Chapter 91 — The Captain
At half past midnight, the yawning homebody squad finally made it back to the base gates. As their vehicles pulled up, everyone saw several buses parked in the lot from afar, and their gums started to itch with irritation—if these people hadn’t suddenly passed through, would they have had to struggle until now? And how was it that this group still hadn’t entered the base yet?
Half a month ago, Zhang Su had brought back news that the base had now found a relatively simple way to check whether someone was infected with the virus. There was no longer any need to strip naked for inspections and then wait several hours every time, wasting everyone’s time.
It was a new type of device—just a small blood sample was needed for testing. However, out of concern that some people might have been infected just before entering the base and wouldn’t show an immediate reaction, newcomers were generally kept in the base’s waiting area for half an hour before the blood test. Even so, it was far faster than before.
“Maybe it’s because it’s their first time entering the base,” Yan Fei guessed casually when he heard Luo Xun muttering. First-time entrants had to register and go through several additional procedures, so taking longer was understandable.
Luo Xun and the others waited for half an hour, yawning nonstop. Only after everyone had their blood tested and confirmed free of the zombie virus did they drive into the base and head home.
“Honestly, blood tests like this still aren’t safe,” Luo Xun complained. “Who knows whether the testing equipment itself has been contaminated? What if it infects people instead?” After the apocalypse, he was deeply averse to anything that required breaking the skin and drawing blood. He knew that the base would eventually roll out equipment that could detect the zombie virus without blood tests—but it seemed they’d have to wait a while longer.
At least, when Luo Xun had come to the base in his previous life, these blood-testing devices were already gone. As for exactly when the new equipment had been introduced, he really couldn’t remember.
Yan Fei tried to keep the car steady as he drove, smiling as he replied, “A lot of people don’t want to make themselves bleed and would rather wait three or four hours in the waiting area. If we’re not in such a rush next time, we could consider waiting longer too.”
“Mm, it’s just that it was too late today…” Luo Xun yawned again, his eyelids drooping heavily.
In just over twenty minutes, they arrived at their residential complex. After parking the cars, they carried upstairs the items they’d need the next day. Everything they wouldn’t need immediately was simply left in the vehicles, which Yan Fei completely sealed with his ability. They’d bring it up later when they had time.
As for the routine post-mission meeting—it was postponed to the next evening.
By the time they climbed up to the sixteenth floor, no one even had the energy to exchange greetings. They each returned to their rooms, washed up hastily, and collapsed into bed, sleeping like the dead. Early the next morning, those who had to go to work—still not fully recovered—set off once again for their jobs.
Luo Xun was immensely relieved. With the holidays just over, it wasn’t only he and Yan Fei whose efficiency was low and spirits sluggish today. Several other soldiers who had overindulged in relaxation these past few days were in similar shape, which let the two of them breathe a sigh of relief.
Captain Guo pointed at a few men who were yawning as they carried supplies and scolded them, “This is how you spend a few days off? Pull this again and all future leave will be canceled!”
Everyone immediately straightened up, forcing themselves to focus and at least get today’s work done. If this big boss really flew into a rage and canceled everyone’s leave, it wouldn’t be worth it.
The deputy captain put on a sycophantic smile and spoke up for them. “Wasn’t this everyone’s first time having a holiday? Getting a bit overexcited is normal.”
Captain Guo shot him a glare. “Who hasn’t had their first long break? If everyone acts like you lot, how are we supposed to get any work done in the future? If the work gets delayed, what do you think the higher-ups will say?”
“Yes, yes, yes—everyone, pick up the pace!” the deputy captain quickly went along, raising his voice to address the group.
“Got it!” The workers responded at once, and the four metal-type ability users sped up as well, afraid that today’s productivity would fall below last month’s daily average and land them in trouble.
They kept themselves tightly wound and finally got through the day on time and with acceptable efficiency. When they got off work, both Luo Xun and Yan Fei felt an ache deep in their bones—really just the aftereffects of yesterday’s exertion. It wasn’t their fault; after all, they’d spent two straight days fighting zombies. Holding a crossbow nonstop like Luo Xun did was exhausting enough, and Yan Fei had been constantly propping everything up with his mental power.
To be honest, if his ability hadn’t already advanced to level two, they probably wouldn’t have been able to hold out yesterday. The final wave of zombies had arrived almost nonstop, unlike the first day when there had been breaks between waves.
“Next time we go out, we should change how we lure the zombies,” Luo Xun said, stretching his sore arms.
“Change it how?” Yan Fei asked, puzzled.
