Chapter 97 — Bombardment
Aside from the quails, the army of earthworms in Luo Xun’s home had received another round of reinforcements. Without anyone quite realizing when it happened, their numbers had quietly doubled again. Even Luo Xun himself had no idea when that had occurred. As for the mealworms… well, their reproduction rate was far faster than that of quails anyway. With these two kinds of insects around, old vegetable leaves, roots, and similar scraps at home would quickly be turned into fertilizer. Added to the kitchen waste, there was absolutely no need to worry about running out of fertilizer for their grand planting operation.
Although Luo Xun found both kinds of insects disgusting, for Xu Mei and Song Lingling—who had already dealt with zombies—they posed no problem at all. The two women even dared to reach out and grab the adult mealworms! Seeing this made Luo Xun’s hair stand on end, and he immediately handed over full responsibility for insect farming, deliberately moving all the large glass tanks into the women’s apartment.
When they returned that day, Luo Xun and Yan Fei first went to Xu Mei’s place to pick up the little guy who had been playing there with the child. Sure enough, the moment they entered, they saw the two little ones lying together on a mat Xu Mei and Song Lingling had specially laid out beside the large glass tank, playing while occasionally glancing at the quails inside.
“Several more households moved into our building today—on the seventh floor,” Song Lingling reported, updating them on the day’s events in the residential complex when she saw Luo Xun and Yan Fei return.
“Really? No wonder I felt like there were more cars in the compound,” Luo Xun said in mild surprise. He hadn’t noticed when he came upstairs earlier—apparently they had already finished moving.
“Luo Xun, next time you go out, we’d like to look for some books,” Xu Mei said as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands as she spoke.
“Books? What kind?”
“Textbooks, preferably.” Xu Mei made a helpless expression and glanced at Yu Xinran, who was rolling around on the mat with the little guy. “Some stalls in the base are selling books, but the prices are way too high.” These days, paper in the base was treated as kindling for fires or saved as insulation material for winter. Hardly anyone cared about restoring books to their original purpose.
Seeing her expression, Luo Xun and Yan Fei understood immediately. Xinran was already over six, nearly seven—time to start elementary education. There was still no news of schools being set up in the base, probably because there wasn’t enough capacity to manage them. And considering the hidden chaos within the base and the kinds of things that might happen in the future, Luo Xun knew that even if schools were established, they likely wouldn’t dare send children there.
Yan Fei made the decision for him. “Alright. I remember there’s a bookstore near the bank. Even if all the books there have already been taken, going a bit deeper into the city to find some textbooks for kids shouldn’t be a problem.”
Meanwhile, Luo Xun continued asking Song Lingling about the newcomers. “Were they from the city? Or from somewhere else?”
Nowadays, people arriving at the Southwest Base fell into two groups. One consisted of those who had fled from the city—they had been living there, failed to make it to the base immediately after the outbreak, and later managed to scrape by in the city until supplies ran out and zombies underwent large-scale evolution, forcing them to seek refuge at the base.
The other group came from other cities. They had been fleeing ever since the apocalypse began, learned that City A had established a base, distrusted the smaller bases along the way, and deliberately came here believing City A’s base to be safer.
“They’re from the city,” Song Lingling said, her expression troubled. “They said the city isn’t safe anymore, especially at night… They used to live in high-rise buildings. After scavenging some supplies, they could barely hide in their homes. But recently the zombies outside have been getting stronger, and a lot of zombie animals have appeared. The survivors in their original compound had banded together after the apocalypse and sealed it off, but a few nights ago a group of zombie animals broke in and ate all the people guarding the gate on the lower floors. That’s when they had no choice but to flee.”
Water and electricity in the city had long since been cut off. Some survivors who had water-type ability users with them could initially manage to keep living in their original homes. But once zombie animals appeared—faster than level-two zombies, smaller, and more stealthy—no one dared stay any longer.
Luo Xun thought for a moment and nodded slightly. “Next time we go out, we should probably avoid going deep into the city. Just farm crystal cores in the usual places. With so many people fleeing the city, there’ll definitely be more zombies wandering around the outskirts.”
His words made Xu Mei and Song Lingling grow serious. Indeed—while only some people had escaped to the base so far, those people would inevitably draw more zombies toward the base along their escape routes.
Although Luo Xun and Yan Fei hadn’t been working near the outer wall recently, they’d still heard some news—for example, that the number of zombies gathering outside the wall had risen again, greatly increasing the difficulty of clearing operations. Teams could no longer clean out all the zombies outside with a single daily sortie.
