The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH160

Chapter 160 — Life

After spending most of the day working, the three main combat members of the team—Luo Xun, Yan Fei, and Zhang Su—walked out of the planting room reeking from head to toe. Without a word, each immediately headed straight for the bathroom back home—time to shower.

Li Tie’s group had also been busy for a long time, but even by the time Luo Xun and the others finished their work, they still hadn’t managed to find any useful results.

Before leaving their jobs, quite a few of them had “conveniently” copied all sorts of random files from who-knew-where into the archives. It hadn’t seemed like a problem before, but now that they actually wanted to search for something specific, they discovered the information volume was so massive it left them dizzy.

To avoid future situations where they needed something but couldn’t find it, the five decided to organize everything while searching—sorting files into categories and cleaning up the archive structure.

Naturally, that doubled their workload again.

At minimum, they wouldn’t see results for another three to five days.

The moment Luo Xun and Yan Fei returned home, they headed straight into the bathroom and enjoyed a long, satisfying shower together.

And naturally, things very conveniently developed into a certain activity everyone could easily imagine—

because showering together was basically an open invitation, wasn’t it?

Yan Fei would have to be utterly insane not to eat the meat already delivered to his mouth.

After the shower, Luo Xun walked out weak-kneed and collapsed directly onto the sofa to recover his strength.

The little creature was currently darting back and forth between the two fairly large quail cages on the balcony, happily spraying saliva on one cage before running over to puff air at the other one, playing to its heart’s content.

The moment it saw Luo Xun emerge, it excitedly spread its four paws and charged over, leaping onto the sofa before flopping directly onto Luo Xun’s stomach.

Behind them, Yan Fei casually dried the bathroom floor before leisurely strolling out, practically radiating the smug aura of someone fully satisfied after food and drink.

Walking over to the sofa, he bent down and kissed Luo Xun, who was lying there with half-closed eyes while hugging the large dog.

Smacking his lips thoughtfully as if evaluating the taste, Luo Xun muttered,

“I don’t have the energy to cook dinner anymore.”

The two had spent the entire afternoon fertilizing crops, then fought another intense battle in the bathroom afterward. There was no way Luo Xun still had the strength to cook.

“I can make some porridge?” Yan Fei sincerely suggested.

“…That works. There’s still leftover hotpot ingredients from before… You could cook rice together with those and make savory porridge.”

They’d made too much hotpot food earlier. After the New Year’s Eve feast, the remaining fried ingredients and prepared broth had been divided among everyone’s households.

They hadn’t eaten theirs yesterday, but today would be perfect for filling their stomachs.

“Okay, I’ll make it.”

Before Yan Fei could actually move, however, one of the phones in the house suddenly began ringing at a highly inappropriate moment.

The two exchanged helpless looks.

Naturally, since Yan Fei was still standing, he went to retrieve it. Judging from the ringtone, it was his phone anyway.

When Yan Fei looked at the screen, he realized this was already the third call from the same unfamiliar number.

He glanced up at Luo Xun, who was sprawled across the sofa watching him while the little creature stood on his back acting as a free massage therapist.

“Don’t recognize the number, but this is the third call.”

Luo Xun raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“You answering it?”

Yan Fei fell silent briefly.

Then the call ended—only for the same number to immediately call again.

The two looked at each other once more.

Then Yan Fei answered.

Half an hour later, Luo Xun—still sore and weak in the legs—was walking beside Yan Fei through the completely dark and silent streets.

After the apocalypse, no one dared casually wander the streets at night anymore.

Especially now that zombie rats might still be lurking inside the base.

Unless people had urgent business—like Luo Xun and Yan Fei did now.

“You would’ve been better off staying home. It’s freezing outside.”

Yan Fei wore a dark expression while tightening Luo Xun’s scarf more securely around his neck.

It was still the middle of the first lunar month, after all.

The weather was bitterly cold.

Luo Xun himself didn’t seem to care.

“Eh, I’m with you anyway. Besides… who knows what the situation really is? You might not come back for hours.”

Yan Fei fell silent again, though his arm remained around Luo Xun’s shoulders as they continued walking together.

Luo Xun patted his arm lightly.

“Being anxious won’t help. Being angry won’t help either. Things are already like this…”

The two walked all the way from the inner base to the outer base before arriving at a residential district that clearly hadn’t been fully cleaned up yet.

When they reached the third floor of one building, they could already hear loud chaos inside before even entering.

The door opened to reveal a haggard-looking man in his forties.

Upon seeing the pair, he froze slightly, his uncertain gaze moving repeatedly between them.

“You are…?”

“I’m Yan Fei.”

Yan Fei’s tone was cold and far from friendly.

The man stiffened slightly after hearing the name, his gaze lingering a bit longer on Yan Fei’s face—a face capable of making most men jealous to death.

Then he nodded awkwardly and stepped aside.

