Fireside Cooking by the River

There really were people in Fengcheng County.

As Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei drove toward the county entrance, they saw a large roundabout.

A statue stood in the middle of it, at least five stories tall. It was narrow at the top and broad at the bottom, with such strange curves that its original form was impossible to make out.

A huge, tattered white cloth hung from it, flapping in the wind with a loud snap, like a great flag.

Coarse, ugly black letters were painted across it: Fengcheng New Gang, a rich and wonderful life—come join us!

The two of them watched from a distance through binoculars, both falling silent for a while.

After a long moment, Lu Xi'an remarked, "Whoever made that flag is a real character."

Yao Wei: "..."

She lowered the binoculars, put her hands on the steering wheel, and prepared to set off.

Lu Xi'an said, "Who knows if the people in there can be trusted. Should we go around?"

"Mm."

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

There were clearly quite a few people in the city. They couldn't be sure that going in wouldn't be like walking into a trap.

The people in the county had raised a white flag, apparently to show they were friendly—but who knew whether it was genuine or a trap?

Besides, they had already managed to gather plenty of supplies. There was no need to go into the city.

Going in now would be like parading around with a treasure trove on their backs: no benefit, and a whole heap of risks.

So Yao Wei drove onto another road. Even then, they didn't feel at ease, and stayed cautious the whole way.

Lu Xi'an sat in the passenger seat, looking ahead and to the side through his binoculars every so often to make sure they were safe.

They chose a road screened from view by hills and woods.

The road was rough, and the constant jolting made for an uncomfortable ride. But at least they were getting farther from the county, with low hills and woods between them and the city. Even if someone there climbed to a high spot and scanned the area with binoculars, they wouldn't be able to see them.

"I've never run into anything like this before. There are hardly any people up north, let alone groups gathered together like that."

As they crossed a stretch of bumpy dirt road, the tires kicked up clouds of dust that blocked their view, forcing Lu Xi'an to lower his binoculars. With nothing else to do, he started talking.

After that, he asked Yao Wei curiously, "Is it like this in the south too? People just gather together and put up a flag?"

"No."

Yao Wei's answer was terse.

But she didn't say what people in the south were like. Whenever the south came up, she seemed unhappy. She also drove faster, as if she were looking for someone to run over.

Lu Xi'an guessed it had something to do with Yao Wei's mother's death, and that she held a grudge against the people in the south because of it.

That was fine. As long as she didn't hold a grudge against him, and kick him out of the car, he was all right.

Having a ride was good enough.

They drove a long way, but Yao Wei's car had a huge gas tank, and the fuel gauge had barely budged.

Fengcheng County had long since disappeared behind them. No one had come after them, either. Maybe taking this road, which blocked the view, had worked.

It was already afternoon, with a little time left before dark, but Yao Wei decided to stop for now.

Starting a fire after dark might attract unwanted attention, so they planned to cook dinner before nightfall and eat as soon as they could.

The road ahead met a river. It was tiny and shallow, and didn't even have a name on the map.

After discussing it, they left the road there and followed the river upstream, stopping at a secluded spot where they could easily get the car moving at a moment's notice.

Once they had confirmed the area was safe, Lu Xi'an got to work.

"Doggo, keep watch!"

At his reminder, the Mechanical Dog began patrolling the area to make sure it was safe.

By the river, Lu Xi'an washed the frying pan and spoon. Then he found a broad, flat stone that had been smoothed by the current, rinsed it off, and used it as a cutting board.

While he was getting everything ready, Yao Wei went to chop some firewood and build a fire.

They had brought some firewood in the car, too, but it was a fresh supply and there was no need to replace it.

They could find more firewood nearby, so there was no need to waste what they had in the car.

This had been Lu Xi'an's job last time, but now Yao Wei had taken over.

As Yao Wei stacked the wood, she saw that Lu Xi'an had already put the pork on the clean, flat stone. But he wasn't doing anything with it. He was staring into the river instead.

She walked over and followed his gaze, but couldn't tell what he was looking at.

"Why don't we skip the pork for this meal? We can save it for next time."

Lu Xi'an suddenly spoke, still staring into the river.

Yao Wei didn't mind. As long as she could get enough energy, she always tried to save what she could. But she couldn't figure out what Lu Xi'an was looking at.

The river was so shallow that it was crystal clear. There were no fish in it, but there were a few shrimp.

They were far too small to fill anyone's stomach.

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

Hmm...

Could Lu Xi'an do it?

That guy seemed to know how to do everything...

"Doggo, come over here."

Lu Xi'an called the dog over.

Yao Wei decided not to offer an opinion and let Lu Xi'an handle things.

Then she watched as Lu Xi'an grabbed the spoon and scooped it through the river at incredible speed. Quite a few shrimp hadn't managed to escape in time and were lifted straight out of the water.

Great strength really did create miracles.

"Take a look. Are these safe to eat?"

Lu Xi'an held the spoon in front of the Mechanical Dog and asked.

Yao Wei pressed her lips together. He really was planning to eat shrimp.

The dog's eyes scanned them, then lit up.

That put Lu Xi'an at ease. He started scooping up shrimp with the spoon, draining the water each time and tipping them into the frying pan.

"Scooping" wasn't quite the right word. He was ambushing them, using his great strength and incredible speed to catch the shrimp while they weren't paying attention.

So he had to keep changing spots to ambush the startled shrimp as they darted away.

He couldn't help it. They didn't have a suitable net, so this was the only way he could catch them.

After several scoops, he said to Yao Wei, "Want to take over? I'll cook the rice."

"Mm."

Yao Wei readily agreed. She understood what she had to do, and as a New Human herself, she was capable of handling the job.

Now she was curious to see how Lu Xi'an would prepare the shrimp.

If he really could make something of them, she'd like to try some.

It would give her one more way to replenish her energy in the future.

Lu Xi'an handed the job over to Yao Wei, then went to the car to get her pot.

The pot had originally been full of water. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had decided to drink the water in it first to replenish their own fluids, so their bottles were now full, but the pot had less water in it.

What remained was just enough to cook rice.

Lu Xi'an opened a bag of vacuum-packed rice and poured out about enough for two people, then put it into the pot. The water came up about two fingers above the rice, just right—not too much or too little.

Then he lit the fire and started cooking.