Ch71 Meng Ci, Are You Out of Your Mind?
"Shen Que, Shen Que."
Meng Ci thought, since there was nothing else to do right now, they could practice a bit and get some intimate contact in the process.
The walkie-talkie connected, and Shen Que's lazy voice came through.
"What's up?"
His voice was hoarse.
"Were you sleeping?" Meng Ci asked. "Did I wake you up? Go back to sleep then!"
Saying this, Meng Ci was about to hang up the walkie-talkie.
Shen Que said, "I've been awake for a while. What's up?"
"Nothing much. Just thought if you're free, we could spar and sharpen our skills."
At this, Shen Que's tone turned stern. "The wound on your back has only just scabbed over. You want to fight now? Don't you want it to heal?"
Meng Ci slapped his forehead upon hearing this.
Beauty truly leads one astray. Earlier, he'd been so preoccupied with the thought of physical contact that he'd completely forgotten about his wound.
Meng Ci cleared his throat. "I was just bored."
"Plus, your bandaging skills are so good, I barely even feel the wound anymore."
After saying this, Meng Ci silently applauded himself. He'd managed to subtly compliment Shen Que while also reminding him to look at his back.
If this were ancient times, Shen Que would have to take full responsibility for seeing his body!
Shen Que, however, frowned at this. "If you can't feel the wound, it means it's almost healed."
"It has nothing to do with my bandaging skills."
"You're not talking nonsense because you caught a fever from last night's cold, are you?"
The temperature had dropped sharply these past two days, edging dangerously close to freezing.
A couple days prior, Mao Xinyu and Ruan Qing had caught colds, but thankfully, they had stockpiled medicine and have nearly recovered.
Last night, the temperature dropped again.
Meng Ci heard Shen Que getting up on the other end and swallowed her inner complaint about his lack of romantic sensibility.
"No, I'm perfectly fine."
Meng Ci checked the temperature daily. This morning, he discovered it had dropped to zero degrees.
Fortunately, the water outside kept flowing and hadn't frozen.
But when Meng Ci boiled a kettle
of water this morning, the moment he poured a bit into a glass, it shattered right before his eyes.
Pulling the curtains slightly, Meng Ci saw the rain had eased up a bit. An idea struck him.
"Let's go out for a walk. See if we can catch any fish."
Meng Ci had just said it offhand.
Plus, last night while reading novels, one post-apocalyptic story mentioned catching fish in floodwaters.
After saying it, Meng Ci thought carefully. Maybe there really was a chance.
M City had a river, and it was located downstream. Perhaps fish had been swept down from upstream.
Besides, Meng Ci wasn't primarily interested in catching fish. His real goal was to spend more time with Shen Que, hoping that might give him a chance to win him over.
Shen Que, having confirmed Meng Ci didn't have a fever or cold, hadn't come to check on him.
Shen Que probably also peeked out the window to assess the situation before agreeing to Meng Ci's suggestion.
However, when he emerged, Shen Que held a large box of waterproof bandages.
"Re-dress your wound first."
Though the wound had scarred over, exposure to water could still cause it to ulcerate and fester.
"Alright."
Meng Ci entered the room and began undressing.
"Whoa."
As Meng Ci pulled off his second sweater, he accidentally lifted the shirt underneath slightly, exposing his pale waist. The sudden chill made him gasp.
He'd barely tossed the sweater onto the sofa when he felt a warm garment draped over his shoulders.
"You..."
Meng Ci looked utterly bewildered. Wasn't he supposed to rebandage the wound?
"Are you stupid?" Shen Que had already reached the sofa and turned on Meng Ci's space heater.
"It's freezing outside, and you're taking off your clothes."
"Did those bandits knock you in the head or something?"
Meng Ci pulled his clothes tighter, momentarily speechless.
Wait, this guy usually doesn't say much does he know his own words aren't exactly pleasant to hear?
Once the heater warmed up, Shen Que motioned for Meng Ci to approach.
Shen Que didn't let Meng Ci fully undress. Only when it was safe to lift the clothes did he remove the old gauze and tape, replacing them with waterproof bandages.
To be extra cautious, Shen Que applied two extra waterproof patches before allowing Meng Ci to dress again.
The two grabbed an assault boat, guns, and knives before heading downstairs.
They hadn't gone far when they spotted several people approaching in a rubber dinghy from the distance.
Their expressions visibly tensed upon seeing the pair, and they quickly grabbed knives and axes from the dinghy.
Meng Ci and Shen Que ignored them, steering their assault boat past.
The group visibly relaxed.
"Did you see that? They seem to have fish on their boats," Meng Ci remarked.
Shen Que, steering the assault boat, nodded and adjusted their course, retracing their path.
Gradually, more people came into view, scattered across the river in their rubber boats. Almost every one of them had fish on board.
Meng Ci knew the terrain of M City like the back of his hand. He recalled a bridge spanning the river ahead, connecting both banks.
The terrain here was only slightly higher than the Jinshang Jiayuan residential complex. The floodwaters had long since reached the shore, submerging buildings up to their third floors.
The bridge was nowhere to be seen, and several buildings had collapsed.
Many had anchored their rafts before the ruins, rummaging through the debris.
When Meng Ci and Shen Que arrived, they saw numerous people catching fish amidst the rubble.
It seemed the floodwaters had swept fish downstream from reservoirs or fish farms upstream.
Many fish were trapped in the ruins, becoming everyone's food.
Most were in rubber dinghies, but Meng Ci and Shen Que had an assault boat. To prevent theft, Meng Ci stayed on the boat while Shen Que went ashore to fish.
And luck was on Meng Ci's side. While idly waiting on the assault boat, he spotted several fish swept by the current, trapped between the wreckage and the boat.
The fish were still wriggling, bumping left and right as they tried to escape.
Meng Ci acted swiftly, scooping two of them onto the boat.
"Splash!"
"Help! Help!"
One man, caught off guard while fishing, tumbled into the floodwaters and was swiftly swept away.
To the others, this was nothing new. They numbly resumed their fishing.
But when Meng Ci witnessed this, he immediately flung the fish he'd caught overboard.
He even considered dumping all the fish from the boat.
Who knew how many had drowned in these waters? Without food, these fish might just feast on the corpses.
Ugh!
Meng Ci leaned over the boat's edge, retching twice.
The others fishing here might have considered this too, but in the apocalypse, who cared about such things? Filling their bellies was already a blessing.
Meng Ci adjusted the boat's position to drive the fish away.
As for the three fish already on board? He'd keep them for now.