Chapter 76 Ran to the city center
Everyone was busy harvesting wheat and immersed in the joy of the harvest, so they didn't notice that someone was missing. When they realized that Xiang Qizheng was missing, they found that they couldn't find him anywhere.
"I asked his wife, and she said he left the base and took some mutated wheat and barley seeds with him." The man looked annoyed. If he hadn't been so busy fighting with others for the harvester, he wouldn't have missed Xiang Qizheng.
"This guy is really restless!"
Lin Kang frowned: "How many seeds did he bring?"
The other party said, "There shouldn't be many, just a few dozen. Mutant wheat and barley are too conspicuous. If he brings too many, it will inevitably arouse suspicion, and it won't be so easy for him to leave the base."
The Xiaohe base operates on a "easy exit, strict entry" policy. You can leave the base whenever you want, but if you want to come back, you need to have your identity checked and be quarantined.
There was no problem doing it this way before, since it's so dangerous outside, only a fool would go out, right?
Unexpectedly, a fool actually went out. Originally, we were going to give Xiang Qizheng a break and not kick him out, but he actually had a brain fart and ran away.
"Looks like I'll have to talk to the guards about this from now on. They need to do strict checks when we go out." Lin Kang frowned and looked at Cheng Zhiyu: "Xiao Cheng, is it okay for him to take these seeds out? Should we send someone to chase after him?"
The other party shouldn't have gone far yet. Sending a fast superhuman might allow us to catch up.
Cheng Zhiyu shook his head and said, "Forget it, chasing him would be a waste of manpower."
He really couldn't understand Xiang Qizheng's thought process. The other party was an ordinary person, and had no ability to protect himself. How could he dare to run away?
"After the apocalypse broke out, everyone basically hid at home. Later, I led people to clear out the zombies, built a safe base, and constructed a wall. They gradually came out," Lin Kang explained. "You could say that most people never encountered zombies head-on. Although they were hungry, they had never been in danger, let alone left the base. How would they know how dangerous it was outside?"
It can be said that there are many people like Xiang Qizheng who are completely unaware of the dangers outside.
However, they also knew that it was dangerous outside, so they would not go out easily. Xiang Qizheng probably felt that there was no other way, and that it was better to run away than to stay in the base and suffer.
He also brought mutant seeds with him because he heard that mutant seeds were particularly precious. He thought that if he took some, he could exchange them for a lot of things at the large base, and then he would live there and never come back.
It has to be said that this idea is very naive.
The Xiahe base is located in a relatively remote area, and the nearest large base is quite far away. Xiang Qi doesn't even have a car, and it's wishful thinking to think he can walk there safely without any danger.
Of course, if the other party is really lucky and gets through safely, Cheng Zhiyu has nothing to say.
However, the probability of this happening is less than one percent.
"Besides, even if he gives the seeds to someone else, that's just bad news." Cheng Zhiyu didn't think it was a big deal. These seeds were beneficial to human development, and even if Xiang Qizheng didn't secretly take them away, he would still exchange them for supplies with other bases.
"That Xiang Qizheng is really something." No matter what, Xiang Qizheng just left with the seeds without a care, and everyone was furious.
Did the other party ever consider that this would harm the base's interests? Probably not at all; they were only thinking about how to make a good living for themselves.
"It's better for this kind of person to leave sooner rather than later." Cheng Zhiyu was quite philosophical about it: "It's better than leaving him at the base and creating a hidden danger."
Fang Guowei nodded: "That's true. It's good that he's gone. If he can really survive safely, then he's lucky."
"What about Xiang Qizheng's wife?"
Lin Kang thought for a moment and said, "She was also dragged down by Xiang Qizheng. Go ask her if she will let Xiang Qizheng return to the base if he comes back. If she still wants to help Xiang Qizheng, then... let's go together. If she doesn't want to, she can hide the fact that Xiang Qizheng escaped and be punished by doing some chores."
Lin Kang was soft-hearted and wanted to give the other party another chance, since he had been dragged down by Xiang Qizheng.
No one else said anything. Legally speaking, the other party would be an accomplice, but how can you say that? Let's give them another chance.
Finally, someone was sent to ask, and the rural woman immediately burst into tears: "They say a woman follows her husband wherever he goes, whether he's a chicken or a dog, but I've suffered a lot following him all my life."
