Chapter 53
Nie Yi had previously mentioned to Zhao Chengqi that he didn’t plan on staying in B City forever . Moreover, since the military truly needed someone to investigate the situation outside, Zhao Chengqi would naturally approve .
B City secure base was now operating without issue, but that relied on the food reserves from before the apocalypse . What if there came a day when the food was completely eaten?
B City secure base had too many people, and their numbers were still increasing . It couldn’t be more natural for the food reserves to be fully depleted . Now, aside from clearing out nearby land for cultivation and attempting soilless culture within the base, they also planned to look for other areas suitable for human residence .
Furthermore, B City secure base also wanted to merge with the other secure bases… Even though each base did things their own way because communication was more and more inconvenient nowadays, in B City secure base’s opinion, they were the leaders of the secure bases, large or small, around the nation . If not, Nie Boyuan wouldn’t have become B City secure base’s chief— In the eyes of the big shots, B City secure base was just one of many others .
Because of these various reasons, they were eager for someone who was able to explore the situation outside often, without even mentioning the fact that Nie Yi wouldn’t even take many soldiers with him .
As for W County secure base, since they had actively requested help, B City secure base couldn’t just ignore them .
Now that Nie Yi was asking about W County secure base’s situation, Zhao Chengqi explained, “W County itself is a small county town not worth mentioning . However, a major city in its vicinity had verdant hills and clear waters, as well as considerably large quant.i.ties of food . After the apocalypse, some local forces established a secure base in a valley near W County . After that, more people joined, and now the secure base has expanded a lot . ”
“And then?” Nie Yi asked . He knew everything Zhao Chengqi had said . After all, that was the place that he hated to the core in his last life .
He had already resolved his own enmity once before in his last life . Even though he still despised those people, it wasn’t to the point where he had the urge to dismember them . But it was different when it came to Qi Jingchen’s enmity; Nie Yi couldn’t wait to immediately wipe out those who had once hurt Qi Jingchen .
“That place is far from here and is just a small-scale base . Originally, we didn’t want to help… But this time, some strange things have been occurring, so the higher-ups thought that it was best to take a look and understand the situation . ” Zhao Chengqi said, “Recently, W County secure base often had people dying mysteriously, and their supplies have also mysteriously vanished . ”
Mysteriously vanished? Hearing these two words, Nie Yi had a bad premonition .
Sure enough, Zhao Chengqi continued, “Among the dead, one had never left the house and in the end inexplicably died inside . The base over there is now saying that there might be an extremely powerful zombie that infiltrated the secure base… However, none of the dead has turned into zombies, so I don’t think this is likely . ”
There would be powerful zombies in the future, but they only thought of chasing flesh and eating people; they wouldn’t have the mind to kill people or sneak food . For such a mysterious case, the culprit could only be… a s.p.a.ce ability user .
Qi An was a s.p.a.ce ability user, but he wasn’t like Xiaomao, who had a s.p.a.ce that could hide things . He only had two types, one was teleportation, and the other was a spatial blade .
When the apocalypse occurred, Qi An was only eight years old . Originally a carefree primary school student, he unexpectedly woke up one day with a fever and no energy . After reducing the fever with great difficulty, he discovered his parents’ door was being vehemently pounded on… He opened the door… and two zombies rushed out .
Normally, he wouldn’t be able to dodge in this situation; he had no idea what happened, but he abruptly appeared in the household on the floor above his apartment .
Qi An couldn’t control his teleportation ability at all in the beginning, but after going through a period of hard times, he nearly even managed to kill a group who loathed ability users . When he met Qi Jingchen, he was nearly ten years old, but his thin and small appearance made him seem just seven or eight years old .
Then he began to follow Qi Jingchen .
Previously, Nie Yi had always hoped Qi An hadn’t been reborn, but now, he knew that it was pointless .
Without a doubt, Qi An had already been reborn and even tried to find them . As for why he wanted to stay in W County secure base… Everyone from the apocalypse in their last life knew that the mysterious darkness ability user first appeared during W County secure base’s destruction . And many people guessed that he might be from W County secure base, and wanted to destroy this base after being oppressed too ruthlessly by its leaders .
Qi An had no idea of Qi Jingchen’s true ident.i.ty, and probably stayed there because he wanted to look or wait for Qi Jingchen
“Uncle Zhao, don’t worry; I’ll definitely help you handle W County secure base . ” Nie Yi directly accepted the job .
