The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH136

Chapter 136 — Assist

“These crossbows are brutal!”

“No kidding! That shot went straight through the zombie’s head!”

“Damn, the recoil—it’s almost like a large-caliber gun!”

Peering out from the firing port, Li Tie and the others were testing their newly modified weapons. The results looked impressive.

Following Luo Xun’s suggestion, Yan Fei had increased the caliber of the crossbows and lengthened their bodies, greatly boosting their lethality. The bolts were also redesigned for stronger destructive power. However, due to the weather, most of the bolts weren’t loaded with mushroom solution.

After testing, they found that the modified bolts without mushroom solution were sufficient against normal zombies, while the loaded ones were perfect for dealing with the giant ones.

As the heavy footsteps of approaching zombies grew louder, Luo Xun stepped up to the window and glanced outside. Seeing several of the large zombies already knocked down and unable to get up, he smiled.

“See? Not that hard to deal with, right?”

He Qiankun nodded excitedly. “Yeah! They just look scary!”

That was only because this wasn’t a siege battle, and the freezing conditions made them sluggish. In summer, if these zombies stayed outside the combat zone and hurled rocks, debris, or even smaller zombies, no one would find them easy to deal with. And if they charged at full speed into city walls, that alone would be devastating.

Luo Xun didn’t say all that aloud. Meanwhile, the giant zombies, realizing this smooth metal “egg” wasn’t easy to handle, began counterattacking.

They bent stiffly, grabbed whatever they could, and hurled it toward the shelter.

Most of what they threw were chunks of snow. Sometimes they dug up buried bricks or rotten wood. Occasionally, they even grabbed limbs from other zombies and tossed them like garbage.

The moment they started bending down, Luo Xun had everyone retreat while Yan Fei raised a metal shield over the window. The constant banging against the walls made everyone secretly grateful—the exterior was smooth and sturdy. Anything that hit it simply slid down into the surrounding traps, where it quickly dissolved in the mushroom solution.

“Should we try to take them out?” Xu Mei asked nervously.

Luo Xun shook his head. “No need. Let them throw.”

Seeing everyone’s confusion, he spread his hands helplessly. “Once they run out of debris, what do you think they’ll throw next?”

Everyone looked blank—until Yan Fei smiled and glanced toward the uncovered window. “More zombies are gathering.”

“What?”

Before anyone could understand, Zhang Su rolled his eyes and smacked Wang Duo on the back of the head. “They’ll throw zombies. Long-range ones.”

Higher-level zombies didn’t have much intelligence, but they instinctively understood how to use their abilities.

Melee types would try to close the distance, while ranged ones stayed back and attacked from afar. Some even learned to “kite”—though their targets were humans.

The most troublesome zombies were always the ranged ones. Once the traps were filled with fire, it became even harder to locate and eliminate them.

With a loud bang, another zombie was thrown against the metal dome, sliding down into the trap while spewing flames.

Good—keep throwing them in.

Yan Fei reinforced the structure regularly. Song Lingling controlled the melted mushroom solution, letting it drip into the trap, corroding the zombies with rising white smoke.

The giant zombies tirelessly threw everything around them. Worried that too much debris might fill the traps, Luo Xun had Xu Mei melt the snow around the giants, while little Xinran used her sand ability to break down large debris.

Once all surrounding junk was gone, the only things left for the giants to throw… were their own kind.

All night, the pounding on the metal roof never stopped. The group took turns sleeping to that constant noise. By morning, the traps were nearly filled with zombie corpses and remains. Some giants had even started grabbing each other, only to tumble over like clumsy wrestlers.

That’s when they poured gasoline into the traps—and lit it.

Flames roared up, turning the area into a blazing inferno. Zhang Su controlled the airflow, feeding oxygen to the fire and refreshing the air inside.

Amid the occasional thuds of newly thrown zombies hitting the walls, the group chatted and prepared lunch.

“Based on today’s situation, if the base doesn’t limit group sizes, we can come out more often,” Luo Xun said, glancing at Zhang Su and the others.

Li Tie and his group could only come once a month due to work, but Zhang Su and the others were more flexible.

“With zombies slowed down in winter, each trip yields less. If we want enough cores, we’ll need more outings.”

“I’m fine with that,” Zhang Su said, raising an eyebrow.

Xu Mei and Song Lingling exchanged glances and nodded. “No problem… but we might need a few days off each month…”

They blushed slightly. Luo Xun paused before realizing—then smiled.

“No problem. Besides the end-of-month trip, we’ll only go out once or twice more.”

Women had their own concerns, especially during certain times when the scent of blood could attract zombies from afar.

The fire burned all morning. Once most ranged zombies had been thrown into the traps, they picked off the remaining giants and stragglers from a distance.

After everything was cleared, the area around the metal shelter stood out starkly against the white snow.

As the others collected crystal cores, Luo Xun stood at the entrance, deep in thought.

“What’s wrong?” Yan Fei asked.

“I’m thinking about how to restore this place…” Luo Xun scanned the ground and snow.

“Have Zhang Su blow snow back over it?” Yan Fei suggested.

“…Maybe. Let’s try. Oh—wait!” Luo Xun suddenly called Song Lingling over. “How small can you make water droplets?”

“Smaller?” she blinked, forming a normal-sized droplet.

“Smaller—like snowflakes.”

After several attempts, she managed tiny droplets the size of needle tips. They froze into small ice particles—not true snowflakes, but close enough.

With Zhang Su’s help, they spread the particles across the area, then layered real snow over it, effectively concealing their tracks.

