Chapter 27

Han Li's face paled upon hearing the gunfire, the hand holding his weapon shook. Luo Xun squeezed his hand.

"Don't be afraid, they are all right."

Some zombies may have developed a primary nucleus but they were no match for gunmen. Even if the soldiers were defeated, Luo Xun could deal with this kind of variant zombie.

"Thank you. I know." Han Li lightly flushed, grabbed his equipment and hurried out.

"There should be a warehouse in the back. Let's go inside and take a look."

Luo Xun skimmed around, the shelves stretched to the ceiling, all layers of solar charging equipment. If all this was loaded in to their car, nothing else would fit. He called in two soldiers to take at least half.

Luo Xun took out Yan Fei's metal crossbow and pulled He Qiankun along to scout. Do not judge that because He Qiankun was fat that his brain was no good. This guy was a skilled calculator. For a variety of equipment, how to DIY, machine configuration there was little he had not tried.

He Qiankun could not help out with the physical work but Luo Xun needed someone familiar with the equipment to find the needed parts.

"Are we not calling an older soldier to follow us?"

Looking at the guy with three times the girth and years older, Luo Xun wanted to punch him for calling them 'older soldiers'.

"Fine, I'll call a soldier over."

The soldiers had returned from the situation in the back. Luo Xun found their captain and asked for two to come over.

"Two soldiers, all right now?"

"Good! Fine! Having a gun is enough!" He Qiankun repeatedly nodded while thanking the older guys. The soldiers were amused since they were younger than the guy by one or two years, who was an older soldier?

"There was a zombie in the back?" Luo Xun looked at their nametags and inquired about the situation.

"Yes, there was one but it has been dealt with."

"There might be more, so be careful while moving around."

"Everything in this store is useful." he Qiankun pointed around.

Luo Xun hurriedly jotted down items, waiting for the others to finish packing previous stuff before coming here to grab things. A few people chatted while searching for supplies, walking then stopping. They soon arrived at the innermost corridor of the market.

"If we are fast enough, maybe we could go back tonight?" Seeing the last stop, He Qiankun eyes shined with anticipation. "With these solar panels, we should be able to eat warm food tomorrow!"

"It's going to be rough tomorrow, the fastest will still take until tomorrow evening. Anyways didn't you exchange some charcoal? Why didn't you cook?"

"What use is charcoal alone? We had no pots, bowls, scoops or cutlery! We had the little pot you gave us but…charcoal burned too slowly. We also did not have much water, we simply had some tasty dry instant noodles."

He Qiankun had a face filled with injustice. They thought the charcoal would let them eat hot food, a good result. They might as well have gone to the outer sale window to buy some food, at least some of it was hot!

Luo Xun silently looked skywards, this was really….

"Ah….ah…"

""Zombie!"

The voice was cut off as a zombie fell out from one of the stores. Two soldiers hurried forward and the used the guns to hit the enemy's head.

Who would have thought that while attacking the zombie, another would rush out from a nearby room!? The second zombie was fast, rushed past the other straight towards the two soldiers!

The two hurried to shoot but it was too late to properly aim, they only hit the body.

*Poof* A sound, the zombie fell down, body bent in half and not moving.

"Woah…Yes! Luo Xun have you practiced?" He Qiankun had a face of worship towards the crossbow wielding Luo Xun.

"Well I practiced hunting birds." Luo Xun took two careful steps forward, keeping his weapon armed.

Two zombies were dead, it would be good not to deal with a third. The two soldiers looked at each other, they seemed to have been protected by civilians?

Wait, would the crossbow lethality make it contraband? But right now, everyone was privately armed, fine so long as one did not cause trouble in the safe zone. Then again he had not grabbed a gun, although the crossbow was comparable to a handgun.

When they turned, Luo Xun used the excuse of recycling bullets conveniently took out the primary crystal nucleus. He Qiankun also recollected his own ammo under protest.

The primary nucleus was pretty small, it allowed ability users to replenish spiritual power, absoprtion could also cause upgrades. It was likely to replace energy in the future. However this source of energy had not yet been discovered or spread.

In any case, it was a good things and in the future could be a substitute for money. The difference was that points were base-specific while crystal nuclei could be exchanged at any base.

They visited store after store to find necessary supplies. They only took a bit if they needed material but wrote down a note. In the future they could send a car over to collect.

After they got the needed equipment and materials, Li Tie and the others went to grab some PVC pipes. Luo Xun grabbed some metal plates to take home for Yan Fei. Upon seeing Li Tie, he kindly reminded them to also grab some drill tools, saw blades, binders etc, not just pipes.

Li Tie facepalmed, then kicked down the door to sweep a hardware store. People rushed to store stuff, when they returned the sky had darkened. All hurried in preparation to drive away. Several soldiers on duty in the vicinity hurried over with a report.

"There's a big wave of zombies coming! Headed for the safe zone!"

"Ah!?" The captain rushed to the vehicle.

Luo Xun pondered then climbed along the car to the roof with his telescope. His face could not help but twist.

It was not a zombie wave outside – there were not enough zombies gathered together. But is was obvious that they were chasing someone southward! Even if the zombies did not see the target, they continued in the direction thought to be right.

Who the hell was that!? To incite so many zombies!

