Third chapter of the week (July 15)
If the Reading List on NU reaches 1000, there will be a bonus chapter! Currently: 926/1000.
Chapter 48: Travelling Along with the Belles (Part 1)
“Feng Ling, how come you"re sleeping next to me?"
The sky had turned bright as Qing Yi woke up, and suddenly found that Yun Tu had turned into Feng Ling. She slept too soundly last night, and it was unexpected for her. Could it be that the three of them slept together? Thinking about it made her face inexplicably turn red.
Qing Yi stood up, and her first move was to wake Feng Ling up. Upon seeing a suspicious look on her face, Feng Ling explained, "Baby, Yun Tu took a turn to have the rest of night watch in the middle of the night, so he exchanged places with me to protect you!"
"I thought…" Qing Yi was unable to say the last words she was about to speak, because she was too embarra.s.sed.
"But if you do want it, I actually feel fine and won"t speak anything though!"
Feng Ling and Qing Yi had always been straightforward and spoke frankly with each other. After the advent of the Apocalypse, they were even more inseparable, and their relationship had been more than relatives or blood sisters from long ago.
“Ugh…”
Qing Yi knew that Feng Ling had a big mouth and un.o.btrusive temper. But yet, such bold words made even her surprised.
"If you don"t want it, then just consider that this Big Sis didn"t say anything. This Big Sis of yours only has peacefully looked after a beautiful girl like you who happily live in sickness!" Seeing her boudoir friend"s face, Feng Ling knew that the way she spoke went a bit too far and then added with an indifferent expression.
"You would believe anything that you"re told to you, wouldn"t you?"
The words Feng Ling had said were against common sense, so she turned them into jokes, as she got up from the bed and murmured.
"Silly girl, of course everything I"ve said can never be justified. But for any man, that"s a good thing, and no man doesn"t want it!" Feng Ling was not a sentimental and melancholic person, but she was crystal clear about some basic common sense.
But she did not dare to say such an idea and got out of the bed, since she didn"t want to go back to sleep after waking up.
Using a few hours of time when Feng Ling was sleeping, Yun Tu had taken out all the weapons he had collected in the past 2 days, and altered all of them until the Metal Smelting power inside his body was spent.
The Metal Smelting power would regenerate again after it was spent. The more he altered the weapons, the more his Alchemy level would increase. After his Metal Smelting power had fully recovered, he would become an Intermediate Level Alchemist Refiner, and could apply 2 altering processes on the same weapon. However, at the same time, the materials required for the process also increased.
At present, the three of them had a total of 4 interspatial rings. And now was a good time to reorganize all of the items they had. The second week of the Apocalypse had just begun, but because people had deserted the Eastern District earlier, as long as one was careful enough, it was not difficult to find eight primary food ingredients, instant noodles, drinking water and other things inside each house. But if they returned to the Northern or Southern District, the words Yun Tu had said to the two girls—that a piece of bread was enough to buy two beautiful women—had really become the real truth now. Countless ordinary people with well-behaved nature turned into thugs due to hunger. For a piece of bread, even a wife would sell herself to sleep with someone else, couples fought just because a sweet potato, and fathers and sons became enemies. Such things happened every day.
“Where are we going now? To Southern District or to Northern District?
“We must collect life necessities first, then I"ll take you along to sightsee a tourist site!"
The last destination Yun Tu was planning to go, was a one-time-use Secret Area. Originally, he was alone and didn"t plan to go this earlier, since he was very clear about the mission"s reward it could give. So he could go get them at any time.
Since n.o.body could find that particular Secret Area until the 9th week of the Apocalypse in his previous incarnation, he presumably thought that it would also the same in this life. However, since now he had his own team, perhaps the future was no longer just like what he had seen before. He didn"t have the leisure to feel relaxed anymore, and was thinking that it was time to go and hit the road. In addition, that Secret Area was located in the Eastern suburb while they were now in the Eastern District. The place was quite close, so he temporarily decided to go there today.
"Taking a tour and sightseeing?!"
