"Is it warmer now?" Xu An looked at Zhou Haimei, who was still shivering.
As she spoke, she scooped a pot of snowmelt into an iron pot and placed it on the stove to heat.
After chopping firewood, Qin Chuan walked to the side, silent.
Fortunately, the wooden cabin was large enough. Qin Chuan found a corner and quietly began his recovery training.
Xu An did not ask about Qin Chuan's next plan or what to do about his remaining teammates.
She thought Qin Chuan must have his own ideas and therefore did not urge him.
Before long, the snowmelt was boiled. Xu An poured the water into a cup and handed it to Zhou Haimei.
Zhou Haimei shivered as she took the cup, her lips trembling slightly. "An'an, aren't you cold?"
She was curious. Xu An and Qin Chuan had been out chopping firewood in the snow all morning, yet they seemed fine upon returning.
Instead, she, who had stayed inside, felt like an elderly person on the verge of death, so afraid of the cold.
Zhou Haimei began to consider if she should also start training her body like Qin Chuan, as a healthy body was the only capital for survival in this apocalypse.
Xu An looked at Zhou Haimei, then glanced at Qin Chuan in the corner.
Sweat beaded on Qin Chuan's skin, his pores slightly dilated, radiating heat.
"Perhaps our physiques are just better?"
Xu An gave a casual excuse. She couldn't tell Zhou Haimei that both her and Qin Chuan's bodies might have been modified.
It was just that the current temperature was not suitable for bathing. If it were just her, it would be fine, but with Qin Chuan in the room, it was rather inconvenient.
Fortunately, the temperature was cold enough that even with such strenuous activity, she didn't sweat or feel sticky.
Because Zhou Haimei was afraid of the cold, she had been sitting on the bed wrapped in a blanket since Xu An returned, and had not gotten up.
Half an hour later.
A trace of warm air had gathered in the wooden cabin.
Xu An looked at the fire and took out food from her backpack. They had been busy since early morning and hadn't eaten anything, so they were already hungry.
Seeing Xu An preparing to cook, Qin Chuan voluntarily came over to help.
Xu An didn't make anything too complicated, mostly filling and hot soups.
Fortunately, the wooden cabin still had some basic sanitary facilities. Xu An had not changed the basic structure of the cabin when she renovated it.
There was a dedicated area for a restroom on the left side, not inside the cabin but connected to it.
However, going outside to the restroom in this weather...
The experience would be unimaginable.
After lunch was ready, Zhou Haimei struggled to get out of bed. Although she was still wrapped in two thick blankets, she couldn't help but shiver.
Only when she held the hot soup Xu An gave her did her cold hands seem to warm up.
There were no power facilities here, so the electric hand warmers in Xu An's backpack were useless.
Although they could manage for now, life would undoubtedly become more difficult in the days to come.
Zhou Haimei cupped the bowl of porridge and looked at Xu An, "Should we borrow a couple of blankets from other people?"
"It's too cold, these two blankets are not enough."
Xu An also knew that they probably wouldn't last these 20 days with just these two blankets.
But in this situation, it was certain that every household was struggling to protect themselves. Would anyone be willing to lend them blankets?
Thinking this, Xu An muttered softly, "Perhaps there's no electricity in this area, and these villagers might not lend us blankets?"
Before Zhou Haimei could speak, Qin Chuan said calmly from the side, "Those houses have blankets, and they have electricity."
Xu An was about to ask how Qin Chuan knew they had electricity.
She exchanged a look with Zhou Haimei in mid-air and then remembered that Qin Chuan's unit had previously interacted with these villagers and had been calculated against, leading to their current predicament.
Before Xu An could say more, Qin Chuan continued, "If you have any extra food, you can take it to exchange for blankets, or for charging. Just be careful, those people... have many tricks. If they find out you have many things on you, they might attract others."
His meaning was clear.
If you have supplies, go exchange them yourselves. I'm exposed anyway and can't appear before them again.
If those villagers knew Qin Chuan was not dead, it would cause even bigger trouble.
She turned to look at Zhou Haimei, who was trembling like a quail, and shook her head.
It seemed only she could go now.
"Then I'll go this afternoon."
Qin Chuan shook his head, "You'd best go at night. While no one is around, go to that house we passed today and ask. There shouldn't be a problem."
Zhou Haimei also became curious, "Which house?"
Xu An: "The one you asked for directions to the day before yesterday."
"Oh, I remember, it's the one that was very fierce and said Qin Chuan and the others were all dead, right?"
Xu An nodded, "That's right. I'll go out in a bit. You and Qin Chuan pack up after eating."
Zhou Haimei did not refuse and nodded.
"But why go at night? It's snowing so heavily right now," Zhou Haimei asked Qin Chuan, not understanding.
"You won't be able to exchange anything during the day. Someone is watching you all the time."
Xu An glanced at Qin Chuan after hearing this, sensing there was something amiss. However, seeing that Qin Chuan had no intention of elaborating, she didn't ask.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Xu An, carrying her backpack, walked towards the door with a hurried expression.
Following Qin Chuan's instructions, she waited until it was completely dark before heading over.
Before she even got close, she heard yelling from a distance.
Two rough and strong voices echoed in her ears.
"You useless woman, you have no skills. Both of us men are starving to death."
"Damn it, what's the use of raising a good-for-nothing like you! Look at the neighbors, how much supplies they got. It's enough for that idiot Wang Ermazi to eat until the end of the year. And you, useless!"
A slightly younger voice accompanying the shouting also chimed in.
"Exactly, exactly! Dashun's mother is so capable, she can fool those people, and she has many new and novel things I've never seen before, even dehydrated vegetables."
After speaking, the voice clearly showed displeasure: "Dad, I want to eat dehydrated vegetables too."
As Xu An approached, the voices became clearer. Following the childish voice came a crisp slap.
What followed was the woman's suppressed cry and the man's angry curses and kicks.
Xu An extracted a lot of information from this conversation. She had a hunch that the "capable" the man mentioned had another hidden meaning.