“Why did I get fewer crystal cores than you?”

After the hotpot base sold well, Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po happily went back and started dividing the spoils. However, Lu Xiaoyao's voice was so loud that the door couldn't contain it, and everyone warming themselves by the fire in the outer room heard the question.

So, everyone present couldn't help but look at Zhen Hu.

Zhen Hu: "..."

What are you looking at him for?

This has nothing to do with him _(：3」∠)_

"You and your brother ate so much, gotta deduct some cost fees," Zhen Po said without any guilt.

"But wasn't that a 'promotion fee'? If I hadn't eaten so deliciously, do you think you could have attracted so many people just by shouting about the hotpot base?"

Lu Xiaoyao was also full of confidence.

"I wouldn't mind if you ate normally, but the two of you ate six servings! Don't forget that the vegetables were all borrowed from Lou Jia and haven't been paid for yet!"

"Lou Jia originally planned to sell two more baskets of vegetables before the New Year, but good lord, you two ate a whole basket! Isn't that money?"

"Wasn't it offset by the hotpot base?"

At this time, everyone outside had already heard the guilty tone in Lu Xiaoyao's voice.

"People agreed that one hotpot base offsets the cost of vegetables for a double hotpot. The two of you ate three double servings in one hour! Even if you want to pay with three hotpot bases, Lou Jia has to agree to count the other four servings at an equivalent price, right?"

Lu Xiaoyao: "..."

"Hmph~ You can't deduct that much either! I came up with a great idea this time. Brain work can't be the same as your manual labor, can it?

Besides, do you think I wanted to eat so much? Wasn't it because so many people kept buying? I had to keep acting like it was delicious, honestly~"

"..."

Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po continued to argue fiercely about the ownership of those few crystal cores. The people outside by the fire could only come to one conclusion – chickens pecking at each other!

"The morning shift schedule for the base's outer perimeter patrol has already been sent to each ability user team. Each team will send four people to patrol with the patrol team from the Patrol Division during their assigned time slot."

As she spoke, Wang Wenfei, who had received the message at home in the morning, handed the schedule to Mu Chen. Mu Chen glanced at it. Their team's assigned time wasn't great – three in the morning to seven in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The others looked at the schedule and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"It's actually not too bad," Ming Mei said first. "Although it's at night, it won't interfere with everyone staying up for New Year's Eve, nor will it interfere with the activities during the day on New Year's Day. If we get enough sleep in the previous days, it's okay to sleep a few hours less that day."

"That's right. Although the time looks pretty bad, if all goes well, we can come back in the morning just in time for dumplings~"

After Mu Chen finished speaking, Wang Wenfei, who was usually more sensitive, suddenly looked up at Mu Chen and asked, "What do you mean 'if all goes well'? Is there a chance it won't go well?"

"There's no such thing as a smooth patrol outside the city," Zhen Hu said dismissively. Before Mu Chen could explain, he said, "The outside of the city is covered in ice and snow, and the zombies are frozen into ice sculptures. But that doesn't mean that zombies won't occasionally jump out of the snow to scare people, right?"

After speaking, he looked at Mu Chen, his eyes signaling whether he was right or not.

"It's not the zombies," Mu Chen said, looking at the pork hanging on the rope outside, freezing. He quietly added, "It's the mutated animals."

"Mutated animals?"

"Yes, this mutated wild boar. I heard others talking about it when Mei Mei and I were buying pork. They ran into it while patrolling. Mutated wild boars that usually have to be hunted in the mountains or abandoned farmland outside are now dragging their families and running near the base. Something's wrong with this situation."

"Indeed. It would be one thing if it was just a coincidence..." Bai Xiao frowned. "What reason would a family of wild boars have to leave their good home in the mountains?"

"Maybe there's something in the mountains that even wild boars can't afford to provoke."

The more they talked, the heavier the atmosphere became.

"Look, the notes on the patrol schedule also require that the patrols must be ability users and will be issued weapons." Mu Chen pointed out the previous notice. Looking at it this way, the trickiness of this patrol became even greater.

"I'll go ask someone about it when the snow is lighter in the afternoon."

This matter was temporarily put to rest. Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po had finished dividing the crystal cores in the room and came out. Lu Xiaoyao was originally full of smugness and planned to go out with her girlfriends to buy some good food, but she saw that everyone had no expression on their faces.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

Out of a desire to survive, Lu Xiaoyao asked cautiously.

"It's nothing. It's just that our team has to draw people to patrol the outer city during the New Year."

"Ah? Do we still have to work during the New Year?" Lu Xiaoyao's face immediately fell when she heard this. "Does everyone have to go?"

"No, we're drawing people. We'll draw lots to decide later."

"Oh~ that's good~" Lu Xiaoyao, who was still rejoicing that she could escape the fate of patrolling by drawing lots, was quickly choked by fate _(：3」∠)_

Lu Xiaoyao, who was completely unaware of the dangers of patrolling and drew the patrol lot: QAQ

…

Unknowingly, New Year's Eve arrived smoothly amid everyone's expectations.

The strangeness that Mu Chen mentioned earlier was also confirmed by Julian, but this news was not widely announced to everyone.

After all, it was almost New Year's Eve, and it wouldn't be right to return everyone's mood to the state of anxiety and fear they were in at the beginning of the apocalypse.

However, ability user teams who received patrol news also received some vague messages one after another – please be sure to be vigilant when patrolling.

However, some people like Lu Gui and Mu Chen naturally had more access to information than others, but it was also limited to –

"There have been some changes in the mountains near the base. The specific situation is unknown, but it is true that many mutated herbivores have escaped from the mountains."

When Mu Chen asked Julian for information earlier, Julian gave him this vague answer. Early this morning, when the upper echelons of the base delivered New Year's gifts to the various ability user teams, Julian came over and gave Mu Chen the latest news.

"Not zombies." Julian handed the snack box to Mu Chen and took the opportunity to whisper in his ear, "A patrol team captured a group of injured mutated animals this morning. The wounds were not infected by zombies or zombie animals. They should have been left by large mutated carnivores."

"Thank you..."

Mu Chen didn't show anything on his face, but he still expressed his gratitude to Julian. When he turned his head, his face turned ugly.

Mutated carnivorous animals, how mutated would they have to be to cause herbivorous mutated animals to flee en masse?

…

That night, after staying up late, Ming Mei had just gotten into bed when Lu Xiaoyao stopped her halfway.

"Wuwuwu, Mei Mei, you love me, right!"

Ming Mei was silent.

She had a hunch that if she agreed, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Lu Xiaoyao, who had been acting cute towards Ming Mei for a long time: ???