Chapter 79 Encountering People on the Way Back to Base
“What is this…” Cheng Mo looked at the flashy cover, puzzled.
"Oh, you'll understand once you see it, hehe." Zhou Min said, then went back to his room with a mysterious smile.
Cheng Mo looked at the book in his hand, subconsciously flipped it open, and found that the main characters were two men. He didn't have much patience to read it, so he flipped through the pages again.
They had only turned two pages when they started hugging. Wait, they had only just met!
He patiently flipped through the pages again, and then, upon seeing something, his eyes widened, and his hand instinctively slammed the book shut.
In the room, Cheng Zhiyu tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Strangely, where did Cheng Mo go? He hadn't come back yet.
Just as I was wondering whether I should go out and take a look, I heard the sound of turning the doorknob at the door.
Cheng Zhiyu lay back down, and then Cheng Mo walked in, closed the door, and didn't move for a long time.
Cheng Zhiyu: "? What's wrong with you? You're just standing at the door in a daze."
Cheng Mo pursed his lips, feeling a little dry in his throat: "It's nothing."
"Oh, if you have nothing else to do, come and go to sleep." Cheng Zhiyu said casually, then yawned.
Traveling outside is really tiring.
Cheng Mo's Adam's apple bobbed, and he walked over and lay down next to Cheng Zhiyu.
Cheng Zhiyu closed his eyes and waited for a long time, only to find that the sun had risen in the west today, as Cheng Mo did not come over to hug or kiss him.
Cheng Zhiyu asked curiously, "What's wrong with you?"
Cheng Mo mumbled, "Nothing?"
"Oh." Cheng Zhiyu waited for a while, then turned his head and squinted at him, saying, "Something's wrong with you, very wrong."
Cheng Mo's eyes darted around, unsure where to look. "Ahem...no, I don't think so."
Cheng Zhiyu: "?" Something's really wrong. What was this kid doing behind his back just now? It's so strange, I don't even dare to look at him.
Cheng Mo's mind was filled with what he had just seen. He unconsciously replaced the faces of the two little people with his and Cheng Zhiyu's... and felt his whole body burning up.
He was somewhat hesitant to approach Cheng Zhiyu; his thoughts were no longer so pure.
No, we're outside, we can't do anything else here.
Then I wondered, what else could it be...?
"Dahei, your nose is bleeding!" Cheng Zhiyu exclaimed and quickly grabbed some tissues to wipe it for him.
Cheng Mo was stunned for a moment, feeling a heat in his nose. He reached down and touched it, finding his hand covered in blood: "..."
Cheng Zhiyu quickly helped him wash his nose with cold water. Fortunately, the nosebleed stopped, and he breathed a sigh of relief, frowning as he asked, "Why did your nose suddenly start bleeding?"
Cheng Mo didn't know that, as he thought of Cheng Zhiyu, he suddenly...
Cheng Zhiyu ultimately attributed it to the hot weather causing internal heat, searched his spatial storage, found a packet of chrysanthemum tea, and ran to give it to Cheng Mo to drink.
Cheng Mo held the chrysanthemum tea: "..."
Drinking this might not help.
But he still drank it all.
Cheng Zhiyu lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, and yawned: "Go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow."
While it's fun outside at the base, it's not as safe outside as it is inside. If possible, find what you're looking for as soon as possible and then return to the base.
Cheng Zhiyu was half asleep when he felt Cheng Mo put down his cup, rinse his mouth, and then lie down next to him and reach out to hug him.
That's more like it, but... drinking chrysanthemum tea doesn't seem to help, I'm still stiff.
Cheng Zhiyu frowned, too sleepy to move: "You... take care of it yourself."
I forgot, Cheng Mo can't solve this himself.
He offered his hand to the other person, but Cheng Mo couldn't resolve the issue. Later, Cheng Zhiyu drifted off to sleep and didn't know what happened next.
The next day, Cheng Zhiyu got up feeling refreshed and lifted Cheng Mo's hand to wash up.
Cheng Mo was still asleep and didn't get up with him. Usually, as soon as he moved, the other person would immediately follow, like a big tail.
Right now, I'm still sleeping.
He didn't disturb the other person. After washing up, he left the room.
