novel
| ← Ch.128 | Ch.130 → |
Luo Xun grabbed Puppy who was wagging her large tail. Although now she was no longer little, but her name... don't 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 duck's head from last 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 - to gather more cores? Or find a factory for toilet paper?.... Well, the questions were a bit odd.
"The question is - will we be able to find finished toilet paper at a production factory before the end of the world?" Zhang Yi glanced at Luo Xun while kicking off his slippers. He was uncomfortable with what was available on base - but there was nothing better!
"Even if we get to the factory and we find a stock - can we bring it back?"
Every time he heard a comment, Luo Xun felt like he got shot in the knee.
Yan Fei coughed to shift attention."I think we can prioritize changing the toilet - 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 don't know where such a thing is sold in the city?" Li TIe raised an important point.
Yan Fei got up, "Check the network, we should be able to find some places labelled on the map."
Luo Xun felt embarrassed, "That... it's just a though, we don't need to look for this thing..."
He Qiankun patted him on the shoulder."In truth I felt... *cough* the toilet isn't large... 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 two ladies problems were worse than the men's, especially the amount of paper that was spent during specific days each month - there were no hygiene pads during the apocalypse.
The crowd glanced around the map and finally found a place - 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 place 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 places, 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 places and there had been much more zombies in the south compared to the north. Plus they encountered a large mutant animal the last time. Perhaps this place 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 from last 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 aren't 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 exclaimed.
New Town was filled with residences of power users. If they also built a tall, earthen and metal wall, it would unbalanced! 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 don't 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 occupants. It could only be considered a dream.
The seating was arranged for everyone's safety and maximizing firepower. The people were evenly distributed. Luo Xun's 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. The last car had Xu Mei and Zhang Yi with Wang Duo as the driver.
In comparison, the middle car had the lowest power, but Yu Xinran's 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 of compressed 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 team's goal was to visit areas that had not collapsed, similar 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 and company 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.
"Let's 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 - people fighting was super dangerous!
A quick glance 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 Tie's 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 regular in his past life. Even from afar there was no mistaking the crowd. In his last 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 - 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 cabinets 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 blame Yan Fei's 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 a large truck!"
"..." Yan Fei had to admit it was a subtle and practical method, how could his lover's brain be so smart?
In the back, Wu Xin and the others gave flattery."Brother Luo is really smart! Luo Xun is too strong!" They cheered and burned incense.
While the couple was immersed in displays of affection, the two bachelors whined, "Don't do that sort of thing in front of us single people! Unkind!"
"You two can get together, we won't 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 Fei's 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 becoming more and more serious, some people are living in the communal 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 it's 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 become like this."
The building materials mall had all its glass doors broken. The metal door was torn away, even the curtains were gone. The supermarket next door even had a collapsed wall.
The nearby roads were full of cluttered, collapsed 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 manipulated 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 there's a toilet stall?" Luo Xun glanced around the building uncertain.
Everyone looked at each other, then Zhang Yi said, "Generally they sell toilets on the first floor right?"
"Then let's go in and take a look." The group locked the cars - Yan Fei covered the windows in metal. He created a metal shield and slowly walked into the dark building.
Everyone had come to this place 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 be laughingstocks.
*Roar* A dark shadow slammed 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 flashlight 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 places selling bathroom and toilet supplies.
"God, they've 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 were completely 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.
| ← Ch. 128 | Ch. 130 → |