State of Decay - Chapter 376

[Chapter 371 Winter Night]

It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was already near the mountain. The felling team returned to the base with the sixth load of logs and all members. Without rest, Maya arranged for people to move, chop and transport firewood. At the same time, Su Shi processed a large number of wooden boards and iron nails, and Shi Shi and Lin Wu were responsible for sealing all the eight open shops with carpets. The back door is piled with firewood to form a natural barrier when it snows.

I don’t know how long I have been busy, but Shitou said in the headset: “Everyone, come out and come to the small square.”

Everyone went to the small square together, and Shitou didn’t need to say anything. They looked at the sunset that was about to disappear in the west, or stretched out their hands. Capture the last warmth, or close your eyes and feel the remaining heat.

Watching the sun disappear, I was greeted by waves of cold wind that penetrated my heart. Maya greeted, and everyone put on their winter clothes and continued to finish the unfinished things. Lin Meng was curious, why could everyone resist discussing each other’s clothes? They are all new clothes, and they are all very stylish.

Lin Wu was wearing a white snow combat uniform. He was originally a little thin, but now he looked chubby.

Shitou’s winter clothing is a set of thermal underwear and an extended suit and cloak. The cloak is very hard and heavy, and it is difficult for ordinary wind to blow.

Lin Meng interrupted her observation and continued to pick up firewood and carry it to the second floor. She liked the collective atmosphere of Shadow very much. Since entering middle school, she has discovered that every group is divided into many small groups, such as the group for poor students, the star circle, the top student group, and the makeup team. Each small group can be divided into multiple small groups.

This situation becomes more serious after leaving society. Some colleagues are very cold and rarely chat unless necessary. Some colleagues are enthusiastic but scheming. At first, Lin Meng would distinguish truth from lies and polite words through scrutiny. After suffering several losses, Lin Meng found that it was good to simply be a stay-at-home girl. So she became taciturn and refused to socialize, even in the company’s team building and activities. She only contacted her colleagues during work hours and maintained a very polite and courteous attitude to keep others away. On a daily basis, I only interact with my good college classmates and my former neighbor’s sister who I grew up with.

Maya said that she was determined to survive alone in the wilderness, which was actually not entirely true. One of the reasons was that Lin Meng didn’t like the complexity of the group.

Shadow does not have the problems that Lin Meng is worried about. Everyone will not mince words or speak ill of others behind their backs. There are no requirements for everyone except work, and you can do whatever you want. You don’t have to worry about others talking about you, you don’t have to worry about others not liking you, and you don’t have to worry about others scolding you.

Then he was hit on the head and looked back to see Lin Wu. Lin Wu asked, “Why are you giggling at the open space?”

Lin Meng thought for a while and waved his hands to indicate: “Winter is coming.”

“Then what?”

“Then… “Give me some time and I’ll make it up right away.

How could Lin Wu have the patience: “Then go to work, go! Now, right away.”

“Oh.”

The silly girl giggled on the spot holding the firewood. She had to scold her to wake her up, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable. I am so great. Since you are so great, you should find a place to be lazy and give ordinary people a chance to catch up in your footsteps. As for the reason for being lazy, I have already thought of it, taking care of Phantom and Sandstorm.

The tent had been unfolded, and the only member was Lin Wu. Lin Wu used the only outdoor grid to build a stable. This thing is very redundant. The two horses will not freeze to death because there is no stable. Even in extremely cold weather, they will still have pasture to eat. Even if it is redundant, it still needs to be built. After all, there is a big difference between being eaten by zombies after building a stable and being eaten by zombies without building a stable. There is no difference to them, but there is a difference to yourself.

Sit on the tent floor and light a campfire. I spent most of the autumn here, in jungles, fields, hillsides…

Now, like the Phantom, it has become an item without much practical value. Lin Wu can occasionally be sentimental, especially when he is lazy, which can effectively reduce his guilt.

When we walked out of the tent, we were greeted by the freezing air. When we looked up, we saw snowflakes starting to fall from the sky. Lin Wu stretched out his hand to catch one, watching the snowflakes melting, and thinking in his heart: There are only three seasons left. He squatted down, smoothed his hair for the follower Xiao Wai, and then kissed Xiao Wai’s cheek. Then he threw his sentimental emotions to Java, and walked slowly towards the busy Shadow Base with Xiao Wai.

…

In the early morning, the wood chopping and basic sealing and reinforcement were finally completed. During this period, the idiots Lin Meng, Xue Dan and Maya were injured due to chopping wood. Fortunately, the injuries were minor and did not require hospitalization.

