Ch 20: TGCIR

With the mask on, Xi Nan didn’t say anything about Li Weilan’s plan.

Li Weilan put on the mask in front of them and tried it twice to understand how it worked. As long as you imagine in your mind the appearance and details of the mask you want, and then “confirm”, the mask will perfectly fit your face, even correcting any inconsistencies with the image in your mind, making it look indistinguishable from a real face. Making expressions or even squeezing it had no effect, and the mask felt no different from a real face, making it a terrifying piece of black technology.

However, after the apocalypse, there were countless human abilities and products resulting from them. The few people present knew about the big boss’s vast powers, so they were only surprised and more envious of the favor shown towards Li Weilan, but they didn’t think too much about it.

“…” Xi Nan hesitated for a moment. He was really like a child and had come to know Li Weilan’s character over these past few days, so he had become more casual with his words and actions. He couldn’t help but itch to ask, “Brother Li, can I try it too?”

Li Weilan paused for a moment, and his mouth seemed to curl up slightly, which was especially provocative on this “seductive” face he had designed.

Li Weilan took off the mask and handed it to Xi Nan in front of him. “Then try it.”

Xi Nan tried to put the mask on his face for a long time, but it remained soft and unresponsive, without changing shape. Xi Nan kept screaming, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Li Weilan’s face grow cold and seem to smile slightly, and he immediately understood. It was obvious that this was a gift that the big boss had given to her little husband… he shouldn’t have casually asked to try it out. Even though Li Weilan had agreed verbally, the real big boss of the base had not approved it!

Showing off their love in public! Hmph! He had asked to try it out himself and ended up eating a mouthful of dog food!

Shen Cheng watched in front of the screen as the system prompt for the prop, which had been marked as [Bound] in Li Weilan’s equipment bar since it was used. Seeing the little figure of Xi Nan jumping around over there, Shen Cheng couldn’t help but bend her lips. “The equipment is bound and it belongs to my cub. Others really can’t use it. ‘Thunder’ also has this setting on it. Anyway, whoever tries to steal it will regret it when they find out that ‘Thunder’ is just a piece of scrap metal, but in my cub’s hands, the thunder-type skills are as easy as pie, and in other people’s hands, they won’t be able to use them at all.”

Li Weilan and Xi Nan set off in a Hummer.

Looking at the prompt on the system that read “Remaining time: 18:00:00,” Shen Cheng sighed with regret. “Looks like I’ll have to wait another 18 hours for the next plot development.”

After recharging her game, Shen Cheng’s remaining gold coins amounted to 100. In order to maximize the utilization of Li Weilan’s space, she needed to expand the size of her farmland.

Shen Cheng checked her balance and realized that she could buy ten more plots of land with her 100 gold coins, in addition to the ten plots she already had. This would give her a total of 20 plots to farm.

Although she couldn’t afford to buy cabbage for now, she couldn’t let her family eat plain rice all the time. At the very least, she needed to prioritize growing vegetables for her own cub’s consumption.

After some consideration, Shen Cheng decided to spend all of her remaining 100 gold coins on purchasing farmland. Now, she had a total of 20 plots to farm!

After harvesting today’s rice crop and sowing the seeds for tomorrow’s harvest, she would earn 80G in profits. This thought motivated her to work even harder.

As Shen Cheng took off her headphones and prepared to exit the game, she was startled by the sound of knocking against the wall next to her. She looked at her watch and saw that it was already ten o’clock.

“…” She was going crazy! She was sure that her roommate had brought her boyfriend home again!

**

Li Weilan and Xi Nan encountered several groups of wanderers and zombies on their journey. It had been a year since the apocalypse occurred, and the abilities of the zombies had undergone significant changes since their initial appearance.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Li Weilan still remembered clearly that during the first week, zombies were photophobic, had sensitive sense of smell but poor hearing, had soft skin, moved slowly, rarely formed large-scale groups, and did not use tools.

But now the several waves of zombies they encounter have become increasingly sensitive to smell, and their skin is very stiff. They even encountered a zombie on the road whose skin was as hard as steel. From any perspective, the threat of zombies to humans now is much greater than before.

If humans had faced this kind of zombies at the beginning of the apocalypse, before the appearance of the ability users, it is likely that the entire human race would have been wiped out.

Li Weilan and Xi Nan are both ability users, and they have had some close calls on their journey. Li Weilan collected some level one and two zombie crystal nuclei and traded them with some wanderers they encountered on the road.

The distance from Noah Base to Tenglong is not far, and with some rest along the way, they could arrive in about a day and a half. On the road, they heard the sound of vehicles from far away several times, and there were a couple of times when zombies tried to climb onto the back of their car, but they were quickly killed by Li Weilan.

However, this trend caught Li Weilan’s attention and made him think deeply. If he was not mistaken, all those zombies were walking in the direction of their car, like mindless creatures. Was their destination the same as theirs – Tenglong Base?

The zombies were slow, and their car was fast, but even if it was a slow, unconscious behavior, they would eventually reach their destination.

Li Weilan furrowed his brows slightly. Could it be that they had coincidentally arrived at the time when a ship was sinking? Although Tenglong Base was essentially a bleak and cold memory for him, there were still more oppressed ordinary people there. As a human, there was always a basic level of empathy.

In any case, he made a mental note of this doubt.

