The Rebirth of the Last Days and Return to [Fang] Hao - Chap 201 END
“Come, come! The caravan is here!”
“Which caravan?”
“The delicious one!”
The world outside the walls were a little grey. Unlike the lifeless appearance outside, the inside of the base was filled with an irreplaceable breath of life. A large truck slowly drove to the gate of this small base, the doors of the cockpit opened, and two young people jumped out of the car.
The appearance of these two men stands out, especially in this post-apocalyptic world that still hasn’t been completely rebuilt. Two young men in clean clothes, good health, and good looks. Such an appearance would be extremely eye-catching before the end of the world, not to mention in this barren, hard-to-survive, wasteland-like world?
It’s just that now everyone’s attention is not on the two of them, but on the goods in this truck – food.
“How do we trade for things today?” A man stepped forward and glanced at the truck with some eagerness. It wasn’t that they had never had the idea of fighting this seemingly weak, two-person caravan, but that none of them ever succeeded. The strong rays of light in the pair’s eyes are enough to show they are ability users above the fifth level. In this small base that managed to survive the “final battle” due to their location, those with abilities beyond level 3 are simply unimaginable.
Rumor was that there are even level 4 and 5 zombies outside. They also learned more about the situation after the zombie tide subsided and they started to contact other bases. Everyone knows there is a new type of compressed food at the base in A City, and that weapons can be produced in large quantities there. However, there is a lack of raw materials for production.
But unfortunately – although the zombie tide has receded, and zombies have hidden their traces, once night falls, they will quietly emerge from the shadows. Those relatively rare mutant animals also began emerging one after another. Like mutant plants, they are one of the terrifying killers in today’s almost barren world.
Most people do not have the ability or courage to travel far to communicate with people or exchange goods with various bases, so they have to rely on these powerful and courageous “caravans”.
This kind of caravan appeared about half a year after the final battle. It was led by a very powerful ability user. Loaded with characteristic products from a certain base, they went to other bases in exchange for what they needed.
“Still the old rules.” The taller young man walked up to the head of the base and said.
“Okay, they are moving things, and will come to deliver things in a while.” The food of this caravan is relatively cheap. On average, a bag of compressed space food is exchanged for two kilograms of ore.
Yes, ore. This is the main product of this base, which is relatively close to a mine. After the final battle, almost all the weapons in the base were used up, and the raw materials were extremely scarce. Sadly, despite their proximity to the mines, the mines are very dangerous places. Compared with other caravans that trade one bag of food for 2.5 kilograms of ore, exchanging with this team is more cost-effective, and they also come pretty often.
Looking around, the shorter young man saw a group of children standing by the car. Taking off his sunglasses, he walked to the group of children. “What are you doing?”
Several seven or eight-year-old children stared at him with eyes wide open. “Are you a big sister?”
Fang Hao’s face distorted into a mix of crying and laughter, and he said firmly: “I’m a big brother!”
A snot-nosed kid bit his finger. “But you look better than my mother.”
“…I’m still a big brother!” Fang Hao continued to firmly defend himself.
“Brother, your face is so white and your skin is so soft.” The only girl in the group of little devils looked at Fang Hao’s cheeks with envy. She was the “queen” of the group of little devils and of the base, but but compared with the big brother in front of her, she didn’t look like a legendary “beautiful little girl” at all.
Fang Hao’s expression was a little distorted. Rolling his eyes, he took out a handful of candy from his pocket. “Whoever calls me big brother, I will give them a piece of candy.”
There is definitely something wrong with the water in the space! His skin is now becoming smoother and softer, whiter and more tender, and He Zizhong is becoming more and more “loving”1. If it weren’t for his body still being masculine, he would have suspected that the spring water had a gender-swapping effect!
Although the group of kids hardly tasted sugar before, it did not affect their yearning for this legendary delicacy. Pairs of dark eyes lit up, and they shouted without hesitation: “Brother!”
“Brother.”
“Brother…”
The special products produced by this base are quite very rare, so compared to other bases, the people here eat quite well. After receiving the news, many bases will exchange items and food with them. However, luxury, high-calorie foods like candy are very rarely seen.
Seeing the children run away happily with candy, Fang Hao clapped his hands and turned around proudly.
