Chapter 74

**Chapter 74**

Faced with the chubby baby who didn’t want to move, Qi Mo didn’t rush him.

His baby was still in the womb—so small. Supporting the world could wait until he was old enough.

If the sky fell, the tall would hold it up. His baby could handle it once he was big enough.

Since Huo Liangzhou wasn’t there, Qi Mo was called to a village meeting.

The village chief told the villagers that constructing the wall would benefit the whole village, so every household had to contribute labor.

Those who didn’t want to provide workers could instead offer water or food.

Soon, arguments broke out among the villagers. Families with more members argued they should send more people, since more of them would benefit from the protection.

Then someone brought up that families with larger houses should also contribute more workers, since they had more area to protect.

Some even proposed moving villagers who had nowhere else to stay into bigger homes.

Things got chaotic.

Finally, the old village chief laid down the rules: contributions would be based on population.

Not counting the elderly and children, every two adults had to provide one worker.

Either women or men were fine.

Those who didn’t want to send workers could pay others with food, as long as they contributed someone.

Qi Mo planned to talk it over with Huo Liangzhou.

The wall was definitely necessary.

It wasn’t for Mutant Beasts—it was for people.

Life was hard now, but most still had some food left.

Once food ran out, people would do anything to eat—even terrifying things.

When the village chief came to register Qi Mo’s household, he asked, “Momo, what about your family? Will you provide labor, or food and water?”

“My family? We’ll decide once Liangzhou gets back,” Qi Mo replied.

The village chief nodded. “Alright. Your Liangzhou is strong—as strong as Chen Village’s strongest man. If possible, have him help break stones.”

“We’re checking out the quarry tonight—bring Liangzhou along,” the chief added.

Qi Mo nodded. “Got it, Chief.”

After the chief left, Qi Mo put the milk bottle in Chubby baby’s mouth, then rubbed the little Snowball curled up in his arms. Petting the cat felt soothing.

A woman walked up to Qi Mo and said, “Hello, you’re Momo, right? I just got back to the village. I’m Zhang Tiantian. My child is only three months old. Do you have any milk powder at home?”

Qi Mo studied her—she didn’t look familiar.

Maybe she’d just gotten married and returned to the village later.

"Which family are you married into?" Qi Mo asked casually.

"I'm Huo Jingcheng's wife," Zhang Tiantian replied. "Jingcheng is Jingxuan’s elder cousin. Jingxuan said your family still has milk powder."

"Sorry, a three-month-old can have rice soup now. We’ve run out of milk powder—the last can is almost gone. The spare we had earlier was given to Huo Dong’s daughter-in-law; her baby was premature," Qi Mo refused outright.

Zhang Tiantian frowned. "How is that possible? Cut the crap. Jingxuan said your family has several cans stacked up."

Qi Mo found the woman’s sudden anger amusing. "If Jingxuan said so, drag him here to back you up. Does my family really have several cans of milk powder?"

"When I came back, I didn’t bring much. The milk powder I gave to Huo Dong’s daughter-in-law was bought on my way back. As for the stacked milk powder tins—they’re just empty tins. I store dried goods like black fungus in them," Qi Mo explained.

Huo Jingxuan, drawn by the commotion and hearing his name, quickly approached. "Sis-in-law, what are you talking about? When did I say Momo still had several cans of milk powder? I remember saying Xiao Mo stored dried goods in milk powder tins to keep them safe from mice."

"Your uncle’s pantry—his mung beans, black fungus, and shiitakes were all stolen by mice, so I suggested it," Huo Jingxuan said, glaring at Zhang Tiantian.

Qi Mo chuckled. "Even if there are mice now, they’re probably giant. I bet the one in your uncle’s house is pretty big."

Huo Jingxuan shot Zhang Tiantian a look at those words.

Then, with a cold snort, he scolded her angrily, "Stop using my name to scam people. Even if someone has milk powder, their baby doesn’t need it—only your son is precious, huh? Why didn’t you prepare more milk powder? How did my cousin end up marrying someone like you? No stockpiles of milk powder or diapers, just a house full of designer bags, clothes, and shoes. Can you eat those or drink them?"

"A couple days ago, I even caught you sneaking milk powder for yourself. No shame at all. You know how hard it is to get now—that little bit was pleaded and scraped together by my cousin, and you still took it," Huo Jingxuan raged.

His words instantly ignited Zhang Tiantian’s fury. "How is it my fault? Your cousin is useless. Before marriage, he promised me a life without worries. Now, right after marrying, he goes back on his word. What’s wrong with me having some milk powder? Look at what your cousin’s family eats—nothing but watery gruel and pickles. I’m turning into a pickle myself!"

"Huo Jingcheng, if you don’t want to stay with me, let’s divorce. I’ll take the child back to my parents. Look at your golden boy brother—you’ve bought him things and sent him pocket money all the time, but he’s just a traitorous snake! That milk powder isn’t for eating or drinking anyway. He’s got no loyalty."

