Chapter 60: Cultivation

Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng didn't go home right away. They found a secluded spot and entered the spatial dimension to have lunch.

The dimension was even better stocked than a food court. During their recent scavenging trips, they had also stored some furniture inside. Lu Ruisheng had partitioned off a small section to create a one-bedroom-and-living-room layout, ensuring they could live comfortably inside if any danger ever arose.

So once inside the dimension, they took off their down jackets, relaxed as they watched the tablet, and ate their lunch.

After finishing, the two of them rode their snowmobile over to the stone bridge area.

When they arrived, Shi Liang had just returned from lunch. Seeing them approach, he hurried over. "Sister, Brother-in-law, you didn't come this morning. I was worried something might have happened. It's so good to see you both."

Gu Pan didn't hide the truth. "Something actually did happen. We were ambushed in the middle of the night. But fortunately, we were prepared and handled everything, so don't worry." Naturally, she didn't go into too many details.

Shi Liang patted his chest. "As long as you're okay, that's what matters. I can't believe people are so blind and daring enough to ambush you."

Gu Pan smiled. "You have that much confidence in us?"

Shi Liang looked at them with utter admiration. "Of course. In my heart, you two are the absolute strongest."

Lu Ruisheng chuckled. "Your wounds are healed, and your flattery skills have certainly improved."

Shi Liang scratched the back of his head and laughed. "I'm telling the truth, Brother-in-law."

After exchanging a few jokes, the three of them began discussing the barter exchange by the roadside.

Shi Liang looked a bit conflicted as he spoke. "Sister, I currently have two people looking to trade for baby formula. One of them only has a wine cellar at home, filled with all kinds of alcohol. But how should I put it—if you take it out and don't protect it properly, it freezes and ruins, so he hasn't been able to trade it. The price is really low. The other person has grain, but you guys aren't short on grain, so I was thinking maybe we should wait a bit longer for a better match. I know Sister likes gold."

Gu Pan thought for a moment. "Let's go with the one with the wine cellar. We can always get more baby formula anyway. Keep your ear to the ground—if anyone has gold, I can trade for that later too."

Shi Liang quickly agreed. "Alright, then I'll give you the address of the person with the wine cellar. This is my own client, so you don't need to go through the upper management. You can handle the transaction yourselves, which gives you more freedom with your time."

Gu Pan also preferred dealing with things directly with Lu Ruisheng, as it allowed them to retrieve items from the dimension or store things away at a moment's notice. Of course, she was also aware of Shi Liang's kindness toward them; by doing it this way, Shi Liang wouldn't make a cut.

Gu Pan took a bag of rice out of her backpack. "Don't refuse this. Your brother-in-law and I can genuinely make use of the alcohol."

Shi Liang hesitated for a moment before accepting the items. "I won't be overly polite with you, Sister."

Gu Pan smiled. "Then we'll be heading off."

Shi Liang tucked the rice close to his chest, waved goodbye to Gu Pan and the others, and waited until they left before returning to the crowd.

Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng hadn't planned on visiting that client today. They were already quite tired from yesterday, so they decided to go home and rest first, then search the dimension for insulated boxes to figure out how to transport the wine.

Since they had the dimension, they couldn't use it right in front of others; at the very least, they needed a plausible, reasonable excuse for bringing that large batch of wine out into the open so that no one would suspect anything.

Another thing on the agenda was hosting a dinner party tonight to treat everyone to a hearty meat meal and some good food.

As soon as they arrived home, Cheng Yang's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "Brother, Sister, you're back. Apartment 301 has moved away."

Gu Pan hadn't expected them to leave so quickly. "They really were afraid of us. From now on, I suppose no one around here will dare provoke us."

Feng Zhekai was exceptionally cheerful. "The fact that not a single one of us got hurt yesterday is what makes me happiest."

Gu Pan said, "Then tonight we'll have a barbecue at 901. I'll bring all the food, so you guys just need to show up."

Chen Lang cheered, "That's fantastic! We finally get some meat!"

