The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH177

Chapter 177 — A Hamster’s Move

Luo Xun slept all the way until noon.

The only times he and Yan Fei got up were to take turns feeding the baby some prepared cream-fruit milk. By the time everyone gathered together again at midday, traces of exhaustion still lingered on their faces, mixed with a strange sense of excitement.

Li Tie and the other four sat together, craning their necks and staring at Luo Xun and Yan Fei as soon as they entered the room. The eagerness in their eyes was so intense that Luo Xun felt a chill run down his back.

Xu Mei smiled at them.

“Did you two rest well last night?”

Luo Xun nodded.

Of course they had.

The moment they hit the bed, they had slept like the dead. If not for the alarm clock reminding them every three hours to feed the baby, they probably wouldn’t have gotten up at all.

“Ahem.”

After clearing his throat, Luo Xun sat down and looked around at everyone before turning to Yan Fei.

“We did a basic inspection last night. The doors and windows are fine, and there aren’t any major problems with the roof.”

“No major problems?” everyone immediately asked.

Yan Fei explained,

“Someone has been on the roof, but only near the stairwell entrance. None of the traps we set before leaving were touched.”

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“Looks like we got lucky.”

“Yeah, nobody’s come looking for trouble recently.”

“Maybe everyone’s busy,” Luo Xun said casually. “The weather’s warming up, and the base has started issuing missions again. It’s normal for people to be occupied.”

He glanced at the calendar.

“It’s almost March. There’s less than a week left in February. We’ll spend the next few days preparing and gradually moving some things out.”

The moment he said that, everyone’s enthusiasm flared up again.

They immediately began discussing how to renovate the experimental building and the two underground cultivation levels.

Zhang Su suddenly spoke up.

“Moving ourselves won’t be a problem. But we definitely can’t move everything in one trip. And what about all the crops you’ve already planted at home? How are you planning to move those?”

The group had planted a tremendous amount of food at home.

During their inspection that morning, they discovered that after more than a week without proper care, many crops were showing minor problems.

The long-growing grain crops weren’t too bad.

Some plants had simply become overgrown and messy.

But many fast-growing vegetables had already matured, produced seeds, and even dropped those seeds back into their planters.

This was actually one of the biggest challenges of the move.

After thinking for a moment, Luo Xun replied,

“We can’t move those yet. It’s best to wait until March or April, after the snow melts and temperatures rise. And unlike furniture or equipment, those plants can’t be stacked or squeezed together. We’ll have to move them gradually.”

He paused before continuing.

“I think we should make a plan. First, move the larger items—the things that can handle the cold and be piled up. Once we’ve finished preparing the cultivation areas over there, we can start transporting vegetables, grain crops, and fruit plants in batches.”

“Brother Luo, what about this place?” Wu Xin quickly raised his hand.

To be honest, after living here for nearly two years, everyone had developed strong feelings for the home they had personally helped build and renovate.

If they simply moved away and never came back…

None of them could bear it.

“We’ll keep it for now,” Luo Xun explained. “Even if we establish a base outside, we’ll still need somewhere to stay when we’re inside the main base. We can move away valuables and most of our property, but it’d be best to leave enough supplies behind so we can live here comfortably for a while whenever we come back.”

The discussion resumed.

Pens and paper appeared.

Everyone began making lists.

What needed to be moved.

What could stay.

Who owned what.

How much should be transported each trip.

How often they should make the journey.

What supplies should remain behind.

After all, they still needed the base.

There were many things they could only obtain through trade and exchange there.

Completely cutting themselves off and living independently would provide greater freedom and convenience in some ways.

But it would also create many new difficulties.

“Most team missions are assigned at the beginning of each month,” Yan Fei pointed out. “I think we should stay at the base during the first few days of every month. Once we’ve completed the team’s mission and confirmed nothing else is happening, we can leave.”

Luo Xun tapped his chin with the end of his pen.

“Mm… We can stagger our planting schedules. Keep separate growing plans for the base and the experimental site. Every time we travel between them, one side should be ready for harvest.”

“The same applies to grain crops.”

“Don’t forget winter,” Zhang Su reminded him, tapping the paper repeatedly with his finger. “When the heavy snowstorms come, we might be trapped for two months. Even if we try to travel, blizzards could stop us.”

He continued,

“Where do we spend the winter? How do we handle it? Sure, we could keep moving between both places, but what if something happens to whichever place we’re away from?”

“Mm… that’s a good point.”

Luo Xun frowned.

