Holding the Crowned Eagle, Qin Ziwen walked to the window. Using the light from outside, he saw that the wounds on the Crowned Eagle's body had already scabbed over, and its injuries were healing quickly.
It was still raining outside the window, but compared to last night's heavy downpour, the rain had lessened considerably.
Pushing open the window, the roar of flowing water immediately filled his ears.
The small river that originally meandered through the forest like an emerald ribbon had undergone a dramatic transformation.
The water level had risen noticeably, its color turning turbid, as the turbulent river water surged and churned.
Qin Ziwen's expression turned grave.
Because the rain outside the window hadn't stopped yet.
"I hope there won't be a flood."
With such heavy rain currently, almost none of the neighbors in the residential complex had gone outside.
Everyone was staying in their homes.
The forces of nature were even more terrifying than wild beasts.
Qin Ziwen opened the cellar; the food stored inside was still enough to feed three people for half a month.
There was no need to worry about food, but with such heavy rain, the temperature might drop sharply.
He could already clearly feel that the air temperature had dropped somewhat, with a chilly draft coming from outside the balcony.
In the morning, Zhao Pu found him.
"Do you want to go check out the garage?"
"The garage?"
Zhao Pu said, "Yes, it's been raining heavily outside all day, so no one can go out today. Right now, many people are exchanging supplies in the garage. I heard some wild animals ran into the garage to take shelter from the rain, but most have been caught."
When he said this, Zhao Pu sounded somewhat regretful. The heavy rain had poured all night outside, with water everywhere. To wild animals, the residential complex garage appeared like a massive "natural cave."
Combined with the dark environment, it was very attractive to them.
But they would never have imagined that inside this "cave" were thousands of terrifying upright apes, each weighing over a hundred pounds, hungry and skilled at using tools, all worrying about food.
These animals that sought shelter here were undoubtedly walking right into a trap.
"Sure, let's go take a look."
They went downstairs via the emergency staircase, and the further down they went, the darker it became.
He had expected the garage to be pitch black, but after emerging onto the First Basement Level.
The scene before his eyes was completely different from what he had anticipated.
In the garage, some car owners who hadn't moved their vehicles had turned on their headlights, shining them against the walls. Others were walking through the garage holding candles. On the garage floor, there were gathered piles of firewood, with groups of people huddled around them warming themselves, chatting, or trading supplies.
Some people were even walking through the garage holding up their phones with the flashlight function turned on.
It had formed a rather remarkable ecosystem.
"Hahaha, got it!"
Laughter came from not far away, as someone used a homemade catching net to capture a gecko from a load-bearing column.
Then a large crowd gathered around asking if it was for sale.
"Sure, anyone who has fruit, trade with me for fruit, just equal weight in fruit will do."
Some thought the price was too high, "This gecko doesn't taste good, not much meat. After removing the innards and bones, the edible meat is less than half."
"I have some wild hawthorn berries, do you want to trade?"
"Gurgle gurgle......"
Listening to others discussing food, Zhao Pu's stomach made gurgling sounds.
Noticing Qin Ziwen's gaze, Zhao Pu smiled awkwardly, "The child at home is growing, has a big appetite."
Qin Ziwen said, "If you still have medicine, I can trade some with you, but not too much. I don't have much left either."
Zhao Pu repeatedly expressed thanks, "Thank you! Thank you!"
Although in terms of value, these medicines that could only be produced by modern industry were like "limited edition" resources, decreasing with every use.
From a long-term perspective, their value was definitely not low.
But at this stage, food remained a troubling issue for many people.
Currently, many families could only barely obtain enough food for basic sustenance, with more people just alternating between having a full meal and going hungry.
It wasn't that no one was planting crops; as Chinese people, farming genes were basically ingrained in their bloodline.
But even crops with the shortest maturation periods couldn't be harvested immediately after planting.
So at this stage, food that could be eaten immediately was the number one hard currency.
Everyone understood this point. Because simply put, if you got a minor illness, you could tough it out and bet on your immune system. If you got seriously ill, taking these medicines was also a gamble. But hunger was truly life-threatening; it could really kill people.
Qin Ziwen walked over to one of the fire circles.
Among the crowd gathered around the fire, a man wearing glasses tirelessly asked people around him, "Do you want seedlings? Exchange for finished grain products. These are all excellent seedlings. If they're not planted soon, they'll really go to waste." Others around him seemed somewhat annoyed, "No, stop asking."
Qin Ziwen walked over and looked at the seedlings in the man's bag, "Why do these seedlings of yours look so wilted?"
The man smiled bitterly, "They were originally planted on the rooftop, but then it suddenly started raining heavily yesterday, soaking the seedlings. These are the ones we managed to rescue immediately."
"What kind of seedlings are these?"
Seeing that Qin Ziwen seemed interested in asking, the man enthusiastically introduced, "This is lettuce, spinach, perilla, wild ginger, purslane, and wild cherry tomatoes."
Qin Ziwen was somewhat surprised at first; there were so many varieties.
But he quickly understood that these wild vegetables were all gathered from the wilderness, and what you could find depended entirely on luck and experience.
So having a complex variety was understandable.
Seeing Qin Ziwen remain silent.
The man quickly said, "These wild lettuces and spinach grow quickly. You just need to plant them and harvest them regularly. This wild ginger is good too. Some meats are too gamey and hard to swallow; you can use ginger to remove the gaminess. These cherry tomatoes are sweet and sour. Although they grow relatively slowly, they're easy to cultivate."
Qin Ziwen looked at him, "I only care about the price. How are you planning to sell them?"
The man quickly said, "Just give me some food, anything will do."
Qin Ziwen frowned, "Anything will do?"
He didn't like hearing the word "anything."
Because it meant the initiative was in the other person's hands.
The man spread open the burlap bag, "How about enough for two meals? There are quite a few seedlings here, all carefully selected by me. Plus, after you grow them, you can transplant them."
Qin Ziwen glanced over it; at a glance, there were twenty to thirty plants.
Most individual plants were very small. If eaten, he could probably eat several in one bite.
Eating all of them wouldn't even be enough for one full meal, no wonder he hadn't been able to sell them despite promoting for so long.
"What if they don't survive? They look pretty wilted."
The man with glasses quickly said, "I can teach you! I studied agriculture. I have experience in this area. We can exchange contact information. If you have any questions, you can always ask me. And this lettuce is really easy to grow! Just grasp these key points: 'transplant when there are 4-6 true leaves, keep the soil ball intact without damaging roots, plant shallowly without burying the heart, water thoroughly after planting.' The survival rate can reach over ninety percent, and they grow fast. You can also transplant them multiple times."
Qin Ziwen sized him up, "You studied agriculture?"
"No, I teach biology. I'm a biology teacher."
Qin Ziwen pondered, "Two meals is too much. Your seedlings aren't worth that price. But if you can provide value in other aspects, it might be possible."
Just as the two were talking, suddenly, from the other side of the garage, someone shouted anxiously, "Get out quickly! There's a flood coming from the mountains! Go! Don't stay in the garage!"
A flood!?
Qin Ziwen's heart tightened. He quickly asked, "Where do you live? Which building? I'll find you later."
"Building 6, I live in Building 6, Unit 1, Apartment 101." The bespectacled man, hearing about the approaching flood, hurriedly packed up his things from the ground, picked up a torch from the fire, waved at Qin Ziwen, "Contact me later, you must come~!"
......