He Zizhong was counting the ore the other party brought over. After counting, he asked them to get in the car to carry the food. They have come to this base many times, and the amount of food in the car is not much different from the amount of ore they can take out.
“Done trading?” Fang Hao came over and stood beside He Zizhong.
“En, we’ll be done in a while.” He Zizhong nodded and put his arms around Fang Hao’s waist – after all these years, his figure is still very good.
The trade was quickly completed. The boss of the base warmly invited the pair to come and rest in their base, but they still rejected it. They have never spent the night in a place other than the A city base. Even if their belongings won’t sell immediately, they will spend the night in the truck outside the space.
The truck slowly left, and some people with a bad thoughts quietly followed behind the truck again. The ore from their base is very sought-after. If they can keep the contents of this truck, they can use it to trade with caravans from other bases later.
Sadly, they completely lost track of the truck after about an hour, as they have always done.
A sturdy-looking man spat bitterly. This was not the first time they were beaten these two people. They knew how high and terrifying the strength of these two people was. But even tigers doze off sometimes, and they wanted to take advantage of the tigers’ dozing off to find an opportunity. Unfortunately, it seems that these two tigers never gave anyone a chance. They never enter these small bases, stay for long, or even give them a chance to attack.
The stalker went back listlessly. It will be dark in a while, and if they don’t leave now, who knows what will come out at night?
At an altitude of tens of meters above the ground, an invisible figure swayed a few times. After confirming that no one was nearby, it flashed and disappeared completely.
In the space, Fang Hao rested his head in He Zizhong’s arms, counting the things they had traded this time. “Although the number is a little less, the harvest is not bad. Where shall we go tomorrow?”
“Base 11, they should have cotton.” He Zizhong held a book in his hand, which recorded information about the various bases, what they produce, exchange ratio, production time, and so on.
“It’s still the things made in our space that is the best. Even when made into compressed food, it sells much faster than the rest.” Fang Hao took out an unbranded toothpaste-like package from the lower space with a little pride.
This is the “toothpaste” food they made using the rubber trees and agricultural products in the space after the base completely stabilized.
During the three years defending the base, the two of them only entered the space to harvest products in the farmland when they were free. If it wasn’t because there was an extra island of the same size and increased storage space after the space reached level 5, those crops would never fit.
After the end of the world, they began to produce these things into finished products to exchange for other materials. Of course, their ultimate goal wasn’t weapons, food, or clothing, but crystal nuclei. Whether it was zombie nuclei, mutant animal nuclei, or mutant plant nuclei.
They don’t lack other things. They have almost everything else in the space, but the space still needs to be upgraded with crystal cores. After the sun came out, zombies became very alert and changed their previous habits.
When there was no sun, it was a world of zombies. After the sun came out, those low-level zombies who had not eaten human flesh for a long time were directly burned to death by the sun. Higher level zombies, or those who just ate (whether it was a crystal core or human flesh), managed to support themselves and ran into the cities where humans used to reside to hide.
At first, everyone thought that zombies were completely wiped out. That was until they found out that every time night fell, zombies would sneak out of bunkers and attack humans. They didn’t disappear; they just hid and changed their way of life.
Just when everyone thought that it was enough to guard against zombies at night, those rarely seen mutant animals emerged with increased strength, brutality, and size. At the same time—their flesh tasted even worse.
There are also those mutant plants that have caused everyone a lot of trouble before. Like before, they are still secretly hidden in the ground, camouflaged, waiting for someone to pass by, and then hunt them down in one fell swoop.
The land has become barren, the taste of crops has become secondary, and yields have fallen.
Although the biggest crisis may be over, the future of mankind is still not optimistic.
It was at this time that teams of merchant caravans were established, and people from each base began to communicate with each other. He Zizhong and his wife also left the base at this time.
There are too many things in their space that need to be dealt, but it is not easy to take them out directly. After learning that materials in the base can be exchanged for things other bases lack, they simply began a life of messing around outside. Either way… they aren’t the ones running away.1
With a “puff”, Tuanzi plunged into Fang Hao’s arms, and then began to bounce.
Fang Hao, who was entangled by it, had no choice but to hug it and look at He Zizhong.