“And while we’re at it, summer might bring major floods. This building is relatively safe. As long as the roof doesn’t leak, we’ll be fine. But the experimental site is different. We’ll need proper drainage.”

He remembered previous summers when rainwater had pooled outside his windows and seeped through the walls.

If the apartment complex’s drainage system hadn’t been decent back then, he probably would have drowned in his own home.

…

The more they discussed, the more issues surfaced.

And the more they thought, the further their ideas expanded.

As the saying went, three cobblers could rival Zhuge Liang.

The Otaku Team had nearly three and a half Zhuge Liangs among them, and they certainly managed to come up with plenty of things to worry about.

“Got it! Got it!”

Suddenly, He Qiankun shouted from the computer station.

“Finished?” everyone immediately crowded around him.

He Qiankun picked up his oversized stainless-steel mug, took a large drink of water, and proudly lifted his fleshy chin.

“I finally found them. Among all the satellite photos transmitted after the apocalypse, there were only a few images showing our new base. I copied those photos, altered the file numbers and timestamps on the others, and that’s it.”

Then he lowered his voice and turned toward Li Tie and the others.

“Oh, and while I was at it, I checked the personnel records of the base’s computer administration department. Less than half of the instructors who trained us are still alive.”

“What happened?”

“How come?”

Everyone immediately became interested.

He Qiankun shook his head.

“No idea. But Old Li—the guy who specialized in hacking and trained me—his name’s gone.”

The group exchanged glances and sighed.

Whatever had happened, their former workplace had clearly suffered major losses.

Without experts like Old Li around, it was relatively easy for He Qiankun to fool the people currently managing the system.

At least, as long as nobody considered the possibility that someone had hacked the computers and actively checked the security systems, nobody would notice his modifications.

Part of that was because He Qiankun worked carefully.

He never left traces.

Unlike certain hackers who enjoyed leaving signatures behind to prove they had been there, he erased every sign of his activities.

Besides, while there had certainly been hackers before the apocalypse, how many of them still possessed functioning computers now?

And how many still had access to official servers?

He Qiankun only knew where to begin because of his previous military-related work.

Otherwise, he would have been completely clueless too.

After gathering, saving, and deleting all information related to the experimental facility, He Qiankun and the others downloaded large amounts of information on construction, drainage systems, electrical wiring, and other engineering topics.

Meanwhile, Luo Xun, Xu Mei, Zhang Su, and Song Lingling began inventorying the items that needed to be moved.

Yes.

It was already nearing the end of February.

They planned to leave the base again almost immediately and transfer some of the most urgent supplies before returning in time for March.

Once the March team mission was completed, they could devote themselves to properly organizing their new home.

Ignoring their physical exhaustion, they spent only two days sorting supplies, exchanging for additional gasoline, sealing everything inside metal containers, and secretly loading them into their vehicles.

Then the entire group set out from the base once again.

This time, they left the sled vehicles behind.

Instead, they modified the wheels of their cars and drove directly toward their destination.

Cars were much faster than the homemade sleds.

The snow had been steadily melting over the past few days, and the zombie horde had flattened large areas of remaining snow, making sled travel impractical.

So they chose the vehicles with greater carrying capacity.

All four vehicles belonging to the Otaku Team were brought out this time.

Every trunk was packed to the brim with supplies.

The interiors had been modified beforehand as well, warm and comfortable enough for everyone to rest during the journey.

Luo Xun had never actually moved house like a hamster before.

But as a genuine hamster at heart, he was extremely experienced when it came to deciding what should be moved first, what could wait, how to transport things efficiently, and exactly where everything ought to go.

Their priority during this move was to bring over food supplies, along with valuable items that weren’t currently needed and could safely sit in storage for long periods.

They also transported some seeds—about one-third of their total stockpile. Even if they were unable to return for a while and those seeds somehow became unusable, the loss would still be acceptable.

Those supplies alone filled four entire vehicles.

Along the way, Yan Fei continued collecting metal wherever he could find it. The underground passage they had built still needed much more reinforcement. Otherwise, it might eventually be damaged by underground creatures or passing earth-type zombies.

The previous time they had left this place, the journey had taken two days.

This time, because they were driving and much of the snow had already been flattened by the zombie horde, they made it back in less than two days as well.

They carefully inspected the large iron gate they had left flush with the ground.

Everything was exactly as they had left it.

The camouflage remained intact.

The evenly scattered layer of sand above it was undisturbed.

Only then did everyone finally relax.

After parking the vehicles, they unloaded the supplies piece by piece using metal carts Yan Fei had made from scavenged metal and slowly transported everything through the tunnel into their newly established base.

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