Chapter 13: Is Your Melon Fresh?

Uncle Nan walked to the edge of the bed and reached out to pick up the crumpled paper ball, unfolding it.

On the paper was a simple line of text.

"If you don't want him to die, feed it to him."

There were only two things in the paper ball, and the iron lighter was naturally ignored, leaving only the carrot.

"Whose way of making us happy is this?" Uncle Nan was stunned, holding the paper ball and the carrot, unsure of what to do.

In an instant, he thought of many things.

According to the instructions on the paper... Could this thing cure his son's severe condition?

He looked down and found that the carrot did indeed look completely different from the radiation-contaminated vegetables. Instead of gray spots, it was crystal clear and emitted a faint medicinal fragrance.

"Dad... cough... What is this?" Xiaotian asked in a wheezing voice, still coughing.

"It's medicine! It's medicine!" Uncle Nan also doubted the authenticity of the note. Could a carrot alone cure a severe illness that even the hospital couldn't treat?

But now, he had no other choice!

Xiaotian's symptoms of poisoning were becoming more and more severe, and he would die within two hours due to organ failure.

Uncle Nan was like a drowning person, and as long as someone offered him a lifeline, regardless of whether it would actually work, he would cling to it desperately!

To use an inappropriate metaphor... it was like trying to revive a dead horse.

"Son, open your mouth, eat it..." Uncle Nan gritted his teeth, went to the bedside, opened Xiaotian's mouth, and then stuffed the carrot into it.

"Chew quickly! Swallow it!" Uncle Nan, with tears streaming down his face, urged him, suppressing his grief.

Xiaotian didn't know what his father was doing, but at this point, his consciousness was already fading, without the ability to think. He could only mechanically follow Uncle Nan's instructions.

Li Tianran stood outside the wall, silently watching everything happening in the room.

Finally, Xiaotian swallowed the first bite.

"Ah!"

He suddenly exclaimed and then began to tremble violently.

"Xiaotian! Xiaotian!" Uncle Nan was stunned, and the half-carrot in his hand slipped and fell to the ground.

At that moment, Xiaotian suddenly sat up and started vomiting violently at the edge of the bed.

His breathing became steady, and the gray color on his skin gradually faded away!

Li Tianran watched as Xiaotian's complexion started to become rosy.

He took a deep breath, took out a notepad from his pocket, and wrote with a carbon pen: "Ancient medicinal grade has a curative effect on radiation poisoning, but it is unknown if there will be any after-effects..."

Inside the room, Uncle Nan's cries of joy could be heard.

Li Tianran silently picked up Hanhan and turned to walk towards his truck in the distance.

He had already seen the result he wanted.

Xiaotian's recovery proved the terrifying effectiveness of the ancient medicinal grade. Xiaotian, as the experimental subject, regained his life. Li Tianran also obtained the data he wanted. It was a win-win situation.

The next step, however, would be even more challenging for Li Tianran.

He wanted to see if the ancient medicinal grade could reverse the mutations caused by consuming radiation-contaminated vegetables and restore them to their original state.

But such an opportunity was rare and hard to come by.

Even he needed some luck.

...

Driving the truck out of the small town, thirty minutes later, Li Tianran entered the city center of Nancheng.

It was 10 o'clock at night.

If it were before the era of destruction, the entertainment street in the city center would just be starting its nightlife.

But now, the streets are deserted. Broken glass and signs were scattered everywhere. The doors of the malls and shops on both sides of the street were tightly closed. Some glass display cases were shattered, and the items inside had disappeared, indicating a looting had taken place.

The neon lights in the bars and KTVs that used to be bustling were dimmed, and there was no more stimulating music echoing through the streets.

Stray cat and dog carcasses lay on the streets, left uncollected, quickly decaying.

Ambulance sirens could be heard from time to time, piercing the air.

The air was filled with a sense of despair.

Occasionally, military and police officers on electric motorcycles passed by the roadside, their expressions tense. The intercoms on their waists transmitted messages such as:

"There has been a looting incident on XX Street..."

"There has been a theft in XX neighborhood..."

"A female body was found in the XX pond. Time of death is..."

Seeing this scene, Li Tianran realized that the situation was even more out of control than he had predicted. In this apocalypse, there were too many unscrupulous thugs taking advantage of the chaos. The number of people dying in the chaos might not be fewer than those dying from radiation poisoning.

Li Tianran drove the vehicle out of the entertainment street, turned a corner, and suddenly heard a commotion.

Immediately, he saw a massive crowd in front of a department store, forming a queue that stretched for hundreds of meters!

