Chapter 47 The situation is grim and self-reliant
The next day.
Changlong Escort Agency.
Meng Lei summoned everyone and publicly rewarded Zhao Ya and his thieves.
What Zhao Ya received was a full fifty taels of silver and half a month's leave.
For a moment, everyone cast envious glances.
As for Tan Dong and others, they also have their own generous rewards.
Meng Lei just wanted to tell everyone through this incident that as long as you treat the escort agency sincerely, the escort agency will never treat you badly.
After the announcement, Zhao Ya declined people's invitations and left the escort agency early on the excuse that he was too tired.
After leaving the escort agency, Zhao Ya returned home and disguised himself, and then went to the drug store to ask about the medicinal materials needed for Buxue Powder.
To be on the safe side, Zhao Ya would only ask at most two or three of them at each drug store.
After a long time like this, Zhao Ya came out of the last medicine shop with a hint of disappointment on his face.
Because Zhao Ya discovered that the medicinal materials recorded on the blood-boosting powder were not available in most drug stores.
In the words of a medicine shop owner, the medicinal materials Zhao Ya needs are basically the internal organs or blood of various beasts and even exotic animals, which are not accessible to ordinary medicine shops.
Even if it is available, it is extremely expensive.
Zhao Ya had no choice but to temporarily give up the idea of refining the blood-boosting powder.
Fortunately, the escort agency now provides a Qi and Blood Pill every three days. Together with the Tan family's dried earthworms and the dried green bamboo snakes I bought at the ghost market, it is still enough.
Zhao Ya walked home while thinking.
"Uncle, please have mercy on me. I haven't eaten in three days."
From time to time, beggars would stop passersby on the road to beg.
Looking at this scene, Zhao Ya felt heavy in his heart.
Nowadays, there are more and more homeless and beggars in the city, even worse than last year.
Moreover, Zhao Ya knew that the situation outside the city was even worse, and countless refugees were constantly coming here.
If this continues, something big will happen sooner or later.
Zhao Ya didn't have any good solution for this. He could only stock up as much food and supplies as possible to prepare for emergencies.
In the next few days, Zhao Ya stayed at home and practiced Kung Fu all day long.
Until this day, Tan Dong came to find Zhao Ya at home.
"Brother Zhao, here are next month's dried earthworm meat, and a letter from my father." Tan Dong said.
Zhao Ya was slightly startled when he took the letter and read it.
Because Tan Ziwang said in the letter that the supply of earthworm jerky will be greatly reduced from this month.
As for the reason, Tan Ziwang just vaguely mentioned production restrictions.
But Zhao Ya understood that if the reason was really that simple, then Tan Ziwang would not write a letter to himself to explain.
Combined with the current situation, Zhao Ya vaguely guessed something.
"What did my father say in the letter?"
Tan Dong asked quickly when he saw Zhao Ya's expression was serious.
"Oh, it's nothing. It just means that the supply of dried meat may be limited in the future!" Zhao Ya didn't hide anything.
After listening, Tan Dong was silent for a moment, and then sighed.
"The world is getting increasingly difficult. Just the day before yesterday, a Goulan restaurant I often went to closed down."
"Does the hook bar still close the door?"
"People don't have any money in their pockets and they don't want to spend money. Why don't they just close their doors! It's such a pity for girls like Xiaocuilili, Hongyujuan'er!"
Tan Dong was obviously in a bad mood.
This escort trip touched him a lot, and when he came back, the Goulan he often went to was closed again, which made him even more depressed.
After sighing, Tan Dong left.
A few days later, the supply of Qi and Blood Pills in the escort agency was also cut off.
Meng Lei explained that he had previously purchased the Qi and Blood Pill from the Yang family in the inner city through connections, but now the Yang family had suddenly strictly controlled the Qi and Blood Pill and no longer sold it to outsiders.
Meng Lei had no choice but to apologize to Zhao Ya.
Zhao Ya naturally didn't mind. Instead, he comforted Meng Lei for a few words and then left the escort agency.
In just a few days, the number of pedestrians on the streets became much less frequent.
There are also many closed stores on both sides, creating a bleak scene.
Zhao Ya knew that the situation was getting more serious.
The Tan family can supply less and less dried meat, and now the Escort Bureau's Qi and Blood Pills are out of stock again.
It seems that I have to go to the ghost market tonight.
That evening, Zhao Ya changed into black clothes, covered his face, and then came to the ghost market.
He has been to this ghost market many times and is quite familiar with it.
But this time it was different, because this ghost market actually became empty, and most of the stalls didn't even come out.
There were only a few stalls with some miscellaneous items on display, and there were very few people looking at them.
Zhao Ya's heart tightened when he saw this, and after looking around, he didn't find the meat stall where he often bought food.
It can be seen that even this ghost city has been affected by the current situation.
In desperation, Zhao Ya had to return empty-handed.
After returning home, Zui'er had not yet fallen asleep and was a little surprised to see Zhao Ya come back so early.
"Brother Xiaoya, why are you back so early?"
"Well, there's no one in the ghost market, so we have no choice but to come back."
Then Zhao Ya took out the box containing the dried meat. In addition to the earthworm dried meat provided by the Tan family, there were only a few dried green bamboo snakes left in it that he needed most. He probably wouldn't be able to survive even ten days.
Zhao Ya couldn't help frowning when he saw this.
Now that my cultivation is at a critical moment, if the supply of flesh and blood is cut off at this time, my entry will be greatly affected.
In troubled times, everyone is striving to be the first. Not to mention not making progress, even if the progress is slightly slower than others, they will fall behind others and eventually become prey to others.
Of course Zhao Ya couldn't accept this result.
So he was silent for a moment and then made a decision.
Now that all sources of flesh and blood have been cut off, you have to find a way.
Aren't most of the medicinal materials recorded in Buxue Powder the internal organs and blood of wild beasts or alien animals?
Since you can't buy it, go hunting in the mountains outside the city.
Anyway, we can't sit still and wait for death.
Um!
That's it.
After making up his mind, Zhao Ya finally felt at ease.
He looked up and saw Zui'er looking at him with a worried face, and couldn't help but smile.
"Okay, it's okay. It's just some minor problems. It's impossible for you, Brother Xiaoya, to trouble me."
Zui'er breathed a sigh of relief and nodded slightly.
"Brother Xiaoya."
"Um?"
"It's getting late, go to bed!"
"good!"
One night passed, and the next morning, Zhao Ya got up early and started preparing the things he needed to go hunting out of the city.
Although Zhao Ya has never hunted before, fortunately, he has watched many videos of wild survival before.
This knowledge may not all be useful in this world, but common sense about survival should be universal.
Zhao Ya packed water and food, wrapped the fire sickle in oilcloth, and checked the hand crossbow, lime bag and other items. After confirming that nothing was missing, he told Zui'er and then quietly left home.