RIACMET chapter 129

 

“That must’ve been the Space-type Ability User who took over the supermarket. What a good guy.”

Lu Ningzhou gave a big thumbs-up.

Liao Yu added,
“Hey, we did the same, didn’t we? When we left Qingyun City, didn’t we each stash supplies at our old hideouts for whoever was lucky enough to find them later?”

Many people did this if they had the ability to.

“March 25, 2037…”
Jian Cheng pointed at the date written on the message, looking puzzled.

“So that means they came after the extreme cold?”

Zhou Rongbin glanced around the area and shook his head.

“Their scavenging was way too clean. There’s no sign of panic or disorder. It doesn’t look like they came here because of the cold snap. Could this be a prank?”

“We’ll find out when we check it out. Let’s go—fated ones, move out.”

Zhao Lei finished speaking and led the way toward the supermarket restroom based on the note’s directions.

As he walked, Cheng Jing said:

“If it’s not a prank, then maybe he gathered the supplies beforehand. Before leaving Xihe City after the cold wave hit, he came back and left some extras behind for survivors.”

Jiang Nian nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s what I think too.”

…

The cleaning room was a utility closet used to store restroom cleaning supplies. It was located next to the supermarket restroom and was separated from the main shopping area by a corridor. You just had to walk to the end of the corridor.

There weren’t any zombies inside the supermarket, but there were plenty in the corridor.

The walls on both sides were fairly sturdy, and Cheng Jing incinerated the incoming horde with lightning and fire. They were just ordinary zombies, and with Jiang Nian’s purification field, the team achieved twice the results with half the effort.

The cleaning room itself was stacked high with broken door panels, steel sheets, and various cleaning gear piled up in front of the entrance.

Despite the debris and claw marks everywhere, the door itself was intact.

After dealing with the zombies near the restroom, everyone fell back. Then, Zhao Lei stepped forward and kicked the door clean off its hinges.

Even though it was a bright sunny day outside, it was dim inside. Jiang Nian pulled out his trusty flashlight and aimed it at the doorway.

Once the dust from the broken door had settled, they saw that boxes of instant noodles were stacked up to the top of the doorframe. On top of the boxes was a piece of A4 paper with a few lines written in marker.

The gist of the note matched Cheng Jing’s guess: The person who had awakened a space-type ability during the initial outbreak had worked at the supermarket as a loss prevention officer.

After awakening his ability, he collected everything on this floor.

Then, after the extreme cold hit, he left Xihe City for a base. Before he left, however, he and his friends returned to leave supplies for other survivors.

The note warned others not to go further inside because the building had already been thoroughly searched.

The note didn’t mention which base they were heading to or who wrote it.

“All right, let’s clock out after this haul,” said Cheng Jing, tearing the note off the boxes. They weren’t going to leave it behind—some things were better kept in official hands.

After seeing how clean and orderly the supermarket was, they trusted the space user’s scavenging skills and decided not to waste more time there.

Zhao Lei and the others stepped forward to remove the boxes sealing the entrance and reveal what lay behind them.

The 20-square-meter cleaning room was packed to the brim.

Besides two sacks of flour and two sacks of rice, the staples, most of the items were long-lasting household goods, such as instant meals and vacuum-sealed foods, along with a few meds, salt, and sugar.

Everything was stacked neatly in layers. There was a lot of it, and it was impressively clean.

“Wow…”

This guy’s amazing.

“Such a meticulous hoarder.”

“If fortune hasn’t come your way yet, maybe it just wasn’t time. Look at us. After digging through garbage all day, what’s ours still found its way to us…”

“When you’re rich, help the world. When you’re poor, take care of yourself. This guy’s character totally reminds me of my godfather.”

Jiang Nian: “…”

Whenever people gathered to talk, there were always a few whose commentary stood out too much.

Of course, even as he laughed, Cheng Jing turned around and looked at his own personal “hamster,” whose eyes were already sparkling.

“Niannian, come on over.”

“Okay!”

Jiang Nian isn’t pretending either—he likes to hoard goods!

Raising his hand and collecting the stash layer by layer felt amazing, and everyone got to witness the harvest firsthand.

This kind of “homebody happiness” could easily sustain his joy for a long time.

Tang Yi let out a wistful sigh.

“He was so generous, leaving behind this much. I can’t imagine how happy he must be after cleaning out the whole supermarket.”

“I think… it’s probably about the same level as my current joy, hahaha…”

Jiang Nian grinned brightly. No matter what, he truly felt like his team was the best.

After storing everything from the cleaning room, the team didn’t linger and headed back downstairs.

A few zombies had wandered into the lower levels again.

Still no powered zombies so far. Cheng Jing suspected this might have something to do with the team of superpowered individuals who had previously left the supplies behind.

They were probably strong, united, and principled—just like them.

After noon, the air turned scorching, and the entire commercial zone felt like a giant, rotting oven. The heat and stench made it difficult to breathe.

No one was hungry anymore. They relied on energy supplements to stay full and maintain their strength. Since they had run out of mint candy, Jiang Nian handed out other flavors instead.

Zhou Rongbin picked the most potent durian flavor. His teammates couldn’t comment; they just quietly edged away from him.

Only after exiting the commercial zone and making it back to the roadside parking area did everyone finally exhale in relief.

They set up their rooftop tents for a break and gathered around a folding table to sip iced drinks and snack on small bites.

“I gotta say, Master, your ice ability is really the secret to surviving summer,” said Huang Qian, who was still dealing with acid reflux from all her retching earlier. The others quickly agreed.

Young Master Liao smugly flicked his metaphorical tail.

“You know, someone like me is clearly the protagonist in a novel. Water-based abilities are always popular, and ice is a form of water.”

“Haha, true enough.”

“Yep, yep, Young Master is amazing.”

“I’ve read those novels too, and it checks out…”

His teammates humored him, showering him with praise.

Jiang Nian smiled and suddenly thought of Jiang Wenwen. She had a water-based ability, too, but no one knew where she was now.

Had she returned to Base S to live the life of a pampered young miss? Or had Xia Weiwei captured her somewhere?

Was she even still alive?

“…”

After chatting and laughing for a while, Zhao Lei asked,

“It’s still early. Brother Cheng, are we heading straight to the logistics park next?”

Cheng Jing nodded.

“Yeah, if all goes well, we should head back the morning after tomorrow. We need to report some findings to base ASAP to prevent further losses during the next heat wave.”

Dielectric crystal cores were critically important, and since they were part of the rescue division, they couldn’t just think about themselves. Otherwise, they would have spent a few more days out here.

“Speaking of which, the command center sent me a message telling me to prepare in advance. Once I’m back, they’ll adjust my work schedule temporarily and assign me to help the base’s water-type supers store water for the reservoir,”

Liao Yu said this while pulling up the message on his phone to show everyone.