Thirty Days to Hoard: Reborn into the Frost

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Electric Slingshot

Xu Xiaoka nodded. ”Brought them. I’ve got a knife and even pepper spray!”

”Good, you can go then!” Chen Momo said.

Xu Xiaoka then followed the afternoon’s ”main force” across the street to search for supplies.

Chen Momo rolled out her yoga mat and started her routine. She grabbed her iPad, pulled a projector out of her spatial dimension, and cast a yoga workout onto the wall to follow along. Even in the apocalypse, staying healthy was absolutely essential. Health was the capital of survival, so she made sure to carve out time for exercise every single day.

Her son, Chen Xiaobao, was still in his room tinkering with his things. Chen Momo left him to it. In her past life, she had always pushed him relentlessly using her own tiger-parenting methods, never stopping to consider if it was what Xiao Bao actually liked. In this life, she was determined to let him pursue his own interests. She would never force her will onto her son again!

Just as she was thinking this, she heard the PATTER PATTER of little legs as he ran out of his room, holding something in his hand.

”Mommy, look!” Xiao Bao cheered, his handsome little face flushed with excitement. He held what looked like a slingshot.

Curious, Chen Momo asked, ”What is this?”

”Mommy, this is an electric slingshot!”

Chen Momo’s curiosity deepened. ”They make electric slingshots?”

Xiao Bao nodded. ”Xiao Bao learned how to make it from a video!”

With that, Chen Xiaobao raised the device, aimed at a target, and fired with a sharp THWACK.

On the table, Chen Momo’s coffee cup shattered on impact.

The electric slingshot was a significant upgrade to a traditional manual one. With a simple press of a button, it could fire and automatically aim, making its shots incredibly precise.

Chen Momo was speechless. Lord, give me strength!

Oblivious to the trouble he had just caused, Chen Xiaobao tilted his handsome little face up and asked excitedly, ”Mommy, isn’t this electric slingshot awesome?”

Chen Momo rolled her eyes at her son. ”Awesome, my foot! Do you realize you just broke my favorite coffee cup?”

Chen Xiaobao’s jaw dropped, his little mouth forming an ”O” shape wide enough to fit a whole egg inside. Mommy was mad.

”I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean to,” Chen Xiaobao said, lowering his head in deep dismay.

Seeing her son’s sincere apology, Chen Momo softened her tone. ”Put your electric slingshot away. From now on, you are not allowed to go around breaking things in the house, understand?”

Chen Xiaobao nodded. ”Xiao Bao understands.”

Chen Momo stood up to clean the broken glass. Sweeping up tiny glass shards was a hassle, but she couldn’t afford to be careless, lest the fragments cut Chen Xiaobao’s little feet. At five or six years old, little boys were at their most mischievous stage. They played rough without knowing their own strength and had no idea how dangerous shattered glass could be. It seemed she would need to step up his safety education in the future.

Just as she finished cleaning up the mess, there was a loud KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK at the front door.

”Sister Momo, open the door! I’m back!” came Xu Xiaoka’s cheerful voice.

Chen Momo opened the door to find Xu Xiaoka hauling two massive, bulging bags. The girl stood in the doorway, her small face flushed completely red from the freezing cold.

”Sister Momo, I got such a great haul today! Look at what I found! A juicer, mung beans, millet, purple sweet potatoes...” Before she had even stepped inside, Xu Xiaoka was eagerly listing off her loot.

With a loud CREAK, the door to the apartment across the hall suddenly opened. Yang Hong poked her head out, her eyes glued greedily to the bags in Xu Xiaoka’s hands.

Chen Momo cast a glance at Yang Hong, then turned to Xu Xiaoka. ”Xiao Ka, come inside to talk.” With that, she pulled the girl into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

From outside, Yang Hong’s cursing drifted through the door. ”Always hiding and sneaking around like you’re so terrified people will find out you’re hoarding good stuff! Bah, who gives a damn about your little scraps? If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d have grabbed way more than you ever could!”

A moment later, Yang Hong slammed her own door shut with a loud BANG.

Xu Xiaoka glanced back toward the door, fuming. ”Sister Momo, that couple across the hall is so classless! They just can’t stand seeing anyone else do well. The second someone else thrives, they get completely green with envy. Their hearts are smaller than the eye of a needle!”

”Zhang Qiang and Chen Hong are no good,” Chen Momo replied. ”Just ignore them.”

Xu Xiaoka was still angry. Her haul had been substantial, and she had been in such high spirits. But after Yang Hong’s interruption, her good mood had completely evaporated.

Chen Momo inspected the two bags Xu Xiaoka had brought back. The girl had genuinely scavenged a massive amount of supplies. There was bread, milk, rice, flour, grain, and cooking oil—she had managed to bring back a little bit of everything. To gather all this in just two hours was an incredibly impressive feat for a girl like her. Chen Momo was highly satisfied with Xu Xiaoka’s ”battle spoils” today.

Suddenly, as if recalling something horrifying, Xu Xiaoka’s face paled. ”Oh, right. Sister Momo, when I went to the office building across the street to search for supplies today, I found a dead body. I think he was a resident from our Building 5. It scared me half to death. Afterward, I called Wang Jian Country over to take a look, and it really was someone from our building. I think his name was... Kong Ming.”

It had taken Xu Xiaoka a moment of thought to remember the name.

Chen Momo obviously knew Kong Ming. He had gone out with their group, and when everyone regrouped at the end, he was the only one missing. At the time, everyone assumed Kong Ming had just gotten greedy grabbing supplies and lost track of time.

She never expected that he was actually dead.

”How did he die?” Chen Momo asked, suppressing her surprise and feigning composure.

”He choked to death,” Xu Xiaoka explained. ”He was starving. Apparently, he had gone several days without food. When he found an office with biscuits, he ripped open the packaging and started wolfing them down. But there were only biscuits and no water. He ate too much too fast and ended up choking himself. When I found him, his stomach was so bloated it had burst his clothes open. His face was entirely purple. He was still clutching half an uneaten biscuit in his hand, and the biscuits in his mouth weren’t even fully swallowed.”

Hearing this, Chen Momo could only sigh. This apocalypse had turned so many people into living, starving ghosts. Kong Ming was still young. Now that he was dead, his wife and child would undoubtedly suffer.

True to her thoughts, a mournful wail suddenly echoed from the stairwell. ”Kong Ming, you heartless man! Your wife and child were waiting for you at home! How could you just leave us behind and go first? Wuuu...”

It turned out that Wang Jian Country had broken the news of Kong Ming’s death to his wife, Ma Rong. Upon hearing it, she had immediately broken down in agonizing tears.