Yan Qiyue who was just frowning at Cai Yingying earlier immediately turned around opening his arms: “The tree is cold, come down first.”
Shao Qing jumped down, but didn’t have the intention of jumping into his arms. A bit disappointed, he directly went and hugged Shao Qing: “You know that I like you. Why are you using her to make fun of me?”
Shao Qing’s face blushed and she pushed Yan Qiyue away: “Go sleep, it’s already the middle of the night. Plus….”
Shao Qing’s eyes swept over Yan Qiyue. He had come out to go to the washroom, so he was only wearing a shirt and pants. He looked elegant but not appropriately clothed for the temperature.
In particular, after the apocalypse, the temperature during the nights has fallen even more. Even with the stronger physique of a superhuman, when they were out in the countryside they would take along a light foldable tent.
Yan Qiyue actually really wanted some alone time with Shao Qing. Since Shao Qing had joined up with her group, they haven’t had any time alone.
To the enlightened Yan Qiyue, this was extremely hard to endure.
Waahhhh, their romantic couple world is no more. Turning into a five/ six people world, in an instant it had turned into a world of over ten. This hardship won’t do.
Yan Qiyue just really wanted death to all those hindering him from chasing his wife!
However he had to suppress his way of thought. No matter what, he couldn’t add on to Shao Qing’s worries. Yan Qiyue looked at the sky then he suddenly pounced forward and stole a kiss from Shao Qing. After this, he returned back to the tent. Shao Qing touched her cheek then she went to find herself a place that could block her from the wind and also allow her a clear view of the place.
The next day, Cai Yingying was obviously a lot colder than yesterday but it could also be seen that she hadn’t given up.
Travelling for over 2 and a half hours, they could finally see the gates to Jing Du. The northern gates of Jing Du had an ancient look. Reportedly, it was created by an emperor from back in the dynasty. In brief, it had an imposing aura.
The flow rate of the entrance of Jing Du was a lot bigger compared to other survivor bases. The leaving teams were also a lot bigger than other survivor bases. However Shao Qing had Cai Yingying and the rest, so they didn’t have to line up. Cutting in front of another squad, they directly registered and were allowed entry.
They were superhumans from other survivor bases so it was easier to handle than superhumans who haven’t registered at all. At least their history was a lot more clear, so they had less to fill in during registration.
Jing Du was worthy of being called the country’s biggest survivor base. After entering, even the perception was different. The crowds were bustling with activity with both sides of the road crowded with vendors. The bustling of the city was also higher compared to other survivor bases.
Since the apocalypse had arrived, quite some time has passed. Now a large portion of the land has settled down. Humanity has constructed survivor bases accommodating a majority of the survivors. As for the cities, they were mostly occupied by zombies.
The only survivor base constructed within a city was Jing Du. This was only one of the reasons that makes Jing Du special.
After all, even if all cities were to be reduced into nothing, people still didn’t want them to fall into the monsters’ hands.
The capital is already a lot of people’s conviction. Quite a few survivors would head towards Jing Du. This was another reason why Jing Du had so many people.
“Is this your first time in Jing Du?” Cai Yingying’s smile was a bit stiff. After all she was quite young and it was impossible for her to act like nothing happened in front of someone who had just rejected her.
Shao Qing nodded her head. Even though she has seen quite a lot of aspects of the world, she still couldn’t help but sigh. Who would have thought that you could still see such bustle and such a flourishing environment during the apocalypse.
“How about I take everyone for a stroll first? In a while, everyone please make sure not to leave and come to my house. I really want to show everyone my gratitude.” Cai Yingying smiled.
The rest agreed. The few superhumans who were escorting Cai Yingying were from Cai Yingying’s family’s military unit. Once she had arrived at Jing Du, they were thrown to the side by Cai Yingying and sent back home.
Only the gloomy faced youngster was left looking at Yan Qiyue. This youngster was called Liu Yusen. He was Cai Yingying’s ‘boyfriend’, but in reality, he was just an attractive pretty boy she kept around for entertainment.
Liu Yusen wasn’t bad looking, otherwise Cai Yingying wouldn’t have taken a fancy to him. Unfortunately they had run into a man who was superior to him in looks a few days ago. His looks weren’t bad but compared to those other men, he was like dirt.
Liu Yusen was scared. He didn’t have any superhuman abilities and he relied on his face for a living. In Jing Du, finding someone with a financial background like Cai Yingying who was this generous and didn’t have that bad of a temperament was quite challenging.
Yet, suddenly out came a person trying to steal his livelihood? With this guy looking that much better than him, how could he not worry and hate him?
Everytime he looked at Yan Qiyue, he couldn’t help but want to push him into a pile of zombies. You said you are a superhuman then why are you fighting with a regular civilian for a financial backer?
What Liu Yusen was most afraid of was that once Yan Qiyue attained Cai Yingying, they would just throw him aside.
Then at that time, where would he go?
Speaking the truth, women were a disadvantaged social group in the apocalypse. However there were quite a few women that had the ability and the background. For example, the leader of Rose Thorn Wu Jiaojiao. Yet the more talented the woman, the more of a strong background one had. They would be accustomed to the filthy minds of the apocalypse and their hearts and actions would be even more vicious than men.
Like Cai Yingying, without relying on others, just relying on her father allowed her to live well. So being protected by Cai Yingying wasn’t bad. Someone who hasn’t seen the dirty stuff that happens in the apocalypse, their personalities were more good-natured. Even though a bit arrogant at times, it was still better than serving those vicious women.
Liu Yusen really didn’t want to change masters.
Hearing that Cai Yingying wasn’t preparing to part ways with these people and was even preparing to be their tour guides and even more bringing them back home, Liu Yusen felt a sense of urgency. He couldn’t resist saying: “Yingying, if you don’t return now your dad will be worried….”
“Do you have matters to do?” Cai Yingying gave him a look: “If you have matters, you can leave first. You can also help me tell my father that I am taking my friends for a stroll.”
Liu Yusen immediately stopped speaking. Following them around is way better, at least he would be able to see the development that happens in person. This way no matter the result he would be more at ease.
