251

Luo Xun would like to use his foot to kick Zhang Yi from the table. Because this was the fifth piece of meat snatched from his chopsticks. Five times! His meat!

He was not robbing the silky fish balls, specifically staring at the meat. Beef, mutton, and bird slices. Even more exasperating was dipped the meat in both soups, his chopsticks had never stopped.

Luo Xun grabbed meat and directly stuffed it into his mouth. Even more annoying was Zhang Yi could use his wind ability to help and Wang Duo also added meat to his bowl. Fortunately, thanks to the large number of mutton slices they cut, they still had some left over in the fridge.

Suddenly, Xu Mei stood up, rolled up her sleeves and picked up the largest empty place and then handed it to Song Lingling. "Bring back a plate."

"Oh." Song Lingling went straight to the freezer but also did not forget to say, "Xu Mei, help grab some meat!"

"Okay."

The thin slices of meat could be dipped in the pot and then fished out to eat. Everyone saw Xu Mei's actions and were ready to take action. Without waiting for Song Lingling to come back, the meat in the pot was instantly gone.

Song Lingling came back with a plate of mutton slices only to see the few remaining pieces of meat. Her head had black lines, "I should have filled the pot with meat instead."

"Give it to me, you go get some more." Xu Mei poured the slices of meat into the two sides of the pot while telling Song Lingling to grab more.

Sure enough, when Song Lingling came back with more mutton, the meat in the pot was already gone.

But this time it was not as crazy. With their bellies filled with meat, they started to pick at other favorite ingredients.

Full on lamb. Luo Xun had heard this sentence before but not understood the meaning...at least until today...

He paused his chopsticks when thought about how much he had eaten, but after a while, he wondered if he had eaten too many peppers...but then he ate some more.

In the afternoon, he had to lie in the recliner while rubbing his stomach.

Yan Fei also helped the baby eat lunch and coaxed him to sleep. After the baby was in the cradle, he went to check on Luo Xun. "Still uncomfortable?"

"Yeah..." Luo Xun hummed, "It's all Zhang Yi's fault, if it weren't for him I would not have eaten so much." He got sucked into the atmosphere. When others were snatching food, of course he would retaliate? It was normal to eat more right?

Yan Fei helplessly held Luo Xun's hand and gently rubbed.

Luo Xun put his head against Yan Fei's chest and winked. "Before the apocalypse I actually forgot to prepare stomach medicine at home, what an oversight..."

Who would have thought that one could eat and eat during the apocalypse? It was a dream that Luo Xun had never entertained in his life. After all, even if they ate their fill of high quality crops, they were still vegetables! But this was meat! Real meat!

Yan Fei helplessly smiled. "I remember that the hawthorn tree is ripe? I'll go down and pick a few for you."

"Yes, I definitely feel like having some."

"Then you stay inside, don't move." The two did not notice that Luo Xun resembled a pregnant woman, holding his stomach and making a fuss about eating hawthorn fruits.

They only had one hawthorn tree, they found it the same time as some other trees. This year was the first harvest and it was not bad. The branches had dozens of fruit, although the color was not red enough so they had to wait a few days. They did not result in it to come in handy now.

When Yan Fei came downstairs to the tree he saw both Xu Mei and Li Tie also picking hawthorn fruits!

"Yan Fei? What are you doing here?" Li Tie noticed Yan Fei while holding a dozen hawthorns in his hand.

Yan Fe pointed at the tree, "Picking the hawthorns to soothe a stomach?"

The two men glanced at each other, then Li Tie covered his mouth.

"He Qiankun and the others ate too much."

"Lingling also ate too much and Yu Xinran wanted some fruits."

They were the only three not to overeat and now running errands for the others...Where was the fairness?

The hotpot sated their appetite for two days, that night they specially cooked non-greasy corn porridge. But the next lunch, the group of unrepentant foodies would eat another meal. They would have to wait a bit though.

