In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

Long Jiuxing had mentioned before that she knew dissection, but Jiang Qingyue always thought she only had a superficial understanding.

After all, Long Jiuxing is young and spends most of his time fighting illness, so he has little time to learn anything else.

However, when Long Jiuxing used a scalpel to grope a zombie, Jiang Qingyue knew that there really were geniuses in this world.

Although she was a top killer in the fish and shrimp world, she knew nothing about zombies and anatomy and couldn't figure out anything. She only felt that under her nose, in no time, the zombie in Long Jiuxing's hand was not much bigger than Saozi.

Jiang Qingyue held a rabbit in her left hand and a snake in her right. The three of them—one person, one rabbit, and one snake—looked blankly at each other.

They watched as Long Jiuxing would sometimes frown in thought, sometimes have his eyes light up, and sometimes sigh. They were all so frightened that they held their breath, afraid that their loud breathing would interrupt Long Jiuxing's thoughts.

On the first day, Long Jiuxing used up one zombie.

The next day, Long Jiuxing used up three zombies.

On the third day, Long Jiuxing used up five zombies.

The number is constantly increasing.

Seeing this, the Corpse King was extremely worried, fearing that Long Jiuxing would ruin his talented underlings, so he quickly picked out all the unsuitable ones.

This bunch of oddballs did nothing all day but squatted next to Long Jiuxing, watching their companions turn into pieces without any emotional change.

If it weren't for the stench emanating from them, you'd think they were a few stones.

Jiang Qingyue felt a chill run down her spine as she watched this scene, feeling that the hierarchy among zombies was extremely unreasonable.

Just like now, as long as the strongest zombie king is controlled, the entire zombie horde will be under control.

Even though some third-tier zombie kings are quite intelligent, they still have to obey the commands of the strongest zombie king because their cultivation level is not high enough.

This racial group has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that internal rules will not be disrupted, and everyone can be united no matter how critical the situation.

The downside is that they can be easily wiped out or even permanently controlled.

In Jiang Qingyue's view, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

……

"Come on, everyone, dig as hard as you can."

While Long Jiuxing was researching zombies, Jiang Qingyue and the others were not idle either.

Some of the zombies went to chop firewood, while others went to the shelter to dig.

Many corpses mean great strength.

Including the original expansion she made, the shelter is now at least 3000 square meters. If it weren't for the plant doctor spreading like ivy to every corner and digging so frantically, the shelter would have collapsed long ago.

Aside from the firewood storage area, the largest space is now the planting area. However, with the increased size, the original underfloor heating is no longer sufficient.

It's not as simple as just adding more pipes. The generator she made by hand before was a small one, and due to limitations in technology and materials, its power generation rate was not high.

Of course, that's not important.

She bought several sets of batteries, and the shelter currently has enough power.

The main problem is that the stove isn't big enough. Even if it's packed full, the heat generated by burning firewood 24 hours a day is limited.

Even if more pipes are added to the planting room, no heat will get to the outermost part.

Jiang Qingyue's solution was to add a few more stoves.

There's no need to connect to a power generator; you can burn firewood directly and direct all the heat and smoke into pipes to raise the temperature in the growing area.

She has enough vegetables for now, and she plans to grow more grains in the newly developed area.

This zombie with limited intelligence couldn't help, so Jiang Qingyue, along with the zombie king president who had already broken through to the fifth level, and two fourth-level zombie kings, worked together to build a furnace and arrange pipes.

I must say, having a few helpers really boosts efficiency.

A furnace that used to take ten days to make can now be made in three days.

Jiang Qingyue conducted an experiment and found that, with firewood burning continuously for 24 hours a day, one stove could maintain a temperature of about 200 square meters.

In other words, a furnace must be built for every 200 square meters. Jiang Qingyue looked at the zombies, who were working diligently and were even more efficient than nuclear-powered donkeys, and felt a bit overwhelmed.

At this rate, hollowing out the mountain wouldn't be a problem; the problem is that we can't rely solely on firewood for energy.

She's not afraid of being exposed now. Even if people know that Jiang Qingyue is here, there aren't many who would dare to stroke this tigress's beard.

The problem is, firewood doesn't burn very quickly.

There are three types of firewood in this area: one is from the original pine forest, which is very tall and large.

Another type is the trees planted later as part of afforestation, which are now only about the size of a bowl, and these are the ones they recently cut down.

On the other side of the hillside were some miscellaneous shrubs, which were not cold-resistant and had already frozen to death. They looked like they were still growing in the same place, but in reality they would break at the slightest touch and were not suitable for firewood.

