"Hey! Grandson! Your grandpa is calling you to get up!"
"Hey! Grandson! Your grandpa is calling you..."
Turning off the phone alarm, Lin Yuan opened his blurry eyes, feeling groggy and wanting to sleep. "So sleepy!"
After sitting on the bed for a while, he shook his head, stopping the urge to lie down again, and quickly put on his clothes.
He found the special water bucket at the washing area, carefully filled half a cup of water, grabbed the wet wipes he collected yesterday, and ran to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.
What used to be a daily routine had now become once every three days, only ensuring basic hygiene.
He meticulously wiped his face, neck, and the backs of his ears with wet wipes, then picked up his phone to check the time.
6:30 AM.
The sky was almost dawn. There was no smell of burning in the air; the fire in the old district had stopped. Lin Yuan grabbed his binoculars and took a look. About 40 buildings had been burned to shells. Fortunately, a street blocked the path, and coupled with the light wind last night, it prevented the entire old district from becoming an inferno.
He felt a slight relief, this safety hazard was temporarily resolved. However, it was worth noting that the signal bars on his phone were now fluctuating between 2 and 5 bars, becoming unstable.
He checked his messages and various apps; there were no new notifications. It was eerily quiet, as was his QQ chat.
He sent messages to the survivors in his contact list, wanting to confirm their signal status.
No one had replied yet, so Lin Yuan put down his phone, preparing to take his supplies to the rooftop for breakfast.
Thanks to yesterday's scavenging, his tomato reserve had reached 13. (The next supply count will be announced after the community cleanup and will not include unreasonable quantities of resources.) So, Lin Yuan generously took 6 tomatoes, along with 4 eggs, a bag of noodles, and two bottles of water.
After the experience of a large basin of tomato scrambled eggs yesterday, seeing things that might evoke similar associations now brought no waves of emotion. In the face of survival, any discomfort had to be overcome with adaptation.
He thought for a moment and decided to bring his frying pan and seasonings, as it wouldn't be right to keep using Wu Tian's things.
He could carry all these supplies in one hand. With his other hand, Lin Yuan grabbed the woodcutting axe he had found but hadn't used, planning to practice with it today. The kitchen knife was still too short and felt perilous to use.
Today, he needed to build a shelter and seal off the stairwell. He wasn't planning any combat, so he put on only a T-shirt, shorts, and sandals before getting ready to go out.
He called out to Peiqi, "Let's go, Peiqi. We're having tomato and egg noodles for breakfast." Hearing his name, Peiqi happily trotted over, circling around Lin Yuan.
Peiqi was indeed a bit smarter than ordinary cats. It actively avoided bloodstains along the way, as if afraid of touching even a drop.
It bounced and hopped, sometimes jumping onto Lin Yuan's shoulder to hang there. However, that twenty-pound weight…
Tsk, it went without saying.
Reaching the rooftop, Lin Yuan checked the dried meat as usual. It was drier than yesterday, but when he broke a piece, he could clearly feel it was still soft inside, not completely dried.
He decided to let it air dry for another day. He'd heard that wind-dried yak meat needed over ten days to dry. With the sun constantly shining on it, he wondered how the texture would turn out. It would be a disaster if it ended up harder than a stone.
He held the axe against Peiqi's neck as it tried to poke its head out to bite the meat. "Still want to eat? Didn't I teach you a lesson yesterday? Looks like you're itching for more!"
"Meow, meow! (I'm just hungry!)"
However, Lin Yuan couldn't understand cat language. He forcibly removed Peiqi from the tripod using his strength.
Upon reaching the connection point of the rooftop, he placed his belongings on the ground. He now needed to build a stove.
Just then, the intercom crackled to life, "Calling Lin Yuan, calling Lin Yuan, please respond if you receive."
He pressed the transmit button. "Lin Yuan received. Have you finished marinating the meat? The weather is great today, hurry and bring it up to dry. I might need to borrow your grill later to boil water for noodles. I'm still building the stovehead."
