《The Reborn Otaku's Code of Practice for the Apocalypse》 Chapter 1 part1 Chapter 1: Rebirth "Motherfucker! Lao zi1 shouldnt have been so soft-hearted to buy the little brat!" Luo xun cursed furiously under his breath, as he weaved left and right in the midst of narrow alleyways, closely following the slippery fish-like figure. One ran, one chased, various businesses on the roadside pointed at the pair like they were watching a great show, and seeing that the one in front was a quickly fleeing boy wearing a bup sack that barely even covered his thighs, everyone knew that the man behind had unluckily lost his goods. Ze ze2, nowadays only the rich can afford to buy young boys, you know? If you want to solve problems of the body all you have to do is be willing to part with several first grade jing he and go to the red-light district and find a random ass to stick it in. Going left, going right, when he came upon the intersection, the chaos there distracted Luo Xuna gang of tall and burly men were brawling! "Damn it, its raging mes and chaos!3" What was with todays luck? All he wanted was to grab a few years worth of jing he savings to buy some sort of present for his 32nd birthday, but at the intersection he encountered that ve trader, that kid with the dark and stubborn eyes, on his body were terrible scars, he let the ineffable desire to buy him be born. But as he was making the deal4, the kid turned and just ran off! And now hese across a gang fight! Luo Xun discovered the child had run away immediately, then guessed, there was an eighty percent chance hed met a swindler. Children were not good after all, once you have them in your hands, as long as you dont let others snatch them away theyre still yours. For the most part these children worked with ve traders, as soon as they got their money, the children would run away, hiding and waiting for the buyers to go home without a thing.5 Luo Xun had only ever heard of such a thing before, but never encounteredbecause he had never bought, how could he have?6 Today was the rare day of his birthday, suddenly seeing the expression of the child greatly moved him, the desire for a son to apany in the future for half of his life outweighed any other things that moved his heart......Sure enough, there was no good in the world to speak of! Suddenly breaking into the middle of the fighting, the boy was clearly shocked, stupidly standing where he was for a while, not knowing to get out of the way, suddenly facing a huge fireball about to smash into him, dont know which power had produced it. The bottom of his heart rose up for a moment in fear, hed had enough of being considered as special bed goods7, so he had disregarded his life to escape his new buyer, but now......Was he really going to die? A tremendous push came from behind, the childs big crow-ck eyes nkly looked at the person whod pushed him, that was a thin and weak man, but his strength apparently was not too bad. Like a gust of air8, the huge fireball hit the mans body, and that pair of tea-coloured eyes lost their shine. The trantor has something to say: picking this up was a mistake, this is abination of mtl and my own chineseprehension, i suck at chinese, this isnt even half of the chapter, send help Footnotes: 1. I, basically 2. something like tsk tsk, but i left it as ze ze just because 3. ͻ磡literally its raging mes and the primordial soup of chaos 4. ɲń؛ , not sure how to trante that 5. the phrase is һ݆p_, which is an idiom that means to go home without any achievement; go home with ones tail between their legs, ording to thing im using to trante 6. ֺՄdont know what that means, please help 7. ܉ǷNˮƷR| i dont know if that random line is a typo or something, but either way have no idea what this means 8. ݏһꇇ@Ϣ someone give me a better way trante this Chapter 1.2 "Im dead, Im not dead, Im dead, Im not dead......" On the old-fashioned wooden bed, Luo Xun looked up at the ceiling with two nk eyes, mumbling to himself. Only after twenty loops did the nonsense finally stop. Suddenly, Luo Xun got up, and in a few steps was in front of his wardrobe. The wardrobe, an antique piece of furniture left by his parents, was outfitted with a full-length mirror. It was this that gave Luo Xun the most direct, clear-cut answer. nkly raising his hand to touch his cheek, the stress lines umted from the chaos of the apocalypse was gone, the wrinkles caused by manualbour were gone, the wizened and yellow skin due to malnutrition were gone...... This face, it had reverted back 10 years! "Ive really......gone back?" Looking down at his slightly trembling hands, although they werent exactly soft and tender, they were clean and slender;pared to the joints deformed due to excessive manualbour and the ck nails hed had before, it was like they didnt belong to the same person. Hands covering his face, Luo Xun weakly sank to the ground, tears quietly flowing out. He didnt what point of time this was, nor did he know what had happened to him, but but it was clear that the air was different, the atmosphere was different, his body was different, and the location was different. This was F city, his old house, the only thing his parents had left him. It was before the advent of the apocalypse, the ce where he had lived for a full twenty-two yearshome1. On the floor he sat until dusk, only then did Luo Xun stiffly rise, walking to the kitchen to cook a packet of kang shuai bo2...... What a nostalgic smell ah! In the beginning of the apocalypse, people could still find some in the wrecked supermarket, whileter on, these types of things had gonepletely extinct. The two bases he went toter, because of the nts mutation, there were only dry rations3 left for sale; you just couldnt get vour like this anymore. Although these instant noodles didnt taste as good as early instant noodles4,, as far as the reborn Luo Xun was concerned they were a delicacy of the human world. One bowl of instant noodlester, his appetite had only been whetted. Twenty-something Luo Xuns appetite was not small, and adding on the fact that hed just returned from the apocalypse5? One bowl of instant noodles simply wasnt enough for him to eat. Repeatedly confirming todays dateSeptember 8, Luo Xun grabbed his wallet, getting up and walking to the front door. With some hesitation he stood there for a minute, before taking a deep breath, pushing the door open, and going out. A fruit knife stuck in his waistband, Luo Xuns movements had some caution as he slowly descended the stairs, until he reached the front gate; seeing peopleing and going in the neighbourhood, he couldnt stop the bottom of his heart from shakingIve really returned! The world right now, the despair at the end of the world has not been ushered in! He sat in the ramen shop just outside the neighbourhood, a shao bing jia rou6 in his left hand and a pair of chopsticks in his left. Taking a bite out of the shao bing jia rou, inhaling a mouthful of fragrant beef ramen, Luo Xun almost had tears streaming down his face. Later on, even when he arrived at A city-base, Luo Xun rarely saw flour, dont even think about this kind of used-to-bemonly eaten beef ramen. These things just werent the things that his type of people, on the lowest rung of society and eking out a living, could consume. In other words, even if he had jinghe and could afford to buy flour, there was still no one putting these things up for sale; these unmutated foodstuffs after the advent of the apocalypse were unique; there was no way anyone could bear to sell them. "Ah? Isnt that Luo Xun? Youre not working today?" A voice sounded from beside him. Luo Xun turned his head in astonishment, a familiar uncle carried a ck stic bag in his handinside probably contained seafood. The uncle looked at him curiously. "Eh, ah...... I dont really have anything to do today." His ten years ago self should still be working a casual job, right? "Dont really have anything to do?" The uncle puzzled over this, then with an understanding face patted his shoulder, "Its okay, its okay, this job is not good to look back at, you are still young, there are still opportunities......" He chattered away for a bit. Up until he left, Luo Xun still hadnt managed to recall his identity, only that he should be his neighbour, but was he on the same floor? Or was he just a neighbour that he nodded to when he saw them, he couldnt recall. And as for his job? Unhurriedly finishing off thest mouthful of soup, Luo Xun let out a lengthy sigh, gazing at the unending stream of traffic on the roadthere were two months until the start of the apocalypse, himself, there was no way he could still go to work. Getting up and paying, Luo Xun turned and walked to a nearby real estate agent. Of course, if it was selling online, part of the transaction fee would be removed, but Luo Xuns current situation was strained. He had to quickly sell off his only property and hurry to A city. Thats right, he wanted to go to A city. In the apocalypse that ce stood for more than ten years, it was a ce he himself lived in for eight whole years! the trantor has something to say: i tried for just two parts for the chapter, i really did. but s, my impatience and desire for feedback has led to me splitting this chapter up into 3 parts. forgive me for my weak resolve. Footnotes: 1. the original sentence is Լʮġҡ 2. , brand of instant noodles: 3. Ǭ, literally dry noodles, wasnt sure what it was exactly 4. @ķImȻѲڷIζ, help, what does this mean 5. Λr߀Џĩ؁ļӳЧsrsly, help 6. , baked sesame seed-coated cake Chapter 1.3 Several second-hand hunting people1 grinning ear to ear toted around cheaply bought furniture and appliances that hed had from youth and left the area. This old residential property basically was arranged2, the front gate was always open to the outside, even if until night there was no one looking after it. As a result, during the apocalypse zombies roamed and hunted, entering and exiting extremely conveniently and freely. On the second day of putting it up on the market, someone dropped in to see the apartment, furthermore negotiating on Luo Xuns set price twice. But even if Luo Xun in his desire to quickly sell off his apartment had deliberately lowered the market price a little, he had no intention of being taken advantage of. Thirty thousand was his bottom line; he still had a lot of ces he had to pay for, there was no way he could go any lower. As expected, when third wave of people came to check the apartment, both sides finally settled on the contract, transfer, payment. Buying and selling the house was extremely time consuming; Luo Xun took a full twenty days toplete the formalities. Holding all of his funds, he boarded a vehicle3 headed towards A city. Looking at the both familiar and unfamiliar city through the vehicle window, Luo Xu couldnt help but feel a sense of vicissitude in his heart. In the past, aside from going to school he traveled to A city with his parents once4. When the apocalypse started, the initially safe M city was breached by the zombies and he fled for his life the whole way, once againing here. Luo Xun considered himself a rtively cautious person, but at certain times was a person who was not afraid of risky and dangerous ventures. Otherwise, as someone without even the least bit of power, also as anmon person who didnt have any rtives as chief of a base, how could he escape danger again and yet again, surviving in the apocalypse for ten whole years? Even if he died in the end, it was still his own choice to rush out and shield the child before being reborn. Otherwise, Luo Xun had absolute confidence that he would have lived at A base for the next ten years. And now, he had returned, although like before he didnt have any ability, nor did he want to go ahead and hug a thigh that wouldter be strong, he still had the confidence he could cautiously and prudently survive in the apocalypse. So, his first step was to sell of his apartment, as well as everything in his home that was useless in the apocalypse, and stuff that could not be brought to A city. Next, arriving at south-west area of A city...... Looking for a home, and another real estate agent, at longst at a rtivelyrge real estate agent he found his goal. "......newly built neighbourhood, this ce has just been renovated, pretty much no one has lived here before. The arrangement is a rooftop duplex4, the views good, the airs also good, of course the price is a bit high, but its definitely worth the money......" As the agent chattered on, Luo Xun carefully examined the apartments basic data, and determinedthis ce was exactly what he was searching for. "Take me to see it." "Alright! Pleasee with me." the trantor has something to say: whats this??? an update so soon??? holy shit??? it doesnt actually take me a month to trante a third of a chapter, it takes me a month to work up the motivation to. but somehow, in procrastination, i have tranted the rest of chapter 1. dont expect this to happen again. wanna see the google doc i did this on? fact: the chapter title,, can also mean restart or do-over next up: ڶĩеѱy, Chapter Two | The Best Haven in the Apocalypse Footnotes: 1. UƷվ literally waste recycling station people, but since these people are buying the stuff Luo Xun is selling this is what I came up with 2. @С^Iǔ[O i srsly hate this paragraph what does this mean halp 3. ܇ could mean a train, bus, or car. its he vague, so i decided to be just as vague. 4. 픘S Chapter 2 *Ozs Corner has graciously allowed me to help trante the project, they tranted the first chapter (link in table of contents)* Trantor notes: I dont use footnotes (though I will if need be). Not sure how good this is but its more readable then pure MTL at least. The agent exited and escorted Luo Xun to a nearby apartment building. "Brand new neighbourhood in the southwest area, some of the building have not beenpleted yet. The home is well ced, newly renovated with a great view and little noise. There may be only a few people here now but that will change once the new supermarket is built." Luo Xun kept quiet, nodding while listening to the sales pitch. He already knew that only two floors of that building had been built, the new supermarket remained just a rumour. However this ce would be a golden downtown area since the army and another regiment were nearby. Both conveniently in the southwest area. In the future two bases were established at the beginning get of the Apocalypse and subsequent zombie outbreak. One was the rapidly cleared southwest base under the protection of two army regiments, the other was the eastern base. A year after M-city was ovee, Luo Xun fled north to the southwest base and the eastern base the following year. Not long after he fled to A-city zombies and mutant animals appeared at the same time. Luo Xun remembered the basement of eastern Building 3, his previous home of 8 years during the Apocalypse. Since he now has an alternative, he naturally will no return to that basement. Not to mention that basements are currently on rented out for storage purposes. In the corridor someone had written a string of phone numbers in oil pen and pasted small advertisements for renovating or installing air conditioning and plumbing. Even the elevator door was not left untouched, when the two entered inside the elevator, the walls were covered in posters. Luo Xun nced around while the agent awkwardly smiled. "People came in advance since there isnt any surveince and this is not considered private residential property yet." "As usual then." Luo Xun looked at the graffiti in the corridor. By the time he had arrived, the walls had long since be unspeakably filthy. Any trace of wall postings had been covered with the blood and brain matter of deceased zombies. They stopped at the 16th floor, the agent unlocked the apartment with the key and described the home. "The first floor has a living room, balcony, kitchen, bathroom and storage room. The second for has a terrace, 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms onerge and two small. Have a look inside." The agent continued, "The house is fully furnished andes with a secure door. A family had nned to move in but got a work transfer. The new workce was too far from here, hence the need to rent out. Though the appliances have not arrived yet." Luo Xun dipped his head, knowing there was more to the situation. The home had been set up for an elderly person because of the location and terrace, therefore there was not an urgent need for appliances. However the elderly person had passed away from illness so the home was now empty. The agent had been deliberately vague, possibly afraid the Luo Xun would not rent if he knew all the details. Luo Xun was satisfied with the sunlight streaming through therge windows at the back. When they went upstairs, Luo Xun bypassed the empty bedrooms and headed to the terrace. It was sealed with ss for safety reasons and the roof was too windy. Even better (for Luo Xun) it was tempered ss. With this, he felt the 3500 monthly rent was a good value, considering the cost of living in urban areas. "Okay the house is good." "Then you...?" "I will rent, when can thendlorde and sign the contract?" The agent grinned and called thendlord. The monthly rent was 3500 with a deposit of three months worth of rent upfront and a 3500 agent fee. The two parties signed the agreement on the morning of October 1 and Luo Xun received the key to his dream house. In his past life he had admired this house. When he reached A - city southwest base, home nting techniques and simple water purification had already been implemented amongst others. Various explorer teams had gathered mutated crop seeds from nearby farnd. After analysis and observation by the research department some crops were discovered to have high yields and short nting times. Thus crops that provided basic energy needs were poprized. At that time, Luo Xun only had a basement room under 10 square meters, with barely a breeze and a trickle of sunlight from being blocked by other buildings. Unlike earlier residents who could set up sr panels on their patch of roof, Luo Xun had to buy electricity at exorbitant prices from others. Even so, he nted a number of crops that did not need sunlight in is small basement such as beans sprouts, chives, garlic and some other non-mutated crops. He also had somerge yield mutated crops that grew in shade. This decision helped him save a lot of money. In Luo Xuns mind, his practical skills are quite strong. Even in poor conditions he would find a way to survive, even better now that he e turned to the past. Only eight buildings had been built, when a portion of North central area returned to the city, six buildings were ready for sale. This area had been established three knows ago, the new home had Ben renovated under a month ago. When the Apocalypse struck, four buildings had been finished, two had been outfitted and thest two did not have any doors or windows installed. Two of the houses werepleted under the supervision of the army to provide a safe area. They did not deal with alreadypleted homes. The original owners were left out by survivors once the Apocalypse began in earnest. In his past life, a family of three had rented the ce out half a month before the start of the Apocalypse. This was since there werent any appliances despite having good furnishings. Most migrant office workers in the city would choose somewhere else, otherwise how much would they need to spend to buy appliances? Luo Xun knew the house was excellent. Later on, he could buy sr panels from the military and take advantage of the window space. Useful if one cannot or does not want to buy electricity. Mrs. Wu had a hard personality and loved to be frugal. Usually with multiple purchases there would be concessions, however Luo Xun never got any discounts. So he went and bought himself a rechargeable battery to be self sufficient. The two sides almost came to blows but the family of three with thick waistlines had to swallow their words when they descended from the 16th floor. The family relied on the fortuitous location of their home to sell electricity as their livelihood, unlike others who grew crops at home. In addition, the son had never been outside the secured areas since the mother could not bare if her child got killed out on an expedition. Thendlord was missing after the start of doomsday and did not return to the southwest base. Luo Xun was not sure but they had likely died during the disaster. Even if they had returned, they would not get their original home back since housing was allocated ording to base regtions. Luo Xun was not a saint, since he was an ordinary person he never entertained thoughts of heroism. With the house, he now had a dwelling which he wanted to turn into a fortress to improve his life (inparison to his past life). A ce he can spend the long and terrible apocalypse in rtive relief and peace. There are now 57 days until the end of the world. Chapter 3 Trantor note: Still getting used to wordpress (darn the weird spacing). And when I try and edit posts on myputer there is only the preview and no update button. This kicks off the hopeful release schedule of twice per week on Monday and Thursday. With a new mobile phone, Inte ess and a bnce of 325,700 yuan, Luo Xun drove his newly acquired 9000 yuan second-hand car to thergest hardware store in the southwest area of the city. He bought a full toolset, a variety of other tools, a set of sr charging equipment and some rolls of privacy window film. Afterwards he drove to a nearby farmers market to buy seeds and water purification filters. What should be prioritized during the Apocalypse? Luo Xun firmly believed first-clean water, second- enough calories from food and third-weapons and clothing. Water sources became contaminated shortly after the Apocalypse began. Luo Xun was cautious after fleeing M-city and noticed the base encouraged water purification by freely distributing filters. He used knowledge from his schooling to build a homemade distition system. It was more time and resource intensive but Luo Xun needed to ensure his safety no matter the cost. In addition, the distilled water was boiled for a while and sanitized before consumption. Many people felt that was too troublesome and only boiled without any distition. Then M-city base copsed after a sudden zombie outbreak inside the base. In fact, many established doomsday bases copsed from internal issues such as food and water pollution. At the start, the zombies were sluggish and nts/animals were still normal. Therefore multiple bases were swiftly established since there were army troops in every province. As long as the army reacted in a timely manner, they could easily rescue civilians and set up strongholds. Even better, due to their constitutions, many soldiers acquired abilities of varying types, resulting in an improved defensive force. This is one of the reasons Luo Xun moved to the southwest in advance. Along with drinking water, food also became a problem. Even though the Apocalypse started in winter, most people survived off storage. They did not notice crop mutation until spring and summer when survivors went out collecting supplies. Who knew if the mutant crops were edible? Would there be any adverse side effects? Famine was a pressing issue until the following year when researchers discovered edible breeds of mutated nts. Luo Xuns past life was harsh; he had experienced two cities being overrun. Then he joined a search team in A-city but could not handle evolved zombies as an ordinary person. Coupled with the fact he had never handled a gun before, no team would ept a useless team member. Instead he grew shade tolerant/loving crops in his home. When a crop is sold, he immediately rented and continued the cycle. From that point on, his life began to improve. He did regret having no ess to sunlight, missing out on nting numerous types of high-yield crops. Luo Xun reminisced as he drove back home and moved his purchase bit by bit into the elevator. His home on the 16th floor is quite high up; fortunately there was still some power even during the Apocalypse. Everyday the elevator ran between 7-9 in the morning and 5-7 in the evening. Although he had previously lived in the basement, he needed to keep these times in mind when he had to buy electricity. Once everything was brought in, Luo Xun took his cellphone and connected online while eyeing the empty home. Online shopping is best when one has many things to buy but little time for shopping. Luo Xun had bought the phone not just for convenient online shopping, phones could still be used after the Apocalypse. Once the base was established, researchers developed a new mobile phone card that could be used inside. Higher ups could send out messages to cate the public. Of course the radio also broadcasted around the clock news like the discovery of a new crops, confirmed edible animals and other generic base news. He electronically filled basket after basket, Luo Xun had left his hometown before thinking of buying anything in advance with the wide avability of Inte. In most cases, as long as he does not need an installer he just needed a location and address for the other party to deliver the goods. He shopped through the night, the next morning Luo Xun rolled up his sleeves and started his tasks. The window film was cut to size and using a foldingdder, stuck to the window wetted with a watering can. He covered all the terrace windows with the film and the first living room windows too for good measure. The work is tedious and slightlyplicated but very useful. After the apocalypse, if your balconies are covered with nts anyone who says there is no problem is a liar! In a zombieden post-apocalyptic world, everyone relied on processed food or raw rice and flour. A house with fresh fruits, vegetables and home cooked meals is prime target for thieves and looters. Thus Luo Xuns first priority was to secure his personal well-being. Once the film was in ce he set up tworge sr panels on the patio window to charge. He only bought one set since the panels were so expensive and there were other things he needed to buy. If his current funds were not sufficient then he could drive over and loot the hardware store during the Apocalypse. After all, at the start of the Apocalypse, the zombies were very slow and unintelligent. Those who dared to go out gained more resources. The remaining film was packed away in storage after covering the windows of Luo Xuns used car as well. He had been working away for almost the entire day indoors, so Luo Xun tidied up and drove out to a specific location. He had lived in the southwestern base for eight years but it had already gone though post disaster reconstruction. Some residential areas had copsed, others were newly built and public buildings had changed appearances. When doomsday arrived,e supermarkets werepletely wrecked. He needed to familiarize himself with the locations of nearby supermarkets and other stores instead of just ordering online. Although the southwest is somewhat distant, its prosperity may be higher than average. The city was only a metro ride away so many office workers would choose this remote, lowered price residential area. Due to that, there are all kinds of facilities. Luo Xun was surprised to find local supermarkets every couple intersections along the main road. There were also three national chain supermarkets along with a number of convenience stores. Luo Xun marked all the important ces on a city map and nned to do the same to a digital map as backup. He turned and stopped in arge supermarkets parking lot. With credit card in hand, Luo Xun familiarized himself with the storeyout while pushing a cart. Today he had spent 30,000 yuan at the hardware store and farmers market. Then he spent 7888 yuan duringst nights online shopping spree leaving 200,000 yuan. Luo Xun estimated spending 1000 yuan at the supermarket. He marched forward and grabbed oil, rice, noodles, instant noodles and other food products. As he passed the household goods isle Luo Xun realized his had forgotten to buy bedding and a change of clothes. He looked at the price tags andpared to those online. He will buy online since it is cheaper and has home delivery, which is more convenient not to mention his cart is already full. He finished by adding various cooking utensils. Luo Xun refused to apply for a membership card and pushed the cart into the parking lot for loading. After he had put all the purchases in the house, Luo copsed on the floor andmented. "My strength is so pitiful..." His current strength is hovering at average values. Evenpared to his past lifes bad living conditions, his current student bodycks strength. But how could he exercise now? In the future if he world hard and stays diligent, his strength will steadily grow. He closed his eyes in reflection then added somest minute purchases on his phone before heading to the second floor. He made a makeshift nest of thick clothing and fell asleep. Chapter 4 Trantor Note: So I nned to release two chapters to kick off the month of December, then I finished early. I am going to be busy over the weekend with assignments to do so I am posting chapters 4 and 5 early. Also, this chapter introduces *cough* new/mysterious/unnamed male character *cough* In the city, the night is more prosperous than the day. Men and women were enjoying night time festivities in a bar. A flirtatious woman wearing a tight-fitting miniskirt highlighting her tiny waist and curves stalked forward like a cat towards a sofa in the corner. "Hey handsome, want to drink with me?" The woman fluttered her eyshes but the man leisurely walked away. He had a pair of peach eyes with a mole in the corner of his left eye. He lounged on the sofa, his appearance and temperament attracting the attention of all the women in the bar. "Leave." The mans eyes narrowed as ifughing but had a cold gleam while he mercilessly spat out a response. The woman was stunned and did not hear what he had said. A hand grasped her shoulder. "Woman, there is no ce for you here." She spun around but saw a 40-50 year old man with bodyguards. Those near the sofa quickly cleared the premises cursing tonights bad luck. "Theres a million yuan on this card to give to your mother." The middle-aged man sat next to the young man and slid a card on the table. "Why bring the matter to me? Why dont you call her?" The young man sneered while dialing the numbers. "You called me out for this?" He drawled, "Isnt it better to give this to her directly to ensure all the money goes through?" The older man pinched his temple, "Tell her your uncle has beenid off and to watch out for trouble." The young man pinched the card with a mocking smile. "You will not divorce yet you need me to deal with a trifle during the middle of the night? Yan Han I am not your subordinate. I dont care about this matter, send one of yourckeys instead." He dropped the card on the table and turned to the door. Yan Hans face sunk into an ugly expression. "I also wanted to see you..." "I am alive, no need to worry." The young man exited the oppressive bar atmosphere in favor of outside. The next morning Luo Xun was awakened by the doorbell ringing. His orders had already arrived? So fast! Luo Xun sighed and shook his head. Deliveries for online shopping in M-city were never like this. Some package deliveries dragged on for ten and a half months on average. He did not expect express city delivery to be so prompt. He checked the numerous order statuses on his phone and found most had delivery status with some still in dispatch phase. Luo Xun prepared to finish up at home. Luo Xun surveyed each room and began to n theyout while waiting for deliveries to arrive. Needless to say the terrace must be used for cultivation, the kitchen and storage room are self-exnatory. The storage room without windows could be turned into a nursery and breeding room. The living room was rtivelyrge so it could be separated to store things. The two smaller bedrooms could be used to store food and tools. Thest would be his personal bedroom; he also does not need to move any bath and shower equipment. He though back on something that turned out useless since nobody found it necessary. The doorbell continued to ring, followed by a stream of packages. *Zi...zi...* The drilling sounds gave people headaches. The electric drill rang though building 7 for over half a month. The 16th floor house was now filled with tools, boxes and remodeled items. By October 22, everything Luo Xun had ordered had been delivered to his home. The living room was now split in two. Tools and uing modification projects were near the balcony with bought furniture in the hall. All foodstuffs, seeds, stocked supplies ad processed foods were sorted in the first and second floors. He still needed to buy some furniture, at least a table, chairs, sofa and bed. Luo Xun hammered his sore waist and entered the bathroom after setting aside a newly modified non-toxic PVC pipe. He washed his face and took a big bite of a meat bun warmed in a microwave oven. The day after the microwave oven arrived, Luo Xun removed the sounding device after checking for quality issues. Noise was dangerous during the apocalypse. Luo Xun leaned against the sofa, ncing with satisfaction at the room. Now that he has refitted all the needed equipment, the rest of the day can be dedicated to preparations. For example preparing rice and wheat for the nursery in advance. Procrastination is not a good habit at all. He threw the used stic bags into the trash. Luo Xun cleaned up the remaining waste since all the useful things were already in the second floor storage bedrooms. The balcony and terrace now had sturdy hydroponics shelves and nursery boxes. The room was nowpletely clean. Luo Xun pushed the sofa and fish tanks into the living room. He rxed on the sofa, took out his cell phone and frowned. With the 50,000 left he could go buy some food and medicine, or possible raise some animals at home. Some animals, not just humans also became zombies once the apocalypse started. Later in addition to zombie animals,e became mutants instead. The mutant animals could be considered more dangerous to humans than zombies. However if an animal was domesticated prior to mutation, it would not go rabid and instead became a helper with strongbat effectiveness. At the very least, a dog could watch the house when one went out scavenging for resources. Luo Xun remembered how zombie animals became more dangerous than human ones, as a result people became wary of any animals. While in M-city, there had been an old man with a minibus. The old mans dog did not turn into a zombie and scared away intruders. The apocalypse caused social order to copse, people broke into others homes to loot. Although Luo Xun wanted to raise one, a dog had costs: food, bones etc. Second, what it if turned into a zombie? Even if not initially, if the dog went out of control he could be unlucky and lose his life. "Ill wait for now." It would be the same for any animal. If you had some chickens, you could get eggs and meat but the chirping noises could attract the attention of thieves. Luo Xuns desire to avoid trouble shed with his wish to raise a dog. Luo Xun nted some seeds in the nursery room box. The previous storage room had been modified so that the temperature and humidity caused germination after a few days. Since winter is approaching, he dared not cultivate too much even if he could regte room temperature. First reason was he could not eat or sell the nts for now. The second reason was nts and animals could mutate. If the nts were only seedlings, Luo Xun could quickly dispose of them, but if left for too long he would need alternative methods to destroy without requiring physical contact. Even thogh it is convenient to nt on the terrace, Luo Xun prefers the hydroponic crops. Of course he also nned to nt some soil-based crops. Tomorrow he would head to the nearby fields to acquire the dirt. Hydroponic crops are easy to raise and space efficient, no problems so long as there is good nutritional solution. The nutrients could be purchased directly online but had to be self-made after the apocalypse. Fortunately Luo Xun had experience in the matter. At the moment he only cultivated some parsley, cabbage and rapeseed seedlings. He also had some orange, apple, cherry and other fruit saplings in a basin. For the rest he would wait until a few days prior to doomsday, the time would be enough for green bean and soy bean sprouts amongst others. After a few days most of the seeds had germinated in the nursery box, there was no way to discern the dead seeds. Luo Xun carefully cut up a sponge and ced it into the modified hydroponic cultivation tube with oxygen from a small aquarium pump to add nutrition. The small hydroponic nter was nowplete. Since these are to be grown during the apocalypse, Luo Xun ensured that the small shelves only had a dozen nts with groups of shelves sharing a water tank. The fifth sr battery had long since been charged and the rooms had been tidied up. Luo Xun confirmed by walking around the house four or five times. Looks like he has time left to do something else? Chapter 5 Trantor Note: Heres the second chapter I promised, double releases will stick to starts of months/holidays. I ended up needing to do some quick inte searching when the trantors gave me weird interpretations. ck-ck: actually ck tongue which is a reference to chow chows (they are fluffy and adorable dogs). Star anise was tranted as octagonal tree possible because the spice is an eight pointed star. There was nothing to do at the moment with twenty days until the end of the world. Luo Xun did not want to start processing food but obviously cannot idle either. He could go to a kennel and see dogs? Luo Xun quickly found one of several major dog kennels in the southwest area using his cellphone. The ce had many good breeds of dog and positive online reviews, should be a great ce to purchase a dog. He drove his car southward. Dog kennels were generally built in suburban areas, more remote with rapid city expansion. Since they need space, building too close to the city could pose a problem. Buildings became more and more scarce along the road. Luo Xun passed flower greenhouses and harvested corn fields with hay bales lying around. Half an hourter he saw sign Showtime Dog Kennel Why is it named that? Luo Xun wondered. He turned and ten minutester arrived at thepound walls with a sign hung on the door with the same name. Seeing a potential customer, an 18-19 year old weed Luo Xun inside while inquiring about what dog he wanted to raise. "Do you have a chow chow? One around 3-4 months would be best." "You want a dog to guard the door? Right a few months ago we received two chow chows. Dont let the current price fool you, they are quality dogs! Specially bred and raised, worth more than a golden furred husky!" Luo Xun nodded, those sorts of dog were fiercer and chow chows were smart, thus faster to train up. The two entered a room with several men who had heard that Luo Xun was intending to buy. One man in the back stood. "Come with me." Along the dogs barked without pause. Luo Xun also saw two majestic mastiffs C this breed of dog he could not raise in fear of it turning into a zombie during the Apocalypse. He could handle a chow chow but he would dead meat against a Tibetan mastiff. Customers do not go far in due to the dog smell and high temperatures. The cages had an adult dog and some puppies. "This litter is three and half months old, the other Is two months. Although a bit on the small side, the breed is good." The man motioned towards the cages. The mother was growling, somehow knowing that people want to take her pups. Luo Xun looked between the two cages; the three and a half month cage had two puppies while the other had five. "They have a pedigree certificate?" "Yes, the mother is game level and the puppies have cards." He pointed at the two month cage, "These ones are expensive, the other two are female. 2100 for both without a license." Luo Xun instantly wanted to buy both chow chows but immediately stopped himself. He did not know if a single dog would turn into a zombie, let alone two? "Ill take one for now. Do you have dog food and medicine?" "Yeah we have them if you dont mind taking some older stock." Luo Xun happily bought things and selected an energetic puppy. The dog kennel also printed a booklet on dog care and training. The car now held two packages of dog food (he ordered extra online) and dog chew bones, which were more expensive than white rice! If the dog did be a zombie Luo Xuns heart would be crushed! He would have to slowly eat the dog food! Thinking of the body size and appetite of an adult German Shepard, Luo Xun felt regret. In his arms the chow chow looked at him with watery eyes, the cuteness really pulled at peoples heartstrings. "Well youll be with me, holding on when the 28th arrives." Luo Xun remembered his lonely previous life. This time he would have apanion if the puppy survives November 28! Luo Xun stored the dog food, medicine, food bowl, metal cage and other things in the car the spot with an employee named Xiao Zhao. "While driving by I saw a vige, do people live there?" Xiao Zhao nodded, "Yes all the vigers." "Is there someone selling poultry? " Luo Xun asked. Xiao Zhaoughed, "Youre going to buy organic food on the way back? Its not far from the city but the price isnt low. Ill take you there if you really want to buy." The kennel was usually not that busy, sometimes a couple employees could skip without issue. Xiao Zhao went to the car and the two chatted while driving. Luo Xun learned that the vige is Xiao Zhaos hometown and a friend had rmended him to the dog kennel. The vige was one big family, everyone free ranged some chicken and geese while nting a few crops in their yards. Luo Xun bought 10 live chickens and ducks as well as two geese he asked for help to kill for easier storage. He also bought two baskets of chicken eggs, a basket of duck eggs and some additional bamboo baskets. Xiao Zhao returned home and found his family had nted a star anise tree. "Can you give me a tree branch?" Luo Xun had forgotten about these kinds do of things! "Why do you want these things? The supermarket sells this stuff too?" Since Luo Xun had bought many things with haggling, Xiao Zhao shrugged and cut down 3 or 4 branches. "This sort of thing should sold quickly since the smell does notst." "No problem, Im just ying around nting on my balcony." Luo Xun joyfully replied. "Any nts in particr? My family has a strawberry nt that regrows quickly each year without fail." Xiao Zhaos mother wrapped the nts in old newspaper pages. "Thank you, thank you." Luo Xun then pointed at the grinding disc. "Are you selling that?" Xiao Zhao was speechless, he figured Luo Xun was a rich second generation from the city spending money like water. "That is too heavy, we wouldnt be able to move it to your car. My family has two small manual grinders, you want them? No one uses the since we switched to an electric model." Luo Xun bought the two small hand grinders and an electric husker, the price was cheap since both were used. Luo Xun checked the Inte and found that part recements were rtively rare. He would need to buy fromrge farmers markets or a specialty tool shop. Too much trouble so hell buy thoseter at home. The electric husker was pretty much brand new since Xiao Zhao had barely used it. Hearing that Luo Xun was a rich city person with money to spare, a child ran over and tugged on his clothes. "My house has a quail, you want it?" "Quail? Let me take a look first." Luo Xun nodded in shock. ording to the child, the family was not willing to keep the small caged quails since theyid few eggs in cold weather. They brought the birds over in hope of earning some pocket money. Checking the quail, it could not be consider poultry with its pitiful size, although it wouldy eggs. Even if they mutated, they were small enough for Luo a Xun to deal with. There are eight quails in the cage, two are male and the rest of female. Luo Xun ced them in the car along with way bought salted duck eggs. With all the luggage stowed away, Luo Xun held the puppy and drove home In his used car. The cage was positioned so that the chowchow could be familiar with the house environment. Luo Xun checked his bank ount and pockets, his funds were down to 20,000 yuan. After looking through various online stores, Luo Xun decided to spend his remaining money at a farmers market to buy a final batch of food, seeds and other things. The he would visit the suburbs and dig up some soil. Finally he would go home zed rest for a few days. Early next morning, Luo Xun gave the puppy some food and water, checked the temporary quail nest then grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. The puppy gazed pitifully at Luo Xuns back, the asional whimpers stuck at peoples hearts. After returning homest night, the puppy was cruelly left in the cage. Luo Xun provided food and water but no care. To be honest, Luo Xun was not resistant to the puppy but but he cannot get close to her now. He could steel his heart and kill an unrted mutated animal during the Apocalypse. However if its his own pet... Whether in the past or present, in some ways Luo Xuns heart is very fragile. To this day he remembered his neighbors bing zombies and attacking one after another. The sight of familiar faces scavenging for food crushed his heart. So for his second chance he chose to leave Y-city, in a positive light it showed he had foresight, in a cynical light he was fleeing. He would rather kill a group of strange zombies the confront a group with familiar faces. Therefore, he did not dare name the little chow chow puppy in fear of developing feelings and emotional ties. Table of Contents Chapter 6 Trantor Notes: next time Ill make the post ahead of time and set publish date instead... The doorway became an enclosed space due to Luo Xuns home renovation. In order to enter the living room one had to go through an additional door. This was a safety precaution, in the event someone opens the door after the apocalypse they would not see the entire house at a nce. At this moment he was sitting in the entranceway putting on shoes when a chorus of whimpers echoed from the living room. "You! Acting so pitiful." Luo Xun exasperatedly strode back into the house and lifted the puppy by her scruff. "You want to go outside with me?" The puppy panted with her small tongue lolled out and brush-like tail wagging back and forth. "Why?! Its so cold outside! Honestly, just stay home and behave." The puppys tail continued to wag. Luo Xun bent over and put the puppy back in her cage. "Wooo...." The pitiful voice resurfaced and the tail drooped. Luo Xun soothingly patted the puppys head. "Ill be backter and bring something good. So behave at home, dont make too much noise." If the weather permitted, he may spoil the puppy and hold it outside. The puppy was too young and the weather was too cold. The dog was rather smart, no matter what Luo Xun would not let her so she quietlyid on the mat looking with big soulful eyes. Luo Xun sighed and felt he brought big trouble back. Even if the puppy did not mutate, how would he walk the dog when grown the zombies everywhere! He changed his shoes, locked the door and headed to the elevator with a sigh. A notice was posted on the first floor near the the elevator. Printed above, On December 10 the property offices open the doors. Hydro, electricity and gas may be subject to change before and after the New Years Day to be notified otherwise. The building had not yet beenpletely set up. Water and electricity timetables were temporary C one did not have to pay every month. The utilitypanies woulde and collect fees after everything was finalized. Luo Xun read the notice again, shaking his head as he walked out C he can save some of his money... However since the district was not yetpleted, there were asional temporary water shortages. He needed to reserve two days worth of water. He drove home in his used car after thest shopping trip. In the past few days he had visited the farmers market and purchased vacuum sealed rice, flour, oil and other grains in bulk. After he drove to all the southwestern area pharmacies. It was inconvenient to buy medicine online, especially those with specific prerequisites. Luo Xun could buy first supplies online but for the others like anti-inmmatories and cold medicine he had to visit a pharmacy. Each time he entered a pharmacy he only bought one or two boxes due to the limitations. However there are dozens of pharmacies, small andrge in the area. How many could he hit? Thus Luo Xun spent thest sum of money on multi-purpose but hard to ess drugs, along with some moremon drugs and rice. Using this method, Luo Xun could quietly amass a lot of medicine, the city is big enough for that. If he had enough money he could have gone through the entire city instead. He stacked and organized everything into the house. The puppy sniffed around and perked up, owner hade home early! Luo Xun had be more cautious when returning home since the puppy had attempted to run out the door. "Dont run around! You could fall off the railing!" Luo Xun huffed as he dropped thest bag of soil on the ground. His head hurt as he saw the filled living room. So many things, when would he have the time to organize it all? An unorganized room would never be clean! Before, Luo Xun had purchased a number of buckets, boxes and aquariums online. After delivery, there was no walking space left. Fortunately the stacked boxes did not upy much space. Being space efficient was a good thing. Luo Xun temporarily piled garden supplies on the terrace. The rice, flour, oil and grains were heaped outside the kitchen door. The storage room next to the kitchen would be used as a nursery with higher temperatures to nt shade loving crops and maybe mushrooms. The balcony would cultivate fruits with the remaining space used for storing hardware and tools. The living room was storage, Luo Xun ced three freezers along with a microwave oven, electric stove, small stone mill, peeler, manual meat grinder, manual sausage machine, distition equipment, spare buckets and baskets. There was also a pile of bulk rice and noodle to the side. On the second floor there was a small amount of instant food, vacuum sealed rice, noodles, grain, oil, sealed seed packets, a spare stic pipe and arge amount of charcoal. In therge bedroom there wererge cabs, bed, a bedside table, small desk, aptop and boxes of medicine. Theres also spare clothing in the wardrobe, several sets of bedding and fabric packed inpression bags. These things would always be useful, Luo Xun remembered the disaster of three to four years before the base reorganized the textile mills. At that time cotton, x and other nts hadrge scale mutations. Raw materials became extremely scarce, people changed back to a pair of pants and a child. Behind the first floor staircase, Luo Xun hid barrels of recently bought gasoline and diesel due to restrictions of these goods. The demand for gasoline was not that high from what he remembered from being a part of an adventure group but it was still better to have some reserves. Lastly on the second floor terrace he ced shelves above the patio, some have nts but others had been set aside for future use. Along with the shelves, small buckets with holes were ced alongside the terrace. For these he could wait until spring to nt some crops ording to weather conditions. A grill stood in the center of the terrace, circr with a new iron grille and filled with coal. When covered, a charcoal briquette burned faster than if open. If the sun was not strong enough or the sky was continuously cloudy, Luo Xun could feed charcoal to the fire. He would also use wood as fuel if reserves ran low. By the time everything was prepared, it was mid-November. Luo Xun woke up and opened the tap to collect water. Not long ago Luo Xun hired someone to install sr water heaters, he also secretly added two on the small cistern roof. Normally, by December the extras would have to be demolished because the weight is not safe and authorization for public uses would be needed. But for now, it is private property if the apocalypse does not ur Luo Xun would naturally remove the water tank. However if doomsday did ur as foretold, the water heaters would be a life saving measure. The kitchen cabs were filled with all sorts of things. Luo Xun joyfully rolled up his sleeves, hands covered in flour. How many years had it been since he cooked with white flour and rice? He did not get the chance in his previous life. Before the apocalypse, Luo Xun bought all his food other than instant noodles. He could only fry and scramble eggs. He actually learned how to cook after the apocalypse but by then he had no chance. Ordinary people could not buy rice. Now he had an abundance of ingredients, water and electricity! If not now, then would he be able to cook to his hearts desire. The puppy was sleeping with a full stomach, the milk was not the same as mothers but there were no thieving brothers or sisters! The scent of cooking and the sound of owners humming was veryfortable. Although she cannot huddle and snuggle with her brothers and sisters, yesterday owner bought a dog plush she can cuddle with while sleeping. Chapter 7 Trantor note:Guoba is a scorched rice which is eaten as a snack. Stuck with chinese name since it sounded tastier. Dried chicken, duck and goose fluttered in the breeze above the living room. A section of sausage on top resembled a banner in full flight. The past few days were filled with drilling noises, now filled with the aroma of cooking. The 16th floor had changed so quickly. Several handymen on the 14th floor balcony smelled the fragrance. One asked, "Yesterday was pancakes, what is todays smell?" "Guoba! My grandmother would cook it way more delicious than the supermarket!" "What do you think they are doing? Why would they need to cook so much every day?" "Maybe for lunchboxes?" "Making lunchboxes and guoba?" "There is no smell of side dishes." "Who said that? Wasnt there such smells just yesterday?" "It was 5:30 in the evening, someone must have been cooking dinner!" Todays tasks were nowplete! Luo Xun smiled as he removed the excess oil from thest piece of guoba. He was happy since he had used up half of the loose bulk rice. Bulk food is hard to store, especially in a home with many nts. He decided to make food in advance so the worms would have nutrients while digging through the soil. Luo Xun installed a fan along with hoods for a gas stove outside the kitchen. Energy was always scarce, doubly so in an apocalypse. Therefore he needed to save electricity in order to avoid paying any fees to foreign parties. For example, he had three freezers, one was vertical, the other two were horizontal. All three wererge volume appliances with high energy saving capabilities. Right now only one is operational, filled with all kinds of meat bought from the supermarket. All the bulbs were reced with energy saving variants. Luo Xun also stockpiled candles, alcohol and so on. Back in the living room, the puppy saw Luo Xun and climbed his leg, shaking her tail merrily while begging for hugs. Luo Xun picked up the puppy and gave her chin rubs while lounging on the couch. His body stank of sweat but Luo Xun felt too tired andzy to change clothes. He also cannot be bothered since he was alone and the puppy could not abandon him. There were two fish tanks next to the sofa, one had several fish and other had shrimp. These were not ornamental aquatic creatures but ones bought at the market. Luo Xun did not know the exact care methods but they were living, cheap and easy to bring home. The fish and shrimp species were not known due to small size. The next day half died, the rest dwindled down to four fish and three shrimp remaining. The eight quails were held in a modified aquarium tank next to the balcony window. Luo Xun had specially bought mealworms for the birds to be stored in a separate tank. The animals were easy to raise, pad the ground and give vegetables. Luo Xun did not know when the quails wouldy eggs. Luo Xun fished out his cellphone and aimlessly surfed the Inte while ncing at his meat stores. With 2080 yuan left, Luo Xun nned to go out the day before doomsday to buy a bunch of ready made snacks and takeaway. In between now and the apocalypse, there was not much to do other than preparing food and ying with the puppy. In less than 10 days, the world would greatly change. It was unknown how many people would die during the apocalypse. His fingers subconsciously inputted words and Luo Xun was drawn to one of the search results. On November 22 "How to make/use technology during the apocalypse" was created in a forum. The content was very detailed, starting from well-known protective measures to teaching people how to repurpose existing household items, water purification and stretching food stores. The thread attracted arge crowd of onlookers. The thread was active with sudden and spontaneous additions. Each time the writer went online, followers would happily find new content. Moderators rated it highly since there were no prophecies, rumor spreading or telemarketing; just teaching people on further uses of existing household items. Afterall many things are readily avable at home. Even if most did not believe the apocalypse woulde, it was not a bad idea to grow sprouts, garlic and cherry tomatoes at home. Even if the nts were not eaten, they could be used for greenery beside theputer. Home nting had been quietly popr in current society. Housewives afraid of potentially unsafe produce were the first to try. The tension increase since the title included apocalypse. Quite a few inquired about the topic which drew in people with nting experience. Luo Xun felt faint regret as he looked out from his home. Was the post made toote? Would more people have been helped if he posted earlier? No, it was not toote. Luo Xun posted the days content and scratched the sleepy puppy. Interested people would naturally experiment and check other posts. The uninterested would do nothing even if someone predicted the apocalypse. No one would believe conspiracy theories without proof. Even knowing that the apocalypse would start on November 28, Luo Xun was willing to believe that his past life was nothing but a dream. It was November 26, 11 in the evening ording to the phone clock. Tomorrow he would go out onest time, the next day doomsday began. On November 27 at 8 in the evening the writer posted thest forum post. Many onlookers arrived early, refreshing the page in wait of new information and tips. People had tried nting home crops, some bought distition equipment. These were hands on activities people had not done since leaving school sciencebs. At 8 oclock the new post appeared. Some reread the entire post since the contents were very shocking. WasteWoodHouse: Today is thest post because after midnight on November 27, that is November 28, the apocalypse will arrive. The author advises the following: if you live with someone, it is best to stay in separate rooms and lock the doors since zombies cannot turn knobs by themselves. If you have pets, best keep them in cages or separate rooms because once a zombie their lethality surpasses imagination. Those who see this message should store up as much tap water as possible since the author does not know when the water gets contaminated. Saving water costs nothing, tomorrow everyone can have a water party. Other precautions have been described. Even if the previously mentioned items like food and medicine are not prepared, first aid maneuvers can be used until a rescue team arrives. Believe it, zombies will appear. P.S. The author hopes this prediction is false and we all see the light of day tomorrow. The reply surprised everyone who shifted to a "it is like that" mindset. Someone had spected that the posts would lead people along then drop a bombshell. This kind of trick ismon online, especially in conspiracy forums. Up until now, the writer had been teaching them while cultivating worry but the final post made people think "hogwash as expected". Thest message was deleted after some discussion at 8:21 p.m. On November 28 at midnight, the sky quietly turned dark red, some noticed but thought it was normal. Luo Xun stood in front of the bedroom window, the puppy was in her cage, the small quails in separate containers and the few fish and shrimp in individual buckets. Even the worms and nts were separated from each other. Tonight had the same red sky, the same dark atmosphere. Gradually a dark green light shined in all directions as snow began to fall. Luo Xun stared nkly at the sky then crawled into bed. In his past life he did not turn into a zombie or develop powers. Right now he could care less about powers, he just hoped he did wake up a zombie... Chapter 8 That same night, Yan Fei cooly watched several directors arguing about a project in the conference room. When he turned to look out the window he saw a sh of green light and sucked in a breath. "Hey." "Yan Fei?" "Finish this tomorrow." An unknown feeling rose in his heart, Yan Fei felt something ominous, a sense of danger and anticipation. Change wasing, the prelude to a cataclysm. He was not clear if the omen was good or bad. A change for the better or a descent into an abyss of depression and helplessness. The sunlight shined without mercy with no choice but to wake up. Luo Xun blinked a few times then threw himself out of bed to stare outside. Apocalypse! Doomsday! The end of the world had arrived! In his past life, Luo Xun had not witnessed the very start but some of hispanions had mentioned it while fleeing. He still remembered his self me, "If I had known that the apocalypse wasing, I would have prepared in advance! Instead I was livingcently in a bubble. I thought it was a trick of light when green shed across theputer screen but then the machine shut down. Many became zombies and went after each other." Now he saw it with his own eyes. First Luo Xun checked his hands, normal with small wounds and rough skin from days ofbour. Then he closed his eyes and meditated C no feeling at all. He picked up a heavily modified, spiked baseball bat. He is still just an ordinary person. Luo Xun stuck close to the walls, fully alert and grasping the bat. He headed to the patio, opened the sliding door and peeked inside. Some of the crops had transformed. From the thirty-three seedlings dispersed across four shelves, six had turned maroon exuding a gray atmosphere, definitely contaminated. The maroon nt was now inedible and highly toxic with a possibility of turning into a zombie if consumed. Luo Xun used rubber gloves to pluck the contaminated nts and threw them into a pot in the corner to be burned. Other than the contaminated nts, four looked strange; two golden yellow, one bright red and one silver gray. Luo Xun removed these nts and transferred them to a separate shelf. Mutated nts may not bear fruit or be more productive. Usually the mutation created apletely different nt species. No problems on the second floor. After checking each room, Luo Xun grabbed his homemade mace and slowly descended the stairs. *Bark! Bark!* Luo Xun froze, looked down then felt relief. The three shrimp had all turned belly up, there had not been enough oxygen inside the buckets. One of the four fish had be a zombie. The fish had been ced in the corners of a box. Two had suffocated and the zombie fish had the eaten thest, only leaving bones. The puppy barked and growled at the box. Luo Xun strode forward and smashed the zombie fish with the bat, with that all the aquatic creatures had died. "Youre fine." Luo Xun smiled and petted the dog. He did not feel sad about the fish, the puppy was the greatest gain. "Ill feed you againter. Wait a while." He spoke in a gentle tone. The puppy tilted her head curiously. All eight quail stayed normal inside their containers. No losses! The same applied to the worms, no change but they protested when Luo Xun dug them out. "Such stubborn vitality..." Luo Xun put them back with a sigh. Finally he inspected the balcony. One of the apple seedlings was contaminated and one of the orange seedlings had mutated. Though three pepper nts and one star anise seedling were also sacrificed, Luo Xun felt very satisfied with the results. He burned the dead fish and contaminated nts on the terrace before checking the nursery. Sadly, most of the nursery mushrooms had mutated. Luo Xun needed to get rid of these bright red poisonous mushrooms as soon as possible. Fortunately he had known that mushrooms were suitable from his past experience. Luo Xun used a telescope to scope out the situation from the terrace. The puppy had been released from her cage and currently acted like a spoiled child at his feet and biting his trousers. He did not want to change the dogs name from Puppy, it was cute and sweet. Most importantly the name was easy to remember. "It seems that the situation outside is not good." Luo Xun murmured. Because the apocalypse started overnight, the majority of people mutated at home. Through the telescope he saw many inhabitants in homes had be zombies. Pressing against the windows wearing pajamas, unable toe out since the door was closed. A rtively small number of zombies were wandering the streets listlessly in search of food. Luo Xun decided to go out and collect supplies while the number of zombies outside remained low! No one can have too many resources, especially since Luo Xun had a rtively secure storage space. Due to money issues, he had far from enough sr panels and other energy sources. Food, even expired had been the most circted good during the apocalypse. Looking at the world with a new perspective, any cautious person in society would take action, especially during doomsday. Luo Xun had reced his peephole with an electronic version, one would not be able to tell from the outside. It had numerous functions: LCD screen with night vision, 24 hour surveince, help tips, recording, SMS prompt, remote control and homeputer connection. Luo Xun focused on the night vision and 24 hour surveince functions, so he could clearly see any people in the corridor even at night. Unfortunately he would not be able to use the SMS feature for a while. Luo Xun stood behind the door and reyedst nights recording. He was relieved C there were no wandering zombies on the 16th floor. Luo Xun was the only inhabitant at the moment on the particr floor. Apartment 1602 had owners but the two other homes were notplete since the peephole had not been installed. The 15th floor had been built but there was no one living there. The 14th floor was still under construction and renovation. In general, upancy rate at the end of year was low, most people have not moved in and furnished. For Luo Xun, his new home was more secure than his old building; less people in the building meant fewer potential zombies. Luo Xun equipped his mace, a backpack, helmet, an arrow and homemade crossbow. Before leaving he ordered Puppy to watch the house. Puppy was too young at the moment, but even if she was fully grown Luo Xun would still be reluctant to bring her. She could bite a zombie but then would mutate or turn into a zombie. The electricity had not been cut in the corridor, amp half-flickered on when the door closed. One of the bulbs had burned out three days ago. The developers were cheapskates and bought cheap but non-durable light bulbs. The elevator was still useable so Luo Xun stealthily loosened the switch cover. Really, there are two elevators but before the grand opening only one was useable. *Ding* The elevator door slid open, Luo Xun grabbed his mace and walked in. The sound of the elevator attracted growling sounds. Luo Xun guessed that some of the construction workers on the 14th floor had be zombies which could only gather at the locked door. In the small space hearing *ping, ping* without seeing the source of sound as well as low growling, people would inevitably feel depression and fear. Chapter 9 Luo Xun crept through the corridor, checking outside to ensure no one was around. He snuck over to his second hand car, stored his equipment and started the engine. Hearing the sound, a few families work up and noticed the changed world outside. Luo Xun ignored the other survivors, with the current low upancy rate if they got killed by zombies he could only state, "You are not fit to survive the apocalypse." Today is only the first day of mutation and the change ured in the middle of the night so many zombies were locked in their homes unable to hunt. The southwest road was deserted with two zombies in janitor clothing staggering after the car but Luo Xun had long driven away. He had no time to cleanup low power primary zombies that had no nuclei or intelligence. The car drove along the road for half an hour to arrive at the hardware store Luo Xun had visited before in order to collect supplies. Up ahead, the door was half open so Luo Xun slowly drove forward. The iron gate had blood stters and scratches. The doorman had likely been attacked upon opening the door. With supreme vignce, Luo Xun clutched his crossbow and drove inside the store. The entranceway had no corpses but there were bloody stains showing the direction someone had been dragged. Luo Xun slowed the car and lowered the window, crossbow at the ready. Suddenly three figures roared and sprang forward. "Ah! Zombie dogs!" Luo Xun paled, if it was just primary zombies he could deal with a group of six or seven. Had he offended a higher power? Why was he given such huge trouble!? Animals were unlike humans. Human zombies started off slow and unresponsive, easily dealt with despite increased strength and the ability to infect. Animal zombies retained their original instincts and responses. Luo Xun grunted and aimed the crossbow between a zombie dogs eyes in response to the ambush. Too bad the shot was not powerful enough and did not prate the brain. The targeted dog yelped and shuddered before leaping at Luo Xun. The other two also stormed over. *Bang* A dog rammed at the door. *Crash* The other smashed the side ss doors. Luo Xun held the crossbow in his left and the mace in his right. He rushed the dog and pierced the head. The crossbow bolt hit the brain stem, the dogs body swayed then fell. *Wang* Luo Xun blocked the dogs bite with his mace, though he could smell the stench of decay. The dogs limbs screeched against the car door, leaving deep scratches. Luo Xun shuddered and aimed for the back of the brain, near the throat. The dog rushed again but is was toote. He smashed the dog which hit the ground rolling then roared in defiance. *Swoosh* The bolt hit the brainstem again, permanently ending the zombie. Panting, Luo Xun stayed vignt, he did not know if themotion would attract other zombies. He had been too careless. In fact for a long while in his past life, he had not fought any zombies face-to-face. Life in the safe zone wasfortable and stable. Most regr people would not be willing to venture outside once their livelihood was secured. They were ordinary people, only those with powerful abilities could reap high rewards from exploring and hunting in the dangerous world of zombies with mutant nts and animals. Therefore regr people would rather struggle at the base fringes then risk their lives outside. Luo Xun had done the same, thest time he faced a zombie was during his sixth year in a safe zone. He had been drafted to patrol the walls during a zombie wave. Fortunately since his rebirth he practiced everyday with his homemade crossbow and arrow, otherwise Luo Xun would have been screwed today. However the crossbow could only be shot once before reloading and one shot did not kill the zombie! Luo Xun wiped the sweat from his forehead and went to recover his ammo. The heeded a few tries in order to open the door. The zombie dog had mauled the door leaving w marks and dripping foul liquid. He did not start the car, instead he retrieved his four arrows. Since he could not buy online he bought the needed materials and handcrafted them. The crossbow was an effective weapon despite the noise and little ammo. Luo Xun could not waste any since he was reluctant to make more at home. He packed his weapon and returned to the car. Luo Xun carefully advanced without meeting other zombies after the dogs. In the store Luo Xun found his target and started opening the lock with a self-made lockpicking tool. Do not ask when he learned lockpicking, almost everyone acquired decent lockpicking skills to find supplies and shelter while escaping on the road in the past. Except Luo Xun used tools and others used brute force. A few cars sometimes drove by though Luo Xun was notpletely certain. He debated entering the supermarket next-door to collect more when C *Crash* A car smashed through the supermarket ss doors. Luo Xun looked through his telescope at the store, the corners of his mouth twitched. SHould he praise their ignorant courage? A group of vehicles led by a modified Land Rover rushed forward and triggered the rm system. More than ten people dove into the supermarket with trolleys. These people woke up to a strange atmosphere and realized a bio-disaster had ured when someone turned into a zombie. After, they immediately drove to the nearest store to grab supplies. However due to their inexperience went directly through the front door. Zombies tracked prey through sound and smell. With so many loud people gathered, the scent had undoubtedly strengthened with the noise level. Are they going to be zombie food? Luo Xun silently shook his head, he had originally intended to go sweep the supermarkets and other ces but did not want to cross paths with these brave fools. Plus, his home food stores had a lot of instant noodles with a half year shelf life, he could barter with other people. More importantly he wanted to get home faster, who knew if someone caused trouble at home. His apartment only had Puppy, what would happen if someone broke in? Luo Xun drove away when noticed a few zombies slowly tottered towards the supermarket. There were a lot of people inside with weapons, they should be able to easily deal with the zombies. Along the way Luo Xun saw some bold people driving around. Some hurried to find family members while others looted shops and supermarkets. Luo Xun continued until he reached a drugstore. The door was ajar, the shutter half covered with a long trail of blood. He thought for a bit, parked the car in front of the shop, wore his helmet and grabbed his weapons before entering the door. There was no sign of anyone outside or inside the shop. Luo Xun bent down to see if the ss cab had been unlocked. When he was young he had subconsciously practiced unlocking his bicycle in case he made a mistake and got sent to the station. He was afraid that practicing early would dy preparatory work. Chapter 10 Luo Xun unlocked the pharmacy storage and quickly cleaned it out. Of course, he had removed the security cameras in advance. While storing the medicine, Luo Xun did not see anything else, not even the corpse of the person who had opened the door. There were more vehicles on the road and Luo Xun asionally caught glimpses of panicking, sweating and paling people. He grabbed the necessities and passed a rice and flour shop. His heart twitched when he saw people without zombie symptoms busily carrying things. Suddenly with a screech of brakes several policemen ran out. "No looting! Its illegal!" The officers stood vignt, one saw Luo Xun idling and waved. "Nothing to see here, go home and bar the doors and windows!" Luo Xun heart jumped, he had forgotten after living a decade during the apocalypse that even during chaos the state was still initially in operation. He had just grabbed sr panels and medicine, looting shops is still considered illegal... Luo Xun hurriedly started the car and shouted to the police officer. "I just saw a person on the road get bitten and turned into a zombie...is the disease contagious?" The policemens expressions darkened upon hearing the news. The officer who had previously spoken nodded his head. "It is possible, no matter go home now. No looting. Shut any doors and windows and wait for government response." When would helpe? What would be of society in the end? Severalrge supermarkets were hit hard with multiple vehicles parked haphazardly at the entrance. Police cars were dispatched to maintain order and prevent further damage from looters. Luo Xun hurriedly drove while surveying thendscape. He needed a few days to determine outside conditions and home security before going out again to collect materials. He had enough time to prepare supplies before the apocalypse and there was no need to risk himself for expendable supplies. Especially if he could lose everything. Luo Xun briefly noted that the number of cars in the parking lot had decreased before driving downwards. He used a small trailer from the hardware store to help move the goods. The containers could be stacked and pulled upstairs. The electricity in the area had not been cut yet, the elevator was still functional. Luo Xun prepared his mace while waiting for the elevator and felt relief when the door opened to reveal empty space. As the lift rose Luo Xun heard footsteps around the 14th floor. The zombies had escaped? Luo Xun wrinkled his brows, it was not that dangerous to have a zombie in the house as long as it was trapped in one room. Without eating the zombie would not evolve and after three to five years the body would dposepletely. But if it ate and gained energy, lifespan obviously increased. The zombie also evolved if energy was umted to a certain level. The energy may be acquired from eating or identally in nature. Luo Xun did not know what theb people discovered, he only heard tidbits from the news. Since the zombies on the 14th floor had escaped did someone open the door from the outside? Luo Xun tensed, he could not be med for thinking that his home may have been ransacked if someone had opened a door. The elevator door opened slowly, Luo Xun calmed a bit seeing the empty corridor. He was furthered calmed seeing the untouched door and no intruders. Puppy excitedly shook her tail. The peephole camera showed no living creatures. Luo Xun sighed in relief and brought his loot into the house. He removed the possibly contaminated clothes and put them in a box near the doorway, then brought the materials in one by one. On the 14th floor several zombies tottered along the corridors. To Luo Xuns surprise, the zombies had released themselves. Perhaps a number of people who worked overtime forgot to lock the door. Therefore after turning into a zombie, they gathered at the door due to the noise then one hit the button to open it. Simrly some neighborhood zombies also slowly wandered out. They either gathered in corridors or the stairwell to reach outside. Luo Xun did not notice, he changed clothes, organized his spoils, took a bath since the water was still running and was now lying on the sofa with a sleepy puppy in his arms while surfing the Inte on his phone. The apocalypse had arrived and smashed ordinary days to pieces. Luo Xun knew that for ordinary citizens, the world had irrevocably changed. In the face of sudden and death and bereaved family/friends, doomsday had begun. The university students looked warily from the hotel, makeshift weapons in hand. "No zombies!" "Come on! Lets go!" "Where are we going?" "Back to school?" "No, there are four people per dormitory! With such a high poption density, it must be the most dangerous ce!" "Then...where are we going?" "Wait, Ill check my phone." One student opened up Luo Xuns impressive post about the apocalypse. "With a small group it is best to find an empty room and wait for help. Where to find an empty room and furniture to barricade the door?" "A ce with an empty room huh..." "If the room only had one zombie, we should be able to deal with it." "Outside the city?" "Forget it, A-city is so big. I think WasteWoodHouse is right. Sooner orter a security base willunch a search and rescue." "Then we should gather food and drink?" "Yeah and medicine...God if I had not seen the post how many of us would have snuck outst night. The innkeeper was stirring up group P!" Under such pressure, if the end of the world did not ur they would check out in the morning, but in a situationparable to doomsday. On the road, some vehicles were scattered and some upturned thus not letting any cars pass smoothly. A few cars gunning down the road came across gray faced people sloshing forward. The car upfront mmed on the brakes and caused a series of crashes. A young man struggled to raise his head, blood flowed past his eyes and down his cheek. Yan Fei ignored the blood and looked up the streets; blocked ahead with many people abandoning the cars. A lot of zombies appeared attracted by themotion. To cross the road one had to avoid a lot of cars, the road behind waspletely blocked! "Damn!" Yan Fei cursed as he grabbed his shoulder bag and touched the handgun at his waist. He had a gun but little ammo, even if he killed with one shot, only six zombies would be gone! The road out of town was blocked, where to go now? Downtown was in chaos as people woke to find a changed world. The previously familiar metropolis had been swallowed in a sea of panic and destruction. The poption density of A-city was enormous, and it was November with three months until Lunar New Years. New Years Day had not arrived either which was when many workers returned home. The city poption was at its peak. In the big city many people went out for leisurely nightlife even with the hidden threat of doomsday. Especially since November 28 was a Saturday. The weekend evenings were the best time for parties, especially with A-citys premier leisure and entertainment. Many partied until midnight or even all night long. Luo Xun chose the southwest area with a decent poption but most worked downtown and only returned home at night to sleep. Some did note back during weekends to party. So he did not know how many more zombies were in the city centerpared to the streets of the southwestern area. Chapter 11 *Bang! Bang! Bang* Gunshots rang out from a bars back door. "Oye! Whos stupid enough to make such a racket!" A man with gold ssesined, followed by an underling. "Brother Kun, it seems to Wang Hengs people. They were seenst night carrying a guy." The man responded coldly after hearing Wang Hengs name. "The idiots, so loud, they are courting death..." Momentster, a group of people appeared near Brother Kun. Another man nked with two grunts walked with a smirk and a dark expression. "Idiot? Courting death? Wu Chang Kun cursing so loudly, arent you the one seeking death?" The gangster smiled with hands folded behind his back and ambled over to Brother Kun. Wu Chang Kuns eyes sharpened behind his sses and responded with a chilling smile. "Brother Wang, this young one doesnt understand your words." "Doesnt matter, after today you wont need to understand." Once said, Wang Heng thrust out his hand palm up where a fireball appeared to the others shock. Ability! He had an ability! No wonder he could act so unscrupulously. "Explode!" "Kuh!" A lightning bolt blocked the fireball attack. The originally confident Wang stepped back and looked at Wu Chang Kun. Thetters mouth curved into a smirk. "Such a pity Brother Wang, you didnt think that fortune only smiled upon you?" "Third dormitory building cleared!" "Fourth squad assembled!" "Cleaning up the canteen..." "Reporting in, wounded soldiers have been moved to the west side of the square. Send medical personnel to help!" A uniformed man stood frowning out a window, ncing at a dormitory floor through a telescope. "Whats the status? How many people have be...those things?" "The report states 33 have been killed, more than 10 people bitten and more than 30 have been injured." "33 people..." The man pondered when someone else burst inside. After entering the soldier saluted. "Commander, the army has found dozens of people with superpowers! Enhanced strength, hearing and eyesight!" Themanders eyes brightened, earlier those discovered with any powers were quarantined by the army. They were worried that the people would be zombies but a few hourster they were still fine. Even more surprising, the soldiers had supernatural abilities! "First find a way to observe these people after release. Team making..." Themander had not finished speaking when another person interrupted. "Reporting! More than 10 army dogs have gone insane and wild! The symptoms match those bitten! They are faster and harder to capture or kill!" The television channels were looping through reruns ofst night. The daily morning news had not been aired yet. The radio was full of static and only received channels that looped music. Luo Xun surveyed with a telescope and Puppy in his arms. Towards the southeast, he could see and army wall in the distance, the main force of the southwest base. They were likely currently dealing with army zombies, the other regiment was further away. Luo Xun remembered that the army had expanded, rescued people and collected equipment. There was an arms factory nearby, though Luo Xun did not know the exact location. He knew with the factory, the southwest base was self-sufficient in terms of weaponry unlike other bases. To the south there were few buildings, mostly just fields. It was more urban to the north with high skyscrapers to the northwest. Finally to the east there was arge flower field and cottage area. Luo Xun returned to his bedroom and looked at the entrance gate. The majority of people dared not leave even if they felt that something was not right. At this time, a few had crept downstairs to go and collect resources. A scream pierced the silence, Luo Xun saw a screaming 20-30 year olddy followed by a man of simr age C a young couple. A nearby zombie staggered toward the two. It had been a long time since Luo Xun had seen this sort of scene. Adys screams were sometimes more lethal than a roaring zombie. In the apocalypse, every woman was a treasure and must be protected. Later there was a popr joke C during doomsday there were no dinosaurs, all women were beautiful. Since women were so scarce, any good looking ones were long picked up by those with means. Ordinary people wanted but were unable to see. Any who managed to marry and bring home a wife would have burned incense to Buddha in thanks. Luo Xuns brain jolted seeing the screaming woman constantly slicing at the zombie with a kitchen knife. Little by little, the zombie was whittled away and fell to the ground. Thedy continued screaming and hacking away. ...Luo Xun took it back, women were not weak, perhaps sometimes even more frightening than men. The man had copsed in fear upon seeing the zombie until the woman had chopped it into pieces. She turned around, the man retreated half a step. She said something before the two hurried to a car and drove away. Due to the screaming, people peeked outside to find that others had left. The screams attracted the attention of both people and zombies. Zombies slowly came out while a portion of people prepared to drive out. Some even came face to face with a zombie. There were a number of zombies inside Luo Xuns building, particrly on the 14th floor. Five or six had escaped and were wandering around. Luo Xun was not worried about theming to the 16 th floor because primary zombies could not climb stairs. Zombies were corpses, their joints could bend but were stiff. It would be difficult for them to bend their legs for each step. However not climbing stairs did not mean not heading downstairs. In fact, they were very fast at descending stairs. Their speed was iparable to mortals since as long as the brain was intact, the zombies could shake off broken limbs and other injuries and fall to the next level. After hearing the womans screams, the dead bodies were dered enemies that had gathered together. Luo Xun heard screams, smashing and car engines. Humans were very adaptable, especially in such a situation. Thanks to modern culture the majority of people had heard of zombies from films, television, novels and games even if one was not interested. The zombies weakness was the head and their bites triggered infection. Nothing much, one just needed to remember these two points to deal with primary zombies. A zombies face was mostly gray and green, very different from the original person. Killing would leave a stain on the heart but in order to survive, everyone could steel themselves against the dead. Half the wandering zombies in the area were wiped out. Luo Xun apuded the adaptability and courage of the people and mused to himself. Should he help clean up? Wang Jung district was where he nned to live in the future. The military would send someone sooner orter but the sooner the zombies were gone, the more secure everyone would be. There would be increased peace and a reduced chance of death. He would be in danger if one of the primary zombies evolved into mid or high level. As he was pondering, the sound of barking carried over from the gate. Luo Xun hurriedly looked through the telescope as a few stray dogs leapt over the entranceway. Although he was unsure if the dogs were undead or not, there was no doubt that the situation was more dangerous than expected. Chapter 12 *Swish, thud* The zombie crumpled. Luo Xun sighed, stepped forward to kick open the zombies skull and removed the arrow from the rotten remains. He did not want to resort to such disgusting methods but he did not have enough ammunition to lose even one arrow. Until he could stockpile arrows, he could not waste ammo. Today was the 30th, the third day of the apocalypse. Earlier this morning, Luo Xun saw army squads heading towards the city from his terrace. Since they were going out to help, the zombies inside the army had been cleared up. Luo Xun estimated that everyones life would improve if the military managed to establish a safe zone in the southwest area within half a month. He had been secretly dealing with the local wandering zombies for the past two days since the less the better. Other than the zombies locked in the houses, Luo Xun had killed most of the wandering zombies. Of course he had only cleared building 7 and the two beside it. Any further he ignored to not let people notice anything strange. He was just a regr citizen, doing this was within his capabilities. Even with tools he was not so na?ve or kind to be on the vanguard eliminating zombies. His past experiences made him wary of zombies, mutant animals as well as those with unclear motives. Luo Xun headed towards the 7th floor after kicking the dead zombie. Yesterday night he had heard car engines as people fled the district. The sky was dark so Luo Xun did not know the specifics. This morning the number of zombies had decreased, likely lured away by those who had fled. Those people probably left a bunch of cars in the area. Fortunately there were no other cars parked in his building, Luo Xun should be able to avoid contact with any neighbors. He walked down the hall and found the elevator light had gone dark. ckout? It had finally urred? Luo Xun was surprised then wryly smiled, he did not know if his luck was good or bad, If he had been inside the elevator when the power was cut he would have been stuck in the middle. There would be some risk even if he knew how to escape from an elevator. The danger was gone, but he should climb up to the 16th floor, to safety with lighting. With the power outage, it was time to test his level of physical fitness! Although Luo Xun had gone through the building multiple times, he remained cautious and vignt with his crossbow. He vaguely heard zombies knocking in a nearby room when he passed a floor. The constructionpany many have been stingy on lightbulbs and pipes but the doors were sturdy. Luo Xuns anti-theft door had not changed even when thendlord had been reced. Before the apocalypse, Luo Xun had counted the number of building upants. Excluding furnished homes without inhabitants there were only 5 upied homes not including Luo Xun. Two were being furnished by workers. Luo Xun cautiously ascended one floor at a time then jerked up the crossbow when he reached the 15th floor. There was someone there! A man fell from the stairs towards him, he seemed to have fainted while climbing. From behind, it seemed like the man was not breathing. Luo Xun strafed to the corner of the tform and aimed the crossbow at the brain. His memory was not the best but he at least remembered recent events. The building had five others, he killed three zombies in the corridor and the remainder had long since gone downstairs to wander. Killed 3, one on the 5th floor, one on the 3rd floor, thest had been killed nearby. He had not killed any zombies in this floor stairwell! Last night a car had appeared in the area, he must be one of those people. Luo Xun was not sure why he was here alone though, there was no parking under the building. He must have been separated from hispanions after entering the area. Now the man was on the ground, injured and on the brink of death! Luo Zun grabbed his mace, slowly approached and poked the mans leg. Although he had made the bat more deadly, it was only lethal when swung. As long as the nails did not break skin, it should not hurt anyone. Luo Xun prodded the man twice with no reaction. He raised an eyebrow and guessed that the man had died due to means unrted to zombies. He paused then took two steps forward, bat raised when suddenly the man groaned. He was alive! Luo Xun felt conflicted. The man was alive and not a zombie which was good, but a living person also caused problems. He also did not see the wounds, were they from a zombie? Wondering, Luo Xun tried to turn the man over with his bat. The man rolled over, confused but lucid. He opened his eyes and suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday. The mans eyes shed and he touched his back to metal. The guard rail along with the bat nails converged to form a spear, the metallic point faced Luo Xun. Metal powers? The thought shed through Luo Xuns mind. "I am a human!" He hurriedly backtracked. The man propped himself up and narrowed his eyes. He was obviously not rxed and wore a bloodied mask with a recently scarred head wound. He held a hand to his chest, perhaps an injury with internal bleeding not from zombies. Luo Xuns heart sank as he took in the mans appearance, his current state was likely caused by formerpanions. Luo Xun would rather deal with a zombie than a man with no trust in fellow humans! Luo Xun had died because of an ability user in his past life! "I am a tenant in the building, the power was cut and you are blocking the stairs." Luo Xuns voice was dry, he was so unlucky. He was an ordinary person who did not want to be an enemy of any ability users. There was nothing else he could do for now but be polite. Hearing Luo Xuns words, the man squinted and said in a hoarse voice. "Lay down the weapon and take off the helmet." ...Oh, he had forgotten that in order to avoid contact with zombies, Luo Xun wore a long raincoat, boots, helmet, rubber gloves and long sleeve clothing. All were professional grade water-proof equipment. How could the man not be vignt against a suspiciously fully clothed, masked person! Luo Xun silently dropped the bat and crossbow. He would not dream of taking on an ability user even if he could try a sneak attack. The person obediently removed the helmet to reveal a young, quiet face wearing a strange poncho. Yan Feis mouth quirked, there was too much contrast between the mans face and appearance. He could not trust others after getting betrayed yesterday. The person looked a bit older than 20, nothing too striking. Children of higher families were generally more mature and needed to excel at concealing their emotions. The young face seemed genial enough. 22 year old Luo Xuns student face was deceptive and ambiguous. Especially considering his past life, only a sliver of anger and difort showed on his face. Chapter 13 "What floor do you live on?" "...16th floor." Luo Xun could not lie to this strong potential neighbor. "Your clothes..." Yan Fei could not think of an adjective to describe Luo Xuns strange outfit. Luo Xun puffed out his chest. "It was rmended online to wear because zombie bodily fluid could also infect people. Should be right since the inte said so!" He had experienced it himself, but people were very imaginative. All sorts of information could be found on the inte. Online? People could still ess the inte? Yan Fei had thought all power was down since no one answered any calls. He was surprised since he had been struggling to cope with the changes. "Of course, the power station is functional." Luo Xun nodded. "If the call didnt go through, maybe the person on the other end was in an ident?" There had been many idents so the police line got swamped, along with taking into ount all the zombie transformations. Yan Feis eyes shone and he remained silent. Luo Xun felt he should not bring this guy into his home. Then he thought of the mans metal powers, maybe they could reach a mutually beneficial agreement? Luo Xuns heart pounded, the mans ability was powerful! Although he had never heard of any powerful metal users on base in his previous life, metal powers were useful to oneself and others during the apocalypse. Before Luo Xun worried about his small amount of ammo but if there was a metal user then the number of crossbow bolts would be inexhaustible! Not to mention a whole bunch of other things, maybe even a bomb! Luo Xun had never heard of the man but that did not mean he was unknown. His knowledge came primarily from propaganda for gang recruitment. The real powerful ability users were unknown to the general public. Some ability users were sheltered by the army after discovery so they did not mingle with regr people. If the man was really powerful than Luo Xun naturally would not know of him. Moreover many ability users were killed for various reasons at the start of the apocalypse. If one could secure good dealings with such a benefactor then one could have a long term continuous supply of weaponry in the future. Luo Xuns heart raced and his gaze burned with desire. Yan Fei subconsciously touched his mask in reaction to the others gaze. Could the person see his face through the mask? Yan Fei was fully aware of how attractive he was but not now while he was wearing a white face mask, bloodied with unkempt hair. Was this person still in puberty? He raised his hand and the metal shifted, snapping Luo Xun from his thoughts. The metal user had limitless potential. Luo Xun may have been reborn but he could not force the man to stay and any help would not be guaranteed reciprocation. However he could sow the seeds of goodwill and reap profits in the future. "There are some empty homes upstairs." Luo Xun suggested since he had too much to hide to let aplete stranger live with him. Yan Fei loosely nodded, he had hidden in this building and slowly climbed since he was currently not a match for his pursuers. "Yes, those things, could you put them back? Otherwise the stairs are useless." Luo Xun referred to the floating weapons. The steel rods returned and the nails fell to the ground. The staircase seemed sturdy but Luo Xun was worried since the handrails had been temporarily removed. Yan Feis injury was quite serious, he had a strong constitution to have somehow climbed up while coughing blood, though he could not walk at the moment. Luo Xun grabbed his stuff ready to help the man. "My home is at the end of the hall, the other three are empty and these three have no owners, peephole or furnishings." After a brief overview of the floor, Yan Fei pointed to the room next to Luo Xun. Even if the guy had bad intentions, it would be easier to live next door since he needed to rely on the other for now. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow when Luo Xun brought out a bunch of small tools to skillfully open to door to room 1603. The apartment room walls were rough with cement residue and without paint. In their thin clothes, both Luo Xun and Yan Fei shivered. Empty room, kitchen, bedroom, living room, uninstalled pipes and air conditioning. Even with some things, definitely not warm! Yan Fei sighed, if he had known about such a strange event he would have bought several furnished homes in the suburbs. He sat on the floor and heard barking, there was a dog next door? Thinking of the crazy dogs on the road Yan Fei tensed, then rxed. That person was cautious, he would not stay here if the dog was rabid. Upon rxing, Yan Fei felt dizzy as everything began to blur. He was not sure if this was caused by blood loss, starvation orck of rest... Luo Xun returned home and Puppy perked up from inside her cage. He dragged his tired body to prepare milk and dog food. In the building only the penthouse and corner homes were equipped with a terrace so Luo Xuns home had a differentyout C the living room was ridiculouslyrge. Luo Xun kept the medicine in boxes on the second floor. He searched through while reviewing the mans injury. Luo Xun was not experienced in medicine but with time he knew certain injuries corresponded to specific drugs. Anti-inmmatory medicine was essential but if the broken ribs cause internal bleeding, the man may not survive. He brought the medicine down and checked the hallway, good C no people or zombies. Luo Xun slipped back to 1603 and walked in. Yan Fei was on the ground curled into a ball with scrunched up eyebrows. Luo Xun hurried over and checked the mans forehead temperature C damn a fever! He must have gotten that from his injuries. "If he dies, wouldnt I as well?" Luo Xun sighed, he had thought the man had died earlier C ambushed, wounded and now feverish... Luo Xun went to lift the mask to give medication when he suddenly heard sounds, someone was nearby! He rushed to the stairs, definitely from below! Was someone trapped leaving or had outsiders entered? Thinking of the injured man, Luo Xuns heart sank as he quickly grabbed the scattered clothes and nails. After tidying up he returned to the stairs and confirmed that the sound was closer. It took a lot of effort to force open the door. It was likely that if not after the man, then it would be going house to house and looting for food! Luo Xuns mind shed to the metal user in 1603, if he left him there the intruders might kill the man. But if left in his home, all of Luo Xuns resources would arouse suspicion. The metal user was currently an unknown, neither ally nor enemy. Was the risk worth the reward? Chapter 14 At 5 or 6 oclock in the evening, the winter sky darkened right after the hallway cked out. A person cautiously stepped towards thest floor with a weapon in hand. "Are there apartments upstairs?" "Doesnt matter well take a look anyway." "There are some empty apartments, it could be the people are dead or..." The man in front snapped at the one whoined, "It doesnt matter if hes dead, he had a gun!" "Plus if there are people upstairs, we could score some food." The two climbed in the dark, silent with no signs of zombies. Without entering, they looked through the peephole C the light inside was brighter than in the stairwell, not a soul in sight. They ate the loss, the first area was empty but now they worried about a sudden zombie appearance through a half opened door. After confirming the three closest homes were empty, they were about to head deeper when a dog suddenly started barking. The two jumped back and bumped into each other while staying quiet. The noise made the dog bark more furiously C it seemed like there was more than one! "Retreat! Lets get out of here!" They could barely deal with a zombie, let alone a bunch of rabid dogs like the ones outside. As for searching, the doors were closed and one could not enter without a key. Luo Xun confirmed from the balcony that the people had left before he turned off the recording. The puppy was barking and wagging her tail leaving afterimages. Frenzied dog barking, zombie roars, door scratching, impact noises, these sounds had been downloaded before the apocalypse to be used in such a situation. Luo Xun opened the cage, put on spare slippers and went upstairs. The heavy curtains blocked outside light with amp on the nearby nightstand to be used instead. The man slept on the double bed with closed eyes. His elegant face could not be hidden behind paleness, injury and blood loss with a cloth on his forehead. It was difficult to look away from the thin pale lips and fevered teary eyes. Luo Xun felt like a coroner standing next to the bed. The man could only be described as beautiful or a fairy. If Luo Xun had known that such a face was under the mask he would have never grabbed him. From living a decade during the apocalypse, Luo Xun had be bent like a wire to his misfortune. He was not originally homosexual but the cruel reality crumpled his integrity. No doubt, there were too few women and one could not see any young or old in the civilian area. There was no way to find wives or daughter inws. Of course some women were powerful ability users on teams, but Luo Xun could not reach those peoples levels. Any beauties had long been ushered away with no chance to see. There were also average ones like Xi Feng but due to scarcity had outrageous minimum requirements. Luo Xun would not able to talk to one as a normal person. Little girls? Even less! Households were strict, under normal circumstances they were not allowed outside. Many infants and young girls were lost on the road during the initial escape. Patriarchal ideology even persisted during doomsday. How would the bases react when women became much scarcer than men? Luo Xun met an eventual close friend while escaping. The two were of simr age, ordinary and not straight. They met when M-city was over run and had to escape northward. For half a month, the two journeyed north, encouraging each other and talking of future ns. Luo Xun still recalled that person saying, "If we cant findpanions in A-city, why not live together instead?" Luo Xun had been ambivalent. In fact, there were many others with simr thoughts. After all, humans were social creatures, even Robinson Crusoe had Friday as apanion. Two men living together was not difficult, there was mutual aid and going out with teammates. A normal life without children, not too different from a married couple with warm affection and reliance over passion. After his rebirth, Luo Xun had never thought of bringing a girlfriend home before the apocalypse started. Since the future was unpredictable, who knew if she would betray him upon when she realized her increased value. The truth was that Luo Xun could not gamble, even more not bet on his future. As for a boyfriend? Luo Xun did not really think about it, but was willing if he met a suitable candidate. If not then as long as no one turned into a zombie, Luo Xun thought Puppy was enough. However Luo Xun now had an unexpected beauty lying in his bed. He had only previously seen one simrly beautiful man, a powerful wind user near a burning house. Luo Xun remembered the peach eyes as well as a ring of blood from those cut down by wind des. The man was not ordinary and there was no way to guarantee his anonymity. Luo Xun could only stupidly hide in his home. However that was impossible since the handsome man also had powers. So Luo Xun was conflicted, should he bring him back next door as soon as possible? The troublemakers had fled, he fed him anti-inmmatory drugs. If his constitution was decent he would survive. If not then he would not have much time, Luo Xun would have to let him go... Luo Xun bent next to the bed, trying to pick the injured man up C he should have known the guy was more trouble than he was worth and should not be in his bedroom! When he moved, he heard a hum from his side. Luo Xun turned and saw a pair of narrowed eyes. In the dim light, the mans misty eyes struck his heart. *Badump, badump, badump* Luo Xuns heart almost jumped out from his throat. Asleep, the man was like a fairy, awake he seemed more sinful than a demon. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light? Luo Xuns brain ran in circles, unsure of what to do. Yan Feis eyes were still blurry, he saw a somewhat familiar young man. He whispered, "Water..." Luo Xun recovered, thankfully themp covered his embarrassed flush. He handed the cup over but due to the chest injury Luo Xun ended up feeding him the water. Some it dripped, Luo Xun averted his eyes and cursed his heart. Although motivated in his previous life, Luo Xun was an honest and innocent man. He did not want to engage in *cough* activities in ces with poor conditions and hygiene or that required payment. He relied on his left hand for that decade post-apocalypse. Now he had been reborn, his mind was mature enough but he had no real life experience. He could not be med for not being calm. Chapter 15 Yan Feis mind cleared after drinking water. He thought back through the lethargy C soft bed, wardrobe and furniture. Prior to passing out he had been on cold cement, it must be the young mans home. "Is your apartment?" His voice was low and hoarse. "Ah?" Luo Xun was distracted and too far away to hear. Yan Fei felt dizzy and closed his eyes on the brink of fainting again. "My head is spinning." Luo Xun stiffened, then sighed helplessly, "You have a fever. I gave you some medicine since I could not reach the hospital. Also, some people came upstairs looking for you." Luo Xun had saved the guy as a future investment, he also needed to maintain good rtions with the ability user. Since he did not want to get in trouble, it would be better to ask in advance. Yan Fei kept his eyes closed while his mouth curled into a sneer. "More like kill me." He reluctantly looked at Luo Xun, "They did not bother you?" Since the apocalypse began, people scrambled to leave the city. It quickly devolved into robbing and fighting, conflicts over small provocations. Yan Fei was sure that the guys who came upstairs would take the opportunity to break in an ransack the homes. "They were thinking of causing trouble but my dog scared them away." Luo Xun lied with a straight face. Downstairs, Puppy was gnawing on Luo Xuns slippers, familiarizing herself with the scent. The corners of Yan Feis mouth lifted, a non-crazy dog was useful in a home. In the current situation, dogs were closer and more trustworthy than people. Those guys had been polite and ttering before discovering they had weapons and abilities. The women in the group fawned, the men drank vinegar and became jealous. The plotting had reached its peak after reaching the next district. "Yan Fei." He had never dared trust anyone in his life, self interest would always trump altruism. However right now he could only rely on this man. Rely on such fragile, empty words but he had no choice. Injured was better than dead. Seeing Yan Feis outstretched hand, Luo Xun returned the gesture. "Luo Xun." Yan Fei closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "I will be troubling you for a few days. When I am healed, I will find a way to repay you." The hand in Luo Xuns grip went ck. He died?! Luo Xun checked Yan Feis pulse, he was still breathing so he had fainted. Wait for a few days? Luo Xun had just thought of bringing him back next door! How should he proceed? Luo Xun stood beside the bed, pacing back and forth. He then tucked Yan Fei back into bed and covered him with a quilt. Luo Xun understood, if Yan Fei had been disorientated enough to have only woken up again while next door, then there would be no moral pressure ording to the rules of the apocalypse. The problem was that he had woken up halfway and realized it was Luo Xuns home! If he had not awakened, then nature would have run its course. But if he awakened back in that rough room now...*sigh* Human nature was like that, at the start either give help or none at all. It was fine either way but if one helped then stopped there would be expectations, better to have not helped at all. In that case, now that Luo Xun was in this situation, he headed to the door. His home had a number of things but most had been tidied away. He would think of an excuse to exin the stuff before Yan Fei recovered. As for the patient upstairs...Luo Xuns eyes shed. He did not mind an early investment to help the metal ability user but if the other party was evil-hearted...His decade of experience would not be in vain. To kill someone, one did not need abilities, a bullet to the brain worked just as well. There had been bloody, gloomy darkness nestled amongst long-time residents who rarely left the base. Sometimes, this darkness was much more dangerous than the zombies outside. When Yan Fei opened his eyes, the warmth and softness made him think that he had returned to his city apartment. He slowly turned, the chest pain cleared his mind. He wondered why the curtains were drawn in the afternoon. His brain started, the curtains were not the same. Although both blocked most of the light, he preferred light green to dark red. The room was soundproof so he did not hear anyone when the door opened. He turned his head with some difficulty. The bedroom light switched on and Yan Fei squinted at the person who had entered. Luo Xun help a cup of warm water and a bowl of fresh congee. He had not expected Yan Fei to be awake when he walked in. "Youre awake? Just in time to take medicine." While in aa, feeding medicine was difficult. Luo Xun had been unwilling to give mouth to mouth to an unknown, sick man. *Cough*Cough* Seeing his appearance, his personal life must have been rather colorful. What if he had a disease? Yes, when he left, Luo Xun would need to sterilize the utensils. Yan Fei remembered the voice and Luo Xuns expression was quite striking since Yan Fei had not adapted to the light yet. He heard panting and scuffling from the opened bedroom door, Luo Xun did own a dog. "Is that your dog?" His throat was so dry that even a few words caused his chapped lips to ache. "Yes." Luo Xun responded. He did not want the puppy toe up for hygiene reasons. Instead the puppy cleverly chased her tail in the doorway, asionally bumping into the wall. He ced the water and congee on the nightstand then removed a box of anti-inmmatory pills and a first aid kit. "Thank you." "No problem, I have some things youll help with once you are healed." Luo Xun said these words in advance, since he would benefit in the end. Otherwise, he would not have expended such effort to bring Yan Fei home. Yan Fei narrowed his eyes and smirked. The words did not make him ufortable, on the contrary he was a businessman with the principle of give and take. He now felt at ease in Luo Xuns home. Luo Xun left the medication on the nightstand and turned to see a smiling beauty. He unsurprisingly blushed from seeing a beauty up close. The ceiling light was not blue so Luo Xuns boiling red face was not hidden. Stupidly flustered, he immediately broke eye contact and tried to regain hisposure. Instead of wearing a mask to filter air pollution, Yan Fei wore one to hide his face. Thus that kind of expression was asmon as drinking boiled water. Though it had been only women with that sort of expression towards him. Men usually had a possessive expression, however the young man looked shy instead. He had said he wanted something...could it be to have clouds and rain? Though he was unsure from the mans expression. With that thought, Yan Fei involuntarilyughed, which turned into coughing when his injury red with pain. The puppy stopped and poked her head inside, looking for the source of the sound. "Careful." Luo Xun gently propped him up with some pillows. "I dont know where youre hurt exactly. Be careful since there is only basic medical care." Luckily the cause of the cough was still unknown or he would have had to steel himself and throw Yan Fei back next door. Yan Fei blinked and took calming breaths, "How long was I out?" "Three days." Three days, his eyes shed...if Luo Xun had not brought him to his home, he may not have woken up at all. "Take your medicine first." Yan Fei tried to raise his arm but his injury made that impossible. He wryly smiled, "Sorry, I need your help..." Yan Feis face had been cleaned of the earlier blood and mud. His skin was delicate and white with nicely shaped lips. Luo Xun had known at first nce that Yan Feis looks were like a hypnotic me. His smile easily sucked in people. This time Luo Xun was calmer, with a slight frown and avoiding eye contact. "Take the medicine." Luo Xun carefully did not touch Yan Fei as he fed the pills. "Water..." Yan Feis response caused despair to gush forth. Chapter 16 Luo Xun shoved the cup of water into Yan Feis mouth without any gentleness or consideration for the wounded. Yan Fei wondered how he had been nursed the past two days, with such treatment how had he not choked to death? In reality, Luo Xun had been gentle and considerate, so long as he did not face an awake Yan Fei. Seeing the mans face, Luo Xun felt that he should distance himself lest he be careless, leading to his current unusual behaviour. There was no helping it, he was an innocent bent man! It would be strange to face this super handsome man without issue. When he was back on his feet, must make sure he moved back next door! "What medicine did you give me?" Yan Fei only asked after he swallowed the pill. "Anti-inmmatory drug, Yunanbaiyo." Luo Xun packed the medicine away. "You vomited blood so I guessed you had internal injuries but no specifics. Any anti-inmmatories should have had some effect. My familys old dog ate some which helped after getting hit by a car." Yan Fei remained silent, he was lucky to be alive. Maybe the medicine was really effective? Perhaps when Yan Fei had been shot in the gut, his broken ribs did not touch any internal organs? Or maybe ability users had an improved constitution? His fever had passed when Luo Xun brought Yan Fei home. He just had not woken up until now. "Eat some congee." The man was fully awake but Luo Xun knew he could not shoo him out the door in consideration of future ammunition. He had reluctantly boiled rice porridge for him C rice was very valuable. If he could save two bags, in two years time prices would be high enough he could exchange for half a years worth of mutated food! "Thank you..." Yan Fei wisely avoided any questions C Luo Xun looked like he would vomit blood as he red resentful at the spoon. After eating a few spoonfuls, Luo Xuns resentment became unoticeable. Yan Fei asked, "Before you said I would need to do something? What?" Luo Xun suddenly remembered his previous words, he immediately put down the bowl and grabbed something nearby. "Can you make this?" He revealed the crossbow arrow from his quiver. "This?" Yan Fei arched an eyebrow, eyeing the crossbow with surprise. During their first encounter, Luo Xuns raincoat and crossbow were quite conspicuous. In these troubled times, he must have had a good head on his shoulders to grab a weapon at the start. The lethality was less than that of a gun but safer than other cold weapons. No wonder he had saved him... "Is there any metal?" Luo Xun hurriedly handed over a few screws. Yan Fei took the arrow and screws which suddenly floated, suspended above his palm. With several twists and turns, an almost replica was formed. "Is this okay?" Luo Xuns eyes widened, he had only heard of metal abilities in his past life. However he had never seen since the ability was very rare. Most had been fire and lightning with offensive abilities or various body strengthening types. Not to mention, regr people and ability users only mingled at the start of the apocalypse. During the middle toter time period, how would an ordinary person like Luo Xun be able to see such people except when they bought things. The two crossbow arrows weighed about the same, the color was different, which was irrelevant since the materials differed. Luo Xun quickly loaded the arrow and aimed at the special target mounted on the bedroom wall. *Swish, thunk* The crossbow lethality was qualified! Little Puppy suffered a huge shock, sitting in the wrong ce at the wrong time. Yan Feis eyes narrowed at the still vibrating, bullseye arrow. All the movements were fluid and uniform, Luo Xun had such a hobby before the apocalypse and also practiced often? How could he have such urate aim only a few days after the apocalypse? Fortunately Luo Xun was rather young so having a mix of activities such as ying real counter-strike or egg shooting was not strange. Yan Fei also did a variety of activities, otherwise he would have been suspicious. At this moment Yan Fei felt that Luo Xuns regard had changed from shy maiden to burning desire. This rare ability user was indeed powerful! Yan Fei inexplicably felt a chill down his neck and he lightly coughed. "So you want me to help you make these?" With the question, Luo Xun calmed down and sat at the side of the bed. "Wait until your injury is healed, since using a crossbow is inconvenient without arrows." Yes, just inconvenient, so long as he did not attract others attention, Luo Xun could use an alternative method as a matter of practicality. "If you agree, I would like to trade for food and water, These things are not cheap after the apocalypse but at the same time the price of weapons, especially ammo is not low either. Both sides benefit." Yan Feis eyes shed, under pressure to help himself, he would convert his own bullets. Ones own life was precious, beneficial exchange was difficult to believe in. Closer to cold equivalent exchange, who helped who and who saved who. In face of the post-apocalyptic world, Yan Fei did not want to change his way of life. Is this what he had been vaguely expecting to change? He still only trusted himself. "Okay." Yan Fei nodded and closed his eyes. "Eat something and rest." The scent of congee wafted forward, Yan Fei opened his eyes and thought Luo Xuns movements were more natural and gentle without stiffness. Sure enough, people needed tomunicate to understand each other. Luo Xun turned to leave with the bowl and spoon. Puppy had somehow snuck in and was sitting in curiosity. "Go downstairs." Luo Xun whispered, Puppy perked up and with a swish of her tail nced at Yan Fei in bed then exited. The lights on the second floor were on, but the first floor living room was dark. There was a bit of starlight pouring through the window. The privacy film could only block view from the outside, it could not block all trace of indoor lighting. The power in the district had been out for three days, the light from the second floor waspletely blocked by the thick curtains. However it was not enough for the living room since the balcony had a lot of nts. Luo Xun had no way to keep the curtains drawn, any reveals would cause him trouble. The night of the ckout, after leaving Yan Fei in the bedroom, Luo Xun had connected his home to a standby power supply. Now his freezers in the living room were powered with alternative power. His sr panels were assembled outside, charging his new personal generators. If now was not the early days, Luo Xun would have used all of the avable wall and roof space to install sr panels. Relying on this, he could even nurse five patients simultaneously in his home! "Obedient, whats the use?" Luo Xun said to the puppy wandering at his feet. He saw her sleeping during the day. He decided to go back to sleep. Luo Xun checked the doors, windows, the quails in the ss box on the balcony and ended up in the middle of the living room. Puppy wrapped her tail around Luo Xuns feet. These past two days Luo Xun did not go out much, Yan Fei was currently in his home and the nearby troops had rapidly reacted. They sent a portion of troops into the city centre to those who had ordered priority rescue. The remainder dealt with zombies in the surrounding area. Since the troops were close to Wang Jing district, there was always a group passing by during the past two days. Just yesterday, the troops had cleared all the wandering zombies in the neighborhood. The speed was so fast the even Luo Xun C one who had experienced two doomsdays was impressed. Luo Xun returned to the bedroom and saw Yan Fei leaning on the pillow trying to stand up, his eyes closed until he realized he was not alone. Luo Xun stepped forward, he refused to admit Yan Feis face was still riveting even after three days. Luo Xun walked over, fluffed the pillows and helped Yan Fei lie down. "Do you need to go to the washroom?" "Not right now..." Yan Fei thought to himself then asked, "How did I...these past two days? What method?" Luo Xun handed over a meal, his deadpan face had a trace of a nasty smile. "Diapers." ................ Yan Feis scalp felt numb, he just realized that his lower body had felt strange. He had thought it was from sleeping too long! Yan Fei wanted to ask more questions but held back seeing Luo Xuns expression. He felt like throwing up! Chapter 17 Luo Xun turned off the bedroom lights and turned on the small bedsidemp. His mood had improved, no wonder people said C if you feel sad just say something and spread it to everyone! Seeing other down was the most effective way to buoy ones own mood! This way Luo Xuns sadness at being unable to shove the guy back next door hadpletely dissipated. Luo Xun suddenly remembered something and smoothly pulled an object from the drawer to put on the side table. Here, your gun Yan Fei paused for a moment and looked perplexedly at Luo Xun. Luo Xun leisurely turned away while on the bed. To him, the threat of a gun in Yan Feis hand was equal to that of his metal powers He hade across many guns in his life, not to mention there were only two bullets left. There was nothing to be greedy about. If one really wanted to kill someone, there was no difference between a gun and a crossbow. Yan Fei did not touch the gun and instead closed his eyes, his mouth quirked up. The two metre bed sunk slightly under the weight of two men sleeping peacefully side by side without touching. Yan Fei adjusted after a while, trying to distract himself from ufortable sensations. He asked, Whats the current situation like outside? Luo Xun kindly avoided teasing Yan Feis nerves, Army vehicles passed by yesterday, cleared the road of zombies and helped stabilize the popce. Today the soldiersbed the neighborhoods to clear out remaining zombies. Tomorrow they wille again to clear up zombies inside buildings and count the survivors. His room had been prepared for visitors, nothing to be concerned about Luo Xun also added, This is a new district with few inhabitants. Its estimated that everything will soon be cleaned up with the nearby troops. I heard that there is no way to recover old homes if absent. If new survivors are rescued in the future, the army will probably use these empty homes. You should take a room now otherwise you might not have a ce to live. In reality, Luo Xun only wanted to say thest sentence but was afraid of offending the other party. Letting Yan Fei leave of his own initiative would be best. Yan Fei had dealt with people who were far more experienced than Luo Xun. Even if Luo Xun had lived two lifetimes, he could be considered a defensive counter-attack type. His movements were used to block others murderous intentions and ensuring his rtive safety and privacy On the other hand, Yan Fei was very different. He grew up in high society social circles and was forced to observe and be observed. After all, the best defense is a good offense. Keep your opponents busy, never let them rx and naturally they could not afford to deal with you. He had understood this from the age of 10. upy an apartment? The room next door? Yan Feis eyebrows quirked in understanding, if this had been his own home, he would also not have been willing to let a stranger stay but Luo Xun went to close the curtains. Yan Fei turned to the side, raised a hand to cover his chest and coughed. Whats the matter? Where does it hurt? Luo Xun was distracted. The cough got cut short so the that the fake cough did not be real C though there was some chest pain upon taking a deep breath. Thatits fine, wait until your injury is healed. Anyway I already dealt with the home next door. Handled? Yan Fei asked doubtfully. Ah, put a peephole and changed to door locks. In this building peepholes were only installed after finding a tenant. The peephole meant that the apartment had an owner. Thus why it and the locks were changed. Luo Xun had bought the lock as a standby before the apocalypse. In case someone broke the door, otherwise he would not have any recements. Yan Feis mood inexplicably rxed hearing that Luo Xun was no longer urging him to move next door. His eyes narrowed and his lips curled. He did not want to depend on Luo Xun like this, eating his food and using him. What kind of guest was he? He was not a gigolo. Even with the apocalypse, with brains and brawn, nature would find a way to live. Of course Luo Xuns help would be rewarded. However he did not want to leave now, not at all. In more than 20 years he had not had such an easy orfortable time talking with anyone. Yan Fei sighed in relief. When I was fleeing I could not contact my family, dont know if theyif I can find them Ill figure out where to live, maybe my family is okay. His voice was a bit hoarse, probably because he had been lethargic and did not drink enough water. Hearing that low mellow sound shook the heart like an earthquake. Luo Xun was caught in a wave of sympathy, even if he previously wanted Yan Fei to leave, to get rid of him quickly while remaining cordial. Luo Xuns parents had died while he was in high school and only left their house to him. Due to their death his college entrance examinations admitted him to a third tier university. After he only attended two years because of expensive tuition, a school atmosphere not conducive to learning and irresponsible professors. With Luo Xuns reluctance to continue his studies, he simply worked until the apocalypse. Where does your family live? Yan Feis mouth curled into a sneer, Downtown Xi Cheng district. I was going to go find them but there was a car ident halfway through. I had temporarily evacuated to the southwest area with some others because there were too many zombies in the area. Xi Cheng district was one of the most densely popted areas in the city, along with the other urban areas would be hit hardest the midnight of the apocalypse. The army has been dispatched so as long as your family closed the door and stayed inside, they should be saved soon. Luo Xun was well aware of the dangers of densely popted areas. He had barely escaped from F-city the first time, which had a much lower poption density versus A-city. He then came to A-city base and experienced a number of zombie sieges. How many of the zombies in the sea of corpses had been people from the city? Search teamsbed the city to collect all sorts of resources after the base had stabilized. Any encountered zombies would be dealt with, but the enemies were endless. It was possible that Yan Feis family was already dead. Well, so long as there is a chance, well meet again somehow. Yan Fei decided to switch topics and asked, What about your family? I havent seen anyone else so far? Luo Xun sighed, They died my sophomore year. Yan Fei was stunned, he thought Luo Xun lived with his parents. The room was well furnished, Luo Xun was rather young without a city ent. He looked like a stay home college student. My condolences It is fine, it has been years. Luo Xun faintly smiled and found with the lights off he could speak to Yan Fei like an ordinary person, almost like friends. Sorry. Yan Fei sincerely apologized, his intention had been to stir uppassion, let Luo Xun feel guilt at moving him away. Of course Yan Fei would not depend on him forever, but teasing Luo Xun was interesting. He did not think his words would poke at anothers weak spots. Its fine, if need be I will also help you inquire about your parents. Even if it was difficult to get good news. Yan Fei opened his and wanted to say, No, with their selfish personalities they will find the safest, most protected area immediately when something goes wrong. Afterall, the home may be located in the Xi Cheng district but the people almost never lived there. Each had a lovers nest built in the city, the three did not need each other to live well. With some difficulty and movement pain he lifted his left hand. Yan Fei ced his hand between the two on the nket. It seemed he wanted to pat Luo Xun but due to pain could notplete the action. Yes? Luo Xun turned in confusion and looked at the beautiful eyes and mole. Dont bother looking. They will live well, must be very good. Luo Xun paused then stretched out his hand, Yan Feis skin was soft but he was not powerless. These two days when Luo Xun helped him go to bed, eat food and take medicine, Yan Feis seemingly thin body had strength. When poked the supposedly soft body had flexible muscles. In contrast to Luo Xuns chicken limbs, Yan Feis hand was tough and strong even when injured. Luo Xun felt depressed but quickly pushed the thought away. Well nothing to worry about. There was no awkwardness holding hands. Both men wereforting each other and neither wanted to let go first. In the dark room, others could not see and they had not realized. In December, the north wind whistled outside, without heating the rooms would have been freezing. However Luo Xun had nted crops in advance to transform the balcony, terrace and nursery into greenhouses. Coupled with some powerful sr batteries, several rooms were unexpectedly warm. It did not feel cold, even with a hand outside the nket. The two men fell asleep finding nothing odd. Chapter 18 Luo Xun woke to his noisy watch rm, he reached for it but his hand was grasped. He confusedly turned to see his hand being held then looked up to see a pair of sleepy eyes obscured with fog. The natural morning reaction became more noticeable, there was a small tent pitched in the duvet. Luo Xun twitched and grabbed his hand back. He subconsciously shrunk back and with a crash...fell from the bed. Downstairs, the puppy barked a few times in response to the noise. The previously sleepy Yan Fei was now fully awake. He looked at Luo Xuns red, flustered face avoiding eye contact. When Luo Xun finally looked up, the quilt had fallen down a bit, he hurriedly grabbed the nearest clothes and fled the room. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and smiled crookedly. He rememberedst night when Luo Xun had blushed a bit but was still clearly dangerous. However just now, would a normal man, even a thin skinned one blush like that in response to a handsome man? Yan Fei lifted his left hand to his face andughed. Due to his wounds theughs turned into coughs before he depressingly smiled. Although it had been an unexpected possibility, but with Luo Xuns overreaction he seemed like an innocent boy who lived alone for a long time afraid of losing face. Yan Fei from a young age had been the target of many peoples pursuit due to his excellent looks. Amongst them, there were both men and women. Less men pursued him, though it was not zero but he had little interest. More importantly, all were attracted to his appearance first! Even if he was asionally curious, even when Yan Fei had a whim to try and be with a man, he would not ept being the bottom in the rtionship. Thus when Yan Fei found out that the delicate man he had pursued for two months wanted to top, he did not hesitate to boot him out the door. He turned and made eyes with a beautifuldy at a bar dance floor. However even though Luo Xuns reaction was somewhat excessive, Yan Fei did not dare confirm his suspicions. Even if he was right, the other did not say anything and he did not need to stay on guard. Luo Xuns thin body...he would not be able to beat Yan Fei even in his current injured state. What did he have to lose? After a while, Luo Xun returned to find clothes and change in the closet. Not long after he brought two bowls of congee and hot water. If Yan Fei had encountered Luo Xun during peacetime with his softely appearance and easily flustered, he would have teased him. However now in the apocalypse his life was precarious and precious, he could not afford to y around in case he crossed a line. Now Yan Fei was living, eating and drinking with Luo Xun, he did not want to provoke his temporary meal ticket. He did not want to get thrown back next door! Yan Fei swallowed the medicine, drank water and ate the porridge in silence. Luo Xun quickly returned to normal and thought C what man did not have a normal morning reaction? Was there no shame when he was in school living with a roommate? He had lost some cohabitationmon sense from living a life during doomsday! The calm reaction of the two men was as ifst nights warmth had been nothing but a dream. Luo Xun exited the bedroom and closed the door then opened the puppys cage. He mechanically filled the empty pet bowl, ced it down then propped himself against the counter. He still had to find a way to throw him back next door! This time Luo Xun was very determined, the reason was twofold C Yan Fei had seen his shameful appearance in the morning and his eyes had a suspicious gleam. Luo Xun could not directly berid of him since Yan Fei had use, thus he could only hurriedly send the man away from his boudoir....ah no the bedroom! It would be the most sensible choice. Yan Fei had been in aa for two days, even if he was not fully dressed, no one would see in the early morning. He felt like he had an overly long hangover. Luo Xun stopped to pet Puppy who had just left her cage, cleaned up the tableware and began his daily routine. He pruned branches and sifted through the vegetable boxes to find signs of nt mutation. Luo Xuns mood was restored to normal, only needed to avoid going upstairs to impulsively blow up the other guy. Puppy felt her owners mood this morning was strange, so she obediently followed by Luo Xuns side as he moved around instead of rolling on the ground. Luo Xun busied himself, when he turned around Puppy was standing with her tongue out. Heughed, squatted and picked her up. "The house should be big enough for you, how would I take you out for a walk in these conditions?" The puppy whined while wagging her tail. She was now at least two or three times bigger than when first bought, Luo Xuns arms were now full. He kissed the puppys forehead and was given a slobbery lick in return. Suddenly a horn sounded from the direction of the balcony, Luo Xun held the dog and walked over. An army car was parked in the neighborhood and a team of armed soldiers jumped off the small military truck. The first day the army was in the area, they got rid of all the wandering zombies. Today the army came to clean the building of any remaining zombies. In order to avoid idental injuries, the military asked residents to tie a ribbon in the window to indicate whether there was anyone in the house. Luo Xun stuck two pieces of fabric on the window, denoting two people in the home. He looked around through the telescope and was shocked that some windows had fabric strips. He had seriously suspected that all the people had escaped the area and there would be no signs in the windows. The people investigated each building, floor and room. Luo Xun hugged the puppy and headed upstairs, paused before the bedroom then pushed. "The army car is in the area investigating the zombies. Since you are injured, should I tell them so you can get medical attention?" "Get medical help from the army?" Yan Fei only heard thest part since the bedroom was soundproofed and missed the details. "Yeah, the army should have medical equipment." "But right now there would be a bunch of other injured people and Im just a normal person." Yan Fei shrugged and naively smiled at Luo Xun. Luo Xun looked quietly while still holding the puppy. Yan Feis ability was indeed powerful and in demand but he would not report behind his back. Even if he hoped to cooperate with the military, he would be able to purchase ammunition from Yan Fei with their current rtionship. Luo Xun woud discuss with Yan Fei to stay cordial. "You are an ability user and the power is rare and special. The military would pay attention if they knew. These days I have seen multiple soldiers with fire, ice and thunder abilities. Your metal power would not attract trouble." Yan Fei was surprised for a moment, he did not think Luo Xun would say that. Yes, his abilities were good and he would get attention if the army wanted to mould metal but... "What about your weapons?" Luo Xunughed, "Wait until your healed, you cane and trade with me if you have time off from the army. I could trade food, drink or other things. If I didnt meet you I could supply myself but it would be more convenient with your ability." Yes, Luo Xun had known from the start that an ordinary person could not hold onto a strong ability user like Yan Fei. He just wanted to take the opportunity to see if he could establish a good rtionship, to secure a future source of weapons and ammunition. Even if that did not work, doing some extra work was no problem. Now there was an opportunity to help Yan Fei get better living conditions and have a higher position on base in the future. If he wasfortable, maybe future cooperation would be improved? Should be better than him bing a super strong next door neighbor. Yan Fei was stunned, it was true that going to the army would be the most secure action however he felt like a nuisance that Luo Xun was impatient to send away. Luo Xun finished and bent to pet the puppy in his arms. Puppy raised her head with her tongue out and tail wagging. One person and one dog were immersed in their private world of happiness, causing others hearts to itch. "What about you?" Yan Feis voice was a little cold. "Me?" Luo Xun paused then smiled. "I am an ordinary person, it would be best for the army toe and regte. Im sure Ill find a form of livelihood. If not, sooner orter there will be safe areas, shelters and other ces for people to live, then follow the army for protection." "...Just you?" Luo Xun used the puppys paw to wave at Yan Fei in surprise. "How could it just be me? I have Puppy with me. Shell always be there for me right?" Puppy was too young topletely understand but knew Luo Xun was speaking to her. She lifted her head and barked in agreement. Luo Xun smiled and gazed tenderly at the puppy. She was not a bad purchase, the puppy was hispanion for at least 10 years without any mutation! By then, he would have hopefully found a partner... Chapter 19 Looking at Luo Xuns tender expression of happiness, Yan Fei felt his heart tighten...he was not as good as a dog? He did not have any intentions or ideas towards Luo Xun but could not stop himself from choking. It seemed that Luo Xun had not given him any goodwill from the start. He seemed inferior to the dog held in Luo Xuns arms! He never entertained expectations of love from his parents and the family elders treated him as the quality results of marriage between two houses. He was fed up with the farce of one yed father, mother and grandfather C he yed the role of son/grandson. When they needed toe out it was like a movie family reunion but once the scene was over, each returned home to their own life without even themon greeting, "Whats for dinner tonight?" Yan Fei wasposed and sensible growing up, he never thought of following his heart, of marrying a woman he could be of one body, mind and soul because his marriage would not be one of love. So while he still had freedom he lived his life, enjoyed what he wanted but never expected friendship or love... That day, world order suddenly fell apart, it was the end of the world for others but an opportunity for him...a chance to change his future. Although he had unluckily met a group of people that night, got injured and fainted. However heter met Luo Xun and lived in his home which had a rxing atmosphere otherwise he would not have been able to sleep so soundly after falling into aa. Now the man was telling him: you need to go, it is for your own good. "I dont want the benefits." From an early age, he had received too many benefits from blood-rted rtives, so long as his actions and manners conformed to his role along with an obligation to fulfill said role, he got whatever he desired. But his only hope, deeply concealed in his heart had never been granted. Now was the apocalypse, he could truly walk his own path. "Ah?" Luo Xun tilted his head, benefit? What benefit? Did he not have a chest injury? Why was he speaking nonsense now? He did have a small cut on his head that day, did he have a concussion? Yan Fei pushed himself up and stubbornly stated, "I hate trouble and right now one cant be sure if there is someone experimenting on ability users. I have no backers in the army and I refuse to be cannon fodder." Who said he did not have any military backing? Just not in this zone... Luo Xun suddenly realized that even in his past life he was unsure if some ability users were secretly experimented on. After all that sort of thing had not applied to him, not to mention Yan Feis ability was rare. The doorbell suddenly rang, breaking the current tension. "Maybe its the army men, Ill go and see." Luo Xun turned to leave. Yan Fei opened his mouth, "Dont say I have any powers..." Luo Xuns footsteps paused and turned around with a smile, "I know, I wont say a thing, dont worry." Yan Fei stared speechless at the empty doorway and after a while whispered to himself, "Dont worry..." The doorbell rang again while Luo Xun trotted over to the door. A few soldiers were standing in the hallway, the doors of several nearby rooms were opened, including the one where Luo Xun had helped Yan Fei. Rooms that did not have any fabric ribbons denoting human presence were forcibly breached by the army to ensure zero dead bodies or zombies. The soldiers grasped their guns when they saw Luo Xun open the door. "The house has two survivors? Has anyone been scratched or bitten by a zombie?" Luo Xun hurriedly shook his head, "No, the house only has me and my cousin. We found out afterwards and whenever we went out we covered up." "Where is your cousin?" In addition to dealing with zombies and corpses, the soldiers also had to collect demographic statistics. It had been clear that the urban area could not be regained within a short time period. Each city had been divided into points of each military region with ns to establish safe areas and rescue survivors as soon as possible. The poption density of the southwest was rtively small and close to two troop bases so there was an early division of safety zones. "My cousin wanted to go out and find some water one day, he was mistaken for a zombie and attacked! His chest was injured and he spat out blood. We dared not go out to find a doctor so he took some anti-inmmatory drugs at home and rested..." Luo Xun exined while verifying the two were actual soldiers. The two men were civilian officers responsible for collecting statistical survivor data. "Oh? Vomiting blood?" The officer guiltily looked at the ground. "We will take note of the situation but all the army doctors are on the front lines at the moment..." "He has no fever now but I am afraid that his ribs fractured. Can you help see if he is out of danger?" Most of the army soldiers were capable of checking if there were any fractures. Only the doctors were too busy, could not guarantee one woulde if the situation was serious. The two officers nodded in agreement since Luo Xuns request was reasonable. "Ah, your house has quite a few things." The two saw into the living room with big and small boxes. The balcony had a curtain to block out sunlight. This was the result of Luo Xuns earlier preparations, why he ordered so many boxes from the inte and saved water. All to prevent people at the door from seeing too much stuff. Heughed, "My cousin and I deliveries, this is thetest goods shipment. Didnt think going out would meet zombies! We deal with perishable goods, if we had known earlier it would have been better to sell grain and oil products!" The officer solemnly nodded, "Youre lucky the both of you are all right. Just now in the building there was a familys son who woke up a zombie! The old couple were in despair...shut in the house not willing to kill but dare not let out...s we were stuck at the door." They talked all the way upstairs into the bedroom. Yan Fei could only hear peopleing upstairs, but did not know why so he was a bit anxious. However he thought carefully, the military was here to make sure the survivors had no issues, not turn into zombie, this slightly rxed his mood. "Cousin, the two officers are here to check for fractures. I asked them toe check up on your ribs." Luo Xun feared a misunderstanding and loudly shouted at the door. Yan Fei was pale but otherwise fine, no sign of zombie infection so the officer approached. He was startled in the face of Yan Feis inhuman beauty. When he somewhat timidly checked the chest and ribs...there was a sense of guilt? Confirmed the chest injury, head injury was not from a bite, the two were relieved. While one checked the rib injury the other sighed at Luo Xun. "Your cousin has quite the bad luck, mistaken for a zombie and attacked? Was the attacker blind?" Luo Xun sighed as well, "Our area still has limited power. We live high up and could only head down using the stairs. My cousin went downstairs to bring back some water, some person was somewhere nearby and pushed him! I was behind and did not see. Whoever it was fled when I shouted." "Ah, its a smallmunity, not afraid of being recognized?" "Dont you know? These days a few dozen people fled here and a few days ago I heard cars in the night. Those people we did not know." The officer had finished checking the bone and straightened Yan Feis clothes. "Lucky, ribs folded but no dislocation and fortunately did not poke other organs. With limited medical supplies best he stay in bed until healed. Rib fractures are quitemon so long as there is no dislocation the problem is not severe. If there is a situation we will get back to you. When the area is cleaned up it be temporarily ssified as a security base under management. You can find soldiers on patrol checks if needed." "Has the security zone been set?" Luo Xun hurriedly inquired. "For the time being, it is from south of Lui to the troops there. The area should stay the same, the specific details not known at this time. No matter you have this ce, just follow the situation regtions." The two officers took out the register and asked Luo Xun to fill in their information. The list was very simple: ID number, name, gender, address, preliminary statistics. Luo Xun mentioned that 1603 next door was his cousins home but had no time to finish before the apocalypse Sessfully cheated ownership of an apartment. While filling out the form he reached a section titled having an ability. After filling in the basics, Luo Xun innocently asked, "Whats with an ability? I was some troops before who could throw a fireball from their hands, like that?" "Yes." The shorter officer nodded. "Some people became stronger, their hearing sharper and each has some kind of power like from a movie. If you feel your body has changed, it might be an ability." "What if you suddenly discover you have an abilityter?" "There should be a special registration point or you could ask the soldiers on patrol." Chapter 20 One person went up the stairs, at the top the taller officer bent forward seeing the puppy in the cage. "Chow chow, looks healthy, no abnormalities?" "No, she has been fine these days." Luo Xun quickly exined. The officer nodded, "You have to be careful, best not let her out. Outside a lot of dogs mutated, it would be a pity if the dog was inadvertently bitten and also went rabid." "Ah, I know, fortunately I bought her young and did not develop the habit of walks." Luo Xun nodded, it was only after second mutation when zombie animal bites would not mutate into zombies. Bitten animals would either die or transform. The two officers simply checked the room for zombies. Luo Xun had been well prepared beforehand, all the items were packed into boxes and ced on shelves of the balcony. No problem even if seen C were people not allowed to keep flowers on their own balconies? Either way, who could tell at a nce? Fortunately neither of the officers looked and were ready to leave after a rough check. Before they left, Luo Xun suddenly thought of something to remind the two. "Right now theres no electricity since it stopped but what about water? Can I have a drink?" "Water?" The two questioned. "There is something that turns people into zombies through bites. Could it be pollute the water through contact?" The two officers expressions tightened and they nodded. "We will report this matter to our superior, be careful when you use water, boil it for a while. Soon, someone shoulde door-to-door with a notice, also pay attention to any broadcasts." After Luo Xun had sent away the two, he closed the door and took a long breath. He then immediately ran to the balcony and terrace to let the crops blocked by opaque stic sheets soak up some sun. "Are they gone?" Yan Fei arrived after hearing the door close. "Yeah." Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Yan Fei. "I put the house next door under your name, if this really bes a safe zone if you dont stay you can rent it out to another person and maybe make a lot of money!" He was not joking, the ce next door had two bedrooms with 80-90 square metres of area. How many sr panels could be hung on just a side of the balcony floor window? Even if Yan Fei did not rent out, not bother to go out and work, he could rely on the outside light o sell energy for a living. If he had not been reborn would he have gotten such a good house? At the start of the apocalypse many people who came to the safe area preferred lower rooms to save time and stamina climbing the stairs. However the value of the top floor was much higher than the underlying ones! Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, he was not Luo Xun and did not know the value of the room would skyrocket. Luo Xun seemed proud to be frugal, Yan Fei could not help but ssh some cold water. "What if the original homeowneres back?" Luo Xun gave him an annoyed side nce. "I did not tell you earlier? No one locked it properly and the homeowner had not installed a peephole." On the other hand, what would Luo Xun do if the family came back here alive!? His heart was in turmoil, Luo Xun sighed and felt regret. He knew he had gotten an extra empty room and now the military hade and registered, what good would tricks be? Luo Xun thought and his eyes lit up at Yan Fei. "That...you have not rented out the room, go back and clean up I will rent it afterwards..." Yan Fei was puzzled and wanted to understand the response. He nced at Luo Xun. "Youre renting this room." Yan Fei stated rather than asked, Luo Xun instantly reddened, his guess was spot on. Luo Xun straightened. "I signed a one-year contract and intended to rent it long term." Yan Fei eyes revealed a trace ofughter and he whispered but also coughed because of his chest injury. "Well, when I am better you can help me out next door." Luo Xun calmed down, if the original owner really came back, he would simply make a deal with Yan Fei. The room next door was smaller but still very good. Fortunately when he bought all kinds of materials he still had some funds at home. Even if there was a shortage he could go out and collect stuff after the base waspleted. The primary zombies had not yet formed nuclei and were easily dealt with. At this point, Luo Xun hadpletely forgotten that he had originally wanted Yan Fei to leave. He considered people next door, crowding together to live C although next door was Yan Feis, the oue would most likely involve others. If he did not need to move, Luo Xun would not leave the house. After all in thest decade he had never heard of the original homeowners. However it was no problem to think of the house next door as a backup. Luo Xun was bound to find a way to deal with Yan Fei, fortunately from their first meeting the two had not had any conflict. The only difference was that Luo Xun had abandoned the ns to go and find Yan Feis family, instead he would help next door. He was now upied with theyout of one of the bedrooms, certain other things became less important. Anyway there were a lot of supplies at home, caring for Yan Fei was little trouble. No strain on him, not to mention if Yan Fei could voluntarily provide his own ammo, it meant he had an inexhaustible supply of live ammunition! Luo Xun weed this kind of win-win situation that also was inexpensive. Only received a crossbow arrow deposit, Luo Xun did not realize he had been paid a deposit without getting any actual benefit. He slowly moved to the bathroom, following the other guy who needed to go to the toilet. The arrival of soldiers in Hong Jing district was a breath of fresh air. Since the zombies were basically cleaned up, many people boldly left the house. Some people were wondering whether or not to take advantage of the presence of soldiers on the road to collect supplies from the nearby supermarket. Some families with cars drove to nearby supermarkets but found the nearestrge ones had been taken over by the military. The contents were naturally forfeited, with people unable to contest. However they were afraid that there were zombies further out. Most of the people were scared and did not have the courage to search further for supplies. Some people encircled the military vehicles and expressed concerns of the basic food shortage problems in their homes. The military had to send out more unppable soldiers to the public. Tomorrow morning they would distribute supplies in several points in a matter of hours. They relied on the personal information registered prior to designate several locations for food and water. After the military there would be reconstruction work, all who participated would receive a stipend of food and materials, the specifics to be announced. With hope, people joyfully returned home even if they had not received things and waited for the arrival of the next day. Full of thoughts of next door neighbor backup friends Luo Xun was in a happy busy mood all day long. He cleaned up the room, reced the fully charged battery, trimmed branches and leaves of nts in the patio, picked mature vegetables, followed up on the nursery work. Finally with a small protest from his stomach, he boiled a pot of lean vegetable congee. Green tender, freshly picked rapeseed and the meat was an early purchase from before the apocalypse packaged and frozen. In addition there were cut salted duck eggs, cold spicy garlic cabbage cut into wedges with red bean curd sauce. Yan Fei was surprised. "You, this is too much..." Yan Feis heart had an indescribable feeling as he looked in shock at the fragrant dishes. God knows he had drank in congee that had less salt. He really did not mean for this! He had escaped troublesome people after the apocalypse and thus naturally knew the current climate. Being able to eat hot congee was already arge gourmet delicacy and he did not want Luo Xun to endanger himself going out to look for meat. Luo Xun calmy used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of tofu in sauce. "No trouble, I have to eat anyway." Yan Fei had bypassed the dangerous period and could now eat more hearty food. Luo Xun was indifferent to his own food. Anyway outside was not too peaceful right now, even if he went out with some vegetables there was nothing to exchange with. As for the meat, it would eventually go bad even if frozen in the fridge, just slower. If not eaten within a year and a half it would go bad, same with the other food items. Luo Xun was like a sommelier, the congee, fragrant meat, refreshing side dishes and moderate saltiness caused Yan Feis tongue toe alive. He gazedplexly at Luo Xun, he would like to ask where the food came from but it was wise to remain silent. Right now less than a week had passed since the apocalypse, any spare veggies had not been consumed nor were they normal. Luo Xun did not go out these past two days and did not deliberately seek out trouble. Chapter 21 Yan Fei until now had not known that the power had been cut C including in Luo Xuns home. The soldiers from before had spoken to Luo Xun about the ckout however Yan Fei did not hear since his injury was being checked. Food was not an issue, it was not just congee and Luo Xun consumed most of what had been used. He made a bunch of simple rice cakes more preservable in the current climate. In a few days, the initial base should be established, people would go out to work. By then he could bring some food out, save some base currency and exchange for something useful. Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei and estimated two or three months of required bed rest. He could only keep the other for this period...the more he thought the more it seemed like a loss. If Luo Xun had been unable to make a weapon and get a room of his own would it be cheaper for him to work, cook and serve Yan Fei instead? His life could already be counted as secure. After dinner, he tidied up the kitchen and the dishes. Luo Xun gently padded into the room after washing and lowered himself into bed, not too far from Yan Fei. This mornings experience had made him a little nervous. Holding hands had prompted such a prominent reaction, what would happen if there was other intimate contact identally while not paying attention? s life could be bitter, no way to control bodily instincts. "Will the armye tomorrow?" "Well its been said theyre distributing food and water. They officiallyunched the broadcast of the security zone. The military first calmed the residents who are now patiently awaiting rescue. Then announced a number of distribution sites near cleared up junctions." "Are you going tomorrow? Isnt it dangerous outside?" "No way otherwise. I should be able to pick up our supplies, any zombies in the area should have been cleaned out. I heard if everyone went, it would take two days to build a wall. You and Puppy stay at home, I will bring back food..." Yan Fei was silent for a while before opening his mouth. "Sorry..." Anyway he was currently a burden. Even if Yan Fei had abilities and might be promising in the future, right now Luo Xun had to shoulder the cost of supporting two peoples food and living. Yan Fei had never felt so dependant on others, especially since he was an adult. The feeling may have left a person feeling depressed but at the bottom of his heart a trace of satisfaction rose. He savored the feeling. Yan Fei thought of the ufortable feeling in his heart this morning when Luo Xun advised him to leave, and now felt the opposite feeling. "No matter, you rest for now, when youre better you can repay me. Just dont strain yourself." Luo Xun turned and spoke to him. Anyway even if Yan Fei ended up running and leaving, Luo Xun would ept the room next door as sufficient repayment. "Well, go to bed early." Yan Fei stared at the dark ceiling. "Your cooking skills are good, the rice was very delicious." Luo Xun paused then smiled, mostly joy with some mncholy. In his past life he could only use what had and gradually increased his skill to slowly improve the taste, to strive for deliciousness. However at the time even if he wanted to eat with others, there was noone to share with. Now, he may have only apanied Yan Fei for a short time, but Luo Xun felt heartfelt joy at the praise. It was nice to have someone to share results with, one to praise them sometimes. The announcer on the sr radio ryed the elimination method of the current zombies, the way to find hel, results of rescue work etc. In addition there was information on areas to be cleaned up, preparation of a safe zone and the location of material distribution. Luo Xun made breakfast for two people with some vegetable meat congee. He would have liked to put some shredded egg but did not dare in fear of contamination. Luo Xun had been unable to use thework since two days ago and now wanted to find a hub to double check. The breakfast garnish was reced with Yan Feis leftover egg soup. Yan Fei hesitantly looked at Luo Xun after swallowing the custard. "Your home has a lot of eggs?" "Quite a few and some more." Two big, full bamboo baskets from the nearby vige when he bought the puppy. The eggs would go bad if left aside for too long, this was him simply using up the food efficiently. Yan Fei seemed to have a relieved tone then ate some more custard C was he afraid the eggs were bad? It was fine so long he did not entertain bloody thoughts. In a real fight, the winner was not clearly certain. He nced at Luo Xuns lithe arm, although he was slim and thinner his limbs were in fact well-proportioned. Yan Fei did not notice anything wrong with closely analyzing anothers body. He stayed silent and ate mouthfuls of egg instead. After eating breakfast and leaving some water and emergency food on the bedside table Luo Xun went downstairs to let Puppy wander around. He felt the Yan Fei is his current state had littlebat capacity. Luo Xun went out carrying a backpack and his equipment. Of course before going out he checkedst nights video feed. The corridor was quiet as ever and no one came through, very good he could go out now! The building elevator came to a stop, Luo Xun was all the way downstairs. The area was finally bing popr, many people had gone out of their houses, ready at the food and water distribution points. Luo Xun secretly observed a bit and found more than a few student faces in the area. They had likely fled like Yan Fei and should be with the army in a few days. Some trapped people were rescued by the army and unable to return to their original homes would be ced in nearby empty homes. After this the poption would only increase since people were the primary source ofbor. As long as there were enough people in the safe area to find food and supplies, some stopped factories could be reopened. There was a flow of people forward to the designated location, reassured by military vehicles driving by time to time. Luo Xun was quite curious, who had inflicted such a heavy injury on Yan Fei? He had not asked before and the other partys characteristics were unclear so no guesses. Material distribution point was to the west of the areas junction corner. There were two other districts nearby, one was old with six-storey buildings The old residential area was densely built and popted, one of the hardest areas to clear. Luo Xun overheard while in line that the old area had not beenpletely cleared up. The army had only cleared up the corpses. Still need a few days before families could move in. The crowd would riot upon hearing any sounds remoting resembling zombies. People would squeeze forward to get the things quickly then hurried home, in case a zombie appeared. What if one got attacked? What if one ended up bitten? Luckily the situation was not out of control since there were a lot of armed soldiers around to keep order. It was Luo Xuns turn C name of district, ID number, name and confirmed that there was an injured cousin at home. He received ten bottles of 550 mL mineral water, packages of instant noodles, two bags of biscuits C the amount for two people for five days. The staff who had finished work and handed out items also gave Luo Xun a leaflet. The military had already divided the perimeter and was recruiting people for construction. Carrying his backpack, Luo Xun did not immediately look at the contents of the flyer but rushed back and along the way avoided walking in unsafe areas. He hid the baseball bat inside the backpack C no iron nails, the regr version. Luo Xun would not forget his life experience after the apocalypse and would not forget that Yan Feis injury had been caused by someone. In this chaotic world, people could sometimes be more fearful than zombies. Luo Xun sped up towards building seven hearing some sounds. The zombies had been cleared, at night there would be an army patrol, any danger would not be from zombies! Sure enough it was not long before a man with a scarf and sunsses suck in and out of view. Luo Xun hurried into the corridor, all the way up the stairs. He felt relieved when he reached the door and Puppy reacted excitedly. He changed his shoes and quickly checked the surveince video, fortunately nobody passed by outside. He ced the supplies down and took the flyer to the second floor. Yan Fei did not need to sleep to long each day but could not move around. He looked at the bedroom door to see the puppy curled around Luo Xuns legs. "How was outside?" "Okay." Luo Xun came in with the flyer and sat down on the bed. "The distribution point was just east of the intersection but there was a robber in building three before I got back." "Robbery?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. "Well, wearing a hat, scarf, mask and sunsses. More covered than when I went out to kill a zombie." Luo Xun shrugged and took a look at the flyer. Chapter 22 Yan Fei wanted to ask about the robbery, but had to press down any questions since Luo Xun was reading attentively. He neared the tail end of the leaflet and breathed a sigh of relief. "See? This is todays flyer, to build a wall for the base." Yan Fei took the flyer and saw that the leaflets were printed roughly and in a hurry. The picture on top was a simple map to indicate the fence perimeter, which included the barracks, a wide view of the district with a number of areas such as the southern farnd, western flower field and some functional buildings. In addition there was the initial scope of the wall construction. The flyer called on all survivors to join construction work, each person involved would get two meals, water and so on. If a person did not need provisions then the food would be exchanged for points C three points for a meal. Points could be used to purchase food, water, medicine and other supplies at logistic points. "The work time everyday is rather long." Yan Feis brow wrinkled. "Of course, even now the area has not beenpletely cleared of zombies. If more people flee here how would they be covered? Thus there is overtime to fix the wall." Luo Xun refused to becent, now the paid points were fairly generous, wait until a few years and all would be different. The construction work in the safe area would need less and less people as parts gotpleted. It was good that each day he could save half his earned points. "Are you ready to go?" Yan Fei could not move at the moment, naturally did not know the amount of inventory at home. He could only helplessly let Luo Xun care for him. "Well the fence was built a day earlier to secure the safe zone. Without any other incidients, this will be everyones home." So now its necessary to be preupied with things needed to be done. Not to mention the fact that the points were generous C the payment was the point. "These days go out ande back with safety in mind." Seeing Luo Xun not mind, Yan Fei temporarily did not say anything. Some things did not need to be said, Luo Xun was not a stingy person. "Wait I forgot to ask you." Luo Xun hurriedly asked, reminded of security issues. "What does the person who hurt you before look like?" Yan Fei quirked a brow. "Why do you remember to ask now?" "I dont know why they were so stiff with you, just the situation at the time..." If he had not climbed into the building, he could have been wiped out by the robbers like others wandering around here. If there was not a dog in the home with the feral dog recording, those people may have been broken into the home, found and killed the both to loot all the resources. "I dont want to know that there are careless, dangerous people around. As an early precaution we should at least know a description." Yan Feis mouth changed into a chilling charming smile. "Lets see, the leader should be a man named Xu, older than 30 and very burly. There were 22 of them; four women, two college students in their early twenties, another younger than 30 and a forty something year old." He paused. "One of the two female college students was named He Lan, very innocent. The less than thirtydy had a nice body and was also rather flirty." Luo Xun was silent for a while. "You joined the group because of the women." Yan Fei shrugged and stretched. "I did not want to, they pasted themselves on me." He had an ability, height, looks and strength these factors attracted the opposite sex like bees to honey. Moreover he had a gun that implied he was apetent person. Yan Fei thought the women were annoying but could also understand their thoughts. In these troubled times there were zombies everywhere, who knew how long one would live. Suddenly a man with great power appears, also very handsome. What part is not eye candy? Ordinary words were forgotten, at most a few nces. The most daring came to ask for a mobile phone number with fluttering eyes. It was human nature to take action in these precarious situations. However the rest of the group other than the four women were all older men. Envy and jealousy could not be contained since the few women were not interested in them in the slightest. Luo Xun could not help but look disdainful. "I will trouble you to wear a mask when you go out for something. I do not want people to stare daggers at me!" This kind of person could recruit men or women without problem. "Dont worry, I found the right mask to wear." Yan Fei did not continue to maintain his innocence. He had worn the mask toote, those with the group already knew what he looked like. "Mask, hat, sunsses...Im going to give you my helmet to wear." Luo Xun was homosexual, he had already nned changing arrangements for the future. Anyway, he seemed to havepletely forgotten that he was ready to get Yan Fei out of the house? Oh well, he did not seem like he would drive away, take off with all he could carry. Luo Xun sorted out the contents of the room to calcte food supplies for the next few days. There were pancakes and pieces of guoba, items resistant to perishing. It was cold now and it would not go bad anytime soon. The vegetables, meat and eggs to supplement nutrients. There were many eggs at home which could be fried or boiled. In addition to the things Luo Xun wanted to bring out, he also had to prepare lunch and dinner for Yan Fei. After thinking about it, Luo Xun decided to move the microwave oven to the bedroom table. Add a small side table to that Yan Fei could heat his meal at noon. As for the handsome man, who could control his moves out of sight? It was better to not get involved. As long as Luo Xun cooked something in advance, like congee or something, it would be enough for the patient to eat. Once done thinking, he took out some pig feet from the freezer along with soybeans, onions, ginger and other ingredients to boil. Luo Xun held the soup pot and went back to the living room ready for the microwave oven on the second floor. Suddenly he heard car sounds through the northern window, when Luo Xun hurriedly looked at the situation he saw a few trucks, likely escorting some private cars. He slightly frowned and thought, sure enough these should be the people who came after hearing the broadcast. There seemed to be some residents of the southern district, the nned safe zone that ended up outside the security zone. Most carried all their belongings as luggage. The number of residents in the Hong Jing district was rtively small and this was the best time to rehouse these people. Now they could still ce people in the empty houses, wait untilter when people could only live in the basement like Luo Xuns previous life. The houses in the older neighborhood were notpletely cleaned and naturally unable to aodate the people. So they were sent here to rtively new homes in the west side. Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief, these things had long been foreseen. He just did not know how many people would be left after the zombie virus contaminated both food and water sources. "You moved this up..." Yan Fei trailed off seeing the microwave oven from the open bedroom door while reading a novel on theptop. Before the inte crashed, Luo Xun downloaded many novels onto hisputer. These things would soon be out of print but would instead be saved on a hard drive. In addition to the novels, he downloaded recipes on spices and semi-finished food products as well as manufacturing methods. "Im going to work tomorrow. You can use this to heat lunch at noon." "..." Yan Fei was temporarily speechless. This man was too careful, thoughtful and considered any unexpected issues in advance. In all fairness, it seemed impossible to think as meticulously as Luo Xun. "If anyonees, dont open the door either. Tomorrow when I leave, Puppy will be downstairs watching the door. Now it is impossible to know when someone woulde back to investigate." Luo Xun set the microwave oven beside the bed. "Just now a lot of strangers entered the area, it should be the rescued people from two days ago. There may be some people not going to the house during the day and knocking on the door. If someonees in without permission, youre wee to deal with them permanently." Luo Xuns thoughts would not change, if someone clearly heard the dog barking and exerted a lot of effort to break in, then such people deserved to be killed. Yan Fei silently looked at Luo Xun, if someone threatened his own security he would naturally counterattack. It was just Luo Xun looked to calm and did not seem like a normal person. But.."Yes, no problem." The corners of Yan Feis mouth ticked up. He did not mind why Luo Xun would say that and behaved so calmly towards killing. Until now, the guy had seemingly shown he had little malice. Though he did want Yan Feis abilities to help him. The district was in disarray, a stream of people moved to get supplies. Perhaps the day before a few people still dared tomit robbery but today with so many people, a person may not follow kindness but dared not loot brazenly. New arrivals were divided by family, friend etc by the military men. Over the course of a day, the military changed the locks of unupied houses and managed them uniformly. The arrivals were organized in order of arrival, families with elderly people took some of the lower housing. The younger would be divided into higher ces. Of course some people tried to pay lip service to the military distribution people to get better floors but it was in vain since they could end up in a home not near the majority of people instead. Chapter 23 The delicious scent of stewed pig feet soup wafted into the building through the exhaust fan. However no one could tell whose home the smell came from. They could only smell the mouth watering deliciousness, drooling and cursing who could eat so well during the apocalypse. Luo Xun carried the food upstairs after he finished cooking the soup and side dishes. On the second time down, he vaguely heard sounds in the corridor. His heart raced, he vigntly stood in the small entranceway. Who would be visiting this floor? Currently no one else was living here on the highest floor with Luo Xuns home. The screen clearly showed the situation in the corridor, two soldiers with guns escorted several young men to the 16th floor. The few people seemed like college students, a line of five people each carrying a backpack and a stic bag in hand. Climbing the stairs was tiring but the young excited faces had reached their destination. "There are two vacant rooms on this floor and there are people in the two most innermost homes, leaving these two." One soldier pointed to the remaining apartment homes. "We have five people. Brother Bing which of the two is bigger?" A clever young man hurriedly asked. "1601, this has three bedrooms, the other one only has two bedrooms. If five of you want to live together youll have to squeeze two in a room." "Okay, two people in a room is crowded? Our school dormitory was howrge? Four people in one room!" "A college dorm counts for nothing! Our senior high school dormitory had eight people a room, thats a squeeze. At night the house was filled with the stench of feet." "Chubby, living on the 16th floor you can definitely lose inches off your belly!" "I think Ive already lost a couple of pounds in thest two days." "Soldiers, are the two who live on this floor pretty?" A man pointed at Luo Xuns door, eyes bright with curiosity. "What do you think, heartstopping beauty? There are only men living there!" The two soldiers did not know what kind of people actually lived in 1604, but deliberately dashed their hopes without mercy. Sure enough, the five bachelors were heartbroken and followed the soldiers in 1601. Luo Xun was relieved to see thest person enter, five young and lively college students were preferable to gloomy elders. He turned around, closed the door and went back to the kitchen to get leftover food. "There are now five college students living in 1601." Yan Fei swallowed some fragrant pig feet soup and did not doubt that he would gain some weight from the food fed to him and bedrest. "Students? No one living next door?" "Its empty with no one living there for now." Today, few people visited building seven at all. Luo Xun did not know why the five college students chose to be here and on such a high floor. "Tomorrow, when youre on your own, thats five college students you can try and get in touch with. You would be more secure than if alone if they are decent people." Luo Xun turned in surprise at Yan Fei who smiled and winked. "Yesterday there were looters in the area, its no harm making a friend." True, they may not be familiar but better than beingpletely alone during a crisis. Yan Fei was now injured, even if his ability was powerful he could not go out right now. Luo Xun would not ask others to ce their lives in danger, as long as it was peaceful with people cooperating, he thought shady characters would skip their group. He nodded, said he understood and continued drinking soup. The little puppy wasying at the twos feet, happily gnawing on pig bones and barking. Even if there was no meat, the bones were so fragrant! The rm was set, tools, food and so on were ready for the next day. The two turned off the lights early to rest and slept until dawn. It was still dark when Luo Xun woke up. He went up and down the stairs so that everything Yan Fei needed to use and eat were ready at the bedside table. Luo Xun opened Puppys cage and filled up the bowls with milk and dog food. Then he checked the status of the crops in his home. Luo Xun with his clothes, backpack and baseball bat was ready to go out. Fortunately, the five university students also came out carrying their own supplies. Perhaps they wanted to rendezvous and set up a meeting since they were few in number. After all, safety in numbers. Luo Xun opened his door at the same time as the opposite room. "Ah, are you from next door? We moved in here yesterday." One of the enthusiastic students greeted Luo Xun. These five people saw that Luo Xun was of simr age to them, they rxed when Luo XUns face had no trace of wickedness. "Yeah, not working is not good. Yesterday someone said that everyone on base musy do some work. Otherwise points will be fined if one does not participate in public construction after a certain period of time!" A fat boy exined. Another suddenly asked, "Are you living alone? In your own home? Or were you ced during the past two days?" "My home is here, just moved in not long before all this happened. What about you guys? Are all of you heading downstairs together?" "We are from X-University, roommates and ssmates." "X-University? Thats not too far from here." A few people sighed in response to Luo Xunsment. One in the middle remarked. "We actually only knew of the zombie apocalypse when the night before a prediction post appeared online, saying the next day would be thest. Li Tie...thats him, he followed the post for several days and discussed. We wondered if it was true. Anyway the next day was Sunday, it was too dangerous at school with so many people to simply hideout. Instead we took a break, went to a supermarket to buy food and ran to a hotel." Luo Xun froze and looked at the five people in surprise. "Post? What post?" "How to make/use technology in the apocalypse." Li Tie was the second tallest and the thinnest of the group, also had a face of admiration and sped hands. "I now believe the author must be able to predict the future! Or was someone reborn!" "He is now a diehard fan of WasteWoodHouse." Chubby guy motioned with his hands. "You arent a believer!?" "A believer, a fan, definitely a diehard fan!" Luo Xuns ears turned red. He had not thought anyone would believe his post and thus survive. He had a thought, held a trace of hope and asked. "Why would you choose to live on such a high floor? Its inconvenient to move up or down. I have no choice since my house is on the 16th floor..." The five looked at each other, it seemed that Luo Xun was not a bad person. He already had a room and would find out sooner orter so one of then whispered. "Actually, we just wanted a room with good natural lighting. This building is the one with the most light right?" "Right, even if that piece of open space is used to build something else, its unlikely to block 16 storeys." The one named Li Tie patted Luo Xuns shoulder. "Now the whole world is crawling with zombies, the size of human living space will certainly shrink, resources unusable! We think in the future, green pollution-free energy will be the mainstream!" "Right, you live on your own?" Another student asked. "With my cousin." Luo Xun smiled and exined seeing their puzzled faces. "My parents died years afo and when my cousin went out scavenging a few days ago he fell from the stairs and injured his leg. He cant move at this time so hes at home housekeeping." "Oh, is his leg alright?" "Nothing much, a bit of fracture, the army checked two days ago. No dislocation so he just needs rest." Luo Xun exined since the group was worried about the source of injury. There was no need to reveal that Yan Fei had actually been attacked and injured. After all, the person who had hurt Yan Fei was still in the area. The two sides introduced each other as they all headed downstairs. The diehard fan of WasteWoodHouse was called Li Tie, the fat one was named He Qiankun. The group joked that his belly wasrge enough to fit the universe. The tallest was named Han Li, Wu Xin had a face with e and thest one was Wang Duo an honest looking guy. All were junior students, information engineering professionals. The group of six came downstairs, the area had others walking around outside. Luo Xun and the five university students walked forward, one part leisurely chatting, one part observing the people around them. Luo Xuns intention was to see if he would encounter the one who had attacked Yan Fei. He unexpectedly saw a few acquaintances instead. Most of those who had survived zombie mutation, water pollution, crop disasters, animal mutations and so on left an impression on Luo Xun. At this time there were some familiar faces C those who had kept themselves alive. Along with three others, ones who Luo Xun wanted badly to forget... A woman, evenrger than He Qiankun of the students, her husband and son, all of whom hadrge waistbands. Luo Xun guiltily looked over, he had thought that the family of three would not appear since he had not seen them in the area. Unexpectedly, they circled around and returned here. These three, in his past life had lived in room 1604 building seven. Chapter 24 The two people were not far away, Luo Xun could faintly hear Wu Jie, therge womanining to her husband. "If we had known this part of the area was in the security zone, we should have directly rented here! What about now? You want to move back!?" "Is wasnt the right time and it was too expensive." The husband was impatient. "How would I know there would be zombies? Besides you didnt talk me out of it!" Originally the three came to see therger houses in the district to rent. s, nothingpared to the condition of 1604 so they chose a cheap house in an older neighborhood. It turned out that the area was not in the safe zone! They had to bring all their luggage back. The son ced his hands in his pockets. The couple had bickered all night without stopping, who wanted to talk to them. He yawned then his eyes riveted to a pretty girl somewhere in the background. He stared non-stop at the females back. Luo Xun listened as the munication continued, then followed Wu Gangs line of sight to swaying hips. In such cold weather, the figure only wore a windbreaker, ck stockings contrasted against pale legs. The woman prowled forward like a cat. Such a sultry person just from the back, what would the front look like? Luo Xun wondered, he had changed after the apocalypse and now could impartially see beauty. Along the road there were curious stares towards the sultry figure. Not just him, men and women nearby gave her a few looks C men were more appreciative while the women were jealous. However the woman was nestled amongst strong burly men, no one dared ost her while surrounded by more than ten people. Beside Luo Xun, Wang Duo huffed. "This stature, definitely a hotdy!" Surprised, Luo Xun nced at Wang Duo. This guy had an honest face, underneath he was unexpectedly coy. "Just do not know if the people in the back have handguns. The people in front seem to have some kind of gun." "Possibly, the guy beside her doesnt look like a good one." The group had both men and women, there were a few other women than her. If she was not treated well, the man who looked like the leader would not have her by his side. The people continued towards themunity doorway, a few military trucks were parked nearby waiting for everyone to get in. Luo Xun did not know if his luck was good or bad, he ended up in a car with the three Wu family members and the gang with the sexydy. Military trucks had a lot of space, seating for at least sixty or more. Different cars drove to different locations which had been decided in advance. At present, some soldiers and engineers had alreadyid the overnight foundation. People could immediately start work as long as simple and clear instructions were given. Luo Xun and Li Tie stood with several others, secretly looking at their peers. Nothing more needed to be said about the Wu family whoined all the way. The ten or so men were turned and they could now see the womans face. Sure enough as Wang Duo said, a pretty woman, though not a 100 or the appearance of Eve. The face had exquisite makeup, her advantageous feminine features enhanced. Not too far from the two, there were two young girls in their early twenties. One was good looking with big eyes, the other hadmon features, indistinguishable in a crowd. Luo Xun raised an eyebrow, he suddenly seriously suspected this intimidating group was the one who had injured Yan Fei. Luo Xun looked at the tower like man and vaguely heard a voice say Brother Xu, he knew he was not mistaken. He took out his cellphone and secretly took several photos of the group while pretending to make a phone call. "The phone isnt working now either." Luo Xun pretended to sigh while putting the device away. "No really?" He Qiankun wilted. "I called home after the apocalypse started but no one answered..." They were afraid of the apocalypse and hid outside of school with friends. They called a dozen times but after the incident, had almost no contact with anyone else. "Okay, what if they hid away? You saw how fast the army reacted! How many days the security zone was established." Wu Xin tried tofort his friend and himself. "Right! Which province doesnt have a garrison? The radio just said, the local garrison troops reacted promptly, the military throughout the country have established security bases. All the troops responded swiftly rescuing survivors and destroying zombies." "Yeah I heard there were few in the military who turned into zombies and a lot of ability users!" The university students words loosened the tense atmosphere inside the car. Though many peoples family friends and rtives were facing zombies, it was great lick to have escaped the chaos. The future was bright now that they had entered the safe zone and had protection. The fence was no too far from the district, after registering personal information people were assigned to work various types of jobs. In fact, the initial wall was made mainly by military personnel, after all where would they have people to contact about work? On the other hand, those with prior construction experience or migrant workers got started faster and could do some technical work. The others would be young people in the prime of youth, for example Li Tie and the other students. Due to professional problems, the young mens hands-on ability was not bad. ording to their words, only skilled people repairedputers, so they practised with electronics in order to be more skilled. Finally there was the strongest woman, the rest were weak chickens, weak flowers with negligible fighting capability. Luo Xun had experience from his previous life and was thus naturally fast. An engineer picked him to set bricks for the fence since he found Luo Xun quick with decent strength. The rest of the people who had no skills were digging trenches outside the walls, one for each. The higher the better for the wall, thicker was preferable, each person repaired a portion. The daily workload could not be less than a certain height. At the meal station one could get the points, after some discussion with the superiors decided to pay points at first then people could redeem them on whatever one wanted to eat. Luo Xun received his points, his heart dark as he sighed upon seeing the arge pot of rice. It was indeed only the start of the apocalypse, the quality of food was still decent. Although the quality of the meal was better than expected, Luo Xun decided to use up his own food rations first. He stowed his points and brought out a container of mung bean porridge with pickles and a drink. He sat aside to eat, the five others also came over together to finish eating. "This quality, taste, size...so much better than our food!" Each meal had a full portion since the work was all physical, the students were deeply grateful. He Qiankun stared wide eyed with stars at the big steamed bread in his hands. "This is a really big portion size!" "Wasnt there no flour or bread?" "Its alright, you just need to steam it a bit." Luo Xun knew this kind of steamed bread. Since there was still stock the bread had flour and cornmeal. After crop variation, the taste could be difficult to swallow. This kind of steamed bread had an average taste but was very filling. Ordinary people only needed to eat one, eating more would cause bloating. The meal was eaten, each person finished at least half of the steamed bread. Lighter eaters also had some leftover dishes. "Wait, we dont need to buy the evening meal, at most some soup. We could save some for tomorrow." A few people smiled and chatted, the food was not that tasty. The student group could shrug off the rice cakes with vegetables. Other people who used to eat a variety of dishes at home and restaurants frowned. "You brought your own food?" Han Li sat next to Luo Xun and saw a container of mung bean porridge along with the rest of his food. "Ah, fortunately I moved into the house recently. Food and everything else was newly bought and I had not finished eating." Wu Xin enviously looked at the egg custard. "Really good, we should have prepared some instant noodles, biscuits or something." "There are rice and noodles but cannot cook, what will we do?" He Qiankun asked the four others, all looked at each other. "I can boil eggs." "Ill eat eggs." "I can cook instant noodles." "Ill eat instant noodles." "I can make egg and tomatoes." "I will eat..." He Qiankun had not finished his sentence when the remaining four people jumped him. Luo Xun smiled, stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth and said airily. "I can boil, scramble, steam and fry eggs." He Qiankun struggled up and praised. "Luo Xun, you are really virtuous!" The site was in full swing, Luo Xuns location was on the west side of the base. Outwards was a seemingly barren farnd. As there were no inhabitants, there were no zombies at the time. Some zombies had been wandering around for days and the soldiers cleared them out early. In contrast, north and east of the wall outside the city would be very lively. As people fled towards the base, there would be many zombies attracted to the noise. The highway was congested on Beijing road, dead passengers and drivers got scratched and bitten by zombies. They gradually became one of them and joined the ranks. After a busy day, the crowd felt exhausted sitting in the truck. Some of the physically weaker people felt like they would pass out. When they got up the next morning, the sky had notpletely lit up. The weary crowd sat silently in the car, waiting for the trip home when stars filled the sky. Chapter 25 In the truck, Luo Xun closed his eyes, though in the spirit of caution he went to the back of the vehicle. A number of trucks stopped at the entrance of the district and people dragged their tired bodies inside. Suddenly, a person shouted. "My points? Theyre missing!?" Since there had been enough food for leftovers, for the first day of work many people had at least one or two points saved for future use. Some people who brought their own food, kept all six points earned the first day. Since points had great use, there would be people secretly thinking of thievery. This upation was always present whatever the time. Luo Xun walked over, a man anxiously dug through his pockets, the persons appearance seemed normal. "Darn, its only the first day, but stealing has already started? Such dedication." Li Tie huffed in shock. "Okay, check to see if your points have gone missing." Upon hearing Han Li, a number of people checked their own remaining points. Luo Xun had long formed the habit of getting points and putting them directly into his inner pocket. He never took off his coat while working so he could keep his property safe. "Still have to look? Given how much I have eaten, no waste at all~" He Qiankun proudly patted his belly. "You didnt eat it all did you? Did you not save some steamed bread and pickles for tomorrows breakfast?" Wu Xin turned to ask after he confirmed his own points were still stuffed in his pocket. "Okay, are you alright? Lets go back." Seeing themotion, many people still had the energy to see and gossip in the spirit of entertainment despite the exhausting work day. Wang Duo patted shoulders, motioned to tell the others to leave. They went upstairs in the dark, a few people muttered about finding recement candles and recharging sr shlights. Luo Xun had a few extra but those were spare supplies. There was the issue of unfair exchange or afraid of no change since no one asked or said anything. More than 10 years ago, every household had candles in case of emergency but who would keep these things in the present? Most people did not even have matches. Climbing 16 floors in the dark, He Qiankungged behind and leaned against a doorway, very out of breath. "I...the...the meat...all...in vain..." "Enough, more fitness then? Its better than you yelling for three years to lose weight." The door opened and five people filed through. In the dark Luo Xun waved farewell. "See you tomorrow." "See you tomorrow morning." Anyway, the other could not see the wave in the dark. Luo Xun opened the door to the apartment, then shut it before turning on the light. He heard the puppy run over and scratch the door. He checked the surveince recording of the day while also bending down to pick up the puppy. At nine oclock in the morning, two military personnel wearing white coats and masks carried boxes with supplies to eliminate contaminants in the corridor. Then the five students returned home in the video. Luo Xun took off his coat once the check was finished. He took his backpack and headed inside. Yan Fei heard the dog downstairs and knew Luo Xun had returned. He waited for him to walk in the door before asking. "Back? How was you day?" "The walls are much easier than digging ditches." Luo Xun put down his backpack, relieved to take out a change of clothes. "Ill go and take a bath, we can talk afterwards." Setting aside his thick clothes, his home had a change which would not treat itself. These days some of the water had been used up but he had originally saved a lot. He should be able to use it anytime. Although the neighborhood had no electricity, there was still water. He prepared a container of water with a disinfectant sheet. He went upstairs before starting up the self-made distition equipment. The pump brought water from storage and slowly distilled into clean water. He had bought a lot of water purification tablets, coupled with at least two rounds of distition, Luo Xun estimated that general toxic substances would not survive. As for the zombie virus...he had spent a lot of resources to escape the second tide of zombie mutation. This method should be of some use. In order to save water, Luo Xun was not willing to use the bath only for a simple shower. He nned what to prepare tomorrow, to hit two birds with one stone. In the morning there was still some pig feet soup leftover. The bread prepared for the meal was all eaten. Yan Fei left some of the fried mushroom and vegetables along with leek and eggs. "How about some congee tomorrow? Sweet, salty? What kind of food do you want?" Yan Feis used tableware was ced neatly aside, the table had no food residue. Yan Fei looked at him upon hearing the question. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun looked puzzled. "Simple is good." "Oh..alright? What about side dishes? Theres leek, rapeseed and garlic. Do you want some garlic fried bacon?" The bacon was hanging from the first floor ceiling. "No need for something troublesome." Yan Fei smiled at Luo Xun. "Today I felt much better. I was able to move a spoon with my powers. Should be able to help you do something. You have materials? Put them on the bedside table and Ill help when I have strength during the day." "Really!?" Luo Xuns eyes brightened, this was great news! He excitedly stood and paced. "Wait here, Ill go get some things." He ran to the smaller bedroom and grabbed a steel pipe. These things were part of his spoils the first day of the apocalypse when he went into the city. Luo Xun ced the materials on the bed. He then ran to the desk, opened the drawer and took out some paper. "The crossbow arrows are not on a deadline, if you have the energy, slowly create in ordance with the drawing. Then look to my assembly instructions." "This is..." Yan Fei looked at the informal blueprint in shock. "I drew the crossbow and arrow ns by hand, however the power of wood is less than metal so the range is shorter." "You made this? Why didnt you buy something like this instead?" Yan Fei was puzzled, when he met Luo Xun around the third day of the apocalypse, he already had the crossbow. It was proven that he learned before the apocalypse otherwise how would he be so skilled? Since it was prior to the apocalypse, why not just buy a crossbow? Luo Xun shrugged. "Theres no way to buy something good online. Theres only toys sold online. I saw some homemade designs to try and the results were good." He paused then turned with bright eyes. "If you can make a metal crossbow, the arrows could be reced with bombs like a slingshot! With smaller ammo size, more pieces could be loaded. It could be like a handgun, can load more than 5 pieces at a time." This drawing of a metal crossbow was something that Luo Xun had modified out of boredom at the end of a busy day at home. If Yan Fei could help him make it, he could carry more bullets at once. "OK, Ill try." Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, was this guy an outdoor enthusiast? How else would a regr person study these things? Other guys preferred studying all sorts of guns while Luo Xun preferred things with more practical use. "Do it when you have the time and strength. If you feel tired dont push yourself. I am not in a rush, these things wont really be useful until the wall is finished construction." "Ah." Yan Fei did not want to just lie around the house anymore. In the past, he had others depending on him but he never needed to depend on others to live. Even when asionally sick, it did not stop him from what he needed to do. It did not help that Luo Xun was a few years younger than him with a more childish appearance. Although being taken care of felt wonderful and gave him a sense of relief, he also wanted to help, to do something with his power in return. Luo Xun was extremely expectant at the moment even if Yan Feis strength would only support making oneponent at a time with his abilities. Before he wanted to use metal to make arrows butcked the suitable tools. Now there was an opportunity he could not pass up. Luo Xun happily went downstairs to cook congee. Maybe he would make some sweet congee today since thest few days they had been eating salty congee. There were a lot of grains in the home, with the exception of some seeds, the rest could be used as cooking ingredients. With the weather getting colder, it was time to cook eight-treasure congee. Various coloured beans were poured into a pressure cooker and induction heating. After a while the beans were almost fully cooked. He released the gas, opened the lid and added rock sugar twice and boiled to a thick consistency. Luo Xun pondered a moment, there should be no problem slowly eating some guoba even if Yan Feis injury required easily digestible foods. He cut off a piece of bacon, grabbed some garlic from the balcony and prepared to stir fry. Then he fished out a pickle from a jar and cut it into pieces. With all the ingredients, he also had tomorrows breakfast ready. Back upstairs, there was something on the small table. Luo Xun found that Yan Fei had taken a piece of steel and made aponent from the blueprint drawing. Its specifications matched the paper. Yan Fei saw Luo Xune in and showed the metal part in his hand. "Im not sure if the size or thickness is correct." "Let me see." Luo Xun rushed over and checked. He confirmed that the there was no difference between this piece of metal and the piece in his wooden model! Chapter 26 TN: Not sure why, but this chapter is three times as long as normal. I debated splitting it up but I have a chapter in reserve just in case. Warning for a bunch of scene changes (of sorts) "This thing is all metal. I am afraid that the finished product might be too heavy or light. Want to try?" Yan Feis gaze swept up and down the piece of metal. Since Luo Xun had never worked solely with metal, he was unsure of the final weight. However based on the weight of the part in his hand... "It should be fine if its lighter by a third. I wont be able to use it properly if it is too heavy." "Well then." Yan Fei took the piece of metal, the other hand ced on top. The piece of material became one third lighter. Luo Xun brightened in excitement at the surprising scene while holding the finished part. "This should be okay." He looked to see Yan Feis slightly tired looking face and hurriedly put the parts away. "Thats all for today, wait until tomorrow to regain some strength." Luo Xun was unclear if physical injuries had any direct impact on abilities. Anyway better to not let Yan Fei get too tired, better a thin but constant trickle of effort. Yan Fei did not argue with him, smiled and handed over the remaining material in his hand. Luo Xun touched the pillow and fell asleep after working all day and cooking food for tomorrow. Yan Feiid on his side during the night, the room was well sealed so people could not see into the house. The sound of breathing on his left was heavier than before, obviously Luo Xun was tired. Yan Fei silently closed his eyes after blinking in the darkness. He sank into dreams while listening to Luo Xuns breathing. The first day of assigned work, if there were no special cases, the ce would be the same. The army had repeatedly stressed this the morning before. So early next morning in front of the building they climbed back into the same numbered truck, just like the day before. Cold wind blew all the way to the wall building site. Luo Xun found the ce he worked at yesterday. With this kind of non-technical work, once familiar the speed ofpletion naturally increased. Luo Xun asionally bought hot soup due to the cold but the rest of his food was his own. His food was clean and nutritionally bnced, better than the given provisions. It was also convenient since Luo Xun cooked some meals in advance for Yan Fei. After four days of hard work, his allocated section of wall had reached the required height. He was given another section once an engineer inspected and cleared his work. A lot of new poeple entered the district in the past two days. However he also heard that the number of people in the small high-rise area were less than in the two older northern districts since those areas were more densely popted. So many people had been lost in the disaster. The east cottage area was most brutally affected. The migrant workers of A-city lived there, most were small business owners or wholesale sellers, white cor workers. The doors and windows of Ping Feng district were not secure, high density and a disorderly narrow courtyard. After the disaster there would be no ce to hide. For poorer city workers, there would be a few people crowded into a few square meters of room. Despite Wang Duos superficial righteousness, he was actually an insatiable gossip who inquired about any news. The residents of Ping Feng district were almostpletely wiped out, less than 10 people were rescued. It was originally filled with dpidated houses within the security perimeter so the army pushed for reconstruction. This sounded familiar to Luo Xun, he knew a ce that had been transformed into a residential area withpact floors and seven storey high buildings but did not know the precise location after the apocalypse. That evening, when Luo Xun returned home from work, Yan Fei gave him a big surprise. "Its finished?" Luo Xuns face lit up with a smile as he took the slightly heavy crossbow. Yan Fei had made all the parts and assembled them. Luo Xuns drawings were proven to be very urate, no problems with the proportions. Yan Fei followed the attached and clearly marked assembly instructions. He had correctly followed the steps given. Luo Xun lifted the crossbow and aimed at his usual target. With a *poof* the force of the bolt wasparable to his excitement. "Good, no issues." Otherwise the wall would end up peppered with holes! Yan Fei smiled and picked up the drawing. "I think the crossbow is still a bit bulky, do you want to make a smaller design? A smaller crossbow would hold less ammo and be less lethal but would be lighter and more convenient to carry." "If you have free time." Luo Xun naturally had no opinion, he had desired this amazing metal crossbow but feelings had not been enough before. "Dont worry...right if its smaller you can carry one with youter to defend yourself if your powers run out." The use of abilities seemed linked with spiritual power, using too much could lead to being run dry. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, he knew about this? Was there a psychic somewhere who said that? He did not continue ruminating on the topic. "Ill make them slowly when Im able. Today Ill stand up and walk around for a bit." "Hey! Whats the hurry? It takes 100 days for bones to heal." Luo Xun stared wide eyed. This beauty contrary to his appearance had an unexpectedly short temper. "...Washroom." These two days, Luo Xun was not a home during the day. The home had a night pot but Yan Fei really did not want to use that thing. Especially if he had to do number two. Yan Fei had to wait for Luo Xun toe back before be could go to the bathroom. As for using diapers? What nonsense, he was no longer dizzy! It had been enough while in aa. "I hurt my chest, not my legs!" "Theres still a fracture! Try to be as careful as possible, in case the injury gets worse." Luo Xun stared at Yan Fei, he had never seen such an uncooperative patient. If Yan Fei had broken his leg, would he have hopped on one foot to the washroom? Luo Xun skipped the issue, collected his things and helped Yan Fei to the washroom. Back in the room Luo Xun remembered the previously taken photos on his phone. "See here, are these the people who hurt you before?" The picture showed the men and women that were on the truck the first day. Yan Fei sneered, "Ah, thats them, how were they? They didnt cause any trouble for you?" "Theyve been looking for some trouble but could not find a single target." Working on site with army soldiers, even if they wanted to make a fuss they were unable to. Li Tie, Han Li and Luo Xun always acted together, safety in numbers to avoid trouble. Everyone knew that people selected soft persimmons to pinch (take advantage of the weak). The man named Xu looked to be of mixed descent, he had a tiger tattoo along his jaw. Such people would see the wind and set the helm (be flexible and take advantage of the situation). Saw people, followed societal conventions, saw zombies, killed them. They would have been looking for trouble by stealing points, those with the goods did not dare say anything. Luo Xun and the others looked like university students but at that age young people were often the most hot-blooded. Once provoked they would rage, drawing bad attention from the soldiers. "Thats good." Yan Fei said with hooded eyes. Luo Xun could not decipher his thoughts. For the first time doing something, the speed would be slow, but the second and third times would be faster. Yan Fei spent a full four days to make the first crossbow. Two dayster Luo Xun came home and was surprised with a pile of spare bomb ammo and the hand crossbow which was third of the original crossbow size. "So small?" It was small and delicate but packed quite a punch. Luo Xun quickly tested lethality and range. Although not as effective as the bigger version, it was enough for self-defense! Yan Fei proudly smiled. "You can use this crossbow for self-defense. I dont know how effective it will be against zombies, but against people...definitely no problem." Absolutely no problem! As long as the distance was close enough, the hand crossbow would definitely hit the target. Apart from not being loaded with gunpowder and having a shorter range, this weapon was no different than a handgun. Against primary zombies and regr people, one well-aimed shot would be enough. "What do you think of a crossbow with a better projectile? The lethality would be higher." With no way to vent energy, Yan Fei had shifted his attention to improving these things. Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei, if he could really make that kind of ammo, maybe ordinary people could deal with a secondary zombie as long as they were prepared. "Ill check to see if I can make some sort of design n." Luo Xun felt like he had really picked up a treasure this time! What of cooking everyday? What of helping Yan Fei wash and go to the washroom? What of giving up half his bed? Look at his new crossbow! Look at the damage! Iparable to wood! Started December 7,pleted December 29. The wall was unexpectedly built in one month, ording to the gregorian calendar. The trench outside the wall was dug deep, the walls fortified and thickened. By this point the number of residents in the security zone had reached about 30,000! With such arge number of people, thebor force naturally increased a lot. In addition to the original army troops, the poption had not yet reached saturation point and most of the fortifications had been constructed. Since the poption had reached a certain level, troops were no longer responsible for allocating homes. Several buildings had been emptied and new arrivals were collectively ced in the empty halls. Thirty percent of the southwest rooms were vacant, which were rented by leasing with food or points. Those who were rescued before, such as Han Li and the others, would also need to pay some points after a few years to keep their living environment. However if one wanted to move rooms? It would be the same as others and required food orbor rent. After the wall waspleted, the ttened Ping Feng district needed to be rebuilt. Thus there were the inevitable tasks of going out to collect supplies and rescue trapped people. The military had many search and rescue staff sent out but it was not enough for the situation in the urban area. All were stretched thin withter security zone construction and other objectives. A-city, north base. "What is this thing?" A few people surrounded a strangely shaped carcass, the remains of a human form twisted so that little of its original appearance remained. "This is one that destroyed a team...a monster." "Just one of them!? A ten people teampletely wiped out by one zombie!?" "Yes, it happened suddenly, the monster was mixed in with primary zombies, so..." "...Is it the only one? Or are there others..." "In fact it was the soldiers who did not pay attention to this. The zombie was stronger then normal and faster too." "At present...just for now..." There was silence and no one spoke for a while. "Well, let the scientists check to see what caused the second mutation. Hope it was an exception, not an...evolution." Luo Xun sang while busy cooking in the kitchen. Yan Fei sat on the sofa in the living room, ying tug of war with Puppy using a piece of rope. A fracture sounded like a serious injury but in fact was not too big of an obstacle. Mainly because Yan Feis injury did not hinder movement and in general people would not touch his torso. Yan Fei was young and quick to recover, along with an ability, he got out of bed and wandered around the house within a week. At first he stayed on the second floor but usually stayed away from the balcony. The first time Yan Fei went to the living room, he was surprised by all the boxes almost piled to the roof. There was also a sofa, as he walked around he found things were piled around everywhere! He opened the balcony curtains to reveal some potted nts but Yan Fei only recognized some high grade flowers amongst the crops. It was not clear what the final nt would end up being. Though he discovered some garlic, leek and other nts, obviously the source of the vegetables that appeared on the table each day at home. Who the hell was Luo Xun? This pile of things in his house and the stuff on the balcony, all the water and so on, where did it alle from? Although he had doubts in his mind, he was savvy enough not to demand answers. The atmosphere between the two was currently harmonious and he did not want to provoke anything by pointing out issues. Even if he asked Luo Xun, he may not tell the truth. So Yan Fei would rather wait until Luo Xun would tell himself, if he was willing to speak, he would listen. Since they first time they met, seeing Luo Xuns fully equipped appearance, Yan Fei spected that Luo Xun had rapidly reacted to the apocalyptic situation. Not too many wandered outside on the streets to collect any sort of supplies. Luo Xun was in the kitchen making dumplings since it was New Years. The security zone was the same as usual but the peoples festive atmosphere eased off some tension. Even Luo Xun who had been busy with outside fortifications now had time to make more borate meals. The dumplings had two types of stuffing prepared: pork green onion shrimp and mung bean paste fillings. The shrimp and green onion were well frozen in the freezer. It would be a rare luxurious celebration this year. The lively melody in the kitchen was a performance by a cook in high spirits. Yan Fei looked up at the kitchen door, his hand held the rope too loosely. The puppy rolled over twice and hit the couch behind her, the other end of the rope dangling from her mouth. She stared at Yan Fei. Yan Fei thought got a bit and did not grab the rope to y another round with the puppy. He instead stood up and went into the kitchen. Luo Xun wore an apron. In front of him, two bowls of stuffing, a chopping board and a te were on the table in front of him. He took a dumpling wrapper, loaded it with stuffing then closed his hands and squeezed to mold a dumpling. Luo Xuns dumpling skills were honed during middle school, then during his time as a frencer as well as in his own kitchen. Over time he learned many cooking methods. Only the noodles were not made with white flour but made from a variant species that had a hint of diesel taste. The base kitchen only cooked special things for Chinese New Year, even then there were no flour dumplings, at most some type of wheat noodle. Luo Xuns movements were very brisk, his mouth slightly curved. He radiated a warm feeling that set people at ease. It seemed like a feeling of home, something Yan Fei had never actually felt, belonging to a family. *Ha, ha* The puppy waited for a long time but Yan Fei was ignoring her. She threw down the rope and ran into the kitchen, tongue lolling. Luo Xun heard a noise and turned to the doorway to see arge and a small figure leaning against the door frame. Puppy wagged her tail. Luo Xun was startled. "Why did youe over here?" "See if you want any help." "Help?" Luo Xun nced in puzzlement. "You can wrap?" "Uh...a little." Not guaranteed the dumpling would break apart while boiling. "...Can you?" "...It will be slower." Compared to Luo Xuns speed, in the time Yan Fei made one, Luo Xun would have wrapped seven or eight. "You can sit on the couch and wait." Luo Xun gave a side nce. "Young master~" With a handsome face, a pair of unblemished hands and injured with a fracture, Luo Xun did not dare use this young master. "...I can try, really." Yan Fei felt his type was despised and he needed to prove himself. "You recuperate for now. Ill teach you for the next lunar year celebration." Luo Xun rushed to use up the dough and stuffing since the finished dumplings could be frozen. Then even if there was no time to cook at home, there would be some ready made food. "Next lunar year?" Yan Feis eyebrows quirked and his mouth curled with slow realization. Next lunar year? Chinese New Year? A nice thing to do, his heart warmed with expectations. "Okay then." He wanted to add something but now there was no reason for him to stay in the kitchen. He had just walked in, this had not been well nned. "By the way, who came looking for you?" "Oh, that was a few university students and officer Ding, the one who registered them." Since they did not enter and returned directly to 1601 opposite them, Yan Fei did not know what they were up to. "The officer said to wait until after New Years day to go out of the safe area to collect supplies." Thus Luo Xun had time and decided to make more dumplings today. "Out of the safe zone!?" Yan Feis heart tightened. "Collect what materials?" "There are so few supplies in the safe zone that theres a shortage of everything. In fact, there were not that many people in the army. There were not enough to settle funerals and organize staff to build various facilities. House rent would be collected after the New Year. With theck of resources in the safe zone, residents could use any previously collecte materials to redeem points." Luo Xun casually exined. The current base point exchange system was not perfected, just a prototype. However it would be the basic system used for a long time, at least until the base had the capacity to be self-sufficient. No, it would be more urate that it would slow down once there was nothing left to collect. The kitchen was suddenly quiet for a while until Yan Fei opened his mouth. "I will go with you." "No need." Luo Xun did not look up and did not see Yan Feis angry expression. "We set on the fourth and your injury still hasnt fully healed. We did just speak with the local doctor. Although you have been recovering quickly, it is best to rest for at least a month...whats wrong with you?" Luo Xun was half finished when he looked at the doorway to see Yan Feis handsome face with a dark atmosphere, eyes sparking dangerously. Many women would have swooned at the sight. "I am not that delicate." There was no need for him to stay at home all day, as if a single touch would cause him to break! "...I...of course not." Luo Xun became aware that his words had hurt Yan Feis self-esteem. He paused for three seconds then hurriedly exined. "Youve almost fully recovered, there is no need to venture out now for a short trip. I know the ce were going to very well, a material market to the north. I went there the first day of the apocalypse and did not see any zombies. Lieutenant Ding said that the ce had been cleared by the army so there is little danger. Well be going there to get some needed materials..." "What are you going to take? Why do you need to go there?" Yan Fei listened to Luo Xun and pointed out key points that were not clearly exined. Luo Xun paused his dumpling wrapping and smiled. "They came to me because I use sr equipment." "What?" "Arent there a few panels outside on the balcony windows? I ced them myself to absorb sunlight to convert into electricity. Some of the troops knew about the equipment but not the mechanics and came to ask me." Luo Xun did not think they found him suspicious, fortunately he had an excuse C apocalypse conspiracy theories. Some countryside friends bought a set of equipment years ago in preparation for disaster, then the apocalypse actually ended up arriving. Later when he found that the district had lost power, he tried to install the panels on the windows. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to exin having his own instations of such things despite living in an urban area. Even more fortunate, he did not fill up all the window space with sr panels. People would ask where these friends lived that they needed so many sr panels? Yan Feis brows rose higher, sr panels? All kinds of supplies in the house? Water tanks...and the set of distition equipment on the kitchen counter? He...did he also have an ability? The power to predict the future? Could that be the reason how he was prepared in advance? Yan Feis brain had headed in a strange direction and took a while to return to normal. He pointed out a key fact. "Sr energy...the district currently has no power?" "Ah, its been stopped for a month." Luo Xun nodded, the better dumpling wrappers were used up but he continued cooking. "Lets take a break for now and well discuss after the new year." Yan Fei still did not want to see Luo Xun go out while he stayed home like a housewife. He was mollified that Luo Xun was concerned since he would not stand being treated like a porcin doll locked in the house. There was also the fact that by having an ability, Yan Feis safety should be higher than Luo Xuns. Luo Xun confusedly nced at the door where Yan Fei had disappeared. He steamed the dumplings, thin skin with big filling. It had been a long time since Luo Xun and Yan Fei had eaten homemade dumplings. The two men ate heartily, the chopsticks flew forward leaving after-images. Puppys te had two open cooled dumplings with pork stuffing. She was curious about the human food but not too fond of eating it. Instead she yed and asionally licked to taste. In one sitting they finished four tes, two of each kind of filling. The two eaters leaned against the sofa, not wanting to get up. The radio broadcasted news about the construction of various bases. It sounded like the majority of bases had been established, everywhere was thriving and the future of human happiness was just around the corner. There was belief that they would retake the city and restore past human glory! Luo Xun and mentallyughed. The radio did not mention how many people had died. How many people had be zombies or the exact number of survivors in each base. How big was A-city? How many people were there? A total of five bases had been established: north, east, west, southwest and northeast. Based on the southwest base Luo Xun was currently situated and assuming the other bases had simr numbers, the five bases together only totalled around 150,000 people. Even if one added the army, A-city only had 100,000 soldiers for a grand total of 250,000 people. How many lived in A-city? At least 20 million! Luo Xun heaved a sigh, the air smelled of dumplings. "Whats the matter?" Yan Fei sat up, he usually did not eat so much at a meal so he decided to strike up conversation to speed up digestion. "Nothing...just listening to this kind of sappy news, a little..." The current news were not as pragmatic as theter days. Now everything would rather be whitewashed then reporting something meaningful. "It will be so, otherwise people will panic, no way around that. God knows what will happen." Yan Fei looked out at the balcony and did not know how Luo Xun had managed it. The small trees and nts were a lush green as if it was not currently winter outside. The room was warm, it was not easy to maintain such a temperature even before the apocalypse began. "I know, but..." Luo Xun shrugged. "I heard there are search and rescue teams. I will be working with a team on the third to rescue some people. Our cars will all be at the back of the procession with two military vehicles. I will try to bring back some of the metal and steel so you can have crafting materials." Luo Xun had originally collected a stash of metal materials but he did not expect to meet Yan Fei, so he prepared enough for his own use only. Now he had been living on base, trying not to overuse his resources. But now with Yan Fei, as long as he was willing to cooperate to provide weapons, Luo Xun would have the ability to go out and explore, search for supplies. Farming at home was safe, but he knew that one day he would need to fight, the base may no longer be safe. Who had a better chance of survival? A person who had never fought, always farming at home? Or a regr fighter, home growing only as a nutritional supplement? The answer was obvious. Yan Fei meditated while looking with one eye at Luo Xun who looked expectant. "These two days I will make some ammunition. You go out and see which is most convenient for your weapon then I will prepare some more." "There should be enough ammunition at home and Ill confirm it tomorrow...What do you want to eat for the next few days? Ill cook some extra, if you want to eat, just heat it up..." "You have decided to go out and leave me at home?" Luo Xun choked, how did Yan Fei suddenly sound abandoned and resentful? He had to find a way to cate the unruly patient. "I wont be at ease just leaving Puppy at home by herself. The house has a lot of things and the security on base has not been perfected yet. Honestly if it werent for you Id be afraid at home. Constantly in fear that someone would break in to rob supplies." It was not a lie, even with all the safety precautions, if someone knew there was a hoard inside the house, Luo Xun was afraid to think of the aftermath. This was one of the main reasons he was allowing Yan Fei to stay and encroach on half his bed. Luo Xun hurriedly continued speaking. "You see my house has quite a lot of stuff. I went out and got it right as the apocalypse started. I saw the zombies and got frightened. I usually stay at home and y video games so I recognized the creatures. So when I saw a corpse I was afraid the apocalypse wasing and I ran to the supermarket to grab as much as I could. Now I have a lot but am afraid that someone will see...You keeping house is safer than me trying to keep house." Wait a minute...what if Yan Fei took the house while he was away? Luo Xunpletely forgot to consider that possibility!? "Huh." Yan Fei coldly hummed, still somewhat ufortable with the answer. Though better to consider himself a house guardian than a person left behind. "Then you should be careful, lest youe back and find I took everything." "...oh" Luo Xun had just been thinking of that. Generally speaking, people would keep their word, but those who said "You go, I will look after the house for you, dont worry~" those people with that kind of attitude would likely stab you in the back with a rusty knife. The car slowly approached the safe zone entrance. Luo Xun used his telescope to see the new wall. A group of soldiers pushed some metal parts,rge tes to the wall then another soldier touched some metal which twisted and condensed in his hand. The soldier then ced his hand against the wall and the pieces merged into a crude metal wall. So the army had metal ability users, but they seemed weaker than Yan Fei. He could freely manipte the metal, if he was there he would have built the wall much quicker than the soldier. The telescope shifted to the other direction, sure enough another group also had a metal ability soldier who power was simr and needed to be in contact to shape the metal. Luo Xun just did not know how many metal ability users were in the army? "Are those the new arrivals? Why are they living in tents outside the city? Are there no vacancies?" He Qiankun whispered to the others. "Didnt you know that a few days ago, someone came in infected with the zombie virus? Several people were bitten in the west bank neighborhood!" Wu Xin looked confusedly at hisrger friend, everyone lived together, how could he not know about the news? "I know? What does that have to do with this?" He Qiankun was also confused. "Its closely rted! Now rescued people and those returning from outside need to be observed for at least half a day in the tent area. Those with open wounds are observed for 24 hours. All in order to avoid the virus." Li Tie smacked He Qiankun. "Oh, oh, oh, say so earlier. I know already." Luo Xun and the others sat in a small military truck and did not drive their own. Though Luo Xun had a car, it was too frail. It could deliver some things in the safe zone but on an expedition? Dont even think about it. They spoke with lieutenant Ding who agreed to let them borrow the truck for the outing to the building material market for supplies. Wang Duo was the driver since he could drive a truck, Han Li sat beside him and the rest were in the back. To the side there was another small military vehicle filled with soldiers. The troops had reached an agreement C the military personnel in the area would temporarily act as foreign aid. This was in order to build the base informationwork, early development of internalwork and the resuming ofmunications. Li Tie and the others were technology rted major students and had decent hands-on ability. This time, the two vehicles were out searching for materials with Luo Xun focusing on sr panels along with relevant materials for Li Tie and the others. Fortunately, the nearby material market was thergest and had all these things! Maybe Luo Xun could get some materials for Yan Fei. For this mission, the cost of renting a car was free of charge and everyone could keep half the goods in the vehicle. Li Tie and the others needed machine parts, sr charging equipment and PVC pipes. Li Tie was a follower of WasteWoodHouse, he would also grow food at home for self-sufficiency. The goal was a lot of steel in addition to getting extra batteries for Luo Xun. These materials were necessary for those with metal powers. The trip out of the city was very smooth, hardly a shadow of a zombie all the way north to the entrance of the mall. Luo Xun looked at the dark blood and long dead, rotten remains of dogs and felt nauseous. It looked like no one hade to the ce after his own trip around a month earlier. Then again the troops mainly rescued the trapped masses and some important people. In the safe zone, most people were tasked with constructing the wall. Even when going out to search for supplies, everyone searched supermarkets. Who woulde to hardware stores in search of food? Luo Xun had been here before and directed people to open the sr equipment store. Some soldiers heard some movement in the back aisle and took out their guns. They went to investigate the situation and soon gunfire rang out. Chapter 27 Han Lis face paled upon hearing the gunfire, the hand holding his weapon shook. Luo Xun squeezed his hand. "Dont be afraid, they are all right." Some zombies may have developed a primary nucleus but they were no match for gunmen. Even if the soldiers were defeated, Luo Xun could deal with this kind of variant zombie. "Thank you. I know." Han Li lightly flushed, grabbed his equipment and hurried out. "There should be a warehouse in the back. Lets go inside and take a look." Luo Xun skimmed around, the shelves stretched to the ceiling, allyers of sr charging equipment. If all this was loaded in to their car, nothing else would fit. He called in two soldiers to take at least half. Luo Xun took out Yan Feis metal crossbow and pulled He Qiankun along to scout. Do not judge that because He Qiankun was fat that his brain was no good. This guy was a skilled calctor. For a variety of equipment, how to DIY, machine configuration there was little he had not tried. He Qiankun could not help out with the physical work but Luo Xun needed someone familiar with the equipment to find the needed parts. "Are we not calling an older soldier to follow us?" Looking at the guy with three times the girth and years older, Luo Xun wanted to punch him for calling them older soldiers. "Fine, Ill call a soldier over." The soldiers had returned from the situation in the back. Luo Xun found their captain and asked for two toe over. "Two soldiers, all right now?" "Good! Fine! Having a gun is enough!" He Qiankun repeatedly nodded while thanking the older guys. The soldiers were amused since they were younger than the guy by one or two years, who was an older soldier? "There was a zombie in the back?" Luo Xun looked at their nametags and inquired about the situation. "Yes, there was one but it has been dealt with." "There might be more, so be careful while moving around." "Everything in this store is useful." he Qiankun pointed around. Luo Xun hurriedly jotted down items, waiting for the others to finish packing previous stuff beforeing here to grab things. A few people chatted while searching for supplies, walking then stopping. They soon arrived at the innermost corridor of the market. "If we are fast enough, maybe we could go back tonight?" Seeing thest stop, He Qiankun eyes shined with anticipation. "With these sr panels, we should be able to eat warm food tomorrow!" "Its going to be rough tomorrow, the fastest will still take until tomorrow evening. Anyways didnt you exchange some charcoal? Why didnt you cook?" "What use is charcoal alone? We had no pots, bowls, scoops or cutlery! We had the little pot you gave us but...charcoal burned too slowly. We also did not have much water, we simply had some tasty dry instant noodles." He Qiankun had a face filled with injustice. They thought the charcoal would let them eat hot food, a good result. They might as well have gone to the outer sale window to buy some food, at least some of it was hot! Luo Xun silently looked skywards, this was really.... "Ah....ah..." ""Zombie!" The voice was cut off as a zombie fell out from one of the stores. Two soldiers hurried forward and the used the guns to hit the enemys head. Who would have thought that while attacking the zombie, another would rush out from a nearby room!? The second zombie was fast, rushed past the other straight towards the two soldiers! The two hurried to shoot but it was toote to properly aim, they only hit the body. *Poof* A sound, the zombie fell down, body bent in half and not moving. "Woah...Yes! Luo Xun have you practiced?" He Qiankun had a face of worship towards the crossbow wielding Luo Xun. "Well I practiced hunting birds." Luo Xun took two careful steps forward, keeping his weapon armed. Two zombies were dead, it would be good not to deal with a third. The two soldiers looked at each other, they seemed to have been protected by civilians? Wait, would the crossbow lethality make it contraband? But right now, everyone was privately armed, fine so long as one did not cause trouble in the safe zone. Then again he had not grabbed a gun, although the crossbow wasparable to a handgun. When they turned, Luo Xun used the excuse of recycling bullets conveniently took out the primary crystal nucleus. He Qiankun also recollected his own ammo under protest. The primary nucleus was pretty small, it allowed ability users to replenish spiritual power, absoprtion could also cause upgrades. It was likely to rece energy in the future. However this source of energy had not yet been discovered or spread. In any case, it was a good things and in the future could be a substitute for money. The difference was that points were base-specific while crystal nuclei could be exchanged at any base. They visited store after store to find necessary supplies. They only took a bit if they needed material but wrote down a note. In the future they could send a car over to collect. After they got the needed equipment and materials, Li Tie and the others went to grab some PVC pipes. Luo Xun grabbed some metal tes to take home for Yan Fei. Upon seeing Li Tie, he kindly reminded them to also grab some drill tools, saw des, binders etc, not just pipes. Li Tie facepalmed, then kicked down the door to sweep a hardware store. People rushed to store stuff, when they returned the sky had darkened. All hurried in preparation to drive away. Several soldiers on duty in the vicinity hurried over with a report. "Theres a big wave of zombiesing! Headed for the safe zone!" "Ah!?" The captain rushed to the vehicle. Luo Xun pondered then climbed along the car to the roof with his telescope. His face could not help but twist. It was not a zombie wave outside C there were not enough zombies gathered together. But is was obvious that they were chasing someone southward! Even if the zombies did not see the target, they continued in the direction thought to be right. Who the hell was that!? To incite so many zombies! It was fortunate that the southwest base walls had been fortified otherwise so many zombies appearing at once would cause chaos in the safe zone. "Faster! Faster! The door is up ahead!" A few modified jeeps tore down the road, eventually leaving the chasing zombies behind in the dust. Finally they were safe. "Brother, up front! The southwest base has been built! Should be able to hold!" The man tiredly adjusted his sses. "Wang that bastard, it seems he has already fled here..." "If they hadnt been so noisy, they wouldnt have attracted so many zombies!" "Whatever, the western base was not safe or steady. They werent that many people repairing the wall. Until yesterday there were few people doing anything. They fled quickly, otherwise we didnt have toe untilter." Wu Changkun was very clear, even before the apocalypse, he and Wang could not peacefully coexist. Now that the end of the world had arrived? In such a precarious situation, Wang Heng could only be cheap to others. "Anyway, we finally have a ce to stay dont we? Wait, theres a line at the door!" "Oh, so many zombies followed behind us and we have to wait in such a long line!?" One guy nervously swallowed, their team had attracted the zombies. If the people inside learned of this, they might not be allowed in... The group of people sitting on the roof did not dare speak loudly, make a fire or even tear stic wrappings in fear of being heard by the zombie herd. Who could theme in to treat themselves to dessert. A small team of soldiers, Luo Xun, Li Tie and the others added up to a total of 16 people. There was a tense atmosphere as they squatted on the open roof. Fortunately they had expected a situation before leaving base and were prepared to spend the night outside. Luckily in the early apocalypse zombies had no sense of hearing, so long as they did not make any loud sounds they would not be found. It was just ufortable at the moment. "Ugh, dont let me learn who attracted so many zombies or I will punch out their teeth!" He Qiankun swung his fist. "So many zombies, I suspect someone was going through the city center. Able to attract so many monsters yet not get eaten a car is necessary. However the people in the car many have an ability or at least a gun." Luo Xun analyzed the feasibility of He Qiankuns deration. He Qiankun withered. "Why do I not have an ability?" "Maybe you had developed an ability even before the apocalypse." Wang Duo hooked an arm around He Qiankuns shoulder. His body temperature was warm and toasty, with the weather so cold He Qiankun was a great heater. "What ability?" he Qiankun felt a glimmer of hope even if he knew his friend usually never had anything good to say. "Eating! You can really eat, having such a plump figure is not something an average person could do." "Shut up!" "Stop fighting, what if a zombie hears us?" "Sigh, I dont know who fares the safe zone. SHould be able to withstand it." "Definitely, the wall was just repaired." The captain gave some encouragement. "There might be a lot of zombies but theyll be eliminated so long as they dont all arrive at the same time. Everyone dont worry, the base will be fine." "Im more worried about someone breaking into our house since there was some unused charcoal leftover..." Han Li gazed sadly towards the sky. "You think to much." Wu Xin could not help but roll his eyes. There was nothing inside their sparse room. If someone wanted to break in, they would have to deal with the door. Luo Xun ate four steamed buns filled with pork, green onion and shrimp or mung bean paste. This was the leftover stuffing from the dumplings, he made some buns to serve as food rations. Sure enough they were now in use. In addition, there was dry bread, ham, boiled eggs, juice, mineral water and homemade dry pastries. The juice was bought from the supermarket prior to the apocalypse and could supplement vitamins. Of course he also bought vitamin C tablets but at the start of the apocalypse if he could eat well he would not wrong his belly. "When we return, are you going to head out again?" Luo Xun poured two mouthfuls of mineral water and kept the juice in reserve. In case they were blocked for 10 days it could save lives. "If we can, then we will." Li Tie immediately responded. "No choice, our ce has no bed, quilt or mattress. Also need to eat, collecting something is better than nothing. This time we solved our energy problem, next time wee out to solve livelihood problem." The other four nodded, it was a no-brainer, it was clear that home was important. Luo Xun also nodded. "My home has these, but my cousins ce next door was not furnished before the apocalypse struck. Hell need these things too. We should also take advantage of the added security otherwise well rest on oururelster." Luo Xun did not have any spare clothes for Yan Fei, this trip was a chance to find some for him. "And seeds!" Li Tie added. "There are a lot of things! When we get back Ill make a list and we cane back with another car." He heard from He Qiankun that Luo Xuns crossbow was very urate C one shot felled a zombie. It was rare to see strongbat ability in an ordinary person. "Well have to get back first." "Yes, wait until tomorrow." "Three days..." Yan Fei stood on the balcony, looking coldly at the busy people in the next building. These people arrived in the district yesterday. Combined with the previously heard news, Yan Fei guessed that those people had attracted the mob of zombies currently outside the safety zone. They were very strong, felt even from a distance since most of them were ability users he was unsure about the other members. It was likely because of them that he had not heard any news from Luo Xun! Yan Fei felt very irritable, about to erupt and any time. Feeling his mood was bad, the puppy did not dare bite his pant leg as usual this morning. Since Yan Fei was allowed to stay, he was quickly considered another member of the family. The puppy gained another owner and there should be no hostility between them. She should be able to freely chew on his pant leg! Chapter 28 TN: Have a double update for the end of January. \(???)/ Hopefully there will be another double post for Valentines Day... Yan Fei shifted from looking outward to the area behind him. The balcony grew a variety of crops, the leeks were grown and could be harvested again. In the room there were many stacked, unmarked boxes, he did not know when the various materials appeared. Dried chicken, duck, bacon and sausage hung from the ceiling fan. In the kitchen there were two full rows of pickling jars on the ground! The outer row of transparent ss jars were filled with various kimchi pickled peppers. The inner row of jars held a variety of pickles as well as fermented bean curd, kimchi, pickled cabbage, soy sauce, mayonnaise and so on. Yan Fei had no idea where Luo Xun got all these things from. DId he rob a nearby pickling workshop? Or did he make all this himself? In the nursery room next to the kitchen there was mushroom wood, nursery boxes, earthworm boxes, mealworm jars and other nted crops. The whole house was like a hamsters nest. Before Luo Xun went away, Yan Fei promised himself he would not worry about these things, that if something went wrong he would deal with it immediately. What to do when water ran out, how to charge if electricity stopped, which broken things to throw away, which things could be recycled... Now that he thought about it, it was like a instruction manual! "Ugh..." His spirit was a little tired, Yan Feis eyes showed a trace of confusion. This obviously warm ce suddenly became empty just by missing a single person. He walked step by step to the second floor, there were not many crops on the terrace, a fewrge empty shelves, empty boxes and some trash in the corner. Luo Xun had said there was rice and wheat at home, maybe they could be used in theing year to make a field or rice paddy... Shoot! He started to resemble more and more like a sulking homesick wife!? A few steps to the side on the terrace and he could still clearly see downwards. To reiterate, those people arrived on base the night before, went to live in a temporary hall the same day C supermarkets, banks and shopping malls were converted into temporary lodging for those without powers and those without points to live. The next day they moved into this neighborhood. The people who were able to move into the area now had to have an ability along with enough strength to qualify. ALong with these people, the other building also had neers and they all seemed to be together. Were they a gang? If Luo Xun did note back...if he did not make it back... Yan Feis eyes shed with murderous intent, he did not understand his current tumultuous mood but one thing was clear C he cared not for the lives of these new people. If Luo Xun really was in an ident, then their lives would be forfeit. "Its almost done." A soldier sighed at the nearby intersection. There were no active zombies in their field of vision. "Right, these things are useful. Just need to persevere down the road to our side. Luckily right now they only react to sound. If they could see or think, we would be finished." "Fortunately not, otherwise many people would have longmitted suicide." Several soldiers joked after being paid to clear the zombies around the security area. These days zombies had crowded around the other side of the north gate and gave many people heart attacks. Fortunately these zombies were not followed, after a wave of annihtion, the door outside should be temporarily safe. Temporary surveince points were cancelled five days ago when the zombies gathered. All the people who needed to wait were temporarily ced in a safe area near the door. As expected, the vast majority of those injured by a zombie turned into one. The soldiers were prepared to eliminate them on the spot. "I heard we have to expand the security area." A veteran held a gun and leaned against a newly built steel wall behind him. "Expansion? Just built a wall and already going to expand?" "Just heard two days ago the north gate was blocked by zombies. Heard that a bunch of trucks went out the west gate and brought back a lot of concrete, steel and so on. Sounds like the base is expanding." "But the safe zone is already pretty big?" "Where are we? How many people are there in the entire A-city? In the safe there are at most sixty to seventy thousand that can be housed, which also counts the barracks. Heard that the higher ups wanted to rescue more people, where would the new arrivals live?" "Right with so many people if even one infected person is missed, it would be arge catastrophe." "Yeah, just dont know how they will find a way...Wait whats that? A car?" "Its a truck...an army truck! Maybe its the one that went out looking for supplies." "Oh my God, weve returned alive..." Several young men cried tears of joy as they neared the safe area fence. Luo Xun also breathed a sigh of relief. A steel fence? The wall waspletely built and at least the outer wall in sight had be metal. There was a possibility of rust due to the materials but slippery enough to be unclimbable. The ability to direct the flow of metal ensured robustness, a suitable defense against primary zombies. "So many zombies on the ground?" "Not really? We all met more there." Honestly the group had wanted to hide in the mall for a few more days and wait for the zombies to leave. However by the fourth day, the number of wandering zombies had lessened but somehow the zombies had developed a sense of smell. A couple of zombies moved towards the building material market. Dozens of zombies surrounded the metal gates, the door was broken down in three hours. There was no other way, fight or be killed. Fortunately for the sake of safety the soldiers had brought a lot of guns and ammunition. Li Tie and the others had iron bars as weapons along with Luo Xuns homemade metal crossbow. There were unexpectedly zero casualties killing off the zombies. Since the gate was broken, they did not wait for death. They drove towards the base, dealing with zombies on the side. On the road, they dealt with more zombies before safely returning to base. No one was bodily injured, upon returning they needed to wait half a day in the designated quarantine area. In general, after five hours people were given free reign of movement. Luo Xun and the others had brought back a lot of supplies since they were working with the army! The troops took their half portion, the remainder belonged to their group! They also brought back other materials, the market had a grocery shop and a small restaurant inside. The goods inside had been collected and brought back. Li Ties group had a fruitful harvest this time. For Luo Xun, although he also took things, he had no shortage at home but he avoided taking too much as a precaution. He traded some of the food for metal materials, to let Yan Fei have ingredients for conversion. Five hourster, the group drove the truck back to Hong Jing district. On the street there were a lot of market stalls. It took nearly half a month to form the market, starting with private mutual inquires to spending 35 days creating street stalls. Luo Xun and the groups car attracted envious stares from people on the street. If not for some soldiers at the back with guns, some of the bolder people would try to find out what was loaded in the car. Even so, arge number of people trailed behind the car seeing if it would unload something, many bedding or food? "Eh!? Theres electricity?" The people carrying things into the seventh building corridor eximed. He Qiankuns face flushed in excitement when he found the elevator had electricity. "The day before yesterday but only two times a day. We seize the time otherwise we miss the chance and have to take the stairs." A soldier who understood the situation exined, greet everyone and told them to hurry up. The youngds and two more soldiers helped, everyone quickly unloaded the things. After the car was emptied, the crowd hurried to the elevator. Seeing a bunch of boards but no food, the onlookers felt disappointed. Some also asked Han Li what they would do with these things. "What are these? Where did you get this? Whats the use?" "A bed." Han Li spouted nonsense while pointing at the wrapped sr panels. The packaging hid the items true identity. "We were sleeping on the ground, the flooring in the house isnt finished." A person paused and looked at the PVC pipe on the floor. "What about this pipe? What are you doing with this?" "Got to repair the toilet in the apartment." Wu Xin kept the elevator door open while Han Liined. "Hurry up how can I keep this up? So heavy!" The group hurried to carry things and fill up the elevator. It took a total of three trips to bring all the things up. All of it was temporarily in the corridor, Luo Xun brought up the rear. He took out his key to open the door, the key was just inserted when the door was opened from the inside. A face of ice stared at Luo Xun. He paused then smiled nervously, when he arrived on the floor he seemed to forget greeting Yan Fei. "Uh...then...how were you these past few days" There was no shortage of food or water, even if Yan Fei could not cook dumplings, steamed buns, frozen and fast food could all be heated. The sr battery was fully charged so there should still be power. Then why was his face so thunderous? "Luo Xun, are these yours? Be careful, we dont want to identally take it away and then have to return them..." Upon seeing Yan Fei, Wu Xin stopped wide eyed and speechless. "Holy cow! This is your cousin?" He Qiankun red enviously at Yan Feis waist. Yan Fei had been inside recuperating. Luo Xuns house had been partially made into a greenhouse so the temperature was high. Inside he was only wearing casual lounge wear when he heard a sound in the corridor and walked over. When Luo Xun returned, Yan Fei was wearing a gray sweater, that waist, that height, those looks with troublesome handsome face! Not just He Qiankun, anyone else unless professionally trained would drown in jealousy! Yan Fei nodded and smiled chillingly. "I am Luo Xuns cousin Yan Fei. Thank you for taking care of Luo Xun for me." While speaking he raised his hand and intimately rubbed Luo Xuns head as if he was a puppy. There was killing intent! For some reason, Luo Xun felt the hair on the back of his neck rise up. With his instincts honed from a decade in the apocalypse, he felt that Yan Fei was very dangerous right now! But...Luo Xun could not run! There was no way to escape! Yan Fei declined help from Li Tie and the others to move things. He would use his powers to easily move the metal. Luo Xun exerted effort to move the remainder of their things home. There were quite a few materials, a trip with Luo Xun would note back empty handed. The puppy was not in the cage and heard her ownere home. However the two were busy moving things so she could not approach. The puppy shook her tail, waiting for someone toe over and y. The metal and other items were put away, Luo Xun felt relieved. He secretly looked at his roommate, since starting he had not spoken to him at all, other than the greeting to Li Tie outside. What was going on? Did something happen at home? The puppy...was as usual, very energetic. Was there something wrong with the food? Did some of the nts mutate or something? Yan crankily asked. "Did you bring back everything you needed?" "Ah? Oh, still need some basics..." "Are you going out again?" "...Not for the time being." He wanted to rest for at least two days. Li Tie and the others said they would go out again after a few days. They were going to the farmers market to find some seeds to grow. Also find some bedding since they had none, nts for home cultivation and some housing materials for next door. Luo Xun was lost in thought when Yan Fei suddenly pinned him to the wall. Yan Fei was very strong, could have been influenced by his transformation...wait what was going on? Was he going to kill him!? Luo Xun instantly judged that in a head to head confrontation, he was definitely not Yan Feis opponent. He was about to beg for mercy when he was pierced with a chilling gaze. "You said you would be gone for how many days?" "...One, half day..." "And thestest you would return?" "Two or three days..." "What day is it now?" "......Fifth day." Luo Xun looked nkly at Yan Fei. Their faces were very close, his eyes subconsciously focused on the others eyes and mole. Luo Xuns heart pounded in his chest, getting heavier and louder, as if it might burst from his chest at any moment. The puppy wandered over to see the action. She abruptly froze and blinked at Yan Fei. How could he rob her of ytime with owner!? Chapter 29 "Right." Yan Fei sneered and slowly nodded. "I have decided." "What?" Luo Xun stared in confusion. He had juste back, tired to death after moving things for half a day. Now he just wanted to take a bath and go to sleep. He did not understand Yan Fei. Why did he suddenly lose his temper? His eyes involuntarily trailed down Yan Feis face to avoid his eyes and ended up on his lips. Yan Feis lips had regained their natural colour which stirred with enchantment. His lips must be very soft. Luo Xun desperately shook his head to stay focused. When tried to ask something, Yan Fei brushed close to his ear and said lowly. "If you dare go out alone, I will melt down your door." ...That is not how metal powers work okay? It would also be a waste of wood. So what the hell was he doing? Luo Xuns head was still muddled, his whole face was red from embarrassment at two people in such close contact. Although he became bent after the apocalypse, he did not want to get mixed up in others drama and also did not want to spend crystal nuclei in order to sleep with potentially unhygienic people. He had found someone he would have been willing to spend his days with, however the man had left before the friendship developed beyond that. The two had relied on each other on the road to stay warm, give a small helping hand, not so much for romance. Therefore until now, Luo Xun had no experience with first kiss or tumble in the sheets even in his previous hometown. His closestpanion would technically be Puppy, a young chow chow! Not this stunning, handsome man in front of him! "You...you, what are you doing!?" Luo Xun pushed Yan Feis shoulder in embarassament C afraid to push his chest in case of hitting the injury. He had only been gone for five days, how did the guy change so much? What happened the past five days? "Is this about your injury? That when youre healed you can go out?" He suddenly remembered Yan Fei effortlessly helping him move stuff. Luo Xun tilted forward. "Youre fully healed!?" Yan Feis eyes moved from Luo Xuns face to his flushed ears and neck. His reaction was simr to the first time, unable to stand the slightest teasing. Wait...was his initial guess correct? That Luo Xun was gay? Light glimmered in his chest, he had been irritable and anxious when Luo Xun had not returned to base on time. However, right here and now, close to Luo Xun, Yan Fei felt a feeling blossom in his heart. A thought arose C close, closer, keep him by his side. The warmth of home came from Luo Xun, if he could keep this source by his side, it would be the beginning of apletely new life. If they had met before the apocalypse, their lives following a scripted development, even if he became interested in a man and wanted to try a same sex rtionship Yan Fei was afraid it would be with a mentality of curiosity. Even if the rtionship became serious, he could only hide in secret, dare not make it public. But now, he suddenly wanted to try. It was not because it was something he had never tried before but because it was Luo Xun. Not about his sex or getting out of his pre-apocalyptic oppressed life, just because of Luo Xun as a person. There was no one else who would make him scared after five days without contact, no one else who would make him worry once out of sight. No one else who would cause him to avenge them on those who might have harmed them... Luo Xun was stunned when Yan Fei did not answer his question and instead smiled from the bottom of his heart. Luo Xun could not look directly at the smile but also could not tear his eyes away. "I am alright." Yan Fei was not prepared to exin his recent epiphany. Anyway, he could not leave now, especially on his own. They had already decided to live together C at Luo Xuns own initiative. He definitely would not leave. As for the potential rtionship problems between two people...Yan Feis peach blossom eyes narrowed, making Luo Xun dizzy. "My injury has beenpletely healed, what sorts of supplies did you bring back today?" "Woo..." They puppy who had been ignored for too long ced her chin on her paws whileying with on the ground with sad eyes and a drooping tail. The two people were too close C she could not squeeze in! Luo Xun heard the sound and looked down. *Swish* The puppy stood up, her tail shaking so fast it left shadow after images. "Brought many metal tes, hardware essories..." Luo Xun had not seen Puppy in a long time, he squatted down to catch the dop rushing into his chest. Just the right height to cover his heart and liver if Yan Fei got provoked and jumped him. "Did you eat you fill these days? You seem to have grown a bit..." Luo Xun looked up with bright eyes. "We found a grocery shop, I only grabbed a few packets of frozen beef and mutton slices. Lets eat hotpot!" He quickly got up to remove the ingredients from the bag. Beef and mutton slices were not heavy but took up space so Luo Xun did not buy any before the apocalypse. Now that he identally got some he would not hold back. He was d that it was winter outside, the weather was cold, electricity only came from a standby power supply. The ckout had ended recently but the meat in the freezer had not gone bad. Otherwise they could only eat biscuits, potato chips or something simr. "Well there are some vegetables on the balcony that can be harvested." Yan Feis eyes softened. Luo Xuns cooking was not superb but had the taste of home. A taste not found in the upscale restaurants Yan Fei had frequented. Although he had eaten while Luo Xun was gone, he would not starve himself, but the taste of the heated dumplings and buns were different from Luo Xuns prepared food. He did not know if it was a matter of the heart or because at the time he had eaten alone C the little puppy did not count. The beef and mutton slices had softened in the bag so Luo Xun put them into one of the freezers. Two of the freezers at home had beenpletely filled thest one was on standby for temporary use. Along with the packs of meat, he also got two packages of bacon and put them all together. Luo Xun changed his clothes, ced the te in a corner and went to the balcony to pick some vegetables. The homegrown little rapeseed had grown a lot, though not actually that big, he could grab some leaves. Before leaving Luo Xun had nted some bean sprouts, which had grownrge enough to harvest. He left the roots to regrow, the top parts could be rinsed and eaten as a side dish. The dishes would not be decadent but could be eaten fresh. "By the way, did any of the nts mutate?" Luo Xun had instructed Yan Fei before leaving, if anything strange grew he would dispose of it. Since the nts looked normal with no mutations mixed in, Yan Fei must have handled it. "Yes, some of the colors were strange so I took and burned them." Yan Fei had followed Luo Xun into the greenhouse and saw him skillfully pick up a nursery box in order to check. Strange nts were likely to have mutated into benign variations withrger yields or even an entirely new species of nt. But Luo Xun was afraid something would happen to Yan Fei so he let him immediately get rid of anything wrong. Otherwise he coulde back to find that Yan Fei and the puppy had eaten unknown, mutated nts. There would be no ce for him to cry. "Okay, Ill lightly rinse some. Ill nt the remainder tomorrow morning." He took out the edible parts and brought out the hot pot ingredients toy out on a te. Luo Xun rinsed out the cooking pot, lit the fire, ready to eat! There was some tofu in the freezer, also bought in the market before the apocalypse and directly frozen. The home grown soybeans could be harvestedte next year. If Luo Xun felt like eating tofu, they would use the dried soy beans at home. He had been busy with many things since the start of the apocalypse. What if one wanted to eat something specific during this time? Was it cold enough to be worth the effort? Took out the tofu, washed the rapeseed, bean sprouts, pea sprouts, chopped parsley and took the meat out from the packaging. The two men sat at the table and waited for the water in the pot to boil. When eating hot pot Yan Fei like to eat any red meat but also enjoyed more umon ingredients such as mushrooms, beef tripe, minced fish and beef. For a long time he had not eaten such a pure hot pot, usually he ate a moreplex one with more ingredients. He was at ease, eating with Luo Xun was peaceful. Luo Xun first putmb slices in after adding some rapeseed and sighed with some regret. "Unfortunately theres no cabbage nted at home." The growth rate of chinese cabbage was slower than other vegetables. Even if he nted right after renting the house, there likely would not have been any to eat right now. "Eat these first, wait until the nts have sprouted again before saying something like that." Yan Fei gave him a cooked slice of mutton and also got himself a piece. In fact, Luo Xun had eaten rather well since entering the apocalypse, especiallypared to his past experience over a decade. Back then he sometimes did not even have a mouthful of hot water to drink. Coupled with the mass variations of crops after the apocalypse, ordinary people could not ess basic tasting crops. Unptable, even having many days with nothing to eat, being able to eat was a happy asion. Not to mention after being reborn he could eat ummutated meat and vegetables. During the apocalypse, most of the crops would mutate. Luo Xun was very aware of this matter, the change in taste was only a small part. One of the reasons his first priority during the end of the world was to collect as many crop seeds as possible. If all the seeds were nted and he could find some good varieties then future days would be much better. He had lived a good life only because his chives had mutated into a high quality variant. The entire harvest of chives each time was specially sold to an important persons home. This was how he secured a life all those years ago. One could live without a backer in the apocalypse but do not expect to live well without a thigh to hold, survival skills or life support. Compared to the prepared Luo Xun, Yan Fei had suffered when the apocalypse had arrived. He used to live in the center of the city. He realized early the end of the world but wrongly estimated the severity of the situation. Most people avoided zombies to get convenience food. Before encountering Luo Xun, he rarely had a good meal. The meat was not very rich but was much better than previous days. Although Yan Fei did not go out these days, he listened to Luo Xuns radio everyday day from morning to night. The contents of the radio focused on current peace but it could notpletely cover up the truth of the outside world. Yan Fei was very intelligent and analyzed the outside situation by observing static and dynamic information of the area. The two people ate and cleared the table of ingredients. Luo Xun ran to the balcony to cut some more leek, rapeseed or something to rinse and eat. The puppy was lying at the edge of the table with a small bowl in front of her. It had a few slices of rapeseed along with two slices each of beef and mutton. She grabbed a piece of beef and ced it on Yan Feis slipper. Head tilted as she debated eating. Yan Feis body blocked his view of the puppy so he did not realize his shoe had turned into a table. He thought she was lying there and ying around. After dinner, the two people did not want to move. Luo Xun turned towards the door in surprise when he heardughter from the outside corridor along with a womans voice. "Someone moved into 1602?" Yan Fei shook his head. "The 15th floor, a group of college students came a few days after you left. I havent seen them but there were men and women." He had only caught a glimpse from the balcony the day they had moved in. Luo Xun thought for a moment then nodded. "1602 has already been ounted for by the army. This kind of house wont move anytime soon." Except for old neighborhood houses, when the army went to the old district to clean out zombies. If they could roughly confirm that a family had died or turned into zombies and had the house deed or other ounts, the items would registered for public housing distribution. It was trivial and a waste of time, but it at least guaranteed the interests of most people. The rest of the houses would wait for more people to arrive on base in theing months and be carefully allocated. Yan Fei carelessly shrugged his shoulders. "New people may have a power or some kind of useful skill. The radio encouraged people to register, as well as help the base kill zombies and rescue trapped people." "Wait for two days. I want to have a good nights sleep." Luo Xun stretched and yawned. Thinking for a moment, Yan Fei stood up. "Ill tidy up, you take a bath and rest early." Luo Xun had been busy outside for a number of days, Yan Fei could finish chores by himself. He stood and the puppy rolled off his foot, when he nced down, his expression darkened immediately. "Whats the matter?" In surprise Luo Xun also looked down. The coral, velvet slippers on Yan Feis foot was covered inrge oil stains. Puppy had stered small pieces of either beef or mutton all over the shoe. Luo Xun began to chuckle, clutching his belly. Did the puppy treat the shoe as a table? She was ...so talented! Yan Fei stooped to poke the puppys forehead, who was somewhat groggy until she felt pain from her forehead. Thinking Yan Fei was ying around, she jumped up and chased his hand. She caught his finger gently and licked it like a meaty bone. Yan Fei threw off the puppy and grimaced at his hand. "You should train your dog better!" Luo Xun fell from the sofa howling withughter. "You, you stayed at home and didnt tame her these past few days?" Yan Fei had contributed his own slippers as a makeshift table. "Howe she did not eat on my slippers?" It must have been because of character. Seeing Luo Xunugh. Yan Feis mouth quirked to the others confusion. Yan Fei suddenly stretched out his hand and wiped dog saliva on Luo Xuns face. Luo Xun rolled onto the ground from the sofa. "Smearing dog spit on someones face?" Luo Xun finally got up afterughing himself into exhaustion. "Isnt she your dog? Arent you going to take a shower now?" Yan Fei calmly returned from the washroom, flicking away water droplets C finally washed clean. He went to the table and packed the dishes. The little puppy was holding her own bowl, munching on the rapeseed,pletely oblivious to the fact that the two owners fight had been caused by her. Chapter 30 TN: I know I said I would aim to have the next double post for Valentines Day... I lied. Have a double post for the start of February! ???(???)??? Luo Xun went into the bathroom and had a nice shower, which used water from therge tanks on the roof. Usually the distilled water was gradually added as he was afraid to directly use water from the pipes. He toweled his hair while walking out. Yan Fei had cleaned up the living room table and put two pieces of paper on top. "What is this?" Yan Fei responded as he exited the kitchen. "It was posted on the door a few days ago, about water safety. The radio reminded people all day to visit designated locations to collect water purification tablets." Luo Xun skimmed through C it really was about the use of water safety. Water needed to be boiled for at least 15 minutes before use. It had to be left for at least a day to precipitate if from pipes. Only take the upperyer of water and use water purification tablets in separate containers etc.. Luo Xun was secretly relieved, he had already been using these methods to deal with drinking water as a result of his past life survival habits. He did not expect the base to find the problem now and immediately take countermeasures. Yan Fei stared at Luo Xun and only spoke after the other was done reading. "I have been dealing with the water at home ording to your instructions. It was simr to the ones given in the notice." Luo Xun idly continued drying his hair. "No harm in being careful, I was afraid that not going outside would not mitigate the chance of bing a zombie. If one does not pay attention to the small things, woe unto them." Indeed these methods were very cumbersome, but using ones brain one would realize they were effective. Yan Fei since living in Luo Xuns home had found that he was particrly careful in this respect. It was no wonder he exhibited cautious behaviour. Yan Fei smiled and asked. "You used to do outdoor survival? Or you like camping outdoors?" Luo Xun stiffened and looked to the side. "I was an otaku..." Military otaku, survivalists, those who stayed at home all the time (hikikomori?) could all be called otaku. Although the term usually had amon meaning, Yan Fei and Luo Xun associatedpletely different meanings, a persons mind was very flexible. Apart from a reminder on water safety, the notice was also a recruitment ad for active base participation, especially collecting resources and rescue missions. After the apocalypse began, some people quickly fled and luckily reached the safety of the base early on but many others were trapped in city buildings unable to escape. The people trapped in nearby buildings were now mostly rescued but there were more trapped deeper in the city. Most of the people on base had family living deeper in the city and many people with status sent out distress messages. They had been too busy building the base to rescue those people. Now that everything had finally settled down, it was time to resume rescue operations. Since every dead person was a threat to current survivors C most of the deceased became zombies soon after! Luo Xun was not ready to go out soon. Recently Yan Fei had used up almost all the metal in their home to makerge and small crossbows, arrows with bomb type heads he designed along with spiral shaped arrowheads. Luo Xun wanted to wait and discuss with everyone. The five university students next door were the same, they wanted to study the precious data left by WasteWoodHouse. They wanted to ready some pots, nursery boxes or something. Of course whether it was Luo Xun, Yan Fei or the five students, all wanted to go out on another trip. For clothes, seeds and other missing resources. Luo Xun and Yan Fei also needed things to furnish the room next door. After a full five days stuck on a roof, Luo Xun fervently believed that there was nowhere morefortable than his own bed at home. The mattress was a hard one, which was not asfortable as a soft one but less likely to break. Also if he needed to go out for some time then sleeping on the hard ground would be less of a hardship. Besides the big bed in his apartment was already veryfortable. Luo Xun climbed into bed and quickly fell into dreand. He did not notice Yan Fei quietly watching him from behind then gently slipped into bed. The next day Luo Xun woke up andzed in bed for a while. He felt sore everywhere C it was winter and cold wind had blown the nights the group had spent on the roof. The fact that he did not catch a cold showed his good constitution. Luo Xun yawned and went downstairs to see the puppy near the sofa ying around with Yan Feis slippers. He had already reced the ones Puppy had used as a table. Even if he was not a neat freak he could not endure that big patch of grease. In addition, there had been a lot of drool on top. Last night he took off and threw himself into the bath to clean off. At this time, the puppy energetically fluttered around Yan Feis feet. Yan Fei would flick the puppys forehead who would jump back, the redouble her efforts to bounce around. The man and dog looked very harmonious, Luo Xun could not help but chuckle. The puppy realized that Luo Xun hade down and immediately abandoned Yan Fei. She galloped over, her tail wagging side to side. "Awake? There are frozen dumplings and buns you left in the fridge before leaving. I just ate four, Ill heat some up for you?" Yan Fei asked as Luo Xun descended. "Ill have four dumplings as well." He had been outside these days. His appetite was not small since he consumed a lot of energy moving things yesterday. The first four dumplings would cushion his stomach. Ready made food in the fridge and kitchen were meant to be consumed in peacetime. Luo Xun could cook but when tired, who would want to cook? During his free time he would cook a big pile of food. Luo Xuns ultimate dream was to pass a month without needing to light a fire. He had only cooked everyday because the apocalypse had not arrived. His heart had soared seeing all the rich ingredients, while others would only cook when there was someone sick in the house. Not only dumplings, Yan Fei also got up early to boil white rice congee. The rice that remained was ced in the kitchen. When Luo Xun was not at home, Yan Fei could use the stove to cook for himself. Luo Xun lifted a spoon of overly thick congee, nced at Yan Feis sunny face and sensibly did not ask how much water to rice he used. He lowered his head to eat the stew. The radio was on the table, broadcasting thestest news. Yan Fei did not want to hear about or listen to the current state of peace, this kind of pandering talk. He adjusted the frequency and incidentally avoided Luo Xuns strange expressions while eating the rice porridge. The puppy was not eating at the moment so she put her chin on Yan Feis foot and used his shoes as a pillow while staying close. While Luo Xun was eating his third dumpling, Yan Fei had tuned in to a new channel but the signal was not clear. He tried to fine tune in order to hear the contents. Suddenly Luo Xun froze, food in hand. Yan Fei also stopped and the two looked at each other and the radio. This time the staticky voices could be clearly heard! "...Broken. A lot of survivors turned into zombies! Help West base! Zombie attack in base! Arge number of ordinary people turned into zombies! West base asking for help..." The sound came from the radio again and again for 20 minutes. The two looked uneasily at each other, generally speaking even if there was danger they would not use civilian signals to send distress calls. It seemed whatever had happened at the west base had caught the people near the radio off guard, who directly called for external help. Luo Xun thought for a moment then suddenly went to the balcony. He picked up his telescope and looked towards army headquarters. The artillery regiment had moved over soon after the apocalypse and started to build base walls while troops expanded. The wall was quickly built and seemed closer to the neighborhood then before. At this point he could faintly see a military vehicle driving towards the main road in the distance. "Whats the matter?" Yan Fei asked after Luo Xun lowered his telescope. "The troops are mobilizing." Luo Xun suddenly turned to Yan Fei. "Where did you say your family lived?" Yan Feis eyebrows twitched and his face sank. "...West." Luo Xun took a deep breath and nced out the window. Yan Fei took the telescope to look out, sure enough troopes steadily filed out in all kinds of military vehicles includingnd rovers and tank cars that belonged to the artillery regiment. Luo Xun tried tofort Yan Fei. "Although it was sudden, the other bases received the message and should quickly send support." Yan Feis heart was upset, he did not have any affection for his parents, he did not care if they were dead or alive. He knew that with the rapid establishment of shelters and bases near A-city that his family would rush to one of the five bases. He could not help but get a headache hearing the west base was in trouble. He also did not want Luo Xun to worry, even if they were alive, Yan Fei would not shed a single happy tear. "The radio said that west base survivors suddenly became zombies?" Luo Xun paused before nodding with wrinkled brows. "...I think...its maybe rted to the water." "Water?" Yan Fei froze, then nced between Luo Xun and the kitchen. Luo Xun shrugged. "Im only guessing, who knows whats actually going on? We can only wait for the base rescue. Wait and see if any survivors escaped." There will be survivors even though the zombies had attacked the western base. The number of living people should be more than the zombies in the base. The greatest danger would actually be how many zombies were attracted over by themotion. Luo Xun said there would be survivors escaping the western base because many of the people he knew in his previous life had survived multiple bases copsing. In the beginning A-city had a total of five official bases, with the exception of the east and southwest bases, the rest were soon overrun in the apocalypse. The cause was arge of number of survivors in the base suddenly bing zombies and biting people, expanding the danger sphere. Then even the eastern base fell from an internal outbreak of zombies and a zombie siege. At the time, the east base wall was at least 20 meters and ess was very strict, usually limited to one door. As a result, people could not escape the internal zombie outbreak. The loss of the eastern base was the most brutal of the four lost bases. How the hell was the area overrun? Why was there a sudden outbreak of zombies in the base? Was it man-made or an ident? Luo Xun was unclear of the specifics, but he remembered that A-city hygiene standards had reached trivial grinding stage. People may have gottenzy and reaped the results. "We just got news to use water purification tablets and more boiled water. I am afraid its rted somehow." Yan Fei stared deeply at Luo Xun but did not say anything. His gut instinct said that Luo Xun was probably correct, not to mention theborious water purification system at home. The two men had not spent too long thinking when an announcement sounded outside. The broadcast issued an emergency notice to the crowd C urgently recruiting staff to expand the southwest base. Recently the outside was not peaceful and everybody tried to explore as far out as possible. Even if going out meant a possible death at the hand of zombies. The current level of zombie could not run, though some people found more fast, flexible and powerful zombie variants. It was somewhatmon to find something inside the zombies head. The research institute on base had not yet studied the purpose of the strange shards so there were few kept on base. Most of the people who took part in clearing zombies acted together with the military. The military personnel could finally count how many zombies a team could kill. This method of operation always had a loophole that could be exploited so the reward was not much. Most people were afraid, when they heard of more construction work, they decided those tasks would be less dangerous and more cost-effective. Chapter 31 Adjusted the radio on the table, there had not been much official news from the southwest base. The radio encouraged people to actively participate in base expansion and supporting everyone who helped in rescue, collection and extermination tasks. Since outside the base was too dangerous, those who go out must form teams of at least 10 members. "Its more specific than what the announcement had said." Afterwards, Luo Xun touched his chin. The most important thing now was to build up the outer wall as soon as possible. The current scope of the southwest base and Luo Xuns before rebirth were too small. "What are you going to do? Fix the wall first? Or go out looking for materials?" Yan Fei nced at Luo Xun, he felt the other was a very assertive person since their first contact during the apocalypse. His own judgement was not bad either. Now the whole world was in chaos, no one could urately judge future situations and trends. Two heads were better than one and Yan Fei did not ask unneeded questions to his people. He had made his bed and would develop a closer rtionship with his partner. Luo Xun made his choice almost without a thought. "Go out to collect supplies." "Our numbers are not enough." Yan Fei had gone outside and heard the broadcast from the road. "All who go out are required to form teams with at least 10 people." Luo Xun paced. "We can go to the city door and form a temporary team. n the best course of action beforehand. We can also ask the university students next door since theyre heading out as well." Luo Xun was d that the zombies were still rtively low level, even if they met zombies, as long as the group was not surrounded they could escape. However, even adding the five students next door they only had a total of 7 people. Though with seven the difficulty of forming a temporary team was definitely less than with just two. Yan Fei paused then nodded in agreement. Just as the two were about to continue discussing, someone knocked on the door. The two looked at each other then went to answer. Luckily it was just Han Li from next door, the two could see the door across from then was open with the inhabitants busy with something. "Whats up?" Luo Xun opened the door in surprise. He had considered finding them and did not expect the neighbors to reach out to them first. "Did you hear the announcement outside? We were nning to go out and find resources after we had rested..." Han Li had not finished when Li Tie stuck his head out. "Come here to discuss! Lets have a meeting!" Yan Fei and Luo Xun exited together after locking the door and grabbing the key. The house was filled with stic pipes and a half finished sr panel charger. Several people were argung and ming each other. "I should have done this right when I came back yesterday!" "Cook first, I am starving!" "Wheres the water? Wheres the water?" "Ah! I am in the back! Board, board, my belly, my belly!" The two people came and stood at the door, looking at the noisy room. Wu Xin moved a long shelf but he was not steady and bracing the furniture against his body. He also did not see He Qiankuns belly behind him. The sound of splinters, disorderly hands cleaning up...it took five or six minutes to reach a room to treat people. Yan Fei nced around, three bedrooms with a rtively spacious living room. But it was simr to his previous room 1603, dirty, dusty and without any furnishings. In addition, yesterdays sr panels, PVC pipes and hardware essories were put everywhere haphazardly. The three bedroom doors were all open, a quick peek inside revealed thick clothes scattered in a random corner, some ripped snack bags and empty water bottles. One look revealed a ce where boys lived... An realization shed inYan Feis mind, his sight unconsciously shifted from the room to Luo Xun. His home had a lot of things but it was not disorderly. Everything was ced in a proper location. Luo Xuns home had been furnished but as a guy his apartment was clearly more home-like then the others nests. Several people sat on the dirty ground. The weather was obviously very cold at the moment, though they wore thick clothes a few still felt the floor was ufortable. He Qiankun and Wun Xin sat beside each other and red resentfully at Yan Fei who sat with Luo Xun. The resentment quickly gained heat. Being ustomed to the envious res of hatred from others of the same sex, Yan Fei calmy acted as if the two were not present. He had maxed his ability to turn a blind eye. While Yan Fei could ignore the mens looks, Luo Xun felt awkward sitting next to him. Not to mention even the three remaining people were embarrassed by their twopanions. Li Tie and Han Li each grabbed an arm or a sleeve and tried to stop the twos unreasonable staring. Even if envy had budded in their own hearts as well. "Cough, what are you two looking at?" Luo Xun had to ask aloud seeing theserfocused looks. "Look at you cousin..." The two spoke with undeniable resentment. One side. "Look at your cousins waist..." That was He Qiankun whose girth was three and a half times that of Yan Fei. The other side. "Look at your cousins face..." Wu Xin had exhausted all methods to deal with his face e. Yan Fei still did not utter a word, as if what he heard went in one ear and out the other. In fact, he was afraid any words spoken would hit the two people even harder. "I cant believe you two." In Wang Duos eyes he was the most handsome of the five. Although notparable to Yan Fei, he had received love letters from unknown female ssmates in school. However after a week they would quickly break up with him. "Stop, do not think about it!" The two were still jealous, He Qiankun stared at Wang Duo. "Although we cannotpare to Yan Fei, I think if I lose some weight I couldpare to you!" Wu Xin depressedly touched his face. "After the apocalypse there are even fewer skin care products avable...no Ill definitely bring some back when we go out next!" Luo Xun could not help but cough to hide to his smile. "Well, you said to have a meeting?" "Right! Meeting!" Li Tie ignored his sulkingpanions and patted his chest. "You heard the announcement outside? I think once the base rescued people or if the other bases are overrun, there will be a lot of peopleing to our base. Maybe it will be even more difficult to reach the surrounding resources." Yan Fei looked at Li Tie in slight surprise, he did not think this person was that intelligent. Luo Xun nodded. "Correct, right now only the west base is in trouble, if the other bases have issues as well, then material stores could be even more tense." He was aware that other then the southwest, the two bases to the east would also be destroyed and three bases worth of people would join southwest base. Nearby materials and buildings would soon be picked clean and divided. It was wise to go out now and bring back something while they could. "Yes,st night I wrote up a list ording to WasteWoodHouse. Well need quite a few things, better go as soon as possible! Quilts, clothes we dont have any! Seeds are the most important thing!" Li Tie was a fervently loyal fan of the post writer. "Number of people." Yan spoke up for the first time since entering the room and cause the room the calm down. "What number of people?" The university students who had not heard the news froze in ce. "Our home has a radio, just heard that in order to be allowed to go out and collect supplies, must go out in a team of at least 10 people." Luo Xun exined. "10 people..." The five looked at each other. "But we only add up to seven..." Luo Xun smiled at Yan Fei and continued exining to the group. "You dont have a radio, there are likely many other people without a radio. We might as well go to the city exit and try to fill the missing spots on the team. With enough people we can get out then split up if needed." "Yes! There must be a lot of people who didnt know about this! Lets team up with some other people!" Han Li pped his hands. "Also the car." Luo Xun continued. "I have a car, but its a small second hand one, able to hold some things but not usable if we need a lot at once." "How many cars in the streets have no owners? We didnt see many on the way outst time. So long as we can go ande back its fine." Wu Xin replied immediately. They had originally wanted to rent a military car but today there might not be any free vehicles on base. Even if they would rent, the cost would not be low either. The young peoples brains were active discussing basic equipment and supplies. They decided to go out early tomorrow morning in case the rescue team lead a zombie army to base. If they were going out they would make the most of it. At the end of the day they were ordinary people, no one felt they could stand against a zombie on their own. Thest time they went out, they saw the faster and more powerful zombie version. It was hard to kill them with their current strength. Leave a bit earlier, take advantage of the number of zombies outside to grab what was needed. Find a ce in the base where they could engage with technology, especially since the group had some intention to cooperate with those on base. :What the military saidst time about the informationwork hasnt happened yet?" Luo Xun casually inquired after the discussion. "No, they have to go out once more, to the ce we had been to pick up things. The stuff we brought back before was not enough. If we move fast we should be back in good time." The heater had boiled the water, He Qiankun licked his lips, ripped open the bag of instant noodles and threw in the seasoning packet. Li Tie suddenly had an idea. "Lets give out team a name! Maybe we should use it for registration when we leave tomorrow." "Okay, what name?" Luo Xun also thought there should be a temporary name, even if he was not prepared to go out often. Starting a team name was a future base trend, if the group was famous, people talking business would have face. "Otaku Squad!" Li Tie sprang up and pointed at the ceiling. *Crash* He Qiankuns hands spasmed and tore the packaged noodles. Han Li covered his face, wanting to defend himself but did not know how. Wu Xin looked at him stunned, jaw dropped. Luo Xuns expression was rtively normal, though his mouth twitched. Beside him, Yan Feis eyebrows rose in doubt. "Otaku?" He looked to Luo Xun, if he remembered correctly, he had imed to be an otaku. Li Tie was shocked. "You dont know!?" No time to respond when...*beep* Li Tie flew like lightning to the side cuddling his mobile phone like a baby. "Your cell phone charged?" Luo Xun asked politely. Wang Duo did not wait for Li Tie and exined with a tight smile. "Yesterday we just connected a few sr panels. With so little energy he still prioritised charging his precious phone to full. Had to wait forever to eat." "How is this stuff not important!? These are all treasures! I have to write everything down or what would happen if theres no electricity!" Li Tie said staunchly to his fellows. Thest time they went to the building material market to collect supplies, they hade across a shop. Li Tie had forcibly grabbed all the stationery, student books and other writing materials. Yan Fei looked at the cellphone and read the contents while Luo Xun consulted with the others on the details of the outing. Seeing the door of 1603, Yan Fei touched his chin. He also needed to list what he needed to fill up his room. Chapter 32 Yan Feis face seemed indifferent but his mind was reeling from the collection of posts saved on Li Ties mobile phone. Li Tie had reacted quickly upon finding the post/thread. Before the apocalypse, the moderators had deleted thest post since the previous entries were okay. Fortunately his actions were practical, otherwise how would he find these things after thework stopped? Whats more, there might still be inte fees, the IQ of the administrators was too high! Although Yan Fei only saw a cursory nce, he was evidently shocked by the content. It had information about homemade distition equipment, method of growing vegetables, home safety, how to deal with zombies and other familiar measures... He followed Luo Xun into the living room, seeing the string of dried chicken, duck, bacon and sausage hanging from the ceiling, his heart shook. WasteWoodHouse, otaku...was that Luo Xun? Yan Fei suddenly scrutinized the idea, it was clear that Luo Xun did not have any curiosity towards the post despite the apocalypse having recently started. Luo Xuns actions were veryprehensive but there was nothing really suspicious about his projects. But Yan Fei still felt something was amiss, how was it so convenient? And all the things in the house...a bit too fortunate. Luo Xun walked to the balcony and carefully examined the small nest of quail. He used tweezers to throw some mealworms in, gave some grain and water for the birds. Then he turned around to check on the growth of various vegetables growing on the balcony. "Dont know how many days well spend outside, Puppy will be home alone..." Puppy heard Luo Xun call her name but did not understand the rest of the words. She ran straight past Luo Xuns feet into the balcony wall and fell on her butt. "Leave some dog food and water, should be fine." Yan Fei felt a slight headache while rubbing the little puppy. She was well-behaved but if they were going out for a while, something might happen at home. Time passed quickly, God knew what could happen after a while. Luo Xun paused then made his final decision. "Block the balcony and second floor, the other rooms she can wander at random." They could endure any disorderly biting the sofa or other messes. After all the cage was small, could not hold too much food or water. If the bowls were overturned, they maye back a few dayste to a dead puppy. Yan Fei eyed Luo Xun and dispelled his previous unrealistic idea. If Luo Xun was really WasteWoodHouse and had foreseen the disaster or was reborn before the apocalypse, would he have this burden? Even if the troublemaker had an intimidation effect towards others...wait, intimidation? He thought back to Luo Xuns words, those seeking trouble would be scared away by barking. So the puppy was notpletely useless in the end. "Whats up? What do you think?" Luo Xun had been busy finishing up and wanted to go to the second floor but found a distracted Yan Fei in the doorway. He called, grabbing his attention. Yan Fei smiled charmingly. "Thinking of where to go in order to find whatever we need." His smile was like a blooming flower, Luo Xun averted his eyes and coughed. "Well make a listter, dont forget to look at the map." Done with the house nts, the two grabbed a map, notebook and gathered at the first floor table to n. "Flooring, wallpaper, clothes...if convenient still better to get some PVC pipes and stic buckets. Could ce some on the next door balcony. Even if we cant find any, doesnt matter since there are spares. Dont need any electronic appliances we have enough..." Luo Xun sat, writing and drawing. Yan Fei happily gave him advice. "Also underwear, tableware, toiletries..." "What about hair styling and beauty products? Young master." Luo Xun said with a supercilious look. "What do you think I need?" Yan Fei sneered. A sudden burst of adolescent rebellion distorted his meaning, luckily reason pulled him back. He was born with this face, unlike others who spent fortunes on face milk, skin cream or other products. Why would he take the initiative to use those products? No matter if he ignored skin care, his face would still be better than most men. Having no blemishes or e was enough. Seeing Yan Feis darkening expression, Luo Xun took back his words. "Cough, underwear of course, cant have no toothpaste or toothbrushes. We also need to grab other daily life necessities..." Some things were at home but now there were two people, obviously needed to ount for more. Luo Xun resembled a housewife preparing for a big shopping trip. Yan Fei crossed his arms across his chest andughed when Luo Xun slowed down. "Nice, you would make a great housewife." Luo Xuns brain stalled then he realized Yan Fei wasughing and shook his fist. "Whos a housewife? Youre more like with that face!" Yan Fei would not back down. He narrowed his eyes, grabbed Luo Xun and pinned him to the sofa. "From where I am standing, you fit the bill more." Two people almost nose to nose, Luo Xuns heart sped up and his face turned bright red. Luo Xun hadpletely crashed before Yan Fei let go as if nothing had happened. "Dont need furniture for a while. If we bring back some metal or steel I can make some and it could be transformed into other things too." Luo Xun took some deep breaths to calm his emotions. The powerful and handsome Yan Fei had unexpectedly put in a lot of thought. Luo Xun nodded. "Right, getting those things would be most cost effective." Yan Fei could change the shape of metal into many forms. If there were all sorts of metal objects in the room, even if someone broke in, he could quickly change everything into a weapon. So... "Yes! We can put more metal things in the room that you can manipte. Even if we are not at home we could use metal for protection, like a gate or something!" Yan Fei nced at him with a smile on his face. He had already intended to do so, having only a dog at home was not safe. Completely sealing with metal was simpler than separately covering up nts, animals and windows. "In that case, just wait until we get back to fortify here and next door! The door here is sealed, usually exit over there. It doesnt matter even if there is a simple barrier." Even if thendlord managed to take back the house, he would just hole up with Yan Fei in the middle rom with his metal. Even if those people came back, Luo Xun really did not want to give up the house... Yan Fei raised his arms and gave Luo Xun a back hug. "First jot down the things for tomorrow. When we leave, I will seal the house door again." A few days ago Luo Xun had spent time with He Qiankun and the others and became ustomed to side hugs. He did not find Yan Feis actions strange and was too excited to pay attention at the moment. His hand hurriedly scribbled down what came to mind and any required materials. They spent the night in discussion, all kinds of coping methods when encountering zombies, advanced zombies etc, essentially pay attention while out. Luo Xun slept heavily that night, woke up the next day oddly in the middle of the bed, almost touching Yan Feis face. The first thing Yan Fei heard when he woke up was *thump* "Why are you on the ground again?" Yan Fei yawned at Luo Xun who just sat up from the floor rubbing his back with a dark expression. Luo Xun grimaced in embarrassment and fled into the bathroom. Behind, Yan Feis sleepy face dispersed, revealing a cheshire smile. Downstairs, hearing movement, the puppy spiritedly barked at the ceiling and jumped in her cage. Luo Xun stared in shock at the door, a tall steel te covered every inch. Yan Fei smugly looked at Luo Xun. "How is it? Are you satisfied?" "Satisfied, definitely satisfied." Luo Xun quickly nodded with enthusiasm, his eyes filled with sparkles toward Yan Fei. Goodness, that was the power of a metal ability user. As long as there were materials, one could build metal walls anywhere at anytime! The door was part of the small lobby Luo Xun had added to lead into the first floor living room. With Yan Feis help, even if the first door was violently torn down, the intruders would see and even stronger door after. People would vomit blood seeing the steel wall that surrounded the apartment, no way past even with great force. Only those with simr metal-type powers could tear it down in a short time. In addition to the door, Yan Fei also fortified the balcony window frames. The wall was protected as well since the room had tempered ss. Luo Xun was assured that they would leave and the nts could grow with sun exposure. Small pumps were connected to several sr panels on the terrace which would give the nts an automatic oxygen supply. Luo Xun had already brought in the outside sr panels in case someone tried to steal them. The quails had been moved from their tiny tanks torge fiberss containers. Something sold in aquariums with thick, sturdy ss. The bottom of the aquarium was covered with a thickyer of earth, sprinkled with some pebbles and cobblestone. Luo Xun had leisurely transnted some vegetables for the quails to peck at. Also threw in some mealworms in the soil and half buried a basin of water. From a fish bowl to a miniature garden for quails. The quail nest spent half a day outside on the balcony in the sun, half indoors. As for the other important member of the family C the puppy, Luo Xun headed directly to the living room to pack up anything small and delicate that could be broken. Yan Fei used a steel block to hide them away. Then Luo Xun poured a big bag of dog food into a huge stic box. The box was not tall but rtively wide, for the puppys appetite the dog food wouldst her a month or two. Water was packed the same way in a box with a lid. There were two holes with pipes glued to a small basin which used the principles of siphoning. Luo Xun refused toe home and find the house flooded because the water bowl was pushed over. The stuff at home was arranged, the two took some iron pieces to store thing in the car. Yes, a few metal tes. They could have brought more of Yan Feis crossbow and arrows but they needed to bring back a lot of raw materials and finished products. In case of an unexpected situation on the road, Yan Fei could use the metal to defend themselves. He was a metal ability user, his power could be used so long as there was any form of metal around. Especially in the urban area, there would be something he could use. Though he would need something defensive on the road. Otherwise, Yan Fei could disassemble the car as a weapon instead. After they would be forced to walk slowly on two legs. Their stuff packed, they went back to knock on 1601. The door swung open and startled, Luo Xun took a step back. "Are you visiting from Arabia?" He Qiankun stuck out his belly instead of his chest. "To be safe when going outside. This time well also look for helmets, following your example." Chapter 33 Luo Xun was wearing his previous outfit: helmet, rain boots and raincoat. He also prepared a set for Yan Fei, identical except for the shoes C even if Yan Fei was taller by half a head since there were few raincoats in storage. Luo Xun had deliberately bought somerger winter wear foryering but gave it to Yan Fei to wear instead. Unfortunately the weather now was too cold, if Yan Fei went out he would freeze. So he borrowed Luo Xuns coat, wore a face mask since the helmet was in the car. He Qiankun and the others method of dress had no words. They wore a fewyers of clothing, for safety wanting to protect the head. Their heads were wrapped several times with scarves. No idea where the scarves came from though. Some were grabbed when they went out, all colours and styles were now all wrapped around heads. Looking at the ragtag group of five, Luo Xun was struck with the idea of dumping them to save face but the thought, how could he dump others because of poor impressions? People should be kind, do not despise less capable people from the start. Luo Xun and Yan Fei sat in front, the five others squeezed in the back with some bedding. They chatted about where to go, what to take, what to do aftering back and so on. "We should first head northeast to Golden Dragon Home mall to get home and building materials. In addition I remember arge fabric store and two supermarkets nearby." Luo Xun had visited the site during the past apocalypse. Although it was a bit further from the southwest base, it hadprehensive inventory: clothing, seeds they could get almost everything there. "Okay!" The five people in the back nodded, they were not familiar with the neighborhood. So they listened to Luo Xun and expressed support for going to this bountiful location. "Luo Xun, do you know where I can get some seeds to nt?" Li Tie asked sweetly sitting behind the drivers seat. "The nearest ce is more than a two hour drive, a farmers market south of base. I remember that the ce had an extensive collection of seeds for crossbreeding but not much else. We can go to the supermarket to find beans: mung bean, red bean, soybeans etc. If brought back and produced buds, could grow some vegetables." "Yes, yes! Just those would be enough! Well go to the farmers market next time." Li Tie nodded, his hope of vegetables depended on the beans sprouting! He had sufficient theoretical knowledge of nting but no hands-on experience. That however could be slowly built up with practice. At present the southwest base was not huge, it took 10 minutes to reach the exit gate. The wall had been built, seven or eight meters high with considerable thickness. There were a lot of people gathered at the blocked gate who seemed ready to go scavenging in the city. The base had a lot of people willing to work in construction since it was rtively safe work. However it was not as profitable as collecting materials and the base was short on resources. Some were reluctant but there was no other way to improve their lives at the moment. Although people gave up 20% of their spoils each time they went out, at the start of the apocalypse there was stuff everywhere outside. If one did not take the opportunity to go out and collect who knew how much would be left the next day? How much of the remainder was useable? At this time, people bold enough with a certain degree of strength would rather go out and search for supplies. With different action they could escape typical base life, collecting materials instead of hardbor. The young women and children were left to do light work for points. It was dangerous to go out but there was great chance to earn profit. However the majority of people including Li Tie and the others knew the base encouraged people to go and collect supplies but did not rify minimum number of team members so there was a dy. Who knew if the temporary cooperation to ensure protection would end up with a knife to the back? Even more, they did not want useless members to drag them down, so all looked at each other in distrust. Some did not consider that and openly recruited, shouting "Team going out of city, five, missing five, powers and good personality." an so on. Once heard knew it was a way to recruit in online games, but people felt it was unreliable. Unlike those who worried about useless teammates, Luo Xun simply stopped the car, sweeped the crowd and found a team with their own car. It was the most attractive option, Wang Duo went over to negotiate and the two sides sized each other up. Form a temporary team to exit the city then go their separate ways after. The other team had nine people who knew each other, escaped to the southwest base together. They were also worried about meeting deceptive team mates so were slow to make a decision. Came here to collect materials and the majority of people had formed groups. Naturally not willing to separate from their acquaintances for an unknown team. Not too long after, Wang Duo gave Luo Xun a thumbs up so he started the car. Wang Duo returned and then the two cars drove out the open gate. Seeing three vehicles with much more than 10 people, they had an epiphany C leaving the city with a limit of 10 people...ten was the minimum! Not maximum! This was not like ying an online game where there was a limit that could not be exceeded, no one was refused! Their way of thinking was incorrect! In fact, Luo Xun and the others had seen a lot of people out of town but their numbers were around 11-13 people. They had not thought about it. Rumble, everyone hurriedly formed teams to leave the city and left in registered army vehicles. As soon as the cars exited the base, Luo Xun split up from the other team. The other team was headed to the nearbyrge supermarket, differing destinations. Luo Xuns group was happy and rxed, turned to the northeast but stopped after a short drive. Li Tie found a half open truck parked on the road. The key was inside, the interior was considered clean other than some blood on one of the seats. Some wandering zombies heard the car sounds and sloshed over. The five guys armed themselves with the steel pipes they hadst collected from the building material market. The zombies first staggered towards the second hand car, when they were closer the zombies screamed at their targets. Luo Xun loaded his crossbow to keep an eye on the situation, prepared to shoot if things went bad C not kill the zombie directly. After all the rest of the group had not personally killed a zombie yet, it took a while to adapt and be proficient. Now was the apocalypse, even if one intended to hole up at home and farm, there were still cases of zombie sieges or helping patrol the wall. It was guaranteed one would suffer if they did not quickly adapt to killing zombies. When the five students got out of the car, their legs felt weak but their hands clutched the pipes. They knew they had to confront it before other zombies came out. At the start of the apocalypse, they had hid in an empty room until they were rescued by the military. The previous time they went to collect things they were still protected by soldiers. This time it was their decision toe out and collect materials, it was impossible to not n ahead about killing zombies. However psychological preparation and the actual action werepletely different things... Suddenly Li Tie roared loudly, tightened his grip on the weapon and rushed a smaller, female zombie nearby. "KILL!" The other four angrily rushed, all or nothing, kill or be killed! During the end of the world, who could live without killing a zombie? Even if one could, it would be rubbish! The number of zombies nearby was not much, a total of five or six. Luo Xun lifted his crossbow and dealt with the extra. He left the rest for the five students to beat C unfortunately the heads had no crystals. The five were gasping but the mind was clear enough to return to the car and start it. The remaining four sat in, He Qiankun rushed out and vomited. After he stumbled back into the car and nkly looked at the sky. "God, I threw up all ofst nights dinner..." "Lose weight, lose weight..." Wu Xin feebly tried to pat his shoulder but carelessly patted his head instead. Luo Xun smiled and sheathed his crossbow to continue driving the car. He turned to Yan Fei. "Did you kill any zombies before arriving on base?" Did he need his first kill as well? Yan Fei did not know what Luo Xun was trying to do. One arm stuck out the window while he looked outwards. "Yeah." "Killed? When did you kill a zombie?" Luo Xun asked curiously, wanting to know his reaction the his first zombie kill... Cough, the first time he had pushed a zombie down some stairs, his legs were unsteady for a long while, not mention actively killing one? "After the ident." Thinking Luo Xun was joking around, Yan Fei narrowed his eyes and sneered. "If not for seeing me kill a zombie, those people would have blown me up with the zombies." At the time he had not manifested an ability but used his handgun and an iron bar to kill a few zombies. Although he did not understand why those creatures attacked, he did know how to incapacitate someone. Disable to zombie legs and they would be a negligible threat. Many people were blocked on the road and had to leave their cars including him. Some people roared "Aim for the head!" when all realized those who were indiscriminately attacking were no longer human. Yan Fei had little reaction to killing a zombie. He dealt with two and there were a few women screaming while holding each other tightly. No time to take into ount a zombies disgusting remains. If there had not already been a lot of people nearby he would have given the noisemakers a heads up. Now that he thought about it, it seemed his dislike towards women had slowly umted. The feeling led him to desire living with a man, his turn had not beenpletely without warning. The entrance of the Golden Dragon Home mall was not far, driving only took half an hour to forty minutes. However this was the end of smooth sailing, now the streets were littered with overturned cars and suspiciously fast wandering zombies. Luo Xun drove in front, directing the students vehicle. They crossed the street with blood stained zombies roaring at the car, fighting and screaming in the background. They did not stop to watch and save people because they could not tell if someone was from the base purposely killing zombies, someone not from base collecting things or an actually trapped person. However most trapped people were hiding in rooms, few would actually run out. Thus they were more wary about people pretending to be in distress. Even if they wanted to save people, better to do so on the way back then right now. After about one and half hours, Luo Xun saw the Golden Dragon Home mall sign from the road. He breathed a sigh of relief and spoke to Yan Fei. "You see there, next to the mall is a big supermarket, on the road there is a small convenience store. The supermarket is next to Jing Fong building, lets see if we can change for arger car for the trip back." His beat up second hand car had thing walls, small engine and little storage space. Luo Xun nced at the car door that was obviously different C this morning Yan Fei had helped him repair it. He worried about the chance of repair after it got scratched by a zombie dog. Fortunately he picked up Yan Fei who happened to have metal abilities. Chapter 34 The car exited the highway and headed for the mall. There were more scattered cars around, apparently many other were also targeting supermarkets since traces of previous people were present. The group had no desire to head straight to the supermarket C there were a lot of cars currently parked in front. People milled around the store, obviously looking for something. Since a lot of people were near the market, zombies would undoubtedly get attracted over C they would take advantage to enter the shopping center first! Stopped the car, opened the window and used the crossbow to shoot down the zombies idling around the entrance gate. Luo Xun looked around and found a few trucks of varied sizes in the distance. Li Tie and the others got out of the car to check the trucks around them. They realized after poking around that they could only enviously stare at the trucks with unopenable electronic locks. But there were two with doors ajar and keys. One key was directly in the vehicle, the other was found on a zombie killed next to the truck. The group put away the key, grasped their weapons and headed into the home shopping centre. The hall was in eerie darkness, the sun reflected strangely through the huge half covered windows. There must have been someone here already, it had been a while since the apocalypse had started. Some of the stuff would not be useful but overall the trip should bring back some great resources. With a nce, Luo Xun motioned the group towards the warehouse. "Isnt there a lot of stuff outside?" Do not know, just ask, good knowledge learning habits. The five students subcounsciously followed Luo Xun but were still curious enough to ask. "The outside stuff is all basically samples. There are some but not enough, the bulk of products should be in storage." There were even things not in the warehouse, when needed customers would order directly to be transported to their home. Luo Xun had passed by prior to the apocalypse and could roughly guess where the main storage was located. Sure enough they found arge half-open metal door. Shot down a zombie that wandered by. The group hurriedly opened the gate and scoped out the situation. The skilled lockpicker unlocked the warehouse door then called to Li Tie andpany. "Drive the car inside to directly load things." "This....can you drive in?" There were stairs outside the mall. They were just ordinary university students! They could drive but no one had the skill to drive straight up stairs! Luo Xun had forgotten about the stairs and the groups driving skills. Luo Xun silently self-reflected, he mistook these people with those he had cooperated with further along in the apocalypse. Those scoundrels had done stunts such as running over zombies and other tricks like in action movies. Actually, he did not have stunt driving skills either. "Use that to move things." Yan Fei rescued Luo Xun by pointing at a trailer. There was more than one, each selected a few areas then everyone worked together to move the filled trailer. Wood flooring panels, wall paint, wallpaper, tiles, all kinds of stic goods, a bunch of PVC tubes, various light bulbs, wire and even timber for chairs... The two trucks were filled bit by bit, the group reckoned it would enough to fully furnish two homes. When they carried these things, naturally attracted a number of zombies in the vicinity. Killing zombies, the first time would leave a shadow on the heart but after killing the second, third ones head would be clearer. Fortunately the zombies they encountered were mostly in pieces, possible attacked by other zombies before infection. The facial features were hard to distinguish clearly and were hard to look at. Although killing was disgusting, it now left less of a mark on the heart. A line of people gasped for breath while resting, He Qiankun suddenly pointed at Yan Fei who was leisurely standing aside, hands in his pockets. "You, you..." "Whats with you? Speak with proper sentences." Wu Xin hit the back of He Qiankuns head. "Why, why is he not winded?" He QIankun felt wronged as he turned to Wu Xin, tears trailed down his face. Yan Fei was notzy while moving things to the loaded car. However he looked refreshingly cool without a hint of sweat. People felt really envious. Yan Fei scoffed and eyed He Qiankun with contempt. "I have muscles." Do not think a fat man would automatically be strong, so long as not a sumo wrestler, most of the fat was puffiness! Have not people seen that fat guysgged behind? Why would they have more strength? They did not have standard stature, not close to specialized exercise of strong human body. Yan Fei was excited about his change in physical fitness, not to mention his strength had exceeded an ordinary person. He now thought his stamina couldst all night, unfortunately there had been no chance for him to try. "What are you looking at me for?" Luo Xun found Yan Fei inexplicably staring at him with regret. The hairs on the back of his neck rose and he began to sweat. It was past noon when all the things were moved and ensured no zombies were nearby. They sat in the car eating some food to replenish their strength. Luo Xun had prepared a lot of boiled eggs before going out C if not eaten would go bad and there were not many left. In addition to boiled eggs he packed, uneaten pastries, guoba, fried vegetables, vitamin tablets and beef jerky. Yan Fei took the food and did notin about the taste. It was already good enough to be able to eat outside. "What about your second hand car?" Yan Fei asked beside a big white van. Luo Xun had aplicated expression, although the car was not sturdy he was reluctant to leave it behind. He had paid for the car before the apocalypse! No doubt, in this apocalyptic world of death, Luo Xun was not a wasteful person. He was even more reluctant since he had used his own savings to buy the car. Plus the vehicle could be loaded with things, no big faults other than thin walls. But how to drive back...from the students only Li Tie and Wang Duo knew how to drive and they already had cars. Not to mention that the new car was safer than the old, how would he convince someone to change? Seeing Luo Xun twist himself into knots, Yan Fei smirked andughed. "I could connect the two cars together." "What?" Luo Xun had no response, connect? "What do you mean?" "Connect the two cars." Yan Fei raised his eyebrows with the corners of his mouth turning into a smile. Luo Xun staggered away avoiding eye contact C Yan Feis smile was hazardous to his health, especially without his face mask! What Yan Fei had meant...actually connecting two cars together! Do not forget, Yan Fei was a man with metal abilities! When the two cars were welded together with a steel te, the scene reaffirmed the power of abilities to Luo Xun. This was the difference between an ability user and an ordinary person. He had thought when Yan Fei had said link he meant to tie a rope between the cars, who thought he would use a steel te instead... Li Ties cars were a distance away and did not see the details, only thought the two cars were tied together. On their side Li Tie, He Qiankun and Wu Xin three in a car with Wang Duo and Han Li in another car followed by a small trailer. Luo Xun led the way with his double car. Although Luo Xun had some fighting capacity, his power was far worse than Yan Fei. So Luo Xun was responsible for driving, beside him on the dashboard was a pile of metal pieces, good weapons for Yan Fei in case of danger. The car drove towards the fabric store not far away from the city. The gate was blocked by a number of zombies. Afraid that those seen earlier were eaten by the zombies, Luo Xun stepped on the elerator and passed Li Ties car. "To the back door of the warehouse!" "Okay! Over there?" "Yes, turn right up ahead." Luo Xun saw that there were more zombies up in front, in order to pass they would have to fight. Instead he pointed the cars towards the back door. That ce also had zombies but the intersection was narrower. Any zombies staggering over were clobbered by several people rushing over swinging their arms. Li Tie nervously swallowed, they had just killed some zombies but how many? The time between zombie kills before was more fragmented, a person became ustomed after the second not first kill. Now arge group had staggered over, this kind of pressure left knots in peoples bellies. The cars invariably stopped with a squeal of brakes. Luo Xun opened the window, raised his crossbow and attacked the nearest zombie in front. Although the number was a bit much, once some were dealt with it would only be tricky for those who just faced the end of the world. With time, they would understand that if these zombies were not dealt with, how would theye out to collect supplies? A number of ces often had a lot of zombiesing and going. "Dont panic, take it slow." Hearing Luo Xuns words, the five people in two cars gradually calmed down. There were 20 zombies in front of them, Luo Xun had just killed three, the other window rolled down and three or four other zombies were hit with arrows. These creatures seemed formidable but were actually easily dealt with? Just like the ones they cleared before! With new found confidence, the five picked up the iron bars and marched out! Full power! It was just a few more zombies! They would win! The five students yelled a battle cry and rushed from the car, Luo Xun with his crossbow acted as a sniper. Yan Fei leisurely held the metal piece near his feet, from time to time he would break off a piece like a child ying with y. He would pinch and make something close to an arrow, raise his hand C *swoosh* Flew out towards a zombies head C half way it turned! Luo Xun watched Yan Feis control, the metal arrow curved midair to hit a zombies head. He involuntarily ground his teeth. How long had he spent in hisst life trying to get a job killing zombies outside the wall? How long had he practiced in this life? Butpared to Yan Fei with his powerful ability snatched his thunder. Ah, ordinary people could only muddle along in this apocalyptic world... Luo Xun silently sighed in his heart and left the car. Li Tie andpany were hugging each other while jumping up and down. "We are so awesome! Killed so many zombies!: "Bam, bam, bam. Killing zombies is hard word but the results are worth it!" The five of them had been too focused to find out if someone had used unusual methods to shoot down zombies. Luo Xunughed and pped a few shoulders. "Lets drive back and grab more supplies." Compared to the previou small, where one did not know what was in the warehouse, the fabric store had a lot of a single category of product. Luo Xun opened a few doors and found a bunch of unprocessed cotton cloth. He called people together to move fabric. Before the apocalypse he had bought a lot but would consider ever having too much? He had a bunch ofpressible air bags, enough to fit these. "It that cloth for making jeans?" He Qiankun suddenly pointed at an open door. Luo Xun nced over. "Its canvas, also a good thing, if theres more we bring that too." "Can it be used to make pants?" "Ah, its a little stiffer than usual but sturdy." A simple exnation. Luo Xun carried arge piece of cloth with Yan Fei to put in the car. They went back together to pick out cloth for a coat. Canvas, cotton, coral velvet, spongy material and cloth for winter clothes as well as fabric for heavy curtains. Wu Xin posed an important question as they packed. "That...the cloth is good but...who can make clothes?" Chapter 35 TN: Happy Valentines Day! Enjoy the bonus chapter ?*?(???)?*? Once the words exited Wu Xins mouth, the five people stared at each other. Make clothes? This looked like a big problem huh? Luo Xuns face reddened, he only had a little skill with poor results. He could only use the sewing machine at home. He did not know how to pattern so when he reluctantly made clothes they were always a little off and ufortable. "Ill design and cut." The usually silent Yan Fei interjected, the group looked at him with a mixture of admiring and frightened eyes. What was with that look? Did they doubt his technique? Yan Fei felt the veins on his forehead pop out. "Ah, how did you learn that?" Han Lis voice trembled. Although Yan Fei was wearing a white face mask his face with narrowed eyes still expressed coldness. "I majored in costume design abroad." He nced at Luo Xun and remembered seeing a sewing machine at their ce that the other could use. "Just design, not sewing." Someone else always made his designs. Luo Xun felt he was scrutinized, he could only cough and nod. "I can use the sewing machine but the finished product...*cough cough* is barely wearable." Actually, one could wear it but if there was an alternative, someone who could design and cut well, he would have no objections. The group of five collectively breathed a sigh of relief then looked brightly with affection at the two. "Brother Luo, Brother Yan, us little ones will be depending on you for clothes..." Five grown men acting like spoiled brats...Luo Xun had no words to say. The door to the front of the mall was currently closed. It seemed today was lucky, they loaded for hours but no other zombies rushed over. This time their expedition had a sessful end! The group excitedly filed into the cars, ready to go to the back door of the supermarket like they did for the warehouse. Luckily the road behind the supermarket was clear to go, there were not many zombies but a lot of parked cars. Luo Xun paused then hurriedly gestured for the two toe over. "What?" "A lot of people must have also entered the supermarket back door. We need to park in an inconspicuous ce, cover up the car and lock the doors before going in." Luo Xun judged the situation and guessed since people went in they might catch sight of the spoils in their vehicles. Li Tie andpany quickly understood his meaning and hurriedly nodded. Wang Duo asked confused. "But if we go in empty handed, wont we grab less things?" "After the disaster, supermarkets are obviously everyones first choice and edibles are perishables. Most of the edible food had likely gone bad. If we go in to find no food, beans and so on its better to return empty handed then be marked as a target." Luo Xun quickly exined and locked his car C thanks to the privacy film, no one could see in from the outside. Now that it was tied to the truck, less than half a window was visible. However the truck Li Tie picked up had problems, but using some ash coloured waterproof cloth from the fabric store, there was nothing to see. Seven individuals held weapons, Yan Fei carried a crossbow with some iron blocks in his backpack. Even though he carried the heaviest, his actions were also the most rxed. Luo Xun could not help but grind his teeth C his own physical strength was poor...really envious and hateful. Luo Xun did not beg for some overpowered ability C just an increase in strength would be enough, but reality was cruel, he had not been given the slightest change. Close to the supermarket door, zombies rose and turned towards the smell of human flesh. Finding a group of delicious food, they rushed forward with broken bodies. Luo Xun shot his crossbow twice and turned to find a recently turned corpse jump in as if it had sprinted! Quickly held the crossbow, his offhand grabbed a modified wolf teeth club from his waist. Luo Xun first struck at the zombies legs, when one leg broke, he pivoted then swung the spiked club at the head of the falling zombie. *Squish* Dark green liquid with a foul odour spurted out. The group jerked back to attention and looked at Luo Xun in panic. After the head was smashed, Luo Xun stopped to pick up the dropped crystal nucleus. "Oh...." He Qiankun said faintly before he turned to a corner and threw up. Luo Xun looked at him in surprise. "How has he still not adapted after killing zombies for half a day?" He Qiankun waved his hand since he could not speak at the moment. Wang Duo tiptoed over and shivered, eximing "Its not we havent adapted, you are too brutally violent!" They had used iron rods to hit the zombie heads but only until they were unable to move. Luo Xun used a wolf teeth club to crush the heads! The club had big spiky nails! After killing the zombie there would be remains on the nails...Looking at the confused Luo Xun, the group of five had no energy left to retort. Yan Fei went to his side, seemingly unaware of anything wrong with the club. He walked towards the back door and called over his shoulder. "Lets go, dont know how long well be dyed inside." Luo Xun somewhat stiffly nodded then followed along towards the back door. The door was not closed but the zombies were trapped inside since it opened from the outside and zombies could not pull. One person gently opened the door, there were a lot of wandering zombies inside the nearly empty warehouse. Some felt some people came and sloshed towards the door. There were not that many zombies in the warehouse. A few people with quick feet could circle around the devastation for a peek. "Is...is there anything useful?" Wu Xin kicked a half full plum box. There were still things left, but most were a mixture of seasonings and gadgets. Then there were bottles with unknown liquids inside. They dared not eat these things even if they brought them back. "Go in and have a look?" Li Tie walked to the supermarket door, turned around and looked at those behind. "Theres another floor upstairs, want to go up and see?" "Lets go in and see whats inside then." Luo Xun nced at the nearby fallen box with rotten fruit and vegetables inside. The purpose of the trip to the supermarket was to find cultivable beans but it seemed most of the produce was contaminated, perhaps there was some in storage? Finally managed toe outside, no one wanted to return empty handed. The people looked around and gently opened a gap in the door. There were quite a few zombies wandering the first floor, the air had an unknown exinable smell, they could not find the right adjective to describe it. Shuddering, the group looked at Yan Fei C the only one wearing a mask, what foresight! They wanted a mask as well! Gingerly sneaking while pinching their noses, the zombies may rely on their nose to find prey but if they did not make any noise...no one far*cough* passed gas... It was winter, everyones body odour was not strong. Low level zombies would be slow to find them. With light footsteps, Luo Xun pointed in the direction he remembered grain and oils were located. He estimated that the vast majority of people also prioritized that direction. They should still go and see if there was anything to pick up. All seven went together towards the grain and oil aisle and easily cleaned up any zombies that appeared. There was nothing on the shelves that originally held bags of rice and noodles. Even the counters with bulk grains were mostly empty. The five university students had angry, twisted expressions looking at the empty containers on the side C nothing, did theye here for nothing? There was more stuff out of stock, the snack area was empty except for identally broken snack packages C inedible food, this was really... "Ah! There are some!" Li Tie took two steps forwards, excitedly pointing at the gap between containers of some kinds of beans with a wide smile. Small mosquitoes were still meat! Besides these things could sprout and be cultivated! They were not living in a safe zone, so long as they had a way to earn points, there was a way to fill up their bellies each day. The seeds collected and saved would then be more and more! Seeing the five people trip themselves over finding some seeds Luo Xun quirked a smile and looked at Yan Fei beside him. "Working together?" Although there was no shortage at home, he did not know if something would turn out to be a secret gold egg in the future. Yan Fei looked at Luo Xun, who had joined the team in trying to find seeds on the ground. He could not help but shake his head to look in the other direction C there was not only a group of people but also a lot of zombies and... "Shelled peanuts! These are raw, can we nt these?!" He Qiankun asked as he raised a handful of peanuts. Li Tie beside Luo Xun answered distractedly. "Can grow, sprouting buds mean can grow." Li Tie hurriedly made an agreeable expression. "Right, good keep it." Other side Wu Xin was lying prone on the ground, arms outstretched to a pudgy thing in the shelves. After some effort to get it he squinted at the familiar item in his hands. "Lemon?" At the moment Luo Xun got up and ced some peanuts and uncrushed beans into small stic bags. "Wait until we go home to see if there are any ntable seeds inside." Lemon is a good thing, can be stored a long time without spoiling, rich with a lot of vitamins, he had forgotten to buy those seeds. Several people swept around and swung around when they heard two *poof* sounds. They hurriedly seized their weapons in surprise. Yan Fei leisurely ced his hands in his pockets, behind himy two killed zombies. "Yan..." He Qiankun had not finished when they heard hurried footsteps from outside along with someone profusely swearing. "Which bastards parked the cars? Theyre blocking the door!" The other group walked over close enough that both groups were startled. Slightly distracted, the neers had various bags, obviously gathered more than Luo Xun andpany who had just arrived. Although their numbers were higher, if a confrontation started, the ensuing fight would undoubtedly attract zombies. Silently thinking, the person in front put a hand on the back of his head and gestured to the people behind. They turned away from Luo Xuns group and hurried to the back door warehouse. Although it was unknown if the other party had been afraid of their own group but them leaving made Luo Xun andpany breathe a sigh of relief. "Should we look at the fresh produce section? What kind of fruit should we look for?" Wang Duo waited until the strangers had left before asking for suggestions. Even picking up broken, rotten fruit was okay! As long as the seed was still there, mayne they could grow it! "Go!" A few others had the same idea so no objections. The group ran to the produce section, once they smelled the heavy rotten stench, their faces once again distorted into aggravated expressions. There was no need to look at the meat, the pungent stench would have smothered flies. Vegetable area could also be ignored, even if there was some left, they could not be nted. Fruits on the other hand...Looking at the empty fruit section in dumbfounded silence, trying to keep an open mind. People knew that fruit seeds could be nted, there were some rotten vegetables left but here had almost nothing. Two steps ahead, Luo Xun saw some pieces of rotten watermelon on the ground. He hurriedly called the others over to inspect. They threw away the white not fully grown seeds and picked up seven intact watermelon seeds. Luo Xun split them into two stic bags C why did he ignore these fruit seeds before? It was obvious his past apocalyptic life had been too cruel, most of the world had forgotten fruit. There was nothing at home, not evenmon orange seedlings, just a few strawberry seedlings gifted when bought chicken and duck! Chapter 36 The group was thankful for the few watermelon seeds when there was a sudden flurry of noise at the back door. "Run! RUN!" "Close the door! Close the door!" "Wait, wait dont close it yet!" "Oye! Whats going on?! How are there so many!?" Seven people looked at each other, their hearts shed with a horrible realization. It could not be...the supermarket back door, had been cut off? Luo Xun, the most experienced with the apocalypse made a snap decision. "Get to the second floor right now!" The staircase and elevator acted as a barrier, even if the first floor was upied by zombies, they would defend themselves for a while. Plus they could use the second floor window to observe the nearby situation. Seven people hurried towards the second floor. Luo Xuns heart was heavy C this esctor had a staircase ramp C no way to block the zombies! Anyway, they needed to get to the second floor first. Luo Xun andpanys position was originally close to the elevator, at the moment creepy sounds approached faster/ Scrambled up to the second floor, a group from upstairs collected things leaving others downstairs. "Whats the situation? Whats going on?" "Zombies, someone brought zombies from downstairs!" "What?! More zombies in the supermarket!?" "Who did this? They have no shame!" The issue of civic mindedness was set aside, Luo Xun and the others went further in the building after scanning around. The second floor had less wandering zombies than the first floor, they had been put down but that did not mean they could rest assured. They hurriedly ran to the window to catch a nce C twenty to thirty heads had unexpectedly gathered at the back door street. Behind many zombies hobbled over C a few could not help but scold the youngdy in their hearts C how would they get out of here!? The situation at the front door was worse than at the back door! In the current state of the world, if even one zombie started to pound against a door, the sound would attract a second and a third. So the front door could not be cleared of the stream of zombies. "What, what do we do?" Li Tie and the others panicked. They thought of simply jumping directly from the second floor but the height of the supermarkets second floor could notpare to a house! A jump from here would only result in death! Not even mentioning nimbleness required, with He Qiankuns weight the jump would like a belly flop. Secondly, there were no other buildings in the vicinity, no chance to climb away and hide. Luo Xuns eyes quickly scanned around, he pointed towards a certain window. "In a moment, we open a gap here, jump onto the top of that bus. Hurry and see if theres anything useful on this floor." Li Tie andpany were relieved then dazed as they were told to collect stuff. "Collect, collect what?" Luo Xun stared. "Daily lifestyle products! Why else would wee to the supermarket?" Scavengers would not leave empty handed, the first floor zombies had note up yet, there should be at least some time to quickly collect supplies. If he had not seen the second floor and it was not as dangerous as the first, he would not have brought it up with things so tense. They had to speed up their actions, even if it was risky but the group could not miss out. There might not be such a chance in the future C there were only fewer and fewer things in the city. Yan Fei turned towards the esctor, his fingers twitched but did not act C he wanted to manipte the metal like making the ramp slippery. But there were living people down there, he was not so heartless to block an exit. Secondly there were two sets of esctors so four sets of stairs, each of them rtivelyrge. His abilities may not hold such arge range and amount. Yan Fei turned to follow behind Luo Xun as they checked the sundry shelves but did not find much. Contrary to the empty first floor, the second still had a lot of things, but as Luo Xun scanned around C the clothing department, even childrens wear was swept clean. Any kitchen tools useable as weapons like wooden spoons and knives were all missing. They had been collecting stic boxes in the household good aisle, arranging things in the boxes. Loaded half bag of mop heads, discounted cloth and things. The five people gathered C it was time to evacuate, the survivors on the first floor had escaped. He Qiankun ran over holding a box that jingled with each step. Li Tie closed the zipper on the backpack in his arms. Han Li slung his arms over severalrge stic baskets. Wu Xin and Wang Duo each held a big box, seemed like they had no time to wear a backpack. "Quick, quick! Put all the good stuff in the bag!" Two people desperately packed a paper box away. After a nce, Luo Xun hurriedly joined in C really was good stuff! A box of socks and a box of mens underwear. He did not think they would find this sort of thing! "Where did you get it? Werent the boxes all empty?" Li Tie asked while helping. "On the top shelf, no one ever moved it. Fortunately of the boxes, we picked the mens. If now had not been a crisis, we could have grabbed two more boxes." Evendies underwear...*cough* was notpletely unwearable... At that moment, from the other side came sound of splinters and loud bangs, leaving the group dumbfounded. The ss window on the other side had been broken, some of the survivors jumped down regardless of danger to escape the zombies. "Oh! What a betrayal!" The broken ss window was not far from them, with such a loud sound, there would certainly be more zombies! Some hurried out the window, though at a distance zombies chased behind them. Luo Xun andpany swallowed and wisely decided to dismiss the idea. But what now? Where would they run? Choose another ce to jump? "Go this way." The previously silent Yan Fei got up and pointed in the opposite direction! He referred to the small storage on the second floor, not too far from their current location. "To hide in there?" One could not me Wu Xin. The room was not big, it could hide seven people butter? Once the zombies broke through would they not get overrun? Yan Fei lightly rolled his eyes. "There is a window we can use to get away towards the cars." "Right! Get downstairs from there!" Thinking of curtains or things to knot to form a makeshift rope, Han Li rose and pped his thighs. After distributing the remaining supplies, the group hurried into the small room. When they entered they were disappointed C pots, pans and empty shelves but no curtains on the windows. Yan Fei went directly to the window, ignoring the busy people behind the door. He pushed against the window, hand touching the frame. In front of them Luo Xun could see the hidden intersection with their cars. Some zombies slowly gathered nearby, fortunately the window was close to the location they had parked. "Are you preparing to..." Luo Xuns eyes lit up as he saw Yan Fei observing the window frame. Yan Fei raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth lifted into a self confident smile that would cause peoples hearts to pound. "Gather all the metal." "Hey? What?" Li Tie and the others thought they had not heard correctly and looked at the two in confusion. "Well go down a slide." Five people turned and looked warily at Luo Xun, their meaning obvious C was your cousin alright in the head? He did not get a concussion while collecting stuff earlier? "Move over!" Luo Xun stacked a variety of metal pots, pans and cargo shelves beside Yan Fei. He lifted a hand and the window started to vibrate furiously! The entire window shook then as if held by an invisible hand, flew inwards! They stared with big eyes, mouths wide open as if seeing something strange C of course the scene was really weird. They had been rescued by the military but had not seen any power users en route to base. So different to the ability of an average person! Fire ability, thunder ability users could emit fireballs and lightning from their palms. Even the weakest wind ability user could knock over people with a strong gust of air. But Yan Fei? Nothing appeared when he used his ability! The object just started floating! Said he got a power after the apocalypse, but now he seemed more like having a so called superpower from before C able to float things around. In fact, Yan Fei could only manipte metals, but who let the ss be surrounded by a metallic frame? Naturally he took advantage of the loophole. The ss floated to his side, the metal jerked and separated from the ss pane. Luckily the window floated not too far from the ground. The impact made little noise and did not attract the attention of the blocked zombies downstairs. At the same time, all the metal in the room converged towards Yan Fei. using the open window frame as a starting point, the metal gradually condensed downward towards the parking area, forming a metallic slide. Yan Fei used almost all the metal in the room but some cars parked downstairs were swallowed by the long metaldder. Once thest step was done, he breathed a sigh of relief and waved at the group. "Down." As if in a dream, the five people walked over and slid down one by one. Luo Xun wentst, standing beside Yan Fei and whispered after He Qiankun slid down. "You okay?" Li Tie andpanys attention had been grabbed by the metal slide and did not think about where the energy came from to pull that off. Luo Xun from the start had focused on Yan Fei, so he knew that the others current state was not good. Yan Fei looked at him, his eyes had a trace of warmth in the depths. "Not bad, some dizziness." This longdder was much more troublesome than the steel wall built in Luo Xuns house before they left base. He did feel some exhaustion. Luo Xun hurriedly shoved something into Yan Feis hands. "Try these." "What are these?" Yan Fei looked in surprise at the five or six, transparent small diamond like things. "Um...I found it inside a zombies head after I killed it. Might be like the nucleus in zombie light novels? Could replenish your energy?" Luo Xun scratched his cheek and pointed at the slide. "Lets hurry down." Outside the door, the smell had gradually attracted zombies, the number was not high but in a while the warehouse would not be safe. Yan Fei nodded, motioned for Luo Xun to go first, he would follow behind. "Quick! Get in the car!" Luo Xun and the group felt relief after they rushed inside the vehicles. The backpacks and other boxes were thrown into the back trunk. He immediately started the car. In the passenger seat, Yan Fei closed his eyes and his heart shed with a hint of surprise. When he meditated he could feel the energy contained the crystal nucleus held tightly in his palm! This energy couldpletely replenish his currently low spiritual power! With that thought, he concentrated, the energy flowed along his palm through his arms and whole body like refreshing spring water. When he came back to focus and opened his hand, the shards were gone...were absorbed? Thinking of the nucleuss source, Yan Fei was a little awkward for a few seconds then calmed himself. If he had not met Luo Xun, he was afraid he would not even have a set of tableware to eat on base. These things were not really eaten anyway, where would the remains be expelled? The southwest base in A-city was busy in full swing. Many people had been involved in wall construction. Those with experience or help got a leg up, the rest of the neers who did not take part in thest construction project dug the foundation and mixed cement, tasks that did not need too much experience. Meanwhile, the armys more experienced engineers were frantically building new homes in the inner circle. Chapter 37 The outer base wall was built up but since the inner circle already had protection it was necessary to increase construction projects to provide a ce for the new people to live. Although the vast majority ofmunications had been cut, military specific satellite and phones still ran normally. Early on, the problems on base became more serious at this time dangerous news reached the southwest base. Apart from ordinary residents, there were many important people who needed to move to the more sturdy bases in A-city. The southwest base was main eptance, rescued people went to the western and northern bases. So the pressure was lighter on the east side C the northeast base was responsible for that. It was true, in A-city the two bases in the north and northeast were now in trouble and could be overrun at any time. With the west base as a precedent, the two bases had decided to start evacuation to other well established bases. Building the outer wall was only part of the task, in the event the wall was not yet built and the three idents created a deluge of zombies...they would need to retreat into the inner circle defense. They needed to build additional defences. Recently a lot of people lived in Wang Jing district because behind them was a stretch of farnd, so themunity area was considered pure. But in thest two days, with the emergencies on three bases, it was no longer clear. The east side of Ping Fang district, which had been ttened years earlier had been recently cleared of rubbish and foundation was being ced. Listening to the sound of thumping from outside the wall, Puppy opened her mouth andzily yawned. Half body in the balcony sun, her head lied on her paws with grains of dog food and slippers. She stood and shook her warm fur and tail while trotting off to the nearbyrge ss box. She toured her territory, the whole room was hers! Although she was not actually that arrogant, since her owners lived here, so did she. The little quails who lived in the ss box were now active, running here and there. Drilling and sometimes grasping the earth with little ws to dig up some mealworms or pecking at slivers of lettuce in the soil. A straw-like object hung over the whole aquarium, each half day water would drop to irrigate the vegetables. The puppys nose was pressed against the ss, forming a thinyer of mist. Lifted a paw for the 20th time to confirm she could not y together with the small animals. The little puppy turned away proudly then secretly turned her head to look at what the quails happily pecked at...something green and delicious? The puppy tilted her head at the big white pipe that circled the balcony with a half blocked metal fence. The green things on top seemed to be the same as what the birds pecked at? Swinging her tail at the bare rail fence, for security reasons Luo Xun did not leave the barricade too high. At the puppys current size, she may be able to jump out...but a collision would hurt! No, curiosity killed the cat, the little chow chow puppy was very smart. She understood that they could do some things but not others. If she really jumped out and never came back what would happen when the owners came back? If you do something bad, keep your tail clean! Never get caught!! She flicked her tail and did twops inside. Then jumped onto the box of dog food to eat a few big mouthfuls before leaping out. In order to easily eat food there was a box half the size of the bigger one used as adder. When the puppy jumped out she did not step on it and instead knocked against it...wait moved? A light bulb shed over the dogs head and after a while the sound of shuffling came from the room. The seven people with four cars were sweating in their situation. At this time, Yan Fei the only ability user was also tense, his forehead beaded with sweat. "The front can only be rammed past." Luo Xun clenched his teeth and floored the elerator. Their luck was not good, more like horrific! After managing to escape from the supermarket towards the exit, they hit dozens of cars with a string of zombies in front of them! Luo Xun and the others cars could hold more things but could not really be regarded as strong. There were a few modified SUVs in front, the mostmon type of delivery vehicle! Could notpare to the speed of a puma, the vehicles could only be merged into the tail of the convoy. Even worse was that for some unknown reason the cars were not speeding away! Although the crystal nuclei had recovered a lot of Yan Feis mental strength, there were a lot of zombies outside the car so his hands moved in bursts to kill batches of the creatures. The car was not strong enough so he had to also strengthen the small truck and his spirit was on the brin of copse. "Go ahead, there should be no problem with the front." Yan Fei had conveniently added some metal parts for protection and durability. As for Li Tie, their two cars were right behind, following as if their lives depended on it. The two could not handle more at the moment and could only pray for better future luck. The car in front suddenly increased horsepower and rushed forward followed by another...and another. Suddenly spun around to face Luo Xun and the other students. "What a situation!" The car was not fast, but the road ahead was blocked, Luo Xun andpany could not get around! Yan Feis brow wrinkled, the cars speed, angle, where it separated... What was wrong with the car? Or...was it on purpose? Luo Xun was unavoidably sort of anxious while the car in front slowed down, the headlights shed, the horn honked but none of the peer cars were ready to help. A number of desperate zombies jumped on the car, ayer of dead bodies obstructed the vehicle. One waved its arm, drooling dark green saliva as the fresh meat in the car caused a burst of crazy hunger. Luo Xun could only helplessly watch from the back. The car was in a parallel position and one could faintly see looks of panic C the people inside had not been infected. The other cars rushed forward, away from the zombie group while some wanted to stay and watch. Their thin skin could not stand the act of ignoring the car. Luo Xun lightly shook his head, he had nothing to say, no mind to go down and save them. Shined his tail lights, behind Li Tie said they were ready to face the zombie horde and so they mmed down on the elerator. It took 20 minutes for them to rush out from the zombies. The car was not far from the team and was not in almostplete tatters. WIth draped bodies, the source of a disgusting nauseous liquid, unknown w marks, it looked scary. Although there were not many zombie groups on the roadside, the number of zombies wandering on the road of the residential area only increased. There were even a few fast running zombies stuck next to the motorcade. Luo Xun let out a breath, if this continued they would be back in a few minutes. As his mind started a thought, he did not have a chance to speak with Yan Fei when all heard a faint cry C the cries of a baby. Did not know which car, with the crying, zombies rushed to a car in the convoy. The crying suddenly stopped, listening carefully one could still faintly hear some noise. It seemed that someone in the car had blocked the childs mouth with something. But the zombies ears were more sensitive than people thought, the cry had be quieter but had notpletely disappeared. The faint voice inside the car instead only further excited the zombies. One suddenly rushed the car with a harsh cry, the cars trunk burst open. Another zombie suddenly leaped towards the car, the baby cried again and some people screamed. From behind wanting to bypass the siege a car window was lowered and a parcel was thrown out. "Child! My child!" A woman whimpered in a hoarse voice from behind cover. Luo Xun and group watched as the zombies pounced on the small parcel. "...Inhuman." Luo Xuns lips curled and he took a deep breath. He suddenly turned left at the next junction, behind the students cars hurriedly followed. He knew it was amon scene in the apocalypse, not only uncontrobly crying children/babies, old people and women whose menstrual blood attracted zombies were thrown out of vehicles. A lot of people escaped as soon as possible in their cars, dropping bait in exchange escape time. These were all too normal. Those who were pushed down were mainly the infirmed, elderly and the very young. Those prioritised in peacetime before the end of the world had been the first to be abandoned. Luo Xun thought he had seen a lot of things, a little less than the first apocalypse but it would get worse and worse over time. When he had fled north to A-city southwest base had he not seen many such things on the road? Sure enough he was unsuited to leave the base for work huh... Suddenly the silent Yan Fei raised a hand to reassuringly pat Luo Xuns shoulder. "Dont worry, dont think to much." Luo Xun looked around hium with some surprise, his expression was as calm as always with some indifference. Luo Xun who had already had a heavy life was not calm yet. Did ability users also get an effect of stabilizing the mind? With a long sigh, Luo Xun slightly nodded and pressed down on the gas pedal to run over a zombie. "Im fine, nothing to say to those people and their peers are dangerous." So he turned down a street. Of course Luo Xun would not admit that those people were not pleasing to the eye. Yan Fei quirked a smile and suddenly asked, "You like children?" Luo Xu paused a moment. Then shrugged with some mncholy. "I once wanted the chance to adopt a child but unfortunately..." Hisst life had been too lonely, there were so many people on base but living during the zombie apocalypse was like animals in a cage. Trust between people was extremely weak. His past life, there had been a reluctance tomunicate with others to avoid trouble but the environment of persecution made people unable to believe in each other. However human beings could not live alone withoutmunication, ones spirit could not stand a long period of istion. At the beginning of the road north he had thought of partners however Luo Xun did understand that two may not really stay together upon reaching A-city. But there had been a thought in his mind, to at least not let him feel lonely. Although he did not remember the mans name and his appearance had long been blurred. At the end of his life, did he not buy the child because he was too lonely? After a hard days work, there was no one to talk to at home. All he wanted was to have a son. It was better than dying alone in the future, his dead body hidden in the basement. But the boy had run away. Seeing Luo Xuns look of deep sadness, Yan Feis heart could not help but sink but he was not deterred from the conversation. "Adoption?" Yan Fei smiled, "Why not marry a wife and have a child?" Even if the present situation was not good, if he really wanted to find a woman to live with, Luo Xuns hamster nest would help. Besides, what kind of person thought of adopting a son in the current climate? Unless he knew for certain he would never have a child in his life or was unwilling to marry a woman. Luo Xunughed and shook his head in amusement. "Cant afford to marry." He could not say he had be bent long ago, not to mention living alone, keeping a dog as a son would be an early alternative. Now was the first part of the apocalypse, his doctrine was too advanced, estimated that no one would ept. Yan fei raised a rather profound smile. "Good follow me and have the chance to adopt a son to being home." The originally steady car suddenly drifted in a s shape. Li Tie who was behind got a huge scare and agitatedly tried to keep up with the car in front. Waited for the car in front to return to normal and did not find anything to avoid on the road. "What happened just now?" Li Tie asked He Qiankun beside him. He Qiankun wiped off some cold sweat. "Hit, hit the steering wheel wrong?" Li Tie breathed a sigh of relief. "Must have been driving too long, caused by mental stress." Chapter 38 Luo Xun thought todays car ride was off to a bad start, especially since the guy sitting next to him was flirting with hispanions. He could confirm that the guy was definitely flirting with him! Although Yan Fei might think he was just teasing but for him, the joke tested the strength of his liver. Luo Xun tightly grasped the steering wheel while ignoring the person beside him, he refused to delve into desires of hope. These sorts of people flirt with small actions at first to pull people in. You react, they would needle you more, ignoring was the best response! Right now was the time to metaphorically flee! Luo Xun was startled, he had not traversed the current road before but in order to avoid any danger or idents in the apocalypse, he had carefully studied possible routes he had used in the early months of the worlds end. Although this road was a slightly slower journeypared to the highway, the difference between upper and lower was not significant when rubbish and abandoned vehicles were in the way. But the most important concern was there would probably be a lot of zombies on the way and it was already dark. If one could not get back to the base before nightfall, it was best to find a safe ce to spend the night. There seemed to be nothing dangerous up ahead, Luo Xun reckoned they had an hour and a half until a residential area far away enough to spend the night. In his former life he rarely had the chance to take the lead on the road, to kill zombies. After seeing much, Luo Xun was still envious of this violent and fierce work. But he did not have a good car, it was impossible for him to have an important job as a skinny, no background and no connections. What if he took the opportunity and drove away with the goods? He could only be envious. But now...it was alright! The result of adrenaline spike, Li Tie and the other students only had two eyes, hands sweating, pushing down on the gas pedal to follow Luo Xun in their cars. "I did not think Luo Xun could unexpectedly drive so fast even when pulling another car!: "Yeah you saw that tail drift, that posture in the wind, so much to learn!" "Nonsense, you still need to say?" The team turned again and again, ready to take the road here to find a suitable ce to spend the night. Suddenly they saw arge wave of zombies in front C someone was surrounded! It appeared to be a smallmercial street with a convenience store nearby which was now surrounded by zombies. Luo Xun andpany had just turned, near the zombies came the roaring of engines. Suddenly three or four motorcycles burst from the zombie horde. Each motorcycle had a second passenger with small andrge bulging backpacks. Luo Xun kept his nce at the small shop still surrounded by zombies. He wanted to speed past it but felt something was off. "Eh?" "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun referred to the zombie. "Why arent they chasing?" All the people had run away but the zombies did not chase. Unscientific unless... "There are people." Yan Fei suddenly pointed towards the shop, the area was soon filled with zombie bodies. Even if there were people inside, in general zombies would chase the escapers rather thany siege on those left behind. The situation did not match typical zombie behaviour...they had no judgement unless there was something unusual about the person left behind C for example a wound or something. Luo Xun had not finished thinking when suddenly the area surrounded by zombies was bathed in blue, yes blue! A blue tornado broke out towards the zombies, fiercely vibrating out in all directions! Wind ability but also a very high initial ability of wind powers! Ordinarily people with wind abilities could not deal with so many zombies at the same time. The wind would not have the capacity to kill, unless that person and Yan Fei both had strong abilities! Luo Xun subconsciouly nced at Yan Fei while hitting the headlights and slowing down. Saving and bringing someone back to base also got a reward, not to mention a person with a powerful wind ability? Of course a more important reason was he was worried about his own line of people right now. In this state, the wind power was no different from an attack. The zombies around had been blown away or cut to pieces revealing the man who had been surrounded in the middle. The man wore a casual suit with a slim figure. He was not carrying anything but his left sleeve was pulled up revealing a toned arm with an open wound and flowing blood. Luo Xun sighed darkly, Yan Fei gave a side nce in response. Both had the same conclusion C the persons injury was not artificial, those people had intentionally left the wounded person to attract zombies in order to escape. Some more distant zombies were not cut by the deadly wind des instead knocked with air flow. That person did not know using abilities would exacerbate blood loss. The man standing seemed to sway, seemed like he would copse at any moment. *Poof, pop-pop* The sound of voices, crossbow arrows mowed down any remaining zombies the group had cleared the area. Li Tie and the others stopped the car before taking action seeing the opened door of the car in front. