A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

The little girl looked up and saw a tall older brother in military uniform standing in front of her. She smiled sweetly and said, "Yes, I'm cooking. Thank you, big brother!"

Zhang Xi was puzzled by the thanks and asked, "Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for saving me and my mother. It was also an uncle dressed like you who saved us, but he was much older than you. I didn't even have a chance to thank him before he disappeared. You and he must have been together, right?"

Zhang Xi touched his nose and said, "More or less." He walked to the earthen stove, lifted the pot lid, and found only water inside, about to boil. He took the bed leg that the little girl had been struggling with for so long and snapped it into several pieces with his bare hands.

The pair of black gems in the little girl's eyes suddenly seemed to grow even larger. She exclaimed in surprise, "Big brother, you're so amazing! No wonder you were able to save us from those monsters!"

Zhang Xi smiled. He couldn't resist touching the little girl's face, but after thinking for a moment, he didn't. "I'm hungry too. Can we cook together?"

“Okay! But you and Tiantian can’t eat too much. Most of it has to be left for Mom. She’s injured and needs to eat more to get better,” the little girl said.

Zhang Xi looked at the plastic tent behind him and said, "Can I take a look? I've studied a little medicine."

"Really? That's great!" The little girl immediately led Zhang Xi into the tent.

The tent was dark, with no lights. A thick quilt was laid on a bed board on the ground, and an ordinary farm woman was lying on it.

The little girl carefully lifted a piece of gauze covering the woman's leg, revealing a huge wound to Zhang Xi. It was a bite wound from a black wolf.

"When were you bitten?" Zhang Xi asked.

“A week ago,” the little girl replied, “a lot of wolves came to our area and bit anyone they saw. Then that uncle and a lot of soldiers rescued us and we moved here. The uncle said that many more wolves will come, so we can’t live there anymore.”

"A week!" Zhang Xi was somewhat surprised. A wound that hadn't healed after a week meant the woman's constitution was extremely weak. How could she not have gotten an infection despite lacking food, clothing, and medicine?

He released his elemental energy and carefully examined the mother and daughter, finding no elemental energy reaction on them. Otherwise, he would have struck gold. A person with healing abilities—that's a mother! With a mother, you can travel the world!

Because people with healing abilities are extremely rare, and those who demonstrate healing abilities before entering the Golden Realm are even rarer, they become sought-after by various powerful forces as soon as they appear. In the previous life, there was even a situation where two factions went to war over a single healer born two years prior.

Putting aside these unrealistic fantasies, Zhang Xi asked, "Has your mother received treatment?"

"Yes." The little girl nodded: "At first, a military doctor came and bandaged my mother's wound and gave her medicine, but she finished it the day before yesterday."

She paused, licked her dry lips, and continued somewhat embarrassedly, "Grandpa Zhao told me that saliva can also reduce inflammation, so for the past three days, I've been using my own saliva to clean my mother's wound."

"There's such a folk remedy?" Zhang Xi rolled his eyes, took out his personal medical kit from his backpack, and took out anti-inflammatory drugs and several cans of beef.

The little girl held the can of food, her eyes shining, and kept licking her dry, chapped lips. She was too young to hide her emotions: "Big brother, if you give me this, what will you eat in the future? I don't want it anymore. Besides, Grandpa Zhao doesn't let me take other people's things, saying that bad people will use food to trick children."

Zhang Xi was amused by the little girl's conflicted expression and said, "I'm a soldier, I'll get more when I get back." Actually, these canned goods were prizes for meritorious service. With food shortages, soldiers couldn't afford such luxuries. "Besides, do I look like a bad guy?" Zhang Xi tried to appear harmless, but then felt it was too contrived and gave up.

"Being a soldier is great!" The little girl looked at her sleeping mother, then at the canned food, and said, "Big brother, what's your name? My mother has meat and medicine to eat, and she'll get better soon. We'll give it back to you when we earn some food in return, okay?"

"Okay! My name is Zhang Xi, what's yours?"

"Okay, Zhang Xi, my name is Tian Huanhuan. Let's pinky swear, and once we pinky swear, it'll never change for a hundred years!"

Zhang Xi happily extended his little finger and made a pinky promise with the little girl. He thought of the aunt who had saved him in his previous life, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

The little girl accepted the medicine and canned food, but she didn't eat them in the end. Instead, she carefully hid the canned food among a pile of clothes by her bedside.

A frail, uneasy, and wary voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "Huanhuan, who are you in the house with?"

Zhang Xi stepped out of the tent and saw a short, thin old man, as thin as a monkey. One of his legs seemed to be injured, and he walked unsteadily. He was carrying some firewood that he had found somewhere. This was Grandpa Zhao, the man the little girl had been talking about.

When the old man saw Zhang Xi's handsome face, he realized the man was very young and was wearing a military uniform and carrying a gun, and his expression relaxed. People generally trust soldiers.

Zhang Xi asked to cook together, and the old man hesitated for a moment before agreeing. The fire was quickly boiled, and Tian Huanhuan took out three palm-sized compressed biscuits—these were their daily rations for the three of them. People like them, unable to work, received the smallest daily rations.

After three biscuits were thrown into the pot, they quickly turned into a pot of thin porridge. Old Zhao went back into his solitary tent; it was unclear whether he had always lived alone or if his family had suffered some misfortune. Soon, he took out a cloth bag, placed it on the pot, shook it vigorously, and poured out a small handful of corn.

"This is the last one," the old man sighed.

Zhang Xi then took out two cans of food and three compressed biscuits from his backpack and dumped them all into the pot. Their cooking method was clearly wrong, but none of the three were the type to be too particular about food.

Old Zhao stared at the canned food, swallowing hard, and cursed inwardly, "These young people don't know how to be frugal, they're so wasteful. This could be divided into several meals!"

Soon, the aroma of food wafted out, and the three of them sat down together to eat. This was probably the first time in a week that Tian Huanhuan and Old Zhao had eaten their fill. The little girl ate until her face was flushed, Old Zhao ate until tears streamed down his face, and Zhang Xi ate a little before helping Tian Huanhuan feed her mother.

As he ate, Old Zhao began to nag, "Young man, you must listen to this! If you still have any of this canned food, don't just take it out like that! Many people are starving these days; you can't be too careful."

Upon hearing this, Tian Huanhuan mysteriously pulled the old man to the bedside and lifted his clothes, saying, "Grandpa, look, this is what my older brother received when he joined the army. Being a soldier is really great!"

The old man was initially surprised, then turned around and asked Zhang Xi with a serious expression, "Young man, I know exactly what you soldiers eat. You keep asking me where this canned food came from?"

When his lie was exposed, Zhang Xi was a little embarrassed and had no choice but to tell the truth: "I earned military merit, and these are the rewards."

The old man nodded, took three cans from the five cans, handed them to Zhang Xi, and said, "Good boy, I know you feel sorry for that mother and daughter. But you risked your life for this. Take these home for your family to eat, and leave two for Huanhuan and her mother." As he spoke, tears began to well up in his cloudy eyes again.

Zhang Xi watched the old man weep before him, offering no words of comfort. Faced with sudden disaster, the most vulnerable people had countless reasons to weep: families torn apart, homes lost, the elderly and children without support, living in constant anxiety and uncertainty. How could he possibly offer them solace?

P.S.: I don't know why the click rate is so low. I'm still asking for your favorites and votes.

;