He Zizhong put down the book and rubbed Fang Hao’s hair. “Let’s go.”
Eating, sleeping, and playing ball happens almost every day in the space. Especially the last point is the favorite of Mr. Tuanzi. The meaning of playing ball is for He Zizhong and Fang Hao to separate a distance, and hit Tuanzi back and forth like a ball.
This began after Tuanzi was thrown by its unscrupulous father and bounced back, was thrown out again and bounced back again. Since then, it fell in love with this kind of sport. As long as papa and mama play with it like this for a while every day, the old man will mercifully let go of the opportunity to take a bath – isn’t it just hugging naked and taking a bath? Is it that amazing? It never wears those things that get in the way anyway!2 Soak whatever you want!
“Pew, pew, pew…” The happy family of three had a great time playing in the open space in front of the bamboo building.
Despising the idiot papa in its heart, Tuanzi dodged the hand and gave mama a point! Anyway, as long as it is there, papa has never won against mama in the competitive event of playing ball.
He Zizhong didn’t even have the strength to complain about this. Losing or winning, none of it matters to him. He just doesn’t want to be disturbed when he’s cultivating with his lover. Fang Hao is still very shy. The last time Tuanzi broke in suddenly, it was almost cut off by the overly nervous Fang Hao… Cough, let’s not mention this for the time being. Isn’t he just coaxing his son to play?
After the space reached level 5, there was an additional island. The island was empty, with it’s own basement storage which was also empty. There are only 2 ways to go over – one is to row over, and the other is to “walk” across through the lower space.
Aboveground, one still needs to control the boat. But underneath, the original space is connected to the space under the new island. The pair couldn’t figure out the rules for this strange space, so they simply tossed the matter aside, too lazy to research.
The newly emerged island was directly used as a production base. They brought in an empty factory that was in good condition and had no traces of filth directly into the space. The two production lines for making compressed food were thrown in after that.
In addition, some various tools for making small props were added, and a large number of rubber trees were planted. The underground space was also filled with various production materials and completed products.
The food, meat, and vegetables produced in the space taste better than those before the end of the world. People can definite taste the difference when eaten directly, but there is no problem if it’s turned into processed food. The raw materials can’t be seen anyway. Now that the base is relatively calm, everyone has long been tired of eating paste-like food that has no taste. When conditions permit, everyone will add some food additives to improve the taste. He Zizhong and Fang Hao don’t need to add any special seasoning. The compressed food they make has a good taste that people won’t get tired of, making it very popular with other bases.
After playing enough, Tuanzi popped out of the space, leaving papa and mama to devote themselves to the great cause of dual cultivation in the bathroom again. Tuanzi wandered around outside, looking for something to “eat”.
The dumpling which has risen to the fifth level also gained more skills; it can now change shape.
Although it is still translucent after changing shape, it can do more things! For example, conjuring up a “hand” that can grasp things, grabbing an extremely sharp knife, and using it to cut things. And what it fancies are those mutant plants!
After encountering a mutant plant, the old man will take a knife from the space, make a cut at a suitable position, and then jump to squeeze out crystal nuclei. This repeats until the mutant plant finds that something is wrong and runs away.
It stands to reason that if Tuanzi can change into a hand to “squeeze” out crystal nuclei, can’t it change to a pair of hands working together? But Mr. Tuanzi, who is obsessed with bouncing, scoffed at this kind of trouble-free method. It would rather bounce than move its hands. Who made bouncing the true love of its life?
—–
Inside A city base, things are in full swing.
Buildings of varying heights have disappeared, and were replaced by relatively unified buildings one after another. During reconstruction, a layer of steel or something similar is first laid on the ground of the rebuilt base to block mutant plants and earth zombies. After the sun came out, the threat of those soil-burrowing zombies increased, and occasionally they will go to places where humans live to hunt for food.
If they don’t eat for a long time, even high-level zombies will gradually lose their mobility, decay, and wither. The grey fog in the air has disappeared, and many zombies lost their ability to maintain their mobility and “life force”.
According to scientists’ research and speculation, the original lingering fog blocked the anti-viral effects of the sun. This was the most important thing that led to people becoming zombies.
