Chapter 197: New Year’s Eve
“Dinner’s ready, dinner’s ready!” Xi Shi called at the right moment, asking for help to bring dishes to the table while boiling dumplings.
“You guys eat first, I’ll keep watch to prevent zombie sneak attacks,” Li Dongsheng said.
“I’ll help,” Lin Yimu added.
“No need, I’m watching. Let’s eat together,” Lu Weiyi said, sending out the small green branch. Its patrol range was already about 1,200 meters, making it better at keeping watch than any of them.
“It’s a rare holiday, let’s eat together,” Zhuang Mingxu handed chopsticks to Zhuang Ai Yi to set the table.
“Together, together! Happy New Year!” Xu Sa said, prompting Lu Weiyi to take out a bottle of wine. They each poured a small glass to toast, with Xu Sa playfully winking at Lu Weiyi, eyeing the roast duck.
Lu Weiyi took two roast ducks from his space and put them on the table, completing the meal with chicken, duck, fish, and meat. He sniffed the cup of white liquor beside him, sipped a little, frowned, and gave it to Zhuang Mingxu.
Amidst everyone’s laughter, Lu Weiyi and Zhuang Ai Yi raised their juice cups and toasted.
“Toasting—!”
“To a better tomorrow!”
“The future will be better!”
The lively atmosphere warmed the surroundings despite the dropping temperature. No gala, no fireworks, no lights, not even many people—just this group in a half-ruined building, full of hope, wishing each other a better tomorrow.
*
After the celebration quieted down, life had to go on.
After dinner, Gu Qingyue and Xiong Jie upgraded their abilities to B-level. Lu Weiyi gave Xu Sa a hundred crystal cores on credit, urging him to improve quickly.
Xu Sa accepted, assuming Lu Weiyi had tried to secretly give it to him earlier. With a strong sense of morality, his mood lifted, and without suspicion, he openly declared, “I’ll pay interest.”
Lu Weiyi distributed a fixed amount of crystal cores to each person, but everyone’s absorption ability differed. Even with crystal cores, gaps were widening.
Xu Sa was the one who couldn’t absorb enough, while Lu Xi obviously had leftovers.
Lu Xi looked enviously at Lu Weiyi. Lu Weiyi came close, patted his head comfortingly, “Your strengths lie elsewhere, don’t worry.”
Lu Xi nodded firmly, looked up at Lu Weiyi, and said, “I’ve already synthesized that kind of energy substance, but it’s still unstable. I’m figuring it out. Once it’s stable, we can experiment using crystal cores.”
Lu Weiyi was surprised and praised, “I knew you were a little genius. You’d definitely figure it out.”
Probably knowing his own abilities weren’t great—especially since the zombies had upgraded recently, and low-level mental powers had almost no offensive capability—Lu Xi usually stayed hidden in his humble little lab except when protecting a few ordinary people during battles. The time and effort he put in were obvious, so it was not surprising he had achieved results.
“Hehe,” Lu Xi smiled shyly but was also a bit happy—he had contributed something to the team.
Before leaving, the group thoroughly scavenged the entire village. The abundance of supplies meant they had to head to the next base to collect jade stones.
“There’s a small urban area nearby, and beyond that is Shangyang City. These two places are in different directions. Should we go directly to the Shangyang base or check around here first?” Lin Yimu asked, looking over a map before bed that night.
Lu Weiyi looked at the map and quietly muttered a few words to Zhuang Mingxu, then said, “We’ll detour to Linqi City first, then head to Shangyang City. We’ll visit the nearest places that might have large bases.” Judging by how they scavenged everything they saw, Lu Weiyi felt repairing the space (presumably their base or dimension) was the top priority.
No rush to travel, no objections. Lu Weiyi distributed all the B-level crystal cores he had collected, “These are all B-level crystal cores. Absorb them later. Also, since we’re heading to a base and will inevitably enter towns and populated areas where zombies increase, let’s have a short meeting to discuss the next plans.”
After handing out the crystal cores, Lu Weiyi didn’t let anyone leave and spoke up.
A meeting…!
The dozen or so people were surprised, especially Zhuang Mingxu. Even he didn’t know what Lu Weiyi wanted to talk about. Everyone looked at each other—Lu Weiyi usually didn’t care about such things. That he was now taking on the responsibility of a team leader was already unusual.
Now that he was actually proposing a meeting, curiosity made everyone turn to him and wait for him to continue.
“I studied everyone’s combat style from last night and restructured our grouping and battle methods,” Lu Weiyi said, producing a notebook. It clearly recorded each person’s abilities and current level, with a messy diagram below.
“The zombies we encountered correspond basically to the Five Elements. Most of the powers from our team also correspond to these elements. When same-element powers fight, unless the level difference is large, victory is nearly impossible. So I divided our team into two groups based on the Five Elements.”
