Gu Zhou and the others watched the Wang family cook. They decided to wait until they finished cooking and eating before cooking themselves. The vegetables they brought out were all wilted.

Wang San San and the others simply cooked a pot of taro and mixed grain porridge.

They didn't call Gu Zhou for dinner. Gu Zhou and the others didn't mind. They waited patiently for them to start cooking.

Then I cooked a pot of vegetable soup and sprinkled a small handful of rice into it. I planned to have them eat the vegetables and soup later, and then feed the children the leftover rice.

Gu Zhou quickly finished his bowl of vegetable soup. He glanced at the children and told them to take good care of them. He then said he wanted to go gather some firewood; they couldn't always burn other people's firewood.

Gu Zhou walked towards the group and asked, "Young brothers, what's your name?"

"Wang San San, my brother Wang Xiao Si, here are my two brothers-in-law Li De and Zhang Yi, my sister, and my aunt."

"Hello. I've been busy taking care of my daughter. I'm Gu Zhou, and I was the mayor until today. But things are in chaos outside now."

I won't lie to you, the higher-ups are already too busy taking care of themselves. They simply can't possibly care about those below.

You've all seen it. I have children at home, so I have to escape quickly. Otherwise, once those people run out of food, how can I protect the women, elderly, and children in my family all by myself!

"Look... could our family stay around here?" Gu Zhou said earnestly. The mayor truly lived up to his name; there was nothing to criticize.

"What does it mean that the higher-ups don't care about the lower-ups?" Wang Xiaosi asked, puzzled.

"It will not help the people in any way, nor will it coordinate any supplies to be delivered. Furthermore, it will not deploy troops for protection."

"How could that be!" Wang Xiaosi exclaimed in disbelief.

"Possibly. Many people have died outside, and houses have collapsed completely."

"Earthquakes have occurred not only outside, but all over the country. And in some places, the damage is even more severe."

In the last few years of the apocalypse, the nation was exhausted.

Even if they still have a little capability left, they will only protect key personnel.

As for who this "key personnel" refers to, no one asked or brought it up again.

"Alright. You can stay here. Just don't share a cave with us."

"Okay. I'll let the children rest here. I'll go out and take a look. Is that alright?"

“Okay. Go ahead. We’ll look after the child for you,” Wang Lili said.

"Thank you."

Gu Zhou didn't think the group of people were bad people. They were even willing to give him milk powder, so he felt a little more at ease.

I didn't dare go far. I found a spot nearby, surrounded by trees and rocks.

I plan to cover the bottom with trees later. The interior should be about ten square meters.

The weather isn't cold now. It's definitely fine tonight.

Then slowly renovate it later.

Moreover, it's less than ten meters from the cave. If anything happens, you can call the Wang family for help. They live here; there are many of them, so bad guys will think twice before trying to harm them.

Similarly, the Wang family members thought the same way. Living outside the cave, if someone came, they would first deal with the people on the outer layer. Of course, the downside was that it would be easy for others to discover that people lived there.

But there's nothing they can do. The mountain doesn't belong to them. Anyone can live there if they want.

We can only take it one step at a time.

"There?"

"Yes. Will this bother you?" Gu Zhou looked at Wang San San's calm eyes and knew he had a chance. However, he still asked politely.

"You can stay here. Do you need any help?"

Wang San San also wanted this family to leave quickly, so he wanted to help set up a place to stay as soon as possible. However, he didn't offer to help out directly; he simply left the problem to them. If he were to help, he would feel indebted to his family, and he already owed several favors.

"...Thank you so much. I'd like to build a shed around the area surrounded by stones as soon as possible. That way we'll have shelter from the wind and rain, and we can move in."

“Okay. Let’s go help together,” Li De said to the other men.

Several men, armed with axes and saws, soon dragged back several trees from other places.

Some were trees salvaged from the earthquake, uprooted and still with dense branches. They were simply pruned. Then, deep pits were dug at the four corners to bury the main trunks. They were about two meters tall and thirty centimeters in diameter.

The top is connected to the main rod by four thinner rods.

Finally, a thin strip was laid on top and tied tightly with rope. Two layers of plastic bags, which Wang Nana had brought, were then laid on top. Finally, a layer of branches, all with leaves, was added on top. This provided some concealment for the house.

By the time they finished, it was already dark. The family of four felt bad about bothering them any longer, so they moved into the small house.

Thankfully, the child's fever has subsided considerably. Now he only has a low-grade fever. The baby is also much more energetic.

That evening, his mother-in-law was cooking. Gu Zhou was chopping tree branches with an axe he'd borrowed from the Wang family. He was alone, using the firelight to surround the area, sticking branches into the branches and tying them up simply.

It is mainly for protection against snakes and other animals.

"Mom, the baby just smiled!"

"Haha. That's good. We'll use rice water later and add some milk powder."

“Okay. Da Zhou, you take a rest. Go see the child. I’ll take care of the rest.” Wang Lanying looked at her husband with heartache.

"No. I'm dirty. Hold me for now. I'll be done soon. Let's just wrap it up briefly today and do a more detailed treatment tomorrow."

"Okay. Take it slow. Everyone's finally settled down now."

"...We still need to be careful. We never know when the refugees from the foot of the mountain will come up."

"They probably won't all go up the mountain!"

"I hope so."

The next morning, while Wang Lili was weeding the vegetable garden near the cave entrance, she heard a child crying loudly from the neighboring shed. Her maternal instincts almost overwhelmed her, but she didn't go over.

It wasn't until Wang Nana said, "Go ahead and take a look if you want. It's okay," that Wang Lili dared to go over.

"What's wrong?" Wang Lili asked cautiously, standing at the door.

Gu Zhou has already gone out to cut tree branches.

"Oh, you've arrived? Come in and have a seat."

"Um."

"May I call you Lily?" Wang Lanying asked softly.

"Can."

"Okay. You can just call me Sister Yingzi."

The child was probably hungry. The fever has subsided now. My mother has started cooking porridge.

Thank you so much for the baby formula you gave us before.

"You're welcome. I'm just worried about the child."

"Yes, yes. Without your family, my child definitely wouldn't have survived. It was so hard to get pregnant. If the child were gone, I definitely wouldn't have survived either."

"Sister Yingzi, when you got pregnant... how could you be so sure about giving birth to her?"

"Sigh, there was nothing we could do. My husband and I were so old when we had a child. He was the mayor back then. We thought that once the child was born, we could raise it somehow. Who knew, there would be such a sudden earthquake..."

There's nothing we can do; natural disasters and man-made calamities are unavoidable.

"Yes, I..."