Chapter 51

TN: Have a double release for Easter, though its a week late…

(For whatever reason I had a surge of motivation and got a buffer of chapters back)

Once Zhang Yi's outer iron fence was done, Yan Fei wanted Luo Xun to spoon feed him dinner, like when he had been injured and needed help to eat. Luo Xun feeding was much softer this time, evidently due to the two's emotional breakthrough in their relationship.

And he was given what he wanted to eat but had various worries about caring and intimacy.

Yan Fei ate very slowly, but the satisfaction in his heart was far greater than the food – after all the food cooled down as a result of eating too slowly…

With such a thoughtful lover at his side, Yan Fei felt that it was a good decision to take Luo Xun with him to repair the walls. After all who else would take care of themselves and him in such a gentle and thoughtful manner?

Early next morning, Yan Fei woke up and found his expended spirit completely restore but there was also a faint, hazy feeling. Sure enough, the best way to upgrade was to consume then refill. However was there any way to increase the speed of upgrade? Like meditating in Qigong? Internal cultivation? Or using the nucleus?

The most likely way was to use the crystal nucleus to enhance powers, but at present the two were not leaving the base. Therefore did not need to use the crystal nucleus to increase abilities. Better use his current method as exercise, to expand his maximum spiritual energy levels.

The two people went out after breakfast and met up with the group of five at the same time. Yesterday Lieutenant Ding had said if Yan Fei would participate in wall construction, to find him at the west intersection and bring him the rest of the way.

"Luo Xun?" Wang Duo asked curiously upon seeing Luo Xun dressed to go out as well.

"I'm going with him." Luo Xun smiled but did not specify the reason behind accompanying Yan Fei.

Li Tie and the others thought Luo Xun was accompanying his cousin out for an errand and did not ask anymore. Hearing sounds in the corridor, Zhang Yi also opened the door and came out.

"We'll trouble Zhang Yi with housekeeping."

"We'll come back at night and bring you a warm meal!" Li Tie waved excitedly at Zhang Yi.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei also nodded in farewell, closed the door and headed downstairs.

Just like Lieutenant Ding had said, there were plenty of people waiting for elevators at rush hour. The elevator had to stop at almost every floor, the speed was comparable to simply climbing the stairs.

The group slowly descended the stairs, they waved farewell at the intersection. The two arrived and found Ding at a temporary set up military guard cabin.

"Are you tw going?" Lieutenant Ding wondered as Luo Xun had come as well. Could it be that this person also had a metal ability? Or the cousin could have a different ability.

Luo Xun laughed. "Excessive ability use can have side effects. I am accompanying my cousin to take care of him. I do not need pay, just following him is fine."

Lieutenant Ding thought for a moment then asked. "Can you drive?"

"Yes." Luo Xun nodded, regretting he did not have a good car. His driving technique had been honed during his escape from his old home, the technology was not good but he made due.

"Okay, you follow." The troops would not refuse free help in repairs.

Even if Luo Xun had not come, the military would have arranged for a person or two to take care of Yan Fei. Having Luo Xun around was helpful.

Sure enough, Yan Fei and Luo Xun arrived. Knowing Luo Xun was there to take care of Yan Fei the other side did not raise any objections and was generous. "Just food, do not send Luo Xun points."

Luo Xun had said there was no point, anyways Yan Fei would only participate in the work for half day. He could go back after lunch since there was a power consumption limit. The military had already figured out the limit and naturally would not squeeze people to death. For a metal ability user like Yan Fei, holding on for half a day was already good enough.

On the military truck there was a total of three metal ability users including Yan Fei. It was said that the military only had five metal users, with Yan Fei it became six. They would be divided into two groups that afternoon.

Yan Fei still wore his original masks. Luo Xun checked the larger crossbow in his bag which caused a commotion with the army troops.

"Crossbow? All metal?"

"Where did you get that? What about the lethality?"

"Oh wait, crossbow…" But the arms laws? No wait, who was going to worry about that sort of thing now?

Luo Xun laughed. "Are we not going out to repair the fence? I'm afraid that I'm in danger."

The soldiers in the car hurriedly shook their heads, all of them were equipped with guns. They were dedicated guard personnel, each body armed to the teeth. Who would say Luo Xun violated rules with his weapon?

