The house that originally belonged to Sister Hua had now been taken over by Li Xuan. Originally, the best house in the base was Bear Lord's residence, but it had been trampled flat by Li Xuan.

Three days had passed since Li Xuan crushed Bear Lord and Sister Hua to death. Li Xuan didn't become the base leader himself, instead giving the position to Scar Tiger. Additionally, he ordered Scar Tiger to help him locate mutated zombies.

At noon, Li Xuan was lying on the bed, enjoying Huo Lingling's massage.

Huo Lingling had regained her human form three days ago and had even learned to go out by herself, wandering around the base.

No one harassed Huo Lingling during this process, mainly because rumors spread that she belonged to the Prehistoric Colossus. The base survivors had all witnessed the power of the Prehistoric Colossus, so who would dare risk their lives to provoke Huo Lingling? Everyone wished to stay as far away from her as possible to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves.

Yesterday, Huo Lingling made a new friend who taught her how to massage. Huo Lingling generously gave the person a pack of biscuits in return.

"Does it hurt here?" Huo Lingling pressed on an acupuncture point on Li Xuan's back.

"Doesn't hurt."

"Really doesn't hurt?" Huo Lingling asked again.

"Really doesn't hurt!"

"But I heard from Sister Liu that nine out of ten men have kidney deficiency, and it hurts when pressing here. However, ten out of ten men won't admit it hurts. Are you really not in pain?" Huo Lingling said blankly.

Li Xuan was speechless. He had been single for over twenty years before the apocalypse and had no bad habits—there was no way he could have kidney deficiency.

"Press somewhere else. Don't focus on the kidney points."

"But I only learned how to press here." Huo Lingling told the truth.

"Just press randomly, use more strength. I'm fine."

Huo Lingling looked puzzled, her silver teeth biting her lower lip as she muttered quietly, "Really doesn't hurt? Feels like you're pretending~"

Half an hour later

Li Xuan walked through the base, observing the condition of the survivors.

It was terrible. Their condition was very poor—yellowish skin, sunken pupils.

The reason for this was insufficient food. Base survivors had to work to obtain food.

Men had to work themselves to death just to get barely enough food to fill their stomachs. Women had one additional way to obtain food, but those without good looks couldn't take this path either.

Joining the base exploration team meant they could eat their fill and even have surplus, but once joining the exploration team, they would eventually be sent out to search for food, facing zombies directly, which greatly increased the danger.

Not everyone had the courage to join the exploration team!

Yun Xiuzhi stood on Li Xuan's shoulder and said quietly, "Does the base really not have enough food to let all survivors eat their fill?"

"The base doesn't have much food. Even if the exploration team risks their lives going out, they can't possibly let all base survivors eat their fill. The supermarkets near the base have already been emptied. To get large quantities of food, they must go to more distant places, which is even more dangerous.

If they don't find a method to stably produce food, the collapse of the Black Bear Survivor Base is only a matter of time." Li Xuan said.

This demonstrated the biggest difference between survivor bases formed by independents and official survivor bases. The official survivor bases chose better locations, gathered more talented people, and finding methods to stably produce food was just a matter of time.

Independent survivor bases relied on luck—they lacked the ability to gather survivors on a large scale, had fewer talented people. In the early apocalypse, they could rely on collecting food from supermarkets and warehouses to get by. But as the version updated, the food produced before the apocalypse would eventually be completely consumed!

"Can't you solve it?" Yun Xiuzhi asked.

"Endure. Endure until a certain time, and the food problem will be solved." Li Xuan said.

The time he referred to was the second version.

Different from the extreme climate and zombie crisis of the first version, the crisis of the second version came from various evolved creatures. By then, humans would be able to grow crops and obtain food.

As they approached the Minor Celebrity's residence, the sound of an argument reached Li Xuan's ears.

Li Xuan approached and found the Minor Celebrity arguing with a man.

When the Minor Celebrity saw Li Xuan, she hurried over, "Big brother! Help me beat him up! I'll keep you company for one night! Even three nights!"

The round-faced man sneered and said sarcastically, "Oh~ so this is your new flame. No wonder you wanted to dump me—you found a new sucker to take responsibility."

"What's going on?" Li Xuan asked.

The Minor Celebrity angrily narrated what had happened.

The round-faced man was the Minor Celebrity's agent before the apocalypse. He had discovered her and made her an actress. The Minor Celebrity had always been grateful to the round-faced man. The two had been making eyes at each other and had a physical relationship, but neither intended to establish a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

After the apocalypse descended, the two escaped to the Black Bear Survivor Base together. The round-faced man developed a high fever, and the Minor Celebrity sacrificed herself for five days to obtain medicine that cured him.

After recovering, the round-faced man showed no gratitude toward the Minor Celebrity. Disgusted by her "dirtiness," he ordered her to continue accompanying people in exchange for food. The Minor Celebrity refused, firmly rejecting him. The round-faced man angrily abandoned her and joined the exploration team.

Later, something happened (it's unclear what), and the round-faced man became one of Scar Tiger's people. He returned to force the Minor Celebrity to accompany people—five pounds of food per session, he took four pounds, leaving only one pound for the Minor Celebrity.

"You didn't say that before." Li Xuan said.

He remembered the Minor Celebrity saying a few days ago that she charged high prices to reduce the number of clients—accompanying someone once could sustain her for several days.

The Minor Celebrity pursed her lips, "I also want to save face, even if it's just a little more than those dirty women."

The round-faced man's face darkened as he threatened, "This matter has nothing to do with you. Leave now, and you won't get hurt."

Li Xuan gently rubbed Yun Xiuzhi's head, "Haven't you been in the base these past few days?"

It was understandable that the Minor Celebrity didn't recognize his true identity—when he transformed back from his Prehistoric Colossus form that day, only the base soldiers had seen him.

Tch~

The round-faced man laughed scornfully, "You really think you're somebody! Saying I don't know you! Do you know who I am! My boss is Scar Tiger! The third most powerful person in the base!"

Li Xuan said calmly, "I don't know you, but I know your boss. Your boss got promoted—he's now the leader of the Black Bear Base."

The round-faced man paused and looked at the Minor Celebrity, "Tiger Lord became the base leader?"

"You didn't know?"

The round-faced man was overjoyed—his power and status were about to rise again!

A few days ago, Scar Tiger had sent him out to search for mutated zombies. Although this trip didn't find any mutated zombies, it wasn't without gains—he brought back a pair of twins, so tender you could squeeze water from them, first-class goods. He planned to offer them to Scar Tiger tonight.

He could gain Tiger Lord's appreciation, and when Tiger Lord grew tired of them, he'd throw them to him. Killing two birds with one stone! He wins twice!

"You know my boss is the base leader! And you still dare show your face! Damn!" The round-faced man spat.

"Bastard! Shut your mouth!" Scar Tiger's voice came from behind.

Following immediately was a large foot, heavily stomping on the round-faced man's back.