The two girls certainly didn"t be believe him. They regarded it as some kind of a joke Yun Tu made.
Along with Yun Tu"s direction, they marched all the way forward whilst paying attention to the shops" signs on the roadside along the way. When they pa.s.sed through a gas station, Yun Tu added a few barrels of petroleum gas into his interspatial ring.
As they pa.s.sed through a farmer spring water shop, the three pried and opened the door only to find some empty barrels, causing the two girls to be quite disappointed.
"Take 3 empty barrels into each ring!"
The two girls didn"t understand Yun Tu"s order. Each interspatial ring only had a 1-meter cubic s.p.a.ce. Although it ignored the shape of the items and storing a lot of things into it was easy, but those barrels were big and useless, while they also occupied a lot of s.p.a.ce. So they were quite puzzled for its usefulness.
Yun Tu didn"t explain anything in facing the two girls" questioning eyes! He took the lead to take 6 barrels, and the other two also took 3 barrels each.
Certainly, as they pa.s.sed a quite famous brand clothes shops in the street, the two girls didn"t forget to collect some of the high-end and luxurious brand clothes they couldn"t afford in the peace era. If it were not for Yun Tu"s strict order for them to manage their s.p.a.ce volume, the two girls would have filled up their interspatial rings with cloths alone.
In any case, the physical weight concept did not apply to a interspatial ring. But if they could find food or drugs, these items were highly prioritized and must be stored into the rings; as for other useless things, they must be thrown out. Yun Tu could tell that these two girls" heart would be aching later.
They kept marching forward as well as plundering all the way. Certainly, since it was the Eastern District, it was impossible for the three of them to go anywhere freely and peacefully, as they also encountered some zombies from time to time. However, since Feng Ling now had a Main Job, she needed to practice her Job Skill, which then made Yun Tu turn quite relaxed.
In the afternoon, they finally arrived at the Eastern suburb" tourist destination site as Yun Tu had told them.
The situation in the suburb and in the city was hugely different. Since there were no police and firearms, the zombie"s outbreak could not be controlled, causing the disaster here to be more severe than in the city. Only extremely few people survived to the present.
Because the area had spa.r.s.e inhabitants, the city"s urban development planning made large tracts of land in the area for the food basket project. Various kinds of plastic greenhouses were linked up into a big single stretch of landscape. However, because of the epidemic outbreak, the b.l.o.o.d.y reign of terror had wreaked havoc as the greenhouses and sheds were damaged and in a mess.
As the Apocalypse came, all vegetation exposed to the open air was exposed to the rain of blood and contaminated. The previously lush and green vegetation got polluted, and some even withered. One did not need to even think whether these fruits or plants were edible or not.
However, with such a big, plastic greenhouses project, there were still a few greenhouses left that were still intact and preserved; or half preserved.
"Search for all the vegetables and fruits that still look to be in their normal condition. And pick and collect them!" Since they were pa.s.sing by here and found some fresh and edible greenie goods, Yun Tu didn"t want to waste it.
"You did say you"d take us on a tour. It turns out that you took us here to dig the hard-to-find vegetables and fruits and experience a farm life. This is really great!"
Everyone knew that having a tour to an agritourist area and staying in the farmers" houses, would actually make them to do farming works as well as paying the farmers to do so. So, it was reasonable if this travel was said as a tour.
“Oh, There"s a strawberry shed here. Qing Yi, come quickly!"
Half of it had been cut, and the other half was still good and sealed inside the still preserved greenhouse. So, Feng Ling let out a shout of surprise. Girls really could not resist the brilliant and beautiful red colored strawberries.
Upon hearing Feng Ling"s cry, Qing Yi immediately ran over.
"Pay attention to the color and not to the strawberries. The color of the leaves also has to be normal if you want to pick them!"
Since Yun Tu also pa.s.sed the place, he carefully examined it once, confirming that the plants inside this shed was basically safe as he stressed out about it and went out.
