The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH124

Chapter 124 — Car Windows

Seeing Yan Fei and the other two come down from the rooftop one after another, Li Tie and the others hurriedly asked, “How is it? What’s the situation? Are they willing to leave?”

Zhang Su glanced sideways at them. “They’ll scram in a bit.” Then he looked at Yan Fei, who had just come down behind him. “How about when you go up later, you seal off the rooftop entrance while you’re at it?”

Yan Fei shook his head. “What if someone’s rooftop has an issue and they need to go up to fix it? If we seal it, are we going to open the door for them every day? As long as those people leave, it’s fine.”

“But what if someone sneaks up there?” Xu Mei asked with some concern.

Everyone exchanged helpless looks. After the apocalypse, they could understand why people wanted to live on rooftops—but compared to understanding others, protecting their own home was more important. They couldn’t leave any potential danger behind.

After thinking for a moment, Yan Fei said, “I have a way. Once those people leave, I can set something up to monitor the rooftop.” Seeing everyone look at him curiously, he just smiled faintly and didn’t explain further.

About an hour later, Yan Fei went up to the rooftop alone. As expected, not only had those people left, even the neighbors who had been watching the commotion were gone. He then took out a small metal sphere and activated his ability—

In an instant, the sphere spread out like a thin, delicate net, covering the entire rooftop.

It was indeed a metal net, with extremely fine threads. Its silver-gray color blended perfectly with the rooftop, and stepping on it, one could hardly feel anything. Yet this net extended into the walls at every edge, connecting with the metal embedded inside.

Through it, Yan Fei could sense everything on the rooftop—whether something heavy was placed on it, whether someone was walking, or if anything had been damaged.

With this, occasional movement on the rooftop wouldn’t matter. But if there was activity in the middle of the night, they would immediately know to check.

Completely sealing the rooftop door wasn’t realistic, and forbidding anyone from going up wasn’t either—after all, the entire building didn’t belong to them alone. There were five stairwell sections and four households per floor.

After finishing this, everyone finally relaxed—and also felt a bit lucky. Thankfully, those people came early in the morning. Otherwise, if it had happened on a normal day when only Xu Mei and Song Lingling were home, things might have gotten messy. Even if the two women were ability users, if those people had stubbornly occupied the rooftop, who knew what would have happened by the time Luo Xun and the others returned?

With the matter settled, Song Lingling sighed softly. “I heard the security over in the new city is much better… too bad we can’t move there.”

The so-called “new city” referred to the large residential area built near the military camp on former flower fields. Most buildings there were seven-story blocks. Though not spacious, they had military patrols and ability-user security, making them far safer than other areas.

That community was specifically for ability-user teams. To live there, a team needed to meet certain size and level requirements, complete enough monthly missions, participate in mandatory military tasks, and pay rent—though cheaper than outside.

In short, it was a place that clearly separated ability users from ordinary people.

However, not all ability users qualified—especially those who couldn’t find a stable team and had to form temporary groups each time they left the base.

So by now, most ability users had moved there, except for those still wandering alone, those unable to support their families, or those who simply preferred living freely outside.

Back when the community was first established, the base had sent notifications to all ability users—including Yan Fei’s group. But since half their team were ordinary people and they were already living comfortably here, they never considered moving.

Hearing Song Lingling, Luo Xun smiled. “We’ve got too many valuable things. If we move in a rush, even if we get in, other teams might start watching us.”

Song Lingling waved her hand quickly. “I’m just saying. Aside from security, what part of that place is better than here? I heard the rooms there are tiny—barely thirty square meters. We wouldn’t even have space for our stuff!”

Limited space was indeed one reason some teams didn’t move. And Luo Xun had no intention of going anyway—what they had here was comfortable and well-built. They even had their own planting setup. Only a fool would leave.

Since it was the last holiday for most team members, and nothing else needed attention, everyone went back home to rest.

In the evening, Luo Xun took out the braised duck intestines and gizzards from the previous night and divided them evenly.

They could stay soaked in the marinade or be stored separately. But if they didn’t plan to eat them all at once, freezing most of it was better.

Luo Xun brought his and Yan Fei’s portion home, left it in the marinade, and put it in the fridge to absorb more flavor. They had enough meat these days—they didn’t need to rush.

