Chapter 88

Here is the regular chapter release. I made sure to stagger the times so that they would get posted in order. For whatever reason, they sometimes get mixed up with the exact same posting time…

The busy people in the city were paying attention to the distraction. Even Luo Xun and Yan Fei stopped working and watched as the three metal users upgraded.

After a while, Sun Shaoyang glowered with a metallic luster, though they only saw his arm because of his clothes. His face glowed, then he opened his eyes and stared blankly at his hands.

On the other side Xiao Li and Shen Ping also glowed with the same light.

"It worked?!" Captain Guo was tensed, while the three confirmed.

"Seems to be…"

"Captain, I feel filled up with spirit all of a sudden!"

"It feels good to have strength!"

Even when on the second team, Shen Ping did not use too many crystal nuclei. While he had successfully upgraded, it could be seen that the other metal users had not used too many first level nuclei.

Yan Fei felt some regret, he did not know how many nuclei required to level up. But he could not guess his needs since he needed more crystal nuclei than the average person.

Although his ability was strong, but in exchange, he needed more nuclei than the average person. It seemed that each excursion at the end of each month had to especially successful. Fortunately with a sand user in the team, could increase the team efficiency. Of course, they also had to find a way to protect the child.

After ascending to level two, the three people immediately re-joined work. Sure enough, the efficiency suddenly increased! However Captain Guo felt a bit bitter because they were consuming more nuclei. Fortunately that was not a large issue, it was important for the people under him to be capable and promising!

He resolved to ask for welfare that night. Captain Guo quickly told the watchers to return to work killing zombies. There was no movement for half of the day. The zombies at the edge of the wall all charged towards the team.

One moment of carelessness would let them be surrounded, with not way to return to the base.

The weather in March gradually warmed up. Perhaps those in the city felt no difference, but some who lived in parts of the south noticed. Some early budding plants had begun to grow shoots, come early spring flowers had also begun to bud.

The temperature rose as the sun stayed in the sky longer, but the nights were still cold. After tireless advertisements and encouragement from the base, some people officially tried to plant some crops at home.

There a few pieces of land around base with some parcels with a variety of seeds, even rice and wheat. For example, in Luo Xun's community, there was a green space partitioned off next to parking. There was loose soil inside, sowed some seeds in the morning and looked after during the evening.

Some people, for their planting area, forcibly removed some possibly unowned cars and dug into the ground to reclaim the land.

Since there had been seven or eight conflicts over the past two days. Luo Xun's old second hand car was secretly removed (because Yan Fei had not completely sealed the door). Fortunately the two people drove their car every day and found their vehicle in a timely manner.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei simply placed their cars in front of their home, he created a metal fence embedded in the road. Without abilities, no one could easily move them.

The green space inside the district, where low shrubs, ornamental flowers and other decorative plants had been uprooted and replaced with a variety of seeds surrounded by fences made of various materials.

Some people who had some knowledge of farming would leave the good seedlings at home. However most people just took the seeds and planted them in the ground. Although the base's daily radio program taught planting knowledge, but most of the people were busy mornings and afternoons at work.

Fewer families had a radio at home, so not many people heard. So people in the base had heard of mutant crops but no one was willing to throw away seedlings – especially since a large proportion of seedlings had transformed,

Besides, who had said mutant plants could not be eaten? What if there was difference from a normal plant?

Luo Xun and Yan Fei had no changes to their daily life. Li Tie and the others also worked as before, daily busy work in a line. No other way, they all had jobs to do, it was rare in today's base.

Don't say they were not free now, even if they had time the students would rather have Yan fei build a sturdy room to grow vegetables, who would go out for the parcels?

At the end of the month, Yan Fei's team had successfully completed two-thirds of the perimeter wall they were responsible for! The big, dark walls had been built in less than one month with only four metal users.

They were thankful that their captain was strong and willing to fight for team benefits. Their immediate superiors were also similar. After hearing the collective level up of the metal users and the need for a higher level of nucleus to replenish energy, the bosses were generous.

The level two crystal nuclei were specially sent to the metal team. In Luo Xun's supplies, the team was allocated a number of crystal nuclei each day. Letting them speed up their work on the outer wall since the barrack walls were still waiting for them!

"Today's work is over here." Captain Guo was standing in front of everyone with a big truck behind him. "Tomorrow is four consecutive days of holiday. Everyone go back and rest. Come back to work on the first day of next month, no one is allowed to be late!"

"Yes!" The crowd was all excited and bright eyes. Working so hard this month, was it not for these days of vacation?

Captain Guo waved and the team dissolved.

