Chapter 48
Everyone looked exhausted except for Jasper. Rosie had teardrops in her eyes and her face was as
pale as a sheet, clearly traumatized.
Nobody spoke. The three men silently moved water towers.
Ste packed away the intable raft and carried a bundle of firewood upstairs. Ang walked
ahead of her, stumbling and almost falling. Ste couldn''t free her hands. She quickly pushed
Ang with her body to keep her from falling.
As they continued upwards, Ste noticed Ang was walking oddly, most likely because of a foot
injury.
Ste had a sensitive nose and could faintly smell blood. Was there a fight during their trip?
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There were many eyes in the apartment building, and now was not the time to appear weak. If
anyone discovered that people from the 18th floor was injured, there would be a swarm of people
rushing in like mad dogs.
They returned to the 18th floor gritting their teeth. Ang ced the firewood in the hallway, her
expression full of pain. Ste helped her into the room. "What happened?"
Ang had injured her leg. The gory hole in her leg was not made by a knife or gunshot, but by a
tusk.
"It was a wild boar," Ang grimaced in pain.
Ste frowned. "You guys went into the forest again?"
"What else can we do?" Ang gave a bitter smile. "All our supplies are submerged underwater.
People are dying from hunger every day. Today, we saw bodies being thrown out of buildings. There
were more than one. We can barelyst for seven or eight months. But supplies are getting harder
and harder to find. What are we going to do in the future?"
The main purpose of the trip was to hunt in the forest. They climbed over several hills, and Cooper,
as expected, found a family of wild boars. There were five in all, all with big bodies. After some
discussion, they decided to hunt them.
Ste was worried for them. "Wild boars are very aggressive, not like farm pigs."
It was indeed risky, but wild boar meat could save lives. They had to take the risk.
Ste took out bandages and iodine, looking for surgical instruments and sutures. "This wound is
too big and hard to stop bleeding. Should I take you to the hospital, or should I stitch you up?"
"It''s not a big injury. You can stitch it."
Ang was used to injuries from boxing, so she didn''t think it was a big deal. Besides, there were
no medical supplies at the hospital, so it was better to do it at home.
Ste first disinfected the wound, then used anesthetic to numb the pain, and then started stitching.
Lukas turned pale at the sight, tightly holding his girlfriend''s hand. "Ste, Ang''s life is in your
hands now."
Ang pushed him away. "You''re hurting my hand."
Cody rolled his eyes. "Stop being so mushy."
Ang wasn''t the only one injured. Cody and Lukas also got hurt, but their injuries were minor.
Jasper was bleeding from a cut on his arm and wasforting the frightened and crying Rosie like
nothing happened.
It was raining and slippery in the mountains. Ang killed an iing boar with her bare hands,
but was toppled by tusks.
Cooper was very brave. He and Jasper worked seamlessly together, killing the remaining four
boars. Cody and Lukas also helped, but they were clearly not on the same level. If it weren''t for
Jasper''s intervention, Cody would have been in serious danger. For that, Jasper got a scratch on
his arm.
Rosie didn''t participate. She was tied high up in a tree by Jasper and waspletely terrified by the
intense battle going on under the tree.
After stitching up Ang''s wound, Ste started treating Jasper.
With everyone’s wound treated, hey sat down to discuss what to do with the boar meat. Without a
fridge, they couldn''t store it.
"Why don''t we make jerky?" Lukas suggested. "We brought back several boxes of charcoalst
time."
Ste disagreed. "Making jerky uses too much charcoal. Besides, with five boars, when would we
finish? The whole neighborhood would smell of roasting meat."
"Do you guys remember Monkey?" Cody suggested. "They not only sell stuff but also buy stuff.
We''re short on food now. Why don''t we exchange the boar meat with them?"
They had traded five times in a rowst time, and Monkey was pretty trustworthy. This was a good
idea and might be worth a try.
They packed a boar into the water barrel, which had already been butchered into fourrge pieces.
The wild boar meat was pulled out of the water barrel. It had thick skin and coarse meat, with a
deep red color and almost no fat.
Ste disagreed with taking the whole boar over. "We should cut a few pounds first to test the
waters. Don''t mention how much we have. If it works out, we can trade in batches."
With Ang and Jasper injured, Cody and Lukas volunteered to go to the department store to find
Monkey.
In the post-apocalyptic world, no one could take care of anyone forever. How far you could go
depended on yourself. Ste didn''t stop them, but reminded them to be careful.
Rosie was scared. After beingforted, she fell asleep. Jasper carried her back to their room to
sleep.
Ang told Ste about the situation in Ivywood Estates. They had dismantled six water towers this
time, collected a lot of solid wood furniture, and found two bottles of unused gas canisters.
They had to figure out a way to bring these back as soon as possible. Otherwise, other people
would take advantage of it.
"The wild boars are hidden in the mountains. Probably not so easy to find for now."
An hourter, Cody and Lukas returned.
"We found out that the boss of Monkey is willing to exchange food for boar meat, but they are taking
advantage of the situation."
A pound of wild boar meat could be exchanged for two pounds of broken rice, but only one pound
for fresh rice. They had brought five pounds of meat and exchanged it for five pounds of fresh rice.
Ste inspected the rice. It was high-quality jasmine rice. "You guys weren''t followed, were you?"
"No, we took the intable raft and made sure to take a detour."
"They seemed really interested in the meat. They said if we exchange for new rice, it would all be
vacuum-sealed, and the expiration date is thetest."
They called Jasper over to discuss the trade.
Ste agreed to exchange the meat for rice. It seemed like a loss, but they had no conditions to
preserve the wild boar meat. And how many people could afford to buy meat when they couldn''t
even afford rice? Compared to meat, rice was more filling andsted longer. Five wild boars, after
being ughtered, had an average weight of 200 pounds. That could be exchanged for a lot of
food.
However, they decided to keep some meat and only exchange four boars.
The remaining wild boar was divided into four parts. The 1803 group took two parts, the 1801 group
one part, and Cooper''s part was given to Ste.
The wild boar meat was good for roasting and making meat sauce, which could be preserved for a
long time without going bad. But whether it was roasting or making meat sauce, it was time-
consuming and had a strong smell. It was best not to do it in their room. The smell was one reason,
but also because if they closed the door and roasted the meat inside, people couldn''t stand the
heat.
Jasper suggested, "The vis have been evacuated. Why don''t we cook the meat there and then
come back?" Ste was thinking the same thing.
The others had no objections. So the three men bagged and stuffed the wild boar intorge
backpacks and set off in the raft to trade. They didn''t forget to bring Cooper along.
They met at the shopping mall, trading in the quiet floodwaters, away from the crowd.