Ch 176: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

The moment Qu Weiwei saw Shao Nan, her first instinct was to go on the defensive. Her fingers instantly transformed into metallic vines, ready to attack at any moment. At the same time, Tang Wenjie conjured a row of floating metal spikes, all aimed directly at Shao Nan and the few people behind him.

Shao Nan’s heart shattered.

But he knew he had no right to feel wronged. He deserved this reaction from Qu Weiwei and Tang Wenjie. Once trust was broken, rebuilding it was nearly impossible.

He immediately took two steps back and raised his hands, looking at Qu Weiwei. “I’m not here to capture you.”

“You better not be.” Qu Weiwei snorted coldly. She didn’t lower her abilities but instead turned her attention to the people standing behind Shao Nan. She recognized them—they had previously trained under her and Tang Wenjie. When they noticed Qu Weiwei looking at them, they also stepped back alongside Shao Nan and quickly spoke up.

“We’re not here to fight you, Weiwei jie, really.”

“We don’t have a choice. Orders came from the top,” they explained in hushed, hurried voices. It was a power struggle between the higher-ups, ruining relationships between those who had nothing to do with it. Among their group, Shao Nan was the only one with any real rank, but could he have disobeyed a direct order from above?

And besides, when Song Kaiji, Qu Weiwei, and their squad escaped from Red City Base, the military’s top brass hadn’t given orders to pursue them alongside the research institute. Naturally, they weren’t about to go after Qu Weiwei’s team on their own.

The military had their own problems to deal with.

The special envoy from the capital had brought advanced technology and re-established internet connectivity, but it came at a price. The capital expected something in return from Red City Base. Their first demand? Food and seeds.

That wasn’t the worst of it. Red City Base had land and plant-based ability users—producing crops would just take extra effort. The seeds they provided would be taken to the capital and crossbred with others from different bases, potentially improving agricultural sustainability for the entire population.

But the envoy had come from the government, not the military. When they arrived, they only negotiated with the base’s government leaders. Previously, thanks to Shen Qing’s contribution of high-quality crop seeds, the military had managed to gain a foothold in Red City Base and break free from government control. Now, the government was taking back some of that power.

The capital made their demands directly to the base’s leadership, then passed those decisions down to the military, telling them to cooperate. The message was clear: the government leads, the military follows.

The military’s upper ranks were furious. They were also beginning to regret siding with the research institute in capturing Shen Qing.

Especially after learning that Shen Qing didn’t have a natural immunity to X1 Virus—he simply hadn’t been infected during the initial outbreak. During the last ambush, the zombie had already begun attacking him, which meant he no longer had even that small advantage.

So why were they still hunting him?

This time, they decided to stay out of it. Especially since it was only Qu Weiwei and Tang Wenjie here—without Shen Qing, they all silently agreed to look the other way.

“It’s really dangerous right now,” Shao Nan warned. “You should avoid coming here if you don’t have to.” Then, he pulled a key from his pocket and held it out to Qu Weiwei.

It was the key to unlock Chen Jiaxi’s inhibitor cuffs.

Qu Weiwei hesitated for a moment before using her vines to snatch the key. “Why are you helping me?”

Shao Nan let out a bitter chuckle. “Because I regret it.”

And not just the military’s top brass—he regretted it too.

“Then tell me this—have the research institute’s people captured Song Kaiji and Shen Qing?” Qu Weiwei demanded.

Shao Nan paused for a split second before answering. “No. That day, the government and the research institute suffered heavy casualties, but they didn’t capture anyone. They’ve been sending out search teams ever since… even asked us for reinforcements.”

The military had refused. They didn’t want to get involved in this mess anymore. Instead, they used the situation as an opportunity to take over part of the city’s defenses. “Why? Did you lose contact with them?”

Qu Weiwei gave him a deep, searching look but said nothing. She simply turned and walked away with Tang Wenjie.

---

Meanwhile, Song Kaiji spent another day recovering in the village. If not for worrying that Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei would be too anxious, he honestly wouldn’t have minded staying here forever—with Shen Qing and their baby, in this peaceful little village.

Just look at this place—mountains and rivers, lush greenery, a massive, newly built estate waiting for them on the hillside. The kind-hearted villagers brought them gifts—peanuts, red dates—and greeted him with warm smiles.

And their daughter! Soft, fragrant, fair-skinned, and adorable—he didn’t care what anyone said, he declared their child to be the cutest baby in the world!!

Shen Qing, fresh from dealing with the Lantang Village coup: Peaceful? Harmonious?

Well… now it was, since he’d already shipped all the troublemakers off to the county jail to await exile.

Magistrate Lin had been merciful—sending them away immediately in the dead of winter would have meant freezing to death on the journey. Instead, they’d be exiled in the spring.

With no television, no phones, and little farm work in the winter, the villagers were bored. Everyone was dying to see Shen Qing’s husband. Even Miao Hexiang and Wu Guixiang, who were practically family, found excuses to visit multiple times a day. One moment, they were borrowing oil; the next, they were asking about black beans.

Shen Qing finally sighed, “Fine. If you all want to gawk, just sit down already. At this rate, you’ll empty my house.”

What he didn’t say was that, somehow, he wanted to show off Song Kaiji to those closest to him.