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had alreadye out. Without a brutal baptism of the apocalyptic world, they were not indifferent so the young people were d they came in time to save a person, who also had a powerful ability. The man, once picked up by the two fell into the car and fainted. Luo Xun looked at the man with a bbergasted expression after confirming the wound was not made by a zombie so the saver would be rewarded. Plus with Yan Fei in the car there would a bnce amongst the powerful ability users amongst other factors. However he did not think this character would appear like this! Ahhh! Who was this!? Looking at closed peach blossom eyes Luo Xun wanted to scream C was this not the beautiful wind demon man from his past life!? Who once used his wind power to rip up a group of pursuers? He still had nightmares about it! Yan Fei squinted, mysteriously smiled then gently patted Luo Xuns shoulder. "Leave this to me. You drive to a ce to spend the night, here is not safe." Yan Feis voice was soft and gentle but Luo Xun felt chills down his neck without knowing why...but going to the car was safer than helping the wounded man. Luo Xun resolutely sat back in the drivers seat, ready to start the engine and drive! Yan Fei stared andpared the mans face with his own with narrowed eyes Cpared to his own looks, he liked this sort of face more? From child to adulthood Yan Fei felt his face was a convenient advantage, especially when dealing the elderly. When he was a child he would go out and in store would be given free discounts. Unfortunately Yan Fei never wanted for money and did not need the benefits but it had felt cool at the time. But now he felt it was an unnecessary trouble. Now in the face of another person, with same level of handsomeness but the other was valued higher? Why not scar the flower? He was currently passed out. The idea was just a sh of impulse, Yan Fei did not entertain the ugly, inhumane idea. He refused to stoop to excessive behaviour, it would also ruin Luo Xuns work of tightly wrapped gauze bandages. Any leakage would cause the zombies to catch their scent with sensitive noses. The car was already started, Yan Fei sat in the back with the fainted person, hands crossed over his chest coldly looking at the unconscious guy on a pile of cargo. His current mood was all because of this guy and the one in front of him driving. The reason was obvious. Yan Fei sneered, once again gave the man a side nce. He opened a hole in the car wall and climbed directly through. Luo Xun was startled seeing Yan Fei through a wall, heined a bit but continued to drive. Yan Fei smiled wider and patted Luo Xuns head at the same time ambiguously put his face beside the others ear lobe. Luo Xun almost caused the car to drift in a s shape again. This guy already marked for his own, not to be contaminated. As for the guy in the back, how would he get himself killed? Yan Fei would not do such a grievous thing. Yan Fei was very confident in himself, even in the face of some crisis it would be fine if he quickly cultivated feelings. Maybe it was just surprise to see the appearance of a rare ability user? Since the person had entered his bowl he will never let go, not to mention the person in the back of the car is not at the same level. Luo Xun was not the kind to be impulsive, what should be worry about? After the journey there was still some trouble, a street filled with zombies but they need to bypass the bad situation. It was not long before the sky waspletely dark and it was unwise to act at night in a world filled with zombies. Luo Xun and the others had found a ce to stay overnight. They hid in a beauty salon on the second floor, concentrated firepletely destroyed the stairs so tomorrow morning they would just climb out a window to go downstairs. Or Yan Fei could create a simple staircase out of metal. When Li Tie andpany saw the man who had been rescued by Luo Xun, the crowd seemed to be struck by lightning for a moment C were they still alive? Already had super handsome Yan Fei who not only had good stature, was tall, had a powerful ability. It left few people not feeling envy and hate in their hearts but he was only one person. Those without the same did not care to contend with nature. But now, there was another one...same height, good looks, strong ability... Oh, did the apocalypse only favor handsome men? Why was it that these people were always blessed? How could the others live? How to live!? Chapter 39 Zhang Yi was half asleep when he seemed to feel someone walk forward, the sensation of going upstairs C his foot touched down on the stairs. After being put down Zhang Yis eyelids opened a crack C those people who absolutely did not have a good heart, who had framed and abandoned him. After leaving how would theye back to save him? Therefore when he fully opened his eyes to see a few unfamiliar faces, he felt relieved and closed his eyes. "Did he just open his eyes?" Han Li asked. Wang Duo nodded in affirmation. "Right, opened." "Did he faint again?" He Qiankun had an impulse to poke the persons face C especially since the guys face was so fine without any pores. It added to the aggravated impulse to leave finger marks. "Is it possible he bled too much?" Luo Xun hurried to check on the second floor, relieved when he confirmed no overt blood loss. Li Tie paid little attention to the new handsome man and did not participate in the discussion. Instead he excitedly pulled Luo Xun after scrounging around the room for a while. "Brother Luo Xun! Theres so much to take back!" "Yes, yes there are chairs and beds. Should we bring a few back?" He Qiankuns attention was immediately shifted to more practical gains. He went upstairs and saw the things in the rooms C with these, they would not have to make their own bed! "And these...Ill collect it first, pack it tomorrow morning!" Wu Xin rolled up his sleeves and dashed over to a pile of pots and jars. Wang Duo smiled and threw cold water on the excitement. "Some are empty and useless, have you confirmed what products you can use?" "EIther way, I could use them as mouthwash." Wu Xin gave an angry looks while tirelessly looking at the beauty products. Yan Fei did not talk to the two groups that were gossiping. He stood alone in the room in front of the stairs. All the metal he had stripped off before going up, the stairs floated in midair; slowly intersected, condensed and nted into a smooth slope under his control. With a loud noise, a strong fence appeared at the front of the staircase. "Done?" Luo Xun turned around to see the situation. Seeing Yan Fei had transformed the staircase into a slide, Luo Xun hurriedly found somewhere to grab a towel to wipe off sweat. Yan Fei took the towel and calmly wiped his face since he had exerted quite a bit of effort. He silently regretted that someone did not help him wipe the sweat off...no hurry he did not have a short temper. Whether on the negotiating table with his own unscrupulous parents, reading each other just needed enough patience and calction. So he turned and walked past Luo Xun saying over his shoulder. "Eat first and then see what things to take away tomorrow morning." Luo Xuns attention shifted to something on the second floor of the building. He was not interested in the cosmetics that Wu Xin wanted C his face was not too sensitive. Also was not interested in the chairs and bed C their home had a sofa and a king size bed, iparable to regr sleeping things. But he was interested in the huge curtains hanging on the windows and the towels in the cabs. Luo Xun had settled in a beauty salon not far from the residential area. Fortunately since it was in the shop street , the beauty parlor had a rare second floor, which was why they chose the ce as a temporary resting ce. So, the beauty salon furnishings...Luo Xun thought of someday in the future, hearing these five university students possible falling from these beds and being ufortable. The heavy curtains tightly blocked any prying eyes while Luo Xun and the others began to prepare dinner. Because there was now a patient in the team, they deliberately made some soup to take turns spoon feeding the handsome man. Sadly the handsome man did not give them the chance as he woke up as thest step of dinner was finished. "Come and have dinner first." Wang Duo nced at the beautiful man with anticipation, patience, anxiety and so on while handing over some porridge they had just made. Luo Xun brought a piece of corn bread to make the porridge, directly thrown into bubbling liquid to make arge pot of food. Easy and convenient. Luo Xun had made the corn cakes for the apocalypse, dry and longsting. Deliberately for making simple porridge while out on the go. If there was a time Luo Xun was by himself and there was no other food to eat, he could choke down the dry ration. After receiving the porridge bowl, Zhang Yi looked at the group in front of him C looked very young and clean, no sign of harm from the apocalypse. He sighed in relief but his heart had a strange feeling when he saw Yan Fei C the person seemed to dislike him a bit. Of course in face of the other, Zhang Yi also immediately realized the same feeling towards Yan Fei. Both were handsome and pleasing to the eyes... The two simr people repelled each other as they ate dinner in silence with asional secret nces. The first to notice the unknown hostility was the rescued, just awakened Zhang Yi. It was likely since he was just rescued after having a bad experience with his previous team members. He observed the other man there was an undisguised sense of strength C the two of them both had good looks but their minds were not the same. Not the same kind nature so not enemies, more unnecessary to each other. "Thank you." After eating, Zhang Yi had some difficulty passing the bowl back to Wang Duo. Revealing a pure, harmless smile sessfully caused the five students to shiver. Luo Xun covertly nced at the smiling man with peach blossom eyes. He discreetly shuddered, a static discharge down his back. He did not notice as he moved closer to Yan Fei. Yan Fei instantly was vignt towards the other but also internally expressed goodwill. "Have you eaten your fill?" "Ah? Ah." Luo Xun hurriedly nodded and looked away. Although he did not gorge himself all the time, he was sure to eat enough food after physical exertion. Otherwise if he became hungry and dizzy while fighting a zombie, would he not be asking for death? Zhang Yi quietly gave a side nce at the two then smiled with profound meaning. Li Tie and the others introduced themselves. While waiting for his turn, Luo Xun reminscied C this was the first time he had met the wind god face to face. He had heard of the mans achievements several times from others. Luo Xun could only nod at the supposed demon of wind. No, the gap between memory and reality was too big. He had a headache and wanted to close his eyes to temporarily escape reality. While Luo Xun was in disarray, Yan Fei beside him pointed out sharply, "When we saw you, we saw some motorcycles from the supermarket. You left yourself behind in the group of zombies?" Because the blood from the wound was a normal red, it was apparently not caused by a zombie so Luo Xun took him into the car and brought him here. Otherwise who would take a man whose arm was covered in blood? Zhang Yis expression changed, the original smile became a bit distorted. Seeing he did not want to bring up the matter, Yan Fei changed topics with a well meaning smile. "We are from the southwest base. What will you do? Stay here? Ore back with us?" Zhang Yi took a deep breath, a hint of darkness in his eyes and a wry smile. He nced at Yan Fei. "I did not expect this to happen. I was injured by a previouspanion form there." He knew Yan Fei wanted to know if his injury would end up a problem, he had no answer, he would redirect the conversation. "What!?" "How could it be!?" Li Tie and the others eximed, they had not thought of that possibility. But with the situation at the grocery store it was not hard for the subconscious to think of the dark possibility. Zhang Yis facial expression was nk, eyes looked straight towards the fire, voice t. "I do not know what living on the security base is like after the zombie apocalypse but outside...it ismon for living people to rob each other and to have confrontations. Especially when peoplee out to collect things and get besieged by a lot of zombies. They need a decoy to attract the zombies attention so the others can escape." "So you were the bait!?" Wu Xin gasped with a startled face. He Qiankun hesitantly asked. "It was voluntary? You sacrificed yourself for the team?" The corners of Zhang Yis mouth twisted into a grimace. Wang Duo interrupted. "You silly? Would you take the initiative?" He Qiankun touched neck, ring while muttering. "If he could not run...it would not be impossible..." With those words, Wang Duo was about to hit a second time but instead pressed a hand and rubbed his face. "You silly but not stupid, even if encounter danger better to have everyone escape!" Zhang Yis expression shifted, seeing those with innocence towards the world, his heart sighed. "Where do you live?" Luo Xun who had been quiet put away his memory of the guy in a corner and pulled out a map. "Live?" Seeing the map in Luo Xuns hands, he paused then pointed. "Here we live here in a high rise district." The shops and homes near the top were already being evacuated as far as they could be, most of the survivors were joining the ranks. It was just he had not expected this situation with his current team today. Luo Xun took out a pen to mark out tomorrows route. On the side Li Tie thought of a question and asked. "Wait, arent you a wind ability user? How could they harm you?" Were all the people in the team power users? How else would such a powerful person get injured? Zhang Yi suddenlyughed sarcastically. "Because none of them knew I had powers." He had hid his strength from the beginning, sure enough thest man had betrayed him again. This was the second time, two days before apocalypse plus this one. The next time they met, he would not hesitate to use his razor sharp control of wind to execute with one sh. It was a beautiful smile but the handsome man was scary. Luo Xun who was plotting out the next days route looked up to see the smile. Thest time he had seen that smile in his past life a group of people had died. Luo Xun shivered again, chills down his back...did he bump into something? Turned to face Yan Fei who also suddenly smiled with ambiguous meaning. Luo Xuns scalp felt numb as he tried to stagger backwards. Yan Fei took out a coat and covered Luo Xuns body. "The night is cold. Once the route is nned, go rest." Luo Xun thought to himself...why did all beautiful men have such scary smiles? He wanted to flee back to base? Although Luo Xun felt caution towards Zhang Yi, Li Tie and the others who had not experienced that brutal killing scene in the past did not feel any problems. Together theyforted the poor beauty who had been betrayed, framed and abandoned by hispanions. The feeling of despair over the state of the world was temporarily thrown aside by a flood ofpassion. ZhangYi had bled too much and needed to rest overnight. The group took turns with a watch schedule. Although many people came to the business district after the apocalypse to find things, wandering zombies would be attracted, fortunately the number was not too high. Luo Xun andpany killed some zombies in the vicinity, the blood of corpses spilled everywhere to cover up the scent of the Otaku team. The next morning they determined that there were only 10-12 zombies outside. Luo Xun stood in the window and shot one at a time while Li Tie and the students began to frantically dismantle all the cloth in the room as well as part of the furniture. The steel staircase once again covered, Yan Fei to Zhang Yis shock calmly ovepped the metallic materials into the car frames C to strengthen the body itself. Unneeded materials would go to the base, others could be peeled off for continual use. It was a good way though Yan Fei was a little dizzy after handling the metal. Zhang Yi was like peacock in his own territory, smartly climbed into Wang Duos open car. With no other problems, the group of seven plus one went to load the cars, the rest would have consumed too much of Yan Feis mental reserves. Began trips to the salon to transport things into the vehicles. No mistake, as soon as these things were packed, the car would full with no space. Li Tie and the others removed a full five beds from the store, also asked if Yan Fei wanted one. He declined and instead added a stack of chairs to the roof container. Such arge pile of things looked dangerous but with Yan Fei the items and the roof blended together. They would be separated after heading back. Luckily their location was not too far from the southwest base, enough to let the group go all out. A lot of survivors had gathered outside the southwest base gate. There was a newly built high wall to enter open space of a temporary waiting area before entering base. When they arrived, it was almost full of people and after entering the designated location by the military, everyone was relieved. Zhang Yi and Luo Xun separated before the registration, although they had brought him back and points would be counted to their team, the base would take care of the rest. The base would arrange for them to follow the rules, no need to worry. What was more, Zhang Yi also had an injury. The wound needed professional help and people with injuries were observed longer than ordinary people. "The waiting area is for those from base who went searching right?" Han Li with his height stood and looked around but did not find people who looked familiar in the crowd. "The people who went out with usst time, did theye back?" Wu XIn asked. "Who knows? We came back fast, wait a while were able to redecorate our home well! Finally have a bed to sleep on..." He Qiankun happily hugged a big bag to his bosom. Their cars were parked in designated area, the outside had to be disinfected. After some time to go in and pick them up. As for the materials to be handed over to the base, just registered upon arrival C can be sure. Yan Fei who deliberately draped the outside of the car in metal did not need to turn over, it was earned! The stuff they brought back did not included bedding C the supermarket section had been picked clean by earlier people. But they had found the right cotton and cloth from the fabric store nearby. It could be processed simply after going back home. It had been killing them to have no covers or bedding in such cold weather. "Well, we just have to wait about five hours before we can leave!" Chapter 40 Although Yan Fei had been to many ces and taken many things, since his mental movements were fast, the day appeared to pass by quickly. But arriving on base this morning, waiting in the open space, on the contrary felt like time passed too slowly. The people on base for the first time were not together with those from base with tasks. Far away from base people were stepping up to build more walls. Luo Xun andpany wanted to inquire about yesterday on the road. Did a teame to the base with arge number of zombies? There had been a lot of zombies behind them, and even if they could safely run to base, people needed to be dispatched immediately to deal with the creatures. Unfortunately there were now waiting with uninformed people, the base required them to stay in a painted grid without moving so there was no way to ask for information. The people in the waiting area were uninjured original base members, wounded personnel were in another courtyard. Thergest courtyard was recently built a few days ago as a ce for outsiders to sit and wait. Only the military had not picked up anyone yet. The army men acted earlier than Luo Xun but they faced a far more difficult situationpared to Luo Xuns team. They needed to search but the poption was spread across a lot of areas. Luo Xun andpany had stayed in the outskirts of A-city C how would those who were from more remote areas make it? A few people took advantage while waiting to discuss amongst themselves how to renovate the house when they got back, since the things were jointly collected. The materials divided into two for the respective houses, the rest would divided into seven parts, one each. Of course the metal sheets, blocks and other things were Yan Feis, useless for the other party members. Li Tie and the others originally wanted to give more C Yan Fei was an ability user and they had never heard of metal powers! His strength was high, this time they also relied on his ability for everyone to safely retreat, plus the metal and simr materials did not count for much. But Yan Fei refused, he did not need to be stingy, not because he was living with Luo Xun but his life did not have a lot of pressure. Seeing as Yan Fei had a strong ability while Li Tie and the others were ordinary people, perhaps there would be fewer opportunities for their skills on base but it was different for him. He could earn more than them by helping the military repair the walls. Even if he did not want to expose his ability to the public as Luo Xun said, he could use metal at home to do arms sales. He could even use his power to transform metal into all kinds of daily life items as needed. The cooperation between the seven people was harmonious. Li Tie took the chance to humbly ask Luo Xun about renovating problems. They had the ability to do a good job but Luo Xun had a greater degree of familiarity with the stuff at the mall. Luo Xun was not an expert but he at least knew how to paste tiles? How would the floor be paved? How to paint the walls? If Li Tie asked now, he would be able to get started sooner. When the Otaku team got back to the car and set out towards home, everyones hearts were filled with intense excitement. There was an effort to ignore their physical fatigue. Wanted to go back to sleep but also wanted to go back and renovate right away. However it would take more than one day to finish everything. Ah! Ah, ah, ah so tangled! By the time they reached the ground floor, the group was incredibly indignant to discover a frightening fact C the elevator was not in operation and they lived on the 16th floor! The car was loaded down with a variety ofrge and heavy home materials! God, did they have to carry all these things to the 16th floor after an exhausting full day? "What time do the elevator doors open?" He Qiankun turned to Li Tie in fear. Wang Duo referred to a piece of paper posted in the corridor notice column and crushed the impulse tough. "Once in morning and afternoon, now is 3:30 pm. Waiting for the afternoon...it will take 1.5 hours." Because energy on base was still plentiful, the elevator ran for an hour longer than in Luo Xuns memory for a daily total of six hours. "Not too long, first we unload all the things in the corridor and move in the elevator when it arrives." Luo Xun nced at the the time table and nodded decisively. Yes, they took a lot of time to move things from the car. Piece by piece and pile by pile. At first since most of the residents in the vicinity were out at work, no one saw the groups movements. After a little while they were quietly surrounded by a lot of onlookers. The floor tiles were okay, peoples interest was not big but when they saw the cotton cloth in the car, some people could not sit still. First someone came to ask if these things were for sale or trade. After getting a negative answer, quietly left not knowing what to do. After a while, a crowd came together again and many of them looked decidedly unfriendly. There were troops on base to maintain order but there was no real peace in private. Military personnel were recently involved inrge scale operations to help other bases. The rest of the military had been responsible for building the outer wall and houses. Often the conflict had already passed when the official personnel btedly arrived on the scene. What was more, recently the number of zombies outside had increased, many of the smaller groups outside could no longer live in the urban areas looking for resources. When they learned a base had been established came near to the area. Those outside had followed the rule of the jungle C after wandering around for a month those people did not like the base rules. While the vast majority of people went out to work or collecting resources, they twisted doors, broke locks, things like robbery and extortion happened repeatedly. Luo Xun found more and more people outside and directed Yan Fei to stay in front and in charge of the car. They also readied their crossbows to shot at a moments notice. When the first wave of malicious people who did not go earn points or go scavenging only scared and robbed others, Yan Fei did not bat an eye and waved his hand. The sound of rumbling, a ring surrounded the four vehicles, spikes floated up and pointed outwards. Looking at the steel needles floating threateningly those who were close to the car broke out in a sh of cold sweat, legs weakly took a few steps back. "If you want to go upstairs, please wait a minute." Yan Fei carelessly put his hands in his pockets while sweeping the crowd with eyes of contempt. "We still have a lot of things to move, if we identally lost something..." He trailed off with sharp eyes, people retreated even further. One person hollowlyughed. "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Just passing, just passing." Yan Fei also no longer spoke only returned to the wall, letting the steel pieces fall then collecting them back, continue to train his abilities. Found that these people with an abundant harvest were not soft persimmons, could not handle at all, the onlookers bitterly retreated but still not willing to leave. Secretly inquired if these people lived in the building? Which floor? Luo Xun and the others ignored the crowd but silently elerated the speed of handling. To tell the truth, they had a good harvest this time, took nearly an hour for all the moving to finish. A few peopleid on the floor, mouth panting and so on. When some of their physical strength recovered just in time, the elevator had started itsst operation round of the day. Desperately filled the elevator, set aside the other to let upants of the building use normally. The sky had thoroughly darkened, a cold wind blew outside, they finally put thest batch of things in the elevator. Lying in the corridor like a tired dog. Not to mention the others, even the strongest Yan Fei had also broken some sweat. "Want to...make bubble...hot shower...body rancid..." Wang Duo stared nkly lying on a pile of things, cannot see clearly, tongue lolling. Luo Xun calcted some physical strength, swept a nce at the floor without a single tenant, confirmed that they were not assigned out and let loose a sigh. "No, this evening have to block the elevator door and transform the stairs so that people do note. Its okay to leave things in the corridor." "Right! Correct!" The group nodded. As the only main force, Yan Fei silently nced at Luo Xun, decided to wait until return home to check his interest. The elevator door was simple, directly cast side with metal so that people who took the elevator they would only see a block...a steel te stuck there. The staircase was also simple Yan Fei just had to convert into a slide like in the beauty salon. Then also seal the 16th floor door with metal. Everyone on the floor were acquaintances so there were no problems. Quick decisions meant faster seals. Luo Xun and the others brought back more stuff this time, a full four cars. The corridor became full so he opened the door of Yan Feis apartment to directly put some things away. At this moment the group of people had no strength to pay attention to other things. Made sure the few doors were closed after they went back to their rooms ready for a good nights rest, raise spirit for tomorrow. When Luo Xun opened the door of the home came face to a steel fence he remembered C there were protective measures at home. Coughed dryly Luo Xun smiled and pointed at the doorway. "This..." Only Yan Fei could open this up. Now that he thought about it, if someone upset him he did not need much, could retaliate with the metal from the door. Sealing the door took excessive mental force so Yan Fei opened a slot enough for two people. What about the rest? Wait until tomorrow. Luo Xun heard harsh sounds of wing against metal from inside with barking sounds. "Hey? Puppy?" When he opened the door he had not heard Puppy. But it was a bit weird to not see her after opening the door. Ran towards the voice near the balcony. Luo Xun was stunned to discover C how had the small box near the dog food get over to the balcony? Did the puppy push it over while ying around at home? Followed the direction of the box towards the metal fence. Near a nting rack saw a pair of wronged, sobbing dog eyes. It seemed she did not have enough strength the speed of tail wagging was lower than usual. "...How did you get out of here?" Luo Xun was exasperated, estimated the puppy used the small box to jump behind the iron fence...but what was it doing back here? Stooped to hold the dog, Yan Fei also followed into the balcony and saw the puppy rubbing against Luo Xuns chest. When he put her down, she ran over to the basin of dog food crazily eating. "...Did she see the vegetables and want to eat them?" Yan Fei suddenly discovered what Luo Xun had missed. Pointed to outside the metal te. Luo Xun saw C the bottom twoyers of vegetables in the PVC pipe all chewed bald. Stunned to see two rows of little green vegetable remnants and seeing the starving puppy fiercely eating from the bowl of dog food. The corners of Luo Xuns mouth lifted. "Could it be she took initiative to jump out and eat vegetables?" Although dogs were an omnivorous animal, could mostly eat what humans ate, but who had heard of a dog willing to eat vegetables? So until now Luo Xun only thought that the puppy identally pushed the smaller box while ying but regrettably could not make it back after the jump...there were no boxes to step on or enough leverage to make the jump. The reason for eating the vegetables...probably because there was nothing else to eat? "Thank goodness I put the mutant nts above or else..." Did not want to think of him returning home but found the yful puppy had identally eaten some mutated nts...oh first thinge back to rescue the dog. The puppy fiercely nibbled food while internally sobbing, she reviewed her mistake. Hmm, got out but could not get back inside, then got caught by owner...aww dog lost face... Luo Xun changed clothes, washed hands in bathroom then went into the kitchen to prepare dinner C the two days outside could only eat simple food. Better at home with adequate ingredients. Yan Fei opened the metal te in front of the staircase, once again overused his spiritual power, had some slight shaking while walking. He wanted to head up to the second floor to change clothes but brain turned and gave up the idea. Luo Xun scratched his chin in the kitchen and wondered what to eat tonight? Everyone was tired from moving things in two days, for tomorrow will need more physical strength to renovate, well cannot have too little meat! But he was tired today, need to wat some easily digestible food... Hurried out of the kitchen, Yan Fei was not in the living room but his coat was left on the sofa. From direction of washroom Luo Xun heard the sound of water, he went to take a bath. Luo Xun picked some ingredients directly from the fridge. Arge chunk of pork C this had been frozen for some time but even frozen food had a shelf life. Anyway eat inventory at home! In the kitchen there were many eggs in the bamboo basket, some boiled, some cooked with pork belly, energy would be full. Home had potatoes, autumn before the apocalypse, sun dried eggnts and beans were thrown into the bubbling pot. Boiled the porridge, pastry good at home. He would like to eat rice with stewed meat but todays physical exertion was a bit excessive, better to have some porridge before bedtime. And the pastries? Well he was afraid the food will go bad again, so hurry up and eat them. Stewed meat took time, boiled eggnt also needed a lot of time. Stewed meat, cooked the porridge and then cut potatoes. Luo Xun stretched ready to take a bath when he heard Yan Feie out from the washroom. Take a bath and eat a hot meal, there was nothing morefortable during the apocalypse. Yan Fei opened the door, Luo Xun choked on his saliva. *cough*cough, cough*cough, cough, cough* "Whats wrong?Choking?" Yan Fei walked from the sofa towards Luo Xun ready to lend a hand...the coughing got worse, simply could not speak. Yan Fei kindly walked to his side, hand raised to pat back and clear airway. "Careful, how so careless?" Flushed red up to his ears, Luo Xun could not breathe, luckily managed to squeeze out a few words. "You, you, clothes...put on...too cold..." Luo Xun covered his face, even if one saw a beautye from a bath may not necessarily cause a nosebleed. Did not see him pinch his nose to stop the spray of red liquid? In dead of winter, Yan Fei just washed hair hung with water droplets, he appeared even more handsome. Luo Xun coughed even more, did not dare look at him. Final reason C he was only wearing a towel around his waist and slippers on his feet! Was he not cold? Did he want to show off his body!? Well then, his body was really good. Unlike his face that had a sense of delicateness, he had same feeling when Luo Xun had rescued him earlier C toned arms and legs, even his abdomen was not soft, could see the ABS! Plus legendary ferocity, people could not look straight at him! Hook, line, sinker! And his skin was not blindingly white but had a health golden glow... Table of Contents Chapter 41 Wait a minute! Now was not the time to judge Yan Feis stature! This guy C "Why are you not dressed!?" This was the culprit of Luo Xuns reaction! Yan Fei pretended to be surprised, raised an eyebrow and looked down at his clothes. "Clothes are upstairs and I am clearly wearing some now." How could that be considered clothes!? What was the difference between this and nothing? The towel only served to highlight of the shape of...ah, ah, ah! "You, you...Ill get it for you." Luo Xun would like to shove him upstairs to get some clothes to wear but could not face him at the moment. He took deep breathes but his eyes unconsciously went to the small white towel around Yan Feis waist...he was afraid being dyed for a moment he would turn into a wolf. Would it be easy for him to live a pure, innocent boy for two lifetimes? In the face of such a fragrance, he dared not bite, he wanted to live! He was going to eat meat! For a while the stew was eaten by himself. Luo Xun climbed the stairs in grief and indignation but suddenly realized that he had not told Yan Fei that he was gay when he brought him home. If he had stated in advance that they would be forced to live together for a while, it would have be suspicious if he ever wandered around at night. Right now he felt so much regret, if he had made it clear beforehand he would not have seen this scene today. Luo Xun shook of the thoughts, sped up his footsteps and rushed into the bedroom C clothes, clothes, a change of clothes! When Luo Xun came down the stairs, first nce could see the guy leisurely sitting on the sofa like an enticing fruit...Really wanted to say "Could you pay attention to the impact of your appearance" but he had not said anything about same-sex things so he kept his mouth shut. Two people had to cooperate for a long time and even slept in the same bed for a few days. If he said something now would it be strange? Someone would really not be willing to give up this kind of beauty but Luo Xun worried that it would cause bigger problems if nothing said now. It was a tough choice and if he lied, would he end up with a circle of countless lies? Although he had simply forgotten to mention it. He handed Yan Fei the clothes, having long forgotten the kitchen Luo Xun hurriedly ran to the bathroom. "I will also go take a bath." Luo Xun unconsciously nced to the sofa as he entered the door, saw Yan Fei stand up, focused on his waist again...a strong feeling coursed through him... mmed the door closed, Luo Xun stooped and leaned against the door. Almost poked his eyes out C he felt if he revealed his homosexuality, he would suffer even more mental torture...wait until after the bath, then go out and say it clearly! In the middle of his shower, Luo Xun was hit by another wave of attack C the bathroom door was pushed open. Frightened face looked to the door while hands subconsciously covered the lower body turned to the wall. Yan Fei was silent for a second, feeling like he was peeking at ady before point out, "The cooker has pressure built up and there is a pot of porridge boiling." "Ah!" Luo Xun just remembered about these matters. "The pressure cooker changed to low heat stewing in a few seconds. Also change the heat for the porridge to cook for a quarter of an hour. Ille out after." Yan Fei nodded but with a supposed genial smile that Luo Xun had mixed feelings about. "Want me to help you wash your backter?" "No, no you just keep an eye on the kitchen." Luo Xun felt he would fall to the ground paralyzed if Yan Fei did not leave. Todays stimulus was too much, more than being outside yesterday facing off against zombies. After a few moments Luo Xun was out of the bathroom but still weary. He had wanted to take a bath to rx the spirit and body but could not be achieved. Luo Xun nced at Yan Fei who was now in normal clothing, felt relief and slight regret as he stepped into the kitchen. It was time to eat dinner, getting a full belly was most important. Meat had been stewed, took out some meat and chopped potatoes, dried eggnt, beans and vermicelli. The rest was left in the pot to eat for tomorrows meals. When there was not a lot of food left, Luo Xun picked some vegetables that the puppy had not damaged, washed, cut and put into the pot. ced in order to preserve crispness and freshness. The pastries and porridge were cooked, it had been a long time since Luo Xun could eat delicious home cooked food. To the side Yan Fei smiled at him wolfing down meat, he seemingly used chopsticks leisurely but quickly added food to his bowl. Next to the table, having regained spirit, the puppy with a wronged face sat near the table bitterly gnawing at Yan Fei. She had been hungry for a long time, once free she ate her fill of dog food. It was clear even without humanmon sense, with her belly full she would not eat more! But the dishes on the table were very fragrant. Luo Xun was in a sleepy daze, wanting to sleep after eating his fill. With Yan Fei the two put the leftover food and rice into the kitchen then went upstairs to rest. Yan Fei deliberately walked behind, turned off the living room lights before ascending the staircase. When he went into the room he saw Luo Xun on the bed, eyes closed and lightly snoring, apparently had already entered dreand. The outing had only been two short days of effort, everyone was exhausted. Even Yan Fei who was boosted with abilities was tired, not to mention such ordinary people? Could not sleep right away, at least Luo Xun would get a full rest. Yan Fei walked to the bedside, gently tucked in Luo Xun who had gotten out from the quilt. He wrapped himself and directly held the other against his chest and turned off the dimmp. Luo Xun felt like he was soaking in warm water, as if he had not left the tub on the second floor bathroom. Closed his eyes and enjoyed the temperature of the dream warm water. His body felt rxed, like he was floating in the clouds, with the wind, slowly moving in whatever direction. Gradually something appeared in the mist. A shadow of sorts, Luo Xun was not clear what it was but clearly not dangerous. So the dull brain did not produce ideas of escape. So the mist gradually faded away to reveal the appearance of the figure. It was...Yan Fei. Yan Fei without any clothes...just a baggy towel hanging around the waist. Yan Fei with slightly wet hair hanging in his face. Luo Xun felt his face redden and his heart began to beat erratically. No too far in front the guy approached step by step. Luo Xun felt a little scared but at the bottom of his heart did not think of escape until the person was standing in front of him. The nk expression turned into a smile full of hints and ambiguity, Luo Xun involuntarily turned his face away. Whether his face or the mole at the corner of an eye, there was a kind of inexplicable attraction. He moved his line of sight but also subconsciously swept downwards, followed the curves from the waist covered towel downwards... A pair of slender hands encircled his own and touched the towel with no fat waist. "Pull it down, pull it down, pull it down..." This lingering idea circled in his mind, Luo Xun felt as if he was possessed, just wanted to pull it down and reveal the scenery inside. The body felt a fierce shock, Luo Xun suddenly opened his eyes and stared nkly. It seemed he could still touch the delicate, moist skin from his dream...wait feel...warm delicate touch? Rapidly looked to see the person in front of him, Luo Xun shivered again. When did he, he end up sleeping so close to Yan Fei? Whose arm was under his head? Whose body was in front holding him? Suddenly the other hugged Luo Xuns waist and touched his hand. Luo Xuns face turned red and green, green and purple, felt like the same in the dream. Wait, this was not right! It was not a matter of touch but...Right! Needed to return to his half of the bed. Last night he did not drill into the bosom of the other and secretly put his hands onto others clothes or slender waists! Not waiting for Luo Xun to take action, the person lying on his back suddenly turned to his own side, hand swung horizontally across own chest. There was also some movement across his legs. With such an action, Luo Xun could only think about leaving without waking up Yan Fei. Lying in bed having intimate contact with a beauty up close, Luo Xun cried without tears. This sudden closeness was simply suffering especially since his third leg was energetic because of a dream, also to his life. In the pain of struggling Luo Xun did not notice the smile on Yan Feis face who deliberately acted as if not sleepingfortably. Arm moved across, hand adjusted position, held the person in his arms tighter to be morefortable. Correspondingly the thigh pressed against the others leg as moved, carelessly...rubbed against something? Yan Fei opened his eyes because his position was lower Luo Xun did not notice the others eyes had a deep expression. Yan Feis mind was pondering, should he or should he not...pounce? In fact he would think about it in the car, really very practical. Interrupting Yan Fei was a bad idea, the downstairs doorbell rang, saving Luo Xun. The two paused then their appearance was from just waking up. Seeing Yan Fei had no reactionpared to him, Luo Xun felt some small regret while he hurriedly put on some clothes to cover up his situation. They hurried downstairs to open the door. "Oh...you werent up yet?" Seeing Luo Xuns bird nest hair, Li Tie and Han Li felt embarrassed since they excitement woke them up early. "Ah its alright, we are up. Are you ready to start? Wait, wereing up." Luo Xun hurriedly answered. Outside the other group members were excitedly looking at the things in the corridor, ready with rolled up sleeves. Yan Fei came in behind Luo Xun, the two people hurriedly washed, changed, ate breakfast then went out to do work. Unexpectedly had no chance to have an in-depth discussion of the morning problems. The two inadvertently pushed it from their minds. The house needed renovation, this was a very troublesome step, especially since the ones who had to decorate their own houses were all novices. In addition, Luo Xun only had a smattering of theoretical knowledge on the subject. This was because before the apocalypse Luo Xun did not think he would have the opportunity to renovate a house. So he did not do any relevant research, did not download any rted data and so could only infer from previous experiences. House renovation, first needed to check if there were any problems in the house. The five students of 1601 did not need to do any house construction, only needed to carry out simpler renovation of the apartment. Yan Feis nominal house required major construction C a door on the wall that connected the two rooms. The door would be located in the load-bearing wall, if not for Yan Fei who could reinforce the wall with metal, Luo Xun would be afraid to consider such a vicious reconstruction n. After this step it was necessary to package up the pipeline in the first room. Luo Xun in each room guided the decisions, told a few people some steps, selected the corresponding materials and Yan Fei ran to 1603 C tolling! The metal work was really good, especially when the walls were reinforced with concrete. Luo Xun saw the wall in front of the two people before the area began shaking then a portion of the concrete fell with a quake. The steel inside twisted to form a door frame tightly wrapped to strengthen the wall itself. "Melted these pieces of steel into the door." Confirmed that the walls were intact and the walls were as strong as ever, Luo Xun was relieved C he did not want the house to copse under the renovation of a door. The new metal door instantly appeared in front of the two people, Luo Xun sighed again that someones ability was so strong. This skill even before the apocalypse would be a very lucrative ability! Much more arbitrary than pinching putty! After wandering around the room twice, the main points to be renovated in the room were cleared and so the two began to renovate. As well as room 1601, each step was different and many of the steps could be omitted to be handled with metal powers, such as wrapping pipes and building furniture. Due to Yan Feis ability to manipte metals, the more metallic products in the area, the more convenient for him. Chairs, bed, cabs were all made of metal and of decent quality. Were also heavy to carry, in general two people simply could not move. On the other hand this was more favorable if a thief broke in and wanted to steal everything. Want to open to cupboard to search but the item does not even have a door. Even if they stomp their feet, they would only hurt themselves. Luo Xun used wood for the floors C since there was not enough metal collected this time. There was another important reason C in the case of metal floor, stepping on it would make a louder sound than usual? It was safer to use wood flooring. Luo Xun and Yan Fei divide the metal into two groups, building materials then stuff for the floor. They did not have many tiles, only enough to cover the two washrooms and the kitchens C this was because it was heavy tile, in general businesses would only leave some samples in store and the manufacturer would send the customized products. But many stores had wooden floor materials, the appearance was simr, could mix and match with two sets for the better! A good n, two people first removed the putty from the small bedroom by trying to scrape the wall. They both had not done this kind of work, had no practice. God knew whether the wall would end up okay at the end? In room 1601, Li Tie and the others were still wrestling with the pipelines. The room rang with non-stop *ping, pong, rang* C thanks to Yan Fei with his metal power they could omit this step. Li Tie and the others did experiments with the extra materials to increase hands-on experience. Fortunately the five university students had good hands-on ability, except for at the beginning when they broke some things they managed to master the relevant skills. Seventh day inside the building, during the daily fixed time for operation of the elevator a few malicious people went inside and pressed the 16th floor button. When one of the people pressed the button was stunned to find that the four or five people were from this floor. The people looked at each other for a few moments, thoughts were directed at the same thing. But fortunately when they inquired about the situation again, since yesterday the group said they hit the wrong floor or there were elevator problems. Today they would pry back with partners, all those materials would not be kept just in a few houses, wanted to speed up to rob in front of those people! There were many people in the elevator but some people felt strange, an awkward silence. When the elevator reached all the way up to the 16th floor, eyes filled anticipation watched as the door slip open and then...What was this? Why was it so dark? Several people paused, before the elevator door closed someone touched ahead C stiff, cold.. The door slowly closed in ordance with established procedures, then descended to a certain level after someone prepared to go downstairs, then continued downwards again. When the elevator returned to the first floor, the few prying people subconsciously walked out, with two of them hurrying back to the next elevator C perhaps there was a mistake? Or was it just that the door was blocked by something? Thinking it was so, they wanted to go up and take a look. Waited until another elevator took them from the first floor. At the top, the door was blocked by a dark a slippery thing. It was still there! Chapter 42 Standing in front of the ck wall, a person hurriedly held down the button to keep the door open. Several others knocked and pped against the dark obstacle. Pushed, no movement. Patted, did not open. Knocked...hands ached! "Eh!? Looks like metal!" "So thick! No sound from the knocking!" "Its the same as the wall." In order to prevent spying and if too thin it would be easily pried open with a tool, Yan Fei used several steel tes and made an exceptionally thick wall. It had a thickness of a full 20 centimetres, which was a main reason why he had overtaxed himself after finishing the door. Tinkered for a long time, the elevator did not move for a while. Someone on another floor downstairs pressed a button to start the rm, a full report for five minutes before they had to stop. The elevator did not arrive. Aside from two people who gone out of their way to speak with some associates, the rest were around. Once again got on the elevator, this time did not stupidly go to the 16th instead to the 15th floor, ready to walk up the stairs. As a result, when they walked up to the corridor and looked up, their eyes bugged out. "What the hell is this?" "That door is blocked!" "Its really metal, eh!" "Was it done by the ability user yesterday? He made arge pile of floating steel needles." Although they still did not know exactly what kind of ability, but their power of association was notcking. They had not seen any metal users in the army but they knew Yan Fei could float a metal needle. Then he simply floated a steel te to form a block? As for the details on how he managed that...well anyway they guy was an ability user, who knew what methods he had? And they could only imagine, what would be considered unreasonable? Could not go up, could not enter. Thinking of the people on the top floor, felt afraid and more reluctant than ever. Luo Xun and Yan Fei felt that there was not enough metal in their home, thought that there were severalrge steel tes outside, these people had long gone. Yan Fei took away some metal first from the stairs and some steel tes from a different floor C anyway there were steel blocking doors, the metal from stairs had no big use. Besides when did the people of the base had anything door-to-door? There was a ce for them to put up any notices, right? After the steel was thinned, if someone outside knocked at the door, one could still faintly hear some movement. Luo Xun just wanted to prevent thieves from stealing, did not n to bepletely isted? Yan Fei took metal tes, the group of five also handled the pipeline and simr things. Two also observed Luo Xun on how to scrape putty. The job was technical work and needed patience, otherwise the scraping was uneven, the quality of the good was also an issue. The five, after learning for a while, hurriedly carried some putty material back to their own room to experiment. Seeing that it was almost noon, Luo Xun put down his work and spoke to Yan Fei. "Ill go cook food, it will dry in the afternoon afterwards." "Sure, you go first, Ill do some more." Yan Fei nodded. The state of his hand and body simr to Luo Xun, dirty, clothes stained with putty. Fortunately they changed into more dirt resistant clothes before work though Li Tie and the others were still wearing regr clothes that would be thrown out soon. The group of five busied themselves with scraping putty, when they suddenly smelt a mouthwatering scent. Wiggling his nose, He Qiankun could not stop the saliva overflowing from his mouth. "Seems to the fragrance of stewed meat. I dreamt of itst night, now I smell it, its not a dream?" "Someone can enjoy stewed meat on this day? What a good life..." Han Lis eyes were confused as he stared nkly out the window with an impulse to reminisce. "Must have bought some frozen meat before the apocalypse and brought it home." Li Tie could not help but go to the window, attempt to smell some more fragrance. "Hey...I knew we should have bought some meat to keep..." Wang Duo began to feel regret. "But we dont have a fridge? Even if we did, there is a power outage in the city, would be broken ah!" Several people were chattering, when they decided to take out some instant noodles. As they were about to open the spice packet, Yan Fei came to ask the group to eat. "Eat?" Li Tie and the others paused, although they knew Luo Xuns home must have surplus, they never wanted to go over and mooch off others. "Luo Xun said that these days are filled with physical word, no fear of shortages. We eat a good meal, would the work not go faster?" Someone was willing to treat, Li Tie andpany knew life was not easy but also wanted to enjoy a meal. Especially after the smell of such fragrant stew, chewing their own instant noodles was simply a kind of torture. And so together all walked through the door of 1603. He Qiankun took the lead with his nose and noticed something. "Hey? The smell of meat is stronger in this ce than our home!" After turning to the living room, the line of people saw the unfinished room was decorated with a steel table with seven simply shaped stools. In the center of the table sat a bowl C if that was not stewed meat then what was it? "Meat!" "Its your apartments stewed meat!" "I said I dreamt of stewst night and I did not smell wrong!" Seeing the dish, the five peoples eyes were green. Luo Xun ced a big pot of rice on the table. "It was in the refrigerator for a while, any longer and it might go bad. Everyone eat, otherwise there will be nothing." The pork belly in the fridge was like that but other cuts of meat still had some time however those were used for stir fry. For meat porridge, pork belly was the most fragrant to stew. "Good, good! Good!" "Many thanks Luo Xun and Yan Fei!" "Meat! Meat!" Arge bowl of rice was filled with a spoon then a man ate with a tablespoon of stewed meat. The rice was quickly wolfed down. After they had polished off arge bowl of food, they found other dishes on the table. Celery scrambled eggs, fried shredded pork with leek and bean curd plus arge bowl of egg soup with fluttering green parsley. "Luo Xun, do you have any eggs left in your house?" Li Tie asked while taking a bite of a salted egg. "Had some for a while, I used them all up today." In fact when he found an egg had a smell, he boiled them yesterday evening. Luo Xun was afraid that the other eggs were going bad so he cooked the rest into vegetables dishes and soup, let Li Tie and others help him eat them up. There were quails in the house, and after a while they would produce eggs. Their home could have a steady stream of quail eggs and meat to eat. Several people nodded and gave themselves another bowl of rice. "Luo Xun rest assured, once we learn to scrape putty, welle over and help you two together!" The eaters said shortly, they had nothing to return the favor except manpower. Luo Xun was not stupidly polite, only smiled and let the people eat vegetables. Ate and drank enough, the group went back to work. Although everyone ate a lot at noon, there was still some left. Luo Xun let a few people pack it up to take to their home for dinner. As for him and Yan Fei? Did they have a shortage of cooking ingredients at home? In 1604, the little puppy basked in the sun beside the ss container of quail. A slipper from Yan Fei was under her chin as a pillow and another slipper from Luo Xun was on her belly. There was a little bowl of rice beside her that was empty, though ten minutes ago it had some stewed meat inside. LIstening to the faint voices next door, the little puppys ears shook while keeping her eyes closed. Since the two people came back, the houses big iron te was opened a bit, a more direct opening instead of a big hole on the other side. No big iron barrier, now she could stall in the balcony drying fur but also could run and eat those green things. Of course the first time she ate those things, the taste was uneptable to the puppy. But the day she jumped past the iron gate, tasted green after green and found she could not go back! Waiting until she felt so hungry but could only pathetically stare at the leaves. Chewed once felt not delicious, chewed twice felt sour water in stomach, gnawed thrice felt she did not ever want to eat this for rest of life... But when the two owners came back and rescued, eating arge pile of dog food afterwards, there was a moment where she unexpectedly missed the bitter, crisp things. Today when she ate some pieces of stewed meat, the puppy once again struck with the idea and quietly ran to the shelf without a barrier. Tore down a piece of green leaves, chewed and swallowed. It was seemingly quite to her appetite? Suddenly the puppy understood why the owners ate these things. The taste was not as good as meat, but put together the vor was not bad! As a chow chow with a high standard of living, she decided to taste these things every day! Anyway there were so many, not all the same. It would be nice to taste test all of them, try a variety of tastes~ A number of cars drove towards the southwest base. People working on wall construction pointed and chatted. "Is that the first wave?" "I dont know, but there seems to be a lot of zombiesing over." Now the perimeter fence being built wrapped around original base in the middle. The new wall was a distance away from the original base so only a section was being repaired. After a period of time reported to the garrison in charge of security as to avoid any idents. These two days, people responsible for this section of the fence had seen a lot of troops around base. Some were groups of survivors from base out searching for supplies, others who had escaped from other bases and people who had never dared to leave the city before. Today they saw a decent sized convoy of cars in the distance. "Oh, catching up, theyre catching up!" "Someone was pushed out...s, how cruel." "What is this? That day we also saw a few people first throw out a person covered with injuries or tied up. The creature sensed the heartbeats, no long before the people torn up by the zombies, the corpse picked clean." Although the speaker seemed sorry, but did their lively appearance show that they were worried about dead people? Big events were notmon, these days they had to repair the wall said, now was more interesting than before on base. A team chatted and drove from afar. "Het, there are tanks!" "It was sent to the team before, you see! So many cars, must be those VIPS who the officers rescued!" "Really, there are so many people in A city trapped in buildings unable to be rescued but these VIPs had to be rescued first!" "What makes a man a magistrate? Who saved them?" In contrast to the onlookers, the team was led by the officials who were saved, but there were more ordinary people driving their cars, men and women of all ages as well as scientists/technicians from all fields. When the convoy caught up with people who had found themselves the next target of zombies. *Ping, ping* The sounds of shots, the zombies were soon thoroughly cleaned out and the cars were headed towards the base gate. These days the base was very lively, Luo Xun could see from their own windows. A lot of people came into the streets and neighborhood. However he did not have time to pry. A day was not enough to tidy up and finish home decoration. Seven clumsy guys spent a full three days to scrape the firstyer of putty on the walls. They thought the speed was pretty fast but just the thought of needing to scrape more than once and painting the floor or something made the whole world feel grey. "Tomorrow take a day off. Let the bathroom, kitchen and wall thoroughly dry before doing the secondyer." Luo Xun knew that if one wanted to renovate well they had to scrape three times if there were no big problems, there were no redoes. Li Tie and the others knew, they had talked to the military before. They said quickly get started after a few days base construction work, the house would not be withdrawn for another family. Of course work must be guaranteed every month on the dot in exchange. Otherwise, they would just pack and stay. Knowing that they would live in this ce meant they had to work to hard to renovate. Why else would they do all this? "Good! The day after tomorrow is the usual, we first follow Luo Xun and Yan Fei then go back home to learn." Li Tie proudly beat his chest with a smile on his face. "Our green beans finally sprouted today!" It was still winter, the temperature was low, the building lost heating long ago. If not for Li Tie grabbing a heater when they went to the supermarket thest time, the mung beans and other nts would have to wait for warmer weather until they germinated. "Good!" Luo Xun sincerely congratted them. In a day or two they would be able to fried bean sprouts or keep them for growing. "We are not willing to eat. Wait until they grow tall so that new seeds can be nted next year!" Luo Xun asked about mutations and learned that some seeds were mutated but the proportion was not big, about 3:7. A bit more than his own but Luo Xun did not know what caused the mutation rate. In his past life Luo Xun heard that some people even with natural crops grew inferior variant species. Finished a whole days work and went back via 1604. Now they did not go through the main entrance, instead every day go through a metal side door. As soon as he entered his side, the surrounding temperature rose. Every day Luo Xun used a water purification device to filter out clean water. The heated water made the whole room warm, creating a greenhouse like room. Took off his dirty coat to throw into a stic bucket next to the metal door. Luo Xun thought of something and turned to look at Yan Fei. "How to you want the floor next door after preparing the wall and other instations?" The room on the first floor could use water to maintain temperature but a heater was installed on the terrace to do the same. Although there was enough sr energy, would it be convenient to connect the sr water heater with the floor? Even if the sr heater did not add warmth, it was feasible to switch to homemade electrical plumbing. He had seen this kind of thing on base during his past life, knew the principle in general, but concrete operation needed Yan Feis metal ability to find a way. "A metal tube as floorboards?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and thought about the possibility. "The metal I use now is mostly mixed together. If you want to do plumbing, you need bring something like stainless steel back." His abilities could only control metal and blend, did not allow the metal to change essence, nor dposed. The best thing would to look for the pure material. Luo Xunughed. "Today Li Tieined that food stores at home are soon finished. Do you want to go out together tomorrow morning to buy some food?" Everyday spent at home tinkering, he could not lift his arms when he slept. Although Luo Xun usually stayed at home, so staying inside for a long time was no issue but after a while he wanted to go out. Recently many people hade to the base, not far in the distance one could see newly pitched tents. They could go out and look for anything that could be exchanged. "Well, lets go out tomorrow and bring something back." Yan Fei nodded in agreement. He was also tired of staying at home. Although he could tease the little puppy, feed the quail, flirt with Luo Xun before going to sleep but never going out was not his style. Luo Xun wanted to but he could not only stay at home. Chapter 43 Washed all the putty off though Luo Xun did not know how it got on. He ced todays purified water inside the upper level storage tank C he had a set of equipment before the apocalypse began, could ess water without going upstairs. In addition a small bucket of clean water was put next to the water dispenser for use. They did not have electricity in their homes so they used water dispensers bought before the end of the world. "You can take out some instant noodles or rice to trade but best stick with stuff like this. These things have a shelf life and we cant eat this much...Tomorrow you can ask Li Tie and the others. I remember thatst time they got a lot of stainless steel pots and pans." When they went to the supermarketst time, Li Tie returned with a lot of metal cutlery. When they first came to base, they were in a hurry at school. They did not grab any tableware, only some simple foods. It was easy to eat on base since there were dishes. However once they returned to their own residence it became a problem C the five men only had two small lunch containers so they had to take turns when eating. Thus when they went out two days ago they got a good deal of stuff from the supermarket, the home was now stocked with things. Li Tie and the others were also smart, they did not only grab pristine and sturdy porcin and ssware but also a variety of metal tableware. Indeed they saved a lot. Luo Xun with a small abacus in his heart, reluctantly poured cold water on Yan Fei. "What if they hear about what you want to do and ramp up?" Luo Xun felt awkward, they would not stop if they came to help Yan Fei. Did the group note to live on the top floor because the light was good? In addition to using sr energy another major goal was to grow vegetables. They had five people and would need more things than their side. "Then...I will go out tomorrow and collect things." Yan Feiughed ufortably. Took two steps and naturally ced a hand on Luo Xuns shoulder. "Look at the situation tomorrow. We have collected a lot of metal materials this time. I know that some of them are stainless steel. I hadnt used this before but there should be enough for the floor. There should be enough for the next room if we go out and trade tomorrow. What about the room? Want to transform it together?" The house was renovated long before the end of the world for it to be remodeled, it was necessary to lift the floor to rey pipes. All the furniture in the house had to be moved; the project seemed to be too big. However if they took advantage of the opportunity and renovated next door now, they would save themselves a lot of trouble. Luo Xuns expression tangled and twisted before temporarily giving up. "Wait a minute, we still dont know if this house..." He always worried about the previous owner finding the ce. Although he knew that this area has not beenpletely filled and the builders had not yet finished, the building owner had a voucher that could be exchanged in the future. However the owner was the owner. Whether or not peoplee back with evidence, there will be trouble when they arrive. As for the previous tenants a family of three, why did he not meet the originalndlord? Even if thendlord did not die in the zombie swarm, the three of them seemed unruly and unreasonable amongst other issues. Maybe if the original homeowner found them they would not necessarily let the apartment go? Maybe what is ck will be said it is white. Who carried things with them when they fled? Did one not see how many people lost their identity cards when they were registered? Brought back from subconscious when on the second floor with Yan Fei. After entering the bedroom, Luo Xuns footsteps stiffened. Do not me him for being ufortable when he saw the bed. There days...*cough cough* he woke up every morning beside a handsome man, could not be worse. Did not know if the days were too tiring from all the work. Or it was the fierce northerly winds that made body heat so attractive? Anyway these days Luo Xun found himself waking up in Yan Feis arms every morning. Of course, while sleeping in the arms of another person, their own hands would naturally hug back. If one was calm enough, they could easily take advantage during the night...would feel really good? Thus, Luo Xun felt tangled, dread and anticipation every day. His face would heat up as soon as he returned to the bedroom but his heart would inevitable heat in slight expectation. Luo Xun was suspicious because every day he woke up with his head on the others arm. Also it was not himself holding the other. It was not him being a rogue...rather someone else...*cough* taking the initiative to hold him? Luo Xun was not a fool, but he was very aware that he was not super attractive. If he had even half of Yan Feis looks and height he might think the guy was expressing his wants. The problem was that he is too self-knowledgeable! This kind of ordinary appearance and figure, iparable to Yan Fei. An ordinary person that would be lost in a crowd. How would they be found when all looked for beauties? Of course there was another possibility C Luo Xun secretly nced at the guy undressing beside the bed. This man might have the habit of holding something while sleeping! Even if he did not honestly go to sleep but if he did not have the habit of holding things, then he will never sleep in his arms! Wake up together as ast resort! Slowly climbed from the bed to the side of the window, Luo Xun decided to sleepte today. Anway everyone decided to take a rest day. Sleepingte would not affect anything so he took the opportunity. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Luo Xun who had been sneaking away from time to time fell asleep afterying on his pillow for three seconds. The guy looked really tired these days, falling asleep as soon as he touched the pillow. From Luo Xuns reaction these past two days, the guy had doubts about waking up in Yan Feis arms every day but there was no evidence yet. But...who was Yan Fei? What if he took him into his bed and found himself sleeping with him? If it was not found he would only hold him and sleep for the time being. The past few days it took a lot of energy to renovate the house. When was there time to fall in love during the day? But if he was discovered...He would absolutely, honestly, bluntly move hands and feet to simply eat the person. The most basic solution to this troublesome problem. As for renovation after the eating? He could provide Li Ties group several methods of weapon making and recruit them to help with renovation. In any case, they already knew about their weapons for a while. Uncovering the quilt, he naturally hugged the person in the bed. After he entered the room he ced his left hand around Luo Xuns neck, the right pulled up the quilt. Smoothly followed the top of the waist and shirt. Luo Xun waspletely unconscious and in response to Yan Feis arms, raised his hands and wrapped them around the guys waist to sleep more practically. Did not notice the hand sliding up and down the back, sliding down the spine groove in the middle of the back... The sensation of his hands made Yan Feis sharpen, his chin was affixed to Luo Xuns head. Or should he eat now? The past few days every night, Yan Feis mind would turn to this matter. At the beginning it was only because of warmth and feeling of family that Luo Xun brought that he was tempted to stay with him. But these days aftering back from this time, he approached him with all kinds of behaviour, deliberately embraced him at night. Yan Fei found that he would actually be a homosexual person. But now was not the time. Wait a minute. Wait a few days to find a chance to pick things up and then he could eat the person... Luo Xun stood irresistibly in front of the bathroom washstand. He thought he was going to sleeptest night to see whether Yan Fei had taken advantage or if he did so after falling asleep. However...falling asleep right afterying down, he had never fallen asleep so fast even when he had reviewed the middle of the night before the university entrance examination! Was it a problem that arose because of his rebirth leading to mental instability? The sense of fatigue from two lives added together... Luo Xun came out of the bathroom after gently brushing his teeth and washing his face. Yan Fei was wearing a ck, tight-fitting turtleneck sweater that he had worn when he first came here. He was waiting at the table for Luo Xun to have breakfast together. Today the two people were eating wontons. Luo Xun had wrapped and put them in the fridge before the apocalypse. Most had already been consumed, the ones left were broken. They now had to rely on food stored in their homes. There was no dialogue between the two. After eating the meal, they got up and knocked on the neighbors door. Wang Duo opened the door with a yawn, rubbing his eyes while letting people inside. "How early, we havent gotten up yet." The room was much cleaner and the putty was more white than before. Although there were still some ces on the wall that were somewhat uneven, they were much stronger than those of the previous wall. Li Tie was engaged in a desperate struggle with his birds nest. Wu Xin was using lotion on his face...Luo Xun felt that this would aggravate the face e symptoms. He Qiankun was stuffing his mouth with a package of instant noodles, after seeing the two people, waved and continued to eat. They would be prepared to get a warm floor but there was not enough stainless steel at home so they needed to go out and trade. They exined to Li Tie and the group rushed to hug the two with sparkling eyes. "Floor heater!?" "After the equipment is installed the house will be warmer?" "We can take the opportunity to make the house warm!" "But...it should use a lot of stainless steel? Where are we going?" The five people were excited for a moment but their faces fell after thinking about the actual problem. The method was very good and their current room had not been renovated at this time. It was entirely possible to transform the house into a more suitable ce for the end of the world. Even stainless steel materials need to be exchanged for. Li Tie andpany could notpare to Luo Xun, the house did not have anything to eat much less trade. Although they had some points, but these would have to be used for eating! Luo Xun thought of suggestions. "It is better for you to look at the situation first. Anway the floor must wait until the wall ispletely set up before instation. The speed of our renovation is slower. Its better to wait untilter to decide whether or not to install." Li Tie and the others nodded while looking at each other. Yes, although they wanted to rush and fix this ce but with small renovation team that within a month or two the house may not be finished. Maybe they would have other ways to earn points. Its good to use points since people in the base exchange for them! After discussing the matter thoroughly, everyone got up and went downstairs. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had already prepared two boxes of instant noodles in their backpacks, ready to use them for something. Li Tie took the points they had saved before and went to the window where food was sold. The official food window wasrge and honest but only points were exchanged. The free market outside depended on who was talking to buyers and sellers, whose eyes were more discerning to see who could switch to more affordable things. Yan Fei indirectly lifted the steel te in front of one of the elevators, exposing the door and buttons. After the elevator came up all the people walked in. Once everyone went in, the steel te was put back in ce. Although it was inconvenient to do this every time going up and downstairs and no one could open these gates except for Yan Fei. However there were too many things in the corridor. In the middle of a busy time, it was a temporary safety measure. During this period, Luo Xun unexpectedly discovered C it looked like the seven people on the floor had a degree of home property. In the three days they were shut upstairs, no one was going out and strolling around. If there was not enough food for 1601, Luo Xun seriously did not doubt that they would rather sleep at home for a day than go out shopping and trading. Of course it was the same for Luo Xun himself. The only person who looked unsuited to the issue was Yan Fei and there was a great chance of being assimted by Luo Xun in the future. After the ebullience of the underground building, the group came downstairs and obviously felt there were more people on base. The seven storey building that was ready to be rebuilt beside the overturned bungalow had been framed for only a few days. Wang Duo saw the building progress and pointed. "Dont go back and let people join the house, its all covered. We havent renovated the house yet?" Luo Xunughed. "Dont say that, its really possible." Now it was winter and housing was not really well renovated. They would need to do some meticulous repairs (since they had not mastered it yet, the speed was too slow). Could not say a house could be built faster? A few people went to the gate and and pointed out a ce where they would meet up kater. Seven people dispersed their activities. Li Ties group of five went to the official window to buy and sell food while Luo Xun and Yan Fei went shopping for things. Just outside Hongjing district, they could see that the outside streets had been upied by various small business hawkers. Various temporary sheds were erected upon a walkway. Many people were covered in severalyers of quilts and sleeping under shop roofs. It was still winter. Although it had not snowed recently the weather was still very cold and many people had only recently arrived on base. Since the total amount of bases that can be upied was not toorge, some houses had to be reserved for capable people and others who were willing to rent their houses. Some people had no ways to maintain so the original tenants were forced out. There were a few people who temporarily slept on the roads. Luo Xun did not feel any difort, or rather he felt this was what a post-apocalyptic base would look like. Luo Xun walked eagerly to see things on both sides of the road. More people had fled recently to the base than before. These people had fled with everything from food and drink to pots. In bowls and pans there were more things with unclear usefulness, unknown sources and things that one did not where theye from before arriving at the base. More often than not, some people were responsible for certain tasks before the end of the world, looking at warehouses for transportation. When they fled after the apocalypse, they also conveniently pulled the goods together to escape. If food was pulled in a car, it was still easy to handle. However many people carried things that could not be eaten or worn and were useless in their hands. Some people had thrown away these things that were of no use partway through the journey, but some still brought these things to base. Luo Xun saw some people drove directly alongside the car and parked on the side of the road. The trunk of the car was opened and there was a pile of things inside. A van was packed with socks and underwear. There were many people in front of his car. One of them was standing on a big rock and appealing. "Come Ce look at products from before the end of the world. Panties can be changed for a pack of instant noodles! Or for two packets of biscuits! A base big bread can be exchanged for two C do not miss out!" On the other side of the car was a pile of stic products. Everything needed for a bathroom from toothbrush, towels, drying racks, paper baskets and buckets was there. As the two walked along, there was indeed many kinds of things ranging from all kinds of daily necessities to materials to jewelry. Except for any booths selling food. No way around it since clothes, shoes and socks once owned were had. But food...the more one ate, the less there was! In particr after the majority of people had entered the apocalypse without food at home and being forced to go out and look. Who did not know the preciousness of food at home? Therefore do not be tricked at all these stalls calling out for quite a few things. There were indeed many people who were very interested in these things but few were really willing to take out their food and exchange. Even if a team with good luck got out and brought back a pile of food and sold it. It would be sold out in a matter of ten minutes by any who heard. Even if most people did notck food, they all had a hoarders heart in this precarious environment. Everyone was determined to transform their home into a hamster nest. Chapter 44 There were some roadside stalls selling stainless steel pots and pans, but it was not worth buying them alone or mixed with others and there was not enough. Luo Xun gave a cursory look then continued on. Yan Fei had little desire for shopping. He already knew that Luo Xuns homecked for nothing, they only needed some metal at the moment. What was more, Yan Fei was unustomed to the flea market conditions. Just like the car that sold underwear and clothes, although people needed those things, Yan Fei saw groups of people picking around. He did not want to squeeze in with those, who knew how many people had touched the articles of underwear. Even before Li Tie had found that big box in the supermarket, Yan Fei felt his stuff was much cleaner then the current goods in the car. A burst of crying came from the front, the two looked up to see a woman with her children, walking and scolding. "Did I not say only eat half!? Let you eat! Let you eat!" On the other side, a customer argued with the seller. "This is worth half a pack of cookies? No way!" Luo Xun sighed. "Isnt the outside wall getting repaired? There are so many people in the market right now." "It should the neers from two days ago." Yan Fei nced around and saw many tough and bloody people. There were some temperment differences from the people who lived on the base from the beginning. "Take a look in front. The street is wider, maybe you can find something good." The streets in front were indeed wider but the sidewalks and roads were full of all kinds of cars. The vehicle owners were most likely people who had not been assigned homes yet. Though their luck was much better than those who came here on foot or in official rescue vehicles; they at least had a car to live in. The stalls were mostly on the sidewalk, the middle of the road left to moving vehicles. More cars meant more chance of trading the right materials. Luo Xuns interest increased as he marched forward but his arm was pulled. Yan Feis face was calm. "Dont go too fast, youll get squeezed." With that he naturally pulled Luo Xuns wrist. Although not touching hands, the sleeve temperature caused Luo Xun to hobble two steps forward. Yan Fei still wore the mask while going out, hinting at his appearance. Luo Xun at this time could not see the expression on his face. Luo Xun had never experienced this kind of lovey dovey shopping in his life. His limbs became seriously uncoordinated, walking as strange as a zombie outside the base. People who came across them head on were likely to get infected by the virus and could not tell when they would mutate into a monster. Some surprised person hurriedly avoided the two by whirling around. Fortunately, there were more people in the streets and the afraid were not the majority. Those people were only a little bit scared and stayed distant without trouble. Otherwise someone would leave their face at their grandmothers house. "Pipe!" Suddenly found a big truck unexpectedly stocked with pipes, Luo Xun waved off the embarrassment of holding hands and pointed at the car. Yan Fei with a pair of bright eyes also followed him over. The car selling steel pipes was surrounded by a lot of people. Luo Xun squeezed in and heard the sellers yell loudly. "Five pack instant noodles for one meter! Want to buy quickly, only selling for one day!" "Five packs a meter?" Luo Xuns mouth twitched. The quantity they needed wasrger than words and this ripoff trade. Even if he brought over all their instant noodles to trade, he was afraid it would only be enough to cover one room with pipes. After being told many people were deterred and unwilling to buy. Now since the base no longer distributed free food, those who wanted to eat had to find work. No job meant no food. Hungry people either desperately went off base for supplies or went to designated sites to build fences or houses. Most of the infrastructure on base was still imperfect and there were many understaffed areas. Though it was just the big eaters that were starving. The vast majority of people would be willing to eat a pack of noodles a day plus arge steamed bread from base. People did not find trading five packs of instant noodles for a pipe. Seeing there seemed to be no one willing to buy, the seller waved the pipe while shouting. "Five packs of noodles for one meter long pipe is cost effective ah! Go out fight zombies, a pipe is easy to use. Where would one find such a good weapon? Theres no shop after this!" Luo Xun did not squeeze inside, just heard the sound from beside Yan Fei. "Not cost-effective. Lets go." Weapons were important but could a steel tubepare to a watermelon knife? Right now food was tight merchandise. The steel pipe sold were rtively thin, easily bent after a few times out. It would be better to find a piece of durable brick instead. Yan Fei followed behind without dissent. They needed raw materials, so long as steel, durable and inrge quantities. They were not interested in these high price single things. Luo Xun gripped the back of Yan Feis hand, his heartbeat slightly elerated. This kind of cheap could take advantage of many people at present, feared they would be squeezed out... This street was the north and south road, before the apocalypse one could walk north to the central city district. Now it was also the road to the base gate. Along the way the two saw a lot of stalls selling steel products Crger variety than steel pots and bowls. But the prices of the utensils was not low C people were not stupid. Who knew how these dangerous days would turn out? Use porcin? Who had so much money to spend? The two people turned onto another road full of small stalls, only to find a truck parked on the roadside with an another car pulled alongside! Eyes brightened C they had actually found it! "How much for this?" Luo Xun patted the car, shouting as he looked left and right for the seller. "Coming!" A man with a cigarette in his mouth rushed out of a group in front of a neighborhood holding cards in his hands C had been ying cards. "How much do you want?" There were not many people who bought this sort of things nowadays. Found one time off base on the roadside C arge truck loaded with a lot of metal on the road. But other than someone who just entered the base using it to build a temporary shack, it had been a long since an interested party had appeared. These days, instead of waiting for someone to buy, it was better to y cards and win rations. "How much is a big chunk?" Luo Xun asked while patting a strip of steel. "Only for food, ten packs of instant noodles a chunk!" The man yelled back. Luo Xun frowned and motioned for Yan Fei to leave. "Not as good as us going off base to find some. Selling steel pipe would get how much? We could also kill some zombies." The man hurriedly said. "This piece is really big! Look at the weight! Look at the thickness! Ten packs is not expensive, eight packs is okay too!" Luo Xun stood firm. "You say this thing big and thick enough but we also have to do the processing. The amount of effort needed is not small. Three packs for apiece at this price we sill buy a few more." "Thats no good, at least six packs!" "Four packs, no more." "Five packs, Im making a loss!" This was not too far away from the building. After talking about prices Luo Xun decided to just go home and drive to pull things. He did not expect to find such arge quantity of steel so quickly so he had not driven over. They also did not have enough hard currency in their bags, they had to go home to take some. The half filled car had fifty to sixty tes. Luo Xun and Yan Fei went back and moved a dozen boxes of instant noodles downstairs to the truck and drove over again. The eldest brother saw Luo Xun go back to drive things without care C he refused to deliver because he was not sure whether the guy really had the means to buy and the strength to move. Of course also afraid of the rising petrol prices, everyone knew that they could not afford to waste any gasoline. They would rather not waste a drop of petrol in vain. Not long, saw the two people driving a small car, a box of instant noodles unexpectedly came from the car. Those people ying cards had green eyes. cing the inventory of instant noodles to one side, Luo Xun and Yan Fei started moving the steel tes. The people who sold the steel tes first looked surprised at the packing. Suddenly looked to the two and the car, a trace of greed burst from their eyes. They brought out a dozen boxes of instant noodles at once, likely that they had more supplies on hand. There were only two of them now, but did not know if they had anypanions. Thinking, he was ying cards with the usual people. Those people had the same greed, read the same idea in each others eyes C get these two and see if there is something else to eat at their homes! The crowd quietly gathered around the two people but Luo Xun seemed unaware. The two were stuffing the steel tes into their car. "I said, lets discuss again." Luo Xun turned to the speaker, aughing smile on his face. "Discuss what?" "Well, we think the price is a bit inappropriate." Luo Xuns calm made the metal seller feel somewhat bad but the greed gained the upper hand cing pressure on thoughts. "Oh, well then I think your things are too expensive." Luo Xun sneered. With a click sound the crossbow tied to his left arm was activated. Yan Fei had transformed it after some study, did not matter it was usually tied to the arm, when needed it would open. The man paused for a moment, his steps stopped. A person in the crowd loudly shouted. "You want to strong arm? Were not selling." Yan Fei coldly swept a nce at the secretly pulled off door. With a sneer and a raised hand C several pieces of steel from the truck flew up! The crowd was stunned to see this scene; the steel te in mid-air suddenly deformed and condensed into a circle of needles! The two people as the center, needles pointed in all directions! In front of those who had not yet backed off *ping, ping, ping* a series of rings. A row of steel pins were neatly nailed in a row missing by a centimeter without the slightest error! More frightening was that there were still needles in the air, if the man wearing the mask waved again, those horrible things would turn people into pincushions! "I advise you to give it back or I cant guarantee that my hands will stay that steady." The cool sound floated into the ears with sessive sounds. The people surrounding had livid faces as they and the rest of the people backed away. Luo Xun suddenly lifted a hand to point at the truck. "That person is moving your instant noodles, is it someone you know helping take it home?" Steel seller paused then suddenly turned to look and saw a person creeping away holding a box of instant noodles. Nearby there was a car with bike frame and several boxes on the frame. "My instant noodles!!" The metal owner rushed the man who ran to the car. But the rear frame of instant noodles was not tied, when he stepped on the gas pedal, the box fell down with a crash. The onlookers saw a chance and started looting. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had no reason to answer to the group. Yan Fei lifted his head and the steel tes flew under hismand into smaller containers, even the needles. They initially did not intend to expose Yan Feis abilities but since Luo Xuns crossbow could not scare them. There were people who took the opportunity to hide in the crowd and provoke trouble, Yan Fei had to use intimidation. Now the people in the base had no particr fear and understanding of ability users but there were rumours of a man who had a terrible temper. Although only part of the spection was correct, it was enough that people dared not provoke ability users on base. Steel te owner finally limped back, arms holding a half box of instant noodles, who knew who had looted the rest. Back at the car opened the door and found the two boxes of cigarettes hidden in the car were gone! Outside, the two people readied the car, sat down and started. The owner did not dare act like before and demandpensation, could only watch them drive away. If the pair had not shown the ability, the guy would have certainly gone and stopped them C demanded a few more bags of instant noodles. God knew the looters were not actually those two people? If you lose something, it must be a trick! But now? Looking at the car on the road with needles holes, the owners heart hurt. The remaining box of instant noodles hidden under the seat. Started the car to head back C the car could have sold for a good price. Those tes were not worth the car! "Is this enough?" Luo Xuns mood was good, did not think he woulde out and easily buy what he needed. "Enough, even for 1601 its enough." Yan Fei nodded. "The steel pipe does not need to cover under the whole floor. The materials enough for a thinner thickness." Besides there were a lot of things in the house. "Thats good!" Luo Xun nodded in gratitude, first get 1603 fixed up and warm. Wait a year and half to determine no oneing to their house and then set up the other house! With heat, would be equal to a temperature stable greenhouse. Luo Xun was filled with anticipation. They drove back to their agree ce, Li Tie and the others had note back yet, likely wandering around somewhere. The two people were not anxious, they parked the car in an open area nearby and sat inside looking at sales below. There were a lot of cars parked on the street. Their smaller car did not upy as much space as the bigger trucks. Not long after, nearly lunchtime, Li Tie andpany slowly squeezed out from the crowd. Luo Xun waved at the five, who hurried over with a weing smile. "You brought the car? Did you get anything?" Luo Xun nodded. "Bought something." "Thats really good, we just saw a steel pipe, one for four pack instant noodles! So uneconomical!" The car could only sit a few people, Luo Xun slowed down and together returned to the apartment building. Listening to talk about shopping, also spoke about the current situation. As they were going forward someone in the distance greeted loudly. They looked up and saw a man in military uniform rushing over. It was the petty officer who had contacted Luo Xun before. "We just went up to our floor. How is your floor, the door and the elevator blocked?" The sergeant ran up andined. Several people looked at each other thenughed bashfully. "We went out a few days ago, brought back more than usual. We temporarily sealed the door because were afraid someone woulde steal. Is something wrong?" Chapter 45 Luo Xuns heart stuttered, when they went downstairs they only looked at the elevator before dealing with the situation. Assured that nothing was wrong downstairs but forgot that inside their building there were two elevators and staircases! The officer reluctantly shook his head and said, "Wasnt there an empty room? These days a lot of people came to base ready for rehousing. People had to arrange to go elsewhere because of theyer upstairs." Li Tie and the others breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts and gave pleasant smiles. "That, we have a lot of things in the corridor piled up, in fear we temporarily plugged up security. When you have peoplee just knock on the door! Well be at home every day!" Wang Duo smiled. "Could you arrange for some women to live in?" The petty officer gave a one eyed stare. "The ones to live in today were all girls, quite beautiful. Originally thought to ce young people together to talk, toote! Next time, there are only men left." Wang Duos face instantly turned into a bitter gourd and looked with resentment at the two people in the car. Yan Fei had no expression of sympathy. Luo Xun gave him a side nce C want a girlfriend? Go out and hook up. Li Tie did not care whether live with men or women. "If the number is less, not too much trouble would be good..." "Alright, dont worry, its all arranged." The officer continued. "Well go around 8-9 tomorrow morning. By the way, dont go out to wander the next few days. The base is not too safe at the moment and dont forget your work quota, make sure you report your 35 days." "Yes! Resolutely obey the orders of superiors!" Hearing they could work to earn points, Li Tie and the others hurriedly did a nondescript military salute with shiny eyes. After the officer left, they waltzed back downstairs. "s...we just missed..dies." "Come on, dont worry about women ordies." Han Li patted him on the back of his head. Wu Xin hurriedly nodded. "They said that people wille tomorrow morning. Best we tidy up the corridor?" At this time Luo Xun had parked the car at the backdoor. "Should tidy up, first move the small, lighter stuff into either apartment. Leave the really big, heavy stuff in the corridor." What was the specific situation of the new tenants? Wait until tomorrow to assess the situation, to see the character of the people who had just arrived on base. On the other hand, the officer who had just spoken to Luo Xun went to give a report to his superior concerning Li Tie andpany. "So they should have at least one ability user," The man stated. Heard that the door block was indeed metal and the one who had made it did not care. Since they had not previously registered in the household survey, it was either did not want to expose themself in fear of danger or did not know at the time. This was a normal situation, many of the ability users did not know they had powers at first. However a lot of people also feared the powers would bring their doom and dared not tell the military. "It is quite possible that I have told them we will arrange for people to live in 1602 tomorrow morning." "...Well, if they have an ability user, we can arrange for another one to live there." The officers eyes brightened in thought. "You mean..." "Right! The doctor! Let him live there!" The petty officer secretly sweat and hurriedly nodded. "His wound is almost healed, should arrange housing." Obviously a doctor but not an angel in white. Injured three people during light hospital treatment, put him in a single room in time and sent the best tempered nurse to care. God knows if there would be a disaster at the hospital again? As for who would send people tomorrow...*cough* dead friends do not die on the road, rushed loss of friends. Who made his work so busy? As for Wang Duosdies? This! Who told him no to be at home today? Otherwise they would neighbors with women! On a floor Yan Fei pulled open the container door. The steel te condensed together and then arge lump of metal was pulled out. Although he knew he could lift the big thing upstairs, Yan Fei helped pretend to carry the other end of the load into the corridor with Luo Xun. To the first corner, the length of the te was longer than the limit but then it twisted like a limp noodle! Behind, Li Tie and the others jaws dropped. "Really cheat, ah really cheat." "I could not cheat and ask you to help me move." Yan Fei smiled while turning his head, the five shook their heads leaving afterimages. Climbed the stairs floor by floor, they came back at a bad time, the elevator was out. It would not be easy to ascend 16 floors so easily without the ability to manipte metal. Arrived at the 16th floor in one trip, the seven person group felt physically better then three days ago. Anyway they were upstairs with energy to spare, except for He Qiankun who looked desperate. There was nothing on the big iron te at the end of the staircase, did the military not have paper? Of course, it was possible that they posted the notice on the pieces on iron on the back of the elevator door. Yan Fei used one hand to lift the iron te, the other hand raised to open up a part leading to the corridor. Enough space for the people to walk through. Put the things down then plugged back the metal te. Luo Xun saw Yan Fei wipe sweat from his forehead. Sure enough he was tired from floating the pieces of metal for so long. "Lets take a break after lunch and get things in the corridor." Luo Xu suggested while Li Tie and the others cheered. They had spent half day in the street, they were somewhat tired and needed a burst of rest. The two went into the empty house and then through the closed metal door back home. Yan Fei sat down on the sofa, all strength focused on rxing. "Do you want to take a shower first?" Luo Xun asked while washing his hands for lunch. "No, I have to move things in the afternoon." The puppy saw Yan Fei lying around and ran over. Looked around then grabbed onto his calf and climbed up to his belly toy down. Face to dog face, they stared into each others eyes. Luo Xun took a bowl from the kitchen and could not helpughing upon seeing the scene. The man and puppy turned at the same time to look. "You just let her lie on your stomach?" Who said that the little puppy has no discipline? He said himself and never really had any control over her. Looking at the two of them now, the puppy had always been independent. Yan Fei gave a side nce, with azy hand poked the puppys head. The little one tilted her head but also opened her mouth to pretend to bite. "I now have no strength, a moment to throw down." Luo Xun put the little puppy and the chopsticks down then walked back to the kitchen to get the rest of the stuff. Returned to the living room where he saw Yan Fei continue to poke her head with his finger. One side pawing the other moving but she was not on the floor but Yan Feis belly! A persons stomach was round with a grunt, rolled to the back of the sofa. She struggled heavily stuck between the sofa and Yan Feis body. She resembled a sprawled little turtle with disorderly kicking. Yan Fei tightly closed his mouth to block muffledughter. He never seen such a silly dog, clearly was a clever chow chow yet also like this? Luo Xun also could not help butugh, it was no wonder that despite there being two peoples slippers, only Yan Feis were targeted. His own slippers and shoes were never touched. God knew how Yan Fei bullied the puppy at home while he worked at the wall. After eating enough, Yan Fei leaned back on the sofa to restore mental energy. Seeing his appearance, Luo Xun sighed after picking up chopsticks. "Natural recovery is slow? If only we could get some crystal nuclei now." Yan Fei suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him. "What do you think the use of the zombie head crystals other than restoring psychic power?" Luo Xun did not ponder and subconsciously replied. "Can let ability upgrade?" Using the crystals to upgrade during the apocalypse, everyone knew thismon sense. With more and more low level nucleation, which had low ability to upgrade high powers it instead became popr on base. Eventually even reced the base currency trend. The trend was because the base had not advocated the use of crystal nulcei as exchange materials, the base still circted points. The crystal nucleus was hard currency like gold before the end of the world. It was popr with those who needed a different kind of point currency per base. Even for ordinary people, though the nuclei did not have substantial effect. The crystals were stronger than points and would depreciate, could be exchanged for food, clothing, cloth and other things. Yan Fei nodded and narrowed his eyes in thought, spoke after a while. "The crystal nucleus came out of only a few bodies, if we do not leave base we cannot get any." Luo Xun shrugged. "Back here we pay attention to points. Here there is no one to sell those. If there are we could trade with some other things." Yan Fei stood up to stretch, his ck sweater hugged his body. Luo Xun involuntarily moved his line of sight, dared not look straight at the other. "Lets go, I reckon they should have finished their meal so lets ssify the aisles." Yan Fei went to Luo Xuns side and took the chance to rub his head. Luo Xun froze and took some time before returning to himself. Waiting for Yan Feis response from next door after Luo Xun returned to himself. He had an unceasingly flushed face C this guy had more and more tricks these days! p a shoulder, pulled an arm, touched around the waist, all these he had be ustomed to, now unexpectedly he dared to move onto his hair? Would he end up getting kissed by the guy?! Once again in hindsight he felt not revealing his sexuality in advance was a wrong decision. Luo Xuns heart was beating, should he take the chance to clear the air so that he will not get touched again? But when the idea popped in, Yan Fei had gone out into the hallway and wa chatting with teh five person group also ready to move things. These renovation materials had been roughly divided into two, now all they had to do was move back the smaller items into the rooms. Now it was not too much of a hindrance C there was at least an empty aisle set aside as walking space for the people who would move in tomorrow. *Ding ling*splinters* There was bound to be noise handling from the 16th floor. Thankfully most of the people who lived in the upper floors were from the early apocalypse who had been recently called out to go participate in construction work to earn points and rations. So no one was home during the day, otherwise someone would havee upstairs to protest the noise. Moving things was morebor efficient than using Yan Feis abilities. Other jobs were nothing to him, other than handling the huge lump of steel he had just brought back today. It was hard work and the five students were tired. The day of vacation had turned into a workday, let people really feel miserable. After moving the things, they had no strength to chat so they waved and each went back to their homes. After having a good bath, Luo Xun checked the two water tanks on the roof. Recently the water was used faster because every day they did manual work. He considered waiting for spring, but also had to prepare forrge scale crop nting. Luo Xun decided to take another set of water purification device to elerate water storage. No other way, who let him take care of a house? The house next door and so on had a lot of space to grow vegetables but every day would need a lot of water for irrigation! Yan Fei came out from the bathroom to see Luo Xun busy rummaging. He wiped his hair and asked. "What are you looking for?" "Water purifier...looking for it!" Turned out a set ofst minute standby devices. Luo Xun held them and set up in the kitchen and the second floor bathroom. Seeing Luo Xun ce the water filter and went over things, Yan Fei had not said anything when Luo Xun had taken out twomps, wires and other materials. "What is this going to do?" "To transform the quail nest." Luo Xun referred to therge ss container on the balcony. Thinking, he turned to Yan Fei and said. "Help me change the location of the ss container, do not put on the balcony." "How?" Yan Fei left the half dry towel and got up. "The temperature of quail eggs if higher than now and the light time needs to be increased otherwise they wonty eggs in the winter." Luo Xun pointed somewhere the whole quails nest would be illuminated by daylight. "If you have the energy tomorrow, add a few tes here and use it separate the light at night." Now the base would be regrly powered but not sr technology. So Luo Xun would turn off the lights on the first floor at ten oclock to avoid being suspected by others. But quails needed light every day and evening so they could only rely on the metal te to block out light leakage. "Do it now, sleep at night to get it back." In ordance with Luo Xuns guidance to make a portable iron dome, also found a piece of ck cloth to hand on the side. This way no one from the outside could see the light from their balcony. "You are quite knowledgeable." Yan Fei casually said. "Vegetables, quail, home renovation all these kinds of things..." Things that werepletely unnecessary and not useful in modern society. Luo Xun was wiring twomps andughed. "I wanted to eat my own home gardening. You know, outside things are not safe. God knows how much pesticide is in vegetables, what profiteers get." Yan Fei gave a slight nod and squinted. "Oh." Luo Xun set a timer switch to determine there were no problems with themp or electricity. He stood in relief after knowing that there would no outside leaks. The eggs in the house had been consumed since a few days ago. If the quails startedying eggs, every female quail couldy an egg every day which meant seven eggs a day! If the quails did not die of old age. As long as the fertilized eggs hatched, the remaining eggs were enough for two men to consume every day. Quail eggs could also be used to generate ie after their numbers increased. There was also enough quail meat for the both of them even if they did not go out to hunt or buy meat in the future. Luo Xun stood straight up and looked at the quails nestled in the ss dome, a feeling of happiness rose in his heart. His life experience in thest apocalypse had be a boon because of his rebirth. When next door is thoroughly renovated, if no one imed the house, the room could be used specifically for growing. On the balcony they could grow some fruit and other good things! Table of Contents Chapter 46 Yan Fei stood beside Luo Xun, he was satisfied by these things? Luo Xuns eyes were happy and full of satisfaction at the covered quail nest and metal dome. Even without the peace and quiet of life before the apocalypse, without an ability, he could feel fulfillment from the current busy life? Although he felt Luo Xuns goals were too small, Yan Fei felt his mouth involuntarily curl into a smile. He had to admit, did not need a big vi/mansion, did not need a peerless beauty as a partner, did not need to spend a lot of money, did not need high grade, luxury brand goods. All he needed was a home, warm, self-sufficient, arranged by their own means. The happiest thing was enjoying peace and happiness together with a person he got along with well. Yan Fei raise his arm to Luo Xuns shoulder. "Finished? Time to go upstairs for a rest, we get up early tomorrow." Luo Xun stiffened a bit then immediately nodded and the two went to the second floor together. Luo Xun felt a little uneasy with the arm on his shoulder. He decided he would confront the other, since he would not be able to stand this every day! This evening, if his dream was colorful again...He would wake upte tomorrow morning again! "That..." At the side of the bed, Luo Xun did not directly sit down and instead stared at the nearby cab. "Whats the matter?" Yan Fei took off his coat and changed into his pajamas. "I...theres something I havent told you..." This was the first time Luo Xun had confessed his sexuality in front of others. During the end of the world there was no need to admit anything. Three years after the doomsday there were few women who dared to go out alone. All those who wanted to sate their *cough* needs would end up with same sex even if they paid money. No one would say anything about it. Although a lot of people were not homosexual, the situation became moremon in the absence of women. People could only sigh andment the chance of finding a wife or something. Luo Xun had always felt that if this went on, then the ratio of men of women would be unequal, no offspring produced which would lead to the end of humanity. But not now, especially in front of the goods...what if Yan Fei thought Luo Xun wasing onto him if he said so?! Luo Xun unconsciously looked at the room and all the metal rted things, he realized, would he not see the sun tomorrow if he spoke up? "Whats the matter? Lie down and talk." Yan Fei naturally lifted his half of the beds quilt. Luo Xun looked at Yan Feis appearance on the bed and his heart involuntarily vomited blood-why did such a normal action suddenly seem so sultry?! Maybe...he should say nothing? The house next door was being renovated and they would soon separate...Wait the two bedrooms next door, one was arranged as a spare bedroom, the other was for sundries! If thendlord came back and drove him away...Would he end up sleeping in the living room? No, no, no, having a ce to sleep was enough. Being allowed into the house was already benevolence. If he felt that he had been pretending to be an ordinary person to deceive and take advantage of words...Would Li Tie and the others have an extra ce to sleep? "Whats wrong with you?" The voice sounded in front, Luo Xun was startled and looked up. Seeing the beauty, he subconsciously confided with the start of tears in his eyes. "That...I, I...actually like men. Dont worry, Ill never take advantage of you! Just looking...wont go further....No fraternization." Luo Xuns voice went quieter and at the end he could not lift his head. In fact even if not saying anything had no result, it would be worse if something bad happened as a result? But when it came out... His heart involuntarily drifted into pessimism. He feared he had be too ustomed to the intimate contact between the two. Even if his heart silently expected a bad end, he wanted to give his exnation. But he thought the disclosure would have a negative impact- previously happy to help people would push him away. Such a headache again-sure enough, looked like better not to say it... But if one day in the future, he did not want the person to slip, found a suitable person to live with who did not know? What would he think of the time they had spent together? Yan Fei looked at him with a hint of astonishment. Luo Xun unexpectedly had the courage to admit it? Although he saw some of the signs, he doubted it until it was acknowledged. With the current situation...he guessed it was about being molested over the past few days. Yan Feis mind irresponsibly skipped that and suddenly asked. "Fraternization?" Luo Xun paused, did not think Yan Feis brain would skip over to thest thing. "Yes fraternization!" He was gay okay? Was it okay for men to kiss? Yan Feis gestures were too much for him! "Why can I not fraternize with you if you like men?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and asked in a puzzled way. Luo Xun choked. "Men dont usually act like this! When you fraternize I think that you are interested in me?" After the retort Luo Xun wanted to smack the ground. Did he just blurt out his feelings?! Ah, his innocence!? Yan Fei suddenly smiled but Luo Xun did not respond at all, still in a state of remorse heid down in the bed. Luo Xun paused as he gotfortable, suddenly Yan Fei rolled over and covered the other. Closer and closer until their lips touched and the two tightly hugged. A soft tongue pried open lips and probed in. His brain froze, Luo Xun felt nk and subconsciously closed his eyes. He was held tightly, reassuring hands attached to his shoulders and back. This feeling of being hugged was so wonderful and supportive...it seemed it was a good idea to say it... .................. Luo Xun depserately pulled Yan Feis arm from inside his clothes, he did not say anything when they suddenly kissed. But he no idea when Yan Fei got inside his clothes after refocusing. Although...the atmosphere was really good, but what kind of rtionship did they have? And even if was lover, one did not sleep together the first time. Would not think only with their lower half? He wanted to eat his tofu before clearing up the situation!? Luo Xun pulled for a while but could not move Yan Feis hand, just realized his strength could notpare. Hurriedly stared at Yan Fei after looking at the wandering hand. Yan Fei raised his eyebrows and smiled at him. "Like it when I hold you here?" His hand pinched a little as he spoke. Luo Xuns face flushed, something seemed wrong about his current situation. He was not a women yet he got pinched by a handsome man?! "You, you speak clearly!" "Ah." Yan Fei nodded, he could eat meat after rifying. Luo Xun did not realize his mistake and vigorously stared. He did not know his lips were red, his eyes zed because of the steaming kiss. Yan Fei was in high spirits, ready to pounce on his prey. Luo Xun coughed and looked away from the handsome man. "That...I, you..." He opened his mouth and suddenly realized he had intended to draw a gap between the two of them to keep a normal distance. Not overly close, but...did he juste over? Would he be responsible for what he said? Yan Fei used the hand originally inside Luo Xuns cor to pinch his chin. He brought their faces close together and kissed. "Be with me." Luo Xun froze for a while, only to feel his face burn up though he still had doubts. "You...are not gay..." It did not feel like it, although Luo Xun was not clear why. From his point of view he felt Yan Fei was absolutely not like him, he should be interested in women. He was not clear on this kind of intuition, even less knew it was actually a sixth sense amongstrades. Before the end of the world, there were some who could tell who was simr, who was not. "No." Yan Fei nodded his head. If he imagined himself with any of the guys in 1601; hold hand, kiss, pinch he felt the desire to kill. "That..." Why would a good looking, straight man want to kiss him?! With his stature, appearance, powers, he could easily find a woman. Yan Fei suddenly shifted and something touched Luo Xuns thigh. Luo Xun face turned reddish purple. "But I have a reaction to you. You are responsible." "........" Suddenly speechless, Luo Xun silently twisted his head to the side, toozy to ignore him. Just now he wanted to tell Yan Fei that if he did not mind, he would be responsible for him and so on, but with the words out of his mouth...Why did it feel like he was an unscrupulous ruffian bullying a woman? He was definitely not a woman! And, who was responsible for this? The hand is in his clothes was there again, Luo Xun hurriedly grabbed it. "No, no, this cant...its not right to sleep together without being in love?" Yan Fei raised a surprised eyebrow. "I thought we were in love before." Luo Xun paused for a moment then ground his teeth. "Yesterday outside? You intentionally took my arm?" Yan Fei nodded. "Then every morning when we wake up...that was you?!" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow along with his default smile. "....When I was at home, you touched my shoulder, patted my back and sometimes spoke to me while standing behind me...All that was intentional?!" Yan Feis smile deepened. "...Rogue!" If both parties were gay, then everything done to him could be called sexual harassment! Just because he first thought Yan Fei was a straight male. The two of them would get along without thinking of being together. However..."If you dont say anything how can you call it love?!" It was clear that the rogue was crafty. Yan Fei just smiled. "You know what the highest realm of bullying is?" Luo Xun silently shook his head. "Hooliganism." Luo Xun lifted his arm to elbow the other, with a grunt he climbed into his sleeping position. He tightly wrapped himself up in the quilt like silkworm chrysalis. The usual pattern became different after he told him. Yan Fei did not stop him, got up to turn off the bedsidemp, then he directly put his arms around the giant chrysalis. His face close to Luo Xuns neck, the faint shampoo fragrance filled his nose. For a long time the two people were silent but both knew they were not asleep. In the dark, Luo Xun suddenly asked. "What are you going to do?" Since he had been tantly taking advantage, it seemed he was interested. But Luo Xun did not know if Yan Fei was just trying out a rtionship between men? Or if he was in his heart? Yan Fei chuckled, the vibrations made Luo Xuns neck itch. "We are together." Luo Xun was silent for a while. "I like men and never thought of marrying or having children. Not dy others lives, but you are not the same." Of course Yan Fei was different: such good appearance, such a powerful ability, plus his usual gestures pointed at a very good upbringing. He must have been from a wealthy family before the apocalypse. He was left to learn, he was not an ordinary person. Just with these, countless women outside would take the initiative to pursue. Yan Feiughed again. "With the outside world now, what use is worrying about marriage?" He spoke to Luo Xun inside the quilt. "I just want to be together with you. Living, grow vegetables, raise the dog and quails." Luo Xuns heart was moved and could not help turning around. His senses were lessened in the dark but his eyes were bright and clear. "Why?" "...When I am with you, it feels like a real home." Yan Fei was silent for a moment, entrenched in his mind. "Together with you I feel at ease." Subconsciously licking his lips, Luo Xun nervously said. "I...although it would not be the exact same as a husband and wife, I want to find someone to live a happy life. Even if we quarrel, there would be no break up because of apse in emotion...no separation because of differences. You should think clearly about it." Having someone like Yan Fei show goodwill on their own initiative. Luo Xun, with his rebirth could not believe at the moment since the feeling left a bit disturbed. Yan Feiughed lowly, gently kissed his lips and touched noses. "I know, I do not intend to engage in one night stands. I said that with you there was a feeling of home. I want to be a family with you, until we are old and dead." The thought had been in Yan Feis heart for a long time. As someone had once said: some people were only suitable for lovers, some who may not have an outstanding appearance but let a person have a true reassuring feeling, such as person was a true spouse. Yan Fei had been previously ignorant until the apocalypse arrived. When he met Luo Xun, he understood what he had been pursuing all along C a real home. The whispers of the night were very beautiful, let Luo Xun ignore the fact that Yan Feis peach blossom face might bring trouble. Yan Fei gently pulled the quilt. They hugged each other tightly but did not do anything else. Just holding each other for warmth and support. When Luo Xun woke up the sun had risen. Morning camete in winter, he woke up at seven or eight oclock. He lifted his head to look at Yan Fei and felt ufortable looking away. Yan Fei on the other hand naturally moved to send a good morning kiss on Luo Xuns lips. "Awake? Sleep in?" Luo Xun hurriedly shook his head. "Wake up, we still do not know when they arrive." The military would bring survivors to the floor. They had to move the metal te in advance so that people could enter. Table of Contents Chapter 47 Get up, wash, change clothes. Yan Fei found he should have settled the matter with Luo Xun earlier. Although Luo Xuns skin was thin, he was not a posturing person. Since the rtionship between the two had been properly outlined, he would not refuse some of Yan Feis gestures: kiss, touching, hooking up...In short he would not react badly to some acts of intimacy but it would not be like before. He would not mind a bit of hand holding or a quick kiss. So Yan Fei felt at a loss, fortunately the stalemate would notst long. If he waited for a few more days, would it be a good way to eat meat? Well, it was going to be faster,st night had a very good atmosphere. Luo Xun went to knock on the door of 1601 after breakfast to call the students, unaware that someone stared at their butt. "We are ready to move the steel te so the new neighbors cane over and see the situation. Make sure the people do not trip on the things in the corridor." "Okay, no problem." "Luo Xun rest assured, we have enough people to clear the corridor in a sh." There were a lot of things in the corridor but all the stuff was big, people who wanted to steal would not be able to and could only see. Yan Fei moved the threerge tes away, temporarily piled them against a wall. Would he put them back in ce afterwards? He would decide after seeing what kind of person moved in. If they went downstairs often, they could not seal. Yan Fei could reinforce their house doors and windows C Luo Xun was very experienced, the two would discuss back home. The walls of the home still needed to be left for a while, they had to bepletely dry before they could continue. Luo Xun decided to take the opportunity to install bathroom and balcony tiles. The washroom already had a toilet built in, usable though the quality was not good but it did not need recement. But the rest needed to be rebuilt, wrapped and tiles and other things needed to be set. Luo Xun looked around and decided to directly seal the gas pipe- there had not been a chance to use and it upied space. However some would be left where the cooker was ced. The group of students worked in the kitchen for half a day, they went back to their own side to start after they figured out how to paste tiles. Their hands were much quicker; when they were almost done, they woulde over and help Luo Xun. Everyone was a novice so they did not dare make too much mortar or touch all the walls. The floor was paved with bricks so they chose a wall. Calcted the number of tiles, allocated a number of blocks then rapidly started. With the advantage of dexterity, after 20 minutes a wall was stered with clean, white tiles. Luo Xun checked whether the tiles were t, if there was a need to adjust. Yan Fei suddenly signalled. "Someone came up." He hurriedly put down his things to go out the door, faintly heard voices from the stairs. Today 1601 and 1603 left the gate open for two reasons. One so that everyone could trade tiles when needed. The second was to listen for sound in the corridor. It seemed that all the bad guys knew that the 16th floor had been sealed so no one malicious came up to spy on the situation. Therefore, who wasing in broad daylight? Yan Fei had also heard the sound, always paid attention to his surroundings. Naturally the five people heard the sounds in the stairwell as well. Li Tie and the others also ran out after putting down their work. Not long after several people climbed the stairs to their floor. "Ah, sure enough there is no such thing!" "You are all here! Right, this is your new neighbor." Seeing Luo Xun and the other people, the sergeantughed to the man beside him. "Wee, wee...Hey?" Standing in front Li Tie stared in wide eyed surprise. "Huh?" He Qiankun also opened his mouth. Luo Xun curiously looked and his jaw dropped, he turned and gave a nce at Yan Fei. Wu Xin raised his hand to point at the man. "Who, who, who? His face is very familiar but what his name?" Yan Fei calmly responded. "Zhang Yi." Zhang Yi also looked at the people upstairs with surprise...what a coincidence. "Hey? You all know each other?" The sergeant was not the same one they had met yesterday, but they had met before. Luo Xun remembered that he was sergeant Ding. Luo Xun nodded. "We met thest time we left base." Lieutenant Ding spoke up. "It was you who brought him into base? Thats good." That was great! He could finally get rid of the baggage! Luo Xun andpany did not understand why the soldiers who heard this walked with a bounce in their step as they escorted they guy upstairs. Zhang Yi calmy nodded to the group, one arm wrapped with gauze. A soldier opened the door first before lieutenant Ding went through. He was surprised to see the mess in the corridor. "So many things...What are they for?" Li Tie grinned. "Last time we went to building material store to get a batch of renovation materials. Recently painted the walls, today we are about to stick tiles!: Lieutenant Ding looked incredulously at the group of people. "You are very skilled. You managed to go out on a trip and not only get some food but also these..." He Qiankuns face fell. "No other way, the floor is cement, notfortable to sleep on. We used quite a few days to go out and bring these things back. Now the sleeping bed is too small, I almost fell from the topst night." Wang Duo raised his hand. "Ive fallen three times!" Luo Xun was taken aback, that thing could be used as a bed? Lying on top of the thing? There was no padding, how would he sleep or fall? Lieutenant Ding and the soldiers were incredulous. "What kind of bed do you have?" What kind of bed would make people fall off three times? "The beauty salon had one with a small hole!" He Qiankun quickly exined. Wu Xin patted him on the back of the head. "That is not a hole, it is to let people ce their face. Did I not give a board to block that?" "Dont you know me? I was so heavy thatst night, turning almost folded the board! Almost got splinters!" He said justly. The soldier smiled and opened the door with some effort. "You guys...right, Doctor Zhang this room is yours. Are you satisfied?" Zhang Yi at the back, who had not spoken after saying hello to Luo Xun, gave a slight nod. What was not satisfactory? The house was very big, the lighting was good, not luxurious but morefortable then being outside ready to flee at a moments notice. Li Tie eximed. "Is he living alone!?" Base housing was very tight. It was clear when Li Tie and the others hade to base. The five of them were allocated a set of bedrooms. When they went out yesterday they inquired about news, it wasmon for 10 or so people in two bedrooms. He Qiankuns face was full of envy. "Having an ability is really good..." The expressions of lieutenant Ding and the soldiers all distorted. Ding coughed. "...Hes an exception." In this case, they did not want anything horrible to happen. Zhang Yi suddenly turned around, peach blossom eyes and a smile like spring. "They are afraid the people on base will be dead men." "What?" "Dead? What dead men?" Li Tie and the others were confused. Luo Xun quietly took a step back, that smile was too bright, a brilliant creepiness, bst hide away for safety. Upon retreating, he hit Yan Fei standing beside him. Yan Fei naturally hugged his waist into a protective hold. Luo Xun instantly felt a bit on confidence, having a boyfriend was good! Especially when the boyfriend was a powerful ability user. Lieutenant Ding andpany also silently stepped away from Zhang Yi. A few soldiers hurriedly carried things into the living room as fast as possible, ready to evacuate. "Nothing, I identally hurt a few people at the base hospital." Zhang Yi still had a calm face. Li Tie still did not understand. "Hurt people? Was there a bad guy who wanted to bully you?" "Ah!" Han Li pped. "Was it the people who framed you before?" Zhang Yis smile closed up. He Qiankun beat his chest. "Rest assured! It is absolutely safe to live here! Yan Fei can block the gate, unless we want to go out, otherwise no one can enter!" "Yes, Yan Fei can help make the windows stronger!: Li Tie nodded. "We can also make nting shelves. Luo Xun does it better then us, we could teach you then you can grow food at home to eat!" No going out, growing vegetables at home during the apocalypse, could not be safer! Lieutenant Ding suddenly asked. "You can grow things at home?" "Yes! Yellow bean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, peanuts and so on. When the weather is warm and the house is renovated, we can nt out!" Li Tie exined. Lieutenant Ding hurriedly continued. "Please inform us when you seed. In the future if there is surplus the base would like to acquire some." The base was studying nting problems. They were responsible for the safety of the entire base which included food problems. However during the cultivation process, they found many of the crops had mutated and the mutation rate was very high! Doubtful if the variant produce was edible, they were studying whether to promote home growing within the base. If these guys were interested and nted sessfully, it could be used as an experimental example to promote! Lieutenant Ding asked about the specific situation while Zhang Yi looked at Li Tie and the others. So that was what good people untainted by the apocalypse were like... His line of sight went to Luo Xun and Yan Fei, seeing the two standing in the corner doorway. Although he had not talked with the two, the appearance of the two people standing together... Seeing Yan Fei hug Luo Xun around the waist, Zhang Yi gave a huff, that fellow had bad intentions, sure enough that hand around the waist? It was only a few days! Some people naturally had a glimpse of the rtionship between the two before this point. The two had clearly broken through the bottleneck of initial contact period. Lieutenant Ding learned that Li Tie had their own beans and vegetables at home and followed the group into their home to see the water imnts. Looking at the tender green sprouts he smiled and patted their shoulders. "Good seed, this is hope for the future." If home nting could really seed, then pressure would be greatly reduced on the base. People could nt some vegetables in their home to supplement necessary nutrients and vitamins. With the cultivation of food crops, the base could maintain normal operation. Lieutenant Ding was not very clear about the outside world since he was in charge of more domestic affairs. However he knew the situation was not very optimistic and that the number of zombies had increased greatly. Although he was not the supreme leader, he understood that if the zombies became too powerful the humans would be confined to a smaller space. The base was surrounded by farnd but it was limited in scope and output. Therefore there was a proposal in base to promote the concept of home growing. He immediately understood the meaning of his superiors. Li Tie and the others home used PVC pipe and water with homemade nutrients. Luo Xun had posted the information on the inte before the end of the world. Otherwise the nts would not germinate due to malnutrition. After seeing the shelf, the lieutenant patted their shoulders. "Pretty good, dont forget to tell use when you have results. This is a good way, well promote this back on base." Li Tie and the others smiled at the praise from the soldiers. Before leaving, someone curiously looked at the wall and asked. "Its dry, if a bit uneven, can you not use it now?" Wang Duoughed. "Only brushed the first time, have to brush a second time after it dries." The person paused. "Brush a second time?" "Huh? We looked at a home renovation booklet, brush putty three times?" Wang Duo looked confusedly at Han Li, who hurriedly nodded. A few of the soldiers chuckled. "Can use after one coat! Brush so many times, how long would that take? Now is the apocalypse, no need to be so meticulous. It should adhere for a while so long as there no cracks, leaks or peeling with a coat oftex paint." He Qiankun patted Wu Xins shoulder. "I said not so much trouble, you had to follow the booklet!" Li Tie nodded cheerfully. "Right! Its going to be easier! After the wall haspletely dried, we can paint the floor with a brush." He spoke and looked next door. "There are still a lot of things anyway. We can give Zhang Yi any leftovers." For the man who had been framed by hispanions, who had cut his arm to lure zombies and caused indignation due to his beautiful face, Li Tie and the others had a strongpassion for him. Especially now that everyone was neighbors, they would live together in the future and naturally should get along with each other. Li Tie and four others nodded. Lieutenant Dings expression shifted. "You...good rtionship?" A few people looked at each other before speaking. "Its okay, we came back together then split up." A soldier curiously asked. "He was not angry with you? Did not start...power?" He Qiankun responded. "What? Do what with ability?" A line of people had gone out of the room into the corridor. Did not know what to say when they saw Zhang Yi standing in the door of 1602 with Luo Xun and Yan Fei. Han Li remembered a previous topic and hurriedly asked. "Right, what you said before. Was it the people who harmed you before?" That was why he hurt people in the hospital? Zhang Yi had an ambiguous looks, his eyebrows raised. "No." "Ah?" "Then someone tried to bully you." Wu Xin said, no made a fuss? He did not hurt anyone while he was with them, was not crazy. Zhang Yi had a fixed expression, blinked but did not utter a reply. Lieutenant Ding coughed then turned to the group. "In short, you are okay with Zhang Yi. About the thing, let us know when there is a result. Also, some seeds change color after, those are mostly toxic pay attention to remove them quickly. All right lets go." After saying, they looked at Zhang Yi. He was not quite clear about what exactly caused Zhang Yi and other people to sh several times but the incidents were very big, many things in the room were broken when his ability went wild. People had more than one injury and covered in blood. If they were not found in time, the bleeding would lead to the peoples death. Afterwards, Zhang Yi did not speak, the other parties involved also refused to say anything. Watching Lieutenant Ding and the others go down the stairs, He Qiankun was curious. "Why not take the elevator?" Lieutenant waved a hand. "Today someone lifted things, our physical strength is not good and everyone was using the elevator." Went down after speaking. Waiting until their voices would not be heard, Han Li turned to Yan Fei and Zhang Yi. "Should we seal?" There was no response as two pairs of peach blossom eyes looked at each other. Table of Contents Chapter 48 Yan Fei shrugged after hearing Han Lis words and nced at Zhang Yi. "Seal after something bad happens. If you need to go downstairs for something, we can sealter." He had sealed the entrances every night and found using his was like practicing music. Although he could not use nuclei to replenish his spirit energy there seemed to be a faint increase after resting. The increase was very small and slow, but it indeed increased. Yan Fei was unsure if the increase in power was solely due to the crystal nuclei but he could feel his current slow growth. When there was enough mental strength umted, it would result in an upgrade. Therefore he spent some time each day before bed using up his reserves. Thankfully there were a lot of metal items at home that he could move around. Zhang Yi threw back his head inughter. "I can eat and drink, recuperate without needing to go out." If life outside the base was not good, and he did not go out to find supplies would be subject to the exclusion of peers? In fact, he was rtivelyzy, no going out often, especially with inte shopping developed before the end of the world. Who liked to go shopping while groups of men and women acted like nosy onlookers? Yan Fei slightly nodded, turned to face three others. "I rebuilt the door just in case other peoplee and we would not have heard them." Once spoken, a few pieces of steel flew and blocked the lower half of the door. The other half turned fence like so one could see the other side. Luo Xun pointed at the bars. "So why is it like a prison?" Except the people in prison were on their own side. Or was it the opposite? It was confusing. Wang Duo covered his mouth andughed. He and Wu Xin almost fell the the groundughing while holding onto each others shoulders. Yan Fei gave and him a nce then helplessly waved the fence into a grid so that it did not look like a prison cell. This way, if someone came upstairs to say something, they would hear theming. They could let people in or close the door and bring the dog. "Ill turn them into real doors after two days of outings." Yan Fei looked at the other people. "Continue to renovate?" "Oh, ah!" Li Tie andpany cheered in unison. Although there were a lot of renovation materials left over that could be divided into portions for Zhang Yi, he was currently wounded. His arm was injured so he would rest for a few days first before anything else. Since his ability was significantly stronger than other wind ability users and he was a top internship student at A-city hospital, he had knowledge and some clinical experience. If he had not been injured he would have been immediately put to work despite his mercurious temper. The supplies given by the military were very good. Quilts, waterproof cloth, sleep bag, coal, small stove, a lot of rice, vegetable, mineral water, as well as simple water filtration equipment. Aplete set of all kinds of things. Li Tie and group kindly helped him tidy up, once his things were organized and Zhang Yi was told him tips such as cooking more efficiently and so on, they returned to their own ces to continue working. Not too long after Luo Xun and Yan Fei had went back home to decorate a kitchen wall when they suddenly heard a scream. "AH! The recently made y! Its all dried up!" .... Luo Xun poked at the bottom of a barrel of stiff material and breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately we had just finished a wall, did not need to make any more." Yan Fei smiled with a grimace C a great beauty moved in next door, fortunately he did not touch his treasure. If the guy had looked with interested eyes, Yan Fei would have chased the guy out even in front of the base soldiers. As a skilled renovator, Luo Xun started on the work quickly. When Li Tie and them had finally set up their own kitchen and came to help, the kitchen and bathroom tiles had been pasted for the most part! "Luo Xun, Yan Fei, you move so fast!" Wu Xin was blown away. "Its okay, its quick to get used to this sort of thing." Luo Xun shrugged and stood up stiffly. "Are you all done?" "Ah, done. Just waiting for these things to dry." Wu Xin reced Luo Xuns position, one side working the other talking. "They went back to see Zhang Yi and help him scrape the walls." As for the floor, needed to see how much material they had left at the end. After stretching, Luo Xun squatted beside Yan Fei to help him stick tiles. "You arent going to brush a secondyer of putty?" "No, just brush ayer now. Might take a month or more to dry." Wu Xin continued. "We may have to go the baseputer room to help make thework. If so there would be no more time. We should first make the house liveable at least." Luo Xun gave Yan Fei a nce, he still thought to brush three times as insurance, lest the walls peeled when the room became too hot or something. Anyway there home was ready and they could live next door if needed. What was the rush? Yan Fei saw Luo Xun looking, he smiled and used his hand to pinch the others face. Luo Xuns expression stiffened as he was pinched. He raised a hand to wipe but did not realize the back of his hand was not clean so his face became even more dirty. Luo Xun scrubbed his face then raised his hand to wipe dirt on Yan Feis nose. Yan Fei did not dodge and allowed the other to add makeup on his face. A whole day of hard work, the two houses tiles were all pasted. Then the kitchen and bathroom ceiling were aired for a day. 1602 was also busy, Li Tie andpany helped Zhang Yi brush the wall, did not want to exert too much energy on moving. Then looked at Li Tie with a face of worship holding a copy of WasteWoodHouse guide to the apocalypse: nting boxes, tubes, shelves and other rted things. Li Tie tried to make Zhang Yi and the others see the authors greatness. Luo Xun could not help but turn and cover his face C Li Ties behavior was hard to look at. Yan Fei patted his shoulder, although he did not really think Luo Xun was the one who posted the guide online but Li Ties shameful behaviour was too much to ignore for Wang Duo. Thus Luo Xun pretending not to know him was very understandable. Saying hello to each other, learned that renovating the house was very addictive with four people to help. He Qiankun was triumphantly waving a greasy knife. "We are now doing more than before! In a while we will be finished!" "Yes! Yes! I think that even if there is no work at the base, we could help people renovate the house to earn rations!" Han Li also expressed support. After a whole day of renovation work and returning back home. Luo Xuns mouth teitched as he saw his face covered with gray and dusty appearance. "Do you want to go upstairs and take a shower?" Yan Fei took off his coat while asking. "Bath ah..." Luo Xun felt his heart beat, but it used up too much water. "Well, bathe together?" Yan Fei glided over and whispered in his ear. Luo Xun jumped to the side, startled and red. "No soak!" His instincts told him that if he and Yan Fei washed each others backs, they might not get up tomorrow! Honestly, a bath with Yan Fei was very tempting but Luo Xuns subconscious sense of rm always reminded him C do not judge someone by their appearance, the situation may not be as one wishes. He was a man! Pressure from beauty! He must be prepared to not be overwhelmed by the other side. He must stand firm against the opposing force. Luo Xun of course, looked forward to eating meat. Two lifetimes of virginity was not something to be proud of but he must resist rash decisions. He needed to make a good n, find the right time toy with someone and sate himself. He had been waiting for two lifetimes. Luo Xun looked meaningfully at Yan Feis waist and face, decided to determine his attack side status at home. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, Luo Xun was looking at him with a sense of aggression. Yan Fei squinted and touched his chin, he did not mind eatingter but he did mind being prey. Before the apocalypse few men made a move on their own. After the end, his love for the guy absolutely would not leave his mind. Of course he wanted to top, so long as Luo Xun was the bottom he would not mind what kind of position. The two each pretended that their minds were not upied as they took off their dirty clothes. The puppy was lying beside the quail cage, she saw the two peoplee and turned to look. After she continued to watch the quail tirelessly. It would be dark when Luo Xun came back to the quail cages and turned on the light. The ck cloth was put down to keep the light inside the miniaturendscape. Luo Xun let Yan Fei into the bathroom first to wash. He washed his hands then went to the balcony to check the crop growth. "It is strange that the bottom rows of leaves seemed to have not grown well?" Luo Xun squatted doubfuly beside the shelf. Did not know why they bottom row of vegetables was not as big? Or were there less leaves? The little puppy lying on her side saw Luo Xun crouching nearby. Her wagging tail stopped, she positioned herself then used her ws to climb while Luo Xun was watching the quails. Luo Xun carefully observed and found that the bottom of the nt had broken off traces, was it torn off? "Did Yan Fei eat them?" The bottomyer of the shelf was leafy lettuce, which could be eaten raw or dipped in sauce and wrapped with meat. But who would do such a thing? He had grabbed and rinsed a few vegetables recently, leaving the rest, so who had picked this row? Yan Fei was bathing so there was no way to ask him. Luo Xun thought for a moment then checked to make sure there were no bugs on the nts. It was not long before. Luo Xun threw a big towel in his face. "You?!" He came naked! Yan Fei wiped his hair with the towel. "Forgot to take clothes." Luo Xun breathed deeply, exhaled, breathed again. He recalled a few days ago when Yan Fei was only wrapped in a small towel, it had all been intentional! His face was the color of red fruit. He was toozy to ignore him, Luo Xun walked into the steaming bathroom, took off his clothes and bathed in resentment. This guy always ying as a rogue, his entire body exuded a pressuring atmosphere. What could he do? Luo Xun tried to return to a calm mood while showering. He breathed a sigh of relief when he came out and found Yan Fei already dressed. The puppy was now lying under the table using Yan Feis slippers as a pillow. Her tail wagged from time to time. Upon hearing the sound of the bathroom door, she hurriedly looked up. Yan Fei watched the tender, just out of the shower Luo Xun like a wolf. He watched as Luo Xun headed for the sofa. "Boiled noodles for tonight?" There were still instant noodles at home, even if quite a bit was taken out in exchange for metal tesst time. Although they had vegetables and food to eat, when tired they would want to bezy and save some trouble. Besides, they sometimes missed the smell of instant noodles. "Well, boil it here." He referred to the stove, there was no gas to be used since the base did not know where to get coal to be redeemed. Sr panels and the like had not been promoted untilter, people used less electricity. Many people used wooden furniture as fuel for fires. The eggs in the house were used up, but they could add some sausage with the noodles and there were quite a few C Luo Xun had bought them before the end of the world. This box of sausages was not light, fortunately it only cost ten dors with light postage. Yan Fei went to the balcony and picked some vegetables, washed in the kitchen then ced on a te then peeled two sausages. They two mens appetite was not small but Luo Xun did not want to eat too much at night and only boiled three packs of noodles. "The tiles wont dry until tomorrow afternoon?" Yan Feis noodles were almost boiled, there was a familiar taste once the vegetables were thrown in. Luo Xun stirred with chopsticks then turned off the fire. "The instructions said to let air for 24 hours, we can take a day break." "We need to wait for almost a month for the wall next door..." Yan Fei thought for a moment then suggested. "Should I take time tomorrow to transform the door?" "What? What gate? How to transform?" Luo Xun asked in confusion as he divided the noodles into two bowls. "That door, next door and our door." Yan Fei referred in the direction of the entrances while the sausage bubbled in the soup. "That door?" Luo Xun was still puzzled, was it not their own door? "You changed the cats eye in this room right?" Yan Fei seeing him puzzled exined. "But the cats eye can only see the situation in the corridor, cannot see the elevator door opening until afterwards." "Right, the door of this room is 1601." Luo Xun nodded, sat down and picked up his food. "What if the two houses doors are changed into one. Unseen to the outside but able to see the elevator door clearly but also as protection for the two doors." Yan Fei drew up the situation on the table. "1603 and 1604 have a right angle formed in the middle. If you put a diagonal iron te then install the cat eye and doorbell, it would be tantamount to merging the two rooms into one." Luo Xun thought for a moment then conceded with a nod. "That could work. It would not matter what room we were in to see room activities!" They had a total of two houses, even if the other was thoroughly renovated the main base of activities would be 1604. The room had too many misceneous things that could not be shown to outsiders. Luo Xun was going to use the next room as a nursery, nts would be nted with out too much furniture. Now Yan Fei did so, two doorsbined into one even if someone wanted toe they could arrive directly at the next door. Anyway there was nothing to do tomorrow. They could use the time the next day to change the gate! The two people quickly swallowed and frank the instant noodles. They washed the chopsticks, body and brushed their teeth. Checked the first floor before climbing to the second floor. There was no entertainment in the apocalypse which left people feeling boredom. Luo Xun had downloaded a lot of things from the inte but it was mostly all kinds of literature, data, images. He had not thought of taking film and television recordings. However all kinds of novels had been packaged up to pass time during peace. Before they would have been able to read a novel on theptop or mobile phone before bedtime but now... "Get out!" "No." "Honestly, you!" Luo Xun persevered for half a day to not take advantage of someone. He gave a supercilious look at Yan Feis pious appearance. How did he instantly be a pervert after being in a rtionship? He should have known! Table of Contents Chapter 49 After hearing Luo Xuns protest, Yan Fei chuckled against his neck. "How can I be honest?" He said while something touched Luo Xuns belly. From there was a sensation like hot water on his side, Luo Xun no longer dared to move C he had a slight reaction...If this guy found out, he was going to do something embarrassing! It was better to avoid it for the time being. He would be overwhelmed if he was not prepared and determined. But his body temperature rose and rose; his subconscious mind expected something to happen. Yan Fei suddenly voiced a serious proposal. "Why dont we help each other." He could not eat the other right now, but benefits were going to be cashed in as soon as possible. Mutual help, mutual benefit and reciprocity...No one loses, everyone could befortable... Four eyes looked at each other, Yan Fei slowly started to kiss. Luo Xun waspletely confused before a thought faintly appeared in his brain C did he not think it was too fastst night? To be reserved? Where did that part go? But he was not a woman, what did he have to lose? He would take advantage of it. Luo Xun who had sorted himself out took the lead inunching an attack. A hand moved smoothly all the way down the spine, pulled off ufortable looking pants... A refreshing early morning, even Luo Xuns brushing frequency was faster than usual. Mentally walking back and forth, Luo Xun suddenly felt that not exining this earlier seemed like a loss? But if he had spoken too early, and Yan Fei did not have those types of feelings, perhaps it would have been arger loss? Ones heart could be incredibly outstanding, be happy he was boyfriends with a strong ability user. He suddenly thought of the face... Thats right! Luo Xun put down the toothbrush, hurriedly cleaned his mouth of toothpaste and ran out of the bathroom straight to the second floor. The puppy who was ying with Yan Feis slipper looked up in confusion. She did not have the chance to greet Luo Xun before he heard the second floor bedroom door. What was going on? Back in the bedroom, Luo Xun rummaged through the closet and drawers and pulled out a white mask. He snatched it and hurried downstairs. "For you." "Ah?" Yan Fei hesitantly took the mask, and looked in confusion." Luo Xun was slight ufortable but he coughed and said with righteousness. "When you go out, you usually wear a mask right? These are spares since youve been using that one for a long time." Yan Fei was not wearing his first mask because it had been dyed with blood, so it no cleaned and put aside. But it seemed that Yan Fei was very ustomed to wearing a spare mask while he was out. Therefore he had a spare on hand, when he went out several times he wore the other. But that was thest mask he had, once it was used up, he would have none. Thinking of potential troubles, what if Yan Fei wandered out and collected a bunch of rotten peaches (admirers)? Even if Yan Fei did not have any interest he would end up in the middle. Better to prevent it, eliminate the possibility at the source! There were some voices in the hallway as Luo Xun quickly shoved the mask into Yan Feis arms while smiling and giving a meaningful look. Li Tie and the others had arrived. The five person group were abnormally excited and enthusiastically ran to Zhang Yi in order to help out. The still sleepy handsome Zhang Yi involuntarily froze in the doorway before letting the group inside. To be honest he would not have epted this kind of help if the five students were not upright or clean in his eyes. Simr to Yan Feis experience, Zhang Yi had attracted a lot of men and women, all sorts of people before the end of the world because of his outstanding appearance. But he was unlucky since he did not Yan Feis identity or strength, having an air ability, so he encountered more unsavoury situations. After the apocalypse, people assassinated and plundered each other like normal. He believed he had a ghost. Before they went to bedst night, Li Tie andpany had already fixed the bedroom wall, today two people would work in the second room with the remaining three in the big living room. Luo Xun and Yan Fei also came over after eating breakfast to see the activity C to see if there were enough renovation materials for Zhang Yi and maybe to help out? *Cough* these two were not selfless and helpful people. They could also tell that Zhang Yis vignce was very high, if not for the overly enthusiastic group, he would not have epted the help. At this time Zhang Yi was in the living room with a bucket of putty, he nodded at the two when they entered. Luo Xun circled around, saw neatly folded bedding amongst other things in a corner, there were a few half empty mineral water bottles C Zhang Yi tracked his water very carefully. He hade from the outside so he knew how rare water was. He also worried about contaminated water and did not dare use tap water directly. Seeing the set of simple water purifier in the kitchen, Luo Xun gave a reminder. "Using the water purifier is not total insurance, best to let the water rest for more than half a day, remove the upperyer then distill before use." "Distition?" Zhang Yi went back into the kitchen, looked at the room with an empty hose. "How do you distill?" Li Tie waving his tool said loudly. "Ill teach youter, I showed you yesterday some stuff that was written, easy to do!" Luo Xun did not want to rob Li Tie the opportunity to be a teacher and only added. "Even distilled water is notpletely safe, best to boil when using, just in case of danger." Zhang Yi nodded. "Outside survivors only dared to drink unopened mineral water. We heard people say that those who drank tap water turned into zombies." Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. "Water was really polluted?" The base had advised drinking water safety in order to prevent idents, but did not hear any news about people turning into zombies from directly drinking tap water, the careful precautions were warranted. "I dont know if its true but there were people who said that." Zhang Yi shrugged while sneering. "Right now the outside survivors all steal, whether it is mineral water or food. Now more people steal waterpared to food, after all people can live without food for two days but not without water." Zhang Yi came to base without anything, if he did not have doctors capability even with his strong wind ability, the base would not have taken care of in the hospital after injuring others and arranging a room to live alone. Luo Xun circled again to see what the base had given Zhang Yi for food. It was enough for him to eat for a week, if he saved it might be enough for two weeks, a set of water purification equipment, a small pot, stainless steel rice bowl, in addition to bedding and other things. From this point of view, the base took special care of the talented without giving them too much luxury goods. He would likely report back to base for work, otherwise he would have only been given food. "I remember the wound on you arm? What made it?" The wound was neat and deep so it had clearly been a sharp thing. Yan Fei swept a nce at Zhang Yis arm. His wife was not ensnared by the beauty so Yan Fei would not have any strong hostility. Zhang Yis mouth quirked up, peach blossom eyes shing with cold. "Scalpel." He added. "Mine." Taking his scalpel and hurting him too? Yan Feis eyebrows rose, it seemed that outside life had a lot of stimtion. "I said those people were definitely not good things!" He Qiankun rubbed his nose as he heard the conversation. "Yes, Zhang Yi, if those guyse back to base, if you see them tell us, well go help you punch them!" Wu Xin also eximed. Zhang Yi smiled, his peach blossom eyes curved into crescents. "No need, if I see them I will deal with them myself." Luo Xun just wandering out saw his smile and involuntarily shuddered. He spoke to Li Tie and told them they were going to change their doors C putting two doors in one. Thus, they departed for the time being. A lot of metal materials were piled up in the corridor, the water performance was better than steel. Yan Fei selected a bunch of what he had fused together before to condense into a strong door. The door frame and the concrete were connected together to prate the wall inside. Unless someone had the ability to break steel and cement together, it would take a while to get into the little foyer. The so called hall was originally two doors and a small bevel. Luo Xun dismantled their own doors electronic peephole and took a spare one to load back into the door. Yan Fei made a hole ording to the size of the peephole in the door then intersected the two so others would not be able to take it down. In addition, the doorbell was also attached to the outside door. After finishing the gate the two people thoughts turned to something else C the ss in 1604 was toughened but 1603 still had the original ss. It could be broken if someone gave a hard smash or hit. "Add an iron fence so that no one can take the sr panels away." Luo XUns eyes brightened as he suggested a solution. "Can also add iron fences outside 1604." Yan Fei nodded. "Tempered ss can also be broken so more than oneyer of protection is safer." They had brought back quite a bit of metal, in addition to geothermal purposes, they were also useful for protection. The two houses were turned into the ultimate hamster nest. The wall outside was still reinforced cement with the iron fence attached to the perimeter as a while. The guardrail was strong to the extreme. Yan Fei simply used the metal in the house to help reinforce the cement in the wall. There own things were too much, too heavy for the wall to support. If he had enough metal and mental power he would have lined the building with metal enough to stand a magnitude 10 earthquake. The transformation was tiring, it was not until lunch that he restored his spirit while lying on the couch. There was only one slipper left beside the couch C the other was secretly hiding somewhere. Luo Xun finished dealing with the balcony crops, several pieces of sr panel hung from the open window along with the iron fence. The bottomyer made by Yan Fei would not leak. His homes fence was wider than normal, which meant more space to grow crops. "Ill go next door, you rest first." After packing up, Luo Xun prepared to go out holding two heads of lettuce. "Wait a minute,e here." Yan Fei beckoned him over. When Luo Xun approachedt he sofa he was pulled by the neckline and kissed. "elerated recovery." Luo Xun froze before grinding his teeth, head bowed and gnawing on his lip. He got up and went out. "Yo, pretty fast, are you almost done?" Luo Xun was startled, they had only started working this morning and they were already more than half done? "No way! I just said, if we cannot find a living we could help people renovate their homes!" Han Li said excitedly. "Luo Xun, what are you holding?" Seeing the green Li Ties eyes burned with envy, Zhang Yi was also surprised to see what was in Luo Xuns arms. How long since he had seen green vegetables outside? "Lettuce." Luo Xun smiled and handed the lettuce to the nearest Wang Duo. "Before the apocalypse I had wanted to grow something on the house balcony. Bought some seeds from the supermarket and only after the end did I try and grow it." The university students howled, Li Tie rushed to Luo Xuns side with tears in his eyes. "Luo Xun, could we have some lettuce seeds?" The situation outside was too dangerous, they were nning on looking for seeds but that hope had been dashed. Luo Xun took out a stic bag from his pocket, the things inside were wrapped. "Not much, theres lettuce, cabbage, coriander, chili and onion. Youll have to wait for warmer weather." "Oh, oh, oh!" "We just finished the door and added a guardrail to the window. If you want to install, youll need to wait two days for Yan Fei to recover first." "Oh, oh, oh, oh-!!" Li Tie immediately ran towards the living room window, pulled open to reveal, sure enough the next door balcony had a solid iron guardrail that could also hold things! "Luo Xun, do you have enough metal?" "The fence is not going to take much, should be enough." Luo Xun and Yan Fei were not being kind while giving neighborhood assistance, more intended to stabilize the people as a team. Only three groups lived on this floor, they had strengthened their home and the corridor in case those next door tried to pry would be dealt with. What about people who had a temper or stared at their supplies? For the sake of their own well-being but also because Li Tie andpany were not bad, Luo Xun and Yan Fei decided to help out to smooth future life. As for Zhang Yi? If they had not seen Li Tie and the others enthusiastically helping out? It was not right to just stay at home. "Thank you so much!: Han Li shakingly grasped Luo Xuns hands. "When we earn points well buy some metal and give it to Yan Fei!" There was a metal ability user next door. The iron was strong! "Luo Xun, do not let Yan Fei renovate the house, welle over to help you instead. Yan Fei should focus on getting the iron fence done!" They lived on the top floor, which was the most dangerous one. The highest theft rates before the apocalypse were all on the upper floors. If thief shows on top of the building, they could climb down and their group would the first to suffer. They had sr panels in the home, now was the start of the apocalypse where people were all panicking so no one noticed. However a thief would certainly not pass up on these good things! They would be going out to work every day, God knew what would happen when they were not at home? Zhang Yi smiled with his peach blossom eyes. "If you end up in the hospital needing surgery, I will give you more stitches, free of charge." ...Who was going to the hospital? Who would want more stitches ah! Luo Xuns mouth twitched, but he dared not mouth off against the demon with wind power. His boyfriend was not with him right now, it was safer to hide away from this dangerous character. Therefore, Yan Fei needed not worry about his lover getting stolen because Luo Xun was currently avoiding the new demon man out of fear. "The target has been cleared and can continue to act." "All vehicles attention, continue to advance, pay attention to your surroundings at all times." A vehicle drove slowly south through the streets that had be nothing but ruins. "Report! This was found in the heads of zombies that had just been killed." A soldier hurriedly boarded themand car holding a stic bag with a few crystals as clear as diamond. The man in charge just nced at these things. "Put it together. Leave a car to check if there are more of these things, the rest of the people continue to move." "Yes!" The car safe opened and inside there were six or seven simr bags, each containing these crystal clear gems. Chapter 50 The jewel like shards were found in the heads of zombies whose strength and speed were increasing. Some people called this kind of thing a nucleus, which was rumored to raise the level of abilities. Upon discovery, the army tested on volunteers to confirm the validity of the rumor C that ability users could consume them and increase their power. But did the thing have any side effects? Would there be other effects? Would it make a person lose their mind and be a zombie? It was not clear so experts and scientists on base were intensifying their efforts to study the subject. Also while they were outside on a mission to destroy and bring back crystal nucleus, they discovered the possibility of nuclear zombies. "Ahead! There are two vehicles in the convoy after a private vehicle failure!" The man stopped and ordered. "Leave a maintenance car, the rest of the vehicles continue to drive." The convoy was so huge that zombies could easily smell them out so they had to rush back to the southwest base. Many of the rescued were important personnel and they also had to bring back important news C the three destroyed bases would have problems because the water was polluted with the zombie virus! Second, the number of zombies with a crystal nucleus in their brain had exploded. It was as if all the ordinary, slow moving zombies were almost extinct. In the future they would face changed senior zombies! After a full days work, all the tiles were firmly in ce. Luo Xun looked around the two rooms in satisfaction, then pointed heroically at the ceiling. "Suspended ceiling!" How to deal with the roof? Li Tie andpany studied the renovation handbook. They relied on this thing from when they collected materials from the shopping mall. In a short period of time they had fixed three house walls and tiled two rooms. Once they understood the required steps for the ceiling, the first test would be the kitchen roof, once sessful the work would divided. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would do the bathroom roof, He Qiankun would help Zhang Yi with his home tiles, the remaining Li Tie group would be split to finish 1601 rooms. Fortunately, Luo Xun had taken a lot of each material just in case. Altogether the remaining tiles was not enough for Zhang Yis entire home but his bathroom was no issue. As for the kitchen? The cooking stove was positioned well, they could just brush some paste instead. Yan Fei did not leave Luo Xun alone in order to make a window for Li Tie and the others. One he was unwilling to be separated from Luo Xun while busy, the other was he had a long day ahead of him. Yesterday morning he had used to much power and had to lie on the couch for the entire afternoon. Even if he had to help them with the windows today, it would better to wait until nightfall just before bed. One of the important benefits of making windows for the two houses was that it improved Yan Feis abilities. Although he house had a lot of metal, treating it like silly dough for a long time everyday was a bit boring. Plus he wanted to do something actually useful. Now he could be a good neighbor, get a favor from Li Tie and exercise his abilities, why not? Li Tie and the others had official cooperation work with the base, so they should be able to earn a stable ie. When there was a chance they would naturally bring back metal for Yan Fei to tinker with. Zhang Yi who was more arrogant and understanding of people, the base was in need of medical talent which also meant normal ie, so he could get metal as well. For Yan Fei, the deal was not a loss. Yan Fei was shrewd, he wondered why Luo Xun was kind enough to help with the windows, he was very careful of their own safety. If the security of Li Tie and Zhang Yis homes could be guaranteed, the safety of their own would increase significantly as well. Having the aid of a metal ability user, Luo Xun did not have to hammer down the nks. Yan Fei only needed to wave his hand to fix any boards that were crooked. The two ceilings, coupled with initial experimentation and nning did not consume as much time as the bathroom ceilings, even faster than Li Tie and the others. They heard a sound in the corridor as they worked. Outside the room Lieutenant Ding was standing in front of the staircase iron te, cing a hand against the iron in surprise. When they came out, Lieutenant Ding asked. "Did you get this thing out?" Before these doors were blocked by a big iron te, how could it have turned into half iron, half thing today? And look at how thick each strand of the was, it would take a while even with use of a hacksaw. He Qiankun, standing in the door nearest to the stairs,ughed and rubbed the back of his head. His eyes unconsciously drifted towards Yan Fei. Not just him, behind Li Tie and several others also involuntarily nced in Yan Feis direction. Luo Xun could not help butment; these children were good hearted people, maybe too much. He can not let them know some important yet general things otherwise others could casually cheat the truth out of them. Did Yan Fei have no intention of actually disguising himself after knowing the basess attitude towards ability users and revealing himself as a metal user? The Lieutenant saw him ce a hand on the iron gate, which seemed to melt and produce a hole/entrance. "Metal ability user!" Lieutenant Ding eximed, no wonder they used an iron te to block the door! It was a really good defense. He smiled carefully at Yan Fei, they only thought there was a power user of some sort so that cing Zhang Yi here would not cause an explosion. Now it seemed that there was a metal user, even with Zhang Yis wind powers, there should be not fatalities...? "I am here to inform you that tomorrow we will start the base structurework. We strive to open the information channel as soon as possible to help future work on base. So tomorrow morning at eight oclock, the five of you are to report to the barracks." Ding spoke to Li Tie andpany and handed a specific notice. The five of them had good luck, those with professional skills were not fully evacuated to base yet so they were allowed to take part in the job. After a few days, even if more experienced people came to base, they would not be cut off if they formed ties. However if one waited a few more days, waited for those who were rescued from other vases to be stationed, jobs would not be as easy to find. After speaking with Li Ties group, Lieutenant Ding turned to Yan Fei. "Are you a metal ability user?" Seeing Yan Fei nod he continued. "The base is badly in need of personnel to participate in construction of the wall. You should have seen the situation outside the walls? The outermost part is built by metal powers, but there are too few metal users on base so the outer wall construction is precarious. The base is looking for metal and earth ability users to do construction work, your talent is very necessary to the base." Yan Fei felt goosebumps form and he did not immediately respond. Fortunately, in the eyes of Lieutenant Ding, Yan Feis appearance was not an issue after having to deal with Zhang Yi. It seemed handsome men were difficult to speak with and to take care if he was suddenly angered? Lieutenant Ding continued to persuade. "Rest assured, if you participate in the work youll definitely be paid much higher than average. There will bee other benefits, you can put forward some needs we can try to meet." Luo Xun asked in a sh. "Besides points, could you give us some metal? Stainless steel would be best or a single metal such as copper with high purity." When they had searched outside, there had been no pure metal. High purity copper and other things, had functions other than making utensils such as conducting wires. They usually went out to collect or find someone to exchange with but sometimes hard to distinguish...so best pay the military for it! Lieutenant Ding was surprised for moment, spoke with some respect and wariness since Luo Xun was Yan Feis cousin. "I can talk with my superior." After all, metal was very necessary on base, especially now with therge wall construction so resources were tight. There was not a lot of high purity single metals. Yan Fei added. "If the metal is not enough, doesnt matter. The things inside the heads of faster, more powerful zombies can also do." "Whats in the zombies head?" Lieutenant Ding was surprised, he did not specifically hear what was inside zombie heads, but knew that the monsters were having arge scale evolution and bing harder to deal with. Thinking of the soldiers who had read many novels before the apocalypse..."This also needs to brought up, I will try to fight for you." He had no right to decide but he could raise it up. After all, base points could not be randomly given. If there were people who needed some less important material rewards, they could still apply upward. But most people were asking for things like quilts, coal, stoves, even pots and pans. What Yan Fei...was weird. In the end Yan Fei would think about it, if he agreed, go to west intersection police building to find him tomorrow morning. Lieutenant Ding smiled at pointed at the door. "I asked today how you iron gate became a birdcage." "Birdcage..." Peoples mouths twitched. Han Li raised his hand to say. "Before the fence, Luo Xun said it looked like a prison. Yan Fei just changed it now so..." The result was that the great iron gate evolved into prison fence then transformed into a birdcage... Lieutenant Ding did not stay long, confirmed that all the households had no injury and could sessfully participate in base work. Plus they were jubnt that they found a potential person to help out with wall construction on base. Although he was responsible for this kind of work, it was not necessary toe in person since they had visited yesterday. Fortunately not only confirmed work but also incidentally discovered yan Feis ability, a double surprise. Before leaving, Lieutenant Ding did not forget to remind the crowd. "Dont just reinforce the door. Also have to close the windows carefully, especially after you go out for work. Be careful not to let thieves in. These days there are dozens of homes on base. The base does not have enough manpower to deal with this matter, you must be cautious." In fact, the situation was not that simple. A number of disappearances and homicides had urred on base, but the staff was inadequate and setting up unauthorized staff was tooplex. Therefore they could not handle it at the moment. Wu Xin shivered, eyes pinpricks as he repeated. "Dozens of homes?" He could understand more than 10 but dozens...how big was the base!? Lieutenant Ding wryly smiled. "All the soldiers have a few patrols everyday, if you encounter an incident, call for help in some way. Well, I will leave now." Yan Fei looked at the door then at Li Tie andpany. "I will first set up your room window." What were Li Tie and the others doing tomorrow? Had to go to work, their homes valuables of course would get priority treatment. But Zhang Yi had pretty highbat ability and he would be at home for a while to cultivate, thus they were not worried at the moment. With experience from the previous day, Yan Fei set up the guardrail especially quickly. Particrly because Luo Xuns home had three full wall windows to deal with and a small second floor. Inparison, Li Tie only had two walls with windows so the workload was much simpler than 1603/1604. After finishing the window, Yan Fei felt that there was still a lot of spiritual power to be consumed. He went to the elevator, the hole in the iron gate changed back into a door. These doors, once opened, would make a loud noise to remind them that someone was approaching, it waspletely finished. Luo Xun and Yan Fei returned home, thetter was put on the couch. Luo Xun helped Yan Fei take off his shoes but worried about Lieutenant Dings proposal. "Official cooperation to build the wall would earn a lot but would there be danger if you overtaxed your abilities?" It was a big problem, military people naturally had the protection of the military but Yan Fei? He was foreign aid, not that Luo Xun distrusted the military but in the event of danger to theirfort, people would always subconsciously prioritize themselves and those closest to them. But Yan Fei was not one of those close people. Thinking of this, Luo Xun hurriedly suggested. "Or we dont go! Theres enough to eat and drink at home for the two of us." Yan Feiughed, lifted his hand and rubbed Luo Xuns head with obvious tenderness. "The main reason I wanted to go out was so that I could use up a lot of my spiritual energy every day. You can rest assured I will carry a crossbow with me and I will not run out of energy each time." Every time he used up his energy, he would recover with an increased cap. Although the feeling of using up almost all his energy was pretty bad, the feeling from waking up the next day could not be better. It was like being beaten up the first day and the next the body waspletely restored. Well, why did that seem to have m undertones? Luo Xuns eyes shed as he ground his mrs. We can also go together." "Well?" "I dont need to be paid and I can handle a certain degree of danger." Luo Xun looked at his with bright eyes. "As long as I take your big crossbow and spiral arrows, I can handle even evolved zombies." He had trained his crossbow skills while in the city. As long as he had lethal enough weapons in hand, he had a chance to possibly kill a second level zombie, not to mention ordinary and first level zombies! It was the first year after the apocalypse started, the zombies had evolved one level. As long as they were not surrounded by a sea of zombies, he could ensure survival with Yan Fei. In fact, the crossbow was mainly made with Yan Feis metal, so the weapon was more powerful, the lethality of ammo was also greater. If he could add a specialpound to his arrows it might be possible for him to hit more than three zombies at once. Luo Xuns words were not in jest, Yan Fei was clear of his skills. And it was just driving to the outer wall...but in the case of danger... "The house needs to be locked up for a while and the stuff inside does not need to be in in view. Its not always possible for an ability user to use their powers for extended periods of time. Even if I apany you, it will not dy anything for too long." Luo Xuns words were definitely very persuasive. Yan Fei thought for a bit then agreed with his opinion. He decided they would go see the situation tomorrow. Yan Fei took a nap on the couch to replenish his spiritual energy. They had already done what they needed to do in the next room, now they had to wait for the walls to dry to brush one or twoyers of putty. The ground heat pipes could only be put down once the paint was dry then the two could continue to be busy. Leaving the house was fine at the moment. Li Tie and the others movements were also very fast. They returned home satisfied after dealing with the roof, using the remaining tiles for the bathroom and also fixing the kitchen sink and stove. In the afternoon Yan Fei felt some of the spiritual energy had recovered and thought about going to 1602 to fix Zhang Yis windows. God knew if he took part in base construction, would he have enough strength to do so? This was rted to the safety of the four rooms on the floor, so the sooner the better. Chapter 51 TN: Have a double release for Easter, though its a weekte... (For whatever reason I had a surge of motivation and got a buffer of chapters back) Once Zhang Yis outer iron fence was done, Yan Fei wanted Luo Xun to spoon feed him dinner, like when he had been injured and needed help to eat. Luo Xun feeding was much softer this time, evidently due to the twos emotional breakthrough in their rtionship. And he was given what he wanted to eat but had various worries about caring and intimacy. Yan Fei ate very slowly, but the satisfaction in his heart was far greater than the food C after all the food cooled down as a result of eating too slowly... With such a thoughtful lover at his side, Yan Fei felt that it was a good decision to take Luo Xun with him to repair the walls. After all who else would take care of themselves and him in such a gentle and thoughtful manner? Early next morning, Yan Fei woke up and found his expended spiritpletely restore but there was also a faint, hazy feeling. Sure enough, the best way to upgrade was to consume then refill. However was there any way to increase the speed of upgrade? Like meditating in Qigong? Internal cultivation? Or using the nucleus? The most likely way was to use the crystal nucleus to enhance powers, but at present the two were not leaving the base. Therefore did not need to use the crystal nucleus to increase abilities. Better use his current method as exercise, to expand his maximum spiritual energy levels. The two people went out after breakfast and met up with the group of five at the same time. Yesterday Lieutenant Ding had said if Yan Fei would participate in wall construction, to find him at the west intersection and bring him the rest of the way. "Luo Xun?" Wang Duo asked curiously upon seeing Luo Xun dressed to go out as well. "Im going with him." Luo Xun smiled but did not specify the reason behind apanying Yan Fei. Li Tie and the others thought Luo Xun was apanying his cousin out for an errand and did not ask anymore. Hearing sounds in the corridor, Zhang Yi also opened the door and came out. "Well trouble Zhang Yi with housekeeping." "Welle back at night and bring you a warm meal!" Li Tie waved excitedly at Zhang Yi. Luo Xun and Yan Fei also nodded in farewell, closed the door and headed downstairs. Just like Lieutenant Ding had said, there were plenty of people waiting for elevators at rush hour. The elevator had to stop at almost every floor, the speed wasparable to simply climbing the stairs. The group slowly descended the stairs, they waved farewell at the intersection. The two arrived and found Ding at a temporary set up military guard cabin. "Are you tw going?" Lieutenant Ding wondered as Luo Xun hade as well. Could it be that this person also had a metal ability? Or the cousin could have a different ability. Luo Xunughed. "Excessive ability use can have side effects. I am apanying my cousin to take care of him. I do not need pay, just following him is fine." Lieutenant Ding thought for a moment then asked. "Can you drive?" "Yes." Luo Xun nodded, regretting he did not have a good car. His driving technique had been honed during his escape from his old home, the technology was not good but he made due. "Okay, you follow." The troops would not refuse free help in repairs. Even if Luo Xun had note, the military would have arranged for a person or two to take care of Yan Fei. Having Luo Xun around was helpful. Sure enough, Yan Fei and Luo Xun arrived. Knowing Luo Xun was there to take care of Yan Fei the other side did not raise any objections and was generous. "Just food, do not send Luo Xun points." Luo Xun had said there was no point, anyways Yan Fei would only participate in the work for half day. He could go back after lunch since there was a power consumption limit. The military had already figured out the limit and naturally would not squeeze people to death. For a metal ability user like Yan Fei, holding on for half a day was already good enough. On the military truck there was a total of three metal ability users including Yan Fei. It was said that the military only had five metal users, with Yan Fei it became six. They would be divided into two groups that afternoon. Yan Fei still wore his original masks. Luo Xun checked therger crossbow in his bag which caused amotion with the army troops. "Crossbow? All metal?" "Where did you get that? What about the lethality?" "Oh wait, crossbow..." But the armsws? No wait, who was going to worry about that sort of thing now? Luo Xunughed. "Are we not going out to repair the fence? Im afraid that Im in danger." The soldiers in the car hurriedly shook their heads, all of them were equipped with guns. They were dedicated guard personnel, each body armed to the teeth. Who would say Luo Xun vited rules with his weapon? After all, they were leaving the base for work, there could be a sudden zombie attack at any moment. The had been worried that these two people would be a burden, but seeing Luo Xun with this thing gave some relief. A man asked. "You can use it? How well?" "Well enough." "Have you ever hit a zombie?" "Hit, before the base was set up. Not afraid to kill zombies." Luo Xun knew they were worried even if they had weapons and knew how to use them. But the face and human forms of the zombies was enough to stay some peoples hands, even if they were very dangerous. Not just because momentary panic was dangerous to people as well. Sure enough, although they listened to what Luo Xun had said but when it was time to warn them, still needed extra people to take care of the two in case of danger. After all, one of them was a very precious metal ability user. It did not take long for the car to reach its destination and there were no zombies anywhere in sight. This part of the perimeter wall had been built for a long time. The brick wall made by people was almost invisible, the metal wall had long been built. Today they would continue from yesterdays building efforts. Many metal materials were stacked in the corner, in addition to a fewrge trucks loaded with a variety of metal items, ready to be added. People had to get out of the car to approach the wall. Since it was Yan Feis first time doing this work he did not start immediately and instead stood aside to observe how his two peers worked. The two metal users did not work simultaneously, one would work until their energy ran out then the other would take over while the first rested. At this moment, the first person stood at the wall, put a hand on the metal materials to condense arge hand. Then put the hand on the wall to connect the previous metal together. It was just a little bit, a bit that slowly merged and pieced together. "We only need to repair the wall this high for the time being. When the wall ispletely repaired then can go higher. Two times higher and thicker." The captain in charge of the team briefed Yan Fei on the specifics. The metal wall was only three meters high and the back brick wall was about that height too. The purpose of the current wall construction was only to block zombies outside the base. In the near future it also needed to be heightened, strengthened and thickened. The base was in the process of bringing together earth power users who would be involved inter work. However theyer of metal in the wall was necessary C the hardness of metal was much higher than masonry soil, even hardness of concrete was not as strong as the metals. One of the first metal power users only covered less than half a meter of the three meter metal wall. While resting and replenishing energy, another metal user hastened to keep up the work of the previous user. Yan Fei observed the actions of the two people and found that the walls thickness was about 20 centimeters. The two people in front of him did not look like they had used up all of their energy before having a little rest. The captain exined. "Do not use up all your energy at once. Taking short breaks once in a while ensures that you can work longer." Yan Fei nodded, it was not a problem for him. When the second one also retired for some rest Yan Fei was sure C his ability seemed to higher than the other two. He had been waiting for the two of them to float the metal? Or not? But when he looked at the two men who were resting, he could see that they had consumed a lot of energy after building so many walls. Yan Fei put his hand on the side of iron te to stick arge lump to the wall was not a bad idea. Yan Fei calcted a bit and found that he had more reserves from manipting metal during their own operations but he had some trouble adapting/adjusting to the current work. His heart was spitting, abor saving operation method was better than trouble. Yan Fei built the wall about the same size as the previous two people before also retreating to the side. He sat beside the first metal ability user to recover spiritual energy. Luo Xun hurried forward with some water and a towel. Relieved after confirming that Yan Fei did not sweat or have the symptoms of power overuse. He also knew that this level of metal maniption would not cost him much. When he was at home in order to use up all his energy he would toss a metal ball around in the bedroom, let it be a variety of appearances, the speed and difficulty of the exercise was amazing. Much more interesting than his current operation. One person reced the sext. Yan Fei worked ording to the speed, scope and size of the first two people responsible for the metal wall. Nothing too outstanding but also did not pull peoples hind legs. When noon arrived for lunchtime, the people went back to the truck. They could not help but secretly look at Yan Fei. Outsiders would not know but they were very clear, the base military only had a total of five metal users. The reason they had been divided into two alternating groups that afternoon was not only because the numbers were uncoordinated, also because the two in the morning could work longer and faster. They were worried when Yan Fei was with the morning group that he would not able to keep up with the frequency of work. If not, he would be transferred to the afternoon group and exchanged with someone else. But did not expect for him to be able to keep up but also seem to do so...easily? Was this the so called diamond in the rough? The two people in the car seemed to be calm, but things were held back and only clear to their hearts. The car staggered back to the base and stopped at the morning rendezvous point. Seeing Yan Fei and Luo Xun getting off, the captain gave him some points and pointed at the canteen at the side of the road. "You two take the pass and go get some food, free of charge." Here was the internal military canteen, one needed to show an identity card to get food, different levels got differing treatment. It would only be temporary, anyway the taste was not excellent but still within the eptable range. The pass given to them was not high ss but it certainly allowed two people to eat their fill of the spread. Yan Fei had no feelings towards this, but Luo Xun excitedly dragged in the direction of the canteen. The captain said loudly to the twos backs. "Tomorrow morning eight oclock sharp or this ce is cut off!" The army canteen was veryrge, the two of them grabbed a dinner te at the rice window. Did a round of the ce then got a standard meal. The two got steamed bread plus two dishes. The bread was kind of big, a person couldfortably eat one, two per person. The dishes were simple though plentiful: eggnt, arge pot of stewed vermicelli, potatoes and minced meat. In addition, some of the windows also had instant noodles, fish noodles, fried dumplings and other things for sale. Luo Xun felt assured at seeing all these things in the windows, he could eat at ease. There was also a window to distribute mung bean porridge but the proportion of rice was lower. A spoon only had four or five grains, the water would only quench ones thirst. "How are you feeling?" Luo Xun put down his te and whispered to Yan Fei opposite him. Yan Fei slid down his mask and slightly rxed his body. "Fine, still have energy, did not use it all up." The two people were not picky about the food in front of them. Sat down and ate slowly. "When Ie back tomorrow, Ill drive over. I saw a parking space outside and there is no one here who would dare to steal a car." Luo Xun whispered. He would to put any leftover steamed bread in his bag to bring back home C it was his food after all. No one would care if he ate it all here or brought some home. Yan Fei also added his uneaten bread to Luo Xuns side. "Good, will be able to save some strength." He was not at the point of exhaustion yet but he was tired since he had repaired a big part of the wall at once and wanted to get a good nights sleep. One was a slow knife, one was single slice before resting, which was better? Yan Fei could not feel it now. After all he not consumed an extreme amount of energy today, temporarily could not judge. The pair used the eating time to recover physical strength, eating more slowlypared to the military speed of soldiers in the cafeteria. The table next to them had changed three times yet they had not moved. This canteen was closest to the outside, the bulk of the group was required to work outside the military. It was said that there were other canteens inside the base, but the two were not eligible to go in, neither was Li Tie andpany. They could not say in which canteen the others would have lunch. After lunch, the two people slowly exited the barracks. Seeing their chest signs, the soldiers on duty at the door would register before letting them exit. No one dared to set up stalls or private tents on the streets near the barracks, people did not even park. The streets seemed quiet and clean except for the asional military vehicle. Yan Fei was once again wearing his mask, with one hand in his pocket, the other around his Luo Xun. Luo Xun paused but did not shake of Yan Feis hand, though he looked to the side ufortably. Fortunately there were few people nearby...just pull. At this time the weather was rtively cold, two people were wearing down jackets. Seeing there was some wind, put on the jackets hood as a hat, facing the north wind. Luo Xuns backpack had his crossbow, arrows, plus some spare towels and other things, as well as the big steamed bread from the cafeteria. They only took out two steamed bread, from all the rice and other food from the canteen. The amount of food seemed smaller inparison but it was enough for both of them. As for steamed bread, it could be consumed at home with some dishes. What else could they use steamed bread? Cut into chunks in stew, with eggs and stuff. Wait there were no eggs at and the stew meat was gone. It was still fine to eat the bread in. Luo Xuns mind was focused on what to do at home, Yan Fei suddenly pulled his hand with force. Luo Xun found that arge series of cars thundered down the road ahead. The pair were walking on the sidewalk and did not see much from the sidelines. The car body had signs ofbat, although it had been washed before entering the base there were still traces of zombie blood and bits. It was a number of heavy armored vehicles such asnd chariots and tanks, followed by trucks, SUVs and some upmarket sedans. Luo Xun and Yan Fei looked at each other C these were probably the cars in charge of base rescue. They were finally back. Suddenly, Yan Fei saw a high-end ck sedan in the convoy, his eyes flickered with a dark and ambiguous expression. He turned slightly outwards, pulling on his hat with the hand in his pocket. The convoy did not stop and turned to the front door, two men had juste out. Chapter 52 "Are these cars supposed to being back from the other bases? I dont know what is going on out there." Luo Xun said with worry. "The perimeter fence has not been built yet." Yan Fei helped tidy up Luo Xuns hat. "Its too big, you should also wear a mask." There has been a lot of snow recently and the heavy vehicles have been driving all the way up and down. Almost impossible to see across the road. Seeing Yan Fei take out a spare mask from a pocket, Luo Xun asked. "Are these the ones I gave you two days ago?" "Right." Yan Fei smiled, he wore the expression well. On the big street, who would help themselves to wear masks and hats? But Luo Xun did not evade despite internal protest C having words would only make it more conspicuous. He did not have a hobby of people watching. Therefore after the car passed the two people held hands and walked home. On the way back they passed some bustling stalls near tents and saw a lot of people to the east, with gossipers on the west watching the situation. Survivors from the other bases had finally arrived but they had not yet entered the inner city and were housed in temporary waiting areas outside the base. The people on the streets were flocking together like chickens. There were less serious business people, most of them looking at each with muddled heads. With how many people came this time, would there be enough food on base? There were a lot of zombies outside the base, many people had died outside the walls while some saw certain country leaders sitting in cars and so on. Luo Xun knew more than those people but that was a result of hisst life. He knew many leaders had survived the end of the world but that was from seeing them on television before. After the apocalypse the real leaders were mostly in the eastern base, though some were at the southwest base. Most were not familiar with the ordinary people before the end of the world. The two hurried back to their apartment passing through the gossip enthusiastic people. Themunity was still the same and not changed due to the addition of vehicles. At least half of the residents in the building were involved in the outer wall construction so the area was exceptionally quiet during the day. The two people climbed up to the 16th floor. Luo Xun felt good but Yan Fei felt some fatigue while climbing after using a lot of spiritual energy. While opening the lock the sound alerted Zhang Yi who came out and smiled. "Youre back now?" "Well, we only spend half a day." Luo Xun opened the door. "Nothing happened this morning?" "It was fine, after you left in the morning, someone came upstairs and tried to pry the door. I sent them flying." Zhang Yi leaned against the door frame with a smiling expression, a pair of peach blossom eyes curved into a crescent shape. He seemed very satisfied with his morning activities. "Lift, flying?!" Luo Xuns hand shook, the iron chain from the door fell to the ground. Yan Fei opened the door and pulled a slightly sluggish Luo Xun through. "Yes." He pointed at a door. "I was going to throw them straight out the stairwell window if it was not for the wind." Luo Xun turned to look behind him at therge staircase windows. He looked at Zhang Yi with regret. "Zhang Yi, this is the 16th floor..." Zhang Yi took a step forward with a meaningful smile, almost touching Luo Xun. Yan Fei suddenly raised a hand to push away the annoying face. Zhang Yi was not provoked by Yan Feis action, he still stared at Luo Xun after getting pushed away. "You afraid I killed someone?" Luo Xun very honestly shook his head. "Not afraid. I am worried that the death of people who fall from here is too gruesome and would trouble the military people." Now at least, the military was still in charge, there were rules. He was not afraid of Zhang Yi who would kill those who tried to break in their floor. If it was him, if someone dared to break into his hamster nest, trying to steal his hard earned possession...he would absolutely shoot them with a crossbow without mercy! Could will would kill, but throwing out the body when finished, what appearance would the dead person have from the 16th floor? One could only imagine! What was more, Zhang Yi was working with the military, if this matter was found...did not want to think of trouble that others would bring to the door! Zhang Yi was taken aback, his eyebrows rose as he looked jokingly at Yan Fei. "You are afraid of someone hunting me down? I cant believe you cared so much about me~" Luo Xuns face turned green and his mouth twitched. "Rest assured I was not worried for you. Im just afraid of trouble and changing neighbors." "Afraid...changing neighbors?" Zhang Yi was puzzled, he was a good neighbor? Did they not see that the soldiers who had sent him did not do so out of goodwill? Luo Xun was not like Li Tie, naive university students. Zhang Yi could feel that Luo Xun and Yan Fei had blood on their hands, certainly not people with mercy. Luo Xun referred to the depths of their home. "We have just given you window protection. You are a person who usually does not go out other than for a stable job on base. I do not want you to go. I do not know how many people live here and do not understand their temperaments!" He was simply wary C he could cope with known temperament even if in exchange some trouble would follow. Zhang Yis expression shifted as he asked. "Are you sure that my temperament is suitable as a neighbor? With the two of you, I believe that they people who came here can handle the trouble." Luo Xun could not help but give a supercilious look. "Even with trouble you are only one person. I think the military would certainly not dare to arrange people to live together with you. Between a murderer and ten people, Id rather be neighbors with the murderer!" ...Wait, did he just say Zhang Yi was a murderer? Returning to attention Zhang Yi opened his mouth while Yan Fei stepped forward between him and Luo Xun. "We should go back to rest." Zhang Yi was cut off and could not respond so he said provocatively to Yan Fei. "I said you dont need to guard him. Im not going to hook him up." Yan Feis eyes shed, with nted eyes he stared at Zhang Yi. "I fear that your peach blossoms are flying everywhere like an infection." "Tut." Zhang Yi smiled, shook his head and whispered. "I said, you have not taken action yet? Hurry up. I do not intend to hook him but whos to say another man will show up?" After speaking he turned around and left the two people. Luo Xun sessfully opened their doors C in order to prevent Yan Fei from using up too much of his energy. Before leaving today the door had a new lock added but it now seemed that Yan Fei still had enough strength aftering back. They could leave the doorpletely sealed tomorrow. The two men returned directly to 1604. Took of coats and changed shoes after entering the living room. The puppy, who had already heard them was shaking her tail and jumping around. While trying to catch her tail, she made a circr turn and it was not long before the dog bumped into the corner of the cupboard. "Ill open the window and door for venttion." Luo Xun put down his bag and went straight to the iron gate between the two rooms, opening the door next room to air out the house. Yan Fei took off his coat and sat down on the couch, he was tired even though he did notpletely use up all his spiritual energy. Using his ability for a morning was like moving bricks for more than half a day but he was not exhausted like light people C just a bit suppressed. Luo Xun returned to the room and opened the window. "This is pretty good, only need to spend a half day out. The rest of the time at home to do whatever, even if I want to increase the number of nts we will not be dyed!" Luo Xun felt life was very regr andfortable now. He felt very satisfied even if the time spent at home was spent farming, it was the same as other work. "Ah..." Yan Fei responded carelessly, when Luo Xun passed the couch, the former raised his hand and pulled thetter down. Luo Xun, who did not notice, fell into Yan Feis bosom. He looked up, startled and before he could speak Yan Fei rolled and kissed him. Puppy was noisily torturing Yan Feis slippers at the side of the couch. The small pet stared at the two people affixed together on the sofa for a while, only to wag her tail twice then continue to seriously chew the slipper while lying around. The little one had seen this sort of thing many times in recent days. At first she had wondered at what they were ying at. Now after seeing it so many times she ignored the sight. Luo Xun was dizzy, it took a while for him to return to the present. Seeing Yan Fei with a smile and propped arm, he angrily pushed at the others chest. "Youre not afraid of me hitting you?" "Afraid of what? How much do you weigh?" He did not mind his wife wanting to fracture himself against him. Besides his present physical fitness was far from the that of an average person. Luo Xun was indignant, how much he weighed? He was a man more than 100 pounds okay? After his rebirth he also exercised a lot so he had muscles! He was not a three year old kid! Yan Fei suddenly leaned down, his head buried in Luo Xuns neck to smell his throat. "Let me hug. This morning I did use much but still feel a bit ufortable." Luo Xun did not move, rubbed Yan Feis back. Not long he felt sleepy, his eyes gradually closed wrapped in Yan Feis warm embrace. A good afternoon, a time to deal with small andrge things in the home, was spent asleep instead. Fortunately, the greenhouse effect was strong and the two people did not feel cold even without covers. When they woke, the sky had already dimmed. He internallyined that Yan Fei was too warm to make him fall asleep unconsciously. Luo Xun stood up ready for afternoon activity. Luo Xun paced a bit then suddenly asked. "Hungry?" Yan Fei shook his head. They had eaten lunch beforeing back, had a nap as soon as they came home, when was there time to be hungry? Luo Xun saw him shaking his head and rolled up his sleeves. "Ill get the shelves first." It may take some time for the house next door to be used, but some things could now be prepared. For example, nting with PVC pipes in order to make soil grown crop boxes. Luo Xun had collected arge number of boxes, containers, baskets and tes,rge and small before the end of the world. He had done so in the spirit of preparation, which he could now use. What to do when these things were damaged and needed recement? He could rely on ie from the base to buy. Secondly...his home had a metal ability user who could treat metal like rubber dough. If he had trouble buying things he could let Yan Fei do it, metal was heavier than stic. As for the two people breaking up and so on. Lovers would not think in this pessimistic direction, Luo Xun left this possibility in the clouds. Yan Fei also got up and followed Luo Xun to the second floor. On the terrace, there were somepletely unused hydroponic shelves wrapped in stic sheeting that were could be brought next door. In fact,pared to pots, the box grew things better, this kind of shelf also saved space, easy to handle, Some nts could not use this kind of shelf, still had to transnt into soil pots and pans. Luo Xun looked at the number of these shelves and went back to the small bedroom on the second floor. There were many PVC pipes remaining, as well asrge and small vacuum sealed packages of grain, seeds and other things that were organized andbeled. Luo Xun took some tubes ready for tomorrow next door. Yan Fei helped him carry the pile of pipes downstairs. The two put the big and small boxes together to the right side on the first floor. After all this, Luo Xun went to check the home grown crops again. Crop variability was rtively high during the germination period but the growth process but not mutation free. Luo Xun felt the mutation rate of his crops was not very high, it was at least much better than when he was growing crops in the basement during hisst life. Though there was little sunlight for the basement nts, perhaps the sun had an inhibitory effect on crop mutation? But that was what he heard from other peoples homes. Even if there was good lighting, the rate of variation was generally more than half, was it because of the apocalypse? Checking out the circle of home crops, also focused a bit on the balcony with some mutated nts. They looked ready to cultivate, after checking to make sure nothing was wrong, Luo Xun wandered back to the nursery room on the first floor. There was not much in the nursery room, the bean sprouts and other things had been eaten, so there was only arge box of bread worms and some mushroom wood...once in a while there would be a few smooth mushrooms but only a few had a normal appearance. The others were shing with bright red light, or exuding gray mist. Luo Xun did not dare leave those alone. He was about to turn and leave, but saw something from the corner of his eye. The lemon was sprouting! Luo Xun paused then looked into the box with water. Yan Fei also came in and gathered around. Sure enough, the small yellow seed had cracked, revealing a bud on the inside. It seemed it had only germinated for less than a day. A lemon only had a few seeds inside, Luo Xun only got three in addition to two watermelon seeds. Watermelons needed long periods of sunshine so he was not ready to nt them now. He needed to wait until the weather was warmer. They could not see much with only small shoots, did not see any type of infection or mutation. If the nts grew smoothly, then Luo Xun would not have to worry about theirck of vitamin C! "Well look at the situation tomorrow morning, its too early to nt yet." Luo Xunughed with satisfaction after carefuly observing. He ushered Yan Fei out after confirming there was nothing else to take care of in the room. The house next door was not ready for a nursery at present, if there were no idents then Luo Xun was prepared to use this side specifically as nursery with the one next door used for nting only. The two were preparing to cookte when they heard sounds from the corridor. Opened the door to see Li Tie and the others were back. Zhang Yi heard and also opened a door but not his main one. Han Li held up a lunchbox with a brilliant smile. "Zhang Yi, we brought you dinner!" Seeing Luo Xun and Yan Fei he also added. "We also brought some extra braised eggs, heres your share!" Luo Xun froze. "Braised eggs? What canteen were you in? We only had a spot of meat at lunch." "In the third canteen...Luo Xun were you there?" Someone asked curiously as another opened the door. "I went with Yan Fei in the morning, an ability user using too much power would not have strength. I followed along to take care of him, no points but got a meal." Luo Xun exined then asked. "Is the third canteen in the barracks? We ate in the fifth canteen at noon." "Yes, its inside but heard that the first and second canteen food is better. We only had two dishes per meal, one with meat another with eggs. I heard that in the first and second canteens there were several vegetables to choose from and separate meat dishes!" He Qiankun rubbed his stomach and licked his lips. "But the third canteen food has been very good." Was it better to rely on the canteen food on base? They did eat their fill at the canteen at least. They asked about Li Tie andpanys situation and learned that they were busy all day. Theyout of the machine room took a full day and did not have time to start theputer processing software. Li Tie and the others went straight to Zhang Yis home. Zhang Yi: ...Well since they brought back some food for me, I will not drive them out. "When we went at noon we saw a lot of military vehicles from the barracks inside, you heard the news?" Luo Xun knew Li Tie andpany were in the barracks, the news must be more urate than the gossip on the street. Sure enough, once Luo Xun mentioned this Wang Duo immediately lit up. "I know! One of the technicians knew about the new arrivals today! People came from the north base. Heard that a lot of people outside the base came from the western base and north base followed! People from the northeast base went towards the east base!" Luo Xun hurriedly asked. "How many people? Can the base hold them?" "How could it? I heard that a few waiting areas outside are full of people and deliberately expanded arge chunk. It is said that those people are temporarily not allowed to enter the base." Wu Xin added. Wang Duo continued. "Not many people live inside here. Heard that a few days ago the people who entered the base were not willing to go out and repair the fence. But after the rescue a lot of zombies came over, if the outer wall construction was not good even inside it would be dangerous. The base seems ready to let people outside enter so long as they take part in outer wall construction!" It was unsure about the other bases but the western base was definitely the result of the survivors not willing to participate in the most basic wall building work. If the military did not take measures, there would be big problems in the future. The original southwest base people participated in the work with enthusiasm, were willing to usebor in exchange for food, supplies, bedding and other things. But them people with nothing came with a "others word I eat" mentality. The people who came after had some materials on hand, were more unwilling to work in exchange forfort on base. So these days, the base atmosphere was particrly bad, the streets were filled with people ying cards, chatting and selling things. When the base discovered this situation, they drew their hands back as they naturally refused to raisezy people. Luo Xun was afraid new regtion measures would be introduced overnight. Chapter 53 "Heard that a lot of big wigs from the other bases hade. Some had the right or potential to be ced directly in the barracks, but we dont know for sure, did not hear more." Li Tie continued. "While we were busy we heard cars rumbling outside, when we looked outside C whoah a big vehicle! There were a lot of tanks!" Some of the students went back to their own rooms, Luo Xun and Yan Fei also got up to leave. The remaining Li Tie who had brought back a meal for Zhang Yi in his own lunch box had refused to take the container back. Zhang Yi already had supper today, he had jokingly asked for them to bring some rice back, unexpectedly actually brought some... Luo Xun saw the meal that Li Tie had brought, there were meat and vegetables. The same cooked eggnt and stewed potatoes, although the others had no meat, it smelled more fragrant that that he had eaten at noon. The meat and potatoes also hadrge chunks of pork and whole eggs. Li Tie had brought back two eggs for Yan Fei and Luo Xun, just enough for a meal. Fry some hand torn lettuce, dried bacon and potatoes, and then add some shrimp with spinach, with the two braised eggs and big steamed bun, Luo Xun felt the dinner quality was notcking. Going to the balcony after eating and drinking enough, something was different about the quail cage covered in ck cloth... "Yan Fei, Yan Fei! Quail eggs!" Luo Xun jumped in excitement and shouted. "Laid eggs?!" Yan Fei also jumped up and hurried next to the cage. Sure enough, the small quail nest had more than a few ck and white speckled miniature eggs! Luo Xun picked up a bright shlight and aimed at the eggs to see if one was fertilized. From the total of three quail eggs, two were not fertilized. The other one would be left in the nest with two taken out. "First save it, its okay not to eat it right away." Quail eggs were not as resistant as other eggs, but would not break for 35 days. It would be good to save them for soup or as an extra dish when cooking. The earlier egg storage, the big basket of duck eggs had been vacated so Luo Xun put the two quail eggs in therge basket. Small eggs in arge bamboo basket appeared so extravagant. In reality, it was such a luxury to eat quail eggs in this apocalyptic world. A quails life was not too long, a healthy domestic quail could live for two years, wild ones lived longer for three to five years. Of course, there were some who lived longer, but Luo Xun knew that these quails were taken fromst year fields by vige children. It was not clear how old when the birds were caught, he estimated they could give birth to a small number of babies but would notst long afterwards. For the two people it was important for the quails toy and hatch eggs early. "Turn around and mark the seven quails feet with a ring, dont mix with the new quail." When the adult quails grew to a certain extent, it would be better for it to serve as food for the two then to die of old age. Now the mutated beasts outside had not appeared yet, the base was catching those beasts. If they wanted to eat meat they could only rely on home stores and these small quails. "Okay, no need to wait, do it right away." Yan Fei summoned a random piece of iron from the side of the wall. With several changes mid air it divided into seven thin bands that quickly wrapped around the quails legs and the seven marks were done. He also deliberately carved a 1 on the iron loops, showing it was the first wave of quails in the house. Luo Xun only hoped that the newly hatched quails had males and females, in order to not return home and find their quails extinct. Once that was done the two went to the second floor together. Yan Fei asked. "Why not artificially hatch?" Leaving the eggs to the female quails would take more time and what if they did not hatch? Luo Xun shrugged helplessly. "Too few, just an egg. Well get more if we wait" At home, there were incubators and greenhouses. They were made after he got quails, but there was only one egg and the incubator box was a bit too extravagant. Plus these were wild quail, maybe growing with the adults would allow the babies to grow better. Changed their clothes on the second floor. Yan Fei nced at the iron ball he used every night to consume his spiritual energy. He suddenly pulled Luo Xun and climbed into the bed. "What are you doing?" "Had a nap in the afternoon. Im not sleepy yet." Luo Xun felt a hand around his waist. "Not sleep than go y with your iron ball. We still have to get up early tomorrow!" "Lets do something else first, then you can sleep." "Rogue! Let go..." Yan Fei was not just a rogue, the word was not enough to describe him, he was a very glorious hooligan. When the two people got up the next morning, the sky was not very bright. Ate breakfast, washed, checked the house situation, closed the doors and windows while taking the car keys out of the house. A line of people went downstairs as it about time for Li Tie and the others to go out. Luo Xun was driving today and they would send Li Tie andpany. It was his bigger car, although these were no seats and they had to sit on the ground, it was much faster than on foot. The car parked in the vicinity of the barracks, several people hurried to the door. The guards let them in after checking each of their identities. There was activity on both sides of the gate, Luo Xun and Yan Fei continued on in their truck to the departure point. Seeing the two had arrived, the driver said hello and let them get inside to wait. Not long after the captain, two neer and some soldiers came over. "Maybe you already knew, but yesterday afternoon a lot of survivors came from outside the base, which also has a lot of zombies. The situation might be a little scary but you can rest assured that those above will send someone to help us to defend against danger." The two people nodded, understood in their heart that those came to base recently were the cause of the increased zombies. The smell would be heavier with more people gathered together and zombies would attract more of them. Also after evolution the zombies sense of smell would increase and cause a steady stream of zombies to siege the base. The car started again, could see new people in the east from the base gate surrounding under the wall. Sporadic tents and shacks were scattered in the crows everywhere. There were so many people. Now other than those who came back from missions, the neers on base could not be put inside the inner wall. When the truck passed by, Luo Xun could hear someone using a megaphone to broadcast the wall building task. Building the wall would provide three meals and also issued a small number of points that could be exchanged for various materials. It was, in fact very cost-effective, at least more so thanter on. The base points was no more than money after the apocalypse, there would be intion. Right now the base personnel kept the points at high value but it wouldter fall a bit with the emergence of nuclei as a currency. It was not long before the car arrived at yesterdays work area. The three metal ability users yesterday afternoon were rather productive, the walls were much longer. Zombies were seen not far away, some soldiers in the distance were holding arms and defending. Some stakes and trenches seemed to have been dug out overnight in order to block zombie movements. Metal users were once again engaged in wall construction. Since they were able to see zombies, Luo Xun and the defending soldiers were all vignt and kept an eye on the area. At around nine oclock a ragged team from the direction of downtown rushed towards the base gate. Behind the car some agitated, abnormal zombies followed the car. "All staff attention, enhance vignce!" Although the vast majority of zombies were wiped out by defense soldiers at a distance, the captain immediately alerted everyone in the morning that one or two zombies broke through the defensive perimeter. Gunfire rang not long after, several heads turned to the soldiersying the zombies to rest, but this time there were twenty to thirty zombies chasing down the road! With the sound of gunfire, those who were originally chasing the car changed directions and rushed forward. "Ready!" The captain saw a few corpses rushing from the soldiers to them. He hurriedly raised his hands, also holding a weapon. *thump* thump* thump* A few shots hit the zombies but few hit the targets heads. Even if an arm or leg was hit the zombie ignored the wound and charged toward the crowd! Suddenly a zombie leapt with amazing speed! It was about to reach the resting ce of the two metal ability users! Yan Fei lifted a finger but before he could move, the zombie head unexpectedly burst mid-air! The soldier beside the other metal user was stunned. He saw Luo Xun sweating and holding a crossbow in his hand. A crossbow had downed an improved zombie through the mouth during the siege! Good crossbow! Everyone was not a sharpshooter even in the army, but Luo Xun was skilled with a crossbow. At the side Yan Fei did not feel surprised with a calm appearance. With Luo Xuns help, the zombies that rushed over were gradually put down. Luo Xun after confirming there was no danger around, he subtly pulled out the dagger from his boots. He bent down to stab the zombie skull, dug around to find the nucleus. Flushed with a bottle of mineral water before picking it up...He turned around to find himself being watched. It was just a habit okay? Pick the nucleus in the zombie brain after killing it. This was part of the unwritten rules for the apocalypse, one had to adapt! The captain returned to himself, coughed towards the others around the road. "Pile the bodies together, let the logistics people deal with the burning." After finishing he went to Luo Xun. "Not bad with the crossbow, did you practice before?" Luo Xun silently pocketed the two crystal nucleus with a dry smile. "I yed around." He was d, Luo Xun was not as straightforward or na?ve as Li Tie and the others but still rtively clean. The captain and the others did not regard him as a dangerous terrorist, just someone who dabbled in arms. The man also patted his shoulder with encouraging words and smartly did not ask him to give up the crystal nucleus. Luo Xun recovered his two shot crossbow arrows and rinsed them before walking to Yan Feis side. He smuggled the crystals over using their proximity. This was something only a person with powers could do. Must give priority for Yan Fei to improve his ability or replenish his energy at a critical moment. Yan Fei lightly smiled, taking advantage of the opportunity to take his lovers hand. He did not need to use this crystal nucleus now, or for a while. After all the quantity was too few, better to save for a key time instead. Soon, half a day passed, everyone only needed to word some hours until noon lunch hour. After they could go back and rest after work. Once again they were in the truck headed back towards the barracks. The two people obviously felt that the military barracks were more filled than before. After a quick observation, the man who came to the fifth canteen was a junior officer, but there seemed to be some new ones. They were probably ones who moved in from other bases yesterday. As for the higher ups, they were going to be eating inside the restaurant instead, they would not able to see at the gate. Still given two dishes, the two people sitting at a table near thee wall ate slowly. "Do you think there will be more zombies outside?" Yan Fei whispered. Luo Xun nodded without hesitation. "No doubt. People will not only lead zombies towards the base, with so many people gathered together the zombies will be able to follow the scent. There will certainly be more and more. So more people need to build fences and must move faster to protect themselves before the real crisis arrives. Yan Fei agreed in his heart. They returned to the inner city gate at noon and met a few people driving a truck towards uptown city. Those people should be new, willing to build the wall. "Be careful starting tomorrow while working, try not to overtax yourself." Yan Fei shifted then continued. "The zombies today were not the same as before. I think that most of the zombies outside have evolved into their current state." Luo Xun knew about these evolved zombies in hisst life. How fun while escaping on the road, it was really fun... After all Luo Xun was an ordinary person, standing in the rear as a sniper. Yan Fei did not want to let him block from the front like those soldiers. Fortunately he now had crystal nucleus in hand, if the situation turned grim he could restore his energy. A source of firepower together with Luo Xun. Although there were only two small crystal nucleus, the pair was emboldened. Their team could prevent and protect against future danger. Today they got rice and there was no food left at noon. After lunch, the tableware was put away before leaving the canteen. Picked up by the base car ready to go home. Halfway through the bustling area, they saw a military propaganda car with a speaker attached. It looped the recruitment announcement asking workers to participate in wall construction. Those who had just arrived on base and those for the sake of future livelihood after a few days decided to take part in construction work. The non stop recruitment finally worked with the two people in the back supporting the operation. Drove home, climbed to the 16th floor, greeted Zhang Yi. The two people returned home topletely rx. "This was given yesterday and this was given today." Luo Xun took out their points and pooled them together before counting. " The wages of ability users was so high. When he took part in wall construction for a full day he was rewarded six points. Yan Fei only worked a half day was paid a full dozen plus a free meal. "We dont have to take them out for anything now, so just keep them. In case we need to rece metal or steel." Luo Xun spoke and put the points back in the special purse for the end of the world. Yan Fei had no opinion and left the issue of wage management to his lover. He cooperated with work and let him take all the stuff. After a day of adapting, Yan Fei came back not as tired. He would not have a nap that afternoon and instead helped Luo Xun with tasks at home. For example stuff for nting, hydroponic boxes, drilled pipes to open holes. In the afternoon there was some movement in the quail nest, the two went to take a look and found that the quails were indeedying eggs! Luo Xun picked up the shlight at the side and checked again, from todays three eggs, two were fertilized! "Great!" Luo Xun cheered and returned the two eggs, only one could be eaten. He would put it with the two eggs fromst time in the kitchen. Yan Fei also smiled, nothing was morefortably domestic than poultry farming at home. "The feed is almost finished, Ill bring some back." Luo Xun went to the kitchen to drop off the quail egg then went to the nursery to get bread worms. Not long after Yan Fei heard a scream. "Whats the matter." Yan Fei rushed over, lest Luo Xun was in danger. Luo Xun turned with a green face, raised his hand to point at the big ss jar of bread worms. Yan Fei followed along to see a dark, ck as oil...beetle. "This is..." "An adult...did not pay attention a few days ago and missed some of therger bread worms that turned into pupae." Luo Xun sighed. "All right, just startled me with the sudden change." Who would not be startled when a pile of dark crawlers with asional wings appeared from what was thought to be soft and white bread worms? The growth was a good thing but also something not? At least it could have been worse. Fortunately Luo Xun was ready to put the adult in a box with a lid so the insects could not fly around the house. Picked out some bread worms to reward the quails for their eggs. Then with a bitter face used long tweezers in the nursery room to pick up the adult and unhatched pupa from the forms to be ced in another box. This was so they multiplied, save the recently born smaller bread worms. Catching bugs was not a wonderful thing. The two big shots who not afraid of zombies in the afternoon went straight to the bathroom to bathe after exiting the nursery. At least they regained their appetite before dinner from the ck insects. That night Luo Xun and Yan Fei used up the three quail eggs and made a pot of seaweed shrimp egg soup. They had a good dinner with their own fresh rice, pickles and fried vegetables. Li Tie and the others gave Zhang Yi some food when they returned. Zhang Yi was set for until noon the next day. The next day Yan Fei and Luo Xun got a new message at the gate barracks. Luo Xun pointed at his nose in amazement. The captain smiled and nodded. "This was approved by the higher ups. You wanted some metal with higher purity, someone will send some over soon. The amount is not much though." Luo Xun smiled and nodded in thanks, as long as there was a good stuff given to the two of them was more convenient than searching themselves. Metal could be given, points could also be given, but the crystal nucleus was still unavable at the moment. The base had not thoroughly studied the role of this thing, could not give them out until there was a way to determine if there were any negative effects. Perhaps there were some regr teams out of base who would get and use some but the military was under more pressure. If this went wrong it would not only be a few people hurt/suffer it was rted to the safety of the entire base, so caution was essential. Chapter 54 People were once again the car leaving base, at the gate they saw many other trucks heading to the walls. Significantly more were participating in the wall work today, it seemed yesterdays mobilization effort was well done. Some logistics vehicles also came out withrge pots, stoves and food. Cooking near the wall on an open fire. A wall worker continued yesterdays work in the morning. There was more zombie movement in the vicinity than before. Some people walked over from the neighborhood. Most of those people were ragged but the people who had built the walls and armed soldiers had eyes of survivors. One wondered how long they had been hiding in the city? What had they encountered on the road toe here with hope of survival? The captain saw Luo Xun was urate with his crossbow but did not deliberately rush to the front in order to collect crystal nuclei. He stayed on the defensive line, knew his limits and would only go take the crystals when it was safe. The captain involuntarily raised Luo Xuns evaluation C people with strength in the apocalypse could survive easily but those with ability and willingness to listen to others was very few. It could be said that, other than the army, those outside who suddenly acquired power, or the talented in face of life or death prioritized their own safety. Even worse, grant vition of orders, management, arrangements and schedules. In such times, people working together would get a greater chance of survival but those with distrust or stubbornness would lead the team to a major crisis. So the military was not willing to ept ordinary people. However people like Luo Xun and Yan Fei who knew their ce and job were very wee. Having an ability and listened to leader arrangements, such people were very wee regardless of team type. Sure enough the captain did not do wrong by supporting the decision to send them supplies and points yesterday. Luo Xun did not know that his careless action led to an improved evaluation by the captain. He was only acting in ordance with the most basic rules andportment after the apocalypse. Yan Fei was also the same, he just thought this was less trouble, plus he could exercise his ability, it would be a surprise to identally garner military goodwill. The morning soon passed and Luo Xun, who was not out to harvest heads, only sniping to protect his lover had also harvested six crystal nuclei. The military had gained more but a soldier who was defending behind a ditch was bitten and turned into a zombie on the spot. His teammates were forced to put him down. That scene, no matter how times one will have seen still made people feel miserable. Six cores, plus the two harvested yesterday made a total of eight. Yan Fei secretly pondered, decided to try and absorb one or two at home to see what effect. Did it really work to improve ones powers? Thest time they went out to collect materials he had used up a lot of Luo Xuns stock, but since it was a crisis he did not pay attention to the nucleus absorption and felt little difference. Now since he was richer, a little experiment would be useful. In addition to his crystal nucleus loot, Luo Xun also got some points. It was only four but it was much better than the zero before. Plus he got some high purity copper wire. After three days of work, Luo Xun and Yan Fei were ustomed to the workload. After lunch they took their car and drove back home. Every time the two of them came back around noon, the elevator was not avable so they could only climb up the stairs. When they had ascended halfway, they met with Lieutenant Ding who had some papers in his arms and an apanying soldier. "Ah, you are back." Seeing the two, Lieutenant Ding continued. "Just came down from you floor." "Are there any notices?" Luo Xun quickly asked. Lieutenant Dingughed. "It was for Zhang Yi. The base is in short supply, especially medical personnel so we came to check on him. If his injury is not bad he could work...Has anything happened recently?" "Ah? Whats the matter?" Luo Xun paused and asked cautiously. "Behind Yan Fei reacted with a smile. "Nothing big, two days ago he sent a few thieves flying but did not kill." Luo Xun had a face with ck lines looking behind, Yan Fei was talking about Zhang Yi. Lieutenant Ding breathed a sigh of relief and patted Luo Xuns shoulder in sympathy. "Hard on you." Luo Xun asked with curiosity. "There was a big incident at the hospital?" The soldiers expression twisted. "Not big but also not small...it was pretty scary." Lieutenant Ding pointed at the soldier. "He was in the hospital that day and witnessed the event." The soldier nodded. "I dont know what sparked the thing but when I arrived there was blood all over the ce." Luo Xun thought for a moment then asked. "Did someone molest him?" The two people froze. "Molest?" Luo Xun nodded while the two looked at each other. Lieutenant Ding hesitantly asked. "But he is a man..." Men were afraid of being molested? Most of the injured were mostly men. What was there to flirt with? There were quite a few army veterans that had tuned out any behavior that with inhibit army work. New recruits had to go through tough training! Yan Fei chuckled, eyes revealing a touch of ridicule. "People are angry because it is a man..." No matter the other persons mind, for those who would garner attention of crowds would be seen as an opportunity to be flirted with. Plus Zhang Yi looked more feminine so who knew how he had been treated C right before base he had been abandoned by his originalpanions which colored his mindset. The two men instantly understood his meaning and nodded. "Not good, I have to hurry back and report. Suggest they arrange a few reliable workers, cooperative without tinted sses. Would a female doctor be better? I have to report this!" The two hurried downstairs after a quick farewell. Luo Xun had a surprised face. "No one thought of this?" Yan Fei patted him on the shoulder. "You think anyone was going to notice that?" Would everyone have a bleeding heart? Who could understand a beautiful mans delicate mind? Well, Luo Xun had mistakenly used ater apocalypse mentality on the present. If he waited a few years, he was afraid everyone would be able to understand Zhang Yis trouble. People could realize that he acted in order to get a persons measure because had a face of trouble. The two people continued to climb up. The 13th floor door opened, several people who lived on that floor were not going downstairs and walked opposite Luo Xun. The first impression of the woman was tall and looks scored nine points. The life of a beautiful woman seemed to be pretty good, had makeup despite it being the apocalypse. Luo Xun subconsciously looked up and was startled by red lips. One could not me him, he had seen many zombies gnawing on corpses dying their mouths red with blood. With the end of the world suddenly seeing bright red lips would startle but after the shock one would appreciate the beauty in the mind. Unfortunately Luo Xun was gay and skipped the appreciation bit. However, seeing the beautiful womans appearance, his legs shook with tension and he could not continue moving down the hall. The man next to the beautiful woman red at the guy who could not differentiate heaven and earth C actually dared to stare at his woman?! Passing by, he deliberately bumped against Luo Xun. From behind Yan Fei of course did not see Luo Xuns expression but that man unexpectedly dared to hit his people. His eyes narrowed as the man proudly hugged the woman, stretched his muscles. Yan Fei blocked the way. "Oh, Im sorry. I did not see anyone downstairs." Yan Fei steadied Luo Xun and spoke leisurely with a malicious smile. The man in front of the woman stepped forward with an ugly, crooked face. Did not expect the woman would move faster than the man. Seeing her man provoked, her body burst into mes, reflecting her face with faint red light. Thepanions behind them looked at each other. Yan Fei raised a brow and sneered. He quickly absorbed the spare crystal nucleus in his pocket, his other hand stretched out. With a sound, all handrail metal instantly flew! A sharpwork of iron formed between the two, pointed at the line of people. The dense, steel pipe suspended in air, the points shed with fearful shine. The opposing side uniformly paled. Their side had numbers but the real power was that woman. The so called boss was lovers with before the end of the world, they fled to the base together after the apocalypse. Although the woman found her fire power strong, she was not the mask wearing mans opponent. At this time Luo Xun had regained his legs but had unexpectedly caused such a confrontation...What was this? Woman trouble...bah! Men trouble...bah again! Stupidity induced confrontation!? "Yo, I wondered why you have note up yet, are you fighting? Good timing, count me in, was bored." A careless voice trailedzily over. People subconsciously looked up to see Zhang Yi lounging against the wall, right index finger point up with a ten centimeter mini-tornado at his fingertips. His eyes shed with bloodthirsty excitement. "Okay thats it. No more." Luo Xun could not help but get a headache. Starting up a battle would be a bother, both sides would be unhappy. He put his foot down on this disruption. "Whats wrong?" Zhang Yi asked, the beauty from the 13th floor felt more and more eclipsed. "Have not seen any blood for several days. The screams of those people from a few days ago as they fell out from the window were rather nice~" With that the tornado at his fingertips becamerger, as high as a man! The fire ability beauty and herpanions faces changed. They had a headache from the stranger who could manipte metal and now this man could make a tornado with air abilities. Obviously out of their league! The beautys face changed, even the mes in front of flickered unstably. The man who had first hit Luo Xun suddenlyughed. "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Were just heading downstairs, nothing else!" Yan Fei chuckled, his voice was usually clear but this time was lower with bursts of chilling ice. "I already apologized when I identally bumped into you. My man was hit." Although Zhang Yi did not know what had happened before, it was rare to see Yan Fei so disruptive, the tornadopressed into the shape a machete of murderous wind. "He was hit? Where did that guy hit him? Ill cut off that piece of meat." Luo Xun was fed up. "You shut up!" The opposing man turned green and opened his mouth, Luo Xun bowed 90 degrees and the leader who had not spoken. "Sorry, next time will not be so careless!" Oh my god, getting bumped led to two crazy ability users threatening retaliation! Why had no one said he was looking at someones lover?! Luo Xun felt tired, turned to stand behind Yan Fei, who chuckled and with a wave, the pipe returned to normal. This was the second time this sort of thing happened, Luo Xun wondered if the metal would be loose? The crowd hurried away and galloped down the stairs. They took deep breaths after rushing out of the corridor. The man in front looked at two others. "Those guys in the corridor, why havent we heard of them before?" A younger man responded. "Boss, should be from the 16th floor..." "16th floor...no wonder." They had not crossed paths with Luo Xun and the others before but knew the 16th floor had strong people. After all, the fact that the corridor was sealed with arge metal te had spread through the area. Also vaguely heard that someone in themunity could manipte metal and a group of people who wanted to take advantage of the panic to steal had fled. Now they naturally knew who the people were. On the other side Luo Xun pulled Yan Fei as they continued upwards. He asked Zhang Yi. "You going downstairs?" "Why would I go downstairs?" Zhang Yi looked back with one eye. "Ding met with you downstairs. I heard the sound of your voice from the corridor and wanted to open the door. The result was seeing steel pipes flying lively in the air." "You thought it entertaining?" Seeing something fun this guy wanted to join in? He was no idle that he would search out fights. Zhang Yi waved his hands. "No other way. I feel that passing a day without using my ability for something is ufortable. Dont you think its better to use abilities every day to improve them?" Luo Xun stepped away, Yan Feis eyebrows pricked. Using abilities more often to increase capabilities, one did not know if that was true or just a feeling. Not spilling someones blood was ufortable? "I can help if you dont have a way to vent energy." Yan Fei said as the group arrived at the 16th floor. "Oh? Youre willing to lend your lover for a few nights?" Zhang Yi provoked and draped himself over Luo Xun, who fled through his own door C would these two end up fighting? He would get caught in the crossfire! "If you want to die." Yan Fei looked him the eye and unlocked the door with a wave. Zhang Yi shrugged. "Then what method?" Yan Fei did not give a response and walked over to Zhang Yis door. After thinking, he raised his hand and extracted arge lump of spare metal and walked in. Zhang Yi quickly followed in fear that this metal user would do something unsavory C such as sealing the toilet and so on. Luo Xun was also curious and secretly followed. Yan Fei stood right in the middle of Zhang Yis living room, circled around C good lighting, very clean. Of course it was clean, his house waspletely empty right now. The two people in the door saw Yan Fei raise his hand, the big piece of metal he had brought condensed and merged with the ceiling. The mass of metal turned into a sandbag suspended in midair... "When theres nothing to do you can use wind power to sharpen this." Yan Fei did not pay attention to Zhang Yis reaction. "You are right, using up your ability can improve power and vent at the same time." Yan Fei spoke while walking to the door, Luo Xun was looking at therge metal sandbag. "Look for me when its broken. If you can get metal and need furniture, I can do it for free. After all C abilities need to be used." Throwing Zhang Yis words back at him, Yan Fei and his lover waltzed out back to 1602. The pair returned home in silence. At the door Luo Xun stooped to catch a flying dog and began tough. Zhang Yis dumbfounded, open mouthed expression was too satisfying! The more he saw the funnier it was! Luo Xun stoppedughing after five minutes but swishing sounds came from the right side of the wall. "Hes not really cutting that metal bag is he?" Luo Xun motioned to the right. Yan Fei shrugged. "Maybe, Im curious about how much damage a wind power can do to metal. Zhang Yis wind power was much stronger than average. Maybe the metal sandbag couldst a few days if he attacks at full power?" He had said it was a method for venting his thoughts, but also a sneaky way of testing ability strength. A subtle way of contrasting powers? Luo Xun gave Zhang Yi a look of admiration, he thought of a way to hit two birds with one stone in a short time, something the average person could not do. Yan Fei smiled and said. "Continuing yesterdays work, do you want to take these boxes and everything else next door?" "No, no the walls are still drying and we have to pain them. Lets get the spare shelf ready...Let me check the quail nest." Luo Xun got up, went straight to the small nest and picked an egg to go. That day, Zhang Yi who had energy to spare was not able to cut the big metal sandbag. In the evening when Li Tie and the others came back they saw a twisted iron lump inside his home and Zhang Yi had a delicate expression. However Zhang Yi also said the news he was not able to say earlier because of bickering with Yan Fei. "I will go to work tomorrow." The people looked at one another, Li Tie congratted him. "Its already hard to find a job on base. A lot of people who repaired the wall got little points and needed to do more base work. Heard that a lot of people were searching. They want to participate in base building, digging foundation work but do not want to go outside for it!" Wang Duo was very well-informed about news. Chapter 55 After listening Luo Xun nodded. "There are a lot of zombies outside the base. Although we do not know the situation outside the wall clearly, when today the ce we were at had a stream of zombies." People not wanting to build outside the wall was very understandable, after all they had just fled to this base. It was not easy to get rid of those crazy zombies outside, who would want to leave safety and face those creatures? Zhang Yi handed back a washed lunch box back to Li Tie. "Thank you. After tomorrow you do not need to bring, the base will cover all my meals." His job was the best of the group, Li Tie and the others were given two meals and some points, Yan Fei and Luo Xun on average each got seven points plus lunch. Only Zhang Yi had a whole day of work with three meals, even if they did not know how many points he would be paid, Yan Fei estimated that it would be a lot more. Li Tie turned to the pair of Yan Fei and Luo Xun. "We asked about metal, but since the base is using it to repair the outer wall, we could not find out what metal. However Wang Duo heard that the base was ready to send out teams to bring back a lot of metal to build the wall! Should be able to get or change some then!" Yan Fei nodded slightly. "Not urgent, theres enough metal home to use for now. If you want some furniture and have metal I can process it for you." He did not mind using his abilities at the moment, the more ces to work, the better. Every night their routine ended with a group meeting before everyone went back home to sleep. Luo Xun went back home to organize what to bring out tomorrow but found C he had not taken out the copper wire! Arge mass of copper wire was winded together, not light but the weight was unknown. They could not use it now, better leave it in the second floor storage room. Yan Fei took out two crystal nucleus while heading upstairs. Luo Xun put away the things and asked. "You want to use?" Yan Fei nodded. "I tested it see if there was an effect. I used one on the stairs earlier today to see if there was a difference between then and that other time." Luo Xun was very supportive of Yan Fei exploring his ability. After all he had only heard of this in his past life. How to use it most efficiently? How did the crystals help an ability user improve his power levels? He did not know. When Yan Fei used his power today, he noticed the sensation of energy inside the nucleus. Now he would take advantage of it. The big lump of metal floating in the bedroom did not change its shape. These days Yan Fei found that the most energy intensive way was for the lump of metal to change into a thin cloth-like wire mesh. The thinner the, the more dense and fine the threads, the more spiritual power consumed. When the mesh had shrouded the whole room, Yan Feis forehead was dripping with sweat. With a *swish* and thest of his spiritual energy, Yan Fei re-condensed the back into a metal ball and ced it on the ground. Gasping with some difficulty, he absorbed the crystal nucleus ced in his palm. Luo Xun gently wiped his sweat with a towel. Yan Fei opened his eyes after finishing absorption. "How was it?" Yan Feis eyes shed with brightness. "Has effect and was not the same." Using the crystal nucleus after his spiritual energy waspletely depleted increased his maximum mental strength pool. The amount of added spiritual power was more than after sleeping before! Although a single nucleus was not enough to fully refill his usage but increased his energy cap. When he woke up his spirit would naturally increase again! He took a deep breath and held another crystal nucleus in his palm. "Lets try another way." This time, Yan Fei absorbed the nucleus without exhausting his mental strength before testing his abilities. This time he felt there was no difference. With carefulparison of the two uses of nuclei,bined with the feeling today, Yan Fei exined to Luo Xun. "In the corridor at noon, I had not consumed all my energy so the maximum energy slightly expanded but the effect was not very obvious. With just two experiments the upper limit increased more after using up my reserves before supplementing with a crystal nucleus. The other use, the upper limit had increased but the result was not ideal since I continued using power." Luo Xuns eyes shone. "So the effect is best when using a crystal nucleus to refill after using up all spiritual energy then resting for a little while?" Looking at his excited face, Yan Fei was struck with a want to pounce. But feeling his fingers twitching weakly, Yan Fei regretfully had to wait. He must first work and tinker with his powers tomorrow! Otherwise, even if he wanted to, his lover would be able to take advantage of his inability to pressure himself instead. He had to make sure he was in the top position at home! Luo Xun was very considerate of his loved one, carefully helped him wipe off sweat, fed some water then quietly turned off the lights to hold each other in sleep. Hepletely forgot that he could take advantage of this opportunity to press. After closing his eyes, Luo Xun remembered the group they had met today. He definitely would not see a beautiful woman through the eyes of a straight boy. It was better that he had Yan Fei was a boyfriend. One who could sleep with every night, could do more saucy activities, a bright future was waiting for him. He was gay, who was going to stare at a anothers woman? He had been so scared when he looked at the woman C he was frightened! It was all because of thatdy. The Rose Mercenary Corps, one of the most terrifying teams in his past life had been created by women. The horror was not because the women inside were powerful ability users, but because of their attitude towards men! It was said that they were abandoned by men so they gathered and formed a mercenary corps. They were extremely disgusted with men, if one dared provoke them, hehe... After the apocalypse, some powerful men would steal away any beautiful woman they saw, as part of their property. However the Rose Mercenary Corps broke this pattern. Men who were caught after provoking them, if his appearance was high would be filled with drugs/medicine until he wished for death. With a poor appearance, the wretched person would have their small ding cut off and bleed to death. They did not need a long term male partner because men were not good things, absolutely untrustworthy! When there was demand, they would catch the men who caught their eye and leave. There were some people who survived but a blessing that caused a man to be skinny, sway while walking and eventually copse was not something anyone dared to try. And all the men they grabbed and yed with, those who were released, not one was a handsome man. Oh you dream? It was possible that they were quartered alive! The more handsome the man, the worse the consequences of falling into their hands. Luo Xun vaguely remembered from hisst life that the Rose Mercenary Corps had appeared before he came to this base, but definitely did not live in this building. He did not know what had happened at that time but afterwards the Rose Mercenary Corps was a legend, a fierce name on base. Fortunately, honest and low key Luo Xun was smart to have never provoked this group. After four of five years of the apocalypse, there were gradually no news about the team. However during hisst life he had seen the woman at a distance on base with the same makeup. He remembered very vividly those fiery red lips, so he had immediately recognized her today. Luo Xun had only seen a handful of women after the end of the world. However, in todays confrontation, he did not meddle by telling the woman that the man with her might have harmful intentions. After all he did not know the specific reasons behind the establishment of the Rose Mercenary Corps. It was not clear what happened to the female leader C what if something had happened after her boyfriend died? It had to be known that after the apocalypse people gossiped on base constantly, who knew if there was truth in their words? Although they said that the women of the Rose Corps were ones who had been abandoned by men, others said that the group was formed by debauched prostitutes in order to catch men. Well, Luo Xun thought that statement was unreliable. Base work was very simple to adapt to, in factpared to his previous life in the apocalypse, the rtionship was more simple and direct. The work was more convenient and did not consume a lot of brain cells. Yan Fei and Luo Xun adapted quickly enough to earn arge number of points every day, free meals and some crystal nuclei. These two people had no other ambition then wanting to live peacefully in this apocalyptic world. The morning of the 23rd, all the tenants of the 16th floor went out. For the safety of the home, in order to avoid everyoneing back home after a hards day work to find everything gone, Yan Fei went to work. Every morning after leaving three big iron gatespletely sealed the floor since Luo Xun and Yan Fei only worked outside for half a day and came back at noon. So long as they returned home then they could unlock the blocks for the others. In the meantime, Yan Fei was one of the few metal users, the remaining five were in the army. Unless they were unlucky enough to encounter another metal ability user who had hidden their powers at the gates. Normally, when people were out they would lock the staircase door with an iron chain, but that door could be forced open. If the door waspletely sealed with metal, even if someone broke the iron chain it would have been a waste of effort. Although it was troublesome and very likely to encounter potential issues, but they could not think of alternative means of insurance. After all, everyone focused on their own small nests. Luo Xun confirmed the 1603 wall situation that afternoon and estimated that the wall should be thoroughly dry before the spring festival. Should be able to brush the second coat. He just did not know if they could have a vacation. Each day was only half work, there was a lot of time in the afternoon to do housework but surely for Chinese New Year, especially in China people would be given a few days of rest? It was a pity that other than Luo Xun and Yan Fei, even Li Tie and the others who had been busy since the beginning also did not hear news about a holiday, not even a usual day of rest. No way around it, everyone was racing against time. Get everything done a day earlier meant all could settle down a day earlier. In the early morning of the 25th, they all came to the pick up point. Luo Xun saw that the other workers had already arrived and everyones faces were excited. "Everyone here? Well talk after getting into the car." Seeing the pair, the captain waved everyone onto the bus. The two with some doubt in their hearts climbed in, sat down and waited for the captain to speak. When everyone was seated, the captain coughed while looking at the three metal users. "After several meetings, the base higher ups have finally approved the use of crystal nucleus during wall construction." Some soldiers had heard the news before, nevertheless they excitedly showed big smiles. The nucleus thing was not a secret, soldiers who went out for tasks were more clear than those at the gates. Even if they only went out everyday to build walls, they had also seen quite a few of those things. The crystal nuclei were plentiful, there were all sorts of rumors about their nature: could absorb and could supplement abilities. It was just that the base had been researching these objects for security reasons that people were not allowed to use them privately. As a result of current research...perhaps the real result had note but there did not seem to be any side effects at present. The construction of the wall was a priority and thus the basepromised in order toplete the perimeter. After all, the endless raid of zombies outside was not a joke. Not only that, the base was also ready to start outside missions, such as collection, rescue and zombie extermination. These three tasks would be important in the future and paid with crystal nuclei. The captain looked at the crowd. "From today onward, everyone will receive a certain number of crystal nucleus per day. We strive to use them up in specified intervals to speed up wall construction work. Today is the first day, need to familiarize ourselves." While speaking he took out three bags and handed them to the three metal workers. Yan Fei opened the bag to reveal 10 nuclei. With his current mental strength, these crystals would be sufficient to refill his energy twice. With the addition of crystal nucleus, they would naturally not have any reservations about working. Of course, rest was still needed. This time they did not work ording to the previous method of each person taking turns. Instead each person could roughly build a part of the wall then meld together. With crystal nuclei, the wall creation speed increased and used up far more metal than usual. Because some were not very familiar with the use of nuclei, the two other metal users went to absorb a nucleus each time they went to rest to the side. Yan Fei had slightly different methods, he chose topletely use up his energy each time then retreat to the side and absorb a crystal nucleus to replenish. Since Luo Xun had harvested several cores each day, in addition to the initial experiment they always had a stockpile of 10 pieces. Yan Fei would actively absorb the extras every night to speed up his improvement. With so many days, he had already figured out the most suitable method for himself. Now with crystal nuclei he would frankly use the method to maximize the benefit of this item. While the three were using the nuclei, Luo Xun and the others were not idle. The captain pulled aside those on defense and quietly said. "After the study the superiors assigned 30 crystal cores for the three of them to use each day. Apart from these, if theres an unexpected harvest, we can also be given some crystal nuclei." He nced at Luo Xun C this guys crossbow had caused widespread uproar. Even if a zombie suddenly jumped out, somehow he with his two crossbows was able to put the other side. This even beat the marksman on their team. "Time is tight, task is heavy. The base requires we try to finish a quarter of the wall before the Spring Festival, so I suggest that all the crystals we get are evenly distributed among the three metal users in the team. Everyone agree?" Luo Xun was familiar with the obedience of soldiers for their mission and his private coffers were not gone. It was enough that Yan Fei could still get nuclei to replenish energy. The captain was relieved that Luo Xun had no objections. "Except for the three who are responsible for the protection of the ability users, stick close. The rest have to y by ear but do not seek death. Obtaining more crystals is good but have to prioritize ones own safety first." The base nucleus store was not rich and the earth ability users were also using them. If the morning and afternoon metal users could work for another round, it was to be seen the new efficiency level. After this test, the superiors would certainly give rewards and recognition, they could not lose face! Learning this they were happy to hunt down zombies and dig out crystal nuclei in order to increase work speed. The team responsible for defending security were particrly excited, they could take the opportunity to level up with the crystals and to be appreciated by their superiors. The people building the wall were injected with chicken blood and sped up building. Yan Fei observed the other two people from the side who slowly absorbed from the palm. He silently guessed that his ability was higher inparison, did not know if the ability mutated? Or did abilities have grades? Anyway the rate of exhaustion was much slower than the two metal users and the walls built were farrger and faster. Yan Fei was careful not to control too much metal at once, otherwise his repair speed alone was equal to the two people together. It was not long before the two men and their 10 crystal cores werepletely used but Yan Fei had only used half, had five remaining in his hand. A higher level? No, not right, he could manipte metal in the air but these two simply could not do it from what he had seen. The men who saw the ability users seemed to have run out of nucleus, the captain nced at the time C it was just 10:30 in the morning! That was to say, in order to achieve maximum efficiency, the team would need to use at least 20 cores each day! "Send these 12 crystals first." The captain responsible for the defense personnel brought the nuclei out and stated. "Tell the three of them to rest a while, we cannot keep up the pace." A dozen pieces was divided into four per person, would be enough to fully refill Yan Feis reserves. Taking the four crystals, Yan Fei did not say he still had five left. Just took advantage of others not paying attention to the five. He used the four to supplement the usage of mental strength. After all, there was an increased number of zombie guards, although more zombies approached the base, the actual number that came through was still limited. That morning, the team managed to collect 22 crystal nuclei which was an additional seven pieces per person. The remaining one was temporarily in the hands of the captain ready to use tomorrow. When thest cores were divided, the captain did not forget to remind them. "Everyone take it easy, dont use these up too fast. Once work is done head straight home then rest replenish energy. Keep the crystal nuclei to use for tomorrow, in case we kill less zombies tomorrow." At lunch break the three people broke out, two of them had consumed five crystals each, the rest was ready to be used tomorrow. Yan Fei, saved five pieces, used up four nuclei andter collected three others. Work a day, save up a full eight crystal nuclei, the efficiency was really good. Of course he had to take out two pieces to match the two men tomorrow, otherwise there could be some trouble. Chapter 56 Due to changes in the fence perimeter, when the car drove past the area where brick walls were being built, the number of earth ability users was significantly higher, almost one per section. When they built a wall, although they also needed a lot of raw materials, such as concrete and other things but with the blessing of crystal nuclei and arge number of people, could cover a lot ofnd in one short morning. And that was before the walls being pulled together, at this time people only left a small part responsible for handling the heavy, physical work. The remainder were inside the outer wall, working with the soldiers to clean up buildings and debris for the safety of people after the wall was done. There was a lot ofnd space between the outer and inner wall, which would inevitably have zombies that had been missed. The main goal was to collect nuclei from the zombies and scavenge other resources. In addition, there may not be enough housing so these people had to participate in residential housing construction. There was always work to do. The two peoples harvest today was good, they were happier than usual on the way home. Yan Fei consumed less nuclei than anyone else, some of the extra crystals were stockpiled and the rest were absorbed on weekdays. Yan Fei tried to elevate his abilities as quickly as possible. His ability was better than others right now but if he stagnated while others struggled, his advantage would be gone. Yan Fei knew this better than anyone, it had been taught to him from childhood. If one did not want to be a loser or bullied, they had to stay on top all the time, even if on the surface he was at ease, as if everything was done casually. Wanted to install force, just needed desperate people vomiting blood in realization. One would gently offer their hand, the collective would bend the knee. No pains, reaping what one had sown or resting onurels, that would lead to being a joke. So in spite of not being able to eat Luo Xuns tofu at home this evening because he would be tired/exhausted. He also had to empty his spiritual energy before going to bed. It was the end of the world and he wanted to protect this unexpected home which let him feel iparable happiness. He must to his best to keep the peace and his loved ones protected. In the event of an unexpected circumstances his strength needed to be enough to have thestugh. Luo Xun was driving slowly through downtown towards their neighborhood. He saw people selling things at random on the roadside while passing, suddenly he felt a hand at his head. Luo Xun turned to see Yan Fei in the back seat holding his hair. "Whats up?" "Nothing, your hair is a bit long. Do you want to tie it up when we get back?" Yan Fei askedzily. Luo Xuns expression twisted as he shook his head. "No, help me cut it back home." Tie it up? He was not a woman, not mainstream, definitely not an art director, did not need a ponytail! "Me? Cut your hair? Are you sure?" Yan Fei involuntarily stared wide eyed. He had learned to cut cloth but hair...other than that time in primary school where he used craft scissors to cut a girls pigtail, he had never dealt with anothers hair. Luo Xun was not afraid to go out the door with a bad haircut? "No problem, if I did it myself it would be worse." Luo Xun added brightly. "I can also help you cut at home!" He regretted in his past that life he had no ce to use his washing and cutting skills! There were barbers after the apocalypse but the job had no future. Technology was good enough that once the base people had money, men and women seeking beauty would look for more technical hairdressers. However if the technology was not good, one could earn some chips or cookies from a day of work. So the vast majority of people either kept their hair long without care, looking like an American homeless or trimmed hair themself. Though cutting ones own hair was only words, long hair was okay, could forget even if not neatlybed. But short hair...the back was really difficult to deal with, could barely reach and the position was contrary to the human body. So finding a good friend and helping each other with a haircut was something that Luo Xun had thought was a little romantic. Unfortunately he had not had that sort of person in hisst life though he had one now! He did not care if his hair was cut like a messy dog, interacting with Yan Fei would be nice! Yan Fei, facing Luo Xuns excited eyes could only reluctantly nod with a genial smile. His mind wondered C Zhang Yi was said to be an excellent surgeon, certainly could use a scalpel, could he pass as a barber? As long as the guy did not take the opportunity to give him brain surgery, Yan Fei could just endure the others personality. However if he got someone else to cut his hair, his lover would be unhappy...Would he sacrifice his head for a night of sexual bliss? Or sacrifice his lovers happiness for his appearance? Yan Fei still had not made up his mind when the two had climbed back to the 16th floor. But seeing Luo Xun excitedly change clothes and head to the second floor to take out a set of barber tools from the bedroom closet, he was forced to make a choice. Forget it, there was a hat at home anyways! It was not a big deal to wear a hat for while, if it was uneven, he would simply grow it out! Better than not going out to see people. Puppy tilted her head and watched the two people sitting in the middle of the room in a chair. One stood behind the other the other was sitting covered with a big white thing. To prevent the dog from getting fur all over the rooms, Yan Fei deliberately blocked the puppy from the balcony C taking advantage of his abilities. Do not think Yan Fei was tired from using up his energy every afternoon, he felt his physical stats had increased, his strength was more than usual. So he was more willing to polish his abilities to the utmost. A plume of ck fell to the ground apanied by the sound of snipping. It was the most stressful time of his life, even though he had never been nervous while negotiating million dor projects at work. He dared not cut too much at once, every time cut a little bit. Finely cut hair fluttered from Luo Xuns head. Luo Xun had of course, imparted his experience to Yan Fei before cutting. It was a pity that he had a wilder method, Yan Fei who often went to high-end hairdressers did not listen to what sounded like very unreliable advice. Could only trim a bit at a time, slowly cutting while learning from the mirror. Fortunately, prudence had its advantages, after he had finished Luo Xuns head was not very strange, he could smoothly go out tomorrow! Luo Xun hurriedly took the mirror and looked from side to side once his hair had been cut. After looking around he said. "You are quite skillful." Yan Fei let loose a breath, did not lose face or cause his lover any regret. Then he heard Luo Xun say. "Should I just cut down to an inch for when the days heat up? That would be more convenient..." "No need for that!" Yan Fei stopped him, goodness an inch long? He was not even that good with the scissors. If his hand shook, ones head could end up bald! "But its cooler..." Luo Xun was conflicted, summer was hot. Everyone had electricity avable even after the apocalypse but an excellent air conditioning unit...there was a fear that thieves would target their home. "No big deal, Ill cut your hair every few days?" Yan Fei bent down with a provoking smile and sexily hoarse voice. Luo Xuns face turned red, ufortably moved his line of sight while coughing. "That...well..." Very good, temptation sessful, prevented the possibility of a monk head style! Yan Fei just breathed a sigh of relief and started to pack up the tools. His heart stopped as he heard Luo Xun said after a few moments. "Ill give you a cut!" Yan Fei sat stiffly in the chair that Luo Xun had just sat. Feeling lumps of his hair falling down, he despaired and remembered that the second floor bedroom had a few wool caps. He would figure out tomorrow which one was most pleasing to wear. Which one wouldpletely cover his head and hide all his hair? After 15 minutes, Luo Xun had circled around Yan Feis head three or four times and finally finished. He had the nerve to hesitantly scratch his cheek. "Done cutting...but the result may not be very good..." Yan Fei smiled stiffly, made up his mind that no matter what he saw in the mirror, could not directly look at his lovers face. If it was that bad he also wear a hat at home! He walked stiffly into the bathroom C he did not take the small mirror. The big mirror reflected a familiar face C Yan Fei was relieved that he could fortunately still see his hair. No, it was actually okay, a little short but not ugly. In fact, Luo Xun had trimmed ording to Yan Feis original haircut. But in the spirit of practicality Luo Xun also went for convenience and did fewer cuts. It was also for speed purposes, when busy having short hair was more efficient. So now Yan Fei looked a little different but it was fine, short hair was not bad. After a few days it would be more pleasing to the eye. The two washed away all the cut hair and cleaned out the living room. They did not when the puppy had gotten out from the balcony. "Hey? Lost a leaf?" Luo Xun found a small torn off leaf on the ground. It was fresh and green as if dragged down instead of falling off due to malnutrition. The puppy went straight to her cage, used her paws as a pillow and closed her eyes. However her mouth seemed to be moving. "Maybe it identally fell down." Yan Fei did not mind the small leaves and used the broom to sweep them clean. "Let me see....ah,ying eggs today again!" Luo Xun pointed at the quail nest and used a shlight to swiftly check the eggs inside. The day before yesterday, the number of fertilized eggs reached five so Luo Xun opened the incubator box in the nursery. He put a few eggs in to artificially hatch. The rest of quails had sufficient light to startying eggs each day. So long as the fertilized eggs were added into the incubator box, the rest would be used as food reserves. Six female quails couldy eggs almost every day. Days of eating delicious quail meat were waving at the couple. Luo Xun put three fertilized eggs in the incubator, the other three in the basket and then began the daily routine inspection of nts. As well as other chores such as house cleaning and renovation. The sky waspletely dark when faint sounds came from upstairs. Waited a while to hear the iron chain, Luo Xun got up and opened the door C Li Tie and the others were back. "Did youe back together?" Luo Xun asked in confusion upon seeing Zhang Yi with them. Zhang Yi waved. "Met at themunity gate." His hospital was also in the barracks but the location was away from Li Tie and difficult to contact. Most days were back to back and Zhang Yis work times were uncertain. Sometimes he encountered a number of major surgeries, it was very possible he woulde back after three in the morning. "What? Was there a lot of surgery today?" Luo Xun asked upon seeing Zhang Yis ravaged appearance. Zhang Yi hummed. "Today there were several people who had been wounded by zombies. During surgery one transformed but I was prepared. Just as they changed I cut off his head. Only a few of the nurses voices were too sharp so now I have a headache." No words, no one who saw the scene could maintain a normal heart. Luo Xun serious suspected that the reason was bloodlust. Seeing blood was an upational disease C not letting going to the hospital might be more dangerous, it was better to let him go to work every day. Had not seen since he started work? Yan Fei would cut an iron bag before going to bed at night. They walked past the iron gate and Wang Duo opened 1601 door. Zhang Yi hooked a finger at Yan Fei. "Come over, I need something." He opened the door and motioned in. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, patted Luo Xuns shoulder to let him wait outside. Luo Xun wondered and thought maybe the big iron sandbags had been thoroughly cut up? After he talked with Li Tie andpany about their day to exchange intelligence. After Yan Fei followed Zhang Yi into the room, he turned on the light C it was base-powered. Yan Fei nced at the metal sandbag prototypes and asked. "What happened?" It seemed like he was not here to fix the sandbags. "I met some people at the hospital today." Zhang Yi casually threw his coat into a kitchen corner and exchanged the half full bucket with an empty one. Yan Fei did not respond, only raised his eyebrows. "A woman, more than 50 years old, seemed rather tall." Zhang Yi said with a pair of provoking peach eyes and a meaningful smile. "Cut her little finger and went to the army hospital for stitches." Yan Fei huffed in disdain. "There was enough wound to sew stitches?" Zhang Yi shrugged. "I said the sewing needles were disinfected but may leave scars. She repeatedly confirmed as to not be infected with the zombie virus." "So?" Zhang Yi would have not called him over if there was no issue. Yan Fei already guessed who the woman was from what he heard C except her, who would be so dramatic and run to the army hospital and ask a surgeon to disinfect such a small wound? "That woman looked a little familiar." His eyes narrowed like a fox. "I chatted with her for a few days. Later two men came in to take her back, one of them was wearing military uniforms. She suddenly remembered something and told them she and her husband did not know if their son was still alive and to check out the people on the base." Yan Fei sneered and leaned against the door frame with crossed arms. Zhang Yi sighed. "Her son is pitiful." He looked jokingly at Yan Fei. "They were rescued by the military from the north base a week ago. She has a rtionship with someone and has been living in the better barrack rooms. It was only now that she remembers that she has a son." Yan Fei coldly smiled but there were no traces of anger. "It is to be expected, the year before the apocalypse I only saw her once, did not exchange more than 20 sentences, half of which were identical to previous years." Zhang Yi watched the others expression, the smile slipped off his face. "You knew she came to base?" "I saw her the first day they got to base." Yan Fei did not conceal meaning of his words. Family was not just blood, in his case, there was nothing to return to. "They?" Zhang Yi noticed the inflection and raised his brows again. "Yes, they were all sitting in a business car that my father used to sit in before the end of the world started." Zhang Yi sighed and shook his head. He saw the woman from today and found that she and Yan Fei were rted. A good appearance, together with a man, the best quality before the apocalypse. The difference was that he had high quality lovers while Yan Fei had quality blood rtives. In a way, Yan Fei was worse off since he had never met a good man. Zhang Yi suddenlyughed again. "If you did not have your little lover, I would want to hook up with you." Yan Feis expression distorted as he frowned. He looked Zhang Yi up and down as if there were disgusting insects. "Sorry, I am really not interested." Zhang Yi raised his eyebrows and with a smile more beautiful than spring suddenly moved forward, their faces almost touching. "So, you are only bent for you little lover? Dont say, hes not bad...how unfortunate." The door suddenly opened when he was done speaking. He Qiankun called. "Right, Yan Fei, gold...gold...that gold..." He halted halfway, Wang Duo and the others all saw into the room where two people were in an ambiguous position. Yan Fei saw Luo Xun standing slightly behind, who was staring the two people. Suddenly, Zhang Yi bonelessly draped himself over Yan Fei. "Ah, your legs are soft~" With that sentence Yan Feis face turned ck and raised a hand to push. Without a sound, Zhang Yi flew out and squarely hit the iron gate there... It should be said that in addition to having a powerful ability, his physical fitness had also improved a lot? Anyway the crowd helped Zhang Yi up in shock. There were no back wounds, even his arm injury had not been torn. "If you are busy, I can help you open a few more wounds. You are a surgeon, giving themselves stitches is considered exercising their professional skills." Yan Fei stood straight, a few pieces of metal flew from the iron sandbags and changed into a few sharp knives. Zhang Yi did not bat an eye at Yan Fei. "No need to be so rough." With augh, his eyes drifted towards Luo Xun. "Little lover, if he is violent to you at home,e sleep with me at night~" Luo Xun: oh no Wang Duo covered his nose and twisted away. "Its...its too bewitching..." It was the first time he ever had a nosebleed for man in his life! Li Tie and several others also hand flushed hands and feet, did not know where to put them. They knew Zhang Yi for a while but they had never seen him teasing with a sultry posture and eyes. Of course, it had to do with the fact that they looked clean and upright. However today, purely to implicate Yan Fei...They realized for the first time that this guy was really...attractive? The pure and innocent group did not know how to act. Yan Fei did not answer Zhang Yi and turned to the door. With a disturbed heart he took Luo Xuns hand, fortunately he did not shake it off and walked with him back home. Chapter 57 "....He was just crazy." Yan Fei had no idea how to exin since he had never encountered this bizarre situation. A man pretending to be ambiguous for another man to see...his brain cells were dying. Luo Xun did not utter a word but suddenly leaned into his arms, hugged his waist. After a while he said something stifled against Yan Feis chest. "You are mine, right?" "Definitely!" Yan Fei answered firmly, relieved that he was not questioned and pulled him directly to the second floor bedroom. Luo Xun followed along and even ignored Puppy who had leapt up. After entering the bedroom Yan Fei tightly hugged the other on the bed. Luo Xun looked up with aplex expression. "When the door opened, the two of you together..." Yan Fei raised a hand to swear. "He was the one who approached...you know that guy is a bit crazy." He could not understand how Zhang Yi worked sometimes, could not simte his brain thus could not predict he would suddenly go mad...and scatter his hormones. Luo Xun shook his head. "I know, you two feel like a good match together." He felt inferior. "Both of you are so good looking...I..." Going out with Yan Fei, he would definitely be cut with eye knives. It was the biggest reason he had been having Yan Fei wear masks while outside. Yan Fei choked, suddenly felt their brain circuits were not aligned, seemed like straight and crooked mens brains were that different? He was born a straight man, how would he know what these gay guys were going to think? How could it be even more confusing than a womans mind? Yan Fei put his hands on both sides of Luo Xuns head and said seriously. "You think I am a person who pays attention to other peoples appearances?" If he really thought so, how would that exin being with Luo Xun who had an ordinary appearance? Luo Xun blinked and smiled while looking straight at Yan Fei. He raised his neck and whispered in Yan Feis ear. "Lets do it." Yan Fei froze and thought he had heard wrong? Luo Xun ignored the problem and jumped to shake him. But whatever this was...he had been looking forward for to this first time for a while and now the time had finallye! Although it was not clear how his brain worked to suddenly skip a bunch of steps, but Yan Fei was master opportunist. His hand slid to Luo Xuns waist as he lightly whispered into his ear. "Really?" Luo Xun felt his face was thoroughly burning, became limp as he was held. He did not make a sound, just slightly nodded while still holding Yan Feis neck. Luo Xun needed to confirm that Yan Fei was in love with him and that he was suitable. Zhang Yis current personality might be hard toprehend for others, but to Luo Xun who hade back from the apocalypse, it was clear. Right now, Zhang Yis body was safe was his heart was extremely empty. He had been betrayed by people he had trusted, although there were some peaceful neighbors, in the end they were only neighbors. They did not understand his past nor know his true character. The natural practices of scramble, plunder and bloodshed outside the base werepletely banned inside. Forced to the edge of a cliff from an originally quiet life, had to use bloody means to rob others to survive, but became limited again once on base. With different rules of life, an unfamiliar environment, the outside people were at a loss. Zhang Yi could only use this seemingly crazy attitude to tease out those simr to Luo Xun and Yan Fei. Because Li Tie and his friends were too pure, untainted by darkness so Zhang Yi could only vent to Yan Fei. Otherwise Zhang Yi could develop mental problems before long. This situation, Luo Xun had also experienced in his past life. After the end of the world he took refuge in panic but then was forced toe out in order to live. The people who survived, reluctantly united to kill a way out. Had just fled to a safe ce, but after a short period of calm the ce once again capsized. If he had note to A-city base, with people already adapted to apocalyptic life, all holding the same life rules and attitude...he might have also been driven mad. Even so, Luo Xun did not want to live alone in the basement forever but also did not want to seek out warmth from those with simr inclinations. Only when he could no longer endure the loneliness did he think of using his money to find apanion C a resilient child, who could eventually rely on themselves to live. Luo Xun slowly closed his eyes and felt Yan Feis warm breath on his neck and face. The feeling of big hands wandering on his body lit a zing inferno. Luo Xun could understand Zhang Yis actions but Yan Fei was his. Since the two people decided to be together, it was necessary to stick with each other from then on. With his knowledge of the apocalypse and Yan Feis practical abilities, they could find a way that worked best for them. The scene today unearthed Luo Xuns hidden inferiorityplex. The two bewitching men looked so pleasant together, Luo Xun wanted to confirm that he and Yan Fei were appropriate? Could he and a recently broken down straight man fit...together? The two peoples life situations could slowly reach mutual understanding but some aspects of actual experience also needed to fit. Before Luo Xun had been evasive, unwilling to face this issue too quickly, but now, he urgently needed proof that he and Yan Fei were suitable. Let Yan Feis actions show his desires. So even with their current positions and actions it did not mean that Luo Xun was destined to be the bottom tonight, he was not dissatisfied or resistant. Yan Fei smoothly removed thestyer of clothing from Luo Xuns body. He quietly looked at the other with his hands on both sides of Luo Xuns head. Feeling Yan Feis gaze, Luo Xun slowly opened his eyes. Suddenly Yan Feiughed with eyes melting with gentleness, he slowly leaned down and devoutly kissed Luo Xuns lip. "Rx, Im going in." Luo Xuns body was tense at first before he slowly rxed his taut muscles. Although he had not done the act, he had secretly studied after settling down, knew how to prepare for the uing events. In order to facilitate Yan Feis movements, Luo Xun even took the initiative to lift his legs and hook them around his waist. He leaned close to Yan Feis face and whispered in his ear with some gasps. "Come then." With deep sea-like waves in his eyes, Yan Fei sunk down with determination. It seemed that even the tips of his fingers were sore. Luo Xun struggled to open his eyes to stop the beeping rm clock. He opened his eyes to see Yan Feis outstretched arm holding the noisy rm clock. "Have a good rest at home today. Ill bring you lunch at noon." Yan Fei pressed the rm button and kissed Luo Xuns forehead. "What?" Luo Xun moved his eyes in confusion but with his headache could notpletely understand Yan Feis meaning. Yan Fei kissed him on the cheek and touched foreheads. "Still a little hot. Go to sleep, Ill bring breakfast." He lifted the quilt and headed to the door. Luo Xun was confused when he saw that Yan Fei had changed out of his pajamas, when did he get up? His head cleared up as he waited for Yan Fei toe up again. His waist, hip and *cough* other ce were aching and sore but not painful. He felt...*cough* ufortable. "DId you just say you would go by yourself?" Luo Xun sprang up but felt like his waist was broken. Yan Fei hurriedly put the things down to help him. "Yeah, today Ill go by myself and youll have a good rest at home." Luo Xuns face turned ck then red as he awkwardly protested. "Theres nothing wrong, just wait a while." Because of wearing nothing but bed sheets...it was not right. Yan Fei poked Luo Xuns forehead a bit. "Nothings wrong? Right now you have a slight fever." "Fever?" Luo Xun gave Yan Fei a nce. "How did I get a fever?" Yan Fei stared at him for half a day and blushed when he moved his line of sight. "Seemed to be because ofst night..." He cleaned Luo Xun after finishingst night but it was his first time and he was a straight man...*Cough* in short caused injury due to anxiousness? Some small inmmation after sleeping with a stallion was normal. Luo Xun also froze for a long time, well he had not heard of sex causing a fever. Perhapsst night was too intense, what with a lot of sweating and kicking the quilt? Anyway he had never heard of anyone on base getting a fever after bursting their chrysanthemum. Of course this could also be rted to the degree of adaptability. Luo Xun repeatedly again while pondering themand. Yan Fei helped bring a box of anti-inmmatory medicine over. "If its not a big problem I should be able to go with you tomorrow. Grab my bag with the big crossbow inside and all the houses crystal nuclei. Only use them in a dangerous situation and dont wait for your energy to be all consumed before using..." Luo Xun said all he could think of, his somewhat hoarse voice became quieter. The enamored Yan Fei almost did not want to leave and instead take care of him. Fortunately, Luo Xuns spirit was much better after eating breakfast, his body temperature was also very normal. Yan Fei checked his cheek and reluctantly took three steps to leave C he had never felt this feeling of worry towards anyone else before. Yan Fei took a deep breath after locking their door. Although an unexpected situation happenedst night, he was satisfied with their first time. Of course, he would be more careful next time. When he got home at noon he would check if theptop had downloaded that little yellow book. Li Tie andpany with Zhang Yi were all out of the house, went downstairs together. Which left Yan Fei responsible for locking the door. Seeing Yan Feie out, Zhang Yi raised his eyebrows and joked with an ambiguous smile. "Ah, that face bright like spring...you got some?" Yan Fei did not deign a look and went straight towards the big iron gates. Not fully catching what Zhang Yi had asked, the pure and silly He Qiankun asked. "Yan Fei, wheres Luo Xun?" "Hes a little feverish so hes not going out today." Yan Fei more patiently exined to the others. Li Tie andpany quickly asked if the fever was severe? Was there any medicine in the house? If he was notfortable they could leave someone at home to look after him and so on. Zhang Yi held back augh but waved his hands when Yan Fei shot eye daggers. "There are anti-inmmatories at home? Has he eaten?" Yan Fei ground his mrs and decided to ignore the amused guy. Li Tie touched the back of his head in confusion. "Why take anti-inmmatory for a cold?" But Zhang Yi was a doctor. No, wait hes a surgeon. Wang Duo suddenly had an epiphany while looking at Zhang Yi and Yan Fei locking the door. After a while he swallowed any questions C could not ask otherwise he would enter a new world and could never return to past innocent days! He met Zhang Yis peach blossom eyes, who raised his eyebrows, Wang Duo pinched his nose and with a bitter face turned away. Was his guess right? Or...*cough* was it just his imagination? Wang Duos question was destined to go unanswered. They climbed downstairs and into the car, since Luo Xun was noting today, Yan Fei was driving. Now cars are too used on base so they pooled all the gasoline together. Luo Xun and Yan Fei used some to drive daily. Drove all the way to the barracks and separated at the door. The captain and soldiers who had worked together for a long time inquired about Luo Xun. After the captain promised to help them find some fever medicine to take back to Luo Xun. No other way,pared to the less talkative, cold Yan Fei with a power ability...everyones rtionship with Luo Xun who looked ordinary, like to talk with people with a smile was better. Knowing that Luo Xun would not be here today, the captain formed a team responsible for Yan Feis protection. The group sat in the car and drive towards the base gate. While in the car, the captain took out a bag. "There are 45 crystal nuclei inside, each person has five more than yesterday. Any others will divided amongst everyone." "Captain, how could there be so many today?" A metal ability user asked curiously. The captains smile had some bitterness. "Arge number of zombies came outside the base yesterday afternoon. Heard that this morning cleared a lot, some zombies ran inside the outer wall." There was a seemingly serious situation, a few very fast zombies took the lead. The soldiers defending that gate sacrificed themselves... The peoples mood darkened, having more crystal nuclei was good, but these crystal nuclei were dyed a bloody red. No, these crystals were born from humans turned into zombies...It could be said that each nucleus represented an extinguished life. Luo Xunid in bed, his eyes stared nkly at the ceiling. The neat white ceiling had arge, minimalist round ceilingmp. This kind of light was nice and clean, not too fancy and did not have any strange color, just pure white, very suitable for the apocalypse... Since Luo Xuns resurrection, even before the end of the world preparing all of his things had never been so leisurely as today. Luo Xun was currently in a state of inconvenient mobility because there was still a faint ache in his lower back and his body was tired from the fever. For a reborn person who neverzed, to be forced in bed for a day, this feeling...why did it feel so empty? Did he develop some inclinations? Feeling weird if one was not busy from morning to night? Thinking about it, he had to nt crops in order pass his past life, he did need to go out, what did he do to pass the time? Seems...he would often sharpen small tools, clean his tools and fiddling around with materials. Luo Xun raised his head and scratched his hair. "Ah! So annoying!" It was so hard to sit up in bed but he had been ravagedst night. He had a normal constitution so slightly stretching caused his waist to protest in pain. He almost fell back onto the bed. Luo Xun slowly approached the door with a hand on his waist, the other against the wall. "Ah...hookers do not have it easy. This was my first time, I do not know how they live every day..." His mind was wondering, topare what was between him and Yan Fei and those who deal in pleasure of the flesh. What would Yan Fei think if he knew? First he went to the terrace to ensure everything was normal. Luo Xun descended the stairs step by step, Puppy had already run to the stairs with her tongue lolling. Seeing her master had not gone out today she ran around Luo Xuns legs. After some time Luo Xun had arrived at the first floor and headed towards the sofa. In fact, Luo Xun was a person who got bored lying in bed, plus his fever was gone and the pain was not bad so long as he did not touch it. After checking that the balcony crops were growing fine, Luo Xunid on the sofa to y Bubble Dragon on his mobile phone. He had electricity after the end of the world so he could use his phone for a while. Thus Luo Xun had a few game applications and stand alone games on hisptop. Today, the mobile could be used not just for a game machine, could also check maps, data and so on. The little puppy wagged her tail, seeing that her master would be home with, she excitedly jumped on the sofa and climbed Luo Xuns thigh all the way to his belly. "Gently, gently! My waist..." With a bitter face Luo Xun put the little puppy back down on the ground. Only about half a year the little one had grownrger and stronger, Luo Xun almost did not have enough strength to push her off! The unlucky Luo Xun who had been ravagedst time had this dog lying on him resolutely refusing to leave. Push off she would move back, should he temporarily ignore it? The puppys headid on her paws, which was pressed on Luo Xuns chest. She asionally let out puffing sounds, Puppys ears flicked around from time to time. Luo Xun yed the game to pass time. Not long after he faintly heard a broadcast voice from outside C the base was yelling propaganda to participate in some construction work. Carrying a megaphone directly into the area, wandered through the main roads before driving out again. Luo Xun also heard that base also needed cleaning staff in addition to the construction workers. He touched his chin and estimated that the base had collected a variety of cloth. However they also worried about the contaminants and there were not many washing machines on base. Even if there were enough washing machines, the base electricity might not be sufficient. His heart was not into it, so he died in the game. When Luo Xun finally gave up ying, he was ready to open a novel to kill time. Puppy suddenly straightened with two erect ears. "Huh? Whats wrong?" Luo Xun looked puzzled. The puppy heard Luo Xuns voice and nced at him then cocked her head as if carefully discerning something. Luo Xun also focused on the sound, the puppy was lying around suddenly stood up and jumped to the ground. "Ah...ribs...tread well..." When the puppy jumped down her paw was on his rib and she had exerted a lot of force! Chapter 58 The little puppy did not notice that her owners back had been trampled with her paw. Her tail straight, hind legs tightened and she started barking in the direction of the door. Luo Xun held his poor waist, stood up grabbing the sofa handrails. He conveniently picked up his crossbow and mace from the shoe cab near the door. Both the doors of 1604 and 1603 had been transformed, but the peephole monitoring screen was installed inside 1604, after all it was where they usually stayed. After transformation could see further ahead, just to the entrance of the big iron gate. Luo Xun saw the person behind door, he could clearly tell C the peopleing were definitely not Li Tie and the others, Zhang Yi or Yan Fei. Quietly twisted open the door and came to the new iron gate, someone raised a hand and melted the barrier that Yan Fei had made before leaving. Outside, people seemed to be studying the structure of the metal gate. Hearing the sound of metal splintering, Luo Xun gently opened the door and listened carefully through the gap. "...No, Ive seen no one on the 14 or 15 floors." "The lock is so tight, there must be something good on this floor!" "Not true?" "But I heard a few days ago that there seems to be an ability user on this floor..st time, a few people almost..." "Afraid of what? There are no people on this floor these days...Get over here and cut this iron chain off!" Yan Fei specially hung an iron chain on the gate to deliberately confuse people. Even if they returned to the door, the real one did not use the chains. Luo Xun smirked, eyes shed coldly lowered his hand, no need to use his mace. He grabbed a few crossbow arrows from his waist, slowly stalked towards the staircase along the elevator side. Because the outside angle was not very good, they did not see Luo Xun approaching. So those people were still tinkering with the iron chains, trying to cut them and search the floor. What were the good things worth protecting on this floor? *Thwang* "Ow!" The hand that was trying to tear down the iron chain was pierced by an arrow. The group of people trying to break in stared wide eyed, stunned to find a casually dressed, pale, quiet teenager slowly walking towards the iron gate holding a crossbow. His mouth had a faint sneer, his eyes filled with murderous intent towards the interlopers! Killing intent! Really murderous feeling! These people came back to themselves, had they been wrong? The four households on this floor had recently gone to work every day. Maybe there were people in the house during the afternoon, but no one in the morning?! Luo Xun saw that these frozen thieves had forgotten they had been caught red handed, raised his eyebrows and lifted the crossbow in his hands. *Thwang* The crossbow arrow went through the fence gaps and hit the front mans elbow! "If you daree again, Ill shoot your neck. Get lost!" Luo Xuns voice was t and monotone. He did not know but at this time his eyes shed with the same touch of madness as Zhang Yi. In fact, in some ways, people who have seen blood and killed with their own hands were simr. However since Luo Xun had rebirthed before the end of the world he had not tapped back into this apocalyptic spirit. He seemed no different to his peers and got along with Li Tie andpany during peacetime, but he felt nothing at puncturing the thieves wandering hands. Do not just think hands and feet, if they had been able to really break into their homes, Luo Xun would not hesitate to pierce their necks with arrows. The people screamed, stumbled and ran while forgetting to take all the tools they had brought with them. Luo Xun looked at the wire, wrench, pliers and other things scattered outside the door. His heart glimmered with excitement C reverse robbery? Right, take these back to replenish their own collection! When Zhang Yi caught thievesst time did he harvest anything? While thinking, he stooped to collect the fallen things when he felt pain from his waist. Luo Xuns face instantly turned green. "Damned Yan Fei..." He had forgotten he was still "wounded"! After a morning of working, Yan Fei was numb and exhausted. There was no big difference, other than todays higher number nucleipared to yesterday. Theye back with a lot momentum, the speed of the three metal users rose again. Faster and more efficient than the wall built yesterday, it also consumed more. However like yesterday, Yan Fei filled his coffers with some leftover nuclei C of course he took the afternoon off with leaving some spares. The captain wanted them to try and improve their level. He put the rest of the nuclei in his pocket while the other workers climbed into the car. Sat in the rear back to the barracks gate. Yan Fei took out two lunch boxes to fill C his and Luo Xuns. Although takeout needed to look at each persons identity card, but the same person could return for seconds ort get a half portion from a different window. One could use a teammates identity card to bring back food for them. This time Yan Fei took a two-person double portion, so the two lunch boxes were full. With those two filled lunch boxes, it was a little odd C it seemed more than the usual dinner te received by others? Looks like they should emte Li Tie and the others, get takeout each time instead. Then again, it was because each time they also brought back food for Zhang Yi. Thinking of his "injured" lover at home, Yan Fei put the two heavy lunch boxes into stic bags before filling his backpack. He was heading towards the canteen doors when he stopped his footsteps and raised his eyebrows. The fifth canteen was closer to the barrack gates, it seemed there were a lot of people going in and out. There were a few people standing and arguing not far from the canteen entrance. Yan Fei pulled on his mask and ced the wool hat always in his pocket on his head. After doing this Yan Fei put his hands in his pockets and walked to the gate. A middle aged man and woman with xen dyed hair were loudly arguing. Yan Fei slowed slightly as he passed the two of them, the quarrel passed into his ears. "...Let me go to an outer wall house? For what? Yan Gexin, what are you without my family? Trying to kick me out of the wall to kill me? You have no conscience!" The middle aged man frowned. " Liu Xiangyu, theres a shortage of inner wall housing. You did not want any of the rooms in the new buildings. In ordance with your request I found a house with great difficulty on the outside wall. Looking for someone to pack up..." "Just forget about it then! The outer wall is not covered well now. God knows if in a few days zombies will swarm! You want to hurt me again? Im telling, dont think youre such a big deal now, my dads old friend is one of the powerful people in the southwest region." The man took a deep breath and dampened his anger. "Then tell me, where do you want to live?" "Didnt they give a dorm room next to the barracks? Although a bit small, I am not unable to endure." The woman raised her chin and tilted her eyes towards him. "No! I have work and live in the barracks every day!" "I do not care about that, I am still your wife in the eyes of thew. Whats wrong with you letting me live in your house?" Yan Feis smiled deepened, eyes suffused with cold, the same as before...exactly the same. With both hands in his pockets, carrying arge backpack with Luo Xuns lunch, Yan Fei leisurely strolled towards the gate. Yan Gexin put a hand to his head, he had a headache from quarreling with his noisy wife, Liu Xiangyu. "Fine, I know. Ill help you find a room near the barracks, okay?" Liu Xiangyu proudly raised her head, she could never get enough of the feeling of getting what she wanted, even after the apocalypse. Living together with her nominal husband, even if not really, living in his house was enough. Otherwise she would never allow him to live in! Finished with this thing, Yan Gexin inadvertently looked up at the barrack gates, a small number of brands hung on a car to be sold. A young man carrying a big backpack was going out, the back seemed a bit familiar... Liu Xiangyu followed his line of sight to the door, also saw the young man but did not have the slightest sense of familiarity and added. "Hurry and find a good room for me. Those women crowded together as so annoying." After that, she turned and walked to the cafeteria. Yan Gexin also dropped that seemed familiar thought, huffed through his nose and with a ck face marched in another direction. -Look, these were Yan Feis parents, did know their son from a side view, did not recognize his back. Yan Fei stood in the doorway, his mouth hidden by the mask had a faint sneer. With the usual frequency of meetings, not to mention his figure, his present clothes and then put on a mask, they might be able to recognize him even if he was standing in front of them. As the car passed through downtown, the numbers of vendors on both sides increased. He parked the car in a space then climbed the stairs to 16th floor. Saw a screwdriver in the stairway and picked it up in surprise. He looked upstairs C there was no one. Went to the gate to check...Blood?! Yan Fei immediately used his ability to open the door and ran to his apartment. Opened the door and saw Luo Xun standing with some difficulty from the sofa. Yan Fei ran a few steps forward, clutching Luo Xuns arms he checked up and down. "Are you okay?!" Luo Xun froze, suddenly thought ofst night...*cough* He had some nerve to grab his hand. "Nothing..." Yan Fei was relieved. "I saw blood on the corridor door." Understanding why he was tense, Luo Xun smiled. "After you left in the morning, a few thieves showed up. I shot them with my crossbow and chased them away." Yan Fei asked what had happened that morning C his lover had hurt people, acted very ruthlessly C epiphany, Yan Fei put his backpack down to close the corridor door. He hadpletely forgotten to close the door while worrying about Luo Xun. Fixed the gate then returned home to see Luo Xun with a proud face pointing to a big bag on the floor. "Booty, have a saw, screwdriver, pliers...What they wanted to use these to break open the door and forgot them when they ran away. I used a pole to fish them in!" Luo Xun continued with someints. "Next time I am home alone you do not need to put the outside door. With me and Puppy housekeeping, there is no need to fear a thief. You do not know how tiring it was to pick up those things past the iron gate!" How could it be easy for him? Only the upper half of the iron gate was attice, the bottom was a solid piece of metal. The metalttice was also small, the wounded Luo Xun had struggled with a pole to pick up the bag but then found the item was too big! Could not get in! He could only take out the tools inside one at a time, finally ending with the bag...He had not aplished much this morning, after scaring away the thieves, he went to make a pile! Not to mention that there were a lot of things from the thieves on the staircase. Luo Xun had to use two metre long poles to lift them up! It was difficult and tiring. Yan Fei smiled with upturned eyes, Luo Xun involuntarily stared straight at the sight, attracted but forgot to continueining. Yan Fei embraced Luo Xun and put his chin on the others head. "Okay, next time you rest, I will leave the outside door as normal. You can conveniently y with thieves and loot things." He did not add that the next time Luo Xun was at home...who said he would be alone? When would the Luo Xun without an ability go outside without him? Well, this sort of thing should not ur. Unaware that his words could have been misunderstood with unhealthy meanings, Yan Fei moved Luo Xun to the sofa to be given a gentle waist massage. Luo Xun took out the bag in which Yan Fei brought back lunch and looked with surprise. "So full? Two portions?" Yan Fei smiled while rubbing Luo Xuns waist. "I also thought that when people were given more for takeout. I heard today that with our card we can go to third, fourth and fifth, these three canteens. One day we will go to the other two dining areas to eat, should be better than the fifth canteen." The captain pointed out the fifth canteen because that was the closest one. Luo Xun and Yan Feis card could go up to the third canteen to take food, the same as Li Tie andpany. The more highly skilled, better paid staff could eat in any canteen below second. The first cafeteria was only open to the top. This was a secret and only known by a few people, the majority of unclear of higher ces to eat with identity cards. This was for the canteen to save costs using silence and ignorance. "Good, I should be able to tomorrow to help finish the wall!" Luo Xun was looking forward to this very much, after he did not mind walking further in order to eat better. "Can also use our own lunch box for takeout!" "Okay." Yan Fei whispered next to Luo Xuns ear. The low voice and warm breath reminded Luo Xun ofst night... Although he felt a tad embarrassed today, he had to admit that Yan Fei had been very thoughtful and gentlest night. Their first time had been more beautiful than Luo Xun had imagined... Luo Xun slightly raised his head and pecked Yan Feis chin, blushed then turned to his meal again. The meal was still warm, Yan Fei must have rushed home, also had the blessing of travelling by car. Otherwise on such a cold day, the food would have be cool. Luo Xun guessed Yan Fei woulde home to boil some millet porridge, not as good as rice but today he...*cough* inmed chrysanthemum, he could only eat less food, drink some porridge and recuperate. Luo Xun had rested for an entire day, fortunately nothing at home required his attention other than the gang of thieves that morning pulled his waist. Going to wash in the evening could have some issues but the next morning he felt almost fully recovered. The first day Yan Fei had brought back arge amount of food, the two of them did not need to cook that night. They ate their fill from the hot meal from noon. Early in the morning, Luo Xun said his waist had no big problems while standing by the bed. Although there was some tenderness, there would not be any awkward problems outside. Yan Fei could not convince Luo Xun, since there really was no problem with his body, he had to agree for both of them going to the wall together. Luckily, Luo Xuns performance yesterday morning showed that even if his chrysanthemum was sore, he still had the ability to shoot a crossbow arrow through a knee! Plus there was no great danger in going out of town. Outside the door, Luo Xun found Zhang Yi staring at him with floating peach blossom eyes. Luo Xuns face instantly went from white to red, from red to green. This guy might the one who caused him and Yan Fei to break the final deadlock together but it was really hard to thank him due to his methods! Luo Xuns mouth twitched twice then he walked around towards Li Tie and the others. Did not expect Li Tie andpany to have cautious faces. Wanted to talk but also afraid to speak too loud, an expression like they go flying if they were careless. It was just a fever? Why were they reacting so much? Han Li asked carefully first. "Luo Xun, still feverish?" Luo Xun shook his head and smiled at them. "Gone yesterday." He hade outst night when Li Tie and others came back. So they did not know his situation had improved. The five people were relieved. Wang Duo with a tangled face swept a nce at Luo Xuns lower body, he coughed and whispered. "Does it...hurt?" Luo Xun froze, only to notice the guys eyes had...cast a look at his lower body? At that moment Luo Xuns hairs rose C Yan Fei would not idly say this kind of thing. There was only one person who would have gossiped about his chrysanthemum! He turned and looked back at Zhang Yi who was smiling andughing like a flower. Luo Xun suppressed a red face, took a few steps and grabbed his cor. The fear towards the demon had been thrown into the Milky way. "What did you tell them?!" Zhang Yi paid little attention to his grabbed cor and smiled with half lidded peach blossom eyes. He patted and hugged Luo Xuns shoulder. "Do be shy little one, I am very experienced. Eat lightly these next few days, after a week youre clear to live a normal husband life." So it had been him who gossiped!? Luo Xun brought up a fist. Li Tie and the others were frightened and hurriedly pulled and advised against that. Hopefully they would get through to Luo Xun. "Luo Xun, dont be angry. Zhang Yi did for your benefit!" "Luo Xun, he spoke a bit acerbically but we all support you and Yan Fei!" "Yes, you are perfect for each other. We are also happy for you!" "But now we cant buy celebratory sweets..." "Right, should we wait two days to give Luo Xun a wedding?" "Yes, yes! Lets go back and see if there are delicious things left, I remember Luo Xuns stewed meat fromst time." ......... Five people soon advised Luo Xun to not find trouble for Zhang Yi. Yan Fei had a ck face after locking the door and rescued Luo Xun from the siege. Luo Xun pointed at Zhang Yi, his hand slightly trembled. "You, what did you tell them?!" How did five straight men so quickly ept him and Yan Fei...Ah, not right! This guy must have shown his rtionship in the wrong light! Zhang Yi waved his hands. "I just told them that in numerous same-sex rtionships, that for love they were abandoned by family and misunderstood by friends. A story of social exclusion." Once done speaking, Li Tie and the others nodded and loudly expressed their solidarity. "Right Luo Xun! The world outside has be like this, the original social order no longer exists. You can freely be together and we support you!" Wu Xin held Luo Xuns hand with red eyes. "Luo Xun, we did not sleepst night and discussed the love between two men and the love between a man and a woman C how true friends would give their blessings either way! Dont worry! Even if the whole of society bes your enemy, we will still support you!" In the end, what exactly did Zhang Yi say to them? Chapter 59 Luo Xun was not happy at this moment, being gossiped about by others. He really wanted to find a rope to hang Zhang Yi in the corridor, let him reflect for a day! He needed to go to work? The base could dy for another day! Yan Fei took Luo Xuns hand, nced at Zhang Yi and went downstairs. Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow with an increasingly bright smile. He knew Yan Fei would not take action against him, after all they were neighbors. Luo Xun and Yan Feis rtionship would have been exposed sooner orter. Rather than waiting to be found out, which might cause resentment in the five honest kids. Instead they were guided in an alternate direction. The methods were suspect but the result was good. Luo Xun only felt alive again when the group of people drove to the barracks. Seeing Li Tie andpany behind him, Luo Xun suddenly experienced a deep sense of lifes vicissitudes. Yan Fei locked the car and patted Luo Xuns shoulder C thetters body had not fully recovered. Thus, today Yan Fei had driven the car. Seeing Yan Fei carefully looking at him, Luo Xun slightly shook his head. He was not afraid of being known to prefer men C was there anything wrong with it? People couldugh at him now but wait two years, how often would they see women around the base? It would toote to wait until there were only men around! He was a little ufortable because of the sudden attitude change after getting along with Li Tie and the others, plus Zhang Yi could stir up trouble at home... "Lets go, get in the car and rest." Seeing Luo Xun had recovered his spirit, Yan Fei smiled and gestured towards the barracks door. "Why are there so many people?" Luo Xun was surprised to see quite a few people, vehicles blocked the entrance and people did not know what to do. "It seems like the families rescued by the base are moving today." Yan Fei nced around and pulled the edge of his hat down. He was still wearing a mask and thus not afraid to meet people. The two men sessfully found the truck they had to ride every day. The driver greeted them before getting on the bus. It was not long before the captain joined with his team. After they got on the bus a few familiar soldiers smiled at seeing Luo Xun today. "Youre better today?" Luo Xun smiled and nodded. "Yesterday I had a bit of a cold. Much better after resting for a day." "For the moment dont push yourself. Dont be stubborn in the face of danger." The captain also advised him. After all, the situation was not too dangerous and a healthy body would be more useful in the future. There was no need for Luo Xun to exert himself while not a full health. Luo Xun nodded, he knew there was plenty of manpower. No surprises meant he did not have to rush ahead. He just had to keep near Yan Fei as usual and make sure no zombies rushed the crowd. Inside the base gate, the crowd and number of tents had slightly lessened than before. It was estimated they scattered to other ces, perhaps some people had moved to the newly cleaned out buildings. A few cars were parked in the area they were responsible for. They started their daily work routine, Yan Fei was in the middle of resting when the captain seeing the situation was okay, suddenly remembered some prior news. He walked over to Yan Fei and asked. "Ah, I heard yesterday a base leader surnamed Yan was looking for his son. Was about your age or something? Are you from the city?" Although the base had recorded demographics, but those were all filled by hand. It was not easy to find a person in a vast sea of people from only a surname and the other parties did not take the initiative to dere their identities. The base informationwork had only just been set up and people involved hurriedly filled lists. Many once gorgeous notes turned into illegible words that who knew what had been written? It was possible that there were mistakes, but who could confirm what was correct? The flow of people in the southwest base was veryrge, people wereing and going. Some of the original people were registered butter on they might have died outside of base, who could confirm their information? Even if the base survivors were clearly divided into homes, some people would take advantage of others and force them out. The mess became clear of the people involved with the upied ce lost their identity cards. In general, the base was still managing the mess, which was one of the main reasons that Li Tie and the others were busy working overtime. It was not easy for Yan Feis parents to find him. What was more, they were not looking for someone C in their minds, if their son was alive and arrived at the southwest base, he would first thing ask the authorities for help, say the parents family and get the best deal, just like them. Unfortunately they did not understand their sons personality at all. Even if there was no Luo Xun, Yan Fei could protect himself and find a way to stay in the base. He would not seek help from the military, he had finally escaped his numb life before the apocalypse and would rather pit himself against the zombies outside. Yan Fei wanted to make a life with his own two hands instead of continuing his previous stagnant, lifeless days. Yan Fei faintly smiled and responded with a slightly regretful tone. "Luo Xun and I are from F-city. Came to A-city a few years ago for work. If I had rtives who were part of the upper ranks..." He shrugged. "I would have went to find them earlier." The captain and some of the soldiersughed. Right? If there was a connection, there would be a way to find military help, just like the new people hovering around the barracks. The captain patted Yan Feis shoulder whileughing. "The superior called when he heard the name of an ability user that I worked with." The captain, while thinking some more, felt like Yan Fei was not the person he was looking for. After all, Yan Fei was a bit arrogant but he did not seem like a young master from a rich family. If he really had a connected father, he would find work in the base and not go out to repair the wall? After saying this, the captain went to do something else. Luo Xun did believe what Yan Fei had said before had been true and looked at him with confusion and worry. Yan Fei smiled and patted Luo Xuns hair. "Ill tell you back home." Luo Xun nodded, knowing it was inconvenient to dwell on this now and he believed that Yan Fei would not lie to him. Everyone was already familiar with the process of building a wall with crystal nucleus usage, the morning period was used extremely efficiently. Back at the barracks the two brought out their lunch boxes and checked out the third canteen. Along the way they met a lot of people but no one listened deliberately to what others were saying. At this time, Yan Fei mentioned his home situation. When the two people had first met, both Yan Fei and Luo Xun had circumstances to conceal. But now the two people were really together. Yan Fei decided that for this to continue there are words that must be said and understood. Of course, if his wonderful parents had note here, perhaps he might not have talked about his former life, just as he knew Luo Xun also concealed his past. Exined a few sentences about his family, his attitude resembled when he spoke to Zhang Yi about his mother. Yan Fei had a chilly smile. "That day we saw their cars with the military camp, I knew they were fine, so I did not mention them." Luo Xun quietly walked with a lowered head. After a while Yan Fei was worried that Luo Xun felt disatisfaction at the cold attitude towards his parents. Luo Xun suddenly looked up. "You dont want to meet them." Yan Fei paused, then slowly nodded. Luo Xun suddenlyughed. "You decide, I have no opinion. If you do not want to see, I will help keep you concealed along with Li Tie and the others." Luo Xun was not like those people before the end of the world who thought that blood was thicker than anything else. He had experienced things, when ones life was endangered, blood might betray each other. Perhaps it was only people who survived the apocalypse who had such a dark mindset and the real good guys were dying in the face of danger. It was impossible for those to get up anyway. Perhaps in the early end days, there was a kind of family, sacrifice themselves for love, fighting for others survival but when they make this decision, their life was basically forfeit. In hisst life, how many sons and daughters had Luo Xun seenunched by the mother to block against zombies, a betrayal from loved ones? Was Zhang Yi not deliberately hurt and abandoned by his previouspanions as bait? Yan Feis decision or behaviour did not harm anyone but he was clear from the beginning. If his parents did not be zombies, they would be able to quickly find power to protect themselves. Decided not to be with them until sure they were safe, alive and well. Yan Fei also understood his parents, with Zhang Yi before, with the captains attitude, Luo Xun knew that Yan Feis parents did not exert every effort to find their son. Howmon was the surname Yan? How many people could have thisst name on base? If they had asked, they would soon know that there was a man in the army with that name. How difficult would it be to take chance and take a look to see if he was their son? Yan Feis smile gradually warmed, pulled Luo Xuns hand so the two walked forward together. He did not need any rtives, what affection from family, having Luo Xun alone was enough. The two people walked together into the third canteen, which had more people than the fifth. They circled around the windows and found there was indeed a lot of food. Yan Fei and Luo Xun whispered to each other. Luo Xun: "Have not eaten noodles for a long time. The noodles here seem pretty good, grab a portion?" Yan Fei: "Okay, you get noodles. Ill get a pot of dumplings for a change of taste. There are no seats in the canteen, well go home and eat after ordering." Luo Xun looked around, found that there were almost no vacant seats and nodded in embarrassment. "Will the noodles end up softened?" "Tell to have a shorter cook time. Their noodles seem harder, should be no problem if we stir evenly back at home." "Okay, lets split!" Luo Xun hugged a big lunch box and rushed to the noodle window while Yan Fei turned to the dumpling selling window. No doubt, the third canteen food was good and the portions were big! Seeing two peoplee with their own lunch box, the chef raised a spoon and stuffed rice, the two boxes could almost not cover the lid. Recently all military soldiers were desperately building, orders were to let everyone eat their full and well. So although the food quality varied across canteen, all had big enough portion sizes to avoid peopleing back for seconds. They packed their lunch boxes in front of the windowsills. Once ready, the lunch box was covered in a stic bag before going into the backpack. Luo Xun wanted to carry the weight on his own but Yan Fei took the load with a smile. His lovers body was not fully healed, how tired would he be? The corners of Luo Xuns mouth lifted involuntarily, they walked out hand in hand. Just as the two exited, several people came from the opposite side. The first seeing the two had his eyes brighten. "Yan Fei, Luo Xun!" Unexpectedly it was Li Tie and his friends. "Are you done?" Luo Xun smiled and greeted the group. Suddenly saw a jeep near the third canteen, a woman looked up towards their direction, her facial features...Why did they seem familiar? Thinking, Luo Xun drifted to Yan Fei C sure enough, that woman had simr features to Yan Fei! His heart made the connection after the two had just spoken about Yan Feis parents. Luo Xun guessed that the woman would be Yan Feis mother! His mind had a thought. She looked over when she heard Li Tie and the others saying "Yan", his heart could not help but be disturbed. Yan Fei did not his parents to find him, but if they recognized him it would be bad for him. What if they found out that Luo Xun has a rtionship with their son? Luo Xuns mind shed to those evil mother-inw plots from pre-apocalypse dramas. He, Li Tie andpany greeted each other. The woman by the jeep only saw two people talking and looked away. She felt slightly relieved C perhaps she had guessed wrong? "Then you go back to eat. We are here to order some good food and eat back at the workce." Han Li smiled warmly. Luo Xun and Yan Fei nodded in farewell and saw He Qiankun with shiny eyes rush towards the rice basin. "There seems to be ribs today! Im going to eat that!" Holding hands Luo Xun pulled Yan Fei down the steps. Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief as that woman did not look again. He whispered once they walked past. "I thought that woman was your mother." Yan Fei chuckled. "The one beside the jeep with brown hair?" "Yes, you saw?" "Yeah, thats my mother." "....Ha?!" Luo Xun jumped with wide eyes. Yan Fei raised his arm to hug Luo Xuns shoulder. "Rest assured, even if I walk up to her, she would not recognize me." "...Because youre wearing a mask?" Luo Xun frowned, were his mothers eyes bad? Yan Fei chuckled again. "She and I only meet once a year. One year we did not see each other because she went to France for spring festival shopping. Dont forget, I just had my hair cut." Luo Xun tilted his head and looked at Yan Feis head C it was not so cold today so Yan Fei was not wearing a woolen cap at the moment. His hairstyle was a bit shorter than earlier but...there was no big difference? Yan Fei patted him on the shoulder, continued on. "Hurry home, careful so the noodles dont get bloated." He was currently wearing arge down jacket (which fit perfectly) that Luo Xun had specially bought before the end of the world. Hairstyle was something done by Luo Xun. Yan Fei was wearing a white mask which he had never worn in the past. If she could recognize him, it would be strange. "Lets go home then!" No need to worry about this, the son neither recognized nor acknowledged the mother. Yan Feis heart rxed as he hugged Luo Xun. His footsteps were exceptionally brisk. The two people drove home, climbed to the 16th floor. Upon opening the lunch box the fried dumplings were soft and the noodles were okay. Luo Xun used some chopsticks to taste, still okay, not too soft. The two of them split the noodles after stirring, if they returned home quickly the noodles could maintain their vor. Not to mention there was soup inside the dumplings and certain parts other than the bottom were still crisp. The pair ate a lot, the priority was to finish the noodles, some dumplings were eaten but the rest were left in the kitchen for the evening. They would eat those together with some boiled porridge. Had to say, the third and fourth canteens were indeed stronger than the fifth. The couple had discovered a declining pattern in the dining halls. The third was great, the fourth was decent, as for the fifth canteen? They had beenpletely thrown to the clouds. The days were unceasingly busy, Luo Xun finally felt that the ce was finally somewhatfortable. The base perimeter wall wouldpleted in good time, only strengthening and thickening was left. The seven storey small building next door to Wang Jing along with several newly built buildings in the inner city were sessfully finished. The poor were finally assigned living space, the one year mark was around the corner. Luo Xun stood in the 1603 living room with both hands on his hips. "Very good, the wall is thoroughly dry. We can brush again during these two days of holiday!" The outer wall work had temporarily ended, the base gave the two of them two/three days holiday, could go home for Chinese New Year. Afterwards would continue to the outer wall and thickening/heightening the metal walls. They knew that on one hand the work was done, on the other hand C there was enough metal on the base. The military would take the opportunity to send out some staff during these few days to collect all sorts of metal items to bring back to strengthen the wall. Compared to earth ability users, whose material was easier to find. Even if there was no concrete, they could use sand or soil to cover a wall instead. Anyway these days were carefree, so Luo Xun and Yan Fei decided to continue scraping putty using this rare chance. Yan Fei had no opinion, the two had been afraid for a while that someone would kick them out but that no longer seemed like an issue. What was wrong with making their circumstances morefortable? It was the 29th, Luo Xun and Yan Fei had their holiday starting today, the five students and Zhang Yi did not have the fortune to rest at home. Li Tie and their home had been renovated, the past few days they had been busy with a variety of software and hardware. No way around it, because the apocalypse came so suddenly the military had not prepared many things. Many statistics and information processing software had to be rewritten. Some experts had arrived on base recently, fortunately the group of students were honest and kind people, with good temperament. Although they had no practical experience in this aspect, they had cooperated with the military people for a long time, who were naturally willing to keep them busy. These days, the number of professionals could be counted on ones fingers. They also got two days off for Chinese New Year, but it started tomorrow so today they still had to continue work in the barracks. As for Zhang Yi...as having one of the most important jobs during the apocalypse, one of the doctors, getting rest time during this holiday was thanks to the military leaders. The couple cheerfully took a day to scrape the walls of 1603 C no way, that was a coincidence. After looking at the situation Luo Xun was ready to wait for this to dry. If the wall ended up having no problems, he decided to skip the thirdyer and save the remaining putty for future wall problems. So long as the walls dried with sometex point they could pave the floor and create arge greenhouse! The two people worked all day, returned to have a hot bath. The sound of metal was heard as they exited the bathroom. Li Tie andpany dragged their tired bodies up to the 16th floor. Seeing the twoe out, they waved at them. Wang Duo cried bitter tears. "Finally dont have to go to work tomorrow, aiaiaiai...." "Im sleeping until 12! No can stop m e!" He Qiankun waved two fists. Wu Xin and Han Li repeatedly nodded in support. Luo Xun smiled at the group of five. "We found the walls were dry today so we scraped the wall again." Li Tie andpany instantly turned mute, then with eyes of despair held their heads and wailed, "Forgot we had to also paint the wall! Oh my God! This holiday will not let people live?!" An unknown voice came from the 15th floor. "Whats going on?! Whos yelling? Not letting anyone sleep!" The five people hurried past the big iron gate. Chapter 60 After Li Tie and the others walked in Yan Fei looked around and asked. "You did not meet Zhang Yi on the road?" The five people hade back at night, simr to Zhang Yi. They would asionally meet on the way back but today seemed to have not crossed paths. "I heard there was another wave of soldiersing back from outside and many were injured, maybe he had to work overtime." Wang Duo raised his hand and unted his gossip knowledge. "I will not seal, wait until hees back." Yan Fei did not so for safety but also to consume less energy before bedtime. Each night before going to sleep, Yan Fei would make sure everyone was inside before using his abilities topletely seal the door to death. With stiff and sour fingers and wrist from work, Zhang Yis face was slightly ck. His luck was really not good, tomorrow was the start of his vacation but he met so many wounded at the end of today. All the sewing during operations had almost broken his wrist. His physical and mental strength had grown after developing an ability but even he was unable to support so many days of intensive surgery. There had been more than one surgeon at the hospital who had overworked themselves to illness. He was the only one who had no time to leave. Of course, it had nothing to do with his reluctance to stay alone in an empty room. That kind of repressed, oppressed feeling, unable to move around...he would rather die on the operating table. Slowly headed towards the neighborhood, there were a lot of cars parked on both sides of the street. Was it because the wall outside the base had been established? But the people in the inner base, even if they had no ce to live, were unwilling to live in areas empty houses. Hearing "outside" area, what was "outside"? It meant it was not safe, at least not as safe as inside the base. Just like patriotic feelings from people before the apocalypse. Those who live in a country have more face than those who cameter. Those who live in the provincial capital have more face than those who live in the countryside. People in big cities have more face than people in small cities and people in municipalities have more face than those in big cities... This inexplicable vanity also followed people into the end of the world. Being able to enter the base was a sense of pride, being shown up by outsiders was like a p to the face, a feeling of humiliation. Of course, the so-called security problem was also a reason to choose certain homes. It was already midnight but there were plenty of people on the street. Some people lived directly in makeshift shacks while others rushed back to their homes like Zhang Yi was. Some people, no idea where they found some wine, were drunk and crying on the street, venting fears and stress. Zhang Yi slowly moved forward just as a group of happy people turned into the junction. One of themughed. "Boss Wang found a way, unexpectedly got everyone into the inner city!" "Oh, this was nothing." Boss Wang humbly bragged. A shorter man next to Boss Wangughed. "You see what kind of person Boss Wang is? Look around! The inner city is so crowded, getting a ce counts as a lot!" The crowdughed and sounded words of praise. Boss Wang tried to be modest but could not conceal the pride on his face. Although they none of them had powers, they hade to the southwest base and into the inner city by virtue of their experience in the outside world. This group that came to the southwest base under their own power could certainly be used as a team, pull up a strong troop! The heart was in a proud ce, he bowed his head and then chewed out another of the men. From within the crowd, Zhang Yi stood still, the words were clearly heard in his ears. When those people passed him, a stunning smile bloomed on an enchanting face hidden in the shadows. How did hee across these people? He had listened and looked but all it took was a few touted words to giddy up. Zhang Yi slowly turned around, with light and silent footsteps, a faint wind drifted to his side. His hair was slightly longer since he had never cut it. Because he could manipte the wind, he would not get cold even if he did not wear a hat at night. At this time, Zhang Yis hair was blowing in the wind, but his steps did not make a sound. He was like a spirit of the night. Step by step, forming a peculiar rhythm. The group turned into an intersection, ready to enter the newly repaired neighborhood nearby. It was very quiet, no private building, illegal construction or vehicles. One person subconsciously looked back since he had seemed to have seen another person around. "Hey?" The mans figure...Why did it seem familiar? "Whats up?" The people around him turned back, the others stopped as well. "Zhang, Zhang Yi?! He was not dead?!" "How could he have not died? He clearly..." How could he have not died when he was so deeply wounded and surrounded by so many zombies?! Zhang Yi was very conspicuous not hiding at all, his mouth curved into a heart stopping smile. The wind blew causing his hair to wantonly drift. No one thought the wind around him was strange, they were surprised that this horror was somehow back from the dead. Everyone had begun to fear him before they had gotten rid of Zhang Yi C a man with such a voluptuous appearance, who should be clinging to the strong like a delicate silk flower could use only a scalpel and kill zombies without fear. Even with other forces, he would not hesitate to cut the others aorta or trachea, there was not the slightest glint of mercy. Even scarier, this beautiful manughed every time he killed...unbridledughter with a face of blood in a tragic scene! Such a terrible person, even before the apocalypse their boss had wanted to get rid of him because of some emotional trauma, naturally he should be the first eliminated. However Zhang Yi was cautious and never gave anyone the chance to set him up, until Boss Wang himself cut his arms and threw him into the group of zombies... The smile of Zhang Yis face grew, seeing this group tremble in disbelief at his appearance, anger, remorse and killing intent surged through his heart. Though he was mostly angry, his smile sharpened. "...We have more people, we must not let him run this time!" Seeing that no one was around, Boss Wang was decisive C he was the one who had killed Zhang Yi. Although he did not know who he escaped and was not dead, Zhang Yi was only one person. He must cut the Gordian knot and kill him tonight! Since Zhang Yi dared toe alone, he must bear the consequences of appearing before them again! Before they could act, a gust of wind surrounded Zhang Yi in a range of 10 meters. Boss Wang and the others shrouded in the wind, were horrified to find Zhang Yi was in the eye of the storm. "Wind, wind..." "Ability?! Hes an ability user?!" Before they recovered from the shock, Zhang Yi had raised his hands and opened his arms. Faintughter mingled in the fluttering wind. "Death, death for all..." The wind condensed into a iparably sharp wind de. With a roll, it murderously pounced on the opposite group, screams rang out. The nearby residents were awakened by the screams and scrambled to the window to see hurricane like wind blocking the entrance! Screams wereing from inside! Could clearly hear the sound, but no one could see the situation in the storm! After about 10 minutes the cries in the wind gradually stopped, then the storm suddenly disappeared. "Ha...ha..." A few voices rang out. Seeing the state of the ground people stared wide eyed in panic. Some involuntarily covered their mouths C red, red! All bright red! The entrance of themunity lied several unclear person like objects covered in blood red. The ground, the wall, the stairs, the sidewalk were all thoroughly stained by the crimson liquid! Only one person was still standing, but it was too dark. There was no moon in the sky, no street lights so no one could see that persons appearance. Could not even see the style of the persons clothes. They could only see the person standing still for a while before sneering and slowly walking down the street in the other direction. No one dared to go out and stop the man. No one dared go out and see the horrible carnage. All who saw the scene, the bloody bodies, were shivering in their homes. Afraid to make a sound in the atmosphere of fear. *Knock*Knock* There were sounds at the iron gate. Luo Xun opened his door at the same time as Wang Duo rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Is Zhang Yi back? Was there an injured group today? I heard that a rescued group was wounded and that you must have extra..." Wang Duo had not finished when his cor suddenly tightened. Zhang Yi, without waiting for his reaction dragged him into room 1602. After a moment of silence, the door of 1602 was closed tightly. "...He...Zhang Yi grabbed Wang Duo to do what?" Han Li rubbed his eyes as he witnessed his friend dragged into Zhang Yis apartment. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had nk faces. "Could it be he had something he wanted to ask Wang Duo?" It was known that Wang Duo loved to gossip and collect information. Li Tie yawned. "I reckon hell be back in a moment. Lets go back to bed" He still wanted to have a good nights sleep. Yan Fei went past to thoroughly seal the iron gate. Suddenly heard faint voicesing from 1602. "Zhang, Zhang Yi dont..." "Pants, no..." "Zhang Yi! I am still a virgin..." "AhC" "No, no..." All the people were stunned and shocked standing near 1602 door. Listened to Wang Duo call out but then there was no movement... "That...we...do we go in and save him?" He Qiankun carefully pointed at the door. The crowd looked at each other withplicated expressions. "That...well, Zhang Yi has an ability..." Han Li cautioned C even if they wanted to save him they could not face off against Zhang Yi the power user! Li Tie eyed the nearby Yan Fei, who turned the door as if seeing nothing. Wu Xin suddenly coughed twice with a depressed sound. "Remember that night? It was Luo Xun and Yan Fei...*cough* that night those two were nosebleed worthy? I live with him, he dreamed about it in the morning...I woke up to hear him saying Zhang Yis name!" He was sold out by his roommate without hesitation. Someone nodded and said. "So it was a case of one offers the other epts. Then we should go and leave them be." Yan Fei locked the door, turned to his home and left some words. "Be careful being caught and eaten by zombies if you hinder lovers rolling in the sheets." Luo Xun with a slightly sluggish face, went straight back home and closed the door. "Leave, leave..." "Looks like well have to congratte someone tomorrow.~" "Yes, right. During his three university years, he took the initiative to contact so many young women but never managed to bring one back. Did not think that after the apocalypse he woulde across a peach blossom!" "s, its a pity. Zhang Yi is so handsome, how was it that Wang Duo was snatched?" He was obviously the most nosy and wretched of us... Luo Xun wondered aloud on the second floor. "He is not usually like this? Why did he suddenly grab Wang Duo today?" Yan Fei did not pay attention to what was happening next door. Zhang Yi had a very strong smell of blood but since he was not nning on killing Wang Duo, he did not have to worry about next door. He went directly to the cupboard to grab something. "Could be stimted." Which is why he found a person to vent? From what Yan Fei observed from the situation, he seriously suspected that Zhang Yi was not clear on who he pulled. Guessed that whoever was standing at the door, even He Qiankun would have been directly dragged back into the room. Luo Xun made an "Oh" sound in suddenprehension. It was also because the base was too calm so he could not ignore the pressure in his heart. The end of the world was good for business rted to pleasures of the flesh. Were not peoples lives too stressful and they needed a way to vent? Whether it was going outside with a team, the base desperately struggling to make rations for the people, everyone had little hope for the future. Live day by day and have a good time, otherwise work hard to save those points and crystal cores in order to hang out tomorrow? If these things were by divided by people, even if death was inevitable, people would be dying everywhere? There was something wrong with Zhang Yi, perhaps it was too much stress during his work day. Or maybe something happened outside, did he get attacked? There could be many reasons, but Luo Xun had not way of getting to the bottom of this. "Well? What are looking for?" Luo Xun asked as Yan Fei was taking out small bottles from the cupboard. "Tools." Yan Fei ambled over and pulled Luo Xun all the way onto the bed. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun was confused seeing Yan Feis leisurely smiling. His heart pounded and his eyes drifted towards the bottle on the bedside table C olive oil! It was the oil that was used that night! Luo Xuns mouth twitched twice, Yan Fei had been considerate and did not mention that Luo Xuns waist had been slightly hurt. If it took two days for him to recover, would tomorrow not be spent resting again... Feeling the gentle kiss on his lips, Luo Xuns heart stumbled upon a thought C he had bottomedst time, should Yan Fei not bottom this time? But the aftermath of a first time was not light, the two had things to do tomorrow. Should I let him again? Part of Luo Xuns heart refused to admit when he was underst time it had felt good. Luo Xunnguidly closed his eyes, circled his arms around Yan Feis neck and took the initiative to strip his clothes. Was this not normal life with a husband? There was nothing to be ashamed of! There would be many days like this! It was not toote to eat again. The holiday started leisurely, Li Tie and his friends slept until 10 oclock before crawling out of bed. They washed in a daze, and wondered while still muddle headed. "Hey? Wheres Wang Duo?" Wu Xin froze for a while then pointed to the outside door. "Was he not dragged away next door by Zhang Yi?" The room was silent, the people remembered after a second then their hearts roared C was it because he was the most handsome amongst them? What was the big deal?! Why was he the first to experience that! Ignoring the matter of gender, the room of guys were very jealous and envious of Wang Duo. Not to mention, Zhang Yi had a bewitching appearance more beautiful than many women! He Qiankun whispered a question. "You guys, Luo Xun and Yan Fei...*cough*, who tops?" Li Tie nced strangely at him. "Luo Xun was the bottom? He could not get out of bed that day." "But....Yan Feis appearance...its on par with Zhang Yi." "Wait a minute, the cryst night...was Wang Duo the bottom?" Several people looked at each other, the original sour jealousy turned into schadenfreude C did all beautiful people have a very aggressive side? Then again, being with a big beauty was very envious but if one was pressed down by that kind of beauty...ha ha ha...could not stopughing at all. Zhang Yi was not like Yan Fei. In peacetime, Yan Fei had let people think that he would not be pressured to bottom. While Zhang Yi, this delicate, bewitching beauty, if this kind of person topped...haha haha...One would justugh. Zhang Yis brow wrinkled, the room smelled strange so he unconsciously pulled the quilt over his head. Using his sensitive hearing, there seemed to be someone in the living room! He fiercely stood up and with no intent to cover up, he rushed past the bedroom door. A familiar man, his back to Zhang Yi, was brushing his living room walls with paint. Seeing that it was not a thief. Zhang Yi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" Wang Duo was startled, dumpedtex paint on his face since the roller brush was not steady. He turned around to see the naked Zhang Yi leaning against the door frame. Wang Duos face instantly flushed as he looked away. "That...that...help you...paint the wall...the walls are dry..." "How did you get in?" Zhang Yi felt his head pounding and rubbed his forehead. Wang Duos face was shocked and eyes looked at him with hurt. When Zhang Yi thought for a bit, he remembered that his spirit had been extremely unstable after returningst night. Indeed had pulled a person to spend the night...so it was him? Wang Duo tightly grasped the roller brush and whispered. "That..st night...Zhang Yi, you dont remember...?" Even though he had been on top, it was a little hard for him to ept that he barely handledst nights burning enthusiasm. Zhang Yi had a headache and rubbed his temple again. He took a deep breath. "Remembered, why are you brushing my wall this early in the morning?" "We had to paint out walls for two days...there were four more people over there. I thought toe and help you..." Wang Duos voice got smaller and smaller. His heart felt increasingly disturbed seeing the usually smiling man coldly looking at him with no waves. Zhang Yi looked at him for a while before turning to his bedroom. "Do not brush, you go back. Ill brush it myselfter." Once done, he shut the bedroom door. *Flop* the brushnded on the ground. Wang Duo stared at the closed door, his heart sour and stinging. He had a lot of girlfriends while he was in university, but never had a long rtionship. To tell the truth, he hardly knew how to lead the womens little hands. His appearance was also considered good, so he would often get contacted by so called female friends. Out of vanity and other reasons he would naturally not refuse and felt that these girls were really good. But because he was chatty, like gossip, loved to take unfair advantage and so on...those girls found that his personality differed too much from his appearance. Would quickly break up once they understood his nature... This had been clear to him, but because at that time he did not want to y hardball with his heart, breaking up was not a big matter. But this time it was different. It was really different... Chapter 61 Wang Duo and Zhang Yi had not been acquainted for a long time, not too many exchanges but he was really attracted to the mans appearance. Before he did not know why even though he was very good looking, Wang Duo did not feel any envy. Every day that he saw Zhang Yi, he wanted to see more times and say a few words. Until that night, when he leaned against the gate and with a smiling face provoked Yan Fei and Luo Xun. That boneless appearance andughing face had unexpectedly caused his heart to pound. At night, Zhang Yi upied all his thoughts. Even during the start of puberty, Wang Duo had never been so moved by a woman. Perhaps Zhang Yi was too tempting and he was confounded by his appearance, butst night...although he had been startled and his mental state had some bad...he had been sincere... But now...staring nkly at the bedroom door C he let him go. "Ouch? Back?" "Hey? You look okay? Is your waist okay? Everything okay back there? Still walking?" "Dont be embarrassed, how did you feelst night? Are you moving in with Zhang Yi?" "What are doing with a paint bucket?" "Wang Duo, Wang Duo?" Li Tie and the others joked with Wang Duo but it was if he had not heard a thing. He took the paint bucket and a roll brush and started on the wall in a kind of trance, with a crazy and frightening appearance. "Wang, Wang...Duo?" Han Li pulled his shoulder but his good roommate who had a thick spirit and skin, his eyes were unexpectedly red! "...Whats wrong?" Wu Xin whispered. "...He told me to leave..." Wang Duo hung his head and numbly continued brushing the next wall with tears streaming down his cheeks. He was deeply in love but just found himself liking a man. Then he spent a night with the man he like and then C was dumped. The funny things was that the person he liked seemed to have forgotten aboutst nights activities. If there had been another man standing at the doorst night, would he have been dragged instead? Would something simr happen today as well? It was only at noon that Luo Xun realized the 16th floor atmosphere was strange. Li Tie and the others had dark faces with unpleasant moods. Wang Duo did not say a word with a lowered head. Zhang Yis home door had been closed, not like usual when all the doors were half open. Rubbing his sort waist, Luo Xun nced at Yan Fei and slightly guessed at the current situation. Zhang Yis mental state had been problematic but he pulled Wang Duo who was not the kind of person to casually bed another. Perhaps it would have been better it was someone else, it had at most a one night stand. However these five students characters were not bad C they would not do this sort of thing, even if the other party was a man. Luo Xun exined that Yan Fei could wait at home for the paint to dry while he went to install floorboards. Did not ask Wang Duo what had happened, the two simply exited 1601. Luo Xun walked out then stood still while quietly looking at the door of 1602. He knew he did not need to meddle with todays situation. Something yesterday night caused Zhang Yi to go out of control, otherwise he would not break the harmony and calm between neighbors C like himself at this point. Yan Fei went to the 1602 door and turned to Luo Xun. "Go in and see?" "What?" Luo Xun froze and looked in confusion. Yan Fei smiled at him, lifted his finger and melted a hole into Zhang Yis house door! ...Using a metal ability to break in was too easy! Luo Xuns mouth twitched twice but he still walked in behind Yan Fei. The door was forcibly opened, not going in to look would be inappropriate. Although they were just neighbors, did not want to interfere in the situation and had not spent too much time with them...but he really liked being part of the group. Li Tie andpany were passionate about doing small things within their power and Zhang Yi was able to drive away troublemakers with his ability and ruthless attitude, he had apocalypse knowledge and Yan Fei also helped with abilities. Although this harmonious rtion was small, it was something he dared not think of but did not want to lose once gotten. Just like he did not want to lose his rtionship with Yan Fei. At this time Zhang Yi was sitting in front of the living room window staring at the blue sky. He lightly sneered as he turned to see two people but did not stand up. "This is my home." "My house is also next door." Yan Fei with his hands in his pockets ambled over to the living room, no self-awareness of trespassing. With a have of his hand the broken metal sandbags surged back into their original appearance. Zhang Yi smiled then turned to look out the window. "What?" Luo Xun watched him sit. "You dont wantpany?" Zhang Yi stayed silent but his eyes sharpened. "Wang Duo is not bad." Hearing Luo Xun, Zhang Yi turned around, nk eyes with a careless smile. "I know, they are some of the few good people. But..." He paused to look straight at them. "By now they should know what kind of person I am, he and I do not match." Luo Xun waved his hands. "But you slept with him, shouldnt you take responsibility?" Zhang Yis eyebrow rose and he smiled strangely. "Please,st night he slept with me and I did not even ask for an overnight fee." Yan Fei chuckled and sat down beside Luo Xun. "I thought my neighbor did not sell his body for a living." Zhang Yi gave him a look. "I didnt really do anything to him? Maybe he slept with me and found it inappropriate?" "You were just looking to spend the night with someone then throw them out like a tool without electricity." Luo Xun ignored his excuses and found the root of the matter. Zhang Yi was quiet for a while before gently sighing. "What kind of person I am, they cannot fathom. They can go out and ask around about what happened on basest night. If they dont mind, I would not refuse getting a boyfriend back." After he smiled with bent peach blossom eyes and provoking eyebrows. "Someone offered to clean up the house, rub shoulders, cook, wash clothes. I came tote." Luo Xun quietly looked at him for a moment before pulling Yan Fei and leaving the apartment. The two people did not go through Zhang Yis door again. Instead they directly opened an entrance to the door of 1601. Li Tie opened the door, seeing Luo Xun and Yan Fei was a little confused. "How? Did you forget something?" Luo Xun waited for all five people toe over before speaking. "We just talked to Zhang Yi, he said he did something on basest night. Everyone can easily find out the details." After that he looked at Wang Duo. "He said that if you epted this, he would not mind trying a rtionship." Wang Duo froze and stared with big eyes at Luo Xun. Li Tie and the others were also confused. They knew that Wang Duo had been dumped by Zhang Yi but did not the reasons or motivations behind the act. Wu Xin hurriedly asked. "What happenedst night?" "Whats the matter? How is it connected to rtions?" "Right, just as you say. Wang Duo?" Luo Xun interrupted the groups words, his expression was very solemn. "I did not ask him for specifics aboutst night but it was definitely not trivial." His words calmed down Li Tie and friends, because of their friendship they had not cross examinedst nights details. Zhang Yi had left Wang Duo, they wanted to wait until thetter was in a better state before asking questions. Which was why they had not gone to find Zhang Yi early in the morning. They could tell the Wang Duo was serious this time, so after hearing Luo Xuns words they encouraged him to not give up. The two of them had slept together, perhaps they would end up together? Now was the apocalypse, no one wouldugh or discourage him from homosexuality. Being like Luo Xun and Yan Fei was also very good? But, Luo Xun had said that what happenedst night was definitely not a trivial matter...now was the apocalypse, they had heard many situations in the base barracks. Last night, what had happened to Zhang Yi? When he came back and dragged Wang Duo away...was he harassed by a pervertst night? *Cough* Got stimted and needed to someone to vent? Thinking, involuntarily looked worriedly at Wang Duos body. Wang Duo did not pay attention to that and instead cross examined. "He said he would like to be with me?!" Luo Xun blinked and felt a little guilty, in fact... Yan Fei suddenly stepped forward. "He said that having someone to clean up the house, rub shoulders, cook andundry as a boyfriend was also good." But he added with a smile. "Its better if you find out what happened on base yesterday. From what I can tell, he came backst night after killing someone." "Kill..." Li Ties voice was stuck in his throat, silent for a while before stuttering. Yan Fei smiled and nodded. "I am afraid more than one, the scent of bloodst night was very strong." He slowly swept over the five shocked people. "I suggest you inquire about this situation but no matter what, dont mention this to outsiders let alone telling others what he did." Li Tie and the others all paled, standing frozen, did not know what to say. After saying these words, Yan Fei took Luo Xuns shoulder to lead him out. Let them figure it out for themselves, Luo Xun could do nothing more than say these few words. Last night Yan Fei had sensed blood on Zhang Yi, but felt no need to speak out, also did not stop him when he dragged Wang Duo to bed. Today the base was not calm, not just Luo Xun, Yan Fei could also find darkness and evil hidden under the calm surface of the base. Sometimes when they drove through some ces there were some vague traces of blood on the corners. Did not know if they were from the start of the apocalypse or more recently. They had seen some people on corners do some under the table things. Of course, since they were usually driving back and forth they would deliberately avoid those sort of paths or else they would see more of these things. Li Tie andpany were pure C this was one of the reasons Luo Xun was willing to get along with them. But pure did not mean brave, if they could not ept the dark side of the current world, what about Yan Fei? Their group also had Zhang Yi C it was clear that mixing two extremes together would only end up hurting each other. It would have been better to say this at the beginning so that if it did not work out, they would separate so that everyone would not be miserable. Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not wait until Li Tie and friends went out to learn what happened outsidest night because C Lieutenant Ding hade to the door. Hearing sounds from the gate, all the 16th floor tenants came to see. Li Tie and the others were going to eat lunch before going out but did not expect someone toe now. "Lieutenant Ding?" Seeing the person at the door, Li Tie said in surprise. "Today is new years eve! Why are you working today?" Lieutenant Ding wryly smiled. "Not wrong, something big happened on base." Li Tie andpany looked at each in surprise, suddenly thought of what Luo Xun had said C go out and ask about what happenedst night...was it...Zhang Yi! Yan Fei and Luo Xun also came to open the door for the lieutenant. Seeing him alone, the two had a guess C regardless of what Zhang Yi had donest night, since the messenger was only a lieutenant, the base did not want to make a big deal at present. Zhang Yi also came out hearing the sound. Seeing Lieutenant Dings disturbed and tense mood, a coquettish smile instantly bloomed on his face. "...Come in before talking." Lieutenant Ding saw the smile and his uneasiness grew, he just knew. The crowd hurried past, considering that 1601 did not smell very good since it had been brushed and Luo Xuns room had been done yesterday...Zhang Yi said. "Come to my home, though there are no chairs." After that he turned and walked in. Lieutenant Ding had no choice but to bite the bullet and enter, fortunately Luo Xun and all the others also followed. Yan Fei came inst and sealed the door as well. The group did not pay attention to seating, directly sat on the living room ground and all turned to look at Lieutenant Ding. Lieutenant Ding coughed, his face was not good. "Last night, something terrible urred on base. Homicide cases." He felt unease as Zhang Yi looked back with crescent shaped eyes. Li Tie andpany stared wide eyed C homicide case, sure enough Zhang Yi had killedst night?! Seeing no one speak aloud, Lieutenant Ding could only continue on since he was already here, with a deep breath he exined the details. "Last night a group of 11 people in the new 13th neighborhood gate, cut to death with wind power. After we checked, all the people had died of blood loss, their flesh was mangled prior to death. None of therge veins were cut until they were dead..." Really was suffering until death. People who knew about the strong but mad wind ability user on base were the first to guess who the culprit was. But they also knew the ability user was powerful and that his neighbor had an equally powerful metal user and a crossbow user. Although not sure those two people would assist him, the wind user was a very skilled surgeon and important base personnel. Plus those killed did not have very strong backers, there were no witnessesst night and the base had a current personnel shortage. Strong ability users were scarce, the higher ups were all in powerpetition and so on, therefore no one wanted to send people to arrest directly. After all, in the face of such a powerful wind user, no one was certain of capturing him without casualties. And were the people around him also rted? Why would Zhang Yi do such a thing? In the absence of a foolproof n, they could only contact Lieutenant Ding who was responsible for security issues to inquire about the situation. This was the basis for ns to seize a suspect but more difficult than dealing with zombies outside, because the suspects had an ability that could kill a lot of people in the aftermath of a fight against others. Zhang Yi had the same casual smile, his right index finger tapped as he tilted his head. The messengers scalp tingled. With a deep breath, Lieutenant Ding stared and asked. "Where were you around 12 oclockst night?" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, pale pink lips opened but before making a sound, a livid Wang Duo suddenly stood and eximed. "He was with mest night! We, we...did it! So it was definitely not him!" Lieutenant Ding stared at with wide eyes. Li Tie and others also looked at Wang Duo. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were also surprised to hear him C impulse of the devil? Did he not hear what Lieutenant Ding had just said? Zhang Yi had cut more than 10 people to death, murder not hits! Everyone in the room was shocked into silence, Zhang Yi suddenlyughed and Wang Duo suddenly lost all strength in his body C he had never had so much courage in his life! Even facing zombies for the first time after the apocalypse started, there was no such impulse when he aimed for the zombies head the first time! He summoned a half lifes worth of courage to loudly exim to the soldier. What did Zhang Yi dost night? Even if there had been reminder from Luo Xun and Yan Fei, they knew that the wind that easily killed a dozen people would be associated with Zhang Yi C powerful wind user with blood thirst. Just like the first time they met outside the base, a thin figure standing in a group of zombies. A mad hurricane with him at the center facing a bunch of zombies...strong yet fragile. Wang Duo wanted to protect him, in his own way, even though he no skill at all. Zhang Yi trembled fromughter, his peach blossom like face had a gorgeous countenance. Luo Xun felt it was more pleasing to the eye because the smilecked its usual oppressive madness. All the people in the room looked at him silently, praying that Lieutenant Ding would leave out the door with a smile C Wang Duo was even willing tomit perjury, just needed to see if the lieutenant would ept it. After a heartyugh, Zhang Yi wiped tears from his eyes and joked in stark contrast to Wang Duo. "Last night I did not finish surgery until 11:20. The car had not evene at midnight, do you think of the higher ups on base are fools?" Lieutenant Ding, who had been used of being one of the fools, mouth twitched. "But..." Wang Duo wanted to say something but seeing the twinkling Zhang Yi ignited a burning fire. Li Tie and the others could not bear to look straight C inmed! Poor man! That was the face of their ssmate! Zhang Yi with tangled hair, propped his chin with one hand and turned to Lieutenant Ding. "I killed those people, so what?" ...So what? He killed people so forcefully, yet there was no motive?! Thinking of the higher ups who had not given him any helpers, how on this day he requested to be at home for the holiday but had toe over for this. Lieutenant Ding really wanted to vomit blood, but he took a deep breath and asked. "Reason." Chapter 62 "They were mypanions before entering the base." Zhang Yi paused before continuing. "When we were outside the base, we killed a lot of people. Fought with other gangs of survivors many times, everyones hands were stained with the blood of at least five or six lives." He looked at Lieutenant Ding as his smile widened. "Sadly, I was the only one to develop a power." He knew why Lieutenant Ding hade to snoop alone, it was only because he had an ability and he was a needed medical officer on base. At present, the base was willing to amodate those with powerful abilities, especially if those killed were not important characters. Frankly it was not a big deal so long as they were not their own, only they should have been secretly taken care of. If the scene had not been so bloody people may have not started a murder investigation. But there was no other way, who was unable to control their emotionsst night? If they had not been cut to death, they might have gone crazy on the spot. Lieutenant Ding took a few deep breaths and grit his teeth. "I asked you why did you kill them? Whether they were guilty or not of murder was not the reason you killed them..." Zhang Yi did not exin anything. He obviously was not taking the matter seriously, not even giving a motive. How would he justify himself if he just left? If his superior did not want to endure his attitude, the person would get arrested? The people that Zhang Yi killed had also killed outside the base, but one cannot forget that he was not innocent either! Zhang Yis face changed, there were some things he obviously did not want to say. "Those people hurt Zhang Yi before!" Wu Xin, who had been sitting to the side listening, suddenly remarked. Li Tie and several others also added. "Right! When we met outside the base, it was those people who deliberately cut Zhang Yis arm and threw him into a group of zombies to run away!" "We can prove it! If it had not been for Zhang Yis explosion, he would not have survived!" Brothers wife was also their "sister-inw" or "younger sibling", after the shock from the lieutenant brought about the people cut to death faded, Li Tie and the others hurriedly stood with Wang Duo. Although they were also very afraid, what if one day Zhang Yi suddenly became interested in them and made passes? But these days they had all gotten along and no one had noticed anything strange about Zhang Yi. In addition to this they believed that a painful yet beautiful love story between two men, like the rtionship between Yan Fei and Luo Xun, waspletely normal! Thinking about when they had met outside base, seeing Zhang Yis bloody and despairing appearance... When Li Tie and his friends learned that the ones Zhang Yi had killed were the same people who had betrayed, hurt and abandoned him, they made a judgement C Zhang Yi was a good person, the bad guys were the ones who hurt him! His behaviourst night was a bit over the top, but he was acting in revenge! If it had been them, meeting the people who had harmed and abandoned them, they would also take action! Of course, the means would not have been as bloody... After hearing Li Tie and the others words Lieutenant Ding breathed a sigh of relief, turned to verify with the reliable Luo Xun and Yan Fei and finally looked at Zhang Yi with aplex expression. "This there was no direct evidence...youd better control your emotions while in the hospital. The base is currently understaffed but we cannot cover for you if a superiores down to investigate." He stood up and continued. "The hospital leader told me to inform you, your previous work schedule had too much pressure so this time you will be allowed a few days of rest. Wait three days beforeing back to work and enjoy being home for the new year." He then went out. He got two extra days of vacation for killing? The group stared wide eyed for a while before hurrying after the lieutenant to send him off. Only Wang Duo was left in the room looking at Zhang Yi. His lips moved but seeing Zhang Yis eyes looking back, could not speak any words. Zhang Yi ended up speaking first. "Get away from the wall." "What?" Wang Duo tensed and straightened his back while waiting for Zhang Yi to speak. "Thats the ce you painted before you left in the morning." "...Ah! My clothes are dirty! I only have two sets of clothing!" The crowd at the gate sending off Lieutenant Ding heard the cries, they silently nced at each other and agreed that no one had heard anything. Lieutenant Ding also ignored the wailing and smiled. "No need to send me off, I have to go and report back. Have a nice holiday at home." "Lieutenant Ding, Zhang Yi he...wont get arrested right?" Li Tie asked. The lieutenantughed helplessly. "If he was to be arrested I would not have been sent alone. You also advised him, and it had been for revenge so...but he has to work on his temper, using wind to cut down people is not a good habit. The base has quite a few ability users around." If Zhang Yi provoked too many people, it would not matter if he had a high ability, everyone would work together to kill him! Li Tie and the others quickly nodded. "Rest assured, we will talk to him!" It was a good idea, forget about outsiders and enemies, what if Wang Duo provoked him and got a few pieces sliced off...? Yan Fei stepped forward to lock the door after Lieutenant Ding disappeared downstairs while Luo Xun turned to the group. "Today we eat dumplings" After today was Chinese new years eve, what would they eat other than dumplings? Li Tie andpanys eyes shined in unison. "Yes!" He Qiankun pointed at 1601 door. "We exchanged a bag of flour at the window beforeing back yesterday!" Luo Xunughed. "My home has vegetables and a bit of meat. How about everyonee over to make dumplings?" "Yes, yes. Luo Xun, what kind of vegetables have you grown? Our homes green onions just sprouted, not enough to eat." "Theres spinach and cabbage, not too much but enough to everyone to eat today." The group decided to use 1601 as the gathering ce, Luo Xun and Yan Fei would bring ingredients from home to cook together. What about 1602? Everyone was tactful enough to not bother them. The sounds in the corridor gradually tapered off as Wang Duo touched his back C his clothes were stained from the paint but fortunately it was not serious. He secretly nced at Zhang Yi, seeing that he had not been driven out Wang Duo summoned up his courage. "That...Zhang Yi...can I go and paint the wall for you?" Zhang Yi was silent for a long while, did not look at him and after slowly walked towards his bedroom. Wang Duos heart started to sink lower and lower...it had not been enough? Was he getting dumped again? "Work quietly." Zhang Yi said as he disappeared behind the bedroom door. Work...quietly? Wang Duos body suddenly felt buoyant, as if he was floating on clouds, likest night when they were embracing each other, like a dream. He had not been dumped? Zhang Yi was letting Wang Duo paint the wall for him? He was willing to ept him! He thought of this morning when Yan Fei conveyed the requirements "clean home, wash clothes, cook and massage" was letting him paint the house mean he was willing to ept?! Just letting him help painting = agree to be in his home = agree to his pursuit = can repeatst night activities. It was perfectly consensual between two people regardless of what outsiders thought in the future. Wang Duo the pure singled celled organism instantly regained momentum, the mornings lethargy had been all dispelled as he excitedly painted the wall in a daze. Zhang Yiid on the mattress on the bedroom floor, his heart felt empty C he had killed them, but what now? The base had not investigated, but after that? Go to the hospital everyday for work, make money, eat, live...What about the future? Outside the base was a world full of zombies, the base could only support a fraction of the people. Zhang Yi could not see how the future would turn out, where any hope was. He seemed to have suddenly lost the purpose that had sustained him, unsure of his future direction and cannot find hope for tomorrow. Before he had an obsession at the bottom of his heart C to live and personally kill that group of scum. But he had already killed those dregs, killed easily however could only killed once. But...after that? Empty and vacant, Zhang Yi felt he could just sit in the room until he eventually died. It would not be a surprise if his body decayed or aged into ashes. He did not even have to desire to open the door and see Wang Duo. Suddenly humming of some old songs before the apocalypse came from outside the bedroom door. asionally the melody was a little out of tune and sometimes other songs were mixed in. Feeling sluggish, he rolled his eyes but came back to himself. Pale pink lips revealed a frown and his mouth spit out caustic words. "Sounds bad." Zhang Yi had never heard such a bad sounding and nonsensical song. But in the end, the frown shifted back into the sarcastic and spiteful smile Luo Xun and the others were familiar with. "Luo Xun...This is the legendary quail egg?" "Luo Xun, you still have quail eggs?!" "Let me see! Even if it is smelly I want to..." Li Tie and the others stood in worship near the small quail eggs, each looked at one. The four people formed a semicircle around the table, sat down and leaned in to stare at the quail eggs in the center. Luo Xun smiled as he took out several vegetables from his bag and put them in a basin. "I domesticated and they startedying eggs. Some might be able to hatch, when they do I will send you a few." "Really?!" Li Tie perked up and fiercely hugged Luo Xuns thigh. "Luo Xun!" "All right, I still dont know if they will hatch." Luo Xun was actually a little impulsive today and did not know why. He felt conflicted when Li Tie and the others stood up for Wang Duo and Zhang Yi in front of Lieutenant Ding. In the end, the man had not investigated Zhang Yi. Luo Xun wanted to do something after they had deliberately left Wang Duo behind. If the quails at home were sessfully hatched, there would be a steady stream of baby quails being born. What would it matter giving Li Tie and friends several hatched quails? Luo Xun felt this was worthwhile for his vision of the future where everyone was together and happy. Li Tie and the group were excited but did not say much. The help and care Luo Xun and Yan Fei had shown them, they knew and carved it onto their hearts. Although these things might not be much to Luo Xun and Yan Fei but it was very precious for Li Tie andpany. After all, the students were all ordinary people, even if they had a job now, God knew how stable it would be in the long term? What Luo Xun would give them, so long as they worked hard and cultivated, could be something their future lives depended on! If there was no food to eat, they could rely on these things to survive! For this timely help, they were not fools, naturally wanted returns, but at this time the students had no power to help and what they had said were only words. In the future, they could find a chance to return the favor with concrete actions. Luo Xun was experienced in cooking and was thus responsible for directing, coordinating, inspecting and so on. He ordered the four people around but a flower was blooming in their hearts C making their own dumplings! Beforeing over Luo Xun had taken out some frozen meat and spare shrimp from his refrigerator. Hemanded He Qiankun and Han Li to chop vegetables, Li Tie and Wu Xin to prepare various spices/seasonings while he and Yan Fei dealt with the dough. The group of people chatted while cooking and ying, when things were ready Luo Xun guided the five people in wrapping dumplings C each had a wrapper. Luo Xuns dumpling making speed matched that of the five other peoplebined without any pressure. He Qiankuns nose felt a little itchy, he rubbed with the back of his hand and left a trail of flour. Realized that the room was emptier than usual, then pointed in the direction of next door. "That...should I call Wang Duo and Zhang Yi?" Li Tie and the others looked with dog eyes at the couple, Luo Xun was quickly making dumplings. "Forget it, lets call them when its time to eat..." The two of them were having rare time alone together. Plus there was already a couple showing their love, if another pair was added...How would this group of bachelors live?! How would they live? Han Li secretly nced at hispanions C He Qiankun...facial features were too plump, pass. Wu Xin...nice face butpared to his appetite, pass. Li Tie, thin with some height,pared to him it was like contrasting Mount Everest and Marianas Trench, no way topare... s, wanting to develop a good base friend was also very difficult. At least the hardware conditions would be difficult to meet so he would not go to the wrong person. The dumplings were all wrapped up but there was no movement from next door yet, so Luo Xun ordered everyone the call the two over for dinner after boiling the water. They had not eaten before lunch since they knew they could eat dumplings in a while, so they simply waited for the meal. Although the time was still early, the group could not continue waiting. After picking lots, He Qiankun had to knock on the door, after a while Wang Duo came with a white face. "Whats the matter with you?" His face was so white! He Qiankun shivered in fright at Wang Duo. Wang Duo also stared in shock. "Why is there powder on your face?" Two people stood in the doorway. A leisurely voice sounded from behind Wang Duo. "Whos blocking the doorway?" He Qiankun quickly remembered the task he was assigned. "Zhang Yi, weve made some dumplings, came to call you two over to eat!" "Dumplings?! Yes, yes! What stuffing?" Wang Duo eyes shone with green light C he had painted the walls of 1601 all morning and afternoon voluntarily but was not hungry and dizzy. If he had not stayed for Zhang Yi he would have long gone back! "Pork with spinach, and cabbage with shrimp vermicelli." It was the dish and meat that the couple had brought over. Wang Duo turned excitedly at Zhang Yi standing with crossed arms in the kitchen. "Lets eat?" Zhang Yi raised his eyebrows, said nothing but came to the door. Li Tie and the others were all startled as Wang Duo came in with stuff all over his face. "What happened to your face?" "Painted the wall!" Wang Duo saidcently with his nose to the sky. Seeing his appearance of sess, Li Tie and the others calmly looked at Zhang Yi who was beside He Qiankun and secretly ground their mrs...It had not just been painting the wall. What a great deal! Wu Xin kindly asked. "How much is left? Would you like us toe over and help you after dinner?" "No need!" Wang Duo immediately refuted. "Just a little more and Ill be done." He would resolutely defend his turf, Zhang Yi had said a few words to him after a busy afternoon of work. How could be let this group of light bulbs past? It was impossible to keep them in the past! Han Li twisted in the other direction, he was not in the mood to drink vinegar C look at this protectiveness. It was embarrassing, where was his macho? Seeing his current appearance, he could not say anything. Luo Xun bowed his head and Yan Fei shot a meaningful look at Zhang Yi. This time they would not pay too much attention to Zhang Yi. It was not long before the dumplings were cooked. The group of people gathered around the table to eat while the nearby radio was rying base news. Today was New Years Eve, in order for the base to stabilize the people, but also because this was the first spring festival since the apocalypse, the base would wait until eight oclock to officially celebrate. Everyone in the army had already heard the news about when the festival was avable to listen to a few days earlier. Although few artists fled to the southwest base after the end of the world, there were some small no-name artists along with some soldiers who were recording a g. Just needed to determine the theme of the event C defeat the zombies, recapture the homnd, promotion of positive energy, unity and so on so they could quickly set up a party. Unfortunately it could not be live due to the current situation and had to be recorded in advance. After all, literary work cannot feed ones belly in the apocalypse, many peoples schedules did not match. Everyone who had time would record on the program then be done, how could it be a continuous thing. People who recorded may have to leave base for tasks and might not return alive. Eating the big dumplings, definitely not the same taste as the base canteen ones. Did not know if it was because everyone made the meal in person but the home made taste of dumplings seemed better than buying from the canteen, was more delicious. While eating dumplings, Luo Xun looked at the time, it was three oclock in the afternoon. There were still a lot of dumplings left, should be enough for everyone to eat at night. But considering that some would have a reunion with the opposite sex after dinner... Wang Duo said. "Is...everyone going home at night? Luo Xun and Yan Fei have to go back too..." He secretly looked at Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi had a smiling appearance, as if he had heard nothing. Han Li ground his teeth but looked enigmatically authentic. "Right, everyone should go home. You also have toe back with us for New Year~" "Thats right! Home for the New Year!" Li Tie and several others joined in. The smile on Zhang Yis face remained unchanged, he sat there motionless like a statue. Wang Duo retorted with a ck face. "I still have to paint Zhang Yis wall! Who knows how long it will take to finish, no need to wait for me." Li Tie andpanyughed and ribbed Wang Duo, but he decided to endure the groups envy for the sake of future happy life. He grabbed a bug lunch box and filled with enough dumplings for dinner. Then he turned to look at Zhang Yi while holding the container. Luo Xun barely held backughter as he smiled and pulled Yan Feis hand. "We have something to do at home so well be leaving first." After hearing this, Wang Duo continued to stare at Zhang Yi with burning eyes. Zhang Yi patted his clothes, waltzed over with his chin tilted like a proud queen about to gobble up a silly dog general. The two of them also went out. Behind, Li Tie and the others had a hard time holding back their smiles. Chapter 63 Back home Luo Xun put the leftover dumplings in the kitchen. They actually had nothing to do today, it would take a while for the paint next door to dry in order toy the floor. Some of their vegetables still needed to time to grow in order to get seeds. The recently germinated nts had been put in the nursery this morning. There seemed to be nothing else to do at the moment. The puppy at home jumped to bite and drag the rope that Yan Fei held with an iron grip. After putting away the dumplings, Luo Xun vaguely heard a sound. "Whats making that noise?" Luo Xun looked around and asked doubtfully. Yan Fei was also surprised, listened to the sound and pointed at the nursery room. The two men walked gingerly to the nursery and gently opened the door. Then they saw the little quail egg in the incubator. They did not know when the egg had hatched, the small, wet yellow quail chick the size of a mans thumb stared nkly. "Hatched!" Luo Xun excitedly hugged Yan Feis side then turned and rushed into the nursery room. He gently removed the little quail and put it in a prepared box while taking distilled water and baby feed. The newly hatched quail was very fragile, it required high temperature, clean water and suitable food. Luo Xun was d he was at home these days. If he had needed to go out for work when the quails hatched at home...*cough* a few might have starved with no food for half a day. He carefully ced the small quail and watched it eat some of the feed. Luo Xun also checked the other quail eggs to see if there were any that were about to hatch. With a sigh of relief he grabbed Yan Fei and left. "Very good, hatching on new year eve." The fluffy, yellow little things in a line really moved peoples hearts. If the recently hatched quails were not so vulnerable, Luo Xun would have brought one out as a pet. Yan Fei smiled. "Wait a few days and more will hatch, the house will be lively." Chinese New Year before the apocalypse became less and less prevalent as people lived faster lives, loss of traditions and other reasons. But in the apocalypse, the survivors were very relieved to celebrate the new year, see the night stars and the rising sun. For the people, the base atmosphere was more lively than the Gregorian new year two months ago. To live through this year was to walk a step further in the apocalypse. Therge speakers, temporarily ced around the base after the apocalypse, began to y the spring festival g recording after eight oclock in the evening. Because themunication on base had not been fixed, the party was basically music, songs,ic dialogue skits and so on, music to express the art form. It seemed like they had been pushed back a few decades, but the speakers in the streets gave spiritual support to the crowds on base. Those who did not have a radio at home took advantage of the weather not being too cold, others simply wanted to get out of the house and gathered under therge speakers to listen to the show. People who knew and each and strangers gathered around to enjoy the rare, peaceful festival. However, most of the speakers were built in the inner city. The outside city had only just been cleaned, so the things were not immediately installed after the wall was built. Of course, there was also another important reason, the outer city was close to the wall, if there were loud noises, would it not lead to a funeral? It was better to be in the inner city. The two people came back early to turn on the radio. Luo Xun had calmed down from the excitement of the hatched quails and made the decision to change the quails nest that afternoon in the nursery room. The small quail hatchlings could follow a channel to the side of a small box in order to gather withpanions and eat food. These little birds could bepared to human babies...no actually better than the average mammal. After all, they opened their eyes and walked around to find food to eat. Although they were also fragile,pared to baby mammals whose eyes were not open at birth, who could only instinctively search for mothers milk, even moving around was good. Luo Xun had spent a month creating this incubator box, lest the small quails panicked and fell to the ground. These small quails only had one or two days of time difference. Once the first one moved and hatched, the other would soon follow, so Luo Xun had to be prepared in advance. After a busy afternoon, the two peopleid on the couch. Luo Xun leaned on Yan Feis chest and subconsciously ignored his previous insistence on topping...of course, in some ways he was currently on top of Yan Fei. There was a te of leftover dumplings on the table beside the sofa, the other table had an empty te which originally had sausage on it. These sausages had originally hung from the ceiling before Luo Xun steamed them and ced on the te. Luo Xun had barely moved any of the dried chicken, duck, bacon and sausage since the apocalypse had begun. On one hand, the frozen meat inside the refrigerator had not been used up and on the other hand, dried meatsted longer. After all, Luo Xun was unsure how long it would take to get meat again C at least a year. The puppy also ate dinner, ran to the bathroom then after running a fewps of the house she jumped onto the sofa and sought touch while lying on Luo Xuns chest. With the dog, the situation on the sofa became C Yan Fei holding Luo Xun, Luo Xun holding the puppy...such a peaceful family of three. A variety of songs and music from the radio filled the originally quiet room and made it more lively. Ones biological clock was powerful, Luo Xun felt sleepy at 11 oclock but insisted on waiting until after midnight and eating some lunar new year dumplings before going upstairs to sleep. Although such a show was very rare after the end of the world, Yan Fei did not end up hearing much of it. It was because every night before going to sleep he would exhaust his power after Luo Xun fell asleep. He would go into the bathroom to wipe off the sweat, he adapted more than Luo Xun to stay up some more. The two quietly listened as the radio host counted down. Downstairs, those around the speakers listening to the program also stayed silent. New Years eve, although fireworks were not allowed for security reasons on base, the atmosphere of the spring festival suddenly rushed out. Luo Xun smiled, rubbed his eyes and nibbled Yan Feis chin. "Happy New Year." "Happy Chinese New Year." Yan Fei lowered his head for a kiss. The puppy thought the two were ying and she twisted while lying on Luo Xuns body to end up in the middle of the two faces. Yan Fei smiled and pushed the puppys head. He also grabbed the te. "Eat a dumpling and go to sleep, its now the new year." The food had cooled but a bite should be enough for the asion. Luo Xun smiled and sat up, along with Yan Fei each ate a dumpling. The puppy also got one since she was staring curiously. She sniffed, opened her mouth, jumped off the couch and began to chew slowly. "I thought that since the dumplings this time were mostly vegetables she would not eat them." Luo Xun looked in surprise at the vigorously eating puppy before smiling at Yan Fei. Yan Fei alsoughed. "Is this not good? We have more vegetables than meat, it will be easier if she can eat vegetables." There was a faint cry in the corridor, not too far away. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were momentarily surprised but then remembered that no one had opened the door or went out to check the situation C sometimes, people needed to vent. Two people and a puppy ate while deliberately leaving some on the te. Luo Xun stretched as he headed towards the washroom. "Brush teeth, ready to sleep, can sleep in tomorrow!" "Yes, lets have a good nights rest for tomorrow." There was only one day left of the three day holiday. The two yesterday did renovation work, today cooked dumplings with Li Tie and his friends. They would simply rx at home tomorrow before continuing work the day after. All of a sudden, the little puppy who was eating dumplings stood straight up, her eyes fixed in the direction of the balcony window. Her ears and hind legs straightened as she ran towards the window. "Whats up?" Luo Xun rushed over from the washroom. The puppy usually did not bark, thest time she did was when there had a been a gang of thieves at the door. Li Ties group and Luo Xun and been neighbors for a while but had not known his home had a dog, which just showed how well behaved she was. Today, the small quails hatched out and crying in the corridor, but there were no voices. However now seeing her appearance, she had found something unusual? Luo Xun and Yan Fei hurried to the balcony, carefully observed the area C no abnormalities in the nts, no issues with the window... Luo Xun thought there would be a thief trying tomit a crime today, trying to descend from the roof to break open the lock, but there seemed to be nothing outside. But the little puppy still faced a certain direction, her mouth made a threatening sound. Luo Xun squatted down and tried calming her down with pets. Yan Fei opened the windows, both of them were cautious, they would not ignore the dog barking as a cause of mental tension. "...Listen, is there a sound outside?" Standing in the window, Yan Fei noticed the problem first. Luo Xun hurried over to the window and pricked his ears to listen carefully to the outside sounds. The loudspeakers had stopped and there were faint voices downstairs such asughter and cries from yearning for family and fear of the apocalypse C the crowd who had heard the show wereing home. In a more distant direction, something faint... "Firecrackers!" Someone had set of firecrackers! Luo Xun spun to face Yan Fei as he realized the source of the sounds. Yan Fei frowned into the distance. "That direction...seems to a be far away..." "...It couldnt be at the perimeter wall could it?!" A few military jeeps drove towards the outer wall and heard the faint sounds of firecrackers. The vehicles had turned the corner to see crowd joking around not far from a piece of rubble. "Put it out now! Arrest them all!" "Het, hey! Whats with the arresting!" "Let go of me!" "Mom..." Men and women cried in protest and the sound of firecrackers ended in interuption. People in several ces outside the base were forcibly arrested for setting off firecrackers. "Why cant we do it? Is Chinese New Year not the passage of a new year? Whats the problem?" "Right, those zombies have been outside for so long. Would the firecrackers not ward off bad luck, scare the ghosts? New Years was originally for frightening monsters!" The protests were so loud that the soldiers expressions became really ugly. The base walls had just been built, so the area had be a lot safer. But the location they set off the firecrackers was too close to the fence, were they seeking misfortune? Their thoughts were not iprehensible but... "Leader! I suggest sending these people out to guard the walls! Zombies are sensitive to sound and will be attracted to the sound of these fools. I think it was intentional!" The soldiers eyes were red with anger as he spoke to the leader responsible for the car. "Yes Chief! Our soldiers will be on outside watch, but just because of some firecrackers, how many zombies will show up?!" The person in charge calmly took a deep breath before ring at the few angry soldiers. "If they were added it would lead to chaos! If you recruited all those who dared set off firecrackers that attracted zombies, they would destroy the defense and offense! "But..." It would end like this? There were a lot of zombies around the base because the scent of humans was strong, more and more these days. But tonight, people on base suddenly set of firecrackers and caused the zombies to be even more frenzied! The sound also attracted more distant zombies towards the defensive positions! They had already received the distress signal, but their duty was to maintain the safety of the base. Otherwise they would have long gone to support the positions! The person in charge took a deep breath with a heavy heart and shook his head. "We must obey our superiors arrangements for those arrested." He did not want to, from his point of view C these people who were messing around on base, should be thrown outside the fence! The people hearing the conversation caught the shift in expression shrunk inwards and dared not speak loudly, in fear that these soldiers would really push them from base. They came to the base in order have a rtively peaceful life, who would be willing to leave? "Mister, I really did not have a firecracker. I just heard the sound and came to watch..." "Yes, mister, I did not set of a firecracker!" Hearing a few clever peoples words, the rest quickly reacted to show their innocent. The original quiet became loud and disorderly. "Shut up! No more nonsense or youll get thrown out!" A soldier fired two gunshots and the area became quiet again. Someone in the base was shooting, although he was not sure if the position was far or near the perimeter wall? But the now first-level zombies could hear better than the original zombies. Luo Xun was very sure that if it was a street outside the base, even if there were cars, the zombies would hear and give chase, not to mention the loud shooting sound? "s, it will be lively outside the walls tonight." Luo Xun whispered with emotion. Yan Fei nodded but had aforting smile. "Rest assured that with the wall, nothing bad will happen. Luo Xun understood that the first-level zombies could not jump the three meter high wall. But the soldiers guarding the fence perimeter, trenches, spines and few passes would be in trouble. The soldiers original role was to help the survivors whether by guarding or killing the undead that came with them. At such times, they may be in danger. "Come on, lets go to bed." Yan Fei shut the windows, they did not want to or could help with the situation outside. "Yes." The puppy turned around, she had long stopped barking. Wriggling her tail she went back to her kennel in the living room toy down and prepare to sleep. Holiday days were always short and extravagant. Luo Xun had hatched the first generation of poultry on new years eve. Early the next day, they found two small, hatched quails in the incubator box. The three quails gathered together and uttered faint cries, the listeners bones became soft. "Wait around a week and we can put them together with the adult quails!" Luo Xun excitedly pointed at the three plush things in the box. Their hatching rate was not bad, the first three eggs unexpectedly all hatched, not one was wasted! Yan Fei manipted metal to form a ring on the baby quails w engraved with a 2.x (x was also a number, representing the first few integers) to mark the second batch of hatched baby quails. "Were not going to give them a few?" "When these little things grow up, their home is still too cold so they cant keep them now." Luo Xun gently grabbed the recently hatched chicks in order to distinguish between male and female. "What are you looking at?" Yan Fei came over after finishing with the rings. "Im seeing if I can differentiate male from female. No, we have to wait for them to grow up." Luo Xun put down the little thing with regret. He determined that the three quails were rtively healthy, temporarily did not have to worry about them. He pulled Yan Fei to work on other things. Early morning, Yan Fei and Luo Xun got dressed and ready to go out. The two entered the corridor and saw that Li Tie and friends door was also open. Han Li and Li Tie waved while they knocked on the door of 1602. "Isnt Zhang Yi not going to work today? I remembered he would get three days?" Luo Xun asked doubtfully while shouldering a backpack. "Yes for Zhang Yi, but we are calling Wang Duo." Li Tie yawned and spoke vaguely. "Wang Duo? He did not go backst night?" Yan Fei raised a brow, his face filled with schadenfreude. Li Tie, Wu Xin and Han Li the three immediately made a "you understand" expression. "Wang Duo not only did note backst night, the day before he also did note! He moved his stuff over yesterday!" Luo Xun also waited at the door of 1602 with a funny face. The door opened, Wang Duos expression was slightly tired, but the spirit was extremely excited. "Going to work? Im packed!" The crowd in unison looked at his slightly paleplexion then at his legs. Wang Duo felt chills from all the eyes and backed up a step. "You, what are you looking at?" "Seeing if you can walk." Wang Duos face was red then he straightened out his chest with a proud expression. "Yeah right, who am I?" He was clearly the top! Suddenly, the person fell forward, revealing Zhang Yis impatient face. "Why are you blocking the way?" Compared to Wang Duos slightly pale face, Zhang Yi had a rosyplexion, his face was radiant, his whole body exuded azy feeling, plus the a pair of misty peach blossom eyes...*cough* people with admiration climbed up from the ground. The smiling, pleased face of Wang Duo with such a bewitching man...they were not afraid of him being pressure, they were afraid of his kidney deficiency... Wang Duo was like aughing dog at Zhang Yis side, his body exuded a feeling of "If one kick was not enough, then have another! Ill never hide!" that kind of thought process, could not be looked straight at. Zhang Yi hade out half dressed. "Are you going out?" Luo Xun andpany were surprised, Lieutenant Ding hade over but said Zhang Yi couldfortably rest at home for three days. But hes going out today? Was there a slip of the bed that night? Zhang Yi waved his hands. "With you all gone, what do I do at home?" Although the students have given him shelves and things to grow vegetables at home, first, he did not know how to do these things, second, the climate was not warm and his instion could notpare to Li Ties home. Third, he did not want to be alone at home, he would rather run to the hospital and abuse unruly patients, such as giving them more stitches or less anesthetic~ Such a good employee who would selflessly work overtime? All the people silently looked at each other, there was nothing to say. Yan Fei had long opened the door and was waiting at the entrance. Chapter 64 A row of people went downstairs, got on the bus and squeezed inside the vehicle to reach the barracks. The camp entrance looked more deste than before the spring festival. There were people and vehiclesing and going but there were fewer unauthorized people wandering around. Luo Xun and Yan Fei locked the car before entering the barracks. Li Tie and the others entered earlier. After entering the small square at the front, they found the military truck they normally rode in and saw the captain. The captain gave a greeting as he saw the two. "They shipped in materials yesterday afternoon, were busy again today." He said as he motioned for everyone to get on the truck. After climbing in the car, the captain took out three heavy bags for the metal ability users, his expression was slightly heavy. "Some of the team already knows, but I have to exin the situation for those who are not clear." It was obviously for Luo Xun and Yan Fei to listen, the other soldiers had nothing else to do but seriously listen. "The number of zombies outside skyrocketed on New Years Eve near several outside established monitoring points. The warning has brought a great threat, that night, only a few soldiers managed to escape the guard positions. The remaining majority of soldiers...all died." The captains voice was heavy, no one made a sound. Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei, both of them thought of the firecrackers that night. "Yesterday a number of earth ability users continued to heighten and thicken the outer wall. Also built a staircase leading to the top of the wall, to make the walls into an ancient bunker so the soldiers can patrol therge perimeter. Yesterday teams went out to find arge quantity of metal materials, we have to go through those stairs to continue building the outer metal wall." The captain briefly exined the situation, said the task was more difficult than before because-" There are more zombies around, they are now blocked outside the wall but there is a steady stream of zombies towards the base. We can not go out of the city to build the wall, you can only climb from the inside to try and handle the outside walls." Although the base had thought of some ideas, how the metal users operated would have to wait for arrangements to be made. Otherwise, zombies right now might not be able to climb the three meter high metal wall, but what if they evolved like how the slow, stiff zombies evolved into the currently nimble and powerful zombies, would they be able to make the jump? So the wall needed to be built higher. When they arrived at the designated position, once they exited the car they could tell the wall was much higher than before. The outer walls were not six meters high! Also seemed to have widened a lot and there was a staircase in the distance. They wondered if all these things were made by earth ability users during overtime? Or were there ordinary people involved? Luo Xun parked near the newly built door at the wall perimeter, the wall was stacked with a lot of various metals. It looked as if the military had pulled all the material from a nearby steel field. After looking at the stacked metal materials, they slowly approached the newly repaired wall to look outside. Only to see the w of a zombie waving horrifying long fingernails in the direction of the wall blocking the scent of human flesh. "The future seems grim...will miracles appear?" They turned away and ignored the zombies who were waving like demons from hell. Thinking of those creatures that wanted to drag people away, the metal user looked at the walls with a headache. Now the six meter earth wall was double the full height of the metal wall. If one wanted to use their hand to stick metal at those positions...How were they going to get down? It had been thought that the three meter wall was already very high, but now looking below at the zombies at the top of the metal walls...they might be able to jump this distance! This was not like before when everyone stood on the edge of the fence where there were people protecting the area. Now there was only a short ten centimeters to stand on! If one was not careful, they would fall! The captain also did not think it would so dangerous today, even worse that the number of zombies below was far more than previously forecast. What could they do to protect the metal users as they were building the wall? It was not wonder that the earth ability users were busy for a day and night working overtime to build the wall, the base was afraid the zombies would leap over the three meter wall. But could they have not slowly repaired meter by meter, leaving a way for others to reach that height as well? "Ill get someone to help." The captain thought for a moment. It would be difficult for the metal users to work their abilities since like earth users, they had to touch the material to create the wall. Unlike other people with fire, water or wind powers, they could not wave their hand and materialize earth or metal! Seeing living beings on the wall, the zombies waved their arms excitedly while screaming like babies. Luo Xun and several others standing on the wall, triggered a headache while looking down at the mass of zombies. The number was far from the point of a death siege, but if this slowly continued sooner orter it would reach that scale. But these days marked the first month spent inside, the outer wall had just been repaired and thus many people did not want to go out in order to find supplies. Luo Xun suddenly looked north towards the new gate which faced arge road, there was an entric small building at the intersection. The building was very tall, but not veryrge, like a simple watchtower from the set of an ancient historical film. Of course, the role of that and a watchtower were simr, they were the rm towers the captain had mentioned in the briefing. The small building would see trouble early and alert any external circumstances. But at this time, the outside roads were full of wandering zombies, the base of the tower was also surrounded by a lot of zombies. The creatures were tirelessly battering against the building walls, there was someone on the roof! The distance was a little too far for Luo Xun to clearly see the situation, but there was definitely someone up there. They were likely soldiers who were stuck there and could not withdraw. Now there were some soldiers ready to go out the gate, looked as if they were going to rescue them. Not long after the captain hurried back, said while lightly gasping. "Already negotiated, the base will open the door and rescue the people who have been trapped outside for two days. When the door opens, zombies will obviously be attracted, our priority is to fire upon the zombies. Let the metal users tie ropes around themselves and speed up wall construction. Afterwards, all the metal materials were transported one by one to the wall which took some time. Luo Xuns expression was not good, only having one rope attached was too dangerous! If there was no other way then fine, but now there was a way to somewhat avoid the danger. Luo Xun nced towards the wall in thought, there were no less than fifty to sixty zombies near the targets position, even if opening the gate would attract a portion, it would only be a minority. If a few zombies instead attacked the people hanging from the rope, how would those standing above walls enact emergency response measures? And what if the ropes snapped? Luo Xun suddenly turned to the captain and added hisments. "Captain, only having the metal users hanging on the rope is too dangerous." Hearing Luo Xun, the captain understood, of course he was worried about the safety of his cousin but there was no other way right now. "I have reported this matter to my superiors but at present there is no other way to take advantage of the open gate for repairs. Today troops were sent out to clean out nearby zombies, it should soon be more convenient." Of course Luo Xun knew that the base would send out people to clean up zombies, but the problem was that zombies were constantlying to this ce. The outer wall area was now stretched too long, there was no way for all the zombies outside the walls to be killed. Of if all the survivors on base participated in an extermination mission at once, they may be able to clear out the zombies in just a days time, but that was not realistic at the moment. "Theres safer way than hanging the three of them on a rope." The captain froze and asked. "What method?!" "Seek cooperation from the earth power users." Luo Xuns advice was simple, but was a bit of a hassle. His idea was to the have the earth users open a mouth from the inside of the wall at a designated location, allowing the metal users to build from inside the holes. But this required the help of the earth users and for the three users to form three groups of people working together. It was somewhat troublesome to partially dismantle the already built wall. However this was a more practical approach and would also ensure the safety of the metal users. The problem was that workers could not be scheduled toe over and not convenient for people to cooperate. The captain thought for a moment and decided to speak with his superiors out a team protection mentality. Unfortunately the captain returned ten minutester downtrodden. "Superiors ordered us to act as nned." He sighed and looked at Luo Xun with mncholy. "There are not enough earth users or crystal nuclei..." This part of the wall had been built, if they followed Luo Xuns advice, opening then resealing after the metal walls were done would be a duplication of work. The superiors disagreed, there were not enough earth users to do something so extravagant. The number of nuclei on base was limited, they had deliberately given more to the metal department to support their work. Now having crystal nuclei did not work but also tried to find excuses to ask others for cooperation...although metal powers were rare, they could not waste resources. So, the captain was scolded and sent back. The wall teams of earth users and metal users were separated, the others were alsopeting who could finish faster. Climb down to repair the metal casing? Even if there was no metal shell, the defensive properties of earth were not bad, could they not just make the wall thicker? Did they always find excuses to look for trouble? The captain did not need to find the leader of the earth users, he could guess what they would say to each other. Moreover, his own superiors all disagreed with this proposal. Yan Fei was working with two of metal users to discuss the operation details. He came over to hear Luo Xun and the captain speaking, understood that he was worried about him and smiled. "I have a way, dont need the help of the earth users but can also build the wall from the inside and not have to go down personally." "Oh? What way?" The captain perked up and excitedly looked at Yan Fei. "Ability conduction." Yan Fei had just spoken with the two other metal users and learned that they did not have the ability to float metal. Although he did not know if it was a unique aspect of his powers or if this kind of effect naturally urred when a metal ability rose to a higher level? But the wall construction would not only rely on one person floating things, so these two individuals would be responsible for handling the other materials? Yan Fei did not know how much attention this would attract, or if he would get stolen into aboratory. He had a better way to let the three metal users remotely manipte metal, using conduction effect to make external walls. The method he had used at home to reinforce the doors, windows and other things, using the metal bars in the concrete walls. In his personal experience, he had a range where he could sense metal, which was simr to fire user sensing internal heat, or wind users like Zhang Yi being able to sense wind. Yan Fei had a simr ability. At home, he was roughly certain that his range had a diameter of about ten meters, which wasparable to Zhang Yi. Of course, the metal arrows that he made could have far range but were not under his control. Those wereunched long range attacks whose intensity depended on the mental strength used. This effective scope of operation was not limited by others ranges, so conduction. With metal as a medium, the metals shape, appearance and so on could be changed using spiritual power. The other two metal users could do the same, it was not unique to Yan Fei. Although not clear, but strong feelings appeared C all the soldiers who heard Yan Feis exnation had the same idea. The captain was also dazed, after all as a person without powers he could not intuitively understand the situation. He chose the simplest and direct way to verify. "You two can do it?" The two metal users nodded with excited faces. "We experimented. There will be difficulties if the distance is too far, but certainly possible within three meters, although it consumers some more mental strength than usual." The captain waved his hand. "Dont worry about the crystal nucleus problem, well find a way to deal with it! Use however many you need! Safety first!" This was one of his own soldiers, and he would never sacrifice one if he did not have to. Even if face of his superiors orders, even if the wall construction speed slowed down, he would rather choose the more secure method. Yan Feis idea was simply use a piece of metal as a pen, use the metal materials at hand as ink to build what they want like using a 3D doodle pen. Plus, it was easier than making a giant, stiff iron wall. As long as they pinched the metal afterwards, the walls would be hard and smooth! The two men copied Yan Fei, using metal to make a long, fine iron bar. The metal around grabbed a piece and fused together, gradually the metal wall thickened and grew. Although this would require a greater concentration of mental strength, the two unexpectedly found their strength after each supplement had be more clear, concise and easy to operate. They seemed to perceive every inch of the metal which changed in ordance with their own ideas. Much more wonderful and free than the simple hand pinching before. Seeing the three people getting down to work and they did not need to risk hanging from a rope. So long as they were lying on the wall, with a little bit of metal painting could build the outside wall. All of them breathed a sigh of relief. While Yan Fei was resting, the captain asked with aforting smile. "How did you think of this approach?" It was not just him that had been surprised, the other two metal users were also curious. Although they were metal users, they had not thought of a way to manipte metal without touching it. Yan Feis heart made a sound, he was able to do this once he discovered he had metal powers, it was just using pure mental power to manipte metal. He had been surprised upon seeing that the other metal users did not do the same. But he did not want to expose the matter for the time being, he casually found an excuse. "The windows in my house were not strong enough, I subconsciously connected the metal bars in the concrete wall. Later I was afraid that the walls could not bear the weight and tried to reinforce the steel bars, did not expect I could manipte the bars without actually touching them." The crowd started and the captainughed. "No wonder you wanted some metal. DId you want to reinforce the wall in your house?" Yan Fei smiled and nodded while giving Luo Xun a look from the corner of his eye. "If we have the resources for it." "Dont worry, Ill let you bring some home with you when we return! Teams go out in a few days to gather some more steel, but be careful and do not let other people see." "Thats fine, we have a car. Well just stop at the parking ce when we get back." Yan Fei nodded cheerfully. There was a lot of and he had heard that there were two water cisterns on the roof. They were worried that the floor would not be able to support the weight C they lived on the 16th floor! If the floor copsed... Luo Xun did not notice Yan Fei looking at him, also did not fear his roof would copse under the weight of the two water tanks. However nothing was more important than getting something back for Yan Fei! The three power users wall building smoothly started, the captain saw that the three had a good run and called over the people responsible for protection, plus to give them some things. He carried the rest of the team to the next ce to deal with the zombies. Now that the base gate had been opened, an armored car rushed out to rescue the trapped soldiers in the vicinity of the surveince guard tower. The zombies were part of the group at the wall but the scent of human flesh was too delicious, they refused to leave even after forty to fifty corpses were dealt with. The captains goal was to kill these dozens of zombies, they would only be relieved when the zombies werepletely destroyed. Otherwise the ability users and soldiers were tied with ropes in case they fell, but were notpletely reassured C what if they really did fall? Getting scratched up was no joke! After a dozen zombie kills, the other soldiers tried to use a hooked rope to dig out the nucleus from the zombies heads in midair. The speed and efficiency was slower, but better than no gains at all. Luo Xun was at Yan Feis side transporting metal materials, on guard at all times against the zombies. He asionally helped shoot several heads with his crossbow. Such operations drained Yan Fei and the other metal users nuclei and mental strength, but the effect was good. Consumption efficiency wasparable to making metal mesh from a lump of metal that he did every night before bedtime C although still not as good. Chapter 65 Luo Xun handed a towel to Yan Fei, who tiredly wiped off the perspiration. "Todays consumption was really not small." Luo Xun referred to the almost empty crystal nuclei bags of the other two metal users C it contained a full 70! 70 per person! But now there was little left. This amount could support two days workload in peacetime! "Yes, Id like to have a nap this afternoon." Even Yan Fei needed some support. Todays operation needed a lot of mental energy and could not rx for a long time. His brain was much more tired than usual. "Yan Fei, Ill let people carry these pieces onto the truck, when we go back it can go in your car." The captain excitedly walked over while pointing at people moving iron tes, bars and other things. "Good. Thank you captain for taking care of it." Yan Fei nodded in thanks. The captain smiled and patted him on the shoulder and confessed. "Today we go back a littleter, wait for the second team to tell them how to build the outer wall from the inside. You can immediately get on the bus to rest." Although there was a certain degree ofpetitionparison between the two teams, but rted to the safety of ability users, this was something that needed to be told to all parties. Yan Fei and Luo Xun were not the type of people who liked to show off and they were not soldiers so the captain let them rest in the car. The metal users from the morning shift exined the new wall building method to the afternoon team once the second team of cars arrived. Afterwards they got on the car and returned to the base barracks. The second team of people were grateful for the concern and information, but after the three metal users experimented for about ten minutes, a problem appeared. The three exined to the second team captain. "ording to this method, it needs arger concentration of mental strength, more than twice the usual. There are not enough crystal nuclei from before!" The afternoon team was a little different from the morning team. The morning group originally only had two metal users, but their initial ability was higher, so the wall construction speed was faster than the afternoon group. Therefore when the superiors deployed the morning staff, the work time was shorter, but they wanted the same degree of efficiency, with not much difference. The morning people were naturally reluctant, higher ups wanted more efficiency and speed, but they were only two people. They had less work time but needed to aplish the same thing, how long could they go? Fortunately, the addition of Yan Fei eased the situation. With Yan Feis arrival, the afternoon team could no longer keep up. The second team captain extended work hours in order to get more results. Yan Fei had quick hands and did not get sick, the second team was vomiting blood trying to catch up. But with this kind of conduction, which cost a great deal of mental power to build fences, the group could not hold on for long. The second team captain had a headache and asked the three metal users. "Then what method is better for you?" The three looked at each other, then hesitantly asked. "What about...what we received notice about before? Hang down a rope to reach it?" They had heard the news before they came to the barracks. The base proposed that people helping repair the wall would hang from a rope. There would be more deployed staff outside and vehicles for protection. But the base did not implement the n due to not knowing the actual safety level. The captain nced out the fence with some hesitation. An ability user stepped forward. "Captain, since this morning the outside fence has been cleared once. If there are not too many zombies, and those under the wall are killed by the group then there will not be too much danger if we go down." The second team captain thought then clenched his teeth. "Arrange a person responsible for pulling the rope! As soon as theres danger, pull the man up. The rest of the guard will handle the metal materials from the wall!" Now that the zombies were almost cleaned out near the gate and the rescue car had returned, hanging from the wall was not a big problem. If the situation deteriorated, they could be pulled up in time and continue after the danger had passed. The truck stopped a short distance before the barracks, soon after a small tattered second hand can stopped behind. Several soldiers came down and moved some metal tes into the back of the van. Soon after the two people climbed back into the truck and headed back to the barracks. After parting with the captain, Luo Xun and Yan Fei headed towards the fourth canteen, the third canteen was full so they woulde backter. They had been dyed a bit on the road, so it seemed like there would no food left, hence going to the fourth canteen to see the days dishes. "All set?" Luo Xun whispered to Yan Fei. Yan Fei nodded with a wry smile. "Had to use a crystal nucleus, it seems like Ill need to take a long nap this afternoon." Those few metal tes were calcted for base material but the captain secretly gave it to him so he did not want to make trouble. He moved the boards and attached the metal to the inside of the car body. No could tell, like thest time they went out to find materials, the metals were directly affixed to the car walls. To save space but also as vehicle protection measures. At a critical moment, there would also be a lot of weapons to use. The two circled the fourth canteen and whispered to each other. "Seeing todays dishes, there seems to less meat." In the barracks the main forces were all men, who liked to eat meat the most in order to replenish physical strength. So people used the skill of the chef as measure of food quality, the other was the quantity of meat in the dishes. But after the three days of Chinese New year, it was clear that the main courses of the fourth canteen had been reced with various types of vegetables. The situation at the fifth canteen was slowly bing a trend. But this was still free food, one would not refuse a free meal. The two of them each got a steamed bun and two vegetable dishes. Four different dishes to mix and match while eating. Luo Xun whispered while putting the lunch box in his backpack. "Could it be the army has less meat?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. "Possible" He looked at Luo Xun. "Do you think the base has pig, cattle or sheep?" Luo Xun froze and wrinkled his brows. "...Not easy to tell, after all those animals could also be zombies..." The two had seen mutant zombie dogs outside the base, they were more ferocious than ordinary zombies. Even if there were some domestic poultry on base, but one was afraid that... "I remember that the beef stew we got from the third canteen almost always tasted the same..." Yan Fei took the backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "It should have been something the military had before the apocalypse started." Which would exin why the taste was the same every time. Luo Xun pped his head and wryly smiled at Yan Fei. "I think the base will soon run out of meat, if even the third canteen is like this. The stuff that was eaten before was likely about to expire." So long as there was no weird smell, the shelf life of this type of meat was around three years or so. But even if it wouldst for two to three years, Luo Xun did not why the base was being so generous, there might not be enough meat for the military. The corners of Yan Feis mouth curled. "You dont remember? A lot of big shots have arrived this past year." The addition of new people would certainly bring new needs. They would definitely have some say in the actions and practices of the military forces. "Well need to observe the canteen situation for a few days before guessing the future." Luo Xun and Yan Feis worries gradually became a reality. The fourth and fifth canteens decreased the amount of meat to barely a trickle and before long, the third canteen food has also declined significantly. What was more regretful to the couple was the third canteen originally had some variety of dishes such as dumplings, wonton and noodles which began to gradually fade from the crowd. The amount of white rice was gradually decreasing as well, a littleter, one could only buy the big base steamed bread to eat! At this time, instead of those foods with no vors, peoples only choice was to exchange points for instant noodles with different seasoning packets instead. Back home they spoke with Li Tie and the others. They alsoined about this matter, even Zhang Yi who could eat in the second canteen nodded after hearing the others. "Second canteen is the same, several more borate dishes have been cancelled, the amount of meat, oil and water has decreased, but few people with an opinion." "Why?" The people who could eat in the second canteen were prioritized by the army, were their qualities so high to overlook bodily functions? Zhang Yi smirked. "Those who go to the second canteen are mostly technical personnel, for example doctors like me, scientists inboratories, experts and schrs. Most of these people are not relying on physical strength. With the apocalypse, they dont pay attention to what they eat or drink. Often so busy that thoughts of eating are the first to go. I heard a few male nursesining in the hospital and the surgeon I work with told me he had no idea what he had eaten for lunch." The crowd was silent...what was this world? Were there so many mentally tough workers? "Plus..." Zhang Yi smiled, Wang Duo who was sitting next to him and focused on drinking tea suddenly startled and his face flushed. He stared straight at Zhang Yi with drooling from the side of his mouth. "We still have a lot of female nurses. These women usually cannot even eat half a mouthful of meat, ate a vegetarian diet early on. Who would ask where the meat went?" Luo Xun and the others had not spoken when Wang Duo nodded as if a switch had been flipped. "Right! Those women are so annoying, they dont do anything but chatter and gossip. *Cough* Zhang Yi, you worked hard today? Want me to rub your shoulders?" Luo Xun turned to the side and rolled his eyes, they guys moral integrity had be a negative, even more than the puppy at home! These past few days Zhang Yi only had to raise a hand for Wang Duo to know what he wanted like hot or cold water. Sigh, he flew over to Zhang Yi in order to rub his shoulders. Yan Fei did not look at the pair of dog and queen, only whispered a question. "Eyes tired?" Luo Xun shook his head, his mouth twitched inint. "Why cant our little puppy act like that?" Yan Fei nced at the two and understood his meaning. "Should we feel sorry for them?" Li Tie andpany also thought if not toothache then an eyesore. They wanted to kick the pair out as hate bubbled up C they were talking about serious matters all right?! "I heard the base is ready to start farming." Han Li hurriedly changed the topic so that his gold dog eyes were not blinded. "Yes, we listened to the leaders in the canteen." he Qiankun quickly raised his hand. "What kind ofnd in the base?" Luo Xun asked. Li Tie responded. "We are not clear, only heard a bit." Luo Xun pondered. "We have been working outside the fence and saw a lot of recent survivors arriving. If the base only has their initial supplies...not enough to eat." "What can we do? We cant go out there anyway. Even if we could nt something, what if a zombie sloshed around and contaminated the food and field?" Wu Xin shivered and looked at Li Tie. "We should be ready to farm at home? The weather seems to have warmed up a lot recently!" "Yes, in a few days, the house will bepletely dry." Li Tie looked at the pair with shining eyes. "We have saved up a lot of points and recently the person in charge told us we could get some metal!" Yan Fei nodded with a smile. "Okay, just bring back the materials into the room and I can spread it on the floor." "And us two!" Wang Duo who was circling around Zhang Yi like a dog raised his hands and shouted. "Okay, but you have to think about whats on the floor, after all, we dont have enough flooring for three houses." Yan Fei hinted at the two. When the group had gone out, although they had brought wood flooring back, it was not enough to cover apartments. Only covering Zhang Yis bedroom was not a problem, but the other rooms...definitely not enough. Wang Duos expression scrunched up as he thought of ideas when Zhang Yi suddenly asked. "Metal materials can be put in the floor?" Luo Xun froze and looked at Yan Fei before speaking. "Its not a no, but we worry that sound passes easier through metal? Of course, if theres nothing else we can make due with metal flooring." Yan Fei held his chin in thought. "There should be no problem using metal flooring, but if you want better sound instion its best to get something thicker. In addition, I need to see if the room walls would need steel reinforcement in case they cannot support the weight." In addition to thest time they brought back metal materials, the couple sometimes went outside on free afternoons to check street stalls in their car. Conveniently collectedrge quantities of unprocessed metal materials. Now that they had reinforced the walls around their home, if they got more metal, they could potentially consolidate the entire building C they could not just strengthen their own home after all. If the building fell one day, would the secret of their apartment be kept secret? Unfortunately Yan Fei could not tell anyone about that, also could not encourage the neighbors to donate C he did not want to provoke any trouble. So he quietly strengthened the wall when he could. Wang Duo thumped his chest in reassurance while Zhang Yi asked. "Where did you get so much metal?" Wang Duo immediately paused and turned to his former ssmates and roommates. Three of the four people instantly turned their heads, the remaining He Qiankun said with an expression of authentic regret. "That...you remember what leader said about looking for boards? Should be enough for the floor, but any more...its hard for people to bring out..." Plus that was the stuff they had spent a lot of time exchanging for. Wang Duo also remembered the matter but...should he spend his points on finding a supplier? After thinking a bit he decided to go back and check how many points he had saved. Only after factoring in Zhang Yis meal could he save any remaining points, otherwise he would be raised by his boyfriend? Ah, being the man of the family is hard work... The quality of food was getting worse over time, however some were fortunate C people in the barracks would still eat some form of meat. The third canteen had a meal with meat everyday, although there was less meat, each persons portion was rtively small. But it was better than the fourth and fifth canteens. Luo Xun and Yan Fei saw the so called broth stewed dishes of the fourth canteen. Luo Xun guessed that the broth used was the soup from the third canteen meat dish. Compared to the army, even if ordinary survivors had points on hand, at the base exchange window they could only buy steamed bun and all kinds of pickled and canned good, could not buy any fresh vegetables. However in recent days, the base had begun plowing farnd to grow the first crop of the year. Arge part of the base farnd was originally a flower field. Now those flowers and grass had been uprooted and turned into crops C there is little food, who would have the inclination to grow flowers? In private, there were also a lot of people buying and selling various crop seeds C a lot of people had picked up nt seeds from farmers markets and supermarkets. Although the amount was very small, they were the sprouts of small tomatoes, cucumbers and other crops. Now these things were what many people were seeking. When Li Tie and the others went shopping they also bought a pack of cucumber seeds, ready to try and grow the nts. "Li Tie said the materials will be in ce today, are you going to help them tonight or tomorrow afternoon?" Luo Xun quietly asked Yan Fei as he rested. The metal ability users had been working hard these days to build the metal wall as quickly as possible. Luo Xuns team was doing their part so efficiency went up. The speed of building fences was faster than before. "Tonight if they can get it." Yan Fei had adapted to the current way of building walls. It used up a lot of mental strength, he had be ustomed to the feeling of exhaustion. He held several nuclei in his palm to absorb. The thumping and pounding of gunfire came from the surveince guardhouse outside the wall. The zombies that came together these days was never ending. Although the army had stepped up its defensive and counter attack efforts after the new year, the outer wall was not too wide. They could only prioritize defending the gate perimeter as well as wall security. Luo Xun looked in the direction of the gunfire, but was blocked by the tall walls. But he knew that there were several vehicles parked just outside the newly built walls. There were a lot of soldiers in charge of protecting everyones safety. The base was also afraid that a zombie would damage the walls, if a zombie managed to bypass the wall, it would definitely bring great danger to the base. Chapter 66 Yan Feis captain, who was sitting in a military jeep, loudly called to the people who were climbing the wall to reach their spots. "Just received notice, the earth users havepleted two periods of outer wall construction. The higher ups gave them a few days to prepare for the third stage, thickening the wall. Our speed needs to be increased as soon as possible, otherwise the two sides cannot progress together smoothly." Todays wall was only six metres high with a thickness of about one metre. The outer metal wall only had a thickness of 10 cm and there was still at least half the metal wall to be built. "Captain, does the metal fence need to be thicker?" A metal user asked while absorbing a crystal nucleus to rest. "Yes, but not now. The future metal wall must be repaired to a thickness of at least a metre but the base does not have enough metal. Need to wait until more are brought over." The captain sighed and looked towards the inner city. "Not only does the perimeter wall need to expand, the inner wall also needs to be strengthened and thickened." A fence was a safeguard, although the wall was blocking the zombies with humans stuck inside, only with the protection of a thick wall would people feel at ease. A soldierughed. "The next time we fix this wall it will soon be a European castle." Another soldier smiled and pointed at a surveince tower. "Its already not too far from that. Yesterday I saw a guardhouse set up a stone bridge and heard that more will be built. In order to avoid what happened before, the guardspletely isted and surrounded by zombies, the base found a way to erect a brick channel attached to each guardhouse. The thin channels were connected to the wall, each could only let one person walk at a time and looked like an ancient castle guard tower. From below, the channel resembled a half curved bridge structure, which was the result of coboration between earth users and experienced base architects. Then metal users were called in to help build them. More guardhouses would need to be builtter and the base had the idea of constructing some channels to facilitate information transmission increase the mobility of support personnel. Luo Xun suspected that the bridges could be used to recover lost ground if the situation came to it. Plus Luo Xun had a clear memory of his past life, in the near future, the base would build a true castle. The castle was now located at the barracks, near military buildings with tall walls. Unfortunately in hisst life Luo Xun had no chance to see what was inside, but in this life...he and Yan Fei would be involved in the work. Well, he would not directly participate but he would certainly help Yan Fei with the task. After the captain ryed the news, Yan Fei and the others had absorbed most of the crystal nuclei energy, the mornings work was over. Like before, the two men were ferried back to the barracks, went to the canteen for takeout then drove their car back to their neighborhood. After the spring festival, less people obviously idled at home, the vast majority went looking for work in order to find ways to exchange for rations. Timid people would find a job on base while the more daring would form a team to collect supplies in the area. A lot of people had been trying to gather resources and form a real team. The number of stalls on the streets had decreased with the number of tables with recruiting banners increased proportionately. As the two drove by, some men standing in the middle of the road held leaflets to their windows. Luo Xun asked Yan Fei. "What was written on there?" He was toozy to leave the base and prefered to farm at home, work the wall for a living but could not withstand the desire for gossip in his heart. There was no entertainment on base so seeing how various teams were wooing people, if there were any rising stars at this time seemed a very good past time. Yan Fei looked at the bunch of leaflets, his mouth twitched twice. "Whats up?" Luo Xun was carefully driving since the base streets were often filled with passerbys. The car was not very fast, there were always people who suddenly rushed out or ran past. Carelessly bumping into someone or something while driving was normal. "Handwritten on in white paper." Yan Fei carefully looked and found that under the pen appeared to be something printed before the apocalypse. "Oh, theres a paper shortage." Luo Xun thought this was normal, who could find paper to use, wait another year and see? Everyone would have to use the legendary papyrus. "...and typos." Yan Fei stared at the written words. "...Very normal. Everyone uses mobile phone andputers to type, writing errors are normal." Luo Xun forcibly nodded as he silently recalled C it had been a long time since he had written anything...he only used a pen on rare asions. After his rebirth, although he sometimes wrote sometime, whenever he could not remember how to write a word he would check his phone...so his writing skills were not bad? Yan Fei sighed. "I think they must have used old chinese medicine leaflets, its hard to find the meaning of a lot of these words." His literary level was quite high, as a child under the supervision of his grandfather, he had copied a lot of books. He could identify orthodox and running script but not these simplified versions. He could only rely on other recognized words to figure out some meaning. "...What about the rest?" Luo Xun refrained fromughing. Yan Fei picked out a few to read while Luo Xun listened. "Not very reliable, not so much hiring as teaming up to find supplies." "Reliable?" Yan Fei smiled as he folded the papers and put them away in the car C it was paper, may be useful in the future and they could not waste anything useful. "All those flyers? Mid power fire user preferred, but they do not have the ability to draw these people. Just empty words, no stirring of the heart at all." "Yes, I think they are putting in effort but should go directly to the city gate to find those who want to go out. They might find some suitable people to cooperate with." The two people casually spoke as they entered their neighborhood, there were many people flocking to the car. Suddenly a person shouted. "Yan...Yan..." It was a womans voice. Luo Xun froze and looked out Yan Feis window to see a in looking 20 year old woman staring at Yan Fei in horror. This woman looked a little familiar but...who was she? And Yan Fei was still wearing a mask, since he was still recognized...an acquaintance? Unhappily ncing at Yan Fei, Luo Xun quickly entered themunity gate. Yan Fei only nced once at the woman before putting the folded pile of leaflets away. The two people parked the car, with bags and things to set off. Luo Xun saw the woman had secretly followed from the door intersection. She jumped and turned to the gate when seen. "Who is she?" So she was not an acquaintance? The difort in Luo Xuns heart was reduced by a lot. "Should be part of the first group of people I met after the apocalypse started." Yan Feis expression was unchanged, seeing Luo Xun was unclear he smiled and exined. "The group of people who broke my ribs, this woman seemed to be among them." He had profound memories of those guys, there had also been that conspicuous mature woman and a more innocent looking college student C who let those two women stick to his side every day? If he was not mistaken, that girl should have a good rtionship with the college student. He did not even remember the names of those two outstanding women, let alone one so inconspicuous? "Oh! Them!" Luo Xun also remembered, although he had met the group but his attention had been on the boss, the others only left a faint impression. Thinking of that, he looked at the doorway with a trace of murderous intent. "Should we check where they live?" Yan Fei lightly smiled. "Not urgent right now." He would not forget this, his heart was very small. In fact, Luo Xun may have not noticed before but they had seen the group several times in the morning for work. But they were far away and also had not talked about this matter so Luo Xun did not know. However Yan Fei could guess their building number. But recently he had not seen the mature women or the female college students among them. Did they stay at home for housekeeping? Or had they gone their separate ways. Luo Xun nodded his head while carrying a backpack and other things to their floor. These people could not stay, not just because they had seriously injured Yan Fei. Luo Xun did not believe that those people would not go after Yan Fei with sinister intentions once they knew he was alive. If this kind of thing was not resolved as soon as possible, they could get involved in an unexpected situation. Luo Xun refused to let such people with likely hidden intentions stay near. The idea was notplicated, there would be no problem as long as there was an opportunity to get rid of those people. However his crossbow and Zhang Yis wind power were rtively conspicuous, ordinary people might not notice, but the soldiers who had cooperated with them were very aware of this matter. A hand hand suddenly feel on his head, Luo Xun looked up to see Yan Fei smiling. "Dont worry, I will solve it." Would not leave anything behind, not toote. Forget about the others, the leader of the group and a few men were now living together, Yan Fei had not found a chance to deal with them at the moment. After the spring festival, the weather began to warm up. The sun shone warmly at two oclock in the afternoon. The soldiers in defensive positions along with those constructing the walls all felt slightly sleepy. Three of the soldiers hung in midair building walls were glued to the structure as theyined in a low voice. "Such fine weather, the rope feels like a hammock making people feel drowsy." "Didnt the captain say earth users were going to expand the fence again? I heard that next time you repair the walls it will be 10 metres instead!" "Isnt sex metres enough?" The zombies could not jump up... "Superiors orders, we can only follow. Anyway, the higher the better." Several people whispered, from time to time adjusted the rope position, when suddenly... "Quickly! Pull it up!" People on the wall suddenly shouted, they looked back to see a few zombies had unexpectedly climbed the armored vehicle. Two of them jumped towards the three from the top of the car! "Ah-!" "Pull the rope up!" "Pull! Pull!" "Another zombie rushed in!!" "Pull! Hurry up!" The soldiers on the wall responsible for pulling tugged at the rope, suddenly two of them fell to the group. They pulled the swishing rope but there was no one at the other end...no trace at all! The zombie raid killed the five soldiers in the vehicle and a metal user hanging from the rope was pulled down by a zombie. Two arms and thigh were torn to pieces. Others also fell to their death but fortunately did not be zombies. However another ability user was bitten on the thigh and turned into a zombie! The second team of three metal users suddenly lost two... "Ah ah ah! I cant wait for warm water and electricity!" Li Tie and the others obediently stood at the door while looking at Yan Fei standing in the living room. The metal in the corner was now flying. Under Yan Feis control it distorted, deformed, fused from one room to another, gradually the rooms and the aisle were all covered with metal! All was ording to Luo Xuns drawn designs for the valves and the hot water instation. Yan Fei pped his hands and turned to the door. "Try out the water and electricity." "Ok!" The crowd cheered, gingerly stepped between the pipe gaps and started to heat some water. The equipment used the water heater device, the heat pipe was in the inlet and the room would only heated water to pass through. Therefore it would take some time for the entire room to heat up. However the water flow also had a temperature control device, once it reached a certain temperature the heat would be suspended...although there were a variety of issues to be fine tuned, it should be usable for now. Luo Xun looked in satisfaction as the students busied themselves. Not long after the pipes became warm and the group cheered. He found himself to be quite talented, look, he had designed this sort of thing! Yan Fei smiled at looked at Luo Xuns face of pride, suddenly had an impulse of carry back, throw to bed and then happily enjoy. Should he put these recently thought up fantasies into action? However Wang Duo ran over with a ttering smile. "Yan Fei, we are also collecting materials, well trouble you after two days." Yan Fei gave him a hard look. "You guys figured out which room to put it in? The heat pipe C its something I cant do now." The heating pipe in Li Ties room was something they had exchanged for. Luo Xuns home had some C but he was afraid of what would happen if their own water heating pipe got damaged without any recements? So he had bought two before the apocalypse and brought back a few more from the building materials mall. Luo Xun had some, but how could it support everything? Wang Duo hurriedly patted his chest. "Rest assured! Ill take care if it!" Zhang Yi who had heard the words from the door, smiled. "All depends on you. I have to go." Wang Duos face instantly turned red, he turned to pull at Zhang Yis clothes C spoiled. Who told him to go out and buy metal materials only to find he did not have enough points? Or that Zhang Yi had coldy smiled at his coffers? Luo Xun raised a hand to cover his damaged titanium eyes, he could not look directly at this scene, who was suffering between these two people? How could there be no masculinity to be seen? Inside 1601, the water cirction system was functioning but Li Tie and the others felt regret after a while. They had to speed up the work for the bedroom or there would be no sleeping spaces! It was a sad story. The neighbors had to watch the floor, Luo Xun and Yan Fei watched the meeting before heading home to rest. Wang Duo was forcibly kept to help in exchange for help in the future by the other students. Zhang Yi did not speak or stop, but felt doubt as he turned back to his room, had he chosen the wrong person? Was it really okay to have a boyfriend with low IQ? Obviously he had already talked with Yan Fei, said that the home would use metal in the future. Did not need Li Tie and the others to help out, plus there was only just enough for the bedroom... Was it toote to kick him out? Besides, the two were already together... Thinking of these issues, Zhang Yi self reflected. Should he let Wang Duo swoop in the empty period after his ex-boyfriend or lock the door and let him sleep in the corridor... Luo Xun was locked up in his own home by someone. "What are you doing?" Luo Xun was shocked, seeing Yan Fei walk up the stairs he dared not struggle in fear of falling and could only let him carry on. Yan Fei pped the others butt, he had been thinking of carrying Luo Xun to bed. There are some things that one must do to move on. The little puppy looked and thought her two masters were ying a fun game, her tail wagged all the way to the second floor. Then with a clinking sound...she was locked out of the room. She lifted her paw and scratched at the door, pricked up her ears to faintly hear a few calls from behind the door and hurriedly stood on her hind legs. Unfortunately, neither owner came to open the door, her tail drooped and she went down the stairs back to her nest. Did not want to y... humph! XXX Luo Xun sat in the passenger seat and listelessly yawned. In the back of the car the five people also yawned one after another. No other way, they had spent most of the night to finish a bedroom, they still had some rooms left aftering back tonight! Luckily they had mastered a new skillst night Cying on the floor! Look at the future, they could use this as a skill to find a job! However, how many people would renovate their houses during the apocalypse? Press the new button on the side to donate a Ko-fi! For every 10 Ko-fis, Ill post a bonus chapter for incentive. Chapter 67 After stopping the car, the pair walked into the barracks together, only to see that someone was outside the truck waving at them. "Whats the matter?" The two people paused then quickened their steps. "Well talk in the car, we have to leave early today." Seeing the two peoplee over, the captain hurriedly motioned at the driver to leave. "Yesterday afternoon arge number of zombies rushed out of the base, their movements were more flexible than before. When the zombies attacked, five soldiers were killed and two metal ability users..." The captains eyes were heavy. "...both died." One had been killed on the spot while the other was injured and became a zombie, so they had to... The car had a heavy atmosphere, Luo Xun and Yan Fei were silent for a while before asking. "How were they hurt? Did the zombie jump into the base?" The captain slowly shook his head, before he could speak a metal user other than Yan Fei spoke up. "They didnt repair the wall the way we did! The second team hung outside using the rope! Its how they lost two people!" Yan Fei and Luo Xun looked at each other. They were surprised but also did understand why the other team would do this. After all, directly manipting the metal gave better control, or perhaps they could not remotely control the metal. "Wheres Li?" Luo Xun asked another question. "The higher ups asked us to transfer one person to the second team. I sent him over first." This was one of the reasons the captain was not happy, due to someone elses mistakes, he was forced to split up his own team. Their irresponsible decision was even more annoying! The whole car was immersed in anger, towards the dead, the ones who had decided the matter and against the crazy zombies outside the base. Because the second team had a major incident, the ability user who had transferred from the first team would have to act as a guide in using powers over long distances in addition to their regr workload. After all, the reason that the second team had not used the method previously was because they did not have a thorough grasp of it, which would cause a waste of nuclei. "Captain, there is only one metal user left on the second team, why not just merge the two teams?" Instead of sending a person over to the second team, why not merge the two teams together? Why soplicated? The captain had a helpless face. "Fear of ability users having problems over using their powers. Plus the two teams had been working separately, so efficiency factored into the decision." In fact, the main reason was that the base had not finished studying the crystal nuclei. What would happen if overuse of nuclei had an effect on the body? Like suddenly turning into a zombie? The base dared not allow these people to use their abilities until they could fully verify the situation. The car soon parked at the edge of the wall. The captain cheered on the rest of the group. "Good, everyone get fired up. Although we now have one less person, our efficiency has been high so far, lets continue our efforts in the future!" Because there were fewer people, the number of crystal nuclei was more numerous. So long as the two metal users could keep up, there would be no problems. Yan Fei and the other metal user first climbed the wall. Luo Xun apanied him, looking out with his crossbow. He sighed in his heart C the number of zombies had increased. Zombies had a sense of smell like a shark. While at work everyone worked hard to kill zombies so the number near the wall had decreased, but the next morning one could still see a considerable number of the creatures outside. Plus what happened yesterday afternoon seemed to have attracted more distant zombies into the vicinity. There was no way to clean up the blood spilled from the attack, which became a sign, waving at the zombies and telling them: Theres plenty of delicious food, lets have dinner together! Seeing a figure on the wall, the zombies became excited and waved their arms. Some tried to jump up towards the wall, trying to grab someone to eat like yesterday afternoon. A livid soldier fired, killing a zombie while the nearby creatures excitedly surged in response. "All right, everybody calm down." The captain shouted a few words before dispatching work. Not too far away, every once in a while a batch of vehicles was released from the gate to carry out missions outside. Uptown had a better design due to sufficient manpower that participated in construction work. The entrance to the city was divided into pedestrian and vehicle entrances, with armed soldiers on guard at both. The gate divided the city into two parts with a high wall in between. Once closed tightly, one was unable to climb in. People who wanted to exit the city needed to enter the patio after registering. Once a certain number of vehicles had umted, the inner door would be closed and the outer door would open. When the gate opened, all the cars rushed out at the same time. If a zombie wandered into the courtyard, the gate would close and the soldiers on wall duty would shot and kill. Luo Xuns group was working a long distance from the gate and could only faintly hear the sound of cars. Whenever the door opened, one could see distant cars frantically speeding down the street, only leaving afterimages to watchers. Yan Fei and the other metal user named Sun Shaoyang each grabbed a piece of metal like magic. The metal seemed toe alive, without direct contact, the material crept down like mud to form a tube. The twos attention was not towards the self changing metal tube in the left hand, the other hand continued to grab a piece of metal and merge it to the upper end of the tube. As the metal increased, the metal tube continued downward. The metal liquids dripped and fused into the metal walls until they reached the required height. While they were working, the captain was called away but came back after about half an hour to check on work progress. Seeing Yan Fei and Sun Shaoyang were still working, he waited until they were resting before speaking. "The earth users have already raised the wall to six meters but because our work has not beenpleted and the second team had arge ident, the leaders decided to change the previous n. Let them heighten and thicken the inner wall to ten meters." He continued exining. "The situation inside the city wall and here is different. Even if the wall is higher one was still afraid of zombie trouble, no matter the method the wall must be built as soon as possible. Here trying to quickly repair all the walls before the earth users, and theres a new task waiting for us." Some of the soldiers faces were not good. "What kind of new task?" The captain pointed at the city wall. "Not right now, but some people suggested that we put some barbed wire on top of the wall." While speaking, he took out a drawn n. Though the image on the n was not really barbed wire, it had a sharp thorn shape but the thorns stretched out from the wall. The tips were nted, once installed they could partially block zombies who could jump the wall. Yan Fei had thest say in the matter since he was the one who had thought up the improved wall building method before. Yan Fei thought while holding his chin. "This is not difficult in itself to do but if you want the effect drawn here, the metal wall needs enough load bearing capacity, the metal walls need to be thick enough. Right not its only 10 centimeters thick, if this is installed the whole metal wall might copse." Several soldiers could not help butugh, one joked. "Thats okay, at least the wall could kill a portion of the zombies." The captainughed and then looked to Yan Fei. "If you want to install these things, how thick do the metal walls need to be?" Yan Fei shrugged helplessly. "This I dont know, captain should talk to his superiors. The base must have architecture experts." The captain patted his forehead, listening to himself, did he think these two men were professional home repair people? The other persons ability was only manipting metal, he had not learned how to build a house. "This is not urgent, I will askter. Even if its necessary to build we would have to wait until the wall is raised to ten meters before considering the problem." cing the drawing back into his pocket the captain let the group continue working. As Yan Fei and the other metal user became more familiar with the process, they moved metal to the wall much faster. Avoiding the small pieces of metal and instead leaning therge metal tes against the wall to transport material upwards. A truck loaded with metal stopped near the two, ready to provide all kinds of materials. The captain also silently considered, would they not need a crane when it came time to build the wall up to ten meters? To help hoist the metal up? Or would the soldiers have to ferry it instead? However, with less personnel, the remainder subconsciously sped up and also reduced rest time. All to make full use of time and build more. The wall would be done early and although there was still work to be done, security would be improved. Many soldiers were lying in wait on both sides of the wall to deal with zombies who were crowding below. Even the worst shots among the soldiers practiced and their marksmanship had greatly improvedpared to before the apocalypse. Taking turns between being responsible for the ropes and collecting crystal nuclei, peoples efficiency also improved a lot. The number of nuclei increased multiple fold through increased teamwork and understanding. After a busy morning the group went back to the car, not to mention the two metal users, those who helped carry the metal materials were very tired. After all, the team size was not small but notrge either C a total of 10 people, and there was a lot of things to do. The team passed through the lofty inner gates and returned to the barracks. Luo Xun and Yan Fei dragged their tired bodies into the third canteen for takeout. "The food is getting worse." Luo Xun whispered a sigh. Today there was no meat in the two dishes, fortunately the canteen considerately gave them an egg. Yes, only one egg in the two dishes they ordered. "Didnt we hear that the fourth canteens small ham sausages were all starch instead of meat?" Yan Fei smiled and put the lunch box into his backpack. "Lets go home and eat." The canteen food changes were not a big problem, but if the overall portions became smaller than quantitative change would cause qualitative change. The two men got into their car and drove home. East of the base, the southern area had arge amount of farnd ted for construction of new residential areas. The army had recovered the area a while ago and originally belonged to a senior family on base. The rest of the farnd had been fully reimed, looked like the next stage of days would begin. On the way back, they passed through some of the more prosperous base streets where exchange windows had been ced at several intersections and ordinary people could exchange for food and other supplies. Base cirction was integral, it was more appropriate to take out points than instant noodles like when just entering the base. Plus instant noodles, biscuits and other items were perishable foods. As the value increased higher and higher, most people were not willing to exchange these products. Before long the pair saw the high rise building, turned at an intersection. It would not be long before they got back. Yan Fei closed his eyes to self cultivate spirit as he was a little tired. Luo Xun drove intently and avoided a hazardous pedestrian for the third time. Yes, after the end there were many scammers, people would follow behind then suddenly rush a car. The driver would possible hit the person and their associates would crowd and surround the car and force the driver to pay some sort ofpensation. Luo Xun had encountered this before, however right now he could bring out his crossbow and shoot at the following peoples feet. Along with threat of a metal needle, they would run away. Looked like the people here had recently arrived and did not know that Luo Xuns car was not a soft persimmon, so they rashly rushed over. In truth, one could not me them, who told the couple to travel using a shabby second hand vehicle? They did not know the team had a strong ability user and only saw the car in bad shape. Luo Xun felt vexed and wanted to step on the brakes in order to introduce his two crossbows to those naive outsiders. Suddenly, a scream came from a nearby sidewalk. At the same time Yan Fei sharply opened his eyes and the two looked out the car window C zombie! There was a zombie on the street! The two started when suddenly a scream came from another direction! Luo Xun nced around and quickly stepped on the elerator C if only one or two people suddenly became zombies it could be considered an ident but he had clearly seen that in addition to the two outside, some of the roadside pedestrians did not look right! It was the second zombie outbreak in the base! Luo Xuns heart immediately made a judgement, the car rushed towards the neighborhood gate. He rapidly exined to Yan Fei. "Some of the people on the roadside did not look right. I think the situations simr to the destruction of three bases in May!" Although the cause was not clear, the situation came so suddenly, they must first go to a safe ce to ride out the crisis! Luo Xun had known that there had been an internal zombie outbreak in the southwest base, but was unclear as to when exactly. At that time he had not inquired about the matter and just listened to what the older base residents had said. The zombie virus outbreak urred soon after the base was established and was soon suppressed. But it had been a long time since Luo Xun arrived at the southwest base in hisst life and this kind of thing had happened in almost every base. However some bases did not survive and werepletely lost, the remainder had managed to persevere through the apocalyptic days. "Ah, you drive, Ill be in charge of everything else." Yan Feis face became more serious but not too tense. They had weathered quite a few storms from the start of the apocalypse, this time they would also survive! Yan Fei removed a crystal nucleus from his pocket and filled up his mental strength. He had wanted to go back and have a nice afternoon nap. Fortunately he had developed the habit of carrying all his nuclei, in case of any idents. There were several spare crystals in his inside and coat pockets. It was not only Luo Xun and Yan Fei that had this sort of reaction, many of the people who had entered the base were ones who had experienced storms. Whether early orte, most of the people in the apocalypse had faced zombies, many had even personally killed zombies. Unfortunately there were still a lot of people who originally lived in the area and had not been confronted with this situation due to the militarys timely response. Thus the incident had sparked quite a bit of panic amongst people. The panicked people ran wildly, some ability users prepared themselves, those with some zombie experience grabbed whatever could be used as a weapon. One side turned to block attacks while also rushing towards their homes. Unfortunately, there were a number of zombies on the street and the fleeing and struggling identally injured other people. In addition to the unrest caused the zombies, the congestion was getting worse. Luo Xun drove to the gate entrance but met with a headache worthy discovery C someone had have closed the gate and now the fleeing people could only desperately squeeze through the other half of the door! Who had shut the door? Fine, one could understand what that person had been thinking closing the door, best to do so in advance. But the issue was that the people approaching were not just zombies! Several zombies had caught up with the crowd, the people stuck at themunity entrance! Screams repeatedly sounded, Yan Fei opened the car window, ready to use spirit energy to control the closed door. Suddenly he saw a few familiar faces in the crowd and his brow rose. It was Xu Bin and his men who had injured and nearly killed him. Those guys who had been hanging out with Xu Bin? It seemed there were more of them than before. Xu Bin had met the people in the first two days near the area to see if Yan Fei had any female college students with him. Yan Fei had not realized that the coquettish female and the college students had been separated from the old group. Yan Feis hand slowed and saw a zombie appear next to Xu Bin. The man did not hesitate to push the female student seeking protection in his arms towards the zombie! Zombies did not care what was pushed in front of them, in their eyes it was only food. Since the meal had taken the initiative to approach, it would not be polite. The zombie bit down with bloody fervor, the screaming sound painfully resounded in peoples eardrums. Show support by donating through the Ko-fi button. Every ten donations or $30 will be an extra chapter released. Chapter 68 The womans screams mixed together with those of the crowd. No one paid attention to the victim, everyone wanted to save their own lives, as for others...oneself was not the one who died? Others could die in order for more people to escape! Yan Fei saw Xu Bin pushing the female students desperately towards the crowd. The guy was stronger and taller, otherwise he would not be the boss of the group. With his movements, a few physically weak people were dragged to the ground, he could smoothly bypass the gate. The corners of Yan Feis mouth curled into a meaningful smile, he raised a finger and pointed at the people pushing to escape through the iron door. Xu Bins footsteps stopped, he and severalpanions stood in the door gasping for air. A few people had seen hime in and the remaining zombies would not follow for the time being so he stopped and did not run immediately inside. If he dumped his own escape first it would be easier than if he waited. *Creak* A bunch of people heard the sound of groaning. Xu Bin and the others were horrified to see the big iron gate slowly falling towards them! Xu Bin, who had experienced many life and death crises, reacted immediately. He turned his head seeing someone panicking with a wide mouth, he desperately ran towards themunity. But after taking a few steps, the iron gate unexpectedly copsed towards his head! *Crash* The people running for their lives unconsciously looked and saw that the closed door had copsed, with a few unlucky souls crushed underneath. The zombies staggered over with excited footsteps... Luo Xun remained firm and did not pay attention to the copsed door or people who were hit. He stepped on the elerator rushed through the wide channel, in one breath reached the parking lot. The two cautiously descended from the car. Yan Fei grabbed a crossbow from his backpack along with some cone shaped steel wire. A newly formed metal bat at his waist C the metal had been deliberately left inside the car and attached to apartment. In case of any danger on the road Yan Fei could dismantle the car for metal and spare weapons. The two people got off and hurried to their own home, because their building was the innermost, there were few people fleeing towards it. There were a lot of people outside today, so there were not many residents. Unfortunately because it was lunch time, the external base food window was beginning to sell food, so there were a number of people upying the staff. Luo Xun motioned to Yan Fei and the two climbed the stairs while on guard. The corridor was not too messy at the moment, although some people hurried home to avoid danger, since the number was not high, it was not crowded. The pair climbed up the stairs while listening carefully to the sounds in the corridors. Confirmed that there seemed to be no zombie movements. They were also relieved that there was no screaming. While climbing the stairs, hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind. Luo Xun suddenly turned, holding his bright shlight aimed his crossbow towards the staircase. Yan Fei had also slowed down and focused on the situation behind them. A gang of people were walking up the stairs but suddenly found someone above holding a weapon. The first person fell due to fear onto the person behind them, fortunately they were not in a staircase or the group would have all fallen down. Seeing that the two above were Luo Xun and Yan Fei and there was a floating steel needle, the persons face instantly paled as they took two steps back. Their voice was slightly hoarse. "...Were just heading home..." Luo Xun was also slightly surprised to see the people, they were destined to meet after a thousand miles! The woman who still had red lipstick was standing beside the man at the end of the group C it was the founder of the Rose Mercenary Corps and her boyfriend. A quick nce showed that their bodies did not have obvious wounds, Luo Xun motioned to Yan Fei with his head. The two continued upwards but the line of people behind were afraid and waited a full flight of stairs before following. Safe and sound on the 16th floor, Yan Fei opened the metal door and confirmed that there were no problems in the corridor. They would use the chain locks in case Li Tie and the others came back to the door. They returned home and put down their self defense weapons and backpacks. The little puppy excitedly faced the two and bounced around while wagging her tail. Seeing the puppy, Luo Xun instantly rxed and he bent down to touch her head and give belly scratches. After he headed towards the radio in the living room. Yan Fei took off his coat and first headed to the balcony and living room windows to check outside. Although there were zombies in the neighborhood, the number was not high. The radio made a familiar static noise, but this time there was no host voice. Luo Xun also came to the living room window to observe the outside situation. After a while he whispered. "Doesnt seem like any others turned into zombies?" Yan Fei looked through the telescope at a nearby building. "Have not seen, but perhaps we might see in a moment." As for if a more distantmunity had people bing zombies at home? They could not see. The two people looked at the same time, suddenly *Woo-* sound startled them. The puppy was frightened, she stretched out and barked towards the window. "It seems like...an air raid alert?" Luo Xun spoke to Yan Fei. Yan Fei nodded, the two suddenly heard sound from the radio, sound also came from therge speakers on the streets. "...Zombie virus outbreak inside the base. Residents stay calm, dont panic, hide in a safe ce...If there are zombies in the house, please iste them and hang a strip of white cloth to alert military personnel. The military is on alert, please stay calm..." The radio and speakers sounded over and over causing the entire base to be more tense. Those who did not know about the zombie virus outbreak were rmed once they heard the news. Instead of immediately running back to their homes, the panicked people met the wandering zombies in the streets and raised the level of chaos... Some people locked their doors when they rushed home but once there were zombies wandering in the corridor, even if someone knocked on the door they might not be willing to let them in. Since housing was tight, many people often shared a residence, this lead to people not necessarily being acquaintances, more like people living in a collective dormitory. Some only indifferently greet each other each day so naturally it was not easy to let people in. What if they were followed by a zombie? Or if these people were wounded? People who had abilities and strong physical strength would get angry if they were shut out and could get into conflict with the residents. The base was a mess, military vehicles were clearing the zombies but because of the outer wall and house construction, many soldiers had been sent out. Organizing a fighting force had not been very effective, causing the chaos on base to persist until evening. Luo Xun looked at the wall clock and closed the radio. "They have note back." Yan Fei clearly knew Luo Xun was talking about Li Tie and the rest. "They were in the barracks when the ident urred but its safer than outside. I reckon they wonte back until things arepletely safe." The students were much safer than Luo Xun. At least they were still in the barracks, unless there was a simr situation inside. But as long as they were at work and the poption was not as big as a canteen, the situation should not be too bad. But Zhang Yi might be in danger, after all he was at the hospital. If someone scratched by a zombie was sent there...but considering the mans destructive capabilities, the zombies would be easily dealt with. They waited until midnight for the others and confirmed that they would not be back tonight before going to rest. As for going out the next day...the day broadcast had notified that all base work was suspended until all the zombies inside were eliminated. The next morning, the two men checked to determine if Li Tie andpany had note back before turning on the radio. Routine messages yed on repeat: warning people to settle down, not panic, join construction and other work and so on. At the time of the ident, some of the people who were still at work did not have to worry about their families. Most of the people had been moved to a safe ce. Everything would be back to normal once the base ensured there were no more zombies on base. Early next morning, a military vehicle loaded with soldiers drove down a quiet street. Luo Xun and Yan Fei could see no traces of zombies in the area. Yesterday evening, soldiers came and cleaned up most of the wandering zombies. The zombie outbreak was rather abrupt, but the number of people who got injured and turned into zombies was not many. It was only that the incident urred in the highly popted streets during lunch time shopping that lead to greater confusion. "The clean up was very fast. Seems like all the zombies inside the base will be disposed of by tomorrow." Luo Xun watched from the window was a vehicle entered the area, soldiers braved the corridors checking for zombies and dealt with houses that hung white cloth. "How did the zombies get here?" Yan Feis brow wrinkled. He had thought it was strange yesterday, how could a zombie virus suddenly erupt at the time? If someone had identally brought the virus into the base, it would have been impossible to spread in many ces at the same time. Luo Xun doubtfully shook his head. "There could be multiple potential causes." The military needed to examine and judge these things beforeing to a conclusion. As long as they could find the source of the problem, they would be able to avoid the issues in the future. Eventually, they gradually heard footsteps in the corridor. The two quickly came out and smiled upon seeing the visitors C Lieutenant Ding. Lieutenant Ding came with two soldiers and asked. "Just you two at home?" "Zhang Yi should still be at the hospital, Li Tie and the others should be in the barracks and have note out. We came back yesterday at noon and have not seen them." Lieutenant Ding exined. "Then they should have not gone, not just them all the people did note back from work yesterday. The base gave them a resting ce. Are you all right?" There were not that many people on this floor and only Luo Xun and Yan Fei were at the door. "No problem, nothing happened yesterday." Yan Fei had not expected to hear from Lieutenant Ding, he did not ask anything but then the lieutenant shook his head and spoke. "No zombies appeared at the barracks, outside base or the walls, the only ident took ce in downtown base." He gazed solemnly. "The matter this time is strange, keep your guard up. Keep eyes open for any strange things." The pair had not expected something like this. The ident only urred in the base downtown area? Was it artificial? But if it was man made, that would be horrible! After confirming that the two were all right, Lieutenant Ding and the two armed soldiers turned away without even entering the iron gate. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would be crazy to hide a zombie in their home. Even if they were crazy enough, when Zhang Yi came back the zombies would not leave the area alive. "There were only zombies in the downtown area?" Luo Xun frowned, he did not think anyone would deliberately bring the zombie virus inside the base...No it was not impossible for someone who wanted to do something like this. Those sorts of incidents were likely to appear at any time, even if there was one now, he would not feel surprised. Luo Xun only felt that it was too early to see someone like that. Yan Fei also went with him and patted his shoulder infort. "There are always lunatics around." Yes, there was no shortage of madmen. Luo Xun had seen people go mad because their loved ones became zombies, when pressured for a while resented the people who avoided bing zombies, especially their enemies. Some of the more aggressive ones even secretly pushed others into zombie groups in order to help them assimte. Luo Xun did not want to study the minds of lunatics, definitely did not want to find out how they thought C too far and he would go insane too. "So, take a day off at home and listen to the radio. When the situation outside is safe we can go to the barracks." Luo Xun pped his hands and took the lead towards the nursery room. The puppy stuck her ck nose against the ss box. Wisps of breath blew against the ss surface and before long condensation appeared on a patch of ss. ck eyes stared excitedly at therge and small quails, her tail asionally wagged from side to side. She jumped up and down and chased her tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the quails in excitement. Unfortunately the little quails were frightened by the movement and froze in ce. The big quails were used to it and did not even spare a nce. Only the baby quails just put in today were looking at the boisterous puppy. *Crash* The puppy who had been circling around got startled. The couple also got a shock while they were next door checking the wall. They hurriedly ran to the window to look outside and saw a window from the neighboring building and same floor was smashed. A group of people crawled inside. "Thief? Or someone with no keys?" Luo Xun then continued with "Will theye trouble uster?" Yan Fei firstughed in amusement but then narrowed his eyes. "Close the window first. Ill go lock the corridor door." "Okay, Ill go get a crossbow." Luo Xun immediately turned towards the ck iron gate. At this time the radio announced to the crowd that with the major crisis had been routed, a victory for mankind which showed that humanity would ovee the zombies and usher in a bright future. The two people each held a crossbow and walked down the corridor. Yan Fei once again manipted the iron gate. The suspicious groups movements also attracted the attention of other people, but upon discovery, the rest just involuntarily closed their doors and picked up weapons. No one came out to block the actions, but if the potential thieves dared to break into someone elses home, the families would not hold back. The group entered a house, looted it and found another empty room to ransack, the process repeated as things were stolen away. Some people eyes in the building seeing these actions started to shine with obscure light. Once those people left, same area, building or even same floor quietly opened their doors to check out the empty rooms. The base radio said the zombies on base had been all cleared away. The soldiers on base checking inside meant that there was no one inside. The area just had a thief, everyone had seen. As long as their own movements were faster to grab things away before the neighbors came back, they could pin the matter on the guy who had smashed the ss... Greed always hovered in the hearts of mankind and could not be stifled. Now, under the premise of following suit, no one was willing to endure with such a good opportunity and scarcity of their own rations. It was easy to push open the door. Perhaps the 16th floor was too high or its reputation was too fierce, while Luo Xun and Yan Fei diligently watched, no one dared to climb up and cause trouble. The big crossbow in Luo Xuns arms was getting heavy, but that was of no matter and he did not really mind. This continued until Luo Xun saw a private car drive into the area, no one dared to climb the stairs. The car parked directly downstairs, the people who walked out were ones who were out of base yesterday. They had to temporarily stay outside for a night upon being told that there had been a zombie virus outbreak. Those who were out working and stayed there due to the zombies had also returned. Halfway to a bonus chapter. Show support by donating with the Ko-fi button. Chapter 69 The people who drove back entered the neighborhood first while the people who walked back slowly headed towards the area. But the shocking blow from returning home after that frightening night, only to find the door pried open and smashed, with all the things missing, could not be imagined. Luo Xun indifferently looked at the following scuffle, those who came back were those who went did tasks outside the base. Many of them had an ability of some sort, even if not than they hadbat strength higher than average. Finding that their homes had been robbed and the thieves had not escaped, if they were caught they were asking for a beating. Yan Fei watched with an arm around Luo Xun, there were quite a few other onlookers as well. Some people were not controlled by their greed and did not follow those with no moral integrity in breaking into neighbors homes. The other portion were the faster people, after taking the first wave of supplies they ran back and left without being found out. Suddenly, noise came from the corridor. The two men looked at each other and walked towards the gate. The sound came from the middle of the corridor, mingled with men roaring and women screaming. Luo Xun and Yan Fei came out to hear banging sounds from down the stairs. Using an ability in the hallway? Were they not afraid of copsing the building? Luo Xun tenses up,pletely forgetting about Yan Fei and their neighbor Zhang Yi who had used their powers several times in the hallways. He took hesitant steps towards the stairs. The sound of fighting came from downstairs, an ability activated and soon after several men repeatedly screamed as they were beaten. A man begged, the other party scolded, seemingly grabbed the other parties and then shut the door. The two looked at each other again and knew that the incident hade to an end. They returned home after hearing the person stop using their ability. "Who would have thought that zombies would appear on base?" Li Tie looked at themunity gate, there was a lot of strange ck, red and dark green dried liquid on the ground. No one cleaned it up or paid it any attention. Han Li patted his shoulder. "Fortunately we were all in the barracks, otherwise if we encountered something on the way back, who knows what would have happened!" "Luo Xun and Yan Fei should have gone home yesterday noon, right? Could something have happened?" He Qiankun suddenly remembered with a start. "Its possible that it was just around the time they went back..." Wu Xin nodded with some apprehension. Zhang Yi smiled. "Rest assured, nothing would have happened to them." With Yan Feis power, who couldy a finger on Luo Xun? "Yes, they are going to be fine!" Wang Duo would unconditionally support anything Zhang Yi said C even if thetter scolded him, he would back down. His mind would find a way to change the words so that they sounded like he was being praised... Zhang Yi slowly walked inside since he was feeling a tadzy. "Whats the matter..." When the group of people came in they saw several scuffles in progress. Well, after the apocalypse tensions were rising, there was the increased possibility of quarrels. It was not surprising, they had passed several on the road but the scene here looked too bloodthirsty. Then they saw a lot of broken ss at the bottom of the building...That was not unusual, after there had been an outbreak of zombies yesterday, identally breaking windows while battling zombies was normal. However the big fireball that suddenly flew over was not normal! Fortunately Zhang Yi had blocked by forming a wind screen, or they might have been set on fire! How had the conflict escted to using abilities?! Not far ahead two people faced off, one leader had a fire ability while the other had a lightning ability. The two groups of people were fighting and ignored the people on the road, which was how the fireball just flew over. But Zhang Yi using his powerful wind ability to create a windscreen calmed down the two a bit. The fire user looked at Zhang Yi, coldly humphed and left with hispanion. The other lightning user looked in interest, raised his hands to push his sses before smiling at them. Li Tie and the others looked at the people warily and drew closer to Zhang Yi. The reason they seeked Zhang Yis protection was not that they were not afraid of what the people could do...but *cough* worried that those people would try to poach him. Yes, Li Tie and the others asionally encountered people missing half a brain on the road who wanted to recruit teammates. Before when Wang Duo and Zhang Yi were not in a rtionship, they could only help block flies. Zhang Yis appearance obviously sparked others protective instincts, even knowing that he had a very powerful ability. But now that Wang Duo and Zhang Yi were together, the feeling of protecting their brothers loved one had increased. As long as someone looked straight at Zhang Yi, they did not hesitate to use their own flesh and blood to stop these lechers. However the group of people walking across the street was obviously a team. The students had no way of stopping them C since they could not fight. Wu Changkun pushed up his sses, his eyes were shadowed but his face had smile as he called to Zhang Yi. "Hello, I am the captain of Chaos Squad, we are recruitingpanions to find supplies outside the base. Are you interested in joining?" Without waiting for a response he continued. "Your ability is strong, the most powerful wind ability I have ever seen. We also have a way to improve abilities, if you are willing to join you can have the position of lieutenant. There are a lot of privileges in our team for strong ability users, are you interested?" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, his eyes held a hint of amusement. Wang Duos face immediately turned dark and he stepped in front of Zhang Yi. "We already have a team! Zhang Yi cant go with you!" Wu Changkun did not spare a nce at Wang Duo and spoke to Zhang Yi. "We live in fifth building, 3-403. If you are interestede take a look." Once finished he did not pay attention to the idnigant looks of Li Tie and the others and headed towards the fifth building with his team. Wang Duos lips were quivering, so that was Wu Changkun. He knew that Zhang Yi was very strong but he did not take into ount these factors when they were together. The so-called team however was what Li Tie had casually named thest time they went out of base, which naturally had no potential benefits to attract Zhang Yi, if he really wanted to go... "Team? Since when have you been in a team?" The voice contained the usual carelessness andzy atmosphere. Li Tie snapped back to attention and exined. "Oh! It was formed thest time we left the base. There are five of us and Luo Xuns couple called...Otaku Squad..." When he said the name, even someone like Li Tie could not help but feel a bit embarrassed. Other peoples team names were more domineering, like Chaos. But their own Otaku...there was a different feeling... Zhang Yi held his chin and nodded towards the five who had frightened eyes. "Otaku, good and convenient." The he walked on. The group of five froze and looked at each other in surprise C Zhang Yi liked the name? He did not object to being added? That was great! Otaku squad now had two powerful ability users along with marksman Luo Xun! At that, they had to start exercising everyday once they got home, if they were too weak they would be in danger. With the leisurely life on base they had almost forgotten about the terror and fighting of the outside world. Must start training! As they walked up the stairs, the situation in the neighborhood became much more franctic than ever before. On the way home, they had seen many people rolling on the ground, fighting each other after the army men hade to check when the zombies were all killed. Why was this happening when everyone was safe? Obviously because instead of family security and returning to a calm life as soon as possible, people reached out to steal from others empty homes. Thinking of their own home that Yan Fei had surrounded with metal, the five panicked people had secretly sighed in relief. If they had fearfully spent a long day outside only to find their house broken into and robbed...the five of them would have been as outraged as those who were now fighting... Only Zhang Yi, who had already encountered this sort of thing, had no reaction to the news. In todays world, those who did not find a way to secure their things after gathering had no one to me but themselves. Did they have no capacity to watch over their own stuff? The group sped up the pace, even though there had likely been no problems, it would be more reassuring the quicker they could return home. They quickly climbed to the 10th floor and heard sounds in the corridor. Han Li shivered and looked back at hispanions. The others also looked at each other, they could faintly hear someone quarreling and there seemed to be fighting in the corridor. What was going on? What had caused the lively person toe back all frightened? Had something happened at home!? The idea shed through their minds and they hastened upwards, quickly climbing to the 14th floor when they heard something wrong. "...This, this is..." He Qiankun was reduced to stuttering. Li Tie and the others facial expressions turned both red and green. These young people had secretly studied foreign romance films in the dormitory so it was not unknown but suddenlying across this in the corridor...*cough* Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and took the lead in amusement. Wang Duo wanted to stop him but remembered that they would not be able to get home without passing the 15th floor. So he hurried to the front as to not let his Royal Highness see what should not be seen! Li Tie and the others also hurried to keep up. *Cough cough* They had seen so many meticulous romance films, why would they be afraid to see it in reality? Plus it was just sounds, they might not end up seeing anything. That idea waspletely shatter when they reached the top of the stairs. The door of 1502 was wide open with a few half naked men around a woman. Two were holding the body while the rest were joking andughing, pointing, grabbing and touching from time to time. Next door in 1503 there also came a womans high pitched cry apanied by mensughter and apuse. "This chick is hot, look at how her hips sway?" Someone joked in 1503. "Whatever, hurry up, we can not endure..." "Isnt there another one? Go over there." "I like this one..." A mans voice from the opposite door echoed in the corridor. "Run? You can try! Serve this old man well, or Ill let the people outside all have a round!" The men at 1502 pinched the womans chest andughed. "You want to run? Can you? Even if youre a fire user, your man has already given you to us you know?" Li Tie andpany were at first shocked, their hands started trembling. The woman, in front of people with malicious intentions, was unable to cry for help but they could clearly hear painful sobs. A female fire ability user lived on the 15th floor, which also had a few other beautiful female college students. The group had already known these things but had notmunicated. They had asionally seen each other but offered no greetings due vignce and so on during the apocalypse. Who could imagine that after the copse of social order, this sort of thing would happen downstairs in their own building? The several university students were filled with anger and their eyes turned red. Wu Xin kicked open the door while Li Tie and the others raised the pipes ced in their backpacks for self defense. "Let her go!" He Qiankun was full of confidence, so his roar was louder than normal which scared the men around the woman. The group was startled but did not ce the few young students in their eyes. They were also tenants on the floor and had asionally encountered Li Tie and the others. Although they lived upstairs and the 16th floor people had skills, but they had intruded today. Not to mention, who was afraid of who? They also had power users! "What the hell are you doing, ah!? Do you know whats going on?" A man with a hideous tattoo on his arm walked out insolently. "No matter what, you cant do this to a woman!" Li Tie clenched the iron bar in his hand. "Oh?" Another man with half a cigarette in his mouth,ughed as he stood by the others side. "We came back after a mission to see her gang of people breaking down our door, rob my home. She was also relocating things...Could you guys bear it?" The man squinted and grinned at Li Tie and the others. The group of students froze, they had not expected that to be the reason, but... "Then you cant do this to a woman. Isnt it enough to get your things back?" Most of the people outside beat up thieves then forgot about it, so it should be simr now? The man standing beside the woman grinned at her chest. "Her husband paid her aspensation for the loss of money, this matter is not rted to you." "Right, is it because you havent seen a woman in so long, you want to be a hero who rescues a beauty to bring back home to enjoy?" Li Tie andpanys faces once again turned green and red as theughing and joking continued. "Why should a man who has stolen from you hand over a woman? Shes not a thing!" These words had no logic but how could Li Ties angry heart understand? "You want to obtain others happiness?" Another person teased. "If you are really envious, bring out some food. 5 pounds of noodles for one time? Its a good deal!" "Right, this girl is great, stronger than the others. If we sell her out me might not have to go out to desperately look for supplies." "Right, right! Good idea!" Li Tie and the others were shaking. These shameless people were really amazing, but although their behaviour was nasty, it had a legitimate reason C the other party stole their things. When they asked forpensation, they got this woman. But why should the woman pay for all herpanions actions? Even if they were lovers, why would she be responsible after she had been betrayed by her boyfriend? The group did not know what the woman had done while the boyfriend had broken into the room next door, but she was the victim since the man left her to escape. Seeing Li Tie and the others squeeze the steel pipes in their hands, the tattooed man stretched out his muscles and fired a water bomb straight at Wu Xin and Wang Duo. "Scram! Otherwise youll share the same fate..." "Ah, ah, ah." Wind hovered in the corridor, Zhang Yis eyes were suffused with pale blue light as he crossed his hands near the staircase. A group of miniature tornadoes condensed at his side, sending the first two people flying back three or four steps. Li Tie and the others froze and unconsciously let Queen Zhang Yi pass by. "Get the hell out of this building, if I ever see these dirty things again..." Zhang Yi icily nced at the mens bare lower bodies and sneered. "Ill help you cut them off." The group of people froze, a few men at the back rolled up their sleeves. There team also had several ability users! Why was he threatened by a no attack power wind user?!" A grim faced man, barely clothed man came out from 1503 next door and a small ball of purple electricity appeared in his palm. "Who do you think you are? With such a big tone you think youre something..." He had not finished when the regiment of small tornadoes suddenly spread and the wind turned into sharp des! The wind des filled the corridor with bloody light. "Ah!" "Stop, stop..." "Help!" "Boss, I was wrong, I was wrong..." The whining and begging frightened the men who had yet toe out of the room. Seeing the scarlet blood, Zhang Yis bloodthirst increased, his coquettish smile became more wanton as he no longer restrained himself. The next des cut the flesh, leaving only the skeleton, tendons, blood vessels.. *Pa* A hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. Zhang Yi looked back with a murderous expression C who dared stop him at this time!? *Swish, clink* Sounds rang out as Zhang Yis attacks were blocked by a hard metal te. It was Yan Fei. For every 10 Ko-fi donations, I will post a bonus chapter. Show support by pressing the button. Chapter 70 ???(???)??? Heres the bonus chapter as promised. This release is thanks to: Kilsikon7, Anon, Michelle in Colorado and Mrow I am really thankful for the support! The fierce wind gradually subsided in the narrow space and Zhang Yis blood thirst also gradually calmed down. He could tell from the metal in his home, if he wanted to and had enough metal he could form a strong turtle shell. If Zhang Yi wanted to break it, who knew how much energy he would expend to seed. Yan Fei spoke without waiting for Zhang Yi to start. "Dont take lives, otherwise the military wille looking for trouble." He lightly swept the bloody half naked men a nce. "In half a day, before tonight make sure you leave this building or we will throw you out the window." Before when he and Luo Xun had heard noises from downstairs but did not want to meddle in others business. Since no matter how they retaliated the two did not feel it excessive since in truth, there was reason for revenge. It was only after people opening the door and them realizing that women were being harassed that they opened the gate and came downstairs to check out the situation. Whether it was Yan Fei or Luo Xun, even if the woman was part of the gang who stole from someones house C if she opposed the theft, she was not really involved. They ignored women who voluntarily sold themselves on the roadside but would not tolerate squalor and chaos in their area. Especially if the other party was a group of men ganging up on a single woman, no matter what the behaviour was excessive. A man hiding in the room shivered and whispered. "They, they stole our stuff..." Zhang Yi smiled. "You are not pleasing to my eyes. What? You want me to send you out the window right now?" He had absolutely no interest in who was the guilty party. He was not a policeman or a judge, only a person who cut down those not pleasing to his eyes. The man rapidly shook his head. In the apocalypse the strong ruled with actions and talk was not always necessary. No one in the corridor saw the man in the back. A few in the room saw C a handsome man appeared at the beautiful mans shoulder and a dark thing appeared in his hand which blocked the terrible wind! Neither of them were human! The two men were not people! Should never be provoked! Seeing those people with goosebumps, Li Tie and the others followed Zhang Yi and Yan Fei up to the 16th floor. After passing the iron gate they breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of hero saving a beauty, it was the other way around... Luo Xun had been following behind Yan Fei, he smiled and asked. "Did anything happen while you were in the barracks?" Han Li first opened the door while He Qiankun walked in while answering. "Nothing, what about you? You came back around noon, did anything happen on the road?" After a brief description of the incident from yesterday, the group went into 1601 to have a meeting. Yan Fei sealed the metal gate before following. Li Tie sat on a folding chair and exined what had happened to them yesterday. "We realized something had happened on base when the rm sounded. Boss received a notice saying that there had been a zombie virus outbreak on base. Let us first wait inside since the studio wasrge enough to live in. In the evening, people were all driven back by the army C they lived in a new neighborhood near the barracks. Since there was nothing there, it was said to be safe and no one turned into a zombie. Today we heard that nothing had happened and returned after the base was checked." After that, a few people curiously asked. "Why was the neighborhood so rowdy today? Has it been like this since yesterday?" Luo Xun wryly smiled at the questions. "Nothing happened after everyone fled home in chaos yesterday afternoon. This morning, after the military came to check security someone smashed ss to steal things and the area became disorderly. What was the situation on the road like as you came back?" No one troubled each other in times of danger, but once passed people who expose such an ugly side. Li Tie and the others felt ufortable. Zhang Yi was not affected like the five pure-hearted university students and motioned outside. "We vaguely heard some noise from the neighborhoods along the way, but do not know the specific situation because of the distance. But I am afraid the situation is simr to here." Zhang Yi was not like Li Tie and the others, he was already ustomed to the worst, ugliest aspects of human nature. He had been mad at those people simply because...*cough* that water user dared aim at Wang Duo andpany. These guys had always been covered by him. If his people were beaten up in front of him, what would happen to his image? They should go home as soon as possible. So Wu Xin should be very grateful for his good roommate and ssmate Wang Duo, if the water had not been aimed at Wang Duos body, Zhang Yi would have not reacted to strongly. Yan Fei suddenly asked. "Does work resume tomorrow?" Li Tie recovered from thinking about the dark side of human nature and nodded. "Yes, our team leader said that work would continue as usual tomorrow if there is no ident!" Luo Xun and Yan Fei were confident that tomorrow, both of them should be ready to work. Han Li spoke secretively at the couple. "I should tell you that the superiors have begun to prepare a new station on base. Once ready, people can use mobile phones for convenientmunication on base!" "Oh? Are there requirements for the mobile phones?" Yan Fei asked with great interest. "Not yet, its in ordance with the previous recovery modemunication. The stations were ones set up before the apocalypse, just needed to change signals for reception. But I am afraid that new phone cards will be made." He Qiankun exined to the two. "Yes, they want the phone card to be adaptable to all previous mobile phones so that everyone can directly receive information from the base. Not like now, where many people do not have a radio at home and cannot hear broadcast news. Some are afraid that using the speakers will attract zombies." Li Tie exined with excitement, they were participating in this matter, once finished it would be good thing for the entire base! "If someone has lost their phone, you can pick one up from outside or exchange for a cheap one! The price of mobile phones will definitely rise in a few days!" Wang Duo spoke to everyone. However, Luo Xun was thinking about another matter C because he had known about the cell phone thing and used on in the past, from start until now he had a phone on him and even grabbed two spares. "Did you hear anything about the cause of the zombie virus outbreak?" Hearing Luo Xuns question, Li Tie and the others looked at each other before bitterly shaking their heads. "Unclear investigations, our boss did not hear anything." Zhang Yiughed after hearing the words. "I heard a little bit." He worked in a hospital, the news would naturally be clearer than his counterparts. Seeing the people looking at him with suspense, Zhang Yi crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, leaving only two legs on the ground. "The specifics have not been identified but I heard that the first zombies were from downtown." He nced around with irony. "Downtown, specifically near the stalls for food exchange." It was as if the mute button had been pressed in the room, one would clearly hear a pin drop in the silence. After a while, Yan Fei slowly responded, "You mean C poisoned?" Zhang Yi shrugged, he had simr ideas. His first reaction after hearing the news was C poison to deliberately create chaos. "How, how is that possible?!" "Thats horrible!" "Zombie virus, definitely zombie virus!" Li Tie andpany could not hold back startled exmations. Luo Xun suddenly said, "Not necessarily." Seeing the gazes, Luo Xun smiled towards the kitchen. "The probability of deliberate poisoning is not high, after all, once such things are detected it bes too dangerous for the perpetrators to do anything. I think it had something to do with the food-selling windows, maybe the water was not cleaned before cooking." Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and involuntarily nodded. Indeed he had felt that Luo Xuns insisted method of filtering water was too cumbersome. He felt that boiling the water for a while would kill the virus. Although he was a doctor, he was not neat. For the sake of convenience there would be some who carelessly used untreated water for cooking. Luo Xun exined further when the students did not thoroughly understand his implications. "The water filtration method promoted by the base is quite cumbersome, for those who need to cook a lot of food everyday, after a while perhaps they would gradually not care about this problem..." "But...why did it suddenly explode yesterday?" They heard that it had urred in several locations. Those people could not ave all bought food from the same window. Luo Xuns words made Li Tie andpany feel that buying food was very dangerous. Although nothing had appeared in the barracks, but just in case... Luo Xun shook his head. "I am not positive, still have to wait for the results of the investigation to be sure." He also judged based on his past life experience, after all now was only the early apocalypse stage. When the zombies mutated no one would know the source of the virus. The zombie virus transmission was intuitive, could drinking water contain the zombie virus? What was the reaction of the human body upon infection? How long would it take for symptoms to appear? There were not understood for the time being. Li Tie and the others breathed a sigh of relief at Luo Xuns words,pared to someone using the zombie virus as a poison, they would rather ept unsafe health conditions causing the ident. At least they would not worry about identally eating a zombie when they bought food at the barracks. After the discussion, everyone on the 16th floor went home. Li Tie and the others had not slept well outside yesterday. Though the barracks security was high, they also had to worry about getting lost inside. What if they came across a zombie? Thus everyone had not slept wellst night. Luo Xun got up, ready to return to their own room. Today was another day off and tomorrow would be a return to regr work. The two had to go back and discuss if there was a need to continue eating meals in the barracks dining hall. After all, the degree of food safety could be self controlled at home. But for food from outside, it was necessary to rely on the caution of the cooks. Zhang Yi opened the door and walked out. But after exiting, he stood with a smile on his face looking in the direction of the iron staircase gate. Luo Xun and the others were puzzled and also came out to look C three women stood trembling below the stairs. Upon seeing everyonee out they were surprised at first, then timidly sneaked nces at the group from time to time. It was the female fire user from the 15th floor and the two female college students in the other room. "What? You are..." Wu Xin started when he saw the three people below. However he remembered what the group of students had seen C a beauty surrounded by several men...*cough* that sort of scene. The heads of the three women lowered and the group of university students also blushed heavily. Zhang Yi only faintly looked at the three woman, then sneered at their bowed heads before walking towards his rooms door. The sound of the door sparked the three women. The former head of the Rose Mercenary corps in Luo Xuns memory looked up with unsteady eyes and trembled. "They, they all moved away." Zhang Yi ignored the women as he prepared to return home. Wang Duo also looked at the women but seeing Zhang Yi going into 1602, he left and followed. Li Tie and the others turned to look at the remaining Yan Fei. Yan Fei gave the three women a nce, seeing their expressions mixed with embarassment and anticipation, he stated. "Oh." .... ............... That was it? The three women were also a little dumbfounded. Upstairs, Li Tie and the others were ufortable and dared not look at the womens eyes C as if they had anxiety. There were no openings with Yan Feis response. Thinking of Yan Feis rtionship with Luo Xun, the four guys quietly exchanged looks. Han Li coughed, "That...Since theyve left, youll be fine. Live well." Could it be that the women hade up to tell them this was rted to Yan Fei? The three women seemed to be anxious, one stepped forward and said with gritted teeth, "They, they left but also took everything away...leaving only us..." They were afraid of Yan Fei waiting for people to find trouble so the ruffians left in a hurry. But as they left, all food and useful items such as cloth or wood were taken away. First, they had collected these supplies. Second, since other people had robbed them before, stealing in retaliation was a sort ofpensation. Third, Yan Fei had also told them to leave, but he had not mentioned stuff. What was wrong with them taking their belongings? These women did not dare say anything but how would they live if they had nothing? So they came up and waited for Yan Fei or someone else toe. Luo Xun could not help huffing and took two steps towards his apartment. Yan Feis expression also held sarcasm. "What? You want me to call them back for you?" The three women were shaking and looked incredulously at Yan Fei. His cold eyes did notpare to his even colder heart. After a while, a girl hesitantly mumbled. "We...we can help you withundry and cooking. Could you please help us?" Another girl also nodded while Xu Mei looked hopefully at Li Tie andpany. "I have an ability and can go out to hunt zombies. If needed I can definitely go with you outside the base!" She had never been weak, even before the apocalypse she had a strong personality. If not for the blow from being betrayed by her boyfriend, she would not have epted the insult! "But..." Li Tie and the others exchanged nces. Did not think that helping save someone would end up with people following them. "But we are not..." "This was not our idea, its...it was our previouspanion seeing someone else breaking into peoples houses which prompted action, then..." Xu Mei had only half exined when the two girls behind her suddenly red up. "We had no way of doing anything! It was all the doing of men in Xu Meis group! Obviously not rted to us! The people in Xu Meis home suddenly remembered...that our ce had women. So they broke in and got rid of the guys we were living with..." The girls in 1503 were really unlucky, people in 1502 suddenly got greedy and broke into 1503 and 1504. The consequences were ced on her. The men who only targeted 1502 had coveted Xu Meis beauty early on and just took the opportunity to realize their desires. After all, Xu Mei had been the only woman in the apartment and there were quite a few men in the two homes. Some had devious intentions, knowing that there were female college students suggested some to go next door. They broke into 1503, stole things and grabbed the two girls who did not go out. Yan Fei saw the two girls re at Xu Mei with resentment. But they stayed quiet since they were in the same position. But their hearts had ced Xu Mei was the source of disaster C if Xu Mei did not live in 1502, those thieves would not think of assaulting women, or think that they had few points. They had been implicated by living next door. But Xu Mei had an ability and the threes current position was simr so they had to temporarily cooperate. The men on the 16th floor seemed to be doing well, at least they knew that the upants went to work every day. Able to go to work meant filling their stomachs! They now had nothing and urgently needed to find a backer, a patron that could help them survive! Compared to the previous neighbors that always coveted their beauty. The men of the 16th floor, two were very handsome, the remaining six were quiet, young people. Which was not better than those outside? Besides, they were very kind. One girl ran up two steps and clung to the railing while tearfully entreating Li Tie and the others. "Please help us! We are willing to do anything. We have no way to survive now..." The other female college student also ran over crying, "We did not think our old ssmates were such heartless people, once scared they abandoned us. You are kind hearted people, help us!" Li Tie and friends who had thin skin involuntarily looked to Yan Fei. They were not bad people and this was the first time they had encountered this sort of thing C being begged by these two female students, who were not as beautiful as Xu Mei but still regarded as high level women. In particr, these two girls had just experienced misfortune. If they helped the women, perhaps after slowly getting along and cultivating feelings...they could get rid of their singlebel? Chapter 71 Yan Fei smiled widely at Li Ties group, not as flirtatious as Zhang Yi but still hard for people to look straight at. "If you want to help I wont stop you. But if want to help, please move down to live with them C there are only three of them on the 15th floor, so there are many empty houses to live in." As for himself? He was not in the mood to keep three butterflies. He does not know the woman named Xu Meis character, but he had seen people like the two college students several times. Due to work, Yan Fei and Luo Xun came back everyday at noon and those two women did not seem to have taken part in any base work so they sometimes crossed paths. Everytime they wereughing and talking with other men, going out to buy lunch or bringing food back. asionally also saw them and different men ambiguously hooking up. Plus, this morning the two of them had heard Xu Meis cries for help and the sound of fire powers, but the other two women...he had heard a few screams at the start which turned into groans. It had not been Xu Mei C he and Luo Xun just came to check out the situation because they heard cries for help. Yan Fei did not care about or understand the womans character, but he would never seek trouble for himself. It was not just because he had Luo Xun now, even before the apocalypse if he encountered such a thing he would not move, even more help C he was selfish, what of it? Hearing Yan Feis words, Li Tie and the others froze then looked at the two female college students. The two girls also froze, did not expect Yan Fei to be so unfeeling, unwilling to extend even the slightest aid. But this kind of person wasmon nowadays. He was a powerful ability user, who naturally would not care about sub-par women. They could only target those who would! The two women transferred their pleasing over to Li Tie and the others. Stretched out a hand towards Wu Xin. "You can help us! What happens to the three of us if bad guyse?" "Yes, please help us! We will do anything!" Xu Mei stood at the rear in a bit of a trance. She had originally nned toe forward and beg with them for help. But her sharp personality would not ept being humiliated after humbly bowing for others aid. Upon hearing Yan Feis words, she grit her teeth and stepped forward. "Can you lend me some points? Ill pay you back." Wu Xin, standing with Luo Xun, blushed at the two womens hands but dared not touch. Yan Fei was surprised at Xu Mei and asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why should I believe you?" Seeing Yan Fei disregarding her words, Xu Mei took a deep breath and held up her bruised, right arm. A mass of mes appeared, red with vitality and hope. "Rely on my ability." Yan Fei paused for a moment, he could see the determination in her eyes. Suddenly Luo Xun stepped forward and took out around 10 points from his pocket. "Here are ten points, lend to you." Xu Mei froze, hurriedly put away the mes and stepped forward with a sob. "Thank you..." Suddenly the female student originally grabbing at Wu Xin mercilessly grasped at Luo Xuns hand. Luo Xun had encountered and seen this kind of thing many times in his past life. He moved his hand back just as the womans stretched forward. Her hands were empty. *Bang* At the same time a girl uttered a scream, her face became even more pale. A metal needle hade from the iron door! Yan Feis eyes were murderous as he sneered at the girl and herpanion, both were very pale. While one girl let go, Wu Xin managed to get his arm back when the other lost spirit. He backed up a few steps onto He Qiankuns belly. His e ridden face was pale C women were frightening! When people are grabbed, they are also robbed! Luo Xun ignored the two scared, limp and crying female college students as he reached out for Xu Mei again. His hands were still holding the 10 points. Xu Mei was startled by the action and epted the points while keeping an eye on the two girls. "Thank you. I will pay you back." Luo Xun smiled. "Its not urgent." What she had been through today was simr to how it was in the past, but Luo Xun assumed with his and Yan Feis meddling, her experience would definitely be different. In any case, the woman had been the head of the Rose Corps and he believed in her ability. Luo Xun only hoped that with todays change her future would not be as extreme and she would not quietly disappear without a sound during the apocalypse. Xu Mei took the 10 points and turned away. The two female college students who had received a scare pressed down on the idea of borrowing points while holding their injured hands. As Li Tie and the others would not look at them, the girls hung their heads and fled. After they left, Yan Fei nced at the group. "Again, those who want to help, move down and live with them. If someone wants to bring women up here, Ill just cover that guys windows and door." Do not think he was so unfeeling, he was clear on a womans lethality. Home had a homemaker, he absolutely could not let the originally harmonious days disappear. If the woman was sane and followed the rules of the game, Yan Fei did not mind Li Tie and the others finding a girlfriend, even marry and have a child. After all, he was not their parents and did not care who they liked, loved, contacted or lived with. But if the person had designs on his way of life, then he would block any meddling. If someone had really wanted to let the two girlse up, no big deal, everyone would split. Yan Fei had already transformed his own door, He could cancel the staircase door, for their safety. Li Tie andpany hurriedly shook their heads. Wu Xin was especially scared, when he pulled up his sleeve and revealed marks on his arm from the two girls nails. He pointed and said, "Look, look...how would I dare find such a terrible girlfriend?" Originally he had felt the two girls were soft, sweet, crying flowers. How he could not try and help them? But then with their enthusiastic hospitality and trying to rob points from Luo Xuns hand, that was uneptable! Li Tie spoke with solidarity. "I had been thinking about giving the two of them some points to help, but now...I wont care about them." He Qiankun also nodded while Han Lis heart wandered. What the two girls had said was true, what would happen if bad people broke in with only a few girls living together? What would they do? It was not safe to have no men around. But after thinking some more, he would certainly not go and provoke trouble. Forget about Xu Mei, as for those two girls, he felt he would get overwhelmed and thus stuck to thoughts. Luo Xun and Yan Fei went home after seeing that the students had no opinion. From start to finish, Zhang Yi had note out of 1602 at all. As for Wang Duo? Luo Xun thought he heard vague noises when he passed by the door of 1602...*cough* It should not be said but everyone understood. Luo Xun did a round of the house after the two people came back. Yan Fei also followed. "I think we can paint the wall tomorrow and after set the iron pipes." "Okay, well do that after wee back tomorrow afternoon." Luo Xun smiled and said to Yan Fei. "Ill paint tomorrow. Youll likelye back more tired. Its best to recover your powers before dealing with the plumbing." Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, he knew the other was worried that his workload tomorrow would increase. Afraid that in the morning he would be too tired to say so. Yan Fei responded, "Well see." If he had strength remaining, of course two people would work together. "I propose that since we have to wait for the metal users to build the outer wall before being covered with soil, its better to let the earth users in the barracks build a wall ording to the original n. Otherwise, if the same situation urred on base in the future, the peoples safety would not be assured!" "I think we should prioritize finding out the cause of the zombie virus before making a decision. What if someone had released the zombie virus on base?" "These two things are both important..." "Already sent someone to check the zombie virus outbreak. As for the wall problem, better to prioritize wall building to not let the people feel that the military is only keeping their own safe!" "The barracks safety was prioritized but it was unexpected that the zombie virus would erupt in the first ce." If such an incident urred inside the barracks, who would be responsible for such a significant loss?! "You can use some earth users to repair the barracks. After all, the final drawing ns have not been finished." They just had to speed up when the architects finished drawing ns. "If the army is to be rebuilt, its best to only recall the militarys earth users to avoid information getting out of the barracks." "Yes, the architects have not finalized some of the key buildings and well need a lot of people to work. In addition, some metal users have been lost, so we have to take this step by step..." Quarrels and discussion rang through the conference room. The higher ups were sitting together in a meeting to discuss various future base problems. "I propose giving more free authority to ability user teams, can reduce the cost of materials but increase the amount of nuclei." "Seconded. The number of ability users in the army is not small. It can be seen that the crystal nuclei y an important role for powers. It can be promoted to all the teams and give inner powers a chance to exchange." "Yes, although no one has upgraded through using nuclei. This item definitely raises the duration of an ability users power." The crowd was in full swing when a soldier suddenly ran in holding a document. "Report! The preliminary data for the investigation has arrived!" The room quieted, the nearest person beckoned the soldier over. "Quickly bring it over!" The report was passed around. The people reading the information could not help but sigh while frowning at each other. They had considered various possibilities: poisoning, attack by other forces, but todays preliminary investigation showed... "Hygiene reasons? In order to speed up food production, omitted the water treatment step? In order to increase the number of sales, increased the proportion of water?!" The taste of steamed rice and buns would be affected with more water. Cooking time was the same, more soup meant less vegetables put in and people would end up eating rice in soup. There was even more soup water at the various windows. One man threw the papers onto the table. "For these reasons? The base was wrecked with havoc!" Another person added, "This is not right. The canteen problems were not recent but why did the problem only break out yesterday? Its too much of a coincidence." One could not me their conspiracy theories since it had been arge problem. The southwest base could have been destroyed like three previous bases, the thought had crossed their minds. "The situation needs forensic investigation. Researchers are extracting samples to carry out experiments..." The man who delivered the report bravely answered. "Perhaps the virus would explode after umting to a certain extent...before the virus was small but continued to umte until something simr to yesterday would ur..." The research agency also found that there were extremely small traces of the virus in the air. Just because the quantity was small and would not usually cause an qualitative change and so on. Anyway, ording to them, the world is not safe at all. At anytime, anywhere, people could suddenly be zombies! If this statement was true...Why were people struggling to survive? There would be collective suicide! The room was once again silent, after a while one person waved. "I know, let them intensify the research..." If this spection was confirmed then...the future of humanity was indeed very bleak. The next morning, the group set again for work. The radio confirmed that the vast majority of work had returned to normal operations. They could go and report. While driving the car all the way to the camp, seeing the outside streets and neighborhoods, a heavy feeling entered their hearts. The chaos in the area yesterday was not a singr case, over the course of two days, a panicked and depressed mood broke out. The military vehicles dispatched yesterday afternoon were once again sent out, not to destroy zombies but to maintain order in the base. There had been too many killings and the victims were often perpetrators of theft, those protective people did not stay. It was said that the number of dead bodies pulled away by military vehicles was more than the number of people who died due to the virus outbreak. The two parked the car and felt the barracks inspection and vignce was more stringent than before. When they approached the truck, the captain was not seen but the driver gave a simple greeting. Upon seeing the captain, the pair hurried over. "Today;s work has been changed, lets get on the bus first." Captain Guo held his hat as he nced at Luo Xun and Yan Fei. Very good, no sign of injury, in good spirits, should not have been affected by the incident. The two people saw some extra people on the team, one of which had been transferred to the afternoon team and roughly guessed what the captain would say. Captain Guo stood in front and started introductions after everyone was seated in the truck. "This is the second teams Shen Ping, also a metal ability user. Yesterday our superiors adjusted the teams work after negotiations. The two teams are now merged. Working hours have changed from the original eight oclock to noon to eight oclock in the morning to three oclock in the afternoon, an increase of three hours. The barracks will send over lunch. Of course bonus points will be paid and there will be more nuclei." He turned to Yan Fei and Luo Xun. "You two have any problems?" The increase in time would affect them, but there was no room for anyments. Although the working hours were extended to three oclock in the afternoon, they still had more free time than those who were busy working from morning to night. After a quick nce, the two responded, "No problem." Captain Guo breathed a sigh then turned to the group. "Superiors have ordered us to get as much of the outer wall done as possible within a week! Well all improve work efficiency and strive toplete the work as soon as possible! Higher ups also said that if we finish before the end of the month, the extra time will be holiday for everyone. Next month, there will be a new project." In fact there was not too much of the outer wall left. The task would certainly bepleted in a week, especially since everyone had increased working hours. It was definitely possible to finish early. Hearing that finishing early meant an earlier vacation, several peoples eyes lit up. In the past even people who spent everyday in the barracks could have a holiday, but since the apocalypse had arrived, they were working around the clock. Who would expect a rare vacation? After this, the captain asked Luo Xun and Yan Fei about the situation downtown. The pair left at noon everyday, when the most people were outside. He wanted to know if they were on the scene of the first incident. Yan Fei gave a brief description of the event because the number of people who changed into zombies on the road was not many, the situation was chaotic but not overly dangerous C especially for the both of them. "Werent a lot of military vehicles dispatched yesterday afternoon to maintain order? It seemed it was very loud outside?" One soldier curiously inquired. He usually participated in wall construction so he was not involved in maintaining order on base or going out to collect supplies. Only vaguely heard some things about yesterday and did not know the specific circumstances. Luo Xun helplessly smiled. "Some people broke in and robbed others homes while they were blocked outside for a while due to zombies. If caught, they were beaten by the owner on the spot." The captain smiled but alsoughed helplessly, "I heard that there were two to three hundred dead pulled from the streets and even more injured." Who could me them? Didnt these peoplee out on their own? Thus, no one went and sympathize with them. Not long after, the trucksden with people reached the outer base wall. The team climbed upwards to continue their previous work. "A lot more zombies..." Luo Xun sighed with dismay past the wall. The zombie bodies asionally collectively rose, waved and howled...gave the illusion of a swelling sea? "There had not been enough manpower to send people out to kill the zombies yesterday so a lot umted outside the wall." A familiar soldier sighed at Luo Xun. Yan Fei and a few others were already in position, hands at the ready on the metal tes. Luo Xun sighed as well before getting to work C protecting Yan Fei and easily dealing with a dozen zombies. The newly joined metal users work efficiency speed did notpare to Yan Fei andpany. So the captain temporarily assigned him to a rtively small area to let him work at his pace. A shiny metallic liquid flowed out of the wall and the four men sitting on the walls seemed to have woven a thick, sturdy steel wall. If this was thrown at the zombies looking up at the wall, what a pleasing picture that would be. Unfortunately the zombies below were too ugly and disgusting. Of course the contrast would act as a foil and make the seemingly ordinary soldiers on the wall more pleasing, even unexpectedly stunning. Support by donating a Ko-fi! Every ten donations equals an extra chapter. Chapter 72 Luo Xun and the four defensive soldiers remained at their respective charges sides while the men began to work. The remaining people moved materials, killed zombies and dug out the crystal nucleus, busy with their ownbor division. Luo Xun did not immediately join the group killing zombies because the one who killed the creature would have to extract the nucleus. If he brought down a dozen zombies while beside Yan Fei it would bring unnecessary trouble. Better to wait for Yan Fei to finish and move before shooting to kill. Suddenly, Luo Xuns heart jerked, he grabbed Yan Fei and the two squatted down. "Careful!" All of a sudden a fireball flew past Yan Fei and Luo Xun! Ability! A zombie with powers! The crowd was also surprised and saw the fireball speed by in a parabolic arch and smash a hole in the ground. Zombies had abilities?! Or was it an attack by a human? No, incorrect, even if an ability user wanted to attack Luo Xun, they would not shoot fireballs from outside the base! The captain climbed up the wall with a shield. He cautiously looked out and saw a zombie spit out a ball of fire C the fireball went over the wall! "Watch out! Zombies have abilities! Can attack remotely!" The captain roared and pointed at the fire zombie. "Shoot! Shoot that one first!" Zombies evolved to have abilities? This was outrageous! Is it possible that after a few days everyone would go to heaven? The crowd concentrated fire on the targeted zombie. Yan Feis eyes shed with metallic light as he gloomily looked at the scene. He had been careless, if Luo Xun had not been vignt, he would have surely been hit by the ball of fire! The sound of gunfire came from a distance, it seemed that there were shots being fired from the direction of the fate. Luo Xun wondered if there was an ability zombieying siege to the base gate. But the current priority was the zombies under the walls! Who knew how many zombies had abilities in the crowd! Everyones luck was neither good nor bad. Although they had met a zombie with an ability, many of the zombies below only needed a head shot to be killed, which made it easier. The team captain gave priority to the fire zombie, got someone to cut of its head and sent a soldier directly to the barracks. Report to superiors before sending the head to research division to carry out various experiments. Luo Xun thought of the leaders wonderful expressions upon opening the box with the delivered zombie head and silentlyughed. Meanwhile, the captainmanded two soldiers to take out riot shields. The shields were equipment used by armed police to maintain security. They had not expected that zombies would develop ranged abilities. Now since there was the threat of a long range attack, they must naturally prepare for prevention. They could not wait for the zombies to develop even further before taking action. Luo Xuns team was lucky, once they discovered the possibility of long range zombie attacks, two soldiers had driven back with ten full face shields! Captain Guo stared at the riot shields in surprise and asked, "How did they agree to give you so many?" A soldierughed triumphantly, "Reporting Sir, when we got there was no one taking them. These shields were ced in base as spares since equipment had already been allocated to the teams who went out for tasks. We just had to say a few nice words and they gave us some extra." Another smiled with a proud face, "When we came back to meet with the patrols, they also came to grab some after meeting zombies with ranged abilities but were behind us!" Some things were like this, when one person asks for something once, the suppliers were naturally happy and did not care about handing out more than usual. But if people were to apply for the item in session, they would be very stingy. The two soldiers were not troops out ofbat C those teams had already been equipped with protective gear and would only apply for more if there was wear. They were just usually in charge of the walls, not responsible forbat and therefore not equipped with much protective equipmentpared to teams that patrolled outside that had more zombies. The soldiers predicted that others would have also encountered a simr situation to Yan Fei before going to apply for simr equipment. Captain Guo smiled and patted the two clever soldiers. "Good, you two are smart." The people, including Luo Xun who were responsible for protection on the wall were given a shield. If there was a zombie, he would use the shield to protect himself and Yan Fei in case of another zombie sneak attack. While the captain sent someone to collect the shields, the four metal users rested behind the wall to replenish their energy. They now had shields and teammates to protect them. Yan Fei sat upright and pinched Luo Xuns cheek with some strength. Luo Xun was pinched but since it did not hurt he figured Yan Fei was teasing him. But he did not realize that Yan Fei felt slight fear and annoyance from being protected by Luo Xun. He had not noticed the problem in advance! As head of the house, the powerful Yan Fei unexpectedly failed to discover danger or find the problem. Yan Fei had a deep feeling of frustration, although he suppressed it, he would not allow his confidence to be shaken a second time! Each individual was putting in all effort to use the metal materials as quickly as possible in order to increase the power of their abilities. Others were also speeding up the transportation of materials while the remainder were eradicating zombies and digging out nuclei. Around noon, the dining car arrived at the section of the wall Yan Fei was responsible for. The fragrant smell of wantons flowed out, the busy morning workers became all the more hungry. Upon smelling the food, everyone turned to look at the car. "Rest half an hour. Work the afternoon with a full belly!" Seeing the dining car, the tired captain waved a hand. Bring people down from the wall, wash hands and then eat. Yan Fei and Luo Xun gave each other side nces and whispered. "Should we follow them to eat together? Will there be problems with the food?" "There shouldnt be. The thing yesterday involved outer food sale windows, did not hear of any idents in the barracks." "Ah, and after the ident, the barracks will increase area supervision." The two ended up agreeing that they would continue to eat with the team C the military was not crazy, otherwise it would not have been possible to deal with the armys health care problems after such an event on base. Even if the incident before was not caused by food and water, it could not taken lightly. The delivered meal only hadrge, yellow steamed buns and arge pot of stewed leeks. Along with a pot of diluted soup water with a spoonful of rice millet porridge. At the beginning, the hungry people did not express any opinions. But a few older soldiers startedining to the orderly who delivered the meals. "The food is getting worse, there isnt any meat in the stew today. Why are there only bones? The orderlies had no other way and could onlyugh. "Since it was stewed for a bit longer, maybe it fell into the pan?" The captain lightly pushed his bowl and looked up to ask, "I did not find any shredded meat in the dish. Did you put it all into someone elses pot when you were dividing the food?" "How could that be? Its sent out right after being cooked. Its hard to tell how much meat is inside." "Tomorrow you will check and increase the amount of meat in our portion. Our work takes a lot of energy, if we have no strength to make the fence there could be idents." Captain Guo did not dare speak too harshly lest the other party shove them under a bus. If rations were deducted, they might as well go back to the barrack canteen and get their own food. "All right, well look into it tomorrow and try to get you something nice." The other side could only nod in response and wait for the group of people to finish eating to collect the tableware before driving away. "Start work. Finish early and go home to rest early!" The captain got up and pped after the group quickly ate lunch and rested for 10 minutes. Although it was not good for the stomach to start work immediately after eating, it was fine since all the materials that needed to be physically transported were on the edge of the wall before lunch. Everyone took their positions, Luo Xun stood in front of two others with the transparent ss riot shield to block zombies in the area. Yan Fei casually broke off a piece of metal, which turned to droplets as the afternoon work shift began. The busy day continued until three oclock in the afternoon. The two people returned back to base and drove back to their neighborhood. Different from at noon where there were many people around, the street was now empty. The silent atmosphere persisted as the car drove down the street. There were fewer cars parked on both sides of the road C since the day before yesterday, those who preferred to live in cars and not leave the inner base had changed their thinking. In this post-apocalyptic world, a ce with many people was not guaranteed to be safe! Look at what happened previously, there had been a zombie virus outbreak inside the base. A small number of people were infected and then it spread to other people. As for outside? It was clear and no zombies showed up! After the zombie virus appeared inside the base, many people had been robbed as well. Robbery and other events had not just urred in Luo Xuns neighborhood, almost all of the other areas experienced simr things. A woman left at home to watch the house was murdered and knew nothing. On the contrary, those in the outside base who were always on guard since zombies could break through at any time were unaffected! Those who worked outside the base, went out to collect supplies and returned safely to base on the night of the ident. With such a stark contrast, people all of a sudden changed their minds. All kinds of people originally confident in the security of the inner base went to support the outer base instead. Since many of the houses in the outer base were empty, people applied and immediately moved out of the crowded area and cohabited with others. In addition to more inconvenient living, they also had to worry about neighbors breaking in to steal things when not at home. Thieving neighbors was more likely than strangers, why wait to move? Luo Xun and Yan Fei hade back just in time for thest wave of people leaving, resulting in an empty street. Some intersections had scattered debris, broken ss and damaged public facilities. Riots had also broken out two days earlier and some ces, such as therge gateway had traces of dried blood spread around. It seemed that previous traces of the dead were concentrated around a simr area. To the paranoid base that had no information about the incident, they believed the zombies to be manufactured with the purpose of eliminating people in the base. People with wild imaginations were secretly discussing and saying that there were intelligent zombies that had nned the incident. After driving back to the building, the two men wearily walked up the stairs. Simr to outside, the building was silent. Even if someone was home, it was also lunch break so there was less sound than usual. After climbing all the way up to the 16th floor, the two dragged their tired bodies through the door. The puppy enthusiastically greeted Luo Xun by rearing up on her two front legs and jumping into his bosom. One paw stepped on Luo Xuns poor hip, the sudden action caused him to bend down a bit and then the puppy headbutted his lungs. Luo Xun coughed twice before pushing the enthusaistic puppy away. He dragged the rest of his body to the sofa in order to lie down. Yan Fei closed the door and gathered Luo Xun in his arms. "Lets go upstairs to sleep." "Ill have a rest and then Ill go brush the next room." "Sleep first, well get up together." Todays workload was significantlyrger than usual. If they had not had a rest in the afternoon, the two may not have had the strength to climb up. Yan Fei had exhausted his mental strength, fortunately he slowly adjusted increasing his actions after a short rest over time. Luo Xun pondered and thought Yan Fei was right. He got up and climbed up to the second floor. The little puppy watched the two people climb up the stairs. She tilted her head before bouncing back in front of the ss box on the balcony. The puppy and the little quails continued entertaining each other. The two slept until six oclock in the evening, they were still somewhat tired but their spirit was much better. Luo Xun hurried into the kitchen to prepare supper. He removed a b of bacon hanging from the ceiling, cut off a piece and hung the rest back up. In the kitchen Luo Xun grabbed some pickle jars from the shelves. He washed and diced beans, radishes, green peppers and so on. After washing the slices of bacon, everything was fried together in a pot. The taste of the dish went very well with rice, with some randomly picked vegetables from the balcony, it was enough for two people to eat dinner. "Huh? There seems to be less lettuce?" Luo Xun confusedly looked at the bottom shelf row of balcony vegetables. The neighbors leeks seemed to be growing better? Green and tall, there should not be ack of leaves. Why did the bottom row of lettuce differ so much from the upperyers? Luo Xun frowned and put the picked vegetables into the sink. He turned and took out his mobile phone that had seen little use. He returned to the first floor balcony to take a few photos of the bottom shelf prior to going back to the kitchen to continue cooking. Yan Fei was not here, he seemed to busy in another room ording to the sounds. Luo Xun felt pressure at the bottom of his heart and sped up his cooking C the two of them should brush the walls before going to bed this evening. The garlic was fragrant, the bacon was fried with its own oil, bing shiny as the aroma overflowed in the kitchen. The assorted, diced kimchi were thrown into the pot, the hot sour scent stimted peoples appetite. Luo Xuns mouth began to water C although he had no appetite after waking up, but became hungry after smelling the food... The rest of the green vegetables were stir fried under high heat and finished before the soup. Some vegetables did not need to be thoroughly fried to be more crisp and delicious. The two dishes were removed from the pot, along with a small package of frozen tomatoes from the fridge to make tomato egg soup. There was also rice to apany the stir-fry. Luo Xun ced the food on the living room table before knocking on a door. "Foods ready!" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and put down the brush. "How fast." He was ustomed to Luo Xuns fast cooking speed but today seemed faster than usual. "There is a room waiting to be brushed." So he had been in a hurry and the food was simple C who had the time to cookplicated dishes during the apocalypse? Two people wolfed down two bowls of rice with hot and sour bacon fried kimchi. Once the te of vegetables and pot of soup had been emptied, they quickly packed up the chopsticks and went back next door to brush the walls. The two had not done such work before but fortunately mastered the essentials after some experimentation. The couple brushed at home, napped to recover spirit, ate dinner to recover physical strength and ignored time with endurance. They worked until a sound came from the outside and they opened the door. Li Tie andpany dragged themselves home with tired footsteps. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi were at the back. Upon seeing Luo Xun and Yan Fei, Wang Duo ran forward. "Yan Fei, we got materials! Can bring back tomorrow!" Yan Fei realized it was about the metal materials and nodded his head. "Our work time has increased these past two days. When you get back leave it in the corridor, if theres nothing pressing to do when we finish in the evening Ill slowly do it." Wang Duo quickly nodded. "No problem, do when you have time. Speed does not matter, we have no time to grow vegetables." Li Tie added from the back. "It will only be busy for now, once all the information has been entered, well have more free time." Zhang Yi yawned and went to 1602 door and sleepily opened the lock. He almost hit his head on the iron gate C the hospital had been packed with bloody fighting patients the past two days, he was exhausted! Wang Duo hurried forward and escorted his beautiful boyfriend home. When he opened the door, he threw a ttering smile at Yan Fei and Luo Xun before helping his queen home to rest. Li Tie and the others held back augh, waited until the two had already gone in. Wu Xin thought of something and stepped towards Luo Xun. "Forgot to mention, when we came back yesterday, an ability user in themunity almost hit us during a fight and Zhang Yi used his ability to block. One of the bosses wanted to recruit Zhang Yi but he was not interested..." Yan Fei asked in surprise, "A team wanted to pull in Zhang Yi?" Li Tie nodded and came over. "Yes, yesterday two people were openly fighting. The two captains fighting were both power users, one had fire, the other had lightning. The one who wanted Zhang Yi was the one with lightning powers. There team was named something like Chaos?" Luo Xun heard the words, choked on his saliva and coughed a few times. The former me boss was chased by the leader of Chaos? Was this destined? Or had Zhang Yi been recruited in his past life? Luo Xun did not know what happened to cause Zhang Yi to leave and join a different team. Wait a minute, the team leader who fought against Chaos yesterday seemed to be a fire user. Was it the legendary mes? Werent the two in conflict since the apocalypse? Luo Xuns mind raced, in hisst life the two teams had inexplicable rtions. He did not think that the two teams were enemies from the beginning on opposing sides. Pondering each day on how to kill each other. Chapter 73 Yan Fei patted Luo Xuns back and spoke after the coughing subsided. "Its normal to recruit people with abilities like Zhang Yi. After all, his ability is very strong." Yan Fei felt that keeping the other as a doctor was a waste, going out to kill zombies would show the value of his power. However since Yan Fei himself was toozy to go out and kill zombies and collect materials, he could understand Zhang Yis choice of working at the hospital. Speaking of this matter, Li Tie and the others had big smiles on their faces. He Qiankun proudly revealed to Yan Fei, "Zhang Yi said our team name is good. He likes the idea of it and is now a member of our team!" Yan Fei was silent for a while. His heart wondered what this "our team" was about? He thought back to some dustden corner in his memories from long ago, Li Tie had wanted tobine the two groups to form some team... "Right! Otaku team sounds pretty good!" Right...Otaku team. Yan Fei silently pondered, Otaku was not bad. During the apocalypse in his house on base, with his lover passing the days nting and working on the walls. Although there seemed to be nothing to pursue, he had already chased all pursuits before the apocalypse. This current sort of life was also good, if everything was scary, they could go outside to skill zombies and dig out crystal nuclei. Han Li interrupted Li Tie and anxiously exined to the couple, "But those people said that they knew how to improve ability, if they use this as temptation..." Not just Zhang Yi, even Yan Fei could leave so he had no peace of mind. That was right...There was that thing...So the main reason they were reporting to Yan Fei was because of this? These two people were the only ability users on their team, if they left with others...how would the rest of the group cope? The best way is for them to figure out the method and prevent other teams from poaching. Yan Fei raised his eyebrows. "Raise ability? I know how to do that." "Ah!?" The four person group looked at him. Yan Fei knew how to improve his abilities? Or he knew that some teams knew how to improve their abilities? Yan Fei frowned and touched his chin while he mused, "Before I was too busy, I must have forgotten to mention it. Ill tell him when he gets back." Yan Fei quickly summed up the most effective ways to improve abilities, there were two methods: one was topletely empty their capacity before recovering, the second was to absorb crystal nuclei. He suspected that what the Chaos team captain had said about the "method of ascension" meant absorbing nuclei. It was not a secret, the military had long since been using this method, perhaps they had not mentioned it. Zhang Yi would have not known from other channels, the information had not been passed around. Who let only him and Yan Fei be ability users on their floor? This sort of topic would not be mentioned when talking with the ordinary Li Tie and friends. As for Zhang Yi...how often did that guy talk to people? His brain was too strange, Yan Fei said he was toozy to try and keep up. Also toozy to try and understand his thoughts. Back in the room, the pair continued to work and finished brushing the wall very quickly. They had just eaten a meal and there were only two rooms left. After thest room was painted, the two people smiled in relief. They opened the doors and windows before going to bed in order to dry the house. Yan Fei set up a special iron bar to block the window, even if a thief wanted to quickly enter they could not. They could go home and rest at ease. "Theyll have the materials tomorrow. Are you going to set up their ce first?" After washing and returning to the bedroom, Luo Xun leaned against a wall and watched Yan Fei attack the iron ball in the room. "Ah, first deal with his home. Last time you said that some ces would better to rebuild? His home will be the test run." Yan Fei said breezily, there were two houses for him to practice on and take advantage of. After finishing the two heating systems, Luo Xuns house would be able to use the best solution. Luo Xun could not help butugh and nodded seriously, "ording to Li Tie and the others, their house heats up slowly and uses up a lot of electricity. After looking at Zhang Yis home improvement situation, should be able to determine the best improvement method." His lovers n was eptable and thus hepletely showed his support. The next evening, Zhang Yi came home earlier than usual with a truck loaded with metal materials. Luo Xuns eyes twitched after going downstairs. He could not help but ask, "How did you get so much metal?" There was enough metal for Yan Fei to work a day at the wall! Zhang Yi narrowed his peach blossom eyes andughed with a dazzling smile that gave people goosebumps. He raised a finger to point at the truck. "A patient." He gave a look of understanding. "Female helped a suffering person." "...Which female patient was so blind, to send you a car of scarce material?" Luo Xun felt his eyes twitch, thatdy was really blind! Did she know how scarce metal was on base? Beautiful people were fortunate! Even if she wanted toy in bed, had to hand over materials. Zhang Yi waved his hands, "Her father seems to be responsible for the distribution of collected materials. Heard that I was looking for metal to renovate the house and gave me a car." He sighed deeply, "The rotten girl is really a good friend." "Ah? Woman?" Luo Xun thinking he heard wrong was not to be med. What kind of good rotten female would be so generous to give metal urgently needed by the base under this kind of circumstances? Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow andughed meaningfully. "You did not hear wrong, no need for denial." After speaking, he turned to the car to see someone sneaking a peek. The person taking the chance to fish in troubled waters was sent three metres flying by a ball of wind. Although Luo Xun wanted to ask Zhang Yi for more details, what would be the cost? A woman could bear the cost of giving him so many materials? He also...cough, liked men, would he be able to use this advantage? But thinking of the horrors that might arise, things that are likely to be confided, even the possibility of being betrayed...He decided to continue living a strong and honest life. Yan Feis face was not well as they climbed to the 16th floor C no other way, who let him be the only one with metal ability? Carrying the metal by himself was much faster than letting the others bring stuff up bit by bit. He could control the metal suspended in midair, "floating" to the 16th floor. Due to therge amount of material that Zhang Yi had brought back, it could not be fully manipted at once. Forced operation would only block the whole corridor. Regretfully, Zhang Yis honey was too potent, the car had enough for two or three trips, Yan Fei could only persevere. Luo Xun and Zhang Yi looked downstairs at the car together. Onlookers passing by watched while poor Yan Feimanded the pile of material to slowly float towards the 16th floor. "Are you returning the carter today?" Luo Xun pointed at the pickup truck half full of material. Zhang Yi shook his head. "Drive back tomorrow morning." Luo Xun patted his chest, he had thought the generous woman had even gifted Zhang Yi with a truck. "Dont think all your materials will be used up." Luo Xun looked at the rest of the material in the car. He was very clear on the total cost of the metal material used for Li Ties room. Zhang Yi had brought back too many materials, more than enough to renovate the apartment. Zhang Yi carelessly waved a hand. "Other than plumbing, paving the floor and reinforcing the inside wall? The rest is for you, its useless to me anyway. Just get me some chairs like the ones in your home." There was no furniture inside 1603, Zhang Yi only needed Yan Fei to use some of the metal materials for that. Although it was not bright silver like stainless steel, this kind if furniture was strong! The appearance did not matter, if needed they could find Yan Fei to change the shape. Gifts for Yan Fei were also very simple, ordinary metal materials were okay, no need for precious metals! The unfortunate Yan Fei hade downstairs again, using a hand to direct a portion of the material while wandering the corridor. Looking around, he huffed. "Oh-" Startled, Luo XUn jumped and hurriedly looked around. Goodness, when had they be surrounded by so many people? Who knew when, more and more lively people gathered around. Unlike the ones at the beginning who were trying to steal goods, these people simply came to see themotion. "Why are there so many people? Didnt a lot of people moved out in thest two days?" Luo Xun had a point, since the incident a few days ago, a lot of people had moved out of the inner city towards the outer base. The empty houses were now filled and people squeezed to find a ce. ording to what others had said, the outer base houses were veryrge. Some areas had one person to a floor. If the military had not responded in a timely manner, many others would have done like Luo Xun, one person imed an apartment as their own! But outside the base, housing cost money, though originally groups of five or six people paid a lot to crowd in a room. Now a family of three would still pay the same amount, more cost effective at a nce. While the two were standing around and talking, Yan Fei went up the stairs as someone walked out. The two groups came face to face, it was the two female college students that Yan Fei had nailed when the two had assailed the 16th floor with tears. The two girls did not look good, especially their hurt hand. Their faces were pale and they were sweating. It seemed they were heading downstairs and experienced a shock upon seeing Yan Fei floating so much metal at once. The two girls leaned against a man, one on each side. The man reached into the uninjured girls cor and copped a feel in in view of other people. Seeing Luo Xun and the others standing at the door of the truck, the two girls jerked in surprise but quickly lowered their heads. The man beside them did not notice anything off and left in high spirits with a proud smile. Behind them, two guys were holding a screen that seemed to have been removed from a window... Luo Xun touched his chin, the gang this time was neither the females formerpanions or the ones from before. Zhang Yi gave a nce at the group andughingly smiled. "Looks like they found a patron and moved away." The two women who had been robbed by the group had nothing in their home. There was only the two of them if they moved away with nothing of value, except those two windows? Luo Xun nodded and muttered to himself. "Window screen...How could I forget about that?" How did he forget to collect something before the apocalypse? Maybe because in his past life the basement had no windows? Zhang Yi looked at him. He wanted to find some window screens from someone else. "You can let your husband make you metal screens. A little denser but still usable, anyway he has nothing else to do." Luo Xuns eyes brightened. "Right! That could work!" He could save money instead of buying screens! The unaware Yan Fei came downstairs to see his lover staring at him with shining eyes. He subconsciously looked down at himself C clothes were clean, was there something on his face? Thest batch of metal materials flew up, Zhang Yi left the car in a parking space and locked the doors. The three people climbed up to the 16th floor. On the top floor, Luo Xun saw that the corridor already had a metal floor and Zhang Yis door had a giant hole with quite a bit of metal materials inside. Zhang Yi rubbed his throbbing temple. "Was my door locked for nothing?" Yan Fei was in front but had no time to bicker while manipting the metal. Luo Xun who was in the middleughed. "Want to go directly to my apartment? We dont mind." Zhang Yi waved a hand. "No need, anyway my door is no obstacle for your husband." Luo Xun nodded. "Right!" Yan Fei smiled, satisfied with Zhang Yisment of "husband", he decided to make the floor stronger. Poor Luo Xun had long forgotten his resentment of wanting to be on top. Defaulted to "Yan Fei is his husband" regardless of external facts. After putting away all the metal, Yan Fei remembered to say to Zhang Yi. "Right, there was something I had forgot to mention. You have heard that crystal nucleus can be absorbed for energy, it also has the role of upgrading ones ability. In my experience, it is best to absorb nuclei afterpletely exhausting reserves. It seems the effect is better than directly absorbing." Zhang Yi raised his eyebrows. "I heard that you can absorb the nuclei and have the ability to enhance abilities, it seems the army is using the method. Did you get some working on the wall?" Yan Fei nodded and took out a small piece of stone from his pocket. It resembled an unpolished shard of ss. "You arent allowed to use these in the hospital?" Zhang Yi shrugged. "We dont need the power to heal? Why would they give. How do you absorb these things?" "Using mental strength and absorb through the hand..." Yan Feis voice remained level. The nucleus in Zhang Yis hand lit up with some cyan light along his head into his body. He had used it?! It had just been demonstrated. Zhang Yi showed a rare embarrassed expression and waved with a smile. "Return to you." He could only return it, the item was privately controlled and few people were willing to exchange. The army controlled cirction and distribution. He did not know where to buy things so he killed... Should he go out of base tomorrow to hunt zombies? He could get one right away! Yan Fei nced at him with slight disdain. "Wait until you get some." He was not a monster, he would not dispute over a single nucleus. "If you are not nning on leaving base, you need to find ways to get some nuclei." Zhang Yi touched his chin and nted his head while wondering. "Ill inquire about this when I return the car tomorrow, perhaps thats a way. If not, Ill find a chance to explore outside base." The rotten woman was a good start, he could ask her with little effort. If not possible, then he would resign tomorrow, leave the base in search of crystal nucleus! Zhang Yi was now afraid of leisure. Whether going to the hospital to do surgery or stitches, or going out of with base to cut zombies with his ability was a good way to vent. As he thought about it, was it more cost effective to go out and hunt zombies? In case of meeting someone with troublesome intentions, he could also cut them down! Ah ~ That was the best way to relieve stress and have fun! Zhang Yi had been outside for a while beforeing to base. But at the time he wanted to disguise himself as an ordinary person. He rarely used his power against zombies, only asionally used his wind to attack during outbreaks. He greatly anticipated fully using his powers in order to hunt down zombies. Seeing Zhang Yis eyes wander and his facial expression shift, Luo Xun knew where the others mind had gone. The two both looked at the pile of metal. "Deal with these today?" Yan Fei shook his head. "Todays exhaustion is more severe. Should be able to pave the bedroom pipes and floor after eating dinner. The rest will be put on hold until we get back tomorrow." Zhang Yi waved a hand. "A day or two makes no difference. The door is unable to block you anyway so you can start when you return. Whatever gets done gets done." Luo Xun kindly reminded. "You should pack away your valuables." He did not want to be bothered in the future. Zhang Yis smile deepened and he nced at Luo Xun. "Other than condoms, my home has nothing valuable. What I have you have, what I dont have you also have. No need to hide. As for the condoms..." He trailed off and patted his pocket. "I carry them with me~" Why was he carrying that with him? Was he ready to meet someone whenever...Cough, was the hat on Wang Duos head green? Back in the house, Luo Xun began to prepare dinner. Yesterdays bacon fried kimchi had a heavier taste so there was a lot left. Luo Xun set aside some quail eggs to cook and turned to the balcony. Looking at the fewer lettuce leaves, Luo Xun patted his forehead. He took his mobile phone andparedst nights photos. "Yan Fei! Take a look!" Hearing Luo Xuns voice, Yan Fei quickly put down the improved pipeline drawings and went to the others side. "Whats wrong?" "Look! This is the leaf I took a photo ofst night, this is the present appearance!" Luo Xun erged the photos and pointed at the bottom shelf of lettuce. "...There are fewer leaves." One could clearly see that there were no traces of the outermost lettuce leaves. It was a clear difference! "There are no worms at home, even if there was one, it would not eat the whole piece of leaf. There is also a gap from the ground, unable to reach the leaves. Yesterday the leaves had no other marks..." Luo Xuns face had a hint of tension. Yan Fei also frowned and looked at the window. "When we go the doors and windows are shut. Nothing should be able to fly in to eat..." Chapter 74 The two people stood on the balcony for a moment before Luo Xun rushed towards the staircase. "Ill go get a notebook, theres a USB camera at home. Well put in on the balcony tomorrow and record for a day!" He would like to know how the vegetable leaves went "missing"! The little puppy was lying beside the quail habitat, ears twitching as she shut her eyes as if asleep. Because she seemed to enjoy ying with the quails, Luo Xun had moved a cushion so that she would have something to lie on the floor during the day. Had to ce the notebook in the right ce C Yan Fei made a small temporary metal table. He pulled over the wire, connected theputer to the camera and adjusted the video mode. Luo Xun pped his hands, his eyes shed with resentment. "I cant wait to find out what kind of ghostes to steal our food!" He was sure that it was not Li Tie and the others, they had no time and their home had their own vegetables. If they had wanted to simply eat vegetables they would grow their own. Definitely would not do something like theft! Yan Fei also nodded, he felt that the leaves seemed to have been stolen away. The thief was careful, only stole a few leaves each day in fear of the owner realizing a problem. However he did not understand why the thief only stole from the bottom row of vegetables? And seemed to prefer the lettuce? The lush leek nearby had not been touched. If it had been him, to not let anyone realize anything amiss he would have evenly picked leaves from each vegetable and not only the bottom row. Sooner orter someone would have noticed something wrong. Was the thief smart or stupid? After dinner, Yan Fei went next door to Zhang Yis house to set up free warm water pipe system. Luo Xun had improved the design with a separate regting valve, one could make each room a separate temperature with its own control device. That way if not needed it could be turned off, which was more convenient and also saved energy. Overnight, the sky turned dim, the pair quickly checked theptop recording. With a sigh, they confirmed that the balconyst night had been normal. They removed the metal cover on the quail cage and went to the living room to eat breakfast. This morning, they ate carrot stuffed dumplings which were taken from a bag frozen in the fridge. These days they only ate lunch outside the city wall, the couple was unable to bring food home. The two ate breakfast and dinner at home. Luckily the two were paid more points each day that before. Even going to the base window to buy rice was no problem. Unfortunately they could not go out and buy because the zombie outbreak rted to food issues on base. If they were more free, they could also eat dinner in the barracks which would be useful. But the house had so many fresh vegetables, who else would be able to eat such things? Each day was very good at the moment. After breakfast, the couple and Li Ties group drove together to the barracks. In the car Li Tie and the others smiled and talked about the metal flooring. "Yan Fei, you can use a pile of metal materials to build a house, our building is now veryfortable!" Yan Fei smiled. "They are warming measures for winter, wait until summer and it will feel like being in an oven." They froze upon hearing him and suddenlyughed. It was true, a metal shell without protective measure was no different than living in an oven! They had not thought deeply enough. After half a day of work, Yan Fei took advantage of his physical and mental strength back home to finish Zhang Yis home. Before long the heating measure of the home would be ready. Looking at the pipe flooring, Luo Xun would experiment with water and electricity. The sr panel was one Wang Duo had taken from 1601, he got a portion when everyone went out to collect supplies. It was unknown when Zhang Yi had found the two storage batteries. Turned on water and electricity, Luo Xun checked the situation inside every room. Yan Fei used the time to sit aside and absorb nuclei to restore his energy. Anyway he had a lot of surplus nuclei, he would absorb as much as possible before going to bed to not waste resources. After the check, Luo Xun stood at the door and pointed at the floor. "Effect was as nned, more convenient. The temperature of each room can be adjusted at any time. I have a new idea, with this basis I could improve and control the temperature inside the greenhouse...Im going to draw a n! Back to the house!" Sure enough, with the first two sets of houses, Luo Xun now had an improved method. Of course, what he thought of stilled needed some additionalponents. So tomorrow afternoon he would check roadside stalls to see if there was anything useful. Yan Fei smiled as Luo Xun hurried back to refine his design. After absorbing the nucleus he turned to the flooring. In order to prevent thermal expansion and other problems, since they did not have a better heat conduction material, Yan Fei would simply use a loose metal mesh to fill the gap between pipes and then spread on the floor. This work was more energy intensive. When Luo Xun finished drawing the design, Zhang Yi hade back and entered the master bedroom. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi expressed great satisfaction C they had nothing else to do at home. Only the hallway and the bedroom were often used. Zhang Yi crossed his hands in front of his chest. He gave a satisfied nod as he stomped on the metal floor. "Good, dont know how you did it but stepping on it wont make a lot of sound." The sound instion effect was quite good. Yan Fei also expressed satisfaction with his own work following Luo Xuns idea. "The middle portion of metal has undergone some processing so no sound is transmitted. By the way, have you asked?" Zhang Yi and Yan Fei were simr people, some would not understand the dialogue but he knew and cut straight to the point. "Can find someone to change but I dont think its cost-effective. So I gave my resignation to the hospital supervisor, but he did not agree." He raised a hand to touch his chin. "But he agreed to give some leave. I can use the time to go out and entertain myself." Go out and entertain himself...He knew there were zombies outside, right? Luo Xun, having just finished his new design was silent but for an ability user like Zhang Yi, going out to hunt low level zombies was as difficult as digging out potatoes. "How about it? Are you interested?" Zhang Yi smiled and looked at the couple. Yan Fei was surprised. "You want to team up?" Zhang Yi helplessly waved his hands. "The base regtions are like before, those going off base must team up with no less than 10 people and pick a task. Its no problem if I go out alone, but if Im surrounded by zombies with no one to help collect nuclei, I wont be able to recover my strength." He originally wanted to go out alone but going out with a team would save a lot of trouble while hunting zombies. If he thought about it, if he met a mob of zombies, where would he have the time to pick up nuclei? Without those, how would he regain his mental strength? His ability would not activate without energy! So he thought of the couple and Li Ties group. "What? Its about the crystal nuclei right?" Sure enough, Li Tie andpany had talked about this on the way back, their spirits were high. Since thest time they had been downstairs, Li Tie and the others had been using the metal sticks to exercise. After hearing that Zhang Yi wanted to leave base and collect crystal nuclei, they also wanted to participate. Their purpose was not the nuclei, they were focused on training for the future in a post-apocalyptic world. In the event of an incident in base, they would not bepletely powerless like real otaku. He Qiankun raised a hand. "Our boss told us that we have two days of holiday each month. We havent used it this month!" Luo Xun also of something and turned to Yan Fei. "We also have days, but we have to wait until the outer wall is built, continue work at the beginning of March." Zhang Yi raised his chin. "I can change my holiday to those two days." "So can we!" Wang Duo quickly answered on behalf of Li Tie and the others. "In that case, we have...eight people. After finding two others well be in the clear!" Luo Xun smiled. He had been shooting at zombies every day on the walls, the uracy of the crossbow had reached deadly levels. It was a bit of a hassle to deal with level two zombies with abilities but it was fine so long as he did not go too far out and just shot the zombie from a distance. Yan Fei had noment, each day he had a portion of unused nuclei, but since his ability was not used in battle, he gradually lost his danger sense. Like thest time with the fire ability zombie, if he had been vignt, that would have not happened. They did not want to be like others who needed to go out and collect supplies. Leaving the base to find food, supplies and other materials. They just wanted to go out and hunt crystal nuclei in the base vicinity to train theirbat awareness. "Then the matter is settled, this time we go out to see the situation. If the situation is good, we can go out once a month, but if its too dangerous..." Yan Fei turned to Li Tie and the others, "Then Zhang Yi and I will need to go out and collect crystal nuclei, the others will stay on base." The others also included Luo Xun. Although his crossbow was very urate, if the outside situation was really that bad, how could Yan Fei let Luo Xun be in danger? He could stay home and care for the quail and tend the vegetables. "No problem." Luo Xun responded first with a brilliant smile. He knew his own strength and was clear of the zombies capabilities which he could cope with. He turned to the students. "I have some crossbows at home C Ill lend you some, if you can adapt then well find some metal materials to process into weapons. If unable to use then theres no waste either." "Yes, no problem!" "Yes Yan Fei, Luo Xun!" The group of five nodded. They also wanted to try and learn but did not intend to go out and be heroic. Luo Xun and Yan Fei agreed to go with Li Tie andpany. Also felt that everyone should improve vignce, deal with reactions and nervousness towards the zombies. In addition, there were level two zombies outside, but their numbers were not too high. At least, during the past few days repairing the outer wall, they had not met many zombies. Back home, when Luo Xun did a routine inspection of the balcony, remembered the lost vegetables upon seeing theputer. Seeing Luo Xun fiddle with theputer, Yan Fei also came over. Although they were tired, the two people wanted to find out who had been stealing their food. They needed an answer, even if the leaves of the vegetables had spontaneouslybusted or withered, at least there was an exnation. A whole day had been recorded, the two people fast forwarded through. There was a scene where the puppy strolled over. Because the puppy was always at home and usually running around, the two people did not pay any mind. Even if she stood in front of the shelf for a while, there seemed to be nothing wrong while on camera. After waiting a while, until the two had returned home, they had not found anything stealing the vegetable leaves. "...Whats going on?" Luo Xun and Yan Fei looked at each other. They had seen the video from start to finish but had not seen the slightest trace of the whoever was stealing leaves. However there were less vegetables leaves than before! Was it haunted?! "Skip to the bedroom then slow down." Yan Fei seemed to have seen something and moved to the second floor bedroom. The two men watched the screen together. Slowing down the speed, the two checked the changes in the leaves, afterparing the third lettuce and seeing the leaves had lessened... "Eh?! Wait a minute! Go back and rewind!" Luo Xun pointed at the paused screen. The two people could see the number of vegetable leaves clearly decreasing, but... "The...puppy!" Luo Xun and Yan Fei could not believe their eyes as they forwarded to when the puppy appeared on the camera screen. After carefulparison, could confirm C before the puppy came, the leaves were there and then they were gone! This...did one even need to ask?! Putting on clothes, the two people ran all the way to the first floor. Puppy looked up upon smelling the two owners. Looking at the puppy tilting her head, innocently wagging her tail, the two felt queasy. What could they do? Ask and see if she would answer? No questions? Were the two of the sure without asking? Yan Fei suddenly got up and went back to the balcony, returning with a piece of green lettuce. He ced it front of the puppy. The little puppy looked at him, then looked at the lettuce before ncing at Luo Xun. Luo Xuns mouth twitched. He tore a small piece and motioned. "Come, eat it." Did dogs eat when they were not hungry? Not to mention eating vegetables? Luo Xun was unsure but the two were worried and were waiting for the puppy to eat. The puppy looked at Luo Xun, then at the lettuce leaves C small and not much to eat. Plus the two owners were feeding by hand, so the dog bit down and chewed. She actually ate it! Their dog actually ate vegetables! There are dogs that eat lettuce! The two people were struck by lightning and stared at the strange scene. After a while, they slowly looked at each other. In the end, Yan Fei turned and patted Luo Xuns shoulder. "Easier to support if the dog eats vegetables instead of meat. Theres enough dog food at home for her to eat this year." Although Luo Xun had bought a lot of dog food, these items had a shelf life. He had been unable to buy enough for Puppy to eat for a lifetime. Therefore if the puppy could adapt to eating vegetables, it was a great thing for the couple. However... "My dog...is actually vegetarian..." Luo Xun felt his whole world view shift as he leaned a head on Yan Feis shoulder. Yan Feifortingly patted his shoulder. "Better this than finding the quails at home eaten?" True enough, Luo Xun was assuaged and together the two walked to the staircase. As for the nts, who needed to be on guard? Why bother? This was his family. Puppy was like his child, what was a few slices of lettuce? He could afford for them to be eaten! The night before Zhang Yis home was renovated, the next day Yan Fei would help fix the floor after work. As for chairs and the fence, Zhang Yi would find a piece of paper and list all the desired furniture to the couple. Luo Xun yed around with designs and used Zhang Yis materials to create a variety of strange functional benches. Yan Fei worked to make the designs before going back home. 1603sstyer of paint dried faster than the others, in a few days they could think that their home wasplete. Of course they had to see the results of Zhang Yis heating system. If the metal floors were good, the two of them considered switching. As for wooden floors, they would take them out to sell, there were a lot of people on base rushing to buy all kinds of wood. It was used for cooking, no one cared that it created a pungent smell. Of course, Luo Xun could wait until fall or winter, the price would be better than now. They had a lot of resources. They could make some shelves out of corridor debris. They could also ess the roof! The roof was only two floors above Luo Xuns floor, if no one had imed the rood, they could use it as well. Time went by, every day went home-barracks-wall-barracks-home, those three ces. With the efforts of Yan Fei and the other three metal users and Luo Xun at home, three days before March, everything had been prepared. The metal outer wall had been built to a full six metres high so the earth users could take over the work. At home, the flooring next door had all been done and the ce had metal furniture. Even a king sized bed in the master bedroom. Wang Duo felt iparable satisfaction. The wall in Yan Feis house was already dry and Luo Xunstest design waspleted. The new ground heating facilities were installed. In contrast to Li Tie and Zhang Yi had decided to give up the wood floor and switch to metal. One, the sound instion effect was good on the metal floor. They deliberately ran to 1502 on the 15th floor, Xu Meis home to listen for a while. Wang Duo and two others jumped around but the people downstairs heard nothing. Of course, they asked for permission first. Xu Mei was living on the floor alone, no one else had moved in and she had recently gone out to do tasks. As long as there were enough metal materials, Yan Fei agreed to help process some things. She also collected a lot of metal things while out and being a big fan of the iron gate on the 16th floor, the 15th floor also became entirely blockaded. Chapter 75 In addition to the sound instion, the second reason for using metal flooring was that it had very good thermal conductivity, much faster than the wooden floor. As long as the water was slightly warm it would quickly spread through the whole room, maximizing energy savings. Li Tie andpany also regretted rushing for wood flooring after not thinking of the advantages. Third, metal was very easy manipte since Yan Fei had his ability. In the event of problems with flooring or rebuilding something, Yan Fei could directly deal with the recement. If it was Li Ties they would have to lift the floor. Of course, in addition to the advantages there would be shorings, such as heating making ces too hot. If the temperature had not been well adjusted than the ground would be too hot. Also, the metal material color was too uniform, the room was either too dark or shiny. If it was not blinding people, it was dark spooky horror, it was difficult to control. But for Luo Xun who wanted to use the ce next door as a greenhouse, these aesthetic problems were not a problem. As for high temperature heating? Luo Xun again had no issue, the heating equipment would be ced in the ground, only heated water would end up in the pipelines. After everything was done, there would a temperature control device. However, the renovation of 1603 was notpletely finished. Although Zhang Yi had given the remaining materials as a reward, there was enough to install heating for all the floors. So Luo Xuns house had two bedrooms left. They are going to collect some materials from outside when they go out and add to their storage. In the meantime, Luo Xun needed to nt the spring crop seeds and wait for them to sprout in the greenhouse. They could not immediately sow the nts after germination. If they wanted a good harvest, preventing the growth of mutant nts required twice the effort to cultivate under observation. When all the assorted tasks at home were settled, it was the day of the expedition. In order to cooperate with Li Ties schedule. Yan Fei and Luo Xun would rest the 27th at home. Early the next morning Luo Xun, Yan Fei, Zhang Yi, Wang Duo, Li Tie, Han Li, He Qiankun and Wu Xin, the eight people from the 16th floor got up and prepared in the corridor. Each checked the weapons in their hands C Luo Xun had a medium sized hand crossbow created by Yan Fei. A lot of metal items were ced in the backpack for Yan Fei to exercise his metal abilities. Shooting a zombie through the head was a simple as yawning. In addition, Li Tie and the others had a metal stick at their waists, to be used in closebat against zombies. Of course after leaving the base, Yan Fei would transform each of them ording to their opinions into a more suitable weapon. Luo Xun had his upgraded mace and Yan Fei had metal rods. What shape would it taketer on? It would depend on the use and situation. Only Zhang Yi had a little trouble with a somewhat long military dagger. He was supposed to use a scalpel from the hospital, but the item was too short for an effective weapon. He was a wind user that liked to be on the front lines, did not like to use heavy weapons that would influence his movements. "Well, everyone is ready to go." Luo Xun checked everyones equipment while the others stood in a line wearing their helmets. Li Tie and the others steeled themselves wearing recently collected motorcycle helmets. Yan Fei and Zhang Yi wore face masks under their own helmets. Wore a sturdy helmet, locked the door, walked downstairs. On the 15th floor they met Xu Mei. She was startled seeing the group of people wearing helmets, thick leather jackets, iron bars, and crossbows. On their shoulders, the backpacks were covered with a poncho in case of bad weather. Thedy standing behind steadied herself against the door. "You...are all set?" In fact, there were quite a few people armored up for tasks outside base. But people would be shocked at this type of unified dress. Luo Xun nodded his head first and looked at the woman behind C also seemed a little familiar? "This is?" "Her name is Song Lingling. Met her while out on a mission." Xu Mei did not exin Song Linglings identity and pointed at the iron door. "Shes moved in with me." Song Lingling...This name was not very familiar but Luo Xun carefully looked at her appearance C innocent and lovely. Her expression was simr to Xu Mei, gloomy and tired because of the pressure of life. This woman was probably also a member of the future Rose Army group and her level should not be low. Otherwise, he had no other impression of her. Luo Xun nodded, Yan Fei and the others had no opinion. Xu Mei would not betray them and it would be stupid to find other unreliable people to work with. A few days ago they had asked Xu Mei to listen as a way to gauge the sound instion effect. They mentioned the team as Yan Fei helped repair her door in thanks. Xu Mei had not found a team, she would always be stared at by men while at the gate and unable to find a reliable team. So hearing that the group would be leaving base, along with their lower numbers she expressed her willingness to team up. The team would be more reliable, no one would give another trouble or any deceptive teammates. They agreed to set out early in the morning. Xu Meis pair had their own car. The other group split into two and each had a car to drive. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had already discussedst night, so this morning they went to the small truck and abandoned their prior second hand car. No other way, it was too small. The capacity was nowhere near the small truck. A line of four cars drove towards the base gate. Luo Xun started registration and asked some questions. Yan Fei smiled and kept quiet, half a month ago they were busy at work. How would they be able to easily leave base? Even if they wanted to leave, the captain would not agree. Letting them go home early to rest had already been pushing it. In the designated channel, high walls lined both sides. Luo Xun drove the car into the courtyard, the doors were about to opened to release the wave of cars. The entrance door slowly closed while the soldiers on the wall shouted through a megaphone. "Attention vehicles, countdown until the door opens C 10, 9, ... 1, Open!" As his voice ended, the huge iron door slowly rose. When the door was open they could see a steel fence. Zombies behind the fence waved their arms and cried at the scent of humans. "It feels like theyve been hungry for a long time." Luo Xun smirked and his eyes shed with a glimmer of excitement, his heart also began pounding. He was now going out of base, it would different from standing on the wall and shooting at zombies. Every man had a heart seeking adventure, even him, who had been toozy to leave the base. asionally he would also want to go out and kill some zombies. Now he was more secure than in his previous life; copious preparations, several teammates with abilities and no dead weights. Compared to his past life this was better several fold! The car engines roared and the vehicles burst out through the open door. Several modified cars were at the front, which directly rammed into the zombies at the gate. Luo Xun and the others cars were at the back, no hurry to rush ahead. They would wait until the cars in front cleared the road. Sure enough, a car up front rushed too fast, it skidded to the sidewalk. It adjusted itself after a while and returned to the road. Li Tie and his friends cars followed Yan Feis car all the way to an area on the edge of the city. The zombies were rather concentrated near the base, even more entrenched in the urban area. Only the city fringes had rtively few zombies, Luo Xuns goal was such a ce. Although they had long range weapons, they could not attack more than one target at a time so their crowd control was poor. If they encountered a zombie siege, they could only rely on Xu Meis fire or Zhang Yis wind powers to clear the creatures. Unfortunately although Xu Mei had fire abilities, because her level was not as high as Yan Fei or Zhang Yi, arge scale fire attack would consume at least half of her mental strength. Yan Fei could also attack multiple targets but for the sake of efficiency it was best not to manipte too many metal arrows to shoot targets. So, after they had discussed, decided to follow the previous n: find a ce with not too many zombies. Everyone could slowly cut them down. If needed, they could find arger number so that they could gauge their capacity to clear the hunting space. Currently, the base encouraged survivors to go out of base and destroy zombies. There were possibly not enough weapons that were lethal enough. Weapons such as hand and hunting guns were too expensive with poor effect. Not as good as using the crossbow to hunt zombies. Thus Luo Xun andpany did not exchange. Yan Fei had given him the gun he had prior to the apocalypse which was exchanged for some spare bullets. He wanted some testing material to try and assemble his own at home. So long as there was effect on zombies, looks did not matter. Could be kept on hand as a backup. The car drove to the target location. Luo Xun drove while looking around and finally selected an intersection. "How about up ahead? There is a two-storey bank that can be used as a resting area and the number of zombies is not toorge." Luo Xun motioned at the conspicuous building in front. Yan Fei nodded, this way they were sure to get some metal. Seeing Luo Xuns car turn left, Li Ties car quickly followed and the other vehicles did the same. The row of cars went to the bank, the group looked at the door C could it block the zombies? Could they change parking spaces? But, Luo Xun unexpectedly stepped on the elerator! Drove up the stairs and straight into the bank hall! "Ah! Drive up the stairs?!" Behind, Li Tie, Han Li and He Qiankun swore. They remembered thest time they went to collect renovation materials. Luo Xun had simply said to bring the car up the stairs. He actually had the skill to actually drive up? But as for them... They were wondering if there was something on the stairs to help drive up. The Xu Meis car suddenly shot forward and with the roaring engine made it up! Even Xu Mei could drive a car up the stairs, what should they be afraid of? Bolstered, Li Tie and the others in the Otaku team also stepped on the elerator. Full speed ahead! Soon, two cars sessfully drove up the stairs. Luo Xun and Xu Mei had parked the cars together in the hall. "Ah, that was nerve wracking." He Qiankun patted his chest with sigh. To the side Han Li patted his forehead. "Dont sigh, go and kill zombies." There a few wandering zombies in the bank hall. Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Xu Mei rushed to start to clearing the area. Li Tie and the others hurried to keep up, whirling their iron bars. Not long after, all the zombies there were dealt with. "Gather the crystals in their heads. Be careful and make sure they are thoroughly dead." Luo Xun went to the nearest zombie to start digging out the nucleus. Todays zombie had no intelligence, dead was dead, they could not pretend to be killed. But that would not be the same in the future. Some of the smarter zombies would deliberately fall and when people went to dig out the nucleus, they would get ambushed. Luo Xuns words struck a chord. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had recently gone out of base for tasks and had the luck to not encounter downed but not dead zombies. So after she walked to the a zombie with a machete, with a swing of the de C first cut off the head, then grab the nucleus! Li Tie and the others exchanged grimaces, digging through a zombie head for a crystal nucleus was disgusting. But they refused to be the weak link. It was just digging out a nucleus from a brain?! Dig! Yan Fei looked in satisfaction as the students squatted down to dig out nuclei. Zhang Yi maintained a smile to the side C it seemed the two women were also capable and had strength. Having these two as role models would not lead Li Tie and the others astray. After digging through the zombies heads, Li Tie and a few people ran to a corner to vomit for five minutes. On the way back, pretended that nothing was wrong as they returned to Luo Xuns location C second floor near an office window. "The sounds before have attracted some nearby zombies. I deliberately threw a sweaty towel on the first floor. We blocked the staircase door and can slowly thin out the zombies." Luo Xun exined their next actions to the crowd. This was his subconscious reaction. Luo Xun brought out his past life experience and habits in the presence of people who were not clear on the current situation. Fortunately because he had a methodical and meticulous temperament, there was no objection from the people present. As for Xu Mei and Song Lingling, they were not familiar either so there was no doubt. Also because Luo Xun had left an impression of strength on the twodies. Neither of them were surprised or curious about who was the leader inmand. After arranging the positions, Luo Xun took people to the staircase acting as a stronghold. Zombies had begun to gather at the location, however when they tried to walk up a step, they would fall down. "Its just like what Luo Xun said! Zombies dont climb stairs!" Seeing the scene, Li Tie and the others excitedly raised their crossbows and began to fire at the zombies under the stairs. Luo Xun and some others did not start, but watched Li Tie and the others shoot zombies with a parental "my son has grown" expression. Zhang Yi and Yan Fei stood near the back, in case there were zombies that rushed in from outside the broken window to attack. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were in the middle behind Luo Xun. They were responsible for helping if the people in front could not hold. So after a while, the crowd approached, attracted by the sound of the car. Once the creatures were gathered, Li Tie and the others would shoot then retreat back to the hall. They wanted to take the bank as a temporary base in order to gradually attract zombies and then eliminate them. Luo Xun never nned to go deep into the city. The group piled the corpses into a corner on the first floor. Then the group ced some of the furniture, cabs, chairs and other things into a defensive fence. Yan Fei manipted the metal in the items to link the things together with the floor to reinforce it a bit. The students had used up the arrows for the crossbows while hunting zombies. Yan Fei waved a hand and pieces flew out. The pieces condensed in front of the group with a bit of maniption, it turned into standard crossbow arrows. Yan Fei could only extract metal, any zombie bodily fluid or blood would be filtered out. Although the exact details were not known, since Yan Fei could only manipte metal, it was natural that this method would remove any non-metallic things, even if they had dried on the metal. Once all the fortifications were done. Luo Xun grabbed a bundle of tightlyyered cloth from his backpack. Inside was a transparent bag filled with red liquid C blood bag! This things was brought from the hospital by Zhang Yi. When everyone had decided on the day to go out, Luo Xun had told Zhang Yi to get a bag from the hospital a day in advance. This was to avoid anyone bleeding even if the wound would be infected if made by a zombie. They could identally touch the wound to something dirty while out, it would be horrible. Taking out the blood bag, the group watched as Luo Xun motioned to Yan Fei. Thetter pulled some metal into his hands. Luo Xun opened the bag and squeezed out some blood into the groove of the metal bar and directly onto the fortifications about a meter away. He quickly wiped off the remainder and the paper used to wipe the blood was thrown outside. Yan Fei had temporarily sealed the metal bar with blood inside the wall. Luo Xun threw the controlled shell to avoid blood flowing on the inside ground. "Luo Xun, so little blood is enough?" Wang Duo looked at Luo Xuns cautious movements with apprehension. Luo Xun wrapped up the remaining blood and looked at him with a smile tilted in some direction. "Listen." Everyone gathered and faintly heard the sound of something howling! Zombie! It was zombies! Show support by pressing the Ko-Fi button! Everyone ten coffees will equal a bonus chapter! Chapter 76 Noises caused all the nearby zombies to react. Small,rge, in houses, on the road or stuck in a corner, so long as they were in hearing distance. The zombies rushed over, waving their arms in excitement. The ones in front who confirmed that there was the scent of blood became even more excited, howling with spittle they rushed over. "Keep guard. Its up to Zhang Yi and Xu Meis powers." Luo Xuns voice was rtively calm, his hands held the crossbow aimed firmly at the mob of zombies. If not for the ability users, Luo Xun would not dare attract so many zombies into their defensive perimeter. Why were people extra careful after the apocalypse to not let themselves get hurt or bleed? On one hand is was preventing the possibility of infection, on the other there was fear of touching anything dirty and getting other infections. Finally C the smell of blood would attract groups of zombies. Luo Xun had selected this intersection after observing that the number of zombies in the vicinity was not much. However even after two periods of clearing out, the number of zombies had not been reduced by much. If someone bled, it would definitely cause zombie riots. As a result, since there were norge attack groups, the smaller, ordinary teams were not suicidal. Seeing the mass of zombies rushing from the street corner, Zhang Yi faced the mob and faintly glowed. People subconsciously straightened as wind slowly gathered. Yan Fei also prepared the heap of metal nearby, ready to take action. When the first wave of zombies arrived, people with crossbows aimed and fired since they were more dispersed. When the second wave with even more zombies approached within five meters of the group, Zhang Yi erupted. A strong wind wall rushed out with him as the starting point. The zombies were either blown away or slowed down by the wall. Some even stumbled backwards into wind des. The wind caused many wounds as it swept through, some of the weaker zombies immediately lost the ability to act. After Zhang Yi went to temporarily rest, there was a wave of crossbow arrows. Afterwards, the third wave of zombies organized a vicious attack. Xu Mei conjured a row of small fireballs outside the fortifications. Although each one was not big, creating so many at one time caused sweat to appear on her forehead. At the same time Zhang Yi sent out a gale to push the fireballs forward! Who knew the reason, maybe wind helped fire but the small fireball burst open down the road! A huge re sted out! The blown up corpses had burned faces and the some even had their heads blown off! Xu Mei stared at the scene with huge eyes. She did not believe this was the effect of her and Zhang Yi working together. This was the result? It was too explosive! On the other hand, Song Lingling turned to Luo Xun with a face of admiration. This had been his idea, no wonder he was the captain! He was very experienced inbat! Luo Xun, who had been mistaken as the captain was secretly surprised but as happy. Zhang Yi was something else, the trick he used was not simple. Thebination of wind and fire was amon pair after the apocalypse. In his past life, Luo Xun had only seen it from afar in the city but did not know the specific principles. However he knew Xu Meis ability, coupled with his past experience, he quickly figured out how to coordinate the attack. One should know that Zhang Yis wind ability was very powerful but not invincible. His des could cut people to shreds and cause all kinds of bloody horror, but against zombies? Zombies did not know pain or fatigue. No matter what was cut off, as long as they still had the nucleus in their brain, they would not stop! Therefore, Zhang Yis wind abilities were best used in conjunction with others abilities. Otherwise the lethality would not be optimal. Another kind of popr power cooperation was water and thunder. Unfortunately the team only had Song Lingling as a water user. There was no lightning user so Luo Xun let her use a crossbow to practice her aim. When they went and prepared for the excursion, Song Linglings abilities were better suited to logistics. The water she produced was very clean and did not contain any toxic substances. Water ability users were easily weed onto teams going out to collect supplies. All the clean up work was carried out smoothly, Li Tie and the others had killed quite a few zombies with the crossbows. After a while, the number of zombies attracted by the noise became less and less, gradually there were no more zombies showing up. The group was secretly relieved. Even if they had the ability to destroy them one by one, they were still nervous about their first time out hunting zombies. Now that the end was in sight, they started congratting themselves. Just as the mood rxed, Luo Xun yelled. "Left!" The crowd quickly looked up and saw a shadow jump over from the top of a streetmp! Xu Mei and Zhang Yi were slightly pale after havingunched arge scale attack. They hurriedly grabbed some nuclei from the bag to absorb when suddenly dozens of steel needles flew towards the target! Immediately followed by an incrediblyrge piece of metal! The zombie was smashed away! Li Tie and the others jaws dropped, an iron te?! Yan Fei could actually direct an iron te to fly at the zombie!? Yan Fei ignored the startled looks, with calm control while the zombie was falling, the iron te changed form. Wrapping around the zombies neck like a pair of scissors, it snapped its neck! Then an iron thorn stretched out and stabbed the head to remove the crystal nucleus! *Thump* The zombie head rolled aside. Seeing the scene, the students chorused, "Oh-" So Yan Fei had this in mind when he sent the zombie into the air, aim for the head! In fact, Yan Fei had been worried that with just the steel needles, the zombie would still fall to them. If it was not dead it would certainly bring a lot of trouble. Therefore it would convenient to throw arge enough piece of metal to send the zombie flying instead. Then he had an epiphany C couldnt he manipte metal? Why not let the iron te change and kill the zombie directly? Sure enough, the experiment was a great sess! "Good job!" Luo Xun excitedly gave Yan Fei a hug. He had not let Yan Fei randomly use his power. He was afraid of what would happen if a level two zombie showed up after his energy was consumed. Wind ability could deal with the slower moving zombies but a speed type was not easy tobat. Yan Fei had no trouble dealing with it! As soon as the battlefield was cleared, the group began to dig out the nuclei and deal with the corpses. Dig out the crystal nuclei after burning the bodies, eliminated a few sporadic zombies. Luo Xun andpany returned to the banks second floor with intact windows to rest and recover. A rtively clean poncho was thrown at the corner of the gate. They were holding several empty bottles of mineral water. "210, 211...237! 237 all together!" He Qiankun waved the bottle and happily said to Luo Xun, "Enough to hand over for the task!" To the side, Xu Mei and Song Lingling eximed. "Incredible! More than 200?!" Wu Xin asked in confusion. "What? Its just 200?" The two women looked at each other in shock and swallowed. "We usuallye out to do missions, getting 100 in one day is a big harvest. This is specifically for teams who went to collect nuclei. Those who are mainly looking for supplies, teams of around 20 getting sixty or seventy is a big harvest. So when the base recently increased the number of nuclei to pay, people were very dissatisfied." The shorter crystal nuclei task required 100 nuclei within three days. Even if the team had miracles, people still expected to upgrade their powers using the nuclei, who was willing to pay so much? So more people went to pick up items other than food, ending up with nuclei, food and seeds that the team could keep for themselves. Xu Mei had worried about not finishing the task when they heard Luo Xun had picked to collect crystal nuclei. But now? After how long? They already had more than 200 nuclei! Yan Feis face was calm. "Dont count the number just yet, this is not too much." He turned to look at Zhang Yi. "At most wee out once a month. Its best to get enough nuclei for one month." Xu Meis hands shook and Song Lingling looked incredulously at Yan Fei while Zhang Yi nodded in approval. "Ah, otherwiseing out once is too uneconomical. Having crystal nuclei is important on base." Beforeing out they had already decided on the proportional distribution of the crystal nuclei. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were considered a group and ounted for thirty percent of the nuclei. Zhang Yi and Wang Duo counted as a group, also thirty percent. Li Tie and the others ounted for twenty percent because their weapons and other things were given by Luo Xun and theirbat effectiveness was rtively poor. Xu Mei and Song Lingling got the remaining twenty percent because they were experienced ability users. In this case, after deducting the amount for the task, Luo Xun and the others would only get around 40 nuclei, not much. Luo Xun frowned for a moment then suddenly turned to look at the street outside. The nearby zombies had almost been wiped out but in the distance... "We can set traps and then use the blood bag to attract a lot of zombies. However it will take a lot of preparation and we only have two days. I am afraid the trap would only catch enough zombies for us to fight onest time. If you cant kill multiple zombies at once, its fine to kill one at a time." "Luo Xun, what traps?" Han Li hurriedly raised a hand to ask. "Dig a hole, then use the blood bag to kill all the zombies at once." Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei. "The pit can be lined with metal and steel needles so you can directly pierce them once inside. After Xu Mei and Zhang Yi can finish off with abination attack. He sighed with some regret. "Too bad the team does not have an earth user." Or they would not have to dig a hole themselves. The feasibility of the method was very high but there were other problems. "I have the ability to dig pits but it would consume a lot of crystal nuclei. Im certainly not as efficient at diggingpared to earth users. Plus, the ground outside is paved..." Zhang Yi suddenly added, "If not we can use the previous method to attract zombies. When wee out next month we can see if there is a suitable earth user. Even if theres no one we can bring some metal back. Next time go somewhere with a lot of zombies to dig pits to make traps." They had fought a couple of times since they drove here. At noon they had just dealt with the wave of zombies. Now they had to dig a hole, they were afraid that they would not finish even by tomorrow. Still could not determine how many zombies would gather. By the time they could shoot...it could be toote. "Then lets have lunch first." Luo Xun was not stubborn. They hade out just to explore, getting more stuff was better. They would still get supplies from working at the wall. It was somewhat regrettable but they would grab what they could. Zhang Yi actually felt some regret, although points back at base could be used to exchange for crystal nuclei. Despite there being so many zombies outside, inside the base, nuclei were high price goods. Plus people were not willing to sell! During the lunch break Song Lingling was responsible for creating water to wash their faces. Xu Mei used her fire to start cooking with Luo Xun. The three of them dealt with the food. The others did want to help, Li Tie and the other bachelors wanted to cultivate feelings but their skills were not enough so Luo Xun shooed them away. The meal was a simple vegetable porridge with assorted pickles along with therge steamed bread from base. Plus some beef jerky that Li Tie and the others did not know when it was bought. He Qiankun looked at the steamed bread in his hand with a sigh. "The color of the steamed bread has be more and more strange." Just after arriving on base, the bread was mainly white, only slightly yellow (they suspected cornmeal had been added). Then the steamed bread was slightly red (suspected sorghum noodles were added). At present the steamed bread looked sort of brown, who knows what had been added this time? "Not only color, but the taste has be worse." Han Li added while chewing on the bun. "The cucumber is delicious. Luo Xun did you make it or buy before the end of the world? What brand?" Luo Xun did not bat an eye. "Pickled, wait for yours to grow enough to eat and I will teach you." "Great! Thank you Luo Xun!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling gave weird nces at Luo Xun. He couldmand, cook but also make pickles...They originally thought Luo Xun was the teams captain but from what Li Tie had just spoken about...*cough cough* There was no captain at all! They were a group of otaku spending everyday in the base. Not even going to the base gate since the captain had to check! But this kind of man was very safe and good at housework. A good choice for a husband. The two women regretted a moment before caution set in. Although they did not know that Luo Xun and Yan Fei were together, their hearts were trampled on by men. Not going psycho at the sight of men was already pretty good. How would it be possible to see a man now? Hadnt they already lost so much? How many peoples lives were good before the apocalypse? So what if they were single during the apocalypse?! While eating food, the sound of cars came from the nearby window. The group immediately went to the window and cautiously looked at the bunch of cars. They hade from the city depths towards the base gate. Chasing after these cars was who knew how many zombies! "They are all ordinary cars, only two have been modified, not military." Luo Xun told the group. "There are quite a few zombies, everyone stay vignt in case there is a level two zombie that finds us upstairs. Eat quickly, finish your meal and go kill some zombies!" This sparked the team into action, this would add to the number of killed zombies. The fast moving, higher ranked zombies were mostly at the back. The slower ones were scattered around the streets. Luo Xun andpany quickly ate, drank and got some rest while observing the situation outside to confirm that there were no speed type zombies. They were downstairs ready to start again. Some of the zombies hade after smelling the scent of humans from outside the fortifications. Seeing them, Luo Xun prepared the greet the guests...ah no it was a fight as they struggled to climb over the fence in order to get inside. After a morning of fighting, they were all familiar with using crossbows to kill zombies around the entrance. Luo Xun got a fresh blood iron bar and threw it out, causing some zombies in the distance to riot and rush back. Another round of fighting began... Less than two days of work, the group left base at eight in the morning and returned to the gate at around five oclock the next evening. Looking at the base with familiar buildings and armed soldiers, Xu Mei and Song Lingling felt like they were walking on air. They were guided by soldiers to the temporary waiting area for two hours C this was thetest rule on base. If not wounded, the person would wait two hours before re-entering the base. As for the car, it had been parked in a safe ce, ready to fetchter. Looking at the nces towards the group, Xu Mei and Song Lingling whispered, "Next time we go out, should we dress the same as the others?" They wore helmet, uniform leather jacket, jeans, rain boots and poncho and also masks...Although the image was a bit extreme, it was for protection against zombies! They were back in base! The two women who were extremely disgusted with the vast majority of men were determined to resemble Luo Xuns equipment. Why did their dislike of men not extend to Luo Xun and the others? It was because...during the two days, although Li Tie and the students would subconsciously try and care for them, Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Zhang Yi the three strongest did not regard them as women to look at. Thus the two women treated them with sincerity. The two of them had spoken with Luo Xun with a much greater frequency than Li Tie and the students. Poor Li Tie and the others wanted toe near but to no avail. Fortunately Luo Xun and the other two were all gay, otherwise the four university students would secretly think them viins. As for why the two women were in a trance, that was because they had 1265 cores in their hands after they had paid the 100 required cores. That was correct, they took two days of work to get more than 1000 crystal nuclei! Not counting the ones they had consumed over the course of two days, and it also did not count the level two nuclei with different colors. More than 1000...Even some of the well-known teams on base could not get so many crystal nuclei in such a short period of time! A nerd squad? More like a squad of zombie killers! Their efficiency couldpare with that of the army! Chapter 77 "Oh my God, I am so tired." He Qiankun immediatelyid down in the drawn circle of the waiting area and was unwilling to move. Li Tie and the others had no other way. They could only sit around and poke his jiggly belly. "True, who knew that more and more zombies woulde after the ones chasing after the car. We had to fight for a full two days without rest! If we could not take turns to sleep or we would not havee back alive." Li Tie also heaved a sigh. Luo Xun smiled on the side. "What? Are you noting out next month?" The students looked at each other and nodded vigorously. "Go! Its only going out once a month anyway!" Hearing the voices, everyone else in the circle looked at them with disdain C they would only go out of base once a month? Were they a team of scrap wood? Wouldnt they lose their nerve in a months time? They also saw their team unexpectedly had two young women in addition to the group of what looked like students. Beside, there was also a man who was more pleasing to the eye than a woman (it was Zhang Yi, Yan Fei wore his helmet with his white face mask). This simply...was a waste! A person the circle next to them whistled at Xu Mei. With dirty eyes, he scanned her chest. "Beauty, why follow this group of wastes? Why dont youe with me..." The guy had not finished speaking when a big fireball flew forwards. Luckily he was able to avoid the attack but even then half the hair on his head was burned off. The person jumped and patted his hair. A lively group of spectatorsughed. "Every rose has thorns when provoked. Hes lucky to not have been killed by the fireball." "Right? Last time I remember a man waspletely burned in front of the base. His clothes, even his hair was all gone!" The man had a hard time putting out the fire. After hearing those words his face turned green and white. He dared not speak to Xu Mei again. Luo Xun asked Xu Mei curiously, "Thorn Rose?" Xu Mei was somewhat bashful, her face turned slightly red. "They coined the name." Song Lingling grinned before exining to Luo Xun. "Xu Meis nickname. Every time we go out to team up there will be bastards. Each time, Xu Mei would aim at people with her lethal fireballs." She looked sadly at her hands. "Why do I have water powers? Even wind users like Zhang Yi are good. Water abilities have too little offensive power." The attack ability of water powers was very bad, Even if one was hit in the face with a water ball, there was no harm. No matter how much time after the apocalypse, water users were mostly in the ranks of logistics. Has an ability, but cannot fight...Song Lingling was very dissatisfied with this. If her abilities had lethal capabilities, what had happened before... Luo Xun started, no wonder her future team would be called the Rose Mercenary Corps, there was a reason. Seeing Song Linglings face of regret, Luo Xun sent her a smile. "At least its better than us ordinary people? And who says water users cannot kill people? Its a bit of a hassle, but couldnt you create a water ball and then just put a mans head in it?" "Eh?! Really! Luo Xun you genius!" Song Lingling excitedly hugged Luo Xun with bright eyes. She had always felt that her ability was too weak, felt regret in heart. Now with this method, though not as lethal as Xu Mei, it at least scared the living. More deterrent to other people! Li Tie and the other people looked at Luo Xun in horror. What was going on in this persons mind?! He could think of such a murderous way of killing! Xu Mei was already scary enough, if there was a second female on the team with interest in killing people, how would they live?! Luo Xun did not realize he had shifted the groups world view again. He had told Song Lingling about water users he had seen in his past life. Without offensive abilities, how could she have been a member of the vicious Rose Mercenary Corps? Simr to how one could be a member of an otaku team if they did not have a house? Yan Fei beside him, did not feel any difort. He smiled and touched Luo Xuns hair as a gesture of intimacy. For two hours, the group of people had to sit on the icy floor and felt the sun setting, the air getting colder. Before in the car, or when they fighting zombies non-stop they were not outside. At the moment outside with the cold wind blowing, everyone just remembered C the weather had not officially warmed up. The evening wind was still very cold. Once the two hours had passed, everyone hurried and headed towards the ce they had parked the cars. The outer walls of the four cars were covered in heavy iron tes. The hideous steel carriages C this was Yan Feis masterpieces. The metal gathered near the bank during the two days was all affixed to the car. Strengthened the body, but also brought back a lot of supplies. Drove the cars all the way back. After parking the car Yan Fei took off a part and ced it inside a separate elevator. It was lucky that the elevator was still running. In one shot, they climbed up the 16th floor. The metal was spread on the corridor floor. The group all went to Li Ties room to meet and divide the crystal nuclei. Not counting the nuclei consumed in battle, they began to divide the remainder. ording to the agreed proportions, Luo Xun and Yan Fei got nearly 400, including five level two nuclei. Yes, level two crystal nuclei. The light cyan was wind power crystal nucleus. All the wind power crystal nuclei were given to Zhang Yi, the fire and water ones went to Xu Mei and Song Lingling respectively. They were not able to get any metal nuclei so Yan Fei got soil, speed and so on along with the level two nuclei. "Nearly 400 pieces, 10 a day shouldst until the end of the month." Yan Fei looked at Zhang Yi. "You want to think of ways or use points for some crystal nuclei, thats all you can do right now." Zhang Yi responded, "All I can do." In fact, 10 a day should satisfy him, if a bit small. If he did not work untilte everyday, he would have wanted to sneak to the wall and kill zombies after work C he wanted to evolve his powers as far as possible. As for Yan Fei, there was no fear that there would not be enough nuclei because he could also use the nuclei from the unit. And Xu Meis pair...they usually went out with a team. Even if they could get some things like crystal nuclei, the quantity would notpare to the amount this time! Both of them had more than 100 cores per person! Usually when they followed a team out, one day would get a few pieces from the team. If not for the two having abilities, taking part inbat, many people would not want to give them anything. Only having women, many of the teams willing to ept them had malicious intentions. But gave up their ideas after realizing the consequences of provoking them. As a result, the two of them had been wandering alone for a few days and had not found a team suitable for long-term cooperation. These more than 100 nuclei, if not used frivolously, would be enough for them to live for a long time. The value of nuclei on base was currently high, even base officials were buying. The proportion was much lower than the exchange in the market. A crystal core could only be changed for two points, so few people were willing to officially exchange. In a private exchange, a nucleus could be converted to at least five points! After dividing the crystal nuclei and nning everyones preparations for the next expedition, the people adjourned home. Luo Xun dragged his tired body through the door. Puppy fluttered forward hearing noise at the door. Luo Xun bent to rub the dogs head. "Okay, we came back." Puppy warmly showed her love after a night of not seeing her owners. Although Luo Xun and Yan Fei had not left for long, but there was no harm in expressing intimacy. Putting their things away, went to the bathroom to wash hands and face as well as disinfect, Luo Xun went to the fridge for todays dinner. Yan Fei checked around the room and confirmed that it was exactly the same as before. "You go check the nursery, I think I heard another quail has hatched." Luo Xun went into the kitchen to warm up some fried rice while directing Yan Fei. "Okay." Yan Fei patted the puppys head who was running around him C the dog had grown so much that he did not have to stoop to far to reach the dogs head. In the nursery room, a few tender little hatchlings snuggled together with quiet chirps next to the incubator. They were uneasy upon finding someone standing beside the box. Yan Feis involuntarily smiled, revealing a gentle look. No matter how many times he saw this it would soften his human heart. It was a pity that quail and human aesthetic standards were different. Yan Feis smile would usually make children feel at ease. But the quails nestled together stared at this huge and strange creature. Yan Fei circled the room, checking there was food on the side of the box and there was sufficient clean water. With a dark face, he put on rubber gloves C to pick mushrooms. Of course the ones he picked were bright red and surrounded by unknown mist. Someone who did not want to live anymore could try to eat one and let the onlookers see the consequences. "How was it?" Luo Xun casually asked Yan Fei as he left the nursery room. "A total of five quail, their feathers have just dried, likely hatched today. Im going upstairs to burn mushrooms." Luo Xuns mouth twitched upon hearing the second half of the response. His mushroom wood had not grown a single normal mushroom since the apocalypse had started. He wondered if he could grow even half an edible mushroom in this life? Should he just take those pieces of rotten wood, dry them out and turn it into kindling? The second floor terrace also had a lot of crops that Luo Xun had nted a few days ago. The crops that needed to be cultivated this year were mostly on the first floor balcony or still in the nursery to be moved. The second floor was nted with some fruit and mutant crops that needed to be treated. From what Li Tie and the others had shared, the lemons and watermelons had sprouted. The fruit nts Luo Xun had bought, strawberries, oranges, cherries, blueberries, plus some grapes had all continued growing. These fruit seedlings were from the site Luo Xun used to buy vegetable seeds before the apocalypse. He did not intend to get too much fruit, but there were ads on the site and he conveniently bought some he was interested in. There were other things he liked to eat. He did not think of buying extravagant fruit seeds. He ced these strange mushrooms in a basin on the ground. Yan Fei opened the window near the exhaust fan to discharge the smoke. While standing he looked down through the window. Themunity was still very lively at night, people wereing and going. Although many people had moved away due to various reasons, there was still more than half that number left. After burning the mushrooms, Yan Fei poured the ashes into the toilet and used some disinfectant before returning to the first floor. Luo Xun had already cooked the fried rice and was sitting at the table waiting for him toe and eat dinner. The radio on the table was airing the news. Seeing hime downstairs, Luo Xun pointed at the radio. "Its talking about the zombie virus outbreak a few days ago." Yan Fei quickly walked to the table. In fact, the base had repeatedly aired the news from yesterday afternoon. Since there was no need for a program schedule, the more important news were naturally repeated in order for people who left base for missions to not miss out. The findings on the radio were simr to Luo Xuns earlier guesses, but there were some differences, The radio said that those who became zombies were infected with the virus because the food and water they ate and drank was not clean. The bases tap water did contain zombie virus, but as long as the steps were followed for thorough purification, it could be safely used. And reminded that there was a small stand on base that did not follow standard food preparation in order to save costs, which had triggered thest incident. The base would end up investigating these private stands and so on. Luo Xun listened for a while and the two men exchanged nces. "I recall that people with no background could go to a window and exchange for food." Luo Xun nodded. "At least on the day we came back, the first person to see the zombie was in the vicinity of an official exchange window." Therefore, the current radio was still very vague. Many of the things mentioned might have to be taken with a grain of salt. They could not say that this matter and officials were not rted. A small workshop? From before the end? Who had food on base and did not keep it at home? Who was willing to exchange these life saving things for points? Could they not tell that the rice had changed, the noodles tasted worse? Floor 15, room 1502 Xu Mei and Song Lingling sat on a thick nket while eating biscuits, chips and water. "Shall we go out tomorrow?" Xu Meis heart hesitated before answering Song Linglings question. "Still want to go out, but not tomorrow." She looked at Song Lingling. "We have enough nuclei but if you want to use the nuclei to enhance strength we cannot expect to only go out once a month with. They have a stable job on base but we dont." Song Lingling sighed but nodded. "I also feel that way. Its hard to find a team, but with these crystal nuclei even if we cannot find a team once or twice there will not be any big problem." They did not think of simply looking for a long-term job on base. The two of them needed to improve their own strength to eliminate any potential male problems. In todays world, they could rely on no one but themselves, their own strength. The two girls shared a smile. Even on the days every month they could not be out of base, they were not wasting time. Even if when they usually go out only to meet annoyances, they might encounter teammates. They would not give up. Early in the morning on the first day of March, Luo Xun and Yan Fei once again drove to the barracks. When they arrived, the two were startled at the gate, they had known that there was construction going on. But at the time the ce they entered was in the opposite direction so they did not see it. Did not expect that after noting to work for two days, came to back to see...a gate. Yes, arge and tall gate. At present it looked higher than 10 meters, no wonder they were shocked. After seeing theming, Captain Guo waved at the pair and guided them in a certain direction. "We dont have to go outside the walls today. Higher ups ordered the earth users to repair the outer wall to 10 meters wide before building theyer of metal protection. Today we have to cooperate with the building architects and earth users to repair the barrack walls." Luo Xun was surprised to see a very tall gate building in the distance. He pointed at himself. "I can also follow?" He was just trying to take care of Yan Fei, if it was not for his superb crossbow skills, he would not have been able to get a single point. Captain Guo smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "There is no reason why you cant. Dont they need help carrying things even with powers? Not just you, even the car driver must work together with us." The base did not have death pay, though there were also professional-level research talent, the remainder were all busy at work to get a days wages. Captain Guo was a very protective bastard towards the people under hismand. As long as you seriously obeyed orders, he would help you fight for any welfare avable. Crystal nuclei had never been deducted even once, unlike other captains who were wary of ndestine core possession checked each ability user each time. If there were extra, the bounty would go to themselves. For that, the metal user from the second team noticed the most C when he was in the second team, their captain never sent them enough crystals to use for a day. All of them were given when needed. When they absorbed the crystal nucleus, it had to be in front of the captain in fear that the users would hide some away. After all, crystal nuclei were very expensive and valuable. When he came to the first team, he learned that the superiors sent nuclei ording to the number of people and the amount fluctuated each time. Who knew how many nuclei the second team captain had gotten?! For Captain Guo, Luo Xun was a good worker, diligent and vignt. He was also aware of the metal users statuses and could make correct judgements in a timely manner. Not to mention that as long as he was there, no zombie could hurt Yan Fei. Luo Xuns crossbow never missed his targets. So given Luo Xuns quality wasparable to the professionally trained soldiers, how could the captain let him be driven away? They also needed people to help carry things and take care of their abilities. They went to the barracks south gate (Luo Xun and Yan Fei usually entered from the east gate). The two people saw the team members in the distance, sure enough, even the driver was also there. "From today onwards, our work is temporarily on this side of the barracks. For however long it took to finish the work and return to working on the outer wall." Captain Guomanded people to their work stations. The barracks needed not only a strong wall but also a variety of tools, shelves and other things. These things were not easy to find now, they could only have metal users make them with materials, though it was not as simple as the fence. The superiors orders were C first make the necessary things ording to the rmendations of experts, such as window frames, shelves,dders and so on. When the outer wall base could be started, they would go back. After the work was done on the outside walls, they would rejoin barracks construction. On the whole, there were so many ces that needed work to be done that they would not have to worry about employment for a while. Support by donating through the Ko-Fi button. Every 10 coffees equals a bonus chapter (only 8 more until the next one). Chapter 78 Luo Xun saw everyone started to study the drawings and other things as Captain Guomanded. He quietly went over to his side. "Holiday?" Captain Guo paused in thought. It was to be expected, people could not stand working everyday around the clock. Not just Luo Xun and Yan Fei, even the other soldiers would not be able to stand it after a while. "How much time can pass before you need a holiday?" Seeing that Captain Guo was busy, Luo Xun quickly answered. "Once a month will be fine, like taking thest two days of the month off to rest. We know that the base is busy with work, but we cannot always working without any rest time." These were also the days that they and the others, Li Tie, Zhang Yi and so had agreed upon. It would be best if their captain also agreed on this. Captain Guo nodded thoughtfully. "Ill have to go find someone to discuss this with, but I dont think there will be any problems. Okay, I need to leave first." Before, the task was too heavy, everyone was anxious to build the wall and so no one asked about holidays. Now since the work was scheduled and there were no urgent tasks outside the walls, it made sense to let the tense people recover. Otherwise over time, they would not be able to stand the situation. On using metal to make designated objects, no one couldpare to Yan Feis experience. He had met Luo Xun right after the apocalypse had started. When he was picked up Yan Fei helped Luo Xun make crossbows and arrows, even tinkered with some ns. It was easy for him to do these things and he also guided the four others. The peoples progressive learning and processing speed had elerated a lot since they gained experience on building fences. The finer aspects needed more concentration but fortunately the things the base needed did not have any special requirements. So long as the metal users could make the approximate shape, it could be used. After half a days work, the crowd went to the fourth dining hall which was the closest. Luo Xun checked around the canteen windows and whispered to Yan Fei. "Definitely no meat." Last month, when they had not left the barracks to dine, they hadined with Li Tie. Said there was almost no meat in the third canteen and the fourth and fifth canteens had long had no supply of meat. Because at the time they were outside the wall, they ate what the logistics department sent so the feeling was not obvious. The first meal they had aftering back, showed them the horrors on the base. To make it worse, there was a limit of rice to be served. In the past, the canteen would give people as much as they wanted. More than the lunch box, full tes were great. But now, all the food was given in spoon portions. After filling the meal, they would add adle of vegetable soup to the lunch box. If one protested, they would instead give you half adle and say C these are the new regtions issued by the superiors, cannot give any more. Even worse, the identity cards that everyone had were changed. Everyone could only enter once and they would counted before the next meal. In addition only the side of rice soup was not limited, they could not even think of the other staple windows. With their lunch box they returned to the table upied by Captain Guo. Luo Xun sighed, "Canteen restructuring?" Captain Guos expression was also ufortable. Busy for a morning with physical work but at noon could only eat this sort of thing, it was hard to dredge up energy. "Yes, thest two days reduced the amount. Today is the formally unified implementation. Said this was the daily amount to supplement an adult mens calories. For those who feel its not enough to eat, the body is sending false signals, there is enough nutrition...that group of ##&&% experts! Thats a bullshit theory! They should know this is not enough to eat forboring! Feeding us like birds! Not everyones appetite is the same!" Captain Guos appetite was rtivelyrge, plus the rest of the people in group ate a lot as well. But now they were told the amount of food was limited, there was nothing they could do! Luo Xun felt some sympathy, he and Yan Fei were okay. Even if they dont eat their fill, could bring some food from home. Both their appetites were normal, eating this meal was almost enough. He knew there were two other big stomachs in the ranks besides Guo, and these people would be overwhelmed after some time in the barracks. "The amount of rations is not much." Yan Feis look was quite calm, he wanted to know the total number of people in the base? Before the apocalypse, food stock ces could not support the daily consumption of so many people. When they listened to the radiost night, they heard propaganda saying that the weather was getting warmer and suggesting that survivors could try to grow some crops at home. Captain Guos expression tightened. "The situation is not entirely clear, but it was said that people will be sent to check the few graineries." As for how many grains? Looking at the current food situation, started with less meat, vegetables which was understandable. But now the quantity of food was beginning to get limited, they could see the situation. A soldier in a seat quietly said. "I heard there was a big problem in the field!" All people froze, then concentrated on him. The soldier rubbed his nose with an embarrassed grin. "My oldrade knows more about farming since he did some at home. A while ago he transferred to the farming team, it was said that several people were injured from nts..." He trailed off and looked around worried. Seeing no one was listening to the conversation added in a whisper. "Some of the nts were alive! The colours became strange, dont know how quickly the nts grew but also hurt people!" Mutant nts! Luo Xuns heart dropped at the sentence, looked in Yan Feis eyes. Yan Fei also thought of how the two had dealt with the appearance of strange nts at home. "How could there be such a thing?!" Captain Guo and the other people were obviously surprised. Living nts...that could hurt people? What a crazy idea that was! "Its a bit unthinkable, no wonder the food intake was limited." Large scale nt mutation, not normal nting. How long can the consumption of the original stock continue on? Researchers also need to determine what variant crops could be nted, which species could not be nted and which food was harmful to humans. These were all in the starting stages, it was impossible to arrive at the result in such a short time. It would at least a year before approximate statistics. Before the end of the first year, the world was doomed to groping around. After hearing such news, the people dissatisfied with the food stopped mentioning it. Ate lunch and went back to work on the fence. This time at the barracks was not simply a job to cover the walls. Yan Fei had noticed from the drawing and themands given that they were expanding the walls. Roughly guessed that it would be arge job. The walls were thicker than the ones they had seen outside the wall. And these sturdy walls were not the only fortifications. Apparently the building walls, channels and other things, plus watchtowers, bunker style buildings and nned walls for the beam system were included. In the future, this would undoubtedly be the heart of a very fortified castle! Bags of sand, stone, mud and soil were sent to the wall. The earth users mixed concrete with precise, efficient preparation, the speed was quite fast. Luo Xun and Yan Fei found that the building teams from the morning and in the afternoon werepletely different. It was like how previously, the metal users were divided into two sets. Thinking about what the captain had said before, there were a lot of earth users to build walls, quite a few had been seen around base. By three oclock in the afternoon, the metal users werepletely off duty. Luo Xun and Yan Fei went back to the barracks and exited through the east gate to the car. He sighed. "I guess we wont be able to find an earth user for the next time we go out. The army must have already long since gotten them helping troops to repair the walls!" Although army work would not get a high ie, there was absolute safety and security. Earth users were in a simr situation to water users, powers suited to support or protection. It would be difficult to find someone to help with an absence of trust on base. Yan Fei was also helpless, there seemed to be no way. From Xu Mei and Song Linglings reaction during thest harvest, he was able to estimate how many nuclei a normal team could harvest during a mission. Their teams harvest rate was significantly higher inparison. So if the people who joined in could not be trusted, it would be better to not add anyone, lest there be danger. Thinking of that, Yan Fei hugged Luo Xuns shoulder. "Forget about finding someone, I can dig a hole. If its an issue we can dig out a little each time we go out." It was hard to dig through asphalt! Luo Xuns eyes brightened as he thought of something. "Before the apocalypse, werent there quite a few ces dug open in preparation to be paved? The road repair revealed all kinds of pipes, we might find a ce to use!" With such a reminder, Yan Fei also remembered that often they would temporarily ce arge iron te! It was a lot of metal! They drove back home, the pair removed some of the metal from the car. Yan Fei had merged the material with the car as soon as they got the metal. It was hard for anyone except Yan Fei to separate them. The metal te was brought to the 16th floor while Luo Xun and Yan Fei had a short rest on the bedroom floor in order to strengthen their bodies. Not too long after, the two people stood with a variety of metalponents on the ground. "First step is the greenhouse, we have to collect some more lighting from the base, as well as sr panels." Luo Xun noted. Yan Fei nodded. "Already set up this room, the rest of the things can slowlye. Lets move the shelves next door first." They had spend a few days while the room was not ready to get some shelves prepared. Now they could all be finally transferred over. The iron gate between the two rooms was opened. The puppy rushed over to explore. As she ced her paw on the metal floor she slid across the room and hit the opposite wall. The two people the bulky but not heavy shelves, pots and boxes into 1603. They saw the small puppy fly past them. "Luckily these shelves were not glued or they would have been broken." Luo Xun checked the first shelf. After seeing no problem, turned around to scold the little dog. Knowing that she had done wrong, the puppy lowered her head and her ears drooped. Yan Fei fought back augh C it was like a wife scolding a son. After getting scolded by Luo Xun, Puppy still explored around the room, just without running like crazy. She sniffed around with her ck nose here and there. After cing a row of shelves, the two returned to the nursery and decided. "Lets move all the mushroom wood." Luo Xun pointed at the wood in the corner. Yan Fei nodded in agreement, he had always felt it would be dangerous to put something so easily mutated together with the normal crops. Especially if there were a group of baby quails in the room. It was better to move them out early. However there were some preparations to be made before moving C to remodel to greenhouse. Mushroom needed more than just a simple greenhouse to grow, the air needed to contain a lot of water. The two selected a simple humidifier from the small bedroom and fixed the issue. Then Yan Fei brought out some metal shelves to store the mushroom wood. "Ill take some of these shelves back to the living room." Although tubes could save space, the effect of nting was inferior to ones using soil. At least, the taste of the nt was certainly inferior. The reason why Luo Xuns first choice was to use the incubator to grow vegetables was entirely because C although his home was much bigger than in his previous life, it could still end up insufficient. The use of shelves would save more space. Now that he had such a big house to use, he would obviously take advantage of it. After discussing the living room problem, Luo Xun pointed to the next room with lofty sentiments. "I want to use this room for all kinds of grains!" How much rice and wheat could be grown in a small bedroom? Even if they could grow it, the amount was definitely not enough for a grown man to eat. But it was better than nothing and maybe they could get some good quality produce! In recent days, the vast majority of Luo Xuns home grown crops did not mutate. Some of the early mutated species all tasted worse, even inedible. There were some thatpletely became another type of nt. Yan Fei strangled them on sight on did not dare try but Luo Xun recognized some. It was verymon for crops after the apocalypse, although they tasted bad, there was no other harm. Yan Fei heard that he was going to nt stuff in the big bedroom. His adams apple moved but he swallowed what he wanted to say. Luo Xun had long forgotten what he had said before about leaving the other room as a backup in case thendlord came back for the house. They ced the iron shelves because themp was not in ce at the time being, did not have to worry about making them. The two people moved the mushroom wood into the small bedroom remodeled as a greenhouse along with some seedlings from the nursery. The hydroponic nts, ones grown in soil, nts in flower pots and boxes were all sorted. The two men worked until the sky had turnedpletely dark. They hammered their sore waists, got up to wash and prepare for dinner. When they came out of the nursery, they did not forget to throw some vegetables inside the box where the earthworms were. The existence of these two kinds of worms was very necessary in the home. The meal worms were not only rations for the small quails, if there was a shortage, the worms could be food, they tasted okay. In addition, these two kinds of insects would also eat the decaying leaves of various nts and convert them into fertile nutrients! Although currently feeding them vegetables right now seemed extravagant but wait until all the various crops at home had grown, it would necessary to rely on them to deal with the old leaves. People would not be able to swallow those things. The two people had worked for quite a while with incredible enthusiasm as if injected with chickens blood. It was eight oclock in the evening by the time they went to wash up and eat. After a quick bath, Luo Xun removed some frozen tomatoes from the refrigerator along with some dried noodles. The two people sat at the table without chatting and bowed their heads while eating dinner as a couple. While the two were eating, Li Tie and the others also came back. Luo Xun went out to wee them after drinking thest mouthful of soup. "Luo Xun, Yan Fei!" He Qiankun spiritedly greeted them on sight. "How was work today?" Luo Xun nodded and asked the group with a smile. "I want to resign." Zhang Yi had an ufortable expression. The patients were not zombies, could not deal with the rubbish. What made him even more unhappy was because of his skills and looks, the hospital always arranged patients with status to see him. Also asked him not to cause any trouble! He had a bad temper, which intensified after the apocalypse. Since they could not offend those people, could they not arrange for someone else to tter them? Where were the others? Even the hospital could attract workers! Yan Feis reputation had spread throughout the hospital without his knowledge. The leaders of the base had already given up and some others were curious about who won the ungrateful man, so Yan Fei had been getting impatient before the holidays. Today Zhang Yi had finally seeding in blowing up an office so that the hospital leaders had to nod their heads and stop arranging these connections. People had long been ustomed to Zhang Yiining about work, but no one wasfortable enough to speak C Wang Duo went out. Li Tie released good news to Luo Xun. "Phone card is done! The boss said it was already approved by the superiors. Will be produced overnight, priority given for barracks use!" Han Li excitedly exined to Luo Xun. "We developed new mobile phone card with powerful functions! Not only can it be used on base, also out of base if there is electricity. Can even receive satellite signals!" Now there were power outages all over the country. Where could someone find electricity on the road to base? This function was naturally not useful. But the possibility of using satellite channels outside of base was very important! He Qiankun, who was responsible for the software development aspects puffed out his belly. "I got an app, used to cry for help in an emergency and its really quick! Just press the help button, even if the phone cks out, before being damaged, you can send a call to the base switchboard and the satellite signals will upload a location every half an hour. The user will be able to report his or her situation through the app if they can survive and find a rtively safe ce. Its super fast and easy to use!" This was a big thing for the base, in the future the military would register personal information and after they could be able to get a free card. Of course they would need to find a mobile phone on their own. This was a key moment to have good things! Li Tie and the others had talked about it. It was proven the next day, they thought that outsiders like them getting a mobile phone card a little earlier than the rest of base was very good. But who thought they were all in the first wave of phone cards, getting it at the same time as Li Tie and the others involved in the production process. Of course, it was because of the captain C after hearing the news, he immediately applied for mobile phone cards on behalf on all the people on the team. As he handed them over to the pair he said, "I only registered your names and birthce. Other specific information like identity cards are not filled. When you are free, go to the registration department and fill out it out on your own." "Origin?" Luo Xun and Yan Fei looked at him in amazement. When did he learn of the two peoples origins? "I thought you said you were form F-city? I just filled it out, change if its not correct." Captain Guo waved his hand. The two of the nodded and put away their mobile cards. As for supplementary information...they will go back first. They would have to fill in their present ce of residence. Yan Fei also felt that if he filled in too many details, it would bring his parents to their doorstep, better to temporarily use it. He was still making military designated props like before. After most of their busy days, they drove to the market. After some residents moved out of the base, many of the bustling streets had been reduced but there were still a number of long-term stalls. They walked home everyday and this was the main road not far from their house. The couple took all the points they had umted since meeting, left the nuclei and the instant noodles in the backpack and started shopping. The pairs goal today were lights to be used for nting. This things would have arge influence on their future life, needed to collect some more to avoid difficulties when it came time to rece them. The two drove around the market and found some people dealing with lights, who knew where they came from since there was little electricity. The two people exchanged arge number of bulbs for the individual price of a few points, it was very affordable! The lights were loaded and the two were ready to go home after work. Luo Xun found a group of people around the street corner doing something. Yan Fei ordered. "I want to see the situation." He walked off. In the end, people standing around was not a good sign. There may be some kind of trap but if it was confirmed from a distance, it would not cause trouble. Chapter 79 Luo Xun easily saw the crowd surrounding several people, a few dressed in a mix if cowboy and hip-hop in the group. One of the faces demanded, "Do you have it or not? No, then scram. Were waiting for someone toe and exchange nuclei!" Selling crystal nuclei? Luo Xun froze, then hurried forward to look at the small nk. Three pieces with different color, evidently these were higher than the level two crystal nuclei from the zombies they had killed. Of these, two were gray-ck with a peculiar sheen. The other was obviously a level two earth crystal nucleus. Luo Xuns heart raced, he had never seen any gray nucleus with a mysterious luster. It was unlike the speed and power nuclei, they cores were ck but emitting cyan and brownish red light. "What kind of nuclei do you want to exchange?" Although it was certain that the two cores were the metal nuclei Yan Fei wanted, if not it would be of no use to Yan Fei. But what if it was? Seeing that someone had asked, they sellers looked at Luo Xun. Asking about the kind of nucleus proved that he could at least observe that these were level two nuclei. One answered. "Thunder, power." Luo Xun thought for a moment before turning around and leaving. "Whats the situation?" Yan Fei casually asked with a hand against the door when Luo Xun returned. "There are people exchanging level two crystal nuclei for thunder and strength nuclei." Luo Xun whispered. "Im not sure but you might be able to use two of them." No one knew what the metal nucleus looked like, but it terms of appearance, the two pieces really seemed metallic. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. "You stay near the car, Ill go check." He went through the crowd. Luo Xun opened the door and sat inside the car with his crossbow held in his hands. It was not long before the crowd made noise and gave way, revealing Yan Feis return. "Well?" Luo Xun asked as the other was driving. Yan Fei nodded. "Yeah, its metal." He replied after a short drive. Luo Xuns eyes lit up and he smiled. "Just looked at it or absorbed?" Yan Fei slightly shook his head. "I can feel that it is a metal nucleus, but its better to go back before absorbing." "What kind of nucleus did you use?" Luo Xun was not quite sure why he said that but he expressed his unconditional support. "One lightning and strength type for their three nuclei." Yan Fei revealed the three nuclei from his pocket. "Three pieces?!" Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei in shock. "You used two to exchange for three pieces?!" How did those people even agree? Yan Fei made a helpless gesture with an innocent expression. "I said I did not know which of the two cores I wanted, so they made it buy one get one free." The scarcity of metal ability users had reached a certain level and only a few knew Yan Fei in the barracks. There were a few people in the base but it would be hard to find them. Plus, what had Yan Fei been doing before the apocalypse? He was the boss of his ownpany and very good at negotiations. If he had not been certain that those two nuclei were the ones he wanted, he would have waited a few days to get a lower price. Luo Xun stifled augh. "You already knew which two nuclei that you needed?" Yan Fei nodded towards the three nuclei. "The two nuclei had a different level. Do not need contact to feel simr properties, as long as one is close enough to feel it." Luo Xun breathed but could not help butugh. "Great, after we get back you can try the two nuclei and see what is different." Back at home Yan Fei did not immediately use the two crystal nuclei. He removed the rest of the metal from the car and brought it up to the 16th floor. He began to create several shelves and pieces of furniture. Luo Xun made sure the windows were covered with privacy film to avoid people looking inside. By the time Luo Xun had pasted the film on the ss, Yan Fei had mostly finished the iron shelves and furniture. The two people began to hang curtains C Luo Xun had specially customized the thick curtains before the apocalypse. Originally meant as a standby recement, did not think he would end up using it now. What to do aboutter recements? Remember when the end of the world started and the Otaku team went to the shopping mall? They got arge of sock of cloth, which was enough for them to make a few more sturdy curtains. Hung up the curtains, checked all the windows after the two people had confirmed the necessary shelves, pots, boxes and so on were ced. Only the new crops to cultivate were left. Puppy wa satisfied after exploring the room and returned back to 1604. After a simple dinner, Luo Xun washed the table and went to the living room. He saw Yan Fei sitting on the sofa with the metal nuclei between his fingers. "Want to absorb it?" Luo Xun asked curiously while looking at the nuclei on the table. He did not know why Yan Fei waited until now. Zhang Yi had immediately absorbed the level two nucleus, but it was a pity that he said there was no sense of esction. It was different with Xu Mei and Song Lingling, they said them seemed temporarily unable to absorb. Yan Fei tilted his head at Luo Xun in thought. "I feel...there seems to be something." "Ehh?" Luo Xun looked at him in confusion. "Its a feeling. I think if you want to achieve the best results, it is better to absorb some of the first level crystal nuclei before." Yan Fei wryly smiled at the level two nuclei. "Their energy is not enough." Luo Xun pondered, his eyes suddenly lit up. "Your ability seemed stronger than the others from the start, perhaps the initial level was higher than theirs...How much more do you think it will take? If its not enough, well find a way to get more." Yan Fei did not lie or evade as he responded. "At least 600 more first level nuclei." He got at least 20 or 30 cores a day from making metal utensils for the army. By that count, it would take at least 20 days to gather the amount. But the sooner Yan Fei could improve his ability the better not to mention the 400 they had collected thest time they went out. "Should we sell vegetables?" Luo Xun referred to the balcony full of produce. He could now harvest a variety of green leafy vegetables with short growth cycles such as lettuce, leek and so on. In addition bean sprouts and other things had grown, they had ced those next door yesterday. Yan Fei frowned. "Sell vegetables...But what about the price? Could you sell it all in one day?" The vegetables at home were more than enough for two people and the dog that had developed an appetite for the crops. It was no problem to take them out to sell. Could they sell these vegetables now? Could they sell them in a short time? What price was appropriate? Luo Xuns expression also shifted. He had sold food in hisst life...no he grew vegetables to buy food for a living! But because he had cultivated a high quality species, he had signed a long term contract with someone from the logistics department and just handed the crops over. Now that he thought about it, the first time he had wanted to sell his own vegetables he had to carefully carry them and ce them in a stall. In the evening he had to deal with already wilted vegetables, if the appearance was okay it could stay for the next days sales. To be honest, in the apocalypse, if there were no high quality species or way to ensure that the crops tasted like normal, there was only enough to live off of. What was the base poption? How many people would think of growing vegetables for a living? Apart from the people who had the strength and ability to go out, it was nice if people had food and clothing. In a few bases, it was easy topare the daily lives of people. Teams with ability users were the mostfortable, military workers had the most stable, people with homes that had arge number of sr panels was the most leisurely. As for vegetables...most were just for subsistence. In addition, there were people on base who stole for a living or sold their bodies. The vast majority of people selling vegetables were only better off than those people. Of course, it was not possible for everyone to grow vegetables. After all, there was another kind of person in the world C nt killers, people with ck thumbs. Such people could only support their livelihood with other sources. Plus, it was frightening that a nt that looked odd could mutate! After countless mutations that killed their owners, the number of people willing to grow vegetables was also shrinking. The vast majority of people growing home vegetables was just for their own consumption in order save some expenses. Luo Xun was the only one who delved into selling high quality vegetables. Luo Xun frowned and tapped his chin while musing. "If there was a team in need of long term source of vegetables..." Yan Fei raised an eyebrow as he suddenly thought of a possibility. "Barracks?" "Eh?" Luo Xun looked in confusion which turned into excitement. "Yes! Barracks!" The barracks nowcked food. In the future they would not be able to nt as much but the base might be willing to purchase small batches of fresh vegetables in the long term. Although they now had no way of telling how much to sell, but that would be figured out. Maybe they could sell at a higher price elsewhere, but who would make sure that the harvested vegetables were sold each day? One reason that the two did not want to open a stall was that they did not have the time. From morning until three oclock in the afternoon, they spent their time building walls. When they got home they had to deal with all kinds of things and cook dinner, Yan Fei exercised and so on. If they also set aside time to sell vegetables...Luo Xun did not want to die of exhaustion during the apocalypse. Maybe in the future, when the base job did not need them, he would make a stall to sell vegetables. But right now, they had not time to think about that. "I think...Lieutenant Ding told us to inform him if we managed to cultivate anything...maybe he can help with this." Luo Xun thought for a while and temporarily ruled out Captain Guo in charge of wall construction. Guo was very good, but they should not trouble him with these small things. The two would first go ask lieutenant Ding about the situation. Yan Fei also agreed, he remembered Captain Guo having problems with the logistics department due to his big stomach...Well it was a good thing to ask other who people who were better situated. The two men decided to go to the police pavillion in the morning to find Lieutenant Ding. Luo Xun went to the cab to grab the two mobile phones inside, almost forgot to insert the phone card. Both phones were fully charged before being turned off, ready to be used when the phone was open. The two saw the familiar symbol that meant there was a signal and could not help but sigh. "I can use it now..." After checking the signal, the two entered each others new phone numbers. With this they would be able to contact each other. In ordance with the automatic pop-up prompt installed in He Qiankuns app, they both received their first message. This was the bases official mass text message. The base would regrly release messages with simr news and promotions to all mobile phone holders. Also because the first batch went to the military, some internal military news would be sent to them as well. Today was news about the promotion of sr panels, there were considerable barriers for some energy sources. Water was still somewhat useable but not to consider coal or natural gas. After a few years in the apocalypse, the military began to look into sr panels and such. Luo Xun remembered the first time he worked with the military to find sr panels. But there had been how many panels? Was it enough for the entire base? Therefore, in the recent time period, in addition to collecting materials for the wall and other things like oil and petrol, importance was ced on sr energy facilities. Recently, arge amount of sr equipment had been transported back to base. It would provide a lot of wealth with adequate facilities. The military encouraged leasing personal devices to solve household electricity problems. The military was prepared to stop all supplies of private electricity in the future along with the creation of public shared electric facilities. "In other words, in the future we will be able to run the elevator in the building but the electricity will bepletely stopped." Yan Fei read the contents of the message and confirmed with Luo Xun. Luo Xun forcefully nodded. "Right, every night the power supply cuts off around eight to ten oclock. Having electricity for the elevator is already good. I estimate that in the future, the streetmps will not be supplied." Currently the streetmp power system was still running. Luo Xun knew that with the poprization of sr energy, the base had reced the main street lights. Unfortunately it was not long until the sr panels on the street lights went missing so the base stopped. There was no time to recover the stolenmps, and not mentioned this matter and the usual power had stopped C because many of the streetlights themselves had been stolen. Even before the apocalypse, one could not ask equal quality for all people, awareness to achieve unified heights. After the end, few people were expected to observe these. Yan Fei thought for a moment and turned to Luo Xun. "We can change some back. Internal military price seems to be decent. We can try and use our identity card to tomorrow to exchange." "Okay! Lets go and ask tomorrow after work." Luo Xun quickly nodded. He did not have many sr panels. Wait until after the base started promoting it he would hang all these things on the outside wall! This was one of his lifes dreams, of course he would not let go of this rare opportunity! Current sr panels were just enough for Luo Xuns home but if the room next door was finished and he needed to use lights and other things, the panels would not be enough. Not justck of electricity, water was the same. Everyday two sets of distition equipment operated together to provide their own water. But two sets of distition equipment would not be enough if arge number of crops were nted next door. Would need to add at least a day to create the filtered water. Luo Xun opened a notepad on the phone and wrote notes on what needed to be done tomorrow C he found himself seemingly busy again. Save crystal nuclei to upgrade Yan Fei, make sr panels to provide enough energy for next door, make distition equipment, look for some to sell vegetables as well as going out with everyone at the end of the month to collect crystal nuclei. s..it seemed that the leisurely apocalyptic farming life he had envisioned was getting further and further away? But in hisst life, although hard and tiring, it was very consistent with this definition. After washing and finishing recording these things, Li Tie and the others came back. As a member of the mobile card and app development team, they were among the first to get their phone cards. Their superiors also generously gave each person a brand new cell phone. After the apocalypse, these things were left on the roadside and ignored, could have easily picked up a bunch of new, unopened ones to give people. Very convenient. The university students held the phones and repeatedly sighed. "s, before the end, thetest model just came on the market. We could not even afford the previous generation. To buy this before we would have had to collectively sell a kidney, did not expect to get a brand new one..." Luo Xun looked at their faces of mncholy and happiness, he poured a basin of cold water. "The mobile phone with big screen is okay for tasks, but very easy to break ah..." Li Tie and friends were stunned C they had not realized that issue! Zhang Yi despaired their IQ and huffed through his nose. "But...what? What kind of cell phone is sturdier?" Luo Xun coughed and took out the phone the two used. "Triple protection, water, dust and shatter proof! Even if it drops while out its absolutely durable, most practical model after the apocalypse. You did not consider it?" "Where did you get this?" "Luo Xun, can we exchange with you?" "It looks thick and ugly, but the closer you look, the better it seems..." "Luo Xun, is this what you used before the apocalypse? Why does it look so new?" Luo Xun took out a box from his backpack with a smile. "Before when I was going out to collect supplies I passed by a store...brought some back." Before the apocalypse he had gone to the store and stared. When he had a mobile phone, it would not be possible to buy a new one. He waited until the apocalypse, it was thrown into the street and no one was looking. He conveniently picked up a big box so it was no problem giving some to Li Tie and the others. As for the rest...he was keeping them as spares. Li Tie and the others discussed for a bit and exchanged three new phones and 30 crystal nuclei for six more durable phones. Brothers settled their ounts, not to mention they had no need for crystal nuclei at the moment, a phone was more vital. As for the three machines left over? A few people took turns to have fun. Unfortunately most of the applications were unusable, not to mention games. He Qiankun and Wu Xin had already discussed ns to develop some games for the machine at work. Ah, being able to program was convenient C even if they did have to creativity to develop a brand new game...could they not imitate some other games to make counterfeit products? Chapter 80 Everyone exchanged mobile phone numbers C other then Zhang Yi, other workers in the hospital had not yet been allocated the new mobile phone cards. After the nightly routine meeting, everyone returned home to rest and sleep. After returning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not busy themselves with other things. Yan Fei moved him into the bed. The guy still exercised a bit and swayed for three seconds after absorbing a nucleus. Then decisively went to the bed C he would first eat a full meal. Who said that being busy during the day would make them less energetic at night? Its nice to have a good day when one has the spirit. Early next morning, the two left earlier than usual C of course, they had spoken to Li Tie and the others. The two men drove to the police station to find Lieutenant Ding. He was found soon after their arrival. "Crops? Youve nted some?" Lieutenant Ding looked at the two young men in front of him with astonishment. Why would he think they were people that could cultivate nts? Even if Li Tie had said they wanted to farm things before, his words were more like encouragement. A potential idea that they had mentioned. Did not expect that it was not Li Tie and the others who contacted them first, but these two, especially Yan Fei who looked like a rich gentleman. They...could grow vegetables? Knowing the main reason behind Lieutenant Dings disbelief, Luo Xun secretly gave Yan Fei a nce and exined. "I mainly did it. We bought the house before the apocalypse and I thought the lighting was very good. I often like to nt things and bought and nted some seeds before the end of the world. There was some extra from thest harvest, we cannot finish it and are afraid it would go bad. Then we thought of the armys food situation...it has been a while since Ive seen green vegetables." Lieutenant Ding knew that the upants of the floor were working in the barracks and was not surprised to hear thements about the food. He smiled and said, "I can help you with this matter, prices and so on. Just do not know whether you can provide long term..." He looked around and whispered. "Did anything happen when you grow vegetables? Strange things?" Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged nces, he must have meant the mutant nts. Luo Xun responded sadly. "Some nts became very strange...the colours turned strange, some even gave off gray mist. We burned them upon discovery." Actually not all burned, could be transnted to others ces, but that could not be mentioned just yet. Lieutenant Ding breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Yes, if theres something wrong hurry and deal with it. It is said that once grown it will be very troublesome. If you have unmutated crops, they should be willing to ept. Come back after work or tomorrow morning." "We should be here around four oclock in the afternoon." "Yes, you cane over and Ill let you know if there are any news." "Oh yes, Lieutenant Ding, can you tell them if they want to buy we hope that they can pay in crystal nuclei." Lieutenant Ding paused, then thought of Yan Fei who was an ability user and nodded with a smile. "Okay, I will tell them." After the food matter, the pair drove to the barracks. After working more than half a day, Luo Xun asked the captain about sr panels during the afternoon. "Oh yes, you live outside." Captain Guo pped his forehead. "That message was sent to those living near the barracks...of course you can exchange! Just follow me to logistics. Right, you can fill in your information." Luo Xun and Yan Fei looked at each other with helpless expressions. They were going to do itter, but who thought the captain would bring it up now. "Well see how this goes." Yan Fei whispered into Luo Xuns ear. He changed his personal information, fortunately he had seen Luo Xuns information. He also modified his information in ordance with his intention to stay hidden. Even if he was seen, he could say his identity card was lost. They could muddle through it somehow since it was still unclear in ces. Anyways, his parents were not really looking for him. They followed Captain Guo into a lively building. The first floor of the hall had several windows were a lot of people were lined up. Thinking of this morning when they asked Lieutenant Ding about purchasing vegetables, the two prayed this procedure was easier to handle. The formalities were not too troublesome and there were not many people in front of them. Because there were a number of windows to record personal information and not many people, the pair quickly lined up. Luo Xun sat down first to fill out the form and found that there were many soldiers waiting to fill out personal information. More people were here in order to find their family earlier. Because there were records C names and possible locations of rtives and so on. Whether or not the military had the strength to find those people, the message would always give a littlefort to the lone soldiers. What if the army had a mission where their loved ones were? Then they might be able to rescue them! Luo Xun silently looked at the section, his heart sighed as he checked No. His family...was long gone. Friends and rtives...he had been reborn 10 years into the past and was unclear of his neighbors, not to mention old ssmates? Since the death of his parents, Luo Xun had not spoken with any old ssmates, at the same time no one had contacted him either... Yan Fei did not know why Luo Xun suddenly became depressed while silently filling out personal information. He gently pinched his hand and pulled Luo Xun over to sit with him. The staff asked Yan Fei after pulling out his personal information through his mobile phone and card. "This is your personal information?" Yan Fei speechlessly looked at the screen but nodded afterwards. "Correct." "Fill this out." He took the form and then looked at the part of the information that had been filled out. Not just Yan Fei, even Luo Xun who had just filled in his personal information was a bit shocked. The massive loss of information after the apocalypse had caused confusion. Before, people were mostly manually registered, when the two hade to base, they had filled in their name and age for the first identity card. But Captain Guo had directly picked the recement card, which was only numbered and had no other specific information. The pair had been unaware of the personal information corresponding to the card. As for the mobile phone cards? Captain Guo had directly handed those over, the information inside had not been clear. But now the two of them finally knew how inurate the information inside this thing was. Like for Luo Xun, his name was changed to Luo Xu. The age was inexplicably decreased by two, from twenty two to twenty years of age. He read his name and then casually asked the staff to revise it. But now? Looking at Yan Feis personal information, it could not be considered an error! Yan Feis name became "Yen Fai", age unknown instead of 26 and the birthce was F-city said by Captain Guo. So Yan Fei directly tampered with his own personal information. Age was not changed, he left his name with what was recorded in theputer. His address before the apocalypse was Luo Xuns home, his ID number was based on Luo Xuns with changed numbers. For the part with provinces and city, the number would not be found in the future! Who knows what had happened to the original information base! Who had time to check his now? And if the base found out about the personal information...Was one not allowed to remember wrong? They were not allowed to lose their ID card after the end of the world? The two people filled out their personal information. Luo Xun passed paper and pen to Yan Fei with a low voice. "Quickly write down the information lest you forget!" Yan Fei looked at him funny and took his mobile phone from his pocket. "Ill use this to remember, your paper and pen is too conspicuous." Luo Xun hurriedly put it away after some thought. He did not forget to add. "We should write some notes when we get back in case the phone is lost or we forget..." "Okay, Ill write it down at home." Yan Fei opened his phone and recorded the information. The two people went to find Captain Guo. Seeing the pair, the captain quickly pointed to the person beside him. "This is Captain Wang, manager of external sales of supplies. Discuss with him how many pieces to buy." The two quickly introduced each other and made small talk. Captain Wang was plump, though not as much as He Qiankun. He was one and half timesrger than Luo Xun and they could see his belly. The two people followed him to buy things, on the way Yan Fei handed out half a pack of cigarettes as a gift. Sure enough, the captains eyes lit up seeing the pack of smokes. With a smile, he patted his chest. "Buy how ever many you need!" As long as they had enough points. The three arrived at logistics and found out the internal prices C 30 points a board and 50 points a battery. Plus the capacity was rtively small,rger would mean a higher price. Although the price was high, it was much lower than the external sale price. Captain Wang also said that after a few days, official sales would start and the price would be at least doubled. The current price was only for internal personnel. The two people exchanged nces, felt that they did not have enough money to spend. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had spent little these days. The points the two had earned while working at the wall had been kept in their pockets. They had spent some points in the market a few days ago buying lights. The two of them had at least seven or eight hundred points left! They could be converted into these things, but they could not buy that many. ording to the needs of their house, all of a sudden they spent a full five or six hundred points of sr panels and batteries. The two people returned to the car with bleeding hearts. As they were driving home, the suddenly thought of the agreement with Lieutenant Ding and quickly turned around. "Not here?" Luo Xun paused and asked. "He did not leave a message?" "No, he has note back this afternoon." The soldiers on duty said they were unclear about Lieutenant Dings location. Luo Xun went back to the car and continued driving. "He did note back at noon. Lets go home ande back tomorrow morning." The two were not too anxious about selling vegetables. There were many crops at home, but it was not time for mass harvest. Although Yan Fei needed arge number of crystal nuclei to absorb, he could save enough through working with the army. The two returned home, Yan Fei sat on the sofa, exercising his ability and absorbing crystal nuclei. Luo Xun rummaged around to find materials for distition equipment C the bathroom and kitchen next door were still empty. How could he not make use of the two water pipes? He put arge ss jar on the kitchen counter for water precipitation. Then he manually assembled a set of distition equipment connected to the side with a better bucket for the prepared water. Luo Xun had finished his work in the kitchen was ready to do the same in the bathroom when the doorbell was sounded. Yan Fei put down the metal he was working with and got up. The two went to the door and looked outside to find Lieutenant Ding outside. He came straight here? The two men quickly opened the door and greet Lieutenant Ding and two officers standing in the stairwell. "Oh, I knew you must be home by now!" Lieutenant Ding smiled and introduced the officers. "These two are responsible for food hygiene safety and canteen procurement. This is Captain Li and Professor Xu." The two were the ones responsible for buying ingredients for the canteen and studying food safety and hygiene. Professor Xu was significantly older, looking at least forty or fifty years old. The other seemed to be a little younger. Luo Xun and Yan Fei quickly let them in and learned from Lieutenant Ding that the officers wanted to see their grown crops. He let the people into 1603. Of course, Yan Fei was walking in front and Luo Xun slowed and politely asked them a few questions in the corridor. Sure enough, the iron gate had changed appearance C Yan Fei had been practicing with the metal and melded into the wall. No one could tell that the wall also had a door. Plus, the three visitors were attracted to the row of shelves in the room and had no time to pay attention to the wall. "This is...are you using it for gardening?" Professor Xu pushed up his sses and touched the iron shelf. "Made well, where did you get these? Its very strong." Captain Li was keen to see the balcony where a variety of leafy green vegetables were growing. "Professor Xu! Come and see, these are not mutated nts!" Both the logistics department or specialized personnel responsible for farming had tried to nt vegetables in the ground but the rate of survival was simply unbearable to look at! But looking at those lovely green vegetables...this was food that normal people would eat! How long had it been since they had eaten normal, leafy greens? Everyday was some variation of potatoes! Professor Xu hurried forward and pressed against the ss. On the other hand, Lieutenant Ding was concerned. "Are you using all the space for vegetables?" He was aware that the two lived next door, it seemed they nned to use the room for farming. Yan Fei smiled and nodded. "The two of us dont use up a lot of living space. Before we wanted to rent it out, but with base matters...we decided to use it to grow things. Its just that we can grow nts but...dont know where to sell." Lieutenant Dingughed and patted his arm. "No problem, I dont see any issues with the nts in your home. Once the professor has confirmed it, you can send the food to the barracks." Professor Xu was pleasantly surprised and he asked Luo Xun, "Whats the mutation rate? What about the mutant species?" Luo Xun could only answer helplessly. "We could only burn the really terrible ones, afraid to eat. Some nts became the wrong color, who knows if its toxic or not? As for the mutation rate...it seems okay? Only one or two per ten nts..." The two officers burst out. "How could that be?!" Captain Li was surprised and asked with wide eyes. "Only one or two mutated nts out of ten? Not only one or two are okay?" Luo Xun backed up half a step. In fact he was also surprised, the mutation rate was lower than in his previous life but he had not been able to figure out why. "Yes, only one or two be mutated." "What kind of water do you usually give them? Nutrients?" Professor Xu urgently asked. "Distilled water and some of the water soluble fertilizers bought for growing flowers..." Luo Xun referred to professional fertilizer to the side. The fertilizer was nothing special, Professor Xu looked at the bucket next to the shelves, the oxygen pump and asked. "Let me see the tools you used for water distition." Fortunately Luo Xun had just set up some distition equipment in the kitchen. There was also some clean water set aside. The visitors could observe without seeing their small nest. The group went into the kitchen and the professor rified Luo Xuns distition steps C deposited precipitation once more than the average family. Although this would certainly reduce the efficiency of filtered water, if this was the key to reducing crop mutation rate, the extra steps would be nothing! They took a samples of water and vegetables ready to be tested. Professor Xu then asked, "What nts have a rtively high mutation rate?" Luo Xun suddenly thought of the pile of mushroom wood. "The mushrooms never grew normally!" "Mushrooms?! You nted mushrooms at home?" Lieutenant Ding choked on his saliva and coughed to regain breath. Luo Xun smiled. "Before the apocalypse I bought some white jade mushroom and other species C thought to eat healthier. Just did not expect the apocalypse, I took a few pieces of wood back to try and cultivate but..." He brought the people into the special room full of mushroom wood. Yan Fei had already gotten rid of thest pile of suspected poisonous mushrooms. Thest two days a few had sprouted, but not many. It seemed they could only watch the situation. Professor Xu stepped forward and took two spores form the wood. "Ill test them in theb." After collecting these things, the people exchanged telephone numbers and left content. After sending them away, Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief. "Luckily that was quick and easy. We also had everything already here." Yan Fei smiled and touched his hair. "Need any help?" Luo Xun pushed Yan Fei towards where the gate should be. "You do your stuff. Ill call if you if I need help." Thus Yan Fei continued absorbing crystal nuclei and producing various tools. Chapter 81 The two people were busy for a long time, until about seven oclock in the evening. The couple only stopped work when it was time to eat. They went to the kitchen to cook dinner and went to rest after eating. Luo Xun suddenly wanted to eat noodles, it had been a while since he had made anything so he decided to wake up. Yan Fei was afraid that he would get too tired, but seeing Luo Xun in high spirits chased away his fatigue. He stood to the side and watched Luo Xun grab ingredients. Noodles were not difficult to cook, there was frozen stock in the refrigerator. Only had to take out a small piece to taste, the colour was also good. The quail eggs were golden and cut into slices on the side. Hot oil was poured into a small bowl with fresh chopped onion, the fragrant onion oil was done. Took a moment to grab the noodles, thawed and cut into thin silk. Once the water boiled, the noodles would be thrown in. The cooked noodles were ced into the soup, put some onion oil, egg strips to create noodles with overflowing fragrance. Although Luo Xun really wanted some shredded pork, there was almost no meat at home. He was not willing to thaw what was left C the noodles were still fragrant without shredded pork. Each person had arge bowl and went back to the living room. They sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofa to eat. The puppy saw the two sit on the sofa, she wagged her tail and looked pitifully at them. Luo Xun set aside some noodles, some egg and chopped onion in a bowl. Let her taste it after it cooled C anway she had already eaten dog food. In other words, since he had found that Puppy ate vegetables, the little one found a few crisp leaves in her food bowl. Mostly liked to eat lettuce instead of the nasty, long weeds. Puppy obviously did not know that raw leek was a little spicy C this things could also be an aphrodisiac... Slick, fragrant noodles in delicious soup, in one breath the two people finished half a pot of soup. Theyid on the sofa as the food digested. "The soup really fills the belly." Luo Xun patted his stomach in satisfaction. In hisst life, he always like to cook soup because food was precious and it filled ones belly easily. Now...rest in the evening after dinner to not aggravate the stomach. Luo Xun took advantage of digestion to figure what to do after work tomorrow. The greenhouse at home had new vegetable and crop seeds which could be nted in a few days next door. Some other crops could be transferred from the balcony terrace in addition to the small and medium quail. Li Tie and the others were busy. But it did not mean they could not start trying to care for them. Could give them some, let them try a hand at raising them... While thinking, Luo Xuns phone suddenly rang. How long had it been since he had heard a phone ring? The two paused after hearing the sound then realized that the sound was from a call rather than a message. Luo Xun hurriedly picked up the phone, even forgot to see who the caller was. He heard an excited sound from the phone. "There are no problems with your vegetables, our test results havee out! I just called Li just now and you can contactter to see when you can start providing vegetables..." Luo Xun took a second to realize that the caller was Professor Xu. He expressed his gratitude C the test results were unexpectedly quick! Professor Xuughed. "All weremon vegetables, after the apocalypse a lot of data was gone but these things still had data. The results are clear after testing. But we have not yet studied the mushrooms in your house, you must not eat those things! By the way, if there are any other strange varieties of nts, you can collect and send them over. I did some experiments before contacting. Just tell me before youe..of course you could bring it and save a trip." After thanking the professor, Luo Xun hung up andughed to Yan Fei. "Did not think the test results havee out. We need to speak with Li Tie and the others." When he answered the phone, Yan Fei had already heard the conversation and understood what was said. He was somewhat excited, after all Luo Xun did most of the vegetable gardening since he liked that sort of thing. A phone callter, Captain Li had received the professors news. Knowing that Luo Xuns home grown vegetables had no issues he was naturally willing to buy. Due to recentck of leafy, green vegetables, along with the amount at Luo Xuns home...There was not much but they were regr vegetables like from before the apocalypse. Captain Li finally agreed to buy them for one crystal core per pound. The sold vegetables were lettuce and leek amongst others on the shelf. If the harvested vegetables were sent the next day then C using the military line, message and phone were all temporarily free! A crystal core for a pound of vegetable, is not cheappared toter on. But it would somewhat low if Luo Xun could grow some high quality varieties. After two or three years in the apocalypse, it would be pretty much the same price as mutant vegetables that had a decent yield. But if one took into ount the current value of nuclei, the price was already very good. Luo Xun put down the phone and was filled with energy. He wanted to get up and pick vegetables, weigh and see how much there was tomorrow morning. Ready to prepare a new batch of seeds in the nursery but he was pulled by Yan Fei. "The stuff picked now will not be fresh tomorrow. In addition, how many seeds at home? Didnt you just set aside some vegetables to make them grow? Lets go." Yan Feis interruption calmed Luo Xun down. Yes, although they needed crystal core, but they had missed a point. Take it slow, it would be suspicious to suddenly have a lot of food to sell. Captain Li knew from today that there home did not have a lot of nts, how could they immediately take out a ton of crops to sell? After the night, Luo Xun woke up half an hour earlier than usual to pick vegetables with Yan Fei. They checked that the mature vegetables had been picked, leaving the shoots behind. If not picked in a few days, it would be old. They harvested and packaged, the small spring bnce revealed that they had more than 10 kilograms. They carried these vegetables downstairs to the car. Drove the car to the barracks, Luo Xun did not park the car outside but directly entered inside. Stopped at the canteen doors. Ah, the first canteen...no wonder the only ones who could eat leafy vegetables were privileged people. No one had said anything while in the vicinity of the fourth canteen workers. Captain Li and people were ready for the exchange. They checked the vegetable freshness, appearance and so on. The mass was weighed and 10 crystal nuclei were handed over. A few bags of vegetables in exchange for 10 small crystal nuclei, Luo Xun suddenly felt a sense of loss C the volume difference was too big. Yan Fei patted his shoulder. "You think so? If we did not eat or sell these, would it not be a waste?" Luo Xuns mood improved as he eximed. "Thats why I only sold those kinds of vegetables, these several grow very fast. Weather permitting we can harvest once a month. The others like beans and eggnts can be dried or pickled, so I will not sell them." As for rice and wheat, it was impossible to sell any unless it was a variant! The hard to grow vegetables would be kept at home. The good ones eaten and the rest taken out to sell. This was Luo Xun after his rebirth, fixed work and set down with future luxury life goals. He straightened up and patted his chest. "Labour, not selling vegetables." Could also be a smooth life. Though he had not reached that point in hisst life. Yan Fei pocketed the 10 crystal nuclei andughed. "Now you are supporting me." Luo Xun remembered he had said that no long after they first met, but his smile was strained. Although it seemed to be the case, actually calcting real ie, Yan Fei had made more. The two people simply stopped at a parking lot near their workce since they had easily entered today. This was in order to save time walking out to pick up the car each day. They started work with Captain Guo. They had now made most of the various items needed for base. Began to build the super heavy iron gate in the south. At noon Captain Guo rested with everyone. "Superiors told us to repair the big iron gate today. Tomorrow we will go back and repair the outer wall." A sweaty messenger revealed. "A small part of the outer wall has been repaired. It is time not only to heighten the outer wall but also thicken the iron wall by at least one meter. Also need a row of rivets built on the walls likest time." In any case, the wall was the most important of the current work. Knowing that there was ack of manpower for metal users, the superiors decided to build a section outside wall. Let them stand on the wall for smooth operation with immediate dispatch priority. "In such a hurry?" The lieutenant was a little surprised, he thought they would be spending at least eight days at the barracks. Captain Guo sighed. "A lot of newly evolved second level zombies were found outside the base. Some of the became very strong, a troop encountered some deep in the city while finding supplies. A tank was smashed in half by several power type zombies!" The crowd at the table shuddered in surprise. The lieutenant whispered. "No wonder they wanted us to speed up, but also thicken the outer wall by a meter..." Captain Guo sighed with regret. "You dont know, the outer wall has been repaired ording to previous specifications, 10 meters high and 3 meters thick. We dont even know if the extra meter of metal will be enough in the future!" All the peoples hearts began to pound. A tank was not as thick as the wall, but the materials were plenty strong! The newly repaired wall could not only be thicker, after all they could only manipte metal, not purify or improve it. Only could control how much and with what to repair, perhaps not as strong as tank armor. After saying this, Captain Guo facepalmed and the crowdughed. "Right, there is good news!" The crowd looked with anticipation. Captain Guo smiled and waved his chopsticks. "We have a four day holiday at the end of every month. Unless arge number of zombies hit the wall, then everyone has toe out and fight! Otherwise spend those days how you like! Even if you went out to seduce a girl, nobody cares!" The crowd cheered upon learning about their vacation. Luo Xun and Yan Fei also exchanged surprised nces C four days of leave per month? They had thought two days was good, did not expect Captain Guo to be such a force! Captain Guo meaningfully rose his eyebrows at Luo Xun and Yan Fei. His meaning very obvious C how about it? Are you with me? It was more than Luo Xuns suggested two days of rest. Captain Guo was indeed very powerful getting an early holiday. But for some reason, the higher ups did not allow them to take a day off every week, instead all at the end of the month. But it was good for Luo Xun to have two extra days to do whatever he wanted. Because the bosses had given the task this morning, the iron gate needed to bepleted today. Tomorrow, everyone would be back to the outer wall so the atmosphere was tense. Everyone was more busy than usual. After an hour and a half, everyone dragged their tired bodies after ending work. The ordinary people looked in horror between the huge, metal door and the leaving metal users and could not help but shake their heads. So much! Maybe even more than the earth users. Got so big in one day! There were tworge iron gates for the barracks, south and north. The four people were in the south this time because construction had not yet started in the north. Also because current metal materials were being used for the outer wall thus this iron gate was tofort the neurotic leaders. When the two men drove back home, it was already dark. It seemed that today they were the ones who came thestest due to working in the army. Luo Xun carried a lunch box and grinned at Yan Fei. "Today was tiring, but just in time to catch canteen dinner!" Today, when they went to canteen to deliver ingredients, Captain Li sent the two of them to the first cafeteria. For that meal they were treated closer to officials. Before the apocalypse Luo Xun had little status, an average person could not easily get in and get some extra food. Had to say, the first canteen managed to maintain a certain level of food. They could eat meat that had long since disappeared from the other canteens, the two also saw the leafy vegetables that they had sent today C although the amount was very small. Yan Fei took the lunch box while the pair stood in front of the elevator. Today they came back just in time to catch the elevator, save the effort climbing up. There were also some people waiting for the elevator, It seemed that because the pair was rarely seen, many people were secretly looking at them. Maybe they had recently moved in? Or were they looking for someone? "Luo Xun? Yan Fei?" A voice sounded in the back. The two turned to see Xu Mei and Song Lingling. Both of them had brought food back, each carried a bag. The girls had not expected to meet the couple and they asked curiously, "Did you just get back?" Luo Xun smiled and nodded. "We worked a little longer today? Did you buy rice? How have thest few days been?" They had not seen Xu Mei since thest time they worked together. Today they had crossed paths. Song Lingling giggled. "We came back this afternoon. This is takeout, not rice." The elevator had stopped on the first floor, a group of people squeezed in and pressed the 15 and 16 floor buttons. The other people in the elevator looked at the pair with even more surprised eyes when the 16th floor button was pressed. The could not be med C was it really the same supposed weirdos that lived on the 16th floor that used arge metal sheet to seal the doors. Today was a chance to see those people with their own eyes. But they also knew that the people who lived on the floor were dangerous. Of course, could not tantly stare or they would end up dead. As people left the elevator, gradually only Luo Xun, Yan Fei and the two girls were left inside. Seeing no outsiders, Xu Mei confirmed with Yan Fei. "Going out at the end of the month?" Yan Fei nodded. "If there are no idents, we should be out in thest two days of the month." Xu Mei and Song Lingling were relieved. This time they came back after working with another team out of base, that experience...unbelievable. It was not that the two of them came across a hostile man. Xu Meis reputation had begun to spread, weak harassers had lessened in number so they had not encountered any rogues...instead all kinds of useless teammates! Littlebat effectiveness, all sorts of chaos upon encountering zombies. Unexpectedly some people in a panic dared to push Song Lingling towards the zombies! Song Lingling directly counterattacked with a water ball ording to Luo Xuns proposal. It was the first body to drown on drynd... So hearing that Yan Feis team would go out at the end of the month for a mission, the happy feeling was understandable. "Did you find any earth ability users?" Song Lingling asked curiously. Earth users were rarely willing toe out of base, but perhaps one had been found. Luo Xun sighed. "Not easy to find, most of the earth users are working in the army with uncertain holiday times and they are not willing to go out." They had time to speak with earth ability users, since everyone had lunch in the same canteen. They encountered people that were usually working in other locations. But once the topic shifted to zombies, the other party had no interest. The army soldiers had to obey orders first so they would not take initiative when their leaders did not give them vacation. There were two who were like Yan Fei, whose ability level was higher than usual but they did not want to leave the base. They felt the the amount the base issued every day was enough, there was no need to go out collect more nuclei. "What about you?" If even Luo Xun and Yan Fei had not found someone, how could Xu Mei and Song Lingling? "We met one or two ability users while in a team but...only acquaintances." Who would work withplete strangers? Yan Fei decided. "Not a problem if we cant find someone. We have other methods, dont need to find an earth user now." The twodies nodded their heads in agreement. Why would they not? Thest time they went with the group, they got a prettyrge harvest per person. Chapter 82 The twodies were downstairs as the elevator door closed and it continued upward. Song Lingling suddenly whispered to Xu Mei. "Xu Mei, you ever feel...theres something strange...between Yan Fei and Luo Xun?" "Strange?" Xu Mei continued to open the door after giving a puzzled look. "Whats strange?" Yan Feis personality was just like that, Song Lingling should have dered somethingst time they cooperated if something was off. She only found something strange just now? The reflex was too slow, speaking of odd, who of the men on 16th floor could bepared to Zhang Yi? "Just..." Song Lingling tilted her head in thought with a frown. "Something strange when theyre together..." She sped her hands with bright eyes. "I just saw Yan Fei hug Luo Xuns shoulder!" "Isnt that normal? Li Tie and the others do the same." The door opened, Xu Mei casually entered. Compared to Yan Fei, Luo Xun and Zhang Yi, they were more familiar with Li Ties group and hade to an understanding. They always exchanged greetings at the end of the day. Song Lingling giggled while shutting the door. She said to Xu Mei, "Thats different from Li Ties group of silly children. The two of them seem like a pair of..." Xu Mei stopped and looked back with a surprised face. "Cant be..." Song Lingling winked at her. "What cant? This is my sixth sense! There were two students in our college ss. And a couple of girls too!" The two women looked at each other. Xu Mei sighed and frowned. "It thats true, then the team has such a pair..." If there was such a pair in the team, then they might be able to motivate other men to consider it! Gay was a boon to the two women. A friend of women! Would be the best example that could bring peace and tranquility to the base! Luo Xun, unaware he was being treated as a womans friend, who would never endanger herfort was wearily dragging himself through the door. He discussed with Yan Fei. "Lets eat dinner today before we get to the other things?" Yan Fei naturally had no arguments, they were busy for an entire day. In the canteen at dinner time they smelt the fragrance of food. Even if they were originally not hungry, they now were famished. The two had brought back good food today, stewed chicken legs, braised pork belly, stewed beef...although there were other vegetable dishes, it was mainly meat. It was enough for two men to eat. Almost all the frozen meat at home were consumed. There was still dried meat, ham and sausage and other things hanging from the roof but they dared not eat more. In fear that eating more now would mean not being able to eat in the future. In fact, in addition there was some dried beef at home Luo Xun bought before the apocalypse. It was true air dried, thoroughly dried, cooked beef that could be preserved for long periods of time and only needing a little water to eat. It was almost impossible to split, but it one rubbed it, the beef would spread like a dry rope. But because this thing took more time and Luo Xun did not have much time, he only made a small portion. At this time he was not willing to take it out and eat. Luo Xun looked seriously at the two lunch boxes filled with meat dishes and suggested to Yan Fei. "Too much meat in a meal is not good for the appetite. We should divide this in half and add some vegetables from home?" Yan Fei smiled and nodded. "Okay, I go get rice." The two of them had not gotten any grains in order to maximize the number of dishes. The two lunch boxes were full of various dishes. Luo Xun hurried into the kitchen with the lunch box then flew to the balcony to choose todays vegetables. Although they sold a lot of vegetables today, there was enough left at home to eat for a few days until the next wave of crops were grown. Frying a hand torn ball of lettuce from home, the taste was better than scattered leaves. Luo Xun was not willing the sell the scattered leaves and kept them to eat on their own. The two satfortably on the sofa after picking out various types of meat to eat. Of course, with a dog as a pet in the home, leaving the rest of the bones for the little one was necessary as the owner. After eating and drinking enough, Luo Xun looked out of the window. The sky had bepletely dark, one could clearly see the stars in the deep dark sky. Who knew how clearer the sky was after the apocalypse. "...Is there any work to be done tonight?" He remembered that there seemed to be a lot of things to be done, but he could not recall the details. Yan Fei smiled and hugged his shoulder. "I remember we should get the sr panels." In order to finish the room next door, it needed most of the exchanged sr panels. In fact, there were some unused sr panels in Luo Xuns stock because they were not consuming too much electricity each day. They were currently set aside as recements. "Right, but how will we do it? Hanging outside the wall will block the sun, preferable to hang on the wall..." Luo Xun hesitated since he did not know how to arrange that. If he hung the boards out of the window, the panels would block the light shining through the windows. But if hung on the walls, he was afraid that someone woulde steal the panels. Yan Fei could not help butugh. "Isnt it fine to put them on the outer iron fence? Ill use my ability to put all the sr panels on the wall. The iron fence will block a part of the sun but it should not be a problem. Others wont able to steal them away either." "Yes, you can use your powers to connect the panels with the steel in the wall. Whos going to be able to steal it?" Luo Xun said with muffledughter. If the walls were covered with iron fences, who could find out what was inside with a quick look? "Build the iron fence a bit wider and Im going to use it to dry stuff in the fall." "Okay, Ill go get it." There was still some metal material at home. Although the amount was not enough to wrap the two rooms walls, there was enough for the space next to the windows. Enough to hang up the sr panels. Although it was now dark and not convenient to work, but who was Yan Fei? After this period of operation and research, he could manipte metal with his eyes shut and still achieve the desired shape and appearance. The dark was not a problem for him. The remaining metal was in their windows. There was a pile of metal fences on the side, the neighbors and people walking home downstairs did not find the metal fence anyrger than before. His skill was that the extrayer of metal in the fence was not noticed. Luo Xun lined the room with sr panels, all the way to the storage battery in a corner the sun could not reach. All their sr panels could be fully utilized tomorrow and ready for storage! They went and exchanged some more batteries, they did not have enough points to spend. In other words, going out for missions also earned points, but they went mainly to collect crystal nuclei and were not willing to redeem for points. Overall, they were still short on money. However they were much richer than most of the people who lived in misery on base. Some people felt unconsciously mncholic. The two tossed all night, then they drove to the barracks gate early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened. Captain Guo and the other people were with the truck parked in the small square. Today, the batch of vegetables at home had not been picked, the next harvest would be at least a weekter. Although the current cycle of the vegetables was long with low production but Luo Xun did not worry because this was only one method to get crystal nuclei. Instead, if they were to work for a few more days, they would get an increased number of nuclei and they would be able to scrape together the required quantity. If Yan Fei could raise his ability level this time, Luo Xun was still curious about how many crystals would be needed to ascend to the next level. Not long after the two arrived, the captain also showed up. Everyone went in the car together and it drove towards the outside wall. "Theres a crane dispatched here today. Will use the crane to ce all the metal materials up, but after the wall is raised, the distance would too far from the zombies. Even if we killed the zombies, it is not easy to collect the crystals." Captain Guo frowned while scratching his head. "So I proposed to patrol with the uptown troops. We will get a third of the crystal nuclei." Can get a little amount of nuclei was good. After all, they were a team for building the wall, that was all, should not be hunting zombies at all. But who made Captain Guo very unreasonable in some aspects? The people he worked with knew some of his quirks and ws. Those he contacted outside the city were his old acquaintances so these things were negotiable. Plus, the team had previously cooperated with Captain Guos team, knew their marksmanship was very urate. They were willing to cooperate because they were lethal and strong, otherwise who would agree to the proposal? Luo Xun raised his hand with a question. "The patrol team has no other mission?" They woulde over and kill zombies, would the others care about the work? Captain Guo smiled and exined. "Outer city teams patrol every day and also have tasks. They need to collect a certain number of crystal nuclei as a quota. After getting a dozen they get to keep the rest. I told them that when we were building the wall, we were constantly surrounded by zombies. Sure enough, they came along and agreed to cooperate." "How much do they want per day?" "150 a day." Captain Guo twitched with a helpless expression. "This quantity is pretty good. More zombies have recentlye to base. It is very hard to get away once surrounded by the monsters, so they dared not leave too far from the gate. I said we have a crane inside the wall, so if there is danger, their car could be lifted. Thus, they agreed to cooperate." Even though the troops out on missions were not children, bombs, weapons and being surrounded by zombies was still scary. Werent there sightings of level two zombies outside? Those guys were so strong, who would survive if the car got targeted? Since someone put forward cooperative work, they were happy to have foreign aid. One of the soldiers asked, "Why didnt you cooperate with the team of earth ability users?" Captain Guo smirked. "They will not cooperate, those teams from wall construction never entertained the idea of killing zombies under the wall. Dont even have the courage to look out, they just use the amount of crystal nuclei given, so they have no need. But there are patrol teams out there who regrly go and check it out." Most of the outer walls were made by earth users, many people were very scared. Earth users seemed to have no good way of dealing with zombies, naturally they wanted to quickly build walls and did not want to find zombies on the inside. As for the soldiers responsible for the earth ability users safety? After the walls had been built up to a certain degree, along with rationing, they were less willing to waste bullets to shoot zombies that posed no threat to themselves or their charges. Those zombies could not reach them, they were on the outside. This was in stark contrast to the metal team and other units, they had a zombie ying addiction. Even a few metal users sometimes hated not getting a gun to join in the fun. Especially now that theirrades now had improved marksmanship. A small section of the outer east side was obviously much bigger than the other. That was the newly built 10 meter high wall. A line of people walked off the bus and gasped in surprise at the majestic walls. Hearing about it was not that same as seeing with ones own eyes. There were many busy people on the other side of tall wall, the teams of earth users building walls. Their car had just arrived, the other captain quickly greeted Captain Guo. Although there were two teams responsible for this kind of work, but because the metal squad was too small, people knew each other. But once the work started, the two teams became more distant, it was too far to see the others... Arge crane was parked not far from the 10 meter wall. It had a load-bearing capacity of about 12 tons and a height of at least 25 meters. However, if zombies were evolving to be stranger and faster, maybe the walls of the base would eventually grow to 20 meters. "Ok, everybody go and check the situation. Well start if there are no problems. The wall already had some metal materials, if there was not enough they would transport more." Captain Guo waved to everyone and they walked on the broad staircase built by the earth ability users. The three meter thick wall was not covered and 10 meters was not a short distance. Everyone climbed up and looked down C one with fear of heights was afraid to look down as his legs started to shiver. "This height is good, even if there was a long distance zombie, it would not be able to hit us." Sun Shaoyang looked out and patted his chest in relief. "Dont be careless, youre responsible for protecting the safety of the builders. Dont get attacked by strange zombies and be a snack! Those in charge of attacking zombies dont wait for them to arrive before fighting." Captain Guo noted while the other person agreed to split nuclei had not arrived yet. Yan Fei looked down before taking a piece of metal from the side to form his metal pen. The slender metal continuously extended downwards until it end of the metal te, then along the outer side until it reached the ground. "It can be manipted, but its more cumbersome and you may have to adapt.How deep does this need to be?" Building a wall was not like using building blocks. Could not only build the wall high, in order to root the wall firmly in the ground, needed to dig deep into the ground. But there was not much material to be spared in wall construction, so they may not need to dig too deep. Captain Guo quickly pulled out a piece of paper and looked at the data. "Temporarily go three meters deep." "Three meters is enough?" The deputy could not help but ask. Although he did not understand these things, but they knew the engineering team. A ten meter high wall only had three meters of foundation...it sounded ridiculous? "This is the advice given by the experts, I dont know. But with the metal, the wall is a meter thick, perhaps can withstand? I guess they are afraid of wasting metal materials before seeing the results of the repairs." Yan Fei stuck more metal to his hands, some earth at the bottom was moved. "Enough for three meters. Lets try, if its hard to measure three meters for the depth, use the wall to calcte. Make a mark at the halfway point on a metal stick, sink it into the soil and find the location." Yan Fei breathed and told his results to the other people. With prior experience, the metal users quickly found a way. Especially Yan Fei since he had been ustomed to reinforcing his own cement walls so he was suitable for this operation. The current problem was the distance involved to form the wall, the metal users needed to work on the wall 13 meters away! This was something that not everyone could do, plus there were annoying zombies. Captain Guo confirmed that the new team member could not operate at such a distance, so let them concentrate heightening the previous six meters. To improve his ability to and work uracy, the remaining three people would directly deepen the bottom,ying the foundation. Except for the four people who were responsible for the protection of ability users, the rest of them took out guns and killed zombies. Yan Fei and the others rebuilt the fence on the ground and expanded outward. The zombies huddled around more and more, blocked the metal strips going down several times. If Yan Fei had ess to Zhang Yi, he would certainly push him to blow away this group of troublemakers! Some of the zombies used their long range abilities to spew fire, water, thunder etc. Fire and water balls were fine, after the walls were high enough that the zombies would raise too high and the attacks would fly up then fall down. But lightning was not the same! Metal was conductive! Once those shiny little balls hit the metal strip they were working on, it was bad. The te would give them a horrible shock! Should they be d that the zombies had only recently gotten abilities? Their abilities were simr to those of first level powers, so the power was not enough to shock someone to death. However their behaviour influenced everyones work! "Kill! Get rid of them all!" Captain Guo took out a desert eagle and shot at the nearest zombie. The gunshot was louder than the usual weapons. A soldier who was responsible for protection almost shook his shield off. The deputy also shivered and pointed at Guos hand. "From where did you get that?" Captain Guo shook off the recoil and hummed. "I earned it from a bet. Easy to use but with strong recoil, even my arm is sore." He knew that recoil of this weapon was strong, but because the bullets were expensive he was not willing to experiment in the barracks. Fortunately for his technical skills, he did not make a fool of himself while firing. Following Captain Guos lead, the others shot down a dozen zombies. Next door, the earth users building the wall whispered to each other in surprise. "What are they doing?" "The zombies are far away, why are they shooting?" "Who knows, bullets are expensive." "Ah, look at them and then look at us, who has so many bullets to waste?" "What a show..." Chapter 83 On the wall they killed quite a few zombies and then the patrol teams car came over with a signal. The captain called everyone to save energy and wait for the people below to start. The patrol team did not take the armored vehicle for some reason. The people on the wall resumed shooting with the patrol team. Recently, the number of zombies near the wall had increased dramatically. When they fired, the sounds also attracted a few zombies in the distance, the number of zombies increased more and more. It was only at lunch that the zombies were barely cleaned up. Even so, there were still a lot of zombies in the distance ambling over. Captain Guo stood on the wall and shouted. "Find a way to get those zombies away! We have to expand a meter outside! Theyre blocking the ce!" Before Yan Fei and the others were ced near the zombies, they had to give priority to deepening the six meter foundation, using metal to squeeze through spaces made by earth users. Now it was time to deal with the zombies. Not far away, an earth user came to a realization C no wonder they were killing zombies! The earth users only to thicken the city walls while the metal team could only expand outward. How would they operate with all the zombies blocking the way? The head of the motorcade rushed forward and made a gesture. "Soon, I called a person to drive a bulldozer!" Bulldozer? Well, looking at the zombie corpses below the hill, it would need a bulldozer to deal with it. Finally at lunchtime, the wall zombies were all carried away. Yan Fei and the others quickly ate lunch and hurried to the marked site C first set up the meter of metal in advance, lest more zombies appeared in the afternoon. Work would only be continued after the zombies were carted away. The zombie bodies that were taken away were all piled up in an open field outside the base. Thick ck smoke billowed out as the bodies werepletely. After that, a trustworthy person was sent to the ashes in order to fish out the crystal nuclei. This was the day-to-day work of the patrol teams responsible for perimeter safety and removal of zombies. The number of surrounding zombies in the afternoon was obviously not as much as the morning, so the convoy had left for a new round of clean up where zombies had gathered elsewhere. But after a little while, a soldier hurried up the wall to Captain Guo, who brought over a bag. "This is the spoils of war from the morning, estimated well kill quite a few zombies in the afternoon. They will note this afternoon and continue tomorrow." "Captain, how many did you get?" One of the soldiers who had nothing to do for a while asked curiously. "It seems to be more than 200." Captain Guo looked downwards, the zombies were not affecting work. He took out four crystal nuclei from the bag, then paused were some were obviously different. "Eh? Very generous, they even divided some level two crystal cores!" Although the highest level of zombie was not known, but since it could evolve, researchers on base have been more cautious in defining first level zombies. Having abilities and a change in the nucleus color was defined as second level zombie. There was still a nucleus in the brain... Well, if it started with slow moving zombies with no crystals in the head then thetest type of zombie would be regarded as third level. But who let zombies evolve in such short time? The ssification was in ordance to the crystal nucleus, besides the zombies would not make for easy observation. So, zombies who had no stone in their head were called primary zombies. These level two nuclei were good things, unfortunately they could not be used today. They could only be divided for everyone so that people could find others to exchange with. However they did not know what value a second level nuclei hadpared to regr nuclei. After checking the crystal nuclei, the people were busy until three oclock in the afternoon. Went down from the wall to the truck and all the way back to the camp. Luo Xun returned therger crossbow back to the bag and took out a hand crossbow. He found his phone was shing C there were missed calls. "Hey, its Professor Xu." The phone showed it was from one oclock in the afternoon, when they had just returned to the wall. Yan Fei was busy carrying pieces of metal and did not hear the phone ring. He quickly dialed back. "Is this Luo Xun? The report results havee in from the mushrooms you nted. Its best to not nt and burn the wood, not keep it." The contents of Professor Xus message caused to Luo Xun ask, "Whats wrong with the mushrooms?" He had never grown mushrooms before. Although the mutation rate was extremely high, and difficult to keep but he had not been affected when living in the basement with them. If this thing really was dangerous, he would not risk his life. It was only due to his previous life that he dared to try at home. Professor Xu exined, "After study we found that the mushroom juice has a serious corrosive effect. People were hurt when it sshed onto them! Its best to not try this kind of thing at home. Too dangerous, wear rubber gloves when picking for protection. Do not let them touch skin!" Luo Xun froze, looked at Yan Fei and blinked. Seriously corrosive? Greatly damaged skin? Luckily he was already ustomed to wearing gloves while dealing with dangerous nts. ...Wait a minute. "Professor Xu, is this corrosive towards anything else? Like metal? What about...zombies?" "Metal and zombies?" Professor Xu did not respond, these two things were inpletely different categories. It was not a slip of the tongue? "Right! Zombies! Arent they human bodies? Use the poisonous mushrooms as a weapon, if it does not corrode metal, can you use it on zombie bodies?" Luo Xun had always regretted not having a method to deal with evolved zombies. He had thought before, if there was a poison/substance that could coat the arrows, how good it would be if it had powerparable to the explosive power of gunpowder? But he also knew that zombies were already dead, poison would not really work on them even if he had the stuff! So it had only been a passing fancy. Now that he heard the special properties of the mushrooms, his brain thought of this idea. His heart churned with strong hope. "You wait! Wait, Ill have it tested!" Luo Xuns words definitely opened Professor Xus eyes. If this was proved feasible through experiments...what a great discovery it would be! He was a botanist that studied what nts could eat. It would an honor/achievement in apletely different field! Professor Xu hung up in an agitated mood and ran into theboratory, looking for a zombie corpse to experiment with the mushroom juice. See if he could get the desired results. Luo Xun looked helplessly at the hung up phone and smiled at Yan Fei. "He was too excited..." Yan Fei smiled, helped grab the mobile phone and took the backpack. "Simply want to know the results of the experiment? Lets go back and pick a few mushrooms, coat the arrows. Tomorrow well test on the wall." It was fortunate they were now working on the outer wall, otherwise how would they find such a convenient test site? "Yes, go back and try!" Luo Xuns eyes lit up in excitement. "Those mushrooms are a bit strange but the growth cycle is surprisingly fast. Harvest a batch and a second will be grown soon!" The two people excitedly drove home, went straight to the 1603 greenhouse. Opened the door to find some empty mushroom wood with a few small red mushrooms. Luo Xun wrinkled his eyebrows. "Why only so big? And the number is too small...before the mushroom wood was like a catalyst,rge pile of mushrooms sprouted each day. Had to burn a batch every two days, but now the growth was so slow? "Could it have been a long time since the wood was used?" Yan Fei could only guess since he did not understand the crops growth habits. "No, not yet. We only moved some of them over..." Luo Xun froze ...moved? "The location?" Yan Fei asked in surprise. "Go take a look over there!" Luo Xun had a vague premonition. The mushroom wood only had less growth after being moved, the answer would be next door! The two returned to the nursery room and were startled by the condition of the incubator C a variant of zombie quail! There was also a dead quail with only a skeleton left! "There are mutant nts in the nursery box!" Yan Fei noticed that almost a fifth of the seedlings in one of the boxes had changed color! Luo Xun did not speak, only raised his hand to stab the mutant quail. He turned to look at the grim and frightening seedlings, however his expression became more bright and excited. Now he knew why their home had less mutated crops and their quails were all safe! He turned to Yan Fei, whose face was slightly confused. Yan Feis mind also worked and his eyes widened. "You mean...they can absorb potentially poisonous substances? So other things would not be infected by the virus!" Luo Xun strongly nodded, it was simr to his past life. He had not willing to throw away that piece of broken wood. In the dark basement there was no way to dry the wood and he was afraid it would be taken if left outside. Luo Xun kept the wood and from time to time poison mushrooms would appear. He had hoped that someday it would grow a normal mushroom to eat. Unfortunately he was not able to achieve that goal. In this life he deliberately got a few pieces of wood to try and grow mushrooms again. Because he had more time and space this life, he got arger amount of wood. However he learned that the wood was the reason behind having low mutation rates for animals and nts! "Im going to move them back!" Regardless whether the mushrooms could be used against zombies, Luo Xun decided he could not lose the wood! Not only not throw away, he wanted to have more at home! Yan Fei alsoughed, "Okay, Ill move with you." "Well have to get some more from base next time!" "Okay, next time Ill go out with you." Yan Fei added a mental sentence C chop down two big trees and ship all the wood back. The two people put back the removed wood in the room. This time Luo Xun deliberately adjusted their position. Originally the wood was all piled in a corner but now he put the wood below the nursery boxes. Yan Fei got some metal shelves to help adjust the position. Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief after burning the useless seedlings and the bones of the sacrificed quail. Professor Xu did not call Luo Xun back until the evening. Luo Xun understood this, after all he was just an ordinary person. If the mushrooms really had that effect, the military would certainly require the professor. Confidential, until the results of the test were verified and published. There were other ways that he and Yan Fei could verify the findings, so there was no worry. At this time, if Luo Xun wanted to let the mushrooms grow faster, he would let grow near virus-prone animals and nts. He could also use virus contaminated water for the nts that lived in humid climates. However for their own safety, Luo Xun decided that their current setup was good for now. Before going to bed, the pair used a small ss to scoop up some mushroom juice in order to coat some crossbow arrows. Yan Fei also used some metal to thoroughly seal the disgusting liquid, ready to use as a makeshift bomb against zombies. They would see how it worked tomorrow on the wall. The two went to sleep in an excited mood, they looked forward to the next day. The next morning, Luo Xun got up early. Yan Fei sat on the bed while rubbing his hair and taking deep breaths. Luo Xun had tossed and turnedst night, did not expect him to wake up so early...Didnt he work hard enoughst night? Hell see what happenster. A few metal arrows were dipped in a ss bottle with red juice. Luo Xun carefully observed the bottle, but did not dare personally touch since this liquid had a strong damaging effect on the human body. After thinking, he put on rubber gloves and checked the hardness of the arrows to see if they were damaged by the strange liquids. Luo Xun was relieved when he could pinch with force without issue. If this thing could dissolve metal, it would be trouble. Their family could only produce metal ammo, it was not possible to use other materials. "How is it?" Yan Feis voice came from behind. Luo Xun carefully wrapped the bullets in rubber bags preparedst night. "No problem, while on the wall well find a chance to test it out." Yan Fei nced at the bag, his brow slightly wrinkled. "Today well test the effect, if this thing is usable, I can make some hollow bombs at home. Try whether a crossbow shot can explode the target, otherwise it is too inconvenient." The mushroom juice could not be in contact with skin, who knew when someone would get careless? What would happen then? It was best to solve the fundamental problem. "Okay, but that still depends on todays tests." Luo Xuns face lit up. He did not mind the inconvenience, just carefully wrap the rubber bags with someyers and carefully ce it inside the backpack. Ate breakfast and the two drove towards the camp with Li Tie andpany with the ammunition to be tested. They did not mention this to Li Tie, mainly because they had not tested the mushrooms yet. They would wait for the results before mentioning to the group. The benefits of the mushrooms: could reduce the mutation rate of vegetables, but could also be harvested themselves. This good thing that could kill two birds with one stone would be promoted if a sess. Yesterday, Zhang Yi got his own mobile phone card and changed phones with Luo Xun. Before going to bed, everyone exchanged phone numbers. The group also chatted about the earth user problem in the car. "...I asked out boss if he knew any earth users willing to go on missions. The chief said that currently, earth users are not willing to go out, its too dangerous outside. Plus the team would not have the security of the army, so few would go out in private. But at least we asked." Li Tie said with a slightly ufortable expression. "He also said that even if someone was willing toe out, I am afraid that the price would not be cheap, we should prepare ourselves." Yan Fei looked at the road. "Not necessary, we are hoping to have an earth user to cooperate, but they are not necessary. These two days when we built the wall, we had make a foundation simr to earth users. We should be able to make a trap." He did not mention that he and Luo Xun had four days of vacation this month. If needed, they could go out early and dig traps in the previous location. But that was too risky, and the two would need to team up with others to leave. With just the two of them, the risk was not high, however theres no need to do so if not required. However Li Tie and the others did not ask further, they were ted when they heard about Yan Feis recent digging work. "Thats great, thats great!" It was not easy to find a earth user, because these talents were all monopolized by the military. If the number of earth users was not more than the other types, would they be big shots? Zhang Yi sat in his seat with closed eyes and not participating in the conversation. He had recently absorbed crystal nuclei to improve his strength. Each night he would cut into the big iron sandbags. He would need Yan Fei to restore them in a few days. With the use of nuclei, he felt that his control, stamina and strength had increased, but not enough...He also needed more nuclei to level up, so he was looking forward to the next trip outside. The car stopped at the barracks door. Li tie parted with Luo Xun. "Well bring some petrol back today!" Luo Xun drove everyone to the barracks every day, Li Tie andpany were responsible for the petrol points because it was rtively cheap to use the internal price to exchange for petrolpared to outside. The couple locked the car and rushed to the small square. The could see that the southern wall had been built and was expanding in several directions. Rode back to the perimeter wall. Since yesterdays work was in trial phase, everyones progress was not fast but the location of the foundation had been selected and tested. The next job would be carried out smoothly. Climbing along the tall staircase and looking down at the lively zombies, Luo Xun randomly thought that these zombie faces looked cute. He touched his backpack and curbed his excitement. Now was not the time...wait a bit before experimenting... Just two more coffees until the next bonus chapter. Chapter 84 This bonus chapter s thanks to: Michelle in Colorado, egosumqt, Amy, insertnamehere, Shadoerunner and 3 Anons. Like before, every ten coffees gets the readers a bonus chapter. So please press button to show support. The wall construction resumed with four people responsible for the safety of the ability users. The remainder confirmed that there was no other work to be done before taking up their weapons and shooting zombies. After an evening and afternoon of gathering, there was arge mound of zombies under the walls, at least two or three hundred at first nce. Luo Xun while shooting, secretly pulled outst nights treated arrows. He used the opportunity to mix with other peoples attacks. He squinted down at the bottom for a long time. Yan Fei gently touched him and Luo Xun returned to attention. "How was it?" "Uh...the wounds are too far away, Ill try again..." The distance from the top of the wall was a little far, especially when a zombie is shot, the wounds were often self inflicted or done bypanions. Then even if it was injured, the view was a little blurry from afar. The most Luo Xun could tell Yan Fei that a rotten piece had broken off the zombie body. Even if the poisonous mushrooms could corrode the bodies, they could not see with other wounds and scars mixed in! Yan Fei reminded Luo Xun, seeing that he was about to continue shooting. "Dont shoot the head, try another ce." Luo Xuns crossbow was too urate, he would hit the nucleus every time, even if the mushroom juice did not corrode, the zombie went down anyway. But now was the time to experiment with mushroom juice, not killing zombies. Luo Xun quickly adjusted to shoot at a zombies shoulder. There was nothing right away, even shot in the shoulder, the zombie continued waving its ws. However after twenty or thirty seconds, the swinging arm flopped...it broke off. Luo Xun narrowed his eyes and pointed at the zombie without an arm and asked, "Because of the mushroom? Or was it weak?" How could Yan Fei know? He did not know if zombie bodies were all simr, so he could only suggest, "Try it somewhere else." So the zombie lost all its limbs, Luo Xun broke off the other arm, then two legs, waist then finally the head. This used up the few crossbow arrows Luo Xun had preparedst night. "It seems to have an effect." Luo Xun touched his chin and nodded. It took some time to corrode the zombies body. But it took a while to make a difference, it did not seem that strong. Yan Feiughingly shook his head and whispered. "Let me try." He took out the hollow projectile he had filled with mushroom juice when no one was looking. Yan Fei aimed at a zombies head below the wall. The metal bullet easily prated the head and then it exploded! Luo Xunined that this speed was iparable to his slow attack. With the naked eye, the wound in the zombies head gradually spread, not long after the monster was missing half of the head! Because the positioning was a little distance from the nucleus, the zombie could still act. It was strange to see a zombie with only half a skull still moving around. Yan Fei was very satisfied with this. Only pus colored liquid was flowing from the head wound and it did not look like the bright red liquid from the mushroom, which would not attract anyones attention. Even the people in the vicinity did not notice the zombie, with faint mist, it would have been even better. Todays experiment was very sessful, which proved that the two peoples predictions were urate. They should have Yan Fei go back and create further prototypes. Just then, the troops in charge of killing zombies came from another direction and cleaned up the zombies beneath the walls. The zombies killed by Luo Xuns experiment were eventually mixed in with the other bodes and taken away. The burning would not arouse any attention. Luo Xun and Yan Fei both observed that wounds from the mushroom juice and regr decayed wounds looked simr. When burnt, there would be a crossbow arrow found...but there was nothing wrong with that. It was normal for a projectile to stay embedded in the body, no one would realize the decay was caused by the arrows. Their hearts were satisfied with their discoveries. The two went home after work, the mushroom wood in the nursery room now had added importance. "Next time we go out we can take this as ammo...Is it okay to put mushroom juice in the arrows?" Luo Xun checked the mushroom wood in the nursery room. Sure enough, after cing them back with other nts, the poisonous mushrooms indeed grew much faster! The baby quails that hatched today were all normal! "Not difficult, but I have to study how to auto-explode upon injection, otherwise the effect would not be good and instead a waste of time." Yan Fei had been thinking about the problem today. "Do you want to use real bombs?" Could they identally blow themselves up? "The bullets explode when they hit the target because theres gunpowder inside." Yan Fei smiled while exining. "I want to make the kind that blows up on contact, even if theres no gunpowder, only relying on the impact. Anyway we still have some time. I will think of ways to experiment these next few days." Luo Xun thought for a moment. "Actually you can use a part of the arrow that is not as strong? We dont have to let the crossbow explode in the target, you can get a simr effect through splitting and letting the juice flow out." Yan Fei lit up. "True, but also need to calcte the intensity, the distance. With this effect, also have to careful the arrows dont break, carrying them would be dangerous..." The two men engaged in a discussion about new crossbows and arrows. Before Yan Fei made solid arrows for a more powerful crossbow. This type of hollow bullet needed to reference the structure of gun bullets. But they did not have much to work on, as long as they worked out results before the end of the month in order to make a batch of ammunition in advance. Luo Xun experimented with the remaining mushroom juice from yesterday while Yan Fei started attempting the make the correct ammunition. See what it could decay? After a night, Yan Fei found the appropriate thickness for the ammo, only needed to wait for mushrooms to test. Luo Xun tried a range of items so see what mushroom juice could corrode. In general, metal, ss and rubber did not react but wood, cloth and all kinds of food, including bones were affected. Although Luo Xun was confused as to why wood was affected since it grew from wood. Oh well, just needed to avoid direct contact with the mushroom juices. In addition, he learned something important. "Water would not react and could be used to flush an affected area." If one day they identally touched the juice, they just had to wash with plenty of clean water to be safe. Yan Fei and Luo Xun also did an experiment with a crystal nucleus. There was no effect at all, they could use the ammunition against the zombies and did have to worry about losing the crystal nucleus. They had tried out the new crossbow and when the mushrooms are grown, they could make the arrows. Yan Fei smiled at Luo Xun. "I decided to try and use the level two metal nuclei tomorrow." "Youre almost there?!" Luo Xun looked at him with excitement. Yan Fei nodded. "Adding on the crystal nuclei given from working the wall, I should have have consumed enough to use the second level crystal core." He was not sure what would happen after using the level two crystals, so he decided to try it tomorrow night to make sure he had enough cores on hand as well as time. He was afraid that if the level two crystal really upgraded, it would need more crystal nuclei to supplement. It would be a problem if he did not have any crystal nuclei on hand. While the two were speaking, Li Tie and the others came back. The pair quickly weed them while Li Tieined. "Today we were told that there was an earth user willing to go out of base but the price would half the nuclei the team harvested C half! Even the nuclei that has to handed over was counted! Plus not responsible for the nuclei mission. We rejected as soon as we heard it." Han Li had an angry face. "What kind of person is that? If a team went out and only got 200 nuclei, he would take 100 and we would still have to pay 100 to the base. Only he would end up with a gain? What a farce!" Wang Duo added with cynical disdain. "Dreaming of such a good thing, they are always in the base inside the walls. Ive heard that the earth users get 10 cores a day, so 100 is enough for a few days." Luo Xun and Yan Feiughed upon hearing the request. They would not cooperate with that kind of attitude. Everyone was joking around when hurried footsteps came from the corridor. People were climbing the stairs without pause. They could hear a womans voice, it seemed to Xu Mei and Song Lingling from the 15th floor, but they seemed to have encountered something. The group looked at each other and waited at the stair gate instead of returning to their homes. Sure enough, two figures hurried up and lit up seeing the people of the 16th floor. "Whats the matter?! Theres blood!" The nearest person gasped and hastily opened the door. "Li Tie, can you lend us some bandages? We can use crystal nuclei to change for medicine!" Xu Mei was holding a child to her chest. The figure seemed like a girl less than 10 years old. "Have, have!" Li Tie quickly opened the gate to let the women enter. Yan Fei walked over and sealed the door with his ability. Seeing the blood on the stairs, he whispered to Han Li. "Get some water to wash the blood off the stairs." Han Li pulled back and grabbed Wang Duo to get some water. The group entered the room, Zhang Yi frowned at Xu Mei after washing off the blood from the girls face. "Casually bandaging such a wound, until when would it be healed?" Xu Mei and Song Lingling froze at the mocking tone and looked at him. Zhang Yi washed off the blood and turned to Wang Duo. "Bring the medical supplies from my bag." Professionals were not the same, Zhang Yi brought out his own tools and cleansed the wound. Directly sewed the wound shut, but since there was no anesthetic, each time the needles went down people would shudder. After finishing the stitches, Zhang Yi cut off the medical thread and bandaged the wound. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "No moving and the stitches should be gone in a few days. If the child recovers well maybe there wont be any scars." He also nced at Xu Mei. "You? Look at the healing situation." Xu Mei, who was treated as a bad healer had no intention of arguing about her recovery. Then Yan Fei asked, "Whats going on?" Zhang Yi smiled from beside his medical tools. "Didnt they steal someones child?" Song Lingling choked, though it was not far from the truth. She began to exin after taking a breath. "I met my...ex-boyfriend today, youve seen him before." The group remembered the man who had left her and run away. "When I met him, he was selling the girl and speaking to a bunch of shady people about the price. I have a grudge against him so I attacked straight away. Those people saw us fight and ran away with the girl. We did not have time to chase them at first, but when we went back, Song Lingling heard someone crying in the alley. We saw those people bleeding at the end of the street, snatched her back." She looked up to see several expressions of horror. "I dont know what they were going to do but it was like that. They also used the childs blood to paint on the ground and fill a bowl...it was creepy. If those people were simply buying a child because they had no food, giving her to others to feed is always better than starving to death. But what happened today was not normal." Song Lingling also added, "I heard them say to drink this childs blood!" It was not difficult for the two women with abilities to deal with Xu Meis g ex-boyfriend. After all, those people were all ordinary. For the two women who had long been ustomed to fighting, it was easier than chopping down a zombie. The problem came after. "Where did the bloode from then?" Luo Xun asked in confusion, how could she and Song Lingling, a fire and water user, suffer such a heavy injury against those people? "It was the people who bought the children!" Song Lingling stood up. "Two of them were very good and injured Xu Mei. If they had not wanted to capture us, I am afraid we would have..." The strange scene of blood in that little alleyway was not normal at all. Frankly, they would have left if it was a rogue. They had experienced simr situations, they quickly calmed and might not have killed them. But they saw the strange patterns drawn with blood, the bowls, childrens blood....The two had no doubt, if they were caught, they would likely encounter the same treatment. "What were those people doing with the blood?" Wu Xin asked his friends. Zhang Yi raised a puzzled eyebrow, he knew if there was no food, whether inside or outside the base then people might eat each other. Bleeding people before eating he understood but using the blood of others for painting...was this a special custom of cannibals? But Luo Xun suddenly added. "They wouldnt think that consuming the flesh and blood of ability users would grant powers, right?" Like how the monsters in Journey to the West always wanted to eat the monk. His words silenced everyone in the room, the group stared at him so Luo Xun retreated a step. He stiffly smiled and spread his hands. "Or were they making a blood sacrifice? Even specially drew a picture. Of course some people deliberately spread evil teachings. Such as using ability users, especially virgin girls to acquire powers and so on." He had a weirdly vague impression. In hisst life, he had never seen children or women out alone in the southwest base. Luo Xun had chatted about this with people at work. He had heard that the reason why there were no children or single women in the streets was because of the possibility of abduction during the apocalypse. But he also heard some strange rumors on base, such as the blood of ability users, especially virgins had powers. This caused the loss of children at the start of the apocalypse. In addition to the meat shortage, women and children were the easiest to catch. So after a while, families with wives and children were not let in lest they were killed. They stayed at home for protection. But as things went on, inter times, some of the rtivelyrge forces that were powerful in base had no bottom line and would break into peoples homes to steal things and people. However, Luo Xun had always thought these things to be stories, like rumours that a school was haunted, or there were ghosts in the nearby cemetery and so on. Many things were like this, Luo Xun did not immediately think of them despite having be reborn. Many things had urred and the details of the causes were in a forgotten corner of Luo Xuns memory. No one had a perfect memory, he would not be able to remember every detail of his past life, every encounter and message. It was aputer that could do that, not a person. And even if it was aputer, without a person, who would ess the data anway? "So it seems..." Zhang Yi took Luo Xuns guess and looked at the bleeding, unconscious girl. "Is this little girl an ability user?" Luo Xun also froze, he just subconsciously said stuff from his previous life,pletely did not think that the child might be a normal person. Could it be those people thought they could coexist with the zombies if they acted like vampires? Luo Xun shook his head and turned to Xu Mei. "I do not know." Xu Mei responded, "I also dont know." After she looked at Luo Xun C you guessed this possibility, what do you think I would know? Chapter 85 Song Lingling coughed to rescue Xu Mei. "We met her when she was crying, also did not listen to Xu Mei...the people sold her said nothing." Xu Mei meant to get revenge on her g ex-boyfriend and did not intend to manage other things. Song Lingling went with her sister for revenge, who had energy to take care of others. Xu Mei had gotten rid of her boyfriend and rescued the child, but she fainted after crying too much so there was no time to ask about her family. "Cough, you saved her anyway. Well if there is a situation, we can just ask." Luo Xun loosened the atmosphere while smiling at the two women. Zhang Yi, seeing that there was nothing to say, stood up and pointed at the medical box. He lifted a chin at Wang Duo. "Return." The loyal Wang Duo immediately stepped forward to lift the medical box and stood by his queen. He waved goodbye to his former good friends and went back to his sweet little nest. Xu Mei also stood while Song Lingling came to pick up the child. "Troubled you, we will send crystal nuclei tomorrow morning." Li Tie hurriedly waved. "No need, theres no need to be polite!" Xu Mei smiled, "Still want to send, theres still Zhang Yi...doctor treatment fee." She thought a while before responding, before she had heard that Zhang Yi was a professional surgeon, on the level of chief physician. But his appearance, actions andnguage contrasted too much with his career. Thus it took the few stitches for her to believe he was really a doctor. Since, she and Song Lingling saved the child, they must be responsible for her care even if they have to experience with raising children. Plus the child was a girl, how could they hand her over to these men to look after? Moreover, they needed to work during the day, the pair also went out to collect crystal nuclei and participate in missions. If the child really had an ability, she could also be brought along. Hearing her say to pay Zhang Yi for medical treatment, Li Tie and the others stopped talking about the matter. They could not take any points or crystal nuclei, but Zhang Yi...no one dared to say anything. While they sent the two women downstairs, one person eximed, "If the child really is an ability user, it would best if she had an earth ability!" Luo Xunughed and reminded. "How could such a lucky thing happen?" If she was really an earth user, then she would be able to get a job on base even if she was young. Why was she going to be sold by Xu Meis ex-boyfriend? Of course it did not rule that she was too young, her ability not strong enough or the boyfriend thought to sell her because he could not control her gift. At night, a strange thing happened but since it urred in the two womens home, there was not much influence on Luo Xun and Yan Fei. Early next morning, Xu Mei came upstairs to give points and crystal nuclei aspensation. She said to Yan Fei, "We got some metal materials, I would like to ask for your help in processing them." "Okay, can we do it after work this afternoon?" Yan Fei made a promise. He was prepared toe back today and use the crystal nuclei to level up, so helping them process some metal should be nothing. Xu Mei was very happy. "We are not going out the next two days. Todays well be at home!" She was injured and there was a child to take care of at home. So they would take a break at home for a few days. "Did the little girl wake up?" He Qiankun asked about the child. "Not yet, had a little feverst night but was better after taking some medicine. I think she should be able to wake up today. We should get some information at night." Xu Mei exined, then returned to the 15th floor as to not dy the others from work. The wall construction was going well, as Yan Fei predicted, once ustomed to the work method, everyone was able to grasp the concept and speed up work efficiency and speed. Todays work equaled that of the previous two days. Captain Guo praised Yan Fei several times for creating arge metal wall alone without exhausting himself. Yan Fei modestly smiled. "Its only because Ive done this more, we will soon be able to master it with practice." Such a modest attitude won the affection of the three other metal users. Everyone increased their enthusiasm with his "role model" effect. Captain Guo verbally praised everyones work efficiency for a while before letting everyone go home and rest. Luo Xun and Yan Fei climbed to the 15th floor. Song Lingling answered the door. Although Yan Fei could directly open metal doors with his powers,dies were living on the 15th floor and he would not break the door down. In other words, apart from Zhang Yi, Yan Fei had never broken into someone elses home, evidently including Li Ties apartment. Although there was almost no furniture in the bare home, there was a different feeling inparison to the rough men upstairs. Since Yan Fei and Luo Xun lived together, and thetter had prepared his home for the apocalypse there was a warm feeling. But looking at Li Ties room...although all the things were stacked where they should be, there was not the slightest bit of beauty or warmth. It looked like a students messy dormitory. Zhang Yis home was not too messy, but that was because his room was empty. The living room only had the seat bench along with huge metal sandbags as decorations. There was nothing else... But looking at the two girls home? Xu Mei had been destitute after being betrayed by her ex-boyfriend and getting robbed by the neighbors. There had been nothing left in the room, but she asionally brought something back from the city with cheer. As well as tidied up the house as much as possible. All the things in the kitchen were neatlyid out and there were a few pieces of tile carefully ces on the stove. Luo Xun did not know where she picked that up from. There was a sitting mat "table" in the living room along with several wall pieces stuck together with decorative, temperature insting fabric. Some of the tattered boxes werebeled for storage. Even if the bedroom, they covered the peeling walls with free collected newspapers, it was a work of art better than other homes. Luo Xun was sure that one of the two women was previously engaged in art-rted work, despite not knowing much about the two women. The two women warmly weed the couple. Yan Fei asked a question after entering. "What kind of things do you want?" "We want to reinforce the bathroom window and make a table, just like Li Tie and the others." Song Lingling quickly pointed at a heap of metal material ced in the corner. Each time they went out, they could collect a limited amount of metal. Because they often worked with others, if was not cost effective to have their own cars with only two of them. Using another persons car, it was difficult to bring back materials. It took a while for them to save up. Xu Mei was rtively experienced but it was onlyst time they worked together with Luo Xun that there was a way to bring back a lot of metal materials. At that time Yan Fei had used those materials to strengthen their door, windows and other key ces. There was not a lot left after creating a bed so they could only slowly save up the materials. Yan Fei nodded and went to the bathroom in order to check the window structure, ready to form a guardrail. Luo Xun did not see the little girl in the living room, must have been inconvenient for her to be in the room. He asked Xu Mei, "What about the child?" Xu Mei pointed at the bedroom. "Woke up during the day, we yed and talked for a while. Shes currently asleep." "Whats her situation?" Xu Mei lead Luo Xun to the bedroom door and opened it a little. Luo Xun saw a small figure asleep in the bed that Yan Fei had built. The figure was thin, if not for her head on the outside, one would simply think the quilt had bunched up. "Her name is Yu Xinran." Xu Mei gently closed the door and walked back to the living room. "From my ex-boyfriends prostitute." Prostitute? Luo Xun raised an eyebrow. "His brothers daughter?" Xu Mei nodded with a touch of irony. "Shes his cousins daughter, when he was driven out he went to his cousin. Not long after his cousin suddenly died, leaving the child behind. He was selling the child when I saw him." Xu Mei naturally hated her ex-boyfriend from the bottom of her heart. Without personally killing him it would be impossible for Xu Mei to put down her hatred and live a normal life on base. Luo Xun and the others did not understand how much Xu Mei had helped the man establish his prestige, the joys and sorrows during the escape. How much had she sacrificed for their future? Only she knew best that her devotion had been deeply betrayed, and that her pain and hatred were more than usual. She had been investigating the mans situation since she had recovered but had not been able to act because the authorities had stabilized the situation on base. But she found it strange that the mans cousin and wife had died. However it was not her business, until she found a good opportunityst night. Song Lingling was willing to help with her n to cut his life. They also ended up saving the child. Luo Xun sat across from her. "His cousin died? So the child has no guardian?" Xu Mei nodded and whispered. "His cousin was a distant rtive, his matter is not rted to the girl, I want to take care of her." In some ways, the man she had killed was likely the murderer of the girls parents, and also was about to sell her to a group of lunatics that drank blood. Luo Xun nodded in understanding. He could understand the emotion behind Xu Mei being willing to adopt the girl. After all, he had done this in his past life...only the results...anyways it was simr. While the two were speaking, Yan Fei had alreadypleted the bathroom window. He walked back with Song Lingling to the living room in order make the table. Yan Fei controlled the heap of metal materials in the corner, the metal fused, twisted and transformed in the air. The bedroom door suddenly opened, the little girl came out rubbing her eyes because she had heard someone talking. She stared wide eyed at the deformed metal table in the air, her hand frozen. She stilled as the table slowly returned to the ground. "Little Ran, you woke up?" Xu Mei rushed towards the bedroom door. Yan Fei put down the table and looked over. The little girl stared with wide eyes and an open mouth at Yan Fei. Luo Xun smiled and squatted in front of her. "What happened? What are you looking at?" The little girl looked timidly at Luo Xun while leaning against Song Lingling and hugging her thigh. She nced at Yan Fei before hiding her head in Song Linglings legs. This caused Luo Xun to stay in ce for a while, he did not realize that a smile would scare the girl. Xu Mei embarrassingly apologized to Luo Xun. "Sorry Luo Xun, she is afraid of...people." In fact, she was afraid of men because the ones who sold her and drank her blood were all men. This little girl and the two women of 1502 were suffering different degrees of androphobia. Song Lingling squatted down and patted the girls back withforting words. "Dont be afraid, Luo Xun is good, not at all like those viins!" After a while, the little girl loosened her hold and secretly nced at Luo Xun. In order to not scare her, he got up and walked to Yan Feis side. The little girl looked at Yan Fei and then whispered into Song Linglings ear. "Big sister, this brother is really beautiful." The little girls voice was small, but in the quiet room, her words were clearly heard by all parties. He had to sensible, could not be angry that the child had said beautiful. Yan Feis heart did hurt, couldnt she have said handsome? Luo Xun snickered, he lightlyughed before coughing. "Xu Mei, does the child have an ability?" Xu Mei also held back augh, but did not dare show. She did not know how Yan Fei would react since he wore a mask every time he was out in base. He seemed to not like outsidersmenting on his appearance. She nodded and gently smiled at the little girl. "Little Ran, could you show these uncles what you did this afternoon?" Song Lingling also whispered to her. The little girl once again hid behind Song Lingling seeing that the two men were looking at her. Song Lingling helped block her view of the couple. Luo Xuns heart hurt finding himself seen as a monster in the eyes of a little girl C he actually really liked children... Yan Fei upon seeing the timid girl behind Song Lingling and her arm wrapped in white bandages. He raised his right hand to reveal a small piece of metal. The metal made exaggerated twisting motions in the air, stretched open and then kneaded together. Sure enough, the constantly changing metal in the air attracted the eyes. The little girl stared in surprise at the transforming metal. This was a piece of stainless steel that under Yan Feis control changed and twisted until it slowly transformed into a cluster of silvery, white metallic flowers. With soft eyes, Yan Fei bent down with the flowers and said, "Ill give this to you, could you change something for uncle?" The girl looked timidly at Yan Fei, then looked at the flowers floating in midair. Then she turned to Song Lingling, who smiled and gave an encouraging nod. The little girl whispered, "I cannot make flowers...the things I make are not good looking..." She was an ability user. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were surprised. There had been spection but realizing that they were right was still a shock. "Never mind, no matter what you make, uncles will love it." Luo Xun also said softly with a harmless smile at the little girl. He ignored that the little girl had called Yan Fei "brother", which painted him as older. Fortunately, it seemed that the two uncles were very kind, there was no strange behavior. The little girl was not so afraid of Luo Xun as she carefully looked at him. She stretched a finger and pointed at the wall. "Splinters..." The two started at the sudden hole, exposing the inside of the reinforced concrete walls. "Desertification!" This was not the kind of power that the team needed but her ability was very powerful! This was a special ability to turn objects into sand! Yu Xinran was startled from the pairs outcry. With an expression as if she had done something wrong, she started trembling. Luo Xun turned his face and pleasantly smiled at the girl. "How strong! Can turn the walls into sand!" Yu Xinrans trembling subsided and looked confused. "Not afraid?" Luo Xun shook his head. "Why would this be scary?" "But mom and dad said, I ruined the house, there was no ce to live...and sand was useless..." She did not know how to control her ability after getting it, so whatever she touched would turn into sand. Although she has the ability to desertify things, she did not have the ability to change the things back! Her parents were ordinary people, would have no idea of how to use this ability that could destroy houses. Sometimes after work they woulde back to find the walls and floors turned into sand, but also thought Yu Xinran had done it on purpose. In anger she would be beaten and denied food. As far as this was concerned, they could see no use for this "useless power" on base. Her parents found that her ability did not give them benefits but problems. They shoved lifes hardships on the child andined that she did not have a useful ability. Even if she was a water user, could get some clean water out of it. What use of this ability to turn the floor into sand other than naughty mischief? "How could it be useless?!" Luo Xun had never heard of sand ability user in his life. However multiple uses for her power shed through his mind C for example, instead of Yan Fei digging, they could turn the target area into sand. When they were outside digging traps, the sand power could rece a earth user. Another example was that the sand could cooperate with Zhang Yi to spell disaster on zombies with a sandstorm! There are many indirect uses of sand powers, such as limiting zombie movements, enemy sight and so on! Of course, most of the time, sand abilities would be ssed lower, more suitable for battlefield use than base construction. So ordinary people would not understand the the variability, coordination and flexibility. But since Luo Xun andpany went out hunting zombies for crystal nuclei, they understood Yu Xinrans value! Chapter 86 (*Ш*)ȡ? Surprise! Back to back bonus chapters! Everyones in for a treat since there are three chapters for today. This first bonus chapter is thanks to: Writ Fren and Mrow "Yeah, Yu Xinrans ability is strong!" Song Lingling touched the little girls head and smiled at the couple. "We also think she cane with us out of base and cooperate with Yan Fei to dig out traps. Of course, well teach her how to control her ability before going." Song Lingling and Xu Mei were not ordinary women, rather than find a man on base to marry and have children, they were more willing to go out to fight for their own survival. Letting these two ferocious females raise a child...could not imagine the result. Yan Fei nodded at the two women to support their decision. Although the girl was rather young, but children could hardly have a normal childhood during the apocalypse. He bent down and sent the floating metal flower to Yu Xinran with a smile. "Your ability is very strong, take this flower. If you like it, uncle will make you moreter." Although Yu Xinran did not know why they were happy, she was d that they did not hate her peculiar and useless abilities. A childs first couple of years were not very clear, so her memory started in the recent period after entering the base. Sinceing to the base, life at home had be more difficult, each day harder than thest. Often there was not enough food to eat. Plus, because of the negative emotions and attitude of her family, which was caused by her power, she had forgotten the happiness of being needed, recognized and praised. It was if her memories were actually dreams instead. The little girl took the flower and smiled sweetly at Yan Fei. Good looks are definitely an advantage C Luo Xun secretlyined to himself as he returned to the 16th floor after all the excitement. He wisely did not say this out loud, lest someone maliciously retaliate. Back home, they changed out of their work clothes and returned to the living room to sit on the sofa. There were a few bags on the tea table bulging with nuclei, glittering like crystals. These days Yan Fei had been hard at work absorbing the crystals, but he did not dare overuse, so there was still a lot. There was a smaller bag next to therge one, which contained a small number of level two nuclei and several others that could not be absorbed. "Just absorb in the living room?" Luo Xun looked with some apprehension at the size of therger bag. Yan Fei thought for a while. "Or go back and do it in the bedroom." There were more things in the living room, plus Luo Xun and the puppy were here. In case something unexpected happened, it would be better if he was in the bedroom. Luo Xun obviously did not follow the same train of thought as Yan Fei, but also agreed with the idea. "Right! If you dont have any energy left, you can just lie in bed and sleep!" Exhausting mental energy also consumed ones physical strength, how could the sofa be morefortable than the bed? Yan Fei took the bag to the second floor. He would like to go out with Luo Xun, but he was busy with things at home. Actually Yan Fei was afraid he would identally injure Luo Xun. The door closed, with one hand Yan Fei opened the bag of nuclei while the other brought metal to his hand. Luo Xun sighed at the closed door and went downstairs. What else was there to do but house work? Thinking about it, there were a lot of tasks he needed to finish, such as transnting the nursery seedlings. He needed some more after a number of them had mutated. There were also some vegetables that needed a new batch of seedlings in time for the next harvest and so on... After thinking for a moment, Luo Xun went into the nursery and began work. Put nts in a few small baskets, some needed hydroponic pipes in the next room, some could be nted in the soil. The rice they had deliberately bred were mostly sprouted and could apparently grow in the bedroom next door. "The lights are all on and the batteries are filled..." Luo Xun muttered while transporting a few small baskets through the door. Puppy saw the door open, rushed to Luo Xun and smelled the room full of shelves. She knew this was one its ces now! Even though she could not enter as she wanted, but it was still part of her territory, right? Some of the pipes on the balcony were still growing vegetables, such as loose leaf and romaine lettuce. There were also stic buckets attached to the metal shelves which were filled with soil. Luo Xun had grown a number of different crops. Over the course of a month, Luo Xun had Yan Fei create a metal railing that stretched across the ceiling and connected to the railing on the other side. Climbing vines few along the structure such as cucumbers, luffa, beans, peas and the like. The horizontal shelves could be used for hanging things. Other nts, such as tomatoes, eggnt, soybeans, cabbage and peanuts were directly nted in the row of iron shelves. In addition to the vegetables, Luo Xun had used arge metal basin to ce the watermelon seeds everyone had gathered. If this thing could grow out, a vine could produce watermelons! He also nted several small seedlings in a separate stic bucket. Wait two days to ensure the growth was okay before nting in the balcony. In front of him were sunflowers, he was waiting until autumn to harvest the seeds to eat or make oil. Some of the dirt at home was brought back before the apocalypse, some was brought back with Yan Fei afterwards. The soil could even be dug up from base, as long as no one was there. Digging deeper would reveal uncontaminated, fertile soil. Plus the worms ate a variety of vegetables to make fertilizer that could be used to grow great crops! After all the nting, Luo Xun hammered his sort waist and called for Puppy to return inside. Yan Fei was not in the living room, Luo Xun was not surprised C it would be strange if he had managed to absorb that pile of crystal nuclei so quickly. Yan Fei had also brought a few packets of biscuits and the remaining sausages upstairs with him while he was studying. Luo Xun did not call to Yan Fei upstairs and instead walked around the living room twice. He finally took out a bag of noodles and went to the kitchen. He ate slowly huddled on the sofa with the puppy. In the second floor bedroom, Yan Feiid on the bed, slowly absorbed the nuclei in one hand while he concentrated on the metal floating above. A thin mesh of metal flittered midair, Yan Fei had reached ultimate precision. The room could aodate the metal if it opened up so there was ayer of ovep floating in the air. When all the metal became part of the fine metal mesh...the gauze instantly gathered together and condensed into a solid iron block! The iron block became a, the condensed back into a iron block. The changes came faster and faster, more rapid and fluent. The bag of crystal nuclei in Yan Feis hand gradually shrunk, the bag ttened. After who knew how long, sweat dripped down Yan Feis forehead, past his eyes and down his chin. His movements were suddenly fierce, the circling metals half changed then stoppedpletely. Yan Fei reached into his pockets with a deep breath and brought out the level two crystal nucleus. The metal condensed and slowly sank to the ground. Yan Fei seized the metal nuclei and closed his eyes. He started absorbing the crystal nucleus! In a moment, the level two nucleus waspletely absorbed. A dazzling metallic metal emitted from his body. Yan Fei slowly opened his eyes and looked at his palms C leveled up? "Level two." A low, dehydrated voice echoed through the room. He was sure that his ability had risen to level two, but his new ability was slightly different from other ability users, even those of the same element. He was not simply a metal user who could control, sense and levitate metal. Now he could manipte and transform it with his thoughts. The metal was again suspended in the air, Yan Fei moved a finger. The entire piece of metal rotated and squirmed. Before long the piece of metal was divided into parts. Each portion of metal was different: ck, white, yellow, the colors were light and dark. "This is...its purified?" Remembering that Luo Xun had asked Captain Guo to find pure copper wire, Yan Fei brought a hand to his chin. It seemed he was now able to separate the different metalponents, even remove one element from the other metals. If he wanted something he could do it himself... Of course, the dposition had limits, therger proportion of the element, the easier the dposition. Otherwise, would it not be easy to kill a person since the human body and nts had trace amounts of minerals inside them? So the refining and dposition could only be used for iron, copper and other simr things. Of course, who knew what could happen at higher levels? While thinking, the separate pieces of metal rbined. Yan Fei pondered to himself while looking at the metal ball on the ground. "It seems the volume is smaller? Because it was purified? But what things were removed? Or was the density only increased?" There were many developments, but for now C take a bath! Luo Xun rose up hearing sounds from upstairs. He rushed up the stairs seeing Yan Feis sweaty clothes. "Why didnt you change your clothes beforeing down?" Yan Fei smiled and shook his head. "Getting while changed while dirty? Ill take a shower first." "After all this sweating, youll take a shower. No, youll get dehydrated!" "Its okay, I just leveled up, my energy is fine." Yan Fei hugged Luo Xuns waist. "Wash together?" Luo Xun angrily started at him, he broke free and went to the table in order to pour a cup of lukewarm water. "First drink some water before washing." Yan Fei drank the water but still pulled Luo Xun into the bathroom. He spent more time than usual in the bath, Luo Xun initially had many questions to ask Yan Fei about his ability upgrade. However after two hours he came out with a sore waist C water was how precious? He had ended up taking two baths in one day! It! Was! Such! A! Waste!! And by the time the two people came...it was already around one oclock, okay? The next morning, Luo Xun dragged his sore self out to work on the fence. Before sleeping he had asked Yan Fei about his ability, but thetter had fallen asleep without hearing him. It was not until the next day that the two men got a general idea of what was going on with his ability. First of all, Yan Feis new power was a variant of metal ability. It was not upper tier, but his level of power was much stronger than others metal abilities. Second, the level two metal ability could improve the pairs life in the future. For example, high density metals could strengthen their weapons and defenses. If certain metals could be processed into a higher purity C the skill would simr to producing gold with alchemy in the apocalypse. Yan Fei could expel impurities from gold and silver. In addition, Yan Feis metal abilities were also faster. The next day of work, if he did deliberately limit his ability speed, it would the same as a team of several people. Since Luo Xun had moved the mushroom wood back the nursery room, his homes seedlings grew stronger and stronger. After confirming that the mushroom wood did reduce the mutation rate of seeds and seedlings, Luo Xun told Li Ties group about it. Because Li Tie was serious about water filtration, even though the flowers and grass were only using water, the rate of mutation was lower than other homes. Even so, it was so much higher than Luo Xuns home. The group of students became excited learning that the mushroom wood had this incredible effect and the poisonous mushrooms could also help in killing zombies. "When we go out, well dig up some more roots!" Right after learning the news, Li Tie waved their fists and set their next target. Recently, Li Ties work had be more regr, they had slightly more free time. Before their work hours would ovep with Zhang Yis, finishing at seven or eight was considered early,te would be around midnight. Recently after, the more stressful part of work, they finished each day at five oclock in the afternoon. They could eat dinner before going home. "When the mushrooms are grown, I will make them into special munitions that can be used against tough, high level zombies." Yan Fei reassured the group of students. This mushroom was quite lethal, as confirmed by the numerous wall repairs done over the past few days. Luo Xun felt the ferocious arrow effects were kind of a waste to be used against second level zombies! "Yes, yes, yes!" The university students, repeatedly nodded. Although they had not seen how lethal the special ammo was, they were clear of the couples strength. Since the two had said it was lethal, it was most definitely so! "We met Xu Mei on the way back. They said that little Ran has master her ability. Well depend on her for traps the next outing!" He Qiankun eximed with an excited expression. Han Li discouraged him from the side. "Dont expect too much, how old is she? Would she have the guts to use her abilities outside upon seeing a zombie?" "Right...its inhumane to bring such a small child out." Wu Xin added. Luo Xunforted them. "Dont worry, Xu Mei will prepare her." Do not underestimate women in the apocalypse or the courage of children. Also cannot underestimate the training and teaching of the leader of the Rose Mercenary Corps. The little girl who always hidden behind others and even openly praised Zhang Yi. "The big sister looks really pretty!" At the time, Wang Duo had hugged his waist, in fear of Zhang Yi erupting with anger against the group. Even when Zhang Yis expression darkened, against the timid girls naive smile, he could only swallow his anger down. While Luo Xun cultivated a batch of mushrooms and processed the juice into ss containers on standby, Li Tie prepared to find some wood to grow mushrooms the next time they went out. Luo Xun had forgotten about Professor Xus mushroom experiment until the phone rang. No need for guesses, it was Professor Xu calling. Luo Xun saw the caller ID and quickly picked up. "Luo Xun?" Professor Xu confirmed it was Luo Xun before continuing. "The things you said about the mushrooms before, dont tell anyone else about them." In Luo Xuns mind, the military was worried about the strong corrosive effect of the mushrooms and dared not let ordinary people cultivate them. "Oh, I remember, the experiment you saidst time..." "It does have a certain effect, but it has be used directly." There were some things C secrets not exined to Luo Xun. However since the mushroom was first discovered by him, Professor Xu had add something. "Please dispose of your mushrooms as soon as possible. Although it has some offensive properties, its too dangerous to grow at home!" Luo Xun was silent before answering. "Ive already dealt with the mushrooms fromst time. But Professor Xu, I dont know if its my imagination but after getting rid of the mushroom wood it seems that my crops mutation rate has be higher...You think its connected?" Since Professor Xu had repeatedly asked to dispose of the mushroom wood, Luo Xun would not invite trouble into his home. But since the mushroom could decrease the rate of nt mutation. It would be good for the military to know, to at least ensure base food production. As for the mushroom wood in the house? It would have to stay in their home. Otherwise if Professor Xu randomly visited their home, it could cause trouble. Xu wrote down that point and repeatedly asked if the mushrooms actually had a rtionship with nt mutation. That is was not simply luck while growing dangerous nts. For an average person, growing poisonous mushrooms at home was only hazard to themselves. In fact, Professor Xu and the military were right to worry. After the mushrooms were dangerous goods. God knew what danger would ur if people stayed in close quarters with the mushrooms? Not yet, but once there was real danger, it was toote to cry! It was only due to Luo Xuns past life experience that he dared to nt this thing contrary to expert opinion. Otherwise he would not have the courage to grow such dangerous nts in his home. Chapter 87 ??Well, heres the second bonus chapter thanks to Mrow for theirrge donation. I shall treat myself to some Starbucks... Yan Fei waited for Luo Xun to hang up before asking, "Was that Professor Xu?" Luo Xun nodded and sighed. "He said not grow mushrooms at home...we need to remind Li Tie and the others today to not let them speak about the matter." He would continue to keep this thing at home. If Li Tie wanted to grow crops at home, it was best to cultivate some mushrooms as well, just do not go outside and tell others. "In fact, Professor Xu is right to worry. This thing is so lethal, if someone cultivated the mushrooms to use against an enemy...it would have a simr effect to the zombie virus." If someone used arge amount of mushroom juice against people, police would not be able to identify the body even if it was found due to corrosion. Yan Fei smiled at Luo Xuns sighing. "Didnt you already nted those in the loweryers next door?" Luo Xun had already nted a bunch of nts in 1603. All the crops were not directly ced on the ground, but instead ced on metal shelves created from Yan Feis abilities. There was still a lot of space between the shelves and the ground. Luo Xun had originally prepared to fill the area with wood and mushrooms. nts were likely to mutate, but the rate was not as high. But with the recent conversation with Professor Xu, Luo Xun also worried about someone suddenly entering their home. It was unfortunate that this idea could only be put on hold. Luo Xun unwillingly nodded. "Such a pity..." Those poisonous mushrooms increased crop yield while also being a weapon that increased his lethality, but now... "There is a way." Yan Fei whispered. "We can cover the bottomyer using a metal drawer with holes, it would be fine to put the wood inside." Since his ability had upgraded, he could easily do these sorts of things. As long as it looked solid, people coulde in and not find anything strange. In a pinch, he could meld the "drawers" with the shelf. Others would not be able to see what was inside. Luo Xun had a surprised expression. "Great! These mushrooms like heat and humidity, as long as theres some venttion!" As long as humidity and a certain temperature were assured, the toxic mushrooms did not have many needs. So there was no problem keeping the mushrooms in their home. Li Tie and the others could also use this method to cultivate mushrooms, it would prevent them from identally touching the things! When they got off the phone from Professor Xu, the students just came from the barracks. In the car, the group chatted on the way home. The couple would wait until night to tell Li Tie and the others. After next time when they have enough metal and wood, they would make shelves and grow various kinds of mushrooms. "Luo Xun, could you give us the baby quails next month?" Li Tie said with some regret. Luo Xun wondered, "Arent you guys back early these days?" They were excited to raise the quails, what had changed? He Qiankun exined. "We have heating but because of the recent weather, the growth speed of our crops has slowed down." "Yes, and the other thing is..." The group looked at each other with red, embarrassed faces. "We are afraid that the quails are too young to be kept alive..." Luo Xun had confirmed a few days ago that the hatched quails were healthy. Once Li Tie andpany had been informed, they were very happy but remembered C they had no way of guaranteeing the quails survival. Actually, they did not have any experience raising birds. Although some had raised cats and dogs, but their parents did the bulk of the work. They were only responsible for hugging and kissing before being shoved aside. Han Li had fish at home he had personally cared for a while...but then the entire aquarium of tropical fish had all died. Having such a brutal experience, when it was already so difficult to cultivate vegetables, the baby quails were so fragile...They had to prepare themselves, it would be better to wait until they were more grown up. Luo Xun listened to their exnation and had no words to say. "I could raise them..." He had felt that it would be a burden for the students to raise baby quails... "No, no, no! We will be responsible for them! Raise them to healthy people. I mean, healthy quails!" The students were not quails, okay? Luo Xun and Yan Fei waved at the group of students before dragging their tired bodies back home. "Im going to send crops to the canteen tomorrow." At home, Luo Xun examined the vegetables to be harvested tomorrow, some had been raised from a seed. "Is this the same amount asst time?" The weight of the vegetables could not be calcted by anyone who had no idea of crop weights either before or after the apocalypse. "Almost, leave the usual for us to eat and the rest will be sent to them." After Yan Feis ability rose to level two, it took longer for him topletely use up his energy. At the same time, he needed an increased number of nuclei to replenish. Of course, the nuclei that the team sent down each day was enough for him to use on the wall. The rest could be used at home to exercise his powers, but having more nuclei at home was a good thing! Rising to level three required even more nuclei than before! The cores were more resistant than vegetables and would not depreciate in value. In the apocalypse, crystal nuclei was a hard currency. Even if one did not need, it would be a waste to let an opportunity to collect them pass. Luo Xun carefully looked at the balcony that held fruit blossoms and vegetable seeds. He nodded in satisfaction, very good! With his careful care, it would not be long before he could collect seeds! Because the crops in Luo Xuns home had no pollination from insects like butterflies and bees, he had to do everything by hand. He usually had more time than the average person C he got off early each day. In addition, his heart was resistant to the boredom of repetitive tasks C he had cultivated in his house during hisst life. These things were easy to deal with using the experience from hisst life. Yan Fei stood up and pulled him upstairs. "Rest and get up early tomorrow." Without the previous nucleus stock, Yan Fei could only rely on the nuclei left over from the wall to level up. He was not as busy before bedtime. Luo Xun reluctantly looked towards the balcony. The small seedlings next door only needed regr watering, the second floor with fruit and other nts with longer growth cycles only needed checks for mutation. He currently only needed to pay attention to the blossoming first floor balcony. In the bedroom, Luo Xun stretched his arms. "Tomorrow pick vegetables..." Before he could finish, he was grabbed around the waist and pulled towards the bed. The two had been together for enough time to slowly nurture a tacit understanding. If Luo Xun hugged Yan Feis waist, thetter knew the guy wanted the same. Now that Yan Fei suddenly hugged, only a fool would not know what he was up to! Luo Xun hurriedly hugged Yan Feis neck in fear of falling and raged, "Didnt you say to get up early tomorrow?!" Or was that just an excuse toe onto him? Yan Fei gave him a nce, put him on the bed and stood near the window. "Yes, rest assured, tonight will not be too long. After all, we will be busy tomorrow." He stooped and kissed Luo Xun on the lips. Looking at the smiling eyes, Luo Xun took a deep breath then wrapped himself like a dumpling in the nket. Dont think that beautiful people would be able to seed! He would not let Yan Fei touch him tonight! Yan Fei had a meaningful smile and turned off the bedsidemp before climbing into bed. Hiding in the quilt would allow him to escape? Each time he did that, he had nowhere to go? A night of fierce fighting, the next morning Luo Xun sat on the sofa and watched Yan Fei busily packing crops with an expression akin to being exploited by andlord. Yan Feis face was rxed, he lightly hummed a song with a smirk. The vegetables were packed and weighed, Luo Xun got up slowly and headed to the door. They met Li Tie and the others in the corridor, the students did not feel envy or jealousy seeing Luo Xun preparing to sell vegetables. Their home did not have many vegetables, but since they usually ate in the barracks, they did not have to as much food at home. The biggest use of the vegetables was to supplement vitamins as well as to have seeds. They also did notck flowers and consumed less crystal nuclei, thus naturally did not need to go out to sell vegetables. Seeing Yan Fei carrying a few big bags, Li Tie hurried forward to help carry things. Han Li went to 1602 in order to knock on the door. After a while Zhang Yi exited with an expressionless face while Wang Duo came out with a floating expression. Luo Xun sympathetically looked at Zhang Yis back while the four students looked at Wang Duo with varying feelings. Han Li was envious, He Qiankun was blushing, Wu Xin had no expression that could be discerned. Luo Xun seeing these peoples expressions immediately felt his waist was not sore and his legs did not ache. There was someone more pitiful than him. Although Wang Duo was on top, he had be the lowest existence on the 16th floor: despised by the group in 1601, ordered around by his homes queen, seen as joke by them. It was not easy for the child to live like this. Drove the car directly to the barracks and stopped at the canteens back door. Captain Li was waiting there to wee them. The two sides greeted each other then several soldiers came to weigh the vegetables. Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Captain Li chatted in the meantime. "These days the radio is advising people to grow vegetables at home and also taught the nting method. But no other people havee to sell food?" Although the troops had publicized the home nting techniques, it should be possible for people to be selling vegetables in the base after the new year. Captain Li sighed and shook his head. "How many people could grow vegetables? People do not even have enough for themselves to eat, how would they sell food? It was said that asionally people would take out wild vegetables or homegrown but the quantity was too little. Plus we heard that they often sell out and or change ces." After all, the survivors in the base had few assets and vegetables could not be nted in one day. So there were no harvested results for vegetables, not to mention the vast majority of people had not begun to act. "I think theres been more. I heard that people can exchange for vegetable seeds at the exchange windows?" Luo Xun casually asked. Captain Li nodded. "We have also nted in the open space next to the canteen. The barracks a few other ces have reserved spaces for gardening. But the focus is on the wall, still have to wait a while before formalizing this sort of thing." "Not afraid to dy the season?" Luo Xun was a little puzzled. The discussion continued along the captain. "Is that the way? To grow mushrooms and seeds together?" Luo Xun smiled and nodded. Although the mushrooms could reduce the mutation rate, there were a variety of other factors that could affect the crops. There was no way to grow the mushrooms in a field. One had to careful and not touch, trample or cause any ident. These mushrooms...could not be grown in fields, capiche? Luo Xun knew that in his past life the base trying to nt grain had dismal results due to several reasons. So Luo Xun had chosen to inform Professor Xu about the role of mushroom wood. After all, even if he was more powerful, even using his entire home could not grow that much food. It might not even be enough for the twos rations. At this point, his interests and the base coincided. Anyway the base seemed to be growing mushrooms to make special mushrooms, what was wrong with them both cultivating? The two men took the calcted 12 cores and joined the truck to continue todays work at the wall. The earth users were further away from their team, luckily Yan Feis ability had be more adept. Even though Yan Fei had to hold back to avoid suspicion, his speed had increased slightly. Captain Guo had mysteriously disappeared from the wall for a while and returned after an hour in a small jeep. At the top of the wall, the soldiers aimed their guns and practiced shooting. Although the number of level two zombies had recently increased, they had a huge advantage, eliminating the zombies was very simple other than long distance zombies. "All four of you, stop ande have a meeting!" Captain Guo called to Yan Fei. The group quickly put down their work and left the wall edge. Luo Xun took advantage of the opportunity to drink some water. He was curious about what the captain had to say to Yan Fei. Captain Guo took out a bag from his pocket and asked Yan Fei, "See, isnt this what you said was a level two metal nucleus?" Luo Xun almost choked on a mouthful of water. He hurried to look in Captain Guos hand. Yan Fei had described the level two metal nucleus to the captain, also said that once he rose to level two, his speed and overall power increased. If the team rose to level two, everyones efficiency would certainly increase. He had indicated that the level two nucleus had been found while shopping and had been absorbed. So needed Captains Guo help to look for more. This was because Captain Guo had said other departments had used level two nuclei to ascend to level two. Yan Fei had considered thenpared the amount of nuclei needed as said by the captain. ording to the number of nuclei being absorbed by the the team, soon they would be able to use the second level crystal nuclei. He had a variant power, which meant that he needed more first level nuclei than other people of the same level. Plus it was good for everyone to level up C could improve efficiency, speed up the wall. He would also increase power consumption, not needing to slow down to follow the rest of the group. There was a feeling of being too strong. After hearing this, captain Guo immediately went to find someone who could look for second level nuclei. In fact, it was rtively easy to get level two nuclei, after all the army sent out people every day to collect crystal nuclei. People could not use the higher level nuclei so the consumption was negligible. Some of the crystal nuclei had fewpatible people, so again few were used. ording to what Yan Fei had described, Captain Guo told someone to look and got several pieces today. Yan Fei carefully looked at the crystal nuclei and then nodded. "Its these." The level two crystal cores exuded a special metallic luster in the palm of the captains hand. After confirming the nuclei, he handed over the items C each person got three shards. "They have some but not too many. They were thrown aside until I asked them." The number of metal zombies was simr to that of metal ability users, very few. But there were many times more zombies, so the chances were better. In fact, it was also strange that the intelligence of the second level zombies was still very low. While in battle they would not normally use the right ability, which was fortunate. Otherwise if they met a metal zombie and the car was suddenly ripped apart...how would they survive? There the metal crystal nuclei being hard to find was actually a good thing C besides there werent that many people that needed this particr type. As long as one could raise their power level, the three metal users excitedly took the crystal nuclei, then all looked at Yan Fei. ustomed to the stares, Yan Fei calmly looked back. "That...Yan Fei, how do you use this?" It was a coincidence that the metal users in the team were recently enlisted soldiers, there was no professional officer, there ages were around 20 years old. So the 26 year old Yan Fei had unexpectedly be some soldiers big brother, which made some feel strange. "Its just as straightforward as using a crystal nucleus while taking a break." Thinking about it, Yan Fei also added, "I also only used it once my energy was almost exhausted, you can wait a while to test." The three of them nodded repeatedly. Yan Fei confirmed that the others were unable to discern the properties of the nuclei, was it a special case because of his mutation? Although he did not know the specific reason, he temporarily pushed the matter away. The soldiers on the wall killing zombies paid little attention to the area under the wall. Every once in a while they see three people desperately using power C heard that they would be able to see an ability upgrade! This was not to be missed, after watching, they could show off to theirrades and base friends! Luo Xun was also very curious, Yan Fei had upgraded his ability while he had been downstairs. Although he knew he had been driven away because Yan Fei was afraid of an ident. But this was a rare thing to see, he had never seen one even through two lives! Not long after, those three people quickly used up all their energy. After being taken care of by their teammates, the three soldiers closed their eyes and absorbed the nuclei. In the convoy responsible for cleaning up the zombies under the wall, someone looked up in amazement. "Whats going up there? Why did they stop fighting?" "Who knows, no bullets?" The mans teammates were not in the tunnel. "Quick, the zombies areing over here! Come on, fight!" Chapter 88 Here is the regr chapter release. I made sure to stagger the times so that they would get posted in order. For whatever reason, they sometimes get mixed up with the exact same posting time... The busy people in the city were paying attention to the distraction. Even Luo Xun and Yan Fei stopped working and watched as the three metal users upgraded. After a while, Sun Shaoyang glowered with a metallic luster, though they only saw his arm because of his clothes. His face glowed, then he opened his eyes and stared nkly at his hands. On the other side Xiao Li and Shen Ping also glowed with the same light. "It worked?!" Captain Guo was tensed, while the three confirmed. "Seems to be..." "Captain, I feel filled up with spirit all of a sudden!" "It feels good to have strength!" Even when on the second team, Shen Ping did not use too many crystal nuclei. While he had sessfully upgraded, it could be seen that the other metal users had not used too many first level nuclei. Yan Fei felt some regret, he did not know how many nuclei required to level up. But he could not guess his needs since he needed more crystal nuclei than the average person. Although his ability was strong, but in exchange, he needed more nuclei than the average person. It seemed that each excursion at the end of each month had to especially sessful. Fortunately with a sand user in the team, could increase the team efficiency. Of course, they also had to find a way to protect the child. After ascending to level two, the three people immediately re-joined work. Sure enough, the efficiency suddenly increased! However Captain Guo felt a bit bitter because they were consuming more nuclei. Fortunately that was not arge issue, it was important for the people under him to be capable and promising! He resolved to ask for welfare that night. Captain Guo quickly told the watchers to return to work killing zombies. There was no movement for half of the day. The zombies at the edge of the wall all charged towards the team. One moment of carelessness would let them be surrounded, with not way to return to the base. The weather in March gradually warmed up. Perhaps those in the city felt no difference, but some who lived in parts of the south noticed. Some early budding nts had begun to grow shoots,e early spring flowers had also begun to bud. The temperature rose as the sun stayed in the sky longer, but the nights were still cold. After tireless advertisements and encouragement from the base, some people officially tried to nt some crops at home. There a few pieces ofnd around base with some parcels with a variety of seeds, even rice and wheat. For example, in Luo Xunsmunity, there was a green space partitioned off next to parking. There was loose soil inside, sowed some seeds in the morning and looked after during the evening. Some people, for their nting area, forcibly removed some possibly unowned cars and dug into the ground to reim thend. Since there had been seven or eight conflicts over the past two days. Luo Xuns old second hand car was secretly removed (because Yan Fei had notpletely sealed the door). Fortunately the two people drove their car every day and found their vehicle in a timely manner. Luo Xun and Yan Fei simply ced their cars in front of their home, he created a metal fence embedded in the road. Without abilities, no one could easily move them. The green space inside the district, where low shrubs, ornamental flowers and other decorative nts had been uprooted and reced with a variety of seeds surrounded by fences made of various materials. Some people who had some knowledge of farming would leave the good seedlings at home. However most people just took the seeds and nted them in the ground. Although the bases daily radio program taught nting knowledge, but most of the people were busy mornings and afternoons at work. Fewer families had a radio at home, so not many people heard. So people in the base had heard of mutant crops but no one was willing to throw away seedlings C especially since arge proportion of seedlings had transformed, Besides, who had said mutant nts could not be eaten? What if there was difference from a normal nt? Luo Xun and Yan Fei had no changes to their daily life. Li Tie and the others also worked as before, daily busy work in a line. No other way, they all had jobs to do, it was rare in todays base. Dont say they were not free now, even if they had time the students would rather have Yan fei build a sturdy room to grow vegetables, who would go out for the parcels? At the end of the month, Yan Feis team had sessfullypleted two-thirds of the perimeter wall they were responsible for! The big, dark walls had been built in less than one month with only four metal users. They were thankful that their captain was strong and willing to fight for team benefits. Their immediate superiors were also simr. After hearing the collective level up of the metal users and the need for a higher level of nucleus to replenish energy, the bosses were generous. The level two crystal nuclei were specially sent to the metal team. In Luo Xuns supplies, the team was allocated a number of crystal nuclei each day. Letting them speed up their work on the outer wall since the barrack walls were still waiting for them! "Todays work is over here." Captain Guo was standing in front of everyone with a big truck behind him. "Tomorrow is four consecutive days of holiday. Everyone go back and rest. Come back to work on the first day of next month, no one is allowed to bete!" "Yes!" The crowd was all excited and bright eyes. Working so hard this month, was it not for these days of vacation? Captain Guo waved and the team dissolved. Luo Xun took a deep breath and smiled at Yan Fei. "Finally dont have to wake up early tomorrow morning." Yan Fei alsoughed, but his smile had ulterior motives. "Tomorrow you can wake upte." Luo Xun stared at his sinister smile, then walked towards the door. "Li Tie and the others have two more days until holiday? But Zhang Yi seems to have three days?" "Well, he kept it for three days, but he put them on thest two days of this month and the first of next month." Yan Fei casually put a hand in his pocket and pulled Luo Xuns hand. Luo Xun had no way and could only slow down and walk beside him. The weather was getting warmer and warmer, people were wearing thinner and thinneryers. The pair were a little conspicuous holding hands. Fortunately, few people would pay attention during the apocalypse. Although some people did notice, but gossiping about people and their actions was much less than before. But Luo Xun was still a little ufortable, he walked with his head down. Yan Fei suddenly whispered in his ear. "Do want to wear a mask too when we go out?" Luo Xun gave him a look. "You think Im like you? Afraid to go out and be remembered?" Yan Fei smiled. "Lets go exchange for some gas." They were going out zombie hunting in two days. There were limits to purchasing gasoline on base, public officials still had means to get some. Ordinary survivors on the other hand could only buy a certain amount of petrol and only after receiving a mission that needed a vehicle. Luo Xun and Yan Fei got an "oil ticket" through their rtionship with captain Guo. Li Tie andpany got some as well. As for Zhang Yi he got some as gifts for treatment benefits. Because the couple had an earlier holiday and they got off work rtively early, the students handed over their tickets to pool their resources. Let them buy in advance and take out C Xu Meis fire ability and gasoline was a match made in heaven! The two men drove to the exchange window C other than oil tickets, they needed points to buy petrol. Fortunately they had saved a bunch in preparation. The top level petrol would definitely catch on fire. The fuel was sealed in the car and Yan Fei carried two barrels up to the 16th floor. The two had to prepare for their expedition out of base, the first thing to be prepared was ammunition. Yan Fei made some metal scraps with stuff from work, anyway Captain Guo did not care what he took. Luo Xun picked arge pile of mushrooms to prepare for the trip in two days. The couple decided to wait two days before picking the mushroom in fear they would lose their corrosive effect if harvested too early. Of course, they left the mushroom juice alone as an experiment C more than a week, basically had no effect, two or three days C no problems. A fewrge mushroom bunches had grown due to the increase of seedlings in the house. Ayer a bright red mushrooms, standing stiffly with strange gray mist looked very scary. Luo Xun wore a mask and rubber gloves as he picked the mushrooms one by one. He turned to Yan Fei who had finished with the metal, "After they are processed, can it be kept longer if frozen in the fridge/. Will it contaminate anything else?" Yan Fei paused and turned to Luo Xun with a frown. "I am not sure, but if youre going to put them in the freezer, I suggest we bring back some unused freezers." "Well, its better to go out and take small steps. Though mushroom production at home has increased, we cannot go out too often and burning these would be a waste." There had been no effect when Luo Xun had burned the mushrooms before knowing of their usefulness. But now since they were a special weapon, can not waste them! In particr, Luo Xun was ready to fill the bottom shelves next door with wood so they could grow forter. It would bad to not have any storage space in the future! Luo Xun pounded the mushrooms into bright red juice with a ss scoop. Although the liquid was also red, it could not be mistaken for blood. After pouring the finished product into another container, Luo Xun continued his work. Yan Fei took control of some metal, which flew towards the liquid. The finished product was a standard crossbow arrow. The whole process was without physicalbor, it was cheating! The two peoples appearance contrasted each other C Luo Xun was wearing a raincoat converted into protective clothing, rubber gloves on hands, face covered by a modified stic helmet. All worn in fear of even slight contact with the strange juice. He was even wearing rain boots C armed to the teeth. But Yan Fei was leisurely wearing a shirt while sitting in a chair. The whole process done with a wave of his hand. This...really made a man mad. The two men were busy the evening before the holiday. Li Tie and the others came to visit about protective clothing C they did not have much? Only had a set of ponchos, there had not been a need since they stayed out of the fights. By noon tomorrow, this batch of mushrooms would all be dealt with. Although Luo Xun wanted to try freezing some mushroom in the fridge, but in consideration of future food, he decided to wait untiling back to experiment. Made a bunch of special weapons, the two also went and prepared the needed food the day before. Waited until the morning of to ce the packages in the corridor while waiting for the others. After a month, the Otaku squad gathered again. The original heavy clothes were all reced with rtively easy to move clothes C but simr looks. Who knew where Li Tie andpany got identical ck sportswear. Looked like a well known imitation brand before the apocalypse. Each had a iron bar in hand, the same crossbow over the shoulder, uniformrge backpacks loaded with a raincoat poncho. Seeing Luo Xun, the group came quickly and epted Yan Feis metal ammunition. These were very lethal, had to careful while holding them. Though if they fell, they were not so vulnerable. Luo Xun gave the prepared food to Wang Duo and once again checked. Confirmed everyone had no problems with their motorcycle helmets. "Ready to go!" "Right!" Downstairs, the threedies also locked their iron gate upon hearing movement. When Luo Xun saw them, he saw the pair wearing leather boots, helmets in hand, twin iron bars at their waists and so on. Looking lower, there was a small head hiding behind the twodies. Luo Xun did not see a cute little sister C because she wore a childs motorcycle helmet on her head... Suddenly felt that his group would look very intimidating while going out. Luo Xuns heart had convulsions but he shoved that thought away and waved to the three girls down the stairs. Unlike usual, when it came to zombies, Luo Xun subconsciously became the leader of this squad. Strangely enough, all the members C including the difficult Zhang Yi and the most powerful Yan Fei had decided that. At the same time C Luo Xun had no clue. Yan Fei waved and opened the metal fences that protected everyones vehicles. Nearby people saw a uniformed group of people wearing helmets and stayed a distance away. The crowd watched as they drove away towards the exit then gossiped C what team was that? Why had they never seen them before? The Otaku squad picked up the 100 nuclei mission again and joined the waiting convoy in the patio. In order to maximize the benefits, Luo Xun got both of his cars to bebined. This meant that adding Li Ties two cars, Xu Meis car and Luo Xuns joined two cars, there was a total of five cars in the area. The waiting area at the perimeter wall was much higher C now it was 10 meters. After the cars stopped, they revved the engines. When the front door opened, the cars rushed out at full speed. It seemed that because they were already familiar, there were no idents likest time. Luo Xuns group leisurely went out likest time. Not long after, the team turned at an intersection to a road with less people. Several city roads had been cleaned up, so the feeling going out was much better thanst time. The roads were clear, all the randomly parked cars on the road had disappeared. They went all the way back to the bank they stayed inst time. All the materials had long been collected by other people, so few would deliberately stay here. People hurried through here into the depths of the city. The base tasks had undergone some adjustments, the task of collecting nuclei was still the same but the collection of materials had more and more specific requirements. In other words, previous behavior of picking a collection mission to grab nuclei had been basically eliminated. This kind of task gave a detailed map with specific location and quantity requirements. Then the team had a certain number of restrictions, if not followed then some points would be taken away. Luo Xun andpany had no interest in such tasks, their attention was focused on digging out nuclei from zombies. Once again they quickly cleared the zombies near the bank. They felt a sense of relief seeing the fortifications fromst time were still intact. Checked the situation inside the bank, Luo Xun looked out the window after confirming that there were no unwee surprises inside. "Now Yan Fei and I will get some metal materials. You prepare the original fortifications, actions should quiet, do not make too much noise." "Okay." "No problem, leave it to us!" There were not too many zombies in the vicinity and they had not noticed the group. If the zombies went on the attack, they would hurry back to their makeshift base. Luo Xun with a box of special ammunition and a crossbow, crept out the banks back door with Yan Fei. All the metal materials near the bankst time were all gone. This time they needed to check out nearby areas to get some metal. It could be used for fortifications, weapons and to back home. The two men ran to a nearby street shop. They did not even need to enter since Yan Fei could collect metal while walking. From the shopfronts, various shapes flew out. Luo Xun watched as the various pieces of metal melted together forming a huge shield. He shook his head with a sigh, "This could be used as a mobile fortress." Yan Feis hand was in his pocket holding a crystal nucleus. The other hand was moving arge piece of metal with the rest of the materials. There were quite a few zombies in the street. They waved their arms and ran over feeling the presence of a living person. Luo Xun aimed at the zombies that had been blocked by Yan Feis metal shields. Because there was a barrier, the zombies could only futilely scratch at the shield. The zombies that Luo Xun focused on were ones who had been stuck in the shield. Yan Fei thought a moment and whisked his hand. Therge lump of metal in the air that was blocking zombies shot forward. With a bang, the mass of iron instantly smashed arge group of zombies... Chapter 89 "How am I supposed to collect the nuclei?" Luo Xuns mouth twitched as he referred to the massive crime scene. Yan Fei lifted the metal object covered in unknown liquid and softly looked at Luo Xun. "Not urgent, well work slowly." The metal that made patties out of the zombies temporarily turned into fortifications. The couple hand in hand wearing rain boots walked in and started digging out crystal nuclei. The corpse pieces were still quiterge despite being smashed with bs of metal. There were a few unbroken heads with moving mouths and most of the level two zombies were directly killed. It was a bit pitiful for these zombies that could spit water and fireballs to be so suddenly killed without a struggle. On the other hand, Li Tie and the others used the variety of junk in the bank (all sorts of rubbish that no one wanted) to add to the fortifications, making then higher. Suddenly, a few people heard a bang and rumbling as the whole street began to shake! "Earth, earthquake!" "No way?! Earthquakes even during the apocalypse?" "Who said there cant be earthquakes after the apocalypse?" "Wait, what is that?" The group started in surprise as a huge metal ball the size of two or three cars rolled around. "...Its not going to roll all the way over here, right?" After seeing the big iron balle to a stop without hitting the bank, Li Tie andpany finally calmed down. "...Maybe?" "That is too close forfort." Yu Xinran leisurely stared with wide eyes and stayed in ce without blinking. Song Lingling squeezed the girls shoulder and stayed for a bit before standing beside Xu Mei. Xu Mei also had a helmet on, which did not show her shocked expression. Although she knew that Yan Feis ability was very strong but who knew he would do something so showy. Who would imagine this bowling like scene. After another 10 minutes, a series of loud sounds came but this time everyone was more calm. They stopped to look at the movement but were not surprised. They calmly watched without batting an eyelid as unlucky zombies were knocked over like bowling pins. Sure enough, Luo Xun and Yan Fei came back after a few minutes. "It never urred to me that there would be so much metal on the street. We had to split it into two parts." Luo Xunughed and climbed past the fortifications. Yan Fei climbed in as well with a calm expression as if the two iron masses had nothing to do with him. The second metal ball looked bigger than the first, the group could see the second from behind the first metal balls. Luo Xun did not care about their expressions and patted Wu Xins shoulder. "We found an electrical shop over there, with fridges and freezers. Well take several when we go back." Luo Xun was not the only one who needed those, Li Tie also needed some. Once the vegetables were picked they needed to be ced in the fridge or they would lose their freshness in a few days. "...Yes." Wu Xin nodded and turned to his friends, what were they going to do with those metal balls? Yan Fei did not wait for them to speak, he absorbed some nuclei andmanded the metal balls to deform. The metal spheres under his control instantly formed a set of walls thatbined with the previous fortifications! Except for an entrance. "Ready to dig traps." Yan Fei checked around and confirmed the nearby zombies had been mostly cleared away. He squatted next to Yu Xinran. "Want to help uncle dig a hole together?" Little Ran nodded and looked excitedly at the steel wall that had appeared C she also wanted to do magic! Li Tie and friends expressions looking at the wall were interesting, unfortunately they were all wearing helmets so no one could see their faces. So it turned out the metal was for this... Luo Xun asked from the side, "Are you afraid out here?" The zombies were frightening to the people hiding on base who dared note out. Not to mention the little girl was only six years old! The little girl shook her head with the helmet on. Pulled it off to reveal her face, her expression was very normal though she looked curiously at the group. Luo Xun was sure she would not have any problems, Yan Fei nodded beside him. It was true that children, like adults were naturally afraid of the zombies before entering the base, but what if they were all around? Although it was disgusting to see the zombies catch and eat people, but after a while people would get desensitized. Children and adults alike most feared the dark and unknown. Seeing the zombies in the day revealed their natural habits. But at night...if someone jumped out and scared them, they could be reduced to tears. Standing behind the fortifications, Yu Xinran would see moving zombies from a distance without the fear. Luo Xun would shoot down any zombie that ran towards them, before she would see the gruesome appearance. How would she be afraid? The little hand stretched out from the fortifications and the metal tes blocked the girls hand from activating her ability. "See the big circle that uncle just drew? Turn the ground into sand." Xu Mei whispered beside Yu Xinran. The little girl nodded and pressed down on the ground with bright eyes. Layer byyer, in waves the ground immediately underwent desertification! Yu Xinran had been living with Xu Mei and Song Lingling for more than half a month. The two women had not gone out of base recently C they had a lot of nuclei in hand and Li Tie gave them some vegetables everyday, along with the points they got after the mission. It was enough for the two women and young child to stay at home for half a month. Because Xu Mei and Song Lingling were ability users, they could easily teach how to manipte energy and master their range and so on. Although the intensity and scope wasrger, but there was arge amount of crystal nuclei set aside for her. Yu Xinran had a good time ying with the sand. The ground sharply surged, before long the area circled was all turned into sand. They did not know how deep the little girl made the pit, but at present it was enough for a wave. Yes, time to use it. Luo Xuns eyes shed and he pointed not far ahead. "Yan Fei, blood bag!" Zhang Yi got five blood bags from work this time. Yes, this time he brought out five! Had he not said that if all went well this time, they would fight more zombies? Yan Fei wrapped the blood bag in metal and threw it from the bunker. He remotely punctured the bag, spreading the blood all over the ground. "Roar, Roar!" Zombies shouted from afar. "Zhang Yi, Xu Mei, get ready!" Luo Xuns voice made the two step forward. Song Lingling sat with Yu Xinran at the back on a chair from the bank, helping the girl absorb crystal nuclei. The smell of blood outside attracted arge number of zombies. They growled and rushed in their direction. Li Tie and the others lifted their crossbows and started the first round of attacks C first kill the scattered zombie vanguard. Later when there were more and more zombies, the shooters would retreat and Zhang Yi and Xu Mei would step forward. "Burn it!" Luo Xun pointed at Xu Mei after Zhang Yi had prepared. Xu Mei raised her hands, a small ball of fire flew towards the bunker near the sand. At the same time Zhang Yi summoned winds that did not extinguish the mes but also mixed the sand and mes together... How scary werebination attacks? One just had to look at the wind of fire with gravel to know! Whether it was thebination of just fire and wind, or thebo of fire and sand, or the mix of wind and sand was already beyond ones imagination. Not to mention todays triplebination? *Boom, Rumble* The red sandy whirlwind mmed into the mass of zombies! As long as the wind did not snuff the mes, Zhang Yi could direct the winds to mow down zombies! After the wave of attacks, Luo Xun looked at the various zombies in front of them and sighed. "Effect was unexpectedly good..." He only thought of the mixed attack after learning of the girls ability. Who knew the effect was so good and cleared out arge wave of zombies at once? "Its really unexpected, we did not even have to use the trap we dug out." Yan Fei smiled as he raised a hand and fired metal shards at the zombiesunching attacks. "You two rest, absorb crystal nuclei for the next round. Li Tie, youre up. Ill check the pit..." Luo Xun ordered as he looked outside the bunker. Zhang Yi had used almost all of the sand, but the hole was not deep enough. He turned to Song Lingling holding Yu Xinran and asked. "Yu Xinran, can you still continue to make sand?" The little girl nodded vigorously and sweetly said. "I ate! Can make lots more sand!" Seeing her hands had some crystal nuclei, then what she just said, Luo Xun smiled and patted her head. "Good, uncle and aunt will all rely on little Ran!" The little girl ran to the gap, the defenses that Yan Fei created had not moved. The soil at the bottom of the pit started to change, under Yu Xinrans control the earth once again turned into sand. How deep was the pit? It could not be measured at the moment but it must be deep. The firstyer Yu Xinran had made was already pretty deep, it was estimated that two or three times would be enough to met Luo Xuns pit requirements. The blood bag from before was still ying a role as Yu Xinran continued to deepen the pit, some more zombies appeared. The zombies came from a little further, attracted by the scent of blood. A few at the front were unexpectedly fast. Seeing the speed zombie in front, Luo Xun said lowly, "Get ready, theres a speed type zombie." Yan Fei had replenished the mental power used to make therge metal fence. He prepared C had not used up all the metal and the rest woulde in handy. A few zombies quickly ran towards the group. They discovered that there was food in this direction and not far away. Something in the gap had a mouthwatering scent, halfway over the zombies shifted positions and moved towards the gap. *Pong, pong* Loud noises sounded, the three speed zombies suddenly bumped into a te of iron because their speed was too high. Luo Xun and the others clearly saw Yan Fei control the stack of metal and created a metal wall over the raiding zombies. Checking after the sound was made revealed three imprints in the metal! Yan Fei immediately formed metal needles and pierced the zombies stuck in the wall! He clenched his fist, the needles twisted together and the three zombies were crushed to death! Luo Xun took a deep breath and looked brightly at Yan Fei. His lover was very ferocious! But this kind of cruelty was really attractive! The group of zombies led by the three speed zombies also had a few long range ones like fire and water types. This kind of long distance zombie the students could handle for now so under Luo Xunsmand, they changed groups. Luo Xun also picked up his crossbow and loaded the special ammunition with mushroom juice and squatted beside Yu Xinran. The little girl was hard at work creating sand with a serious face. Metal wind, fire, the three people stood near the perimeter. Yan Fei used metal shields to block zombie attacks while the attack was preparing. This way, since the metal tes were made from separate pieces of metal and not connected to the walls...no one, including Yan Fei would be harrassed by lightning type zombies! Yan Fei raised an eyebrow in surprise, before when building the wall he would asionally get jumped by a lightning zombie. He did not think that as long as he used mobile shields the problem would be avoided. He thought that lightning powers were definitely the nemesis of his own metal powers, even remote operations may be affected. Now that he had such a result, he waved a hand. The shield previously ying a protective role turned into countless needles and flew towards the group of zombies! The wind rose with dozens of small fireballs going straight ahead. When the burning air hit the zombies pierced with needles, the heat worsened the wounds C metal and fire could also be used to together to increase lethality! On the other hand, Luo Xu lifted his crossbow and aimed at the mouth of an injured but still attacking level two zombie with an arrow treated with mushroom juice. The arrow urately flew into the zombies mouth and pierced the head. The red liquid sshed all over the head and mouth. With a hissing sound and some faint white smoke mixed with that from the burns, the level two strength type zombie moved two steps then fell to the ground! Luo Xun smiled widely and hit a zombie that had escaped the ming steel needles. His current crossbow was enough to deal with tough skin zombies! Now Luo Xun could be sure that so long as they used this weapon, even if future zombies rose to level four or five, they could use the crossbow to break the skin before injecting the liquid into the body for a killing strike. He now knew that the mushroom juice would corrode the skin from the outside or inside. Luo Xun had already experimented with the new ammo while the fence was being built but it was not a formal battle against the enemy. How was standing on a wall sniping at clueless enemies a real fight? Now, they had thoroughly verified the power of the poisonous mushrooms. Several people quickly cooperated, Yan Fei specially opened a gap in the metal wall for Li Ties group for a wave of zombie attacks. When the second wave of zombies had been almost eliminated, Yan Fei once again attacked after absorbing some nuclei. A number of zombies once again ran towards the group! This time the zombies were consistent, they were further away but were attracted by the sound and smell of blood. Li Tie and the others started shooting from the top. Yu Xinranpleted a round of desertification and Song Lingling helped her absorb crystal nuclei to replenish mental energy. There were more and more zombies outside, gradually some were pushed into the pit Yu Xinran had made. Some actually walked straight in! "s, the pit is not deep enough." Luo Xun looked sadly at the half buried, struggling zombie. He turned and waved at the group. "One more time!" Sand, wind and fire three way joint attack wasbined with Yan Feis metal needles. The sand was the same, the needles conducted heat better, the wind was faster. The metal needles were so fast that the weight increased. Zhang Yi could only elerate and randomly steer, not control like he could with sand. However, even if the needles did not hit the target, Yan Fei could control them for subsequent attacks. This did not require Zhang Yis maniption. Round after round, almost all the zombies in the area near the pit were cleanly killed by the team. As the sky began to dim, Wang Duo who was on guard suddenly shouted from the second floor. "Convoy! More than 10 cars, followed by a lot of zombies!" "Everyone rest to restore strength, get traps ready." Because the timing of each teams mission was different, the return time would generally not be the same. If anyone else went out to collect nuclei like Luo Xuns team, the best choice would be not to upy high ground C to slowly whittle down the zombies. Though it was possible that they would quickly get surrounded by zombies, what would happen when ammunition ran out and ability users needed to replenish with crystal nuclei? The best option would to do as they had done C upy a road near the base and ce traps. In addition to clearing out the nearby zombies, they could also deal with zombies lured over by other convoys. In general, teams withpleted missions were anxious to return to the blockade and would not make traps and such to kill zombies. In time, the team would have hoped that there were zombies left over to deal with themselves. Those in the city were also anxious to get out andplete tasks, would not dy and waste time harvesting unrted objectives. Luo Xuns group stayed there for nearly a day, three convoys had already returned to town in the area. The zombies behind them were also all cleared up so it was a win-win method. Sure enough, when Yan Fei threw another blood bag, half the zombies after the convoy switched targets. The cars that were passing by the intersection were not quite sure why some of the zombies would suddenly leave. But this was advantageous to them so the team stepped on the gas to rush back to base, no one could afford to investigate. Luo Xun had also deliberately selected this intersection, not many people would pass by since most would prefer to choose more direct, wider streets. Thus their behavior was noticed by few people. Plus, they only went out once a month, so they did not have to worry about their homes being robbed by the greedy. Chapter 90 Yan Fei recovered first, raised his hand a metal fencepletely stopped the pit desertification. The metal spread directly to the pit bottom. The whole pit was covered with Yan Feis metal, even grooves were along the walls. As a result, the whole pit was under Yan Feis control. A heap of metal flew into the pit and erected a steel spike at the bottom. At the same time, people were shooting and killing higher level zombies. After a moment the zombies would fall into the trap or other idents. When thest steel thorn trap was set, Yan Fei took out a sealed metal box and nced to the side. Zhang Yi raised a brow, ready to say something. Yan Fei floated the box above the big pit and opened it. The bright red liquid spilled out, with the help of Zhang Yis wind, it was spread at the bottom of every pit. "Get ready to start." Luo Xun smiled upon seeing all the preparation had been finished whilie the sky had darkened. "Good." Yan Feis voice was a bit excited, this would be the first time they used this method to lure zombies. Today would be a test to see the results. The fence surrounding therge pit suddenly became thin metal board that covered the hole. The crowd got up and retreated while watching the excited zombies rushed to the open space. The mob was dense as the monsters charged. Suddenly, the steel te above the pit disappeared! The zombies standing on top immediately fell in, even the following zombies also rushed into the big pit! At the bottom, the zombies began to smoke as their limbs began to decay on contact with the lowestyer of needles. The group gasped, some were startled that a zombie had fallen into the pit along with many others. They could not say a word. "Yan Fei, cover." Luo Xuns voice snapped the group out of their shock. The team immediately began to prepare for the next round. Yan Fei pumped the metal back to the pit but it was no longer a te, instead a metal. "Pour the petrol." A new order was given, the team evenly poured the gasoline set aside with Zhang Yis help. Xu Mei shot a fireball at the. *Bang* There was a huge re, as if red flowers were blooming in the night, made people feel dizzy. "All right, go back. Todays work is almost done." Luo Xunnguidly said. After this evening of burning, zombies that came after would only be barbecued. Only a few could break through the line of defense. Whats more, Yan Fei sealed the front door with remaining metal lest the fire spread into the bank. The strong fire burned for three hours before it died down. They woke the next morning and opened the door to see the dark, burned pit. What was inside no longer looked like zombies. Silky ck smoke asionally drifted out, Luo Xun and the others pinched their noses but could not see anyplete zombie limbs. This was more thorough than the methods other groups used yesterday to kill zombies. "Pick up the crystal nuclei and see how efficient yesterday was." Luo Xun smiled and looked at Yan Fei. "Youll need to pick them up." He pointed at therge pit. Everyone looked funny at the darkened pit, although they understood Luo Xuns meaning. Having Yan Fei deal with the disgusting pit was extremely strange. To pick up crystal nuclei, although not as tiring as killing zombies it was repetitive work. A full morning of work, had to deal with the zombie bodies. They had to be piled outside to be burned. But Yan Fei had an easier method to gather the crystal nuclei. First he manipted the metal frame to fly out, the bottom part became a sieve. The mesh was finer than a regr crystal nuclei. He shook the dangling boxes, leaving the intact limbs and the crystal nuclei. Because a lot of petrol was usedst night, the zombies were thoroughly burned. He harvested the first days loot without dirtying his hands. There was a hill of crystal nuclei in front of the team. Except for the ones used in battle, they actually got 4000 crystals with half a days worth of fighting! 4000! All inhaled in shock, everyone looked at the heap with shining eyes, 4000! Three times more thanst time! Yan Fei proposed, "Heres a total of more than 4000 nuclei. This time everyone contributed a lot, simply have each group take 1000 C Luo Xun and I, Zhang Yi and Wang Duo, Li Ties group of four and Xu Meis group of three. The remainder can be divided amongst the threedies since their contribution was important. Does anyone haveints?" Li Ties group looked at each other and said in embarrassment. "Our group does not have much strength, Yan Fei made our weapons and Luo Xun did not train us to hit the zombies...Taking 1000 crystal nuclei is too many..." "Right, right." Han Li and the others quickly nodded. Although they hoped for arge harvest, they also knew their own strength. Luo Xun smiled and gave advice. "I am also an ordinary person, dont forget you are a group of four. Coming out to kill zombies is not easy, people can lose their lives. And even if you cant use it, you can exchange them with us. Yan Fei and Xu Mei have things they could exchange. It would be more cost effective than finding someone outside to trade with." Xu Meis group also nodded. After all if they did not gather 10 people they could not leave the base. Li Tie and the other students might not have strong offensive ability to mass kill but they could deal with scattered zombies. They could take the role of defense while the ability users were resting. Without them, the ability users would have no time to rest and replenish energy using the nuclei. The second level nuclei were sorted and given ording to type. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were surprised C they actually a few second level metal cores! The zombies had not used metal, so they did not know how to use their powers? Otherwise they would have used therge amount of metal in the area to attack. Of course, there was also the possibility that they had died under thebined assault of Zhang Yi, Xu Mei and Yu Xinran before being to attack. After the team cleared out the zombies, it was around noon. They prepared to eat lunch and then go back. The zombies outside had all been basically cleared away, leaving only a few zombies wandering around the abandoned street. Yan Fei got up, ready turn the traps upside down, lest unaware vehicles or pedestrians got caught. Before he exited the gate, the group heard the faint sounds of carsing from the street. "Another passing? Ill take a look!" Wang Duo grabbed the telescope then ran to the second floor and back. "A team followed by a lot of zombies. Luo Xun do we want to fight again?" Looking at Wang Duo and the groups excited appearance, Luo Xun confirmed that the team was only being followed by a few hundred zombies before nodding in agreement. Threw out thest blood bag, the trap was ready. Everyone listened as the roar of zombies was heard from the next street and tried to figure the exact numbers. Suddenly, there were car sounds from another direction... "Holy cow! Whats going on?" Wang Duo and Han Li ran down and pointed elsewhere. "There was a team with several buses from the city with a bunch of zombies, cannot see the tail end!" Dealing with the zombies following returning teams for crystal nuclei was a benefit for all but it was bad when everyone was leave after killing thest bit of zombies. Then a big wave of zombies suddenly passed by! The zombies that they nned to kill before leaving, Luo Xun made the decision to clear them all up! A wave of zombies had been blocked at the gate, more would join them soon. If they wanted to safely leave, it would be best to kill all the zombies first. Even if they returnedte today, it was better than venturing out now. They had cars but even if Yan Fei could strengthen the cars, the bases were ordinary vehicles withoutrge horsepower. Without a sturdy car, how could they rush out? Even Luo Xuns second hand car could not be used to hit the zombies. But with level two zombies around, they were waiting to be pulled out from the car! Yan Fei quicklypleted the trap, the first batch of zombies sessively fell into the pit. More zombies tirelessly followed C the reason was thest bag of blood thrown out! Luo Xun made note of lesson in his heart, while shooting zombies with the team. It was not convenient to directly ignite the pit because there were more zombies attracted by the cars. It would be more efficient to wait until more zombies have fallen into the holes. The bus team seemed to be survivors living in the city who had prepared to flee to base. Although many people immediately escaped danger due to the base, the number of people stranded in urban areas was not small. Some people lived in high-rises C ordinary zombies could not climb up. Once cleared up the building could be lived in. If someone in themunity was organized, they would also build fortifications. They usually organized the able bodied and ability users to gather food and supplies. Zhang Yi lived a life like this outside base. He did not know his formerpanions went to base for whatever reason and then he killed them. The buses were probably moving from the city to the base. After discovering that many of the zombies suddenly switched targets, they guessed that someone was injured and the scent of blood attracted zombies. However they had reached the citys edge, no one would check the situation. Why would they seek out trouble when they finally got rid of the zombies? As for those who were injured and attracted the zombies? Pray for good fortune. The zombies raiding the main entrance crowded together and fell into therge pit. Luo Xun had a headache C the number of following zombies was even more than before! The great number of zombies falling in the pit, some of them wed upwards! "The big pit can only hole around a thousand zombies, any more and they will crawl out." In this time of crisis, Luo Xun calmed and turned to He Qiankun. "You and Li Tie check how much gas can be used?" Yesterday they had used some to burn the bodies and harvest 4000 crystal nuclei. The ability users killed the rest with their powers! How much could they pour into the pits? The two quickly ran back while Zhang Yi and the others worked to kill the struggling zombies inside the pits. There seemed to be level two zombies approaching in the distance. Li Tie came back. "Luo Xun I used one-third before. Two-thirds left!" Luo Xun nodded. "Leave two barrels and bring the rest. Help them get the gas in the pit same as before..." Suddenly Xu Mei shouted. Luo Xun turned to see brilliant red light disperse from her body. "Level two?!" The sight was simr to the metal ability users leveling up before. "Level two?! Xu Mei really leveled up?!" Song Lingling looked with surprise after using water arrows against zombies. Xu Mei paused then nodded. "Yes, level two, I ampletely filled with energy all of a sudden!" She looked down at her hands holding a few first level nuclei with annoyance. "I rushed to absorb crystal nuclei and identally grabbed a level two nucleus..." She had not used the level two nucleus when the mission was done. At the time she could not absorb the higher level nucleus so she left it alone. This crystal was from the bunch they had divided, the level twos were mixed in and she grabbed one for absorption. "How many first level nuclei did you use to get to level two?" Yan Fei asked. Xu Mei thought. "Around...four or five hundred?" Yan Fei simply nodded. "I think that rising past level two will need even more." He turned to Song Lingling. "You need to level up as quickly as you can. I think that leveling up will not change the shape of your abilities but you might have a more effective way of attacking." Song Lingling just nodded while Zhang Yi frowned. "Why was absorbing the level two nucleus useless for me?" Yan Fei nced at him with a smile in his eyes. "Youre probably in the same situation as me C mutatedmon ability. The number of nuclei needed is more than normal. I did not count but it seemed like it cost two times as many nucleipared to Xu Mei." "...Thousand." Zhang Yi silently turned, raised a gust of wind to sweep some sand at the zombies. He did not have enough nuclei then, now he had enough, 1000 pieces. But it was not possible to absorb them today! Li Tie and some others opened the lid of the gasoline. Zhang Yi sent petrol into the pit. Xu Mei was excited, her powers were upgraded, can make more fireballs than before. With a nod from Luo Xun, she waved a hand and lit a grand bonfire with a small fireball. The mes were burning but there was still a steady stream of zombies rushing over. The group could not turn back to rest likest night. Luo Xun brought out his crossbow and shot at zombies outside the pit. Xu Mei manipted the fire from the pit to attack the zombies. "Its much more energy saving than firing my mes." Xu Mei eximed, a huge zing fire dragon reared up and charged at the zombies. The dragon was bigger than one she got out of her level two ability! Luo Xun looked around and said to Song Lingling. "You and Ran go over there, cool down with water. Turn thend there into sand, then cooperate with Zhang Yi and Xu Mei for an attack!" "Okay!" The two and moved as directed. Zhang Yi also used his wind to make the mes burn more violently. asionally blew some mes to burn opposing zombies. The faces of the people near the fire were baked red. Fortunately they had Zhang Yi, they did not have to worry about oxygen levels, or who would dare stand so close to such arge fire? The sand and metal needles were heated by the fire and then shot towards the zombies by violent winds, killed in one shot... The battlested until the evening when the fire gradually burned out and the streets were filled with bodies. Although very tired, the group that would be returning to base tomorrow still had energy. The opened the door and cleaned up the zombie corpses. It took until 10 oclock in the evening to clear up all the zombies. This round of hard workted them more than 2600 crystal nuclei. Once again, they divided it roughly into four, one for each team. Took their respective cores and dealt with the zombies near the bank. They cleaned up the metal and sand on the ground, Song Lingling spread a light drizzle while Li Tie walked on the wet sand. Finally Zhang Yi blew away the leftover sand. Everyone climbed into their own cars C ready to return to base. "Next time we should note out on thest two days." Luo Xun yawned. "Get Li Tie and the others a day off in advance, so this does not happen again." Yan Fei smiled and opened the car. "I know, they can figure something out when we get back. See if they can get another rest day." Only Zhang Yi would get a good rest since he still had a day off. The others had work early tomorrow morning...Ah Xu Meis team had free time so they could rest at home tomorrow. Not long after the cars crossed amercial street, Luo Xun suddenly remembered C they had not gotten any freezers! There were still poisonous mushrooms at home waiting for storage. It would be a waste to not take a freezer back! Several people went off to move a freezer while Luo Xun walked under a tree with Yu Xinran. Yan Fei used some metal to divide the trees into chunks and tied them directly to the car. Future mushroom wood would depend on this tree. Chapter 91 At 12:30 the Otaku squad smoothly reached the base gate. The car drove to the door and saw a few buses parked in the spaces C their teeth were a little itchy. If not for this group of people suddenly passing though, would they not have gotten the harvest? And how did it take until now for them to reach base? Half a month ago Zhang Yi brought back news, the base had found a rtively simple test for infected. They did not have to waste a few hours of their time every time they returned to check clothes and wait. There was a new type of instrument that would test a little bit of blood. Because there was some fear that people who had just been infected would not react, they waited half an hour before blood tests. However, it was a lot quicker than before. "Maybe because its their first time in base." Yan Fei heard Luo Xun casually mutter. There were other steps with registration the first time in a base, so a longer dy was understandable. Luo Xun and the others yawned while waiting for half an hour. After everyones blood had been tested and confirmed to have no infection, they drove back home in their cars. "In fact, this blood test is not safe. Who knows if the blood test equipment has not been contaminated? What if someone got an infection?" Luo Xun was disgusted that he had to wound himself after the apocalypse. He knew that the base would be able to test for the zombie virus without using blood, but it seemed it would take a while. Anyway, Luo Xun remembered when he arrived at this base in his past life, there was no such blood test equipment. When was the new equipment developed? Luo Xun had no idea. Yan Fei smoothly drove the car and said with a smile. "A lot of people are unwilling to wound themselves, would rather wait three or four hours in the waiting area. In fact if we dont rush back next time we can wait there for a while instead." "Ah, its gettingte..." Luo Xun yawned and struggled to keep his eyes open. After around 20 minutes the team returned to their neighborhood. Parked the car, carried some things for tomorrow upstairs with the rest left in the car. Yan Fei wouldpletely seal the vehicles and tomorrow they woulde and pick up the rest. As for the regr meeting after each outing C rescheduled to tomorrow night. After they climbed to the 16th floor, no one had strength to speak. All returned to their respective rooms and slept in their beds. The next day, they were notpletely recovered but had to go to work. Luo Xun was lucky, after a few days of vacation he and Yan Fei were not the only ones feeling sluggish. Other soldiers were in the same boat, the two feltpletely rxed. Captain Guo pointed at some things to be carried with a yawn. "Give you a few days of rest and this is the result? Holidays will be cancelled next time!" Everyone quickly raised their spirits, they had to finish todays work. The threat of losing everyones vacation lit a fire in the teams hearts. The deputy interceded with a ttering smile. "Wasnt this the first holiday? Its normal for everyone to be excited." Captain Guo red at him. "Its not their first vacation. Who would look like you guys? Get to work!" "Yes, yes, everybody work hard!" Vice captain climbed and shouted at the crowd. "Yes sir!" Those moving things quickly answered and the four metal users also sped up work in fear that todays efficiency would notpare tost month and people would look for trouble. There was tension to finish todays task on time, to maintain the efficiency of the past. The couple also felt sore C all from yesterdays outing. Could not be med, who let them fight two days worth of zombies? You know, carrying around a crossbow like Luo Xun was very hard, not to mention Yan Fei had to constantly use his powers? To be honest, if his ability had not risen to level two, they might not have been sessful yesterday. Thest wave of zombies had seemed endless, not like the first day with a break after each round. "Next time, well try another way." Luo Xun stretched his sore arms. "Change what?" Yan Fei asked in confusion. Luo Xun smiled at him. "Didnt you throw the blood in a metal box every time? Wasnt it hard to control? We can set up a metal pir at the edge of a trap and but the blood bag inside. Open the bag to attract zombies then seal the pir so there wont be as many zombies following after!" This seemed like a good method, they would see it in actionter. Yan Fei was very satisfied with his lovers skill at dealing with zombies. He raised his hand to rub the others head. Luo Xun caught a glimpse of a man in the street, who did not utter a word. The two men drove back home, stored the car and brought up stuff to tinker with to the 16th floor. Zhang Yi who had been resting at thome rang the doorbell but the pair fell into bed asleep. At five oclock the two people went downstairs C it was time to move things! Their team got four freezers the night before C one for each. A whole tree needed to be split and ced in a room to grow crops. In addition there was a lot of metal. Yan Fei could bring up anything metal, it would take a few days grabbing pieces. But the other things had to wait for elevator runs. The four cars were parked downstairs and looked a lot stronger than before. Prior to making the traps, Yan Fei had tworge metal balls, except for the material left in the trap, the rest of the metal was molded around the cars like stickers and brought back to base. Opened the car door, load up a piece of wood on the car and lock the car. The two pulled the trolley back to the elevator. One trip after another, when Li Tie and the others hade back with food, Luo Xun had not finished ferrying his things. Li Tie and the others ran over to help the busy couple. "Whats left?" Seeing that there a few people, Luo Xun referred to the car. "Two sets of freezers for Zhang Yi and Xu Meis homes." Xu Mei andpany were not home at this time, the pair went to buy dinner with Yu Xinran. "Well take it!" The five quickly raised their sleeves, ready to work. Li Tie whispered to Luo Xun at the back. "Is there not enough wood from the tree yesterday to use?" Luo Xun also whispered back. "Definitely not enough, well discuss in the meeting after dinner." It was best to arrange a meeting after each outing, but they were too tiredst night, had no energy. Now they had some strength to spare. Brought thest two freezers upstairs, one on the 15th floor and the other for the 16th floor. The elevator door opened, Wang Duo rushed past with a distressed "Ill get it!" upon seeing Zhang Yi moving some wood. This was his lover, how could he make him to work? Zhang Yi nced back at him, did not utter a reply but put down the wood. In fact, he was only responsible for bringing the wood into 1603. Luo Xun still needed to process the wood in order to cultivate mushrooms. "Im going to see Xu Mei and the others, are they back? Ask them toe up for dinner." Han Li said to the group once the items were set aside. "Go." Li Tie waved, the guy was optimistic. He diligently ran downstairs, did not see that the two women were somewhat distant? Luo Xun and Yan Fei went back home to eat dinner. It seemed that Xu Meis group had note up. They came after dinner for the meeting, Li Tie and friends had a meal in the barracks. Wang Duo ate instant noodles since he gave Zhang Yi the better food C needed to personally bring food even if the two had differing cards for separate canteens. Wanted to bring food for Zhang Yi even it was more difficult. After eating and drinking enough, everyone came to Li Ties room in order to have a meeting about their previous outing. At the meeting, Luo Xun took the lead. "There is not enough wood, but dont worry about the market, there are people on base willing to sell and cut wood." Although people could exchange for coal and charcoal, these things were expensive and thus not essible to everyone. Many people nted trees outside base after burning the furniture in their homes. They would bring some back each time after a mission. "Theres a method to get some even if we dont leave base." Simply buyingrge chunks of wood was of no concern, after all everyone needed firewood and nobody would be able to control pollution. When Luo Xun brought a tree back yesterday, it did not cause an inspection or draw the attention of the soldiers. Li TIe and friends nodded and looked at the couple. "Luo Xun, the thing we talked about yesterday, want to discuss with you." Luo Xun was puzzled. "What thing?" "Its about growing vegetables." The students faces reddened. "You know, although we want to nt things but we have so little time and space. Although we can use the open space with Zhang Yi, we are afraid we can not take care of it..." He Qiankun continued. "We talked, if convenient, could you harvest our balcony as well? Well give you half the harvest and crystal cores!" Wang Duo also added. "Our home, youre wee to the space!" Luo Xun and Yan Fei shared surprised looks. This was...help them grow vegetables? This was probably because they saw the appearance of 1603. After Luo Xuns growing room was toorge and professional, how could a regr personpare to it? Whats more, he had so many seedlings that all grew properly. "But Im afraid I would not be able to take care it myself." Luo Xun was embarrassed, he was able toe over. It was not much trouble except for the beginning and harvest time. But growing your own vegetables was one thing while giving others the same was another. "We...might be able to help." Song Lingling suddenly raised her hand, Xu Mei agreed and also nodded at Luo Xun. There was a lot of empty space with only three of them living. What would they do with the empty rooms when they were happy with their current situation? Even if they could learn the technology with Luo Xuns advice, it would not guarantee home grown vegetables. Points and crystal nuclei were not things that could fill ones belly! Zhang Yi sneered and pointed at Luo Xun. "What trouble would it be? Anyways the two of you usuallye back early, the two women have nothing to do on base and the five idiotse back at five. Your house has enough space to grow enough food for two? Doesnt the 15th floor have three vacant rooms? Add all the open space together for you to nt, wouldnt there be enough for us to eat and take the extra to sell?" Luo Xun froze and looked at him, the three empty rooms on the 15th floor...he was tempted to hear the proposal. "But what about the harvests at home?" Zhang Yi smiled and tilted his eyes. "Cant it be divided? The five and I have a regr job with the least effort overall, can take at least one shift. Xu Mei and the others find their own way for food. It would be enough to follow you as long as three peoples worth of rations is guaranteed? The rest is up to you, sell the harvest for points and nuclei then distributing the spoils ording to peoples needs? I say, you are the captain, the distribution is your business, please be more self-aware okay? Why do we need to take about these sorts of things every time?" "Team...captain?" Luo Xun said with a dazed expression as he turned to Yan Fei. Yan Fei smiled at him and turned to the other. "What do you guys think?" He actually had the same idea, if these people agreed to have Luo Xun in charge, it would be best way to deal with this. As Zhang Yi said, if Luo Xun only grew crops in his own home, it might not be enough for their rations. It would be better to merge with the 15th floor. Although there might be some food issues, they could grow some fast growing vegetables to exchange for points to buy food instead! "No problem!" Li Tie andpany immediately nodded with excited faces. Xu Mei and Song Lingling also had no objections. As for Yu Xinran? Well she did not understand and did not need to be asked for advice. "That...I have a question." Luo Xun suddenly asked. He swallowed some saliva and spoke to Zhang Yi. "You just said...whos the captain?" Zhang Yis eyebrow rose and he turned to Yan Fei. "Your lover gone silly?" To the side, the two women were wondering about Luo Xuns problem but upon hearing Zhang Yis words, they looked happily at each. The pressure on their hearts was gone! They cheered up on the spot C they dared not directly ask Li Tie and the students lest it was andmine. But under observation, it seemed that the two people were really a couple. Hearing Zhang Yi was the final nail in proving their conjecture... The two women were excited, Yan Fei helplessly shrugged his shoulders. "Hes been tired these past two days." Zhang Yiughed meaningfully. "You cannot toss him around these two nights or else he might injure himself and your lover will be gone." The two peoples dialogue became more and more strange, Luo Xun reached out to interrupt. He grabbed Yan Feis shirt and whispered. "Who did he say was the captain?" Shouldnt it be Yan Fei? Why didnt anyone respond? Yan Fei should be the default, right? Yan Fei understood the question but did not understand Luo Xuns meaning. He joked, "Who other than you?" "Ah?!" Luo Xun was stunned and stared for a long time. Luo Xun asked in one breath. "When? Who decided that? Why didnt I hear about it?" The students were startled, they managed to cover their mouths beforeughing. Even Xu Mei looked at him in amazement C it was not obvious? Yan Fei nced at the crowd and patted Luo Xuns shoulder. "You were responsible for the ns and guidance, a teacher to everyone. You dealt with strategic positions, locations and attackmands. Other than you, I dont think anyone else fits the position of leader for the Otaku squad." Li Tie and the others nodded frantically at his words. The fact was everyone had already known, no one felt it important to raise the matter at the moment. Zhang Yi brought a hand to his temple, he looked like he was trying to fight a migraine. Xu Mei also smiled while speaking. "We joinedter on, but from the beginning of our cooperation, you were the captain..." Who knew that Luo Xun was not self aware? Song Lingling also nodded with a smile. Yu Xinran was unsure what was going on but she nodded together with Song Lingling. Luo Xun felt his face flush, he did not know it would turn out like this. In hisst life he had wanted to leave base and find supplies with a team, but how would ability users every consider ordinary people? How did he suddenly be a captain after his rebirth? Although he was only the captain of ten people...yes 10, with him the team had 11 members. Yan Fei interrupted his thoughts. "How do we deal with the three homes downstairs? Shouldnt it still be under military purview?" He looked at Zhang Yi, since he had the idea, he must have a solution as well. If it would be difficult to get a hold of, it would be a problem. Zhang Yis lips raised in a flirtatious smile, his peach blossom eyes turned into crescents. "Leave this matter to me, it will be tomorrow." The man was a doctor in a hospital, the solution woulde to him. Yan Fei slightly nodded his head and turned to the others. "How to arrange downstairs?" Luo Xun paused, and threw aside the tangle of team leadership. If they had to do more work, they had better do a good job. Thinking about it, Luo Xun frowned. "All three rooms can be used to grow grain, both rice and wheat have limit. The extra space can be separated by a metal shelf where a variety of vegetables and fruits would add to their ie. But there a few things we need to find C soil, if there is not enough many things will be affected. Another thing is clean water..." Song Lingling raised her hand with an excited face. "I can directly extract pollution from water to make it clean! Faster than making water with my power!" Water from ability users did note from nowhere, like fire and other ability types, needed to relevant element to be used. So in the vicinity of a water source, the power of a water user was very impressive. Chapter 92 Luo Xun heard Song Lingling words and smiled at her. "This will help you, more power use will also speed up nuclei consumption and youll be able to level up sooner." He continued on, "Soil is not too difficult, we can find some clean soil at the back of base." The most important thing now was sr panels, batteries andmps...plus heavy curtains to block the light from the outside. During the apocalypse, safety first, along with the prevention mentality. If others broke in through doors or windows, everyone would have cried. Li Tie took out paper and pen and wrote down what Luo Xun said. "We can directly buy some things from base and others we need to wait until our next outing. Luo Xun do not worry, we dont have to worry aboutpleting everything now." Yes, it was not urgent since the first year was considered preparation period. Next year, their room would nted and would show their true value. Xu Meiughed. "Digging in the base is more convenient, since they are now promoting crop growing! There are people digging and going home, we can find some things." Right, if they waited until therge scale nting failed, people digging around a lot would be a red g and suspicious. Luo Xun nodded and started to exin. "Everyone should know about the mushrooms by now, its internal information, the base knows but they do not want the news to spread. The mushrooms are too dangerous for everyone to know about, so we can only cultivate in secret. Of course, Yan Fei and I already have a solution, we hid them in the shelves of 1603. If there are outsiders, we would temporarily conceal them. We just need to harvest the mushrooms at the appointed time." After the exnation, everyone nodded in understanding. Luo Xun looked at the two women and continued speaking. "It would be best if you two could care for crops at home. Each harvest will a share for you, as well as ensuring your food sources..." Xu Mei smiled at her group. "At the end of the month same time going out to collect crystal nuclei?" "Were leaving the same as the previous two times." Luo Xun confirmed. Xu Meiughed, "Thats fine." Then helplessly added. "We usually work with a lot of teams outside the base, but to tell the truth, no team is as efficient as this one." She jokingly said to Luo Xun, "Even more never met a team captain that could so calmly grasp the situation whilemanding and organizing properly. Going out with you guys once a month gets us more than with the sum of those other teams." Beside her, Song Lingling also nodded multiple times. Even if Xu Mei was strong and they did their own part, they were not formal members of the team so they would get the leftover spoils after the cronies. Luo Xun smiled in relief. "I will slowly teach you how to care for the specific needs of nts at home. Only the start and harvest periods are very busy..." Zhang Yi suddenly interjected. "On base there is work that can be taken home for processing. If you have time and want to earn more points, I can help ask tomorrow." He was toozy to meddle in strangers affairs. He did not take action until the two women were fully epted into the team. The cooperation two days ago gave him a good impression, if confirmed, the team would have more work this month. Xu Meis lit up as she nodded. "Doing more things is good!" Although under Luo Xuns farming guidance, they would certainly have a good harvest. They did not want to rest on theirurels, having ie through their own work was better. Like Luo Xun, Li Tie and the other students had formal work on base. They had free space at home to nt and get crystal nuclei. The women did not ask Zhang Yi how profitable the work was C every little bit would help! Luo Xun also exined that everyone needed to prepare things while the couple would only be responsible for the key parts. He pped his hands, "We need to wait a bit. Zhang Yi needs to get the three rooms downstairs under out name. Yan Fei would carry out the next step of strengthening the walls. Even if they could grow rice or wheat this year, they could only be harvested once, so not much would be expected. But the vegetables could be exchanged for a number of crystal nuclei. Tomorrow he would n the steps before assigning specific work! "Good!" The crowd cheered and their eyes lit up with excitement towards the future. Luo Xun felt his previous fatigue swept away as he returned home, with the three rooms, he could do more nning and preparation...Wait, they could not make full use of the corridor area! If the two floors were under their ownership, the corridor was the same! Yan Fei smiled and pulled Luo Xun down to calm himself. "Tomorrows things can be nned today, but dont let them affect todays rest. Do you want to be lectured by Captain Guo at the edge of the fence tomorrow?" Luo Xunughed, sat up and asked a question. "The captain...whats that about? How did you alle to that conclusion? Why didnt I know?" Yan Fei asked rhetorically, "If you are not the captain, who is the right person?" "You!" Luo Xun blurted out. He had always considered the captains of post-apocalypse teams to be the strongest person C that indeed applied to most teams. Yan Feiughed and shook his head. "If only considering power, although my ability rose to level two first, Zhang Yi is quite strong too. If we had to choose, even if you think I am more appropriate, Wang Duo and the others might not agree." In fact between the Zhang Yi and Yan Fei, he was afraid no one would have picked Zhang Yi. Who knew Luo Xuns response...sounded off? Luo Xun frowned. "Then I am not suitable, Im just a normal person." No ability was equivalent to having the short end of the stick during the apocalypse. Perhaps at first there were no problems to be seen but when the ability users on base be more powerful, the military would turn a blind eye on their actions. Ordinary people on the base would be reduced to third ss citizens. Yan Fei smiled and shook his head. "First, you can preparend, create a variety of things. Although Li Tie and the others have done some things with their materials but the vast majority of things were produced by you. You did not realize?" Seeing Luo Xun shake his head, he continued. "Another important point that you likely did not notice is themands and positioning. Perhaps Zhang Yi and I have strong abilities with highbat capacity, stronger in some aspects during the apocalypse. But no one has your judgement andmand against zombies. This is more important that having a strong ability along in the end of the world." Having a power did not mean having the ability to direct a group to hunt zombies. But Luo Xun was an ordinary person, his understanding, positioning andmanding of the ability users was great. This undoubtedly cemented his position as leader of the team. Luo Xun opened his mouth, perhaps because he had not been valued in his past life, had never seen a real team fighting zombies, and he never had a chance to fight, much less think of his talent. Only after being reborn, encountering Yan Fei and the others, bing neighbors, his skill had unexpectedly been discovered. He lowered his eyes and whispered, "But the zombies will be strongerter on. I might be able tomand at the moment, but in the future..." Luo Xun was worried that the small group would be simr to other teams, feeling that regr people were troublesome. Find a way to change leaders and cause the group to destabilize. Yan Feiughed and pinched his cheek. "Whats the worry? Dont forget, your lover is the strongest fighter on the team." Right, even if that future was possible, he would have someone beside him. Yan Fei had management experience before the apocalypse. It might have been more appropriate for him to manage the team, but after the end of the world he wanted to rx. He subconsciously put himself on the sidelines, even when out collecting crystal nuclei. As a result, he unexpectedly dug out his lovers special talent. Yan Fei reflected that he could manage apany for profit before the apocalypse but might not be able tomand in the fight against the undead. But Luo Xun was different, he seemed to have a gift, it naturally showed and he got recognition. The wall work the next day was carried out very smoothly. The two went back home with a batch of metal materials that were floated up to the 16th floor...No, this time Luo Xun left the materials on the 15th floor for a while. Xu Mei andpany heard movement and apanied Luo Xun in checking out the three empty rooms in order to determine a good floor n. The rooms inside the three homes were the same size andyout as the ones above, so it was very easy to design. Because these rooms were only being used for nting crops, they did not intend to decorate the area. Only had to take into ount water and moisture proofing, uneven walls, fear that crop waste would affect the walls and so on. Therefore they decided the cover the rooms in metal. Although the metal would rust, Yan Fei could rece it. Clean up would be very simple and convenient. The only issue was..."I did not bring enough metal..." Luo Xun sighed in sadness at the empty room. Thinking of the huge metal ball rolling in the street, the womens mouths twitched, but did not utter a reply. The tworge metal balls were melded into the car, only half a ball was brought in, the rest at the bank. At the time they thought it was enough for everyone to use, who knew... Of course, since Luo Xun decided to take the trees and freezers, they had to make a lot of space. But now that that they thought about it, should have brought all the materials back anyway. Xu Mei quickly changed the topic. "We went out to find soil this morning, did not get much back. Most of it is downstairs, well bring it up when the elevator can be used." Song Lingling added with a smile. "Apart from soil, we also dug out arge chunk of roots! Can you see if it can be used for mushrooms?" "Okay, well go down at five oclock." Luo Xun heard their words and nodded. The more things the better and he would have less problems. He must thank the base for promoting nting, when the two women went out to dig, they met a lot of people. Not everyone could rent space in order to grow vegetables, some like Xu Mei dug soil to bring home and try to grow crops. Naturally would not arouse any attention C it was mostly elderly, women and children out digging for vegetables. After checking the house and returning home to watch the crops, Luo Xun and Yan Fei sat on the couch to figure things out. The puppy squeezed her body into the middle C these days her owners were always out of the house and never came to y with her. Luo Xun patted the puppys head who was not essentially an adult with some helplessness. "The three rooms, home heating...forgot to count Xu Meis home, should be done together. As for the shelves on the outside walls..." He had reached half of his past lifes dream, "live at the top with the best lighting, cover the walls in sr panels". There would be many sr panels, but the problem was after it was full? The electricity was enough to supply their home nting, but cannot take out to sell. Of course electricity could make one rich, but harvesting food and variety of vegetables could do the same. Yan Fei smiled and advised, "Some of these things we can collect slowly over time. The rest C such as sr panels, well consolidate out points and buy more panels. These energies will be used by all, so they will not have a problem." "Thats right, now we need to wait for Zhang Yi toe back and see if he handled the issue of room ownership..." Luo Xun was somewhat uncertain. Zhang Yi might not be able to seize the three houses even if they have not been given out. After the apocalypse, some teams got bases, while others were refused. It all depended on whose fist was bigger. In the past, Luo Xun had been worried about thendlording back for the house, but that was because he was a regr person. Now that Yan Fei was around, along with a small team, he no longer worried about this matter. If thendlord did appear one day, Luo Xun would kindly give them another rented house along with some points to settle the matter, then forget about them. But if he was a single normal person, he would be in trouble if went to coordinate with the military. In some ways, Zhang Yi was actually a strong teammate. In particr, he might not agree to do many things, but once he starts, its basically guaranteed to bepleted. Zhang Yi came back home with good news for everyone. "The house is already under the Otaku squad." He stared suspiciously at Li Tie, who had named the team thinking he had no taste. Wu Xin choked on a mouthful of porridge, Li Ties eyes were filled with worship. "Zhang Yi, how did you manage to do this?" Zhang Yi was almost sprayed with rice. "Some houses can be ced under team name. I am toozy to check the specific name, simply wrote down the team name." He turned to Luo Xun. "But have to pay points every month, our homes also need the same amount. To be dealt with by the captain." Luo Xun nodded. "Rest assured, this is not a problem." House rent was not low, but not high either. Even only his and Yan Feis points were enough to cover the amount. Once the crops in the houses were harvested, only needed a fraction to settle the rent. Once the teams base was established, some things needed to be adjusted. For example, every time the team went out to obtain crystal nuclei and bonus points, they should set aside some to pay for the rent. Yesterday, when everyone came back, they handed in the points and crystals. However since they did not have a clear system when they divided before, Luo Xun put forward a system. Luckily he had a lover who could be a cop. Yan Fei took advantage of the issue and established a clearer distribution of benefits. No one raised any objections and readily epted, Luo Xun was secretly relieved. He was not afraid to manage things, he feared people below would cause trouble, especially since they were friends. Fortunately he met honest and caring people, so he no worries for the moment. Since the three empty homes downstairs had been assigned to their team, it was natural to start nning and using them properly. Luo Xun spent a night designing all the 15th floor roooms C including the womens home. Other than 1502, the rest of the homes were fully utilized. Upstairs, the men had set aside a part to use while the rest needed adequate design and nning. In fact, it would be more efficient if the three women moved into 1602 with Zhang Yi so the three empty rooms could be used without issue. But everyone was an adult and needed their own space. Luo Xun was neither inhuman nor overbearing C they were three women after all. And Zhang Yis temper...even Luo Xun would not want to live with him! To fully utilize the 15th and 16th floors, more metal and soil was necessary. Also needed to add mushrooms in order to absorb the poisonous substances in the air to improve the nts overall condition. But there was no way to deal with so many problems at the moment, so they could only take their time. Luo Xun and Yan Fei continued their daily routine C first hang all the sr panels on the wall. With Yan Feis metal powers, the job was simple and without difficulty. In addition, in the other two homes, a nting rack was put in open space. Only the main bedrooms were locked so that Xu Mei, Luo Xun and the others could arrange watering shifts. Yan Fei of course was not inhuman, he left some open space for Zhang Yi to cut metal sandbags. Also set aside some space for Li Tie and the other students. Chapter 93 Judging from the ripped up metal sandbags he was looking at, Zhang Yi had been practicing his abilities everyday. But he was different from Yan Fei, thetter used his powers during the day, extravagantly with army provided nuclei. Zhang Yi was different, he had no chance to use his ability during the day. He could only practice at home in the evening. However, at home did not let the noise disturb the ones next door and below. Every time he exhausted his mental strength, his limbs were tired and he had a delicate appearance. His boyfriend Wang Duo was iparable satisfied because generally speaking...Zhang Yi was usual overbearing self in bed. So he was exhausted after following instructions about favorite posture, duration and so on. But when the overbearing flower was tired after using excessive spiritual energy...Wang Duo would not be bullied? Such a pleasure...*cough it was a secret between Wang Duo and Zhang Yi, not for others to know. Luo Xun and Yan Fei spent two days creating the metal nters and iron window fences for Li Tie and Zhang Yi. The rest of the rooms needed more metal to finish the work. The two men began to break down wood after finishing work. The tree that Luo Xun had collected along with the wood Xu Mei had harvested needed to be sawed to an appropriate size. The saws were of course provided by Yan Fei and the sawdust was not useless waste C it could be collected, dried and given to the worms. Xu Meis home also got some metal shelves to nt some crops. The two women were given some seedlings and familiarized with the workflow of nting. They had to wait for the rest of the metal. The upants of the two storeys spent nearly a month rebuilding their nests. Within the month, Yan Fei used up all the metal he brought back thest time. Zhang Yi brought back a truck filled with metal materials. Luo Xun also got a lot of metal from their own captain. Xu Mei and Song Lingling helped Luo Xun sift the dirt thedies had bud C avoid any mutated, zombie insects or other creatures. There was also the mushroom wood under Luo Xunsmand. Once the mushroom spores were started, each piece of wood was ced in a metal drawer. Of course, in addition to these things, Luo Xun and Yan Fei hadpleted the wall work, the 10 meter tall wall could be clearly seen from the base center. Now the two men followed the team back to the barracks. They were now responsible for continuing building barracks walls. Zhang Yi, Song Lingling and Yu Xinran had all smoothly ascended to level two. With tips and hints from the Yan Fei and Xu Mei, who had leveled up first, the others abilities quickly improved. Song Lingling was the quickest C first because she worked with Xu Mei and second because this month she vigorously made clean water in order to water two floors of nted crops. With this usage of ability, the upgrade speed was naturally very fast. Zhang Yi was only a step behind her since he went home every night and frantically practiced his powers. As for little Ran, because the destructive force of her ability was too big, she practiced everyday but it was not enough. At the end of the month she sessfully absorbed 500 crystal nuclei and rose to level two. The work in the building was not bad, the metal that Zhang Yi and Yan Fei had brought had been used to floor two rooms on the 15th floor. The rest would need to wait until the end of the month. But what about thete growing crops? They were not too anxious, because farming was not done in only one step. The dyed time was needed anyway, the apocalypse was not ending anytime soon. Finally, they used the metal at home to transform the corridors, the sealed metal gate was moved to between the 14th and 15th floors. The space between the staircases had also been upied, once the home crops were done, all kinds of crops could be nted in these ces! Yan Fei had used his old trick of sealing the 16th floor elevator with a thick b of metal. Only certain people would be allowed entry, if someone unknown came in, something unexpected might ur. The twodies had spent the entire month on base, Zhang Yi helped them find work making clothing. Every few days he brought back a batch of cloth to be processed in exchange for points. Sry was not high, could be considered lowest wage on base, but the work times were more flexible. As long as the tasks werepleted on time, each person would choose whatever amount they wanted. There were a lot of women on base who never left doing this kind of work at home. The twodies dug around base in the morning, returned at noon to get a meal. The afternoon and evening were spent at home caring for flowers and nts as well as sewing, plus raising Yu Xinran. In the blink of an eye, the end of May was nearing and the weather was getting hotter. Learning from the situation fromst month, they chose to hunt zombies and collect nuclei in the middle of the four day holiday. Li Tie and the others bitterly tried to get more vacation only to fail. At least they had set their vacation a month in advance to match the others. Zhang Yi was the same, his three day holiday was shifted one day. This month, only the threedies at home sewing and caring for nts were not affected. Right now, Luo Xun was with the team in a room handling mushrooms. Each person had a ss utensil in order to grind mushrooms. Yan Fei sat on the sidelines and ate a sandwich. Yu Xinran was ying with the puppy on the balcony C the little girl was still thin and light, butrger than before. The little puppy was grown to her adult appearance. At half the height of a person, little Ran could ride on her back with no problem! One girl and a puppy yed together, she held a lettuce leaf to tease the puppy with. Xu Mei carefully handled the mushroom juice and looked to the balcony from time to time. In Luo Xuns balcony, the edible rape nt had blossomed, it was a dazzling golden color. "The little puppy is really pitiful, has not been out of the door since childhood." Luo Xun helplesslyughed. "No way, dont dare let her out. You know dogs like to sniff around and sometimes randomly eat things." "Yes, its even more pitiful." Song Lingling also sighed, Luo Xun could not be med since he was being careful. First, if the puppy did not stay put she might touch something dirty and get infected. Plus how long has it been since the people on base have smelt meat? Letting her out now, would the puppy only end up on someones table? Luo Xun also felt helpless, he had decided to raise the puppy in order to scare off intruders. Also to have his ownpanion, with the slight hope that the dog would mutate as well? Mutant animals could not be infected by the zombie virus. Only he now had Yan Fei, who had increased his home security, the puppy seemed less useful. But even so, the two peoples heart felt cleansed when the spoiled little puppy greeted them at home. As for mutant animals...It had been said that some animals had mutated in the early stages of the apocalypse. But people had note across them, no one knew any information, only that at the start of the next year, the animals began to wander around and attack humans...Yes, humans not only needed to face zombie attacks but also animals prowling around. Of course, if the animals had been kept before, they would not attack the owner after mutating. There was a high chance of the animal helping the owner hunt zombies. There were not too many mushrooms that needed to be dealt with today, since they had already handled two batches before C once the mushrooms had matured, they needed to be quickly dealt with. Two of the freezers Luo Xun had brought back were being used for food while the remaining two were storing mushroom juice. One was in Luo Xuns home while the other was in Li Ties home. It seemed that they needed to bring back some more spare units. Luo Xun and Yan Feis experiments on the frozen mushrooms confirmed that at least one month was no problem. There was almost no difference between putting the frozen mushroom liquid into the bullets. How to deal with the situation would depend on the circumstances. Anyway of the two freezers, one was for special bullets and the other was for freezing in mushroom juice. After a day of work, the team had finally prepared the batch of mushrooms and delivered it to the parked car in preparation for the city expedition. In addition to these things, Luo Xun had exchanged for a lot of petrol C using itst time to barbecue corpses had great effect. They would absolutely not pass up on such an efficient method! Even if there was enough mushroom juice to use at home. The morning of the 28th, everyone wore long sleeves, trousers and boots C although the weather had been warm enough to wear short sleeves, people going out of base refused topromise their own safety. Luo Xun stood in front of the group and checked their equipment with the women. After confirming there were no problems, he nodded towards the staircase. "Lets go!" With the previous two experiences, thest after making defensive fortifications, their trip out of base went very smoothly. On the way to the bank, Yan Fei collected all the metal roadside debris in a 20 meter diameter. Li Tie and the students were creeped out as numerous pieces of metal soared into the air. The scattered metal became a ball that rolled alongside the car. Not long after, the ball becamerger andrger like a snowball... The rumbling sounds drew zombies, roaring and jumping with excitement. They ran all the way down the road until they reached the bank, where the "food" they were chasing was camped out. The group checked the bank and confirmed a few tire tracks. It seemed that someone had stopped here but did not use it as a stronghold. It likely had been a while since they were here, Luo Xun and the others rxed a bit. Yan Fei rolled the metal balls while "pumping" out metal. Soon, therge metal walls were reformed even taller and thicker than before with the new added metal. After leaving some firing holes in the wall, the team went back to the entrance and started to set up traps. Luo Xun climbed up the watchtower Yan Fei had made and observed. He frowned beforeing down. "Although some zombies have been lead to the edge of the city, there arent that many around." Although they could simply give up their position to venture deeper into the urban area for nuclei, but the risk was higher. Event though the ability users had risen to level two, ordinary people were ordinary people. They had no other advantages than weapons. "Then does out Captain have any good ideas?" Zhang Yi asked after Luo Xun had finished. He swung his feet, who knew when his shoes had been taken off. "Live bait." Luo Xun stared back. "The best would have both speed and power." Zhang Yis yful expression distorted as he squinted at Luo Xun. "You want to go out there and run?" Luo Xun quickly shook his head as Wang Duo looked over. "Driving a car, and bring a blood bag." Getting a decoy was the most efficient solution, but it was dangerous for the one who went out. This task was naturally most suited for the wind user Zhang Yi, who could increase his own speed. Otherwise, Yan Fei was also a good option C he could use metal to protect himself in a crisis. He could even directly roll the metal shell into a safe ce, the people would be dizzy but safe! Anyway, the two who would go had to prepare their hearts against the risk. Luo Xun said to Yan Fei. "You could also do it, just need to pay attention to the surrounding area. If there is any danger, you must ensure there is enough metal. Can hide in a metal ball if things get dangerous..." Luo Xun had not finished when Zhang Yi impatiently waved his hand as the team worried about getting rolled back messily in a ball. "Ill go, isnt it troublesome otherwise? Who would want to roll back in a metal ball?" After speaking, he did not look at the others expressions and went straight to the car. The petrol and ammunition had been unloaded from the car and the traps had been covered with Yan Feis metal. Zhang Yi stepped on the elerator to speed out but also cheekily drifted through the intersection in front of the bank before following the route drawn by Luo Xun. When the car disappeared, Wang Duo eximed, "I should have gone with him!" Han Li pped him on the head. "What are you doing? Are you right in the head?" "Yeah, if you went along wouldnt Zhang Yi get dyed?" "Right, do you have miracles? Can you manipte the wind?" Even Wang Duo who slept with Zhang Yi was unsure what power was gained after levelling up. He only knew that his ability now had a greater range, the 10 meter hurricane increased to 20 meters. The exact details werepletely unclear. On the other hand, Song Lingling and Yu Xinrans abilities were easy to see. Yu Xinran could now control the created sand within a certain distance, she could target peoples feet and pull them down. In order to exercise her ability, the two sisters brought her to a deserted area and secretly dug up some bunkers. Some people were harmed when they carelessly walked too close to certain parts. Song Linglings water ability was simr, she could control more water and faster. She also had an additional ability C in addition to water, she could control the blood that flowed out from wounds. The range was still limited, for example the mushrooms handled yesterday, Song Lingling could manipte the water in a range of five centimeters. It was enough to deal with the mushroom juice, but it also affected the mushroom itself. So Luo Xun was not willing to let Song Lingling treat the precious mushrooms. She could not try to extract the rotting fluid from the dead zombies C though it still had little practical use. These twomon abilities had very obvious progress, then what about Zhang Yis upper tier wind ability? In half an hour, the team saw an amazing scene C Zhang Yis car seemed be surfing on the wind and rushed all the way back! Jaws dropped with a relieved feeling, nothing less should be expected from the Queen! Zhang Yi arrived on the wind and dumped blood along the way. He hung the blood bags at the end of the car to attract the zombies while drifting around? Zhang Yi walked over and wryly coughed. "While on the road I forgot there were blood bags in the car, without noticing, sprinkled some on the ground." Luo Xun looked at thepartment with the almost empty blood bag then at the bloody tire tracks and stayed silent. He had asked Zhang Yi to be careful and not spill blood, so he handed a metal box over. Did not ask where the box went C Luo Xun suspected it had fallen halfway. He pointed at the car for Wang Duo to help clean the car while the others waited for further orders. Zhang Yi had raced through the urban area to attract as many zombies as possible C no other way, who let him parade around with a blood bag? It was not long before zombies rushed screaming in excitement. At this time Luo Xun was incredibly happy that the road was not too long which limited the number of monsters at once, otherwise they would have such a headache. They followed the same procedure, first clean out scattered zombies, contain outside the wall after and then trap a bunch at once. This was the same pattern asst month, but it was slightly troubling that the number of level two zombies was much higher than thest time. Only one more coffee until the next bonus chapter! Chapter 94 ( ??)o?*:?:?b?: This bonus chapter is sponsored by: Shadoerunner, Nat, Michelle in Colorado, AmemiyaRen and Anon(s). Not only were there a number of basic zombies, people thought the metal zombies that appeared were more troublesome. Of course, although those were level two zombies, because their ability had just manifested, the maniption of metal was very inferior to Yan Fei. People thought it was funny that the zombies would use their abilities to stick metal to themselves as makeshift armor. While it added some defensive power against a wide range of attacks, it also reduced their speed. For Yan Fei, the added weight of the metal made it more easy to kill the zombies. With an upper tier metal user, the metal zombies died almost too quickly, after all, they were covered in metal. Zhang Yi drove around twice over the course of two days. They gathered all the corpses and the afternoon of thest day and burned them together. After the battles, there had been more than 8,300 zombie deaths. Excluding the amount needed for the nuclei mission and team costs, everyones harvest was very substantial. Luo Xun consulted with the team and decided that the level two nuclei that no one could use were to be set aside. Once they went back to base they could trade for needed first level nuclei or points. After cleaning up the nearby zombies, Luo Xun and the others began to collect supplies. This time they had to bring back a lot of metal but also needed a refrigerator and wood to renovate the farming facilities in their homes. "Its finished." Luo Xun looked in the rear view car mirror and felt satisfaction at therge pieces of metal behind him. Yan Fei maneuvered the giant metal ball near the car. The others found a car that only had the frame remaining, the metal poured into the frame and gave the appearance that three vehicles were going back into base. Although their speed would be affected, they were not willing to leave these things behind. "Well, now we can do a lot of things that we could not do before. The next time wee out, we can focus on hunting zombies." Yan Fei smiled at the rear view mirror. Luo Xun nodded and calcted what to do after returning, what things needed to be moved first, which were not a priority. Plus anything the couple required at the moment... "What is that?" Yan Feis brow wrinkled as he pointed east. "It seems like...car, convoy? Why is there so much dust behind them?" Luo Xun froze and his heart tightened as he sneaked a nce. "Tell the cars behind us to speed up! Hurry back!" They were not too far away from the base, could already see the tall walls in the distance. The dust cloud was further away from base, but their cars were slowed because of the weight. Yan Fei used his abilities to spell out "Get ready to elerate" using the metal on top the car. They could use their phones normally on base, out of base it could be used to send distress signals through satellite but no calls. Though Yan Fei had methods to get around that inconvenience. After seeing those words, Xu Mei opened the window and red three times C this was the signal. Even if they did not see Yan Feis metal words, they would realize through Xu Meis fire signal. The four cars immediately sped back towards base. They finally entered the base gate, the convoy was already drawing near. They took the opportunity to look outside, faintly saw the bodies had less damage and scars. After entering the base, everyone was relieved. During the half hour waiting time for crystal nuclei payment, the team members gathered together. "Luo Xun, whats going on?" Luo Xun shook his head. "I am not sure, just saw arge dust cloud in the east. Since I was worried I made everyone speed back." A few people were relieved, it was not a problem with their car. Someone was about to ask what happened to the cars on the eastside when a loud bang came from the iron gate. It was as if there was an earthquake as the ground shook. "Whats going on?!" Did a car hit the gate? In the eerie silence, there was a booming noise. The crowd began to riot. Luo Xun was startled and looked nervously at Yan Fei before instantly issuing instructions. "Hurry back to the car!" "Yes!" The group was panicked, immediately followed Luo Xun to the parked cars but did not immediately enter, just standing nearby. Some people who saw Luo Xun also hurried towards the parked vehicles and climbed inside. Tried to get back into base but the staff would not let people through. Some of the water users washing cars also stopped their work while helping keep order. They looked at the front door in fear. The waiting area became noisy, people did not want to stay in the same area as those with visible injuries and asked to return in advance. Although no one knew what had happened outside, there must have been an ident! They did not want to die here! At the same time, a group of trucks filled with soldiers was also heading towards the city gate. They were temporarily for emergencies and could support those on the wall for the safety of the base. Luo Xun andpany could hear the sound of trucks pass the waiting area walls, the sound of footsteps and the emergence of gunmen above. Gunfire rang out not long after, the previous rm had also temporarily stopped. "Just let us in! Or dont me us for being rude!" Suddenly someone called out from not far away. The team saw a fire user form a fireball. Three fireballs flew towards the car staff. The waiting area became very disorderly as mob mentality set in. Most of the people who went out were part of teams, would be be polite at a time like this? Each attacked the managers, grabbed their own car and tried to break through the waiting area into base. The door had been broken, the rest of the people would not stupidly wait here. All wanted a car to rush back into the base. Luo Xun and his team looked at each other. They were surrounded by chaos, all the people in the waiting area had gathered, but some people were stealing others goods from cars and so on. The nearby soldiers on duty heard the sounds and rushed over. A gunshot rmed everyone but calmed the situation. But before shouting started, an ice pick flew straight towards the captains head! *Whoosh* A wall seemingly appeared out of thin air in from the soldiers. A few grabbed their guns to stop the rioting crowd. The squad was visibly startled by the sudden appearance of a metal wall but it came and then quickly receded. The violent crowd thought that there was an ability user amongst the soldiers, they calmed down after seeing the weapons in their hands. The fever madness gradually calmed down. Although he did not know who saved him, the captain was still calm as he spoke to the crows with a megaphone. "The base is not in danger, the army is maintaining order on the wall. Everyone return to the waiting area! In ordance with the rules on base, once the specified time has passed, everyone can go home!" "What about the others who had already gone in?" The captain had not spoken yet when a group of soldiers came through the door with explosion-proof shields. The people who rushed though wereing back without protest. Seeing that the situation had been stabilized, Luo Xun and the others followed the crowd back to the previous waiting area. There were lucky soldiers looking after their cars. This time the team did not bring back anything else other than a lot of metal. Since Yan Fei had conveniently blocked the ice pick for the captain, it would not be expected for them to smuggle some metal inside the base. This time Luo Xun still chose the blood test method, they would be able to return smoothly half an hour after the test. The crowd whispered about what was urring outside, the gunfire on the wall had not stopped at all. At this time, Luo Xun and Yan Fei felt their phones ring, they were slightly surprised before telling Li Tie, "Our captain wants us to participate in wall defense. For now, go home with the car, the other car will be ready when we get back." The team paused then nodded. "Luo Xun, you be careful. If there is anything, call or send us message!" Now that everyone had returned to base, they could use the mobile phones normally. The two raised their hands and the waiting area staff verified the message. After some soldiers took them directly to the walls edge. Captain Guo was surprised at the location of the pair C right at the front door! Hurrying up the gate, it was their first time here at dusk, they usually never worked thiste. "You arrived so fast!" Captain Guo froze upon seeing the couple. "We just came back from a mission today and were waiting in the area below." Luo Xun exined. He looked under the wall and jumped. "Zombie mouse?! A zombie rat?" Captain Guo had no time to exin to the two and only bitterly said, "Isnt it?! I dont know where these things came from but they can bite through car brakes and deform doors. If you are not here...Yan Fei,e look, can you repair this?" Someone who is good at repairing metal items? The team building the wall went to find Yan Fei. He was very skilled and specialized in producing and repairing all kinds of metal equipment. A one of kind genius...Well thest was exaggeration but there was no one more experienced in the team of four metal users. Everytime their superiors encountered a strange problem it would be thrown at them. Yan Fei would the first to find a method and then teach his experience to the others. Captain Guo was a little worried, if Yan Fei could not find a solution, then there would be trouble. The crowd was a distance away from the damaged gate. There were several busy soldiers on top the wall, they confirmed that the people inside the car were no longer alive. For some reason, the zombie rats managed to get inside but did not attack right away. Waited until the cars were driving towards the gate before attacking, causing the collision. The sad news was two cars directly hit the gate because they did not turn, the remaining car had an issue part way through and was overturned. The zombie rats covered in flesh and rags were frantically digging burrows right in front of the gate! "Captain Guo! How deep is the foundation?" A person loudly asked the captain and team. "Three meters! Higher ups orders!" Captain Guo immediately shouted back. "Okay then, quick! Transport the gas!" The man was relieved but was still worried that the metal was too shallow and the zombie mice would find an opportunity. Zombie rats were too small, guns were single target thus they could only attack with wide ranged methods. Do not say that people could not aim in such a chaotic situation, even Luo Xun had a headache against these agile creatures, he could only attack in close range. They could only let Zhang Yi, Xu Mei and Yu Xinran, the three peoples attacks to eliminate the zombies. "Captain, if you have a fire ability user, you can do it!" Luo Xun said to Captain Guo seeing they were moving gasoline over for defense. Captain Guo was directing Yan Fei to first try and deal with the deformed door. The metal walls were all connected, even if there was a bit of distance, he could use conduct door repair through the metal. Captain Guo wrinkled his brow. "Now is a bad time..." Although there were fire users in the army and there should be arrangements during danger, but there was no support, who knew where those people were. It should be known, although most of the zombies had gathered at this gate, there was no guarantee that there would be none elsewhere! Yan Fei pressed his hands against the metal wall. The two pieces of metal that were knocked out of the car were restored to their original state in front of their eyes! The two cars beside the first were also changed. He split his attention to listen to the dialogue behind him. He spoke to Captain Guo, "Could we separate a part of the wall to attack under the zombie mice?" "Ah?" Captain Guo had a question mark above his head as he looked puzzled. "The wall is a meter thick, a third of the thickness should be enough to kill a lot of the undead." He turned to the few metal users near him. "I have limited mental energy, need the four of us toe together." The others listened and then turned to Captain Guo C they had almost forgotten they were ability users, they could use their metal powers to fight! Almost thought themselves only professional wall builders! Luo Xun smiled and said persuasively, "Since the gasoline has note, there is no harm in letting them at least try." Looking at the group of red eyed zombie rats that were starting to chew on the metal wall. Captain Guo became serious and climbed up the gate. After two minutes, themand director came over with Captain Guo and asked solemnly, "You have an idea?" Yan Fei pointed at the two smashed cars in front of the gate. "As long as the two cars are moved away, there should be six or seven. But you need to burn the ground with petrol. After the battle, earth users will need to repair thend at the gate." "You can try it." He had asked about gasoline, it wasing but there were traffic idents on the main road because of people who fled the waiting area. The road was blocked! Those people were real pieces of work! Yan Fei immediately exined the n to the other three metal users C it was simply splitting ayer of the wall to form an iron te to fall straight down. As for the after, he could carry out subtle maniption to not let as many zombies not escape. On the other side, cars were pushed away by several earth users on the wall. Everything was the same, it may take a lot of energy and time to build but only a moment to destroy. *Rumble* A loud bang from the wall, a huge vibration was felt through the waiting area. People working closer to the gate stopped work and looked over C the gate was breached? Were they going to die? The soldiers had to abandon the cars because of the traffic jam and desperately headed towards the gate. How could it be broken? The supplies had not yet arrived?! The dust settled to reveal arge number of twisted metal doors. There was silence beneath the walls, people exchanged horrified nces C this was a sess? All eyes converged to the small group of four, expressions filled with questions but dared not ask. Suddenly Yan Fei had a fierce expression on his face dotted with sweat. He pressed on the metal wall, the onlookers suddenly say the metal te twisted up! Like a pair ofrge invisible hands were wringing a towel, therge metal board was all rolled together! Shum Ping gasped for air and sat on the side to restore energy since he did not have enough range or reserves. "How was it? You all right?" The soldiers who took care of him came forward and handed him a towel. Shum Ping shook his head and wryly smiled at Captain Guo, "I have no mental strength." Captain Guo smiled stiffly, his heart was still worried about the situation under the wall. "You rest first, wait for supplies to arrive and give you a crystal nucleus." The remaining two men, with Yan Fei sent their spiritual energy into the metal sheet. They could obviously feel a mental power guiding them through the steps. Although at a distance it was more difficult to control, but sharing their spirit made it more powerful. Together the metal users pinched and trampled the zombies. Crushed them to death... Chapter 95 After five or six minutes, Yan Fei walked over with a sigh of relief. "Almost done. Captain, are there no crystal nuclei? We dont have enough strength to restore the gate." Right after, several logistic department soldiers carrying gasoline climbed up while panting. They saw that the door was not an ident since it had not rotted or broken. They ran up with the gasoline and did not have time to ask any questions. "The petrol has arrived, need...hold on! Whats the situation!" The towering metal walls were 10 meters, not a small number. Then the t, metal board twisted and then dropped to the ground like a used towel! "What about crystal nuclei? Did the logistics division send crystal nuclei? Metal users need supplies!" Captain Guo did not have time to answer their questions and hurriedly shouted. "In the back." The person responsible for delivering the petrol quickly replied. They were afraid that the walls would not hold so the priority went to transporting the petrol ahead first. Themander in charge of defense immediately sent someone to pick up the supplies. The four metal users were grateful, grabbed a handful and began to absorb. Once their energy was replenished, they put their hands back on the wall. The people on the wall were once again treated to the scalp numbing sight of the crumpled metal board slowly untwisting. It was shaken a few times to get rid of debris stuck on the inside...zombie rat bodies and crushed car parts. Cheering filled the whole wall. Luo Xun whispered to Captain Guo. "Not all the zombie mice were at this gate, it is best to let other people check elsewhere, lest dangerter." Captain Guo schooled his expression and went to inform themander of this matter. The feat made the people on the wall boil with excitement but Yan Fei ignored the others, did not celebrate. He and Luo Xun waited at the side and left the wall after quietly confirming there was nothing else to do. They returned to the waiting area to grab their car. Captain Guo had given them a note, no need for blood tests or waiting a few hours this time. Li Tie and the others were not here at this time, they had taken the car with the metal materials as well. The men drove back and saw the car ident they had heard about on the wall. Although there was no one around, there were a still a few overturned cars that had been pulled to the side of the road. It appeared that the military would need new road regtions or else this situation would ur again. Since it concerned the safety of the base, the people would have to pay attention. Back in their neighborhood, they parked next to Li Tie. Yan Feimanded the metal to float as they climbed the stairs. When they opened the metal door on the 15th floor, they were weed by Xu Mei and the rest of the team. Yan Fei put away the metal materials and had deliberately took a few extra crystal nuclei from Captain Guo. Having unlimited crystal nuclei sent to the front was rare, if he did not take advantage what kind of person would he be? Luo Xun smiled at the group. "Came out to catch your breath?" Xu Mei alsoughed. "Come sit down with us and rest before going home again." The sky had turnedpletely ck when Xu Mei let the couple inside. The room only had a smallmp on a table. There were rows of metal shelves on the balcony. Although the room seemed to be a bit crowded, it could still amodate 11 people. Yu Xinran was already sleepy, she leaned against Xu Meis chest and rubbed her eyes. Song Lingling quietly said, "Should we let little Ran go to sleep first?" Xu Mei nodded and returned to the bedroom, she came out alone afterwards. During that time, the people were seated in the metal chairs that they had brought back. Luo Xun exined the situation at the gate with a sigh. "It was zombie mice, we did not go out too early. The zombies are very fast and cautious, fortunately we did not encounter any while out." All the people paled. "God, how could even rats be zombies? How are we going to get into the city if all the animals be zombies?" They had seen zombie cats and dogs outside but because the team reacted quickly and there were powerhouses on call, the situation was resolved before animal could attack. But mice who moved quickly, it was hard to aim at with their small bodies. If encountered outside...one could not imagine the result... Xu Mei suddenly said. "Maybe there were some outside, I remember I thought I heard squeaking in the middle of the night, but since there was a fire trap outside, did not notice it..." She turned to Yan Fei. "Thanks for constructing thicker walls..." The few times Yan Fei had gone out, he had built a high wall as a protective measure. He subconsciously made them at least a meter thick, lest Zhang Yi cut threw it with his wind. Yan Fei would naturally remove the walls when they left. The inside of the bank building was inconspicuous but he did not control the foundation. Let Zhang Yi blow Yu Xinrans sand trapped with water to cover up instead. Now that they thought about it... The people felt slightly disturbed and looked at each other with ufortable expressions. Luo Xun decided to add someforting words. "Even if there are zombie rats outside, there should not be too many. As long as we find out in advance, there is no problem since we have very good protective measures." He smiled winningly at Yan Fei. Yan Fei also smiled with raised eyebrows and a self-confident expression. The other people were relieved, He Qiankun nodded filled with trust. "Right! We have Yan Fei who can wrap the zombie mice in metal, dont think those mice have sharp teeth!" His words were met withughter. Indeed, if Yan Fei had time he could make a protectiveyer of metal. There would be no problems as long as he did not meet zombies with high level metal abilities or encountered thunder zombies. In fact, Luo Xun initially had Yan Fei build a wall in the bank to prevent attacks from earth zombies. Level two earth zombies were not capable of drilling in dirt but there was the possibility of escaping the attack through other methods. After saying that, the team discussed future ns C mainly how to renovate several rooms, cultivation priority of nts and so on. Then the men went back upstairs to the 16th to sleep. The next morning, the five students were forced to drag their tired, aching bodies to the workce. Since their work had been on the right track, now they had to sit in front of theputer everyday to input and edit. It did not consume physical strength otherwise the students would not be able to survive. Luo Xun and Yan Fei got upte. Afterzing in bed until 10 oclock they got up to make breakfast. When the two went to prepare to pick up things from downstairs, they encountered Zhang Yi yawning and rubbing his eyes as he opened the door. Seeing several bright hickeys, Luo Xun could not help but say, "Such stamina." Two days outside on a mission, Wang Duo incredibly still had enough strength to roll in the sheets! Zhang Yi felt that shame was owed, his peach blossom eyes smiled as he patted Luo Xuns shoulder. "Envious? Who knew that you would have such a mouth, should not be." Thest part made Yan Fei narrow his eyes and sh with slight coldness. Luo Xun felt the hair on the back of his neck rise up. An awkward cough came from the stairs, Xu Mei pretended to have heard nothing while covering Yu Xinrans innocent ears. When they were noticed, she smiled to Luo Xun, "Little Ran came to y with the puppy" Zhang Yi was paired with Wang Duo, she had not seen wrong. Finding ways to bend the rest of the men became more convenient! "Come on, shes inside." Luo Xun smiled and opened the door to 1603. Luo Xun had left Puppy in this room earlier C mainly because the little girl yed happily with the puppy. Yu Xinran could take care of the puppy while the couple were out at work. The couple usually did not let people into their home, but since everyone had officially be a team and they needed to teach the others farming techniques...1603 door was no longer locked in order for everyone to more easily care for the vegetables. Yu Xinan ran in with a burst of cheer, Puppy was very sensible, she did not out into the corridor even if the door was open. She shook her tail and waited for little Ran to get on and they ran into a room, the little girl wasughing. The group hurried downstairs to open Yan Feis sealed car and began carrying things upstairs. They had brought back a lot of things this time C the fridges they brought backst time was clearly not enough for their use. This time they brought back two freezers and a fridge along with arge amount of wood and metal materials. The elevators were not avable at the moment so they just took the smaller pieces back upstairs C like petrol and pieces of wood. Yan Fei manipted arge pile of floating metal, slowly carried various things behind the group as they made their way back upstairs. The neighborhood today was obviously more lively than usual. The situation at the gate yesterday was quickly resolved but people on base still panicked in the crisis. Some people who usually went out for work stayed at home. There were also rumors spreading around base C for example, zombie animals had attacked the base, some said that there was a new, more terrifying type of zombie outside. Luo Xun andpany ignored those things, when they got back upstairs, they started to renovate the rooms with metal. Yan Fei had four rooms to overhaul, including the three womens room. After some discussion they decided to give Xu Meis room priority to be thoroughly renovated, the rest could be done gradually. While Yan Fei renovated, Luo Xun with Zhang Yi and others began to deal with the pieces of wood. He taught them which pieces of wood were better, how to attach mushroom spore along with the humidity and temperature for optimal growth. Several people tinkered for a day, Li Tie and his friends came back in the evening and helped bring more wood. The fridge and freezer were finally moved upstairs. When things were busy at home, it made people overlook many things around them. The next day, Luo Xun held his sour waist (the cause? You can guess~) while driving to the barracks. They saw Captain Guo with a smile as he patted a bag with crystal cores. He just remembered that the base gate ident was only yesterday, he had felt that several days had already passed. "This was specially awarded to us by the higher ups for eliminating the zombie rats." Captain Guo suddenly whispered to them, "Do you know how many zombie rats you killed the day before?" Not to mention others, even Yan Fei did not figure out how many mice. They were not big, like a person stomping on ants, who knew how many were killed during the attack? Captain Guo smirked and moved his eyebrows. "More than 600! Who knows how that many mice were in that car, so many more came after!" Then he sighed with some fear. "In addition the ones you killed at the gate, a lot of mice ran to other parts of the wall to make holes, luckily we discovered it early...The men sent to check the zombie mice had petrol and fire powers but it was not as fast as our team!" He then had a proud look and had important words. "Your abilities have been confirmed to be useful for base protection and defense. So it was decided yesterday that you should serve on the front lines during critical situations to eliminate zombies that cause huge crises on base, in addition to the usual responsibility of base construction. We must prepare for this matter." Captain Guo turned to the rest of the group. "Our team is one, so others will need to step up. These are supplies given from base, not entirely for our wall. Also give a chance to enhance your abilities, plus other tasks will give you more crystal nuclei..." This represented the importance attached to them by their superiors but it also meant they were likely to encounter more problemster. After that, Captain Guo assigned the crystal nuclei to the power users. For encouragement, the bosses in addition to crystal nuclei, each person also got extra canteen meal quantities and other items C everybody was more excited about thesepared to crystal nuclei. Captain Guo walked towards the city wall with the team. Halfway, he deliberately called Yan Fei to walk with him and whispered, "I did not mention your work yesterday, but this is not to pressure you to take credit, but worried...Your abilities are significantly stronger than the three but the more power means a higher possibility of being assigned a more dangerous task. So I temporarily hid the matter, said to the boss that it was the four of you together that copsed the wall and smashed the zombie rats." Although there were other soldiers who had seen, since Yan Fei was on their team, they were clear on how to act. Yan Fei gave an understanding smile. "Its for the best, I understand your reasoning." In fact, not long ago when they joined the team Luo Xun said to Captain Guo C they were willing to participate in base construction, also willing to work as a member of base to pay their obligations but did not want anything to disturb the couples rtively quiet life. Guo also understood the two peoples desire when he made the decision yesterday. After all, yesterday he had seen that Yan Fei had been able to destroy the zombies and guided the other metal users the entire time. Yan Fei always had energy in reserve. It was an attitude of self-preservation and a sign he was unwilling to mix too deeply with the base. Captain Guo could understood but hoped that he could get greater cooperation from Yan Fei. He had no ambition, as long as he maintained his stable life, did not worry about being used as cannon fodder and did not fear losing his footing. Because his intentions coincided with those of Yan Fei, the two were told to conceal Yan Feis power in the report and the bosses. Who let their team bepiled into logistics? He did not want to take his soldiers out to die. Luo Xun followed the team back to the barracks, the peripheral walls had beenpletely built and now they were rebuilding all the interior buildings. Yes, all the former dormitory, office buildings, canteens and so on were to be rebuilt and integrated into the wall. After that, Captain Guo took everyone to where they had worked before the holiday and said quietly, "Bosss orders, need to finish the barracks perimeter wall in one month, good job with underground construction projects. Early next month well repair the wall between the inner and outer walls." The ident had made the people of the barracks very nervous, the base had not expected the zombie mice to try and drill into the base, although it did not seed. So the higher ups meeting yesterday was rowdy. It had been suggested that the metal users return to the outer wall and thicken the walls again. It was proposed that the barracks be thoroughly wrapped in a metal shell from the outside. There was also a proposal to dig a wider moat outside the base allowing them to check problems before allowing people inside... After a whole day of quarrels, they decided to let Yan Fei and the other metal users continue to repair the barracks. The wall there was not deep enough and needed to bepletely wrapped with metal. It would be cup shaped and extend in all directions from the base. In addition, the trenches outside the city would be widened and be real moats with added water. The moat naturally had nothing to do with Luo Xuns team, the only thing they needed to deal with was the pile of metal outside the barracks. The two people were busy for the entire day, the metal users in addition to the reward got more crystal nuclei to replenish themselves. Did not know if their captain had argued, or the higher ups had deliberately given them over. Drove back home, shipped another batch of metal upstairs. The couple started todays tasks. In the 16th floor corridor, wooden sounds echoed. Xu Mei and Song Lingling moved the good wood through the door of 1602, thepleted wood went to Luo Xuns hands. On the 15th floor, Yan Fei was using the metal to renovate the rooms C the floors had been paved, now he had to install the floors, walls and other things. As for more detailed nting racks and other things, it need Luo Xun to arrange those nting specific things to do after. The readers sent in extra coffees over the weekend, halfway until the next bonus chapter! Chapter 96 Several peoples worksted for a week, finally the 16th floor preparations werepleted... "Huh? Look up, I remember that only the 16th floor had iron shelves outside the window? Why does the 15th floor suddenly have them too?" "How did you not notice? Wasnt there already a metal fence outside the windows?" "But what about the other rooms?" "Who knows, theres nothing hanging on the shelf anyway." Sr panels were t, it would be more conspicuous if taken out along, but less noticeable if shielded from view with a metal fence. Over the past few days, Luo Xun pooled together everyones points to exchange for many sr panels. He still failed topletely fill the two walls, had to make more effort. In thest month, Xu Mei and Song Lingling had gradually brought back the required soil. The earth was treated and ced neatly into a nting rack. In the 15th floor corridor, there were rows of nt shelves near 1503 and 1504. Outside there was also two fridges and a washing machine. Li Tie and friends had bought the washing machine and it was exclusively used as a public machine C except Luo Xun and Yan Fei. The two freezers were used to prepare vegetables for harvesting since there was no electricity at the moment. Thest refrigerator was ced into Li Ties home because the crops they had nted before were harvested and needed storage space. Now, Luo Xun was with the two women, followed by Yan Fei. They brought to their home a box of good seedlings. All they needed to do with these seedlings C rice transnt! Other than Xu Meis room on the 15th floor, the remaining rooms were ready to be nted with rice. This would be their future food source! Nowadays, although there were a number of team members, but if Luo Xun could sessfully grow the rice in these three rooms...With their other alternating crops, it would enough for their groups food supplies. Luo Xuns goal was to have quality mutated rice varieties. Even if he was unable to produce high quality variants, they could grow normal rice that had a much higher price on basepared to the bad tasting, high yield regr variant rice. Luo Xun ate at least one meal outside of home. Li Tie, Zhang Yi and the others who worked every day could eat two meals in the base. The women were the only ones who only ate at home and not much. If their crops could be sessfully grown, harvesting whatever kind of rice will be folded in their resources. Whats more, there were more benefits. Luo Xun had originally prepared some seeds but the number was not enough to fill the rooms. It was fortunate that the base promoted home farming, nts had surprisingly low exchanging prices! Plus, Luo Xun and Li Ties connections, the price of seeds was even lower. There was no absolutely problem with nting the two floors. The group walked into 1504 C this room and 1501 were three bedroom apartments with a bigger indoor area. Now it had been filled with rows of iron shelves which were divided into threeyers, although it only looked like two. No need to ask about the lowest level, it was a humble drawer with holes with a piece of processed wood inside. Mushrooms would grow on the wood, it would take some time and they did not need to pay too much attention to care. On top of the mushrooms was the field, which was filled with tilled soil, waiting for seedlings to be nted. Afterwards, the seedlings needed to be watered. Of course, these iron shelves were designed by Luo Xun. He also designed the water spout so that the liquid would be circted at the correct time. A row of fluorescentmps was on top of the shelves C lighting fixtures. The top shelves also had soil, if one wanted to harvest some grown vegetables, they could easily climb thedder to reach the shelf. The upper shelves had less space than the lower ones, and could only grow crops that were not too tall, such as potatoes, onions and other leafy greens. It was simr to the row of shelves leaning against a wall in 1603. Luo Xun prepared to nt a variety of vine crops and build a trellis on the ceiling so they could make full use of the space. The two empty rooms on the 15th floor had the same design. In addition to the rooms people were living in, arge variety of fruits and vegetables had been nted. The empty rooms were filled with nts, not a inch of space was wasted. Luo Xun andpany were even ready to grow some vegetables in the corridors and stairs that needed light each day such as lettuce and asparagus. Luo Xun had decided that the others rooms would mainly grow some fruit and some fast-growing vegetables. That way it would be easier to take care of and harvest faster. One by one the seedlings were inserted into the soil. Since the weather was nice, they would be able to grow many seedlings. Luo Xun also taught Xu Mei and Song Lingling about the seedlings so thatter the twodies could cultivate the nts. After the seedlings were nted, Song Lingling stood in the bathroom with the water tank and began to fill it. Once the water reached a certain level, Luo Xun waved, "Release the water!" The water trickled into the pots filled with seedlings, adding to the rooms vitality. Xu Mei and Song Linglings eyes were filled with joy while looking at the filled rows of nting racks. This feeling towards nting and farming was very good! Although it was only a number of young shoots, but they represented the vitality of the people. "Well, todays about done, lets go back and get some vegetable seeds to nt" Luo Xun turned and smiled at the twodies. The three empty rooms on the 15th floor had been transformed into nursery rooms, they would depend on this room to develop and cultivate the usual seedlings. In addition, Luo Xun divided the quails amongst the team. The two women would more reliably nurture these little weak birds than Li Tie on their balcony. These were counted as team property, while each persons room was still their own. The public space purchased by the Otaku team was the most prolific. Usually the captain would pay the most, but they agreed to decide the details after the farming had some profit. In addition to expanding their area of operations, Luo Xun got more as the leader, the other people paid ording to the person, the number of points could vary. Yan Fei found this was more proficient even before the apocalypse, naturally no one had any objections. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had happy smiles and left with Luo Xun. "Were going to buy some food. Once we return well have dinner with little Ran." "Be careful on the road." The twodies said farewell as Luo Xun and Yan Fei went back to the 16th floor. They opened the door to 1603 and heard Yu Xinranughing as the puppy ran to the gate. "Uncle, the puppy just peed over there!" The little girl eximed but Puppy did not understand that she was sold out by her ymate right away. Luo Xuns mouth twitched when he saw where Yu Xinran was pointing, sure enough there was shelf corner covered in suspicious liquid. Although it could be used as fertilizer...the smell was an issue! He had already taught the puppy to pee in the bathroom! Luo Xun poked the puppys forehead, the little dog closed her eyes and her tail slowed down. She was still puzzled as to why Luo Xun was doing this. "You are a chow chow! A smart chow chow, not stupid! Where did you learn this sort of thing?" Luo Xun pointed at the increasingly dumbfounded dog and then realized C now was not the time to teach her smarts, but to tell her not to pee in the room! Yan Fei smiled as Luo Xun started to grumble at the puppy. What use would scolding the puppy who only had the IQ of a four or five year old child about their actions? Puppy was very obedient in 1604 other than using slippers as a dinner table and hiding them away. But after she wandered into 1603 from time to time who knew what happened. Although not too frequent, each time he came back from an excursion something happened, Luo Xun regret not buying an older dog to avoid these issues. In 1603 some of the quick growing vegetables were ready to harvest. After checking, they sent Captain Li a message saying they could send a batch of vegetables soon. It was not long before Xu Mei and Song Lingling came back with food. Luo Xun gave them a ball of lettuce C it was his own property and not from the team. They thanked Luo Xun for giving Yu Xinran vitamin rich vegetables (for some reason the little girl and the puppy only liked to eat lettuce). "When we came back, we saw the vacant ground below the second floor had been dug out." Luo Xun thought it could not be an ident. "Was it a mutated nt?" Xu Mei shook her head, "We didnt see, but there seemed to be a lot of things surrounded by a tight fence, now its been demolished." Since the base encouraged everyone to start nting thend, there seemed to be no results but there were many problems. There were pioneers like Luo Xun who included printed, basic nting knowledge while selling seeds. They also reminded others that in order to reduce the chance of nt mutation, needed to use clean, distilled water. But who would be like Luo Xun, using such a troublesome and extravagant way to deal with water in order to grow vegetables? Some people only boiled it once before using, even then some people thought it was a waste of coal. The vast majority of people simply usedmon tap water, only those with water powers could purify thend. As a result, these nts started to mutate before fully grown and harvested. Some of the mutant nts were edible, not very tasty, but there were also aggressive mutant nts! The seedlings were not conspicuous, except they looked a bit different from normal. But once they rooted, they could absorb nutrients from soil and shoot up overnight. Overnight, all the surrounding vegetables were strangled by the mutant nts. The threatening branches wantonly waved and attacked anything in range, some even spewed venom from a distance. Afterwards, nevermind uprooting andpletely burning it, the piece ofnd could not be used at all, but would also cause harm to passerbys. As a result, the outdoor areas in each neighborhood were often dug out and then pushed to one side. As for those who grew vegetables at home on the balcony? It was not a serious issue, anyways Luo Xun andpany did not know many details. The next morning, the couple drove the car filled with vegetables. Li Tie and the others followed to help carry things. This time they were selling Luo Xuns harvest along with that of Li Tie and friends. Luo Xun decided that after this time the proceeds from 1603 would be team property. In the future the harvests would be merged into the team funds and distributed ording to contributions. Plus, the other crops would be profitable at that time. Now, Luo Xun also decided to bring back some crystal nuclei for Xu Mei and Song Lingling. After all, although it was their property, the two women put in a lot of effort for the watering and management. They got on the bus and left the area and saw a lively group near the gate. Something was surrounded by a circle of idlers that were pointing fingers. "This morning seems so lively?" Wang Duo who thrived on gossip left his queens side to seek out information. "Its fine, we can ask about itter, better not bete." Luo Xun was curious, but they had more important things to do. "Yes! Ill only look, not leaving..." Wang Duo looked reluctantly out of the window. Zhang Yi crossed his hands, no doubt ready to give the other a kick if annoyed. The car drove into the barracks and stopped at the canteen. Because the harvest wasrger, a small trailer came out to weigh the produce. Captain Li, Luo Xun and Yan Fei stood and chatted while the others moved the goods. "Recently, have a lot of people been at home nting things? Are there other sellers?" Luo Xun asked inquiring about recent news. Captain Li sighed, "Theres a few, you know that the exchange windows are epting vegetables, but a lot of them are mutated, we dare not use them. I heard some of the other canteens have tested and there is no problem, but the amount is not much." Not only was there not much, the ntable areas were not seeing heavy use. After all, most people grew their own vegetables for their own use. Unless the price of vegetables soared, few people would exchange them for points or crystal nuclei. Luo Xuns vegetables were mostly cheap ones, this was a foundation to find a suitable way to keep selling themter. "Some of the people who nted vegetables found a lot of mutated ones. Many pits have been dug in the area, which would unfortunately affect production." Captain Li then suddenly turned serious and whispered, "There arent only problems with the vegetable plots, I heard there were problems when they sowed grainst month in a field." "Eh problem? What problem?!" Luo Xun froze and urgently asked. Captain Li had a distant look in his eyes as he said, "Didnt it rain a few days ago? I was told that half the healthy seedlings began to turn yellow. At first they thought it was a pest, but once they were fully grown, the colour changed, all were mutated nts!" Luo Xun raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Didnt the military find a way to reduce nt mutation?" "It was found, but its only useful during the seedling stage..." Captain Liughed, "Heard that the researchers tested it, though the color changed, there were no problems. Not toxic, nor aggressive, only a change in appearance. Okay, other than the taste." Of course, it tasted awful. Luo Xun nodded at the words but did not ask anymore questions. Even if he asked, Captain Li was likely to not have any other information. Yellow rice was the mostmon variant from his past life. Production andposition was not affected, only the taste was not good. "This is todays crystal nuclei." Captain Li confirmed the weight before handing over the bag over to the pair. Then the couple returned to their workce. "So we nt vegetables inside the house. Although the cost is high, it can at least ensure crop safety." Thanks to the special wood in the room, should ensure that there is less mutation during the growth period. "Since the base site was hit with slight spring rain and some small drizzles, if the base was careful during cultivation, some mutation could have been avoided. Its no wonder that other people had such high concentrations of mutated crops." Yan Fei nodded. "We should exchange some more sr panels andmps at home for recements in case of idents." There was another benefit of nting crops at home, since Luo Xun was now nting rice, as long the nts were cared for, there would be considerable produce, although not as much as the experimental plots. So long as the nts were cared for, perhaps there was no need to change the crops, continue growing rice. Of course, Luo Xun decided to nt some wheat or corn after the fall harvest depending on circumstances. Two people in the car talked on the way to work. They met the rest of the team before Captain Guo continued the days work. The Otaku team had an easy time farming, not only were the crops growing healthy, the small quails were also growing quickly. The first batch has grown and even startedying eggs! Yu Xinran spent each day looking at the aquarium tank along with the quails and eggs on the inside. The little girl hoped to catch one to y with but these animals were too fragile, the two women did not dare. There was no other method than to let her y with the puppy. Each day when the couple came home, they could see this scene C in Xu Meis home there was an aquarium with soil, vegetables and quails. Yu Xinran and the little puppy pressed their faces against the ss. Their faces distorted but refused to move at all. Fortunately, the timid quails were ustomed to this daily urrence of voyeurs. They ate,id eggs and pooped as usual. Chapter 97 In addition to quail, Luo Xuns home earthworms multiplied, though he did not know when that urred. The meal worms were born faster than quails as well. With the presence of these two insects, the old vegetable leaves and so on would soon turn into fertilizer. The kitchen waste would be used too and he would not need to worry about nt nutrients. Although the worms were disgusting, Xu Mei and Song Lingling had been near zombies so there was no problem. The two women did not flinch even when catching worms. Luo Xun felt his neck hair rose and handed over the task to them. He deliberately left therge ss tank in the womens home. When they returned home, Luo Xun first went to Xu Meis home for Puppy to y with Yu Xinran. Sure enough the two wereying on a nket next to the ss tank, asionally looking at the little quails inside. "Today there are a few more buildings with seven floors." Xu Mei and Song Lingling reported when the couple returned home. "Really? No wonder I thought there were more cars in the district." Lu Xun was surprised. "Luo Xun, we were thinking of finding some books the next time we go outside." Xu Mei came out from the kitchen while rubbing her hands. "What kind of books?" "Best to have some textbooks." Xu Mei looked helplessly at little Ran rolling on the nket with the puppy. "Theres an exchange window but the prices are too expensive." The base currently used paper as fuel or instion for winter. No one cared about the original use for books. Yu Xinran was already six years old, almost seven with elementary school knowledge. The base had no news of a school, but it would not be free. However, thinking about the chaos in the base and the future, Luo Xun knew that even if there was a school, they would not dare send their child. Yan Fei spoke instead of Luo Xun. "Right, I remember theres a bookstore near the bank. Even if the books were taken out, it should be no problem to find textbooks for children in the city." To the side, Luo Xun continued to ask for news from Song Lingling. "From the city? Or someone else?" The people who came to the southwest base were divided into two parts. Some were fleeing from the city where they lived because it was too hard to live. Once the surrounding materials were used up, the zombies leveled up they had to go to base. Another portion were people from other cities. They escaped once the apocalypse started, specially came to A-citys supposedly more safe base. "Its people from downtown." Song Lingling was a little worried. "Those people said the city is not safe now, especially in the evening...they used to live in a high-rise. They could hide inside after looking for supplies, but the zombies outside have be more and more fierce along with zombie animals. They originally lived with amunity of survivors but a group of zombie animals ate the people guarding the door, so they had to escape." Urban areas had long lost water and power. Some survivors with power powers would barely be able to support their homes. But people dared not stay there with faster, level two zombies along with smaller zombie animals. Luo Xun mused and slightly nodded. "Next time we go out, we should not go into the city. Getting crystal nuclei in the old ce is good, so many people escaped from the city. There will certainly be more zombies around the city edges." His words were true, not only would there be more people fleeing to base, it would inevitable attract more zombies to the road near base. Although Luo Xun and Yan Fei had not worked on the wall recently, they could still hear some news. Such as the number of zombies outside the wall increased again. It was more difficult for the zombie hunting teams toplete their tasks. It would take more than a day topletely clear out the zombies. The situation was getting worse, not to mention the second zombie wave that would erupt in the near future... What was the situation in hisst life? He would have been in M-city...but he would have needed to leave soon anyway. Luo Xun sat on a big chair at the terrace, holding a cup of tea. He looked at the blue sky outside while in a trance. Today was thest day of May, yesterday they did not leave the base because the base was taking military action and temporarily prohibited team missions. The news was not learned until toote, their vacations could not be adjusted. So this vacation actually became a holiday. Did not have to go to work, could not go out to find crystal nuclei, did not have to worry about a hungry belly. Even if they slept until noon, no one wouldugh at themselves. Luo Xun was now in a state where he had been asleep for four consecutive days. He was worried about would happen if he did not get up tomorrow. With his free time, Luo Xun thought about things he did not have time to think about, such as the effects of remembering his past life. These days the base was more active, but Luo Xun who had not been in A-city did not consider this and his previous life to be rted. He had arrived in A-city before the end of the next month in his previous life. He was struck by the devastation as he moved through the city outskirts. Back then, he did not know what or when these buildings were damaged. The terrace sliding door opened to reveal Yan Fei, who was wearing a half sleeve t-shirt. Many of the crops on the balcony had grown, vines had climbed to the top of the ss and expanded throughout the area. The foliage cast a shadow over the terrace, so people would not get sunburned while sitting. "How is it?" Luo Xun felt boneless and did not want to get up. Hezily asked from his chair. Yan Fei bent over to kiss Luo Xun. "Finished." He sat down and looked out into the blue sky. He just went to Li Tie and the others to find a way to exchange for sr panels. A low rumbling sound came from a distant ce. "Again..." Luo Xun quietly sighed, his eyes shed with mncholy. "Who knows how many people were involved." He also thought of his previous life at the beginning of the apocalypse, staying at home afraid to go out. Fearing the day the terrible zombies rush the city. If someone were to drop a bomb...he had no ability to escape, unable toe and live here. Yan Fei looked a little helpless. "There is not other way..." Thest urrence of zombie rats trying to sneak into the base urred only a few days after the first. As a result, the military used satellite photos, radar and other high-tech products to explore and observe. Finally made the decision to give up some urban buildings close to the eastern base in order to focus on clearing out zombies. This was not a decision made solely by the southwest base, but also with input from the eastern base and other bases established after the apocalypse. The scariest ce after the apocalypse was a densely popted area. The two remaining bases in A-city were fortunate to have escaped and survived in a city that was rapidly going downhill. Now the satellite photos showed a dense mass of zombies in the city center, a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads! It could fall and im their lives at any moment. Although intelligence had shown that there were many survivors in the urban area, the situation was urgent especially since many zombies were gathering towards the eastern base and reached a certain size. The situation at the southwest base was better than the eastern base but a number of zombie animals were gradually approaching. Several bases made an agreement, immediately sent a drone into the city. Non-stop recording, the area would be bombed for an entire day. Two days were given for everyone to escape beforeunching the operation. People who had the ability to escape would naturally flee when they got the message, for others...they could only bear the sacrifice for more to survive. In todays world, where ones own security could not be guaranteed, there was no time to care for others lives. In the end, could only find ways to help themselves. They would rather stay at home and keep themselves safe. The selfishw of the jungle, survival of the fittest. The two people faced the opposite direction since they were not in the mood to see the situation. Could only sit here and face the south withrge tracts of farnd. "We have good luck." Luo Xun leaned his head against Yan Feis shoulder with a smile. "If we had not met at the start, or even if you found a ce in the city and figured out how to farm...I would be..." Yan Fei pinched his shoulder but also thought of their first meeting in the apocalypse. He chuckled and kissed his forehead. "Indeed lucky, if I had not meet you, perhaps I would have died." The smile on Luo Xuns face was brittle. Yes, if he had not picked him up when he went upstairs, Yan Fei might have really...In his previous life...Luo Xun did not believe that the family that had lived on the 16th floor would have a good heart and save Yan Fei. Thunder...bursts of explosions, the sky seemed like it was shaking. The two people could sit at the table and watch the ripples through the ss. The quakingsted for three days and was said to continue for a few more days... Used bombs to burn out the dead in the city. The decision to target the more dense masses of zombie seemed to have worked well, the rest was uncertain. The action had absolutely attracted the zombies who relied on sound and smell to find their targets after the apocalypse. Even some of the zombies who came near the base, tried to enter by pounding the door. After the operation, it returned to the depths of the city. The military executives who watched through a variety of means finally breathed a sigh of relief. At a meeting with higher ups, a toast was made. They made the decision to continue for a few more days for the soldiers to regain more of the city. Although some of the urban areas had be ruins, it was still a source of hope for the peoples life and future... The people in the meeting were looking forward to the future of mankind and the earth... Early the next morning C all the outgoing troops were lost, even the unmanned aerial vehicles were missing. Satellite photos showed several vehicles with bombs falling in different ces. The tanks sent out and abandoned vehicles were smoking on the ground. "This...whats going on?!" Trembling arms held one of the photographs on the table of an erged wreckage. "Boss, boss...the third flight base...I cant get in touch..." "What?!" The man returned to his seat with a thump. The third flight base had been a military base retaken by various troops after the apocalypse. The location was not open to the outside world, it was where the armys hidden forces were located. There were various types of fighters that could be sent by ne at critical moments toplete missions. The base was under southwest base control, but now...not only the army had an incident, there was a problem at the flight base? What the hell was going on! The ordinary people on the base did not know what was going on, the base was on lock down, no one was allowed outside. But there were survivors that were entering the city. Previous measures to inform outside survivors about the unmanned aerial vehicles and leave the area had apparently worked well. The people who got the message quickly packed up their belongings and fled their original buildings for elsewhere. The majority of people targeted the two existing bases in A-city, even other people fled when given the exact base location C in fear that the nes and cannons would shift targets. They did not know that after the massive damage to base, it was impossible to start the second round before they figured out what had happened. Luo Xun and Yan Fei could not have known the secret news, even Captain Guo had not heard the information. It was not surprising that in his past life Luo Xun had heard the information after arriving at the southwest base. The people who lived in base were more concerned about gathering enough to eat, who would discuss news? The next morning, after a long holiday, the couple returned to the barracks to continue work. They found the road crowded again with banks, markets and temporary shelters. Luo Xun was yawning, he failed to reset his biological clock, he even saw a few faces from his past life. Today they sent the vegetables directly to the canteen C although the quantity was not too much. The homes that had officially started to grow crops could harvest some crops almost daily. The twodies mainly cared for the nts, the couple only needed to check the crop status. Luo Xun was able to take care of and cultivate mutant nts. They had not found a benign mutation from their current nts, but Luo Xun was not anxious. He knew this kind of thing could not be rushed. He had found his bean sprouts in the fourth year after the apocalypse. Todays home with a lot of wood to reduce the possibility of crop mutation, it naturally be difficult to find any benign variations. But after the apocalypse, there were few vegetables that maintained their taste, they had good results. They sold the crops umted over four days and got a small bag of crystals. The two men were able to get coupons and some supplies for defending the gatest month. Those things had been used by the two afterwards. There were still two meal tickets left, the pair prepared to use them. The material coupons had long been exchanged for sr panels, seeds, cloth and other things. The two arrived at the rendezvous point, Captain Guo did not immediately bring the people to the workce but pointed to another direction. "Over there needs some metal gadgets, the rest of group with me." The wall work at the barracks endedst month, at the end they went deep and added a bottom to the barracks at a designated location. Some of the soldiers joked that if flying zombies appeared they would be covered. Others wereughing but Luo Xuns smile had stiffened C how had he forgotten that there were indeed flying zombies in the apocalypse. Just because it had not appeared now, did not mean it would notter. Even if Captain Guo believed, he was not the boss. It would not be taken seriously, so Luo Xun would wait and see. Since the house was on the top floor, Luo Xun told Yan Fei to protect the roof in advance. A line of people rushed to the walls, where there was only a thin metal wall, but the earthen wall was currently 10 meters tall. The group looked up from under the wall C before when they were building the outer wall, they were standing on the walls to add metal. Now they did not have as much trouble, it was fine so long as they were standing near the wall. A lot of people who could not leave the base idled around the construction site to watch. It was the same when the earth users were building their wall. Some precautions to block idlers were implemented, but could not block others looking from afar. In the distance, people could see ayer of metal flow upwards and expand. There would be exmations, simr to watching a performance. Several of the soldiers responsible for transporting metal were harassed by these people. The unhappy deputyined to Captain Guo. "Those people are really annoying, we are not performing monkeys!" Captain Guo sneered. "Afraid? Let them watch, just think of them like zombies outside the walls." "Captain, beat them and they will drop crystal nuclei?" A soldier smiled and walked over. Captain Guo hit the back of the soldiers head. "You dare fight? Somebodys going to get you! Ill let you go out and fight with the zombies!" Chapter 98 The wall building team ignored the crowd watching outside and continued working. Not long after, the two people who went to help at the factory came back to work on the wall. Everyone only had time to chat when it was time for lunch. "The big shopping malls next to the bank have been changed into factories, a lot of equipment was transported over! Ive been told it wont be long until they start hiring!" Li said while taking bites of food. "What kind of factory?" Someone asked curiously. "Seems to be textile right?" "I heard that there was a machine for instant noodles!" "I only heard about looms, and they arent hiring yet..." Luo Xun suddenly asked, "Textiles...are there any raw materials on base right now?" There was sudden silence, each person looked at the other with doubtful eyes. "Maybe it had been collected from the city beforehand?" The farnd was all grain, even if another crop was nted, the priority would not be given to cotton, a non-edible crop. Many of the soldiers were children of farmers, so they quickly followed Luo Xuns train of thought. Luo Xun knew that it was only at least after the third year that the basepletely set up the textile mill. Before that he had not heard any news. "Isnt this pulling the cart before the horse?!" Followed by extensive cursing. There was no way to start the factory without raw materials. Factories could only function with a steady supply of input. Several factories recruited from the public after their official establishment on base. In addition, the nting division also began to recruit from outside. Last month private cultivation was implemented but the base suffered various water issues. Some teams would use filtered water or water users to irrigate their crops but in the evening enemy forces would sneakily water nts with in tap water. Deliberately causing nts to mutate! There were also some peoplepeting, once they knew that tap water could lead to nt mutation, would deliberately sabotage each other... Such things had erupted several times over thest month. Sometimes when two sides met, the conflict would escte into bloodthirsty fighting. Luo Xun had seen someone hit on the street because of this reason. Therefore, the base had to suspend the promotion of vegetable cultivation. Of course, some people could nt something on their balcony, as long as the nts did not mutate into something that would hurt people. Fortunately, the more aggressive nts had distinct characteristics C they were very recognizable with grey mist, or bright red and green colors. The military simply cleaned out a space for specialized vegetables. Luo Xuns management method was adopted, where the water was filtered or made by a water user. Although the cost was higher, it was better than nothing. The vegetables would not be enough for base people to eat, but no problem for military supply. Luo Xun took a leaflet and turned to Yan Fei C he had worked here for around half a year. He looked at the crowded streets with an aching head. "Knew that today would be like this." There a lot of new people on base these days, they had filled the original empty houses inside and outside the base for a ce to live. Luo Xun now understood why he could only live in the basement when he arrived at the city in his past life. "The road over there is managed by the military." Yan Fei smiled at Luo Xun in order to dispel the resentment in his eyes. The other road was rted to farnd. With more people on base, the inhabitants became a mixed bag, some unexpectedly ran into the farnd during the night in order to steal food and seeds, so the whole street came under martialw. "Today we have to deal with a batch of mushrooms, dont know if the unused ones fromst month can be used." At the end ofst month, the mushroom bullets obviously had great effect on level two zombies, even Li Tie and the other students could kill one in five or six rounds, not to mention Luo Xun? "Well know in a few more days? There werent any problems when we looked in the fridge before." Yan Fei said flippantly, those frozen things should not spoil so easily. "Even if it doesnt work, how many mushrooms grow on the wood over the course of a month? Enough for us to use." The two people chatted while they slowly returned home. The trip that usually took only ten minutes turned more than half an hour. When they reached home...a crowd of people were watching...a real life PK battle. Luo Xun exited the car with wide eyes while bringing out his crossbow. During the apocalypse, it was best to carry a protective weapon wherever you go. Now it was time for him to use his weapons. "Xu Mei! Whats going on?!" Luo Xun loudly asked. The lively crowd froze and turned to the newly arrived car. Luo Xun saw two people were floating in midair around the 16th floor. One of them was apparently a wind power, the other was temporarily invisible. The two men were confronted by Xu Mei ready to throw fireballs through the window. Hearing Luo Xuns voice, Song Lingling immediately yelled. "Thieves! Theyre sawing our windows!" It seemed that the group of people thought that no one on the 16th floor was home during the daytime, so they came to steal. Luo Xuns sr panels were not very visible but with careful observation C something was different. The base had begun to vigorously promote the use of sr appliances. Several srmp panels had been stolen from various main roads. Not to mention Luo Xun hung the panels outside the window? That wind user was obviously level two and could use the wind to adjust his position as to not be attacked by Xu Mei while hanging from a rope. He started to panic when herpanions hade back and they had weapons. "Xu Mei, dont be polite, they deserve to be killed!" The crossbow in his hand was silently shot upward. The arrow did not seem to slow down as it flew towards the 16th floor. Mercilessly broke the ice power use near 1503. "Ah-" The wind user was also surprised and lost control of the wind. The two people swung towards Xu Meis location. *Boom* The two were hit by arge fireball. Xu Mei had not taken action before because she was worried that it would bring trouble. But now that Luo Xun gave the okay to kill, why would she stop herself? *Poof*Poof* Two arrows shot out and hit the rope. The two men fell to the ground howling and covered in mes. Yan Fei indifferently dialed his phone. "Lieutenant Ding? When we came back we found two thieves...yes they wanted to steal out stuff and smashed the window. The two women were frightened...can you arrest them? They hung using a rope but it was not very strong so they both fell down. They are likely still breathing so send someone to deal with it." Several people nearby who heard him, unconsciously retreated two steps. Having the ability to kill was not a big deal, but those who could kill and calmly call others to "deal with it..." Luo Xun was obviously angry, the enemy wind user had used his power at thest minute to not fall to his death. He aimed the crossbow at the man. "What team? Where are your associates?" The fire on the wind user had been extinguished in time to not be killed, but his lower body had no feeling, likely had been smashed! Hispanion was passed out, could be dead or alive. Now an arrow was pointed at his face, he wanted to faint in order perhaps suffer less. Yan Fei hung up and stepped forward. He manipted some car metal and turned it into arrows that stabbed into the mans arms and thighs! "Ah! No! I dont have the right to recruit!" The man trembled with bloodshot eyes. While struggling in pain, he saw the burned appearance of hispanion. He revealed his living location, how many team members, who were ability users and other information. Luo Xun raised an eyebrow, he had not recognized him at first, but they had seen each other a few times in the past. It was only after they moved in that the others moved out into the ranks of growing powers who only recruited ability users. He did not have a deep impression of the man, only remembered that he appeared to the leader of small group demanding street protection fees. After they defected to arger team of ability users. And now... "Whats the situation?" A car drove over while Lieutenant Ding and some soldiers ran over to see the blood and burned bodies. Seeing the fallen, half dead people, their mouths twitched. Yan Fei pointed at the live one. "The two of them hung from a rope to reach the railing on the window, we saw them fall when we came home." "...Who burned them?" Lieutenant Ding suppressed his twitching, helpless against these two people C they already had Zhang Yi, now they had a fire user?! At this time Xu Mei hade downstairs with Song Lingling, they did not bring little Ran. They were afraid that the child seeing the bloody scene would hurt her mind. "I burned!" Xu Mei stepped forward, her beautiful facial features filled with malice. Her eyes glowed with fire as she stared at Lieutenant Ding. "Song Lingling and I were changing! Then we saw these two hooligans hanging outside the window! Why shouldnt I set peepers on fire?" Lieutenant Ding took a step back with a stiff smile. "Can burn, can burn..." He quickly told the soldiers. "Go up and look for the ropes and tools they used." He quicklyforted the two "frightened" women. To be honest, since the apocalypse started and the security zone had been established, patrols did not find any zombies on the inside. Fighting was nothing new, especially when power-seekers were walking around. Whenever they heard that power users were fighting, when they arrived, there would a few dead bodies lying on the ground. If they were to be arrested, the prisons inside the base would be filled with inmates. So most of the time, if no was concerned about the dead, nothing would be happen. Especially with little evidence C this was aw of the apocalypse. It was not long before the soldiers came down and took the two men hanging from the rope. As for associates...they had long run away. Luo Xun winked at Xu Mei while Lieutenant Ding ced the two thieves in a car. He and Yan Fei went back into the car. Song Lingling followed Xu Mei back upstairs and whispered, "Why did Luo Xun leave?" "The window of 1503 was broken by the thieves." Xu Mei guessed the couples intention and exined to Song Lingling. "Theyre looking for ss?" Xu Mei looked helplessly at her and poked the other womans forehead. "Want to hunt down the team!" They would cause trouble at the gangsir. Though she was not sure how many people or ability users were there but if there home was targeted then others might try and steal too. Anyway it would not be a big deal as long as they were not caught, especially if the perpetrators did not have severe consequences. Yan Fei sat in the passenger seat and looked at the crowd. "Those people likely entered the base not long ago." Luo Xun nodded. "Dont worry, although those two were power users, but if they were big shots, they would not have been left hanging in the air." This was the reason why Luo Xun dared to investigate with Yan Fei. He had seen the wind user before, the ability user was part of a gang C Luo Xun had paid protection fees before. Second, the two people who dared to steal was partially because of their house location C deep inside the district, south of the building. On the other hand, since there were many people outside it would be easy to move around. There was a lot of noise outside during the day, when they confirmed there was no one home, they did not get noticed. People always had such a reaction, in the middle of the night, any little bit of movement would attract everyones attention. But if the same thing happened during the day and nobody was patrolling, even people in the room would not notice. This group of people hade into base for a short time, but had stolen several times already, it was easy to see how skilled they were. A figure hidden in the crowd saw the fallen wind user. Once the car with the pair left, they panicked in a corner while calling. "Boss...yes Six is not dead, but Im afraid the new ice guy was killed...ah no could have been killed from fire! Their captain seems to be taking someone to our ce now!" The two men drove to the target area, parked and then went up. They climbed to third floor, the target door was actually wood. Luo Xun looked proudly at Yan Fei and brought out the lock-pick that had seen little action. The lock was easily opened and the door unlocked. Yan Fei smiled at home and floated a pile of metal through the door. He could actually have opened the door, but since his lover was willing to show off, he did not want to argue. The building was in an old neighborhood with six storeys. A number of people paled at the sight of two men floating a mass of metal in the corridor. Originally they wanted to go down but inside hid away C they had never seen these two people. And they went into that house...the tenants naturally knew what kind of people were living there, so no one dared toe over and meddle. The two men entered the room and saw a mess. Yes, it was a real mess! A few seats fallen on the ground, piles of messy bags littered everywhere along with some more heavy furniture. Outside all things were in disorder. Luo Xun tilted his chin and looked at Yan Fei. "Seemed, like they were expecting us, right?" Yan Fei looked behind him...well there was some metal blocking the door so that they could not see outside. No way to judge if those people temporarily moved to another room, or actually ran away? "Look for something useful." Yan Fei patted Luo Xuns head. On the way, the pair had made all sorts of psychological preparation only to find an empty house. There was nothing they could do. Although they guessed that the two were part of a gang. But only he and Yan Fei had some, the other side should have left more people? The wind user had said there a few people here, why would they run? Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not know, although there were other ability users on the team, the thief had the higher ability level. The message they received was not clear, only saying "the captain will kill everyone!" Since one person was already close to dead, who would wait and not run? Luo Xun took a deep breath but did not put down his crossbow. He quietly entered the open bedroom C indeed there was no one. About 10 minutester, Yan Fei brought the pile of metal. Luo Xun was holding a few windows he had town down C the ss in 1503 had been broken with no way to repair. Of course the couple woulde to take from the thieves! Luo Xunined at the windows. "The ss here and in our building are different!" Yan Feiforted his lover. "No problem, bring it back first, we can sell it if its unusable. I remember that there is ss glue at home." Chapter 99 In addition to the ss windows, some furniture was removed from the almost empty home. These things were useless to the house dwelling team and it was a waste of time to move them back forth. If those were people were out looking for help, it was not worth the waste of time or effort. When the couple left the house, they kindly did the team a favor C locking the door. With a metal user, blocking the keyhole of someone elses home was too easy! In fact, Yan Fei would have blocked all the windows of the house, but after thinking about it...blocking someones door could be fixed in a few days but a sealed window would be a security measure instead of an issue. He was not interested letting the team that to steal from him hide in a turtle shell, thus he only blocked the keyhole. He wanted to use metal topletely block the home so no one could get in, but that was a waste of resources so he could only give it up. The two people went back to their own car and returned home with the shabby spoils. When they reached the 15th floor, Li Tie and the other students were in a rage. "Luo Xun, Yan Fei, where do those guys live? Were going to fight them too! Dared to bully the three women when others were not in the house, are they tired of living?" Yan Fei rolled his eyes, "Why go? People have run away." "Ah?" The five people eximed. Luo Xun pointed behind him. "People ran, there was no one there when we showed up and all the things were gone...Oh I took their window and looked at the ss, quickly change." The enemy was caught, the students drooped and went to check the broken ss on the 15th floor. Room 1503 was broken, Xu Meis room had two smashed windows. Fortunately they had arge number of people, the windows were quickly reced. The sizes could be improvised using ss glue. Anyway, when Zhang Yi came back, no one told him that a few pieces of ss were different. Luo Xun and Yan Fei got home and remembered what Captain Guo had said before. The former hurriedly ordered Yan Fei. "When we repaired the road and they joked that there would be flying zombies and if the barracks wanted to have a lid? I think...if rats have be zombies, what if there really were flying zombies? Even if Im overthinking things, we should be prepared in advance." Yan Fei raised his eyebrows with some surprise. Seeing that Luo Xun was serious, he nodded after a moment. "Plus todays incident...we are going to make some preparations, at least it would better to reinforce the walls. But the metal has been used up, we need to bring back some next time." Luo Xun was relieved and smiled at Yan Fei. "Better to be prepared, theres no harm in strengthening our defenses. The thieving incident was two days ago, when the military came no one dared to ask Xu Mei and Song Lingling, the two thorny roses about the situation. They generally recorded a statement and Luo Xuns life continued on as usual. The wall increased in height and thickness day by day. The base had arge-scale, non-stop transportation of metal materialsing in. With all the metal users at level two, it was really easy to do these tasks. They built the walls far more quickly than before. Just as everyone thought that ordinary days would continue, a message reached A-city southwest base. Looking at the military vehicles, Yan Fe noticed that Luo Xun had once again opened his phone to look at the time. They had delivered produce to the canteen this morning. There had been no incidents recently, although the poption had gradually increased, it had not been long since the two thieves had fallen and other small thieves were too afraid to take action. Everything was normal at Li Ties work, no trouble to be had. Zhang Yi...even if there was any trouble he could solve it himself. As for himself, although Captain Guo had mentioned that his boss wanted to see the special metal users, Luo Xun had found excuses to dy the meeting. Why was he so restless now? The doubts in his heart remained unanswered as they returned home. He had asked twice during the day but Luo Xun was a tad slow today, only answering with "Ah?" Yan Fei could not continue asking... So he had to suppress his doubt. The two people were sitting in the living room while little Ran happily sung a song she had learned today C Steel Roses. Well, the lyrics were good, the song was very nice, but why was a child under ten years old taught such a difficult song? Luo Xuns mouth twitched as he listened, the little girl was out of breath by the end. He pped with a smile, if Yan Fei did the same, it would be even better. The two said farewell to Xu Mei and were bringing the puppy back upstairs. They encountered Li Tie andpany. Han Li called. "Luo Xun, have you heard the news?!" "Heard what?" "Several city bases have been in trouble! Sent a distress signal and heard that at least two bases have been destroyed!" The corridor became silent, Xu Mei and Song Lingling stared at each other with wide eyes. Yan Fei turned to look at Luo Xun. Luo Xun was not as shocked as everyone else, he sighed with a hint mncholy. Some things he knew ahead of time but could not make any changes. Luo Xun could have reminded to tell the military about cleanliness. Infection could cause people to be zombies, butziness still caused survivors on base to be zombies. He could tell the scientists that mushrooms could reduce crop mutation rates, but there were still many mutated crops nted into farnd. He could tell others that M-city base could be attacked by zombies. But even if he said something, who would believe him? The two cities were so far away that it would not change anything. Moreover, although he had known that more than one base would have problems in the near future, it was not clear that the events would coincide! He had met other people on the road to A-city. However because the situation was very tense, there was not any time to speak about the specifics. They were focused on fleeing to A-city to escape the approaching zombies. Once they arrived at A-city, days had passed and there few who could remember the exact date. M-city, X-city and C-city second base, a total of three bases were destroyed, the remaining bases sent for help and information. The atmosphere in A-city southwest base suddenly darkened, even if the base allowed people to go out andplete missions. Even if they wanted to exit base, quite a bit ofnd was blown up! If anyone wanted to collect something nearby? Before you could go to nearby residential buildings, shopping malls and other ces to loot but now? Sorry, you had dig into the city, or go north where the area had not been blown up. Smaller teams had a harder time, if they went to deep into the city, they would be attacked by a mass of zombies. If they went to the blown up ruins, could return empty handed. As a result, life had be harder for smaller, 10 people teams. Fortunately, the base had started recruiting, however the elderly who usually stayed on base earned less points. Busy at work all day, the poor people might not be able to feed themselves. Some young, less powerful people could not go out scavenging and thus joined various base construction work. There were a lot of teams recruiting talents but ordinary people were not given a single nce. Another thing that was fortunate for Luo Xun and Yan Fei C the base tantly increased the number of men on base! No other way, at first there might have been a number of single women, but with the various incidents and bombing, only strong women like Xu Mei and Song Lingling would show themselves on base. Even those who were not super attractive, orparable to sister Feng had mostly found a home. ording to Li Ties statistics, the ratio of women to men on base had reached 1:4.5! With such an imbnce between supply and demand, people who were strong or struck first had a wife at home, the rest basically never saw a women. So more and more men were living together. In this somewhat dreary atmosphere, Luo Xuns team went out at the end of June for a mission. Because Li Tie and the others finally won a three day vacation, they decided after discussion to leave base the 27th ande back the 28th. That way Li Tie and friends could rest for a day while Luo Xun and Yan Fei could rest for two days in a row. Had to mention, the reason why they did not set thest two days of the month was because of the previous incident. Although the adjustment was notrge, they had to avoid being seen. This was the time to choose a date for the outing. The night of the 26th, the group sat in Li Ties room to have a meeting. Everybody had already prepared their equipment. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were preparing the food. Luo Xun had prepared the mushrooms a few days ago, thest thing was to map a route. "The main south building was blown up during thest military operation, if we want to reach the previous ce..." Li Tie trailed off helplessly. Yan Fei responded. "No problem, as long as there is metal on the road. We can only temporarily deal with the setback." "We can take a look at the situation and decided where to hunt zombies." Luo Xun exined. "Thest bombing reduced the number of zombies around us, but since everyone is targeting north of the city, we can still act in the south. After all, our goals are different C we dont need to find any materials. We can find what we need anyways, so staying in the south would be good for us. Not too many zombies, but enough for us to fight. We can also collect metal along the way." The crowd nodded, outside of base their targets were metal first, zombie crystal nuclei second. Since they had Yan Fei, the team did not have to worry about bringing metal back. As for zombie nuclei? Some of the southern zombies had been killed, but the explosions also attracted more zombies, it was convenient for their team who was focused on killing zombies. After setting their target, the team went to rest early. The next morning, drove to the city gate, ready to leave. The team still had the four original cars..ah no, five cars. Luo Xuns car was technically two cars welded together. Taking a look at the other cars at the gate C on average there were at least ten per team. The originally scattered teams were swallowed up by someone else, or a temporary alliance. Luo Xuns team would be considered small. Of course, some teams failed to find teammates who waited at the gates with a sign seeking teams and alliances. Most of these teams were around ten people, they wanted to go out but dared not venture too far. Going north of the city required cooperation between teams. The Otaku Squad naturally did not cooperate with anyone and joined the queue to leave. Soon arge group of at least 20 vehicles were released. The explosions had pulled the zombies away from base, coupled with the base sending out soldiers to clear the walls, the area was clean as ever. Luo Xun and team headed all the way south, back to where they hunted zombies before. Along the way, the team encountered others two or three times. These were people who came from the destroyed bases. Luo Xun andpany drove to the bank previously used as a stronghold, but now...only rubble remained. Looking at the unrecognizable buildings outside, Luo Xun sighed at Yan Fei. "Can you clear up the area?" Yan Fei nodded, opened the window and began to manipte the metal they had hidden. The reason why the bank was in ruins was because Yan Fei had attached metal to the walls! The metal materials were ced in metallic boxes which Yan Feibined into a huge iron ball that rolled beside them. Luo Xun started to drive again. Behind them, the bank ruins finally copsed. Because most of the buildings had been bombed beyond recognition, they did not think about looking for a building to act as a stronghold. Anyway, they had Yan Fei, as long as there was a supply of crystal nuclei, they could convert the metal into a temporary base! Luo Xun chose a ce where a lot of zombies were wandering around. Let Yan Fei first create a metal wall to block the zombies that woulde over. The others would start shooting to thin the herd of zombies. Yan Fei started to tinker with the metal along the way to produce defensive fortifications. With experience from base, the time needed to create defenses was short. Yu Xinran rose to level two and gained a new ability C she could control her sand and get enemies entangled. The two women had helped with training which helped everyone pick up the nuclei. The sand delivered the zombie heads to everyone! It was a lot better than venturing out to grab crystals. Song Linglings water powers was no longer soft and harmless. She could cooperate with Li Tie and friends. They punched a hole in the zombie, she could control liquid from the wound! If the wound was close to the nucleus, she could bring it out using the liquid she controlled! This was a weapon that killed zombies and picked up crystal nuclei! Once she brought the crystal core from the wound, Yu Xinran who was beside her would use sand to pick up the nucleus. This was a very easy trick to deal with zombies. Did not have to worry about getting attacked by zombies while picking zombie crystals. In this way, the team could save a lot of stamina. After clearing out the nearby zombies, Yan Fei had basicallypleted the metal fortifications. A protective bowl with a depth of two meters and twenty meters diameter protected the people inside. Yan Fei replenished with nuclei after finishing. Yu Xinran turned the area outside the metal bowl into desert. "Is there enough metal?" The attacks had temporarily slowed down. Luo Xun took the opportunity to let everyone rest in rotation as he approached Yan Fei. Their cars were also inside the "bowl" not far from them with supplies and everything inside. At night, they could sleep inside, much better than inside ruins. Yan Fei nodded. "There is a lot of metal in the vicinity. We have a lot left." He nced outwards to determine how much metal he sensed. Luo Xun smiled in relief, his shoulder was sore from shooting. "If there were other metal users, we could have more metal. This wall is not high, if a zombie could jump in, it would be difficult to deal with." Yan Fei nodded, he also felt there should be a roof. Though the air cirction would decrease...:"If the air is bad, let Zhang Yi use his ability." Zhang Yi, who had sliced apart zombies nced at Yan Fei. Those delicate and charming eyes left a person helpless, Yan Fei could not even eat a mouthful. Yu Xinran cheerfully yed around the ruins and turned the area to sand. Luo Xun checked the area after Yan Fei made a pir to ce a blood bag. There was a bowl at the top that held the blood. It was currently sealed to prevent zombies from rushing over. With a little scent of blood. Zombies started hobbling over. "Ready C attack!" There were no other buildings near the shelter. Luo Xun only let a little blood slip out while Yan Fei sealed away the rest. The first wave of zombies rushed over. Wind mixed with fire and burning sand struck out in all directions! Chapter 100 One wave after another. The Otaku team shot crossbows for a whole day C an organized team effort. It was not until nightfall that the fortifications were done, there was a long trail of zombies. Bright red mushroom liquid flowed into the moat. The leading zombies wailed their death cries. After that round of zombies was killed with mushroom juice, the zombies fell into another trap C ferocious zing mes... Luo Xun and team sat in their cars, away from the fiery metal walls. The trench traps surrounded the entire fortifications, there were no other defenses to rely on. They were in the midst of a circle of fire. If not for Song Lingling using her water powers to cool the area and Zhang Yi bringing in fresh area, they would have been roasted alive or suffocated. Several of the students were reading novels in the firelight. Yu Xinran was in Xu Meisp, her body covered with a nket. She slept soundly while clutching several picture books to her chest. These books were found inadvertently scattered around a building. It was definitely not a bookstore or newsstand but they did not recognize the original building. They suspected it was likely a warehouse, or a shipment center. Anyway, they found a lot of books, although they could not find formal teaching materials, the books would solve peoples boredom. Yu Xinran would be more well read. Theputer in Luo Xuns home still had some online novels and literature. Li Tie and the others knew how to get Wifi and shared, they usually used their mobile phone to download various novels to pass the time. These things could wait until Yu Xinran was older...these books were more suitable for her. Outside, wind and fire fluttered through the night. After a night, everything outside around them was charred. Luo Xun climbed a metal rack and looked around, determined that there were no traces of zombies, all were burned to death in the ditch. He climbed down with relief. "Open! Pack your things!" The harvest this time was still good, not only were there more than 7,000 crystal nuclei, half of them were level two cores! The current base price of a level two nuclei was ten times that of a level one. They would not rece the second level nuclei with first level since the benefit was more than two times. A group of people divided the spoils in the car, leaving part of it for team ie. The rest was distributed ordingly with a discussion afterwards. "Do you want to stay for a while? Or go straight back?" The harvest was good, everyones mood was elevated as well. Although there were quite a few level two zombies outside, since they had mushroom enhanced weapons C two times the mushroom juice fromst time! Plus, they did not leave basest month. Luo Xun looked at the crowd and then looked to the sun. "Lets return." Heughed. "Everyones harvest is rich and its almost noon. When we go back, if we dont want to submit to the blood tests, well have to wait a while in the waiting area." Indeed, continuing could score them some more crystal nuclei but who knew when they would get home. If they were surrounded by zombies likest time, they might not be able to return until night time. Even if they had a day off tomorrow, it might be better to have a days rest then work hard outside. Looking at each other, the team made a rational, unanimous decision C go straight home! Each person began to pack their things. Yan Fei used a metal folding bar to load the vehicles. They were in a ce where some of the trees had been knocked down. Luo Xun added a few pieces of rtively intact wood and drove back towards base. The rest of the metal was "hidden" inside an older trap. Of course, the trap was sealed with a lid and well-covered. Zhang Yi deliberately created a pile of gravel and rotten wood on top, there was little differencepared to the other ruins. Once this was done the team returned to the road. Although it was a tad far from base, they wanted to hurry back to eat lunch and wait for re-entry. The dust had settled as a result of the filled cars, but while they were driving along a main road, they saw dust and smoke. "Zombie, and a car." Yan Fei put down his telescope and reported to Luo Xun. Luo Xun nodded, his expression shifted as he ordered, "Keep your eyes open as we pass by." The cars continued forwards, the road had a lot more zombies than when they passed by yesterday. It was not hard to realize why with the cars parked in the distance C the monsters were attracted by the vehicles, or other carsing through. This road was one of several main roads through the city. From the south, one could reach several other cities. It was said that in early June, at least half of the broken bases passed through aiming for A-city! For Luo Xun andpany, this was the only way back to base after the bombing C they did not have any SUVs and the roads were full of debris. The number of zombies on the road was quiterge, but nothing difficult for experienced teams to handle. Luo Xuns team did not run out of weapons, ammunition, mushroom juice or petrol. They had enough left over in case of extra zombies they had not intended on fighting. As they approached the cars, the group could see that a lorry had been overturned and a group of zombies was tearing and grabbing at a man. The other car was blocking the road while some people holding sticks, iron pipes and other weapons attacked the zombies. All their faces were filled with despair until they saw Luo Xuns car! "Kill." Luo Xun grabbed his crossbow and shot the nearest zombie. The zombies and the two carspletely blocked the road. There was no shelter unless they turned back, and to get through, they could only kill the zombies. Yan Fei was also ready to take action, along with the people in the other cars. After seeing him, everyone immediatelyunched attacks. A zombie dodged the arrow and jumped over Luo Xuns car! The leap was three meters high! While in midair, the falling zombie hit a te. As if the metal was alive, it twisted and constricted, turning the zombie into meat paste. After killing the zombie outside the car, Luo Xun opened the door and the gathered the team. Yu Xinran quickly turned the roadside into sand, Zhang Yi raised a gravel storm and with Xu Meis added fire, thebined attack shot out. The people in the two cars experienced a sharp desire to survive when these new people stopped to help. One man loudly shouted, "Everyone keep strong! Hold on!" Some of the younger and stronger members put their full effort into fighting since the chance of survival had increased substantially With their weapons and equipment, the Otaku team quickly cleared away the zombies. Unfortunately a lot of the people in the two cars had been injured. With little chance of survival, they desperately covered their faces on the roadside. Luo Xun nced at those men on the roadside, turned to the other wounded and walked over. "Where did youe from?" Their situation could be deduced from the state of their clothes and car. Definitely not a city team out on a mission. Tattered clothes, sallow faces, obviously different from the living conditions on base. The main reason for his opinions was that these people did not have proper weapons. Some people had an axe at their side, the remainder had grabbed metal from who knew where. Everyone rushed to exin. "We came from C-city." "Were from M-city." "We are..." One middle aged, forty year old exined. "Our team has people from several bases. Once the base was broken, they were heading towards A-city but then everyones means of transportation was broken..." Luo Xun nodded while pointing at the car in front of him. "Your team only had two cars?" The persons face became ugly, others looked unhappy as well. "Our team originally had twenty cars, everyone on the road together. Even if we came across zombies there were ways to defend. But when the car broke down today, and since there were more zombies on the road...usually we would stop and wait for a while, to fight against the zombies or save as many people as possible, but today..." This location was not far from A-city but they did not expect to meet so many level two zombies, Since the southwest base was not far, the cars in front did not want to dy and were afraid their car would also be attacked. Although thest two cars had a lot of people, they were all regr people, no ability users. In the apocalypse, they weremonly used as cannon fodder, so thest two cars were simply abandoned as the others continued onwards. Luo Xun understood their situation and turned to the group behind him. Li Tie and the others had dug out the crystal nuclei from the zombies and ced them into a bag. They handed the spoils over to Luo Xun. "Sixty-four." Luo Xun took that bag and gave half to the forty year old man. "Half is yours. Southwest base is not far, do you want toe with us or go alone?" The man froze then looked towards the others. One young man suddenly asked, "Are you going anywhere else?" Luo Xun looked at, vaguely thought he looked familiar before shaking his head. "We are heading directly back to base." The group looked at Luo Xuns cars that were carrying a lot of stuff and guessed they were in a team out on missions. After a short discussion, the older manughed. "Its best to go with you, as you can see, the people in the car...are ordinary people with no special abilities..." Luo Xun shook his head with augh. "No problem, the southwest base has a reward system. If we rescue and return with survivors, we also get a reward. A win-win result." After the talk, Yan Fei stepped forward and removed the metal from the damaged car. He moved it to a truck and fixed the hole and reinforced the body. As for the rest of the car? Thrown straight onto the roadside. Those who had been bitten, half had already turned into zombies but the group could not bear to leave them. The rest of the wounded sat in a corner with longing in their eyes, but unable to suggest following the convoy. It was not that they did not want to live or seek help, but in these short six months in the escape to A-city, they had seen the eventual fate of those infected by zombies. One of the men obviously had a ruthless character, after his arm was bitten, he decisively cut off his arm. He just did not know if the wound was contaminated, or if the virus spread really fast. It was not long before he too turned into a zombie. Once the people had climbed into the truck, Luo Xun spoke to the ones on the road side and pointed, "Follow this road for 30 minutes and you will be able to see the base wall. If you get there without turning into a zombie, you can get treatment to check if you are infected." If they were zombies, they get gunned down by the guards. The car drove all the way back to base. After registering and reporting that the car behind them had rescued survivors, Luo Xun andpany entered the waiting area. While sitting in the area, waiting for time to pass, Luo Xun silently chewed the dumplings from Xu Mei. Yan Fei suddenly grabbed Luo Xuns hands. "Whats wrong? Youre in a mood today." Luo Xuns mood had been off since June. It had not been obvious before and today was more pronounced when he saw people surrounded by zombies. Luo Xuns actions today were more than usual C especially for strangers. Most importantly C Yan Fei could feel that something was off. Luo Xun froze and looked up with surprise. He could notice? Then again...the two had lived together for so long, they could gauge each others emotions. If there was something wrong, Yan Fei would be the first to notice. "...Ill tell you when we get back home." Luo Xun had tired eyes. He did not know how to exin his situation. He did not intend to tell anyone about his rebirth, but keeping things a secret for too long would cause mental, unbearable fatigue. Especially when the experience of two life times are echoed. After his rebirth, Luo Xun did not clearly remember his time on the road, did not know the exact day of entry into base. But he had experienced the fall of M-city base, after that... Perhaps because the experience was too traumatic, the human brain would subconsciously block a persons memories. So Luo Xun did not remember until he was driving back. Those two trucks that had been stuck on the road C he had almost died there. He and otherpanions were desperately fleeing towards A-city southwest base. At that time, they had the bad luck of meeting a team out on a mission, a number of hispanions were killed. He and a few other people managed to escape, but had no courage to look back. Luo Xun knew the forty year old man because he had been one of thepanions who escaped to base with him. He was the first to decide to grow a garden at home while looking for base work. At the start Luo Xun had tried to find a team C after all he had been out of base in M-city and could use his homemade crossbow to shoot zombies. But Luo Xun was hit with a brutal reality C he was an ordinary, low level person. He could deal with a few basic zombies, but higher levels were not something a regr person could deal with. When Luo Xun went back to base to find a job, the man at the time had farming experience. Luo Xun was introduced to the nting division and thus he became an otaku that stayed on base. As for the other people...although a few people in the truck looked familiar, Luo Xun could not think of anyone...wait a minute! Luo Xuns eyes suddenly lit up and he raised his head. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. "What? Does something hurt?" He raised a hand to touch his forehead. "Uh...no, everything is fine..." Luo Xun suddenly turned red and bowed his head. He obediently let Yan Fei rub his head. He remembered why he thought the young men who had spoken up before looked familiar. Luo Xun had a base friend on his way to A-city. At the time, they had decided to live together if they had no partners despite not having known each other for long. That persons appearance was ordinary, hard to pick out from a crowd. When that person died a few yearster, the persons impression faded in Luo Xuns mind. Today, there had only been a sense of familiarity. Yan Fei tilted his head, he felt that Luo Xun seemed guilty, but what would he be guilty of? Even when he asked Luo Xun about his mood, there had not been emotion. It looked like...he was suddenly remembering something he had done. Yan Fei did not say anything, he pressed down the doubt and waited for their talk at home. He embraced Luo Xun as they waited. Yan Feis intimate actions would have been noticed two months ago, but now...the men had begun to ept that there were no women around. So two men showing affection was moremon. On the other hand, since the Otaku Squad had two young women, from time to time people would nce over. Luckily, both Xu Mei and Song Lingling were very careful. They dressed very neutrally, even Song Lingling cut her hair short. They both dressed inconspicuously and covered their faces as much as possible. Chapter 101 The third dy" on the team C Yu Xinran naturally dressed simr to her two "adoptive mothers". A small baseball cap on her head, dark sunsses covering her eyes along with arge white mask. It was worth mentioning that masks were part of the standard uniform for the Otaku squad while they were out on a mission. Covered from head to toe and all in gender neutral clothing. The two women also wore it while buying food for lunch. The twodies dressed very low key, from afar, one could not tell there were two women. As for Yu Xinran, her clothing made it seem like she was a young boy. Of course, there were still a few girls that wore skirts from time to time. After waiting for a full three hours, Luo Xun got up and drove the car back into base. "There are a lot more people on the streets today." It seemed that all the refugees arrived at the southwest base at around the same time. The numbers were all concentrated in the past few days. Luo Xun involuntarily sighed and looked around at the other vehicles that had passed the waiting period. Although he remembered who was on the truck, he could not recall the identity or appearance of those who had abandoned the two cars. Those people hade together from various ces, but the people who could sit in front had capital. Either you had a car, an ability or useful skills. Along with some men and women who held onto their thighs... Yan Fei nced at the cars on the street. "There a quite a lot of people who have recently escaped to base. I will reinforce our home again tomorrow morning." He had not forgotten what Luo Xun had said, he would strengthen the house to prevent any surprises. Luo Xun paused, then smiled at Yan Fei. "Also dont know how our home is, hopefully nothing happened..." After the incident with the thieves, they were worried about leaving their home unattended. Yan Fei, seeing that Luo Xuns expression had returned to normal, smiled provokingly. "Only another metal user could cause trouble, otherwise nothing should have happened." He had recently turned the doors, windows and walls of their home into metal. A few temporary shelters at the gate werepletely full, some people were moving things from the car. Others who had arrived on base earlier were carrying things from the shelter C the base had assigned them a house. Luo Xun looked at the people and wondered if there was anyone being allocated a basement C which were almost always thest to be distributed. Because of the zombie virus spreading through base, most of the people that arrived on base before chose to move outside. These new people would be assigned to base. "What are you looking at?" Yan Fei was puzzled, he walked over to see what Luo Xun was looking at. "Nothing, just looking." Luo Xun shook his head and quickly grabbed a package of books before locking the car. Yan Fei floated some metal as they went upstairs. Fortunately, this time no one was trying to steal from the team. Maybe someone had peeped, but two days was too short, no one had the ability to smash down the door and steal things from the metal shelves. When they came back and confirmed that both iron gates, windows and doors were intact C it was time to go home and rest! The puppy stood behind the door and wagged her tail. Before Luo Xun went to work, he would let her out to y with Yu Xinran for the afternoon before going home. But it had been two days without a chance to go outside! The puppy who was used to ying with the little girl everyday felt a little lonely. If not for the quails in the habitats to relieve boredom, the slippers in the house would have all been chewed! The little puppy was only appeased after excessive face licks and belly scratches. Luo Xun could then rx, change his clothes and getfortable at home. As Luo Xun was about to take a shower, he saw Yan Fei sitting on the sofa, looking at him. Yan Fei reached out and patted the sofa. Luo Xun suddenly remembered what he had promised before and lowered his head. A short whileter, he sighed and sat down beside Yan Fei. Luo Xun basicallyid in the others arms. Yan Fei did not say anything, but he started petting like he did to the puppy. Puppy found that her masters were sitting on the sofa and jumped to sit beside Luo Xun. The puppy ended up between the two men with room to spare. The two had long considered their dog as a child and did not notice anything wrong with the puppy crowding together on the sofa. Luo Xun closed his eyes as heid against Yan Feis leg and felt the warmth on his cheek and neck. Luo Xuns uneasy feelings gradually died down and he whispered, "I dont know how to exin...I knew about post-apocalyptic events. I knew a few years before the apocalypse started." Yan Fei was not surprised, he had doubts from the beginning. Otherwise, how could Luo Xun have prepared his home so well? All sorts of things like seeds, pots and distillers? Yan Fei was surprised to note that Luo Xuns home had a lot of soil for nting. Other things were eptable, could be considered his hobbies or habits, but that amount of soil at home...There was so much food that could not be eaten in a year or two. It would have all expired! Right now, those expired instant noodles at home could be exchanged. As for the rest...was it not evident? In addition to having a stable job on base, the Otaku squad lived rtively good days without needing to leave base. Did these things not ry on Luo Xuns preparations? He did not provide the materials for Li Tie and the others, but he had knowledge and methods for everyone to improve their quality of life. He also told the team how to more efficiently kill zombies and collect crystal nuclei. In thought, Yan Fei paused his petting and asked. "Foresight?" Luo Xun looked up and shook his head. "No...I had a dream about the apocalypse and the zombies..." It was more reasonable to say that, better than thinking it was some kind of ability. Luo Xun was an ordinary person, whether in this life or the previous. His rebirth had not allowed him to say anything, his second chance mainly improved his living conditions and got him a lover who was also a powerful ability user. "The dream was too real, so I..." Luo Xun pursed his lips. He wanted to continue but noticed Yan Fei had a smile on his face. "Did you dream of me?" "Huh?" Luo Xun froze and then shook his head. He had never seen Yan Fei in his previous life, never heard of such a person on base before. He had also never seen any metal users in his past life, despite the fact that the metal walls were made by ability users. After receiving an answer, Yan Feis heart became warmer. He was not sure if what Luo Xun said was true, but he was willing to believe since there was no other reasonable exnation. Of course, the thought of "rebirth" had crossed his mind, but that was in novels. In reality, no one would pretend to be a prophet, since people would quickly think that the other party had been reborn. But all that preparation just from a dream? What if the dream did note true? What would have happened after he spent so much money on these things? Perhaps the dream was so vivid that anyone who saw it would believe. Yan Fei pinched Luo Xuns chin and gently ced a kiss on his cheek. "You dreamed that the team we met would pass there?" Luo Xun shook his head, his eyes shed with mncholy. "No, my dreams...I stayed at my old home until the apocalypse. I hid inside while the world ended and escaped with the people still living in the area. We ran to M-city base nearby,ter the base had an ident. I remember it clearly happened on June 8th but things after that were not clear. As for that day in the city..." Luo Xun helplessly smiled. "I did not think of the two cars until today. I remembered that I had been with that group, in the dream, we had passed that road." He had just arrived on base after six months outside, though it was just following a team north of the city. He never walked that road again, he only remembered after entering again. After all, when he had escaped M-city, the people in front already knew the roads, Luo Xun simply followed behind. Yan Fei understood the source of his emotions today, there was an exnation for Luo Xuns mood at the start of June. In his "dream" he had fled all the way to the city. Thinking of Luo Xun facing the situation with the two cars as an ordinary person, Yan Fei felt some anxiety. If not for their team passing by, he was afraid that the few people in the car would not survive to reach A-city base. Suddenly Yan Fei also realized that without Luo Xuns "dream" he would not have lived either. It would have been impossible for Luo Xun to be in A-city otherwise. Then he remembered Luo Xuns guilty expression in the waiting area. Yan Fei skipped his worries and asked, "What did you dream of after reaching Southwest base?" Luo Xun paused, his expression became dignified. He looked up and hesitantly said, "The eastern base...will be ovee." "Eastern base?!" Even the ever calm Yan Fei widened his eyes. "Do you know the reason?" This was big news since many bases in A-city were now destroyed. C-city had a base but it was notrge, the size of two neighborhoods with 20,000 to 30,000 people. But the eastern base? It was simr in size to the southwest base! There were at least a few hundred thousand people in the base! Luo Xun grimaced, "Zombies sieged the city..." He continued, "There are probably other reasons, but I am not sure. I know that after the eastern base was destroyed, the southwest base also experienced a zombie siege but it survived." Yan Feis heart was heavy, no wonder Luo Xun had said to strengthen the house after the incident. He might need to be cautious about air strikes in the future. "Do you know the exact time?" "I only know that the eastern base ident was early August, less than half a month is when we..." Luo Xuns expression was not good. "At the start of next month, I am afraid that there will be trouble for zombie hunting missions. Generally zombie numbers will soar before a siege. At the start of August, there will arge number of zombies outside the gate..." Yan Fei furrowed his brow in realization. "The military just bombed the southern part of the city and killed a lot of zombies. Some smaller bases near the city were destroyed. In August, two city bases would be sieged...is there any connection between them?" Luo Xun was stunned and his eyes widened. "You mean...the zombies...retalitated?!" Yan Feo shook his head with a sigh. "Did you dream about the details? Or was there any analysis on base?" Luo Xun wryly smiled. "Even if I remembered all the dreams...those small things were all rted to me. I am an ordinary person, unable to hear some news that even ability users were privy to. Although I had a base in the dream, there were a lot of zombies that people like me would not be able to deal with. I also worked on a construction site for a while..." He realized that he was adding too much detail and glossed over the rest. "After the zombie siege, there will be a zombie surge. Those who encountered that would perish unless there were strong ability users on the team. Also...there will be mutant animals starting next year. They are more lethal than before, but their meat can be eaten!" The couple could only rely on the asional canteen meal ticket to get some bacon, sausage, chicken or duck to supplement their diet. They had not eaten stir-fry with fresh or stewed meat for a long time. Upon mentioning the mutant animals, Luo Xuns eyes were shining and he was salivating. Yan Feis mouth twitched...he was stunned. Luo Xuns memory about his previous life was not too specific but he remembered several important events that could prevent disaster C such as the zombie siege that the base encountered. At other times, Luo Xun was generally farming on base, so there was not much to know. When asked, he would respond with "Dreams are not too specific." Both of them had a headache about the destruction of the eastern base in a month and the zombie siege half a month after that. But as Luo Xun had worried about before C a "prophecy" without support of an ability had no way of convincing people/ Even if they told people and it came true, it would prove the uracy but what if someone locked him up for "prophecies"? Even if Yan Fei was a strong ability user, it would be impossible to protect Luo Xun in something rted to the "future of humankind". Plus, Luo Xun was not a true prophet, if someone wanted him to see the future? He was a regr person who had dreamed only about his own future for the next decade. He did not know how the weapons used to deal with zombies in the future were made. He was also unclear about abilities that would be powerful enough in the future to fight against the zombies for the survival of humanity. "This matter is not urgent, no need to worry." Yan Fei made a deration. It was certain that the military could propose any action. They were beyond the reach of the eastern base, even if they were warned, destiny would likely not be changed. Luo Xun only knew that the Eastern base would break, what what was broken? He had no idea. The two of them did not know the specifics inside the base, for example wall construction, or the virus had spread inside. Even the reasons were not clear. Being told the future would only add to the chaos in the eastern base. It would not achieve anything other than "people disrupting the peace and spreading malicious rumors." But they could think of methods for the southwest base C of course it would be a safe method. These things were not going to dealt with right away, it would useless to be anxious. Yan Fei carefully asked, "There is something else I need to know." "Eh? What other thing?" Luo Xun looked at him confused. Yan Fei raised his eyebrow and smiled. "You know, did you see yourself with someone in the future?" "Huh?" Luo Xun paused, then his face turned bright red as he turned away. "No..." "No?" Yan Fei pressed down and his eyes darkened. "No one that tempted you? I remember you told me early on that you liked men. It is not easy to find a girlfriend during the apocalypse but boyfriends..." Yan Fei immediately guessed why Luo Xun had a guilty expression in the waiting area. Among the people he had met, or those met in the past was someone who had a closer rtionship. Luo Xun grit his teeth, face flushed and looked to the side. "Doesnt matter if you dont believe me. Anyway I had always been single in my dreams!" He was single but wanted to share his life with someone. The one who had originally talked about the matter did not know him at all, so there would never be a rtionship. Therefore there was no reason for Yan Fei to act like he was drinking vinegar. Wait, vinegar? Luo Xun squinted with a trace of surprise. "You...are you jealous right now?" He always thought that having such an attractive boyfriend would cause all sorts of people to chase after Yan Fei, which would lead to him feeling jealous. But now...he was actually jealous in rtion to him?! Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, Luo Xuns reaction made him not want to continue with this matter. Maybe Luo Xun had not had a great life during the dream, but now... Yan Fei ground his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "Who am I to you? What kind of person do you think I am? Why wouldnt I be jealous at someone else possibly being with my lover?" Luo Xun had no confidence, did he not realize how much Yan Fei loved him?! How could he not be jealous!! *Only one coffee away from a bonus chapter Table of Contents Chapter 102 Heres the bonus chapter. Thanks to all those who sent coffees! Hearing Yan Feis confession, Luo Xuns face reddened and his eyes cleared. "I thought...who would think that you would get jealous over nothing?" In hisst life, he and the other person had only held hands C for example pulling each other into a car when they escaped. Even now he did not know the other partys name! But then again... Luo Xun suddenly turned to Yan Fei. "Speaking of previous rtions, inparison I am positive that you have had many more!" Yan Fei dared to interrogate him about this?! Yan Feis face was unchanged. He gently wrapped a hand around Luo Xun. "How could it be the same? I was worried about a lover from the future, nothing about girlfriends in the past before the end of the world." Luo Xun retorted. "Who knows if a former girlfriend will suddenly run over with a child from you. If you end up abandoning me...I..." His words became confusing as his mind did not know what to say. Yan Feis expression was intense, Luo Xun was stunned by his ring eyes. His previous momentum disappeared as Yan Fei brought him into the bathroom. "There are no ex-girlfriends, even if someone came over I would not ept them. But to make up for the pain in my heart due to jealousy and to reassure you for the future...I think we should have a thorough, in-depth conversation..." Stunned, Luo Xun was dragged into the washroom. Puppy had been on the sofa and lost her warm pillow. She turned and saw the two people enter the bathroom, pieces of clothing flew out one at a time... The puppy was so pitiful, she had been abandoned for two days, and now her masters were ying without her. *Hmph* The heartbroken puppy jumped to the ground and grabbed a slipper near the door before heading back to her cage. Luo Xun did not show up the next day. Fortunately all the members of the Otaku squad had learned how to care for crops, harvest and so on. Since the captain was bedridden with "serious injury" the two women picked up the ck. Li Tie and the others helped as well and took care of the crops. After the shower on the first day, Yan Fei found his slippers chewed to bits. He could only walk barefoot to the sofa. Fortunately the puppy had a conscience and never touched Luo Xuns shoes. Good thing it was slippers and not something more important. He took his lover, who had no strength up to the second floor bedroom for another round. As for the specific details C because it was too intense and deep, just leave it to ones imagination... In short, Luo Xun was unable to walk around until the 30th C the first day he only had enough strength to hit the bed. When he went to work on the 1st, even Captain Guo subconsciously looked at Luo Xuns exposed neck covered in red hickies. Luo Xun hated that he could not immediately go home and change into clothing with a high cor! The couple faced joking eyes, the captain and team did not say anything more and went to work. They had seen that the rtionship between these two was not simple. Cousins? Look at the pair while resting, the atmosphere of a married couple, only a fool would think otherwise. However, it also meant that Yan Fei could not find a wife after the apocalypse even with his eye-catching appearance. However the people on the team knew that the two people lived together and there had been no gossiping. asionally saw the pair hold hands and hug, although there was no kissing but the other actions were deliberate enough. Especially in the base today, the number of men were only increasing. Therefore, when the team saw someones neck with red marks, they felt little surprise. Though in their minds they wondered C with his appearance, Yan Fei was more suited as a bottom. But the proof today was evidence to the contrary, who would have thought. The workces had shifted from the original positions. Reaching level two had significantly increased the efficiency of the metal users. So they finished building the inner fence in the middle ofst month and returned to the barracks to make some more equipment. Now they were going to build the overpass. It would stretch from the inner base barracks to the middle wall and outside the fence. Military vehicles, even tanks and other forms ofnd transportation could pass through! This channel was not only built at one door, but also the other three along with some extra. The army could use them to quickly transfer themselves. In the future, there would expansions in order to build a true highway. Since the "overpass" needed to support the weight of a tank and other heavy vehicles, it would need an enormous load-bearing capacity. Fortunately at level two, the three metal users and Yan Fei could purify metal, so they could work ording to the requirements. Of course, Yan Fei had used thest two days of holiday to purify and reinforce all the metal defensive measures ording to Luo Xuns advice. Of course he did not forget to strengthen the building structure, in case it became too top-heavy...it could be a disaster. Several of the metal users began to work together and dealt with the pile of metal. Purify the impurities and fuse to make the hardest metal possible. Yan Fei was responsible for making the metal frame ording to the design ns. The distance became longer and longer, apart from him, no one else in the squad was able to do the fine, detailed work. This was not a fence, there was no problem even the walls were not smooth. But if there were issues with the metal frame, the whole bridge might copse. It would be a serious problem if houses and pedestrians were injured. Thus, the technical work could only be handed to Yan Fei. *Cough* What a coincidence. Under Yan Feis hands, the metal coiled like a dragon and flew through the air. It formed shapes ording to the designs and continued forward. The scene was a sight, the metal seemed like a living thing instead of an inanimate material. After a day of hard work, obviously the project was not finished, but parts of the bridge were linked. ording to their current speed, it was estimated that it would take half a year to build ording to the base requirements. This was a good think for Yan Fei and the other metal users C job security! If all their work had been done, they would have to hunt down zombies like the other team members. It was not that they did not want to hunt zombies, but working in a squad versus with soldiers was quite different. When one went out with a squad, even if there was a crisis, they could escape at a critical moment. But if they went out on an army mission, they had to follow superiors orders. Although it was their responsibility, but a lot of people were in desperate circumstances because of the zombie rampage, desiring to stay on base was understandable. After all, one had to protect their own home. There was fear that the base and ordinary people would be sacrificed to escape. After the busy day, the team returned to the barracks. Luo Xun drove directly to the crystal nuclei exchange window. When they came out, they brought almost half of the unusable level two nuclei to exchange for a first-ss nucleus. Although it was possible to exchange privately, what outside forces could suddenlye up with such arge number of nuclei? You know, Luo Xun did not want to exchange, dozens or even hundreds of pieces. He had thousands of level-two, unneeded nuclei! This could not be provided by a third party, so they could only exchange with the military. Fortunately for the couple, since the metal teams got merit from defending the cityst month, there were some benefits, such as exchanging nuclei without any in-depth investigation. Of course, they did not take out all the crystal cores out once, only a portion. The rest would be taken outter to exchange, or to directly buy some goods. Two thousand or more level two nuclei, some were reced with others of the same level but a different type, the rest were reced by first-ss nuclei and points. The two men took the bag and moved away. The military gave an exchange rate of 1:9, not like the market rate of 1:10 or 11/12, but they had arge amount to exchange. How could the market absorb the influx? With the crystal nuclei and points, they went to another window in order to redeem some sr panels and batteries. The couple also went to the seed window to see recent inventory changes. Since there was nothing new, there was no need to buy. They left the area and took a bus to go home! The puppy and little Ran greet the two men at the gate. Yu Xinran had put on a skirt. Recent weather has been warm, though more pleasant when the rain lowered the temperature. Luo Xun smiled and patted Puppys head. In reaction, she leaned back with a happy expression. Xu Mei took the bag Luo Xun handed over andughed, "Exchanged?" "Yes, all exchanged, the ratio was better than expected 1:9." Yu Xinrans sand ability was extremely rare. They had gone out and fought so many zombies, especially level twos but only found two sand nuclei, even less than the number of metal nuclei for Yan Fei. Originally Luo Xun expected the proportion to reach 1:8, if any less than they would find other parties to trade with, though that was subject to change. "No wonder there are so many!" Song Lingling grinned at the two men. "When we came back, we saw people building houses." The pair had seen materials to erect makeshift shacks. Now there were some vacant houses in base to be filled, but there were also extremely overbearing people who would drive out others living near them. Although there were people in base responsible for maintaining public order but if one did not have enough for rental...one would have to find their own way. The base only distributed homes to those entering base for the first time. "Yes, theres a roof on the seven floor building next door!" Xu Mei put away the nuclei and pointed to the side. "When we went shopping at noon, we saw someone thrown out of the house and their belongings thrown out the window." Song Lingling shook her head, the world now followed the rules of the jungle. Those without power or skill could not have a good life even on base. Outside the base zombies were running amuck, in base was simr with bullying. It was something everyone had to face. As an ordinary person without an ability, if one could not find a big thigh to hug, the only way to live a better life was to quietly farm, low-key living like Luo Xun had done in his basement. "I also heard that the basements in the neighborhood had been split up!" Hearing the words "basement", Luo Xuns eyes had a trace of...expectation? Yes, he was curious about who would live in the basement. It was in the same area, but he had no reason to knock, he could only pay attention while passing by. The two men brought the puppy home and started preparing supper. There was good news in Luo Xuns home, the peppers he had nted before the apocalyse were finally ready to be harvested! Although since there was fear of mutation, they only ate a little. Luo Xun felt his heart warm while looking at the little green and red peppers. His home had a lot of dried and pickled peppers, which had been bought before the apocalypse, but he could not resist his fondness for fresh chili peppers. Luo Xun enjoyed eating spicy food, even during hisst life, although that was more because there were too little vegetables and the spicy taste went well with rice. But his tastes had not changed so he could not endure when the peppers could be eaten. "Ill cook a dish with green pepper today!" Luo Xun rolled up his sleeves and went to the fridge. He remembered that he had a piece of meat that had been set aside. Yan Fei smiled as Luo Xun went straight to the freezer. He took out a few bags of crystal from his backpack. Luo Xuns green peppers were not fully grown, the vegetable was not big and it would not be spicy. Although there would be no spiciness, being able to eat fresh green pepper was still exciting. In order to celebrate this wonderful day, Luo Xun grabbed some sun dried pepper from a jar, it would add some spicy vor when thrown in! Yan Fei silently sat at the table looking between the red and green vegetables and Luo Xuns shining eyes. He knew that when Luo Xun cooked, he liked to add various kinds of pepper for vor. Todays dish of green pepper and chili meat might challenge someones taste buds. Fortunately Yan Fei was not afraid of spice so the dish was no problem. He was used to the hot sauce, pickled peppers, dried chili and other things. The only issue was... He swept a nce below Luo Xuns waist, eating too much spicy food would make kissing ufortable. He really wanted to eat so much? Luo Xun did not receive Yan Feis thoughts as he grabbed a few pieces of green pepper with his chopsticks. "How long has it been since Ive eaten fresh green pepper? Unfortunately not spicy enough, but the other peppers havent finished growing and cant buy any beef..." Yan Fei smiled and added some food to his bowl before mentioning. "Didnt exchange too many metal nuclei today. Ill look around the street after work for more." Metal crystal nuclei were not very numerous, although the military had some, this type of nucleus was given to the team. There were not many at the redemption windows. A few others in the team had also absorbed some level two nuclei C it seemed that the level two nuclei had ten times the amount of energy then a level one crystal but they might not able to solely rely on one or the other. Yan Fei would prefer recing some and returning home to absorb. "Okay, look at whats on the street." Luo Xun nodded, he had not been out for a long time. Everyday they went out to do work, with only a few times out for wandering. Of course, after the apocalypse shopping could have various encounters, thieves and pickpockets were more rampant. Of course, if the thief was found, either the thief was killed or handed over to another party to be dealt with. Although there was not a lot of noise, especially in public since it was mostly people finding a way to vent. But if one side ran and the other chased into a deserted area...who knew what could happen. Fortunately Luo Xun and Yan Fei had strength, as long as they were careful they would not encounter any dangerous situations. After a discussion, the two people ate. Although the house had leafy green vegetables, it had been a long time since the couple had eaten normal food. Even Yan Fei was very satisfied and ate more rice than usual. As for Luo Xun...anyway Yan Fei went into the kitchen to wash the dishes while Luo Xun leaned on the couch and rubbed his belly. The puppy ate a piece of green pepper from Luo Xun C it was salty and spicy. It tasted a bit strange but the vor was fine for a dog that like to eat vegetables. After tasting, Puppy jumped onto the sofa and climbed onto Luo Xun and licked his face. s, Luo Xun had eaten too much, the little puppy had grown into a big dog. That weight...Luo Xun choked and pushed the dog away. Puppy was almost pushed off the sofapletely. There was some movement in the corridor and faint speech. Luo Xun feltzy and did not move to open the door. Li Tie and friends saw that no one came and went directly home to eat dinner. They woulde knock again at seven or eight oclock. Table of Contents Chapter 103 At this time Zhang Yi came back with a message. "A new research instrument has been put into use on base." He smiled strangely at Luo Xun. "An instrument to check if the human body has been infected with the zombie virus. Does not break the skin, only needs contact to check. It even can find out if clothing has the zombie virus. We were unlucky when we came back, they just started using it a few days ago." He spread his hands with an expression of schadenfreude. Did he not realize that he was included in those who had the bad luck of not having this convenience? Why was he so happy? Luo Xun was silent and looked with iparable sympathy at Wang Duo who refused to be more than three steps away from Zhang Yi. Both had happy expressions, people could not bare to look at them for several reasons. They all knew that the base was researching simpler and more convenient methods to detect the virus. They were technically colleagues but in the end what could be researched? Would there be any effects? As a surgeon, Zhang Yi inquired about the situation but more specific information would have to wait until official release. Zhang Yi then dropped another message. "What else C equipment to identify abilities has been made and the military is in the middle of testing. Once there are no errors, it can be put into use." He faintly smiled. "Just a tidbit, I am afraid it will be awhile before operation." "Why?" He Qiankun was puzzled. "Isnt another test method a lot more practical? Why do it?" "I heard that they want to check everyone in the army over once. After all, some abilities are different. A person with the ability might never realize until certain circumstances are met." A sneer appeared on Zhang Yis face. "The test results could be used to create different types of identity cards, new team rules, mission requirements and so on." He trailed of meaningfully but the group still had confused expressions. He finally asked Luo Xun, "Captain, what do you think?" Luo Xun was silent for a while. "Inspecting all of the arm to recruit talent is normal. First they want to get some decent results. As for outsiders...I think future teams might turn into powerful forces on base. Even now, some of the top figures are working on creating tailored teams of power users. So the instrument would be postponed for a while, waiting until they are open to the public." In hisst life, he had not given up and tried once, but ordinary people were ordinary people, there had been no miracle. So he finally gave up and stayed on base to farm. Most of the big power squadster on had military background, or had the power to support development and logistics. Li Tie and a few others still did not understand the meaning of this matter. The two women also did not care, no matter what people came, they were remaining in the squad. If Luo Xun decided to add someone, as long as the other party was sincere they would agree. Either way, they would do the same as before, no need for any changes. Li Tie and the other students were very interested in the instrument that could reveal abilities. In their own words, "Theres a chance to find an ability? Do crystal nucleie into y?" Luo Xun kindly did not burst their bubble C the vast majority of powers had been revealed early on. Only a few, did not immediately find their ability under specific circumstances. The instrument would only reveal a few rare abilities. But he did not tell the children that heaven had no fairies, or santa was not real. It would be a very cruel fact for the naive children, let them temporarily dream for a few days. Li Tie andpany discussed whether they had to wait until tomorrow to inquire about work and see if they could join the investigation. Luo Xun pped his hands and gathered everyones attention. "With regards to this matter, others on base will likely take action, such as temporarily annexing smaller teams torger ones. If theres such an event, what do you think we should do if someone courts our team?" Xu Mei raised her hand while Song Lingling shrugged. "We and little Ran will listen to the captain. If he decides to merge or expand the squad, we have no problems except one C if anyone has any bad intentions towards us females..." Her words trailed off but the message was clear. Luo Xun nodded. "You can rest assured that no such thing will happen, whether it be team members of outsiders. If someone wants to bully you, we will not let them off." "Right! If anyone dares to bully you, theyll have to get past us first!" Han Li seized the opportunity to make a pledge. Li Tie and Wu Xin muttered. "Lets push him in front?" Wu Xin nodded. "Right, this guy is dangerous, destroy him first!" So the three of them had not grown up, the college students with the IQ of children began a fierce three-way war. Zhang Yi nced at the three students before looking at Luo Xun. "I am not interested in joining other forces, or for new people to join unless the new person pass my test." Zhang Yi made an exit, Li Tie and the noisy trio did not notice. Wang Duo followed his dear queen home. Li Tie coughed and then spoke to Luo Xun. "Well listen to the captain...of course if new peoplee in...we should have an assessment system..." Their team had just been built, but each member had contributed and was ready to maintain the team for a lifetime. The five of them had less responsibilities due to their work hours but everytime they returned they would help with the crops. If vegetables were ripe, they would wake up early to pick them fresh. Working together with the women and never shirked their work. The two floors were divided into four groups, but everyone was close family and friends. Although there was a line between each other that would not be crossed out of consideration. Therefore they did not want to join any powerful, "big forces" nor did they want ungrateful people to join. Li Ties words were echoed by the others. They had no big ambitions C the days were currently good, working a job, farming, taking care of a child with carefreeughter, sharing novels and so on. At the end of the month everyone would leave base and collect crystal nuclei. These kinds of days were monotonous, but at the same time practical and stable. Hearing the students opinions, Luo Xuns heart warmed and he looked at Yan Fei. Although he could guess the other sides thoughts, they had not discussed the matter at all. Yan Fei looked back andughed. "If we take refuge with other forces C military included, we need to obey their rules. Even if they do not break up the team, they would regrly assign tasks. In addition, our team does not conform to a typical squad model, so I personally rmend not joining any forces." He turned to Luo Xun. "About neers...I think we have been over this before." Yes, it had been made clear during the incident with the two female college students who had lived with Xu Mei on the 15th floor. Not just the two of them, Zhang Yis attitude was clear, he was more exclusive than the group of students. Xu Mei joined the Otaku squad because of her strength, effort and perseverance that made the others agree. Luo Xun saw Li Tie and the others breath a sigh of relief before addressing the team. "I personally have no interest in joining or merging with other teams. Even if one day we will no longer be able to collect crystal nuclei outside the base, we can still have a good life on base if we work hard. I am sure that everyone agrees?" The crowd nodded as Luo Xun continued. "Since we are talking about this matter, our team will follow these rules: do not join any force, unless circumstances are forced, do not hunt for zombies with other teams, not have anyone new join. If necessary, we will have new people join after investigation and agreement. Finally do not harm anyonesmon interests, if the squad gets damaged, the perpetrator will be expelled. Nice and simple." Luo Xuns new rules were simple and were in everybodys interest and keeping with the style of this strange team. Afterwards, the team immediately expressed their support. They just wanted to live well during the apocalypse. The next day Captain Guo told Luo Xun that the researchers had finished testing and the zombie virus detector had been put into use. As for the instrument that checked abilities, he said the first wave would not be everyone. The metal team would have an inspection in the next few days. After all, although the odds were low, there was a precedent for those to learn that they had an ability. The team was somewhat curious, although they had little hope of suddenly having an ability, they were curious as to how the instrument would detect the presence of abilities. Of course, thebat forces would be given priority. The metal team was part of logistics, they were lower than the fighter forces but higher than other teams. After the days work, the couple drove back home and locked the car. They left the neighborhood with a bag of nuclei and some points. They greet Xu Mei in the morning and said they were shopping, so the puppy would stay with them for a while. Though, although the puppy was happy to run around and bumped into shelves in 1603. But in the embrace of Yu Xinran, she showed intelligence and calmness. The two would happily y around but if Yu Xinran did anything dangerous, Puppy would cleverly stop her. For example, Yu Xinran ran over to pull a charger only for the puppy to bite her sleeve. When Xu Mei and Song Lingling treated the puppy a lot better. The street was still bustling, there were a lot of private cars on both sides of the road. Plus, due to the warmer weather, some people who were dissatisfied with base home distribution actually lived in their cars. They wanted to rent a whole house instead of sharing with a bunch of unknown people. Right, some of regr houses were renovated by the military into school like dormitories. In a two bedroom suite, even the smallest room could fit two bunk beds and four people crammed inside, not to mention therger living rooms. It was not unusual for people to be driven away or leave. Base management was very short on manpower, there was no time for data collection, only confirming that things had been carried out. So temporary buildings once again appeared on roadsides. Without previous experience, new people on base did not know that the southwest base had an internal virus outbreak. The people that knew were safely living in outer base but no one would remind the neers since it would be useless. They would leave if they wanted to. The two went shopping and searched for people selling crystals. Such stalls were certainly present, but those who wanted to do so needed good eyes. For example, they saw a booth with some level two nuclei, although there were no metal nuclei, one of them seemed to be a sand type for Yu Xinran. The other party said they did not know what power it was, but they had quite a few crystals. Only took out a piece, if they wanted to buy had to visit his ce. Luo Xun looked up and gave Yan Fei a nce. He pointed at the sand core. "Just this one, you want to exchange?" The man froze with a tangled expression, then gave their bulging bag a nce. "15 first ss nucleus, or earth crystal nucleus with 5 first ss cores." Luo Xun immediately straightened and pulled Yan Feis arm. "Second ss for two, without core level, forget about." Swept a nce, the other mans expression was unwilling so he pulled Yan Fei. Fishing for a high price, he contradicted his earlier words and still wanted to increase the price? Were the two of them big fat sheep? Earth, fire, thunder and water abilities were now more popr in base. The majority of earth ability users were working with the military, who usually had nuclei quotas. Naturally did not care to spend some money to improve their strength. Although they had a limited number of points, they had stability. Earth users had always been popr on base. Water ability users were not well known at first but once people knew that water was contaminated. The status of water users grew when people realized they could irrigate with clean water. Nowadays, which did not have a few water users? Even the military was starting to recruit them, as a result the value of the nuclei increased. Fire and lightning were popr as lethal attack power so the value of nuclei remained constant. Exchanging the popr earth crystals for an unknown nucleus, but also increasing the price? Even though sand nuclei were rare, how much difference would giving Yu Xinran a single nuclei have? The man did not call after the pair. After all he felt the crystal in his hand was very rare, never seen before. He would wait for someone willing to pay the high price and if the sucker went back with him... Yan Fei followed Luo Xun a few steps before whispering. "That person was fishing?" Luo Xun smirked. "You could tell?" He nced at the roadside stalls. "They dont have other goods, just trying to fool people into areas with allies and then knock people out or even kill them." This sort of thing was notmon, but people would inevitably think of such methods. Although Yan Fei had guessed, listening to Luo Xuns calm words made him afraid he had seen this sort of thing in his "dreams". Yan Fei then had an ufortable thought. "We look like suckers?" Luo Xun scowled and red. "See how clean your clothes are. Skin, hands and body look healthy, no sign of hardship at all..." If Yan Fei had not been wearing a mask at the time, the man outside would have treated him like a little rabbit. Even if they could not see his appearance, his cleanliness while shopping hid the fact that he was a powerful ability user! Yan Fei also raised an eyebrow, grabbed Luo Xuns wrist and whispered in his ear. "Its the same for you, dont forget both of us were seen as suckers." Right, Luo Xun was not wearing a mask, one could tell from hisplexion that he had not suffered in the apocalypse. He did not have a sallow face filled with sorrow or embarrassment. In his past life, his hands had been filled with calluses and dry because he was not willing to waste water. The only upside worth mentioning was that his skin was super pale since he stayed in the basement without contact with the sun. The two teased each other while wandering in the market. Finally found a few metal cores and the sand crystal they were looking for at the table of arger squad. They exchanged a few level two nuclei with the price of 1:11 to bring back some first ss nuclei. The person they traded with noticed that they were shelling out quite a few level two nuclei. He wanted to secure them as a long term customer. He struck up conversation after the transaction. "I wanted to ask, but if its inconvenient just say so. What type of crystal did you two exchange for?" Their team often had people out collecting supplies but also hunting zombies for cores. They would inevitable encounter some they did not recognize. It would more convenient for them to do business if they knew the element type. This did not need to be kept secret, because the energy levels were equal. Holding nuclei of a different element than your ability was useless. If the price was too high, a suitable person could not buy it to absorb while the owner could only hold onto it. Thus Yan Fei naturally told the person. "Sand, can turn earth into sand." The mans eyes brightened at the answer. "Ah! This is a good power for those out hunting zombies!" Those who were powerful and hadbat experience immediately understood the use of this ability. Yu Xinrans parents were different, so was Xu Meis ex-boyfriend that sold the little girl. The man gave the couple an envious look. No wonder the pair only brought out level two nuclei, looked like their team was very strong and even had such a unique ability. Table of Contents Chapter 104 After closing the deal, Luo Xun and the other person exchanged phone numbers. The seller said they would contact the couple when they had level two nuclei. If Luo Xun had nuclei that he needed, they could also be contacted and sell at the market price. After exchanging some of their crystal nuclei, they returned to their neighborhood and back home. They encountered two people, one the couple had seen, which Luo Xun was more familiar with C the person in hisst life who had almost be a very close friend when they arrived on base. Watching the two men approach...did they also live in the same neighborhood? The world was really small. The other side had already seen Luo Xun and Yan Fei. Although Yan Fei was wearing a face mask, Luo Xun had not covered up. Thus, the two peoples memories of that day surged forward. The two quickly came over and greeted Luo Xun. "What a coincidence! You live around here too? We havent thanked you for your help that day." The people who arrived on base for the first time and people who exited the base for work were not processed the same. The time for observation was not the same, not to mention other things such as registration, temporary housing allocation and identification card etc. It was alreadyte by the time the neers entered base, so it was impossible for them and Luo Xun to meet. Luo Xun nodded, slightly ufortable at the attention. His heart quieted down towards the person whom he could barely remember from his past life. At the same time, Yan Fei quietly grasped his hand. Yan Fei saw that his lover and that other person did not have a "loving" rtionship but since there were some not good memories from his dreams...It was Yan Feis obligation as his lover to appease Luo Xuns feelings. Sure enough, a smile returned to Luo Xuns face. "We also live in this neighborhood, did not think you would be sent here too. Did the people with you get decent housing?" The person touched the back of his head in embarrassment with a shy smile. "Everyone got a ce to live, but only us two are here..." He pointed. "We wanted to live in a separate house. Heard that no one wanted to live in a basement so we got it cheap. Two people for an entire basement!" Although the ce was not big, only arge room with fewer utilities, but only having two people was better than crowding with a group! Luo Xun was shocked. "Basement!?" The mans face became more embarrassed as he nodded his head. "Ah..that...the two of us chose the room because we wanted to live alone. The others were not so willing to live underground. The base had deals on housing, so many people want to live on higher floors with good lighting..." "Which basement building are you living in?" Luo Xun felt his voice waver. He heard a shocking answer. "The third building in the east corner." The basement of the third building in the east corner, Luo Xuns house for a decade during his past life. He did not expect that in this life, the people from his past would live there together. The difference was that Luo Xun had been on his own, while now he had apanion by his side. While Luo Xun was shocked and dazed, Yan Fei stepped forward and asked in a mild tone. "You two are..." He gave the pair an ambiguous look. The two young men looked at each other. One man was shy but he hugged hispanions shoulder. "We...are living together...We agreed to do so if we did not find apanion while escaping." This situation was the same as in his past life. Luo Xun felt conflicted while watching the couple talk with Yan Fei. They said their farewells as the pair headed towards the lively market. A warm hand appeared on his left shoulder, pulling Luo Xun into an embrace. Luo Xun raised his head and looked into gentle and thoughtful eyes. "Come on, lets go home." He had a home and a lover who was willing to live with him. This was not like his past life, where he endured loneliness with no one to speak to. He had a true home, teammates and love. Not the ambiguous attitude of "living together if you cannot find someone" but two people in love living together. Yan Fei looked at Luo Xuns eyes that went from slightly confused to bright. He then heard words that melted his heart. "Yan Fei, I love you." The couple basked in their love, wanting to live with each other forever, to never let the feeling die out. Yan Feis throat bobbed, he grasped Luo Xuns shoulder, his eyes smoldered as they towards their building. Once they returned home...he would show how much he loved Luo Xun through his actions. Regardless of what kind of rtionship those two had with Luo Xun in his "dream", Yan Fei was not ready to pry. He had only inquired because his lovers expression had gone amiss. Now, Yan Fei got an unexpected surprise. Of course Yan Fei knew that Luo Xun loved him, but he was not confident in the depth of that emotion. Now his lover was obviously warming up to him. To Yan Fei, who had never really found "true love", this was the best gift in this desperate world. Whether it was the warmth of family, trust between partners, or love between lovers all of these precious things were given to him by Luo Xun. The next morning, Luo Xun went to work with tangled hair, covered in "strawberries". Captain Guo also noticed that his legs seemed... The captain winked teasingly at Yan Fei. "You let hime to work like that? Let him go back and rest first." Luo Xun red at Captain Guo with one eye, his right hand reached for the crossbow in his backpack. Captain Guo retreated a few steps C he was only joking! The people who worked with him each day were very clear on how urate his crossbow was. Even if it was a joke, if Luo Xun took action, they would definitely lose half of their life! Yan Fei smiled and patted Luo Xuns arm. "Rest well." Before starting to work. He had tried to persuade Luo Xun to rest at home in the morning, but was rebuffed with a dark expression. What a joke! Not being able to work because of a nights exercise happening once was enough! He refused for it to happen twice! Luo Xun felt conflicted as he sat down. Fortunately, the other team members only gave him nces at most. No one dared to say anything other than the Captain. Luo Xun had adapted to his current physical condition but still stuck with "sick" work. Let Yan Fei reflect on his crazy behaviour yesterday C the next time he would not do this sort of thing when they had work the next day. Being fierce was fine during vacation, the rest of the time their nightlife needed to be spent in a more moderate way... The morning of the third day, Luo Xun had just delivered food to the canteen when they heard cheering about good news. Today was their turn to test for abilities! All the people were very excited despite the low chances. Once the two tests werepleted, those with abilities received new identity cards. Many soldiers who thought they had no ability were detected, they had not used the right method for their power. It was everyones turn today so they were naturally excited. The team immediately followed Captain Guo into a noisy room in the barracks after a waiting period. The barracks had been changed, the thick walls had been turned into defensive rooms and other uses. The soldiers who originally lived inside had been moved to a number of different new homes. The middle part of the structure was the main office building, in addition there were a variety of buildings, both big and small with diverse functions. The walls around the fortress had enough space to live under and the walls were thicker than the outer ones! Infantry members were runningps. There were small gaps dedicated for shooting and reconnaissance. It looked rigid and tall. They entered a decently sized building that had likely been repaired. The original exchange, crystal nuclei and distribution departments had all been moved to different floors and rooms. Most of the buildings were around four stories high. Luo Xun followed Captain Guo up four flights of stairs. They entered a room with an instrument that resembled screening equipment at the airport. But this thing was round and had pirs around it. People would stand on the tform and would be scanned from top to bottom. The scan ended once the ring shaped device was done moving. The speed of the device was somewhat slow, fortunately there was a total of three instruments in the room. The four metal users went first, sure enough when the instruments scanned their bodies, the screen immediately disyed silver light, representing metal along with some sound effects. Luo Xun sighed in relief when the disy for Yan Feis ability was the same as the other metal users on the team. Yan Feis mutated ability was only known by Otaku squad. It seemed that the instrument only recognized Yan Feis power as a metal type ability. After the four ability users were examined (they already knew about their powers), they went to a window to change their identity card. The new identity card differed between people. The color on the edge corresponded to power element, so metal was naturally silvery-gray. There was a small "2" in the upper right corner for power level, the top left had the military team and other information. The middle had the identification number with barcodes at the bottom. Yes, a bar code, with this there was the illusion that the wearer was a piece of cargo. Luo Xun looked curiously at Yan Feis new identity card and asked Captain Guo, "Didnt you say that the base would update the original identity card? How was this printed?" Luo Xun pointed at the upper left corner where military owned information was printed. Captain Guo shook his head and said he did not know. "Might be the dwelling?" How could that be? This thing did not even have their own name printed on it for protection. If their home address was printed on this...God knew what could happen! Yan Fei was more curious about something else. "Captain, why dont you check?" Captain Guo had stood at the end of the team after opening the door. Did he want to gost for a shining debut? Captain Guos expression twisted into something unreadable. "I...tried it the first night....cough, although ordinary people might have abilities, the possibility is too low..." He had not finished when the instrument suddenly started ringing. People hurried over to the instrument. A soldier was pale and looked at his head C green! He was green! "nt type, level one!" The technician in charge of the device immediately revealed the soldiers element and level, causing the room to erupt in cheers. An ability user! Sure enough, there were people who had not discovered their abilities! The soldiers face changed from white to red, then he teared up while running to Captain Guo. "Wah, team...captain...wah, I..." Captain Guo smiled and patted his shoulder. "Very good, worthy of the soldiers Imand! Go over there and change cards..." When the guy left, he continued with a somewhat distorted look. "The odds are too low, you know the day I went..." *Ring, ring* The device once again started ringing. "Spirit type! Level one!" Luo Xun looked at Captain Guo with sympathy. The captain tried again. "I know, small odds..." *Ring, ring* "Its another nt type!" By the time it was Luo Xuns turn, Captain Guo was grinding his teeth... Luo Xun calmly went up. His machine did not light up from start to finish. But he was clear about his result, he was a normal man. An ordinary man who would not live well in the apocalypse? Seeing a rade"e back, Captain Guoughed and strongly patted his shoulder. "Ah, dont worry about it little Luo, low odds, low odds~" Luo Xun raised an eyebrow and hugged Yan Fei. "I know its only a small chance, I also knew I have no ability." He smiled at his lover. "Its enough that Yan Fei has an ability." Captain Guo felt pain in his ribs, as if he had been hit by a straight punch. Yan Fei ignored Captain Guos behaviour and smiled back at Luo Xun. "Rest assured, whats mine is also yours." "You shameless lovebirds, die in a ditch!" Captain Guo restrained himself from strangling Yan Fei. How many people were in the metal squad? Including Luo Xun and Yan Fei, it was only 15 people, which also included the driver and the metal users transferred from the second team. Of the fifteen people, everyone knew about the four metal users, but now there were three other ability users! The ratio was not low, power users now ounted for almost half the entire squad. Captain Guo secretly ground his teeth, he felt the bitter force of leadership. He thought of when he and the small group of leaders ran over for testing, then he thought of the statistics from two days earlier...Now that he thought about it, it seemed that there was a far greater proportion of ability users amongst soldierspared to others. The three newly discovered ability users excitedly went to change their identity cards. Captain Guo turned and prepared to leave just as another team of people came for testing. Both sides exchanged greetings and the other captain saw several people with ted expressions. "You have a newly discovered ability user on your team?" Captain Guo proudly raised his chin. "Dont look down on my team." He raised a hand. "Three!" He shifted his difort to the rest of the team. After the team left the building, Captain Guo started the meeting by encouraging the new ability users. "Your work will be adjusted by our bosses, but before that youll still work with the team." The three of them straightened and shouted their agreement. Then Captain Guo addressed those who had not found an ability. "Dont worry about it, did you not see that I dont have an ability either? With or without an ability, everyone has a job to do. Work hard!" Fortunately, prior to the examination they knew that the proportion of people who would discover an ability was not high. Although the team had three newly discovered power users, they soon adjusted and prepared for the days work. Spirit was a special type of ability, it was hard to detect or discover except under specific circumstances. nts were also rarer than general powers, because they had to be in the right environment to utilize their powers. The average person seldom had that sort of chance. Even more so in the barracks, after the apocalypse the soldiers worked in ordance with the orders of their bosses. Unless they were responsible for nting vegetables, they did not have ess to nts or seeds. Plus they could not find nts themselves. But there were some nt users who discovered their abilities while fleeing, or after receiving seeds from base. What made people bitter was that the nts spawned could cling to enemies and zombies. But the grown nts were inedible and would wither and die immediately after the battle. This had led nt type users destined to be supportbatants. The day after the team was checked for powers, Luo Xun and Yan Fei found that a person was missing C the spirit type that had been discovered. Almost all the spirit type users were found in the army. Even though some found that their brains were better than before the apocalypse or felt some strange feeling, without concrete demonstration, it was hard to tell they had special abilities. Once again, only one more coffee until a bonus chapter...Everyone must really want to know what happens next (bb;) Chapter 105 Heres the bonus chapter ~ Thanks to: Michelle in Colorado, Shadoerunner, AC, Mrow, Anon(s) After another day, one of the nt type users was gone. The remaining nt user and told Luo Xun that he had spoken to Captain Guo in private to help him stay with the team. After all, although he has an ability, most of the power users in the army were already level two while he was only level one. He was powerful but only inparison to ordinary people. If put together in arge group of other ability users, he would be considered average. He also heard that quite a few other nt users had been found. Not too many, but not too little at the same time. After he came up with this idea, he heard that Captain Guo was also looking for another ability user, which only made sense after seeing what was left of the team. The metal team now had two fewer members with 13 remaining. Likely because the higher ups felt that the numbers were fine C counting on the couples help. Now they were trying to build new teams of ability users, which also required some rare abilities, but there were not enough people. Fortunately, work was not tense, not a lot of help was needed. For some small metal parts, purifying metal it was not a problem for two people. The rest of the work had vehicles to help. Li Tie, the other students and Zhang Yi had to wait until the fourth day to be tested. In fact, the students were not formally in the army, more like temporarily recruited workers, so they had to wait until all army personnel were inspected before their turn. The five excitedly went but were somewhat disappointed C they were all normal, just as they had expected. Zhang Yi also checked out his wind power C no surprises. However his colleagues and the soldiers were shocked C his wind powers were only level two? One had to know that arge number of ability users had leveled up (especially in the army). However wind abilities...at level one were useless, they could turn the air into a small cannon at maximum. But Zhang Yi could slice people apart even at level one! Not to mention level two?! This had caused doubts to spread among people, they wondered if Zhang Yi had been level two from the start or even level three. Thus when the results came out, they wondered if the instrument was capable of reading higher than level two. Of course, this suspicion was in their mind, after all there were no level three abilities at the moment. It was possible that the instrument could not detect anything higher than level two. But if that was said aloud, it would offend the group of experts who had been working on base. No one was stupid enough to say anything. After a week of testing in the Army, the research department issued a notice about ability detection equipment. The news was advertised everywhere through the radio and on the streets. The instrument was now free for testing for all the people on base. The military brought out six devices, but because people were too enthusiastic after the news, the checkpoints were filled morning until night with people waiting in line. All the ability users wanted to wear the special identity card that proved their status and distinction from ordinary people. All the ordinary people wanted to rise above their current position, remake their identity. In thiswless base, they could stand tall and step on former bullies and rise up in life. During this craze to discover abilities and change cards, people such as Xu Mei and Song Lingling did not want to cause trouble, they were calm since they knew their own power levels. At the same time the equipment was released, the base also quietly circted that a zombie siege would ur in the near future. It seemed that the zombies hadunched a counterattack on the humans bombing. They targeted the southwest base and eastern base on the edge of A-city. The news spread like wildfire through base, many people were whispering. There was spection that the news came from an ability user capable of foresight. The message became distorted as it was passed around, some people said a legendary zombie leader, ruler of all zombies would punish the humans. Listening to the more and more outrageous rumors on base, Luo Xun and Yan Fei were silent, they had no other way. Luo Xun had no way of proving that his "prediction" would happen, along with no proof that he had lived through the future. Also had no way to ensure that this would not happen. After all, although small aspects had changed due to his rebrith were mostly rted to himself. The bigger picture had not changed. For example, A-city only had two bases and M-city and several other bases had been destroyed. Even a few major research developments on base werepleted at the same time. The only difference in Luo Xuns memory was that the base had more metal bridges, thanks to the metal users leveling up with Yan Feis help. This had not happened in his past life, it was the biggest difference between Luo Xuns past life and present. It was because of this that Luo Xun did not say that the eastern base would be overrun. He naturally dared not assert that things would happen. The couple were recently very concerned about the situation outside of base but they did not hear about a sudden increase in the number of zombies. As for the news currently spreading around base, it had been Yan Feis decision to quietly distribute it. He could not directly contact the bosses on base, especially if he could not exin how he knew or disy any proof. They had their mobile phones on hand, thework on base had been sessfully set up and they could connect to thework from home and send messages to team members. But if one did not want to be checked, it was best to not leave a trail. So he decided to use this method since teams that went out for missions would pay special attention to relevant news C such as a sudden increase in zombies, strange zombies moving around and so on. Once the news was spread around, the base would have to respond. Of course, there were drawbacks, if anyone wanted to subvert the current regime, they would use this method to stir up rumors inside the base. But the couple had no other way of effectively achieving their goals. Searching for powers and the rumorssted until the end of the month. The tested had exceeded four-fifths. There far more people identified with abilities whether in the army or public. It was an astonishing phenomenon. What was the reason? Was there any way to increase the ratio of power users in the army? Or was it those with the qualities of a power user had joined the army in thest few years? Ordinary people did not understand, there was a spection in the researchmunity C physical fitness. The better a person was, the less likely it was that they became a zombie after the apocalypse and more likely to have an ability. In fact, looking at the base poption, a guess could be made; the majority of the base were young adults, the elderly and weak children mutated directly into zombies during the first wave. Most of the people who developed abilities usually had decent fitness, or some other advantage. Of course, there was also the fact that many sickly people would not be able to escape to the base, so this was only a conjecture. It was not clear even with well-informed people in the research department. However, even if the proportion of ability users was higher in the army, it was not more than the total number of ability users discovered on base. After all, it was mostly those with strength or powerful abilities that survived and reached the base. There was no chance for those with poor physique or the elderly to make the journey. Xu Mei, Song Lingling and little Ran waited until the end of the month before checking their ability types and level. As a result, the busy crowd sucked a breath C three women! There was a child with them! They were all ability users!! The shining color that denoted them level two ability users as well as their murderous atmosphere let people know that they were not silk flowers hiding behind men on base. It would not be the first time someone came to woo, bully or lure them away. Still, after they had received their identity cards, many came to try and woo the three females. It was a pity that the two women hated men? Ones hair was burnt off before getting doused with a water ball. They quickly retreated and dared not provoke these two thorny roses. By the end of the month, Luo Xun and Yan Fei had decided C time to leave base once again. Although Luo Xun remembered that in early August, the eastern base was broken and half a monthter their own southwest base suffered a siege, there had been no news of any abnormal movement. No news of ces where zombies had increased and gotten more dangerous. The news the pair had scattered was still circting, but it was more like a story. Even if some people felt that it was very likely, they did not see any signs of what to do. "This time depends on the situation outside, if the number of zombies is high we will not stray too far from base or take too long." Luo Xun and his team were sitting in Li Ties rooms C the regr meeting spot. "After the rumors we heard on base, they might just be rumors but we need to be careful. Lets go out and harvest some crystal nuclei." The team had no disagreements with Luo Xun, after all the team went out of base in order to collect crystal nuclei, earn extra money and develop fighting instincts. Li Tie and the others were working with the army and naturally heard that constitution was rted to chance of abilities. Some of them were now more enthusiastic about hunting zombies C even though they werent very strong now, but gaining experience would help their future! Even if they did not develop abilities in the future, saving nuclei and points was also good. Compared to Yan Fei, Zhang Yi, Xu Mei and the others who had to absorb a portion of their crystal nuclei, the students did not need so all the crystals were pure ie! Usually, if they needed something, they would redeem some points with the teams nuclei and spend them to buy the things they needed. But how much money could they spend? The five students could be considered petty bourgeoisie, white cor workerspared to those without jobs. They had enough in their possession to marry someone! Unfortunately these four bachelors either set their sights on the two team beauties, who looked the other way. Or they were unaware that they could find a girlfriend, for example Wu Xin and He Qiankun had an inferiorityplex due to their appearances and had never been with a girl. "No problem! Well listen to the captain!" Li Tie shouted loudly. In fact, the five people were not very courageous. A dozen zombies near the base was okay, but if they encountered a sea of zombies...They would quickly run away, did not want to be sacrificed to stop the torrent of zombies. Xu Mei and the others had no opinion so the meeting ended. Everyone went back home to prepare for the next day. This time, for the sake of safety Luo Xun no longer drove his two-in-one car. Everyone tidied up and three cars drove out. Each vehicle had at least one ability user inside, convenient to deal with emergencies. They left the base after picking a mission. The car went all the way down the previous route back to where they had been fighting before. On the way, there were a few scattered zombies in the ruined streets. It seemed simr to the situation thest time they came out. As they passed through the ruins of the bank and arrived where theyst stayed. The number of scattered zombies seemed simr to thest time C as if the zombies had identally been wandering around the neighborhood. "Does seem like there are any problems?" Han Li looked around with his binocrs. Luo Xun also careful examined the area. "Lets go back to the ce where everyone escapedst time." Yan Fei was responsible for inspecting the road to determine all the hidden underground traps, the bowl shaped structures were intact. The others also looked around before driving back to where they had stayedst. Yan Fei used the metal hidden in the pits to make metal fences, reinforcing the defenses with metal gathered along the way. They cleaned out the nearby zombies C the number of level two zombies had increased. After the ability users had recovered, Luo Xun once again brought out a blood pack to lure zombies. Perhaps because there quite a few peopleing from the south, so the number of zombies might have been reduced. The zombie bodies had not been burned to charcoal. They walked outside the metal walls, cleaned up the zombies and picked up the nuclei. Roughly estimated that the harvest was around 5000. Xu Mei frowned at Luo Xun, "Captain, should we continue?" Although among the 5000 nuclei, 80% were level two nuclei. Compared to past harvests, this was a bit more. Luo Xun was hesitant, delving into the urban area would more crystal nuclei, but there were safety concerns... Thinking carefully and seeing the sky hadpletely darkened. Luo Xun started to speak, "Lets..." "Captain, somethings there! Theres somethinging! A lot!" Han Li shouted, his face pale as he pointed to the northeast. The people heard and quickly looked in that direction. Bright red eyes shone in the shadows of the dark ruins. Yan Feis expression changed as he heard the squeaking sounds. "Zombie mouse!" "Close the windows!" Luo Xuns face was solemn and immediatelymanded the team. That was Yan Feis job, he immediately mobilized the nearby metal to form a metal dome that covered everything. Luo Xun was not idle, together with Li Tie they prepared buckets of gasoline and mushroom juice on the side. The squeaking noises came closer and closer, gradually bing a wall of sound. Luo Xun said before the zombie mice reached the front. "Listen to my orders, Yan Fei will pour mushroom juice and gasoline into the ditch outside using pipes, Xu Mei will ignite and Zhang Yi pay attention when adding air, dont let soot in! If the oil gets lit, you are responsible for extinguishing it!" Seeing Xu Mei and Zhang Yi nod, he turned to Song Lingling. "You are responsible to add water into several big barrels to cool everyone down." In this situation, no need for borate tactics! Pour mushroom juice! Pour the gasoline! Set the enemies on fire!! The movement speed of the zombie mice was amazing, Luo Xun had not even finished speaking when the sound of squeaking reached the wall. *Plop* a bunch of zombie mice dropped directly into the ditch, but God knew how many zombie rats were out there?! Once the trench was filled, they would run towards the metal wall! Luo Xun had not even finished that though when the popping sounds erupted from the other side! "Where did theye from?" He Qiankun said with a faint shiver. A pair of peach blossom eyes narrowed. "I can sense wind power..." Right after, one of the small windows was hit with a small fireball! "Is there no justice in the world?! Even a zombie mouse can develop powers!" Wang Duo spit out, his heart was in turmoil. Luo Xun had already calmed down. "Stay away from the windows for now. Song Lingling use a water curtain to look outisde, if the ditch is almost filled with rats, get ready to pour mushroom juice!" It was kill or be killed! Luo Xun would not give up before his final breath, they must absolutely strive to live! Everyones face was serious, Song Lingling did not directly see the mouse army. There were many mice rushing into the hole, but a few clung to the metal walls. The sound of scrabbling ws, shrill voices and pings filled the air. She checked the other side, using a curtain of water as a protective measure. She loudly called to Luo Xun. "Captain! The back trench is half full!" Table of Contents Chapter 106 "Pour the mushroom juice! Avoid the window areas!" Luo Xun immediately ryed orders after Song Linglings report. The whole barrel of mushroom juice was poured into the trench using a metal funnel made by Yan Fei. The squeaking from outside grew louder, the corrosive mushroom juice eliminated more than half of the zombie rats in the trench. Arge number of zombie mice were buried in pus. It was fortunate that they had not met too many zombies today, so there a lot of mushroom juice and petrol in stock. Otherwise they have needed to hide in metal shelters and not be able to deal with all the zombies outside. Zhang Yi controlled the airflow inside the metal dome, allowing fresh air to enter. Li Tie and the others poured buckets of mushroom juice through the funnels. Gradually, seventy to eighty percent of the mushroom juice had been used, but the number of zombie mice outside showed no sign of decreasing! Even more frightening was listening to the *pop* sounds of mice hitting the metal walls and grinding that caused ones scalp to tingle. When the pit was almost full again, Luo Xun immediately ordered more mushroom and petrol to be dumped out of the funnels. Xu Mei did have time to release a fireball when a fire ability zombie mouse carelessly lit some gasoline! Fortunately the fireball fell into the ditch, and did not ignite the funnel, otherwise the person responsible for pouring petrol would have gotten burned! "Really...dangerous" Luo Xun whispered while looking at the raging fire. The people in charge of the petrol did not know that they had almost been injured, but were also relieved at seeing the fire doing its job. Yan Fei patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "We have learned our lesson, next time Ill change the form to avoid this problem." Luo Xun could only nod in agreement. The couple stood side by side and silently waited for the fire to stop burning. Zombie mice were extremely fast. Their rotten skin was ignited as they crossed through the mes causing fiery bullets to hit the metal walls. Yan Fei had deliberately made the trench arearger, but the rats could use wind abilities and speed across. Everyone felt lucky about their previous zombie encounters, one-on-one the zombies were not bag, but their movements were slow. Even the faster zombies did notpare to the zombie rats intensive attack, or had the past only been a warmup? That night, no one dared to sleep. When the fire became small, some immediately added more petrol. Xu Mei shot a me as far as possible to create a dense firewall, more intense than usual. Zhang Yi made sure that the air stayed clean, discing any soot. He also asionally added oxygen to Xu Meis mes forbustion. The fire burned all night. Fortunately before leaving, Luo Xun had told everyone to bring more gasoline back. They had brought all of it with them, otherwise how would they have rxed somewhat that night? When the first rays of the sun appeared, the team had no reaction. It was only when the sun was in the sky that the squeaking became quieter, the zombie mice gradually started retreating. The zombie mice disappeared as suddenly as they arrived. "Gone, gone..." "Finally all gone!" Realizing that the zombie mice hadpletely disappeared, they started to cry along with a few *thump* sounds. The team flopped onto the ground, the more exhausted people went directly to sleep. Luo Xun subconsciously leaned against Yan Fei and fell asleep. His mind was still thinking about the zombie animals that retained habits. The zombies were not afraid of the sun, but not ustomed to being out during the day. Otherwise, the team would not be able to continue without a break. When Luo Xun opened his eyes again, the sun had almost risen overhead. He looked at the time C 11:20 AM and dragged his tired body for a quick patrol. He determined that there were no traces of zombies or other people. Luo Xun was relieved. Li Tie and several other people were still sleeping, Xu Mei was rubbing her eyes. Yan Fei had woken up with Luo Xun and was drinking some water. "Well clean up the battlefield then go back and have an early rest." Luo Xuns voice was a little hoarse, so he took some water from Yan Fei and drank a few gulps. Everyone woke up and went to collect crystals. It must be said that the zombie mice gave a truly impressive number of nuclei. However the nuclei in an animals body were much smaller than a human zombie C depended on the size of the animal. The nuclei in a zombie mouse brain, was only one-third the size of a human one. Yan Fei tried to absorb one and nodded at Luo Xun. "Energy is about one-third of a normal nuclei." It was same regardless of nuclei level. However they had encountered too many zombie mice, after burning all the zombie animal corpses, they harvested more than 40,000 pieces! Including the level two nuclei they had previously obtained, the rich harvest made them speechless. Unfortunately, the number of level two zombie rats was lower than regr zombies, about 3:1. Even more regrettable was that the zombie rats nuclei were too small so they had to return to base in order to figure out the value. Plus, killing so many zombie mice at once, if the crystal cores entered the market, would not the military be suspicious? It seemed like they could only slowly release their resources. As usual, the crystals were divided into five portions, one was for the team, the remainder was personal ie. They put all their things in the back of the car, cleaned up while covering their traces and drove back to base. Luo Xun had spent the day recovering from his exhaustion due tost night. In retrospect, the most memorable thing would have been C returning to base was so fast! Since the base had a detector, there was no need for blood tests and the security screening was very fast. Luo Xun andpany fought zombies using only ranged attacks and rarely encountered a melee situation. When they returned to base, even their coats were not contaminated with zombie virus. The cars wheels were contaminated, but that was something anyone leaving base would encounter, there was no way to avoid it. The military people would clean the dirty car tires after returning from a mission. Luo Xun and team did not have to worry, they just needed to pick up their cars and return home. This speed was much faster than thest time. They rested for a day. Luo Xun and Yan Fei took advantage of theirst vacation day to check the streets. First, Yan Fei wanted to search for some metal nuclei. Second, they wanted to find a way to sell the level two nuclei from the zombie mice. This was too painful, it might be better to take the nuclei to exchange with the military instead. After wandering around they arrived at the stall where they had a previous transaction. Yan Fei took out one the small level two crystals, the other party was somewhat surprised. Although this was rare, it was not like they had never seen those before. After all, as a result of thest incident, everyone knew that there were zombie animals in the city. Some teams had also seen these animals. It was a bit troublesome to kill, but one could still have a decent harvest. "Have you had a decent harvesttely?" The man casually struck up conversation. "Our team went a few times and only brought back level one nuclei with a few level two, but not any we need." Luo Xun was a little surprised and inquired, "Our luck is not very good, we found some zombies but not what we wanted. Where did you guys go? Never meeting a level two zombie? What luck!" The manughed, since the task was over, he was not afraid of theft. He proudly said, "Two days ago we took a mission to north of the city, a fabric factory. All you could see were first level zombies..." So north of the city was mainly filled with level one zombies? Had the zombies in the south be level two in order to survive the previous air strikes? Luo Xun was surprised, he hurried and left while whispering to Yan Fei. "What do you think? Why are there more level two zombies in the southpared to the north?" He had only been north in hisst life and was unaware of the situation in the south. The man had not paid attention to where he had went, the only reason he made it back was because the area was dominated by level one zombies. Yan Fei also frowned. "Perhaps theres a connection with the air strikes?" The pair discussed for some time but did note to a conclusion and could only give up. The next day after work, they went to the military exchange window and exchanged their useless second level nuclei for other second and first grade nuclei and points. As for the zombie mice nuclei, the market and military had the same rate of 1:3 for normal nuclei, which was about what they had estimated. It was the start of August, the couple worked hard, while one side was secretly worried about the impending siege. Despite their close attention, they heard no special news from teamsing back from missions. On the evening of the fourth, the two men returned and helped Xu Mei harvest the crops before heading home for dinner. Li Tie and the other excitedly climbed upstairs and happily opened the door. "Look at what amazing things we brought home?!" "Hard drive?" Luo Xun looked up in surprise at the thing in Li Ties hands. "TV shows! All shows from before the apocalypse! We dont know when they were found and uploaded into thework, we just copied them!" Li Ties face was bright and blossoming. They all had mobile phones but there was no TV orputers. Watching tv dramas and movies were not super interesting, but there werent any more fun activities? "Come on, Ill add them to our mainframe..." Since discovering that Luo Xun had aputer with many novels. Li Tie and the others saved up from their time working with the military to buy aputer! It not only had copies of Luo Xuns novel, but also a bunch of other forms of entertainment. "Well, just in time for bed." Always reading novels would get boring, having different types of entertainment was also good. A group of people excitedly ran upstairs to tinker with electronics. All theputer equipment, routers and other were all in Li Ties home. There were some things in the corridor C which had been also set up by Li Tie and friends. "There are movies!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling were more interested in thetest Hollywood blockbusters. "What else? This is what we brought back today, we can get some more tomorrow!" Han Li patted his chest, finally found an opportunity to market himself. Song Lingling turned with excited eyes. "Korean dramas? The longer the better to pass the time. s, Korean dramas have be shorter and shorter, best to have an older one with hundreds of episodes!" Han Li immediately choked, hundreds of episodes? How many hard drives worth of stuff had to be loaded? No, hell find a fewrge capacity hard drives! He needs to fulfill the wishes of thedies on the team! Xu Mei lowered her head andughed while pretending to not see the silly behaviour of theirpanion. Since there were films copied on the hard drive, they decided to spend the evening watching a movie. Wang Duo realized his highness had returned home and quickly went to wee him. Zhang Yi came in with Wang Duo, the former handed his bag over his valet. "East base had an ident." The room became quiet. All turned to him in surprise, seemingly not understanding his words. "I just received a message before I came back." Zhang Yi said while taking sips from a water bottle. "The eastern base sent a distress signal, said the base was surrounded, arge number of high level zombies so the survivors can only hide in a rtively safe ce. One side sent for help while others were defending." Zhang Yi shrugged. "The army dispatched doctors to apany troops, nothing to do with me so I came back." In fact, with his medical skills, the hospital could actually send him over, especially since he had wind powers to protect himself. But he had already made his opinions about the hospital clear, even the army had heard about it. The rescue operation could not have the slightest uncertainty. There was no need for Zhang Yi, the higher ups would not consider sending out a troublemaker. The army doctors selected all had medical backgrounds, strong psches and would reliably follow their superiors orders. As for the non-reliable...stay on base and save lives. Luo Xun was silent for a while before asking. "Did you hear any specific news?" Zhang Yi shook his head with a shrug. "No, I only know the higher ups sent out a task force, who knows the details or how many people were sent?" People silently exchanged nces, Li Tie suddenly thought of a past rumor on base. "Werent there news that there would be a zombie siege in early August? First the eastern base and then us? If the news..." The others faces all changed, Li Tie suddenly shouted before any discussion started. "WasteWoodHouse!!" "Ah?" Han LI stared nkly at Li Tie. Li Ties face was flush with excitement, "Were the news put out by WasteWoodHouse? He was able to predict theing of the apocalypse as well as posting information on how to survive. This looks like his handiwork! If he could predict the future, he will not die! He must havee to the southwest base too! This proves that WasteWoodHouse thinks that our base must be the safest! Ah ah ah, should we find him? He must know more...must have an ability to see the future, maybe a powerful ability user..." Everyone looked silently at Li Tie, who had apparently gone delusional and then turned to captain Luo Xun. Luo Xun started to sweat. "Since the east base had an incident, there might be a simr situation here. People might suddenly die on base from mysterious circumstances, but may really encounter a zombie siege. I suggest we postpone the outing this month and see what happens. The other thing is C from tomorrow on when we go out, try not to act alone, take caution outside." He looked at Zhang Yi. He was the only person who likely act on his own, after all, although he worked until five oclock, it was likely he would have overtime. Sooner orter, he would workter, it would be normal to backte at night. Zhang Yi waved a hand. "I have powers..." "No." Wang Duo immediately stood up. "Youll be tired after working all day, what would happen in a crisis? Ill wait for at the hospital gate and pick you up after work." He banged a fist against his chest. He nced at Wang Duo and sneered. "You? Do I save you or do you save me?" Leave him alone at the hospital gate? Who was he kidding, so many people came and went. If something actually happened, how would he find him? If anything happened... He Qiankun quickly pulled Wang Duo, "Well go to the hospital with Wang Duo. Anyway we need to buy food after work. It would be better to eat in the canteen and then go to the hospital. If there are no issues, it would be around when Zhang Yi gets off work." Yes, we go together! Well carry weapons with us!" "Why dont we drive? Its safer and theres a ce to rest." "And a cell phone! After we arrive, well send Zhang Yi a message and well greet him outside the hospital doors." The group discussed and Zhang Yi reluctantly nodded. Since Li Tie and the others pass by the hospital on the way home from the barracks, the risk factor would be decreased. Along with moving as a group, security would be higher. This would guarantee safety for both sides, as for work... Zhang Yi made a decision, tomorrow he would work as slowly as possible, unlike before. He had a strange state of mind, resulting in abnormal skills with a much higher efficiency than his counterparts. Now in order to ensure the safety of the people going home with him, he was ready to rx and slow down. This could be considered a miracle. Chapter 107 Since the location of the ident was a long distance from the southwest base, most people on base did not see any problems since the roads needed military ess. They did not get the details until the next day when Luo Xun andpany went to the barracks. Captain Guos face was solemn as he spoke to the group. "Today, well be temporarily transferred to the outer wall, bosss orders. Were deepening the metal foundation as far as possible. They received the newsst night about the eastern base, it had been breached." So they temporarily assigned the metal users to add to the foundation. After all, the outer walls would be in danger once other zombie animals emerged. Everyone looked solemn, no one said anything and hurried into the truck headed towards the outer wall. In the car, one person asked for more details from the captain. "Captain, how is the eastern base?" Captain Guo shook his head. "Situation is not good, said the base door was broken...a few helicopters were mobilized, but well need to wait to see how many people can be rescued." He was not clear about the specifics but knew that the eastern base wall had been destroyed. Plus people suddenly turned into zombies inside, which lead to the survivors using theirst strength to block thest fortifications. However, it was very necessary to have backup barracks built in base. Not long after the car drove to the outer walls, the team began todays work. They needed to directly deepen the metal walls. Yan Fei first experimented to find methods and tricks before the other metal ability users started working. The crane followed the four, holding a lot of metal. On the side, Luo Xun and several others were responsible for protecting the ability users, block possible attacks. But the current possibility was lower since there was a newly dug moat creating a river about five meters wide. Outside the moat, there was a newly created earthen walls along with other walls made of wooden poles. This sort of fence became the first set of defensive fortifications. The outer fence, while not practical, could stop the zombies long enough for the defensive soldiers to respond. The huge iron gate faced the drawbridge, if there was an emergency, the suspension bridge could be raised at any time, allowing the base to bepletely isted from the outside world. Now, two surveince watchtowers were connected to the bridge on the other side of the moat, carefully observing the surrounding area. Ordinary soldiers and base survivors were clueless, but the higher ups on base were clear about one thing C thest attack had used a lot of the ar craft. If this case was not too urgent, they would definitely not send out thest few helicopters left! And if any of these helicopters were lost...without an escape, they would have to go to war. After eating lunch, the sun was high in the sky as they climbed up the walls to continue work. The outer wall foundation was originally only three meters, for safety reasons they needed to increase it to five meters. If there was time, it would have been better to make the foundation ten meters deep, but that would affect things like water supply and sewage systems. They would have to wait for the construction experts on base for a solution. At two oclock in the afternoon, Luo Xun suddenly squinted into the distance and spoke in an unsure tone. "ne?" Several ck dots were in the sky to the northeast. Many other busy people stopped and looked as well. Sure enough, the sound of rumbling came after, the points became clearer C helicopter! "Are they from the eastern base?" Luo Xun was not quite sure. In his past life at the time of the incident, he happened to follow a team into the city for a mission. He heard that the base had dispatched helicopters and rescued some people, but the details were not clear. Under the eyes of the crowd, the ne flew over the wall and into base. Some other people on base also noticed, they stopped and pointed into the air. The eastern base was different from the smaller bases, in some ways, the east and southwest bases were benchmarks for the apocalypse. They were also the only safe ces for survivors. Once survivors learned that the eastern base was destroyed, what would happen? How would it be possible for a base to continue when turbulence and fear started from within? Perhaps the people on base would snap from the pressure and do something dangerous. But the base ignored the potential loss of the eastern base and rumors of a zombie siege. After seeing the helicopters fly to the barracks, people who had been quietly worrying about rumors were circted. The eastern base was destroyed before the military had announced any news. Many people began to desperately contact their friends and rtives, warning them to stay on base and not leave for missions. Those with friends and family outside tried to call and send text messages. More people were reinforcing their doors and windows in fear that someone would try to rob their homes. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were on there way home in the afternoon when they saw a few people on the roadside fighting over a piece of broken board. Both sides were red with rage and not willing to retreat. For a few metal boards, people were willing to fight so fiercely. The next morning, news of the destroyed eastern base was known entirely to the public. Not long after, a few survivors came in trucks along with a few helicopters. Then a session of private cars entered through the base gates, these were independent survivors. The leaders and technical/military personnel had been sent on the military trucks and helicopters. The southwest base feared that zombies were following behind these people, might arrive at any time. A meeting was held at the southwest base fort with those who had escaped from the eastern base. Who had escaped from the base C how was the eastern base destroyed? The higher ups from the eastern base were disgraced, their expressions became ugly upon seeing the asking sides confusion. "Up until now, we did not clearly exin the matter! First, the sudden message said that people were being killed in the streets by zombies then the gate was also being attacked by a swarm of zombies! They couldnt even shut the gate!" The southwest base people were surprised, one asked. "Were there any people on the scene." The leader of the eastern base mmed the table. "Dead on the spot! When we got the news, the zombies had already reached headquarters!" "But if we dont figure out why, the same thing will happen here sooner orter, where else can we go? Even if you want to go to the Tibet teau, you need enough petrol. Not to mention getting out alive!" The southwest base leader also hit the table. In terms of identity, leaders in the eastern base were generally higher than southwest base, fortunately both sides were notpletely at odds. The two leaders were acquaintances and had exchanged information during the apocalypse. But now that they were together, one side wanted to pressure the other with their background. Southwest base leaders were not afraid, why should they be? Theirbor force was not smaller than them!" "That is outrageous!" The other leaders knew that they were in southwest territory and still dared to ask this sort of thing? But it was the apocalypse, who asked for their territory to be attacked? After the end of the world, the world was fragmented into groups simr to ancient warlord ns. Before, the southwestern base had to obey the instructions of the eastern base. But the phoenix that fell into water was inferior to a chicken, so they had to swallow their pride. The meeting continued for more than half a day without any results. The southwest base staff could not find any information from the eastern base. They could only follow previous preparations to prevent future idents. The standoffsted a full ten days, the people in the southwest base began to wonder if the zombies were full from eating the inhabitants of the eastern base. Test results marked in red were ced in front of the leaders. "Water...a sudden increase of virus concentration in the water?" The leaders were not calm and their eyes widened. "Whats going on?" "How can it suddenly increase?" "Did you find anything in the water?" The person in charge of the test exined. "Water pollution suddenly increased, we cut off the water once the issue was found, how to deal with it. If the water problem cannot be quickly solved, I am afraid survivors using unclean drinking water will suddenly mutate into zombies..." "Suddenly be a zombie?!" "Eastern base! Eastern base!" Due to food hygiene problems that caused people to turn into zombies, the southwest base began to strictly monitor water safety. There was only one pipe that brought water from outside the city. For safety, the base made a reservoir, all in flowing water had to be disinfected twice, sedimented and inspected before actually entering base. With this method, the increased management and processing had decreased the water flow into the city, but not by much. But now... "First stop the citys entire water supply citing troubleshooting. Immediately mobilize all the water users in the army to add water to the backup tanks." One leadermanded. Another man got up. "Ill go ask the eastern base people if there was a simr situation in the city before the zombie attack." The results of the inquiry were rming, the eastern base hadcked drinking water treatment, they had not gone through the effort of creating aplete set of water purification devices! The southwest base had clearly told them about the issue! They had done nothing! Those unharmed who fled to the southwest? Higher ups who drank special water supply C after water purification tablets and disinfection, the water had a smell. So those people drank water produced by water ability users. Thus they had no idea of the problems with the drinking water in the eastern base. Few survivors were careful enough to ce tablets or distill drinking water. These steps were too troublesome, who would thoroughly clean water? The average family boiled it for a while, even boiling multiple times was beyond some peoples limits. If the water flowed into base...the consequences would be terrifying. Now that the main cause of the eastern base incident was found, the problem was not terrible. What was scary however, was problems uring internally and externally at the same time! "Quick, man the gate! Dont let anyone in without careful investigation! Everyone has to go through inspection before being ced, open the gate for a certain number of people at a time!" They suddenly remembered that the survivors from the east base came onrge scale at once. Their base almost had the same incident! Once the news was spread, martialw was imposed. The people who were out of town were forced to stay out of the city for the time being and wait until the rm was lifted. The city gate waspletely closed, the entrance rules were also modified a bit. There was testing before the official registration before entering town in order to know that entrants did not have the zombie virus. After the check, a certain number of doors would open. Even vehicle inspection had be more detailed. The metal wall team had finished the deeper foundation today. They had gone around the base and back to the gate to finish up. From a distance, they heard noises from inside the gate, the group curiously looked over and vaguely saw some sort of dispute. Some people waiting around the gate were arguing with the military. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun whispered as he looked over. Captain Guo was bored so he lifted his hat. "Ill go see, you continue working, the wall is almost done!" He trotted down the wall. Did not expect this guy to enjoy gossiping. Luo Xun and Yan Fei silently exchanged nces. Yan Fei continued working with the small mountain of metal beside him. Not long after, the team had finally finished as Captain Guo came back with news. The team cheered C the wall was finally finished!! Captain Guoughed as he walked over. "All finished?" "Right? The time was much faster than before." Although the results were underground where everyone could not see, they used the metal already there in order deepen the foundation. It was a lot quicker than the major project before. "Captain, whats going on at the door." One soldier inquired. "Over there?" Guo quieted everyone down since no one wanted to go in person. "Martial Law..." "Martialw? Whats the matter?!" Everyone was surprised and rushed to ask. "Its not clear whats going on, only that the gates and water supply have been temporarily closed. Everyoneing in must be checked and only let in once a certain number have reached at a time." The group looked at each other, their minds raced. They all thought of the same possibility: that the crisis in the eastern base would be repeated in the southwest. Since the work was done but the team did not have notice to return to base early, Captain Guo told everyone they could return home. He turned to the couple. "Keep cell phones on, if there is a situation, the military will send. I will contact you as well." The two nodded and said goodbye before returning to their car. Luo Xun sent Li Tie a message as well. Not long after the others knew about the closed gates and temporary water shortage. However they needed more information, their superiors revealed that the southwest base might have an incident. Without any other details, the couple could only go home. Xu Mei and Song Lingling saw them on the sidewalk. "Just now the broadcast said there were issues with the water supply. Water users can create emergency water supplies, and the base is gathering the ability users." Luo Xun looked at Song Lingling, who shook her head. "I was not ready to go, caring for people, washing dishes and then creating water...I dont have enough mental strength." Currently the two floors were using Luo Xuns purification equipment, the rest relied on Song Lingling to make clean water. It had been a while since the water on base was decreasing. Now that is not possible to use the water supply, they could only rely on Song Linglings abilities. Luo Xun knew that the apocalypse would asionally have water and power outages. The situation in his past life was worse than now, problems would ur every few days. Otherwise he would not have prepared so many bottles and jars to fill with water before the end of the world. But with the growing area in his home, water storage was not equal to consumption, no way around it. "Get everyone to save as much drinking water as possible. Need to make sure that the vegetables at home have enough water. Well listen to the radio and be careful while out." Luo Xun ordered. There were two days until the zombies were supposed to attack.
