Chapter 423: Golden Leg
Each room held a different zombie. All of them had lost both arms. Some were completely restrained, others only partially. When someone approached, they would struggle and lunge, but it was clear they were weakened.
“This one—I call it the Tightening Crown Helmet. I’ve already tested it on zombies. It controls the release intensity of their powers,” Shen Xiuyin explained, pointing to a zombie across the glass made of some unknown material. It wore a helmet-like device that fully covered its head, with a red light blinking near the forehead.
Shen Xiuyin tapped the glass. The zombie turned and shot a stream of water at them, which splashed harmlessly against the glass and dripped to the floor.
He pressed a button on a handheld device, and two red dots lit up on the helmet.
After tapping the glass again, the zombie fired another water jet—much stronger this time.
“There are four levels in total. Level 0 completely disables powers. Level 1 allows one-third strength. Level 2 gives two-thirds, and Level 3 is full power. The lab’s zombies are at most B-level, so Level 3 is still manageable. If it were anything stronger, the glass might not hold—I’m not sure.”
He then led them to another room where a wood-type zombie was held. An assistant was harvesting vegetables inside the glass enclosure—lettuce, chrysanthemum greens, beans, even plump tomatoes. The yield looked fantastic.
Shen Xiuyin demonstrated the zombie’s planting ability and moved on to the third lab—home to a fire-type zombie. The moment it heard them, it fired a fireball in their direction.
These were the only three power types they’d successfully captured, and Shen Xiuyin had somehow built a working device to manage them.
Lu Weiyi was thrilled.
In just over a year, Shen Xiuyin’s inventions had made huge contributions to the base—especially the earlier power-suppressing field generator.
Now, whenever the base’s military goes out to hunt zombies, they bring the device with them. Casualties have dropped by 80%.
With this device, as long as there are enough powered zombies, many ability users can be reassigned to other tasks.
“What do you want?” Lu Weiyi asked Shen Xiuyin.
Shen Xiuyin’s expression was blank, his face tinged with confusion. After thinking for a long time, he finally said, “My sister had a mental breakdown… Can we find a doctor to cure her?”
Lu Weiyi turned to look at Zhuang Mingxu.
“I’ll try my best to find one,” Zhuang Mingxu replied.
Shen Xiuyin nodded, left the lab, and entered a room. He didn’t make another sound for a long time.
Lu Weiyi was about to go in and check when Zhuang Mingxu stopped him. “That’s his room. He’s probably gone to sleep.”
“Let’s head back first. Later I’ll have someone ask about the method for making this device. We can start researching its applications ourselves.”
*
When they returned to the villa, everyone was already awake.
Li Dongsheng and Bai Miao, who had fixed daily schedules, were running late and hurried out of the kitchen holding two wraps.
“Aren’t you going to have some soy milk? I’ll scoop some into bowls for you to take,” Xi Shi’s voice called from the kitchen.
“No, no, I’m going to be late!” Bai Miao was holding up pants with a loose waistband in one hand, his hair messy like a bird’s nest. While shouting, he said to Li Dongsheng, “Brother Li, help me! My pants are falling down!”
“Hurry up,” Li Dongsheng shoved their wraps into the front basket of the electric scooter and quickly climbed on. Bai Miao hopped on behind him with lightning speed.
“It’s fine even if you’re a little late,” Zhuang Mingxu said unhurriedly, pulling Lu Weiyi toward the villa and shouting after them.
“Can’t be! I forgot to assign tasks yesterday!” Bai Miao shouted back, waving, as the electric scooter carried them quickly toward North Island.
Watching them, Lu Weiyi ran his hand through his hair. “Is my hair messy?”
“Nope, I brushed it before we left,” Zhuang Mingxu replied.
“Do you think people like them will have trouble finding a partner?” Lu Weiyi crossed his arms, watching their hurried, almost pre-apocalyptic white-collar behavior.
“They won’t,” Zhuang Mingxu said, knowing the current situation for women in the base. After everything they’d been through in the apocalypse, women’s expectations had changed. “In fact, they’re very popular. They just probably don’t like anyone.”
“Now it’s just about companionship. What about those researchers from the capital—where did you assign them?”
“Sent them to the South Island. They’ve built another lab over there. I was hoping some of them might be working on fertility issues, but after asking around, it turns out they’re all experts in virology, human biology, chemistry, and other fields—but not reproductive science.”
Zhuang Mingxu, now in a high-level position, had started to think long-term about the base’s continuity.
“Isn’t it a bit early to worry about that?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“People need hope,” Zhuang Mingxu said. “In an apocalyptic world, most people live day by day. But when you talk about future generations, it gives people something to fight for and stability to hold on to. Otherwise, people just drift—and when the hearts of the people are unstable, the base becomes unstable too.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wonder how many of the researchers from the facility that developed Aiyi are still alive?”
“You want to implement the dual-sperm cultivation technology?” Lu Weiyi frowned, thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Even before the apocalypse, when resources were abundant, the success rate was low. Now, it’s nearly impossible.”
