Chapter 567: You Live Here?
Chapter 567: You Live Here?
"The people in this base have no shortage of crystal cores." Luo Feifan sat at the dining table, eating noodles. He took a sip of the broth, then shook his head. "The north has been less affected by the virus, and there are many survivors here, most of them living in large families."
With strength in numbers, when facing zombies or mutant beasts, families in this base could unite and fend off attacks more effectively. But at the same time, because zombies and mutant beasts were killed too quickly, they rarely had the chance to evolve. As a result, Level Three and Four crystal cores were almost never seen in the base.
By now, mutant species were nearly extinct in the north, and people here had recently cut off their primary source of crystal cores.
It was around six in the evening, already dark. Even though the snow had been swept away earlier, it had piled up again. Everyone on An Ran’s side gathered around the dining table, eating noodles.
Beside her was a baby safety seat where Doll sat buckled in. An Ran had given Doll a fork and a small bowl to play with.
After listening to Luo Feifan’s words, she frowned and voiced her concern. "But the weather’s terrible right now, so the zombies and mutant animals aren’t causing trouble. Fatty’s been collecting crystal cores too aggressively. If this continues, the people here will get restless—and that means trouble.”
Just as she finished speaking, the doorbell rang loudly. An Ran glanced toward the door and said to Zhan Lian, who was about to get up: "I’ll go. Maybe it’s Fatty again. He comes crying every day, and I don’t know what he’s even crying about."
She stood up, left the dining room, crossed the brightly lit living room, and went to the front door. She opened it with impatience written across her face. But just as she was about to ask Fatty what he wanted, she froze.
The person standing outside wasn’t Fatty at all.
"Huh? You live here?" Liu Zhi stood at the door, looking a little surprised as she smiled at An Ran.
Behind her, the wind and snow raged. In the dark, snowy night, the sound of many voices echoed—Hexi was becoming increasingly lively.
Following Liu Zhi were the same two men from before.
An Ran held the door open, confused, unsure why Liu Zhi had come.
"We bought some charcoal and were about to return. Then we noticed a light on in this villa, so we knocked. We didn’t expect you to live here." As Liu Zhi spoke, she studied An Ran carefully.
At first, An Ran had struck her as ordinary, perhaps just a bit gentler and more beautiful than the other women.
But the entire Hexi region lacked electricity. While everyone else burned firewood, only An Ran’s household had heating and electric lights. How could An Ran possibly live in such conditions?
Liu Zhi remembered meeting her in the planting room, assuming she was a wood-ability user. But she had only seen her that one time. Later, when buying charcoal again, An Ran was nowhere to be found.
She began to feel she had been mistaken. Liu Zhi had begun to think she was wrong—maybe An Ran wasn’t one of Fatty’s wood-type ability users at all.
According to Brother Fatty, An Ran had simply been visiting the planting room that day.
At first, Fatty’s team had looked like nothing more than a burden—old people, children, women so heavily pregnant they could hardly walk. How could they possibly fight zombies?
But the longer she thought about it, the more Liu Zhi felt there was something about Fatty’s team that wasn’t so simple.