Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Arriving in Xiangcheng

After drifting on the water for ten days, the heavy smog gradually thinned out a bit.

Jiang Yan and her group finally saw the shadows of other boats.

All were heading east.

Most were assault boats with rust stains, rubber dinghies covered in all kinds of patches, and a few bamboo rafts that seemed on the verge of falling apart.

Without exception, the people on the boats were all gaunt, with yellowed complexions – apart from their eyes and lips, everything appeared darkened.

Actually, the one thing that wasn’t scarce around was water, but many people who had just cleaned themselves soon became dirty again, so they simply gave up on washing.

Additionally, their coughing could be heard from a distance.

Their coughs were severe, as if they were trying to hack up their lungs.

A few were suffering from colds due to the cold weather and getting wet, but most coughed because they had inhaled too much dust into their noses and lungs.

After all, not everyone was equipped like Jiang Yan and her group, with protective goggles, N95 masks, raincoats, and fully armed.

There were a few who, like ancient swordsmen, formed hats out of bamboo scooped up from the water and then circled them with mosquito nets or white gauze.

However, these people’s white gauze and mosquito nets, without exception, were also gray and blackened.

This attempt at protection was better than nothing.

There was also a skinny young couple who looked like monkeys, stopping their mottled rubber dinghy on the water, holding a shiny kitchen knife, selling a ragged wedding dress.

The wedding dress was pure white and elegant, locally embedded with many pearls shining with a ghostly white light.

It looked very valuable.

Despite being stored in a crumpled, oversized cheap plastic bag, it appeared pure and noble in a world black with smog.

The method of sale was also special: barter.

Five pieces of compressed biscuits, a steamed bun the size of a fist, or a similar food item, could get two meters of it.

Judging by the fact that more than half of their wedding dress remained, it seemed to be slow-selling.

After all, even though many people wanted to buy it for cover, hardly any had food at this moment.

Let alone those willing to trade for it.

Because of the temporary smog, Jiang Yan and her people’s progress slowed down significantly.

According to the original plan, they should have arrived at East Mountain within these ten days.

But at the moment, they were no longer in a hurry, mainly because it was pointless to rush.

Being able to save their own lives was already quite good.

On the way, they encountered several substantial earthquakes and were once robbed while temporarily resting on the top of a small hill exposed to the water to relieve themselves.

However, as expected, they ended up robbing the attackers in reverse.

It was regrettable that those people were penniless, and, in turn, cost Song Qian and his group a few bullets.

All in all, it was Song Qian and his people that ended up at a loss.

The carried provisions had also been nearly depleted.

Where Song Qian and Kong Wu were, there was nothing but compressed biscuits.

Fortunately, Jiang Yan still had some sweet potatoes, potatoes, and onions left.

That sweet potato Su Dai had previously asked for had sprouted many green leaves, which they ate raw.

The taste was sour and hard to swallow.

But they still ate it as usual, even joking about needing to replenish their fiber or something.

At the time, Kong Wu seriously told them that back in his hometown, such things were fed to pigs.

And even pigs didn’t eat them raw; they were always cooked first.

Everyone was both amused and frustrated, almost kicking him into the water.

The hydroponic plants Su Dai had packed and taken with her, mostly green onions and garlic, along with some small vegetable sprouts not longer than a finger, were also eaten raw the next day.

Among the supplies she and Jiang Yan carried was some black fungus.

Su Dai would soak some in water every day and have everyone eat it.

She said it was because there was too much dust and it was for lung cleansing.

The fish trap made from a mosquito screen by Ye Qing and Song Qian was simply hung under the boat and surprisingly yielded the occasional catch.

Crabs, fish, snakes—they caught a bit of everything, and not in small quantities.

When everyone marveled at the heavens for not leaving them destitute, Jiang Yan just smiled slightly on the side.

What she didn’t tell the others was that most of the crabs and fish that ended up in the fish trap were secretly herded there by Hua Bao, who had sunk into the water.

Now that Hua Bao had leveled up, it could move a distance twice as far from her, giving it much more freedom of action.

For Jiang Yan, these days drifting at sea were tough, agonizing, yet beautiful.

The hardship was visible to the naked eye.

She had once made survival videos in the wilderness, but that was all for show in front of the camera.

Once filming stopped, all sorts of delicious meals were already steaming nearby, ready to eat.

Not like now, where disasters followed one after another, pausing not for a moment.

The so-called agony was when thinking of all the hotpot, barbecue, Michelin-starred restaurants back in the “Space”, the hunger spiked significantly.

But they couldn’t be taken out.

After all, the whole way, they could only squeeze onto one boat with the other few people with absolutely no privacy.

It was like a billionaire, clearly wealthy, forced by certain conditions to beg on the streets.

As for the beautiful, it was more about the harmony developed along the way as they got along with each other.

With Kong Wu, the joker in the group, they sometimes couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Followed by a fit of coughing.

Jiang Yan gradually realized why humans are social animals.

Some feelings of happiness and satisfaction can’t be attained by one person holed up in their little world, living in luxury.

To encounter companions with right principles, and who are somewhat like-minded, during the dark days of the apocalypse is also a lucky thing.

Moreover, she felt that she had clearly adapted more to the current harsh survival environment.

“Sister Yaen, what are you thinking about?” Kong Wu’s words pulled Jiang Yan’s thoughts back.

Jiang Yan smiled slightly, “Contemplating life.”

“Everyone, we’re starting to encounter more people, it looks like Xiangcheng isn’t far now,” Song Qian stood up, scanned the surroundings, checked the map again, and said in a low voice.

The fuzzy little brown bear hat he was wearing on his head had now successfully upgraded to a little black bear hat.

Upon hearing his words, the remaining few people immediately brightened up.

The terrain of Xiangcheng was only second to East Mountain.

If they reached Xiangcheng, it meant they could temporarily land and rest.

There were more boats on the water around them.

According to Song Qian, while Xiangcheng was a small city, its geographical location was excellent, being a vital hub.

It had always been an important distribution center with many merchants coming and going since ancient times.

After the apocalypse, some information was deliberately spread.

So survivors, like them, rushed to Xiangcheng, to East Mountain, heading east.

In just a few minutes, Song Qian gestured forward with a big hand and said,

“Everyone, we’ve arrived at Xiangcheng!”

Upon hearing that, Su Dai stood up first, somewhat excitedly:

“My God, we can finally land safely!”