Chapter 7: The Welfare of Men at a Certain Point

Chapter 7: The Welfare of Men at a Certain Point

After Zhen Mier had finished eating and confirmed that there were no other animals in the cave except for her, she glanced over her shoulder as she left.

During this time, she had suspiciously crawled to the entrance of the cave and eavesdropped for ten minutes, but aside from the sound of water droplets and the occasional rustling of leaves, there were no other sounds.

"Damn, I must be losing it!" Zhen Mier mocked herself, finally abandoning her expectations. However, deep down, she felt that the sound she had heard earlier was not an illusion. "Maybe it's because I think about it day and night? Ah, haha, I'm truly too sentimental. There's no one like me under heaven."

Lian Hui: →＿→ ...

Walking through the dense grass that reached her calves, Zhen Mier thought, ‘This grass is really good. I must cut some to help the sheep mother produce milk,’ and soon arrived at the edge of the valley.

Compared to the grasslands in the valley, the grass, shrubs, and trees here were much less forgiving—growing as tall, dense, and thick as they possibly could.

"The hundred-year-old banyan trees in the south are a joke compared to you guys!" Seeing a few trees that had almost grown together, their trunk surface probably covering several dozen square meters, Zhen Mier marveled, "These are about to become spirits, aren't they?"

"Holy crap, is this a sign of a big fortune? Oh my, my meat supply problem is completely solved." After marveling at the thick trees and the beautiful wild fruits in the shrubs, Zhen Mier indeed found thousands, tens of thousands of unconscious, seemingly asleep cattle, sheep, and horses in the tall grass. Some were domesticated, and some were wild.

The domesticated ones were probably closely watched by herdsmen, totaling only a few hundred or a thousand. But the wild ones—wild horses, wild boars, wild yaks, bears, antelopes, snow chickens, eagles, wild donkeys, argali, Tibetan wild camels, and red deer—were all there, an absolute feast for the eyes.

Thinking of the delicious taste of these wild animals, Zhen Mier's mouth watered. If she hadn't just eaten her fill of fruits, she might have gone back to get ready to butcher some animals for a feast.

Feeling the warm body of a wild boar that weighed at least four to five hundred jin, its tusks as long as an adult's arm, Zhen Mier marveled at the sight.

Passing through the animal 'storage area,' Zhen Mier came across another 'collection area' after spotting a somewhat World War II-style plane perched on a sturdy shrub.

"Tsk, tsk, Zhen Mier muttered to himself as she climbed a rock jutting out from the shrubs. From her vantage point, she could see a large area of half-human-high grass, randomly scattered, but clearly identifiable as fighter jets from different eras and countries, and in astonishing numbers.

For a woman who was a Special Forces soldier and later an internationally renowned mercenary, seeing fighter jets was akin to seeing tanks, guns, or the most beautiful woman in the world.

Zhen Mier couldn't wait and jumped down from the rock, not minding the intimate contact with the thick grass. She rolled and immediately dashed into the shrubs.

"...Is this the latter period of World War II Soviet model? Holy crap, even the US's hidden-for-many-years super Hornet F—X49 from 2020 is here? Is this real? Am I hallucinating? ...The Northern Bear's Su—68? ...And the European super Typhoon series' supersonic Y0—50, 53, 55?..."

Zhen Mier's hands were trembling as she climbed onto a nearby Hornet. To her surprise, the electronic equipment inside was still in perfect condition.

"Holy shit, everything's in perfect working order? Hiss, damn it! When I get the chance, I’m gonna take you for a ride, right back to where you came from."

She then climbed into several other fighter jets, finding that aside from some fuel consumption, everything else was full.

"This is insane..." Zhen Mier couldn't find the words to describe her shock. She could already imagine that if she handed these over to China's research institutions, China's fighter jet technology would lead the world in less than ten years. No, with the smart technology these jets carried, China's technology could lead the world in twenty years.

"Holy crap, I'm really going to be on top of the world."

In addition, in a patch of shrubs, Zhen Mier also found numerous civilian and military helicopters, as well as private small planes and... passenger planes.

"I haven't heard of any airline accidents, so why are there three large passenger planes here?" Zhen Mier thought, standing nearby and examining them for a moment before grinning mischievously and stepping through the already open cabin door.

"Holy crap, haha!" Seeing the scene inside the plane, Zhen Mier cursed and laughed. The entire plane, aside from twenty-some suitcases, was filled with large and small boxes of sealed goods. Was this a cargo plane, or had someone gone out of their way to send him a cross-temporal delivery?

"Is this down jackets? ...What, why is this cloth? Cotton? Silk?" Zhen Mier, in her excitement, tore open several cardboard boxes. To her astonishment, aside from clothes, fabrics, electronic products, she also found, in a special freezer, air-transported Japanese wagyu beef, pork, seafood, and more. Just by looking at the meat quality, she knew it was top-notch stuff. "Is this... red wine?"

Was this prepared for shipment to some Arab country? But why were there down jackets?

However, if that was the case, it would explain why there were unreported plane accidents. After all, a cargo plane disappearing during a period of frequent space fatalities wouldn't warrant an official investigation.

Upon closer inspection, two of the planes were mostly packed with food, along with some clothes, everyday items, and electronics. The last one, however, belonged to some Arab tycoon or a group of tycoons—it was filled with luxury cars.

