Shen Feng could not leave the encampment to wander around. After all, he was on someone else's territory and had to abide by the rules to avoid causing displeasure. However, movement within the defensive area was permitted to some extent. The surroundings of the encampment were filled with military outposts, and the soldiers had no reason to pay attention to Shen Feng; they were too busy resting, and no one wanted to chat with him.
Civilian personnel had all been dispersed to defend near the city walls. It was clear that headquarters also felt that the combat effectiveness of civilian organizations was not very high. If they were gathered together and breached by zombies, it would be troublesome. Therefore, civilian organizations were spread out along various sections of the city wall. If any problems arose, the surrounding troops could be dispatched to assist.
Shen Feng wandered around the vicinity, only seeing soldiers clearing snow. The sky was also overcast, as if it might snow again at any moment. Shen Feng could only sigh at this, thinking it would be a shame not to have a snowball fight with so much snow.
Just then, Fang Qinghao appeared beside Shen Feng. "Shen Feng, do you have time tonight? We're inviting you for hot pot. The six of us from our side will come to find you."
Shen Feng asked doubtfully, "Why are you inviting me for hot pot out of the blue? Although I love hot pot, this is too sudden, and we're still in a war."
Fang Qinghao patted his chest and said, "Trust me, there won't be any major battles soon, so you can rest assured. After fighting for so many days, we should have a meal together. Besides, we from the Supernatural Administration want to thank you. We can now control our supernatural abilities much better."
As someone from the Supernatural Administration, Fang Qinghao was naturally well aware of the recent combat plans. If he said there were no combat plans, then there would definitely be no fighting.
Shen Feng replied indifferently, "Then you can come find me. Remember, don't come empty-handed!"
"Of course, we won't give you any leverage, and you can't morally blackmail us again!" Fang Qinghao said with a smile.
In recent days, the food Shen Feng had been eating was simple: either pancakes rolled with scallions, sometimes with a bit of soybean paste, or egg fried rice with some pickled vegetables. It wasn't that the variety of food was limited, but there was nothing new. All day long, it was just flatbread or rice. As for side dishes, there were plenty of Chinese cabbages, and meat was only available occasionally.
To ensure he had hot pot to eat that evening, Shen Feng used his old trick. During dinner, he sighed and put down his pancake, saying bitterly, "Alas, thinking of the millions of suffering people in the world, I can't eat anymore."
When Chu Chaoyan saw Shen Feng like this, she narrowed her eyes. She knew that the last time Shen Feng acted this way, he appeared to be concerned about the nation and its people, but in reality, he had secretly gone to eat seafood at night, and even didn't invite her. That was too much; eating alone without gaining weight!
Chu Chaoyan recalled that she had even persuaded Shen Feng to eat more. Now, she realized how naive she had been. How could this carefree fellow be unable to eat?
Chu Chaoyan coughed and put the remaining pancake into a plastic bag for later. While drinking water, she stared at Shen Feng, "You can't eat? I can't eat either, because I'm thinking of certain people eating alone!"
Seeing Chu Chaoyan's actions, Shen Feng understood her thoughts. It was clear that Chu Chaoyan suspected Shen Feng would secretly eat delicious food at night. Shen Feng couldn't say much more.
Lu Xian also saw Shen Feng's actions and thought, "The City Lord is saying this again. Could he be trying to be clever? But he didn't tell me in advance not to eat too much, so it's not good for me to follow his lead. I'd better just gnaw on this pancake honestly!"
After it snowed, the dark clouds in the sky did not disperse, continuing to hang overhead, as if it might snow again at any moment. Darkness soon descended, and Shen Feng eagerly awaited the people from the Administration. Hadn't they said they would invite him for hot pot? It should be about time.
At ten o'clock in the evening, Xiao Sheng appeared at Shen Feng's encampment with a stove and charcoal. Shen Feng was already starving and had almost given up waiting.
"Nephew, I'm here. Here's the stove and charcoal. The others will be here shortly. Let's find a place to wait first," Xiao Sheng said enthusiastically as he walked up to Shen Feng.
Shen Feng was very annoyed by this address and directly said, "You're not married yet, so stop calling me that affectionately. My sister is moody. She might dump you one day, and then we'll be strangers!"
At this moment, Shen Feng still couldn't accept the relationship between Xiao Sheng and his sister. Why was it that shortly after he left Rongcheng, his sister and Xiao Sheng had fallen into a passionate romance? What had happened during this period?
