Chapter 384: Stirring Up Trouble
Zhuang Mingxu felt bad for deceiving him, but with both Lu Xiao and Zhao Qiang having successfully upgraded, they each had close comrades willing to risk life and limb. If word got out, more people would want to bring their own for upgrades. No matter how you refuse, feelings would get hurt—especially since it’s a matter of life and death. It could easily ruin relationships.
Now that Lu Weiyi was unwell, it served as the perfect excuse: he wasn’t in shape to help more people.
Thanks to Zhuang Mingxu’s reminder, Dean knew to keep it quiet. They all maintained the same story. As long as winter set in, things would be fine.
As for after winter—Zhuang Mingxu believed Zhuang Mobai would deliver an even better answer.
Having absorbed the crystal cores, Lu Weiyi woke up shortly afterward. But his body was deeply exhausted, and he slept for an entire day. By then, Zhao Qiang had already recovered and sent someone to invite them to a thank-you meal. Since Lu Weiyi hadn’t woken up yet, Zhuang Mingxu went in his place and took the opportunity to explain Lu Weiyi’s condition.
After hearing that, Zhao Qiang simply expressed his gratitude and didn’t bring anything else up.
Over the next few days, Lu Weiyi stayed out of sight, sipping the nourishing soup brewed by Xi Shi and casually teaching Zhuang Ai Yi to recognize a few characters. Life was peaceful. Lu Xiao, despite his concern, didn’t think much of it when he saw Lu Weiyi looking fine but not going out much—he figured he just needed to rest more.
Zhuang Mingxu then sent a supply ship from the island to take Lu Xiao, Zhao Qiang, and the others out to sea. They encountered mutated birds and captured giant mutant sea creatures.
Lu Xiao, while eating a ten-meter-long ribbonfish he’d caught himself, marveled at how dangerous it was out there.
After dinner, Lu Xiao brought up the current risks at their base.
“Once I go back, there’s no way we’ll be able to keep this from the Capital Base. When word gets out that you have a way to improve upgrade success rates, even more bases will come knocking.”
“We’ve been expecting that,” Zhuang Mingxu replied. “Our base has been researching how to purify crystal cores, and we’re starting to see results. According to projections, the cold season will hit within a month. Once the heavy snow starts, travel becomes difficult for humans—but not for zombies or mutated animals. So not many people will make the trip in the snow.”
“We’ll use this time gap to finish preparations and roll out purified crystal cores to other bases in the spring. They’ll just need to exchange for them.” A mischievous smile crept onto Zhuang Mingxu’s face.
“And our crystal-core-based weapons are also in mass production. If any base wants to play hero, they’ll make a perfect example for us to make a point.”
“When did you start researching crystal core purification?” Lu Xiao was a bit taken aback by how far ahead Zhuang Mingxu was thinking.
“Quite early,” Zhuang replied vaguely. “We’ve also been rushing weapon development for this exact reason—to have military support ready when the news breaks.”
After worrying for two days, Lu Xiao finally relaxed. He thought for a moment and then offered,
“Crystal core weapons are great, but you should still make some traditional ones. Not everyone can defend against them. When I get back, I’ll see if I can recruit some mechanical engineers for you. If we can set up a small arms factory, it would ease a lot of pressure.”
“The real problem is the lack of energy and materials. Hopefully, there’ll be good news from Petroleum Island. If it can provide a steady oil supply, manufacturing won’t be an issue.”
At that moment, Lu Xiao finally understood what Lu Weiyi had meant when he said that everything could be useful. Rare metals were nearly impossible to mine now—they could only be extracted from existing items. But useful materials weren’t found just anywhere.
They were lucky to have a metal-type ability user who could manipulate metals so skillfully. With anyone else, they wouldn’t have managed nearly as well.
“Tell me which metals you’re short on and send me the list of potential parts. I’ll help you collect them when I get back,” Lu Xiao offered. He couldn’t help but praise them,
“Your team’s ability users are really something else.”
Compared to Zhao Qiang, who was kept out of the loop on many things, Lu Xiao was given full access. He personally observed Xu Sa, who was used as a “living charger,” and questioned Antonio, who could extract various metals from alloys. He saw Ning Yuan weave cages from water and watched someone create a soil mixture harder than concrete by refining different types of dirt. Then there was Liu Rui, who focused entirely on controlling temperature while making charcoal.
While other teams used every ounce of their powers to fight zombies, their team used abilities in every aspect of daily life.
“Don’t you think it’s a waste of talent?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“Not at all,” Lu Xiao answered seriously. “There’s no high or low when it comes to how you use your powers. Fighting is a last resort. Applying them to daily life—that’s returning to the essence of what it means to live. I believe your team understands that, which is why they’re willing to try.”