Xiang Qi was always causing trouble and had a history of offending people. Back then, in a society governed by the rule of law, no one relied on anyone else, so it didn't seem like a big deal, but it was still quite upsetting.
In the end times, Xiang Qizheng caused a lot of trouble. In fact, she had had enough, but there was nothing she could do: "I kept it a secret for him, which was a way of ending our marital relationship. If he comes back, I will not recognize him."
She knew that the base would definitely not want someone like him again; this time, Xiang Qizheng left on his own, so she couldn't blame anyone else.
She doesn't want to deal with it anymore, and she's not capable of doing so either.
I don't want Xiang Qizheng to come back either; I hope he's doing well outside.
Xiang Qizheng's matter did not cause much of a stir. Occasionally, someone in the base would mention it and curse Xiang Qizheng, but other than that, no one paid any attention.
After Cheng Zhiyu and his group finished packing, they drove away from the base.
Since they weren't familiar with the others and needed to get to know each other better, Cheng Zhiyu, finding it troublesome, asked Tian Qiao and the other two, but no one else was brought along, and the five of them set off together as before.
This time, Cheng Zhiyu also asked Sun Yu, who had previously said he would come to the Xiahe base first and then leave for the large base after a while. Cheng Zhiyu said, "We might pass by the large base this time, do you want to come?"
Sun Yu refused. She had already moved out of Cheng Zhiyu's house and was too embarrassed to trouble others. With her strong supernatural abilities, she quickly found a place to stay.
She now feels good at the Xiahe base and has made some friends, so she has no plans to leave.
Seeing this, Cheng Zhiyu said nothing more.
"Wow! It's been so long since I've been out. I have to say, I've really missed it." Tian Qiao looked at the scenery outside and was in a good mood.
Zhou Min yawned: "Where are we going? Straight to the city?"
The things they're looking for are probably not available in small counties, especially the equipment needed for their research; it would be better to go directly to the county.
“Okay,” Cheng Zhiyu said as he drove, “Let’s go straight to the city and find out where we can find usable solar panels and power generation equipment before we go to the city research institute.”
He looked at the map before he came and knew that there was a research institute in the city.
Everyone nodded, agreeing with his arrangement.
"We still need to go to the print shop," Cheng Mo reminded him, as he was still thinking about finding a photo printer to print out Cheng Zhiyu's photo.
Tian Qiao was unsure what they had discussed earlier, and now asked curiously, "What are you going to the print shop for?"
Cheng Zhiyu coughed lightly: "Nothing, just looking for something."
As she spoke, she glanced at Cheng Mo, who, having received a warning, looked regretful that he hadn't been able to successfully boast about how cute Zhiyu was as a child.
However, he glanced at Tian Qiao, who seemed to have grown up with Zhi Yu.
Tian Qiao: "?"
Why are you looking at him with such a strange expression?
Fortunately, Cheng Mo quickly looked away.
They planned to head straight to the city center and not waste time elsewhere. The city center wasn't far from here; before the apocalypse, it would have taken about two hours by car, but now, it was obviously impossible to get there that quickly.
We used to take the highway, which is why it was so fast, but we obviously can't take the highway anymore. There would definitely be a lot of cars stuck on the highway, and there would probably be a lot of zombies too. If we took the highway, although the distance would be shorter, it might actually take longer.
Cheng Zhiyu and his group decided to take the back path.
They inevitably encountered zombies along the way, but Xiao Juan had already dealt with them without them needing to get out of the car.
Xiao Juan has been incredibly bored staying at the base lately, and Cheng Zhiyu won't allow it to play around like that. Now that it's out here, it can finally play however it wants.
If a zombie comes, Xiao Juan will wrap it up with her vines and not kill it in a hurry. She'll just toss it around for fun, tossing it into the air, catching it, and then tossing it again, just like tossing a ball.
Unfortunately, zombies are generally slow to react, unlike humans who can yell when you throw something at them, which is quite amusing.
The zombies are only good for playing around with, but Cheng Zhiyu didn't want them to be embarrassing to play with.
