How many wives? Long Yuehong, who was born and raised in the underground building, found it hard to imagine such a thing.
Shang Jianyao discussed it seriously:
"Definitely too busy."
"Some places have this custom, and some places even allow a woman to marry several husbands," Jiang Bai Mian recalled what she had seen and heard.
Shang Jianyao immediately became curious:
"If people from these two types of places are put together, and the two customs are mixed, what will happen?"
Jiang Bai Mian thought for a moment:
"Probably, my second wife's eldest husband's third wife's fourth husband is actually my son?"
Long Yuehong felt dizzy listening to this, and couldn't quite figure out what the relationship was.
As his eyes scanned around, he suddenly saw several people in cotton-padded jackets and old down jackets standing in front of an RV a few meters away, bowing frequently to two red candles.
The two candles flickered with light, and in front of them were placed a piece of dried meat, a cleanly shaved chicken, and steamed buns, cornbread, and other foods.
"What are they doing?" Long Yuehong slightly raised his feet, trying to see more clearly.
Bai Chen glanced in that direction:
"They are worshiping the Vehicle Head God."
"Vehicle Head God?" Jiang Bai Mian asked with great interest.
Bai Chen organized her words:
"For the 'Rootless' group, vehicles are the most valuable property and an important member of the family, so many of their customs and habits come from this.
"They are always worried about where the vehicle will hit, what it will crash into, or get stuck in a swamp, or overturn due to some obstacles. Therefore, they created a Vehicle Head God to worship, praying for a safe journey, smooth sailing, and no breakdowns."
Shang Jianyao clicked his tongue:
"Not under the jurisdiction of any Ruling God?"
"Yes, they worship someone other than a Ruling God," Long Yuehong echoed.
Bai Chen's smile flashed:
"The Ruling Gods don't manage everything so broadly. In many places, many people have only heard the term.
"Well... many sects that believe in the Ruling Gods have tried to incorporate the Vehicle Head God into their own religion in order to develop the 'Rootless' group into their own believers. The 'Crystal Consciousness Church' is doing the best in this regard. It is also a sect that worships the One Month Ruling God, Buddha Bodhi.
"In some other 'Rootless' groups, the Vehicle Head God has been renamed Vehicle Head Bodhisattva."
"The competition between the gods is fierce," Shang Jianyao commented seriously.
Long Yuehong looked again at the place where the Vehicle Head God was being sacrificed, looking at the dried meat, cooked chicken, steamed buns, and cornbread:
"Isn't this too wasteful?"
Even for "Pangu Biology" employees, this was a feast-level meal, rarely eaten like this except during festivals.
"It won't be thrown away," Bai Chen explained. "After the sacrifice, these foods will be taken back and shared by the whole family. In the Ashlands, except for a few places, there is no such thing as wasting food."
Speaking of this, her expression softened a little, and the corners of her mouth were vaguely upturned:
"In many wilderness wanderer settlements, children look forward to the god sacrifice the most, which means that the meal afterward will be very rich, a richness that only happens once or twice a year."
"I see..." Long Yuehong equated this with the festivals of "Pangu Biology" and immediately empathized.
As they spoke, the four of them arrived at the busiest part of the camp, which was also far away from the oil tankers.
This area was relatively empty, with only three longer and larger RVs parked there.
They were loosely arranged in an open "mouth" shape, with all the side doors open, revealing the tables, chairs, kitchen counters, and cabinets inside.
In the area they enclosed, the outermost circle was filled with various tables, chairs, and benches, while the middle part was completely empty.
At this moment, on the roof of the RV facing the opening, several round balls were constantly flashing with green, red, or purple colors, enveloping the entire area in a psychedelic light.
On the roofs of the other two RVs, there was a speaker each, playing music with a very strong rhythm, making the people gathered in the blank area twist and turn involuntarily.
Jiang Bai Mian stared for a while, then reached out and grabbed Shang Jianyao, who was eager to try:
"Don't get involved.
"Let's go inside first."
Shang Jianyao reluctantly withdrew his gaze, adjusted his tactical backpack, which was about to fall off, and followed Jiang Bai Mian toward the innermost RV.
On the way, they encountered a young man who had shaved both sides of his head.
Jiang Bai Mian stopped him and asked with a smile:
"Where is your leader?"
As she spoke, she smelled a relatively strong gasoline smell from the other person's body.
