Picking Up Special Marine Creatures While Going to the Sea [Apocalypse] - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Working on Tackling the Biggest Problem

While Su Ran was sitting on the steps outside the door, petting the dog and hen, he quietly pricked up his ears to listen to the noises in the kitchen, fearing that he would hear something breaking.

Xing Lin looks too much like a young master. He seems like the type who is spoiled by his family and never has to do any housework.

Su Ran has never been able to get along with this kind of person since he was a child, but now he lives with such a person…both he and the other party has to learn to adapt.

Even if the dishes may fall to the ground, he had to let the other person try.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be him who is unilaterally serving the young master?

That’s not a healthy cohabitation relationship.

Su Ran touched Xue Tuan’s head.

However, he also realized that although the mermaid was not good at talking, he was very “a man of wisdom and adaptability” and in some ways, he was easy to communicate with.

Surprisingly, although it took a little longer, Su Ran did not hear the sound of dishes falling to the ground as he had expected.

Half an hour later, Xing Lin came out: “All the dishes have been put into the disinfection cabinet. Do you want to start disinfecting now?”

“No, just disinfect it before going to bed at night.”

Xing Lin sat down beside him, closed his eyes slightly, and a hint of fatigue appeared on his face.

Su Ran observed his expression: “Are you very sleepy?”

Xing Lin immediately opened his eyelashes again and yawned.

“Yeah, it’s one of the reactions that occurs when the body adapts to the new environment. I feel sleepy, and my feet hurt.”

Su Ran subconsciously looked at his legs.

“Ah, that mermaid princess kind of pain?”

Xing Lin thought: “About the same.”

“Do you also have stories about mermaid princesses there?”

“Why are you asking this question now?” The man raised his eyebrows. “Then why did you ask me so naturally just now?”

“It’s just a habit…” Su Ran hesitated.

“There’s the story of the mermaid princess. Didn’t I tell you that school will teach us about your culture? So, of course, we’ve heard the fairy tales you’ve heard too.”

Xing Lin leaned his elbows on his knees, turned his face to the side and supported his cheek, just staring at Su Ran.

Su Ran had to admit that this guy really nails the idea of ​​”looking people in the eye when you talk to them”.

Su Ran was a little overwhelmed.

“But the pain in my feet only started after I got ashore,” Xing Lin said, curling his toes in his slippers as if feeling the pain. He commented seriously, “It’s not like stepping on the tip of a knife, but like being pricked by needles, numb. Probably similar to acupuncture.”

“Acupuncture causes swelling and pain, not numbness. Are you experiencing numbness in your feet?”

“It hurts a little more than that.”

Having said that, there was nothing unusual on this guy’s face.

Su Ran wondered hesitantly, was there any medicine at home that could relieve his symptoms?

“Your expression is really written on your face.” Xing Lin said suddenly.

Su Ran was stunned.

“Don’t worry about how to help me. This isn’t a problem that medicine can solve,” Xing Lin yawned again and said lazily, “It’ll be fine once I get used to it. All I need now is a bed where I can lie down and rest peacefully.”

“…Oh.” Su Ran responded softly.

“So, is there any other housework to do?” Xing Lin yawned and stared at him again, staring at his profile.

Su Ran came back to his senses, thought for a moment, and said, “Besides cooking and washing dishes, I also have to clean the house regularly… and then there’s that piece of land. Look over there, isn’t there a lot of space left? I was planning to transplant some seedlings into the land today, but various things have put it off until now. I’ll do it tomorrow morning. You can help me then, and I’ll teach you.”

“And now there’s a very serious problem – water.”

The water in the water tank outside the kitchen is almost empty.

What was in there was actually not sea water, but rainwater that Su Ran had collected using a homemade rain collector on rainy days over the past month.

Fortunately, there were several heavy rainstorms during that period, and he collected more than 600 liters of water in total.

They had been very frugal in using water every day, controlling the daily water consumption to around 20 liters, and have barely managed to make it until now.