Han Ping was already up, and the two of them busied themselves making breakfast. A little while later, Han Tingting also came to the kitchen.
With so many people, they simply made xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), steamed them, and then Cheng Zhiyu went back to his room to wake Cheng Mo up.
"Time to get up, you lazybones," Cheng Zhiyu patted him on the shoulder.
Then Cheng Mo pulled him onto the bed, where he hugged him tightly and rubbed against him like a big dog: "I don't want to get up, I'm so sleepy."
I didn't sleep well last night.
Cheng Zhiyu pushed the person away: "Then you can sleep by yourself. I'll wake you up when we're about to leave."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Mo lost his desire to sleep and sat up, looking somewhat listless.
After washing up, I finally looked more energetic.
The aroma of steamed buns wafted from the kitchen, and Zhou Min rushed in: "It smells so good! Can we eat them yet?"
Cheng Zhiyu glanced at the time: "It's about time."
I ate something light for breakfast: pickled cabbage and vermicelli soup dumplings, and a three-delicacy filling with ham, egg, and dried shrimp.
Cheng Zhiyu loves both of these, and he eats them alternately.
Cheng Zhiyu also praised, "Han Ping chose the filling; his skills are truly excellent."
Han Ping smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's just that the ingredients are good."
Cheng Mo suddenly felt that the steamed buns in his hand didn't smell so good anymore. It seemed that he also needed to learn how to cook so that Zhiyu would like him more.
Cheng Zhiyu had no idea what he was thinking; he was just casually praising Han Ping, saying that the filling Han Ping had prepared was indeed delicious.
After a satisfying meal, we set off.
The Han siblings also came along this time. Han Tingting didn't have any special abilities, but killing ordinary zombies was no problem for her. She was actually afraid of holding everyone back, so she thought she could just stay in the apartment.
Cheng Zhiyu said, "No, what if you get into danger? You should come with us."
Han Ping was also worried about his younger sister, so he decided to go with her.
Cheng Zhiyu can take out Xiao Juan to protect Han Tingting.
In the end, Han Tingting went with them. Otherwise, if she stayed in the apartment alone, the others would have to worry about her. It would be better to go together and put their minds at ease.
I just feel a little embarrassed, like I'm a burden.
On the way, Cheng Zhiyu suddenly asked, "I remember you studied veterinary medicine in college."
Han Tingting nodded: "Yes, we were planning to open a pet shop before."
"Can you treat livestock?" Cheng Zhiyu didn't quite understand the difference between treating pets and treating domestic livestock; it felt a bit different.
Han Tingting scratched her head: "I'm not too sure either, but we can give it a try."
After all, the two are quite correlated.
Cheng Zhiyu smiled and said, "Then you'd better take good care of yourself. The base is currently short of a veterinarian."
Upon hearing this, Han Tingting realized that Cheng Zhiyu was comforting her, and she couldn't help but feel touched. She quickly nodded and said with a smile, "Now that you mention it, I need to be more careful."
Cheng Zhiyu wasn't lying. As the scale of the breeding base gradually expanded, some small animals were indeed prone to illness, and a veterinarian was still needed.
Before he could even figure out where to find a veterinarian, he ran into Han Tingting. That's great, he doesn't need to look anymore. He can just have her start working as soon as he gets back.
Hearing that she would be useful in some way, Han Tingting finally stopped feeling like a burden. Hmm... she had to protect herself so she could do her job properly once she got to the base.
The group originally planned to go directly to the city research institute today, but they passed by a seed shop and Cheng Zhiyu said he wanted to stop and take a look.
No one objected, and they all got out of the car together. After clearing away the zombies near the shop, they went inside.
The seed shop has a rather interesting decor, featuring a natural forest theme with a rockery and stream in the middle. However, the stream has probably been dried up long ago, probably because it hasn't been maintained for a long time.
The seed shop was filthy. It must have been open when the apocalypse came. The things inside were all jumbled up, whether by people or zombies, and there was dried-up unidentified liquid on the floor.
The original appearance of the seed shop is no longer recognizable, but Cheng Zhiyu thinks it must have been quite beautiful.
The seed shop was small, only about five or six square meters. On the wall was a large drawer-like structure, like the ones used in traditional Chinese medicine shops, with individual compartments, each labeled with a sticker indicating what kind of seed it was.