After reprimanding Liu Yusen, Cai Yingying gently smiled: “Jing Du survivor base is separated into five major areas: The middle is where all the higher class residents reside. The east side is where the various military units are stationed. Superhumans are all located there as well. The houses there are quite good. If you wanted to live there, it would require quite a decent amount of money. The average person wouldn’t be able to afford it so everyone who is able to live there are strong superhumans. The west side is the residence for common people. Even though that area isn’t completely damaged, it is quite close to that. There are a lot of tents set up there and it doesn’t require any money. The south side is where the training field and warehouse is located. The research institute could also be found there. The north side is near the entrance, so the mission centre, market, guard office are situated there. We’re going to arrive at the shopping street soon.”
With Cai Yingying’s explanation, Shao Qing and the rest could clearly see the layout of Jing Du. They even had a guard office. It was having a small squad of superhumans in charge of patrolling the area and dealing with special situations. They were very similar to police officers and could also assume the role of army troops.
The difference between them and police officers is that the guard office is all composed of superhumans. In fact they were all fairly high ranked users.
The superhuman officials wouldn’t enter the top ranking of the top 4-5 military units. However their strength should not be underestimated otherwise they wouldn’t be able to suppress some of those military units.
Eager to give it a try, she seemed excited to try establishing a military unit. Hmm, what should her military unit be called?
After thinking for a long time, Shao Qing discovered that Adorable Treasure was the most to her liking.
However, forming a military unit seemed quite bothersome. Moreover, her squad had only a few members. Even if they had new recruits later on, it probably won’t exceed twenty. What would be the point of forming a military unit?
The market was particularly lively. Before the apocalypse they had quite a few well known shopping streets now they were all occupied by various types of stores. If they had money and strength, then they could rent a store. If they had no money or strength, they could only form a street stall and lay all their goods out on the ground. They would have a myriad of items to sell. Some would sell clothing or accessories; some would sell guns and ammunition; some would sell knives and weapons, even mutated animals or vegetation could be bought.
Even though the killing power of those mutated animals and vegetation were high, there were some special animals that could be domesticated. For example the dog. Even after mutating, a lot of dogs would still maintain high levels of loyalty and devotion. After training, they would help their masters hunt zombies. But, it was only something rich people could afford because these mutated animals ate quite a bit.
As for mutated vegetation, the majority was sold to wood elemental users. A lot of wood elemental users were weak at the beginning. This was particularly for the ones who took supportive paths. These kinds of superhumans would either have their own team help them gain mutated vegetation or buy their own.
Shao Qing was quite curious. All the mutated vegetation she had subdued were all quite rare, especially her vines. Even though it existed when her powers had awakened, besides it’s strength it could also increase ranks alongside her. It could also absorb other vegetation.
The vines had the highest potential of all the vegetation she owned.
Even though she didn’t have any space to subdue more vegetations, Shao Qing still wanted to take a look at what kind of vegetations these stores were selling.
Seeing that Shao Qing had her eyes on a store on the side of the road, Cai Yingying brought them over. There was just an average amount of business going on, after all, wood elemental users can only take in one vegetation.
As soon as they entered, someone came to greet them: “Welcome! What kind of mutated vegetation are you guys looking for today? From attack to support, our store has everything.”
Shao Qing swept her eyes around the store: “Let me take a look first.”
For the most part, the mutated vegetations were all contained within a glass bottle. Each bottle would be labelled with a tag. On the tag was the name of that mutated vegetation and its ability.
Looking around, Shao Qing laid her eyes on a long curved, snake looking vine then she looked at the tag.
This vine was called snake vine. It had the ability to twist around objects and release poison. However it was rather frail. It was able to bind a rank 1 zombie and release poison to paralyze a rank 1 superhuman forone second…..
Shao Qing made an 囧 expression. A rank 1 superhuman for one second, what use is that?
E/N lol what kind of expression is that
She could only continue to look at the other options. On the side there was a pot that contained something that looked like a flower holding a lightbulb. This kind of vegetation was used to release a strong light for a brief moment. Blinding people, it was somewhat like a flash bomb. However, an average zombie didn’t rely on their vision to find people. This kind of toy would do nothing to a zombie whereas if it was for handling people, it may blind them for a second, but it would also occupy a space for the vegetation one could keep. What other use could they even have?
On the side, there was a black coloured jagged grass. The leaves were tiny yet long with razor edges. On the tag it was written that they were fatally poisonous.
But what use was its poison? Besides being poisonous this grass had no other ability. Don’t tell me that they would have to wait until someone placed their own fingers on the jagged leaves? If they encountered a strength type superhuman, these points probably won’t even be able to slash their skin open!
But, Shao Qing still felt that this grass was of some use. For example, she could take out the juice and add it to a weapon. However, this grass would only be able to be used a few times so it wouldn’t make sense to occupy a position just for its poisonous effect.
As a result, it would have no use.
The most important point is that this vegetation was extremely expensive. A useless snake vine would have cost one hundred crystals.
Right now the currency used were crystals. Usually the quoted price is based on rank 1 crystals. A rank 2 crystal was equivalent to ten rank 1 crystals. As for rank 3 crystals and above, there was no way for it to be converted since rank 3 and above crystals were too hard to obtain.
An average zombie’s ability was higher than an average person because they aren’t afraid of pain, losing a few limbs, or climbing and biting people, if a similarly ranked zombie and human came across each other, it is usually the human who would cower. However, if it was a situation where they were risking their lives, the human would be slightly more impressive.
Because people were more intelligent than zombies, if they were to fight for their lives, the superhuman would have a slightly higher chance of victory.
To gain a rank 3 or above crystal would require several high ranking superhumans to surround and attack one or two zombies. Only then would the success rate be high.
Therefore when it came to rank three or above crystals, it couldn’t be as simple as exchanging one for ten rank 2 crystals. This was because the cost was not equivalent.
Once the average superhuman strength increased, rank 3 crystals then would be assigned a monetary value.
Granted that rank one crystals could be seen everywhere, one hundred of them still wasn’t a small number. It should be known that one hundred rank one crystals could be exchanged for several hundred catties of food. Several hundred catties of food! How many families could it feed?
