The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH200

Chapter 200 — Rations!

The night after leaving the base was the most suffocating and oppressive one the group had ever experienced. Regardless of whether they had already planned to make the new base their primary home, those apartments in the Southwest Base had been their original sanctuary. Now that their home had been completely destroyed and they were forced to leave it behind for good, how could anyone be in a good mood?

The next morning, after packing up their things, everyone climbed back into their respective vehicles and drove toward their new home—a haven that, as long as they worked hard to fortify it, would be completely under their own control.

“Once we get back, we’ll put our things away first. Then we’ll go into the city to look for gasoline or electric vehicles, and after that, we need to track down some fabric,” Luo Xun suddenly said as he drove.

Yan Fei blinked in surprise. “Fabric?” Even though Luo Xun had been talking and interacting with everyone since last night, his attitude was clearly a bit different. His expression would frequently drift off—he obviously hadn’t fully recovered from the blow of having their apartment in the Southwest Base destroyed.

“Yeah. The third and first floors are mostly sorted out, but the second floor hasn’t been cleaned or organized yet. We don’t have much thick fabric left at home, so we need to find a way to haul more back. Otherwise, we won’t even be able to turn on the lights on the second floor at night.” Luo Xun paused, his eyes suddenly lighting up again. “Actually, we could install a layer of metal blinds on the outer metal frames! If they’re drawn completely shut, it should block the light perfectly. Why don’t we try it out at night when we get back?”

“Sure. I’ll install it on one of the rooms first to test it when we return.” Yan Fei was glad to see Luo Xun snapping out of it and moving past the Southwest Base incident. Even if it meant an increased workload for himself, it didn’t matter—after all, he had made plenty of these things back at the old base.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei didn’t know how the people in the other cars were doing, but inside their own small vehicle, the atmosphere between the two lovers had finally recovered a bit. Luo Xun focused on driving, while Yan Fei cradled the little baby, who had just pooped and was whimpering in his swaddle, to change his diaper.

In fact, before the apocalypse, Luo Xun had bought a stash of diapers during a supermarket clearance sale—yes, the exact same brand and type he had used on a certain someone when they first met!

Unfortunately, he had bought the adult size back then, which was far too large for the little baby. When he originally bought them, it was just a backup for himself in case of an emergency where he couldn’t move.

Fortunately, they had an abundance of cotton cloth at home, which could be washed, rotated, and reused efficiently. The two young fathers always brought plenty of cloth diapers whenever they went out, washing them all at once when they returned home and hanging them in the sun to dry and sanitize.

The little baby was only a little over three months old now. Although he still looked smaller than other babies his age, he looked incomparably stronger than when he was first born. He had fair, chubby little arms, large eyes like dark grapes, and plump, rosy lips. It seemed the nutritional content of their home-grown cream fruit was quite excellent, feeding the little thing into a healthy, robust baby.

Lying on Yan Fei’s lap, the little baby stared up with his wide eyes, his chubby little hands pressed against his mouth while the other flailed randomly. He watched Yan Fei with intense curiosity as his diaper was being changed. Between the two front seats, the puppy poked its head through from the back, curiously lolling its tongue out as it looked left and right.

Luo Xun glanced at them from time to time as he drove, a natural, happy smile emerging on his face. The suffocating feeling that had been stuck like a thorn in his throat finally vanished completely. Though the home he had built with his own hands was gone, he now had a new home, as well as loved ones who would never leave him.

As for their previous sanctuary… he wasn’t someone who couldn’t let things go. Since it was impossible to return, he would simply treat that base as a marketplace for selling vegetables, buying supplies, and exchanging information.

The convoy traveled for a whole day without reaching its destination, forcing them to camp out in the wild for another night. The next morning, they continued driving toward their new base.

Before heading out this time, Luo Xun and the team had studied the recent satellite maps of the area. Because the largest zombie tide lingering in the vicinity had gone on a collective “abroad vacation” and other small zombie tides hadn’t arrived yet, the remaining zombies were almost all wandering around the old city center. Therefore, at least for the short term, they only needed to worry about mutated animals when they went out, without having to fear zombies suddenly jumping out to ambush them.

As a result, their excursions during this period were relatively safe.

When they finally spotted the mutated farmland surrounding their new base, before Luo Xun and the others could even exhale a sigh of “we’re finally home,” the entire group froze, their expressions hardening into pure shock at the sight unfolding just a short distance ahead.

“W-What on earth is going on?”

“Awoo—” Before the words could fully leave Luo Xun’s mouth, a loud howl echoed from behind the shocking spectacle in front of them—a wolf’s howl! It was the two mutated wolves they had encountered a while back!

“Metal shield!” Luo Xun had no time to analyze the situation ahead and could only bark a brief reminder to Yan Fei beside him.

When they left the base this time, they had brought along as much metal as possible from their old apartments. Although it wasn’t visible from the outside, almost every single inch of remaining space inside these vehicles was crammed tight with metal. Once they cleared the base, Yan Fei had extracted the metal, forming it into spheres that rolled alongside the convoy.

Now, the metal spheres, which had been restored to their massive size, rapidly expanded right in front of the convoy!

But right ahead of them, a thunderous, ground-shaking commotion was erupting!

