Apocalyptic Disaster: Stockpile Supplies for Free and Make a Comeback

Chapter 29 Mushrooms and Helmeted Zombies

A bunch of purplish-red mushrooms, their color was incredibly vibrant.

Song Jinhe put on a mask, picked up a stick and poked it. Thick liquid flowed out of the broken umbrella canopy, carrying a strange, fishy smell.

She had never seen this kind of mushroom before. Luckily, it wasn't from bamboo cut nearby, otherwise she would have had to collect it again.

Song Jinhe noticed that something seemed off about the soil where the mushrooms were growing, so she used a stick to dig at the ground a couple more times.

A blackened skull covered in putrid fluid appeared before her eyes, along with a clump of soaked, dry, yellow hair.

This is a zombie corpse!

No wonder such strange mushrooms grow there.

Suddenly, I heard rustling footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw a filthy zombie wearing a motorcycle helmet.

Purple mushrooms and helmeted zombies. In a daze, Song Jinhe seemed to hear a familiar game melody, but this time the mushrooms were on the zombies' side.

Zombies wearing helmets have maxed-out defense; they can't be cut by knives or killed by clubs.

As she ran, Song Jinhe took out old clothes from her spatial storage and wrapped them around her hands. When the zombie pounced, she raised her hand to hold its neck and, enduring the nausea, took off her helmet.

The zombie was strong, and there was a slope behind her. Half of her helmet was knocked off, and she was thrown to the ground. Her head was almost pierced by the severed bamboo tip.

The stench of death emanated from the helmet, and yellow pus dripped down with the zombie's frantic biting movements. Song Jinhe held her breath, pulled out the awl with both hands, and desperately stabbed it into the zombie's eye socket.

The stench of this closed-loop fermentation was much more pungent than the smell of ordinary corpses. She washed her hands and took a deep breath to calm down the churning in her stomach.

After that, she went outside for a walk and picked up a zombie arm in good condition to practice stitching.

"Mushrooms growing on zombie corpses?" Jiang Shi'an frowned slightly. "Environmental changes affect genes. The mutated creatures that have appeared now are just the beginning. It's best not to touch any plants or animals you don't recognize."

Without hesitation, Song Jinhe replied, "Of course I wouldn't touch it, and I even stood far away from it."

She knew that the human living environment would become increasingly difficult in the future, even for those who became gifted, so why would she touch it out of curiosity?

In order not to waste materials, the tools used for practicing sewing were the ones I had used last time.

I spent ages following the steps and precautions, but it seems the more I sew, the bigger the wound gets.
Jiang Shi'an put down his tablet, which he had just charged that morning, and walked over to her, asking very seriously, "What new punishment are you researching?"

Song Jinhe:
"You've punctured a blood vessel," he warned.

Song Jinhe looked at the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and tried to fix them, but the more she tried, the bigger the hole became.

Thankfully, it was a zombie, not a wounded person.

Is there no hope?

“Yes.” Jiang Shi’an’s lips twitched slightly, his voice cold. “It’s not your fault. Sewing takes time to practice, and the skin condition of zombies is very different from that of living people. Don’t let your hands shake when tying knots.”

"Your team should have enough doctors, so why are you in such a hurry?" he suddenly asked.

“When I learned musical instruments before, as long as I could pass the exams, that was enough. No one required me to do a great job.”

Since everyone knows she won't live long anyway, Song Jinhe paused for two seconds before continuing, "Now that it's the apocalypse, if I get separated from my companions again due to an accident like last time, I don't need to be as professional as you. Just being able to handle it will suffice."

She would feel insecure if she completely relied on others in a matter of life and death.

Even the most reliable teammates can't withstand unexpected events. If there's an opportunity to improve your survival skills, you should definitely seize it.

Song Jinhe stumbled through the exercise and took the zombie arm out to dig a hole and bury it.

I went back to my room and took a hot shower. I only used the generator briefly in the morning. Otherwise, I kept it off to save fuel and avoid unnecessary trouble.

In the afternoon, Cheng Yan and Zhang Yi dragged two large buckets of water back. The water looked a bit murky, but it didn't smell bad. Everyone else had boiled the water and cooked, so there shouldn't be any problem.

"The water flowing down from the mountain is very fast. The man from the house in front saw a big fish in it and insisted on fishing with a fishing rod. As a result, he lost his grip and was dragged down by the fish in the water."

Cheng Yan wiped his hands clean and continued, "The water was covered in blood. The fish looked strange; they were big, fat, and extremely ferocious."

Was it a crocodile, or a mutated fish? Song Jinhe rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

People noticed them as soon as they returned. Those who wanted to ask for help to "borrow" things saw the barbed wire on the villa's outer wall and turned to other houses. Yesterday, Song Jinhe hit someone with his car, leaving everyone with the impression that he was not easy to get along with.

Shen Li, who had visited before, was in the middle of a lively discussion with others when she saw her younger brother give a bucket of water to the girl next door. Her face immediately fell.

"Are you out of your mind? Can't you see that woman is just trying to get something out of you? Someone like her can't do anything right, she's not good enough for you. Her family wasn't well-off even before the apocalypse."

Shen Li closed the door, her expression disdainful. "Those women living here, that female college student in villa number two, living with four boys, who knows what their relationship is. And that one in number six, you say she's pretty, but with her temper, whoever's with her is doomed."

"It's just a bucket of water." Shen Fei felt a surge of pride as he recalled Pei Rong's grateful smile next door. "Her family has no one to rely on now. If we gain their trust, all the supplies will be ours."

His sister is short-sighted; what he values ​​in Pei Rong is her good personality and ease of manipulation.

Upon hearing this, Shen Li smiled again, "You're right."

Water is not scarce now, and everyone is carefully budgeting their food supplies. It would be great if we could get some supplies from next door.

-

Song Jinhe brought out all the bamboo, and the four of them chopped it into small sections together.

The moment Jiang Shi'an took off his gold-rimmed glasses, his demeanor changed completely; he chopped bamboo as nimbly as if he were slaying zombies.

"Not only is he not bald, but how come he has such great stamina?"

Cheng Yan muttered to Song Jinhe, "When I was writing my thesis at school, I had dark circles under my eyes and was losing hair. Why didn't I have this brain? If I did, I could walk around the school like a madman!"

“I can do that too.” Song Jinhe picked up the small bamboo tube from the ground. “Let’s go wash it clean, it’ll be dark soon and we won’t be able to see anything.”

After cleaning the bamboo tubes, take out the glutinous rice that has been soaked in milk all afternoon, add the coconut milk found in the coffee shop, stir well, put it into the bamboo tubes with a spoon, and then seal the bamboo tubes with dried lotus leaves found in the restaurant.

This is the sweet version; there's also a savory version of bamboo rice. Soaked rice is mixed with ham, shiitake mushrooms, chopped wood ear mushrooms, and seasonings. The rest of the process is the same.

Seal the bamboo tube and place it on the grill. When the green bamboo changes color and the surface is slightly charred, it's almost done. Split it open with a knife, and the bamboo rice will be wrapped in a layer of bamboo sheath.

(End of this chapter)