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The Otaku squad's new base was located to the southwest of A city. It would take more than a day to reach the southwest base (with the difficult road conditions and collapsed areas to bypass). But if they wanted to reach the northern area that specializes in digital products, they had to cross almost half the city. Although they could take the long way around, how long would it take? It would also be possible that they would meet with other teams on official missions.

Fortunately, Luo Xun paid attention to the zombie wave situation while building the greenhouse There should not be many zombies in the area even after the zombie siege finished.

Although there were zombies in the city, Luo Xun found a relatively clean route. The risk against these zombies was nothing compared to the zombie siege.

After entering the city, they would encounter teams find materials, but those were scattered without military presence. So they did not have to be very worried.

There was another reason why they did not take the long way – the warming weather melted the snow and moistened buildings and the ground. The further away from the city, the more vicariously the plants grew. Like the place Luo Xun's team lived, relatively quiet places with open space were covered in plants.

Look at the satellite photos showing the jagged outer ring, Luo Xun had some worries. Not all mutant plants were like the devil vine – a completely different color and shape. Some mutant plants were still green, who knew if they were interested in human flesh. They dared not rush through those places.

Although there were still many zombies hidden in the city, with people in base searching for supplies, the roads would definitely better. Even other sections were not as dangerous.

In addition, before this operation, Luo Xun also had Yan Fei improve their weapons and the lethality of their ammunition. Therefore the safety factor was increased for this outing.

Two empty white electric cars and red trucks other than necessary supplies, food and hidden metal inside drove forward.

Luo Xun expected their trip to take longer so they specially set the lights and set up protections for the solar panels and glass. Everything was arranged before leaving through the tunnel and driving towards the northern part of the city.

A city is very big, everyone knew that already before the end. But with today's difficult road conditions, wandering zombies, mutant animals and transportation. With traffic jams then it could take forever to get anywhere. As for how many days it would take to get there? It all depended on luck and character.

At the beginning of the end, some people were hiding at first but after food ran out they had to leave and finally escape to A city. They were locals but it could take ten days up to a month to walk to base.

Luo Xun and the others were in a better situation. After all, they had a car and satellite images showed safety zones. The car also had a variety of weapons and the most important thing was at least half the team had abilities. They still had to be careful at all times as they had to worry about zombies, mutant animals and people they meet on the road.

The southwest base had recently taken large actions. It seemed that after the zombie wave, the inner and outer walls were completely isolated. Fortunately there did not seem to be a concrete divide but some well-informed people knew the truth.

After the zombie wave receded, the military immediately send vehicles to the former mines to bring back supplies and fuel back.

The higher ups at base prioritized increasing the wall height and strength. Then they started to distinguish between those inside and outside the city.

Only, because of human nature, those in the know would tell their relatives and friends and so on. Gradually the news spread, there was a rumor in base that there was a supply shortage and the military was ready to confiscate private property.

The rest of the idea, that according to work results the supplies would be distributed was ignored. The poor people naturally did not care and happily waited for the change. But the rest were different, who was willing to hand over their things to others? Unless they would get more in the end, than it would be impossible!

Fortunately, immediately after another rumor spread – the matter would only be temporary in the inner and outer parts of the base.

But after three days, the inner base was almost empty. People with few assets slowly trickled out while some unbelievers stayed in their original residences.

On the other hand, the outer city was lively, many people were competing for housing while the upper echelons started work.

Rumors were swirling, teams with ability users were sent out on missions after reaching an agreement.

So while Luo Xun and team drove towards the base, they occasionally encountered some returning convoys.

While out Yan Fei collected spare metal, when there was enough he simply shaped the metal into the shapes of humble jeeps. Even if there were other teams nearby, they would think it real, even the one way glass.

After doing a good job, Yan Fei made the cars move behind them, following Zhang Yi's car. The latter could use his ability to scout any danger and road conditions. This time, the two were in a small electric car in the front. Yan Fei was next in a large truck, followed by Li Tie. The two women's small car made up the rear.

If there was enough metal collected to form a few cars, Luo Xun was ready to do as before, compress the material or put it in the back.

Sure enough, their numbers were enough, nearby teams would give them a few glances but not approach. Even if the sun set, they would not take the initiative to come closer.

Since others did not approach, Luo Xun would not take the chance either. When they drove into the city, most of the convoys would disperse and head towards their own targets. The Otaku squad would usually find an open space to temporarily set up a metal wall. But in this urban area filled with buildings, they could only give up. Other than passing the night in their car, they would find an empty house to stay in.

This was because there were relatively few open spaces, definitely not enough space to set up a metal house. If people passed by during the night, there would be trouble.

So the evening of the third day leaving their new base, Luo Xun and team killed off the nearby zombies and found a shop on the roadside.

Locked the car, grabbed their belongings, the team looked around for zombies after entering the empty shop. The shop was empty in all sense of the definition.

