Chapter 86 — A Reminder
“That’s right—Ranran’s ability is the most amazing!” Song Lingling rubbed the little girl’s head and smiled as she said to Luo Xun and Yan Fei. “We also think that if she goes out of the base with us, she could work perfectly with Brother Yan to dig traps. Of course, before that, we’ll teach her how to control her ability and what to do when going outside.”
Neither Song Lingling nor Xu Mei were women in the conventional sense. Rather than casually finding a man in the base to marry and settling down as a dutiful wife and mother, they preferred to go out and fight in person, seeking their own value and meaning in survival. So when two such fierce, tough women raised a child—what kind of person that child would grow up to be… one could easily imagine.
Yan Fei nodded to show his support for their decision, even though the child was still very young. But in the apocalypse, even children could hardly expect a childhood in the true sense of the word.
He bent down and offered the metal flower that was still floating in midair to Yu Xinran, smiling at her. “Your ability is very powerful. Take this flower. If you like it, Uncle can make more for you in the future.”
Although she didn’t quite understand what they were so happy about, Yu Xinran could feel that they didn’t dislike her strange, seemingly useless ability—in fact, they were happy about it. Memories related to growth in early childhood were often vague, so what truly left a deep impression on her were the days after coming to the base, especially her recent life there. Since arriving at the base, life at home had grown harder day by day, more and more miserable, and often they couldn’t even eat their fill.
Coupled with the various negative emotions her family had toward her because of her ability—and their attitude toward her—Yu Xinran seemed to have long forgotten the happiness of being needed, acknowledged, and praised. It was as if those memories from the past existed only as occasional dreams she had while sleeping.
Taking the flower, the little girl lifted her small face and gave Yan Fei a sweet smile.
Being good-looking really was an advantage—even the affection level of a loli who’d just suffered major trauma could be raised with ease. Luo Xun muttered and complained inwardly after returning to the sixteenth floor. Of course, he was wise enough not to say that out loud, lest someone retaliate maliciously.
After returning home and changing out of the clothes that had gotten a bit dirty after a busy day, the two of them finally sat down on the sofa in the living room.
Several bags lay on the coffee table, bulging with crystal-clear cores that looked like gemstones. Yan Fei had actually been quite diligent over the past few days, trying to absorb these crystal cores every day, but he hadn’t dared to push himself too hard, so quite a few were still left.
Beside the large bag was a smaller one. It looked light and small, and there weren’t many crystal cores inside—those were second-tier metal-type cores and a few others that couldn’t be used for now.
“Absorb them right here in the living room?” Luo Xun asked, glancing at the size of the larger bag with some concern.
Yan Fei thought for a moment and shook his head. “Better go back to the bedroom.” There were too many things in the living room, and Luo Xun and the little guy were here too. If something unexpected happened and he lost control… it would be better to stay in the bedroom.
Luo Xun was clearly thinking along a different line, but he still agreed. “Right! If you run out of strength, you can just lie down on the bed and sleep!” Overusing abilities consumed a lot of physical stamina anyway, and the sofa was nowhere near as comfortable as a bed.
Yan Fei took the bag upstairs, drove Luo Xun out when he tried to follow, and told him to take care of other things around the house—actually because he was worried that if something went wrong, he might accidentally hurt him.
Closing the bedroom door and returning to the bed, Yan Fei placed one hand on the opened bag of crystal cores, while extending the other toward the piece of metal in the room that he kneaded and tormented every night…
Luo Xun sighed at the tightly closed door and turned back to the first floor. What was there to be busy with at home? Thinking about it, there actually was quite a lot—some seedlings in the nursery could be transplanted, and some seedlings that had decreased in number after earlier mutations needed to be replenished.
There were also vegetables that needed a new batch of seedlings cultivated to stagger their harvest times, and so on.
After some thought, Luo Xun plunged straight into the nursery and started working.
He sorted the seedlings one by one into several small baskets. Some needed hydroponics and would be planted into the pipes in the neighboring room; some could go directly into soil. The rice seedlings he’d deliberately cultivated a few days earlier had mostly broken through the surface by now and would soon be ready to be planted in the adjacent bedroom.
“The light racks are all set up, and several batteries are fully charged…” Luo Xun muttered as he carried a few small baskets toward the large door between the two rooms. Seeing the door open, the little guy slipped through ahead of him and began sniffing around the room filled with rows of shelves—it knew this was now part of its territory too! Even if it couldn’t come over whenever it wanted, it was still its domain, wasn’t it?