“Let’s hope, in the future, all abilities are used to make life better,” Lu Xiao said hopefully.
*
At Halfmoon Bay, the place wasn’t very big, and when people from the Capital Base arrived, they didn’t bother to hide it. Within a few days, the news spread.
The rescued women from Petroleum Island heard about it too, and about half of them were thinking of leaving with the Capital people.
“You’re free to leave if you want,” Bai Miao said after hearing the report and personally meeting with the group. “But think it through. Life here is hard, yes, but our base is one of the few truly peaceful ones. There’s no abuse or oppression of women here. That might not be true elsewhere.”
In just a few months, Bai Miao—though young—had already developed the aura of a leader after being personally trained by Wu Yue and Zhuang Mingxu. He was now managing a large group of ordinary people.
From the beginning, he had been aware of these women’s backgrounds and was concerned that, having grown used to exchanging their bodies for survival on Petroleum Island, they might not settle into proper work here. However, after a few days, although there were some who slacked off, complained, or secretly flirted with the men here, nothing truly inappropriate occurred.
Given over a year of apocalypse, women had become less physically capable compared to men. Their base’s male-to-female ratio had dropped to a staggering ten to one—even when including children and the elderly. So when thirty-four women suddenly appeared, the men in the plantation were ecstatic.
Bai Miao felt that as long as they weren’t causing real trouble, keeping them around was fine. After all—not everyone in their team was drawn to the same gender.
He had seen the fates of attractive women and even good-looking men in other bases. By comparison, their base really was the best option. So even knowing people from the Capital Base had arrived, he hadn’t thought to ask much.
Who would have expected these women to bring it up on their own?
The few women who came forward as representatives exchanged glances nervously. Eventually, the one in the lead spoke up, “We’ve thought it through. Our families used to live in Capital. We want to go back and see if any of them are still alive.”
“That’s no problem. Our base has a special department for finding missing people. It helps connect residents with other known bases to locate family members. If your families are still alive, they’re welcome to join you here and start a new life.”
The woman remained silent. Bai Miao looked at his to-do list for the day. There was still a lot of work left, and he didn’t have time to waste. But remembering how some of his colleagues had started finding even the sows in the pigsty attractive, he figured he’d at least try to fight for this opportunity on their behalf. So he added sincerely, “Don’t be fooled by my age. Since the apocalypse started, I’ve traveled through more than a dozen bases. I can tell you—no other base has a better environment than ours.”
“We still want to leave,” one of the women muttered, her head lowered, nervously twisting the hem of her faded shirt.
“Is there something you’re worried about? You can tell me.”
The women stayed silent. Bai Miao frowned. “If there’s an issue, say it. I’ll help if it’s within my power, okay?”
Perhaps because he was young, or maybe because they were truly determined to leave, one woman at the back finally looked up and said, “You know what we’ve been through, don’t you?”
Bai Miao was momentarily speechless.
That alone was answer enough. The woman let out a bitter laugh. “Sure, you can say your base rescued us from hell, but isn’t this place still just a den of men?”
Just as Bai Miao was about to retort, the woman continued, “And those painful experiences of ours—how casually they’re talked about. Who knows? One day, everyone around us might know. And what kind of looks would they give us then?”
“This so-called ‘new life’? Our pasts are ticking time bombs. Who knows when they’ll blow up in our faces—just when we’ve finally begun to settle in? We want to go somewhere no one knows us, where we can truly start over.”
Bai Miao was stunned by their naïveté. He stayed silent for a moment before letting out a sarcastic laugh. “You really haven’t suffered enough. If you had, you wouldn’t still be worried about things like face and pride.”
As for talking behind their backs? The people in his team considered even mentioning the matter a waste of time.
Seeing the woman about to keep talking, Bai Miao held up a hand to stop her and called out to his assistant outside. “Old Li, register their names. Anyone who wants to leave with the Capital Base group, write them all down. But until they leave, no work, no rations for the day.”
“I’ll report your situation to the higher-ups, but no one will provide you with food or supplies for the journey. It takes at least half a month to get from here to the Capital Base. You’ll need to prepare your own provisions. Also, they’re only responsible for taking you there—not anything else. I’m saying this now so there’s no misunderstanding later.”
After saying this, Bai Miao turned to leave.
One of the outspoken women suddenly grabbed his arm. “You took us from Petroleum Island—how can you just abandon us now?”
“If you want to go back, I can send you,” Bai Miao yanked his arm free and left with a cold laugh.
That evening, he was still fuming when he brought it up again. “Brother Mingxu, am I just too ignorant? Or are women just completely irrational? It’s unbelievable…”