Wang Duo’s panicked voice blared through the walkie-talkie: “Good heavens, are—are all of these pigs?!”

Before Luo Xun could even reply, a highly ecstatic voice suddenly burst through the walkie-talkie: “Boss, Boss! Pork! It’s pork!!”

Hearing He Qiankun’s voice, Luo Xun finally snapped out of his shock. He whipped his head around to look at Yan Fei beside him, a green, predatory glint unconsciously flashing in his eyes.

Yan Fei arched an eyebrow, turning his gaze back toward the herd of pigs that was charging toward them, causing the earth to shake violently.

Yes, a herd of pigs—a herd of pigs being driven and hunted by two mutated wolves!

These pigs had also mutated, but they weren’t monstrously huge. Their average height was under two meters, making them slightly shorter than the two wolves. For some unknown reason, despite vastly outnumbering the two wolves, the herd of pigs showed absolutely zero intention of fighting back. Instead, they were running around in a frantic, scattered panic, driven completely by the wolves.

Fortunately, though these pigs were complete cowards, they seemed to know how lethal the mutated plants by the roadside were, so they didn’t dash straight into the fields. Instead, they barreled down the highway bordering the farmland, charging directly toward Luo Xun and his team!

Seeing that things looked bad, Luo Xun had already pulled his car as far to the side of the road as possible and stopped. Yan Fei rapidly constructed a metal incline, allowing the herd of pigs to sprint past on the other side of the highway—though by the time they reached this point, some would inevitably crash into it by accident.

The pigs were sprinting at breakneck speed, but the idea of eating pork flashed through the minds of Luo Xun and the team even faster! After barking a few rapid instructions over the walkie-talkie, Yan Fei immediately prepared himself, while little Xinran, under Xu Mei’s direction in the car behind, instantly sandified the ground a short distance ahead to create several massive pits!

Roar—

Oink, oink… The earth-shattering noise drew closer and closer, and everyone silently prayed in their hearts that their makeshift plan would succeed.

Just as the herd of pigs sped past Luo Xun’s convoy, with several panicked pigs scraping heavily against the metal plates Yan Fei had erected, they were just about to clear the vehicles when—Thud, thud, thud…

A series of metal tripwires Yan Fei had deployed across the road, the massive pits little Xinran had sandified right behind the metal, the sharp wind blades Zhang Su unleashed to slice at the pigs’ hooves amidst the chaos, and the barrage of reinforced crossbow bolts fired by the rest of the team…

At least a small portion of the herd fell directly into these traps, crashing heavily to the ground. The rest of their kinsmen trampled ruthlessly over the bodies of their fallen comrades, successfully escaping while leaving their peers half-dead and completely unable to get back up to resume their flight.

At that moment, the two wolves that had been trailing closely behind the herd caught up.

Previously, they had been quite far away, so Luo Xun and the team had never seen these two creatures so closely. But now, as the two wolves drew up right beside the vehicles, everyone felt a mountain of pressure. Their massive frames, their sleek, powerful bodies, and their eerie, glowing green eyes…

No one paid any attention to the pigs on the ground anymore. Instead, everyone gripped their weapons tightly, staring warily at the two wolves.

The two wolves were also staring intently at the area shielded by the metal plates.

A tense standoff ensued for a brief moment. Suddenly, one of the fallen pigs struggled to its feet, but in its blind panic, it chose to flee in the exact opposite direction it had come from. Consequently—the wolf guarding the rear lunged forward, sinking its teeth straight into the pig’s neck!

While that wolf struck, the other wolf kept a wary eye on Luo Xun’s group. Seeing that they showed no reaction after its companion secured the prey, it carefully, step by step, approached the herd of half-dead pigs lying on the ground. It suddenly clamped its jaws around the hind leg of one pig and dragged it backward!

Only when the two wolves had dragged their prey a safe distance away did the group behind the metal plates exhale a collective sigh of relief, exchanging shaken, wide-eyed glances.

“B-Brother Luo, they won’t come back, right?”

“…Maybe.” Luo Xun couldn’t be certain either. How could he possibly know what was going through the minds of those two animals?

“Boss, what are we waiting for? Load them up and head home!!!”

“Meat, meat! It’s all meat!!”

The shouting of the group snapped Luo Xun’s soul back into his body, and he finally found the time to focus on the pigs strewn across the ground, which were currently drawing their last breaths.

When the herd had stampeded past in a roaring blur, the numbers had seemed substantial, but Luo Xun and the team hadn’t been able to get an accurate count. But right now, excluding the two dragged away by the wolves, there were a whopping six pigs left lying on the ground!!

What were they waiting for? Haul them away immediately!

The cars were already loaded with a significant amount of supplies retrieved from the base, and their weight capacity was limited. After stepping down from their vehicles to thoroughly dispatch two of the pigs, Luo Xun and the team towed them behind on temporarily fabricated metal sleds, heading straight back to their tunnel entrance. They threw the main gate open, temporarily dumping the supplies and the two pigs inside.

Then, they drove the vehicles back out, loaded the remaining four pigs onto the trucks, and the three heavily loaded vehicles rumbled unsteadily back into the underground tunnel…

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