The jewel like shards were found in the heads of zombies whose strength and speed were increasing. Some people called this kind of thing a nucleus, which was rumored to raise the level of abilities. Upon discovery, the army tested on volunteers to confirm the validity of the rumor – that ability users could consume them and increase their power.
But did the thing have any side effects? Would there be other effects? Would it make a person lose their mind and become a zombie? It was not clear so experts and scientists on base were intensifying their efforts to study the subject.
Also while they were outside on a mission to destroy and bring back crystal nucleus, they discovered the possibility of nuclear zombies.
"Ahead! There are two vehicles in the convoy after a private vehicle failure!"
The man stopped and ordered. "Leave a maintenance car, the rest of the vehicles continue to drive."
The convoy was so huge that zombies could easily smell them out so they had to rush back to the southwest base. Many of the rescued were important personnel and they also had to bring back important news – the three destroyed bases would have problems because the water was polluted with the zombie virus!
Second, the number of zombies with a crystal nucleus in their brain had exploded. It was as if all the ordinary, slow moving zombies were almost extinct. In the future they would face changed senior zombies!
After a full day"s work, all the tiles were firmly in place.
Luo Xun looked around the two rooms in satisfaction, then pointed heroically at the ceiling. "Suspended ceiling!"
How to deal with the roof?
Li Tie and company studied the renovation handbook. They relied on this thing from when they collected materials from the shopping mall. In a short period of time they had fixed three house walls and tiled two rooms.
Once they understood the required steps for the ceiling, the first test would be the kitchen roof, once successful the work would divided. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would do the bathroom roof, He Qiankun would help Zhang Yi with his home tiles, the remaining Li Tie group would be split to finish 1601 rooms.
Fortunately, Luo Xun had taken a lot of each material just in case. Altogether the remaining tiles was not enough for Zhang Yi"s entire home but his bathroom was no issue. As for the kitchen? The cooking stove was positioned well, they could just brush some paste instead.
Yan Fei did not leave Luo Xun alone in order to make a window for Li Tie and the others. One he was unwilling to be separated from Luo Xun while busy, the other was he had a long day ahead of him. Yesterday morning he had used to much power and had to lie on the couch for the entire afternoon. Even if he had to help them with the windows today, it would better to wait until nightfall just before bed.
One of the important benefits of making windows for the two houses was that it improved Yan Fei"s abilities. Although he house had a lot of metal, treating it like silly dough for a long time everyday was a bit boring. Plus he wanted to do something actually useful.
Now he could be a good neighbor, get a favor from Li Tie and exercise his abilities, why not?
Li Tie and the others had official cooperation work with the base, so they should be able to earn a stable income. When there was a chance they would naturally bring back metal for Yan Fei to tinker with. Zhang Yi who was more arrogant and understanding of people, the base was in need of medical talent which also meant normal income, so he could get metal as well. For Yan Fei, the deal was not a loss.
Yan Fei was shrewd, he wondered why Luo Xun was kind enough to help with the windows, he was very careful of their own safety. If the security of Li Tie and Zhang Yi"s homes could be guaranteed, the safety of their own would increase significantly as well.
Having the aid of a metal ability user, Luo Xun did not have to hammer down the planks. Yan Fei only needed to wave his hand to fix any boards that were crooked. The two ceilings, coupled with initial experimentation and planning did not consume as much time as the bathroom ceilings, even faster than Li Tie and the others.
They heard a sound in the corridor as they worked. Outside the room Lieutenant Ding was standing in front of the staircase iron plate, placing a hand against the iron net in surprise.
When they came out, Lieutenant Ding asked. "Did you get this thing out?"
Before these doors were blocked by a big iron plate, how could it have turned into half iron, half net thing today? And look at how thick each strand of the "net" was, it would take a while even with use of a hacksaw.
He Qiankun, standing in the door nearest to the stairs, laughed and rubbed the back of his head. His eyes unconsciously drifted towards Yan Fei.
Not just him, behind Li Tie and several others also involuntarily glanced in Yan Fei"s direction.
Luo Xun could not help but lament; these children were good hearted people, maybe too much. He can not let them know some important yet general things otherwise others could casually cheat the truth out of them.
Did Yan Fei have no intention of actually disguising himself after knowing the bases"s att.i.tude towards ability users and revealing himself as a metal user? The Lieutenant saw him place a hand on the iron gate, which seemed to melt and produce a hole/entrance.
