Chapter 216
Afraid of wasting food, he didn''t even peel off the purple outeryer of the squid, but washed it
several times.
Moreover, Samuel deliberately dawdled, not eating, just hoping his father would eat a few more
bites of meat.
Ste watched the squid, picking it up with her fork to examine the tentacles, "Dried squid?"
"Yes, it''s a huge piece of squid, about a pound. I used a quarter of it for cooking."
A pound of dried squid? Ste was astonished. Ordinary farmed squid, when dried, was already
consideredrge if it weighed about half a pound. Wild-caught ones, even smaller.
The flood destroyed the seafood farm, and wild squid in the sea couldn''t possibly weigh so much.
Even if there were any, they would have been caught long ago. After being brought ashore, they
would be distributed ording to their size, and the best ones would never end up in the hands of
ordinary survivors.
Samuel exined, "No, the dried squid they sell is huge. Some even weigh more than two pounds."
Ste furrowed her brow, a sudden fear gripping her heart. She remembered what Jasper had said -
extreme heat would cause the pr ice caps to melt, and ancient viruses were likely to invade the
sea.
"Where did you get the squid?"
Samuel quickly brought out the remaining dried squid from the kitchen.
Ste was shocked. This dried squid was not only several timesrger than what she had
previously hoarded, but the purple outeryer was also thicker. There were several raised bumpsContent held by N?velDrama.Org.
on the squid, which were not very noticeable after being dried, but could still be identified upon
close examination.
She sniffed it. It was indeed dried squid, but the smell was much worse than her hoarded ones. It
had a particrly strong fishy smell.
"There''s something wrong with this squid," Ste said seriously. "We need to induce vomiting, right
now."
Without a stomach pump, they could only keep pouring water into Christian''s mouth. Once he had
drunk enough, he would naturally vomit. Then they would continue.
At first, Christian didn''t want to believe it. But Samuel was so scared he started crying, almost
begging him on his knees, "Dad, please listen to Ste. Mom is already gone, and if you leave too,
what am I supposed to do?"
He was only seventeen, and after two years of natural disasters, he had grown up a lot. But at this
moment, he was crying like a child.
Christian didn''t want to leave his son. "Okay, okay, I''ll listen to you."
He drank water and tried to vomit desperately.
Mark asked with a serious expression, "Ste, why do you say there''s something wrong with the
squid?"
Ste didn''t hide anything and exined her suspicions about the ancient virus.
Mark was shocked. Over the past decade or so, the temperature had indeed been rising, and the
pr ice caps were melting faster and faster. Scientists'' concerns about ancient viruses had been
reported in the media from time to time.
But ordinary people thought it was too far-fetched, and they would forget about it once they read it.
They never thought that one day, it would really happen, and in a post-apocalyptic world where
there was no medicine.
After drinking half a bucket of water, Christian was even throwing up bile.
Mark asked with concern, "Christian, how are you feeling?"
Christian was gasping for breath. His body was still in pain, but it was much better than before. "I, I
didn''t eat much."
It was not easy to get a bite of meat, so he wanted to save it for his son to eat more. He was in so
much pain after only a few bites. If they had eaten the whole thing, his family would have been
doomed.
Mark was sweating profusely. The coastal area was different from the ind and the grain-
producing areas. The industry here was developed, but the geographical location was not suitable
for building strategic grain reserves.
The reason many people still had food to eat after the disaster was that they had asked the sea for
help.
Salt, seafood, seaweed... if these were infected with the ancient virus, what would the survivors do
in the future?
Mark asked with a trembling voice, "Ste, are you sure?"
Ste shook her head. "It''s just a guess."
"But if it''s true, won''t we lose all hope of survival?"
Ste couldn''t answer and chose to remain silent.
Christian’s family didn''t have any medicine. After inducing vomiting, he could only bear with it.
Ste had done everything she could, so she decided to leave. But Mark stopped her. "Ste, this is
no small matter. So much seawater and seafoode to Griffith every day. If there''s really a
problem, who knows how many people will die. Shouldn''t we report this to the residents''
committee?"
Ste replied tactfully, "Mark, this is just my guess, and there''s no evidence. If they investigate and
find nothing, won''t I be spreading rumors and causing trouble? By then, the police will arrest me,
and I''m afraid those who sell goods will be the first to jump out and kill me. I’m d that Christian
are okay. I need to go."
After leaving building No. 1, Ste sighed deeply. She didn''t expect the virus invasion to be so fast.
In her previous life, she lived a destitute and wandering life, eating tree bark and gnawing at y.
She had no chance to enjoy seafood. She avoided other survivors, fearing being ughtered like a
lamb. So she really didn''t know about this.
It had been less than two months since they returned from the seaside, and she didn''t expect such
a big change. Ste was deeply worried. The 40 tons of fresh goods and several thousand pounds
of dried goods and sea salt, could they still eat them?
No wonder in her previous life, a bag of salt could be exchanged for 30 pounds of grain. The
situation was probably quite serious.
She was worried, "What will happen if there''s a virus infection?"
Jasper didn''t know either. In his past life, he was busy every day, running around on the front line of
disaster relief. Life and death weremonce. He would sleep as soon as he had a little free
time, and he really didn''t have the energy to pay attention to other things.
"The relief teams have been supplying seafood rice balls all along. I guess it''s the goods they
hoarded before. In any case, there hasn''t been any poisoning or death. I only heard about it from
others a few yearster in my past life."
Maybe there were, but at that time, no one thought about it that way. There were too many people
dying from the disaster, and life was too difficult. No one had the energy to research the real cause
of death behind it.
Ste thought to herself, in herst life, three years after the disaster, the salt along the coast
became extremely scarce, which was enough to show that the authorities had noticed this problem
and therefore banned the consumption of sea salt. But she didn''t know whether they had found out
about it now.
Seeing her frown, Jasperforted her: "Ste, we''ve done what we can. The rest is up to fate."
Ste pondered his words, "Have you told the relevant departments about what will happen in the
future?"
Jasper didn''t answer and took her hand to go home. When she got home, Ste disinfected with
alcohol and didn''t forget to change her clothes.
......
At night, Mark knocked on the Christian''s door, "Christian, how are you feeling?"
Christian''s symptoms were much better, but he felt weak all over. He smiled bitterly, "I was lucky this
time. The grim reaper didn''t take me."
Samuel felt guilty and med himself, "Dad, it''s all my fault. I almost killed you."
Christianforted his son, "It has nothing to do with you. It''s all because of this damn end of the
world, making us live like walking corpses."
Since Christian had improved considerably, Mark figured it must have been the squid, "Christian,
who would have thought that even seafood could be a problem now? It might even spread to our
crops onnd. We need to be careful with what we consume."
"Tell me about it. Does the big man upstairs even want us to survive?"
"You''re lucky to dodge the bullet this time, thanks to Ste." Mark broached the serious matter, "We
can''t ignore this. Should we report it to the residents''mittee?"
Christian pondered, "Would they even handle something like this?"