Searching the Old Camp for Supplies

Outside the camp, Zhou Ye hid behind a large tree and observed patiently for most of a shichen. By now, he could basically confirm that this old camp had been abandoned.

He cautiously entered the camp and found no signs that anyone had come in. Zhou Ye let out a long sigh of relief.

This place should be forty or fifty li from his Little Homestead. He had taken a few unnecessary detours on the way here today, so it was nearly time for dinner already.

He hurried to the small vegetable garden outside and found that it had been badly ravaged by wild boars. After gathering up the vegetables that remained, he actually harvested several baskets, including lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, greens, as well as radishes and potatoes buried underground... It seemed the only thing left untouched was the chili peppers?

He also collected vegetable seeds, gathering every last one he could find.

Back in the camp, he first went to a wooden hut. This had been the private dwelling of the soldiers' minor leader—the one who had left behind the chainmail and spiked hammer. The other wooden hut had previously housed several soldiers together.

He chose this place mainly to search for paper and brushes. Last time, he had left in far too much of a hurry and had not searched many places carefully.

The moment he entered the hut, he spotted two writing brushes and an inkstone on the table. Seeing a canvas backpack hanging in the corner, Zhou Ye took it down and rummaged through it. Sure enough, he found two account books. One was nearly half-filled, while the other was blank and kept as a spare.

He had to take all of these. Even paper covered in writing could be used as toilet paper. It could not be helped—out in the wilderness, every resource was precious, and Zhou Ye had already suffered enough at the hands of those leaves.

He emptied the backpack and found two sets of washed clothes, along with a pair of new cloth shoes.

Feeling around inside the backpack's hidden compartment, Zhou Ye discovered to his delight that there was actually something inside. A fifty-tael silver note, a martial arts manual titled Ten Military Saber Forms, and a small medicine bottle labeled Blood Qi Pill. Only two pills remained in the bottle; the rest had probably already been taken by that minor leader... right?

Interestingly enough, the writing in this other world was surprisingly similar to that of Blue Star, at most somewhat resembling traditional characters. Although the original owner of this body had been illiterate, Zhou Ye now recognized all of it.

He had never expected even a minor leader among the soldiers to be so fat and juicy. Still, that was not strange—they had sucked the blood of poor wretches like him.

Never mind that for now. This was not the time to study it. In any case, he would take the entire canvas backpack with him.

There were actually quite a few good things in the wooden hut. For instance, the oil lamp on the table, the blanket on the bed, a wine gourd hanging from the rack, and plenty of wine jars in the hut. Most were empty, but one had been opened and was half full, while two were full.

That minor leader had probably been a hopeless drunkard, right?

However, Zhou Ye had already planned out what he would carry before coming here. In the end, he could only shut his eyes and painfully give them up this time.

He would not carefully search the other wooden hut either. He would painfully give that up as well. Out of sight, out of mind!

After leaving the hut, Zhou Ye quickly sorted everything out. He could set off after waking up tomorrow, saving quite a bit of time.

There were more than twenty jin each of rice and flour.

To be honest, as the flatbreads rapidly dwindled, Zhou Ye had developed a bit of food anxiety.

No wonder those wilderness survival reality shows always faced the question of whether to first build a shelter or first search for stored food. That was a huge problem. Unable to balance the two, many contestants were eliminated just like that.

Although he was not carrying much this time, and it would not last many days, having some replenishment was already quite good.

Incidentally, all this grain had originally belonged to Zhou Ye and the others.

With such a black-hearted government, would they provide meals when people were conscripted for corvée labor? Of course not. The laborers had to bring their own food.

He took all the vegetable seeds. He also took every bit of salt he could find, more than twenty jin in total.

One helmet, one set of leather armor, one spiked hammer, and one saber. The spiked hammer could also serve as a hammer. What he valued most was its usefulness as a tool.

When he came here this time, Zhou Ye had traveled light. He had brought only a machete, along with flatbreads, salted meat, and a waterskin. He had not even worn the leather armor, all so that he could take these things back with him on the return trip.

After thinking about it, Zhou Ye took another three pairs of straw sandals. He could wear leather boots when going out, while cloth shoes or straw sandals would do at his Little Homestead. Shoes were quite useful, and leather boots especially had to be carefully maintained to protect his feet.

At the Old Camp, some things had been appropriated by the soldiers for private use, such as grain and tools. They used government property to do personal work. But other things had been made by the laborers themselves, such as these woven straw sandals.

So there were another forty or fifty pairs of new straw sandals kept in reserve at the camp. Working people really were diligent.

There was also woven straw rope, and Zhou Ye took a bundle of that as well. The straw rope was used to tie wooden stakes together. Hemp rope was certainly better, but he could not bear to take it.

These straw sandals and straw ropes were all made from a weed called Black Crow Grass, a universal material for the poor. It could also be used for roofing, making straw raincoats, and laying on beds as mattresses. It could even be stuffed into clothes and shoes in winter for warmth...

The weeds Zhou Ye had dried earlier were actually this Black Crow Grass.

There were also foot wraps, sweat towels, and towels. They were really just a few scraps of cloth that would need washing before use. Since they did not weigh much anyway, he stuffed them into the backpack to take home.

One iron pot and two clay bowls. He had finally said goodbye to life with an iron helmet.

Between the water vat and the wooden water bucket, Zhou Ye ultimately chose to bring a bucket. After all, a bucket could be used to fetch water. Clean drinking water was also very important.

Lastly, there were two sickles. The Old Camp made charcoal rather than farmed, so there were only two sickles here. This time, he simply took them both. Since he would soon be reclaiming wasteland, he also took a hoe.

You had to admit that compared with humans on Blue Star, the natives here were somewhat stronger physically. Although Zhou Ye was currently a weakling, he could still carry all that stuff away on a shoulder pole.

Once he had finished busying himself with that, Zhou Ye began making dinner. He poured some oil from the oil flask and pan-fried two pieces of salted meat. Right, he definitely had to take this oil flask too. As for all the other things in the kitchen, he would still... turn a blind eye.

He then used the remaining oil to stir-fry a large basin of greens. He also made a bowl of potato and pickled-vegetable soup.

Right! There were also plenty of pickled vegetables and dried vegetables here. He would have to painfully give those up too!

Still, being able to eat fresh vegetables made Zhou Ye feel utterly blessed. Then tomorrow, he would bring a few vegetables with him too... right?

Of course, after dinner, he began practicing Basic Chopping. He absolutely could not stop grinding like his life depended on it!