Second Apocalyptic Plane.
Lu Ze was awakened from his sleep by a chattering sound. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a bunch of thin, bony faces.
"Hey! What are you all doing?" Lu Ze gasped in shock. Anyone who wakes up from a dream and sees a room full of people would be scared half to death.
"Aze, I told them you could exchange stones for candy here, and they all came over with their stones." Tao Tao emerged from the crowd with a guilty look on her face.
Aze: ...
"Aze, we've never had candy before, have we? Can you trade me one? I'll give you all the stones I've saved." The sallow-faced boy standing by the bed handed over his wooden box, several times larger than Aze's own. Judging from the boy's strained expression as he held it in his hands, it was clear there was a lot inside.
"And mine too."
"Mine too, I brought them all!" they exclaimed, as if afraid Lu Ze wouldn't hear them.
Lu Ze's head was buzzing from the noise, so he quickly raised his hand to stop them. "But I don't have any candy here right now. The candy I gave to Tao Tao was from when I was farming outside the boundary. I gave some water to an uncle from another district, and he gave it to me as a thank you. There were only three. I ate one, and I gave the other two to Tao Tao. If you don't believe me, you can search here. I really don't have anything."
In the entire security industry, who doesn't know that Lu Ze is an orphan? He's so poor that even his shelter from the rain is made from rags he picked up himself.
After he finished speaking, everyone fell silent, pouting in disappointment. They didn't know who would leave first, but one by one, they left quickly.
"Aze, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Tao Tao stayed behind, feeling guilty as she placed all the stones she had picked up that day on the bedside table.
"It's okay, I really don't have any more candy. Tao Tao, you can't say things like that again, okay?" Although he appeared calm, Lu Ze was actually quite scared. He had almost given himself away.
He couldn't even imagine what the higher-ups would do if they knew he had a system.
In the end, he just wouldn't survive.
Even if it's considered his special ability, the security administration wouldn't allow him to go to the New Territories. He would either be dissected to get his secrets, or he would be kept in captivity and forced to help the administration meet their needs.
Either way, it's something he doesn't want to encounter.
From now on, we will need to be extremely careful when taking out food from the system to eat or use.
The outside quickly became lively, with men, women, and children gathering as the planting team assembled.
Lu Ze tidied up his belongings, picked up a small hoe, and went outside. Outside the shed, adults and children over twelve years old came out one after another from all directions. They were all going out with their families to make a living.
Due to long-term malnutrition, the children here are not tall. Most of them don't reach a height of 1.2 meters until they are 12 years old or older, and some are even less than 1.2 meters. Therefore, the rule of the security industry is that children under 12 years old are not allowed to leave the security area. This is also to protect the new generation in their slum and pass on the legacy from generation to generation.
Lu Ze had just turned 12 last month, which is why he was allowed to go out with the adults to clear land and plant some wheat. He was almost assimilated last time because he hadn't cleared the weeds from his field and they were crowding the seedlings. He wanted to do more, which delayed his return trip.
"Aze? Where's your food?" A skinny, dark-skinned boy with a small, sticking-up ponytail stood behind Lu Ze.
"Amu, why aren't you with your parents?" Why are you standing behind him?
"They think I'm a nuisance, so I'm not going today. You didn't bring your food bag or water bottle. Aren't you hungry or thirsty?" Amu asked worriedly, looking at his friend's empty back and arms, with only a small hoe in his hand.
"I ate my lunch together this morning, so I can save time during lunch to work." Lu Ze squinted, multitasking as he listened to the team leader's instructions and precautions.
Amu was stunned for a moment. "Okay then. I'll go back first. I didn't sleep well last night, so I'll catch up on my sleep when I get back." His parents wouldn't take care of him anyway, and he had nothing to do. If he didn't sleep, his grandmother, who stayed at home, would force him to do chores, which he didn't want to do.
Lu Ze nodded, glanced at the line again, and found that they were still not moving. They probably weren't leaving for the time being. He thought about going back to get his copper kettle from home, in case it got stolen. He would be at a huge loss.
Never mind, let's go find the teapot.
Once he made up his mind, he got to work. When he came out after getting the water bottle, only one of the planting team members remained.
If he misses the queue, he won't be able to leave today; they only allow passage once a day.
Lu Ze panicked and took off after him, luckily stepping onto the checkpoint gate in the last few seconds.
"Xiao Ze, why are you so late today?" The gatekeeper found it somewhat amusing to see Lu Ze in such a hurry.
"Uncle, talk to you later, I have to go to work."
"Hey, drive carefully!"
