Ch 35: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Shen Qing was hesitating at the entrance of the hospital when he saw Song Kaiji walking out. Seeing Shen Qing, Song Kaiji was also taken aback and immediately pulled him into the hallway. “Why are you here?”

“I came to find you. They said your friend got into trouble and was at the base hospital,” Shen Qing explained. “I didn’t want to wait there. I kept feeling like people were watching me, and it made me uncomfortable, so I came looking for you.” Seeing that Song Kaiji looked unwell, Shen Qing asked with concern, “How is your friend? Is it serious?”

At the mention of this, Song Kaiji’s mood sank again.

Qu Weiwei was Song Kaiji’s senior from university, two years ahead of him. They were both members of the baseball club, though they had never been particularly close—just acquaintances who had chatted in group discussions but never exchanged personal contact.

But after the apocalypse, where loved ones and friends were often separated by life and death, encountering someone from before felt almost miraculous. They had naturally grown closer than they ever were in school.

Moreover, Song Kaiji had a space ability, while Qu Weiwei had a wood-based ability—both were late awakeners and relatively weak. Song Kaiji had almost no combat ability, his power only useful for storage. Qu Weiwei’s ability, while sounding better, merely allowed her to grow some extra food—provided she had seeds, which were now among the most valuable and scarce resources, even more precious than crystal cores!

And before reaching Level 3, a wood ability user couldn’t even grow strong vines for combat.

Both of them were slightly better off than ordinary survivors, just barely able to maintain a stable food supply. They had no advantages to take from each other, only mutual support forged through hardship.

Still, Qu Weiwei had been relatively lucky. As the base expanded, it incorporated not just residential areas but also farmland, establishing several agricultural zones. Many wood ability users were recruited to accelerate crop growth, earning wages of either five biscuits or a pound of fresh vegetables per day—a highly sought-after, stable job in the base.

Most of these farms were managed by the base authorities, but a few were under affiliated research institutes, where the focus wasn’t crop cultivation but rather experiments on mutated plants or medicinal herbs.

Qu Weiwei had been hired at Farm No. 3, under the research institute.

Song Kaiji was the only person she knew in the base, so when filling out her emergency contact for the job, she listed him. At the time, she had thought it was just a formality—what emergencies could happen on a farm? Maybe it was just to ensure employees wouldn’t steal crops. Only now did she realize the real danger.

“The mutated plants at the farm went berserk. She was using her ability nearby and got caught in it,” Song Kaiji said as he led Shen Qing into Qu Weiwei’s hospital room.

This hospital had been repurposed from a four-story guesthouse, with each standard room now serving as a patient ward. The small space was crammed with beds, and seven or eight injured survivors lay in them. Some moaned in pain, while others, barely breathing, lay unconscious—all victims of the mutated plant attack.

Shen Qing followed Song Kaiji’s gaze toward one of the beds. A young woman in her early twenties lay there, her face ashen and bloodless. In his village, she would be considered a great beauty. Now, her face was pale, her clothes stained with large patches of blood, and her right arm was missing from the elbow down, the wound a raw, bloody mess.

Beside her, a young man sat with two fingers pressed lightly against the stump of her arm. A faint white glow shimmered around the severed limb.

When the man saw Song Kaiji return, he asked, “Have you made your decision?”

In the apocalypse, human life was worth less than grass. Several people had already died in this plant outbreak—Qu Weiwei was lucky to have only lost an arm. But the research institute offered little compensation. They wouldn’t let injured workers die outright, but they only covered basic life-saving treatment and provided a small amount of material compensation.

For someone like Qu Weiwei, a healing ability user could potentially regenerate her lost limb—but it required immense energy, too much for a single healer to handle alone. It would take at least three working together, making the cost extremely high.

“If you just want to keep her alive, I’ll heal the wound now. She’ll wake up soon, but after that, there’s no chance of regenerating the limb,” the healer said, his hands still glowing. “If you want limb regeneration, then go pay up quickly. A procedure this major needs at least two more healers to assist—I can’t handle it alone. And keeping this up is exhausting.”

Song Kaiji bit his lip, deeply troubled. The healer had already explained that in addition to the compensation from the research institute, they still needed an additional 1,200 crystal cores or 400 pounds of food. Qu Weiwei didn’t have that kind of wealth, and neither did he.

Rationally, even though he and Qu Weiwei had supported each other in the base for months, their relationship wasn’t close enough for him to risk everything for her. But… this was the apocalypse. Surviving was already difficult for ordinary people. Losing an arm—especially the right one—was practically a death sentence.

Song Kaiji sighed. In truth, he had left earlier intending to find Shen Qing. He had already made his decision—if this were before he met Shen Qing, he simply wouldn’t have the means to help, and that would be that. But now… maybe there was a way?

