176

Luo Xun and the others slept until noon, the couple only waking in turns to feed the baby some milk fruit. At noon everyone gathered together, faces alight with inexplicable excitement without any fatigue.

Li Tie and friends had glittering eyes as Luo Xun entered. The heat of the looks caused him to sweatdrop.

Xu Mei smiled at the pair. "Did you have a good rest last night?"

Luo Xun nodded, of course they rested. If he had not set an alarm every three hours to feed the baby, he would have slept like a log.

*Cough, cough* Luo Xun looked at the group, "We checked last night, there were no problems with the doors and windows, as well as the roof."

"No big problem?" The group quickly turned to Yan Fei.

He explained, "There were traces of people on the roof, but only at the entrance, no one moved past the traps we set up."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "We were lucky, no had came to make trouble."

"But things will be picking up." Luo Xun was casual. "The weather is getting warmer and the base has begun releasing tasks. We'll be busy as usual."

"March is coming soon, there's only about one week left in February. Let's pack up and get ready to leave in a while."

After hearing these words, the team was excited as they discussed how to renovate the experimental building and planting area.

Zhang Yi suddenly added, "Us leaving is not a problem, but out things cannot be taken all at once. What are we going to do with the things we have planted?"

Luo Xun had planted a lot of food crops at home. Due to the week of neglect, when he checked this morning, many crops had some small growth problems. Crops with longer growth cycles were fine, although a bit messier. But some other vegetables had fallen out of the planting basins.

This was the biggest issue with moving, Luo Xun thought about it. "We cannot move these things for now, it's best to wait until March or April when the snow outside has melted and the temperatures are higher. These are not the same as other items, can not be squeezed and need gentle care. I think we need to set up a plan and first move the hardier plants. When the planting place is set up, we can carry over the crops in batches."

"Luo Xun, what about the rest?" Wu Xin quickly raised a hand to ask. Honestly, after living here for nearly two years, everyone had some affection towards the home they had basically built. Who would blame them for being reluctant to move.

"Keep it for now." Luo Xun spoke to the team. "Even if we have a base outside, we still need a place inside. We won't leave anything valuable, the rest will be transferred out, but we should leave some in case of emergencies..."

The team pulled out paper and pen to list everything that needed to be taken, what would be left and everyone's personal property. They started to plan the logistics of their move.

After all, they had exchanged a lot of things from the base. If they completely left the base, although certain aspects would be more free and convenient, other aspects would become more troublesome.

"...The base assigns team missions at the beginning of the month." Yan Fei pointed this out. "We'd better stay on base for a few days at the beginning, wait to complete the task and make sure there's nothing else going on."

Luo Xun mused with a pen against his chin. "Hmmm...we can grow some short term vegetables, calculate planting times to keep up with the harvest...the same for all of our plants."

"Don't forget when winter comes and snow falls." Zhang Yi waved a finger in front of Luo Xun. "There would be two months indoors, even if we go out, there would likely be a blizzard. What would happen then? Of course you can deal with both sides, but what would happen during a long absence?"

"Yeah...that's a problem." Luo Xun frowned. "During summer there might be heavy rain. This building does not need to worry but outside is different, we would need to set up drainage."

He remembered in the past, there were times when there was water splashing against his windows...if the drainage had not been sturdy, he would have drowned in the rain.

.....

The more questions, the more the mind would wander. The Otaku squad together could think of quite a few problems.

"Got it!" He Qiankun suddenly screamed while seated beside the computer.

"Got what?" The group of people gathered around.

He Qiankun took a drink of water and proudly raised his chin. "I looked for half day for the photos sent from the satellite. I directly edited the numerous photos..." He lowered his voice. "I just found the base staff list, there are less than half of the original workers!"

"What's going on?" Li Tie asked in a hurry.

He Qiankun shook his head. "I don't know what's going on, the name of the man I followed who specialized in hacking is gone."

The team looked at each other and sighed. No matter what caused them to do this, without a hacker, it was very easy to pull the wool over the base – so long as there was no one with hacker skills and actively checked, no one would find what had been changed.

He Qiankun and the others were careful, never deliberately leaving traces to be found. Not like some hackers who left clues behind to prove their existence. Plus, although there were some people in base who were hackers, how many of them could get their hands on a computer? Able to connect to the official server?

They had it easier since they had previously worked with the military, otherwise they would have no clue and not take the initiative to take action.

After the data related to the experimental base were found, saved and deleted from the original, He Qiankun also downloaded related information about building, drainage, wiring and so on. Luo Xun and the others started to tally the things to be taken out.

Yes, it would be the end of February. Luo Xun and company were ready to go immediately and move some things as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the arrival of March before returning to base. After completing the month's tasks, they would go back and properly organize their new home.

Not caring about physical exhaustion, they spent two days to pack up. They ran to buy a lot of gasoline, placed their things in a completely sealed metal box hidden inside the car. The team left base...

This time, instead of bringing their sled car, they revamped the wheels and drove the car all the way to their destination.