After all, they were leaving the base for work, there could be a sudden zombie attack at any moment. The had been worried that these two people would become a burden, but seeing Luo Xun with this thing gave some relief.

A man asked. "You can use it? How well?"

"Well enough."

"Have you ever hit a zombie?"

"Hit, before the base was set up. Not afraid to kill zombies." Luo Xun knew they were worried even if they had weapons and knew how to use them.

But the face and human forms of the zombies was enough to stay some people's hands, even if they were very dangerous. Not just because momentary panic was dangerous to people as well.

Sure enough, although they listened to what Luo Xun had said but when it was time to warn them, still needed extra people to take care of the two in case of danger. After all, one of them was a very precious metal ability user.

It did not take long for the car to reach its destination and there were no zombies anywhere in sight. This part of the perimeter wall had been built for a long time. The brick wall made by people was almost invisible, the metal wall had long been built. Today they would continue from yesterday's building efforts.

Many metal materials were stacked in the corner, in addition to a few large trucks loaded with a variety of metal items, ready to be added.

People had to get out of the car to approach the wall. Since it was Yan Fei's first time doing this work he did not start immediately and instead stood aside to observe how his two peers worked.

The two metal users did not work simultaneously, one would work until their energy ran out then the other would take over while the first rested.

At this moment, the first person stood at the wall, put a hand on the metal materials to condense a large hand. Then put the hand on the wall to connect the previous metal together.

It was just a little bit, a bit that slowly merged and pieced together.

"We only need to repair the wall this high for the time being. When the wall is completely repaired then can go higher. Two times higher and thicker." The captain in charge of the team briefed Yan Fei on the specifics.

The metal wall was only three meters high and the back brick wall was about that height too. The purpose of the current wall construction was only to block zombies outside the base. In the near future it also needed to be heightened, strengthened and thickened.

The base was in the process of bringing together earth power users who would be involved in later work. However the layer of metal in the wall was necessary – the hardness of metal was much higher than masonry soil, even hardness of concrete was not as strong as the metals.

One of the first metal power users only covered less than half a meter of the three meter metal wall. While resting and replenishing energy, another metal user hastened to keep up the work of the previous user.

Yan Fei observed the actions of the two people and found that the wall's thickness was about 20 centimeters. The two people in front of him did not look like they had used up all of their energy before having a little rest.

The captain explained. "Do not use up all your energy at once. Taking short breaks once in a while ensures that you can work longer."

Yan Fei nodded, it was not a problem for him. When the second one also retired for some rest Yan Fei was sure – his ability seemed to higher than the other two. He had been waiting for the two of them to float the metal? Or not?

But when he looked at the two men who were resting, he could see that they had consumed a lot of energy after building so many walls.

Yan Fei put his hand on the side of iron plate to stick a large lump to the wall was not a bad idea. Yan Fei calculated a bit and found that he had more reserves from manipulating metal during their own operations but he had some trouble adapting/adjusting to the current work.

His heart was spitting, a labor saving operation method was better than trouble.

Yan Fei built the wall about the same size as the previous two people before also retreating to the side. He sat beside the first metal ability user to recover spiritual energy.

Luo Xun hurried forward with some water and a towel. Relieved after confirming that Yan Fei did not sweat or have the symptoms of power overuse. He also knew that this level of metal manipulation would not cost him much.

When he was at home in order to use up all his energy he would toss a metal ball around in the bedroom, let it become a variety of appearances, the speed and difficulty of the exercise was amazing. Much more interesting than his current operation.

One person replaced the sext. Yan Fei worked according to the speed, scope and size of the first two people responsible for the metal wall. Nothing too outstanding but also did not pull people's hind legs.

When noon arrived for lunchtime, the people went back to the truck. They could not help but secretly look at Yan Fei. Outsiders would not know but they were very clear, the base military only had a total of five metal users. The reason they had been divided into two alternating groups that afternoon was not only because the numbers were uncoordinated, also because the two in the morning could work longer and faster.

They were worried when Yan Fei was with the morning group that he would not able to keep up with the frequency of work. If not, he would be transferred to the afternoon group and exchanged with someone else. But did not expect for him to be able to keep up but also seem to do so…easily?

Was this the so called diamond in the rough? The two people in the car seemed to be calm, but things were held back and only clear to their hearts.

The car staggered back to the base and stopped at the morning rendezvous point. Seeing Yan Fei and Luo Xun getting off, the captain gave him some points and pointed at the canteen at the side of the road. "You two take the pass and go get some food, free of charge."