This kind of snake vine was already on the slightly cheaper side. Shao Qing especially asked and found out that this snake vine had the opportunity to evolve as the superhuman evolved, thus it was a bit pricier.
At that second, Shao Qing felt that she was a rich lady. With the mutated vegetation on her body, if she were to casually take one out, it would be extremely expensive.
Thinking like that then she must be worth millions of crystals.
In a flash her mood became a lot better.
After making a full circle, she did not see any vegetation that stood out. All of them were of little value and interest, plus they were all quite pricey.
Seeing that nothing piqued her interest, staying any longer would have been a waste of time, so she prepared to leave.
Cai Yingying seeing that she had spent such a long time looking around but didn’t say anything thought that Shao Qing didn’t own enough crystals. Secretly stealing a glance at Yan Qiyue, she warmly said: “Qing Jie, were there any mutated vegetations that caught your eye? If yes, you can tell me. We could be said to have gone through misfortunes together. I can buy it for you as a thanks for taking care of me on our trip.”
Shao Qing shook her head: “Nothing caught my eye. None of these vegetations suits me.”
The store owner recognized Cai Yingying. He automatically identified her as a Bai Fu Mei*. Not willing to lose this business opportunity, they rushed to speak: “Don’t leave yet. Our store doesn’t just have these mutated vegetation. If none of these caught your eye, follow me inside. We have some new products inside that are a lot better than the ones outside.”
* Ms. Perfect; someone fair-skinned, rich and beautiful
Shao Qing waved her hand. She was already a rank 4 and had 4 mutated vegetation. Moreover, she wasn’t planning on switching them anytime soon. Even if she did look it would be for the spirit of shopping. She also didn’t want to waste anymore time here, she wanted to go out and look at other stores.
But Cai Yingying thought she wasn’t willing to spend money, so she pushed her to the second floor. On the second floor, there were even more mutated vegetations. Some were about the same as the ones below while some were completely different.
The store owner went all the way inside. Inside there was a row of mutated vegetation. Just looking at their appearance, one could see that they looked a lot better than the ones outside.
The owner passionately said: “These are all things retrieved by the military units that work with our store. Please take a look at this one. This is a Swine basket grass. Not only can it hunt and skill small mutated animals, but it can also hunt rank 1 zombies, however, make sure not to release it in a zombie concentrated area because they have a similar scent to blood that can easily attract large numbers of zombies.
Shao Qing stared blankly. Isn’t this a vegetation fairly similar to her man eating flower? There was only a slight difference with the utility. This swine basket grass relied on its smell to entice zombies or mutated animals over; however, it could easily go wrong and end up causing them to be surrounded by zombies and get killed.
As for her man eating flower, not only does it have a better effect, the crucial point is that it could be on ht emove? while it hunted the zombies. Even superhumans could be eaten.
It was clear that her man eating flower was better than the swine basket grass by a lot. So, Shao Qing shook her head to show she had no interest at all.
The owner could only point to another mutated vegetation: “Take a look at this one. Spring Flower. It is able to emit a special aroma causing zombies to lose their sense of smell. It’s suitable when one is surrounded by zombies and trying to escape. In fact its aroma also affects superhumans, although the effect isn’t as good compared to its effect on zombies.
“How long does the effect last?” Shao Qing asked. The owner felt a bit embarrassed: “Nearly half a minute.”
Shao Qing immediately moved her eyes away. Thirty seconds. If they were surrounded by a bunch of zombies, running away wouldn’t be a possibility. Moreover, if there weren’t too many zombies present, just her alone would be able to handle the situation so it was completely of no use.
The owner rubbed his nose and continued: “If you don’t have any interest in that one, take a look at this one. This is a blood vine. The power of it could snap off the average person’s neck. It’s power is similar to a python.”
Shao Qing already had vines that had poisonous thorns which would have a better effect, thus she continued to shake her head.
The owner continued to introduce a few others, but he began to feel a bit impatient. In his eyes, all these mutated vegetations weren’t bad, however Shao Qing only shook her head. It was as if none of them even caught her eye. It must not be the case that she didn’t like them but the prices she could not accept.
Even Cai Yingying joined in: “If you see anything you like, you can just tell me. I can help pay.”
Shao Qing calmly replied: “It’s not that I didn’t see any I didn’t like. It’s just that I already have these mutated vegetations.” To speak frankly, the levels were too low that they just didn’t catch her eye.
The owner’s embarrassment became rage. His shop was quite well known in Jing Du. From low, middle, to high ranked mutated vegetations, he had them all. A lot of wood elemental users were frequent customers of his shop. However with one sentence, Shao Qing had brought down their store by a class. It would be strange if he didn’t get angry.
The owner didn’t even care about giving Cai Yingying face. After all, his backer wasn’t any worse than Cai Yingying’s. He immediately mocked them: “Since our shop’s level is too low then it’s normal that it won’t catch your eye. You must be at least a rank four user then right?”
Shao Qing replied seriously: “I didn’t mean to belittle your shop. There just really aren’t any mutated vegetations that I need. The mutated vegetations that you have pointed out are all very similar to the ones I have. In fact, they are a little stronger as well.”
Shao Qing already made it very clear, but the owner felt like her explanation was a slap to his face. Unconvinced he said: “Oh, such a high ranked mutated vegetation? Then it must have mutated twice!”
He had no idea that he actually had just spoken the truth. Shao Qing was a rank 4 superhuman and her vine had mutated three times already.
However, Shao Qing didn’t have any intention of showing off. Smiling she just got ready to leave. What was the point of showing off to a shop owner? Slapping someone’s face is quite invigorating but enmity is not. Also she had just entered Jing Du, being too high-profile wasn’t good.
Yan Qiyue wasn’t willing to have others bully his wife. He coldly sneered: “Listening to your tone, it seems like you’re looking down on others. Ah Qing, why don’t you bring out your worse mutated vegetation for him to look at. Help him open his eyes. This way in the future he won’t look at people through the cracks of a door. That would make him cross-eyed.”
Shao Qing helplessly said: “Let’s just go out to get food. After walking this long, everyone must be hungry.”
The owner replied immediately: “Don’t, help me open my eyes.”
Having no other options, Shao Qing brought out her man eating flower. Everytime Da Hua came out, it resembled a starving ghost. Following its smell to find something to eat, saliva was already dripping out of its mouth.
