Chapter 229: Barter
"Normally, it would take about two and a half hours on the Jinhu Highway. But we have no idea what the situation on the highway is like now, so I can’t give you a precise time."
Xie Ning nodded. Everything Uncle Yong was considering made sense.
"Cres!"
"There are no zombies or weird things blocking the road ahead. We can pull over and rest." Cres rolled his eyes. "Also! We haven’t had dinner yet, and I want cake!"
Xie Ning glanced down at the time. It was already 9:30 PM. No wonder her own stomach was growling a little.
"Uncle Yong, let’s pull over up ahead and get something to eat."
Everyone was already starving, especially those who had just gotten out of the car to work and fight zombies; they were famished.
Xie Ning took out a small basket of pork floss rice balls, egg pancakes, and steamed buns. With an expressionless face, she let everyone choose what they wanted, taking as much as they needed based on their appetite.
At a time like this, there was no need to warn against waste; no one would waste a single crumb of food.
When it was Cres’s turn, the little boy started clamoring again, "Cake! Cake!"
Xie Ning smacked him on the head. "Eat real food! Who gets to eat cake? If you’re good tomorrow morning, I’ll give you half a piece of whole-wheat bread..."
She saw the boy staring at her with his brown, doe-like eyes.
Xie Ning stared back. "And half a cream puff! Take it or leave it."
In the end, Cres relented. After all, if he didn’t take it, he’d get nothing...
He then ate one and a half pork floss rice balls, one egg pancake, and a meat bun!
Xie Ning finished an egg pancake and washed it down with a cup of water.
"Let’s not travel at night after all. We’ll rest in the car and leave when it gets lighter."
"Good idea. I think I can feel a breakthrough coming on. I’m going to meditate now!" Like an immortal cultivator, Song Kexin sat cross-legged in her seat, palms facing the sky, and began her Cultivation once more.
Song Shijun was speechless, leaning back in his seat to ponder quietly.
After traveling for half the night, the two elders were already asleep, and the others were all dozing off, leaning against their seats.
Su Xiyue snuggled in her mother Song Youxuan’s arms and smacked her greasy little lips. Even though sleeping in the car wasn’t very comfortable, she felt a sense of bliss.
Song You’ai placed four buckets of ice in the front and back of the car, then glanced at her daughter. "You should get some sleep. Your younger uncle and I will take the night watch."
Xie Ning nodded slightly. It wasn’t that she wanted to sleep; she needed to go to her terrace to extract Crystal Core Energy.
As time passed, the Energy Ball gradually expanded to the size of a basketball, floating and bobbing slowly above the terrace.
She had separately extracted the energy from the Water Element Mutated Crystal Cores obtained from the Water-type Zombies they had fought earlier, placing it into a round metal box engraved with the words "Water Element."
After finishing this, Xie Ning made some Energy Water, packed it into stand-up pouches, and stuck cute little labels on them to tell them apart.
When she opened her eyes, she suddenly noticed several ripples of energy surging inside the car at the same time.
Xie Ning turned her head and hurriedly extracted several streams of ordinary energy from her villa Space, sending them directly into the bodies of Song Youzhi, Song Kexin, and Song Shijun.
Turning to her mother, who was sitting beside her and had fully entered a state of advancement, Xie Ning quickly took out the round box of Water Element energy and pressed it into her mother’s hands.
The energy would be autonomously absorbed by Song You’ai during her advancement. As for how much she absorbed, it was entirely up to her body; it would stop once it reached a saturation point.
Xie Ning watched as the Water Energy Ball in her mother’s hands gradually shrank. It stopped when it reached half its original volume.
After waiting a long while and seeing no further changes, Xie Ning finally took back the round box containing the Water Energy Ball.
Meanwhile, Li Dawei and his group had been flashing their hazard lights for ages, only to find that the other party had pulled over and was playing dead...
It wasn’t until an hour later that they realized the entire group had gone to sleep.
’This is so damn stupid. They’re just sleeping on the side of the road with no protection at all?’
’Where did they get that kind of nerve?’
’Do they really think zombies won’t attack them while they’re sleeping?’
However, as it turned out, the night was exceptionally peaceful.
When the sound of an engine starting up jolted Li Dawei awake in the morning, everyone realized the sky was already growing light.
Looking over through their car windows, they saw the members of Xie Ning’s team—young and old alike—brazenly getting out of their car one by one and heading to the roadside to... wash up?
One of the underlings quickly jumped out of his car to go and cozy up to someone from Xie Ning’s group.
A moment later, he ran back with a dejected expression. "Da Wei, Da Wei! They turned on the AC!"
’Starting the car this early in the morning just to run the air conditioning... How extravagant.’
"The Space of that Space Ability User in Xie Ning’s group must be huge!" Li Dawei grumbled, then got out of the car, immediately plastering a smile on his face. Rubbing his hands together, he walked quickly toward Xie Ning.
Song Kexin was just about to toss out a basin of water when Li Dawei rushed over and grabbed the other side of it. "Don’t throw it out, don’t throw it out! What a waste, it’s not even dirty. Let us use this water to wash our faces!"
Song Kexin was speechless. "Don’t you have a Water Ability User on your team?"
"We don’t, miss! If we did, things wouldn’t be this hard." Li Dawei’s eyes darted around. "We all came from the Song Family Pavilion. I know Aunt Song is a Water Ability User. Look, Uncle Ge Liang and Ge Yan are on our team. We’re all old acquaintances, so giving us a little water isn’t too much to ask, right?"
Song You’ai stepped out of the car, looking refreshed and energetic. She immediately spotted the weaselly-looking Li Dawei. "What are you doing?"
"Aunt Song."
"Scram!" Song You’ai glared at him irritably. "It’s not that you can’t have water, but you know the rules. You have to trade supplies for it!"
Recalling the saying, "A small favor creates a friend, a large one an enemy," Song You’ai had no intention of freely giving water to raise a pack of ungrateful wolves.
Li Dawei was so angry he gritted his teeth, his eyes darting back and forth. "We gathered some toilet paper last time. Can we trade that for water?"
’Their team didn’t have enough food for themselves, so they definitely wouldn’t trade that. Besides, you could use leaves or plant ash to wipe your ass anyway...’
’Paper is too precious. Better to trade it for water!’
Song You’ai felt a little like laughing inwardly but maintained a cold expression. She nodded. "Fine. One pack of toilet paper, about 300 grams, in exchange for... 3L of water."
In reality, Song You’ai could give them much more water now, but it was better to keep a low profile.
Li Dawei was overjoyed. Fearing Aunt Song would go back on her word, he quickly pulled Ge Yan over.
Ge Yan took out a case of toilet paper containing about twenty packs.
Without another word, Song You’ai started to dispense the water. "Do you have a container?"
"Yes, yes, we do." Ge Yan smiled and took out three water tanks, each of which looked to have a 20L capacity.
Song You’ai nodded. She placed her hand lightly on a water tank, and a clean stream of water gushed out, filling one of the tanks in the blink of an eye.
Both Li Dawei and Ge Yan’s eyes widened.
"Aunt Song, what level is your Water Ability? How can you produce water so fast?"
It wasn’t that they hadn’t traded with other Water Ability Users before, but Song You’ai’s demonstration was so stunningly impressive that it filled them with envy.