A few illuminated banners were hung in front of the department store entrance.

"Emergency Supplies Designated Purchase Point."

Boxes of rice and flour, as well as some vegetables, were piled up in refrigerators. They seemed like the most attractive treasures, capturing the attention of thousands of people in front of the department store.

They were unafraid of the cold, squeezing together like ants, making noise. There were even constant shouts and curses.

"Don't fucking cut in line! I've been waiting for five hours. Let me go first!"

"Bullshit, this spot was originally mine. I just went to the toilet for a moment..."

"Damn it, you uncultured peasants. I am the general manager of New East Company... If you offend me, you'll have a hard time! Oh, who kicked me?"

Several police cars with flashing lights were parked nearby. Some military police officers held megaphones, shouting at the top of their lungs:

"Everyone, please maintain order! Stay calm. Everyone has a purchase quota! You can buy five kilograms of rice, five kilograms of flour, and one kilogram of vegetables with valid identification!"

Li Tianran didn't know what to say when he saw this.

In times of disaster, Chinese people always liked to stock up on food until they felt secure. Under this national situation, even if food prices skyrocketed, it couldn't dampen their enthusiasm for hoarding.

He was about to leave when a military police officer walked over and lightly knocked on Li Tianran's car window, wearing a serious expression: "Park the car and turn it off!"

Li Tianran was taken aback, took out an open box of cigarettes from the passenger seat, and handed one with a smile to the officer: "Officer, is there something wrong?"

He actually didn't have the habit of smoking. To him, cigarettes were just a social tool.

The military police officer waved his hand, although he didn't accept it, his attitude softened, and he said, "Brother, open the rear cargo compartment. I need to inspect it."

There were no prohibited items in the rear cargo compartment, so Li Tianran wasn't particularly nervous at this moment. He opened the car door and followed the officer's instructions to open the cargo compartment.

The military police officer used a flashlight to shine inside and, after seeing that there were only some agricultural tools, nodded and said, "It's fine. You can go now!"

"These days, there have been some unscrupulous individuals using trucks to transport poisoned vegetables and sell them as ordinary vegetables in the towns, making a fortune and causing great harm!" The military police officer turned off the flashlight and kindly reminded Li Tianran, "Brother, if you want to buy food, make sure to go to the designated purchase points. The things outside are not safe."

"Thank you!" Li Tianran nodded.

His prediction was correct. The government had already begun to control the sale of food. But after hearing the military police officer's words, he realized why there were so many cases of poisoning these days.

It turned out that some unscrupulous individuals were selling radiation-contaminated vegetables...

They selected vegetables with relatively low levels of radiation and conducted transactions when it was dark and the lighting was poor... They were truly unscrupulous!

Before driving away, he took another look at the people in front of the department store. If he hadn't been lucky enough to be chosen as a player, he might have been one of those people now.

Or perhaps, he would have become one of those victims of poisoning featured in the newspapers.

"Brother, I feel a little scared..." Hanhan sat in the passenger seat. She didn't know what had happened, but she felt the atmosphere was oppressive and terrifying.

Li Tianran patted her head and said, "I'm here."

Li Tianran didn't say many comforting words.

Just these three simple words were enough to make Hanhan feel very safe.

"Okay." Hanhan nodded vigorously, "With Big brother here, Hanhan is not afraid of anything!"

Li Tianran turned the steering wheel to prepare to return to the farm. It was already too late today, and he was very tired.

However, just as he was about to drive out of the outskirts of the city, a modified small van suddenly accelerated and overtook him. With a loud braking sound, the vehicle forcefully blocked Li Tianran's path in the middle of the road!

"... " Li Tianran furrowed his brows, silently reaching under the seat and retrieving a sharp military knife.

Snap!

The door of the other vehicle swung open, and a short and chubby man with a pockmarked face, carrying a large shoulder bag, jumped down with a mischievous look. He quickly ran to the front of Li Tianran's car and knocked on the window, saying, "Brother, I've been following you all the way!"

"Is there something you need?" Li Tianran held the military knife in one hand, still wearing a gentle smile on his face.

"I saw you wandering around the department store earlier, right? Want to buy food, but couldn't get any?" The man smirked and suddenly unzipped his shoulder bag, revealing its contents. "Watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, and even rice! Whatever you want, I have it all!"

Li Tianran's expression froze.

So this guy is selling black-market goods?

Li Tianran scrutinized the man up and down, then his gaze lingered on the vegetables inside the shoulder bag for a while. Suddenly, he smiled and asked, "Brother, are these melons... still fresh?"