Chapter 221 | The Apocalypse Landlady

“Some Aberrants are massive and provide plenty of meat; if you can kill one before it wakes up, you’ll have enough food for a long time.”

“But that’s not something an ordinary person can manage. Only experienced hunters and scavengers dare to target hibernating Aberrants.”

“Commoners can only scavenge for mutated plants that have frozen to death or pick through the remains of what Aberrants have left behind.”

“If they’re lucky, they might find some cold-resistant tubers or roots to dig up and roast.”

“If they’re unlucky, they simply go hungry.”

Black Rat paused before adding, “However, most vagrants try to stockpile some food before the Cold Wave arrives.”

“Even if it’s just a little, it might be enough to get them through the coldest days.”

“As long as they can survive the Cold Wave, the rest of the Deep Winter is much easier to handle.”

“Why is that?” Su Wan pressed.

“Because once the Cold Wave passes, the temperature rises back to minus thirty or forty degrees.”

“While that’s still freezing, it’s much better than minus fifty or sixty.”

“Furthermore, during the Deep Winter, most vagrants choose to huddle together for warmth.”

Su Wan was slightly startled. “Huddle together for warmth?”

“Yes,” Black Rat nodded. “They find a large burrow or an abandoned underground facility, and a dozen or even dozens of people squeeze together.”

“With more people, the temperature stays higher.”

“Combined with clothes and quilts made of Fire-Fluff Grass, they can manage to stay alive.”

“But that’s only the bare minimum,” Black Rat continued.

“The strongest hunters and scavengers will wear the best Fire-Fluff Grass clothing and brave the severe cold to enter the Non-Safe Zone in search of food.”

“Small groups will pool all their resources to support these individuals, and in return, those people are responsible for feeding the entire group.”

“The elderly, the weak, women, and children stay in the burrows to look after the young, mend clothes, and process food.”

“This is the survival wisdom the vagrants have accumulated over a long time.”

Su Wan nodded, her understanding of the vagrants' way of life becoming clearer.

“Even so, many people die every Deep Winter...”

“Some freeze to death, some starve, some are killed by Aberrants while searching for food in the Non-Safe Zone, and others die from illnesses because they can't get medical treatment.”

“But—” Black Rat’s tone shifted, “during the Deep Winter, many babies are also born.”

Su Wan was momentarily stunned.

Black Rat explained, “Once a woman becomes pregnant, her body grows stronger.”

“No matter what illness she had before, or how severe it was, the sickness will gradually fade once she conceives.”

“Therefore, many women choose to get pregnant if they feel unwell or realize they have a disease.”

“Deep Winter is the hardest season to endure; it’s when diseases are most common and when people are most likely to die.”

“Women with poor health will choose to get pregnant at this time just to survive the winter.”

“The baby in their womb acts like a blessing, allowing them to survive until the end of the Deep Winter.”

“That’s why a large number of babies are born at the end of every Deep Winter.”

Su Wan remained silent for a long time.

The light outside the window was still a murky grey, making it impossible to tell the time or the season.

Seeing Su Wan’s silence, Black Rat scratched his head and grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

“But Lord, this year is different.”

His voice carried a sense of genuine relief, and a flicker of light appeared in his eyes, which had been weathered by years of struggling in the Ruin Zone.

“In the past, when the Cold Wave hit, the vagrants in the Ruin Zone could only flee to the Non-Safe Zone to gather Fire-Fluff Grass, hunt hibernating Aberrants, or huddle in burrows waiting for death.”

“The lucky ones survived the winter.”

“The unlucky ones remained in that frozen earth forever.”

He turned his head, his gaze falling on the vagrants lining up outside for registration, and his voice softened as if he were talking to himself.

“But this year is different.”

“This year, we have the Terminal Station.”

“We have this building that can withstand artillery fire, remain unscathed in a Death Tide, and stay warm during the Deep Winter.”

“We have safe rooms, medicine that saves lives, and food to fill our bellies.”

“We have a place where we don’t have to fear the City Defense Force, where we don’t have to pay taxes, and where we aren’t treated like livestock.”

Black Rat’s voice choked up slightly, and he blinked hard to suppress the stinging in his eyes.

“Lord, you have no idea.”

“Vagrants like us have never lived in such a warm house, eaten such clean food, or slept so peacefully in our entire lives.”

“The places we lived before were cracks in the ruins, under collapsed floor slabs, in abandoned sewers, or in drafty, broken shacks.”

“If we got injured or sick, we just had to endure it. If we couldn't, we died.”

Black Rat pointed out the window.

“Now, we have the Terminal Station...”

“Lord, do you know what this means?”

Su Wan didn't speak, simply watching him quietly.

Black Rat took a deep breath and looked up, his eyes filled with sincerity.

“It means the vagrants of the Ruin Zone finally have a place they can call ‘home.’”

“It means we no longer have to wander like stray dogs, live in constant peril like ants, or be trampled upon by the City Defense Force like mere cargo.”