The situation was becoming increasingly severe—especially with the second zombie tide that was bound to erupt in the near future…
—
What had things been like at this time in his previous life?
Back then, he should have been in City M—but… he’d soon been forced to leave that place as well.
Luo Xun leaned back in a large chair on the terrace, holding a cup of clear tea in both hands, gazing somewhat absentmindedly at the deep blue sky beyond.
Today was the last day of May. Yesterday, however, they hadn’t been able to leave the base because the authorities were preparing to carry out a military operation and had temporarily forbidden all teams from going out on missions. The truly infuriating part was that this notice had only been issued in the final days of the month, and Luo Xun’s team couldn’t adjust their leave accordingly—so this vacation had truly become a “vacation.”
No work, no going out to hunt crystal cores, no worrying about going hungry. Even sleeping until noon wouldn’t earn any ridicule. Luo Xun was in exactly that state now—he’d slept in for four consecutive days and was starting to worry whether he’d even be able to get up tomorrow morning.
Whenever he had too much free time, thoughts he normally never had time for would surface—like what his state had been during this period in his previous life. The reason was simple: the base had been making large-scale moves lately, and since Luo Xun hadn’t been in City A at the time in his past life, he was trying to see whether these events overlapped with what he had experienced before.
In his previous life, he hadn’t reached this place until the end of the following month. On the way, he had passed through the outskirts of the city and seen the heart-wrenching devastation everywhere—though at the time, he hadn’t known who had destroyed those buildings, or when.
The sliding door to the terrace was pushed open. Turning his head, Luo Xun saw Yan Fei walk in wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt. Many of the plants on the balcony had already grown tall; the grapevines had climbed up to the glass roof and were spreading wantonly across the entire terrace ceiling. Their leaves cast a layer of shade, making it comfortable to sit there without feeling scorched by the sun.
“How is it?” Luo Xun asked lazily, unwilling to get up as the sun made him feel like he was melting into the chair.
Yan Fei walked over and bent down to kiss him on the lips. “All done.” He then sat beside him and glanced at the blue sky outside as well. He’d just finished installing the solar panels they had found ways to trade for, setting them up for Li Tie and the others.
Faintly, it felt as though something trembled in the distance. A low, rumbling boom echoed, as if coming from very far away.
“Another explosion…” Luo Xun sighed softly, a trace of melancholy flashing through his eyes. “I wonder if there’s still anyone left near there.”
He recalled how, in his previous life, he hadn’t even dared step outside at first, barricading himself inside his home in terror of the dreadful zombies breaking in—living in constant fear and anxiety. If bombs had been dropped on the city he was in back then… he would have had no ability to escape, and certainly no chance to later come here and live on—surviving all the way to the tenth year of the apocalypse.
Yan Fei’s expression also carried a trace of indescribable helplessness. “There’s no helping it…”
Not long after the previous incident—when zombie rats had burrowed into vehicles in the old urban district, trying to slip into the base—the same kind of event happened once again.
As a result, after making use of satellite imagery, radar, and other high-tech means of detection and observation, the military was finally forced to make a decision—to abandon part of the urban area. At the very least, they had to thoroughly clear out the zombies near the Eastern Base and the Southwestern Base.
This decision was not made by the Southwestern Base alone. It also included the opinions of the Eastern Base, as well as a joint decision by several bases that had been established in nearby provinces and cities after the apocalypse.
Wherever population density had once been highest, the number of zombies after the apocalypse was correspondingly the most terrifying. The two remaining bases in City A were actually fortunate—astonishingly so—for having managed to escape and survive in such a densely populated city that had so rapidly zombified after the apocalypse. Yet what the satellite images now showed—the city center packed tightly with a vast, black mass of zombies—was a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, one that could fall at any moment and cut off their last chance at survival.
Although intelligence reports indicated that there were still quite a few survivors in the urban area, the situation had reached a point where there was no time to delay. Especially since many zombies were already gradually converging toward the Eastern Base and had reached a certain scale. Conditions around the Southwestern Base were somewhat better, but it was obvious that many zombies and zombie animals were also taking advantage of the cover provided by buildings to steadily draw closer.
After the various bases reached an agreement on the operation, they immediately dispatched small drones deep into the city, continuously broadcasting warnings about the areas that would be bombed for an entire day, and giving people two days to evacuate and flee. Only then did they launch the operation.
