Luo Xun and Yan Fei carefully calculated, each day the pair earned enough points to buy food for three meals a day. The only good thing was that the captain generously gave crystal cores. Of course, these nuclei would be translated into labour, which would be reflected in their work.
Right now…although there were less benefits, at least the two people were relatively happy now. The only issue was that they had to think of ways to get nuclei, otherwise Yan Fei would not have enough to use his abilities every day.
Although they still did not know the benefits of further leveling, if they wanted to freely live on base and protect their home, their ability level had to be high enough. Otherwise they would not even be considered cannon fodder.
After eating and drinking their fill, Luo Xun and Yan Fei tended the crops at home. They needed some more soybeans, some sesame seeds to be pressed for oil or sauce, add some more peanuts too…
As for the vegetables, the outside hallways were filled with the plants.
The two men removed seeds, planted seedlings and then checked their quail. The chicks were split into two groups, some lived in Luo Xun’s home for eggs to increase their numbers. The rest were placed in Xu Mei’s home and contributed to the rest of the team.
Now Luo Xun’s army of quails had increased to two large aquariums and usually had enough quail eggs for two people to eat.
He cleaned up the quail’s excrement – this was all natural. This could be kept for their compost where the earthworms were living.
In addition to harvesting a lot of crops during autumn, they also harvested parts that could not be eaten such as leaves and stalks. The insects and quails could eat those and the remainder were put into a cylinder to slowly make compost – although the smell was not great…But once winter arrived, they would be spared most of the smell.
On the first day after their resignation, Yan Fei found that his lover did not want to be idle even while on vacation. For example, although he got up late today he made tofu in the morning and cooked it for lunch. In the afternoon he planted seedlings, dealt with some fertilizer and afterwards cooked some of the older quail eggs to increase storage time.
Now he was cooking dinner and making plans to improve the design of the crossbow tomorrow?
In fact, even if Luo Xun did not go out to work at all, he could find enough things at home to busy himself.
Yan Fei was worried that Luo Xun would feel bored staying at home – but it seemed he had overthought things. There was a lot to do at home and he did not have to worry about his lover’s mental health.
Luo Xun had been without stable job since before the apocalypse, so if he had known what Yan Fei was thinking, he would surely pat the latter and tell him not to worry. Without the job Luo Xun’s life was more leisurely but not boring. Not to mention that they had internet, tv series and novels. Passing the time was a simple matter.
That evening, Li Tie and friends rushed home right after to work to eat tofu…yes ‘real’ tofu. For this matter, they resolutely abandoned Wang Duo and Zhang Yi to rush back home.
They asked Xu Mei and Song Lingling how to make the tofu more delicious. The group took out a piece of duck meat, some potatoes, turnips, beans and other things with made a stew.
When the two other men came home, they went straight to the dinner table and scrambled for food.
After dinner, the team held their routine evening meeting.
While sitting at the dining table drinking water, Zhang Yi dropped a bombshell, “I heard some patient gossip today.”
As the apocalypse continued on, fewer ordinary people could get treatment at the hospital. Most patients were not people with abilities, teams or the ‘rich’ with either points or nuclei. The quality of information Zhang Yi collected was much higher than regular people.
“What news?” Wu Xin curiously asked as the doctor left everyone hanging.
“It’s rumored that the base rules will be restructured.” He gently blew on his drink. “All teams are to be re-registered, the number and type of ability users will be recorded, especially those above rank D. Teams above a certain level need to complete tasks each month of a certain difficulty. Plus some city rules will be changed, a group of five people can leave the city, depending on the difficulty of the task.”
He turned to Luo Xun and Yan Fei, “Shall we go out more often after the changes? I heard the task difficulties will also be adjusted.”
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were slightly surprised, “If it really changes and the difficulty is reduced, of course we can go more often, but…don’t you have work?”
If only five people were needed, then the two of them with the three ladies could go, Zhang Yi should be working at the hospital?
Zhang Yi smirked, revealing cute dimples, but the whole team was now immune to the smile. “Me? I am ready to quit.”
“Ah?”
“Why?”
“What’s the matter? Did someone at the hospital bother you again?!”