According to them, if low-level zombies have not eaten human flesh for half a month, their crystal nucleus will completely decay. Those above level 1 can last for a longer time, but sooner or later there will be a day they decay as well. Zombies rarely hunt each other, so as long as everyone does not die in the hands of zombies and does not let their flesh and blood be eaten by zombies, they can wait for the day that zombies are completely wiped out.
Nowadays, when people go out to collect supplies, they can occasionally pick up crystal cores from the brains of zombies who died in corners of buildings. Of course, the strength of those who dare to enter the urban area and or nearby ruins to collect supplies should not be underestimated.
The A city base is busy with one thing these days. A rare happy event. The boss of the base is getting married! The object of marriage is the perverted, poisonous-tongued, dead-glasses man in the base who has always been hailed as a dog-headed military strategist…
When did these two people get together? As subordinates, why didn’t they know hear of this after so many years?!!
When everyone was puzzled, Le Tian and Zhang Xiaoming accidentally found the head of logistics who was huddled in the corner. According to the two of them, when they found the head of logistics, he was mumbling something nervously: “I’m so stupid, I didn’t even realize that the moan that day was from the cold-faced glasses pervert! I’m so stupid to judge by appearances and believe that two men with strong faces can’t be together! How many times have I seen it? I turned a blind eye to the ambiguous atmosphere when the two of them whispered together, but I’m actually the one who was closest to the truth!”
This sentence circulated, causing Yin Dong’s nickname to extend from the original “perverted man with poisonous tongue and dead eyes” to “perverted man with a cold face, poisonous tongue, and dead glasses”. As for whether it will continue to increase in the future, it is not clear.
The evolution of an intelligence-based ability is best reflected in Yin Dong’s mouth. Before the end of the world, his speech was not very pleasant, but because of his status as an agent, he could still chat like a human. But in these last days, his perverted side began to come out. Each time his ability increased, the level of his vicious tongue also increased. Unsurprisingly, several little girls in the team who wanted to please him were all scolded to tears. The most frustrating thing was that he once scolded a girl with a decent figure during a certain battle as “a cow in heat with two lumps of fat”… Well, someone finally wants this guy, making it a gratifying event that makes the entire base celebrate.
“Will the couple come back in time?” Guo Bing held the last cigarette in his mouth, stepped on the wall in front of him with one leg, and looked out at the empty ruins.
“Who knows? Didn’t they bring gifts when they came back last time?” Chen Ning loosened his collar and said indifferently.
“Hey… who made this a mass wedding?”
Yes, a mass wedding.
Since Yan Xin announced he was getting married, and the object of his marriage is a certain man with flashy glasses… Well, Yin Dong has a lot of nicknames, who made him offend so many people?
After the shock from the announcement, everyone expressed that they also wanted to get married.
There have been quite a few new couples formed during the past few years, but because everyone has been hovering on the edge of life and death, no one ever thought about getting married or holding a wedding. People these days have become more realistic. When two people are together, they will be together. At most, they will tell their friends. Because of the imbalance between men and women in the post-apocalyptic world, the vast majority of people who are clamoring for weddings this time are male couples.
Among the people Guo Bing is acquainted with, only Chen Ning, this scum, actually caught a woman during the three years and got a girlfriend!!!
This is something that this uncle can’t bear. Although the little girl looks ordinary, she is a kind-hearted girl. During the 3-year defensive battle, she was a member of the logistics team with water abilities. Don’t know how she was hooked up by Chen Ning, this sinner.1
What makes people feel more wasteful is that another pair wanting to get married were actually two girls… yes, two lilies2. If Guo Bing didn’t really know them, he would definitely run over to persuade them not to be so wasteful, and consider heterosexuality for the future of mankind.
As his brain hole was running wild, Chen Ning suddenly patted him. “Look, isn’t that their car?”
A familiar Knight XV drove towards the gate, making everyone who knew them smile. After the two came in, the head of logistics took the lead in pushing aside the crowd and rushing forward. “What did you get this time? The base has some big crystal cores. Come, come in and trade with me…”
He Zizhong was taken away by the head of logistics who still had some serious psychological trauma, and Fang Hao greeted Zhang Xiaoming and the others with a smile. “This mass wedding, we will stay for a while before going out.”