“Still, it’s good to have hope. I’ll try reaching out to Qingyuan Base again. I remember Li Muzi is still alive—he was assigned to some institute over there.”
As they spoke, they entered the villa and bumped into Lin Yimu and Lu Qing, who were already dressed and having breakfast, along with Li Zhuang, lazily shuffling around in shorts and slippers.
“Morning,” Li Zhuang greeted while yawning with a tray in hand. He picked a few dishes from the large basins and grabbed a bowl of congee before heading upstairs.
“Why are you eating in your room?” Dean asked, yawning.
“Because… I’m in a good mood,” Li Zhuang said, flip-flopping up the stairs. As he passed Antonio, the latter whistled silently in teasing.
Li Zhuang ignored him, but just as Antonio turned to head back down, one of the stairs suddenly jutted out, tripping him. He stumbled several steps and landed at the bottom, wincing from a pulled muscle in his thigh.
He turned to look at the now-flat step, then back upstairs—Li Zhuang had already vanished. Embarrassed, he couldn’t even rub it, so he grit his teeth in silence.
“Daddy! Papa! Time for breakfast!” Zhuang Aiyi’s cheerful voice rang out.
“Yay, food!” Taotao echoed, holding little Qin Nian’s hands to keep him from falling as he toddled.
“Oh-oh!” Qin Nian squealed, waving his chubby arms.
Yin Jin was kneeling in front of the three kids, patiently asking what they wanted to eat—clearly the one who had helped them wake up.
“Thanks, I’ll take over,” Zhuang Mingxu said, taking the tray from him.
“Aiyi did most of the work—I just tidied up the room,” Yin Jin replied modestly.
Lu Weiyi carried his own tray, scanning the breakfast options. Lu Qing raised his brows with a hopeful smile.
“Today’s congee was slow-cooked in clay pots—it’s delicious.”
“Then I’ll try it,” Lu Weiyi said, picking up a pot. Lu Qing immediately shot Lin Yimu a knowing look.
Amused, Lin Yimu pulled out the chair beside him for Lu Weiyi to sit and asked what they had discovered.
“Absolutely incredible…” Lu Weiyi grinned wide, like a little fox who’d just stolen a chicken. “You’ll be shocked when you see it.”
“Then I must see it. I had West Island cleared out again—another 1,000 square meters, dedicated to storage. Is that enough?”
“Should be enough for the machinery, but where do we put the coal we brought back? How do we handle it?”
“I looked into it,” Zhuang Mingxu jumped in. “Raw coal can’t be used directly—it has to be washed to remove harmful substances. So, we’ll need to set up a coal-washing plant and get some equipment.”
“Then we’ll have to scout around—probably won’t find that kind of equipment here,” Lin Yimu said.
Since Lu Weiyi had just returned, they really didn’t want him heading out again so soon.
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t speak either—he was a bit reluctant himself. Plus, the tightening helm device had just been developed and still needed some powered zombies to be captured for testing and deployment. Lu Weiyi’s involvement was essential.
Ning Yuan chimed in from the side, “Wu Yue and I can lead the team. We’ll scout the terrain over there, treat it like marking potential supply points. Li Qing and the others can come too, continue improving their powers. Later, he can just head over and pick up the materials—saves time on the road.”
Zhuang Mingxu looked at Wu Yue, who nodded to signal he was fine with it.
“Otherwise, we can switch out the team. A few squad leaders from other bases want help training their powered users. Since most people upgraded successfully here, it’s no longer a secret. Everyone’s noticed. It’d be hard to refuse without backlash. Just treat this outing as a reconnaissance mission—take them along.”
“Who’s paying for the crystal nuclei?” Ning Yuan asked. He didn’t mind helping out fellow base members, but power enhancement training burned through an insane number of nuclei—that wasn’t a small cost.
“Let them pay themselves,” Zhuang Mingxu replied without hesitation. “Our base’s purified crystal exchange rate is 3-to-1—three raw nuclei for one purified nucleus of the same grade. Try to match the elemental type. If it’s a rare type we don’t have, we can purify it separately, but they’ll have to pay an extra labor fee.”
“Three to one? Sounds like I’ve latched onto a golden thigh,” Ning Yuan said, calculating how many nuclei he had used to upgrade, then turned to Lu Weiyi with a flattering smile. “Captain, do you think this congee is too hot? Want me to cool it for you?”
“Fine,” Lu Weiyi lifted his chin and pushed the congee bowl over like a little prince, his mock-serious pose making everyone at the table laugh.
“What’s the exchange rate at other bases?” Ning Yuan finally asked seriously.
“There’s only an official cooperation with the capital base. They use supplies instead of setting a fixed rate. But if you estimate it, it’s about 5-to-1. As for the Pingjin base, Tang Bai and the other factions asked about it, but I said we didn’t have much in stock and delayed the exchange until mid-winter,” Zhuang Mingxu explained.