In the pipe-shaped hydroponic tubes on the balcony, vegetables were still being grown—loose-leaf lettuce, romaine, and the like. Along the wall below were rows of plastic crates placed on metal racks. These crates were already filled with soil, and Luo Xun planted different crops in them. Along the surrounding walls, he had Yan Fei build a series of metal railings extending up to just below the ceiling, then turning horizontally into rows that connected with similar vertical railings on the opposite side.
This area was for climbing plants—cucumbers, loofahs, long beans, peas, and the like. When nothing was planted, the horizontal racks could also be used for hanging items. Other non-climbing crops were planted directly on the rows of metal shelves in the room—tomatoes, eggplants, soybeans, Chinese cabbage, peanuts, and so on.
In addition to vegetables, he planted watermelon seeds—collected earlier by everyone—into a large, low metal “basin” near the balcony. If they grew successfully, a single vine could produce quite a few watermelons!
He also planted several small seedlings into individual plastic baskets. If they grew well over the next couple of days, they could be moved to the balcony—these were sunflowers. He was waiting to harvest sunflower seeds in the autumn, either to eat or to press for oil.
Some of the soil at home had been brought back before the apocalypse, while some was collected with Yan Fei afterward. Even without leaving the base, it was easy to dig up plenty—just find a deserted spot, dig a bit deeper, and you could get unpolluted, fertile soil.
Combined with the fertilizer produced by their earthworms and mealworms after consuming various vegetables, it was more than enough to support a room full of crops growing well!
After finishing all the planting, Luo Xun hammered his slightly aching lower back, called the little guy, and returned to the adjacent room. Yan Fei wasn’t in the living room, which didn’t surprise Luo Xun at all—there was no way he’d finish absorbing that pile of crystal cores anytime soon. Besides, in order to “work hard,” Yan Fei had even brought several packs of biscuits and the last of the small sausages upstairs with him.
Not wanting to disturb Yan Fei while he was hard at work upstairs, Luo Xun wandered around the living room for a bit, then took out a pack of instant noodles, went into the kitchen to cook a bowl, and slowly ate it on the sofa with the little guy.
Upstairs in the bedroom, Yan Fei leaned against the headboard. One hand grasped crystal cores, absorbing them slowly; the other was held palm-up, his entire focus on the metal floating above the large bed. A dense metal mesh, like a veil of gauze, hovered in midair throughout the room. The fineness of its metal threads had reached the very limit of what Yan Fei could control. Once spread out, it couldn’t fully fit within the room, so it had to overlap in layers, floating in the air.
When all the metal had become part of that fine mesh—instantly!—the gauze-like net gathered together and once more condensed into a large, solid block of iron!
Iron turned into a net, the net condensed back into iron—the speed of this transformation grew faster and faster, smoother and smoother. Meanwhile, the bag of crystal cores in Yan Fei’s hand gradually grew smaller and flatter.
No one knew how much time had passed. Yan Fei’s forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat, which slid down from his temples, past the tear-shaped mole beside his eye, along his sharp chin, and dripped onto his pajamas. Suddenly—his movements came to an abrupt halt. The metal mesh spiraling in midair froze halfway through its transformation and stopped completely.
Yan Fei reached out from the larger pouch and grabbed the second-tier crystal core that had been set aside earlier, the one shimmering with a metallic sheen. He took a deep breath.
The metal condensed together once more and slowly settled onto the floor. Grasping the metal-type crystal core, Yan Fei closed his eyes, and his mental power instantly connected with it!
At the instant he completely absorbed the second-tier crystal core, a dazzling metallic glow flashed over his body from head to toe. Then Yan Fei slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his palm.
He’d leveled up?
“Tier two.” Yan Fei’s voice, hoarse from dehydration, echoed in the room. He could now be certain that his ability had indeed just advanced to level two. But his level-two ability was slightly different from those of other ability types—and even from other metal-type users. He wasn’t merely a metal-type ability user who could control metal. While controlling it, he could also manipulate and sense metal, and he even possessed a magnetism-like capability, allowing all metal to move, change, and be manipulated at will according to his thoughts.
Once again he levitated the metal block in front of him. Yan Fei moved his fingers slightly, and the entire mass began spinning rapidly in midair, writhing and twisting without pause. Before long, the metal quickly separated into several parts.
Each piece had a different color—some black, some white, some yellow, with shades ranging from dark to light.
“Does this count as… refining?”
Thinking of how Luo Xun had deliberately gone to Captain Guo to ask for pure copper wire before, Yan Fei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It seemed that he could now completely separate all the different substances within metal, and could even extract metal from other materials that contained metallic elements, using it for himself. If so, whatever he needed, he could just make on his own…
Of course, this kind of decomposition had its limits. The higher the proportion of metallic elements in an object, the easier it was to separate. Otherwise, the human body and plants also contained various metallic elements—if he could control even those, wouldn’t killing someone become absurdly easy?
