Chapter 100 — Old Acquaintances
Wave after wave. For an entire day, Luo Xun and the others kept repeating the same sequence of attacks—crossbows, abilities, then crossbows again. Only when night fell did they finally lure the zombies that could barely be seen at the tail end of the horde into the trench encircling the newly completed defensive works…
Bright red mushroom liquid was poured into the “moat,” splashing over the zombies’ heads. Agonized howls and shrieks rose from within. After this batch of zombies was finished off by the mushroom juice, the next group that fell into the trap was greeted by a ferocious blaze of gasoline-fueled fire…
Luo Xun and the others sat inside their respective vehicles, keeping their distance from the metal walls around them as they were licked by raging flames. There was no helping it—this time, the trench trap had to surround the entire defensive structure, and they had no other fortifications to rely on.
They were right in the center of a massive ring of fire. If not for Song Lingling, the water-type ability user who could help lower the temperature, and Zhang Su, the wind-type ability user who could bring in fresh air, they would have either been roasted alive or suffocated from lack of oxygen.
By the firelight, Li Tie and the others flipped through a few novels. Little Xinran lay curled up on Xu Mei’s lap, wrapped in a blanket, hugging several picture books and sleeping soundly.
These books were something they had come across by chance along the way, scattered out of a building. They didn’t know what the building had originally been used for, but it certainly wasn’t a bookstore or newsstand. Luo Xun and the others suspected it was likely a warehouse or a transfer center of some sort. In any case, they had found quite a few books there. Although there weren’t many formal textbooks, these were enough to help pass the time and to teach little Xinran how to read.
Luo Xun still had who knew how many online novels and reference materials stored on his computer at home. After Li Tie and the others found out, they somehow got hold of a Wi-Fi setup and installed a shared network in the building. Everyone would download novels onto their phones to kill time now and then. Those could wait until Xinran was older. For now… children’s books and learning materials were far more suitable for her.
Outside, crackling sounds filled the night—wind howling, flames roaring, like a wildfire raging across the wilderness. After a night passed, everything outside was scorched black.
After climbing up the metal framework that Yan Fei had constructed and surveying the surroundings to confirm there were no zombies within visible range—and that all the zombies in the trench had been completely burned to death—Luo Xun finally let out a sigh of relief and climbed back down.
“Open it up! Let’s pack up!”
This time, the harvest was still quite good. Although there were only a little over seven thousand crystal cores, nearly half of them were level-two cores!
In the base, level-two crystal cores were now worth about ten times as much as level-one cores. If they exchanged the level-two cores they didn’t need for level-one cores, then this haul was clearly far better than the previous two times.
Everyone gathered around the vehicles and immediately started dividing up the spoils. After setting aside a portion as the team’s collective income and distributing the rest among themselves, they began discussing what to do next.
“Should we fight a bit longer, or head back now?” The good harvest had put everyone in high spirits. Even though there were plenty of level-two zombies around, they had mushroom weapons—this time, they had brought more than twice the amount of mushroom juice compared to before! And let’s not forget, they hadn’t gone out at all last month.
Luo Xun thought it over, looked at everyone, then glanced up at the sun in the sky before deciding, “Let’s head back.” He smiled at them and added, “Everyone did well this time, but it’s almost noon already. If we don’t want to do blood tests to enter the base, we’ll have to wait in the holding area for a while.”
That was true. Pushing deeper in could indeed net them more crystal cores, but it would be hard to say when they’d make it back. If they got surrounded by zombies like before, they might end up fighting until midnight again without being able to return. Even though they still had another day off tomorrow, an extra day of rest was far better than risking their lives outside.
After exchanging glances, everyone made the same rational decision—go straight home.
They began packing up. Yan Fei folded and compressed the metal materials he needed, plating them onto or loading them into the vehicles. There were also some trees nearby that had been blown down earlier; Luo Xun and the others grabbed several large, relatively intact pieces of wood and loaded them into the cars as well before driving off toward the base.
As usual, the remaining metal materials were “hidden” within the ring of traps around them. Of course, the traps were properly sealed and camouflaged. This time, Zhang Su even piled a bunch of broken stones and rotting wood on top, making it look no different from the surrounding ruins.
Once everything was settled, the convoy set off again. Although they were still some distance from the base, everyone wanted to hurry back, eat lunch there, and then wait to enter the city.
With so much loaded into the vehicles, the result was a trail of dust all the way. But when they neared what used to be a main road, they spotted another plume of dust rising in the distance.
