Cooking by the Stream

There really are people in Fengcheng County.

As Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were driving close to the entrance of Fengcheng County, they saw a large roundabout.

A statue stood on the roundabout, at least five stories high, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with strange curves, its original appearance no longer discernible.

A huge, tattered white cloth was hung on it, fluttering in the wind with a rustling sound, like a large banner.

Crude, black characters were written on the banner: Fengcheng New Gang, prosperous and beautiful, welcome to join.

The two looked at it with binoculars from a distance, and both fell silent for a moment.

After a long pause, Lu Xi'an quipped, "I wonder who made that banner, what a talent."

Yao Wei: "..."

She put away her binoculars, placed her hands on the steering wheel, and prepared to drive.

Lu Xi'an said, "I don't know if the people inside can be trusted, should we just go around them?"

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded, agreeing with Lu Xi'an's suggestion.

There were clearly quite a few people in the town, and they weren't sure if entering it would be like walking into a tiger's den.

The people in the county town were flying white flags, seemingly to show friendliness, but who knew if it was genuine or a trap?

Besides, they had already scavenged enough supplies and had no need to enter the town.

Entering the town now would be like flaunting a treasure, with no benefits and a heap of disadvantages.

So, Yao Wei drove around and took another road. Even then, she wasn't at ease and drove cautiously the whole way.

Lu Xi'an sat in the passenger seat, occasionally looking ahead and to the sides with his binoculars to ensure their safety.

They chose a road with mountains and forests to block their view.

This road was not easy to travel, bumpy and swaying, making them uncomfortable. But at least they were far from the county town, and with the low mountains and forests providing cover, even if people in the town looked through binoculars from a high vantage point, they wouldn't be able to see them.

"I've never encountered this situation before. There are few people in the north, let alone these kinds of settlements."

As they drove along a bumpy dirt road, the tires kicked up dust, obscuring their vision, and Lu Xi'an had to put down his binoculars. With nothing else to do, he spoke.

After saying that, he curiously asked Yao Wei, "Is it the same in the south? Do they gather people like this and then raise flags?"

"No."

Yao Wei replied concisely.

But she didn't say what the people in the south were like. She seemed unhappy when talking about the south, and her driving speed increased, as if she wanted to crash into someone.

Lu Xi'an guessed that this was probably related to Yao Wei's mother's death, and Yao Wei therefore had a strong prejudice against people from the south.

It didn't matter to him, as long as she didn't have a prejudice against him and kick him out of the car.

It was good to have a car to ride in.

They had driven a long distance, but Yao Wei's car had a large fuel tank, and the needle on the fuel gauge had only dropped a little.

The county town of Fengcheng, which was far behind them, was no longer visible, and no one appeared to be chasing them. It was unclear if their choice to take the road that obscured their vision had been effective.

It was already afternoon, and there was still some time before dark, but Yao Wei chose to stop first.

Making a fire after dark might attract unnecessary attention, so they planned to have dinner before it got dark and eat quickly.

The road ahead intersected with a river. The river was very small and shallow, not even named on the map.

After discussing it, they left the road and followed the small river upstream, finding a hidden spot that was convenient for speeding up at any time to stop.

After confirming their safety, Lu Xi'an began to work.

"Doggy, keep watch!"

He reminded the Mechanical Dog, which then began to patrol the surroundings to ensure their safety.

Meanwhile, Lu Xi'an washed the frying pan and spoon by the river and found a large, smooth stone washed by the river, cleaned it, and used it as a cutting board.

While he was making these preparations, Yao Wei went to chop some firewood and set up a campfire.

They had some firewood in the car, but it was newly stocked and didn't need to be replaced.

They could find new firewood nearby, so there was no need to waste the supplies in the car.

This was Lu Xi'an's job last time, but this time it was Yao Wei's turn.

When Yao Wei had piled up the firewood, she saw that Lu Xi'an had already placed the pork on the smooth, clean stone slab, but he wasn't moving. Instead, he was staring at the river.

She walked over and followed Lu Xi'an's gaze to the small river, but she didn't quite understand what he was looking at.

"How about we don't eat pork tonight? Let's save this meat for another meal."

Lu Xi'an suddenly said, his eyes still fixed on the river.

Yao Wei had no objection to this. As long as her energy needs were met, she was always one to save resources. However, she didn't understand what Lu Xi'an was looking at.

The river was very shallow, so it was clear to the bottom. No fish were visible in the river, but there were some shrimp.

But those shrimp were too small to fill them up.

And besides, she wouldn't know how to prepare them either.

Hmm...

Could Lu Xi'an do it?

This guy seems to be good at everything...

"Doggy, come here for a second."

Lu Xi'an called Doggy over.

Yao Wei decided not to voice any opinions, letting Lu Xi'an handle everything.

Then she watched as Lu Xi'an picked up a spoon, scooped it into the river at an extremely fast speed, and many small shrimp didn't even have time to escape, getting scooped up directly by Lu Xi'an.

Great Strength Creates Miracles, it couldn't be more fitting.

"See if they're edible."

Lu Xi'an said, holding the spoon up in front of the Mechanical Dog.

Yao Wei pursed her lips; this guy really intended to eat shrimp.

Doggy scanned them, then its eyes lit up.

This put Lu Xi'an at ease, and he began scooping shrimp with the spoon. After scooping them, he drained the water and poured the shrimp onto the flat-bottomed pan.

Calling it scooping was more like ambushing; he relied on his immense strength and incredible speed to scoop up the shrimp when they weren't paying attention.

Therefore, he had to keep moving to ambush the startled and scattering shrimp.

He had no choice; without a suitable net, he could only resort to this method.

After scooping several spoonfuls, he said to Yao Wei, "How about you do this? I'll go cook the rice."

"Okay."

Yao Wei agreed readily. She had already figured out what needed to be done, and as a fellow New Human, she could handle this task.

Now, she was also curious, wondering what method Lu Xi'an would use to prepare these shrimp.

If Lu Xi'an could really make something out of them, she was quite eager to try.

It would mean she had another option for replenishing her energy in the future.

Then Lu Xi'an handed the task over to Yao Wei and went to retrieve Yao Wei's pot from the car himself.

The pot was originally full of water. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had chosen to use the water in the pot to rehydrate themselves first, so the bottles were full now, but some water had already been used from the pot.

The remaining water was just enough to cook the rice.

Lu Xi'an opened a vacuum-sealed bag of rice, pouring out about two servings' worth into the pot. The water just covered the rice by two fingers' width, a perfect amount, neither too much nor too little.

So, he started a fire and began to cook.