This was not far from the southwest base, obviously there were not many zombies, more cautious teams had come to this area so everything of value: shelves, cabinets, doors and windows were all gone.

The whole room was empty, there was nothing, even the wallpaper and floor tiles was gone, not to mention anything else?

After two checks, the team nodded and said, "It's good, we'll rest here for tonight."

Yan Fei did not have to move the two cars of pure metal. He waved a hand and summoned some metal from the area. The whole house was completely sealed aside from ventilation.

The team laid their covers, set a fire and washed their hands. Luo Xun took the baby from his sling and checked his diaper. Yu Xinran brought out a strawberry from the fridge to feed Puppy.

At such a peaceful time, suddenly an engine roared to life along with a honking horn...

217

"What? What's going on?"

The team of people crowded at the door and looked out the small window. Not long after, a car twisted around the street, the tires screeched as the car slid to a stop towards their direction.

Several zombies were still lying on the roof unnoticed by others on the road and hit on of them directly!

The team felt a chill but also a sigh of relief, the car hit was the one they purposely parked at the edge, a fake car made of pure metal. At most the body was only lightly scratched and dented.

A large zombie stumbled over and used its bare hands to tear into the other car. It grabbed a person from inside and bit down.

The people in the room had not faced such a bloody scene for some time and could not help but gulp. More zombies came from behind the large attacking zombie and screams echoed from inside the car.

It seemed to have heard of smell something, the large zombie stood up and did not care about the snatched prey. Instead it looked at the house where Luo Xun was located.

"It will come over, everyone get ready to fight." Luo Xun looked at the street, not many zombies followed those cars but each one was a mutation. Its combat effectiveness could not be compared to other zombies.

Although the other team was followed by fifty to sixty zombies and only twenty stayed, each one would not be easy to kill.

At the words, everyone raised their long-range weapons, ready to fight back at any time. As for rushing out to save people...this was the apocalypse, when someone's vehicle was surrounded by zombies, it was almost impossible to leave anyone alive. Listening to the movements inside, everyone knew that the people inside could not be saved.

It was true, the people had been bitten may have been killed directly. But now the zombies were with prey, how long would they be occupied.

Before Luo Xun launched an attack, the large zombie grabbed the metal car and threw it towards Luo Xun and team!

"Whoah! It's so powerful!" Li Tie scolded, the large car was so easily thrown.

"No, it's not a power type, it's a metal one!" Yan Fei had just spoken when the car started to change mid-air. Countless steel needles emerged and shot at the team!

If those hit, even if they had a metal wall in front of them, there were also small windows. They were afraid that if they were slow they would not survive!

Yan Fei's reaction was very fast, he used the nearest metal to cover the wall in metal cloth which added thickness to their defenses.

That group of zombies had already killed the living people inside the car. Due to long time cooperation, although their intelligence was not high, they had a certain degree of teamwork.

It seemed that the metal tactic was common, so when the plate was thrown the zombies followed and pounced in order bite into human flesh.

To their surprise, instead of hurting their prey, it became an obstacle to their progress.

The zombies were slow to react, the metal zombie had not lifted the metal fence again. The enemies were showered in bright red juice from head to toe.

At the same time, metal bombs were shot towards the bodies. Two of the largest ones were aimed at the metal zombie, who was unable to escape.

Ten minutes later, there was no outside movement, only a layer of white mist rising and gradually dissipated.

Luo Xun carefully observed a little before calming down. "It's done, pick up those crystal cores. Yu Xinran make a sandpit and bury the remains with mushroom juice

The girl did not have to take action, even Xu Mei only used a water gun. However Song Lingling and Zhang Yi had done a lot of work with mushroom juice.

Song Lingling's water ability was now more handy. Zhang Yi could use his wind to increase the flow speed and adjust their direction for a variety of attack patterns. They had a lot of mushroom juice which made the battle even easier.

They would always be growing these at home in the future, even if they had to water mutant plants, they worried about second mutations. It was rare for them to go out and they would not let such a good chance go. They had already filled nearly half the storage space so they did not have to worry about the zombies everyday.

Even better – because of Song Lingling, she controlled the mushroom juice and targeted the zombie's limbs. Finally she could also recall the liquid back into the box, nothing was wasted.

Yu Xinran brought back some crystal cores back with her sand while burying the rest. Yan Fei took the metal core and said to the team. "This is actually a level five crystal core!"

They recently checked the mutant vines after the zombies came through and also found a level five water crystal core. Thus, Song Lingling greatly enhanced their own strength but they had not seen any other level five core. But once they went out they came across a level five zombie? One that was a metal user?! Was their luck good or not?

All the people squirmed before smiling ironically, "Our luck..."

"So the zombie is bad luck, even without the level five, our mushroom would have not melted it."

Yes, if they had given the zombie more time to react, the battle would not have ended so easily. But on the other hand, as long as they had a way through should be able to defeat the powerful enemy.