“So many flower seeds.” Zhou Min glanced at them briefly and shook his head. “Flower seeds are useless, you can’t eat or drink them.”
Cheng Zhiyu said, "Let's collect them."
To obtain mutated seeds, you must start by planting ordinary seeds. However, what the major bases are currently lacking are seeds of grains and vegetables, so everyone is putting all their effort into planting those, while flower seeds are being overlooked.
As time went on, Cheng Zhiyu worried that he would lose the flower seeds. He secretly thought that he should collect the seeds and not let them go.
After Cheng Zhiyu said so, the others helped pack up the flower seeds, since the seeds didn't take up much space anyway.
However, besides flower seeds, this shop also has some vegetable and fruit seeds.
Needless to say, these definitely need to be collected.
"Hey, there are durian seeds here!" Tian Qiao said in surprise, clearly not expecting to find durian seeds here.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu immediately went over and said, "Let me see. I was saying before that it was a pity we couldn't find durian seeds."
Although durians live in the tropics, and it's obviously not suitable for them to grow here, Cheng Zhiyu has a spatial dimension. He wants to grow them in his spatial dimension so he can directly achieve durian freedom.
With a bright future in mind, Cheng Zhiyu immediately collected the precious durian seeds, planning to germinate them and plant them in his space.
Finally, they emptied the seed shop almost completely, and the group left by car to go to the research institute.
Because they weren't sure of the exact location, they took a long detour before finally arriving.
Cheng Zhiyu stored the SUV in the storage space, and the group looked at the research institute not far away: "Let's go."
There seemed to be quite a few zombies at the research institute. As soon as the group entered, they encountered a level 3 zombie, which was hiding in the shadows, preparing to attack them stealthily.
As soon as it peeked out, Cheng Mo blew its head off with water-based supernatural power.
The crystal nuclei were washed clean with water.
Han Ping, standing to the side, was shocked: "Besides teleportation, you also have water-based abilities?"
While there are indeed some dual-elemental ability users, which doesn't seem surprising, Han Ping's main surprise was that Cheng Mo's teleportation ability was already so powerful, yet he also had a water-based ability.
Moreover, judging from the looks of it, the opponent's water-based abilities are definitely not bad, no, you could say they are very powerful.
"Oh dear, are you crazy?" Zhou Min asked, checking on the surrounding area. "Think about it, where did yesterday's water come from?"
Han Ping suddenly realized that he had been incredibly stupid. Cheng Mo had used water-based abilities yesterday, and he had completely overlooked it.
They quickly forgot about chatting, as groups of zombies began to emerge from the research institute. Moreover, none of them were low-level; the lowest level was level three, and there were even some level four zombies.
Knowing she couldn't help, Han Tingting hid among them, trying her best not to hold them back.
Level 4 zombies weren't difficult to deal with, but Cheng Zhiyu frowned, feeling that there were even higher-level zombies here.
If it's level 5, that's fine; there's a level 5 assistant there who can handle it.
Moreover, there's Cheng Mo.
The highest level they've seen so far is level five; no one has seen anything higher. They don't know if zombies can't level up anymore, or if they just haven't encountered them yet.
If it's the former, that would undoubtedly be good news.
Fortunately, the last zombie appeared; it was level five and possessed water-based superpowers.
Cheng Zhiyu frowned. This superpower was just right to counter Xiao Er. He turned to Cheng Mo and said, "It's up to you now."
Han Ping, who was dealing with other lower-level zombies, frowned when he heard this: "Even a water-type fighting a water-type doesn't necessarily have a chance of winning. Fortunately, he can teleport."
Zhou Min laughed heartily from the side: "Who said Brother Mo only has water magic and teleportation?"
After listening, Han Ping thought to himself, "What else could it be? I've only ever heard of dual-elemental ability users. Could it be that Cheng Mo has other abilities?"
If that's really the case, then it's just too incredible!
Just as I was thinking this, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bowl struck the zombie not far away.
Han Ping: "!!!"
Are there really other superpowers? And each one is so powerful.
He was starting to question the meaning of life.
While slashing at the zombies and dodging their attacks, Zhou Min still had time to talk to Han Ping: "Don't feel discouraged. How can ordinary people compare to Brother Hei?"
