After leaving the black bear's territory, Li Yao continued to wander in the mountains.

The mountains at the end of summer are truly full of novelties.

Li Yao was having a great time, picking herbs and finding wild fruits and mushrooms.

Suddenly, the system said, "[Host, there are people at the foot of the mountain; they seem to be villagers from nearby.]"

Li Yao paused for a moment, then asked, "How many people are there in total?"

The system reported: "There are 12 people, all adult males, including an elderly man carrying a hunting rifle."

After ascertaining the exact location, Li Yao teleported there and used her mental power to scan the woods 3 kilometers away from them.

These people did look like villagers; their fingers were cracked and rough, and the men had dark, cracked skin. The leader looked like a hunter, occasionally crawling on the ground looking for tracks, while the others picked wild vegetables and fruits nearby.

These people were dressed in rags, wearing layers of short-sleeved and long-sleeved clothes, with black and yellow stains on their outer coats, and their shoes were also filthy.

Everyone carries a kitchen knife or a sickle.

After observing for a while, Li Yao realized that these people must have run out of food, and the able-bodied young men and experienced elders had come up the mountain to find provisions.

But there were no people with superpowers among them; they were all ordinary people.

Li Yao watched for a while. They kept lingering at the foot of the mountain and did not enter the forest. They must have been very cautious or had encountered danger in the forest before.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yao quietly left.

She didn't want anyone to find out. Nor did she want to help, since she didn't know when she might leave. She could only save her temporarily, not forever. What if these people knew she had abilities and came back to the mountain after she left, only to encounter danger again? Wouldn't that just make her hated for no reason?

People are sometimes like that. When they are helped, their gratitude may be genuine for a moment, but what about the next time? When they encounter a life-or-death situation, if they can't find you or you don't help them, they will resent you from the bottom of their hearts. People will not resent this damned apocalypse, nor will they resent the zombies and inhuman people who hurt them; they will only resent you for not helping them.

When Li Yao thought of these things, she recalled the days that the original Li Yao lived in the post-apocalyptic base, a life worse than death. She remembered that the girl had been kind and had refused, but no matter how she dealt with those greedy people, she could not escape the helplessness and despair of being vandalized and robbed.

Li Yao hated that feeling of despair and loathed that sense of powerlessness.

She marked the group's activity area and then teleported away from the foot of the mountain.

Now she has the power to do whatever she wants, to go wherever she wants, and no one can catch her or kill her. So she doesn't care whether these people are good or bad, as long as they don't offend her.

Li Yao teleported to Tianchi Lake, wanting to see the scenery.

After mid-September, the lush greenery of Changbai Mountain will turn yellow, and the autumn atmosphere will be particularly strong. Winter will arrive and snow will fall in October. Li Yao is not sure when winter will come to Changbai Mountain this year.

Li Yao was still leisurely wandering in the mountains, unaware of the mind-blowing scene that Li Dazhu and the others were experiencing down below after she left.

Li Dazhu and his group of twelve were all villagers from a small mountain village more than ten kilometers away.

Li Dazhu's family were hunters for generations. Later, because he had more experience in the jungle, he joined the militia and has been there ever since.

Every winter, they would organize patrols with the villagers to prevent wolves from coming down the mountain to bite people when they were hungry.

Last year, there was a rainstorm, and the road to the county was washed away by a mudslide. The county organized a rescue team to deliver supplies several times. Then, fog suddenly rolled in.

The village elders all said the weather was bad; the weather in Yongzhong since September had been very abnormal, and they told everyone to stay home and not go out.

Fortunately, they were all farmers who had always kept cellars and stored grain. The supplies sent by the county had also been distributed by the village chief. Farmers depend on the weather for their livelihood and knew the ominous nature of this fog, so they all listened to the advice.

The county's rescue team never came again.

After the thick fog cleared, some people in their village turned into zombie-like monsters. Fortunately, they all mutated at home and did not infect others, but unfortunately, several families died in their homes.

Later, they killed the monsters and cremated them, but they couldn't contact the outside world. The TV and radio at home said that the weather outside had changed, so everyone stayed in the village.

Fortunately, the autumn harvest came after the thick fog. Some of the corn, potatoes, rice, and wheat in the fields had rotted, but most of them were still edible. After the harvest, everyone had vegetables in the fields and wild vegetables on the hillside that were also edible, so they made do and survived each day.

Later, the wild boars on the back mountain grew larger and larger, claiming the mountain as their territory. They would bite villagers who went up the mountain, and many young men were injured.

This wild boar has become impervious to weapons; even shots from hunting rifles can't break its skin.

Once November was over, heavy snow blocked the mountains, and many people froze to death. Everyone stayed huddled on their heated brick beds, afraid to go out.

As winter passed, almost all the elderly and children in the village froze to death.

When everyone went to plant in the spring, they found that the weeds in the fields were growing wildly and the seeds rarely germinated. The weeds grew more and more luxuriantly. They had no choice but to burn the fields and continue planting after burning them. As a result, the harvest was pitifully small.

This time, everyone heard on the radio that the base in the city said that some wild vegetables and fruits were edible, and encouraged everyone to actively help themselves.

Eleven able-bodied men were selected from their village. Li Dazhu picked up the hunting rifle himself, and they walked more than ten kilometers around the back mountain to the foot of Changbai Mountain, hoping to find some food there.