Chapter 165: Bonfires and barbecues

After the night's unexpected events, everything soon slowly settled down and things somewhat became quiet. 

There was no longer a guillotine looming over the group and everyone was able to relax and breathe a little. 

A few minutes later, the team responsible for kitchen duty started working on the night's dinner and it was more scrumptious than usual to celebrate the so-called victory.

"We shouldn't splurge so much." Lu Chen glared at Alex several times but she seemed to be in a good mood nevertheless and was intent on celebrating their small win or whatever this was.

"It is to improve group morale. Everyone has been constantly fighting since this shitstorm began. We need to relax and live a little."

"Otherwise, people might just forget why they are fighting in the first place. Hmph." 

"So it's not splurging, it's essential, alright? What do you kids even know about these things?" Alex brushed her hair, a few glowing cinders flying out of it.

The look on her face was very smug for someone who hadn't contributed anything at all in the last fight.

Lu Chen's lips twisted into a scowl and he retorted back. "I guess only old hags know about these things?" 

"Huh? What did you say?" Alex immediately huffed, her eyes widening.

"Nothing. Nothing. I agree, let's just take it easy for the night." He shrugged chuckling helplessly and walked away. He did not say much as in the end he as well agreed with her.

If they didn't take a breather when everything was less chaotic, then they probably would not get any chance at all.

Not participating in the festivities, he strolled over to sit down beside a mana core and started meditating as Qin Hua's flow diagrams indicated.

Watching his lonesome figure, Alex could only shake her head helplessly. She no longer had a smug smile and only looked concerned and worried with soft loving warmth.

"You need this more than the others but you are still working hard. What am I going to do with you! Sigh."

She debated about adamantly dragging him back to where others were laughing and chatting, but it looked like the man was in no mood for relaxing so she gave up and silently walked over to others.

Just for the night everyone relaxed a bit and gathered around to eat together. They had only rested for a couple of days but that in itself had drastically changed everyone's mood.

Of course, the feeling of becoming stronger by meditating in the mana rich area was also one of the big factors.

As the night grew thicker, bonfires were made and the aroma of the meat cooked atop them spread throughout the entire labyrinth network.

Delicious juicy steaks sizzled and crackled and the elder Gao Sheng prepared some sort of cocktail, part fruit juice, and part alcohol, though the alcohol didn't come from liquor.

He instead used certain new world herbs to get the same effect.

This cocktail coincidentally paired very well with the meat and everyone ate to their fill without holding back. At least for now, they didn't have any shortage of nutritious mutated beast meat.

Even though they had been peacefully living in the labyrinth for so long, several small animals still constantly caught the scent of the human settlement and wandered into the vicinity.

But these were too weak compared to the current level of the group, weak enough to be taken care of by just about anyone in the group.

Besides, ever since the group settled near the mana ores, their food consumption had decreased a lot as they were receiving most of the mana the body required from the ore directly.

So one night of celebration did not put a dent in their reserves and everyone enjoyed themselves cheerfully.

Of course, everyone except for two members of the group. Lu Chen was busy cultivating mana, while the wolf dog was nowhere to be found.

The cat, however, was without fail present at the scene of the merriment. 

Her stomach was bulging and clearly, she had eaten her fill, but still, the small tabby continued chewing on another sliver of meat with gusto. 

Lying cozily in Xu Meilin's lap, it was half-asleep and half-awake. 

Its only concern would probably be Xu Meilin's bubbly attitude which made her jump every once in a while disturbing its peaceful nap.

"Sis Alex, tell the ghost story again!" Xu Meilin giggled. She hated that everyone always left her alone. 

She also wanted to join Lu Chen and Alex and fight with them, but she didn't have an ability like the others, so she couldn't really do anything about it.

"Please, Alex!" She stuffed a piece of meat in her mouth and nagged Alex again. Sitting next to her, Xiao Meng also had a similar yearning expression.

Alex was completely speechless. The two women were looking at her as if she was some sort of idol. She could see the twinkling stars in their eyes.

"Aha ha ha ha…" She awkwardly laughed. "You guys know that little white did all the fighting like usual right? I really didn't do anything. What story do you want me to tell?"

"Ah! Sis, you are being too humble!" Xiao Meng nudged her. "So tell me, when that ghost came near you, did you get nose bleeds and ear bleeds?"

Huh? Why is this question randomly specific? Alex did not know whether to laugh or cry. She chugged another mouthful of the makeshift cocktail and began reciting the whole event again.

She was just casually talking but both Xiao Meng and Xu Meilin gasped and exclaimed even though they had heard everything already.

Watching these three chat together animatedly, Luo Zu wiggled and moved closer to Guan Ye. "Bro, shall we go and join those three? They seem to be having a lot of fun."

The three women all had beautiful features and slender figures and after absorbing a lot of mana cores, they became even more good-looking, especially Xu Meilin who had even taken a cleansing potion from Qin Hua.

Just like Luo Zu, several other parties also kept glancing towards them but no one had the guts to make a move, mostly because they were scared of Alex.

This was why Luo Zu had approached the one person who was probably not intimidated by Alex, but it turned out that his luck was still bad.

Guan Ye did not even bother answering him and simply gave him a deadpan look in response. He then stood up and walked away, dusting his back.

"Ahhh! What a grumpus! Sigh!" Luo Zu pouted and finished the drink in his glass. He then mustered his courage to walk over to the three beauties all by himself.

But with the same speed that he had walked over to them, he quickly made a U-turn and returned back, only giving an awkward smile.

"Nope. Not worth it." He then ran over to another group sitting nearby that had a couple of older women in it, but unfortunately, his infamy had already spread and they chased him out.

"Sigh. Can't I even fulfill my small dream of having a harem in this apocalypse? Is it too much to ask for?" 

He came back and sat down in his original spot, wishing that there were more people so that he could wash away his reputation and start fresh.

…

…

…

Meanwhile…

Yahe finally managed to recover his strength somewhat and stood up. His body was extremely tired and weak and he couldn't even stand straight.

In just a couple of seconds, he fell back down again onto the ground. 

Someone else might have probably been too scared to remain in this kind of condition in the current state of the world, but Yahe couldn't care less about those things.

Yes, right now he would most definitely be eaten alive even if a straggler zombie walked towards him.

However, he simply didn't have the strength to think about this as he had only now seen something even more terrifying.

Their commander was dead!

He probably died long ago, and then some strange creature entered his body and had been acting like him ever since!

Yahe was still unable to properly process everything that had happened.

He was afraid to even look around as the dead bodies of his comrades and his fellow men were scattered everywhere. 

Just this morning, things had been completely different. 

Everyone was alive and well and was talking with excitement about how they were going to be rulers of the new world, but now everyone he knew was dead?

He was a grown man with almost a decade of intense military experience but at this moment, he couldn't help but break down. 

Tears streamed down his eyes with no intention of stopping and he wailed his heart out in the silent night. Just how the hell were they supposed to survive in this sort of cruel world?

Was everyone's life already over?