Chapter 34

Since she could not turn them down, she simply took food out of her bag to barter.

Su Cheng disliked feeling indebted to people for their food or gifts. She preferred to be even; that way, there would be no unnecessary trouble or ties.

"I've never seen this kind of... bread?"

The villager trading eggs for Su Cheng's bread turned it over curiously.

"So sweet!"

The villager trading potatoes for Su Cheng's chocolate had already eagerly torn open the wrapper to taste it.

"Crunch, crunch... it's so crispy!"

The villager trading jam for Su Cheng's biscuits had already opened the packet and started eating.

Other villagers traded dried rabbit meat for her alcohol and disinfectant.

One villager who hunted year-round even traded a wooden bow and thirty arrows for a protective suit.

Both sides were very satisfied with their trades.

Once no more villagers came to her door, she left the food she had traded for by the doorway to air out. Su Cheng planned to let it air a little longer before putting it in her bag.

The little house set aside especially for Su Cheng was clean and tidy, with little furniture beyond a bed, a table, and a cabinet.

With so few things, everything was visible at a glance, leaving no hiding places for cockroaches, rats, or other unwanted little creatures.

Su Cheng took her disinfectant and began disinfecting the corners of the house, then hung insect-repelling herbs over the door.

Although the village's outbreak was already well under control and the house had been cleaned thoroughly, disinfecting it herself gave her greater peace of mind.

By the time she finished, Su Cheng was drenched in sweat.

Su Cheng dampened a towel with mineral water and gave herself a quick wipe-down, then changed into a fresh set of base layers and a protective suit.

After sitting down to drink some water and rest, Su Cheng put all the food by the door into her bag.

The final tally was: potatoes ×30, eggs ×20, sweet potatoes ×30, jam ×5 jars, ale ×5 bottles, honey ×1 jar.

The village was not particularly wealthy, and after enduring the epidemic, they had little to trade with her.

Some villagers brought salted fish and pickled vegetables, but Su Cheng declined them. She did not like foods with extremely high salt content.

Most of what she traded for was potatoes and sweet potatoes-high-yield foods that stored well and could be eaten once cooked.

Luckily, she had brought plenty of bread, biscuits, and chocolate. Even after trading, she still had enough to last her a week.

Su Cheng tore open a round pork floss bun. This kind only had a coating of pork floss on the outside.

She broke it in half, poured some jam into the middle, and took a bite. The sweet-and-sour jam was very appetizing.

Still, no amount of sweetness could compare to a piping-hot feast.

All she could say was that, fortunately, she was not a picky eater.

Delicious food was wonderful, of course, but she could make do without it.

After eating three buns in a row, Su Cheng felt full. She then took the beef jerky out of her smart bag and began chewing it as an after-meal snack.

She had bought this jerky in the tsunami instance and kept forgetting to eat it. The pure beef was particularly chewy, not fake jerky padded out with duck meat.

After eating her fill, Su Cheng brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth.

Then, for the first time, she used a chamber pot to take care of her bathroom needs...

All she could say was that she really missed squat toilets and flush toilets.

The man who had shown her into the house and brought her the chamber pot was the village chief, an elderly man nearing sixty. He said the village had previously used communal buckets in a thatched shed to relieve themselves.

After Lu Heng arrived and required all the villagers to isolate at home, each household had to have its own bucket. The villagers collected them every other day and processed the contents into fertilizer.

She had to admit that although Lu Heng had ulterior motives for saving people, he handled things fairly well.

Sharing something as personal as a chamber pot was actually very unhygienic.

Su Cheng lay on the bed. It was neither particularly early nor particularly late-exactly eight thirty in the evening.

With no entertainment at night, she could only go to bed early and wait for dawn.

After dark, the Twin Fish Jade Pendant against her chest felt cool, especially on nights with a full moon, when its chill grew stronger.

Su Cheng stroked its smooth pattern. The jade pendant was completely unaffected by her body heat and did not warm up at all.

Remembering that the pendant could nourish her body, Su Cheng was not worried that its chill would have any harmful effects.

Besides, the weather was hot, and holding something cool felt quite comfortable.

Lying alone in bed, it was easy for her thoughts to wander once things grew quiet.

Su Cheng thought about classes, wondering how she could obtain one...

Lu Heng had a healer class. Although providing aftercare was troublesome, it was still better than having none.

He had obtained a related class by saving people in an instance. Could obtaining a class mean doing things related to it?

It could not be that simple.

If it really worked that way, classes would not have been rare.

As Su Cheng pondered, sleepiness crept over her.

Without a phone to play with at night, she really did fall asleep early...

Author's note:

This instance is pretty easy if you take proper precautions~

Chapter 34

Su Cheng woke early the next morning.

She checked the time. It was only 5:30.

The sky was already bright, but the sun had yet to peek out. The temperature at this hour was neither cold nor hot, but very pleasant.