Like saliva, the liquid came dripping out of the petals and landed on the floor. Immediately green smoke arose. Even though the floors were made of ceramic tiles, the liquid corroded it leaving a small hole.
Swaying its head, Da Hua at once spotted the swine basket grass. Probably because one mountain can’t contain two tigers*, it immediately pounced towards it. Directly smashing into the glass and shattering the covering into pieces, it swallowed the swine basket grass in one swoop.
* in an area, there cannot be two very strong people leading
After swallowing, Da Hua let out a loud belch. After it was satisfied, it nestled against Shao Qing’s leg.
Shao Qing patted it’s head, then apologized: “Da Hua is a bit spoiled, I should have stopped it. I am sorry that it caused you some losses. How much was the swine basket grass? Let’s count it as me buying it.”
The owner was silent. Once the man eating flower had appeared, he knew he had slapped himself in the face. This was because Da Hua’s corolla was twice the size of the average man eating flower. With bright gorgeous colours, when the petals moved a row of shark teeth like stamen revealed itself. Compared to his swine basket grass, it really was on a whole nother level.
As expected, Yan Qiyue sneered as the owner really did slap himself in his face. His sneer becoming a taunt, he yelled out: “Ah Qing, let me help you pay. I really don’t think it is worth that price.”
The noise of the slap to the face was too loud. He really won’t be able to hear soon….
The owner’s mouth trembled. Finally he cupped his hands together in apology: “My eyes were shallow and was like a frog in a well. Let’s just say that the swine basket grass is on the house as an apology.”
That owner really knew how to conduct himself. Since the other person was being welcoming and smiling, Shao Qing naturally wouldn’t make it hard for him. As she left, she took out a dozen of rank 2 crystals and placed them on the table.
Once they had left the shop, Cai Yingying’s view of Shao Qing changed completely. How could it be explained? Even though Cai Yingying didn’t believe Yan Qiyue’s words, how could that man eating flower be the worst of all the mutated vegetation she owned?
Certainly it was just a man eating flower that would have already beaten most mutated vegetation, but the swine basket grass didn’t even try to resist.
Shao Qing definitely wasn’t weak.
The tactics she was planning to use against Shao Qing had to be changed slightly.
Shao Qing’s strength was higher than she had imagined. She couldn’t use brute methods. Cai Yingying had always thought Shao Qing had some strength. Otherwise even if she was that beautiful, she wouldn’t be able to carry around a child to enter a small superhuman squad. Yet this event just now told her , her strength was absolutely not low.
She really had the skills to join this squad.
This was Cai Yingying’s thought under the idea that Yan Qiyue was the leader. After all, since the beginning most of the choices had been decided by Yan Qiyue.
After leaving the store, Shao Qing dragged the group to eat dinner. Even though she wouldn’t starve, Yan Qiyue and the rest would.
The place to eat was chosen by Cai Yingying. Since Cai Yingying was familiar with Jing Du, it would be easier for her to arrange something.
Reportedly the restaurant that she chose was one of the upper class types. All kinds of leaders, higher ups from different military units would all come here to eat. This corresponds to the fact that the price here was especially high.
Before Cai Yingying entered the door, she had patted her chest and announced she would pay. Shao Qing originally wanted to reject her offer. However, taking a glance at the price menu, she didn’t say anymore.
How could a single dish of stir fry peppers and meat cost a total of eighty rank 1 crystals. Even if she had the money, this would cause her heart to ache!
However, after the apocalypse, the majority of vegetables were hard to raise. Even if they were to plant some, they usually would mutate. Some would mutate and have some poisonous characteristics. It could easily cause someone’s death thus vegetables were more costly than meat.
This was a normal thing for survival bases. Flipping through the menu, Shao Qing chose two dishes: Stir fry peppers and meat and tomato scrambled egg.
Yan Qiyue decided to order a bunch of things. When he was deciding the dishes, he would first look at the price, then the name of the dish. All of the ones he chose, not caring about the taste, just looking at the price would be frightening.
As for Gu Chuan and the rest, they didn’t order any dishes. They simply left it to Yan Qiyue. Not even mentioning Cai Yingying, even Shao Qing felt a bit of a heart ache. The crucial point was that after Yan Qiyue ordered the food, he smacked his lips together and ordered: “Also bring a bottle of red wine. Since this is the first time coming to Jing Du and everyone is gathered together, we should drink to celebrate. Since I am a poor person, I really want to try 1982 Lafite or the 1945 Mouton Rothschild. Either one would do.”
Cai Yingying’s fingers continuously twitched. After a long time did she say: “They probably don’t have the 1945 Mouton Rothschild…. Or the 1982 Lafite….”
The waiter standing to the side kindly commented: We do not have the 1945 Mouton Rothschild, but we do have the 1982 Lafite.”
Cai Yingying：……
“Then bring a bottle of 1982 Lafite. What do you think? Of course, I will listen to you.” Yan Qiyue stared at Cai Yingying. He even exposed an enticing smile, purposely.
Cai Yingying felt a bit faint, she was getting muddle-headed from his looks. At once she madly nodded her head: “No problem. Isn’t it just a 1982 Lafite? Bring a bottle!”
Yan Qiyue immediately retracted his smile and he continued to look at the menu. How could he so easily let go of this opportunity to milk this spendthrift?
Immediately he ordered another couple of dishes that weren’t expensive prior to the apocalypse but now were exorbitantly priced dishes during the apocalypse. Cai Yingying could feel her heart bleed as she looked on.
She did have a lot of money but the one who actually had the money was her father. Here and then, her dad would give her a big bunch of crystals for her to spend. However, the amount wouldn’t be that much. After all, the crystals had to be fought for.
Allowing Yan Qiyue to exploit her, all the crystals she had accumulated for so long were going to be all spent up.
Just as expected, when Yan Qiyue had finally stopped, the waiter immediately gave a bright smile: “The total will be two thousand five hundred and thirty eight rank 1 crystals. Taking off the Ling Tou*, it will be just two thousand and five hundred crystals. Please pay at the counter.”
