.......

Several kilometers away from the Big Camphor Tree Base.

There is a team of cooperative personnel.

This group of people is precisely the Dong Dagui team that accepted the grain loan from the Big Camphor Tree Base but did not repay it through missions.

At this moment, a dozen of them huddled in a residential house on the edge of a small town.

This house is relatively intact, but no amount of completeness can block the cold air from outside.

This kind of cold not only penetrates through the gaps in the glass and doors but also seeps from the ground.

The temperature has reached minus twenty-nine degrees.

This temperature, across the Southern region, they had never seen before the Doomsday.

In other words, before the Doomsday, they almost never experienced snow in their lifetime.

The snow of 2002 was considered the real heavy snowfall they had seen.

And the snowfall now is ten times more exaggerated than that time.

For several consecutive days, continuous snowstorms and steadily dropping temperatures have made their lives unbearable.

"Dagui, it's too cold, you need to come up with a solution quickly. Your Second Uncle can hardly hold on," said a woman who seemed sharp and mean, addressing Dong Dagui who stood in the middle.

Dong Dagui felt helpless, he lit a fire indoors, but the firewood was already scarce, and there were zombies outside. If careless, one might get bitten by them.

He was the leader of this team but not a true leader.

It was only because everyone was dissatisfied with each other, so they settled on him.

Whenever decisions needed to be made, the group ignored him and discussed on their own.

But whenever there were problems and difficulties, they demanded him to solve them.

"Second Aunt, sigh... Back then, I said we absolutely couldn't act as if the people at Big Camphor Tree Base were fools. They loaned us food; it wouldn't hurt to do some missions.

If we had done the missions, they wouldn't have listed us as wanted... Judging by the Big Camphor Tree Base's past actions, they might have allowed us to seek refuge inside from the cold."

Dong Dagui felt helpless; he had strongly advised everyone to execute the missions back then but was stopped by their arguing.

Particularly Second Aunt, who shouted the loudest, Second Uncle also listened to her.

Sigh....

Upon hearing Dong Dagui say this, Second Aunt spread her hands and loudly said:

"Oh ho! Now you're starting to blame me, huh? You're supposed to lead, while we just gave advice. It's not like we could stop you from deciding, besides, that Big Camphor Tree Base wasn't that great. So stingy, loaned us just a bit of food, and required us to complete dangerous tasks."

Just as she finished, a man with a sinister face beside her added, "We can't allow ourselves to suffer losses, we might as well stop cooperating with Big Camphor Tree Base. Second Sister, this room's cold; I gathered the firewood earlier, it's your turn now."

Other people shifted their gaze, noticing the dwindling firewood and quickly dropping room temperature.

They all chimed in to tell her, "Exactly, exactly, you should go gather firewood now. This room is freezing."

Seeing this, Second Aunt found everyone pointing fingers at her, demanding she find fuel, prompting her to angrily exclaim, "Are you even human? All claiming to be relatives, taking advantage now as Dahua's passed out, bullying me as a woman? My God, what kind of kin are these!"

Tearing her hair out and wailing.

Dong Dagui covered his forehead, feeling utterly exhausted.

His relatives were all freeloaders, an entire family of shirking work and responsibility.

Originally over forty people, many died from hunger, got bitten by zombies, and other causes.

Over twenty have died, leaving only this dozen or so.

They continue to infight.

Shifting blame, pointing fingers.

Dong Dagui resented his weakness, thinking if he were tougher, perhaps he wouldn't be led around by them.

However, whenever he hardened, Second Aunt and the others guilt-tripped him about familial ties and connections.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

Observing the noisy crowd, fearing it might attract zombies again.

Thus, he stood up.

Put on his coat and hat, and slowly stepped out of the room.

Everyone continued watching his actions.

As soon as he stepped out of the room, it quickly fell silent.

It's as if it was all planned.

Everyone continued with their tasks.

Sleeping, daydreaming.....

After shutting the door, Dong Dagui heard the room inside swiftly return to calm.

A wave of bitterness welled up inside him.

Damn treacherous family.

So damn annoying.

......