Jiang Qingyue had to count on her fingers that even if she didn't continue to expand the planting area, the current area of ​​the planting area was at least two thousand square meters.

To cover the 2,000 square meters of planting area with the small stoves she built, ensuring that grains and vegetables grow at suitable temperatures, at least ten stoves would be needed.

Adding the one that was already there, that makes eleven.

Before the score was even settled, Jiang Qingyue had a bad feeling.

She quickly picked up the firewood and weighed it in her hand. It was firewood that she had chopped herself earlier and that was now completely dry.

Based on her years of experience estimating the weight of fish and shrimp, this small piece of firewood weighs about three pounds.

The small stove she made can hold more than thirty pieces at a time, which is nearly 100 pounds.

It won't burn for very long before you have to add more firewood.

Based on a 24-hour schedule, this type of stove requires at least one ton of firewood per day.

Eleven weigh eleven tons.

"hiss!"

Jiang Qingyue gasped, feeling a slight toothache.

You wouldn't believe it until you calculated it; it was quite a shock.

Her plantation is only 2,000 square meters, which is about three acres.

Even though she had never farmed before, she knew that three acres of land was not much for growing grains and vegetables.

In addition, the four of them have been eating more and more, and without the item amplifier, there wouldn't be enough food for themselves, let alone to hoard food or sell it.

To increase the amount of grain, we need to continue expanding the planting area.

Based on the calculation of adding one stove for every 200 square meters of expansion, it wouldn't take her more than two years to completely clear the surrounding hills.

If I want to chop firewood in the future, I'll have to cross several mountains.

Seeing her pale face, the Corpse King CEO next to her worked very carefully.

It pressed itself against the corner of the wall, trying its best not to be noticed by her, because it noticed that since it became a fifth-level zombie, the woman had been staring at its head for longer periods of time.

That gaze seemed to penetrate the skull, observing its crystalline core.

"No, we have to mine coal, build a few furnaces outside, and then pipe the heat to the planting area."

After careful consideration, Jiang Qingyue still felt that chopping wood was not a long-term solution.

Coal mining is a different story.

Large coal mines are enough to operate for many years. Even if we only have three acres now, or even thirty or three hundred acres, we won't have to worry about energy with the support of coal mines.

Jiang Qingyue actually knew where the coal mines were.

My mother is a wild mushroom enthusiast. Every year during the rainy season, my father is the one who looks after the shop, and Jiang Qingyue goes with my mother to pick mushrooms.

They would take the seafood they couldn't eat to the front of the seafood store to sell.

With her father being an adventure enthusiast, Jiang Qingyue spent most of her childhood outdoors.

Picking mushrooms, fishing, hiking, camping... I can't speak for other places, but there's no mountain near Quanshui City that she hasn't been to.

Although she has been either minding the shop or taking care of her parents since their accident and hasn't had time to go, the mountain won't run away.

She remembered that in her direction, if you drove for another forty minutes along the road, there were several villages halfway up the mountain, called Xiaoshidong Village.

There is a coal mine right next to the village, and the fact that there is a fairly wide road here is because it was specially built for the purpose of mining coal.

After checking the time and saying hello to Long Jiuxing, who was conducting research in the Corpse Nest, Jiang Qingyue, along with Corpse King President Yan Bao and Zaizai, chose to walk along the mountain ridge, following the direction of Xiaoshidong Village from her memory.

The two little ones sat on Jiang Qingyue's shoulders. Jiang Qingyue, accompanied by the fifth-tier Corpse King CEO, saw the outline of the village from his memory in just thirty minutes.

"Without realizing it, I walked faster than a car," Jiang Qingyue exclaimed. Although she was climbing along the mountain ridge, which was not as winding and time-consuming as a road, thirty minutes was still faster than forty minutes.

This is still due to the difficulty of traveling in the mountains.

"Chirp?" What's wrong?

Yan Bao was playing with her ears with her paws, but when she saw her expression turn serious, she quickly reached out and rubbed her eyebrows with her paws.

"It's nothing." Jiang Qingyue pulled her little paws down: "I was just thinking that if you're strong enough, you really can chase after a car, and maybe one day you can even chase after an airplane."

Even though these means of transportation are no longer usable, Jiang Qingyue is still amazed by the speed of human progress.

Zaizai and Yanbao shook their heads, not understanding. They had never ridden in a car or an airplane before.

I'd only seen it on my phone; it looked like a big toy, but I didn't really notice it.

"arrive."

Jiang Qingyue stopped and looked at the scattered villages in front of her.