"Metal ability user!" Lieutenant Ding exclaimed, no wonder they used an iron plate to block the door! It was a really good defense.
He smiled carefully at Yan Fei, they only thought there was a power user of some sort so that placing Zhang Yi here would not cause an explosion. Now it seemed that there was a metal user, even with Zhang Yi"s wind powers, there should be not fatalities…?
"I am here to inform you that tomorrow we will start the base structure network. We strive to open the information channel as soon as possible to help future work on base. So tomorrow morning at eight o"clock, the five of you are to report to the barracks."
Ding spoke to Li Tie and company and handed a specific notice. The five of them had good luck, those with professional skills were not fully evacuated to base yet so they were allowed to take part in the job.
After a few days, even if more experienced people came to base, they would not be cut off if they formed ties. However if one waited a few more days, waited for those who were rescued from other vases to be stationed, jobs would not be as easy to find.
After speaking with Li Tie"s group, Lieutenant Ding turned to Yan Fei. "Are you a metal ability user?" Seeing Yan Fei nod he continued. "The base is badly in need of personnel to partic.i.p.ate in construction of the wall. You should have seen the situation outside the walls? The outermost part is built by metal powers, but there are too few metal users on base so the outer wall construction is precarious. The base is looking for metal and earth ability users to do construction work, your talent is very necessary to the base."
Yan Fei felt gooseb.u.mps form and he did not immediately respond.
Fortunately, in the eyes of Lieutenant Ding, Yan Fei"s appearance was not an issue after having to deal with Zhang Yi. It seemed handsome men were difficult to speak with and to take care if he was suddenly angered?
Lieutenant Ding continued to persuade. "Rest a.s.sured, if you partic.i.p.ate in the work you"ll definitely be paid much higher than average. There will be come other benefits, you can put forward some needs we can try to meet."
Luo Xun asked in a flash. "Besides points, could you give us some metal? Stainless steel would be best or a single metal such as copper with high purity." When they had searched outside, there had been no pure metal.
High purity copper and other things, had functions other than making utensils such as conducting wires. They usually went out to collect or find someone to exchange with but sometimes hard to distinguish…so best pay the military for it!
Lieutenant Ding was surprised for moment, spoke with some respect and wariness since Luo Xun was Yan Fei"s "cousin". "I can talk with my superior."
After all, metal was very necessary on base, especially now with the large wall construction so resources were tight. There was not a lot of high purity single metals.
Yan Fei added. "If the metal is not enough, doesn"t matter. The things inside the heads of faster, more powerful zombies can also do."
"What"s in the zombie"s head?" Lieutenant Ding was surprised, he did not specifically hear what was inside zombie heads, but knew that the monsters were having a large scale evolution and becoming harder to deal with.
Thinking of the soldiers who had read many novels before the apocalypse…"This also needs to brought up, I will try to fight for you."
He had no right to decide but he could raise it up. After all, base points could not be randomly given. If there were people who needed some less important material rewards, they could still apply upward.
But most people were asking for things like quilts, coal, stoves, even pots and pans. What Yan Fei…was weird.
In the end Yan Fei would think about it, if he agreed, go to west intersection police building to find him tomorrow morning. Lieutenant Ding smiled at pointed at the door. "I asked today how you iron gate became a birdcage."
"Birdcage…" People"s mouths twitched.
Han Li raised his hand to say. "Before the fence, Luo Xun said it looked like a prison. Yan Fei just changed it now so…"
The result was that the great iron gate evolved into "prison fence" then transformed into a "birdcage"…
Lieutenant Ding did not stay long, confirmed that all the households had no injury and could successfully partic.i.p.ate in base work. Plus they were jubilant that they found a potential person to help out with wall construction on base.
Although he was responsible for this kind of work, it was not necessary to come in person since they had visited yesterday. Fortunately not only confirmed work but also incidentally discovered yan Fei"s ability, a double surprise.
Before leaving, Lieutenant Ding did not forget to remind the crowd. "Don"t just reinforce the door. Also have to close the windows carefully, especially after you go out for work. Be careful not to let thieves in. These days there are dozens of homes on base. The base does not have enough manpower to deal with this matter, you must be cautious."
In fact, the situation was not that simple. A number of disappearances and homicides had occurred on base, but the staff was inadequate and setting up unauthorized staff was too complex. Therefore they could not handle it at the moment.