Zombie: ...mmp
However, their journey wasn't without its challenges. They encountered strange beasts along the way. These beasts were quite clever; one of them, a plant-type leopard, stretched out vines as it passed, attempting to pierce their tires with the thorns to make them stop.
They also encountered powerful zombies, requiring them to get out of the vehicle to deal with them.
This would inevitably delay the journey, and Cheng Zhiyu estimated that they wouldn't reach the city until the next day.
That night, they rested temporarily in the wild. No one felt there was anything wrong with being in the wild. They had Xiaoqiang, who was now level three. They hadn't needed to stay in Xiaoqiang's treehouse when they were at the base, and they hadn't stayed there since Xiaoqiang leveled up.
“I’m curious to see what it looks like inside.” Zhou Min rubbed his hands together.
Cheng Zhiyu released Xiaoqiang, whose appearance was still the same as before. However, once inside, it was discovered that there seemed to be little change.
Previously, the first floor had a living room and two rooms, and the second floor also had two rooms and a small storage room. Now, it seems there is no difference.
Zhou Min looked at Cheng Zhiyu with a blank expression, and the latter smiled and said, "Now we don't need a generator, Xiaoqiang has electricity inside."
As he spoke, he reached out and pressed the light switch next to him, instantly illuminating the room.
Zhou Min: "!!!"
Their diesel generator was out of diesel and couldn't be used. They thought they would have to work in the dark all day, but unexpectedly, Xiaoqiang was able to generate electricity by himself!
Tian Qiao and Tian Manman were originally being directed by Cheng Mo to do preparatory work before cooking, such as building an earthen stove and finding some firewood.
Hearing Zhou Min's startled reaction, he couldn't help but say to the supervisor, Cheng Mo, "Brother Hei, shall we go and take a look first?"
Cheng Mo tilted his chin slightly and went into the treehouse first. Tian Qiao glanced at Tian Manman, who was still diligently building the earthen stove, and pulled her along, saying, "Come on, let's go in and take a look."
Once inside, upon hearing that Xiaoqiang could generate its own power, Tian Qiao exclaimed, "That's great! I was thinking I'd have to work in the dark tonight. Hey? By the way, what's the principle behind this? How can it generate its own power? Is it photosynthesis?"
Cheng Zhiyu was speechless: "...Why don't you try to find the principle behind it?"
In this apocalyptic world, if we try to find the underlying principles for everything, we'll probably be exhausted.
Tian Qiao waved her hand decisively: "No need, I was just saying."
Tian Manman looked around for a while, then found it boring, as nothing had changed: "I'm going to get back to work."
As he spoke, he went out again to build an earthen stove.
Tian Qiao asked Cheng Zhiyu, "Chengzi, what are we having for dinner tonight?"
Cheng Zhiyu glanced at the earthen stove that hadn't even been built yet and said, "Don't bother. Let's just stay here for a day and have hot pot. There's electricity, so we can just use an induction cooker."
Upon hearing this, Tian Manman stopped what she was doing and asked, "What's hot pot?"
He's never eaten it before.
Indeed, Cheng Zhiyu hadn't thought of making it before. But since he had been traveling all day and was too lazy to cook, he decided to have hot pot instead.
He had hot pot base this time, so he could just cook the vegetables directly.
Everyone busied themselves washing vegetables, and Cheng Mo, who was skilled with a knife, was assigned the task of cutting meat.
Cheng Zhiyu instructed: "Slice it as thinly as possible, the thinner the better."
He wanted to eat meat rolls.
Cheng Mo nodded, his gaze serious and earnest, while the others washed and chopped the vegetables.
"Oh, by the way, we saw some mushrooms over there when we were gathering firewood," Tian Qiao said. "We didn't know if they were poisonous, so we didn't dare pick them."
Cheng Zhiyu: "If you don't recognize it, it's best not to pick it."
Zhou Min immediately said, "I know him, let me go and see."
Cheng Zhiyu asked, still uneasy, "Are you sure?"
"It's okay. Even if I get mushroom poisoning, I'm here for you, aren't I?" Zhou Min said, indicating that he had healing abilities and wasn't afraid at all.
So Zhou Min pulled Tian Qiao along and asked him to give him directions, and they went mushroom picking.
