Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 6 Gathering Supplies at the Old Camp

Outside the camp, Zhou Ye hid behind a large tree, having patiently observed for most of the hour. He was now fairly certain that the old camp had been abandoned.

Zhou Ye cautiously entered the camp and found no signs that anyone had been there. He breathed a long sigh of relief.

It's probably 40 or 50 li (20-25 kilometers) from here to my little home. I took a slightly wrong turn on the way here today, so it's almost dinnertime now.

I rushed to the small vegetable garden outside and found that it had been badly damaged by wild boars. After tidying up the remaining vegetables, I was surprised to find that I could harvest several baskets, including lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy, and radishes and potatoes buried underground... It seems that the only things that were not damaged were the chili peppers?

Another task is to collect vegetable seeds, gathering as many as possible.

Back at camp, the first place they went was a wooden hut. This was where the squad leader lived alone—the one who left behind the chainmail and mace. The other hut was where several other soldiers used to share a room.

The main reason I chose this place was to find paper and pens. I was in too much of a rush last time and didn't have time to search many places thoroughly.

Upon entering the wooden cabin, the first thing Zhou Ye saw was two calligraphy brushes and an inkstone on the table. Noticing a canvas backpack hanging in the corner, Zhou Ye took it down and rummaged through it. Sure enough, he found two account books. One was almost half-filled, and the other was blank and ready for use.

They had to take all of these with them; even the paper covered in writing could be used as toilet paper. There was no other way; everything was precious in the wild, and Zhou Ye had already been thoroughly exhausted by those leaves.

After taking everything out of the backpack, I found two sets of clean clothes and a new pair of cloth shoes.

Feeling the inner compartment of his backpack, Zhou Ye was pleasantly surprised to find something else inside: a fifty-tael silver note, a martial arts manual titled "Ten Styles of Military Swordsmanship," and a small bottle labeled "Blood Qi Pill." Only two pills remained in the bottle; the rest had probably already been taken by the junior leader…right?

Interestingly, the script in this other world is almost identical to that on Earth, at most somewhat resembling traditional Chinese characters. Although the original owner of this body was illiterate, Zhou Ye now recognizes it all.

I never expected even the low-ranking soldiers to be so fat. But that's not surprising, they're all sucking the blood of us poor souls.

Never mind all that, now is not the time to study it, let's just take this canvas backpack with us.

Actually, there were quite a few good things in the cabin. For example, there was an oil lamp on the table, a blanket on the bed, a wine gourd hanging on the shelf, and many wine jars in the cabin, most of which were empty, but there was one jar that had been opened and was half full, and two jars that were full.

This little leader must be the drunkard, right?

However, Zhou Ye had already planned what to bring before coming, but in the end he had to close his eyes and reluctantly give up what he wanted this time.

I didn't bother searching the other cabin either; I reluctantly gave it up. Out of sight, out of mind!

Once outside the cabin, Zhou Ye quickly packed everything up. He could leave the next morning, saving a lot of time.

There were more than 20 jin of rice and flour each.

To be honest, with the rapid depletion of bread, Zhou Ye has begun to experience some food anxiety.

No wonder in those wilderness survival reality shows, is the priority to build a wilderness shelter or to find and store food? This is a big question. Often, failing to strike a balance between the two leads to the elimination of many contestants.

Although I didn't bring much this time, and it won't last for many days, having some supplies is already quite good.

By the way, all this grain actually belongs to Zhou Ye and his team.

Would such a corrupt government even provide meals during the forced labor service? Of course, the laborers had to bring their own.

They took all the vegetable seeds with them. They also took all the salt they found, totaling over 20 kilograms.

A helmet, a leather armor, a mace, and a waist knife. The mace could be used as a hammer. Its main value lay in its function as a tool.

To travel light this time, Zhou Ye only brought a wood-chopping knife, some flatbread, salted meat, and a water pouch; he didn't even wear leather armor. He planned to take all of these things with him on his way back.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ye took three more pairs of straw sandals. He would wear leather boots when going out, and cloth shoes or straw sandals when he was at home. Shoes were quite useful, and leather boots especially needed to be carefully taken care of to protect his feet.

In the old camp, some items were used by soldiers for personal gain, such as food and tools. They basically used government property for private purposes. But other items were made by the laborers themselves, like these woven straw sandals.

So there are still 4 or 50 pairs of spare straw sandals in the camp. The working people are really hardworking.

In addition, Zhou Ye also brought a bundle of woven straw rope. Straw rope is used for binding wooden stakes. Hemp rope is indeed better, but he's a little reluctant to part with it.

These straw sandals and ropes are made from a type of weed called black wormwood, a versatile material used by the poor. Other uses include roofing, making raincoats, and even using them as mattresses. They were even stuffed into clothes and shoes for warmth in winter…

Actually, the weeds that Zhou Ye dried earlier were this kind of black wormwood.

There were also foot wraps, sweat towels, and hand towels. They were basically just a few scraps of cloth, which I'd need to wash and reuse when I got back. Anyway, there weren't many, so I just stuffed them into my backpack to take back with me.

An iron pot and two earthenware bowls. I've finally said goodbye to the life of wearing an iron helmet.

Between the water tank and the wooden bucket, Zhou Ye ultimately chose to bring a bucket. After all, a bucket could be used to fetch water, and clean drinking water was also very important.

Finally, there were two sickles. Since the old camp was for charcoal burning, not farming, they only had two sickles, so they decided to bring both this time. And since they'd soon be clearing land, they also brought a hoe.

You know what, compared to humans on Earth, the natives here are generally a bit stronger physically. Even though Zhou Ye is a weakling right now, he can still carry all that stuff away with a carrying pole.

After finishing all that, Zhou Ye started cooking. He poured some oil into the oil bottle and fried two pieces of salted pork. Oh, and he absolutely had to take that oil bottle with him. As for all the other stuff in the kitchen… well, he'd just ignore it!

Then, using the remaining oil, I stir-fried a large bowl of greens. I also made a bowl of potato and pickled vegetable soup.

Oh, and there are also lots of pickled and dried vegetables here. You'll have to reluctantly give them up too!

However, being able to eat fresh vegetables still made Zhou Ye feel incredibly happy. "How about I bring a few more vegetables tomorrow...?"

Of course, after dinner, I started practicing basic chopping techniques. The grind couldn't stop!