"We got drops!" Chu Sheng held up the two supernatural materials in his hands for the other two to see.
"See? Without me, this heart would have vanished along with the Anomalies. All that might have been left was this pair of eyes."
Chu Sheng wasn't lying. After awakening the Heavenly Craftsman Sequence, he had learned a few things about supernatural materials.
It was best to extract supernatural materials while the Anomalies was still alive. That way, some materials that would otherwise vanish along with the Anomalies could be preserved.
Take the first Eerie Cat Chu Sheng had killed, for example. If he had simply let it vanish, all that remained might have been its blood-red eyes.
But through his unconventional method, Chu Sheng had managed to preserve more than a dozen Cat-Claw Blades as well.
"There's a condition like that for getting supernatural materials?!" Before An Xi could speak, Zhu Qing stared at him with wide, puzzled eyes.
"Of course."
"Try to dissect the Anomalies before it vanishes. You might get one or two extra kinds of supernatural material that way."
"For example, if you want an Anomalies's hide, try to skin it before it vanishes. That might let you keep its pelt."
"But there's no guarantee. It's all down to luck, anyway."
"Got it." Zhu Qing nodded, intense interest lighting up his eyes.
Beside them, An Xi shuddered, her face full of revulsion.
"You two are such freaks!"
As she spoke, she flicked her wrist, and the White Jade Spear flew up from the ground into her hand.
"Let's gather supplies first." An Xi glanced at the convenience store beside them and the supermarket a short distance away.
"Sure!" Zhu Qing said no more. He pulled out a rolled-up burlap sack and headed toward the supermarket. His figure changed, becoming a giant some 2.7 or 2.8 meters tall.
"The Giant Sequence lets you change your size at will?!" Seeing this, Chu Sheng turned to ask An Xi.
"I don't know." An Xi shook her head. "He never mentioned it. This is my first time seeing it, too."
"All right, I'll go gather supplies, too!"
With that, he headed toward the convenience store, opening the backpacks on his chest and back.
An Xi looked over the surrounding storefronts, then spotted a dried goods store sealed behind a rolling shutter. The shutter was covered in dark brown stains and was badly warped.
"A dried goods store?"
Her eyes lit up, and she walked over with her spear in hand.
Although the rolling shutter was twisted out of shape, it still protected the store. No one had broken through it yet.
The White Jade Spear thrust out. With the pale golden Geng Metal Power coating it, the spear sliced through the shutter like tofu, cutting an opening wide enough for two people to enter.
As the dried goods store opened up, a distinctive smell drifted into An Xi's nose and mouth.
"That smell is so familiar!"
The owner seemed to have left before the apocalypse and never returned afterward. Others appeared to have tried to enter, but had failed to break through the rolling shutter.
The shutter wasn't actually much of a defense. It was a miracle it had lasted this long.
An Xi stepped into the dried goods store and found cardboard boxes arranged in the middle of the room.
Cashews, pine nuts, peanuts, pistachios, dried wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, preserved mustard greens, smoked bamboo shoots, and dried green beans.
All kinds of dried goods were neatly laid out here.
Besides those, there were plenty of spices, including star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, and chilies.
There were also plenty of dried shrimp, dried scallops, dried fish, nori, dried squid, salted duck eggs, and cured sausages.
An Xi even spotted several strips of cured pork among them.
"We hit the jackpot!"
Murmuring to herself, she picked up a box of dried goods and headed toward the Pickup Truck.
She put the box of dried wood ear mushrooms in the truck just as Chu Sheng returned with two bottles of baijiu and a backpack full of instant food.
Once Chu Sheng had put away the liquor and emptied his backpack into the truck, An Xi grabbed him and pulled him toward the dried goods store.
"Forget that convenience store. Come over here!"
Chu Sheng was puzzled, but didn't object. She led him all the way to the dried goods store, where he turned to her with wide eyes.
"This many dried goods?!"
"Mm-hmm!" An Xi lifted her chin and looked at him smugly. "This young lady has a keen eye for hidden treasures!"
"Let's get moving. Try to fit it all in the pickup." As she spoke, An Xi gave Chu Sheng an approving look.
"Good thing you drove here, and in a pickup, too. Otherwise, even if we found all these dried goods, we couldn't take them back."
Chu Sheng felt just as relieved.
Good thing I upgraded the Pickup Truck. Otherwise, we'd definitely have to leave more than half of this behind.
The thought alone made his heart ache.
Dried goods weren't like other food, after all.
They kept for a very long time.
And all these different dried goods would add a great deal of variety to their meals.
Chu Sheng and An Xi quickly became movers.
While hauling the dried goods, Chu Sheng couldn't help marveling at how kind the owner had been, sorting everything by category for them and even packing it into boxes.
Box after box went in, and soon the Pickup Truck's bed was more than half full, piled with all kinds of dried goods, seasonings, and spices.
Besides the dried goods, Chu Sheng also found several sacks of millet, red beans, and mung beans in the store's storeroom.
They stuffed those sacks straight into the Pickup Truck's back seat.
Once they had pretty much cleaned out the dried goods store, Chu Sheng leaned against the pickup and let out a relieved breath.
By now, some survivors had come nearby and were looting the surrounding convenience stores, grain and cooking oil shops, and other businesses.
Zhou Dun and his two companions were gathering supplies in the convenience store Chu Sheng had already searched.
As for the dried goods store, the people around them merely watched the pair going in and out, their eyes full of envy. No one dared come over and court death.
Seeing this, Chu Sheng shook his head, feeling a little disappointed.
"Why hasn't that redhead come out yet?!" Chu Sheng and An Xi had waited seven or eight minutes, but Zhu Qing still hadn't emerged. They frowned.
Although Zhu Qing's burlap sack was huge, at his earlier looting speed, he should have made several trips by now. Yet neither of them had seen him come out even once.
Something seemed to occur to An Xi, and her expression changed.
"This is bad! Something must have happened!"
She charged straight toward the supermarket with her spear, calling to him, "Stay right here! I'll be back soon!"
Chu Sheng's eyes lit up at the sight, and he gripped the Butcher Knife at his waist.
If something had happened, that meant there was an Anomalies!
And an Anomalies meant Survival Points!
Perfect! They'd fallen right into my lap!
As for An Xi telling him to stay put, that didn't matter at all.
With that thought, he headed toward the supermarket, too.
Meanwhile, inside the supermarket, Zhu Qing was carrying a huge backpack, his body drenched in blood. Countless wounds covered him like tiny ants, but he seemed unable to feel the pain as he ran desperately toward the supermarket's entrance.
Before you continue