Every day, a team of over a thousand people would come out from the planting team. The team that Lu Ze was with was Tao Tao's father's group. They were all young and strong and had decent fighting skills.
Soon, he arrived at the land he had cleared. When he saw his short, lifeless seedlings, Lu Ze panicked. He hadn't had time to water them yesterday. Could they even survive?
"Aze, your seedlings need watering," the aunt next to him kindly reminded him. "Go to your Uncle Yue's place. He brought a water pump today just to water them. Take this bucket with you and bring some back to water them. These seedlings need to be thoroughly watered the first time, otherwise they will have a hard time surviving."
Lu Ze gratefully took the plastic bucket and strode towards his destination.
Their planting team has a well they dug themselves. Although it's a polluted water source, it's still fine for irrigating the land. The plants have gotten used to the radiation intensity here and aren't afraid of polluting the water.
This busy period lasted for more than four hours. The sky gradually darkened, and the moon rose, slowly changing from a crescent to a half-moon.
"Let's go, it's time to call it a day. Back to the party."
Upon hearing the team leader's voice, everyone quickly packed their things, lined up at the designated spot, and prepared to go home.
This time, Lu Ze didn't dare to dawdle. He picked up his small hoe and watering can and headed to the gathering place. Looking back at the wet ground, he saw that the rice seedlings were slowly regaining their vitality, which calmed him down a bit.
Wheat in the radiation zone can be harvested in just forty days. After harvesting, the land can be plowed and the next crop of sweet potato seedlings can be planted. In short, the land he reclaimed was enough to feed himself.
It's good that the system provides food, but he can't rely solely on the system to survive.
It appears suddenly and disappears just as suddenly, so his land must continue to be cultivated.
Modern Dimension.
Yuan Zhuan was drawing a talisman when he heard the system prompting him to check his text message.
Upon opening the system page, Lu Ze's voice message arrived.
"Sister, I need weapons to protect myself. I want a knife, and the thunderstorm talisman you mentioned the other day. There are so many zombies around here. If I can use these to fight the zombies, I can collect the crystal cores from their brains. I can use the crystal cores to exchange for a house with the security management office..."
After a long, rambling conversation, Yuan Zhuan quickly summarized the main points: this kid wanted weapons and wanted to fight zombies.
He is a resilient and brave child.
Second Apocalyptic Plane.
Lu Ze was woken up by the system. "Host, the transaction dimension has sent you a voice message. Please answer it."
Hearing this in a daze, Lu Ze suddenly sat up, his heart pounding with excitement.
“Lu Ze…”
"Sister!" Under the light screen, the boy's phoenix eyes sparkled.
"Do you still have those stones from last time?" the child said in the comments, adding that he still had plenty and wasn't afraid of her lowering the price.
"Yes, sister, besides my own, I also traded a lot with my friends. I want to use them to trade for some weapons and talismans, is that okay?"
"Sure, you can put all the stones on the trading platform, and I'll assess their quality."
Lu Ze did as instructed and quickly completed the upload.
All the stones on the bed disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Lu Ze was still somewhat shocked by the system's magic.
"Ruby detected..." Out of more than a hundred stones, only eleven were ultimately qualified and could be exchanged; the rest were just pure stones.
Even so, it was enough for Lu Ze to exchange for what he wanted.
Yuan Zhuan's account balance was flooded with gold coins, another five hundred or so were deposited. Yuan Zhuan was very satisfied. "I'll exchange them for a military dagger, a steel knife about a meter long, and fifty thunderstorm talismans for you. I'll also give you two peace talismans, which you can use for defense. Take one with you when you go out to work, just in case, it might save your life."
"Okay." Upon hearing about the types of supplies to be exchanged, Lu Ze rubbed his hands together, his lips trembling with excitement.
The biggest fear for the planting team when they go out is being ambushed. If they have weapons and defensive skills, they can not only protect themselves, but also hunt zombies and sell them to the management office.
At this moment, Lu Ze began to have expectations for the future, instead of just getting by as before.
---Dimensional Dividing Line
Xiaocheng, where Zhang Xiaoxiao lives, is getting bigger and bigger, and its population is also increasing. The people in the central city where she is now cooperating are also increasing their demand for high-quality and inexpensive talismans. She is really too busy to handle it all by herself.
After this shipment is delivered, Yuan Sun and his companion won't be idle. If they can't draw the thunderstorm talisman well, they'll draw a defensive talisman array for her.
As Yuan Sun mentioned last time, his sect is most skilled in talisman arrays.
Having offensive runes is a good thing, but defensive strength is even more important.
Yuan Sun was used to the fact that goods were being delivered to the warehouse every few days and then mysteriously disappearing at night. Since the master didn't say anything, they didn't ask either.