“Honestly, if you look closely you can still tell the difference, but overall it already looks almost identical to real snow.” Xu Mei bent down to examine the tiny ice particles that hadn’t yet been covered by actual snow. Because the particles were so small, from a distance they really did resemble real snow.

Song Lingling clenched her fists. “I’ll work hard! I’ll definitely make snowflakes that are indistinguishable from the real thing!”

The problem was, even if she could make similar droplets, aside from using them as camouflage in winter, they weren’t very useful in everyday situations. Sure, she could simulate rainfall—but beyond watering plants, what else could it do?

Climbing back onto their makeshift sleds, they rode forward through the wind and snow, stopping periodically to reheat the water inside the sled compartments before continuing on.

By the time they finally returned to where they had hidden their cars, it was completely dark.

After clearing away the snow, Yan Fei restored the vehicles to their original state. Everyone quickly stuffed the disassembled sleds back into the cars. By around ten at night, the group finally passed through the base gates.

After handing over two hundred level-one crystal cores, they drove with some difficulty along the still icy roads. By the time they made it back to the fifteenth-floor corridor, it was already past eleven.

“Here, take your shares. This portion goes into the team’s communal stock.” After distributing everything, Luo Xun practically hung onto Yan Fei, letting him haul him up to the sixteenth floor. “It was freezing today…”

When they left yesterday, the temperature had been gradually rising—not by much, but enough to keep the cold from biting into the bones. Today, however, as night fell, the temperature kept dropping. The wind forced its way in through every gap around their goggles, hats, and masks. If not for the heating system in their modified sleds, someone might have gotten frostbite on the way back.

“Let’s take a hot bath first,” Yan Fei said, supporting him up the stairs.

“Yeah. Next time we go out, let’s upgrade the heating system. Since we’re already using electricity, we might as well heat the water directly instead of stopping every so often.” Compared to the freezing outdoors, the corridor felt like heaven. Just thinking about a hot bath made Luo Xun even more eager.

So as soon as Yan Fei opened the door, Luo Xun rushed in, heading straight for the bathroom—only to be tackled by a dark, glowing-eyed “monster.”

“Hey! You stupid dog, get off me!” A warm, wet tongue enthusiastically licked his face. How had he forgotten there was still a dog at home?

With a click, Yan Fei turned on the light and pulled Luo Xun up from the floor, where he had been knocked down by the overexcited pet.

After dragging the dog aside, Luo Xun finally rushed into the bathroom to heat water.

Everything at home seemed normal. Yan Fei checked on the newly hatched quails and the rest of their plants and animals before returning to the living room to inspect the crystal cores they had brought back.

“Not many this time,” Luo Xun said as he changed into his pajamas. Each person had only received around a thousand cores, though the proportion of level-two and level-three ones was much higher than before.

“Yeah, but we can contact Captain Wang again and exchange for metal-type cores,” Yan Fei said after counting his share.

“Of course we should—but at least wait until the day after tomorrow.” Luo Xun rubbed his reddened fingers. Even with gloves and thick mittens, they had still been frozen stiff.

Yan Fei pulled him down to sit beside him and helped rub warmth back into his hands. The dog immediately jumped onto the sofa and shoved its head into Luo Xun’s arms, demanding attention.

“Poor thing.” Luo Xun smiled and patted its head. It must have been lonely these past two days.

Once the water was ready, Yan Fei dragged him into the bathroom for a bath together. By the time they were done, the bathroom floor was completely soaked. After cleaning up, they went upstairs and collapsed onto their large, comfortable bed.

The next morning, unsurprisingly, everyone overslept. Li Tie even felt a bit of irritation in his nose, so Xu Mei and the others decided to make a big pot of hot duck soup.

“It’s just from the cold, not viral,” Zhang Su reassured them.

Li Tie still put on a mask just in case. After all, there was a child at home.

The soup simmered for an hour, and Xu Mei and Song Lingling prepared several side dishes—quail eggs with tomatoes, braised eggplant, and more.

Every so often, the group would gather for a meal like this, and today’s lunch counted as one of those small gatherings.

While eating, Luo Xun suggested, “If we’re going out again, it’s best to do it soon—but it depends on whether the base changes the rules.”

“We’ll have to wait,” Yan Fei said. “We can’t just force our way out.”

Small teams occasionally requested permission to leave, but the base rarely approved unless they were leaving permanently. Those who returned would have to pay a so-called “entry fee.”

Other bases had even stricter rules—some required newcomers to hand over more than half their supplies to enter.

Shaking his head, Luo Xun said, “Let’s keep an eye on the radio and messages. It’ll happen sooner or later.”

Zhang Su finished his meat and picked up his phone. “I’ll make a call later—might get some inside information.”

“Inside information?” Luo Xun asked, fishing out two pieces of frozen tofu from the pot.

Zhang Su didn’t elaborate, but he clearly had connections.

After lunch, he called his contact and got the answer everyone was waiting for—an official announcement would likely come within two days.

Now, all they could hope was: no more snow.

They still needed to go out again soon, given their disappointing haul this time. But before that, there was still work to do at home.

The next morning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei got up early, loaded their vegetables, and drove to the military canteen. Since they no longer worked there, both felt a bit nostalgic.

After delivering the vegetables and chatting briefly with Captain Li, they headed to the exchange office to meet Captain Wang again.

Hearing they wanted to trade for more cores, Captain Wang was clearly surprised—after all, they had just traded a few days ago. But perhaps they had gathered more cores since then…

Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