The Chef Rules the Last Days
Chapter 487 - 485: Strange Situation

"Please, have a seat," Da Qing moved a few wooden stools over, inviting them to sit down.

Su Mo took a seat at the square table, facing an old poster of a chubby baby covered in a sheen of grease. She surveyed the humble room and caught Lu Chen’s eye, who slightly shook his head in response.

There was something odd, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Jianxiong walked around the room before finding a stool and promptly straddled it to sit down.

"Crack".

The ancient wooden stool couldn’t support his exceptionally strong physique and split down the middle, sending Jianxiong crashing to the floor.

"Pfft," Su Mo couldn’t help but laugh, "You might need to lose some weight, you’ve really turned into a bear."

Startled by the noise, Da Qing and his water-carrying wife hurried over, fearing they had offended him, and quickly brought out a chair from the house for him to sit on.

Rubbing his tingling rear end, Jianxiong took a seat on the chair, "This stool must be moldy, couldn’t hold me up."

Lu Chen couldn’t help but smile, tapping his fingers on the table.

The tea served by Da Qing’s wife was poured into a large ladle typically used to scoop water. After dispensing a bowl for each of them, she carefully took the remaining water away as if it were precious.

Once the couple had finished tending to them, they stood in front, attentive and cautious.

Su Mo knew they were there regarding the rice matter. She smiled warmly and waved for them to sit down, "This is your own home, no need to be so formal. We’ll ask a few questions and reward you appropriately."

"Of course, of course, ask away," Da Qing placed a slightly frightened child on his lap, sitting up straight like a peasant facing an official.

Su Mo: "Is everyone in this village a farmer like you?"

"Yes, we’ve always lived here, always relying on farming for survival."

"With such a large population, you haven’t experienced any mutations? Like those trees outside?"

Da Qing seemed baffled by her question for a moment before he reminisced, "No, when the meteorite suddenly fell, although it didn’t hit us, our entire village lost electricity and water. Fortunately, we have a well in the village, so we weren’t short of water or food. It’s just that many crops died due to the sun, and if it weren’t for a strange rain that came out of nowhere in the middle of the night..."

Speaking of the rain, his eyes filled with fear, "That rain was so strange, several dogs in our yard went mad, and in one night, all our crops died. The trees outside changed on that very day as well. Thank goodness it was hot, and we were short on water, so we went to bed early, otherwise..."

He left the rest unsaid, but Su Mo grasped the gist of it. In a nutshell, the villagers had been incredibly lucky. After realizing the first rain was problematic, they took precautions, which is how they managed to survive until now.

Some of the questions rising in Su Mo’s mind were pressed down. Out of thin air, a bag of rice appeared in her hand and she set it on the table, "It’s yours."

The 50-pound sack of rice lit up Da Qing’s eyes, "Thank you! We’re so grateful!"

Lu Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the rough table surface, fixing his gaze on Da Qing as he asked, "Is there anywhere nearby to repair a car? We need to fix our vehicle."

"Car..." He thought for a moment, then frowned before saying, "Well, there is. We often repair farm machinery, and we do have some tools, but..."

Da Qing’s gaze carried a hint of resistance, and Su Mo, with her keen perception, sensed that something was amiss. She turned her eyes to the rice and said, "There are 50 kilograms here... That’s quite a bit."

The three people seated each had an imposing presence, especially Jianxiong sitting on the small chair, whose frame was mountainous. When his copper-bell-like eyes fixed on Da Qing, they carried a heavy sense of oppression.

He swallowed, clutching the rice tightly, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "I can take you to repair the car, but don’t go to the backyard, that place is... very strange."

Speaking of the backyard, Da Qing’s eyes flickered and he deliberately lowered his voice.

Su Mo wasn’t overly interested in the affairs of their village. As long as her life wasn’t threatened, she wouldn’t meddle unnecessarily, so she took the initiative to say, "Relax, we just want to fix the car and leave this place."

"Leave..." Da Qing’s face took on a strange expression again, while his wife beside him secretly tugged at his sleeve and said with an awkward smile, "It’s so late now, I’ll cook some rice with this. Daddy, you go make the fire."

"All right then."

After the family of three left, the dim room quieted down. Su Mo’s ears twitched, and she suddenly turned to look outside the door, where several figures crouched outside the fence, sneakily peering in. After locking eyes with Su Mo, they scampered away as fast as flight.

Lu Chen also noticed the noise outside and let out a cold laugh, "We’re going to have thieves tonight."

Su Mo nodded, "The people here are trapped because of those mutant trees, aren’t they? They can’t get out, and no one else can get in."

"So what are we then?" asked Jianxiong.

"We’re powerful, obviously," Su Mo replied with a teasing smile.

Next door, Jin Han and the others were being well taken care of. They asked quite a few questions about the village, and when they talked across the fence after dinner, they found the answers were nearly the same.

The car repair place had a large courtyard, which was a forbidden zone of their village, off-limits to everyone.

Jin Han had gleaned a bit more information than the others. The village had been surviving on stored grain from their homes, or from the village convenience store and some chicken and ducks under sheds, and they were now at the end of their tether, which is why everyone was so gaunt and, combined with the lack of water, many were suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

Why didn’t they go out to forage? Because the only superpower user in the village who could lead everyone to find food had died not long ago.

Lu Chen: "How did they get out? A superpower user couldn’t possibly break through that forest."

"It seems they dug a tunnel to get out," said Jin Han, also somewhat puzzled. "The man was reluctant to say more, just mentioned that the tunnel is blocked now. If we want to leave, we have to brave those mutant trees again."

Su Mo found it all very curious. She tapped on the dark soil atop the fence and said, "Such a large village, and there’s only one road in? Impossible."

Jin Han: "There’s more than one road, but there are those trees on every road."

Jianxiong couldn’t help clicking his tongue, "How do we deal with this? If we just get the tires fixed and try to break through again, they’ll just get damaged."

Lu Chen said gravely, "We need to modify it, with metal sheets guarding the front and back of the tires."

Jin Han: "Let’s do it tomorrow; he said he would take us."

The sky was getting darker by the minute, the stars muddled in the night sky twinkling down silvery white. Su Mo looked up and said, "It’s getting late. Let’s break it up and all go get some rest."

Tonight, the three of them would be resting in Da Qing and his wife’s master bedroom, which had only one bed and a grass mat that was just laid out on the floor.