Luo Xun took a deep breath and smiled at Yan Fei. "Finally don't have to wake up early tomorrow morning."

Yan Fei also laughed, but his smile had ulterior motives. "Tomorrow you can wake up late."

Luo Xun stared at his sinister smile, then walked towards the door. "Li Tie and the others have two more days until holiday? But Zhang Yi seems to have three days?"

"Well, he kept it for three days, but he put them on the last two days of this month and the first of next month." Yan Fei casually put a hand in his pocket and pulled Luo Xun's hand. Luo Xun had no way and could only slow down and walk beside him.

The weather was getting warmer and warmer, people were wearing thinner and thinner layers. The pair were a little conspicuous holding hands. Fortunately, few people would pay attention during the apocalypse. Although some people did notice, but gossiping about people and their actions was much less than before.

But Luo Xun was still a little uncomfortable, he walked with his head down.

Yan Fei suddenly whispered in his ear. "Do want to wear a mask too when we go out?"

Luo Xun gave him a look. "You think I'm like you? Afraid to go out and be remembered?"

Yan Fei smiled. "Let's go exchange for some gas."

They were going out zombie hunting in two days. There were limits to purchasing gasoline on base, public officials still had means to get some. Ordinary survivors on the other hand could only buy a certain amount of petrol and only after receiving a mission that needed a vehicle.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei got an "oil ticket" through their relationship with captain Guo. Li Tie and company got some as well. As for Zhang Yi he got some as gifts for treatment benefits.

Because the couple had an earlier holiday and they got off work relatively early, the students handed over their tickets to pool their resources. Let them buy in advance and take out – Xu Mei's fire ability and gasoline was a match made in heaven!

The two men drove to the exchange window – other than oil tickets, they needed points to buy petrol. Fortunately they had saved a bunch in preparation.

The top level petrol would definitely catch on fire. The fuel was sealed in the car and Yan Fei carried two barrels up to the 16th floor. The two had to prepare for their expedition out of base, the first thing to be prepared was ammunition.

Yan Fei made some metal scraps with stuff from work, anyway Captain Guo did not care what he took. Luo Xun picked a large pile of mushrooms to prepare for the trip in two days.

The couple decided to wait two days before picking the mushroom in fear they would lose their corrosive effect if harvested too early. Of course, they left the mushroom juice alone as an experiment – more than a week, basically had no effect, two or three days – no problems.

A few large mushroom bunches had grown due to the increase of seedlings in the house. A layer a bright red mushrooms, standing stiffly with strange gray mist looked very scary.

Luo Xun wore a mask and rubber gloves as he picked the mushrooms one by one. He turned to Yan Fei who had finished with the metal, "After they are processed, can it be kept longer if frozen in the fridge/. Will it contaminate anything else?"

Yan Fei paused and turned to Luo Xun with a frown. "I am not sure, but if you're going to put them in the freezer, I suggest we bring back some unused freezers."

"Well, it's better to go out and take small steps. Though mushroom production at home has increased, we cannot go out too often and burning these would be a waste."

There had been no effect when Luo Xun had burned the mushrooms before knowing of their usefulness. But now since they were a special weapon, can not waste them!

In particular, Luo Xun was ready to fill the bottom shelves next door with wood so they could grow for later. It would bad to not have any storage space in the future!

Luo Xun pounded the mushrooms into bright red juice with a glass scoop. Although the liquid was also red, it could not be mistaken for blood. After pouring the finished product into another container, Luo Xun continued his work.

Yan Fei took control of some metal, which flew towards the liquid. The finished product was a standard crossbow arrow. The whole process was without physical labor, it was cheating!

The two people's appearance contrasted each other – Luo Xun was wearing a raincoat converted into protective clothing, rubber gloves on hands, face covered by a modified plastic helmet. All worn in fear of even slight contact with the strange juice. He was even wearing rain boots – armed to the teeth.

But Yan Fei was leisurely wearing a shirt while sitting in a chair. The whole process done with a wave of his hand. This…really made a man mad.

The two men were busy the evening before the holiday. Li Tie and the others came to visit about protective clothing – they did not have much? Only had a set of ponchos, there had not been a need since they stayed out of the fights.

By noon tomorrow, this batch of mushrooms would all be dealt with. Although Luo Xun wanted to try freezing some mushroom in the fridge, but in consideration of future food, he decided to wait until coming back to experiment.

Made a bunch of special weapons, the two also went and prepared the needed food the day before. Waited until the morning of to place the packages in the corridor while waiting for the others.