As winter approached, snow covered the land. Luo Xun carefully watched the satellite photos for the zombie waves. Sure enough, the wave was much slower than before after leaving the previous base. If they used to be able to walk 50 or 70 kilometers a day, now they would walk 10 if they were unlucky. Of course, the zombie speed was not as fast as before. After all, they would also wander into urban areas with buildings and the smell of people would affect their speed as well.

Although the zombie wave would be slowed down by the weather, there were no guesses about the zombies buried in the snow - the snow was actually nationwide. All was covered in snow except for a few southern areas and the north was heavier and more violent.

After the snow completely covered Luo Xun's base, Zhang Yi was ordered to use his wind abilities to blow at least half of it off so that the fruit and grains could mature.

They first seized the time to harvest the rice and wheat before taking time to deal with the fruits that had finally ripened.

Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, dates and the remaining hawthorns.

Don't think that there was little fruit at home, there were actually quite a few. While apples were relatively resistant, and the dates and hawthorns could be dried. Other things especially the peaches were perishable.

Luo Xun picked while eating and noted. "I should have found a way to stagger the growing periods, did not expect all of them to ripen at the same time."

Originally, if these trees were outside, then they would certainly grow according to the laws of nature and fruit in different seasons. But since they were moved during the flowering period into the greenhouse, who guessed that they would all grow together!

Finally, the team discussed and decided to can peaches and cherries. The pears could be eaten or boiled as well. The plums and peaches could be made into dried snacks.

In fact, the other fruits could also be dried but then the moisture and some taste would be lost. They would eat as much as they could first and then deal with the issue.

The team of people was busy harvesting fruit in the greenhouse. The two chicks now had full feathers and flapping around with Yu Xinran and the deer. They were mixed together with Puppy and the two silly wolves. The little girl had a new playmate and would not get too lonely. Sometimes she went down to the basement to play with the three - there was enough space for all of them.

So the batch of fruit was harvested, dried, preserved and stored away. Luo Xun said, "I think we should add some grain..." He looked at the two wolves that were more and more comfortable at home. It was clear that it would be difficult for them to leave once spring arrived.

"How to add? Dig underground?" Li Tie asked while drinking a cup of water.

"No need." Luo Xun smiled. "Remember our previous base in the city? Weren't all the shelves layered? As long as we add some support to the planting racks, we can have at least twice the amount of space."

In particular, the second underground floor was much higher than the first. They did have to worry about running out of space for planting another two rows of crops.

"Okay, it's a lot of trouble to dig up a hole and we still have a lot of earth at home!" They could not bear to throw out the soil they dug out last time when digging out the third underground layer. The rest was temporarily stored and it was very fertile earth, who was willing to throw it away?

"Do you want to start in the next few days?" Wu Xin asked. These past few days they had just emptied out the planted crops, changed the soil and planted the new seedlings, it would best if most of the crops matured together.

"No hurry, we can first set up the room and then add the vegetables. After all most of our metal is being used in the traps and we need to have reserves." Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei.

Now that the weather was cold, although they had metal in storage it should be used for the soon-to-be zombie wave. They dared not use too much.

"It doesn't matter, there's no big problem if you don't use too much metal for the shelves." Yan Fei did some mental calculations and answered.

"Okay, then we'll set up the shelves tomorrow." Luo Xun breathed a sigh of relief and secretly wished that the animals at home...would not eat so much food.

252

This year's winter was clearly much colder than the first two years. Since the start of winter in November, it snowed without end. Each week there would be snow falling for at least two or three days.

Plus Luo Xun sent out the hungry...no the right team member Zhang Yi to sweep the snow each week. Otherwise, the snow would pile up and the vent would get blocked.

Although the plants could produce oxygen, they could not be completely sealed in during the winter.

Thankfully, they had studied the satellite photographs for a while and found that the zombies were moving slower and slower as winter continued. The road delays were getting longer and longer - for two weeks there had not been any movement. Of course, this was certainly a disaster for that base, but for the others, especially ones in the north were given breathing room.

