Xu An glanced at Zhou Haimei. "No, I'll go out and find some wood to burn later."
At this moment, Qin Chuan also spoke up. "I know there's a pine forest nearby where we can find wood to burn. Do you have tools here, like an axe?"
Zhou Haimei was about to say no, but Xu An interrupted her. "Yes, when we were tidying this room, we found tools like an axe and a saw."
As Xu An spoke first, Zhou Haimei, though she didn't say anything, muttered to herself in her heart.
"When did we get tools? How come I didn't know?"
Xu An shot her a glance and then said with a calm expression, "We have them; you just didn't notice."
Zhou Haimei thought she had been careless and missed them.
"Where are the things? I'll go get them."
"It's alright, I'll get them." Saying this, Xu An walked out of the wooden house and to the back, where neither of them could see, and took out the axe and saw for logging from her spatial storage.
This wooden house didn't have that many tools, of course. These were things Xu An had bought long before the apocalypse and kept in her spatial storage. She never expected they would actually be useful.
When Xu An returned with the axe and saw, Zhou Haimei excitedly took the tools.
However, Qin Chuan looked at the items Xu An brought in and smiled knowingly, his eyes deep, as if contemplating something.
As Xu An looked over, Qin Chuan had already composed his expression.
"How is your injury?" Xu An asked.
"I'm fine now, just some superficial wounds."
Xu An looked at him. His complexion was indeed much better than yesterday, but remembering the wounds on Qin Chuan's back, she couldn't help but ask, "Don't push yourself. Sister Mei and I can also chop trees."
Qin Chuan refused. He looked at Xu An.
"I know where that forest is, so I'll take you there. It's quite close to those villagers. It's best if we walk there and don't alert them."
Xu An had no objection to walking there, she was just a bit curious.
"You have a grievance with those villagers." This was not a question but a statement.
Qin Chuan nodded without hesitation. "Yes, it was because of those villagers that we lost so many companions."
Xu An kept looking at Qin Chuan, expecting him to say more after stating the grievance. However, he stopped there.
"Is that all?" Zhou Haimei was also waiting for gossip, but unexpectedly, Qin Chuan fell silent.
Qin Chuan shook his head, seeming reluctant to bring it up. "That's it."
"Tch, boring."
Xu An and Zhou Haimei could vaguely guess what had happened. It was likely that something occurred between the villagers and Qin Chuan's unit, which was why Qin Chuan was now unwilling to approach them.
It wasn't that Xu An thought Qin Chuan was afraid of them; there must have been a reason why he didn't want to argue with them.
But Xu An really couldn't guess the specific details.
She only vaguely felt it was related to the sacrifice mentioned by the woman they had encountered before.
So Xu An instructed Zhou Haimei.
"Then you stay and watch the house. We'll be back soon. Remember not to close the door too tightly. It's still snowing, and I'm afraid you'll be blocked in the wooden house and run out of oxygen."
After reminding her, Xu An took out two large packs of hand warmers and placed two at the bottom of her feet and two on her pant legs, then handed a pack to Qin Chuan.
"Put them on, it's very cold outside."
They were all wearing hiking shoes that were convenient for walking. While these shoes were light and sturdy, they were inherently not warm.
When they came down, the weather was neither too hot nor too cold, with a slight coolness of late autumn, making these shoes just right.
But now, with the snow falling heavily, these shoes couldn't even protect their ankles.
Snowflakes poured into their ankles along the heels, making their legs go numb from the cold.
In the short time it took her to go out and get the tools, her toes had already become stiff with cold.
In fact, she had thick snow boots in her spatial storage, but it was inconvenient to take them out in front of the two of them.
Xu An made up her mind to take advantage of these few days and go out alone to warm up properly.
As for the others, she could only apologize for now.
Qin Chuan did not refuse the hand warmer Xu An offered.
He took off his military boots and tucked the warmer inside. Compared to Xu An's hiking shoes, his military boots were significantly warmer.
After Xu An finished, she was about to give the remaining hand warmers to Zhou Haimei.
But she refused.
"You keep them all. If not, stick them all over yourselves. At least I have a place to shelter from the wind and snow in the house. We still have kerosene in the car, so we can light a lamp for warmth, and there are also two blankets."
"I'm already quite warm here. As for you two, be careful when you go out."
Her face was full of worry. Just by looking, one could tell how heavy the wind and snow were outside.
Stepping down, each step created a pit.
Moreover, they were going to chop trees this time and bring back the chopped wood.
Xu An did not stand on ceremony, divided the hand warmers in her hand with Qin Chuan, and covered her inner protective suit with them.
She was not someone who liked to make herself uncomfortable. If it weren't for Qin Chuan and Zhou Haimei being present, she would definitely have taken out the RV and taken a nice hot shower.
But with the current limited conditions, she could only make do.
After getting herself ready, Xu An took out two pairs of thick cashmere gloves from her backpack.
They looked very warm.
She handed one pair to Qin Chuan.
"I only have women's sizes, so they might be a bit small, but these are elastic. Please bear with them."
Qin Chuan originally intended to say he had military-grade leather gloves, but when he reached into his pocket, he realized he had probably lost them somewhere while fighting the mutated sea beasts.
Besides, leather gloves were indeed not very warm.
So he didn't refuse and put on the soft pink cashmere gloves Xu An handed him.
The sight of him wearing them created a strange sense of contrast and cuteness.
Xu An stood by, nodded, and commented, "Not bad, not bad."
Then, the two of them pulled the hoods on their protective suits over their heads, put on scarves, and walked out, fully geared up.
Qin Chuan carried all the tools.
Seeing Qin Chuan taking on all the tools himself, Xu An didn't argue. She was happy to be at ease.
The two of them pushed open the door again. The heavy snow rushed in, and a wave of coldness hit them, causing both of them to shiver involuntarily.
Before Xu An could react, Qin Chuan had already stepped out first.
As his retreating back disappeared, he left Xu An with a message.
"Be careful and keep up."