The More Surprised, The More Heartbroken

They didn't rush inside. Only after Doggy indicated it was safe to enter without affecting their physical health did they hold their breath and walk through the metal door.

As Yao Wei had said, they were both New Humans now, far surpassing Old Humans in physical fitness, and could hold their breath for a long time. Entering to check while holding their breath was no problem at all.

Inside, as expected, were rows upon rows of vacuum-sealed rice. Part of the packaging was transparent, revealing the rice grains within—slightly white and distinct, as if untouched by time, just like new rice.

Lu Xi'an counted. The rice filled an entire wall, five stacks per row, ten bags per stack, all undamaged.

This should have been supplies for the entire shelter. If the shelter wasn't too crowded, it could have lasted quite a while.

And now, it all belonged to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, allowing them to eat for much longer.

"It's a shame your car can't hold much..."

Feeling it was safe to breathe again, Lu Xi'an spoke as he continued to look around inside.

Yao Wei followed behind Lu Xi'an, pursing her lips. Seeing the abundance of food made her heart ache.

Why couldn't her car hold so much?

Walking further inside, they found another wall.

This shelter hadn't just prepared rice; there was also flour. However, this couldn't be vacuum-sealed. It was simply stored here as provisions, and it had already spoiled.

This place wasn't like the north, where the constant biting cold preserved food. Here, the contaminated air had also affected it, causing it to spoil along with the vegetables and meat. Spoiling was inevitable.

Lu Xi'an was persistent. He had Mechanical Dog scan the area. Mechanical Dog confirmed that all the flour on this wall had completely gone bad and was inedible.

Yao Wei's heart ached even more.

Lu Xi'an comforted her, "Don't worry about it. We're leaving anyway, and we can't take all this with us, can we?

"Besides, compared to rice, flour is more troublesome to process, and it's not convenient for us to carry."

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded and glanced at Lu Xi'an again.

Hearing Lu Xi'an say that, she knew he understood how to process these foods.

This person seemed to have come from before the world fell apart, understanding these things so well.

But that was so long ago. This person looked so young, how could he know so much?

Lu Xi'an noticed Yao Wei's gaze and looked back. Yao Wei hastily averted her eyes, flustered.

Lu Xi'an ignored Yao Wei. After all, no matter what he asked her, she wouldn't tell him, so he decided not to ask.

Continuing inside, another wall led towards the entrance. Six rows of boxes were stacked there, along with two rows of vacuum-sealed millet bags.

This place stored not only rice but also millet.

Lu Xi'an pointed at the millet and smiled at Yao Wei, "Look, more rice here, it's edible."

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded again, not wanting to speak.

Most of the time, she wasn't accustomed to speaking, but at this moment, she genuinely didn't want to.

More edible supplies, yet her car was destined to carry only a fraction of it.

The more edible things she saw now, the more her heart ached. It ached even more than seeing the spoiled flour.

Lu Xi'an had already gone to check the boxes.

The boxes were clean, with nothing on them, as if they were produced temporarily without any markings.

Lu Xi'an took one down and used the utility knife he carried to cut open the tape sealing it. When he opened it, he felt a surge of pleasant surprise.

Inside this box, there were bag after bag packed tightly!

Inside the packaging were sealed, dehydrated vegetables!

The people who had taken refuge here back then had not only prepared fresh vegetables but had also made preparations for the future by getting dehydrated vegetables as backup!

He walked to the entrance again and took down the outermost box to open it. It was also packed full, but not with dehydrated vegetables; instead, it contained sealed meat sausages.

He quickly called Doggy over to scan them. Doggy confirmed that these sausages were still edible and posed no significant harm to humans.

"We're rich!"

Lu Xi'an turned back and grinned at Yao Wei.

Yao Wei had followed him and stood behind him, watching.

She had seen sausages and dehydrated vegetables before. During her years of wandering alone, when she was lucky, she had managed to get her hands on a little.

But she had never imagined seeing so much at once.

What a surprise!

Yao Wei pursed her lips. The more surprised she was, the more her heart ached.

"Sigh..."

Lu Xi'an sighed and said, "You know... why is your car so small? It would be great if you had a car that could be driven with an A1 license."

Yao Wei didn't understand what Lu Xi'an meant by an "A1 license," but she understood the sentiment of his words. For some reason, she felt a pang of shame.

There was so much food, she knew she couldn't possibly take it all. It would just go to waste. If that wasn't something to be ashamed of, what was?

However, having survived in the Apocalypse for so long, she wasn't one to dwell on messy emotions. After a moment of shame, she quickly rallied and said, "Let's clean this place up before we lock it and mark it on the map."

"That's the only way," Lu Xi'an replied, nodding as he stood up.

Since they couldn't take all these supplies, they could only store them here for now, turning it into a supply depot. If they ever found themselves in a desperate situation, they could return here for food and drink to sustain themselves.

They immediately got to work, first lifting the shelves piled high with spoiled vegetables and meat, carefully moving them into the kitchen.

--Fortunately, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were incredibly strong now. Otherwise, with shelves this heavy, the two of them probably wouldn't have been able to move them, let alone move them so steadily.

New humans were so useful… including herself.

--At the bottom of the shelves were unopened bottles of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. These were packed into boxes and lined up neatly.

Before moving the shelves, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had moved these items out of the way.

These items also needed to be stored in the cold storage, becoming part of their future supply depot.

As they finished moving all the shelves into the kitchen, Lu Xi'an couldn't help but think this to himself.

Then, Lu Xi'an found a broom, mop, shovel, and dustpan in the kitchen, and cleaned up the things that had spilled onto the floor, along with Yao Wei's belongings.

The shovel was brand new, looking like it was meant for cooking in large pots, but it was perfect for scooping up the dried liquid stains on the floor.

While dealing with these things, Lu Xi'an also picked up a frying pan, a wok spatula, and a soup ladle that had been discarded on the kitchen floor, placing them into the storage room first.

Yao Wei's car didn't have these items. Now that they had so much rice, dehydrated vegetables, and oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, these cooking utensils would be indispensable.

After finishing all that, the two of them moved out all the flour as well.

The entire cold storage room suddenly had a large area cleared out. The musty smell seemed to be dissipating quickly, making the air much fresher. This put Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei in a great mood.

"Shall we check out the other rooms first to air this place out? Then, after we've explored, we can load the supplies onto the car?" Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei.

Yao Wei agreed, nodding. "Okay."