r18novel Chapter 6: Inventorying Supplies, After a Feast, Let's Talk Business
Chapter 6: Inventorying Supplies, After a Feast, Let's Talk Business
It took the three of them a lot of effort to carry the truckload of supplies back to their dormitory.
As the dormitory door closed, Wang Yang leaned against the door, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath. Sweat mixed with dust clung to his forehead, leaving streaks of disheveled fur.
"Damn it... I'm finally back."
He collapsed to the ground, letting out a long sigh of relief as if he had just escaped death.
"We've certainly attracted a lot of attention along the way..."
Li Bin was also exhausted. He took off his fogged-up glasses and wiped them haphazardly with the corner of his shirt.
"Yes, I reckon we're already being targeted by quite a few people."
Jiang Ming nodded and went to the dormitory balcony to try out the bathroom faucet.
Unfortunately, no water came out.
Jiang Ming pressed the bathroom light switch again, and finally sighed, "No electricity, no water, we've practically returned to the Stone Age."
"Old Jiang, come over here quickly and calculate what we've gained on this trip."
Li Bin placed the two baskets of supplies from the shopping cart onto the empty bed next to him, and then he and Wang Yang each counted their "spoils of war".
"Okay." Jiang Ming nodded and walked over to start tallying his gains.
There are 6 large bags of instant noodles, totaling 30 packs.
24 packs of various chocolates.
As for water...
Jiang Ming only found three bottles of mineral water and a pot of hot water that he had prepared that morning on his desk.
"If I eat sparingly, these supplies will be enough for me to eat for ten days."
After checking the shopping cart full of supplies, Li Bin sighed.
"Have you forgotten what's written on that panel?" Wang Yang reminded him.
"Oh right!" Li Bin suddenly realized.
Jiang Ming recited it once: "We need to explore unknown areas, collect survival supplies, and hunt invading beasts... in order to improve our daily score."
"Those with high scores will get a chance to win survival rewards in a lottery," Li Bin continued. "The survival supplies we've collected this time, by all accounts, qualify us as high scorers, right?"
After he finished speaking, Jiang Ming and Wang Yang both fell silent.
Because none of them knew how the so-called high-scoring person made the determination.
"Never mind, let's not think about that anymore. I have hot water here, would you like some instant noodles?"
As Jiang Ming spoke, he picked up the kettle of hot water he had prepared that morning.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Wow, your hot water is amazing!
The two immediately agreed.
"After we use up this hot water, we'll have to chop wood and start a fire to boil water again."
Before Jiang Ming and his two roommates could even make instant noodles, there was a knock on the dormitory door.
"Old Wang, Old Wang!"
The voice of their classmate Zhong Chengyu, who was also Wang Yang's fellow townsman, came from outside the door.
In the past, Wang Yang would have opened the door with a smile.
But things are different now than before.
"Here they come, here they come, they're urging us to hurry!"
He shouted towards the door, but didn't move. Instead, he turned to look at the two people behind him.
Li Bin reacted very quickly, pointing to the restroom and then to the shopping cart full of supplies.
Jiang Ming understood immediately, and the two of them worked together to lift the front wheel of the shopping cart, trying not to make a sound as the wheel touched the ground, and quickly pushed it into the narrow bathroom.
"Hurry up," Wang Yang urged in a low voice, grabbing a few dirty clothes haphazardly and throwing them onto the packets of instant noodles he hadn't had time to hide.
Li Bin quickly closed the balcony door and drew the curtains, completely cutting off outside light and view.
After doing all this, the three of them looked at each other, and Wang Yang took a deep breath and put his hand on the doorknob.
With a "click," the door lock turned.
Wang Yang didn't open the door fully, but only opened it a crack, with half his body blocking the view from outside.
Standing outside the door was indeed Zhong Chengyu, sweating profusely, his glasses perched crookedly on his nose, and his T-shirt torn in one rip.
"Old Wang! Why did it take you so long to open the door!" Zhong Chengyu, seeing Wang Yang, hurriedly tried to squeeze in. "Let me in quickly, it's chaos outside!"
Wang Yang didn't give in either. His 200-pound weight was like an iron tower, blocking the doorway and preventing Zhong Chengyu from squeezing in even an inch.
"The dorm is a mess, I'm cleaning it up now." Wang Yang gave a forced smile. "Old Zhong, just say what you need to say here."
Zhong Chengyu was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting his usually easy-going fellow villager to have this attitude.
He peered inside, but all he saw was a dimly lit room and a bed piled high with miscellaneous items.
"Um... Lao Wang, do you guys have anything to eat?" Zhong Chengyu licked his chapped lips, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I was a step too late at the supermarket and didn't manage to grab a single thing. I'm starving right now."
Wang Yang sighed, his face showing an even more distressed expression than Wang Yang's: "Don't even mention it. The three of us tried to grab it just now, but we almost got trampled to death by the PE students. We even lost a shoe while running, and we didn't get anything."
Standing in the shadows, Jiang Ming listened to these words and couldn't help but admire Wang Yang's ability to lie through his teeth.
"Not even a little bit?" Zhong Chengyu persisted, his gaze sweeping over Wang Yang. "Even a bag of biscuits would be helpful. We're all from the same hometown; you can't just stand by and watch someone die, can you?"
"Really, there isn't any." Wang Yang spread his hands. "If we had food, would we be starving here locked up? We would have been hooked up by now."
Seemingly to complement Wang Yang's performance, Li Bin chimed in at the opportune moment: "Old Zhong, if you have any extra, could you spare some for us? Jiang Ming's stomach is aching from hunger."
Jiang Ming obediently clutched his stomach and let out a weak groan.
Zhong Chengyu's hope completely crumbled, replaced by an undisguised disappointment and a hint of doubt.
But in the end, he didn't dare to force his way in.
"Alright... I'll go ask somewhere else."
Zhong Chengyu sullenly shrank back, muttering a curse as he turned to leave.
Wang Yang watched his figure disappear around the corner of the stairwell before slamming the door shut, locking it, and bolting it.
"That was close." Wang Yang leaned against the door, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "Luckily, that kid didn't force his way in, or I really don't know how we would have ended up like this."
"He wouldn't dare." Li Bin stepped out of the shadows, adjusted his glasses, and said, "Although everyone is panicked right now, it hasn't come to the point of completely tearing off the mask and killing each other. Everyone is testing the limits."
Jiang Ming went to the restroom and pushed the shopping cart out again.
Looking at the truck full of food and water, the three of them simultaneously let out a thunderous rumble.
"Eat something first." Jiang Ming picked up the precious pot of hot water. "You'll have the energy to think about other things when you're full."
Nobody was polite.
The sound of tearing plastic packaging was particularly jarring in the quiet dormitory.
Boiling hot water is poured into the instant noodle bowl, and the rich aroma of braised beef instantly fills the air.
This cheap, artificial fragrance, which is usually disliked, has now become the most alluring aroma in the world.
The three sat around the table, ignoring the fact that their mouths were burning hot, and slurped up the noodles in big gulps, even drinking the soup broth clean.
They ate and drank their fill.
"belch--"
Wang Yang let out a satisfied burp and slumped back in his chair, not wanting to move.
"I'm alive, I'm fucking alive."
Li Bin put down his fork, pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and his expression became serious.
"I'm full, let's get down to business."
He pointed to the semi-transparent icon in the lower right corner of his field of vision.
"You've all seen the rating panel, right?"
Jiang Ming nodded: "I saw it. Daily settlement, high scores get rewards."
"The problem now is how to get a high score." Li Bin tapped the table with his fingers. "The panel gives three directions: explore, collect, and hunt."