“Can you… lend me some supplies?”

It was difficult to ask. He pulled Shen Qing aside and spoke in a low voice. “I have a little over a hundred pounds of supplies, but I’m still short. Other than you, I don’t know who else I can turn to. Don’t worry, I will definitely repay you. I’ll take on missions.”

There was an ability user squad that had been looking for a space ability user to join them on a mission about 70 kilometers away at an industrial park. They had approached Song Kaiji several times already. The mission wasn’t particularly dangerous, and there were abandoned banks and jewelry stores in the area. Gold had likely been collected by military squads, but there might still be overlooked silver.

However, the mission required staying overnight, meaning he wouldn’t be able to return to the base the same day. Song Kaiji had always been reluctant to go, fearing he might miss any news of his family.

But if he had no other choice, once Qu Weiwei recovered, the two of them could take on missions and kill zombies together. One way or another, he would repay Shen Qing.

Song Kaiji nervously watched Shen Qing. He knew they hadn’t known each other for long, and truthfully, it had always been Shen Qing who had helped him more. He had already received so many supplies from Shen Qing, yet now he was asking to borrow even more—and not even for himself, but for someone Shen Qing didn’t even know.

If this were before the apocalypse, people would definitely be telling Shen Qing to run while he still could.

Wait… telling him to run?

Song Kaiji quickly pushed away the strange thoughts in his head. But still, he couldn’t just stand by and watch Qu Weiwei lose her arm. If he asked Shen Qing and Shen Qing refused, he wouldn’t hold it against him. But if he didn’t even ask, he knew he’d feel guilty every time he saw Qu Weiwei with a missing limb.

Even though, in reality, the research institute was the one truly responsible for this.

Meanwhile, Shen Qing was still lost in thought.

Huh? What? Mutated plants? A riot? Limb regeneration?? Once again, this world left Shen Qing completely stunned, leaving him at a loss for words.

But then he thought about the zombies in this world, about Song Kaiji’s space ability, and suddenly, it didn’t seem so impossible…

Two or three hundred pounds of grain meant nothing to Shen Qing now. And he could understand why Song Kaiji wanted to save someone. He had never experienced living in the apocalypse, but speaking from his own perspective—if something like this happened to Second Aunt Lian or Madam Guixiang’s family, he’d be willing to help too!

So even though he knew he shouldn’t flaunt his wealth, this was Song Kaiji. Shen Qing hesitated for only a moment before nodding. “Alright.”

Song Kaiji was overjoyed—not just because Qu Weiwei could be saved, but because Shen Qing was willing to lend him so many supplies. What greater trust could there be? His eyes practically sparkled as he looked at Shen Qing. “I won’t let you down!”

That sounded a little strange, but Shen Qing didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he took off his back basket, which already had around a hundred pounds of grain inside—he had originally brought it to trade for bullets.

“But I have one small request.”

“What is it?”

“Can I watch the limb regeneration process?” Shen Qing’s face was slightly flushed with excitement. This was such an amazing thing! He had always wanted to see more of the world, to broaden his horizons. What could be more eye-opening than witnessing a severed limb regrow before his very eyes?

Besides, he had his own reasons.

Miao Shi wasn’t in good health, mainly because she had fallen while pregnant with her third child, leading to a difficult labor. The baby hadn’t survived, and Miao Shi’s body had suffered severe damage.

Back when Shen Zhang was still alive, Shen Zhigao had at least bought her two medicinal prescriptions, but they didn’t help much. Later, Old Lady Shen refused to spend any more money on medicine, and Miao Shi—since it was a “woman’s illness”—found it embarrassing to discuss and didn’t actively seek medical attention.

But if these healing ability users could regenerate a severed limb… could they also heal Miao Shi’s illness? Shen Qing’s eyes lit up with hope.

He had never considered bringing Miao Shi to this world before. He had lied to her, hiding the existence of zombies. If she ever found out, she’d be terrified.

Miao Shi had even offered to help him carry supplies, seeing how hard he worked hauling them up the mountain. And truth be told, she was curious about the strange cave, too. Who wouldn’t be?

But Shen Qing had always found an excuse to refuse her.

“Not to mention that it’s deep in the mountains, the path is awful. The entrance to the cave is more than ten feet up a cliff, and you have to climb a tree and crawl across the branches to reach it. How would you even get up there? Help me carry supplies? I’d probably have to carry you instead.”

Hearing that, Miao Shi had given up on the idea. She thought to herself, that was true—she’d only end up causing trouble for Qing Ge’er.

But now Shen Qing was thinking, if these healing abilities were really that miraculous, then no matter what, even if he had to carry her on his back, he had to find a way to bring Miao Shi here!

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