While Qin Chuan, who had left, didn't know it, the "Night Demon" they had guarded for so long was now in Xu An's hands.
...
The night passed without incident.
Greeting the first rays of the morning sun, Xu An woke from her sleep.
This was the most peaceful sleep she had had in a long time.
Xu Yan had already started preparing breakfast. Seeing her wake up, Xu Yan patted her apron and said.
"I've boiled some wontons. Go wash up and come eat."
"Okay." Xu An rubbed her eyes and got out of bed.
After washing up, Xu An finally came to her senses. She took a steamer of xiaolongbao, four tanggao, and two beef pancakes from her spatial storage and placed them on the table in the RV's built-in dining area.
Xu Yan brought out two bowls of steaming hot wontons from the small, simple kitchen, and the aroma instantly filled the entire RV.
The wontons had been pre-wrapped, and Xu An had taken them out last night and put them in the RV's freezer. Now, if she wanted to eat them, she just had to boil them.
Smelling the aroma, Gou Dan also woke up groggily, rubbing against Xu An's calves and acting spoiled.
Xu An got up, mixed Gou Dan's dog food, put it in a bowl, and placed it on the ground. However, Gou Dan still lingered by Xu An's legs, gazing longingly at the wontons in her bowl.
Seeing this, Xu Yan smiled and said, "You little greedy dog, I saved some for you."
As she spoke, she went to the kitchen and poured the reserved wontons into Gou Dan's food bowl.
Only then did Gou Dan contentedly start eating.
After the meal, Xu An rubbed her full belly and said to her mother, "Later, let's see if there's anything useful nearby."
"Okay. I did some calculations yesterday, and exchanging for rare metals at the Lighthouse is the most cost-effective."
The Lighthouse was regulating the prices of basic food supplies, so grains couldn't fetch a high price.
They had quite a bit of fresh fruits, vegetables, and poultry, but these items could absolutely not be exchanged.
"Rare metals? But I don't even know what those metals are."
In her previous life, Xu An couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone have time to research such things. In the small base she was in, the only circulating "currency" was rice.
One potato was two liang of rice, and one stalk of greens was three liang of rice...
Society had regressed to the most primitive state of bartering, with everyone holding a scale to weigh rice.
Even before the apocalypse, she didn't pay much attention to information about rare resources.
Gold, jade, and other "circulating goods" were fine, but what was on the Lighthouse's exchange list, like indium and rare earth metals, she had barely even heard of before. She only knew they were precious metals, and nothing else.
"I do recognize some of them, though not all. But it's enough. For example, some computer monitors and precision electronic instruments contain precious metals..."
Xu Yan explained some common items containing precious metals to Xu An.
Xu An took out a map and handed it to her mother. Map reading was still something her mother had to do, otherwise, Xu An could lead them astray.
Xu Yan took the map and quickly circled a few spots. "When I came to B City for an event before, I scouted factories in this area. There are many OEM factories for electronic equipment nearby. Let's go take a look, maybe we'll find something."
"Okay."
After confirming the route, Xu An packed all their belongings and, as usual, put the RV back into her spatial storage. She drove her Wuling Hongguang out of the forest.
Driving for about an hour, Xu An arrived at the location her mother had circled.
There was a row of connected industrial parks. A few zombies wandered sparsely nearby. Judging by their tattered clothes, they should have been workers from nearby factories.
"Nannan, have you noticed that there seem to be fewer zombies lately."
"The zombie tide should be migrating. In a little while, the zombie tide should be over."
Xu An had already noticed that there weren't many zombies on the road as they traveled from Linjiang to B City.
Although B City had military protection and cleanup, which resulted in fewer zombies, it also had a direct relationship with the decrease in zombie numbers.
Xu An drove around the entrance and, after confirming no one was around, parked the car in a hidden corner. They got out with Gou Dan and walked towards the factory.
Xu An looked around. This should be an OEM factory for processing parts.
The large factory floor was empty, and the strong smell of rotting corpses assailed them.
Several figures in work clothes were hunched over the operation tables.
Xu Yan exclaimed, "Nannan, look, there seem to be some figures over there."
"I'll go take a look."
Saying this, Xu An walked forward to investigate. However, when she turned the person over, her face turned green.
"Mom, don't come over."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"This person's skin has stuck to the operation table."
Hearing this, Xu Yan decisively followed her advice and went to collect parts on the other side without looking back.
This person didn't know how long they had been dead. Their skin had stuck to the operation table. As Xu An moved, the skin was like melting, viscous liquid, with half of it still remaining on the table.
Xu An could even see the person's cheekbones.
Suppressing her discomfort, she let go and placed the person back on the operation table.
"This should be a mobile phone parts processing plant," Xu Yan said, looking at the various parts scattered on the table. "Let's take it all back. Rare metals can be extracted from these."
Xu An nodded and put all the parts from the operation tables into her spatial storage.
"Should we take these operation tables back?" Xu Yan asked.
"I'll put them into my spatial storage and remove the detachable parts first. We can take our time dismantling the rest back at home."
Xu Yan nodded. These machines didn't look big, but dismantling them was extremely troublesome. It was safer to take them back and process them slowly.
Xu An took out two pairs of gloves and a wrench from her spatial storage and had Gou Dan stand guard not too far away.
They put on their gloves, took their tools, and began to dismantle. They walked and dismantled as they went. The factory wasn't too large, and after about two hours, they reached the end.
Ahead should be the logistics office area. In the small office, there were seven or eight workstations with eight computers on them.
Xu An directly collected the monitors, mainframes, mice, keyboards, and other items into her spatial storage. She also found many power strips on the ground. These items could be exchanged or used themselves.
However, she had already bought quite a few power strips. These could be bundled together for exchange.
Thinking of this, Xu An suddenly remembered something. "Mom, after we get back, let's exchange the furniture we bought earlier too."
When she was stockpiling, she had coincidentally visited a furniture store and bought a lot of furniture. Large items couldn't be taken out openly, but small tables, stools, and the like could be used for exchange.
There was just one problem: the furniture she bought was too new. It needed to be aged a bit before being exchanged.