this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
CONTENT WARNING
slight anti-japan sentiments in this chapter
if you’d like to skip the above section, please start reading from the **end of content warning section** ◡̈
“Why did the sea end up like this?” Jiang Ci frowned, feeling that the sea now was too bizarre.
“After the virus outbreak, the Island Nation took advantage of the chaos to dump their severely polluted water into the sea. Later, with the addition of various viruses, the situation got worse and worse and gradually became what it is now,” Song Jinchuan explained.
At the time, many people didn’t know any better. After running out of food, they immediately thought of catching fish or seafood from the sea to fill their stomachs, with many dying as a result.
“Truly harming many,” Jiang Ci said indignantly. It seems regardless which timeline or world it was, the Island Nation remained forever this detestable.
“Have the sea creatures also turned into mutated beasts?” Jiang Ci turned her head back and asked curiously.
“Only a small portion. Most of them are already dead,” Song Jinchuan replied.
Recalling the selfish faces of the Island Nation, Jiang Ci felt a surge of anger. “If any citizens of the Island Nation come to our hotpot restaurant in the future, we’ll kick them out.”
**end of content warning section**
As they walked further along the bridge, Jiang Ci noticed that half of the bridge had collapsed, though it seemed to have been repeatedly patched up so it was barely passable.
By the time they reached the delivery location, the sky had completely darkened. Before Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan lay a villa district.
The once beautifully constructed villa district now looked lifeless. The greenery had withered, leaving everything bare except for the three-story villas. From inside, the growls of zombies echoed occasionally, and paired with the night as a backdrop, Jiang Ci suddenly felt like she had stepped into a horror movie set.
However, it had to be said that the quality of these villas was still decent. Apart from the peeling walls and windows, its basic infrastructure remained intact.
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
Zhou Xiaoling and Zhou Xiaogang, an older brother and younger sisters, were resting in a slightly cleaner villa.
In front of them lay the fruits of their day’s labor—the massive corpse of a mutated fox.
The bones, fur, and sharp teeth of mutated beasts were all valuable, so after extracting the crystal core, they skillfully began to skin the fox, separating the bones from its flesh.
After completing this task, Zhou Xiaoling’s gaze fell once again on a menu she had placed by her feet.
They had stumbled upon this menu by chance. Seeing the familiar hotpot dishes from before the apocalypse listed on it, she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away and had brought it back as a keepsake.
Upon bringing it back, she noticed that the menu was made quite exquisitely—thick, with a small, cute pen tucked into a recess.
It showed no signs of damage, even after so many years in the apocalypse, which was quite rare.
With nothing else to do, she tried using the pen to check off her favorite dishes. To her surprise, the pen was still working. She ended up writing ‘100’ next to items like beef rolls and pork belly slices. Since they couldn’t actually get the food, this was her way of satisfying her cravings.
Zhou Xiaoling now held the menu in her hands again, carefully examining each word under the moonlight.
“Brother, if only we could really eat this hotpot,” Zhou Xiaoling said.
“Dream on. We can’t have hotpot anymore. But after selling this mutated fox today, I can buy you a bottle of banana-flavoured nutrient solution,” Zhou Xiaogang replied, still tidying up as he chuckled.
Zhou Xiaoling pouted. The nutrient solution was far from tasty, even with the added fruit flavouring. It did nothing to whet her appetite. She missed the delicious foods from before the apocalypse so much.
Before the apocalypse, Zhou Xiaoling and her brother had run a food vlog, showcasing delicious dishes from various places. Because Zhou Xiaoling was good-looking and had a satisfying way of eating, they had gained quite a following.
They also had a lot of food stockpiled at home, which was how they managed to survive the initial days of the apocalypse.
Now, reminiscing about the times they enjoyed those meals, Zhou Xiaoling started to drool.
If she had known the world would end up like this, she would have savored every bite of food even more carefully.
“Alright, stop sighing and hurry up and pack your things up,” Zhou Xiaogang called to his sister, then continued to pack the bones and meat into bags.
Zhou Xiaoling carefully placed the menu into the inner layer of her backpack, afraid it would get wrinkled, and then went over to help tidy up.
Just as they finished packing, the sound of a vehicle came from outside the villa.
Zhou Xiaoling and Zhou Xiaogang exchanged glances; the unspoken understanding between siblings made it unnecessary for them to say a word as they picked up their weapons and hid in the shadows.
At that moment, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan had already arrived at the villa’s entrance. The front door was tightly shut, and the inside was pitch black, with no sounds coming from within.
Jiang Ci glanced at the delivery map again, then stepped forward to knock on the villa door. “Is anyone there? Your takeout has arrived.”
After knocking once, there was still no response from inside.
Jiang Ci felt a bit puzzled. If someone had received the takeout menu, they should have known about the hotpot restaurant and wouldn’t have been so wary. Could it be that the people inside were in danger?
A multitude of possibilities flashed through Jiang Ci’s mind, prompting her to knock on the door again.
Meanwhile, Zhou Xiaoling and Zhou Xiaogang weren’t refusing to respond, rather they were completely stunned. Did they just hear wrong? Takeout? Wasn’t this the apocalypse? Where would takeout even come from?
Zhou Xiaoling recalled the menu she had picked up earlier. She had indeed ordered food, but she quickly dismissed the thought. How could that be possible? Her menu was still tucked away in her bag.
