Ch 39: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Shen Qing even felt a slight sense of regret—since he didn’t have to rely on blood ties, his selection pool was much broader. He should have prepared multiple candidates. Just like yesterday at the hospital, all those people who were injured or maimed by the mutated willow tree—shouldn’t he have saved more of them?

After all, it wasn’t like he was short on supplies. If he had rescued them all, wouldn’t they, like Qu Weiwei, have been seedlings nurtured by his life-saving grace?

Raising multiple candidates would also prevent the problem he had seen in the village—where some women and gers pinned all their hopes on one or two people, only to end up with useless cowards, ingrates, or those with no real potential.

Although Qu Weiwei seemed like a decent person, talent was unpredictable. Shen Qing had seen it before—strong, broad-shouldered young men who marched to their sisters’ houses, full of bravado to stand up for them, only to get beaten to a pulp by their brother-in-law’s family due to poor fighting skills. Who could they complain to then?

But if he recruited more people, at least one or two were bound to be good prospects.

However, thinking about that old couple from yesterday, Shen Qing didn’t feel too much regret. He still wanted to select people like Song Kaiji—easy to get along with and of decent character. With parents like that, the entire family might become troublesome in the future, bringing him unnecessary problems. It was better to have someone like Qu Weiwei—her talent was unknown, but at least her character had been vetted by Song Kaiji.

Shen Qing sighed. Since it was already in the past, there was no point dwelling on it. He could simply be more mindful in the future. He could also rely on Song Kaiji to introduce people—he trusted him well enough for that.

Looking at the basket of eggs in his hands, Shen Qing chuckled to himself—wasn’t there an old saying? Never put all your eggs in one basket. That applied here too!

Meanwhile, Qu Weiwei stared at the eggs in front of her, utterly stunned.

These were eggs. A whole basket of them!

Since the apocalypse, she hadn’t been entirely deprived of meat. There had been rare chances—mutant animal meat, for instance. It wouldn’t kill her, but the texture was absolutely awful. Once animals mutated, they evolved purely for survival, and the delicious genes they had developed over thousands of years of domestication vanished overnight.

She had also eaten vacuum-sealed beef jerky or pickled chicken feet when scavenging supplies. But fresh eggs? There weren’t even many normal chickens left, let alone ones that still laid eggs! The base didn’t raise poultry, and fresh eggs were even rarer than meat. Unless someone had looted supermarkets or farms early in the apocalypse with a storage ability, who else could take out this many eggs?

And now, he was giving them all to her?

Though Song Kaiji had assured her that their boss would provide good food and care during her recovery, she never imagined it would be this generous.

Her hands hovered, reaching out yet hesitating to take them.

Song Kaiji was also momentarily stunned. He had the same thought—aside from early space ability users who had looted supplies at the start of the apocalypse, who else could possibly have this many eggs?

Song Kaiji knew Shen Qing didn’t have an ability. That meant… he glanced at Shen Qing with complicated feelings. Did Shen Qing have another space ability user working with him?

It was highly possible. Otherwise, where had all those supplies been stored? Every few days, Shen Qing brought in a significant amount of food. If it were stored somewhere close to the base, surely the many scavenging teams that constantly searched the area would have found it by now.

That meant the supplies were likely being kept in someone’s space storage—someone who was often near Shen Qing.

Song Kaiji had never thought about it before. But now that the idea had formed, an inexplicable feeling of disappointment crept over him.

It was as if he had thought he was the teacher’s favorite student, only to discover that the teacher had another class with a student they favored even more.

It was completely irrational. He knew he and Shen Qing were simply in a transactional relationship—at most, he had been flattering Shen Qing to secure a more stable arrangement.

But now, he suddenly felt a strange sense of possessiveness toward Shen Qing?

Song Kaiji watched as Shen Qing firmly placed the basket of eggs into Qu Weiwei’s arms.

