Chapter 77 – Burning Mushrooms
“Ah, my god, I’m dead tired.” He Qiankun collapsed inside the cordoned-off waiting area the moment he sat down, lying flat on the ground and refusing to move no matter how others nudged him.
Li Tie and the others had no choice but to sit around him, using his belly as a makeshift table—poking and bouncing it. Nice elasticity, very springy.
“Right? I thought the car would just draw in a few zombies, but who could’ve guessed they’d keep coming in waves? We fought for two whole days and still couldn’t finish them off! Good thing we took turns sleeping, or we wouldn’t have made it back alive today.” Li Tie sighed in relief.
Smiling with narrowed eyes, Luo Xun asked from the side, “So? You guys coming out again next month?”
The five exchanged glances, then nodded vigorously. “Of course! Why not? We only go out once a month anyway!”
Their voices made several people in nearby circles look over with open disdain—Once a month outside the base? What kind of useless team is that? They probably only had the courage to go out once every thirty days!
When the others noticed that Luo Xun’s team included not only a bunch of young, student-looking people but also two girls, and even one man prettier than most women (that was Zhang Su—Yan Fei, even with his helmet off, still wore his family’s heirloom white mask), they were completely dumbfounded. What a waste of good looks!
A guy from a nearby waiting circle let out a whistle at Xu Mei, his eyes roaming indecently over her chest. “Hey, beauty, why hang around with a bunch of losers? Come with big bro here, and I’ll—”
Before he could finish, a fireball flew straight at him. If not for the fact that he’d been staring directly at Xu Mei and dodged at the last second, his entire face would’ve been scorched. Even so, half his hair was burnt off in an instant.
The man jumped up, frantically slapping at his smoldering head while the onlookers burst into laughter.
“Serves him right for provoking the Thorned Rose! He’s lucky the fireball didn’t hit him dead-on!”
“Yeah, I remember last time, right at the base gate, some guy got completely torched—clothes gone, body hair gone, everything gone!”
The man finally managed to extinguish the flames, and after hearing those words, his face turned alternating shades of green and white. He shot Xu Mei a nervous glance but didn’t dare say another word.
Luo Xun turned to her curiously. “Thorned Rose?”
Xu Mei’s face flushed slightly. “Just… a nickname they made up.”
Smiling, Song Lingling threw an arm around Xu Mei’s shoulder and explained to Luo Xun, “That’s Sister Xu’s nickname. Whenever we teamed up to go out, we’d always run into some blind idiot. Sister Xu’s fireballs hit hard—she’d just blast them every time!” She looked regretfully down at her own hands. “Why did I have to get water-type powers? Even wind-type like Brother Zhang’s would be better. Water just has no killing power at all.”
Water-ability users were notoriously weak in attack. Even a water ball to the face usually caused no real harm, so no matter how many years into the apocalypse, water-types mostly served in logistical or support roles within teams.
But to have an ability and still not be able to fight—Song Lingling found that terribly unsatisfying. If her ability had been stronger, then maybe… things in her past wouldn’t have turned out that way.
Luo Xun suddenly understood. So that’s why her future team was called the Rose Mercenaries.
Seeing Song Lingling’s look of regret, Luo Xun smiled. “Still better than us ordinary people, right? And who says water can’t kill? Sure, it’s a bit tricky, but if you make a water sphere and trap someone’s head inside it, wouldn’t they suffocate?”
“Eh?! You’re right! Brother Luo, you’re a genius!” Song Lingling’s eyes lit up, and she shook Xu Mei excitedly. She’d always thought her ability was too weak—now that she imagined drowning someone alive, wasn’t that even more terrifying and intimidating than Xu Mei’s fireballs?
Li Tie and the others stared at Luo Xun in horror. What the hell is going on in this guy’s head?! Who even thinks up such brutal killing methods?! One Xu Mei with her explosive temper was scary enough—if both of the team’s only female members became bloodthirsty killers, how were they supposed to survive?!
Luo Xun, however, didn’t notice that he’d just shattered everyone’s worldview again. He had merely seen a water-type use that method in his past life and mentioned it casually. After all, if Song Lingling didn’t learn to be ruthless, how could she ever become one of the infamous Rose Mercenaries? Just like, if you’re not a shut-in, how can you be part of the Otaku Squad?