Huo Jingxuan turned to his cousin. "When did you ever send me pocket money? And you treat a woman like this as a treasure? She’s swiping food from an infant—that’s your son’s lifeline. You should send her back to her parents. Our Huo family can’t afford her."

Huo Jingcheng sighed at his furious cousin. "Kids need their moms. Drop it already. I’ll have Mom make you steamed rice tonight."

Huo Jingxuan was fuming. "Is it the kid who can’t live without her, or you who can’t live without a woman? You don’t even care if your child lives or dies. Has she taken care of the baby at all since giving birth? It’s all been Auntie’s work."

Qi Mo pushed the stroller farther away. Every household has its mess.

But judging by Huo Jingxuan’s words, swiping food from an infant was truly unacceptable.

If he only had one bite left, he’d give it to his baby—even if it meant starving soon after. At least his child wouldn’t die hungry.

After watching the brothers come to blows—one defending his wife, the other his nephew—luckily, the ancestral hall was crowded for the meeting, and the two were quickly separated.

Qi Mo also headed home, using the umbrella to shade the baby from the sun as he pushed the stroller.

Placing chubby baby on the mat, Qi Mo brought water to wash the little one’s face and hands...

"Look at you—in times like these, you still get milk powder and egg pudding. Living the high life, huh? But, baby, let’s make a deal. Daddy’s going to cut your portions a bit. You can’t keep getting chubbier, or you’ll get prickly heat and itch all over," Qi Mo teased, tickling chubby baby’s little belly.

The baby giggled and squirmed, rolling around on the mat before crawling away.

For lunch, Qi Mo happily stewed two smoked chickens.

With daylilies added, the broth turned out not bad—drinkable.

Huo Liangzhou came back at noon, and Qi Mo strongly suspected his husband had returned just to scrounge food.

The food over there is terrible.

Qi Mo watched the man who had left home clean but returned covered in traces of dust despite some cleaning, smelling like a chimney.

"Did you smoke or were you at a barbecue? You smell like smoke all over," Qi Mo remarked.

Huo Liangzhou scooped a bowl of rice and picked up a piece of tomato, saying, "Don’t get me started. A granary at the security base caught fire this morning. Not only did it burn several tons of food, but it also destroyed two plastic water tanks. We got hit hard."

"How did that happen? Here, honey, have some sweet and sour ribs to cheer you up. Accidents are unavoidable in this weather—don’t be too upset." Qi Mo summoned a plate of sweet and sour ribs from his storage space. Sweet food can brighten one’s mood.

Hearing the young master’s comfort, Huo Liangzhou picked up a piece of sweet and sour ribs. It must have been something the young master bought from a hotel before the apocalypse—the taste was excellent, it really hit the spot.

"If it were a natural disaster, fine, whatever. But no matter how much we guarded against it, we still couldn’t stop those believers. Some employees at the security group knew Qi Huai's followers. I’d already warned my team—don’t eat anything from strangers, don’t eat anything from believers. But some still couldn’t resist. Once they ate, they became loyal to them. A single tomato cost me two meals’ worth of food and over ten tons of water," Huo Liangzhou sighed, ready to blow his top.

Some were greedy, others just didn’t listen.

Now, without him needing to say anything, the culprit behind the accident had already been kicked out.

There was no choice—that person couldn’t stay in their base anymore, or they’d be a disaster.

The remaining employees finally understood the severity. Those who wanted to sell their freedom for a full belly could go find Qi Huai anytime. Only those who wanted to live and keep their free will could stay.

"With so many people, did you really manage to identify all of them? No one knows what others are thinking," Qi Mo wondered.

Huo Liangzhou chuckled and told Qi Mo he knew how to handle this.

After all, Huo Liangzhou had memories of such things.

All he had to do was make Qi Huai's followers curse Qi Huai.

Non-followers could curse freely, but the followers would freak out instantly—identification took less than three seconds.

Qi Mo sighed upon hearing this. Those foods were scary strong!

They could directly control minds.

Fortunately, identification was simple. That was a relief.

Then Qi Mo said, "The village held a meeting today. The village head wants to build a wall. Will you pitch in with work or supplies…?"

Huo Liangzhou frowned at the young master’s explanation. "I can’t take you back to Jiangcheng either. Building a wall in the village is indeed necessary. Alright, I’ll swing by the quarry tonight to check and decide then."

Qi Mo nodded and slid a chicken leg into Huo’s bowl.

Kitty Snowball meowed—what about the baby? Papa can’t leave me out!

Qi Mo actually understood and quickly gave his little one a chicken leg too.

Poor Chubby baby couldn’t chew the smoked chicken and was stuck slurping broth and eating noodles that tasted like nothing.

The chicken noodle soup was fragrant, but without salt, it had little flavor.

After discussing village matters, Qi Mo finally told Huo Liangzhou about a few families gone missing in town—though their food remained untouched.

Huo Liangzhou listened and said, "We’ll check tonight. It’s almost certainly the work of a mutant beast or insect. If it were people, they wouldn’t leave the food behind. As for those taken… they’re probably dead."