“Zombies—and vehicles,” Yan Fei said in a low voice to Luo Xun, who was driving, after lowering his binoculars.
Luo Xun nodded slightly. A fleeting look of daze crossed his face before he said gravely, “Drive over there. We’ll act according to the situation.”
One car after another followed closely. There were noticeably more zombies on this road than when they had passed through yesterday. Combined with the vehicles apparently stopped not far ahead, it wasn’t hard to guess the reason—either these zombies had been drawn over by those vehicles, or other vehicles had passed through here before them.
This road was one of the main arteries leading into City A. Heading south from here led to several other cities. Among the bases that had reportedly fallen in early June, at least half of them had to pass through this road to reach City A.
After the bombing, the spot where Luo Xun and his group now were had only this single road leading back to the base. They didn’t have off-road vehicles, after all, and couldn’t drive along those side paths filled with rubble and ruins. Besides, while there were quite a few zombies on this road, they were nothing too daunting for an experienced team. Luo Xun and the others hadn’t used up all their weapons, ammunition, mushroom juice, or gasoline. The supplies left in their vehicles were enough to stage another large-scale zombie-burning operation. Earlier, they had simply chosen not to continue hunting zombies for the sake of safety and time.
As they gradually drew closer to the few vehicles ahead, the situation became clear. A large truck had overturned, and a swarm of zombies was tearing at the vehicle, clawing at the people still alive inside. Another car had clearly been blocked by the overturned truck, and several people were wielding sticks, iron pipes, and the like, desperately striking at the zombies chasing them as they fought and retreated. Every face was filled with despair—until they saw Luo Xun’s convoy!
“Kill.” Luo Xun grabbed the crossbow resting on the dashboard with one hand, rolled down the window, and aimed at the zombies that had turned their heads at the sound.
These zombies and the two vehicles completely blocked the road. Unless they turned back and searched for another route, there was no way around this spot. And if they wanted to pass through, the only option was to kill all the zombies here.
Yan Fei had already prepared himself when Luo Xun steered toward the wrecked vehicles. The people in the cars behind them were likewise ready for battle, and the moment the situation unfolded, they launched their attacks.
One zombie dodged a crossbow bolt and suddenly leapt toward Luo Xun’s vehicle—jumping nearly three meters into the air! But while it was still in free fall, it collided head-on with a metal plate with a loud bang. At the moment of impact, the metal plate seemed to come alive, unfolding in midair, wrapping around the zombie and twisting—squelch. The zombie inside was instantly crushed into pulp.
After clearing out the zombies around the vehicles, Luo Xun and the others got out and regrouped with Li Tie and the rest. Little Xinran pointed to a spot by the roadside, rapidly turning the ground to sand. Zhang Su raised his hand, sweeping sand, gravel, and debris together with the clusters of fire Xu Mei instantly conjured, then blasted them forward in a sudden eruption.
Seeing these people actually get out of their cars to help, the survivors in the two vehicles burst with a fierce will to live. Someone shouted loudly, “Hang on, everyone! Just a little longer!” Some of the young and able-bodied men, who had already been thinking of fleeing when things looked hopeless, immediately threw themselves back into the fight with all they had.
With the support of the well-equipped, battle-hardened otaku team, the remaining zombies were quickly wiped out. Unfortunately, many people from the two vehicles had already been injured. Some turned into zombies on the spot; a few others, bearing wounds, sat by the roadside covering their faces, despair in their eyes, with no will to live left at all.
Luo Xun swept a glance over those sitting by the road, then turned and walked toward the remaining uninjured survivors. “Where are you from?” From their clothing and the condition of their vehicles, it was obvious they were not a task team from City A. Their clothes were tattered, their faces sallow and thin—clearly very different from the relatively decent living conditions in City A Base. What truly convinced him, though, was that none of them had anything that could really be called a weapon.
Some had worn-down riot axes with chipped blades hanging at their waists; most of the rest were holding bits of metal pried off from who knew where.
Everyone hurriedly spoke at once in explanation.
“We’re from City C.”
“We’re from City M.”
“We’re from—”
A middle-aged man in his forties explained, “Our group has people from several different bases. After our bases fell, we all headed toward City A. Everyone’s original vehicles broke down, so we banded together…”
Luo Xun nodded and pointed at the vehicles ahead. “So your group only has these two vehicles left?”