“What are you hesitating for? Song Ge should have told you already,” Shen Qing tapped the basket meaningfully. “The most important thing about following me is secrecy. As long as you stick to that, you don’t need to worry about food—I won’t let you go hungry.”

Song Kaiji swallowed back the words he had wanted to ask.

But Shen Qing hadn’t forgotten about him either.

Shen Qing had always treated Song Kaiji differently. He was the first person Shen Qing had met in this world and the one he trusted most. Now that he was in the apocalypse, it had become almost a habit to bring Song Kaiji something homemade whenever he visited.

Today, it was chive pockets. Now that they were better off, Miao Shi had made a particularly rich filling—finely chopped chives, eggs, vermicelli, and wood ear mushrooms, with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkle of dried shrimp for extra flavor. The wrappers were rolled thin, the pockets pan-fried in pork fat, then wrapped in lotus leaves. The moment they were unwrapped, a delicious aroma filled the air.

Shen Qing handed two to Song Kaiji.

But Song Kaiji, still distracted by his earlier thoughts, didn’t seem too excited.

Qu Weiwei, on the other hand, hadn’t eaten something so good in ages. The scent made her stomach growl. She nudged Song Kaiji, whispering, “What’s wrong? You don’t like them? Give me one then—I’ll trade you an egg!”

Song Kaiji glanced at her, then swiftly stashed the chive pockets away.

“Not enough protein. Go eat your high-protein food.”

Qu Weiwei: ???

What was with the sudden mood swing?

Shen Qing then led them inside the storefront. Qu Weiwei’s eyes widened—inside, stacks of grain bags were neatly arranged, totaling several hundred pounds!

She was really, really glad she had agreed to join Shen Qing’s team. Had all her previous misfortunes been setting her up for this stroke of good luck?

Shen Qing, however, rubbed his sore arms discreetly. He had spent the night carrying those sacks up the mountain and back down again—his waist was about to snap!

Moments like this made him especially envious of Song Kaiji’s space ability. It might not be offensive, but it was certainly practical.

He told Song Kaiji to store all the grain.

“I’ll be busy for the next few days, so I won’t be coming by. You two go ahead and register the ability squad and rent a decent place to stay.”

He had promised the village chief he would deal with the wild boars in five days. Yesterday, he had come to trade for guns and bullets, but with Qu Weiwei’s injury, his plans had been disrupted.

Fortunately, before he left yesterday, Song Kaiji had given him two guns and all the bullets he had. That should be enough. Besides, Shen Qing wasn’t just bluffing—he really had learned how to set traps from an experienced hunter and was preparing accordingly. It wasn’t just about shooting the boars.

Song Kaiji had mentioned that most ability teams lived together for safety. That was similar to how big families in the village stuck together to consolidate their strength. Wealthier teams rented entire villas in the inner city, while poorer ones settled for shared apartments in the outer city.

If Shen Qing was going to use the “support your younger brother” approach to win people over, then he naturally wanted to give them the best living conditions possible.

Yesterday, when he took Qu Weiwei home, he had seen where she and Song Kaiji lived—a drafty, leaky tin house that was even worse than the village homes. It was barely better than the tents outside the base walls.

Since he wasn’t short on food or money, he mimicked the gentle tone of the most doting ger in the village.

“Keep enough food for the next few days and sell the rest. Buy whatever you want—don’t skimp on yourselves. Convert the rest to crystal cores.”

He glanced at Song Kaiji, noting how he had been sulking like a lost puppy ever since he handed Qu Weiwei the eggs. He hesitated before adding, “…You two split the crystal cores evenly. Focus on leveling up. I’ll be back in five days—same time, same place.”

Oh well. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to spoil Song Kaiji a little. Carrying an extra load of grain wasn’t a big deal.

Qu Weiwei was so moved she almost cried.

Meanwhile, Song Kaiji hesitated before scooting closer to Shen Qing.

“…So, are you going to live with us? Our rented place will be our squad’s base. Shouldn’t you help pick our future home?”

He blinked.

“Oh, and what should we name our ability squad?”

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