Chapter 162: Zhou Qian’s Home
Mutant creatures…
Huai Yu was still a bit worried. After all, when she thought about it carefully, it seemed she didn’t really have any ability to protect herself.
But the highway entrance really seemed interesting, and she wanted to learn more about the wastelands. After thinking it over and over, she cautiously agreed.
After they set the time, they parted ways. It wasn’t until Huai Yu squeezed onto the bus that she remembered she still had to pay two points for the fare. Her nice round 15,000 points were mercilessly broken, and she instantly felt heartache. She regretted not buying more stuff at the trading market.
But since the points were already deducted, no matter how painful it was, she couldn’t just get off!
So she obediently went back home.
When she returned, it was already noon. She got off at the bus stop, went into the bushes to push out her bike, and pedaled rhythmically. The warm breeze and blazing sun were beating down on her, making her break out in a slight sweat.
She remembered that her under-the-tree shower room hadn’t been set up yet and decided she would rummage through the junk tonight to find materials to build it.
For now, she was going to inspect Zhou Qian’s house!
After riding along the main road for a short while, she saw Zhou Qian’s neat little house.
The house wasn’t big—just a bungalow of about 80 or 90 square meters from the outside. On the left and right of the main house were rows of small rooms:
Kitchen, storage room.
And then the toilet, utility shed.
In the open space surrounded by these square-shaped houses, there was a bright green well platform near the kitchen side, with a pulley and a bucket for drawing water.
The ground was paved with crushed stones, not as smooth and easy to clean as cement, but it was already something Liang Zhu had carefully crafted layer by layer with his earth-type ability.
In front of the house, about two acres of land had been reclaimed and tilled finely. Now, under the sun, the soil looked light yellow, and the wild grass on it had all dried up.
Overall, it looked much more organized than Huai Yu’s patched-together home.
And the most eye-catching part of the house was the electric pole standing outside the yard. It wasn’t particularly tall or made of great material, but…
Looking from afar, there were several of these along the way—it really was connected to electricity!
A single wire had been pulled into the house. Huai Yu pushed open the main door and saw the wire hanging down from the beam, waiting for the homeowner to come back and hook it up—They had even thoughtfully left the required wires and materials on the side.
Huai Yu was so tempted!
Every time she went to Boss Tang’s shop, she saw him playing games and muttering about the “Master Sword.” That game console Boss Tang said he’d sell her for only 2,000 points…
She wondered how long she could play on a full charge and how much it would cost to recharge?
The remaining 14,998 points in her bracelet seemed to be urging her to buy it quickly—life was already so hard, how could she not find some fun for herself?
Lavish living and a thrifty mindset were weaving together in her head, making her feel torn, but she had checked Zhou Qian’s house thoroughly—A flat, dorm-style bed with bedding and a mattress placed neatly to the side.
There were two washbasins and two towels, with toothbrushes and toothpaste prepared thoughtfully. There were also toilet paper, soap, laundry detergent… the full set of supplies Huai Yu had worked so hard to prepare for her own home were all considerately provided here.
Although just enough for one person to use for two or three days, it was already quite detailed. She even walked around the kitchen and found that there was a small hole left on the earthen stove, with three lighters placed inside.
Huai Yu: …
A wave of jealousy surged up again.
Puffing up her cheeks, she rode her bike back home and made up her mind on the way: once she saved up 20,000 points, she would definitely buy that game console! And when the battery ran out, she’d come over here to recharge it!
She was determined to make her life better too!
…
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Zhou Qian lay on his bed, drenched in sweat.
But he didn’t notify anyone. When the nurse came to check on him, he even covered himself with a blanket, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried his best to relax his body, pretending everything was normal…
Unfortunately, today’s nurse was one of the ones Huai Yu had treated to rock candy that day. Having learned a bit more about the siblings, she was now especially attentive while checking the meds.
Seeing Zhou Qian’s flushed face, she even measured his temperature—
“The temperature’s normal, but why does your face look so red and sweaty? Is the blanket too thick?”
They saw him every day and were already used to the scar on his face. She reached out to lift his blanket: “Let me switch you to a thinner one.”
“…” It didn’t budge.
She tugged again, and the blanket still wouldn’t move.
Their eyes met, and Zhou Qian quickly lowered his gaze, weakly saying, “I have a cold constitution…”
“Ohhh!”
The young nurse instantly understood—“With such serious injuries, blood loss, and mental stress, your body must be weak… Are you sweating like this often?”
“We just got a batch of biological supplements. With your contribution points, you can apply for some.”
Those were top-quality products from the medical department in recent years, really good for the body. But Zhou Qian only smiled and didn’t say anything.
The nurse sighed quietly to herself—Of course! If someone was willing to choose a bio-material prosthetic, it had to be for the contribution points subsidy.
No matter how good the supplements were, they still cost points, right?
She gave a knowing smile and thoughtfully picked up the water bottle at his bedside, not noticing Zhou Qian’s whole body tensing up: “So much water left? Your sister even boiled water at home for you? Actually, the hospital’s water is quite clean too, the mutation index is only 11…”
After so many days in the hospital, Zhou Qian had never realized this nurse was such a chatterbox. Finally, when she left, he silently waited 30 seconds before yanking off the blanket!
Underneath the blanket, at the exposed part of his prosthetic limb, the tendrils of a creeping vine were slowly moving around his already fused interface. The vine was weaving and twisting, and that familiar ache and tightness hit again.
But Zhou Qian knew—it was growing stronger.
When he took his first sip of ginseng water, the creeping vine on his leg had started stirring.
After drinking the whole cup, he could feel a strange energy flow from his stomach all the way down to his amputated leg.
It seemed to be a powerful nutrient that plants craved, gathering at the stump, where the vine’s tendrils greedily absorbed it.
At the same time, the vines on his prosthetic limb crept upward, as if shouting “Not enough!” “Not enough!” “I want more!”
And all Zhou Qian had done was drink one cup of water.
He fell silent, determined not to let anyone notice anything strange, but he could clearly feel his leg growing stronger.
So, silently, as cold sweat trickled down from the pain of becoming stronger, he gulped down water desperately, like someone starving for ages…
Until night fell. He pressed the call button and smiled slightly at the new nurse on duty: “Could you please change the bedding? My leg felt a bit uncomfortable this afternoon, and I sweated a lot.”