* the remainder or scrap
Cai Yingying：……
Yan Qiyue who was just frowning at Cai Yingying earlier immediately turned around opening his arms: “The tree is cold, come down first.”
Shao Qing jumped down, but didn’t have the intention of jumping into his arms. A bit disappointed, he directly went and hugged Shao Qing: “You know that I like you. Why are you using her to make fun of me?”
Shao Qing’s face blushed and she pushed Yan Qiyue away: “Go sleep, it’s already the middle of the night. Plus….”
Shao Qing’s eyes swept over Yan Qiyue. He had come out to go to the washroom, so he was only wearing a shirt and pants. He looked elegant but not appropriately clothed for the temperature.
In particular, after the apocalypse, the temperature during the nights has fallen even more. Even with the stronger physique of a superhuman, when they were out in the countryside they would take along a light foldable tent.
Yan Qiyue actually really wanted some alone time with Shao Qing. Since Shao Qing had joined up with her group, they haven’t had any time alone.
To the enlightened Yan Qiyue, this was extremely hard to endure.
Waahhhh, their romantic couple world is no more. Turning into a five/ six people world, in an instant it had turned into a world of over ten. This hardship won’t do.
Yan Qiyue just really wanted death to all those hindering him from chasing his wife!
However he had to suppress his way of thought. No matter what, he couldn’t add on to Shao Qing’s worries. Yan Qiyue looked at the sky then he suddenly pounced forward and stole a kiss from Shao Qing. After this, he returned back to the tent. Shao Qing touched her cheek then she went to find herself a place that could block her from the wind and also allow her a clear view of the place.
The next day, Cai Yingying was obviously a lot colder than yesterday but it could also be seen that she hadn’t given up.
Travelling for over 2 and a half hours, they could finally see the gates to Jing Du. The northern gates of Jing Du had an ancient look. Reportedly, it was created by an emperor from back in the dynasty. In brief, it had an imposing aura.
The flow rate of the entrance of Jing Du was a lot bigger compared to other survivor bases. The leaving teams were also a lot bigger than other survivor bases. However Shao Qing had Cai Yingying and the rest, so they didn’t have to line up. Cutting in front of another squad, they directly registered and were allowed entry.
They were superhumans from other survivor bases so it was easier to handle than superhumans who haven’t registered at all. At least their history was a lot more clear, so they had less to fill in during registration.
Jing Du was worthy of being called the country’s biggest survivor base. After entering, even the perception was different. The crowds were bustling with activity with both sides of the road crowded with vendors. The bustling of the city was also higher compared to other survivor bases.
Since the apocalypse had arrived, quite some time has passed. Now a large portion of the land has settled down. Humanity has constructed survivor bases accommodating a majority of the survivors. As for the cities, they were mostly occupied by zombies.
The only survivor base constructed within a city was Jing Du. This was only one of the reasons that makes Jing Du special.
After all, even if all cities were to be reduced into nothing, people still didn’t want them to fall into the monsters’ hands.
The capital is already a lot of people’s conviction. Quite a few survivors would head towards Jing Du. This was another reason why Jing Du had so many people.
“Is this your first time in Jing Du?” Cai Yingying’s smile was a bit stiff. After all she was quite young and it was impossible for her to act like nothing happened in front of someone who had just rejected her.
Shao Qing nodded her head. Even though she has seen quite a lot of aspects of the world, she still couldn’t help but sigh. Who would have thought that you could still see such bustle and such a flourishing environment during the apocalypse.
“How about I take everyone for a stroll first? In a while, everyone please make sure not to leave and come to my house. I really want to show everyone my gratitude.” Cai Yingying smiled.
The rest agreed. The few superhumans who were escorting Cai Yingying were from Cai Yingying’s family’s military unit. Once she had arrived at Jing Du, they were thrown to the side by Cai Yingying and sent back home.
Only the gloomy faced youngster was left looking at Yan Qiyue. This youngster was called Liu Yusen. He was Cai Yingying’s ‘boyfriend’, but in reality, he was just an attractive pretty boy she kept around for entertainment.
Liu Yusen wasn’t bad looking, otherwise Cai Yingying wouldn’t have taken a fancy to him. Unfortunately they had run into a man who was superior to him in looks a few days ago. His looks weren’t bad but compared to those other men, he was like dirt.
Liu Yusen was scared. He didn’t have any superhuman abilities and he relied on his face for a living. In Jing Du, finding someone with a financial background like Cai Yingying who was this generous and didn’t have that bad of a temperament was quite challenging.
Yet, suddenly out came a person trying to steal his livelihood? With this guy looking that much better than him, how could he not worry and hate him?
Everytime he looked at Yan Qiyue, he couldn’t help but want to push him into a pile of zombies. You said you are a superhuman then why are you fighting with a regular civilian for a financial backer?
What Liu Yusen was most afraid of was that once Yan Qiyue attained Cai Yingying, they would just throw him aside.
Then at that time, where would he go?
Speaking the truth, women were a disadvantaged social group in the apocalypse. However there were quite a few women that had the ability and the background. For example, the leader of Rose Thorn Wu Jiaojiao. Yet the more talented the woman, the more of a strong background one had. They would be accustomed to the filthy minds of the apocalypse and their hearts and actions would be even more vicious than men.
Like Cai Yingying, without relying on others, just relying on her father allowed her to live well. So being protected by Cai Yingying wasn’t bad. Someone who hasn’t seen the dirty stuff that happens in the apocalypse, their personalities were more good-natured. Even though a bit arrogant at times, it was still better than serving those vicious women.
Liu Yusen really didn’t want to change masters.
Hearing that Cai Yingying wasn’t preparing to part ways with these people and was even preparing to be their tour guides and even more bringing them back home, Liu Yusen felt a sense of urgency. He couldn’t resist saying: “Yingying, if you don’t return now your dad will be worried….”
“Do you have matters to do?” Cai Yingying gave him a look: “If you have matters, you can leave first. You can also help me tell my father that I am taking my friends for a stroll.”
Liu Yusen immediately stopped speaking. Following them around is way better, at least he would be able to see the development that happens in person. This way no matter the result he would be more at ease.