It was fortunate that the southwest base walls had been fortified otherwise so many zombies appearing at once would cause chaos in the safe zone.

"Faster! Faster! The door is up ahead!"

A few modified jeeps tore down the road, eventually leaving the chasing zombies behind in the dust. Finally they were safe.

"Brother, up front! The southwest base has been built! Should be able to hold!"

The man tiredly adjusted his glasses. "Wang that bastard, it seems he has already fled here…"

"If they hadn't been so noisy, they wouldn't have attracted so many zombies!"

"Whatever, the western base was not safe or steady. They weren't that many people repairing the wall. Until yesterday there were few people doing anything. They fled quickly, otherwise we didn't have to come until later."

Wu Changkun was very clear, even before the apocalypse, he and Wang could not peacefully coexist. Now that the end of the world had arrived? In such a precarious situation, Wang Heng could only be cheap to others.

"Anyway, we finally have a place to stay don't we? Wait, there's a line at the door!"

"Oh, so many zombies followed behind us and we have to wait in such a long line!?"

One guy nervously swallowed, their team had attracted the zombies. If the people inside learned of this, they might not be allowed in…

The group of people sitting on the roof did not dare speak loudly, make a fire or even tear plastic wrappings in fear of being heard by the zombie herd. Who could them come in to treat themselves to dessert.

A small team of soldiers, Luo Xun, Li Tie and the others added up to a total of 16 people. There was a tense atmosphere as they squatted on the open roof.

Fortunately they had expected a situation before leaving base and were prepared to spend the night outside. Luckily in the early apocalypse zombies had no sense of hearing, so long as they did not make any loud sounds they would not be found. It was just uncomfortable at the moment.

"Ugh, don't let me learn who attracted so many zombies or I will punch out their teeth!" He Qiankun swung his fist.

"So many zombies, I suspect someone was going through the city center. Able to attract so many monsters yet not get eaten a car is necessary. However the people in the car many have an ability or at least a gun."

Luo Xun analyzed the feasibility of He Qiankun's declaration.

He Qiankun withered. "Why do I not have an ability?"

"Maybe you had developed an ability even before the apocalypse." Wang Duo hooked an arm around He Qiankun's shoulder.

His body temperature was warm and toasty, with the weather so cold He Qiankun was a great heater.

"What ability?" he Qiankun felt a glimmer of hope even if he knew his friend usually never had anything good to say.

"Eating! You can really eat, having such a plump figure is not something an average person could do."

"Shut up!"

"Stop fighting, what if a zombie hears us?"

"Sigh, I don't know who fares the safe zone. SHould be able to withstand it."

"Definitely, the wall was just repaired."

The captain gave some encouragement. "There might be a lot of zombies but they'll be eliminated so long as they don't all arrive at the same time. Everyone don't worry, the base will be fine."

"I'm more worried about someone breaking into our house since there was some unused charcoal leftover…" Han Li gazed sadly towards the sky.

"You think to much." Wu Xin could not help but roll his eyes.

There was nothing inside their sparse room. If someone wanted to break in, they would have to deal with the door.

Luo Xun ate four steamed buns filled with pork, green onion and shrimp or mung bean paste. This was the leftover stuffing from the dumplings, he made some buns to serve as food rations. Sure enough they were now in use.

In addition, there was dry bread, ham, boiled eggs, juice, mineral water and homemade dry pastries. The juice was bought from the supermarket prior to the apocalypse and could supplement vitamins. Of course he also bought vitamin C tablets but at the start of the apocalypse if he could eat well he would not wrong his belly.

"When we return, are you going to head out again?"

Luo Xun poured two mouthfuls of mineral water and kept the juice in reserve. In case they were blocked for 10 days it could save lives.

"If we can, then we will." Li Tie immediately responded. "No choice, our place has no bed, quilt or mattress. Also need to eat, collecting something is better than nothing. This time we solved our energy problem, next time we come out to solve livelihood problem."

The other four nodded, it was a no-brainer, it was clear that home was important.

Luo Xun also nodded. "My home has these, but my cousin's place next door was not furnished before the apocalypse struck. He'll need these things too. We should also take advantage of the added security otherwise we'll rest on our laurels later."

Luo Xun did not have any spare clothes for Yan Fei, this trip was a chance to find some for him.

"And seeds!" Li Tie added. "There are a lot of things! When we get back I'll make a list and we can come back with another car."

He heard from He Qiankun that Luo Xun's crossbow was very accurate – one shot felled a zombie. It was rare to see strong combat ability in an ordinary person.

"We'll have to get back first."

"Yes, wait until tomorrow."

"Three days…" Yan Fei stood on the balcony, looking coldly at the busy people in the next building.

These people arrived in the district yesterday. Combined with the previously heard news, Yan Fei guessed that those people had attracted the mob of zombies currently outside the safety zone.

They were very strong, felt even from a distance since most of them were ability users he was unsure about the other members. It was likely because of them that he had not heard any news from Luo Xun!

Yan Fei felt very irritable, about to erupt and any time.

Feeling his mood was bad, the puppy did not dare bite his pant leg as usual this morning. Since Yan Fei was allowed to stay, he was quickly considered another member of the family. The puppy gained another owner and there should be no hostility between them.

She should be able to freely chew on his pant leg!