In reality, Shen Yu and Xiao Sheng met during the zombie crisis in Rongcheng. Shen Yu had to go out to maintain public order and encountered a zombie attack. Xiao Sheng saved Shen Yu twice. Afterward, Xiao Sheng remained stationed in Rongcheng, which gave them opportunities to meet and get to know each other.
"Is that so? Then I'll have to call you that a few more times, lest I can't take advantage of you after breaking up with your sister," Xiao Sheng said nonchalantly.
Shen Feng found a sheltered spot under the city wall, set up plastic stools, and then waited for Xiao Sheng to start the fire. Xiao Sheng, being a supernatural user himself, summoned blue flames with a wave of his hand. Ten minutes later, the charcoal was lit. They sat by the fire, waiting for the others to arrive.
The second person to arrive was Qin Ke Wei, carrying a pot and a packet of hot pot base. She complained upon arriving, "Hot pot base is so hard to find. I ran through two streets and only then bought the hot pot base with ration coupons. It cost me twenty catties of ration coupons. It hurts so much."
Yan Jing had long since implemented a rationing system, and currency had lost its value. In this situation, Yan Jing issued ration coupons, which were linked to grain and naturally became a special currency. Generally, ten catties of ration coupons could be exchanged for one catty of meat, and Qin Ke Wei had spent twenty catties of ration coupons on hot pot base, which was equivalent to buying two catties of meat.
Zhang Zi arrived shortly after, bringing fresh vegetables and a barrel of water. Hot pot wouldn't be complete without vegetables.
Fang Qinghao and Yue Hengyi arrived together, carrying frozen food. Fang Qinghao himself was looking around furtively, as if afraid of being discovered. It turned out he had secretly brought three bottles of white wine. Drinking was prohibited on the front lines, but he had managed to bring the alcohol.
Seeing that most of them had arrived, Shen Feng frowned and said, "Is this your gift? Why didn't you bring any meat? That's unreasonable!"
Xiao Sheng explained, "Nephew, don't rush. Jin Zijue is specifically going to buy meat. He hasn't arrived yet. Let's not be in a hurry and wash the vegetables first."
As they were talking, Jin Zijue appeared, carrying a sack and looking around suspiciously.
"Are all of you from the Supernatural Administration this sneaky?" Shen Feng couldn't help but tease Jin Zijue, seeing his behavior.
Jin Zijue's face darkened and he said, "You talk too much. If everyone hadn't agreed to come together, I wouldn't bother seeing you. What I'm carrying is meat. Eat it or don't!"
Jin Zijue and Shen Feng's relationship was not particularly good to begin with. Their initial encounter in Rongcheng had been unpleasant, and Shen Feng had mocked him the last time they met. Seeing Shen Feng, his expression was naturally not good, so he didn't have a pleasant demeanor at this moment.
Jin Zijue dropped the sack he was carrying and opened it. It turned out to be a pet dog, and a Golden Retriever, known as the gentlest dog. However, this dog was clearly dead. As a source of meat, everyone was stunned, not expecting Jin Zijue to bring dog meat.
"This, did you steal someone's pet dog?" Qin Ke Wei asked tentatively.
Jin Zijue quickly shook his head, "Don't talk nonsense. This is a stray dog. Look, there's no collar around its neck. Don't just stand there; boil water and scald it. Are you going to eat hot pot or not?"
"Didn't I tell you to buy meat? You just brought a dog and expect us to prepare it on the spot. You're really just causing trouble!" Yue Hengyi said regretfully, seeming to feel deep pity for Jin Zijue's intelligence.
Jin Zijue became angry upon hearing this, "Damn it, you guys have the nerve to say that! You gave me the task of buying meat, but look around Yan Jing, where can you buy meat? Now that I've finally brought the meat, you're blaming me. Isn't this like eating from a bowl and then throwing it away?"
Jin Zijue also had something to say. It was difficult to find even vegetables in the city, let alone sources of meat. In such circumstances, ordinary people might not even be able to get noodles, let alone buy meat. Now that he had found meat, it was already very difficult, so they shouldn't be picky.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. At least we have dog meat for the broth. Peel off the skin, throw the offal outside the city, and the rest is edible. There are seven of us here, which is enough!" Xiao Sheng saw the two of them arguing and started to mediate. Why bother scalding it now? They should just peel the skin.
