Chapter 8: Waterproof Tarpaulin
“Uh…”
Suddenly being called “Captain Brother” by a soft, cute, and helpless (living alone in a tunnel) girl, the captain’s face tightened, but his tone softened:
“I’m Zhou Qian. Just call me Captain Zhou. What’s the matter?”
Huai Yu smiled with curved eyes and spoke softly, “I built a house, but it doesn’t seem very rainproof. I wanted to ask if I could trade these pinecones for a piece of plastic sheet?”
“You built a house?” Captain Zhou frowned. “It’s only been less than two days… You built it yourself? What kind of house!”
Huai Yu gestured with her hands: “I just propped up some branches and then picked some leaves to lay on top!”
“But the leaves don’t seem to be dense enough…”
She looked a little troubled. Even though she knew rainwater would drip along the arc of the leaves, there weren’t enough sycamore leaves, and they weren’t big enough either. She could only lay two layers, so she was still worried.
The guards and Captain Zhou fell silent.
They had heard of building a house with branches and leaves before.
But first, she was a delicate, pampered-looking girl. And she built a house in just over a day…
Unimaginable.
And large branches—she probably wouldn’t even be able to snap them herself.
Also, it was early spring. Even though there were some trees around the edges, the ones with leaves were mostly small-leaved evergreen shrubs.
Using those tiny leaves to layer and shield from wind and rain…
Captain Zhou looked at her pitiful expression. Even though he knew she was a freeloader with zero contribution points, he still sighed.
As soon as he sighed, Huai Yu became nervous: “Captain Brother, can I trade them?”
She took the heavy string of pinecones from her shoulder, her attitude even more sincere: “I found these near the Rose Corridor after looking for a long time yesterday. They’re edible! Can I trade them?”
They were probably knocked down when the Rose Corridor was being cleared of mutant plants or maybe blown down by the wind…
Anyway, just thinking about how a frail little girl had walked along the dangerous Rose Corridor looking for food—who knows how far she traveled to gather so little…
Captain Zhou couldn’t keep his stern face anymore.
He waved his hand, and a soldier beside him stepped forward: “Go to logistics. Use my points to get a waterproof tarp. A lightweight one—will 20 square meters be enough? Forget it, make it 40 square meters. She can use the extra to cover the ground against dampness.”
Huai Yu opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to say her new house was very large and sturdy. Although the inside was only a little over ten square meters, 40 square meters would be just enough to cover the whole rounded roof, maybe with a few bricks pressed on the edges. She couldn’t really use it to cover the ground.
But it didn’t matter. Captain Brother was so kind; she was already very satisfied.
After giving orders, Captain Zhou added a reminder: “Even a lightweight tarp has some weight. When you put it on the roof, make sure your house has good support.”
“Plastic sheeting is lighter, but it blocks wind, not cold. It’s going to rain and get cold in a few days.”
Huai Yu obediently nodded, realizing that although Captain Zhou looked dark-skinned and serious, he was very thoughtful.
She hadn’t even considered the drop in temperature!
She obediently handed over the pinecones.
Captain Zhou didn’t seem to want them at first.
But after a moment of hesitation, he took them—and was shocked by the heavy weight—
“This is almost ten jin (around 5 kg)! You carried it all the way here?”
Huai Yu nodded. She really wished she had a cart, but since she didn’t, she had to carry it herself.
It was exhausting.
The captain laughed: “Not bad! You’re starting to show some self-reliance and hard work. Your zero contribution points must be because your family protected you too well. But the times have changed. You are your greatest support now!”
He waved his hand: “Food is scarce now. These pinecones don’t seem very mutated—worth about 10–15 contribution points. That’s just about right to cover the tarp.”
“You did very well!” he encouraged her, “This waterproof tarp weighs about twelve jin (around 6 kg). It’s sun-resistant, aging-resistant, and durable. Don’t waste it!”
As the logistics officer came running back, a thick bundle of tarp immediately bent Huai Yu’s waist under its weight.
…
Watching Huai Yu dragging the tarp back toward camp, the logistics officer chuckled:
“Rare to see a little girl so determined to be self-reliant. She even knew to bring something to trade for resources. We really should’ve given her a ride back.”
Someone else laughed: “Yeah, look at her face all dirty, clothes all ragged… Tsk, she probably didn’t even dare to wash her face.”
Although it was safe now, a girl living alone should look a little rougher for safety. No one knew whose child she was. How did she stay so well-protected during the chaos?
Now that things were back on track, ironically…
Forget it. After six years of catastrophe, nothing was surprising anymore.
Captain Zhou, however, said seriously: “She’s missing a lot of things! Toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, pots, pans?”
“If she can carry ten jin of pinecones, she can carry twelve jin of tarp.”
“She finally thought about being self-reliant and breaking her zero contribution score. Don’t ruin her spirit.”
Still, he wondered aloud: “How come we’ve never picked up that many pinecones? Could it be because the Rose Corridor is next to the mountains?”
The logistics officer chuckled: “Probably just the bravery of youth. She hasn’t seen how terrifying the Rose Corridor gets every summer and fall. So she dared to rummage around the edge bushes?”
They themselves wouldn’t dare get close, so no wonder they found nothing over the years.
Surely she didn’t cross the corridor and climb the mountain?
Captain Zhou handed over the bundle of pinecones: “Here, haven’t had seeds in years. Let’s crack some pine nuts—check the mutation level and see if they’re edible.”
After the catastrophe, all plants mutated to some degree—the difference was whether they crossed the critical threshold.
Plants that crossed the threshold went insane: rapid growth, huge size, and a hunger for nutrients—humans, animals, flesh, anything.
That’s why for the past six years, people had fought and killed the insane plants or drove them into the wastelands.
As for normal mutations, most plants just became tough and nasty to eat.
Take pine nuts—once fragrant and sweet, now they might be bitter and tongue-numbing.
How awful they tasted depended on the mutation level.
But—
“Holy crap! What’s going on? Mutation level only 3?”
Their local air mutation index was just 3!
Everyone immediately gathered around, staring at the huge green number—
“Test it again! Report!”
Beep—
“Still 3!”
Everyone looked at each other, then burst into cheers: “Gimme a handful! This one won’t taste bitter for sure!”
“In your dreams! A handful? You wish!”
“Pah! No grabbing! It’s mine! I used 50 points for the tarp!”
