When Zhang Shi woke up, it was already sunset. Knowing that today was the last day of the severe natural disaster, and the system would likely release a ranking list based on the survivors' strength, Zhang Shi perked up, eagerly anticipating the moment the rankings would be announced.

"Hmph hmph hmph~"

Because of the rising temperature, all the windows in the villa were open, and Zhang Shi could clearly hear the piglets squealing.

"I almost forgot about these three little ones; I still need to find them a home."

Zhang Shi opened the trading market and found that the batch of weapons that had been listed earlier had all been sold, so he manufactured another batch to replenish them.

After glancing at the transaction orders, Zhang Shi noticed that many of the orders were purchased by someone called "Humanoid Teddy." He remembered this person; they always left comments under his transaction orders, but Zhang Shi found it annoying and never replied.

"Has another new force emerged?"

Zhang Shi had no intention of expanding his territory; he only wanted to live peacefully in his own little corner of the world. However, he was very sensitive to the actions of these forces.

"What's the point of buying so many weapons? We can't even get the people together."

Zhang Shi ignored everything else, bought a livestock pen in the trading market, and then shut down the system.

He placed the livestock pen next to the sheep and mixed some chopped vegetable roots with bread. This was the wild boar piglets' first meal at the shelter, and Zhang Shi was extremely generous.

The three little pigs had never eaten such fine bran before, and temporarily forgot their fear, burying their heads in the feeding trough.

Tears of relief streamed down Zhang Shi's face as he murmured.

"Eat more, get fatter."

Seeing how much the piglet was enjoying its food, Zhang Shi also felt a bit hungry. Remembering the two bags of flour he had just harvested, Zhang Shi decided to treat himself to some dumplings today.

Following his childhood memories, Zhang Shi poured a pound of flour into a wooden basin, stirring it with his hands while adding water. Once the water was just right, Zhang Shi kneaded the dough into a ball, and before long, all the flour had coalesced into a large dough.

Seeing that the most troublesome step of kneading the dough had been a great success, Zhang Shi was overjoyed. He covered the wooden basin with the dough to let it rest, and then turned to prepare the meat filling.

Zhang Shi was raised by his maternal grandparents when he was young. The two elderly people lived near the mountains, where wild boar meat was quite common. Every year during festivals, his grandmother would make dumplings filled with wild boar meat.

Zhang Shi recalled the taste of his childhood, and his mood became somewhat downcast. Pipi keenly sensed Zhang Shi's emotional fluctuation, kicked its legs, and pounced on Zhang Shi's lap, gazing at him with its big eyes.

Zhang Shi squatted down and touched Pipi's big ears, muttering to himself.

"I'm not going to think about all that nonsense anymore. Being able to live well and have food and drink is the greatest happiness right now."

Quickly regaining his composure, Zhang Shi took out a piece of fresh wild boar meat. The meat was a mix of fat and lean, and although Zhang Shi couldn't tell what part it was, he guessed it would taste delicious.

"The scallions in the fields have just been harvested, so today's filling is pork and scallions."

...

From kneading the dough, chopping the filling, seasoning, wrapping the dumplings, to finally cooking them, Zhang Shi worked for more than three hours, sweating profusely.

The moment the dumplings were scooped out and placed on the table, Zhang Shi didn't even wait to prepare the dipping sauce before picking up a mouthful with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth.

"Mmm, it smells so good."

Remembering that his friends probably hadn't had noodles in a long time, Zhang Shi put all the dumplings into the pot and generously filled three plates to give to Zhao Feng, Wu Qing, and Ge Dalong.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhang Shi suddenly remembered that the gillnet hadn't been collected yet. Some time had passed since it was cast, and he didn't know if the net had yielded anything.

Carrying an oil lamp and feeling his way in the dark, Zhang Shi first peered around the courtyard wall for a while. The shelter was quiet at night, with the occasional chirping of birds, beasts, and insects, but no large wild animals were seen attacking. He figured it was thanks to the Black Mist's protection.

Seeing that there was no danger, Zhang Shi went out and came to the riverbank.

Even though Zhang Shi was level eight and had a high strength attribute, it still took a lot of effort to pull the fixed network cable up.

By the light, Zhang Shineng could vaguely see some fish and shrimp that had been caught, conservatively estimating that there were dozens of kilograms of fish caught.

Zhang Shi put his catch into his backpack and cast his net again in the dark. Suddenly, a light appeared in the night sky. Zhang Shi looked up and was astonished.

"Those are... stars?"

Zhang Shi confirmed that the twinkling lights in the night sky were starlight.

This was the first time he had seen stars since arriving in the wilderness, and he couldn't help but take a few more glances at them.

After returning to the shelter, Zhang Shi opened the chat channel.

Sure enough, many survivors noticed the changes in the night sky and started discussing them.

Zhu Dachang: Did you see that? A star suddenly appeared in the sky. What's going on? Could it be that a meteorite is about to fall?

Cheng Xiaobai: Brother, don't worry unnecessarily. I saw that star too. It's very far away from us. Even if it crashes, it won't fall here.

Zhao Weiwei: I am an astronomy enthusiast. The constellations in this world are obviously wrong. I have never seen a sky with only one star.

Wang Wu: By the way, tonight at 12 o'clock is the time when the severe cold disaster will end. Do you think the system will create a leaderboard like last time?

Hou Kun: There's no need to think about it, there will definitely be one. I just don't know where I'll rank this time, or what level of reward I'll get.

Zhu Dachang: Instead of thinking about rewards, we should think about how to deal with the next natural disaster. Anyway, I've stored enough supplies this time, so we should be able to get through it easily if nothing unexpected happens.

Liu Yu: Ladies and gentlemen, for the better survival of us survivors, I hereby announce the official establishment of the Light Alliance. Here, we uphold the principle of mutual assistance, never holding back or exploiting our comrades. There are no entry requirements; those interested can contact us privately. [Outpost (Purple) x1: After use, a Shelter can be converted into an Outpost. Friendly units can choose to merge their Shelter into an Outpost. The Outpost owner has the highest authority.]

Unexpectedly, Liu Yu would make such a big move after being silent for a while. Zhang Shi was quite curious about this stronghold, so he sent Liu Yu a private message to inquire.

Liu Yu saw that it was Zhang Shi sending a private message and replied immediately.

"Boss Zhang Shi, what brings you here? Are you interested in joining our Light Alliance? If you come, I can give you the position of president."

Zhang Shi politely declined, and instead inquired about the specific usage of the base's equipment.

Liu Yu had anticipated Zhang Shi's reaction, but still spoke frankly about everything he knew.

"I found this thing by chance while mining. To put it simply, it merges shelters. After merging, each member still has management rights over their own shelter, but the manager can freely enter and exit everyone's shelter and has the right to allocate all resources within the stronghold."

"To date, our Light Alliance has recruited nearly a hundred people, and these people have merged their shelters into their strongholds. My philosophy is to stick together and help each other. Humans are social creatures. Rather than enduring loneliness alone, it's better to form an alliance and face difficulties and setbacks together."

Zhang Shi nodded, respecting Liu Yu's idea. However, once the number of people increases, it becomes a mixed bag, inevitably leading to all sorts of problems. Zhang Shi had no intention of dealing with these issues and kept his distance from such alliances.