“Alright . ” Zhao Chengqi was very happy, and said, “This time, you’ve achieved great merit . Later, I’ll give you the workpoints, you can go take the supplies yourself . ”
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Both the earth ability users from the 2000 people and the ones Yu Xuguang had brought over later weren’t the best and couldn’t control their abilities well . Having them build a house from scratch was definitely impossible, so the houses Nie Yi had them construct for everyone to stay in were extremely crude and simple .
Some had built two earthen walls against the outer city walls and then spread a plastic sheet on top; some had created two slanted earthen walls to form a triangular house; some had even directly made a cave where people could lie down inside .
Before the apocalypse, everyone wanted to stay in a good place, but now, no one was picky .
When Nie Yi returned, a few people were currently cooking, and others were patrolling in the distance . Shao Zhenglan had taken a few women and was boiling water, seemingly for bathing .
Of the 2000 people, the vast majority were men, and only about 100 were women . Nie Yi had ordered Shao Zhenglan to lead them .
Before the apocalypse, women weren’t too different from men and were even better in some aspects . However, after the apocalypse occurred, they couldn’t avoid being at a disadvantage .
To speak of nothing else, if a husband and wife in a regular household arm-wrestled, unless there were special circ.u.mstances, the woman would definitely lose… The reason why more women suffered from domestic abuse was largely that women couldn’t physically beat men .
Before the apocalypse, this wasn’t a big deal, but after the apocalypse, when everyone had begun to fight for food, women were at a disadvantage…
Of course, if it was about awakening to abilities, then there was no relation to gender .
Qi Jingchen somewhat disliked the earthen houses, and simply didn’t leave the truck . When Nie Yi found him, he was looking at a book Mother Ping had given to him .
The book had recorded some first-aid knowledge . Previously, when Mother Ping had mainly performed Cesarean sections, she also looked for this sort of book to read in order to have a better standing in the apocalypse . When she heard that Qi Jingchen wanted to read books, she brought it out and gave it to Qi Jingchen to pa.s.s the time .
She had heard from her son that Qi Jingchen’s health wasn’t good, which was why he was always sickly, and so she was sympathetic towards him . Even though she saw that Nie Yi was currently treating Qi Jingchen well, who could guarantee that he always would? Mother Ping thought that Qi Jingchen should learn some skills, only then could he live better days .
Qi Jingchen’s college entrance exam results weren’t particularly good . Back then, in order to attend a good school, he entered the school’s computer science department with the lowest minimum pa.s.sing score . He couldn’t understand a single word about medicine, and had no interest either .
But now, he had nothing to do . As he read this medical book, he became a little interested… Especially when he read while a.s.sociating the subject with his experiences from his past life .
For example, the conclusions he had made in his last life, where, if he wanted to weaken someone’s fighting strength, it was better to attack at a certain area; he found the reasoning for it when he read this medical book .
“Do you like it? Should I find a few more for you tomorrow?” Seeing Qi Jingchen read so seriously, Nie Yi spoke with a smile .
“It’s just for pa.s.sing time,” Qi Jingchen said, and quickly put the book down . “I’m hungry . ”
“There’s a lot of food we can eat today; I’ll make something delicious for you . ” Nie Yi grinned .
B City secure base had supplied them with a lot of food, and Nie Yi had taken a portion which Qi Jingchen could eat . Now, one hand lit a fire, the other provided water, and he made a meal .
When Nie Yi had cooked in the past, Xiaomao had never dared come close, but this time, she sat at the side and watched, even watching with rapt attention . After a while, she said, “I can do it too!”
As she spoke, she put a rock in her s.p.a.ce and took it out, then did this over and over again .
In her eyes, Nie Yi cooking was actually doing magic, and she could do it too .
Previously, Nie Yi didn’t have a good opinion of this girl who had attracted Qi Jingchen’s attention, but now that he had received news of Qi An, his opinion of this child was thoroughly changed .
Compared with Qi An, it’s still Xiaomao who’s cuter .
Thinking this way, Nie Yi took a cup from the side and steeped a cup of powdered milk for her .
Xiaomao hugged the cup and drank the powdered milk with tiny sips, her eyes filled with satisfaction .
Nie Yi cooked cowpeas, eggplants, and several types of vegetables for Qi Jingchen, and had him take his time eating . When Qi Jingchen was done, Nie Yi dumped the leftover dishes together, mixed in some light soy sauce and then ate it with rice .
After this, Nie Yi called for Jiang Huai and asked him to inflate an inflatable bed with his wind ability, then slept in the truck carriage with Qi Jingchen .