“Oh… come in. It’s a little messy.”

“A little” messy?

The place was a disaster.

Though it was also part of the newer residential district, the building clearly hadn’t been cleaned up. Snow and garbage were everywhere outside.

Inside the apartment, the living room and entryway were piled with random clutter, daily necessities, furniture, bedding, and bundles of belongings stacked all over the place.

The moment they stepped in, a hysterical female scream came from the master bedroom.

“I’m dying—! I’m going to die! It’s all your fault! You made me suffer like this!”

Another voice answered with suppressed anger.

“Ms. Liu! In the current conditions there’s no way to perform a cesarean section. Save your strength for giving birth! If you keep struggling like this, forget the baby—even your own life may not be saved!”

“Bastards! Quack doctors! Without equipment you people are useless! Ahhh—! It hurts to death! I should’ve aborted this little bastard earlier for making me suffer this much—!”

The three men in the living room all fell silent.

After a moment, Luo Xun blinked at Yan Fei.

“She sounds pretty energetic to me. Doesn’t seem like she’s in life-threatening danger yet.”

Yan Fei silently looked at him.

Was that supposed to be… comforting?

Still, Luo Xun did have a point.

Judging by the strength of her yelling, she probably wasn’t in immediate danger.

No matter what, though, this was premature labor.

Yan Fei turned to look at the man beside him, whose expression kept twitching.

Both Luo Xun and Yan Fei recognized him.

He was the military man who had once stayed beside Yan Fei’s mother.

But now there wasn’t the slightest trace of a soldier left in him.

Life after the apocalypse seemed to have crushed him so thoroughly that even his back could no longer straighten.

“You said on the phone she went into premature labor after falling. What exactly happened?”

The man’s expression twisted again, as though grinding his teeth internally.

After a long moment, he inhaled deeply.

“I went out today looking for supplies. When I came back, she was lying outside the neighbor’s apartment… bleeding.”

“Outside the neighbor’s apartment?” Yan Fei frowned again. “What happened?”

“The neighbors said she tried breaking into their apartment while they were out and stealing things. They came back unexpectedly and shoved her out.”

The man spoke in a deadened tone completely devoid of hope.

Yan Fei rubbed his forehead.

“And what does she say happened?”

The man looked at Yan Fei, his gaze carrying unmistakable shared misery.

“Ever since the zombie bird incident ended, she’s been forcing me to go out every day searching for supplies…”

“This is a new apartment for us. Our old place was basically destroyed.”

“Most people in this building and nearby just moved in too. These apartments were reserved by the base for incoming survivors, so many units were still empty and some windows remained intact.”

“She started eyeing the neighbors’ belongings from the moment they moved in…”

So yes—she was absolutely capable of trying to pry open someone else’s door and rob them.

As for what Liu Xiangyu herself claimed afterward?

She’d gone into premature labor.

There hadn’t been any opportunity to explain anything.

“After I came back…” the man hesitated before continuing, “I called your father several times. In the end, he gave me your number.”

“These doctors and nurses were people your mother kept contact information for from previous hospital visits. I called them over.”

Yan Gexin was struggling to protect himself now; he had no spare energy to deal with Liu Xiangyu’s situation.

If she hadn’t unexpectedly gone into labor today, he wouldn’t have gotten involved at all.

He’d only handed over Yan Fei’s number because he heard the situation was dangerous.

After all—regardless of emotional distance, Liu Xiangyu was still Yan Fei’s biological mother.

If both mother and child died tonight and Yan Fei later blamed him for not informing him…

Yan Fei’s response to this was simply:

“…”

Well.

If he had inherited Liu Xiangyu’s personality, then no force on earth could’ve dragged him here tonight.

Still, both Yan Fei and Luo Xun were grown men.

Even after coming, there wasn’t much they could actually do.

Liu Xiangyu was still struggling through labor inside. Even if Yan Fei wanted to see her, he’d have to wait until after the birth.

And that labor…

lasted the entire night.

It was already premature labor to begin with.

But the mother had spent all her energy screaming, struggling, and cursing before the actual pushing stage began.

By the time real effort was required, she could barely even shout anymore.

The man living with Liu Xiangyu paced the room with a dark face and his hands behind his back.

After a long while, he suddenly asked Yan Fei angrily,

“How the hell did she give birth to you back then?!”

Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, a trace of mockery in his expression.

“How long have you known her?”

“Do you seriously think she’d choose natural childbirth?”

The man choked.

His expression stiffened awkwardly.

He’d nearly forgotten—the man before him was Liu Xiangyu’s son, not someone from her own generation.

How could Yan Fei possibly know the details of his own birth?

The room fell into awkward silence again.

Then the doctor’s voice suddenly rang out from inside:

“Push! Push harder… Ah! Don’t let it get stuck there or both mother and child will be in danger… Quick—quick—!”

“It’s coming out! It’s coming out!”

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