After a month, the Otaku squad gathered again. The original heavy clothes were all replaced with relatively easy to move clothes – but similar looks. Who knew where Li Tie and company got identical black sportswear.

Looked like a well known imitation brand before the apocalypse. Each had a iron bar in hand, the same crossbow over the shoulder, uniform large backpacks loaded with a raincoat poncho.

Seeing Luo Xun, the group came quickly and accepted Yan Fei's metal ammunition. These were very lethal, had to careful while holding them. Though if they fell, they were not so vulnerable.

Luo Xun gave the prepared food to Wang Duo and once again checked. Confirmed everyone had no problems with their motorcycle helmets. "Ready to go!"

"Right!"

Downstairs, the three ladies also locked their iron gate upon hearing movement.

When Luo Xun saw them, he saw the pair wearing leather boots, helmets in hand, twin iron bars at their waists and so on. Looking lower, there was a small head hiding behind the two ladies. Luo Xun did not see a cute little sister – because she wore a child's motorcycle helmet on her head…

Suddenly felt that his group would look very intimidating while going out. Luo Xun's heart had convulsions but he shoved that thought away and waved to the three girls down the stairs.

Unlike usual, when it came to zombies, Luo Xun subconsciously became the leader of this squad. Strangely enough, all the members – including the difficult Zhang Yi and the most powerful Yan Fei had decided that. At the same time – Luo Xun had no clue.

Yan Fei waved and opened the metal fences that protected everyone's vehicles. Nearby people saw a uniformed group of people wearing helmets and stayed a distance away. The crowd watched as they drove away towards the exit then gossiped – what team was that? Why had they never seen them before?

The Otaku squad picked up the 100 nuclei mission again and joined the waiting convoy in the patio. In order to maximize the benefits, Luo Xun got both of his cars to be combined. This meant that adding Li Tie's two cars, Xu Mei's car and Luo Xun's joined two cars, there was a total of five cars in the area.

The waiting area at the perimeter wall was much higher – now it was 10 meters. After the cars stopped, they revved the engines. When the front door opened, the cars rushed out at full speed.

It seemed that because they were already familiar, there were no accidents like last time. Luo Xun's group leisurely went out like last time. Not long after, the team turned at an intersection to a road with less people.

Several city roads had been cleaned up, so the feeling going out was much better than last time. The roads were clear, all the randomly parked cars on the road had disappeared.

They went all the way back to the bank they stayed in last time. All the materials had long been collected by other people, so few would deliberately stay here. People hurried through here into the depths of the city.

The base tasks had undergone some adjustments, the task of collecting nuclei was still the same but the collection of materials had more and more specific requirements. In other words, previous behavior of picking a collection mission to grab nuclei had been basically eliminated.

This kind of task gave a detailed map with specific location and quantity requirements. Then the team had a certain number of restrictions, if not followed then some points would be taken away.

Luo Xun and company had no interest in such tasks, their attention was focused on digging out nuclei from zombies.

Once again they quickly cleared the zombies near the bank. They felt a sense of relief seeing the fortifications from last time were still intact.

Checked the situation inside the bank, Luo Xun looked out the window after confirming that there were no unwelcome surprises inside. "Now Yan Fei and I will get some metal materials. You prepare the original fortifications, actions should quiet, do not make too much noise."

"Okay."

"No problem, leave it to us!"

There were not too many zombies in the vicinity and they had not noticed the group. If the zombies went on the attack, they would hurry back to their makeshift base.

Luo Xun with a box of special ammunition and a crossbow, crept out the bank's back door with Yan Fei. All the metal materials near the bank last time were all gone. This time they needed to check out nearby areas to get some metal. It could be used for fortifications, weapons and to back home.

The two men ran to a nearby street shop. They did not even need to enter since Yan Fei could collect metal while walking.

From the shopfronts, various shapes flew out. Luo Xun watched as the various pieces of metal melted together forming a huge shield. He shook his head with a sigh, "This could be used as a mobile fortress."

Yan Fei's hand was in his pocket holding a crystal nucleus. The other hand was moving a large piece of metal with the rest of the materials.

There were quite a few zombies in the street. They waved their arms and ran over feeling the presence of a living person. Luo Xun aimed at the zombies that had been blocked by Yan Fei's metal shields.

Because there was a barrier, the zombies could only futilely scratch at the shield. The zombies that Luo Xun focused on were ones who had been stuck in the shield.

Yan Fei thought a moment and whisked his hand. The large lump of metal in the air that was blocking zombies shot forward. With a bang, the mass of iron instantly smashed a large group of zombies…