There was still a long line at the entrance to Tenglong Base. Their car had just arrived nearby when a base worker in uniform came over and asked, “Are there any ability users in the car?”

Li Weilan sat coldly in the back seat, with a wild and evil face, and just glanced at Xi Nan, who was driving. Xi Nan waved his hand and conjured up a water ball.

The staff took a probing glance at Li Weilan, sensing an aura of “don’t mess with me” emanating from him. The staff turned to Xi Nan, who was clearly the follower, and asked, ” ability users can enter the base first, but the two of you still need to register your intentions and place of origin.”

In the apocalypse, place of origin referred to their base’s name.

Xi Nan, who had already coordinated their story with Li Weilan, replied succinctly, “We are from Noah. This is our young master, Lan Li, from our base. We heard that you will soon hold an auction for ‘Dawn light,’ so we came.”

“Noah? That’s an interesting name, but I’ve never heard of it,” the staff member commented.

Although the staff member wasn’t surprised by their interest in “Dawn light,” unfortunately, it was almost sold out. With every bottle sold at auction, there was one less available, and they didn’t know if this bottle would fetch a sky-high price.

The staff member sneered slightly and wrote something down while saying nonchalantly, “Many people have shown interest in ‘Dawn light’ every time, and you’re not the first group today.”

Xi Nan’s pupils dilated.

The staff member noticed his nervousness and scanned their clothing and equipment, especially the blade that Li Weilan had been holding on his lap with his eyes closed. He thought to himself, “They’re like two fat lambs,” and smiled politely while taking out two badges for ability users from his pocket and handing them to Xi Nan. He shouted to the people around them, “Let them pass!”

The gate for cars at the Tenglong base slowly opened in front of them.

Xi Nan started the car and closed the window before whispering to Li Weilan, “Brother Li, what do we do next?”

“Go to the reception, it’s the tallest red building at the end of the main road. I want the best room,” said Li Weilan calmly with closed eyes and a steady expression like Mount Tai. No one could tell that his heart was already boiling with killing intent when he heard that person’s voice.

It was such a coincidence that he ran into an old acquaintance the moment he entered Tenglong.

“Okay, Brother Li.” Although Xi Nan didn’t know whether Li Weilan had that much money or whether he could afford the bill, he had been ‘educated’ several times not to question the boss. Xi Nan started the vehicle and drove straight towards the end of the main street.

**

Shen Cheng came to collect grains.

The first thing she did after entering the game was to check the daily tasks. This time, the daily tasks didn’t seem as troublesome as yesterday’s:

[Daily Task 1: Interact with the protagonist once 0/1 Reward: 20 gold coins

Daily Task 2: Check the protagonist’s status Reward: 20 gold coins]

“Interact…” Shen Cheng repeated these two words, and reached out to lightly poke the serious face of her cub – although the cub was wearing a mask and had changed its appearance, how could a mother not recognize her own cub?

As expected, the first daily task was not completed with just one poke.

Interaction requires both parties to have some kind of action, right?

Now that there was no control room in the base to type, how could she interact with her cub?

Shen Cheng sighed with worry, feeling a headache coming.

Li Weilan felt a light touch on his back.

He almost jumped up.

This seemed to be the second time…

Li Weilan vividly remembers that on his first trip from Noah Base to Walmart, she was completely silent on the way.

This time was no different. They had been driving for a total of 18 hours, and she still didn’t make a sound.

Was it that she didn’t want to talk? Or was it that she couldn’t?

Li Weilan had never questioned the latter possibility before, but this coincidence, especially the familiar sense of being “watched” after he entered the base, made him consider whether “she didn’t want to” or “she couldn’t.”

Is it possible that she is not able to monitor him 24/7, rather than not wanting to do so?

For example, she may not be able to watch him while they were on the road. The current sample observation data is still too small to draw any conclusions directly.

If that were really the case, what could be the reason?

Li Weilan sat with his legs crossed in an extremely relaxed posture, but his mind was already full of question marks.

At this moment, Shen Cheng opened the character interface and was equally puzzled when she saw Li Weilan’s current status.

What’s my little guy thinking about? Is he pondering the world’s top ten unsolved mysteries?

These question marks and dark clouds above his head are almost covering his forehead.

“Mr. Lan,” the staff member returned at this time, holding the black gold card he had just handed over with both hands and bowing respectfully, “We have verified your card, which is indeed valid, and there are 100,000 credit points inside. We have deducted 100 points for the rent of the house.”

He was obsequious.

Xi Nan looked at the staff member’s expression, which was full of disdain previously. When they came in earlier, the staff member was being dismissive and asked him to prove he had enough financial resources before they could provide service. Now he was acting like this. It was just a slap in the face!

But they came this time to be extravagant, show off, and attract attention. Xi Nan remembered this point perfectly and played the role of a “young master’s lackey” perfectly, taking a step forward and taking the black gold card, giving the staff member a threatening glare, “Don’t underestimate people!”

“Yes, yes, yes…” The staff member repeatedly apologized, but still had a smile on his face – with this transaction, he would receive a commission of 5 credit points, which was his monthly salary. What did a little scolding matter compared to the big problem of making a living?

“Don’t talk nonsense, let’s go.” Li Weilan stood up and lightly uttered the icy words from his thin lips. “We still have to go shopping in the afternoon. We rarely come out, and I’ve heard that there are many things to buy from the vendors in the Tenglong Base. We should buy more to take back.”