In this snow-filled weather filled with zombies, the whole country ushered in the new year.

No firecrackers, fireworks or candy but still a new year nonetheless. This was the third New Year since the apocalypse for Luo Xun, but also the first one since the little bun's birth. After all, the baby was born on the first day of last year on the first-day of January.

Now the little baby who could barely cry was snow able to stand up and stumble for a few steps and then continue crawling around.

And the small bun could make some monosyllabic sounds to call people, for example, he would cry "Pu" when seeing Luo Xun, "Pa" for Yan Fei and "Dog" when seeing Puppy...why was the last one correct?

This was a mystery to everyone in the house because even Yu Xinran called the dog Puppy when playing with the baby. Who knew how the baby knew that Puppy was a dog? Could it have been when Luo Xun had complained about her silliness?

In short, setting aside the baby's matters, since it was New Years', it was dumpling day at home.

Although Luo Xun had quite a few ingredients and tried new recipes from time to time, dumplings were not often served. After the wrapping was somewhat troublesome so they would only eat once in a while. Most of the flour was usually used for pancakes or steamed buns.

The Otaku squad had a number of people so there were naturally many tasks to be completed. They also had to prepare the fillings for the dumplings.

They had gathered a lot of food and drink, they even did not have to go out to collect metal. Other than spending an hour or two each day taking care of the crops, they idled around playing games or pondering what to eat. So the team discussed and decided to make several kinds of dumpling fillings.

Lamb carrot stuffing - the taste was always popular. Three seafood filling - since the base had a lot of fish and shrimp along with creeks on base so they were not afraid to eat. Pork cabbage filling - a very traditional filling that everyone understood. Beef onion stuffing - this came from a few who suddenly thought of meat pies. Mushroom pork filling - they had quite a few mushrooms as a result of the mutant mushroom cultivation. The proportion was around ten to one, thinking about the size of the base, their mushroom production was amazing.

Finally, the team tentatively set up these five along with Luo Xun's notebook could try some more exotic flavors such as tomato and egg, black pepper beef along with egg cucumber stuffing. Although relatively normal, they did not want to have some like leek and bean sprout filling.

After a morning consultation, the team went to the basement to check on the crops. Once they were ready, everyone went to the kitchen to cook together.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei pushed a small cart together, it was full of heavy barrels.

The two of them took the elevator directly down to the second underground floor. They pushed the cart down the passageway to a gate.

When the door opened, before the pair could go in, Puppy ran out with her tongue wagging followed by the two wolves - this was their kennel. An acre-sized area that Yan Fei had double layered on purpose. There was a ramp against the wall with some other places where they could sleep.

The two pulled the cart to the corner, there were two large and three smaller pots. Luo Xun lifted the lids to reveal flour, corn and sorghum noodles along with a mixed vegetable stew. He dipped a spoon into the pots.

Next to them was a big water bowl with clean water, there was even an open tap. The water tank was taken care of Song Lingling who would check the water level every couple days and fill it up.

Usually, the base water was from the source using Yan Fei's created pipes that were connected to each room. He could also use his ability to deal with any rusting.

The two men set out the food and changed the water while also petting Puppy's head. "Good, stay. Return when you are tired of playing."

Luo Xun had put a door when they made this room. First, the two wolves needed enough exercise each day, such as running around in the passage or something to promote digestion. Second, Puppy also ate with them but it was hard to ensure that the two wolves would not follow when she went up to find Yu Xinran. Due to their huge size, they would not fit in the stairwell.

Puppy rushed the pair with a bark before settling down to eat.

The pair pushed the cart filled with empty pots down the hall. The meat they had cooked for the two wolves was not frozen. In the past, Luo Xun had directly dried some of the prey. Luo Xun calculated that the fridge simply did not have enough meat for them to eat for the winter, not to mention the rest of the team!

So they tried mixing in noodles while steaming the dried meat and the two wolves were eating their fill!

This was much more convenient.