The team’s reaction was mixed, but they were shocked. Zhang Yi had the best work treatment of the all, although with his personality…Before the apocalypse, how many hospitals would have fired him? But now…would the hospital be willing to let people quit? He was the one who wanted to work and he had been very motivated?
Zhang Yi drank a mouthful of water, “It’s become annoying, I think staying at home is nice, especially since we could go out of base to hunt zombies at any time.”
After a year of adjustment, his mood had been lifted from being left behind as bait. Especially with the attentive Wang Duo, who would do almost anything for him.
With this guy accompanying him and allowing him to vent, he had no need for work.
In particular, he was in a similar situation with Yan Fei and Luo Xun. He worked at the hospital and everyone knew that he was a high level wind ability user, how many people had tried to meet him?
Both the military and other power team’s movements were becoming more and more annoying. If this continued, he would explode and increase the number of patients at the hospital.
If the trouble at work was greater than the emotional relief, Zhang Yi would never endure. Besides, he was too lazy to persevere – he could suppress his temper, but now…even without the job he could still live well.
It had to be said that the Otaku squad had a great base with growing vegetables in the greenhouse. Even Li Tie and the others thought it was heartwarming and sometimes wanted to simply stay at home and farm.
No one would object to Zhang Yi’s decision unless there was a significant impact on the entire team. The result was – since you are happy, we will not bother you.
But resistance to his resignation would likely come from other directions. As Luo Xun kindly reminded, “Will the boss at the hospital agree?”
Zhang Yi smirked and his eyes were filled with satisfaction. “Contract expired.”
Everyone froze, “What contract?”
“When I first arrived on base, I signed a work agreement before entering the hospital. The contract had a one year deadline, similar to a contract before the apocalypse.” Zhang Yi had an expression of disdain. “You have not signed anything? You would not even be considered a temporary worker, when people want to fire you, there is no reason to protest.”
The group looked at each other and it seemed…they had not signed this sort of thing. The apocalypse had long since started, who would take care of contract legalities? Temporary or not?
Yan Fei held his chin in thought while watching Li Tie’s group, ready to ask them something after the meeting.
“That…you…” Luo Xun’s brain stalled, “You mean after the contract expires, you can directly leave the job?”
Zhang Yi smiled, “Yes, anyways I have little value in their eyes now.”
They thought about it for a few seconds before Luo Xun once again asked, “But even if there is a contract…would they let you leave?”
It was clear to everyone that the population was rapidly decreasing. The number of new lives was much smaller than the lives sacrificed. There was no way for the hospital to replenish manpower, they would be willing to let Zhang Yi walk away?
Zhang Yi laughed, “I am leaving, you think they can stop me?” He swung around in his chair. “I am going to tell them tomorrow and go straight home.”
Once he changed his phone card, the hospital would no longer be able to contact him. Well, his situation was slightly different from Luo Xun since the military prepared his living area, would there be trouble later?
The crowd mulled it over – anyway he could not be controlled. Even if he lost his salary from working at the hospital, there was enough food at home.
After the regular evening meeting, only the three ladies went downstairs to sleep.
Yan Fei turned to Zhang Yi. “You just don’t want to work?”
Although Zhang Yi was casual person and his attitude was arrogant, he was tolerated by the average person. There was something he was not saying about his decision.
Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, “Well, there are people who find me annoying, I should leave before I get in trouble. I heard that the military arranged with other bases for medical personnel. It seems like someone is aiming at me.” He shrugged his hands.
That made more sense, but Zhang Yi was not working to support a family.
Li Tie felt awkward and quickly coughed, “Brother Yan, what’s matter?” Why else was he asked to stay?
“Can you access the base database?” Yan Fei asked with pause.
“I can…but not important data, no permission.” Li Tie thought about it, then called over He Qiankun, “He’s in charge of this part and more familiar.”
Yan Fei nodded his head, “If it won’t affect your work and you can do it undetected, could you completely delete our information from the metal ability team? Mainly the telephone numbers, leaving the name is not an issue.”
