Lu Sheng opened the door and found that Xu Yi had installed an iron gate between room 402 and the corridor, completely separating their three dorm rooms from the other side of the corridor.

Sun Tiantian and Xiao Yu were already busy helping out.

Xu Yi worked quickly, and the four of them installed the door in no time.

"It's chaotic outside, be more careful in the future." Xu Yi handed a key to the iron gate to each person.

Sun Tiantian looked worried as she took out her phone and showed it to a few people. "It's all over the internet now. The government's relief supplies have been temporarily suspended, and the rice and noodles that were supposed to be rationed weekly based on student IDs have also been canceled."

Weibo, Baidu Tieba, and various forums are filled with public complaints.

With government relief supplies falling short, many people are venting their anger on grassroots workers who maintain public order and ensure residents' basic livelihoods.

"Since you've taken taxpayers' money, you should do things for them!"

"A pound of rice costs 4,000 yuan in the mall. Does that mean poor people should just starve to death?"

Videos of rioters attacking grassroots staff have been uploaded to Weibo, showing staff being pinned down and beaten by the mob.

Sun Tiantian felt a pang of pity. "I wonder when the government's supplies will arrive. These grassroots workers really have it tough."

"Don't count too much on the government providing supplies." Lu Sheng cruelly shattered Sun Tiantian's illusions. "With a population of over a billion in China, even a pound of rice per person would be an astronomical figure."

In his previous life, Lu Sheng had also experienced such a turbulent period. It wasn't that the government didn't want to help the people who lacked food and water, but the country's population was too large, and a large amount of the national grain reserves had spoiled due to the high temperatures. The government simply didn't have the capacity to procure enough food in a short period of time.

New grain supplies are insufficient, but supermarkets and shopping malls have limited inventory; every pound sold reduces the supply by one pound.

The prices of all survival supplies skyrocketed again, sometimes rising three times in an hour. At first, they could barely maintain order, but when everyone was starving, the last vestiges of the rule of law in this society were completely shattered.

“There’s looting and vandalism everywhere right now. Almost all the upscale residential areas in the city have been ransacked.” Xiao Yu frowned. “Everyone knows that poor students don’t have money, so Peking University hasn’t been targeted by outsiders yet.”

"But we can't just sit around and do nothing. Supplies will become increasingly difficult to find in the future, so we should try to find as much as possible now."

It's rare that Xiao Yu has also developed a sense of crisis.

Xu Yi, who had been silent until now, spoke up, "There should be pheasants and roe deer on the nearby mountains."

"Yes, yes! I remember!" Xiao Yu slapped her thigh excitedly. "When I was a child, my grandma's house was at the foot of the mountain. Besides pheasants and roe deer, there were also serows, and they were all very fat."

"Let's go up the mountain first and see if we can hunt some wild game."

As before, Xiao Yu stayed home, while Lu Sheng and Xu Yi took Sun Tiantian to the mountains to try their luck.

To avoid being attacked by mutated plants and mosquitoes on the mountain, all three of them covered themselves up completely and wore gloves.

Just before leaving, Zhuangzhuang clung to Lu Sheng's lap and refused to leave.

"Take me with you! Take me with you! Meow!"

Zhuangzhuang clung to Lu Sheng's pants with his two little paws, pleading pitifully.

"It's not like we're going on a spring outing, why would I take you there?" Lu Sheng grabbed Zhuangzhuang by the back of his neck and threw him onto the bed.

"There's a big rat in the building! I don't want to be here by myself!" Zhuangzhuang's fat body was unusually nimble, and he scrambled onto Lu Sheng's shoulder again, refusing to get down.

Lu Sheng: "..."

Before, Lu Sheng would have been quite pleased with Zhuangzhuang's affectionate behavior towards her. But now, Lu Sheng treated Zhuangzhuang like a person; a three-year-old kitten was basically equivalent to a 28-year-old adult.

Just imagining a middle-aged man nearing thirty lying on her lap, acting all cute and affectionate, made Lu Sheng's hair stand on end...

"Come in yourself."

Unable to resist Zhuangzhuang's nagging any longer, Lu Sheng took out a cat-shaped backpack from her spatial storage.

Xiling Mountain is more than ten kilometers away from Peking University. Normally, this notoriously congested section of road takes about two hours to drive there, but today it took less than half an hour to get to the foot of the mountain.

Ordinary people simply can't buy gasoline, so naturally there are fewer cars on the road.

Lu Sheng didn't ask Xu Yi why the gas tank was always full; everyone had secrets, and they understood each other without saying a word.

The mountain road was steep, so Lu Sheng and the other two parked their car at the foot of the mountain and hiked into the mountain.

The path up the mountain was paved with stone slabs, making it relatively easy to walk. Xu Yi walked in front, protecting Sun Tiantian in the middle, while Lu Sheng stayed at the back of the group.

Animal footprints can be seen on both sides of the mountain road, and occasionally a pile of animal droppings can be seen in the grass.

"Meow meow! Lu Sheng! I'm scared!"

Zhuangzhuang has lived with humans since birth and is completely unfamiliar with the wild environment. He was so scared in the cat carrier that he meowed and screamed. Even through two layers of fabric, his little paws were still scratched painfully on Lusheng's back.

Helpless, Lu Sheng could only hold Zhuangzhuang in his arms and gently stroke its bristling tail.

[Ding. Pet skill unlocked: Survival Instinct]

A system notification sound suddenly rang out.

Surprised, Lu Sheng checked the system panel.

As the most skilled predators in the jungle, felines possess an innate sensitivity to danger, a crucial talent for their survival in the wild.

Pets can sense danger within a range of 100 meters.

"Something terrifying is nearby..."

Zhuangzhuang buried his head in Lu Sheng's arms, whimpering and curling up into a ball.

Can you smell it?

Xu Yi, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

Lu Sheng took a deep sniff; a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood could be detected in the air.

The three followed the scent southeast for several dozen meters and found a villa in the woods!

The villa's gate and the entire building were covered in green plants, and when the wind blew, the smell of blood wafted out from the layers of green.

"You two step back."

Xu Yi gestured for Lu Sheng and Sun Tiantian to step back, then bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it into the villa's courtyard.

brush!

A vine quickly sprouted from the villa, and the two fan-shaped leaves at the top of the vine instantly clamped the stone.

"Venus flytrap?"

Lu Sheng frowned slightly.

Back in junior high, boxed potted plants were all the rage, costing around ten yuan a box. Lu Sheng once bought a box of Venus flytraps, which looked almost exactly like the plant in front of him.

Lu Sheng clearly remembered that she had looked up information about Venus flytraps before; they were carnivorous plants.

Any insect that comes into contact with two leaves of the Venus flytrap will be trapped inside and slowly digested.

This mutated Venus flytrap in front of me has clearly eaten a living creature...

Having chewed on a mouthful of stones, the mutated Venus flytrap lashed out with its vines, and three vines simultaneously chased after Lu Sheng and his companions.

A cold glint flashed from Xu Yi's fingertips, and three pieces of vines with their mouths open appeared on the ground.

Perhaps because it had just eaten and was moving slowly, the fly-trapping herbaceous plant in the villa took quite a while to extend two thick leaves again.

Lu Sheng condensed a ball of electricity in his palm, aimed at the exposed rootstock of the Venus flytrap, and threw it with all his might.