Cars were much faster than their homemade sleds and the heavy snow had melted over the past few days. The zombie migration had also flattened a lot of snow, making it unsuitable for the sleds, so Luo Xun simple chose a larger car.

This time, all four cars were in use and the trunks were stuffed to the brim with their things. The car was warmed in advance and comfortable enough for them to reach halfway before needing a break.

Luo Xun had never done this sort of move before, could be considered a real hoarder. He prioritized what to move now versus later, and where to best place them.

Their goal was to move some food, some of the more valuable stuff had to stay for now.

At the same time, of course there were some seeds unavailable – they could only store a third of them. In case there was no way to go back for a while, even if the seeds were out of order.

While these items were in the car, they also frantically collected metal. More was needed for the underground channel so it would not be destroyed by underground creatures and zombies.

The last time they left, it took two days. When they returned since they were driving over flattened ground, it took under two days to return.

They carefully examined the metal gate, confirmed there were no problems. Even the camouflage was the same. Everyone was relieved as they stopped the car. Yan Fei collected the metal and started to work on the tunnel once again.

177

There was no light in the flat, repaired tunnel. The team had to pull and push the car while shining their light sources.

"The we need to make the tunnel wider next time so the car can drive straight through." Luo Xun discussed with Yan Fei as they pushed forward.

Yan Fei nodded, "I can seal the middle with a few layers of metal, but we will need a large amount of it."

Yan Fei's ability was very convenient but was also troublesome – his ability could not create things out of thin air and did not have as wide an application as earth.

Han Li suddenly asked from the back, "Luo Xun, since we can dig, can we expand the underground planting space? Like the two under the lab building?"

Those two planting spaces were large, but only two acres of the area could be used. Although some crops could be grown, the harvest was not too rich. The food produced was barely enough for their group to eat for a year.

It would be far from enough if they wanted to use the crops to exchange for supplies in base. Not to mention not all the area could be used to grow food. If they did not expand the cultivation area, they could only use the shelves like back at home. But that would mess with the original designs and would be more troublesome to change things than open up more space.

"Of course you can." Luo Xun and Yan Fei had discussed this before going to bed.

Since the mutant plants were above ground, they naturally considered expanding the sapce to grow things – just had to not alarm the plants above.

"But, we have to collect more metal..." Luo Xun continued, "In fact, we should find a way to take advantage of the open space above. As long as we find the right paint and materials, the mutant plants would also provide cover and camouflage."

With such a large chunk of ignored land, Luo Xun could expand in all sorts of directions. While taking into account security concerns, they needed to make use of their nearby resources as much as possible.

With a goal in mind, the atmosphere had changed. Although the team had to spend two days on the road, no one felt tired at all.

They put the things in an empty room and went to bed. But even under a quilt they had a strong desire to chat.

"Tomorrow we'll go and pull out those boxes of solar panels. The first time they had left two boxes buried in the ground, waiting to be picked up. We can also find some metal on the way back to reinforce the tunnel." Luo Xun listed out the plan in his notebook.

This time when they came out, although they had their charged mobile phones, no one dared to turn them on. The current phones automatically broadcasted their positions every once in a while to the satellites. Luo Xun would of course open it if they were somewhere new as to not get themselves lost.

But now they had a secret place outside base, fortunately no one noticed.Ifpeople noticed that they would leave base for a long time each month and brought back a lot of crops, their base could be found through satellite!

Some things needed to be carefully guarded, especially matters regarding everyone's safety and life. If people found out...how would they continue living?

After a good night's rest, the two couples went out with two cars to where they dropped off the large metal boxes. The rest of the team packed up, sorted things out and prepared some rooms for storage. The nearby snow had been completely trampled with only a few patches of untouched snow.

The four people in two cars loaded with lots of weapons and medicine to avoid danger drove across the muddy snow towards their destination.

To tell the truth, Luo Xun felt stressed as they drove since the last time they were almost killed on this road. To embark on this path again was a trial.

"Be careful, there's a bunker in front..." Luo Xun spoke through his walkie-talkie, then added. "Should be from the last time..."

There was no way, they focused their efforts escaping and blocking the zombies. Now back here they had to carefully make detours.

Fortunately the road was covered in sand (Yu Xinran used it as her weapon). So they just had to go around the holes. Yan Fei could also use his metal to form a bridge over the bad patches. It slowed them down but not by much.

Wang Duo's voice crackled through the walkie-talkie, "Luo Xun, those should be the zombies we accidentally killed last time right?"

"Should be..."

"Luo, Luo Xun, crystal cores! Crystal cores!" Going in and out of the base required cores, these past two times they did not have the chance to fight zombies. The team who had tightened their belts felt fortunate.

"Pick it up on the way back, we're in a hurry." Luo Xun made a decision.

They had make sure that the metal boxes with solar panels were okay and could be safely brought back. If there was danger...they would have to hurry back,.

This time there were no zombies chasing behind them. Luo Xun did not arrive until midnight to where the troops had been found. The two large metal boxes were left behind a few collapsed bungalows.