“Since there is only one metal-type and one fire-type, Antonio and Liu Rui must participate in both teams’ fights. The two teams are: Team 1—Antonio, Gu Qingji, Gu Qingyue, Liu Rui, Wu Yue, Xiong Jie. Team 2—Antonio, Li Dongsheng, Bai Miao, Ning Yuan, Liu Rui, Li Zhuang.”
Due to differences in zombie crystal cores, the powers of the ability users have begun to diverge, with earth, wood, and water types obviously advancing faster.
Li Zhuang’s earth-type ability was already approaching the A-level threshold, expected to upgrade soon.
Antonio and Liu Rui, having fewer corresponding crystal cores, had fallen behind despite being the first to upgrade. Lu Weiyi had to allocate carefully, considering the strength and offensive power of everyone’s abilities.
“Any objections to the team division?” Lu Weiyi asked the group.
Everyone shook their heads. Then Xu Sa asked, “What about me?”
“You’ll talk later,” Lu Weiyi replied, continuing, “Each team has all five elements. During combat, we attack zombies whose element is weak against ours, just like yesterday’s fight.”
“This way, even if the opponent is a bit stronger, we still have a chance. Since everyone’s level varies and some powers are less offensive—like Li Dongsheng and Bai Miao’s—we need teammates like Li Zhuang and Ning Yuan to support promptly.”
“Xu Sa’s power is highly offensive and can cooperate with water-type abilities for wide-area attacks. I will adjust the deployment based on the differences in abilities between the two teams,” Lu Weiyi explained.
“So basically, I run with Antonio and Liu Rui on both teams?” Xu Sa asked.
Lu Weiyi thought for a moment and nodded, “If there are lots of zombies requiring both teams to act, like yesterday, we use the same formation: Antonio and Liu Rui are the dividing line, and the others spread out on both sides in a circle. Xu Sa will support Liu Rui. I’ll try to look after Antonio’s side.”
“Any details you want me to explain?” Lu Weiyi asked.
They had practiced briefly yesterday. Though coordination was average, it was decent for a first attempt. Everyone silently considered it and mostly understood. Wu Yue said, “We should do some specific training sessions later to improve cooperation.” Such things required practice to iron out problems.
Lu Weiyi nodded.
“What about them?” Antonio pointed at Dean and his group.
“When one team goes out, the other team protects themselves. When both teams go out simultaneously, Lu Xi will use a mental barrier to keep them safe for a short time. I’ll also pay extra attention,” Lu Weiyi said. “If something unexpected happens, I’ll redistribute personnel.”
After the meeting ended, Lu Weiyi kept Antonio behind.
“Can you use your power to make bullets like these?” He took some gun bullet heads out of space and handed them to Antonio.
Antonio shook his head, “It’s complicated inside—the gunpowder. Metal alone won’t work.”
“Just the bullet head. Try compressing metal with your power, fusing your ability into the metal,” Lu Weiyi roughly explained.
As zombies upgrade, their bones become harder. Ordinary bullets and weapons will be less effective. Before crystal-core weapons appear, bullets reinforced by ability might hold out for a while.
“It’s just a guess,” Lu Weiyi said, pulling out a machete for experimentation, “Start with this blade.”
In his past life, Lu Weiyi remembered that the vice-captain of a squad in the Capital used a slingshot. The metal slingshot balls could shatter even the hardest zombie bones. Combined with his accuracy, many zombies were killed instantly.
There were even people who had picked up his marbles to study them. They looked no different from ordinary marbles, but their attack effect was surprisingly good. Later, the team started a rumor that the marbles were actually his unique ability.
Lu Weiyi had been idly sending out his mental energy one time and accidentally found out that he was actually an ordinary person, and the marbles were given to him by his elder brother, the team leader, who had metal-type abilities. Lu Weiyi thought about having Antonio try using them.
The team’s ordinary people were generally good marksmen, so if this was true, they would have some ability to defend themselves against zombies.
“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Antonio said, taking both the bullets and the machete.
Lu Weiyi took out two hundred crystal cores from his space and gave them to Antonio. “This is compensation for the energy you’ll consume. Once you develop it, I’ll give you another five hundred.”
“Wow, I’ll work hard,” Antonio accepted them and handed them to Dean right after stepping outside, looking like he was turning in his wages.
Before going to sleep, Zhuang Mingxu took the opportunity while Lu Weiyi was taking Zhuang Ai Yi to the bathroom to follow behind, pushing a wheelchair and waiting outside the hall. There were night guards outside, so the surroundings were basically safe.
“Anything you want?” Lu Weiyi came back with the bouncing Zhuang Ai Yi. Outside at nine p.m., the temperature had dropped to around freezing, and their breath showed in the air.
Zhuang Mingxu told Zhuang Ai Yi to go back and sleep by himself.
Lu Weiyi pushed Zhuang Mingxu aside and used his mental power to block any eavesdropping, then nodded to signal him to speak.