After confirming that there were no other zombies outside, Luo Xun carefully opened the metal door and walked over to the car that had been hit.

There was only half a body in the car. All of them were killed by zombies, or rather torn apart.

Inside the car, they could only slightly check and move the car to the side of the road. They did not bury the bodies inside – not because they did not want to, but because there should be other people in that group. Although there were zombies chasing them, a few cars must have escaped, it would not be good for them to find their companions mysteriously buried.

They returned to the temporary room, Luo Xun looked in the direction of base. "There must have been level five zombies during the siege. If the base has some, we may be able to find someone to buy from." They were now safe enough but in contrast, lost their way to buy things from people at base.

"Even if we were still at base, those things would definitely be in the hands of the military. We might not be able to buy even if we wanted." Yan Fei comforted his lover.

True, since the New Year their original method of buying was useless. Second, they could not exchange higher level cores at the exchange window. Instead, they had to find people in the market who needed cores to barter.

Plus it was a mess at base and they probably would have nowhere to sell these things even if they went back. If they were unlucky enough to get trapped with the new base rules regarding work and private property, they might be able to protect their things.

When Luo Xun finished, the team turned to talk about the zombies and the team. Zhang Yi said, "A car drove past missing half the body! I also saw a few bodies lying on the back, I'm afraid the people in the car may not be able to escape."

"When we were fighting the zombies, I heard a zombie in the distance, maybe that was when the zombies attacked."

"Boss, where did these zombies come from?"

Luo Xun was helpless at the inquiring eyes, he did not have a thousand eyes and the power of foresight. "Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe where they were going, there was a zombie wave and they were targeted."

The path they chose, while relatively safe was not danger-free. From the satellite photos they could only see the situation of the streets. Who knew whether there were any zombies hidden in the roadside buildings. Luo Xun could not guarantee that their route was absolutely safe. Especially now since this situation was not guaranteed.

218

Perhaps due to the dead outside the street, when Luo Xun got up early last night, he found a lot of scattered zombies in the area.

Luo Xun went out killed the zombies while Yan Fei repaired the car frame. Then everyone was called and they continued on the road.

Along the way there were several small zombie groups, especially as they moved deeper into the city.

When the base took action and bombed the south city buildings, those who went out would subconsciously ignore the area and head to the north instead. The frequent human presence lead to more zombies in the area. So the further north, deeper into the city, the more there would be zombies.

Luckily, Luo Xun chose a relatively quiet road however even then zombies would occasionally jump onto the road. Of course these would be dangerous to those scavenging.

The team rushed south and then north but they did forget to express admiration to Luo Xun. How else would they kill zombies without the mushroom juice and Yan Fei's improved buildings. Their previous weapons would at most deal small wounds. If not for Yan Fei refining according to Luo Xun's plan it would be a hard battle with any zombie.

Even better, the level five water core they had found in the farmland had successfully leveled up Song Lingling's ability before going out.

Level five ability users had amazing water control. Even if there was no wound on the target, she could instantly pull the liquid inside the target object!

This trick was not only used for processing the mushroom juice, it was also effective against the zombies. Although the zombie was dead and the blood was turned into something, it was still in liquid form. She could use her power, target the neck and drain all the liquid. Then anyone could break the branch-like enemy with one heavy strike!

Even better was that against a mostly drained body, Xu Mei's fireballs would burn the zombies more easily!

Yan Fei used the metal crystal core and also raised his level. Now that he was level five, in addition to an increase in range, he could detect further sources of metal. He could only slowly explore his new powers for new uses.

The convoy set off again with two blocks of metal disguised as jeeps. Luo Xun wanted to have Yan Fei get a few metal cars to follow since they could be used as a distraction, but the road conditions were too difficult. There was a lot of debris, if the group was too large, they would not be able to react as quickly.

Since entering the city, it took the team a full three days to arrive at their destination. Those three days, they would fight the zombies to sleep at ease and have peace of mind on the road.

To their relative relief, the number of zombies they encountered increased gradually on the second day but as they approached the north, the number then decreased. There were only more signs of destruction which had been damaged by the zombie army from the past.

It seemed that due to the last wave of zombies, most of the ones who passed through were drawn elsewhere. But when Luo Xun drove down the road, they encountered zombies part way from a different group of zombies.

Luo Xun held up binoculars and observed from a distance. Then he decided to drive closer.

"The east gate was blocked by a collapsed building, there are three doors. The building opposite seems to have no obstacles with two buildings behind..." Before the end, A-city had a monopoly on digital products even before e-commerce, it was a famous place in the country.

Nearby commercial buildings were all in a line. Half the overpass was missing and there was damage everywhere.

Some weeds grew between the cracks. Even the originally modern buildings were covered in green and looked ruined.

They parked their car in a relatively safe place – which meant a place that no windows would get broken and not near an intersection where other vehicles could appear at any time.