Some of the sheds were planted with sweet potatoes, carrots and other likes of root vegetables. These things were much more suitable as staple foods compared to strawberries.
"Come here and dig the sweet potatoes! Pick only a few of those strawberries!"
After he found the sweet potatoes, Yun Tu spoke again. The two girls obviously were much more interested in strawberries than sweet potatoes. As they heard Yun Tu"s voice, they quickly grabbed a hundred pounds of strawberries first before they came over to Yun Tu"s location.
Picking strawberries was the same with playing, but digging sweet potatoes was a real farm work. Although they didn"t have the experience in doing any farm work, but since they could directly experience it, the two girls also happily moved and worked. There were farmer"s hoes and other tools in the shed nearby, so they took them. With their physical fitness as Awakened, they quickly dug out 300 to 400 pounds of sweet potatoes and radishes. And finally, they also picked some loofahs and tomatoes.
"Good. Everyone, stop working!"
Yun Tu didn"t want to eat vegetable dishes only. He felt that their harvest was enough and controlled the desire to harvest more forcefully, as he called out to the two girls to stop working.
"Didn"t you say that a piece of bread can buy 2 women in the Northern District? I don"t know how valuable a fresh, large radish is, and for how many it can buy. But I"ll still dig a little more!" Upon hearing that Yun Tu wanted her to stop working, Feng Ling, who was still busy digging, argued.
"We"ve spent a few hours coming to this place. Why can"t we dig a little more? Even if they cannot eat them, but we can use them to save someone"s life!" After having experienced hunger for a whole day 2 days ago, Qing Yi also feared falling into such a state again. She spoke while eating strawberries and still continuing her work.
“Stop working and let"s go! We still have things to do!"
Since the two girls didn"t listen to his order, Yun Tu revealed a helpless expression. Either in the peaceful era or in the Apocalypse, time was of the essence and the most valuable thing! Since there still issues that must be handled.
"Important things. Didn"t you say that we"ll be having a tour today?"
Coming to this suburb to dig the root vegetables and pick strawberries, to these two girls, it was already the best tourism plan. It gave them the feeling as though they returned back to the time before the Apocalypse.
"We"re having a tour. But we need to travel more to save time. Much less that we have yet to arrive at the real scenic tourism area. I think you also won"t be willing to leave again by the time we get there!"
Upon hearing that their trip had yet to reach the real destination, the two girls" interest was picked, as they immediately stopped working and followed Yun Tu.
"There"s a Secret Area about 1 kilometer from this place. The three of us will enter it together!"
Since the destination was near, Yun Tu began to brew the plan along the way. He had gone to this one-time-use Secret Area in his previous incarnation. He knew about the exact location and situation inside. It was quite safe there, so he decided to let Qing Yi enter and experience it.
After Qing Yi heard that Feng Ling entered the Secret Area and was injured by the mutant beasts inside, she instinctively had a fear toward it. However, since Yun Tu said that this Secret Area should be relatively safe, therefore, she didn"t want her timidity and weakness, as she gritted her teeth and nodded.
Yun Tu didn"t explain what kind of situation they would face inside this Secret Area in advance. He wouldn"t be able to explain it if they asked how he knew about its situation while he had yet to enter it.
Although he had the knowledge about the inside situation of this Secret Area. However, things in this life and in his previous incarnation had long diverged. He couldn"t have 100% a.s.surance that it would be exactly the same. Yun Tu handed over 2 anti-tank grenades to Qing Yi, a gun with 2 fully loaded magazines, plus a signal flare.
After he had arranged all the action they had to carry on, he then took them to the Secret Area"s entrance and slaughtered a small number of zombies in the surroundings, as they officially triggered the Secret Area"s gate.
According to Yun Tu"s arrangement, Feng Ling would be the first to enter the Secret Area, followed by Qing Yi, and Yun Tu behind them. It was to prevent Qing Yi to be left behind alone.
When the light finally flashed, quickly, the present scene fluctuated and changed. The familiar scene from his previous life reappeared, as if Yun Tu had returned back to his past life.