There is no sign of rain in the near future, so if they need water, they could only transport it from the seaside.

But how much water can be brought back in one trip by one person?

First of all, cars as a means of transportation cannot be used.

When fleeing, many cars in the village were driven out, and only a few families had cars left. According to Su Ran’s understanding, the car keys were still in the hands of the younger generation. Those young people were not at home when the disaster happened – just like in his family, the car keys were still in his father’s hands.

More importantly… he can’t drive.

They can only use other means to transport water. Even though there is one more Xing Lin now, it is still safe to go out during the day. They could get bicycles or electric tricycles from other yards. In this way, the amount of water that could be transported is also limited. Once the number of round trips increases, the risk of encountering zombies will increase.

However, water will continue to be used, so they must find a permanent solution.

Su Ran had a vague idea before, but it was too difficult for him to implement the plan alone. Now that there was one more person, he could consider it.

Perhaps because of sleepiness, Xing Lin folded his hands, placed them on his knees, and rested his head on them, staring at him with his head tilted.

“Tell me about it.”

Su Ran said, “Uncle Ye has a cart that can carry about 200 kilograms. Uncle Ye lives in the house in front of us. He passed by on his way back just now. If we can use that cart, we can carry more water at once.”

“But there’s one problem—that cart makes a lot of noise when pulled, and it’s bound to draw zombies out from the surrounding area. So no matter what method we use to transport water from the beach, we’ll eventually have to find a way to trap all the zombies along the way in the yard and prevent them from leaving.”

Xing Lin said, “Aren’t those zombies already in the yard during the day? While they’re not paying attention, we can just block the door from the outside with something, or tie the door handle with a rope.”

“That’s true,” Su Ran scratched his cheek, “but I still want to go in and look for some supplies…”

“Oh, you want to rob.” The mermaid raised an eyebrow and translated his words.

“…” It’s hard to refute.

“You want to rob every household?”

“…………” Su Ran whispered, “It’s too dangerous to go through each house one by one. Let’s just go to a few houses and look for the things we need most right now.”

“Oh, precise robbery, so you know what they have in their house.”

“…………” It’s getting weirder and weirder the more he talks.

Su Ran was very depressed: “I just overheard it before. They usually talk about everything.”

Xing Lin chuckled.

“So, you already have a goal?”

Su Ran nodded and said seriously, “But there’s still a problem. I can plan the shortest route from here to the beach, but even if I lock all the gates along the way, zombies from further away will still come out. The roads in the village are all connected, and they can easily come through those roads.”

The village is very big, and it is impossible for them to bolt the doors of each house.

Not to mention how long it will take and whether it can be completed before the water runs out – after all, everything is just a concept now, and reality may not be so smooth – there are not that many materials needed to block and bolt the door.

Su Ran preferred to tie the door with a rope, which was the most convenient and quickest way, but where could they get so many ropes?

“We can’t just transport seawater at once. If rescue doesn’t come and the current situation doesn’t change, we’ll need to keep transporting water, and this route will have to be used constantly. So it would be best to block all the intersections along the way.”

At present, the highest level of behavior of zombies is to push and open doors, but this behavior is limited to their own homes.

In other words, they rely entirely on the remaining instincts in their bodies to perform this action, but at the same time, it seems that this is the only instinct they have left.

Except for the amazing leap when the aurora appeared, Su Ran did not observe the two behaviors of “crossing” and “pushing” from the zombie group at other times.

So if they used something to block the intersection, in theory they could block the zombies coming from other directions.

Then what could be used to block it?

——They could use anything that can be moved, such as bicycles, electric cars, and furniture.

But how much furniture can they move and use in a household? And in order to block all the intersections along the road, how many yards do they need to break into and how much furniture do they need to move out?

This is unknown.

Su Ran looked at Xing Lin and asked, “What do you think?”

Xing Lin: “We can try it first.”

Regardless, if successful, they would have a stable and safe water transportation route.

Water resources, one of the most difficult problems to solve in the end times, could be solved.