So this kind of refining and separation could only be used on things like iron ore and copper ore for now. Of course, once his level became higher, who knew?
Thinking this, he kneaded the separately extracted metals back together again. Watching the metal ball obediently drop to the floor, Yan Fei raised an eyebrow slightly. “Why does the volume seem a bit smaller? Can it really purify things? Then where did the removed substances go? Or is this simply an increase in density?”
There were still many things left to be developed, but right now, the most urgent matter was—taking a shower!
Hearing the sound of a door opening upstairs, Luo Xun hurriedly stood up to greet him. Seeing that Yan Fei’s clothes were completely soaked with sweat as he walked down step by step, Luo Xun quickly went up to him. “Why didn’t you change clothes before coming down?”
Yan Fei smiled and shook his head. “Wouldn’t they just get dirty again? I’ll shower first.”
“You’re going to shower right after sweating this much? No way—what if you’re dehydrated!”
“It’s fine. I just leveled up—my energy’s great.” In high spirits, Yan Fei raised a hand and tried to wrap it around Luo Xun’s waist. “Come together?”
Luo Xun shot him an annoyed glare, slapped his hand away, then hurried back to the table and poured a cup of warm water. “Drink some water first, then go wash.”
After drinking the water, Yan Fei still forcibly dragged Luo Xun into the bathroom. A “couples bath” always took longer than a normal shower. Luo Xun had been holding back a ton of questions about Yan Fei’s ability upgrade, but two hours later, he was only able to limp out while clutching his aching lower back, supported by that bastard. Water at home was precious—yet today, he’d been forced to take two baths in one go. Two! This was simply an unforgivable crime!!
And by the time they came out… it was already nearly one in the morning, okay?!
They still had to work by the perimeter wall the next morning. Dragging his sore lower back, Luo Xun climbed up to the second floor. Half-asleep before bed, he drowsily asked Yan Fei about his upgraded ability, but he didn’t even clearly hear the explanation before falling asleep. It wasn’t until the next day, when the two of them went to work by the wall, that he more or less understood Yan Fei’s post-upgrade abilities.
First, Yan Fei’s ability was considered a mutated metal-type ability—not an advanced metal-type one. It was just that even at level one, its power was far greater than that of ordinary metal abilities at the same level. Second, level-two metal abilities greatly improved convenience in their future lives—for example, higher-density metal could strengthen the durability of their weapons and armor, and he could process higher-purity versions of specific metals. If this had been before the apocalypse, this skill might even have served as a cheat-level “alchemy” ability—separating gold, silver, and the like from metal full of impurities.
Additionally, after leveling up, Yan Fei could control metal much more quickly. At least during the next day’s work, if he didn’t deliberately restrain his ability’s speed, he would certainly shock several teammates once again.
—
Ever since Luo Xun moved the mushroom wood into the nursery room, the seedlings and sprouts in his home had been growing more and more robust. After confirming that the mushroom wood really could reduce the mutation rate of their seeds and young plants, Luo Xun told Li Tie and the others about it.
Li Tie’s household seemed to have a much lower mutation rate than most others to begin with, likely because they filtered their water very carefully and used that same water even for growing flowers and grass. Even so, their mutation rate was still noticeably higher than Luo Xun’s. So when they learned that growing mushrooms actually had this kind of effect—and that well-grown poisonous mushrooms could even be used to kill zombies—Li Tie and the others were once again fired up.
“Next time we go out, let’s dig up more tree roots and bring them back!” The moment they heard the news, Li Tie and the others clenched their fists in excitement, immediately setting their next outing goal.
Recently, their work had finally gotten on a regular track, so their quitting time had become much earlier and more predictable. Before, their work hours were often like Zhang Su’s—who frequently had sudden overtime—where getting home by seven or eight in the evening was considered early, and getting back before midnight was already lucky. After finishing the most urgent tasks from before, their off-work time was finally fixed at five o’clock every afternoon, giving them plenty of time to eat dinner before heading home.
“If we manage to grow mushrooms, I’ll process them into special ammunition to use against hard-to-deal-with high-level zombies,” Yan Fei reassured Li Tie and the others. Over the past two days while repairing the perimeter wall, they had repeatedly confirmed just how powerful these mushrooms were. After Luo Xun used Yan Fei’s specially made new crossbow bolts, the ferocity of the attacks was so extreme that even Luo Xun felt that using them to kill level-one or level-two zombies was practically a waste.