After reprimanding Liu Yusen, Cai Yingying gently smiled: “Jing Du survivor base is separated into five major areas: The middle is where all the higher class residents reside. The east side is where the various military units are stationed. Superhumans are all located there as well. The houses there are quite good. If you wanted to live there, it would require quite a decent amount of money. The average person wouldn’t be able to afford it so everyone who is able to live there are strong superhumans. The west side is the residence for common people. Even though that area isn’t completely damaged, it is quite close to that. There are a lot of tents set up there and it doesn’t require any money. The south side is where the training field and warehouse is located. The research institute could also be found there. The north side is near the entrance, so the mission centre, market, guard office are situated there. We’re going to arrive at the shopping street soon.”
With Cai Yingying’s explanation, Shao Qing and the rest could clearly see the layout of Jing Du. They even had a guard office. It was having a small squad of superhumans in charge of patrolling the area and dealing with special situations. They were very similar to police officers and could also assume the role of army troops.
The difference between them and police officers is that the guard office is all composed of superhumans. In fact they were all fairly high ranked users.
The superhuman officials wouldn’t enter the top ranking of the top 4-5 military units. However their strength should not be underestimated otherwise they wouldn’t be able to suppress some of those military units.
Eager to give it a try, she seemed excited to try establishing a military unit. Hmm, what should her military unit be called?
After thinking for a long time, Shao Qing discovered that Adorable Treasure was the most to her liking.
However, forming a military unit seemed quite bothersome. Moreover, her squad had only a few members. Even if they had new recruits later on, it probably won’t exceed twenty. What would be the point of forming a military unit?
The market was particularly lively. Before the apocalypse they had quite a few well known shopping streets now they were all occupied by various types of stores. If they had money and strength, then they could rent a store. If they had no money or strength, they could only form a street stall and lay all their goods out on the ground. They would have a myriad of items to sell. Some would sell clothing or accessories; some would sell guns and ammunition; some would sell knives and weapons, even mutated animals or vegetation could be bought.
Even though the killing power of those mutated animals and vegetation were high, there were some special animals that could be domesticated. For example the dog. Even after mutating, a lot of dogs would still maintain high levels of loyalty and devotion. After training, they would help their masters hunt zombies. But, it was only something rich people could afford because these mutated animals ate quite a bit.
As for mutated vegetation, the majority was sold to wood elemental users. A lot of wood elemental users were weak at the beginning. This was particularly for the ones who took supportive paths. These kinds of superhumans would either have their own team help them gain mutated vegetation or buy their own.
Shao Qing was quite curious. All the mutated vegetation she had subdued were all quite rare, especially her vines. Even though it existed when her powers had awakened, besides it’s strength it could also increase ranks alongside her. It could also absorb other vegetation.
The vines had the highest potential of all the vegetation she owned.
Even though she didn’t have any space to subdue more vegetations, Shao Qing still wanted to take a look at what kind of vegetations these stores were selling.
Seeing that Shao Qing had her eyes on a store on the side of the road, Cai Yingying brought them over. There was just an average amount of business going on, after all, wood elemental users can only take in one vegetation.
As soon as they entered, someone came to greet them: “Welcome! What kind of mutated vegetation are you guys looking for today? From attack to support, our store has everything.”
Shao Qing swept her eyes around the store: “Let me take a look first.”
For the most part, the mutated vegetations were all contained within a glass bottle. Each bottle would be labelled with a tag. On the tag was the name of that mutated vegetation and its ability.
Looking around, Shao Qing laid her eyes on a long curved, snake looking vine then she looked at the tag.
This vine was called snake vine. It had the ability to twist around objects and release poison. However it was rather frail. It was able to bind a rank 1 zombie and release poison to paralyze a rank 1 superhuman forone second…..
Shao Qing made an 囧 expression. A rank 1 superhuman for one second, what use is that?
E/N lol what kind of expression is that
She could only continue to look at the other options. On the side there was a pot that contained something that looked like a flower holding a lightbulb. This kind of vegetation was used to release a strong light for a brief moment. Blinding people, it was somewhat like a flash bomb. However, an average zombie didn’t rely on their vision to find people. This kind of toy would do nothing to a zombie whereas if it was for handling people, it may blind them for a second, but it would also occupy a space for the vegetation one could keep. What other use could they even have?
On the side, there was a black coloured jagged grass. The leaves were tiny yet long with razor edges. On the tag it was written that they were fatally poisonous.
But what use was its poison? Besides being poisonous this grass had no other ability. Don’t tell me that they would have to wait until someone placed their own fingers on the jagged leaves? If they encountered a strength type superhuman, these points probably won’t even be able to slash their skin open!
But, Shao Qing still felt that this grass was of some use. For example, she could take out the juice and add it to a weapon. However, this grass would only be able to be used a few times so it wouldn’t make sense to occupy a position just for its poisonous effect.
As a result, it would have no use.
The most important point is that this vegetation was extremely expensive. A useless snake vine would have cost one hundred crystals.
Right now the currency used were crystals. Usually the quoted price is based on rank 1 crystals. A rank 2 crystal was equivalent to ten rank 1 crystals. As for rank 3 crystals and above, there was no way for it to be converted since rank 3 and above crystals were too hard to obtain.
An average zombie’s ability was higher than an average person because they aren’t afraid of pain, losing a few limbs, or climbing and biting people, if a similarly ranked zombie and human came across each other, it is usually the human who would cower. However, if it was a situation where they were risking their lives, the human would be slightly more impressive.
Because people were more intelligent than zombies, if they were to fight for their lives, the superhuman would have a slightly higher chance of victory.
To gain a rank 3 or above crystal would require several high ranking superhumans to surround and attack one or two zombies. Only then would the success rate be high.
Therefore when it came to rank three or above crystals, it couldn’t be as simple as exchanging one for ten rank 2 crystals. This was because the cost was not equivalent.
Once the average superhuman strength increased, rank 3 crystals then would be assigned a monetary value.
Granted that rank one crystals could be seen everywhere, one hundred of them still wasn’t a small number. It should be known that one hundred rank one crystals could be exchanged for several hundred catties of food. Several hundred catties of food! How many families could it feed?
