Chapter 5: Installing the Tarp Cover

Ah Yuan arrived at nine in the morning. He brought a little girl with him—the younger sister he’d mentioned on the bus that day, Little Yu.

The territories were all named sequentially, so finding Ruan Ming’s place wasn’t difficult. He contacted her first via wristband from outside, and only upon receiving her permission did he ride his bike into the territory.

Ruan Ming stood at the courtyard gate and watched the two figures—one big, one small—pedaling toward her on a dilapidated bicycle, jingling and clanking all the way. The wind lifted the little girl’s skirt, like a flower swaying in motion.

Ruan Ming wasn’t wearing her protective suit and mask today. As a general rule, human exposure without protection wasn’t necessarily forbidden, provided the exposure wasn’t too prolonged. Also, within her own courtyard, surrounded by various shielding installations, the concentration of Dark Uranium Element wasn’t considered too high.

It was Ah Yuan’s first time seeing Ruan Ming’s true face, and his eyes lit up. The little girl sitting on the front crossbar of the bicycle, seeing such a beautiful older sister, shyly shrank back into her brother’s embrace.

In this current world, interactions between people had grown exceptionally guarded and cold. Even children were taught to maintain their distance from others. Ruan Ming hadn’t seen such pure, unadulterated emotional expression in a very long time.

Ah Yuan parked the bike, carefully lifted his sister down, and removed her palm-sized face mask, revealing a small, rosy-cheeked face.

“This morning, she heard magpies calling from under the house,” he explained. “When she saw me heading out, she insisted on coming along, so I brought her.” He scratched his head with a touch of apology.

Hearing her brother say that, Little Yu shrank behind him again, peeking out with just half her face showing.

Ruan Ming’s lips curved upward. Putting aside her usual coolness, she addressed the little girl:

“Little Yu, welcome to Big Sister’s house.”

Little Yu blinked, bit her lip, and didn’t speak.

Ah Yuan gently patted her little head and encouraged her, “Little Yu, nod to the big sister. Tell her you’re happy to be here too.”

Little Yu finally gathered her courage, peeked out from behind her brother, and gave Ruan Ming a tiny nod, before immediately hiding again shyly.

Ruan Ming instantly understood the situation, and a soft sigh escaped her heart. Ubiquitous radiation and pathogens constantly threatened human health. The surviving population suffered from various ailments to varying degrees—albinism, mania, skin cancer, tuberculosis, immunodeficiency disorders, and more. Coupled with people harming each other, it was common in the wasteland to see deformed individuals shuffling about, some with heads swollen like basins, others missing limbs. Little Yu’s condition was considered relatively mild.

“Would you like some water? I’ll go get some,” Ruan Ming offered.

Ah Yuan quickly said, “No, no, we brought our own Water Bottles before leaving home.”

Nowadays, drinking water required buying filter cartridges for purification, so they always carried their own water when going out. Little Yu also pulled a small water bottle that was strapped to her back around to her front and shook it at Ruan Ming. Ruan Ming was instantly charmed by the gesture.

Ah Yuan unloaded the tarpaulin from the back rack of the bicycle. “Ma’am, where do you want it set up? I’ll help you tie it down.”

Ruan Ming had already planned the layout of the rear vegetable garden yesterday afternoon and had erected a few preliminary support poles. But she hadn’t decided on the exact cut of the tarp, so the framework wasn’t fixed yet. She led Ah Yuan through the living room to the back door and pointed to the large open space on the left, right next to the house. “Right here.”

Ah Yuan said eagerly, “The frame is mostly ready. Let me help you set it up.”

Seeing she was about to refuse, he quickly added, “My mom specially sewed drawstrings onto the tarp last night. That way, when you’re planting, you can easily adjust sunlight—roll it up on sunny days, pull it closed when it rains, all done with a single pull on the strings. If you try to install it yourself, you might not get it right. I should do it.”

Hearing this, Ruan Ming immediately stopped refusing. She just said, somewhat embarrassed, “Ten Credits per square meter for the tarp, plus drawstrings and installation… isn’t that a bit too cheap?”

Ah Yuan chuckled, “You’re a new customer. I’ve got to do something to keep you coming back. If you feel bad about it, just make sure to be a regular in the future.”

He stated it plainly enough, but how many people could actually do that just to win over a customer? Ruan Ming gratefully accepted his goodwill, following his instructions to brace the frame.

What surprised her next was seeing Ah Yuan, clutching the tarp, execute a light jump and leap directly onto the eaves of the second floor. Little Yu leaned against the bottom of the wall and looked up at her brother with an expression of adoration.

“You’re a Leaping Ability Esper?” Ruan Ming asked.

“Yeah, D-Rank. This is as high as I can go. Handy for climbing trees to pick fruit, but otherwise not much use,” Ah Yuan said with a laugh, scratching his head.

Actually, in combat, Leaping Ability was highly sought after. Ruan Ming coordinated with him to spread the tarp, using bamboo joints to make a few pulleys. The two of them worked for over two hours before the job was finally complete.

Ah Yuan pulled the drawstrings back and forth a few times, watching the tarp roll up and down smoothly. Satisfied, he clapped his hands: “Alright, it’s done!”

Ruan Ming took out her Credit Card to pay him. He waved his hands hastily:

“No rush, let’s look at the bamboo shoots first.”

