Entering February, the light snow had also stopped.
The temperature continued to rise, reaching minus twenty degrees.
During the intense sunshine at noon, it could reach minus ten degrees.
Having gotten used to temperatures below minus forty degrees, everyone now felt that when the wind blew, it no longer felt like a knife scraping against their skin.
Everything seed to be changing for the better.
.....
In this blizzard, many people died.
In fact, when the apocalypse first erupted unexpectedly, only one in ten people survived.
During the subsequent torrential rains, with zombies going mad, humanity faced even greater devastation.
In those torrential rains, in those repeated Zombie Tides, the number of humans dropped to one in a hundred.
Later, extre weather such as droughts and blizzards led to many people dying not from zombies, but from starvation.
There were also many riots and fights over food crises, leading to drastic drops in the human population once more.
Xin City.
This small Southern City that used to have a population of a million, after enduring many hardships over the past year, especially this blizzard
Now has a total population of less than 6000.
Most people were scattered, forming groups of a few to a dozen people, distributed in hundreds of villages, deep forests, or urban areas.
.....
In the new district of Xin City.
Small commodities wholesale market.
Several people wearing thick coats cautiously approached the entrance.
But the gate was blocked by snow, and the leading man frowned slightly, looking at the gate covered by snow, motioning to a man beside him:
"Wan Nian, get a shovel. The gate is blocked by snow."
Hearing the man calling him, the one nad Wan Nian, took a shovel from his backpack and handed it to a woman next to him, and together they started to clear the snow.
The leading man kept a vigilant watch around, holding a Crossbow in his hand.
Dong~
The man nad Wan Nian, while shoveling, struck the iron gate directly with the tip of the shovel, creating a loud noise.
"Keep it down." The leading man, wearing a hat, turned back and whispered sternly.
Wan Nian retorted with a grimace, "Listen, Wan Ge, the zombies are all frozen now, what are you afraid of? Do we really need to be this cautious?"
The woman shoveling snow next to him, hearing this, shoveled half a shovel of snow and waved it, replying unsubtlely:
"Safety first, if it weren't for Wan Ge, we would have been dead long ago, following Wan Ge's lead is never wrong."
Wan Nian disdainfully said: "I say, on our journey south, we have passed through so many places and are still alive, what's there to be afraid of."
The leading man glared at him with an icy look, causing Wan Xin to tremble slightly.
Then he shook off the snow on his body and muttered a few words, but dared not to speak further.
Holding the shovel, he continued to clear the snow, and soon the snow on the large iron gate was cleaned up by the two.
Wan Nian, looking at the rusty iron lock, said, "Wan Ge, it's locked."
Wan Ge glanced at the lock, then turned to another man who was holding a Long Knife and vigilantly watching the surroundings, and said, "Xiao Ma, go pick the lock. Quickly."
Xiao Ma, with a buzz cut and no hat, took off his earmuff, and asked, "Wan Ge, what did you say?"
Wan Ge repeated, "Go pick the lock, it's ti for your skills to shine."
Xiao Ma nodded, "Alright, just watch ."
He stepped forward, Wan Nian and the won made way, Xiao Ma walked to the iron gate, and from sowhere on his body pulled out two thin wires.
Slowly, he inserted them into the iron lock, held his breath, and concentrated as he jiggled the wires.
One minute passed.
The lock still wasn't open.
Wan Nian mockingly said,
"I say, Ma Ge, you haven't used this for too long, have your skills gotten rusty? This isn't like you, you used to open locks in just ten seconds, why is it taking so long now?"
Xiao Ma ignored him, his expression shifted slightly, and said,
"Don't talk, this lock must have been soaked before, it's a bit rusty. Don't distract ."
Wan Nian wanted to say more, but was stopped by Wan Ge, "Wan Nian, no talking, let Xiao Ma focus on opening the door."
His tone was a bit harsh. This Wan Nian, if he hadn't always followed him, though sotis tactless, his loyalty was clear, otherwise, he would have driven him away long ago.
Click~
A faint sound, and the large iron lock clicked open and fell to the ground.
"It's open, Wan Ge. Should we go straight in?" Xiao Ma looked back and asked.
Wan Ge stepped forward a few steps, and said, "Yes, go in and check, the door is locked.
This place might not have been searched before, maybe there's a lot of resources inside."
Hearing what Wan Ge said, a smile of excitent appeared on Wan Nian's face, "Finally, we've found a good spot, let's go, I'll open the gate."
As soon as the words fell, he walked forward and slowly pushed up the gate.
Just as the gate was opened by one third, a man ran over from about fifteen ters away, hastily saying, "Soone is coming."
Wan Ge frowned upon hearing this, and whispered, "How many people?"
