Chapter 44

Shashi, suburbs.

Fenghuo picked and chose, and finally found a two-story house that was relatively well preserved.

"Little fairy, clean up."

After walking around the houses, Fenghuo winked at Gu Fan.

Gu Fan smiled.

She was training with the team, so she could no longer hide her attacks, so she simply explained her origins to the four of them.

From then on, Fenghuo started calling her the Little Fairy, even though she was still a long way from becoming an immortal.

Reciting the incantation silently, Gu Fan performed the dust removal technique on the entire residential building.

The spiritual power consumed by the dust removal technique is related to the cleanliness of the target object. This residential building that has been abandoned for fifty years has mottled walls and is full of dust. The spiritual power consumed may be more than what Gu Fan would consume if he cleaned it for a hundred years.

Fortunately, the effect was very obvious. When the five people walked into the house, the tables and chairs inside were spotless.

"We'll be staying here for the next two days. I'll cook a few big meals for you to improve your diet." Fenghuo stood at the door of the old-fashioned kitchen and said with satisfaction. He liked this stove-style kitchen because there was no electricity or gas.

Gu Fan just thought that everyone was tired after running around for three months and needed to have a good rest here.

It’s just two o’clock in the afternoon, so there’s no rush to cook. Let’s put the furniture in the house in order first to make life easier.

There are three bedrooms on the second floor. The old wooden beds were taken to the yard and dismantled and burned as firewood. Xinghe released five camp beds from the space crystal core.

This space crystal core is the one from Mount Tai.

When a mutant dies, he will leave behind his crystal core.

Taishan died among the monsters, his body shattered, and the whereabouts of his crystal core were unknown. Later, Lu Ya led his men to clean up the battlefield and collect all supplies, and all the crystal cores found were handed over to him. Taishan was an A-level expert, and the crystal core he left behind was huge. There were only a dozen A-level space-ability experts in the entire base. Lu Ya examined the items inside and, based on the off-road vehicle of the Xinghe team, determined that the crystal core belonged to Taishan.

Lu Ya handed the crystal core to Xinghe intact.

In this way, Taishan returned to the team.

——

Qingteng assisted Fenghuo in cooking.

Xinghe asked Gu Fan to stay in the residential area, and he and Meng Lianying went to other places in the town to check if there were any available supplies.

Before sunset, the two returned, bringing back a small amount of supplies and a stack of well-preserved red paper.

Gu Fan: "What is this used for?"

Meng Lianying smiled and said, "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, let's put up some spring couplets to add to the festive atmosphere."

Gu Fan suddenly understood that the Chinese New Year was approaching.

Ordinary people in the Xiuzhen Continent also celebrate the New Year at home, and the customs are similar to those on Earth.

Fenghuo flipped through the red paper with his left hand and looked at his companions: "We have the red paper, but do you have ink? Besides, who can write calligraphy? Lianying, can you do it? You are the only one among us who has attended a proper school."

Meng Lianying: "I've never used a brush, but knowing how to write is fine. I'm not writing to sell it anyway."

The two of them kept arguing with each other. Gu Fan took out a pen, inkstone, and red candle from his storage bracelet, which looked antique.

Fenghuo asked curiously, "Do you cultivators still need this?"

Gu Fan: "No, this is the way out I prepared for myself. If I can't become an immortal, I will go back to being an ordinary person."

Fenghuo: "Have you prepared the gold?"

Gu Fan smiled and took out four golden longevity locks: "These are for you. Consider them as New Year's money from your aunt."

Except for Xinghe who smiled slightly, Fenghuo, Meng Lianying and Qingteng all glared at her.

After protesting against Gu Fan's joke which was not funny at all, Fenghuo picked up a longevity lock and bit it. It was heavy and made of pure gold!

After the examination, Fenghuo asked Gu Fan to put the treasure away: "Keep it. When one of us starts a family and has children, you can give it to him."

Since it was really not useful now, Gu Fan put it away.