Beside him, Yan Fei showed no sign of discomfort at all. He just smiled, reached out, and ruffled Luo Xun’s hair affectionately.
The two-hour waiting period dragged on. The group sat on the cold floor as the sun dipped below the horizon, the air growing steadily colder.
When they’d been inside the car or busy fighting zombies, they hadn’t noticed. But now, sitting still outside with the evening breeze blowing over them, they were reminded that the weather hadn’t truly warmed up yet—it was still freezing after dusk.
As soon as the two hours were up, everyone got up quickly and headed to where their vehicles were parked.
All four vehicles were fortified with thick metal plating and reinforced steel frames—Yan Fei’s handiwork. Over the past two days, he’d scavenged metal near the bank and welded it onto the cars, strengthening the structure while also bringing back plenty of extra materials.
They drove back to their building. After parking, Yan Fei peeled off part of his “trophies,” levitating the metal pieces as he took a separate elevator—luckily, it happened to be operational at the time.
He went straight up to the 16th floor and spread the metal sheets across the hallway floor. Everyone else gathered in Li Tie’s apartment for a meeting and to divide the crystal cores.
The cores consumed during battle weren’t counted; they only divided the remaining ones. As agreed, Luo Xun and Yan Fei got about 400 cores, including five level-2 crystal cores—yes, level-2 ones.
The pale blue ones were wind-type and all went to Zhang Su. The fire and water ones went to Xu Mei and Song Lingling respectively. They hadn’t managed to find any metal-type cores, so Yan Fei only received some earth-type and speed-type level-2 cores, which weren’t much use to him.
“About 400 total—ten per day should last us through the end of the month,” Yan Fei said, glancing at Zhang Su. “If you can’t find more, use your points to trade for some. It’s the best we can do for now.”
Zhang Su shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fine.” Honestly, getting even a dozen per day was already much better than before, when he had none at all. If not for his long work hours, he’d have sneaked off to the city wall at night to hunt zombies himself—his wind ability could easily keep him from being noticed.
Yan Fei wasn’t worried about supply—he could still access the army-issued crystal cores.
As for Xu Mei and Song Lingling, they were overjoyed. Normally, when teaming up with other groups, they’d be lucky to earn a few cores a day. This time, each of them got over a hundred! That was an enormous windfall.
In other teams, women rarely got a fair share—if they didn’t have useful abilities, most people wouldn’t even bother taking them along, and some who did clearly had ulterior motives. Only after realizing these two weren’t to be messed with did those men give up any improper ideas.
Because of that, the two had wandered alone for several days, unable to find a suitable long-term team. Now, with over a hundred crystal cores each, they could live comfortably for quite some time—especially since crystal cores were still extremely valuable.
Even the base authorities were buying them, though at lower rates than private trades: one core for two points, compared to the five points they could fetch on the black market. So few people ever bothered selling to the officials at all.
After dividing up the crystal cores and discussing plans and preparations for the next trip outside the base, everyone dispersed and went home.
Dragging his exhausted body through the doorway, Luo Xun bent down the moment he saw the little creature behind the door scratching wildly at it after hearing their voices. He scooped up the dog’s head and gave it a vigorous rub, sighing with a trace of emotion. “Alright, alright—we’re back.”
The little one, who hadn’t seen its owners for a whole night, excitedly showed how much it had missed them. Although in truth Luo Xun and Yan Fei hadn’t been gone long, a warm show of affection never hurt.
After putting their things away, Luo Xun washed his hands and face thoroughly, even taking the time to disinfect himself before rummaging in the fridge for something to make for dinner. Meanwhile, Yan Fei did a full inspection of the apartment; once he confirmed everything was exactly as they’d left it, he finally relaxed and returned to the living room.
“Go check the nursery,” Luo Xun said casually while carrying a plate of fried rice he’d prepared before they left. “I think I heard a few more quail chicks hatch.”
“Alright.” Yan Fei patted the head of the little dog running in circles around his feet—the pup had grown so much that he barely needed to bend down to reach it now.
Sure enough, soft peeping sounds came from the incubator in the nursery. A few tiny, fluffy chicks huddled together, their spindly legs twitching nervously when they sensed someone nearby.
Yan Fei’s eyes softened involuntarily, a faint smile curving his lips. No matter how tired one was, sights like this could always melt the heart.
