According to Chen Mu's original idea, he wanted to use the towels in the storage room to make some clean clothes for everyone. After all, in this kind of summer, it was already unbearable not to take a bath, and not having spare clothes was indeed inhumane.

Fortunately, in the past few days, everyone didn't pay much attention to this issue due to the pressure of survival. However, as time passed and food and safety were taken care of, the hygiene problem began to emerge.

But for now,

There isn't a good solution yet.

...

He Ying was playing with the short sword in her hand at first, but as they got closer to their destination, her mood became heavier instead.

Chen Mu understood.

She was afraid that during her absence, something unexpected might happen to their three companions.

So far along the journey, there had been no major incidents.

They encountered a worm, two groups of ants hurriedly carrying supplies, and a slow-moving caterpillar.

The wriggling appearance of the caterpillar was enough to make Chen Mu nauseous, but He Ying didn't seem to react much. Even Sun Yuan, who usually liked to make a fuss, appeared to be accustomed to it.

It seemed that these two people had spent much more time outside than Chen Mu, and they had quite a bit of experience.

Chen Mu increasingly felt that recruiting He Ying was a wise decision. For the original nine members of the senior high school Class 4, He Ying compensated for many of their deficiencies.

Originally, Chen Mu wanted to try killing the caterpillar because, in his mind, such creatures were already on the list of potential food sources. If given the chance, he indeed wanted to dissect it to see how much of it was edible.

However, considering that there were more important matters at hand, he had to temporarily give up the idea.

Moreover, the creature seemed to move slowly, but if attacked, it would struggle and resist fiercely. If they weren't careful, they might get injured.

However, not long after they continued walking,

The three of them encountered several isolated ants.

This time, Chen Mu didn't hesitate and immediately killed one of them.

Ordinary little yellow house ants, for humans at this time, were only about the size of the old mice before. Although their shells were indeed very hard and their strength was terrifying, the difference in size was too great. Chen Mu easily killed them with a sharp tool.

It is said that ants are also medicinal herbs.

So, using them as food is not a problem.

However, when Chen Mu cut open this ant, he found something different from what he had imagined. There were two tubes inside the chest area, one thick and one thin, which seemed to be the esophagus and nerves. The abdomen was mostly filled with stomach, and the rest were some intestines.

The structure was quite simple.

But it seemed there wasn't much muscle.

"What are you doing?" He Ying, although not too afraid of insects and ants, felt a bit uncomfortable with Chen Mu's actions.

"Just seeing if there are any edible parts on it."

"Eating ants?" He Ying felt even worse.

"Yeah, the current food will run out eventually, whether it's instant noodles or flour and rice." Chen Mu sighed, stood up, and said, "Vegetarian food can be gathered from nature's plants, but for meat, we have to rely on hunting. Normal pigs, cows, and sheep are obviously not something we can handle right now, so insects like ants become our top choice."

He Ying was well aware of this, but the thought of eating ants still made her nauseous.

"So, you dissected it to find meat?""Yeah," Chen Mu nodded, "but now it seems that ants might not be the ideal food. Both their organs and shells could be eaten, but mentally, I guess it's not easy to accept."

"Definitely not easy to accept," He Ying quickly agreed.

"We could also grind them all up and make meat patties or dry them and grind them into powder for future trials."

"Yeah, let's talk about it later," He Ying really didn't want to continue this topic.

"Are we almost there?"

After walking for another twenty minutes,

Chen Mu estimated the time, and it had been more than an hour.

"Yeah, right behind that small house."

Another half an hour passed.

Until they returned to the vicinity of the main building of the cafeteria.

Chen Mu finally saw that silver-gray metal distribution box.

The thing was not very large; in the past, it would have been about the size of a human's waist. However, now it appeared like a skyscraper, though in comparison to the surrounding buildings, it wasn't considered big.

The freestanding distribution box was located in the middle of a lawn, with a small path passing through it.

In Chen Mu's view, this place was quite dangerous. Any random insects crawling out of the bushes would be enough to frighten people.

But perhaps because of this, He Ying and the others were so close to the cafeteria but hadn't been discovered by the people from Yi Zhong.

In addition, the metal distribution box had good sealing; the only way in and out was through a ventilation hole, suitable for one person only. So they didn't worry too much about large animals.

As they got closer, Chen Mu's vigilance increased.

He Ying's footsteps became noticeably more hurried.

"Normally, they would stay by the ventilation hole on one side. If anyone rushes in, they would attack directly. I'll knock the secret signal," He Ying said and was about to knock on the metal casing of the distribution box.

But Sun Yuan stopped her, saying, "Wait a moment, senior sister."

"What's wrong?"

"It seems there are other people inside."

"Huh?"

He Ying didn't stop her steps and became even more anxious to get in.

"Don't rush. Let Sun Yuan listen first." Chen Mu held her back.

He Ying was also concerned but calmed down at this moment, realizing that she had acted recklessly just now.

"They seem to be chatting and not in conflict with each other," Sun Yuan reported after listening carefully for a while.

"What are they talking about?"

"I can't hear clearly through the metal. Should we get closer?"

They were now about a meter away from the distribution box. It was already quite difficult for Sun Yuan to hear the voices inside.

Before Chen Mu could make a decision, a person slowly crawled out of the ventilation hole on the side of the distribution box.

"It's Feng Xiaoyu," He Ying said and then explained, "She's a junior from the second year, although she doesn't have any awakened abilities, she is very clever."A girl came out, struggling to crawl out of the ventilation hole. After standing up, she immediately waved to them.

"How did she know we were here?"

"You can observe the outside through the gap in the distribution box door."

"In that case, it seems the people who came are not hostile, but let's still be cautious." Chen Mu saw that the girl named Feng Xiaoyu didn't look panicked but rather delighted.

He Ying nodded.

The three of them walked closer.

"Senior sister, you're back."

"Yeah, who are the people who came?" He Ying pulled Feng Xiaoyu closer to her side and asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, yeah!"

Feng Xiaoyu's voice was clearly excited as she smiled and said, "They are the ones Li Xu mentioned before, our own people from Ziwei High School. They've set up a large camp over there on the playground and said they're here to pick us up."

Chen Mu and He Ying were both stunned, looking at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

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