Luo Xun smiled at him. “Don’t you always put the blood in metal boxes and throw them out? That’s hard to control. We could set up a metal pole next to the trap and put the blood pack on it. When we need to lure them, we rupture the pack and expose the blood. Once enough zombies have gathered, we seal it back up. That way, there won’t be so many stragglers following after!”
That really was a good idea—they could try it next time. Yan Fei was quite satisfied with how quickly his partner’s mind turned when it came to fighting zombies, and he reached up to ruffle Luo Xun’s hair.
Luo Xun shot a sideways glance at this guy who was openly getting handsy in public between two men, but said nothing.
They drove home, first unloading some items that had been temporarily stored in the other vehicles and carrying them up to the sixteenth floor. After greeting Zhang Su, who was resting at home that day, they returned to their own apartment, set an alarm for five o’clock, and then collapsed into bed, falling asleep in each other’s arms.
As soon as five o’clock arrived, they got up and headed downstairs—back to hauling stuff!
The night before, their team had brought back a total of four freezers—one for each household. They also had an entire tree’s worth of lumber, which needed to be split and placed in the rooms where crops would be grown. On top of that, there was a huge amount of metal.
The metal could be brought up bit by bit as long as Yan Fei made a few extra trips, grabbing some each day on the way home. But the other items would have to wait until the elevator was running to be moved upstairs.
Four vehicles were parked downstairs, each looking much more “robust” than before. Over by the trap site, Yan Fei had collected two enormous metal spheres. Aside from the metal left in the trap and some melted into various parts of the bank as reserves, he had stuck as much of the remaining metal as possible onto the insides and outsides of the vehicles to bring back to the base.
They opened the car doors, set up their little handcart, loaded chunk after chunk of wood onto it, then locked the car.
The two of them dragged the handcart back into the stairwell to wait for the elevator. Trip after trip—by the time Li Tie and the others returned with their meals, Luo Xun and Yan Fei still hadn’t finished moving everything.
Seeing the two of them busy from afar, Li Tie and the other four hurried over to help. “What’s still missing?”
When he saw it was them, Luo Xun pointed toward the container truck. “Two more freezers—one for Zhang Su’s place and one for Xu Mei’s.” Xu Mei and the other two women weren’t home at the moment; the two adults had taken little Xinran out to buy dinner.
“We’ll handle it, we’ll handle it!” The five men immediately rolled up their sleeves and took over.
With nothing to do, Li Tie fell in step behind Luo Xun and whispered, “We only brought back one tree yesterday… isn’t that a bit too little?”
His voice was very low, and Luo Xun lowered his voice as well. “Definitely not enough. We’ll talk about it at the meeting after dinner.”
Normally, every trip outside the base should be followed by a debriefing meeting, but everyone had been utterly exhausted last night and simply didn’t have the energy. Now they had finally recovered a bit of strength.
After hauling the last two freezers upstairs, one was left on the fifteenth floor and the other taken straight up to the sixteenth.
When the elevator doors opened, Wang Duo immediately spotted Zhang Su tinkering with the wood in the hallway. He rushed over with a pained expression. “I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” This was his partner—how could he let him do heavy labor?
Zhang Su shot him a sideways glance and said nothing, simply setting down the piece of wood in his hands. In truth, he had only been helping move the wood into Luo Xun’s unit, 1603. The wood still needed to be processed by Luo Xun before it could actually grow mushrooms, and it would need further sizing as well.
“I’ll go see if Sister Xu and the others are back yet. I’ll ask them to come up and eat together,” Han Li said as he stood up once everything had been put away.
“Go on, go on.” Li Tie and the others waved him off. He was always the most enthusiastic about this sort of thing—he was the only one who ran downstairs all the time. Weren’t Xu Mei and the others usually too lazy to even pay him any attention?
Luo Xun and Yan Fei returned to their own apartment to eat dinner. It seemed Xu Mei’s group hadn’t come up yet; they only said they’d come up for the meeting after eating. Li Tie and the others had gotten their meals at the military camp. Wang Duo deliberately gave his portion to Zhang Su and ate instant noodles himself—these days, getting meals required the person to go in person. Even if you were sick, you needed official proof from the military for someone else to pick it up. Different cards corresponded to different cafeterias. Bringing food back for Zhang Su like before… was currently very difficult.
After eating and resting, everyone gathered once again in Li Tie’s apartment for the post-expedition meeting.
