Chapter 195
Feeling refreshed and with a clearer mind, Fu Le took out his binoculars and stood by the empty French windows, looking around.
The surroundings were shrouded in a gray fog, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night, but the interior of the house was still visible, so there was some light.
I took out my watch, and the time on it had stopped.
Fu Le sighed and put it away.
What kind of place is this? Never mind, let's build the house first.
After letting out his usual tent, Fu Le suddenly felt sleepy and crawled inside. The little prince waved his paws, indicating that he would stand guard.
Next time I go back, I'll have someone build me a mobile cabin, a two-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, one-bathroom kind, and even decorate it.
Oh dear, how could she forget something so important? She still has a few large trees she picked up on the Spirit Continent.
Fu Le fell asleep while thinking about it.
At this moment, not far from the abandoned buildings, a convoy was slowly driving over.
“Brother Hao, there’s a cluster of abandoned buildings in this area. It was deserted before the natural disaster, and the residents moved out. Later, this place was robbed, and even the renovated floor-to-ceiling windows were stolen…” The young man with the buzz cut sat in the passenger seat, looking at the map, and said softly.
"Then let's spend the night there. Drive slowly and don't attract their attention."
"Okay," the burly driver said in a low voice.
"Brother Hao, the crystal cores we hunted this time should be enough to exchange for a batch of food, right? I'd like to exchange them for a can of milk powder for Lanlan, is that okay?" The woman with the buzz cut in the back seat hesitated for a moment before making her request. Her child was only two years old and needed nutrition right now. Just from those protein cubes and old rice, her child had become so thin that he looked like a monkey, which made her feel sorry for him but also helpless.
Following Brother Hao's team, she could eat her fill, and her child could eat his fill too. But what good was just being fed? Her child was lacking too much nutrition, and she even worried about whether her child could grow up safely.
The car fell silent. Everyone was quiet. The woman's face paled. She realized that her request was a bit abrupt, and her eyes reddened.
"I'm sorry, Brother Hao, I..." Before the woman could finish speaking, the man hummed in response.
Upon hearing this, the woman burst into tears of joy. "Thank you, thank you, Brother Hao! I will definitely kill more mutated plants and animals in the future, and I will try my best to make up for Lanlan's share."
The young man in the passenger seat secretly breathed a sigh of relief. A 900-gram can of milk powder could be exchanged for ten kilograms of old rice, enough for one person to drink porridge for a month. He really didn't expect the captain to agree, because their team always ate together when exchanging supplies, and they didn't distribute them separately. Exchanging for milk powder meant that everyone would exchange for it together, and each person would eat much less food.
Soon, a cluster of tall buildings came into view.
All five damaged cars stopped. "Brother Hao, it's Zhou Qing's team's turn to be on duty today," the young man said after taking out his notebook and reading it.
The men in the cars behind also gathered around. The team whose names were called nodded, muttered a few words to each other, and then arranged the duty order.
We've all worked together many times before, so we have a good understanding and there were no arguments.
“Let’s go upstairs. This building looks more solid; it hasn’t collapsed or tilted.”
When the convoy entered within 500 meters of the buildings, the Little Prince had already issued a warning. Fu Le woke up and, instead of lying down, sat up and fiddled with the machine gun in his hand.
Encountering humans so quickly was unexpected; in previous post-apocalyptic worlds, it took a long time to encounter local humans.
As footsteps approached, Fu Le made no other move, and the little prince remained relatively calm, but still kept a watchful eye on the doorway.
The building is twelve stories high, and hers is on the seventh floor. They should be going up, right?
Fu Le thought so, but the other party didn't seem to think so, because someone stopped on the seventh floor.
"Captain, seven is up, eight is down, I like seven, let's choose this floor for our team." The middle floor, a floor where you can go up or down.
"That works too," another male voice said.
Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from downstairs, and the outside fell silent. Another group had come up, the one that had chosen the sixth floor.
"What's wrong?" Chen Hao noticed that Yang Han and the others looked strange and asked in a low voice.
"Someone lives on the seventh floor, and the floor is leaking." So much water, could it be from showering? Who could be so extravagant?
At the same time, almost everyone put their hands on their waists, where there were pistols.
"Is anyone there?" a male voice suddenly shouted.