The two of them could change their cell phone cards – people on base often accidentally lose or break their phones while out on missions. There were also new people who came to base or did not have points to buy a phone. Changing one’s number was not a large issue.
It was just that they were worried about their home address in the database.
Zhang Yi raised his hand and the corner of his mouth lifted, “Mine too.”
Although he was high profile at the start and brought in by the military, they had little contact recently. Who knew what information was in the base’s database?
After deleting the information, although the military could find people who they had arranged living areas. But it would stop other forces from finding them easily.
Both Yan Fei and Zhang Yi had thought of this point.
He Qiankun patted his belly, “That’s simple, the base’s current network is a LAN and only the military had enough energy for an entire network. There are few firewalls or protective measures, a novice hacker could easily hack it before the apocalypse. Changing information is pretty simple!”
He turned bright eyes towards Luo Xun. “Brother Luo…I want to eat the pickled cucumber strips you made before…”
Luo Xun wordlessly looked at the ceiling. “Fine, I’ll make some tomorrow, you can eat them after work.”
That food was easy to make. He had used a lot of vinegar making tofu, he estimated there would be nothing left after the pickling. Was it time to think about making vinegar or something?
He had not prepared any barley seeds before the apocalypse, si he could only make something like rice or wheat vinegar and so on…The raw materials were very out of stock, he would need to readjust the planting baskets. He would get ready it tomorrow!
The next morning, when Luo Xun and Yan Fei got out of bed, they found that Zhang Yi had already returned from the hospital and was leisurely following Xu mei and Song Lingling. They studied the crops and occasionally helped with daily work.
Seeing Luo Xun come over, Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and taunted, “You just got up? Captain worked hard last night~”
Luo Xun decided to ignore him and examined the crop condition in the hallway. He began to deal with the seedlings who had not grown well and combed through the rest.
Yan Fei did not bat an eye. “You quit?”
Zhang Yi waved a hand while ignoring Yan Fei. “I passed by when the leader went to the barracks for a meeting, I spoke with the assistant and came back.”
Such an unfortunate subordinate, Luo Xun sent a prayer to the hospital director. What could be done? Hitting or scolding would not work…
Zhang Yi had a brilliant smile on his face, “Ah, not having to work is really comfortable…”
Xu Mei came out from the room and heard his words. “If you’re comfortable check the mushroom boxes, the toxic mushrooms need to be picked. Before careful if next to regular mushrooms you must not let any juice get on them or they will corrode!”
Zhang Yi’s smile froze and twisted before following Song Lingling into the house to learn how to deal with the mushrooms.
In the morning the team checked all the crops. Luo Xun did some calculations for the planters on his wall. He could add some seasoning crops, Luo Xun rummaged through their seed storage and then said to Yan Fei, “Why don’t we go to the exchange window this afternoon and see if there are any crop seeds? For example, barley, oats and so on. We don’t have to plant much but since we have space, cultivating some would be good.”
Yan Fei had no problem and nodded. “Okay, we’ll go out this afternoon.”
The two people had lunch, pickled the sweet and sour cucumber before grabbing their coats. Zhang Yi had a pinched expression as he was currently surrounded by Yu Xinran who refused to nap and Puppy was running around in circles. Xu Mei and Song Lingling cheerfully watched from the side, Yu Xinran was very discerning. For example her favorite uncles to see were Yan Fei and Zhang Yi, the latter was also the one she liked to be spoiled by the most among her aunts…wait something was off.
Luo Xun had no spirit of camaraderie and skipped over to Xu Mei. “We’re going to the exchange window to find some seeds, do you have anything you want to buy?”
The two ladies discussed then shook their heads, “No, if need be, we’ll go in two days.”
The base was exceptionally cold while covered in snow. There were almost no cars on the streets and fewer pedestrians than normal. Most of the occupants who lived on the roadside in cars had also moved out. The number of temporary buildings had increased again along with the thickness of the buildings.
In order to resist the cold wind and snow, many people added layers to their walls. Foam had become very popular on base. This material was light and unremarkable but had a very good insulation effect, could greatly enhance the warmth of a house.