Unfortunately, quails didn’t share human aesthetics. To them, that gentle smile—which could charm even children—belonged to an enormous, strange creature. They stayed pressed tightly together, staring at him with round, shiny black eyes.
Seeing that their food and water were clean and sufficient, Yan Fei swept his gaze around the room—and then, with a darkened face, put on his rubber gloves to go pick mushrooms. Of course, the ones he harvested were bright red, wreathed in an odd mist—definitely not the edible kind. Anyone foolish enough to try one might as well volunteer for a live experiment on how to die dramatically.
“How’s it going?” Luo Xun called out when he heard Yan Fei returning from the nursery.
“Five quail chicks in total. A few still have damp feathers—they must’ve just hatched today. I’m going upstairs to burn the mushrooms.”
At that, Luo Xun’s mouth twitched. Ever since the apocalypse began, not a single normal mushroom had grown on their wooden logs. At this point, he suspected he might never be able to grow an edible one again. Maybe he should just dry the logs out completely and chop them up for firewood.
The rooftop terrace on the second floor held quite a few plants. Most of the crops Luo Xun had been cultivating for this year’s planting were still downstairs—either on the first-floor balcony or in the nursery—for easier transfer later. Upstairs were fruit-bearing and mutant plants that needed closer observation.
There were lemon and watermelon sprouts that Li Tie had given them, along with apple, raspberry, orange, cherry, and blueberry saplings, plus a small grapevine that had just started to climb.
He had bought these fruit seedlings from a vegetable seed website before the apocalypse—on a whim, really. He hadn’t planned to grow much fruit at all, but after clicking through a few ads out of curiosity, he’d ended up buying some of his favorites. Otherwise, he never would’ve thought to spend money on such “luxurious” crops.
In a metal basin placed on the floor, Yan Fei burned the strange red mushrooms, then turned on the exhaust fan built into the glass wall to vent the smoke outside. He stood by the window, watching the residential complex below. Despite night having fallen, it was still lively—people coming and going, hurrying home.
Though many residents had moved away after recent events, at least half still remained.
After the last of the mushrooms were reduced to ash, Yan Fei flushed them down the toilet and disinfected everything thoroughly before leisurely heading back downstairs.
Luo Xun had already reheated the fried rice and was sitting at the table waiting for him. The radio on the table was broadcasting the news; when Yan Fei came down, Luo Xun gestured toward it. “They’re talking about the zombie virus outbreak from the other day.”
Yan Fei immediately came over. The same report had already been repeated since the previous afternoon, but since there weren’t many entertainment programs anymore, important announcements like this were broadcast repeatedly to make sure everyone leaving the base stayed informed.
According to the investigation results, which were similar to what Luo Xun had guessed but differed in details, the infection hadn’t spread through direct contact—it came from contaminated food and water. The base’s tap water did contain traces of the zombie virus, but as long as it was disinfected and purified according to the official procedure, it was safe to use.
The announcement also warned that some underground workshops inside the base had been cutting corners to save costs, skipping the proper sanitation steps. That negligence had caused the earlier outbreak. The base authorities, the broadcast said, would be cracking down on those private operations immediately.
After listening for a while, Luo Xun raised his head to look at Yan Fei, who also looked back at him.
“I remember that right now, there aren’t many people in the base without connections who can even open a stall that exchanges for cooked food, right?”
Luo Xun nodded. “At least, the day we came back, the first people who turned into zombies were right near one of the official stalls.”
Which meant that the current radio broadcast was far from objective—when listening to this kind of thing, one had to stay sharp. Just because the broadcast didn’t say it was related to the authorities didn’t mean it really had nothing to do with them.
Small workshops? Do they think it’s still the pre-apocalypse days? In the base, who would have food at home and not store it carefully? Who would be willing to trade away these life-saving supplies just to earn a few points? Hadn’t anyone noticed how the rice and flour they could exchange for lately were getting worse and worse in quality?
—
Inside Room 1502 on the 15th floor, Xu Mei and Song Lingling sat on a thick felt mat, eating dry biscuits, potato chips, and drinking plain water.
“Are we going out again tomorrow?”
Hearing Song Lingling’s question, Xu Mei hesitated for a moment before replying, “We still have to go out—but not tomorrow.” She looked over at Song Lingling. “The crystal cores we have now are enough for the moment, but if we want to improve our strength, we can’t just rely on going out with them once a month. They have fixed jobs inside the base—but we don’t.”
