Chapter 178 — Running Between Two Homes
The tunnel had been constructed quite smoothly, but there was no lighting inside.
Everyone had no choice but to push and pull carts forward while illuminating the way with portable lights.
“Next time we build a tunnel, we should make it wider,” Luo Xun said quietly to Yan Fei while pushing a cart forward. “Wide enough for vehicles to drive through directly.”
Yan Fei nodded.
“I can add several layers of metal walls in the middle and completely seal it off. But if we do that, we’ll need a lot more metal.”
His ability was incredibly convenient, but it also had limitations.
Unlike an earth-type ability user, he couldn’t simply create materials from nothing.
Everything he built required actual metal.
Han Li, walking behind them, suddenly called out,
“Brother Luo, since we can dig tunnels, why don’t we expand and build more underground cultivation areas? Like the two beneath the experimental building?”
The existing cultivation chambers were large, but together they only provided about two mu of usable planting space.
While they could produce crops, the harvests weren’t particularly abundant.
A full grain harvest would barely be enough to feed their group for a year.
If they wanted to trade grain for useful supplies at the base, it would be nowhere near sufficient.
Besides, they couldn’t dedicate all their planting space to grain.
Without expanding their cultivation area, their only option would be to build multi-level growing racks like the ones at home.
But doing so would destroy much of the original layout of the cultivation chambers.
Renovating them might actually be more troublesome than simply excavating new growing areas.
“Of course we can,” Luo Xun replied.
He and Yan Fei had already discussed the matter before going to bed a few nights earlier.
Since the mutant plants above ground were effectively guarding the area for them, there was no reason they couldn’t carve out additional underground spaces beneath those plants.
As long as they worked carefully and didn’t disturb the roots overhead.
“But if we do that,” Luo Xun continued, “we’ll need to collect even more metal.”
As he spoke, his enthusiasm began growing again.
“Actually, we don’t have to limit ourselves to underground construction. We can make use of the open areas above ground too. If we can find suitable paint, glass, and other materials, we can use the mutant plants as cover and camouflage everything. As long as it’s disguised properly, it shouldn’t attract much attention.”
Now that they possessed such a large, isolated area where nobody would interfere, the possibilities seemed endless.
There were countless directions for expansion.
Their most important task now was to make full use of the surrounding resources while maintaining security.
With a clear goal ahead of them, everyone’s mood had completely changed.
Although they had spent another two days traveling, not a single member of the team felt particularly tired.
After storing the supplies in an empty room, they spread out bedding and prepared to rest.
Yet even after climbing beneath their blankets, nobody seemed ready to stop talking.
“Tomorrow we’ll retrieve those boxes of solar panels first,” Luo Xun said while checking the plans written in his notebook under the beam of a flashlight.
“This trip we’ll bring back the two boxes left above ground. The ones buried underground can wait until next time. We can also collect more metal on the way back to reinforce the tunnel.”
Although they had brought their phones with them and the batteries were still charged, nobody dared turn them on.
Nowadays, phones issued through the base automatically reported their location through satellites at regular intervals.
If they were merely visiting unfamiliar places occasionally, Luo Xun wouldn’t have minded activating them to avoid getting lost.
After all, finding the way home was important.
If nobody noticed, having a permanent new base outside the main base wasn’t a problem.
But if someone paid attention and realized that they disappeared from the base for long stretches every month—and especially if they started bringing back large amounts of grain and crops in the future—it wouldn’t be difficult to locate their new base through satellite tracking.
Some things simply had to be guarded against in advance.
Better safe than sorry.
Especially when it concerned the place they had chosen to ensure their future survival. They had gone through all this trouble to avoid trouble in the first place. If someone discovered it…
Would they still be able to live in peace?
After a good night’s rest, Luo Xun, Yan Fei, Zhang Su, and Wang Duo set out early the next morning in two vehicles, heading toward the location where they had abandoned the large metal containers.
The others stayed behind to sort through the supplies brought from the base, organizing everything by category and preparing several rooms that could serve as living quarters during future visits.
Most of the snow on the ground nearby had been completely trampled away.
Only a few untouched patches remained in corners and along roadsides.
The two vehicles moved forward through the muddy, churned-up remains of the former snowfield.
The cars were loaded with plenty of weapons and ammunition in case they encountered danger along the way.
To be honest, driving this route again put considerable psychological pressure on everyone.
After all, this was the very road where they had been chased for their lives not long ago.
Returning to it felt like a test of their nerves.
“Careful. There’s a sand pit up ahead.”
Holding a walkie-talkie, Luo Xun warned Zhang Su and Wang Duo in the other vehicle.
After a moment of silence, he added,
“Xinran probably made it during our escape.”
There was no helping it.
