novel
| ← Ch.079 | Ch.081 → |
Luo Xun saw everyone started to study the drawings and other things as Captain Guo commanded. 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 the last 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."I'll have to go find someone to discuss this with, but I don't 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 could compare to Yan Fei's 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 plans. It was easy for him to do these things and he also guided the four others.
The people's progressive learning and processing speed had accelerated 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 day's 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 had complained 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 after coming 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 plates were great. But now, all the food was given in spoon portions.
After filling the meal, they would add a ladle of vegetable soup to the lunch box. If one protested, they would instead give you half a ladle and say - these are the new regulations 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 occupied by Captain Guo. Luo Xun sighed, "Canteen restructuring?"
Captain Guo's expression was also uncomfortable. 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, the last two days reduced the amount. Today is the formally unified implementation. Said this was the daily amount to supplement an adult men's calories. For those who feel it's not enough to eat, the body is sending false signals, there is enough nutrition... that group of ##&&% experts! That's a bullshit theory! They should know this is not enough to eat for laboring! Feeding us like birds! Not everyone's appetite is the same!"
Captain Guo's appetite was relatively large, 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 don't 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 Fei's look was quite calm, he wanted to know the total number of people in the base?
Before the apocalypse, food stock places could not support the daily consumption of so many people. When they listened to the radio last night, they heard propaganda saying that the weather was getting warmer and suggesting that survivors could try to grow some crops at home.
Captain Guo's 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 old comrade 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 plants..." He trailed off and looked around worried. Seeing no one was listening to the conversation added in a whisper."Some of the plants were alive! The colours became strange, don't know how quickly the plants grew but also hurt people!"
Mutant plants!
Luo Xun's heart dropped at the sentence, looked in Yan Fei's eyes. Yan Fei also thought of how the two had dealt with the appearance of strange plants at home.
"How could there be such a thing?!" Captain Guo and the other people were obviously surprised.
Living plants... that could hurt people? What a crazy idea that was!
"It's a bit unthinkable, no wonder the food intake was limited."
Large scale plant mutation, not normal planting. How long can the consumption of the original stock continue on? Researchers also need to determine what variant crops could be planted, which species could not be planted 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 the commands given that they were expanding the walls. Roughly guessed that it would be a large 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 planned walls for the beam system were included. In the future, this would undoubtedly become 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 were completely 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 o'clock in the afternoon, the metal users were completely 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 won't 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 income, there was absolute safety and security. Earth users were in a similar 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 Lingling's reaction during the last harvest, he was able to estimate how many nuclei a normal team could harvest during a mission.
Their team's harvest rate was significantly higher in comparison. 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 Xun's shoulder."Forget about finding someone, I can dig a hole. If it's an issue we can dig out a little each time we go out." It was hard to dig through asphalt!
Luo Xun's eyes brightened as he thought of something."Before the apocalypse, weren't there quite a few places dug open in preparation to be paved? The road repair revealed all kinds of pipes, we might find a place to use!"
With such a reminder, Yan Fei also remembered that often they would temporarily place a large iron plate! 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 plate 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 metal components on the ground.
"First step is the greenhouse, we have to collect some more lighting from the base, as well as solar panels." Luo Xun noted.
Yan Fei nodded."Already set up this room, the rest of the things can slowly come. Let's 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 placed 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 a laugh - 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 black nose here and there.
After placing a row of shelves, the two returned to the nursery and decided."Let's 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 - 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.
"I'll take some of these shelves back to the living room."
Although tubes could save space, the effect of planting was inferior to ones using soil. At least, the taste of the plant was certainly inferior.
The reason why Luo Xun's first choice was to use the incubator to grow vegetables was entirely because - 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 Xun's home grown crops did not mutate. Some of the early mutated species all tasted worse, even inedible. There were some that completely became another type of plant.
Yan Fei strangled them on sight on did not dare try but Luo Xun recognized some. It was very common for crops after the apocalypse, although they tasted bad, there was no other harm.
Yan Fei heard that he was going to plant stuff in the big bedroom. His adam's 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 the landlord came back for the house.
They placed the iron shelves because the lamp was not in place 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 plants, ones grown in soil, plants in flower pots and boxes were all sorted.
The two men worked until the sky had turned completely 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 plants 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 chicken's blood. It was eight o'clock 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 welcome them after drinking the last 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 uncomfortable 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 flatter them? Where were the others? Even the hospital could attract workers!
Yan Fei's 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 succeeding in blowing up an office so that the hospital leaders had to nod their heads and stop arranging these connections.
People had long been accustomed to Zhang Yi complaining about work, but no one was comfortable enough to speak - 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 explained 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 blacks 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 relatively safe place. It's 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 - 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 birthplace. 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 people's origins?
"I thought you said you were form F-city? I just filled it out, change if it's 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 place 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 accumulated since meeting, left the nuclei and the instant noodles in the backpack and started shopping.
The pair's goal today were lights to be used for planting. This things would have a large influence on their future life, needed to collect some more to avoid difficulties when it came time to replace 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 a large 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.
| ← Ch. 079 | Ch. 081 → |