While collecting crystal nuclei in the town, Shen Shian also looked for supplies. He found two bags of rice, half a bag of flour, a bucket of vegetable oil, and some portable packaged food. Not only that, he also found a small icebox that was about one meter high, it looks new. After cleaning and disinfecting it, it was attached to the back of the driver’s seat and it still left a fairly spacious space for the back seat. It was powered through the solar charging panel and filled with stuff.

On the first night when Chen Nan joined them, Shen Shian took out three bags of frozen meat buns from the icebox, boiled a pot of pumpkin millet porridge, and roasted six sweet potatoes in the firewood. Then he did not wait for Chen Nan to refuse and shouted, “Come and eat.”

Chen Nan wanted to endure and refuse, but he couldn’t hold back. When he walked to the campfire, he took a bowl of porridge and ate a whole bag of steaming meat buns and two sticks of baked sweet potatoes.

At breakfast the next day, Shen Shian took out two packages of toast, a box of eggs, a bag of bacon, a package of bacon, and three bottles of milk from the icebox. He said to Chen Nan, “Bring me two lettuces.”

Then Chen Nan ate the best, most luxurious, and most memorable homemade sandwich in his life.

Lunch was Luosifen{n1}, he boiled the rice noodles in boiling water for three minutes, then drained the water and added bamboo shoots, snails, steamed dumplings, and condiments. He added water and waited. When the lid was lifted, hot steam came out and the chili oil looked hot, spicy and sour. Then he added 250grams of duck leg and the cucumber that Chen Nan had produced.

Note1: Luosifen are snail noodles, rice noodles that are boiled and placed in a soup or broth that consists of local river snails as well as pork bones.

When he stopped the car in the evening and saw Shen Shian taking out the iron pan and rice from the trunk and a large piece of frozen meat from the icebox, Chen Nan, who was only able to eat potatoes two days ago, was already crying, “That’s for us to eat for dinner?”

Shen Shian yelled and handed him a bag of seeds, “Check what kind of vegetables you can produce.”

In the evening, shredded beef with green peppers, leeks and eggs, stir-fried vegetables, candied sweet potatoes, oily but not greasy braised pork, and even a pot of seaweed and egg soup were served with a large pot of white rice with a fragrant smell. After eating, Chen Nan started to wash the dishes and still felt unbelievable. Do these days really exist in the apocalypse? Has he hallucinated because of eating too many potatoes? Am I dreaming?

But the aftertaste of the food and the satisfaction and warmth he felt from his full belly could not be fake. Compared to the days where he could only eat potatoes, today’s food had leaped through time and space. And even the tasteless potatoes began to show amazing deliciousness under Shen Shian’s cooking skills, crispy salt and vinegar potatoes, stewed pork with potatoes, baked potato with chicken, bacon potato rolls…

Shen Shian even fried a special large pot of french fries served as snacks for Shen Xun and Chen Nan, dipped in homemade tomato sauce, it was sweet and sour, crispy and fragrant.

In just one week, Chen Nan felt that he had gained at least five pounds.

At noon that day, Shen Shian parked the car beside the road. According to the map, there was a rest stop not far in front. After he told Shen Shian, Chen Nan took the thornstick and was ready to try his luck at the rest station to see if he could collect supplies or zombies’ nuclei. The journey with the two was more than great, and he wanted to stay, so he should work harder to prove his role in the journey.

His luck was not bad. There were probably more than two hundred zombies near the rest station, of which there were nine mutant zombies. With extraordinary speed and the fighting skills Shen Shian had taught him, he led the mutant zombies out of the zombie group and killed them. The process was a little bit gruesome, but the nine crystal nuclei were eventually taken into a bag.

As for the supplies, it was not so lucky. The supermarket in the rest stop was collected a long time ago. He used the sound of the car horn to lead out the zombies that were inside and ran inside. He found only two packs of middle & old-aged milk powder and four cans of Cokes scattered under the shelf. He found a plastic bag, collected them all and tied it to the backpack strap.

Before returning to the parking place and taking the things out, Shen Shian handed him a bowl of strawberries, “Try it.”

The shape of the strawberries were lovely and well-proportioned, each of which was about the size of a fist.

Chen Nan washed his hand and took one, “Brother Shen, is this what you use your ability on?” After biting, he immediately widened his eyes in surprise, “Delicious! Very sweet!”

Shen Shian nodded and handed the bowl full of strawberries. When Chen Nan waved his hand and refused to accept it, he pointed to the vegetable bowl in Shen Xun’s arms that was four times larger and full of strawberries, “I still have many.” Then he said, “Leave one dried and take the seeds and see if you can use your ability to plant more of them.”

The strawberries were naturally taken out of space. Cherry was a woody plant. Chen Nan’s ability shouldn’t be able to promote it at present. The tomato was too large to be exposed for the time being. Only the strawberry was suitable for experiments. If Chen Nan could promote the strawberries, and the seeds from the strawberries that he had spawned could be planted again in the space, it meant that his plan was completely feasible, and he with his space and Chen Nan could cooperate with each other to obtain optimized and endless seeds.

Chen Nan took the strawberries. He untied the plastic bag on the strap of the backpack and he was a little embarrassed, “The supermarket at the rest stop was searched, and only these things were found.” He handed all nine crystal nuclei to Shen Shian, “But I collected all the crystal nuclei, it’s all for you brother Shen.”

Shen Shian put the milk powder in the trunk and the Cokes in the fresh-keeping layer of the icebox. He took four crystal nuclei, and the other five were handed back to the other party, and he did not accept refusal, “My crystal nuclei are now enough, but it is your ability which needs to be improved at this stage. Since we are teammates, then it is necessary to cooperate with each other, and the improvement of the team’s members are equally important.”

Chen Nan was silent, then nodded and took back five crysta nuclei. In the past, when the provincial team was training relays, the coach often told them that the water holding capacity of a wooden barrel was determined by the shortest plank, and the overall ability of the team was the same. He would do everything he can to improve himself, and not to hinder brother Shen.

Shen Shian looked at him calmly and glanced at his left ankle, “Injured?” Although the other party tried to cover it up, it was still slightly unnatural when he ran back.

Chen Nan lifted his leg and shook it twice, “When I was hiding from the zombies, I ran too fast and hit the concrete pillar. There are no injuries on the skin, only a blue bruise and I can still run. It should be gone by tomorrow.”

Shen Shian nodded, “Wash your hands and eat.”

They said that traveling together was the best test to a person’s quality. And these days his evaluation of Chen Nan has been rising.

Probably because of the closed training in the school all year round, Chen Nan was not a socially friendly type. He didn’t talk much. He rarely took the initiative to speak, but he did a lot of things, washing dishes and pots, taking water, making fire, and many others. Almost all of his chores were done by him, and every time he was done, he always looked for every opportunity to collect supplies and zombies’ nuclei. It was clear that he was doing his best to contribute and prove his value to Shen Shian.