Chapter 9: Counteracting with a Radiation Detector

Shiyue Bai held a sprouted potato in her hand. Just as she was about to hand it over, she hesitated and withdrew her hand.

Second Sister Shi assumed she was reluctant to part with it—after all, Shiyue Bai had always been protective of her food. Anyone who tried to snatch her food would earn her ire. She would lie there, endlessly scolding, and the Shi family, who doted on her, would endure the hardship, doing their best to make her feel comfortable and happy despite the difficult times.

No one in the Shi family dared to compete with Shiyue Bai over food. They would rather go hungry themselves than upset her.

Second Sister Shi was not surprised that Shiyue Bai guarded her potato so fiercely. However, Shiyue Bai’s reason for taking the potato back wasn’t because she was unwilling to give up a meager ration. Rather, she felt it was improper to give someone a highly radioactive potato in exchange for repairing her flatbed cart.

Although Shiyue Bai often did questionable things back when she belonged to the Witch Clan, she had her principles in this matter. She would never take advantage of someone by accepting something valuable without offering equivalent value in return.

Holding the potato, Shiyue Bai covered it with her other broad palm. She closed her eyes and focused some fat energy, continuously transforming it. A small purifying spell appeared in her palm. The soul energy derived from the fat was channeled through the spell, thoroughly cleansing the high radiation from the sprouted potato.

A few minutes later, Shiyue Bai handed the now purified potato to Second Sister Shi.

“Take this to him,” she said.

Second Sister Shi looked puzzled, unsure why Shiyue Bai had changed her mind again. She couldn’t figure it out but complied nonetheless, carrying the potato to the odd man in the neighboring tarp shelter.

The man didn’t say much at first. He took the potato and was about to devour it when a rough wristband on his hand emitted a beep:

[Detection: Zero radiation contamination potato.]

Surprise flashed across Second Sister Shi’s face. Regret swelled within her, indescribable in words.

The Shi family lived in poverty and didn’t fuss over such details. Once they found food, whether it was low or moderately radioactive, as long as it was edible, it was accepted.

They couldn’t afford devices to detect radiation levels in food. Such instruments were rarely worn outside the city.

What no one expected was that this strange man next door—whom no one in the team wanted to associate with—actually possessed such a device to detect food radiation. If the others knew, they would have tried to snatch it long ago.

The gaunt, scruffy man froze in his movement. His disheveled hair looked like a nest of tangled brambles. In his unwashed strands, a pair of bright eyes fixed on Second Sister Shi.

She waved her hand, signaling that she wouldn’t take the potato back. Though she didn’t understand why, among the many sprouted potatoes at home, there was one with zero radiation contamination, she had no intention of reclaiming something already given.

Seeing her gesture, the man relaxed and revealed his blackened, yellowed teeth in a grin. He bit into the small potato with a crunchy sound, consuming the skin and even the dirt clinging to it.

After finishing the potato, the man smacked his lips as if savoring the taste of this zero-radiation tuber.

Second Sister Shi stood by, watching as he gathered wrenches and iron wire. In a few swift motions, he repaired the four wheels of the broken flatbed cart.

When he handed it back, the man turned around and rummaged through his pile of scrap parts, retrieving a very crude wristband. It was fastened with ordinary hemp rope, rough and rugged, but at its center was a round object resembling an eye.

Second Sister Shi’s heart pounded. “We don’t have money to buy this,” she said.

The man had given her a radiation detector. Clearly, it wasn’t one sold in the city but something he had made himself from scavenged materials.

His voice was hoarse as he said, “You gave me too much. I had nothing smaller to give back. Use this to balance it out.”

Repairing a broken flatbed cart didn’t require a zero-radiation potato. Any food free of radiation contamination—even a sprouted potato—could fetch a fortune in the city.

This man was not one to take advantage of others.

Second Sister Shi nodded, pushing the cart and carrying the radiation detector back to her tarp shelter.

After hearing Second Sister Shi’s account, Shiyue Bai pondered for a moment.

“In a couple of days, bring him two more potatoes and ask if he has any extra radiation detectors.”

She hadn’t expected the strange man next door to be so capable. Though everyone regarded him as a beggar or mentally unstable, no one cared to approach him, yet he had managed to fashion a radiation detector with his own hands.

Second Sister Shi was equally surprised to discover that their neighbor was a skilled individual. She happily held the radiation detector and said, “From now on, when we scavenge for food, we can tell whether it’s highly radioactive or low-to-moderate.”

The lower the radiation level in food, the higher its value.

Though she regretted giving away the zero-radiation potato earlier, with the flatbed cart repaired, she could put Shiyue Bai and the youngest Shi child on it. The three of them could scavenge together.

Though her own eyesight was gone, the youngest Shi child and Shiyue Bai still had their sight.

Thinking of this, Second Sister Shi hurried to the pile of small potatoes inside the tarp. Using the newly acquired radiation detector, she tested them one by one.

[Detection: 100% radiation contamination potato.]

[Detection: 97% radiation contamination potato.]

[Detection: 50% radiation contamination potato.]

...

After testing all the small potatoes, she identified two with moderate radiation levels.

Holding the two moderately contaminated potatoes, she was at a loss. Without a radiation detector, she might have eaten whatever food she found. But now she knew the entire pile was highly radioactive, with only two below 50% radiation.

What should she do with these two moderately radioactive potatoes? Sell them for points or eat them herself?

Seeing her dilemma, Shiyue Bai said, “Keep them for yourselves. We never planned to sell this pile for points anyway.”

Second Sister Shi hesitated. For a family like theirs, was eating moderately radioactive food too much of a luxury?