As for Mother Ping, Xiaomao, and the others, he had arranged for them to stay in other places .
The thick canvas encircling all sides of the truck blocked off the wind, and the inside became a private, small s.p.a.ce . Unfortunately, it was still inconvenient to grope around…
Later, he must re-establish the secure base he and Qi Jingchen had set up in their last life…
Early the next morning, Nie Yi was awakened by the sounds of his subordinates practising .
“Hoh! Hu!” The shouts echoed around the outside of the base in unison . With 2000 people training together, the resounding noise travelled far .
At first light, Nie Boyuan visited the outer city . He climbed up the outer city walls, listening to the reports of the people around him as he looked at the state of construction . Right at this time, he heard some sounds .
“There is someone training? How hardworking! Let’s go take a look!” Nie Boyuan smiled as he spoke, then took his people to the place where the sounds came from .
He didn’t have to walk far before he saw a group of people training far away outside the outer city .
They were wearing completely different clothes and also wielded different weapons, but when they advanced and retreated, it was obvious that they had very good cooperation .
“A good team!” Seeing this, Nie Boyuan’s eyes instantly brightened .
“Truly is a good team, and the members are all full of vigour… It truly is rare!” someone beside Nie Boyuan said .
“This is probably an army, right? Why aren’t they wearing uniforms? The weapons are too simple and crude as well . ”
“You’re all overthinking . They aren’t an army at all,” someone suddenly spoke up . “It’s just some regular people from the western secure base . Of course, there are also some soldiers among them . ”
“Regular people can have such vigour?” Nie Boyuan couldn’t believe it . Yu Shuo had an ability user team under him, and because they had all been civilians before the apocalypse, they ended up unable to withstand a single blow from the military .
“I hear that they were taught well . Yesterday, Fei Xuelei had constantly been praising Nie Yi, saying he was very good at teaching,” that person added .
Nie Boyuan, whose face had been showing some appreciation, instantly cooled .
“Nie Yi is Chief Nie’s son ba? Of course he’s capable . ”
“Chief Nie really is lucky!”
“It truly is like father, like son!”
…
Most of the people around him were Nie Boyuan’s subordinates, and at this time, they were sincerely complimenting him . However, when Nie Boyuan heard these words, he didn’t feel happy at all; on the contrary, he felt extremely gloomy .
“With so many people here, the secure base can have even more people going out to find supplies . ” After a good while, Nie Boyuan finally found a topic .
However, when the others heard his words, they were very puzzled . “Chief Nie, what do you mean by that? Wasn’t it said that these people won’t stay in the secure base?”
Yesterday, a lot of people had seen this imposing team, and everyone wanted them . In the end… They didn’t enter the city, and didn’t even set up residency doc.u.ments for B City secure base; they had made the decision to leave…
Nie Boyuan was stunned again . After asking around, he found out that Nie Yi actually wanted to take these people away .
“How unruly!” Nie Boyuan finally couldn’t bear it . He, who had never looked for Nie Yi before, followed along the stairs at the side, went down the outer city walls and walked towards Nie Yi .
Now, right when B City secure base had insufficient manpower, with such a team, how could Nie Yi bring them away?
When Nie Boyuan went over, Nie Yi’s side was very lively— When they set off from the western secure base, Nie Yi had gone back and rescued over ten children . They had all been abandoned by their parents, except one of the boys who had been abandoned by his grandparents, who had hidden it from their daughter-in-law .
The daughter-in-law recognised her son, but couldn’t take care of him, so she entrusted Fei Xuelei with caring for her son, saying that when they arrived at B City secure base, she would take over .
On the journey, the daughter-in-law had encountered many dangers but survived . Last night, she had entered B City secure base and settled down, made a clean break with her husband and parents-in-law, then went to pick up her son . And she came to Nie Yi this time in order to thank him .
Fei Xuelei had told her that had it not been for Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen who had heard crying in the houses when they were about to depart, she might not have been able to save her son .
“Thank you, it’s thanks to you guys, otherwise my baby might have starved to death,” the woman said .
“It was nothing,” Nie Yi indifferently said .
The woman also knew that she had nothing to offer to Nie Yi, and suddenly knelt down and knocked her head on the floor . “Nie shao, I will never forget your great favour!” These days, if it weren’t for Nie Yi, many more people in their base would have died .
“What did you do this time?!” Right as Nie Boyuan entered, he saw a woman carrying a child kneeling before Nie Yi, and he immediately spoke up with a stern voice .