Shen Feng had also been hungry for a long time. Seeing that the hot pot hadn't started, he didn't want to argue with these people anymore and joined in the mediation. "Alright, alright, hurry up and clean the ingredients. I'm so hungry. To wait for your hot pot, I only ate half a pancake for dinner."
The group quickly began to prepare the dog meat. Meanwhile, Chu Chaoyan quietly approached them, sneering, "Hmph, you're having hot pot and hiding it from me? Shen Feng, you're really something. You're so secretive about dining with beautiful women outside. No, I must record this in my notebook and tell Chang Jianyi!"
The beauties Chu Chaoyan mentioned were naturally Zhang Zi and Qin Ke Wei. One had an icy demeanor, elegant and aloof, while the other was calm and composed, gentle and generous. Their appearances were naturally flawless. The others were automatically filtered out by Chu Chaoyan.
"Don't twist things. I'm just having a meal with good friends. If you say anything nonsense to my senior sister, I won't let you off!" Shen Feng was most afraid of his senior sister getting angry. Now, being spoken to like this by Chu Chaoyan, he felt overwhelmed.
Chu Chaoyan slowly smiled and said, "I can stop talking nonsense, but only if you add me to the hot pot!"
"Fine, fine, sit down. I knew there was something wrong with you eating so little for dinner. As expected, you found out!" Shen Feng said helplessly.
Chu Chaoyan sat down contentedly, ready to wait for the hot pot. Her appearance only made the others glance at her a couple of times before they continued preparing the ingredients.
In fact, Chu Chaoyan had another reason for being here. She had already made a promise to Li Keyi that she would help her complete the transaction. However, Chu Chaoyan couldn't find an opportunity to talk about it for a while. But now that she saw white wine here, she immediately had an idea. As long as she got Shen Feng drunk and muddled, and made him agree carelessly, wouldn't that work? As for the content of the transaction, Chu Chaoyan didn't care. She figured it was just some private exchange of supplies.
"Li Keyi probably wants an evolution base. After all, she's a third-tier evolver and has almost reached the evolution bottleneck, which is why she said she wants to become stronger. It's not a big deal. Didn't Shen Feng exchange an evolution base for a corpse king's head last time?" Chu Chaoyan thought to herself.
Chu Chaoyan had been deceived by Li Keyi's sweet talk and was now wholeheartedly trying to help. In Chu Chaoyan's eyes, if she hadn't known Shen Feng later than Chang Jianyi, it wasn't certain who the current deputy city lord would be. She heard that Shen Feng and Chang Jianyi weren't very familiar with each other before the apocalypse.
Chu Chaoyan thought to herself, "Li Keyi said that Shen Feng and I are a good match, so it must be true."
Soon, the dog meat was prepared. Qin Ke Wei sliced it thinly, stir-fried it with the hot pot base, and then added water to simmer after it was fragrant. The charcoal stove burned fiercely, and it soon boiled. At this point, Fang Qinghao poured white wine for everyone, but Zhang Zi and Chu Chaoyan didn't drink, so they were given a cup of plain water. Although there were no dipping sauces, everyone was gathered together, and a lively atmosphere was immediately created.
Shen Feng hadn't drunk much before, but now he started to try drinking. The more the higher-ups prohibited something, the more Shen Feng wanted to try it. Anyway, Fang Qinghao had said there would be no major battles soon, so what was there to worry about? He might as well drink honestly. How could a man not drink? Especially in this apocalyptic atmosphere, it was only right to have some wine and enjoy himself.
While eating hot pot, Xiao Sheng said with a low mood, "I didn't expect zombies to be so difficult to deal with. Now, it's clearly not easy to eliminate zombies. Future battles will be extremely difficult. I really don't know how much longer it will take to achieve victory."
Jin Zijue looked at Qin Ke Wei and asked, "Big sister, isn't your ability to control earth? Can't you use earth to seal all the caves and suffocate all the zombies?"
Qin Ke Wei shook her head and said helplessly, "What are you thinking? Although I'm a fifth-tier supernatural user, there are still many things I can't do. A giant cave that can accommodate over a hundred million zombies must have an immense underground space. The zombies have been digging for over a month. Can I seal all the caves?"
Shen Feng comforted them, "Don't worry, where there's a will, there's a way. Victory will come sooner or later. We just need to hold on."
"You're not in a hurry because your position is different from ours. You've obtained Yuzhou, which is your base. You can just return to Yuzhou, but we can't. We have to consider the overall situation and wait for victory!" Fang Qinghao shook his head helplessly.