This kind of snake vine was already on the slightly cheaper side. Shao Qing especially asked and found out that this snake vine had the opportunity to evolve as the superhuman evolved, thus it was a bit pricier.
At that second, Shao Qing felt that she was a rich lady. With the mutated vegetation on her body, if she were to casually take one out, it would be extremely expensive.
Thinking like that then she must be worth millions of crystals.
In a flash her mood became a lot better.
After making a full circle, she did not see any vegetation that stood out. All of them were of little value and interest, plus they were all quite pricey.
Seeing that nothing piqued her interest, staying any longer would have been a waste of time, so she prepared to leave.
Cai Yingying seeing that she had spent such a long time looking around but didn’t say anything thought that Shao Qing didn’t own enough crystals. Secretly stealing a glance at Yan Qiyue, she warmly said: “Qing Jie, were there any mutated vegetations that caught your eye? If yes, you can tell me. We could be said to have gone through misfortunes together. I can buy it for you as a thanks for taking care of me on our trip.”
Shao Qing shook her head: “Nothing caught my eye. None of these vegetations suits me.”
The store owner recognized Cai Yingying. He automatically identified her as a Bai Fu Mei*. Not willing to lose this business opportunity, they rushed to speak: “Don’t leave yet. Our store doesn’t just have these mutated vegetation. If none of these caught your eye, follow me inside. We have some new products inside that are a lot better than the ones outside.”
* Ms. Perfect; someone fair-skinned, rich and beautiful
Shao Qing waved her hand. She was already a rank 4 and had 4 mutated vegetation. Moreover, she wasn’t planning on switching them anytime soon. Even if she did look it would be for the spirit of shopping. She also didn’t want to waste anymore time here, she wanted to go out and look at other stores.
But Cai Yingying thought she wasn’t willing to spend money, so she pushed her to the second floor. On the second floor, there were even more mutated vegetations. Some were about the same as the ones below while some were completely different.
The store owner went all the way inside. Inside there was a row of mutated vegetation. Just looking at their appearance, one could see that they looked a lot better than the ones outside.
The owner passionately said: “These are all things retrieved by the military units that work with our store. Please take a look at this one. This is a Swine basket grass. Not only can it hunt and skill small mutated animals, but it can also hunt rank 1 zombies, however, make sure not to release it in a zombie concentrated area because they have a similar scent to blood that can easily attract large numbers of zombies.
Shao Qing stared blankly. Isn’t this a vegetation fairly similar to her man eating flower? There was only a slight difference with the utility. This swine basket grass relied on its smell to entice zombies or mutated animals over; however, it could easily go wrong and end up causing them to be surrounded by zombies and get killed.
As for her man eating flower, not only does it have a better effect, the crucial point is that it could be on ht emove? while it hunted the zombies. Even superhumans could be eaten.
It was clear that her man eating flower was better than the swine basket grass by a lot. So, Shao Qing shook her head to show she had no interest at all.
The owner could only point to another mutated vegetation: “Take a look at this one. Spring Flower. It is able to emit a special aroma causing zombies to lose their sense of smell. It’s suitable when one is surrounded by zombies and trying to escape. In fact its aroma also affects superhumans, although the effect isn’t as good compared to its effect on zombies.
“How long does the effect last?” Shao Qing asked. The owner felt a bit embarrassed: “Nearly half a minute.”
Shao Qing immediately moved her eyes away. Thirty seconds. If they were surrounded by a bunch of zombies, running away wouldn’t be a possibility. Moreover, if there weren’t too many zombies present, just her alone would be able to handle the situation so it was completely of no use.
The owner rubbed his nose and continued: “If you don’t have any interest in that one, take a look at this one. This is a blood vine. The power of it could snap off the average person’s neck. It’s power is similar to a python.”
Shao Qing already had vines that had poisonous thorns which would have a better effect, thus she continued to shake her head.
The owner continued to introduce a few others, but he began to feel a bit impatient. In his eyes, all these mutated vegetations weren’t bad, however Shao Qing only shook her head. It was as if none of them even caught her eye. It must not be the case that she didn’t like them but the prices she could not accept.
Even Cai Yingying joined in: “If you see anything you like, you can just tell me. I can help pay.”
Shao Qing calmly replied: “It’s not that I didn’t see any I didn’t like. It’s just that I already have these mutated vegetations.” To speak frankly, the levels were too low that they just didn’t catch her eye.
The owner’s embarrassment became rage. His shop was quite well known in Jing Du. From low, middle, to high ranked mutated vegetations, he had them all. A lot of wood elemental users were frequent customers of his shop. However with one sentence, Shao Qing had brought down their store by a class. It would be strange if he didn’t get angry.
The owner didn’t even care about giving Cai Yingying face. After all, his backer wasn’t any worse than Cai Yingying’s. He immediately mocked them: “Since our shop’s level is too low then it’s normal that it won’t catch your eye. You must be at least a rank four user then right?”
Shao Qing replied seriously: “I didn’t mean to belittle your shop. There just really aren’t any mutated vegetations that I need. The mutated vegetations that you have pointed out are all very similar to the ones I have. In fact, they are a little stronger as well.”
Shao Qing already made it very clear, but the owner felt like her explanation was a slap to his face. Unconvinced he said: “Oh, such a high ranked mutated vegetation? Then it must have mutated twice!”
He had no idea that he actually had just spoken the truth. Shao Qing was a rank 4 superhuman and her vine had mutated three times already.
However, Shao Qing didn’t have any intention of showing off. Smiling she just got ready to leave. What was the point of showing off to a shop owner? Slapping someone’s face is quite invigorating but enmity is not. Also she had just entered Jing Du, being too high-profile wasn’t good.
Yan Qiyue wasn’t willing to have others bully his wife. He coldly sneered: “Listening to your tone, it seems like you’re looking down on others. Ah Qing, why don’t you bring out your worse mutated vegetation for him to look at. Help him open his eyes. This way in the future he won’t look at people through the cracks of a door. That would make him cross-eyed.”
Shao Qing helplessly said: “Let’s just go out to get food. After walking this long, everyone must be hungry.”
The owner replied immediately: “Don’t, help me open my eyes.”
Having no other options, Shao Qing brought out her man eating flower. Everytime Da Hua came out, it resembled a starving ghost. Following its smell to find something to eat, saliva was already dripping out of its mouth.
