Chapter 10: Water Fetching

Three figures bent down and walked out of the storage room from under the door crack.

Chen Mu had molded the plastic bucket into a convenient circular shape, like a hula hoop, to be slung diagonally across Wei Dalei's body. After all, carrying a big bucket-shaped thing, even if it's not heavy, can be quite inconvenient. But for Chen Mu, once he did it once, the second time became much easier.

Outside, dusk was approaching, and the setting sun was about to touch the horizon.

For the people of this time, perhaps the sun and the moon seemed no different from before.

Wei Dalei took the lead, keeping a distance between himself, Chen Mu, and Tang Jing. This way, in case of danger and they needed to escape, the other two would have enough time to react.

Though Chen Mu didn't think it was necessary, he didn't refuse Wei Dalei's good intentions.

After walking for a while, Chen Mu asked Tang Jing beside him, "The path outside is not easy, and our dangers will increase significantly after dark. Why do you insist on coming with us?"

Tang Jing smiled and replied, "It's only about two or three kilometers away. We'll be back within an hour if we hurry. Besides, do you guys know where the storage room for drinks is?"

"I've heard your description, so I have a general idea."

"My description was wrong," Tang Jing said.

"Huh?" Chen Mu stopped in his tracks.

"It's not entirely wrong, but the place I mentioned does indeed store a lot of drinks. However, there's another place that should also have drinks and is even closer, but I can't be a hundred percent sure."

"Why didn't you say that earlier?"

"Because we'll need to keep fetching water continuously, and if we get all excited about an empty result, it'll be a big blow to morale."

"I see," Chen Mu nodded, agreeing with Tang Jing's approach. They resumed walking, and he asked again, "Where is that place then?"

"It's in another storage room halfway there, so even if the first one is empty, we won't waste too much time."

"Why does the cafeteria have so many small storage rooms instead of keeping everything together?" Chen Mu was puzzled.

"The cafeteria is just a general term. In reality, there are many subcontractors inside. For example, the chefs belong to one company, the cleaners to another, and even the different food counters might have different owners."

"Is it necessary to make it so complicated?" Chen Mu was not familiar with these things.

"I don't really care about the specific reasons; perhaps it's about profit distribution. But many schools are like this, especially universities," Tang Jing shrugged.

The sky grew darker and darker.

The cement ground outside didn't seem like much before, but now that it's smaller, I realized how uneven and bumpy it is. Looking into the distance, it feels a bit undulating. As the daylight slowly dimmed and the lighting got worse, I couldn't shake the feeling that danger was always lurking nearby.

At the beginning, Tang Jing almost stumbled several times, but Chen Mu helped her stay steady. However, this class monitor had strong adaptability, and after a few minutes, she didn't need any assistance.

After walking for about ten minutes, Tang Jing pointed to a room ahead with the same specifications as the previous storage room, saying, "This is it."

Chen Mu called out to Wei Dalei.

"We're here?" Although Wei Dalei felt the journey was much shorter than he had imagined, he didn't think much about it.

Chen Mu didn't explain either and led the two of them straight into the room from under the door crack.

Inside, Chen Mu looked around at the higher places and found that it was a place for storing food. There were several bags of rice stacked on the ground, and on the shelves against the wall, there were small bags of flour.

"Food?" Chen Mu couldn't hide his surprise.

"That's also the second reason I came to check here. It seems like my guess was right," Tang Jing also wore a happy expression.

"Can we move in here?" Chen Mu asked again.

"No." Tang Jing shook her head. "The granary has a big issue—it attracts mice. Before, there were people coming in and cleaning, which helped keep the problem under control. But now that there are no humans around, this place will quickly become a paradise for all sorts of rodents. We not only can't move in here, but we also need to stay as far away as possible. With so much rice and flour, it's enough to feed the mice for a long time."

Chen Mu was momentarily taken aback, but after Tang Jing reminded him, he immediately understood and nodded, saying, "Then let's try to carry as much as possible back."

"We might need to come a few more times. Let's do that tomorrow. For now, let's take the water back," Tang Jing pointed to the back wall behind the door.

Chen Mu turned around and saw an open cardboard box there. From the design, it seemed to contain a case of bottled mineral water.

"Nongfu Spring, 380ml bottled natural drinking water, 24 bottles per case."

The three of them reached the opening of the cardboard box and found that four or five bottles were already taken.

Even though they were just small bottles, to Chen Mu and his friends, each bottle of water seemed like a towering skyscraper.

"Why don't we just take one bottle back directly?" Wei Dalei stretched a few times and confidently stepped into the horizontally opened cardboard box.

Chen Mu and Tang Jing didn't stop him.

A minute later, Wei Dalei came back dejectedly, "Darn, this thing is too heavy. Even if I could move it, how would we get it out from under the door crack?"

"You should think it through, Old Wei. Even if you managed to move it, we still couldn't take it out," Chen Mu chuckled.

"Yeah," Wei Dalei slapped his forehead.

Tang Jing smirked, "If we could bring this one bottle back, considering no loss or evaporation, it would be enough for all of us to drink for several decades."

Chen Mu was taken aback, "Really? That long?"

Tang Jing explained, "Let's say a person originally needed to drink 3000ml of water per day. With our current size, we only need 0.003ml. Multiply that by ten people, and it's just 0.03ml. This bottle contains 380ml, which could last us for over 12,600 days, roughly 35 years."

Although Chen Mu wasn't bad at math, he couldn't do calculations at this level in his head. He felt that this method went against intuition, but he didn't delve into it further.

Wei Dalei wasn't much of a thinker either. If Tang Jing said it, then it must be right.

"So, one bottle of mineral water is enough for us for 35 years?"

"Well, that's not how it really works," Tang Jing chuckled. "In reality, there will be some loss, and besides, people not only need water to drink but also for washing, showering, and doing laundry. These are the big water consumers. Most importantly, once a bottled water is opened, it will go bad in a few days. So, the question of how long one bottle will last is not that meaningful. If we want to survive long-term, we need a stable water supply system."

"Are we going to build our own water plant?" Chen Mu joked.

"Who knows?" Tang Jing winked.

"That's impossible," Chen Mu laughed.

Tang Jing smiled and didn't answer, changing the subject, "Let's hurry and fetch the water. They must be waiting for us."

Chen Mu transformed the machete into a spear, lightly stroked the tip with his hand to make it sharper, then stepped back a few paces, and with a running start, he thrust the spear into the side of the mineral water bottle.

However, the plastic bottle was too thick for Chen Mu, and even though the spear penetrated, it didn't go all the way through.

He sighed and handed the spear to Wei Dalei.

Even in the past, Chen Mu couldn't match Wei Dalei's brute strength, and now that the guy had awakened his ability, the difference was even greater.

Although Wei Dalei could use his ability to make a hole in the bottle, Chen Mu wasn't sure if the plastic could handle the pressure of the water, and besides, he always held the principle of not using his ability unless absolutely necessary when away from home, to save his mental energy and be prepared for emergencies.

Wei Dalei took the spear, exerted force with one arm, and made a side tilting motion. "Whoosh!" The spear pierced the bottle.

The spear not only pierced the bottle but also half of its body.

Wei Dalei held the spear and stirred it around in circles, enlarging the opening.

Then, he pulled it back.

Cool and refreshing water gushed out.