The Chef Rules the Last Days
Chapter 486 - 484: The Backward Place

Chapter 486: Chapter 484: The Backward Place

"No, no, no, come to my house! We have a big yard! There’s room for a lot of people!"

Perhaps Su Mo’s appearance was too innocuous, these people actually began to vie for their favor without reason, their murky eyes all lit up with astonishing brightness.

For a moment, Su Mo was also somewhat taken aback. She felt these people would start fighting over a bag of rice that hadn’t even been agreed to be given. This was indeed strange—how could everyone in such a large town be this starved?

Within the crowd, only a thin middle-aged woman, aided by a young woman, made her way to the front. Her gaze fixed unwaveringly on the Volkswagen car behind them.

"Have you... seen my son?"

The middle-aged woman spoke tremblingly, her expression listless yet carrying a glimmer of hope.

"Son?" Su Mo looked at Lu Chen, puzzled.

The man looked equally confused, then said, "We’re a team that’s come through. We haven’t seen any living people on the way".

"It shouldn’t be, that’s... that’s my son’s car!"

The middle-aged woman pointed at the Volkswagen, tears welling up in her eyes, "He just went to the city for a quick errand, but he never came back after the sun suddenly disappeared".

After her reminder, Su Mo finally remembered who this person was.

"Our car broke down. The Volkswagen was found on the way, and at that time, there indeed was a body inside the car. I also checked the ID. It was..." Su Mo thought for a while before barely managing to recall the surname, "I forgot the name, but it seemed to be Liu?"

"Yes, yes, yes! It’s Liu! My husband, he... is he dead?" The woman supporting the middle-aged woman covered her face and burst into tears.

Su Mo pursed her lips, unable to nod directly and simply said, "I’m not sure, but at that time, there was indeed just that one body and an ID card in the car".

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are the first to have come through that woods. How about it, stay at my house! Half a bag of rice is enough!"

Another person pressed forward to Lu Chen, full of hope that they would agree.

Meanwhile, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, who had just discovered their husband or son was dead, turned away and staggered off in tears, not daring to come forward and compete with them.

Su Mo, watching the women retreat without a fight, said, "We’re a group of over a dozen people, with three injured among us. I’ve thought about it—you must have many empty houses. We can just find a place to stay, and as for food..."

"We have no empty houses," someone in the back hurriedly answered, "We’re just a small village; every house here has people living in it."

Su Mo was taken aback, then turned to look at Lu Chen, "Isn’t this supposed to be a town?"

The man, who had not been here before and was clearly unsure himself, only said, "That’s what the map shows".

"Let’s go in and take a look," Jin Han suggested, and even gave the car wheel a kick, "Our war chariot here has a bit of a flat tire. We’ll need to find something to fix it".

Su Mo, seeing the crowd was so large, knew promising to give away rice might cause some altercations, but without doing so, they wouldn’t even have a place to stay. They weren’t bandits and couldn’t just barge into people’s homes.

Su Mo looked into the crowd, stood on her toes, and whispered a few words to Lu Chen. She then turned to them and asked, "In such a large village like this, who has the leadership authority?"

When she asked about the leader, their faces all dimmed, and they looked towards the trees, swaying ceaselessly in the wind.

"Couple of days ago, they tried to break out, but... they all died," he said.

"We don’t have anyone left with a say," another voice added.

Su Mo was speechless, but Lu Chen directly picked two of the apparently strongest men from the crowd, "Take us in."

The pair nodded and bowed, leading them inside, leaving a group of people with despair in their eyes behind. However, some hopefuls followed from a distance, hoping they would drop some food from their pockets.

Calling this place a village was truly an understatement, Su Mo observed, looking at the houses built of yellow mud, each with a yard enclosed by mud walls or woven fences, which seemed very primitive.

The town submerged at the foot of the mountain was really just an impoverished village occupying a large area.

There were many people inside, most of whom had hollow cheeks and looked malnourished over a long period.

The arrival of their group had caused quite a stir, with almost everyone who got the news rushing out, staring at them eagerly.

Su Mo felt uncomfortable under their gaze, finding their looks somewhat strange.

As if aware of their many questions, the two stronger looking men leading the way said, "Our village had just received orders for poverty aid from the government not long before Doomsday. And then, all of a sudden, this happened—asteroids fell out of the blue, smashing several of our mountains."

Listening to his explanation, Lu Chen surveyed the surroundings and asked, "Among you, has there been any mutation?"

"Mutation?" The man paused his steps and then pushed open the gate of a yard, "Come in first. But my house can’t accommodate so many people; you’ll have to split up, and some will have to stay with Da Qiang. I forgot to introduce myself, you can just call me Da Qing."

Jin Han said, "Then I’ll take some people over first."

His teammates were still carrying three injured people, Su Mo turned to the three who were not recovering well due to the long journey and said, "You stay here. It seems safe enough. Jin Han, you take the rest over."

Jin Han replied, "That would be best, thank you for taking care of them."

In the yard enclosed by the fence, there was a woman and a child. Da Qing walked over and whispered something to his wife, who excitedly wiped her hands on the wrap around her body and vacated two earthen houses for them.

"Our place is a bit dilapidated, please don’t mind," he remarked.

Lu Chen nodded, entering the house without a hint of disgust on his face, causing Da Qing to feel relieved.

The village’s environment was truly not good, lacking even a proper concrete road; paths in the fenced yards were merely compacted yellow earth.

Su Mo tapped her foot on the ground, puzzled. Logically speaking, after the black rain, it wasn’t just one storm that had passed, yet apart from being skinny from hunger, these people seemed unaffected by anything else, which was strange indeed.

Seeing that she hadn’t moved towards the house, Jianxiong leaned closer to her side and asked, "What are you thinking about, little sister?"

Su Mo snapped back to reality and said, staring at the wall plastered with straw and mud, "It’s nothing, just my first time seeing such a backward place."

Lu Chen waved to her from the doorway, and she quickened her pace to join him. The three wounded had been arranged in the earthen house next door, which had originally been the children’s room but was now requisitioned.

Upon entering, there was a square wooden table with a yellowed beeswax candle burning on it, dimly lighting the whole house.