Here was the internal military canteen, one needed to show an identity card to get food, different levels got differing treatment. It would only be temporary, anyway the taste was not excellent but still within the acceptable range. The pass given to them was not high class but it certainly allowed two people to eat their fill of the spread.

Yan Fei had no feelings towards this, but Luo Xun excitedly dragged in the direction of the canteen. The captain said loudly to the two's backs. "Tomorrow morning eight o'clock sharp or this place is cut off!"

The army canteen was very large, the two of them grabbed a dinner plate at the rice window. Did a round of the place then got a standard meal.

The two got steamed bread plus two dishes. The bread was kind of big, a person could comfortably eat one, two per person. The dishes were simple though plentiful: eggplant, a large pot of stewed vermicelli, potatoes and minced meat.

In addition, some of the windows also had instant noodles, fish noodles, fried dumplings and other things for sale. Luo Xun felt assured at seeing all these things in the windows, he could eat at ease.

There was also a window to distribute mung bean porridge but the proportion of rice was lower. A spoon only had four or five grains, the water would only quench one's thirst.

"How are you feeling?" Luo Xun put down his plate and whispered to Yan Fei opposite him.

Yan Fei slid down his mask and slightly relaxed his body. "Fine, still have energy, did not use it all up."

The two people were not picky about the food in front of them. Sat down and ate slowly.

"When I come back tomorrow, I'll drive over. I saw a parking space outside and there is no one here who would dare to steal a car." Luo Xun whispered.

He would to put any leftover steamed bread in his bag to bring back home – it was his food after all. No one would care if he ate it all here or brought some home.

Yan Fei also added his uneaten bread to Luo Xun's side. "Good, will be able to save some strength." He was not at the point of exhaustion yet but he was tired since he had repaired a big part of the wall at once and wanted to get a good night's sleep.

One was a slow knife, one was single slice before resting, which was better? Yan Fei could not feel it now. After all he not consumed an extreme amount of energy today, temporarily could not judge.

The pair used the eating time to recover physical strength, eating more slowly compared to the military speed of soldiers in the cafeteria. The table next to them had changed three times yet they had not moved.

This canteen was closest to the outside, the bulk of the group was required to work outside the military. It was said that there were other canteens inside the base, but the two were not eligible to go in, neither was Li Tie and company. They could not say in which canteen the others would have lunch.

After lunch, the two people slowly exited the barracks. Seeing their chest signs, the soldiers on duty at the door would register before letting them exit.

No one dared to set up stalls or private tents on the streets near the barracks, people did not even park. The streets seemed quiet and clean except for the occasional military vehicle.

Yan Fei was once again wearing his mask, with one hand in his pocket, the other around his Luo Xun. Luo Xun paused but did not shake of Yan Fei's hand, though he looked to the side uncomfortably. Fortunately there were few people nearby…just pull.

At this time the weather was relatively cold, two people were wearing down jackets. Seeing there was some wind, put on the jacket's hood as a hat, facing the north wind.

Luo Xun's backpack had his crossbow, arrows, plus some spare towels and other things, as well as the big steamed bread from the cafeteria. They only took out two steamed bread, from all the rice and other food from the canteen. The amount of food seemed smaller in comparison but it was enough for both of them.

As for steamed bread, it could be consumed at home with some dishes. What else could they use steamed bread? Cut into chunks in stew, with eggs and stuff. Wait there were no eggs at and the stew meat was gone. It was still fine to eat the bread plain.

Luo Xun's mind was focused on what to do at home, Yan Fei suddenly pulled his hand with force. Luo Xun found that a large series of cars thundered down the road ahead.

The pair were walking on the sidewalk and did not see much from the sidelines. The car body had signs of combat, although it had been washed before entering the base there were still traces of zombie blood and bits.

It was a number of heavy armored vehicles such as land chariots and tanks, followed by trucks, SUVs and some upmarket sedans. Luo Xun and Yan Fei looked at each other – these were probably the cars in charge of base rescue. They were finally back.

Suddenly, Yan Fei saw a high-end black sedan in the convoy, his eyes flickered with a dark and ambiguous expression. He turned slightly outwards, pulling on his hat with the hand in his pocket.

The convoy did not stop and turned to the front door, two men had just come out.