Then Duan Shumei's voice could be heard through the radio, disciplining Chen Lang. To everyone, this kind of banter was a rare form of relaxation.

After putting down the walkie-talkie, Gu Pan retrieved eight boxes of marinated meat from the dimension, one box of chicken wings, one box of beef tongue, and three boxes of seafood. Next came sliced steamed buns, followed by a box of frozen vegetables that she thawed and tossed into a cold salad, as bringing out fresh vegetables would look suspicious.

After that, Gu Pan took out a basin of *bobo ji* (skewered meat in spicy broth). Speaking of which, everyone in their group was quite young, and these snacks must be flavors they deeply missed.

Once everything was ready, Gu Pan called Chen Lang on the walkie-talkie to meet them at the doorway and help carry the items upstairs.

Upon arriving upstairs, Cheng Yang's jaw dropped at the sight of the food. "Brother, Sister, you guys are practically our culinary saviors."

Gu Pan smiled. "I still have plenty of good things hidden away. I'll share them with you slowly over time."

As they spoke, their indoor grill was already fired up, burning charcoal and filling the room with cozy warmth.

Everyone gathered around, using the small stove Gu Pan brought along and a brazier; the two heat sources were more than enough.

Chen Shaonan ate a skewer of *bobo ji*. "I've really been craving this taste. I haven't had much of it since coming to the north. Meeting little Gu and little Lu is truly our blessing—we haven't suffered from hunger or hardship since the apocalypse began."

Duan Shumei chimed in, "Indeed. If it weren't for them, we honestly wouldn't have survived the end times. It's been less than five months since the apocalypse started, and things are already this cruel. If we didn't know them and had no martial arts skills or guns, I really wouldn't dare to imagine where we'd be."

Feng Zhekai added, "As a doctor, I probably would've been dragged off by some armed faction by now and made a captive."

Cheng Yang said, "And someone like me with zero survival skills would probably have been among the first batch to bite the dust."

Gu Pan smiled. "Not necessarily. All of you actually have survival skills, and none of you are foolishly saintly. If you remain cautious in the apocalypse, you should be able to survive."

Naturally, she couldn't mention that in her past life, Feng Zhekai had perished during the blizzard, and Chen Shaonan's family had disappeared not long after.

Lu Ruisheng was grilling a few skewers of chicken wings. Once they were done, he distributed them to everyone while saying, "Our group complements one another and is indispensable. We must continue to improve and progress together so we can survive this apocalypse, because none of us know what the future holds."

Hearing this, Chen Lang asked, "Do you think it's going to stay this cold forever? If so, wouldn't our region essentially become the North Pole?"

Cheng Yang pondered, "If it really stays this cold forever, agriculture will be impossible. With no renewable food sources, how are we supposed to survive?"

Chen Shaonan suggested, "Then we'll have to go deep into the mountains to hunt. If humans can survive, it proves that wild boars and bears deep in the mountains can survive too."

Feng Zhekai pointed out, "But humans can't live without vitamins. Eating meat exclusively for the long term takes a heavy toll on the body."

Lu Ruisheng remarked, "Hasn't the government been building settlement bases? They should have greenhouses and facilities capable of farming."

Gu Pan agreed. "I think that's very likely. By the way, I happen to have some vegetable seeds and potting soil at home. Since we have electricity and plenty of fuel for heating, would it be possible to grow some quick-cycle vegetables indoors?"

Lu Xurong had a say in this matter. "I usually love growing vegetables on my balcony, and I even grew strawberries before. The reason I bought this apartment in the first place was because of the spacious outer balcony. I also have some seeds at home; later, we can pool them together, divide them up, and all give planting a try."

Duan Shumei had no objections. "Alright. Although I don't usually grow ornamental plants, I grew up in the countryside, so I certainly know how to farm vegetables."

Cheng Yang scratched his head. "I really don't know the first thing about it."

Lu Xurong offered, "Feng Zhekai and I will help you."

Cheng Yang quickly expressed his gratitude.

From now on, the author will try to update two chapters a day whenever possible. Whether it gets paywalled or not doesn't matter, everyone...