Chapter 49: The Internet

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin didn't hesitate and handed over the cloth bag from his waist. Lin Geng followed right after.

Tiantian glanced at the two of them, her expression a bit uneasy, but since she was in a vulnerable position, after thinking it over carefully, she still handed over her own cloth bag.

Qi Xia took all the cloth bags and sat aside to fiddle with something. In no time, he tossed aside an empty bag and stood up, saying to the three of them, "We've earned five shares this time, totaling ninety-five Dao. That number can't be divided evenly among four people, so we'll add the one we had left over, making ninety-six Dao in total. Each of us gets twenty-four."

He handed the three cloth bags forward and said to them, "I've packed them for you. Remember to count them on the spot—I won't take responsibility afterward."

Tiantian quickly reached out to take her bag, opened it, and counted the contents. It was indeed twenty-four Dao, not a single one short.

Lin Geng and Qiao Jiajin simply hung their bags back on their waists.

"Aren't you going to count them?" Qi Xia said. "I'm a swindler, after all."

"It doesn't matter," Lin Geng shook his head and said. "If I find out later that some are missing, I'll just take them from you."

"Yeah, don't pull that," Qiao Jiajin waved his hand. "Where to next?"

Qi Xia looked at the bear arm in Qiao Jiajin's arms, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's go get something to eat..."

...

The group's idea was simple: if they could cook that bear arm properly, they could fill their stomachs, no matter what it tasted like.

But in this ruined city, finding the essentials for cooking was extremely difficult.

Clean water, a stove, a pot, and a lighter—none of these were available.

They wandered through the abandoned buildings for over an hour without finding anything.

When they reached an abandoned restaurant, Qiao Jiajin finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"This isn't working," he threw the bear arm on the ground and flexed his sore wrist. "Carrying this several dozen pounds of meat around, we'll either starve to death or drop from exhaustion."

"You've worked hard," Lin Geng said with a smile to Qiao Jiajin. "Want me to take it for a while?"

"No need for that."

"I feel like there's hope here," Tiantian said, surveying the restaurant and noticing it wasn't too badly damaged.

Sure enough, after a quick search, they found an aluminum pot under a table.

The pot looked fairly clean, just a bit deformed.

"As for firewood, it's everywhere around here," Qi Xia said, glancing at the broken furniture on the ground. "The only things we're missing are water and fire."

"I'll check the kitchen," Tiantian said, heading straight to the back of the restaurant. "Maybe there's water there."

Qi Xia nodded slightly and started looking for other useful items in the room. After a few seconds, he thought better of it and said to Qiao Jiajin, "Qiao Jiajin, go with Tiantian. Watch out for the yuan zhu min."

"Good point," Qiao Jiajin nodded and headed toward the kitchen. But he hadn't taken more than three steps when he heard Tiantian's voice from afar.

"Huh? What are you doing here?"

"Ah! Sister, you're here too!"

The voice responding to Tiantian was that of a woman.

Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin immediately ran to the kitchen. As soon as they opened the door, they saw the slightly plump girl standing there.

She reached out and affectionately linked arms with Tiantian, saying to the group, "What are you all doing here? What a coincidence!"

Qi Xia looked at the woman coldly, his expression displeased.

"Are you following us?"

"Ah?" The girl showed a look of disbelief. "How could that be?! I was here first."

Qiao Jiajin wasn't sure what to make of the situation—why was this girl waiting for them here?

"Are you looking for something?" the girl asked again.

"Yes, we're looking for water and fire," Tiantian replied.

"Water and fire?" The girl laughed. "That's perfect—it's all here."

Under Qi Xia's cautious gaze, the woman led Tiantian to a cabinet. She stood on tiptoe, opened the cabinet door, and inside were several plastic buckets filled with clear water.

Then she pulled a lighter from her pocket. "See?"

Qi Xia felt like this was all too coincidental, as if it had been arranged.

Tiantian happily took the lighter the woman handed her and asked, "Little girl, you're really going to lend this to us?"

"Sister, don't be so formal," the woman said innocently. "We're all survivors here—we should help each other."

Tiantian warmed up to the woman and thanked her repeatedly.

"What do you want?" Qi Xia asked from the side.

The slightly plump girl turned her head in confusion and replied, "Want what? I don't want anything—I'm just helping you out."

"I hope that's the case," Qi Xia said, turning away to gather things that could be used as firewood.

"That brother is so strange," the girl said, blinking her big eyes. "Why is he so guarded against me?"

"That's just his personality—you'll get used to it," Tiantian said with a smile. "Little girl, what's your name?"

"Sister, you can just call me Xiaoxiao."

Lin Geng looked at Xiaoxiao and felt something was off.

The girl was slightly plump with broad shoulders, wearing an oversized T-shirt, but her cheeks were very gaunt, not matching her build.

"Xiaoxiao, why don't you stay and eat with us?" Tiantian said. "The four of us won't finish that bear arm."

"Okay," Xiaoxiao nodded happily.

Qi Xia saw that this girl named Xiaoxiao was hiding something, but he decided not to press her. He just hoped she wouldn't try to trick them here.

Qiao Jiajin gathered some bricks to make a simple stove, tossed in some scrap wood, and lit it.

With Xiaoxiao's help, Tiantian cleaned the pot and boiled a pot of water.

Qi Xia handled the bear arm on the side.

He often cooked at home, but he'd never cooked a bear arm before, so he treated it like a chicken.

After briefly scalding it with hot water, he plucked the fur, removed the skin, and rinsed off the blood. He insisted that Xiaoxiao not touch the ingredients, and no one objected.

Qiao Jiajin grabbed a rusty kitchen knife from the kitchen, sharpened it quickly, chopped the prepared bear arm into two pieces, and threw the whole thing into the pot.

This was the best they could do for cooking.

Meat stew.

As the water in the pot slowly boiled and gurgled, the group sat around, quietly watching the iron pot without saying a word.

After a while, Lin Geng spoke up. "Is bear meat going to taste good?"

"It's delicious," Qiao Jiajin nodded immediately. "Haven't you had bear paw before?"

"Have you?" Tiantian turned and asked.

"I was lucky enough to try it once," Qiao Jiajin said. "The flavor is unforgettable. If I ever get out of here, I have to have it again someday."

Tiantian shook her head helplessly. "You're such a daredevil."

"A daredevil?" Qiao Jiajin laughed. "Tiantian, are you kidding? It's not like I'd hunt the bear myself—just order it at a restaurant."

"Eating bear paw is illegal," Tiantian added. "No matter how good it tastes, what good is that? Do you want to end up in jail for it?"

"What are you talking about?" Qiao Jiajin glanced at her dismissively. "Since when is eating bear paw illegal?"

Tiantian frowned, feeling like she and Qiao Jiajin sometimes clicked and sometimes were on completely different wavelengths.

"You really should get online more," Tiantian sighed. "Stop being so confidently ignorant all the time."

"Online?" Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. "Do you mean that internet thing that got popular a few years ago?"