Wasteland Border Inspector-Chapter 379 - 150: Snowfall, the Overbearing Fish King!
Speaking of taking a camping stove and a small pot, Jiang Chuan surprisingly came up with a backpack half his height in no time.
Seeing Cheng Ye’s puzzled expression, he immediately explained:
"You can store things under the rear seat, I usually like to stuff these small items in there."
Small items?
Cheng Ye raised his eyebrows, watching Jiang Chuan unzip the backpack, the equipment inside almost dazzled his eyes.
Three camping stoves, two large and one small.
The large ones are for making soup, the small ones for heating nutrient paste.
Besides, there are four canned jars, chili, preserved vegetables, mixed spice powder, and a small jar of turmeric powder.
Three stainless steel pots, nested according to size, with the largest being half a foot deep, enough to stew a whole chicken.
Additionally, there’s a folding cutting board, three knives of varying lengths, a long-handled soup spoon, a two-person portable dining set, portable dishcloth, spare gas canister, a small bag of salt, sugar, a sealed half-bag of sausages, two large bottles of pure water...
"Are you here to accompany me for the second round of assessment, or to experience life in the wilderness?"
Cheng Ye was stunned.
This doesn’t look like bringing small items; it seems more like moving the whole kitchen over.
Jiang Chuan grinned, swiftly setting up the camping stove: "After spending a long time in the wild, you’ll realize a warm meal is more important than anything else, especially in this rainy weather. Both of us having a sip of hot fish soup can keep warm all night, but if you munch on nutrient paste, you’ll surely curl up from cold in the latter half of the night."
"Besides, the wilderness is polluted, it gradually seeps into your spirit..."
Saying so, without Cheng Ye needing to move, he directly fished out a black fish from the bucket and began processing it.
Being Unity of Heaven and Man, Half-Step Extraordinary, Jiang Chuan scraped the fish scales very quickly.
In the blink of an eye, the black fish was cleaned, and the removed entrails were put into a sealed bag to ensure the fishy smell wouldn’t lure mutated creatures.
"Humans are social animals, leave the group, and your spirit will gradually become weary while roaming in the wilderness. This fatigue can’t be remedied by sleep; you have to find some collective memories. I’ve seen many solitary wanderers, ascetic monks, they’re all either monsters or madmen. To avoid becoming like them, you have to maintain your humanity."
"That would take months, one or two years for that to happen, right?" Cheng Ye curiously asked. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
He hadn’t experienced the feeling Jiang Chuan described, as in modern times, there are traces of humans almost everywhere.
To find a place far from human habitation while guaranteeing water and electric signals is really not that simple.
"It happens faster than you think, not that slow."
Jiang Chuan shook his head, suddenly changed his tone, "Inspector Cheng, do you really think the S4 virus doesn’t affect ordinary people?"
"Hmm?"
Cheng Ye was startled, "It does?"
"Of course, the S4 virus targets more than just the Extraordinary; ordinary people can’t escape."
Jiang Chuan swiftly processed another white fish, washed both fish clean and tossed them into the first pot.
He opened the chili can, a rich aroma instantly spread, mixing with the previous fresh fish, clearing the moldy smell in the room, "Black fish and white fish have firm flesh, suitable for cutting and stewing, guaranteed fragrance when simmered with this chili can. Just not sure if you can handle the spice."
"It’s alright, keep talking about the S4 virus."
Cheng Ye hurriedly waved his hand. He had flipped through so many materials but had never seen any stating the S4 virus is harmful to ordinary people.
"It’s my speculation... Hmm, just consider it unproven intuition."
Jiang Chuan grinned, turned on the camping stove switch, "Extraordinary infected by the S4 virus don’t die directly but go insane, attacking indiscriminately at everything, including themselves... Doesn’t this resemble mental pollution? Those polluted Extraordinary Creatures, after becoming sources of infection, the scariest part is they can subtly change your thoughts."
"Like the Guardian Spirit Spider, to resist its parasitic pollution, you must find something, use other beliefs to withstand its pollution."
"And the Wanderer, the Wanderer’s ability also pollutes a bunch of people’s thoughts..."
"I believe the wilderness also has pollution! Spending long enough outside, people become more irritable, act more extreme, feel like nothing matters, and want to fight upon seeing people!"
"That’s solitude syndrome; I’ve read about it in books."
Cheng Ye laughed briefly, really got startled by Jiang Chuan just now, "If your spiritual support is established through the collective, prolonged isolation leads to this symptom."
"Is that so?" Jiang Chuan shook his head, "I don’t know either. People have told me this before, but I always feel it’s not that simple because when I was young, going out for three to five months wasn’t an issue. Now, just departing from the group for two months, I’ll start showing those symptoms."
"Haha, isn’t that normal? You’re getting older; it’s time to find a lover and settle down."
Cheng Ye teased, "By the way, you know me well, but I still don’t know much about you."
"Me? Just an ordinary person, nothing special in my story."
Jiang Chuan pulled out the grass carp and silver carp, finished processing, tossed them whole into the second pot for direct stewing, adding some preserved vegetables for flavor.
He also picked some crayfish, washed them clean and threw them in, the shell gradually reddened in boiling water, dyeing the soup a faint golden-red.
Having done all this, the two sat by the tent.
He paused, suddenly smiled, "I was born at the turn of the century, considered the last group of the old era. I was exactly one year old when it was the New Era year, and you definitely wouldn’t guess, I was born in Firewood Shelter City."
"My father was among the first batch of builders in Happiness City, unfortunately not lucky, caught an illness and died upon arrival. My mother raised me but her health was weak too, stressed herself until I was six, then passed away. Eventually, I was taken in by Inspector Ding Xiao at the checkpoint, hmm, that’s Station Chief Ding’s father."
