Chapter 443: Playing Cards
“No one can be sure whether zombies and mutated animals will keep getting stronger. We can only strike early. Ideally, we need to raise our overall combat strength. For those lacking in physical ability, we can make up for it with weapons.”
Lu Weiyi’s tone was crisp and decisive. Though his posture was relaxed as always, the aura he exuded was no longer the same as before.
“I’ll make arrangements as soon as possible,” Lin Yimu replied, jotting down the orders in his notebook.
“If we rely solely on our base’s army, which has limited abilities, some missions may not be completed effectively. Should we consider organizing some of the squad members too? Their powers tend to be stronger than our military personnel,” Wu Yue asked.
“We could,” Lu Weiyi frowned thoughtfully. “But how do we motivate them to take action? What’s in it for them?” The base military was akin to civil servants—they had salaries and other benefits. But for ability users in the squads, whose powers were generally stronger, those incentives weren’t enough to make them risk their lives.
“Members of the Ability User Guild are already required to complete a certain number of mandatory missions.”
“A mission or two won’t make much difference,” Zhuang Mingxu pointed out. Seeing the hour was late and everyone was still thinking with no clear answers yet, he suggested they all think it over and dismissed the meeting early.
Once everyone had left, he turned to Lu Weiyi. “You’re planning to increase weapons production?”
“Yes. Not just that—I want to focus on manufacturing heavy weapons,” Lu Weiyi replied casually, half leaning against him. “If we had more tanks, even ordinary people would have something to hide in when out in the field. And if everyone had a rocket launcher, we could actually go toe-to-toe with both mutated animals and zombies.”
“The squads at the base can live their lives huddled inside—but that’s no different from shutting off the country from the world. It limits discovery and progress. And now that birth rates are basically zero, people will start causing trouble if they don’t have anything to do…”
Zhuang Mingxu couldn’t help laughing, ruffling his hair. “Good timing. I was planning to sell a batch of equipment, weapons, and purified crystal cores. If you want to scale up production, I’ll cut back on cores and pair them with a set amount of supplementary materials.”
“Good,” Lu Weiyi looked up at him. “So how do we get the squads to risk their lives?”
“Profit,” Zhuang Mingxu said simply. When he saw Lu Weiyi’s eyes light up, expecting more, he chuckled, “I haven’t figured out the details yet.”
Seeing Lu Weiyi’s hopeful expression drop instantly made him laugh out loud. “Well, we’ll bring them along this time. I’ll think it over on the road.” Watching them up close would also help him gauge what each squad leader was most interested in.
The base finalized its decisions quickly. The very next day, the final roster was submitted—and surprisingly, every person on the list was a squad captain or vice-captain.
Lu Weiyi couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the list. “So all your captains and vice-captains are leaving? Who’s going to manage the squads?”
He looked at the three main force squads. Each squad had sent two people, filling six of the ten slots. The remaining four were split among the other squads.
“I’ve sent mine to open up more farmland,” Ye Jia said, legs crossed. “With the outside so dangerous, it’s basically a vacation.”
Chen Xing from the Zhongliang Squad nodded in agreement. His squad was mainly composed of non-ability users, so it made sense.
Du Ping didn’t say much either. “I’m going out to assess the situation. When I get back, I’ll be adjusting my squad’s development direction.”
Previously, some squad members had expressed interest in shifting their team’s direction. Lu Weiyi had planned to resolve it after the meeting. He hadn’t expected them to come forward so openly now.
“No need for crystal cores anymore?” he asked.
“We still want them,” Ye Jia replied lazily. “Without them, we can’t level up. But we really can’t afford to go out anymore. Every trip costs us several times more lives than it used to.”
His expression turned heavy. “Base Leader, I watched one of my teammates—someone who’s been with me for years—get eaten to the bone by a mutated weasel…”
He closed his eyes, let out a deep sigh. “All we want is to survive. If we can’t do that out there, then we retreat.”
“Exactly. It’s not like we can have kids now anyway. Might as well enjoy the time we’ve got.”
“Yeah, live while we can.”
…
As voices murmured all around him, Lu Weiyi exchanged a glance with Zhuang Mingxu, then knocked on the table to quiet the room and introduced a few of their travel companions.
Bai Mei from the White Rose Squad—the girl who had been dumped after Ye Jia played matchmaker. He Song from the Miracle Squad—they’d gone on zombie hunts together. Yue Qiwen from the Shengshi Squad—Li Zhuang had specifically mentioned him as having stronger earth-based combat ability than Wu Yue.
All of them were S-rank. And finally, there was an A-rank metal-type ability user: Gao Yang from the Gao Yang Squad.
All of them had once fought zombies together with Lu Weiyi, so he recognized them to some degree. After a quick briefing, he instructed them to keep their teams under control during their absence.
The next morning at 8:00 AM, the convoy set off on schedule.
