Chapter 132 — Fired
Captain Guo let out a cold laugh when he heard the question. “They’ve already sided with… forget it, you wouldn’t understand anyway. Their captain has already taken the whole team to cling to a new backer.” He paused, then lowered his voice. “Lately, someone’s been targeting our team. If you two don’t want to get involved, if you want to leave early, just tell me.”
From beginning to end, those two were never officially part of the military. All their paperwork was in his hands. As long as he didn’t deliberately make things difficult for them—and as long as they changed their contact info afterward—no one would be able to find them anytime soon.
Yan Fei glanced at him and gave a slight nod. “Thanks.” He would remember this favor.
—
The team worked hard on the city wall all day in the snow. The next morning, before Luo Xun and Yan Fei even left home, they received a message—
No need to go in today.
Because one of the metal-type ability users had developed a high fever overnight. He had been rushed to the hospital, still unconscious and burning up.
After that ordeal in the snow, three members of the metal ability team collapsed—two ordinary people and one metal-type ability user. The two ordinary ones recovered after about a week of rest. But the metal ability user developed pneumonia from prolonged high fever and died suddenly after more than ten hours.
When the news spread, the entire team fell silent.
Captain Guo’s expression was extremely grim. The higher-ups severely reprimanded him and recorded a demerit. Before undergoing punishment and reflection, he contacted Luo Xun and Yan Fei privately:
“The situation is chaotic now. It’s already affecting the whole team… I can’t help those officially enlisted, but you two should think carefully about what you want to do next.”
—
After hearing about the hospitalization, Luo Xun and Yan Fei had already discussed it.
They had also sensed that the base leadership was engaged in some kind of power struggle. As long as they stayed in the team, they would be pieces in that game.
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t mind relying on a strong backing. But now…
“Then we’ll trouble you, Captain Guo. We’re withdrawing,” Yan Fei said decisively, shaking his hand with a smile. “If you ever need help in the future, just let us know.”
They might not be able to handle everything, but helping him deal with small matters wouldn’t be a problem.
Captain Guo gave a bitter smile. “Alright. Let’s have a meal together someday… If things calm down, I’ll contact you. But recently, that probably won’t happen…” He lowered his voice again. “The higher-ups don’t have a good attitude toward the New City lately… So many ability users gathered together—nothing good will come of it. If you don’t need to move, stay away from there for now. Don’t get dragged into it.”
He winked, took their ID cards, and went to process their exit.
—
“New City…” Yan Fei’s cold smile was hidden behind his mask. “Once all the ability users gather and their power grows, they won’t stay peaceful. Even if they started with official backing.”
That was why he had zero interest when Yan Gexin proposed it back then. This was a world ruled by strength. Even he, as an ability user, couldn’t guarantee success—how could an ordinary person like Yan Gexin manage it?
Luo Xun sighed. “Exactly. And now that it’s so cold, we might as well stay home and farm. Plenty of teams want to buy our vegetables anyway!”
Recently, even more teams had contacted them, saying they’d be happy to buy just one or two jin at a time if necessary.
Sometimes, leaving early was better for everyone. And with the weather this bad, going out daily wasn’t ideal anyway. They could just stay in for the winter and go out hunting crystal cores once it warmed up.
Thinking about it, life still looked pretty promising.
—
Soon, Captain Guo finished their paperwork.
Fortunately, since they regularly delivered vegetables to the military camp, they still had a special access pass. Otherwise, once the procedures were done, they would have had to say goodbye to this steel fortress forever.
After collecting their belongings and asking Guo to pass along their regards to the remaining team members, the two left the camp.
The streets were still buried in thick snow. Although there were sanitation workers in the base, they only worked once a week—or even every half month. Efficiency was extremely low.
Even garbage piles had turned into mountains—let alone snow.
—
Leaving the metal ability team meant one thing—
No more points. No more free metal-type crystal cores.
