novel
| ← Ch.105 | Ch.107 → |
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 - the person in his last life who had almost become 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 people's memories of that day surged forward.
The two quickly came over and greeted Luo Xun."What a coincidence! You live around here too? We haven't 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 already late by the time the newcomers entered base, so it was impossible for them and Luo Xun to meet.
Luo Xun nodded, slightly uncomfortable 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" relationship but since there were some not good memories from his dreams... It was Yan Fei's obligation as his lover to appease Luo Xun's feelings.
Sure enough, a smile returned to Luo Xun's 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 place 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 place was not big, only a large room with fewer utilities, but only having two people was better than crowding with a group!
Luo Xun was shocked."Basement!?"
The man's 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 Xun's 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 a companion 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 his companion's shoulder."We... are living together... We agreed to do so if we did not find a companion 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, let's 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 Xun's 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 Fei's throat bobbed, he grasped Luo Xun's 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 relationship those two had with Luo Xun in his "dream", Yan Fei was not ready to pry. He had only inquired because his lover's 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 him come to work like that? Let him go back and rest first."
Luo Xun glared at Captain Guo with one eye, his right hand reached for the crossbow in his backpack. Captain Guo retreated a few steps - he was only joking!
The people who worked with him each day were very clear on how accurate 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 Xun's 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 night's 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 glances 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 - 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 were completed, 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 everyone's 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 running laps. 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 pillars around it. People would stand on the platform 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 displayed silver light, representing metal along with some sound effects.
Luo Xun sighed in relief when the display for Yan Fei's ability was the same as the other metal users on the team.
Yan Fei's mutated ability was only known by Otaku squad. It seemed that the instrument only recognized Yan Fei's 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 Fei's new identity card and asked Captain Guo, "Didn't 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 don't you check?"
Captain Guo had stood at the end of the team after opening the door. Did he want to go last for a shining debut?
Captain Guo's 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 - green! He was green!
"Plant type, level one!" The technician in charge of the device immediately revealed the soldier's 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 soldier's 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 I command! 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*
"It's another plant type!"
By the time it was Luo Xun's 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 "comrade" come back, Captain Guo laughed and strongly patted his shoulder."Ah, don't worry about it little Luo, low odds, low odds~"
Luo Xun raised an eyebrow and hugged Yan Fei."I know it's only a small chance, I also knew I have no ability." He smiled at his lover."It's 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 Guo's behaviour and smiled back at Luo Xun."Rest assured, what's 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 accounted 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 soldiers compared 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 elated expressions.
"You have a newly discovered ability user on your team?"
Captain Guo proudly raised his chin."Don't look down on my team." He raised a hand."Three!" He shifted his discomfort 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 you'll 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."Don't worry about it, did you not see that I don't 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 day's work.
Spirit was a special type of ability, it was hard to detect or discover except under specific circumstances.
Plants 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 accordance with the orders of their bosses. Unless they were responsible for planting vegetables, they did not have access to plants or seeds. Plus they could not find plants themselves.
But there were some plant users who discovered their abilities while fleeing, or after receiving seeds from base.
What made people bitter was that the plants spawned could cling to enemies and zombies. But the grown plants were inedible and would wither and die immediately after the battle.
This had led plant type users destined to be support combatants.
The day after the team was checked for powers, Luo Xun and Yan Fei found that a person was missing - 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 (゜▽゜;)
| ← Ch. 105 | Ch. 107 → |