Like saliva, the liquid came dripping out of the petals and landed on the floor. Immediately green smoke arose. Even though the floors were made of ceramic tiles, the liquid corroded it leaving a small hole.
Swaying its head, Da Hua at once spotted the swine basket grass. Probably because one mountain can’t contain two tigers*, it immediately pounced towards it. Directly smashing into the glass and shattering the covering into pieces, it swallowed the swine basket grass in one swoop.
* in an area, there cannot be two very strong people leading
After swallowing, Da Hua let out a loud belch. After it was satisfied, it nestled against Shao Qing’s leg.
Shao Qing patted it’s head, then apologized: “Da Hua is a bit spoiled, I should have stopped it. I am sorry that it caused you some losses. How much was the swine basket grass? Let’s count it as me buying it.”
The owner was silent. Once the man eating flower had appeared, he knew he had slapped himself in the face. This was because Da Hua’s corolla was twice the size of the average man eating flower. With bright gorgeous colours, when the petals moved a row of shark teeth like stamen revealed itself. Compared to his swine basket grass, it really was on a whole nother level.
As expected, Yan Qiyue sneered as the owner really did slap himself in his face. His sneer becoming a taunt, he yelled out: “Ah Qing, let me help you pay. I really don’t think it is worth that price.”
The noise of the slap to the face was too loud. He really won’t be able to hear soon….
The owner’s mouth trembled. Finally he cupped his hands together in apology: “My eyes were shallow and was like a frog in a well. Let’s just say that the swine basket grass is on the house as an apology.”
That owner really knew how to conduct himself. Since the other person was being welcoming and smiling, Shao Qing naturally wouldn’t make it hard for him. As she left, she took out a dozen of rank 2 crystals and placed them on the table.
Once they had left the shop, Cai Yingying’s view of Shao Qing changed completely. How could it be explained? Even though Cai Yingying didn’t believe Yan Qiyue’s words, how could that man eating flower be the worst of all the mutated vegetation she owned?
Certainly it was just a man eating flower that would have already beaten most mutated vegetation, but the swine basket grass didn’t even try to resist.
Shao Qing definitely wasn’t weak.
The tactics she was planning to use against Shao Qing had to be changed slightly.
Shao Qing’s strength was higher than she had imagined. She couldn’t use brute methods. Cai Yingying had always thought Shao Qing had some strength. Otherwise even if she was that beautiful, she wouldn’t be able to carry around a child to enter a small superhuman squad. Yet this event just now told her , her strength was absolutely not low.
She really had the skills to join this squad.
This was Cai Yingying’s thought under the idea that Yan Qiyue was the leader. After all, since the beginning most of the choices had been decided by Yan Qiyue.
After leaving the store, Shao Qing dragged the group to eat dinner. Even though she wouldn’t starve, Yan Qiyue and the rest would.
The place to eat was chosen by Cai Yingying. Since Cai Yingying was familiar with Jing Du, it would be easier for her to arrange something.
Reportedly the restaurant that she chose was one of the upper class types. All kinds of leaders, higher ups from different military units would all come here to eat. This corresponds to the fact that the price here was especially high.
Before Cai Yingying entered the door, she had patted her chest and announced she would pay. Shao Qing originally wanted to reject her offer. However, taking a glance at the price menu, she didn’t say anymore.
How could a single dish of stir fry peppers and meat cost a total of eighty rank 1 crystals. Even if she had the money, this would cause her heart to ache!
However, after the apocalypse, the majority of vegetables were hard to raise. Even if they were to plant some, they usually would mutate. Some would mutate and have some poisonous characteristics. It could easily cause someone’s death thus vegetables were more costly than meat.
This was a normal thing for survival bases. Flipping through the menu, Shao Qing chose two dishes: Stir fry peppers and meat and tomato scrambled egg.
Yan Qiyue decided to order a bunch of things. When he was deciding the dishes, he would first look at the price, then the name of the dish. All of the ones he chose, not caring about the taste, just looking at the price would be frightening.
As for Gu Chuan and the rest, they didn’t order any dishes. They simply left it to Yan Qiyue. Not even mentioning Cai Yingying, even Shao Qing felt a bit of a heart ache. The crucial point was that after Yan Qiyue ordered the food, he smacked his lips together and ordered: “Also bring a bottle of red wine. Since this is the first time coming to Jing Du and everyone is gathered together, we should drink to celebrate. Since I am a poor person, I really want to try 1982 Lafite or the 1945 Mouton Rothschild. Either one would do.”
Cai Yingying’s fingers continuously twitched. After a long time did she say: “They probably don’t have the 1945 Mouton Rothschild…. Or the 1982 Lafite….”
The waiter standing to the side kindly commented: We do not have the 1945 Mouton Rothschild, but we do have the 1982 Lafite.”
Cai Yingying：……
“Then bring a bottle of 1982 Lafite. What do you think? Of course, I will listen to you.” Yan Qiyue stared at Cai Yingying. He even exposed an enticing smile, purposely.
Cai Yingying felt a bit faint, she was getting muddle-headed from his looks. At once she madly nodded her head: “No problem. Isn’t it just a 1982 Lafite? Bring a bottle!”
Yan Qiyue immediately retracted his smile and he continued to look at the menu. How could he so easily let go of this opportunity to milk this spendthrift?
Immediately he ordered another couple of dishes that weren’t expensive prior to the apocalypse but now were exorbitantly priced dishes during the apocalypse. Cai Yingying could feel her heart bleed as she looked on.
She did have a lot of money but the one who actually had the money was her father. Here and then, her dad would give her a big bunch of crystals for her to spend. However, the amount wouldn’t be that much. After all, the crystals had to be fought for.
Allowing Yan Qiyue to exploit her, all the crystals she had accumulated for so long were going to be all spent up.
Just as expected, when Yan Qiyue had finally stopped, the waiter immediately gave a bright smile: “The total will be two thousand five hundred and thirty eight rank 1 crystals. Taking off the Ling Tou*, it will be just two thousand and five hundred crystals. Please pay at the counter.”
* the remainder or scrap
Cai Yingying：……