Han Ping smiled and said, "It's not that I feel discouraged, it's just that I'm a little shocked."
Zhou Min had an "I understand" look on his face. He would have found it strange if Han Ping had been too calm.
Over here, Cheng Mo and the others worked together. The zombie had already been chopped halfway up. It was also a water-based zombie, and the more Cheng Mo used his powers, the faster he could chop it up. It was a truly miserable sight.
It had no choice but to desperately control the lower-level zombies to attack Cheng Mo. Unfortunately, the lower-level zombies were no match for Cheng Mo and exploded before they even got close.
Seeing that it was no match for the zombie, it tried to run away, but how could Cheng Mo let it escape? He blocked the road and finally dealt with the zombie.
However, Cheng Mo wasn't having an easy time either; he was sweating on his forehead and his superpowers were almost exhausted.
Cheng Zhiyu didn't even bother digging out the zombie crystal cores anymore. He wiped Cheng Mo's sweat and took out some alien beast meat from his spatial storage for Cheng Mo to eat.
After eating some, Cheng Mo's complexion improved considerably.
Cheng Zhiyu breathed a sigh of relief and asked with concern, "Does your head hurt?"
Cheng Mo actually felt alright, not that bad, but how could he resist Cheng Zhiyu's concern? He leaned his head on the other's shoulder, looking weak and pitiful: "...It hurts."
Facing the subtle gazes of the crowd, Cheng Zhiyu coughed lightly: "...Alright, stop pretending."
Cheng Mo: "...I wasn't pretending."
Cheng Zhiyu thought to himself, "Don't I know you?" If Cheng Mo were really upset, he would definitely pretend, because he would feel embarrassed.
If someone directly says they're feeling unwell, they're probably faking it.
This guy probably doesn't even realize he has this habit.
"Ahem!" Tian Qiao was so embarrassed that she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet.
Cheng Mo frowned in displeasure and looked at him: "If you're sick, go get treatment."
Tian Qiao shrank back: "Haha, I'll go dig for crystal cores."
Zhou Min: "Me too, me too, let me see the crystal core of a level 5 zombie."
Tian Manman wasn't particularly curious, but Zhou Min pulled her along, so she had no choice but to join in.
The Han siblings had never even seen a level 5 zombie before, let alone a level 5 zombie core, so of course they wanted to take a look.
Tian Manman was strong and started digging.
Wow, it's as big as the palm of your hand.
"All five levels seem to be this big."
Have you met before?
"I've encountered this twice."
"Ah... I don't know whether to say you guys are strong or unlucky. If it were my brother and me, let alone level 5, if we encountered even a level 4, we'd probably be dead by now."
"Haha, don't we have some big shots? Orange and Blackie are awesome."
"It's light blue, so pretty! Who would have thought there would be something so beautiful inside such an ugly zombie head? It's like a diamond."
"Isn't this thing more useful than diamonds?"
The group huddled together, chatting amongst themselves. Cheng Zhiyu felt a little awkward and nudged Cheng Mo, saying, "Get up, stop fooling around."
Cheng Mo grumbled, "Nobody's watching anyway. I can get up, but give me a kiss first."
Cheng Zhiyu: "..."
He glanced furtively at the others, and seeing that they weren't paying attention, he gave them a quick kiss and coughed lightly, saying, "Is that alright?"
Cheng Mo was best at pushing his luck: "No way, this is way too perfunctory!"
Cheng Zhiyu sneered: "Cheng Dahei..."
Cheng Mo immediately stopped being unreasonable, but muttered under his breath, "Seriously, if you don't want to agree, then don't agree, why be so fierce?"
Cheng Zhiyu thought to himself, "If I don't yell at you, will you listen to me?"
The level 5 zombie has been dealt with. Since this zombie had just summoned all the lower-level zombies nearby, the zombies in the research institute have all been eliminated.
They didn't encounter any more zombies after that.
The research institute had a lot of research equipment, and Cheng Zhiyu didn't know what Chi Hongyi and the others needed, so he simply took everything he could.
Before he left, he emptied the space except for the things he would need on the road. He had previously installed a lot of solar panels and power generation equipment, but he still left a lot of space in the space so he could put whatever he saw there in there.