"I wonder if anyone is still here?"

The apocalypse came very suddenly. With such huge hailstones, everyone would rush home to take shelter, and then be trapped inside their homes.

The temperature was around minus 20 degrees Celsius for the first seven days. If everyone had left for the city during those seven days, they would have already been recruited by Wang Dawei and are now members of Nangong Zhao's team.

If you don't make up your mind to leave during those seven days, then when the second cold wave arrives and the temperature drops to minus fifty degrees Celsius, you won't be able to leave even if you want to.

Even if there is food and firewood at home, some frail elderly people and children cannot withstand it.

Not to mention the toxic fog that followed the third cold wave.

Jiang Qingyue knew that almost every household in the countryside had a small vegetable garden to grow vegetables.

But people are naturally inclined to seek advantage and avoid harm. When the end times come, almost everyone will eat foods that are not easy to store first, such as vegetables.

They ate the vegetables in advance, so when the third cold wave hit and they needed vegetables to detoxify, they couldn't get any out.

It's far from the city, and without someone like Nangong Zhao to protect us, and with resources planned and distributed rationally, the chances of survival are slim.

Despite this, Jiang Qingyue still held the Snow Shadow Bow in her hand before taking a step. Instead of entering the village, she went around the outside of the village. She remembered that the coal mine was located to the east of the village. If she didn't need the village to locate it, she wouldn't have gone near it.

Even if there is probably no one left here.

She had initially thought it would take a long time to find the place, since all traces of the past had been covered by snow and ice, and she wasn't particularly familiar with the area.

But she was lucky; she soon saw traces of coal dust and human activity on the ice, which resembled a newly cleared dark path on the once snow-white ice.

Following this road, Jiang Qingyue saw a group of people engaged in a chaotic battle.

Holding the Snow Concealment Bow, she found a high vantage point. Her intuition told her something was wrong; there were too many people around.

It's neither too far nor too close to the city. Most of the young people work in the city, and those who stay at home are almost all elderly.

And now, this group of people who are practically beating the dog's brains out are all young and middle-aged.

Three or five people could be forced to stay at home because they just happened to be home on business or visiting the elderly. But so many people are all forced to stay at home. Anyone with a brain knows that this is not normal.

The group, caught up in the heat of the fight, were unaware of the unexpected arrival of several uninvited guests.

Only when the ground was covered in blood and several people lay motionless, their minds, clouded by the treasure, gradually calmed down.

They quickly split into two camps, wary of each other.

A burly man clutched his arm: "Wang Xiaowei, look at how many more have died today because of your selfishness. If this continues, we can forget about fighting Nangong Zhao; we'll all be wiped out by our own infighting."

Wang Xiaowei!

Upon hearing these three words, Jiang Qingyue's indifference turned into a chilling coldness.

She looked at the crowd opposite the big guy and quickly spotted a man who looked a lot like Wang Dawei among a group of young men.

Even if they weren't made from the same mold, they'd at least look seven-tenths alike.

That's him.

Sure enough, the other party said, "I, Wang Xiaowei, am a man of my word. If I say I will share, I will definitely share, but not now."

"You're all pig-brains! You've been egged on by a few words and now you're forcing me to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Even if I take it out now, so what? With so many of us, how much will each person have left?"

"This..." Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

He seemed to have persuaded her.

The burly man looked at the injury on his arm, unwilling to give up: "At least show it to everyone first, otherwise how are we supposed to know if the hen hasn't laid any eggs yet, or if you've eaten them all?"

"Or perhaps, there are no mutated chickens at all."

"good."

Everyone joined in the shouting upon hearing this.

"Wang Xiaowei, take it out and show it to everyone."

"That's right. Your brother Wang Dawei has been dead for so long, his name isn't reliable anymore. You can't expect us to do everything we can to dig up crystal cores to support you just because of what your brother said, without even seeing a feather."

"That's right, if we don't see any chickens or eggs today, we'll send you down to see your brother."

Looking at the commotion, Wang Xiaowei felt extremely resentful, his face so dark it could drip water.

He turned to look at his own side, where he still had the advantage in numbers.

However, before he could even urge everyone to fight desperately and kill the other side, he saw that everyone's eyes were darting away, and some even took a few steps back.

Clearly, since he hadn't seen the mutated chicken, even his own men were starting to have doubts.

After enduring it for a long time, Wang Xiaowei finally nodded reluctantly under almost everyone's pressure: "Come on, the mutant chicken is at my house. If you don't believe me, come to my house and you'll see."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."