Many people who only used to pick up cartons, wooden boxes and similar things when out, ran back to the city ruins to find the discarded foam.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei carefully calculated, each day the pair earned enough points to buy food for three meals a day. The only good thing was that the captain generously gave crystal cores. Of course, these nuclei would be translated into labour, which would be reflected in their work.
Right now…although there were less benefits, at least the two people were relatively happy now. The only issue was that they had to think of ways to get nuclei, otherwise Yan Fei would not have enough to use his abilities every day.
Although they still did not know the benefits of further leveling, if they wanted to freely live on base and protect their home, their ability level had to be high enough. Otherwise they would not even be considered cannon fodder.
After eating and drinking their fill, Luo Xun and Yan Fei tended the crops at home. They needed some more soybeans, some sesame seeds to be pressed for oil or sauce, add some more peanuts too…
As for the vegetables, the outside hallways were filled with the plants.
The two men removed seeds, planted seedlings and then checked their quail. The chicks were split into two groups, some lived in Luo Xun’s home for eggs to increase their numbers. The rest were placed in Xu Mei’s home and contributed to the rest of the team.
Now Luo Xun’s army of quails had increased to two large aquariums and usually had enough quail eggs for two people to eat.
He cleaned up the quail’s excrement – this was all natural. This could be kept for their compost where the earthworms were living.
In addition to harvesting a lot of crops during autumn, they also harvested parts that could not be eaten such as leaves and stalks. The insects and quails could eat those and the remainder were put into a cylinder to slowly make compost – although the smell was not great…But once winter arrived, they would be spared most of the smell.
On the first day after their resignation, Yan Fei found that his lover did not want to be idle even while on vacation. For example, although he got up late today he made tofu in the morning and cooked it for lunch. In the afternoon he planted seedlings, dealt with some fertilizer and afterwards cooked some of the older quail eggs to increase storage time.
Now he was cooking dinner and making plans to improve the design of the crossbow tomorrow?
In fact, even if Luo Xun did not go out to work at all, he could find enough things at home to busy himself.
Yan Fei was worried that Luo Xun would feel bored staying at home – but it seemed he had overthought things. There was a lot to do at home and he did not have to worry about his lover’s mental health.
Luo Xun had been without stable job since before the apocalypse, so if he had known what Yan Fei was thinking, he would surely pat the latter and tell him not to worry. Without the job Luo Xun’s life was more leisurely but not boring. Not to mention that they had internet, tv series and novels. Passing the time was a simple matter.
That evening, Li Tie and friends rushed home right after to work to eat tofu…yes ‘real’ tofu. For this matter, they resolutely abandoned Wang Duo and Zhang Yi to rush back home.
They asked Xu Mei and Song Lingling how to make the tofu more delicious. The group took out a piece of duck meat, some potatoes, turnips, beans and other things with made a stew.
When the two other men came home, they went straight to the dinner table and scrambled for food.
After dinner, the team held their routine evening meeting.
While sitting at the dining table drinking water, Zhang Yi dropped a bombshell, “I heard some patient gossip today.”
As the apocalypse continued on, fewer ordinary people could get treatment at the hospital. Most patients were not people with abilities, teams or the ‘rich’ with either points or nuclei. The quality of information Zhang Yi collected was much higher than regular people.
“What news?” Wu Xin curiously asked as the doctor left everyone hanging.
“It’s rumored that the base rules will be restructured.” He gently blew on his drink. “All teams are to be re-registered, the number and type of ability users will be recorded, especially those above rank D. Teams above a certain level need to complete tasks each month of a certain difficulty. Plus some city rules will be changed, a group of five people can leave the city, depending on the difficulty of the task.”
He turned to Luo Xun and Yan Fei, “Shall we go out more often after the changes? I heard the task difficulties will also be adjusted.”
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were slightly surprised, “If it really changes and the difficulty is reduced, of course we can go more often, but…don’t you have work?”
If only five people were needed, then the two of them with the three ladies could go, Zhang Yi should be working at the hospital?
Zhang Yi smirked, revealing cute dimples, but the whole team was now immune to the smile. “Me? I am ready to quit.”
“Ah?”
“Why?”
“What’s the matter? Did someone at the hospital bother you again?!”
