Chapter 72: Ready To Go Out
He Xing opened the door after she knocked on it twice. Du Yue handed him the lunchbox in her hand. “I grew some bean sprouts out of boredom. I’ll share some with you.”
He Xing looked at the tender bean sprouts in the lunchbox in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to know how to do this. You’re really amazing.” The admiration and respect in He Xing’s words were genuine, and his eyes were shining as he looked at Du Yue.
Du Yue just thought that it was a simple task, so she did not expect to receive such sincere praise from He Xing. For a moment, she was a little embarra.s.sed. “It’s actually not difficult. If you have beans, just bury them in wet paper towels and make sure to add some water to them.”
“Don’t be so humble. There are still many people who don’t have such skills,” He Xing said with a look of admiration.
He Xing was right. Before the apocalypse, most people were corporate slaves. Their routine just consisted of going to work and coming back home. When they got home, they would either have some instant food or order takeaway. They really did not have the extra time and energy to cook, let alone plant bean sprouts.
Du Yue did not continue to argue with him about this. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back first. It’s too cold outside.”
“Ah, wait a moment!”
Du Yue looked at He Xing, puzzled. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m planning to go out in two days. Do you want to come with me?” Hearing this, Du Yue’s expression became even more puzzled.
“The weather is so cold now. What are you gonna do outside?”
“I want to go out and see if there’s any prey outside. I’ve already spoken to the base. They’ll lend me their snow shovel truck, but I have to refuel it myself,” He Xing told her his thoughts. He Xing then added, “If anyone else wants to use it, they’ll have to pay the base an additional 10 contribution points every day.”
In other words, the truck that the base lent him was free of charge. It did sound pretty good. However, it was so cold outside. Would there really be prey?
Du Yue hesitated for a moment, but thinking that she had nothing to do, she finally nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you! When do you plan to leave?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“Sure, I have gasoline too. We’ll each contribute half of the petrol. Since we’re going out, we’ll have to make extensive preparations.”
“Sure, I’ll go to your house the day after tomorrow.”
The two of them settled the matter just like that. Du Yue turned around and went home. He Xing stood at the door until he saw the door to Du Yue’s house close. He then closed the door to his own house.
He Xing turned around and went back to his bedroom. When he was inside, he opened the lunchbox and looked at the bean sprouts. The two of them had chatted for a while outside, and the bean sprouts were already frozen hard. He Xing took off his gloves and knocked on the lunchbox with his fair fingers. “I’ll eat you up in a while.”
…
Du Yue returned to her bedroom, took off her coat, and hung it on the hanger. Then, she sat on the carpet and began to think about He Xing’s suggestion. After it started snowing, she had been staying at home and never left the base. It was not a bad idea to go out and take a look. The first base used to be a summer resort, surrounded by mountains and other scenic spots. There should be a lot of animals here.
In the previous extremely hot weather, although she had not seen any animals, just by looking at the tenacious mosquitoes and rats, she knew that animals were better at adapting to the sudden changes in climate and environment than humans. They also lived more comfortably. She had never seen those animals, but that did not mean that they did not exist. If she went out for a walk, she might really have an unexpected harvest.
Du Yue did not lack meat, but if she could bring back some game in broad daylight, she could exchange it for some contribution points with the base even if she did not plan to eat it.
It was just that the weather was so bad that they had to be fully prepared if they wanted to go out. For the next two days, Du Yue stayed at home and began to prepare the things that she could use when she went out. Du Yue found the largest mountaineering bag and put a sleeping bag, a tent, and a blanket inside. There were also heat pads that could heat up on their own, so they would definitely come in handy. Du Yue took out two boxes of heat pads and stuffed them into her hiking bag.
In addition to these, she also found two copper hand warmers. She put charcoal in the hand warmers and put a cotton jacket on the outside. She could keep her hands warm without burning herself.
Du Yue had prepared a lot of charcoal for these types of hand warmers. It was just that she had never left her house before, so she never had the chance to use the hand warmers. Du Yue tested the effects of the hand warmers at home. She found that they were very warm when she put burning charcoal in the compartment. Therefore, she immediately took out a large bag of charcoal from her inters.p.a.ce and stuffed it into her hiking bag along with the hand warmers.