#620 - The original New York situation

In the dim underground garage, Reed was scribbling on a wall, and upon closer inspection, the wall was covered with quite a few 'scribbles'.

These scribbles were actually special symbols from mathematics or other disciplines, mostly in groups of two or three, but there was no connection between the combined symbols, so they looked like random scribbles.

In the blink of an eye, Reed had drawn another set of symbols. These symbols looked messy and disorganized, and in reality, they were. Only Reed could understand these scribbles.

These were all codes he came up with on the spot. However, these codes were not used to record events; they were actually a kind of numbering system, recorded purely to help Reed recall things stored in his mind, a sort of associative memory technique.

But only he could use this method. Susan and the others felt that using this method would only increase the difficulty of memorization.

He carefully placed the charcoal pencil back into his waist pouch. Resources were scarce now, and Reed couldn't bear to waste even a small charcoal pencil.

Realizing his behavior, Reed couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know when these days would end. Even though he wasn't as materialistic as Johnny, he couldn't stand the life they were living now.

Reed wanted to thoroughly research the changes that had occurred to himself and the others. In his opinion, they were like untapped treasure troves, but without various professional equipment, Reed could only test some basic, rudimentary data.

The unknown was right in front of him, but he couldn't unlock it. For Reed, this was nothing short of the most severe torture in the world, making him anxious and helpless.

Shaking his head to drive away the unhappy thoughts, Reed looked down at his watch. It was almost time for breakfast, and Susan should be coming to call him.

Sure enough, familiar footsteps came from behind Reed. He slowly turned around and saw Susan walking into his room. She was wearing jeans on her lower body and a men's plaid shirt on her upper body.

Resources were scarce, so having clothes to wear was already good. The plaid shirt Susan was wearing was the most intact and clean piece of clothing they could find.

But even this plaid shirt, beloved by nerds and older men, couldn't detract from Susan's beauty. She only buttoned the top two buttons of the plaid shirt and tied the long hem.

She had actually turned a plaid shirt into a bikini, looking very sexy. Reed couldn't help but take a few more glances.

"It's time to eat, Reed," Susan tidied her hair. "It's still canned chickpeas today."

"Then I'm sure Johnny is complaining again," Reed said with a smile.

Canned chickpeas, a classic American canned food, but its taste wasn't very good. Eating it was purely for sustenance and didn't satisfy the palate.

"Having something to eat is better than nothing," Susan had a headache just thinking about Johnny's fussing. No one liked to eat canned chickpeas, at least not among them.

"Johnny is just complaining," Reed comforted Susan as he walked. "That's just his personality. He's always complaining, but he's actually very clear-headed."

"That's why he'll never grow up," Susan ended the topic. In this environment, few people could maintain a good mood. Johnny was like this, and so was Susan.

Currently, the only ones who hadn't been affected much were Reed and Ben. The former was because he was too smart, so he was always rational and wouldn't let those negative emotions affect him.

The latter was because he had a good personality. Although turning into a stone man had made him depressed for a few days, Ben wouldn't take his anger out on his friends.

Susan and Johnny just disliked each other. At first, Reed and Ben were worried that they would quarrel, but later they found that although the siblings argued constantly, they made up very quickly. Their quarrels were more like mutual venting, so they stopped interfering.

After all, none of the four were fools. They knew that infighting was not allowed under any circumstances. The changing situation outside required them to be united.

Only by supporting each other could they feel at ease.

As soon as they entered the hall, Johnny was indeed no longer complaining. He was pulling Ben to review an old soccer game, and the latter seemed very interested. His two stone eyebrows were constantly twitching.

"Finally here," Johnny noticed the two who had just walked in. "I thought you were going to wait until dinner to eat together."

"I was calculating some data, and Susan waited a while before notifying me."

Reed sat down with a smile on a metal block. This was made by Ben pressing a motorcycle, and the irregular metal block still had Ben's finger marks. A car seat was placed on it to avoid pricking their butts.

Their dining table was also a car that Ben had flattened. These were by-products left over from testing Ben's strength, which were just used for waste utilization.

"The Viper Gang seems to be getting more and more rampant," Ben carefully poked open the can with his finger. "I heard it on the radio. It seems someone made a simple radio and tried to call for help from outside."

"There's such a thing? When did it happen? How come I don't know?" Johnny frowned and took a bite of beans.

"This morning. Weren't you out scavenging for supplies today? Of course you didn't hear what happened."

Ben poured the can of beans into his mouth like Popeye, without even chewing, and continued after wiping his mouth.

"They said they stole supplies from the Viper Gang and were discovered by them. They had no choice but to call for help from outside. The Viper Gang will raid their camp tonight, and they are already desperate."

"Dare to steal supplies from the Viper Gang?" Johnny's eyes widened. "Those guys are all cold-blooded animals. I heard their leader even eats people."

"Don't talk about such disgusting topics while eating," Susan glared at Johnny unhappily. The latter knew that he had indeed said something inappropriate and could only scratch his head to change the subject.

"Then what do we do? Just leave it alone?"

The restaurant fell silent for a moment, and even the sound of spoons clinking disappeared. After a while, Ben's voice sounded faintly.

"I want to go. I heard children crying on the radio."

"There's such a thing? Then count me in," Johnny raised an eyebrow. "We two are good partners. You stand in front, and I set fires in the back. It's a perfect combination."

As they said this, their eyes turned to Reed, who was eating, because he was the backbone of the team.