Fu Le: ...
Why are you making such a loud noise?
Alright, we have to move now, whether we want to or not.
He crawled out of the tent with a big movement and a loud voice, so that by the time Fu Le stood up straight, several men were already standing at the door.
They were all sallow-faced and had rough skin, but they all had wolf-like eyes.
Chen Hao was also surprised to find a woman inside. Judging from her thin, bony face, he could tell that she was having a hard time. But she was sleeping in a tent.
Look at that tent, it looks brand new, clean and tidy, with signs of use, but it hasn't been repaired.
This is not a standard of living that she can achieve.
This woman was not afraid of them.
This is what Chen Hao was thinking when he made eye contact with the other person.
Fu Le came out. This time, the tent could no longer cover most of her body, revealing her clean and tidy black tracksuit and the machine gun she was holding.
The group of men gasped and took a step back in unison, their eyes fixed on the gleaming machine gun.
What great stuff! Too bad it's not theirs.
"We were just passing by and asked to stay the night. Sorry to bother you, please make yourself at home, we're leaving now." Chen Hao scanned the large living room, but ultimately found no signs of anyone else living there. The tent also didn't seem to have anyone else in it.
Hmm, what a strange woman. They don't want to cause trouble, so they'd better leave quickly.
The teams all went upstairs and chose the eighth floor.
Fu Le looked up at the ceiling, pulled out a wooden plank, and used it to block the doorway. He then placed a large oil drum in the blockage, and a sense of security returned.
After waking up, I couldn't fall back asleep, especially since there were people upstairs.
Eighth floor.
"Brother Hao, what does that woman do? She seems weak, but also very strong. She's acting all strange," Qian Da, the driver, muttered to Chen Hao.
"What's so strange about it? It's the apocalypse now, and many people will end up alone as they go along."
"She's a woman, she looks clean and tidy, and she has such a nice tent, isn't she afraid of being robbed?" In the apocalypse, women are also commodities, which is cruel but true.
Of course, there are also very capable women, such as Qin Ling in their team. She came from a martial arts school and was very good at fighting. However, she later had a baby and injured her body, so her fighting ability was not as good as before, but she was still stronger than most women. After having a baby, she was expelled from her original team and her husband died. When she joined their team, her rough edges had been smoothed out, but she was still very good at fighting. Three or five men could not get close to her.
"Shut up, it's not soundproof here." Chen Hao stopped everyone from continuing the conversation. For some reason, he had a feeling that the woman was dangerous.
"Hey Hao, are we going back to base tomorrow? Or are we continuing the hunt?" Five years ago, the apocalypse suddenly struck. Torrential rains, earthquakes, freezing temperatures, and floods all struck at once, causing countless deaths and injuries. At first, the country was able to carry out orderly rescue efforts, but as the natural disasters continued, countless soldiers and civilian rescue workers died, and even public officials were unable to continue their duties, leading to chaos. However, even so, their country managed to hold out for more than a year. In other countries, the disaster completely paralyzed the first month. The people simply ignored the local government's orders and did whatever they wanted, resulting in faster deaths and a quicker collapse of social order.
Although the country could not provide continuous relief, it did not abandon its people. While trying to teach them how to save themselves, it established bases in cities with better conditions to take in refugees, centrally allocate some city repair tasks, and then exchange task points for distributable resources.
The hunting team appeared two years ago because after the natural disaster, plants and animals mutated. They grew larger, and the plants became mobile and devoured flesh and blood. Animals hunted humans, and plants hunted both humans and animals.
They are incredibly strong and ferocious, which may be why superhumans with superpowers have emerged. Many people have gained strength overnight due to the post-apocalyptic environment, becoming strong enough to fight and kill alien plants and mutated animals.
Perhaps this is a case of "when one door closes, another opens." The powerful individuals were quickly discovered by the state; some were recruited, while others formed their own groups, all with the same goal: to eliminate the mutated plants and animals.
A year ago, the government released new information: crystal nuclei appeared on the heads and roots of plants and animals, which could be collected and exchanged for supplies at the base.
This news caused an uproar in the world. As the saying goes, people die for wealth and birds die for food. In addition to the power teams, other ordinary martial arts teams also appeared. Every once in a while, they would go hunting to collect crystal cores and exchange them for supplies.