After washing up, Su Cheng had two boiled eggs for breakfast.

Today, Su Cheng planned to gather more herbs on the mountain. If she spotted any wild rabbits, she could also practice with her new bamboo-and-wood bow and arrows, as well as her technique for killing with a single dagger strike.

Perhaps she could buy a set of throwing darts later. Darts would definitely be better suited than daggers for use as concealed weapons.

The villagers generally rose very early. Once Su Cheng stepped outside, she could hear people talking in their homes.

Several sleeping bags had appeared fifty meters beyond the disinfection hut at the village entrance. They were spread out on two sides, presumably dividing the people into two groups according to the severity of their illness.

These sleeping bags were unmistakably products of modern manufacturing.

Lu Heng was quite generous. Presumably, the experience gained from curing these people was substantial and should take his class skills to the next level.

Su Cheng quickly skirted the sleeping bags, not wanting to attract attention.

She followed the familiar route to the mountain's outskirts and carefully searched for the red berries she had seen yesterday.

More than other medicines, she wanted drugs with offensive potential, such as hallucinogens.

If she had known the red berries could be converted into hallucinogens, she would have picked more back then...

But after searching for quite some time, Su Cheng had gathered only a few herbs and had not seen a single trace of the red berries.

She sighed softly, stopped, and looked up at the treetops.

The early birds were busily foraging among the trees, chirping incessantly. Their calls filled the mountain forest that morning.

Su Cheng drew her bowstring and aimed the arrowhead at a bird perched in a treetop.

"Whoosh-"

The bamboo arrow shot out with the force of the drawn bow.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."

The startled birds scattered.

Su Cheng missed the bird she had originally aimed at, but accidentally hit another foolish bird flying past in fright.

"Looks like I still need plenty of practice..."

Su Cheng drew her bow again, aimed at a bird in another tree, and continued practicing.

Her enhanced senses greatly reduced the difficulty of learning new skills.

After five consecutive arrows, she finally got the hang of it and landed a shot on target.

Su Cheng walked over to retrieve the bird and arrow, but as she bent down, she caught a hint of blood. It did not come from the bird flapping on the ground, but was the scent of human blood.

Su Cheng immediately went on full alert.

She sniffed lightly. The bloody scent in the air was very faint, but Su Cheng could still smell it even through her protective suit.

Her experiences in multiple instances had already made her extremely sensitive to this smell.

Su Cheng lightened her steps and carefully parted the weeds, locating the source behind a tree.

Someone lay behind the tree.

Su Cheng slowly approached. The person did not move.

Only when she got closer did Su Cheng realize that what lay behind the tree was a corpse.

Su Cheng stepped back a few paces while examining the body.

The corpse was a thin, frail man, his face dotted with red patches. He was clearly infected with the Black Death too.

However, he had not died from the disease, but from the bloody wound in his chest...

A trail of blood remained on the ground.

He had probably fled after being injured, finally running out of strength and bleeding to death against the tree.

Judging by how dried the blood was, he had probably died yesterday or earlier.

Su Cheng took two steps closer, took out her shovel, and prodded the male corpse's chest. The wound looked as though something small had shot into it at high speed, causing relentless bleeding...

A thought suddenly arose in her mind... This wound looks like a gunshot wound...

Did someone from the apartment kill him?

Su Cheng speculated, but could not be completely certain. Determining whether it was a gunshot wound would require removing the corpse's clothes to inspect it.

The male corpse was infected with plague bacteria, and Su Cheng did not want direct contact with him.

Su Cheng straightened and left, taking out disinfectant to clean the shovel blade that had touched the corpse's wound, then spraying the surrounding air.

The incident did not affect Su Cheng's state of mind. She continued gathering herbs and practicing with her bow and dagger.

Only as noon approached, when Su Cheng no longer wanted to move around under the blazing sun, did she turn back.

When she returned to the village entrance, Danlise and the others were sheltering from the heat in their tents.

Su Cheng did not disturb them. First, she had the villager stationed at the entrance spray her down.

The disinfectant made a "swish, swish, swish" sound as it sprayed against her protective suit. The suit was tightly sealed, and no liquid seeped inside.

Su Cheng sought out the village chief.

The village chief's house was very close to the little house where Lu Heng was staying.

When the village chief and his family saw Su Cheng, they hurried to come out and greet her.

Su Cheng stopped them. "Let's just talk through the window."

The village chief did not understand why, but followed her request and stood by the window.

Su Cheng said, "I just found a corpse on the mountain. My advice is to relocate the village as soon as possible. You can move deeper into the mountains or somewhere else, preferably far away from crowds."

The village chief was puzzled. "Why?"

Su Cheng thought for a moment. "I foresaw that the murderer would come to the village and go on a killing spree. The villagers need to take refuge beforehand."

Of course, Su Cheng had made up the prophecy. By now, she felt no qualms about lying.

But her advice was not groundless.