In the cold winter wind, the young man was not wearing much, just a long-sleeved red cotton t-shirt and trousers with very wide legs.
There was a faint hint of sweat on his forehead, as if he had just experienced a strenuous exercise.
"Call him the Commander," the young man emphasized.
"Yes, Commander," Shang Jianyao was always amenable to reason.
The young man was immediately choked:
"I mean, our leader is called the Commander, no, his surname is not Commander, he is the Commander of this merchant group."
"Where is your Commander?" Jiang Bai Mian asked before Shang Jianyao could speak.
The young man pointed to the RV at the deepest part:
"The one selling things is him."
After answering, he looked Jiang Bai Mian up and down, and said with a smile:
"Want to dance together?"
"No," Jiang Bai Mian refused without hesitation.
During their conversation, because the music was strong and powerful, they all opened their throats, as if shouting.
For Jiang Bai Mian, this was like a fish in water.
The rejected young man didn't pester her, swayed his body up and down with the rhythm, and made way.
Watching Jiang Bai Mian's back, he raised his right hand, smelled the scent on his forearm, and wondered to himself:
"She doesn't like this type of gasoline smell?"
As the "Old Task Force" was about to reach the target RV, an old woman suddenly jumped out of the shadows.
She was holding a brown dustpan with many bottles and jars in it.
"Want some gasoline? Or do you want diesel?" The old woman's wrinkles were already obvious, and she looked somewhat thin.
As Long Yuehong and the others were feeling a little bewildered, Shang Jianyao asked very adaptably:
"Is it delicious?"
"..." The old woman was speechless for a moment. "You can't eat this."
She immediately said loudly:
"Sprinkle a little on your body and it will make you the most popular person in the camp!"
She freed a hand and pointed to a small bottle:
"This is 'Orange Corporation's' Type 15 gasoline, the purest kind, and the scent is just right.
"Just sprinkle a little and countless girls will be infatuated with you tonight!"
Jiang Bai Mian listened thoughtfully, and muttered to herself:
"Because many vehicles need fuel, many people here have come to love the smell of fuel as well?
"Perhaps, for them, the scent of gasoline or diesel is far more charming than the scent of flowers."
"Ah, what did you say?" The old woman's hearing was a little bad, and the environment here was very noisy.
Jiang Bai Mian smiled dumbly and said loudly:
"We don't need it!"
Watching the old woman return to the shadows looking slightly disappointed, the four members of the "Old Task Force" boarded the RV at the deepest part.
The space inside was quite spacious, with several tables and chairs placed there. Facing the outside, there was a milky white platform that reached Shang Jianyao's chest and abdomen.
There were several high stools in front of the platform, and behind the platform were wooden cabinets displaying various bottles and jars.
Standing between the wooden cabinets and the platform was a man close to 1.8 meters tall.
He looked to be in his forties or fifties, with short hair and a large circle of graying beard around his mouth, wearing a black leather jacket that glimmered slightly with oil.
"Want a drink?" the uncle asked with a smile.
"You have alcohol?" Jiang Bai Mian pulled over a high stool and sat down, asking in return.
Long Yuehong also felt surprised:
In a place like "Pangu Biology" where food is relatively abundant, alcoholic beverages are controlled goods, with very little produced each year and only a small quota for each person. On the Ashlands, where there is widespread famine, you can actually run into someone selling alcohol casually!
The uncle, who was suspected to be the Commander of the "Rootless" merchant group, said with a smile:
"Wild tree fruit wine.
"I don't know what kind of fruit it is. It grows here every summer. It's sour and astringent, and no one will eat it. It can't be preserved until winter, but when it's brewed into wine, the flavor is surprisingly good."
After everyone else in the "Old Task Force" sat down, Jiang Bai Mian teased:
"I thought people who make their home in vehicles and have driving as a lifelong career wouldn't drink alcohol."
The uncle immediately laughed:
"That's why we only drink frequently in winter every year."
He sighed and said:
"My grandfather's generation, because the Old World was destroyed and they couldn't return to their hometowns, their mental state wasn't very good. Many times they could only rely on alcohol to numb themselves.
"This also caused many accidents and the loss of some vehicles.
"In our father's generation, there was the first team rule, a rule that everyone must have tattooed on their bodies."
Speaking of this, he turned his body, pulled up his clothes, and revealed his back.
On that bronze-colored skin, two rows of cyan-black characters were exceptionally striking:
"Don't drink and drive, don't drive and drink."