Those capable of escaping would naturally flee once they received the news. Those who could not… for the survival of more people, they could only be sacrificed in painful resignation. In a world where even one’s own safety could not be guaranteed, there was simply no room to spare for others’ survival. In the apocalypse, one could only find ways to save oneself, not stay at home waiting for someone to descend from the sky and rescue them.
Survival had always been a matter of the strong preying on the weak—selfish by nature.
The urban district lay in the opposite direction from where the two of them were facing, but neither of them had the heart to look at the billowing smoke and fire. They could only sit there, facing the vast stretches of farmland to the south of the residential area, already lush and green.
“Our luck really is good,” Luo Xun suddenly said, resting his head against Yan Fei’s shoulder with a faint smile. “We made it here right from the start. Otherwise, even if we’d managed to find a place in the city and grow crops at home on our own, if our luck had been just a little worse, we might’ve…”
Yan Fei squeezed his shoulder. He, too, recalled the circumstances under which he had met Luo Xun right after the apocalypse began. Chuckling softly, he lowered his head and kissed Luo Xun on the forehead. “Yeah, pretty lucky. If I hadn’t met you back then, I might’ve already died.”
The smile on Luo Xun’s face faltered slightly. Yes—if he hadn’t been nosy that day and picked Yan Fei up when he went upstairs, then maybe Yan Fei really would have… And in his previous life, without encountering him… Luo Xun didn’t believe for a second that the family living on the sixteenth floor back then would have been kind enough to rescue Yan Fei.
Rumble… rumble…
A series of explosions, as if coming from the far end of the horizon, caused faint vibrations. They were so light—so light that one could barely sense them, so light that the only way the two of them could tell was by the ripples forming in the water inside the cup on the coffee table.
This trembling had continued for three days already, and according to reports, it would go on for several more…
The decision to bombard the zombie-dense areas of the city with incendiary bombs seemed to have achieved fairly good results. Other effects were uncertain, but the massive commotion had undoubtedly drawn in the zombies that, after the apocalypse, relied on sound and scent to locate targets.
Even some of the zombies that had been approaching the base, attempting to pound on gates and break open gaps in the walls, turned back toward the depths of the city after sensing the disturbance. Upon observing this through various technological means, the military commanders finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At a high-level meeting, everyone raised their glasses in celebration, deciding that after continuing this kind of bombardment for a few more days, they could vigorously begin a campaign to reclaim the city. Although part of the urban area had already been reduced to ruins, it still carried people’s hopes for life and for the future…
At the meeting, everyone envisioned the future—for humanity, for the motherland, for the Earth…
The next morning—
All outbound troops lost contact. Even the unmanned aerial vehicles that had already been programmed with flight paths disappeared without a trace.
Satellite images showed several aircraft loaded with incendiary bombs crashing at different locations throughout the city. The tank units that had been dispatched were completely wiped out, leaving behind only abandoned vehicles on the ground, still wreathed in curling smoke…
“What… what on earth… is going on?!”
With trembling hands, someone picked up one photo from a thick stack on the desk—a magnified image of aircraft wreckage.
“C-Commander… the Third Air Base… we can’t establish contact…”
“What?!”
With a hollow thud, the man collapsed back into his chair.
The Third Air Base was a militarized aviation base that various bases had specially sent troops to reclaim after the apocalypse. Its information—before and after the end of the world—was never made public, nor did it take in survivors after the apocalypse. It was a hidden force held by the military that controlled discourse across the bases. Inside were various models of fighter jets, capable of being deployed at critical moments to carry out missions that ground forces could not. For this operation, the Southwestern Base had mobilized the Third Air Base under its control. But now… not only had the aircraft on mission and the ground forces met with disaster—even the air base itself was in trouble?! What in the world was happening?!
Ordinary people inside the base had no idea what was happening outside. The base was still under strict control that day; no one was allowed to leave the city, though survivors seeking refuge were still permitted to enter.
The earlier measure of using drones to notify survivors in the city and tell them to leave areas that might be attacked had clearly worked very well. Those who received the warning hurriedly packed up their belongings and were forced to abandon buildings that could still have supported them for some time, fleeing and relocating elsewhere.
The vast majority headed for the two existing bases in City A. Even people from other places, once they learned the precise locations of the bases, rushed over as well. They feared that after the air strikes and artillery, their own locations would become the next targets—unaware that after this large-scale loss of the bases’ armed forces, and before figuring out what had happened, the bases would absolutely be unable to launch a second round in the short term.