The team’s reaction was mixed, but they were shocked. Zhang Yi had the best work treatment of the all, although with his personality…Before the apocalypse, how many hospitals would have fired him? But now…would the hospital be willing to let people quit? He was the one who wanted to work and he had been very motivated?
Zhang Yi drank a mouthful of water, “It’s become annoying, I think staying at home is nice, especially since we could go out of base to hunt zombies at any time.”
After a year of adjustment, his mood had been lifted from being left behind as bait. Especially with the attentive Wang Duo, who would do almost anything for him.
With this guy accompanying him and allowing him to vent, he had no need for work.
In particular, he was in a similar situation with Yan Fei and Luo Xun. He worked at the hospital and everyone knew that he was a high level wind ability user, how many people had tried to meet him?
Both the military and other power team’s movements were becoming more and more annoying. If this continued, he would explode and increase the number of patients at the hospital.
If the trouble at work was greater than the emotional relief, Zhang Yi would never endure. Besides, he was too lazy to persevere – he could suppress his temper, but now…even without the job he could still live well.
It had to be said that the Otaku squad had a great base with growing vegetables in the greenhouse. Even Li Tie and the others thought it was heartwarming and sometimes wanted to simply stay at home and farm.
No one would object to Zhang Yi’s decision unless there was a significant impact on the entire team. The result was – since you are happy, we will not bother you.
But resistance to his resignation would likely come from other directions. As Luo Xun kindly reminded, “Will the boss at the hospital agree?”
Zhang Yi smirked and his eyes were filled with satisfaction. “Contract expired.”
Everyone froze, “What contract?”
“When I first arrived on base, I signed a work agreement before entering the hospital. The contract had a one year deadline, similar to a contract before the apocalypse.” Zhang Yi had an expression of disdain. “You have not signed anything? You would not even be considered a temporary worker, when people want to fire you, there is no reason to protest.”
The group looked at each other and it seemed…they had not signed this sort of thing. The apocalypse had long since started, who would take care of contract legalities? Temporary or not?
Yan Fei held his chin in thought while watching Li Tie’s group, ready to ask them something after the meeting.
“That…you…” Luo Xun’s brain stalled, “You mean after the contract expires, you can directly leave the job?”
Zhang Yi smiled, “Yes, anyways I have little value in their eyes now.”
They thought about it for a few seconds before Luo Xun once again asked, “But even if there is a contract…would they let you leave?”
It was clear to everyone that the population was rapidly decreasing. The number of new lives was much smaller than the lives sacrificed. There was no way for the hospital to replenish manpower, they would be willing to let Zhang Yi walk away?
Zhang Yi laughed, “I am leaving, you think they can stop me?” He swung around in his chair. “I am going to tell them tomorrow and go straight home.”
Once he changed his phone card, the hospital would no longer be able to contact him. Well, his situation was slightly different from Luo Xun since the military prepared his living area, would there be trouble later?
The crowd mulled it over – anyway he could not be controlled. Even if he lost his salary from working at the hospital, there was enough food at home.
After the regular evening meeting, only the three ladies went downstairs to sleep.
Yan Fei turned to Zhang Yi. “You just don’t want to work?”
Although Zhang Yi was casual person and his attitude was arrogant, he was tolerated by the average person. There was something he was not saying about his decision.
Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, “Well, there are people who find me annoying, I should leave before I get in trouble. I heard that the military arranged with other bases for medical personnel. It seems like someone is aiming at me.” He shrugged his hands.
That made more sense, but Zhang Yi was not working to support a family.
Li Tie felt awkward and quickly coughed, “Brother Yan, what’s matter?” Why else was he asked to stay?
“Can you access the base database?” Yan Fei asked with pause.
“I can…but not important data, no permission.” Li Tie thought about it, then called over He Qiankun, “He’s in charge of this part and more familiar.”
Yan Fei nodded his head, “If it won’t affect your work and you can do it undetected, could you completely delete our information from the metal ability team? Mainly the telephone numbers, leaving the name is not an issue.”
The two of them could change their cell phone cards – people on base often accidentally lose or break their phones while out on missions. There were also new people who came to base or did not have points to buy a phone. Changing one’s number was not a large issue.