The man’s expression turned grim, and the others looked resentful and unwilling. “We originally had over twenty vehicles. People gathered together along the way—at least that way, if we ran into zombies, we could try to hold them off. But when we reached this spot today, the lead vehicle broke down, and there were quite a few zombies following us… Normally, in this kind of situation, we’d all stop, find a way to kill the zombies, or at least rescue as many people as possible before moving on. But today…”
They were already quite close to City A, yet they unexpectedly encountered a number of level-two zombies here. On top of that, the Southwest Base of City A was reportedly not far ahead. The vehicles in front didn’t want to waste time, fearing casualties in their own cars. Though the last two vehicles still carried many people, everyone in them was an ordinary civilian—there wasn’t a single ability user among them. Being at the tail end of the convoy, they had already been treated as cannon fodder by the ability users in front. So in this situation, they were simply abandoned and left behind.
After understanding the situation, Luo Xun turned to look at Li Tie and the others behind him. Li Tie’s group had already cleaned up the surrounding zombie corpses and dug out a small bag of crystal cores. Seeing Luo Xun look over, they quickly handed it to him. “Sixty-four.”
Luo Xun took the bag, split it in half, and handed one portion to the man in his forties. “Half of this is yours.” Then he passed his own share to Zhang Su beside him. “The Southwest Base of City A is just ahead. Are you going back with our convoy, or on your own?”
The man froze for a moment, then hurriedly turned to look at the others traveling with him. They were clearly tempted. A young man suddenly asked, “Are you going anywhere else?”
Luo Xun studied him a bit longer, vaguely feeling that he looked familiar, then shook his head. “We’re heading straight back to the base.”
Seeing that Luo Xun’s vehicles seemed to be carrying a lot of supplies, they guessed that his group was a task team from City A. After a brief discussion, the middle-aged man smiled and said, “It would be best if we could go back with you. As you can see, the people in our vehicles… they’re all ordinary folks, with no real ability to protect themselves…”
Luo Xun shook his head with a smile. “It’s no problem. The Southwest Base has reward policies—if we bring survivors back, we get rewarded too. Go ahead and get ready, then.”
After everything was settled, Yan Fei stepped forward and directly “drew out” the metal from the earlier vehicle that had been wrecked beyond recognition. He then fused it onto the exterior of the truck the survivors had been riding in, not only patching up the holes but reinforcing the entire body with an extra layer.
As for the remaining materials from the ruined vehicle? They simply tossed them into the wasteland by the roadside.
Of the people who had been bitten by zombies, half had already turned during the discussions and preparations. No matter how reluctant they felt, the group couldn’t leave them behind. The remaining wounded sat farther off to the side, longing in their eyes, yet unable to ask to continue traveling with the convoy. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to live, nor that they didn’t want help—rather, in these short six months, on the long flight toward City A, they had already seen far too many people meet the same fate of eventually becoming zombies.
One of the men was clearly a ruthless sort. After his arm was bitten by a zombie, he made a snap decision and chopped it off himself. Yet whether the wound had already been contaminated, or the zombie virus truly spread at an astonishing speed, no one knew—before long, he turned completely into a zombie, just like those in the first wave.
Seeing that the others had already climbed onto the truck, Luo Xun suddenly pointed down the main road ahead at the few people still sitting by the roadside waiting to die. “Follow this road straight ahead. In about thirty minutes, you’ll see the walls of City A’s Southwest Base. If you make it there without turning into zombies, then after inspection and confirmation that you aren’t infected, you’ll be allowed in and treated.”
But if they did turn, what awaited them would be the guards’ firearms.
The vehicles continued toward the base. After registering at the main gate and explaining that the people in the truck behind them had been rescued along the way, Luo Xun’s group received some extra points before heading to the waiting area.
Sitting in the waiting area, silently watching time pass, Luo Xun gnawed on the vegetable buns Xu Mei had prepared two days earlier. Yan Fei, who hadn’t said much all this time, suddenly placed his hand over the back of Luo Xun’s hand. “What’s wrong? Your mood is off today.”
His mood had been a little off ever since June began. It hadn’t been very obvious before, but after seeing those people surrounded by zombies today, it had become much more apparent.
Today, Luo Xun had spoken noticeably more than usual—at least when dealing with strangers. And most importantly, Yan Fei could feel that something was wrong with his emotions.
Luo Xun froze, then looked up at Yan Fei in surprise. He noticed? Of course… they had lived together for so long. Just as Luo Xun could clearly sense Yan Fei’s emotions, if something was off with his own, Yan Fei would naturally be the first to notice.
