Chapter 76: Someone Went Out Ahead of Us

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“I got it. Even though I went over today, I was still cautious—they don’t know which floor I live on now.”

“Mm, it’s never wrong to be extra careful.”

Jiang Yuan offered some reassurance—Ye Mianmian, at least, wasn’t completely naive.

If she had carelessly revealed everything, Jiang Yuan would absolutely have cut ties. Who knows how she’d end up being dragged into trouble later?

“But I feel like those three people aren’t bad. They probably won’t repay kindness with betrayal.”

Look at this guy—just talked one bleeding-heart down, and here pops up another saint.

“Zhang Kaiyang, don’t forget—you saw them at their lowest and most desperate. What if they’re still holding a grudge?”

She wasn’t just trying to scare them. The last people she saw like that ended up floating in the floodwaters downstairs.

“And that woman yesterday—she’s definitely not some weakling.”

Song Yi finally spoke, and Jiang Yuan agreed wholeheartedly.

“If she had never killed before, fine. But when she did it yesterday, there wasn’t a shred of hesitation.

Whatever her reasons, that kind of ruthlessness runs deep—it’s in her bones.

We don’t owe them anything. If we come across them and can help, that’s one thing, but there’s no need to go sticking our necks out.”

Zhang Kaiyang realized he’d been too naive—there were psychos everywhere now.

After experiencing something so terrifying, becoming a bit dark-minded was normal.

“I was being shallow. Mianmian, we can’t be like that anymore.”

“Yeah, absolutely not.”

Both of them made their stance clear, and the matter was settled. Now they had more important things to discuss.

“The wind has died down a lot today—that’s a sign. We can’t just sit around waiting for death.”

“Exactly. If we just sit here and eat, we’ll run out eventually.

And with no electricity or gas, even daily life is tough.”

Ye Mianmian wasn’t exaggerating. Neither she nor Zhang Kaiyang had prepared ahead of time.

In this situation, things were genuinely difficult. Although they had some self-heating rice and hot pot meals, they weren’t exactly sustainable.

Boiling water was especially troublesome.

She was young, so drinking cold water wasn’t a big deal. But her grandmother couldn’t handle it.

“These past few days, if we wanted warm water, we’d take bottled water and use heat packs—those body warmers—and stick them to ourselves.

Then we’d set the water outside the pack to slowly warm it up. It’s really hard.

And we don’t dare waste any. If we can’t finish drinking it, we save it in a thermos for later.”

Jiang Yuan was a little surprised—what an inventive idea.

“How well does that work?”

“It gets warm-ish, but not really hot. If you want actual boiling water, you still need to burn something.

Luckily, my grandma’s a sentimental type. We still had two old-fashioned thermos bottles at home.

We also had two wooden bedside tables. We chopped them up to use as firewood for boiling water.”

Wow—Jiang Yuan had thought that burning furniture would only happen during the extreme cold phase.

Never expected Ye Mianmian to already be doing it.

If she had started, chances are others had too.

“You’re telling me. And those bedside tables weren’t made of nice wood either—the smell was awful.”

Just thinking about it made Zhang Kaiyang cringe.

“That’s why, Yuan-jie, the propane station you mentioned last time—we have to go.”

“Mm, I’ve been thinking about that too. But that’s up on higher ground.

Based on the water level in our community, I’m guessing the hill area isn’t flooded.”

Their complex sat below the university district, which was built on high ground. Locals called it “the plateau,” but nowadays everyone just said “the mountain.”

“Isn’t that even better? No water means we’ll have an easier time.”

Zhang Kaiyang was thrilled for about a second—until Jiang Yuan poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

“No water means roads aren’t navigable by boat.

And we don’t have any land-based transport, so even if we find supplies, we can’t bring them back.

Carrying them by hand? That’s not easy at all.

We’re better off going to lower areas—we can still use boats there.”

“You’re right. I didn’t think of that. That’s why you’re the best, Yuan-jie.”

She ignored his flattery and unfolded the map to show everyone specific locations.

“From what I know, there’s a flower market over here. Right across from it is a food court. At the very least, we’ll find propane tanks there.

Then there’s this building materials market. Its top floor has a sizable food plaza.

Both places have small convenience stores that sell water, snacks, and such—we could check those out.

And here—Deyang Shopping Plaza. It’s on slightly higher ground too.

They’ve got everything. If we get there, we’ll likely score a decent haul.

There’s also a large supermarket. I imagine they’d have a storage room or something too. What do you all think?”

Jiang Yuan laid out her ideas. Right now, Deyang Shopping Plaza looked like their best option.

There were a few other potential targets, but the only one definitely above water was a highway service station.

The rest were further away—department stores or corporate offices.

“I think the shopping plaza probably has the most stuff—but a lot of people will think the same. We’re not the only ones with brains.”

“Exactly.”

Song Yi furrowed his brow, studied the map for a while, then pointed at the service station, the building supply market, and the flower market.

“Let’s go to these places. The more overlooked they are, the safer.

And they might not be short on goods either.”

“Alright, we’ll go with what Song-ge says.”

Zhang Kaiyang was the first to agree, and Ye Mianmian nodded too.

As for Jiang Yuan—she had no objections at all. Two of the locations she wanted to explore were on the list. Perfect.

“Okay, since we’ve made a decision, let’s start prepping.

Looks like the weather might clear up by noon—we might be able to head out.

Also, don’t sit around doing nothing. We should start planning for other, more distant locations too.

If we find a promising spot, it’s worth trying our luck.”

Jiang Yuan always believed that one person’s strength was limited.

But with teamwork, sometimes you could spark something greater.

“Alright. I’ll try to recall everywhere I’ve been so far and make a list.”

Zhang Kaiyang stretched and walked toward the balcony.

The little one was lying there quietly, not making a sound.

Jiang Yuan didn’t notice—her mind was on their next steps.

“Wait a minute… someone’s already gone out?”

As soon as he said that, the other three rushed over to look.

Sure enough, two boats seemed to be moving out in the distance—it was hard to tell from this height, but they were definitely heading off.

“Damn it—don’t tell me they’re going scavenging too!”

No one spoke, but everyone knew: leaving at this time could only mean one thing. No way were they just out for a joyride.

“Looks like we’ll have to move up our timeline.”

Jiang Yuan muttered to herself. If someone else cleared the place out first, they’d be out of luck.

Once supplies are gone—they’re gone. They don’t magically reappear.

They had to move fast, or someone else would beat them to it.

“Why don’t we just go now?”

Zhang Kaiyang was getting anxious. But Song Yi stayed calm.

“No rush. Let’s head out at dawn tomorrow.”