A short while later, the two returned carrying a bag of mushrooms. Zhou Min said, "You know what, there are quite a lot. These aren't poisonous. I think they're chicken leg mushrooms, which are the king oyster mushrooms we eat, just smaller ones."
Cheng Zhiyu was still worried, so he took a look and found that there was nothing strange about the color; it was just ordinary white. Moreover, Zhou Min was so sure that he recognized it, so he didn't ask any more questions.
When eating hot pot, you naturally need a condiment bowl, otherwise the flavor will be half as good. Fortunately, Cheng Zhiyu often cooks, so there is nothing lacking here.
He adjusted the dishes for everyone and, seeing that the food was almost ready, said, "Bring it over and let's eat."
The coffee table in the living room is completely filled. I didn't realize how much it was when I was busy preparing it, but now that it's all laid out, it feels like quite a lot.
Cheng Mo didn't know how to eat, so she just stared at Cheng Zhiyu without saying that she didn't know how.
"It's very simple. Just put whatever vegetables you want in, and once they're cooked, take them out, dip them in the sauce, and you can eat them." Cheng Zhiyu explained, "It's okay if they're a little overcooked, it just won't taste as good. We'll cook them a little longer today."
Everyone eagerly started eating. Tian Qiao picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks, dipped it in the sauce, and ate it in one bite. She immediately sighed happily, "Delicious, delicious, this is the taste! I haven't had this in a long time and I've been craving it."
This was the first time Cheng Mo had eaten such a crudely prepared dish at Cheng Zhiyu's place. He tentatively took a bite, and then his eyes lit up. Delicious!
Cheng Zhiyu also has Coke here; take a sip and happiness will double.
The group ate with great gusto, and unsurprisingly, all the food was completely devoured.
After eating, I rested for a while, then took a shower and went to bed.
Eating hot pot is wonderful, but afterwards, the smell of hot pot on you isn't so pleasant.
After washing up, Cheng Zhiyu finally felt comfortable. He casually dried his hair and lay down on the bed.
After traveling all day, even sitting in a car, he was exhausted and fell asleep in no time.
When Cheng Mo returned to his room, he saw Cheng Zhiyu sleeping peacefully with his eyes closed, the light still on.
He smiled and walked over, touching Cheng Zhiyu's hair. It was a little wet, so he took a dry towel and clumsily dried Cheng Zhiyu's hair.
Cheng Zhiyu, perhaps annoyed by him in his sleep, reached out and slapped him. Cheng Mo angrily bit his finger.
Oh well, Cheng Zhiyu is just so adorable, I won't hold it against him.
After drying his hair, he turned off the light, hugged Cheng Zhiyu tightly, and closed his eyes happily.
They continued their journey the next day and finally arrived in the city at noon.
After a quick lunch, the group began collecting supplies.
Now, more than half a year has passed since the apocalypse, and people are slowly starting to adapt to their current lives, either joining bases for protection or searching for resources to improve their strength.
So when they got to the city, they didn't go for half a day without encountering a single person like before. They ran into a group of superhumans who looked like they were out of the base looking for supplies.
They kept a certain distance from Cheng Zhiyu and his group, but occasionally glanced over at them, seemingly very curious about them.
Cheng Zhiyu guessed that the other party was probably a superhuman from a nearby base, but he had no interest in saying anything more to the other party, so he pretended not to see it.
The people on the other side looked at them for a while, probably thinking they couldn't beat them or something, and didn't say much to them. They had originally planned to rest, but fearing that Cheng Zhiyu and his group would get the supplies first, they didn't dare to rest and immediately went to search for supplies again.
Cheng Zhiyu wasn't in a hurry, since these people probably weren't interested in what they wanted anyway.
The top priority in gathering supplies right now is naturally finding food, but to put it bluntly, they don't lack food.
After resting for a while, they got up and set off to look for a print shop nearby. Sigh, Cheng Mo had been talking about finding a photo copier for ages.
These kinds of things are usually available at photo studios or print shops.
Unexpectedly, they ran into the same group of superhumans again.
The group of superhumans were initially quite happy to have found a supermarket, thinking there should be supplies inside. However, upon entering, they found only a dozen or so people huddled together in small groups.
Upon seeing them enter, the dozen or so people immediately became wary.