After dinner, they lit candles, coughed, picked up Gu Fan's brush, and began to write couplets with the seriousness of an old scholar.

Fenghuo: "Your handwriting is like a dog crawling."

Meng Lianying: "Here's the pen for you, write."

Fenghuo really only wrote one word.

His handwriting was not that good either, so Xinghe took over. After Xinghe finished writing, he gave it to Qingteng, and finally Gu Fan took over.

After a few rounds of this, a couplet was finished. The content came from Meng Lianying, the only intellectual in the team: "A hundred years have passed since the heaven and earth regained their vitality, and the mountains and rivers have been unified and the world is at peace - the country is peaceful and the people are safe."

After writing the couplet, Meng Lianying thought of the past and sighed: "My cousin's family always put up this couplet during the Spring Festival every year."

The couplet was written by the old man himself, but unfortunately, he passed away this year.

Xinghe looked at the couplet and said, "If you remember this, the old man's painstaking efforts will not be in vain."

The next morning, Meng Lianying posted the couplets by himself and used his supernatural powers to make a metal frame for the couplets to ensure that the wind would not blow away.

They were going to eat dumplings in the evening, so Meng Lianying caught a C-level monster, skinned it, took out its meat and chopped it into stuffing. Gu Fan took Qingteng to find some vegetables, because there used to be residents here. Although the people disappeared, those vegetables grew and kept seeds year after year, and continued to exist.

The dumplings were cooked, and everyone lit a few candles and had a simple New Year's Eve dinner.

Tomorrow is the first day of the new year.

Xinghe took out a tablet, on which was the latest version of the Jiangnan base clearance area distribution map sent by Lu Ya before leaving the base.

The Shashi where they are now is located on the dividing line between the half red zone and the half white zone.

"It's been three months since the explosion. Judging by the monsters we encountered on our way here, the white area near the dividing line should be updated to orange. However, if we continue west, the monster density will be extremely high, considering the indigenous monsters in the west and those that have escaped from this area."

In fact, during these three months, they were basically just on the road. Being in the white area, they encountered very few monsters, and they were all low-level C-level monsters. Even if Gu Fan wanted to practice, there were not enough monsters.

Xinghe pointed at the red area and continued, "Southern my country is very mountainous, resulting in a relatively high density and level of monsters. The Jiangnan base was originally located closer to the coast, and for the past fifty years, the focus has been on clearing out monsters around the base. The farthest city the army has ever reached is Anshi. Mercenaries have traveled further, but as far as I know, the farthest they've ever reached is Shashi."

"Next, we have two directions to go. One is to go north, cross the river through Yue City, and enter the area of ​​the northern base. Yue City is the transportation hub connecting the three major bases. The S-level monsters in several surrounding cities have been jointly eliminated by the marshals. This route is relatively safe."

"The other route is to head west to City C. City C is one of the five major national central cities in the Free Era. There must be a large amount of supplies left there. Going there is risky, but the rewards will be greater."

Fenghuo looked at the map and sighed, "There are so many S-level monsters hidden along this road, with so many mountains and rivers."

Meng Lianying: "Actually, S-rank monsters are quite lazy. We have skinny arms and legs, so we're not attractive enough as prey. Only S-rank monsters that have been tortured by humans will smell the human scent and specifically chase us."

Fenghuo agreed: "That's true."

Xinghe looked at Gu Fan: "Fanfan, which way do you want to go?"

Gu Fan said: "I'm fine with either, you decide."

Xinghe looked at City C on the map and said, "Let's go to City C. The Jiangnan base needs a lot of supplies to rebuild."

They grew up in Jiangnan and have worked for the Jiangnan base for many years, so they have some feelings for it.

When talking about base reconstruction, Fenghuo asked, "Such a big thing happened at Jiangnan Base. Will Northwest Base and North Base provide assistance?"

