Chapter 165 — New Notices and Decisions
Before Luo Xun and the others could take their little baby to the hospital for a checkup, on the morning of February 5th, nearly everyone in the base received at least one message with similar contents.
The first message concerned post-New Year cleanup efforts in February. It called for continued snow removal within the base and preparations to clear snow outside the base as well, all in preparation for March, when various teams would head out on missions, search for supplies, expand planting areas, and so on.
The notice also announced that a unified household inspection and population census would be conducted sometime within the year. Residents were encouraged to repair damaged buildings and clear out homes buried under rubble.
The second message was sent specifically to teams and registered ability users. It announced a second round of free ability testing, replacement of existing ability-user identification cards, and updated registration for ability users within each team.
The remaining messages were sent individually to team leaders. These concerned adjustments to mandatory monthly missions and required contributions of supplies and crystal nuclei. Each team received assigned missions or quotas of materials to hand over.
Everyone gathered together, writing the contents of the notices onto paper currency so they could discuss them one by one. In the end, they came to a conclusion.
“The most urgent thing right now is this—collecting February’s mission.” Luo Xun tapped one line on the paper. “The mission assigned to our team is still snow removal inside the base. This time the designated area is in the outer district. The area isn’t too large, but we still have to go to the mission hall to formally accept it.”
Then he pointed at another line, his brows tightening slightly.
“This is probably something we also need to deal with soon this month… registering team members and registering ability users’ powers.”
As he spoke, he looked toward Yan Fei and Zhang Su.
“What do you guys think?”
Yan Fei remained silent, but Zhang Su raised an eyebrow and sneered coldly.
“They’re gathering information on each team’s composition, their ability users, and their types of powers. Then later they’ll carry out household inspections too…” He crossed his arms. “Captain, instead of worrying whether we’ll get targeted or recruited, maybe you should start worrying about what we’re going to do with all the stuff in this house when they come inspecting.”
Luo Xun’s expression darkened as well. He lowered his gaze to one line on the list in his hand.
Population census. Household inspection.
Yan Fei reassured him calmly, “Even if they want to do it, they’ll first have to completely clear the snow from the base, register all the ability-user teams, and clean up all the ruined buildings before they can spare manpower for household inspections. Don’t forget, they’re also planning to expand the base perimeter. That alone will keep them busy for quite a while. They probably won’t have enough manpower within the next three or four months. We just need to find a way before June to hide the crops in our house properly.”
If the base authorities truly intended to forcefully inspect every household and thoroughly search people’s homes, there would definitely be resistance.
And if one day they actually succeeded in doing so, that would mean the people issuing these orders had completely taken control of all military power inside the base.
At that point, no matter how many ability users they had or how strong their powers were, it would be useless.
Luo Xun took a deep breath. A strange light flashed in his eyes as he stood up and swept his gaze around the room.
“Tomorrow we’ll go to the mission hall, accept this month’s mission, and finish it first. Using supplies, crystal nuclei, or points to substitute for missions is too wasteful. Besides, our assigned mission isn’t difficult. At most it’ll take two days.”
He paused.
“After that, I’ll take the baby to the hospital for a checkup. If there aren’t any major problems, then sometime this month… we’re leaving the base.”
Li Tie and the others’ eyes lit up immediately.
“Captain, you mean…”
Luo Xun nodded slightly.
Originally, he hadn’t planned to leave the base this early. But the current situation inside the base made him uneasy.
Everything now was both familiar and unfamiliar compared to his memories from his previous life. Whether it was the broader direction of events or the smaller details, many things had changed.
He didn’t know what kind of future awaited him and Yan Fei if things continued like this.
But he did know one thing clearly—
If they continued muddling through while relying on outdated memories from his previous life, then before the zombies ever breached the walls of the base, they might already get dragged into the open and hidden struggles inside the base itself.
And sometimes, people were far more terrifying than zombies.
At least zombies only wanted to bite people and eat flesh.
But if the people inside the base discovered the supplies and resources their household possessed, then not only would they lose their lives, they would also lose everything they had collected before the apocalypse, everything they had struggled to earn afterward, and even the crops everyone had painstakingly cultivated together.
Luo Xun didn’t know whether this trip outside the base would help them find a solution.
But it was still better than waiting helplessly at home.
At the very least, with snow still covering the ground, their sled vehicle could still be used. If others wanted to leave the base now without specially modified vehicles or treated tires, they wouldn’t get far at all.
As for the zombies that might exist outside the base…
Luo Xun’s expression darkened slightly as his gaze drifted toward Zhang Su.