The fog in the space gradually thickened. After they woke up before, they discovered Tuanzi, this good buddy, achieved good results, causing the space to progress fairly quickly. Using Tuanzi, who can travel at the speed of an airplane now, they went to hunt some hidden away zombies to dig out crystal nuclei. After the fog concentration in the space reached a certain degree, they returned to the base.
When the space went from level 4 to 5, it took more than 20 days. This time, it took a whole month to reach level 6.
The collective wedding at the base was completely prepared. Because more and more people wanted to join in, many people took this as an opportunity to find a passable partner to spend the second half of their lives with.
The mass wedding was huge and lively.
At this wedding, everyone saw a lot of familiar faces. For example, Yan Xin saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was Song Xianghong’s wife, the woman he used to call ‘aunt’. Even in her 50’s, she still had her own charm. Rumor was, after the Song family father and daughter vanished, she first lived alone in the villa, but after being unable to support herself, she finally found a man to live with, after changing several boyfriends, the youngest which was 16 or 17.
As for Song Xianghong and Song Qiaoqiao… the two of them have completely disappeared from the base.
Fang Hao and He Zizhong didn’t join in the fun. The two of them had no interest in this so-called ceremony or wedding. As long as they have the ring they put on each other’s hands, as long as the two of them are still together, their home is complete… of course, with the addition of Tuanzi.
On the contrary, all married couples were given a marriage certificate during the wedding. Obtaining it marriage certificate was much simpler than before the end of the world. Just sign a paper, take a photo, and stamp it with the official seal. The two took the opportunity to queue up to receive one as it was reasonable, legal proof of them being together.
Someone took out firecrackers from somewhere, and the long-lost sound of crackling sounded in the base. Wine, which was stored in some people’s space, was taken out, diluted with water, and shared amongst people. The lively wedding became a carnival…
—–
Deep in the urban area of A city, there are a large number of zombies entrenched in the maze-like underground subway. The passage used for convenient transportation in the past was now occupied by these creatures who were afraid of the sun. They hide in the dark and sneak out at night, relying on information carried through the wind to hunt.
Some low-level zombies have gradually decayed and withered away because they haven’t eaten for a long time. The crystal cores in their heads were eaten by their same kind to maintain their lives, and even improve their strength.
A small figure sat in an empty hall, where the passageway above has collapsed. There is only a small passage to go up. These days, the one with the best physique is this little zombie. All zombies in the hall obey its commands and belong to it.
Each time it opens its mouth, an angry noise reverberates in the passageways. Since its birth, it has never encountered such a predicament – being stuck in the empty ruins, unable to go out, and unable to recklessly hunt for food.
The nasty thing in the sky will melt its body.
It is the king of zombies. It has the absolute right to make all zombies obey. Its birth is different from all zombies. It was born in the womb of the mother of zombies, from the combination of sperm and eggs collected from a human woman by those people. The eggs were implanted in the abdomen of a female zombie and nurtured. Those people were probably trying for a different outcome, and accidentally created the zombie king.
But although it has the absolute right to order all zombies and is extremely fast and powerful, it is very fragile. It’s still a baby, so before it grows up, it needs the protection of other zombies.
At this time, the hall is densely surrounded by zombies of various colors as if standing guard. They are all protecting their king from any harm. Because of the king’s command, they found a new way of survival in this sun-lit world. They successfully attacked human villages several times in the dark, and hunted down some human beings who dared wander nearby. They are loyal to the king and will protect it closely – only it can let them live in this world and live for a long time!
Kara, kara… The sound of rolling gravel echoed, the noise magnifying through the empty space.
The little zombie turned its head and looked at the entranceway.
Suddenly! Vines shot into the sky, sprouting from all directions! Rushing towards the densely packed middle!
No matter how fast one is, no one can avoid this endless net. No matter how sharp one’s teeth is, they can’t bite off these damn unending vines! Several twigs slammed into the small body, causing the small zombie to scream piercingly.
Above and below, all the zombies shook, and started to dig holes randomly and frantically to open up a passage over. But when they finally opened the passage, they were stunned to find that the hall was empty, and there was nothing left…