Wu Tian quickly replied, "The meat is ready. It should be cool enough to handle now. I woke up at 3 AM and marinated it at home with charcoal-boiled water. Wait a moment, Mengyao and I are coming up right away."
"Okay, I'll move the strawberries from the connecting passage first. I'll be preparing to build the shelter shortly." With that, Lin Yuan began moving the strawberries, pot by pot.
However, this connecting passage was 4.5…
He looked around. Damn it, this rooftop was so large; even planting vegetables here wouldn't be enough to eat. Moreover, his food reserves were currently sufficient, so there was no rush to start large-scale production. Clearing the zombies was the priority.
With a determined heart, he picked up the hoe and shovel that were already on the rooftop and leveled a small vegetable patch of 4 square meters. The green onions that were planted here before were relatively low in cost-effectiveness compared to other crops in the apocalypse.
He piled the dug-up green onions in the area where miscellaneous items were previously placed. Then, he arranged the strawberry pots one by one. June to August was precisely the fruiting season for strawberries. These strawberries already had small white fruits on them, and it would be a shame to discard them.
After placing the strawberries, the connecting passage became open. He needed to carefully design the construction of a small shelter here.
First, regarding the roof height, Lin Yuan planned to make it a flat roof. The height of the entire rooftop's surrounding wall was 1.5 meters, so a height of around 2 meters would be appropriate. Anything too high could cause problems. The length would span the entire connecting passage. The walls of the small shelter would be close to the rooftop walls, leaving a gap of about 1 meter in between for emergency maneuvers.
On both sides, he would place a sofa and a long table and chairs, thus completing a simple temporary shelter.
In fact, a rooftop house could also provide shelter from wind and rain, but a rooftop house lacked a view. A fully enclosed rooftop house had no openings other than the door.
This small shelter was intended to serve as an early warning outpost. From here, he could see far and notify others promptly if any issues arose.
Just as Lin Yuan finished sketching his design in his mind, Wu Tian arrived with Wu Mengyao, carrying large bags.
Lin Yuan quickly went to help.
The three of them worked busily until the sunlight became slightly hot before they finished hanging all the marinated meat strips.
The several dozen pounds of meat, divided into small strips, was a considerable amount. They even had to move most of the plants downstairs to make space for eating.
The hanging marinated meat was still dripping. Lin Yuan and the others had already set up a fire to cook noodles. Today, they used Lin Yuan's pot to avoid going down to get another one.
About ten minutes later, the three of them and the cat were eating heartily.
"Lin Yuan, how should we train this morning?" Wu Tian suddenly asked halfway through their meal.
Lin Yuan looked at the faint muscles on her arm and smiled without saying anything.
You know more about this than I do!
"Personally, I don't have any special ideas. We can just follow the training methods issued by the state. We have plenty of food now. Except for drinking water, which is a bit scarce, we don't lack protein, carbohydrates, or vitamins." After saying that, he finished the noodles in his bowl and went to get another serving. Their appetites had all increased significantly.
"Besides, we still have five watermelons that haven't gone bad. If kept in a cool place, they should last for a few more days. We can eat watermelon for the next couple of days, hahaha. But speaking of exercise, besides these methods to train cardio, endurance, and explosive power, I also know a Daoist cultivation method. I wonder if you believe it."
Wu Tian looked at him with confusion. Did this guy read too many novels and want to practice some supreme martial arts?
"Hey, don't look at me like that. This was personally taught by a Daoist master. I learned it by following a video for several days. Although I can't achieve ultimate martial arts, it does have the effect of circulating qi in the body, calming the mind, dispelling dryness, and enhancing vitality. In the apocalypse, not only do we need a strong physique, but also a rock-solid state of mind. What do you say, are you interested in practicing with me?" Lin Yuan knew what she was thinking and quickly explained.
Wu Tian nodded upon hearing this. She did know that some Daoist cultivation methods had such effects. She hadn't had the time to practice them before, but now, any method that could aid survival was worth considering.
"Alright, what is this cultivation method called?"
"Vajra Longevity Skill. I learned it from Master Zhang Zhishun on Bilibili."