Everyone rolled up their bedding to the bonfire on the second floor. In order to take care of the girls’ privacy, Su Shi used wooden boards and rags to make eight 1.8-meter-high screens. After they were arranged, the whole screen looked like a dart board. The red dot is the bonfire, and everyone is assigned a triangular piece of land. Eight people use an eight-sided screen because there is an aisle. Anyone wishing to leave can reach the exit by walking a few steps around the campfire.

Although it was a tiring day and each person only ate two cans, everyone discussed the food with great interest and tried to make others drool. The most important thing is of course the bedtime meeting. There are two topics in this meeting. The first topic is food. The kitchen lost its production function and only provided cooking utensils, making the chef the top priority.

The two famous chefs Mian Mian and Ma Hun were gone, and Shadow was left with all cooking novices. On the other hand, it’s a good thing they weren’t around, otherwise there might have been problems. Without the automatic preparation of recipes, all ingredients need to be washed, chopped or processed. It is impossible for one person to endure such work in the cold winter.

Helping in the kitchen can easily lead to minor conflicts and quarrels, thereby breaking the principled equality and creating a subordination relationship. In order to avoid getting scolded every day, the assistant cooks may have to please the head chef. Even if everyone can restrain themselves, emotionally no one wants to offend the chef.

After three rounds of discussions, it was finally decided to draw lots. Eight people are divided into four groups, each group is responsible for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As for late night snacks, afternoon tea, etc., it all depends on the mood of the chef on duty. Before drawing lots, we made a stipulation that we should not dislike the food because it tastes bad, and we were not allowed to teach the chef on duty, otherwise we would replace him on duty once.

The chef on duty is obliged to handle clean ingredients. He can do whatever he wants without poisoning everyone, but he is prohibited from wasting ingredients. Use meat and vegetables as much as possible. A secret ballot will be held in each round. Each group of people can and must write the names of two groups. The team with the highest votes will receive snack rewards.

The lottery was played using poker, and pairs were formed into teams. In the end, Lin Wu and Lin Meng became a pair. When the cards were revealed, everyone gave Lin Meng sympathetic looks. Going on duty with Lin Wu is very dangerous, but the terrible thing is that you are the only one who is in danger. Cooking with Lin Wu has a huge workload, but what’s equally terrible is that you are the only one with a workload.

If Lin Wu and others were drawn into a group, they would be able to do some work, but if they were put into a group with Lin Meng, Lin Meng would be like Cinderella. Everyone didn’t understand why the two people formed a relationship of bullying and being bullied. In their opinion, Lin Wu was a very easy-to-get-together person. Why did they catch Lin Meng for bullying? Most importantly, both the process and the results seemed flawless.

Maya asked: “Lin Meng, do you want to switch with me?”

Shitou encouraged: “Stop, that scoundrel doesn’t do anything at all.” I and Maya had nothing to say. In fact, except for Lin Wu, no one was good at communicating with Maya alone. , because Maya doesn’t communicate. Shitou would rather be in the same class as the gangster. At least the gangster can chat and share the blame together.

Lin Wu sneered: Everyone seems to think that they are good at fishing, so he should restrain himself. But you can’t show no expression at all, so you use a sneer to suppress the situation, which will make others feel angry.

Lin Mengdao: “It doesn’t matter, you get what you draw. If you can regret it by drawing lots, why draw lots?”

Xue Dan applauded: “That’s good.”

Xiao Dao: “I suggest Xue Dan that you and Su Shi change partners and you cook it. Can the food be eaten?”

Su Shi said: “Don’t worry, everyone, making is my strong point.”

Xuedan and Su Shishi were in the same group, Lin Wu and Lin Meng were in the same group, Shitou and Maya were in the same group, and Shana was in the Xiaodao group. , after the grouping came out, everyone felt that the only one worth looking forward to was the Saber group. The Xuesu group is definitely a dark cuisine. The Shuanglin team should be okay, after all, Lin Meng seems to be relatively reliable. There’s not much to say about the Shima group. If you think about them working in the kitchen, you can guess that the whole atmosphere can be so embarrassing that it’s unbearable to imagine.

As Maya said, Lin Wu and Maya are in the same group, Shitou and Lin Meng are in the same group, which is a very suitable grouping method. In addition, Shana and Xuedan as a team, and Xiaodao and Su Shishi as a team are also more suitable choices than before. But as Lin Meng said, drawing lots is drawing lots and cannot be changed casually.

Next, Lin Wu rarely took the initiative to ask to be the first class, which shocked everyone. Everyone persuaded Lin Wu that poisoning everyone would do him no good. Lin Wu was so angry that he asked Xiao Wai to talk back for him.

After grouping, we will move once, and the chefs in the same group will move together so that they can chat about the dishes in advance. It’s best if someone criticizes the dish so someone else can take the blame. After Lin Meng moved here, Lin Wu started chatting with Lin Meng about canned water and brown sugar pumpkin soup, which made everyone get goosebumps.