It was just that they were worried about their home address in the database.
Zhang Yi raised his hand and the corner of his mouth lifted, “Mine too.”
Although he was high profile at the start and brought in by the military, they had little contact recently. Who knew what information was in the base’s database?
After deleting the information, although the military could find people who they had arranged living areas. But it would stop other forces from finding them easily.
Both Yan Fei and Zhang Yi had thought of this point.
He Qiankun patted his belly, “That’s simple, the base’s current network is a LAN and only the military had enough energy for an entire network. There are few firewalls or protective measures, a novice hacker could easily hack it before the apocalypse. Changing information is pretty simple!”
He turned bright eyes towards Luo Xun. “Brother Luo…I want to eat the pickled cucumber strips you made before…”
Luo Xun wordlessly looked at the ceiling. “Fine, I’ll make some tomorrow, you can eat them after work.”
That food was easy to make. He had used a lot of vinegar making tofu, he estimated there would be nothing left after the pickling. Was it time to think about making vinegar or something?
He had not prepared any barley seeds before the apocalypse, si he could only make something like rice or wheat vinegar and so on…The raw materials were very out of stock, he would need to readjust the planting baskets. He would get ready it tomorrow!
The next morning, when Luo Xun and Yan Fei got out of bed, they found that Zhang Yi had already returned from the hospital and was leisurely following Xu mei and Song Lingling. They studied the crops and occasionally helped with daily work.
Seeing Luo Xun come over, Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and taunted, “You just got up? Captain worked hard last night~”
Luo Xun decided to ignore him and examined the crop condition in the hallway. He began to deal with the seedlings who had not grown well and combed through the rest.
Yan Fei did not bat an eye. “You quit?”
Zhang Yi waved a hand while ignoring Yan Fei. “I passed by when the leader went to the barracks for a meeting, I spoke with the assistant and came back.”
Such an unfortunate subordinate, Luo Xun sent a prayer to the hospital director. What could be done? Hitting or scolding would not work…
Zhang Yi had a brilliant smile on his face, “Ah, not having to work is really comfortable…”
Xu Mei came out from the room and heard his words. “If you’re comfortable check the mushroom boxes, the toxic mushrooms need to be picked. Before careful if next to regular mushrooms you must not let any juice get on them or they will corrode!”
Zhang Yi’s smile froze and twisted before following Song Lingling into the house to learn how to deal with the mushrooms.
In the morning the team checked all the crops. Luo Xun did some calculations for the planters on his wall. He could add some seasoning crops, Luo Xun rummaged through their seed storage and then said to Yan Fei, “Why don’t we go to the exchange window this afternoon and see if there are any crop seeds? For example, barley, oats and so on. We don’t have to plant much but since we have space, cultivating some would be good.”
Yan Fei had no problem and nodded. “Okay, we’ll go out this afternoon.”
The two people had lunch, pickled the sweet and sour cucumber before grabbing their coats. Zhang Yi had a pinched expression as he was currently surrounded by Yu Xinran who refused to nap and Puppy was running around in circles. Xu Mei and Song Lingling cheerfully watched from the side, Yu Xinran was very discerning. For example her favorite uncles to see were Yan Fei and Zhang Yi, the latter was also the one she liked to be spoiled by the most among her aunts…wait something was off.
Luo Xun had no spirit of camaraderie and skipped over to Xu Mei. “We’re going to the exchange window to find some seeds, do you have anything you want to buy?”
The two ladies discussed then shook their heads, “No, if need be, we’ll go in two days.”
The base was exceptionally cold while covered in snow. There were almost no cars on the streets and fewer pedestrians than normal. Most of the occupants who lived on the roadside in cars had also moved out. The number of temporary buildings had increased again along with the thickness of the buildings.
In order to resist the cold wind and snow, many people added layers to their walls. Foam had become very popular on base. This material was light and unremarkable but had a very good insulation effect, could greatly enhance the warmth of a house.
Many people who only used to pick up cartons, wooden boxes and similar things when out, ran back to the city ruins to find the discarded foam.