“…Let’s talk about it when we get back?” There was a hint of exhaustion in Luo Xun’s eyes. He didn’t know how to explain it, or even how to put it into words. From the day he was reborn, he had never planned to tell anyone about it. But some things, pressed deep in one’s heart for too long, really could wear a person down, leaving them mentally exhausted and unable to bear it.
Especially at the moment when experiences from two lifetimes overlapped.
After being reborn, Luo Xun had never clearly figured out which route he had taken when entering the capital. He couldn’t even pin down the exact date he had entered the base. The one thing he hadn’t misremembered was the day the M City base he had once taken refuge in fell—but what came after that…
Perhaps because the experiences had been too harsh, the human brain instinctively blotted out parts of the past. It wasn’t until today, driving back and seeing those two trucks blocked halfway along the road, that Luo Xun finally remembered—this was the very place where he had nearly died in his previous life while fleeing for survival. Here, he had lost the companions who had struggled to escape M City with him, and together with the few remaining people he’d met along the way, he had fought desperately to reach City A’s Southwest Base.
Back then, they hadn’t been lucky enough to run into a task team passing by. In the end, after their companions were killed one by one and he was left with almost no fighting ability, he and a few others had stumbled away in utter misery. He hadn’t even had the courage to look back at his former companions.
Luo Xun recognized the middle-aged man from earlier. Like him, that man had been one of the last companions to escape back to the base. After being scared witless on the road, Uncle Chen was the first to decide, once inside the base, to grow vegetables at home and find work within the base. Even Luo Xun himself had initially refused to give up, going out of the base a few times with other teams—after all, he’d done so back in M City too, and at least knew how to use a homemade crossbow to shoot zombies.
But cruel reality eventually taught Luo Xun the truth—he was just an ordinary person. Low-level, small numbers of zombies were manageable, but high-level zombies were simply not something a completely ordinary person like him could handle.
After Luo Xun decided to find a job inside the base, Uncle Chen already had some farming experience. When they met again, he introduced Luo Xun to the base’s planting zone, and from then on Luo Xun truly became a full-fledged shut-in inside the base.
As for the others… among the people on the truck that had just followed behind the otaku team back, there were a few who looked somewhat familiar, but Luo Xun honestly couldn’t recall them now…
Wait!
Luo Xun’s eyes suddenly lit up. He jerked his head up so abruptly that Yan Fei raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What is it? Are you feeling unwell?” he asked, lifting a hand to check Luo Xun’s forehead.
“Uh… n-no, I’m fine…” Luo Xun’s face suddenly flushed bright red as he lowered his head, obediently letting Yan Fei’s hand rest on the top of his head.
Only then did he remember why that young man in his twenties who had spoken up earlier had seemed familiar. He recalled that on the road to City A in his previous life, he’d had a jiyou—a close male companion. Although they’d once agreed that if they both arrived at the base single, they’d live together, in truth they hadn’t known each other for very long.
That man’s appearance had been so ordinary he would disappear in a crowd, and Luo Xun himself was equally unremarkable-looking. So, years after that man’s death, Luo Xun had gradually lost any clear memory of his appearance, remembering only the things they’d once said to each other. As a result, even seeing him again today, all Luo Xun had felt was a vague sense of familiarity.
Yan Fei raised one eyebrow slightly in surprise. He could sense that Luo Xun seemed a bit guilty now—but had he done something that warranted guilt? And earlier, when Yan Fei had asked about his strange mood, Luo Xun hadn’t shown this reaction at all. This current state… it was almost as if he’d suddenly remembered some past wrongdoing.
Suppressing his questions and deciding to have a “proper” talk with Luo Xun once they got back, Yan Fei said nothing more. Calmly, he pulled Luo Xun into his arms, and together they waited as time passed.
If this had been a month or two earlier, such an intimate gesture from Yan Fei would have drawn sidelong glances. But now? The base’s macho men had gradually begun to accept the bleak reality of “no wives, make do with boyfriends,” so no one paid any attention to these two obvious lovers openly displaying affection. If anything, it was the presence of two women in Luo Xun’s otaku team that drew more curious looks from time to time.
Fortunately, Xu Mei and Song Lingling were both very cautious. Ever since the earlier incident, their outfits when going out had become decidedly androgynous. Song Lingling had even resolutely cut off her long hair. Whenever they went out now, they dressed as masculine and inconspicuous as possible, covering up as much of their faces as they could.
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