When fleeing for their lives, they had dug pits all along the route to slow the pursuing zombies.
Now that they were traveling the same road again, they had no choice but to carefully navigate around them.
Fortunately, the areas Xinran had turned to sand weren’t covered over.
She had carried most of the sand away to use as a weapon.
As long as they detoured around the dangerous sections, everything was manageable.
And where the terrain became difficult, Yan Fei could simply build temporary metal bridges.
It slowed them down slightly but caused no real problems.
What surprised them most was something else entirely.
“Brother Luo! Aren’t those the zombies we accidentally killed on the way last time?!”
Wang Duo’s excited voice crackled through the walkie-talkie, nearly overwhelming the signal.
“Probably.”
“Brother Luo! Crystal cores! Crystal cores!!”
Recently, every crystal core they used to pay entry and exit fees at the base had come from their previous savings.
Their last two trips hadn’t given them any opportunity to hunt zombies properly.
They had barely obtained a single crystal core.
The ability users in the team had been forced to conserve their energy very carefully.
“We’ll pick them up on the way back,” Luo Xun decided after some thought.
“Right now we’re short on time.”
Their first priority was confirming that the containers holding the solar panels were still intact and could be safely transported back.
If there was time later, they could collect the crystal cores.
If danger appeared, however, returning to the new base would take precedence.
Without zombies chasing them this time, the group didn’t reach the area containing the abandoned military vehicles until midnight.
Behind several partially collapsed houses, they finally found the two enormous metal containers they had left behind.
They circled the containers several times, carefully checking for damage.
Nothing appeared to have been disturbed.
The contents were untouched.
Only then did they finally relax.
Afterward, they unloaded several wheels from their vehicles.
Yan Fei quickly attached them to the containers.
The four of them slept for only three or four hours before setting off again at dawn.
On the return journey, they encountered numerous zombies lying along the roadside.
Some were already dead.
Others had lost arms or legs and could do nothing but writhe helplessly in place.
Naturally, Luo Xun and the others harvested them without hesitation.
What truly surprised them was the final count.
After gathering everything and comparing their gains, they discovered they had collected over a hundred crystal cores.
Most of those crystal cores belonged to wind-type and speed-type zombies.
The majority were Level Three, with a small number at Level Four.
Although only the wind-type cores could replenish Zhang Su’s abilities, the speed-type cores were still perfectly suitable for paying the base’s entrance fees.
The two massive metal containers were successfully transported back.
Along with them came two enormous metal spheres that Yan Fei had collected along the way.
He melted one of the spheres into the walls of their underground tunnel, reinforcing the metal lining.
The other sphere was used to strengthen the experimental building itself.
Only after that was completed did everyone begin inspecting and dismantling the solar panels stored inside the containers.
“This panel has a crack.”
“The others seem fine.”
“These ones are all intact.”
“This one snapped, but most of the rest are okay.”
“This corner got bent. I’m not sure whether it’ll affect performance.”
When they first discovered the containers, one had already tipped over onto its side.
Because time was limited, they had simply transported everything back before conducting a detailed inspection.
As for the two containers buried underground, Yan Fei confirmed that they remained exactly where they had been left.
The group decided not to dig them up yet.
They would wait until their next trip, when they had more time.
In fact, they were already considering visiting the solar panel factory during a future expedition.
After checking, sorting, and storing all the solar panels, everyone reorganized the rest of their supplies and reinforced the storage areas.
Then they set off once more.
Back to the base.
At this point, Luo Xun suddenly realized something.
Their group was practically commuting between two homes.
Doing it once or twice was manageable.
But if they kept running back and forth like this for months on end, who could endure it?
They needed to move the most important belongings as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, the endless travel would eventually drive them crazy.
Driving their now considerably emptier vehicles back toward the base, everyone finally began feeling the accumulated exhaustion.
This time, Yan Fei drove.
Luo Xun sat in the back with the little bun, changing his diaper.
As for their dog…
The little fellow was currently riding in the women’s vehicle, happily playing with Xinran.
When they finally approached the base gates, they immediately noticed something unusual.
A large number of vehicles were lined up outside the entrance.
Even from a considerable distance away, they could hear the noisy commotion.
Several military trucks were parked nearby.
Armed soldiers stood guard, maintaining a vigilant watch.
Judging by their position, they appeared to be monitoring the road leading toward the city.
Luo Xun frowned and exchanged a glance with Yan Fei.
The last time they returned, it had been the middle of the night, and they hadn’t encountered anyone else entering the base.
Likewise, when they left, they had been in too much of a hurry to pay attention to what was happening.
They had no idea whether something significant had occurred during their absence.
Now, looking at the crowd gathered outside the gates…
Had these returning survivors run into some kind of trouble?
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