Luo Xun spoke first. “The wood really isn’t enough, but that’s not something to worry about. Someone in the market will definitely be selling wood—trees cut down outside the base.” Although coal and charcoal could be exchanged inside the base, those weren’t things everyone could get, and they were expensive. Many people, after burning through their own furniture, had turned their attention to the trees growing outside the base, bringing some back each time they went out on missions.
“And even if we don’t buy it, we can find other ways.” Buying large pieces of wood wouldn’t draw any attention—every household needed firewood, after all, and no one cared about smoke pollution anymore. That was why Luo Xun had only had Xinran bring back one tree yesterday; it hadn’t attracted the attention of the soldiers inspecting the vehicle.
Li Tie and the others nodded repeatedly, then exchanged glances before looking at Luo Xun and Yan Fei. “Brother Luo, there’s something we talked about yesterday that we’d like to discuss with you.”
“What is it?” Luo Xun asked.
“It’s about growing vegetables.” Li Tie and the others looked a little embarrassed. “You know we want to grow things too, but we don’t have much time every day, and our apartments aren’t that big. Even if we use the open space at Brother Zhang’s place together, we’re worried we won’t be able to take care of it properly…”
He QianKun explained for them, “We talked it over. If it’s convenient for you, Brother Luo, could you just include our balconies and sunny unused spaces as well? We’ll give you half the harvest—and crystal cores too!”
“Our place too!” Wang Duo quickly added. “You can plant whatever you want in the empty space!”
Luo Xun and Yan Fei exchanged looks, both seeing surprise in the other’s eyes. This was… asking them to grow vegetables for everyone? It was probably because they had seen how orderly unit 1603 was. The planting room Luo Xun had set up was simply too large-scale and professional—how could ordinary people manage something like that? Not to mention how he’d managed to sprout so many seedlings and plant them all without any losses.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to take care of all that by myself…” Luo Xun said hesitantly. In truth, he could manage it. Aside from the initial sprouting and the final harvest, it didn’t take much effort day to day. But growing food for himself was one thing—doing it for others was another.
“We… might be able to help,” Song Lingling suddenly raised her hand. As she spoke, she turned to look at Xu Mei beside her. Xu Mei didn’t object and nodded at Luo Xun. Their apartment also had a large unused area. The three of them lived there—even if Xinran suddenly grew up overnight, they could still squeeze into one bedroom. All the other rooms were empty anyway. What were they keeping them for?
If they could learn Luo Xun’s techniques and get his guidance, growing some vegetables at home was far better than risking their lives outside every day. Once their points and crystal cores ran out, they wouldn’t even have anything to fill their stomachs.
Zhang Su suddenly snorted and pointed a long, slender finger at Luo Xun. “Why make it so complicated? You two get back early most days, the two of them have nothing to do inside the base, and these five idiots can be labor once they’re back. If you only plant at your place, will that even be enough for the two of you to eat? I say we take the three empty apartments on the fifteenth floor too. Combine all the empty space on the fifteenth and sixteenth floors and let you arrange the planting. When it’s time to harvest, keep enough for us to eat, and sell the surplus outside. What’s the problem?”
Luo Xun stared at him blankly. The three empty apartments on the fifteenth floor… he had to admit, he was tempted by the idea. “But… how do we divide those apartments and the harvest?”
Zhang Su shot him a cold look. “What’s there to divide? The five of them and I all have proper jobs—we’ll contribute the least effort, so we’ll take the smallest share. Xu Mei’s group has to manage their own food and living expenses anyway. They help you grow and maintain things; as long as their rations are guaranteed, that’s enough. You decide what to do with the rest—sell the surplus for crystal cores and points. Whoever needs points gets points, whoever needs cores gets cores. Done. I say, you’re the captain—allocation and what goes into the common pool are your responsibility. Have some awareness, will you? How long do you plan to keep holding these useless meetings for every little thing?”
“Cap… captain?” Luo Xun looked completely lost and turned to Yan Fei beside him. “What does he mean?”
Yan Fei smiled and looked at the others. “What do you all think?” His thoughts were actually similar to Zhang Su’s. If Luo Xun only grew food in his own place, they probably wouldn’t even secure enough food for themselves. It would be better to include the fifteenth floor as well. Even if it still wasn’t enough grain, they could plant fast-growing vegetables and trade them for crystal cores and points to buy food.
“No problem!” Li Tie and the others agreed enthusiastically.
Xu Mei’s group had no objections either. As for little Xinran? Well—she didn’t understand, and there was no need to ask her opinion yet.
“Um… I have a question,” Luo Xun suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at him in confusion. Swallowing, he asked Zhang Su earnestly, “When you just said that… who exactly is the captain?”