As soon as Xiao Dao opened his mouth to participate in the discussion, Shana held him down: Don’t talk, as long as they can eat by themselves, we can.

Lin Meng, who was originally confused, only then realized why Lin Wu talked about creation with him. It turned out that he wanted to attract criticism and guidance. Just say it myself, it should be boiled pumpkin and canned brown sugar.

Maya interrupted Lin Wu’s attempt to continue seducing and said: “Second question, is there any way to block the main entrance? Or just hang a carpet at the door of this room? Considering that people still need to move around in the commercial street, sealing Blocking the front door can effectively increase the indoor temperature.”

Strictly speaking, there is no front door at all. The entire main entrance is eight meters wide, with stairs leading upstairs on one side and a passage into the first floor on the other. Everyone has been researching for a long time, but there is no good way. Su Shi couldn’t make such a big door.

“The third topic is that it has started to snow outside. We need to clear the snow regularly, and at least clear a road to the small supermarket opposite.”

Shitou: “Climb over. Maybe the heavy snow can bury the first floor and build a natural path.” The gate.”

Everyone except Lin Wu thought it made sense. It was Lin Wu who climbed anyway, so there was no problem.

Lin Meng pulled up the screen, rolled to Lin Wu’s side, and asked softly: “What are you going to eat tomorrow morning?” He always felt that Lin Wu had a conspiracy in taking the first shift.

Lin Wu said in his ear: “Quick-frozen food in the refrigerator.”

Seeing his confusion, Lin Wu said again: “I am responsible for searching and know the inventory situation very well. The quick-frozen food in the refrigerator is only enough for everyone to eat for one day. Quick-frozen? Don’t understand? It is food that can be heated directly in a microwave or eaten in a pot without adding any ingredients.”

Lin Wudao said: “No need to wash, no need to cut, just cook it, even if it is not cooked, it will not kill anyone.”

Lin Meng suddenly realized and hesitated: “But we are so familiar with each other, isn’t it wrong to play scheming?”

Lin Wu reached out and flicked Lin Meng’s forehead: “This is not scheming. The scheming is that I eat meat and you drink soup. This is fun. .”

Lin Meng rubbed his forehead, put his head on one hand and looked at Lin Wu: “How to tell the difference?”

“Will it hurt others?” Lin Wu explained: “For example, in the kitchen, I deliberately cooked the food to be unpalatable. In exchange for this, I am qualified not to cook. My original intention is to harm others for my own benefit. This is scheming. I can make delicious food without wasting materials, but others do not have such an opportunity. This is fun.”

Lin Meng: “But you are using quick-frozen food, and others can only cook honestly.”

Lin Wu: “This is called flexible operation within the framework of rules. For example, when we compete to blink, whoever blinks first loses. The rules are like this Simple. Start?”

Lin Meng nodded: “Start.”

Lin Wu poked his hand in front of Lin Meng’s eyes. Lin Meng subconsciously closed his eyes. Lin Wu smiled evilly: “This is using the rules. But we can’t abuse the rules. Assume that our bet is very large. High, such as the other party’s life, or something important. In this case, even if the rules are not agreed upon, we cannot cheat because we will lose credibility.”

Shana came over from the other side: “Simple summary: don’t offend and Harm others.”

“Is the sound insulation effect so bad?”

Shitou: “Yes.”

Xiaodao: “Lin Wu, leave us a pack of frozen food.”

Shitou said: “I am on the second shift.”

Xiaodao: “Lin Wu Wu, don’t keep it.”

Lin Wu: “We’ll have hot pot tomorrow night. I’ll cook all the quick-frozen food.”

Shitou reminded: “Don’t waste it.”

Lin Wu: “Don’t worry. Shitou, don’t worry, Maya is You know how to cook, it tastes good.”

Maya: “I only know how to cook military hot pot.”

Lin Meng curiously asked: “What is military hot pot?”

Maya replied: “Put all the ingredients into the pot and cook them, then season them. “

Xuedan said: “It sounds good, Lao Su, we can do this too.”

Su Shi agreed: “Yes, this method is good.”

After saying that, everyone started chatting again. In such a closed space, it was completely There’s no soundproofing to speak of, so it’s effortless to speak and answer conversations.

No one stopped the chat. When the number of people participating in the chat decreased, those who were still chatting realized that their conversation might disturb others’ rest, so they lowered their volume and slowly stopped talking. For example, when Lin Meng was whispering to Lin Wu just now, he would listen if he wanted to, sleep if he wanted to, or add a sentence when appropriate to rekindle the atmosphere of the group chat.

The first night passed like this.

(End of chapter)