After a good night’s sleep, the two woke up early and prepared to head to the military camp—to report in, and also to buy and exchange some items.

Their backpacks were filled with crystal cores—some of other elements that no one in the team could use, meant to be exchanged for more suitable ones. They also had another important task:

Buying car window glass.

Driving their car—whose windows were currently wrapped in metal strips like a “metal mummy”—they arrived near the camp. After getting out, Yan Fei completely sealed the window gaps with metal.

They had no choice. Without proper glass, the cars were vulnerable. Just the previous day, someone had already removed a seat cushion from one vehicle, and tried to tamper with another.

After discovering this, they had Yan Fei seal everything completely. The current gaps were only temporarily opened that morning.

Reaching the assembly point, they boarded the truck again and set off.

Before the holiday, they had completed one stage of work—the metal spikes on the outer wall were fully repaired. Now they were back at the overpass to continue bridge construction.

As before, four metal-type ability users handled refining and purifying metal, while Yan Fei controlled and shaped it midair.

Now that they had reached Level 3, everyone felt the work had become much faster. Even the other metal ability users could somewhat mimic Yan Fei’s control—though slower, more mentally exhausting, and less precise in shaping.

After Yan Fei finished shaping the main framework, the other four simply followed the structure he laid out and filled in the metal—no problems at all.

After a full day of work, the two of them drove straight to the exchange counter. When Luo Xun saw the price list, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “This expensive?!”

The staff member inside didn’t even look up, completely calm. “That’s the price.”

Luo Xun’s expression twisted as he swallowed hard, then handed the list to Yan Fei. When Yan Fei saw that even the smallest piece—a side window for a car’s rear door—cost ten Level 1 crystal cores, he instinctively looked toward the staff member as well.

Daylight robbery.

And that was just the smallest one. Slightly larger ones started at twenty cores, and a car’s front windshield actually cost fifty! Bigger ones—like for trucks or SUVs—were even worse, starting at eighty and going up to one or two hundred.

At this rate, most teams couldn’t even afford to replace their car windows…

And weren’t these things dirt cheap to collect before? Back then, abandoned cars were everywhere. If not for the base’s bombing that turned so many materials into scrap, would prices have skyrocketed like this?

“Are you buying or not? There’s a line behind you,” the staff said impatiently, rolling their eyes.

“…We’ll take them. Two front windshields of this size, and six side windows of this type.” Luo Xun took a deep breath, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. What a rip-off.

The staff looked at them again in surprise—most even top-tier teams would hesitate before buying these. These two masked men were quite bold.

Yan Fei suddenly pressed down Luo Xun’s hand and smiled. “Let’s make a call first.” He pulled him aside.

Luo Xun looked confused. “Call who?” Then a thought flashed—his father? Was Yan Fei planning to contact him?

Instead, Yan Fei scrolled through Luo Xun’s phone and pointed at a name. “Ask him. See if he’s still in charge of this.”

Luo Xun glanced at the note beside the name and smacked his forehead. Of course—this was the person who had helped them buy solar panels before, introduced by Captain Guo.

After the call, Captain Wang didn’t come personally, but just one phone call to the front desk was enough. They ended up buying three front windshields and six side windows at an 80% price. He even helped them contact someone to exchange crystal cores for the types they needed.

It might have seemed like a small favor, but it helped them greatly.

Not just the discount—more importantly, the crystal core exchange.

The counter only stocked small amounts of each type. Common ones like water, fire, and earth had more. But rarer ones? Metal-type cores like Yan Fei’s were barely stocked—maybe two or three at most. As for Sand-type like Xinran’s? Usually just one for show.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei didn’t exchange too much. Fire, water, and wind cores were easy to find on the market anyway, though they still picked up some Level 3 ones. Metal cores were mostly taken by Captain Guo’s group, but Yan Fei exchanged whatever remained. As for sand-type, they managed to find a few—both Level 2 and 3—but not many.

Even so, they were already quite satisfied.

After thanking the staff, they loaded the glass into the car—they planned to install all three vehicles’ windows together later.

Before the apocalypse, smashing someone’s window was just an annoying act. But now? It was a serious problem.

Because the base… didn’t produce glass.