Zhang Su raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Yan Fei. “Is your wife stupid?”
Xu Mei and Song Lingling had been puzzled by Luo Xun’s question, but after hearing Zhang Su’s words, they ignored everything else and exchanged excited looks. The joy on their faces was impossible to hide—they were practically about to cheer. They had never dared ask Li Tie’s group directly, afraid of touching a sore spot or causing dissatisfaction. But from observation alone, they had felt these two were a couple.
Now Zhang Su’s words had basically confirmed it.
While the two women were still excited, Yan Fei helplessly pulled Luo Xun—who still looked dazed—into his arms and shook him slightly. “He’s exhausted from the last couple of days.”
Zhang Su smiled meaningfully. “Then don’t toss him around at night these next few days. If he gets so stupid he doesn’t even know where his own front door is, you’ll be heartbroken.”
The direction of that conversation was getting more and more bizarre. Luo Xun hurriedly raised a hand to stop it, tugging at Yan Fei’s clothes and whispering, “Who exactly is the captain he’s talking about?” It had to be Yan Fei, right? Otherwise, why wasn’t anyone reacting? That meant it was the default, didn’t it?
Yan Fei could understand why he hadn’t figured it out, but still found it amusing. “Who else but you?”
“Huh?!” Luo Xun stared at him in shock for a long while before firing off questions. “Since when? Who decided that? Why haven’t I heard about it?!”
Li Tie and the others were startled at first, then burst out laughing, covering their mouths.
Even Xu Mei’s group looked at him in surprise—wasn’t this obvious?
Yan Fei swept his gaze over everyone and patted the shoulder of the person in his arms. “You’re the only one who can guide and teach everyone about planting. When we go out to fight zombies, you’re the one making the plans, choosing locations, and directing attacks. Besides you, I don’t think anyone else is suitable to be the captain of this… ‘homebody squad.’” His words earned enthusiastic nods from Li Tie and the others.
This was a fact that had gradually been accepted by everyone through subtle, unspoken consensus. No one felt it was abrupt to state it outright now.
Zhang Su pressed a finger to his own temple, as if desperately trying to push down the bulging vein that was about to pop out.
Seeing this, Xu Mei smiled and said, “We joined later, but from the very start of our cooperation we assumed you were the captain…” Who would’ve thought he himself had absolutely no awareness of it? Song Lingling smiled and nodded along. Yu Xinran didn’t understand what it meant, but seeing Song Lingling nod, she nodded vigorously as well.
Luo Xun felt his face growing warm. He didn’t know how things had ended up like this. Someone like him—who in his previous life had wanted to go outside the base to gather supplies and still had to watch the expressions of even the lowest-ranked members of other teams—had somehow, after being reborn, turned into a “captain”? Granted, this captain only managed fewer than ten people currently present… right, ten people. Including his own group, there were only eleven in total.
Yan Fei suddenly interrupted his thoughts and whatever he was about to say, instead asking, “How should we handle the three apartments downstairs? They should still be under military management, right?” As he said this, his gaze shifted to Zhang Su. Since the suggestion had come from him, he likely already had a way to resolve it.
Even if they could forcibly occupy them now, it would probably become a problem later.
Zhang Su curved his lips into a bewitching smile, his peach-blossom eyes narrowing into crescents. “Leave that to me. I’ll get it done by tomorrow.” As a doctor working at the hospital, he didn’t need to look for connections—connections came looking for him.
Yan Fei gave a small nod, then smiled at the person beside him whose focus had already been shifted. “Then how should we arrange the downstairs?”
Luo Xun froze for a moment, then decisively tossed aside his earlier hesitation. Surprised or not, since he’d already been pushed onto the stage, he had to do the job properly.
After thinking it over, Luo Xun frowned slightly and said, “The three apartments can all be used to grow staple crops. Both rice and wheat have height limitations while growing. The extra space can be partitioned with metal racks, and we can grow various vegetables and fruits inside to increase income. But if we do that, there are a few issues everyone will need to help solve—one is soil. If we don’t have enough soil, the planting of many crops will be affected. Another crucial issue is clean water…”
Hearing this, Song Lingling immediately raised her hand, her face full of excitement. “I can directly extract clean, uncontaminated water from tap water! It’s much faster than using my ability to create water directly!” Water produced by water-type ability users didn’t appear out of thin air—just like fire-type and other abilities, they required the presence of corresponding elements in the environment to be used.
Therefore, when there was a water source nearby, the strength of water-type ability users was quite formidable.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