When he saw the two giant bamboo shoots, a smile immediately spread across his face. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen edible shoots. Let me get my scale and weigh them.”

He went over to his bicycle and retrieved a hand scale from under the seat. Ruan Ming asked, “Are these for your own family to eat, or for you to resell?”

“I’ll keep one at home for us. My mom’s health is weak, and Little Yu needs the nutrition. I’ll sell the other one.” As he spoke, he expertly hooked a shoot and lifted it with the scale. “Total is sixty-four point five jin. Let’s call it sixty-five. How does ten Credits per jin sound to you, ma’am?”

The shoots were weighed with their husks on, and this price was equivalent to regular vegetables—very reasonable. Ruan Ming could have sought out other buyers, but it would only net her a few dozen more Credits and might attract unwanted attention. Selling to Ah Yuan was hassle-free.

“Alright,” she said.

Ah Yuan grinned and pulled out his own Credit Card. “The tarp is three hundred Credits. Doing the math, I actually owe you now.”

He turned his head toward Little Yu. “Help your brother calculate: six hundred and fifty minus three hundred. How many Credits do we need to give Sister Ruan?”

Little Yu’s eyes lit up. She excitedly stretched out her hands, holding up three fingers, then five, then circling her thumb and forefinger into a zero shape.

Ah Yuan turned to Ruan Ming for confirmation: “Three hundred and fifty Credits, right?”

Watching the interaction between the siblings, Ruan Ming felt a gentle warmth in her heart and nodded with a smile.

The Credit transfer was completed quickly. Ah Yuan tied the two large shoots onto the back rack of his bike. Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment, then turned back and walked over.

“Ma’am,” he said, lowering his voice, “I’ve been here before. I sold Uncle Ruan a few shipments. That’s how I knew he just passed away. You have to be careful on your own. The Patrol Team people… try to avoid them as much as you can. And don’t tell anyone about the edible shoots on the mountain. You don’t want people eyeing them.”

Ruan Ming hadn’t expected him to tell her these things. She, of course, knew the Patrol Team weren’t exactly good Samaritans. The Patrol Team were the last people in contact with her father; they were the ones who cremated the body.

She didn’t believe for a second that her father had lived here for so long without keeping food at home. Yet the kitchen cupboards were completely empty, and the Credit card she received was drained to zero. If the Patrol Team hadn’t stolen everything under the guise of their duty, then who else could it be? She even had serious doubts whether her father had truly died from a crocodile attack.

Whether Ah Yuan said this out of genuine concern or just to secure her as a customer, she was willing to accept the goodwill.

She nodded and said to the siblings, “I know. I’ll be careful. You two be safe on the road.”

She then added, “Oh, and next time you’re passing through this area, could you bring me a bottle of vinegar, a machete that can cut down mutated trees, eight Level-3 and two Level-2 water filter cores? And if you have any staple foods like potatoes or sweet potatoes, pick me up three to five jin.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Organic Food. A-grade food was strictly reserved for those at the top—it never reached people like them. No matter which territory produced Organic Food, it was bought out immediately at sky-high prices, far beyond her means.

While putting the protective mask back on his little sister, Ah Yuan readily agreed, “Sure thing! But potatoes and sweet potatoes are hot commodities, not always available. If they do come in, I’ll prioritize you first.”

After Little Yu settled onto the crossbar, she twisted around and waved at Ruan Ming. Ruan Ming desperately wished she had something to give her—anything, even a piece of candy. But she had nothing. All she could do was wave back, watching the two siblings disappear into the distance.

With the tarp frame for the back vegetable patch completed, Ruan Ming gathered some stones and divided the twenty-square-meter plot into four rectangular beds of varying sizes. She then poured the soil she’d brought from the Safe Zone into one of the squares.

Eighty jin of soil didn’t amount to much, merely occupying a small corner of that bed. Ruan Ming wasn’t discouraged. The days ahead were long. She would find a way to fill all these beds with rich, healthy soil eventually.

Looking at the little pile of soil in that corner, a plan was already forming in her mind: I’ll plant chayote.

She happened to have chayote seeds. This vegetable was easy to grow; it required almost no tending. What’s more, its yield was incredibly high. People even joked that a chayote’s yield depended solely on how large a frame you built for it.

She stood up, dusted the soil from her hands, went upstairs, and back to her room. From the luggage bag she’d brought, she pulled out a small pouch. Inside, wrapped in oiled paper, were roughly a dozen seeds: pumpkin, corn, and peas. And one chayote, about the size of a fist.

She had obtained these seeds by chance inside the Safe Zone. Back at her previous workplace, a low-level supervisor frequently smuggled seeds and soil out of the cultivation rooms to take home and then resell them to outside parties, lining his own pockets. Though everyone knew this was happening, the supervisor had connections higher up; no one dared cross him. So they all just turned a blind eye.

The cultivation room’s wall had a small hole leading outside. The supervisor’s method was to place things in this hole first, leave through the main gate, then circle around outside the wall and pull the goods through.

When items went missing from the cultivation room, Ruan Ming and her colleagues inevitably took the blame, receiving criticism and reprimands. Over time, even a saint would snap. Tired of the baseless accusations and scapegoating, she seized an opportunity during a shift rotation. Before the supervisor could reach the outer wall, she got there first and took the goods. Thus, she came into possession of these precious seeds.

She had originally intended to bring them to the territory for her father to plant. She just never expected she’d end up using them herself.