Fortunately, they had already built connections with the logistics department. Although the supply there was limited, it was better than nothing.
And if they needed more?
Their “Otaku Team” might sound unimpressive, but when it came to hunting crystal cores, they were anything but weak. Every outing brought in excellent results.
—
The two trudged back home through the snow.
Xu Mei and Song Lingling were shocked to see them return so early.
“Why are you back already?”
“We got fired,” Luo Xun said with a grin.
Xu Mei rolled her eyes inelegantly. “You think we’re idiots? Who would believe that? If anyone gets fired, it wouldn’t be Yan Fei! How many metal-type ability users are there in the base? If they fired him, who would build the walls?”
“Alright then—we fired them,” Luo Xun shrugged helplessly.
“That sounds more believable,” Song Lingling laughed.
Luo Xun turned to Yan Fei. Yan Fei smiled faintly. “We’ll go change first. You continue. We’ll discuss what to do next afterward.”
—
After they went upstairs, the two women immediately started whispering.
“Do you think they’ll take a nap?”
“And then our dear captain won’t get out of bed again!”
“Well, it’s understandable. They’ve been leaving early and coming back late every day. Even on days off, we still have to go out hunting…”
“A short separation makes love sweeter~”
Little Xinran tilted her head, listening with wide innocent eyes. She didn’t understand—but she was a good learner! She’d remember it and understand when she grew up.
The dog also looked up blankly. It didn’t understand either—and didn’t remember—but since it couldn’t follow its owners upstairs, it might as well stay and play with the little girl.
—
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were both upright young men—at least, today they had no intention of doing anything indecent in broad daylight. After changing, they came back downstairs.
Xu Mei and Song Lingling set up writing practice for Xinran, then brought out a basin of freshly picked strawberries. Everyone sat together, eating strawberries and chatting.
“There’s trouble on the metal team’s side lately,” Yan Fei explained briefly. “The situation in the base isn’t right. So we decided to withdraw for now.”
Luo Xun nodded, popping a strawberry into his mouth—sweet and slightly sour. Compared to pre-apocalypse ones, these were more acidic, but in winter, fresh fruit like this was a luxury.
“We’re going back to farming.”
Luo Xun’s words came out a bit muffled since he was still eating, but everyone present understood him clearly.
Xu Mei and Song Lingling nodded. “It’s good that you’re back. The two of us handle things at home during the day—it’s manageable normally, but when it comes to harvesting or planting new crops, it gets overwhelming. We always have to wait until you come back from work to finish everything.”
In truth, once crops were planted, daily upkeep wasn’t too demanding. The problem was that they grew too many different things. Many short-term crops were staggered to ensure a steady supply of vegetables and produce, which actually made their schedule busier overall.
It wasn’t like traditional farming—where you plant at fixed times and only need occasional fertilizing or pest control. Compared to that, they were far busier.
Luo Xun smiled. “We’ve stocked up quite a lot after the last harvest. I was planning to make some things when I had time anyway. Now that we’re free, we can just do it slowly.” As he spoke, he removed the stem from a strawberry and fed it to Yan Fei.
Ignoring the two shameless lovebirds, Song Lingling asked curiously, “What are you planning to make?”
“Tofu.”
They didn’t have coagulants like brine or gypsum at home, nor did they bother looking for them in the base. Fortunately, Luo Xun still had white vinegar stocked from before the apocalypse. Using that to make tofu worked just fine—the taste difference wasn’t big, and it was natural and safe.
As for soy sauce and vinegar, their supply wouldn’t last forever. Luckily, they had already started fermenting soybean paste earlier, which should be ready soon. So for now, they didn’t need to worry about condiments.
To ensure better results, after their discussion, they immediately soaked two basins of soybeans. Even if they made too much tofu to finish at once, they could freeze it. With the current temperature, they didn’t even need a freezer—just placing it outside on the metal railing for a few hours would do.
