Resources for the Taking

The spiritual energy in this world was far too thin. With Shen Mo's special constitution and his current circumstances, it was difficult to achieve balance. Pain did not matter much, but it might affect his advancement later.

And he could not use demonic energy to make things containing spiritual resonance.

Shen Mo stroked the freshly made beads and let out a soft sigh.

Fortunately, they had all succeeded. After his special treatment, these Jade Pearls could gather spiritual energy from a small area nearby. For now, they would have to suffice.

It would have been nice to have Spirit Stones right now. With Spirit Stones, the Formation Talismans would work better, and he would not have had to settle for these jades.

Many jades produced by the earth contained a trace of natural spiritual energy. The finest among them were even more effective, but they were not commonly found.

The same went for medicinal herbs and treasures that had aged for many years.

As time passed, many things absorbed some of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of this world's laws, nothing could become a spirit after the founding of the nation, so there were no spirit creatures in this world.

But after the apocalypse, perhaps some mutated plants with intelligence would emerge.

Although the story had not mentioned it in detail, humans were not the only things mutating in this apocalypse.

Shen Mo lowered his eyes in thought. From the counter he had just stored away, he pulled out a red string, pierced the Jade Pearl, strung it up, and wore it around his fair wrist.

The emerald-green bead swayed with the movement of his hand, its faint glow flickering as wisps of spiritual energy gathered toward it.

Shen Mo stood where he was and recovered the spiritual energy his body had expended. Only then did he head outside.

There was no helping it. The bead had a limited range, and its effect was not very good while moving. For the first time, Shen Mo somewhat missed the fresh air of the Cultivation Realm.

The streets were still the same. With so many Zombies gathered nearby, the air was thick with the stench of decay.

Shen Mo had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, but there was nothing he could do about it. After smelling it long enough, he got used to it.

Because the demonic energy around him fluctuated actively, he directly shrouded his body in demonic energy, concealing the unique vital aura of a living person.

Now, even if he walked down the road and stared face-to-face with these Zombies, they would not take the initiative to attack him.

After all, these things were not very intelligent right now. Otherwise, they would not keep wandering around without stopping.

For now, Shen Mo only wanted to lie low. He had no intention of clearing out Zombies.

He had recovered a little, but being surrounded and attacked would still be troublesome.

Most importantly, he had no clothes. If they got dirty, they would stink and be difficult to clean. His sister and the others might even discover it. The loss outweighed the gain.

Gathering supplies here was as difficult as ascending to heaven for others, but for Shen Mo, it was like taking something from his own pocket. So, he planned to make a quick battle of it.

As for what supplies were specifically needed in the apocalypse, Shen Mo was not from this world, but he had memories and knew some common sense. Besides, he had lived a hard life as a child, so he knew what supplies were most valuable in times like these.

The most important thing was food. After all, "food is the first necessity of the people."

Only then came daily necessities, such as the new clothes he had been longing for.

But.

If it had been the original owner of this body, he might have chosen only the important things to take. But Shen Mo was the one here now.

Shen Mo glanced at the Void Ring on his hand and once again felt a twinge of heartache for the countless rare treasures it had once held. His tone was full of affection. "Little Ring! Your master is incapable right now, so I can only wrong you for the time being. My hopes for the future all depend on you."

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck him, and Shen Mo remembered that the city beneath his feet seemed to be one of the cities ultimately destroyed by nuclear weapons in the story.

In the story, too many people had turned into Zombies. To stop the Zombies from continuing to evolve and squeeze humanity's living space, the authorities had no choice but to abandon some cities with the largest Zombie populations, using nuclear weapons to bury those Zombies along with the cities beneath this land.

Only a small portion of the supplies from those cities had been taken away by the evacuated survivors. Vast quantities of supplies had been left behind forever due to the sudden disaster. Before the state could collect them, they had turned to dust along with everything else.

What a pity. Such a terrible pity.

In this apocalyptic world where supplies were scarce, Shen Mo would feel truly guilty if he did not take them all.

After all, wasting food invited divine punishment, and anyone who passed up a free advantage was a fool.

The only pity was that the spatial divine artifact that had accompanied him for so long could now only be used to hold these mundane odds and ends.

Though Shen Mo lamented it inwardly, his hands did not slow down in the slightest as he collected supplies.

He went through every shop along the street. Useful or useless, as long as it was good, he wanted it. Everywhere he went looked as though locusts had swept through; he did not leave behind even a single intact bowl.

Under Shen Mo's constant efforts, the previously empty space gradually filled up with appliances, bowls and chopsticks, clothes, pants, bags, milk tea machines, coffee machines, cups, cakes, and the contents of several jewelry stores.

Besides acquiring quite a bit more jade, he also found many spiritually charged herbs in pharmacies. The most special was one shop's prized treasure: a large ginseng root that looked to be around a thousand years old.

Perhaps the owner had not been there when he fled, and the timid clerk had not dared to take it. In any case, it now fell into Shen Mo's hands for free.

Shen Mo absorbed all the spiritual energy from those medicinal herbs into his body before storing them properly in the Void Ring.

Even without spiritual energy, the medicinal properties of these herbs could not be underestimated. They could save lives at critical moments, making them rare goods both before and after the apocalypse.

Though he might not need them, he could secretly smuggle them to his sister after returning. She should like them, right?

After checking the sky, Shen Mo calculated the time in his mind and sped up his movements.

He moved briskly through the streets and alleys, his knife tucked at his waist. Every now and then, he cut down a Zombie that did not know better.

Along the way, there was not much food in the storefronts by the roadside. Most of what had been displayed on the counters had already spoiled.

But what shop would not prepare a stockpile warehouse for emergencies?

Although others could think of what Shen Mo thought of, he still managed to pick up several inconspicuous warehouses that had been overlooked, and the supplies inside were quite plentiful.

One of them belonged to an ice cream shop. Its warehouse had a backup power source: a rusted generator that would automatically start running whenever the power went out.

Since Shen Mo did not smell anything strange, he waved his hand and swept away all the semi-finished products and assorted ice cream ingredients in the freezer.

He did not even spare the heavily rusted generator that was practically ready for retirement.