Song Lingling sighed softly and nodded. “I think so too. But it was hard for us to find a team before. Now that we have these crystal cores as a cushion, even if it takes one or two tries to find a suitable team, it won’t be a big problem.”
They had considered just getting a long-term job in the base, one that wouldn’t require leaving the safety zone. But both of them needed to strengthen themselves—to avoid the unwanted attention and harassment of men. In this world now, no one could be relied on. They could only depend on themselves, on their own power.
The two young women exchanged small smiles. Except for those few days each month when they absolutely couldn’t leave the base, they refused to waste their time or efficiency. Even if they hit setbacks or ran into awful teammates, they wouldn’t give up.
—
On the first day of March, early in the morning, Luo Xun and Yan Fei once again rode to the military base to assemble.
When they arrived, both of them were stunned by the construction scene at the gate—though they’d known the military base was being fortified and expanded, the area under construction before had been in the opposite direction from where they usually entered, so they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes. They hadn’t expected that after just two days off work, they’d return to see something so grand—a massive city gate.
Yes, a city gate—tall and imposing, easily ten meters high. No wonder the two of them were shocked.
When Captain Guo saw them arrive, he waved them over and led them in a certain direction.
“Today, we don’t need to go to the outer wall. Orders came down that the earth-type ability users are to first reinforce the outer city wall to ten meters high, widen it, and then continue adding the metal defense layer. Today, we’ll be working with the construction experts and the earth-types to build the camp’s inner walls.”
Luo Xun looked in surprise toward the towering structure in the distance, pointing to himself. “I’m going too?” He’d only tagged along to look after Yan Fei, who might overexert himself. If not for his own exceptional crossbow skills, he probably wouldn’t even qualify for earning points yet.
Captain Guo laughed and patted his shoulder. “Why wouldn’t you? They still need people to help move materials, right? Not just you—even Little Liu, the driver, is helping today.”
In this base, there were no fixed salaries or permanent staff positions anymore—except for a handful of research specialists. Everyone else worked day by day, earning their wages from daily labor.
Captain Guo was a leader who truly looked after his people. As long as his subordinates followed orders and worked hard, he’d fight to get them every benefit he could. Since the day crystal cores started being distributed, he hadn’t skimmed a single one off the top—unlike some other captains, who worried their subordinates might secretly hoard them. In those teams, ability users had to report in person every time they needed a core, just to make sure they weren’t pocketing extras.
For Shen Ping, the metal-type user who’d transferred over from Team Two, this difference was obvious. Back in Team Two, their captain never handed out enough cores for the day in advance—they always had to go request them one by one, under watchful eyes, as if they were thieves. And crystal cores weren’t cheap these days.
It wasn’t until Shen Ping joined Team One that he learned: the higher-ups actually distributed a set number of cores to each team every day, based on the number of members—and that this number even fluctuated from time to time. Which meant… who knew how many cores the Team Two captain had pocketed over the months?
As for Captain Guo, he found Luo Xun to be a sharp, diligent, and cautious man. He had a clear understanding of how Yan Fei and the others used their abilities, and could make accurate, timely judgments. Not to mention, whenever Luo Xun was around, no zombie ever managed to harm Yan Fei. His crossbow never missed its mark.
With such a reliable teammate—whose skills were on par with a professionally trained soldier—Captain Guo valued him highly. There was no way he’d let a few points come between them. Besides, they needed strong, dependable hands for hauling supplies and guarding ability users.
The group made their way to the southern gate of the base (Luo Xun and Yan Fei usually entered through the eastern one). From afar, they could already see their previous teammates there—and yes, even the driver.
“Starting today, our work will be here at the military camp for the time being,” Captain Guo instructed. “How long this lasts, and when we can return to the outer wall work, depends on how progress goes over there.”
He then began assigning tasks. The base didn’t just need sturdy walls; it also required all kinds of metal tools and structures—frames, racks, ladders, window bars—many of which were hard to come by now. So the metal-type users were being asked to forge them on-site.
The top orders were clear: follow the experts’ blueprints and build whatever was needed first—frames, supports, ladders, and so on. Once those were done and work could resume on the outer wall, they’d return there. After both the inner and outer walls were complete, the metal-type users would come back again to continue reinforcing the military base.
In short—there was plenty of work for them to do. Losing their jobs anytime soon was the least of their worries.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