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!” The group of five college students nodded vigorously. Although they hadn’t personally seen how destructive those special bullets were against zombies, they knew Yan Fei and Luo Xun’s capabilities very well. If those two said the power was great, then it was definitely great.
“When we came back just now, we ran into Sister Xu and the others,” He Qiankun suddenly said excitedly. “They said that Little Ranran can already skillfully control her ability. Next time we go out, our traps will depend on her!”
Han Li poured cold water on the idea from the side. “Don’t count on it too much. How old is Little Ranran? Even if she really goes out with us, will she even have the courage to use her ability after seeing all those zombies outside?”
“Yeah! Taking such a small child out—it’s really too inhumane…” Wu Xin also felt uneasy about it.
Talking about this made everyone feel uncertain. If the child was too scared to use her ability once outside, that would be one thing—but if she started crying and making a scene…
Luo Xun smiled and comforted them. “Don’t worry. Sister Xu and the others will be well prepared.” Never underestimate the firm resolve of women in the apocalypse, never underestimate children’s courage, and definitely never underestimate the training methods of the Rose Mercenary Group’s leader. Just look at how that little girl, who used to be so scared of them that she’d hide behind others whenever she saw them, had yesterday dared to praise Zhang Su right to his face, saying, “This big sister is really pretty!”
The moment those innocent words came out, Wang Duo was so frightened that he wrapped his arms around Zhang Su’s waist and hurried him into the neighboring room, afraid that in a fit of rage he might slaughter everyone alive in room 1601.
Even though Zhang Su’s expression turned extremely ugly at the time, little Yu Xinran merely smiled back with that slightly timid yet innocent face of hers, smiling so sweetly that Zhang Su could only swallow the blood and bile rising in his throat.
—
It wasn’t until another batch of mushrooms had been cultivated at Luo Xun’s home, all harvested, processed, and stored in glass bottles for later use; until Li Tie and the others learned about the mushroom wood’s effects and prepared to bring back some wood to grow mushrooms on their next trip outside the base; until Luo Xun had almost forgotten about Professor Xu and the mushroom experiments—
—that his phone rang.
There was no need to ask. The caller was indeed Professor Xu. Luo Xun froze for a moment when he saw the caller ID, then hurriedly answered.
“Little Luo?” Professor Xu’s voice came through. After confirming it was really Luo Xun, he lowered his voice. “About your mushrooms, and that matter we discussed on the phone last time—don’t mention them to anyone else for now.”
Luo Xun quickly considered the reason. It was probably because the military was worried about the mushrooms’ powerful corrosive properties and didn’t dare let ordinary people cultivate them freely inside the base. “Oh, I understand. By the way, about the experiment you mentioned last time…”
“It does have some effect, but it still needs concrete application.” Some matters involved classified information and couldn’t be fully explained to an ordinary person like Luo Xun. It was only because Luo Xun had discovered these mushrooms first that Professor Xu felt the need to remind him. “Dispose of the mushrooms in your home as soon as possible. Although they do have some effect in combat, they’re simply too dangerous. Under no circumstances should they be privately cultivated at home!”
Luo Xun fell silent for a moment before replying, “I already dealt with them after what you said last time. But Professor Xu, I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination—ever since the mushroom wood was removed, the mutation rate of the seeds in my home seems to have gone up. Could there be some connection?”
Since Professor Xu had repeatedly insisted that he get rid of the mushroom wood, Luo Xun naturally wouldn’t invite trouble by claiming to keep it. But since the mushrooms might improve plant mutation rates, giving the military a heads-up—at least to help ensure the base’s food production—would be a good thing.
As for the mushroom wood at home? It would stay in his own nursery room. For now, the neighboring units couldn’t openly grow such things. Otherwise, if Professor Xu and the others suddenly decided to drop by one day and saw it, it could cause trouble.
Professor Xu quickly noted this point and repeatedly emphasized— even if the mushrooms really were related to plant mutation, he should not harbor any wishful thinking and grow such dangerous things at home again. For ordinary people, keeping such hazardous poisonous mushrooms at home would inevitably lead to someone getting hurt sooner or later.
In fact, Professor Xu and the military’s concerns were entirely justified. After all, this was a dangerous substance. Who knew what might happen if people stayed around it day after day for a long time? Even if nothing had been discovered yet, if something really did go wrong, there would be nowhere to cry about it.
Luo Xun only dared to grow these things after the experts’ explicit warnings because he was relying on experience from his previous life. Otherwise, no matter how much courage he had, he would never dare continue raising something that looked so obviously dangerous in his home.
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