"Three, two n and one woman."
Wan Ge quickly said, "Wan Nian, lower the gate, we need to hide."
Having said that, he walked toward the pillar next to the gate.
Behind the pillars were two abandoned vehicles, Wan Nian and the others, without fuss, followed Wan Ge imdiately.
The man walking last was clearing his footprints as he moved.
Before long, the sound of a few people talking could be heard.
...
A youthful voice, sounding a bit resentful, spoke, "Xiaokui, you're sleeping with tonight. Yesterday was Dayong's turn, today it's mine.
Didn't we agree I take the odd days and Dayong the even ones?
Yesterday was Dayong's, today it's my turn."
Then, a young girl's voice followed, "Last night Dayong gave a pack of Teddy Bear cookies.
You know I love Teddy Bear cookies the most, and you never give any, why should I sleep with you?"
The man who spoke earlier continued, "But, but we had an agreent, rember? If it cos to that, I even bought you a car and a house before. Those cost way more than so cookies."
Xiaokui, the girl, sighed and said, "Yuan Chong, I know you've been good to .
But that was before the zombie outbreak. Look at us now, do cars and houses still matter?
I have you in my heart, but Dayong has been kind to , I can't just not reciprocate,
you're making it difficult for ."
Another man interjected, "Exactly, if you hadn't t Xiaokui first, I would've driven you away by now. I'm only tolerating you because of Xiaokui."
"What did you say? Are you looking for a fight? I'm the one tolerating you, and I don't even like you!"
"So what, you think I'm scared? Co at ."
"F*ck."
...
The quarreling voices grew louder, and they seed on the verge of fighting.
Standing between the two n, Xiaokui suddenly shouted, "Both of you stop, we ca out to look for supplies, not to fight.
If you keep this up, I'll really get mad."
The two n fell silent reluctantly, and Xiaokui, holding both their hands, said:
"I love both of you so much, you completely fill my heart, and there's no room for anyone else. In my heart, you are equally important.
Stop fighting, okay? I just hope... that the three of us can survive well in this apocalypse..."
As she spoke, tears began to well up in Xiaokui's eyes.
"Xiaokui."
"Xiaokui."
With eyes filled with affection, the two n looked at the woman between them, feeling guilty. Xiaokui was under so much pressure being torn between them.
They were making things difficult for her.
So Dayong said, "Yuan Chong, let's drop it, for Xiaokui's sake, let's follow the rules tonight. You sleep with Xiaokui tonight."
Yuan Chong glanced at Xiaokui and, to show his magnanimity, added:
"I didn't give Xiaokui the Teddy Bear cookies, you did, and that's what matters—her happiness. Let's do as Xiaokui wishes. I'll co tomorrow."
"It's my turn tomorrow anyway."
"...How about the day after tomorrow then?" Yuan Chong, his face reddening, proposed.
Suddenly, the two n felt a tug at their hands.
It was Xiaokui, who looked at them with tender affection and said, "Actually, the three of us could stay together, it's warr."
The n exchanged glances, a spark of exhilaration in their eyes.
This was a good solution.
...
About 20 ters from them, behind a discarded vehicle near a pillar,
Five people were hiding.
Xiaoma whispered, "These youngsters sure know how to have fun."
Wan Nian remarked, "I really want to join their happy family."
The woman nearby looked at him with disdain, "You guys, really, at tis like these, still thinking about this, only hang you up and you'll settle down."
Wan Nian chuckled, "You look so 'safe', what would you know?"
The woman responded, "F*ck your uncle."
Beside them, Brother Wang said, "Quiet!"
As the trio from earlier approached, Wang and the others peered through the car window at them discreetly.
They had imagined the girl called Xiaokui to be very beautiful, but instead, she was a mustached woman, probably weighing around 160 kilograms.
Seems like this woman is really lucky, getting to stay so plump even in this apocalyptic world.
Wan Nian suddenly fell silent upon seeing Xiaokui, looking like a wounded puppy,
His eyes filled with a sense of insult.
After seeing this, the woman couldn't resist mocking, "Wan Nian, still want to join them now?"
Wan Nian: "....."
As the trio walked towards them, Brother Wang gestured a throat-slitting motion to the others, and they nodded.
During their journey, they had developed an unspoken understanding.
Waiting for the trio to co closer.
At that mont, the man nad Dayong suddenly noticed sothing.
He stepped towards the large iron gate and exclaid in panic, "The lock on this door, how did it open!"
"What!" The other man, Yuan Chong, also seed to realize sothing drastic and hurriedly moved forward to check.
The large iron door remained, but the lock was mysteriously gone.
Nearby snow bore signs of having been shoveled.
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