Including the kids, there were 21 people in total. They were riding in the same modified truck that had accompanied them through countless battles.
Apart from Zhuang Mingxu and Zhuang Aiyi, who were both ordinary people, only Lin Mo and Gao Yang were A-rank. But metal-type abilities had strong combat potential, so the two squad divisions were left relatively flexible.
The first day of the journey went surprisingly smoothly. The roads were overgrown, thick roots occasionally blocking the way, and they occasionally bumped into small animals—but there were no real conflicts.
The next day, when they entered the city, it felt like stepping into a different world. All sorts of mutated creatures appeared along the way, their sheer variety dizzying.
But with seven or eight S-class ability users handling them, the vehicle merely jolted along the road without any issues. Once they got used to it, Zhuang Aiyi even stuck his face against the small window, happily identifying animals. He looked so thrilled, like a kid at the zoo, that even the new team members couldn’t help feeling a little envious.
Yu Mengchu sat carefreely on the bed and waved at Taotao, “Come here, cutie. Come to big sis.”
Taotao didn’t go over but gave her a sweet smile, dimples showing, making her look even more like a delicate little doll.
“Oh my god!” Yu Mengchu dramatically clutched her chest. “Base leader, how did you raise this child to be so adorable? If no one wants to have kids in the base, just let Taotao be the poster girl—specialized in being cute. One smile and everyone will want a baby.”
“They’re raised by the elders. Xiao Yi and I are usually too busy to spend much time with them,” Zhuang Mingxu said casually, much more relaxed now that they were away from the base and less occupied.
Yu Mengchu leaned closer, enamored by the soft fluff on the child’s cheek.
“Sis, my little brother is for looking only, not for touching,” Zhuang Aiyi said seriously, pulling Taotao closer.
“Alright then,” Yu Mengchu looked at the serious “big kid” with regret. “These two are just too good-looking. You guys really made beautiful babies.”
Her offhand comment made the previously murmuring carriage go silent for a beat. The unfamiliar people nearby glanced over discreetly.
Ye Jia even kicked Yu Mengchu under the table and quickly apologized, “Base leader, Sis Yu talks without thinking—she didn’t mean anything by it.”
Yu Mengchu also realized—both kids seemed to only have two dads, no mom. Even someone as unfiltered as her felt a bit awkward.
“They do have all the best genes from Xiao Yi and me,” Zhuang Mingxu said with a smile, tapping Zhuang Aiyi’s nose affectionately, the fondness in his eyes unmistakable. “If the earthquake hadn’t destroyed the lab back then, I would’ve wanted to use our genes to make a few more.”
“Gene… gene cultivation?” Ye Jia was stunned.
“Mm. It was a technology from before the apocalypse,” Zhuang Mingxu explained briefly. “I had been planning to ask if the tech was still preserved—maybe it could help relieve the current population crisis. But unfortunately, a lot of the equipment was destroyed. It’ll be impossible to restart it anytime soon.”
“I knew you two looked alike,” Yu Mengchu seized the chance to shift the topic. “By the way, base leader, I heard the Capital base is researching the reproduction issue? Any progress?”
“Captain Yu isn’t married, but still concerned about that?”
“Of course! Who says you have to be married to want kids? We can totally skip the father and keep the child, right, Captain Bai?”
Compared to the blunt Yu Mengchu, Bai Mei was just like her name—calm and elegant like a white plum blossom. When called, she thought for a moment and replied, “That’s a great idea. But first, you need to solve the problem of getting pregnant.”
That brought Yu Mengchu down instantly. She collapsed on the bed and sighed, “Who knows when this mess will end…”
“Hang in there. It’ll pass eventually.”
“Enough with the depressing talk—come on, let’s play cards!” Ye Jia pulled out a few decks of cards from his backpack and excitedly called for partners. “Captain He, Captain Bai, Base Leader Zhuang?”
Yu Mengchu covered her face in mock shame. “Captain, can’t you have a little self-awareness?”
“What’s wrong with him?” He Song got off the bed and walked over.
“He’s terrible,” Yu Mengchu said flatly, hopeless. “But he’s addicted.”
Pfft…
Hahaha…
To relax, two tables were set up for a round of Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord). On one table, Zhuang Mingxu, Yu Mengchu, and He Song played in silent understanding. On the other, Ye Jia, Lu Weiyi, and Bai Mei played with utter chaos—like five brains trying to control three hands.
“Base Leader Lu, I already played a pair of threes—we’re on the same team, can’t you help me out?”
“You saved a pair of fours. What do you want me to play, three-and-a-half?”
“I already played singles, why would you drop a bomb? That just doubled their score!”
“I calculated that you were holding a joker—”
“Bro. Bro. I’m calling you bro. You picked up both jokers yourself. What were you even calculating? That there were four jokers in the game?”
“…”
Their loud squabbling soon drew the attention of everyone resting in the carriage. Even the other table stopped playing and turned to watch the show.