The knocking outside stopped, followed by the voice of the girl sounding puzzled. “It says this is the place; how could there be no one here?”
“Maybe they just left?” another male voice suggested.
Zhou Xiaoling moved to the nearby window to take a look outside. To her surprise, she spotted a small electric scooter.
Electric scooters had basically vanished after the apocalypse; there was simply nowhere to charge them, and with the vehicle having no confines along with the open surrounding area, it offered absolutely no sense of safety. Being surrounded by zombies or mutated beasts would mean certain death, unlike a car which could still provide you a desperate escape.
In the moonlight, a beautiful young girl stood next to a tall man.
The two were still discussing something, and since they weren’t by the door, it was hard to hear them clearly from a distance.
“Should we open the door?” Zhou Xiaogang quietly approached Zhou Xiaoling and asked softly.
Zhou Xiaoling shook her head. It was better to be cautious in the apocalypse; this situation felt strange now matter how you thought about it.
At that moment, the beautiful girl moved closer to the villa door and knocked again. “Is Zhou Xiaoling here? Your takeout has arrived.”
Zhou Xiaoling’s heart skipped a beat. How did she know her name?
Perhaps too shocked, she instinctively took a step back, accidentally kicking a piece of wood behind her, producing a sharp cracking sound.
Although the sound wasn’t particularly loud, it felt particularly jarring in the quiet environment.
Jiang Ci turned her head towards the window from which the sound had come. Sure enough, the system had said that as long as the map showed where the survivor who ordered takeout was, they would definitely be there. So, she had specifically accessed more comprehensive information about the survivor and found out the survivor’s name.
She had also asked Hui Hui and Song Jinchuan to sense whether there were humans inside the house. Apparently there should only be one or two people inside, so it was unlikely they were being held hostage. It was more likely that the other party didn’t trust them.
Zhou Xiaoling’s eyes met Jiang Ci’s as Jiang Ci immediately flashed her a smile, “Were you the one who ordered the takeout?”
Zhou Xiaoling didn’t open the door, still standing behind the window in a defensive posture, her face blurred by the darkness, “No, we’ve never ordered takeout.”
Jiang Ci took out the hotpot restaurant’s takeout menu from her pocket and waved it towards them, “Have you seen a menu like this? Did you check off the dishes and write down how many quantities you wanted? If you did, I’ll deliver it to you right now.”
Zhou Xiaoling looked at the familiar menu, her pupils contracting slightly. It really was that strange menu she had picked up.
Zhou Xiaogang naturally thought of this too, and the two exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.
By the time they came to their senses, they had already opened the front door.
After Jiang Ci entered the house, she closed the villa’s front door, then took out the headlamp from her space. When she turned it on, the entire room instantly became bright.
The light from the headlamp was gentle, not harsh.
Zhou Xiaoling was now holding the menu she had put in her backpack as the siblings stared in astonishment at Jiang Ci, who began pulling things out of her own backpack.
The first thing she pulled out was a gray-skinned tortoise, followed by a pot, various ingredients, and a plate of egg fried rice.
Just like that, a fresh and steaming pot of hotpot was set up on the table.
Zhou Xiaoling couldn’t help but pinch her brother beside her, and after hearing a cry of pain, she was finally sure she wasn’t dreaming.
“You ordered quite a lot,” Jiang Ci said with a smile.
Zhou Xiaoling nodded blankly. At the time, she hadn’t known that this thing could actually deliver food. She had just filled in random numbers, thinking about how great it would be if a hundred servings of meat could appear before her.
And now, her dream had come true. Hundreds of servings of food were piled high, with plenty of meat and her favorite vegetables, along with the still-steaming fried rice.
The air was filled with the aroma of food, and Zhou Xiaoling and Zhou Xiaogang’s thoughts were completely occupied by the hotpot in front of them, not even considering how Jiang Ci could’ve accurately known what they had ordered.
“Alright, your dishes are all here. Just pour the base and water into the pot, then turn on the switch,” Jiang Ci explained how to use the disposable pot.
Jiang Ci calculated the price for them and told them how many crystal cores they needed to pay.
Despite there being so much food, they didn’t even need to use those high-level crystal cores. Zhou Xiaogang quickly took out the crystal cores from his bag and handed them to Jiang Ci.
“Let’s rest here for a while, eat something before we leave,” Jiang Ci said, turning to Song Jinchuan.
Song Jinchuan nodded. He was indeed quite tired, having ridden around for so long the entire day. A short rest would do him good.
“Do you mind if we borrow your place to rest for a bit? I’m too lazy to move this lamp,” Jiang Ci said.
Zhou Xiaoling and Zhou Xiaogang naturally didn’t mind and eagerly nodded, “Why don’t you join us? There’s so much food here.”
Jiang Ci waved her hand and said earnestly, “We have a strong sense of professional ethics and won’t eat our customers’’ food. Please enjoy your meal.”
even though author didn’t specify that the island nation was referring to japan, i still put the content warning there bc it’s pretty obvious,,,esp with the reference to polluted water which could refer to the nuclear polluted wastewater that japan allegedly dumps into the ocean. most chinese novels still have a strong anti japanese sentiment in them, esp bc of the atrocities from ww2
