Chapter 110: Remembering Bitterness, Thinking of Sweetness

This is already Chen Mu's fifth time going out.

But aside from Wei Dalei, the rest of the team are actually the type who often run around outside, and their experience is even richer than Chen Mu's.

Lu Shanshan even feels a bit nostalgic for those days.

"Speaking of which, when you used to run around outside, could you really find food?" Chen Mu listened to Lu Shanshan's recounts, finding some of them hard to believe.

"At first, when there were many people, it was still okay; we had a companion whose ability was to, while sleeping, project his soul out of his body to survey the surroundings without worrying about danger."

Lu Shanshan sighed: "It's a pity he died just a few days after awakening."

"Soul projection? What's that about?"

Chen Mu was a bit curious; mental-type abilities are extremely rare, and up to now, the only ones known are Du Jia Jia and the deceased companion He Ying.

"Actually, it's just that after falling asleep, the soul goes out wandering; what it sees is exactly the same as reality. Once we confirm where there is food, we can head straight there the next day."

"It must be after falling asleep."

"Yes, it must be genuine sleep."

"Can the soul state be detected?" Chen Mu asked again.

Lu Shanshan said: "According to him, it can't be detected, but it's just a soul—it can pass through walls, fly, go underground, but it can only look; it can't do anything."

"This..."

Chen Mu always felt it was weird.

Saying this ability is strong seems odd because it doesn't really help personal strength, but saying it's not strong also feels a bit dishonest.

For gathering reconnaissance information, it's practically a divine skill.

Of course, it's also not bad for peeping.

It's a bit evil.

But it can only be used after genuinely falling asleep, which is a major limitation.

In peaceful times, surely many would envy this ability.

But given the current situation, it can only serve as a pure assistance.

Lu Shanshan said: "After that person died, obtaining food became increasingly difficult and dangerous, more people died, and when only the four of us remained, we basically had to survive by eating insect and ant corpses."

Chen Mu had already heard Lu Shanshan tell this story during the initial interrogation.

To be honest, it's quite heartbreaking.

But these experiences have also made them stronger.

At least when everyone discussed eating ant larvae together, Lu Shanshan's group of four showed no hesitation.

Come on, they've even lain on corpses gnawing raw meat—would they be afraid of roasted insects?

"With your way of eating, not getting sick is truly a blessing."

"Yeah." Lu Shanshan recalled that experience, feeling deeply moved.

Xue Xu laughed: "Back then, Lu Shanshan was braver than all of us; when really thirsty, she even drank the juice of insects."

That's also a tough person.

He Ying deeply agreed, interjecting: "At our toughest, we even considered drinking water from bird droppings, but luckily we later found a faucet."

Wei Dalei couldn't listen any longer, pushing the cart forward to pull ahead a stretch.

Chen Mu interrupted their reminiscing, saying: "The food problem we can only consider temporarily solved for now; if humanity wants to continue reproducing, relying solely on hunting and gathering would likely be difficult."

"Yeah, meat is actually fine, but grains and vegetables—after a few years, are we supposed to keep eating wild greens?"

"As you've also seen, even vegetables taste much worse than before."

"Last time's celery leaves, although everyone ate them with relish, even Chen Mu could feel that the rough texture really wasn't tasty."

"Plant fibers have become relatively tougher; eating a celery leaf is like gnawing on a banana leaf fan."

"Can we grow vegetables ourselves in the future?" He Ying suddenly asked.

"This issue, I've discussed with Tang Jing; theoretically it's completely feasible, but actually implementing it would likely be difficult: first, seeds are hard to obtain; second, even if planted, with our current size, how would we water and fertilize? If we purely rely on nature for food, it wouldn't mean much; moreover, harvesting and storage are also problems."

"In other words, it's basically impossible." He Ying felt a bit discouraged.

"That's not necessarily true."

"Huh?"

"Don't forget, our survival to this point isn't solely due to wisdom."

"You mean, special abilities?"

"If special abilities can't be replicated, then even if humanity drops from 7 billion to 100 million, that's still a horrifying number; with so many people, surely someone's ability would lean toward planting and such."

"That makes sense."

He Ying quite agreed with that, but then added: "But when could we ever meet such a person? What if, on the contrary, Qingbei and Yi Zhong have such ability users..."

"These are all unknowns; thinking about them now would just add worries."

Chen Mu chuckled: "We'd better think more about this trip."

Lu Shanshan then asked: "Where exactly is our first destination?"

When Chen Mu sought her agreement, he had said they would head toward the cafeteria—to look for food and to scout Yi Zhong's situation—but he hadn't specified any concrete plan, and Lu Shanshan hadn't asked.

"My idea is to first find a safe place for you and Xue Xu to hide, while I and He Ying go scout the situation; after we return, we'll find you again and then look for food together."

"Alright."

Lu Shanshan had no objections; her role is just to carry supplies, and if combat were truly needed, she'd become a burden. Meanwhile, Xue Xu, this ultimate weapon that inflicts eight hundred damage on the enemy while self-damaging one thousand, should also be avoided as much as possible, especially during reconnaissance, as it would easily expose us.

Speaking of Xue Xu.

Chen Mu, quite curious, asked: "Xue Xu, when you... unleash your ability, do you yourself smell the stench?"

"It's smelly too, though not as exaggerated as others. Senior, you don't know—when I first awakened, the fart I let out knocked two people unconscious for real; I initially thought they were faking it, but then several people actually vomited. If it hadn't coincidentally scared off a swarm of ants that time, I'd probably have been kicked out of the team."

Xue Xu felt somewhat wronged and also a bit embarrassed.

Chen Mu could understand.

Without any guard, suddenly smelling this odor could really knock a person senseless.

Lu Shanshan obviously recalled that unpleasant memory; she was probably also one of those who vomited from the smell.

As a tough girl who could even gnaw raw on insect carcasses, Lu Shanshan still felt uneasy about that stench.

Chen Mu said with a smile: "Your ability is actually quite useful, but judging by what you said, most of the time you release it unconsciously at critical moments; that's good, but it's not stable enough. I think you can do some targeted training in self-control."

"Self-control?" Xue Xu was taken aback.

"If you could control the strength and even direction of the odor at will, the effect would definitely be better."

"Really? But how exactly should we train?"

"I really can't guide you on this; you have to figure it out yourself gradually, but from my experience, this kind of Special Ability can ultimately be mastered through practice."

"Okay, I'll definitely practice hard from now on." Xue Xu was full of vigor for a moment.

"Remember to practice in a place with no one around." Chen Mu quickly added.