Luo Xun circled the container and Yan Fei loaded the containers after confirming that there was nothing wrong. The four managed to sleep for three or four hours before rushing back when the run rose.

Halfway on the road, Luo Xun and company harvested the crystals from the zombies. To their surprise, when they counted their spoils, they actually picked up hundreds of nuclei!

These cores were mostly wind and speed type. There were some level three and a few level four cores. This way although the wind cores would go to Zhang Yi, the remaining speed ones could be used to pay the gate tolls.

Two huge metal boxes were brought back along with two metal balls. Yan Fei used one of them to reinforce the underground tunnel. The remaining metal was used to reinforce the building they were located in. Then the team started to inspect and disassemble the solar panels.

"This piece has been cracked...there's nothing wrong with the rest!"

"These ones are all good, nothing's wrong."

"This one is broken, the rest are fine."

"There's a bump but don't know if there is any damage..."

Luo Xun found two boxes, one of which had been overturned, with their limited time they could only check later. Yan Fei confirmed that the remaining two underground boxes had not been moved, ready for the next time they left base. If they had time, they would simply stop by the factory and take a look.

After all the solar panels had been checked and packed, the group tidied up things and then set off again back towards base.

In other words, Luo Xun and team found themselves rushing around. If was only once or twice it would be fine, but running around for a long time, who could stand it? Hurriedly organizing things to save a trip, but too much would still make people uncomfortable.

Once again, they drove their empty cars back to base. Luo Xun and the others felt really tired. This time back Yan Fei was responsible for driving while Luo Xun held the baby and changed his diaper. As for the dog...she was with the three ladies being happily brushed.

When the car reached the base gate, there were several other vehicles lined up and loud sounds could be heard. There were several military vehicles parked near the exit with wary soldiers guarding the way towards the city.

Luo Xun frowned while Yan Fei looked. The last time they came back it was the middle of the night and they did not meet anyone else. They came and went in a hurry so they were a bit out of the loop. Was there some trouble with the people who came back now?

178

The frame was riddled with marks and scratches, some of the more miserable cars were actually missing chunks...Showed the strength of the whatever had done it. Fortunately the remaining part of the car was not grabbed or the people would not be able to escape.

Luo Xun and the others silently joined the back of the convoy to inquire about information. A few of the people in the front cars got out and were waiting for the vehicle check. They were complaining about something.

Wang Duo, who loved gossip the most, even if his queen had no regard for it. He opened the door and went ahead and stayed outside.

After checking that the members of the car had not been infected with the virus, Luo Xun's team successfully entered base. They looked around at those temporarily parked at the base gate before returning home.

They locked the car, went upstairs, and made sure there were no eavesdroppers before asking Wang Duo about the gate.

"They were in the city for team tasks or assigned by base to find something. As a result, they were ambushed by zombies..."Wang Duo's voice lowered, "It wasn't the first time, there are a lot of places to hide in the snow to attack unsuspecting cars. At first people thought it was a coincidence but when people asked around, almost all the people who went out encountered zombies! A whole team went out and did not return! Now there are rumors that zombies will dig traps and capture them!"

They immediately remembered the zombies hidden in the snow they had encountered before and looked at each other – that was not an exception?

"But when we came and went, we did not meet any more zombies!" Song Lingling suddenly recalled and looked at Luo Xun for answers.

Luo Xun was not a zombie, how could he know exactly why the zombies had disappeared? But before he could say anything, Zhang Yi interrupted, "Maybe they all followed the zombie horde."

The last time they encountered zombies, according to what they saw, the tracks were indeed near where the other zombies were lurking.

"...It's possible. I just don't know why the zombies are moving in large groups." Luo Xun frowned, the zombies clearly had a certain sense of unity. Whatever it was, it was very bad news for those who needed to fight them for nuclei.

If they went out and rarely found any wandering zombies, there would no nuclei to collect. The only time they encountered zombie was during a wave...they would need wrack their brains for a better way to collect cores.

"Even if we come with ideas, we have no way to prove it for a while. We need to finish moving first." Since they could not think of a reason, it was more important to take care of their priorities.

Moving was a big project, they filled a full four cars but there were still a lot of things for them to slowly move out...In other words, Luo Xun only found out now just how many things they had collected. There were no problems with stairs with Yan Fei around, otherwise who knew how much effort would be used to move things?

Just as Luo Xun rolled up his sleeves and prepared to pick some things up, his phone rang. He almost forgot, they came back not just to move but also to complete some tasks.

The base seemed to be very enthusiastic about cleaning activities, perhaps they thought the name was too weak sounding? Otakus would only be able to sweep streets which is why they were only sent these sorts of tasks? Or were there no other teams willing to do these lower-leveled jobs?

In short, everyone's faces towards their month's tasks were shining.

"Where are we sweeping?"

Luo Xun carefully looked at the information as his brow wrinkled. "Outside the base, one of the main roads before winter arrived."

While the zombies were trampling a lot of snow and snow under the walls was mostly gone, there was still snow on the roads. In particular, some roads that the zombie horde did not pass through would have to be cleaned out.