a day, not including the precious gas.
The first floor of the villa didn't even have private rooms. Snake took the kitchen area, while Tank and Monkey shared the living room. Ling Ling took the dining area, and Jing Shu set up in the narrow, dusty space between them. Privacy was nonexistent.
It was the worst place Jing Shu had stayed since the apocalypse began. It was the same for the others too. All the furniture was gone except for a single dining table someone could sleep on. The rest of the floor was littered with trash and reeking faintly of feces.
You never knew which pile of rotting garbage hid a chunk of human shit.
"Everyone settle in and rest early," Tank ordered, his voice echoing in the hollow room. "Same routine, two-hour shifts. Tomorrow at eight we will check out the Black Market arena. I heard it's one of the fastest ways to rank up."
Tank had to be one of the least fussy men Jing Shu had ever met, and definitely one of the fastest to fall asleep. As captain, he volunteered for the hardest shift. He took the dead of night and gave the two women the earliest and latest shifts. He dropped his pack with a thud, unrolled his sleeping bag, lay down, and within seconds, started snoring loudly.
Instant sleep. Great. It was another sleepless night for Jing Shu. There was no way she could fall asleep with that rhythmic, rattling snoring.
She bandaged Monkey's shoulder again. Since she didn't really know proper medical stitching techniques, she used a crude sewing method she remembered from fixing old clothes. With no anesthetic available, Monkey's face twisted in sharp pain. He looked convinced she was getting back at him for something. His whole shoulder felt like it was about to fall off under her hands. Still, if not for her medicine, he would have been done for. With it, he would be back on his feet in ten days.
After she finished applying the pungent ointment, Monkey couldn't sleep from the lingering pain, so he fed Ah Huang some scraps. He whispered to the dog, grumbling about how miserable he was. They hadn't earned anything yet, and now he owed Jing Shu a hundred contribution points a day for the medicine. If he didn't heal soon, he would basically be working for her forever.
Ling Ling kept her head down, avoiding the tension. She had originally planned to let Jing Shu take the villa's only table, but when Jing Shu refused, she rolled out her sleeping bag on top of it instead.
While everyone else was eating their meager rations, cleaning up, or feeding the parrot, Jing Shu once again stunned them all.
She started cleaning.
Under her teammates' bewildered gazes, she cleared away every bit of trash in her immediate area. She wiped the walls and floor with a damp rag until the original color showed, then sprayed everything with a cooling essential balm. After that, she spread a thick mat and pitched a one-person army tent, padding it thick with her down sleeping bag until it looked soft and warm.
Everyone thought that was the end of it, but Jing Shu wasn't done yet. For most people, this would have been a luxury setup already. Their luggage was limited, and most of what they carried was food and ammo, not daily necessities. She, on the other hand, had ridiculous strength, so she could carry a lot more than the average person.
She pulled out several empty flower pots, filled them with dark dirt from outside the villa, and planted a neat row of green seedlings. Then she grabbed a plate, filled it with water, and set a few cloves of garlic on it.
"Are you... planting flowers in that pot?" Ling Ling asked softly, unable to hold back her curiosity as she watched from the table.
Jing Shu cleared her throat. "What, you don't want scallions, garlic shoots, or lettuce to go with your food? They will grow fine without sunlight, and in a few days, they will be ready to eat."
Ling Ling and Snake stared at her in stunned silence.
Monkey muttered, "Women are such a hassle."
Jing Shu rolled her eyes. "Just wait a few days", she thought. "I will be eating ham and lettuce sandwiches while you all drool."
But she wasn't finished surprising them yet. She pulled out a full outdoor cooking kit, including a pot, spatula, and a portable gas canister, and started heating oil.
Cooking.
Actual, fresh cooking.
After the apocalypse, hardly anyone cooked anymore. Those who could afford it didn't need to, and those who couldn't afford it had no ingredients left to use.
She went over to Xiao Dou's freshly made nest beside the tent and scooped out a few eggs. She cracked them straight into the hot pan, and the loud sound of sizzling filled the room. Xiao Dou gave a proud "Cluck cluck cluck" and immediately laid another fresh egg in the straw. Jing Shu caught it mid-air, cracked it open, and dropped it into the pan with the others. She sprinkled in some salt, flipped the eggs neatly with the spatula, and popped one into her mouth.
The rich smell of fried eggs spread through the entire villa.
The scent was mouthwatering. Even without looking up, she could hear every one of them swallowing hard.
Jing Shu didn't feel bad about it. Yang Yang had said clearly that this mission was every person for themselves when it came to food. There were no communal meals. She could eat what she brought. And she had been hungry all day. Now, she was going to eat properly.
Ling Ling and the others stared, speechless. They finally understood what Yang Yang meant about bringing a hen along to lay eggs for nutrition. But... this many eggs? And this much food? One lays them, one eats them; it was a perfect team.
For the last few eggs, she whisked them together with chopped ham, beef bits, and dried shrimp. She soaked some dry rice and vegetables until they plumped up, then tossed them into the pan to fry in the remaining oil. Finally, she sighed, regretting she didn't have fresh scallions to sprinkle on top, and scarfed down the whole pot in two minutes flat.
Xiao Dou, meanwhile, nestled down contentedly over two black eggs Jing Shu had traded for in the Black Market earlier. Both hen and owner let out matching sighs of deep satisfaction.
Around them, there was nothing but the sound of lips smacking and throats swallowing in the dark.
Yeah, that hatred meter just shot through the roof.
Jing Shu quickly ducked back into her tent and started practicing with her Cube Space. This first stop had already brought her plenty of supplies, and now that she was full, it was time to get to work.