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, the latter 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 incomparable 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 planters 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 – it could be collected, dried and given to the worms.
Xu Mei's home also got some metal shelves to plant some crops. The two women were given some seedlings and familiarized with the workflow of planting. They had to wait for the rest of the metal.
The occupants of the two storeys spent nearly a month rebuilding their nests. Within the month, Yan Fei used up all the metal he brought back the last 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 the ladies had bud – avoid any mutated, zombie insects or other creatures.
There was also the mushroom wood under Luo Xun's command. Once the mushroom spores were started, each piece of wood was placed in a metal drawer.
Of course, in addition to these things, Luo Xun and Yan Fei had completed 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 other's abilities quickly improved.
Song Lingling was the quickest – first because she worked with Xu Mei and second because this month she vigorously made clean water in order to water two floors of planted 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 successfully 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 the late growing crops? They were not too anxious, because farming was not done in only one step. The delayed 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 occupied, once the home crops were done, all kinds of crops could be planted in these places!
Yan Fei had used his old trick of sealing the 16th floor elevator with a thick slab of metal. Only certain people would be allowed entry, if someone unknown came in, something unexpected might occur.
The two ladies 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. Salary was not high, could be considered lowest wage on base, but the work times were more flexible. As long as the tasks were completed 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 two ladies 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 plants 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 from last 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 three ladies at home sewing and caring for plants were not affected.
Right now, Luo Xun was with the team in a room handling mushrooms. Each person had a glass utensil in order to grind mushrooms. Yan Fei sat on the sidelines and ate a sandwich. Yu Xinran was playing with the puppy on the balcony – the little girl was still thin and light, but larger 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 played 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 Xun's balcony, the edible rape plant 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 helplessly laughed. "No way, don't dare let her out. You know dogs like to sniff around and sometimes randomly eat things."
"Yes, it's even more pitiful." Song Lingling also sighed, Luo Xun could not be blamed 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 someone's table?
Luo Xun also felt helpless, he had decided to raise the puppy in order to scare off intruders. Also to have his own companion, 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 people's 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 not come 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 – 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 Xun's home while the other was in Li Tie's home. It seemed that they needed to bring back some more spare units.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei's 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 plain 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 – using it last 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 – although the weather had been warm enough to wear short sleeves, people going out of base refused to compromise 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. "Let's go!"
With the previous two experiences, the last 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 became larger and larger 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 relaxed a bit.
Yan Fei rolled the metal balls while "pumping" out metal. Soon, the large 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 before coming down. "Although some zombies have been lead to the edge of the city, there aren't 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 Yi's playful 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 – he could use metal to protect himself in a crisis. He could even directly roll the metal shell into a safe place, 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.
"I'll go, isn't it troublesome otherwise? Who would want to roll back in a metal ball?"
After speaking, he did not look at the other's 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 Fei's metal. Zhang Yi stepped on the accelerator 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 exclaimed, "I should have gone with him!"
Han Li slapped him on the head. "What are you doing? Are you right in the head?"
"Yeah, if you went along wouldn't Zhang Yi get delayed?"
"Right, do you have miracles? Can you manipulate 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 were completely unclear.
On the other hand, Song Lingling and Yu Xinran's abilities were easy to see. Yu Xinran could now control the created sand within a certain distance, she could target people's 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 Lingling's water ability was similar, she could control more water and faster. She also had an additional ability – 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 manipulate 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 – though it still had little practical use.
These two common abilities had very obvious progress, then what about Zhang Yi's upper tier wind ability?
In half an hour, the team saw an amazing scene – Zhang Yi's 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 the compartment 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 – 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 – 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 as last month, but it was slightly troubling that the number of level two zombies was much higher than the last time.
Only one more coffee until the next bonus chapter!