"We're from the neighboring city. We've just set up a small base. If you're willing, you can come back with us and earn your food through your own labor."
The man couldn't quite believe it. "Seventeenth Base?"
"No, it's our own base. Seventeenth Base has strict requirements," Zhang Yifan said.
The man opened the door and gestured for Zhang Yifan to come take a look.
Zhang Yifan walked ahead, with Shen Yunyun beside him, laser gun in hand, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble.
One should never harbor ill intentions, but one must always guard against others.
When the two reached the man, the situation inside the room was clear at a glance.
Inside were two women, six children, three old men, and one old woman.
The youngest child was three years old, the oldest around ten.
Everyone in the room stared at Zhang Yifan and Shen Yunyun in terror, not daring to make a sound.
If not for her own breathing, Shen Yunyun would have thought she was looking at a frozen image.
After a long pause, the man spoke first. "Can all of us come with you?"
Zhang Yifan nodded immediately. "Yes."
One of the women asked in disbelief, "You won't think these children and old folks are a burden?"
"No," Zhang Yifan replied firmly.
Another woman's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
The younger children, still unaware of what was happening, just stared at them with wide eyes, their gazes unlike those of normal kids.
Shen Yunyun was also a bit surprised, glancing at Zhang Yifan. She remembered how, at the start, this guy only wanted to survive on his own, completely unwilling to get involved in anything outside.
But now he was willing to take in people he once considered burdens.
Shen Yunyun handed them some food to eat first, then told Zhang Yifan to find an off-road vehicle or a large truck—anything that could haul everyone back.
Zhang Yifan quickly found a cargo truck, had everyone climb into the back, and drove toward the small city where they were based.
The journey wasn't smooth. With the apocalypse striking suddenly, chain-reaction car crashes on the road were nothing unusual.
So they had to clear the road while driving.
Both were sharp enough to use their spatial abilities to clear debris, which wasn't physically taxing but ate up a lot of time.
They moved in fits and starts, a trip that should have taken two and a half hours stretching into an entire day.
When they returned to their residential area, Chen Feng immediately got everyone settled.
Shen Yunyun saw the vegetables growing vigorously outside and thought they'd soon be able to supply themselves.
She didn't stay long in the apocalypse. The situation with the beastmen was more urgent, and she needed to deliver the supplies she'd gathered to them as quickly as possible.
Adult beastmen had large feet and couldn't wear the shoes she'd brought, but the socks were stretchy and could fit over their feet.
Wearing the socks kept them warm.
The beastmen's cubs, however, could wear the shoes Shen Yunyun had brought.
But since they'd been barefoot their whole lives, suddenly having to wear socks and shoes felt very strange.
Their feet felt constrained, and walking was awkward.
"I don't need socks. My body's always been fine; I don't need these," one beastman said.
Zhi replied, "This is the will of the Beast God."
Hearing it was the Beast God's will, the beastman didn't refuse.
He put on the socks and stood up to walk, but couldn't help lifting his feet too high, his gait as awkward as could be.
Shen Yunyun recalled a video she'd seen online—the first time an owner put shoes on a dog, and how flustered the dog looked. It was a perfect match for the beastmen in front of her.