He was a wind ability user. Perhaps he could scout the surrounding area or act as a pathfinder ahead of the group.
After deciding what needed to be done and discussing their stance on certain matters, the meeting dispersed and everyone returned to their own homes.
Back in his apartment, Luo Xun carried out his usual inspection of the crops. A faint gloom lingered in his heart.
“There are too many non-mutated crops in our house…”
The reason they were so sensitive to the phrase “household inspection” wasn’t simply because their home was filled with crops that might attract attention.
It was because the crops and vegetables they produced had an extremely high rate of remaining non-mutated.
Before the New Year, they had already learned that although the military also used mushrooms to absorb viruses from the air and reduce the mutation rate in plants, very few vegetables were actually grown fully alongside mushrooms. And the vegetables that did remain non-mutated were almost entirely reserved for the base leadership.
Ordinary soldiers and civilians still ate mutated food.
There was no helping it. Mutated crops simply had higher yields.
No matter how good non-mutated vegetables tasted, yield came first. The base lacked farmland, so increasing production was the top priority.
As for taste…
As long as the food didn’t poison people, it was acceptable.
There were definitely other households growing vegetables at home. Luo Xun had heard about them during trades with other teams. Some people inside the base were quite skilled at growing food.
But because their homes were small and lacked sufficient sunlight, their yields were limited, and most of their crops still ended up mutated.
But Luo Xun’s household was different.
They had large growing areas, high yields, complete equipment, and most importantly, the vast majority of their crops were non-mutated.
If that didn’t attract attention, nothing would.
Even if the base leadership itself didn’t care, who knew whether the inspectors conducting household surveys would keep their mouths shut? If word spread outside, how could they ever live peacefully afterward?
Seeing the gloom on Luo Xun’s face, Yan Fei walked over and gently patted his shoulder.
“There’ll always be a solution. Besides, with how aggressively they’re pushing things right now, we definitely won’t be the only household resisting cooperation. They’ll have to settle plenty of other problems first before they can really begin a census. Who knows what the situation will look like by then?”
Luo Xun took a deep breath and nodded.
After making another round through the first floor, he and Yan Fei went upstairs. Once they checked the crops hanging from the wall shelves, the two moved onto the balcony.
Some bizarre mutated plants had already sprouted equally bizarre flowers in strange colors. Most of them were things Luo Xun had never seen before.
In the past, he had only encountered mutated crops. He’d never had the luxury of seeing mutated fruit varieties.
Squatting beside a row of shelves, Luo Xun frowned at the small flowerpots before him.
These were the things produced after the mutated strawberries had bloomed.
Even though they were supposedly a variation of strawberries, each fruit was covered in a brown hard shell.
What made them even stranger was that on the surface of the shell were tiny grayish-white bumps… resembling strawberry seeds.
To clarify—
These brown things were round and plump. The largest was about the size of a ping-pong ball. But despite having a hard shell, the “seeds” actually grew on the outside.
So what exactly was inside?!
“What the hell is this thing?” Luo Xun muttered uncertainly as he pulled on a rubber glove and poked one of the fruits. It was hard as a rock.
“Should we cut one open and take a look?” Yan Fei wasn’t sure either. “It kind of looks like sesame balls from before the apocalypse…”
Though unlike real sesame balls, this thing looked utterly inedible and inspired absolutely no desire to eat it.
“How big does it need to get before it counts as ripe?”
Luo Xun grabbed the “sesame ball” he had been poking and tugged it free.
“I think this size is probably enough. They stopped growing after reaching this size. And remember before? When those ‘sesame seeds’ first appeared, they were white. Now they’ve turned grayish-white.”
As he spoke, he picked another one whose seeds were still white for comparison.
The two carried the bizarre fruit downstairs and cleared off a table.
To avoid accidents—like cutting it open only for poisonous gas to spray out—they specifically chose a corner near the balcony and turned on the ventilation fan to blow air outside.
They kept the little dog blocked in the living room, letting it squat beside the metal cradle and watch the baby.
Only then did the two men put on masks, gloves, and protective glasses, looking fully prepared for chemical warfare.
Holding a small knife Yan Fei had just made, they cautiously began cutting open the fruit whose outer seeds had already turned gray.
“What… what is this thing?!” Luo Xun stared blankly at the brown “sesame ball” now split open under his blade.
Yan Fei also raised his eyebrows in surprise while staring at the thing in his hands before slowly lifting his gaze toward Luo Xun in astonishment.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
