Zhao Xiaoxiu was awakened by a series of cries. In front of her was a makeshift tent with a canopy made of bed sheets, and a solar-powered camping lamp hanging from the pointed top, emitting a faint light.

The child heard wailing and a woman's scolding, along with several voices trying to comfort him. The woman calmed down, took out half a vial of nutritional fluid, and handed it to the child. Only then did the wailing stop.

This is a tent that is only a dozen square meters in size, and it is full of women and children.

Led by a young woman who has undergone secondary evolution, they form a free caravan that wanders between various camps, struggling to survive by selling goods collected from the various base cities and earning meager profits.

Zhao Xiaoxiu and Monkey Sister squeezed into the corner of the tent. Despite the narrowness of the tent, the space for the two of them was surprisingly spacious, and Zhao Xiaoxiu could even lie down sideways.

The reason for this was simply that the women in the caravan were all afraid of the evolved macaques around her.

Although Zhao Xiaoxiu had already shown them that Monkey Sister wasn't interested in eating people, they were still frightened just by seeing its strong monkey arms and sharp fangs.

On the contrary, the children in the caravan were much bolder. They even dared to come up to Zhao Xiaoxiu, tilt their heads and sizing up Sister Monkey, pointing and whispering about her.

Despite being repeatedly warned by Zhao Xiaoxiu not to frighten the children, Sister Monkey, no matter how unhappy she was, simply sat there and raised her fist at the group of kids who were born with disabilities.

"Here you go." A little girl, who looked even smaller than Zhao Xiaoxiu, quickly put something on the ground, and with her two thin, bamboo-like legs, "whoosh," she ran back to her mother's arms.

Zhao Xiaoxiu looked over in surprise, and the little girl's mother nodded gently at her with tender eyes.

Zhao Xiaoxiu looked down and saw something wrapped in green leaves. She picked it up and opened it, revealing a small piece of roasted low-level mutated animal meat.

The grilled meat had no seasonings; all you could smell was the greasy aroma of charcoal and oil.

But even this seemingly unappetizing piece of roasted meat drew disapproving glances from those nearby towards the mother.

The caravan business was not doing well. The ratio of adults to children was almost one to one. Most of the children were born with certain disabilities. They did not belong to any base faction and did not receive child relief. Therefore, in addition to trading, they also had to hunt to make a living.

However, this free caravan was poorly equipped; only the leader had a laser pistol that he had somehow acquired.

It was thanks to this laser pistol that this caravan, consisting only of women and children, was able to survive until now.

Hunting is a group activity, and the food obtained is divided equally among the entire team.

The little girl's mother shared her meat with Zhao Xiaoxiu on her own initiative.

Therefore, although others had grievances, they did not say anything as long as it did not harm the collective interest.

"Thank you, Auntie." Zhao Xiaoxiu smiled happily at the mother and her shy daughter, then brought the tasteless piece of roasted meat to her mouth and ate it slowly, bite by bite.

After taking a couple of bites, I noticed a large, furry creature behind me swallowing hard. I quickly stuffed the rest of the food into its mouth.

Monkey Sister was immediately satisfied. Although this meat was far inferior to Zhao Gang's, it was still fresh roasted meat and tasted delicious.

If it weren't for the fear of frightening all the women and cubs in the room, it would have been overjoyed and wanted to dance with joy.

The little girl, nestled in her mother's arms, opened her normal right eye and noticed the monkey and the older girl's little actions. She blinked and showed a surprised expression.

She seems to have intellectual developmental delays, only able to utter one word at a time. Right now, she excitedly tugged at her mother's sleeve, pointed at Monkey Sister, and said, "Eat! Eat!"

Monkeys eat roasted meat too!

Her mother was talking to the woman next door when she heard her daughter's voice. She looked over in surprise and saw Zhao Xiaoxiu's sweet smile. She nodded in response.

The little girl, seeing that her mother had no idea what she meant, kept shouting "monkey, monkey, monkey" in frustration.

Her mother simply smiled and gestured for her daughter to keep her voice down and not disturb others.

The little girl sighed, her good eye wide open, staring at Monkey Sister, who was sitting sprawled out behind Zhao Xiaoxiu.

A commotion arose outside the tent, and soon a group of women escorted a young woman dressed in green mountain attire into the tent.

The women who were taking care of the children in the tent all looked over, and the noisy children instantly quieted down, obediently gazing at the young woman.

This is Lin Siyu, the caravan leader. He is in his early twenties, has a simple bald head, always wears a green headscarf, has two large silver hoops hanging from his ears, and is adorned with ornaments on his neck and wrists, which jingle as he walks.

She was a very fashionable young woman who became the center of attention the moment she stepped into the tent.

"I have some great news to announce!"

Lin Siyu, carrying an old-fashioned radio, smiled and said to everyone, "The biological company branch of Hope Base has just announced the successful development of the SHASI vaccine and promised that the conditions for the first batch of survivors to voluntarily receive the vaccine will be relaxed, with no restrictions on their place of birth; anyone can sign up!"

As soon as Lin Siyu said this, the quiet tent exploded as if a drop of water had been dropped into a frying pan!

Everyone stood up and gathered around Lin Siyu to listen to the broadcast news. They listened to it several times, still unable to believe that the vaccine had been successfully developed on such an ordinary day.

Lin Siyu was also in a state of excitement. She laughed wildly without regard for her image, and out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a monkey and a child in the corner.

The four-year-old girl who had the audacity to intercept their convoy halfway through the journey did not react at all when she heard the good news that the vaccine had been successfully developed.

No, there was one, but it was only a very brief moment of surprise, and things quickly returned to normal, as if everyone already knew the vaccine would be successfully developed.

"Xiao Shanshan!" Lin Siyu pushed aside the women surrounding her and walked to Zhao Xiaoxiu's side. The excited women and children also looked over curiously.

"Aren't you happy to hear such good news?" Lin Siyu asked with a grin, one hand on her hip and her head down.

With her other hand, she tried to ruffle the child's messy hair, but unsurprisingly, the little guy nimbly dodged her.

The evolved macaque behind him immediately crouched down, looking alert.

Zhao Xiaoxiu grabbed Monkey Sister's arm with her other hand, signaling it to calm down. She looked up at Lin Siyu's sparkling necklace and shook her head, saying, "I'm not unhappy."

Before Lin Siyu could speak again, Zhao Xiaoxiu asked her, "Have you fixed my shower head?"

Looking at that serious little face, Lin Siyu inexplicably felt that it was even more endearing than when she smiled. Her hands were itching, and instead of stroking the head, she quickly pinched the little guy's rosy cheeks.

Sure enough, it felt exactly as soft and tender as I had imagined.

"You scoundrel!" Zhao Xiaoxiu angrily slapped away the hand that had been groping her face.

She furrowed her brows slightly and asked again, "You promised it would be fixed in three days, you can't lie to a child!"