—
After preparing everything, Luo Xun and Yan Fei went downstairs again—to dismantle metal from the car shed.
Their home didn’t actually use all available space for planting. But now that both of them were staying home, they might as well renovate and grow more crops to offset their daily losses.
This time, Yan Fei didn’t make multi-layer sliding planting racks. Instead, he built rows of metal shelves mounted directly onto the walls—perfect for growing vegetables and fruits without affecting existing furniture. A simple and efficient solution.
They also selected some small, slender, moist wood pieces, processed them, and placed them in metal containers near the shelves to grow mushrooms and absorb toxins.
Speaking of which, the amount of toxic mushroom liquid they had was increasing rapidly. Fortunately, after Song Lingling’s water ability reached Level 3, she could easily extract the liquid, saving time. Plus, with the cold weather, they could freeze large amounts outside—otherwise, their freezer wouldn’t be able to hold all that terrifying “corpse-dissolving liquid.”
—
They worked the entire day.
That evening, when Li Tie and the others returned and heard that Luo Xun and Yan Fei no longer had to work, they felt both envious and conflicted.
“Staying home sounds great… but going to work at least earns points…”
The five of them were ordinary people. Farming at home could sustain them, but their pre-apocalypse mindset wasn’t easy to change:
“Government jobs are honorable,”
“Being unemployed is shameful,”
“Adults must have stable work,”
“A steady job, even if low-paying, is still a real job…”
Luo Xun understood them well and smiled. “Our situation is special—mainly because of Yan Fei and the metal ability team…” He pointed toward the military camp. “There’s power struggle going on, and we don’t have any backing. You don’t need to get involved. As long as your superiors don’t tell you to stop, just keep working. You’re technical staff—this kind of thing usually won’t affect you.”
Besides, they were still doing basic work. If they had been high-level programmers or established hackers before the apocalypse, people might already be trying to recruit them.
The five of them relaxed and happily agreed—unless they got fired, they would stick to their current jobs.
—
On the other side, Zhang Su stared out the window, lost in thought.
He Qiankun suddenly asked, “Are those soybeans enough for tofu? Should we soak more?”
Luo Xun laughed. “That’s plenty for now. We’re also growing soybeans ourselves—once those are harvested, we can keep making more.”
Soybeans were incredibly versatile—used for tofu, soybean paste, soy sauce, eaten directly, sprouted… and all kinds of soybean products from before the apocalypse. Too many uses, honestly—it was almost troublesome.
—
Tofu couldn’t be made in one day. After changing the water once before bed, Luo Xun and Yan Fei went upstairs and fell asleep.
Just as Xu Mei and Song Lingling had joked the day before—
They fully enjoyed their holiday.
No need to wake up early. No urgent tasks waiting. As a loving couple, they should take the chance to enjoy this rare free time.
—
The next morning, Luo Xun didn’t get out of bed until 9:30.
He silently thanked the winter weather—thanks to high collars, he could easily cover the marks Yan Fei had left the night before.
After washing up, he got to work on the tofu.
Grinding the beans—though they had a millstone, they also had a juicer from before the apocalypse. Since electricity wasn’t an issue, using the juicer was much more efficient.
They blended soybeans with water, then filtered the mixture through cloth to separate the soybean milk from the pulp.
Some of the soybean milk was set aside—because when Luo Xun mentioned tofu the night before, everyone in the Otaku Team had immediately said:
They wanted to drink soy milk.
They heated the soybean milk, skimmed off the foam, then added about a quarter of clean water to cool it down to roughly eighty degrees. After that, they slowly poured in diluted white vinegar.
After a few minutes, the curds began to form. They heated it again to let the curds fully coagulate. Once the water and curds had completely separated, they carefully filtered out the liquid into a clean glass bottle—this liquid could be fermented and used as brine for making tofu next time, with even better results than using vinegar directly.