After all, dried food was easier and less perishable so Luo Xun would always dry a part of the spoils. Over time since they only consumed a small portion of it, they actually had more dried food then frozen. Now that the two wolves were willing to eat it, they were welcome to it.

The couple returned to the second floor to see everyone inspecting the crops. The set the cart aside and grabbed a special basket for the eggs. They used a newly built staircase to head to the third underground floor.

The third basement floor was later expanded into a large room underneath where the two wolves lived. It was a lush area filled with a variety of green, leafy vegetables. There were areas of grass, some streams that contained seafood along with the quails and rabbits that were housed.

The middle of the stream was a small pool where the domestic animals could drink water.

Today Luo Xun had put all the quails inside - the grass had several rows of nests. Other spots had half-buried rabbit dens.

The thirteen rabbits that survived were not afraid of the two showing up - they leisurely jumped around while eating grass.

The two went to check the nests and found some eggs. They were split into two different baskets - the fertilized ones were to be placed in the hatchery above.

Then the two went to check the dens. They looked inside one - empty. In another they found a large rabbit watching warily. Another...had a group of newborn rabbits. Yes, there was enough space and there actually was a full dozen inside!

When the rest learned of the situation, they exchanged shocked looks and said, "No wonder there would be a disaster if rabbits had no natural enemies, no wonder if this many are born at once!"

The two patrolled around the floor to confirm the animal's conditions and crop growth. They were ready to head up when their phone rang - it was He Qiankun who was in the greenhouse. "Luo Xun, Yan Fei hurry up! Those two eagles are going to tear apart our house!"

"Huh?" Those two eagles? Demolish? How were they going to do that?

"They have abilities! The both of them are lightning types! Just now we were checking the fruit trees and we heard that they have blown up a mushroom box!"

Oh no, they had forgotten about that!

Luo Xun remembered that he had seen the big eagle grab a mutant animal and discharge the prey. It seemed that the two babies were its offspring, even the ability was similar!

253

After receiving the news of the two rebelling eagles at home, the pair rushed back to the car with their basket of eggs. They did not even take the time to park as they rushed the stairs.

They rushed past the gate into the greenhouse. In the distance they heard the sound of chaos - the beating of wings and chase noises.

Luo Xun had brought back the deer and lambs after the hail and it did not take long for them to grow up. Especially the two deer who were often seen running around in the area. Yu Xinran sometimes would ride one of them in the hillsides.

The two eagles were more likely to chase them around as a kind of friendship between pets.

But now, were they only playfully chasing them? Or did they accidentally find out about their powers? Anyway, the two deer in front would jump and the two eagles could not catch up so they would flap their wings and spit out a ball of lightning.

*Crackle*

*Zizizi*

*Boom*

"Damn it! Ah! My garden!" Luo Xun heard the noises and became furious! He hated that he could not throw those two scourges outside the gate!

Those two eagles didn't look big but they were lethal. The lightning attacks crackled and gouged holes in the garden and overturned one of the metal mushroom boxes that absorbed harmful substances.

The only fortunate thing was that the broken trees were ones that had not flowered properly?

A few members of the team struggled to keep the two in order - mainly because they did not want to hurt them, just calm them down.

"What the hell is going on?" He Qiankun asked after the two hawks were caught and stuffed back into their nests.

"We don't know! By the time we noticed, they were already fighting!" The other had no idea what happened. They were routinely inspecting the garden and checking the trees to see if there was anything to harvest. Who would think that the two would actually fight?

Without witnesses, Luo Xun could only turn to one thing - their cameras.

The cameras could not be placed too far but were set up in many parts of the base. Generally they would not always watch, just use when needed. Most of the videos had not been deleted yet and were saved away.

Luo Xun hurried back to the basement to check the video after the eagles calmed down. They checked the recording from the greenhouse, they immediately understood what was going on - the two deer were showing off their physical fitness along with exercise as usual.

They bounced and jumped to the eagle's nest. Then, as usual, the two eagles also came running out.