Small fries like Luo Xun and Yan Fei had no way of knowing these confidential details. Even their team leader, Captain Guo, hadn’t heard anything about it. So it was hardly surprising that in his previous life, after Luo Xun arrived at the Southwestern Base of City A, he had never heard any of this—at such a time, the military would immediately suppress related information. The people living in the base could barely manage to worry about whether they’d have enough to eat; after some time passed, who would still be discussing news like that?
Early the next morning, after their long holiday, the couple returned to the military camp to resume work. On the way, they noticed that the banks, supermarkets, and other buildings temporarily used as shelters along the roadside were once again packed to capacity.
Yawning constantly—his biological clock still not fully reset—Luo Xun even seemed to spot a few familiar faces he had seen in his previous life.
They delivered that day’s vegetables directly to Cafeteria No. 1. Although the quantity was never very large, the fifteenth and sixteenth floors, where crop cultivation had officially begun, were now able to harvest at least some produce almost every day. Routine tasks like harvesting and sowing were mainly handled by Xu Mei and the other woman. Luo Xun and Yan Fei only needed to check on the condition of the crops in all the rooms after finishing work each day—especially Luo Xun, who simply had to take care of certain mutant plants that seemed capable of being cultivated.
So far, among the mutant plants they had cultivated, none showed any benign mutations. However, this wasn’t something to rush. Luo Xun knew that such things couldn’t be forced—he hadn’t discovered a benign mutation in his own bean sprouts until the fourth year after the apocalypse in his previous life. Given that they now kept a fair amount of wood at home to absorb energy and reduce the chances of mutation in other crops, it was inevitable that their plants would rarely mutate at all, making benign mutations even harder to find. Besides, after the apocalypse, even crops that could retain their pre-apocalypse flavor were already rare enough. Their results were actually quite good.
After selling the produce accumulated over the past four days, they obtained a small bag of crystal cores. The previous month, while defending the base gate, the two of them had received some discount coupons for Cafeteria No. 1 as well as vouchers that could be exchanged for supplies. Those had already been gradually used up.
They still had two cafeteria meal vouchers left, which they planned to use up in the next couple of days. The supply vouchers, on the other hand, had long since been exchanged for solar panels, seeds, curtain fabric, and other items.
When they arrived at the assembly point, Captain Guo didn’t immediately take everyone to the work site. Instead, he called the two of them out and led them in another direction, then said to the rest, “The factory over there needs some small metal components. The rest of you, come with me.”
The work on the military camp’s perimeter walls had finally been completed at the end of last month. In the final stage, the team went deep underground and added a kind of “bottle bottom” reinforcement to the camp’s foundation at designated points. Some soldiers had joked at the time, “Now that we’ve put bottle bottoms under the camp, if one day there are flying zombies, will we have to put a lid on top too?”
Everyone laughed—except Luo Xun, whose smile was a bit stiff. He really had forgotten about that. In the apocalypse, there truly were flying zombies. It was just that none had appeared yet. Even if he said something now, it would be useless. Even if Captain Guo believed him, he wasn’t the head of the base. Anything said would still be ignored. Better to wait and talk about it later.
At least, since they lived on the top floor, he needed to mention it to Yan Fei later and have him prepare some advance protection.
The group hurried to the wall between the inner and outer bases. Here, there was only the original thin, low metal wall, while the earthen wall, built to match the scale of the outer wall, already stood ten meters high.
After arriving, everyone stood beneath the wall and looked up. When they had built the outer wall before, they’d been standing on top of it, constructing the metal wall downward. Now, they didn’t need to go through that trouble—standing below the wall was enough.
A crowd of idle people who didn’t need—and for the moment couldn’t—leave the base gathered at a distance to watch the construction. It had been the same when the earth-element ability users had built the wall here earlier.
Some temporary measures to keep onlookers from getting too close had already been set up, but they couldn’t block people’s view of the wall itself. Before long, those in the distance could see layers of metal stacking upward and spreading out, growing larger and larger. Waves of exclamations and laughter rose from outside, as if this were some kind of monkey show.
The soldiers responsible for transporting the metal were occasionally disturbed by the noise and complained to Captain Guo and the deputy captain, somewhat annoyed. “Those people are really irritating. They’re treating us like monkeys in a circus.”
Captain Guo snorted. “What’s there to be afraid of? If they want to watch monkeys perform, then we’ll just treat them like the zombies outside the outer wall back then.”
“Then, Captain,” a young soldier joked as he sidled over, “if we beat them up, do we get crystal cores?”
Captain Guo raised his hand and smacked him on the back of the head. “You dare try it? Someone will come and haul you away in no time. Then they’ll send you out to wrestle zombies hand-to-hand!”
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