"...Damn, poverty really limits my imagination. When I was a mercenary, I had luxury cars at my disposal, driving ones worth tens of millions, which was my bragging right. But damn, you guys are making me jealous. This is too much money. Any one of these cars should be worth tens of millions, with the most expensive ones going over a hundred million, right?"

Should?

These all seem to be customized. I get it for sports cars, RVs, and SUVs, but why the hell are you even customizing pickups, small trucks, and vans? Are you guys really that scared of dying that you’ll throw money at anything? I really look down on you for that.”

Lian Hui →＿→ ：……

“Eh, an Ecosse ES1 Spirit? The second most expensive motorcycle in the world, with FX racing concepts, speeds over 300 miles per hour, worth up to 180 million RMB. Oh man, thanks a lot! I’ve been eyeing this thing for ages, but damn, it’s way out of my league. Too bad I can’t afford it, and they don’t accept custom orders even if you’re willing to pay millions. But hey, no matter how rich you are, I’ll be benefiting from this in the future. I’m never buying a car again in this lifetime. I’m gonna stick to the old Chinese tradition of being frugal.”

Apart from the cars, relying on a mercenary’s instincts, Zhen Mier also grabbed several boxes of firearms and ammunition from a few planes—all top-notch stuff from after 2010.

Then, in a moment of distraction, he ended up carrying them out and lost track of time while handling the guns.

“Cough cough, I’m planning to be a farmer in this lifetime, to raise babies and be a divine stay-at-home dad. Um, these are just for casual play in my spare time…” After assembling several extended pistols, sniper rifles, and anti-aircraft guns, Zhen Mier tried to justify himself with a guilty conscience.

The five private planes had plenty of stuff, but they weren’t nearly as impressive to future tycoon Zhen Mier as the cargo planes. Still, the interior was quite luxurious. The sofa was made of genuine leather! There was even bear skin and tiger skin on it—just touching them felt extravagant. There was even a suite? In the spacious, modern luxury, many of the pots, pans, and other items were made of gold and silver, embedded with gems and pearls…

“Man, this really shows how being poor limits your imagination. The diamond on this spoon is probably bigger than some show-off celebrity’s engagement ring. Wow, what did I just discover? A crown? Which country’s king does this belong to? Hmm? Oh my god, so much alcohol! All the world-famous liquors are here, even Beijing Erguotou! What’s going on?”

Holding a plate of steaming honey-roasted meat fresh from the oven of one of the planes, Zhen Mier complained about the poor cooking skills of the foreign chefs, saying the food looked and smelled good but lacked in taste, as if the meat had been ruined. Still, he ate heartily without holding back.

The Dragon Ball said that the items stored here would slowly absorb spiritual energy over time, eventually getting absorbed by the Dragon Ball. But to avoid wasting the energy, everything would remain in the same condition as when they were first stored for the initial hundred years. So, Zhen Mier wasn’t worried about these time-traveling items being unclean.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhen Mier decided to continue running around the valley to dissipate the alcohol from his body.

There was plenty of roasted meat and seafood in the oven, and he really wanted to bring some out for Zhen Baobao and the others to enjoy, but it would be hard to explain.

“It’s still 1977, or maybe 1980, but with how slow things are developing here, people will be watching you closely if you try to eat meat every day.” As Zhen Mier walked, rubbing his stomach, he had just finished a large piece of beef weighing over three jin and drank two big cups of red wine, resulting in—

Although his body had just undergone a cleansing process in the pool, which would greatly enhance his martial arts training in the future, it mainly promoted the fusion of the Dragon Ball and his soul body. His internal organs, like his stomach, wouldn’t expand immediately!

“It looks like I’ll never become an internet-famous competitive eater in this lifetime!” Zhen Mier sighed lightly and crossed a large area of dense jungle-like shrubs to reach a patch of thick, short grass. It was said that there were various miscellaneous items here, supposedly gathered by the Dragon Ball using its power to ‘borrow’ from tourists in various places in Kunlun or picked up from them.

Zhen Mier figured that if there was anything he could take out, it would be the stuff here. Most of what he had just seen, apart from food, would be difficult to take.

The grass in the valley was dense, but Zhen Mier quickly spotted what he was looking for: fully equipped hiking backpacks, mountaineering gear, tourists' snack backpacks, computer bags, and even farmers' tools.

While searching, Zhen Mier also found several large bundles of cotton wrapped in white sheets. According to the Dragon Ball’s memories, they had been blown there by a strong wind.

Zhen Mier didn’t comment on that, as Kunlun Mountain was near Xinjiang, a high-yield cotton area.

It took him a while to gather a dozen or so silver flashlights that looked like they were from the seventies or eighties, along with several packs of candies, nuts, and tin cans.

“You brat, where did you run off to?” Just as Zhen Mier was hiding the flashlights and candies, meat jerky in his box, the door was pushed open forcefully by Grandpa Zhen.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Playing dumb.

Zhen Guohua was almost furious, taking a long time to calm down before saying, “Take a look outside and tell me what time it is! Where have you been wandering off to all day?”

Zhen Mier belatedly realized that his Dragon Ball space didn’t stop time outside.

“Um, the sky, why is it cloudy?” Continuing to play dumb.

“Yeah, right, the sun’s already down.”

“Ah?”

“Still playing dumb?”

Probably because he finally understood that everything had been his own doing, seeing Grandpa Zhen again made Zhen Mier feel much closer to him. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he scratched the back of his head and suddenly had a clever idea, saying seriously, “Hey Grandpa, I’ve got some big news for you. If you have any heart problems, you might want to take your meds first.”