Thete August sky darkened over the gate. At dusk, the soldiers in the watchtower were scanning the area vigntly. For safety reasons, some of the buildings close to base had been dismantled. Somend near the city had been restructured as farmingnd. Although the mutation rate of crops outside base would be higher, there was not enoughnd on base to support the people. Even if zombies could appear around the fields, mutated food was better than nothing. Of course, for safety reasons, thend was chosen where there was a reduced chance of zombies passing through. "Whats that over there?" A soldier suddenly pointed towards several figures on the road. The other man quickly lifted a telescope. "Not clear since they are wearing a hat...Wait, theyre walking strangely! Chapter 108 Zombie bodies became rigid after death, even if they evolved into level two zombies. Although the movements became more flexible than before, they could not imitate human walking C those who moved quickly looked more like beasts and easily recognizable. A signal was sent to the opposite watchtower, which immediately connected to the telephone for the news. The soldiers continued to carefully monitor the figure, they saw the details. "Altogether five, faltering movement, ratty clothes, nothing else. Unable to tell if someone is injured or its rigor mortis after death. They are wearing hats on their heads, cannot see facial features...Wait a minute! One of them is waving!" The people up top froze, exchanged a few nces and also looked out. Although there was some distance, they could see that some of the people approaching were actually waving their arms. "People? Wounded survivors?" The person in charge frowned and spoke. "Continue observing." They could not ignore survivors, especially at a time like this. "Captain...somethings wrong. The man waved but did not stop in the middle..." "Are they afraid of getting attacked?" People who went out for missions would wave and loudly call to let others know they were humans to avoid getting attacked by the military. After all, driving back was okay C zombies could not drive. If the car broke down and they had toe back on foot, people walking on a road and zombies looked simr from afar. "Snipers ready!" The boss got up and frowned at the approaching figures. The other side received the signal and the snipers got into position, aiming at the unknown figures. Everyone at this moment sent a prayer to the powers above while carefully observing the approaching figures. The figures staggered to the side, still waving. But the movement unblocked the view from the clothes and hats. The person in charge slowly raised a hand, ready to signal, there was something wrong! Although they waved, no one had looked up at the station. There was still a distance from the gate and the soldiers could not see the figures. If they were trying to look harmless, why didnt anyone look up? His hand was in the air, when someone holding the telescope shouted, "Their hands are green-gray, there are traces of rot!" "Shoot!" The boss loudly ordered C even if it ended up idental injury, he would bear the consequences. If there were really zombies, they could not be allowed to reach the gate. "???" One figure looked nkly as theirpanion was gunned down. The shots rained down even harder. Definitely not human! No one would act so casually after the death of apanion! Unless there was something wrong with their head! Even so, it would be impossible to have no reaction at all! The courier immediately went to report to base. People inside were also nervous after hearing gunfire. Those in waiting areas also asked to speed up the process. The person in charge was about to send someone to scout when the watcher shouted again. "Captain! Theres a situation! There are a lot of zombiesing!!" The group looked up and were stunned to see a lot of zombies heading towards the city! A ton were speed zombies! The rm suddenly rang C zombie siege. "Whats that sound?!" Li Tie had justid in bed when he mbered up. Wu Xin was flustered after carelessly rolled to the ground. Han Li had almost dropped his cell phone. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi in the next room were in bed watching a film. The frequency of lovey-dovey time had been reduced too much. Someone felt he was being ignored by his Queen, so he clung and refused to let go. When the rm outside rang, any spirit had instantly withered. Downstairs, Xu Mei and Song Lingling were teaching Yu Xinran some new words. She turned in surprise at the noise and looked up the dark sky through the window. 1604, Yan Fei held back Puppy and extended her nails. Luo Xun was responsible for filing C not cutting was an issue, suddenly there was damage everywhere. The cushion on the sofa had been ripped! Luo Xun also grumbled at the puppy. "Are you secretly a cat? Why are you scratching things?" The little puppy did not know what a "cat", only knew that Luo Xuns movements were making her ufortable. The puppy was forced to act like a ballerina, tip toeing on her hind legs held in ce by Yan Fei. When the rm sounded, the puppy took advantage of the couples distraction and shot out like lightning. She fled to a cupboard in the next room and climbed inside. The two people exchanged nces, Luo Xun sighed up and went to where Puppy had hidden. Yan Fei picked up the phone on the side table. "It should be the zombie siege." Luo Xun bent over to pull out the hiding puppy. "I wont cut your nails,e out, dont hide." There was no information on the phone, the base had not sent out a message. Yan Fei nced at the screen then looked at Luo Xun. "See if there are any news. We took a break earlier today, I am afraid that tomorrow morning, well have to go outside the walls." Do not know if they will hunt zombies, but he would probably have to help out with the metal walls. There were soldiers with guns on the walls so they should not need non-personnel for the moment. But who knew what would happen as the zombie siege continued. Luo Xun finally grabbed the puppys legs and pulled her outside. "Fine, wait untilter...why are there slippers down there?" A gray, worn out slipper was dragged out with the dog. The style and pattern...Luo Xun silently looked at Yan Fei. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, he casually brought out a metal stick and stuck it into the cupboard. One, two, three...and a lump of dog hair. "I finally know where my missing slippers had gone." Yan Fei ground his teeth while ring at Puppy. The dog rushed back to her cage, she had no way of fighting the two at once. Luo Xun was also distressed C these could not be recycled after the apocalypse! Look at how many were destroyed? All hidden away! Luo Xun had prepared a lot of life supplies just in case at home. Who knew so many slippers would be consumed in less than a year! It was always only one missing! The culprit eventually managed to avoid cutting her nails but her head drooped C her collection was confiscated! This was such a sad story. The two people went to sleep before receiving a message to mobilize with the military. The message was simple C stay at home and stay out of trouble! Tomorrow, the base would unite, everyone would take turns on defence. They must do their part to maintain base security! What was more important was that teams who did not contribute would be forcibly dissolved! While doing missions, teams found sabotaging others would also be not be considered an official squad. Not many teams could sleep after the news. Luo Xuns team slept just fine. Others may not know but Luo Xun was clear, the base was safer than hisst life. The base had not been able to find the situation in time. It was a mess after the base was sieged by outside zombies and internal virus outbreaks. But this time? The base had been aware of irregrities and had early response measures. Even if there were zombies surrounding the base, there were also a number of defensive structures that could withstand some force. Enough military response to help repel the attack. Early the next morning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei received news from Captain Guo C wanted them to be stationed at the city wall! Last night, the military was part of the first response. People sent to the wall were basically military people, in addition to some of therger teams. Those teams had basic military background and must obeymands. Today, after confirming that the zombies outside were unlikely to retreat in a short time, the military began organizing the survivors on the base. The pair rushed to Captain Guos meeting ce. They climbed into the car and arrived at the designated location. Captain Guo used the ride to address the team. "Listen to bosss arrangements, each get a weapon and shoot as far as possible." The people nodded while a metal user raised his hand. "Do we use our powers to fight the zombies?" Captain Guo nced at the four metal users in the team. "The situation outside is not clear, we need to wait and see. Hold off for the moment, based on orders from higher up." There were quite a few zombies outside, or all the base survivors would not be involved. They hurried to the designated ce and climbed the wall. Luo Xun stole a nce, his heart sighed while speechless. Under the walls, the firstyer of fortifications was gone, two surveince watch towers somewhat hear the base were no longer standing. The people inside should have all returned to base through the suspension bridges. At this time, a dense pack of zombies surrounded the moat. They pounced into the river and tried to desperately tried to crawl over. It was evident that zombies were not fond of water, they gradually lost their ability to move when submerged too long. The limbs would gradually expand and break apart. Zombies in the water had no fear of defeat onnd, but if they climbed out, the numbers were not reduced due to the water. Therefore the role of the moat was simr to the pit traps Luo Xun and Yan Fei had created. Also because the river could not damage zombies, bodies eventually filled the river. However, there was a path between the river and the wall, although the row of zombie bodies was difficult to cross. If there were too many zombies in the river, they would be able to get over the wall. At this time, people on the wall were shooting zombies who had crossed the river and were trying to climb up. Yan Fei observed the terrain, but was clear after seeing the dense amount of zombies. This terrain was not suitable for therge iron te attack or for rolling metal around. Fortunately the zombies were still a distance away from city walls so the people could safely use a wide range of killer abilities. They received their own weapons. When it came to the point they were in charge of defending, they raised their guns and started shooting. Luo Xun did not use his own crossbow, he used the given gu and shot downwards. His heart secretly sighed C military was really well-equipped, how else would he get ess to such a good weapon? When military weapons were in short supply, survivors needed to find their own way. Even if they could get weapons, they would be saved. He and other survivors would prefer to use their own homemade crossbows to kill zombies. They could bring back more things to exchange on base. Luo Xuns goal was to stop the zombies crawling outside the river and trying to cross over other zombie bodies. Wave after wave of ferocious zombies, waving their rotten arms trying to enter the base. They would have surrounded the base after just one night! Like a ck tide, zombies stirred from the streets and approached en masse. Luo Xun andpany had encountered a simr situation when they went out for a mission, though on a smaller scale. Compared to the wall of zombie micest month, the situation was more dire then that day. The other members of the metal team were not hunting zombies but before long everyone was helping to kill the zombies. At least hoping that the shooting was helping. One shot at a time, a few zombies would shoot some fireballs. The ability users in the army did not use their abilities, after all, there was sufficient ammunition. While they were fighting the zombie sea that seemed to have no end, a section of the overflowing moat was frozen! The people subconsciously followed the direction of the ice, only to find that the wall had a bunch of ability users. The soldiers who had kept watch over night were swapped out. Various power squads in the city had taken over handling the walls. The ones who had just frozen a section of the moat, were a group of ice ability users. The men in charge had divided the ability users ording to element for unifiedbat. Ordinary people, like soldiers used weapons to shoot down zombies below. Another section of the city wall was where Li Tie and friends were stationed. They were under crazy fire because there were no ability users and it was purely civilian personnel. So they were responsible for a smaller area. Several people holding weapons, suddenly heard someone shout loudly. A gun fell down, a few people jerked down in fright before looking at the person who screamed. They looked in amazement and then at the ground beneath C nothing remotely dangerous was aimed at them? Li Tie and the others were wondering while the manspanion angrily patted him. "Whats wrong with you? How could you throw the gun away?" The man stared back, still holding his right arm. "This gun is bad! As soon as I shot it, I couldnt hold anything because of recoil! What kind of weapons did they send? Nothing like the axe I used before!" "Do you want to try?" The man looked in confusion at his gun. He tried to shoot, the force forced him backwards, but at least the weapon was still in his hand. Li Tie covered his mouth, his shoulders shook. Hispanions patted his shoulders C did not know about recoil, insisted that the gun was broken...Even if he had never used a real gun before, shouldnt it be obvious? Li Tie and friends did not knew because they followed the team outside base several times. Although they used a crossbow to shoot zombies, it was still a ranged weapon. They were experiencedpared to those who had never held a gun. In addition, they worked with the army, naturally understood how to use some of the weapons. So they were able to quickly start using these kinds of weapons withs recoil.
Zhang Yi crossed his arms and stood indifferently on the wall while looking a the group of zombies. He said coldly to the military officer beside him. "Are there enough users and crystals?" The officer bowed his head and nodded. "No problem." The people were surprised to see this beautiful man standing on the wall saying such arrogant words, was he here to patrol or not? There were only wind users in the area. Although they had risen to level two, it was not enough to kill arge number of zombies. They could only use their wind bullets to knockback targets to buy other people time. Thus, their position was just above the wall. Now that Zhang Yi was here, it proved that he was also a wind ability user. But such an arrogant wind user, really made people ufortable...even the other wind users were ufortable with his appearance. Ignoring all the looks, Zhang Yi grabbed a crystal nucleus, a demonic smile bloomed on his lips, his peach blossom eyes also narrowed. Suddenly, everyone felt a difference in the air around them. A huge wind storm, visible to the naked eye formed above the walls and attracted a lot of attention. That ball of wind grewrger andrger, faster and faster. Zhang Yi targeted the dense group of zombies directly in front of the gate and the bridge road. The wind rushed forward and hit all the zombies that were in range! The wind roared! When the attack exploded, all the affected zombies were blown apart! The crows stared nkly at the scene, then slowly turned to Zhang Yi. The man looked annoyed at the ce he had bombed. He brought a hand to his chin as he absorbed a crystal. Zhang Yi turned to the soldier beside him. "So slow, call the fire ability users over. By the way, we also called little Ran from my team." The officer turned with a stiff neck and said, "Your...team?" What kind of team would a man like Zhang Yi join? Was it filled with monsters like him?! Zhang Yi nced back, his tone was more unpleasant. "Otaku squad." Fine, the name was not striking, but it was the team name, who dared say anything? The officer nodded silently as he picked a phone to call. Chapter 109 The other people and officers huddled together in discussion. "What did he just say?" "What squad? I dont think I heard right." "Sounded like man? Or south?" "South Hater? Does he have a grudge against southern people?" "Is it In South? Maybe hes from the south? Or came from the south?" No one could understand and analyze the true meaning of "Otaku Squad" and Zhang Yi was not interested in others opinions. Not long after, Song Lingling, little Ran and the fire users climbed the wall. Fire ability users formed arge group, the total number of people on base was not small. Zhang Yi gave a nce and lifted his chin towards Xu Mei. "Ill do a demonstration, after you team up and go." The fire users were had not retreated yet looked at each other. They wondered who the man was talking to. Xu Mei understood what he meant. She let go of Yu Xinrans hand C *Fwoosh* Arge fireball appeared on the wall. Zhang Yi also raised his hand, the storm rushed through the fire. The overwhelming firepower swept towards the mass of zombies! Everyone sucked a cold breath. With a closer look, all the zombies in the vicinity had been hit and were burning! Turns out wind powers could be used like this! Themander also saw the scene. His expression was surprised, but then he quickly barked orders. "Let the wind and fire users team up! Spread out over the wall! Logistics division quickly bring crystal nuclei!" Although arge number of nuclei would be consumed, but who had the time to worry about that during wartime? If they did not beat the zombies, there was only death waiting for them! Things in storage would be useless if they were not alive in the end. Zhang Yi was in charge of the city gate, the other people also dispersed across the wall. Zhang Yi and Xu Meis attack seemed very simple and easy, but if was deceptively difficult. Not to mention, despite the fire users being level two, most of the people tried to createrger, more powerful fireballs against zombies. Few people would think of battling with many small fireballs. Even if people wanted to use a group attack, they could shoot off a few fireballs, however the number was nowhere near Xu Meis level. The wind users were even more miserable. This technique required very precise wind control. Too big would extinguish the fire, too small and the wind would have no effect. Also had to control the direction...in short this technique required a lot of skill to show off their power. At this time, there was sudden rumbling. The people subconsciously looked with frightened eyes C a huge metal wheel was rolling between the moat and the wall. Zhang Yi looked with raised eyebrows. Yu Xinran pulled his sleeve while smiling. "Its Uncle Yans big iron ball!" Yan Fei was the one who was controlling the metal wheels, but it was not just him. The zombies had almost filled the moat all the wayst night C and they were not dead! In this case, the new wave of zombies could step on their fallenrades and climb ashore! It might have been unintentional or deliberate, but some zombies had reached under the walls. Luo Xun noticed a metal zombie was mixed in the mass of zombies. They were removing blocks of metal from the wall. Yan Fei was told, he made a big chunk of metal and smashed down C even if the zombie had a metal body, it would not survive being hit by the mass of metal. After that he called on the other metal users to make a huge metal wheel C only because the area in front of the wall was too narrow to roll a metal ball. A smaller metal ball might not be enough to crush a level two zombie. The group under the instructions of Yan Fei used the wheel formed of metal to crush the zombies. The technique was very effective, because the metal wheel was near the wall, it was easier to pull off and saved energy. Yan Fei was able maintain the attack. Captain Guo contacted his superiors while the metal users crushed zombies. He waited until the group were back at their positions before saying. "Boss said to use the big wheel and walk around the outer fence! Ive been told that zombies have climbed ashore." One asked in confusion, "But what about the area here?" He pointed underfoot. "Dont worry! People areing! Come on! Lets fight guerri warfare!" Zhang Yi and Xu Mei had strange expressions as they watched the team of metal users juggle therge wheel. Yan Fei had to follow along as well since the metal users had to touch the metal to manipte the wheel. Little Ran was pleased to see them and jumped up. "Uncle ising! The big iron ball ising!" "Thats an iron wheel, not an iron ball." Xu Mei took the opportunity to teach the girl correct information. Luo Xun strolled forward with a back filled with crystal nuclei and other things. His expression was slightly distorted while looking at the iron wheel almost as tall as the wall. As it rolled along, someone asked Luo Xun. "Do you want to circle around the wall?" Yan Fei was unable to speak at the moment, so Luo Xun shrugged helplessly. "Orders from above, let theme around. Doing ap to deal with the zombies that have climbed past the moat." Zhang Yi appeared with a malicious smile and shiny teeth. "Do you know what your husband looks like right now?" Luo Xun took a step back. "What are you trying to say?" "A transport donkey." Zhang Yi raised a provoking eyebrow with a smile as bright as the sun. Luo Xun was not polite, he lifted his gun and shot without aiming. Zhang Yi did not dodge as the bullet flew past his ear. No other way, Zhang Yis mouth was too vulgar. Usually Luo Xun only used his crossbow to scare him instead of a gun. As for Yan Fei, he would asionally throw a row of metal nails. Anyway the two would react, other people could only grind their teeth in anger at Zhang Yis words. *Plop* Some random person in the crowd fell to the ground in fear. He was stunned that Luo Xun had pulled a gun as the metal wheel rolled by. Zhang Yi was stillughing, as if Luo Xun had not aimed a gun at him. The officer who followed Zhang Yi around wiped cold sweat from his forehead after Yan Feis group left. He asked, "Was that person...your friend?" Xu Mei smiled and did not speak. She pulled Yu Xinran along to prepare for the next attack on the wall. Zhang Yis smile had not faded, donkey was too apt a description. The base would absolutely not let go of such an easy to use recruit, definitely continue using! So Yan Feis reputation would surely spread throughout base...he felt really happy thinking about it. The Queen who was in a great mood, magnanimously exined. "That was our captain and his lover." He shrugged, as for who was the captain and who was the lover, these little details did not matter. The rumbling sound echoed through the base. Four non-ability users of the team were hovering around the metal users, giving water, crystal nuclei and other things. The remainder were responsible for informing people ahead that they wereing through. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had temporarily put on military uniforms to avoid trouble while working. Few people would recognize them at first nce, everyone else would see a military power user specialized in killing zombies. Yes, there was a big solid wheel that was crushing zombies that crossed the moat. When Luo Xun andpany returned to their original position, sure enough C the starting point was already crawling with zombies again. "Rest here for 20 minutes, then start anotherp." Captain Guo tried to cheer on the team. He was worried since there seemed to be no end to the zombie army rushing from the city. Luo Xun drank some water and spoke to Captain Guo. "Captain, theres a way to kill the zombies close to the wall" "Oh, what way?!" Captain Guo inquired with shining eyes. Luo Xun pointed at the city walls. "The outermostyer of the wall is metal, which is conductive..." "Youre saying to bring out the lightning users?!" Captain Guo reacted immediately. "Not all of them, are there a lot of water users in the base? The zombies that climbed through the moat have water over them. You can let the water users increase the range and then let lightning users conduct electricity through the metal walls. But other people cannot be too close to the fence and I do not know the safe distance..." Captain Guo patted Luo Xuns arm and went to make another phone call. The vice-captain rested while ncing over at the captain. He looked at his watch and pointed at his wrist, indicating that time was almost up. Captain Guo waved, so the vice-captain walked over to Yan Fei. "Almost time, one more round!" It took a lot of time to walk ap. The firstp had already taken half the morning. If they did not finish the nextp before noon, the food would have already been delivered and they would have to eat a cold lunch. The rumbling started again, the huge metal began to crush the ground. When they returned to Zhang Yi and Xu Meis position. The originally empty moat on the other side had be a pit of zombies. Luo Xun whistled, he turned to the smiling Yu Xinran. He stooped to pinch her face. "You did that?" Yu Xinran shook her head and pointed to Zhang Yi. "Uncle Zhang told me to! Its none of my business!" Zhang Yi took a crystal nucleus, he waved at Luo Xun. "Hurry up, your husband is going to run away with someone else." This time Luo Xun did not shoot at him, just gave him a supercilious look. "We just saw your lover, he was flirting with a girl on the wall. Be careful or else he will run off with someone one day." Zhang Yi smiled with narrowed eyes. "Not afraid. Leaving would be just in time for a change. His technique is not polished, I have been thinking of swapping anyways." The twos dialogue was too vulgar, Xu Mei covered Yu Xinrans ears as she looked on in curiosity. The officer to the side was frozen in both mind and body C he had learned a secret? The legendary wind power, knife wielding doctor was gay? His team captain was also gay? Had he join for that reason? Wait, but what about this woman and little girl? A team of lilies and bent men? When people on the wall who were shooting zombies heard the sound of the metal wheels, they got out of the way ahead of time C seeing the wheel the first time was already enough. The war continued into the evening. Luo Xun andpany had worked for a full 12 hours before retreating. They dragged their exhausted bodies home. They all had no strength today. Said their greetings then went home to rest. In the middle of the night, the base rm sounded. "Whats going on?" Luo Xun rubbed his eyes. Yan Fei sat up and grabbed the phone charging on the bedside table. "I dont know...theres a call from Guo." He picked up the phone. Luo Xun propped a hand while inclining on the bed. Yan Fei pinched the bridge of his nose while replying. His nose wrinkled due to suddenly being awoken by the rm. Luo Xun saw his ufortable appearance and sat up to massage his lovers temple. Yan Feis expression slowly softened as he hung up the phone. "Zombie mice have appeared along with a number of ability zombies have besieged the city. There seems to be trouble on the wall. Captain Guo called us." Luo Xun nced at the cellphone screen, he yawned. "Only four oclock...lets go." Now was not the time toin aboutck of sleep. Not to mention they were afraid that something would happen as soon as they came back to eat something. At least they had gotten some rest. The two people dressed and exited. The door to 1602 also opened, a neatly dressed Zhang Yi walked out along with a tired Wang Duo. "They called you too?" He asked while looking behind Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi turned to face Wang Duo, "Go back to sleep!" Wang Duo had a face of grievance, "But..." "Ill be going with both of them and Xu Mei." He gave Wang Duo another look. Li Tie and the others also opened the door due to hearing the rm and movement in the corridor. Zhang Yi grabbed Wang Duo and pushed him towards the four. "Watch him. You have to work the wall tomorrow morning, hell be in the way." Wang Duo was listless after being told he would get in the way. He was worried about Zhang Yis safety and wanted to go with him but he would get distracted...Fortunately Luo Xun and Yan Fei were also going to the city wall, otherwise he would go even if it killed him!! Xu Meis group of three also woke up because of the rm and came to see the situation in the corridor. Seeing the three getting ready to leave, the women also suited up for action. Yu Xinran would follow Zhang Yi today. Xu Mei would be busy on the wall, turning earth into sand took a lot of energy she Xu Mei decided to let her have a good nights rest. Although there were other fire users along with Zhang Yi, there would not be enough synchronization. It would better for her to be on the scene. Someone hurried to the gate, did not have to climb the walls to hear the noise of power users battling against zombies. Climbed up the wall, a sudden wind caused them to squint. At the same time noisy shouting started. "Careful, careful! Here ites again!" Again? What was going on? People quickly looked outwards and saw a mass of lightweight zombie mice flying straight over the wall! Sounds rang out as the wind users formed a wind wall, followed by fire attacks to block the flying zombie mouse bomb. "This...is a zombie rat cannon?!" Xu Mei turned to Luo Xun with wide eyes. She thought back to thest zombie mouse attack and felt fortunate there were only zombie mice. Unlike now C there were mixed troops! Captain Guo stepped forward seeing Luo Xun had arrived. "Just now someone found some zombie mice swam past the moat and made holes. There were quite a few metal zombie mice, so there are holes, who knows how deep they went..." It was necessary for Yan Fei the most powerful metal user to check the holes and kill the zombies if able. Zhang Yi and Xu Mei were also pulled away, the officer in charge for the day pointed at the situation outside the wall. "There seems to be a lot of wind zombies that use the mice as ammunition. There a few in position and sooner ofter..." While talking, the wind once again picked up from outside! A bunch of mice were sent up again. Zhang Yi smirked while lifting his arms, a muchrger and thicker wall of wind appeared in front of him. On the other side with Luo Xun and Yan Fei, a few people came to check the situation and were a distance away from the defenses, they had no way to react! Suddenly a metal wall twisted up, the iron te mercilessly blocked the flying rats. *Ping* the projectiles were instantly blocked by the iron te. The impact would definitely snap necks or even directly damage the brains. The metal twisted in midair to deal with the waves of rats before melting back into the wall, as if nothing had happened. Captain Guo was dazed, if he had not seen wrong. Yan Fei had not touched metal when the iron te had appeared. He could manipte metal in the air? Captain Guo took this thought and locked it away. In this age, who would not have an ace up their sleeves. So Captain Guo pursed his lips, but said nothing and silently stood to the side and waited for Yan Fei to restore the walls. Chapter 110 Yan Fei had not deliberately concealed the fact he could manipte metal in the air from base. If he was used of hiding, he would respond that he had been working with the metal team. On base, every time he met a person that wanted to start trouble, he could directly manipte metal against them. He was not afraid if the news reaching the military for one simple reason. Since the apocalypse, which caused all sorts of events, there was a variety of unreliable rumors on base. For example, the moremon fire users C someone would tell someone else about these ability users that could shoot fireballs at targets. However the message would somehow be C a fire dragon would appear and turn the target into ashes. At the end, there would be someone swearing that they had seen a fire user in the street and everything they touched turned into ashes, every step they took burned a hole in the ground. Because the base was full of exaggerated rumors, Yan Fei did not care if someone found out the truth. Moreover, even if a military person saw it for themselves, there was an exnation C just another way to manipte metal, like fire and water balls C those appeared out of nowhere? It was just that the metal users did not have to hang of it C otherwise, wouldnt metal users be too limited? Luo Xun looked at the wall and Captain Guo. "This cant go on, Yan Fei alone cannot check out so many ces." The zombie mice had attacked parts of the city walls but the sky was so dark, the bottom of the walls were covered in shadows, along with the fact that the mice were scurrying under the human zombies feet, who could pick them out? "The other three areing..." Yan Fei retorted before Captain Guo was finished. "Even if all four of us arrived, at most we could only take care of a wall, the scope of the outer wall is toorge. Five meters is very deep for a foundation, but there has been enough time for the mice to dig in." "That..." Captain Guos brow wrinkled, he was not the only person in charge of the wall. The higher ups had asked them to responsible for this aspect of defense and security, he could only try. "How many water and lightning users are there?" Luo Xun suddenly asked. "You mean the method that was mentioned earlier?" Captain Guo sighed after Luo Xun nodded. "There is no way to calcte the amount of electricity needed without spreading elsewhere..." There were a lot of weapons and ammunition for attacking on the wall, if uncontrolled electricity spread through the wall, the things...the losses would be enormous." Luo Xun looked on helplessly. "Something broken can be repaired again, but if the zombies make it inside..." He did not have to continue, all the people immediately understood his meaning. Some of other soldiers stationed on the wall looked to the captain. The pressure made Captain Guo grind his teeth and take out the phone in his pocket. The results came quickly, in fact the highers ups had a meeting overnight and decided even without Captain Guo. As Luo Xun had said, something broken could be fixed, but if the zombies made it into the city, the danger would be immense! There were not many lightning ability users on base, but that was not the issue because C they still had electricity! Sr power, all kinds of oil and gas produced from waste could be used to generate electricity. All kinds of energy were managed by the base for use after the apocalypse. It was usually stored in spare batteries for special use. Although the base was short on water, there was no shortage of river power. At this time, there was no need to summon water users, military logistics officers could get the job done. The heavy downpour from the water users sshed out from the city walls. Other people were responsible for protecting support C those blocking the attacks of the human and mice zombie army. After the surge of waves, the wall was suddenly quiet. If zombies had human intelligence, they would have felt something was wrong, but they were not human anymore and thus had lost their human mind. So C the zombies continued to attack tirelessly. And then *Crackle*Zap* Someone once said that children who yed with electricity would get burned to a crisp. So, the zombies besieging the city after the apocalypse would be physical proof of the statement. Under the city walls, both human and mice zombies were basically electrocuted to death after being covered with water. Other than a few zombies that had lightning resistance, the others were all downed. Even those still standing, their bodies were charred, smoke wasing from their heads. Their hair permanently turned into rolls while smokezily drifted upwards. The people on the wall who were not afraid of the lightning users looked down then pinched their noses. "Theres too much smoke! How foul!" The smell of charcoal roasted zombie was horrible C who let zombie bodies be mostly rotten? The officer in charge of the wall immediatelymanded the wind users to disperse the smell. At the same time, some ice users could also be put in ce. No doubt about it, just lightning users was not enough. One could not forget that those with the same element would be resistant. The charge would be slowly dispersed and what about the drilling zombie mice? The earth users were too far away so damage was limited, the same for the water users. The current situation also greatly reduced their power. They could only get the ice users to freeze water and shoot. The ice users climbed the wall while pinching their noses to block the disgusting smell. They started to freeze water under their control to try and block the rat holes. The rest of the men climbed upwards and continued to mow down the approaching zombies. The logistics division started to count the weapons that been brought down along with some things left on the wall. THey cleared the losses and prepared for the next days battle. At this time, the sky gradually lit up. The darkness made way for light as the sun slowly rose. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had also ascended the wall along with the other metal users. They were ready to check and repair the city walls. Suddenly a soldier at the gate pointed into the distance and shouted, "There are no more zombies at the back!!" The zombie surge had steadily flowed from the city but people were pleasantly surprised to find that there were no more zombie shadows around! Not only that, there was only a circle of undead near the base. The remainder were aimlessly wandering around. As long as these zombies were wiped out, the base would bepletely safe! People cried great tears of joy while jumping around and exchanging hugs. Luo Xun was also slightly surprised at the sight, his heart had some doubts C the siege during hisst life...had it been so short? He remembered how many times a zombie siege hadsted at least a week? He especially remembered therger sieges, the longest onested an incredible three months! But there was no way to raise any doubts, even harder to spit out. The fact that the zombies had been repulsed was great news. With hope in sight, the crowd on the wall was in high spirits, ready for killing. Suddenly, a scream sounded from nearby. The sight of a falling, screaming body calmed everyone down. Cold sweat soaked everyones backs C they had forgotten that there were still zombies. Now was not the time to be celebrating, what were they waiting for? It was time to kill zombies! It was extremely difficult to take no damage during a battle, even if it was a strong person, facing the enemy in physicalbat would inevitably mean getting injuries. So the city siege thatsted three days, there were many people injured by the long range attacks of the zombies. Even the team of five had not gotten unscathed. One day Wang Duo had to be helped back from the elevator because he had twisted his foot on the wall. Zhang Yis face was dark for several days because of this matter. Although Wang Duos expression seemed very bitter but once Zhang Yi came out his face held all kinds of remorse. As long as Zhang Yi appeared, warm feelings bubbled up inside him. After the attack, the base was still blockaded while military personnel drove forklifts and armored vehicles to clear out the dead bodies. All the bodies were piled together and burned. Smoke poured from the east side for two days, sometimes the wind blew the unpleasant smell into base. All the people inside had to stay in base for two days for collective rest. Luo Xun andpany got three days off C three days without work. This vacation was for all the people who worked for the military. The two were well aware that getting the holiday now, meant that their regr holiday at the end of the month would be cancelled. But with their current strength, even if they got the vacation, they might not have the strength to hunt zombies. Even worse, the siege brought all the zombies to the base. If they went out, there would be no gains unless they went far away. So this three-day leave would really be a holiday. There was no work that had to be done. Of course, there were many ces in the home that needed two people...No the entire Otaku squad would be busy together. Because of the weather, Luo Xun worried that the rain outside would pollute the nts at home or the sr panels on the walls. So Yan Fei concentrated on the railings so that they acted like metal shutters and wipers. Luo Xun with Xu Meis group and the four students (Wang Duo had twisted his foot) along with Zhang Yi took care of the crops at home. For example C harvesting mushrooms and squeezing juice. Some of the neglected crops needed tending and some new mutant nts had been found. Most of the time crop mutation would ur during the germination period. Because Luo Xuns home had the mushroom spores that reduced mutation rate, the number of transformed crops was surprisingly small. Crops asionally mutated while growing, often due to being watered or fertilized with earth containing the zombie virus. This situation was also stopped because there was mushroom wood in the area. Even so, everyone carefully checked and found some nts had be different than before. The two women found a few stalks of rice had be an emerald green C unlike regr rice, these rice nts were exceptionally beautiful with color resembling jewelry. Luo Xun was as excited as they were C these were some of the benign rice variants! The yield of the mutant grain might not berger than a normal crop and other mutated crops, but it tasted better than the original. Luo Xun with the help of others carefully transnted the crops. cing them in a special area for tending and observation. Then they carefully looked for any other crops that had mutated. The team of people plunged into the room and carefully checked each stalk, each leaf to see if there had been any changes. Luo Xuns movements were faster, after all he had grown these things for a long time and was more experienced, the others were not as fast. After he and Xu Mei had checked all the crops on the two floors, they entered next door to find Li Tie andpany had also checked their nts. The group of students exchanged words from time to time, "Hey, hey! What about you? You think this leaf is darker than usual?" "I think this has more grains than any other!" "I think this flower has slightly changed color?" The corner of Luo Xuns mouth twitched. He was sorry to say, there were no problems with the crops, these children were overthinking things. "I finished my side, how are you doing?" Yan Fei leisurely walked in to find the strange sight. "You find any mutated crops?" Otherwise what were they doing? "No, everythings done outside?" Luo Xun quickly walked to the balcony and looked outside. After Yan Fei had increased his power due to the city siege, he had no issues with fine tuning the original metal structure. The shutters were evenly lined and the metal sheets could be controlled with a small twist. Luo Xun had nned before the renovation, all the master switches were ced inside 1501 but each room had its own switch to control the windows. With this, if there was an incident while Xu Mei and Song Lingling were home, they could close all the windows with the touch of single button. Of course, this system still needed improvements, but it was enough for now. Li Tie and the others did not want to give up, even if Luo Xun said there were not any mutated nts, they slowly checked each nt. Today was the second day of holiday, they had dealt with all the mushroom juice, frozen in the freezer until they needed to use it. After checking, everyone could go home and rest. The two men went back to their room. Luo Xun took off his coat and stood directly in front of the fan. The weather inte August, Luo Xun could imagine how hot the house would be especially during the afternoon. If there werent so many nts in his house and there was no air conditioning, Luo Xun was afraid the balcony would be a sauna. For the sake of safety and in order to save electricity, along with the fact he had no air conditioning during hisst life, Luo Xun had not installed the machine in his home. He did not intend to waste resources during the apocalypse. After all, although that thing was very convenient, once it started running, the machine would definitely beep and drip downwards. This would obviously let others know that this house was rich, who else could afford air conditioning? Fortunately, although he did not have air conditioning, he brought back five spare fans. There was also the type that was used in the freezers just in case. Yan Fei walked up behind him and grabbed Luo Xuns waist. The air was too hit and the two hot hands caused him to jump away. "The heat is killing me!" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. The two had not had a good time since the weather had been too hot, plus the recent zombie siege had robbed them of sleep. Now they had free rest time it would be a waste to not take advantage of it... "Too hot?" Luo Xun nodded while looking at Yan Fei with some vignce. But he ignored the urge to take off some clothes C Xu Mei and the others were outside, how could he take off his shirt? Yan Fei suddenlyughed, at this time he seemed even more confusing than Zhang Yi. "Lets take a bath to cool down." While speaking he pulled Luo Xun towards the washroom. Luo Xun did not react at first, but after he passed the doorway, he realized C that guy had impure intentions! Unfortunately, he had never overpowered Yan Fei in either strength or skill. So the team captain once again washed twice, such a waste of water! There was picture that had been sent back by satellite. There were few people sitting in the room but each was a powerful figure C of course ordinary survivors would not know. They were all forces of the military, as well as some of the more powerful ability users on base. At this time the group stared diligently at the photos. One person pointed and said, "Clearly, those zombies left the southwest base and then went straight to I-city base, after two days..." The room was silent. The city walls had been mostly under the protection of ability users during the first two days. The shocking pictures depicting a dense mass of crazy zombies left a very deep impression. "They can...work together? Why would arge body of zombies leave out base and head towards I-city base? Can someone...Is there something that can control their actions?!" One person raised a possibility that people had doubts but dared not believe. "...Remember the nes,nd tanks and airports we lost?" There was more silence in the room. "Perhaps there is something that can control them." A person whispered to the crowd. "Is there a base with better defense that can persist for a long time?" "The W-city base to the south has a good defense and its said they have more metal users than our base, are you saying..." The man shook his head. "I just thought there might be a connection...Something that can control zombies and has a certain level of intelligence maybe? Found that some bases could not be beaten so they temporarily leave to attack other ces instead..." Two more coffees until the next bonus chapter. Chapter 111 Bonus chapter thanks to: AmemiyaRen, Silver_Wolfox_Reed, Momomarimo, Abody and Anon(s) "Zombies picking a good target to attack...how is that possible?!" "How could they leave the food in front of them? Dont forget how many survivors we have in this base? For monsters who only know how to eat, how could they control their instincts..." "And not all the zombies are gone! Remember all the zombies we killed a few days ago? We only just burned all those bodies?!" "You have already said the zombies only know how to eat people. In this case they found survivors around the fence, ready to defend so they could not leave. Even if the zombies were called they could not leave and were torn to pieces. So I think there really is something that can control their actions, dont forget their strategic actions when they attacked the walls! As for the ones left behind which we wiped out...it would not be surprising since there are always soldiers in an army unwilling to obey orders." The room was silent again. Several pictures scattered on the table C a corner of the city runs was covered in dense ck dots. People on the road would see something like an ant nest in motion. There was a tightly guarded spot in the center but it made up only a small portion. On thest day of the three-day vacation, Luo Xun was in bed with an electric fan for the entire day. No other way, someone seemed a bit hungry, so under the clutches of the wolf, Luo Xun was bedridden for recovery. After the holiday was over, Luo Xun and Yan Fei brought most of the assorted vegetables to the barracks canteen to sell. After renovation, a few canteens were in the same three storey building C different floors supplied different groups. Luo Xun still handed the produce over to Captain Lee C who had risen in rank. From being only in charge of a single canteen to unified management of the merged dining halls. Some of the workers were responsible for handling and weighing the fresh vegetables. Captain Lee lit half a cigarette before sighing. "Two days ago we had to pick up some vegetables but most of them were mutated, at least they had a little vor? By the way, have you seen the crops in the produce building?" Luo Xun shook his head, he had seen it during his past life, but did not have the chance to go sightseeing this time. "They found several varieties of vegetables that grow particrly fast and inrge quantities. After testing, they found no harmful substances to the human body. So those have been used to supply the canteen." Captain Lees mouth twisted into a grimace, "The taste...is simr to what we nted on the wall edges." When he finished, he patted Yan Feis arm. Seeing that the captain was going towards Luo Xun, Yan Fei stepped forward. "Your crops cant be lost now that there are fewer and fewer regr vegetables." Luo Xunughed, "Vegetables that arent mutated, arent those the ones nted into the building and watered by ability users? How could there be mutations?" Captain Lee responded, "I heard that its because there was a discovery of certain species that grew faster and they had not identified the cause. So they grew arge number in an area for an experiment. Those things dont taste very good, but the output is great." Although the situation was different from hisst life, the results were the same. After all there were so many people in the base and outside was not safe. In order to support the entire base poption, they could only grow crops that hadrge yields, otherwise people would go hungry. Otherwise, why else would the prices of normal and benign variant nts keep risingter into the apocalypse? The couple took the crystal cores and once again rushed to the gathering ce. By the time that the two got there, the captain and other members had already arrived. Seeing the pair arrive, Captain Guo made a gesture for them to stand with the rest of the team. "For today we have to shift tasks, first deal with the outer fence, the other construction project has been suspended." While speaking he brought out a drawing. "Remember what you said before about a row of metal thorns? Barbed wire to block zombies from climbing up the fence...The zombie siege had some wind ability animals who flew up, a row of metal barbs would have been useful. The other is C we have to deepen the fence foundation. Its important but everyone has to be careful not to hit any water or sewage pipelines. Well busy ourselves and deal with problems as they appear." The row of steel thorns had been raised before, but the previous walls were too thin to be able to support the weight. The matter was also temporarily put aside because the barracks project did not have material. After encountering the zombie siege, the base encountered a problem and would of course take steps to implement a solution. In addition to work orders, Captain Guo also brought a fewrge bags of crystal nuclei andughed. "These are rewards for everyone. The teams effort in defending the city was not small! I got metal cores for everyone!" Everyone in the team was rewarded, not just the ability users. In consideration that using points for suchrge scale distribution would cause depreciation, along with the fact that the harvest was huge from the zombie siege, they decided that regardless of ability or military position, all rewards would be in crystal cores. Crystal nuclei would not depreciate...plus the base had so many ability users, people would find ways to exchange with each other. Even if there was some decreased value, the problem was notrge. Everyone grabbed their portion from the bag with beaming faces. Yan Fei had reached into the bag when he froze and then looked at the crystal in his palm. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun saw his expression and quickly asked. "Level three crystal core." "Right! Level three." Captain Guo had a bright smile on his face. "When they were clearing the battlefield, they found some level three nuclei. I brought all the metal crystals over. Anyways, the higher ups wanted to praise and reward you. Since few other people can use these, not giving them would be a waste!" The other three ability users quickly opened their bags C sure enough! They had some as well! Yan Fei knew that his ability had already reached a limit, a simr feeling when he was leveling up from one to two. His capacity had teaued, nothing helped him go further. He had been thinking of how to find a level three crystal nucleus but did not expect he would get one from helping defend the city! Yan Fei closed the bag, unlike the others who wanted to take advantage of work to use the nucleus, he decided to return home before upgrading. After all, his abilities were somewhat different, in case the upgrade results were not the same, being at home would not be conspicuous. To finish the meeting, Captain Guo added more news. "The higher ups would like reward all those who participated in defending the city. A celebration will be held in a few days. Not only will all the soldiers take part, also some of the best ability users will be invited." He gave a meaningful nce to Yan Fei and Luo Xun. "The base leaders will issue a medal of public service." The soldiers were flushed with excitement at the news while Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei with some worry. Yan Fei looked quite calm, as if he had nothing to worry about, so Luo Xun could only calmly follow along. They climbed into the car with their rewards. The bags with the crystal cores were put into the backpack and zipped shut. Captain Guo took advantage of the time to sneak to the couple and winked. "I am afraid you cannot hide this time, the leaders want to see you." Who let the metal ability user be so eye-catching two days ago? Such arge iron wheel circling round and round the base fence, anyone would see. What had the higher ups said? The four metal users on the team had performed very well and they should be rewarded. What had they said to Captain Guo? One of the ability users was foreign aid? He did not want to receive the prize ormendation? That was not giving them face! Yan Fei shook his head with a smile. "Nothing, we will attend." Then he asked, "Will other prominent ability users also be called?" "Thats right." Captain Guo felt relieved when Yan Fei did not refuse. "Will the wind user and fire user who were in front of the main entrance be called?" "You mean the...tall...one who was on the front door?" Captain Guo could not think of another adjective to Zhang Yi, other than beautiful. Beauty was beauty, but the person was a man. Could say pretty but it was too simr to beautiful. Handsome? That would be a lie. Yan Fei could also be described as handsome C his mole added some charm. But for Zhang Yi...they were not in the same category. "She-male." Luo Xun did not mince words C who let the guy keep his fire? *Cough* "Enchantress sounds better, but anyways." Captain Guo coughed, either words seemed quite apt C they guy looked better than some women. "Yes, I remember seeing you talk to him? You two know each other?" Yan Fei nodded. "We are neighbors. During vacation we go out to fight zombies and scavenge supplies. Hes going to be there for the ceremony?" Captain Guo had a strange feeling C indeed birds of a feather flock together. He quickly nodded. "We have to find him as well. His victories...are piling up." Yan Feis face was sincere. "Thats fine." Was there a connection between Yan Fei and Zhang Yi? Were he and that demon...in a rtionship? Captain Guo involuntarily looked at Luo Xun with sympathy. He felt that Luo Xun was wearing a green hat. In fact, Luo Xun also wanted to ask why Zhang Yi attending the celebration was a good thing? What was going on in Yan Feis head? Unfortunately now was not the time to ask questions. The group had reached the outer wall and received worshipful gazes C the story of the big iron wheel had spread throughout the base. Along with the legendary man who could make a powerful firestorm, suspected of being a double ability user, the two were the most powerful ability users on base. Of course, there was a big misunderstanding in the rumors. For example, they thought only one person had made therge metal wheels, but there was actually four. As for the dual ability user on the wall, Xu Mei and Yu Xinran were indifferent. Xu Mei really did not care, while little Ran...did not understand. Anyway, due to the rtive rarity of metal based abilities, there were few in the entire base, so some people had never seen nor heard of them. If not for the zombie siege, many ability teams would not have known such an element even existed on base. Not only were base survivors interested, so were the army soldiers. When Luo Xun andpany got off the bus, they found many soldiers sneaking nces or staring at them. These eyes made people feel ufortable so they mbered up and worked in cooperation with the crane while ignoring the looks boring into their backs. At the end of the battle, the number of wounded on base had increased significantly. Zhang Yi as a "battlefront doctor" not only escaped the busiest days but also got a few days off, no one would not envy him. But there was no other way, who let this guy not seem human? While he was not at work, his legend spread throughout the hospital. He was so incredibly skilled that he was capable of standing on the front lines battling zombies, his strength was equal to an entire team...Even if people were not totally convinced, they would not find trouble since they valued their lives. Zhang Yi reported for his first day of work in a rxed manner, although one could notice that his eyes had changed. But people dared not hope their troubles would be reduced. Even with his calmer expression, few people were able to look directly at him. This feeling seemed good, it could save him a lot of trouble. With this rxed mindset he was ready to start the day. But he had not entered the office when a voice said, "Why hasnt Doctor Zhange yet? How can I feel safe without Doctor Zhang checking my injury?!" Zhang Yi pped his hand, he had heard this voice before. But how could a middle aged womans voice be familiar? He shrugged and then opened the door. Opening the door and seeing the chestnut haired woman with a slightly familiar face, Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and quietlyughed. It turned out to be the mother of his next door neighbor. "Oh, Dr. Zhang, you are here!" Liu Xiangyu suddenly smiled and then frowned at her hands. "I identally cut myself at home. Did not see you when I came to get tetanus shot. I though this wound had a strange color so I wanted toe see you..." Zhang Yis mouth twitched as he looked at the wound that hadpletely scabbed over on the womans finger. This sort of thing would usually be handled by a nurse, but it had been pushed onto him. "The wound has healed and there is no sign of infection." Zhang Yi put down the clipboard and went to sit at his desk. "That day a junior doctor checked, I think that persons medical skills are not reliable. I feel something strange in my finger. Can you take another look? Its a little swollen, is it infected? Will..." From the first time Zhang Yi met this woman he thought she was crazy. Dealing with patients as a doctor was a grind and thus he felt zero affection towards the women working with him. Of course, having female acquaintances was better than none . After all, he was normal enough to have some friends. But after a while, seeing this woman treat the other elderly experts in the hospital the same until he came around C this woman only cared about herself. She was a very paranoid patient, always feeling that any small wrong feeling would develop into something that would threaten her life. He also did not know if she had been like this even before the apocalypse. Or was she that scared of the zombie virus? Looking at her hands, who knew what she would think of next? Touching his chin, Zhang Yi squinted with a peach blossom smile. The nurse on the side felt conflicted C she knew the doctor was gay but could not move her eyes...Such a beautiful man in this ce and she could do nothing more than look? Liu Xiangyu also thought Zhang Yi was quite enchanting but she was more worried about her injury. She lifted her finger and refused to budge. Zhang Yi smiled while suggesting, "Want me to reopen the wound and look again? Re-sterilize?" Liu Xiangyu hesitantly nodded. "Okay, can you stitch it closed, otherwise I am afraid it wont heal well." Zhang Yi smiled and nodded again. "Two stitches? No problem." He bit down on his lip to stopughing C such a small wound would not need stitches, but she wanted two? Whatever, it was not him wasting money. Zhang Yi, who waspletely without medical ethics did as the woman requested. Someone knocked at the door while the wound was being healed. The nurse quickly got up to open the door. The past thirty years old man with a tough face, who was with thedy, came in and handed over a case. Liu Xiangyu frowned while not looking at her wound. "Cant you see I am in surgery?! Whats the matter?" The man was obviously angry and left the case on the bed with a dark face. "See for yourself." "You have a mouth, spit it out!" "Two months pregnant." The man said dryly. Eyebrows rose as thest stitch was quietly sewn. "Who? You got someone pregnant?" Liu Xiangyu did not notice as Zhang Yi dressed her wound. "What are you talking about? Didnt you have a routine check yesterday?" The mans expression contorted as he sneered. Liu Xiangyu stiffened and she could not help but tremble. "How is that possible? Didnt you always use protection? No, it cant be born! How old am I? Its the apocalypse with horrible conditions. What if theres massive bleeding...wait a minute, the medical facilities are not trustworthy enough for an abortion!" She unconsciously bit her fingernails, her brows knitted together. The man sneered. "First dont think about birth or abortion, if Secretary Yan knows he will definitely divorce you!" He had wanted to get rid of this woman for a long time, but he was with her before the apocalypse. If she kicked him away, where would he find a new patron? The base was feudal but he had no way forward! Chapter 112 "No, absolutely not!" Liu Xianyu bolted upright with cold sweat on her forehead. Although Yan Gexins family was not as powerful as hers before the apocalypse, but because her parents had been killed by zombies at the start of the end. Now she had no way ofparing to Yan Gexin! She had been able to tightly cling onto their married rtionship. If he found out about the pregnancy and used it as an excuse for divorce, she would have to move out of the barracks! Nowhere was as safe as the barracks, that could not happen!! Zhang Yi ced thest piece of adhesive tape, his smile was wider than usual. Today he had heard some juicy gossip. How would Yan Fei react upon hearing that his mother was pregnant with a half brother or sister? Zhang Yis movement seemed to wake up Liu Xiangyu. She quickly grabbed his arm. "Doctor Zhang, I want to abort the child, can you help me?" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, he saidughingly, "Ms. Liu, I am a surgeon, not a gynecologist." Although surgery would apply in this context C but didnt thisdy only believe in experts? He was not a gynecological genius. Liu Xiangyus face fell, her face was very gloomy. She got up and spoke to the other man. "Immediately help me find expert obstetricians and gynecologists. Remember, dont let Yan Gexin know! If he learns, you will have no fruit to eat!" The man sneered, picked up the case and turned to leave. Liu Xiangyu turned around and reluctantly smiled at Zhang Yi, "Sorry about letting you see that, I will go first." "Walk slowly." Zhang Yi waved his pen. The gossip this time was very good, anyway he knew the chief of gynecology and could inquire about the situation. He could give more details about Yan Feis future half sibling...ah, just tell him. It was nice to add some fun to his life. After the first day of official work after the zombie siege, Luo Xun came back home with lots of important news. For example, now that Yan Fei had a level three crystal core, he could level up. The military was going to reward everyone with an awards ceremony. Finally C Zhang Yi told Yan Fei about his not-yet-born half sibling, his mother wanting to abort... "How old is your...mother?" Luo Xun was more concerned about this. Yan Fei was turning 27 years old...his mother...*cough* had aged well? "Fifty...two? Three? Four?" Yan Fei frowned in thought but shook his head. "I did not see her for years, the secretary was responsible for buying gifts and sending them to her ce, so I dont know." "...." Luo Xun silently looked at him before swallowing. "Um...shes pregnant..." His mother is pregnant but not with his fathers child. Plus, the parents were not divorced yet...How would Yan Fei feel about this sort of thing? Yan Fei had no feelings towards that whatsoever. "They were originally lovers. But my fathers lovers were hidden well, even a professional detective might not be able to find them. Her temper has always been like that: careless and so on. I was five years old when I saw her and a lover together." So, Luo Xun had been worried for nothing? Luo Xun sighed in relief, Yan Fei was fine. Yan Fei suddenlyughed with a meaningful expression. "But this is a convenient time." "Huh? Whats convenient?" Luo Xun was puzzled. Yan Fei rubbed his lovers hair. "Nothing, Im going to level up, would you like toe along?" The transition from level one to two was smooth, no one had heard of anyone failing to level up. The other metal users on the team had seeded while on the wall. Yan Fei wanted Luo Xuns help to see if there were any differences during their upgrades. Luo Xun would pry if Yan Fei did not want to say anything. He smiled and nodded, he had not watchedst time, of course he woulde along! The two people went to the second floor bedroom. Yan Fei ced the big bag of crystal cores on the bedside table. They also brought a stic tarp to pour the used crystal nuclei on top. The crystal cores emitted a brilliant light, glittering and translucent. Other than a few level one nuclei, the rest were all level two or three! Looked like the base was very generous this time! Not only they gave everyone such a reward, which unexpectedly included level three crystal nuclei! The metal nuclei was a silvery-gray. Level two and three had the same color but the depth waspletely different. The difference could be seen when ced side by side. The level two nucleus looked like fluttering ash while the level three was much brighter with a more intense metallic appearance. There were not only metal human zombie nuclei, but also some metal zombie mice C the small size made them easily recognizable. Yan Fei gripped a level three nucleus in his hand and looked at Luo Xun. Thetter nodded and Yan Fei leaned against the bed while closing his eyes. When the nucleus waspletely absorbed, he emitted metallic light. It started at his head and swept down through his body. It looked like the light was doingps through his body. Luo Xun clenched his fists, staring nervously but unwilling to avert his eyes. He asked Yan Fei after he opened his eyes. "How did it go?" Yan Fei felt a slow warmth from his ability. He looked up and smiled. "Upgrade sess." Luo Xun sighed in deep relief and had a big smile on his face. "Your upgrade looked the same as those who upgraded during the day. There doesnt seem to any difference C at least from what I can tell." "Its the same? That is convenient." Yan Fei said lightly. He had made up his mind to upgrade at home in the future, in front of Luo Xun. But it was inevitable that he would have to upgrade in front of others. It was one less trouble knowing that his upgrades looked the same as the others. Just a week after the zombie siege and peoples lives on base were back on track. Those going outside toplete missions and those trying to find a job on base. The preparations for the base military award ceremony would also begin. All those with outstanding performance in battle would receive military recognition and prizes. Even regr people would receive certain rewards so long as they participated in the defense. While the average persons reward was issued from the various material exchange windows, the top performers would wait until the ceremony. That day, the couple got a day off so they could sleep in. They had to report to base for one oclock in the afternoon and the party was in the evening. Who said their credit that day was outstanding? The base leaders had wanted to see them before that. They wore their usual work uniform and mixed with the others after Captain Guo came to the barracks. The award ceremony would be held tonight at the small square in front of the leaders offices. The team of people did not enter the building but stood in front waiting for the leaders while being watched by onlookers. About five minutester, several base leaders came out. "Eh? Isnt this the famous Grinding Disc team?" "Haha, it is! Theyre very famous on base!" Including Captain Guo, all the metal wall team members felt their faces twitch. They had certainly heard other people say the nickname, but being called that by the public was a different matter! Although their previous name was not very good, it was better than grinding disc! They were afraid that they could no longer rid themselves of the word donkey... Several leadersughed and spoke to each member of the new Grinding Disc team. When they reached Yan Fei, one patted his shoulder in surprise. "Thisd is very spirited!" "Yes, who knew!" "Is this rted to his metal ability?" "So young..." Yan Feis facial features could only be handsome when he was not smiling, people would change their mind if heughed. Unlike Zhang Yi, it did not matter if he was smiling or serious. With Yan Fei in front, Luo Xun was average and easily forgotten. While passing through the gate and past the office building, they could could see people starting to watch them. When the leaders finished ahead of time, Captain Guo came to take them away but several people came out of the building. "Yan Fei?!" Hearing the name, the team stopped and turned to see a fifty-something year old man who looked somewhat familiar. Luo Xuns heart stuttered and he carefully scrutinized the mans facial features. The nose and face were very simr to Yan Fei....it seemed to be the man they had seen at the canteen. He turned to Yan Fei while thinking. Yan Feis expression was unchanged, as if someone suddenly calling his name was as normal as the sun rising. But when he saw the man, he turned to Captain Guo. "Ill go." He departed while giving a reassuring look to Luo Xun. Luo Xun knew from his heart that Yan Fei could handle this. "Yan Fei...is that really you?!" Yu Gexin was not surprised at seeing his son, he was not uncaring like Liu Xiangyu. She would only mention their son in quarrels, "You havent found our son and you want to talk about XXX" was a disgusting tactic. Although he was not that invested, he still took the time to check the list of personnel to find Yan Feis information, but there was nothing. He sighed while looking at his sons expressionless face. "Come with me." He turned around brought him into his office. The office building was not small at all, but the number of higher ups working here was equally numerous. Could someone with no backing have a room here? Having a small office was already good C look at the eastern base leaders. Other than a few with their own armed men, the rest were all crowded into rooms. Sitting at his desk, Yan Gexin saw that Yan Fei had sit in the opposite chair without pause. The casual attitude made him sigh in relief. "Why didnt youe find me on base? I had people looking for you." Yan Fei raised a mocking eyebrow. "Looking for you? I was here a long time before you arrived." Yan Gexin froze, he did not know about the team causing uproar throughout base but he did understand this C his son did note to find him, would rather join another team instead of relying on his own... Thinking about it, just know he had seen Yan Fei from a window being greeted by some military people. It was not difficult to judge that the team had helped defend the city. They would receive recognition tonight at the podium, otherwise why would the team be greeted? Taking into ount his sons cement, the leaders attitudes...Ability user! After figuring this out, Yan Gexin breathed out the depressing pressure on his chest since the apocalypse started. He was a civilian during the apocalypse and did not be an ability user. If he found no other way, he would getpletely steamrolled. "How have you beentely? Is life on base okay?" Yan Fei rolled his eyes. He was not anxious as he tapped his knee. "Very good." Yan Gexin thought his son was being brave so he pulled out some things from a drawer and ced them on the table. "There are meal tickets for the canteen on the highest level. Is the ce youre living at safe? If you are crowded with others, I can get you a single room." If this had been before the zombie siege, he might have been interested but now...Yan Fei held little desire to eat at the dining halls. On one hand, the canteens now had less meat, on the other hand, the various vegetable dishes did not taste good. Especially when he could pick the cream of the crop from home, why would he settle for less? ording to Captain Li, the vegetables he and Luo Xun sent were being hoarded by a few leaders, the other people could not even nibble on the leaves. As for a ce to live? He had been a part of army house construction, he knew just how big those houses were. What would the finished house look like? All the while, Yan Fei smiled at his father. "If you have something to say, spit it out." Yan Gexin had always known it was difficult to speak with his son, especially since he did not respect those older than him. If he was an ability user...he would not be able to control him now! But... The two people were silent for a long time before Yan Gexin started to speak. "The situation on base is not very good. Theres no way to continue the pattern from before the apocalypse. Only the military and strong ability users have thergest influence." He looked at Yan Fei. "You are already 27 years old, should consider getting married." Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and lightly smiled. "Oh? Who are you selling me to?" Yan Gexin took a deep breath and pushed down his temper. "Dont say something so ugly as selling! The third legions family has a daughter, 21 years old. With your appearance, it should not be difficult to pursue her." Although the girl seemed to have a crush on a doctor but that persons appearance should not be able to match up to his son. Yan Feiughed aloud, disdain evident in his eyes. "Really sorry but I now like men." *Crack* Thest rational thought in Yan Gexins mind broke. The lethality of that sentence was too great, whatever Yan Fei had said previously paled inparison. "You...you were too spoiled growing up!" Yan Gexin angrily mmed the table and stomped around the room. "Whatever you want, we gave you. What other children had, you had even better! What other children did not have, you did! You even had the same toys and food as foreign children! We cultivated you so much, and this is how you repay us?!" Yan Fei kept his smiling expression whilepletely ignoring the mans words. Indeed, he grew up with everything, more than other children, but what was the cost? He barely lived with his parents. There was only him alone at home. His parents had their own jobs and they lived in their true homes. They were only a dollhouse family, each year they brought out props to stage a show. What about the toys, things he liked and snacks? How would they usually prepare a birthday present? C Find a secretary, it was a trick he had learned from his parents. Yan Gexin continued to grumble under his breath as he suppressed all the grievances since the start of the apocalypse. He had to restore his calm C he was asking his son for help, if he really was an ability user, then father and son could never fall out! After mulling it over, he regained hisposure and slowly said, "I know, theres been some things...I know that there are bad things on base, the ratio of male to female is too low. Maybe you had no chance to meet with girls after the apocalypse, Dad can introduce you..." He was not willing to look Yan Fei in the eye. "If you want...once you have children and stabilize the family, whoever you like and so on, Dad will no longer interfere." Yan Fei coldlyughed with narrowed eyes. "Sorry to say but I will not let another child be like me, being pressured with godly expectations." Yan Gexins face changed. Yan Fei stood up without letting him speak, he had a malicious smile. "Theres something you should know, my mother C your wife is pregnant and asking around for an abortion, which gynecologist has good surgery skills." He brushed his clothes and turned to leave. "There are quite a few people curious about the matter, rest assured I am not ashamed. If someone asks, I will dly tell them all the details." Yan Gexin was life a fish out of water, his mouth moved but no sound came out. Liu Xiangyu, how could he have agreed to marry her?! How much trouble had she caused since they were married? Before the apocalypse he had a father-inw who could help clean up messed, but now it was only his problem!! He hatefully hammered the table, Yan Gexin had lost any and allposure. Suddenly, the door opened and Yan Fei returned and picked up the roll of meal tickets without looking at Yan Gexin. There were quite a few C enough for half a month. "You..." Yan Gexins voice was hoarse. Yan Fei pocketed the meal tickets and said, "Theres no fresh meat at home, I have to feed my spouse." Why should be leave empty handed after being scolded for half a day? Spouse? He remembered that just now Yan Fei had not only admitted he liked men, but also threatened him with Liu Xiangyus situation. Using this sort of thing to threaten him, was saying to not meddle in Yan Feis affairs?! His son knew more about Liu Xiangyu. If he was pushed too fast, he would simply go to other people! Yan Gexin took deep breaths and a long time to calm down. He had found Yan Fei today. He had thought that his family had ended after the apocalypse, but who knew... "Liu, Xiang, Yu!" Was it not enough she hurt herself? How many times had he needed to clean up trouble during the apocalypse because of her? This time, he could not endure!! Chapter 113 Luo Xun followed the team to the meeting ce. This was where all the soldiers who would attend the celebration gathered before the party. The officers would speak and discipline before the meeting, the team half understood the process. His mind wandered to Yan Fei, Luo Xun stood with the team and waited. After forty minutes had passed, Luo Xun rxed after seeing Yan Fei enter the queue. After the briefing, the team dispersed. Yan Fei went to Luo Xun without waiting for the other to find him. Not too far away Captain Guo said, "Forty minutes until the ceremony, you are not allowed to bete!" Luo Xun was worried about Yan Fei. "You okay?" Yan Fei brought Luo Xun to a small patch of shade next to the building. "No problem." He pinched the others hand, "Heres something good for you." ?? Luo Xun had question marks above his head before Yan Fei pulled out a stack of meal tickets from his pocket. "For a dining hall?" It was really good stuff. For people on base, vegetables were expensive but one could still buy them. But meat was very rare at this time. A few days after the apocalypse, people had to abandon poultry, livestock and other animals. The base did not have any animals left either for multiple reasons. The military logistics division might have some domesticated animals, but these were exceptions and not for eating. After the start of the apocalypse, there were so many ces one could eat meat, such as the dried meat, sausages and bacon in Luo Xuns home. But these things were limited and would be eaten up. Luo Xun tried to ensure that each meal would have a meat dish, but he dared not do too much. Another way was the dining hall. In the other canteens, meat was extinct, only the top canteen still had some. Although most of the meat in the army was starchy sausage, or rations with long shelf life, it was still meat! Luo Xun was very happy to take these meal tickets at first, but then he looked worried again. "You...didnt do anything right?" What if he signed some kind of shady deal in order to get these things? Then again, that was Yan Feis father, maybe they had a tearful reunion after being separated due to the apocalypse? Yan Feiughed and helped Luo Xun ce the tickets into his pocket. "Rest assured, hes too busy to find trouble with me." It was absolutely true, Liu Xiangyu caused enough trouble for two. Due to the serious imbnce between men and women on base, there were very few teenagers on base. It was important to sustain the poption of the base. With that transition it was understood that, if a woman was pregnant, a hospital would not agree to an abortion! Not for any reason. Therefore the anxious Liu Xiangyu was prepared to turn to the ck market, secretly buy a skilled doctor and solve this problem. The provider of the above information C Zhang Yi. Yan Fei knew that Yan Gexin would not tolerate the news. He would certainly use the situation to separate from Liu Xiangyu but for the sake of his face he would anxious about the abortion, lest some evidence point to him...He would very busy with those two things, in such a short period of time it would impossible for him to trouble Yan Fei. As for the future...Yan Fei had said he was not afraid of leaving. Although Yan Fei was not in a position of power, he could understand the militarys attitude towards power users... If one was aware that Yan Gexin had a son with an ability, but they were not lose...some were willing to stick their noses in to stop the repair of feelings. As long as the news was released, he would not worry about what Yan Gexin could do. Luo Xun did not know about Yan Feis and his fathers messy rtionship but he did understand his lover. If he said he could solve it, that these things were not problems, then Luo Xun was willing to believe that as well. They sat in the shade while whispering and watching the lively scene of peopleing and going. The couple waited for the evening awards celebration. The group marched back to the square that had improvised countless tables and chairs. These were not actual tables and chairs but blocks temporarily brought out by earth users. Fortunately, after upgrading to level two the earth users created smoother and stronger blocks. No need to worry about debris, otherwise the people would have to wash their clothes at home afterwards. The tables had been filled with tes C a victory feast of course would mean an excellent meal. The procession continued along. There was a row of tables in front of the office building where the military bosses were seated together. While the base leaders spoke, Luo Xuns line of sight remained focused on the food C were they not afraid of the food going cold? Couldnt they wait until after eating? Or at least wait untilter in the meal? The speeches were rtively short, soon the awards ceremony started. First the captains of the teams went up to receive the prize followed by the teams of ability users. The host thought it was funny to tease them as the Grinding Disc team during their first public appearance. The members of the team received their prize with half bowed heads. People mistakenly thought they were shy. In reality they were silencing their retorts: You are a donkey! Your whole family is a dusting pan! One leader stepped forward with an award and patted Yan Feis shoulder. "So young! Are you married?" Yan Fei quietly responded, "I have a lover." Luo Xun instantly flushed, the leader in front of him though his face was flushed due to nervousness and excitement. The leader saw no frustration on Yan Feis face and moved onto the next person. Yan Feis new seat was at a table but close to the podium. People recognized his calm demeanor C he really was an ability user... Although Yan Gexin hade to the southwest baseter on, he also knew that with the apocalypse the military had expanded recruitment to include ability users. But these people were only temporary help and not actually part of the military. They would be dismissed once the current work was done, unless there was need of them. It was truly a temporary position. Yan Fei had no military rtions before the apocalypse, so if he was standing there, the only exnation was C he was an independent metal ability user. Yan Gexin took a deep breath, although he had guessed Yan Fei was an ability user, he did not think his son was one of the well known metal users working with the army... After the exceptional teams had received their prizes, it was the turn of various smaller squads in the city. A number of powerful ability users were also invited. They sat alone at a few tables near the podium, their casual manner contrasting with the more orderly soldiers. When Luo Xun and the others came down, he noticed Zhang Yi in the sea of people sitting next to a woman that seemed to know him and was speaking with him. Luo Xun maliciously smiled at Zhang Yi who had narrowed eyes C if Zhang Yi was not only interested in men, if Wang Duo knew...Next door would be very noisy. Zhang Yi going on stage created a lot of tension, with his face and his achievements, it would definitely attract a lot of people. After all, these past few days, few people had seen Zhang Yi close up. Others had heard his appearance was very...*Cough* Anyway, after todays celebration, many would feel that the world seemed very unreal. When Yan Fei was on stage with other people, they were all uniformly dressed which showed his excellent appearance. But when Zhang Yi and others went up, his smile scattered peach blossoms. The leaders had darkened faces, the group of soldiers had red faces and were afraid to look directly at the stage. Captain Guo shook his head and whispered to Luo Xun. "Your...neighbor is really something..." A team of soldiers heard Luo Xun and interrupted, "He is your neighbor? Where do you live?" *Pa* Captain Guo pped a soldiers head while whispering, "Dont be an idiot! Look at that mans peach blossom eyes, jade face, smooth skin, ten of you are not enough to feed him!" *Spittake* A tables worth of people choked. The soldier flushed while pointing at Captain Guo but unable to squeeze out words. He was just curious? He, he just wanted to look?! Luo Xun was silent for a moment before deciding to help Wang Duo lessen the pressure, lest the naive dog was shoved into a corner. They were brothers after all, "He...has a lover..." *Fwoosh* The mes of gossip were lit in the peoples eyes. "What do they look like?"" "Who?" "A manly woman?" A quick nce at the podium showed that Zhang Yi had already descended from the stage C he had onlye up for a moment but the atmosphere became so strange...For the sake of peace in the army, they had to quickly send him away! "Male..." Luo Xun had just opened his mouth, the people around sucked in a cold breath. Luo Xun heard someone whispering, "No wonder..." "He did not feel like a normal person..." "Yeah, what woman would dare to marry him?" "Must find a man to pair up with!" It must be noted that the soldiers in the army and independent ability users all felt the imbnce between the number of men to women C even the army was feeling the effects. The only time they saw a woman was when they went on a mission outside, or the small number of female water or earth users in logistics. Or family members of army personnel. This was not a case of many wolves, little meat C more like wolf without meat. Almost like the daily life of a monk! So inevitably, somerades-in-arms would develop feelings beyond that of friends. Otherwise why would so many people eavesdrop about gossip surrounding Zhang Yi? Luo Xun watched as these people exchanged nces. After Zhang Yi left the stage, team representatives went up. It was generally only the captain and vice captain who attended, the other members were not qualified. Listening to the familiar squad names, Luo Xunpared against his past memories. It was obvious that the two teams that had caused his idental rebirth C zing and Chaos had also shown up during the defensive battle. Luo Xuns table along with other ces whispered about Zhang Yi. His situation was clearly different, he came representing himself and did not say any team names. Li Ties group and Xu Meis trio had participated as part of the team. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were part of the metal user team while Zhang Yi was with the hospital. Compared to the other teams, Zhang Yi seemingly a lone wolf was a tantalizing target for many people. Zhang Yi was sitting in his seat, seemingly not aware of this. He impatiently endured the ceremony while staring at the food from time to time. Why ce the food out without letting people eat? Did they not know how long it had been since he had eaten meat?! Zhang Yis performance had made the people at his table hesitant to woo him, at least until the boss came back from receiving the awards. Seeing a seat next to Zhang Yi was empty, the woman he had been speaking with had left, Wu Changkun, the leader of Chaos team smiled, "Brother Zhang Yi? Long time no see." When he opened his mouth, he went straight for Zhang Yi. All the others stared daggers C the man actually knew him? Were they toote?! Zhang Yi nced and thought for a moment C did not recognize him. Seeing Zhang Yi sweep and nce and ignore him, Wu Changkuns face twisted and became more gloomy. Before he could say anything else, a sneer came from the side. Wu Changkun turned and saw his enemy, the leader of the zing team, Wang Heng. He narrowed his eyes behind his sses. "This young master has something to say?" "Ask? To you? You think too highly of yourself. Did you P.E. teacher teach your elementary chinese ss?" Wang Heng did not speak, instead the vice captain interrupted. Wu Changkun was embarrassed from the rebuttal, he knew that he had used the wrong word but could not lose against the others. "You are top students, unfortunately did graduating college help?" The person grinned, "This shows that eldest brother has charm, the higher students were willing to help out." The team member beside Wu Changkunughed, "Was it not helping in bed?" "Ah, you want to crawl into your bosss bed, but dont have the power to..." The people suddenly turned their attention back to the table as the woman beside Zhang Yi had hurried back. The girl did not notice the strange atmosphere and grasped Zhang Yis arm, "Brother Zhang Yi! Help me!!" The table was silent and looked at Zhang Yi, who looked at her. The guys got up C drama would start soon!! The queen was merciful and said, "Speak." The girls eyes were hazy with tears. "Elder brother ~ My father wants me to go on a blind date, arranged marriage. Please save me! Little sister is still young, only 21, dont want to be a housewife with child!" Zhang Yi looked back with a face of disdain. "Your father found you a man and youe to me for what? If you had an extra leg below, I might fool around for a few days..." he despised the girls breasts. "Not interested." The people at the table stiffened and red at the gay man who refused such a beautiful young girl. Such a blow to their hearts. They thought this woman was his sweetheart! But now...what a waste! What you dont want we cannot have!! They are confident, unmarried captains and deputies (although ability users were having an easier time finding a girlfriend). But that was only rtively speaking, who let there be so few women of corresponding age on base? They wanted to turn up their charm and hook up with the girl, but she only cried, "I want to be with handsome brother forever, never separate while on base! I cant look upon unhandsome men. *Wu, wu, wu* I can only do this, my parents dont understand me and want me to get married! I only have you as a good friend, you must help me!!" The tough men of the table froze, some of them had heard of rotten women before the apocalypse but almost no one had experienced it. Now they had suddenly met such a person...the pressure was very high. Zhang Yi had given her a second nce while his chopsticks flickered towards the food. He said, "Rest assured, as long as you use this method, those men will quit." The table of straight men tilted their heads. "But my dad said I would be locked up if I dared to speak in public!" Zhang Yi looked up in confusion from his bowl piled with meat, "Really? Why did youe to me then? I wouldnt agree to a pretend rtionship...or did you want me to hook up with your blind date instead?" Zhang Yi nodded in thought. "It wont work, otherwise my man will be jealous..." The girl took a deep breath, "You dont have any brothers? Find one for sister to temporarily borrow!" Zhang Yi touched his chin while sweeping the table and confirmed that nothing had slipped his bowl. "Come with me." After the two people left, the table people took a while to unfreeze. Originally just the zombies in the apocalypse was already scary, women also became so terrible, then there was that gay...Wait a minute!! "Holy crap! All the meat is gone! That dead demon!!" Zhang Yi held his bowl while eating and walking. His graceful figure, beautiful face, sultry eyes grabbed peoples eyes, but the big bowl of meat in his hands destroyed the image. Of course, people were not surprised C beauties love meat. If they had the strength to let him eat everyday, it might be enough to ensnare him... But what had Zhang Yi done? He had received military praise and rewards for his great destructive power, so no dared to find trouble with him. Luo Xun was about to eat a piece of braised pork from Yan Fei when his shoulder was patted. He turned around, the piece of meat had fallen into someone elses bowl. "Zhang Yi!" He already had food at home, why was heing here? Zhang Yi ate the piece of meat while referring to the girl beside him. "You have rich men here? Let her borrow one." The girl nearly fell to the ground, her head lowered. He usually had the temperament of a beauty, but now it had be like this?! Luo Xun silently looked at him, ignored and then carefully looked at the girl C familiar...was she not the woman who had been sitting next to him? "...Please make it clear." Suddenly asking to borrow a man...Was he not afraid of being used of kidnapping people! The girl put down her hands, revealing a smile uglier than her tears and grabbed Luo Xuns hands. "You are Zhang Yis lover? Hello my name is Zhu Hong, one of Zhang Yis friends. My father has forced a blind date arranged marriage and I want to borrow a man. Came to ask for help..." Luo Xun looked at her, stunned. Before he could respond, he felt himself being pulled back into a warm embrace C it was Yan Fei. At the same time, a voice sounded near his ears. "So sorry, but he is my lover. As for your friends man C he didnte today." Chapter 114 Happy Thanksgiving! For whatever reason chapters 114 and 115 are shorter than the ones before. So have a free double release! Seven coffees until the next official bonus chapter. Luo Xun was in a daze while Zhang Yi took the opportunity to sit down. The people at the table had already heard the gossip, the beauty actually ran to this table to steal food? When the chopsticks had shed out for the tenth time, the people returned to attention and joined the food war. At the same time, they kept an ear on Luo Xun and the woman who came to find a man. Zhu Hong froze after realizing her mistake and giggled. She learned that Yan Feis face was not inferior to Zhang Yis. Light shone from her eyes as she pointed at Yan Fei, "You are top!" Then she looked at Luo Xun with an even brighter gaze, "You are bottom!" Luo Xun subconsciously took a step back while Yan Fei hugged tighter. The pair suddenly realized who this woman was C the legendary female friend of Zhang Yi. She had sent him a lot of metal materials, a second generation rotten sister on base. A rotten girl, this kind of creature, seeing one in person was far more lethal than hearsay... Yan Fei was far more experienced at speaking with fanatical women. He adjusted his expression and asked, "Miss Zhu is...looking for a fake boyfriend?" Zhu Hong had just remembered the matter herself and nodded repeatedly with shiny eyes. Yan Fei paused and his face was filled with regret. "Really sorry, but we cannot help, its not easy for the two of us to be together, if there is any scandal..." He had not finished and left nks for people to fill with their imagination, not to mention the target of women like Zhu Hong? She nodded once and understood the pairs difficulty. "Rest assured! I would never do anything like that! I just want to borrow someone single, secure and no worries..." To borrow and man with those three characteristics? This...was a young maiden after all! Alive, young! Youngdy with a body of eight or nine points! The table of men fighting with Zhang Yi over food all stopped, straightened their backs and hated that they could not have a life with the sister...and if feelings developed...*cough, cough* Thinking about it C well the men were considering offering themselves. "We...cannot say..." Luo Xun hesitantly looked around the table. There were members of the metal team, but they did not know the rest of the people! Even if they were members of the metal team, they might not be a good match. He turned his gaze over to Captain Guo for help. Captain Guoughed and pointed at the girl. "Stop dreaming! Do you know who this is? The daughter of Third Army Chief Zhu, if found out by her old man...How many lives do you think you have?" Yan Fei raised a brow and looked at Zhu Hong in surprise C a coincidence? Some things were not so coincidental. Thedy who needed help was from the same family that his father had said was recruiting a son-inw. Who knew it was the same woman that Zhang Yi had met. Hearing Captain Guos words, Zhu Hong angrily ced her hands on her hips, "You think I am stupid?! Looking for help and hurting someone else?" Captain Guo smiled at her childlike appearance. "Uppity child, you know your father, otherwise why would you find independent aid?" Zhu Hong angrily raised her chin. "Self righteous heterosexuals think others are just aspetent as themselves!" .... ......... All the men at the table had twisted expressions, even Luo Xun and Yan Fei. After all, they had been part of the heterosexual group before the apocalypse and meeting. Well Luo Xun had been in the past. Zhang Yi had eaten his fill of two tables worth of meat dishes. He put down his chopsticks provocatively leaned against the table. This once again attracted the attention of soldiers soo to leave the heterosexual category. "I say, no one caught your eye? I have no other way, not everyone on the team is here today." Due to Captain Guos previous words, no one dared follow after Zhu Hong. In case they annoyed the higher ups...they would lose their lives. The previous excitement was all gone, the people at the table were silent and dared not even look at Zhu Hong. Zhu Hong looked at the crowd and stomped her foot while pointing at Captain Guo. "If it wasnt for his nonsense, I would have found someone to help!" Zhang Yi shrugged, "Then bring him and put him in charge?" He turned to Luo Xun while ignoring Zhu Hongs "Old, ugly, crusty veteran." "I ate my fill, you? Im going back, theres nothing else anyway." Luo Xun froze and turned, "You ate your fill? We have not..." He looked at the messy table. Zhang Yi innocently spread his arms, "I did nothing." The people at the table silent stared at him, this person was clearly so beautiful, but spoke and acted so shamelessly?! Yan Fei patted the sad yet expressionless Luo Xun. Fortunately he had harvested some extra canteen meal tickets, or he was afraid that Luo Xun would boil Zhang Yi alive. He looked at Captain Guo and Zhu Hong who were arguing. "If there is nothing going on, we will go back first." There was not much to celebrate at the feast, many people walked around the tables and toasted each other. Other then some team tables, most had no rules to follow. Captain Guo waved at the pair and continued ring at Zhu Hong. Unaware that he had also chased away Zhang Yi who had provoked the incident. "Ah, I am so full today." Zhang Yi was mncholic as he propped a slender, jade hand against his waist. The hungry Luo Xun ground his teeth. "When we kill the quail this autumn, dont even think of getting a portion!" Why couldnt the Otaku squad have a meal together without drama like other teams? It was because of this shameless person! Zhang Yi gave an indifferent smile. "No problem, Wang Duos portion will be enough." Anyway, he would worry about what he was not able to eat. Luo Xun continued to grind his teeth. "Having not eaten meat for a long time, be careful not to throw up tonight!" Zhang Yis peach blossom eyes lit up with a smile. "That is convenient, after evening exercise I have clean myself up anyways." ............. It was a miracle that some people were shameless up to this point. The group of three silently headed towards the gate. On the way over, someone wearing a white coat had apparently drunk too much and identally bumped into Yan Fei. "So...sorry about that..." Yan Fei just shook his head and pushed Luo Xun along. While leaving the square, Zhang Yi asked the two, "You knew that old man just now." It was a statement, after all, the pairs action was obvious. Luo Xun helplessly answered the rhetorical question. "Didnt you pay attention during the ceremony? He was the first researcher to receive an award." Zhang Yi shook his head. "Didnt look." Plus, it was an old man, why would he pay attention? He would rather focus on the meat distributed along the tables. Luo Xun looked back at the square in the distance and sighed, "His surname Xu, he created a special weapon. It yed a decisive role in defense during the siege, even could say it reversed the battle situation." Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow. "Youre saying..." Luo Xun nodded, "It was the water guns that Li Tie and the others used." The main entrance had been surrounded by arge number of zombies that needed to be defeated. The number of zombies was ratherrge, so arge number of hot weapons were needed to strengthen the defense. ording to Li Tie and the others, they saw soldiers using a water gun-like weapon and had an effect identical to the mushroom juice at home. Zhang Yi sneered at the road, "Oh the expert who told that the mushrooms could not be nted~" Taking the results found by others, telling the other party to destroy this lethal weapon, and then reporting the results as their own, *Tch* Luo Xun was not angry, was this kind of thing not normal? "The mushrooms were quite dangerous." He waved a hand. "Him not trying to silence us was kind." Zhang Yi deliberately clicked his tongue twice, "How many meal tickets was that prize ah~" "...Dont think you can have an quail this autumn!" They left the barracks when the sky was dark. Yan Fei was the driver, Zhang Yi in the back and Luo Xun in the passenger seat checked out the awards. The base had been very generous, Zhang Yi got a number of level three crystal nuclei while Yan Fei and Luo Xun got a smaller crystal award (since they had already received a portion). However the couple got ten rolls of meal tickets! Each!! "Meal ticket!" Luo Xun excitedly lifted the roll but Zhang Yi poured cold water on him. "Dont look forward to it, they sent out quite a lot of meal tickets. I suspect in the next month, the canteen levels will definitely decline." Luo Xun was speechless as he stared at the one who had shamelessly eaten all the meat dishes tonight. Yan Fei interrupted. "I have risen to level three . Now that there are also level three crystals, I suggest we find a way to exchange for some. The others should be able to upgrade as well." Chapter 115 In the car back home, Zhang Yi was willing topensate the couple a single meal roll, although the stuff he ate at their table was more than that, but it was the thought that counted! Zhang Yi giving them something was already pretty good. Li Tie and the others were at home waiting for good news. The three bickered with each other as they climbed. After they had left, some people came to see the legendary wind user...but he was gone. Luo Xun had also left early, so no one knew where they had gone since they were focused on the metal ability users. Zhang Yis early departure caused empty regret to flutter in lot of peoples chests. Early the next morning, Yan Gexin got his confidant to check on Liu Xiangyus recent movements. In fact, there was no need to check, an inquiry would lead to learning about her famous hospital visit. Arge pile of detailed inspection reports filled the table in front of Yan Gexin, who let out a plea for help. He took a breath and stared at the pile with wide eyes. "These...are, the cases from when she visited the base hospital?!" The confidant resisted the urge to smile and nodded. "There are copies of all the inspection reports since Ms. Liu came to base. As for hertest hand injury, we have not been able to get a copy." Yan Gexin forcefully waved a hand. "Just get me the reports from thest two months...The base is not willing to chop trees, but she is! How many sheets of paper have been wasted on these useless things every day?" It was not clear how much paper Liu Xiangyu had wasted, though he was the one who wanted them, only to receive copies. Some of the wasted paper was on him as well. The first few inspection reports only made him feel pain in his chest. The words confirmed pregnancy were bold, like a loud p to his face. It was one thing to know your wife was having an affair, another to see the evidence that made him feel a big loss of face. They had married each other due to simr interests, their parents marriage had been simr. Most of the families before the apocalypse were due to shared interests. No feelings other than the need for children. They reluctantly went to bed to create offspring. Afterwards, they did not interfere with each other. But it was not like they had no feelings of love at all. The first time he and Liu Xiangyu had met under favorable conditions. Six months into the marriage, the pairs feelings were strong. Neither party had a true lover before the marriage so they thought they could be together forever during the honeymoon period. Wouldnt they be stronger than those model couples whose face and heart were not the same? Unfortunately once Liu Xiangyu became pregnant, her temper became worse. The mutual understanding, tolerance and effort to show their best was lost. After a few fights with tearing off each others masks, there were no sweet feelings left. So they quickly returned to a standard state. Maintained a basic rtionship between husband and wife. The babysitter would care for the child while each was with their own lover. They would only travel together when they needed to maintain their so-called family image. This had a cost however, they could live together with other, but must not make children or otherwise divorce. Unexpectedly, not even a year into the apocalypse, she had be pregnant. Yan Gexin sneered at the report and spoke to the subordinate waiting at the door. "To the military district." Sometimes, even if one wanted to decency the other side also had to cooperate. With Liu Xiangyu in her current state, it was clear that if Yan Gexin came the situation would devolve into a mess. Although he had hardened his heart, but seeing her take out the evidence and shout so shrilly that everyone in the area could hear about the situation. There had been countless people who came to see the drama. The man she was having an affair with usually did not dare to appear. Yan Gexin angrily let people throw her things out of the barracks and quickly headed to the military office to deal with the divorce agreement. There was evidence of Yan Gexin wearing a green hat, the base knew the husband and wifes names. There was no Liu family to protect her, Yan Gexin had some power so the divorce was formalized after an hour. Liu Xiangyu was the one who wasted the most time. Although Yan Gexin wanted to quietly deal with the matter, he had no avable people. The only person at his side was a handyman without an ability. Even if he wanted to block Liu Xiangyus mouth, he could not stop all the gossip. Yan Fei waspletely unaware of the matter. He had reported for work in the morning, they had gone to the outer fence to reinforce the structure. Captain Guo had a gloomy atmosphere hovering over his head. "Whats wrong with him?" Luo Xun knew he and Yan Fei had left at an non-ideal time. He dared not ask the captain but pulled the deputy aside to secretly inquire. The vice-captain quietly looked at Captain Guo before whispering, "Last night that miss...after you left, they stared at each other for a long time. She directly went to her father an actually said...while hugging his arm" The deputys expression twisted "Well only be parted when mountains have no peaks, when heaven and earthbine." .............. "Um...what was her fathers...reaction?" The vice-captain suppressed the urge tough, though his chest quivered. "Captain Zhu know of his daughters temper. Anyway the expression was not good, but he only pulled the girl back home. Though he did give a look at the team." Could Captain Guo have offended the higher ups? Demotion, fired, or simply turned into base cannon fodder? Luo Xuns face twisted while silently giving sympathetic nces to Captain Guo. This had happened because of Zhang Yi, could he let Captain Guo vent on the guilty party? After all, he had been in charge of the couple. For someone else to lead, the two would not know how to act and it would cause trouble. Captain Guo did not need any advice as he pulled out a bag of tobo from somewhere. He found a corner to smoke in after arriving at the wall. After he came back his spirit was better C these things were not healthy, but could loosen pressure. Luo Xun pondered while touching his chin C should he look for some seeds to try and grow some to sell on the market? At three oclock in the afternoon, the people cleaned up and were ready to go home. A few of them nced past the wall and saw a few scattered zombies slowly approaching. There were so many people gathered on the base, the smell must seem like a scrumptious meal to the zombies. Just like how the smell of braised pork would definitely attract people, hoping that someone was at home cooking a meal. Since the zombie siege, the number of scattered zombies returned to previous levels. In addition, nothing particrlyrge or rare appeared. Captain Guo greeted everyone but started to scold when two people were at the walls edge. "What are you looking at? Are you going or not?" A soldier soothed his kicked bottom while pointing at the moat. "Captain, we just saw a fish in the river!" "Fish? Where?" Captain Guo looked down. The moat was a short distance away from the fence, how could someone see a small fish from this distance? He looked carefully for a while, even borrowed a telescope but did not see anything. He turned to the two soldiers, "Could it have been a falling stone instead of a fish? Remember what happened a few days ago? How could a big fish show up so soon?" The two men hunched over, they had only seen a ssh and thought there might have been a fish. Who knew how many zombies were in the moat after the siege. In consideration of safety and to thoroughly clear the river of zombies, the base got a group of water ability users to move the water in order to remove the bodies. Although it was possible for fish to appear, how big would they be? Who could see that from such a distance? Luo Xun and Yan Fei had already climbed into the truck while waiting for the rest of the people toe back. The car started after Captain Guo got inside and headed back to barracks. Suddenly Luo Xuns mobile phone began to ring. Luo Xun grabbed the phone and handed it to Yan Fei. "For you." The pairs phones rarely received calls. They mostly relied on text messages formunication. The phone would only be used in an emergency. Yan Fei raised an eyebrow at the unknown phone number. With little thought he hung up. Chapter 116 Yan Gexin was slightly surprised that the call was cut off. Why had that happened? If Yan Fei did not want to call him, how did he know that he was trying to call? Wait a minute, was he working right now? Yan Fei facepalmed at seemingly figuring out the issue. He had finally solved one thing today, had to take advantage of the momentum to solve an issue that has been entrenched in his heart since the apocalypse. Whether is was Liu Xianyu or colleagues taking the chance to add pressure and seeking trouble, both could affect his future career. Although Yan Gexin did want to fix the rtionship with his son, tempers had red thest time the two had met. His dissatisfaction would likely touch Yan Feis bottom line. After a nights deliberation, he felt Yan Fei would not reject his proposal C the matter of homosexuality not leaving descendants could be touched upon after the father-son rtion had been fixed, perhaps surrogacy? Seeing Yan Fei hang up, Luo Xun whispered in confusion while waiting for the car to reach the barracks. "Who called?" Yan Fei shrugged. "Dont know." ...Didnt know so he just hung up? Luo Xun grimaced, then his mind remembered someone. "Was it your parents?" Yan Fei had met with his father yesterday, if they had exchanged numbers... Wait if Yan Fei had given his number, wouldnt he know the other persons number? Or had his father handed over the phone to someone else? Then he thought of the few encounters with Yan Feis mother...Luo Xuns temple began to pound. That had told Luo Xun that Yan Feis mother was not a simple character. He did not fear supporting Yan Feis parents, after all he was rather rich, having one or two idlers was not a problem. But he did not like factors in instability and also disliked trouble. While Luo Xun was secretly calcting if his parents lost their ability to work and the couple had to help rent a house, the monthly support and other practical problems. Yan Fei rubbed Luo Xuns hair, "What are you thinking about? Get in the car." "Oh, right." Luo Xun stepped into the car and began to calcte how much food an older person needed each day, the portion of vegetables, meat, eggs, oil and so on. They drove the car back and Luo Xunmented as he locked the car, "We could afford if its only one." But two was slightly more difficult. After all, they had already divided all the spoils, so if he and Yan Fei wanted to support one or more people, they would have to use their private resources. He was afraid that they could not be able to save many points from the twos work pay. "Eh? What do you want to keep?" Yan Fei was confused C wasnt there already a dog at home? Who knew what Luo Xun was muttering about. Luo Xun shook his head with a smile. He would wait for Yan Fei to bring up the topic himself before taking action. The two people climbed the usual stairs up to the 16th floor. Around 7:30 pm, the two were eating fruit shaved ice in the living room in front of the fan. Crushed ice cubes were mixed with the homes ripened watermelon cut into small pieces. The two ingredients were mixed together before eating. This watermelon was the first harvest of fruit this year. Since the fruit was pretty big, it had been picked after fully ripening and everyone brought home a portion. While the two people and a dog were eating watermelon, the cellphone on the table started ringing. Luo Xun looked over, sure enough it was Yan Feis cell phone, he looked at his lover. Yan Fei thought for a little before picking up the phone. It was the same number who had called during the day. He blinked, got up and answered the call. "Little Fei?" A mans voice came from the phone, Yan Feis eyebrow rose. In fact, Luo Xun had a simr reaction. Yan Feis parents had a simted rtionship, but after the two fell out, the other party would call to stir the pot. After all, they worked with the army, Yan Gexin would not be able to find someone without knowing where to look. But afterst night, he must have known that Yan Fei was in the metal squad. A random search would be able to find his new name. Although the address would not be revealed, he could find the phone number. If the phone was not able to go through, he could bother people at the workce. "Whats the matter." Yan Gexin choked at hearing Yan Feis calm, quiet voice. "Little Fei, are you busy tomorrow? Can you visit dad?" Yan Fei smirked, the corner of his mouth lifted, "You already know that I am very busy with work." The only reason the metal team had a few days of vacation each month was because the captain had forced the issue without regard for face. Otherwise, they would not have had even half a days holiday at the end of a major project, regardless of length. Projects could take anywhere from half a month to more than three months, it depended entirely on work efficiency and the size of the project. Yan Gexin responded patiently, "Then, when do you get off work? You cane over to the barracks when you get off work tomorrow..." "Im afraid I dont have much time or energy C especially after days work. Youve heard that ability users who use their powers for long time will consume more mental energy." Yan Fei did not give Yan Gexin the chance to speak, directly cutting off his words, "If theres something, just say so." Talking about important matters over the phone was not Yan Gexins style, nor Yan Feis before the apocalypse. But he knew that Yan Feis current attitude meant he wanted nothing to do with his father. Especially since the two almost fell out with each other on the spot. He took a deep breath, he had some cards to y. He believed his son should agree C ording to his pre-apocalypse knowledge. "Little Fei, youre a metal ability user, right?" "Yes." Hearing Yan Fei admit that made Yan Gexin relieved, this proved that the data obtained today was correct. "Last night I heard you were walking with a wind ability user working in a hospital? A young man with the surname Zhang..." Zhang Yi was too famous and easy to identify. Although they had left early and rtively low-key, a lot of people had noticed Zhang Yi in hindsight. But people who did not deliberately pay attention to Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not recognize them. Unfortunately for Yan Gexin who had wanted to use the meal as a chance to speak with his son again, to repair their rtionship, the couple had left early. Another inquiry revealed that Zhang Yi seemed to have left with two members of the metal team, maybe one was him? Yan Fei raised an eyebrow with narrowed eyes C it was only for this reason he had been contacted? "What?" Yan Gexin remembered that his son had said yesterday that he likes men, then he thought of Zhang Yi, who even he had to admit was really...pretty. This kind of beauty was probably attractive to men who liked sex. It was not entirely iprehensible that his son would be in love with the man, especially since Yan Feis appearance was very high was well. Stamping down his disgust, Yan Gexin began to earnestly say, "Zhang Yi...has a strong ability. Dad thought about what you said yesterday. You are an adult and know what you want. Although I still do not agree with your choice I understand you have your own way life and yearning for a partner." Yan Gexin paused, giving his son time to digest the words. After hearing those words, Yan Fei, who was seldom surprised, looked at his phone like a ghost C and them put it back against his ear. Had this old man lost his mind? He thought he was having an affair with Zhang Yi? What were the advantages of that psychopath other than his looks?! Yes, he had an ability, and the power was strong...But what couldpare to Luo Xuns strength? Yan Gexin waspletely unaware that he was off the mark. With a fatherly tone, he pointed the most suitable road that would give him the most power. "Youre both ability users and were key yers in the defensive siege. Little Fei, I know that you are a clever child, although the apocalypse is very dangerous but also a great opportunity. With your abilities, have you ever thought of forming a team of ability users? With father there it will be more convenient, I can get you a lot of information in advance! You can use your fame and power to build up a powerful team. As long as you have your fathers help, you will be able to get a pivotal ce on base!" "Youve never paid attention to these things, so it might not be clear but many of the power squads are now trying to ally with the military. Not only to get a lot of information, but also to get a share of the resources. Right now, the world is the oyster for young people with abilities! As long as you want something I will get it for you, juste and visit dad..." The little dog was chowing down with smacking noises. Luo Xuns expression was tangled. Although he could not hear what was being said on the phone, he knew it was a mans voice, guessed it was Yan Feis father. Yan Fei had leisurely left the phone while his father kept on speaking...was this actually real? Yan Fei noticed the worried nces. His father actually thought he and that demon Zhang Yi were together...were his eyes rotten? That demon could never be better than his little Xun! His appearance? What kind of beauty had be not seen? They were nothingpared to the mild and lively person presently in his bosom. Yan Fei rubbed Luo Xuns head, then lifted his chin before firmly kissing his lover C the fresh, natural taste of watermelon was much better than that demonic man! The other party on the phone was still bbering on while the two people became more and more intimate on the sofa, gradually heading towards R18 territory. Luo Xun heard the noise and fixed his shirt. He poked Yan Feis forehead than jabbed at the phone on the coffee table. Yan Fei took a deep breath and grabbed the phone. The voice said, "Little Fei? Little Fei? Are you listening?" Yan Fei put the phone to his ear and said annoyed, "If I was interested in forming a team to dominate the base, I would have done so before you even arrived. In addition, I have no interest in people like Zhang Yi. If you fancy him, go find him yourself C see if you can endure his familys insanity." After finishing, he immediately hung up, picked up Luo Xun who was suppressingughter and went to the second floor! Yan Gexin looked stunned at the phone in his hands, before the apocalypse Yan Fei had never been rude enough to hang up. Of course, he would never me himself but a taunt was a taunt. He had never been so rudely rejected...Wait, there was only one reason he would say those things about his mother. He had no interest or patience for his proposal, did not even want to listen! "This, this unfilial son...is going to be the death of me!" Yan Gexin mmed the phone and began to pace around the room. Who was he doing this for? Yan Gexin was worried for his sons sake?! He was in the government while Yan Fei was in the army, with the two together on base, they could have a good life even with the apocalypse. He was willing to go out everyday for construction work to repair the fence, clinging to a man who could not have offspring in order to live?! How could there be happiness!? Yan Gexin remembered when his son was in school, his final exam results were never lower than the top 10. Unlike other peoples children with insufficient results that needed their parents to find a solution. After he graduated university, although the family had pushed, he refused to find a home as a result of career ns. How could a man with such apetitive heart be calm? Especially with the apocalypse and all the dangers outside. So Yan Gexin could not understand why Yan Fei rejected his proposal. Was his son not simr to himself? Not reconciled that the little people on base had no real power. He hoped to be able to grasp some power, maybe not in the army but there were other areas where he could use politics and step up. Therefore, even if todays conversation was not sessful, he did not think of cutting Yan Fei off while he had to deal with Liu Xiangyu. After all, who made Yan Fei a rare, metal ability user? Yan Gexin was not clear about Yan Fei and alsopletely did not want to understand. Yan Fei understood the mans idea. When received the call he realized after the first few words C Yan Fei was wanted only to form a team of power users. Yan Gexin hoped that him helping out would be enough to face off against other groups. It was a pity that he had no interest in these things at all, he would not waste his time with these time-consuming and wasteful actions. Life was short, not to mention during the apocalypse? Perhaps for Yan Gexin, happiness was stepping on others to climb up and look down from the top. But for Yan Fei, happiness was living with Luo Xun in their home, farming, raising a dog C a sweet life filled with kisses. Luo Xun was lying in bed, his entire body was sore and in pain. Yan Fei was all smiles since he had eaten his fill. He pressed a hand to gently massage Luo Xuns waist. "Was your father looking for you?" Yan Fei had hung and brought him upstairs, with the atmosphere, Luo Xun could not ask about the matter. Now that someone had...*cough* eaten and drunk his fill, it should be enough to satisfy Luo Xuns curiosity, right? Yan Fei had not deliberately avoided the problem, heughingly exined, "His hands are empty, so he wanted me to create a power team for bargaining chips." Luo Xun looked up with a surprised face and after a while responded, "I thought he could recruit his own staff, find someone to help form a team. That would work better." Others might not understand but Luo Xun and Yan Fei had lived together for so long and they had in-depth discussions C the two had simr goals. They wanted to live on base in peace without getting swept into trouble. Of course, they would try and improve their own strength, so Luo Xun secretly cultivated the mushrooms on arge scale. Tried to get all the team members proper weapons and equipment in order to hunt zombies once a month. This would exercise their awareness and cooperation while fighting. But just as they had discussed and agreed upon C they did not want to cling to any force. Luo Xun knew that in the future, the base hierarchy would be moreplex andyered. Precisely because of thisplex,yered,plicated hierarchy, it was better for them to remain low-key. When necessary, they would disy their strength, but only so that others would not dare to attack their team. As a regr person, Luo Xun knew that the teams involved in annexation, alliances and factional battles had not been able to maintain themselves. Even if some teams stuck for a long time and gained fame and power, the squad members had long since changed. Luo Xun understood what Yan Feis father wanted to do. Unfortunately, the couple and their squad had no interest. More importantly, his son was not interested at all. Yan Fei could not help butugh, "Youre right, but I guess he has no one with him, otherwise he would not have called today." After all, his attitude had been clear and he did not want to deal with his mothers drama, why would he call? At this time, Yan Fei did not know that Yan Gexin had fallen out with Liu Xiangyu. Also did not know that the family had be the source of many jokes. The couple did not live in the barracks. They went everyday but did not know the people living in the residences. So long as they did not deliberately ask around, they would not know the news for a short time. Ever since Yan Fei hung up on his father, he had not been harassed for a long while. After all, the work and rest times of the metal team were not the same as regr people. Especially in the camps where the leaders had been busy. What were these people working on? Of course its finding news about other bases. Since southwest zombie siege, the smaller bases scattered around the country had no good news. Most of the smaller ones werepletely wiped out during the nationwide siege. Some survivors were lucky enough to flee to nearby, stronger bases. But only the best would be able to reach and live in the bases. The number of people that a base can hold was limited, and it was impossible to expand in order to amodate more people while being attacked by zombies. Towards these fleeing outsiders with empty hands, unless they were ability users or were useful to the base, otherwise they could only be refused entry. Chapter 117 It was said that some of the bases only allowed ability users to enter for free, the remainder would only be let in if they could provide a certain amount of food or supplies. Even family members of ability users would need to pay some nuclei or they would live in makeshift houses outside the base. Living in these houses, if the base encountered a zombie siege, those people had little chance of survival. Not all bases had therge fortress and defensive power of the current southwest base. Therefore, in order to maintain the southwests status as first domestic base, it was necessary to expand and grow as much as possible. The base leaders also had a new headache C zombie fish had appeared in the moat outside the city. In fact, it was not just the moat that had these strange things. The zombie fish also appeared in the nearby river. Even the bases original drinking water had been contaminated by zombie fish. Water prices started to soar as only water ability users could supply drinking water. The value of water powers increased by who knew how many times and became the number-one sought after ability. Luo Xun and the others were getting busy, not because of base work, but because it was September, they could start harvesting crops. Green, leafy vegetables which were harvested in all four seasons did not need to be mentioned. It was time to harvest the long-term crops. It was currently the middle of September C most of the nts still needed around a month or so. But after harvesting, they needed to prepare and dry crops for long-term storage. These past two days, everyone ran home after work. Why should they make the twodies and a child handle all these things. These men were the serious physical workers in the team. It was impossible for the fruit trees to produce anything this year, Luo Xun did not expect any results in the first year anyways. So he pruned the nts, hoping for them to grow wider instead of taller C mainly because the ceiling height was limited. It would be bad if the trees pierced through the roof. Although only a few fruits were harvested other than the watermelon, the vegetables they had nted was enough to supplement everyones vitamins for their health. Today, Luo Xun, Yan Fei and thedies began picking and drying eggnt. The past two days they had already dried some fully grown, but not old eggnts. Although their wall had space, there was no way to dry so many things all at once. They could only harvest some, dry some and time the vegetable selling because ofst months siege. This month they had to go out and look around, knowing house needs in advance, lest an issue appear. Dried eggnt and other dried vegetables were good things to supplement everyones table with during winter and the start of spring. Unfortunately they had no meat right now, the taste of dried vegetables stewed with meat would cause saliva to gush from anyones mouth. "No one came looking for trouble today?" Autumn was the harvest season and it was a good time for idlers and thieves on base. Luo Xun andpany had raised their guard the first day they started drying, lest they attract thieves. "No, the outer blinds are more dense and its hard to see whats hanging from the outside." Song Lingling said with a smile. Fortunately, the base only had a few rainy days. Usually the sun was very bright and did not dy the drying process. Xu Meiughed and eximed, "I went out today and heard that a thief had appeared on the first floor. The homes window usually has something hanging. Once the ss was almost stolen and two days ago the garlic they had just received was also stolen by someone." These days it was increasingly difficult to get food. There had been more and more people sneaking into the base farnd in the middle of the night to steal, not to mention outside the walls? Luo Xun lightly shook his head and sighed, "Since you two are usually at home, be careful of thieving eyes on our home." Another winter was fast approaching, not everyone was like their squad and preparing in advance. They had nted so many things, although they had a reputation due to catching some thieves, there would be hungry eyes that would take their chances. "The rice will be harvested next month, people will definitely be tempted to stare." They could only use the traditional methods of reaping, crushing rice husks and drying, lest the grains rot while in storage. This year they had nted a lot of rice, if someone one saw...there would be drama. "Rest assured that while we are at home during the day, we will not lose even a single grain of rice!" Xu Mei solemnly guaranteed. They knew the seriousness of these things, most of the food they ate was bought from the military. Luo Xuns home stored some rations for everyone. This years batch of rice would probably be six months of rations. If there was an ident, everyone would go with hungry bellies. Several people stood or sat at therge table. Song Lingling was responsible for cleaning for vegetables with Yu Xinran. Luo Xun cut the eggnt intorge pieces. Xu Mei and Yan Fei would arrange the slices into rows. With the weather these days, half the water content would evaporate. After the slices were well-sunned and then put into a breathable bag. Left into a cool area, did not have to worry about dirt and mold. The storage bags were part of Luo Xuns collection and purchased before the apocalypse. The rest were from everyone slowly swapped points for items. Like the sr panels they were hanging outside, batteries, it was all from the public fund. Li Tie and the others came back at around 6 oclock in the evening. They ate dinner at the dining hall before they returned. Seeing only four people enter the door. Luo Xun casually asked after cutting the eggnts, "Zhang Yi working overtime again?" "Dont know. Zhang Yi texted saying something he had to do tonight, had toe backter. Wang Duo stayed behind to wait for him. We came back to help you first." Thest of the eggnt slices had been hung. Luo Xun patted their shoulders while they went to check out the vegetables drying out. Luo Xun pinched and nodded at the dryness. "Well put them inside and put these outside." "Brother Luo, when can we make pickles?" He Qiankun suddenly licked his lips, there were none on the base. Pickles vegetables were a good thing, especially with ack of food. Putting more salt could consume less, not to mention salt added taste. But the main thing was that they were delicious! Many dishes at the canteen were now reced with a variety of pickles. Pickled radish and cucumber counted as dishes but there was no advantage except saltiness. It did not taste bad, but the taste of the mutated vegetables...could not be swallowed. Luo Xunughed and turned, "We can pickle the vegetables after harvest, nothing urgent." Luo Xun had several pickling methods, in salt, double pickled, sauerkraut, kimchi. The methods were simple, it was the same method that he used in his past life. The technique was not difficult. There was one troublesome thing about pickles, there must be enough sauce to marinate. The sauce left over...was what Luo Xun had left over from before the apocalypse. There was not much of this sort of thing on base. The exchange windows only had a variety of salts avable. Li Tie hurriedly raised a hand, "Want to bring back some more salt?" "Yes, we dont have too much of the stuff, not a problem." Luo Xun nodded in support. Although the base in hisst life had almost no salt. But sometimes the price would fluctuate, saving some at home could prevent idents. Since Li Tie andpany came home, Luo Xun and the others could go eat dinner. He brought the tail wagging Puppy back to the 16th floor. The couple had dinner before returning to the 15th floor to collect the next batch of eggnt hanging from the windows. "The cowpeas and green beans are almost grown." Luo Xun surveyed the status of all three rooms, all nted with various crops. He pointed at a metal frame, "Put some marks to not harvest these crops, we needs them for seeds." Yan Feis hands did not move while a X appeared on all four sides of the shelves, indicating to not touch the things inside these shelves. The group of students stared at the soon to be harvested cowpeas, beans and other things they did not recognize. But they had eaten pickled cowpeas before! Luo Xun also pointed at a vine of cucumbers at the edge of the room. "The peppers are about grown, lets eat some with cucumber at home." "Good, brother Luo, have you eaten any of green melon on base? It was said to be a mutated cucumber, the size isrge, really juicy but the taste...is like chewing sawdust..." He Qiankuns expression twisted at the thought of bad food. He pulled at his clothes with a sigh, "Since the start of the apocalypse, I have lost so much weight..." People thought back to the past, He Qiankun was thinner but more plump then others. If his original waistline was equal to three and a half Luo Xuns, now it was only two and a half. To the side, Wu Xin patted He Qiankuns belly and touched his own waist. "You count? My waist is almost as wide as a sheet of A4 paper. No fat on my belly at all!" He sighed while touching his face, "Less oil and water, yet my face still explodes with pimples every day?" Peopleughed and chatted. Xu Mei opened the door when sounds came from the corridor. Not a momentter, two men followed Xu Mei entered inside. "Why sote? Another big surgery?" Luo Xun casually asked. Zhang Yi handed his bag over to Wang Duo and coldly hummed. "Someone wanted to treat me to dinner." "Great, how much meat did you eat today?" Luo Xun nced at him and remembered that someone had swept away all the meat from thest time. Zhang Yi pursed his lips, "Not enough." Wang Duo covered up hisugh, he exined when Zhang Yi was not willing to exin, "A few people came knocking on Zhang Yis door and ended up fighting...we did not have enough time to visit the meal hall for dinner beforeing back." Zhang Yi had recently be a celebrity of the hospital. Although he was already a famous person, but people were circling around the hospital, admirers hoping to lure him away. This group of idlers visited the hospital every day in hopes of having an encounter with Zhang Yi. Unfortunately there were more wolves than meat, the people also sabotaged each other to miss the best times. However, even if they did get an opportunity there would be no results. Zhang Yi was not a fool, plus his royal temperament, he would not let anyone take advantage of him. So these people could only use their brains to send out the most even-tempered, slippery person to ost Zhang Yi. Using manners, meeting on the road and treating someone out to eat. Especially during the apocalypse, how could the average person eat anything good? So Zhang Yi was not polite when pushing people to mooch C you are eating and drinking so much, are you not afraid of getting drunk? In addition, Wang Duo apanied his Royal Highness to eat in fear of his lover getting abducted. He did not mind not getting even a bite to eat. Recently, the pairs food was clearly the best among the rest of the squad. Luo Xun understood Zhang Yis personality, otherwise he would not have been left as bait for zombies. With him around, Wang Duo had no worries. Everyone just took these things as jokes and stories to listen when bored. Wang Duo excitedly told everyone about those people C it took a while before the fight was over and they could go eat dinner. The downed people were easily carried into the hospital. Luo Xun listened for a while then turned to Xu Mei. "In a few days we will go out of base. In addition to harvesting the crops we need to take some time to process the mushrooms into juice." "Right, we are not busy in the morning so well do it then." Xu Mei promised the task would bepleted. In addition to mushroom juicing and drying crops, Luo Xun also needed to bring the produce to the barracks tomorrow morning. Regr vegetables had slightly higher prices but the military acquisition price...was only a little more than a mutant nt. After discovering that fact, Luo Xun decided to temporarily reduce the quantity of quick growing and rece them with crops that required longer growth times. Other than what everyone needed to eat, the rest would be sold to the barracks. In fact, if they let Xu Mei and Song Lingling sell vegetables in the market, it would a rtively good price, but considering the two were female ability users and single women usually never went out...Luo Xun did not mind losing out on some money. Regr crops were still produced during the first year, but in a few years, it would all be reced by faster, higher yield mutant crops. By then, their home crops would be able to be sold for a good price. The next morning they still brought some vegetables to sell at the canteen. Captain Li brightened seeing the purple eggnt. He made a small cut and smelled, gave a sharp nod, "Good, a regr eggnt!" "Has the abse cultivated mutated eggnt?" Luo Xun asked in confusion, he had noticed anything strange in yesterdays food. "A few baskets were sent over yesterday afternoon, the taste..." Captain Li sadly shook his head. "Doesnt taste bad, bigger and has a simr growing time. The only issue C the eggnts are blue! Who would dare to eat something like that?" He smiled at the couple, "If you have any more, do send them over, a lot of the higher ups want to eat." Luo Xun smiled, "We only brought a few seeds to base. Only nted several nts and we need to keep some for seeds." Why did they insist on selling to the barracks when the prices were increasingly skewed? If the current agreement was stopped, would the military raise the prices of other goods in retaliation? For now, they would maintain their current small but consistent deliveries, maybe they could discuss better terms. Although Captain Li really wanted to buy some more regr vegetables but Luo Xun had said their extra harvest had already been brought out. Now the base was almostpletely without these vegetables. Most of the produce were given to the leaders, cooked using the base chefs culinary skills. It was difficult for even someone like the captain to get a taste. After selling the vegetables for crystal nuclei, the pair went to the meeting ce and waited for the car. When the team members arrived, Luo Xun started to gossip with them. "I heard that someone was cut in half! The rest of the wounded were sent to the hospital!" They heard this just as they arrived, asked. "What happened?" The people chatting quickly answered seeing it was the couple, "I heard that a team came back this morning, one hundred people went out and only half came back alive! The survivors were all wounded!" "What did they encounter? Third level zombies?" In fact there had been level three zombies in thest battle but the scene was too chaotic. People would not have been able to notice anything different even if there were level three zombies. They did not understand how different the attacks were from lower levels. Recently, people had heard that many military team had met with high-level zombies outside. Another person hurriedly said, "I heard it was not zombies! They came across monsters! I dont what sort of zombie animal, they were almost destroyed through the night!" Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei and carefully asked, "What type of monster? Do you know where they were?" The specific details were not clear, only knew that the monster was very big and tall. But they heard that the people met the monster to the north-east in the direction of a salt transfer center. When everyone was in the car and headed towards the wall, Yan Fei quietly asked Luo Xun, "What do you think that thing is?" Luo Xuns expression was tangled, "Some high-level animal zombies will berger. Next spring, there will be a lot of mutant animals,rge and with abilities...I cant say for sure without seeing the thing." Special zombies, mutant animals... Chapter 118 Yan Feis expression was neutral, he had spoken with Luo Xun about mutations. They had raised their animals with preparations made well in advance. Most of the mutated animals would have a strong instinct to attack humans. But if an animal was well-cared for, a better rtionship would preserve a certain intelligence. They would have a simr state after mutation, so the pet would apany their owners and protect them. Luo Xun had raised Puppy with this mentality in mind C after all the majority of animals that survived the apocalypse had mutated, so odds were very high. But if the puppy went crazy, it would very dangerous for their homes. By then, Luo Xun was afraid he could not bear to put down his own... Unfortunately, Luo Xun was not aware of how animals mutated. Was it simr to how people became zombies or developed abilities, woke up one day suddenly changed? Or could they prepare themselves in advance... The car drove to the outer city wall while they were in thought. The ten meters deep foundation was basically done. Yan Fei and the others were tinkering with the construction demands in case a wind zombie tried to fly over likest time. They climbed to where they worked yesterday. Looked down and found some cars parked near the moat. One curiously pointed, "What are they doing?" "Could they be fishing?" "These days, how could there by live fish in the river?" Everyoneughed and joked before getting to work and looking over from time to time. After the first zombie siege, the base was determined to increase their defenses. The outside protective measures were upgraded again. The scope was also increased, thend to west, north and south west originally prepared for farming had various traps added. Yan Fei and team had been recently working on creating steel needles, spikes and so on. Those things were to be used in traps outside the base. Once the metal spikes on the walls were done, using up most of the metal brought by the crane, the metal users busied themselves continuing with the metal overpass. Who knew where the base got so much metal? Would there be enough for other future projects? Luo Xun held a transparent, explosion-proof while Yan Fei worked at the walls edge. In fact, due to the increased outer protection, this role and equipment was not really needed. But out of caution and previous dangers, they kept their guard up. Luo Xun casually looked out and was surprised, "Eh? They drained all the river water?" "Its true!" "Why? Didnt they just deal with it before?" People worked and looked. Suddenly, a sharp-eyed person pointed down, "Theres something flopping in the river." "Flopping?" "The bottom of the river?" "Its a fish! Its like I said that day, there was a fish in the river!" There were indeed fish in the river, but it was not something edible. They would attack people who fell into the water, zombie fish. As the group gathered around on the walls, the men responsible for handling the dead fish showed up. Several ice users and fire users, the former froze then thetter roasted. A few zombie fish had actually mastered water gun. The water projectiles were vicious with prating power. Two people not paying attention to the situation were hit by a water arrow! One mans shoulder de was cleanly shot through! The onlookers were surprised to see someone actually hit with a water arrow. They sucked in a cold breath seeing the blood spray out C the fish were attacking! And zombie fish could use such a threatening long-distance attack! "Could a water ability user have a strong attack?" A soldier fearfully rubbed his chest. The value of water users had surged due to water shortage on base, but everyone saw them using soft water balls and creating drinking water. If the water users on base could have such a strong attack, how would they miserable? Luo Xun thought of an exnation, "Should be rted to living their entire life in water." "The arrows are worse because they lived in water?" Captain Guo was confused. Luo Xun nodded his head, "Theres water resistance, if they wanted to use long distance attacks, the water attack would not be enough to hit the target. This was the result of long time use and practice." The ability users and zombies all lived onnd, even if they manipted water, it was in the air. In particr, the water users were categorized in a logistics position, producing water for everyone to drink and did not pursuing offensive moves. Without the environment to exercise, of course their ability to control water would not be as strong. People sighed for a moment, not long after the zombie fish were quickly cleaned up. There were not too many fish corpses in the moat, spread in various areas, the job was not difficulty. The earth users cleared the battlefield C churned the riverbed to dispose of the contaminated sludge. When all this was done C water user created water would cost points, but it was better than attracting zombie fish from the river? There were quite a few people who fled to A-citys base. No one ran to the river to clean wounds or draw water. If a zombie fish appeared, the consequences could not be imagined. After a days work, the pair drove back to their neighborhood. The main building had been filled, the former barracks was now a militarized fortress. Surrounded by tall, dark walls, they were taller and stronger than the rest of base. To the west and southwest of the barracks,rge tracts of farnd were enclosed by earth user created fences. The walls were three meters high, with barbed wire that were scary enough to stop the growing number of thieves. Northwest of the base was the nting building that stood before the apocalypse. Now there were some newly built buildings that were specially made for nting vegetables. Now many base people worked the crops to feed their families. In addition to the northwest nting building, there were factories. Some were already functioning, such as paper-making and clothing/shoes. However, the paper produced could notpare to before the apocalypse. Whether it was the quality or toughness, the paper had a rough texture due to being made from leftover nts. There was little toilet of printed paper, enemies wished they did not have proper supplies. Apart from this ce, the rest of the base was most residential. The base now had norge areas of vacant space. All therger areas were used by the military to build a variety of housing. The streets were lined with makeshift shacks, tents or all kinds of cars. Many of these cars had be shells, barely unable to travel, its new purpose was now to be used as a shelter. A lot of things looked like car shells, when you passed by C they had no wheels. The two drove down the increasingly crowded streets to return home. They slowed down C a group of people were carrying a pile of boards, cabs and shelves. It seemed that someone new was erecting new amodations in an empty area. The people in front were walking slow enough that Luo Xun had no way but to temporarily slow down as well. Although having a car was a good thing, mobility was convenient but with traffic congestion, had to wait for pedestrians. Fortunately their destination was not far, they could stop for a while without worrying. "Eh?" A voice came from Yan Feis window side. The pair turned and was startled C it was the same group that they had saved before. This man was the one who almost got together with Luo Xun in his past life, but now lived with another young man. Yan Fei rolled down the window and asked, "You just came back to base?" The young man was carrying a backpack, looked ready for a trip. The person smiled in embarrassment, "I did not leave base, recently found a job on base. You just came back?" Yan Fei lightly nodded, although they were living in the same neighborhood they did not cross paths often. This was their second time meeting since the first they met at the gates. Luo Xun carefully looked out the window. Seeing an unknown man looking at his car, he asked, "Are you with him?" He was not someone who had been rescued, perhaps someone who worked on base and happened to live in the area? The other person was slightly ufortable and smiled self-deprecatingly, "Remember the base had an instrument that could identify ones ability? He found out he had one, moved out after directly joining a power team, he has not contacted us since..." He shook his head then introduced his newpanion, "Now he and I live together, we are ordinary people who not abandon each other, live together on base and pass our days." After he smiled at the person beside him. The expression was more than regr friends, with an ambiguous feeling. Luo Xuns face had stiffened, Yan Fei casually asked, "Where do you work now?" "The nting base, was introduced by a formerpanion...you probably have not heard of him, surname Chen." The two men walked into the third building while waving. Luo Xun and Yan Fei went back to where they lived. Luo Xun could only chuckle, "That is..living together." It was true that living together existed, but if something changed C for example one of them finding an ability...Immediately abandoned his formerpanions and went on to better prospects for an improved life. Now that he thought about it, what his biggest regret? Even if that man had fled to the southwest base with him, Luo Xun was afraid he would have left is he found out he had an ability. Yan Fei hugged Luo Xuns shoulder, softlyughed while pinching his ear, "They are living together, we are also living a good life." Luo Xun turned and stared with one eye. He pecked Yan Fei on the lips and grabbed the keys. "Home." Others having a good or unhappy life was unrted to him. He had been reborn, all he needed to worry about was ensuring his own life was bright and happy! They looked at the 15th and 16th floors covered in metal C that was their home, their base. They would not easily give up the home they had built themselves! How busy was spring ploughing? This busy harvest was twice asbor intensive C this was the feeling of all the Otaku Squad. To be able to go out of base at the end of the month, they had to seize the time after work to deal with the vegetables at home. Therefore, Luo Xun had prepared a variety of pickle jars and containers. All the ss jars, porcin mugs, wooden barrels all came in handy. Thorough clean, high temperature disinfection, the various colorful vegetables were washed and dried using salt. In addition to these, Luo Xun andpany were ready to use their freshly harvested soybeans to make mayonnaise and other things. Although it was more difficult to make and one had to be careful of mold. But in consideration of enriching their diet, if they were sessful they would be able to eat this every year. In order to make these things, they cleaned out the kitchen, steamed the soybeans and left the vegetables to dry on a grate. Then they took a clean pickle jar and ced the dried cowpeas, radish, cucumber, pepper, cabbage and so on inside. Arge basin to the side was boiled and then cooled, filled with spiced water containing ginger, salt, pepper, sugar and liquor. ced these vegetables, put some cold water. Seal the lid and then could eat after a few days. These foods could be directly eaten, but also stir fried with other spices and vegetables. Luo Xun looked at the altar of jars with some regret C it was a pity, if there was meat at home, these foods would be extra delicious. This method of pickling could be used with a lot of vegetables. The pickles would be sour and crisp yet delicious. The vorful peppers could be even more spicy. In addition to this method, Luo Xun was ready to make some spicy radish with everyone. This could be paired with rice, or as a crisp, salty snack alone. There was only a slight issue when drying the radish, it turned into a cylindrical brick. The harvested radishes were cut into finger sized pieces and left to dry at the window until there was barely any water left. The night before yesterday, Luo Xun andpany had made a bunch of radish strips, hung them out for a long time. The strips were ced in water, sprinkled with some salt and pressed together. The next day the process would repeated then after a week the process would be finished. They could beyered on top of noodles, the radish would be chewy and was tasty with rice or bread. In addition to making these pickles, Luo Xun also dried a bunch of vegetables. Smelling the food, Li Tie and the others squatted in the corner. "Should we still eat from the dining hall? Our pickles are much more delicious! Here are so many fresh vegetables, how could the pot in the cafeteriapare?" "But...we have no meat at home. Although the dining hall has dropped in quality, in the end...you can eat some minced meat." He Qiankun said while involuntarily staring at the row of jars. "Dont forget that those are past the expiry date! How could that meat be better than our vegetables?" The expired meat, plus therge output of bad tasting mutated vegetables, the military dining hall was only to fill ones belly. Delicious food was only a pipe dream. What was more frightening, other than the highest level dining hall, other ces could only taste scraps! Even more ces had no meat at all! He Qiankuns face wrinkled, this was a really difficult decision... Luo Xun did not pay attention to the others quandary. Not eating at the dining hall was simple to say but a big decision in the end. If you cook at home, you get more delicious meals, but the catch was C you had to be able to cook! Even Luo Xun himself, although he could cook, if he had to bring lunch, he would need to prepare food the night before. Considering that the ce they worked was basically outside, there was no ce to heat up food. If one prepared in advance, they needed foods that would not easily spoil and still taste good even in cold weather. With all these problems, they decided to eat with the main force. Even if the food was a little bad, it was better than nothing? With such a lunch, Luo Xun would be scolded if he brought out food. This was the effect of rtiveparison, the actual junior chef would seem like a five star chef! Li Tie and the other students, people who had never entered the kitchen, would waste so much food if they suddenly cooked at home every day. Xu Mei and Song Lingling could cook, but they were only responsible for their and Yu Xinrans portion. If they helped Li Tie cook...it would be too much pressure. Dont forget, they had to care for all the nts in the house during the day. The next day after work, the couple returned home early C today they would process the radish again, while also taking time to deal with the fully grown vegetables. Tonight, they were going to teach Li Tie and the others how to process cucumbers. The two quickly climbed up the stairs. The opened the door and Song Lingling rushed out of 1502 and waved. "Quick! Come in!" "Whats the matter? Whats going on?" Luo Xun was puzzled. He followed Song Lingling inside. "You see! Look at this!" Song Lingling pointed at a stic box in the room. These containers had been recently harvested of vegetables. The box she pointed at was rtively empty C there was nothing except one amazing thing. "A...mushroom?! A normal mushroom?!" Chapter 119 "Normal mushrooms?!" Luo Xun eximed, he could hardly believe his eyes. One should know, whether in his past life or current, he had never seen a normal mushroom after the apocalypse! Never before-seen in the market! In his two lifetimes, the mushrooms he had painstakingly nted were all mutated. It seemed contagious, no matter what species he prepared, it would only produce one crop C the corrosive, bright red mushroom! He thought he would never see a fresh, normal, edible mushroom during his lifetime, then one appeared at home. Song Lingling proudlyughed at Luo Xuns shocked expression C both of their expressions had been simr upon seeing the mushroom. Xu Mei also eximed while walking out the door. "There are three, not very many." Yan Fei also entered through the door after hearing Luo Xuns words. He naturally also saw the rare, ordinary mushrooms. "Are these...edible?" Yan Fei had reason to worry, where had these mushrooms been grown? It could only be the mushroom wood! What usually grew on that wood? Mutated mushrooms that could be used as a weapon against zombies. An ordinary mushroom grew from this location, his fear was not unfounded. "Should be...no problem." Luo Xun excitedly picked up a perfectly shaped mushroom. The pieces looked and smelled like mushrooms. "I bought a variety of mushroom species before, didnt think any mushrooms would turn into the same poisonous mushroom. I think if there are enough mushrooms at home, the toxins would be reduced to allow normal mushrooms to grow." He turned to look at Yan Fei. "Well let a quail eat one and see if there are any problems." After all these mushrooms looked exactly like ones before the apocalypse. If there had been some mutation, it should not maintain this normal shape. There were not many shiitake mushrooms at home. The two women had checked all the mushroom wood and only found seven. For security reasons, Luo Xun picked a small quail and fed it some. They did not have any equipment for experiments and did not want to ask scientists for help. Thus they used the simplest verification method, who knew what would happen if a person ate one? Perhaps the quails vitality was too strong, or it ate too little of the mushroom. It went to sleep in its lone bed for the night. In the end, they unanimously decided to dry the seven ck flowers on a string on the balcony. They would use it when it was time to cook some soup. As long as there was hope, they would look forward to the future. They had found seven mushrooms at home, who knew how many would be grown in the future? That evening, everyone cut cucumbers for pickling while imagining about the future C mostly about how delicious mushrooms were. The small quails health condition showed everyone that the mushrooms had no problems. Everyone watched the mushroom wood with enthusiasm. Xu Mei and Song Lingling used to check the mushroom wood every few days, collect the mutated shrooms for juice. Now they checked everyday to check the overall growth. Had they jumped the gun? Were their expectations too high? During a day-to-day inspection, Xu Mei was sure that there was a small, suspected normal mushroom. Only the growth cycle was slower than mutant mushrooms, the fastest took nearly a month to grow, the slowest could take half a year. Luo Xun andpany could only hope that some mutated mushrooms would be converted into as many ordinary mushrooms as possible. "Well bring more wood back when we go out this time!" Everyone nodded at Luo Xuns words. It was pitiful that they could not eat meat, if there were mushrooms as a recement, it would alleviate some of the pain. Before the end of September, Luo Xun harvested a batch of tomatoes C a part was frozen while the rest were turned into tomato paste. The rest was taken to sell at the barracks. The team was very happy since the watermelon had been finished and temporarily had no fruit to eat, now was a good time to eat tomatoes mixed with sugar. Luo Xun had staggered each tomato batch so they could harvest some every once in a while. This fruit-vegetable was nutritious with vitamins and good things C especially for Yu Xinran who ate these as fruit. Before going out this time, everyone prepared themselves better. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were mainly responsible for everyones food. In consideration of nutrition, they prepared tomato egg soup for each person in a thermos C the eggs were quail instead of chicken. Along with home-grown parsley and tomatoes...this taste was something nostalgic, even drinking it several days would not be enough. Early in the morning of the 27th, the Otaku squad assembled again. In the corridor, Luo Xun stood in front and checked everyones equipment. He nodded in satisfaction and then gave the routine speech before leaving for the mission. "Its been two months since west left base. In the middle people dealt with a zombie siege, we heard about the situation outside of base, I will say nothing more." He looked at the crowd. "There will be more high-level zombies outside base, perhaps some unexpected zombie animals. Our ability users have risen to level three, but since we have not fought zombies in a while, I hope everyone will be more careful while outside town. Even if our harvest is rtively small, do not venture into dangerous ces like into the city." "Yes." The members of the squad were fond of staying alive, no one wanted to risk their safety for some meaningless things. They were well aware of the situation outside base having been attacked by zombie rats. In case someone was careless, no one would be able toe back safely. The group valiantly left out the door and followed traffic to the base gate. As usual, there was a line of cars being released in groups. Unlike in the past, there was no zombie containment outside the gate, instead there was a bridge over the moat, a lot of traps. Most of that was created in response to the zombie siege. The group would fly forwards, the different teams would separate at the intersection heading towards various directions for their missions. "There are no simple missions on base now." Luo Xun nced at their orders C deliver 200 level one, or 20 level two/three nuclei within three days. "The crystal nuclei missions are rtively safe considering the time limit. There are a lot of tasks in the mission hall that require heading deep into the city to find something specific." Yan Fei took a look at the list, he opened a window and prepared his ability. Having risen to level three, Yan Feis metal maniption abilities could be activated without gestures. Along with the other metal users on the wall team, it was gradually possible to use hand gestures or mental force to make the metal change in the air. Yan Feis speed of extracting a single metal element was also increasing, as well as fusing them in specific proportions. Especially after he used his ability on some pots and pans at home. He could quickly imitate the same element configuration, or higher purity. The pots that the Otaku team had brought, including the heat-insted jars, were from that. Using metal abilities, in order to make these utensils...Luo Xun wondered how the rest of the base would react? Anyways, he was very satisfied with such a practical ability. It allowed him to upgrade everyones weapons, so that the range and lethal power was increased. It also had some simr concepts to the military water guns for mushroom juice. Although there was an issue with range, the lethality was considerable when used during the siege. The mushroom bombs were simply a weapon to kill zombies. The group, with new weapons carefully left the base and headed towards the southeast direction like before. Yan Fei sat in the passenger seat and started manipting the metal they passed. Each time they passed this road, he would collect some metal, there should not be too much left. But after his power upgrade, he was able to clearly sense metal in more hidden ces and draw them over. For example, some smaller pieces of metal were wrapped in rocks and cement. These metals he had sensed before, but was unable to collect them along the road. His ability had increased a lot after the upgrade, the search range was muchrger than before. Once again, the team drove to the traps they had dug before. The ruins seemed more shabby than thest time they came, but no other differences. The only issue was C the zombies had much higher abilities than they were used to. Before they reached their destination, they encountered a level three fire zombie. It burst into a huge fireball, if Yan Fei had not reacted with the metal collected along the way, Luo Xun was afraid their car would have been melted. While Yan Fei stopped the zombies attack, Zhang Yi hadunched a wind attack piercing the zombies body with gravel. Xu Mei sessfully collected a level three fire nucleus. When they arrived at their destination, some high-level zombies had heard the noise and rushed over. Yan Fei once again reacted and the team shot at the zombies stered against the metal wall. Then the metal te moved and smashed a number of zombies with unknown elements or levels. There was a general increase in zombie ranks, the zombies were enthusiastic about fighting people. They did not give humanity time to clean up, organize or build defenses. The enemies warmly greeted everyone with the speed of lightning. Attacked, one wave after another so they had to keep their guard up. "Remove the trap covers!" Luo Xun immediately ordered. ording to this, if the zombies attacks had been constant, did they not have to wait until night? Continuous attacks would not allow them to prepare, they would get yed alive. In ordance with Luo Xuns instructions, Yu Xinran immediately turned the surrounding area into sand. Xu Mei immediately created a firestorm thatshed out in all directions! Yan Fei took the opportunity to straighten the metal. The fence that had been hidden beneath the ground was uncovered. With Zhang Yi and Yan Feis abilities, the zombie offensive had slowed down, the team breathed a sigh of relief. "Stick to shooting at openings and let Zhang Yi use his abilities." Luo Xun observed the situation. He brought Li Tie to top up the water gun and mushroom bombs to show their power. They had not been out of base for two months, it was time for their saved up supplies. If the trap hole was toorge, he would have to fill the trap with mushroom juice. Give the zombies a bath to enjoy. After finishing the difficult part, the Otaku squad finally mastered the rhythm of battle. They resumed the offensive with a round of attacks to destroy the most threatening zombies. Leaving the rest to fall into a trap, wait for fire to deal with the corpses. There were pinging sounds from the metal walls. At this time Yan Fei was concentrating on the iron tes and gradually raised their height. Ready to make a roof likest time C todays weather was not good, it was overcast and it seemed it would rain at any time. Luo Xun began to look at the different zombies, calcted when to start pouring mushroom juice and gasoline. When the zombies in the traps reached a certain level, the iron box filled with mushroom juice was poured out. Yan Fei was still the one controlling the metal boxes, the couple would get out of the way then let everyone safely pour mushroom juice and gasoline. Using the previous method, if they were careless they could get burned. Seeing the mushroom juice had been poured, Luo Xun immediately ordered everyone to pour gasoline into the metal boxes. The boxes would not be used to hold anything other than mushroom juice/gasoline. Everyone immediately moved to the car to bring out the gasoline. The light darkened, as if arge cloud suddenly covered the sun. He looked up C it was sunny, but now it was cloudy, was it going to rain? Luo Xun cried out with frightened eyes, "Mutant bird! Giant mutant bird!" A bird with a wingspan twice the size of buildings was hovering near the team. "I, I, I..." He Qiankun stuttered without saying anything. Other people also stared withrge eyes and shivered. The giant bird circled round, 400-500 meters above, refusing to leave. Luo Xuns face was pale, it was his first time seeing a mutant. Do not ask how he knew the bird was a mutant and not a zombie. After the apocalypse, all the zombie animals were rotten, even if it appeared to fly, they would like a bat with no feathers. But look at this bird C brown feathers were intact, impossible to be a zombie animal. "It, its not going toe down? What the hell are we going to do?" Wang Duos voice trembled. Who let such a big animal fly above them, ready toe down at any time. Luo Xun instantly reacted, immediately yelled, "Quick! Pour the petrol, hurry up and fill them!" Although everyone was puzzled, they all obeyed orders and quickly poured the petrol into the empty metal boxes. Luo Xun hurried over and looked up C sure enough! The bird wasing down! "What is it going to do?!" Xu Mei said in horror. "Its going tond, our walls are round, I am afraid its going to nest!" Luo Xuns voice was tight. He would like to be wrong, but facts told him that birds thought like that! "A nest? Why cant it look for trees for a nest instead?!" Song Linglings tone became hysterical. Han Li hollowlyughed while trembling, "Maybe it could not find a tree that could support its weight...who made it so big." "This size, what did it eat to grow so big..." Li Tie joked, unfortunately now was not the time for humor so no oneughed. Zhang Yi looked with a cold expression, "Want to use my ability to blow it away? Compress some air and mis it together with Xu Meis fireball?" They had been staying on base for two months but there had been some progress. They delved into their abilities, see what they could do at level three. Compressed air and mes, even the size of a small fist was enough to blow a hole into Yan Feis metal sandbags. It would take one or two times to deal with that thing! Of course, this was only the case when Yan Fei did notpress the metal and strengthen the durability. "Dont use abilities! If it has a power, let it attack first to see if we can block." Luo Xuns mind was very clear, he knew that they could not attack first. Provoking could easily cause the death of their team, they absolutely did not want to see those results. "Petrol! All around the edges!" The petrol was poured as Luo Xun ordered. As for the few cars that still remained in the middle...it would depend on the birds weight, hopefully they would not get ttened. Luo Xun gathered everyone. Yan Fei tightly hugged him, his eyes firm C he would protect him with the metal walls. No matter what happened, Yan Fei would not let Luo Xun suffer any harm. Over his dead body! Chapter 120 After receiving Luo Xuns signal, Yan Fei raised the metal boxes as sounds came from all around outside the walls. Luo Xuns forehead was beaded with sweat, his heart estimated that there might not be enough boxes. He was more worried about possible strange chemical reactions from pouring gasoline right after mushroom juice. Therge bird on top of the team had gradually descended to where everyone was. Its body angled downward, vigorously pped wings. The foot would soon step onto the metal fence. Luo Xun andpany clearly saw that the bird had webbed feet! It was a water bird! However the bird was not much different from other species of bird, but it was more likely to have a water power. It would have a small effect on what were they going to do. Yan Fei suddenly looked up and Luo Xun pointed at the head. "There." "Xu Mei! Fire! Zhang Yi!" Luo Xun yelled out. Xu Mei immediately formed a small fireball, with Zhang Yi beside him with Wang Duo in his arms. His back towards the bird, others might think he was shielding. Seeing Xu Mei make a fireball, Zhang Yi manipted some wind and sent the fireball outside of the metal. *Crackle* The gasoline that just fell out was ignited! Gasoline was a mmable product, when the fireball flew out, mes burst out. However the mushroom juice had just been poured, so only the top was burning. The possibility of fire on the perimeter had been a big change. The big bird on top had fallen down but swiftly pped its wings after seeing the fire. Its mouth issued a shrill cry and seemed to want use wind to extinguish the mes. Its voice was very loud, the group felt like something pounded their chest, or involuntarily hit by something from behind. Everyone grimaced and covered their ears for while before looking up. Therge bird seemed to be more afraid of the mes. It desperately pped its wings to blow out the mes. Luo Xuns eyes brightened and he immediately turned to Zhang Yi. "Let the wind bolster the fire!" The air around Zhang Yi sped up, the team saw his hair dance in the wind. The air rose upward, fire burned brighter and brighter. Luo Xun let Xu Mei take the chance to attack the bird with the raging mes. She also threw smaller fireballs to frighten it. This gave Yan Fei more time to cap their temporary base. Yes, cap C since the bird thought the fence was a nest, they sealed the area! The bird could not build a nest here. The bird seemed to be disturbed by the fire for a moment and frightened by Xu Meis fireballs. It became more scared of the mes as it flew up, circling while giving unwilling chirps. It seemed to really liked the location, but the ce was not weing. Why else would the ce burst with fire as it approached? The mutant animals were not afraid of zombies, because being bitten would not cause zombie transformation. With increased size and force, the mutant animals had the advantage on the zombies. The undead seemed to have little interest towards mutant animals, the human zombies could do little damage, while the mutant animals could hunt their zombie counterparts. To zombies and mutant animals treated each other like nts on the roadside. So the zombies around the metal wall did not even notice the mutant bird in the sky, ignored the fire and clung to the metal wall. Perhaps it was due to the bird, the sound of fire and fighting, even if Luo Xun had not used a blood packet to attract zombies, the creatures hade from all over the ruins and quickly gathered. The bird was very angry after hovering in the sky and fire unexpectedly became even more fierce. Suddenly, the nest was rapidly half covered and the point of entry had been reduced! Even if the fire nearby was extinguished, it was impossible to use the location as a ce to stay. *Chirp, chirp chirp* The sound pierced peoples brains as the roof was closed in a blink of an eye, suddenly the oppressive force of gravity pressed down!" "Whats going...*cough*" Luo Xun struggled to raise his head, he was horrified to discover that the metal dome had deformed! "This, this..." The great pressure made it impossible for anyone to make a sound except lie on the ground motionless. Luo Xun took a deep breath and squeezed a sentence from this teeth. "Gravitational ability...roof..." His words were not clear but Yan Fei understood his meaning. He immediately activated his powers and lifted an arm taut with nerves. The metal on top suddenly rattled with a grinding sound C it was slowly reforming! Along the way, the metal brought in shot out and condensed together to reinforce the roof. A few stout metal pirs were erected to support the metal dome. When the metal pirs were supporting the roof, they felt that the pressure was not as bad. Luo Xun could now continue orders. "Xu Mei, hit it with a fireball! Try to burn feathers." Therge bird was still flying around, each screech was apanied with a wave of force, it was evident that its voice was evidence of using its ability. They originally only wanted to drive away the bird, unexpectedly it became furious enough to attack everyone, why was it attacking. Xu Mei rushed over to an open space and quickly formed arge fireball. Zhang Yi pushed air tobine with the mes. The two people joined forces to throw the fireball into the sky! *Screech* The fireball hit therge birds thigh, though the team could not see and they were busy with something else. "Its too hot!" To avoid therge bird, they ran to the metal wall but do not forget, the walls were conductive and there had been fire! Stuck near the wall and then crushed by gravity, the people were almost toasted to a crisp. Once the pressure eased, they all rushed to the center away from the red hot metal. "Water, water! Cool off! Cool down!" This time, in order to suppress the birds pressure, Yan Fei had sealed the entire roof without a vent hole. Now the temperature was rising, if there was no change they were going to suffocate before being burnt alive. Yan Fei immediately created a chimney, Zhang Yi controlled the air for cirction. Song Lingling produced a lot of water for cooling. The team finally felt alive again. *Rumble* A loud bang, like a scale three earthquake caused the team to stumble after just getting up. *Screech* A loud cry, the team rolled around from the impact, almost got grilled against the metal wall. "What the hell is going on?" "The bird crashed." Luo Xun spit out, the pressure had almost caused him to cough out blood. He was dizzy and ufortable. *Screech* There were more cries, but this time the bird was not aiming for them, did not suffer too many effects. Barely able to support its body, they found the bird had fallen close by. It was pping its wings while attacking something. Their line of sight was blocked by the wall, so they could not clearly see that happened. But since the zombies originally surrounding them had turned, only a fool would not know what was going on. "Are the zombies going to eat the bird?" Li Tie said in surprise. Luo Xun shook his head, "They are attracted by the sound, they will fight but generally not eat..." "Why? That bird is also flesh and blood right?" Luo Xun shook his head again, he was not sure why but zombies were only interested in the previous kind. Zombie animals had a simr interest in humans. During the apocalypse, mankind seemed to have be public enemy number one, all creatures sought to kill them. For the mutant animals, they were not hunting targets in the eyes of zombies. Although there would sometimes be battles between the two sides, even if they fought, the zombies would only eat humans C the mutant animals could be killed but never eaten. It was like not eating wood or stone. The metal roof, the fire traps and the circted air all blocked the zombies from attacking Luo Xun. Since they had not used a blood bag to attract the pack, all the zombies turned towards the bird who had dishonestly attacked their prey. The zombies andrge bird fought. Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief and thenughed when the dying bird let out onest cry. The bird had to deal with zombies from all directions, so it would attack in any direction, which of course included Luo Xuns group. Although there was some distance, the pressure attack was not as scary but felt like sitting in a car and the driver suddenly mmed the brakes. The group felt like they were on a ship travelling through the wind and waves. "Its not going to work..." Luo Xun staggered into Yan Feis chest and helplessly looked up. "Add a wall to that side." Yan Fei moved the rest of the metal towards the direction of the bird, which reduced part of the pressure. "Luo Xun, you said...this is a gravity power?" Li Tie reluctantly leaned against the car and verified with Luo Xun. Luo Xun shook his head. "At first I thought it was but since when could gravity push? Maybe its some kind of push pressure? Whatever direction is sounded, that direction will be impacted?" He subconsciously had the thought, was not sure he was right. But he heard about all sortf os miracles during his life. They all understood that ordinary people tended to gossip, casual exaggeration was very normal. Since Luo Xun did not have the ability to see firsthand, he was not very sure. "Its not impossible for it to change the gravitational field." Yan Fei looked at Luo Xun. "Should we wait for them to finish?" Luo Xun thought a bit then nodded. Although they were fighting, Luo Xun knew that mutant animals were not food for zombies. If the bird survived...they would be subjected to a double attack from zombies and mutant animal. Dont forget, the bird could fly! Song Lingling suddenly pointed to the car. "Even if we want to leave, I am afraid the car...has been deformed." When the bird attacked the team, it was not just the metal roof, but all the objects in the area were hit by the pressure. Bricks, stones, tiles, boulders and their cars were ttened. Yan Feis face darkened. "I can repair metal parts, but window ss..." This was not something he could control. Luo Xun looked towards the nearby cars. Sure enough...the ground was littered with broken ss along with a crushed car frame. Should he be thankful that the weight was put directly on the tires? "First use metal to seal a portion then set aside some while observing the situation outside..." But now, where would they find window ss?! One should know that almost all the houses were copsed, not to mention the scattered cars? Good thing they were not collecting supplies, or else they would have nothing! Calcting the time, it was almost time to eat, Yan Fei began to deal with the car. Zhang Yi controlled the air for breathing as well as maintaining the fire traps. Xu Mei and Song Lingling heated the food while Li Tie and the others moved into defensive positions. Luo Xun listened to therge bird, judging the situation outside. A battle between mutant animal and zombies, it was regrettable that the people hiding in the dome could hardly see. However that was not arge problem, they could feel the intensity through the noise. The team had lunch while the battle was still raging. The gas in the trap had run out, the fighting continued even after the fire extinguished. A storm started in the afternoon, the sky gradually darkened, the fighting continued as the whole city was soaked with heavy rain. Until the rain gradually stopped, the sky darkened even more and movement slowed. Luo Xun andpany hurried opened a small window to look outside. They wanted to see which side was victorious. They saw the huge duck bird stand and shake its plumage. Beside its body C the ground had been bombarded by zombie bodies! *Hiss* The team gasped in horror, although they could deal with that many zombies. The bird had no ce to hide, how many were there? It was only one! A mutant animal was a monster! The bird was missing feathers in a lot of ces and had lost a lot of blood. However, although the injury looked serious, it was like a group of ants biting an elephant. Pain but could not deeply injure. At this time, the bird turned its head towards the team! Everybody froze and saw the duck p wings and run towards them! Did it not notice all the zombies?! The people backed up and felt the ground shake as the bird charged. It pecked the metal wall and left an indent! "This is insane?!" "Luo Xun! Do you want to run?" They all looked at Luo Xun with frightened eyes. Therge bird pulled back then pounded the same location again, the top was cracked! Luo Xun fell to the ground from the birds momentum, he got up and pulled Yan Feis arm. "His peak will poke in after this attack. Catch its mouth with a metal ring, then Zhang Yi and Xu Mei used thebination attack to blow up the neck!" Zombies had no IQ, only knew how to foolishly attack the birds body or whatever else they could reach. But people were not stupid! The birds neck was so long and thin, where else to hit if they wanted to kill it. *Screech* Sure enough, the birds beak did break through the same ce. Did not wait for the attack to finish, the bird felt its beak get stuck! It wanted to draw back and continue attacking but was unable to get free. It wanted to open its mouth to cry out but it was not able either! The bird pped its wings, causing shockwaves. Since the apocalyptic mutation, the bird had not met any rivals in the wild. Of course, it could fly away but refused. Sinceing to the city, how many silly attacks had it repelled? Therge bird had lost its vignce, so it ignored the zombies and attacked the metal dome, the thing blocking its potential nest. Unexpectedly it hit an iron te. Xu Mei had snuck close to the stuck beak and created arge fireball. Zhang Yi added wind into the fireball andunched the attack towards the birds head. *Bang* No blood or sh, the wound was charred and the body copsed. Zhang Yi was in the perfect position in order to attack. Everyone froze and looked at the downed body from the open hole. Li Tie paused and then returned to attention. After a while, Han Li pointed outside, "So...simple?" Luo Xun turned with a supercilious look, "This only happened because it got its beak stuck. Otherwise we would have to also fight the zombies at the same time, how could it be simple? Not to mention, the gravity attack would crush us before we hit it!" He never thought about provoking the bird, but the creature had attacked first. It was silly not to choose the most favorable way to end the battle. Just as long as it kept rushing over, soon orter everyone would die. But it came over to poke holes with its beak which lead to its downfall. He Qiankun suddenly pointed outside, with shining eyes that caused everyone else to back up a few steps. "Luo Xun, can, can we eat meat?!" "Meat?" "Meat..." "Meat!!" Only two more ko-fis until the next bonus chapter ~ Chapter 121 *Swish* All of them, including the usually calm Zhang Yi all turned to Luo Xun. Thetters expression was as tranquil as a cloud floating through the sky, "As long as the blood or meat has not changed color, we can eat." Yes the mutant animals would not turn into zombies, even if they were bitten they would not turn. However the wound might have traces of the zombie virus, but as long as that was dealt with and some parts cut off, the rest could be cooked and eaten! After all, water has been contaminated by the virus, but water can be drunk after being filtered. Mutated nts also carried small traces of the virus but people who ate vegetables were okay. So the virus seemed harmless if it was below a certain level. The team cheered and burst into tears. They could not be med, from the start of the apocalypse until now, except for rare cases while working with the army, how long had it been since they had fresh meat?! This bird was so big, they could not let it go to waste. The zombies had been wiped out but the usually attractive zombie nuclei were nowhere near the appeal of the birds foot! Meat, this was meat! A group of wolves separated the poor duck into various parts... In fact the ducks volume had been exaggerated from spreading its wings, the body was small inparison. Wang Duo grabbed two feathers from the bird, he smiled tteringly at His Highness, "These duck feathers, we can bring some back for winter nkets?" Zhang Yi had a face of disgust, "Such arge duck also has hard feathers, what kind of quilt would you make?" On the other hand, He Qiankun was clinging to the dead ducks leg, "I want to eat thigh! I want to eat thigh!" Wu Xin said, "Duck breast is good too, the leg you are holding has a burnt hole...It seemed that Xu Mei and Zhang Yis attack hit there." He Qiankun still clung to the leg, "Thats nothing, other than that wound, the rest is fine!" Yan Fei and Luo Xun were studying the ducks hear. Knocked here, looked around, finally Yan Fei formed a sharp knife and did cranial surgery on the ducks skull. Look, the crystal nucleus was huge! Luo Xun picked up the crystal with delight, it was the size of three fists. "But none of us can use it, are there any such abilities on base?" The ducks ability was unheard of and the color of nucleus was new too. If it was moremon C such as fire or water and so on, if no team members could use it, they could sell it for a lot of money! But now... It was obviously a treasure, but had no use in the slightest! The corners of Luo Xuns mouth twitched, he unwillingly put down the crystal, "Forget it, well keep it as a souvenir, first lets deal with the duck!" The duck was not asrge was initially imagined but there was still a lot of meat. At the least they could not take the entire had C who told them to only drive three cars and have some crushed? Luo Xun circled the duck and made a decision, "Meat, no guts or bones, bring as much meat back as possible!" "...Duck gizzard and heart are very delicious...also intestines have vor..." He Qiankun was drooling while helplessly looking at Luo Xun. Luo Xun took two steps backwards when faced with the watering eyes of a wounded animal. His face was tangled while saying cautiously, "We cane back tomorrow but we dont know how the meat...The main issue is we have no salt." There was no way to process the meat on the spot, otherwise they could bring more back. "...Luo Xun says its a waste of points." Li Tie was tangled but decided to support Luo Xuns opinion. Wu Xin also nodded, "Although a waste, some of it can be eaten right?" Xu Mei and then added, "We can eat some tonight and tomorrow morning, the rest we do not need!" Although everyone understood, but their eyes were filled with regret. Made sense, how long had theyst seen fresh meat? Suddenly Yan Fei pointed to the side, "I can reform the cars except without the ss windows. At the same time I can transform the body, increase volume and height, so theres more space to store meat..." He had not finished when the crowd turned with shining eyes, "Good idea!!" The team had very ufortable leaving all the meat, bones and guts behind. Ducks blood could be eaten, but during the battle a lot of blood had been split and they had no method to solidify the liquid. One serious discovery was that mutated animal blood was like salted fish, zombies were not attracted in the slightest. Could not bepared to human blood. In the past the base had tried to study the phenomenon but could not figure out about human blood attracted zombies but not mutant animals. Zhang Yi, Xu Mei and Song Lingling used their abilities to make boiling water and cover the ducks feathers. The rest of the people used modified metal cutters after removing the feathers and descended on the dead duck C dice into pieces! Fortunately, the weather had cooled, especially on early morning. The duck meat would still be fine after a day, so long as they left early tomorrow, their harvest would be huge. Arge chunk of meat was cut and Luo Xun saw everyone was in high spirits. The ever calm Yan Fei did not understand the others excitement and went to check their fortifications. After all, how many zombies had died in the battle with the duck? The silly duck had drawn the attention of almost all the zombies in range. The loud cries and mor of battle had been distant from the team. The duck had such powerful strength, now all the zombiesying around were waiting for everyone to collect! "Yu Xinran, put all the corpses and pieces of zombie in this position and create a bunker." She had levelled up to three and now could deal with arger range and scope. Any sandy gravel was under her control. If she was not too young, with undeveloped fighting instincts, she could silently use this skill pull a dead body into a sand pit. As long as no one dug them out, the victim would slowly die without movement. Little Ran nodded her head and created a sandyer with shining eyes and dragged some bodies into the pit. Yan Fei was acting as a bodyguard C after all, so many zombies had died in the area, who knew which ones were not actually dead? It did turn out that some zombies were alive and were dragged into the pits from Yan Feis metal. After all the zombies were dragged out of sight, Luo Xun brought out petrol and called for Xu Mei for ignition. They left the burning pit and went back to the makeshift shelter for the night. "There were also zombie animal corpses when I cleaned the area. I guess the duck probably brought all the zombies in the area." Luo Xun and Yan Fei sat in the corner whispering, "I am afraid if our luck is bad tonight zombie rats mighte. Be careful." Yan Fei nodded, "We will take watch in turns, as usual." Even if it might be rtively safe tonight, they had to be vignt and not get in trouble due to carelessness. "Well, they are almost done, well dry the duck and load up when we leave tomorrow." Seeing a few peopleughing with joy, Luo Xun patted Yan Feis thigh and walked over. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had deliberately left a chunk of duck meat for everyones dinner. With the help of Yan Fei, the team hung the rest of the meat from the ceiling. Lest it stink up overnight, Xu Mei boiled the internal organs so they not worry about odor. For the sake of eating meat, Zhang Yi helped ventte the area to help keep the meat. They would carefully stay here tonight and not let anything happen. For the sake of eating meat and enjoying future dishes, they would put in a lot of effort. Xu mei and Song Lingling took their time with seasonings and began to cook the duck meat. Because everyone only needed enough for one or two days, there was not much to prepare. They had some salt in their car but not other seasonings. Who would bring out good food for an expedition? Bringing some salt and longsting food was enough. Good food could be prepared even with only salt! After discussion, everyone decided C grilling! To make a roast, they only needed some salt in order to enhance the original taste. At the first scent of meat, all the people in metal building turned to look at Xu Mei. Soon Li Tie and the others gathered around and helplessly watched as the meat turned from red to gold. The aroma became richer and richer, the calmer team members also walked over, ready at any moment to grab the meat... Barbecuing duck meat had a subtle taste, there was not much oilpared to pork or chicken. A variety of spices needed to added for vor. But now, after a year during the apocalypse, the usually tasteless duck meat had be a delicacy. "This is meat!" "Yeah." "Why didnt I think duck was tasty? Thest 20 years were a waste." "Mmm, yummy, it smells good." "It even tastes better without cumin or chili powder." "Right, having meat to eat is great!" The duck turning golden and crispy with delicious sounds from the iron te. The sliced meat was on a te to the side. They decided to cook their own to eat sooner! They could not wait, and the pressure was big on the two women around the barbecue. As for the food they brought from base...who knew where it went? When Zhang Yi snatched a piece of roast meat from Luo Xun, he felt unbearable, "Choke and die! Stealing from me every time! Didnt you get enough from thest base celebration?" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, leisurely blew on a piece of meat, "Havent you heard of the expression, rob before being robbed?" Luo Xun almost choked on his saliva, he covered his mouth and turned to cough, before pointing at Zhang Yi, "That was at base?! Why do this now we are outside?" Zhang Yi looked with a seductive expression, "Are you close? What about those people who think our little captain is cute?" Luo Xun flushed at being called cute, he silently jabbed his chopsticks at Zhang Yi. They were clearly disputing about meat, how did it turn to this strange topic? Cute? What cute?! "Men are handsome, you are cute, your whole family is cute!!" Zhang Yis mouth curled into a sickly sweet smile, "Thank you for the praise." He did not care what Luo Xun said about him, it would not affect his meat intake. Yan Fei rescued the meat and put it into Luo Xuns bow while patting his shoulder, "Eat, dont talk to him." His lover was lovely, especially when flustered, otherwise he could have retaliated against Zhang Yi earlier. Luo Xun turned away from Zhang Yi and ate meat, there was no need to argue any further. Now was the time to stuff their faces with meat. As usual, everyone had augh at the pair bickering...now everyone enjoyed the fruits of theirbor. Jokes could wait until everyone had eaten and drunk their fill. Everyone ate until their stomachs would burst, but there was still a lot of duck meat left over. In addition to getting some crystal nuclei from the zombies, getting the rare chance to eat their fill of meat was a really happy asion. Everyone woke up at six oclock the next morning. The three females picked up thest of the crystal nuclei from the burned zombie bodies. The rest of group helped load the meat with Yan Fei. It seems that the zombies attractedst night had not attacked at all. Yan Fei had expanded the capacity of each car, the duck meat was ced in clean metal boxes. Even the roof had a storage space for the resources. All the meat were put into inconspicuous boxes, no one would know what was inside. It would reduce some trouble when returning to base C after all, the base did not check the car, only scanned for zombie virus with their equipment. Outside, the threedies quickly gathered the crystals into a pile. Everyone unanimously decided to return to base in order to preserve the meat. They had enough nuclei for the mission, the remaining would be distributed back at home. Their spoils hidden in the metal, the group elerated back towards base with some misgivings. Luo Xun was rtively disturbed, he knew that mutant animal could be eaten, but did not know if there were people on base now eating the meat...After all therge-scale emergence of mutant animals would start next spring, although there were many traces of animals. But he was not sure, had the base encountered mutant animals? Had their meat been eaten? In fact he was not nervous about base, because they would not strictly check car contents. But if they cooked at home, the fragrance would certainly attract others attentions. Even if others did not realize their food had meat, the greedy would likely be tempted. Although they were not afraid, but watching out for thieves everyday was not a way to live. Entering the base, they did not encounter any unexpected situations. The soldiers responsible for checking for virus roughly scanned and then let water ability users wash the car. After the inspection, Luo Xun andpany drove back to their neighborhood. Because the meat was all packed into metal boxes, Yan Fei could cause the boxes to float beside them as they climbed up the stairs. All the duck meat had been brought back! "The fridge, refrigerator...Luo Xun is there enough space?" After climbing up, some people nervously looked at Luo Xun. Luo Xuns expression was very calm, "Put the boxes in an empty, bring the pickling salt from before." Why fear not enough fridge space? He could handle all the meat even without a fridge! A portion of the duck meat was ced in each homes fridge. In addition to the special freezers specially for the frozen poisonous mushrooms, all the fridges were loaded with masses of duck meat. As for the rest of the meat...with Luo Xun, everyone understood that the meat could be kept... Well, they had heard of dried duck from stories, but who notice such things while reading? Now that Luo Xun knew the drying process, things like bacon were not difficult, everyone could help out. The meat was cut into long strips, salt was evenly applied to the skin and stored in a cool, ventted ce. One could save dried duck meat for a long period of time. Bacon was a bit more troublesome, stir fry with hot pepper, salt before drying and cooling. The duck meat seasoned with pepper, salt and sugar was put into jars to marinate for a few days. Then it would hung from a rope, dried to a golden color and then hung in the shade for storage. This way the taste would be better, but was more troublesome to produce. Plus dried, processed meat already ounted for most of the fridge usage. Luo Xun only took a small portion to make bacon. Xu Mei and Song Lingling could handle the rest during their free time. Chapter 122 All the duck meat was distributed ording to the number of people. Although it was not very precise, but with the amount of meat, each person got about a human heads worth. Originally Xu Mei had said that Yu Xinran could be given less since she was young with a smaller appetite, but was rejected by the males. They would be blind not to notice Yu Xinrans strength with her ability. Also how could a bunch of grown men squabble with a child over food? While everyone was splitting the duck meat, Yu Xinran had collect the nuclei from the pile of zombies. They would absolutely not steal a childs rations, they were not that greedy! It was near evening when the meat was dealt with. Luo Xun and the others just remembered C the crystal nuclei had not been counted or distributed to each person! Originally their purpose leaving base was to gather these nuclei, however they unexpectedly had encountered the big duck. They forgot all about the nuclei, even though there had been a pile of zombies killed by the bird...they had paid less attention. He hurriedly opened the box of crystal cores, colorful splinters filled the container. Luo Xun scratched his hair, "Why do I think that there are more nuclei than usual when we hunted before?" "The duck was so loud, it attracted all the nearby zombies? Of course, we usually only use small blood packs." Zhang Yi said carelessly while referring to the pile. "We can eat once we count and separate the nuclei." The group quickly swarmed the pile and began to sort the crystals based on element. Xu Meiughed, "Well cook dinner, I left some meat to stir fry with some vegetables at home." "Good, well trouble you!" He Qiankun loudly shouted first, gave everyone a shock. The crowd continued counting the crystal nuclei, the sound of clinking filled the air. This time they got arge number of crystal nuclei because of the duck. There were more than 17200 first level, 20800 second and even more than 500 third level nuclei! It also included some zombie animal nuclei, various amounts of zombie animalsrge and small. There was indeed more crystal nuclei than usual, once the final number was calcted, everyone looked at each other in silent shock. "This...many?" "Dont forget how loud the duck was, I reckon all the zombies were all over its body." Only after a long time did people ept this fact. They did not expect that they could pick up so many crystal nuclei at almost no cost! The next time they went out, they would meet zombies and mutant animals... The group waved away this wonderful delusion, this sort of thing was once in a lifetime. They thought of ducks size and power. As Luo Xun had said, the duck had used the most foolish way to attack, otherwise how had they won?! If they had not defeated the duck, how would they pick up the crystals? It was a mercy that they did not die outside. Thus, they were contented with their good fortune. They evenly divided the various nuclei ording to elements. Since the number of nuclei were not equal, for example there were more fire nuclei, Xu Mei exchanged some first level cores for third level. Luo Xun finally patted thergest nucleus dug out from the ducks head. "I think we wont be able to sell this, lets bring it home for now." Such arge crystal core being used as a decoration...was he not afraid of excessive luxury? In fact, this thing could be taken to the military and reced with other smaller crystal cores. Luo Xun was unclear whether the military had the ability to hunt mutant animals and knew the nuclei was in the brain? The people in their squad were well-known enough that therge core would certainly attract the attention of the higher ups. Even if they wanted to bring it out, they had to wait awhile. At least until next year, when mutant animals would bemon. Now was too early. After these things were resolved, Xu Mei and Song Lingling brought over the te. Simple home cooked food, but with the addition of duck meat, stir fried quail eggs and tomatoes along with other vegetables. Seeing this, peoples saliva gushed forth and they rushed to eat. Lamented that they could not inhale the whole bowl at once. The team ate and drank their fill and went back home with their bag of nuclei. Luo Xun walked through the door, warmly licked by his dog...Then he remembered...there was something important that everyone had forgotten. "...I seem to have forgotten something." Luo Xun turned with a wooden face to Yan Fei. "Whats the matter?" Yan Fei asked in confusion, he looked down at the bag of crystals. Luo Xun took a breath and looked at Yan Fei with surprise. "Didnt we say we would get more wood to grow mushrooms? But...we forgot." It was the ducks fault! It appeared out of nowhere, everyone focused all their attention. Anything else was ignored. Yan Fei jerked, wood...oh yes! They were going to collect wood in order to grow mushrooms. Due to the meat, they forgot about the mushrooms. They wanted to eat duck meat and grow mushrooms! But now... "Should we...go out and dig out wood tomorrow?" Luo Xun hesitantly negotiated with Yan Fei. Yan Fei calmly shot down the idea, "We would have to take another mission, like crystal collection, we would need to pay 200 low-level crystal nuclei. But what if we use nuclei in exchange for wood at base? How much would 200 cores get? Which is more cost effective?" Was this a question? Buying with crystal cores was safe and fast! Originally they went out to collect crystal cores, wood was a side goal. It would be simple to take out some cores for wood. "Great! Lets take an early break and go to the market tomorrow to buy some wood!" Luo Xun clenched his fists. They had picked up a lot of crystal cores this time. As the captain he was responsible for fund management and supply procurement. As long as the purchases were recorded, it would be no problem to buy some wood. Yan Fei calmly patted Luo Xuns back. "Okay, well go tomorrow." He then headed towards the bathroom. Of course, Luo Xun woke upte. They ate lunch before going to the market. He was not the only one to wake upte, for example Li Tie and the other students and Xu Meis group. As for Zhang Yi in 1602...he did not appear in the morning. The students busied themselves, Zhang Yi did not appear until Luo Xun said they would go buy wood. This caused Luo Xun tough for a while. "Who let him alwaysugh at me!" Wang Duo had definitely eaten meatst night for nothing. The two people slowly drove out the neighborhood, revealing their cars shape. Because of the damn duck, all the ss had been crushed. Today, they could only use some metal to cover some window space, but notpletely block the drivers field of vision. If they did not find windows before the next time they left base, they would not be able to leave C if a zombie jumped towards the car, their ws could breach the gap. Luo Xuns car was in better shape because of Yan Fei who could counter with metal. But if Li Ties car was attacked..it would be a serious problem. Fortunately now they needed only to wander around base. It would good if they could buy wood at the same time as window ss. Even if the ss was poorly shaped, they had Yan Fei who could form the metal around the ss. What was the purchasing power of crystal nuclei? At least more than points, especially in private trading. On base, teams that went out for supplies loved bringing misceneous stuff back. Once the buildings were sted by the military, their collecting range was narrowed again. This lead to squads acting simr to locusts, collecting everything as they passed. In the beginning, they found valuable things. As time went by, the further away, the greater the risk and less would be harvested near base. Teams that went out would bring back whatever they could inter stages. So, Luo Xun easily found the wood they needed on the street. There were many stalls selling all kinds of timber and coal on base. Wood was rtivelymon and inexpensivepared with other products. Those teams were afraid of heading too far so they dug most of the wood from roadsides. The wood contained a lot of water, burning would produce soot. It was hard to ignite, even had some green leaves. These things could not bepared with real coal, even dry wood was more useful, thus the price wasparably low. No need to spend 100-200 crystal cores, the pair only spent 20 level one nuclei and filled their car roof with a lot of wood. They went again and used third level nuclei to find some more reliable stalls for everyones needs. After, Luo Xun contentedly drove home. It was time for the elevator to be operational, plus they never got home when the elevator was functional. This morning, they left a metal shelf outside the window and used it to bring things upstairs. Labor efficient and convenient. The two went downstairs and sent the others a text message. Li Tie ran to the 15th floor balcony opened the window and dropped a rope down. The people downstairs started to tie the wood, while the others helped. Everyone worked together to bring the wood upstairs. There were many people watching the action. Fortunately it was just wood, although it was a necessity, but because of the low value and water content, some people were envious but would not make trouble. Most of the residents knew not to provoke the people on the top two floors. They were very powerful ability users, so most just stood back and watched. The wood Luo Xun had brought back was not long C at least not an entire tree. But the length was not short, if the crops had not been recently harvested, they were afraid that getting the wood through would be more difficult. It had been two hours since they brought the lumber back home. Most of the time the wood was suspended in the air C fear that any careless move would break down a neighbors window. Therge quantity of wood was transported home and then began the process of sawing and hanging them next to the shelves. There were metal tubes around the nting racks, linking the nting spaces. The wood would be hung like four pirs dedicated to nting mushrooms. Luo Xun estimated that if there was enough mushroom wood, the amount of poisonous mushrooms that would absorb the toxins would reach saturation point. After it should be possible to grow more regr mushrooms. Ordinary mushrooms were good things if would a boon along with the duck meat. After this, they were afraid that they would not have good luck for a long time. Next year with mutant animal outbreak, if they wanted to go out and find nts, there would a substantial increase in difficulty. Yan Fei ced the wood into a mesh metal basket and left enough space for mushrooms to grow. The mesh would not only create a growing environment, but also protect them from people walking around and working. Especially they wanted to protect the puppy and Yu Xinran. Yan Fei made the mesh as fine as possible so the child and dog would be out of danger. So Xu Mei and Song Lingling focused on not letting the child and puppy into the room with several hanging metal boxes. That evening, after a busy day, the team looked with satisfaction at the days results, and then...ready to go home and eat meat! Although the food was not extravagant, but cooking a meat dish everyday was great. They had so much meat now, why would they hold back? As Luo Xun promised, he marinated the brought back meat. The others went upstairs with a spring in their step upon hearing the news. They climbed to the 16th floor and saw Zhang Yi holding his waist and leaning against the door. Though his eyes had the usual annoying disdain there was also an ambiguous feeling. Luo Xun wanted tough but he settled for silence and a provoking eyebrow raise. Wang Duo rushed towards his Highness. "Why are you up? Is your waist sore? I will give you a massage, find Xu Mei and help us make stir-fry. My cooking is bad..." Zhang Yi twitched, he wanted to give Wang Duo a kick, but his waist was sore. "I came out for a walk! Found everyone was transporting wood!" "Come on, lets go inside and you can rest." They watched as the Queen and his dog went back home before returning to their own ces. As soon as he entered the door, Luo Xun headed straight for the kitchen C his goal was the same as the others, cook! The first two days, the two women had cooked since Luo Xun had other things to deal with. Now that the corridors were filled with duck meat and he had processed the bacon, he could finally cook a meal for him and Yan Fei. In thought while standing in kitchen, Luo Xuns eyes wandered to the row of jars in the corner. He had prepared arge pile of jars before the apocalypse. Inside were a variety of pickled vegetables: cabbage, cucumbers, bean curd, leeks and so on. Until now, only a few jars had been emptied, more than half had not been touched. Even if some had been moved, the entire bottom part was all pickles. This was the reason why Luo Xun had deliberately left some for everyone to eat C the pair had not eaten even half, now that there was more on the way, it would be gone faster if they shared. Of course, even if Luo Xun gave some away, there was still an impressive number of jars at home. Luo Xun walked around the jars twice. Eventually he took out some pickled cabbage in order boil some soup. As for the dish...there was meat at every meal...Luo Xun had something in mind. Yan Fei sat on the living room sofa, one hand propped against his chin while controlling metal. He constantly separated the elements and then kneaded them together. The puppy ced her chin on Yan Feis thigh and squinted. Although Yan Fei had expanded the cars, there was not enough space to bring back the whole duck. Sorge chunks of wounded meat and most of the guts/bones were left out. Some of that were still good...the meat was finished? Yan Fei touched his chin, the rich aroma from the kitchen caused him to think of Luo Xuns slender waist. Although his lovers waist was slender, being unhealthy was not allowed. He needed to think of a way to secure a long-term nutritional supplement. Hot and fragrant pickled cabbage and duck vermicelli along with fried broli, tomato and quail eggs. Luo Xun ced the dishes on the table while the puppy leapt from the sofa with a wagging tail. She desperately wanted to show her obedience, docility, andck of meat in her diet... Chapter 123 A while ago, Luo Xun had dealt with a few of the old quails at home. Although everyone could not eat a whole one, each person got a taste. The pile of bones went to the dog C she had ended up eating more of the quail than the people! Puppy was hovering at the table but the two men did not respond C they were busy eating dinner, words could be spoken after. Yan Fei helped Luo Xun carry the dishes. First they each had a bowl of soup C he had a mouthful before realizing that the two women were good at cooking but maybe Yan Fei was ustomed to Luo Xuns cooking...he always felt that others food tasted different. Like todays soup, perhaps not the most delicious, but still to his taste. Then arge bowl of white rice C their rices stores were almost empty, so recently they had not touched it. If not for todays appetizing ingredients and the other rice was close to harvest, Luo Xun would not have steamed any for today. The two sat at the table to eat dinner, no chatting urred while eating. After sating his hunger, Luo Xun motioned to the te of cauliflower with regret, "Putting slices of meat with these would also be tasty..." All the duck was gone but there was still half the te. Yan Fei smiled and poked his lovers cheek. "So be it, it has been a long time since we have eaten meat." The little dog was lying on the ground, honestly gnawing on a piece of duck meat without using Yan Feis slippers. She even nibbled on the cauliflower C obviously it was something she had eaten before. After eating, the two went out again. Together with Li Tie and the others they borrowed Xu Meis kitchen to teach everyone how to deal with the ducks internal organs. Duck intestines, when the duck was sorge, it looked more like cows innards...*cough* amazing. They did not just bring these back, there was not a lot of car space but its heart and gizzard were brought back. The heat would not have helped preservation. They brought out pepper, anise and cinnamon among other spices. Add ginger and green onions for the smell. Soy sauce, salt and sugar were added to the brine. The freshly cleaned chopped pieces were put into the sauce. After a day it could be eaten. Once these things will do they went back home. Time to take advantage of their break, since they did not have work tomorrow, Yan Fei was busy and Luo Xun had no strength left. Thus the next morning, he...got upte. He opened his eyes at 10 oclock but he was still sleepy and slept until noon. It was not his biological clock or needing to go to the washroom, but instead C he was woken up. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun yawned and rubbed his eyes. He struggled to sit up, the fan was blowing, something was...outside? Why did it sound so close? Wait, their house is on the 16th floor and it was the penthouse! Even sounds in the corridor should not pass through! He quickly climbed up and grabbed the nearest shirt from a chair C he did not want anyone to stare at the marks left by Yan Fei like they had Zhang Yi. Luo Xun identified the source of the sound C towards the terrace. He rushed over...he foundthe building roof was...very lively. Recently, the base poption density had reached a certain level again. No space left in the original homes, and not getting along with former neighbors. Some were driven out, the streets and building corridors were filled with people. Some of them had settled on the roof. As a result, even the roof of their building had be a livable, area, a treasure in the eyes of others. Early this morning someone climbed up and picked a ce to set up. At first no one noticed C they were all sleeping in. However someone in another building saw and then the team heard quarreling. Zhang Yi climbed up to the roof after noticing while Yan Fei followed upwards and now the two were confronting the rted parties. Luo Xun opened the terrace window and looked out and saw some other team members were present. He did not leave the window open for very long since there balcony was filled with good things, he did not want to tempt trouble. Went into the hallway and found Li Tie andpany C who were standing near the windows. "Whats the situation?" Luo Xun approached the window. Li Tie pointed above in response, "Several other people, including us disagree with allowing some people wanting to live on our roof!" Luo Xun frowned, suddenly some people wanted to live on their roof. Since it was private building, who would be responsible if something happened? "How did this happen?" The sound instion is very good, especially since the roof is thicker. If someone walked around the sound would not carry, but today the entire building noticed, did they fall on the roof? He Qiankun shook his head and pointed at a door. "I heard that those people were hammering nails, the sound was too much, someone heard and now theres trouble." Li Tie secretly exined. "We just realized, Yan Fei had strengthened the entire building. There may be too much metal in the wall so the nails would hit metal and create a lot of noise." Luo Xun stroked his chin, that was rather likely. Every time they came back to base, they brought some metal back. In fear of copse, Yan Fei moved the metal along the walls to reinforce the building. It was estimated that even if an earthquake copsed the outside, it would not damage the reinforced metal bars. And there was a good chance of...*rumble* the group froze and stared at the huge metal staircase in the rubble. Luo Xun remembered that after a hard night, it would be inconvenient for him to climb stairs, so Yan Fei made a temporary staircase for him. He pulled out his phone to make a call to Yan Fei on the roof. The people were in a standoff, with no movement with Yan Fei and Zhang Yi to one side. A lot of people were on the roof, other upants wanted to climb up but no one had an ability like Yan Fei to go straight to the roof. Right, Zhang Yis level three wind ability let him temporarily float. But high level flying skills would require more power. Seeing the phone call from Luo Xun, Yan Fei backed up and signalled to Xu Mei to continue watching. "Whats the situation?" Yan Feis mouth curled into a smile, he turned to the side. "There are three ability users, more than half the upiers are not present, deadlocked." Luo Xun felt relieved, "I heard they were hammering nails into the building roof?" "Ah, it was people next door who heard. Since there have been others who lived recently on the roof, they came to check. They needed to hammer nails to secure the tent in fear of it blowing away." Luo Xun pondered and asked, "What do you think? What is Zhang Yis opinion?" Yan Fei looked indifferent, "Can not live here, they did not agree." Yes, cannot let people live on the roof. Their two floors of stuff were too eye-catching. Yan Fei had covered up with a metal board to hide from people below. They hung food and sr panels that could be seen from above. It was almost certain that they would end up doing something. The two thieves from before had alsoe down from the roof, which showed how precarious the roof situation was. Even if they thought of protective measures, such as sealing the iron shelves, but still needed fire to cook! Cooking on the highest floor, the smell of delicious food would float over to the people. However people could not tell the exact location, which would be different if someone lived on the roof. Do not underestimate the power of meat. asionally people went missing on base and officers found remains. Someone had captured, killed and eaten them. These were not horror stories, but real things that happened on base. For the sake of food, those lunatics would bloody their hands. If they knew that there was so much meat in the house...even Yan Feis and Zhang Yis strength would be useless. People were not irrational, there was never an end to greed and hatred. Luo Xun also expressed his support. "I also agree that you three deal with the situation, I...will not be going up." He would not go up because he did not have their fighting ability, and...his waist was still sore. Those who wanted to move in were speaking, saying they were willing to pay money as a fee to live on the top floor. Others lived here without contacting base so they did not have to pay base rent. Others in a simr situation would pay rent to the top upiers, with the benefits, no one would meddle. Yan Fei hung up and looked at Zhang Yi and Xu Mei. "Luo Xun called, let us deal with it." He looked at Zhang Yi, "No matter how much they offer, I will not agree for them to live here." Zhang Yi sarcastically smiled, "I dont want anyone to live above me and pull theft." Xu Mei turned and covered her mouth C they were already living on the highest floor. What would he say about residents living on lower floors? Xu Mei tremulously smiled and said, "I do not agree." They said it was temporary, but who knew what would happen. Plus today was the first day and they were already hitting the roof. What if the roof leaks? They did not have any earth users to repair the outer portions. After a statement from the three most powerful delegates, there was also a cut in conversation. The main reason was that those who lived on the top floor could make decisions for others. They could note to an agreement, and these people had abilities so they could not blown away. The new arrivals also relied on their ability users, "Our stuff ising up, well take a rest and wait for a decision, if it is convenient to move up or not?" As he spoke, the man created a water ball and swirled. Hispanions ced their things where they thought fit. It obvious C moving here was a life improvement. Living on a building roof was much better than living on the streets. At least there were no passerbys to worry about. No worry about theirir being robbed when out on missions. This building was one of the highest, even thieves might note up! *Snicker* Those who resolutely refused to go suddenly red. "Who?!" They were not a soft target regardless of how few ability users they had while out on missions. As soon as the people turned their head, they felt blinded C the two men and one woman were definitely at a high level. Xu Mei was a beauty, before the apocalypse was with a man but poorly chosen...She had been all kinds of gentle and considerate, which were useless during the end of the world. Zhang Yi needed no exnation, even a straight man could not stand against the enchanting peach blossom eyes. As for Yan Fei? His beautiful face, embellished with a mole wasparable to Zhang Yi. But he was human enough that women would drool over him while men were provoked. There three usually went out fully covered, at least wearing a mask to avoid suspicion. But today was a holiday, and it was their roof. Who told these people to disturb them early in the morning? Not only these people wanted to live on the roof, even the next building were suffering from the neighbors. They only knew that the people who lived here were bad, most people had seen with their own eyes. It was such a shock to see the upper floor peoples faces. Zhang Yi coldly smiled, "Me? Have a problem?" The other head swallowed his saliva, his straight heart had pounded after seeing the man...and there was a woman on their side? A beautiful woman! Although his heart jumped, the person refused to give up the benefits and smiled, "This...the three of you live on the top floor? Well be neighbors in the future...the rent..." Zhang Yi sneered, the opponents started shivering, "Leave, who let youe up here to mooch? You have the ability for the base to directly rent a top level floor?" The other side choked at the unkind remark, the man who had been bewildered by beauty returned to himself. What use was beauty in the apocalypse? It was useless! A few people rolled up their sleeves to frighten the beauty, when a sudden wind picked up. It was an absolute gale, a hurricane! Centered around the thin figure, 10 meters high! It seemed that in order to not hit hispanions, the diameter was around a meter, even so the scene was shocking. Xu Mei stepped forward and shot fireballs in front of her. The hurricane swallowed the attacks and the two elements merged. The opposing side had no time toment how the female fire user could make so many fireballs. The boss remembered he had seen some simr ability users in a team while outside. He lost strength in his legs and plopped down, others were horrified and retreated with cold sweat to avoid injury. Zhang Yi exposed snow-white teeth with a chilling smile, "Leave." The coil of fire sprang forward. Just as the attack reached them, it changed course and flew into the sky...it became a pinprick in the air... Yan Fei nced at the frozen people, "We wille back after one hour, do not let us see you here again." He turned to the buildings edge, a metaldder appeared and the trio left. When the three disappeared, all the people on the roof were relieved. An upant gloated at the invaders of a sort, "Quickly leave or they will send you straight down." "Right, they cannot afford us." Other people were gossiping while heading towards the gate, "Why are they so low?" "Right, how could ability users not live in the new district? Why bully ordinary people?" "I told you before that the building seemed to have powerful ability users but you would not listen!" "Che, just now I said I could not get nails down? Results?" "All right, all right! Hurry up and move your things!" The leader yelled as the team picked up their things and left with reluctance. Chapter 124 Li Tie and the others saw the trioe down from the roof and asked, "What happened? How did it go? Are they willing to move out?" Zhang Yi rolled his eyes and turned to Yan Fei, "Youll have to seal up the door in a few moments." Yan Fei shook his head, "In case there are roof problems, people will have toe up for repair. If we seal it, we would happen to open the door each time for them. All the people are gone." "What if someone sneaks upstairs?" Xu Mei was somewhat worried. The group looked helplessly at each, the mentality of people who wanted to live on the roof was understandable. Butpared to empathy, they had to protect their homes, could not leave any possibility of danger. Yan Fei was thoughtful, "I have a way, when those people are gone we will have a way to monitor above." He only smiled at the curious looks and did not exin. About an hourter, Yan Fei was on the roof. Sure enough, those people and the neighbors were gone. He took out a small metal ball and activated his power. In an instant, the ball turned into arge, thin and spread across the roof. It was a metal mesh, silk thread thing and light. There were traces of silver all over the roof, people could walk and hardly feel anything. But the was fixed to the wall and Yan Fei could detect any movement on the roof through the vibrations. This would easily let Yan Fei judge the situation on the roof. Someone asionally on the roof would not be a problem, but if somethingnded in the middle of the night, they would need to check it out. It was equally unrealistic to seal the door and not let anyone on the roof. After all, there were other people in the building. There were five entrances in each building with four homes on each floor! After taking care of this matter, the group sighed in relief. Some were thankful that they hade early this morning. If it had been as usual, only the two women at home, even if they had abilities, they dealt with crops, not the top floor. If they had not paid attention to the mess upstairs, waited for people toe back from work...who knew what would happen. This matter had been settled, Song Lingling sighed, "Heard that thew is much better on the other side of the city, but we cannot move over..." The so-called New Town referred to the new area built near the barracks, originally a flower field before the end. Most of the buildings were seven storeys high. The buildings were not too spacious but the military and ability users were responsible for security, so policing was much better than other areas. The neighborhood was rented specially for various power teams, with a certain size, level, taskpletion both personal and military. They also had to pay rent (but cheaper than a house outside). In general, the area was open to ability users and teams, but an ordinary person could not enter unless someone was willing to vouch for them in addition to paying a lot of nuclei and points each month. The new town could be considered a paradise for ability users, the most obvious difference between treatment of ability users versus ordinary people. However, because of all the requirements, not all ability users could live there. Especially those who could not find a team and could only form temporary teams each time they went out. By now, except for some ability users were hanging around with a strong team, and those unable to pay for their loved ones, or preferred living outside all the regtions, the vast majority of power users moved in. In fact, early during the neighborhoods establishment, the base sent text messages to all the known ability users. Yan Fei had also received the message, but since half of the team consisted of regr people, and they were living here well, they did not think about moving. Luo Xunughed at Song Linglings words, "We have too many good things, if you suddenly moved, you might be targeted by other teams." Song Lingling quickly waved her hands, "I was just saying, theres no other merit other than stronger policing. I heard that the houses are like cages, a room only 30 square meters. We have so many things and there would be no space!" The small space was one of the factors that caused some teams to refuse. Of course, even it could be easy to move, Luo Xun did not want to go. How good was their current situation? Howfortable? It was difficult to renovate the home, set up and farming, a waste to move away! Today was thest vacation day for most of their members. So after confirming there was nothing else, everyone went back home to rest and rx. In the evening, Luo Xun fished out the prepared duck intestine and gizzards from the brine and distributed it to the team. The meat could continue to soak in the brine or taken out for storage. But if they were not eating too much at a time, it would be best to freeze and defrost the day before use. Luo Xun took his and Yan Feis share home and continued to marinate it C add some more vor before eating. These days his home had enough meat for them to eat, their cravings were controble. A good sleep until dawn before the pair washed and reported to the barracks. Along with buying and bringing some stuff back. The two of them had a number of nuclei in their bags. The other elements were little use to their team and needed to be reced for lower level ones. In addition, there was another important task C buy car window ss. The two men turned the window space into a metal mummy and entered the barracks. The car waspletely sealed, before there were a few metal strips. As a result it was discovered that car seats had been gone, though some were not sessful for some reason. Luo Xun andpany let Yan Feipletely seal the windows with metal. Now the gaps were too small to take advantage of. At the meeting ce, the truck was loaded and the group set off. Before the holiday a stage of work had beenpleted C the outer metal thorns were repaired. The work continued with the team returning to build bridges. The four metal users were responsible for distilling, fusing and manipting the metals mid-air. After upgrading to level three, everyones work was much faster, though it could notpare to Yan Fei. Their speed was slower but the end result was within requirements. But once Yan Fei was done the base, there was no problem for the remaining people to add metal to the foundation. After a busy days work, the two drove straight to the exchange window. Luo Xun eximed at the price lists, "So expensive?!" The window staff had a calm face, no movement, "This is the price." Luo Xuns expression twisted and he showed the list to Yan Fei. The smallest piece of ss would sell for 10 first level nuclei C was this not robbery?! That was just the smallest, therger were 20 nuclei at minimum. Front pieces wanted 50! Larger vehicles were more expensive, minimum of 80 and increasing to one or two hundred! These days, the average team could not buy even window ss...wait how much did these things exchanged for when first collected? The streets were full of abandoned vehicles, if not for the bombing destroying supplies, how else would things get so crazy. "No buy? Theres a group of people waiting in the back." The staff had an impatient face and rolled their eyes. "...Buy, two pieces of front window, then six side window ss." Luo Xun took a deep breath and ground his teeth. The staff was surprised C even thergest base teams were hesitant to buy, these two men were so rich? Yan Fei tugged Luo Xun away and smiled, "Lets go make a phone call before buying." Luo Xun was puzzled, "Call? Who are you calling?" He thought of Yan Feis father, not him? Yan Fei rummaged through Luo Xuns phone and pointed at a name. "Call him, see if he is still responsible for this stuff." Luo Xun saw the name and then facepalmed...was this not the buy who Captain Guo introduced when they bought sr panels? One phone callter, Captain Wang did note but they got the ss at 20% off. Also helped them find someone specializing in nuclei exchange..find the ones they needed... Have to say, words had really helped Luo Xun andpany. Not just the car ss discount, but also crystal core exchange. The front desk would have some, but only a small portion. Water, fire and soil were hotmodities, but the rest like Yan Feis metal ones, could be exchanged for two or three pieces. The sand nuclei that Yu Xinran needed were put on watch. Luo Xun did not exchange too many fire, water or wind since they were easy to find, though they did get some level three cores. Captain Guo had already gotten the metal cores for the team. There was not arge number of sand nuclei for Yu Xinran. After getting the stuff, they moved the ss after saying goodbye C they were ready to rece the car ss. Smashed ss was not very troublesome before the end. In the apocalypse it was a crisis C there were factories, but no materials. Of course, there was the equipment and workers, but for the time being there was not enough base energy and resources to devote to this. The city could find needed materials everywhere, if there was a need, teams could go out and collect. For the time being, there was no need for production, so it was put aside. More so, waiting for someone who needed recements C how could this be so expensive?! Who could afford it?! Ordinary ss was like this, not to mention car window ss? When the two brought back the ss, Luo Xun was still seething, "20% percent still cost more than 40 nuclei, these things were scattered all over the street, if we had known it was so valuable, we would have picked up more..." He had been on missions throughout his life but always looking for a temporary team C he always got a lift! When had he dealt with these things? Of course he did know the price of these things! No wonder he had seen some teams with windowless cars, he had thought the people were too cheap to repair or buy...Now he knew...regr squads could not afford it! How many nuclei did he have before leaving? One purchase of ss and it was all gone! Yan Fei justughed, he changed the metals shape and put the ss in. The metal wriggled over to keep the ss in ce. The ss the bought was not actually used for their cars C the actual was more expensive, but who gave him metal powers? With his powers, regardless of the sss shape, he could make it stable. As for the reflector...as long as one looked for simrly sized pieces of ss, Yan Fei could wave his hands and create a dozen. The next time they went out they might need some. Even if the prices were outrageously high, Luo Xun did not wish to reborn again to collect these for riches. Hisst rebirth was an ident to be honest, unless something really went wrong, being reborn over and over again would be really tiring. Because other than him, even ones closest friends and rtives would not have the same memories and experiences. Perhaps being reborn again, an intimate lover would be a stranger C because the two would meet under different circumstances. In this life, he was able to change his present and he also met Yan Fei, which was the real prize. When everyone returned home in the evening, Li Tie brought thetest gossip. The group that had attempted to move in on the roof had left the area and settled near the end of a street. The upants of the 16th floor also temporarily sealed the door so no outsiders would enter. "Xu Mei just said that people were looking for us, all upants of other buildings." Li Tie ate duck gizzard with a happy expression. "What did they want?" Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not get a phone call or message while out, realized it was not a big deal. They were likely repelled by Zhang Yi and Xu Mei. Zhang Yi leaned back against his chair and yawned, "They realized yesterday that there was such arge area and wanted to grow vegetables and food on the roof. I asked them C what about leaks?" Xu Mei also nodded, "The matter was discussed, but people know that water on the roof would be troublesome. Isnt the military promoting sr panels? If others wanted to do the same, it would be a conflict if someone had already nted vegetables." Now, many of the upants, like Luo Xun hung sr panels on the wall to provide electricity. But each wall would receive varying amounts of light during different times and seasons. The lower floors would be obscured by other buildings, the roof was a very good ce to set up panels instead. Luo Xun also agreed, "This kind of thing is too troublesome, easy target. We take good care of crops at home." There homes had food spots, vegetables areas but it was electricity intensive. But they made enough energy since they covered the outer walls with panels. There was no need to take any more chances C unless they could find a safe ce. After this, Luo Xun mentioned the incredibly painful price of ss and then patted Yan Feis shoulder, to the amazement of the others. "Before we came up Yan Fei covered the window ss with ayer of metal, lest we go down and find our ss broken again. When we go out on a mission, we try and strengthen with some metal." In the even of a crash, it would protect the fragile ss. "Great, thank you Yan Fei." Everyone was startled by the price of ss, Yan Fei silentlyughed on the side, did not exin that car body repair was much higher than ss. If it was not for having Yan Fei the metal user on the team, it would be enough for them to cough blood at the memory of vehicle repair. In October autumn was in full bloom, there were few traces of nts. There were signs of green, but as time went on, the colors of fall appeared. Then good news spread from the army C rice was ready to harvest! Because gasoline was bing scarce on base, the farnd became unsuitable for harvesters. Coupled with the abundance of staff, the military decided to use an entire barracks of soldiers to harvest thend! The base seemed poised to have enough rice or wheat for everyone on base to have rations, so there were not any special harvesting requirements. However, this matter was not rted to the metal construction team C worked overtime toplete this major project. Even now, the road to the east gate has not been repaired C there were three more of them waiting! There was no work without overtime! Although they did not harvest rice, they were among the first to taste the harvest. The army had already consumed most of the grains. After examinations, the superiors decided to rece the old grains with the new rice. Chapter 125 Here is the bonus chapter, sorry about the dy Thanks to: Divi, ireadfluff, MissButton, egosumqt, Shadoerunner Luo Xun watched as the metal team members exuberantly looked forward to eating rice. The first mouthful was put hesitantly into the mouth, the whole team froze in ce. Luo Xun kept his head down and refused to look up. Yan Fei only had a small bite and he froze in ce like the rest. *Pft* "This, what is this?!" "This taste? Is this rice?" "Tastes a bit like rice..." "It would better to eat bread, even the corn flour noodles are better than this!" Luo Xun bowed his head, biting back a smile. He only ate a few grains of rice...it had to be said that humans were adaptable to rtive frugality and luxury. But only after a year of not eating this, once again tasting it was hard to swallow. "No wonder they let everyone eat the new food first, what is with this taste!" Captain Guo threw the bowl. Others silently gazed at the crystal clear rice, then thought of the smell...it was not that they were picky eaters...mutant grains and vegetables were too lethal abination! "Its like eating sawdust." The vice-captain managed to swallow a mouthful of rice beforementing. Several soldiers exchanged looks, "But...we have enough to eat...its food after all..." Yes, grain was precious in the apocalypse. Although it was clear why the new grain was everyones new food, these were not good enough to eat. The higher ups did not want to eat it themselves? But what could they do? They could not revolt because of the taste. It was not like they had nothing to eat, it was just not tasty. It was still able to replenish energy, better than no food. Everyone at the dinner table silently bowed their heads and ate lunch, there was none of the usual chatter. Even Luo Xun and Yan Fei tried to eat as much possible. Before, eating was a method of rxation and enjoyment outside of work, but now it was like a fight,pleting a difficult task. They silently ate lunch and began to work. Silently clocked off at three oclock in the afternoon. The two men drove back home after work...dove into the nting room. "You guys...whats wrong?" Xu Mei and Song Lingling felt something was off about the two and followed in to see Luo Xun and Yan Fei crouching and looking at the rice. Luo Xun turned his head, his expression twisted, "Base harvest." "Oh, shouldnt that be a good thing?" Xu Mei was puzzled. The two looked at each other, a tangled expression, "Tastes...very bad." Thedies froze, "Taste bad?" "Yes, mutant rice...is disgusting." Luo Xun nodded. "Are you sure we are growing normal rice in our home?" Yan Fei had never seen rice nts C on TV did not count. There were casual looks at fields during an asional drive through the farnd. So he could not really tell the difference between regr and mutant rice. Not to mention that after steaming, the appearance almost looked the same. Luo Xun nodded hard, "Its real rice!" He had little normal rice, but could discern between types. As for benign rice mutations...he was afraid to wonder that they tasted like. The twodies were even more curious since even Yan Fei seemed unable to endure the taste of mutant rice. It was said that curiosity killed the cat. Luo Xun rmended that the two go downstairs and buy some new rice to taste. The twodies went out for food leaving the two men to watch the house along with Yu Xinran taking a nap with Puppy in her arms. After a quick walk around, the two women were smart enough to only bring back two bowls (few windows would not sell) to taste. There was also some leftover food that could be eaten, so they could endure until the crops were harvested. That night, Li Tie andpany with Zhang Yi all unanimously said C meals were inedible, no way to live, simply unable to endure! "Oh my God! How can rice have this sort of taste?" Li Ties face was bitter, showing his pain and dissatisfaction. "I thought there was a limit to how bad a mutant nt could taste, it tastes like sawdust down my throat! I had to wash my entire lunch down with water!" He Qiankun had the loudestints about food, he was the most stout before the end of the world. Zhang Yi frowned and stared at the food C the te had the rice that Xu Mei had bought. "I think it would be better to develop home cooking skills." He looked at Wang Duo beside him. Wang Duo immediately straightened, "I will follow orders!" Han Li and Wu Xin also discussed, "We should try cooking at home too?" "Yes, but I can only make scrambled eggs with tomatoes?" Xu Mei and Song Lingling whispered before saying, "How about this, you learn to cook from us? We dont have many recipes, but with the stuff at home and the vegetables can be cooked." The pair certainly could not cook for them, after all they had a lot of things to do during the day, and they had to look after Yu Xinran. There was little free time. But there was nothing wrong with Li Tie and the othersing home and getting some pointers on how to cook simple meals. Luo Xun added, "Frying something is very simple, not hard to learn. Ille watch when you practice and add some tips too." It was finally agreed to visit 1601 in order for team members to learn how to cook. As for the used ingredients C of course part of it is distributed to them. Before Li Tie and the others ate in the army canteen, they did not eat at home other than a change of pace. Previously, that part of the harvest was taken by Luo Xun and Yan Fei to sell to the army. Now, they could give up the outer block, produce crops in order to survive. In fact, after calctions, their harvest was still rich. A few could not be eaten, the rest were still sold to the military, but the benefits were not as much. Since they were going to cook, they could prepare next days lunch. Everyone gathered on the 16th floor to teach the students how to fry vegetables. Fortunately arge proportion of the grown vegetables were leafy greens with fast growth cycles. These kinds of vegetables were easy to deal with, simply fry with some salt to maintain some original crisp, no problem to eat. Coupled with Luo Xun teaching people how to make all kinds of pickles C useful life skills. "Unfortunately, theres not much flour...Luo Xun do you want to nt some wheat?" When one mentions pickles, they think of steamed bread. "Okay, when this wave is over, well grow some." Their home has a greenhouse, adjustable temperature. Much better than the fields outside, many bad things could be blocked due to nting indoors. "And corn! Theres a harvest of corn this time, right? There doesnt seem to be much." "Right, wait for these batches to grow." They would have to wait, nt the next wave quickly, especially the short term crops that were only a few months old. The cooking lessons were a sess, at least the food was not poisonous and tasted okay. To be honest, since the apocalypse each meal was reced with mutant vegetables and grains. Li Tie and the others suddenly felt that their green vegetables boiled in water sprinkled with some salt were a luxury meal with rice! Looking at those five, novice cooking students eating pickles and vegetables so happily...Luo Xun taught them to make a dipping sauce to eat raw vegetables. The voring was also good on rice C unfortunately, they were running out of rice. It was C outside food was so bad to eat, they ate lightly once they could see the bottom of the rice container. The happiest news? Of course C the rice at home had matured, could be harvested! October 10, that day Luo Xun and Yan Fei came home early and did not bother to wash and change. They went directly to 1501 where the women were waiting for everyone to gather and harvest. To be honest, they originally nned to use all the empty space to grow food, so the harvest was great. There were no pests or diseases, no natural disasters, the paddy fields seemed to have higher quality seedlings. People felt a great deal of confidence and expectation towards the harvest. Several others with Yan Fei used sickles to harvest. Thankfully since they nted the rice in shelves with ayer of mushroom wood underneath, they did not even have to bend down! At this time, all the water had been drained, once the rice was harvested, they could nt the wheat seedlings in the nursery. They could wait until next spring to collect a field of wheat. The busy people did not pay attention to time, not long before Li Tie and the others came from work to join the harvesting efforts. With the extra people, it was not long before the room was done. Luo Xunmanded the team to grab the rice and dry it on the iron shelf. Yan Fei added some metal pieces to the iron mesh, lest any rice be lost, every grain of rice was precious. Each room had a dial so the rice ripening date was somewhat different, but not by much. Since the drying area was really limited, they had to split into batches every two days. It took a total of a week toplete the drying. Of course, during this period, Luo Xun nted the wheat seedlings into the box. One side began to deal with the rice, before the apocalypse Luo Xun had the foresight to get a home shelling machine. Although it was second hand, it was still usable. The shell machine was a bitrge and the team pondered and decided to separate the grains in 1603. Each evening the machine worked, a few busy dayster, the team weighed their harvest and was excited to learn that the had nearly 600 kilograms of rice! In the two floors, with the exception of living space, the rest of the area was nted with as many crops as possible. Of course Luo Xuns ce has less (only had the balcony with some fruits and variant nts), the rest of the space was maximized... "So much rice..." He Qiankun said with an intoxicated expression. "This taste! The smell! This is real rice!" "New rice is really fragrant, we will have rice tonight, eat with duck and some other dishes!" Xu Mei was also excited. She and Song Lingling checked the rooms each day, they had the highest expectations for the crops and rice. Luo Xun smiled at the group, "Wait for everyone to gather, lets split the crops." He turned to everyone, "We negotiated the distribution, no one has argued against the previous agreement." People shook their heads. Rice and wheat, grains were a daily necessity, so the originally decided proportions were okay. Luo Xun was worried that everyone was not getting enough crops to eat on weekdays. He did not ask for a team portion of grain, but the two women needed to be paid some points and nuclei for their work. After weighing the grain, throwing away the unusable remains, the rest were divided ording to the number of people. Yu Xinran was younger, but everyone wanted to take care of the child and no one would rob rations. With the previously prepared food bags before the apocalypse, everyone got more than 100 pounds of rice. This was everyones food rations for half a year, enough tost until next year. In fact, there was not actually enough grain for everyone to eat, but fortunately there was a variety of vegetables such as potatoes and corn that were filling. They did not have to worry about starving. Everyone smelled the fragrant rice in the pot, people felt very moved C especially after the armys terrible dinner. "Whoo-hoo I finally know true deliciousness, sure enough, homemade is the best..." "Right, from tomorrow on I will bring my own food and not buy canteen meals!" Several people nodded. Not just them, even Luo Xun had made up their minds, they would bring their own lunch. Li Tie and the others were very busy, after work they had sow seedlings and it was toote for cooking. They had to eat in the dining hall, it was a tragedy. As for the military, although many soldiers had reported to their superiors that meals tasted bad. But logistics said C had to eat it, warehouse has no more grain. Who made the rice nted in open air mutate after being rained on. There was no other way. Unless the rice was nted in a shed and carefully cultivated, but the cost and efficiency...less than half an acre, no way to increase the harvest. These grains were handpicked by the army soldiers. Their own collected food was being eaten! Didnt it just taste a little bad? Anyways, it also filled ones belly, so they could only get used to it. Due to mutant grain, the people who used points and crystals to buy rice were heartbroken. Before the food prices had risen, at least it tasted good. But now the dishes now tasted so bad, even rice was difficult to eat, how could people live?! What else could people eat if they did not buy this kind of food? Now people regretted not insist on growing their own food at home. But what use was remorse? All the empty space was filled with makeshift buildings! There was no ce for clutter (it might get stolen). These days, it was a pipe dream. It was clearly harvest season, but the base was bleak and gloomy. Fortunately, humanity might not have super skills, but their adaptability was first ss. Once eating the food became a habit, theyined less about the taste. Luo Xun and Yan Fei saw the students excitedly pack their food. The two whispered about bringing rice or not. Their situation was not quite the same as Li Tie and the others. For them or Zhang Yi, they ate alone. Perhaps there might be people, but people would not disturb them. But Luo Xun was different, they were still building a bridge and daily food was delivered directly by base cars. Everyone ate together, if they brought their own food it would be noticed. If they had brought their own food from the start and not eaten military fare from the start, there would be no issue. Now after themunal food was so bad, changing their tune? Was that not ungrateful? Plus, they were friendly with Captain Guo and their team members, if they knew about the good rice, they would have to share. In order to avoid trouble, the men decided that they would eat lunch with the team! Was it not just a little bad? They could eat arger breakfast, bring some snacks and so on. Aftering home they could eat some more while busy. During autumn, there was little idleness on the walls as the team dried a variety of things on it. For the convenience of Xu Mei and Song Lingling, they concentrated these things on the 15th floors, leaving Luo Xuns home covered in sr panels to collect energy, lest there be a power outage. From this point of view, having a lot of space was a great boon. Right, although Luo Xun wanted not to use all the roof, but their homes electricity consumption was toorge, so they had sr panels all over the ce. They were busy until the end of the month, almost all the crops were harvested and stored. Luo Xun andpany had finished the days work and ready for their next base outing. Chapter 126 The metal seemed alive in Yan Feis hand and slowly formed a bridge skeleton. The work on the bridge was about 70%plete, thest parts could be done together. The beginning and end of the bridge were much more difficult than the middle. Who made the height so high, the sides of the overpass had a lot of bends which made the work more troublesome. At the start of the bridge, which waspletely built, some of the earth users had been mobilized to add meat to the bridge. Now the metal users were set up and needed to add the skin for the bridge. Of course there were other steps that needed to bepleted, but they did not have to worry about it. After finishing todays work, everyone packed their things and prepared to return to the barracks. A few jeeps with military personnel were in the temporary rest area near supply trucks. When the door opened, one person called out. Which one of you is Yan Fei?" Captain Guo raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Yan Fei. Yan Fei also saw the jeep, someone in the car saw him and rushed over. Seeing the man in the car, Yan Feis mood was not good while he frowned. Captain Guo smiled and patted his shoulder, "You go first, we wait for you in the car." He finished while the young man came forward, "Secretary Yan has important things to discuss with Yan Fei, it will take a while so your team can go back." He was about to reach out and pull Yan Fei to the jeep, resembling an arrest. All of them froze and looked at the man in astonishment and unpleasantness. This person had no manners, dragging away one of their team members. Yan Fei squinted at his hand, he sensed Luo Xuns worry. With a faint sneer, the metal on the truck suddenly flew up! It formed a huge metal wall in front of them. The man who was trying to take him away was startled and retreated but the wall kept following him. It was not until he hit something that the wall stopped and returned to being a pile of metal on the truck. Yan Fei red at the surprised face of Yan Gexin inside the car. "Lets go." Yan Fei said and returned to the truck. Captain Guo was still frozen, then turned his head with a sneer. Although it was not clear what rtionship that man had with Yan Fei, but it was clear thetter did not want any connection, and the formers behaviour was mindless. Casually inquiring the army, who did not know about the legendary team? Even some of big guys on base put on a smiling attitude. What qualifications did this guy have tomand and try and take away Yan Fei? Maybe they were too sensitive, after all people had bad attitudes without saying anything. The crowd headed towards the truck, there was scuffling as a man walked out from the car, "Little Fei!" The crowd focused on Yan Fei, who impatiently turned and crossed his arms. They realized that the middle aged man who called Yan Fei was a senior of the family. Captain Guo looked at the approaching person and said to Yan Fei, "Well get in the car and wait for you." He pulled Luo Xun along with him C he knew the mans surname was Yan. Plus one of the base leaders had been looking for young Yan, 26 or 27 years old. Yan Fei had hidden himself, but since the man had found him, it was probably Yan Feis father. Father and son had a bad rtionship, better not bring up a daughter-inw or something. Otherwise, that person would be subject to Yan Feis anger...Murdering a base leader and bystanders would cause untold chaos. Seeing the other people leaving, Yan Gexins face was better but he was still angry. "Little Fei, whats with your temper? In the past there werent any issues, what are we to do in such a dangerous world?" Yan Fei mockingly raised his eyebrows, "I did not hear what you said to me, how is that my fault?" Yan Gexin was stunned, before he had sternly told his subordinates that Yan Fei must be brought to the car, which was counterproductive. But he had something important to do, so he set the thought aside. He always got chest pains every time he dealt with his son. "Come in the car with me, lets have dinner together. I have something important to tell you." Yan Gexin motioned towards the vehicle. Yan Fei scoffed causing Yan Gexin to turn in surprise. "Secretary Yan, has no one told you to make an appointment in advance when treating someone to food? Although I am not busy as you, my time is still scarce." Yan Fei turned to the truck. Yan Gexin remembered that Yan Fei was not a good mood, he stepped forward, "Little Fei, Dad has something important to say to you!" Yan Fei pointed behind him, "I have a car of colleagues waiting for me, if you can tell me on the road then fine, but no dinner." Even if the base still had some grains for base leaders, he would rather eat Luo Xuns dinner cooked with love. Yan Gexin took a deep breath. "The military has a very important mission the day after tomorrow! Ive secured a spot for you...I know you havent moved into the new district. You can rest assured that if youplete the task, you will be able to live there for free with your ability and merits...Of course, if youre going to bring someone, I can help. There are a lot of prestigious teams and ability users participating. If you canwork with them it will be to your benefit, I specially arranged the logistics division..." Yan Gexin had clearly seen Yan Feis ability with his own eyes. Although he did not know how to distinguish power levels, the ability was powerful but the reaction and speed was still exceptional. Simr to the other first ss ability users on base, although metal powers were more troublesome and needed to carry metal around, howeverbat effectiveness should be good. At the very least, if he acted he could y a small role in car and supply protection. Yan Gexin, who treated Yan Fei like a logistics officer was looking forward to his sons expression of shock. Yan Fei interrupted part way through, "I dont have any time, plus I do not want to live in new town." Yan Gexin took a deep breath and suppressed his anger, "Little Fei, you are almost 30, do not throw a tantrum like a 10 year old child. Dad is doing his for your own good..." Yan Fei did not have a smile as he faced his father, "You know what I need? Do you know what kind of life I am living right now? How do you know I am not satisfied with my present? Secretary Yan, your ideas, ns and ambitions are your own, you should struggle for your goals. I do not want those things and have no interest in your future ns." He looked slightly exhausted, "I was already tired before the apocalypse of following other peoples hopes and demands." After speaking, he turned again towards the truck that had his lover, and partner at work. "Yan Fei! This is how you repay your father for nurturing so long at home?!" There was iron and disappointment in Yan Gexins voice. Yan Fei responded without turning his head, "You gave birth to me, but I am not prepared to live my life in ordance with your stringent arrangements." He had enough of this "because we gave you life, we are qualified to arrange your future path until you die, and continue following this path for the next generation, you cannot resist at all" argument. His duty and identity had ceased to exist after the apocalypse C without Luo Xun, he would not be alive right now. If someone gave birth was tantamount to being able to arrange all a persons life choices until their death, how many people would be willing to live? A childs life should be created out of selfless love, expecting them to live a happy life. A natural result of love, rather a certain purpose like having an obedient puppet with 24 hour filial piety. Yan Feis life was not worthless. After climbing into the truck Yan Fei hugged Luo Xun and captured his lips into a warm French kiss. The crowd was stunned at first, then erupted in wolf whistles. They had known for a while that the two men were a couple, but no one had directly asked and the pair were well behaved. The kiss brought energy to the young men who were single. Whether it was a man or woman, it was good to have someone around they felt tired and vulnerable. Yan Fei lifted his head after a while, Luo Xun hid in his arms. When he lifted his head, his lips were a bit red. He whispered to Yan Fei when they arrived at the barracks and split, "Everything all right?" Yan Fei looked down and suddenlyughed, "I am fine, he had nothing to say." He looked at the building, he neither loved nor hated his parents. It wa just that Yan Gexins behaviour was challenging his bottom line and he was tired of facing this issue over and over again. Luo Xun helplesslyughed and grabbed his keys as they headed towards their car. Yan Fei suddenly said, "He said base has an important mission, what do you think?" Luo Xun was stunned and shook his head, "I am not clear, is it going to be mission to support other bases?" Yan Fei shook his head, "No, it is profitable since there will merit and other benefits." Otherwise Yan Gexin would have found him earlier C the task must be difficult, have benefits and improve prestige, all these factors." "Then all kinds of rare supplies." Luo Xun shrugged. "The prices on base are soaring, I think even going to a ss factory for materials would be a big deal." During the apocalypse, supplies were very important. Like toilet paper...*cough* Luo Xun had bought a lot before the apocalypse, but after nearly a year, a chunk of the stores had been consumed...What were they going to do when it was gone? "Shall we go to some pre-apocalypse paper mills?" Luo Xun pulled on Yan Feis arm. "...Paper mills?" Yan Feis brain temporarily could not keep up, he did not understand where Luo Xuns thought process had gone. "Toilet paper! The stores at home are running out!" Luo Xun had a serious face. "The base produces toilet paper, but its so rough we will certainly get hemorrhoids!" He had been forced to use the paper in hisst life, it felt like self harm every time! Yan Feis expressions distorted, their stock of toilet paper was enough tost until next year with two people. In fact they had a lot of water since they could use the flushing function. Of course toilet paper was a problem, but they needed to discuss with everyone back at home. The two drove back and the neighborhood was lively again C a bunch of shacks and cars appeared between buildings. Today a few earth users were helping people build a house, not sure if they were asked or paid by shack inhabitants. The houses were not very tall, most of them were two-storey buildings C because none of them had abilities that could make metal. The two men exchanged surprised looks and drove deeper to find that there were simr buildings being built in other areas as well. Luo Xun did not remember such a thing in hisst life, of course there were homes between the buildings, it was just difficult to find an earth user to help out. The couple parked the car, Yan Fei reinforced the metal fence before climbing the stairs. Xu Mei and Song Lingling looked below the balcony, they exined as the pair came inside, "We heard that someone paid an earth user toe and build a house, other people living outside set something up. The originally broken houses have been removed in the spaces between the buildings." Luo Xun also looked down from the balcony, there were two families building earthen houses. "They pay people to build them?" "It should be, the same for other areas, there are people building houses next to the seven storey buildings." Sure enough, there were newly built homes on the nearby hills. Of course, those houses were not as high as the originals, but they closely resembled a two storey house. "I remember the outside fortifications were temporarily repaired." Yan Fei turned to Luo Xun, "Although earth users are still needed for work, the number is not as much." Luo Xun alsoughed, "So they are temporarily out of work and been on base for so long, I am afraid few people like to go and fight zombies, be part of a squad." So the earth users decided on another way C private work. They had been working on all types of construction,rge and small on base. Plus many people did not have proper houses at this time. Especially since they had levelled up to two, some even were level three, so building a house was not difficult. Looking outwards, all the houses looked the same, which meant the earth users probably had worked together, or maybe the same teacher, otherwise the simrities would not be so high. "Luckily, we drove away that guy that day, or they would go looking for someone to build houses on the roof..." Xu Mei shook her head while speaking about the incident. Luo Xun andpany had control of their roof and no let other people stay, which was fortunate since earthen houses were not very sturdy...Though the earth users would not say anything, no one would believe it C since the strength was higher than digging out normal soil. For example, Yan Fei needed to fuse metals in specific proportions to produce metal with a high hardness and toughness. Why else would he take so much effort to break down the raw materials and reintegrate them? It was not like just spreading the metal around on the outer wall. Currently the roof and walls of the earthen houses were casually dug out from the roadside. Although the soil would maintain its shape, Luo Xun was afraid that there would be weather damage or loss of firmness. But the exact details were not clear since they were not professionals. Yan Fei spected that long term prospects were not wonderful. They brought Puppy back to the 16th floor, she was well-fed. She was fully grown with shiny fur and strong muscles. One only needed a nce to see why, everyday she carried Yu Xinran around and running around in the halls was exercise. Recently some rooms had been filled with mushroom wood and converted, which reduced some of her ying areas. Chapter 127 Luo Xun grabbed Puppy who was wagging herrge tail. Although now she was no longer little, but her name...dont sweat the details. The two people and a dog went back home. Luo Xun and Yan Fei changed clothes and went to take a bath. Puppy went straight to the sofa and draped herself over the clear, volley ball sized stone. This was the core inside the ducks head fromst month. For some reason, since bringing it back, the puppy had been extremely fond of walking around it and using it like a pillow. Luo Xun thought, "Let her sleep, the stone has no use now, maybe she can develop an ability being in close contact?" He did not think any further, just thought of it as a toy. In the evening, everyone gathered for a meeting. Around the table they started a discussion C to gather more cores? Or find a factory for toilet paper?....Well, the questions were a bit odd. "The question is C will we be able to find finished toilet paper at a production factory before the end of the world?" Zhang Yi nced at Luo Xun while kicking off his slippers. He was ufortable with what was avable on base C but there was nothing better! "Even if we get to the factory and we find a stock C can we bring it back?" Every time he heard ament, Luo Xun felt like he got shot in the knee. Yan Fei coughed to shift attention. "I think we can prioritize changing the toilet C automatic flushing would use more electricity but save paper." Consumables would be useful, but it was not a pressing issue. But for the sake of his lover, he felt the need to have a toilet that could flush water. Luo Xun scrubbed his face, silently wondered why he did not think of changing the toilet. Otherwise he would not have to deal with this sort of thing. The only thing was that the price was higher, which meant there would have been less money to buy seeds and materials. "But we dont know where such a thing is sold in the city?" Li TIe raised an important point. Yan Fei got up, "Check thework, we should be able to find some cesbelled on the map." Luo Xun felt embarrassed, "That...its just a though, we dont need to look for this thing..." He Qiankun patted him on the shoulder. "In truth I felt...*cough* the toilet isntrge...it would be convenient to have one that can flush." Xu Mei and Song Lingling covered their smiles. "Go and search, it would be best to change if possible." The twodies problems were worse than the mens, especially the amount of paper that was spent during specific days each month C there were no hygiene pads during the apocalypse. The crowd nced around the map and finally found a ce C they had been there during the start of the apocalypse. The bombing should not have affected the Golden Dragon Home Furnishing Mall. This had been the first mission after the squad had been formed, the ce where they fought and swept. Although it was not certain that the toilet that they needed was here, it was more reliable than the other ces, and it was not far. Luo Xun originally thought they did not need to go, but the others unanimously decided to go near undamaged buildings. After all they had been going to destroyed ces and there had been much more zombies in the southpared to the north. Plus they encountered arge mutant animal thest time. Perhaps this ce would be less dangerous. Like the previous times they went out, Yan Fei swept his hands and collected all the stray metal on the road as they explored north. More importantly since they still had nuclei fromst month, they did not have to hunt down as many zombies. So the team pleasantly drove along. The group was ready to go, their destination was different with another goal, so they had a higher sense of expectation and anxiety than usual. Several hideous, misshapen cars were lined up at the base gate. First they passed through the barracks castle through the city walls and finally, the mighty outer wall. "What was with the wall we just passed? Is there anything else going to be repaired?" He Qiankun asked as they approached the gate. "You are talking about New Town arent you?" Luo Xun turned to Yan Fei for confirmation. Yan Fei nodded, "Should be New Town over there." "New Town is going to build a big wall too?!" Wu Xin eximed. New Town was filled with residences of power users. If they also built a tall, earthen and metal wall, it would unbnced! They were ability users, ordinary people were the ones who needed protection! "No, it seems the resident earth users repaired it." Yan Fei spread his hands. "The earth users dont have any new missions. They can only build fortifications outside base, or logistics for outgoing teams." The metal team did not have any new tasks either. So it was assumed that the New Town walls were not made by the ones inside, but they paid someone. Like the others in the base were private contractors. "Our neighborhood..." He Qiankun swallowed his words as soon as he opened his mouth. Although he wanted a safer neighborhood, the vast majority of people had to pay rent each month. Even if they wanted to build a wall, there was no way to unite all the upants. It could only be considered a dream. The seating was arranged for everyones safety and maximizing firepower. The people were evenly distributed. Luo Xuns car had Yan Fei as the power user and him as the sharpshooter along with He Qiankun and Wu Xin. The middle car had Song Lingling with Yu Xinran with Han Li and Li Tie. Thest car had Xu Mei and Zhang Yi with Wang Duo as the driver. Inparison, the middle car had the lowest power, but Yu Xinrans ability to trap the target was better than anyone else. After long practice, Song Lingling could attack with power on par with a crossbow! Shooting arrows ofpressed water. Of course it was not effective against higher level zombies with tough hide, but any weak points were easy to target. They grabbed their task and went out. All the convoys flew out of the gate. The teams goal was to visit areas that had not copsed, simr to other teams. Along the way, there were a lot of vehicles and teams rushing back to base. There were few zombies on the road, some zombies were running in pursuit of other vehicles. It was much more fragmented and less numerous than what they encountered in the southern ruins. Less than half an hour away, the cars in front suddenly stopped. Luo Xun andpany also had to slow down to find...there was a fight on the road. Yes, it was a fight between squads, not zombies. Three of the cars were ruined, parked near buildings. Other groups either stopped to watch or left via another route. "Wow, this is much more exciting than zombies." Wang Duo stretched out his neck, trying to see what was going on. Luo Xun wrinkled his brow. "Back to the car, get ready to take a detour." "Captain, a detour would take time..." He Qiankun looked at his mobile phone. He turned to the front when *BANG* One ability user had blown up the roadside, there was a giant hole in the building. "Lets go." Luo Xun waved his hand and motioned for everyone to leave. Seeing the situation, the team members no longer felt excited and all hurried into the car ready to escape C people fighting was super dangerous! A quick nce at the map and Luo Xun chose another route. He turned the wheel and brought out the walkie-talkies that had been bought shortly before the mission. "Follow my car and turn east." "Copy that boss. What happened to those people just now?" Li Ties voice came out strange. The base often had brawls, but the students had fixed schedules, so opportunities were few to see that sort of thing. Luo Xun and Yan Fei who had to travel around base, climb walls, bridges etc had seen that a lot. "I assume that there was no previous vendetta, simply a conflict of interest." Luo Xun was not surprised, that had been regr in his past life. Even from afar there was no mistaking the crowd. In hisst life...even if he did not deliberately ask, he would hear all kinds of gossip from the vegetable stalls...like two people dying in a fire. Now that he thought about it, ignoring gossip meant staying safe! Look him now, he avoided any drama and rumors, not only had his quality of life improved, he had not encountered any real problems! The team took a detour and drove under the highway to reach the mall C safety was not guaranteed after the apocalypse but there were people and they had to change directions. It was about one hour before they arrived the target location. To be honest, the conditions were not the same as before. Although it was not as barren as the southern part of the city, houses, streets and trees were ruined and sprawling with people scavenging. The houses and buildings had broken or missing windows. All the shops were open or devoid of doors and everything had been emptied. Of course there also many shops that were untouched save for clothing materials, some furniture like cabs and wood. Yan Fei collected the nearby metal, however since they would inevitably encounter teams, he did not dare roll a big iron ball. So he could only attach onto the back of the cars, but how much could be carried this way? Luo Xun turned a corner and seeing no one around, quickly looked to Yan Fei. "Make a metal car." "Ah?" Do not me Yan Feis reactions, few could understand what Luo Xun had meant. "I mean, use the metal to mimic a car shape and then use it to follow us. First make an empty shell then fill it up. If you collect more material, you can change form into a medium jeep and them finally arge truck!" "..." Yan Fei had to admit it was a subtle and practical method, how could his lovers brain be so smart? In the back, Wu Xin and the others gave ttery. "Brother Luo is really smart! Luo Xun is too strong!" They cheered and burned incense. While the couple was immersed in disys of affection, the two bachelors whined, "Dont do that sort of thing in front of us single people! Unkind!" "You two can get together, we wont stop you." Luo Xun gave them a disdainful look. He Qiankun and Wu Xin watched as Yan Fei waved his hand, gathered the metal and started to form...a car. It was evident that Yan Feis ability had improved again, how much metal had been absorbed? Or was it that since there were no metal users around, no one had dug out this gold mine? Anyway, Yan Fei casually sculpted a solid car, then it turned semi-hollow. Yan Fei did not search for tiny stores of metal and did not expand the car much more. With some effort they could bring back three trucks worth back to base. Sadly everything in the house was already prepared with their previous stores. Of course, after going back, they could reinforce the whole building or something. After finishing the car, Yan Fei smiled at Luo Xun. "We can reinforce our car again when we get back." The district situation is bing more and more serious, some people are living in themunal areas without paying. Their car is downstairs, if someone looks for trouble one day...it would be best to prevent it in advance. Luo Xun smiled, "Then get more, anyways you will be able to use the stuff." The things they stockpiled would be used for weapons or protective equipment and will get used up, so its best to have some in storage. Plus they needed some space under the building too. Yan Fei smiled and motioned for Luo Xun to drive forward. He just had to raise his hand to move the car, not much thought or strength needed. After another two bends, there was a crash and vehicles blocked the road. They had reached their destination. "Oh my God...it has be like this." The building materials mall had all its ss doors broken. The metal door was torn away, even the curtains were gone. The supermarket next door even had a copsed wall. The nearby roads were full of cluttered, copsed vehicles. A few zombies here and there. When they saw a car, they ran forward in excitement. *Roar, growl* The first-level zombies pounced, the team did not even bat an eye. Yu Xinran manipted some sand to dig out the cores and handed them to Song Lingling. Her powers had attacks, but she was mainly responsible for logistics. "...Who remembers where theres a toilet stall?" Luo Xun nced around the building uncertain. Everyone looked at each other, then Zhang Yi said, "Generally they sell toilets on the first floor right?" "Then lets go in and take a look." The group locked the cars C Yan Fei covered the windows in metal. He created a metal shield and slowly walked into the dark building. Everyone hade to this ce before, but their previous destination had been the warehouse at the back. Now they had to find the automatic toilet area. There should be some in the warehouse, but all that effort for a few toilets, it that was found out, they would beughingstocks. *Roar* A dark shadow mmed into the ground. Xu Mei pounced and blew it away. "Level two." Xu Mei calmly revealed the level, acting as if she had stepped on an ant. After removing the nuclei, the people continued deeper, carefully checking around. Each of them had a rechargeable shlight used to identify the area. Their luck was good, because most of the teams that went into town searched close to base. Since most of the useful stuff was already gone, who else would show up? They searched and found ces selling bathroom and toilet supplies. "God, theyve torn down all the partitions!" "And the floor is gone." "Fortunately there is still a toilet!" Everyone swarmed the booth. The original stalls were separated by boards that were filled with samples. But that was gone with goods strewn over the floor. There were two toilets that werepletely broken. They found a way to find which ones were automatic and sprayed water. Since there were samples here, there must be ones in the warehouse! At least there had to be one of the things, right? Once that was determined, everyone immediately hurried towards the warehouse. Chapter 128 Bonus chapter thanks to: Divi and Anxz The regr scheduled release should be ready before the end of the day. "Ouch!" "What is that?" Wang Duo did not see what he had tripped over. Han Li pointed his shlight at the ground and took a step back C a dead body. In reality, dead bodies were not that scary, they had killed who knew how many zombies, but... "This person was alive before being killed." Luo Xun examined the corpse, "About a month has passed, since there is no extensive decay." He pped his hands and pointed the other way, "Likely because of infighting, not zombies. Lets go." The teams hearts trembled as they took a deep breath. People worked together to move the toilet while continuing towards the warehouse. It was definitely best toe out with trusted teammates. If they casually teamed up outside base, it would be a matter of time before encountering this sort of situation. It might be better to find an honest job on base. They had visited the warehouses before, but that time they did not find any toilets. This time they could skip the warehouses they checkedst time to find something else. But as soon as they arrived, they noticed.."People really have a lot of power..." All the warehouse gates had been opened. The ones with useful things such as floor tiles and nks had long been empty. There still should be some rarely used things left in the warehouse, such as the teams desired toilets. "Look carefully to find what we want, we want that is in good condition!" The warehouse had a lot of things, but all the outer packaging was gone!! What were the toilets packaged in? Cardboard and foam. Ignoring thetter, the boxes were good things! Burnable! So the people woulde for the boxes, but would not be kind to the poor toilets in the package! A number of broken toilets were on the ground! The items were scattered all over the ce, but there some intact lying around. People quickly checked around to find one to their specifications. Not broken, no chips or cracks...set aside any others. Counting their discoveries C there did not seem to the kind of automatic flush toilet they needed... "Whats over there?" The crowd was confused as Yan Fei suddenly pointed to a stack of things in a corner, "Those things over there, smart toilet covers." "Cover. Covers?!" "Not the toilet?" When the unpacked toilet cover was brought over, they realized that there were two kinds of covers. "...It seems like only need to connect to water and electricity lines." The group paid tribute to the pile of toilet lids. After a while, Luo Xun waved a hand, "Grab them all!" They would definitely need recements at home in the future. Thest count, had twenty two smart toilet covers altogether including the two from the mall. With more options, they decided to put it all away first! In case they could not find anything else, these toilet covers that could control water flow, temperature angle and so on would be their harvest. "Brother Luo and Yan, theres ss here!" Han Li gave a joyous shout. Today was a good day, their hearts thought as they saw pile of fish tank ss in the corner. Although this batch of ss was not doubleyered, temperature insted, or any special treatment. In todays world it was still very useful! Although they were not short on ss, but with the trends on base, having more at home would be better. In case windows at home or the car were broken, they would not have to spend a ton of money for recements. Since what they bought was notpletely suitable for their own use, why did not they bring some free supplies from outside? So the team happily stored the ss and the toilet covers in the car, even some broken pieces of ss were gathered. They whistled as they wiped out the zombies that were attracted by the scent of human. Luo Xun had Zhang Yi and Xu Mei in charge of everyones safety with Yu Xinran instead of carrying things. The three of them together had horrifying damage potential, leaving them as deterrent was correct. After loading these things, they wandered around, looking for some glue, small bags of cement and so on which were also grabbed. They were able to reap a lot even though there was little left in the buildings near base. The good mood of the team rose several levels. Like other teams, they were subjected to a warm wee by the zombies while carrying things. But because of their trigger happypanions and that they needed umon goods, the Otaku squad quickly took care of what they needed. On the way back to the car, they managed to kill a number of zombies and dig out the nuclei. Then...they started talking about future ns. "We picked up the crystal core mission this time, so we have to scrape together 200 level one nuclei, of course more would be better." Luo Xun looked around, they were in the middle of three cars with a metal wall made by Yan Fei as a temporary fortification. Some discussed among themselves, "Should we find a building and set up?" "Will it attract too many zombies? Its not realistic to have a trap here." "Thats not a big problem? Lets deal with the nearest zombies and go back once we have enough. Anyways, we have already achieved what we wanted from this trip." Everyone exchanged ideas before Luo Xun pped his hands, "Find a corner building with more than two floors. Yan Fei will seal all the doors and windows. Well use a blood nag to gauge the situation. Go back as early as possible after killing enough." As he spoke, they all heard the sound of cars along with attacks. If they wanted a ce to hunt nuclei quietly, here was not appropriate. In the city before the apocalypse, the cars driving around would be pulled over again and again. Some roads were blocked because of wreckage. Their current goal was streets, alleys and areas where vehicles did not normally visit. The group looked at the map for a while until they identified a less used path. Sure enough, they saw a few buses lying on the road. Fortunately, since they were mostly meta, Yan Fei easily moved them for the team to drive past. The street lead to a small neighborhood. Both sides of the road had been turned into a shopping street. The team found a house an climbed directly to the second floor with metal stairs. There was a level one zombie in the room. If seemed as if it had not been out of the room since the apocalypse started. One arm had been gnawed and rotten beyond recognition, probably a member of the family living there. Yan Fei killed the zombie and sealed the room with metal C there were so many materials around he did not need to worry aboutck of metal. As for his pure metal, the solid sedan was parked with the other cars a short distance away. In case it got hit by peoples attacks. "Put if down in the middle of the road and open it." There were only a few zombies wandering around in the street. Yan Fei set up an iron te in front of the shop door. He took the metal box with blood from Luo Xun and floated it over to the middle of the front junction C the building was around the corner. As soon as the blood box was opened, the zombies jumped the scent like rabid wolves. Even more zombies rushed over to the box. To achieve the desired results, Yan Fei controlled the box in order to dangle carrots in front of the donkey. The zombies could not eat, only squeeze together and look. *Roar, roar* Sounded in tandem, all the zombies in the district became frenzied at the smell and started running in their direction. "It seems like they are all mostly level one zombies! Why is that?" The team looked out the window as Yan Fei baited the zombies. They were ustomed to an army of higher level zombies. It was strange to see level two zombies acting as a leader for the level one zombies. "Is it easy to have higher level zombies where there are more zombies or injuries?" After thinking of any differences, they came to the conclusion that the southern ruins had been firebombed. Maybe the mass killing of zombies had stimted the evolution process to an unknown extent? "If its like that, would it better if we hunted higher level nuclei in the southern ruins? If we need supplies, we go to the north?" Li Tie said while looking at Luo Xun. Luo Xun pondered before slightly nodding. "This is only conjecture, but we can try and prove this hypothesis." The possibility that the majority of the level three zombies and mutants they encountered were from the city ruins was not low. Because there were many nearby buildings and rubbish on the streets, the wind could go in strange directions. In short, Yan Fei only showed the bait for a short time but there were not that many zombies that appeared. Instead, some were blocked by buildings and unable toe. They ignored the zombies that had note, those were not their priority. Eliminating a few hundred zombies was nothing to those with a lot of experience. The team cleared the level tw zombies C after half a day, there had only a few level three zombies. Zhang Yi, Xu Mei and Yu Xinran began to mow down the other zombies. After the show of power, they separated to deal with the rest of the zombies in the area. Others began to dig out the nuclei. The battle ended quickly, it was not toote for them to destroy the second wave of monsters. The gains were proportional to the amount of work they put in. A total of more than 600 nuclei, less than 100 were level two and there was 2 level three crystals. "Lets go home." Luo Xun looked at the time and considered the danger of living in a outside building overnight would be greater than living in the wilderness. "Okay! Go home! We can take an extra day off!" The team cheered, though the harvest was not much, they had found what they wanted, in addition to a surprise C ss. WIth these things, the nuclei were less valuable. The squad crawled back into their cars and happily drove back to base. Perhaps their day had been too smooth, on the way back home there was a big event C there was a huge explosion from the side of the road and part of a building fell down onto the highway! "Oh my God!" "The building fell!" People from the rear cars shouted. There was no time to talk, Yan Fei molded the metal car into a shield to cover the team. Luo Xun grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Keep up with me! Dont stop!" A huge roar sounded, the team looked in shock as something mmed against Yan Feis shield. The metal shuddered but kept sturdy through the shock waves. Luo Xun nervously pulled a crystal core from his pocket and helped Yan Fei replenish his energy. He grabbed his walkie-talkie, "Yu Xinran, deal with the debris! Zhang Yi blow the smoke away!" A gust of wind blew in all directions, Yu Xinran also began to deal with thergest stone she saw. However, since there was a metal shield blocking their view, Song Lingling helped clear smaller obstacles. The ground was crushed and cracked with rubble and bricks from the building strewn about. Luo Xun was figuring out a path when... "Ah! Luo Xun! ss, our ss!" Luo Xun froze at the howling from the walkie-talkie. The two people in the back helped check. Fortunately they had brought a lot of cloth to cover any shocking finds C such as ceramic toilets. How could this be exempt from taxes? Plus it was unlikely to find packaging. As a result the cloth was used to wrap the ss and add a protectiveyer to the toilet covers. With therge bumps and vibrations, they checked and found that the top and bottomyers of ss had broken but at least the middle ones were saved. "What happened just now?" Xu Mei crackled from the walkie-talkie. "Not clear, just drive straight to base!" Luo Xun ordered and pressed on the gas pedal, best to return as fast as possible. Whether it was caused by man (a person nearby), a zombie or natural damage...Luo Xun had no idea and no method of going to check. It was dark at night, who knew if there was going to be any zombie animals. Such a big movement was sure to draw onlookers. The sooner they returned to base, the safer they would be. Their mood still perturbed, the group dimmed the headlights and warily continued forward. They paid attention to the rear when He Qiankun said quietly, "Luo Xun, Yan Fei, why do I feel like there is something in the shadows on the roadside?" Luo Xun had no time or way to pay attention, he had to concentrate on driving. Yan Fei was pale after using his power to shield everyone from the st while still connected to the metal around him. He checked around and said, "A zombie, but not rushing at us. Some look small, maybe zombie animals." Luo Xun hummed, "I said thatrge movements were no good, think about the duck fromst time..." He looked at Yan Fei with concern. "You take a break, well visit the hospital after we get back." He was not quite sure what kind of damage was done to Yan Fei when the building copsed, but it certainly had an impact. Yan Fei shook his head, "Its not a problem, it was like getting punched in the chest, a quick check with Zhang Yi should be enough." It felt a bit like the feeling when he was first attacked, though instead of physically hurting, it was the impact on the metal he controlled. When the building copsed, there was caused by arge force. Was he fortunate that there was a doctor in the house with two scalpels? But he was a surgeon? Could he talk about his suspected internal injury? They signed in at base, checked and handed over the required items and returned home. It turned out Yan Feis injury was under Zhang Yis specialty. Even if it was a chest injury, it still belonged to the category of trauma. Hearing the description and Yan Feis reaction, Zhang Yi huffed and waved his hands. "If he did not spit out blood, the problem is not big. His internal organs got a shock, but nothings broken. You can go to the hospital for a scan if you are still worried." Such an irresponsible doctor, Luo Xun pinched the bridge of his nose but figured that Yan Fei was okay, otherwise Zhang Yi would not have been so calm. Since it was confirmed that Yan Fei was fine, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to split the profits. Luo Xun pointed at the pile of toilet covers and ss. "We cannot use the ss for the time being, first leave it with the team supplies, well use them when needed. The toilet covers will be allocated based on the number of toilets at home. Take a few and leave the rest for spares for recements." "Okay!" The team loudly cheered in the middle of the night and woke up a sleeping neighbor. Luo Xuns home still had pre-apocalypse, soft toilet paper but others who came to base were empty-handed! From the start they bought toilet paper collected from base. Later the base had difficulties paper production...they were also part of the first group who tried self-produced toilet paper. These toilet covers were a wonderful thing to have! Everyone grabbed a toilet cover, only Luo Xuns group needed two, who let their ce have two washrooms? Even so, they still had 17 covers, the crowd was excited. Tomorrow everyone would change their toilet covers. If someone needed to use the washroom, they could find an alternative somehow. By the time they took their toilet cover home, it was two oclock in the morning. Once again they were lucky toe home at night, or they would have passed the road after the copse and be forced to find a way to clean up. By that point, there was a good chance that a huge number of zombies would have been attracted by the noise, it would have been difficult to get out. Chapter 129 Opening their door, before they could press the light switch, the couple was rushed by a bright pair of eyes. If the eyes were not apanied by panting and woofs, the two people would have thought a monster was about to attack. "Slow down, slow down...why are you eyes so bright? Strange I did not notice before." Luo Xun said as he turned on the light. Sure enough, Puppy was standing and drilling her into his arms. A closer look, everything was the same as before, but..."How did your eyes get do bright? As reflective as a mirror?" Yan Fei looked down the hallway, "Maybe it was reflected from the halls light." They came backte today, so the hallways were flooded with light. Since the puppy was at the door, her eyes reflecting light would be normal. It was rare in dogs, but cats eyes would significantly reflect light. The dog did not know what her two masters who thinking about, she reared up on her legs and tried to cover the two with slobbery kisses. "All right, all right, lets change the toilet cover first..." Luo Xunboriously lifted the dog all the way to the living room. Puppy did not continue to pester but wagged her tail. When the two left each month she would have to wait until the next afternoon for them toe back. Sometimes it was eventer, but today the pair came home early, no wonder she was so excited. The couple took care of the toilet on the ground floor and tried the electricity and realized... "Huh?! It can really spray water!" "Ah! It can actually dry too..." Watching Luo Xun y around, Yan Fei waited ten minutes before forcibly advising him to stop, wash up and go to sleep! The next morning, Luo Xun remembered that there was something important to do today and set aside the toilet for the moment. He pulled Yan Fei and knocked on Zhang Yis door. Zhang Yi, who had sleptte, came out with eye bags and low blood pressure. "What?" "To the hospital." Luo Xun nced at the crimson mark on Zhang Yis cor bone. "Last night you said you would." They could not be med for knocking so early. "I did not mean so early!" Although he was angry, Zhang Yis professional ethics made him change clothes and run a series of tests. Workers helped them at the back door, Luo Xun jumped the queue. Zhang Yi also did not seek out another doctor C he was a professional, why find someone else? He took a few scans and looked. He referred to the images. "Here, all normal. The shock would tighten your chest, no big problem. At most have some blood cirction medicine, a few days rest without strenuous exercise..." He swept a nce at Luo Xun and raised his eyebrows. Luo Xun was toozy to care, he took the scans and was ready to go home. Zhang Yi had little knowledge on traditional Chinese medicine, as for western medicinal drugs...after the apocalypse, these things were often used and became more and more expensive. Luo Xun had prepared pills at home, which saved expenses. Upon getting good news, Luo Xuns expression finally rxed. Yan Fei ced the scans in his bag, brought out his face mask and prepared to return home. "Going back?" "Yes, go back and get some more sleep!" Zhang Yi had grudge lines staring at these two who had woken him up early and now dared to talk about going home. Maybe he should find something so that the two could not rest at home? But then again, he was so sleepy...and also wanted a good nights rest or toss responsibility of supplies at home to those two. Zhang Yi yawned as he opened his office door (they came for Zhang Yis shift and other people quickly left). A plump woman saw them, froze and then quickly ran towards them, "Doctor Zhang!" Zhang Yi looked at her round belly, then her dyed hair that was mostly faded. He nced at the two beside him, "Mrs. Liu, are you looking for me?" The two men stopped before leaving the room. After seeing the womans face, Yan Fei scowled and pulled out a pair of sunsses C his hairstyle had been trimmed by Luo Xun multiple times and was now very different from before. Had it not been for his face, which was highly recognizable, he assumed that none of his pre-apocalypse acquaintances would have recognized him. Luo Xun was slower on the uptake. After Yan Fei put on the sunsses, he carefully looked out C she seemed familiar...Wait, wasnt that Yan Feis mother?! He was shocked, from the gap it was hard to recognize. Liu Xiangyus belly, shes been pregnant for half a year?! How else would her belly be so big. Because of the pregnancy, Liu Xiangyus body had be plump, she lost her originally maintained figure. She had a double chin and her belly seemed like it was filled with water balloons, one hand was against her back. Perhaps for the sake of the child in her belly, she did not dress up. But when they heard what she was saying to Zhang Yi...Luo Xun took back anything he said about maternal feelings. "Doctor Zhang, Ive been looking for months, could you please help get this child out of me! What is with the hospital right now? Why are they so irresponsible? What does me wanting to get rid of this child have to do with them?! Why cant I have an abortion? Dont they know that its dangerous to have a baby at my age? What does the base poption have to with me? I want to live has nothing to do with them! Whos going to support the baby afterwards..." Liu Xiangyu had choked back all herints, which all came rushing out at the sight of a familiar doctor. The passing patients and doctors could not help but slow down their steps. Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow in amusement, his smile widened, "Mrs. Liu, I am not a gynecologist." Had he not repeated this multiple times? This woman had a brain problem, was there something wrong with her ears? Liu Xiangyu growled after being rebuffed, "I know you arent a gynecologist! I dont have any other methods. Never mind, we can negotiate in private, as long as you can guarantee the safety of my life...Dr. Zhang I know you specialty, I asked around, surgery is surgery. You can even do brain surgery, how could my issue be harder? Its just taking a child from the belly, like removing a tumor!" Hearing that even the strong nerved Zhang Yi could not maintain his expression. He spread out his hands with a contrite expression, "Very different that taking out a tumor." He interrupted whatever the woman was about to say, "Superiors do not all any medical staff in the hospital to do abortions, regardless of what favor you pull. Plus, I am on vacation, only came here to grab some forgotten things. I still have to go home." Hezily dodged Liu Xiangyus arm. Liu Xiangyu rushed forward, wanting to pull his clothes but was blocked by a cyan wind. Could not catch him! Yan Fei grabbed Luo Xuns hand and the two walked past her. Liu Xiangyu was too angry to pay any notice, only stared resentfully as Zhang Yi disappeared C why did no one help her? The baby would only grow bigger! Whats it like giving birth? Of course she knew! She had already experienced it once and almost died. She remembered all the vomiting, body issues and other issues. She had wanted to get rid of it, if not for the family interests, she would have inducedbor in the third month! Not to mention, it was the apocalypse, what crazy person would want to have a baby? What would happen in case of massive bleeding, infection or so on... Zhang Yi grimaced as he watched the couple go through the door. Luo Xun helplessly opened the door and let the two inside. Once inside, Zhang Yi hummed inint, "Today is such a bother, dragged awake by you, then had to meet your mother..." Yan Fei took off his sunsses, looking extremely calm. "She has nothing to do with me. The child in her belly has nothing to do with me, I can not control her." Zhang Yi gave him a look, "She recently osted a few obstetricians and gynecologists, she was led away by the military for obstructing work. Did not expect she woulde so soon." He sneered, "Its not easy to get rid of a child. She does not want to deal with a burden. For fear of damaging her body, she tried to find a doctor for abortion or inducedbor." Yan Fei shrugged, "Nothing to do with me." Zhang Yi nced at Yan Fei and rolled his eyes. Who let that mother let her son walk past without any sense of recognition? The situation seemed to have ured more than once. Li Tie had already returned back home, but they were too tired to say anything and returned to theirfortable beds. By the time they got up, it was afternoon. The first thing Luo Xun did was change the upstairs toilet cover and personally tried it. He found that this thing was more convenient,fortable and most importantly, did not waste paper! Such a good thing should have been found long ago! Why did they wait until now? But not hunting crystal cores, using their vacation to find the covers was very sessful. With this in mind, Luo Xun happily climbed downstairs to rece the other covers, only to learn that Li Tie and the others had already done so in the morning. Wu Xin smiled and exined, "Luo Xun, you know our home has four people but only one bathroom, every morning we fight over the toilet. Hurry to another room for the washroom...so this morning we changed the rest of them." "Its all right, it was for everyone anyway." Who cared about the number of toilets, even if they exchanged all of them, they still had more than half left. Rece any broken ones. The batch of toilet covers was well received by everyone. After discussion, everyone decided C everyone would keep spares, not one would be sold! They were not short on money, there was no need to sell these things for groceries. During the second vacation day, Luo Xun went downstairs with Yan Fei to dispose of the metal fence. They brought back a solid metal truck, no one noticed when they entered base! They only checked their spoils for traces of the zombie virus. Luo Xun asked Yan Fei to turn the metal into a metal garage, which saved space and let them store a total of four cars. After that, it was time for autumn harvest, used the rest of the time for final harvesting, sowing the next crops, drying and processing. On the third day, Li Tie andpany needed to go work at the barracks. Luo Xun and Yan Fei still had a day of holiday toze at home, y with the puppy, teach Yu Xinran how to read, process the crops with Xu Mei and Zhang Yi. At night, Li Tie and the other brought back thetest news, "We heard that several teams went missing while on missions and someone sent s distress signal!" Everyone immediately reacted, Luo Xun asked, "Was it the road we passed before?" A few people shook their heads, "Its not clear, but teams going north of the city have to pass through, but the details are unclear. Some teams received the rescue signal drove past. Heard that the military also sent out teams, have wait for the results of the investigation." Wang Duo had another message, "I heard today that several teams noticed the building copse but did not take a detour on the way back to base. Heard that the day we came back a number of ces were rumbling." Luo Xun thought a bit, he had not heard of this matter even in hisst life. But it was difficult for appropriate teams to get out. It would take a day for a team to prepare, fortunately they had crossbows. Sometimes he had to rummage through the trash for weapons to sell. Unfortunately at that time, they did not have any suitable materials. The weapons were not ideal and the production speed was so slow. These things would note to fruition until the teams were rescued. Luo Xun and team could only temporarily set the matter aside and busy themselves elsewhere. This time Luo Xun brought back a lot of metal. Other than the garage, they brought some metal upstairs. "Push the sofa to the corner and make a row of imnts." 1604 was not used early spring when they started to grow the grain. Some of themon crops were moved next door. In addition to the balcony with onion, ginger, garlic, parsley, pepper and other seasonings C Puppys snacks do not count. The normal nts were kept at his house, without exception were all kinds of fruit! For example, the few lemon seeds had grown into tworge pots. His fruit trees and grape racks were thriving, though they had not bloomed this year. The strawberries had small white flowers sprouting from the row of boxes. Perennial fruit trees were impossible to harvest in the short term C it would not blossom until next spring at the earliest. If any fruit trees produced fruit, Luo Xun would think it a miracle. Of course, they would see results eventually. On top of that, there were the strange mutant nts left in Luo Xuns home. He wondered what kind of fruit these nts would produce. Would they be edible? Poisonous? Benign or normal mutation? Now Luo Xun considered that 1603 was area for team cultivation, the harvests were distributed to the team. Anyways they could free up space at home. Luo Xun wanted to nt a benign variant of rice, he had found some in his past life, but the chance of benign mutations was really low. Now all the rice was harvested and processed. He had experimented before,pared mutant with regr rice. It was said that the benign variants were not the same C but still okay. The aroma was nice, and the porridge was better than steamed rice. Luo Xun thought it tasted better than pre-apocalypse fragrant rice, Yan Fei agreed. All he to do now was produce more of this benign rice, leaving the seeds and allowing them to grow as much as possible. This kind of thing was destined to be a luxury, Luo Xun was not prepared to rece all the rice C in the future benign mutant crops produced less than normal groups. Instead the mutant variants of crops had greatly increased yields. The benign variant seeds were ced in the nursery room to grow in advance. They could being a new round of cultivation afterwards. If they were not willing to sell the benign mutant crops, could add some to porridge to have improved food. Yan Fei casually waved to finish the nting box. Luo Xun prepared the soil, poured clean water and added good fertilizer. One by one the seedlings went in. Once thisyer was done, Luo Xun put some mushroom wood in the bottom drawer in order to absorb the possible toxic substances. Finally they pair chose some moremonly eaten crops C which would be more convenient in their homes. Because of the other special crops, the room had a lot of mushroom wood. The group found that normal mushrooms started regrly growing normal mushrooms. Xu Mei and Song Lingling would pick any mature mushrooms and ce them on the windowsill to dry. After the number of mushrooms has increased, they would be willing to use these things in their food to eat. Chapter 130 In November, the weather hadpletely cooled down, fortunately Luo Xuns team had finished their busy farming season. Most of the crops have been harvested, processed and dried. Even the sunflowers on the balcony were filled with seeds. In addition to leaving some seeds for renting, the remainder were squeezed into cooking oil for daily use. The peanuts and soybean were also harvested and treated the same way. Peanut butter was a delicious thing spread on bread slices. As for soybeans, it can be used to make tofu in addition to making oil. Luo Xun used the grinder he had acquired before the apocalypse. Notrge, also second hand but it worked well. The two women had dealt with the bulk of the farm matters while caring for Yu Xinran. It was not a lot, but there was a good amount of oil C if used sparingly it wouldst a while. One must know that the base had no edible oil for sale, who knew whether it was because no oil crops were grown? Or were they all mutated? In any case, after that discovery, the team became even more nervous and cherished every drop of oil they had. Another set of satellite photos, apanied by shocked looks. The base leaders sat around the table in silence. Only after a long time did someone open their mouth. "What...are we going...to do now?" "What? What do you think? How are we going to defeat the things?" "Ability users, let them go!" "Are you sure the ability users will be able to beat them? The lost teams still have not been found!" "That does not prove anything...dont forget that there are other things in the city!" "Oh, then what do you think copsed so many buildings? Teams of ability users out collecting supplies? Or were the buildings so damaged that a stray attack caused the copsing?!" "Calm down, everyone calm down and discuss the problem!" The main question the leaders bickered about C how exactly were they going to deal with the monsters in the photos?! Photographs were scattered on the table, along with reports from scouts who investigated the city. Huge, robust three meter tall zombies with grayish skin that could easily lift and crush a car. Giant zombies were wandering the city, leaving copsed buildings around them... "Going to fix the outer wall again?!" The metal team members looked at the highway, which still needed some work, then looked at the tall outer walls...What was going on? Why were they working on that wall again? Werent they done? "This time you need to refine the metal on the wall to make it as hard as possible, simr to the current project." The messenger patiently exined to the group. "This is the proportion that needs to be synthesized, you have extract the elements and then mix them..." Captain Guo touched his chin, pondered then asked, "Have they found any new zombie types? Highly destructive kind." The person stiffened, waved his hand with augh. "You think to much..." With the teams unimpressed looks, he swallowed his words and whispered, "You have the right idea, you have to reinforce the wall." Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged looks C must be rted to the matter that day. Otherwise the timing would too coincidental. Although they did not inquire about specific news, they could only follow the orders from the higher ups. The bridge was about to enter thest stage but the wall was more pressing, the project leaders quarreled for half a day beforepromising. The final decision C they would deal with the wall in the morning, after lunch they would repair the bridge... Anyway, both of the jobs were simr, the metal team should be able to handle the task. So Yan Fei and the team worked two shifts C one in the morning and one in the afternoon, they were very busy. Luckily they did not actually increase their work hours, otherwise...they would die of exhaustion. The work each day gave points and crystal cores, otherwise the militarys current rations would have been unbearable and the two of them would have left. If there had been overtime, Yan Fei would have resigned C he would rather hunt zombies for crystal cores, plus he would get to eat home cooked meals. *Whoosh* There was a cold wind and little protective measures against the weather, everyone was miserable. Who knew whether it was true or it was because living conditions were worse, anyway Luo Xun and the rest of the metal team agreed that the temperature was lower than previous years, the wind was stronger. With the cold wind blowing while they worked, a few days passed. This morning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei brought bags un uneaten vegetables all the way to the barracks for sale. Captain Li seemed to have been waiting, he even warmly weed the couple before doing the exchange. "Ah, youve been here a lot less often than before!" Captain Li took out two cigarettes and handed them to the men. Although both of them did not smoke, they epted C this was strange, in the past they rarely dealt with the captain. Captain Li motioned for the two toe inside C Luo Xun wondered what he wanted. As for the car...Yan Fei now had the ability to lock the car without removing his hands from his pockets. The lower ranked soldiers dealt with the food while the three sat on some stools in the kitchen. Captain Li smiled and spoke, "Your crops are nted home, using the clean water produced by an ability user?" The two men smiled but did not speak. Captain Li did not have ask anything, everyone knew that polluted water had a higher chance of mutating crops. Since Luo Xun could grow so many non-mutant vegetables C the difference must be the water! Seeing that the two were silent, Captain Li continued, "The weather is turning colder, but we still have to ensure that the canteen has enough for the army. The exchange people are saying that there have been fewer peopleing to sell food..." Captain Li finally reached the point, "If you can sell more than 10 pounds, we can raise the price!" This matter was Yan Feis area, so he was silent. Luo Xun finally smiled and pped. "This would depend on our harvest situation...you know that nts grow slower in the cold, we can only try our best." With those words, at least Captain Li had some hope. The vegetables had long been weighed, the two people got up to leave after the transaction. They parked the car at the barracks and joined the rest of the team. They disucssed the matter in quiet voices. "Did he raise the price for us because of smaller amount of vegetables on base?" Yan Fei frowned, "Doesnt seem like it." "Vegetables are not at the point where prices must be raised." Luo Xun smiled, "I think that there have been less non-mutant vegetables, on the other hand, there might be a team collecting food which raised prices." "Rising prices with demand?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and looked at Luo Xun. "Right, Xu Mei said that there are no fresh vegetables for sale at the base windows. They are selling pickles and other cooked meals. If someone wanted lettuce, they would either grow their own or go to the market. Plus with the number of ability teams in New Town...if some of the captains want to eat fresh produce, other teams must want the same. It would be strange if prices did not increase~" Luo Xun said with an easy smile. When he officially started farming in another life, the price of vegetables was high enough to be profitable. Of course he had worked as a vegetable grower for the base. Although the winter harvest was slightly less, it would not cause the canteens to raise their prices. Captain Li had offered to raise prices for one reason C the value of non-mutant vegetables had risen! Who was willing to decrease their appetite? Look at the base reaction after the new grain appeared C regr grain was gone! The higher ups ate regr rice to protect their taste buds and of course, preferred to eat non-mutant vegetables at the same time. Of all the normal vegetables from Luo Xun and other sources, 80-90% percent were in these peoples stomachs. There were team captains raised the prices so they could get a bite. Unfortunately, although most of the ability users had moved into New Town and some scattered water users had joined teams...Not every water user was willing to farm, not every team could recruit one and not everyone was skilled at farmwork. Not every team could make a greenhouse for cultivation C especially where residential spaces were tight. So, what would these captains, who wanted to eat well do? Buy it! After listening to Luo Xuns analysis, Yan Fei understood the matter. He had only thought it strange because there were so many nts at home, they grew their own food, not to mention therge pile of vegetables. Of course, he now understood that Luo Xun could fully support two (and a dog) using farming. There was no surprise that a pair of strangers were waiting at their metal-wrapped car after a busy day of work. The two men carefully looked at Luo Xun and Yan Fei. They quickly walked forward before the couple drove away. "You two...are the ones who delivered food to the canteen this morning?" The metal on the window melted into the car, leaving only a protective railing of sorts. If they were not in the apocalypse with no high-tech products, they would have thought the metal was controlled by some device. Who would think that the metal was manipted? Then again, a metal user had to sell vegetables for a living? This was... Yan Fei was indifferent, "What is the matter." The two men exchanged nces, before approaching with a smile. "We are from XX team, heard that you sell food especially to the military canteen? We were wondering what prices..." The two had intercepted on behalf of their boss. They wanted to see if they would deliver to their home instead of the military, even willing to pay extra. Luo Xun knew the trends from hisst life, Yan Fei was a boss before the end of the world so they got the other partys bottom line. The two only left their contact information before leaving. "The price is okay, but the teams name...never heard of it." Of course, Luo Xun wanted to make more money, but he would not sell to a team that does not know how to be silent. They might bring the food and then...the people are gone, who would he sell to then? Of course, some people would be willing to buy for the time being...They had adjusted the proportion of crops in fear of having enough. If anyone really wanted to buy, they would need to readjust. Even if they wanted to sell, they would only do so after everyone in the team had enough to eat. The two returned home and called for everyone for a discussion. The end result was that if the military canteen was willing to pay more, they were willing to bring out more vegetables. The only issue wa that they needed to adjust their cultivated crops. Several people were discussing, not long after Li Tie andpany returned. After half an hour, Wang Duo picked up Zhang Yi and came back home. Zhang Yi red at Yan fei from the corner of his eye while humming. The team turned to Yan Fei C how did he provoke His Highness? Yan Fei was also surprised, he asked Zhang Yi, "What have been you smoking?" Zhang Yi flipped him while leaning against the back of the chair. "A few nurses came to me and said someone is targeting me. I should be more vignt." Someone was targeting Zhang Yi? Why was he staring at Yan Fei then? "Someone? Is going to attack you?!" Wang Duo rolled up his sleeves, ready to settle the score. "Tell me, what bad man is jealous of your talent? Or Someone lusting after you?!" The room of the people ignored Wang Duo and instead focused on Zhang Yis answer. Zhang Yi swung around the chair and sneered, "I heard after asking around C two days after I refused a patients illegal request, she asked the hospital director to fire me." He sneered again, "I dont know why she is so confident? Thinking that with a wave of her hand she can fire me, she can try!" Hearing that Luo Xun and Yan fei exchanged helpless looks...Liu Xiangyu was really desperate to get rid of the child. Yan Fei was not a doctor and did not know how she managed to bother the hospital director about the matter. However she was obviously pregnant and looking for an abortion at the hospital, the director must be pretty strict, otherwise there must be a doctor willing to take the job in private. But Zhang Yi only seemed to be whining, not looking to trouble Yan Fei. He was the most clear about Yan Feis attitude for Mrs. Lius actions...Yan Fei would not take any responsibility. Since Zhang Yi did not continue about the matter and Wang Duo was still spitting made, the rest of the team did not ask further. Instead they spoke about vegetable growing. After listening to Luo Xuns exnation, everyone had no objections. Why hesitate C it was just expanding the cultivation area. However the nting space was in ordance with the previous n, with a variety of vegetables. It would not easy to make adjustments, they could only take advantage of the space in the hallway. Since winter was approaching, the hallway was emptier. The vegetables that did not need much sunshine had already been harvested. To increase the amount of growing space, they had to find a way to transform the corridor. Transforming the corridor was simple, especially since the area already had the frames in ce. As long some Yan Fei added some pipes for water, it was done. The only problem that some things in the hallway needed to be moved and there was little light. No one had otherments, the sr panels on the walls created enough electricity for all the rooms. No need to increase the number C of course there never too many batteries. As for moving things to make room...The team decided to work after dinner! Hands-on work! Yan fei had no trouble since he manipted metal everyday to make a variety of things. The rest of the team cleaned up the 16th floor hallway while waiting for the 15th floor to finish. Metal floor and wall, iste any parts that were likely to leak. When everyone moved to the 16th floor, the renovation of the 15th floor was all done. In addition to setting aside space outside the elevator for the future, all the rest of the things were moved and put in their ces. Yan Fei also modified the iron gate between the 15th and 14th floor. Improve the instion, of course vents and fans needed to be installed C how would the nts grow if there was no fresh air? Chapter 131 The house renovation was very simple, it was not difficult to set up the nters in the hallway along with electricity and plumbing. In contrast, it was time consuming to nt the seedlings. The good news was they were not in a hurry, even if the military canteen needs leafy greens there was no anxiety. As for other teams trying to buy vegetables...they had not found a suitable buyer, no need to hurry. It seemed someone from the cafeteria had bbed? The third morning, Luo Xun went to the canteen for delivery they were stopped halfway, of course after the crops were sold. The other side was very polite, not the same team but the same purpose. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were not polite, they chatted and left their contact details before continuing on. Thankfully they were no the fortress barracks. Those who could enter had some rtion with the military and did not dare mess around. The pair concluded their sale of non-mutant vegetables to their military. The person was not Captain Li but there were many people in the canteen, selling information was normal. This time when they sold vegetables one soldier secretly passed a note with information from another team. It would take 20 days until the next harvest of the vegetables nted at home, they would need to set some aside for the barracks. The most stable buyers was definitely the military canteen. Other ces to earn extra money with long-term cooperation...little to none hope at the moment. The weather was getting colder and colder by the day, the north wind blew through the night. All the heating equipment on the two floors was in use. The rooms in 1604 were not warm but he had transformed the heating, naturally it would improve once it was turned on. On base, the prices of wood, coal, alcohol, gas and other fuels soared. Even the military exchange windows began to slowly increase their prices. During the autumn harvest, the Otaku squad dried the rice stalks. Although these things were not the best fuel, starting a fire for cooking was not a problem. Luo Xun andpany took advantage of the chance to find coal, wood and so on before the weather really turned cold. Since they usually used more electricity to cook, getting through winter would have no problems. "Up until now, weve been contacted by...seven teams." Luo Xun held a stack of notes in his hand, all of whom were interested in buying food from the team. It was clear that all the members were entrusting the matter to Luo Xun C after all, who had been responsible for the matter before? Other people messing around might cause trouble for the team instead. Yan Fei was listening and thought it would be better for Luo Xun to make the choice. After all he might be able to have everyone get a profit from growing vegetables, but he did not know how long the teams wouldst. Luo Xun knew and understood more than anyone else. "These two families have the highest bids." Luo Xun picked out two notes, "I have not heard of them before but I heard that they had changed leaders recently. Although we have heard of them, I am afraid neither of these teams will work for the long term..." He sighed and looked at some others, "These prices are too low and look at their attitude...sending a younger brother to talk, no upsides so well pass. And finally these ones..." Luo Xun finally found two that might develop long-term rtions. He turned to discuss with Yan Fei, "What do you think? Who should we pick?" Yan Fei picked up the notes and looked at the names before smiling at Luo Xun. "Contact both, even if they want food it might not be too much. We sell at most half and the rest goes to the barracks." "Right! Sounds good!" Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief. The batch of leafy greens in the hallway would mature in two days. They could roughly estimate the weight even before harvesting. If one team did not buy all, they would pass the rest along so they always had customers. They dialled the phone to contact each other. Sure enough after Luo Xun reported the amount of food, one team said it was enough while the other wanted more if possible. The vegetables to be sold to the team were nted in the hallway. As for the crops nted in the other rooms, part of it was for daily consumption and part was to be sold to the barracks meal hall. The vegetables sold to the canteen were 4 nuclei per pound. If they exceed 10 pounds, the price grew to 6 nuclei. Also sold to the two teams, each pound was 10 nuclei...of course this was the price of vegetables during winter. In better weather, the estimated price would be reduced by half. The next morning, the team got up early to harvest, pack and load all the vegetables before returning to the rooms to eat and change. When the group exited the iron gate on the 15th floor, they could not help but shiver C outside was very cold. "The weather is cloudy, it looks like its going to snow." They looked out at the gray sky and shivered thinking about work. "Normally autumn rain...no it should be winter by now right?" "Yes, winter startedst Monday." Wu Xin turned to stare wide-eyed at Han Lis words. "You have the time to look at the calendar?!" Han Li rolled his eyes, "Please, I just looked at the date on my phone." He could not help but look. Luo Xun drove to the designated location to handover the produce and then went to the barracks. When the two got out of the car, Luo Xun took out the two bags covered in cloth C in fact the days should not be cold enough to wear these coats, who made todays weather so bad? "Everything here? Hurry up, it looks like its going to rain today." Captain Guo saw the pairing and looked up at the sky before ushering everyone onto the bus. "Captain, what happens if it snows? Stop work?" A soldier breathed out mist. "The higher ups did not say stop, well have to keep busy. Fortunately, the bridge is almost done and after that we can work on the outer walls." Captain Guo shrugged his shoulders, they were braving the wind and rain for construction instead of training. If these things had not been made by ability users, who could know what would be done as the temperatures plummeted. They drove to the destination and continued yesterdays work C every time they refined the metal, the wall would shrink and new metal needed to be added. At first, the team thought it would not be too much trouble C but it was actually like rebuilding the wall! Not easy at all! Not long after they started working...rain and snow began to fall from the sky. The reason it was rain and snow was because it fell quickly like droplets but they were solid, hitting people with popping sounds. After a while the reaction turned into C "What kind of rain/snow if this?! They look like grains of rice!" Luo Xun grabbed an umbre in one hand with the other was holding the transparent shield. This was just right, waterproof and snow-proof. As long as there was not a strong wind, it was fine to protect two people. Captain Guo also quickly called for people to grab the umbres from the car. Not a momentter, there was a row of open umbres on the wall. In the afternoon, the ice grains becamerger, it soon became falling snow. Standing on the base bridge while looking at the base C a vast expanse of white. It was not long until everything in sight was covered in white. After insistence to finish thest bit of bridge work, the team returned to the car and drove back to the barracks. When he returned home, Xu Mei had raised the heating to a level that the vegetables inside were not affected by the cold. The couple became warm due to climbing more than 10 flights of stairs. "Dont rush!" Luo Xun was hit head-on by Puppy. He was wearing severalyers and nearly fell on his back after being pounced, fortunately Yan Fei was behind him. Luo Xun muttered while patting the enthusiastic dogs head. "Shes grown more and stronger than before." Xu Mei smiled and let the two into the house. "We raised the temperature a bit in all the rooms. Change your clothes and check the temperature." "All right, lets go up first." Luo Xun grabbed his dog, the couple and pet went upstairs. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had enough greenhouse experience to adjust the thermometer and plumbing. There was no strong wind, so the vents had no problems. After checking the rooms, Luo Xun said there was no problem. He remembered the morning vegetables sales and brought out todays earnings. This was bonus revenue, a small portion was set aside for team funds and the rest were evenly distributed. They waited until Li Tie and the others to return before handing it out. The snow was falling heavier and heavier and it was darker earlier. Luo Xun was preparing to make duck stew to heat up before his mobile phone suddenly rang. "Its Li Ties number." Luo Xun put down his cup of hot tea and answered, "Li TIe?" "Brother Luo." Li Tie voice was not too clear, it seemed like there were a lot of other voices. "The snow tonight is too big, we are worried about Wang Duo and Zhang Yi out alone so we are going together to the hospital." "All right." Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei and the others, "We were nning on everyone sharing some stew, I guess you can eat when you get back." "All right! Well be back soon and send you a text when we get Zhang Yi!" Although everyone has learned how to cook, but Luo Xun and thedies had the most delicious food. If the students wanted good food, they would wait until everyone ate together. Li Ties voice was very loud, Xu Meiughed, "Then we will prepare first." "Lets do it together." Luo Xun got up and walked into the kitchen. Yan Fei got up and took a piece of duck from the fridge. Duck meat, radish, potatoes, spices, dried eggnt, beans, pumpkin, mushrooms and rice...The pot was cooked on the stove then ced into an insted container for the microwave. The aroma was in the air as Li Tie and the others came home. "Just in time, we just put the cabbage in." Luo Xun pointed at the pot in the middle of the table. "Go and change your clothes first, thene back to eat." "Okay." "Change? Lets eat first!" "We thought we were going to freeze to death! The roads are unusable now!" "The snow is deep?" Luo Xun looked at the window. Since they were upstairs, they could not tell how much snow was outside. "Pretty deep! It reached out thighs!" Li Tie said while sitting down. He Qiankun sniffed and grabbed some fish with his chopsticks, "Positive we have to wear rain boots to work tomorrow." Luo Xun shook his head, "Wear tight boots and stuff the pant leg inside. If you wear rain boots with snow outside...you might get frostbite from the cold." Zhang Yis chopsticks shed while everyone was talking about the snow outside C who would ignore the food? Everyone at the table noticed after the third time and so they jumped into action. Spoons and chopsticks moved between the stew and bowls of food. After the meal, there were no traces of food in the pot. Song Lingling grinned, "Gee, the pot bottoms are spotless, this will save a lot of dishwashing time." The team was spread out patting their stomachs, no one wanted to move. Only Yu Xinran was holding a bowl of strawberries, blinking while sharing with Puppy. The strawberry nts had matured recently, a good chance to add vitamins to everyones winter diet. Compared to other food, both Yu Xinran and the dog preferred the sweet fruit. Even this group of adults would have cravings C usually they ate fruit before, but today...they would have it after the meal. "Still have to...get...tomorrows meal ready." He Qiankun was currently full and even then he thought about tomorrows lunch. "There are still ingredients, well set up a pot for you." Xu Mei smiled at Li Tie, who expressed his gratitude. In fact, Luo Xun and Yan Fei had the worst lunch, that wonderful rice with the metal team...The taste did not need to be exined. The next morning, Luo Xun opened the curtains, "Theres frost flowers on the ss!" Due to the difference between the temperature inside and outside. How did he survive winter in hisst life? Luo Xun seriously thought back, recalled he had no winter coat, stuffed paper in his clothes to resist the cold weather. Fortunately, he was not willing to set a fire, otherwise the whole basement would have burned with a stray spark. "The snow looks deep." Yan Fei looked at the roof next door and frowned, "Look over there, more than half of that building is covered." "Yeah, its as half as high as a man." Luo Xun grimaced. "During previous winters, he tried to stay at home, wait for some of the snow to melt, other people to clear some up before leaving. He could not measure the exact height but it could definitely reach the point where the door was blocked C even scarier it would happen every year! "Wait, do we still have work today?" Luo Xun stood and looked at Yan Fei. Yan Fei also raised an eyebrow...that was a problem. "Luo Xun, will there be a problem with so much snow on the roof?" Li Tie came and asked when the couple went downstairs. The lovers exchanged looks, Yan Fei said, "I will use the metal mesh on the roof to deal with it." The whole roof had been covered with metal for protection. Did not expect that the metal mesh could also be used for snow removal. The metal on the sr panels hanging on the walls could also be manipted to remove the snow. The roof seemed to vibrate, the surrounding buildings had an additional weeks worth of snow. Li Tie and the others also contacted their bosses about working during the bad weather. The heavy snow was so sudden and no one was prepared. Even the military had a pause in operations. It was not until 7:30 that they received news C the five students did not have to work. Zhang Yi, Yan Fei and Luo Xun would continue with their work. Zhang Yi worked at a hospital, there were quite a few frozen people with frostbite, there was no time to rest. And the wall...the base higher ups said that important work could not be dyed. However, the two people could drive and could only slowly make their way over. Along with Zhang Yi, the three had to move through waist-deep snow towards their destination. There were also potholes C when they arrived, Captain Guo was told that the car could not start so they had to go on foot to the wall. "Captain, can we use the highway?" One metal user raised their hand and inquired. "Right! Thats what I said!" Captain Guos face was filled with resentment. "To the bridge!" Todays situation was someone trying to pressure his team, something to do with tensions among the higher ups. Someone wanted to pull the metal team, otherwise they would not be forced toe out on a snowy day. This was a result ofpromise between the leaders C but could they afford to lose people to the cold?! Walking on the bridge that was not finished, it was interesting. Because the metal wa lightweight and the earth users had only started a section, there was a sense of thrill. Luckily, their team had metal users. When they got on the bridge, the ability users shook off the snow without worrying about the stability. Although the metal was a little slippery, there was no problem as long as they were slowly making their way through the center. "The earth users dont have work today?" Yan Fei whispered to Captain Guo, not seeing any other people at the bridge. Chapter 132 All Hail Vani Bean (0?0)/ for they have sent me enough Ko-Fis for three bonus chapters! (I will try to get the first one out this evening) ???(???)??? Captain Guo sneered, "They have long since followed...forget it, it wont be clear. Anyway, the captain of their squad team has been holding onto a new thigh..." The captain continued in a whisper, "Recently someone has been trying to trouble you two...if you dont want to deal with it, just tell me if you can leave early." The two men had not been part of the military from the start, the ball was in their court. As long as they were explicitly targeted, no one would be able to find them with a change in phone number. Yan Fei nodded while ncing at Captain Guo, "Thank you." He mentally tallied a favor. The group braved the snow while working all day. The next morning, the couple received a message C no work today because one of the metal users had a high fever fromst night. The people sent to the hospital have not woken up... After a work day in the snow, the metal team dropped three members, two were regr people and one ability user. The two regr people were fine after a weeks rest but the metal user died of pneumonia 10 hourster due to the fever. The whole team was silent after getting the news. Captain Guos expression was extremely ugly, because of this matter he had been criticized by his superior and in his record. He spoke with the pair, "The situation is messy, the whole team is involved...I cant help the people who are in the army get away but the two of you should think about it and your future." Luo Xun and Yan Fei had discussed among themselves after hearing the news that a metal user had been hospitalized with high fever. They were aware that the base leaders were ying politics and that as long as they were in a military team, they would be pawns. If there was no external influence, they would certainly rely on the tree but now... "We will quit, sorry for troubling you Captain Guo." Yan Fei made up his mind and took the captains hand with a smile. "If there is anything I can help with in the future, just tell me." There might be no way for official work, but there was nothing wrong with just helping Captain Guo with a small matter. Captain Guo bitterly smiled and shook Yan Feis hand. "Right, Ill treat you to dinner then...if things get better I will contact you but I am afraid there will be no chance..." The situation at the barracks was messy, plus New Town...after thinking about it he whispered, "Recently the attitudes of people in New Town are not good...nothing good hase from gathering the ability users together. If you dont need to move, avoid New Town, lest something might happen." The couple exchanged looks. "New Town..." Yan Feis sneer was hidden under his mask, "All the ability users concentrated together, once factions are formed it certainly would not be safe, even if everyone started at the same level." That was why Yan Fei had little interest when Yan Gexin brought up the matter. One ability user could not guarantee a foothold in this world, how would Yan Gexin, an regr person fare? Luo Xun also sighed, "I see. The weather is so cold, lets go home and have a nice meal. Anyway more teams now want to buy our food!" A few teams had reached out recently, but only buying one or two pounds! That much was enough, they would take what they could. Some things were better started early. Now the weather was so bad, working outside was not a good idea. People were waiting for better weather before crystal core hunting... It did not take long for Captain Guo to finish the formalities and thanked the two for sending food the barracks every once in a while. He handed them a pass so they could enter in the future. After this, they would have to say farewell to this steel fortress. Captain Guo and the rest of the team wished the pair luck as they grabbed their things and left the barracks. The snow on the road was very thick, although there were people in charge of cleaning, they only worked once a week, or every other week. The efficiency was quite low. Even rubbish could be piled into mountains, not to mention snow. The biggest impact from the two no longer repairing the wall with the metal team C no free points or nuclei. Fortunately they had good rtions with the logistics department. Although the number of metal nuclei that could be exchanged was not high, it was also not zero. As for if the two wanted more metal nuclei? Even if the Otaku squad rarely went, they were very efficient at crystal core hunting. Their harvests were also very satisfying. The two went all the way back home. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were very surprised. "Why are you back so early?" "Got fired." Luo Xun easily grinned. Xu Mei rolled her eyes, "You think we are fools? Who would believe that?" Who on base would fire Yan Fei? There were so few metal users...if he was fired, who was going to help fix the wall? "Well the, we are the ones who fired them." Luo Xun could only shrug. "Its possible." Song Linglingughed from the sidelines. Luo Xun helplessly looked at Yan Fei, who smiled back. "Lets go change first, we can discuss with everyone afterwards." After the two walked away, the twodies began to whisper to each other, "Do you think they are going to *cough, cough*" "Then our dear captain would not be able to leave the bed!" "No wonder when they get up so early,e back and have so much work to do. Even during holidays we go out at least once to hunt for cores!" "Newly weds sleeping together~" Yu Xinran was with Puppy and looked at her two adoptive mothers with innocent eyes. She could not hear but was a good child who loved to learn. Shell first write it down and understand when she is older! The dog also looked at the two babysitters with strange expressions. She could not understand, she wanted to go upstairs with her owners but was pulled away...Then she will y with the little girl! Luo Xun and Yan Fei were upright people, at least for today. So after changing clothes, they came straight downstairs. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were helping Yu Xinran copy words, doing her homework on the small table. Song Lingling washed and ced a pot of fresh strawberries to eat while chatting. "Theres been some trouble recently with the metal team." Yan Fei gave the simplest exnation. "The wind has been blowing in a bad direction, so we decided to quit for the time being." Luo Xun nodded and stuffed a strawberry in his mouth C sour and sweet. The acidity was higher than pre-apocalypse but fresh fruit in the winter was delicious! "We are going to stay home and farm." Luo Xuns words were muffled because of the food, but everyone understood. Xu Mei and Song Lingling nodded, "Staying home is good, we can usually deal with the crops. But harvesting and nting new crops we had to wait for you toe back in order to finish." In fact, sowing was easy, the problem was that there were too many types of nts. Many short term crops had staggered harvest periods, so they had a lot of vegetables with different timings, so they were busier. This was not like a real farmhouse, they had no specified nting vegetables. It was usually grains, corn and whatever they had on hand. Luo Xunughed, "We still have a lot from ourst harvest, before I had little time to do anything, but now we can take our time." He ced a strawberry into Yan Feis mouth. Ignoring the lovey dovey couple, Song Lingling asked, "What are you nning on making?" "Tofu." They did not have any salt or gypsum brine and they were toozy to go and find some. Fortunately Luo Xun still had unused white vinegar from before the apocalypse. He could create some tofu, it would not be super vorful but all-natural. Soy sauce and vinegar would notst for too long, but they had some sauce from the pickles so they had no worries about food seasonings. In order to make it more delicious, Luo Xun soaked two pots of soybeans. They could freeze whatever was left after slowly eating. The weather was cold enough to not use the fridge, leaving them on the iron railing for a few hours was enough. When they were ready, Luo Xun and Yan Fei went downstairs to remove the metal from the shed. Luo Xun did not use much space for growing and did not make full use of the area. But now since both were unemployed, they could grow more crops at home and make up for some of the losses. This time Yan Fei did not make any threeyered frames. He just directly made a row of metal shelves to grow a variety of things. This would not affect any furniture at home, a good way to to everything at once. The pair singled out some small, slender pieces of wood which were treated in order to grow mushrooms and absorb toxins. In other words, the poison mushrooms at home increased in number. Once Song Lingling levelled up to three and could control the liquid, it would save everyones time. Plus the temperature outside plummeted, they could freeze the juice outside. There was also less space to store the corpse weapons inside the freezers. The two people were busy all evening. When Li Tie and friends came home and learned that Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not have work, they were envious but hesitant. "Staying at home...but there are points to be earned at work..." After all, the five of them were ordinary people. Farming at home could support themselves but it was hard to avoid values from before the end, public worker, unemployed at home is shameful, an adult must have a stable job or they have failed at life., a job with stability is worth a lower wage... Luo Xun understood their mentality andughed, "Our situation is special, mainly because Yan Fei is a metal user...Some people want to politic and we have no background. You wont get involved as long as keep your head down. You are all technical personnel, these things will not spill over." Plus Li Tie and the others were low ranked workers, if they had been working in argerpany or were talented hackers or something, someone would definitely try and grab them. The five breathed a sigh of relief and were delighted to say that unless someone fired them, they would work well at their current work ce. On the other hand, Zhang Yi was staring out the window lost in thought. He Qiankun suddenly turned to Luo Xun, "Are there enough soybeans for tofu? Do you want to soak some more?" Luo Xun awkwardlyughed, "After we harvest our soybean nts, we can make some tofu." Soybeans were a good thing C can make tofu, soy sauce, eat directly and sprouts. Such arge variety of possible soy products...too much choice was also a headache. Tofu was not made in a day, so Luo Xun changed the water before going to bed. Like Xu Mei and Song Lingling, the two got to enjoy a break C tomorrow they did not have to get up early for work. There was not much to busy themselves with, the lovers could genuinely enjoy this long vacation~ At 9:30 AM Luo Xun got out of bed. He was secretly d that is was winter, even though the home and hallways were warm, he would wear high-necked clothes to cover the marks fromst night. After climbing out and washing, he busied himself with what everyone mentionedst night C tofu. Grinding the beans C there was a grinder but Luo Xun had also decided to buy an electric version. They were not short on electricity and this would be more efficient. Have the right proportion of bean and water, filter the dregs. Leave some soy milk C the rest of the team said they wanted to drink soy milk after learning Luo Xun was making tofu. Heat the soy milk, remove the foam, add one fourth portion of water and slowly add diluted white vinegar. After a few minutes, the bean blossoms appear. Heat it again allowing the blossoms to condense and then slowly filter out the water. The result could be fermented in brine, which would have a better effect than white vinegar. The bean curds would bepacted in a wood mold. It could be eaten once the moisture was pressed out. "So simple!" Song Lingling looked at the tofu in the molds, which would ready to eat for noon. Luo Xun smiled, "The steps are not thatplicated." Before the end of the world once could buy arge block but after the end C with so little food who had the heart to make tofu? He only did it once before he died in hisst life. "I want to eat the tofu..." Xu Mei looked at the tofu while thinking of the bean blossoms...that tender thing looked like a bean curd brain. "Xu Mei, do you like sweet or salty tofu?" Song Lingling suddenly asked. "Salty!" Xu Meis eyes were bright. "How can one eat sweet?! Of course salty tofu should be eaten for breakfast." Song Linglings expression froze. "Xu Mei, you have not eaten sweet soft tofu right? Next time you try a sweet one, I guarantee wont be able to return to salty tofu." "Lingling you are still young, a child prefers sweet. One who was experienced life knows that salty tofu is more delicious." "Xu Mei, you have not eaten the sweet tofu of my hometown, very famous. People far from away take a taxi over to eat..." The two women began to argue, while the two men backed away and exchanged looks. "You...what do you like?" Luo Xun quietly asked Yan Fei. "Im from the north." Yan Fei was calm, he did eat sweet tofu in some southern cities but tastes developed from habit and youth were not easily changed. Especially one from childhood, asionally as a snack was okay but otherwise... Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief, he had never been to ce with sweet tofu, so he had no previous experience. If they argued about this matter...he did not think that they who were able to live well together would have a dispute over a difference in taste. The twodies in burning war suddenly turned around, "What kind do you two like to eat?!" Luo Xun shivered, "Sweet and salty!" The twodies had faces of disdain, "How could that work?" Luo Xun nearly buried himself in Yan Feis arms C this was why he like men! Luo Xun could do nothing about thedies quarrel about tastes. When the tofu was about done, he quickly changed the topic. Cutting the chunks of tofu, leaving some aside for cooking while the rest were frozen on the window. Thanks to the plummeting temperatures, the tofu they put outside were stiff after a few hours. The two people took a portion of the tofu home for cooking. Because there were no other ingredients, Luo Xun simply braised the tofu with some soy sauce, then added some sprouts as embellishment. Luo Xunmented at the te of tofu on the table, "Ah...it would be better if there was minced meat." Yan Fei smiled while waving a chopstick. "This is still delicious, wait a few days well see what animals we can hunt." They could not use the duck meat, but adding some garlic would add vor to the tofu. Luo Xun also made a separate dish of fried bean sprouts. "Sure enough, eating three meals at home is the best, finally can avoid that pot of strange rice." Luo Xun lightlyined, he was not afraid to eat mutated vegetables C the taste was not good but not bad either, however the mutant rice was pretty bad. In fact after apocalypse, the average person could not buy the mutated rice. Although the steamed breads were made from coarse and mutated grains, the taste could be washed down with water. But as for the mutant rice... Anyways, after the first formal harvest, the base woulde out with steamed bread from the grains. The market sales of mutant rice dropped to the lowest in history. With the exception of some people who bought rice to make porridge (most of these people were ones who could not even eat steamed bread), the market for the mutant rice was almost zero. Chapter 133 Here is bonus chapter 1/3. All three chapters are thanks to Vani Bean Luo Xun and Yan Fei carefully calcted, each day the pair earned enough points to buy food for three meals a day. The only good thing was that the captain generously gave crystal cores. Of course, these nuclei would be tranted intobour, which would be reflected in their work. Right now...although there were less benefits, at least the two people were rtively happy now. The only issue was that they had to think of ways to get nuclei, otherwise Yan Fei would not have enough to use his abilities every day. Although they still did not know the benefits of further leveling, if they wanted to freely live on base and protect their home, their ability level had to be high enough. Otherwise they would not even be considered cannon fodder. After eating and drinking their fill, Luo Xun and Yan Fei tended the crops at home. They needed some more soybeans, some sesame seeds to be pressed for oil or sauce, add some more peanuts too... As for the vegetables, the outside hallways were filled with the nts. The two men removed seeds, nted seedlings and then checked their quail. The chicks were split into two groups, some lived in Luo Xuns home for eggs to increase their numbers. The rest were ced in Xu Meis home and contributed to the rest of the team. Now Luo Xuns army of quails had increased to tworge aquariums and usually had enough quail eggs for two people to eat. He cleaned up the quails excrement C this was all natural. This could be kept for theirpost where the earthworms were living. In addition to harvesting a lot of crops during autumn, they also harvested parts that could not be eaten such as leaves and stalks. The insects and quails could eat those and the remainder were put into a cylinder to slowly makepost C although the smell was not great...But once winter arrived, they would be spared most of the smell. On the first day after their resignation, Yan Fei found that his lover did not want to be idle even while on vacation. For example, although he got upte today he made tofu in the morning and cooked it for lunch. In the afternoon he nted seedlings, dealt with some fertilizer and afterwards cooked some of the older quail eggs to increase storage time. Now he was cooking dinner and making ns to improve the design of the crossbow tomorrow? In fact, even if Luo Xun did not go out to work at all, he could find enough things at home to busy himself. Yan Fei was worried that Luo Xun would feel bored staying at home C but it seemed he had overthought things. There was a lot to do at home and he did not have to worry about his lovers mental health. Luo Xun had been without stable job since before the apocalypse, so if he had known what Yan Fei was thinking, he would surely pat thetter and tell him not to worry. Without the job Luo Xuns life was more leisurely but not boring. Not to mention that they had inte, tv series and novels. Passing the time was a simple matter. That evening, Li Tie and friends rushed home right after to work to eat tofu...yes real tofu. For this matter, they resolutely abandoned Wang Duo and Zhang Yi to rush back home. They asked Xu Mei and Song Lingling how to make the tofu more delicious. The group took out a piece of duck meat, some potatoes, turnips, beans and other things with made a stew. When the two other men came home, they went straight to the dinner table and scrambled for food. After dinner, the team held their routine evening meeting. While sitting at the dining table drinking water, Zhang Yi dropped a bombshell, "I heard some patient gossip today." As the apocalypse continued on, fewer ordinary people could get treatment at the hospital. Most patients were not people with abilities, teams or the rich with either points or nuclei. The quality of information Zhang Yi collected was much higher than regr people. "What news?" Wu Xin curiously asked as the doctor left everyone hanging. "Its rumored that the base rules will be restructured." He gently blew on his drink. "All teams are to be re-registered, the number and type of ability users will be recorded, especially those above rank D. Teams above a certain level need toplete tasks each month of a certain difficulty. Plus some city rules will be changed, a group of five people can leave the city, depending on the difficulty of the task." He turned to Luo Xun and Yan Fei, "Shall we go out more often after the changes? I heard the task difficulties will also be adjusted." Luo Xun and Yan Fei were slightly surprised, "If it really changes and the difficulty is reduced, of course we can go more often, but...dont you have work?" If only five people were needed, then the two of them with the threedies could go, Zhang Yi should be working at the hospital? Zhang Yi smirked, revealing cute dimples, but the whole team was now immune to the smile. "Me? I am ready to quit." "Ah?" "Why?" "Whats the matter? Did someone at the hospital bother you again?!" The teams reaction was mixed, but they were shocked. Zhang Yi had the best work treatment of the all, although with his personality...Before the apocalypse, how many hospitals would have fired him? But now...would the hospital be willing to let people quit? He was the one who wanted to work and he had been very motivated? Zhang Yi drank a mouthful of water, "Its be annoying, I think staying at home is nice, especially since we could go out of base to hunt zombies at any time." After a year of adjustment, his mood had been lifted from being left behind as bait. Especially with the attentive Wang Duo, who would do almost anything for him. With this guy apanying him and allowing him to vent, he had no need for work. In particr, he was in a simr situation with Yan Fei and Luo Xun. He worked at the hospital and everyone knew that he was a high level wind ability user, how many people had tried to meet him? Both the military and other power teams movements were bing more and more annoying. If this continued, he would explode and increase the number of patients at the hospital. If the trouble at work was greater than the emotional relief, Zhang Yi would never endure. Besides, he was toozy to persevere C he could suppress his temper, but now...even without the job he could still live well. It had to be said that the Otaku squad had a great base with growing vegetables in the greenhouse. Even Li Tie and the others thought it was heartwarming and sometimes wanted to simply stay at home and farm. No one would object to Zhang Yis decision unless there was a significant impact on the entire team. The result was C since you are happy, we will not bother you. But resistance to his resignation would likelye from other directions. As Luo Xun kindly reminded, "Will the boss at the hospital agree?" Zhang Yi smirked and his eyes were filled with satisfaction. "Contract expired." Everyone froze, "What contract?" "When I first arrived on base, I signed a work agreement before entering the hospital. The contract had a one year deadline, simr to a contract before the apocalypse." Zhang Yi had an expression of disdain. "You have not signed anything? You would not even be considered a temporary worker, when people want to fire you, there is no reason to protest." The group looked at each other and it seemed...they had not signed this sort of thing. The apocalypse had long since started, who would take care of contract legalities? Temporary or not? Yan Fei held his chin in thought while watching Li Ties group, ready to ask them something after the meeting. "That...you..." Luo Xuns brain stalled, "You mean after the contract expires, you can directly leave the job?" Zhang Yi smiled, "Yes, anyways I have little value in their eyes now." They thought about it for a few seconds before Luo Xun once again asked, "But even if there is a contract...would they let you leave?" It was clear to everyone that the poption was rapidly decreasing. The number of new lives was much smaller than the lives sacrificed. There was no way for the hospital to replenish manpower, they would be willing to let Zhang Yi walk away? Zhang Yiughed, "I am leaving, you think they can stop me?" He swung around in his chair. "I am going to tell them tomorrow and go straight home." Once he changed his phone card, the hospital would no longer be able to contact him. Well, his situation was slightly different from Luo Xun since the military prepared his living area, would there be troubleter? The crowd mulled it over C anyway he could not be controlled. Even if he lost his sry from working at the hospital, there was enough food at home. After the regr evening meeting, only the threedies went downstairs to sleep. Yan Fei turned to Zhang Yi. "You just dont want to work?" Although Zhang Yi was casual person and his attitude was arrogant, he was tolerated by the average person. There was something he was not saying about his decision. Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, "Well, there are people who find me annoying, I should leave before I get in trouble. I heard that the military arranged with other bases for medical personnel. It seems like someone is aiming at me." He shrugged his hands. That made more sense, but Zhang Yi was not working to support a family. Li Tie felt awkward and quickly coughed, "Brother Yan, whats matter?" Why else was he asked to stay? "Can you ess the base database?" Yan Fei asked with pause. "I can...but not important data, no permission." Li Tie thought about it, then called over He Qiankun, "Hes in charge of this part and more familiar." Yan Fei nodded his head, "If it wont affect your work and you can do it undetected, could youpletely delete our information from the metal ability team? Mainly the telephone numbers, leaving the name is not an issue." The two of them could change their cell phone cards C people on base often identally lose or break their phones while out on missions. There were also new people who came to base or did not have points to buy a phone. Changing ones number was not arge issue. It was just that they were worried about their home address in the database. Zhang Yi raised his hand and the corner of his mouth lifted, "Mine too." Although he was high profile at the start and brought in by the military, they had little contact recently. Who knew what information was in the bases database? After deleting the information, although the military could find people who they had arranged living areas. But it would stop other forces from finding them easily. Both Yan Fei and Zhang Yi had thought of this point. He Qiankun patted his belly, "Thats simple, the bases currentwork is a LAN and only the military had enough energy for an entirework. There are few firewalls or protective measures, a novice hacker could easily hack it before the apocalypse. Changing information is pretty simple!" He turned bright eyes towards Luo Xun. "Brother Luo...I want to eat the pickled cucumber strips you made before..." Luo Xun wordlessly looked at the ceiling. "Fine, Ill make some tomorrow, you can eat them after work." That food was easy to make. He had used a lot of vinegar making tofu, he estimated there would be nothing left after the pickling. Was it time to think about making vinegar or something? He had not prepared any barley seeds before the apocalypse, si he could only make something like rice or wheat vinegar and so on...The raw materials were very out of stock, he would need to readjust the nting baskets. He would get ready it tomorrow! The next morning, when Luo Xun and Yan Fei got out of bed, they found that Zhang Yi had already returned from the hospital and was leisurely following Xu mei and Song Lingling. They studied the crops and asionally helped with daily work. Seeing Luo Xune over, Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and taunted, "You just got up? Captain worked hardst night~" Luo Xun decided to ignore him and examined the crop condition in the hallway. He began to deal with the seedlings who had not grown well andbed through the rest. Yan Fei did not bat an eye. "You quit?" Zhang Yi waved a hand while ignoring Yan Fei. "I passed by when the leader went to the barracks for a meeting, I spoke with the assistant and came back." Such an unfortunate subordinate, Luo Xun sent a prayer to the hospital director. What could be done? Hitting or scolding would not work... Zhang Yi had a brilliant smile on his face, "Ah, not having to work is reallyfortable..." Xu Mei came out from the room and heard his words. "If yourefortable check the mushroom boxes, the toxic mushrooms need to be picked. Before careful if next to regr mushrooms you must not let any juice get on them or they will corrode!" Zhang Yis smile froze and twisted before following Song Lingling into the house to learn how to deal with the mushrooms. In the morning the team checked all the crops. Luo Xun did some calctions for the nters on his wall. He could add some seasoning crops, Luo Xun rummaged through their seed storage and then said to Yan Fei, "Why dont we go to the exchange window this afternoon and see if there are any crop seeds? For example, barley, oats and so on. We dont have to nt much but since we have space, cultivating some would be good." Yan Fei had no problem and nodded. "Okay, well go out this afternoon." The two people had lunch, pickled the sweet and sour cucumber before grabbing their coats. Zhang Yi had a pinched expression as he was currently surrounded by Yu Xinran who refused to nap and Puppy was running around in circles. Xu Mei and Song Lingling cheerfully watched from the side, Yu Xinran was very discerning. For example her favorite uncles to see were Yan Fei and Zhang Yi, thetter was also the one she liked to be spoiled by the most among her aunts...wait something was off. Luo Xun had no spirit of camaraderie and skipped over to Xu Mei. "Were going to the exchange window to find some seeds, do you have anything you want to buy?" The twodies discussed then shook their heads, "No, if need be, well go in two days." The base was exceptionally cold while covered in snow. There were almost no cars on the streets and fewer pedestrians than normal. Most of the upants who lived on the roadside in cars had also moved out. The number of temporary buildings had increased again along with the thickness of the buildings. In order to resist the cold wind and snow, many people addedyers to their walls. Foam had be very popr on base. This material was light and unremarkable but had a very good instion effect, could greatly enhance the warmth of a house. Many people who only used to pick up cartons, wooden boxes and simr things when out, ran back to the city ruins to find the discarded foam. Chapter 134 Second Bonus chapter thanks to Vani Bean Luo Xun and Yan Fei still chose to walk, a thickyer of snow had covered the streets. The usual clean up crew had not been seen for a long time. Maybe they thought it would more convenient to get rid of it once it stopped increasing? Besides, the current road conditions were not suitable for vehicles. The men went all the way to the exchange window for seeds. The sales clerk handed the list with the printed prices. They selected several but there was a problem when they asked to see the items. At first the person said no buying, no looking once the product was brought out it must be paid for. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would never ept C they did not buy and went to send food to the canteen while visiting that exchange window instead. It seemed that the cold weather had a negative effect on the exchange windows. The staff whispered among themselves and eventually took out a small bag of barley seeds. Luo Xun had barely taken a nce before noting "This is mutant wheat seeds right? There is no pre-apocalypse wheat?" The staff froze, "Wheat is wheat, dont know if it will mutate or not. Anyways the base only has these sorts of seeds, buy or dont buy." He took the seeds back, saying if the couple did not buy, they could not help any further. Luo Xun breathed deeply and pulled Yan Fei away. This customer service really ticked people off. Of course during winter, when people wore a lot, peoples identity cards were covered. Otherwise if the staff had seen Yan Feis card and marking, they would never use this attitude. "Lets ask the next time we send food to the barracks, outside things cannot be bought!" Luo Xun was still angry. Those people who public food, one months wages were not enough to fill a stomach. In front of ordinary people on base, they would pose with a masters attitude. Yan Fei smiled as he held Luo Xuns shoulder, "The seeds had problems?" Luo Xun nodded, "Color and shape were not right, he refused to let me get a closer look. In fact mutant seeds are easy to recognize because there are evident differences. Remember the mutant rice we ate? Normal rice is a pointed oval but the middle of the mutant rice is bent...shaped like a cashew nut. The seeds just now were also bent with weird shapes. Did you notice the color? Some were green, some orange C different from normal seeds after drying!" Luo Xun huffed and did not stop, "Plus the seeds were taken out without packaging, who knows if the seeds were frozen. Even without other issues, we should not buy those." Coupled with the staff members attitudes, it was simply unbearable to Luo Xun. Even if it had been a price problem in his past life, he refused to be cheated and fooled. "Then dont buy, if the military exchange window does not have it." Yan Fei patted his lovers shoulder and then asked, "Can mutant crops be changed back to normal?" Luo Xun frowned before shaking his head, "Never heard of it, even with high quality mutant seeds there has never been news of normal crops." The two people returned home and told the others of their experience. Yu Xinran and Zhang Yiughed while Xu Mei and Song Lingling were sympathetic. They were usually at home, before when their food had been stolen they often had to deal with these food selling windows. Who knew how many times they had dealt with that kind of person. Luo Xun brought out a notebook and asked the twodies C while ignoring the gloating. "If there is anything missing at home, write it down and we will buy some when people go to the barracks." The twodies expressed their support and hung the book and pen at the gate. When anyone wanted to add something, they would grab it and go. At six oclock in the evening, Li Tie and the others came home. Before Luo Xun had the chance to ask them about the day, the group went into their room and connected a disk to theirputer. "Whats the matter?" Everyone was curious about what was going on. "We found something when were looking for Brother Yan and Zhangs personal information...here it is!" They opened some photos from a file. "What is this thing?!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling stared in amazement. Zhang Yi also looked surprised. Yan Fei looked at Luo Xun, also his expression changed, there was little surprise C he had known about those things. "Dont know! However the file was not encrypted and ced at the top..." He exined while zooming in on the photos. The images were obviously taken from a very high position or from a distance inside the ruins. There was the head...of a tall, ugly zombie. The zombie was at least twice as tall as the average undead, higher strength since there was a photo of one easily lifting a car. Everyone looked at the picture, Luo Xun waited for them to calm down before saying, "From the photos, it should be the evolved form of a power type zombie. In fact, in addition to theirrger size, their physique should be around level three...Of course size is an issue but the damage should be simr to a level three zombie." Han Li was surprised, "Level three? But the level three strength zombies we saw before did not look like that!" Luo Xun waved a hand, "Maybe a higher level and they are slowing their shape like the mutant animals? Of course since we have not actually seen them, we cannote to a conclusion." "Those buildings that copsed in the city...could it have been caused by them?" Wang Duo thought of a possibility. "Maybe." Luo Xun nodded because those were probably the most destructive zombies currently. Of course it might have been an earth zombie, but with these pictures showing activity near the copsed buildings, there is a good chance of us being right." "They are still more destructive than the level three zombies we encountered...at least those other level three zombies did not tear downrge buildings!" He Qiankun had a frightened expression. Zhang Yi sniffed and rolled his eyes while scolding, "Have your brains been fed to the zombies? Were there any tall buildings in the south that could be destroyed by a mere level three zombie?" It was already in ruins, the strength zombies might have identally found the best spot to make an impact. The five university students looked and each before chuckling. Seemed like they had thought too much and got scared by the photos. Luo Xun smiled but did not say anything, he had seen these three meter tall zombies during a siege in his past life. The only difference was the size and battle tactics. Therger zombies would mainly throw smaller zombies over the wall! However todays walls were much higher and even expected to increase in height. He Qiankun reported todays results after calming himself down. "Yan Fei and Luo Xun only had their phone number which we deleted. The registration information on base residents indicates that you are not working in the military and the names are not the same so we left it alone. As for Zhang Yi I deleted the housing records and telephone number." A lot of people on base only had their name and ID number but no address or phone. It was normal for information to appear like this. He Qiankun had done a very good job. Luo Xun took out his pickled cucumbers as a reward to sate his cravings. He would not bring any other food with him for lunch tomorrow. Time passed as Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Zhang Yi quickly adapted to otaku mode of life. Busy with daily work at home, asionally selling vegetables to the barracks or other teams and then exchanging items from the logistics team. Days passed by smoothly. The end of the month was approaching but the restructuring of base regtions had not finished. So they began to n C did Li Tie and the others want to go out and hunt for crystal cores. They currently had no other way to get nuclei, their purse strings were tighter. But the previous day of snow made the roads inside and outside base hard to traverse. If they were to leave base, they definitely needed some convenient snow transportation, their cars would be useless in the snow. "Lets make some electric sleds." Luo Xun pped his hands. "Electric sled? How would we do that?" Yan Fei looked doubtfully at Luo Xun, as long as it was metal he could help, but other than that we was lost. "We have motors and gas at home. As for the sled, it would nice to make it out of a smooth iron te." Luo Xun circled the room twice, "Li Tie can go through the database and carefully gather some information. We could also transform an electric car but it may be troublesome. If they can directly get the blueprints, it will be much simpler." "This can be discussed with them tonight, if like you said there is going to be a lot of snow in the winter, we really need the tools to prepare ourselves." Yan Fei suddenlyughed, "Too bad Puppy is too small, otherwise it would be nice to them her pull the sled." "She could pull one person at best, any more and..." Luo Xun smiled and shook his head, he did not want to mistreat his silly dog. The couple then discussed what they were going to eat tonight when suddenly Luo Xuns mobile rang. "Someone asking to buy food?" Luo Xun murmured as he picked up the phone. He froze upon seeing the caller name and quickly answered, "Captain Wang?" The phone had some static but it was Captain Wang from logistics that Luo Xun had contacted before. They exchanged pleasantries before the captain whispered, "I remember that you were looking for metal crystal coresst time you were at logistics?" Luo Xun froze and looked to Yan Fei who perked his ears. "Yes, we are looking for some along with other elements." Every once in a while they would go to the barracks to exchange for sand and metal nuclei. They had not seen Captain Wang since the first time. Captain Wang smiled, "Do you still want some? Metal crystal cores?" "If there is anything, of course." "How many do you want?" "Uh...the more the better but it also depends on how many nuclei we have on hand." Captain Wang sighed in relief, "You cane over at 9 oclock tomorrow, I will wait for you...Bring level one nuclei or points over...we will meet again there." "...What kind of situation is this?" Luo Xun looked over in confusion. "Metal nuclei are usually saved for the team members of the military team, they could only exchange a few at the windows. However listening to Captain Wangs tone...there seemed to be quite a few of these things on his hands? "It will be clear when we go tomorrow." Yan Fei shook his head, "Might have something to do with a previous matter so we need to be careful." "Okay." Luo Xun decided to go out tomorrow with his newly remodeled, more powerful crossbow! At the base central hospital, the dean and several higher ups were discussing a list of people. A few of them did not look very good C the army had more tasks out of base than usual. Thend was covered in snow, the roads were almost all sealed and it was dead of winter. Who knew if it would continue snowing without end? Plus the possibility of new zombies... If not for the material shortage on base, it would have been best to wait until the weather warms up before wandering from base. As a result, the paramedics out for missions were very sad. It might have been a case of God opening a window for you then closing a door. These people were the opposite of the army soldiers C the military had a high proportion of ability users while the hospital barely had any. Even if they did have one, it would be a low leveled, g ability. So once the mission had been handed to the hospital, the leaders set their sights of the outside, Zhang Yi. They needed to keep theirckeys so they could only sacrifice non-staff members. What they did not expect was C he actually left! "That...Zhang Yi from surgery, can you look for him again?" The vice dean looked at the chief surgeon with a frown. Zhang Yis former boss had a sour expression. "...There is no contact address...and even if we find him, he probably wont go..." "What?! What kind of person is he?! Saving lives, wasnt that what he is supposed to do as a doctor? Does he have any conscience as a paramedic?!" The vice dean pounded the table while cursing Zhang Yi. All of the people were silent, the vice dean would not act like this if his son had not been on the list. Was he not trying to get someone else to go and leave his son behind? The vice dean had found excuses for his son to stay on base during previous military operations. Only when his son was involved did he want to get other people involved. The dean coughed to let the vice dean calm down. *Cough* "Doctor Zhang was only temporarily working at our hospital, the agreement he had signed has already expired...we can discuss himter! The men going with the army this time are..." The deans words seeded in diverting attention. It was clear to everyone that Zhang Yi was a very powerful wind user, the hospital had no way of forcing him. Even if someone found him unpleasant, they could only plot in the dark to find trouble. Since the other side had power and his personality...was hard to deal with. So this military operation had seemed to be a great opportunity C the task was certainly dangerous, regr medical workers had little defenses. Would it not be best for Zhang Yi, someone with both an ability and the skills of surgeon to go? Plus he had never been put on one of these missions before, it would be his turn finally. Even if he did not want to go, then he would get hit by all sort of penalties, decreased sry, scolding him etc. Did not expect, they tripped over themselves to get him on the list but found the man had left. It was not surprising that someone revealed the news to Zhang Yi in advance. Although the people who wanted him to deal with dangerous missions would keep quiet. But Zhang Yi had little to deal with male doctors, but was close friends with the female nurses. Which type of worker was mostmon at the hospital? Nurses, of course! Throughout the hospital, some ces may not have a doctor around, but there were nurses everywhere! Although most of them knew about Zhang Yis true personality, he could be polite. As long as a woman was speaking with him, he would generally be more polite, as long as there was no drama. Thedies ignored his bad side because of his appearance and charisma. As a result, if there were any news rted to Zhang Yi in the hospital, the speed of transmission was fast and would reach the mans ears. Therefore, upon discovering signs of trouble, whether they were concrete or not. He did not hesitate to resign and return home! In fact, even if Luo Xun and Yan Fei did not resign, he might have dyed a day or two, but the end result would still be farming at home. The nurses at the hospital had extremely ugly expressions at the news C our hospitals flower has run away! The hospital was horrible! Zhang Yi was their best friend! The next morning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei came to the agreed ce with their weapons and crystal nuclei. After the two sides met, the captain warmly weed the pair into his office upstairs in the logistics department. Chapter 135 After taking a seat, the two sides politely exchanged a few words before the captain steered towards the crystal cores. "Well we recently got some nuclei, others do not use very much and we remembered that you were looking for these. How many do you want to exchange for?" Captain Wang said with a smile and pushed a box forward. The two looked at each other in amazement C most of them were level three nuclei, and there were a lot! More than what they would get from a hunting trip, how did Captain Wange up with so many? After thinking about it, Yan Fei carefully picked one up for examination. He checked a few to determine that the nuclei corresponded to his abilities. "What are you going to trade for? Level three nuclei of other elements, level one nuclei or points?" The two were polite and direct C nuclei of the same element have a bonus to an ability user, there was no doubt. Captain Wang was very happy with the pairs question, "Change other elements C especially the moremon elements. Level one nuclei and points are also okay, but if you exchange with thetter...youll get less value." The two pondered and took out the extra level three nuclei. Although they also brought some level one nuclei and points, it was not enough for the metal nuclei and also not as cost-effective. It was known that the market for nuclei was good (except for rare elements) so Captain Wang was happy to receive crystals in exchange for metal nuclei. After this exchange, Luo Xun asked with a smile, "These crystal cores were very hard to find before, are there any more?" Captain Wang squinted with a smile, "Of course, we will cooperate in the future, as long as you need some, we will provide." After hearing the words, Luo Xun was surprised before asking, "It was difficult to find these before, at most we could only get a dozen..." And then they offered a cigarette like Captain Lee at the canteen. Captain Wang took the cigarette with a smile before whispering, "The army...cant use all them up." He sat upright, "We have to find market, right?" Put it this way, it must have something to do with the metal ability user team. The two people exchanged looks, since Captain Wang had nothing else to say, they exchanged goodbyes and contact information before leaving. After leaving the barracks, the two men whispered, "Now the military only has two metal users left, do you think its rted?" Yan Fei nodded in thought, "In fact, military zombie hunting has less efficiency than with warmer weather, otherwise maybe he would take out more." "...But dont most nuclei had to be sent to the relevant team? Even if the metal squad could not use, there wasnt too much..." "Now Captain Guo is in lock down, it would be impossible to get in touch in the short term..." Yan Fei shook his head, "Lets go back first, do not worry about the metal team, what we exchanged for is after their portion has been calcted." No matter how Captain Wang got so many metal nuclei, they must at least guaranteed the nuclei supply for the metal ability team. Then again, there were only two metal users left on the squad, even if they worked 24 hours a day there would a limit to nuclei consumption. So having leftovers was usible...right? However after this exchange of crystal nuclei, there was one thought in their minds C go out of base at once! Otherwise the others would not have any nuclei. They could only look at metal nuclei but it was too difficult to exchange their elements. That evening, when Li Tie and friends came back home to hear that they were preparing an electric sled to go out of base, they were excited. Han Liined about all the trouble they went through to gain ess to the database information. Yan Fei smiled, "Letting you look for things in the base database, if the text message is seen by others...all our information and phone records would be in the hands of the military." After hearing what Yan Fei said, he nodded, "Yes we have to careful in the future or something could go wrong or be discovered." Be wary and careful, though it was a bit of a hassle, it was better than getting caught due to carelessness. As if turned out Luo Xun, who had lived a past lifetime and made many tools. He knew which metal to use, what to extract and what shape it should be made into. With a metal ability user their progress was fast. When the two of them got the needed data, they made a test metal sled on their roof C yes the roof of building seven. No one was usually here, the location was high enough and it was only to test if the equipment would run. Moreover there was not a lot of snow on the roof, whatever was there Yan Fei had no trouble clearing up. In short, the two men tested the simple metal sled and it could be driven with four people riding inside. Although it was not possible to find a professional engine to increase the speed, at least it could move, be loaded and drive on the snow. In order that no one else noticed anything different, Luo Xun and Yan Fei decided to cover it with car parts. Once outside of base they could remove the shell and lock it up and then head into the city for crystal cores. After all the preparations of what supplies they wanted to bring and their equipment, the Otaku squad set off the morning of Li Tie and friends vacation. There were some headaches from driving out of the base gate, although the road near the frozenke had been ttened by vehicles, it was clear that heavy snow nketed the city. It was no wonder that the base staff looked at their tattered car with great astonishment C going out in this weather with a sub-standard vehicle, they were either hungry, crazy or stupid. In order to bring petrol, mushroom juice, weapons and ammunition, along with their sled, Luo Xuns team still drove three cars out. A short distance away, they had to get out of the car and start assembling their metal sleds. No other way, the road was very unsuitable for cars. After opening the door, the crowd found C their shoes gotpletely covered in show! This was a ce which had been ttened by other vehicles. As for other locations...best not to try. They quickly put together their sleigh and Yan Fei changed the cars too look like scrap. There were quite a few other cars on the road so their vehicles would not unnoticed. For the sake of safety, they also threw some snow on the car and added some rags. The team climbed into the sled, put on their thick hats/masks and pulled up their cors. Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Li Tie were in one sled with He Qiankun in the back, followed by Wu Xin, Han Li and thedies. Thest car had Wang Duo, Zhang Yi and Han Li. He Qiankun was heavier than the others so they had the fewest people. In addition everyone loaded supplies into each sled car, so body space in the sleds was scarce. After stringing the cars together with rope, Luo Xun and the cars headed all the way south to where they had explored before. Yan Fei was still collecting metal along the way, after a distance from the base of course. The sled cars were not fast in order to reduce the possibility of overturning. After all the snow covered ruins were also filled with clutter. After the snow covered thend in a sheet of white, who knew where the roads ended and the ruins started. Soon the sun headed westward as they reached the ce where they had fought the giant duck. "Luo Xun, howe we have not seen any scary zombies?" When they arrived, Yan Fei first put down ayer of metal so the team could get out. They had prepared a lot of warm things in advance but the wind was still freezing! "Should be in the snow." Luo Xun coolly said, right after, something shuddered and then dry, rotten hands with frozen ws burst out. "Oh my God!" Wang Duo screamed and jumped back. Although the hand slowly stretched out stiffly, the zombie obviously could not climb out, the situation was still scary. "Its better to clean up the footholds first, those zombies should be able to use their abilities." Luo Xun rubbed his cheeks but did not see any more zombies trapped in the snow. "...So the zombies are frozen in the snow in this weather?" Han Li paused and turned to Luo Xun for confirmation. Luo Xun thought about it. "I guess that since thest time no one else hase to once snow fell the zombies might not have left the area. On such a cold day even the zombies legs would be frozen...if you think about it, if their legs are frozen, they cant walk without external help." Once they fall, there was nothing to help them up, would they not have to just lie on the ground and wait for the snow to melt? "Brother Luo...youre awesome!" Li TIe was starry-eyed. He felt that his captain was amazing, although he could not make predictions like WasteWoodHouse, he could still analyze further than any other. Luo Xun smiled at Yan Fei while the two went to find their former foothold in the area. It was simple to let Yan Fei probe for his metal traps and then the metal walls returned. Xu Meis fire ability melted the ice and snow, Song Lingling manipted the water away. The rest shot and killed appearing zombies during the melting. When their makeshift base was cleared, they drove the sled and before Yan Fei began to cover their shelter! It was to be expected, the fear from that big duck was still engraved on everyones hearts. If something simr happened again with only half the zombies around...as long as the animal was slightly smarter, everyone would meet a bad end! The metal roof was quickly built and everyone started a fire. They all held a metal hot water bag in their arms C this had been made before. A metal shell with water heated by Xu Mei, wrapped with thick cloth and initially used as seats. Everyone sat on a heated seat and their legs did not freeze. Along the way if the temperature dropped, everyone stopped to let Xu Mei heat it with her powers. Now Yan Fei made another thing C hot water sofa. The water filled sofa was next to the fire using it to warm the water inside the metal. This was convenience that was easy to achieve with water, fire and metal ability users on the team. Once the heating facilities were ready and all the snow melted and the water diverted. That was when everyone started preparing for work. The mushroom juice they had brought was frozen and left on the road. Some of it had melted from the cushions but then re-froze. Thankfully the petrol did not freeze. Yan Fei put the box containing mushroom juice by the fire to thaw and then started to sort out the thorn traps. Xu Mei and Song Lingling put the melted mushroom juice near the traps. The winter snow outside was falling too heavily so Yu Xinran would not be of much help, just sat on the sidelines. Once the preparation work has done, Luo Xun took out a blood bag to start baiting. "It wont be long before the blood inside the bag freezes. Song Lingling, every once in a while manipte the hot water around the box to make sure it stays above the freezing point." Luo Xunmanded and then addressed the team. "All right everybody get ready for dinner." "Strange outside..." "Not so fast, even if there are zombies that can move in the snow, it will still take effort to reach us. We have enough time to eat first." Luo Xun was very calm, with the heavy snow any zombie would have trouble moving around. As long as there was no more heavy snow...winter would pass slowly but calmly. The zombies movements were stiff and slow, every move as if shot in slow motion. The team ate and drank their fill and watched them from the window. Song Lingling manipted heated water to circle around the meta boxes and keep the blood liquid. Every once in a while Zhang Yi spread the scent of blood through the wind. The wind blew infused with the smell of blood drifting around. "Okay, we have another batch." Everyone took turns to watch the situation outside. The sky had darkened, they had not attracted many zombies all afternoon, the corpses slowly approached. The faster ones fell into the traps first. For efficiencys sake, Luo Xun spent the afternoon fixing up their fortifications. Now there was plumbing under the traps with the same effect as home, of course it was more rudimentary inparison. The only effect of the pipes was to keep the mushroom juice at the bottom of the traps in a liquid state. When a zombie fell down, it would get corroded by the liquid. There was a row of tubes along the sides of the trap which slowly dripped liquid, stopping zombies from climbing out. This time they brought a lot of mushroom juice. The afternoons worth of zombies would slowly fall into the trap and without waiting for a chance to attack, the mushroom juice would melt them away. "Is there a lot?" Luo Xun looked out and there were shadows slowly moving towards their position, he touched his chin. "Seems like there is one with arger body." "What, what?!" "Where is it?! Where?!" Everyone who had been bored and a little sleep heard and rushed over in full spirits. "Dont push, they will take awhile to get over here." Luo Xun stretched into a yawn and shivered from the wind. He returned to the fire to heat up. The sounds grew louder and louder, the five students were very nervous, Xu Mei and Song Lingling became more serious. Yu Xinran happily sat by the fire and ate some strawberries. She had one, looked around at everyone then ate another. At the window Li Tie subconsciously lifted the upgraded crossbow, ready to test out their new weapon. Suddenly Yu Xinran grabbed Luo Xuns arm. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun looked at the little girl. She looked at the fruit in her hands and then asked, "Why cant we bring Puppy with us when we go out?" Yu Xinran usually had her fruit snacks with the dog, which she shared with. Now while eating strawberries she remembered that the dog had not been allowed toe. Luo Xun smiled and touched her hair. "Tomorrow you can go eat with her. Outside is too dangerous, Puppy cannot understand what we say, she might eat something dangerous." Dogs were not people who knew to be careful when out, not to eat strange things etc. But Puppy was different is she licked something or rubbed against something dirty...it would toote for anyone to cry. Luo Xun also did not reveal that Puppy had a chance of mutation next year. But if nothing changed or the mutation failed...the situation would stay the same, they would be afraid to let her out. Would he be lucky or unlucky? Thinking about it, his decision to buy her back then might have been wrong...if he had not bought her, would she already be transformed? His mind began to wander when suddenly there was a cheer by the window. "Hit! Hit!" Chapter 136 Here is thest bonus chapter (3/3) thanks to Vani Bean "This crossbow is so strong!" "Right?! It punched straight through the zombies head!" "God! This recoil is almost as much as arge caliber gun!" Several people looked out while Li Tie and the other were trying out their newly improved weapons, it looked really good. At Luo Xuns suggestion, Yan Fei increased the caliber size, crossbow length, increasing the strength. The arrows had been modified to be more destructive but because of the weather, most of the arrows did not have mushroom juice. After several experiments, the improved arrows were enough to deal with regr zombies even without mushroom juice. Luo Xun heard heavy footstepsing and looked out the window. Seeing a few zombie corpses on the ground heughed, "See? This kind of zombie is not hard to fight, isnt it?" He Qiankun nodded with excitement, "Un! This thing just looks scary!" That was because it was not a siege and with the freezing temperatures it made people feel good about fighting. If it was summer, these zombies would stand far away from the battle and throwrge stones, bricks, other zombies etc with the other long-distance zombies. Even without ranged attacks, if they sped over and crashed into the wall, it would be enough to frighten people. Luo Xun said nothing but therge ones began to fight back after vaguely realising that the metal egg was not easy to deal with. They stiffly bent down and picked up nearby objects to throw. Most of the time they threw various pieces of snow, sometimes it would included stuff in the snow such as bricks, rotten wood. Also likely to grab the nearest zombie, it did not seem to differentiate. From the beginning Luo Xun got everyone to retreat. Yan Fei erected a metal guard in front of the window. Listening to the pinging sounds, everyone was secretly thankful that the outer wall was smooth, hard and needed no repairs. Even if zombies were thrown, they would slide off into the traps and get corroded by the mushroom juice. "Do you have a way to kill them?" Xu Mei was a little worried listening to the banging. Luo Xun smiled, "No worries, just let them let loose." Seeing the others expressions of amazement, Luo Xun helplessly spread his hands, "What happens after we let them throw all the garbage around them towards us?" The team looked at him confused. Suddenly Yan feiughed and turned to the blocked window. "Gather more and more zombies." "Ah?" The rest of them did not understand their meaning. Zhang Yi rolled his eyes and pped Wang Duo on the back of the head. "Throw zombies from a distance." Although the zombies did not have much intelligence, when they levelled up they knew their strengths and abilities well. For example, if they did not have an ability, it would find a way to catch up with the target or destroy obstacles to catch the food. But a zombie above level two with an ability, they would use their powers to attack. Physical zombies would definitely find a way to use their powers to achieve their goals. Ranged attacks will stand far away and fire. Some zombies also learned how to glide like a kite C their targets were humans. Everytime the team went out to fight zombies, the annoying ones were never the ones who went straight into traps and fire, but the ones who stood away and shot. Especially once the traps were lit of on fire to burn the zombies, they had to cross the mes and discern where they are... With a cry, another zombie hit the dome and slid into the trap while spewing mes from its mouth. Well done! Now to throw all the enemies inside there! Yan Fei reinforced and repaired the metal roof after a while. Song Lingling manipted the mushroom juice so it continued to drip into the traps, creating bursts of smoke as the zombies were eroding. The huge zombies tirelessly tossed stuff towards the team. Luo Xun was worried that the traps would get filled with rubbish. Xu Mei remotely sent her mes to melt all the snow around the three meter tall zombies. Yu Xinran turned the chunks of rubbish into sand. After increasing to level three, their range increased and it wa easier to operate their abilities. When all the rubbish around the giants were gone, all they could grab were theirpanions... After the night, the burning of zombies began again. A red tongue of fire danced around the makeshift base. Zhang Yi provided oxygen to the area to circte air and keep the fire burning outside. Hearing the asional noisesing from outside from the zombies throws at the wall. Luo Xun and team were talking andughing while taking out ingredients to prepare for lunch. "ording to todays situation, if the base does not limit the number of people, we should be able to asionallye out to fight monsters, as long as it isnt too long." Luo Xun said to Zhang Yi and Xu Mei. Li Tie and the others usually needed to go to work and could onlye out once a month, unlike the others. With todays case C the slight decrease in zombies led to a reduction in the number of peopleing out. If they wanted to provide a sufficient number of nuclei for the teams use, it would be necessary for everyone toe out a few more times. "I have no problems." Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, he would not object to more trips. Xu Mei and Song Lingling shared nods, "No problem, but...we will need a few days off each month..." The two womens faces were flushed and slightly ufortable. Luo Xun did not react while Zhang Yi waved a hand. "Dont need toe out every day, you can stay at home and grow vegetables." Luo Xun snapped back to attention andughed, "No problem, in addition to the usual trip at the end of the month, we would usually onlye out one or two more times, not that many." Ladies had monthly problems which they had to pay attention to. Not to mention that it made them attractive targets to the zombies. Do not underestimate the nose of a zombie, if a woman was outside during menstruation, there would a mob of tireless zombies. The crackling of fire as it burned continued until morning. The three meter tall, ranged zombies on the edges had scattered the regr sized zombies. The metal shield in the vast expanse of ice and snow looked particrly striking after the night of dealing with zombies. The team began to collect the nuclei while Luo Xun stood at the gate and watched something in the distance. Yan Fei walked over after dealing with the walls and traps. "What happened?" "Im trying to figure out how to deal with this..." Luo Xun pondered while looking back and forth at the snow on the ground. "Let Zhang Yie over and blow the snow away?" Yan Fei told his idea. "Ah...the result...Thats right!" Luo Xun called over to Song Lingling. "How small can you make water droplets?" "Small?" Song Lingling had a question mark above her head as she raised a finger to make a normal sized droplet. "Smaller, preferably the size of a snowke!" Song Lingling had practiced improving the speed of water arrows, but had not tried making small droplets. After experimentation Song Lingling could make small droplets but they froze into fine grains not snowkes. There were also fine cracks and irregr shapes but it was a far cry from a snowke. It was not a deal breaker, they had Zhang Yi blow over some snow. Once they had tidied the ce up, everyone packed their things into the sled on the snowbank. Song Lingling made some ice grains and with Zhang Yis help covered their settling ce. He also blew some extra snow and sprinkled it evenly. "Huh, although you can see the difference up close, from afar it looks like real snow." Xu Mei bent over and looked between the ice grains and snow. Because the things were so small, they looked real. Song Lingling clenched her fist. "I will work hard! Make snowkes that look no different from the real thing!" The problem was that even if she could do that, it would not use other than making cover during winter. Wait, other times she could make it seem like it was raining but...what would be the use? They crawled back into their homemade sled car and crossed the frozenndscape. By the time they had returned to the ce where they had hidden their cars, it waspletely dark. Cleaned up the snow on top and then Yan Fei reverted the cars back into their original condition. Everyone shoved the sled back into the car. At 10 oclock in the evening, they reached the base gate. They handed over 200 level one nuclei and drove the car with some difficulty over the ice and snow. It was past eleven when everyone reached the 15th floor. "Come and take your portion, the rest will be ced in the teams stores." Luo Xun grabbed his portionst and slowly climbed to the 16th floor while hanging onto Yan Fei. "It was really cold today..." The temperature outside was slowly warming up. It was not much but it was bone chilling. But when they wereing back today it had gotten colder. During their return the cold went through their hats and masks. If it had not been for the heating in their modified sled, they would have surely frozen to death on the way back! "Go home and take a hot bath first." Yan Fei supported Luo Xun as they went upstairs. "Ah, the next time we go out, well remodel the car for electricity and save water." The temperature in the hallway was like being in heaven. Luo Xuns head was filled with expectations of a warm,fortable bath at home. After Yan Fei opened the door, Luo Xun rushed through towards the bathroom to heat the water...but was thrown straight into a monster with glowing eyes... "Ow, Puppy clear the door!" As he was being licked, Luo Xunmented, how could he forget that there was a dog in the house?! *Snap* Yan Fei reached out and pulled the excited Puppy off of Luo Xun. After dragging the dog inside and shoving it aside, Luo Xun had to chance to rush to the bathroom. Everything at home was still normal, some baby quails hatched while they were out. Yan Fei gave a quick nce before returning to the living room to check their crystal cores. "There werent many nuclei this time." Luo Xun had taken off his coat and was changing into his pajamas. After they finished counting, everyone only got around 1000 this time. Of course, there were more level two or three nuclei. More than thest few times they went outbined. "Yeah, but we could contact Captain Wang to exchange for more metal crystal cores." Yan Fei counted and confirmed that number of dead metal zombies was still too small. "Of course, but lets wait until the day after tomorrow." Luo Xun rubbed his fingers, he had worn leather gloves and cotton ones, but his fingers were still frozen. Yan Fei sat down beside him and helped rub their hands together. Puppy ran up to the sofa and forced her head into Luo Xuns arms for pats. "I have wronged you." Luo Xun was in a good mood after rubbing the dogs head. The two hade backte today and Puppy was waiting at home for them. After the water at home was warmed up, Yan Fei had a lovely bath with Luo Xun. By the end, there was not a dry spot on the floor. *Cough* The hard working couple went back upstairs and slept in the bed. Early next morning, there was no doubt that everyone woke upte. Li Tie and the others even had some stuffy noses so Xu Mei decided to make a pot of hot duck soup. Batches of cabbage had been recently grown but their grains were running out...Of course there were some noodles at home, but they had not bought anything from base after the change in grains. Maybe they could make some noodles themselves to eat. "Its all right, just cold not an illness." Zhang Yi was a surgeon but he could still diagnose this sort of thing. Li Tie decided to wear a mask, although it was not supposedly not contagious, what if it actually was? It was better to be careful, especially with a child in the house. The warm soup pot stewed for an hour while Xu Mei and Song Lingling made some other dishes, such as fried quail eggs and tomatoes and grilled eggnt. Generally speaking, the Otaku squad would gather every once in awhile, today was such an event. Everyone chatted while they were eating. Luo Xun suggested to Zhang Yi, "If you want to go out, its best to wait a little bit, though it depends on whether the base will change their regtions in the near future." "Just wait, after all theres need to force ourselves." Yan Fei advised. It would be best to go out before another snowfall, but the situation was difficult. A very small number of teams asionally went out but the base was not willing unless it was people searching for their loved ones or not ready to return in the short term. Those who forcibly asked to leave would be asked for an admission fee before re-entering the base. Although the base did not specifically call it that, everyone knew what an entrance fee looked like. Other bases supposedly had a simr system but others were more demanding. When they went out all their supplies had to be checked and verified. After a certain amount people had to pay more to get in. If there was not a certain quantity of goods, they would not be able to enter at all. The topic was straying, Luo Xun shook his head. "Pay attention to the radio and rumors. Anyway sooner orter it will happen." Zhang Yi finished a piece of duck in his bowl. "Wait a minute and I will call and ask, maybe theres some news." "Internal sources?" Luo Xun rummaged around and got two pieces of tofu...that was a difference between people, no one was like Zhang Yi when robbing food. "Yeah." Zhang Yi did not offer further exnation. But he certainly knew more people than anyone else. With his female friends on base, what could not be found out? After lunch, Zhang Yi called a female friend and everyone was curious about the results. After two days, the base should issue a formal notice. So the news was right. Now Luo Xun prayed C God it must snow anymore! Of course, another trip was a certainty since they had harvested enough nuclei thest time. But going out multiple times made things at home super busy. The next morning Luo Xun got up earlier than before and packed up their vegetables for the barracks canteen. There was still some emotion as they went over even after quitting. However the delivery location was far away from the metal team so there was no chance to meet. After handing over the crops and having a few words with Captain Li the two men drove to the exchange office and found Captain Wang. Captain Wang was surprised to learn that the two men were going to exchange nuclei again. After all they exchanged a few days ago. Would theye again in a few days? Chapter 137 Do not me Captain Wang not expecting Luo Xun to exchange more nuclei. These days even the power teams from New Town rarely went out of base, how could Luo Xun get so many crystals? To Captain Wang, this was stock from home not broughtst time or nuclei recently exchanged from other goods. The couple would certainly not reveal their source of nuclei. After the exchange they went downstairs to exchange for other things C Yu Xinran needed sand nuclei as well batteries C it was best to be prepared, along with some gasoline. After buying these things, Luo Xun once again thought of the seeds he had wanted before. He thought about the incident thest time they were at the exchange window. "Non mutated barley, oats or anything?" The staff were in a quandary and whispered, "Not that we dont want to sell...we arent allowed to sell non-mutant seeds, we dont have any here." Captain Wang had exined to the staff member and they had rtions so they were open to Luo Xun. The two people shared a surprised look, "Normal seeds are not allowed to be sold outside?" The staff nodded and whispered, "If you really need some, its best to buy from the staff at the nting building, those people are responsible for growing and distributing seeds. Of course, the price will be high and the rest will up to you." Yan Fei heard the implication and asked in a low voice. "Do you know anyone. Dont worry we do not want that many seeds, it will be fine as long as there no issues and it will grow into normal crops, well discuss a good price." He handed over some points. He was afraid that these things would never be bought if they did not get their hands on some now, even if they were willing to spend more. Sure enough, after getting the bribe, the man came to find them a quarter of an hourter. The couple was lead around the corner to some sellers. The other side only had barley and oat seeds. A packet of 20 seeds required two level two nuclei or a total of 50 level one nuclei. Luo Xun and Yan Fei shared a silent look. He carefully examined the two seeds packets, confirmed there were no problems before bringing out two unneeded level two nuclei. These had been originally prepared for exchange for sand nuclei. Luckily they brought more out or they would havepletely out of funds after getting metal nuclei. The nters at home were not full yet, so the first thing they did after returning home was cing the forty seeds in the nursery room. The sooner the better since the harvest would be sooner. After all, they could not guarantee that these things in the future would not mutate. They had a good rest at home, packed up their things, tidied up and dealt with the harvest of various fruits and veggies. On the morning of December 1st at eight oclock in the morning, Luo Xun found his phone shing. After opening a few pieces of information jumped out. "Whats the matter?" Yan Fei with his arms propped up. "Base restructuring...and the supplies were going to pay this month..." The corner of Luo Xuns mouth pulled into a grim line. "You look, Ill go to the bathroom first." Yan Fei looked at it carefully and understood Luo Xuns expression, he now had a simr feeling. Since they had never done anything to improve their teams ranking, they did not have to pay more nuclei. Since with higher level came more difficult missions, they were reluctant to advance their team evaluation. This morning, everyone received this message about the monthly fees for teams. Information about mission quotas to improve team ranking were only sent to team captains. Originally teams leaving base needed a mission but now teams of more than five people did not need to take a task. However all people needed to pay five nuclei in order to return into base. If a person had a mission, they would report to the new mission hall, the city gate no longer dealt with this matter. In addition there were some new products sold on base. Luo Xun washed his face in the bathroom and came out more serious. "You read it?" Yan Fei smiled and nodded. "Yes, fortunately we are not in a hurry to raise our team ranking." "Our team is still the lowest F-ss, now we have to hand over three quilts, seven pounds of cotton, or 100 pounds of rice noodles..." Yan Feiughed and shook his head. "If the base is really charging this sort of fee, I think few teams can sustain this." Luo Xun frowned and sat down next to him to look at the information. "We can only do this one C 500 level one and 10 level two nuclei." "Come on, lets call the rest of the team." Li Tie and the other students had gone to work but all the ability users were at home with Luo Xun the captain. Xu Mei and the others read the message about mandatory task information and were wearing angry expressions. "This is robbery! 500 level one and 10 level two nuclei, what team could afford this monthly fee?!" Plus this was for the lowest ranked teams, who knew how the A and B level teams were going to survive. "Anyway since we do not need to show team information when leaving base, should we dissolve the team?" Xu Mei asked Luo Xun for advice. "Im afraid not." Luo Xun was not the one who responded, it was Zhang Yi yawning on the side lines. One could see how hard someone workedst night. "Why?" Zhang Yi crossed his legs, "Except for the couple...no it should be said that the house we live is registered under the teams name. If we dissolve the team, there will be someone to collect the house this afternoon." Yan Fei also nodded. "The goal is to control and weaken the strength of various teams. The base must have prepared themselves ordingly for the news. We should not argue for now. The best way is for us to go out of base soon to get some nuclei and set aside the fee to pay before the end of the month." The team looked at each other and nodded. "Looks like thats the only way for now." "But the ice and snow makes it hard to hunt zombies!" Song Lingling raised her hand and frowned. "With the bad weather, if you go out too much, you may freeze." Xu Mei also nodded. "This rule, there are bound to be more people going outside even if they do not agree, but we cannot forget another issue." Luo Xun tapped his fingers against the table and said, "We can try traps." "Traps?" Several members of the team were surprised and repeated the word. "Yes, traps in ces where no visits at all. We work together to set up traps that we can check every time we go out. Of course, this method might identally hurt passerbys...But I think in winter we can try some ces blocked by snow." After that, Luo Xun looked around. "We can go to these traps every time but well still hunt when able. As for the traps, we need to figure out to hide them, make it difficult for things other than zombies to fall in..." This was not easy, an ident could hurt innocent people. Usually their previous traps were set up with the people in the center, from the outside no one would foolishly jump in. But the new traps to catch zombies would be different, if it was too obvious it would be piged by other people, but if too hidden, a person might fall down the pit. Zhang Yi waved his arm, "No objection." The ability users present had no objections, when Li Tie and the others came they did not disagree either, everyone showed their support. When Li Tie came back from todays work they had some of thetest news. "The military sent a lot of military vehicles, tanks and ability users to surround New Town this morning! We heard that yesterday while we were on holiday, the ability users in the army also protested for a day at the barracks!" Luo Xun was silent, in hisst life there was indeed conflict between the military and ability users but not to this extent! Although he did not remember the military changing the team monthly fees, he did remember that after the end of the year he had arrived on base, there were many fewer teams on base. Perhaps it had been changed at that time, only he no longer participated in missions. No one recruited ordinary people so farmer Luo Xun did not have further contact. Not knowing any specifics then was normal. But he could be sure that he had never heard of a time with such a fiery confrontation between the two sides. The group began to exin in detail what they learned this morning. When they arrived at the barracks, the road was under martialw, they learned about the conflict between the military and teamster. Unrted onlookers were unclear about the details but knew that something had happened yesterday. Li Tie and the others had no other way but to call their superior who had a colleaguee pick them up. More details were learned after entering the building, anyways the past few days had been busy. After hearing about the incident, Xu Mei and Song Linglingughed, "So we need to wait in order to scope out the situation." "But we have to go out as soon as possible and it would better to get some nuclei. In case theye to collect the fees?" Luo Xun helplessly looked over at the students. "But the issue about distributing the crystal cores..." One said, "The nuclei you get from hunting zombies will be your own ie." It was like the five of them, the points and things they earned from work were their own. That said, since Li Tie and the others started bringing food, their cards had not seen use. They immediately rented their cards to colleagues with big appetites or people in the army. Since the military now had stricter card regtions, big eaters in the army faced more difficulties. Their meals were not big enough and it was not convenient to go out and buy things. There were many people who ate less that needed points or crystals who would rent their cards. The students used the same method to make some extra ie. Luo Xunughed. "We discussed during the day, all of us will take out a bit and put towards the team funds to use for the monthly team fees." After all, the weather was bad, half their team were ability users. It would not be too much of hassle to deal with the teams problems. After further discussion, the group said afterpleting a task they would put a portion towards the team shares. After all, even though they were stronger, there was no need to take all if it. Plus, some of them did not need to consume nuclei and did not spend much. They also did not need to buy extra bedding or supplies before winter. After all they ate home grown produce, Yan Fei used his metal ability to create items. They saved a bunch of points and nuclei thanks to the efforts of the ability users. "Ah...really dont want to go out but we have to..." Luo Xunined as he returned home. The weather outside was cold and he really wanted to stay at home all winter. Unfortunately the base regtions changed for the worse, otherwise they could havezed around during winter. But now they had to brave the winter in order to rest. Of course, if they could get enough crystal cores for the winter, they would be able to stay indoors! Yan Fei patted him on the shoulder. "We actually have enough crystal cores at home, the team also saved enough to pay for this month..." He had not finished when Luo Xun shook his head. "No, we need to go. We will run out of nuclei sooner ofter. Now that the food has been sold, it can be reced with some nuclei, it is not enough for the team to train their powers." The long term always needed to be considered, always having resources in reserve would put people at ease. During the day, Luo Xun had been working out the most appropriate ces to hunt for crystal nuclei. To the north, there were too few higher ranked zombies. He estimated that where they usually went did not have many zombies around. As a result, Luo Xun set the next location close to the eastern base C the ruins of the original bombing, where no one dared to cross the barrennd. The next morning, the team gathered and housekeeping was entrusted to Li Tie andpany. Puppy was ced in Xu Meis home to be watched over. The required equipment was prepared yesterday, including supplies, food and water. As for the mushroom juice C this item had been stocked a while ago. They did not get a chance to bring much since they used a sledst time. It had been petrol that Luo Xun and Yan Fei had exchanged for two days ago. Thankfully, although everyone came back with the intention of taking a vacation since Luo Xun did not like being idle, he and Yan Fei tinkered with the sled car. The electric heating problem had been solved. They loaded things into the car. With fewer people they only had two sled cars this time, but one of them was loaded mainly with gasoline, mushroom juice and weapons. As they drove towards the gate, there seemed to be more people but less waiting to leave. Each person would have to pay five nuclei or the corresponding supplies to re-enter town, which was not affordable for everyone. Of course, if they were in dire straits, there would people desperate enough to go out. But summer and winter werepletely different seasons. In summer people would die due to zombies. In winter, there was a higher chance of being frozen to death in the ice and snow instead of to a zombie! Now that the base had introduced new regtions, people knew that unless something changed, many teams would be dissolved. What was the impact of dissolving most of the teams on base? The good side C change situation for non-military personnel, recycle a bunch of squads idling around in homes so that more people participated in normal work on base. As for the bad points C teams facing bankruptcy would protest and their demonstrations could spark conflict between the military and ability users. Even if arge number of people lost their original work, they still had to risk going outside. But now the base was ready to go under the knife, naturally did not care about stimting conflict. As for more people going out...every time theye back there was a five nuclei fee. Although previous teams did not have to pay a simr fee, it increased the number of people going out. You know, before when teams went out on missions, in order to reduce their losses they would join up with others. With only one team, even if the total was 200 people still had to pay the same portion. The small teams feel that these tasks were not cost effective and instead picked easy missions, the military faced the loss. With such a restructuring, how many people could go out at once? Anyways, when they came back each person had to pay a fee. It was fine for the base since their ie did not really change. Such a calction, although the positives and negatives were evenly split, either the base did not mind or was beneficial to the higher ups. As for New Town C their base was considered a home. There were quite a few teams leaning against the military and wanting to take flight. Now it was only a matter of time before they had topromise. Luo Xun andpany quickly entered the patio, ready to go out, no longer needing to register when they left base. There had been a few parked cars but the number was much smaller than usual and they were modified SUVs. Luo Xuns bizarre cars were a rare sight. Chapter 138 This bonus chapter is thanks to: Anon and Wilson The staff responsible for opening the gates were aware that there would be no more cars, so once Luo Xuns two cars arrived, they let all the teams out. Luo Xuns car first went to their usual spot where peopleing from base would not notice them. The two cars were transformed into tattered forms and covered with snow. The team climbed into sleek sled cars. This time, in order to bring more supplies, the sleds were followed by a metal car designed to hold mushroom juice and petrol, along with all kinds of other outdoor supplies. Three men in one, threedies in the other. Electricity was used to automatically heat the water in the car so they no longer had to stop every once in a while for Xu Mei to heat up. Although everyone still moved slowly it was much faster thanst time. After an intersection, Luo Xun did not turn onto the road they went to each time but continued east. Yan Fei also began collectingrge chunks of metal nearby and started rolling iron balls parallel to the cars. There was no obvious sign that the snow covered ruins were dangerous, at first nce the bumps on the road might have been traps or potholes. However it was also possible that they were zombie bodies lying around. Fortunately they had Yan Fei who could help probe the area. Although Yan Fei could not detect the road surface or debris he knew the general distribution of metal underneath the tunnel. Generally speaking there were many pieces of metal stuff but there was little open space. Of course there were cars around but those were visible. While Yan Fei was investigating the road, Zhang Yi was sitting on the side wearing a wool cap, down jacket, scarf, mask and goggles. He leaned against Yan Fei and began to doze off after having a sandwich. Although Yan Fei hated the others rude behaviour he could not shake his shoulder or throw him from the car. In fact, his only exception was sweet times with Luo Xun which he felt heartwarming. Letting another man leaning on his back was getting his nerves, not kicking Zhang Yi out was him being polite. Luo Xun looked around, not too different from before. He stopped near a group of piles. "I think this ce is about right." After his words, zombies popped from the ground disturbing the snow. Yan Fei used the iron balls that were not more than six meters in diameter formed into a protective wall. Simr to the first time they manufactured temporary bases, dug traps, cleared the snow. They dealt with nearest zombies and Zhang Yi blew snow away with wind. Xu Mei immediately began to melt the blown away snow. Song Lingling transferred the liquid away. When the snow was cleared, Luo Xun judged the situation and found that they appeared to be on top of some wreckage in a shopping street. Yu Xinran walked around on metal nks C digging traps! Digging traps, creating metal walls for their makeshift base, returning inside every once in a while. Yan Fei and Yu Xinran were dealing with the traps, Luo Xun carried boxes with Zhang Yi. They prepared to thaw the mushroom juice and the gasoline would be ready in advance. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were responsible for sparking the fires and setting up the temporary stoves... In fact when establishing a temporary base, Yan Fei was the one who used his power the most. Unfortunately they only had one metal user and could only wait for him to finish before continuing. "There are a number of zombies." Yan Fei suddenly added. Luo Xun quickly put down the task at hand and motioned at Xu Mei to take up positions. The team pointed their crossbows in several directions. The number of zombies nearby was clearly higherpared to the usual ce they hunted, many of them were also level three. A piece of snow crawled out of the ground to reveal a zombie, it shook off the ice and snow before rushing over. "The metal box in the traps can be set upter, Yu Xinran continue to turn the area to sand." Luo Xun analysed the situation and immediately said orders. Yan Fei rolled the metal ball into the dome in order to seal the ceiling. Then he collected as much metal as possible to reinforce the wall. Zhang Yi used Yu Xinrans sand along with Xu Meis fire to fill the surrounding gathered zombies. "God, how many zombies are the snow?! There are so many..." Song Lingling could not help but exim. Even in the urban areas where it was thought to be dense with zombies, they had not encountered so many higher zombies. This many in the snow covered ruins was unexpected. "Who knows, whittle them down." Luo Xun sighed in relief and shot using his crossbow. It took about two hours before the nearby zombies were finally wiped out. Of course they had also used up some of their nuclei. Yu Xinrans bunker had be the same size of everyones foothold. But the fortifications were not asrge this time so the trap seemed rtivelyrger. "There is not enough metal." Yan Fei said to Luo Xun. "Id better go out and bring some more back." "Ill go with you." Luo Xun immediately got up but was pushed back down. "I can do it myself." Yan Fei smiled as Luo Xun was about to interrupt, "I wont go far, close to where I found the other metal. Rest assured I will take a charcoal stove to stay warm on the road." The so called charcoal stove was made by Yan Fei with copper with lit coals from home, simr to an ancient furnace, but more crude. It was Luo Xun who brought then C in case it was toote for them to prepare other heating methods. Plus if they split up they could have something to warm them up. "Would it be better for him to stay at home? You might as well tie him to your belt if you are so worried." Zhang Yi rolled his eyes at Luo Xuns hesitance. "You be careful." "Dont worry." Yan Fei smiled and touched Luo Xuns head. Yan Fei opened a hole in the wall and walked out. Luo Xun stood at the window and looked on with fear at his back. Zhang Yi went to his side and mockingly smiled. "Not only are you afraid for him, if something happens to us, who can get out?" He hung over Luo Xuns shoulder and shifted all his weight. Luo Xun was toozy to pay attention, but after three tries to shake Zhang Yi off, "Do you not have any bones?" "Ah, arent we gayrades? You are here with your boyfriend but I am alone, do you not sympathise?" Zhang Yi said teasingly. Luo Xun sent him an annoyed look. "You and I are not rades!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling covered their mouths and chuckled, the melted mushroom juice had been set aside. Yu Xinran stared curiously at the two. With her big scarf and hat, only a pair of curious eyes could be seen. Yan Fei was walking towards the makeshift base when a long range zombie was attracted by the delicious scent of human flesh. They had been blocked by snow before, but now? Everyone wasing out to eat! A zombie burst out of the snow as Yan Fei walked away collecting metal. The rolling balls grewrger andrger as zombies followed. Arge, round iron ball followed Yan Fei and behind that there were a bunch of slow zombies...the scene was actually quite funny. However there were still some long range zombies, or speed types that could attack him. The good news was that Yan Fei had collected a lot of metal that could be used for defense. A huge metal shield behind sped up his efforts to return to the temporary base. "Quick! Get in!" Seeing that Yan Fei was back, someone shouted. A gap that could only fit one person appeared, which turned back to normal after said person returned. "Come sit next to the fire!" Luo Xun pulled Yan Fei over to the fire for warmth. As for outside...the big iron ball was still outside and all the zombies had to get around the obstacle. Yan Fei sat next to the fire on the metal sofa. Song Lingling filled the inside with water while Xu Mei heated the metal chair. Zhang Yi stood near the window to use the sand which had not been moved yet in order to strike at the zombies, round after round. After Xu Mei took care of the water sofa, she hurried over to help. Luo Xun put the bag of crystal cores next to the pair before picking up his crossbow for headshots. It should be said, do not think that Li Tie and the others were not strong inbat, they could help move things and attack. But now a few of them were away and the team was busier. Fortunately, Yan Fei recovered quickly. As the zombies hurried forwards, feeling returned to his limbs. The metal ball turned into ting where there was no sand and sharp thorns appeared at the pit bottoms. When this was done, there was metal left in the ball, enough to spread around. Yan Fei immediately put the metal deep underground adding ayer to the temporary base. Semi-circle above and below, the entire temporary base had been formed by Yan Fei. He returned to the fire and sat on the sofa to absorb nuclei C he had more work to do. Zhang Yi and the others had to recover some power from their previous attack. After the zombies scattered, crossbows provided cover fire. Now the trap had been settled, Luo Xun let Yan Fei control the metal box with blood after resting. Before quitting the hospital, Zhang Yi brought some blood bags to freeze which could be used. Song Lingling covered the metal box in warm water. The aroma once again attracted a wave of frenzied zombies. Luo Xun waved as a zombie without ranged attacks fell head first into the trap. Some of the ranged zombies were pushed in because the area was too crowded. "Ready to pour mushroom juice!" Everyone had saved a lot of mushroom juice. Thest time they went out, they only carried a prt of it. There was still around half of their stores at home! White smoke poured from the trap like silk, as if someone was boiling water. *Dong, dong, dong* Arge zombie slowly approached C the battle kicked off again! Luo Xun reclined against the metal sofa, wrapped in a quilt resting his head against Yan Feis thigh. The advantage of less people was no one stealing space... Luo Xun rubbed his eyes and looked out towards the wall where ringing sounds could be heard. "Still burning?" Yan Fei lowered his head and pinched Luo Xuns somewhat confused face. "Burn out soon, the fires have dimmed." Luo Xun yawned and rubbed his face. "Ill go see if anything is caught in the traps, then we have to clean up the battlefield..." The fire started yesterday evening has not yet been fully extinguished. There were a few tall figures in distance grabbing things and aiming at them. Luo Xun looked around and nodded in satisfaction C todays harvest was definitely better thanst time! Wait..."I think its better for us to finish and get home as soon as possible." "Whats the matter?" Zhang Yi stretched. "Bad weather, it might snow!" If the snow blocked half the road...he was afraid they would have a hard time getting back alive. Even if they had several strong ability users, how much food did they have?! It was impossible to find any food amidst the ruins of the city. After Luo Xun leapt from the sofa, quickly grabbed the crossbow and shot at the remaining zombies. Once the battle was finished, Yan Fei formed a metal sieve and was responsible for collecting the dead zombies inside the pit while Yu Xinran manipted sand to pick nuclei from nearby scattered zombies. The rest began to clean up their supplies and pack. After Yan Fei picked up the nuclei and the traps, he left a part along the road as an emergency weapon. Song Lingling once again made ice to act as snow and Zhang Yi blew it around. Although it was likely to snow, but if it didnt? Need to clean up lest they get targeted. *Woosh* As Zhang Yi spread the snow around then turned to Luo Xun. "Okay, we are ready to go." Everyone prepared to climb into the sled. Song Lingling suddenly asked, "Huh? Why is the snow still blowing?" "Still blowing?" Everyone looked at Zhang Yi who had his hands in his pockets. In the gray sky, snowkes were fluttering through the air. People were more than a little worried C who knew when the wind picked up? "Get back to base!" Seeing the state of the sky Luo Xun loudly ordered the team. It was not just snow, there seemed to be strong winds. If it turned into a snowstorm, it would be dangerous if they were blocked halfway back. The group of six quickly climbed into the sled and started the engine before driving back the way they came. It was good that Luo Xuns sense of direction was excellent. Otherwise in this ice and snow, it would not be easy to find the way back to town. There was no chance to ce traps. Then again, how many zombies would the traps attract anything? Who knew how long the blood bags wouldst in the cold. They were afraid that after the blizzard, the traps would be blocked by heavy snow. The wind grewrger and wilder, the snowkes turned into dense snow. Luo Xun sped up but unfortunately the sled could only reach their current speed, not even equal to a cars speed. "Dont worry we still have time." Yan Fei patted Luo Xuns shoulder infort. Luo Xun nodded and fired off instructions. "Form a sort of metal umbre over us or the snow will be too heavy to bear." Yan Feis metal umbres did not tilt in the wind like regr ones. Yan Fei collected metal from around them to form semi-circle cover over the sled cars to guard against the snowstorm. Zhang Yi muttered from inside the quilt. "Summer so hot, winter so cold. After the end even a blizzard, what kind of freak weather is this?" Right? What about global warming before the apocalypse? Bizarre phenomenon of not seeing snow in a year? How did everything turn so strange after the end of the world? Well, perhaps snow in winter and hot summers were normal things before the end C of course it would depend on the geographical location. With Yan Feis metal cover, they felt much better when moving. Especially when the wind blew from behind them, their hoods blocked the cold. The wind and snow outside be more and more severe. Yu Xinran was sandwiched with Xu Mei in the sled. Fortunately the sleds were joined with ropes and one was weighted down with supplies, otherwise they might be blown away. "What time is it?" "10:30." Yan Fei nced at the time and loudly said to Luo Xun. Luo Xun nodded. It was before noon and estimated the distance to where they stashed the cars. It would be nice to get there in the afternoon. In though, Luo Xun felt a chill down his spine and whipped towards a metal panel. Yan Fei felt something too but their view was blocked. The two had not said anything when *Bang* something smashed into the metal te! Chapter 139 Sorry about the dy, I was busy with work...this is supposed to be Mondays regr release Yan Fei lifted the metal te, fortunately he did not let it hit their cars. A body covered in snow appeared in front of the team. It was a sheep-like animal but much taller than a normal one! At the moment is was dizzy from hitting the metal te head on. It seemed likely to fall backwards at any time but the wind steadied it. "...Is this a mutant goat?" Luo Xun froze before snapping to attention. He stared at the animal in shock. "...Should be." Yan Fei confirmed from behind him. "I say, is this the time to discuss species? Shouldnt we either kill it or run?" Zhang Yi impatiently reminded the two men. Proving Zhang Yi correct, the sheep stood, lowered its head and hoofed the ground like a bull before charging at the team. Luo Xun looked at the goat with its four hooves on top of the ice and snow. His face changed C the goat could stand in the snow, if its ability was not rted to ice it would be wind! "Metal te!" Luo Xun could only use short words to warn Yan Fei. Yan Fei instantly lifted the te in front of the goat. *Bang* He felt a simr pressure likest time. However this time he titled the metal at an angle to disperse the force. Sure enough he did not feel anything this time. The goat did not wait for Luo Xun to move before lowering its head and continued targeting the team. "This sheep is crazy!" Zhang Yi eximed. "Do you want to kill it? It would be a waste otherwise." After thetest attempt the sheep realized that its current methods could not wipe out the team. Suddenly a bust of icy wind condensed C air ability! "Also a wind user..." Zhang Yi looked, the sheeps whirlwind range was muchrger than his and the air also included snow, gravel and dirt. "Shoot." Yan Fei swore and the metal changed shape, a dome that covered everyone in the sleds. *Bang*Whoosh*ng* Sounds came from the outside the wall, who knew what was making that shrill sound. "What are we going to do?" Could they wait for the sheep to get out of here and leave? Although they did not know why the sheep suddenly attacked everyone. But with the way things were going, it was unlikely to leave. It has been made clear that it was going to kill everyone or die trying. Luo Xun frowned in thought, remembered that the sheepunching attacks against the metal. His eyes brightened C this situation was simr to the one with the duck! Wait, no the sheeps attack obviously did not rely on the horns. "Can we make something to trip it up in the snow?" Song Lingling asked aloud. "Thats right! It would be best to hurt it using thorns on the ground." Luo Xun pped his hands and turned to Yan Fei. *Crash* The sheep hit them, the car staggered and left the team feeling dizzy. "No problem." Yan Fei recovered and understood what they meant. He removed some metal from the hood. The sheep backed up to build up momentum, it lowered its head, the front hoof pawing the ground. Cyan wind whipped up C the impact of this collision would definitely be greater than the previous times. Under the snow and ice metal quietly stretched over to the goat, obstacles suddenly appeared in the way! Sharp metal thorns burst from the white snow! *Poof* There were three quakes, Luo Xun and the team felt unsteady, even the sled was shaking. Looking out from the gap, the team sharply breathed and looked at each other in amazement C their luck was too good? The sheep fell to the ground and its neck was shredded by the metal thorns. Sshes of dark red sprayed on the snow, the sheep fell sideways, its limbs twitching onest time. There was a moment of silence, before a voice echoed out. "Ah...meat to eat." The team looked over at Zhang Yi, who had beenpletely out of breath, sound like He Qiankun. He ate just as much but why was he not fat? Clearly he ate the most meat. In thought they looked at Zhang Yis small waist even when thickly dressed for winter. All were secretly grinding their teeth. But, meat! Authentic mutton! "Have to clean up! It will be hard to deal with it frozen solid!" Luo Xun came out with bright eyes. Fighting mutant animals, even if desired, no one could control what they encountered while outside base. Luo Xun heard in his past life about all kinds of mutant animal meat, encounters were all thanks to luck. Out of base, who could say they would definitely hunt mutant animals? There were countless zombies wandering around okay? People opened up the car and let Zhang Yi lift the body with the wind. Once the animal was definitely dead, they rushed with knives to cut up the sheep. The sheep was three meters tall, muchrger than normal. They also found out that the sheep was very meaty! Enough tost for a year. The wool and sheepskin were removed. Yan Fei made a metal te to pack the meat. Anyway he had collected a lot of metal, only a portion had been used for therge umbre, now he could continue grabbing more. With the sheep, their return speed was a lot slower. The snow was blowing, the wind howling, the bad weather blocking their field of vision. Luo Xun barely managed to navigate back with hispass... "Brother Luo and the others have note back..." Li Tie put down his phone C still had not called. A phone was indispensable while not in base. Only the owner could call for help, transmitting a signal via satellite to the military. But how likely was it that someone could actuallyunch a distress signal and wait for rescue? Whether the military would send search and rescue staff in time was also an issue. Anyway they rarely heard of anyoneing across and ident and being rescued after sending a distress signal. Yesterday Luo Xun andpany had left base early to hunt for crystal cores. Originally expected to return today, but it started to snow before noon. It grew worse and worse as time passed. When Li Tie and the others came home it was difficult to walk. They became nervous as a blizzard started and there was no sign of anyone at home. They feared that they would nevere back... If they had known, they would not have let them go! The thought pounded through their hearts, especially Wang Duo had tried to rush out several times with red eyes to find the others, even leaving base to investigate. "No, I have to check it out!" Wang Duo stood up while Han Li and Wu Xin held him down. "What are you doing? Do you know where they are?" "But I cant wait at home!" Wang Duo tried to shake them off. Li Tie could onlyfort him, "Dont forget about their abilities. We would go out only to meet our deaths, but they have a metal user to build a shelter, fire user to keep them warm, water user...They can sustain themselves on water for a few days without food. Dont forget how powerful they are!" Wang Duo took a deep breath and sat back down on the chair. "I...have little left...only him..." After the apocalypse, he lost contact with his family, he dared not inquire about his hometown. If he received news of losing Zhang Yi...he did not know how he would live. The others could not help but exchange nces before sitting down. Wang Duo was considered lucky, meeting Zhang Yi after the end of the world. Although the mans mouth was foul and shady...but he was good to Wang Duo. Although he usually ordered Wang Duo around, other knew that when the two were alone together...*Cough* they were so sweet that people felt cavities form. Now...if they really did note back... The group looked at each other in silence, then sighed. By all ounts, although they were on the same team, their rtionship was not close to wearing the same clothes. Now there were so many good things in the squad, a lot of food and supplies, if their teammates did note back...if they switched teams the others would not be happy with them. But Li Tie and the others were clear, even if they inherited these good things, they could eat and die on base. But they would be worried about being targeted at any time. In particr, the base was restructuring, they were afraid that it would not just be ability users seeking trouble but also the military. Even without those other possibilities, once they thought of never seeing their teammates and neighbors again...they definitely did not want anything horrible to happen to them. Puppyy listlessly on the ground, her chin propped on her paws. Her two masters had gone for a long time but the other day left again...Although they had been home for a number of days...why was the wait so long? The dog did not understand her own thoughts, only hoped that her two irresponsible masters came home earlier. There was unbearable silence in the room while the north wind roared outside the window. The heavy snow showed no sign of stopping, but seemed to growing worse and worse, it was bing a trend. After what seemed like a long time, Puppy suddenly straightened. Her tail was upright, ears perked up and then started barking towards the balcony. "Whats the matter?" Some of them nearly fell out of their chairs in fright. He Qiankuns mind turned faster and he pointed at the window. "Could it be Brother Luoing back?" "...We are on the 16th floor..." It was impossible for Puppys ears to be that sensitive, right? "Something happened outside?" They rushed to the window, but they dared not open the window. The wind whistling through the iron shelves made rattling noises. Due to the iron shelves they could not see outside, not to mention it was nighttime with a blizzard at night. The dog continued barking and everyone became uneasy. However the students were reluctant tofort her C after all she was not their dog and they were not familiar. The dog wasrge enough, if they got bitten...after 10 minutes the dog stopped barking. Li Tie and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but her ears were still alert, seemed about to restart at any moment. Sure enough, five minutester she growled at the gate! Li Tie and the others froze then their eyes brightened. "They really came back?!" "Yeah, dog ears are really powerful!" The others wanted to follow but suddenly the dog hit the gate. They heard a soft thump sound as if she bumped into something. "What, whats going on?" "Uh, it looks like..." The sound of scraping metal came from outside. Li Tie andpany hurried over to the gate. Luo Xun and the team were carrying a pile of things with a fewrge metal boxes floating behind them. He greeted Li Tie and the others in pleasant surprise. "Hurry, put things away." "All right!" Wang Duo rushed to hug Zhang Yi and passionately french kissed him in front of the men, women and children. Zhang Yi froze at first but did not break away. The onlookers began to whistle and cheer. "I say, please put the stuff away first, you can have love time while at home!" Xu Mei was at the back. Seeing the two men being so loving pricked her single woman heart. She wanted to go up and kick them. "Right, we are going to die of cavities." Song Lingling grinned at the two embracing men. They were at the 15th floor door. People hearing movement in the hallway and were peeking out. Fortunately the team moved quickly. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi separated and helped move everything into the hallway. "Brother Luo, what are in the big iron boxes?" They had not brought so muchst time? Even crystal cores...there could not be that much? What took up the space initially used for gasoline and mushroom juice? Luo Xun grinned at the boxes. "All good things, if we have no space in the fridge, we can freeze outside the window." "Put it outside the window?!" "Frozen?!" "Is it meat?" He Qiankun swallowed his saliva. Xu Mei had a smug smile and patted the box. "Want to know? Open and see for yourself." But the box had no openings other than Yan Fei no one could open it. They looked pleadingly at the metal user. Yan Fei smiled and opened the nearest box. "Ah, ah! Its really meat. Brother Luo how did you get this?" "Thats right! Its snowing so hard out there!" After everyone had entered the room, Luo Xun exined what had happened. They had met this crazy sheep by ident. Who knew they could bump into a mutant animal on such a day? How could they have killed it without Yan Fei and their n? Then again, their ancestors hunted prey with simr tricks right? Thinking of thest encounter, it was not overly difficult since they were not super intelligent. In the case of zombies it was much easier to use traps, poisonous mushrooms and so on to deal with zombies. The team started splitting their spoils. Although Li Tie and the others did not go C they still got a portion of mutton since housekeeping was part of their tasks. Also eating mutton would nourish the body in winter. They had a lot of duck meat at home, now adding mutton, it seemed that this winter would be a great year! After counting the cores...there were nearly 30,000! Everyone also got at least 4000 level two or three nuclei after setting some aside for the team fund. It was definitely enough to pay a few months worth of monthly fees. It was also enough nuclei for the team to use for the month. It would not be a problem even if they did not leave base for the rest of the winter. The team sat inside chatting about the past two days, what they saw outside. Yu Xinran was sleepy in Song Lingling arms, Puppy wasying against Luo Xuns leg, her eyes opening from time to time. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi sat on the same chair, the formers arms were around thetters waist with no intention of letting go. His eyes would slide close then open, he looked simr to the dog... Luo Xun stifled augh and spoke, "Lets finish for today. Everyone go back and rest." Today was colder than before, the wind blew through their clothes and with the blizzard it was hard to find their cars. After finding the vehicles it took awhile for the engine to start. The wheels were almost submerged in snow and they used up time using the metal balls to tten the path ahead. They barely made it back to base, the weather conditions were horrible. Table of Contents Chapter 140 Bonus Chapter thanks to Wilson, Shadoerunner, Divi, insertnamehere, Michelle in Colorado Li Tie and the other students went back home with a sigh of relief. In a rxed manner, they happily packed up, washed and went to bed. On the 15th floor Xu Mei knew that Yu Xinran was tired. The girl was tucked into bed before the twodies went to wash up. On the 16th floor, Zhang Yi had just returned home when Wang Duo could not hold back and wildly kissed him again. The two people reached the bedroom with their clothes scattered around. Zhang Yiy on the bed, Wang Duo above him, hands on both sides of his head. "Winter...we wont go outside...okay?" Zhang Yi bit his lip, looked for a moment before nodding. Wang Duo sighed in relief before leaning down and nibbling his lovers neck. The couple in 1604 were not as crazy as their neighbors, both of them were exhausted and unprepared for night activities. They still took a good, hot bath so soothe their almost frozen bodies. Luo Xun put his head on Yan Feis shoulder. "Lets not go out for a while..." "Yeah, winter is too dangerous. Such arge blizzard, if we go out again in winter, I am afraid we wont even get out of the door." Yan Fei was a bit perturbed. If Luo Xun did not bring apass, if they did not have a fire user or his own ability, they were afraid that they would not made it back today. "No going out...It was my fault, I almost forgot how scary outside base was during winter..." Luo Xun was also very afraid, he had known about the blizzards and snowstorms after the end. But he was generally holed up in his basement during the winter. The danger of a blizzard, the concept of terror had not been not concrete, which led to the decision, "Before winter we need to get as many crystal cores and supplies ready as possible, winter was for staying at home!" Yan Fei smiled at him infort. "This is the first time, we have no experience on how to spend winter. We can pay attentionter, anyway the weather is really bad these past few months." They were able to smoothly go out in November C of course there was heavy snow but it was not as serious. They could not imagine what the weather was going to be like in December? Luo Xun had plenty of experience how to spend winter, prepare food and growing crops at home. Hecked experience in umting nuclei. But now, they would naturally be ready for winter in advance. Gales blew for a full three days. Ifst month the snow was more than meter, after this weather C the first floor waspletely sealed by snow, it even spread to the second floor sometimes. These days Yan Fei would shake the metal mesh on the roof at night, so the neighboring buildings had thicker snow inparison. Because of the heavy snow, almost all the activities stopped on base. Li Tie and the others had not gone out in three days. More people felt worried about something wrong with the signal tower. They were unable to make calls, send messages...simply put thework was interrupted. On the day that they returned, their bosses told them that work was off for the next while. Naturally they returned home afterwards. "Eat sliced mutton today!" With the snow outside, why not eat some meat? Upon their return, they froze the mutton outside the window. Arge chunk was sliced thinly with a knife. Since no one ate any yesterday, it was natural to eat their fill. "Good! Lets go and pick vegetables, youre in charge of cutting the meat." Xu Mei pulled Song Lingling and Yu Xinran together went to pick vegetables. The blizzard was too fierce, even if they wanted to sell vegetables, they could not get out the door! So, eat at home. There were still pickles at home, food that everyone loved to eat. A couple people heated a piece of leg meat and slowly cut with the knife C it was so mouthwatering, they wanted to get started faster. Luo Xun collected all the sesame at home. This falls harvest gave sauce as well as a few bottles of oil. It was not much but enough for everyone to eat mutton while leaving seeds for sowing. They also had pickled leek flowers among their jars of pickles. Luo Xun had stocked up supplies before the apocalypse. The team worked together to prepare todays lunch. A total of three bronze pots on the table were burning charcoal, all made by Yan Fei. They usually used something else to cook their food, but a little luxury was fine to eat rare mutton meat. This time, in addition to mutton, there was a variety of vegetables on the table. From green leafy vegetables, to bean sprouts, potatoes, winter melon slices, pumpkin and sweet potato. The two men also prepared some sheep belly. There was a tter on the table. "Do you want to get some duck?" He Qiankun suddenly suggested. "Duck? Add some vor?" Everyone was interested. Mutton slices were dipped into the boiling water in the copper hot pot. The liquid turned into tantalizing mutton soup. As long as there was onion, ginger or garlic to counterattack the smell, people could enjoy delicious vegetables boiled in the soup. Duck meat was thawed and brought over. Xu Mei suddenly remembered that they had no chance to dry some mushrooms in sun with the snow. After washing and cutting the mushrooms, the aroma of soup wafted around. "The snow seemed to have stopped?" Halfway through the meal Han Li noticed some sunshine through the window. The group looked out, one person got up and looked closer, "Ah? Itspletely stopped!" Sincest night, the wind had not stopped, there was still scattered snow. Now, the skys clouds had finally dispersed revealing blue skies. Some people looked downwards, the heavy snow had almostpletely covered a makeshift two storey building. Whatever was buried underneath was almost unnoticeable. The first floor had beenpletely sealed by snow, even the windows were covered. If there was not enough cirction in the hallway, people thought of ways to unblock their windows. They were afraid that the basement upants werecking air? "Come back to eat. Theres so much snow outside, I think that for a short time no one cannot go out. Lets wait until ability users clear the road." Luo Xun spoke to the team and continued to eat. The warm aroma of meat filled the room and the team sat back down and continued enjoying todays tasty lunch. Li Tie and the others were still thinking about work, but also waiting for phone signals to be restored. They wanted to contact their bosses before returning to work. As for Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Zhang Yi? They were really d about their early resignations, otherwise they could have had to go out for work in this weather. Another day passed, Luo Xun continued to nest at home. From time to time they cared for the crops, yed with the dog and little girl and bickered with Zhang Yi. They also watched the snow from their balcony. It had to be said that Luo Xun was much morefortable during the winterpared to hisst life. Dazed after a nap, Luo Xun vaguely heard the doorbell ringing. Both people woke up confused C the bell continued ringing. Generally speaking everyone met at specific times. Xu Mei and the others also had a key to the next room, they rarely searched each other out. The two men put on their clothes, found that Wang Duo was at the door. "Other building people said there was going to be a meeting. Organizing the area, came over to speak with us." Wang Duo pointed at the staircase, the couple hurried over. The people downstairs did not enter the 15th floor. There were two doors stopping the chance of peeing, especially since there were vegetables in the hallway C the less people knew the better. Now they were talking with neighbors at the first gate outside the door. Seeing Luo Xun and Yan Fei arriving, Li Tie stepped forward and introduced them. "This is our captain, these are our neighbors from the 7th, 10th and 12th floors." Willing to take the initiative to contact neighbors but also persuading people to participate in sweeping snow...People with some ability and wanted to take the opportunity to expand their forces. But now people had strong senses of caution, they feared each other. Few people were willing to let them enter, only speaking in the hallway. They did not even enter the 15th floor...but they knew that the team was not simple, there had been little contact until now. The man from the 7th floor seemed to be the one in charge of the organizing the snow sweep. He smiled at Luo Xun, "Captain Luo Xun? We also discussed with the people in the building next door. Each home will send a few people taking turns to clear up the road in front of our buildings. Does not need to be much, just enough so that everyone can get out. As for snow in the neighborhood, that will wait until we have spoken with other people. Going out to clear roads but everyone focused on their own busy lives. There were so many people living in the building that one person per family would be enough to clear the entire neighborhood. Unfortunately there were quite a few people that did not want to get involved. If not everyone was going out to sweep and it was so cold outside, who would subject themselves to that? If they wanted to go, they also needed proof that people from other ces were going too. Plus, were there not people dedicated to clearing rubbish? Snow was supposed to cleared by these people too? Why are the people who pay rent every month also have to clear snow? Luo Xun did not say anything and nodded to indicate that people would being. This affected their own people and others. It was not the entire neighborhood, only the entrances to their building. There were two people from the 5th while four people from Luo Xuns team. The couple with Li Tie and He Qiankun volunteered. The others would join only if needed. 16 floors but only a total of 32 people? However the buildings entrance...even if fewer people came it would not cost too much effort to clear away the snow. The building was facing the outermost wall with a highway. On the other side was military encircled farnd. In between there were two storey earthen houses build by a group of earth users in fall. When the four went downstairs to help clean snow, most of upants of earth houses also came out to deal with snow. Unlike Luo Xun, who struggled to shovel snow, they climbed to the roof and dealt with snow piles from top to bottom. These two storey buildings had an interesting design, the first floor was about 50-60 square meters, the second floor was half that leaving part of the roof ready to use as a terrace. They finally cleared a snow filled road. Some people from an earth house appeared andughed at the difference in height C then smiled while walking away...*Poof* The man walked straight into snow and was buried... The shovelling man pointed back at the fallen person andughed, he felt it appropriate towards the man whoughed at him before. Perhaps it was the man had fallen to harshly, or theughing voices were too loud...close by there was *Bang* sound. A two storey building had copsed with screams. These earthen houses were not built with quality building materials. There were also earth users who would secretly build thin or hollow walls in order to save time and effort. The first few windy days made the walls brittle then came meters of snow. When the people came to clear up, they forgot to remove the roof snow, along with the vibrations, the house was crushed under its own weight. The sound was loud, the people were all stunned, until cries for help rang out. They began to quickly clear up the snow and went to help save lives. Soon after the people were rescued, it should be said that the original roof was not strong and the family did add any weight. Although the roof was crushed by snow, the only injuries were some scrapes, at most broken arm or leg C no deaths. The people were moved for temporary rehousing, it seemed like more houses in the distance had actually copsed... How dangerous was shoddy work with substandard materials? A heavy snow was enough to show the real danger. It was lucky that the copsed house was near them since the peoples lives were saved. But the rest were not as lucky. People in charge of clearing snow found other houses that had copsed due to the snow but there were no people near the building. Along with the heavy snow...the people had all frozen to death before being found. The rarely used road was cleared by residents in a day but the road outside did not have peoplee until five dayster, whenmunications had resumed. If someone in the neighborhood was going out, they had create their own path. Some people saw an opportunity to save water C there was so much snow outside, some could be used for cleaning/cooking. Of course it had to be distilled carefully after all it was likely to contain the zombie virus. There were also many people who had no fire starting supplies. Coal and fuel were not cheap and after the end many people dared not leave base, so not much had been saved. Luo Xun had heard that five or six households were found frozen to death in the blizzard just in their area. "Have you finished eating?" Luo Xun asked as he was dealing with the crops in the hallway. Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, "Your man absorbs nuclei like eating food?" "So youre done sucking up?" Luo Xun did not care about the change in word. Zhang Yi squinted and could not resist saying, "Captain~your man should teach you how to speak." Luo Xun did not look back as he continued to deal with the nting racks with vegetables. Yan Fei asked, "What happened to the big core?" The sheeps head also had a crystal core, not as big as the ducks, but farrger than a normal nuclei. Zhang Yi had determined it was a level three nuclei and Luo Xun gave it to him since he would be the only one able to use it. Zhang Yi exchanged it for all the non-wind nuclei he had on hand. Of course, Luo Xun distributed the nuclei to everyone C after all the ducks core was still a fixture at home. Since the nucleus had been obtained, Zhang Yi decided to absorb it, but because the energy was toorge, he nested at home to absorb and was not involved in clearing up snow. "I feel like Im nearing an upgrade." Zhang Yi ruffled his hair with an agitated mood. "I reckon that at level four I would need level four nuclei...but now Im on the edge...we might have the chance to hunt for level four cores the next time we leave base." Luo Xun helplessly sighed. "Are fourth level crystal cores so easy to find? Dont count on any in the short term. If we do find any, well store them at home first. Wait a bit before upgrading and absorbing." Right? Those nuclei were best used afterpletely exhausting oneself. Unless it was a fight, it would wasteful to use the nuclei only for replenishing energy. "I know, but its ufortable just to leave it." Zhang Yi was slightly upset but went to grab a basket, "Collect food?" "Todaymunications were restored and several contacts are rushing to buy food." Yan Fei exined. Today the teams that bought crops from Luo Xun frantically sent text messages. It seems that the teams were crazy with hunger after dealing with the heavy snow. There had been no phone calls from the military yet. Chapter 141 Li Tie and the others were also helping to collect vegetables since most of the ones in the rooms and hallway were ripe. They grew more this time and even if ate a lot they did not make much of a dent. A portion was pickled and the rest were left in the nters, to continue flowering. With todays information, people were in a hurry to even buy wilted vegetables...bidding up a storm! Sure enough, once the weather was bad, the price of vegetables would rise! After the baskets were filled, in addition to seeds and crops were packed away, Luo Xun was ready to leave with Yan Fei. Suddenly his mobile phone rang. "Ah, its the canteen." Luo Xun gave a funny look to Yan Fei. Yan Fei shrugged his shoulder and let his lover deal with the situation. Sure enough, Captain Li was also interested in buying food. In fact, Luo Xun still had some food in the fridge for them to eat slowly. Although it wouldst a while the problem was thatpared to those teamsing to pick up goods, the canteen was just too far away. Luo Xun had to say, "Have some vegetables at home, but with the road outside we cannot send them." The team contacts had said they coulde in person to pick up the goods, but Luo Xun did not tell them their location, but picked a nearby intersection to exchange cores for the food. As for the canteen...he was sorry but they could not provide delivery services at this time. Now Luo Xun andpany were on their way to the intersection, leaving footprints on the snow. Sure enough, after hearing this, the other side was silent before indicating that they would contact themter. Yan Fei drifted a pile of metal boxes down the stairs. Prepared a metal board for more supplies where the buyers could pick up the goods. It was definitely power squads, no regr people came to pick up the goods. Two of the teams sent wind users, people floated over the snow. Although they could not really fly up, hovering over the snow like that crazy sheep was no problem. Thest team actually came on a sled C not one cobbled together like Luo Xun, but a real sled. Unfortunately with all the debris around it was dangerous to go at full speed, there could be careless collisions. After the exchange, the two turned around to return home. Before they saw the gate, Luo Xuns phone rang again. Pulling it out, sure enough it was Captain Li again. "Where do you live? We have a car here toe and pick up food." Definitely the military, saying they could send a car would mean it was sent. Luo Xun pondered then set the location as the same ce where they had just traded with the teams. Captain Li said they would send someone over right away. So Luo Xun had phone the people at home, let Xu Mei know that they could not eat some fresh vegetables for a bit. The two snorted and pulled a box of vegetables before leaving. They were stunned to find...there was a tank parked there?! Well, they knew that tanks could freely move on all sorts of bizarre terrain, but they were just picking up food, why such a dangerous car?! Were these crops enough for the vehicles fuel?! Looked left and right, made sure that there no other vehicles around. The two went over and inquired...This was really the car that Captain Li had mentioned! Looking between the cores and crops, Luo Xun could not hold back, "You drove this...car toe buy food?" A soldier with an automatic gun twitched and whispered with an awkward smile. "Our superiors...really want to eat." He crawled back into the car. Well then, if the bosses want to eat, then the lower ranked soldiers could not be med for driving a tank to buy food. Once again, the two took out the metal board and exchanged for crystal cores ording to the previously agreed ratio with the usual distribution pattern. At this Li Tie and the others had received a message their boss, indicating that they should go back to work. But the roads were not cleared yet, so the students responded that transportation would be an issue. Until now they were still speaking with the higher ups. Upon seeing Luo Xun, they hurried over. "Brother Luo Xun weve been told that for a short time there is now way to clear the roads near us." "What about your work?" Luo Xun raised an eyebrow. Several people looked gloomy. "Still waiting for news from the boss...but we think that we have to find a solution for ourselves..." Right after they received another message, the other side did mean for them to try and find a way to report to the barracks, the base would also try to find some technical personnel for temporarily help. Wang Duo stared nervously at the message and said, "Do they mean to find recements if we dont report in?!" Li Tie and friends shared nces heavy with unknown premonition. Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Xu Mei showed sympathetic eyes. Zhang Yi smiled, "Isnt that obvious?" It was not like there was nobody in the army. Although it would be a pity to give up skilled workers such as Li Tie. But if there were closer, more obedient subordinates, it would be normal to have them reced. "But...but..." Li Ties face was a bit green. They had been doing this job for more than a year, being fired was notfortable. Although they had to work hard and get up early, they were familiar with what they were doing. Not to mention their work was not tiring. Finding stable work on base was a luxury, really did not want to give that up. "Maybe you can try this." Luo Xun suddenly thought of something. "When we went to sell food, there was a military tank..." "Ah?!" "Driving a tank to buy food?!" Sure enough, everyone was blown away by the news. Luo Xun coughed, "Them driving whatever car is not what we want to discuss C tanks are heavy! It came straight from the barracks, if you follow its path, it will be easier to reach you destinationpared to anywhere else." Li Tie and the others exchanged nces before grinding their teeth and sending their boss a message that they would try toe tomorrow. While the students were busymunicating with their boss, Xu Mei whispered to Luo Xun. "Today we heard that people were inquiring about the smell of meat in the hallway." "Meat smell?" Luo Xun suddenly remembered that everyone had recently eaten mutton and raised his guard. "Whats the situation?" Xu Mei sneered while saying, "Apparently they are worried someone is secretly eating human flesh and encourage everyone to check door-to-door." "Check?" Luo Xunughed, "Just because I smell meat, I suspect someone is eating human flesh so check?" Such a far fetched conclusion. Song Lingling also came over to add, "Right? It was only one persons rumor. No one really dares to organize a check. Some people say it seems to be mutton, but others do not believe that there is any mutton in this age. If someone is eating meat, it must be human flesh. Xu Mei and I heard but did not add anything. Who would dare to organize this sort of thing?" Yan Fei responded seriously. "Be careful, if they could find someone to me they might actually do so. Unfortunately all the rich people basically lived in new town. No matter what meat there is, once there are doubts, might take the chance to do something. They would not be afraid if searching other peoples homes, they have no loss, may even get benefits." "Plus the roads are impassable with the snow." Xu Mei sighed and shook her head. "Dont say this excuse could be used in peacetime to search door to door. Some cheap people might take advantage while searching other peoples homes..." "But then again again, we only had a little mutton...their noses are too good." Song Linglingined bitterly. Luo Xun said thoughtfully, "Should have been the day the snow stopped, there was no wind. I am afraid the smell escaped." "So we have to watch the weather when we want to eat meat? Eat when it is really windy?" Song Lingling stared at the window in difort. Luo Xun shrugged. "asionally having a big meal is no problem. Our floor is high, generally speaking the smell will not leak to the bottom..." He was very nervous about people who lived on the rooftops. Luo Xuns eyes brightened as he pointed to the yawning Zhang Yi. "When we have intense food aroma, after cooking Zhang Yi can act like an exhaust fan." Just use the wind to disperse the scent, nobody would be able to notice. Zhang Yi looked at him with unimpressed eyes. In the evening, Luo Xun went back home and was greeted by Puppy wagging her tail while sitting on the sofa. He suddenly remembered something and scanned the kennel. "Huh? Wheres the crystal core?" "What crystal core?" Yan Fei was focusing on the metal boxes where the other nuclei were normally stored C they werepletely sealed and contained all their cores. Luo Xun was not an ability user and they did not spend much. Whenever Yan Fei needed nuclei, or Luo Xun needed to buy something, they could take from here. "Not those, the ducks nuclei! That Puppy has been using as a pillow!" Luo Xun bent over the sofa and looked around carefully. "Didnt you put that in the cage before?" Yan Fei also followed Luo Xun around. Such a big thing, how could it up and disappear? They remembered that the dog had used it like a pillow under her chin... "Wait, when was thest time you saw that thing?" Since the core had been left at home for a while, the two people had ignored it. After thinking about Luo Xuns words, Yan Fei could not remember thest time. "...My impression seems to have a been some time ago." "Did it get stuck somewhere when Puppy was ying with it?" Luo xun scratched his head. Even if someone wanted to steal it...it was not easy to hide away! The two men went down with shlights to check any hidden gaps for lost things. It did not take long for them to sweep out dog hair from under the sofa and a slipper under a shelf...Well Puppy was polite, they had found many slippers before, now there was just this one. The two people checked the living room to no avail and them the nursery room, kitchen, bathroom, storage. They even checked the second floor, cleaning out who knew how much hair but there was no trace of the crystal core. "So where the hell did that thing go?" Luo Xuns waist was sore as he rxed on the sofa pet the dogs head. Sadly, the dog did not understand the problem and only stared back at Luo Xun with an innocent, silly face. Yan Fei also went to pet Puppys head. "Did you eat it?" "So big a...how would she eat it? Licking? Its not ice cream." Luo Xun looked strangely at Yan Fei before musing. "Would a crystal core get smaller if licked?" Yan Feis expression shifted. "Nothing happened when we used water to clean up the core." Was he really thinking the core was like ice cream? The crystal core had first been rinsed clean by Song Lingling in fear that it was contaminated by the zombie virus. Well even if the nuclei had no traces of the virus, could this be absorbed through licking? "...Maybe dogs saliva...not the same as regr water?" Luo Xuns next thought was less certain. Saliva was definitely not the same as water, must a difference in ingredientponents. But the problem was that they had never heard of any who could eat nuclei and survive...But perhaps the nuclei of mutant animals was different from zombies? The two nced at the dog, whose ears raised to attention and instinctively wanted to retreat. Yan Fei took a level one core, Luo Xun pried open the dogs mouth and covered it in saliva using a towel. It was fine being licked but it was not hygenic. Using it for experiments, made one feel more awkward. Afterwards, Puppy shook her head and ran behind the quail box while peeping over in fear that her owners would shove something else into her mouth. The pair wrapped the core and ced it in a stic bag...it was in fear of water loss. They just did not know if there would be a chemical reaction tomorrow morning. After this, Luo Xun ran to the quail box to pick up the dog. "Was it really eaten by you? Or was it taken? If you ate it, shouldnt you have an ability too?" The silly dog headbutted Luo Xun. "Sometimes I really think I am raising a husky instead a chow-chow..." Luo Xunined to Yan Fei. Yan Feiughed, "Even if shes clever, it would be impossible to understand her words, why ask if she cannot answer?" "But where the hell has that big crystal core gone?" Luo Xun frowned while looking around. Where was it?! Even the quail boxes had been checked. "Are we sure it has not been stolen?" Yan Fei frowned while looking at the window C none of the iron railings, ss windows and walls were damaged. To tell the truth, if it really was a thief...unless they had wall walking techniques...who could steal it? But if it was an insider...they had never given their keys to anyone either. The other team members had never asked to visit, Luo Xun would invite them if needed. Plus that thing was so big, if it was taken away, where would it be hidden? "If you think it has been stolen...who would steal it?" It was not that Yan Fei was untrusting of his team members, but if someone actually stole this...there was no ce to sell it! No one had heard of this sort of thing on base, it was pretty but very conspicuous. Luo Xun had a bitter face and continued to pet the dog. "So we still cannot figure this out. Say, were you the one to eat it?!" Puppy was silly, her master squished her face into a variety of shapes. She had forgotten about Luo Xuns previous action and thought he was ying with her... After the petting session, Luo Xun happily went upstairs to bed. The next morning, the two people were thinking about the previous matter and checked the nuclei... "I feel like the size has not changed at all." Luo Xun took a closer look at the crystal after cleaning. Yan Fei nodded as well. "I weighed it yesterday, lets weigh it again." They had a small set of scales C it was durable and did not need any batteries. There was no issue with weighing small things. The two checked and found it was the same as yesterday, no difference. The two look in confusion at the core then looked at the dog. "You think...if that thing was really eaten by Puppy, does she now...have an ability?" Luo Xun was hesitant." "I cant say but the disappearance must have something to do with it." After all, after they brought back the crystal Puppy held it all the time except to eat and going out to y. If it was taken away, she would object so it was let alone. Luo Xun frowned and squished the dogs face again. "The mutant animals we have seen had strange shapes...but Puppy looks the same." She was in contact with such a big nuclei, did she really not mutate? Yan Fei was also silent, he did not know much about future news but they had seen two mutant animals...had changed. If the dog becamerger after mutation, he would not be surprised. However he would be if she stayed the same. "Maybe..some mutant animals dont change shape?" Yan Fei asked. "I dont know...wait. Do you remember a couple nights ago when we came back and her eyes were glowing like light bulbs?" Luo Xun lit up and looked at Yan Fei. "You mean..." Yan Fei also remembered what had happened earlier. Chapter 142 Luo Xun suddenly stood up when thinking that Puppy might have mutated. "Well test by turning off the lights this evening!" It was currently morning, far from beingpletely dark best to wait until night. Anyway, who knew how long that crystal core had been eaten or lost, checkingter would not be a big problem. In fact, other than this method, there was a way to prove if the dog had mutated, let it use a first level nuclei. If it could be absorbed, it proved that it had transformed, if not then the ducks nuclei could be somewhere, just the couple had not found it yet. But who knew if eating a crystal core could turn an animal into a zombie? Luo Xun dared not bet C the dog was not human, if it swallowed the thing and caused problems, there would be no ce to cry. The duck nuclei was unounted for and the suspect needed to stay until evening for investigation. The sheeps core had been eaten by Zhang Yi leaving the huge sheepskin to be dealt with. Luo Xun sent Puppy outside to apany Yu Xinran. Li Tie and the others had embarked on a difficult journey to work, Luo Xun had no solutions. If the road was better they could still drive but currently they could work hard to reach the barracks and test the road conditions. "Process that sheepskin? All right!" The two women lit up and nodded. The heating at home was really warm but there were times when cold winds blew. Sheepskin was very warm, it would perfect for coats, shoes, gloves to keep out the cold. Song Lingling thought of Li Ties group who went to work in this weather. "Li Tie and the others have to go to work every day, lets quickly make some clothes for them against the cold!" So they started work, they brought in the frozen skin and warmed it up, washed off the meat with water, sterilized it with salt and then... "The weather is so cold, the skin is so big, how do we hang it?" The twodies looked to Luo Xun for help. Luo Xun also frowned out the window, trying to make leather on such a cold day, it would get frozen in no time. If it was just leather, then fine, but since this also had wool, would it not getpletely frozen? Zhang Yi ambled in. "Whats going on?" Luo Xuns eyes brightened, "Come,e,e! Beauty its time for work!" Zhang Yi had not entered and only heard a bit of Luo Xuns words when he waved his hand and a wind de rushed towards Luo Xun. Halfway it was blocked by a metal te with a *Whoosh*. Yu Xinran had covered her ears while looking at Zhang Yi who had a dark expression and then to Yan Fei who had blocked the wind de with metal. Half an hourter, Zhang Yi stood in the rtively empty room with a bitter expression while manipting the wind to dry the folded sheepskin...Luo Xun thought of him as a hairdryer! This uncle could not bear this! Zhang Yi worked more than half a day to dry the sheepskin. Although there were still a lot of steps left, but considering it was winter, Luo Xun decided to at least cut a few chunks to make cloaks against the wind, even quilts would be good. They struggled to cut andboriously put the lining together, the group felt like their hands were poked with needles. The skin was too hard C too little strength meant it did not pierce, too much meant they poked themselves. Night fell, the wind picked up again and Li Ties group had not returned. Zhang Yi was hungry, his expression became darker as he finally dialed Wang Duos phone. Fortunately their phones were charged and on hand. After connecting, Wang Duo said they left 40 minutes ago but were struggling on the snow-covered road...about halfway to home. "40 minutes for halfway?!" Zhang Yi hung up and looked at the snow coveredndscape...it was possible. Zhang Yi angrily turned towards the gate. "Where are you going?" Luo Xun asked while helping brush Puppy with Yu Xinran. "Pick up those idiots ande back." Zhang Yi left after saying the sentence. "Wait, theyve already gone halfway, you cant do much if you go out right?" Luo Xun got up to stop him. He and Yan Fei knew how difficult it was to traverse the roads, why did Zhang Yi suddenly do this? Zhang Yi looked at him. "I am a wind ability user." He added disdainfully. "I can buff my teammates." So thest time he deliberately did not go with him and Yan Fei to deliver food? It must have been, no doubt! Yan Fei took a few dark sheepskin cloaks from a side shelf and threw them. "If you are going, bring these, its at least warmer then what they are wearing now." At present, the most suitable person to pick the group up was only Zhang Yi. They assumed that anyone else would get frozen to death instead of helping. Sure enough, half an hourter, Zhang Yi came back with people wrapped in sheepskin. Before entering Li Tieined, "Luckily Zhang Yi found us, we were almost robbed halfway!" "Robbed? Robbed of what?" Xu Mei asked the men in astonishment. "Our sheepskin hats and coats!" He Qiankun and Wu Xin angrily clenched their fists. Luo Xun had a confused expression before looking at Zhang Yi. "Those people came before or after you sent the sheepskin?" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and smiled. "After." So, the robbers were actually drawn due to the sheepskin they had, right? Song Lingling asked, "You arent hurt? What happened to those people?" Li Tie and the others shook their heads, no injuries. Zhang Yi was the one to stop the robbery. "They hit the road."...Cornerstone of the highway? Everyone pushed the thought away to avoid nightmares and waited for Li Tie and the others toe back to ask for more details about work. Wang Duo calmlyined, "We arrived today and there were new people, technical staff to help when busy, but several of them always followed us around." He Qiankun nodded. "I asked them, they have a base, but no mastery." "Usually the work we do is notplicated, doable with some professional knowledge. Many things arepleted once the inputs are entered, unless there is an error and the system crashes...but with those problems, there are experts..." Han Li poured cold water on everyone. The team nced at each other and sighed. Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged nces and asked, "They want to hire recements?" Li Tie shrugged. "Our boss said they had new people and if we did receive that phone call today, we would have stayed at home..." They could not be med, the boss was dissatisfied with the few people who did not live near the barracks which made it inconvenient to get to work. It was not only this time, the weather had caused problems, allowing them a break but their superiors hadined many times. Their colleagues even said they could help them find a ce near the barracks. If this had been in the early days of the apocalypse, they would have been happy C even if they could not live in the barracks, at least they were nearby. But now? They were loyally part of the Otaku squad. Plus all their supplies and property were here, how much effort had they expended? How would they be willing to give it up? Zhang Yi left his frosted coat in the corner and sneered. "Stay or not stay? Quit the job and go home early, save your time." The five looked at each with hesitant and unwilling eyes. Zhang Yi continued to pour cold water. "Now you are not willing to resign but sooner orter you will be kicked out. Unless you have capital, but even then they might leave you outside." Zhang Yi words were the truth, but it fell heavily on their hearts. Li Tie was in thought. "...Shall we do it again? If they really dont want us to leave, they will stop..." They had not officially taken part in formal work before the apocalypse. Plus the students were honest and felt that resigning would be unkind, not to mention that the military had taken care of them when they first arrived on base... Therefore, even if sooner ofter they would get fired, the feeling of guilt in their heart would be different if they took the initiative to resign. Zhang Yi rolled his eyes but was toozy to continue scolding them. If this was the case, even before the end, no matter how hard they worked they would get pushed down by peer pressure. Even after the apocalypse, if they did have the fortune of getting a good job from the start and joining the Otaku squad, eventually the group would be treated as cannon fodder by teammates. However it was precisely because of their character that they maintained their rtionship and were willing to continue working together as a team to survive. "Right, were going to work tomorrow!" He Qiankun stood with fire in his eyes. "How many resources can we ess at work? Even if we are going sooner orter, we need to bring more things back!" He pointed to the side. "We have earned more copies of movies and TV!" "Thats right! Crosstalk shows! I saw the data before it snowed and we went back!" Once again the group got excited, films and shows from before the apocalypse as well as all kinds of variety shows...In short they had ess to useful information, the more they brought back, the more they would benefit. Zhang Yi rolled his eyes again and walked away. "Thats the spirit." Li Tie and the others went home to change clothes and warm up. The main couple went back home with their dog. After closing the door, Luo Xun remembered something important and rushed to the lights. "Almost forgot, dog eyes, dog eyes!" Yan Fei understood but he already knew about the matter...the average person would not understand. The two people turned off the lights, the curtains were pulled and the whole room was dark. The pair carefully observed the dogs eyes C how did it glow before? The silhouette of the eyes could easily be seen because the quail cage had lights. Did they pitch darkness? The pair climbed upstairs with the dog. The bedroom waspletely dark and they went straight in only to find that the dogs eyes did not shine as much as expected. The two men exchanged nces in the dark. Luo Xun scratched his head in confusion. "Whats going on?" "Maybe it was caused by something else?" "Could it be..." Luo Xun perked up. "Maybe if we leave her in the dark for a while thene back?" The two men locked the dog inside while Puppy stood foolishly behind the door and stared. As soon as the two men opened the door, they saw the dog happily wagging her tail C she thought the two were ying a game with her... "She has keen ears, its no use just standing outside the door." Yan Fei patted Luo Xuns shoulder so they decided to close the door and head downstairs. They waited for 10 minutes in the 15th floor hallway C Xu Mei found them and they chatted for a while. Then they went back home to the room. Luo Xun took a deep breath and then turned the door handle. He saw a pair of golden eyes jump towards him from the bed. She pounced directly into Luo Xuns arms. "Did you see it?! Did you see that?! Her eyes shone bright!" In order to avoid uncertainty even the first floor lights were off. The two could clearly see that Puppys eyes were glowing! Wait...there was something wrong? "Ah! She went onto the bed!" "What ability do you have? Or only having bright eyes?" Luo Xun crouched and helplessly pet Puppy who was licking him. The fact that the dogs eyes were shining made them decide to test in the bedroom. Although they proved that something was different, it seemed nothing else than eyes glowing in the dark! Was it simply night vision? What use is that ability? In other words, did she really mutate? The two people and the dog had no way tomunicate with each other at all! Nothing made people feel as frustrated as when something did not make sense. Especially if the dog had an ability that needed to be confirmed, but now they were in no state to get answers... Differing species caused all sorts of issues, so it was not clear whether they could bring Puppy with them next time they went out. Thinking for a while, the group went back to the first floor and Luo Xun held a level one crystal nuclei in front of the dog. His heart was tangled, if she swallowed it...would she turn into a zombie? The idea was doomed to be not verified because Puppy smelled Luo Xuns hand before turning around and running back to her kennel...she went to bed. The two men silently looked at each other. Yan Fei persuaded. "Lets wait anyway we do not have to leave base for a while. Well notice if something is off while we are at home." However it would be a good thing if Puppy mutated without changing shape. Days passed and their dog showed no signs of an ability. Li Tie and the others went to the barracks with difficulty each day moving various data. Of course they now carried weapons to avoid potential instances of robbery. Although there are more neers to their department, who were following them to steal experience, they had the opportunity to bring back hard disks. The five brave men had a great deal of resentment, it would be a miracle if they managed to steal anything undetected. Byte December, thest heavy snow had not beenpletely cleared up when even more snow fell. It was about equal tost time, the north wind howled for two days. The air whistled through the windows, there were thoughts that the buildings would be blown away. Fortunately the high rise buildings in the southwest base were built a few years ago and were quite solid. Otherwise with such a terrible wind, a building would have definitely copsed. The cold wind coupled with the falling snow covered the roads in ayer of white. The base was once again buffeted by a snowstorm. The homes were being tested once again, who knew what would happen this time... Luo Xun sat in his chair and watching the falling snowkes while leisurely drinking a mouthful of bitter gourd tea C dried during autumn and just right for winter. Puppyy at his feet with dropped eyelids but her nose twitched from time to time. Yan Fei was leisurely sitting next to him while also looking at the window. "Its nice to have a fully enclosed terrace to watch snow in winter and rain in summer." Luo Xun swung his ankles. Where was such leisure in hisst life? It was good to enjoy a warm fire in the winter. The two were in front of a barbecue with charcoal, the grill was in the shape of arge pot with metal mesh. Duck, mutton, eggnt, beans, leeks and other things were cooking. The couple took advantage of the wind to enjoy barbecue. Eating barbecue on the terrace was something Luo Xun had wanted to do even before the apocalypse. Unfortunately since realizing that the smell of meat would reach outside, the Otaku squad had to be careful when cooking. They usually did not make too many meat dishes or tried cooking methods that did not create smells. The couple had waited for days for such a storm so they could freely eat meat, what afortable day! Yan Fei moved the roasted ingredients onto a te and helped his lover add seasoning and sauce. Usually Luo Xun cooked but today he could help out, why have his lover do all the work? "Good, the mushrooms will have to wait a while." Yan Fei passed the te of eggnt and leeks while looking at the other ingredients. "Lets eat together." Luo Xun held up some leek C this was an aphrodisiac...*cough cough* Hard work at night needed replenishment during the day. Chapter 143 "Yesterday, the cell phone signal broke again, thest repair was a waste." The two people chatted about the events on base while eating barbecue and enjoying the snow outside the window. Thank goodness that Luo Xuns team made a trip at the beginning of the month to collect nuclei since there would be no chance to do so at the end of the month. "I heard that this years spring festival will the same asst year C having the radio y music but theres no chance of that happening this time." Yan Fei looked at the roads C the wood shelves where loudspeakers had been hanging were long gone. Likely stolen for firewood, not to mention to speakers? Those disappeared long ago. "Right, Ill try the radio!" The two turned to the unused radio C because of mobile phones, unless there was no signal, the base would regrly send text messages to all survivors with phones. From water security totest items avable on base, people could check information. Thus they were ustomed to using their mobile phones instead of listening to the radio. So the two added some background music to their barbecue dinner date...In fact there was some useful information on the radio. For example, how to stay as warm as possible at home, carbon monoxide poisoning, dealing with frostbite and other precautions. While the pair atemb kebabs, the news changed from safety during bad weather to information about ability teams. The couple stared at each other before listening carefully to the news. Previously in an effort to limit the expansion of ability teams and reduce the numbers, the barracks took a series of measures, such as increasing the monthly fees for teams including crystal nuclei and so on. That had been why Luo Xuns team had risked a trip at the start of the month. Now that December wasing, the base made a final decision C because of the frequent extreme weather, the fees would be dyed until February of next year. Teams that have already paid would be exempt in February. However each team still had to take the corresponding number of tasks each month... ording to the previous rules, lower ranked teams like Luo Xun did not have to do anything further, those were only required of the upgraded teams. The two men smiled at each other. "Changed again." "Yeah, there is quite some time until February but the number of people going outside base will increase significantly." Luo Xun had no opinion. "Even without these rules, when spring arrives there will be many people exiting the base. This years snow was beyond anyones expectations. Last year people prepared themselves for winter but now there is little left to eat. The amount of food on base is limited, even we feel the squeeze, no to mention other homes." Luo Xuns family had growing crops. Other people could only rely on exchanging points and cores for food these days. The base issued a new notice a few days after the new year. ording to the lunar calendar, both the new year and lunar spring festival were in January. In order to appease people and increase solidarity, the military let everyone have a breather this month, of course fireworks were not allowed. On New Years day, Luo Xun andpany were in their rooms doing their usual activities or listening to music, talk shows and other programs. Li Tie and friends harvest was good and a few of them had moved all they could home. Arge box was filled with hard drives filled with information, a lot of it was even unknown to them. Sometimes they also threw some filesbelled important into their hard drive...*cough* everyone had curiosity. They did not have malicious intentions and had little time to carefully examine these things. During the spring festival, Li Ties department gave them three days off. Xu Mei and Song Lingling woke up early to make noodles C they had saved some grain in advance. Right now there was no flour being sold on base, only rice at the exchange windows. Many people had no ce to buy flour even if they had the means. Even Luo Xuns team only had enough for everyone to have a few dumplings. They were going to divide the flour into two parts and eat again as part of the lunar new year at the end of the month. Li Tie and some others helped ground the mutton for stuffing. In order that no one heard anything, they deliberately went to 1603 with tworge boards C one to chop mutton, the other to chop vegetables. Early in the morning Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Zhang Yi went to trade vegetables with other teams at the previously agreed spot. It was New Years and these teams were ready to buy more food to let their team members eat their fill. The trio smacked down a group of eight who wanted to rob them. By the time other people came to spy on the situation, they were directly bombarded. No way around it, they were dragging boxes of stuff behind them. People who were blocking and trying to rob also wanted to celebrate the new year! Right after they handed over the goods, someone secretly brought out a gun in the snow filled passageway. If not for Yan Fei being on guard, Luo Xun who was holding the cores would have been shot! *Shing* Zhang Yiunched a wind de directly at the gunman. The man howled in pain and fled, leaving the hand holding the gun behind. This sudden situation caused the people who just finished trading to freeze and haltingugh. "Did not expect robbery in in sight." Luo Xun politely and kindly smiled. "We are used to it, every time wee out these is blood. Law and order outside cannot bepared to the new town." The man did not know what to say and could only awkwardly smile while loading his things and leaving. "All done?" The metal box was empty as Yan Fei spoke to Luo Xun. Luo Xun nodded and checked his phone. "Finished, lets go back." "The canteen does not want to buy food?" Zhang Yi picked up the bloody gun and then kicked the hand to the roadside. The item was the booty, it would sell at least for a few bags of instant noodles. "The canteen bought the day before yesterday, they will likely need more after the new year." Luo Xun put the phone back in his pocket and patted Zhang Yis shoulder. "Add buff." The reason that Zhang Yi was apanying them? Of course for his wind ability! If not for him saying somethingst time, Luo Xun would not know that Zhang Yi had the ability to temporarily give people near him wind ability: reduce their weight and speed up walking on bad terrain. Zhang Yi helplessly waved. At most he could give himself and three or four people. Too many people would make this ability useless. Because he was afraid of trouble, he had not mentioned anything before. He knew that once Luo Xun was aware he would squeeze outbor. Now look at this C sure enough! The group returned home and the meat stuffing had been seasoned. Xu Mei was rinsing chinese cabbage with everyone. She greet them quickly. "Check if the noodles are finished? Were finishing up the stuffing." "Good." Luo Xun said while washing his hands to check the dough. Yan Fei ced the bags of nuclei on the nearby shelf and said to the group, "The nuclei are divided, everyone grab their portion when they go home." "Okay, okay." The radio music filled the room while Yu Xinran yed with Puppy getting carted around wildly in the house. Everyonesughter almost drowned out the music but the atmosphere warmed their hearts. The base also worked overtime for holiday preparations C cleared the streets of the heavy snow. Sprinkling salt was unrealistic because it was unproducible. Todays salt was all from thest few special transits. Although there was quite a bit, no one dared to waste any. Fortunately there were a few shovel snowmobiles in the base. With overtime and manual workers, some major roads were finally free of snow. Listening to the radio broadcast, the surrounding streets would be cleared of snow in a few days. Everyone was encouraged to contribute in maintaining their homes, a group neighborhood effort. The mutton dumplings were fragrant. Everyone had a full belly on New Years day when returning home. After three days, Li Tie and the others went back to the barracks for work. Luo Xun and the twodies made duck stuffing with appropriate vegetables while listening to music. Yan Fei got up to pick up the phone, he raised an eyebrow at the caller ID. "Its Han Li." "Han Li? Didnt they leave this morning for work? Why are they suddenly calling?" Luo Xun grabbed the phone to hear. "Brother Luo, we are packing our things and will being home." "Whats the matter?" Luo Xuns heart pounded but he did not voice his conjectures. "...We do not have jobs anymore." Han Lis voice was down and filled with self-depreciation. "Wereing home to help farm...the Otaku squad is true to its name." There were little details but Luo Xun could guess most from the words, heughed. "Then hurry back, Xu Mei said that you can sew your own socks from cotton." "Oh, oh!" Han Li understood Luo Xuns meaning and smiled while hanging up. He left the workce of a year. When he came back Li Tie winked and asked, "You spoke with Luo Xun and the others?" Han Li nodded. "Yeah, Luo Xun said toe back to sew socks." He could not help butugh while the men packed their things. To the side, He Qiankun was rapidly typing on the keyboard. Han Li and Wang Duo were moving around in front, shielding him from others sight. All four gathered around He Qiankuns table while pretending to slowly pack up their things. They breathed a sigh of relief when the drive was pulled, they could finally speed up and finish packing. After saying farewell to their former colleagues and bosses, they left. The new arrivals who had reced Li Tie and friends stood at the door watching the bereaved people leave. There was a mixture of happiness, excitement, disdain and even some mncholy. In a separate area, several engineers hired by the military and had aodations had little reaction when hearing that the students had been fired. Their work was nothing but a handyman C duplications work that was not difficult. Anyone could end up doing that sort of job. Some people frowned, "Rece a few skilled, know programming counterparts for some knives, how long would it take for them to learn? Wasnt it a loss not keeping the five men?" A manager who told Li Tie the news overheard and smiled. "There was no other way, who told them to live so far away, its not convenient for them toe quickly..." He whispered, "The new guys were specially arranged, a couple are the sons of base leaders. Yang Gong, take care of them." The man known was Yang Gong breathed and ufortable opened a few files. He sent out a group email, "Lets first worry about getting these things together...a week!" The informant turned away with a cold smile...even if Li Tie and the others worked for 5 months, they did not have even half a months results... Hearing that the group of five were dismissed, the Otaku squad decided to wee the newly unemployed home. Passive resignation was absolutely different from the mental blow of getting fired. Sure enough, when the five men came back, Wang Duo hugged Zhang Yi asking forfort. Li Tie and the others were down, even He Qiankuns eyes were a bit red. They gave a brief exnation, saying that they had just arrived at the barracks when they were told to pack up and leave without any preparation time. Wu Xin was indignant, "Why didnt they say anything earlier? We had three days off before and we thought we could for until the end of the year! We havent copied several TV dramas yet!" Why was his biggestint about unfinished TV series? Wang Duo was still hugging Zhang Yi then he spoke about the morning. "I secretly asked a few people, they said a few days ago after we called them, when they gave us extra days, the new people were trained to do our usual work!" "Yes, yes, right! Today there were three people who we had never seen before, sitting at our work desks!" He Qiankun also remembered that he had things to deal with and had to find a way to distract the people at the table. In other words, it was fortunate that they cleaned up after resignation. If they waited a day, dealing withputer matters would be more troublesome. "Four, there were four new people these past few days. I heard that one of them was a rtive of one the base leaders." Wang Duo waved his hand. Li Tie and the others felt their anger rise C if it had just been more convenient workers from the military, they would have epted despite feeling unhappy. But being reced by a new group due to their connections muscling in, really made them feel nauseous! Luo Xun quickly interjected seeing that Li Ties expression had darkened. "Dont care about those things for now, since you are back we can get busy and prepare. Once springes we can see if there is a way to grow arger variety of crops." There was barely enough food at home for everyone, now with more people to feed, there was definitely not enough supplies. Now Li Ties group had no job, it meant they did not have extra ie. Now everyones livelihood depended on selling vegetables, which was maintainable but not good. So, they were going to find a way...it would be best to find more growing space. Unfortunately the building was filled with people disced after their earthen homes were crushed. There were also empty houses where the inhabitants had frozen to death. At the moment, they had to wait until spring to deal with housing. In order to distract the group of students so they stopped moping, the Otaku squad decided to carry out group housework. Sewing socks! The cotton was from when they went to the mall for supplies. The team drew, cut and sewed... They would wear their own homemade socks. If they were too big, they had to endure on their own. As for if the cut outs were not the right shape or size or pricking ones hand...one needed to get used to it anyway. No one expected them to properly learn how to make clothes, it was for them to not be idle. Once the next batch of vegetables matured they would not have time to do these sorts of things. The Otaku squad worked to keep all members busy, everyone epted themon goal of staying at home. After returning to their rooms, Luo Xun said, "I thought the name Otaku squad was weird, it was actually an omen, a g!" Yan Feiughed while shaking his head. "I remember the name was chosen by Li Tie..." He suddenly remembered while looking at Luo Xun. "He said they saw a post on the inte about the apocalypse, the author had a simr username, it was sent by you?" The problem had long taken root in his mind, but he had not confirmed it for a variety of reasons, did not think it was dragged until now. In fact he had long suspected the post because he had seen all the information before. Traces of the preparation methods were all over Luo Xuns home. Luo Xun froze and thought about that forum post, he touched the back of his head. "I sent it...but at the time I was not sure whether the apocalypse would actuallye..." He had notpletely gone forward. Otherwise if he had been sure about the end, he would have applied for a loan, gotten more credit cards to stretch his money further before the apocalypse. Yan Fei was understanding, even for him, if he had a simr experience, sure that the end woulde, it was very bold to spend all ones money in advance for preparations. The two men returned home and Luo Xun prepared dinner. Yan Fei went to check the crops on the second floor and terrace. He noticed that some of the nts Luo Xun had moved had blossomed! He called Luo Xun and the two ran over to the terrace. "We didnt notice before but this nt actually blossomed?" Luo Xun quickly checked thebel attached to the pot...it was the mutant strawberry seedlings! Table of Contents Chapter 144 The mutant strawberry seedlings had been moved to the terrace rtivelyte. The nts had grown strangely colored leaves a bit before the normal ones. It was not a withered yellow, instead golden leaves conspicuously bunched together, easily recognizable. Normal strawberries bloomed small white flowers with yellow stamens. The flowering mutant strawberries...had tender green flowers with a strange aroma. Luo Xun carefully smelled and thought it reminded him of cream. "What are we going to do with this thing?" Although Yan Fei apanied Luo Xun while tending crops, he still did not know how to deal with these ones. Luo Xun always told him in advance how much water and fertilizer to use, so it was natural for him to have reservations about the nts. Luo Xun carefully looked at the green flowers to see if there were simrities to the normal strawberries. The flower was a different size but the parts were simr enough. "Have to give them pollen, the flowers are simr." The whole team learned under Luo Xun about pollination. They were afraid to let bugs into the home so in order for some of the vegetables to mature, they relied on manual pollination. There were a few signs that the mutant nts at home were going to blossom. They were looking forward to it despite being unsure what the final product would turn out to be. Fortunately, from the appearance it seemed that the majority were benign variants. If they could get good results, the future would be bright. Snow mobiles were busy wandering around base clearing out the streets which made it easier for residents to go outside for work and activities. As a result, Luo Xun and teams lives had be much more convenient. The road conditions were much better when trading with the other teams. Perhaps because of the New Year, the environment on base lightened up. People who did not leave base made snowmen during leisure time, everyone seemed lively. In order to stabilize the peoples hearts, the military found arge number of ribbons from who knew where. The decorations were hung in the streets to increase the festive atmosphere. But after a night, the ribbons were gone the next morning...well there was a material shortage on base. Those things could be brought home to keep warm. Even if one did not use them to stay warm, they could be used as clothing/essories! Using them as decorations was just too wasteful! As everyone waited for February to arrive, for the start of a safe year. In the early hours of January 1st, creaking sounds from broken snow and ice were heard... *Whoo-hoo-whoo-hooo* "Whats that sound?!" "Whats going on?!" "Air defense rms...alerts! Zombie siege!" Humans were forgetful creatures, they could only try to live in the present and for the sake of tomorrow. They tried to forget the pain of the past. Luo Xun woke up but was dazed for a few moments. After he did not hesitate to get up and wear his coat. Yan Fei got up with him and also put on his coat. The Otaku squad quickly gathered as the sirens sounded. Everyones faces were strained, worried and serious. "Zombiesing now....arent they all frozen?" Li Tie asked with bewilderment. Luo Xun shook his head. "I dont know but if there are any zombies that can adapt to the cold or relieve other zombies frozen states...it is possible that they have surrounded us." "Fire zombie? Did they thaw themselves out?" Wu Xin mumbled distractedly. "Not easy to say, maybe they melted the ice and snow?" Xu Mei smiled and calmly joked. The members of the Otaku squad were all concentrated. Lights in various homes were also turned on. After thest experience, people did not immediately go out to demand news, instead waiting at home patiently for military broadcasts. Like the previous time, the military first sent troops to the wall for the first wave of defense. Various registered teams were divided at the barracks and told when to swap and so on. These arrangements had to be made before they went out, otherwise it would be easier just to station military. It was clear to those who had survived the previous siege that the zombies could break through the wall and attack, but it would not be immediate, especially since the zombies had to deal with the army for the time being. Just as everyone was feeling confident, waiting quietly on base, sounds came from outside the base from an unknown direction... The originally dark sky became even more oppressive and gloomy. Dark clouds blocked the weak moonlight while creepy noises continued. Cloudspletely obscured the sky! "Zombie bird! Everybody head to the roof and bring weapons!" Luo Xun stood up with a shocked expression. He clearly remembered that zombie birds did not show up so soon...they did not appear until the winter of his first year previously arriving on base. Was the butterfly effect so strong? Even the pattern of zombie sieges were not the same?! Everyone turned to Luo Xun in surprise...even if they were not bright they could guess what he meant. A zombie that could fly...there were so many, how could they survive?! Sucking in a breath, the group quickly picked up their weapons and went to the 16th floor. Luo Xuns terrace was the highest and most easily attacked, fortunately Yan Fei had prepared during autumn and now the windows were wrapped in metal. He had set aside firing ports next to the windows. All were armed with weapons, they split up and stared at the sky in opposing directions. The sky was still dark as a cloud of terror enveloped the base, who knew how many birds were there. Suddenly, who knew which zombie bird started first, but the terrible things tucked their wings and dive bombed! The sounds in the sky had long been heard by the base survivors. Now the creatures suddenly pounced and caused people to scream. The closest zombie birds suddenly changed direction and targeted those areas. Luo Xun grabbed his homemade crossbow and stared out the window. There were no lights on. Zombies had no preference for light, but they knew that delicious food was likely to be found in brighter areas. In order for everyone to face less zombies, Luo Xun thought it safer to turn off the lights. It was not the same as repelling the zombies during the day. Then again, this time they were actually facing birds and those things were very annoying. The crowd was nervous, the zombie bird vanguard hadnded. The number of birds was no longer as frightening as their appearance and size. The birds had lost half their feathers, perhaps through infection. Now they resembled metre long giant bats. Bright ck beaks seemed to be different like waterfowl but with sharp ws. Each bird had a target, they attacked any creatures within range with wings and talons. Thanks to the metal cover, Luo Xun andpany could defend and return fire. They could imitate sound in the nearby room as bait. Even so some of the scary monsters attacked C the gaps were small but wide enough for slender beaks to poke through. "Water gun! Xu Mei go thaw some mushroom juice!" Thank goodness they did not take all the mushroom juice with themst time. They had not gone out recently so they collected a lot at home. This would let them save some of their ammunition! They refused to only hide behind the metal wall and wait for rescue. "Okay." Xu Mei quickly ordered two people to help carry frozen juice over. The entire room only had a few gaps where the birds could attack. As long as two people stayed at the window, they could cope with the situation. Yan Fei and Luo Xun now armed with special crossbows. Seven or eight birds were scrabbling outside the window, trying to force themselves in. Luo Xun simply shot at any open mouths however one fell and more showed up so he kept shooting... Once they developed a rhythm, the elimination speed was quite high. The only problem was that the vast majority of zombie heads would be stuck in the gaps so they had to find a way to push the heads out. After discovering that the birds were not a danger to anyone, Yan Fei would open a hole and directly extract the nuclei from any zombies that jammed their heads in. Do not underestimate it, the method was very effective! After practicing and experimenting, Zhang Yi was informed and they immediately adjusted their attack style. Their speed improved once again. But soon it became a rtively bnced battle C do not forget that those zombie birds also had abilities! *Whoosh* Luo Xun and Yan Fei jumped aside as an attack burst forward. "An ice ability!" Luo Xun marvelled as the projectile crashed against the window. "No wonder they can fly so high in this icy weather!" Yan Fei spit out while adding more metal protection. He also checked to make sure that Luo Xun had no injuries. "Im fine, just a little startled." The moment he saw the blue object forming, Luo Xun ducked in time with Yan Fei so the ice did not touch him. "The zombie birds also have abilities, one is lightning. Got shocked but not a big issue." Zhang Yi had numb hands and looked sullenly out the window. Li Tie and the others brought out the water guns and sprayed the birds and managed to repel the attack. *Bang* The metal te nearest them suffered an explosion. *Crack* An ice attack swiftly followed. "Oh no, they are alternating hot and cold attacks, some cracks have already appeared!" Yan Fei could not actually see the situation but his face paled. "What?! They can use this sort of strategy?!" Interweaving hot and cold attacks, a sound method but the zombies were using this method to attack their defenses?! Was this proof of their intelligence? People hoped that it was just a coincidence, but when the trend continued, there were more important things to worry about. Luo Xun picked up a loaded water gun while Yan Fei created an opening. Luo Xun immediately sprayed out mushroom juice. Fortunately, although the zombie birds could damage the metal but with mushroom juice and no way to block, it was a chance for the pair to change their attack method. Xu Mei, Li Tie and Han Li had brought all the frozen mushroom juice from the freezer. The nters had been moved to the other side of the room against the wall for safety reasons. Metalpletely covered the walls and floors in case of damage, an ident would be very troublesome. Something followed Xu Mei through the door and rushed at Luo Xun. "Puppy, how did you get in here?" Luo Xun felt something rubbing against his leg which startled him. He carefully looked down to see his dog. "I heard barking in your house and brought her over." Xu Mei exined while putting something down. "I was afraid the noise would attract zombie birds so here she is." The zombies were attracted by sound and smell. If Puppy stayed in 1604 there was a good chance that she would get surrounded by zombie birds. Yan Fei suddenly called out, "Careful!" Pulled Luo Xun into his arms and put up a metal shield when a bird spit something at them. *Tssh* The sound made Luo Xun shiver as the attack ate through the metal and hit the ground. "Not a poison zombie..." He had not finished when Puppy turned and began to bark through the metal gap. "You..." Luo Xun tried to pull her back and nearly fell over. Yan Fei reached out and noticed something strange at the same time. *Poof, poof* Some of the birds hovering outside the window just fell down! A couple people stared at the barking. Puppy turned around when she realized that her target had been scared away revealing glowing eyes. The dog hugged and wagger her tail at Luo Xun, to be honest the scene was quite surreal. Luo Xun bent down to look at the still glowing eyes and did not know what to say. If they couldmunicate, this sort of thing would not have happened. Did he not already suspect that she had mutated? But when she actually showed her ability, Luo Xun felt it was like a dream C the dog had not changed in shape, temper or IQ C was she really a mutant dog? They looked at the dog in shock while the zombie birds stormed outside. Luo Xun and Yan Fei let her face the window. In the dim light her eyes lit up and a feeling of pressure almost made Luo Xun fall to the ground while the birds also flopped... "Metal! This bird has metal powers!" Someone yelled and Yan Fei immediately ran over. Xu Mei stayed for defense C fortunately there were fewer zombies around. Luo Xun held onto Puppy in the meantime. When the two of them arrived, the metal window had disappeared while a huge red mutant bird was attacking with ws. Not only did the bird have ayer of metal on its feet but some of the metal from the window flew to the birds beak. The beak grew sharper, glinting coldly in the light. Yan Fei used the metal outside to form a de and aimed at the chin. Suddenly the bird pped its wings and flew up a faint luster appearing on the beak. Yan Fei felt a premonition and quickly condensed a thick metal wall. The metal beak was actually like a bullet C it passed through and embedded half a metre in the next to Yan Fei! Luo Xun sucked in a cold breath C this birds metal ability was not inferior to Yan Fei! Before he could think of anything, Yan Feis metal wall twisted and shot towards him under the control of the bird! Chapter 145 Since he developed his metal ability, this was the first time being attacked by metal. In each of his previous battles, he encountered enemies with the same element but they all use haphazard ways to attack. Now was the first time he encountered, an actual higher level opponent... Yan Fei leapt back but therge piece of metal was unrelenting. Although he tried to stop its movements, he could only weaken the attack. It was surprising that the opponent was experienced inbat and sensitive to surroundings. It was quick to use the metal outside their room as a defense. "Damn." Zhang Yi cursed with a smile staring at the turtle shell in front of him. He had worked with Yan Fei so he naturally knew how much defense a metal user could make with sufficient materials. As long as there was enough metal and spirit energy, they could constantly pile up metal for protection! It was like a unkible cockroach, very annoying. "Zhang Yi, Song Lingling use your abilities to aim from the back. Everyone else clear out the other zombie birds!: Luo Xun saw that the noise had attracted a number of zombie birds. He ced a hand on Yu Xinrans shoulder. "Make sand walls to block their view." Yu Xinran nodded her hand and used to sand to harass the zombie birds hovering in the air. After confirming that their abilities hit from the back and the metal te changed positions. Luo Xun was wrapped in metal and it was clear he could hold for a while. Luo Xun crouched down and whispered in Puppys ear. "Use your power!" He was not sure if the dog could understand what he meant but he could only count on tacit understanding. After all, her ability was the same as the duck they hunted previously which had strong crowd control capabilities. It would be great if his words would be listened to. "Everybody pay attention to the pressure!" Right after Luo Xuns words, everyone in the area felt gravity strengthen. The group inside fine since they heard Luo Xun and had previous experience, they crouched to the ground as much as possible although they did not know where the pressure came from. But the birds outside the window were hovering in the sky! The sudden increase in gravity made almost all the birds free fall towards the ground. The metal bird controlled metal with its ws so it was unable to stop from plummeting straight onto a metal spike made by Yan Fei. As the bird was mmed, it also lost control and all the metal fell to the ground. The bird fluttered its wings while resembling a bird about to be cooked. At the same time, Yan Fei took control of the metal with an angry face. There was a mysterious breeze as if Zhang Yi had caused a breeze that caused his coat to wave in the wind. Yan Fei strode to the window and the metal came alive forming arge. He raised a hand and wrapped up the zombie birds in the air. *Squeeze* The enemies were crushed by the metal strands. However, Yan Fei did not stop, metal rose from the ground defying gravity to deal with the zombies. Luo Xun let Yu Xinran help by removing the nuclei inside. Soon all the missing parts of the wall were repaired by Yan Fei, even the wall that Yu Xinran had turned into sand was patched up. Outside it was darkest before dawn, the room was strangely silent since the battle just ended. Luo Xun sighed in relief, the crystal core in his hand was handed to Yan Fei. "Use this first." Boost his abilities and then use them to protect their home. Yan Fei paused, the shiniest thing in the room was Puppys glowing eyes but he could see Luo Xuns silhouette in the light. He reached over, not to pick up the nucleus but to embrace Luo Xun in his arms. "I say! There are zombie birds here! Can you show your loveter! Someone hand over some nuclei?!" Xu Mei raged from another room. The group got a shock, *cough* they had been busy with their emergency that they forget that there were other gaps. Yu Xinran ran over with the dog holding a bag of nuclei for Song Lingling and the others. Yan Fei breathed a sigh of relief. The threat to his life had sparked into anger then turned into fear. To tell the truth, he was not afraid of dying but was afraid of losing Luo Xun and the good life they had, losing their future. He took the nucleus and bent down to kiss Luo Xuns forehead. "Ill do it right now." He was going to boost his strength...he had to leave base to develop battle instincts. Right now they were winning because Luo Xun was inmand with proper arrangements. This was certainly the best result, winning with the smallest loss and thus able to profit the most. But it was evident that the team had a clearck ofbat experience when the reacted to danger alone. Theirbat experience and strength were highpared to the vast majority of people in the base, but this was still not enough. Yan Fei took the nuclei to a separate room to upgrade. The dead birds had been thrown to the ground by their dog inrge quantities. There was little problem for the time being but there was a new wave of zombies where Xu Mei was located. Once again the gravity power made them fall to the ground... "Luo Xun, dont let Puppy use her powers first! Were on the 16th floor even if the zombie birds are dead we cant dig out the cores!" Xu Mei was freaking out, howe those people were not worrying? Luo Xun was clearly absent minded at this moment. Luo Xun quickly called Puppy back and patted her head while monitoring the situation while watching Yan Fei as well. It did not take long before Yan Feis room opened and Luo Xun stood up to inquire about the situation. However Zhang Yis phone suddenly rang and he cursed at the information inside. "Now they tell us to support the wall!" The base was under attack by zombie birds, they had just dealt with a wave and more had gathered. The military actually sent a message that teams had to arrive at the wall within a specified time as a mandatory task when the matter here had not been resolved! "Ha?!" The group started. "Does the one who sent the message not have a brain? Are we not under attack by zombie birds? If we go out there will not even be bones left!" "Dont worry about that, just take care of the zombie birds outside." Zhang Yi disdainfully nced at the phone. "Yeah, dont worry." Mandatory tasks? Who would go out to die for that reason? Maybe the person who posted the news wascking in brains so he could not see what was going out here? Of course, the one who sent the message had no idea what was going on outside. The strongest building on base was the barracks. One of the top priorities was the office building but the strongest by far was the ground floor protected by special dirt walls and the underground portion wrapped in metal. Even if there was an earthquake, it would have little effect. The first time zombies sieged the base all the truly powerful leaders were evacuated and they issued orders to refer to previous times for team cement and timing. All gathered in the conference room to meet and distribute wall tasks. They were all working in a closed office and when they found out the zombie birds, everyone was busy with the meeting and the staff were left behind. When they received information about the birds, they now had to quickly deal with the new threat...not having easymunication was just too sad! So, after Luo Xun received the first message, another came five minutester saying that it was false rm. They first had to clear away the zombie birds on base...did that need to be said? People had long realized that the zombie birds would not stop. If they only moved after the message, it would have been toote! Chapter 146 The sky was darkest before dawn, the sun shined on the snow and ice. The people on the wall dealt with the attacking zombie birds while also watching the mix of ck and white. Who knew how many bereaved birds were wantonly looking for food. The people were fearful since their walls were of no use against the birds. Of course, when they looked outside, the walls seemed to still have some use. There were many shadows in the snow, most of them small but some giant zombies were at the back. Mindlessly throwing the surrounding snow blocks, rocks and zombies over the wall. Thankfully there were protective barbed metal on top of the wall to block the projectiles. But it was inevitable that some thrown zombies would try and climb the metal thorns. It was a crisis, the base survivors had to think up a method to deal with the monstrous, giant zombies as soon as possible. Luo Xun and team were very thankful that Puppy had an ability, although it was not super lethal, it was very useful in the present situation. They lived on the upper floors, as long as Puppy user gravity ability outside, the birds would ssh against the ground. The 16 storey building was at least 30 metres high. A fall from this height would cripple if not kill the zombies. Unfortunately, since they were so far from the ground, it was not convenient to go out and pick up the cores. Otherwise they would simply let the dog deal with all the zombie birds and then they could go down and pick up the crystals C it would have been so convenient. But although Puppy was very effective, her mental strength was very limited. After a while her tongue flopped and she looked very tired. Luo Xun took some level one nuclei and put them in front for her to replenish, but Puppy twisted her head and showed no interest. The inconvenience ofmunication barriers made Luo Xun scratch his head. However they could still fight zombies without Puppys help. Right after Zhang Yi and Xu Mei cooperated C let them start burning off wings and other attacks! Screams from downstairs and the neighborhood filled the air. Although it was better than when the zombie birds started attacking, but after a while there would sounds of explosions and copsing buildings. The team pressed down the uneasiness in their hearts and stopped themselves from looking away, focusing on the enemies in front of them. One shot after another, although the crossbow recoil was notparable torge caliber firearms, too much was not bearable. Fortunately Yan Fei only opened two holes for shooting so that everyone could alternate. But sometimes metal zombies destroyed the outermost wall and then they had back up. When they were outside base in the past, they faced thousands of zombies but they had strong metal cover, well designed traps and could use mushroom juice and petrol. Now they could only rely on the weapons in their hands and cycling through teammates. The squad ground their teeth and continued fighting. The war continued from early morning into the afternoon... "Ill get something to eat." Luo Xun unwittingly nced at his phone screen C just some more useless news from base C have people who had been attacked by the birds hide in the underground bunker...Come on, until now they had not even dug a single cer, where would they hide? It was now past 1:30 pm and they had not eaten since this morning! "Find someone to go with you." Yan Fei needed to make sure of their safety outside the rooms. He had to keep an eye on mending the outer metalyers so he could not apany Luo Xun. Xu Mei said she would go and Puppy wagged her tail and suddenly came over. Luo Xun rubber her head andughed, "Ill take Puppy with us. Well go back home and grab some tomatoes to mix with noodles and make them in the kitchen." In the dark hallway, Luo Xun turned on the light while checking around. The hallway looked as usual in contrast to the chaos outside. However there was fighting and screaming from inside the building. Once the zombie birds broke through a window, it could enter rooms. If someone opened their door to escape, the zombies would of course rush into the hallway. Luo Xun walked lightly with his dog back to their home. He quickly went up to the second floor to remove some noodles. Then he went back to the kitchen to grab the basket of quail eggs and hurried back. Before he entered, he heard the something crash into the iron gate on the 15th floor along with yelling. Luo Xun ducked into the room. It was not that he would not rescue but they had to deal with the zombie birds targeting 1601. They could not spare any firepower of they would get killed due to enemies on all sides. Li Tie had tomato sauce in their room C stuff Luo Xun had stored fot everyone. Shredded some onion into the pot, added tomato sauce and let Song Lingling add water. Once the water started boiling, added the quail eggs. The meal was simple but warm. Everyone took turns eating and manning the windows. Outside the window some zombie birds were once again ground bound due to Puppy. "Zombie birds in the hallway, dont know from which floor but I heard some movement from the 14th floor but there should be no problems." The crowd exchanged heavy looks. Zhang Yi asked, "Go over and see?" "I am afraid the scent of people will attract more to attack the gate." Luo Xun shook his head. "Okay, everyone take turns resting while listening for movement in the hallway. If there is a problem, it would be best to be prepared in advance." Yan Fei suggested, it seemed like the only way. For nearly an entire day, the densely packed flock of zombies attacked base. Then the battle finally reached its end. People who survived the apocalypse until now had a strong danger sense even if they had little fighting power. Although the fighting power of the birds was murderous, it was not as much inparison to some previous enemies. In particr, they were unluckily living on the top floor so any waves would firstnd there. Then more powerful, higher level zombies would flock together. Other people would also have to deal with stronger zombie birds but the lower floors were rtively safer. Someone could hide in ces difficult for the birds to enter such as windowless storage rooms or bathrooms with tiny windows. Coupled with some safety measures, there were many people on base who could escape danger. The bacsh zombie siege started early in the morning after almost all the zombie birds hadnded. Ability users had cleared the zombies near their homes and the rest of the soldiers fought back with weapons. After clearing the residential areas of military family members, they gradually cleared up the streets and neighborhoods. At the same time, ability users from New Town also participated in the operation. While teams that did not live there, such as the Otaku squad received the call to help clean but they could not organize an effective counterattack at the moment and could only kill as many nearby zombies as possible. They gave priority to killing the zombies in their neighborhood. The team had a rtively safe sleep, early the next morning they left Puppy, Yu Xinran and the five students while the remaining five would go together and kill the zombie birds in the hallway. Although Li Tie and the others had no abilities, they could stay at home with enough weapons. Yu Xinran and Puppy had abilities that would be an effective defense. Each of them carried a mobile phone in order to receive information from the base. The phones had been well-charged overnight and they were ready for action. Chapter 147 A line of five people, each holding a crossbow, water gun and ammunition clips along with a backpack. Yan Fei was controlling metal so it followed wherever he went. Each of them wore waterproof raincoats, helmets, gloves and rain boots, armed to the teeth. The group carefully approached the iron door separating the 14th and 15th floor. They heard no movement outside as they quietly opened the door. Once they confirmed that there was still nothing, they continued forward. For safety reasons Yan Fei walked in front with a shield erected. His ability had increased to four, he did not know the exact effect of his level up but is was much easier to handle more metal. In fact, Xu Mei and Zhang Yi had also risen to level four but Yu Xinran and Song Lingling had not found matching cores. Their ability had teaued and only needed to appropriate nucleus to go further. The group opened the door and walked step by step through the stairwell. THere was unknown liquid, maybe blood near thepletely broken windows. The cold wind blew through and everyone felt a burst of cold. When they reached the 14th floor, everyone was ready to check out the situation. Yan Fei carefully looked outside, suddenly a metal shield flew in front of him! *Whomp* The loud echo in the almost silent hallway served as a signal of war. From some other rooms there was the sound of strange footsteps and pping wings. ""Pay attention and guard the corridor, priority to clearing out the zombie birds!" Luo Xun exined as he heard the sound. Before they came down, Yan Fei had maderge, dense shields that could be carried. Luo Xun and Song Lingling held their respective shields facing the corridor. The others were heavy firepower to clean up the zombie birds. With Yan Fei in front, they soon figured out the situation of the 14th floor. The doors of 1401 and 1404 were wide open. A few zombies were lurking in the hallway and rushed out hearing noise. Although 1402 was closed, there was movement inside but it was definitely not a human voice. As for the closed 1403, there was no movement so the situation was unclear. *Wham, wham* Luo Xun felt something hit his shield. Song Lingling also felt the impact, the pair squatted to brace the shield. Luo Xun pulled out his improved water gun, waiting for a chance to shoot the mushroom juice. He also mouthed to Song Lingling. "They move very fast, get up fast." Song Lingling peeked over the shield, the corners of her mouth twitched. "They look hungry..." Zhang Yis wind had increased the lethality of Xu Meis fireballs, which were whizzing through the hallway. His wind abilities were more precise so he could ensure that while the 14th floor hallway was also filled with wind, nothing got caught on fire. Of course, the smoking zombie bird corpses that hit the walls did not count or the ones blown away. As for Yan Fei, as long as he had metal in his hand and the opposing side was not metal based, it would be easily dealt with. For example, he manipted the metal in front of him to pierce directly in the zombie heads. The zombies mistakenly underestimated the thin metal that suddenly crushed their heads... Before the apocalypse, the game over screen of zombie games would be "The zombie ate your brain" but now that Yan Fei was absolutely decimating the zombies the screen would say "Human crushed your head..." The three who leveled upst night cleaned out the zombies very fast. It was not long before all visible zombie birds were gone. Of course, Luo Xun and Song Lingling had blocked many with their shields but there were more that tried to squeeze past. At this time Luo Xun and Song Lingling stood in the corridor and sighed as another hit the block C fortunately the elevator room corridor was rtively narrow otherwise they might have lost a few heads. The shields in their hands had be severely deformed and the two started to attack the undead birds with mushroom juice. The battle on the 14th floor was finally over and the others rushed to assist Luo Xun with the zombie bodies in the hallway. Yan Fei immediately blocked the open houses with metal to solve their security problems, and also helped process the zombie birds. It was nearly an hour before they cleared all the zombie birds that rushed into the hallway. They checked the two closed homes, confirmed that everything was calm and the ragged windows were sealed. They did not want to just clean the floors, also wanted to make sure that no more crazy birds came in through the windows behind them. The base began work clearing the zombie birds, they were a very scary threat flying in the sky but once they were on the ground, half the danger was gone. They became simr to the other zombies that could only walk on the ground. The only difference was that human zombies were more stable on the ground since birds were birds and not meant to walk around. Because of the gun firing sounds and fighting, some of the zombie birds were lured away which helped some people who were desperately fighting against the zombies. After just one day and night, most of the zombie birds were cleared from the base. At the same time, the base poption had once again plummeted. Luo Xuns team dragged their tired bodies back to the 16th floor. After clearing the zombies in their building and digging out the nuclei from their kills, they met other teams in the area who had ventured out to fight zombies. Most were people who were unable to move into the new town. Unlike Luo Xuns group, these people beat the zombie birds but theirbat effectiveness and efficiency were low. Their main purposeing out was not the nuclei but the spoils from the destroyed homes due to the zombies. Many people saw the Otaku squads prowess and wanted to win them as allies. The group of five silently reviewed whether they were too kind while they were clearing out the zombies. While they were working, empty houses were sealed after the zombies were dead before turning around and walking away. As for houses where there were signs of other living people, they did not knock on the doors as they passed by, let alone finding allies to fight with. But while those people were clearing up zombies, in addition to epting inheritance, they could also receive a lifesaving fee from anyone who ended up alone with zombies. They could not only take some nuclei but also any other needed supplies. It was winter, everyone was short on food. Although people suffered a big loss after getting attacked by zombie birds, the losses could be mitigated if they went to others homes for food. "Youre back? How did it go?" Noticing that Luo Xun andpany had returned, the group of students ran out with their weapons and asked in concern. "Most of our building and the one next door had been cleared, the rest of the neighborhood is less cleared but there should be teams in those areas as well. There are basically no zombie birds on the nearby street but be careful when you go out." Luo Xun exined while petting Puppy who was wagging her tail. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and spoke of other topics. Wang Duo said, "At noon, someone ran to our floor and seemed to want to pry open the door. When they heard us they ran away. We watched the balcony for a while and did not see anyone leave, it must have been someone in our own building." Wu Xin angrily scolded, "What kind of person was that? Brother Luo and the others cleaned up the zombies in the building and when peoplee out, they dont want to help fight zombies bute up to break in!" Luo Xun, Xu Mei and Yan Fei exchanged helpless smiles. Zhang Yi had an indifferent sneer, "Whatever, youve never seen those people help fight zombies in their homes and they are no different than robbers." The group could not help butin. The rms that had been quiet for two days suddenly started ringing across base. They nearly forgot that this time there were not only those horrible zombie birds that could fly directly into base but also the base was surrounded by who knew how many zombies! Chapter 148 The damage to base from the zombie bird attack was not small, especially because of the rms, many people turned on the lights in their homes which became the main targets of attacks. The vast majority of buildings on base have been damaged to varying degrees, with the exception of homes such as Luo Xun, where the exterior walls were wrapped with sturdy metal in advance. The makeshift houses, especially those built on roofs if not copsed because of the two blizzards werepletely destroyed by the zombie birds. Now, after having such a hard time dealing with the zombie birds they remembered C the wall! There were zombies outside the walls! If they were not defeated, the base, their home and even their lives would be lost sooner orter! Luo Xun received and confirmed the message from their phone. He found that they had to defend the same position asst time with the simr task requirements. Li Tie and the other students saw that the shift was from 11 PM to 6 AM and quickly said to Luo Xun. "You take a break first, we dont go out until the afternoon, you sleep and restore some energy." It seemed that there was no better method. Luo Xun thought for a moment and then nodded. "Then you go first...the best ability users first and thene backter C at least have someone at home." Puppy has now been identified as a mutant ability animal, but they were not yet known to the majority on base, so she was still unable to go out for the time being. Of course, the next time everyone left base to hunt cores, she could be brought along. So the dog needed to stay at home along with Yu Xinran, although her ability was very easy to use, herbat experience...Adding to that her age. Song Linglingsbat power was rtively limited so it would be better to act with the army. The rest of the ability users looked at each other and Zhang Yi leftst. Once they left the remaining went back to work. A short time before they needed to go to the wall, both Luo Xun and Li Tie needed a quick break. Around 10 oclock, Li Tie and the others packed up their needed weapons and equipment and followed Zhang Yi. Luo Xun took the time to sleep and woke up around one oclock and rushed to the wall. Today while they cleaned up, they also checked the situation in the neighborhood. The worst damage from the zombie birds was to the highest floors. Several buildings had holes in the roof and top floors due to zombie birds with abilities. The roofs resembled swiss cheese. Second most damaged was the first floor. The crazy birds first target was the penthouse but once the zombies were beaten back and fell down. The half-crippled birds got back up and attacked the nearest floor. As time went on, the number of zombie birds on the first increased and increased. How could the upantsst? No one could resist forever! The team went downstairs and found that the wall had been damaged, there was even a big hole punched through the load bearing wall. Yan Fei slightly mended these important walls for the rest to be reassured. The opposite urred in the middle floors and basements where the most people survived. Luo Xun had a strange feeling in his heart, while living in his house during hisst life, how did the base escape the first wave of zombie birds? Although the number of zombie birds was much smaller, there was still considerable danger to the base, plus there were families without ability users, how would they survive? Perhaps there were more powerful ability users among their neighbors? These thoughts running through Luo Xuns brain failed to stop his sleepiness. Not long he gave up and went to dreamnd with Yan Fei. At one oclock in the morning, his watch sounded and the team washed their faces and got ready to leave. As they passed the 14th floor, they heard rapid footsteps through the hallway. Luo Xun turned to ask pensively, "Want to have someone else watch the house?" While they had a lot of faith in their doors, what if someone forced it open? There could not be someone staying behind. The group nced at each other and there was some worry about who would stay behind. Suddenly Yu Xinran rubbed her eyes and blinked at Luo Xun. "Uncle, Puppy and I will watch the house, any who dare toe will fall!" True, letting her stay was a good idea. She was young and the cold winds were probably unbearable. "Then we leave the house to you and Puppy, remember to not let anyone except us when wee back. If anyone breaks through, make sand and drive them all away." The little girl nodded and put her arms around the dogs neck. Yan Fei changed part of the door into a small window for Yu Xinran to easily check the situation outside. Although it was now dark, they reminded her that she would know when they would being back. Not to mention that their mobile phones were fully charged so phone calls were not a problem. The group quickly went out and struggled through the muddy snow in the direction of the wall. At the moment the base was lit up, snowmobiles could been seen in the streets from time to time. There were also teams clearing out the remaining zombie birds, it was very lively. The closer to the wall, the more noise was heard. The sound of gunfire and loudspeakers filled the air. It was hard to climb up the wall and find the rest of Otaku squad along with Zhang Yi. They switched shifts C of course Luo Xun reminded them to be careful and not get attacked by Yu Xinran when they returned home. Zhang Yis walking speed was rtively fast due to his wind ability, the others got the bonus as well. His ability had increased to level four, although he had no time to study his limits, but he can faintly perceive that his current powers would support his weight. Although he could not fly fast, there was no problem floating around. The other group went back much faster than Luo Xuns speed. When they returned and shined their shlight around, they found something strange. "Yu Xinran? You there?" Zhang Yi looked at therge hole, it was clearly the result of the little girls ability C there were traces of sand on the edge. "Uncle Zhang!" Yu Xinran perked up and they could clearly hear Puppy as well. Once the group passed the iron gate, they asked the little girl and dog. "Someone came just now?" Yu Xinran pointed. "I saw someone sneaking up to our door. Puppy and I secretly prepared some sand and threw it in their faces! They ran away scared!" The little girl only gave them a warning, fortunately she listened to Luo Xuns order of only scaring them and not suffocating the with sand. Otherwise they would be a bigger target. Zhang Yi patted her head in praise and said seriously, "Good job, next time such peoplee over dont let them return!" The little girl nodded while Han Li felt his legs give way. While Zhang Yi took of his coat, Han Li squatted and spoke to her. "Yu Xinran, just scare those kinds of people, dont cover with sand for too long!" Yu Xinran was confused but still obediently nodded her head. Anway it was to scare enemies away, her mothers also said to break zombie head and it would depend on the situation for other people. Luo Xun had no idea of what just happened, even if he did, he had no energy. They were facing the sprawling zombies on the base wall...Yes they were all over the ce, densely packed and surrounding the base! The shadows of bodies contrasted sharply against the white snow. There was no end to the darkness that filled peoples visions. They held their weapons and constantly shot without pause! Yan Fei also saved his abilities for the time being. Every once in a while they banded together to deal with stronger zombies who set up sort ofdders on the bodies of their kind. Again and again, their hands became numb not just because of the recoil from shooting but also because of the cold January wind that chilled to the bone. There were cries from the dense army of zombies, someone with sensitive ears and fearfully pointed in the distance. "Bird, zombie bird! There are still zombie birds!" Chapter 149 In the distance, the Otaku Squad looked towards the noise. In the dark night and pale moonlight, small ck spots emerged from the zombie army and flew into the air. Their numbers were far from the mass of zombie birds that flew into base two days ago but adding sudden air strikes during the zombie siege was just cheating! "My God! How can we fight?!" The zombie bird vanguard flew over the wall and shot rounds of fire. Many were too slow to defend or had no abilities. Many were wounded from the mes and some were even knocked over. The Otaku Squad was there with Yan Fei so everyone had a metal shield in hand. They lifted them up to block the round of fire attacks. After the attack, the fire enemies circled back while the second group of zombie birds arrived C water abilities! Water abilities may not seem that great but in cold winter, the temperature was below zero so the water would immediately turned into ice. This added insult to injury to the team guarding the wall. People wanted toin even more that zombies were cheaters, they seemed to have developed brains and learned new strategies. A batch of ice birds followed after the water birds. The water dripping on the crowd had not been disposed of when the ice birds flew by. They did not do anything except freeze the water on the ground solid! Slippery ice beneath their feet, the defenders had to find a way to kill the dense army of zombies outside the walls and deal with the zombie birds above their heads...it was impossible to live. "Xu Mei, first melt the nearest patches of ice. Song Lingling work with Xu Mei to transfer the melted water off the wall." After this round of air strikes, Luo Xun immediately threw out orders to counterattack. In fact, after the second round of zombie birds Song Lingling had started to deal with the water but did not expect that it would be ice right after. "Lets continue, first kill the nearby zombies and when the birds fly over again, try to hit them with fire." Luo Xun had nothing to do and the birds flew too high for yan Fei to use his metal powers. But the zombies were not deterred by the people on the wall. The zombie air raids came more and more frequently, round after round. Fire zombies went after the ice zombies, they did not only blow up the ice but also parts of the wall! The sharp shards caused a lot of damage to the defenders, it was very painful to get hit by those things! It was not long before the ground was filled with potholes and the ice increased in height. As the crowd was doing their best to stand against the zombies, the soldiers transporting arms returned with more deliveries. Boxes of munitions, medicine and other things were shipped. They wanted to finish as soon possible before running out of supplies. This meant that the military wanted to use heavy firepower to suppress the zombie army under the wall. It was best to set fire and kill arge group in order to intimidate them froming again. Luo Xun was more familiar with these things than others. He quickly grabbed some to use and had Yan Fei immediately cover the bullets with metal, in case they got wet or exploded from the zombie birds. Otherwise they would die instead of the birds. The military had warned people before that the supplies must not be hit by fire, but there would always be idiots who did not listen. So during the next air raid, there was an explosion near by. There was no time to take care of the situation as Luo Xun and the others were using the firearms. The physically stronger were in front while the weaker in the back. As for the zombies just below the wall, they were going to shoot them with either guns or bombs. However the had to be careful to not just blow up the wall underneath them. The group was so busy that the sky gradually shifted towards dawn. Although it was still dark, it was close to six oclock, but everyone on the wall did not notice. Who had the time to notice that sort of thing? The ground became more damaged and the pits were soon filled with zombies. New ones walked by and fell inside but more would step on theirpanions and continue towards the wall. It was not until the next shift of teams arrived that Luo Xun realized they had reached the end of their time. They handed over the weapons and supplies to the new arrivals and Luo Xuns team dragged their tired bodies back home with their things. There was a total of three teams in charge of the same location, exchanging every 8 hours or so. Who knew if their luck was good or bad, the night shift did not have the two other teams but it was slightly shorter inparison. The team walked towards home, wary of stray attacks from zombie birds C such as abilities or casually picked up stones. When it came to rocks the birds would stay away from the wall, like when they first arrived to the base. No one had the strength to talk, everyone wanted to hurry home, get a good rest and eat a nice meal. But on the way, they came across two of three zombies that had hidden somewhere and suddenly jumped them! By the time they finally returned home, they were exhausted. But then they met several people who had moved to steal from neighbors and some people had also been attacked by zombies. There was picking and choosing for rtively safe rooms. So by the time they crawled back home, they found that their building had the most refugees. That was because when Luo Xun went to clear the ce, they also strengthened the bulding and Yan Fei added metal railings to the windows. People thought such a house was safer than their broken home! Luo Xun and the others had no way of catching the people at this time! Luo Xun sadly found that the previously empty 14th floor was now filled with people. He had been brainstorming on the way from the wall, if no one lived on the 14th floor they could use the space for nting, that way the team would not be without food. They continued upstairs with a sigh of relief. There was arge sandy hole between the 14th and 15th floors so Luo Xun knew that Yu Xinran had taken action. Last night, Zhang Yi must have beaten them back but since there were no messages, Luo xun figured there were no problems. Even so he was a little worried, he quickly opened the door but was relieved to see Yu Xinran sleeping beside the dog. Zhang Yi and Han Li were staying in Xu Meis room, they exined the situation after the team returned. The group rushed back to their respective homes and quickly ate something before going to bed. Although there were three wall shifts, no one could guarantee that there would be no emergencies. In case something happened and everyone needed to go back to defending, they needed a break otherwise they would copse. Sure enough, they had only slept until noon when the phone suddenly rang. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were woken up and rummaged around to find the phone. Yan Fei was the one to find the phone, he raised an eyebrow while answering. "Its Captain Guo." Chapter 150 "Is this Yan Fei?" It was Captain Guos voice, someone familiar who had not contacted for some time. He was calling at this time...Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged looks and roughly guessed the purpose of his call. "Yes, Captain Guo what can I do for you?" Yan Fei responded while waiting for the response. Sure enough, Captain Guo called for wall defense. Yan Fei could sort of hear some sounds, Captain Guo was not at the edge of the wall. When he called Yan Fei, he knew that they had been responsible for the midnight shift and had not rested well yet, so he exined, "The higher ups asked me to contact previous metal users...arge hole has been dug by the zombies on the east wall. The others are stepping up to mend and kill the zombies but the metal walls have been damaged so it is necessary for the metal abilities to fix quickly." Yan Fei and Luo Xun were shocked, it had not been long. How did such arge hole appear?! "The wall is broken?!" Captain Guos voice sank. "Yes, I heard that there some zombie mice have entered base so the wall building team had to hurry up. I could only contact you, can youe right away? Gather at the barracks south gate, there will be a car to pick you up." The two people were helpless and could only go down. If the military had only wanted them to help defend, they would not go since their team had already worked. But the broken wall was actually an ident! Once the wall was broken, no one on base could run! Even if they did not like, it was impossible to dodge. The two men quickly got up, grabbed some simple food and water and ryed the information to Li Tie and the others. Then they hurried towards the barracks. The snow and ice at the entrance was trampled so it was much easier to reach their destination. Luo Xun was still bitter, winter without a car was horrible. By the time they arrived, they saw armored vehicles constantly entering and exiting the barracks. They could not find Captain Guo for the moment and could only call, who appeared in the nick of time. "Here!" It turned out the car Captain Guo had mentioned was actually a tank... Luo Xun was speechless, he had never been in such high end goods in his life, he felt small. But there was no time and the three climbed in and saw the Li from the old team was also inside. After seeing the men, Li was very happy and rushed over with a smile. However other than Li, his partner and Captain Guo, they did not know any of the soldiers. Captain Guo nodded to them and sat down with a frown. Luo Xun nced around the car and saw a man with his arms crossed and feet tapping. The man was wearing military coat but his rank seemed to be higher than Captains Guo. The atmosphere was very bad, people felt the pressure. Li was originally talkative but was now silent with his partner. Luo Xun wisely did not ask any questions. The man across the car impatiently asked Captain Guo, "When will the other person be here? Did you even call them?" Captain Guozily winked. "The road is difficult to walk on, people cannot fly over obstacles." "Whats with your attitude?! You know that you are still being punished! If I had not needed your contacts this time, I would have sent you on a mission..." Captain Guo was toozy to even open his eyes through the scolding when his mobile phone rang. It was Sun Shaoyang, like Luo Xun, he did not know which car to approach at the gate. But since he had a military background, he only needed to know the car model number. Sun Shaoyang did not wear the military uniform but it looked good and doubled as protection. The other officers face fell and with a cold humph turned his head in the other direction. Captain Guo pulled thetest addition over. "All right men, lets go." The door was closed and the vehicle drove towards the east wall. Along the way there were a lot of cars that were rushing in the same direction. After all the east gate was the only one breached so all the military must go to the rescue. Their cars were moving in a slightly different direction. By the time they arrived at the east wall, they were a lot of military vehicles with earth users. "Get out of the car and follow me up the wall. Watch your feet, zombie mice have entered." Captain Guo grabbed a weapon and shouted. The other man with a higher rank had an ugly expression but continued forwards. The group climbed up the wall only to see a bunch of earth users C arge hole about half a meter high was in the wall. Zombies were constantly streaming through the wall with gunfire and artillery. "Go hurry up! Give priority to sealing the walls. There may be metal and earth zombies below." Captain Guomanded. The three metal users calmly followed. The fellow officer failed to keep up and made up the tail with a few close soldiers. Luo Xun was distracted and looked back to see the man panting and doubled over. He then looked at Sun Shaoyang and knew now was not the time for conversation. The group quickly arrived at the scene, Yan Fei andpany immediately activated their abilities. The scattered metal was summoned over, it was clear that there was a deep pit under the hole. Apparently dug by the same zombie rats who made the hole. The metal quickly condensed outside the wall and mended the hole. Although time had passed, the three quickly got back into the rhythm of cooperation and began to help each other. It was not long before the big potholes were covered and the base was separated from the zombies. "A zombie with metal ability, although I dont know if its a zombie or a mouse." Yan Fei felt that something waspeting with him for control over the metals and made a quick judgement. "Where is it?" Captain Guo immediately brought out a grenade. "There." *Bang* Where Yan Fei pointed, Captain Guo did not hesitate to drop the grenade. "You, you are breaking orders! The walls are here! Can you afford damaging the walls?!" The officer scolded after finally catching up. The members of the previous metal team did not react and turned to Yan Fei and the captain. "What do we do next?" Captain Guo touched his chin and looked at the wall then the zombies. "Lets circle around the wall...you guys still have strength right?" Someoneughed. "How could we not?" Everyone knew what Captain Guo meant. He was going to let the team recreate the grinder and let it roll around the wall to deal the zombie rats. Luo Xun quickly reminded. "Before you need to deal with the snow and ice or some of the zombie mice would survive. You also need to check the wall to confirm that the metal rats are dead. Its best to have cooperation of earth users." As he spoke, Captain Guo nodded while the officer was in a panic. "What are you doing? Thats against orders!" When the went to the edge of the wall there no zombie birds. Luo Xun estimated that they were tired and temporarily retreated to rest. Who knew when they woulde back and sneak in. Captain Guo nodded and opened his phone to contact someone. On the other hand, the officers face waspletely crimson. He stared disgruntled at Captain Guo took a few breaths and went downstairs. He returned to the tank and also pulled out his mobile phone. Chapter 151 Bonus Chapter thanks to: Zeyna, Writ Fren and Wilson o(^^)o When he saw the men walking away, he took all the soldiers and made it clear was not prepared to show any support. Luo Xun frowned and whispered, "Will Captain Guo be in any trouble?" Li wryly smiled and Sun Shaoyang sneered, "No trouble? After you left, Captain Guo was locked up. He was previously sent to sweep the streets and was responsible for almost all of the outside cleanup. If it wasnt for the zombie siege and needing to contact metal users, who would think of Captain Guo?" Luo Xuns eyes widened in size. "Locked up? Sent out for base cleanup?" The soldiers sent out for that job were only one thing C cannon fodder, other than those with heavy weapons. Zombie clean up was basically the militarys job since the beginning but after a few years ordinary citizens would be called in too. Although they were given some weapons, food and water...these people were basically cannon fodder, no one could guarantee their safety! Even now, although more experience soldiers were sent out, but they were mostly regr people without abilities. Such a team often suffered heavy losses... "Right? I think the higher ups just want to end his life." Lis voice was cold with a stiff expression as he clung to his partners arm. "Just because of what happenedst time?" Luo Xuns brow wrinkled. "Because thest time we went to the wall during a blizzard and one person died? They wanted to nail the captains head to the wall?" Sun Shaoyang spoke again. "Yes. But thats not all, its all an excuse. Captain Guo did not want to say which higher up to follow, so they took away the metal team as a warning and then think about tossing him to death.." Yan Fei suddenly turned to Sun Shaoyang and asked. "What about you? Are you off the team?" Sun Shaoyangs clothes were obviously not military uniform, it was easy to see at a nce. Remembering the look on his face when he saw the officer on the bis, Yan fei guessed that the other was not part of the team. Sun Shaoyangughed and pointed to the tank that everyone had rode. "I had a big fight with that young master. You dont know since he became captain, he checked with other captains for how many nuclei and how long theyst. He decreased the number of nuclei and the work hours were increased to six oclock in the evening. Relying only on sleep to rest...*Tch* we arent people to them! I only learned when I got into a fight and got fired and joined a squad C he pocketed the metal nuclei and secretly sold them!" Luo Xun and Yan Fei suddenly understood why the logistics department suddenly had so many more metal nuclei. It was because they were being ghosted! The military gave basic priority to the members of various ability squads and the wealthy would sell them to logistics. Non military or military with the wrong nuclei could redeem afterwards. In the past because Captain Guo was able to cheat...*cough* because of his connections, other than the small number that must be given to logistics, the rest would be given to the team. But after the change of leadership, the new captain withheld as many nuclei as possible to secretly sell... Luo Xunughed, "He did not think about who he could sell the metal cores to if all the metal ability users left the team?" Lis partner helplessly shrugged his shoulders. "Even if we did not leave the team, there were not enough cores. We privately buy crystal cores so he can always get the benefits." Captain Guo had note back for a while. Luo Xun and the others stood in a ce that did not affect the defense personnel while chatting. Sun Shaoyang joined a power squad and now lives in New Town. He was a new addition but because of his ability he was pursued by many people but in truth...if the army situation was not so bad, he actually wanted to return to his previous life. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were fine, after all they just returned to their previous living lifestyle. Li had it slightly worse, being withheld crystal cores, from time to time he needed to vent. Of course, he was the only metal user on the team and his partner Zhang Quan was actually the angry one. When the new captain arrived, he wanted to get rid of all the original members except for the metal users. However because of Sun Shaoyangs and Lis opposition it failed to start immediately. However the metal team was missing people, the new captain filled these vacancies first with his confidants. It was supposedly to protect the metal users, but the truth...everyone could guess the details. Before long, the new arrivals began to fight with the original members. Sun Shaoyangs partner quarreled and without saying the new captain fired him. Sun Shaoyang evidently quarreled after and was dismissed from the army. In rage, he simply took the opportunity to leave with his partner. After ack resistance, the captain immediately dismissed all the ordinary people in the original metal team. But Li and his partner had a deep rtionship and there was a precedent with Sun Shaoyang. The captain knew that his situation was precarious because he was the captain of the metal, if thest one left...what would he have to show? That was why he had to leave Lis partner along. But the rest of the team was a confidant of the new captain and there was only one metal user. Who did not want to have control? So all kinds of trouble was to be expected. Speaking of which, Li clung to Zhang Quans arm. "They are going to far, I am afraid that..." In fear that shady things would happen, he did not even dare let him to to the washroom alone. Zhang Quan helplessly smiled and patted himfortingly on the shoulder. "In fact, if not for my words, your days in the team would be quite good." "Without you?! Weve been together for how many years? We enlisted together, I will not stay in the team without you!" The two people stood on the wall holding hands and staring into each others eyes. Luo Xun could only bow towards the emotional image. In fact, keeping the ability user safe was somewhat ambiguous. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had entered the team as a pair. The former had also worried about thetters safety in the team. Sun Shaoyang also argued with the new captain because his partner was fired. They now lived together in a team assigned home and formally established their rtionship. As for the death of the former team two metal user, the team was also directly dismissed by the new captain. *Cough, cough* They turned to find that Captain Guo was back. "Pick a better time for this, watch out for zombie mice while we cover you." The two men flushed and lowered their heads, they could not meet anyones eyes for a while. Captain Guo then turned to Luo Xun. "I called, in a moment there will be a team of earth users toe cooperate with us." He had a provoking smile. "Okay with our actions." Sure enough there was a team of peopleing to find Luo Xun who was resting at the wall edge C five earth users and three fire ones. Luo Xun and the captains had a discussion and the two teams began to cooperate. The metal team was responsible for checking the walls to determine their condition and repair. The earth users divided and checked the walls beneath the ground and repair anything damaged by the zombie birds. The remaining three people were responsible for cleaning up the snow and ice beneath the walls. While the fire ability users were busy melting the snow, the water users also arrived and were responsible for moving the melted water outside. It took three hours for the group to mend the whole and repair the damaged walls. Of course the earth users were slower since there were many walls damaged by the zombie birds this morning. After this three metal users made a metal wheel and started their rolling operation! The grinder team had appeared again and the rumbling echoed through the base! The exhausted defense teams cried tears of joy at the scene. The news that there was a big hole in the wall had spread through the various channels C the desperate people were almost mad with worry. But the grinder team showed that the outer wall was under control. They could once again organize an effective counterattack against the enemy! Chapter 152 Huge metal wheels rumbled outside the base walls, overwhelming and crushing all the surrounding zombies. Luo Xun suddenly thought of a phrase C the wheels of fate had begun to turn...fine it was a little out of ce. Luo Xun and some others without abilities protected Yan Fei and the other metal users. Luo Xun lead with Captain Guo making up the rear, each holding a metal shield guarding one person. They brought towels, water, weapons, nuclei and other things. Several earth users were responsible for handling the ground outside to make sure that nothing important would get crushed by the metal. The fire users from the military were responsible for scouting and defense, lest they get mistakenly injured by stray bullets from base. After a round, the group rested and then prepared for another round of fighting. At this time the sky had darkened, it was close to six oclock in the evening. The soldier responsible for sentry duty loudly yelled. "Watch out! Air raid iing!" The group who was about to set out again stopped and looked into the distance. They saw a dark mass of flying zombies... "Those damned cheating birds!" The team cursed in a low voice while ring at the approaching zombie birds. "Not just birds...looks like there are wind zombies!" Luo Xuns sharp eyes picked something out. Indeed within the group of birds there were cyan wings from human zombies. "No way! Wind zombies can actually fly?!" The past two days, they had found some level four wind nuclei and the corresponding ability users appeared on base. But they did not expect to be able fly properly so soon after the upgrade. Right now they could float in mid-air, it was impossible to fly like those zombies! "Attention! Shoot as many zombie birds as you can!" The rms sounded again. They were mounted on the walls were squads usually patrolled so they did not disappear like the other speakers on base. When they heard the sounds, some of the ability users continued shooting zombies under the wall, while the others with better guns aimed into the air. The zombie birds were sneaky, perhaps because the previous birds had failed, they gave a wake-up to the zombies. Instead of carrying out the attack during the day, instead theyunched an airstrike in the dark so the defenders were unable to target them. Everyone had to take advantage of the light to kill as many birds as possible! Gunfire sounded throughout the air while at least half the people on the wall targeted the zombie birds with guns or abilities. The vanguard was attacked by the first wave. Although some were hit, the rest circled around and flew back. Sure enough, it was not long before the second wave of flying zombies took off! "Whats in front of them? I missed!" "Something is falling!" "Ouch, stone!" "Roost, ss! Theyre throwing garbage!" The zombies mental strength also affected their flying powers. They even seemed to have gained IQ as they chose not to use their abilities but instead picked up projectiles! The crowd scrambled to defend themselves from the air attack with cover and shields. At this time, the zombies below also began a new round of attacks! A group of giant zombies suddenly broke through the regr sized zombies. The footsteps caused tremors while running towards the wall! When the giant zombies arrived, they rammed the wall with their shoulders! "Ah!" "Help!" "AH-" "Fell, someone fell down!" Some of the people standing at the edge were knocked off bnce and one identally fell off. In just a few seconds, the person was devoured by the crazy zombies below, there was not even time to turn into a zombie! Most of the people who fell were those paying attention overhead to the zombies air strikes! "Damn it!" The attack let the zombies in the back catch up and climb. One person loudly yelled. "Quick! You cant let them create a path!" Although the walls were tall enough, if the zombies were bent on climbing up, they had no real way to stop them. Captain Guo got up and then someone else shouted. "Earth, the ground is moving!" Theres an earth zombie making a dirtdder!" "What?! How can we survive?!" Several people hatefully pounded the wall while quickly contacting their superiors. "Earth ability users! Quickly take control of the earth near the wall. Theres a zombie outside using earth to make adder!" The zombie and dirtdders, there were even some who tried to open the metal wall while Yan Fei and the others were not present. The battle at the wall was muddled. Everyone who had witnessed the fight was deeply fearful from the bottom of their hearts. No one said it aloud, but everyone had a simr guess C the zombies...there was intelligence and battle strategy! No matter what kind of zombie...anyway they could do everything to fight, even if it was in vain. They had to guard as much as possible for even just a minute...Because if not, they would lose themselves and be one of the walking zombies. "Remember the three locations I just said?" Luo Xun and the metal users were crouched in a corner. Seeing the three nod, Luo Xun got up. "Thats it, three people each responsible for a section. Yan Fei and I responsible for the northeastern sections. Everyone careful!" "Dont worry, you should also be careful not to stray too close to the edge." The two other metal users nodded, they were in charge of the north and south while the protectors followed. "The military will certainly support you. Dont worry about anything else, keep up with the metal users for the walls you are responsible for. Stay near the walls you are defending and make sure the metal wheels work properly, dont care about anything else! With that, the men split into two directions following their respective metal user. Three metal wheels appeared in different locations outside the base wall apanied by rumbling and crushing sounds. Luo Xun learned that Sun Shaoyang and Li were close to edge of level four. They could control a metal wheel, although the operation would be a bit unstable. But at this time they had to split into three groups. In order to deal with as many zombies as possible with the soon-to-arrive earth users. As for the zombie birds...Captain Guo had just forcibly snatched a few earth and wind users from another team. They were responsible for their safety against unexpected surprises from the sky. Luo Xun was here in addition to metal shield he called Zhang Yi over. Although Li Tie and the others needed to be protected, Xu Mei and some others were with them so there should be no idents. There was still some time before their shift, so Zhang Yi could help out. Yan Fei once again evenly spread some metal from the wall to make a huge wheel. The one he made before was taken by the least power of the three. Yan Fei and Sun Shaoyang each needed one to do their work. Huge metal wheels soon appeared on the edge of the wall and the rumbling continued. Zhang Yi quickly arrived using his wind ability using the rumbling sound to track their position. He saw the two men as a new wave of zombies came in holding all kinds of rubbish from the abandoned city. Once they flew over the wall, they started throwing their ammo. But this time, there seemed to be something wrong with the rubbish. The littlest pieces seemed to have scarlet dots of light...wait! "Zombie mice! The birds are dropping zombie mice!" Chapter 153 Who knew the first one to realize the true nature of the rubbish but the zombie mice caused everyone on the wall to shudder in fear. Zombie mice?! It was said that those things ran into the city during the day and there was no way to confirm whether they were still there. There were rumors that people in the base had been bitten by the zombies! Now if the air strikes were bringing in zombies...how would they survive?! Suddenly something condensed towards one section of the wall. The cyan winds hovered around a figure, gradually getting bigger and taller, sucking in all the air around them. The fallen human and bird zombies were all drawn into the hurricane, spinning around wildly. At the same time, the small pieces of garbage were absorbed and turned into weapons sharp enough to kill the zombies! As the huge hurricane rose, a huge rolling metal wheel originally outside the wall came alive and became a bowl catching the fallen zombies and rubbish. Then the huge bowl continued downwards and fell... *Bang* The huge bowl gradually turned into a metal board that mmed down...All at once the held and fallen zombies were being squashed. The metal board came alive and twisted and rolled around thrice before stopping... Yan Feis face was beaded with sweat while sitting to the side absorbing a crystal core. Luo Xun carefully wiped his face while keeping vignt. He was afraid of zombie miceing to attack them. On the other side the hurricane swallowed up the zombie mice and birds. Zhang Yi grabbed the nuclei and walked towards the couple. Although he also consumed a lot of energy and needed to rest. It seemed that he did not seem as tired as the other pair. "Whats going on? How long have you been busy?" Zhang Yi walked over and leaned against the wall. Luo Xun looked up while handing another bag of nuclei to Yan Fei. Captain Guo had forcibly collected them from the captain in the tank. The new captain had withheld the nuclei even duringbat. He would watch the situation before sending any more. "I dont know, supported as much as I can." Yan Fei was not the only tired on, Luo Xuns voice was hoarse as well. He took out some water for Yan Fei and himself before asking. "There might be rats in the base. Have you sent a message home to be careful when theye out at night?" Zhang Yi smirked. "Theres a need to wait for your instructions? The news as all over base in the afternoon. I heard someone was bitten but thanks to the weather we are dressed in thickyers so there were no skin wounds." Luo Xun was relieved and showed a slight smile despite the situation. Yan Fei nced at Zhang Yi. "Be careful, the wall is so messy. When those big zombies hit the wall some people at the edge fell down." Zhang Yi looked over in surprise. There were people with weapons firing down the wall and throwing grenades and so on. After taking a rest and restoring some energy, the pair also ate something to replenish their strength. The two got something good C an energy bar. Although it must have expired, this was much better at replenishing energy. Luo Xun felt some regret at not getting some cocoa seedlings before the end to make all sorts of things. If it could be nted, it would easier to heal up when hunting for crystal cores. After the break, the group of people returned to battle. There was more safety with Zhang Yi with his strong, ranged wind ability. Luo Xun was relieved and maintained his caution. They identally found zombie mice on top of the wall while Yan Fei was manipting the metal wheel. Although there was no way to see clearly, Luo Xun quickly reacted. It was unrealistic to hit the mice using his crossbow, fortunately he had a metal shield to help to block attacks. The trio nervously toured the walls while using metal ability to crush the nearest walls. At the same time, a few metal zombies tried to steal control or borrow some metal. Yan Feis metal was not just level four, it was mutated so he had the advantage even against those of the same level. Only part of the road needed help from the earth users to block a zombie made staircase. The rest work was rtively smooth. The battle continued into the middle of the night, Li Tie and the others came for their shift. They arrived at their position and sent a text message. They knew Yu Xinran and Puppy were at home C Luo Xun worried about their housekeeping. However it would be better for the group to have ability users with them. Once Li Tie and the others were there the three metal users were very tired. Captain Guo called them over to rest where Luo Xun was. The three metal users reunited after separating at noon...all of them had been at the wall until midnight. A few of them had gotten up early and were still on standby, they all needed a break. When the group came together, Captain Guo pointed downwards. "The higher ups sent a car, said the base was too dangerous at night so its a temporary resting ce." He grabbed a bar of chocte with ripped packaging. It had a strange shape from melting and solidifying multiple times. Captain Guo did not care about the shape while continuing. "I asked them for arger car. Although it will be a little cold, as long as the door is shut there is no worry about zombie mice in the middle of the night." "What about tomorrow? Do you know if we have to go out again?" Sun Shaoyang yawned, he was tired after working the whole day. "No but..." Captain Guo paused while swallowing some chocte." Stay on standby in case there are metal zombies outside...Ill have you deal with them." The group nced at each other and nodded silently. Zhang Yi followed Captain Guo down the wall while saying he was going to find the others...well to find his man. He worked the wall since seven and he had more energy than Luo Xun. The team climbed down the wall to where arge car parked nearby. Captain Guo brought them to the right car and they climbed inside. "Lets check the surroundings." For safety reasons, all the metal users subconsciously scanned around. Yan Fei was the main inspector with the help of the others. They had gradually be ustomed to this kind of cooperation and formed a tacit understanding. The trio who were used to high-intensitybatpletely scanned the area in a few seconds. The three opened their eyes with visible anger towards the corners. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun straightened up immediately upon seeing Yan Feis expression. The other people also looked at them. Yan Feis eyes looked towards the corners. Li had an ugly expression as he pointed. "That spot, there, there and there. There are holes!" The group quickly moved the aside the cluttered boxes. These things did not weigh much and a few were even empty. After the debris was removed, the holes were exposed. Some of the edges were even shiny. The holes were not due to rusting but purposeful. All the people in the vehicle had gloomy expressions... Chapter 154 With Yan Feis metal ability, the holes could be easily mended. But looking at the artificial holes, a few were not fixed. Sun Shaoyang had angry tears in his eyes. "My God, are they crazy?! Who will mend the base wall if we are killed?! Do they have other metal users to fix things?!" When they mended the walls today, they found out from Captain Guo about the metal user who had died. They had not been able to purify and strengthen the outer walls, only around a half. But when they came today, they found that a little work had been done. When askedter, Li said that after Sun Shaoyang left, they had barely visited the outer walls and instead made bits and pieces near the barracks C sometimes tools and other furniture. It was said that the new captain was privately picked. Even if one needed to do work on base, no one batted an eye at the leaders choices. No one said anything about the private work Li did when ordered. Captain Guo pounded the vehicle while looking around. "This thing was probably temporarily used as storage after the end." He sneered before continuing, "Get rid of the garbage, Yan Fei get some metal from the neighborhood and fix the car for us. Otherwise all our work will be for naught!" Seeing him take a stand, the group silently threw out the empty boxes used to cover the holes. As for the metal, had Yan Fei any trouble looking for metal since bing level four? He was able to summon metal from the road even as a level two and three, not to mention now? Yan Fei used his powers and did not know that he had borrowed metal from who knew where to create a 10 cm thick wall. The deliberately opened screens were reced with fine metal screens. Luo Xun figured that the results could be applied to their home in the future. The venttion on the roof had also been reinforced with metal. Li and Sun Shaoyang had less experience with these kinds of things and curiously looked and learned from Yan Fei. When these things were done, all the metal users were assigned a sleeping bag and the food sent by logistics was divided to everyone. After scarfing down the meal and filling their bellies Captain Guo spoke. "Someone had been looking for me..." He looked at Yan Fei and Luo Xun. "Since you are not in the barracks, its not clear, there are fewer people living there. Every time teams go out there is death but there are many who think there are many people on base..." He had not finished when Sun Shaoyang sneered, "Not more obedient people you mean?" Captain Guo looked at him and said helplessly, "Pretty much...after this zombie attack...Im afraid theres no need to wait for zombies for something to happen on base." He turned to Luo Xun again, "But its none of your business and youd better not act with anyone else. Just defend the wall,e with us or go back home. This incident will not involve the ordinary people on base." Li and the others had bright eyes. One did not know whether their expression was excited or worried, the rest were perturbed. "Boss..." Captain Guo interrupted Lis words, "Dont bother." He looked forward. "Even if anything changes, it should be for the better...*hah* those people dont seem to understand. They want to earn and rob more, but what is left if the base is gone?" The vehicle was silent. After dinner, everyones bodies and minds were tired and they had no energy to consider problems before sleeping. They fell asleep after crawling into their sleeping bags while leaving the dishes stacked in the corner. With the thickened car walls, everyone slept well that night. Although there were several zombie birds that attacked in the middle of the night. Who knew whether the dropped things were living or not but it did not affect their rest. It was not until the next day that they were woken up by light streaming through the window and the climbed up in a daze. They got up, packed up the sleeping bags and opened the car door. They then discovered that there seemed to be somemotion where all the cars were parkedst night. Several zombies birds dropped zombie mice and other things were thrown when the sky was dark. There was a disturbance in the makeshift campsites C someone was bitten by a zombie mouse that had drilled in and then there was amotion... Upon hearing this, the team exchanged distraught looks. After eating to replenish their strength, Captain Guo and team returned to the wall with new orders. It had to be said that the zombies definitely had developed intelligence, or had amand structure. The reason was very simple C after a session of air strikes to strengthen the attack, it seemed that the situation was not very optimistic. More air attacks were carried outst night with more zombie mice...before retreating. However this time the retreat was different than thest time. They just withdrew a certain distance, just enough that neither side could attack the other from the wall! "What are they doing?" Luo Xun stood on the wall and watched the army of zombies in the distance surrounding the entire base. The dense mass that looked like a wood pile made everyones scalp feel numb. No one had an answer, even Luo Xun the man who had lived two lives. He had never seen such a bizarre scene in his life. But no one dared to take this situation lightly. They stared at the zombies in the distance while mostly ignoring the zombies under the wall. After around half an hour, just as the sun reached its peak moremotion happened. The zombies which raged outside the base suddenly stopped and moved away, appearing like a crowd on the sidelines. But inside the base, there were screams and the sound of gunfire. "Zombie rats! The ones were dropped in the night went into hiding and appeared out of nowhere. From corners and under walls, they seemed everywhere and they rushed through the crowd. "Shoot! Its rats!" The people who came back immediately were on guard. Thanks to the three metal users around them, they quickly had a strong defense and were able to kill the zombie mice soon after. There was chaos everywhere as people screamed upon sight of zombie mice. They had the advantage because it was the day and people were wary of the creatures and had experience. It did not take long for the situation to be in control C with the exception of the trickier mice with powers that caused problems. The crowd controlled the rest of the situation. At least the situation on the wall was under control. But then to everyones horror, the dense army of undead in the snow...retreated. "...They werent thinking of using the zombie mice to make it easier to invade the base...but the early discovery was unexpected?" Luo Xun stiffened at the possibility and dared not believe his guess. The nearby people looked at him with fearful eyes and tried to refute, but what could they say? But with todays bizarre situation...was there anything else to think? All those responsible for defending the wall remained in ce and another round of clearing zombie mice wasunched. At midday, the zombie siege also had a strange ending...but dered a sess. Although they slept all night,ying in a sleeping bag on cold metal was notfortable. Luo Xun and Yan Fei tiredly dragged their feet back while watching for zombie mice that could appear from anywhere. Fortunately there were not many zombie mice dropped by the zombie birdsst night. The ability users that previously defended the walls had wiped out more than half. However now that they were in the base, the mice could be anywhere. The pair returned home in exhaustion and struggled to climb back up to the 15th floor. Yan Fei once again reinforced the door. Everyone else was asleep in their respective rooms, only Xu Mei blearily checked outside and went back to sleep. No one else was rmed as the couple returned home. That night, the stationed troops did not withdraw and kept security on the wall, in case the zombies attacked again. The barracks were brightly lit to celebrate their safety and defense of the base. Almost all the higher ups with real power gathered to celebrate for a few days. At the same time, in some dark corners of the barracks, a group of agile shadows gathered towards the crowd in the auditorium. Chapter 155 Bonus Chapter thanks to Zeyna, Anxz and Anon Luo Xun rubbed his eyes as he entered the kitchen with an opened bag of noodles in hand C these were bought during his pre-end shopping spree. He had almost forgotten about them after the apocalypse. It was not until the zombie birds struck that he remembered these items since they needed quick and convenient grains. These food items were left for a while and they were trying to use them as to make room for other things. It was the middle of the night, almost one or two oclock. Luo Xun and Yan Fei both came back at noon. Although they slept in a car the night before, how could it befortable? So the two came home and caught up on sleep until now. Although day and night were reversed, the two managed to rest just fine. Luo Xun boiled a pot of noodles and brought the food over to Yan Fei standing on the balcony. "Whats the situation outside?" Luo Xun asked as they shared the meal. "Nothing, havent seen any movement." Yan Fei responded and the couple ate while looking out from the balcony. It was to be expected, these past few days had been too crazy. It would not be impossible for the zombies to suddenlyunch a night raid with their bizarre attack patterns. The two people casually ate while on watch. A few days ago thend was covered in white snow, now it was muddied because of the zombie birds. The mottled snow piled up where no one passed, waiting for warm weather to be melted into water. But the two of them were well aware that they could not wait for the weather to melt the snow C it was a prime ce for zombie birds and rats to hide. The snow and ice would have to be cleared sooner orter to avoid surprise attackster. The two men ate up all the noodles and were about to grab more from the table when suddenly the sky lit up. "What was that?!" Luo Xun and Yan Fei quickly turned to look in the direction of the light. The red ball of light flew upwards, higher and higher until it extinguished in the sky... "Fireball from an ability user?" Luo Xun was familiar with the light but he frowned as he spoke to Yan Fei. Yan Feis brow was furrowed, "Its an ability user, but that direction and distance..." Very close, nowhere near the wall. There were no other lights or strange sounds. "...Why does it seem more like a re than someone ying around?" Luo Xun said uncertainly shared looks with Yan Fei. "Could it be what Captain Guo mentioned before..." In the middle of the night, the bustling meal hall was silent. Blood was spilled by therge number of zombies scattered around. But there were some suited people in the roomughing even during this situation. But these people were at the doorway surrounded by armed soldiers and ability users. "Report, the room has been cleared, please proceed." "Have the people in the dormitory area start to move. Be careful not to rm people outside so once the barracks are cleared, the special operations team and get all the target families under control. One hour to resolve the situation." "Yes!" The loud voice echoed in the room. The ones who had not been involved in the operation stood on the sidelines in surprise and looked with fear at the people who orchestrated the operation...most were rtively fresh facedpared to those who always controlled real power. Captain Guo sat on his dorm bed with half a cigarette butt in his mouth while looking out the small dormitory window. It was facing the inner part of base so he saw the light when he got up in the middle of the night for a drink of water. As his mind wandered, he heard footsteps from outside. It was quiet, but the sound was obvious to a man not asleep in the middle of the night. Captain Guo did not look outside the door but stared forward. After a while, he heard the sound of a door open before quiet resumed. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and shoved it in a cupboard. There was still half of it left. He pulled up his covers and murmured while other members snored away, "Hah, so fast...did I say too much?" As always, the sun slowly rose over the horizon and shined its light over the entire base. The soldiers who held on through the night were feeling fortunate C the zombies did note back in the night for another fight. The base survivors also greeted the morning sun with a yawn C fortunately the scattered zombie birds and rats did not touch their homes in the middle of the night. The situation in the barracks and new town was strange, the two locations were still quiet C maybe the people slept in? It was not until 10 oclock until the barracks opened and some vehicles headed towards the wall C the same as usual. The couple went to bed for a nap after having something to eat. They got up this morning and said hello to Li Tie and the others. The day passed and there did not seem to be any major changes. They could only silently see if the military had any announcements. The military notice came but it had nothing to with what they wanted to know. It was normal to ask residents to take part in cleaning snow and dealing with zombie rats hidden throughout the base. The news was widely publicized through text messages. It was more cost effective then getting a team to do it over the course of a month due to taxes and other things. The team got together and chose to sweep the street for their glorious cause...actually it was because otherwise they had to kill a certain number of rats, who knew if they could actually find some? They were not cats! Of course, perhaps while sweeping the street, they might encounter some zombie rats and other things, but it would be to luck. They went to the mission hall to register for the task. After they cleaned up the designated area. They could take care it again tomorrow morning in order to add ayer of insurance to their lives. Yan Fei brought all the unused metal in order to create some armor. Its role was mainly to protect against zombies and sharp objects, not impact damage. That is to say, if someone tried to stab them, they would not wounded but it would painful. If they got punched by a strong zombie, they could still break bones and other internal injuries. But it was now the apocalypse, the most important thing was not getting bitten by a zombie and infected by the virus. As for other possible conditions...they would pray for blessings. "Brother Yan, this is great! You thought of something like this." Li Tie looked with sparkling eyes like a primary school student at Yan Fei while thetters mouth twitched. Zhang Yi and Xu Mei were also excited. "Good job C try and resist our attacks." Luo Xun quickly raised his hand. "This thing can only prevent cuts and scratches, cannot stop ability users!" "We know, but we want to try out our attacks." Xu Mei waved her hand not minding in the least. Song Lingling suddenly asked. "This thing is made of metal right? Wouldnt it conduct electricity from lightning users?" Luo Xun nodded and said, "Theres no other way. We have to be careful, we can take it off it is not appropriate to wear." Yan Feis current finesse with his metal ability allowed him to make the metal clothes rtively light. After Zhang Yi and Xu Meis experiments, the item had decent resistance against general wind and fire but not against the more powerful attacks. Although with fire it got very warm, it would serve as enough protection. With its lightness, it would be good to have an inneryer for their cotton clothing. The group discussed if they should line their cotton socks to prevent a situation if their shoes got bitten or something. As they were talking, a mobile phone rang from one of the coat pockets hanging at the door. "Its your phone." Luo Xun heard the tone and watched as Yan Fei grabbed his mobile phone. Luo Xun could not help but raise an eyebrow upon seeing the caller name. "...Its Captain Guo." Chapter 156 Sorry for the dy...had longer work hours this week. Hopefully future releases will be on time. Luo Xun guessed that Captain Guo would contact them, but not so soon C after all the barracks matter was only yesterday. It was really fast, of course who knows how involved he was. Yan Fei put down his work and picked up the phone. Luo Xun followed while the other people continued to admire the new armor. They continued testing the sturdiness in more areas. Yan Fei held the phone while Captain Guo began to speak, "Yan Fei, how was your rest? By the way, what do you think of we discussed before? Do you want toe back? Or stay with your team?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, his mind kicked into gear while he said. "Captain Guo, I rested fine...the workload this time was big..." A few more polite words. "My rtionship with the captain is strong, although I want to help you...Im sorry but I wont leave him." Captain Guo knew that he and Luo Xun were together, how could he appeal only to him? If he had a problem, he could jump from the 16th floor. "Really no? You didnt think about the terms we are offering?" He said again, "If the base has emergency work, we will count on you toe." Yan Fei immediately understood, "Rest assured that if there is any danger on base we wont run. I will keep you in mind when we get called." Luo Xun whispered after hearing Yan Fei answer the call. "Is there someone with Captain Guo?" Although he did not hear words C there must be a problem on Captain Guos side! When did he speak in such a polite tone?! Yan Fei closed the phone before saying, "I did not hear other voices but I suspect someone was listening or out in public." He then summarized what Captain Guo had said. Luo Xun nodded his head after listening. "I suspect the new leaders in base are trying to reorganize the ability users, or recruit ones who are not under the control of the military. At least they had the idea to reform the metal squad, perhaps to repair the outer walls and other tasks. Lets be careful..." He trailed off with a sigh and gently hammered Yan Feis chest. "The weak will be bullied by strong teams on base. But those too strong will also be pulled down due to fear. These days are so hard to survive..." Yan Fei smiled and held his lovers hand as they walked back to continue working on protective clothing. They could not exin to the others C after all the matter was not fully clear. They could only remind everyone to be vignt, watch their back while acting together and avoid trouble. Yan Fei worked the ideas andments from the others. He added ayer of metal to the gloves and shoes of his team members. He was d that he practiced everyday with his metal ability. After bing level four, he could make metal as fine as a silk thread but tough enough to withstand two of Zhang Yis wind des. Otherwise he would do the same thing to the socks as the armor. The sky darkened as Yan Fei dealt with their metal clothes. The couple returned home to discuss the phone call from Captain Guo during the afternoon. "...Do you want to contact Sun Shaoyang?" Luo Xun was hesitant, "He looked like he wanted to return." Sun Shaoyang had left the army and joined a team but it did not seem suitable for him. Although he was dissatisfied with the new captain, if Guo returned, he and his partner would want to go back. "It does not matter, since Captain Guo was the one who called, maybe Sun Shaoyang has already gone back. In case their phones are monitored, it would be best not to call them now." Yan Fei frowned, Captain Guo called himself, if he contacted Sun Shaoyang who might rejoin the metal team with some adjustments...it would be troublesome if they were found. The two discussed for a while beforeing to a conclusion C in short with the chaotic situation on base, they decided toy low and not rock the boat, especially since the military still had cards to y. Otherwise, their rtively peaceful days woulde to an end. Luo Xun sighed again, he had been an ordinary person at the bottom during his past life. He had beenpletely unaware of what haunted the base and other rumors about leadership. Of course, the knowledge would not be useful since the zombies had mutated or had someone with intelligence leading them. The people inside the base were unsure when they would get hunted down and eaten by zombies. After a nights rest, the team put on their new armor and increased security before gathering in the hallway. The Otaku squad killed a few water zombies in the previous battle and there were level four nuclei among the spoils. Now all the ability users were level four other than Yu Xinran, whose nuclei were hard to find in the market. Although they should act together, since the situation on base is not very stable, they decided to have Yu Xinran and Puppy housekeep along with Qiankun. If there were any problems, they would immediately call. After wearing all theiryers of armor, everyone opened the door and went out. They walked to the mission hall, the main road had been cleaned up in the first few days of the attack. Sure enough, with enough pressure these kinds of tasks could be done quickly. When they arrived, Luo Xun was surprised to find, "So few people." Usually there would be some people idling around the hall between missions. There were also usually people wandering around looking to join other groups. Today when they came out, they felt that the people in neighborhood wanted to preserve their strength. The average person did not take missions and they did not go out...but such am empty mission hall...made people feel a little weird. The group exchanged surprised looks while debating whether to go in for a mission. Then a few enthusiastic staff weed them... They had never seen a suspected bank manager or public servant before the apocalypse taking the initiative to meet and speak with them. This was really a testing scene...especially after the end. In other words, where had the staff who looked down on ordinary people because they ate public food gone?! The suspected lobby manager was wearing a id shirt, tie, jacket, jeans and old shoes smiled at them. "Are you here to pick up a mission? This way please." Looking at the persons smiling face at the empty hall, Luo Xun secretly guessed that since there were so few peopleing for missions, the manager took the initiative to meet with them... Aftering to the check-in counter, they confirmed that their guess was correct. The tasks released yesterday were barelypleted, they could even pick the ce they wanted to clean up. For safety reasons, Luo Xun chose their neighborhood. Their main task was to deal with the snow on the roadside and get rid of the hidden zombie mice and other creatures that would attack humans. Of course, they would get more points from killing and handing in the bodies. In fact, if would have been cost-effective even if there were no points, after all the zombies had nuclei. "Boss, you said...now that we have picked a task, will what we did before not count?" Li Tie asked in a low voice. Luo Xun had a helpless expression. "I am not sure, but cleaning up the snow in our area so the zombies have no hiding ces will also help keep ourselves safe, right?" When they came back yesterday, they took care of all the sewer entrances that might have mice and asked Yan Fei to reinforce them with metals. Even the pipes of the toilets were temporarily blocked, opened only when in use. When the home protective measures were done, they could leisurelye and pick a mission. Otherwise how could they calmly leave the house with children at home? Now...the mission was picked and they were suddenly saying they did not want to do it? Table of Contents Chapter 157 Although helping the base was equivalent to helping themselves, Luo Xun was not sure whether they would get the points and reduce the teams rent after the task. The group drove the truck with brooms, shovels and other things to the destination. The two had rarely seen cleaners after the end, which made sense after they found all the garbage piled under the snow... That is when they realized that it was a thankless task. In addition to consuming quite a bit of physical strength, there were also surprises at work. The so called surprises referred to the zombie mice hidden in the snow. Although there were not many, some of them sprang out while they were cleaning up the snow piles. While they were clearing up a garbage mountain, a poorly hidden zombie bird also appeared. Fortunately, the team had fully prepared themselves C once the zombie jumped out, a st of attacks smashed it to the ground before the monster could roar. The team of cleaners busily shoveled snow and rubbish while bitterlyforting themselves that they were helping out...well the goal was noble but their true reasons were not. It was for the sake of their life and health. Reducing the surrounding garbage would lower chance if illness and other issues. Luo Xuns phone began to ring as he was rapidly shovelling rubbish. He whipped out his phone to identify the caller and walked to the side. "Captain Li?" Luo Xun asked as the phone connected, sure enough it was the captain from the canteen. "Luo Xun, do you have any vegetables? The meal hall is need of ingredients." Luo Xun blinked and said with some pain, "Captain Li, the vegetables are not ready...as you know the zombie birds flew into base and broke the windows of higher floors. It was hard for us to survive those two days and before we could clean up the windows, we had to defend the walls...The rest of the vegetables froze to death, there is no way to sell vegetables at the moment." "Ah, about that..." Captain Li had already guessed, he questioned whether the call would get through. Being able to contact Luo Xun meant that his team was pretty good and luckily able to escape the zombie bird attack. Vegetables...the zombie birds had broken some of the nting buildings, the vast majority of nts wither froze or rotted. He would not have been in a hurry to contact Luo Xun if he had many other options. But whether Luo Xuns team survived due to luck or having enough strength to beat the zombies, they had to maintain a good rtionship in case they could be usedter. "Well, I dont want to bother. If you have any normal vegetables, the canteen will buy them! So call backter." Something big happened in the barracksst night, if someone like him who had fewer connections wanted to keep his current position, he would need to make a corresponding contribution to show his strength and not get reced. So since Luo Xun could not help, he would have to contact other people he cooperated with. It was not only Luo Xuns group that grew vegetables at home. Their nting area was nowhere near asrge so there was no way to nt so many normal crops. But now, even getting some mutant vegetables was okay! Luo Xun turned to Yan Fei after hanging up the phone while thetter asked, "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun shrugged, "Captain Li wanted to buy food, Im testing the waters." The vegetables at home were somewhat affected by the zombie attack, but not frozen to death like he said C but they were neglected. Of course, some were frozen. Li Tie and the others used 1601 as a battleground to fight against the zombies. Because the windows were opened, they moved the vegetables were moved. However after the cold wind, many nts did not grow well because of the low temperatures. In addition, because of the fear that leaks would attract more zombies, the windows werepletely covered in metal and blocked the light, so the nts had not been growing as well. Some of the sr panels near the area were broken as a result of fighting so they had to take some time to rece them. In short, there were a lot of things at home but they urgently needed to take some missions...that was the reason Luo Xun refused Captain Lis request to buy food. On one hand, they did not have time to harvest the vegetables at home. On the other hand, the entire base had been affected by the attack, even the militarys fields had been damaged, how could their crops be unaffected? Although no one would think much about the military anxiously buying food, but during such a difficult time...they did not want to trouble their families. Luo Xun kept this matter in mind and Yan Fei understood what he meant. Look at the surrounding buildings, how many were intact after clearing the snow? How many of the roadside homes built by earth users in autumn remained? Revealing a mostly undamaged home, being able to grow vegetables...it was too much of a target. Smaller quantities were to be expected, more would result in being painted with a target. The members of the Otaku squad struggled to clean up the snow and other debris in the area, finding and killing zombie mice from time to time. By the time noon arrived and they had a break, the base was buzzing with activity. Many people carefully walked out their homes and always paid attention to the street for any traces of zombie mice. Fortunately the creatures were reluctant toe out during the day, unless theirirs were revealed when they would attack. Otherwise they would rather hide and note out. Luo Xun looked east at a group of people running westwards holding things and sighed. His current home had a bit if everything, so for the time being they were fine, but if it was the past him, he probably would live like these people....just not as arrogant. It took two days for Luo Xun toplete the task from the mission hall. The next afternoon they were informed that the report had been finished, allowing them to receive points for the subquest and a decrease for this months rent. With points in hand, everyones heart was soothed C at least they got some points so the task was not in vain. As for the turbulence at the higher base...the average survivor noticed nothing about what happened that night. Actually even before that, many survivors did not even know the names or number of the base leaders. They felt little even if there was a change in leadership. After the emergency mission, Luo Xun andpany gathered their damaged things, counted the number of sr panels and listened to the radio. It was nowte January and the lunar new year wasing soon! The arrival of the human and animal zombies had pushed the matter aside. It was not until they heard on the radio that they realized this time of year had arrived?! "Its almost time for spring, lets have some preparation for a good year." Xu Mei suggested to the team. "All right, dumplings, dumplings!" He Qiankun immediately raised his hands while drooling. "Mutton stuffed dumplings!" The sheep they hadst time was so fragrant, if they used that meat to make dumplings...just the thought made people start to drool. "Dumplings must be wrapped and cannot be rushed for the best vor. Plus we wont have to worry about the smell flowing out like with the sliced mutton." Luo Xun smiled, "Lets prepare something else umon to eat...like some hot pot. Potatoes, tofu and mutton can be eaten with rice..." It was closer to stew but the soup could be drunk and eaten with side dishes. "All right, all right, eat hot pot and dumplings!" Everyone had been busy so for quite a while, now they could settle down. With the cold weather they could temporarily avoid some base things. Their thoughts naturally turned towards food C who let their fridge have so much meat? Most of the survivors on base could have a good year, although people were loss and homes damaged...the food left behind helped the remaining survivors live through this difficult winter and reach spring. Chapter 158 On that day, the base finally regained its former calm after the zombie bird raids and siege. Early in the morning, the base had been broadcasting a variety of recordings about mutant crop research and other pre-recorded variety shows before the apocalypse. This made the base with many copsed houses seem more lively than before. Survivors still living on base were very ready for the holidays, after all there were small losses after the previous zombie bird attack that left behind resources...The ability users responded more quickly and soon dealt with the iing birds, although at night one had to be careful to avoid encountering zombie mice. Those who had received the leftover resources, coupled with their own preparations, it was no problem having a nice spring festival. As a result of the re-integration of supplies, many people had radios avable. That way, even though the speakers on the road were long gone, many people could still listen to shows an news at home. Because most of the shows were used before the spring festival, the new people who took over ordered the stations to y these things out slowly. The tall ck fortress was bustling with meetings as the whole base prepared for the new year. Of course, the senior management opened their meeting alone. The lower level officers sat in an auditorium listening to some prepared programs with the rest of the barracks. It was for celebration and to strengthen work morale. In a secret underground room, the real leaders of the base were having a meeting. The data was circted around the table. The average age was 10-20 years lower than before as some military personnel had gradually increased their strength as the apocalypse continued. After quickly looking at the lists, they set aside the teams that hadpleted their tasks and focused on the rest. "Consistent with previous discussions, theypleted their missions on timest year and showed support for our past operation and has some strength. But did not participate in the faction fighting, a team that does not stir up the wind on base." Another persons expression was relieved. "Although we cannot say anything since the tasks have beenpleted, at least it proves that todays leadership is more trusted.As for the unsuspecting regr teams...those who honestly work are an important cornerstone of the base." "Well we can rest assured about that point. As for those who are still on the sidelines or cking off..." The atmosphere in the room became bitter as they exchanged nces. One of the said, *Cough* "This matter, after the new year, the teams will need to do missions in ordance with the new rules." Several others nodded. "Yes, those with power have an obligation to the base." Someone else added, "Still have to find a way, some teams have the captain making all the decisions, the others would not be clear about some things." The discussion continued with topics including how to integrate future ability squads, hot to treat past enemies, although no details were spoken. The previous one about limiting teams and mandatory missions had nothing to do with the people sitting here today. The head determined their direction. When they reached this seat, they found that rules were beneficial to the higher ups. Of course, they needed to set up different missions for teams, those who finished in advance would be less difficult, as for the rest... The new officials were fired up, just needed to test problems and those who were watching...It was a bitter world, a team needed to be able to stand on its own. How harmonious would it be to build a beautiful home together on base? The sound of chopping vegetables came from the 16th floor of the seventh building. But this time they did not have to be too careful about noise, since it was the spring festival. Regardless of a persons resources of grain, meat and vegetable, everyone did their best to have dumplings. Luo Xun only had enough flour for thisst meal. Everyone decided after taking out the frozen mutton, they would have mutton and carrot stuffed dumplings! If meat was a rarity on base, themmb was extinct C eating meat was already great, who could now eat this sort of meal? The group happily minced the meat, chopped the carrots, added some voring and started to wrap the dumplings. Having worked together the past new year, they were all more adept at cooking. While the efficiency was raised, the twodies did most of the work for the wrappers. Luo Xun went into the kitchen and began to cook a few side dishes. The previously agreed hot pot had been fired up with mutton instead of duck along with other delicious ingredients. At night, the soup stock would be most vorful. Now all he needed to prepare was two more dishes to eat for dinner. Today they took out a lot of mutton in order to make the dumplings. With a chunk they could fry it with some onion, the only way to make it better...would be to add some sweetness? Luo Xun scratched his head, he knew the method before and had some practice. But he would ask the others if someone knew the details otherwise he had other methods to use. As for vegetarian dishes, they had not sold food in a while so there was a lot. Most were pickled or hung to dry, one did not have to worry too much. The knives were washed after use. When Luo Xun came out of the kitchen, most of the dumplings were already wrapped. "Brother Luo, what kind of food is for dinner?" New Years was the time for luxury so everyone had high expectations for the meal. "Ready to fry onions and mutton, by the way does anyone know how to make something like honey?" Luo Xun felt satisfied as he looked at the nicely wrapped dumplings. "No." "Never have." "What is that? Something edible?" Well the vast majority of people would not know, within Luo Xuns expectations that the students only knew how to eat. The good thing was that Yan Fei and Zhang Yi had eaten it before though they did not know to make it. Finally with their help, the three cooks managed to find a rough method...who cared about uracy as long as it tasted good. The team happily ran around the room busy with dinner preparations. Everyone barely had anything for lunch. They wanted to eat as much as possible so they put all their energy into making dinner. Yu Xinran was also to one side making some strangely shaped dumplings that she would eat and also to give to Puppy...Luo Xun lit a candle for his pet. While the adults were busy, the little girl took a small basket with fresh, red strawberries and said she would eat these for dinner too...well having something not greasy would be nice. It did not take long for the sky to darken. The music on the radio became cheerful again with broadcasts of songs, dances and other recorded programs. Before long the hot pot was served and the lid opened. Luo Xun and the others also ced a few dishes to the side. Soon, the mutton and carrot stuffed dumplings would be finished cooking... Chapter 159 "Whoohoo, good times, good times..." "It smells good, its delicious!" "Mmhmm..." The group of the people stuffed their faces with the mutton dumplings. There was not a lot of noodles left so they could not bear to waste even a speck of flour. Although they had nted wheat in the house after harvesting rice, it would take a few months before harvest. After this meal, there would be no more noodles to eat for a while. Would the nted wheat have some losses due to mutation? It was unknown how long and how much they would have... "Eat slowly, the hot pot is almost ready." Xu Mei came over with thest te of dumplings andughed at the group with bulging cheeks. "Sit down and eat, take your portion or it will get taken." Song Lingling quickly pulled her down. In fact, not all the dumplings were cooked, around half were set aside and frozen. Todays hot pot could be eaten with rice so they should not be too greedy. That way, there would be more to eatter. After all the dumplings were eaten, therge pot was ced in the middle of the table filled with stewed food. The group did not mind filling their bowls with rice that used to have dumplings. Cabbage was at the bottom with a variety of food on top: roast duck, fried mutton, potatoes, tofu, yam and meatballs. In addition there was a variety of their mushrooms and other veggies stewed in the pot. The soup had all the fragrance and vor of the ingredients, it could be mixed with rice to make it more filling. Everyones appetite was reawakened after the dumplings. They chatted andughed while the meal continued. "Since it is new years, lets each make a wish?" Song Lingling proposed the idea and the room went silent except for the bubbling pot. Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged nces before looking at the other people at the dinner table. Wang Duo raised both of his chopsticks. "I wish to never separate from my dear and to have a happy life!" The groupughed as Zhang Yi politely spooned meat and vegetables into his bowl. "I wish that every month we hunt a mutant animal so we have meat to eat." Gourmands were really different from regr people, but everyone did agree with Zhang Yis desire and nodded their heads in support. Song Lingling also raised her hand. "I wish we have a bumper harvest every time! More than enough for a year so we wont worry about running out!" Xu Mei giggled. "Then I might as well wish for more vegetables to grow so our house is more cost-effective." "Right! It should at least be better than before? There must be empty space on base since the incident." Song Lingling turned towards Luo Xun. As captain, Luo Xun could only say, "Rest assured, we will see if there is suitable space after two days. A number of our sr panels have broken so we also need to find recements." "Then I wish we can gather more nuclei and other important supplies!" "It should be more higher level nuclei right? Were getting less lower level ones?" "Yeah, it only we had more space..." Li Tie got distracted. "Is there really no space ability users?" "People would not say anything even if they were. They are reluctant to be exposed." The team chatted before suddenly asking, "Captain, what is your wish?" Luo Xun froze, a wish? He could not really say what he wanted. His past desire was basically C a home to grow a lot of things, walls filled with sr panels, enough food to eat and someone to apany him. All of these goals had already been achieved. In thought, he turned to look at Yan Fei. "Nothing really...I wish there were less zombies surrounding the city." Xu Mei sighed, "It would be nice if the apocalypse could end...it would be nice to never see a zombie again." The room fell silent again as Wu Xin quietly added. "...It it was possible, I really want to visit my hometown..." In an instant, the joyous atmosphere was reced with sadness. The sound of the hot pot and radio seemed so far away. After new years was the spring festival. The set aside food was ready in batches as the group of people resumed their daily life. Packing up the crops, sorting out the walls that were previously damaged in the air raid, rece and repair any damaged items. Luo Xun made a list of all the things that needed to be reced and purchased. Their sr panels had been damaged, they had a number of filled batteries that would support them for the moment but they needed to find a way to replenish the energy. In addition, they had to solve the issue of finding an empty house and increasing their nting area as soon as possible. In fact, the second problem was more troublesome, especially with their limited manpower. It was not an issue finding an empty space and renovating, but an empty room could be easily upied... If they looked for a house elsewhere, they could grow vegetables, but how would it be guarded? After a certain distance, the space would be a sitting duck...who would they send over? The Otaku squad had insufficient manpower and could not ask for help from the garrison. After all, everyone was veryfortable in their renovated home, who would want to move? They also had to shoulder the farming, housekeeping, harvesting and so on. It was also likely that their secrets would be exposed...in short there were a lot of problems. So many issues, they still had to ask and there were other things to be done. Luo Xun asked around and found that logistics had been closed temporarily during the new year. In fact, outsiders were not allowed to enter the barracks. Both men guessed that it was rted to the incident a few days ago. There was no way to exchange for sr panels. The couple took their cores and points to the window but there were none avable untilter... The two men then went to the information hall again to see if they could rent a few rooms. The results C because the deaths from the zombie birds had not been counted, the situation was not clear for the empty homes, they needed more time for specific information. "Right after the end of the year, things are not going smoothly..." Luo Xun ground his teeth while walking. They came out today and did not get a single thing done, not one task! It was really bad luck. "Dont be anxious, after all its only the second day..." Although Yan Fei also felt ufortable, it was best not to have both of them angry. If venting would solve the issue, he would not mind listening for three days and nights C so long as they could take care of what was needed. Luo Xun took a deep breath. "Lets go back first." He thought about it, Li Tie and the others had gotten all the data before leaving. They just did not know if it was useful...When the pair returned home, Luo Xun immediately went straight to Li Tie who was busy fertilizing. "Did you bring all the base data home?" Li Tie paused and then nodded, "Yes, was there a tv series or something missing?" Luo Xun shook his head. "No, Im asking if there was anything else in the data you brought back? For example the location of sr panels? Or a ce where a lot of panels were used?" "Ah, true! Why didnt we think of that before!" Li Tie jumped up and exchanged annoyed looks with his friends. He Qiankunughed. "Well...maybe we can look now." "Look? What do you mean?" Luo Xun asked with bright eyes. "Ive put several programs into the hard drive and I have a lot of messy files. I have not had the time to sort it out carefully before we left." He also added smugly, "I left a back door in the base database before leaving...although thework is not very fast, its still usable." "He Qiankun did good!" "Youre so talented!" "Go, go, go and check the data as soon as possible in case your back door was found..." The five turned and ran but were stopped by Xu Mei, Zhang Yi and Yan Fei who all hard dark expressions. "If you all leave, who will apply the fertilizer?! Only one or two people need to leave, the rest have to work!" Xu Mei, her temperament has be more queen-like. Was she nning onpeting with Zhang Yi? Chapter 160 Luo Xun, Yan Fei and Zhang Yi along with the rest of the team were busy for most of the day. Everyone left the nting room and went straight home to wash of the sweat. Li Tie and the others were busy for a while but had not found anything after Luo Xun had finished work. They could get all sorts of files into folders haphazardly but not that they wanted to find specific things, it was inconvenient. In order to no longer not have the answer to questions, the five decided on how to identify and ssify the data. This way, their workload increased and it would take three to five days for results. The couple went home and straight to the bathroom. They took a quick shower, which turned into an encounter that everyone could seeing C was it not a tant invitation? Yan Fei would not look a gift horse in the mouth. After the bath, Luo Xun flopped onto the sofa to regain his strength. The dog was running around the quail cages on the balcony while drooling. Seeing Luo Xune out, she excitedly scrabbled over and jumped onto Luo Xuns stomach. Yan Fei was in the back drying the bathroom floor. When he came out with a satisfied atmosphere. He walked over to the sofa and kissed Luo Xun, who squinted while holding the dog. Luo Xun smacked his lips and said, "I dont have the energy to cook dinner." The two had fertilized their fields in the afternoon and then the event in the bathroom, it was a miracle Luo Xun had any strength left at all. "Im going to make some congee?" Yan Fei suggested to Luo Xun. "...Okay, there are still some leftover hot pot ingredients...you can cook the rice with those and make congee." The leftovers from the new year had been distributed to everyone. Luo Xun had not eaten those yesterday so it could be used to fill their stomachs today. "Ill go it." Before Yan Fei could start, one of their mobile phones rang. The two shared helpless looks while Yan Fei went to grab the phone. It was his ringtone, so he should be the one to grab the phone. When Yan Fei looked at the phone screen, he found that it was the third time the number had called him. He looked up to see Luo Xun getting a massage from the dog on his back. "Unknown phone number but its the third call." Luo Xun raised a surprised eyebrow. "Pick up?" Yan Fei was silent and thought his phone was broken...it was the same unknown number over and over again. The pair exchanged nces and then Yan Fei picked up the phone. Half an hourter, the tired Luo Xun followed Yan Fei along the dark and empty street. The base streets after the apocalypse...since there were still zombie mice hidden no one dared to loiter around after dark. Unless they had something urgent, like the couple were now. "It was so nice at home, its so cold now." Yan Fei had a dark expression and wrapped a scarf around Luo Xun. It was still cold right now. Luo Xun did not mind. "Im with you right now. Who knows what is going on and how long it will take before youe back." Yan Fei was silent and he hugged Luo Xuns shoulder and continued forwards. Luo Xun patted his arm, telling him not to worry. "It is useless to be anxious or angry for things like this..." The pair walked towards inner base and reached an area not cleared out. They went to the third floor but could hear amotion from inside the building. The door was opened by a haggard, 40-year old man. He was surprised at seeing the two people and looked around uncertainly. "You are...?" "I am Yan Fei." His voice was cold with barely concealed irritation. The other party had a stiff expression while ncing jealously before saying, "Oh,e in. Its a little messy..." A little messy? It was clearly a new neighborhood but the area had not been cleaned. There was snow and garbage everywhere, the rooms were filled with all kinds of debris, supplies and furniture. While looking around, the two men heard hysterical screaming in the master bedroom. "I cant live anymore...Im going to die! Its all your fault that I am so miserable!" Another voice wasyered with quiet anger. "Mrs. Liu! The current environment does not allow for a c-section, please save your strength for the baby! Your life is also in danger right now!" "Bastard! Quack! What use are you without equipment!...Ouch! The pain, I should have left you for my lover long ago!" The three men in the living room were silent, while Luo Xun blinked at Yan Fei. "Her temper is going strong, she should not be in life-threatening danger." Yan Fei looked at him C was that supposed to beforting? But listening to her yelling, it did not seem like there was any danger. Anyways, it was all pre-birth. He turned and looked at the man whose expression changed from time to time. The couple also remembered this man, the one who originally apanied Yan Feis mother while wearing a military uniform. He seemed to have been pushed down by the pressure of the apocalypse. "You just said on the phone that she was giving birth early, what is going on now?" The mans expression twisted again, he ground his teeth before taking a breath. "I went out today for scavenging, when I cam back she was lying next to the door with blood around..." "On the neighbors doorstep? What happened?" Yan Fei frowned, if someone else ended up on his doorstep... "The neighbors said she took advantage of empty homes to break in a steal things. I found her just as she was pushed out." The man ndly revealed with matter. Yan Fei pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did she have to say for herself?" He could only ask the man since he did not know the truth. The man had visible empathy in his eyes. "Ever since the zombie birds, she has been pushing out to looking for supplies everyday...This is our new home, it was not so ragged before. The building next door was left for new survivors but a number of houses are empty with nice rooms. She must have seen people bringing stuff inside..." It was very likely that she had tried to break in and steal from someone. As for Liu Xiangyu? She was currently prematurely giving birth, what were her chances? "When I came back..." The man continued hesitantly, "I called your father a few times and he ended up giving your number. The doctors and nurses here specially left contact details with your mother, so I just called them." Yan Gexin was currently experiencing difficulties, who had the time to deal with Liu Xiangyu? If she had started giving birth, it would have been little trouble to deal with him. When he heard Liu Xiangyu was in a dangerous situation, he handed Yan Feis number over C after she was his biological mother, even if there were no familial feelings, there was a chance that two lives could be lost today. Yan Fei had nothing to say. If he had really inherited Mrs. Lius personality, it would not be surprising for someone to die today. But Yan Fei and Luo Xun were grown men, even if they came, what could they do? Liu Xiangyu was struggling to birth a baby, even if Yan Fei wanted to see, he would wait until she was done. The birth of the child took the entire night. It was an idental, premature birth but the mother seemed to be saving her strength for the critical moment. She was already unable to shout anymore. The man who lived with Liu Xiangyu paced around the house with a dark expression, only to angrily ask, "How did she birth you?!" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow and sneered, "How long have you known her? Do you think she was the one to choose to give birth?" The man choked, he almost forgot that the man in front of him was not much younger. He was her son, not a peer, how could he possible know the details of his birth in the first ce? The group was embarrassed until they heard the doctor, "Push, push harder...Dont stop here or the mother and son will have an ident...Itsing out!" Chapter 161 The cries of the premature baby were so faint while the nurse hummed. As for the mother...Luo Xun and Yan Fei came into the room to see Liu Xiangyu in a semia. That bossy aunt with dyed hair now had this pale appearance, even Luo Xun felt some mncholy at the sight. Yan Fei did not say or do anything. In her half conscious state, Liu Xiangyu did not realize her son was there while she looked at the baby sleeping next to her. Luo Xun suddenly smelt something while listening to the conversation outside, after all people had to eat. "Why is the smell of blood so heavy?" "Blood?" Yan Fei paused for a moment, "Women always bleed a bit while giving birth?" "Not that....wait a minute!" Luo Xun stepped forward and removed the quilt covering Liu Xiangyus body. Red blood seeped from her thin pajamas and almost died the mattress scarlet! "Doctor, doctor! The patient is losing blood!" Luo Xun shouted, causing amotion outside. "Where are you going?!" Liu Xiangyus boyfriend yelled out. Was there a need to ask? They were probably aware of the mother bleeding out after giving birth, but since it was just a chance, they did not tell them at first! This time the doctor had two nurses to help, could the three regr people stop it? Hearing Luo Xuns voice, they knew the situation was not good and wanted to run away. Who would have expected that among the couple there was an ability user? All the metal in the room came alive and the escape n was foiled. "Its out of our hands...the patient gave birth early because of a fall, and the equipment here is limited..." "Limited conditions are the reason why you turned around to run?" Yan Fei was actually angry, the woman lying in bed was his biological mother, even if he hated and tried to sever their rtionship that did not mean he wanted to watch her die like this! If not for Luo Xuns quick thinking... The doctor could not do anything, said they should quickly send her to the hospital for treatment. Could be postpartum hemorrhage...failed to stop or replenish blood in time. Before they could transfer, Liu Xiangyu lost consciousness and her heartbeat stopped. An unexpected premature birth left an extremely thin baby that could die at any moment. The next morning was filled with dazzling sunlight but the atmosphere in the room only got colder. Xu Mei and the others came early in the morning, after all a family member of their teammate died. They sent the pair crystal cores, points and asked if there was any need for help. The same morning, Yan Gexin took the initiative to call and inquire about the situation. He was silent after hearing that Liu Xiangyu had died before unexpectedly saying, "Where is the address? Ill visit in a minute." Yan Fei was slightly surprised as he ryed the address before hanging up the phone. After the apocalypse funerals were short orpletely ignored. As long as the bodies were sent for cremation along with a container for the ashes. The item would then be buried to the west of base where the tombs were located. There were no tombstones, burning paper or funeral procession. Since the cemetery was outside base, many people werepletely afraid to leave and could only hand over the ashes for the military to deal with. They could only go out at a certain time and ce the urns in arge pit before covering with soil. There were other things to think about and the costs were not low. Things were more simplistic after the end, people would wear mourning clothes, carry the person for cremation and then find a chance for the ashes to be buried out of base. Yan Gexin arrived two hourster, just in time to receive the ashes. Yan Fei nced at the ce where the car was parked, it and the assistant was one he had seen before so he raised an eyebrow with surprise. Yan Gexin silently looked at the humble box and pulled Yan Fei aside to talk on the balcony. Luo Xun hugged Yan Feis newly born little brother C yes it was a boy. Because there was no milk, his biological father had to cook some rice soup to barely fill the childs stomach. Xu Mei was also interested in the child. Although she and Song Lingling were raising Yu Xinran, this was a newborn, they were afraid to even touch the fragile baby. Even his biological father was afraid to hold, after all he was premature and so small. On the balcony, the father and son were in a deadlock. Yan Fei had a sarcastic smile on his face, "So you came here today just to get me into the barracks?" Yan Gexin was not as spry as he used to be, his appearance had aged 10 years. It had nothing to do with the death of his ex-wife...the changes in life were too fast. Yan Gexin was tired and he did not have the leadership and momentum from before. "Little Yan, Dad had no choice but toe to you...there is a big problem in the army, those with abilities and power and stepping all over the civilian staff! You are an ability user, only you can help your father!" Yan Fei crossed his arms, unmoved. "I clearly told you my answer before." "Its not the same as it was then!" Yan Gexin sounded exhausted and hysterical. "The barracks are now a group of barbarians! What do we look like when they step on us? Father needs to catch up with them or in a few days...how old is your father? You have the heart to watch me get kicked out...where would I work, sweeping the streets?" He looked gloomily around the room. "Your mother has passed away...your father has a few years left to live. Somehow...even if you help a little, dont let Dad get disced in hister years..." Yan Fei lightly smirked, "Theyre going to kick you out of the barracks?" Embarrassment shed across Yan Gexins face. "They are going to take my position...assign it somewhere else...to live in a group room with others." Yan Fei looked at Yan Gexins awkward expression and then asked, "If I go, what would I do?" Yan Gexins eyes lit up. "You do not know how important your powers are in the army! I heard that there were only one or two people left in the metal team, if you join, could be a captain! You are young and powerful, in less than 3 years you will surely climb up thedder in the army...the power of the army is much higher. With some effort, you will definitely get results." Yan Feis eyes now contained a trace of disappointment. Today with the death of his ex-wife and Yan Feis mother, he was still here for these purposes. Even if the two of them had half-hearted feelings. But now there was not even the basic respect of the dead...Yan Fei could see the point in the man. He turned around and coldly spit out, "Registry work is pretty good, are we not all serving the people?" Sweeping the street? Their team had just done this sort of mission. Yan Gexin was left stunned, alone on the balcony. "Lets go back first." Yan Fei felt mncholy as he saw the small baby in Luo Xuns arms. Just born into this grim reality... After all, the child was Liu Xiangyu and her lovers. No matter how worried Luo Xun was, sympathy did not allow for taking children. How old was this baby? The weather would freeze him to death if he stepped foot outside. They spoke with Liu Xiangyus current boyfriend, saying that they would visit tomorrow and discuss when to bury Liu Xiangyus ashes. It was not long before Yan Gexin left with a dark expression C he only came to speak with Yan Fei and he no longer had a rtionship with his deceased ex-wife. Not to mention the man who put a green hat on him! That time the person actually dared to coerce him over Liu Xiangyus situation. If not for the fact that he had some residual feelings for her, he would have left that woman and the bastard in her belly! As for the man? Haha.... Chapter 162 The room was silent as the man looked at the wall with a slightly dazed look. Yesterday there was a pile of wood and cardboard that he had worked so hard to recover from other empty rooms, indispensable in winter for keeping warm. Even if it was not winter, it was essential for cooking and such. But after that woman had a baby, she was targeted by that doctor and two nurses. The situation was so messy that the other party wanted to be paid right after delivering the baby. As a result, Liu Xiangyu had an incident, but after dealing with the aftermath, the people still took advantage and squirreled things away. And now... The man suddenly looked up and stared with resentment at the door: Yan Gexin, Yan Gexin... He did have a strong background, before the apocalypse he could only cling to Liu Xiangyus thigh. But life after the apocalypse was really... He himself was only part way through the army, after the apocalypse he could not root himself. Liu Xiangyu had little means of survival other than some old contacts due to the death of her father. Also since he was marked by the Liu family, those people holding real power looked down on others who climbed into a womans bed, so he had little options after leaving Liu Xiangyu. But now she was dead and Yan Gexins cruel words still rang in his ear... The skinny camel is bigger than the horse, even if Yan Gexin was useless in the end, he could still find a ce in the military structure, but for himself...Amidst a myriad of thoughts, there was a faint cry from the bedroom but no one noticed or heard. People were busy nearly all day and went home more or less exhausted. Although it was not the death of their loved ones, thinking of the dead made them think of home...even if they went back to their hometown, would they find the remains of their family? The group patted Yan Fei on the shoulder. "Well all go together to send people off!" Outside the base was currently calm, there would likely be no incidents on the way to the cemetery. However since they were exiting base, they still had to be well prepared. Yan Fei slightly nodded. "Ill be troubling you." "Huh, who do you think we are?" Luo Xun and Yan Fei waved farewell and went back home. Today Yu Xinran and Puppy were left to look after the house C although the average person was unwilling to let a child go to a ce of death. Who knew how many people have been killed by zombies during the end? When Luo Xun returned home he went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. After cing the meal on the table, he began to wander around the house. "What are busy with?" Yan Fei saw Luo Xun turning around looking for something. Luo Xun scratched his head. "I found two softer cotton cloths..." He continued on guiltily, "Arent we visiting tomorrow? I think the child is too young, there wouldnt be anything suitable. The cloth could be used as a diaper right?" Luo Xun had no saintly mentality, it was because the child was Yan Feis half brother, no to mention he just lost his mother. Before the apocalypse, rtives would bring gifts when visiting other peoples children. Now it was the apocalypse, the parents home had some things so he did have to worry about malevolent thoughts, therefore he decided to bring some stuff for the child. Yan Fei asked as he handed over some chopsticks. "Do you like children?" The small, thin and red baby...he did not see any simrities with him or the parents and naturally wondered why Luo Xun was interested in the child. Of course, perhaps there was a preference because it was his half-brother? Luo Xun froze and bit his chopsticks. "This..." In his past life he wanted to buy and bring back a son so he had someone to apany himself. But in this life, he had Yan Fei and the cute Puppy. He shrugged, "Just feel...the child is too small and weak..." With such a physique and his mother died, his father could feed him rice soup. Before the end it would have been milk powder but now... Now growing up was a problem. In the apocalypse, the weak have no right to exist, especially one unaware of life? Yan Fei did not ask anymore, just patted his lovers head and put some food in his bowl. The next morning, the couple packed up and went out of the city. The rest of the team did not follow, there were still things to be done at home: crops to be nted and harvested and so on... The two men slowly walked out of the city, found the building and knocked on the third floor door. However no one came to answer even after twenty minutes of knocking. Luo Xun suggested, "Why dont you give him a call?" Did he leave early in the morning? Yan Fei pulled out his mobile phone and dialled the number from before. "No connection? His phone is not turned on?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow. The two people looked at each other, cell phone was out of battery? Forgot to bring the phone when going out? There came the sound of footsteps, other upants. They nced at the two people standing in front of the door and hurried away. "Should...we wait a little longer?" The man knew they were visiting today, maybe he needed to go out early C to find food or something. He should be back soon. The pair waited while the other upants of the building began their day. From time to time, as they watched people passing by, Luo Xun knocked on the door. The third time, a man from before saw that the couple were still there. "Are you looking for the family here?" The two men nodded in surprise. "Yes, do you know where he went?" The man looked around and then whispered, "They moved away at dawn this morning." "Move out?!" The two were surprised, why had the man moved? He did not go to die right? Liu Xiangyus ashes still had to be buried, it was better to have a few people to help than go alone? The man shook his head. "Its what I saw from the window but I might be wrong." He quickly continued on his way. The two exchanged looks and Luo Xun pointed at the door. "What should we do, go straight in?" As a metal user, no tools were needed to unlock a door. Yan Fei waved a hand and the door was open. The room they visited yesterday was chaotic but it was now a little empty. Notpletely empty since some of therger furniture was still here, but everything else was gone. Even the grain, coal and other materials hidden in the corner was all gone. "Its true...moved out?!" Luo Xun looked in surprise at Yan Fei, who wrinkled his brows. "Why did he suddenly move?" The building was rtively safe, he worked so hard to move all the supplies. There should have been no need to move away. As for any factors that could threaten him... Luo Xun looked at themselves C did they look like bad guys? "Was he worried that you wereing to split the estate?" Luo Xun sincerely asked Yan Fei. Yan Fei was silent, did he look like a viin after bequeaths? But if that person was trying to hide, Liu Xiangyu still needed to be buried, would be not want to share some of the burial pressure? With them, he would not need to ask the military for help with the burial, just needed to wait for the snow to melt, who had the strength now? "Or maybe he wants to move out first, but why was he anxious?" Luo Xun went further into the room and saw a familiar metal box. "Yan Fei look! Isnt this what you made yesterday..." The metal box used to hold his mothers ashes!? Yan Fei approached and his face darkened, it was deliberately hidden in a gap. The two men were silent, with only a few things it might be possible that the other party mighte back to grab the rest, but now...the person and supplies were gone but the ashes were left behind. He did not want to care about Liu Xiangyu, so he left the ashes for Yan Fei to deal with? Yan Fei took a deep breath and took the box. He manipted the metal to reveal the ashes. As the two men were stunned, an extremely faint cry came from deeper inside the house. The two of them would have not heard anything if they had been silent! Luo Xuns face instantly darkened as he ran towards the master bedroom. Chapter 163 Bonus chapter. Ill try and release the regr er today. The big bed in the master bedroom, like the others had not been removed. Luo Xun entered and carefully looked around before finding a package in the wardrobe clutter. The package was not big, nor did it use any fabric they had seen yesterday. A thin pile of light skirts had been rummaged from somewhere and wrapped around a thin body. If one did not look carefully, it might have been overlooked as a mess of clothing. Luo Xuns hand started shaking as anger burned in his chest C if the two of them had not heard anything, how would the child hidden in the wardrobe survive?! Yan Fei also came to the door and was stunned by the scene. Although the other man guessed that the child would be found by them, he hid him in the wardrobe... Luo Xun bent down and carefully hugged the child. Wrapped in cloth with no warming effect, the child from yesterday was already turning purple in some ces. "...These might be from pinching." The child did not even struggle, his eyes and mouth moved slightly with a tiny sound. Luo Xun put him on the bed and reached into his backpack for the pieces of cotton he had preparedst night. He looked up to Yan Fei and they exchanged looks. "Is it ready?" "Is rice porridge okay? Do you want us to make some soup?" Song Lingling suggested. Xu Mei frowned, "Should we try both?" "The two of you have not had children before, be careful not to feed him to death." Zhang Yi crossed his arms and looked disdainfully at the two women that seemed to have nomon sense. Xu Mei and Song Lingling angrily stared at Zhang Yi and responded in unison. "We certainly have not had children, but neither have you?!" Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I will never give birth but I worked in a hospital." The pair speechlessly turned around and continued their tasks. "Came back, came back! Theyre downstairs!" Li Tie suddenly shouted from the balcony. Luo Xun and Yan Fei sprinted up the 15 flights of stairs. Xu Mei and the others saw Yan Fei carrying a cloth wrapped box C should be the ashes. There was something in Luo Xuns arms C it was the baby. The two people did not look happy. Luo Xun went in and grabbed the warm rice soup made by Xu Mei. "Give medicine to a dead horse." (Keep trying everything in a desperate situation). The babys struggling and weeping was weaker than before. It was cold outside and a newborn, plus he did not know what had happened in that empty room. Who knew if the child could still be saved? At least have some rice soup, but the baby seemed to have no strength left. Luo Xun could only press some food past the babys lips, he seemed to be sleeping. Luo Xun was relieved to feel a faint pulse. "What the hell is going on?" The group asked quietly since the child should be asleep. Luo Xun looked towards the window and helplessly exined. "The babys father moved. We went to see the baby and for Yan Fei to collect the ashes...Everything in the house was gone except forrge furniture..." Everyone stared at each other and stayed quiet for a while. After a bit He Qiankun rubbed his head. "Yesterday I thought he was reliable..." How could such a thing happen? Zhang Yi unwrapped the quilt and looked at the patches of purple scattered before frowning. "Seemed like he suffocated but regained his breath, well wait and see." Right after the group looked at the child with terrified eyes, as if he was a piece of paper that would get blown away in a slight breeze. Yan Fei and Luo Xun went back to home to put the urn away beforeing back. As soon as he entered he heard the words but had no particr change in expression. It was clear that the child had been born in bad conditions. First premature and now abandoned by his biological father...who knew if he could grow up. But...Yan Feis heart was moved at seeing Luo Xun holding the child. He originally thought that he would try his best to save the child but then would find and return the baby to his biological father. Luo Xun did not say anything but was inly concerned about the childs treatment. Although he said that he was not ready to adopt or raise a child, perhaps Luo Xun himself was not clear. He carefully and gently held the child. The couple would not have children, the next generation would depend on Yu Xinran and the twodies, Xu Mei and Song Lingling. Since Luo Xun really liked the child, if he survived, Yan Fei would not mind having another mouth C so long as the child was quiet and obedient. In thought, he went behind Zhang Yi and patted him on he shoulder. "Well take care of the baby for now, when his condition is better, take him to the hospital to check for any problems." The weather outside was too cold and their home was far from the hospital. The child just came out of the wind, if he went out again, who knew what would happen? Zhang Yi only shrugged as Yan Fei mentioned the hospital. "I will go with you in two days." In fact, the people in this team could be regarded in the category of good. Although in order to survive and protect themselves they dared not have too many exchanges with outsiders and were unwilling to show their cards. But once withpanions, everyone was soft, even Zhang Yi. The baby was worryingly easy to care for. He ate little and was quiet even when crying. He was usually very quiet, except when hungry or needing a diaper change, there was no other movement. But such a child was not super easy to handle, although he did not make trouble if one was careless it was likely that the diaper would bepletely soaked. Luckily, Luo Xun was a very careful man. Coupled with Yu Xinran and Puppy hovering around with their heads together staring at the sleeping baby. If he even moved slightly, the child and dog would excitedly go and find an adult. It seemed more interesting to them than ying with toys. So, it was not bad for the baby to stay home for two days while being cared for by the main couple. Although he still ate very little, the twos sleep was affected as they would check on the baby during the night. It was just that since the baby was only drinking a little rice soup, they were very worried and had headaches about nutritional problems. As for going to the hospital, since there were no pressing problems, Zhang Yi suggested waiting for a week. The babys situation would be more stable and the weather would be warmer. The childs situation was stable but there were no news about his biological father. Yan Fei was not going to give back the child but he wanted to determine the mans situation to avoid future trouble. Although he likely left the baby for dead in the cupboard. But that persons mobile phone had been turned off, there was no way to contact him. The base census was not done well so it would be impossible to find the other party right now. Early in the morning, Luo Xun changed the babys diaper, fed a little rice soup and then put the child onto a metal structure covered withfortable cushions C a stroller. He took the kid down to the living room and started on breakfast before caring for his crops. Suddenly, Luo Xuns door was mmed open. "Whats the matter? Whats going on?" Yan Fei went to the door with Luo Xun following to see Li Ties excited face. "I found it! Found it!" "What did you find?" "Sr panel data! Outside the base!" Li Tie excitedly pulled Yan Fei towards their home and Luo Xun quickly pushed the stroller to keep up. Li Tie continued speaking with excitement. "Not only data about sr panels, He Qiankun also found something that we can use too!" Chapter 164 Luo Xun walked beside Li Tie and asked in surprise. "What else was found?" "An experimental base." Li Tie suddenly stood and added mysteriously, "A test site before the end of the world!" Luo Xun and Yan Feis eyes brightened and they rushed into room 1601. Several people were gathered next to the sameputer. Before they had to share among everyone so the team had since saved up enough to have their own electronics stashed in their respective homes. "Here we are!" Li Tie eximed as he walked through the door. The team looked up and greeted the pair. He Qiankun was sitting in front of theputer, despite his appearance, hisputer skills were not slow at all. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he pulled up a file and revealed a few pictures. "Brother Luo, Bother Yan take a look! This is what we found in the middle of the night." Not sleeping in the middle of the night but stayed up to y on theputer...This was only done by otakus who stayed at home all day. Well, some inte addicts and patients with insomnia would also yputer games during the night. They would not use the time to find data, ying games and watching movies was more likely. Luo Xun snapped back to attention from who knew where and looked closely at the pictures at the top. It was a mission prior to the new year. The orders were for a team of military to exit base and head towards A-city. The goal C a factory that professionally produced sr panels! That time, a total of five trucks were dispatched, as well three armored vehicles and jeeps. The target items were the sr panels and the route was rtively safe with the number of zombies on the road. Afterwards the base would arrange follow up tasks for more equipment. Seeing that both had finished reading, he showed a few more photos of the team members as well as satellite photographs of the factory. "Satellite photos?" Luo Xun froze, it was clear why they sent so many people in advance. Li Tie misunderstood Luo Xun and exined. "The satellites are still operating normally. In fact they could receive distress signals but..." He helplessly shrugged. Wang Duo continued the exnation. "Unless its a special person, they cannot judge how dangerous the situation is. So this kind of signal isrgely ignored but will be sent to the mobile phones of nearby people." It was impossible for those people to return alive, the only ends were death or bing a zombie. Luo Xun was clear about these things so there was no need to exin further. He pointed at the screen and asked, "This mission was before the zombie siege, was there any follow-up?" He Qiankun quickly searched and brought up something but Luo Xun could not understand. "I found these in the militarywork. The team lost contact after three days, after the siege, we think..." Han Li interrupted. "We think that the leaders dont know about this over not wanting to manage." "Dont know?" Luo Xun raised a surprised eyebrow. "I dont know which database this data turned out. I went and checked, it was not touched since the zombie siege. So we think they either do not know or do not care." These students who had been left by their former colleagues had slightly strayed. When considering certain things, they no longer considered morality. Coupled with the new teammate, the little baby who had been abandoned by his father in such an inhumane way, they could no longer only judge people and things by the surface. "What about his team? There are no news after the zombie siege?" Yan Fei suddenly asked. They said that no one had read the document, but there were no results mentioned... Several people exchanged looks before shaking their heads. "There is no record of them returning to base." Leaving base before the new year and not returning before the zombie siege, even now they were unounted for... Everyones hearts were afraid, would they be able to return safely from this trip? "Where did theyst contact the base?" Luo Xun approached theputer again. "Here, close to the factory, they should have made it inside and got lost on the way back." He manipted the map. "The factory is not too far away from A-city...ording to conditions, it should be a two or three days walk with good road conditions." Journeys after the apocalypse could notpare to before. The base was not far away from where people fought zombies? Before the end it would be a short two hour drive, but after the apocalypse? They had to spend half a day to arrive. Not to mention if the roads are bad, it took more than half a day thest time they drove a sled to hunt zombies. There was an excited light in Li Ties eyes. "Luo Xun, since were going outside anyway...lets go over and see when the weather warms up and the roads are better." "Yes, its impossible for people to take everything away, even if they take some sr panels, we just need to find the rest?!" The group nodded and looked towards Luo Xun. The captain helplessly smiled. "We will go for sure but we have to wait until the roads are traversable. Dont forget how treacherous the roads are with snow." Due to previous cleaning work in base, at least Luo Xuns neighborhood had little trace of heavy snow. That was not the case in other ces. The days were cold, heating measures were scarce and many ces were covered in snow, making it difficult to walk. Li Tie and the others nodded, they were anxious to get sr panels. Free good things like those were rare, but they also had to wait for the proper conditions to act! "And with what the hell is going outside of base, who knows what we could face." Yan Feis words washed over them like a basin of ice water. The excitement from the sr panels had been reced with solemn looks. Luo Xunughed and changed the subject. "By the way, what happened to the testing ground that Li Tie mentioned?" The group got excited again and quickly opened another document while adjusting the map. "Brother Luo take a look, we found it while looking for a route to the sr panel factory. It was marked as an experimental field at an agricultural base before the apocalypse..." The test area was not very big and a distance away from base so the military never had any ideas. Even more so after the end, although autumn crops needed to be nted, what could grow on that mediocre piece of farnd? Besides who knew what was growing in that test ground. Li Tie found that the test fields were under the name of a university that had many high-tech agriculture experiments before the apocalypse. So the reason they were so excited was towards the devices. As for farnd...even if they could take it and clean up, how would they take care of it? It was rtively close to the base, but if the field was cleared and scanned by a satellite...how would they defend? They would have to defend against people and zombies. So this time they were not aiming fornd, but for equipment that they could bring home as well as intact seeds! Luo Xun obviously followed their train of thought and touched his chin in thought before pping his hands. "No problem, wait a while before leaving base so we can be sure of the situation outside!" While outside, the ultimate goal was the sr panel factory, but they would check out the test ground to see if there was anything of value to bring back. Unlike in urban areas, there was a lower concentration of zombies in the countryside C provided of course there were no zombie waves nearby. If one did show up...they would getpletely washed away! Luo Xun finally felt he heard good news since the apocalypse had started but hoped that those ces had not been torn apart by wandering zombies. Chapter 165 Before Luo Xun and the others went to the hospital with the baby for a checkout, they received some information the morning of February 5. The first was about cleaning up snow in base. Active teams needed to go out for tasks and scavenging to prepare for the next season. Within the year, a unified household inspection would be carried out and all residents had to registered in the census. Everyone was also encouraged to repair broken buildings, rescue people from the rubble and so on. The second message was sent to various teams who had registered ability users. There would be a second test to rece the original identification card and so on. The next step was sending a separate message to captains rted to the mandatory missions and materials for each month. It specified the material to be handed over and the details of needed tasks. The group gathered together to take notes and look at the contents of the message. They discussed and concluded that "Now the important task in February that needs to be done as soon as possible..." Luo Xun pointed at one of them. "Our teams task is to clean up snow, the designated range is not big but we need to pick up the mission at the hall." He pointed and slightly frowned. "This matter is probably going to be done quickly this month...registering teams and ability users." He turned to Yan Fei and Zhang Yi, "What do you think?" Yan Fei did not open his mouth but Zhang Yi raised a brow while sneering. "Statistics about teampositions, number and type of ability users, plus the entry...I think captain should be worrying about house registration instead of whether we will be targeted." Luo Xuns brow furrowed as he looked at the message C household census. "To do this, they will have to wait until the snow ispletely cleared, all users registered and ruins are dealt with." Yan Fei reassured. "Dont forget that they also want to expand the base so they will be busy for a while. But within three or four months I am afraid they will not be able to help themselves. We need to find a way to cover up the crops at home." If the base really checked door-to-door, people would not agree even if the home was carefully checked. So if one day it actually urred, it meant that the people who gave the orders had taken control of the military forces on base. Even if they had ability users, power level would be of no use. Luo Xun took a deep breath, his eyes shed with an inexplicable feeling as he walked around the room. "We go to the mission hall tomorrow, handing over materials/points/cores is not cost effective. Our task is not hard and will only take two days to finish. After Ill take the baby to the hospital for a check-up. If there is nothing wrong, well make a trip out of base this month." Li Ties eyes lit up. "Captain, you mean..." Luo Xun nodded, he was not ready to leave so early, but the situation on base made him very worried. Everything was bing different from his memory, whether it was the overall picture or small changes. He did not know exactly they would face but it was clear C if they continued like this, before the zombies break through into base they would be killed from infighting. This may be scarier than facing a horde of zombies. At the very least, a zombie simply bit people and ate their flesh. But if people on base find their supplies, they would not only lose their lives but also everything they collected before the end. Everything they had worked so hard to earn, the crops they had grown would be taken. Luo Xun did not know if he could find a way to help them through this, but it was useless to stay at home. At least if they went now, they could use their sled car over the snow! If others wanted to go out without a special car, it was impossible without the right equipment. As for the potential zombies outside base...Luo Xuns heart sunk. He looked at Zhang Yi C as a wind user he might find a way to explore the area or at least a scout. After discussing everyones part towards the situation, the team adjourned the meeting and went back home. Back at home, Luo Xun examined the crops as usual. He seemed a little sullen. "There are too many non-mutant crops in the house..." The reason why they were so sensitive to the phrase "home check" was not only because they had a lot of crops. If others saw this, they would exim that the mutation rate was too low! They knew that although the military also used mushrooms to absorb the virus from the air which reduced the probability of mutation, there was not enough. Those normal vegetables were specially supplied to the base leaders and so on. Ordinary people on base could only buy mutated vegetables. What could they do, who let others mutant yields be so high? With the base as it was, they must increase production as a priority. As for taste...why shouldnt their food taste good? Growing vegetables at home was not something only Luo Xuns home did. They heard that teams were in contact with other parties as well. But since there was not a lot of space or light, the harvest was not rich and most were mutant species. Seeing Luo Xuns abundant, well equipped home with arge variety of non-mutant crops...it would be weird if no one had their eyes on it! Even if the base did not see anything, who knew if the census people would have loose lips? What would happen if they spread rumors? Seeing the gloomy Luo Xun, Yan Fei walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "There will always be a way. With the base being so stubborn, there will certainly be many uncooperative teams. They have to at least straighten out a number of issues to conduct a census, who knows what will happen until then?" Luo Xun took a deep breath and nodded. He walked up to the second floor and checked the crops that hung from the shelves before arriving at the balcony. Some of the mutant nts had bloomed equally strange flowers, most of which Luo Xun had never seen before. He had seen some species before, but nothing as extravagant as fruits variants. Luo Xun crouched and frowned at a row of small flower pots, the mutant strawberries had blossomed. It was clearly a variant but it had a brown shell. Even more strange was there were gray specks that resembled the seeds. These brown things were round, thergest around the size of a ping pong ball. This thing clearly had a hard shell but the seeds grew on the outside! What the hell was inside?! "What the hell is this thing?" Luo Xun put on a rubber glove and poked the fruit. "Want to open one and take a look?" Yan Fei was not sure, it looked like a hemp fruit from before the end...of course it did not look tasty at all. "How long would it take to cook?" Luo Xun grabbed a fruit before squeezing. "I think its about fully grown, the fruits havent really grown but the seeds have turned grayish." He picked another with white seeds topare. The two men returned to the first floor with the bizarre fruit and emptied a table. They were prepared for anything C for example if cutting the fruit spewed poison gas, the two men decided to handle everything on the balcony with the exhaust fan running. The dog was kept inside the living room and stayed near the baby. The two men put on masks, gloves and goggles. Yan Fei carefully made a knife and cut open the fruit with grey seeds... "This...what is this?!" Luo Xun stared in shock at the cut brown fruit. Yan Fei was frowning as he put down the knife before sharing surprised looks with Luo Xun. Chapter 166 The brown shell opened, revealing a solid, milky white substance...like coconut meat. Luo Xun touched it only to find that it quivered like jelly before flowing downwards...So what was this? The two men put the fruit into a metal bowl. Yan Fei used his knife on the other fruit where thick white liquid slowly flowed out. This was also put into a separate bowl and the twopared them C the two fruits had different colored seeds and the only difference between the insides was consistency. The gray one had almostpletely condensed while the other was still flowing. "This stuff seems like...milk? Coconuts?" Luo Xun uncertainly looked at Yan Fei. Thetter pulled down his mask for a sniff before turning to Luo Xun. "You smell." The couple took off their masks that were supposed for avoiding poison. Luo Xun smelled and immediately said, "It not only looks but also smells incredibly simr! This actually has the smell of milk...wait a minute! I remember hearing about special nts producing milk, but never seen!" This was obviously legends and rumors. After all, after the end, ordinary people had no fruit at home, not to mention sweet strawberries. Luo Xun had not seen with his own eyes, only heard people speak about it during the apocalypse so it was likely misinformed. But he did not expect that this thing was actually a variant strawberry?! Yan Fei looked at the fruit carefully while frowning, "We cant test it now..." Yes, they could only judge by appearance and scent. They could only experiment on living things since they were not sure if it was as Luo Xun thought. Three porr quails were caught by Luo Xun and ced in a small cage. He mixed the thick juice of the fruits together with a certain ratio of boiling water before feeding it to the little quails...They were not sure that quails needed milk, but this thing was from a strawberry. In general it was still a nt, so it should not be a problem? Their heart was not as sure and could only wait for the results to appear. The two men moved the experiment to the table and packed up everything. They returned to the living room with the crib. Inside the baby was still weak, could not open his eyes, even waving his arms was very rare. At this time he was asleep while weakly breathing. Luo Xun reached out and poked the babys cheek. "If that fruit can used for milk, well have food for..." If the fruit was really what he had heard about, a fruit with milk...then the baby would have the perfect food. After all, they were notcking rice soup, but the nutritional content was worse than any type of milk. Yan Fei stood on the sidelines and looked down at the crib. He honestly felt that the boys luck was surprisingly good. It was his misfortune to be abandoned by his parent, but he met Luo Xun while crying. Aftering here, the strawberry mutations had matured and the fruit had milk inside. If Luo Xun was correct about the fruit being a recement for milk...what baby would grow up as well as him? But when it came to this, Luo Xun was his and the childs savior. He lifted a hand and started to rub Luo Xuns hair. Thetter who was poking the childs face was surprised. Why was Yan Fei rubbing his hair? Wasnt it the time to y with the child? Luo Xun identally put more force behind his poke so the babys face wrinkled up as he snorted. Luo Xun quickly lifted his hand to see the baby continued to sleep after tilting his head away... "This baby is easy to care for..." Luo Xun checked the diaper before busying himself with other things. After one night, the three hapless quails who were used as experiments were still alive and seemed to enjoy the strange dairy product and drank a lot in one night. After Luo Xun confirmed the situation, he went to the 15th floor with the little ones. Song Lingling was left behind this time, after all there were children and a dog at home, it was best to leave housekeeping to someone experienced. Yan Fei was also carrying a cage containing quails as well two new fruit. Luo Xun exined the fruits to Song Lingling and the test with the quails. "If this thing can rece milk, it can support the babys and Yu Xinrans nutrition." The yield of the fruit was less than regr strawberries but the growth period was the same. Once grown, the variant fruits would continue producing each month! So there were greenhouses at home, the only problem was that they were afraid that there was not enough space to nt these things. "It would be great of this can take the ce of milk!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling nodded their heads in support. "Leave these quails to me! Ill put all my effort towards their care these next few days!" Song Lingling and Yu Xinran looked after the baby...they seemed to have forgotten to let them know that he was Yan Feis unnamed half brother. Since the babys body was so weak...his fate after birth was precarious, so the team decided to wait until he grew stronger before giving him a name. The group of people arrived at the mission hall early in the morning. Simr to thest time, the staff were dressed well and were shocked about the group wearing a mix of styles. "What kind of business do you have?" Luo Xun promptly responded, "We are here to do team tasks." "Did you get a text message on your phone?" "Yes." "Over here please." The group of people quickly epted the task and rushed towards their destination. There were not many people epting missions in the mission hall. The Otaku squad only met one team, although they saw some somewhat angry people passing though. There seemed to be two different worlds, one was a snowy winter wondend while the other was an industrial city in ruins. Luo Xun andpany arrived at their target led by two garbage trucks. They parked their cars in ces that would not affect traffic and began to use their shovels in tandem. A full two days of work, this task seemed to be more troublesome thanst time. Theirst mission was near their neighborhood and since their response was pretty quick C everyone sent some people to clean the roads. The only thing was the increased amount of rubbish on the road. Perhaps people were more scattered outside of base, until now no one had offered toe clear out the road. Thus Luo Xun found that the snow had been trampled and frozen C they would need a chisel of something... Thankfully they had Yan Fei on their team! He transformed the shovels into hoes so that everyone had a tool to use. Two dayster, the group of people with waist and leg pain returned home to rest. As captain, Luo Xun had to report the mission and any news he might hear. Not that he would take initiative to ask but the hall was lively. A lot of people were walking around gossiping about news they heard through the grapevine. "I heard that a lot of teams have received missions for clearing out snow outside the base and many are protesting. Some teams have been ordered to find certain supplies in the city within a month. Not many have picked up the task and are watching the situation." Luo Xun rubbed his sore arms, these past two days have exceeded his usual amount of exercise. The rest of the group were slumped in their seats. "Howe the mission is not the same." Li Tie asked in surprise. They thought that everyone was supposed to clear snow, but unexpectedly there are people with missions outside? Luo Xun shrugged, "We arent sure either. Some people heard that some teams are protesting the missions of clearing snow and rubbish." They just listened as they walked past and were not clear on the details. "Maybe the more difficult the task, the more rewards?" Xu Mei said. "If the tasks were graded, it should be known when you choose at the mission hall. Best to the among the first to choose. The best ones would have long been taken, plus there are mandatory missions." Zhang Yi yawned and went towards the door. "Why think so much? Anyway, we have finished and tomorrow can rest before our next trip...Im going back to bed first since I have to get up early tomorrow." The man disappeared. The couple picked up their children. Yan Fei held the quails that ate the milk fruit for two days. There was no sign of any adverse effects. If there was nothing tomorrow, there would be no problem having the adults try some to taste the vor and decide if it should be fed to the young ones. Chapter 167 The next morning, the couple checked their crop growth after breakfast. With the baby wrapped in their arms, they knocked on the nearest door. A sleepy Zhang Yi came out yawning with Wang Duo behind him holding out a coat, hat and mask. He reluctantly closed the door after seeing the group out in the stairwell. The backs of the man and dog seemed inexplicably simr, although there was no resemnce in either height or figure. The weather outside was still cold, but the sun was out so there seemed to ba glimmer of warmth. Luo Xun carefully held the baby with Yan Fei and Zhang Yi looked like they were out shopping. Zhang Yi did not have a pleasant expression since he had toe out all this way. The group walked for more than half an hour to arrive at the hospital door. As usual, the ce was always busy and filled with people. The two men waited in the hall with the baby in their arms Zhang Yi went through the back door to find someone familiar. Soon after, twodies appeared, one dressed as a doctor while other was in a nurses uniform. "Come, Ill see." The doctor came over and took the child. The hall was not cold, but onlypared with outdoors, the temperature was still rtively low. She examined the baby before smiling at Yan Fei. "The babys condition looks good, lets go to my office first." The doctor looked around thirty to forty while the nurse was much younger, closer to twenty five years old. While the group went to the doctors office, the twodies chatted with Zhang Yi. "Since you have not visited since you quit, you have not noticed but a lot of people have gone to the hospital." Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow. "I was wondering why there were so many people missing? Where did they go?" The nurse giggled. "The female nurses are the main ones who left." "Female nurses?" Luo Xun looked over in surprise before staring at Zhang Yi in confusion C did they quit because of the doctor? He was gay...did he have such amazing charm? The nurse smiled at Luo Xun before looking at Yan Fei. "Yes, the females nurses." She sighed, "There is an unequal ratio of men to women in the base...a lot of people visited to find girlfriends." The female doctor also sighed, "Some of the young nurses are quite beautiful. A few days ago two people left the hospital for home but they disappeared at an intersection, so far we have not found them...Later the higher ups advised having a boyfriend to support the family is best. The future is bright for those who find a strong boyfriend with an ability..." She helplessly smiled at Zhang Yi. "In this world, there is nowhere safe for women, unless they have a strong enough ability." All the people were clear about the meaning, their hearts sighed. The twodies of their team had also encountered misfortune before joining the team. Although they did not know about Song Linglings past, they had seen Xu Meis situation with their own eyes. Even with her fire ability, Xu Mei was likely to be subject to this sort of thing, not to mention ordinary people. It was impossible to be on guard all the time. There were so many girls in the hospital that they were easy targets. Zhang Yi squinted at the female nurse. "What about you? Are you going home to have a baby?" The nurse had be ustomed to bantering, sheughed. "What would I eat at home? I dont have enough to keep someone." "Then find a bodyguard to pick you up, for peace of mind on the road." Zhang Yis voice was normal. When there were no beauties left, people would aim for what was left. "Thats what I said!" The female doctorughed. "Like Zhang Yi before, getting picked up after work everyday, I cant remember how many people envied him!" Luo Xun bowed his head and smiled. Wang Duo did not just escort his lover, he also stayed near to chase away flies. When they arrived at the doctors office, the doctor began to examine the baby. It was premature, born a scant week ago. After a careful examination, she wrote while whispering, "Preterm birth, poor development and a little malnourished. Do these tests to see if there are any problems with internal organs, heart and lungs. If there is nothing wrong, go home and take good care of him...The baby is weaker than average, before we could have taken better measures but now...give him a check up first." The doctor sighed, she learned the general situation from Zhang Yi. Luo Xun had found the child and so her mind filled in the nks C the biological parents could not support a baby and was left for dead. The two men were a couple, since they could not have children, they decided to adopt and so on. Due to this she had a good attitude towards Luo Xun along with sympathy towards children born during the end and lost their lives soon after. So, the two men entered the hospital through the back door and did not pay a cent. During the examination, the baby barely cried. Even the doctors and nurses were afraid to move to fast in fear of hurting the delicate baby. After the check, the men had a list of precautions to follow. The pair took the report and went back home while Zhang Yi was being swarmed by the remaining nurses. This task took until noon when everyone returned home after checking the baby. After confirming there were no problems, Xu Mei prepared lunch for them to eat. "Xu Mei, use a bottle!" When they went to the hospital, they brought back bottle caps for babies. "Wow, you can find these things on base? At least we wont need to feed him with a spoon." Xu Meimented while Song Lingling sterilized the bottle. "Luo Xun, should we try those milk fruitter?" He Qiankun approached, this man had simr tastes to the child...really, food had no age requirements. "Wait a bit and you can try." Luo Xun nodded and went to eat dinner first. After digesting the meal, everyone gathered together to try the new variant fruits. When opened, there was the aroma of milk. There was enough in the two fruits for everyone to have a bit. The group of people sat around the table spoons at the ready. Luo Xun intially said that only one or two people needed to test it. In the end everyone decided it was best for everyone to try, food poisoning would look different among them anyway. So with the exception of the children who were sleeping guarded by Puppy, all the adults sat at the table. They took some, licked and smacked their lips. "Its really milk!" "And strawberry! Strawberry milke!" "But its not sweet." "I think its a bit like coconut juice, too." "Its more like milk though?" "Like fruit milk, but not as sweet." "Its pretty strong, will it be hard for the baby to drink? What it he chokes?" "Add water, this thing has concentrated vor. Theres no way for children to have some without diluting it." "Yes! Add some water, mashed strawberries and sugar, Yu Xinran can have some strawberry milk to drink!" Luo Xun regretfully looked at the empty bowl. "Unfortunately, there is no way to test the nutritionalponents, whether it is suitable for a baby to eat." Xu Mei said, "Now is not like before the apocalypse, we could only feed him rice soup which is not as good..." She suddenly stopped, the baby was Yan Feis brother, so the two had the final say. Yan Fei had little to say due to his knowledge of child rearing...it would be easier for him to build an amusement park with metal. Luo Xun lowered his head, he was not sure if this thing was what he heard about in hisst life. He flipped through the information he brought back. He did not understand everything but knew the childs situation. Although nothing was wrong, the baby was malnourished. His body would be affected in many ways, even intelligence. If there was no guarantee of his future health and survival, it would better to have not brought the baby. Raising children and keeping pets was somewhat simr. If one was not fully prepared, one should not bring one into their lives. "Okay then." Luo Xun smiled at the crowd. "Does anyone know the approximate concentration for infant form?" The team looked at each other...infant form? Even if it had been drunk as children, how old were they? Who would remember? "Um...I sometimes used milk powder to cook food before the end, perhaps I can try?" Song Lingling uncertainty raised her hand. Good thing Luo Xun brought back those bottles and information sheets. There was a nursing manual, ording to the proportion shown, they substituted a ping pong ball sized portion of fruit. The white seed fruit needed three time the water while the brown seed fruits needed 4.5 times the water. Chapter 168 Luo Xun carefully filled the bottle with diluted fruit milk and brought it to the babys mouth. Before when he was drinking the rice soup, although the babys body was weak, he still had the basic instinct of drinking up. The baby was much smaller than average and did grow much during the past few days. So the amount of food was less than usual, they only fed him half a bottle of milk when he was full. As for if eating this would have any adverse effects...Luo Xun and the others were not really sure. They could only carefully monitor the situation. When the child fell asleep after eating, the team got together to discuss the matter of their next base excursion. "Going out of base...what about the kids?" Yu Xinran was older so there was no problem following Luo Xun out of base. Puppy has an ability so there were no issues either and she could gain experience using her ability. The dog has had a cushy life so far, since the end, she has never been outside of base. But the question now was, who would stay home to care for the baby at home? Or would hee along? Bringing along a young child was not something easy to do. As adults they had no problems, Yu Xinrans physique was also good but as for the baby...no way! But if someone had to stay behind...who would stay? How would it work out? The ability users in the team were not the same as the others, fewer people would reduce everyones fighting strength. But if regr people were left behind, if something happened and they could note back, what would they do? Besides, the twodies and Luo Xun were the ones who knew how to take care of children...there was no way to leave them! Luo Xun looked at the children asleep on the bed, then at the people sitting in the room before pping his hands. "Wait a day, well go out together with the children." This time, the team would spend at least a week or more outside the base. No matter who was left to stay at home, both sides would not be reassured about the others safety. The size of the Otaku squad was too small. It was best to stick together whenever they acted so they could watch over each other. As for the baby... "Honey, Ill be troubling you for something..." Yan Fei felt a chill down his neck at Luo Xuns sugary tone when they returned home...Although he would always make what Luo Xun wanted anyway? Now with this ttering look...would this be a chance to get something good? Luo Xun decided to have a day for everyone to rest, but no one was idle. Of course, there was rest but they also had to start preparing equipment, rations and s on. When they swept the streets the other day, they found some people selling sr panels in a secluded area. These sr panels were taken from the empty homes from those lost during the zombie bird attacks. They were exchanged for other goods while leaving a little at home for themselves. Now Luo Xun still could not go to the military exchange points since they were closed to the public. Even for the canteen, they agreed to drop off the food at a location for the other side to pick up. And those exchange points were not selling this sort of thing, so Luo Xun traded with the people on roadsides. Now most of the sr panels on the outside walls were replenished. Now that everyone was leaving, they needed protective measures. For example, there were traps on the roof and near the windows C weight triggered metal spikes. There would also be recorded sounds to frighten intruders. Although it might not be of much use, it was better than nothing. These things were made with Yan Feis metal ability, Li Tie and friends designed programs and nned by Luo Xun. It was something painstakingly made by the entire Otaku squad. As for Xu Mei and Song Lingling, the twodies were mainly responsible for food, clothing and other resources they would need to bring. It took around half a day to prepare everything. The Otaku squad set out on Feb 10 after staying indoors for the winter. Three cars smoothly exited base C the waiting area was barely half full. These days, it seemed even teams who swept the nearby snow had other missions. In fact, the snow had been trampled by thest zombie horde revealing thend underneath. But even then few teams were willing toe out. Luo Xun and team drove straight towards the avoided area on the west side of base. It was the public cemetery, the base moved unimed cars and dug a pit to fill up with ashes of the dead. Since it was cold, there was nothing but a half covered mass grave. The group of people got out of the car and found an open space. Yu Xinran turned a patch of earth to sand and Zhang Yi moved it aside. Yan Fei put the urn down and the sand covered it to form a mound. Song Lingling created some water to condense the sand C this was a recently developed method. Yu Xinrans level four crystal cores were also from the trading personnel. After raising to level four, her sand retained characteristics of the original material. It could be used as soil in a pinch by adding some water. In addition, the girl could turn any stone material into sand without issue. After burying the ashes, Yan Fei ced a rough headstone and engraved Liu Xiangyu with a sharp metal knife. In reality, it would be easier to create a metal tombstone, but it was now the apocalypse, leaving a block of metal in the wilderness... Cemeteries were unlucky and grave robbers existed since ancient times. If there was metal here, one was afraid that someone would dig up the grave to see if there were any good things. Maybe even the metal urn holding the ashes would not be left! After the grave was done, the team continued driving in the direction told by Luo Xun. Once the car could go no further, they stopped to cover it and take their modified sleds. Puppy was excited since this was her first time outside of base. She ran around in circles in the snow while Yu Xinran tried to catch up; the twodies could not hold them back. Luo Xun and the others began to assemble the sled. The two children were obediently waiting on the sled. Luo Xun opened the car door and took out a small wrapped parcel in a strange bucket and moved it to the sled. This bucket was what Luo Xun had asked Yan Fei to make. The metal was hollow with link to the cars heating. It was insted, windproof and durable. The inner wall had a cotton lining and it was ced in the middle so the two could watch over the baby at any time. It was simple to add the quasi-baby seat since there was some space next to the couple, enough for a baby. Once the baby and other children were strapped, the team started the next leg of their journey. Zhang Yi used his wind ability to probe the road ahead. Yan Fei continued to collect metal along the way. The metal ball slowly grewrger beside the car. The line of four sled cars was not very fast as it headed towards somewhere new. They were not heading towards the city so there were not many buildings. Some houses had some metal that Yan Fei could collect through his rolling ball. Each car had a walkie-talkie to ensure thatmunication would be faster in case of trouble. As they advanced, the snow suddenly shook as some zombies burst out of the snow! "Dont stop! Follow us and keep moving! Hold tight in the back." Luo Xun immediately picked up a walkie-talkie and barked orders to the others. Luo Xun triggered a chain reaction, more zombies appeared along the road. Some crawled and staggered towards the sled. Some realized that they could not catch up and insteadunched a variety of ranged ability attacks towards the team! Chapter 169 "Watch out for your safety! Try not to fall behind, ability users form a wall!" For everyones safety, almost every sled had an ability user, with the one without any in the middle. Yan Fei scattered the metal balls he collected and formed two protective walls around the convoy. Zhang Yi also retracted the wind he used to detect enemies in front and moved to the rear. Song Lingling was driving the sled while Xu Mei kept an eye on the situation around them. Once the car was underway, any zombies ahead were hit with a fireball. Yu Xinran also controlled sand, she learned from Yan Fei to manipte it to deal with blown up obstacles do the team could smoothly drive by. Luo Xuns sled was at the front, which was actually the least affected as zombies reacted slowly. By the time they poked their heads out, the sled had already passed by. If the zombies were unlucky two cars would have passed by they were quickly dealt with by Xu Mei. Puppy stood up facing the rear with, she seemed to hate the fellows that drilled out from the strange white things. Luo Xun raised a hand and patted her head. "Now is not the time to go out." The dogs ears ttened and she lowered herself but was still incredibly curious about those things they just passed C a few suddenly gave chase! So fast! *Woof* With the dogs barking, the team felt that the sled had sunk slightly, as if fallen into the snow, but it returned to normal soon after. Although they were dyed by the attack, the good news was that their zombie pursuers were also mmed into the snow by the invisible force of gravity. The ones were so moving quickly could be either speed or wind types, if they gave chase, there would be nowhere to run! Unfortunately, although Puppy did some work, this kind of wide range ability would also affect teammates. Yan Fei faced the dog, "Dont bark right now." A man and a dog stared at each other. Before Puppy drooped and wrapped herself around his legs. Never mind that she liked to chew on Yan Feis shoes, in fact she was more obedient than with Luo Xun. Most of the time she would go against him, but once Yan Fei was serious...one would understand who had all the power. Luo Xun looked at the honest dog and could not help but sigh. All his effort was not equal to a single sentence from Yan Fei, really made his teeth itch. Fortunately, this gal loved to be petnt and messing around with Yan Fei to soothe his wounded heart. The team drove for one hour, gradually fewer zombies appeared from the snow. It was a relief, the sled cars could resume normal speed to continue towards their destination. "There are no problems!" While on the busy road, no one could say anything lest a message came through the walkie-talkie. Now they were free, they had the chance to talk. "All right." "Just now a zombie grabbed our car and got its arm but off by He Qiankun!" "Wheres the zombie arm?" "It was kicked away." Luo Xun sighed in relief. "Lets stop for a moment for Song Lingling to clean up, do not bring any virus back to the base." "Dont worry." Song Lingling nodded in reassurance. The zombies were not a big problem, but there was something strange as they drove on. Luo Xun whispered to Yan Fei, "How are there so many zombies in one ce? The concentration is too high isnt it? Is there a residential area nearby?" The areas outside base were notpletely covered by snow, nothing else could be seen outside. Although they could not see far out, there were no tall buildings nearby. The area was really t, with any taller buildings a distance away. Yan Fei shook his head, "I am not sure, I did not pay attention while collecting metal." He was not sure if there was a residential area nearby. "Lets go ahead first.." Luo Xun suddenly remembered, "Ah! Its time to feed the baby! You check if he soiled himself." Yan Fei instantly gathered metal and wrapped it around himself to protect against the cold wind. He grabbed the warmed bottle from the heater and began to feed the small baby in his carrier. It seemed their instion measures seemed to be working, the baby was able to sleep without a problem. Yan Fei was relieved after confirming that the child was full, asleep and did not wet the bed. Everyone had worried about bringing a baby out into the cold. Now that they checked after the zombie attack, both them and the baby were lucky... The group slowly moved forward through the cold. It was a pleasant journey with no danger other than the first bunch of zombies. In the vast expanse of snow and ice, if Luo Xun did not have apass, map or phone GPS that revealed their location every two hours...they would not daree out so carelessly. All the way to the evening, after the sky gradually darkened, the team began to build their temporary camp site. There were no dys other than that one time they had to change the babys diaper. To everyones surprise C they stayed inside ready to face off against a horde of zombies, but not one was seen! "Luo Xun, do you think zombies can...band together?" Li Tie asked with some concern early in the morning as the team was cooking breakfast. "Gathering together?" Luo Xun froze and puzzled over the remark. "Remember during the zombie siege...how many zombies were on the base outskirts. Could the entire citys worth of zombies took collective action?" Luo Xun paused and stared in horror at Yan Fei. "But we came this way and did not see any trampled snow. If the zombies gathered, they would leave footprints right? Like outside base." Han Li brought out a counter argument. "Maybe there are fewer zombies around here? There are no tall buildings around here, how many people can live here? This winter, as long as we do not disturb too much snow, how could the zombies notice us?" Suddenly Zhang Yi interjected with furrowed brows. "Dont forget, there have already been two previous zombie sieges." Even if the second siege urred after the snow, which left footprints, who knew what happened outside during that first siege... Luo Xun felt his scalp go numb. "If these zombies were concentrated after the first zombie siege...the second time they were originally from the same ce and left together..." In the small metal room, the group shivered with frightened expressions. No one dared to break the strange silence for a while. Above the sleds was the sun shining in the blue sky with white snow underneath. Although the sun did not do much other than slightly warming up the air, it seemed that the snow appeared to be slowly melting. That proved that spring wasing soon. During the third they came out, after days in the wilderness with few clearndmarks, the baby was still healthy so there were no problems on that front. "Now we are here, this far from the sr panel production factory...around three days away. The convoy stopped here to rest." Luo Xun referred to a location on the map and then pointed in another direction. "But the test ground that everyone is less than a day away. He looked up at the team. "How about it? Should we check it out now or when we go back to base?" The team looked at each other before saying, "Lets go check out the test ground, otherwise we are going to go snow blind. If there is anything good, lets sort it out to pick up when we go back!" Chapter 170 After the unanimous agreement of all team members, the team charted their course, packed up all their things and climbed into their sleds. The snow in front of them was mostly t, but it was higher and lower in some ces. While they driving forward, Zhang Yi spoke through the walkie-talkie, "There seems to be movement in front." "Movement? What kind?" "Not sure, but its something alive." "Alive!?" Although Zhang Yi used his ability since leaving base to get feedback about the road ahead, to tell the truth C there was little use in the current frozen world. There were indeed zombies in the wild, but they were mostly hiding under the ice and snow. Often waiting for nearby vibrations before climbing out of the snow. Zhang Yis wind could only scan the wilderness, there was no way to detect things under the snow, unless it melted...Otherwise his ability was only useful to find things above the ground. Fortunately Luo Xun had insisted for Zhang Yi to monitor the situation and be ready to report at a moments notice even though it was not suitable for the situation. "Yes, about seven-eight hundred meters away behind that snowy slope." Luo Xun slowed down their car and frowned C it was in the direction of the destination...after a quick calction, it was pretty much at their goal! What could it be? "Can you find out size and number?" Luo Xun was somewhat worried. Zhang Yi closed his eyes as a gust of wind flew forward. He opened them after five or six minutes. "Its not small...its not a zombie and there is only one but it seems to be attacking with something that I dont recognize." After pondering, the team set off again with their destination not far from the snow mound. Luo Xun andpany were not prepared to rush into a battle, but there should be no problem with sneaking around to check the situation. After the cars drove to the snow mound, Luo Xun checked first and confirmed that it was a bungalow before parking the car and quietly climbing onto the roof. As they climbed the roof, they saw the battlefield. An unknown mutant seemed to be fighting something. It was not small but they could only see its back asit thrashed on the ground. The snow was disturbed, revealing something but the team could not see exactly what it was. Luo Xun help up his telescope and looked carefully in surprise, "Mutant nt! Offensive devil vine!" "What is that?" "Mutant nts?" "nt? Are there any nts that could survive such cold weather?" The team had not focused on the same point but had discovered likely uing problems C these were test fields and there were mutant nts...what about the other farnd?! Luo Xun quickly pulled out their hand-drawn map, which clearly marked their target C the building was sandwiched between eight fields! There were mutant nts, the fields were close together, where did they go to avoid the nts?! "Very difficult?" Yan Fei quietly asked while looking at Luo Xuns solemn expression. Luo Xun nodded, "...This nt will not stop until the target is dead...and not afraid of fire." This thing was one of the most dangerous mutant nts of the apocalypse, even worse, they were rtivelymon. The devil vine had some bizarre hand like appendages but they were much more dangerous that other nts with special effects. It was brown-ck with spikes and multi-sized suckers C designed to suck blood! Those things were all over the spiked vines, once a prey was caught, there was no chance to escape. What was even scarier that with the nts water content, it was not afraid of fire! Even if there was a me that could burn the vines, because of all the water, it would not fully ignite. It also had basic survival instinct fighting back in retaliation. Of course, it would have been fine if there were only a few nts, but this kind of thing grew in bunches. Any who carelessly entered...never came back alive. "Luo Xun, what did this thing grow from?" He Qiankun asked since his captain recognized the nt. Luo Xuns face was ugly he pointed towards the paralyzed animal on the ground. "That is farnd." "Ah?!" Zhang Yiughed, "Isnt it obvious? What is in a field? Crops!" So the devil vines are variations of grain! Luo Xun was able to recognize at a nce because it was mutated from grains such as rice and wheat. In hisst life, the base fields had not allowed this kind of things to grow to avoid damage. Fortunately they were not dense so there was little impact on base, they were often cleared up before the vines could develop suckers, so the danger was limited. Luo Xun had seen if himself before. But it was different for the fields outside, some ces had nted crops before the apocalypse. After the end, there was no one to care for the fields and in theserge patches of farnd... "Then...can we still go in?" Their goal was the experimentalb but now that the buildings were guarded by those nts... Luo Xun tried to measure the approximate size of the farnd as the vines separated the meat from bone like a professional doctor. Finally even the skeleton disappeared, the whole process only took half an hour. Then the area that had been disturbed by the animal was covered with snow. In the end, the ce looked the same as its surroundings. The team was stunned and gulped before exchanging nces. "...Do we still want to go?" "Oh hell, who knows what is down under the t snow!" Luo Xun also nodded, every time they went out they would follow the main road because he knew there were scary traps in the wilderness. But he could not always tell if they were off the road. But now... "Lets head to the factory, but we should measure the mutant nt area to avoid tripping any attacks as we pass by." Luo Xun took a deep breath and solemnly spoke. "How can we measure it? Its not marked on the map?" Everyone was curious. Luo Xun pointed, "There is more than one field since there is a lot of farnd nearby." The so called test fields were also ced where nts could grow. Thend must be suitable for crop growth, so it was often built on vigend with space carved out for school with students. So in truth, the field only had eight pieces ofnd and it did not equal an entire acre. But the other ces were more standard and on either side of the road. All Luo Xun had to do was tally how many pieces of farnd had mutated nts. After all, the snow had not melted yet, if they stepped on something in this vast expanse of white...how would they survive? They said is was measuring, but in fact the only cost was physical exertion instead of mental. Luo Xun a detailed map of the area C which they had taken from theputer. While it might be a little inurate, it was enough for now. They used long range weapons such as crossbows, small stones and ranged ability attacks at the fields. Although the devil vine was very dangerous it captured, one they knew the range as long as they were out of range, they were safe. After all, the nt was rooted in ce with its waving branches. As long as they were out of the attack range, the nt could only swing its vines through the air. But this nt was very belligerent, the slightest sound would trigger an attack. Therefore, as long as stones were thrown, they could determine the vines range. This was much safer than getting attacked due to identally entering the nts range. It had obvious weaknesses such as fire and cutting attacks. On the whole, although humans were dwindling after the apocalypse, as long as they were careful, one would always be able to find a way to survive. Chapter 171 In order to detect the devil vines range, the team first threw stones around the test area...It left them a little speechless and desperate, the devil vines actually surrounded the building, there was not even a gap left! Not just here, a lot of the other farnd had grown the bizarre devil vines. Luo Xun was not sure if these things came from the test building, but for now they have to give up, pack their bags and head towards the sr panel factory tomorrow. "Those things cant grow here right?" They were dyed after checking the range of the vines. It was safer to spend the night after cleaning out a nearby house and making sure there were no zombies around. After hearing Wang Duos words, everyone looked at him, "Dont jinx us you bbermouth!" Wang Duo stiffened before cing his wronged head against Zhang Yi. "Wuwuwu, dear, they are bullying me..." Zhang Yi shook his shoulder and said, "You should have said nothing." Luo Xun coughed twice. "That...there should be no farnd near the factory but we should be careful on the road since there is opennd..." Although the majority of thend they passed did not seem to have those strange vines. But who knew if thend grew more dangerous the further away from base? After a night of rtive peace, the team who were used to being surrounded by zombies felt a tad strange. They ate breakfast early in the morning, packed up their things and subconsciously watched the vines that they had tried to observe. The area was as quiet as ever, with the even snow, if they had not seen everything yesterday who would have thought there were devil vines around? Or was everything they saw yesterday all hallucinations? They climbed into their respective cars. Luo Xun charted their course and they drove towards the road before following the highway towards the factory. The cold air buffeted the team but fortunately inside the sled was very warm. The sun shining extra bright so the snow seemed to start melting. After passing the whole day on the road, on the sixth day after exiting base, they found a different scene than before... "This...whats going on?" "God, this is too..." "Hey?! What are those dark things in the distance?!" "Tank! Armored vehicles!" "And the truck...its the army that came out to get sr panels!" "But around here..." "Its...a zombie horde." The team stood silently beside the sled while looking at the scene. Before the earth was covered in white snow, but now there was unearthednd that resembled a ck dragon in the snow. The contrast hit their eyes hard. The crowd was silent for a long time before Luo Xun took a step forward to look where the horde went. "It seems that they returned to base by this road...its not the one where we came from." "...Luo Xun, are these zombies cooperating?!" Li TIe turned his head, his eyes looked like they were about to fall out. Zhang Yi squinted. "If they were not acting together, how could there be so many zombies in the siege?" "But...I thought it was because they were attracted by the scent of the people inside base..." Li Ties voice was quivering but the team could not help butugh at his word choice. "The ice in these muddy areas is hard and should have frozen over a long time ago." Yan Fei look a closer look at the border between snow and earth. The road showed thend underneath and was ttened by zombies. Since there were so many, the snow had been extremely ttened. Now there was only a thinyer of solid ck that could be seen. It was simr to when the zombies trampled the ground around the base. Since they only passed once, there was an ice shell on the surface to be melted by ability users. Luo Xun grabbed his telescope and climbed up to the roof. He looked around and determined that there was nothing nearby. "Lets go to those cars and see what happened." They pushed the sled cars towards the turned over military vehicles. In several of the vehicles you could see some leftover hands and feet not eaten by zombies. The insides were rtively clean, except for some blood there were no traces of people There were signs of tragedy next to the cars with barend, some parts charred and withrge holes and shell casings. Luo Xun did not find any weapons, almost everything waspletely destroyed. All instruments that might have been usable were damaged or contaminated with an unknown liquid that waspletely frozen in this weather. But in the trunk, except for a few things, the rest were in decent condition! The trucks were really the ones being sent to sr panel factories, there were arge number of the things in storage. "Grab them!" Luo Xun checked around and waved C there were plenty of batteries along with the panels. If all these things were collected, it would be more than enough for their walls! It would not even a problem for multiple homes! Although only one of the two target locations was harvested, the gains were far higher than expected, a real bumper crop! Two of the trucks were turned over, the remaining three had undamaged sr panels and batteries. However the first two trucks had other materials that were salvageable. Together they sifted around four trucks worth of material. If they wanted to move all this, it was obvious that Yan Fei had not collected enough metal along the way... In the face of the car wreckage, would they actually be short on metal? Without saying anything, Yan Fei put all the metal to one side. The threedies were on the roadside. Xu Mei melted the snow, Song Lingling moved the water aside and Yu Xinran created a hole. They all worked together to bury the remains of the wreck, throwing the body parts into the makeshift grave. Although they did not know who these people were since there only body parts, likely some of the dead had joined the ranks of the zombies. But these were all survivors from the same base and building a simple grave did not cost anything. The sand became more solid aftering in contact with water. Yan Fei walked over with a metal te. They filled the four sled cars and Yan Fei simply made four metal boxes to pull behind them. But the size of the boxes wasrger than one would normally expect. "How are we going to get back to base..." Looking at theicallyrge metal boxes, not to mention there would be trouble re-entering base, there was no ce at home to leave it... "And theres...wont people check the insides?" He Qiankun weakly raised a hand and reminded the group. Right, there was that...They had not thought about it and now they had an extra four metal containers... "Get back first, if need be, hide it somewhere outside the base." Luo Xun thought a bit before exining. "If we have to...take some back home and the rest can be buried in a pit..." It was easy for the team to create holes with Yu Xinran and Yan Fei who could make sealed boxes. This stuff was not food so it should be storable with no contact with moisture or open air! "Then head back to base first." Xu Mei looked at the boxes with some worry. "Can we really...pull these things?" Everyone focused on the box, it was sorgepared to their tiny sleds... After experimentation, they found that it took two carsbined to pull a box. But they only four of them! What would they do with the remaining two boxes? No other way, they could only find a ce covered in snow to dog a pit and bury it. They left a mark on the map. As long as they came here, Yan Fei could detect the metal location and dig it out. This operation took until nightfall. The team had to find a ce to rest after tying up the box to be ready for the morning. Zhang Yi was in the habit of using his wind ability to check around. This routine was something everyone was ustomed to. But this time, Zhang Yis eyes flew open and he turned with fearful eyes. "Zombies..." Chapter 171.5 There were actually two chapter numbered 171 but to avoid confusing myself, I will keep the order from the site I found. "What?" Luo Xun and the others were still frozen, looking at Zhang Yi in bewilderment. Outside base they had encountered a number of zombie waves. They had encountered many zombies when they left base before so there was confusion about the doctors pale face. Zhang Yi pointed in a direction. "I said, I am afraid we are near a zombie tidal wave...I cant see the end." The teams faces changed as they gulped. Wang Duo trembled, "Um, dear...how far are they?" "I only have bad news." Zhang Yi has a grimace on his face. "They seem to be rushing this way...fast since there are speed zombies." "To the car!" Zhang Yi was able to scout far distances, but now he said he could not see the end...Oh my God, they had such poor luck, such a massive zombie horde! Just as they climbed into the car, everyone felt the ground shake. Luo Xun told them to speed up but found another problem. "Forget about the box in the back!" The weight of those big boxes was enough to reduce their speed by at least half. Now that there was a bunch of pursuing zombies, how could they escape with these things? Right now, they were even sure that they could escape, when could they pay attention to these things? "After driving in front, leave the metal boxes." Luo Xun nned to leave in the snow in front of some houses. Thepletely sealed boxes would not get damaged and the zombies would not be able to open them, let along study what was hidden inside. Keeping it here, they had the possibility toe back up pick up things in the future. But if they kept them and reduced their fleeing speed...everyone would just wait to die together. Two cars in tandem pulled the iron box next to some snow covered buildings. Yan Fei disconnected the iron chain and everyones vehicles became faster. The team struggled back towards the road, but the vibrations had not lessened. They were thankful that theypletely prepared themselves in case of an emergency halfway through. So their car had a lot of supplies, especially batteries. Since there were at least two people sitting in each sled car, the passengers searched for a weapon to protect themselves. The driver focused on driving and keeping ahead of their pursuers. At least half of the Otaku squad were ability users, but their powers were not unlimited. They had to reasonable allocate power consumed with ammunition expended. Each car was filled with food, water, crossbow, arrows, mushrooms, waterguns and other things. Yan Fei had also made some containers to put all the excess metal. It seemed like these metal balls would soon be put to use. During the first few hours, they felt no sign of zombies except for the vibrations. Everyone tried to think positive C was the zombie horde just passing through? It did not care about these few small fry nearby? Sadly, Zhang Yi was right C the zombies were charging towards them. Even after they changed direction, the zombies followed them. Their team only had 10 people altogether, definitely not enough for this group of zombies, why were they being chased?! As they were guessing if they were as moving as fast as the army then they were in the clear. But at noon C they could see the zombie vanguard! Speed zombies were running in the front. The team felt chills down their back C there were four wind zombies flying in the sky! What were they doing chasing them like this? With this amount of firepower, wouldnt they surround a nearby base or something? Luo Xun and the others dared not stop the car to dig a pit. This was a horde, but it could not bepared to the smaller scale battles from before. Even if they had gone to the city to fight zombies, they had been able to set up a base, traps to deal with their enemies. If one encountered so many zombies at once, they could not be careless and rush in! "Prepare the waterguns, crossbows and bombs. Do not use abilities for the wave, pay attention to preserving your strength." Luo Xunmanded over the walkie-talkie. "Okay." Everyones hearts were heavy, knowing the future was grim. A crisis was in front of them, but there was no despair, only a burst of survival instinct. Although their team was neither the strongest or arrogant, but they could at least be regarded as people would notin and do everything possible in order to live. Wrong judgements and decisions were learning opportunities, but with a crisis around the corner, people whoined showed they were not ready to survive. They wanted to shirk responsibility and push their fears and problems onto others, to relieve the stress in their hearts. As for how the actual problem was to be solved? That was not something they would think about at the moment. A few wind zombies with cyan wings flew towards the team. Almost everyone in the Otaku squad could be considered a sharpshooter. When the air strikes started, the people in the back were ready. The first wave of arrows shot out towards the enemies. The remodeled crossbow arrows exploded upon impact, releasing the mushroom juice and burning a hole into the zombies body! More than half of the hit zombies had their arms melted off, others were melted through the middle. *Plop* A number of the vanguard fell from the sky and onto the ground. The people in the car breathed a small sigh of relief. There was littlebat capability without limbs. Wind zombies attacked several times but failed each time. Even if some dodged the arrows and rushed forward, their ability users were not decorations! Yan Fei, Zhang Yi and Xu Meis abilities were very lethal. Just the three of them could scatter zombie parts around. After there were almost no wind zombies left however the rest of the zombies had caught up the car. "Yu Xinran, dig a pit!" Luo Xun saw the speed of the zombies was a little faster than their sled cars, which was enough for these tireless monsters to eventually catch up. Yu Xinran formed pits every once in a while to trap some zombies. Although it was not lethal, but with Zhang Yi and Xu Meis cooperation, it was a good obstacle to slow down the chasing zombies. But it was not a solution, there just too many zombies. Luo Xun and team had spent the day fleeing, if not for the batteries, their car would have stopped long ago. Everyone had a turn driving, but the people in the back had to deal with zombies while drivers had to focus on the road...They could not continue on like this! After nightfall, there were screams of terror from the zombies chasing them, which caused nervousness and numbness. Even more chilling was C they could not charge their mobile phones, they were all out of power. Mobile phones were of little to everyone who left base, except for one thing C it could send a location signal every two hours. Those functions were useless for distress signals, who could wait until base sent a rescue team? Coupled with that teams were unlikely to actually respond, the feature was not usable in the least. So everyone only brought one phone, but it would have to charged through the car power supply. Luo Xun had a headache C their car adapter was lost on the road! Even more, since the phone had little effect outside of base, no one brought any extras! So the question was C although Luo Xun could estimate the approximate direction, they werepletely unaware of their exact location. It was dark outside, they could not even see the marks they left in the snow before. "If you are sleepy, lean against me and rest for a while." Yan Fei suddenly said which soothed Luo Xuns slightly nervous heart. He nodded, "I know." He patted Puppys head. "If they catch, yell to everyone." Not just Luo Xun, everyone else in the cars were exhausted, but they needed to conserve as much strength as possible and hold on. Luo Xun took the walkie-talkie and spoke, "We have some distance between us and the zombies, well take a quick rest..." Chapter 172 Luo Xun had not finished when the car suddenly shook violently. Slender ck things erupted from the snow like bizarre teeth! "This...the devil vine!" Luo Xuns blood froze in his veins. The night was pitch ck, the surroundings murky and they had been desperately fleeing for the whole day. In panic they had also turned a few times and somehow arrived where the devil vines were! Luo Xun did not know if the ce was the test ground from two days ago. Or if there luck was so poor that they crashed into another ce with the monstrous vines! If Luo Xun had time to think, he could infer that they spent around two days to reach the convoy wreckage. But during those two days they rested more than once to stop for food, change diapers or reorient themselves. But when they were being chased by zombies, they went full throttle and it was natural that they crossed the same distance in only a day. But, they had run into the devil vines! The mutant nt that did not let go of prey once entangled! Luo Xun andpany remembered the death of the huge mutant animal and did not expect to survive... "Xu Mei! Fire! Song Lingling, try to drain the water from the nearest vine!" He stuck to Yan Feis back and shakily said, "Wrap us in a metal ball..." Yan Feis expression was not good. He put up a circle of metal to stop the vines but these things were alive and attacked from all directions. Xu Meis fire could act as a barrier against the nts but would not repel them at all! Although Song Lingling could cause the vines to wither by draining water, she could only deal with one or two at a time! Devil vines were also directly below the sled, countless nts rose from the ground and grabbed at the moving car... Luo Xuns heart sank,pared to these terrifying nts, the zombies behind them seemed so easy to deal with...Were they going to die today? They went outside to avoid threats but encountered an even greater crisis... He wryly smiled, he was reborn and had gotten things he had never expected: a lover, family, friends a happy and abundant life...But it was earlier than before...was he too greedy? Would it have been possible to live longer if he had stayed in base and forced to bear with the changes? A small inner voice disagreed C no, even if he was allowed to it again, with the current atmosphere, he would still choose to find another way, rather than stay where was he was and die... *Snore, snore* A faint voice was mixed in with the others screaming. With all other sounds, the dog, the roar of the engine, and the creaking of the nts and metal those small sounds were barely heard. *Snore, sniffle* The entire Otaku squad, were still desperately struggling against the terrifying zombies. *Snore....Waa, waa!" The babys cries were weak, especially since he was premature and was less than a month old. Luo Xun and Yan Fei knew that this child was well-behaved. Every time he was hungry or soiled himself, there were only a few sounds. Even if he cried, it was only a short while. It was the first time he had cried like this. However, the cry did not stun only the couple. Puppy was also frozen and even the devil vines were stunned. Yes, really frozen, Luo Xun did not know how else to describe why these devil vines suddenly became motionless. Luo Xun dazedly looked around and found all the vines were stopped, even the ones next to Li Ties car! "Quick, stay close to our car!" The vines were stunned but the zombies were still chasing them! Luo Xuns brain burst into action. He did not know the exact situation, but they could not stay here in a daze! Otherwise they would not only have to deal with the devil vines but also zombies that would try and eat them! elerate, elerate! Rush ahead! Luo Xun felt like the ground under the car had changed from a slope to t ground. In a daze, they noticed there were no more vines around and that there was t open space with some scattered buildings in the middle of the clearing. One building was three storeys high. Looking behind, the team found that space filled with devil vines. The zombie horde had rushed into the vines range following the scent of humans. They were entangled by the vicious vines... The team were panting in exhaustion as they watched enthusiastic vines rush to meet the zombies. It was really...something. "...Lets find a ce to rest, otherwise some flying zombies will find us." Luo Xun felt his mind nk but instinct allowed him to make sensible choices immediately. At night, if a flying zombie dive bombed them, they were still in danger. "Oh!" "Good." "Yes, right..." Almost everyones brain was out of order. When they left the car, all their steps were wobbly and faltering. Todays experience was really to heart pounding. Luo Xun and the others took a look around and did not dare go straight into the tallest building. It was dark right now, who knew what sort of things were inside? If there was anything like the devil vines inside...they would have to keep fighting. They found a small room and carefully examined it before daring to go in. Yan Fei wrapped the room in metal before daring to light amp. The room was only around 20 square meters, very crowded for the group. But it was better than staying outside at the moment. Set up the heater, started a fire and formed venttion while watching the situation outside. The team brought out some pots and pans to cook some soup to keep warm. Luo Xun held the small bun and feed him while sitting on a chair with quilts. The group breathed a sigh of relief after the diaper was changed. "Now my sleeve has a big gash ripped though it." "What about it? Look at my pants." Fortunately theres no blood since we wore a lot of clothes because of the weather..." Once they had calmed down, people had energy to think about other things, such as checking their clothes. He Qiankun gratefully thanked Yan Fei. "Thanks to Yan Feis soft armor, look! My sleeves were grabbed but I dont have any injuries!" He pulled down his sleeve and showed the armor. The metal was a bit scratched but it was not broken. Luo Xun remembered to check himself and Yan Fei. He vaguely remembered his leg getting scratched by something. "Puppy has an injury!" Yu Xinran eximed, her face crumpled as the dog was licking herself. Puppys back had a wound marked with blood, fortunately the injury was not deep. "Oh no! Disinfect it!" Although he had heard that mutant animals would not turn into zombies, but infection was still possible with open wounds! The dogs health seemed okay. She let Song Lingling rinse the wound and bandage it up without issue. "Brother Luo, just now with the vines...how did we escape?" Li Tie asked after Luo Xun had changed the babys diaper. Luo Xun paused and looked at the sweetly sleeping baby. "I just seemed to hear the baby cry!" "Me too..." "I heard it as well..." Zhang Yi suddenly pointed at the baby bun and asked. "Could it be his ability, right?" Luo Xun looked at the baby and then looked at Yan Fei before helplessly shrugging. "I am not sure but those vines did not move after he cried..." The baby was too young to speak. This was the same situation as when the dog was suspected of having an ability but there was no way to ask...This was really a quandary. "Yeah...if in the end, his powers are not spiritual...how are we going to leave?" Xu Mei brought up the toughest problem at the moment. This ce was surrounded by zombies, mutant nts. When the zombies were gone, they would not be able to subdue the mutant nts! How were they going to leave and return home? Chapter 173 "In short, we can only wait until tomorrow morning." Luo Xun saw that the little bun had fallen asleep, the fire light making his pale face more rosy. The day the child was born, he and Yan Fei saw the rosy face be purple and he nearly lost his life. But now, as some people said, the redder a newborn, the paler he will be. The baby had improved through consumption of the milk fruit. Although still small and thin, hisplexion was clean and lovingly tender. Today, during their rushed escape, Luo Xun and Yan Fei could only quickly feed him twice and barely changed his diaper. But he was able to happily sleep undisturbed for the most part. The team of people gathered in the small space, with past experience, Yan Fei designed the metal house with Zhang Yi to ensure proper air flow. All night, everyone listened to the hideous roars of the zombies outside, whipping vines and the crackling fire. They took turns keeping watch and somehow managed to rest. The next morning, the howling and rumbling zombies could still be heard. Luo Xun and the others woke up, washed their faces and drank some hot soup. Luo Xun carefully climbed Yan Feis makeshiftdder and safely observed from the roof. The white snow, the shadow of monsters... "The zombies dont seem to be surrounding us." Luo Xun held his telescope and ryed his findings to the team. "Whats going on?" There was only onedder and the observation tform was only big enough for one person. The team could only ask Luo Xun about the situation outside. Luo Xun looked around and climbed down thedder while breathing a sigh of relief. "There are a lot of zombies out there, but it seems that apart from a portion, the rest of them are passing by..." Luo Xun said cautiously, "Most of the zombies are passing on the road, but some of them are approaching due to the smell of people nearby. There arent actually that many zombies attacking the devil vines." He saw the teams excited looks and then hurriedly added, "The number is not muchpared to that zombie horde, but its more than what we encountered in the past." It was also fortunate that there were only a few pieces of farnd near the mutant devil vines. But there was still at least six to seven acres ofnd in the vicinity which entangled the zombies. Otherwise with the number of zombies, they would end up stepping on each other to pass through! Looking outside and confirming that there were no flying zombies around and the other zombies were unlikely to break through the nts. Everyone packed up again, grabbed their weapons and armor with helmets. With their gloves in hand, they waited carefully in front of the gate to see the situation in thergest building. Judging from Luo Xuns observation, they were definitely back at the test fields they saw before, in the middle area where they had tried to enter previously but failed. Last nights chaos identally had them run in so they carefully probed around. Yan Fei opened the door, the team quietly entered in order to not attract any attention from the zombies outside and run through the middle doorway. They were few and wearing thicker clothes, even if the smell of human got out, those devil vines were so powerful and would entrap the zombies. It saved them from being eaten, but how would they escape the? They arrived at the gate and opened the lock. A quick scan confirmed there was no movement before going inside. One floor after another. The test building seemed to have been isted from the world. After the apocalypse began, it had not been disturbed, just quietly sitting and waiting for people to visit. The team examined the first floor, then the second and the third... On the first floor there was arge canteen with rows of seats, partially damaged but still intact. Ignoring the kitchen at the back where all the ingredients had not rotten. It was gratifying to find tworge 50 kg gas canisters, which were unused. There were also several barrels of cooking oil that had yet to be opened in the back. Everyone was delighted at the find and collected it all, ready to take with them upon a chance to escape. After checking the first floor, everyone went to the second where there were severalboratories and ssrooms. Apparently for teaching students how to do experiments. The third floor had the professors offices and a small meeting room. After checking all three floors, the team returned to the first floor stairwell. "Theres a basement down here, a total of two sub-floors." Luo Xun looked at the elevator, which had 5 floors total marked. The door wasrge and was clearly the kind that could transportrge items. But now since there was no power supply, the lights were all extinguished. Everyone turned sparkling eyes to Luo Xun. They had checked the building and found some stuff that they did not know how to use. Since there was no electricity they could not ess any information in theputer. But from what they could tell from earlier C they had yet to find the existence of advanced equipment. Was that stuff ced in the basement? Definitely possible. Of course there were some bungalows outside as well. They had not checked those yet and did not know if there was anything useful inside. The squad members checked their weapons again, carefully lined up and slowly down the stairs...There was a metal door blocking the way that looked quite sturdy. Luo Xun alone would have taken a long time but with Yan Fei, it was a simple matter to bypass. Opened the door and walked through some hallways. No one was holding a shlight as they cautiously descended underground. "There shouldnt be anything..." Zhang Yi used his power to scout first and report. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the deration before turning on their shlights. The range was limited but they soon found something. "Luo Xun! What is that? Lights?" Wu Xins sharp eyes picked out something nearby. "...Backup power supply? Even now theres electricity?!" Luo Xun was astonished and looked at the shing red light hung on the wall. How long had it been since the end of the world? There was a backup supply that actually still had energy?! After making sure there was nothing nearby, they cautiously walked forward, the lights shed and something opened! After the staircase there was a hallway with closed rooms on each side. In front was a room blocked by huge ss windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. Obviously the backup power supply only powered this room and the surrounding area. Luo Xun used his shlight to shine inside and found it was a room for nting?! "Wait before going in, first take a look at these two rooms." Luo Xun said to the group. The nting room looked to be full of nts, who knew if a mutant one would pop up? It would be dangerous to rush in. First they opened the left room C it was a ce to change clothes with numbered lockers with work clothing. There was nothing special inside. The room on the right had just been opened when the group pinched their noses. There were two bodies in a chair and the corner of the room; who knew how long they had been dead. The two bodies were dead but did not have signs of mutating into a zombie. Song Lingling immediately pulled Yu Xinran away from the room. Luo Xun checked the body before looking at the room. Zhang Yi, as a doctor was able to do a simple examination regardless of his major. "There are no injuries, I suspect death from starvation or fear." Zhang Yi borrowed some ves and stood up with a pinched face. "Starved, or scared to death?" Luo Xun was puzzled...how could that have happened? "Who knows?" Zhang Yi shrugged. "There wasnt much left in the kitchen but there are so many nts in the next room, it would be impossible to starve to death. So they were frightened to death." He exined more, "One man in his early 20s, the other 50-60 years old, likely to be students and professors studying here." The two bodies were not rotten, even Luo Xun could glean some information. Zhang Yi was correct, these two people did not have injuries or signs of poison. They must have hid here in fear but then starved to death... "Lets check the next room and downstairs." Luo Xun said to the team. After they nodded, they walked out and shut the door. Chapter 174 One could vaguely see shelves with growing nts through the ss window. Luo Xun checked and found the power supply cable and the lights shed and lit up... "Wow..." The members of the Otaku squad all subconsciously eximed their admiration. They stood behind the ss window stunned. It was arge shelf for nting, simr to the one built at home butpletely different in size and scale. The room was huge, five or six meters tall. The roof was covered in sprinklers. At one end there was a huge piece of equipment whose role was unknown. There were also smaller pieces of machinery that were also unknown. Luo Xun carefully looked at the crops on the shelves. "Those should have withered, should we go in and see?" "Lets try." "Right, we are already here, it would not be bad to check." "Yes, we should be careful though." Yan Fei walked to the ss door and used his ability to check. He nodded C it was a ss door with an electronic lock. They felt lucky that it was mostly metal blocking their way. *Click* The lock was opened. Luo Xun gently opened the door was met with the suffocating smell of rot and mildew... This huge nting room had a lot of nts but with no one to care for them over two years and with the power cut...All the nts had withered, there was barely anything left intact. "God, the smell is really..." "Luo Xun, what are going to do now?" "Everyone look together, there must be some venttion equipment..." Indeed, as Luo Xun said, there was indeed the desired stuff, the group pinched their noses, rushed in and then mmed the door on the way out. After the door closed, everyone breathed the rtively fresh air. Tension returned C they were not sure whether the crops were all dead. If there was anything like the devil vines outside...they would not survive for long. The fans continued to run. The team took advantage of the time to check the other basement floor. It was simr in structure but the room use was a little different. The locker room was a control room withputer and other things to monitor temperature and humidity. There was also a centralputer with a hard drive for data storage throughout the building. The other room was aboratory, which was moreplete and specialized than the one above. Maybe the one upstairs was used to teach students for practice? The innermost area of both floors were ss doors and windows with nting racks inside. The biggest difference was that the crops were different. The withered crops were not meant for food. The air had not been cleared from above so Luo Xun dared not open the door to release the noxious gases. A whileter, they returned and confirmed that there was nothing malicious mixed in with the crops. In relief they slowly opened the door and entered. The fan was running the entire time as they walked with careful steps. "Be vignt everyone! Be ready to retreat at a moments notice!" Luo Xun ordered as Yan Fei formed a circle of metal as a shield around them. *Poof* Luo Xuns crossbow shot into the withered crops. There was no sound other than those of the impacts. Arrow after arrow flew around the room. "There should be no problems..." Luo Xun tested for an hour, shooting in all directions to see if there was anything dangerous. After the two basement floors had been examined, they came to aplete conclusion. This was a universitys test agriculture building. The pieces ofnd were modified to experiment with crop nature. The species would be improved through experiments underground, who knew what had been done. Of course, the crops nted here would never cause death, much less mutant varieties. ording to Li Tie who opened theputer and revealed that the nts weremon vegetables. The differences were with fertilizer and amount of water. Because these things were grown indoors, they used advanced centralputer controlled lighting, watering and fertilization. What would happen in a power outage? Who would need to ask?! Without water or light, these nts would have long died during the first year! Even if the nts were scarier, what would the rate of mutation be? If there were no nutrients, nothing could be done! They were all dried out! The twoyers of nting space were about an acre each. There was equipment hanging on the rack for harvest. There were several specialized machines such as grain dryers and so on attached to the racks... "Luo Xun, these devices are not big, shall we bring them back?" There was a gleam of excitement in Li Ties eyes. Since the area was not toorge and underground, equipment yed arge role. It happened that many of these things could be ced in their homes! Why wouldnt they be excited? He Qiankun called out from the engine room. "They have other equipment here! Theres arge garage, there even seems to be a tractor!" Xu Meimented, "Unfortunately we would not be able to use it..." "Yes, but we can bring back these smaller things first." The group frowned. "Its a pity that we can only drive a sled and not take too many things." Luo Xun was silently in thought, who knew what he was pondering. Zhang Yi saw them talking about bringing things back and sneered. "I think it would be better to bring everything here instead." He turned to Luo Xun. "What does our captain think?" Everyone froze and turned to Luo Xun, who mind returned. Yes, they could bring their stuff here instead! Luo Xun helplessly smiled and watched as the teams excitement grew. "I am also thinking about this matter C rather than moving stuff back to base, it would be better to simply move out. As long as the zombies leave, we can find a way to sneak past the devil vines." Yes, they should not forget that they were in a hurry to leave the base before the snow melted in order to find another ce to live. The people in power at base were fiercely fighting. God knew that one day it would spill over to the rest of the people. If anyone found that they were growing crops at home, they would soon be a thorn in the eyes of others. And this experimental base actually had tworge fields, all kinds of convenient equipment and the devil vines would be a line of protection." "Luo Xun, lets move!" "Right! There is so much space to grow things and we dont have to worry about being spotted..." "Yeah, here even if we barbecue everyday, we dont have to worry about the smell leaking out!" "There are so many rooms and space outside, we can put so many sr panels! Definitely enough power!" Even the people busy in theputer room expressed their opinions. Luo Xun lifted a hand to calm everyone down before saying, "This ce is really good but there are also problems to consider. The most important points are the zombies and mutant nts outside. We just need to stay out of the vines range but what would we do if there is a zombie horde? Especially the kind that can fly. Another problem is how to ce sr panels without being discovered by satellites." Everyone wilted. Indeed, they could think of ways to deal with the zombies and nts but satellites were out of their control. If they ced sr panels on the outside of the building and it was photographed... The base was notpletely devoid of helicopters! They were afraid to bet on the few that were there. Chapter 175 Zhang Yi propped a hand against his cheek as Luo Xun spoke about the problem before sneering. "What difficulty? We cover it up the same way as back at base." The group looked at him in a daze. Wang Duo spoke, "But...metal covers would be seen..." It was the same problem, it would be a problem is captured on satellite! Zhang Yi rolled his eyes and mocked his lover. "Has your IQ been eaten by zombies? Just find some green and gray paint to make them blend in with the ruins. Would people pay attention then?" The group of people who did not think of a solution started C it seemed their IQ might have been eaten by their dog. Luo Xun stood up with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Good! Then lets make our decision! Well talk about specificster, get rid of the dead nts first!" The basement was filled with wrecked local nts. It would be easy to deal with except for the number of weeds. However he was more anxious about the migrating zombies and siege by mutant nts. They had brought enough food, with Song Lingling they did not have to bring water. As they had sustenance, as long as they waited for the zombies to leave, they should be able to get out and return to base to pack up. The zombies pursuing them were all dead. Due to their luck, the ce they were staying was on the zombies route. These creatures had no intelligence while marching, even if the road ahead was covered in thorns, they would continue forward. Of course, that might be because the zombies passing through their position was only a small part of the zombie army. Luo Xun and team spent a full two days clearing theyers of withered nts. The third day onward, they tidied up and looked outside with binocrs from the top floor. "The zombies are not heading towards base, they are moving south east." Luo Xun carefully observed the hordes movements using his binocrs. Yan Fei pointed out with raised eyebrows. "Dont you think there are foreigners among the zombies?" "Foreigner?!" Luo Xun was only watching the direction of the zombies and did not pay attention their appearances. Other than crazy mutations, most zombies looked the same. With Yan Feis reminder, Luo Xun noticed a number of zombie heads had sparse blonde hair withrger bodies... "A foreigner zombie..." Luo Xun frowned, "Where did theye from? Cross-border?" "Most likely, who let them be tireless and only move in one direction? Two years would be enough for them toe over." Foreign zombies were not strange since Luo Xun believed that there would be a lot of tourists. Even if zombies could not swim, if they crossed the sea, there might be kangaroo zombies in Australia. The army of zombies were out of sight for the time being and despite fears that something would happen to their home at base, everyone had to stay here for the time being. Now that they had waited out the zombies, how were they going to leave the area surrounded by mutant nts? In fact, the method was very simple, they thought of it from their current abode C digging tunnels. Although they had no earth users there was Yu Xinran. Although they had no professional equipment to reinforce the hole, they had Yan Fei. They just had to wait a few days to pass, ording to Luo Xuns calctions, they would safely get out. Although the babys ability was able to control the devil vine, he was a baby. Who would expect a child to understand their words and actively control nts? Luo Xun could notmunicate with Puppy to let her use her powers, not to mention a young baby? Luo Xun and the other had not been idle these days. In addition to cleaning up the rooms, they also found a lot of tools and equipment in the buildings. If the things Luo Xun had gathered before the end were portable home tools and such, the things here were all professional utensils. Presses, extraction machines and other machines for processing food. There were also things used for harvesting, irrigation and sowing seeds. Unfortunately, these vehicles were obviously intended for the surrounding farnd, but those were filled with mutant nts unable to be harvested. During their inspection of the building, some sr panels were ced on the third floor roof. However those panels were only connected to the emergency lights and sr water heaters. In addition they were covered in heavy snow at first. So although some electricity was stored there was little left. On the fifth day after entering the building, Luo Xun finally saw hope C the number of zombies passing by outside plummeted. They had reached the end of the section. The team discussed and decided the start digging the tunnel! It was very technical work. Luo Xun roughly calcted the angle, length and width of the tunnel. Yu Xinran used her powers to dig while Yan Fei used metal to seal the walls and avoid copsing. It would also prevent underground attacks from nts and earth zombies. A few members of the team were responsible for moving out the excavated earth. They would mix it with the fertilizer to use as future nting soil. The tunnel digging took two days and reached a nearby bungalow. In the end, the metal they brought along was not enough. Yan Fei had to use some things from theb, it was barely enough. By the time another day had passed, the army of zombies had passed through and thest part of the tunnel was finished. The metal in several houses had been removed and the tunnel had a sturdy door. The road had been repaired. Although there would certainly be other problems in the future which would require nning and solutions, they had reached the first step! "Luo Xun, what are we going to do now?" Li Tie and the others excitedly looked at the captain for further action. Luo Xun touched his chin, "Return to base to bring back the sr panels..." They had to leave the metal box loaded with sr panels when they were chased away by the zombies. Now the items were closer to their position but the situation at base was precarious... "Those metal boxes are strong, there should be no problem unless a metal zombie came across them. Even if base people pass through, it should hold for a while." Yan Fei analyzed while Luo Xun felt tangled. Xu Mei also nodded, "Our food is almost finished, it would be better to go home and replenish, especially the milk fruit is almost gone..." They came out with a lot of food this time. Adults may be able to endure for a few days, but they had children with them! The milk fruits were almost all eaten, if they did not return soon the baby would starve. Luo Xun nodded at the group. "Go back first, if there are no problems at base we cane out in a few days." The team nodded and all said they had no problems. The tunnels leading outside wererge enough to fit a sled car. Soon the cars were set and speeding back towards base. Fortunately the sleds could move on t ground, although it would wear down the metal. But since Yan Fei was there, it would not be a problem. All the nearby snow was trampled from the zombies a few days ago revealing the ground underneath. The devil vines could no longer use the snow as camouge so Luo Xun could easily move around the dangerous nts along the way home. This time, since they were familiar with the road and the snow was melting, it took them less than two days to find the hidden cars. The team followed the stars all the way back to base and returned quietly to their homes. In the hallway they opened the door and looked around before breathing a sigh of relief C their apartments were fine. It was toote to speak, everyone sleepily went to their rooms and went to bed. As for the other things they needed to discuss? That would be done tomorrow, when they had the strength to do so. Chapter 176 Luo Xun and the others slept until noon, the couple only waking in turns to feed the baby some milk fruit. At noon everyone gathered together, faces alight with inexplicable excitement without any fatigue. Li Tie and friends had glittering eyes as Luo Xun entered. The heat of the looks caused him to sweatdrop. Xu Mei smiled at the pair. "Did you have a good restst night?" Luo Xun nodded, of course they rested. If he had not set an rm every three hours to feed the baby, he would have slept like a log. *Cough, cough* Luo Xun looked at the group, "We checkedst night, there were no problems with the doors and windows, as well as the roof." "No big problem?" The group quickly turned to Yan Fei. He exined, "There were traces of people on the roof, but only at the entrance, no one moved past the traps we set up." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "We were lucky, no had came to make trouble." "But things will be picking up." Luo Xun was casual. "The weather is getting warmer and the base has begun releasing tasks. Well be busy as usual." "March ising soon, theres only about one week left in February. Lets pack up and get ready to leave in a while." After hearing these words, the team was excited as they discussed how to renovate the experimental building and nting area. Zhang Yi suddenly added, "Us leaving is not a problem, but out things cannot be taken all at once. What are we going to do with the things we have nted?" Luo Xun had nted a lot of food crops at home. Due to the week of neglect, when he checked this morning, many crops had some small growth problems. Crops with longer growth cycles were fine, although a bit messier. But some other vegetables had fallen out of the nting basins. This was the biggest issue with moving, Luo Xun thought about it. "We cannot move these things for now, its best to wait until March or April when the snow outside has melted and the temperatures are higher. These are not the same as other items, can not be squeezed and need gentle care. I think we need to set up a n and first move the hardier nts. When the nting ce is set up, we can carry over the crops in batches." "Luo Xun, what about the rest?" Wu Xin quickly raised a hand to ask. Honestly, after living here for nearly two years, everyone had some affection towards the home they had basically built. Who would me them for being reluctant to move. "Keep it for now." Luo Xun spoke to the team. "Even if we have a base outside, we still need a ce inside. We wont leave anything valuable, the rest will be transferred out, but we should leave some in case of emergencies..." The team pulled out paper and pen to list everything that needed to be taken, what would be left and everyones personal property. They started to n the logistics of their move. After all, they had exchanged a lot of things from the base. If theypletely left the base, although certain aspects would be more free and convenient, other aspects would be more troublesome. "...The base assigns team missions at the beginning of the month." Yan Fei pointed this out. "Wed better stay on base for a few days at the beginning, wait toplete the task and make sure theres nothing else going on." Luo Xun mused with a pen against his chin. "Hmmm...we can grow some short term vegetables, calcte nting times to keep up with the harvest...the same for all of our nts." "Dont forget when winteres and snow falls." Zhang Yi waved a finger in front of Luo Xun. "There would be two months indoors, even if we go out, there would likely be a blizzard. What would happen then? Of course you can deal with both sides, but what would happen during a long absence?" "Yeah...thats a problem." Luo Xun frowned. "During summer there might be heavy rain. This building does not need to worry but outside is different, we would need to set up drainage." He remembered in the past, there were times when there was water sshing against his windows...if the drainage had not been sturdy, he would have drowned in the rain. ..... The more questions, the more the mind would wander. The Otaku squad together could think of quite a few problems. "Got it!" He Qiankun suddenly screamed while seated beside theputer. "Got what?" The group of people gathered around. He Qiankun took a drink of water and proudly raised his chin. "I looked for half day for the photos sent from the satellite. I directly edited the numerous photos..." He lowered his voice. "I just found the base staff list, there are less than half of the original workers!" "Whats going on?" Li Tie asked in a hurry. He Qiankun shook his head. "I dont know whats going on, the name of the man I followed who specialized in hacking is gone." The team looked at each other and sighed. No matter what caused them to do this, without a hacker, it was very easy to pull the wool over the base C so long as there was no one with hacker skills and actively checked, no one would find what had been changed. He Qiankun and the others were careful, never deliberately leaving traces to be found. Not like some hackers who left clues behind to prove their existence. Plus, although there were some people in base who were hackers, how many of them could get their hands on aputer? Able to connect to the official server? They had it easier since they had previously worked with the military, otherwise they would have no clue and not take the initiative to take action. After the data rted to the experimental base were found, saved and deleted from the original, He Qiankun also downloaded rted information about building, drainage, wiring and so on. Luo Xun and the others started to tally the things to be taken out. Yes, it would be the end of February. Luo Xun andpany were ready to go immediately and move some things as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the arrival of March before returning to base. Afterpleting the months tasks, they would go back and properly organize their new home. Not caring about physical exhaustion, they spent two days to pack up. They ran to buy a lot of gasoline, ced their things in apletely sealed metal box hidden inside the car. The team left base... This time, instead of bringing their sled car, they revamped the wheels and drove the car all the way to their destination. Cars were much faster than their homemade sleds and the heavy snow had melted over the past few days. The zombie migration had also ttened a lot of snow, making it unsuitable for the sleds, so Luo Xun simple chose arger car. This time, all four cars were in use and the trunks were stuffed to the brim with their things. The car was warmed in advance andfortable enough for them to reach halfway before needing a break. Luo Xun had never done this sort of move before, could be considered a real hoarder. He prioritized what to move now versuster, and where to best ce them. Their goal was to move some food, some of the more valuable stuff had to stay for now. At the same time, of course there were some seeds unavable C they could only store a third of them. In case there was no way to go back for a while, even if the seeds were out of order. While these items were in the car, they also frantically collected metal. More was needed for the underground channel so it would not be destroyed by underground creatures and zombies. Thest time they left, it took two days. When they returned since they were driving over ttened ground, it took under two days to return. They carefully examined the metal gate, confirmed there were no problems. Even the camouge was the same. Everyone was relieved as they stopped the car. Yan Fei collected the metal and started to work on the tunnel once again. Chapter 177 There was no light in the t, repaired tunnel. The team had to pull and push the car while shining their light sources. "The we need to make the tunnel wider next time so the car can drive straight through." Luo Xun discussed with Yan Fei as they pushed forward. Yan Fei nodded, "I can seal the middle with a fewyers of metal, but we will need arge amount of it." Yan Feis ability was very convenient but was also troublesome C his ability could not create things out of thin air and did not have as wide an application as earth. Han Li suddenly asked from the back, "Luo Xun, since we can dig, can we expand the underground nting space? Like the two under theb building?" Those two nting spaces wererge, but only two acres of the area could be used. Although some crops could be grown, the harvest was not too rich. The food produced was barely enough for their group to eat for a year. It would be far from enough if they wanted to use the crops to exchange for supplies in base. Not to mention not all the area could be used to grow food. If they did not expand the cultivation area, they could only use the shelves like back at home. But that would mess with the original designs and would be more troublesome to change things than open up more space. "Of course you can." Luo Xun and Yan Fei had discussed this before going to bed. Since the mutant nts were above ground, they naturally considered expanding the sapce to grow things C just had to not rm the nts above. "But, we have to collect more metal..." Luo Xun continued, "In fact, we should find a way to take advantage of the open space above. As long as we find the right paint and materials, the mutant nts would also provide cover and camouge." With such arge chunk of ignorednd, Luo Xun could expand in all sorts of directions. While taking into ount security concerns, they needed to make use of their nearby resources as much as possible. With a goal in mind, the atmosphere had changed. Although the team had to spend two days on the road, no one felt tired at all. They put the things in an empty room and went to bed. But even under a quilt they had a strong desire to chat. "Tomorrow well go and pull out those boxes of sr panels. The first time they had left two boxes buried in the ground, waiting to be picked up. We can also find some metal on the way back to reinforce the tunnel." Luo Xun listed out the n in his notebook. This time when they came out, although they had their charged mobile phones, no one dared to turn them on. The current phones automatically broadcasted their positions every once in a while to the satellites. Luo Xun would of course open it if they were somewhere new as to not get themselves lost. But now they had a secret ce outside base, fortunately no one noticed.If people noticed that they would leave base for a long time each month and brought back a lot of crops, their base could be found through satellite! Some things needed to be carefully guarded, especially matters regarding everyones safety and life. If people found out...how would they continue living? After a good nights rest, the two couples went out with two cars to where they dropped off therge metal boxes. The rest of the team packed up, sorted things out and prepared some rooms for storage. The nearby snow had beenpletely trampled with only a few patches of untouched snow. The four people in two cars loaded with lots of weapons and medicine to avoid danger drove across the muddy snow towards their destination. To tell the truth, Luo Xun felt stressed as they drove since thest time they were almost killed on this road. To embark on this path again was a trial. "Be careful, theres a bunker in front..." Luo Xun spoke through his walkie-talkie, then added. "Should be from thest time..." There was no way, they focused their efforts escaping and blocking the zombies. Now back here they had to carefully make detours. Fortunately the road was covered in sand (Yu Xinran used it as her weapon). So they just had to go around the holes. Yan Fei could also use his metal to form a bridge over the bad patches. It slowed them down but not by much. Wang Duos voice crackled through the walkie-talkie, "Luo Xun, those should be the zombies we identally killedst time right?" "Should be..." "Luo, Luo Xun, crystal cores! Crystal cores!" Going in and out of the base required cores, these past two times they did not have the chance to fight zombies. The team who had tightened their belts felt fortunate. "Pick it up on the way back, were in a hurry." Luo Xun made a decision. They had make sure that the metal boxes with sr panels were okay and could be safely brought back. If there was danger...they would have to hurry back,. This time there were no zombies chasing behind them. Luo Xun did not arrive until midnight to where the troops had been found. The tworge metal boxes were left behind a few copsed bungalows. Luo Xun circled the container and Yan Fei loaded the containers after confirming that there was nothing wrong. The four managed to sleep for three or four hours before rushing back when the run rose. Halfway on the road, Luo Xun andpany harvested the crystals from the zombies. To their surprise, when they counted their spoils, they actually picked up hundreds of nuclei! These cores were mostly wind and speed type. There were some level three and a few level four cores. This way although the wind cores would go to Zhang Yi, the remaining speed ones could be used to pay the gate tolls. Two huge metal boxes were brought back along with two metal balls. Yan Fei used one of them to reinforce the underground tunnel. The remaining metal was used to reinforce the building they were located in. Then the team started to inspect and disassemble the sr panels. "This piece has been cracked...theres nothing wrong with the rest!" "These ones are all good, nothings wrong." "This one is broken, the rest are fine." "Theres a bump but dont know if there is any damage..." Luo Xun found two boxes, one of which had been overturned, with their limited time they could only checkter. Yan Fei confirmed that the remaining two underground boxes had not been moved, ready for the next time they left base. If they had time, they would simply stop by the factory and take a look. After all the sr panels had been checked and packed, the group tidied up things and then set off again back towards base. In other words, Luo Xun and team found themselves rushing around. If was only once or twice it would be fine, but running around for a long time, who could stand it? Hurriedly organizing things to save a trip, but too much would still make people ufortable. Once again, they drove their empty cars back to base. Luo Xun and the others felt really tired. This time back Yan Fei was responsible for driving while Luo Xun held the baby and changed his diaper. As for the dog...she was with the threedies being happily brushed. When the car reached the base gate, there were several other vehicles lined up and loud sounds could be heard. There were several military vehicles parked near the exit with wary soldiers guarding the way towards the city. Luo Xun frowned while Yan Fei looked. Thest time they came back it was the middle of the night and they did not meet anyone else. They came and went in a hurry so they were a bit out of the loop. Was there some trouble with the people who came back now? Chapter 178 The frame was riddled with marks and scratches, some of the more miserable cars were actually missing chunks...Showed the strength of the whatever had done it. Fortunately the remaining part of the car was not grabbed or the people would not be able to escape. Luo Xun and the others silently joined the back of the convoy to inquire about information. A few of the people in the front cars got out and were waiting for the vehicle check. They wereining about something. Wang Duo, who loved gossip the most, even if his queen had no regard for it. He opened the door and went ahead and stayed outside. After checking that the members of the car had not been infected with the virus, Luo Xuns team sessfully entered base. They looked around at those temporarily parked at the base gate before returning home. They locked the car, went upstairs, and made sure there were no eavesdroppers before asking Wang Duo about the gate. "They were in the city for team tasks or assigned by base to find something. As a result, they were ambushed by zombies..."Wang Duos voice lowered, "It wasnt the first time, there are a lot of ces to hide in the snow to attack unsuspecting cars. At first people thought it was a coincidence but when people asked around, almost all the people who went out encountered zombies! A whole team went out and did not return! Now there are rumors that zombies will dig traps and capture them!" They immediately remembered the zombies hidden in the snow they had encountered before and looked at each other C that was not an exception? "But when we came and went, we did not meet any more zombies!" Song Lingling suddenly recalled and looked at Luo Xun for answers. Luo Xun was not a zombie, how could he know exactly why the zombies had disappeared? But before he could say anything, Zhang Yi interrupted, "Maybe they all followed the zombie horde." Thest time they encountered zombies, ording to what they saw, the tracks were indeed near where the other zombies were lurking. "...Its possible. I just dont know why the zombies are moving inrge groups." Luo Xun frowned, the zombies clearly had a certain sense of unity. Whatever it was, it was very bad news for those who needed to fight them for nuclei. If they went out and rarely found any wandering zombies, there would no nuclei to collect. The only time they encountered zombie was during a wave...they would need wrack their brains for a better way to collect cores. "Even if wee with ideas, we have no way to prove it for a while. We need to finish moving first." Since they could not think of a reason, it was more important to take care of their priorities. Moving was a big project, they filled a full four cars but there were still a lot of things for them to slowly move out...In other words, Luo Xun only found out now just how many things they had collected. There were no problems with stairs with Yan Fei around, otherwise who knew how much effort would be used to move things? Just as Luo Xun rolled up his sleeves and prepared to pick some things up, his phone rang. He almost forgot, they came back not just to move but also toplete some tasks. The base seemed to be very enthusiastic about cleaning activities, perhaps they thought the name was too weak sounding? Otakus would only be able to sweep streets which is why they were only sent these sorts of tasks? Or were there no other teams willing to do these lower-leveled jobs? In short, everyones faces towards their months tasks were shining. "Where are we sweeping?" Luo Xun carefully looked at the information as his brow wrinkled. "Outside the base, one of the main roads before winter arrived." While the zombies were trampling a lot of snow and snow under the walls was mostly gone, there was still snow on the roads. In particr, some roads that the zombie horde did not pass through would have to be cleaned out. Recently the snow was melting, if frozen was even more dangerous. This was likely the case for the street that Luo Xuns team was ordered to clean up. The team looked at each other before ncing at the cell phone on the table. "This ce is a long way from base and close to the city, it is likely to meet some zombies." "A zombie is not much except when it suddenly drills out from under the ground..." "It would be nice to explore the road ahead of time, but the distance is a bit far..." The group of people frowned and looked at each other in difort. In fact, they were annoyed with time consuming tasks because they were bent on moving out of base. This unexpected situation would affect their moving efficiency. "The task is best done during the day, when the sky is bright." Luo Xun had no strong opinions. Although he would also like to quickly move, clean up and decorate their new home, but since they were not ready to give up their base, it was better to do the task properly and not arouse attention. Fortunately the task they received was rtively simple. "Missions inside base are limited after all and the base would not issue simple things to teams. Our luck was better but if the base issued us a task to search for things, wouldnt that be more troublesome?" The group no longerined, in truth they knew that the base would be forced to assign tasks or demand specific supplies from the city. They onlyined because of other factors, was it not only sweeping snow? They had a wealth of experience from the number of times they had to do this kind of mission! They packed up the crops at home C these things were everyones food sources. Even if they were ready to move they could not ignore these nts. All of them went back home to wash and rest. The next morning, they packed up things, armed themselves with a variety of items and the team went to the mission hall before leaving base to sweep the streets. This time they had far more weapons on handpared to sweeping inside the base. Sure enough, tasks inside and outside base were very different. In case there were zombies, they needed these weapons and ammo to survive. Before leaving on their task outside base, they double confirmed that they would not have to pay any crystal cores before leaving. If they still had to pay cores for this kind of assignment, they would simply refuse the task! For the sake of efficiency and since not a lot of people were outside base at the moment, Luo Xun made the decision C use abilities to clear the road. It was really simple, Xu Mei had fire, Song Lingling could control water so the pair could easily clear the snow. The rest of the clutter and rubbish was left for the rest of the team. It was not long before their mission was finished. A red me floated above the snow and the melted water was quickly moved to the side. Out of subconscious preservation, they slowed down to avoid the base deliberately giving them a more difficult task. Because the mission depended on the twodies and the other had already removed most of the debris, they used their weapons to deal with any hidden zombies. Everyone unanimously decided C most of the ie would be divided between the twodies and a small part for the teams share. After half a day, most of the road had been cleared, which also counted any time the team pretended to work with shovels when a car passed through. In fact, the usage of abilities to clear snow did not need to be kept secret, but since they had not used this trick while in base and if the task waspleted too fast, future tasks would be harder, so they deliberately dyed. After the mission, Luo Xun climbed into the two cars C this time they only brought a pair. "We had good luck and did not run into zombies." A few peopleughed. "Dont tempt fate." Han Li pped Wu Xins head. "Eh, we are going back anyway, meeting zombies would not be a problem." Wu Xin made a face, ced his hands behind his head and crossed his legs. People in the car wereughing and joking while Luo Xun drove back to the gate. They lined up, got inspected and were ready to return. At this time two military vehicles exited and Luo Xun noticed Captain Guo sitting in the passenger seat. Yan Fei looked over after getting jabbed. Captain Guo also looked over but all three people only tilted their heads in silence before the couple looked forward towards the gate. Chapter 179 Bonus Chapter! Thank you to all who donated! o (^?^?) The group in front slowly moved away. Some of the team did not see the captains car as they drove into base. Fortunately, their luck held and did not hear any signs of zombies outside. Although the Otaku squad hadpleted the task, they were not ready to hand it back in. Instead they leisurely packed at home C the mission wasrger than before, was it not reasonable to take longer to finish up? It was important to know that tasks would be only sent after a team reported results. Usually even if people were at the location they may not know about the mission, especially those often outside the base. Back home they cleaned and packed things. Since they needed more preparations, Luo Xun told Yan Fei to take advantage of the early morning where no people were around to add bulk to the car to bring more stuff. The team would also gradually fill the car each time they went downstairs. Unless someone had the ability to steal the entire car, their things would be safe at home or in a fortified car. They mostly packed up things that were easy to organize, some of the other things were very troublesome. Clothes, bottles and cans were loaded. After being busy all day, they discussed the road situation before sweeping streets. Suddenly Yan Feis started to ring. It was an unknown number, Luo Xuns first thought was the babys biological father C the man had not been in touch with them since then. Did he know that the baby was not dead? He knew that his mind was too worried, his guess would not be true. But Luo Xun could not help but stare at Yan Fei in worry. Yan Fei picked up the phone, the other side said a few words before Luo Xun was beckoned over. "Tomorrow? Eleven...all right, well be there tomorrow." Yan Fei hung up after saying a few words and nced at Luo Xun. "Captain Guo." "Captain Guo?!" He remembered yesterday at the gate, Luo Xun calmed down before frowning. "How are they doing now?" "Ill know when I see them tomorrow." Yan Fei said Captain Guo only said that everyone should meet up after no contact for a while. "Okay, well be out of base early in the morning and there should be no probleming back around 11 oclock." Luo Xun confirmed the trip, he was also very curious about Captain Guos situation. He was not sure whether the captain was a member of the metal team or had he left? The couple discussed but they would have to wait until tomorrow to meet up. Luo Xun looked at the list of things they decided to move and hated that they could not simply get two trucks. Withoutrger trucks, it would take two or three round trips for them to move everything. Sadly using a truck to move was too obvious and their actions would stand out inside and outside the base. Even if they had a way to get a truck, they had to give up for the moment. The next morning, the team went to check their section, confirm there was no snow or ice, debris brought back and handed the task in at the mission hall. Next they waited for the staff to confirm thepletion. It would take two or three days if fast, up to a week for the results and then the rewards would be sent to the corresponding team. Because it was still early, Luo Xun and the others did not leave immediately instead milling around the hall. Since the base had be more strict, team missions had once again be top priority. The mission hall had restored its former prosperity this month. There were even people holding up signs for private jobs, which were generally from unknown, small teams. Sincest month, the base had implemented strict team management. The ranks of those who had notpleted their mandatory tasks were temporarily abolished. But at the same time, requirements to leave base had lowered. It had started from ten people, then to five and finally people could leave in groups of three. Many people were going outside of base, especially those with scattered lives but since there were zombies attacking passerbys hiding in the snow, things were dangerous outside. So people were idling around the mission hall or shops to exchange information and gossip. It was said that a restaurant was doing business again, but it was different from before the end. It was a small shop and bar for buying water. No other way, after the apocalypse, some people did not have food to eat, let along drinking wine. But a water ability user had opened the shop to sell water and provide seats for people to sit down and talk. However there were some pricy foods for customer to choose from. Luo Xun did not have any spare cores to buy water but while wandering around they heard a lot of gossip from the grapevine. He heard that a young, promising general had several wives. A young man had been lured into a moguls bed. A beautiful ability team captain was pursued by other bosses... Luo Xun was very d that Yan Fei and Zhang Yi were covered with hats, sses and masks while hearing all the gossip. They dressed in line with the weather, otherwise it would only a few days before they would the subject of rumors. Luo Xun looked at his watch before whispering to Yan Fei. "It is 10:30, should we go?" The agreed upon meeting ce was nearby, it would take less than 10 minutes so they idled around. Yan Fei nodded, "Lets tell them." The pair walked over to Zhang Yi and Wang Duo, who were listening with relish to a forty or fifty year old man. "I heard that as soon as this month, thetest next month, the base will pass a same-sex marriage bill!" Wang Duo was in high spirits, "Really? It was true how many people would get a license?" The group of people burst intoughter at the response, some idle men whistled and teased him. "Dont say, this guy is not bad!" Wang Duo leaned out to say something but was kicked by his Highness. Luo Xunughed and shook his head at the scene. "It is a nice thought but not expected." Even if nearly half of the men on base agreed, the base was unlikely to promote a bill supporting gay-marriage. After the apocalypse, the base was counting on women to have more children! Although many men would find another man to live with since they could not afford a wife. If there was official support, would more be unwilling to marry? After them end, many womens conditions were too high, if men did not consider the future generations...the base poption would dwindle until nothing! Anyway, Luo Xuns past ten years were when ordinary people were almost invisible to women. Most families with daughters would find a way to marry into base families at a young age. Any of those was better than marrying an ordinary person who could not afford to raise a family. Yan Fei spoke to Zhang Yi about what they were doing, thetter would be in charge of the team for a while. The two people walked away from the hustle and bustle. They walked along the street to find a pre-end bank building near the location Captain Guo discussed yesterday. The street was just as busy in Luo Xuns previous life, perhaps in some ways it was different however it was still familiar. This kind of nostalgia made a inexplicable emotion rise in Luo Xuns heart. "Litte Yan, little Luo! Over here." The two men heard a voice, sure enough it was Captain Guo, who they had not seen for some time. He trotted over to the couple. Chapter 180 "Captain Guo." The two men were more or less happy as the other walked over. After both sides said hello, they went to an unupied corner so no one would hear what they were saying. Captain Guo asked, "How have you two been doing?" The two men nodded, "Fine, we are muddling through." In the apocalypse, having three full meals a day was already considered a good life. Or perhaps, as long as you can a person around it proved that they were living decently. "Two days ago I saw at the city gate...you went out for a mission?" Captain Guo was curious, after all the base giving out tasks was a way to thin out the crowds. Luo Xun exined, "We have received an official assignment...go out and sweep a street." They were at first happy with the task that would ensure everyones safety but now saying it out loud...this mission seemed a bit *cough* Sure enough, Captain Guos face twisted, he seemed to want tough but he forced it down and said while smiling. "Very good, very good..." He shook his head before continuing, "Your first mandatory mission is already done?" The two men were surprised and nced at each other. "Yes, how did you know?" Captain Guo had a helpless smile, "Have you gone downtown? You should have heard right? On the way there a lot of zombies hidden in the snow, the average person cannot fight at all. Thest time I went out to collect metal...since the metal closest to base has already been collected, we have to rely on metal users to search..." He looked at Yan Fei, paused and then whispered, "When there are few ability teams left, I am afraid that the higher ups will start vigorous recruitment, what are your ns?" The two people looked with pitying eyes at the captain. He froze and then waved his hands. "I am not recruiting!" Then he paused with a sigh, "Sun Shaoyang returned to the team." "He went back?" Luo Xun had already saw that it was the case but still said that. Captain nodded and looked at the two men. "Their team was forcibly dissolved." He sighed in the direction of the newer part of town. "A number of those teams werepletely absorbed into the militaryst month and some of the rest were forcibly dissolved because they refused to do official tasks and unwilling to pay for supplies..." The atmosphere became heavy, the couple exchanged worried yet d looks. Yes, d. Thankfully they found a ce in advance they could use. If the situation on base got so tangled to the point that they could no longer maintain their lives, they had a base to retreat to. Captain Guo continued to speak. "I came and just wanted to tell you, we...you must have heard some news too, that the higher ups have changed." Since there were no looks of shock on the two mens faces, Captain Guo continued with, "Now that some people have changed...things are more strict than before." He smiled helplessly, "The number that called you yesterday was a cellphone of a non-military person I knew. As for the militarys..." As he spoke, he looked at Yan Fei, who smiled, "The same asst time?" Captain Guo nodded with a wry smile. "If the number used was the same asst time, it might have caused trouble." But for the time being, they should not need to manage these sorts of things, after all, the team drama had not been resolved. Captain Guo sighed again, "I know you two dont want to deal with this crap but if your team doesnt survive, call me and send a message regardless of number." The trio chatted, but since Captain Guo had a time limit, it was long until he had to leave. When he was far away enough, Luo Xun quietly asked, "What do you think of what he said?" Yan Fei watched as Captain Guo left, "What he said should be true." He ced a hand on his lovers shoulder. "But he dide to keep in touch in order to possibly recruit us in the future." Luo Xun already knew, but there was nothing strange about it. If the two of them were bound to return to the military, Captain Guos approach would undoubtedly help them get a better ce. "You feel it too? In the future the base...will be restrictive towards teams." "Yeah, given team size, if the team cooperates and obeys management, it might be okay. But if they are sloppy or disobedient...things are going to start slowly after the disobedient teams are dealt with." Luo Xun took a deep breath and sighed out his depression. "Lets go home, after the mission is over we can get busy with work." Maybe the same thing had happened to teams and ability users but Luo Xun had no idea. Now that he thought about it...at that time, ordinary people had almost no chance of seeing an ability user. Of course it was possible, but the ability teams did not live with the regr people at all. Their figures could only be seen in the market and other such areas. Usually these people lived in separate areas, as if in apletely different world. It seemed like the method from his past life would be no different from the present. The team who went out and listened to gossip for the day returned home. When they got up early the next morning, they started to pack all kinds of things again. Packing and moving things downstairs and increasing the volume of the car. If they had not gradually moved their things each time they went up the stairs, they would have filled the four cars long ago. They would not spent another day moving supplies and used the time to n for the task. One by one the containers were stacked in a corner so they could be easily picked up. With all the crops and iron shelves in each room, Luo Xun and team would have to drive at least twice to move the rest of the clutter. Bringing things with them each time they went out once a month...they questioned whether they could remove everything in six months. Of course, Luo Xun had analyzed with Yan Fei and told the rest of the team some of the anti-team measures implemented by the base. They were sad to find that even if they initially nned to prepare for a double life, it seemed that it would not be feasible. "Luo Xun, in that case, lets take advantage of this and expand the nting space outside. As long as we take these shelves and he rest we can find a solution." Li TIe said on behalf of the five. Xu Mei also said, "After we are done moving, we could return the houses, lest otherse to find trouble?" "Why dont you move upstairs?" Han Li was quick to suggest. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had hesitant expressions, moving was not a problem but the only empty room on the 16th floor was under Yan Feis name, not rented from the base! For this Luo Xun naturally could not be stingy. "Its okay, once your things are moved in case we cannot keep the team then the homes on the 15th floor would be taken back. By then if someonees, your safety would be at risk, its better to move in together now." Seeing that Xu Mei wanted to refuse, Yan Fei also persuaded, "We might not be staying in base for much longer, it will enough for people to live in." The twodies nodded in agreement, but even if they wanted to move, they at least had to wait until the homes werepleted. The results of the mission were finally sent on the third day of their application: the months rent was waived and some nuclei and supplies were issued as a reward. When Luo Xun received the message, they rushed to the hall to collect the reward. They returned home and checked their packing. The next morning they drove out of base in a hurry. Towards their hopes, after finalizing their decision, towards their future home. Chapter 181 Sorry for the dy, I was super busy with work and moving apartments. Finished the chapter while on the train. In the quiet wilderness, ruins of buildings lined both sides of the road. Luo Xuns team did not follow the path they had used several times to visit the experimental fields but went through a rtivelyrge number of roads. Changing the roads meant that their new base would not be found and Yan Fei was allowed to collect metal along the way. Metal was very much needed in order to build a brand new, fully featured home. Thinking about how much effort they spent renovating the two floors and the amount of metal they brought back to base showed how many resources they needed this time. They had a whole three-storey building to remodel, along with several other rooms in the vicinity and the basement... If it was not necessary to leave some stuff as a precaution, and their limited metal supply, Luo Xuns group would not need to scrape the ground for scraps. Two huge metal balls rolled along behind the team, it made a scary site. After leaving for nearly seven or eight days, it looked a lot different from when they left. Of course, since the weather had warmed up recently, the snow and ice covering the fields had all begun to melt, revealing the terrifying nts hidden underneath. The team parked further away from the farnd and shuddered in their hearts C this was the terror zone they had strayed into, where they had nearly lost their lives. If not for the baby for had some sort of ability they would have all crossed the yellow river. Luo Xuns train of thought was obviously somewhat different, he tilted his head and suddenly said. "Well enter to sort everything out and rest, then we will increase the area of these devil vines." "Ah?" "What?!" "Expand the range of the devil vines?!" The group of people looked at him gobsmacked. However only the five former students were surprised while the others clicked with their leader. Song Lingling pped. "Yes! If these things can be cultivated, having them in the surroundings would be good!" Zhang Yi also added. "These things are quite tall, before the snow pressed them down but they are growing well." "...Why do you want to cultivate them? Arent they dangerous?" Wang Duo looked at his lover in a dazed manner, asking for an exnation. Zhang Yi looked at him disdainfully. "Are you stupid? There are so many of these things around us, except for us who know the secret way, who woulde? The nts could help us stop trouble." Li Ties jaw dropped before he eximed, "Ah, good idea!" Yan Fei also exined, "We have to expand the area under the basement, if someone found out, an earth or metal user could find us. Expanding the nts could also help cover up this problem." He pointed at the secret tunnel, "Once a metal power level is increased, they can sense metal. A secret path might not be found easily but what about arge metal basement room?" "Ah! I see!" "Yes, yes, but is it possible?" Luo Xun smiled and nodded. "It should not be difficult, as long as we find a room to grow some rice/wheat and keep the mushroom wood inside, it should be easy to cultivate the contaminated soil." The excavation would be left to Yu Xinran since she did not need to be near the nts in order to change the soil into sand. Plus they only needed a bit of dirt for their needs. Opening the secret path they had made before, the line of men carried their luggage while the metal went to the building to begin a new round of tasks. They came back around February 8 and could stay until the end of the month. Twenty days would be enough for them to sort out and pack things. Everyone was allocated a nice ce. Yan Fei and Luo Xun naturally shared a room but also with their little ones. Xu Mei, Song Lingling and Yu Xinran shared a room. Zhang Yi obviously roomed together with his Wang Duo. The remaining four people split into pairs, two to a room. Li Tie and Han Li, He Qiankun with Wu Xin. It was not because of any drama but the idea that it would be morefortable to spread out with more rooms. Altogether there were five groups so they simply divided the rooms on the top floor, which actually had seven rooms. Each group selected a room, thergest meeting room and smaller tea room were to be changed into nting areas or storage. The space was divided but still needed modifications. However they temporarily had their own ce with their own things and had a rest. After a nights sleep, there were no zombies knocking at the door and no harassing flyers. Luo Xun got up bright and early to feed the baby some milk C this time they brought a pile of milk fruit, enough for a month. Fortunately, the fruit was very small and even after a month there was no sign of rotting, so there was a lot of fruit at home. The child was fed and his diaper changed, the other people and the dog had eaten a nice breakfast before work started. "Today we will revamp the exterior walls of the building and hang up all the sr panels that we brought backst time." Many things could only be started after the panels were hung and power was restored. The group nodded and Luo Xun pointed to his feet. "Those two bodies in the basement...lets remove and bury them." That was something that needed to be addressed, they should not leave bodies in areas they would frequent. "Okay, no problem." Burying corpses was notfortable but there was no psychological damage. In particr, Yan Fei directly ced the bodies into metal boxes. After burying the boxes in a rtively distant ce, everyone returned and began to vigorously renovate. They had not found appropriate paint so Yan Fei covered as much of the building with gray metal as possible. In fact it was easy to churn out since Yan Feis purified metal (tougher and stronger) was basically this color. The metal went around the wall covered with sr panels absorbing sunlight. Luo Xun and others handed Yan Fei panels while the twodies dealt with the house. Zhang Yi was responsible for helping C using his wind ability to clean up dust and leave the room clean. He Qiankun sat in front of theputer, responsible for locating paint and a lot of metal. They got a lot of data before they left base and downloaded it to theputer they brought along. Yu Xinran with Puppy looked at the baby...anyways these three were not helping with the current job. The first day everyone managed to take care of the sr panels. The box of panels almost covered the entire roof and the walls after the sunrise. The next morning, the team deliberated and decided to overhaul the basement before nting the first crops. Built a nursery room, Luo Xun checked the two basements again. He decided that the two rooms needed some repairs and alterations before nting anything. As the team was busy, He Qiankun found the information that needed C a ce with paint and metal materials. "This warehouse is near the sr panel factory we were going tost time. There are some small workshops, there is definitely metal around." The ce was marked with a few dots representing what they needed right now. Luo Xun thought for a moment and then looked at Yan Fei. "We can first expand the underground channel and then visit these ces. We could then directly pull things from the ground." Otherwise the things were too heavy, it would take a long time for them to bring the stuff back. Yu Xinran happily ran over hearing that she would be useful. "Dig tunnels! Dig a tunnel!" "No problem." Yan Fei also nodded. "I can also do some work on the floor, adding grit otherwise the car might slip." The basement floor was a little too smooth, people sometimes skidded across the floor. Chapter 182 A cars worth of dirt was transported by the team members from the underground channel and sent above to dry. Everyone felt relief C after smoothly hanging up the sr panels, the new base energy problems would all be resolved. Now they finally had an elevator! Now when transporting items, there was an elevator to help and the building lights were working properly. Almost all the rooms were covered with heavy curtains for safety reasons. When someone had to do something, one would not have to worry about being seen by passersby and zombies. They also did not have to worry about the satellite overhead taking pictures. Yan Fei and Yu Xinran worked together, one first removed the metal, the other began to turn the ground into sound. The others moved the sand and it was transported away before Yan Fei sealed and reinforced the walls with metal, the new walls were expanded in this loop. With the pairs cooperation, the soil outside almost filled the whole square while the passage had been widened by a lot. It was more than 3 meters, enough to let most trucks through! The dried soil was transported to the ground floor for the nting areas. Since all sorts of strange crops had been nted on the shelves, Luo Xun was not sure if there had been any mutation before, it was best to be careful. When these things were done, the Otaku team was ready with a list of needed items C in addition to paint, metal and sr panels, they needed a huge amount of wood. Yes, wood, boards, trees, anything was good so long as they could be used to grow mushrooms to absorb the toxic substances in the air. These things were badly needed but it would be impossible for them to gather everything in one go. For the metal, they would need to go out a few times to slowly gather the resources. Fortunately they did not have enough seeds to fill both underground rooms, these also needed to be gradually increased. The team discussed and decided to split into groups. There would be more manpower to carry out different tasks. Although the base seemed safer, if something happened...it was not prudent for everyone to act together. Once again armed, a group of people slowly drove through the tunnel exit. If the car was left outside, it could be seen by outsiders. After opening the tunnel, Yan Fei sealed the door, Yu Xinran covered it with sand, Song Lingling sshed water and Zhang Yi used the wind to create y camouge. This teamwork had quickly be a habit, the effect bing more and more realistic. It would be even better with some scattered rocks, but for now it was great. The car rumbled along the deserted road, the nearby area had be mottled, pieces of ck and grey peeked out from the snow. Yan Fei still collected metal along the way, carefully controlling the ball to roll parallel. In case of any danger, these would be lifesavers. The group drove past the ce where they had been attacked by zombies but it was night. THe next morning they saw where the military vehicle had been found. The were here to grab the two metal boxes, but if they were taken, where else would they go to find materials? Yan Fei detected and confirmed that the two boxes were still intact underground. The team then continued forward to the sr panel factory fromst time. It was at the intersection between A City and several other provinces, a transport hub for several areas. Because it was close to severalrger cities, there were many factories,boratories and workshops of all sizes. Yan Fei collected a lot of metal from both sides of the road. There was a lot of other metal, but they could not bring more, so it would stay for a while. When they went further south, they saw their destination from afar C the sr panel production facility. After carefully scouting around, Luo Xun found traces of fighting and disturbed snow. "Look, a gun." "There are armored vehicle tracks." "Just dont know if there are any zombies in this area right now." Used to buildings packed with zombies, Luo Xun and the others were unustomed to the empty city. After a careful look and confirming that there were indeed no zombies, they drove close to the factory. The people sent by the military seemed to have suffered a bitter battle. It was easy to see the huge hole blown into the wall. It was likely that the vehicle had been under heavy fire. After a simple check, everyone grabbed their weapons and waited at the gate. Yan Fei moved the gate out of the way to reveal the dpidated factory. Slowly, everyone began to check this long out of use factory. In the barren factory, the workrooms were filled with dust. Some equipment and productions lines and broken down. The team checked and sadly found that: "The sr panels are gone, only found a few batteries in the warehouse." "Production line is broken, there is no way to repair it..." "We found three barrels of diesel! It should still be usable." Looking around, they found useful things but nothing to write home about. However there was arge number of metal pieces left. Luo Xun instructed Zhang Yi and Yu Xinran to find a secluded ce to dig pits. Yan Fei pumped the metals from the factory. Everyone helped dig holes to hide the metal. After all, other people would alsoe looking for things, maybe even from other bases. Metal in such a high concentration was hard to find and they needed to build a new base and make preparations. Soon the pit was ready and Yan Fei poured the metal into Yu Xinrans pit. Song Lingling added water and Zhang Yi blew it dry...with their proficiency the results were clear to everyone. Yan Fei did not take all the metal, only a bit more than half. People who cameter would naturally get the remainder. After leaving the factory they headed in a more remote direction. The paint factory produced more pollutants so it was more remote with a river nearby. In the distance, Luo Xun and the others heard dogs barking the barren wilderness! The team exchanged looks while Puppy perked her ears and looked out the window, tail up. "Dog?" "Or a zombie dog?" Luo Xun picked up the walkie-talkie. "Note we hear dogs barking in front, be vignt..." Before Luo Xun finished, Puppy barked from the back seat and unexpectedly mmed into the half-open window. "Puppy!" The car was still moving! The dog did not seem to hear Luo Xun as she leapt out the window and ran towards the mass of buildings in front of them. *Bark, bark* There was more barking and as Luo Xun expected, wounded and bereaved dogs rushed out! Puppy faced them head on. "Damn it..." This dead dog, against four or five, does she think she is invincible?! Luo Xun cursed as he pulled out his crossbow while Yan Fei pulled out metal and aimed it at the dogs. Not waiting for the couple to take action, Puppy rushed forward and barked. The enemies were surprised and then were crushed to the ground. Such a good chance was not to be missed, she ran forward and attacked. Perhaps the other side also had powers avable but could their experiencepare to Puppy? She turned the situation and pressured the enemies instead. Luo Xun whipped out a crossbow and shot one while Yan Fei wrapped up several in metal and crushed them to death. Puppy was...rolling around the dead dog, one moment you held me down I pushed back and suddenly you arent ying anymore... The pair helplessly exchanged nces, although they hoped that Puppy would get stronger withbat experience but she was their child, how could they watch her get bullied? Driving forward, Yan Fei cut off another enemys head before it could bite their dog. Puppy returned from the battle with drooping ears and tail. She slowly approached the car and looked up with an incredibly wronged expression. Luo Xunmented, was it his fault that a chow-chow turned into a chihuahua? Just then a few cars stopped next to them. Song Lingling quickly washed Puppys bite. It might have the virus so it needed thorough cleaning. Luo Xun took out medicine and bandaged the wound. "Why did you rush out? Stay in the car okay? Your ability is more support, dont rush to the front lines!" Puppy while not able to understand Luo Xuns word could understand the feeling. She wagged her tail in agreement while being hugged. Chapter 183 Sorry for the dy again, did not have ess to myptop while moving apartments and organizing my stuff. Just as everyone got out of the car to help check the dog, bandage the wound and dig out nuclei, there was movement in the vige. Some zombies, dressed in rags and almost naked, ran out while waving their arms. "Ah! Zombies!" The team, who had not seen zombies for a long time, could not tell if they felt excitement or horror. They brandished the weapons and rushed the zombies that entered their range. Puppy had heard noise and turned her head over, when she saw the zombies, she immediately jumped into the car...Was this a case of bitten by a snake, afraid of rope for ten years? Luo Xun did not know if the zombies lived together or if the army did not deal with the zombies beforehand. The monsters were only level one or two, within ten meters of the team, they were put down and the core was dug out. There were not many zombies in the small vige. The runners and rabid dogs totaled only around thirty and were easily dealt with. They climbed into the car and slowly approached their next goal - the paint factory. The factory was closed and no new zombies appeared. They neededrge quantities of certain colors, as for others; they could also pick and choose some. Collected metal and then searched the other courtyard for a bit. They found some farm tools and other items mostly intact, although some had some problems. Luo Xun found some hardware and an intact freezer. Yan Fei scraped all the metal he could before returning to the road. There were a lot of trees near the vige, many of which had died after the end of the world. Luo Xuns team needed a lot of wood to grow mushrooms. Thus they unceremoniously cut trees one-by-one and ced them in the car. The team felt lucky that they also found a few trucks near the vige. Although many ces were rusted due to rain, as long as nothing was wrong with the wheels, Yan Fei could repair the vehicle for use. They split up into pairs for transport. The trucks were filled with excavated roots, branches and any remaining space was filled with metal devices. The loaded team returned to their new base. Luo Xun had achieved his main purposeing out. The entire trunks of several cars were filled with paint cans. Along with therge amount of wood and metal they had collected. The first batch of raw materials for renovation was ready. With a few cars full of supplies, their speed was evidently not as fast as when they arrived. The team drove until evening and found an empty space. Yan Fei created a temporary metal hut and connected the cars surrounding them. Everyone sat around the fire. Luo Xun fed the baby and changed his diaper while the others were busy preparing for dinner. Zhang Yi suddenly turned and asked, "What are we going to do about the crystal cores?" "The cores?" Luo Xun wrinkled his brow in surprise as he stared at the baby in his arms. "...There is no way now, we could try and find some outside of base, but that would be limited." Although at the moment there were wandering zombies, the vast majority were mixed into the horde, migrating along with the zombie army. The scale of the horrendous horde was not something ordinary people could handle. The base was holding on until it left before going to pick up nuclei. With a team of around ten people...could win against small groups but how would they survive an encounter with the horde? The group felt a little depressed. They wanted to leave base to collect crystal cores. It was better than a few teamsing together but what about now? Sure enough, once the zombies reached a certain scale, they could only retreat. "You can think of a way, such as making traps or waiting until the horde passes and see if there is any harvestable..." Luo Xun held up the child and patted his back. "But we need to be careful. The horde might break the trap...this sort of things is left to chance and be careful not to let passing people fall in." In short, there was a troublepared to the harvest, which needed to be carefully calcted. "I say we take care of our base first and say nothing. If we can really expand and increase the yield of grain and vegetables, would it not be easy to get cores at base?" Wang Duo hugged his lovers shoulder but only got rolled eyes in exchange. No way, at least half the team was an ability user. If they only used vegetables to exchange for crystal nuclei, how much would they need? But they had no other method for the time being, but it was not only Luo Xun and team who werecking, the base was too. "That said,st time after sessfully repelling the zombie wave, they did not send down too much nuclei." Li Tie suddenly remembered this matter. There was more silence as the team exchanged helpless looks. Right? After thest zombie left, everyone who took part in the fight was rewarded a fraction of nuclei, as for the rest...it was probably all absorbed internally. Before that zombie wave, one could get a decent number of cores from the exchange booth with fair prices. But now there was no ce to exchange and they had separated from the troops. Luo Xun had been busy with other things so they temporarily had not found a ce to exchange. Night shrouded the earth as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. The rested people took advantage of the morning light to pack their bags and start on their way. The cars drove across the fields, there seemed to be variant nts on both sides of the road but they were too far away and they were not in the mood for studying so they hurried onwards. Back at their base, Luo Xun opened the underground passage and drove straight through. They also measured the size of the metal te in order to make some camouge. After all, it was not a good idea to have Yu Xinran always cover the entrance with sand. They drove the car into the passage and the team was relieved to climb out. Yesterday was tiring after moving trees and paint. They were all ready to take a bath, rest and then continue with work. Back in the respective rooms, Luo Xun had taken a bath and was lying on the ground with a pen in hand writing in a book. Yan Fei opened the door while drying his hair, he walked up to his busy lover and asked, "What are you up to?" Luo Xun pointed at his book, chin in one hand while twirling the pen in other. "I was thinking...there is so much outside space, wouldnt it be better to use it? Anyway we still have a lot of sr panels and we do notck metal. Why dont you surround the square with metal and make a ce where we can grow things? The mutant nts outside cover almost half the building. If we build a house, we can fool passersby and the roof can still be used to dry things." "Yes I can." Yan Fei pressed against Luo Xuns back to look at the unfinished drawing. A few buildings had been marked; Luo Xun was nning to connect the buildings into one piece. "This is space efficient however we need to bring back more metal." He wrapped a hand around the others waist. Luo Xun twirled his pen and continued to speak. "This is not a problem, every time we got out we bring back a lot, we also have some material buried outside." "Ah, we can reinforce the whole ce and cover it up with paint." Luo Xun suddenly paused and looked at Yan Fei whose hands were sliding down his back. Blinking, he innocently asked, "In broad daylight?" Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, "Got a problem?" "...The babys still here." Luo Xun said but he already turned around. "Hes asleep, I just checked." Yan Fei leaned over and pressed down on the man below him. They had recently been very busy and the couple had not been intimate for a long time. Todays opportunity was rare and the atmosphere was just right, who would let go of this golden chance? Chapter 184 The team originally agreed to rest for half a day, but they ended up resting for a whole day after a busy afternoon. Some people slept straight until evening while others were busy and forgot about any leftovers. As for the remainder, although they went to ask to start, but they heard some sounds and then ran back to their rooms covering their smiles. The next morning, Luo Xun silently decided C must have Yan Fei do a good job soundproofing! Never give the others the possibility of listening around the corner! Luo Xun secretly rubbed his sore waist as he ryed todays n in the basement, work! They were doing something simple done before at base C preparing mushroom wood. This time they came with a lot of mushroom spores, no way, who let them nt so many mushrooms? They were growing a bunch of crops on top of a lot of wood, sawdust and so on. When they went out, they got a lot of agricultural tools, naturally there were saws. They measured the width of the basement while the others were responsible for the wood and sawdust. He and Yan Fei went into the room and carefully examined the shelves to heighten them. These nters were affixed to the ground and there was a variety of equipment dedicated to sowing and harvesting. It would be difficult for others to make changes but Yan Fei was someone with a metal ability. "First study the construction of these nters and if we need to expand the nting space or add ayer, we have to do it ording to the specifications of these devices." The sower and harvester in this room werepletely different from others, although it was smaller and less efficient, it could be installed in these racks. It was specially designed for this room. Yan Fei nodded and used his ability to scan the metal to determine how to ensure that the equipment would still function properly before speaking to Luo Xun. "The structure is not difficult, simr to the ones you designed at home but more technical. The outside groove lets the devices slide across. Its not hard to copy." Luo Xun sighed in relief. "Its fine to raise the shelf and add mushrooms to the bottom?" "No problem." Yan Fei shook his head and sighed at the ceiling. "But well have trouble with the sprinkler system, cannot be reced by the ones at home..." "Theres another way." Luo Xunughed and looked at the inteced metal tubes on the ceiling C there were nozzles specially designed for watering. "We can add something at the top so the water from above would flow down to eachyer of crops...But it would be hard to control the amount of water, lets go back and n." Since there were no problems moving the metal shelves, the two men immediately started working. The metal they brought back yesterday was piled up in the nting room. Yan Fei found arge piece in the intersection. He lifted a section and added some metal under to support it. The shelves were raised about seventy or eighty centimeters. After this, they started to make a mushroom box, like a metal drawer that could be pushed under the nters, simr in base where they grew mushrooms. This time they would not only use wood to grow mushrooms and added sawdust. Of course wood was still used since itsted longer than sawdust, but more mushrooms could be nted in thetter. These metal drawers could be drawn from both the left and right sides, convenient to operate. But this time one could easily see inside the contents unlike at base where they had twoyers to block prying eyes. This was their ce, so it was more convenient and they did not have to worry about being seen by outsiders. Luo Xun and team did not bring a lot of things this time, especially metal. Yan Fei had brought those two metal balls and their cars had been filled with metal. But since they thickened the tunnel and modified a nting room, when they wanted to add nting racks, they found that the metal had almost run out! Thinking about how they still had to cover another room of nters, the second underground floor work has not started and they had use metal to construct more nting space, Luo Xuns heart started to pound. "Well go out again tomorrow. This time Ill go with Yan Fei and two others will follow." After a whole day, Li Tie and the others had not finished processing the pile of wood at home, so Luo Xun decided to split the teams. Since they knew where they were headed, four people would be enough to handle it. "Should be me and Wang Duo with you." Zhang Yi waved a hand, "Anyway, my ability is no use for wood." Li Tie stared at him with a conflicted face C yes his powers were of little use for wood, but who could match his ability to make sawdust?! Just throw a piece of wood into a small tornado, it would not be long until the wood was turned into dust! "Okay, well leave early tomorrow morning with the big truck and car. Lets try to drag at least a box of sr panels back with metal." Luo Xun pondered and agreed with a nod. They washed up and Luo Xun went to bed and got up early. They drove two cars again out of the underground tunnel. The goal was clear and simple, bring back lots of metal along with sr panels and any dropped trees. Two cars drove in a line, Luo Xun drove the big truck while Wang Duo drove the smaller car. Following the road they previously traveled, Yan Fei inspected the buried box before the two cars continued towards the sr panel factory. "Well have to look for other ces filled with metal since we need materials for whatever we have to build in our new base..." Luo Xun said with some helplessness. Yan Feiforted him. "It wont be difficult, even if we cannot find a rich factory, we can drive through the city and find a lot. I recall there were railways, pipes and stuff nearby." Not just Luo Xuns team, even the southwest base would have already targeted metal rich locations. "Yes, these things are easy to find, lets collect as much as possible." Luo Xun once again looked helplessly towards the sky. "We also have to find if there are any ss factories nearby..." If they wanted to build a nting space above ground, it was bound to need a lot of ss. Even if they could technically make an enclosed house, but how could they not have an windows or small embellishments? The two cars and four people continued towards their goal through the night. There was less snow in the wilderness, mottled brownnd peeked out from the snow. It was a natural transition between the seasons. The two ate some dried food while driving. Yes, real rations, Luo Xun had prepared days before the outing, despite the greedy eating most of the rice pot! This crispy rice was fragrant, before the end it was a snack and in the apocalypse it was a good choice for food rations. Upon remembering that the small base had such arge nting area, they could wantonly nt a variety of crops such as soybeans to guarantee their oil for cooking purposes! They would not have to worry about not having delicious things to eat. Just as they were about to drive near the sr panel factory, roars and bangs sounded along with slight tremors in the ground... "Leader, what was that?" Wang Duos voice quavered from the walkie talkie. Luo Xun had not answered when Zhang Yi coldly cut through. "Something ising this way...there seems to be more than one." "What thing? How many?" If they ran into another zombie horde... Luo Xuns mind was still processing and Zhang Yi had not answered before the group of people found the source of the tremors and the culprit was C A huge grey rabbit jumped in front of them, it was the size of a truck. There was a dog a fraction of its size...why was a dog chasing a rabbit several times its size? Luo Xun had not fully taken stock of the situation when there was a bang. The dog had pounced and the two creatures rolled and created a hole into the sr panel factory. If the pair rolled all the way over, their car would get totaled! Chapter 185 "Boss, boss! Is there any rabbit meat to eat?" Wang Duos excited voice crackled from the walkie-talkie. Before Luo Xun could answer, Wang Duo continued, "Wife, wife! Were going to have some more meat! Maybe you can eat delicious meat this time!" Luo Xun now wondered, in the end who had a deeper obsession with meat? But no matter what... "Ah...why dont you try?" Luo Xuns heart warmed, since the new year when they hunted that sheep, they had used up everything even the bones. Although they had some frozen meat, but in fear of eating it up they deliberately left it! If there was no other harvest in a short period of time, they would have to return to those days when they could only be vegetarian. Well...they did have dried meat, but it waspletely different than fresh meat! Seeing the two animals not far, all four were in a happier mood. Yan Fei tilted his head. "Theyre close to thest ce we buried the metal and the amount we collected along the way is not enough." They had crossed this road several times, each time scraping some metal. Although the car had some metal in case of emergency, the amount was limited and was obviously insufficient to deal with tworge creatures. A n was hatched through the walkie-talkies. The people possessed by their hunger agreed, who cared about wood and metal, first solve the problem of their bellies! The two creatures, other than their size yed around lively as if the end had not urred. Luo Xun saw the two animals rolling around. At first they seemed onlyrger in size, but upon a closer look C the rabbits teeth were huge and sharp! Also covered in blood C bitten from the dogs body from the tumble! And the fur was obviously not soft but supple, the dog might not be able to bite through! But the dog was not helpless, the bone structure was obviously different from what Luo Xun and the others knew. The dog rolled as its eyes lit up and purple electricity burst out and coursed through the rabbit! Simr to how they dug holes and set traps, the group watched as the rabbit stamped its foot and formed a row of thorns! "...Earth rabbit vs electric dog." Luo Xuns mouth twitched at the two enemies abilities. "Can...we beat it?" In this setting, could they even enter the fight? Zhang Yi wrinkled a brow. "The rabbit alone would be fine, electric dog..." He looked at Yan Fei, "This element is not easy to deal with using your ability." "Its still possible for an ambush or scare it away." Yan Fei had a calm expression but in fact he was the same as Zhang Yi, filled with the desire to test himself against these animals. They had not fought for a whole winter, unable to train their ability or reaction time, hunting prey afterzing around would be good. "All right, then lets go." Luo Xun clenched his teeth, removed his crossbow and aimed, ready to respond to any possible situation. "The two animals are too big, you two should carefully keep your distance, well head in." Yan Fei said while using metal to create a makeshift n. Without Yu Xinran, they could not make traps but even alone he would be able to hunt some prey. The two ability users crept forward while the others hid behind a building observing the two battling animals near the factory. The fight was really lively, the movements were...veryrge. After all, the rabbit had an earth ability, which had some resistance against electricity. Although it would get paralyzed, but not long enough for the dog tond a fatal strike. Zhang Yi moved to a hidden corner and fired wind des. They were not directly aimed but towards the two animals sides. The two enemies at first thought it was the other side that caused the wounds. But after a barrage of uninterrupted attacks, the two animals stopped and realized other creatures were nearby. A dogs nose was a very sensitive organ, it identified the scent of humans before the rabbit. However thetter defended first, shielding with an earth wall. However those wind des seemed alive; it would move around the wall and continue towards the target! The rabbits earth wall could notpletely cover itself and could not always hide. So discovering another enemy, it turned around to flee! The dog must have met humans after the end since it rushed over towards Zhang Yi after scenting people. At the same time the dog was rushing forward, Zhang Yi immediately redirected his attacks while some continued harassing the rabbit. Luo Xun, who had been observing the situation immediately lifted his crossbow and began shooting at the charging dog. Wang Duos crossbow aim was slightly worse but thetters hit multiple weak points: throat, eyes, neck... Mutant animals tended to have thick skin after the apocalypse, it was especially the case with this dog. Although it was clearly gnawed by the rabbit, the skin was pretty thick. Although several shots had hit, there was only a small neck would. By rapidly shaking its head, the eye attacks were mitigated. In the end, it continued its pursuit of Zhang Yi. Just as the dog slowed down, the other side caused a huge sound. It felt like three earthquakes under their feet. Luo Xun and Wang Duo were full of misgivings C how could the aftershocks be so big? Yan Fei, who had been following the rabbit, felt the corners of his mouth twitch. How does a rabbit escape? Wait then run? What running? Didnt all rabbits jump? In truth it would be half and half, but when in real danger it would definitely jump away. So the rabbit escaped from the threat of Zhang Yi, jumping away from the wind des. It did not jump directly into the prepared metal trap but into a hole with metal and a thinyer of soil on top. Yan Feis reaction was swift, as soon as the rabbit fell in, he manipted the metal to strike at the neck. The mutant dogs reaction was astonishing after smelling blood and realizing the rabbit had disappeared. It immediately stopped pursuing Zhang Yi, did not pay attention to the two regr humans and ran without hesitation. The group was still as the dog ran out of sight... The four people returned after three days, the trip was short. Back at base Xu Mei and the others were very surprised, "Rabbit! You guys hunted a rabbit!" Luo Xun helplessyughed, "Because of it, we could not get that pile of sr panels or much wood, we have to wait for next time." "Its all right! Lets eat meat!" "Right, just in time after all the meat at home was finished." "How tasty is rabbit meat?" "And the rabbit fur we can use..why it this rabbits fur so tough? The skin is thick too..." The rabbit grabbed everyones belly. Although the meat was not as delicious stewedpared to pigs, cattle, sheep or other livestock, but it was better than nothing. Skinned, dried, cut and processed. After the whole rabbit was dealt with, there was not as much meat as it seemed C arge proportion was the fur, especially since winter had just passed, it had not shed yet. Coupled with all the bones and all the lean meat, since winter had just ended the rabbit was rtively thin...But in any case, after some preparations, the rest of the meat would be able to fill another freezer! "...How do you eat it?" The team gathered around the freezer, staring at the rabbit leg Xu Mei had left behind. This leg was enough for their evening meal! "Make spicy rabbit meat." Luo Xun suggested, "Spices would add more taste...of course it can be made less spicy as well." Thinking of Yu Xinran, he changed his mind since children could not eat super spicy foods. Xu Meiughed, "So much meat, we can make more than one dish. Make some spicy rabbit meat, then braise some and then have some fried meat as well." "Good idea! Do it!" The group cheered. Now that they were outside base, they would not have to worry about being seen no matter what they did! Even if they wanted to eat barbecued mutton, there was no fear of discovery! Chapter 186 Luo Xun preferred spicy tastes while Xu Mei and Song Lingling also did but not to the same extent. The two women stared at the others amazing iron stomach. The te of spicy fried rabbit meat attracted everyones attention, especially since all the bones had been removed. Every bite was filled with the rich taste of meat. The team grabbed a bowl of rice and stuffed their faces as if they had not eaten for a century. Of course, the twodies braised meat was also popr, especially Yu Xinran who could not eat the spicy dish. The bones were used in arge pot of fresh soup. After the food was swept clean, everyone drank soup and chatted. Li Tie sat in his chair and soulfully looked at his bowl of soup, "s, if we could get something like this at base..." "Dont you have quails at home?" Wu Xin asked beside him. Li Tie had not opened his mouth when He Qiankun shouted, "Quails have meat, but its not as good!" When the need arose, they would ughter some quail but they were reluctant, only one every few months. They could not bear it so they stuck with the eggs. How would that have been enough meat? It was only everyone had more meat that they could sink their teeth into the food. "Yes, thats right! How about we try and raise more animals!" Li Ties words fired up the diners, their eyes wide with flushed faces. "If we can raise some animals like the mutant ones we hunted, it would be enough for us to eat for a few months!" "Yes! Now mutant animals are moremon!" Luo Xun did not rain on the excited groups parade but as they started going into detailed ns, he coughed. Seeing all the eyes turning to him, Luo Xun felt a mountain of pressure. "That...breeding mutant animals...is not possible. You have to take into ount their power and size." Luo Xun helplessly added, "We could raise small pre-apocalypse animals but how could we do the same with those superrge mutants?" Zhang Yi had already finished his bowl of soup, naturally Wang Duo gave up his remaining half portion. "The bigger they are, the more one can eat." The remark almost made the group spit out their dinner. Raising mutant animals was not practical, even if they really wanted to raise some, it would be best to find some ordinary animals, but in the current world...where would someone be able to find one? Luo Xun and the others did not bring any quails or mealworms from home. On one hand there were too many and on the other they were afraid that something unexpected and they would freeze to death. So the rabbit solved their meat problem for a while. The day after, Luo Xun set up a new task C He Qiankun need to find out if there was a ce nearby to get ss. In fact, when they went out before, they wanted to bring all the intact ss at the sr panel factory, but they met the mutant dog and rabbit. While those two were fighting, many things were broken beyond repair.When Luo Xun checked afterwards, there was not a single piece of intact ss left. They unloaded the wood inside the car and everyones work was settled for the next day. It was still Luo Xun cleaning up the shelves inside the nting room, Li TIe andpany dealing with the wood so that the boxes could cultivate mushrooms. They were very familiar with this job so they were very efficient. He Qiankun found a factory where there might be ss, it was also near when they wentst time. After confirming there was no need for everyone to stay for work, the group of people drove out again. This time the goal was the same C wood and metal as well as the two buried boxes. As for ss...it was further away and they could not spare the time for now so they had to postpone. It took four days before they came back again. This time, although they did not hunt any mutant animals, there were unknown creatures in the distance. Some ran away while others perched on buildings. There were many differences in their size, appearance and behaviourpared to before. Since Luo Xun came out with other goals in mind, there was no time to bother these animals. But knowing that spring had arrived and there were more traces of mutant animals, the groups heart were very happy. After all, they were hopeful that they could replenish their pantry at home! The group of greedy people brought back lumps of metal, wood and boards to continue with their tasks. They had an especiallyrge harvest, especially metal. In addition to the two balls controlled by Yan Fei, they had a lot of material tucked away in the car. They also brought back the tworge boxes filled with sr panels, left in the tunnel ready for after the nting rooms were finished. They would be hung on the remaining walls to gather sunlight. Early in the morning, the group leisurely washed up and returned to the basement to start the days work. The adults were all busy while Yu Xinran and Puppy guarded the little bun. The three children were on the ground floor in a cubicle to be changed into a nting room. However they had not brought enough seeds so work had been paused for the moment. Yu Xinran yed with the dog for a while. After she finished Xu Meis arranged homework, she tugged at Song Lingling, "Mother, I am hungry." "Are you hungry or greedy?" Song Lingling asked as there was still a while before lunch. "Hungry and greedy!" The little girl said, "I want to eat strawberry milk popsicle, so does Puppy!" She pulled the other to her side to help persuade Song Lingling. "Just one, wait Ill grab one for you." The so called popsicle was because there were milk fruit and strawberries at home so the two women came up with the idea. Anyway they had enough ingredients to make this delicious treat and was better than nothing. Since they also made a considerable amount of strawberry jam, the adults cravings were also solved. Yu Xinran ran back into the room with joy C she needed to take care of the dog and baby while the adults were busy. Although she would run out once in a while, she would soon return to her responsibility. Everyone was busy when suddenly there was sound from the staircase. Li Tie raised his head in surprise as Song Lingling ran down with a pale face. "Quick! Get up! There are a lot of birds!" "Bird! Zombie birds?!" All of a sudden everyone was nervous, they had experienced the horror of undead birds, how would they havee back in such a short time?! "I dont know, only that there are a lot flying in the sky!" Song Lingling took a deep breath before responding. "Ill call Luo Xun and the others!" The nting rooms on the ground floor had been dealt with and now the captain was busy on the second floor. Hearing the news, the two men put down their work and ran back to the building. THey looked out the window and discovered C the problem was not as serious as they thought...at least for the time being. The birds outside formed a dark cloud in the sky, but did not seem to have interest in their location, only passing by. Luo Xun held the telescope and whispered in relief, "Mutant birds, their bodies seem to rtively normal, about the size of Puppy but might have abilities. I think..." "What?" The people asked quickly. "Suspect they might be migratory birds." Luo Xun did not remember birds passing over the base in such a scale during his past life. Maybe this new ce was distant enough from the base?" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief while Luo Xun reminded them, "But since these birds are passing by, wed better not go out for a while. We would need to wait even if we were back at base." He shrugged helplessly, "Remember the first mutant animal we met? It was a bird and their behaviour has changed. They may attack humans unprovoked so we should be careful." Everyone nodded, even if they were greedy for roast duck, they needed to be alive to enjoy food! If there was only one, they might have been able to deal with it, but such arge group...simr to zombie hordes, who dared enter the ring? Chapter 187 Luo Xuns fears were not unfounded, when the night came, the birds scattered in the vicinity. Twonded in therge field near the team. After the weather warmed up, green buds had emerged from the ground. The snow and ice had notpletely melted in some ces but bits of greenery had drilled out in spots of green and yellow. Perhaps due the farnd, both path or field were embellished with traces of green. But in addition, there were sshes of dark brown from the terrifying devil vines! A few birdsnded without noticing the danger and even wondered if they were edible. The consequences of provoking the vines were obvious and a terrible battle started. After observing the mutant birds, Luo Xun and the others quietly returned home, cautiously staying out of notice. Yan Fei used nearly half the metal stored to thicken the shell around the building for defense. Even when the team returned to work, there would be one or two people keeping any eye on the situation. In response to the situation, Luo Xun said, "Find some monitors we can set up so we dont have stand watch all the time." He Qiankun immediately went to check for the information. The advantage of working underground was the quiet, even if a fierce battle raged above between the birds and vines, they would not hear a thing. But since they could not see the sun, they would not notice the passage of time unless reminded. The team dragged themselves upstairs and quietly looked outside. After confirming there were no birds nearby they bathed and ate before going to sleep. There was a bathroom but is was a public one. All the equipment was intact and there were no issues as long as Song Lingling provided water and Luo Xun hooked up some battery power. Even better there were two bathing areas. Although the rooms were pretty small, it was enough for them to bathe. Luo Xun felt some loss since there was no bathtub, only showers. On the other hand, Wang Duo urged his lover to wash together after everyone else. Although everyone understood his intentions, some people ground their teeth. They did not want to think about what urred back at home, not everyone was gay. In fact Luo Xun did not bathe with Yan Fei...the reason was obvious. However he would also never act like Wang Duo. After dealing with the basement, metal was collected and they tinkered with the rooms to have a bathtub. One of the areas was veryrge and it could be easily be divided for everyones use. Everyone returned to their respective rooms after eating, drinking and washing. Although there were heavy curtains and a metal shield, no one dared to turn on the lights C the army of migratory mutant birds were still flying overhead. "Go to sleep and get up early for the basement." Luo Xun turned off all the light sources and quietly peeked through the curtains before burrowing under the covers. The two men hugged each other under the warm quilt. The radiator was nearby; Puppy was sleeping next to it. The baby was asleep, swaddled and ced in a metal cradle. The team slept until two or three oclock in the morning when they were awakened by arge sound. Luo Xun woke up in confusion then sat out immediately as the sound continued, "Whats the matter?!" Yan Fei also did not know, he and Luo Xun had just awoken. The quickly looked out the window and found that a huge mutant bird hadnded was wrestling with the devil vines. It was surprising that the mutant nts and animals were fighting but the problem was that mutant bird was a fire type and was spewing mes everywhere! If the fire only hit the vines it would not be an issue but one of the smaller buildings caught on fire! It was where they lived the first time originally used for storing farm tools. Thankfully all the equipment had been moved to the basement and was now empty. What a headache and the next house was where farming vehicles were parked! If there was a leak, the consequences would be inconceivable. "Whats the matter?" Everyone struggled to wakefulness. Luo Xun hurried about hugging the baby and dog. "Xu Mei, bring the fire under control, Song Lingling and Yu Xinran help extinguish the fire." When sand is added to water, it worked better at smothering mes. Luo Xun pulled on a coat as he faced the rest, "Lets go check at the gate. Yan Fei has already sealed a part of the area so even if there is fire, the problem should not spread far." Thankfully they were wary of incidents during the day so they had attached metal to the shield which could be changed to protect against attacks. The group of people ran to the gate. Xu Mei barely stopped the fire from burning other areas. Yu Xinran and Song Lingling soonpletely extinguished the house fire. Therge birds struggle was slowing down and gradually it waspletely out of strength. Yan Fei left to observe the situation while the others kept back. Luo Xun suddenly said, "Do you want to try and grab some of the bird meat?" "Grab bird meat?" The team immediately turned with particrly shining eyes in the dark. Luo Xun nodded, "Yes, those mutant nts, although some are toxic, this kind of devil vine only sucks blood and should not inject any poison. We should be able to scavenge a half." The group pped their hands and said they would take action. They discussed together although the ability users would be the ones taking action. Song Lingling held Yu Xinran while Yan Fei set up a passageway. It was useful for hiding them from the birds sight and could also block mutant nt attacks! Immediately after approaching, Xu Meiunched a fireball hitting the vines entangling the mutant bird. Yu Xinran used her sand to trap the branches and Yan Fei made a metal to pull part of the body. In retaliation to the attack, the nts tugged back! The crowd froze, did not expect their prey to be robbed. Luo Xun started back into action. "Withdraw!" They got it, what were they waiting for? The line of people hurried back. The vines swayed in the air but not far enough, it could only pull the remaining prey and eat it... "We got it?!" They ran back inside the building and looked at each other in shock before lying down andughing. After half a day of preparations to even fight with the nt, they had sessfully stole it without too much of a fight. "Ive wrapped it in metal, we can take care of it in the morning." Yan Fei recovered the fastest and he waited for a bit before pointing at the gate. The metal mesh was still wrapped around the body. "Okay, well make sure there are no problems tomorrow." Luo Xun breathed and patted someones shoulder. "Everyone go back and rest, this evening was very tiring." Although everyone was thinking about the bird outside, they also knew that the animal had been snatched from a mutant nt, who knew what could be inside it? If they were infected with the zombie virus or something, or if there were other contagions...it was best to be safe. The group held back their stomachs and returned to their room to sleep until dawn. They woke up early and waited at the door. Luo Xun came downstairs and could not help but exim in his heart C there was leftover rabbit in the fridge at home, what was going on?! Chapter 188 Luo Xun stood at the gate Yan Fei created and stared at the huge volume of grey feathers left outside on the mutant bird they had robbed from the devil vines. "Its like wild geese." Luo Xun was not sure as he carefully observed. None of the group had studied animals, even if someone was interested, they might look at it carefully. At this point it was nice to be able to roughly tell it was a waterbird. Yan Fei used metal to lift the birds foot and started to shake. *Patter* Afterst nights fight, things would inevitably get stuck in the body C mutant nt vines, small stones and so on. After the shaking, Yan Fei transported the big bird to everyone. There were still many migratory birds in the sky. On the ground, the metal shell shielded them from the view as the team dressed in protective clothing and examined the wounds and removed feathers. "No problems." "The wound color is normal and should be edible." "The feathers are clean and there are no contaminants." "Process it? Break it down? Theres going to be bird meat to eat tonight right?!" "This one had a fire power! Xu Mei was really lucky this time!" Since Zhang Yi had harvested the nuclei from the wind sheep, they had confirmed that although mutant animal nuclei were huge they were only level one or two. But they contained arge amount of energy, could push an ability user to the apex of their current level. It was a smooth procession reaching the peak and then finding a higher level nuclei. After absorption, Xu Mei would need to find a level five nuclei and then she could rush straight to level five! After confirming that there were no problems with the bird, the team happily plucked feathers and processed the meat for storage. When everyone was almost finished handling the mutant bird, Luo Xun pointed at the pile of shook off from the body. "Get all those together and we can throw them into the nts." They were not sure what was inside those things and the safest way would be to return them where they came from. Yu Xinrans ability came in handy for this case. The little girl nodded and used her sand to slowly move the things away. "...Wait! Bring it back, Ill take a look!" Luo Xun suddenly noticed something and had Yu Xinran bring the items over for him to check. A pile of rags were scattered in front of him, Luo Xun took a metal stick and prodded through the pile, tattered nt pieces, dirt, bird down and his target items. Yu Xinrans looked in curiosity and her mouth dropped as Luo Xun pinched a small object. He took a deep breath and searched through the clutter, sure enough there were two more! "Yu Xinran, lets go dig for treasure!" Luo Xun crouched down and pped a hand on Yu Xinrans shoulder with excitement. "Dig for treasure?" Yu Xinran tilted her head and pointed at the item in Luo Xuns hand, "This?" "Right!" The rest of the team was busy putting all the meat in the fridge. Like before, Xu Mei left a chunk of meat to add to their lunch or dinner. The rest went into the freezer. Yan Fei looked around but could not find a trace of Luo Xun. He furrowed his brow and headed outside towards the gate. Two people were crouching in the end of the passage. Luo Xun pointed in a certain direction. "Little Ran, over that way..." "What are you doing..." Yan Fei started as he noticed the pile at his feet. "These...where did you get these?!" Hearing the voice, Luo Xun smiled and turned around while patting the little girls shoulder. "Yu Xinran dug out these treasures!" The team sat around therge kitchen table and looked at the pile of things on the table with dull eyes. Luo Xun and Yu Xinran washed their hands and thetter coughed, "We just dealt with that mutant birds body, why be afraid of a little dirt?" He cleared his throat as everyone looked at him, "I first gathered these to throw into the devil vines, but found something shiny so I had Yu Xinran bring them over..." "There are nuclei in there?" Wang Duo interrupted in excitement. Luo Xun nodded a brought out a nucleus that resembled an unpolished sapphire. "Yes, I found three nuclei in it. There were no zombies around and the birds had been flying for a while, where would the nucleie from?" He looked at the window, "I had Yu Xinran help get some dirt back and sift through it and found so many." There was a small pile of crystals on the table C they were the nuclei that they collected every time they came out to hunt zombies. There wasrge variety of nuclei, from level one to four! "That is to say, although these devil vines will people, mutant animals and zombies, but they wont eat nuclei?!" "God, how many nuclei have those nts umted until now?!" The group eximed and looked at each other with excitement. Luo Xun took a breath and pointed out, "Dont forget we are in the center of these nts. We found so many just on the outside road, how many would there be on the street?" How many zombies had those mutant nts killed during thest zombie horde? When they thought about it, the team lit up and looked at their captain with anticipation. Luo Xun smiled and made soothing gestures, "This matter will take some time, we also have to take into ount ces that Yu Xinran cannot ess or are inconvenient. Lets use some time everyday to pick up some nuclei." He paused they added, "It seems that it would be nice to nt more of these nearby..." These vines were good! Could help kill zombies, intercept animals, block passerbys and would not consume nuclei! A great tool and guard! Luo Xunmented that they had too few wheat seeds and had no idea how to distinguish mutant nts. As for letting them grow on their own...he did not know how the vines reproduced. In hisst life it was not possible to have this sort of information, so they could only slowly proceed. With more devil vines, if more zombies passed by they could effciently harvest more nuclei when they went out! Before that, they had to figure out how to get the nuclei in the middle of the field. Yu Xinran had a limited range and without sight, it would be even more difficult to carry out operations. There was a rtion between her age and her control. At most Yu Xinrans range was 10 meters, which was enough for regr farnd, but it was not easy for ces with irregr shapes C the fields around them were like that. "We can first collect nuclei from both sides of the road. There should be some sand nuclei so that Yu Xinran can reach a higher level." Wu Xin patted the girls shoulder. "Yes, thats a good idea." Perhaps as Wu Xin suggested, there would be some sand nuclei among the pile of variously colored crystals. With those, Yu Xinran could level up and upgrade her range! Only they did not know if there was a level five nuclei, or if the army had encountered a level five zombie. Luo Xun had reservations but it was their only approach for now to get at the cores hidden in the depths of the vines. Anyway, it was good to aim for the nuclei that they could reach for now. The migratory birds had gone but Luo Xun was worried about danger if Yu Xinran went out with only a few people. He made his decision C each day Yu Xinran would go out for an hour guarded by those strongbat abilities. The rest of time they would be busy with basement work. It would ensure everyones safety and that neither work nor digging for treasure would get dyed. Chapter 189 Because of the threat in the sky, Luo Xun dared not make any big moves. Every time he left the building to collect crystal nuclei, he would bring metal made by Yan Fei in the shape of an umbre. There was also an escape route at the back. It was very troublesome to collect crystal nuclei. On one hand they had to be careful not to be discovered by the birds in the sky. On the other, they had to worry about entering the nts attack range. The devil vine branches were very long. Luo Xun had to first determine the limit before daring to bring anyone with him. For that reason, Yu Xinrans collection range was shortened again. Even if they could only collect from the inner part and the range was shortened, in a few days they actually collected a few thousand crystals! Big small, various colors and types and from all kinds of creatures. The team was temporarily afraid to consider using other methods to collect nuclei. From the lowest level of crystal to high level zombies to mutant animals, there was a bit of everything. Within five days after the discovery, Luo Xun would spend an hour at the field edges but they had so many gains. He had to say that this mutant farnd was a great thing, who knew how many treasures were buried underneath. In thest two days, the migratory birds eventually continued north. Except for some scattering along the way, the rest all flew away. The birds migration seemed to be some kind of omen. While Luo Xun observed the situation, he found increased traces of other mutant animals nearby. The whole world hade alive, green nts and various mutant animals seemed to be the true masters of the world. "Tomorrow is the 31st, is everything packed up?" All the nuclei had been ssified and counted. After the crystals were divided ording to the ability users, the rest were divided among the remaining members leaving one portion for the team. The entire team even Puppy and the baby also got some. Unfortunately they did not know what ability he had, so the unknown nuclei were set aside for him. While Luo Xun was screening, they found a few cores simr to the one Puppy had absorbed and let her y around with them. While licking them, the cores would be smaller and smaller. Sure enough, she also needed nuclei to replenish energy but Puppy was very picky. She had no interest in the level one nuclei of the same type at all. The team nodded saying that everything they needed to bring back was ready and they could hit the road tomorrow morning. To be honest, Luo Xun and team had been living here awhile and it waspletely different from base. Although there was a threat of mutant birds overhead, they only had to go to the basement and work without difort. In thest few days the fridge was filled with rabbit and bird meat, one could eat without reserve. Even if they ate barbecue everyday no one noticed. It waspletely differentpared to sneaking around base to eat a good meal. There was a change of mentality, here was their real home while going back was a temporary arrangement. "We need to bring back more things this time." Luo Xun lightly tapped the table twice. "Lets drive the truck this time." A small team of four cars plus a truck should be enough to bring their stuff. There was no storage in the truck so Yan Fei made and added one. "We dont really have anything to bring back, we need to put something in there at least it would be suspicious." Li Tie raised his hand. Luo Xun nodded and turned to look at Yan Fei. "We did some things yesterday, should be able to fill up most of the space." "What kind of thing?" The team was in a daze, how had they not seen anything yesterday. Yan Fei smiled and made a stainless steel basin out of some metal in the room. "I made some of these things along with some metal shelves that most would not be interested in. If theres any danger on the way back they can also be used as a weapon." He had to have some metal on hand to protect himself on the road, but the metal was previouslypressed and ced in the car, now the shape had changed. "This is a good idea! We wont need to pack as efficiently." It did not matter if the car was technically empty, Yan Fei needed to use metal, so just transform it and bring it with them. They also had the rations for when they were ready to go back...Yes so they had to prepare those for when they returned. Yan Fei ced some metal shelves in each car C simr to those used in stores and poles for drying clothes. These things did not take up too much space and it was fine to throw them in the car. After preparing the food, they got up the next morning and went to seal the entrance. The team headed towards the base with five filled cars. By the way, since there was quite a bit of space inside the truck, they left two smaller cars behind. They could concentrate their firepower and it would help if they were in danger on the road. Night passed during the halfway point before Luo Xuns team arrived outside the base gate in the morning. It seemed that more people had been going out recently so the traffic had increased. It also let them see a mutant animal on top of a car! "Someone has been able to hunt a mutant animal!" Luo Xun was excited, it would not be strange now if they asionally ate meat inside base. "That looks like a military vehicle." Yan Fei looked closer. "Probably, but this proves that the base knows that mutant animal meat can be eaten." Luo Xun smiled as he kept up with the car in front. By the time their car reached the base gate for registration, the things that Yan Fei had made in advance were a lifesaver. "Check the things in the car?" Luo Xun stared with a puzzled expression. Although the staff person was impatient, they still exined. "New base rules,st month around the 20th. Vehicles returning to base need to checked along with bags." "Why?" Luo Xun had not left base in hisst life and naturally would not know about such a rule. This was the first time he had heard of it okay? "Afraid that someone would bring back something dirty." The staff member rolled his eyes. "What if someone smuggled in a zombie body?" "Did anyone get poisoned on base?" Luo Xun quickly deflected. "I dont know, are you getting inspected or not? You wont get into base without a check!" The staff member was clearly angry as he repeated himself. Yan Fei shrugged helplessly, "Then check." The group came down with their parcels and went over to the security machines. The car was filled with metal, weapons and some food but not much else. Seeing that there was nothing valuable, the staff did not take a closer look and did give them another nce. When they drove back home, Wang Duo rushed over and whispered, "Luo Xun, I saw the car behind us, someone took something out from the car!" Luo Xun helplessly looked at Yan Fei, "Fortunately you made a bunch of metal pots." The group slowly climbed to the 15th floor and felt something strange. There was no problem with the 15th floor, but when they arrived at the 16th floor. "Who broke the ss!" It was not just one or two panes, almost all of their windows were smashed! Yan Fei quickly checked the traps and the status on the roof and said with a dark expression, "Someone has triggered the trap on the roof." "Check it out and see whats there." Luo Xuns anger did not explode yet as he ordered the team. Before they left, they were afraid that someone woulde and make trouble. So they made the metal cover thinner so people could not reach in and hang on the metal. But now someone had broken the ss in the house! After careful examination, since Luo Xuns home had tempered ss, two panes were filled with cracks. The other homes had at least two shattered panes of ss. Two rooms with nts had traces of hooks near the windows. Chapter 190 "Although we dont know when the ss was broken, I suspect it was two days before we came back." During the meeting everyone was angry. Luo Xun paused before exining, "They must have found something. It would not be possible to break in and steal everything. They might monitor the situation for a few days after breaking the ss. We should keep the lights off, if someonees to steal, dont be polite. And when we go, lets take everything away!" Take it all away! What were they waiting for? It would be a waste of their hard work. Should they wait until a thief showed to hand over their supplies? "Luo Xun, why dont we give back half of the house? Who cares about those broken missions!" Han Li ground his teeth, now base security could not be guaranteed and they had missions too! Were they waiting for someone to steal their door?! "We need to finish this month at least." Luo Xun straightened, "If someone is going to steal, if they hear about half the house being returned, they will be more vignt. For now lets leave the impression of no one at home to find out who has been stealing!" The home they lived in was made with tempered ss! If Yan Fei had not felt the terrace was in danger and did not add twoyers of fine metal mesh as protection, their home would have been spoiled and ransacked! In addition, they had nted those things with the aim of leaving base as soon as possible. Everything needs to go! This was just a room where they would stay for a few days. Who knew thating back to find smashed ss would strengthen their determination to leave. Of course, they would leave at least one or two rooms for their base when they came back. This was their bottom line, otherwise they would rather let Yu Xinran turn the floors into sand so no one would take advantage of theirbor. Nothing happened on the first night back, perhaps because of the cars parked downstairs. Luo Xuns car was probably recognized by the neighbors and the new truck had followed them. Since there was no movement for the time being, they took advantage to transport the nts in metal boxes downstairs into the car. Most of the vegetables had matured but there was not enough time to eat. They would simply call previous customers to see if they needed anything and sell the rest to the base. In the morning, Luo Xun received a task notice. This time they were asked to find a certain quantity of cotton, quilts and other things in the city. The team discussed and decided that they would exchange crystal cores instead C the target destination was a long way from base. Even if they got there, there was nothing else in the area. It would be better to use crystal cores to aplish the mission. Anyways they were loaded with crystals, it would be enough if everyone contributed some into the team fund. The day after the decision, Luo Xun got up and brought a metal box into the truck. The group went to the mission hall andpleted the task while also inquiring about gossip. They also asked if they could exchange some cores C they got a bunch that no one on the team could use. While Luo Xun was walking around the trading hall, his phone suddenly rang. "Its Song Lingling." She was at home with Yu Xinran, the baby and Puppy. Had something happened? "Luo Xun, someone is on the roof climbing down a rope! With grappling hooks!" Song Lingling continued in excitement before Luo Xun could speak. "Just before I realized Puppy had heard! Those people had started descending when she used her powers, even those holding onto the ropes were pulled and fell!" The building was 16 storeys high...imagine what those bodies would look like after the fall. Luo Xun paused for a moment, "Was there anyone else on the roof?" "There might be one or two more, but they seemed to have run away after those other people fell down." Song Lingling gloated with coldughter, "I dont think anyone wille back for a while...are you returning soon?" Come and watch the drama? Luo Xun pondered, "We wont go back for now. Continue to monitor the situation, pretend that no one knows how those people fell down. By the way also check if anyone ising over." If no one came out, those people might think it was another party and Luo Xun could catch a bigger fish. Luo Xun was not kind enough to rush back and collect the bodies of minions. After walking around, Luo Xun took their vegetables to where they had appointments with those who bought food. "I havent bought vegetables from you in a while and could not reach you through phone." The buyers also asked, "Are you going out for missions too?" Luo Xun was vague, "If you want to buy, send us a text message and we will get back to you with more information." He sighed, " You know, how many people want to stay on base and grow crops, theres also a limit tond." The other side did not doubt his words, since their team were forced on missions outside base every month. "Right? Other than logistics, everyone else goes out. They not only encounter high-level zombies but also a bunch of mutant animals..." Luo Xun casually inquired, "The other day we came back to see a car pulling a mutant animal..." "I heard that thing can be eaten, but we havent hunted one. Although the experts on base have said they are edible...who can guarantee that theres no virus inside? Besides they are not easy to fight." There were mutant animals outside but they were so big and strong. Without luck, who could guarantee that they would survive without dying? Even Luo Xun had to use alternative methods each time to hunt mutant animals and eat meat. If they were face to face without any heavy artillery, there was no guarantee that the enemy would be killed. "Boss we have arrived and are observing...there is a circle outside but nobodys going inside." Luo Xuns phone rang and he heard Wang Duos disappointed voice. "You can also keep watch and see if anyone collects the bodies." Luo Xuns voice was nd. After confirming the situation at home, Luo Xun hung up and returned to Yan Feis side. Luo Xun could not really ignore the situation at home, since Song Lingling, the dog and two children were at home. So they simply divided the load and quickly contacted the other buyers to sell vegetables. Li Tie, Xu Mei and the others went shopping to see if there was anything of use. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi just returned to the neighborhood, they mixed into the crowd and watched the drama. What happened when those people fell from the 16th floor due to Puppys gravity power? Even ability users would be half-dead. The pair hid in the crowd to see who would collect the fallen. Wang Duo also worked his magic and asked around for gossip C since they had not been in base for twenty days. The situation in the neighborhood was not clear, when else would they inquire for more information? As for Song Lingling and the kids? It was fine to stay at home. With so many rooms, they had added anotheryer of protection to the windows before they left this morning. Luo Xun andpany had quickly returned after finishing their business. He had asked some teams that bought mutant animal meat and confirmed that is was edible and tasty. After meeting up with Li Tie and the others, thetter said they had seen meat in the market. But most people were onlookers, only a few people actually spent money. "I took a look, its dog meat." He Qiankun licked his lips, "We wanted to buy a piece but the price! Ten level two nuclei for a pound, Puppy is also at home so we were afraid she would get angry." "Ten level two nuclei?" Luo Xun shook his head, it was hard to hunt zombies, mutant animals were rare but not that valuable." "Have you got the nuclei we need?" Yan Fei asked. "Some, there arent that many in the market." Li Tie lifted a bag of cores in his hand. "You got what you could, we should go back now." Luo Xun lowered his head and looked at the phone. Wang Duo had sent a few messages to exin the situation. He said that military people came to collect the half-dead people with Zhang Yi quietly following behind. Chapter 191 Luo Xuns group came out today driving two cars which were filled with vegetables that needed to be sold. Once most of them had been sold, the team split into two and went home. Back in the neighborhood, most of the onlookers had left. There some spots on the ground with traces of blood from the fallen, but it was not obvious. Wang Duo had already returned upstairs. Luo Xun parked the car and brought the exchanged crystal cores back while ignoring the remaining onlookers. Back home, Wang Duo was ying with Yu Xinran and Puppy who was rolling around. When Luo Xun came back Wang Duo rushed over, "All sold?" "All gone." Luo Xun and the others entered the room and each grabbed a seat. Yu Xinran jumped into Xu Meis arms with a petnt expression. Luo Xun asked Wang Duo, "Did you find out any new information?" Wang Duo returning early was naturally for his ability to gather information. With Zhang Yi acting as the physical force, the two people would be able to handle the situation. Wang Duo quickly grabbed his phone. "I heard that the ss was broken in the early hours of the 29th or 30th. Some people living nearby had heard sounds of movements at night and saw the damage in the morning. One of the curtains was half gone, it seemed like someone sneaked in and pulled them down." His expression soured, "Those people do not know what we have in the house but are saying that we have many supplies otherwise why would we have so many metal covers? Those rumors have been always around." After all, it was the penthouse and two floors had the same look, how would it not be noticed? Before when Luo Xun had been staying in base, those with ideas to steal had been quietly dealt with. However this time they went out longer and had troubles on the road so the rumors naturally resumed. It was said that they had even spread to the other neighborhoods. Wang Duo had a nice face, rtively easy to identify but the rest of the team was even more shy. Even if they had only been in contact with a few neighbors, the vast majority of people remembered Zhang Yi and Yan Feis appearances. Second, people knew that the team was said to have several beautiful women along with He Qiankuns rotund build. Wang Duo especially wore moreyers, a hat and a pair of sses to gather information. Wang Duo patted Puppys head, "But since Puppy took action today, although there are rumors, Im pretty sure that no one will daree over for awhile." Luo Xun sighed and shook his head, "This would only frighten them for a few days at most. If anyone has seen whats inside the house, people wille sooner orter." Song Lingling frowned, "Can we not let anyone get inside?" Even if they would not live here for a long time, even if they had decided to move everything out to have a temporary ce to stay, they did not want to let their home be peeped into and have people freely entering. Luo Xun wrinkled his brow and turned to look at Yan Fei, who raised an eyebrow and said, "Completely seal it." He looked at the balcony window C those in Xu Mei and Song Linglings room had been broken from the outside. "The door and windows would bepletely sealed with metal and opened when wee back." "Sealed? Isnt it already? Or you mean to turn these metal railings into tes." Li Tie referred to the window. Yan Fei shook his head, "Those metal railings can be thickened and cover the entire window. We have metal at home and can make is as thick as the tunnel." If the thickness was at least 10 cm, it would resist most forms of violence. "Just do it." Luo Xun pped his hands, "We wont be able to stay long, since we have an extra truck this time, take as many things as we can! Lets leave the warming floor in a few rooms and the rest can be used to fortify the doors and windows." This way, unless the invader was also a metal user, it would take a lot of effort in order to break in! After half an hour, Zhang Yi came back. He entered the door and Wang Duo took of his coat for him. "Didnt find anyone, the military car dropped the men off at the crematorium." Zhang Yi went to the table and drank some water. "I waited a bit there but did not see anyone eye catching so I returned home." Luo Xun tapped a finger, "Either the people who came were only to test the waters, or the people behind the curtain are afraid toe out..." He turned to the team, "We have no time to spend on them, pack everything, the goal is to leave in a few days. If we cannot increase the volume of the car we will do some temporary modifications." With Yan Fei, it was easy to make transform metal items. All the people nodded, the atmosphere on base aftering back had be more and more unbearable. After adapting to their free life, returning to this cage of a base was like putting a knife against their back. Every step of the way was ufortable. Thest time, they took a lot of supplies. This time, in addition to the rest of the material, there were plenty of crops to bring along, most of which were ready to be harvested. In fact, in less than a month, the grains could be harvested. Luo Xun originally wanted to leave after harvesting. But now they were not sure who was targeting their home and there were rumors about their resources. If the people behind those killed were unable to get their stuff, would they just let the news out? Never mind that there was a lot of food in base, it was definitely greedy enough to target a private home able to grow so many crops. Once everyone in the area had their eyes on them, even if Luo Xun stayed at home, they might not be able to keep their supplies. The mature vegetables had already been dealt with C moved outside the base and nted, once they went back they would get another harvest. But the growing wheat and rice could only remained temporarily sealed inside a metal box. Even if Yan Fei could form multipleyers there would not be safe to take it all away. Besides, they had other things to bring as well. "Ill see if I can rent or buy arge truck tomorrow morning." While everyone was busy during the night, they found that it they wanted to move everything, they would need toe back or have another truck. After Luo Xuns words, Yan Fei pondered, "There is a way." "Whats the n?" Luo Xun lit up and quickly asked. "First get out of base, put the things in the new base and thene back to grab the rest." Yan Feiughed at Luo Xuns frown. "First we leave, park the car in a secluded ce then drive back two empty cars back to base." There were car chassis and car wheels on the outside roads. They still carried spare wheels in the car, so it would not be trouble for Yan Fei to pull together a car. The speed returning would decrease and there would be issues if there was trouble on the road. Luo Xun lit up, "That method is good! Okay." The next morning, when the sky was dim, Luo Xun took thest bunch of things and opened the door smoothly. Unlike when you went enter the city, car leaving did not to be checked. No one doubted that someone would take a lot of supplies out of base C stupid right? With the outside so dangerous and everyone looking for supplies, someone would be silly to bring things out. Even if some people had the intention to leave A-city base, how far was the nearest base? Dangerous road? Would there by any surprises? Would the new location be safer then their current location. When Luo Xun left town slowly and other people were already outside the wall. They parked the car in a nearby house with cover. Yan Fei was left behind to build a metal protective shell. The other four people drove back the empty containers back to base. Chapter 192 They returned back to base and paid the entrance fee, for them the nuclei was nothing. Fortunately, records were handwritten instead ofputer generated, otherwise people would ask strange questions. The officers opened the door to see that Luo Xuns car was empty, they gave the team strange looks. But with only a couple people they disdainfully paid no attention to them. People going out would not alwayse back with gains; they could encounter high level zombies, mutant animals or something that caused them to flee back to base with pursuers. It was rtivelymon toe back empty handed but the reason for the disdain was that they were not capable of having suchrge cars and were envious. Luo Xun and the others had no time to pay attention to what others thought of them. They only had one goal C go home! Move the rest of their stuff! Not long after, the car drove back. Other than some people who liked to gossip in the neighborhood, no one noticed their movements. Luo Xun and team had packed and prepared everything they had to take beforehand while leaving it all in one room. Now they just had to grab their things packed in Yan Feis sealed metal boxes. They packed and loaded as many metal boxes as fast as possible. Because there was no inspection before leaving, even if the team only had four people, Yan Fei could manipte all the metal boxes, so their speed was fast. The sky had dimmed when everything was transported into the tworge cars. Luo Xun looked at the rest of things they could not bring but were not afraid if losing. "This is it, we can pick up the rest the next time wee back." "Okay, I will seal the house." Yan Fei looked around and used metal to cover everything. This was an unanimous decision, if there was no way to ensure that all the rooms werepletely closed, it would be better topletely seal off a part of the house and keep it safe. They selected two rooms for this treatment, one was home 1601 where Li Tie and the others lived, the other was the second floor of 1604. All the others were guarded with a rtively thickyer of metal but the two werepletely blocked with metal, only leaving space to store things. So even if someone found something that could get through metal, see how it would work against such a thick metal wall! Before long, with some metal nuclei from the mutant vines, Yan Fei had sealed up their homes. The pair went downstairs where Zhang Yi and Wang Duo were sitting in the car waiting for them. "Done?" "Yes, lets go." Luo Xun looked at the metal covered house andmented, this had been the dream of hisst life, a long term, fortified ce to live. But when they left for twenty days and came back, the ss was broken. They were leaving again, what would the ce look like after the next time? At least with Yan Feis work, they would at least have a ce to stay. They drove the car outside of base, since it was evening, they were the only ones there. But because there were fewer zombies out, they did not have to wait for other teams before being let out. It was getting darker, just as the moon was high in the sky, they finally reunited with the other members of the team. "Theyre back! Theyre back!" "Its their car right?" "Thats right, its our two cars!" The group in the metal dome was so excited they hurried out and served big portions for dinner. "All done right?" Li Tie grinned in wee as the four came out of the car. "Yeah, all done." Luo Xun washed his hands in the basin beside Song Lingling C tidying up that pile of things had been tiring. "Here, your son was crying all afternoon probably because he did not see you. Just fell asleep." Xu Mei stuffed the small bun into Luo Xuns arms. Luo Xun could only hold the child after washing his hands and helplessly look to Yan Fei. The baby was clearly Yan Feis brother, why were they messing around with the generations? Yan Fei seemed to have not heard anything wrong. He washed his hands and the two went to eat dinner. Today is was mutton and rice porridge with greens. It tasted warm and fragrant, suitable for an evening meal. Luo Xun looked down at the small bun in his arms. He had woken up with Xu Mei came over and looked around with dazed eyes. Seeing Luo Xun holding him, the baby did not cry and went back to sleep. "There were no problemsing out? There was nothing going on at home?" The four had dinner while the rest inquired about events until now. Xu Mei and the others had been afraid someone would make trouble. Luo Xun was too busy eating to answer but Wang Duo wiped his mouth and exined. "Didnt meet anyone and nothing happened. Although when we moved things up and down, there were people secretly watching around." Luo Xun swallowed his food, "The house was sealed along with the doors and windows except for what we agreed upon." The crowd was reassured and Wu Xinughed, "Thats good, thieves wont get in through the roof." His intention was to joke, but the rest of the group was silent. Wu Xin quickly waved his hand, "I was only joking!" Yan Fei had not reacted, "If they really have the ability to lift the roof, so be it." What else could be done? They had done their best to protect the rooms, if others could still find a way inside, they would speechless whether they were there or not. The next morning the team got up early and returned to their true base. There was a metal container on wheels behind each car as the group of people continued forwards. Because of the cargo, the speed was bound to be much slower. As the moon rose in the sky, they sleepily made their way through the tunnel. Yan Fei sealed the door after checking the area and easing the cars into the tunnel.Only after they had driven past the entrance and entered the basement did the group breathe a sigh of relief. Although they still had to deal with crops about to mature, they were too tired. They said their farewells and got ready to sleep. Luo Xun crawled into the soft quilt and yawned, he could not keep his eyes open. Yan Fei checked the baby. After he determined that the small bun was soundly asleep, he took of his coat and joined his lover. Puppy was lying on a mattress beside the cradle. Suddenly there came a howling cry, everyone immediately jerked up with wide eyes. Puppy also perked up her ears and stared nervously at the window. Luo Xun got up and patted her head, "Dont bark!" The sound did not seem far away, if one heard a dog barking, who knew if it would run over? Although they lived near farnd with mutant nts, if the sound was from wild dogs or wolves...Puppy would not change sides since they were not short on meat. Puppy was well behaved since thest time she fought with a zombie dog and understood the difference between them. She understood Luo Xuns intent while hugging her and just wagged her tail silently. Yan Fei went to the window and peeked under a corner of the curtains. *Awooo* The people and dog stiffened. Yan Fei beckoned and Luo Xun hurried over to the curtain. "Look there." Following Yan Feis direction, Luo Xun saw a shadow moving in the distance. It was hard to distinguish as he saw another shadow pounce and the two rolled around and gave chase. Luo Xun had the feeling that the two seemed to be ying instead of fighting. "...A passing wild dog? Wolves?" Luo Xun guessed with a sigh of relief that the two shadows had not entered the farnd. "Maybe, its none of our business, go to sleep." The longer noise was no longer made but while the two animals were ying, there was asional barking. Luo Xun was still not clear whether it was dogs or wolves but he no longer paid attention, it was fine so long as they were not bothered. Chapter 193 The two unknown animals were near the farnd for a while but after the team went to sleep and woke up the next morning, they were nowhere to be seen. Plus, everyone just brought back a bunch of stuff to deal with, who had time to spy for mutant animals? Since they came back rtivelyte yesterday, the team woke up around eleven oclock in the morning. They quickly ate brunch, wiped their mouths and walked down to the basement. Yan Fei had already ventted the boxes of crops so that none died. The metal shelves were controlled by Yan Fei who ced them on a cart while the others pushed them into the nting rooms. Although there were many kinds of crops nted in their homes, they were smallpared to their currentyers. But they could be set aside into the open space, after some watering they would continue growing. The afternoon was filled with busy work. After putting together the shelves that were filled with mushroom wood, the nts would grow normally. "This batch of wheat and rice can be harvested in around a month." The team had finally finished the most important tasks and even brought back the goods from the car. They sat in the kitchen and had a short meeting while waiting for dinner to be prepared. Luo Xun thought for a moment before continuing, "First get the crops set up then pack up the rest in two days. Well see what is useful and missing. The next few times we leave, we fix theck of metal, furniture, ss and so on." They had brought quite a number of life necessities but if they wanted to live herefortably for a long time, they were bound to need a lot of things. There was the original furniture along with items from Luo Xuns home and Yan Feis metal recements. Now that the ce was set for habitation, it would take a lot of materials to fill up. Yan Feis powers were easy to use but they could not let him to everything. Especially since certain things made of metal were not as convenient. Of course during the move Luo Xun was not able to bring their sofa and tables but they had brought the king size bed. Although the decorations in the house were from the past owners, the furniture had been his. The only piece of furniture not for convenience was the bed so he would bring it with him. Hearing Luo Xun say so, the others also had a list on hand for when they were searching for supplies. This time when they went back to base they checked the military server and got a lot of data. They were able to check the distance to various items. "What are going to do this time?" After washing, the two men moved their bed and discussed the matter while wrapped in a soft quilt. Luo Xun thought, "First get metal. There are some nearby towns where we should be able to get some and electronic appliances." Their ce had several freezers but these things could be broken if left to the elements, it would be safer to have spares. And air conditioning...now that the weather had started to warm up, the days would get hotter. The rooms had units but several are broken..." Listening to Luo Xun ramble in his ear about required items, renovations and so on, Yan Fei who had started the conversation realized C the baby and dog had already fallen asleep while he was in afortable bed awake. He turned over and blocked Luo Xuns mouth, if there was something to say, do it tomorrow, it was time to sleep! A group of more than ten people, including the baby and dog took things back into the rooms. The first floor of the hall, the public storage space was useless for the time being. It took two full days to put everything in order, set the watering frequency, amount and daily sunshine. The group repeatedly checked and strengthened the doors and windows before driving the car through the tunnel towards their destination. The team had quite a few things and crops. These past few days Luo Xun had gathered the seedlings and was ready to nt them. Therefore in addition to metal, they needed to bring back wood to fill up the metal shelves underneath. There were many ces that needed alterations, more supplies and energy to make their home asfortable as possible. Luo Xun selected a road next to a railway track not far from their current base. There were few surrounding buildings so they should not encounter any danger. When he went out, the rest made sure to observe their surroundings. After confirming there were no wolves around, they breathed a sigh of relief and continued. Because the distance was not far, they would be able to quickly return. Along the road all kinds of trees had been nted before the end, more than half were dead while the rest had sprouted or blossomed colorful flowers. Luo Xun made a note of the tree distribution as they traversed the road. They arrived at their destination in around three hours, there was no pressure to make the journey within a day. As a result of Yan Feis level, they did not have to approach the buildings, he could gather the materials at a distance. "On the way over, I saw a bunch of peach and pear trees nted on the road, we shoulde back and get a hold of these trees." Luo Xun pointed. These fruit trees did not live for long, at most only a few years. But as long as they transnted one, they might have ess to more fruit this year! After a year or two it would be rich in fruit. "All right, all right! Fruit to eat!" The teams eyes lit up. Although there were some saplings in Luo Xuns home, since space, height and time was limited, they could only grow berries and vines such as strawberries and watermelon. Last year the lemon had blossomed but it was sour and used to supplement vitamins. Now if they could get more kinds of fruit nted inside the base...everyone started to drool at the thought of a future filled with delicious fruit. The metal was soon taken care of; two metal balls rolling beside them along with metal trailers towed by the cars. After the team was finished, they continued along the road with at least half the dead trees, enough to fill the empty space. There was also Yu Xinran with the power to turn any mud into earth so pulling out trees was simple. It was only when they reached the peach and pear trees that Luo Xun realized that the orchard also had some apple and cherry trees. Because of the climate, the trees had floweredter. Luo Xun found the flowers had just bloomed and buds were forming on the branches. Exiting the car, Luo Xun carefully observed the orchard and confirmed that there were no traces of mutant nts. He patted a trunk, "Do not bring back too many. Back at base we can nt these things inside a shed. Seven of eight should be enough for now. Anyways, the fruit trees would not run. As for being cut down for firewood...it was a long way from base and even if people came the withered wood would be more appealing than live trees. Luo Xun chose one of each type, he was not sure what kind of fruit would be produced after mutation. Since there two kinds of mutations benign and malignant, he could not guarantee that the seemingly normal fruits would stay safe. It would be a shame to bring back a tree only to learn that the fruit could not be eaten. Chapter 194 The group happily dug trees and moved them into the car. They had to be extra careful to not damage any flowers, each one was a potential fruit to be eaten! After carefully loading the fruit trees, Yan Fei changed the car a bit, making a mesh metal to keep the trees upright and not break any branches. In order to eat delicious fruit as soon as possible, Luo Xuns brain processed quickly. Yu Xinran dug pits while the rest unloaded the trees and prepared for nting, but realized that the ground was shaking. "Whats going on?" "Something is running!" "God, its not a mutant again is it?" They had seen some mutant animals from afar on the way over. However due to the distance and the fact that the cars were close together, the animals looked like specks and were not interesting to look at. Now the sound was getting louder and closer, obviously something was running over! "On..." Luo Xun watched was the running animal jumped into the orchard. Before they could see what was going on, another animal of simr size also ran over. The two huge animals rolled around in the wooded area in front of the small group of humans. "Lets go...luckily we got all the trees we could..." The teams mouths twitched looking at the trees that had been crushed like wildflowers by therge dogs. "Get to the road." Luo Xun only needed a nce to see that the animals were two or three meters tall and were a definite danger to the smaller trees. Not to mention that mutant animals often had thick skin, so the broken bits of tree would not injure them. The team hurried into the car, stepped on the throttle and sped away towards their base. Although the two canines noticed the team, they seemed to have no interest in hunting them. Perhaps they were already full or did not want tiny snacks. Whatever the reason, it would be best not to provoke the two mutant animals. Luo Xun and team drove directly back to base without taking a break or eating lunch. They breathed a sigh of relief when they went into the tunnel and sealed the entrance. "That was a close call right? Luckily they did not roll onto the highway." Han Li patted his chest after climbing out of the car. "They arent the two who howled outsidest night, were they?" He Qiankun asked nervously. "Maybe." Luo Xun was not sure. "We saw two faint shadowsst night, the sky was too dark to see anything more." "Lets not talk about the dogs now, we have not eaten lunch yet." Xu Mei looked down at her watch before saying, "Its 4:30 PM now." All the dry food was taken and the group of people went to the first floor canteen to prepare todays meal. The rest of the team sat around the table waiting for dinner while the twodies were busy in the kitchen. Luo Xun frowned, "Do you think that we will meet those two when we go out next time?" The group exchanged looks. "This..." "Not sure..." "It is possible. If those two are the same from outside base, maybe they have a den around here." "Luo Xun, should we bring some meat and bones when we go out next time? Would it be enough to throw it as bait?" Luo Xun rolled his eyes, "If they eat once, they would follow every time we go out. When we dont have any food, would they not eat us instead?" "...Thats a problem." "Wait until next time..." "Yes, there is so much metal on that bridge, it would a pity to leave it!" "s, its a pity about the orchard, who knows how many fruit trees are still standing..." Fortunately, the two mutant animals only seemed to passing through and ying around. If they actually had a den...where would they have the guts to pass? It did not take long for Xu Mei to finish preparing the meal. Most of the food had already been processed into rations. They just needed to prepare some soup and heat up the ingredients. After eating and drinking their fill, the team once again descended into the basement for work. The fruit trees were nted into metal basins and crammed into any remaining space. The nts from Luo Xuns terrace would be added as wellter on. At this time, the tunnel was half full of metal. Once Yan Fei recovered his mental strength, he could use it to slowly renovate the whole base. After about three or four hours, the team carried back supplies. Then they enjoyed afortable bath and each returned to their room and slept. The next day, Yan Fei continued with the previous n of reinforcing the walls of the buildings with their supply of metal. Although there was a metal protectiveyer, since they had a limited amount of metal, Yan Fei did not dare refine the metals so the defense was a bit lower. Zhang Yi and Xu Mei needed several attacks in order to affect the metal shelves. Now Yan Fei had to make them so that a mutant bird could not copse. If another animal attacked, at least the inside of the house would be protected. The difficulty wasparable to rebuilding the metal wall at old base. Good because Yan Feis power had risen so the metal was tougher but it was more time consuming. Yan Fei was responsible for rebuilding the walls C this was only the first step. After they would reinforce the tunnel walls again, even the basement walls had to be reinforced with metal. The twodies with Li Tie and Han Li were in charge of ssifying and sorting the materials brought back. He Qiankun took Wu Xin to theputers and continued searching the surrounding area for supplies. They needed too many things in both type and amount, so they decided to create a map around their current location marking where they had already hit. Anything they could find would be brought back. Luo Xun, Yan Fei, Yu Xinran, Puppy along with Zhang Yi and his follower Wang Duo went towards the mutant nts to collect nuclei. When they came back, they had not taken the time to collect crystals. They would take the opportunity now and see if they could get any level five nuclei. Everyone was busy with their portion of work. Luo Xun and the others were at the end of the passage and testing what kind of method would get them arger number of nuclei. For example, having Zhang Yi blow Yu Xinrans sand, which was much lighter than a core since she would cause a sandstorm trying to do the same. They also let Puppy use gravity control, the result was that every time Yu Xinran grabbed a nuclei, the dog would cause it to fall down. After half an hour, eventually they concluded that Yu Xinran working on her own was much more convenient that their nonsense. "Would all the mutant nts be killed if the nearby soil turned into sand?" Wang Duo suddenly asked Luo Xun. Luo Xun froze then shook his head. "Nothing, the soil did not lose any nutrients being turned into sand. As long as we have Song Lingling create some rain after we finish it will be fine." The team had a variety of convenient abilities, but they were sort of specialized, it would have been easier with an earth of electrical ability user. "How big! Uncle, its a big one again!" Yu Xinran ran over using hands of sand to hold the crystal core. The bright red color was stunning to the eye. "Its a fire type, Xu Mei is lucky!" The rabbits earth nuclei was still with them, they would wait until the base was more receptive to mutant animal nuclei before trading. Wang Duo delightedly looked at the fire core the size of his head. Luo Xuns phone suddenly rang C do not misunderstand, they would not get base information due to confidentiality. They did not use the base mobile phones instead they had grabbed some before. Now due to Li Ties efforts, there was local areawork which meant they could usemunication software. Luo Xun picked up the phone and heard a loud voice. "Luo Xun! Guys, get back here! Major discovery!" Chapter 195 Obviously He Qiankun had not just called Luo Xun, he also called Xu Mei, Yan Fei and the others to enter their room withputers. They looked at the image He Qiankun deliberately left, a dense mass of ck, like a surging river flowing over the earth. "...What is it?" Everyone was confused for a moment, the white was obviously snow, but were the ck parts? He Qiankun silently scrolled to erge the picture. Luo Xun realized it was a satellite photo when he noticed the numbers in the corner. When the image was magnified, the team was silent, "Zombie wave?" He Qiankun nodded and turned to the team and revealed another picture and document. "I got these back when we returned to base. I thought of finding some more important information and as a result found these." He cleared his throat and pointed at the document, "Didnt we wonder where the zombies passing by had gone? They all...went abroad." Yes, gone abroad. In the beginning, the zombie wave passing by went westward through A-city, past the desert, out of Asia through the Middle East towards the European continent... The crowd looked at the screen in shock, not understanding the meaning of the sentence. "Are there any other zombie waves?" Luo Xun was the first to regain hisposure, while it seemed true that something wasmanding the zombies, he was more afraid of humans. Even if there were intelligent zombies, they were still zombies with a certain behavioral pattern. "Yes, but the scale is both big and small!" He Qiankun was excited, he immediately brought out a few other documents. "The people at base were gathering some information, some analysis reports but had not consolidated them..." He opened a few more photos. "This shows zombies in the south, fewer than those that passed us but now few. In addition, there were some more scattered around...if it had been winter with snow everywhere it would have been difficult to see them moving around. This was supposed to be a southern base being sieged, and this one in India...theres no snow and there are zombies everywhere! A higher density than in our country!" The photos were more fragmented, the data was rted to the western side. There were base reports, messages and files mixed in asionally. Luo Xun and even He Qiankun were dizzy looking at the information andined, "They did not find special data to integrate so they just stuffed all the information inside. Wu Xin and I have spent a lot of time on it..." Luo Xun pondered then suddenly asked, "These documents, can we not build our own machine to receive it?" There was a satellite receiver on the roof, although it was used for television. Li Tie had checked to make sure it was functional but they were not sure if it could receive military signals. The group froze, Li Tie pped his thigh. "It can! Yes! We know the militarys signal waves. The issue would be with the direction and encryption..." The experts huddled together to discuss the problem. Yan Fei also added, "As I long as I can analyze it, the materials will be easy to make, Ill go check in a moment." He looked at Luo Xun, "Youre going to use it to monitor the zombie wave?" Luo Xun understood his underlying meaning andughed, "We can deal with small waves, but if there is arge body of zombies nearby, we wont be able to stray too far from base. Its important for us to notice them in advance." The messages they received were stolen from the military database, which in itself was second hand information. Who knew how many days had passed since the information was collected. If they could receive the signals at home, obviously they would do so. With that, he patted on someones shoulder, "If we receive these signals, will the base be discovered?" The others discussed and Li Tie shook his head. "There should be no problem. We know that many other bases aremunicating through satellite signals and receiving messages. There were devices that continued to function even after the end of the world. As long as there ismunication, there will be no problems." Luo Xun put down his worry. "This is good. The matter is not too urgent right now. For now the zombie wave wont get to us. As long as we do not provoke a concentrated area, they might not attack. It would be nice if we could draw a few and deal with them each day." After discussing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; their biggest worry was not standing against a huge zombie wave. Or what if they encountered a horde while outside? They would not be lucky every time with a huge tract ofnd with mutant nts. So being able to predict zombie movement was invaluable. The n had changed again, Yan Fei found that the equipment could be imitated with the metal at home. He immediately made some in a few sizes ording to Li Ties specifications for study. After that Yan Fei continued to reinforce the outer wall defenses. Luo Xun, Zhang Yi and Yu Xinran went down the metal tunnel in order to collect nuclei. Xu Mei happily put away herrge crystal core and grabbed Song Lingling to pack up. The former students were talking about satellite signals and decryption, everyone considerately left them to their devices. Well except Wang Duo, who was running errands. After a whole day of work, when everyone had a meeting in the evening to show the results of their work with a short summary. Xu Mei started, "Our things are too many and random, we only ordered the bottles and cans, Luo Xuns pickle jars are also ready. We hung up the curtains but we dont have enough in order to cover the second floor. These things are low priority, we can do a little each time wee back, not to mention we still have to do some renovation." Yan Fei was still dissatisfied with the amount of metal. "The volume will be reduced by two-thirds after refining the metal. There are still the basements and walls that need treatment. We definitely do not have enough metal. I estimate the road we went yesterday wont be enough which does not count the metal needed for plumbing." After that Li Tie had good news about the satellite signals. "This afternoon we worked out a way to get signals using the receiver." He raised a hand to stave off cheers. "But the receiver can only be put outside of the walls, Yan Feis barrier is too thick. But we can set up a few in case a zombie or mutant animal breaks it!" Finally was thergest harvest from Luo Xuns group: vanguard Yu Xinran, escort Zhang Yi, follower Wang Duo and helper Puppy forming the treasure hunt team. Luo Xun helplessly shrugged at the jewel like nuclei stacked like hills. "No way, there were too many and no time to sort..." Well they had the most obvious results today. The team spent a whole day debugging the satellite receiver, packing up the clutter, strengthening the defenses and sorting nuclei. After taking care of all that, the Otaku squad drove out and rushed to their target to find more metal. Along the way, they were afraid of meeting those two wanton mutant animals but they were lucky and found no trace of them. It was a pity that more than half of the fruit trees were ttened but there were still other flowering trees around. On the road they had met some mutant animals that approached. Fortunately, they were not aggressive; cats, dogs and sparrows among others. Of course, the sizes varied, small meant the size of pre-apocalypse birds,rge ones were closer to the size of arge rooster. Was it not difficult for them to fly up? Chapter 196 No matter how big and fat the sparrows on the road were, Luo Xun and team had no time to get out of the car and fight these strange animals. Their fridges and freezers were filled with a variety of frozen, dried and pickled meat. Enough to enjoy themselves for a month, so for the time being they did not have to worry about the roadside food. They went straight to their destination, back and forth from home and both sides of the road. asionally also digging up useful trees and nts to transport home. It was a full 10 days of hard work. During the time, they ran out five times, each time mostly collecting metal. The car space was also filled with a variety of dried wood. Atst, a sufficient amount of metal was barely collected to renovate the new base. The main building, garage, barn and farm were allpletely covered with metal shelves after repeated refinements. The four walls and ceilings of the basement floors were all covered with refined metal in case something tried to drill from the soil. Yan Fei increased the robustness and thickness of the tunnel walls again. When this was done, their metal reserves had been reduced by one-third. Luo Xun had spent the past two days drawing designs, ready to change the entire building to resemble the base in the southwest with the geothermal flooring and plumbing. Not only there, the underground nting spaces should also have temperature regtion equipment added. The original things were advanced but tooplicated, once there was a problem, there would be no way to repair it. It would be better for them to change to something they would monitor and repair when needed. Finally there was the outside open space. Luo Xun would wait until the plumbing was finished before thoroughly covering the space with metal and creating a greenhouse for fruit and flowers. They were ready to extend the metal shed to the edge of the mutant nts after four weeks. They had previously experimented with throwing metal things next to the nts, some pieces were damaged. But once the metal stopped moving, it did not attract the nts attention. After confirming that the things did not move on their own and were not edible, they ignored them. This was good news for Luo Xun, they could safely use metal nks to create walls and it should be safe so long as they were thick enough to hide their presence. These days Luo Xun and Yu Xinran scouted around thend. They did not explore the entire scope but still sifted out a dizzying number of nuclei. Who knew how many dead zombies and animals were buried after the apocalypse started? There was enough nuclei for them to spend for a long time. For the time being, they had not continued to search deeper and gave the little girl a vacation. She and Puppy yed around in the building. Now, Luo Xun and the others rubbed their hands together for their next task C it was time to harvest all the matured rice and wheat from the southwest base. "This is a harvester, this is a dryer and this is for tying things like straw." Luo Xun patted the two devices on the ground. "In a moment we can temporarily modify the shelf to deal with it directly." "Its a lot easier than when we harvestedst autumn!" "Theres a machine on top so that the dry food can be directly transported and the flour can be ground with the machine." What was one of the best things about this new base? No doubt it was that there was aplete set of agricultural equipment. Maybe the school was rich? Had special funding? Anyway, regardless of size or how many students had been there, the ce was jaw-droppingly well-equipped. All avable and in good condition. Although some things were inefficient but it was just right for Luo Xuns group! "Luo Xun! There is also a press that can make noodles, lets try when we go? Anyway most of the harvest is wheat this time!" He Qiankun asked with shining eyes. "Yeah, but dont have much cooking oil. Maybe we should return to base or find another ce to collect supplies." Luo Xun added with a smile, "But we have to set aside some seeds this time. After sorting out the harvested crops, we have to open some space especially for growing grain." Last autumn they had harvested too little rice. If not for the variety of vegetables, potatoes and corn which could be used as an alternative, their rice would have been all gone. They were also lucky hunting the rabbit, coupled with leftover bacon and dried meat, they had eaten well until now. Now they only used one room to grow grain, around an acre ofnd which would provide the team with half a year of food. Setting up more would let everyone life more richly and let them sell food back at base or something. After Luo Xun mentioned seeds, the crowd nodded excitedly with smiles. "We have to set aside more seeds to nt devil vines." They had been able to receive satellite photos from time to time, as well as messages sent to other bases through signals. Among them, a part of their location had been shown which let them determine the distribution of mutant farnd. The area was not small and he could use it to increase the area of thend defenses. Devil vine seedlings were not lethal and it was rtively simple to cultivate. Since it was one of their defense mechanisms, the more the better. This way, they could increase the area of underground cultivation. As long as they did not nt the vines too close to open road, even metal users passing by would not be able to find them. "No problem, right Luo Xun, were going to have to paint?" These days, on the one hand they were responsible for building metal shelves, protective walls, on the other hand they would paint the metal a mottled pattern of green, ck and brown. It seemed to have been quite sessful in hiding them from the satellites. "Need to paint and when the grain is processed, some will focus on painting, while the others will deal with the wood...there are too many things to do." Now it was the end of the month, Luo Xun quickly added, "These days are fine, after two days if we go out then we need to see if there are any animals to hunt and freeze in the fridge." They had almost finished the rabbit meat at home. Since they had to set aside a portion of seeds to continue growing and to grow mutant nts, they were more nervous about their food stores. Need a variety of sweet and regr potatoes, corn and other things along with meat. Eating more barbecue would solve the problem, right? Happily harvesting grain, Li TIe and others rode the elevator to the ground floor. Then entered the buildings for storage and food processing C there was specialized equipment. Yan Fei made a metal channel in between the two buildings in case any animals appeared to make trouble. A shower of wheat and rice were shelled. The wheat was ground into powder and the smell of grain filled the air, making the people break into smiles. There was trouble with the noodle maker since they did not have enough fuel, Luo Xun did not bother for the moment. Xu Mei and Song Lingling cleaned out the presser and even kneaded the noodles. That night they used the remaining sheep bones to make some soup to eat. With their own grown herbs and onions, the fresh taste burst out on their tongues. "Having machines help with harvesting this season was much easier than by hand." Everyone was busy with a lot of things every day, the twodies did not always have the time or energy to cook. Luo Xun was the same, since all kinds of foods were already made, he had not cooked for a while. "Theres a noodle machine in the kitchen!" Song Linglings eyes lit up. "Me and Xu Mei are not good, each time we tried they would go t, and there isnt a cook here..." Luo Xun could technically do it but he does not have time. After hearing her words, Luo Xun had to dampen her enthusiasm, "Even if you make buns with the machine, you need to have yeast for fermenting." Song Linglings face froze before turning to Xu Mei and acting like she had heard nothing, "Xu Mei, do you want to try making noodles with the machine?" Luo Xun helplessly waved a hand, "Try tomorrow for a change in taste. Before we only had porridge or dry pasta, having soup noodles would be great." That kind of machine could make things like instant noodles but the seasoning and taste would be different. They made pure flour, unlike some manufacturers before the end who added things to affect the taste. Chapter 197 For a group of eaters, nothing was more pleasing than a device that increased food diversity. The only thing better was naturally a bountiful harvest or a mutant animal with a lot of meat. Luo Xun and the others were busy for two days as they processed the grains at home. The straw could be used as fuel for fire, fertilizer and other uses. At the moment it was stacked in the granary with some set aside for the kitchen. After all, they currently did notck vines and leaves to make fertilizer. After the food rted tasks werepleted, Luo Xun andpany helplessly looked at the time C the month was reaching an end. They could stay at home for a few days but it was best to return soon and see the situation at the southwest base. If the team tasks were more and more difficult, they could only pause their preparations for the sake of keeping their other base. "These days we will set up the geothermal pipes on the first floor, the rest will wait until next time. He Qiankun and Wu Xin found some ces where we can grab materials." Luo Xun advised the group. They had quite a few things to finish. He Qiankun and Wu Xin had searched the surroundings to find many possible ces for materials, thisbined with asional information from satellite helped them determine the best ces for resources. Some of the locations were already marked on the map which helped determine what supplies could potentially be there, but they were not sure what with the apocalypse or if other people had already passed through. But the satellite photos could give a general idea C at least to see if the building was damaged. Otherwise if they took a trip to those ces, there may be arge number of zombies. Now that satellite footage was avable, they could assess if the number of zombies in the area would pose a threat. At the very least, a zombie wave would be seen in advance. Now that a n had been set, all they had to do was follow. Luo Xun went with some others to move all things and clear the room so that Yan Fei couldy down the pipes ording to the design. He had done it before and was familiar with the process. It took thest few days of April to finish the flooring on the first floor. Finishing on time, they had a day to prepare some metal and rations. Luo Xun also brought some of the recently harvested leafy vegetables into the car. They did not drive their remodeled truck instead drove a few cars towards base. "Salt and gasoline...lets go back and aim for these things." Gasoline was something they could find outside but it would not be long before the military took control of diesel and gasoline sources. Cars outside used to have some gasoline, now they were mostly gone. If Luo Xun wanted to get some gasoline to use, they could only exchange from the military for the time being. "I dont know if there are any restrictions if we want to buy these things now." Yan Feis brow wrinkled. While they had not been searching specifically for gasoline, whenever they did find some it was too little to use. After all, they had to go out several times to collect supplies. Supplying five cars at a time with gasoline, they did not have much stock at home. Luo Xun tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and asked, "Didnt Wang Duo find a few ces that sold sr cars before the apocalypse? Lets go over when we can. Well buy as much petrol as possible." They could only do this, at least until they could find an alternative. Since they were not in a hurry to go back and grab things, Luo Xuns team did not leave the new base until the 30th. After a night outside, they reached the gate at noon for registration. There was not much in their bags and the car only had some scattered metal shelves, wooden boards and other things of little value. The people who checked the material had contemptuous expressions before letting them through. Although they saw it from the side mirror, it was just an entrance, not a. After driving back into base, they parked on the side of the road. Yan Fei exited the car and and lifted the flooring to reveal fresh, tender and colorful vegetables. The roof also had ayer of metal hiding most of their dry food and various crystal cores to be exchanged at base. Luo Xun had Yan Fei ready the hiding spots before hand. No other way, if they came back to base with so many fresh vegetables, first time others might think that there were gardens in the wild. But afterwards it would be suspicious, no to mention the cores, meat and noodles they carried. "Lets go home first and Ill call the teams who want to buy foodter." Thest time he contacted them, those who were interested would buy during the first few days of May. These two days happened to be when the base released mandatory missions. Generally barring special circumstances, the vast majority of teams would be on base. "Yeah, there were a lot of cars and people on the road today." The weather had warmed up so the number of roadside vendors had increased. Many people were doing business C they would find a broken car, or ce a tarp on the ground and disy their products. The group of people only drove three cars this time and returned to their neighborhood. Luo Xun turned the corner but before reaching the parking spot, mmed on the brakes. *Yip* Puppy hit the back of the car seat with the sudden stop and turned to look at Luo Xun and Yan Fei with an aggrieved expression. "Whats going on?" Yan Fei asked after pausing a moment. Luo Xun only stared and pointed a trembling finger upwards. Yan Fei looked and his pupils shrank C half of the house walls had copsed! Exposing the silver grey metal inside... The two men were fixed in ce and looked at the house C the ss terrace and almost all of the rest were gone...It had copsed and fell to one side of the building, leaving a pile of debris. "Luo Xun, whats going on?" Li Tie and Wang Duo came to inquire from the back car. They had not noticed the situation above, but had green faces when they followed Luo Xuns finger. "Oh no! How could this have happened!" "...Even the walls on the 15th floor were broken! Who could have done this!" "Go up and see." Luo Xuns face darkened, his hands quivered. This was his home, a nest set up before the apocalypse. He originally thought that he would live here for a lifetime, even if they had found a new base and was ready to unofficially disband the team, he was not ready to give up the house. He could pay the rent to the base and would only return for a few days each month. But now? His house was half torn down! If there had not been metal supports, who knew if only the floor would have remained. Stopping the car, Yan Fei used his ability to seal the whole car in metal, see who dared attack their property! After climbing to the 15th floor even without going further Luo Xun found that several rooms had been broken into C there was actually a big hole in the living room of 1502! The same was true of two floors in the 16th level. Except for Li Ties and Luo Xuns home which were okay because the metal flooring had not been removed. Taking a deep breath, Luo Xun stood in front of his home with a dark expression. "This has gone too far! They have crossed the line!" All the people present were indignant, there was no damage to the roof but their floor was broken into! It was enough for a fight even if nothing had been stolen! Suddenly, Luo Xun grabbed and loaded his crossbow. The others followed and checked their own weapons. "There are traces of people in several rooms on the 15th and 16th floors." Luo Xun had not finished when there were sounds of movement. They looked down and saw some climbing up adder from the 14th floor. When the man came face to face with Luo Xun, his face colored with anger. Luo Xun sneered, "So you created this hole." The mans expression changed again and shouted, "There are people upstairs..." At the same time he lifted a hand holding a gun! But before he could do anything, there was a buzzing sound and the metal arrow pierced his forehead and sent the body flying. "Tongtong." "Ah!" "Guys do you copy!" "Dead, dead!" "Not good, the people from upstairs came back..." There was a cacophony downstairs. Luo Xun had a cold expression and did not put down his crossbow. Then he suddenly remembered that he had not shed killed another human since he had been reborn. Chapter 198 Bonus Chapter! Thanks to all those who donated Ko-fis and enjoy! "Bomb, bomb!" Near the Hongjong district, several loud explosions went off. The strong wind and a huge fire blew a hole into the 14th floor. People who saw and heard the noise quietly huddled in safer areas. On one hand gossiping and on the other hand, watching the action. A loud explosion rang out and there were sounds of abilities being used from time to time. People obviously guessed that ability users were fighting, the chaossted about half an hour before it stopped. After ten minutes, a few cars left the neighborhood. The crowd was not sure whether the cars had anything to do with what had happened so they watched from afar. Half an hour after the cars left the area, the crowd confirmed there was no movement before approaching the building. In addition to the missing wall on the 16th floor, there was arge hole sted through the 14th floor. The edges of the hole were charred ck with a plume of smoke trailing upwards. Apparently the fight had notsted long. A man who saw the copse suddenly pointed and shouted, "The metal in that house is gone!" Last month, there was a rumor that the two top floors of the building were filled with food, cloth and other goods. Some people said there were hidden crystal cores, gasoline and other materials in those homes. The more rumors spread, the more people came to watch and try their luck. Some had tried to get in from the roof and window, but they were blocked by the heavy metal. It was not until a room on the 14th floor was changed that a small group of men managed to open a hole and enter the 15th floor. More than one team knew so they reluctantly came in together but they only saw ayer of empty rooms with nothing inside. There people were not willing to give up and they climbed further. Unfortunately they did not find anything but then found a corner that they could not enter. Even if they forced open the door, there was a metal te behind it. They broke down the walls but there were still thick metal tes blocking their way. There must be treasure hidden behind the unopened room! It was regrettable that no one could get past the metal, who knew how thick the tes were? There were metal users on base so some people with pull in the army contacted the head of the department. But when they heard about opening a room blocked with thick metal walls, they immediately refused. They were not fools, outsiders may not know but they could guess who had created the walls. The metal users also had rapport with each other, what kind of mood would it be if one struggled to hide something only for a colleague to open it? What was put in their house was theirs, these people broke into someones home but also wanted to have the military help them, was this not wishful thinking? Because it was just a middleman with the message, the military team did not say anything and just refused. The invaders were not willing to give up, since it seemed like no one wasing back they stayed and tried to break down the walls. Some of the other teams came to try their luck and attacked the metal tes but left once they saw that they could not open the inner wall. Then today, the owners came back... At the material exchange office, Luo Xun exchanged their cap limit of gasoline and salt ording to the limit allotted to each team every month. After they went to the mission hall and registered to disband their team. Since the release of the new rules, teams had to disband each day, especially at the beginning of the month. As the base released increasingly difficult tasks that few teams could support. So numerous teams were forced to disband each time. Luo Xun bent over to fill out the application form, the rest of the angry teamined. "Really, since when were we soft persimmons? Actually making ahole in someone elses floor to steal things! They have no shame!" "Yeah, I guess there were others, but unfortunately..." "Please, didnt you blow them up with the wall? Even if we wanted to we would not be able to extract any information!" Zhang Yi looked at theining Li Tie, who shivered, "I want to ask, casually breaking into a building C I dont think that any of them were innocent." Song Lingling helplessly shrugged, "Didnt even ask, even if we did, we might not be able to find anything." She was correct, they had not seen it but they could remember the chaos. Every time someones home was robbed, passersby would flock over until everything was snapped up. Although their side did not lose anything, since someone came to break in and even bombarded the wall, it would certainly attract peoples attention who would join in a heartbeat. More likely those people came by foot so it was unlikely for them to find the troublemakers even if they asked around. Just as the team reached the peak of teeth grinding resentment, Luo Xun came back. "The application form went through, I will call the teams who wanted to buy food, once it is sold we will go." He waspletely not in the mood to stay on base. He even felt ufortable the longer he had to stay. Today had been a harsh wake up, when had this priorst home of hope be so disgusting? In hisst life...in hisst life... Luo Xun had not been able to remember a simr case in his past life, perhaps due to their contact with different circles. Although there were no shortage of people attempting robbery, but such violent destruction when no one was at home? Was it his fault? If he had not let Yan Fei no strictly seal the house, would their home bepletely gone? No, even then they would be furious to find an empty house after their walls were broken down. In the apocalypse, people were at their base in self-insurance mode, but Luo Xun did not expect this much malice; reality had given him a big p. The previous phone contact sent their own text messages with desire to buy vegetables. After setting a trading ce the team divided in two. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would go to sell vegetables together while the other would go the market and see if there was anything to buy. Then they would go directly back to their small base. After Luo Xun had finished selling, Li Tie also finished shopping. The group of people drove their car full of supplies into the sunset. The sky was dark when they opened the door. Now that they hadpletely abandoned the rooms in the southwest base, the base would take back the housing since Luo Xuns team had been disbanded. Now even if they came to base, they could not go home. If they had to spend the night, they would have to sleep in the car. Unfortunately there was not a lot of space since it was filled with metal and supplies. If they really wanted to livefortably at night, it would be better to simply leave base, find a ce outside with metal and make a temporary house. It was ironic that peace of mindes from being outside base instead of inside. In the dark of night, under the twinkling stars, the team camped around four hours away from base. The busy team arranged a circle of metal sofas around the fire. Han Li looked at his silent team leader andpanions before whispering, "Luo Xun, will ever return to the A-city base?" "Will return." Although Luo Xuns heart was heavy, he exined to the group, "We can grow vegetables and grains but there are many things that are hard to get outside of base, or even unattainable. But we wont live on base, well do as we did today,e in early morning, sell what we need. Then buy things from the exchange office or market." After speaking he looked at everyone with a smile. "We can use the truck and set up a ce for people to rest. We can temporarily stay there if we need to stay on base for the night. Of course if we have enough time, we would get out early and camp outside like today." It was a relief to hear Luo Xun say that. It was good that he could still think normally and make decisions, it was a relief. Chapter 199 The night after leaving base was one of the most depressing for the team. Whether or not they were prepared to live in their ce, the houses in the southwest base were their original homes. Now it waspletely destroyed and they were semi-forced to leave, who would be in a good mood? The next morning, the team packed up their things and climbed into the car towards their new home. As long as they made proper preparations, they would be fine. "When we get back, lets put our things away and look for gasoline or electricity in town, then some cloth." Luo Xun said suddenly while driving. Yan Fei mouthed "Cloth" under his breath. Luo Xun still talked with everyonest night, but his attitude was obviously different and sometimes he looked listless. Obviously he had not recovered from the blow of their destroyed house in the southwest base. "Well, the first and third floors are almost done, but the second floor still needs some work. We dont have enough thick cloth at home, we need to find a way to get more, otherwise we cannot turn on the lights at night." Luo Xun then lit up, "Although we could add metal shutters to the metal shelves. We should enough to pull it off, lets try itter in the evening when we get back?" "Okay, Ill try on one of the outside rooms first." Luo Xun could recover and stop thinking about the southwest base. Even if his workload was increased C anyways he had to work regardless. It was not clear how the other people were doing, but the atmosphere between the couple had recovered. Luo Xun was responsible for driving but they had pulled over because of the stench, Yan Fei changed the babys diaper. In fact, thest time Luo Xun was at the supermarket, there was a special promotion so he bought some diapers C yes, those had been used when the couple first met. Unfortunately, he bought the adult size which wasrger than the babys head. It had originally been prepared for special circumstances but they had no choice but to use it for now. Fortunately, there was a lot of cotton at home which could be washed between recements and increased the efficiency. So the two parents would bring enough for the baby each time and wash/dry in the sun. The bun was now only three months old, although he was still smaller than average, he looked many times stronger than when first born. Tender white arms,rge ck eyes, with red lips...it seemed that the milk fruit was very nutritious and robust. The baby stared at Yan Fei, a fist in his mouth while thetter was changing his diaper. Between the two seats, Puppy looked over with curiosity. Luo Xun looked over once in a while while driving, a happy smile emerged unconsciously. The stuffy feeling in his heart hadpletely disappeared. Although his previous home was gone, he still had a new one with his loved ones. As for their former home...He was someone who could let go. Since it was no longer possible to stay, then they would only sell vegetables, buy things and exchange information at the bars. The convoy spent the entire day on the road but did not reach their destination. They had to camp out again for a night before everyone continued to drive towards their new home. Before they came out they studied their recently received satellite photos. Because thergest wave of zombies was traveling away, the smaller groups of zombies had not approached and the rest were wandering in urban areas. At least for a short while Luo Xuns team only had to worry about mutant animals without getting jumped by zombies. Therefore this time out they were rtively safe. They sighed in relief when they finally saw their base nestled among the mutant farnd. However they were subsequently shocked speechless. "Huh, whats going on here?" *Awoo* Luo Xun had just asked when there was howling behind them. It was the two mutant wolves that they had met a while ago! "Metal shield!" Luo Xun had no time to analyze the situation and could only speak to yan Fei beside him. This time they left base with as much metal as possible. Although it did not look like it, the cars were filled to the brim with metal. After leaving, Yan Fei pulled the metal out and had it roll beside them on the road. The metal ball was rapidly shifting in front of the team! But there was mountainous shaking in front of them! Wang Duos panicked voice came from the radio. "God, these are pigs?!" Before Luo Xun could answer, an excited voice came from the radio. "Leader! Pork, pork!" Hearing He Qiankuns voice, Luo Xun recovered from the shock and turned with bright eyes at Yan Fei. Thetter rose an eyebrow and looked at the source of the noise...Pigs. Yes, pigs getting chased by two mutant wolves! These pigs had also mutated but the head was not too big. The average height was less than two meters, slightly smaller than the wolves behind them. They did not know the reason but the herd did not have the slightest intention to fight back despite out numbering the predators. They panicked and fled instead. Although these pigs were not the brightest, it seemed to know about the mutant nts and did not head straight through the farnd, but along the road towards their location! Luo Xun stopped the car as far to the side as possible. Yan Fei made a metal slope which let the pigs run past them C of course, otherwise they would have been hit. Since the pigs were running fast, Luo Xun suddenly thought of a n to eat pork faster. He quicklymanded the team to prepare. Yan Fei was ready and Yu Xinran made a few big pits in the ground. "Ready..." *Rumbling* The earth-shaking sound was getting closer and closer. Everyone secretly prayed that their n would seed. Just as the pigs sped past their blockade, some of the animals tripped on the metal tes and it turned into something simr to a car ident. The metal trip wires came out of the ground in front of Yu Xinrans pits. Wind des hit the pigs feet along with strengthened arrows. At least part of the herd fell afoul of the traps. The ones behind stepped on the martyrs and managed to run away. They stepped on their half-deadpatriots who had no way to cliimb up and escape. At this time, the two wolves who had been chasing the herd also came around. Before, Luo Xun had not really seen the two, but when they approached the team, Luo Xun felt pressure. That huge body, strong posture and dark green eyes... Everyone did not pay attention to the pigs but sped their weapons and stared at the two wolves. The pair of wolves were also staring at the metal covered area. The two sides were in a deadlock C a pig suddenly managed to climb out but ran in the opposite direction in panic. The wolf in the back pounced and bit its neck! When one wolf acted, the other carefully stared at Luo Xun. Since the humans did not react after itspanion, it carefully stepped forward and grabbed one of the hind legs. The team waited for the two wolves to drag their prey away before breathing a sigh of relief, but with some panic in their eyes. "Luo, Luo Xun, theyre noting back, are they?" "...Maybe." Luo Xun was not sure, who knew what those two animals were thinking? "Leader, what are you waiting for? Bring it home!" "Meat! Meat! So much meat!" Luo Xun was called back by the team who were looking at the group of pigs in the ground. There had been a bunch of fleeing pigs, enough that Luo Xun could not urately count. But subtracting the one taken by the wolves, there were still six pigs left! What were they waiting for? Bring them back! The car was loaded with a lot of materials from base so the space was limited. They managed to fit two into the remaining space. For the rest they temporarily made a metal te and dragged the rest through the metal tunnel. Driving back through the tunnel, the three cars staggered with their heavy load... Chapter 200 "I think we need to break up these broken cars." After entering the tunnel, Luo Xuns group split in two. One car ferried a portion of the supplies along with a pig. It drove to the end of the tunnel and turned around so both cars grabbed the rest together. The entrance closed after Xu Mei and Li Ties cars. "When were checking out recement cars, didnt leader say to find a sr car?" "Hopefully there are cars in the previous ces we searched." "Even if not, it would be fine to find another car in the city." Several people stayed at the entrance chatting and waiting for the rest toe back. It was not long before arge truck came back... "Why did you drive in reverse?" Luo Xun was in charge of driving so the team asked Wang Duo as he descended. Wang Duo helplessly pointed, "There isnt any space to turn around, how else would we get back?" Luo Xun also jumped out of the car. "Our tunnel needs to be remodeled, at least to let our cars get through." At the moment is was fine for the smaller cars but not for the truck. But with wolves outside who might smell the pigs, they did not dare do anything now. They put the remaining pigs on the truck along with the remaining supplies. The team left the gate and went straight to the basement. Six pigs were piled up at the entrance, almost blocking the tunnel. The group of people looked at the pigs and could not help but feel choked up. "Good thing we brought back several freezers a few days ago." Every time they went out to collect supplies, they would check around markets, most of the edibles were gone but shelves, freezers and other undesirables were left. In particr, often these convenience stores might have three or four different kinds of freezers, so they could bring back quite a few each time. "It would not be a problem even if we dont have enough fridges." Luo Xun touched his chin and poked a pig, the hairs were as hard as a steel needle. "We can also hang some bacon, which wouldst for a while." "Luo Xun, lets have stewed pork today?!" The team looked at the leader and the food with shining eyes. Luo Xun pressed against the hide and waved at the team. "Process it! Peel the skin and fur together." "Luo Xun, even stew the skin?" He Qiankun asked in question. Luo Xun shook his head and said, "These are not like the pigs we ate before the end of the world. The pork we ate were mostly from young piglets. These ones have been living for how long? It would be hard to stew." Seeing the doubts in their eyes, Luo Xunughed, "Lets leave a piece of pork belly with the skin on in a pot, if you can eat it without issue then we will not remove the skin." Anyways, since the weather is not hot, there was no issue waiting for the meat to cook before making a decision regarding the pigs in the basement. With some suspicion, the team of people cut out some pork belly. After getting rid of the coarse hairs, Xu Mei cut the meat into mahjong-sized pieces. She brought it to the kitchen and added some home-grown ginger and garlic along with some leftover pepper slivers over the fire. Others took advantage of the cooking to sort out what they had brought back. Luo Xun calcted how much earth they would need to dig out, in what direction and what each room would nt. This time they did not bring much out from base. When they moved, they had already taken the vast majority of their supplies so their home only had a tables, chairs and benches, basically a lot of metal. Obviously Yan Fei dealt with the metal upstairs, the other items were stacked in the empty room on the second floor. While everyone was busy, the pork had been stewing for a full hour and a half. The aroma made everyone hungry as they entered the kitchen to fill their bellies. Luo Xun was still at the kitchen table drawing ns, he lifted his head at hearing a cheer as Xu Mei brought arge pot to the table. Once the lid was lifted, the aroma was overflowing. Song Lingling could not help but taunt, "There is no shortage of meat to eat at home right?" "Man, how long have we not eaten pork? You have to be considerate of our stomachs." In truth,st times mutton was more fragrant but one should also remember how long they had not eaten pork since the apocalypse? The pot was filled with tender and oily meat! How could itpare to those thin animals full of tendons? Before the end for nutrition reasons, most people did not like to eat fatty meat, but now how long had it been since they could eat such a rich stew? After the pot was put down, everyone could not wait to put a piece in their mouth. They chewed...exchanged looks as they continued...then looked at Luo Xun who was still writing while chewing... "Luo Xun...you dont want any?" Han Li aked. "Ill eat some when you swallow." Luo Xuns words caused several impatient people to spit out the skin that had been overly chewed. "Although the meat is not rotten, its not tender...rather hard?" "Xu Mei, how long was this stewed? Its not soft." Xu Mei was also struggling with the skin and stared at Wang Duo. "It was stewed for nearly two hours, the rabbit meat was tender long before this!" Luo Xun put down the pen andughed while holding a piece, "Didnt listen to this old mans words..." "Cut" Everyone rolled their eyes, they were of simr age! "Well peel in a moment!" "Yes, the leftover hide can still be used to make clothes to protect against winter." "Yeah and those pig hairs can be made in brushes?" The pork actually tasted quite good, although it was tougher than expected, especially the skin. But if one got rid of that part, the rest was fine. Thinking about it, since the first mutant animals they had hunted, except for the birds they peeled off the skin before eating. It seemed that animals became harder to eat after the end with thicker skin and meat. Remembering when everyone was cutting out the pork belly, it took awhile for the knife to pierce the skin. They should have realized how tough the skin was from that. Finally facing the toughness of pig skin after lunch, the team had to help peel the pigs hide. After removing the blood, they took the parts to the freezer which were sorted before freezing. The innards were washed and frozen in a special freezer C these were good things! Especially the intestines, they could make some sausages with the meat! Finally, it was time to deal with the head and they were surprised to find, "Huh?! It is actually a transparent crystal core?! Those pigs didnt have any abilities?!" The entire team was surprised, those pigs had grown sorge without an ability? "Check, what level is it?" Luo Xun took a core and handed it to Yan Fei. Yan Fei grabbed it and raised an eyebrow. "...Can be absorbed, but the energy is three times as high. The level is higher than the previous mutant animals." The core had reached the third level but it was colorless? The crowd exchanged amazed looks. Luo Xun thought, "They were afraid of the two wolves because they had no ability? If one had a power, it would even the odds." "Its the same, no ability but level three...How did this variatione about?" Wu Xin was confused. Others also said they did not understand the strangews of the apocalypse. "Anyway." Luo Xun interrupted while putting the cores on the table. "Six cores, one for each ability user." Everyone weighed the crystals C each weighed around the same and was around 50 grams. Yan Fei, Zhang Yi, Xu Mei, Song Lingling, Yu Xinran each got one. The little girl then put one around the dogs neck. "And Puppy!" Before Luo Xun said anything, the restughed, "Just right, anyways since we are not ability users it would be useless to us." Since the discovery of crystal cores everywhere in the surrounding mutant farnd, their enthusiasm for the cores had diminished considerably. Even with a particrlyrge harvest, after assigning the designated types, the rest said they did not need an equal portion. They also calcted amounts for others but for the mutant animal cores, they did not need to bepensated. Anyways, when building the base they had most contributed. They should get more so that they could hunt and bring back more food for better meals in exchange. Luo Xun finally took the huge core on behalf of Puppy but Song Lingling suddenly asked, "Are you leaving out the baby?" Everyone turned as one as she exined, "We dont know what kind of ability he was, but any ability user should be able to use an attribute-free core?" Luo Xun frowned as he looked at the core and then Puppy, his heart was hesitant. Zhng Yi yawned and side-eyed Luo Xun. "In the end, you are taking the core regardless if it is for the dog or the baby?" True, anyways Luo Xun and Yan Fei were responsible for the baby and Puppy. Why should be get tangled over who would get to use the core, they could decide back at their room. Chapter 201 The teams things had been brought back to their rooms, they spent an afternoon organizing the basement crops. After dinner they had a good rest in their room. Tomorrow morning they would take advantage of their energy and good weather to collect things. When they returned to the room, they picked up therge crystal core and decided to give it to Puppy first C it would be a few years until their baby was ready to use cores. Unfortunately, Puppy pressed her nose against the core for a smell before scrunching her nose and turning away. She walked over to Luo Xun tail wagging. The pair exchanged helpless looks, "Fine, well leave it for the baby when he understands how to use it." The dog did not want it so they could only leave it for the small bun. After packing up what they brought back, the couple rolled onto the bed for lovemaking. Luo Xun vented out all his depression from their home getting destroyed in the southwest base. Heid on the bed looking at the ceiling. "What do you think?" Yan Fei hugged him and let Luo Xun use his arm as a pillow. Seeing thetter in a daze, he gently shook the others arm. "I wanted to turn the two floors into sand before we left." "Ah." Yan Fei had no opinion, although Luo Xun was not the only angry one. Everyone in the Otaku squad was angry since they had spent a lot of time there since the apocalypse started. "But thinking about it, " Luo Xun helplessly shrugged, "The base has earth ability users, even with just sand left, the base could recycle the material and have people live there anyways." Their home had been the penthouses and were very bright. With the bases sr energy situation, that golden spot would not be short of prospective tenants. Yan Fei smiled and kissed Luo Xuns forehead. "I took half the metal from the wall before I elft." "Huh?" Luo Xun looked at him in confusion. Yan Fei lowered his head and kissed his lover again. "That house has no problems but the foundation is not strong..." He was not kind enough to leave the house without danger and the invaders to live without issue. Do not forget that two houses in the building were under their names, if the base gave those ces out, do not me them for their bad luck. The next morning after a good nights sleep everyone woke up to wash, have breakfast and prepare food along with weapons and such. They went into the car and drove into the tunnel. Everyone looked around before going forward, since the two wolves were not in sight, it should be safe enough. A line of cars drove down a secret road. Luo Xun had chosen a new route for the team follow. Luo Xuns choice was still on the way to the highway, but there was a concentration of buildings in the middle. When they came back yesterday they checked the photos and confirmed that there were few signs of zombie activity in the area. At the same time however, they also confirmed that there was a small wave of undead lying in the south east coastal area. Although they were moving towards the coastline, it was not certain that they would not turn towards A-city. Therefore they must collect all their needed supplies and return to their small base before dangeres. The convoy drove for four hours instead of stopping, they followed the road all the way downtown. He had previously found an electric truck near the map. Luo Xun held up the map while checking the dpidated buildings and identified some store signs. "That is a dry cleaner, let me see...continue! Its next to a 24-hour convenience store!" They drove over and the team looked around for a while. Regrettably they did not find a new energy vehicle nearby. "Go into the shop and see if there is anything to collect." Luo Xun stood in front of the car and told the team. He had just finished speaking when a few zombies ran out from the shadows. The level two and three zombies stayed away and threw spheres of water, fire and even ice arrows! Yan Fei created a metal wall. After blocking the attacks, he waved his hand and turned the wall into a spear to return fire! In their current situation, there were norge scale attacks, but there were quite a few scattered attacks from scavenging zombies. A part came out to clean up the corpses, while the others went to the car sale room. The store was not to big for a business building next to the highway. There did not seem to be any cars inside and the back was missing the door. The room was slightly messy, the ss in the door had been broken. Unfortunately there was nothing to take away. The water dispenser was gone, the drawers were opened and turned inside out. After confirming that there were no zombies inside, the people carefully searched. Song Lingling found a pile of keys in the drawer. "Are these car keys?" Luo Xun came over to look, "Probably, there are number tes on them but...where are the cars?" How could there be keys but no car? They decided to hold onto the key in case they find the matching car. After confirming that there was nothing to find, the group of people hurried out and went straight to the convenience store next door. Li Tie and Zhang Yi were responsible for keeping watch in case the noise or scents attract some zombies. Part of the group went into the store and made sure there were no zombies before quickly collecting supplies. The shop had long been looted, there was almost no food left and even some things were scattered on the ground and lost their original appearance. Luo Xuns goal was not the shelf goods, after the apocalypse and since the base had set up so many collection missions, they already knew there was nothing left. So they targeted the small warehouse behind the store. However after a round inside, the group of people walked out empty-handed. "It seems that we can only go to the wholesale market and warehouses and so on to see the situation." Luo Xun said helplessly, although it was expected, it was said to find that the warehouse waspletely empty was sad. "No problem, we checked all the nearby wholesale markets and warehouses. There were several logisticpanies that were marked. Im sure well find something we can use." Li Tieforted after returning empty handed. Not far away, a couple of zombies were excitedly screaming as it ran over. Zhang Yi shot several wind des and beheaded them. The headless zombies still ran a few steps forward before falling to the ground. Luo Xun continued to drive forward while digging out cores and collecting metal left and right. After a while and confirming that there are no cars nearby, they prepared to turn back. As they drove past an intersection, Wu Xins voice came from the radio. "Luo Xun, isnt the road covered in cars?" The team hurriedly stopped the car and checked. It looked like a restaurant front yard but the ss door had been half torn off and the hotels sign was half gone. Luo Xun guessed that with the end of the world it was closed and used for living space. But there was a huge tarpaulin in the corner of the yard. They exited the car and went to check the vehicles. Zhang Yi used some wind to blow off the cover to reveal two rows of neatly parked new energy vehicles. After checking the cars and finding nothing wrong, Luo Xuns eyes lit up. These were the new energy cars recently getting promoted. Although they could not hold as much as a truck, the car ran on electricity! Normally unlike sr cars, they could not charge while driving since they used electricity. However they could attach a few sr panels, part would charge the car along with a few batteries in case of emergency. "Leader, we are lucky!" "Electric car, we finally dont have to look everywhere for gasoline!" Each time they had gone out, as if suffering from OCD, they would check if each car they passed had any gasoline. Unfortunately those cars were almost all empty and the gas stations had no electricity in order to swipe and get gasoline. Of course it would not have been that much of a problem since Yu Xinran could eventually get oil directly from the pipe. However they had not been able to find a gas station with a lot of gasoline. Chapter 202 With their hands full, the group of people circled the group of cars twice. After careful observation they found that some of the cars had some bumps on the roof along with some debris scattered around. They were not sure what got smashed or what had fallen on the car. But there was Yan Fei among their ranks and these small issues were no problem. Two rows of cars added up to a total of fourteen cars. Naturally they could not use so many cars. After so long after the end, the storage equipment was long gone, but these extras could be used as recements. Fortunately when they came out, Luo Xun also drove the truck. Each car pulled one or two cars and the rest were stuffed into the truckpartment. With Yan Feis ability, they could put down a roof and the cars would be dragged along, in the end fourteen cars were taken back at once. Because they found electric cars this time, Luo Xun did not go to other ces to search for supplies. Otherwise they got a few freezers from a roadside shop. By the time everyone returned to base, the sky waspletely dark. The lush mutant nt farnd surrounded the cars, Luo Xun only dared to drive in the center of the road in case these mutant nts stretched their vines and grabbed the car. Before they reached their destination, the team heard the sound of wolves howling at the moon in the distance. Luo Xun subconsciously stepped on the gas pedal while voices came from the other people. "Leader, it wont be those two again?" "Maybe, lets wait and see where they go." Although thest encounter did not hurt anyone, they still had to be careful. After all they had grabbed the rest of the pigs, if these wolves went looking for meat? They did not understand wolfnguage. The dog who was sleeping in the back also swung up and looked around curiously. Before long they found the trail of the wolves who were rolling around in a green field and cheerily jumping around towards the mountains. After determining that the wolves were not hunting, Luo Xun whispered into the radio telling everyone to hurry home and they drove back. The harvest of this outing C fourteen new vehicles, five freezers and two ice boxes and two metal balls. On top of that they searched an abandoned car on the road. This was good so everyone, next time they could bring some frozen meat and veggies instead of dry rations. All these things were transported into the tunnel in turns and they had a headache when they looked at the messy pile. "There is not enough space..." Yes, there was not enough space, unless they used all the floor space, where were all these cars going? There were so many freezers in their home that they had cleared all the ssrooms on the second floor. They had filled a room with the freezers they had brought back along with a room dedicated to sr panels and batteries outside. But some of those ssrooms still had chairs and benches. They had no need for it right now so they would gather everything for the moment. "Luo Xun, should we dig the basement tomorrow? Anyway we need to bring back a bunch of things and go find other supplies right?" Lie Tie quickly proposed a course of action. "We should do that first, dig the basement tomorrow. Move all the stuff into the two basements and then go to the ss factory you found on the map." There were also a lot of houses in the city with intact ss, but it was too scattered. They would have to gather up slowly at least until they had more free time. As for anything else...they would set it aside for the moment. After working for a while, Luo Xun came home to pick up their things and went to bed. The next morning after washing and having breakfast, the team of people returned to the basement to start the days work. A group carried the freezers and threw them into a ssroom on the second floor. "The design n just changed, add a parking room here, divided into two levels. Build a tunnel next and then each time wee back we line up cars. This side was connected to the original foundation of the nting rooms. Each one was about an acre. The nting rack can be connected as well so that we dont have to move the machine every time to harvest." Luo Xun exined his drawings to the crowd, "Build a nting room in these two directions, also about an acre. One will specialize in mutant rice and wheat. The secondyer will grow corn, peanuts and soybeans, crops for oil. The undergroundyers will be extended for leafy vegetables. As for things like fruit, we can grow them in the ground." With that he added, "We nted watermelon, lemon and sunflower in our home this year at the beginning of spring. Well harvest and then grow something else." These crops would not grow much and even if it did, they could not eat much. They could not add anotheryer on the ground since passerby might notice, so he was ready to temporarily nt less. Besides they also had the main building on the ground floor which could also grow something. "Okay, no problem!" "Today we can watch Yu Xinran and the baby." Luo Xun thought for a moment and said, "The basement needs to be finished, if we dont have enough manpower I will see the situation. I might have a few people with Zhang Yi go out to collect ss, the rest will dig the basement." The main force of the basement was sand power Yu Xinran and metal Yan Fei along with people to help transfer the ground for drying. There was not much manpower needed, Luo Xun would certainly go out. He was not assured, but it was reasonable. "Look at the situation to see if you are too busy to go." Hearing Yan Fei say so, Luo Xun understood what he meant and knocked the table. "Thats it..." "Leader, leader! The quail has mutated!" Luo Xun heard Xu Mei and Song Lingling along with Yu Xinran and Puppy alongside. "Quail? Mutation?!" Luo Xun stared and sped to where they were ced. The birds were temporarily ced in the second floor. Yan Fei created a separate room and ced the lighting and venttion equipment. Luo Xun helplessly looked Xu Mei and the others with the younger two running around. He stretched his head and looked at the fluttering wings. "...Is this a mole?" "The body is bigger than a sparrow? About the size of a chicken?" "Almost, but a bit smaller than average, but this is not easy...How much do they eat for a meal?" Luo Xun silently put down the quail, who was frightened and clumped together...Did they suddenly get bigger and even scare themselves? "...We still have to set up rooms." Luo Xun was not sure if these suddenly mutated quails would have an ability, but looking at them, even if they had a great power, wouldnt they be too afraid to use them? They would be the first to be scared, no doubt about it. With the sudden mutation the group had to change their tasks again. Luo Xun quickly emptied arge ssroom which would be converted into a suitable room for the quails to live in. Fortunately only one-third of the quails mutated, the rest were still normal. But ording to the current momentum, the remaining would also change any day which would leave them without enough space. Luo Xun worried that the original room would get too crowded. The new room was quickly built with ayer of underfloor heating. The walls also had ayer of metal, hung a row of fluorescent lights. Finally they dried the ground and ced some soil for some vegetables and an artificial river for water. The whole room was made like a small eco-park. Yu Xinran and Puppy were excited and looked forward to ying in here with the quails. Unfortunately they had not bothered looking for pebbles and things like that so they arranged a metal path around the room. After some work they could give the young girl a separate garden to visit to raise insects and such would be good as well. Chapter 203 Afterpleting this somewhat troublesome room which took a half day and weing the group of mutated quails, they dragged their tired bodies back to the first floor kitchen to eat. "Luo Xun, didnt you say we had to nt the fruit trees outside? Should we put them in the room just now? Make a small garden?" Wang Duo had a sh of inspiration, how beautiful it would be to walk hand-in-hand with his lover in the peaceful garden. Luo Xuns chopsticks paused and then he nodded. "Okay, after we get the ss, Ill draw a design." "Great! You have to make a hill! Full of peach trees!" "Its okay to nt pear trees." "And cherry trees!" "Its better to make a few more small hills each with a tree." "And a little bridge with flowing water..." "Roadside shrubs can be reced with lemon trees." "I remember Luo Xun brought star anise right? Is there any pepper?" "The roads can be beautified with leeks, coriander and others..." "Arent all vegetables grown in the basement? Right! When we go collect supplies again, we need to see if the nts havent changed." "Dont forget to set aside a ce to specialize in sunflowers and watermelons." "Thats good, we need to nt the watermelons into drier soil since its not sweet if there is too much water." During safety, everyone began to make life as enjoyable as possible. Luo Xun and Yan Fei smiled at the bowl. "The groundyer is good for now, build a path in the garden but we have to think carefully about everyones room. Then draw a design and well slowly renovate." After hearing his words, the team was excited again, He Qiankun said that he remembered his previous data had some interior design ns. He wanted to find it and then work ording those design drawings. The group of people spoke animatedly and went back to the basement to move soil in the afternoon. Yan Fei removed the metal from the wall, Yu Xinran started using her sand powers for non-stop desertification. The sand was then carted out in a metal box, Luo Xun and the others took turns using the elevator to carry the earth. Yu Xinran with Puppy went to see the baby while learning to write. Xu Mei and Song Lingling finished dealing with work on the second floor. Harvest vegetables, feed the meal worms in the boxes, separate the two kinds of quails, there were quite a few jobs left. The digging continued for two full days and within that time no one found anything else. Until the basement had enough space, they had used up eight percent of their metal and enough mutant nts for the earth. "...It seems destined for us to work simultaneously." Luo Xun sighed helplessly. "Its fine and safe, well go out early tomorrow." The others had no problems, after the first basement, the team had to organize the nting racks, deal with the second underground nting space, after expanding they had to nt and grow other crops. The electric car at home was now fully charged through using the battery and after a test to make sure there werent any problems, everyone happily decided to go out and use it. They just ft as well. The convoy was still four cars with a big truck. After all, although an electric car was convenient, it did not have a lot of space, there would not be enough if they went out to collect arge quantity of material. Although their cars had trunks, the actual size was simr to a van with limited capacity. The first night they simply arranged a few cars to drive out, the fridge was put into Xu Meis car. Luo Xun and Yan Feis car had a dog kennel and baby seat. In addition, each car had a sr charging ce on the roof and a battery to charge while driving. With Yan Fei, installing sr panels onto a normal car was very different, he actually directly attached it...if they encounter rain he could also create a metal cover, much more convenient. Early in the morning, the team rushed out on a road that they had never taken before. Road conditions had be increasingly poor, several vehicles nearby were broken and full of holes. Roads in the cities were okay, as long as there were no mutant animals, cars would not get damaged. "Why do I think the mutant nts seem to be getting taller?" Luo Xun and the others would chat through radio from time to time, after each car only had two people and everyone liked to converse. "It seems so, but maybe the height of our car has decreased?" "Wang Duo, you went outst time in the truck, why else would you think there are tall nts outside?" Wang Duo was tangled, "It seems like so...and at the same time not." Zhang Yi had his eyes closed and hands behind his head C a beautys nightlife was very rich so he was a little tired. The cars moved forward and it did not take long to get on another road and the team got to enjoy a smoother ride in the electric car. Yan Fei held the baby on one hand C the child had just woken up and was waving his arms, seeming to want to y. Luo Xun teased the baby while driving, Yan Fei looked at the screen installed in the front window C this sort of thing was easy to find after the end. Casually wander around a mall to find devices no one wanted. The screen showed an image, one a satellite sent two days ago. It showed the nearest zombies from A-city, they had previously approached the seaside. The forward line had be a bit chaotic. Who knew if they were going to head into the ocean? Or would they return? "If the zombies jumped into the sea that would be great." Luo Xun nced at the screen. "Its hard to say." Yan Fei also looked, they had seen it togetherst night and then temporarily attached the screen to each car with Yan Feis power. Each contained maps and other various data. These things were on the phone of course but the screen on the tablet wasrger, so more convenient while driving. "If they are going to jump of turn around well find out soon." Luo Xun shrugged, at least this area was safe for now. They needed to hurry and build a good base, ready for any unexpected situations. Yan Fei suddenly stopped and his brow wrinkled while pointing at an image. "Look at this, this picture shows that foreign zombies are approaching and will enter out country in a while, they might pass us here." Luo Xun carefully looked and then sighed, "Arge domestic zombie horde is leaving and now foreigners also want to travel...Why on earth would things turn out this way. "I wonder if they die if they cant eat people." "I dont know...But I look forward to it." Luo Xunughed, "People getting eaten by zombies who then starved to death, the world is clean." There was a moment of silence, maybe it was true? Looking outside, the greenness of the earth had broken through the white snow. On both sides of the road, signs of lush greenery appeared. Perhaps the world was self-cleaning itself of humans, but not necessarily animals. The ss factory was a short distance from their location. When they arrived they only saw a few scattered dead bodies around the area along with debris. The factory itself was rtively intact. "There are a few trucks over there, just dont know if they can be driven back." Luo Xun pointed at the factory gate. The trucks were significantlyrger in tonnage than the converted ones. The quality was pretty good, if they could bring one back it would rece one of the ones they were currently driving. "Ill see if I can find some keys in the car. "In fact they had encountered a lot of good cars on the road, such as off-road vehicles,rge trucks but since there were no keys they had to give up. They could only grab the gasoline and strip the car of metal. After killing the wandering zombies, Luo Xun approached therge trucks. Before they could open the door, a group of rats rushed out of the car! Zombie mice! Chapter 204 A wall of fire only hindered the dead mice since it was not solid. The mice sprinted through the fire and then *Ping* hit the metal wall that immediately appeared. Without Luo Xunsmand, all the team reacted with Yan Feis response. Yan Fei had collected the metal and formed a huge metal wall in front of everyone. From beside Yan Fei, Luo Xun saw a steady stream of dead rats from other trucks and the factory gates. His face sank, "Make fortifications, the factory also has a lot of dead rats!" Everyones eyes shed in surprise. They immediately ran to their cars and brought out their weapons, gasoline and mushroom juice. Yan Fei quickly pulled out the remaining metal from the trucks and formed a circle on the ground. In just twenty minutes, thousands of mice gathered around the forming metal ball. Dense enough to make anyone with a phobia sweat profusely. Twenty minutes was just enough to build a thoroughly tight metal fortification along with a pipe to pour mushroom juice and gasoline into the sand pit. It was also enough to dig arge hole in thend and enough for everyone to prepare for a counterattack. Luo Xun observed for another five minutes and determined that there were no more dead rats in the warehouse before yelling, "There is no way toy metal tes in the sandpit, first spray mushroom juice with the water gun and then pour gasoline." Theyre now limited in gasoline so there is only one way to deal with the after-effects of the mushroom juice C better to pour from above then fill the bottom of the pit. Each person had a water gun, each had a hole and opened fire on the densest groups of dead mice. The bright red mushroom juice had not been used for a long time and the number of mutant mushrooms had flooded. Due to the growing area, they had more mushrooms as well. At first they actively picked and froze the juice. But was the amount grew and grew, they had to burn and only leave a portion of it for use. So now that they had met the zombies, they were grateful that they could make use of the mushrooms. After using up the mushroom juice, they poured some gasoline in the pothole. The fire burst and baked the metal red. The team gathered in the middle of the fortifications while the chimneys cycled air to cool everyone down. "The rushed out so fast we didnt have time to build a metal house, but its hot." He Qiankun pulled his cor andined. Song Linging and Xu Mei sneered, "He Qiankun, you should really lose weight." He Qiankuns forehead was sweaty but he looked worse off then the rest who were under Zhang Yis breeze C although the temperature was high, they could endure. He Qiankun felt aggrieved and helpless. "I have not lost much even after the end, I dont shirk work and dont eat much but I have not thinned..." He thought it was strange, why was he still so round? Why didnt he lose weight even starving? Next to him, Wu Xin reached out to pat the others stomach with a solemn confirmation. "You have actually lost weight, around two pounds from your stomach?" Others also grinned, "Good thing, after two years, your stomach will lose another bunch of inches." Others lose weight in a month, a few or even a dozen pounds but He Qiankun had to calcte by year, was this a strange curse? The zombie rat barbecue continued for more than three hours. The team was still near the hot iron fence. Before that, Song Lingling also poured water for cooling. The cores of the bodies were removed and therge pits were filled. The team carefully approached the trucks. This time they let Yan Fei used his ability to open the door. Carefully probed the car for foreign entities, Zhang Yi also used his wind before daring to get close. No other way, just now a group of dead rats rushed out of the car. "Do you think we can still drive these cars?" Wang Duo uneasily looked inside the car. The contents were still intact but so many dead mice had gathered, who knew if there was virus around. Luo Xun frowned and checked around but did not immediately respond. He turned to the car rear and pointed at the trunk. "Look at whats in here." The team of people held their weapons and stood away from the door in fear of more zombie rats inside. Yan Fei was responsible for opening the door while everyone had readied their weapons, ready tounch at any moment. Fortunately nothing ran out... "ss?" "Eh?! These cars were actually used to transport ss!" "Obviously, a truck parked in front of a ss factory would be filled with ss." As soon as the door opened, they saw arge piece of ss supported with some wood. When they saw the scene, everyone lit up and cheered with great excitement C no other way, they had been thinking of these things for so long! All of them looked at Luo Xun which clearly meant C bring it all back, not one piece left! Luo Xun naturally did not want to let go of these good things. There was hope with these things, provided that they could be brought back. Around the trucks, Luo Xun pointed at the front of the car. "This is hanging on the head of the car, if its not too heavy, we can get the two cars together to bring back." "Does the car still work?" Li TIe pointed with fear at the car where the front had housed an unknown number of dead mice. Luo Xun smiled. "Clean up is not a big problem and well have to find the key first." Yes, no car keys meant no way to bring the vehicle back. And there was a gasoline problem, the amount they had brought had been used. The rest was enough to go back but was not sure if they should get some gasoline next time they went to southwest base. Several people checked the car and found one with the car keys inside and could be used. One of the keys was found in a previously killed body. With these two keys buoyed the crowd and they stripped the seats and mats. Song Lingling washed with her water and ensured they were clean before using the car. Sevenrge trucks were parked outside the ss factory, three of which contained ss while the remaining had some pieces left. The team deliberated on whether to inspect the factory in advance and made sure there were no pieces of ss left that could be put away. After all, it was rare toe here, they had to put away as much as possible otherwise the next time they encountered something like this they might not have enough gasoline to burn C would they rely on Xu Meis fire instead? They carefully entered the factory and checked around for half a day. After confirming that there were no other dead rats and the warehouse had a lot of ss that had not been loaded along with severalrge barrels of gasoline, enough to make up for the previous loss. The well-harvested team was able to transport a few pieces of ss to the half-empty truck and then stuffed gasoline into the rest of the space. This time they abandoned the original truck and reced it with the newrger trucks. Each truck had an extra trunk in the back to take all the four ss filled vehicles in one go. Two double length trucks, four electric minivans and two giant metal balls; the vastness of the group was staggering. When the convoy drove back to their base, they encountered two wolves rolling around. As the tworge caterpir rumbled over they bared their teeth...Could not me them, who let their previous car be blue and small? Plus there were two more vehicles with connected sections that made it look muchrger. Chapter 205 "Luo, Luo Xun, nothings happening right?" A few people nervously asked through the walkie-talkie. The team drove past the two wolves, who were watching the convoy. Luo Xun did not understand wolf, how would he know if something was happening? It would be worse if they stopped and confronted the two wolves. Treating it like a dog lounging on the side of the road before the apocalypse, Luo Xun calmed himself down. "Go forward, at most they will bark at the back." As for whether it would catch up...if they think they could eat metal and stuff, then chase away. After Luo Xuns words, the team reluctantly steeled themselves and continued towards their base. Perhaps Luo Xun had guessed the wolves behavior patterns, or perhaps they were not hungry. In short they just called after the team but just continued snuggling and ying around. Finally arrived back at their tunnel only to realize C their car could only temporarily stop in front of the tunnel, not drive in! Although the basement had been expanded and the warehouse could be filled, the garage was not done. The floor was paved with need for dry sand. Everyone had temporarily stored a variety of things in the first and second floors...But there was little space for storage now. Today most of the tunnel was crowded with cars of all colors. Luo Xun andpany could only get off early and walk back to the basement. "Lets build the garage tomorrow and the tunnels need to be expanded, at least until the car can turn around." Luo Xun helplessly looked around. "But there is no ce to dry the earth for now. It would take a day to put away what we already made." Li Tie reported on the situation, saying it would not be easy toplete. Luo Xun looked at the team and sighed, "Then we work overtime today. First take out the ss C anyways the expanded basements are not full so first put that away. Well return after moving the dirt and bring back all the ss." The group of people quickly unloaded the goods. The next morning a line of cars returned to the ss factory to retrieve materials. This time they were lucky and did not meet the two wolves. But the people who went twice in a row were too tired and went to bed right after returning. The next day part of the team started the days work C collect soil and dig holes. As the number of vehicles at home skyrocketed, Luo Xun decided to take care of the two-story underground parking lot first. The sand dug out once again filled up the open space. The team had to decide between scattering the sand to the mutant nts, to the fields or make small hillsides. No other way, who made them need more basements? Although they also needed to use soil when nting things, the amount they had was enough for a while. Then they dug out more and there was no ce to put the sand. So from this day on, the people had a dark day filled with hardbor. For a full week, they dig out a parking garage with enough space for their more than twenty cars. A bit from the entrance there was a space where they could turn cars around. By the way with the two basements, Yan Fei had exhausted the metal he brought back. "We bring back a lot of metal back every time but its never enough." Luo Xun felt a little strange thinking of the big projects waiting at least four other basements and such. He did not expect such a small base had such arge demand for metals. But in fact, it was normal. After all they also refined the metal before using the material that they collected. The demand was naturally high. Yan Fei suddenly added, "The next time I collect metal outside, I will refine it before bringing it back, I forgot to do this before." Yes, regardless of who forgot, they could refine the metal and bring it back at the same time. Do they wouldnt have to refine a huge metal ball back at base. "Is it convenient?" Luo Xun asked with some worry. Refining metal consumed mental energy, doing it outside could save space but would also increase Yan Feis workload. "Its not a big problem. Were going out with enough crystal cores now." He showed the bag in the corner that held the cores. Since they had discovered these things under the mutant nts, the Otaku squad was not short on cores. These days Luo Xun and Yan Fei had been using the scattered cores. With a sufficient number of cores, Yan Fei would not have to worry about running out of energy. Luo Xun also could not help butugh while looking at Yu Xinran. "It seems that we have to focus on treasure in two days." Thest time they killed the zombie mice, there were thousands of cores, but how big were those crystals? It was not enough and they were now gone and used up. Yu Xinran heard the news and her eyes lit up with a happy smile. "Treasure hunt, treasure hunt! Much more fun than digging a hole!" For the little girl, digging was like a game, there was no other benefit other than getting a pile of sand. On the other hand, searching the mutant nts was filled with cores of all eye-catching colors. She loved bright and beautiful things. "Do we start with the other mutant nt fields around us? Then back to base?" Xu Mei suddenly proposed. "Okay, start from away and thene closer." Luo Xun also agreed to start farther away. The area in front of their door would not leave so they could slowly deal with it. The group of people rested for a night and drove their cars out the next morning. This time they only drove three small electric cars and a big truck. The convoy had been streamlined but it had not affected their task at all. Luo Xun was going to take everyone to the ss factory first. There were three trailers for the truck and there should be some ss inside. In addition they were also ready to grab some equipment, for example cutting ss. As for equipment that made ss...those things wererge and had many kinds. Luo Xun andpany were not professionals so they could only give up on those. At the same time they were prepared to bring back more wood. The basement was dug out and they would bring back as much wood as they could for nting. Thest thing remaining thing was of course metal. Having Yan Fei refining while collecting was a good idea. The line of cars drove to its destination. Thankfully when they arrived, the factory was unchanged with scattered trucks, the ss and equipment were inside. After loading thest batch of ss along with some equipment that everyone could use, the rest of the space was filled.The remaining trailers were attached to their own truck and ready to collect metal. As the car drove up the road, a voice suddenly came from the walkie-talkie. "In the southeast, there seems to be movement." Luo Xun hurriedly took out a telescope and searched, indeed there was a team of off-road vehicles. There was a total of ten cars and it seemed to be a team searching for supplies. "It should be a base team, there are no military cars. Everyone is wearing good weapons and wary of their surroundings. The other side is going the other way, should be no conflict." The team went the other way towards the city. As long as they did not think of robbing other teams, they would not have any conflict. It turned out that Luo Xuns judgement was correct. It did not matter that Luo Xuns side did not have many people but their car! Their fleet looked strong C two big trucks with connected trailers and three smaller cars that seemed to have arge number of people searching for supplies. Those in the same car were often on the same team, their strength was generally higher than those who temporarily teamed up. The idea of theft had not really crossed their mind. Since the range of zombie activity had be more focused, people going out to explore had gradually be more bold. As long as one had knowledge of where the zombies were concentrated, it was rtively easy to bypass. So it was normal for people to gather while getting supplies. Luo Xun touched his chin, it seemed that the next time they went out, they had to find a good route to the warehouse, transit station and so on. It did not take long for people to arrive at the road. Yan Fei collected the metal along the way. For safety he only grabbed extra bits lest someone get hurt by a copsing bridge. The work was skilled and it did not take long to get done. "Lets go home!" The work was done. They would also grab the wood from the roadside. This time they actually got everything they nned for. The team could go home early and have a big dinner. Chapter 206 The group of people cheerfully headed towards base. It was still very early so the sun cast slender shadows behind the roadside trees. On the way back Luo Xun remembered that there was a lot of dead wood while driving. As they gradually approached their home, Zhang Yi spoke through the radio. "...There are mutant animals in the direction of our base." "Mutant animals? How many? Are they wolves?" The two wolves seemed to be operating hear their base, Luo Xun had met them more than once. So it was strange that Zhang Yi did not tell them any specifics. "I dont know...there must be more than two types." Zhang Yi had not finished when faint vibrations went through the ground. The team subconsciously parked the car and looked at each other. The same image shed in their hearts C a group of pigs running in front followed by two wolves... "No...Its...?" Wang Duo was interrupted, his question unfinished but everyone understood why. Yan Fei silently changed the trucks into metal tes...then an amazing sight ran in their direction! "Come on! Is that actually a cow? Are you sure its not the bull king?!" Li TIes voice rose while Han Li was either screaming in fear or excitement. A herd of three-storey cattle with horns on their heads, madly rushed in their direction! Behind them were two familiar wolves, several times smaller than the herbivores. They really did not know fear, daring to provoke this group of huge cattle. The number was certainly smaller than the pig herd, but the few of them could actually cause an earthquake through their powerful velocity. Discovering their convoy, the two wolves suddenly changed the direction of their pursuit. But also a few thorns appeared from the ground directing the cattle so that they ran towards the team as well. Come on, what else would that mean? Even the wolves knew about mutual cooperation. Luo Xun naturally could not stand in ce as the cows ran past. Still metal appeared for a trap together with the sandpits. This time when the cows ran past, two fell and broke their legs. The two wolves politely pounced on one and dragged it away while ignoring the other one. The other half dead cow was left with the pit while the team stared at Luo Xun. "...They...intentionally lead the cows to us?" After a while, someone whispered, "Its possible...when wee backter we need enough metal or I am afraid we will be trampled to death by prey." Luo Xun looked at the hill sized cattle. How long would such a big cow feed the two wolves? Luo Xun did not know but one was enough for them to eat for New Years. Dont forget, there are several pigs that were uneaten! So they had no need for hunting for the rest of the year. Yan Fei made a trailer with the metal and several cars pulled the prey into their base. After peeling and waiting for the beef to be processed they wanted to go home early for a break and process the meat. The two women took a piece of beef into the kitchen. Luo XUn froze the remaining meat and organs. He hung the cowhide and pondered, "After these two busy days, lets make some meat sauce? Along with some beef jerky." After all there were several pigs still in the freezer at home. It would go bad if frozen for too long. In case of repeated encounters with the two wolves getting the team to help with hunting, their family would always have meat to eat. Whats more, the team has had quails as a source of meat. "Good, good!" "No problem, do it!" The group of gluttons were all excited and wanted to fill up their stomachs with these snacks. The beef identally brought by the two wolves had a small change C stewed, fried and all kinds of beef dishes were introduced into their menu. Of course, the premise was that they time to mess around with recipes. Unfortunately these days everyone needed to hurry out and collect metal. This was because of the basement renovation and other work which needed to be finished. The satellite photos showed that the zombie tide at the seaside had turned around! The zombies didnt jump and learn to swim or prepare to explore the unknown depths but turned towards the team. Like a ball hitting the wall and bouncing back. ording to the direction of the rebound, it was estimated that they would soon approach base. Whether is was Luo Xuns new base of the southwest base, they could encounter another zombie siege. Even more troubling was that there more waves passing by the area, even the ones from abroad would arrive in the near future. They did not know if their small base would trigger a siege but they must be ready before then. In particr they would have topletely close of the basement walls to avoid tunneling zombies, which would be a big problem. There were also buildings on the ground that needed to be prepared orpletely close them off to avoid zombies. So the team changed tactics again, going out a few times to collect metal. They were ready to face the zombies that were approaching. In less than ten days of work, Luo Xun went out eight times and brought back metal, wood, all kinds of trees. The nting racks were almost all filled! Thest time they went out, they passed a gas station and Yan Fei discovered that there was a lot of gasoline in the tanks! Song Linglings ability was able to manipte any liquid at level four and the range had be muchrger. As soon as they made a hole in the pipeline, Song Lingling could extract the gasoline. It wouldst for a while after being stored in metal containers C enough for a while. There was enough that they could returnter C with Song Linglings ability they could easily pump any encountered vehicles. "Tomorrow is the end of the month, lets go early and stay in the southwest base for a day and then leave at night." Thest time the team came home, they met at the kitchen table. Now it was the end of May, they would visit the southwest base in early June. THis time they had no intention of visiting their old house or exchanging for gasoline. They would just go explore, get news and sell vegetables or something. After all, they could not receive a lot of photos and messages from the satellites. But they did not know how ordinary people lived inside the base. There would be time to contact other people. The team had no objections to Luo Xuns decision and nodded in agreement. Han Li asked with some concern. "Luo Xun, what about the zombies? Will theye in two days?" They were nervous about collecting metal to build their walls, mainly because the zombie wave was heading towards their direction. If they go out there was a possibility of encountering them, so they did not want to go out now. "It wont be for a little while, from the speed at which theyve been moving forward. They are nearly two weeks away from us and well leave tomorrow ande back the day after tomorrow." This was one of the reasons why Luo Xun dared to take advantage of returning to the base at the start of the month. "Thats fine." The others had no opinion. It was a pity that He Qiankun asked, "The warehouses we found before..." They had been nning on going to those warehouses and other ces but had to temporarily revise their ns because of the zombie tide. It was a pity. Luo Xun was also helpless, "We can only wait until the end of this zombie tide before taking a look." There was no way, it was an external factor and they had other issues to worry about after securing their base. Discussing the situation, the team went to their rooms early to rest. Ready to go to the southwest base the next morning. The next day, the convoy set off again and headed towards the base. Chapter 207 This time they drove a big truck along with a small one. The big truck was not one they had recently found but the original one that was lost outside the ss factory and then was picked up again. Although the car was broken, the metal could still be used after slight modification. This time the vehicles were filled with broken shelves, metal devices and some wood C empty barrels, broken tables and chairs. There was not much but when piled up it would hide the tape, pillows and food hidden behind. The truck floors were much thicker than normal and hid things like vegetables and so on. After a night, the group of people arrived at the southwest base gate in the morning. They registered, entered the base and swept through baggage check. The people were much more vignt when inspecting the carpared to before. However since their car was filled with tattered things, only a bucket and a few pieces of wood were taken. He Qiankun and the others almost did not quarrel with the inspectors. Thetter had faces of contempt, "Give it back to you? Fine then dont enter base! With such tattered things, what kind of people are you?" Everytime the team had to pay five crystal core and the people checking the car would pick something as well. Luo Xun saw that the gate was not willing to let their team enter. "Really, who are they?" "The base was not like this before, now they are seeming more gang-like?" Peopleined while driving their cars to the exchange market. One reason they wereing to base was to buy salt C the most important seasoning for pickling vegetables and handling dried meat at home. When they arrived at the exchange window, they were dealt another blow. Originally after the first zombie wave, due to the new political powers, the original spoiled atmosphere on base had been dispersed, resulting in an enthusiastic staff attitude and public minded department. But now? The people in charge of these exchanges were once again starting to get greedy. Those responsible for sales would often promote their private business. If one wanted to buy things, they say there is a private exchange window. The price was not much more, if interested they shoulde with them. With Luo Xun, he simply rejected the person in charge of guiding them and headed directly to the relevant exchange window. He would be an idiot to go with those people, God knew what strange ce he would be taken to? Potentially getting robbed, it would be better to find a fixed stall to buy things! At the exchange window, they bought the maximum amount of gasoline, salt and other necessities. They also spent arge number of cores on some sr panels and batteries before returning to their cars. They drove away and met with the teams who needed to buy vegetables. After agreeing on a meeting ce, Luo Xun brought the fresh vegetables. Xu Mei and some others brought the rest to if they could sell some things C the shelf life of fresh vegetables was very problematic. So Luo Xuns team would immediately eat anything picked or make stews. This time they would see how sales went at base. Not long after, the people who wanted to buy food arrived. One of the two chatted with Luo Xun beforeughing, "I want a lot of vegetables this time but our car does not have enough room, can you send the things to us? Its not far, just in the neighborhood over there." Luo Xun had a smiling expression while kindly spitting out, "No." Before the pair responded, Luo Xun continued with a smile, "You can bring back your stuff then collect the vegetables. I can set it aside for half an hour before other peoplee to buy." He smiled with regret, "If left too long I wont be able to sell them." The two exchanged looks and uneasily looked at the passersby C since this was an intersection, there was a high flow of people. Yan Fei pinched a piece of metal. The two people looked at Luo Xun and saw a sharp dagger like object from who knew where. The pair exchanged looks again and one rubbed their head in embarrassment. "Well go back to unload things, be back in a moment." The two men hurried away into the crowd, Luo Xun sadly deleted the mans contact information and wrote a note in his notepad. "One less team." Only a fool would not see through the mens idea. Perhaps their original team had been disbanded or that person had left. Whatever the reason, they could no longer contact them for a deal. The teams afterwards also did not buy all of Luo Xuns vegetables, fortunately he had expected the situation and only opened a few boxes. People passing by would only buy a bit here and there but after a while everything would be sold. After selling the vegetables, Luo Xu called Xu Mei who were selling dried vegetables at a vacant stand. The others either went shopping or to sell things. They set a meeting time in the afternoon. Luo Xun also packed a bag and went shopping with Yan Fei to find what they needed. If the price was okay they would buy some. When the team met in the afternoon, they had a lot of things. Salt, sr panels, batteries, female clothes and shoes C Xu Mei had sold all of the dried vegetables. "Captain, our sales today were good, many people inquired when they could buy more. I said at the start of next month we maye to the market." Xu Mei smiled and shook the bag containing crystal cores in her hand while pointing at her backpack. "We also used some vegetables for a set of primary school textbooks, there are also a few high school books for Yu Xinran. In the future, the baby can use them too!" Although they had found a lot of books, they did not have many specifically for childrens learning. Composition and reference books were plentiful but useless without a proper foundation. He Qiankun took out arge bag of pens, "We saw someone selling these while shopping and spent a level two core for the entire thing." "Also, we saw someone on the roadside selling dried meat. I dont know what mutant animal its made from, should we bring some bacon to sell next time?" Wu Xin asked the team. Luo Xun frowned at the suggestion, "It would not be easy to sell? Meat can be sold but it would be a lot of trouble. Many people dared not to buy C especially a processed product. Even if it looks normal people would doubt the source of meat. Although the carcasses are different, many people are still worried about buying fake meat. Even then the average person would rather buy fresh mutant animal meat." Dried vegetables not selling as well as their fresh counterpart was for the same reason C people were not sure that nothing had been done to the dried product. Today they had brought a small amount, otherwise how would it get sold so quickly? After counting their gains, the team loaded their things and were ready to leave base. By the team they reached the gate again, they found a lot of new notices on the walls. After a closer look, Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged looks while leaving base. It was not until the sky was dark and they had returned home that the matter was brought up. "Just now, when we were leaving base we saw the newest notice." Luo Xun continued while washing his hands. "It said that all teams will not be allowed out of base after the eighth of the month and all teams must be back before then." "Why?" Wang Duo blurted out without thinking. Zhang Yi leaned forward and squinted at him. "Zombie wave." "Yeah, the zombie wave will almost reach this area after two weeks. We and the southwest base are likely to be in range of their movements. The base can also receive satellite photos to predict the zombies path. Not letting people out after the eighth is to prepare in advance for the attack." Luo Xun sighed at the team, "This time well spend the wave in our base and see if we can hold on. There should be no problems." "Okay!" "Our stuff is at home, why would we go back?" "Yeah, nothing will happen to the other bases since theyll be ready in advance." They only had a dozen individuals and the area was notrge, although they were unclear about the power of the mutant nts. They did not know if anything would go wrong during the deadly zombie tide. This was the time to test them and their bases defenses. Fortunately the number of zombies was rtively small. As long as they were notpletely surrounded, it would be over within a day or two. Chapter 208 The morning of June 2nd, the team drove back to their new base. For safety reasons, Zhang Yi did not focus on the road conditions, instead he checked whether there were any followers behind the car. Although they had mutant nts at their door, tunnels could be made straight to the base. They did not want to have anyone know about their home. After unloading and packing their things away in a temporary dug out storage room, Luo Xun and the others did rush to start a new round of work. Previously, they had dug out two underground nting rooms, a parking lot and doubled the size of the original nting rooms. But it was clear that there was not enough space and now they had to dig out a few more basements before the zombie tide arrives or prioritize ground work? Both jobs were very important and the team was hesitant on which to do first? Whichever was only half done when the zombie wave arrived would have a considerable impact on their safety. Luo Xun worried while sitting at the kitchen table as he analyzed the pros and cons. "The groundwork speed is not slow but if there are earth zombies or fast zombie mice we would be in danger. But theres also a problem with work above ground C we have to paint the metal house by hand. If there is any human scent outside, it would attract wandering zombies..." After listening to Luo Xuns tangled feelings, Yan Fei helped him make a decision. "Then build the basement first, you can first finish the underground storage room and then connect with the other nting rooms and metal houses. You can alsoy the foundation for above ground." Although he could build buildings directly using metal, it required some foundation. It would keep them out of danger to first finish the underground parts of the buildings then build upwards. It made sense to hear that, so for the sake of safety they could prioritize the underground storage room and then use satellite photographs to decide whether to continue before the zombie wave arrived. Now that the decision had been made, the team began work that afternoon. Yu Xinran and Yan Fei were mainly responsible for building the basement while the rest painstakingly carried out the dirt. This time they were prepared to dry out the earth. One reason was that they had enough at home, the second was that their activities would leave traces. Who knew if those mutant nts would get overwhelmed and not be able to stop so many zombies? This time the dug out sand was directly loaded. Yan Fei formed an imitation truck and would drive it outside each time it was filled. The ce where they dumped the dirt was covered in weeds. Before the end it was a smallndfill, so adding earth was not an issue. The car filled with earth, Luo Xun could also take a short break and collect crystal cores in a more distant section of farnd. It was the best of both worlds C rx while also getting some ie through cores. It did not take long to build the underground storage room. But it was not until the next morning that it waspletely dug out and the soil transported to the abandoned farnd. He Qiankun examined several new satellite photos and determined the path, speed, scale and time of arrival for the zombies. It was ying a tower defense game C nting zombie eating nts outside their home and then digging holes to expand their functional buildings. "These are the satellite photos that we received since the day we left. The zombies are returning from the sea." He Qiankun zoomed in on the photos on the tablet. "Should be at least a week before they reach us. Today should we dig more holes?" Luo Xun carefully studied the photos and nodded, "Dig the ground today." They brought back a lot of metal, if they had not built all kinds of equipment, they could have finished all the basement walls, even some of the projects above ground as well. However, they were prepared to wait until after the zombie tide to build anything above ground. After all, those buildings also had to have anti-satellite measures. If they wanted to build, they would have to make sure that no one would notice them. Underground floors were not difficult to build, especially since Luo Xun designed the rooms to be the same. Yan Fei could use metal to mark sizes in the soil and then Yu Xinran would dig ording to the markings. The two worked together to dig pits quickly and efficiently. The only trouble was that they needed to carry earth through the elevator to the car parked at the tunnel. Fortunately they had enough people so thebor was quick. After another four days, they had formed two ntations and two storage basements. One of the rooms was built on top of another underground room while the other was on top of the parking lot. It could be converted into a nting room if needed. It look another full day to finish the venttion system, finish the roof and install the general lighting. Yan Fei examined the basement walls alone. After confirming that the wall thickness was the same and it was solid enough, he focused and once again reinforced the main building where they lived, the granary, parking lot and other rooms with a metal shell. He then transferred the remaining half to the underground rooms C if zombie animals started attacking, he could add anotheryer of defense and avoid danger. On the eighth day of the month, the same date on the base notice, Luo Xun and team also decided to no longer leave their base. They were helpless to find that C because their base location was more to the south, the wave would pass by them a good two days before the southwest base! In order to minimize the interest of zombies towards their home, Luo Xun decided to reduce the smell of humans in order to reduce the zombies potential interest. Luo Xun also noticed something strange, the two wolves who had been loitering around were nowhere to be seen. They had not crossed paths even once, did they run somewhere else to hang out? Squatted in their nests and ate meat? Did they notice the zombies passing by and ran away to avoid the trouble? In any case, the Otaku squad decided that they would shut themselves in against the sweltering summer and zombie wave. Although the weather was not at its peak, the temperature was gradually rising. They forgot to bring back air conditioning back these few times! Although there were still a few air conditioners in the teaching building, but if the zombies passed by, any strange noise would attract their attention. Fortunately, Luo Xun had bought several sr fans before the apocalypse. Each room had one so everyone slept well at night. During the day C the basement was much cooler than above ground! Moreover although they could not make much noise, each room had fans along with vegetables. Although the light would increase the temperature, it wasfortable. "We will stay at home for now, good thing we have these seedlings to nt." The two expanded shelves, lights and sprinklers were done. Luo Xuns nting spirit was rekindled C they had not forgotten about farming but since they had to build a home, they could not focus on nting. Luo Xun had always felt something wascking. "Luo Xun, have there been any mutant seedlings this time?" Since everyone had been busy with physicalbor, Luo Xun had been responsible for nting work. Usually Xu Mei and Song Lingling would take care of it while others pay little attention. Han Li suddenly remembered and quickly asked. "No, if something like that sprouted, we have to take it away immediately. It would be a danger if left alone for too long." Luo Xun rolled his eyes, he was not stupid, who would ignore such a dangerous thing? The nting racks brought back were all remodeled for their new home and converted to the new specifications. At this time, Luo Xun nted some flowers and herbs. After the harvest he saved the seeds for germination. Although they also grew vegetables awhile ago, those nts were soon to mature. The growth cycle was longer with the addition of rice and wheat. Anyways since they could not leave for the moment, why not spend more time farming? Chapter 209 After breakfast, the Otaku squad started the days work. Every once in a while someone would go to the top floor with a telescope and scout the outside. Also from time to time they would check the satellite received messages and images. The days in the basement were not dark due to the lights but it was easy to distinguish between day and night. Yan Fei used the remaining metal to make shelves C some would use sand, water and fertilizer to make nting racks. Insects, worms and rotten vegetable remains produced organic fertilizer. Luo Xun and the rest took turns nting the seedlings. The soil at home was dug out of the ground and dried into sand. Coupled with Song Linglings water, it was pure natural soil after fertilizer was added. Speaking of which, to avoid sewers where mutant animals and nts could appear, they made a septic tank the first day they arrived. Although the smell was not great, the effect was good enough. Luo Xun and the twodies were responsible for nting things. Even Yu Xinran helped with the flowers while Puppy was lying around and asionally nosed the things inside the shelf. The group of men quickly mixed the sand, water and fertilizer inside the shelf. Then they took the wood, sawdust and pre-cultivated mushroom spores and ced them in the bottom shelf. Speaking of poisonous mushrooms being bred at home, because the yield was too high and they did not encounter enough zombies to warrant use. Luo Xun decided to do an experiment C watering the mutant farnd with mushroom juice and water. They only selected a small piece as a testing site C the result? Unlike everything else that withered and rotted, the watered mutant nts grew better! Looking for crystal cores in the nt field destroyed the soil moisture level and they had been worried about damaging the nts. Now a method to fertilize these nts had been found, so they would be watered roughly after treasure hunting. Of course, instead of pouring mushroom juice without thought, Luo Xun chose a location and observed almost every day. He did some tests and determined that the watered mutant nts did not pose much of a threat to them. Otherwise, how would they live with cannibal flowers that could break through metal? ording to the current results, the watered mutant nts were nourished, although they were healthier, there was no secondary variation. Luo Xun nted more, especially in the grain growing room. There was a total of two acres, half was wheat, the other was rice which could be harvested in a few months. But the rest of the room was filled with peanuts, corn and other vegetables. The vines climbing up the nting racks would cover the roof in the future. Below the vine crops, they nted a variety of vegetables. Of course the leafy vegetables grew the fastest. Hot peppers and nts like tomatoes with longer growth cycles also needed supports. Everyones hearts were filled with joy looking at the thriving green seedlings in the room. However the amount of wood at home was still limited and there was not enough metal to make all the nting racks. They had to set some aside to protect against theing zombie wave, so they could only temporarily focus on these rooms. The first thing they did after getting up early was look around with the telescope. Before going to bed they would check the satellite feed for when the zombies would pass through their area before reaching the southwest base. Before going to bed Yan Fei hadpletely sealed the vast majority of the base, only leaving a room on the third floor as a study room and to scout the situation. These days they also watched the radio waves. "It hasnt moved yet, lets have dinner first." Luo Xun carefully observed the situation outside C the blue sky stretched for miles with only a few clouds floating in the sky. The sun had notpletely risen, all looked quiet and beautiful. With the confirmation of no problem at the moment, the group swallowed their unease and went to the first floor for a meal. Due to fear of being outside when the zombies passed through, they closed the doors and sealed all the entrances to not even let light through. The first floor was in darkness, they had to turn on the lights in order to eat. The sr panels were hidden, fortunately their team did not need too much electricity so their current batteries should suffice. With the good weather, even with their daily consumption of electricity, the rest of the battery was filled. The remaining energy was enough tost for a month or two. Breakfast was millet porridge, pickles and some onions. The team ate and were ready to get to work in the basement C the nting racks were notpletely done. Some of the vine seedlings had began to grow almost overnight and roped around everything. People no longer used rope in the traditional sense made of cotton, instead dried straw and other things. They did not have pigs or cattle to feed these stalks and could be used to make small baskets and other items. It would be good to teach Yu Xinran how to make sme handicrafts. The crowd was finishing their breakfast when they heard a click sound, as if something had fallen on the metal wall. The room became even quieter, everyone looked up at the same time before climbing the stairs to check outside. Even without a telescope, when they looked outside everyone sucked in a breath of cold air C the zombie tide had arrived. In the sky wind zombies were flying, on the ground zombies were marching forward. There was a variety of appearances C tall, small and so on. Thergestmon characteristic C all the zombies looked less and less human. The most obvious difference between the bodies at the start of the apocalypse was the skin color and some wounds, even some clothing. But now, all the hair had fallen off, nails had lengthened, even their teeth had sharpened and their bodies had turned red. Many of them no longer walked upright instead crawling C often the two forelimbs had thickened and looked simr to hind legs. Todays zombies could no longer be considered like a human, but more like an evolved ape. Apart from the fact that they did not breathe or other signs of life. When people saw these creatures again, they would doubt if they were the same thing as in the past. The zombies near the mutant farnd that Luo Xun and team had fled from were not the same. Luo Xun had been chased all the way into the mutant farnd, if not for the small bun protecting them, the zombies would have rushed in. This time because of the mutant farnd was in their way, the zombies rushed in from the beginning. Some of the zombies were entangled in the nts C the ones behind them did not care and stepped forward until they were also entangled. After the vanguard was entangled, the zombies in the rear began to turn around. Of course there were still a lot of zombies in conflict with the roadside nts. After observing for a while, Luo Xun whispered, "Go to the basement and try not to make any sound." The sound just now should have been a flying zombie identally dropping some stones while flowing overhead. As long as their existence was not discovered, they would not target the building. All they had to do now was return to the basement as soon as possible and carefully hide themselves for the next few days. The group walked with gentle steps towards the basement. They left a small surveince camera C the small camera from the past. It was facing the window and the recording was broadcast live to the basementputer. They could monitor the outside as needed. They would not go back upstairs until it became rtively safe outside. Chapter 210 Even in the basement, they dared not make much noise. Everyone worked while carefully staying silent. In fact, Yan Fei made the metal walls thicker than usual so the soundproofing was very good. Even the sound of beating against one side of the wall would not reach the other. When they were previously eating in the kitchen, they heard stones falling only because it fell on the thin metal covering the sr panels. With light hands, they moved soil andpost to the crops. A few days the seeds had grown into seedlings and the team sort of looked forward to the work. Every once in a while two people would go up and check the situation. Although theputer could watch the situation, they had to check other rooms to be at ease that there were no idents. The children followed the adults example and stayed extra quiet. Yu Xinran apanied the team before sitting with the baby and learning to write. Puppy was behind her and tagged along. Fortunately the baby had always been very quiet. He had little noise whether Luo Xun moved him, or was thirsty or hungry. At noon, when everyone stopped to rest, Luo Xun and Yan Fei went up together to the third floor. Thetter created a peephole to watch the zombies outside. There were zombies flying in the sky and running around. Fortunately the enemies were rtively far from their new base, there was no sign of threat. Not to mention some walkers got caught by the mutant nts, which made them a bit safer. "Lets go down first and they should leave after a while." Yan Fei re-sealed the wall and gently patted Luo Xuns shoulder. Luo Xun nodded and the pair went back to the kitchen to have lunch. Before due to fear of the zombies identally destroying their roof, they specially sealed their satellite dishes with metal. In order to not attract any attention, they could only wait before removing the covering. As Yan Fei guessed, the zombies took two days to pass by and gradually disappeared. After removing the metal that was blocking the satellite dish, He Qiankun was responsible for sifting through the new information. The photographs showed that the zombie wave had made its way to the southwest base, which was once again surrounded. The southwest base had long predicted that the zombies would pass near base. They responded and prepared ahead of time. Notified in advance, members were told not to leave after a certain point for defense. Now that the wave had arrived the teams took turns on watch. Unfortunately there were still a number of emergencies that caused the situation to be a bit chaotic. For example, there were not enough resources on base so there was not enough weapons or ammunition so they had to rely mainly on ability users. But the issues was after the regime change at the start of the year, in order to stabilize the situation, they secretly used the former base managements methods. Teams that did not cooperate were deliberately sent into the city with many zombies C therefore tying a bunch of hands. Another example, in order to get as many ability users under the control of the military and stabilize the situation, teams were forced toplete harder tasks. The smaller and disobedient teams were forced to disband. Although some of them were permanently gone, others joinedrger teams but there were still those who were not willing to participate. So with the zombie siege, the people were informed through team notification, individuals were not in the know. So the statistics of responses suddenly appeared to be a lot less. Fortunately since there was advance notice, they quickly tallied up the defense force and the higher ups found the problem. They could only send information to the regr citizens with crystal cores as a reward. After each wave, the base would first let personnel out to collect scattered cores before outsourcing the task. These crystal cores were naturally part of the rewards while the rest would be stockpiled and used as needed. In the end, there were situations on base that the new management did not expect. The recement of staff from top to bottom would naturally develop. For example, the passive idleness of external office staff. At first they thought that the butterflies had been driven away. THe new staff were serious and responsible, but they ignored another problem C workers always rtionship oriented. No matter who would inevitably give help to the people around them. Partly due to human rtions, partly due to gifts at home, if their work was not as well-paying as expected and there were no disciplinary actions, people would ck off. All sorts of things led to work weakening before the siege. If there was no time, there would be a big problem with defense. Fortunately there was still time to spot dangers, problems, change behavior and adjust strategies. When the first zombie flew over base, the battle against the zombie siege began again. The photos showed a dense ck mass surrounding the southwest base. Luo Xun carefully checked and confirmed that the zombies were not moving towards their own base. "Well be safe here for now. Lets head after a few days to check out the base." The others nodded in agreement, although the zombies were gathered at the southwest base, who knew if they would suddenly change direction? Zhang Yi opened his mouth to say, "I think it would be easier to go out and find things. Go to the warehouses, gas stations and other locations for supplies. Otherwise after the zombies retreat the base will send out people to scavenge and cause trouble." Everyone looked at Luo Xun with bright eyes. Luo Xun understood Zhang Yis point, frowned in thought before pping. "You are right, some things are better to get now. Although we have no way to confirm if there is stuff we need, if we waste time it will be bad if we encounter other people." Zhang Yi was right, the base could analyze areas the same as them but they were more staffed. If they went out to collect supplies, sooner orter they would encounter other base squads. If they did not take advantage now, wouldnt there be only dregs left for them? There were no fools in this world, only those who were too slow. After discussion, the team decided to head out early the next morning. Their destination C a warehouse they had previously found with many shops and so on. Even better, the area was near one of the main offices of a courierpany. Early in the morning, they once again checked the satellite photos before proceeding with their trip. Perhaps they would encounter some wandering zombies along the way but it was a small matterpared to the zombie wave. The ce was some distance away from their new base and the road was rough enough the team sitting in the car felt like they were on a roller-coaster, jostled from head to toe. Poor Yu Xinran flew through the air part way on the road. Everyone parked on the roadside to let her rest while Luo Xun quickly checked the baby in the back. Who knew this child would stare back with excited eyes and waving arms. Why did he enjoy the rattling? Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged looks and then looked at his cradle...Perhaps because the baby was in there, the bumping was more like ying around and did not feel ufortable? "Are you better?" Song Linling added some water to a cup before Xu Mei heated it up and handed it to Yu Xinran. The little girl rinsed her mouth. After spitting twice, she nodded with a pale face. "Im all right." Everyone thought she was strong even with her pale face. In the meantime, Luo Xun and Yan Fei were holding the excited baby. Chapter 211 Luo Xun looked around, smiled and touched the little girls head. "Lets rest for a while, we are not in a hurry now." As the weather grew hotter, the whole world became lush; full of trees and weeds with theck of human activity. The nts grew extraordinarily vigorous across the previous fields. In the distance, many of the old buildings had been covered with creeping green vegetation. There was a sense of fantasypared to the barren ruins from the past. But this was reality, the survivors of the apocalypse were now ustomed to the environment. The group got out of the car and looked around. Nearby there were some kinds of flowers and grass growing. The red and yellow flowers were beautiful in bloom. Yu Xinran drank warm water while holding Song Linglings hand. Luo Xun also let the baby bask in the sun. They had only been inside working, this was not good for the child, so they should also stop for a breather. The group was resting when the ground suddenly started shaking... "Zombie...zombie wave?!" Wang Duo wildly looked around and was ready to escape back to the car. The others were nervous, Luo Xun looked at Zhang Yi, who immediately used his power to scout the area. However before his wind to deliver the information, Luo Xun saw what was happening... Two huge wolves were chasing a bunch of panicked ducks were making noises. Luo Xun and the others had now seen everything. Seemed like since the targets were stupid, the wolves had not deliberately driven the ducks towards then. Instead they had been chasing their prey all over the mountain. Whenever they tired, they would pounce and capture one. Finally the wolves grabbed their rations and ran away. Luo Xun and party stared as the wolves left, leaving a few birds standing nkly in the field. For a while, the team exchanged looks before Luo Xun spat out, "I also wondered where the two wolves went? Its time to hunt ducks!" Fine, the phrase was a bit strange. Wu Xun suddenly asked, "Luo Xun, are those really wolves?" "What?" Luo Xun was puzzled along with the others. "I heard that only dogs would wag their tails and not wolves...their tails were moving when they were leaving right?" "...I didnt notice." "Maybe they were abandoned, but they were raised?" "Maybe they are really dogs! Otherwise if they were wolves, why didnt they attack us?" "Right, and there arent many wild wolves!" "Isnt the zoo nearby? What if they are from the zoo?" The group of idle people actually spent half an hour discussing whether the two canines were wolves or dogs. Finally they remembered that they had a lot of work today. After the discussion, they all unanimously decided to let Yu Xinran sit together with Luo Xun on the road. She could use her power to turnrge pieces of rubble into sand. The smaller pieces and potholes could be ignored but it would help the bumpy road. By the end most of the avenue had been turned into sand. This time Luo Xun and team were going somewhere rtively far from their base. So when they returned to the main road, they would not need to deal with the troublesome road conditions. It took the convoy more than a day to reach their destination located in the southeast countryside of A City. The surrounding areas were not as damaged since there was a small poption as people were embarrassed with the location. Due to this, Luo Xun came to this ce but also because there were some warehouses, gas stations and transportation resources. There were fewer people looking after the warehouses. Driving near the area, Luo Xun looked into the distance and confirmed the situation be proceeding. Some of the warehouses had been damaged while others retained a decent appearance. From the satellite photos, Luo Xun could only see roofs and general details. They had to wait to see with their own eyes. For example, there were several warehouses with broken doors that they had not seen before. "People have been here before." The group drove and confirmed with a quick look around. Luo Xun thought for a moment while driving the car in front of a warehouse. "Lets go to the target and then check the other warehouses." He was pretty sure that teams had visited before. After all, this was a location filled with warehouses. The base had issued a variety of missions involving this ce so it was not a surprise. As long as they found what they were looking for, he would not ask for more. After a drive around, Luo Xun stopped at a warehouse with a sted open gate. It was not surprising to see that the ce had been broken into. Yan Fei opened the door for him. The metal gate creaked open, revealing the dark insides of the warehouse. Almost all the doors had signs of being forced open. Should have been the same group of people, Luo Xun was calm because although they had opened the door, all the things would not have been necessarily taken away. "Theres stuff! Luo Xun, there are supplies!" Excited sounds came from the car. Luo Xun spoke with Zhang Yi while suppressing any excitement and carelessness. "Zhang Yi first check what is inside." They could see boxes stacked outside the warehouse, from the outer packing it looked finished. One only did not know if there were any dead zombies or animals hiding the warehouse. Zhang Yis power surveyed the warehouse. "I dont feel anything moving." Luo Xun calmed his heart, opened the door and let the team carefully enter the warehouse. Nearby, Zhang Yi shot a wind de and cut open a box, revealing the contents C salt. This was a salt transportpany, there were other things but what needed most was salt. With the familiar packaging, the team could not help but quietly cheer. After confirming that nothing happened afterwards, the team stepped forward and carefully opened the boxes. The outer packaging was still intact. Although it was ced outside for so long, since there was little rain and the nearby climate was dry, the boxes had stood the passage of time. "It should be all right, lets move!" There was a lot of salt in the warehouse, but it was notpletely filled. The people who visited before must have removed some salt of perhaps the warehouse had not been filled. Anyway, the remaining salt was only this pile. In addition to themon iodized salt, there were other varieties such as coarse and sea salt. But it was still the same brand. The salt boxes were not light but Luo Xun still pulled them into their cars with help from Yan Fei. They were ced in therge truck as well as the smaller sr cars. The team only left the warehouse after thest box was stored away. The salt storage seemed to be surrounded by food-rted warehouses, there was an odd smell even from a distance C what kind of taste would be left after the shelf life? Some werepletely empty C likely in the earlier days when teams went scavenging. After checking several simr warehouses, Luo Xun finally found something different C an electrical goods warehouse. "Boss, boss! There is air conditioning! Air conditioning!" He Qiankun cheered from outside the door, as thergest person in the team, he said that the hot weather was not good. Before, only he would be sweating in these temperatures. Heined about theck of air conditioning in the new base. It was not just air conditioning, there were other things such as fridges, televisions, electric fans and so on. This rtivelyrge warehouse was obviously a transport center for a home appliance shopping mall before the end. The things they bought from the mall were basically from here, which led to this ce being filled with goods. Xu Mei even saw certain shelves with giveaway items C the same juicer, hair dryer, small vacuum cleaner and so on. "Take what we need for now and grab a few more freezers." The ones at home were second-hand so Luo Xun was eager to get these brand-new appliances. "We need one air-conditioning unit per room right? Also the basement, cant only use the exhaust fan and vents. Do you want to find the central air conditioning?" "Leader, can you bring a juicer back? The fruit at home is ready and can be juiced for everyone to drink!" "Everyone get what you need first, the rest can be stuffed into the remaining space in the car..." The group of people were like those with an unlimited credit card at a mall before then end. They were very excited to purchase things. Chapter 212 Two containers were towed behind arge truck and the four electric cars were full as well. Luo Xun and team had definitely harvested a lot this time. There was a lot left in the warehouse but all the food-rted warehouses were empty. They only found some salt, pickles and other sauces in a warehouse for side dishes and dressings. The ss bottles were good and edible, but the ones wrapped in stic had bloated and released a bad smell. Fortunately, Luo Xun andpany grew their own vegetables, raised mutant quail so they were not short on ingredients. As long as they brought back the salt, they would be fine for a decade. It would be enough for them at the new base. As for sauces and other things...how could these expired productspare to Luo Xuns cooking? The Otaku squad had no doubt about this. Although they still took these things, it was to sell and exchange at base. Or they would empty the containers and use them for their own food. After checking around they could not do anymore. They had arrived at their target but the cars were full. For safety they should head back, after all they had found what they needed. The next time they could grab some spare electronics litter all around. After spending a night in a clearing near the warehouse. The next morning the team journeyed back home but they had bad luck...they encountered some wandering zombies from the wave. As mentioned before, the shape of the zombies had be more and more inhuman. The one they saw had rtivelyrge change. It was at least several times the size of a regr human, about three meters tall. Its forearms were thicker and longer than the hind legs and even resembled an orangutan. However as they approached, they realized that the chin was different, and there was no fur. Luo Xun determined that would be a mutant zombie. "...Whats the difference between the different zombies?" Xu Meis voice came from the radio. Luo Xun did not have time to answer before the zombie hammered its chest and rushed over to the car. Yan Fei quickly erected a steel te to block. When the two collided, the zombie grabbed and twisted the metal before trying to throw it back towards the car. "Obviously its power." Yan Fei was not idle while the the zombie was tearing at the metal like paper. He raised his finger and the metal twisted into a metal thorn targeting the zombies jaw. This mutant zombie was not only incredibly power but also had a thick skin. Yan Fei failed to pierce through the head! The undead roared while rampaging in ce. It suddenly grabbed a piece of metal and threw it towards the car! Fortunately, Yan Fei was a metal user and took control of the metal before it hit. On the other hand, Xu Mei shot a fireball from the window hitting the zombies face. There was a trace of Zhang Yis wind that pushed the metal thorn into the brain! Yan Fei regained his ammo and fought back. The zombie tore at the metal again but after getting hit with a synchronized attack, the brain was finally pierced. The zombie was now dead. Seeing that the zombie was no longer moving, the team breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at each other with eyes filled with gratitude. Could this zombie be killed? Obviously, was not one at their feet? But easy to fight? Definitely not. Although they could kill it, it was only because there was only one of them. If they encountered a group, it would take a lot of effort even with the pit digging method. If there was another zombie that could coordinate... After a short breather, Luo Xun took out the crystal core before setting out again. Unsurprising, the zombie was only a level four power-type zombie, but it was one that had mutated. This mutant zombie was more difficult to kill with thick skin. How could people survive if one encountered a group of them? However if the defenses were heavy enough, they could only cause a few depressions at most. Plus if the walls wererge enough, they would not get damaged. The wall Yan Fei had made was rtively small. The zombie had a chance to fight back since it could grab the edge, otherwise there would be no issue. Thinking of this kind of zombie and their base, Luo Xun had a heavy expression while facing Yan Fei. "Before we repair the buildings above ground, we have to build a circle of metal walls around the house. Not just to block the mutant nts, but also mutant zombies." Yan Fei understood the seriousness of the problem. "We brought back metalst time, after we finish with the underground building, we can start the wall." They had to set up the wall before they could set up nting space, otherwise the vines came in, the team could not move easily. As for how the wall should be designed to avoid getting destroyed by zombies? They would have to wait until they had enough metal to conduct all kinds of experiments. It took a day and a half to get there and the same amount of time to return. Including the time in the middle for scavenging, it took four days to return to base. In the fields, Luo Xun found a silly goose that had strayed into the mutant nts. It was not long before the nts were fed. The remaining birds were far away from the farnd, walking on the lush greens. Not far from were two wolvesying around eating, drinking and snoozing in the sun. The two wolves heard movement on the road and looked over. Seeing the familiar red and white caterpir things, they seemed to know that it was Luo Xuns team. They just yawned and continued to sleep. Luo Xun had no time to pay attention to the two who had turned a blind eye to their convoy. They hastened home and unloaded the cars again. Of course Yan Fei did the usual on the way back and brought back two metal balls. Before to avoid notice, the metal ball was made to look a car but it costs energy. Controlling a ball was easy, since the southwest base was under siege, with no other people around it was more convenient to have the metal roll back. The things had been moved from the car and into the storage rooms. Items were sent upstairs as well. Li Tie and some others excitedly said to first set up air conditioning, it would be easy with Yan Feis assistance, it was air conditioning! They just had to change the machine and not touch the wall at all. The group of people were busy in the heat. Of course they did not forget to carefully examine the situation outside. Checked that the metal wall underground had no signs of damage. Yan Fei did a careful examination to make sure there were no problems at home. On the other hand, He Qiankun checked the satellite feed they had receveniced to check on the zombie wave at the southwest base. Li Tie pointed at a satellite photo and said to Luo Xun, "It looks like zombies are going to stick around but the walls should be fine, there are no broken areas." Luo Xun carefully observed while looking at a few other photos before shaking his head. "This angle is straight down, we cant see whether there is anything at the wall. There would be definitely zombies that can dig through the ground." More importantly in the past, did the zombies not appear without warning? Who could say what was going on from outside the southwest base. But at least from the photos when they were taken, there were no signs of the zombies breaking through the walls. The southwest base was not the best, but it was Luo Xuns only exchange tform with regr society. If one of therge bases was destroyed, the number of humans would be greatly reduced again then Luo Xun might not be able to protect their small base. Especially since todays zombies were getting stronger and more evolved. Chapter 213 After resting at home for a night, the team had neither the nood or physical strength to leave. Even if they wanted to go out again, it was not possible right away. Whats more, considering the duration of each zombie siege C a small-scale wave would be around three to five days,rger ones mayst more than a week. The size of this wave was notrge but if they were outside when they withdrew towards them...it would dangerous part way through. They packed up everything in the room, Yan Fei brought the metal they collected to the basement and strengthened ces that were not finished. The others also organized and packed before waiting for the new shelves to be made. Then they filled it withpost to grow crops, the process was repeated. The Otaku squad was stuck at home for a day. At night, He Qiankun and Wu Xin sorted out the satellite photos and with the rest of the team they analyzed and observed. "You see, there seems to be signs of the zombies retreating!" He Qiankun zoomed in on a few photos and showed theputer screen to everyone. Unlike the previous two days, the zombies showed signs of leaving the southwest base. The past zombies had surrounded the outside regiments while others continued arriving. But now the group surrounding the army looked like a line, as if gathering towards the north-right side of the base. "Maybe they are going to retreat, in this case the zombies should be heading north after this. There is no danger to our area or the warehouse." Luo Xun touched his chin and pointed at the screen. "If this continues, the zombies will be gone tomorrow or the day after at thetest. The base will wait a day or two before cleaning up the battlefield and sending out teams to do tasks." Even if the base spected that the zombies would leave, for the sake of safety they would temporarily keep people inside. After all, they could not control when satellite photos would get taken. It seemed that because some tech sites were destroyed after the end of the world, although the satellites would regrly photograph the situation and send, those on the ground could not control the target, frequency or other variables. Coupled with the fact that many ces had been destroyed with the apocalypse, there seemed to be no way tounch satellites into space. Once one was broken...the people on earth could not repair it. One satellite gone was one permanently lost. The team temporarily withdrew their concerns about the satellite. After discussion, they decided to hurry and go out again. They would head to the transportationpany fromst time. If there were no supplies, they could go back to the warehouse and collect a lot of metal instead. After making up their minds they acted very efficiently. The next day they drove out, the round trip took four days and Luo Xun harvested a lot. The ce was strange, Luo Xun felt it was because C all kinds of strange food and drink were all mixed together. Although it was visited after the apocalypse, it was not a persons first priority due to the mess. So this operation was fruitful and efficient. With no zombies or other things to mess with their group, Luo Xun brought back all kinds of strange things. From bottles, cans and flowers to washing machines, air conditioner and water purifiers. There was even a lot of dry food. They drove back with full cars. The two women were looking at the shampoo, bath, dental and other high end skin care products. Although many of these things had limited shelf life, they could still be used. Luo Xun found a few parcels of strange flower seeds, he would take it back and see what nts would grow. After this long-distance trip, Luo Xun and the others would not need to go far away for a while. Other than going out to collect metal, they could stay at home topletely renovate their base. Then they could pass their days in rtivefort. This time after taking a closer look at the satellite photos, the crowd finally breathed a sigh of relief C the zombie wave at the southwest base had retreated and the base had not been broken. "Boss, will we return at the end of the month?" Li Tie asked since it was close to the end of the month. The southwest base had just experienced the zombie wave, some ces might not be open and prices must have risen a lot. Luo Xun shook his head, "Not this month, well go back early next month. First lets finish with the stuff at home." They only went out two times but found a lot of good things. The first time, not to mention salt, the shelves also had MSG and chicken stock powder, rtively durable seasonings. This month although they had harvested many green vegetables, the number was not to the extent that they were in a hurry to sell. Naturally there was no need to rush back to the southwest base. One should know that after every zombie wave, the base would make some adjustments. If they rushed back, who knew what would happen. It was best to wait a little while until things calmed down. After making up their mind, the team rested for a few days and then went out five or six times in a row to bring back enough metal to continue their unfinished work. Dug the basement and created all kinds of things. After this was done and covered in metal, the team was finally ready to deal with the nting area above ground. Yes, the greenhouse. After a number of modifications, Luo Xun finally set the design and with Yan Feis input, they finished the n. The first step for building a greenhouse was to build metal walls. It was about half a meter thick, made from metal with the highest toughness after special treatment. They built it close to the edge of the mutant nts. At first the nts were curious and constantly used their branches to check the new things. But with the smooth appearance, no parts to be grabbed, the rock-like posture, the nts treated them as real stones. The second step was a secondary treatment of the metal walls C painting. Luo Xun picked out some colors and adjusted them until they were simr enough to the mutant nts. Yan Fei did a good job of painting the metal and recreating the new circle of metal. The secondyer melted on top of the wall and formed a semi-circr dome. It was like some stadiums that protected the audience but the center was empty. The curved design from above closely resembled the surrounding mutant nts. The purpose of this pattern was not only to hide from eyes but also even if the mutant nts grew taller, they would not reach the edges. The metal fence was close to four meters tall, about the same height as the second floor building. From a distance if someone passed by although they could see the upper edge of the wall, it would be thought of as a mutant nt. Deep underground beneath the wall was tightly sealed with metal. With the fence done, the rest of the work was more convenient. Luo Xun and the others were not in a hurry to start work. They first waited for a day for more satellite photos to examine their home. After confirming that the camouge effect was good, even though they carefully looked there was nothing unusual, they decided to continue work the next day. This time, Luo Xun did not directlyy a metal floor, but turned the ground into sand first. The ground was paved with te and asphalt before the apocalypse so the soil was not suitable for nting things. So they would deal with the area and use better soil for nting. Luo Xun put aside some marble floor and other decorative things for the greenhouse. Yu Xinran started to use her power. The sand was transported to the car and dumped on the hills at the farmnds edge. They also decided to tear down several small houses C the contents were moved into storage. Anything that did not fit was temporarily set aside or ced on a metal tform. After all, Luo Xun and the others could not use the tractors, sowing cars and so on in a short period of time, but these things were pretty good and a pity to throw away. Chapter 214 Just when Luo Xun was ready to start building their base, He Qiankun and Wu Xin who were responsible for routine inspection of satellite data got a new harvest. When they saw the pieces of information that they worked hard to get, they were surprised and then hurried to the construction site...Yes, there was a big hole in the ground. "Leader! News, breaking news! Big news!" He Qiankuns belly was quivering with happiness. Someone who was working looked up and could not help but snort and inhale a mouthful of sand. The mutant nts heard movement inside and moved their branches. But after touching the smooth iron te, they gave up after confirming there was no way to reach the food. "Whats going on?" Luo Xun wiped his face, leaving streaks as he asked the pair. "We just received information from the satellite!" He Qiankun gasped for breath while Wu Xin was only breathing a bit heavier despite both rushing over. "We couldnt get it until we cracked the password two days ago ...we found all the files that the bases exchanged information with! Today we got letters between the southwest base and some other bases, they want to carry out rectification! After this zombie wave, well work towards mining information from other bases." These little things carried arge amount of information. Wu Xin was not clear as well, he simply sorted out the information and used his equipment to record. He Qiankuns face was filled with excitement. "The new channel has a lot of data! We also found some TV programs! The data inside is moreplicated so some things are still locked but we can slowly study and unlock it. But we need more equipment and a room dedicated for this sort of thing." Luo Xun smiled. "Thats great, after the base is built well have to go deep into the city to find some equipment. Bring it back and build a specialized room for you however you like." Thest time they went out they found some cameras but they were of different models, types and sizes. Although they could be used, each device had a somewhat different use and they only found a few. After finding these things, Luo Xun went into the city and looked for electronic stores for more items. Those kinds of things were often in digital malls and other ces. There must be a variety ofputer equipment. Just one trip should be able to grab all that they needed. Hearing Luo Xuns words, the tech guys cheered and pped their hands. Luo Xun announced a short break to look at the new information. The team returned to the first floor to rest, drink water and sit while watching the news. As it turned out, they got some inter-basemunications. Some were even regarding data rtively close to them. It was just that this kind of data was deleted quickly, so he got cut off quickly after discovery. Several documents from the southwest base had been marked and Luo Xun was now looking at these items. One was after this defensive battle, since the base weapons were exhausted, they needed to go to nearby mines, factories and other ces to grab resources while exchanging information. The other was what He Qiankun had already mentioned, the base was under reorganization. The rectification message was sent for a reason, not just because they had found internal base problems. Before this campaign, there were bases in the countrypletely controlled by the military, all inhabitants must obey orders. Forced under unified management during a period of war. All food, clothing and energy was subject to quota distribution. Private property was not allowed, all materials were handed over to management. Each person must be registered to allocation of tasks. All ordinary people had to have military training, obey supervisors and the arrangements. If necessary, vitors would be militarized, serious vitions would result in exile of execution. The first base to implement this management was one with around ten thousand people. The base covered a small area, if there was no cohesion sooner orter everyone would be dead from infighting like grains of sand in the wind. Almost two years had passed since the apocalypse and the survival rates at these bases was much higher than others. Some of therger bases who learned of this decided to implement this method. Dive out those who did not listen to orders, carry out strict militarized management. Although it would cause its own share of problems, the survival rates would be higher than before! That was one of the reasons why survivors fleeing from other bases and those evicted and seeking refuge had no provisions. But now the southwest base could not be so epting. If they did not improve management, who knew how they would survive against the next zombie wave? Because of the cloudy forces at base, it was easy to achieve rtive unity at the top. Most of the rebellious teams had been cleared up, how could they tolerate the situation? After reading this information, the team looked at each other in silence. Zhang Yi coldly smiled and waved his phone. "Shouldnt we d that we left earlier?" Yes, thanks to their speed, they learned the news in advance. Otherwise if they had rushed forward without thought, who knew if they would be able to smoothly escape? "We cant go back to the southwest base for the time being." Luo Xun calmed down and addressed the team. "If we go back now, who knows if we can get out. Here we have vegetables, grain and rations in storage. We can also catch some mutant poultry. Lets continue to prioritize our base construction and then look for an opportunity to enter the city and grab some electronic equipment. We should also look for some furniture and things before closing our doors." After Luo Xun finished, his n had the full support of the team. Although they had some reservations when leaving base before, now that the base was under reorganization, if some more time had passed, they might not have been able to leave. When no one was left, Luo Xun whispered to Yan Fei, "I have no idea about the future...If the southwest base will change ording to this information, I really do not know what will happen next..." Although the base army had taken over the management and ced all the ability users in one area to create a district, the civilians were still civilians, otherwise how could he have a house for ten years? Yan Feiughed, "Differences were inevitable right? With so many things happening every day, any small matter can affect the future. Whats the point of living exactly like in a past life?" Although the future was not the same, Yan Fei was not worried. Difference was good, so Luo Xun did not have shoulder the burden of his past knowledge. Whats more, was not life always filled with uncertainty? If everything was known in advance and one could only move forward as predicted, forced to head towards danger and sadness, who could bear it? So Luo Xuns past life predictions were important, but now that they have their lifestyle, it was not as important. Luo Xun was in a good mood beingforted by his lover. After regaining his spirit, he returned to work on remodeling the base. He Qiankun and Wu Xins workload was reduced since they were responsible for collecting information. But the two men were generous and said that data collection only took a bit of time so they could still help transport soil. Like the twodies, they would take on some of the work before returning to theirputers. Therge pit was quickly dug out. Yan Fei measured the depth of the ground and began to build a metal floor based on the basement roof. The floor was rtively thick, about one meter. Afterwards, Yan Fei also set up the geothermal system so the entire house could be turned into a greenhouse. After all that was done, the team started to work C moving earth! Chapter 215 Bag by bag, a box of soil was mixed with water and fertilizer in the yard. Luo Xun and the others were now very d that they had saved a lot of soil. Otherwise they would not have had enough and they would have to temporarily dig out a few pits. Filling the pits was not more efficient than digging them and it took them two days to fill the entire space with fresh, fertile soil. In the meantime, they also purposely built several small hillsides for when they needed to transnt fruit trees above ground. After the earth wasid it did not look any different. Because there was a wall outside and connected to the basement ceiling, they simply lowered the elevation of the space. There was enough soil left for the tree and grass roots to grow. This way, the building would not look too tall while still giving enough height for the nts. Luo Xun and team filled the rest,pacting the ground before scattering more than half of the earthworms in the garden. Afterwards, they created a path in the garden using some of the leftover marble and other materials. Once they were done, they set their sights on the roof. To install the roof as quickly as possible using the ss, protective metal and some sr panels at home. Lamps and other things needed to be installed to ensure there was enough light. The team went a few times again, collecting enough metal to make the frame while leaving space for the windows from the factory. Naturally the ss would be fitted with metal covers to avoid potential damage to the greenhouse. While Yan Fei was working with the metal, the others painted on the metal so those who looked at satellite photos would ignore the building. This work was very time consuming, Luo Xun divided it into two parts. One was responsible for painting the metal sheets while the rest started to transnt the collected fruit trees. It would be best not to expose the new nts to the sun so the roof would act as a shield. Yan Fei was mainly responsible for installing the ss, building shelves and pasting the metal pieces after the painting was done. The whole set of work was time-consuming, it took a whole week to finish the roof and transnting the nts. It was not long before they finished with the soil, looking for metal and stirring the earth. Now, it was early to mid July when the weather was the hottest. After the new greenhouse waspleted, the first and second floors werepletely covered. The only part left was the third floor. Luo Xun had brought all the air conditioning units there. There were even a few left after installing the machines onto the roof and inside the rooms for operation. After dealing with the second floor, they no longer needed to make so many metal shelves outside. The ones originally hung outside the sr panels were to the greenhouse. It was handy with all the metal at home. Today they could see their new greenhouse from the second floor window. It was a real garden with the orchard and vibrant crops along with some animals/insects. With the new garden, there was no better ce for Yu Xinran and Puppy to y around. Luo Xun made a swing in one of the open spaces. He also moved some grape racks and found some natural furniture. This team of people were so rxed in the shade they even wondered C did they want to bring back some small rides from a yground before the apocalypse. Looking at the little girl smiling on the swing, the dog running around and the baby with curious eyes, the team thought about setting up a yground. They tried to think of any simr ces they had passed before. "Its okay for those cars to be on top of our heads right?" Li Tie asked and pointed at some farm vehicles behind the house on a tform. The tractor on the outermost edge looked dangerous. Luo Xun also looked above and was conflicted, "The next time we go out well get metal to make a fence. The vehicles are attached to the wall and will not fall down." Those things did look quite scary since they were higher than a persons height. But since they were essentially part of the wall, if they did not know that the metal was thick enough, no one would dare approach. If possible, Luo Xun also wanted to move them to the underground parking area, but the elevator was notrge enough to pass through! Now the ground was surrounded by mutant nts and it was not possible to drive these things past the fields so they could only temporarily hang them in the air. The result of the excavation was a lot of storage space underground, leaving space to flowers grasses, fruits and veggies except those that could not be moved. The marble and brick-paved were lined with lush leeks, coriander and garlic seedlings. Apart from that unique taste, it was no different from a garden at first nce. There was also a specially dug river in the garden with some clean water. For the time being it had no other role than adding humidity to the space. Luo Xun also had a part nted with watermelon, the fruit trees were ced on the new small hillside. There were also lemon bushes, orange trees, strawberries, cream fruit and so on. Of course, on the roadside corner at the edge of the trees and flowers, they also ced a mushroom box. They were made to look like chairs, stools and so on but also stands for pots. Tired people could rest on them but their main use was to absorb toxic substances and avoid nt mutation. Although not perfect, the greenhouse could be considered a basic sess. Luo Xun had considered whether to let the animals outright live in the garden. However considering they had not confirmed whether the mutant quails had any ability or any time to ughter one. They could only wait until they were confirmed not dangerous before considering the issue. Who knew if the animals would not destroy their garden. If there was a chance, they would rather set up an isted room. The teams big project finally came to an end but they were still busy. They went out to find electronic equipment, furniture and childrens toys to decorate some rooms. At the same time, He Qiankun and Wu Xin lived up to their expectations of getting new documents. This time was notmunication between bases but some encrypted documents. Because Li Tie and the others had been working in the military, they knew a few internal passwords. Before since they did not know about the information channels, they had no ess. However once they did learn, there were naturally no secrets. The southwest base was indeed prepared to follow the model of those smaller bases. But there were concerns that the base poption was toorge and would lead to other problems threatening leader security if the policy was too strong. So the base decided to slowly change Cpletely separating into inner and outeryers for double-standard management. The inner city would be thoroughly militarized. Those who did not want to obey could leave for the outer city. But if the base encountered a dangerous situation, the military would give priority to the inner city, even abandoning the outer city. Therefore in the issue of security, the outer was not as safe as the inner portion. The inner city would temporarily focus on the military after restructuring. They would also absorb some personnel who were willing to obey the management. The outer city was where theters and those who did not want to join would live temporarily. But once the inner city was sessful in reforming, the outer city would follow sooner orter. It would be faster inparison. Luo Xun thought of his original house C located in a prime location of the inner city. He dropped the document with a sigh and asked, "Is everything ready? After breakfast, well leave for the base, take action!" Chapter 216 The Otaku squads new base was located to the southwest of A city. It would take more than a day to reach the southwest base (with the difficult road conditions and copsed areas to bypass). But if they wanted to reach the northern area that specializes in digital products, they had to cross almost half the city. Although they could take the long way around, how long would it take? It would also be possible that they would meet with other teams on official missions. Fortunately, Luo Xun paid attention to the zombie wave situation while building the greenhouse There should not be many zombies in the area even after the zombie siege finished. Although there were zombies in the city, Luo Xun found a rtively clean route. The risk against these zombies was nothingpared to the zombie siege. After entering the city, they would encounter teams find materials, but those were scattered without military presence. So they did not have to be very worried. There was another reason why they did not take the long way C the warming weather melted the snow and moistened buildings and the ground. The further away from the city, the more vicariously the nts grew. Like the ce Luo Xuns team lived, rtively quiet ces with open space were covered in nts. Look at the satellite photos showing the jagged outer ring, Luo Xun had some worries. Not all mutant nts were like the devil vine C apletely different color and shape. Some mutant nts were still green, who knew if they were interested in human flesh. They dared not rush through those ces. Although there were still many zombies hidden in the city, with people in base searching for supplies, the roads would definitely better. Even other sections were not as dangerous. In addition, before this operation, Luo Xun also had Yan Fei improve their weapons and the lethality of their ammunition. Therefore the safety factor was increased for this outing. Two empty white electric cars and red trucks other than necessary supplies, food and hidden metal inside drove forward. Luo Xun expected their trip to take longer so they specially set the lights and set up protections for the sr panels and ss. Everything was arranged before leaving through the tunnel and driving towards the northern part of the city. A city is very big, everyone knew that already before the end. But with todays difficult road conditions, wandering zombies, mutant animals and transportation. With traffic jams then it could take forever to get anywhere. As for how many days it would take to get there? It all depended on luck and character. At the beginning of the end, some people were hiding at first but after food ran out they had to leave and finally escape to A city. They were locals but it could take ten days up to a month to walk to base. Luo Xun and the others were in a better situation. After all, they had a car and satellite images showed safety zones. The car also had a variety of weapons and the most important thing was at least half the team had abilities. They still had to be careful at all times as they had to worry about zombies, mutant animals and people they meet on the road. The southwest base had recently takenrge actions. It seemed that after the zombie wave, the inner and outer walls werepletely isted. Fortunately there did not seem to be a concrete divide but some well-informed people knew the truth. After the zombie wave receded, the military immediately send vehicles to the former mines to bring back supplies and fuel back. The higher ups at base prioritized increasing the wall height and strength. Then they started to distinguish between those inside and outside the city. Only, because of human nature, those in the know would tell their rtives and friends and so on. Gradually the news spread, there was a rumor in base that there was a supply shortage and the military was ready to confiscate private property. The rest of the idea, that ording to work results the supplies would be distributed was ignored. The poor people naturally did not care and happily waited for the change. But the rest were different, who was willing to hand over their things to others? Unless they would get more in the end, than it would be impossible! Fortunately, immediately after another rumor spread C the matter would only be temporary in the inner and outer parts of the base. But after three days, the inner base was almost empty. People with few assets slowly trickled out while some unbelievers stayed in their original residences. On the other hand, the outer city was lively, many people werepeting for housing while the upper echelons started work. Rumors were swirling, teams with ability users were sent out on missions after reaching an agreement. So while Luo Xun and team drove towards the base, they asionally encountered some returning convoys. While out Yan Fei collected spare metal, when there was enough he simply shaped the metal into the shapes of humble jeeps. Even if there were other teams nearby, they would think it real, even the one way ss. After doing a good job, Yan Fei made the cars move behind them, following Zhang Yis car. Thetter could use his ability to scout any danger and road conditions. This time, the two were in a small electric car in the front. Yan Fei was next in arge truck, followed by Li Tie. The two womens small car made up the rear. If there was enough metal collected to form a few cars, Luo Xun was ready to do as before,press the material or put it in the back. Sure enough, their numbers were enough, nearby teams would give them a few nces but not approach. Even if the sun set, they would not take the initiative toe closer. Since others did not approach, Luo Xun would not take the chance either. When they drove into the city, most of the convoys would disperse and head towards their own targets. The Otaku squad would usually find an open space to temporarily set up a metal wall. But in this urban area filled with buildings, they could only give up. Other than passing the night in their car, they would find an empty house to stay in. This was because there were rtively few open spaces, definitely not enough space to set up a metal house. If people passed by during the night, there would be trouble. So the evening of the third day leaving their new base, Luo Xun and team killed off the nearby zombies and found a shop on the roadside. Locked the car, grabbed their belongings, the team looked around for zombies after entering the empty shop. The shop was empty in all sense of the definition. This was not far from the southwest base, obviously there were not many zombies, more cautious teams hade to this area so everything of value: shelves, cabs, doors and windows were all gone. The whole room was empty, there was nothing, even the wallpaper and floor tiles was gone, not to mention anything else? After two checks, the team nodded and said, "Its good, well rest here for tonight." Yan Fei did not have to move the two cars of pure metal. He waved a hand and summoned some metal from the area. The whole house waspletely sealed aside from venttion. The teamid their covers, set a fire and washed their hands. Luo Xun took the baby from his sling and checked his diaper. Yu Xinran brought out a strawberry from the fridge to feed Puppy. At such a peaceful time, suddenly an engine roared to life along with a honking horn... Chapter 217 "What? Whats going on?" The team of people crowded at the door and looked out the small window. Not long after, a car twisted around the street, the tires screeched as the car slid to a stop towards their direction. Several zombies were still lying on the roof unnoticed by others on the road and hit on of them directly! The team felt a chill but also a sigh of relief, the car hit was the one they purposely parked at the edge, a fake car made of pure metal. At most the body was only lightly scratched and dented. Arge zombie stumbled over and used its bare hands to tear into the other car. It grabbed a person from inside and bit down. The people in the room had not faced such a bloody scene for some time and could not help but gulp. More zombies came from behind therge attacking zombie and screams echoed from inside the car. It seemed to have heard of smell something, therge zombie stood up and did not care about the snatched prey. Instead it looked at the house where Luo Xun was located. "It wille over, everyone get ready to fight." Luo Xun looked at the street, not many zombies followed those cars but each one was a mutation. Itsbat effectiveness could not bepared to other zombies. Although the other team was followed by fifty to sixty zombies and only twenty stayed, each one would not be easy to kill. At the words, everyone raised their long-range weapons, ready to fight back at any time. As for rushing out to save people...this was the apocalypse, when someones vehicle was surrounded by zombies, it was almost impossible to leave anyone alive. Listening to the movements inside, everyone knew that the people inside could not be saved. It was true, the people had been bitten may have been killed directly. But now the zombies were with prey, how long would they be upied. Before Luo Xununched an attack, therge zombie grabbed the metal car and threw it towards Luo Xun and team! "Whoah! Its so powerful!" Li Tie scolded, therge car was so easily thrown. "No, its not a power type, its a metal one!" Yan Fei had just spoken when the car started to change mid-air. Countless steel needles emerged and shot at the team! If those hit, even if they had a metal wall in front of them, there were also small windows. They were afraid that if they were slow they would not survive! Yan Feis reaction was very fast, he used the nearest metal to cover the wall in metal cloth which added thickness to their defenses. That group of zombies had already killed the living people inside the car. Due to long time cooperation, although their intelligence was not high, they had a certain degree of teamwork. It seemed that the metal tactic wasmon, so when the te was thrown the zombies followed and pounced in order bite into human flesh. To their surprise, instead of hurting their prey, it became an obstacle to their progress. The zombies were slow to react, the metal zombie had not lifted the metal fence again. The enemies were showered in bright red juice from head to toe. At the same time, metal bombs were shot towards the bodies. Two of thergest ones were aimed at the metal zombie, who was unable to escape. Ten minutester, there was no outside movement, only ayer of white mist rising and gradually dissipated. Luo Xun carefully observed a little before calming down. "Its done, pick up those crystal cores. Yu Xinran make a sandpit and bury the remains with mushroom juice The girl did not have to take action, even Xu Mei only used a water gun. However Song Lingling and Zhang Yi had done a lot of work with mushroom juice. Song Linglings water ability was now more handy. Zhang Yi could use his wind to increase the flow speed and adjust their direction for a variety of attack patterns. They had a lot of mushroom juice which made the battle even easier. They would always be growing these at home in the future, even if they had to water mutant nts, they worried about second mutations. It was rare for them to go out and they would not let such a good chance go. They had already filled nearly half the storage space so they did not have to worry about the zombies everyday. Even better C because of Song Lingling, she controlled the mushroom juice and targeted the zombies limbs. Finally she could also recall the liquid back into the box, nothing was wasted. Yu Xinran brought back some crystal cores back with her sand while burying the rest. Yan Fei took the metal core and said to the team. "This is actually a level five crystal core!" They recently checked the mutant vines after the zombies came through and also found a level five water crystal core. Thus, Song Lingling greatly enhanced their own strength but they had not seen any other level five core. But once they went out they came across a level five zombie? One that was a metal user?! Was their luck good or not? All the people squirmed before smiling ironically, "Our luck..." "So the zombie is bad luck, even without the level five, our mushroom would have not melted it." Yes, if they had given the zombie more time to react, the battle would not have ended so easily. But on the other hand, as long as they had a way through should be able to defeat the powerful enemy. After confirming that there were no other zombies outside, Luo Xun carefully opened the metal door and walked over to the car that had been hit. There was only half a body in the car. All of them were killed by zombies, or rather torn apart. Inside the car, they could only slightly check and move the car to the side of the road. They did not bury the bodies inside C not because they did not want to, but because there should be other people in that group. Although there were zombies chasing them, a few cars must have escaped, it would not be good for them to find theirpanions mysteriously buried. They returned to the temporary room, Luo Xun looked in the direction of base. "There must have been level five zombies during the siege. If the base has some, we may be able to find someone to buy from." They were now safe enough but in contrast, lost their way to buy things from people at base. "Even if we were still at base, those things would definitely be in the hands of the military. We might not be able to buy even if we wanted." Yan Feiforted his lover. True, since the New Year their original method of buying was useless. Second, they could not exchange higher level cores at the exchange window. Instead, they had to find people in the market who needed cores to barter. Plus it was a mess at base and they probably would have nowhere to sell these things even if they went back. If they were unlucky enough to get trapped with the new base rules regarding work and private property, they might be able to protect their things. When Luo Xun finished, the team turned to talk about the zombies and the team. Zhang Yi said, "A car drove past missing half the body! I also saw a few bodies lying on the back, Im afraid the people in the car may not be able to escape." "When we were fighting the zombies, I heard a zombie in the distance, maybe that was when the zombies attacked." "Boss, where did these zombiese from?" Luo Xun was helpless at the inquiring eyes, he did not have a thousand eyes and the power of foresight. "Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe where they were going, there was a zombie wave and they were targeted." The path they chose, while rtively safe was not danger-free. From the satellite photos they could only see the situation of the streets. Who knew whether there were any zombies hidden in the roadside buildings. Luo Xun could not guarantee that their route was absolutely safe. Especially now since this situation was not guaranteed. Chapter 218 Perhaps due to the dead outside the street, when Luo Xun got up earlyst night, he found a lot of scattered zombies in the area. Luo Xun went out killed the zombies while Yan Fei repaired the car frame. Then everyone was called and they continued on the road. Along the way there were several small zombie groups, especially as they moved deeper into the city. When the base took action and bombed the south city buildings, those who went out would subconsciously ignore the area and head to the north instead. The frequent human presence lead to more zombies in the area. So the further north, deeper into the city, the more there would be zombies. Luckily, Luo Xun chose a rtively quiet road however even then zombies would asionally jump onto the road. Of course these would be dangerous to those scavenging. The team rushed south and then north but they did forget to express admiration to Luo Xun. How else would they kill zombies without the mushroom juice and Yan Feis improved buildings. Their previous weapons would at most deal small wounds. If not for Yan Fei refining ording to Luo Xuns n it would be a hard battle with any zombie. Even better, the level five water core they had found in the farnd had sessfully leveled up Song Linglings ability before going out. Level five ability users had amazing water control. Even if there was no wound on the target, she could instantly pull the liquid inside the target object! This trick was not only used for processing the mushroom juice, it was also effective against the zombies. Although the zombie was dead and the blood was turned into something, it was still in liquid form. She could use her power, target the neck and drain all the liquid. Then anyone could break the branch-like enemy with one heavy strike! Even better was that against a mostly drained body, Xu Meis fireballs would burn the zombies more easily! Yan Fei used the metal crystal core and also raised his level. Now that he was level five, in addition to an increase in range, he could detect further sources of metal. He could only slowly explore his new powers for new uses. The convoy set off again with two blocks of metal disguised as jeeps. Luo Xun wanted to have Yan Fei get a few metal cars to follow since they could be used as a distraction, but the road conditions were too difficult. There was a lot of debris, if the group was toorge, they would not be able to react as quickly. Since entering the city, it took the team a full three days to arrive at their destination. Those three days, they would fight the zombies to sleep at ease and have peace of mind on the road. To their rtive relief, the number of zombies they encountered increased gradually on the second day but as they approached the north, the number then decreased. There were only more signs of destruction which had been damaged by the zombie army from the past. It seemed that due to thest wave of zombies, most of the ones who passed through were drawn elsewhere. But when Luo Xun drove down the road, they encountered zombies part way from a different group of zombies. Luo Xun held up binocrs and observed from a distance. Then he decided to drive closer. "The east gate was blocked by a copsed building, there are three doors. The building opposite seems to have no obstacles with two buildings behind..." Before the end, A-city had a monopoly on digital products even before emerce, it was a famous ce in the country. Nearbymercial buildings were all in a line. Half the overpass was missing and there was damage everywhere. Some weeds grew between the cracks. Even the originally modern buildings were covered in green and looked ruined. They parked their car in a rtively safe ce C which meant a ce that no windows would get broken and not near an intersection where other vehicles could appear at any time. The team got out of the cars, locked the doors and prepared to enter the building. Yan Fei suddenly stopped and raised an eyebrow. "There is a lot of metal." Was it true? One should tell how much metal was present based on the items for sale. Before Yan Fei could sense metal inside buildings, but not as clearly as after he leveled up. The feeling of metal was hard to describe. To those who would not understand, imagine the scent from a public washroom, the feeling was sort of close. The first peek past the door revealed broken ss. Not only broken windows, most of the counters were all smashed, the things inside were scattered and many had been broken. Fortunately these things were samples, there were only one or two physical items. Luo Xun and the others lightly entered the building. Zhang Yi sent out a breeze and swept the area. "Nothing." "Really? What about upstairs and downstairs?" Luo Xun had not been here in his past life and was therefore not familiar. But his previous home had simr ces, for this kind of mall, there were products sold on every floor. "The ground floor mostly sells mobile phones." "There are also some game consoles!" "Then bring back a few. Remember the TV we gotst time? Bring back all the video games!" "Cameras, cameras!" "Dont forget data storage!" "Leader, Yan Fei, Zhang Yi..hurry!" Looking at the group of five injected with chicken blood, the three named people along with the females could not help but freeze. Yu Xinran was held in Xu Meis arms, trying to keep her away from the guys who were in a state of madness. In the end, they decided to go up first, the team climbed up to the second floor. To nobodys surprise, it was clear that people had already visited. Perhaps people who lived near had been here at the start of the end, or perhapster scavenging teams, most likely some passersby. The reason was that the goods had all disappeared, second, many counters had been opened. Third, the open counters were not opened normally, instead through violence. Many things were trampled or thrown in a corner. Looking at the mess, the group of people who came for resources were all angry C this was simply destruction. Those who came before were not looking for stuff, but to break and smash! "Lets look carefully, there must be something not broken." Li Tie stared at the boxes in a row filled with graphics cards. Some of the boxes had been smashed but there must be intact essories inside. "Its okay, there are several buildings nearby and they cant break everything in every building." Luo Xun patted his friends shoulder infort. Luo Xun was right, those who came before likely were looking for food. They came here to vent their grievances on these unusable things. Although a lot of things were destroyed, the third floor was not as damaged inparison to the first and second floors. It was a pity that the roof had been hit with something and half copsed. The things ced inside were not all soaked. The basement of the building was the same, seemed to be caused by melting snow water. The two underground floors were flooded, almost all the items had short circuited. Luo Xun only found a small number of intact electronic equipment on the second and third floors, along with a number of hard drives. When they reached the buildings in the back, the teams faces were a lot better. Since that building was located on the outermost area, relying on the prosperous streets and subway for traffic. So the contents were destroyed the most. Further in, most things were left untouched except for food. Chapter 219 Though the things were scattered in several other buildings, they actually found a lot of good things. Not to mention they also found a shopping mall behind the warehouse. Li TIes spirits soared, to rece any potential broken furniture, they filled their car as much as possible! After the digital and monitoring equipment, the team when straight to another building ready to grab a few more mobile phones, plus game consoles in order to bring back home. They walked downstairs with a shlight in hand since the elevator was down. Zhang Yi struck with wind while Yan Fei immediately erected a metal wall which stopped two things. Judging from the sound, the things forced through the wind before hitting the metal. "Theres more!" Zhang Yi had just spoken when something came from above. Yan Fei sealed the top in order to protect the team. "Slowly back away towards the elevator entrance." Luo Xun ordered. The ground floor waspletely dark, how could they defend against something they could not see. Best to retreat for now. The metal wall moved slowly in tandem with the team, from time to time there were pinging noises. Because the area was small, the sound rang through their ears and numbed them. Yan Fei moved the metal to check for any damage. He felt fortunate that since his level rose to five, it did not take much effort to refine metal and it was much stronger. Just as they moved to the elevator entrance, there came a shrill twisting sound around the entire metal te. "Theres something scratching the metal, its pretty fast!" Yan Fei was the first to react, he repaired whatever was scratched. But the thing was very fast, sooner orter he would not be able to keep up. Luo Xun looked at him with some surprise but no worry as he brought out a metal box. Yan Fei did not say anything but bonded the box with the wall. The box elongated and the harsh noise became lighter, before disappearing. There was the sound of struggling pping and sizzling. The box that Luo Xun have Yan Fei was carrying mushroom juice, also used for the hand grenades. They could also use it to replenish the water guns when necessary. Just now, Yan Fei had wrapped the box around the wall and poured the juice into the grooves. Once the metal wall was broken, naturally the liquid would ssh onto the attackers. "Its not big, probably a bird." Luo Xun analyzed after hearing the sounds outside. At this time Yan Fei had opened all the grooves and poured mushroom juice outside the wall. The things obviously sufferedrge injuries on contact and fell down. "These kinds of things are small but fast." Zhang Yi lifted a finger and said, "Open a gap." Yan Fei opened a small hole near him. Zhang Yi immediately used his power and attacked the enemies with wind des. Then he noted, "They are all wind types." So the speed was increased further. Although the monsters attacking were wind types and gave some trouble, since they were stained with mushroom juice, with their small size, the results were obvious. Zhang Yi checked the situation and determined that nothing was left. Yan Fei prepared some metal in case. The team slowly climbed down and finally reached the next floor. Upon arrival, they looked around to identify their attackers C bats. Not zombies, they were mutant ones with a simr size to normal ones. A few bats were iling on the ground as the team exchanged looks. "Where did these thingse from?" Before the end, how many years had someone from the city seen a bat? Luo Xun remembered seeing bats in the alley catching mosquitoes in his hometown when he was a child. But since renovations had urred, there had been no more of them. Not to mention bats, even creatures such as swallows and dragonflies were rare in the heart of cities. So it was amazing to see mutated bats. Who knows where these thingse from? Did they enter the city after the apocalypse? Or did they live nearby and recently moved into the building? Whatever the reason, they quickly killed the downed creatures and removed the nuclei from their bodies. Indeed, as Zhang Yi said, these bats were actually wind type, but they were surprised that they had been level five. It was a pity that there was only the core left, and it was not possible to study how it was different from other bats. Zhang Yi held the level five bat core, could this small thing really increase his level? Really did not need something bigger? "In the evening you can use the other level four wind crystals to proceed. Your power has been at the apex of four for a while." Luo Xunforted. In fact, Zhang Yi had it hard, of the cores they found in the mutant farnd, wind had the lowest proportion. Even if they were found, they were below level three. No way, who let wind types above level three learn how to fly in the sky? If they did not encounter wind types that attacked, how would they get those cores? Fortunately, the number of non-elemental cores was quiterge. Zhang Yi could usually use these cores. Now this level five core was better than nothing. There should be no danger in the basement and everyone, especially Li Tie was excited. They went straight to the special sale counter and selected thest few phones. They were ready to be brought back to be slowly used, regardless of whether they were second hand. After getting these things, the group of guys found at least three game and desktop counters. The major pre-apocalypse brands were all good so they picked from those. "We can leave one in each room and set up a separate room for gaming...well bring back the maximum number of TVs from the shop! Bring it all back!" "Luo Xun, theres still room in the car right?" "Adapter, adapter..." Luo Xun rolled his eyes, "Yes, we have wheels in the car and can add a car to the two trucks." They had already made up their minds beforeing in case they found too many things and needed expansion. Yan Fei studied the design of the vehicle and prepared the metal, ready to expand at any time. After those words, another cheer sounded and the five men changed into shoppers, bringing boxes of things into the trailer without end... Each room would have a TV...the number was already staggering, along with the variety of game disks they needed. In addition, each person would get a phone... Luo Xun silently looked at the trailers getting filled with things, bring back this pile of game consoles seemed like an illusion. Forget it, anyway there would be a lot of free time in the future. They did not want to run around in order to find ways to pass the time. After moving the consoles home, the team swept a shop that specializes inputer games. They did not care if the discs were duplicated, they took as many as possible. When all these things were moved, they used metal baskets (due to the fragmented boxes, Yan Fei upgraded the trailer. They had made six or seven round trips C the mall elevators were useless. Chapter 220 The Otaku squads outing was an absolute sess with various gship stores selling a variety of digital products near their area. Almost all the apocalypse survivors had no interest in these things. After the end, they grabbed food, water, clothes and so on. After the base was settled, they had sr panels that could provide electricity, the few people at the top could enjoy these things. Other than some shops that were destroyed by zombies and other damage, Luo Xun and the others would have a rich harvest after finding remaining warehouses. Li Ties group had a tech filled home before the end, so this destination was very familiar. They would oftene to this neighborhood. On one hand it was rted to their hobbies, on the other many graduates from their school worked as programmers in the nearby office building. They had spoken with alumni and got a goal and direction. The result of the harvest was that Yan Fei added a car to the trucks loaded with all their things before hitting the road back home. Luo Xun chatted with Yan Fei in a good mood. "We wont have toe out and find these sorts of things for the next few years! But we need to think of something for furniture, otherwise youll have to make them. And stuffing used in things like pillows would be somewhat difficult." Yan Fei had no opinion, he just smiled and adjusted the babys posture. "I just rose to level five so I can rely on the ability to find more materials. For furniture..." He mused, "Didnt Li Tie mark a few ces where they might be supplies? There must be a furniture store marked near our base." "There are." Luo Xun nodded. "There are several but dont forget that arge area was bombed at the start of the apocalypse? Some furniture malls were in that area. There is the possibility of encountering arge number of zombies..." But it is better in the southern part of the city. Far fewer people head south searching for suppliespared to north and east." This point was from their previous trips. Their new base is located further south than the other base. In order to find metal, wood and other things they came out many times but rarely encountered any base teams. But this time on the way north, they saw some vehicles almost everyday. Even yesterday when they were collecting things from the electronics mall, they aw a convoy of cars rush past. These two days they found some other shops but without exception all were empty, the only thing left were these electronics that could not be eaten. "Well, we can look south, arent there any other cities? The roads seem to be in good condition ording to the satellite. The baby grabbed Yan Feis finger and started to suckle, he seemed hungry. "If its not safe, I can use metal." He wanted to practice with his powers anyway. Furniture matters were temporarily put aside, there was enough at home for the time being. They wanted to collect this kind of thing to improve the quality of life, but it was not absolutely required. So once the ce was picked, they moved forward. It took two days to find enough supplies to fill up all the space in the car. In the evening Luo Xuns team was ready to find a resting ce but instead found a team parked on the roadside cooking on a fire. "Leader, theres a team in front, what should we do?" They had spent the previous night and there were no zombies in the area. This time they wanted to spend another night but did not expect a team. Luo Xun raised his telescope, "Dont worry about them. Lets overnight at this intersection and have watch rotations at night." During the apocalypse, people who went out on missions avoided each other for two reasons C fear of being robbed and grudges. But they also hoped that if there was a sudden attack, the zombies would attack the other team first, giving a chance to get away. So while they needed to be more cautious, they did not have much to be concerned about. Sure enough, seeing that Luo Xun were camping a distance away, the other team did not send people to investigate the situation. But with a quick check, seeing that Luo Xuns group seemed to berge, they breathed a sigh of relief. Luo Xun got off the var and did not directly find a roadside house, but instead had Yan Fei make a small metal house under the cover of their vehicles. Because the other team was not far away, they deliberately set observation windows and two hour shifts. The team would have their weapons nearby in case of any ident. At two in the morning, the two women woke up Luo Xun and Yan Fei for their shift. The former closed their eyes and fell asleep not long after snuggling under the covers. Luo Xun held back his yawn and looked outside. From the gap they could see the other side had people around the fire on watch. From time to time they would turn towards their group, apparently worried that the other would take action at night. "It should be all right." Luo Xun kneaded his eyes and washed his face with water to reinvigorate himself. "They cant see the situation here and I have set up a detection." Yan Fei patted Luo Xun on the shoulder and whispered, "You can sleep longer." Luo Xun shook his head, "No, the watch is only two hours and then we can go to bed." Yan Fei used a simr mesh as he had done of the southwest base roof. But now that his level increased, the metal mesh was thinner than hair. More amazing was that the surface would not be reflected. Their campsite was covered with objects within a ten meter radius. The metal mesh was erected on the periphery and surrounded their location. In this way, no matter what approached Yan Fei would find the problem straight away. This method was something he was going to add to their secret entrance. That way if someone approached, he would spot them. Thinking of that, Yan Fei realized he had nodded off and turned to look at the trucks. There were so many cameras but these could only judge the surface situation. The two men whispered from time to time, looking at the outside. There were people walking around the other fire, as if changing shifts. Luo Xun confirmed that the new people did not notice them. He whispered to Yan Fei about how they should arrange their rooms at home. Suddenly there was a sh. At first, he thought it was someone with a shlight but after there was a faint sound. "Its going to rain?" Right? Summer ising, are thunderstorms not normal? This year since the beginning of spring, there were only a few scattered instances of rain but nothing heavy, Now with this thunder and lightning, there was the feeling of summer. "Its raining...fortunately weve finished packing things." Luo Xun smiled at Yan Fei. "Those shopping malls are not too damaged other than the ss. We might find many good things." A lot of things they got back this time were found in the basement and other ces. In case of water damage, who knows what things they would findter. Yan Fei immediately raised his hand and sealed the roof C the sr panels were mounted on top of their car. As for the panels at home? Luo Xun cleverly put the panels inside ss with ayer of metal on the outside so heavy rainfall was not a problem. Chapter 221 Lightning shed across the sky along the faint sound of thunder was clear in the dark. Luo Xun reacted and were ready to form shelter from the rain while the group next to the fire were also busy. The two other men were not fleeing the rain, or waking theirpanions but were rolling together... At first, Luo Xun ignored what those were doing while preparing for the rain. While waiting for Yan Fei to get on the roof, the two noticed a pair of figures moving non-stop next to the fire. Luo Xun squinted for a while only to determine that the figures were too far away so he could not tell if they were a man and a woman or two people of the same sex. If they encountered zombies wandering around, who knew if the pair would be frightened or triggered some other situation. Another bolt of lightning struck while they were curiously observing the group in the distance, almostpletely illuminating the area. It was not long before louder thunder roared over their heads. The noise woke up the team and looked at Luo Xun and Yan Fei. "Whats the matter..." Wang Duo rubbed his eyes to sit up, nkly looking at the right. The two women also sat up from sleep. "Its thundering outside, Im afraid it will rain." Luo Xun exined, "Go to sleep, we have handled the roof, there should not be a problem." Song Lingling lightly noted, "I hear the sound of thunder outside?" "Yes, its thundering but it has not started yet." "Since we have so much metal, wont we get hit by lightning?" .... ............... Luo Xun suddenly looked at Yan Fei, who silently made a lightning rod deep in the ground. They had ced grounding rods in various locations when they were building their base since most of the material was metal. If they had bad luck during a thunderstorm, Luo Xun was afraid the whole base would be blown up. It was just that they were in the middle of buildings had forgotten. Once Yan Fei was done with the rod, another explosion of thunder sounded waking up the rest. No other way, who let the sound be so loud? Luo Xun temporarily did not advise everyone to continue sleeping but instead look outside the window. Not far from the fire, the situation was not good. The previous thunder woke up the car teammates and lit up the area. Unfortunately, those people had not finished before the rain started to fall. The raindrops were sorge that each one made a loud knock on the roof. Not long after the first drop, the sound became a torrent. Even more frightening was that thunder arrived from time to time and the wind picked up. It seemed that after each rumble, the rain became denser. "Will we be flooded with rain?" Li Tie rubbed his eyes and asked uneasily. At this time Luo Xun also took out hisputer from his bag and checked the map. "I can see if we can find where the terrain is high and low..." They were now in the city, the urban drainage facilities could not guaranteed after the apocalypse. Now this heavy rain poured down, if their area flooded it would be arge problem. Even if Yan Fei couldpletely seal the cars with metal and not let if get submerged, after a while the roads would not be easy to traverse. "I cant find out." After a while, Luo Xun helplessly sighed. Although the map was very detailed, it did not list the altitude of the city areas. But even Luo Xun knew C the drainage in the rtively old streets was not good, the newer ones might be better. "Do you want to rush overnight?" He Qiankun saw the action outside and provided a proposal. "...Its not very safe." Luo Xun touched his chin and looked at Yan Fei. He was very hesitant, since there was a long distance from their new base and even the southwest base. "Or wait until dawn before we go, in case of what could happen at night on the road?" The group of people talked. Their fatigue was thrown away in an instant during the discussion. The fire in the distance had been extinguished in the pouring rain. The men seemed to return to their cars to endure the night. Luo Xun waited a while to persuade the others to rest while the two continued the vigil. Yan Fei added a metal roof above their head to keep out the noise. He added some height from the metal extracted from the roadside, lest the rain flooded them. That night, almost no one slept well with the noise and shes of lightning, they stayed up until dawn. Luo Xun woke up early in the morning to look around. The rain had not stopped and blocked part of the teams view. The ground had absorbed the water so theyer was no longer higher than the tires. The team ate something, the group of people went back to the car and Yan Fei sealed the vehicle. Not a single drop of water entered. Finally Yan Fei recalled the metal back into the shape of the car and they headed down the road. The wheels squealed in the water but the water disced was rtively small. When they drove over to where the other team had campedst night, there were no signs of the car, likely they had rushed away at dawn. As the heavy rain affected their line of sight, it was not easy to see the road. They were not able to move too fast throughout the day. In the evening while passing a fork in the road they saw a group of cars trying to move C the road was very deep. A few of the cars were flooded and unable to move. Nearby water users were trying to deal with the rain and several water-soaked power users were pulling the car out. Luo Xun took a long look from the southern road and forward C it would take at least two or three days to return home. Who knew if their drainage facilities would not work? If the base was properly sealed? If they went back to find the basement and underground rooms were flooded...they would not be able to survive. In the past, after entering the city Luo Xun drove a full three days. Before that it took nearly two days to arrive at the city. This rainfall on their way back made them feel like the road was very long. Fortunately, there was a water user in their team. When they were unable to tell if there were any holes in the road, Song Lingling was able to help. In the end, the twodies car was moved to the front with Zhang Yi on the rear. Song Lingling split the water to clear the road. In this way, although a lot of trouble, their caution let them avoid a crisis in advance. One should know, although many ces in A-city looked repaired, with damage caused by zombies and other battles, the ground was more fragile. If the damage was obvious, at most the road bes hard to pass. But if the ground was hollowed out with ayer of asphalt on top, they were walking in blind! Due to the heavy rain, many spots of the road had directly copsed. Teams driving to this ce were likely to get trapped. Thus, the previously estimated three days of travel turned into five days. During thest three days the rain stopped but the water remained on the road as an obstacle. At noon on the fifth day, the group once again saw familiar farnd, mutant nts which calmed everyones hearts. The terrain here was rtively high, at least the water on the highway had receded. Only a few even ces had puddles. But the roadside farnd seemed to have turned into a field of water. The sun hitting the waves almost blinded their eyes. "If someone falls in there, are they going to drown?" Han Lis voice came from a phone. "Maybe you can swim in it, do you want to try?" "You try, god knows if there will be any mutant animals in it." "Was the farnd so deep before? How did it rain once and be ake?" The team was chatting only to hear sounds in the distance. They raised their heads and were surprised to find something had arrived at the water fields or swamp? Anyway there were water birds leisurely floating on top of the water before pping their wings! And there were quite a few of them! Chapter 222 "...Did they really turn this into a pond? Why are they running around here?" After a while Luo Xun spat out. "Theyre not big enough to float in these puddles and if these are the kinds of water birds we encountered before, the ponds wont be able to hold them." Yan Fei also spoke after a while. The two wolves from before not only droe over mutant duck and geese but also waterfowl after the rain. Just when the crowd marveled at the phenomenon, there was a huge roar in the distance and the wolves in the area frolicked jubntly in the water. The nearest water bird fluttered its wings and tried to fly away as fast as possible. Luo Xun and team silently watched the scene while driving to the entrance of their base. There was no water near the entrance, but the iron te was slightly conspicuous as the paint was washed away by the rain. Fortunately, this neighborhood was rtively remote, most of the surrounding houses had been demolished leaving only a few broken walls. The degree of dpidation would make a passerby ignore the ce, thinking that there would be nothing of value. However those same buildings cleverly covered the entrance. Opening the iron gate, the team slowly drove into the tunnel and carefully observed the road ahead. Their hearts had a few worries, would they suddenly see the area filled with water? Fortunately they were lucky and the base was well made enough so there were no water in tunnel C except for what was on the wheels when they drove in. They parked the car and the team rushed and examined each room carefully. First of all, every underground room had no problems that they could see. Their arrangements for watering and lighting were operating normally. Subsequently everything on the ground floor was safe along with the ground floor, greenhouse and the upper floors too. In a room on the third floor, Luo Xun looked at the greenhouse ss roof and pointed. "The roof needs to adjusted over there, those areas a little waterlogged." When designing the roof, Luo Xun deliberately considered the angle and position of the ss, metal and shelves to avoid any unexpected issues. It was just that some things were not considered thoroughly without any testing. So after any problems, they must learn from experience and improve. The two discussed before pushing open the window andnding on the roof. The metal on the roof was very strong, people running on top would be no problem not to mention two people walking. They checked the window ss after arriving at their target and Yan Fei adjusted the angle and position. The pair also found that the drains at the corners were blocked with leaves and branches so they quickly cleaned it up. After all this was done, the two men returned to the basement to join the team was carrying their harvest from the outing. "Ahhhh, I wanted to y this game before the apocalypse but there was no TV at school and there was no version on theputer. Now I can finally y!" "s, there are a few games that will never get a sequel, its really sad." "Yu Xinran, here have this pink handheld, well put a bunch of games after we are done moving things." From the ground floor, Luo Xun and Yan Fei heard Li Ties voice. They did not expect to see that thedies were also excited about the game consoles in addition to the five guys. It seemed that spiritual entertainment and rxation was even more important after the end of the world. The pair walked past to see this group actually did not carry out theputer parts but instead prioritized the pile of game consoles... "Cough, first we move things down and have tomorrow off which you can use how you want." Luo Xun was helpless and could only say this to ensure everyones entertainment time. The team erupted into cheering. In the basement, the team of people were moving things with enthusiasm. Outside their base, the pond contained all kinds of mutated water birds. The two wolves chased these animals before finding a rtively dry space to lie down in the sun. Most of the birds had mutated, changing their size and brain. Previously arge number of mutant animals had identally entered the mutant nt field. But the more experienced could see the danger and over time, the birds recognized the nts. Luo Xun was lucky that they painted the metal with camouge at the start of construction. Although their intention was to avoid being noticed by people passing by and satellite, they did not expect that this coloring was simr to the mutant nts so the birds also subconsciously avoided them. Otherwise, when they came back, it would have been possible that their roof would be turned into a birds nest. On the other hand, due to the heavy rain the past few days, several sections of the main intersection leading to the southwest base had copsed. The city was heavily flooded until recently, many teams who wanted to enter the city were blocked. It was not until several earth users were tasked with repairing the roads before things returned to normal. The southwest base at the start of the month had sent troops to a mine. With few otherrge forces cooperating in base, other than sending somebat people, the most important members were the only two base affiliated metal users. After the bases had exchanged information they were surprised to find, although there was arge proportion of people after the apocalypse with powers, the vast majority weremon elements, such as water, fire, earth and wind. Other elements were rare! The entire southwest base only had two metal users, when they spoke with other bases, the total number altogether was two! Perhaps after the start of the apocalypse, the vast majority of survivors prioritized escaping to A-city which caused the current situation. With the number of ability users and personnel at the southwest base, they were the lead survivors which was also a show of strength. With this recognition, the higher ups at base were serious for power, determined to control the whole area! While the Otaku squad rushed back home and took advantage of the weather to y all kinds of games while the road was drying, A-city officiallyunched the new base rules. It had not been long since A-city base hade under new leadership, but since the number was smaller than before, the control of base was concentrated in their hands. Once the leaders had reached a consensus, the momentum of implementing the new regtions was high. Only a short week after the heavy rain, the inner city worked in ordance with the ns made by the upper echelons and military. People who were willing to stay in the inner areas had to follow the new provisions regarding unified management. The inner city also recruited ordinary people from the outer city, but only those with a certain strength or skill. Those who had consumed all their rations were not among the qualified. What worried the city people even more was the inner earth wall was increased and thickened. Since the metal users were not in base, the outer metal wall remained the same. But level five earth users could make earth as hard as marble, which would take more than two people could break. The inner base security was obviously more powerful and reliable. Who knows if there would be a day when the outer wall would get broken again? Although now the internal base management was strict, the outer area had not been abandoned albeit under looser management. But if things continued, who knew when the outer base would be forced under management. If surrendering in advance, although their time, materials and other things would be under management, it would be secure. Moreover if they surrenderedter, perhaps during the forced merge, people would not only be under harsher management but may be excluded. For a time, the outer area people were uncertain. In consideration of safety, some people wanted to sign up for the inner city. Other people had a wait-and-see approach and were silent onlookers towards the future decision making of base management. Chapter 223 Recently, Luo Xun had been speechless more often. Ever since the team had brought back various consoles, games, the whole team immediately became game addicts...When he went downstairs with a yawn to eat breakfast, he saw Yu Xinran with her head bowed ying the handheld. A sense of guilt and powerlessness immediately flourished. What made him more guilty Cst night he had yed a fighting game on their new TV until Yan Fei turned off the electronics and dragged him to bed... Yan Fei decided: Luo Xun was more serious and attentive ying games than when the pair slept together, he could not bear it. "I have decided...tomorrow we go out looking for furniture. Then everyone can start designing and organizing their own rooms. Then we wont put all of our energy into ying games." Luo Xun touched his chin and made such a decision. No way, who let most of the base tasks be done. Even if they wanted to nt things in the remaining space in the basement, they needed enough seeds to do so. When they came back, the brought the things to the storeroom before dividing up the spoils. Each room had at least one of the newrge televisions and each person had a notebookputer for the respective leisure. These past two days they did not go out during the day. They woke up in the morning to take care of the crops and the rest of the time was almost all spent on ying games indoors. They were afraid of bing shut-ins even with the apocalypse going on. For the sake of the teams health, leader Luo Xun must take control and make a good n for the future. As soon as Luo Xun finished, the team responded with enthusiasm. "Okay, good! Its best to bring back a few more beds. Sleeping on the ground is rough." "And furniture, cabs. The rooms are a mess and a lot of ces are disorganized." "I want a TV cab! A shelf for a game console, and aputer desk!" "Comfortable sofa..." Luo Xun did not expect such excitement from the team regarding his proposal, but also remembered that most of them were still sleeping on a makeshift metal bed. Although they are not that different from a regr one, but in reality it was very different. The board was so hard and very ufortable to sleep on. However, Luou Xun also secretly suspected that when they would go out to find some furniture, it would be rted to those things...He did not want to think about it. After a break of nearly two days, the team got up early in the morning, packed up their things and drove away in their cars after breakfast. It was still a pair of cars and trucks. After they went out, they sealed the tunnel entrance and saw that the number of birds in the distance had surged. "...Do you want to eat foie gras?" Luo Xun touched his chin and elbowed Yan Fei. Yan Fei nced out the window and looked at the people around with a funny smile. "You want to eat? Well find a way to catch one when wee back if we are hungry." If the two wolves wanted to catch the prey, they would also have to find a way to fight which might be problematic even if they had abilities. But they were different, it would not be too difficult to capture this kind of bird in the water. Although the birds had wings and could fly, the team could covertly use their ability to catch them so they would not be able to react in time. The mutant animals were not zombies, even if they saw Luo Xuns car and movement they would not take the initiative to attack. It was during winter when Luo Xun encountered mutant animals that attack on sight. The animals were hungry and would naturally target anything that would fill their mouths, not to mention a car was a big target. The two men in the car secretly discussed how to cook a goose. In order to maximize the taste, they even discussed techniques on how to tell which goose liver wasrger. The people in other vehicles seemed to be discussing simr issues. They had a lot of meat in the fridge but it was all pork and beef. Although the team had quails which tasted good, bring back arger variety of birds was also good. The convoy drove to the target area, a town-sized shopping street near the edge of A-city. Today, the bases were targeting material in the city but this remote urban area was more likely to be left behind. Luo Xun and team picked this ce with careful screening after two days of gaming. The geographic location was rtively remote. After the apocalypse the survivors would head towards the base. Before leaving they would search areas for food so not too many furniture items would be taken away. In addition, there were no other bases in this direction except for the southwest base. After the bombing, it was unlikely that anyone else woulde to collect supplies. Following this train of thought, as long as their target location has not been destroyed by external forces, mainly getting flooded due to the previous days of heavy rain, they would certainly be able to collect a lot! Even if water got into those ces, Luo Xuns team would still be able to find some usable things. Not to mention, the ce was not too far from home so it would take less time then collecting the digital equipment. After a day driving through the wilderness, the team saw high rise buildings appear. During thest two years, every city was very fond of building high-rises with at least twelve floors. Many ces even had buildings with over twenty floors that covered a rtively small area. Especially on the edges of the city in newly developed neighborhoods. So Luo Xun could see those tall buildings even from a far distance. Now those buildings were covered with green vegetation: climbing vines and other nts along with weeds had taken root in the gaps. What really attracted the teams line of sight was not the nts and buildings but above that... "Luo Xun, is there a birds nest on top?" "Luo Xun, why does that thing look identical to an eagles nest?!" "Its in the air! A bird...no eagle! It must be an eagle!" A huge ck creature spread its wings on the roof. Flying into the air, those wide wings, that strong posture...Luo Xun knew that this bird, if not an eagle was at least a mutant falcon. Whether it was an eagle or falcon, it was not a good thing that they were being targeted right now! "...How big should a normal eagle be? This guy wont be able to snatch someone directly right?" Luo Xun felt his scalp go numb. At this distance, he could not estimate the birds size but knew that it should be able to grab a person and fly away. Yan Fei said, "I dont know what kind of bird it is, but we should not have been any eagles before the apocalypse." For a city that did not even have bats, how could such a bird of prey be found? The two people talked but heard the bird cry above their heads. Their hearts started to tremble, even Puppy inside the car stretched her neck with a curious look. The convoy stopped and watched the birds movements in the sky. It circled in the air twice and then flew in the other direction. The team was relieved in response. Wang Duos voice came through the walkie-talkie, "Leader, shall we continue?" "Go." Luo Xun paused before giving the order. Everyone was shocked to this kind of creature outside a zoo in the wild, but if it did not attack, they would not take the advantage to provoke it. Just like the two wolves near the base, like of birds in the field, Luo Xun had always left them alone so long as they were not attacked, with the exception of filling their stomachs. Especially with arge group, any battle would be rtively dangerous. When the bird in the sky flew away, Luo Xuns group set off again. After driving into the deserted city, the team finally found their destination this time C home goods mall. "...Are we still going in?" Han Li could not help but ask looking at the building in front of him. Luo Xun helplessly took a deep breath. "Go in and have a look." Although he had little hope himself. Thinking about the rain from a few days ago...Luo Xun did not hold any hope for this ce, only hoped that this ce had a warehouse which had some things. This mall was mainly selling a variety of household items, which also included some furniture samples and decorations. With the heavy rain that urred, one could image the tragedy inside. But even without the previous rain, since the roof had copsed, the insides were estimated to be long gone. If it was difficult to take those broken boards, it would better for Luo Xun to cut down some trees and get some good wood for furniture creation. Chapter 224 Facing the pile of water-logged snow, Luo Xun did not know if they would find any good things here. However even if there was not much hope, they were going to have to check it out anyway. Just because their group has a good life did not mean they would not put these things in their eyes. Who knows how long the apocalypse wouldst? If they waited another three or five years, they would only find some city ruins and be unable to harvest anything. The group of people walked around the first floor hall with depressing results. The furniture, regardless of material had gone bad or was damaged, there was no way to grab anything good. But after a bit, they found some things that were not water damaged C such as hanging tiles and the sample toilet in the shop... Although there were not many things present, the tiles and so on could be used for decorating and the toilet was a spare, better than nothing right? What was more, there were a lot of smart toilet covers at home! When they left the base, those rings could be washed together and brought to the new home. As they wandered outside a side store, Luo Xun found several bags filled to the brim piled in the corner. He opened the bag and looked inside C a pile of various colored stone for home decoration were soaking in water! The water in the bag was evidently from the previous storm. Luo Xun roughly counted and found that there were more than ten of these bags filled with cobblestone! "Take it, we can use these to pave the roads and the orchard area!" As soon as they saw the things, they were in a hurry to remove the water and collect the materials. Luo Xun temporarily stopped the others and smiled at Song Lingling, "Can you pull out the water here?" "No problem." Song Lingling smiled and waved, the water in the bags was immediately pumped out to the side. The group looked at the stones that were no longer wet, a dryer could notpare to her ability. The squad put these things into the car and went straight to the second floor. Most of this floor was selling more decorative furniture such as sofas and so on along with fabrics and cushions. Everyone circled around to pick some rtively clean sofas before removing the cloth covering to let Song Lingling drain the water from the sofa cushions. What made Luo Xun more excited was they actually foundrge rolls of sponges in one shop! This shop was away from the broken roof. Although there was rain, only the topyer was affected by moisture and was notpletely soaked. The team was happy and busy while Song Lingling once again drained the water and packed away the items. Sponges were very light but voluminous, Luo Xun could onlypress them as much as possible before stuffing them into the car. After loading all the things, Luo Xun contentedly patted the door. "This is good, although we did not find a working mattress,ying these on the bed would be fine. Plus we have these sponges for when winteres." "Luo Xun, are we going anywhere else to look for supplies?" An excited He Qiankun asked. "Yes, I remember theres a mall nearby, lets go over there and see if theres anything to gain." With their asional trips, Luo Xun naturally wanted to grab as much as possible and they would not leave empty-handed. The convoy continued to a nearby shopping mall, which looked good from the outside. There were little problems with the walls except almost all the ss was broken. They parked the car and headed upstairs. The group began to wander around the first floor and found that all the cabs were robbed, even those selling high-end cosmetics and perfumes. Only some scattered makeup boxes were left on the ground. The team sighed and could only climb the stopped esctor to the second floor. On that floor, they looked at the empty watch counter and the broken brand stores before silently continuing upwards. The shopping mall seemed to have been thoroughly emptied. After sweeping back and forth several times, it seemed it was Luo Xuns turn to arrive at a location where nothing was left. The empty-handed group had to leave and wandered around the districts smallmercial areas. Unfortunately, while there may not have been many attacks or survivors, the onlyrge shopping mall in the busy area had been swept clean. However it was not a supply run in vain since they found some cloth in a curtain shop. Everyone was preparing to casually find a ce to stay the night before leaving when Luo Xun suddenly noticed a kindergarten. "Whats going on?" Yan Fei inexplicably looked at the kindergarten with the broken ss door, was there something to see? Luo Xun shook his head and pointed. "Lets go look and see if we can find anything." There was a seven or eight year old girl and a baby at home, where else would they find childrens things than a kindergarten? Although not holding much hope in case the ce did not live up to expectations, they were surprised to find a small bouncy castle in the small yground in the back. Perhaps an event was being held before the apocalypse. They could vaguely tell from the very tattered red banners that someone had sponsored the activities. Luo Xun carefully examined the deted castle and confirmed that there were no tears or leaks. Other than the grime, there were no other problems! Looking inside again, fine there was a lot of rain inside! "Get rid of the water! Bring it back!" Luo Xun waved with excitement C the children had a yground! This trip was not in vain! With this experience, the team went to some other stores that kids might go to as well ces parents would bring them C for example fast food restaurants. Sure enough, although there were no bouncy castles, there were toys and stic balls. Everyone looked around but there was regret from time to time. "Unfortunately we did not look carefully when we visited the city before, otherwise we could have saved how many childrens toys?" They managed to find these things now but not many since it was on the edge of the city, so the things they found were simpler. The castle was a good find but they had no recements if anything broke. But something was better than nothing. Looking at Yu Xinrans bright eyes, they felt that there had been no wasted effort. "These things can be disinfected after we bring it back." Luo Xun said in thought, it was the first time they had filled the cars but there was little weight to it. Xu Mei suddenly asked, "Are we going to put these things in the orchard or somewhere else?" Luo Xun pondered, "Do you want to leave it on the second floor? Empty a ssroom C the space isrge enough with good lighting. We can also put the bouncy castle there just for the children to y." One of the rooms on the second floor was converted into a house, another with a battery connected to the sr panels and another was filled with fridges. "Then move the freezers to the first floor." If there was not enough space, dig underground. A lot of things had been transferred after the underground storage room was built. Even if there was not enough, there was no difficulty in digging further. It waste and the team of people used the collected metal from the area to build a makeshift room. During the day there had been no traces of zombies and the only mutant animal they had seen was the flying bird. Of course this was since they only circled a specific area and did not head deeper. Perhaps the animals had moved elsewhere. The group sat around the fire. The weather had recently been getting hotter, especially from noon to three in the afternoon. When the sun was overhead, it made people feel dizzy. Fortunately there were also benefits to the apocalypse since nts were crawling everywhere, they regted the temperature somewhat. At this time, although the metal room was hot, since the fire was small and Song Lingling could make a lot of water to help cool everyone down, it was somewhatfortable. Chapter 225 Bonus Chapter thanks to MCJohnston, Tonbo, fjansege, Nyurr, Tass and RandomStuff123 "After returning, we will note out for the time being. Since we found some furniture, we can use the metal, cloth and sponges to add to the rooms." Luo Xun faced the crowd around the fire after eating dinner. "Luo Xun, would you like us to go to those neighborhoods?" Han Li proposed. "Neighborhood?" Luo Xun turned around. "Yeah! Check who has furniture! Didnt those people go to the mall and take things? They would not necessarily move all the furniture out of the house if they were going to run away. Arent we just looking for furniture anyway?" "That is a way..." Luo Xun mused looking out of the window around the area. "Then tomorrow we search the area to see if we can find anything." As long as the neighborhood had not been searched by post-end specialized teams, they might not find other things but furniture things should still be present. During their rare outing, although they found some things, it was not much so they were reluctant. So they decided to try again and search. Early the next morning, the team of people drove into a nearby neighborhood and casually selected a building to search. Although there were still some things, most of the wood furniture, beds, shelves and so on had been torn down. "Whats going on with these things? If its not soaked by rain, then it was removed." This repeated for five or six buildings, everyone could not ignore this scene. "It should have been taken away for firewood." Luo Xun was not too surprised as he circled around the room. It was impossible to live on base without fire. Other than those with fire abilities, survivors would need to make a fire in order to stay warm and eat. What does one need to make a fire? Coal and wood. The wood must have been deliberately by people after the apocalypse. What Luo Xun was unsure about was whether the furniture had been removed by people from base looking for supplies? Or local survivors after the end? After thinking about it, Luo Xun got up and said, "Lets go back home." As he spoke, he exined to some surprised people, "There should be people here or survivors and we wont find anything useful now. We should hurry back to the car and n for home." Now that they could not find anything, they might as well go back early. Luo Xun actually wondered, there was a lot of obviously soaked furniture in themercial street, but they were still sources of wood? Why did the people who came to collect supplies only take from the neighborhood houses? Luo Xun and team only saw soaked items. There may be other possibilities, but Luo Xun paid them no mind since he could not analyze things like Sherlock Holmes. But since there was nothing worth collecting around Luo Xun had no interest in staying here. They went downstairs and climbed back into their cars and left town. Although they did not fill up the car this time, their harvest was pretty good with some thought. But it was a pity since the tworge trucks they brought were useless. But Luo Xun decided, on the way back they would fill the rest of the space with fallen wood. No one was bothered by the idea. Yan Fei collected metal from the road while driving out. Their route was simr to the one when they entered. They passed the high rise buildings where arge bird had made a nest. Luo Xun looked at the roof building and determined that the nest was empty, so it was safe to go out. Yan Fei who was collecting metal, suddenly stopped and looked at the window. "There is something wrong over there." "What! Whats wrong?" Luo Xun quickly looked in the same direction towards the tall buildings. "The metal is concentrated here...more than the neighborhoods we passed through before." Yan Fei frowned and pointed at the road. "Metal...concentrated? Its not anything a metal ability user made?" Luo Xun spoke. "Its not that kind of concentration, I can feel the distribution of metal from a distance while collecting. Its more like a lot of metal appliances, there is something more bountiful in this areapared to others." Yan Fei exined his observation more urately. Luo Xun silently pondered before saying, "Maybe there were people who lived there, who knows if they are still there." It was perfectly normal for people to live in these kinds of buildings after the end and store the things that they collected. Or maybe they had already gone and left for a nearby base? "Luo Xun, why did you suddenly stop?" Li Tie asked over the radio. Luo Xun stopped to exin, "We feel like there may be someone in the neighborhood over there...Yan Fei said there seemed to be a lot of metal appliances concentrated in certain rooms but no specifics." The radio was silent until Xu Mei spoke, "Luo Xun, lets not get into trouble and go straight home." "Okay, lets go." Luo Xun also found something reflective behind a window, such a lens of a telescope. On closer inspection, some of those windows were still intact and nailed shut, it was possible that people were still living there. The survivors of the apocalypse had all kinds of living methods. If people could find a way to survive, they would not even not need to rely on an official base. In fact, the urban ruins was not without survivors. Some entered the base but others refused and would rather keep their ownnd to live. Once they could find a way to escape the zombies pursuit and be ignored by other mutant creatures, they should be able to live. Whats more, there were also people exiled from base. Luo Xun was not interested in attracting the attention of those survivors since the other side did not ask for help. If they crossed paths, who knows if they would get attacked instead. They did not want to provoke the A-city base, let alone these people. The convoy roared out of the city, collecting metal, digging wood and drove all the way home. Their four cars and two temporary containers were full, so they returned happily. Then...they encountered the two wolves roaring while the water birds pped their wings and jumping. What was shocking was that when the wolves caught up to where the birds congregated, the waterbirds turned around and attacked the wolves! Were they really getting chased around by birds much smaller than them?! "...Luo Xun, what are we going to do?" One person asked while holding backughter. Luo Xuns face at this time: (/??)/ Luo Xun did not expect that these two wolves were actually so...weak? Being chased by a flock of water birds was hard to look at. What about their momentum with the cattle and pigs? Was it because those had no abilities?! Perhaps hearing the tragic, defeated, cries, Puppy looked up with glowing eyes and barked. Luo Xun silently looked at the dogs head protruding from between the chairs and felt he saw joy on the dogs face. He was not sure if it was an illusion. "Theyreing at us." Yan Feis voice brought Luo Xuns attention back to the front. He was even more speechless, perhaps the two wolves had heard Puppys cry and actually led a group of enemies stampeding towards them! "...Defenses up, everybody get ready to fight." Who knows if this trick was scapegoating or a cry for help. Luo Xun helplessly ordered and could only prepare to meet the enemy. It was fortunate that they only had to face a flock of water birds rather than a herd ofrger creatures so they should be able to cope. Create a metal shield, tripwires and mesh. Before the team had prepared the traps, the wolves had already arrived. The pair did not shy away and directly jumped on the roof trucks while heading towards the back of the convoy! "Stop them!" Luo Xun could not scold the wolves and could only focus on the enemy. All kinds of energy meshed together with metal so the birds did not react right away. A bunch hit the metal walls and mesh... Chapter 226 The newly formed pond near the Otaku squads home was notrge and looked like a symmetrical water field. It was also not too deep so the birds moving around was not too big. But even if the volume was small, these were mutant animals with stronger bodies. One by one they hit the metal shield, even if Yan Fei made them stronger, it was inevitable that there would be shaking. The scraping made a lot of noise, it was fortunate that Yan Fei erected a wall. Otherwise, the team would have been sent flying and nowhere to go. Thinking of this, the team could not help but turn their heads to stare at the two mutant wolves. The two animals had run behind the team and were looking at the metal te, their ears quivering with each impact. They seemed to be wondering if the birds would catch up. "Lets deal with the birds first, or even chase them away." Although they wanted a change of taste, but they would not be able to finish this many birds even if they were all hunted! There was so much pork at home that even if they ate meat every day, it was enough tost until the New Year. The team immediately rolled up their sleeves and began to bombard the birds, starting with the ones that first hit the wall. Even if they did not have a lot of oil the meat would still be good with vegetables. This group of water birds also had abilities simr to Luo Xuns team which were not easy to deal with. After a while, the birds returned towards the pond. Before Luo Xun could breathe a sigh of relief, he felt the ground vibrate. The two fleeing wolves who had fled to their group each held a water bird in their mouth. They casually gnawed on the prey and turned their mouths blood red. Looking at these two uncourteous wolves blocking the way while eating, Luo Xun and the others stared. When one bird was finished, the wolves grabbed the other and leisurely walked away from the birdske. "....Even left us two, should we say thank you to them?" Luo Xun looked at the two remaining prey and asked for advice from the team. Zhang Yi looked at the offering. "You did not notice that they left us the smallest ones?" They picked out all the big ones? Their team only got the leftovers? The team turned to look at the pair of wolves lying under a tree. Childlike eyes stared back with no traces of worry or nervousness. "Brother Luo, shall we drive them away? Otherwise, every time wee back from a trip well have to clean up their mess." Han Li advised. "Although they are very wasteful..." Luo Xun resisted a smile, "but they are still able to deter some people and animals." Although these two were gone whenever there was a lot of danger, tworge wolves living near the area could still act as a deterrent. Especially now that the area has a pond with the birds as temporary residents. Survivors out hunting mutant creatures will think twice before daring toe. This was also a question of security to Luo Xun. They picked up the two water birds. Although the two were the smallest, since they were mutated, each body was one and a half meters. Including the neck and feet, one would stand at a height of around two meters. Luckily they were on the way back so they could use the livers to taste foie gras. The team drove home, everything at home had not changed much. Some vegetables had grown and other crops had matured and needed to be picked. There were more eggs in the house and some baby quails had hatched. This time when they returned, the group did not jump in gaming but started work instead. There were still a lot of rooms in the house to be furnished as well as rooms in the basement missing nting racks and other equipment. Luo Xun also wanted to work on another thing C the monitoring equipment they brought backst time had not even been opened! They were all mature adults, asionally rxing for two days was fine but now was the time to work seriously on their livelihood. Now that they were settled at home without the need for a hurry since the foundational work was finished, they could set reasonable working hours. No one would care about what people did during the evening hours back in their rooms. This way, even when Yu Xinran was in the study while everyone else was working her pink handheld would sit beside the other game machine. She would prefer to apany Puppy or the little bun if he was awake. Luo Xun sat at therge dining table in the kitchen area which was covered in a pile of paper, aputer, aptop, and other things. He also had a pen and notepad along with several boxes at his feet containing cameras, instructions, and essories. It took two days for Luo Xun to count the number of cameras at home and separate based on waterproofness, shutter type and size. After counting, he designed a monitoring system for the entire base. After he finished with the main areas, he moved his attention to the surrounding area. Although their home area was small and there were enough mutant nts to assist in protection, people could not be watching every day. This was the problem with a small base, so Luo Xun would naturally make good use of the convenient equipment they picked up. The cameras on base were good with Yan Feis ability, wiring and instation could not be more simple. But the question was how to deal with the outer cameras. Luo Xun wanted to install equipment on a highway outside of the home, but the location could not be too low lest it get covered in snow or rain. But how would they get the line all the way out there? And how would he choose where to install the camera? The sides of the highway were covered in wanton nt growth, but they were rtively short. Luo Xun thought it would be ideal to have the cameras set up higher. Most importantly, once these things are installed, they had to do as much as possible to ensure that the cameras would not be found by others, otherwise, it would be better to not install any at all. Luo Xun wrote and drew for two days to make the road map. He considered that setting up a monitor on the highway also depended on Yan Fei and Yu Xinrans help. If they could use their abilities to do so, then they could directly ce the wire towards the destination. Now he could only wait until after discussion to make a decision. The twodies were in the kitchen making lunch while Luo Xun was working at the table. Yan Fei was helping people make metal furniture ording to specifications C since they could not get ready-made furniture, they would have to make some. Anyways before they sifted through their data to find information, Yan Fei had already made shelves and other items. Luo Xun gave everyone a simple tutorial so they knew how to sew cushions and add padding to the metal sofa frame. Usually, the two women and Luo Xun would do this kind of meticulous work. Unfortunately, it was close to noon so thedies were cooking while Luo Xun was working on the design so the rest could only do their best. Before long, the smell from the kitchen grew stronger and stronger. There was the sound of footsteps outside the door. The people who had been working for half a day and discussed the roomyout came into the room. Yan Fei sat beside Luo Xun, thetter did not lift his head and said, "Once you are finished with those things, take some time and see if you can take the metal pipes so that wire can pass through." After carefully identifying the contents of the drawings showing an area outside of base, Yan Fei could not help but say, "You want to have cameras on the road to monitor outside? Its not hard to deal with metal pipes, but you have to think about how to ensure those outside devices are not noticed." "Yeah, I am worried, those things give off light when on, noticeable especially at night but they cant be removed..." Luo Xun would have broken that part but it would useless at night without infrared. Chapter 227 "What is the purpose of installing a camera?" Yan Fei put down the ns and suddenly asked. "Monitor the nearby sections of road." Luo Xun looked at him in confisuion and wondered what he was hinting at. "Then if something passed by at night and came towards our side but everyone is sleeping, what use are the cameras?" Yan Fei continued to say. Luo Xun was surprised and did not answer. "If those things just pass on the road and donte to our base, would they be of any use?" Luo Xun rubbed his head, "You mean that since night vision is not very useful, for our safety it is better to not install..." He sighed and smiled, "Indeed, if people pass by they would not rush in the darkness. After all, road conditions are more dangerous. There is not much use monitoring even mutant animals or zombies wandering around since we dont go out at nigh." "Brother Luo, well check and see if the function can be modified and usedter, otherwise demolishing it would not be too much trouble." Li Tie elbowed Luo Xun. "Yes, dont go talking about senseless destruction, well use it if we can." Luo Xun pped a hand on the table, "First eat then we can study how to set up the cameras in a way that will not attract the attention of passerby!" Everyone had roasted meat from the two waterbirds left behind by the wolves. The day before they had processed one and today they roasted the second. The remaining bones were thrown into a pot by the two women and booked until now. The milk white bone soups aroma filled the whole room, everyones stomachs started to grumble. Each person had a bowl of soup sprinkled with green onion with the rest on the table. The rich taste filled their stomachs. There were two pots with stewed leeks, these were true vegetable dishes. In addition to meat, there were potatoes, beans, dried eggnt, cabbage, noodles and mushrooms...Almost all the vegetables grown at home were put inside. In addition, there were a variety of sauces on a small te. The dishes may be simple but the nutrition was taken care of. Once they got busy, they would not let the twodies cookbor intensive stir-fry. Anyway, there was a lot of pork at home, they stewed arge pot of pork belly. Any leftovers would be frozen to be heated as needed. With the variety of vegetables at home, delicious food was easy to get, why not eat their fill? After they had enough, the team continued with the days work. They needed to make a lot of furniture and produce a variety of daily necessities. Also needed to install cameras and make metal shelves for the empty rooms in the basement...As a result Yan Fei was the busiest person at home. After finishing with his design, Luo Xun dropped this pile of paper and quickly led the group of inefficient men toy out the room. For example, using sponges as mattresses and cushions on the metal chairs, even using dried straw to make mats and small baskets was definitely not in line with their previous work. Xu Mei and Song Lingling were responsible for cleaning up the feathers which they could use to make down jackets and duvets. The two water birds from yesterday were small and had more softer feathers that Luo Xun collected. Before dealing with the two water birds, Luo Xun had the team remove all the soft down from the head, neck, belly and wings. The team not only had these two birds feathers but they also kept quails at home! Although they rarely ate their quails, when they did there would also be useable feathers. At the present, the umted amount was quite a lot. Now the twodies were responsible for cleaning and drying these things. Finally, Yu Xinran was not busy and ate lunch and apanied the small bun in napping with Puppy lying near the bed as a guard. After a good nap, she sat at the table and did her homework. When she was done she took out some of the most beautiful leftover feathers to y with C the feathers were more attractive than game consoles right now in the eyes of the smallest family members. Creating home furniture could not be easy. In order to save his lovers physical and mental strength he led the others in doing embroidery as well as woodworking: cutting, grinding and treatment. After all, if the room was only a metallic color, would it not be depressing after a while? In addition, wood products arefortable to use and would also make good decorations. Finally, his lover was busy, why should the others be idle? But Luo Xun miscalcted since the other members were not really suitable for this kind of work, their progress was akin to a turtle. Half a day was not enough for even a seat cushion. On the other hand, Yan Fei designed andpleted most of the required furniture after two or three days of effort! "These sofas, chairs and shelves are very simple and easy to set up." Yan Fei poked his lovers forehead when Luo Xun had a surprised look. "Did you forget? My ability rose to level five." "Thats right!" Luo Xun remembered and then asked, "Have you developed any new abilities these two days? Can the metal fence get more reinforced?" Yan Fei held his chin and thought for a moment, "The metal can be refined as usual but my sensing is not as obvious as before. After a few days of making furniture, I noticed some differences." He pointed at his feet, "I now seem to feel the metal content from the soil, stones and even nts... "...nts?" Luo Xun looked at him nkly, soil and stone he could understand but... a nt? "Well... what about animals?" If Yan Fei could feel the metal inside animals then what about the human body... Yan Fei shook his head and saidfortingly, "Even if I concentrate, I cant sense the metal inside of animals and humans but in the future...Im not sure either. As for nts, isnt there iron in vegetables like spinach at home. I tried to see if I could absorb but how much is inside that? It likely does notpare to Song Linglings juice recipes." As he spoke, he picked up a piece of metal from somewhere and handed it to Luo Xun. "On my signal, throw it at me." Yan Fei took two steps back and waved. Luo Xun was puzzled as he raised his hand and threw the metal at Yan Fei. An inch from his body, the metal suddenly reversed direction and flew in the opposite direction! "...Did you do that?" Yan Fei could control metal and use it to attack. Luo Xun naturally knew this, so what was he testing? Since Luo Xun did not understand, Yan Fei exined, "This is not active control, I seem to unconsciously form a maic field that only excludes metal." He wondered, "What can I use this maic force for?" Luo Xun was suddenly excited and patted Yan Fei on the shoulder. "Maybe its an area attack? You go back and rest, maybe there are other unexpected effects!" Sure enough, rising to level five seemed to be very different. Luo Xun was curious about what the other sses of ability would show when at level five? It was a pity that in the team only Yan Fei and Song Lingling had sessfully risen to level five. Zhang Yi had a level five wind core from the bat but had not used it yet since his ability had not reached the peak. Song Linglings level five water ability did not seem to have any anti-flying field so they could only temporarily wait and see. After Yan Fei made the furniture in each room, Luo Xun grabbed hom to handle installing the camera inside and to check the wires. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had handled the feathers at home and took over the sewing. The other people could breathe a sigh of relief to speak and decided to helpplete the yroom for Yu Xinran. Before they left the castle and all kinds of toys in the corner of the second floor ssroom, there were some things left that had not been removed. A few people in high spirits quickly moved these things to an empty room on the first floor and blew up the little girls bouncy castle. Although there was a machine at the kindergarten, it had been out in the open, soaked in who knows how much rain. Fortunately Luo Xun had cleared out a hardware shop for cases simr to this. This bouncy castle included a trampoline, there would be no problems for even grown-ups going inside, let alone a young girl. After blowing up the castle, a group of people took off their shoes and checked around. Although they dared not make too much noise there was a sense of childhood nostalgia. Chapter 228 Luo Xun and Yan Fei were thest to enter the game room and found that the structure of the room had changed. The location of the bouncy castle was blown up and at the back of the room instead of closer to the door. Yu Xinran was happily jumping on top with a flushed face. Xu Mei and Song Lingling had also taken off their shoes and were jumping in their socks. But the adults had to control themselves in case a careless jump would result in a collision with the wall. Luo Xun silently looked at the three women inside and asked while looking around, "Wheres Puppy?" His dog liked to y with Yu Xinran, why was she not with her? Li Tie, who was resting on a bench near the door, pointed towards the yground. "There, with your son." The two had barely walked a few steps to see Puppy had actually crawled into the ball pit and was prancing around. The small bun was in the stroller, staring with grape-like eyes and reaching for some small things hanging from above. Next to the pram were four animal-shaped rocking chairs. At this time, Wang Duo and Zhang Yi were giving out dog food. Fortunately, the two were light and would not break anything. In addition to the intable pool filled with balls that could also be turned into a mini-pool for the children, there were rocking animals, a small swing and a yground made of doors, pipes, and slides for children to explore. The end of the slide connected with the ball pool. In addition, there was an area with a circle of tables and chairs where the children could y some other types of games or work on their homework. "If we have the chance, well bring these kinds of things back and fill the roomter." Luo Xun looked at the group and crouched over the pram with a smile. Seeing Luo Xun appear in front of him, the baby left the toys and stretched his hands towards Luo Xun while babbling. Their child would grow up one day. Having this childrens room built would let him enjoy childhood even though it was the apocalypse. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi could not resist watching Luo Xun by the pram exuding a maternal light. The two stood up and Zhang Yi said, "You could think about giving him a few more siblings." Luo Xun squinted at him, "A family is good with one child, why dont you consider having one?" Some people did not know how to keep their mouths shut. Not muchter, Yu Xinran left the bouncy castle and sat on the swing. The couple smiled while feeding the hungry baby the washed cream fruit. How long had it been since the apocalypse started that she had not felt this carefree? Being able to y, not worry about hunger or encountering terrifying zombies, this was simply heavenly. Her age was young but with their cautious life at the previous base and the busy work after moving out, she actually had very little carefree ytime. Li Tie and the others excitedly found a useless nk lying around and wrote three characters "The Game Room", two of the words had some mistakes so the overall effect was extremely ugly. After they had finished and hung up the sign, Zhang Yi gently poured cold water on their efforts. "There is a lot of paint left in the house." Could not write words let alone using a brush to paint? Even if the writing was bad everything could be rewritten with anotheryer of paint, were they stupid? The four people who had their IQ questioned were speechless before directing angry eyes on Wang Duo C who let his lover have a sharp tongue? Who runs his mouth? Someone like that should be thoroughly educated at home! Perhaps because of the game room, people all of a sudden seemed younger. Each person enthusiastically set up their new home and also actively worked to improve the quality of life on base. After much deliberation, the office next door was opened and arranged as a room dedicated to ying various game consoles. Arge TV hung on the wall with a sofa with Luo Xuns sponge cushions facing it. There were also a variety ofrge and small seats and other furniture. Most of the games here were party-type games that people could y together. If someone wanted to y the handheld, they could also y in this room. As a result, both children and adults had a ce to have fun. It gave their new home an inexplicable sense of ease. After the room was roughly arranged, Luo Xun and Yan Fei discussed for a while and the two decided to not set up any outside cameras for the time being. After all, although they could set up pipes, the wires were connected to their base. Once discovered, if the other side had either earth or metal users, their base would definitely be discovered. During the apocalypse, there were all kinds of abilities. If someone found out and had nefarious intentions towards their home, they would not be able to have a quiet life. In exchange, Luo Xun set up metal shelves at the highest point with cameras to monitor the surroundings. Although the distance was not too far because of height, at least it was rtively much safer? Luo Xuns current bed was from the previous base so they had no need for a new one. Their personal belongings from base had all been put in their rooms along with any furniture. Due to the room size, he contributed a sofa and coffee table. One of the new sofas was temporarily left in the game room and thedies also got a wardrobe. Yan Fei made the rest of the furniture using his ability so the situation was pretty good. The room was notpletely finished since this was a ce they would use for a long time. It would be slowly changed ording to personal interests. But the room already had a lively atmosphere. Once the furniture was done, Luo Xun took the cleaned and dried stones to the greenhouse orchard for a paved stone road. In addition to these stones, there were tiles that they had brought from base and collected thest time. Some were used for the gate and others set aside, so the effect was good. Although the colors were different, they could be mixed and matched. During this busy time, the weather outside was getting hotter by the day. Just two days ago, heavy rain poured under the hot sun so they spend another two days underground. Luo Xun and the team were very d they had built their base early so they no longer had to go out for supplies and could stay at home. They got up early each day to water the crops, clean the huts, check the orchard for mutations and then harvest any matured crops. The weather was still gloomy today but it was not raining. The group of men and women gathered in the game room. Li Tie and Han Li were in front of the big TV ying a very famous zombie game before the apocalypse. The others watched or yed other games. Luo Xun walked in with a tray followed by Yan Fei. The others in the game room naturally weed the chance to eat his home cooking. Since people would end up eating in the game room, the usual entertainment time was gradually transferred over, leaving the canteen table out in the cold. Luo Xun entered to hear a squishing sound from the television and saw a zombie that the pair of gamers had killed. "Eat, its the apocalypse and you are ying games with zombies." Luo Xun could not help but say while cing the meal on the new round table. However, each person would eat their portion sitting on the sofa. They would watch and y while eating their meals. "Im not afraid." Li Tie paused the game, shook his hands and looked at the table. "How many real zombies have we killed, let alone fake? To be honest I was scared when I yed this game before the apocalypse. Now Im not scared at all when ying." "Right? This is the result of tempering." The others also got up from the other corner of the room with sixputer tables. He Qiankun, Wu Xin, Wang Duo, and Song Lingling were sitting at theputer ying a real-time strategy game. Since Luo Xun brought the meal they stopped to get some food. "Come on, lets go ahead with the show that we didnt watch yesterday." The group of people were eating lunch while watching a blood-soaked zombie movie. No one felt tired or ufortable, it was a heavy taste. Chapter 229 Todays lunch was made by Luo Xun. The main dish was fragrant, mouthwatering rice along with sauteed beef C because their home had long run out of oil, he fried using soy sauce. Fried peppers and minced meat, baked bean curd using mutant eggs that were as big as a head. Pig trotters C peeled because no one could bite through thatyer of thick skin. In addition to these five dishes, there were fresh stir-fried vegetables and arge pot of mushroom soup. The house was filled with the smell of food after the lid was opened. The entire team felt their mouths water. To be honest, although Xu Mei and Song Lingling were responsible for the usual meals, their main dishes and rice were good, but for these side dishes...their level was only average from before the end. The rest of the food they could make, could notpare to the taste or looks of Luo Xun C even though he was only second-rate. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had nned out todays dishes, Luo Xun did not remember the taste of some of the dishes and Yan Fei gave tips since he ate at many restaurants. The two people taste tested each of the finished foods and were soon full. The team sat around the table eating happily while listening to the zombie roars and screaming people on television. The main idea of the chat was C did they want to go back to the southwest base at the start of August? "Has there been any new information these days? Do you know any specifics about the southwest base?" Luo Xun bit a pig trotter offered by Yan Fei. Although it was stewed without the outer skin so there was less taste, it was pretty good and sulent. He Qiankun, responsible for information collection swallowed his mouthful of beef, "Earlyst month, the southwest base seemed to be dealing with the inner city. From those documents, we can see that the base was adjusting and drumming up the inner city so they should not be outside for the time being. But additional staff should have sent to the outer city to maintain order, the details are unclear." Although they can information on each base regarding some major agreements, changes and so on, they could not ultimately see the details of the situation at A-city southwest base. What the actual specifics were inside the base, the group of people did not know. Luo Xun held his chopsticks and pondered for a moment while cupping his chin, "Going back early August since now the base is doing internal consolidation, theres not much difference between now and the start of next month. We should wait until the situation haspletely stabilized." As for selling vegetables...eat what they can, dry the rest for rations or use them as fodder. They had not increased the nting area by that much. Despite the basement having two acres ofnd nted with vegetables, it was arge variety of crops. So there was less of each kind of vegetable. "Right, right! Now that the weather is so hot, even if we brought many vegetables, wouldnt they all wilt or go bad?" "Yeah, now the weather is so bad, even if we wanted to go out, we cannot walk around!" Overall, this was a team of men and women who now lived a trulyfortable life of rxation. Luo Xun looked out the window at the dark, hazy sky and nodded before expressing his support. At the same time, it started to rain heavily again. These days the weather was not good. Luo Xuns team could receive satellite information but those photographs did not show the ground clearly. No way around it, the clouds were too thick to shoot through. The pictures from the satellites looked simr to those they had seen on television before. The team ofymen pretended to analyze it and expressed their opinions C the weather would not clear up at least for a week! Early the next morning, they looked outside to the sunny, clear sky and exchanged shocked looks. Forecasting the weather was not something regr people could judge. They did not expect thatst nights rain clouds were all blown away. They med the fact that their base was too strong. While they were sleeping, not even a gust of wind was heard. However, just because the weather was getting sunny did not mean everyone could go out C and they did not want to either. Likest time, the road was badly flooded. Luo Xun did not have to go out onto the roof to know that the pond size had increased, even overflowing onto the highway. Even some of the lower fields were covered! Luo Xun held the babys just changed diapers and looked out the window into the distance. The clean, bright sky blue made people itch with an urge to sneeze. He pinched the babys noise, such a child would grow up to be strong one day. The children were out ying, some movement outside the window caused Luo Xun to look outside again. He did not know where the two wolves ran when it rained. At this time, they were jumping in the rain-filled pond and shallow water on the road. The two seemed to have forgotten the past and pounced on the group of waterbirds. Perhaps they were trying to take advantage of the rain to hunt the wet birds unable to fly. But some of them actually had water powers and used elemental arrows to hit the wolves. Their half-dry bodies were soaked and drenched. "What are you looking at?" After preparing the warm fruit milk, Yan Fei walked over to the door and saw Luo Xun standing by the window. "Look at the two wolves being chased by a few water birds...Ah they finally remembered their own earth abilities and are trying to block the attacks." Luo Xun silently shook his head. "Are they really wolves? I remember the wolf and the three pigs we learned at school. Although the wolf died at the end, wasnt he quite smart before then?" "Dont forget that we did not have any wild wolves in the country before the end? Perhaps after living in a park for a long time, their survival instincts have deteriorated. Plus..." Yan Fei looked out the window towards the two wolves who had found a safe ce to shake out their fur. "What if they have dog pedigree? Maybe not a dog but a wolfdog instead?" Luo Xun smiled at nodded towards Puppy lying on her side. "Yes, our dog is silly enough, looking at their heads, maybe theyre closer to Puppy than wolves." Puppy opened her eyes and raised her ears since she heard her name. Realizing Luo Xun was not really talking to her, she continued to rest. The two people went back to the bedside and put the baby on the newlyid sheets. Luo Xun tested the temperature of the bottle. Yan Fei took the clothes and shoes on the side C although the babys head was very small C he was only six months and his limbs were still growing in development. So Luo Xun carefully selected the softest cotton to make a simple baby suit when changing. Just as Luo Xun was testing the cream fruit temperature and Yan Fei had prepared the clothes. The pair looked in shock as the baby wriggled a few times before C turning over! "He, he turned over?" Luo Xun was silent for a long time while the baby curiously looked around while on his belly. The baby reached out towards a nearby pair of underpants...ones that Luo Xun had hung up this morning to dry. Yan Fei said to Luo Xun, "He should be fed." This was so that the baby would not stuff anything in his mouth. Luo Xun picked up the baby and stuffed the bottle nipple into his mouth. The two men shared looks. "He turned over..." "Hes finally able to turn around." The two people stared at each other and thenughed out loud. The baby was born premature and had a weak body since birth. At the beginning Luo Xun was not even sure whether the child would survive. It was surprising that the baby born during the apocalypse seemed to be quite strong when he apanied them out on missions, against zombies, experiencing harsh winter. He was fortunate to grow up healthier. Before He Qiankun had found some data from somewhere that said babies would turn over at three months. Of course it also depended on the babys physical condition but it was a general estimate. But their baby did not move, no matter how Luo Xun yed with him, trying stretches or new skills. The small bun was not willing to follow along. Considering his premature birth and that the cream fruit may not have the same nutrition as milk, Luo Xun was willing to patiently ignore the problem. Until today...when the baby was around six months old, he finally rolled around. After feeding the milk, Luo Xun said with joy, "We can try to give him some semi-solid food right?" Before in fear of the babys weak body, he dared not give him any, now Luo Xun was happy to try. Anyways, there were so many fruits and vegetables at home to use and make nutritious paste for the baby to try. Yan Fei had no opinion. In fact, he previously thought that they could perhaps start on more solid food but Luo Xun was worried. Did not expect the turn of events today that would change their ns. Yan Fei poked the babys full stomach while changing his clothes. Chapter 230 The team who were once upied in the game room, finally set aside their game consoles and online games to surround the yroom. The baby was ced on the carpeted floor, resembling a turtle stuck on his back facing the sky. Suddenly he turned over using one of his arms or legs! After the action waspleted, the team cheered and then unscrupulous turned the baby around again... By the time they had turned the baby back several times and expected him to perform another "stunt", the small bun unceremoniously lifted his head, spit bubbled and fell asleep. The baby was tired of being yed around by a group of unscrupulous adults so it made sense for him to curl up and fall asleep. Also the babys temper was very good and he never cried. Other children would have long ago burst into tears. The child was handed over to Yu Xinran while the rest took care of the underground nting rooms. Luo Xun and Yan Fei went to the third floor window in order to check whether if any outlets had been blocked. There was still some water on the roof but it was much less than the amount on the streets. The pair circled around the roof and then checked that the things on the highest roof had not been spoiled. The cameras ced here were waterproof and the pictures were clear but they had been soaked in water for a long time. The satellite receiver dish and the few cameras had no problems. After the inspection Luo Xun used his telescope to observe the area and saw that the "pond" had once again expanded and the water birds were leisurely ying. The two wolves were lying next to the trees watching the birds in the pond. Luo Xun turned his gaze to another nearby farm and checked the road situation. Suddenly he felt something sh. He quickly raised a hand to rub his eyes and then looked over. "Yan Fei, did you something reflective on the ground? Im not seeing things am I?" Luo Xun was in doubt so he quickly handed over the telescope to have Yan Fei help identify the object. Yan Fei looked carefully in the direction that Luo Xun pointed at and said uncertainly, "Like the reflection of a crystal?" "It seems simr, not like light reflected off water!" Luo Xun jumped and looked with bright eyes. "You think it was washed up from the rain? Or it was blown by the wind during the night?" "Its possible." Yan Fei did not disagree and asked, "Do you want to go and see?" Although the location was very close to the mutant farnd, if the cores had been washed over by the heavy rain, would it not be easier to collect them? The two rushed back downstairs to inform the team of the news. The group members who had stayed indoors for several days quickly raised their hands and would take the opportunity to go out. Although their home was very good and their greenhouse would get sunlight, indoors was different from outdoors. It made sense that they would not go far during heavy rainfall. Outside the water wasrge so Luo Xun took out their rain shoes from the previous base as well as their improved soft metal armor for protection. Then they drove a car to the gate entrance. Luo Xun stood in front of the door and turned to Song Lingling standing next to him. "Ready?" Song Lingling nodded, raised her hand and looked carefully at the entrance in front of her. Yan Fei slowly opened a gap in the metal te, sure enough the water rushed out but was controlled by Song Lingling. The rain instantly turned into a wall of water, floating in front of the team. When the door waspletely opened, the water gradually no longer poured in. Song Lingling continued controlling the water wall. The sky outside was still very clear and blue. The water at the top was warmed by the sun and after the rain it was hotter. "Its not cool outside yet." He Qiankun said as he was the most sensitive to temperature. "We have air conditioning in our rooms and the other rooms have nts so the temperature is not too high." The group of people seemed as if they were out to y. With the muddy ground making it difficult to walk and lush woods in the distance, birds leisurely wandering the ponds, it was a beautiful picture of summer. Each step made peoples feet sink into the mud. Twice Xu Mei left on her shoes behind so she had to backtrack before continuing forward. Finally Song Lingling could only move the water aside in order to explore forward. The teamined about the sun not having enough power to dry out the damaged roads. Who wouldin about frail water users after this sort of thing? At the mutant farnd, even from a distance they could see that the rain, wind and moving branches had pushed out crystal cores. The smaller and lighter ones had washed up on the edge of the field due to the weather. Luo Xun and the teams eyes lit up. While standing at the fields edge, Luo Xun came up with an idea and said to Song Lingling, "Try and use your ability and see if you can flush out as much as possible." Song Linglings ability had risen to level five. Compared to Yu Xinran who had not been able to find apatible core to level up, her water abilities had a wider and more powerful scope. Song Lingling nodded and started to push the water against the earthen mounds. Little by little, Song Lingling frowned and then said, "Leader, I cant push the heavier things in the water but the smaller ones have no issue." Looking at the crystal cores on the shore mixed with a variety of small debris, Luo Xun guessed that Song Linglings water ability could only push level three cores and had difficulties with anything higher. He turned to Zhang Yi, "You work together and try." A few days ago, Zhang Yi finally used the small level five wind bat core along with some other level four cores to raise a level. With this way, it seemed that as long as there was a level five core as a medium, they could also use lower cores as additional energy. However the possibility of failure was not clear. Level five wind power could increase the strength of water abilities. Luo Xun and team only needed to make the rounds and the farnd was filtered. This would make it more convenient for Yu Xinran to dig up treasure. With thebination of wind and water, they cleaned up the area near the mutant nt farnd from edge to edge. The branches swayed in the air but caught nothing. Yu Xinran happily followed the others and while Song Lingling and Zhang Yi cooperated, she was responsible for grabbing the crystal cores and sweeping them into a bag. The same ones they usedst time to hold stones. They were quite sturdy as they survived two years of use during the apocalypse. The mutant farnd was washed by the sea, the nts were moving with the waves in a rhythmic fashion. It was as if they were at the beach shoreline. Due to the hard work of the two level five ability users and one level four sand user, within two hours they harvested a dozen bags of crystals and used up their bought bags. But that was not the end, they came this time with two electric cars filled with various bamboo baskets that they had prepared during their free time. This time it was used as additional storage for the crystal cores they found. So when the bags were full, they naturally started using the baskets, plus they could not have Yan Fei make metal boxes every time. How much did metal weigh? How much did the baskets weigh? Even if they rotted there were no issues as they could be used as kindling and would not pollute the environment. It would also use scraps and increase their crafting ability. The group of people filtered around two acres ofnd and the two cars were full. Everyone enthusiastically drove back, unloaded things and drove out again C while the water was not dry they hastened to clear out a few more pieces ofnd. They would have a secure store of cores to slowly use as needed. The group was busy when suddenly they heard the ground shaking. They looked up to see two very familiar wolves running in their direction. "Be careful! Grab your weapons!" The groups first reaction was that there must be a bunch of mutant animals behind them since the wolves were speeding towards them! When they found nothing behind them, the team was surprised to see these two tall mutant wolves. But there was no tension, fear or confusion on the animals faces. The two wolves approached and then stopped while looking at them with their tails swaying left and right. "Ah! Puppy!" Yu Xinran raised a hand and excitedly pointed at the figure in front of the two wolves C was that not Luo Xuns dog?! Where did shee back from? Wait, thats not right, when did she ever leave?! Chapter 231 "Puppy!" Luo Xuns voice was stern and worried. When on earth did she run away? And when did she hook up with those two wolves? Doesnt she know its dangerous outside? Thest time she met a zombie dog, who was bitten and ran away? Why couldnt she be alert?! Luo Xun had the expression of a strict father which the dog unfortunately did not notice while excitedly licking Luo Xuns face with a body covered in rain and mud. Luo Xun pushed away from the dogs head, looked at the two muddy pawprints and ground his teeth C this dog needed to learn a lesson. At this time the two wolves stood shoulder to shoulder, obediently lying not far away with theirrge tails wagging and eyes with mncholy. The staring pierced the groups hearts and they could not help but mutter. "Whats wrong with them?" "Do they want to y with Puppy?" "Thats not good, what if they step on Puppy?" "Are they hungry? Want us to take them?" "Dont joke about that! With their size how can we care for them? Even if we expand the tunnel to let them in, the base does not have any room! And the basement is notrge enough either." Luo Xuns mouth twitched as he listened to the crowds babbling. He paused after hearing the word hungry and looked between Puppy and the two wolves. Luo Xun looked up and asked, "You came to find us after not being able to eat for a while?" The two wolves tilted their heads, one right and the other to the left. Their ears were moving but obviously, they did not understand the words. They did not understand what Luo Xun was asking about... Luo Xun palmed his face. He swore that his head must have been infected with Puppys silliness before asking the two wolves that question. Thenguage barrier was such a pain, first with Puppy and the baby and now these two wolves...Wait, why had the baby not started to learn to speak yet? A few people got together to discuss and decided C try andmunicate with the two wolves. If they really needed food, it was not impossible to help them. After all, they were a familiar figure in the area...wait something was wrong? Luo Xun approached the pair while the ability users remained vignt in case they two wolves would attack. But the two wolves seemed more cautious than Luo Xun C when they saw the human approaching, they took a few steps back. Luo Xun thoughtfully pointed towards the pond and the team followed, distracting the wolves. Sure enough, by the time they were halfway, the wolves got up and tried to keep up. As it turned out, with the cleverness of man helped counteract the IQcking wolves. Anyways, other than the few prey that had been caught by the wolves, the rest were relying on the teams strength to hunt! Luo Xuns team took action,bining water and metal abilities with others. Soon enough, they had hunted fiverge water birds. They did not immediately hand over the water birds. First, they dug out the crystal cores and removed the feathers before handing them over. Although the two wolves were not geniuses, they knew that these prey were gifted by Luo Xun so they did not snatch and instead anxiously waited. Once Luo Xun threw the food over, they picked it up and moved to their resting ce under the tree. Looking at the two figures, Wang Duo, "Do you want to take them?" Before waiting for an answer, Zhang Yi interrupted, "Can you afford to raise them with the amount of food they eat? When winteres we can feed you to them but I am afraid its not enough to pick their teeth." Right? Not even considering the apocalypse, how much would arge dog eat? Wang Duo also remembered his neighbor had raised a golden retriever. Every day he had to buy arge bag of dog food which was only enough for a single day. The family also had other food expenses, how much would it cost with other additions? Now it was the end of the world, even if the size of mutant animals had grown, it would not help them feed two mutant wolves who were three meters tall! Xu Mei perked up and smiled at Wang Duo. "Dont just consider them now with no food, we were outside as well and they must have gotten food before." She pointed at the wolves. "We met them a few times and except for when they were fleeing the water birds with abilities, did they hunt down regr mutant animals? They are at least smart enough to know to target animals without abilities." "Thats true." Luo Xun also started, thinking while watching the two wolves eating bird meat at the pond edge. "We only saw one of the wolves with an earth ability, perhaps the other has a way to identify which have no ability. Right? Before those additional mutant birds came, the two wolves were rushing towards a group of regr mutant animals. Maybe they wanted to use the poultry as reserve rations but did not expect to find a group of ability user animals. In that case, it was possible to help them asionally, but impossible over the long term. If Luo Xun helped them with food over a period of time, he was afraid that their survival instinct would disappear. If they were only the size of Puppy, Luo Xun would not mind raising two new members, unfortunately, they were too big and it was not realistic to care for them. With the arrogant birds in the pond, there were ones that the two wolves had chased but there were ability users mixed in. Even if the wolves wanted to fight they were unable, so they had turned their attention to Luo Xun. After a busy day of picking up crystal cores and helping their "neighbors" hunt, it was dark by the time the team drove back to base. After stacking the cores into a corner in the storage room, the team rested for a night. Then they went out before the water dried outside to continue picking up cores from the mutant farnd. Luo Xun wondered, even if the earth was dry, they could also have Song Lingling artificially flood the mutant farnd and continue with their searching. Only it would be hard on her. Now that they found a new method, they had to hurry and take advantage before the water was absorbed away. Otherwise, if the water evaporated and the cores were stuck in the mud, it would be even more difficult to gather them. For the next two days, after mastering the trick, the team quickly sifted through the surrounding mutant farnd. To everyones delight, there were more mutant animals in the nearby area. After the heavy rain, the nearby pond had be lively. In addition to a lot of flying birds, there were also a lot of mutant animals approaching to drink water. What made them even more speechless was C there was an eagle high in the sky, hovering over the pond! Luo Xun was not sure if the eagle was the same one that they had seen on the high-rise. But it was clear that the eagle had designated its hunting ground. In the past two days, those who had gone out to collect cores had seen two areas C the eagle flew down to startle the birds, chased them into the air and grabbed them in its talons before flying away. The two wolves, who had never been in the wild before the apocalypse and required human assistance, paled inparison to this scene. Its a bug! The scene of hunting was too beautiful and blinded their eyes. Luo Xun had sharper eyes, when the eagle caught prey there was a sh of light. Obviously, the eagle had a lightning ability which would reduce its defenses and maintain freshness. The eagle would have a fresh meal back at its nest. Luo Xun and the team worked overtime to thoroughly sift through thend. They feelingly stood at the third-floor window and listened to the calls of animals in the distance. "When do you think they will leave?" He Qiankun whispered to Wu Xin beside him. "I dont know, is the feng shui so good that they arent going to leave?" Wu Xin was worried as he looked out the window. He still remembered the three-tailed mutant cat they encountered on the road that tried to grab the car. Fortunately, Zhang Yis wind power was quick to block. Then another mutant animal appeared and the two animals ignored the convoy and fought instead. With a source of water nearby, they would inevitably encounter angry mutant animals. Fortunately, their base had beenpletely built. Chapter 232 With more animals nearby looking for water to drink, Luo Xun and the others found it difficult to go out. Fortunately, they did not have to, they had just searched the nearby mutant farnd and were not nning to go to the A-city base until early August. Naturally, they could leisurely spend their time at home nting fields, ying games and raising the children. The group of people with free time brought back thest batch of crystals and rested for the night. After they returned to the warehouse where the colorful crystals were left in a pile and were summarily sorted. Everyone on the Otaku squad helped with this project. There were too many cores, who knew how long it would take to finish. Dont look at the first two days when everyone was quickly collecting cores, they were only shoveling the items into a bag, it was simr to panning for gold. During the screening, each person had onerge and several smaller bags with cores inside. They needed to distinguish the cores as soon as possible along with separating othermon cores out. The remaining ones with unclear properties would be set aside to be identifiedter. The workload was not small. In order to avoid distraction and wrongly sort the cores, Luo Xun set up a work schedule after the first day. Every day after getting up early, they would go look after the crops and sort crystal cores before lunch. After a lunch break, they would spend three hours in the afternoon with the crystal cores. Then they could go to the game room and y or other things they wanted to do. With this way being busy every day, Luo Xun and the team still had not finished after half a month. This made everyones heart happy but their hands sore. However, during this half month, Luo Xun did not only do this. His and Yan Feis room had been arranged with furniture and clearly divided cabs for the rooms. They ced their king size bed inside with a table, wardrobe and other things. There was also their previous cab and one newly made with metal. Outside the room, there was arge television hanging on the wall, shelves for game consoles, desks for the baby, bookshelves and a new carpet on the floor. That piece of carpet was handmade by Luo Xun using the raw material that everyone had no ideas to use C leather. After the start of the apocalypse, Luo Xun had encountered several mutant animals. It was a headache, the birds were good because their feathers could be used for clothing or bedding but the animal fur was not as easy to use. Until now, although Luo Xun had saved those skins. They were left in the corner to gather dust after being washed and dried. If they were not adding things for the baby, he would not have thought of those skins. Their home had arge piece of sheepskin and rabbitskin. After mutation, their hair had be rough and hard with iparable thickness. If one made clothes out of the fur, they were afraid that walking would be impossible. Luo Xun thought again and again and decided to take a piece of rabbit skin, nail a thin sponge andyer of solid canvas to wash into a carpet. This thing was much thicker than a normal carpet. It would keep the ground warm and give anti-fall measures which would be perfect for the baby. As for the wool and rabbit hair, it could be woven into thread...but the team had no need for these things for the time being. Plus they did not have or know how to use a spinning machine. Such a carpet was also ced in Xu Mei and Song Linglings room and prepared for the children. This morning, they washed and neatly dressed their baby. Luo Xun held him in front of the window while checking the roof to make sure there were no stray animals. Although they had painted their roof with ayer of camouge to deceive eyes sometimes their roof was too alike a mutant nt. A few days, a silly bird fell on their roofs and curiously examined the leaf-like metal on the roof. Fortunately, they found out in time, after it left a few bird droppings it was caught and graced their table. At this time, white clouds were floating in the sky and the pond reflected the sunrise. Birds were leisurely floating in the water while animals asionally approached the shore to drink water. Luo Xun looked at the scene, the area was full of wanton growth with mature rice nts, along with the pond and animals, the scenery was heaven-like. In the distance, the water birds also stuck their heads underwater from time to time... Luo Xun suddenly turned around to Yan Fei, "Dear, are we not being silly?" Yan Fei started and wondered where he wasing from. Luo Xun pointed out the window, "Why are those birds here?" "Because of the water?" Yan Fei was still puzzled, there were other animals around not just the water birds. Luo Xun shook his head. "Just because there is water, they wille to make a family?" Mutant animals big and small were in the area. A few days ago when Luo Xun went to dig out cores, they found more than one nest with babies inside! Were the baby cubs just that small? Or would they grow after mutation? Luo Xun was not sure and dared not specte. Yan Fei did not understand Luo Xuns meaning but looked at him with raised eyebrows asking for an exnation. Luo Xun pointed outwards with a slightly proud smile, "Birds cannot survive only on water. They have gathered at the edge of the pond and have never left..." He had not finished when Yan Fei also came to a conclusion. "You mean to say, there are fish in the water?" Luo Xun fiercely nodded. In regards to the original farnd, how could there be fish just after some rain? And why hadnt the fish mutated into zombies? Both of these questions were unanswered at the moment. More because Luo Xun had not approached the pond so it was not certain that there were fish, the idea was just a guess. The couple took their baby downstairs and went to the kitchen for a meal. The dining hall was basically only used in the morning. Everyone spent lunch in the basement and the evening would gather in the games room. When they arrived at the first floor, Luo Xun had not time to speak with everyone about his hypothesis when Li Tie and several others had eager faces while holding theirptops. They rushed over while waving. "Luo Xun,st night or early this morning we received a new message!" Luo Xun watched as Li Tie opened and organized the documents from the server. In the past A-city had joined other bases in visiting some mines. There was some news and follow up and now the military had arrived at the mining area and set up a small new base specifically for mining. It was said that the first batch of ore had been harvested and was being transported back. The base seemed to have the intention of repairing the railway transport. But who knew whether the damage was serious after the apocalypse and whether there would be an ident with the trains. What was most shocking was some experimental research and report on ability users. The human body also contained a crystal core, those that saw the news would not help but get goosebumps. Luo Xun and the team were shocked to see the news but they already had some hidden spections about this. There were zombies and mutant animals, why couldnt humans have them? In particr, since ability users relied on cores to upgrade, they did not believe that humans were that different from other organisms. It was just that guesses were just guesses. They chose to subconsciously ignore it until there was clear evidence. In particr, Luo Xun had never heard of this matter during his past life. He was afraid that once the news spread out, things would be very chaotic. Materials and food could already spark conflict between neighbors. What would happen when cores were added to the equation? Materials and food were a little different since they could only be judged by the outside, but crystal cores gave off energy that was not really measurable. The group of people was shocked after reading these encrypted messages since there was other information about an in-depth study on crystal cores along with less important information. "Leader..." "Luo Xun..." "Captain..." The team looked at Luo Xun with helpless expressions which added pressure onto the leaders back. He took a deep breath, looked around and tried to keep his voice steady. "This...personally I do not think that the higher-ups will publicly publish this information because the impact of the announcement would be great and potentially cause a bacsh." The crowd nodded. "So we dont have to worry about it right now." As soon as Luo Xun finished, Zhang Yi provokingly said, "I have a problem." Luo Xun guessed that he would not be saying anything good. Sure enough, Zhang Yi spoke, "How did they find out that there is a crystal core in the brain of an ability user? Open brain surgery? Experimentalb rats?" Sure enough, nothing good to say. Chapter 233 Zhang Yis words were like a spell that took hold of them, their expressions twisted and they looked nervous. They were taught as a string, prime to snap at the slightest force. Yan Fei suddenly opened his mouth to break the silence and coughed. He nced at Zhang Yi and said, "Dont forget, ability users are still people and may die when going out on missions. If they did on base due to sickness or an ident, their bodies can be used for research." Experimenting on live people and with corpses are two different things. The first...it need not even be said. But thetter was something else, although the use of corpses for research had ack of respect for the dead, but for the military to contribute even after death was a way to pave the road for future security. Before the apocalypse, some people were willing to donate their bodies for medical research, not to mention after the end? Even if the authorities had not obtained consent from the deceased, it was better than experimenting with live people. Sure enough, the team collectively rxed as they looked at Zhang Yi. As for which of the two possibilities was true? People would rather believe Yan Feis guess. But at the same time, they were more reluctant to consider visiting the A-city base. The reports of crystal cores in the brains of ability users and other rted details were too strong. Luo Xun and the rest stopped for a while before continuing to look at other documents. Among them, a letter from the other bases sent to A-city indicated that a convoy would be sent for exchanging goods. But after the news was sent, some spontaneous teams also followed to do business. Yes, it was about doing business, trading with their produce. But the military deal was internal only, and those who came with were only exchanging material with regr people or with cores. After the team saw the news they a little excited. Luo Xun pped and said, "Continue to pay attention to the relevant news, we are nning to visit A-city around the end of August, we have to observe the situation and see if there are opportunities to trade." This time, it seemed that the other base was established very close to a cotton production area and brought a lot of textiles which was what the Otaku squad needed. Most of the cloth they had collected previously was now used up. Even the cloth that Luo Xun had amassed before the apocalypse was used and they needed to supplement their supplies. In addition, if there was no danger, they would also take the chance to inquire about information concerning the other bases. Of course, this was based on if A-city was actually proceeding as nned C setting up a market outside the base and allowing foreign parties to set up stalls while also allowing people to bring out supplies for the transaction. No other way, even if Luo Xun was willing to sell things, they were not willing to enter the A-city base, especially with the current mess. After receiving the news, Luo Xun and others temporarily rxed and continued with other news. The information was a mixture of everything, this was mostly because Li Tie and thepany did not have enough time to sort. Some pieces of information were important, while others not so much. After a quick look, they ate while studying the new satellite photos. "In a short period of time, there should be norge-scale zombies waves in the country." Even thest wave passed this area and went abroad towards Siberia and there were norge movements for the time being. Luo Xun pointed at several locations. "Only these parts of foreign zombies will be able to enter in a few months but not sure when they will arrive north of our base." The local zombie groups had gone abroad and were scattered in Eurasia. But foreign zombies also met up with the local ones. Luo Xun pointed at arge poption in the south-west. Although thend was not asrge, the number as quickly catching up. Even more surprising was that therge group of zombies and a few waves had formed country-sized groups in the south east! Once this wave of zombies entered the country, the scape was simr if all the local wandering zombies gathered together! What Luo Xun was most worried about was C due to poption density, perhaps the number of zombies entering the country was muchrger than the number inside. He was also wondering whether any survivors in those countries had seeded in establishing a base? After all, there were many international messages from the satellite and they had seen exchanges between the United States, Britain and most of Europe but they had not found the origin of the apocalypse, who knew what was going on. "Since we have a period of time before this wave of zombies, first we build up our base for peace of mind, do a good job with defenses and then we will continue." Yan Fei patted Luo Xuns shoulder and pointed at the table of food. "First eat, lets also collect some crystal core and busy ourselves with work." "Yes, eat first!" The wave of zombies would pass through several other southern bases before entering the country. After Luo Xun went through all the messages, he noted that the positions were ones they had approximately marked. If the zombies entered, those would be the first to sh and there would be more messages and they would tailor their actions in response. After eating and drinking their fill, the group of people went straight to the basement and start working in the nting room. The others went to the core warehouse and continued the unfinished sorting. Do not look at the core sorting as troublesome or trivial, their harvest these past few days was really good. Before the team was worried about the rest of the ability users leveling up to level five with the appropriate crystal. Now they did not need to leave to find what everyone needed. Not only was Xu Meis fire element a moremon ability, even sand cores for Yu Xinran had been collected. Xu Meis level five core was of normal size, Yu Xinran had three small ones from unknown animals. With Zhang Yis previous demonstration, it was easy for Yu Xinran to level up within ten minutes. The only headache was that the core distributions were not uniform at this time. Wind cores were the smallest number and there were only level four cores mixed among them. No way, who let level five wind type zombies fly in the sky? Mutant nts on the ground naturally could not take them. With the other types, although level five cores were really rare, after sorting for so many days, they always found a few. Even if they were small, obviously not from a human zombie. Only the wind ones...the team looked at Zhang Yi with sympathy. Fortunately, Zhang Yi had already be level five, even if he had fewer cores, it was still enough to use. There were also a lot of neutral cores at home! It was enough for him. The busy days continued, sorting the crystal cores, harvesting vegetables, growing all kinds of new crops, ying games and ying with the children and dog. Slowly spending their days was extraordinarilyfortable. While Luo Xun was passing their days, while concerned about the various outside messages, they had a satellite signal receiver at home. Although it could notpare with theputerwork before the apocalypse, it was enough for the general messages. It was said before that teams set off for A-city to exchange goods and several other bases had moved. All said they would send people to A-city for bartering since it was near rich materials. A-city base was even clearer C before the teams arrived, they would build a new goods market dedicated to trading and the people inside the base would also be allowed to use this chance to buy goods. Those days only a small portion of the entrance fee would be charged. However outsiders were not allowed to enter the base and in ordance with rules for new entrants, would be charged a high admission fee. With such good news, Luo Xun and the team could not help but take action. As long as the authorities did not inquire who put up stalls, even ordinary people would be there selling things. With the news, the group was more motivated to dry and harvest vegetables that can be preserved. Not to mention the usual time spent on sorting crystal cores would be changed once the task was all done. They discussed and took out some cores with type not needed by their team of lower levels. It was the same that they used as previous spending money. By the time they finally got a message that the first base team had sessfully reached A-city, they had already started drying food. After three days, the other teams had arrived. A-city began to allow regr people to enter the market to buy things. The team loaded their things and drove their big trucks. The cars exited the gate and went straight towards the A-city base. Chapter 234 Luo Xun and the others dared not take too many things with them. On the other hand, they grabbed quite a few crystal cores and stuffed them into the car body. Unless someone forcefully disassembled their car or a metal user removed the outeryer, no one would find out whats inside. Even if someone wanted to smash the car to see if anything was hidden, they would have to capable of it! Yan Fei was a strong metal user along that even Zhang Yi and Xu Meis joint wind and fireball could not damage, let alone others? This time all the things they prepared were the Otaku squads specialties C a variety of fried vegetables and a small amount of fresh, storable fruit. There were also some pots and pans from Yan Fei. the amount of dried vegetables was thergest, but the overall number was not too much. They drove out of the gate and closed the door before entering the highway. After a moment, the side of the mountain rumbled and they saw two shadows. Luo Xun had ck lines on his head. These days, although they basically stayed at home and did not go out, the two wolves lived near their home. Since theirst cooperation, they had constantly called out to Puppy who barked back. With all that the group held back their worries and rushed to the gate only to see the two wolves with ttering expressions while wagging their tails... No way around it, too many species of mutant animals were passing by to drink water. Many of them had abilities and the two wolves were no match for them. For their own safety, they were smart enough to enlist foreign aid. The team followed the two wolves in order to catch a few ducks for them. Luo Xun grabbed the cores and feathers as usual, a perfect cooperation. Once they had not eaten in a while, they would return. asionally they would see Luo Xune out and they would rush out to meet them, just like now. Luo Xun helplessly turned around to Yan Fei who also had a bitter smile, they could only speak with the team. There were a few goats lounging around eating grass. They were not as tall and less ferocious as the ones they had previously encountered. Luo Xuns trap caught two of them. They were skinned and then two sheep legs were ced into the freezer. The rest was handed over to the wolves. Luo Xun pointed in the distance and then towards their secret entrance, "We are going, you watch the house. We wille back in a few days, dont follow!" There were so many teams sent out by bases for trading and might not be able to cope with a zombie wave but the wolves had enough power and just enough IQ for it to not be a problem. Luo Xun felt that although they looked very scary, their intelligence was on par with Puppy so their convoy would be in no danger. The wolves might not be super smart but at least they happily carried away the food while the people only saw two wagging tails from behind. Once again someone asked from the radio, "Their tails are wagging so happily, are you sure they arent dogs?" Why should they care if they are wolves or dogs? At least they could help at home C well functionally they were watchdogs. Luo Xun pushed the thought from his mind and the team drove towards the southwest base. They thought of the fourrge bases that had been rapidly established after the apocalypse with only thergest one remaining. There must be small bases or scattered survivors in the city but no one dared to expose their exact location. It was also unknown whether they were able to receive satellite signals like the Otaku squad. So themodity exchange should still be between existing bases. As for Luo Xuns past life, there was nothing about amodity exchange...it had to be said that many things had changed. He lived in the base during his past life and the separation of the inner and outer city had not urred, let alone this kind of thing. There must have been exchanges between the bases, but only with the military. He asionally heard about a convoying from a particr base but civilian exchanges were very rare. Luo Xun had only heard of some people walking between bases to do business but nothing regarding something of this scale. It took two days before everyone was able to finally see the tall and majestic city walls of the southwest base. The walls of the outer city base seemed to be a little higher but it could notpare with the exaggerated elevation of the inner-city base. Outside the base, there was a circle of tall walls east of the moat which was the venue for thismodity exchange. The team looked for a while and found there were still some teams that had just arrived. The cars were waiting at the gate to pay the fee and set up a stall. At this time the sky was bright, the door opened and people had arrived. After confirming that there was no danger, Luo Xun also drove over and mixed in the queue for the market. Not muchter it was their turn. The people responsible for registration did not specifically ask their origin, only asked how many cars? Are theying to buy or sell something? Luo Xun asked and learned that if there was an intention to set up a stall, they had to register here, pay a portion to them. Buying things also had a fee but cannot park at the designated stall and must instead be parked in a specific lot. In fact, the entrance fee was not ording to the number of people. Those walking in were not charged a fee. Part was stall money and another is the parking fee for shoppers. The cost was not high and was based on parking spaces, booth size and the number of days stay. This time Luo Xuns team was only two cars and upied two stalls which cost 20 level one crystal cores per day. They got their number and drove to the designated location to park the car. They learned the other stalls ced their things in front of the car on an earthen table. The earth stand in front of the booth was made by the earth users of the A-city base. If the sellers needed to, they could expand the table themselves. Luo Xun discussed with the team and each took out a part since they were buying and selling. Today was the first time here so they wanted to visit the market. They took out several dried vegetables from the car. Luo Xun also especially took some of Yan Feis metal basins as a sample. On the other side of the table, they ced several pieces of fresh fruit, metal pots and straw things everyone made during their free time. After finishing, Luo Xun took out his mobile and opened it. The phone card was one used in the original base. However, with the GPS positioning, they never used it in their new base. Only now did he give it a try. It was outside the city and the base signals should not be included here. But who knew when he opened it, it connected! Immediately after, all kinds of text messages appeared! "Whats the matter?" The others came together after Luo Xun made a sound. "Theres a signal here, maybe its for the new people who came out shopping." Luo Xun exined that it was not difficult to ce a few towers so close to the base. The others also rushed to open their own phones to see if there were any messages. Because the Otaku squad had long applied for dissolution, they did not receive any information about missions. There was a lot of information, notices and some warnings about dangerous areas around the base, publication about new species of mutant nts, study on mutant animals and so on. Yan Fei opened his own mobile and raised his eyebrow at a few pieces of information. He handed it to Luo Xun. Luo Xun took it and found a few messages from Captain Guo. The metal users received a task outside of base and asked Yan Fei to go together. After that, there was no movement, he guessed that the people had long left. In addition, there were several from Yan Feis father. Luo Xun saw at first he was asking if his life was good and then turned intoints about how the son was not returning his messages, finally, it turned into hysterics of irresponsibly abandoning the elderly and then turned into doubt about his death. He did not want to think that his ticket to climbing the basedder was dead and focused onints to stop ignoring him. He did not realize that even if Yan Fei was still alive, he would not take care of his father. In short, this impetuous content caused Luo Xun to grimace and looked to Yan Fei. "Do you want to block him?" Yan Fei coldly smiled, "It was off before you were handed it, but I received these messages from before then." His intention was to just let Luo Xun see Captains Guos news, only he forgot that there were still messages on the phone that had not been deleted. As soon as the Otaku squads merchandise was put out, it did not take long for someone toe around to their stall. Sun-dried vegetables were rtivelymon but since the vast majority were mutant nts, the taste... But Luo Xuns vegetables were non-mutated nts. In such a ce taking it out for everyone to see was very rare in todays world. Chapter 235 Most of the people who watched the liveliness around Luo Xuns team did not focus on the vegetables, but observed the people in silence. On the outside, they were all dry and clean. Their hands had no marks. Especially the two women and the children were abnormally pale, as if they had not touched the sun. Everyone was rosy and apparently well-fed. Clothes were clean and all fitted properly, like the ones before the apocalypse and none were embarrassing to wear. Weapons, although inconspicuous were on hand, even the youngest girl. Not to mention the waist bags seemed to carry something else. With just those three points, all those who survived thest two years of the apocalypse were able to judge C the people in the stalls were not to be trifled with. Dont look at them being armed, their clean and neat dress, well-groomed armor, the people must be strong ability users. They also thought that the vegetables and things they were selling were not grown by hand but instead selling and buying in exchange for their backers. It had to be said that there was a benefit to the underground nting room. Although the lights were on for a long time every day, those busy inside were not tanned. Plus Luo Xun and the others were always covered up. Although they would try to bask in the sun each day, how would itpare to people working hard in the fields? Whats more, they were not guarding such a good ce where mutant animals came to drink water. They could easily eat meat, fruits, and vegetables. All their work was not in vain, it looked like they would never have to worry about their livelihood. There were also their clothes. In addition to the ones that Luo Xun bought, the rest were collected or exchanged for points at base. It only ensured that the clothes fit rtively well but because they had been well cared for, they had survived to this day. It was certainly much better than those who struggled to worry about their stomachs each day. Also better than those who fought frequent life-and-death battles which damaged their clothes. It was such an inexplicable reason, people looked wide eyes at Luo Xuns team. To bluff this crowd of onlookers that the group of people packing vegetables were masterbatants was only silently implied. Although Luo Xun knew that many people were looking at his group, he did not care much. He left Zhang Yi to stand watch while the others split into two groups C one would sell vegetables while the others would go to the market and see if there was anything useful. This market was huge, divided into rows of stalls. It was estimated that the organizers at the time would know that sellers would mostlye in cars so there were painted parking spaces set as stalls. In this way, after parking a car they could open the trunk to show the goods. It was also convenient for the stalls to double as a parking lot. They no longer had to worry about parking problems. There were about twenty to thirty stalls lining both sides of the path. Shoppers could walk through the entire market by going in a circle. Luo Xuns stall was rtively close to the entrance so it would be easier to sell things. This time, they were not too concerned about selling their own things, they came mainly to buy. If things could not be sold, it would easy to eat, not to mention they also carried a lot of crystal cores which would be more than enough for their needs. Luo Xun walked back to the entrance and started from the outermost stall and checked around. No need to be said, there are quite a lot of people selling things. Some were not worth anything and collected from the city ruins. But some were selling handmade supplies, simr to Luo Xuns metal pots and pans, there were also other straw goods. Some craftsmen used wood to make bowls and even some childrens toys. Some even used dried vines for crafts. Luo Xun felt those baskets were very practical. He studied them for a while before buying two and continuing shopping with Yan Fei. After walking around, they found a lot of what they needed. The chambers ofmerces from several bases were all involved. Luo Xuns target was one withrge amounts of cloth. There was a coal rich area and cars selling local specialty crops. First, they inquired about cloth sales. The price was like pulling out teeth, cloth was more expensive than rice, one meter was five crystal cores. The price was that the vast majority of people, including Luo Xun could only stand aside and watch with no impulse to buy. Five crystal cores for something that looked very thin, made of unknown material and from who knew how long ago. Even if it was of higher quality it would still be expensive. Luo Xun frowned and whispered to Yan Fei, "The price of this cloth is too expensive, even if we want to buy, we wont get much with the cores we have on hand." Their team had a lot of crystal cores but they were not rich enough to be ripped off. Even finished clothes would only cost a dozen crystal cores and would also save on creating costs. Yan Fei thought for a bit, "Should not buy now. We can wait two days and check again." If everyone thought it was too expensive, the caravan would definitely cut prices before leaving. However Luo Xun and the others did not intend to spend too long here. Luo Xun turned around and nodded, "There should be exchanges in the future. We have enough cloth at home for now, lets simply wait and see." The two made up their minds and leisurely turned to the other stalls. The ones selling cloth were really expensive, the other stalls were much more pragmatic. For example the coal stalls, although the price was more expensive, the quality was really good. It was much better than cooking with the wood back home. Luo Xun took a look, determined that they had not been soaked in water or something and then bought a full trailer on the spot. They first brought back the pile of coal, then the pair saw what the other stalls were selling. As Luo Xun thought, some stalls had pre-made clothing, although the numbers were inconsistent but the quality was decent. The price was more cost-effective than the previous stalls. When the two returned to their stalls, they found that people were waiting in front of them. Near the car, Li Tie and the others helped load the coal in the car upon learning that Luo Xun was back. Luo Xun raised his chin and asked, "Whats going on?" Li Tie smiled, "It seems that there are people who bought our dried vegetables in the past and came to buy some this time." Han Li helped exin, "Our dried vegetables are hot items. Interested people have confirmed that they should be normal nts." There were questions of course after all merchants always want the best and each vegetable was not grown the same. But the Otaku squad did not care about sales. Anyway, they only brought so much stuff. It was no big deal to take back to eat. Anything remaining could even be fed to the mutant animals outside their home. However there were people who had bought food before wanting to buy. After Luo Xun loaded the coal and turned around, someone in the crowd suddenly waved in greeting. Luo Xun felt that the man was familiar but did not remember where he had seen the person. The man approached with an excited look while nudging hispanion as they approached. "Are these your goods? Your group doesnt sell fresh vegetables?" Hearing that, Luo Xun also remembered that it was one of their previous buyers. He smiled and nodded, "Fresh vegetables are too hard to take care of. It will be rotten if taken out and not sold in time." "You havent contacted us for months! I thought you stopped selling food." "Recently, Ive been out on a mission and things have been busy. There wasnt enough time." Luo Xun exined. "Are you going to buy dried vegetables?" "Buy!" Dried vegetables were much easier to store than fresh ones. Especially normal ones that could be eaten even while on tasks. These things tasted normal and were more convenient than fresh vegetables. With old patrons to take care of, Luo Xun suddenly sold nearly a third of their vegetables and fruit. The rest was robbed clean by others after confirming the authenticity. In the end, only pots, pans, and straw crafts remained on the shelf. Chapter 236 "I knew we should have brought more..." Wang Duo could not help but mutter seeing that everything was sold out and people were still asking about the situation. "Do you want us to do a quick return trip?" Because they were worried about not being able to handle vegetables at home, Luo Xun deliberately controlled the crop yield. They nted a lot of long-term crops that were not yet mature. Those nts took longer to grow andst longer after harvest. Zhang Yi walked over with narrowed eyes and poured cold water. "Are you seeking death? Hurrying back to get things, there would obviously be tails. Even if we go back and continue with the stall, well have to deal with a group of people the next time." Although the people who came here to put up stalls were from other bases, there were a lot of vehicles together with numerous people. Even if someone wanted to take action, they may not be able to. But the Otaku squads house was not the same. If their cars and pulling goods from outside were found out by others not to mention the A-city base forces, their team would have a target painted on them. After hearing Zhang Yis words, obviously the team calmed down. How could they not when they were thinking of selling things without taking into ount their security? If they really went back for more goods to sell, were they not waiting to be robbed? Luo Xun did not participate in the gossip. He had just finished speaking with people he had previously cooperated with. He asked about the situation at the base before saying goodbye and continuing shopping with Yan Fei. The market was full of things, more than before they moved out of the A-city base. Strolling through it was even more dazzling. It would be impossible to look through all the stalls in a day. One had to check one by one to carefully distinguish from those that were only publicity or ones selling things. Luo Xun pulled Yan Fei around for the morning. They only returned with a bamboo basket loaded with many things. They took turns eating some simple food in the car. After wiping their mouths, they exited the car and continued shopping around. The morning people had left while others were seeing the stalls in the afternoon. The rest were wandering around the market. Luo Xun roughly counted the remaining goods. "Our sales are quite good." All the dried vegetables and fruit had been sold. Even many of the metal and straw products as well. If this continued, they would be able to pack and go home when the market closed. "Luo Xun what are we going to do" Go home or continue?" They were squatting the cars shadow to avoid being exposed to the sun. The weather was hot and more terrible C the open-air stalls had no air-conditioning! There werent even electric fans, even if they had some they dared not bring out their car. Luo Xun looked the four down and sighed, "Look at the situation." They actually brought a lot of stuff but the vast majority had been sold. They honestly did not have enough things to insist on selling. It would not be a problem to leave the car in the market and wander around. But if the car was left outside, they were afraid that there would not be help in the event of an ident. But thinking again, although there were many things on the market they carefully selected what things to buy. Even if there were two more days, they were afraid it would not be enough... With the sun above...Luo Xuns mind felt like it was turning into paste and evaporated by the sun. His brain had been dried to the point of crashing. Yan Fei could not help but look and rub Luo Xuns head with augh. "Go cool off in the car." There was still a cooling device in the car. They went to collect goods everywhere and found a small hand-held fans but unfortunately those things mostly used batteries and those were difficult to save. Todays small fans were USB ones that were identally harvested from theputer mall. Hearing his words, he looked at Luo Xun and remembered those few small fans. So Luo Xun and He Qiankun climbed into the car, the two hid behind the box loaded with coal while holding the fan to restore energy. Then C Luo Xun silently looked and felt that the heat was as strong as the sun and the small fan had no effect. The teams water and wind users were not here. Luo Xun could only use the small fan. After waiting a while, he fell asleep due to the heat. When Yan Fei came to find him, he saw Luo Xun snoring. He lightly shook to wake him up. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun rubbed his eyes and felt his clothes were glued to his body. The electric fan fell to the ground, blowing air upwards. "They came back and said there was a stall selling seeds." Dont look at everyone growing vegetables, they could identify which seeds were rtively healthy and able to germinate. But for professional problems Luo Xun had to identify. For example, varieties and such. "Whats the seeds?" Luo Xun perked up while rubbing his eyes and restored his energy. "I heard it was brought from a base in the south. They seem like cotton seeds." Yan Feis words seeded in bringing Luo Xun toplete attention. Cotton seeds...that was a good thing! If it was true. With a little excitement in his heart, Luo Xun hurried out of the car and went to find Xu Mei. Xu Mei pointed in a direction. "Stall 107, there are several kinds of seeds we have never seen but dare not buy since they are quite expensive." Seeds were not cheap anywhere on base, not to mention here? Luo Xun and Yan Fei took some crystal cores and went straight to the stall, waiting for the right moment. There were a few people near the stall and things were in disarray. After all, no one could be sure what would grow out of a nted seed C especially after the apocalypse. And how many survivors still alive had worked the fields? Even if something was nted, there was not necessarily the knowledge of the crop and its seeds. Luo Xun casually approached the stall and bent down to look at the small bags of different seeds. Color, looked like nothing was wrong. After all he collected information before the end with the corresponding pictures. But he also needed to remember that looks may be deceiving. Thinking about it, Luo Xun looked at the price tag beside each bag and asked the stall owner. "Can we try the seeds?" "Try? How are you going to try?" The man choked and asked with an annoyed expression. "Buy or not buy, I dont have time to wait for you to decide!" Seeds were not like other things, fakes could be seen on the spot. If it was food, Luo Xun would like samples to ensure authenticity. For seeds, it was too difficult to identify good from the bad so the stall had only sold a bit and business was simply too slow. Luo Xun also did not get angry and smiled while pointing at the small bags in front of him. "Ill give you a crystal core, give one of each of some seeds." The man choked again and stared suspiciously at Luo Xun, did he have a way to check the seeds...was there a nt user in the world? Thinking, he asked, "What will you do?" "Try it." Seeds did not have hands or feet, Luo Xuns method could only distinguish whether the seeds had been cooked or frozen. Unable to think of an answer, the man waved his hand with a dark face. "Go, go, dont mess around. If you arent buying then leave!" Seeing his attitude, Luo Xun did not have to ask. "No wonder, sure." Even this apparently uncheap crop seeds were being sold? His stall had a wide variety of seeds, even wheat and rice and other ones needed for daily life. You know, crop seeds are precious items and many people would rather keep their own seeds than sell. Especiallymon and high-quality mutant crops. The man saw Luo Xun taunting him and his face also changed. A few people around him stood him and cracked their fists. It was a power user at least level four. Only, before they had time to do anything threatening, a few sharp metal knives flew towards their eyes, five centimeters away. If they made a move, their eye was done for... Cold sweat beaded down the peoples heads. It was too fast! They did not even move and these weapons flew in front of them! Luo Xun side-eyed the group and turned to Yan Fei with a stomach full of regret. "Lets go back, I knew this trip would turn out like this." As the two men turned away, the metal knives disappeared like they appeared. "....Those two, who are they?" "...I dont know." Cannot guess at all, they didnt even see where those knives came from. Like with water and fire abilities...those knives appeared out of thin air. How was that possible? They had never heard of it... Chapter 237 Luo Xun felt that their luck at the A-city base was bad. They were prepared to purchase a batch of cloth but the price was too expensive. Rather than be cheated, it was better to put away their crystal cores. Hearing that someone was selling the seeds they needed, but fakes did not count. They wanted to punch those lying rogues. Yan Fei saw Luo Xuns frustration andforted him. "Even if you could buy those seeds, it would not matter since we have to find a way to de seed and spin the cotton along with weaving which we cannot do yet." Of course both Yan Fei and Luo Xun understood the theoretical knowledge, they would empty-handed without the relevant equipment. Luo Xun came back to himself with Yan Feis reminder. He took a deep breath and calmed down. They went back to their own stall and found that there was a dark pole-like thing -"sugar cane"? Li Tie was sitting bored in the stall while yawning. From time to time he would look left and right to see if Luo Xun hade back. "Do you think theyll bring some things back?" "Those seeds are expensive, but we can afford. Only we dont know if they are mutant nts..." "Eh? Luo Xun, theyre back holding ...sugarcane??" Luo Xun and Yan Fei were holding a small bundle of sugar cane while walking back to their stalls. Luo Xun flung his arm after putting the things down while telling Li Tie and the others came to help. "Be careful, dont touch the top buds." "Buds? What buds?" Following the direction of Luo Xuns finger, they saw that these sugar canes did have some hairy buds. Luo Xun fanned his cor to stir up a breeze. "The buds are still alive. Remember to keep their roots wet and well see if we can nt them." If this thing could be grown at home...they would not be short of sugar! Although there were a variety of fruits at home, there were none that could produce sugar. If it could be nted, it would be a great boon. As soon as the team heard, they immediately carefully ced the sugar cane into the car. Xu Mei looked at the empty baskets behind them. "You didnt buy any seeds?" Luo Xun had a helpless expression. "Im afraid their seeds have been meddled with. People are not allowed to touch the goods and also get scolded if they want to examine them first." It was a pity that everyone else was not worried about what had happened with Luo Xun and the others C did they not see the paire back safe? They just regretted that they could not increase their crops. "The cotton thing is not urgent, were already close to farnd. Well check around to see if we can find some cotton fields and find a way." Luo Xun coughed and added, "If we grow cotton, we also have toe up with a way to process..." Otherwise, even if they had cotton in hand they could not use it. Xu Mei thought a while before understanding Luo Xuns meaning while Song Lingling came to the same conclusion. "Yeah! Remember the two sheep we hunted before we came out? I would have thought we could use the wool to knit sweaters but we cant even spin thread." The sheep skin was processed and sent straight back to base where they hung it. Although mutant animal fur was a lot thicker, the hair was coarse but obviously it was still pretty soft. They thought of wool sweaters. But now thinking carefully, it was even clear how to turn wool into yarn! And how does one knit? The group of people threw away theints about not buying suitable seeds. The sky had gradually darkened so they started a meeting after returning their things to the car. The main idea of the meeting was C are they going back today? Or waiting another two days? The team leaned against the sweltering car and wiped their sweat. Finally Luo Xun summarized everyones opinion. This time well go back. Its fine since this is the first time the bases held such a meeting. A lot of things were expensive and of mixed quality. We only came to look at the situation, there werent a lot of things to urgently buy and the shelf life was rtively short. The climate was not good so they would go back first. They guessed that after the bases got more experience they would set things up better. The decision was met with unanimous agreement. The main reason being the weather, it was the hottest time of year in early August. The city weather was not just hot, it was no humid that without wind, it felt like they were in a steamer. Dont underestimate this summer, even the women could not stand it. After the discussion, they left the market before the stalls closed. The vehicles and stalls would stay overnight but it would cost 20 crystal cores for parking and to set up the stall. So the vast majority of traders who sold goods would choose to leave a find a vacant spot near the market for the night. Luo Xun took advantage of everyone leaving and left as well. They found a rtively remote ce to set up camp, ready to pass the night and head out tomorrow. A lot of vehicles were camped around, some were selling while others were buying. Some had deliberately stayed outside the city and set up a stall as they feared that they could not grab a good stall the next day. Set the fire, prepare the pot and the team cooked dinner to pass the time. Although they certainly get everything from the stalls, everyone gained something. For example, the car had a lot more clothes for children to wear and then Luo Xun also found a stall selling a variety of books which they chose a few novels. Needless to say, there was the sugar cane they acquired and all sorts of gadgets. Xu Mei, Song Lingling and Yu Xinran went shopping and saw a stall with a bunch of toys. They only spent three cores but brought back a lot of items for the children to y with. Yu Xinran was holding two Barbie dolls and the baby also held a couple colorful toys. Even the two women held a bunch of bags and did not the men see the inside. Everyone was talking andughing while waiting for the meal. A person rushed over and smiled at Luo Xun, "You guys, there are a lot of good things in the car over there, want to go and see?" Not everyone could earn back the money for setting up a stall. Many people tried and found that they earned no money so they simply set up a stall outside. The majority of people from the venue and pulled people to buy things. Luo Xun looked in the direction he pointed and shook his head. "No, well wait until tomorrow morning." What a joke, the person was pointing in the opposite direction of base towards a pile of broken walls with weeds. Were they selling things or nning on stealing? The man spoke some more but when he saw that Luo Xun was not interested, he finally turned away. Li Tie saw nothing strange about it and had nothing to say about the man. When they were at base, they already knew to never go with people who said they were selling things. And now? Not long after, while Luo Xun was eating, others came with wares for people to look at. Those with goods dared not approach likely they were afraid to get robbed? And what was sold was often of little value, the expensive stuff to big to stand out. The buyers did not trust the sellers and vice versa, which made it more difficult for both parties to make a sale outside the stalls. Luo Xun found them more annoying than the stalls and set the night shift after resting. The night was not pleasant and they camped near the A-city base and the new marketce. For the sake of security against mutant animals and other dangers, all the trees were removed and thend ttened. The same was true of the stalls. In the distance they could see the broken walls along with the wild nt growth since the apocalypse. Due to less vegetation, the area was exposed to the sun. Even at night there was little change in temperature. Coupled with the humidity in the air Luo Xun felt like he was drowning in sweat. With Song Linglings cold water to wash their faces. They also used from frozen water to cool their hands instead of drinking it. "Hows it going? Are we going back?" It did not take long for everyone to get up and He Qiankun looked at Luo Xun with bright eyes. Luo Xun nodded, half his face covered with a water bottle. "We leave after breakfast!" Not long after, the two cars started and drove towards a major road. Soon after Zhang Yis voice came from the radio, "There are about five cars about three or four hundred meters behind us." Luo Xun squinted, "Keep driving, get ready down the road." Today the vast majority of base teams arrived after a few days. There were quite a few convoys around. Teams from A-city may go this way, if it was another party they would quickly figure out the situation. It would be for the best that those people were just going down the road... Chapter 238 The blue sky was hidden behind the haze, but there was no sign of any rain. Only shimmering as if there was a huge lid on top of ones head. Although the sun could not be clearly seen, the heat was still baking thend. The water vapor in the air was quickly heated, making the day even more depressing and ufortable. With the weather, if there were any people with respiratory or heart disease, it would be very difficult without air-conditioned rooms. However, whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, most patients with such conditions were mostly gone at the start of the apocalypse, few survived. To this day, people who could endure the weather had been hardened by the end of the world. At this time, Luo Xun was very d they had chosen to return home. One of the biggest reasons was C away from the A-city base, they finally dared to turn on the air conditioning. With the car air conditioning, the whole space had be much morefortable. In fact, the cooling function was not the most important point, it was actually the dehumidification. With the reduced moisture and a cool breeze, the day felt better. In such afortable environment, they looked leagues better than while they were on base. "Are they still following?" Luo Xun did not use the walkie-talkie. Due to the air conditioning and that the rear was suffocatingly hot, Yan Fei simply connected all the cars together into one. It was not much trouble for the small electric cars since the body and head were already in one piece. "Ah." Zhang Yi leaned his head against the back of the chair. He manipted the air to send as much cold air as possible towards himself while humming in a half-dead voice. Luo Xun helplessly nced over C his line of sight was blocked. "Werent you fine yesterday? What happened today?" Zhang Yi put a bottle of ice water on his forehead and continued to hum, "Heat stroke..." "...You have a wind ability..." Luo Xun bit out. He had been in the heat yesterday was still driving? Why did he seem boneless?" Luo Xun red at Zhang Yi but Wang Wei was extremely nervous around his wife. He was holding a board-like object for non-stop fanning while saying, "Should have brought back some medicine...Luo Xun do we still have a cure for heat stroke at home?" "Theres fennel and carbonated water." Luo Xun thought about it and then reminded, "It must be expired, but it should still be usable." Zhang Yi lifted his head and hummed contemptuously, "For heat stroke, drinking a bit of salt water with some wind is enough." Wang Duo immediately perked up with excitement. "We have salt! And water!" He was rushing to prepare things but Zhang Yi only spared a nce. "Sit down." "But wife, youre sick!" Luo Xun could not help but roll his eyes at the idiot couple spreading dog food. "Saying he is silly, he obviously does not have heat stroke! Just dont bother!" Although Luo Xun was saying the truth, it could not stop Wang Duo or Zhang Yis y. The two continued to show love in the back. He Qiankun, who actually had heat stroke and some others finally had air conditioning and were all ying games or reading. They did have people behind them and the men were clearly following them. Luo Xun had changed roads several times but the other side would immediately follow. Plus they deliberately widened the distance between them and Luo Xun and were outside their field of view. If not for Zhang Yis scouting, they would not know they were being followed by a string of cars. Luo Xun guessed that even if those people wanted to do something, they would have to wait until midnight. If they were patient, they would have waited until their convoy had returned home. There must also be someone with tracking skills simr to Zhang Yi, who can sense enemies through the wind. So Luo Xun was not in a hurry. Anyways, they were not driving towards their base and would wait until evening to confirm what those other people wanted to do. Luo Xun drove south all day and tried to shake off the problem before stopping. In the evening, they stopped to set up camp. Zhang Yi checked and found that the other side had also stopped. With a few whispers, Yan Fei and Yu Xinran went to prepare. Since the enemy was following out of sight, Yan Fei collected a pile of metal while Luo Xun was driving. Only this time hepressed the metal to their cars as much as possible. At first nce, the cars looked no different. Set the fire, everyone helped cook as usual. They picked up things and checked traps. Everyone was working in an orderly manner while camping. After they ate their fill and set the watch rotation. Zhang Yi also did not sense any movement until night so they took advantage of the time to rest. The first watch was Li Tie and Han Li, after two hours they would be reced by He Qiankun and Wu Xin, followed by Wang Duo and Zhang Yi, then Xu Mei and Song Lingling with Luo Xun and Yan Feist. This was because they figured the other party would strike at midnight so they would let the main fighting force around that time. However, the next morning, Luo Xun woke up the next morning and the other side had not taken action. "Was anything wrongst night?" When everyone was up, they washed up and talked next to the fire. "We found nothing and didnt hear anything." Li Tie said he did not notice anythingst night. "I didnt feel anything when I got up." Zhang Yi also added. The others were the same since they did not have the ability to scout with an ability. "The traps are all set fromst night and there are no signs of anyone exploring the area." Yan Fei checked the trap the two had made yesterday. Luo Xun touched his chin and pondered, "Change the route for the city we went before and see if they follow. If they do, well take action." Now it seemed that those people were likely trying to follow them back to their base. Then they would give them a target! Hiding away and waiting for others to hit the door was not Luo Xuns style. Not to mention the Otaku squad, although they looked soft when it came to matters of safety C even rabbits would bite, not to mention them? Cutting grass does not remove the root, it will grow again. They were not silly and not naive. If they let those people return, they could kiss away their safe lives! After breakfast, the team set off again. Instead of continuing south, Luo Xun turned and drove in another direction. "They turned again." "Its not like they noticed someone is following them and wanting to shake them off?" "Not sure, lets take a look." ....... By the afternoon, it was confirmed that Luo Xun had gone straight in a certain direction. The team following not far behind assumed that the team in front was heading back to a target location instead of the first day when they were afraid of being followed. "Stay with me! Be sure to follow." "Boss, youre sure they have something that can grow non-mutant nts?" "Obviously!" The man struck the speakers head. "You dont know, I heard that someone was selling non-mutated nts on base and provided teams for a while. They must have a special method of growing vegetables. Unfortunately they lost contact and it seems that they started a new store...none of those things are nted at A-city base at all!" Although people were selling non-mutated vegetables on base, it was in small quantities and the higher ups had monopolize dit. Ordinary people had no chance to eat. People or teams who could grow ordinary nts or high-quality mutant nts had an easy way to earn points. It was equal to a ce in base and military benefits! Naturally, people would take action when they saw Luo Xuns non-mutated dried vegetables. Coupled with the fact that some local forces confirmed that they only had those two cars and those few people. Their minds raced C once they could find a way to grow ordinary crops...no one would be uninterested when faced with such enticing profits. Chapter 239 Luo Xun did not expect those people to be attracted by sales of those non-mutant vegetables. He could not be med since he had reported to the researchers about the role of mutant mushrooms for virus absorption. Although he knew that the price of non-mutated nts was still very high, he did not expect that people unrted to management had no ess to those nts. And he did not expect the price of fresh, normal vegetables was still so expensive. The base could indeed grow non-mutated nts, but it was too much trouble. It not only needed a special site, needed to meet certain requirements and the water had to be produced by a water user. A lot of wood had to be ced in the nting room and taking care of those things could be a lot of trouble. Even on-base, there was just a single building nting those things and the rest were nting as many productive mutant crops as possible. There were only a few higher-ups on base that ate ordinary vegetables, even high-quality mutant nts were rarely seen. Fortunately, Luo Xun were not stupid enough to bring high-quality mutant crops to sell, otherwise they would not only be followed by one group. The car had gone all the way east towards a ce they had previously visited. The following cars were just out of sight behind them. After another night, the other side had not taken action, the same as before. For security reasons, Luo Xun specifically checked their mobile phone cards to make sure that they had been turned off and removed. By noon on the third day, the group of people gradually entered field near the buildings. In the distance, they could see some high-rise buildings. This was the small county town where Luo Xun came and collected the bouncy castle and they remembered that there was an eagle nest on top of the building. The convoy drove a bit away from the former city. Luo Xun stopped the car, looked around to confirm that there was no one around before carefully getting off. They did not know whether the team behind them could tell their whereabouts but they did not care at the moment. Yu Xinran happily followed Yan Fei and the pair raised their hands on the side of the road. The others were holding weapons and did not seem to notice the sultry air and the sun above their heads. Luo Xun watched with a telescope while Zhang Yi scouted the surroundings with his wind power. He reported, "There are no problems nearby, those cars stopped when we came around the corner." Luo Xun lightly nodded and look at Yan Fei and Yu Xinran. Near the pair, the road seemed the same but then they noticed that a piece of asphalt had been partially raised and there was a steady stream of sand in the cracks. Under Yu Xinrans control, it seemed alive and moved into the nearby grass as well. To the side, Yan Fei was using his ability so that the metal attached to the car was drilling into the crack. Do not underestimate the subtlety of their actions, after only ten minutes, Yan Fei indicated that he was done. At this point, Zhang Yi was finished scouting and pointed in a direction. "There should be no problems." Thest time they left, they judged that someone should be living there. This time they only came here since they had no other options. But looking at the buildings, they suspected that there was amunity on the other side of the road. The team of people drove into a nearby building that could clearly oversee the situation. They climbed up to the seventh floor after parking the car and quietly watched. "I dont think theyreing during the day. Lets wait for an hour. If they dont move lets go down and arrange something before waiting for night time." Luo Xun could not tell if the other side could only detect the vehicles or if people were included. It would be more troublesome with thetter. Zhang Yis wind ability could detect but there were no cloaking abilities. At least he could not tell whether any air was being controlled by others. There were too few people with simr abilities C no way to experiment. Coupled with the fact that more than half of the team were abnormal ability users, it was even more difficult to specte about other ability users. Sure enough, an hour passed and those people still did not move. Luo Xun was afraid that they did not expect the group to arrive so quickly to the "destination" which was so close to the city entrance. Since the opponents were not taking action, Luo Xun would take advantage. Using the cover from the surrounding buildings, they circled around with Yan Fei collecting metal for their use. When night fell, they returned to their temporary camp and rested after dinner. Everyone other than He Qiankun and Wu Xin went to sleep. If the other party wanted to ambush them, it would definitely be in the middle of the night. Since it was now only eight oclock in the evening, the other side would not act. After some sleep, Luo Xun woke up two in the morning and rubbed his eyes. He prodded Zhang Yi, "Check where they are?" Zhang Yi yawned with half-closed eyes, "Wait a bit..." After a short while he opened his eyes. "They havent moved yet." Luo Xun sighed, to be honest, passively waiting for the other side was really depressing. If they were not worried about sneak attacks from the other side and knew how they were being tracked, they would certainly have already counter attacked. A couple people got up to prepare and asionally probed around. Luo Xun took his telescope and observed the outside through a small window. Although it was very dark now, he dared not use an infrared telescope but there were few issues at the moment. His line of sight started at a road, after a closer look to make sure there were no changes, he looked into the distance. Thest time they left, they noticed some people but neither this norst time had they actually seen anyone. He only hoped that, in any case, no one from that area woulde out. "Theres something moving." Zhang Yi was leaning against the wall, as if asleep. He opened his eyes and said with a charming smile, "They did not drive, there are about sixteen or seventeen people running towards us." "Is there anyone left in the car?" Luo Xun was not surprised, cars made noise while driving, especially since road conditions were so poor along with the standard silence of the night. "There should be, maybe theres only one or two left in each car." That would mean a dozen or so people were left with the five cars and there were thirty people in the opposing side. After analyzing, Luo Xun whispered, "Take the weapons and keep an eye on them. I think they will note from the road. But we need to watch so they do not escape." There were no zombies on the streets today and the neighborhood was rtively safe. There were no signs of mutant animals who would attack during the night. Thinking of that, Luo Xun could not help but look at one of the building roofs. During the afternoon they had seen the eagle stretching its wings but today they did not see it out hunting. "There should be about five minutes left. Theyre very fast, there should be quite a few speed types with them." Zhang Yi checked and stood towards the window. "There is a wind user and the team is divided into two parts. The first has six people with the speed and wind users while the remaining dozen are in the back." Luo Xuns mouth curled as his eyes shed with a trace of killing intent. His weapon was already primed and ready. The others were wary and holding their weapons in their hands. It did not take long! In the dim moonlight, a small dot appeared on the road. As Luo Xun predicted, they did note from the main road, but chose to scale the walls in the area. Looking at the two people jumping up lit up with light blue, Luo Xun knew that these two were the wind users. After the two men jumped on the fence, they quickly observed the area, then put down a rope for the men behind them. Thetter four speedily climbed up the wall and carefully scouted around the neighborhood. The people behind also came and also climbed using the rope provided by the wind users. Zhang Yi squinted, "Three of them remained outside the walls." Yan Fei softly smiled, "I will deal with those three." Luo Xun calmly raised his weapon. When the first hour people approached looking left and right..shots suddenly flew in their direction! Chapter 240 In the dark, a few shots flew through the night sky towards the first few people. Of those four who came to explore the area, only two reacted in time. The other two were shot in the shoulder and the face! The man shot in the cheek started wailing which surprised the people who had just jumped down, who then immediately hide between the building walls. Luo Xun once again shot, one of the speed users who had avoided the first attack was hit in the foot! The people in the shadows continued to quietly hide. Luo Xuns room was also in silence while everyone observed the situation outside. Suddenly there was a roaring sound as a fewrge stones flew into the air followed by a wall of fire. Xu Mei squinted, her hands itched and she turned her head to look at the steady Luo Xun. Luo Xun did not allow his obstructed vision to affect his judgment. In between the fire gaps, he saw a few people head towards the nearest door. He shot without abandon since they would be recovered after the fight. He shot five projectiles in session. "Theyre going into the building. Yan Fei you deal with those three outside the wall first." Since those people did not turn around and leave, do not me them for courting death. Yan Fei said nothing and just gathered his energy to remotely manipte the metal theyid out near the fence this afternoon. Yes, when they arrived in the area, they had prepared for any attack. Yu Xinrans sand traps, his metal traps and the dark! Hearing movement inside the fence, the three men standing outside the fence knew that their whereabouts may have been discovered, but they were not too worried. Their own side had a way of tracking people, being caught off guard was impossible. This covert attack should be sessful, although their team will have taken damage, the harvest would be worth it. Especially this time, if they could seed, they could harvest a new base outside A-citypletely for their own! With this expectation in mind, they carefully listened to the movements while observing the situation and leaning against the roof. There was a lot of noise, explosions, and fire inside the walls. They knew that their people were trying to deal with their opponents. But in the midst of these noises, no one noticed that the walls around them seemed strange. Who knew when the wall was actually wearing ayer of metal clothing! The metal rippled and surrounded the three people. They did not even have time to respond when they werepletely wrapped and were unable to move. The people who rushed into the wall were divided into two groups. The injured people were helped by theirpanions and hid in one of the buildings alcoves. In the transfer process, two people disappeared into the ground, their life or death unknown. Others jumped through a window, narrowly avoiding the attack. "They must have been on guard." The seven or eight people with the wounded were hiding away and speaking in low voices. "So we are...still fighting?" "Of course, since they found us so soon, this town must be their stronghold with surveince!" The leader of the team spoke with a hard look. "Lets hide for now as long as we have third create some holes..." He did not finish when suddenly the earth shook and the building on top of them started to copse like a mound of sand! Their scalps felt numb as they run out in panic. A few wounded were left inside shouting but no one dared to turn around and save them! Aftering out, they were shot at again! "Damn! How are there so many guns?!" Those people could actually be so urate at night? If not for their ownbat experience in evasion, they were afraid that there would be more bodies on the ground. The leader had not even finished his thoughts when his foot felt something soft. While falling, he thought it was because of the earthquake causing cracks in the ground. But when he was punctured by steel, he realized C this was actually a trap. The building where they were staying was still intact... People from another building were startled by the earthquake and some of them also fell in a trap. Two wind users with the help of the surrounding terrain and jumped and were "floating" in mid-air! Zhang Yi squinted, opened the window in front of him and actually jumped out! Wang Duo started and reached out to catch him, his Royal Highness flew up, yes flying! Actual flight rather than floating as before. Luo Xun helplessly watched Zhang Yi test out wind des against the opposing wind users while ordering, "Careful, keep your hands ready." Facing off against other ability users, Luo Xun and the others were eager to try. After all, this kind of opportunity was rare. Once his words were said, Xu Mei also eyed the other fire user, one who had not fallen into the trap. Zhang Yi had flown into the air and was raining down wind des. Luckily or unluckily, his main goal was the two wind user. As long as the others did not provoke him, he would not bother with the others. At this point, Luo Xun had set his sights on something else C the five cars that were left behind. He was not sure if the people would find out about what was going on. However judging frommon sense, ability users were more important but he was afraid that more peopleing was very likely. While wondering how to deal with those cars, there was a sudden gunshot! Luo Xun startled back to attention since Zhang Yi was still flying in the air! Wang Duo was already at the window, after hearing the gunshot he raised his leg and tried to leave. Fortunately, Li Tie pulled him back. "Are you blind! Your boyfriend is fine!" Sure enough, Zhang Yi was still in the air. The other two wind users had long been cut down, fortunately, he was used to flying with ayer of wind protection. So the bullet hit his windshield and flew past him. There was bloodthirsty intent in his eyes as the corners of his mouth were raised. Zhang Yis body was coated in ayer of white moonlight while blue wind condensed at his side. Just like when he killed those eight people a long time ago. Luo Xun was unable to cover his face but he did not need to look to know what those people would look like. Zhang Yis wind abilities were not run of the mill, the lethality and range werepletely different! The two wind users previously floating in the air were obviously level four but their and Zhang Yis abilities werepletely different. They could not stand up to his level five powers and they died without fanfare. Not far away, Xu Meis expression twisted as she finished off the fire user caught up in Zhang Yis attack. That was her target okay? But Zhang Yi was someone that could not be provoked, especially by their own otherwise he would get annoyed. "I didnt expect that Zhang Yis power was still so strong..." The battle was over after only ten minutes. Looking at the battleground covered in rubble, Luo Xun felt a headache C how to clean it up... Wait a minute..."You didnt leave any alive!" He was nning on asking how those people followed them all the way, why and their target! Zhang Yi flew to the window, patted their hands and absorbed a few wind crystal cores. "There are a few left in the building. They were injured and did not run out." "Thats good." Luo Xun pulled Yan Fei downstairs and the others followed suit. In several buildings, the floor was littered with blood and bodies C the result of someones hand and it looked a little disgusting. Fortunately, they had lived long enough during the apocalypse. Plus...all but two of the youngest had blood on their hands, so there were no adverse reactions. At the bottom of the building, without entering, Yan Fei brought out the intruders who had been wrapped within the buildings metal. When those people were caught, Yan Fei whispered to Luo Xun, "The second is an earth user and tried digging a hole to escape." Thanks to their advance preparations, even if there was less metal in the buildings, he was easily captured. Chapter 241 There were four people in the room bound with metal. One of them was out of breath due to his injuries. Ignoring that one, Luo Xun began a simple interrogation. Of course, it would not be easy, the other side was more than aware that they had killed all but them. This could not be good and they were unlikely to leave this alive. Therefore, the three prisoners grit their teeth and were not willing to reveal information. So, Zhang Yi squinted, smiled like a flower and brought them one by one into a ck room... "How long do you think hes going to take?" Luo Xun looked up at the stars in the sky. "I dont know, it depends on how long he wants to." Li Tie began to idly bat at mosquitoes C they were present after the apocalypse but fortunately were not zombies, otherwise, people would not be able to survive. Of course, there were mutant ones, they had been outside for the night when they encountered a man-sized mosquito. Everyone had nightmares when they tried to sleep. "Hey, shouldnt you go in and check? In case he decides to...the hat on your head..." Han Li elbowed Wang Duos waist. Wang Duo stared at Han Li with contemptuous eyes and was toozy to answer the question. He did not want to apany him but the problem was...he was afraid that he would throw upst nights meal. He knew his lover, who knew what would happen if that person was in good spirits. Half an hourter, Zhang Yi came back with an unsatisfied expression. "How did it go?" "Theyre all dead." Zhang Yi waved a hand. Luo Xun was speechless for a while, this was really..."What info did you get?" Zhang Yi exined, "The wind user could probe our whereabouts, he is already dead. There are nine people in the outside five cars who only waited for three hours. If they did not get a signal, they would return to the base." His eyes shed with excitement, "They are a part of arger team and these were their sideliners. They saw our team selling dried non-mutated vegetables. In the past, they heard that we had sold crops to select teams and guessed we had a base outside. They wanted to find a way to grow non-mutated nts so..." Zhang Yi yfully shrugged as he looked at Luo Xun. The meaning in Zhang Yis eyes was obvious, they could only me Luo Xun for being too capable. Right? Being able to grow a bunch of non-mutated vegetables so they had a lot to sell disregarding what they had at home! No wonder the other side was eyeing their team C there were so many teams in the stall, why would they get targeted? It turned out their captain was too capable. Luo Xun was speechless and continued to look at the stars twinkling in the cloudy sky. After a while he turned to Zhang Yi, "What is there contact signal?" He just remembered and there were cars waiting outside. Now that it came to this, it was best to pull out the root. "Three red fireballs in a row." Zhang Yi answered, "Although I dont think theyre going to lie...it might be fake." Although all three men said the same thing, he still had some doubts. Luo Xun understood but still wanted to try since sess would solve the current problem. If it did not work, theyll immediately change their position. Luo Xun turned to Xu Mei, who nodded and said, "No problem." While speaking, she raised a hand and shot three red fireballs into the night sky. Her power level was higher than the enemy so she could naturally send out a simr signal. Luo Xun turned to Zhang Yi again, "You said they are part of the Dragon team? How many are in the team? Did the boss of the team know about the operation?" Zhang Yi yawned, "This time it seems like a third of the team and half their cars." The leaders knew that it was action after consultation. Should be involved with other teams on base." Any other specific questions had unclear answers since he was not present during the interrogation. But based on what he inquired earlier today, the majority of teams had chosen to cooperate with base higher-ups. The greatest benefit of working with the officials was they could secure property in the inner city. They also had ess to militarymunications. Zhang Yi briefly inquired and confirmed that the so-called internal information was the same as some of the satellite transmissions from home as well some supply distribution. The most important info was they could know where there was arge number of zombies and their general arrival time/routes. These were clearly shown in satellite photos but the base regrly informed teams in print. Right after Zhang Yi ryed all the questions he asked, he raised his eyebrows and pointed to the street. "Theyreing." Those three signals were good, the five cars actually drove over. Luo Xun touched his chin with a strange smile. "Lets go and rob them." Since the enemies were aiming towards robbing them, dont me them for turning the tables. The group bypassed the road to climb in from the city walls but the cars could only drive-through. This was because if there was something valuable in the neighborhood, it would take hard work to repair anything destroyed. Five cars drove in single file down the road towards the neighborhood. Before they entered the door, the earth started to shake and the car fell into a pothole! A few people driving in front at first thought they were ambushed but then thought it was caused by an earthquake. Otherwise, why did the car in front did escaped but their five cars fell down? However before they the time to save themselves and call theirpanions, sharp des and spikes took their lives away. Song Lingling directed a stream of gasoline from several cars into a metal bucket. Li Tie and several others took the chance to check the car cargo. Yan Fei and some others were extracting metal from the car to create arge pile. At this time, the sky gradually brightened, filling the sky with sshes of color. When Li Tie finished packing up things, the sky was bright blue. "Its done boss, all packed. Their...cough is as well." Luo Xun turned a circle and saw that the blood-covered things were also gathered in a roadside pit. Yu Xinran dug it out with ayer of protection. "Come on." They had to dispose of the corpses, handily dealt with mutated mushroom juice, not a trace would be left. The ce they foughtst night, they had roughly packed up and all looked clean. Mushroom juice poured into the pit and white smoke slowly rose from the pit. Several people stood near the pit and waited for things to finish up. Suddenly there was sound and they looked up. There were wings stretched, pped twice and suddenly fell down. Yes, it was falling not flying! "Whats going on?" "Isnt that an eagle? Why isnt it flying?" The team looked up in amazement and saw a ck figure floating from the rooftop. "Its feathers are uneven!" "Its not fully grown! Its a baby eagle!" Luo Xun started and called Zhang Yi. "Block it!" Cyan wind appeared below the falling bird while it was pping its wings. Unfortunately, some of the feathers were not grown, at most, it could only hover in the air. Fortunately, Zhang Yi caused it to drift andnd a distance away from the crowd. The little eagle did not seem to have seen anyone. It made some sounds and there was an answering call from above. Hearing the cry the others looked up again and saw another downy lump with even fewer feathers also fall off the roof... Chapter 242 "This is the dumbest eagle I have seen my life." Luo Xun saw Zhang Yi helped the other falling bird. The first one fell could be due to carelessness, but this one...obviously it was following the first! It was silly and bold. "Luo Xun, what are we going to do?" Those two eagles with down were only half-grown, but they were still huge! Around the size of a small house while squatting. Luo Xun looked up at the skyscraper, then looked at the one beside it and finally at the two ugly chicks covered in a mix of down and feathers. To be honest, when they grew up, they would look more handsome, this in-between stage was the ugliest. Now, these two birds in the "ugliest" stage were as pitiful as sheep facing hunters, crouching in fear while staring at the group of "scary creatures". Now what? Luo Xun would like to say tough luck, however with his ears were filled with the squealing. The chicks with their lonely, helpless appearances looked towards the roof. He looked at hispanions. "Do you want to find a way to send them up?" The crowd looked at each other then looked away from the two snuggling birds and reluctantly asked, "Cant we keep them?" Luo Xuns expression was a little ufortable, then he looked at Yu Xinran who was filled with expectation and Puppy who seemed ready to pounce. "Their food intake is toorge...and its not know how big they will grow." Birds were not dogs, they could asionally help the two silly wolves with hunting but even then they were free-roaming so they werent being raised. Not to mention the two eagles, they not only needed fresh meat but also enough space to fly! If if was cute, little ones, that the girls wanted to keep, there was plenty of space but these two... Yu Xinrans eyes were filled with regret while looking between Luo Xun at the two baby eagles. Then, Zhang Yi suddenly frowned and said, "How did they grow until now?" "Hmm?" Luo Xun was in a fog and looked puzzled. Zhang Yi looked back, "August is mostly over, in a month or two the birds will migrate. These two dont even have fully grown feathers, how would they keep up when the birds fly south in the winter?" The team opened their mouths and then looked at the baby eagles. Under the mottled mess, they looked a little thin. "....Are eagles migratory birds?" Wang Duo could not help but ask. "Do you have a brain? You remember the weatherst year, even if they are not migratory, they wont be able to catch food. Wouldnt they starve if they did not head south?" Zhang Yi rolled his eyes and then looked at the high roof. "There are no other animals above." Luo Xun conflictingly looked at the solid windows and then at the two eagles. "Yu Xinran?!" The others turned around at Luo Xuns cry and were frightened to find C Yu Xinran had run over when they were not looking and was happily feeding beef to the two eagles! How sharp was the eagles beak?! And they might have potential abilities! One wrong move... But Yu Xinran was beside the birds and sessfully attracted the birds attention! If they rushed over to grab her, who knew what would happen! Everyones heart rushed to their throats, only Zhang Yi and Yan Fei could quietly use their abilities to protect the little girl. However, Luo Xun had another headache C Puppy was standing next to the girl and smelling the two birds! "Come on, eat." The little girl was not stupid and she carefully presented the meat strips. The two eagles seemed cautious but they were carnivores. With a slight pause, the smaller one stretched forward and took a strip off meat. Right after the other one grabbed the remaining meat. Once she saw her food getting eaten by the two eagles, Yu Xinran turned around and smiled at the adults behind her like a flower. In the morning light with the two eagles who resembled a dog when not moving, made for an interesting picture. Yu Xinran did not have an earth-shattering appearance like the two women on the team and she was a quiet girl. But her current smile was the most beautiful they had seen. Luo Xun suddenly felt his heart soften and could not help but nod which caused Yu Xinran to jump in excitement. Behind her the two eagles did not have any adverse reactions from the food, on the contrary, they seemed to want more! They poured mushroom juice down the big pit in order to destroy the corpses and Yan Fei dealt with the metal in the cars. Yu Xinran was sitting happily in the truck, leaning against arge cage while feeding the two chicks snacks. Puppy was fearlessly apanying her. In front, Luo Xun was driving while looking at the sky from time to time. He was confused, "Why havent we seen the two parent eagles?" He still felt a little guilty about taking their children away. For safety reasons, they did not climb on top of the building. There might be more eagles and there might be people living in the building. However, Luo Xun wondered, if it was reasonable to think that there would always be an adult bird caring for the baby birds. But in this case, other than those two baby chicks, there was no trace of the adult eagle, which was very strange. "Lets take them back first, the adults are likely to move to our ce to catch prey." Yan Fei offered some words offort. Luo Xun could only temporarily give up. Although he wanted to return the babies to their parents, he had no solutions at the moment and wondered about the two baby birds... "Ah, how are we going to raise these two eaglester?" Luo Xun felt a new headache start. Although their base was prettyrge with high roofs, would two floors be enough? It did not matter now since they could not fly but in the future ...Where would they keep them? Not to mention there were so many mutant nts around! How could he not worry? It would be good to know if the parents were only going to be gone for a while....but they could notmunicate with the two eagles. This time, Luo Xun had left their base and spent nearly two days on the road. They wandered for a few days due to the people following them. When everyone counted the days C they had been out for more than ten days! Ten days, would the vegetables at base grown old and tough? When they drove back home, they felt the ground trembling as a group of mutant rabbits were running in the opposite direction! Yes, it was a bunch of variant rabbits! Looking at the two familiar figures behind the rabbits, there was a sense of deja-vu. "Why does this happen everytime wee back?" Thinking of the two bottomless stomachs in the back of the truck, Luo Xun grit his teeth but still told everyone to get ready for hunting. See the familiar red truck along with the familiar scents, the two wolves herded the rabbits in their direction. Luo Xun looked at this group of animals and had a sh of inspiration. He immediately ordered Yan Fei, "Try to catch some alive!" Yan Fei quickly understood his meaning and immediately created some metal traps. Yu Xinran also sanded out arge pit in the instructed location. Luo Xun trusted the two wolves in certain aspects. Although it was not a fight, they guessed that most likely, they were a group of mutant rabbits without abilities! Such good prey! Easy to fight, high numbers and low intelligence! There was no better hunting target! Next Chaoter Chapter 243 When the rabbits jumped towards the team, Yan Fei and Yu Xinran joined forces to create traps with great effect! Ones that bypassed the trap had to dodge and were killed by the others. In the end, Luo Xun counted that they had actually caught eleven mutant rabbits! Only these eleven rabbits took up a lot of space so Yan Fei had to temporarily cage them and load onto the back of the truck with the two chicks. Sure enough, the rabbits had no abilities, which as in line with the two wolves usual method of operation. The four killed rabbits were skinned and handed over to the wolves who were waiting for their food with their tongues out. Luo Xun took the skins and drove back to the base entrance. "You know, this group of rabbits was much smaller than the one we met before, but the fur is much softer. We can make a few coats once the fur is treated." Luo Xuns mood was good, they had just harvested a full truck of rabbits which could bepared to what they gathered from the city base. Yan Fei alsoughed, "Where are you going to raise these rabbits?" He already knew what Luo Xun had in mind C their team just added two eagles along with the two wolves. The nest of rabbits along with their quails would perhaps be enough to supply these meat eaters. Luo Xun squinted and sharply smiled. "Lets continue digging and make the farm bigger or make the basement arearger. We can nt some grass and vegetables there." Rabbits bred quickly, as long as they were adequately fed and watered, more would be born in a year! Plus they only had to initially hunt and then they could get rid of any worries of not being able to eat meat! Luo Xuns mood was very happy since the two bottomless buckets were no longer a problem. Who let them deal with a group of mutant rabbits? They drove the car to the main entrance gate and opened the underpass. The team moved upstairs and downstairs. They harvested the overgrown vegetables for the rabbit cage and then brought the two eagle chicks to the nursery room. Their home still had a lot of straw which they used with the rabbit fur to create a nest. It was temporarily ced on a t surface next to the grape trellis, swings and stone chairs. It was a good ce for Luo Xun to sunbathe. After this was done, the team basked in thefortable feeling of air conditioning and could not help but say, "Ones own home is always the best." "Right! Who can stand it if its hot outside?" "Lets dig for the next few days so we dont have to go outside." "August is already half over and it will be much cooler in September." "But if we dig three undergroundyers, do we have enough metal on hand?" With that, the team as one looked at Yan Fei. Yan Fei answered, "Before we had a lot, I also collected some on the way back. Should be enough to build a basement." However when they were finished, they would have to keep collecting more for their reserves outside. Knowing that there was enough metal, the team was relieved that they did not have to consider the issue for now. On base, whether it was the basement or the greenhouse, the temperature and humidity were much morefortable than outside. They really did not want to leave and suffer outside for the time being. So as they had discussed, they temporarily set a very leisurely work arrangement n. Each separated upon arriving at base and went to do what they wanted. Luo Xun went to the bathroom for a quick shower before turning on the TV and spending a while picking out a CD to y. Yan Fei had also taken a shower and was sitting next to Luo Xun with raised eyebrows. "y together?" Luo Xun chose a well-known western masterpiece where two people wandered around with weapons. He did not think about the plot holes C their apocalypse only had zombies and wildlife changes, no one would have survived if it wasbined with a biological invasion. Yan Fei nodded his head while Luo Xun looked at the in-game map. Thetter did not see that the man next to him had something brewing in his eyes. Half an hourter, the television was showing the pause screen and Luo Xun was grabbing the bed sheets. At this time he had no time to think, butter he would wonder how long until the day was over. If someone didnt get to y would they go mad? The next morning, all the Otaku squad members were up all night. However this was expected and they were not going to start early in the morning. The work was all scheduled for the afternoon. But everyones reasons for getting upte were different. Luo Xun and Zhang Yi had the same reason while Li Tie, He Qiankun and Xu Mei had another reason for sleeping in. After heavy physical exertion, Luo Xun felt like his waist was on fire. He swept a nce at Zhang Yi whose whole body was moisturized with some kind of dazzling glow. Luo Xun wanted to find a mirror to see whether his appearance was as obvious. Not noticing anything amiss, Wu Xin sat down while yawning, "Luo Xun, what game did you yst night?" They generally liked to y in the game room during the day and then y their own preferences in their bedroom. Luo Xuns expression was stiff thinking back to the helpless TV that was still showing the pause screen fromst night. Han Li, who was sitting on the other side, grinned while elbowing his friend and whispering. "Stupid, do you have to ask what game those two yed?" Wu Xin and Han Li then erupted into lewdughter. Luo Xun nced at the two helplessly while passing Yan Fei his breakfast, this group of guys were too idle! And this group, as long as they had games to y, finding apanion was not a priority. Before at base, did they not say that if they did not find someone within a few years something would happen? But now, with gamespletely filling their leisure time, he was afraid that those thoughts hadpletely left their minds. The team rested after their early afternoon meal and looked after the two eagles along with the flowers and fruit trees. Luo Xun went to the basement to care for the crops. By the way, Luo Xun had also set up a shelf to nt sugar cane! The sugar cane bought from base had been carefully watered and cared for during thest few days on the road. At home they counted and only two of the total forty were withered while the rest were okay for renting. Of course, Luo Xun specially selected some for everyone to eat as a snack. Although it was a bit dry, the taste was definitely that of true sugar cane. They nted the sugar cane and ced the mushroom wood. Luo Xun walked over to the cage that Yan Fei made containing the rabbits and left some vegetables along with dried nts for them to eat. Yan Fei also purposely created a drawer underneath the cage, after all, the droppings could be used for fertilizer. After finishing these tasks, the team had a meeting and decided to dig and connect the thirdyer of the basement. It would be dedicated to raising rabbits. Fortunately, when Luo Xun went to the market, although a lot of things were overpriced and in scarce numbers, they found a lot of fluorescent lights. At that time, Luo Xuns intention was having recements in case their bulbs blew out. But now it would be perfect for the new basement floor. As for the septic tank that was originally at the underground third floor...There was Yan Fei who directly shifted it down oneyer. After negotiating the matter, Luo Xun set the height and thickness of the walls as well as the type of crops to be sown on the ground floor. Evening had already fallen at this time. After a simple dinner, the group of people went home. Luo Xun returned to his room and stood outside the window looking at the gloomy sky. "Is it going to rain again?" Yan Fei put the baby in the crib C he had fallen asleep while everyone else was eating. He also looked outside, sure enough the gray sky looked depressing and a sure sign of rain. "We are lucky that we returned before it started." "I hope that not a lot of water gets absorbed into the ground, otherwise we cant dry the soil in the next few days..." Luo Xun suddenly noticed that something was not right. He blinked in doubt, then raised a hand to rub his eyes. Finally he grabbed Yan Fei and said, "Did you see that? Are those mutated nts growing taller?!" Yan Fei was surprised but also looked. His expression darkened C they were really ...growing taller!! Chapter 244 The couple stood in front of the window and watched the mutant nts waving like tentacles. After a while, Luo Xun quickly elbowed Yan Fei to have him test the mutant nts from the roof. Yan Fei covered the ss with metal lest it get crushed by the crazy mutant nts. They were using metal to test the branchs strength, who knew what could happen. When the greenhouse was built, Luo Xun deliberately built the building higher than the surrounding mutant nts. But now the circle of nts outside the building was taller than before. Fortunately, although it was a little higher it would not pose a problem and the metal should not be damaged. "Lets ignore them for the time being, as long as we dont make a lot of movements, they wont take the initiative tounch an attack." The base walls were made of cold and thick metal which also had a soundproofing effect. As long as the nts had no sense of touch, they would not attack something inanimate. Luo Xun was holding a telescope to watch Yan Feis actions. He nodded and rxed, "I told them, well put the rabbits in the basement and then grab metal to raise the greenhouse." Luo Xun frowned, "If they keep growing longer...what do we do?" If those mutant nts grew taller and taller, would they have to follow? What kind of life would they end up with? "Dont worry, they are nts after all so there is a growth limit so they wont grow into space." Yan Feiforted him and then reminded, "But we have to be careful and keep our distance from the nts. If we dont pay attention they will pull us in." "Yes, the next time we go out, well figure out the farthest they can stretch." Luo Xun nodded, turned and went out to inform the others. After all, sometimes they went up to the roof for drying something or cleaning up debris. If one of them was identally attacked by a mutant nt, not even their bones would remain. The mutant nts sudden growth was temporarily put aside and Luo Xun took a night off. The next morning they went to take care of the crops and to prepare for pit digging. However, before they entered the basement, thunder sounded from the sky along with shes of light. The wind was blowing, causing the trees to bend along with heavy rain. "Oh my God, its raining and so heavily." For safety reasons, when Luo Xun was dealing with the crops, Yan Fei hadpletely sealed the roof, lest the wind and rain damage the ss. In the middle of the conversation, cracking sounds came from outside and rumbling sounds became louder and denser. "...Hail?!" The team was instantly stunned while huddling in front of the window. Fortunately, the iron shelf was covered and there were metal blinds as protection. The hail could not hit the ss. "Bark, bark." Suddenly Puppy grabbed Luo Xuns pant leg and kept pulling him. Luo Xun was wearing looser pants so Puppy almost pulled off his pants if he had not grabbed them. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun grabbed his pants and rubbed Puppys head to appease her. But the dog was still whimpering on the ground and flopped onto Luo Xuns head. "Uncle, is she trying to bring those two big dogs back?" Yu Xinran crouched down and helped calm her down while asking Luo Xun. "Big dog?" Luo Xun started and then suddenly C "Those two wolves?!" Although the underground passage had be muchrger after several expansions, could it really hold the two wolves? Whats more, although they had cooperated with the two wolves, it was always from a distance. Were they really going to get those two inside? But Puppy was anxiously asking for help and the whole house did have the heart to say "no" C even Zhang Yi the usually cold one was silent. Adding Yu Xinran...the cuteness was overpowering. In this way, Luo Xun actually ran to the tunnel entrance and then... Looking at each other, Yan Fei opened the door and Song Lingling was responsible for cleaning up the rain. With the hail crackling on the ground, the teams hearts could not help but feel uneasy. Although the two wolves looked rtively strong, could they really withstand all the hail? *Bark, bark* When the door was opened, Puppy roared from outside. She was clever enough to call outside but no intention of getting pelted with hail. Just when Luo Xun wondered if the two wolves would hear anything, rumbling sounds responded and the two wolves appeared. "Quick, get out of the way! If you get hit, youll get turned into meatloaf!" The two wolves were veryrge but they were not as burly as at first nce. Or they should say, the two wolves were about two or three meters tall but it was all fluff to everyones surprise! Yes, it was an illusion! Now the two wolves entered the tunnel and did not have to bend over. Mostly because their fur was slicked down from the rain. The previous image of the long, fluffy hair had copsed. From the original tall and powerful wolf suddenly changed into the image of a hapless, soaked dog. The two wolves came in and there was enough space to shake their fur! Fortunately, Song Lingling responded in time to help them dry their fur and send all the water outside the tunnel. This allowed the team to dodge an impromptu bath. Yan Fei raised a hand and sealed the entrance so avoid any leaks. Then the team looked at each other...They were huddled near the two wolves and wanted to go back. But after seeing the twos appearances, Luo Xun no longer feared the wolves. But now the problem was... "As long as its raining outside, are we going to have to keep them?" Wang Duo raised a hand and brushed the wolfs tail. "...Then keep it for now." Luo Xun felt a little powerless. Setting aside the issue of space, their appetite was not small! It could be noted that they had the quails they were raising? But there were two chicks waiting to eat! All of them were rice buckets! With such an emergency, Luo Xun suddenly felt that they should consider moving to the second floor? But if they want to move...did that mean theyre going to dig two more basements? Looking at the two obediently lying on the ground, their behaviour resembles that of dogs. It was also up to them to consider whether to dig out more space for these two. Well, it was not impossible. Of course, the premise was that these two animals that they did not know whether they were wolves or dogs could be trained. In thought, Luo Xun looked at the animal lying down with raised limbs while Yu Xinran was scratching its soft belly. These two were dogs! Definitely a dog! Outside the base, hail poured down, sounding like ping pong balls bouncing off the metal. The mutant nts were waving and dancing like arms. Luo Xun observed for half a day and confirmed that they could return and start digging. The rain outside was heavy but it was not likely to seep into the ground under their base. Although Luo Xun intended to use the three underground to raise rabbits, but actually thinking about it, how many did they have? How many were they nning on keeping? If the new area was asrge as the aboveyer, there would be at least five acres of area for them to use! It would be no problem to house the two dogs. If they wanted to fill the entire basement, who knew how long it would take. As for the two wolves...at least after the hailstorm and heavy rain, they would let the two out first. If they wanted to stay then there would be enough space to dig out and let them live during the winter weather. After all, these two were mutant animals and it would be a waste to not use it. With the two birds, after their wings grew in, Luo Xun would find a way to let know about the dangers of the mutant nts. Looking at their dog, where would they dare let her out? Fortunately, her small size was enough for her to y at home. But the same could not be said of the four new additions. Chapter 245 After repeatedly confirming that the two new wolf-dogs would not cause any trouble, Luo Xun decided to let the two stay near the tunnel entrance for the time being. They had previously built a circr open space near the entrance specially made it easier for the car to reverse and turn. It was convenient to let the two wolves stay, as for further inside C was their ntation and other ces, including the parking lot. Almost every room had something, how could they let the two wolves run amuck? Fortunately, while they were waiting, the rain became lighter. The two wolves could be let out soon and they would worry about spaceter. Luo Xun went back first while letting the two dogs stay apanied by Puppy. Back in the basement, Luo Xun thought for a moment. "Kill a few quails and send them over." They were producing surplus and the upstairs room was crowded. Luo Xun had to think about whether they should separate a part into the greenhouse, but now it seems that they would be used as feed. It was enough for their two baby eagles to eat as well as the meat-loving wolves. Luo Xun guessed and killed six at once while pulling out pork from the fridge. Two quails for the eagles with the rest and the pork was given to the two wolves. Luo Xun worked together with Zhang Yi and Xu Mei. The rest of the people were following Yan Fei and Yu Xinran with the task of digging holes. This time when digging, they found that the deeper, the more fertile and humid the earth was. Fortunately, the rain had seeped into the soil and Song Lingling was on the side to deal with the water left behind by desertification. The three together worked fast while the non-ability users dealt with the remainingbor, specifically moving the sand into the warehouse to dry. Although Song Lingling could dry the soil, they thought it was better to use sun that would also do some sterilization. The group of people worked without the concept of time, Yan Fei helped Yu Xinran dig a hole, the former made a metal staircase so that Yu Xinran could work unimpeded going deep enough for the floor. He controlled the metal and stretched it in all directions linking it to the metal walls already in ce. Then he marked boundaries with fine wire and then let the girl work horizontally. Gradually, the amount of sand increased. Luo Xun and the others had been working and when they came to, everyones stomach was growling. They looked around and realized that the two women were gone. With peace of mind they guessed that they had left early for the kitchen to cook. "Well keep working...until four in the afternoon. After dinner well rest." Luo Xun looked at the team. The tired group put down their work and Yan Fei covered up the half-finished wall before heading upstairs. Upstairs, they found Puppy who had run back from the tunnel. She ran and jumped in greeting. "Howe youre back? Those two..." Luo Xun had not finished when he saw a big head poke in, another head also squeezed inside. He met ones eyes who retreated, leaving the other in front. ....... Well, they had alreadye. Although there was a lot of clutter in the hall, the debris was in metal boxes that the pair of wolves could not break. "Lets take a bath and get ready for dinner. As for those two..." Luo Xun said and then sniffed the air, "Whats that smell?" "Yeah, it seems strange?" "Stinks!" The group of people smelled the odor and walked towards the tunnel. The two wolves realized something and stepped away. Luo Xun had an unobstructed view ..."Poop." What arge dump! It really stank! Why couldnt they have run to the exit to do their business? Not at the entrance! Luo Xun felt ck lines at the back of his head. Puppy had been trained to go under the tree but these two big wolves...He had second thoughts keeping them if they had to deal with this sort of thing every day. "Fine, dont take a bath before cleaning up this pile of droppings." Although everyone had to deal with the rabbits nest and the two chicks, it could not bepared! This was on another level! The team of people who had worked hard then had to use water and scrub the ground clean inside the tunnel. For metal sections, Yan Fei could take control of the metal and anything else would fall off, so it was easier to handle. After they finished the all-important shoveling job, they climbed up to where Xu Mei greeted them with dinner. "The meal is ready!" "Wait, wait, wait! Were taking a bath first!" The two women were stunned as the men rushed to the bathrooms, leaving only Yu Xinran. "Whats wrong with them? Did they fall into the sandpit?" Yu Xinran shook her head andughed, "No, the big doggies were stinky, after working for a while, they stink too!" The two womenughed and took off their aprons while bringing Yu Xinran to the washroom for a bath before dinner. For some reason, the guys took extra long baths today. Todays meal was delicious and a wee reprieve. This team had seen all sorts of disgusting scenes in the apocalypse, so the droppings did not deter their appetite in the slightest. After dinner, Luo Xun went back to his room and observed the situation outside. He confirmed that it was still raining but the hail had stopped and there was nothing broken at home. "We should wait until the rain has stopped and then let the two out." But then Luo Xun thought of while cleaning, he almost threw up. He changed his mind, the two wolves would get sent out tomorrow. Yan Fei smiled and looked at Luo Xun in his pajamas, waiting for how long he would ruminate on the matter. Luo Xun was not upied for long, heined a bit before turning around to see his half-clothed lover, face filled with temptation. His heart pounded a few times, even after this long, this electric feeling did not leave, how could people resist? So Luo Xun acted like a wolf and pounced. Puppy had a good time with the two big dogs and did not go upstairs, so she slept in the basement. The pair had already fed the baby and had nned on ying video games. In the end, the machine was left off..but it was still a good day. Luo Xun was suffering the usual waist pain while looking at the hazy sky and rain. His heart sighed in regret as he could not chase out the two wolves. He climbed down the stairs to wash up, eat breakfast and prepare for work. Not just Luo Xun, the others also did not mention kicking out the two wolves out. It rained heavily for three days straight and the two big wolves stayed with them. Luo Xun and the others were busy the entire time. They filled their storage, created more open space and finished the third underground floor. This time they dug out a basement higher than the previous two floors. Since Luo Xun decided to ce ayer of soil for grass and vegetables, it needed a certain depth. It would also solve their nesting rabbit problems. But in the early morning of the fourth day, Luo Xun had very important things to do C release the wolves and dry sand! Because today was when the sky finally cleared up! Looking at the two dogs clinging and looking back, Luo Xun felt a slightly sad feeling coupled with teeth grinding. These two definitely had gotten used to freely eating and drinking without having to work hard! The two stayed for so long that they almost wiped out the frozen pork in the fridge. As for the quails...if Luo Xun had not changed their diet, he was afraid that there would be none left. The two wolves were not gone for long, Luo Xun was ready to go deal with the sand when they heard howling in the area. "Whats the matter?" "It couldnt be something chasing them right?" "Look over there!" They had spent thest three days together, even if theyined, feelings had been developed. How could they let others bully the two right after leaving their doors? The group of people sealed the entrance and ran over. Around the corner, they saw the two wolves on the road. Luo Xun saw the reason for the noise C the previous hail and unexpectedly killed a mutant animal! Chapter 246 Thend was full...not actually, just a few animals wererger and made it look exaggerated. It was not just in front of them, inside and around the pond, there were dead mutant animals lying around. "Oh my God, so much meat!" He Qiankun spoke what he and Zhang Yis hearts were thinking. "Oh my God! If two more days passed, it would have stunk!" That was Luo Xun thinking about future consequences. The two people who had called out their hearts came forward to examine the bodies. Was it possible to eat animal carcasses that were smashed to death in the wild, outside and washed in the rain for three days? Some parts were fine, but they did not want to think about the wounded parts. Some of them died early, directly from the hail. Some still lingered for a day or two before passing so they were better. Fortunately, although most of the animal meat could not be eaten, they could dig out the crystal cores and peel off the animal skins. Even more fortunate, they did not feed the two wolves before letting them out so the two had food to eat. Luo Xun picked, dug out the cores, skinned the fur and cut and cut some rtively fresh meat to bring back. The remaining bodies were piled to the side C after all, there were some carnivores in the area. They could not eat meat, but those other animals could. It would not affect them since they would pass through their base and it was far away enough that any smalls would not reach them either. Once they were finished, they drove back with the harvested cores and meat. Luo Xun went near the pond to check the situation outside. He confirmed that there were no dangerous animals nearby or mutant nts. This was the first time they went to the ponds edge. The original fields had been turned into ponds which had a few dead animals floating. Luo Xun and Song Lingling disucssed how to get those animals to shore. If they rotted, it would pollute the entire water source. Although they did not use that water, those two wolves may drink it. What would they do if they got stomach aches? Suddenly, Yu Xinran jumped in excitement. "Fish, fish! There are fish in the water!" At that, Luo Xun quickly looked at the water. He had previously spected that there may be fish in the water, but with the number of mutant animals on the edge, they had not actively approached for safety reasons and put the matter aside. "Try to see if they have any abilities." Luo Xun lit up and looked at the other ability users on the team. Wind and water caused no abnormalities in the swimming fish. Xu Mei released a small fireball that floated on the water and found that none of the fish had anything. Luo Xun had Song Lingling help grab them out C it was simple for water users to catch fish. She did not need to attack, only direct the fish and t a belt of water in front of the team. The fish out of water obviously panicked since its space suddenly became a lot smaller. Zhang Yi solidified the air around the waterball so that the fish could not swim out. The fish were in good shape...and normal. If the current body was already fully grown, then it would be fine, but there would be issues if it continued to grow. "Its about two kilograms. Notrge or small." Luo Xun touched his chin and looked around. "Kill one to see if there is a crystal core in the head." He just finished speaking when Zhang Yi immediately created a wind de and chopped off the fishs head. Luo Xun said nothing and only raised an eyebrow while helplessly shook his head. He took the head and pulled out his knife to pry open the head. Sure enough, there was a crystal core, but it was small and transparent. "Catch some to bring back for our indoor pond!" Luo Xun made up his mind and spoke to Song Lingling. "We can make the greenhouse pond a bit bigger and we have pebbles to spare." "Yes! Theres still some open space behind the house, enough to dig a small pool!" Li Tie and the others also added an idea. "Luo Xun, what about this fish?" He Qiankun pointed at the fish Zhang Yi had sliced in half. "Bring it back, well make boiled fish tonight!" They had many peppers at home! The nts were also growing well and it would not be long before another batch. They absolutely had enough! Yan Fei and a few others came back in their cars to pick up the rest of the team. Yan Fei had just delivered the harvested meat and skin. They did not expect toe back and catch fish. It was easy to have Song Lingling and Zhang Yi work together to catch fish. Luo Xun was even surprised to find that the water also had freshwater shrimp and small crabs! After a closer look, they found a bunch of crayfish near the waters edge. Luo Xun suspected that these had been present with the original rice, but after the farm was abandoned along with heavy rain, they might have been mixed with the aquatic products. After seeing these things, Luo Xu and the others ran to the other fields to check. Sure enough, there were many aquatic animals nearby. No wonder the water birds gathered more and more. Just as they were busily transporting seafood inside, Puppy popped out from somewhere and rushed Luo Xun with a wagging tail. One side jumping around while also greeting the team. Everyone saw that she must have found something since she was covered in mud. They all followed together. Puppy took the team to the ce with the two wolves. They saw the team and shook their tails. Next to them, the team found a few small sheep and deer. The animals were obviously just babies since their shape was somewhat different from normal sheep and deer. During their collection, they had seen sheep and deer, but most of their meat had rotted, likely they were the babies parents. After checking and confirming that they were not dangerous, Luo Xun simply loaded them as well. The electric car made four or five full runs before Luo Xun and the team could go home. As for the two wolves C they were left outside to celebrate. If they wanted to return, the door would be avable. In the meantime, Puppy followed Yu Xinran to y around. When it was time to go home, she ran back and jumped in. "I had thought she might have stayed outside." Luo Xun could not find Puppy for a while and was worried for half a day. He did not expect that she woulde back. Yan Fei knew that Luo Xun was actually soft-hearted, he just smiled and did say anything. The caught fish were ced in a metal tank. After getting transported home, Luo Xun grabbed a ss cylinder that he had bought before and loaded some of the fish and shrimp. As for the crayfish and crabs, they were left in straw baskets. Now they were busy with the brook that had been intended to humidify the greenhouse. It had to be deepened and widened. Of course, the artificial stream would only be half a meter deep. The bottom would be sprinkled with pebbles to avoid the water bing turbid. At the back of the house, they also dug a hole that would act as a moat out of the greenhouse. The location of the vacant lot was below where they left the agricultural vehicles. But since there were several huge cars on top, there would be no problems but they were afraid to put anything underneath it ...So it had been empty all this time and was only now in use. Built a pool and ced fish. After that work, they climbed the greenhouse and thoroughly cleaned the roof of the previously dried earth. It was evening after all this was finished. They had been nning on letting the two wolves out and dealing with farnd. But in the end finding fish had eaten up half the day and their ns had changed unexpectedly. However, everyone was excited despite the dy since they had a lot of gains today. Not to mention the threembs and two small deer, even just the seafood was exciting enough. With the first killed fish along with two extra ones, Luo Xun had enough to make two pots of boiled fish. Bright red chili oil, white fish and fresh soup. The team who had not eaten fish for two years nearly licked the te clean! Todays fish were basically carp, mackerel and other herbivorous fish. Luo Xun and the team already had a variety of vegetables avable. Even more, Luo Xun also specially selected some nts from the roadside that could be used to feed rabbits. They brought back the whole nt to be nted underground. It could also be used to feed the sheep, fawns and even fish. The sky was ck by the time the team had eaten and drank their fill. They went up to wash and rest when suddenly they heard the wolves from outside. Looking at each other and guessed that the two wolves should be in the direction of the tunnel entrance. They were likelying back for the night. "s...the base has be a zoo." Luo Xun sighed helplessly but could only open the door for the pair of wolves. Chapter 247 When the two familiar giant figures dashed over with wagging tails, Luo Xun and the others knew C they would stick to them like ster. It was decided...these two were truly dogs. Since the discovery of the seafood in the ponds, the food on the table greatly increased. They had boiled fish on the first day, the next they had sweet and sour fish fillets and the third day they had a te of boiled shrimp. It was fortunate that their home was rtively close to the pond, if they did not feel like eating inside they could spend some of their free time rxing while fishing. The greenhouse river had been finished and the fish had been fed some of Luo Xuns vegetables and leaves. The feed was sprinkled into the water each day while waiting for the fish to grow up. Over the past three days, the team had taken turns drying the newly dug sand which was moved back to the third basement. At this time the venttion and lighting equipment had been installed. It was a relief to nt some of the crops that would feed the rabbits and worms once the soil was spread. It would be finished once it was properly irrigated. The rabbits and quails did not have to be transferred for the time being. After all, there were not many so it was not a problem to keep them in the greenhouse cage. The quails could also be kept in their original housing. As for the injuredmbs and fawns fromst time...they would have to wait for them to grow so the breeding would be slow going for now. Those five animals were now Yu Xinrans pets. Since they had been brought back, she yed around every day with Puppy along with the two hawks. Who would dare to kill them after raising them? Yu Xinran would bring out her teary eyes. Even more surprising was that the two eagles that had not learned to fly, actually learned how to run around! Fortunately, three were sheep. Even if they were not grown for meat, there would be wool to collect. Otherwise, the entire group would truly be a group of pets. Once Luo Xun was done digging out the water channels and cing the fish and shrimp into their new homes, it was finally time for them to go out to collect metal in order to replenish their metal stores. Putting together satellite photos and base messages, Li Tie organized the information and threw them into theputer. The team of people sat around the dining room table for a meeting. Although everyone preferred to go to the second-floor game room for casual things, how would they have the mind to talk about serious things? From time to time, their eyes would wander over to the game machines. "Cough, the zombies from the southern countries are in this area..." Li Tie checked and pointed at arge map he got from somewhere. "From the photos, they have been circling this ce for four days, it seems like there is arge base nearby." They already knew about this matter three days ago. They thought if was expected, but did not think the zombie siege wouldst this long. "Its not known how long until the zombies retreat, or how clear if the base can continue..." Luo Xun frowned at his tablet. "So we have to n ahead, we had good luckst time, the zombies all passed by and did not attack. But we must have enough metal on base to defend ourselves." He looked up at Yan Fei. Yan Fei nodded in response. "I suggest that we can get more metal back, specifically before the zombie tide arrives." "How to guard against it?" Han Li was not clear about the situation. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had discussed among themselves in their room. "Traps." Yan Fei spoke while looking at Luo Xun. "I discussed with Luo Xun, although we have mutant nts that can help defend, the number of zombies this time is too high. With swarm tactics, the zombies can overwhelm the nts and attack the base inside. So we want to put a big trap from before and fill it with mushroom juice to deal with them." Luo Xun added, "If we put it too early then people may notice it and some of the mutant animals may be injured by mistake." He looked out of the window. "Before the zombiese, I dont know if the animals will notice in advance. Once they have retreated we can set up the trap." After saying that the teams eyes lit up. After all, it was troublesome extracting cores from the mutant nts. Setting up traps in advance would them more! Wu Xin suddenly had an idea. "Luo Xun, why dont we at least dig up the traps in advance! As long as we keep them covered and dont pour mushroom juice, wouldnt it fine for the animals?" "Thats a good idea!" Luo Xunughed andplemented his eye for detail. They finalized the number and location of traps. The next two days would be spent outside. This time, the goal was very simple C collecting metal. At this time the market exchange between several bases was long over and each convoy had returned home. In particr, the various bases had long been informed that arge wave of zombies had entered the country. Its power was far greater than ones from before and bases would naturally shore up their defenses. The exchange was over as early as when Luo Xuns team got rid of their tails. Now ording to what Luo Xun had learned from the secret exchange between base channels, the north base area under siege had been evacuated. The distance between the bases was too far and weapons production was limited. The zombie siege was too fierce so the base was not able to resist or seek help. In addition, the other bases could not send people to help, they could only stand on their own. After the information exchange, each base put aside some supplies and stepped up construction hoping to survive this round. So Luo Xun assumed that their metal collecting journey would be rtively calm C the base had already gathered needed metal from the mining area. Naturally, they would let metal ability users to painstakingly wander through the city looking for metal. Coupled with the limited amount of material in the urban area and many things had already been scrapped, less and less people were now willing to explore the remote edges of the city. Therefore, Luo Xuns team was driving along the roads collecting several days worth of metal and they had barely encountered any people. After shipping the metal back to their homes and filling up one of the rooms designated for metal storage, they went out for a few more days. When September finally arrived, they were satisfied that their collection was almost over. At this point, there was a change on base that delighted Luo Xun. The fruit trees that they had transnted in spring were almost grown. "It was not easy...but finally we have fruit to eat." Looking at the small half-sized apples on the tree. "We still need to wait a bit for those,e and pick apricots with me." Luo Xun beckoned the people under the apple, pear and orange trees. "Can apricots be eaten? Arent they still green?" The team looked at the little fruits and wondered. "Who says green apricots cant be eaten? You dont know?" Luo Xun grabbed one and took a bite C sweet and sour. "Its sweet!" "Why isnt it that sour?" "Its delicious, I havent eaten fresh apricots before." Luo Xun looked at the group. "You can wait for the fruit to ripen but it will be soft. I like to eat them when crisp." While speaking he grabbed another. "The apricots could have been harvested already but their biological clock had been disrupted with the transnt, so it took until now. "Can these be re-grown?" He Qiankun asked while eating. "Yes, but wait until next year, we have too few now." They had only transnted a few apricot trees and the action affected their flowering rate so naturally there was not a rich harvest. In addition, the fruits required pollination and a lot of hard work for harvest. Luo Xun looked at the group of people happily eating andughing. He decided to wait until next year to remind them when the trees flowered again. One should know, there were a lot of crops that needed artificial pollination. Do not underestimate that the work seemed insignificant...but the team always felt exhausted after the mind-numbing work. When the others would be told that the same was to be done for the tree flowers ...How would they feel? Chapter 248 The fruit at home was about to ripen and it was gratifying to know that some of the longer-cycle vegetables were beginning to mature. Fortunately, the vegetable and grain harvest periods were not at the same time. They could start now and the farm would get busy. The weather changed between cloudy and sunny every couple of days. The group of people had a headache trying to dry the harvested crops. If not for Song Lingling who could directly drain water in the vegetables, if they could only rely on the sun for drying, who knew how much would actually get done. Of course, there was a difference in taste between ability dried and sun-dried vegetables. Luo Xun separated the two. If they had the chance they would sell the ones dried by Song Lingling at the exchange market. After thest experience, they would be more careful. These vegetables could also be used for fish and livestock food, so nothing would be wasted. The weather in September was still sultry. Fortunately the greenhouse and other buildings had cooling equipment. Everyonefortably nested themselves indoors. After the first wave of vegetable harvest, the team gathered to study the newly received satellite photos. The small bun was on the table mat near Luo Xun moving around. Yes, Luo Xun and Yan Feis "son" was now happily crawling around the table. The baby turned over muchter than the average child, but from turning to sitting and crawling, he had rapid progress. He had turned into another creature since crawling and tired himself to sleep. Yu Xinran took off her shoes and sat on the table to y with him. Of course, for their safety, Yan Fei had previously made metal railing on the edge along with cing a pile of cushions to avoid injury. "The zombie wave finally left...There arent any news from base yet, I dont know if it has been broken." The team of people looked at their tablets while discussing. "If its still standing, I expect that there will be news in the next two days. If not, people from other bases will move. The zombie wave is rushing towards..." Luo Xun zoomed in on the map to check, "Here..another base in the south, to the east of the other one." He looked in surprise. "Are they actually heading for another base in the south?!" Li Tie looked nkly at Luo Xun. "Seems like it. Whats the matter?" "....What do zombie waves usually do? One at a time? Generally speaking, dont they choose a path, go through with the attack and then go away?" Luo Xun summed up his thoughts. The team exchanged looks, all of which were uncertain. "Maybe...the smell of humans at those two bases is too strong right?" Luo Xun frowned while Yan Fei ced a hand on his shoulder. "We can look closely at the zombies behaviour. See if they only go to therger bases or if they will target very small bases that are not really known." After hearing this, they were all nervous. They looked at each other and Han Li raised his hand. "Yan Fei, how will we see these small bases that the officials dont know about?" "If there is a small base, even if the military doesnt know and cant be found on a map, the zombies will surround it even if they have to stop for a bit. Of course there is a chance that some bases are too small and would simply get barreled over." Yan Fei had a point, if these zombies were only smelling humans and mainly huntingrge bases it might be fine. But if these zombies had a designated path to go, it was very likely that they would attack their home base! Although they were still far away from here, if their lives were threatened, they could not take it lightly! The golden autumn of September had just passed. In October, the birds had migrated south again from the north, showing a dramatic sight in the sky. Luo Xun and the others were sitting in the greenhouse, under a grape trellis and lounging in the sun. This month of time made them exhausted to death. Because there was a zombie wave hanging over their heads like a sword of Damocles, who had the time for entertainment. They also had to deal with the mature crops while strengthening their own base and going out to collect metal. These days, the team had quickly collected more metal while only eating and resting the minimum. Fortunately, they had enough lightning rods on base, otherwise, with the amount of metal present, a thunderstorm would blow them all up. Now, the team had finally stolen a half days worth of rest and could finally sit under the lush grapes while sunbathing. They chatted while eating grapes and watching the birds fly by. Yu Xinran was cheerfully ying with Puppy on the slide. Although there was a y structure in the game room, it was much smaller and shorter so the girl was happier with the current one. The baby had tired himself out and was sleeping in Luo Xuns arms. He had a towel in case of drool, but Luo Xun was afraid to move, so he could only let him sleep. Not too far away, the baby hawks had grown new feathers, but they were obviously smaller than the ones flying past. They also followed Yu Xinran around, although they had learned to run and jump, the flight technique was still not clear to them. They had to stay inside at home as a pet since they could not follow the migratory birds. There were those two silly dogs not currently on base, who knew where they had wandered. Luo Xun was not worried since they eventually returned in the evening. "From there to us...there are at least fiverge bases and they shouldnt be here before the New Year." The group leisurely rested while analyzing the zombie wave trends. The zombies speed was much lower than expected. They thought that the group of zombies would probably go to a nearby city but who knew if they would go to all thoserge and small bases. Since the start, they had been wandering through half of China and had passed through six or sevenrge bases. Among them, two were destroyed..there might have been more small bases that were destroyed but they could not find definitive evidence so they could only guess. "They will be dyed at least ten days at eachrge base, the longest one was nearly twenty days and the shortest was eleven days..." He Qiankun was analyzing while scratching his chin that had grown some stubble. "Adding in travel time, each base would take around a month." He blinked and looked at Luo Xun. "When are we going to set the traps?" Luo Xun looked up at the sky. "By the end of this month..." "So soon?" Everyone was stunned, it would take months before the zombies arrived, why were they setting up things four to five months early? Luo Xun turned and squinted. "You forget what time it is now?" He pointed upwards. Li Tie and the others looked up and stared nkly at the flying birds. Zhang Yi snorted, "Its October, next month is November." Seeing those fools with nk looks, even Yan Fei had tough. "Do you remember the weatherst November?" "Last year?" The team thought back...It was snowing heavily! At that time they were still in the city and running around with work everyday... "Oops! We were so busy that we forgot about it!" The group facepalmed and shook their heads at shirking responsibilities. "Thats right! Its only been half a year since we left, how would we have time to think of the past." "Right? Remember that? Last year when we had to go to the barracks in the snow." The team began toin while recalling the past. Luo Xun helplessly coughed. "I said C we have to set the traps before the snow. Set them up around and put mushroom juice after the first snow. Just before the zombies arrive well remove the metal lids and unfreeze the liquid." He frowned, "Its best to operate remotely but it would be troublesome.." Mushroom juice can be thawed when heated but if the zombies do not fall in immediately after then it would freeze again! Unless the zombiese after the start of spring next year, that was something they could not control. Although it seemed likely right now. Chapter 249 Yan Fei saw that Luo Xun had a headache from heating the mushroom juice in the traps and advised, "We can also dig tunnels, we can discuss the specificster and should not be too difficult. We have to dig the trap." "Yes, well dig traps for the next few days." Luo Xun thought for a while and raised his spirits. "In a few days, most of the food should be harvested. Afterwards, we will concentrate on the traps." The recent weather was getting colder by the day. Since entering September, the temperature outside had dropped with the rain and wind. It was now October, do not look at them basking in the sun, the temperature outside was actually cold. Migratory birds flew overhead for nearly a week andter the birds in the sky became sparse and scattered. This week, the two silly wolves had rushed back with the bodies of four mutant birds. Luo Xun opened the birds skull, removed the feathers and stored the carcasses. Seeing the different core colors, they were doubtful that the four birds had been caught by these two idiots? Or had they died at the hands of other animals only to be picked up by the two of them? But since the prey itself was very fresh and the death wounds were indeed teeth marks, perhaps the two had grown up and could hunt their own mutant animals. While looking suspiciously at the two, Luo Xun processed the birds and froze them. These two would sometimese back with prey, fur and even strange things they thought were precious. Luo Xun had no choice but to dig out a bedroom for them in the tunnel, which allowed them to store some of these "treasures" and sleep there at night. Of course, the bedroom was dug up after Luo Xun and team had gathered more metal and added more space to the basement. Now each basement floor had a few more rooms loaded with things or farming equipment. After all, since the number of members increased, their food consumption would naturally increase. Within a few days, the first batch of food needed to be harvested. This crop from when they originally left the city base. Although the dy of a few days had affected their growth, it seemed that the yield was still very good. The next batch of grain was expected to ripen in November, or even December. Fortunately, they had remodeled the base and were not afraid of theing winter. Their instion was absolutely on par! This time, half their produced crop was rice, the other was wheat. In addition to that, there was some high quality mutant rice! The fragrance of golden wheat filled the nting room and everyones mood was very good. These two crops totaled around an acre. They started the special harvester that could automatically collect the crop while also packaging it! How convenient! You had to know, the previous harvest had to be picked manually! Thinking of the misery fromst year working hard to harvest the vegetables, then looking at the high-tech machine helping them now, the situation was great! Although they did not have to deal with harvesting and packaging, they still had to transport, dry and shell the crop. These things were still time-consuming. It was October 21 for them to finish grinding, shelling and germination. Once the new seedlings were ready, they also had to rece and fertilize the soil and move the nts. Early in the morning, after checking thetest satellite photos regarding the surroundings, the team finally went out again. They embarked on a journey to dig traps. The autumn weather...actually the temperature was very low now, especially when the wind was blowing. The nearby trees, flowers and grass were all withered. The road was covered with golden leaves. As they passed the pond, there were no traces of water birds around and even the number of mutant animals was greatly reduced, leaving only leaves scattered everywhere. The team only drove one electric car this time and they had nned out the traps before leaving: arge circle in the farnd around their base. Yes, before they collected that much metal! As long as they had enough time, Yan Fei said that all the surrounding area should be surrounded with traps. But considering their caution towards the other bases, they decided to keep a low profile and only set up a circle. Although they only drove one car, they were followed around with four pure metal "cars"! These contained all the essential materials in order to build the traps. At the destination, after checking left and right, Yu Xinran started to dig a pit. Now for the level five ability user, digging pits was nowughably easy. Soon after a six or seven meter wide and three meter deep square pit was finished. Yan Fei quickly used some metal to make arge, tightly sealed box sandwiched against the walls. After cing the lid, they spread sand on top. Therge metal box was ready after adding some water. This trap was not about causing injuries because they had tested many times C mushroom juice could corrode upon skin contact and it did not matter if there were any wounds. What else would they use it for? Wouldnt it be nice to go back and fill them with mushroom juice? Traps started with digging a pit and ended with filling and some water. It only took half an hour and part of a metal car. Luo Xun calcted the efficiency and smiled at the team. "So we only need to make ten or so a day and all the traps will be set up before November." "We can still make some more." Yan Fei mentally calcted the amount of metal they had collected. "Okay, looking at the situation, welle over every morning and well do as much as we can by the end of November." After all, the temperature will definitely turn cold and they would no longer go out as often C without the grassy trees on the roadside, their outings would be very visible and they might get noticed by the satellite. Earlier, Luo Xun found a photo of their group when they were going to a nearby ce to collect metal. But since the photo was taken when they were away from home, it was not arge issue. The team became busy, from this day on the Otaku squad went out every morning and afternoon. In the morning after taking care of their crops, they would usually stay for a couple hours before going back for lunch. After the meal around two in the afternoon, they would return for dinner after three hours. They often went out but led the two wolves along as well. Puppy apanied the pair in ying around in the area. The others kept watch while Yu Xinran and Yan Fei were digging pits for traps. From time to time they looked over at the three dogs in the distance. Most of the traps they ced were concentrated in ces where there were no mutant nts. If there were nts around, the traps were ced behind them but not as many of them. At this point, Luo Xun was worried about another thing C cultivating the devil vines. In fact, he had this idea from a long time ago. But back then they only had a small amount of resources on had and may not have had enough to eat at home. How would he even think about nting devil vines? Later, they were busy with more things that were not easy to deal with. They had to be careful and not get too close. In short, until now, after harvesting their own grain did Luo Xun bring up the idea. They had to wait until next spring to actually try. But thinking about it, how would they nt it? Where should it be ced to protect their base without affecting the mutant animals? Ten dayster, they had added a few rows to the south along with traps. It was just that the traps could only affect the ground zombie forces at best. They had to think of other methodster for those in the sky C especially if they were scented and the enemies rushed their base. These days, the weather was indeed cold, the temperature at night dropped below zero. The base now finally started installing aplete plumbing system. Yes, the entire underground portion of base, including the walls were iid with water pipes. Enough to maintain a certain temperature for the entire base shielding the nts and animals from the cold. To be honest, the temperature of their new base was actually much better than their previous one. After all, except for the building where they lived, the rest of the ce was all-metal, controlling the temperature was not easy! Chapter 250 By the time the first snowke fell, there were almost no traces of mutant animals outside the Otaku base. After that, from the first now, it snowed for four solid days. Originally, Luo Xun was worried that their base was too warm and that the snow would melt and reveal their location. But the truth was C even if the temperature at home was even higher, it would not stand up to the full days of heavy snow. Although the snow on their roof would be thinner than other ces but everywhere else waspletely covered in white and their base would blend in. For energy reasons, Luo Xun purposely put the sr panels outside the third floor windows. Although they collected less electricity than what they consumed, however coupled with the batteries they had umted in the winter, there would not be any issues. Moreover, even if their home ran out of electricity, they could make ends meet with firewood, straw, and other options. Outside the snow was still falling while the team was gathered in the game room. A few people were ying a game on therge TV while some others were ying a strategy game on theputer. Yu Xinran happily apanied the baby under the watch of the two women in the bouncy castle C naturally the baby was crawling around. Luo Xun and Yan Fei were sitting on the sofa, looking at a tablet that contained the most recent texts, exchanges, records and notifications from the satellite. After looking over several internal documents, Luo Xun casuallymented, "With the experiencest year, the base distributed grain in advance and they seemed to have prepared supplies for the most part. But I think it seems a tad too little?" Yan Fei also finished reading and casually opened another message between bases and thought. "Wouldnt the number of bases have decreased?" "No...." Luo Xun suddenly thought of something. "Do you think they are only preparing supplies for the inner city?" "Thats possible!" Han Li suddenly interrupted before continuing ying his game. Luo Xun nced over and then continued to look at the screen in his hand. "Ah, this amount would certainly be enough for the inner city, but the outer city..." He shook his head and sighed. Yan Fei hugged his shoulder and asked, "When the snow has stopped, shall we go out and fill the traps with mushroom juice?" Before setting up the traps, they decided that the mushroom juice would be added after the first snowfall. Let them freeze outside, the outside temperature should not be bad. Luo Xun looked out the window and was about to answer when He Qiankun looked up from hisputer and asked, "Boss, dont you rememberst year with the snow, the zombies were frozen? Do you think the entire wave would freeze in the snow?" His words grabbed the teams attention to something they had ignored. "Yeah, even if the zombies are not buried in the snow, it would definitely slow them down!" Zhang Yi yawned. "Did you forget? The zombies havente north yet and its not known if there is enough snow there." The team exchanged looks again. "Okay." Luo Xun coughed. "We have to pay attention to the satellite photos. As for mushroom juice ..." He pondered. "Lets watch the situation." If the zombiese toote, theyll be able to prepare the trap in advance but if they came in the spring, the materials may be wasted. It was better to keep an eye on the situation. The next morning, Luo Xun watched the lead-dyed sky and breathed out white wisps. The room was warm but since the outside temperature was too low, there was ayer of frost on the window in the morning. The little bun had woken up and was waving his little arms in great spirits. Dont look at his appearance at birth, the baby was plump and healthy. Compared to average weight, size, and age? Luo Xun was not clear as they did not have anything topare to. "Youre spirited today, wait." Luo Xun picked up the baby and grabbed a bottle, he checked the temperature before feeding. The baby was well fed so there were two teeth in his mouth. Although they still fed him fruit milk in the morning, during the day Luo Xun would feed him some solids. Yan Fei just returned to the room and saw his lover feeding the baby. "FInished feeding them?" Luo Xun asked him. "Yes, theyre bothfortable and I guess once winter is over theyll go out and grab their own food." Yan Fei had just gone to the basement to deliver food to the two silly wolves. Part of the traps they set up were for their livelihood. They decided that Yan Fei and Yu Xinran were responsible for building traps while others were looking around for traces of animals. Under Zhang Yis leadership, they would hunt down prey. After the first snow fell, the two wolves did not go out C it was definitely too cold outside. Puppy had tired herself out and refused to sleep in the basement. Luo Xun experimented and decided to use meat mixed with some grains and crops. They intended to test and see if they would eat it. Otherwise how would they be able to just let them eat only quails and rabbits? The results were sadly encouraging. The two ate the food and seemed to like it because the taste was fresh C so those on base once again agreed they were two dogs! But since wolves seemed more intimidating, they two were named Wolf One and Two. The sad thing was that although the two would eat, the amount was too much! Fortunately, after they set up the new acres of room for corn, it could be harvested this month so their food consumption was manageable. In short, they should be able to cope with the winter but they had to increase grain cultivation. The hard-earned crop, they thought that they would be able to eat richly. Then they waited until themodity exchange to sell for other goods. Now the previous years work had been eaten away. Luo Xun felt bad thinking about it. Luo Xun ground his teeth. "No, we shouldnt just watch them eat. Lets have hotpot today!" With so much meat and food at home, how could they just look at the two scourges? They should enjoy the fruits of their ownbor! "Li Tie also mentioned that, he said that with the snowy weather, its perfect to eat hotpot." Yan Feiughed as he watched Luo Xun. "Right? Who doesnt want to have hotpot now? And we have a lot ofmb!" When they picked up the sheep, Luo Xun deliberately left most in storage and they mostly ate pork and all kinds of bird. Now in winter, it was time for beef stew andmb! "Grab the pot, Im going to make spicy soup today!" Luo Xun changed his clothes in high spirits. He fed the children after going downstairs and told the team his ns. The team cheered in unison. These days, the second wave of grains were not ready for harvest. The base was alreadypletely transformed. With the snow-sealed door, they could not leave the house, what else would they do but eat and rest at home? After breakfast, the team of people went straight to the basement and started caring for the crops. At 9:07 in the morning, the team disregarding that their breakfast had not been digested, went straight to the kitchen. The frozenmb in the fridge was not easy to slice, although they set it out since breakfast, it was still hard. But that did not stop their excitement. A few people fought with themb while taking turns. When one was tired, they would change ces. The rest either helped wash the dishes and pick vegetables or they helped Luo Xun prepare the pot. Luo Xun had a bowl of red peppers as well as previously made chili sauce along with fresh pepper. Within five minutes, the team of people working in the kitchen covered their noses and burst into tears. They grabbed Zhang Yi and asked him to act as venttion. Zhang Yi had a dark expression. He nced at the sheep leg and the chicken on the tes, he decided he would eat as much as possibleter on. Although everyone began to prepare early, by the time everything was prepared and chopped, it was already 11:30, just in time to eat. Half of the hot pot was red and spicy while the other was soup with bird bones and mushrooms. Various meats and vegetables circled the pot, all within arms reach. "Lets eat!" Luo Xun waved his chopsticks after everything was on the table. "Yeah!" Chapter 251 Luo Xun would like to use his foot to kick Zhang Yi from the table. Because this was the fifth piece of meat snatched from his chopsticks. Five times! His meat! He was not robbing the silky fish balls, specifically staring at the meat. Beef, mutton, and bird slices. Even more exasperating was dipped the meat in both soups, his chopsticks had never stopped. Luo Xun grabbed meat and directly stuffed it into his mouth. Even more annoying was Zhang Yi could use his wind ability to help and Wang Duo also added meat to his bowl. Fortunately, thanks to therge number of mutton slices they cut, they still had some left over in the fridge. Suddenly, Xu Mei stood up, rolled up her sleeves and picked up thergest empty ce and then handed it to Song Lingling. "Bring back a te." "Oh." Song Lingling went straight to the freezer but also did not forget to say, "Xu Mei, help grab some meat!" "Okay." The thin slices of meat could be dipped in the pot and then fished out to eat. Everyone saw Xu Meis actions and were ready to take action. Without waiting for Song Lingling toe back, the meat in the pot was instantly gone. Song Lingling came back with a te of mutton slices only to see the few remaining pieces of meat. Her head had ck lines, "I should have filled the pot with meat instead." "Give it to me, you go get some more." Xu Mei poured the slices of meat into the two sides of the pot while telling Song Lingling to grab more. Sure enough, when Song Lingling came back with more mutton, the meat in the pot was already gone. But this time it was not as crazy. With their bellies filled with meat, they started to pick at other favorite ingredients. Full onmb. Luo Xun had heard this sentence before but not understood the meaning...at least until today... He paused his chopsticks when thought about how much he had eaten, but after a while, he wondered if he had eaten too many peppers...but then he ate some more. In the afternoon, he had to lie in the recliner while rubbing his stomach. Yan Fei also helped the baby eat lunch and coaxed him to sleep. After the baby was in the cradle, he went to check on Luo Xun. "Still ufortable?" "Yeah..." Luo Xun hummed, "Its all Zhang Yis fault, if it werent for him I would not have eaten so much." He got sucked into the atmosphere. When others were snatching food, of course he would retaliate? It was normal to eat more right? Yan Fei helplessly held Luo Xuns hand and gently rubbed. Luo Xun put his head against Yan Feis chest and winked. "Before the apocalypse I actually forgot to prepare stomach medicine at home, what an oversight..." Who would have thought that one could eat and eat during the apocalypse? It was a dream that Luo Xun had never entertained in his life. After all, even if they ate their fill of high quality crops, they were still vegetables! But this was meat! Real meat! Yan Fei helplessly smiled. "I remember that the hawthorn tree is ripe? Ill go down and pick a few for you." "Yes, I definitely feel like having some." "Then you stay inside, dont move." The two did not notice that Luo Xun resembled a pregnant woman, holding his stomach and making a fuss about eating hawthorn fruits. They only had one hawthorn tree, they found it the same time as some other trees. This year was the first harvest and it was not bad. The branches had dozens of fruit, although the color was not red enough so they had to wait a few days. They did not result in it toe in handy now. When Yan Fei came downstairs to the tree he saw both Xu Mei and Li Tie also picking hawthorn fruits! "Yan Fei? What are you doing here?" Li Tie noticed Yan Fei while holding a dozen hawthorns in his hand. Yan Fe pointed at the tree, "Picking the hawthorns to soothe a stomach?" The two men nced at each other, then Li Tie covered his mouth. "He Qiankun and the others ate too much." "Lingling also ate too much and Yu Xinran wanted some fruits." They were the only three not to overeat and now running errands for the others...Where was the fairness? The hotpot sated their appetite for two days, that night they specially cooked non-greasy corn porridge. But the next lunch, the group of unrepentant foodies would eat another meal. They would have to wait a bit though. As winter approached, snow covered thend. Luo Xun carefully watched the satellite photos for the zombie waves. Sure enough, the wave was much slower than before after leaving the previous base. If they used to be able to walk 50 or 70 kilometers a day, now they would walk 10 if they were unlucky. Of course, the zombie speed was not as fast as before. After all, they would also wander into urban areas with buildings and the smell of people would affect their speed as well. Although the zombie wave would be slowed down by the weather, there were no guesses about the zombies buried in the snow C the snow was actually nationwide. All was covered in snow except for a few southern areas and the north was heavier and more violent. After the snowpletely covered Luo Xuns base, Zhang Yi was ordered to use his wind abilities to blow at least half of it off so that the fruit and grains could mature. They first seized the time to harvest the rice and wheat before taking time to deal with the fruits that had finally ripened. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, dates and the remaining hawthorns. Dont think that there was little fruit at home, there were actually quite a few. While apples were rtively resistant, and the dates and hawthorns could be dried. Other things especially the peaches were perishable. Luo Xun picked while eating and noted. "I should have found a way to stagger the growing periods, did not expect all of them to ripen at the same time." Originally, if these trees were outside, then they would certainly grow ording to thews of nature and fruit in different seasons. But since they were moved during the flowering period into the greenhouse, who guessed that they would all grow together! Finally, the team discussed and decided to can peaches and cherries. The pears could be eaten or boiled as well. The plums and peaches could be made into dried snacks. In fact, the other fruits could also be dried but then the moisture and some taste would be lost. They would eat as much as they could first and then deal with the issue. The team of people was busy harvesting fruit in the greenhouse. The two chicks now had full feathers and pping around with Yu Xinran and the deer. They were mixed together with Puppy and the two silly wolves. The little girl had a new ymate and would not get too lonely. Sometimes she went down to the basement to y with the three C there was enough space for all of them. So the batch of fruit was harvested, dried, preserved and stored away. Luo Xun said, "I think we should add some grain..." He looked at the two wolves that were more and morefortable at home. It was clear that it would be difficult for them to leave once spring arrived. "How to add? Dig underground?" Li Tie asked while drinking a cup of water. "No need." Luo Xun smiled. "Remember our previous base in the city? Werent all the shelvesyered? As long as we add some support to the nting racks, we can have at least twice the amount of space." In particr, the second underground floor was much higher than the first. They did have to worry about running out of space for nting another two rows of crops. "Okay, its a lot of trouble to dig up a hole and we still have a lot of earth at home!" They could not bear to throw out the soil they dug outst time when digging out the third undergroundyer. The rest was temporarily stored and it was very fertile earth, who was willing to throw it away? "Do you want to start in the next few days?" Wu Xin asked. These past few days they had just emptied out the nted crops, changed the soil and nted the new seedlings, it would best if most of the crops matured together. "No hurry, we can first set up the room and then add the vegetables. After all most of our metal is being used in the traps and we need to have reserves." Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei. Now that the weather was cold, although they had metal in storage it should be used for the soon-to-be zombie wave. They dared not use too much. "It doesnt matter, theres no big problem if you dont use too much metal for the shelves." Yan Fei did some mental calctions and answered. "Okay, then well set up the shelves tomorrow." Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief and secretly wished that the animals at home...would not eat so much food. Chapter 252 This years winter was clearly much colder than the first two years. Since the start of winter in November, it snowed without end. Each week there would be snow falling for at least two or three days. Plus Luo Xun sent out the hungry...no the right team member Zhang Yi to sweep the snow each week. Otherwise, the snow would pile up and the vent would get blocked. Although the nts could produce oxygen, they could not bepletely sealed in during the winter. Thankfully, they had studied the satellite photographs for a while and found that the zombies were moving slower and slower as winter continued. The road dys were getting longer and longer C for two weeks there had not been any movement. Of course, this was certainly a disaster for that base, but for the others, especially ones in the north were given breathing room. In this snow-filled weather filled with zombies, the whole country ushered in the new year. No firecrackers, fireworks or candy but still a new year nheless. This was the third New Year since the apocalypse for Luo Xun, but also the first one since the little buns birth. After all, the baby was born on the first day ofst year on the first-day of January. Now the little baby who could barely cry was snow able to stand up and stumble for a few steps and then continue crawling around. And the small bun could make some monosybic sounds to call people, for example, he would cry "Pu" when seeing Luo Xun, "Pa" for Yan Fei and "Dog" when seeing Puppy...why was thest one correct? This was a mystery to everyone in the house because even Yu Xinran called the dog Puppy when ying with the baby. Who knew how the baby knew that Puppy was a dog? Could it have been when Luo Xun hadined about her silliness? In short, setting aside the babys matters, since it was New Years, it was dumpling day at home. Although Luo Xun had quite a few ingredients and tried new recipes from time to time, dumplings were not often served. After the wrapping was somewhat troublesome so they would only eat once in a while. Most of the flour was usually used for pancakes or steamed buns. The Otaku squad had a number of people so there were naturally many tasks to bepleted. They also had to prepare the fillings for the dumplings. They had gathered a lot of food and drink, they even did not have to go out to collect metal. Other than spending an hour or two each day taking care of the crops, they idled around ying games or pondering what to eat. So the team discussed and decided to make several kinds of dumpling fillings. Lamb carrot stuffing C the taste was always popr. Three seafood filling C since the base had a lot of fish and shrimp along with creeks on base so they were not afraid to eat. Pork cabbage filling C a very traditional filling that everyone understood. Beef onion stuffing C this came from a few who suddenly thought of meat pies. Mushroom pork filling C they had quite a few mushrooms as a result of the mutant mushroom cultivation. The proportion was around ten to one, thinking about the size of the base, their mushroom production was amazing. Finally, the team tentatively set up these five along with Luo Xuns notebook could try some more exotic vors such as tomato and egg, ck pepper beef along with egg cucumber stuffing. Although rtively normal, they did not want to have some like leek and bean sprout filling. After a morning consultation, the team went to the basement to check on the crops. Once they were ready, everyone went to the kitchen to cook together. Luo Xun and Yan Fei pushed a small cart together, it was full of heavy barrels. The two of them took the elevator directly down to the second underground floor. They pushed the cart down the passageway to a gate. When the door opened, before the pair could go in, Puppy ran out with her tongue wagging followed by the two wolves C this was their kennel. An acre-sized area that Yan Fei had doubleyered on purpose. There was a ramp against the wall with some other ces where they could sleep. The two pulled the cart to the corner, there were tworge and three smaller pots. Luo Xun lifted the lids to reveal flour, corn and sorghum noodles along with a mixed vegetable stew. He dipped a spoon into the pots. Next to them was a big water bowl with clean water, there was even an open tap. The water tank was taken care of Song Lingling who would check the water level every couple days and fill it up. Usually, the base water was from the source using Yan Feis created pipes that were connected to each room. He could also use his ability to deal with any rusting. The two men set out the food and changed the water while also petting Puppys head. "Good, stay. Return when you are tired of ying." Luo Xun had put a door when they made this room. First, the two wolves needed enough exercise each day, such as running around in the passage or something to promote digestion. Second, Puppy also ate with them but it was hard to ensure that the two wolves would not follow when she went up to find Yu Xinran. Due to their huge size, they would not fit in the stairwell. Puppy rushed the pair with a bark before settling down to eat. The pair pushed the cart filled with empty pots down the hall. The meat they had cooked for the two wolves was not frozen. In the past, Luo Xun had directly dried some of the prey. Luo Xun calcted that the fridge simply did not have enough meat for them to eat for the winter, not to mention the rest of the team! So they tried mixing in noodles while steaming the dried meat and the two wolves were eating their fill! This was much more convenient. After all, dried food was easier and less perishable so Luo Xun would always dry a part of the spoils. Over time since they only consumed a small portion of it, they actually had more dried food then frozen. Now that the two wolves were willing to eat it, they were wee to it. The couple returned to the second floor to see everyone inspecting the crops. The set the cart aside and grabbed a special basket for the eggs. They used a newly built staircase to head to the third underground floor. The third basement floor waster expanded into arge room underneath where the two wolves lived. It was a lush area filled with a variety of green, leafy vegetables. There were areas of grass, some streams that contained seafood along with the quails and rabbits that were housed. The middle of the stream was a small pool where the domestic animals could drink water. Today Luo Xun had put all the quails inside C the grass had several rows of nests. Other spots had half-buried rabbit dens. The thirteen rabbits that survived were not afraid of the two showing up C they leisurely jumped around while eating grass. The two went to check the nests and found some eggs. They were split into two different baskets C the fertilized ones were to be ced in the hatchery above. Then the two went to check the dens. They looked inside one C empty. In another they found arge rabbit watching warily. Another...had a group of newborn rabbits. Yes, there was enough space and there actually was a full dozen inside! When the rest learned of the situation, they exchanged shocked looks and said, "No wonder there would be a disaster if rabbits had no natural enemies, no wonder if this many are born at once!" The two patrolled around the floor to confirm the animals conditions and crop growth. They were ready to head up when their phone rang C it was He Qiankun who was in the greenhouse. "Luo Xun, Yan Fei hurry up! Those two eagles are going to tear apart our house!" "Huh?" Those two eagles? Demolish? How were they going to do that? "They have abilities! The both of them are lightning types! Just now we were checking the fruit trees and we heard that they have blown up a mushroom box!" Oh no, they had forgotten about that! Luo Xun remembered that he had seen the big eagle grab a mutant animal and discharge the prey. It seemed that the two babies were its offspring, even the ability was simr! Chapter 253 After receiving the news of the two rebelling eagles at home, the pair rushed back to the car with their basket of eggs. They did not even take the time to park as they rushed the stairs. They rushed past the gate into the greenhouse. In the distance they heard the sound of chaos C the beating of wings and chase noises. Luo Xun had brought back the deer andmbs after the hail and it did not take long for them to grow up. Especially the two deer who were often seen running around in the area. Yu Xinran sometimes would ride one of them in the hillsides. The two eagles were more likely to chase them around as a kind of friendship between pets. But now, were they only yfully chasing them? Or did they identally find out about their powers? Anyway, the two deer in front would jump and the two eagles could not catch up so they would p their wings and spit out a ball of lightning. *Crackle* *Zizizi* *Boom* "Damn it! Ah! My garden!" Luo Xun heard the noises and became furious! He hated that he could not throw those two scourges outside the gate! Those two eagles didnt look big but they were lethal. The lightning attacks crackled and gouged holes in the garden and overturned one of the metal mushroom boxes that absorbed harmful substances. The only fortunate thing was that the broken trees were ones that had not flowered properly? A few members of the team struggled to keep the two in order C mainly because they did not want to hurt them, just calm them down. "What the hell is going on?" He Qiankun asked after the two hawks were caught and stuffed back into their nests. "We dont know! By the time we noticed, they were already fighting!" The other had no idea what happened. They were routinely inspecting the garden and checking the trees to see if there was anything to harvest. Who would think that the two would actually fight? Without witnesses, Luo Xun could only turn to one thing C their cameras. The cameras could not be ced too far but were set up in many parts of the base. Generally they would not always watch, just use when needed. Most of the videos had not been deleted yet and were saved away. Luo Xun hurried back to the basement to check the video after the eagles calmed down. They checked the recording from the greenhouse, they immediately understood what was going on C the two deer were showing off their physical fitness along with exercise as usual. They bounced and jumped to the eagles nest. Then, as usual, the two eagles also came running out. So one side was running while the other was pursuing like the wind and sand. This game was staged every day. What was different was that one identally fell and something sparked. Realizing the new ability, the two eagles had a new door opened to them. So they would run and spit out thunder balls everywhere. If the two of them had note for goods, who knew how long this would havested. Luo Xun kneaded his head, feeling a headacheing on with a tired heart. Their pets were full of energy! They could not reallymunicate! How were they going to manage? Puppy and the two wolves were good and the former was very sensible and would usually not user her ability. The two wolves would have developed self-control beforeing to the base, but those two eagles....they had developed an ability right after growing their feathers! How could it be?! On New Years Eve, the team spent their day with the deer, sheep, eagles, and dogs. In the end, they wanted to eat the wrapped dumplings for lunch C unfortunately, as a result of the unexpected situation, they could only eat it for dinner. They lived well this winter. Compared to the basement and greenhouse, the third floor where they lived was more prone to leakage but since Yan Fei set up the plumbing ording to Luo Xuns specifications, the temperature was controble andfortable. They also ate better since they had stockpiled arge amount of food before the winter. Luo Xun also made a bunch of bacon and other things hung to dry above the kitchen. Coupled with the meat in the fridge, vegetables in the garden and fruit, their winter was rtively pleasant. In addition, they made carpets, bedding and such with all kinds of animal fur. The whole room was covered with these things, who let them hunt so much along with what the two wolves brought back? Most of the fur was as a result of the two animals meals so the team could not say anything. The babys birthday passed as well as the Lunar New Year. The birds that migrated north and the group of dyed zombies arrived at the end of February when the snow and ice melted. While the ice melted, Luo Xun ced mushroom juice into the traps. The zombies would being soon. The metal was slightly heated so that the mushroom juice would melt in time. Yan Fei removed the metal lid, which left a gap in the snow. As long as one was not too close, nothing looked strange. When the first zombie passed through and stepped on the trap, the entire ice shell disappeared C the battle finally started! Luo Xun stood in front of the monitor and silently watched from a distance. The army was like a dark cloud, he silently breathed out C they finally arrived. This group of zombies came like a warning, that danger was approaching but there was a dy in the bulk of the wave. Now the other show hadnded, although the future was worrying and their hearts were slowly sinking. Luo Xun calcted in advance to avoid the basement and stay off the ground as much as possible. After all, they suspected the zombies noses were sharp, what else could they do to avoid detection. They had some defenses but the number was too small. All the external monitors were covered in metal iid with two pieces of ss for protection. In the distance, it was clear that some of the zombies had fallen into the trap but the army of zombies was still advancing. Luo Xun frowned and looked at the seemingly endless zombie wave, his heart felt uneasy C after a while the zombies would step on themselves and bypass the traps. Early in the morning, they quickly checked the crops in each room as well as the fruit trees and grass. The animals had long been ced together underground. The two eagles had finally learned to not spit out lightning balls were sitting quietly next to Yu Xinran, who was also beside Puppy. The two dogs also ran to the underground tunnel. Yan Fei had added some metal gates in case the passing zombies identally destroyed their tunnel and headed towards their base. Those two silly ones and the family of baby eagles, sheep, deer and other animals were extraordinarily obedient. Even the more lively ones became well-behaved as if they knew what was going on. Luo Xun had doubts about how far they would run if they were kept out? Like those twost year? "Theyve passed the first trap!" A couple of people were watching the screen suddenly said, making the atmosphere in the room tense. Sure enough, as everyone expected, although the traps were rtively deep andrge with severalyers, it was not enough for the zombie army! It did not take long for the traps to be filled and the wave to move towards the base. "Do you think they know were here?" Looking at the zombies, Li Tie could not help but suggest. "Its possible." Luo Xun did not deny it, but also reminded, "Keep an eye on them along with the mutant nts who can block for a while." At that time, the zombies had gone through the trap and halfway to the mutant nts. Then they reached the mutant nts that were hidden under the ice. Therge sloppy branches woke up from under the snow and ice. The mutant nts seemed particrly hungry after sleeping through the winter and were eager to face off against the enemies. Chapter 254 The mutant nts that stretched out from the snow seemed twice as stout as they seemedst winter. When the first zombie wave stepped through the traps and attacked the mutant nts. It seemed this was the first time they had been seen. The originally golden wheat color had added brown spikes growing out the back. Each of those things could grab prey and not let go! Looking in the distance at the entangled zombies and mutant nts. Luo Xun and the team kept silent but arge shadow also arrived in the sky C the zombies with flying abilities. Something fell from the sky and hit the metal roof covered in ice and snow. Luo Xun and the others looked at each other C although they were in the basement, they did not forget to leave the microphone on the roof to record soundsing from above. As if in agreement, one after another, the flying zombies attacked the roof while circling the air. Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged helpless looks. "Can only use the backup n." Yan Fei nodded and stood in the corner of the room. He raised his hand and touched the wall. Yan Fei could control metal, especially after he became level five. Because the entire base was made of metal, as long as he had contact he could tell if there was any damage or any needed renovations since he could sense the entire base. Only because the base area wasrge andplexly interconnected with metal; it consumed a lot of mental energy. It was a bit of a waste so they had not tried until now. Now, Yan Fei was not trying to probe the entire base but rather thin wires, almost invisible to the naked eye, shot from the roof into the sky. The movements were barely caught on camera. One after another after another! Those metal lines actually formed arge! Above the base, the zombies in the air were getting blocked. The seemed alive swallowing the zombies one by one. It seemed easy enough to tear those fine wires but they actually sliced the bodies into pieces! Yan Feo had not used this sort of method to capture zombies mainly because the ones on the ground had a variety of abilities. Especially the ones with physical reinforcement for which the wire would not be effective. But these wind type zombies were not the same, their physical defense was rtively weak. In addition, they were focused on breaking through the roof whilepletely ignoring the metal strands. A strong wind struck a zombie and it got sliced with Yan Feis wires! However, although Yan Feis fighting power was strong and the wire had a considerable range, area, and height, it was not enough to fully deal with the situation. Listening to the sounds on the roof, the team subconsciously heard the noise, got desensitized and finally even ignored it. If a satellite had taken photos of the area at this time, it would have been a shocking scene C zombie wave entangled with dark branches, each side was unable to separate from each other. However, Luo Xun and the others did not have the time to pay attention to these things. The city base and other people saw the zombie wave moving but did not know about the mutant nts. Coupled with some other factors, no one noticed anything suspicious. More importantly, although a zombie wave was passing through and there were arge number of zombies,pared to the zombie ocean army, the number was not as high. More importantly C the zombies were not sticking around, the line was long and parts of the wave were headed towards the A-city base! On the third morning, they had just changed shifts when they received news from theputer and satellite feed. Although the satellite captured images of their base getting attacked by zombies, due to the surrounding mutant nts and zombie bodies littering the ground and the ground being muddy from being trampled everyone ignored it. The zombie "blood" was not red but a muddy green which was not too different from the ground. If there had not been so many zombies surrounding the mutant nts, Luo Xun wondered if there would be no strange traces, just an area that zombies passed through. But since those zombies were attacked by the mutant nts, it looked off since that was not normal. "....Fortunately, they did not all surround us." Luo Xun looked through the new maps and found that the vast majority of zombies were actually moving towards the A-city base but the stragglers were more than enough to overwhelm a small base. At a nce, they could see that a portion of the zombies were still continuing in their direction so they could not let down their guard. During these two days Yan Fei was responsible for clearing out the flying zombies but his energy was limited despite using crystal cores to supplement his reserves. He could only work three or four hours at a time before needing to lie down and rest. After that, Zhang Yi would take over with his wind ability. With his personality, he actually ran to the third floor and did long-range shooting with wind des and air bullets. Zhang Yis killing strength was obviously not as strong against those zombies but with Yu Xinran making him gravel ammunition, those air cannons were pretty strong. Unfortunately, he could only shoot one head at a time so the efficiency was not great. Even if the others on base wanted to help, they had no methods as the wind zombies were flying high in the air. Other than Yan Fei with his metal and Zhang Yi being able to control his projectiles trajectory, shooting the zombies with a regr gun was too difficult. Maybe Luo Xun could have managed something but he had to stay in the basement and keep an eye on the situation outside. "The zombies have reached the back of the mutant nts." Luo Xun stared at the screen and reported to the team. Those looking at the photos quickly dropped what was in their hands and all gathered in front of the monitor. Sure enough, the zombies were finally passing the mutant nts with sheer numbers. They had broken through the outermostyer of nts and was nearing the outer walls of their base! Luo Xun took a deep breath and looked at the team. "Ready to power off, set the wall and put the eagles." The people were silent at the three orders. Now there were too many zombies and some were already inside but they did not know how many had been stopped by the mutant nts. Although they could see on the screen that each all the vines were grabbing zombies but they were not made for killing, their purpose was eating zombies and other living things that entered their territory. Even if they would not get trampled by the zombie army, even if they could maintain strength, they were nts that had a maximum absorption speed! Now it was clear that there were enough zombies for the nts to eat their fill and a number of them would naturally be dealt with. Their monitoring equipment confirmed that the zombies were outside their walls. Luo Xun immediately cut off all the power on base. He grabbed his shlight and took the two eagles to a separate metal wall in the basement. Patting the eagles head, Luo Xun pointed at the wall. "Discharge!" Since the two eagles had learned of their ability, from time to time they would spit out electricity. Fortunately, the team had the sense to keep them in the greenhouse C the ceiling was rtively high and there was sprinkler equipment that was remote-controlled. Therefore there would only be a few holes scattered around. Even so, since the two birds had an ability, naturally they had to find a way to train them in case they needed their ability. For example, right now. They fed the two eagles a piece of meat. The two pped their wings, raised their necks and blue sparks appeared in their mouths. The light grew brighter and bigger C *Crackle* The attack hit the metal wall and it seemed that the entire wall was emitting blue light. Chapter 255 Right after Luo Xun discovered that the two eagles had abilities, he studied how to make good use of their power. Communication was not possible so there was no way to give them specific orders for targets. But they could make them attack onmand C a big step forward considering thenguage barrier on both sides. In addition, they learnedst time that they could not solely rely on the mutant nts for defense when zombie waves passed through. They needed to be more like the A-city base with more defenses. The traps were part of the new fortifications along with the walls. At first, they wanted to use the metal and batteries inside their home to power up the defenses, but they had a limited number. Plus they had just passed a long winter, with the snow blocking the roof, they could not replenish electricity. Then the situation with the zombie waves and mutant nts urred, how could they clear out the area? Fortunately, they discovered the two eagles powers. Although there was no equipment on hand to collect the energy the eagles spit out, they could still use the energy to defend themselves in a pinch. In previous tests, they confirmed that the electricity could be transmitted through a special metal wall. They did not know whether it was because they were mutant animal offspring but their electrical power was very powerful. A single spark could cause great damage. It was the same on the metal walls, the energy spread quickly and all the zombies that covered the walls were struck and started smoking. A higher voltage would have killed a person or at least enough to be unable to move for half a day, which was a funeral sentence. Especially with such a wide-range shock, just those two electric balls were enough to make the first wave of zombies paralyzed for half a minute. Half a minuteter, the second shot came so the zombies once again experienced an electric current through their bodies. One should know that they were standing near a fence in the snow with muddy soil, it was enough to be fatal! Not long after, the surrounding mutant nts finished digesting their previous prey. Then they stretched out again for more food to grab... The traps, devil vines, electric shocks coupled with Yan Fei manipting the metal to create a along with Zhang Yi and Xu Mei who targeted the enemies. The attacks varied and they cooperated with each other while relying on the stockpile of crystal cores at home that they had painstakingly collected. Fortunately, there were no more flying zombies after the fourth day, the ones who had rushed towards their base were dealt with. The remainder used some ranged attacks or kept up with the rest of the army once the human scent became too faint. Only a group of ground zombies still rushed into the devil vines towards their smaller base. Luo Xun and the others could only grit their teeth and endure, any retreat would be despair. So they had to hold on and wait. "Theres movement on the ground." The group of people was stationed in the basement, power had been restored and several defensive countermeasures had been used. Yan Fei, who had been resting also had his eyes on the screen. "Underground? Zombie in the earth?" Luo Xun immediately sat up. "Or is it mice?" This zombie wave had a variety of zombies, not just humans. But if they were mice, why did they not appear at the start? "Not sure, seems like earth type zombies." Yan Fei sensed through the metal walls. "But not too many, I should be able to handle them." Luo Xun sighed and held out arge, white crystal core for Yan Fei to absorb and deal with the underground threats. It was still night, no more urately it was the dark before dawn. The result was that those damned zombies were moving forward and actually hit the ground! Fortunately, Luo Xun had been worried about metal zombies smoothly entering their base and had set up monitors to pick out any with metal armor. Most of them had actually already been dealt with by the devil vines. The rest that approached the wall were put down at once with careful precision. Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief and Yan Fei opened his eyes. "Killed, more than forty total." More than forty earth zombies, but fortunately they did not dig down with other types such as metal, otherwise, they would be at a disadvantage. What about the bodies that had piled up like mountains outside? Who had the energy to pay attention to that? Their life was more important right now. After about half an hour, dawn finally broke and the sun peeked out from the horizon. A couple people woke up with their rm clock, sat up and rubbed their faces. They turned to Luo Xun and asked, "Whats the situation outside?" Luo Xun answered while shooting. "No change, wait another twenty minutes and let the eagles go another round." "Okay." The two eagles were mutant animals and did not use crystal cores. They could only rely on resting to slowly recover. Each day they could discharge two rounds and they required rest after each time. Their base had been surrounded by zombies for six days. It had to be said that without the tireless mutant nts, defending against so many iing zombies was a pipe dream. Xu Mei got up. "Lingling and I are going to get something to eat." "Okay, make sure to bring your cell phone." The base was not small so they must ensure smoothmunication. Fortunately, they had arranged signal receivers, wifi and other things on base. They couldmunicate no matter what room they were in. Otherwise, the istion effect of the metals was enough to block all modern wireless devices. After checking the conditions outside the wall, Luo Xun sat down for twenty minutes. Then the two rested eagles were ready to spew out more electricity. After this round of counter-attack, the power on base was restored again. Li Tie and Han Li went to pick up thedies while Yan Fei began to manipte the outermostyer of metal to deal with zombies. "Weve got thetest satellite photos, lets check them out." He Qiankun and Wu Xin were responsible for checking the news and had sent them to Luo Xun. "Good, you check. Ill keep watch." All the members had their orders and were busy such as Wang Duo helping carry crystal cores from the warehouse. Only Zhang Yi kept his eyes closed as if he had not awoken. Yu Xinran happily put her arm around Puppys neck while mumbling something. A short whileter the other came back. Xu Mei had not made anythingplicated, she used some dry noodles to make arge pot of tomato egg noodles. Luo Xun had prepared the dry foods in advance in case of defensive battles. Afraid of having no time to prepare troublesome foods, everyone could only rely on these simple foods. "Luo Xun! Quick! Look at this photo!" He Qiankun yelled with excitement. The team could not keep eating and they all gathered in front of hisputer. "Look!" There was only one erged satellite photo that took up the entire screen. This photo was very familiar to Luo Xun and the others because they paid the most attention to surveince near their home. Naturally, they could recognize the terrain from above at a nce. Now, the zombie wave was on the map, outside their base, and without end. But finally ...they could see the tail end! Seeing that end, it proved that they had reached the light at the end of the tunnel! Just persevere and hold on for a few more days. When thest wave of zombies were gone or wiped out, it would be over for a while! Luo Xun took a deep breath and did not cheer with the rest. He carefully observed the zombies still surrounding their base. The others who saw the photo might not see anything. At best they knew that the mutant nts were blocking the zombies. But Luo Xun could clearly distinguish the fortifications from home, the mutant nt area and where they had nted traps. "This photo was taken yesterday afternoon as the satellite passed by, after a night...the tail should have reached around where we ced the traps. Today if we pay attention to the cameras we might be able to see the end for ourselves." After Luo Xun finished, the room broke out into cheers that could not be stopped. Chapter 256 Luo Xun and the team had a bad time these days, although the base was very safe. But the torrent of zombies was heart-stopping. This zombie wave was different from thest time since thest one was only passing through. They did not know if there were people around so even if the zombies surrounded the mutant nts but found they were not human an inedible, they would not stick around. This time the zombies were different, they knew that there were people here and did not find it difficult to breakthrough. So arge group of zombies was left behind, trying to break through the obstacles in order to eat the people inside. How could they feel safe in either case while inside the base? Fortunately, now everyone could finally see the light of day. Sure enough, at ten oclock, After moving the cameras at home to check the situation outside they could finally see the end tail of the zombie wave. Thest of the zombies had reached the line of traps and the mutant vines. They surrounded the base and began the final attack. "Wait an hour, after 11:30, well start a new round of counterattacks." Luo Xun checked outside and said with a relieved smile on his face. "Good!" All the people inside the base waved their fists with hidden excitement. The reason for the decision to fight back after 11:30 was that Luo Xun found after long observation that they would receive satellite photos the earliest after 9:30 and thestest around 10:40. For safety reasons, they dared not do anythingrge during this time at their base. In case anyone saw the photos and caused trouble. Now their final counterattack, they could definitely not be found. Although it would take more than an hour to start the fight, they could start preparations. Other than those who stayed in the room to watch the outside, the rest went to grab things from one of the ice rooms. This room was different from the others, there was no plumbing but with arge amount of ice it was a natural cooler! Although their home had many fridges and freezers those things required energy to maintain. Plus the storage was limited, it was enough to put food and meat but after a certain amount, it was not easy to deal with. Instead, this natural fridge was worry-free and with it in ce, it could store frozen mushroom juice. For todays defensive battle, it was not that they did not want to fight back using mushroom juice. With the zombies and mutant vines, what better natural biological weapon than this? But they could not use it, yes they could not. Before they dug out the circle of traps outside the base, they half-filled it with mushroom juice so their stores were eight percent depleted. If not for the zombie army arriving, they would not use their remaining stock. Although there were mushrooms growing at home, they could not umte a lot in a short period of time. At this point, it was time to use it to put an end to the battle. They transported boxes of frozen mushroom juice from the basement to the ground floor using the elevator. It did not take long for the mushroom juice to be delivered. At this time, He Qiankun and Wu Xin continued monitoring the situation while the others made final preparations. Xu Mei used her fire ability to warm the metal boxes while the other watched outside. Zhang Yi and Song Lingling prepared their own crystal cores while listening to Luo Xuns attack ns: direction, scope and so on. Besides Xu Mei, the others would move the thawed boxes to the third floor. Once everything was transported, they were on standby. Luo Xun held his weapon while watching outside. He Qiankun confirmed the situation and Luo Xun ordered the two main attackers. "Ready, go!" Yan Fei opened the sealed metal window, Zhang Yi controlled the air while Song Lingling flung out the mushroom juice. The wind brought out the red liquid past the walls and rained down in all directions. When the red rain came into contact with the zombies there came the smell of burning flesh along with plumes of white smoke. It looked like incense was burning and lingering in the air. The mutant devil vines that seemed to have eaten their fill were suddenly awoken. Their branches twisted excitedly and waved in the air. The mushroom juice rained in all directions. Almost all the nearby zombies were drenched and the devil vines descended on. It was as if delicious food had be even more delicious! The end result was that the vines ignored their full stomachs and continued twisting around. Luo Xun and the others were surprised seeing the devil vinese alive and even more excited than when the zombies first arrived. None of them thought that this would happen. They wanted to just sprinkle a little mushroom juice to deal with some zombies but did not expect it would act like stomach medicine to alleviate indigestion and even increased their appetite. "...I knew we should have sprinkled the nts with mushroom juice earlier." Wang Duo muttered. Although they only had some mushroom juice on hand, there was enough to use as a medicine for the vines. Luo Xun coughed. "We didnt know before and we dont know if there would be any adverse effects if they ate too much..." Indeed zombie waves, not a good thing, since they had only experienced one before, it was normal to be inexperienced. They would check the vines after the zombie wave. If everything was okay, they would be able to use this for defense. But what if there were adverse reactions to overeating C what if they died? Then they would have to recultivate new vines to nt. The team epted and learned their lesson. The next time they encountered this kind of thing they would have a report and find an appropriate response. Still, the red mushroom juice rained down. Regardless of whether the mutant nts would have any adverse reactions from absorbing the mushroom juice, Luo Xun would have to deal with thister. So Zhang Yi and Song Lingling had to spill as much mushroom juice on the mutant nts as possible. Bit by bit, everyone worked from eleven to two in the afternoon. Finally, the zombies around the base were mostly dealt with. They also ran out of their stored mushroom juice. Zhang Yi and Song Lingling absorbed crystal cores to restore their strength. After they used the juice, Song Lingling asked, "Do you want to go to the nting room and get some juice from the nted mushrooms?" There were maturing mushrooms at home so they could grab some in a pinch. Luo Xun held a telescope to check the situation outside, he shook his head in response. "Not for the time being, lets wait and see." The zombies that were clinging to the walls had all been pulled away by the excited devil vines. Now they could just wait quietly and wait for the end result. Sure enough, as Luo Xun expected with the excited devil vines almost all the zombies were entangled in the vines. But due to arge number of zombies, they were stopped but could not be eaten all at once. Mushroom juice was still good against the dead but the small amount only caused a certain amount of damage. So in the evening, the two sides were in a deadlock. "Well wait until tomorrow morning." After checking the situation outside, the team breathed a sigh of relief and calmed their hearts. Right? At least now there were no zombies rampaging outside the base and smashing their walls, right? Chapter 257 In March, the warm spring breeze blew across the earth and the snow-covered mountains and frozen rivers slowly started to melt. The people of the A-city base were not in the mood to pay attention to the natural world outside. They had been stuck in their base for more than a month, it was now mid-March. Flying zombies, strength type zombies and non-human zombies had appeared.... The dark figures pressed desperately against the entire base. It was the first time they had encountered a defensive battle that hadsted so long. What was even more frightening was that their outer city walls were starting to crumble! "Come on! Earth users, walls, walls!" As if to confirm their fears, screams came from several walls as those in charge of defense died. Others went to find earth users to repair the crumbling walls. "Its gone, theyre gone!" "Whos gone?" "The earth users...not only them but also the bigger teams!" In a sh, it seemed that the military and ability teams stationed on the outer fence disappeared en masse. Those stationed on the walls felt their heart stop but they had a feeling. They turned their heads behind to therger, stronger inner walls. The outer city walls cracked and broke. At the same time, the originallybative military personnel had retreated while the regr people had lost the will to fight. *ng* One person dropped his gun and dropped to the ground in despair with a mad smile. "What else? What else is there to do? My friends and family are all out of town." This was their home and they were willing to sacrifice themselves for that. But with the broken outer base, their rtives and friends were dead from the zombie air raids. With the discovery of people hiding in the more secure inner-city base instead of fighting, the people no longer had the will to fight. Back in January, the inner city created a metal lid to defend against air attacks. So only the outer city was hit the zombie air raids. At the start of the zombie attack, the base did not arrange for people to evacuate into the inner area. They protested but no one cared or helped. They could only head to the walls to defend the city. The zombies roared at the huge gaps in the walls. They had finally cracked open the food box and now it was time to feast. Every day between 9 and 11:30, Luo Xun and the team used the time to clean up crops and such. In the afternoon they cleaned out the traps and the surrounding zombie bodies on the road. "Oh my God, I didnt expect our harvest to be so bountiful." Seeing all the crystal cores lying on the ground, their eyes were filled with emotion. Then they sighed and cleaned the crystal cores covered in mushroom juice. Almost all the traps they had set were full and were at least seventy percent filled with crystal cores! When they poured the mushroom juice down, it would naturally overflow with the number of zombies. Some of the ones walking by had corrosion damage on their lower limbs. After that, the newly fallen zombies would continue to fill up the hole and continue to be dissolved. Therefore zombie bodies were everywhere, both inside and outside the traps. Not to mention the mutant farnds, Luo Xun could see in the distance that some of the bodies had not been digested by the nts. The devil vine corpses were ignored and there was less worry about cores left therepared to elsewhere. They could go back and collect them slowlyter. Now they had Song Lingling clean the metal box and the crystal cores. No different from their previous work collecting cores. Then Yan Fei put the ttened metal back down with Yu Xinran adding sand on top. The traps would certainly be used again in the future. It would save the effort if they left the metal in the ground instead of transporting them back and forth. This time they had spent more than a week going out to pick crystal cores but there was still half left. No way around it, they could only let Yan Fei sink the unfinished traps with Yu Xinran covering them and dig out a few each day. Though there was a feeling of regret C although the harvest was quiterge, they did not find any level six cores, the highest they found was level five. They were afraid if they could not find a level six within such arge batch, it would be very difficult to level up in the future. However, the devil vines had a lot of crystal cores waiting for them before thinking about what to do. In the evening after a busy day, the team dragged their tired bodies and stored the cores away. After returning to base, some people went to prepare dinner while others went to check todays photos and messages. "Ah?! A-city base was broken through?!" Li Tie shouted while looking at the satellite photos from today. "What?!" "Look at these pictures..." He immediately showed a series of photos he was looking through. Luo Xun hurried over and opened them. Sure enough, it was clearly shown that a portion of zombies were pouring into the base and had gradually surrounded the inner city walls! "Whats going on? How can the A-city base be so fragile?!" Luo Xun screeched and quickly went to look for news. They had been busy these past few days, although they had checked the photos, they did not pay much attention to the news. One had to know that even before a medium-sized base in the south had not been breached. Therefore Luo Xun had not worried about the A-city base to stay safe. But now... "Found it! Look at this file!" The team turned over to find some internal documents. As they looked, their frowns deepened and their expressions became uglier. Turns out, when the A-city base was attacked by the zombie wave, their higher-ups gave up the outer city and retreated to the inner portion. Plus the zombies had just surrounded the outer part and had not even reached the inner city at the time. They even covered the entire inner city in metal. As the fighting continued, the higher-ups ignored the discontent from the outer city that grew louder and louder. Then around the tenth day of the siege, the inner city actually created this proposal. As for why they gave up the outer base, it was clear in the documents C the outer residents were not willing to support base work, unwilling to obey management, lowbat power and they even pulled down defense efficiency. Therefore, they could take advantage of the zombie siege to shake off undesirables and centralize base management. So yesterday, the base quietly evacuated the garrison forces and quickly withdrew to the inner city. As they expected, the outer city walls crumbled and broke. "Assholes! A bunch of bastards!" He Qiankun clenched his fists and hammer the table with furious eyes. "They had long absorbed the ability users into their teams in the inner city but also left the ordinary people in the outer city?! Their fighting power cant match up! And they were left behind?! The regr people are abandoned and dead along with those without strong abilities!" There was silence as everyones eyes were filled with anger, unwillingness, and resentment. After a while, Luo Xun took a deep breath and looked at the people in the room. "Now that A-city has been breached, I have no feelings for A-city even if it survives the attack. We dont need to maintain any contact with them." He made this decision not only because of the higher-ups decision to abandon the regr people but because of the problematic atmosphere. What if they were suspicious and fancied their resources and decided to deal with them? A-city base was different from the small convoy they encounteredst time and they werepletely out of touch. Luo Xun did not want to have any rtionship who would abandon people once they were useless C like how the bases higher-ups were acting. After Luo Xuns words, all nodded in silence. They also did not want to work with such a base, evenmunication made them shiver. The march sunshine was just right, not too hot or cold. The evening of the third day after the city walls had been broken, arge shadow of dark clouds appeared in the sky from the south to the north. At that time Luo Xun and the team were busy next to a trap. They finished up and hurried home to rest. The three dogs noticed the situation first and ran for cover while barking. Luo Xun quickly looked up to see the change. They packed up their things and drove straight to the gate. "Whats that?" "I dont know, its too far to see. Its not another zombie wave is it?" "How is that possible? The biggest wave also passed our area, these couldnt be zombies!" "Then what are those then?!" Zhang Yi, with arms crossed interrupted the conversation. "Dont yell, theyre migratory birds." He just received the information from the wind before guessing that they were birds. The crowd was silent beforeughing. "Oh, I forgot, isnt it time for the migratory birds to fly back?" At the end of March, the birds migrated back from the north. The pond in front of their base once again weed their seasonal visitors. For three days in a row, they did not go out again. They were waiting for the birds to fly over. As for those that remained, most of them lived near herest year, so they were old neighbors. The two wolves licked their lips and looked towards the gate. Although they knew that there were too many birds outside so it was not a good time to leave. What surprised them was that after the birds flew in, they received some satellite photos and some news from the base. It seemed that due to the migratory birds, the zombies actually started to leave upon their arrival... Although they did not know the reason, this was a good thing. Because the outer base had not beenpletely destroyed! Yes, it was still standing! After the city walls were broken, many of those left on the lower buildings were killed. The others climbed up the walls and hid inside the buildings. Fortunately, since the start of the siege, most of the flying zombies had been eliminated by the crowd. Without that threat, those who hid in the upper floors were rtively safe. As long as there was strength remaining, they could barely hold on. The regr people were actually sort of lucky C the zombies were not interested in low-level regr people and instead went straight towards the inner wall. They surrounded the tall buildings and started to attack. So after the death tide receded, the people in the outer city regained their souls. They walked out of the building and cried for their losses. "I dont want to stay in such a ce." "Where would you go? There are walls in the base that can be defended and we can buy weapons..." "Stay here and wait to be abandoned again? I have hands and feet! Although there are zombies in the city, I would rather fight behind my own walls than be stabbed in the back!" "Yes, I know that there are a lot of small bases in the city! Some of them live in buildings and grow vegetables on the roof. Some simply dig tunnels to live. I dont know if they survived this attack though..." "Im going outside to see. Even if they did not survive, I would rather die fighting to protect myself than staying here, getting worked like cattle and giving up most of my work to someone that will leave us!" "Thats right! Even if I die outside, I dont want to stay here!" "Thats right, thats right!" "My family is dead, they were all killed!" "My daughter was taken by a man on an ability team. I dont even know if shes dead or alive and I cant go in and see if she is doing well..." "Oh, you think you have it bad? My wife was snatched and now shes locked up in the base..." Simr sounds were heard from all corners of the angry crowd. Although there were still some people afraid to leave, feeling that there was another way. But at least half of the outer city people had decided to leave. The outer base walls had long been broken by the zombies. The people did not wait and quickly collected the crystal cores inside the zombies. These people were not stupid, looking at the variety of zombie heads lying around, there was enough time to gather more than three cores each time. The people in the inner base felt that the regr people were no threat and armored vehicles drove out with people equipped with all kinds of weapons. Those digging out cores had long expected this. The men ran back to their homes. Therefore, the base people found that the high-level zombie cores had already been dug out. They readied to search for regr people outside but realized C at least half the people in the outer city had left overnight. Several factories that had been left were emptied, arge amount of equipment was stolen. The higher-ups of the A-city base immediately issued an order C search the city and find the resources! The decision left the remaining outer city residents outraged, especially when armed shes broke out after some peoples homes were forcibly searched for high-level cores. After a quarter of the survivors were killed or wounded, the rest left the A-city base. By the time Luo Xun saw the relevant information from top-secret base documents, the A-city base only had the inner city. The former outer city specially formed had ceased to exist... TN: One chapter left...I thank all the readers and hope that I did a good job with my first MTL novel. Chapter 258 Releasing the final chapter early. I received enough Ko-Fis for a bonus chapter but got swamped with work until now. Thesest two chapters were so much longer than usual...?b(৥)b? Its been three years since the base split. The former A-city base hadpletely eliminated all the buildings in the outer city area along with the other buildings with a certain range of the base. The ground was covered with barbed wire, traps along with mines, power grids, and other things. The already tall and mighty walls were now stronger and thicker. The new base was still one of thergest in the country, with the strongest walls, roofs, farming along with resources and weapons. But there was an important issue that could not be ignored C the number of people. After the original division of the inner and outer cities, many of the young females had been absorbed into the inner base, whether through connections or marriage. Although those women were proud to survive the zombie siege, who knew why the fertility rate in base was low. After a full three years, the number of babies born could be easily counted. On the other hand, the people who left the A-city base established bases. Or they wandered into the wilderness to build their own shelter. These bases, bothrge and small had long been mixed and were baptized again and again by zombie attacks roaming Eurasia. Among them, some bases could not resist and disappeared but there were several strong bases that remained to this day. Now, the zombie waves also warred with mutant nts, animals and the remaining humans so their numbers were no longer asrge. As long as there were no surprises, people in the bases were able to pass these difficult days. The spring morning breeze brushed against peoples faces with a slight cool feeling. Luo Xunzily stretched out and smiled out the window at the golden blue sky. "Dada, dada." A child sat up from his small bed and shouted at Luo Xun. "Woke up?" Luo Xun turned to the small bed and picked up the child. He pinched his tender little face. The child rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. "Dad, wheres Father?" Because neither Yan Fei nor Luo Xun wanted to be called "Mom", both were called a variant of "Dad". Although there was a mixup for the rest of the team, Luo Xun and Yan Fei seemingly had telepathy and knew who was being called. "Yan Fei is with the dogs,e one lets get dressed and out the door!" While speaking Luo Xun changed the childs clothes for him. One adult and one child were changing clothes and ready to wash up. Yan Fei opened the door and gave each one a small kiss. "I took everything down and put the things in the car, we can go after breakfast." "What about the three?" Luo Xun asked while helping the child into his pants. "All outside and will be going in the car in a moment." The two checked that there were no problems with the clothes before heading to the bathroom on the first floor to wash up. Three years after the apocalypse, many people who left the base in order to survive and for safety amongst other reasons teamed up with mutant animals. Mutant animals not only had strongbat ability but also helped hunt zombies and support their owners in critical moments. So now having arge number of mutant animals was also a sign of strength. Ever since that poprity increased for smaller bases, Luo Xun would have their mutant animals escort them outside. Today was the same as usual. After breakfast, they checked their home crops and then moved some of their goods through the tunnel. The Otaku team had carried outrge-scale reconstruction. These past three years, the devil vine nting area had more than doubled. Some had been specially cultivated by Luo Xun while some were wild-grown. These devil vines were twice as high and widepared to before. For their safety, Luo Xun had also increased the greenhouse space along with a third floor. Fortunately, the vines grew no longer, seemed to have reached a limit. Otherwise, would Luo Xun be able to grow the vines into the heavens? They added ayer to the basement and expanded the surroundings, some rooms had be a lotrger. The newest floor was converted into an ice cer divided into two rooms. One was used to store mushroom juice while the other had a variety of meat and food reserves. The two cers were cooled with each since they were deep underground and far enough from the other rooms. They could also use the area if they ever needed to cool down. The team left the base with two wolves running beside the car and a pair of eagles in the sky. Speaking of the two birds, although their ability was very high, their size had not grown much...they were much smaller than their parents.... Speaking of parents, it was rted to where they were going this time. The ce where they picked up the chicks in the past and where they found the bouncy castle. After the outer A-city base was destroyed, some people to this small town. A year after it started to develop and sessfully resisted that years zombie wave attack. After a while, many basesrge and small set up nearby and formed a market exchange event three times a year. People of various bases woulde and set up stalls and sell things. In addition, Luo Xun knew that there were people who lived here since the start of the apocalypse. They also knew that since the chicks were runts, their parents would have abandoned thete-bloomers, afraid that others would not survive. The female flew back south first. *Chirp, Screech* Two sounds came from the sky as they approached the area with apartmentplexes. A person riding a cat ran towards the convoy, it circled the first electric car while meowing at the vehicle. Luo Xun took out a piece of fried fish from his bag C one that they had dried, and bribed the cat. The big cat happily grabbed the dried fish and squinted its eyes in happiness. The person on the cats back smiled, "Not too many people are here, your stall slot is avable for you." "Thanks a lot." Luo Xun looked up and smiled. This mans appearance was not to the same level as Yan Fei or Zhang Yi but was somewhat simr to thetter, in short C a beauty. Compared to Zhang Yis demonic elegance, this man seemed more fragile and slender than average. With softer than average facial features, long ck hair tied back and inky green eyes. Even if he was notughing, the corners of his mouth were raised. Therge cat finished eating the bribe then started at their owner, who took out another bag of dried fish. The cat proudly waved its tail while the two wolves stood beside their master on the road. Luo Xun sighed. "s, no wonder he hid in that building when the apocalypse started, if he ran to a base looking like that...lots of hopes would have been dashed." He had not paid attention to when men on base turned to kiwis, but the world was about the same as before. There were no old and young females who escaped and only a few females with a high level of fighting power. So, it was the norm for two men to live together. Their group was now an exception with the two women along with Yu Xinran who was not grown up yet. Those outside the team were heartbroken C the year before Xu Mei had hooked up with Li Tie. The two had married with the teams blessing. After that, Han Li, who was also single, began to desperately pursue Song Lingling. It had to be said for this strong woman avoiding a rtionship, Han Li dropped his face and started an unceasing wooing n. In the end, the pair got together... The remaining He Qiankun and Wu Xin did not mind in the slightest and did not begrudge Han Li. Because ...He Qiankun finally shed his excess weight and turned into a handsome man. The two guys living in the same room fell into a rtionship. Therefore, it fell to Han Li to pursue the singledy. Only, since the two guys were already living together and did not show any in public, the rest of the team did not find out untilst winter at the market. There were people from other bases eager to pursue them, only to find out C they actually got together! Well, this kind of thing was actually normal. In addition, Xu Meis daughter was born and Song Lingling got pregnant five months ago. The former city was somewhat in disarray with several neighborhoods upied by differentrge and small teams. But before they moved in, they signed a series of agreements with thendlords "White Cat Helper" team. It included an alliance for emergencies such as a zombie wave and for upgrading constructs in the city. As a result, some buildings with scattered survivors were also included. They may not have high power, resources of quirks but they shared some characteristics C if their ce of residence was threatened, they would do their part to keep their home safe. They hadmon interests. In this way, this seemingly disordered separate residences actuallysted a whole three years in the apocalypse and would continue to exist smoothly. The formermercial streets door was open with shops on both sides of the street. People did not need to pay a fee to set up a stall. It was mostly a few small teamsing and going, so there was no reason to go after someone. The ce where Luo Xuns team set up their stall was not small. Before the apocalypse, it had been a restaurant with clear ss windows. The cabs and shelves were clean and tidy. They could ce their goods inside and let people outside see the items. The billboard outside showed the teams name "Otaku Squad Base" along with several different seals. The seals were set up by several teams in themunity to represent quality, meaning that the goods were guaranteed to be authentic. The main products were a variety of dried vegetables, meat, fish, mushrooms and some jam. These were semi-processed goods so the raw ingredients were identifiable. If they acted more like a grocery store, people dared not try as easily. They ced the goods they brought from base on the shelves. This time in addition to the vegetables and meat, they also had sausages and canned fruit among other things. Quite a few people came over to see the goods for sale. The next day the market would be officially open for outsiders. There were many empty houses for rent by teams or lone survivors. A small fee was charged for better conditions. The local teams manned these "hotels" for their own work. If conditions were rtively poor, the houses could be lived in but there was no guarantee of safety. If there was rain there may be leaks. Businesses like Luo Xuns team could live in the store, both to guard the goods and to save money. Local teams also opened a few restaurants on the street to make money, business was pretty good. The next morning, all the scheduled teams had arrived and set up their shops for the opening. Those who came to buy and trade also started. On the first day, a few people were left in charge of the shop while the rest began to walk around to see if there were any supplies from other shops that they needed. The people who often set up stalls were mutual acquaintances, so Luo Xun would greet almost every store. Though Luo Xun would vomit blood since they all asked simr questions, such as "Your girl is ten years old? Shell grow up soon and get married in a few years...By the way, you mustnt set up an arranged marriage, let her choose her own husband! Even after ten years, I am still young!" Or, "Oh, youre holding your son in your arms right? s, such a good child, he really looks like his father and will grow up to be handsome...Its a pity hes so young..." This group of wolf-like mixed eggs not only eyed their little Yu Xinran, but also the only four-year-old baby Yan! This child was only four years old! This group of middle-aged people needed to clear their minds! More exasperating was that there were many people asking for Xu Meis year old daughter and the child in Song Linglings stomach. Although men and women got together C with so few newborns, Luo Xuns group was the best chance of chasing the family dream. It would be even better if one could have a beautiful girl! When they grew up and got married, they could give birth to children! Along the way, they rejected group after group of wolfy opportunists. The couple were physically and mentally exhausted by the time they returned to their storefront. But then saw that their team members were standing guard along with a big white cat. "They came to the store too?" Luo Xun asked in bewilderment while Yan Fei shrugged. The cats owner liked to shop but did not like to cross paths with other people C along with the child in their arms...Who was now named Yan Xin to represent new life after the apocalypse, a new era, future and so on. They ced their hopes in their children, hoping that they will usher in a new world and live a happy life. The name took a long time to finalize between the couple. This was because although Luo Xun was fond of the name, it shared a character with Yan Feis fathers name. Luo Xun was not as happy upon that realization. Yan Fei said, "This name is his own and it represents our hopes. Who cares if the character is the same? With us, we wont let him turn out like that." So, Yan Xins name was finalized. "Baien, are youing? Luo Xun motioned towards one person in particr near the entrance. "Your husband didnte? He knows that youre out shopping?" Luo Xun looked around and asked in confusion. Baien heard the words and smiled, which lit up the room as well as the hearts of the onlookers. "Came to find you." Baien ignored the crowd and walked towards the pair. "Whats the matter?" Luo Xun put down Yan Xin and let him find Yu Xinran to y around. "Weve just heard that theres a convoying, be careful not to provoke them." Baien spoke while pointing to the northwest. Luo Xun narrowed his eyes while Baien went to the next store with the same news. Where else would people approaching from the north-weste besides A-city? The news spread immediately through the market. Within half an hour, everyone near the mall and those who came to buy things knew. It started during the second half ofst year, asionally people from the A-city base would quietlye to buy and sell. Although they acted very low-key and tried not to advertise their identity, there would always be people who recognized them. Some of the teams could also get inside news and know ahead of time if they wereing. The news was spread in advance to be prepared. Despite the other party having resources that were needed, unless they were critical, no one would take the initiative to do business with them. They were not given any face. Just like now. As soon as the motorcade entered the area, it was clear that they were being watched. The captain in charge of supply procurement smiled bitterly. "Its as they said, as soon as we arrive it bes silent." "Leader, how do they know where were from?" They had just arrived and were already revealed to be from the A-city base. "Who knows what special power they have?" The captain said helplessly. "Lets just buy what we need and not say long." It was certainly not a good idea to linger with people on guard against them. They found an empty house and the group came to the market with gasoline, coal, steel, cloth and so on while looking for products they needed to exchange. They did not need cores but did need many other things like mutant animal meat. Whenever the group came to the store, everyone stopped their business until they left. By the time evening fell, this group of people had exhausted faces C they were ready to spend the night but the omnipresent hostility felt like needles, difficult to resist. Fortunately, they had bought or exchanged most of what they needed. "Gone?" "Gone and out of town." Luo Xun shrugged. "Eh, they left, otherwise it would have been ufortable." Almost all the bases knew about the A-city basecking virtue. Although most did not know the specifics, the situation in North China was obvious. The A-city base was still the leader but their position was not stable. If not for the mining rights at a few major points and the architecture of the base itself, no one would listen to them. As for the exchange markets set up by the major bases....it was something that the average could and dared not attend. Unlike the smaller markets with regrs from the area, it was no surprise that more than one team ended up being robbed at eachrge-scale market event. Therefore, Luo Xun and the team only participated in the small markets and did not expand past their local area. They did not pull new people in or spread to other urban areas. It was because they knew todays people so there would not be anything unexpected. This time, the market wouldst a full week. Afterward, the various teams and people would leave with their supplies. In other parts of the country, this type of small market bloomed across the city while forming quasi-viges. Although peoples lives were still difficult, without convenient tools and needing to personally cultivate resources, it was not as bad as the early days of the end. In addition, the zombie waves were gradually receding. The zombies were still strong, but ones level five and above were as rare as phoenixes. The world had long formed a method to deal with ordinary zombies, enough to resist the waves. They would survive and build a home suitable for humans. "Daddy, Dad! They say theyve got a big one with a crystal core!" The team drove back down the path while Yan Xin pointed at the mutant farnd. "Where is it? Have them bring it out." Luo Xun signaled the cars to stop. Little Yan Xin stuck his head out of the window and waved at the mutant nts on the roadside. The vine twisted and rippled, transporting a gray crystal to the car door. Wang Duo shivered from the back of the car. "No matter how many times I have seen this, I get shivers every time, what to do?" Zhang Yi nonchntly shrugged and said, "Get used to it." Wang Duo put their faces close together and cooed, "My dear, help warm me up..." Several people in the back were unable to hold on C they were being fed too much dog food. Yan Feo reached for the crystal core and put it directly in his sons hand. "Yours." "Ah!" The child nodded his head, smiling with the core in hand. He waved at the vines outside, who waved back as if alive. nt-typemunication ability. Luo Xun had never heard of this exact ability but it was simr to the White Cat teams leaders ability. The difference was that their son could listen and control nts. The downside was that he could also sense the dead and control them too. But it was not a good thing, early on he could not go out without suffering a severe headache. He could only stay at home or copse from a migraine. Now that his ability was level five, he could also sense human emotions. As long as he did not end up in a crowded area, the mood would not drive him crazy. Back home, everything at home was warm and peaceful even after ten days of being left alone. The team simply packed up what they bought and worked in the nting room or the animal pens. They also checked the satellite news C many talents had left the A-city base including people who knew how to transmit messages. The Otaku squad, with Yan Feis help to provide the equipment, they could use the satellite to hand over a variety of news. The flow would depend on the information in the messages. "Whats the matter? A-city base sent a message to all the countrysrge and small bases!" He Qiankun suddenly eximed towards the team. The group gathered around theputer to view the document. The document was long, followed by another report. The most important points were: After a long period of research, it was found that after the apocalypse that all people, not just those with abilities had their bodies changed. This change was only reflected in ones physical condition, although some people had no ability, time and contact with the nucleus caused slow absorption, somewhat simr to mutant animals. Most of the "ordinary" people had an increase in physical strength, but it was not obvious so the base only found out after a long period of testing.After a long period of experimentation, the base finally found out the use of crystal core. They now introduced the correct and safe use of cores. They could be used as energy sources for equipment such asmps and furnaces. Bases are open to make orders, exchanging cores for the equipment. City Base Initiative: Hope that the various bases can act together topletely eliminate the next zombie wave before entering the country. Gather the nations strength andpletely eliminate this threat to all of humanity! Contact the A-city base for more information, send a message to XXX-XXX.... After reading the message, the team looked at each other. "What are they trying to do?" "Complete elimination of the zombies? How would that happen?" "What happens after the elimination?" "Wait, what if its a trap?" There were many other people than the Otaku squad with simr thoughts. No way around it, after the apocalypse, everyones lives were in danger. But the most vital thing was frail bonds of trust between people. Who would be the main force in this matter? If things didnt seed, would they be abandoned as cannon fodder? If the results were a sess, how would the spoils be divided? Would the smaller bases be suppressed by therger ones? Was this a trap to trick people in smaller bases and end them along with the zombies? All kinds of doubts, suspicions, and spection. Fortunately, the previous zombie wave had only left the country for half a year. For almost all the zombies in Eurasia toe together, it would at least next spring if they came back. Prior to this, the various main bases held lengthy consultations and discussions. Meetings were held again and again but did not know that the scattered teams formed their own alliance against the major bases. A real force to be contended with. Now, the base leaders knew that the ostracized, driven away and framed were no longer the weak who could be pressed down. No, in the apocalypse, there were no weaklings. Even more rming was that the scattered teams across the region gradually came together and integrated. The previously abandoned city was slowly filled with the living. They used the buildings to establish a fragmented but would work in a pinch fortifications. They began to grow rooftop crops, install production equipment on high-rise buildings and make a variety of handmade goods and fabrics. It was a true post-apocalyptic small society. Even more scary to therge bases C they actually farmed devil vines in the perimeter! This kind of nt that attacked anything from zombies to mutant animals or even humans. There was no counter method but these people actually nted them as attack dogs! In regards to the mutant nts surrounding the area, they had no way to domesticate the mutant animals. All this only took half a year. The major bases discussed killing the zombies and distributing crystal cores. They had once again established a new post-apocalypse city. Spring, eighth year after the apocalypse started. All the survivorsid a line of defense and ayer of traps was finally finished. The zombies returned home from abroad and met with an incredibly warm reception.... In regards to the traps, A-city only provided a small portion of the mushroom juice, the remainder was provided by the ordinary people who had been evicted. In addition, therge area was filled with cultivated mutant nts arranged so that the zombies had no choice but to pass through. Long-range ability users and heavy-weapon users waited behind them, responsible for whittling down zombies and triggering traps. Water-type users were on high ground with arge box. Once the mutant nts were full, they needed to stimte their appetite with the mushroom juice. The battle finally began at dawn andsted five days. Afterward, only a small number of zombies that did not return were chased down and killed. But the opposing side was still strong and some managed to escape. Even so, the danger that once threatened all of humanity had finally disappeared! People cheered, hugged and celebrated. But after everyone came back to attention, they found that the various scattered teams with ordinary people had already left. They could not be med for not saying farewell or taking away a portion of the crystal cores from the mutant nts. The rtionship between ability users fromrge bases was still delicate. The betrayal by family and friends had left deep scars. Perhaps in the near future, the two sets of people would reunite, but not in the present. Luo Xun sat in his new energy car and patted the vehicle. "Unfortunately, the number of cars is too small and we have to buy from them." Yan Fei drove the car and softly smiled. "Isnt Li Tie studying under Professor Chu? I expect it wont be long before they are copied. Li Tie also said that they must make a gun that can use the crystal cores as energy." "Thats true if its them. Wasnt that simr to what they were researching before leaving the base? Had it not been for exclusion, would we have been able to get it cheaper?" Luo Xun yawned again. "Im going to sleep for a while...I pushed myself..." His voice became quieter and quieter. Suddenly, a small head drilled out from the back of the car. He smiled at Yan Fei while whispering, "Dad, when do we get home?" "Its going to take seven or eight days, what? Want to go home?" Yan Fei smiled and patted his head. "I miss the dogs, sister Xinxin also misses them too." Yan Fei patted his sons head again. "Lets go back as soon as possible. Be good after we get back and finish your homework from before we left okay?" Yan Xin stuck out his tongue and slowly said, "I C know C Dad." The sleeping Luo Xun was awoken and stared at the precocious child. Little Yan Xin knew that he was in trouble. He quickly retreated and muttered to Yu Xinran. "Dad only bullies me, unlike Daddy Luo." Yu Xinran was now a littledy, hearing his words she pointed at his nose. "Be careful uncle Yan doesnt hear you or hell punish you." Yan Xin hummed while tilting his head. "I went to ask Dad Luo for help..." He frowned. "But Daddy Luo cant beat Dad. Once I got up in the middle of the night to go to the washroom and saw Dad bullying Daddy Luo until he cried!" It was like when got punished by Yan Fei! Yu Xinran was silent for a moment before her face flushed. She knocked on the others head. "Learn to write well!" She had seen Li Tie secretly kissing Mom and vaguely knew that it was something awkward. Yan Fei faintly heard and scrunched his eyebrows, he knew it! It was time for this brat to sleep in his own room! After they got back he would move, even if Luo Xun was not willing to do so! Outside the window, the night was starting to end. The sky was a mixture of red, green, yellow and all kinds of colors. It was like a scene from a beautiful dream. The sun was rising and a new day began. This was the end of an era, but also the beginning of another one. THE END TN: Im probably going to take a break from MTL for a bit as I dont have a next project in mind. Although Ill definitely take rmendations for ideas. However, any future releases will most likely be weekly as I have courses and work. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!