In a few days, they'll be going to give martial arts instruction to the kids. I wonder if the food there will be good, or if there's even a canteen.
Yuan Zhuan quickly provided an answer to the concerns of the grandfather and grandson.
"The staff canteen?" the old man and the young man said in unison.
"Is it as good as Sister Liu's cooking?" Sun Dasheng asked, voicing what the two were thinking.
"We have five dishes every day. No two dishes are the same, and there's plenty to go around."
"Wow!" they exclaimed in unison.
Yuan Zhuan: She knew it.
The night was pitch black, there was no moon, and the sky was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, a rare occurrence.
Yuan Zhuan didn't sleep well, as he kept feeling a throbbing pain between his eyebrows.
Yuan Zhuan raised his hand and pinched the space between his eyebrows again. Frustrated, he sat up. The room was quiet, but he couldn't fall asleep.
After trying again, Yuan Zhuan gave up, got dressed, got out of bed, turned on the light, and prepared to continue drawing talismans.
However, Tata... Tata...
Strange footsteps sounded outside the window, as if someone was pacing back and forth under the window.
Could it be that something is looking for her?
She didn't seem to notice any yin energy or malevolent spirits.
He frowned, got up, and walked towards the window; the tapping sound disappeared.
I opened the window, and apart from the unusually dark sky, there wasn't even a stray cat in sight.
After carefully sensing the window, Yuan Zhuan still found nothing. He assumed he was just being paranoid and reached out to close it.
“Sister…” a soft, sweet voice rang out in the darkness.
Yuan Zhuan turned her head and saw two children sitting on her bed; their faces looked very familiar.
They were the two children who followed her to the cave to search for the body.
They've got some nerve, managing to find their way here.
Yuan Zhuan left the windows wide open, asking, "How did you two know I lived here?"
The two children looked timid, as if they were afraid that Yuan Zhuan would be angry, and they spoke cautiously. "We can see the sister's breath," the boy with the buzz cut said, mustering his courage. "Duoduo is mute, he can't speak."
The child next to the boy with the buzz cut was originally named Duoduo.
"What do you want from me?" Seeing the little guy hiding behind the crew-cut boy and about to cry, Yuan Zhuan couldn't keep a stern face anymore and softened his voice.
"Sister, we can't find our home. Our parents don't live in the same place anymore. Sister, my name is Rui Rui."
It's not in the same place anymore?
"Do you want me to find you family?" This time, both children nodded in unison.
"Are you all one family?"
“We are from the same village, and we all have the surname Yu. We are from Yujia Village. My father’s name is Yu Guoqiang, and my mother’s name is Wu Huihua. Duoduo’s father’s name is Yu Xing, but I don’t know what her mother’s name is.”
After learning their names, Yuan Zhuan looked at the two with new respect. What intelligent children they were! It was such a pity.
However, both of them were destined to die young, so even if it weren't for this crisis, other circumstances would have occurred. In the end, neither of them would live past the age of ten; it was predetermined, and their fates had already been recorded.
"You should find a place to hide first. I'll investigate for you tomorrow. Come find me tonight." Yuan Zhuan didn't intend to refuse the favor that was offered to him.
"Thank you, sister." The two children thanked her happily and went out the window.
Yuan Zhuan watched the two children disappear from the window before preparing to close it. However, just a few seconds before closing the window, Yuan Zhuan noticed that the moon had appeared. It was a blood-red full moon surrounded by black mist, which, like a thin snake, slowly moved towards the center of the moon.
Yuan Zhuan frowned, his heart skipping a beat.
It's only the end of January, there shouldn't be a full moon yet. A reddish-black moon indicates a major disaster!
direction……
Yuan Zhuan opened the window again and went back into the room to do the calculations.
All three trigrams point to the southwest direction, which is extremely inauspicious!
Something bad is about to happen!
When the divination result came to a stop, Yuan Zhuan looked up at the sky and, sure enough, in the southwest direction, yin energy was slowly gathering.
Yuan Sun and Sun Dasheng were dragged out of bed, still half asleep, and were so angry they wanted to kill someone.
"You little brat, you disturbed my great-grandfather's sleep!"
After cursing, Yuan Sun realized something was wrong and perked up. His benefactor, Yuan Zhuan, was glaring at him with a cold face.
"If I said I didn't mean it, would you forgive me?" Her survival instincts are really strong.
"There's no time to talk to you about this now. Get up, we're heading southwest, something's going to happen there."
"What?" This time, not only Yuan Sun woke up, but Sun Dasheng on the next bed also jolted awake, sat up abruptly, and straightened up.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com