Sister Lan heard this and revealed a trace of vigilance, asking somewhat suspiciously, "What? You mentioned Oil City? Do you know someone from Oil City?"

"No, I was surrounded by zombies on the road when a helicopter happened to fly by. They helped clear a path from the air, and I just followed their direction and came all the way..."

The Taoist saw the woman take the initiative to discuss this matter with him, so he simply asked about the situation.

"Do you know, the place you called Oil City, is it a military area? Are there helicopters there?"

Sister Lan exchanged glances with the few people next to her, seemingly contemplating the credibility of this Taoist's words.

After all, they had cooperated with Oil City before; even the food in their hands now was given by them, although it required labor in exchange.

For these people, being able to exchange a day's labor for this amount of food was indeed quite decent.

As a result, most of them had a favorable impression of the new forces in Oil City.

Furthermore, they were waiting for Oil City to assign them new construction tasks, naturally aligning themselves with Oil City.

If someone wanted to spy on Oil City's information, they were not inclined to divulge... unless that person offered too much.

Facing Qingyang Taoist's question, Sister Lan didn't know how to answer for a moment.

So she casually said, "Just ask them yourself tomorrow morning, we don't know much else."

After all, he was a stranger, saying too much could lead to trouble if it harmed Oil City.

Qingyang was slightly taken aback, noticing the woman's reluctance to disclose more, so he nodded and said, "Okay, thanks."

After speaking, he looked around, found a relatively clean spot on the ground, and placed a nearby wooden board on it, sitting atop it.

Seeing this, Sister Lan felt a bit curious but couldn't say much regarding Oil City. Had it been daytime, she might have secretly sent someone to notify those in Oil City.

But considering it was night, going out was impossible; walking at night was basically suicidal.

Rustle, rustle—

The iron pot on the fire suddenly shuddered, and the contents inside bubbled up.

"It's done cooking." A man beside the fire swallowed hard, then wrapped a cloth around his hand to take the pot off the fire.

Upon hearing it was cooked, others eagerly gathered with various utensils.

Some held aluminum lunch boxes, others a steel bowl...

Sister Lan stepped forward, took out an iron spoon from her bosom, wiped it on her clothes, and scooped it into the boiling pot.

As she lifted her hand, under the glow of the firelight, the spoon was full of a yellow-green mush, some dry rations allocated by Big Camphor Tree Base.

It mixed with some dried vegetables, concentrated rice flour, and even some oil; the most favored dry ration distributed by Big Camphor Tree Base.

Though the taste wasn't great, it was filling.

In their eyes, with food so scarce in Doomsday, taste didn't matter. When hunger strikes, even the hardest-to-eat food seems delicious as long as it's edible.

Sister Lan was very fair, giving everyone a spoonful, no more, no less. Each scoop was perfectly level.

Roughly the size of an adult male's fist.

Once cooked with water, it became very thick.

But with the water-soaked flatbread, just three could feed ten of them per meal.

It was quite an efficient way to conserve food.

As spoonful after spoonful was served into their bowls, everyone ate it in small bites.

When there was less than a spoonful left, Sister Lan didn't complain but poured some water into the pot, stirred it with the spoon, and finally poured the remaining mush into her bowl.

Neither the spoon nor the pot had any mush left on them; they were scrapped clean.

Food is so precious in Doomsday; they couldn't afford to waste a drop.

Sister Lan glanced at the Taoist sitting in the corner nearby, hesitated for a moment, then looked at the watered-down mush in her bowl.

She pondered briefly, ready to make a move.

Then she saw the Taoist take out some wild fruits from his bosom, wipe them on himself, and bite into them.

"...."

Sister Lan curled her lip, then scooped some mush and ate it.

It seemed the Taoist had his own food.

Nightfall.

Silence.

The fire in the middle of the room crackled with the burning wood.

Outside the walls, the zombie growls sometimes seemed close, sometimes far away, as they approached and then drifted off.

Some zombies passed by.

The house windows were nailed shut with boards, leaving no gaps, which was why the Taoist didn't notice anyone inside from outside the walls.

But with the house sealed up, the zombies outside didn't discover them.

The smoke from the burning wood drifted toward the stairs leading to the second floor.