The leader of the group of superhumans frowned, pretending not to see them, and went inside the supermarket to take a look. He found that there was nothing there, and couldn't help but feel annoyed. They had searched hard for a long time and finally found this supermarket, only to find that there was nothing there.
"Where are the supplies here?" the superhuman asked the group.
"No...no, this place was empty when we came here," someone replied cautiously.
The second superhuman glanced at the group, guessing they wouldn't dare lie: "This place has probably already been searched once. Tsk, supplies are getting harder and harder to find these days."
Unlike back when the apocalypse started, when you could easily find supplies as long as you were brave enough.
Gradually, many people have become aware of the need to find supplies, but with only so many supplies available, it is bound to become increasingly difficult to find them.
“We’re just unlucky. Let’s move on to the next place,” said the second superhuman.
"Are you... are you from the Dongyang base?" someone asked boldly.
"Yes." The second superhuman said arrogantly, "What, you've come here to defect to the base?"
"Yes, we...we've finally found them! We heard that the Dongyang base is willing to accept people. Can you take us there?" someone asked excitedly.
As they talked, a girl sitting in the corner looked at the group of superhumans with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
Although these dozen or so people all lived in this supermarket and had come all the way here hoping to join the Dongyang base, their relationship wasn't very good.
At most, they were just fellow travelers, and since supplies were becoming increasingly scarce and everyone was starving and thirsty, they were naturally extra wary of those around them.
The girl touched the man beside her with a mixture of anticipation and fear. This was her brother, a superhuman with superpowers, though not very strong, only level two. Their journey had been extremely difficult. Her brother, being kind-hearted, saw how pitiful these ordinary people were and allowed them to follow him.
As it turned out, they had bad luck yesterday and encountered a level three alien beast. Her brother fought desperately to kill the beast, but was seriously injured in the process.
Logically, people with superpowers recover from injuries much faster than ordinary people, but her brother's injuries were too severe. Since last night, his consciousness has been somewhat blurred, and when she touched him just now, he had a fever.
We must get to the Dongyang base as soon as possible. I've heard that large bases usually have healing-type ability users. Only by entering the base can they be saved.
With that thought in mind, she kept her eyes fixed on the group of superhumans.
The superhuman, C, glanced at the group of ordinary people, frowned, and said with some disdain, "You want to go to the base? We can take you there, but if you want to enter the base, you'll have to pay an entrance fee, either food or crystal cores will do."
His gaze swept over the group of people: "Do you have any?"
"Besides, we can't just take you there for nothing, can we?" the superhuman A chimed in.
They wanted to test whether these ordinary people had hidden all the supermarket's supplies.
Upon hearing that there was an entrance fee to enter the city, the group exchanged glances, somewhat panicked: "Sir, we've had a hard time getting here, how can we afford the entrance fee?"
"Yes, please take us there! Please help us out of our pitiful state, we don't want to die out there..." Some people pretended to be pitiful.
But this tactic obviously didn't work. The group of superhumans saw that the group of people really had nothing, and immediately lost interest.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard a girl say anxiously, "I...I have a crystal core."
Seeing the superhumans looking over, she quickly swallowed and said, "I have a crystal core, can you take me there? I... I can offer a reward."
The group of superhumans exchanged glances, and upon hearing that there was a reward, they became interested: "Alright, we'll take you there, one level-two crystal core each."
Level 2 crystal cores are not particularly rare now. They were afraid this person couldn't afford them and wouldn't ask for many. Since they were going back to the base anyway, they could just take them back with them and get two crystal cores for free.
The girl stammered, "Then... how much is the city entrance fee?"
Ability User A: "Ability users need two level-two crystal cores, while ordinary people need three level-two crystal cores. If you have a level-three crystal core, one core can support both an ordinary person and an ability user."
She has a level 3 crystal core here, which she dug up after killing that strange beast yesterday. She also has two level 2 crystal cores, which she can use as payment.
She made up her mind and immediately said, "Okay, please take us there."
As she spoke, she quickly helped her brother up. The ability user frowned: "He has a fever?"
Several superhumans immediately became alert, saying, "Those with fevers are no good. We won't bring them. What if they get infected with the zombie virus?"
The girl quickly said, "No, it's not a zombie virus. He was injured by a monster yesterday, and other people can testify to that."
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