Wu Xin s.h.i.+vered, eyes pinp.r.i.c.ks as he repeated. "Dozens of homes?" He could understand more than 10 but dozens…how big was the base!?
Lieutenant Ding wryly smiled. "All the soldiers have a few patrols everyday, if you encounter an incident, call for help in some way. Well, I will leave now."
Yan Fei looked at the door then at Li Tie and company. "I will first set up your room window."
What were Li Tie and the others doing tomorrow? Had to go to work, their home"s valuables of course would get priority treatment. But Zhang Yi had pretty high combat ability and he would be at home for a while to cultivate, thus they were not worried at the moment.
With experience from the previous day, Yan Fei set up the guardrail especially quickly. Particularly because Luo Xun"s home had three full wall windows to deal with and a small second floor. In comparison, Li Tie only had two walls with windows so the workload was much simpler than 1603/1604.
After finis.h.i.+ng the window, Yan Fei felt that there was still a lot of spiritual power to be consumed. He went to the elevator, the hole in the iron gate changed back into a door. These doors, once opened, would make a loud noise to remind them that someone was approaching, it was completely finished.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei returned home, the latter was put on the couch. Luo Xun helped Yan Fei take off his shoes but worried about Lieutenant Ding"s proposal. "Official cooperation to build the wall would earn a lot but would there be danger if you overtaxed your abilities?"
It was a big problem, military people naturally had the protection of the military but Yan Fei? He was foreign aid, not that Luo Xun distrusted the military but in the event of danger to their comfort, people would always subconsciously prioritize themselves and those closest to them.
But Yan Fei was not one of those "close" people.
Thinking of this, Luo Xun hurriedly suggested. "Or we don"t go! There"s enough to eat and drink at home for the two of us."
Yan Fei laughed, lifted his hand and rubbed Luo Xun"s head with obvious tenderness. "The main reason I wanted to go out was so that I could use up a lot of my spiritual energy every day. You can rest a.s.sured I will carry a crossbow with me and I will not run out of energy each time."
Every time he used up his energy, he would recover with an increased cap. Although the feeling of using up almost all his energy was pretty bad, the feeling from waking up the next day could not be better.
It was like being beaten up the first day and the next the body was completely restored. Well, why did that seem to have "m" undertones?
Luo Xun"s eyes flashed as he ground his molars. We can also go together."
"Well?"
"I don"t need to be paid and I can handle a certain degree of danger." Luo Xun looked at his with bright eyes. "As long as I take your big crossbow and spiral arrows, I can handle even evolved zombies."
He had trained his crossbow skills while in the city. As long as he had lethal enough weapons in hand, he had a chance to possibly kill a second level zombie, not to mention ordinary and first level zombies!
It was the first year after the apocalypse started, the zombies had evolved one level. As long as they were not surrounded by a sea of zombies, he could ensure survival with Yan Fei.
In fact, the crossbow was mainly made with Yan Fei"s metal, so the weapon was more powerful, the lethality of ammo was also greater. If he could add a special compound to his arrows it might be possible for him to hit more than three zombies at once.
Luo Xun"s words were not in jest, Yan Fei was clear of his skills. And it was just driving to the outer wall…but in the case of danger…
"The house needs to be locked up for a while and the stuff inside does not need to be in plain view. It"s not always possible for an ability user to use their powers for extended periods of time. Even if I accompany you, it will not delay anything for too long."
Luo Xun"s words were definitely very persuasive. Yan Fei thought for a bit then agreed with his opinion. He decided they would go see the situation tomorrow.
Yan Fei took a nap on the couch to replenish his spiritual energy. They had already done what they needed to do in the next room, now they had to wait for the walls to dry to brush one or two layers of putty. The ground heat pipes could only be put down once the paint was dry then the two could continue to be busy. Leaving the house was fine at the moment.
Li Tie and the other"s movements were also very fast. They returned home satisfied after dealing with the roof, using the remaining tiles for the bathroom and also fixing the kitchen sink and stove.
In the afternoon Yan Fei felt some of the spiritual energy had recovered and thought about going to 1602 to fix Zhang Yi"s windows. G.o.d knew if he took part in base construction, would he have enough strength to do so?
This was related to the safety of the four rooms on the floor, so the sooner the better.