Chapter 97
In addition to quail, Luo Xun’s home earthworms multiplied, though he did not know when that occurred. 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 plant 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 the large glass tank in the women’s home.
When they returned home, Luo Xun first went to Xu Mei’s home for Puppy to play with Yu Xinran. Sure enough the two were laying on a blanket next to the glass tank, occasionally 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 blanket with the puppy. "There’s an exchange window but the prices are too expensive."
The base currently used paper as fuel or insulation 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 there’s 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-city’s supposedly more safe base.
"It’s 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 become more and more fierce along with zombie animals. They originally lived with a community 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 place 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 to complete their tasks. It would take more than a day to completely 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 his last 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 the last 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 too late, 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 would laugh 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 related.
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 glass 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. He lazily 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 solar panels.
A low rumbling sound came from a distant place.
"Again..." Luo Xun quietly sighed, his eyes flashed with melancholy. "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 to come and live here.
Yan Fei looked a little helpless. "There is not other way..."
The last occurrence of zombie rats trying to sneak into the base occurred 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 place after the apocalypse was a densely populated 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 claim 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 before launching 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 today’s world, where one’s own security could not be guaranteed, there was no time to care for other’s lives. In the end, could only find ways to help themselves. They would rather stay at home and keep themselves safe.
The selfish law 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 with large tracts of farmland.
"We have good luck." Luo Xun leaned his head against Yan Fei’s shoulder with a smile. "If we had not met at the start, or even if you found a place 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 Xun’s 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 glass.
The quaking lasted 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 become ruins, it was still a source of hope for the people’s life and future...
The people in the meeting were looking forward to the future of mankind and the earth...
Early the next morning – all the outgoing troops were lost, even the unmanned aerial vehicles were missing.
Satellite photos showed several vehicles with bombs falling in different places. The tanks sent out and abandoned vehicles were smoking on the ground.
"This...what’s going on?!" Trembling arms held one of the photographs on the table of an enlarged wreckage.
"Boss, boss...the third flight base...I can’t 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 army’s hidden forces were located. There were various types of fighters that could be sent by plane at critical moments to complete 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 – in fear that the planes 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 – although the quantity was not too much. The homes that had officially started to grow crops could harvest some crops almost daily. The two ladies mainly cared for the plants, the couple only needed to check the crop status. Luo Xun was able to take care of and cultivate mutant plants.
They had not found a benign mutation from their current plants, 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.
Today’s 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 accumulated over four days and got a small bag of crystals. The two men were able to get coupons and some supplies for defending the gate last 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 solar panels, seeds, cloth and other things.
The two arrived at the rendezvous point, Captain Guo did not immediately bring the people to the workplace but pointed to another direction. "Over there needs some metal gadgets, the rest of group with me."
The wall work at the barracks ended last 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 were laughing but Luo Xun’s smile had stiffened – 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 not later. 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 – 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 a layer of metal flow upwards and expand. There would be exclamations, similar to watching a performance.
Several of the soldiers responsible for transporting metal were harassed by these people. The unhappy deputy complained 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 soldier’s head. "You dare fight? Somebody’s going to get you! I’ll let you go out and fight with the zombies!"