After all, Chi Hongyi and her team are researching a zombie vaccine, which concerns the future of humanity. Although they can't help in other ways, they can at least provide more equipment. Every little bit helps in this regard.
Having brought everything that seemed usable, Cheng Zhiyu made sure nothing was left behind, then said to everyone, "Let's go, let's go back."
I was thinking that if I got busy late today, I would stay in the apartment for another night, but it's not even noon yet.
They decided to find a place nearby to have lunch and then head straight back to base.
For lunch, we had something simple: grilled meat rice. The grilled meat was kept in the room and was still steaming hot when we took it out. We served it with rice, a fried egg, and some pickled vegetables.
I must say, although it's simple, it tastes quite delicious.
Cheng Zhiyu mixed the rice, meat, pickled vegetables, and eggs together and ate it with a spoon. Each spoonful contained meat, pickled vegetables, and eggs, which was delicious!
Cheng Mo watched from the side and copied him, "Mmm...it's delicious."
After eating and resting for a while, the group felt it was about time and set off back to base.
Han Ping volunteered that he was driving and felt he hadn't been of much help, so he wanted to do something.
Everyone just let him be, let him drive, and when he gets tired, they can take turns driving.
On the way, Han Tingting asked about the base out of curiosity.
Cheng Zhiyu: "The location is right in our village. After the apocalypse came, Team Leader Lin organized a group of superhumans to clear out the zombies and then surrounded the village. It's called a base, but it's more like a village. It probably can't compare to a large base, and there aren't many people."
Han Tingting listened with envy: "That's already very good. If only someone like that had appeared in our neighborhood back then..."
She stopped mid-sentence.
When the apocalypse broke out, the family of four was at home. They hid at home for a few days at first, but living in the city, they did not have the habit of storing food, so they had to go out to find food.
Her parents were bitten by zombies while they were looking for food... After that, her brother awakened superpowers, otherwise she might have been bitten too.
Han Ping, who was driving in front, also fell silent.
No one knew how to comfort the brother and sister. In the aftermath of the apocalypse, there were too many similar incidents, too many separations of life and death...
Han Tingting smiled and stopped talking about it. She thought that she and her brother should live well. If their parents were still alive, they would definitely want them to live well.
"How long will it take us to get there?" Han Tingting asked again.
Tian Qiao: "We should arrive tomorrow. Although it's not far, we can't take the highway now, so we have to take a detour."
Han Tingting nodded, guessing that they would be spending the day in the wild, but she didn't think it was a problem. They had slept in the wild on the way to Chaoyang Base before.
I just don't feel at ease; I'm always afraid that mutated animals or zombies might appear.
Sure enough, they failed to reach the base that night.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Zhiyu actually took out... a tree?
“It’s a treehouse! We’ll sleep here tonight,” Zhou Min said, noticing the shocked and bewildered expressions on the faces of the brother and sister.
He secretly rejoiced, "Haha, he's not the only one who's never seen the world. Look, everyone's shocked."
Han Tingting exclaimed, "Following you guys, I simply can't endure any hardship!"
She believed Cheng Zhiyu when he said that the Xiahe base wasn't as good as other bases, but now... she felt that Cheng Zhiyu was probably just being modest.
Tian Qiao and Tian Manman share a room, Han Ping sleeps in Zhou Min's room, and a room upstairs is cleared out for Han Tingting to sleep in.
The next day, they set off early in the morning, hoping to get to the base as soon as possible.
Zhou Min was driving.
Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt. Tian Qiao slammed her head against the seat, rubbing her head and frowning. "What happened with that sudden braking?"
Cheng Zhiyu was alright; Cheng Mo protected his head, and it must be said that Cheng Mo's reaction was really quick.
Han Ping, sitting in the passenger seat, said, "It looks like there's someone lying on the ground up ahead."
Zhou Min nodded: "It scared me. It was lying in the middle of the road, and I almost ran it over."
Although he killed a lot of zombies after the apocalypse, if he accidentally ran over someone, he would really be left with psychological trauma.
Humans and zombies are definitely different.
"It should be a person, doesn't look like a zombie," Zhou Min muttered.
Cheng Zhiyu opened the car door: "I'll get out and take a look."
Cheng Mo immediately followed.
The two approached, and the person on the ground stirred, crawling towards them a few times: "Please, give us some food..."
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