NOVEL NEXT Chapter 337 - 335 Expired Food
Chapter 337: Chapter 335 Expired Food
All the workers had left, and only Bi Fang remained in the empty factory, silently searching the rooms to see if any supplies had been left behind.
He thought of how this place had once bustled with activity, now a desolate shell covered with dust and ignored by the world.
Things remain, people change.
In an instant, this phrase popped into the minds of many, and when compared to the current “desolate scene,” it seemed quite unsettling.
“Feeling a bit scared, aren’t you?”
His combat boots stopped moving on the floor as Bi Fang scanned his surroundings, amused by an audience member’s comment expressing fear.
It was true that the enormity of the space around him gave him that feeling, prompting Bi Fang to reflect on an off-topic subject.
“Know why horror stories often take place in schools?”
As he opened a door and started rummaging through the contents, Bi Fang posed this question to his audience. Without waiting for their responses, he continued with the answer.
“Because schools are usually bustling during the day and empty at night. But most people are familiar with them in daylight. If you suddenly enter one at night, the stark contrast can naturally cause discomfort, and this discomfort can easily turn into fear without much prompting. Hence, many ghost stories happen in schools.”
[Wow, there’s an explanation like that?]
[Holy frog, first time hearing this. No wonder I feel so creeped out fetching homework from school at night]
[Another day of gaining knowledge]
[Day 1,081 kneeling before Master Fang]
[What is Master Fang looking for? Does he really need to search through cabinets one by one?]
Since the beginning, Bi Fang had not spared any room in his search for supplies, examining even the smallest drawers, which made the audience wonder if it was really necessary.
But the next second, as Bi Fang pulled open a drawer, what appeared inside left everyone speechless.
“Hey, snacks!”
Bi Fang chuckled, revealing that inside the drawer he had just opened were not files but a heap of little cookies!
Bi Fang shook a pack of the little cookies he had picked up; these were exactly what he had been searching for in every cabinet and drawer.
“In Ruins City, the most likely place to find food is not the kitchen, but these ‘offices’! Even in a factory, places like these are set up. I think many of the audience watching the live stream are probably sitting in offices, right? Do you guys store some snacks in your drawers? Out of ten people, I bet nine would do so, right?”
Many Shuiyou immediately blushed.
Thinking of their own drawers stuffed with various snacks, they understood Master Fang’s actions and reasoning, and they couldn’t help but admire him.
It was clearly a place where supplies were very likely to exist, yet few people thought of it, and it had to be admitted that knowing was one thing, but thinking of it was another.
Bi Fang held a pack of biscuits in his hand and began to check the English packaging. In no time, he found the expiration date and the production date. After a quick calculation, he was surprised to discover that the nine-month shelf life had expired just three days ago!
Now Shuiyou couldn’t really say whether this was a coincidence or not.
But Bi Fang clearly didn’t care about that; he simply put the biscuits into his backpack after emptying the drawer into it.
“You don’t need to worry too much, in fact, food expiration doesn’t mean it can’t be eaten. The shelf life is ultimately a ‘guarantee’ from the seller regarding the food quality. They guarantee that within this period, the quality won’t be compromised. If the quality deteriorates within the shelf life, the seller is responsible. But if something goes wrong after the shelf life has ended, they’re off the hook. So the shelf life doesn’t equal the standard for food spoilage—it’s just a liability period set by the seller.”
“If the food has a short shelf life, then the food safety risk of a product that’s ‘expired by one day’ can be much higher than a product ‘with one day left before expiration.’
It is recommended to throw away short shelf-life foods once expired, such as yogurt with a 21-day shelf life. But for long shelf-life goods such as biscuits, which can last for half a year or more, there is no substantial difference between ‘expired by one day’ and ‘one day from expiration.’ Is it suddenly inedible the second it expires?
It’s not like there is some mystical force that causes food to undergo some kind of change the moment it surpasses its expiration date. It’s just like overnight water being deemed undrinkable, but the water that sits from morning to afternoon has gone through the same time period as water left overnight—what’s the difference?”
As he spoke, Bi Fang tore open a small packet and guzzled down the biscuits, finishing it off quick and even wiped his mouth afterward.
“However, eating expired food is a matter of weighing risks; it’s best not to take the risk unless necessary.”
Finding a pile of biscuits put Bi Fang in a great mood. Big factories really are different with their abundant supplies; it was a series of pleasant surprises. Just this big pack of biscuits was worth the price of admission, not to mention the great gear he had obtained.
This multitude of discoveries also made Shuiyou realize the importance of choosing the right place in urban survival. Wandering around aimlessly like a headless fly, how could one find as many things as now?
“Let’s go, there’s still a lot of places we haven’t seen yet. We need to speed up and try to cover this place before dark. I must say, this place is just too big.”
Repacking his backpack, Bi Fang left the office and returned to the desolate factory interior, but soon after taking a few steps, he made a new discovery.
Bi Fang squatted down, picked up a few feathers from the ground, and examined them closely in front of the camera. He quickly realized what creature had left them.
“Pigeon feathers?”
He looked up at the steel beams crisscrossing overhead. Bi Fang surveyed the surroundings: “These feathers are likely from pigeons. They prefer these kinds of huge abandoned buildings which offer them shelter from the elements.
Generally speaking, where there are pigeons, there are also pigeon eggs. Adult pigeons lay eggs monthly except in winter, and even if we cannot catch the pigeons, we will most likely find their eggs.”
Bi Fang discarded the feathers in his hand and looked up at the roof.
“Although I already have almost half a fox and a large pack of biscuits, these supplies might still be slightly insufficient for the remaining four days. In the wilderness, storing food is like squirrels preparing for winter—you can never have too much. So, I don’t want to miss this opportunity. Pigeons prefer to nest high up, and we should perhaps start looking.”
Climbing such a building was akin to scaling a cautious man’s jungle of steel rebar, but for Bi Fang, this was clearly not a problem.
Scanning around, a clear route for climbing came to the fore in his mind.
Looking at the debris by the wall, Bi Fang ran a few steps, stepped on the junk, leaped forcefully, and grabbed onto a nearby ventilation pipe.