The curds were then poured into a wooden mold and pressed down firmly. Once the water inside the tofu was squeezed out and it had set, it would be ready to eat.
“So simple!” Song Lingling’s eyes lit up as she stared at the tofu in the mold, already thinking about how to eat it for lunch.
Luo Xun smiled. “The steps aren’t complicated.” Before the apocalypse, there were countless tutorials online about making tofu, but afterward, very few people actually did it—when food itself was scarce, who would bother making tofu? In his previous life, he had only tried it once before he died.
“I want to eat douhua…” Xu Mei looked at the tofu, but what she had in mind was the soft, tender curds she had just seen. That smooth texture—wasn’t that exactly douhua?
“Sister Xu, do you prefer it sweet or savory?” Song Lingling suddenly asked.
“Savory!” Xu Mei’s eyes sparkled. “Sweet? How can that even be eaten? Breakfast should be savory!”
Song Lingling froze for a second. “Sister Xu, you must’ve never tried sweet douhua. Next time we make it, you have to try—once you do, you won’t want savory anymore!”
“Lingling, you’re still young. Kids prefer sweet things. Once you’ve tasted all of life’s bitterness, you’ll know savory is better.”
“You just haven’t tried the sweet douhua from my hometown! The shop near my house—old brand—people would take taxis early in the morning just to eat there…”
The two women started arguing back and forth, trying to convince each other. Luo Xun and Yan Fei instinctively took two steps back and exchanged a glance.
“…What do you prefer?” Luo Xun whispered.
“I’m from the north.” Yan Fei answered calmly. He had tried sweet versions in southern cities, but taste shaped by habit wasn’t easy to change. Douhua, in his memory, had always been savory. Having sweet occasionally as a snack was fine—but regularly…
Luo Xun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had never even encountered sweet douhua before and couldn’t imagine what it tasted like. If Yan Fei had argued with him about it… he really didn’t want their peaceful life disrupted by something as ridiculous as a flavor debate.
But the flames of war still reached them.
The two women suddenly turned and stared at them sharply. “Which one do you like?!”
Luo Xun’s lips trembled. “Swe—savory!”
The two women looked at him with utter disdain. “How can you eat both?!”
Luo Xun nearly buried his head into Yan Fei’s chest—women were terrifying! Thank goodness he liked men!
—
Luo Xun had no intention—and no ability—to get involved in their argument. Once the tofu had been pressed enough, he quickly changed the topic, cutting it into blocks. Some were kept for lunch and dinner, while the rest were placed outside the window to freeze.
Thanks to the sudden drop in temperature, the tofu blocks turned rock solid within just a few hours in the shaded metal rack outside.
They took a small portion back upstairs to cook. Since they lacked other ingredients, Luo Xun simply braised the tofu in soy sauce and added some garlic shoots for garnish.
Sitting at the table, Luo Xun looked at the dish and sighed. “Ah… it’d be even better with minced meat.”
Yan Fei smiled and picked up a piece for him. “This is already good. Next time we go out, we’ll see if we can hunt something.”
Duck meat couldn’t be cooked with garlic, and tofu tasted better with scallions and garlic, so Luo Xun hadn’t used their stored duck meat today. Besides the tofu, he also made a simple stir-fried snow pea dish.
“Eating at home for all three meals really is the best. Finally no more of that weird-tasting communal food,” Luo Xun muttered while eating. He didn’t mind mutated vegetables—they didn’t taste great, but they weren’t unbearable. But mutated rice… that texture was truly something else.
After the apocalypse, most people avoided buying mutated rice from the base if they could. Even though coarse grains mixed with mutated wheat flour made dense, dry buns or flatbread, at least they could be swallowed with water. But mutated rice…
After the first official harvest, once wheat mixed with coarse grains became widely available, the demand for mutated rice dropped to an all-time low. Aside from a few people who bought it to cook porridge—usually those too poor to afford even mutated buns—mutated rice had almost no market left.
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