They came out as a group to hunt down mutated plants and animals.
"Let's hunt for another day and return the day after tomorrow." There was only one child in their group, and he had forgotten that the child still needed the nutrition of milk powder, so collecting one more child would be good.
At this moment, Fu Le was lying on the ground mat inside the tent, listening to the conversation downstairs. He naturally knew that they all came from the base and that the animals had mutated.
Hmm, should she go into the base? Or should she stay outside by herself?
Whether she advances or not doesn't seem to matter that much to her.
The next day.
As everyone started their vehicles and drove away, Fu Le also released his own van.
Staying indoors all the time isn't conducive to cultivation; just reading books gets boring. So, it's better to go out and see the world.
She was very curious about what the mutated plants and animals here looked like.
At this moment, Fu Le was still somewhat unaware of how fragile his body was.
The car drove smoothly through the thick fog. Fu Le frowned. This fog wouldn't last forever, would it? It was blocking our vision so badly; we might not be able to spot any danger in time.
What Fu Le didn't know was that the post-apocalyptic world now had a foggy season. Every summer, the weather was foggy and the sun rarely shone, making planting very difficult. In winter, although there was sunshine, the temperature was very low, making it difficult for plants to survive. Of course, the plants mentioned here refer to ordinary plants, not mutated plants, as mutated plants do not need the sun at all.
They hadn't walked far when they heard the sounds of fighting ahead. It seemed like they were using swords and clubs. Weren't there any guns?
The squad does have guns, of course, but they are too precious to be used unless absolutely necessary.
Fu Le stepped on the gas and approached.
When she saw the rows of orange trees laden with bright yellow fruit, her eyes widened in amazement!
Have you ever seen an orange tree that is more than ten meters tall and one meter in diameter?
I saw it today. The weapon that the orange tree used to attack the convoy was its oranges. Oranges were thrown down one by one, and wherever they landed, smoke would rise. It was just like concentrated sulfuric acid, extremely corrosive.
Holy crap! That's awesome!!
There were more than twenty orange trees, running around in all directions without any order. The dense array of orange weapons hurled at the hunting team members, and thick black mist rose in the air. The team members carefully dodged them and then tried their best to get closer to the roots of the orange trees.
Huh, why don't they attack the humans? Tsk, their intelligence is ridiculously stupid.
Fu Le sat in the car, offering various comments.
The appearance of her car naturally attracted the attention of the driver who was left inside.
"Hey, it's that woman from the seventh floor. Is she trying to snag a bargain?"
"If you don't get off the bus, what are you going to pick up at a bargain?"
"Yeah, that's true. But the way she looked at it, like she was watching a spectacle. Was she just watching the show? Isn't she afraid of dying?"
"Who knows? They're weird. Maybe they're the lone wolf type." There are lone wolves in the base, but they're very rare, and each one is incredibly skilled.
Judging from the woman's thin and bony appearance, she didn't seem like a tough lone wolf.
Fu Le watched for a while and quickly noticed that someone was injured. He immediately pulled out a dagger, his face contorted, and began to cut away the rotten flesh. He gritted his teeth in pain but did not howl loudly.
Fu Le: What a ruthless person!!
Could it really be sulfuric acid?
I'm very curious and want to collect them; they'd be great for fighting monsters and killing enemies.
Or, how about we share a piece of the pie?
Fu Le got out of the car, intending to ask a driver about the condition of the trees.
"Hello, may I ask you a question?" The woman held a snow-white cigarette between her fingers as she extended it through the window.
The man, who had initially felt disturbed, instantly widened his eyes. "Go ahead and ask," he said, reaching out to take the woman's hand. He did so so quickly, as if afraid the woman might change her mind.
Watching the man intently sniffing the cigarette, Fu Le blinked with a hint of sympathy.
"If you cut down this orange tree, will all its oranges fall off?"
"No, we can collect these Corrupted Oranges to exchange for supplies. The base can use them to deal with other mutated animals. The Orange Monster is the dumbest of the mutated plants, making it the easiest to hunt successfully. It's much more valuable than other trees that only yield branches and cores. We've had great luck this time." The man was beaming. Today's fortune was truly remarkable; not only did they get the Orange Monster, but they also got a whole cigarette.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