The technology existed, the equipment existed, even skilled workers existed—but glass wasn’t considered essential yet. Resources were limited, and production priorities lay elsewhere.

And since materials could still be scavenged from the city, there was no urgency to manufacture it.

Which meant—when someone actually needed to replace glass, they’d suddenly realize:

Why is this so expensive?!

If regular glass was like this, car windows were even worse.

On the way back, Luo Xun kept muttering, “Even at 80%, one piece still costs forty cores… These things used to be everywhere on the streets. If I’d known, I would’ve picked up more back then…”

In his previous life, he had never handled trading like this. He was always tagging along in other people’s teams, riding in their vehicles. No wonder he didn’t know the prices.

Now he finally understood why some teams would rather abandon broken cars than repair them.

Who could afford it?

Yan Fei just smiled silently. He reshaped the metal frame, placing the glass in front of the vehicle. The metal flowed and locked it firmly in place.

The glass they bought wasn’t even the exact model for their car—it would have cost even more. But with Yan Fei’s ability, any shape could be fitted perfectly.

As for side mirrors? A few pieces of scrap glass were enough—Yan Fei could make a dozen blindfolded.

No need to install them yet, though. Otherwise, they might disappear overnight.

Even as Luo Xun complained, he had no desire to relive life again just to profit from collecting glass. Rebirth had been an accident. Honestly, living the same life again and again was exhausting.

Because no one else would share those memories.

Even loved ones might become strangers.

Being able to reach this point—and meet Yan Fei—was like winning the jackpot.

That evening, when everyone returned home, Li Tie brought news:

The group who had tried to occupy the rooftop had already left the neighborhood and settled somewhere near the edge of a nearby street. The residents of Unit 1 on the 16th floor had also sealed the rooftop door to prevent outsiders from climbing up.

“Sister Xu said people came looking for us today too—other top-floor residents,” Li Tie said happily, chewing on braised duck gizzards.

“What did they want?” Luo Xun asked. He hadn’t received any messages, so it probably wasn’t serious.

Zhang Su leaned lazily against his chair and yawned. “They suddenly realized how much space the rooftop has, wanted to grow vegetables or crops up there. I told them—what if it leaks?”

Xu Mei nodded. “And the rooftop is shared property. If other residents find out, it’ll cause trouble. Plus, people want to install solar panels up there. If someone’s already farming on it, conflicts are inevitable.”

Luo Xun agreed. “Too troublesome. Not worth it. We just take care of our own place.”

They already had crops, vegetables, and power supply from solar panels. No need to risk extra trouble—unless it was completely safe.

After that, Luo Xun brought up the cars and the cost of the glass. Everyone’s expressions changed immediately.

Before going upstairs, Yan Fei had already covered all the windows with metal to prevent further damage.

“When we go out next time,” Luo Xun added, “we should add protective metal bars or mesh outside the glass. It’ll help absorb impact if zombies crash into the car.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, Brother Yan!” everyone quickly agreed, still shocked by the price.

Yan Fei just smiled without saying anything.

After all, compared to repairing the entire car body…

Glass was already the cheaper option.

If it weren’t for Yan Fei, the metal-type ability user in their team, just the cost of repairing vehicles after each trip would have been enough to make them cough up blood.

In golden October, aside from the farmland and the vegetable-growing buildings, almost no greenery could be seen in the base. The occasional patch of green that did appear quickly withered into yellow under the lingering autumn heat and wave after wave of autumn winds.

Then, a piece of good news spread rapidly throughout the military—

The rice was ready to harvest!

Since gasoline had become increasingly scarce in the base, and the farmland was scattered and irregularly shaped—unsuitable for harvesters—and because manpower was abundant, the military decided to mobilize all soldiers to harvest the rice manually.

It seemed the base planned to rotate wheat and rice crops to ensure a stable food supply, so there were even some special requirements during harvesting.

However, this had nothing to do with the overpass construction team. They were still working day and night on the skybridge project. Even now, they hadn’t finished the framework of the bridge leading to the eastern gate—and there were still three more to go. Overtime was unavoidable.

Although they didn’t participate in the harvest, they were among the first to taste the newly harvested rice.

The military’s grain reserves had nearly run out, so after inspection, the higher-ups decisively replaced all old grain with the newly harvested rice.

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