As a relative of the Lu family, Meng Lianying was more familiar with the military affairs of the base. He shook his head and said, "It's difficult. Resources are very scarce at each base, and they are basically self-managed. Usually, they mainly exchange scientific research results. If the two sides knew that there was a beast tide at Jiangnan Base, they would only actively prepare for it. They would be busy collecting supplies for the second base, so how could they distribute it to others?"

Xinghe: "Jiangnan Base chose Anshi to rebuild instead of moving to the other two bases. Besides the dangers of long-distance migration, they must have considered that the resources of those two bases would be difficult to accommodate over five million people at once."

In those days, establishing each base was a challenge. It was built by the dedicated efforts of local psychics, and by the hard work of ordinary people, expanding it into a city capable of accommodating tens of millions. The sudden addition of five million people would have put immense pressure on the receiving end, both in terms of housing and food.

Once the supply of materials is insufficient, people will eat each other.

Gu Fan listened to them discussing supplies and suddenly remembered Lu Ya's space crystal core. He even collected hoes. Lu Ya said at the time that in order to prevent the beast tide from attacking the base, he stored various tools that humans might need to build a new base in the space.

Five million people, five million mouths to feed, farmland is essential, and the hoe Lu Ya prepared will definitely come in handy.

"Everyone, go get some rest. We'll set off at dawn tomorrow morning, heading for City C."

——

On the fifth day after Gu Fan and his four companions left the residential area, a team of 26 psychics arrived in Shashi from another direction.

The sun was about to set, and Lu Ya led the team to set up tents in an abandoned stadium to rest.

The reconstruction of the base requires a large amount of daily necessities and military supplies. After discussion, the military decided to let Lu Ya lead the team to City C, mainly to collect supplies and supplemented by detecting the distribution of monsters.

Lu Ya led the team, and the remaining 25 people came from the five major families: Lu, Sheng, He, Wang, and Li.

The Sheng family can rank second, not only because the Sheng family retained the most high-level psychics after the beast tide, but also because the head of the Sheng family, Sheng Heqing, accidentally discovered a thin and inconspicuous son when he was counting his descendants. Because of his eldest wife's tricks, he didn't even know the existence of this son, and this son had never had his psychic level tested.

So, Sheng Heqing personally tested his son's level of supernatural powers.

The result was very surprising. This nine-year-old child named Sheng An was actually an S-level strongman of both wood and fire elements.

When the news spread, the five million survivors in the entire Jiangnan base were excited. The base had just sacrificed two marshals, and so quickly added another S-level strongman. It was like hope sent by God to mankind.

In this way, the Sheng family's status in the base surpassed the other three families and ranked second, only lower than the Lu family.

The tents were set up, with each family's five-man team sharing one large tent.

But there was one special person. Sheng Xi, the captain of the Sheng family team, set up a tent for himself and lived with his newly married wife Lu Yao.

Lu Yao didn't like this. At home, she could tolerate whatever tricks Sheng Xi played, but this was outside. She was the legitimate daughter of the Lu family. How could Sheng Xi treat her like a lowly woman in front of the elite of the five major families?

Although Sheng Xi's tent was set up, Lu Yao was still sitting in the Sheng family's big tent, as if she knew nothing about what was happening outside.

Sheng Xi suddenly lifted the curtain and glanced inside. Apart from his three male confidants, the rest was Lu Yao sitting with her back to him.

Sheng Xi smiled and called Lu Yao: "Come out, I've cleaned up that place for you."

He spoke in a doting tone, as if Lu Yao had asked to sleep alone.

A close friend said, "Captain Sheng really dotes on his wife."

Sheng Xi said: "She is still young, how can I not spoil her."

After the two of them said this, Lu Yao had no reason to refuse.

She maintained a calm expression and walked out of the tent.

Not far away, Lu Ya was talking to two Lu family soldiers and never looked towards the Sheng family.

But Lu Yao saw Lu Ya.

Thinking of the commotion Sheng Xi had deliberately caused on previous nights, Lu Yao felt as if her face had been thrown at Lu Ya's feet by Sheng Xi, leaving her unable to raise her head in front of Lu Ya again.