Money is No Longer Important

No one was foolish; it was likely that nearby places with potential resources had been scavenged multiple times. They chose to go to a more distant location; the city of M was vast, and there were bound to be places they hadn't thought of.

An hour later, the two arrived at a once-large shopping mall. The lower floors were submerged, so they went directly to the third floor. The third floor was where home appliances were sold. Aside from some small appliances taken by others and intentionally damaged large appliances, there were still many refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, etc.

Arnold went up to the fourth floor without hesitation, saying, "We can't take home appliances. I'll check if there's anything else on the fourth floor."

While Arnold was away, Alice directly stored the intact home appliances in her space. Regardless of whether they could use them later, she decided to store them for now.

The scene was chaotic, with parts of damaged appliances scattered everywhere. Therefore, the absence of a few appliances wouldn't be noticeable.

At the end of the third floor, there was an office with a tightly closed door. The door showed many violent marks from being smashed.

The door seemed to be made of good material, not easily damaged. Alice started by dealing with the lock and then took out suitable tools from her space. After a while, she successfully removed the lock.

Alice pushed open the door and entered the office, which was about thirty square meters. Everything inside was neatly arranged. She opened cabinets, drawers, and found a large amount of cash inside.

Money was no longer important. She glanced at it and looked away. In the other drawers, she found various documents but no food.

However, there were three bottles of bottled water in the office. Thinking that it would be inconvenient to bring them back in the boat, she decided to store them in her space.

Alice turned and went up to the fourth floor. This area used to sell clothes and bedding. At first glance, it was dirty and messy. Clothes and pants were strewn on the ground, trampled and dirty. Torn quilts scattered cotton all over the place, clumped together and filthy.

Everything that could be taken had already been taken. Arnold swept through several staff restrooms and found quite a bit of food.

Arnold saw Alice approaching and smiled, "The restrooms and tea rooms were overlooked. I found a lot of snacks in there." Alice raised an eyebrow as she took the cardboard box handed over by Arnold. It contained spicy duck necks, duck feet, salt-baked chicken legs, pig trotters, shredded spicy bamboo shoots, and ten self-heating hot pots with eight self-heating rice boxes, each with various flavors. "There's also a box of instant coffee and over thirty packets of instant milk tea." Arnold pulled out another plastic container. "Take everything that's edible," Alice said without hesitation. Arnold added, "We've searched the fourth floor. Let's check the fifth floor." Carrying the large box, Alice headed upstairs, and Arnold quickly took over. She didn't argue with him. The reason for not leaving it in place was also the concern that someone might take it away. The fifth floor of the mall consisted of various restaurants, but all dozen or so gourmet shops had been broken into. The two split up, with Alice casually entering a hot pot restaurant. Upon entering, she saw more than ten packets of hot pot base scattered on the front desk. She found a cloth bag and unceremoniously took them all before moving further inside. Half of the tables and chairs in the restaurant were overturned, and the door to the kitchen had been removed and used as a stepping board. Just a few meters inside, Alice smelled an unusually foul odor. She looked around and found two decomposed bodies in the meat-cutting area of the kitchen. Pinching her nose, Alice walked in and searched for a while, finding two bottles of oil, five bags of salt, and several pounds of dried squid, small shrimp, wood ear mushrooms, and dried daylilies. After collecting the food, Alice checked a few more shops, but everything inside had already been looted. Not long after, Arnold pushed a small cart over. On top of it, along with seasonings and cooking ingredients,

Three jars of fermented bean curd and three frozen chickens, two ducks, approximately 20 kilograms of pork, and 30 kilograms of ribs. Arnold's eyes were filled with a smile, "I found these in a restaurant. There's a small freezer behind their kitchen, I guess those who came before didn't notice."

Alice curved her lips, "Let's go, stop here for today. It's not good to carry too much stuff back."

The two of them worked together to load the items onto the rubber boat, with Arnold in charge of rowing. After searching the mall for nearly two hours, they realized that the rain outside had intensified.

Alice secretly took out an umbrella from the space and held it over their heads. When Arnold looked over, she calmly explained, "Got it from an office in the mall."

Arnold didn't doubt it, rowing vigorously. The rain was getting heavier, and they needed to get home quickly.

The umbrella wasn't large enough to cover the entire rubber boat, so rainwater fell into the boat. At this point, the water ladle brought by Alice came in handy. Seeing water accumulating in the boat, she poured it out, as too much water could lead to capsizing.

Many malls and office buildings were experiencing power outages, causing perishable items to spoil. Some people found meat that had gone bad. Two boats approached them, and one of the men asked, "Where did you find the meat? Do you have more?"

Alice glanced at them, "No more."

The response was expected, and the man continued, "Can we trade for some meat to eat?"

Seeing that they didn't seem like they were going to forcibly take it, Alice asked, "What do you have to trade? The value of meat now doesn't need me to explain, right?"

The man on the other boat patted the several large bags behind him, "Can we use rice?"

They found the rice in a nearby construction site cafeteria, untouched by water, all good quality rice.

Alice pondered for a moment and finally agreed, "One pound of meat for five pounds of rice." At this time, both meat and rice were scarce, and saving a bit meant that one pound of rice could last for three days.

The other party was a bit reluctant to use five pounds of rice, but they hadn't eaten meat for a month and really missed the taste. After some negotiation, they decided to exchange fifty pounds of rice for ten pounds of meat. A man carried a bag of rice over, "This bag of rice happens to be fifty pounds, no need to weigh it."

Alice took out two pieces of meat from the pork bag, weighed them with her hands, and then handed them over, "These two pieces of meat together weigh about twelve pounds, and the extra is a gift to you."

A man near Alice took it half-heartedly and handed it to another man. That man also weighed it and nodded to the others, "The quantity is sufficient."

After the water trade was completed, both parties went their separate ways. As the wind and rain intensified, the resistance also increased. Arnold was rowing hard, and the speed was getting slower.

"Big brother, let me do it. You take a break," Alice said.

Arnold didn't agree and turned to reassure her with a smile, "It's okay, big brother has plenty of strength."

This statement might deceive others, but it couldn't fool Alice's eyes. Arnold's stamina was obviously falling behind. She snatched the oar from his hand, handed him the umbrella, and said, "It's my turn now. Siblings working together won't get tired."

Alice had great strength, and she rowed much faster than Arnold. "I can't even keep up with you. It seems like I've been slacking off for too long," Arnold's gentle voice carried a hint of frustration.

Alice raised an eyebrow and comforted him, "Just go back and strengthen your exercise."

While holding the umbrella, Arnold took over the task Alice had just done, pouring water out of the boat one ladle at a time.