A small, secret, prideful feeling bubbled inside him—this is my man. This is my child’s father.

For the first time, he understood why wedding ceremonies had to be such a big deal.

Since Shen Qing didn’t mind, the group settled in happily.

By now, Song Kaiji had changed into ancient clothing. Fortunately, since Shen Qing often disguised himself as a man, the house had plenty of men’s clothes. Song Kaiji was slightly taller than Shen Qing, but traditional clothing was loose-fitting, so it worked well enough.

Smiling warmly, he greeted each visitor—Shen Qing had mentioned most of them before.

“You must be Second Aunt Lian! Qing Ge’er told me about you. When he and his mother suffered in the Shen family, you were the one who helped them—thank you for taking care of my Qing Ge’er.”

“You must be Aunt Guixiang! Qing Ge’er told me you’re the one in charge of village affairs now—so impressive!”

“You’re Aunt Yanzi, right? Tieshan has really made something of himself—he’s a constable in the city now! We’ll be relying on him to help with our business in town!”

Song Kaiji was the kind of person who grandmothers loved—he had every auntie in the room beaming with joy. No one had expected Qing Ge’er’s husband to be such a sweet and polite young man. Seeing the way he looked at Qing Ge’er, the way he spoke about him with such obvious care and pride—that wasn’t something you could fake.

Of course, some still wondered—if he cherished Qing Ge’er so much, why hadn’t he come sooner? If he’d arrived before the pregnancy, they could have held a proper wedding and avoided all the trouble.

Shen Qing, watching from the side, just scoffed. Zhao Youwei had been determined to seize power. If it hadn’t been the pregnancy, he would have found another excuse—maybe spouting nonsense about Shen Zhigao and “filial piety.” This had been inevitable.

Song Kaiji, ever good-natured, explained, “I was away on business and ran into some trouble—I really couldn’t get away. Qing Ge’er suffered because of it. But soon, we’ll hold a proper wedding feast here and make it up to him.”

Shen Qing blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected Song Kaiji to suggest a wedding banquet. He’d thought they were already like an old married couple—no need for all that. He’d figured they could just celebrate Quan Jie’s hundred-day milestone instead.

Now, he felt… a little shy. But mostly, he felt sweet.

Lowering his head slightly, he murmured, “Alright.”

“This is great,” the villagers said, having little to do during the winter except waiting for a few wedding feasts to liven things up. Besides, Qing Ge’er’s family was wealthy—this wedding banquet was bound to have an abundance of delicious food. Even though Qing Ge’er’s husband hadn’t mentioned his background, just by looking at his smooth, fair skin, it was obvious he wasn’t from a poor family.

Even though everyone’s lives had improved compared to before, it still couldn’t compare to Shen Qing’s household. The villagers were eagerly looking forward to it.

The rumor that Song Kaiji had been injured by bandits while trading had spread through the village, and he simply went along with it. In his mind, reality wasn’t far off—weren’t the people from the research institute no different from bandits? However, when asked about his hair, he could only make something up. “Ah, well… I don’t really know. Maybe during the fight, a blade cut off my hair… When it was over, it was just like this.”

The onlookers clicked their tongues in amazement. A blade sharp enough to slice through hair in midair? That was something they’d only heard in storyteller’s tales—who would have thought such a weapon actually existed?

Only Lian Ou stood in silence, seeming somewhat lost.

He wasn’t a monk who had left the temple.

Lian Ou knew he shouldn’t have joined Lian Rong in spreading wild rumors, guessing at Qing Ge’er’s husband’s identity. But deep down, he couldn’t help but hope—if only it had been true, if monks really could leave the temple and marry…

The house was bustling with people asking Song Kaiji all sorts of questions. Lian Ou claimed he needed some fresh air and left without anyone noticing. Before he knew it, he had wandered far from the house, finding himself at the edge of the village, near the small forest.

He should have feared this place. It was here that Wang Shi’s nephew had cornered him. If that person hadn’t shown up, his life would have been ruined.

Not that things had improved much. There had once been many marriage proposals for him, but after what happened, they all vanished. Yet, strangely, Lian Ou was glad—he didn’t want to get married, or rather, he didn’t want to be blindly betrothed by his parents and forced into a marriage he had no say in.

He had avoided this place ever since, but today, for some reason, he found himself standing here.

A rustling sound came from the bushes. Lian Ou startled, his heart sinking. Was he really that unlucky? He turned to run, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar gray monk’s robe.

He froze.

He wasn’t sure when it had started. Maybe it was the first time he had set up a stall when Qing Ge’er had sent him and Lian Rong to sell defective goods. At the time, all he could think about was making money, so he had eagerly agreed. But when they arrived at Miaoqian Village, their confidence faded, and they shrank back like frightened quails.

Then he came to collect the stall fees. Seeing it was their first time, he patiently helped them set up, even teaching them how to call out to customers… of course, he still charged them for the stall. But when they couldn’t sell everything, he let them store the goods in the temple for free.

Later, he was the one who saved Lian Ou in the forest.

Coincidence? But if he lived at the temple in Miaoqian Village, why was he here, near Lantang Village?

Lian Ou turned to see the monk, his hair now grown into a soft layer of fuzz, walking toward him. He handed Lian Ou a small bundle, inside of which was a large sum of silver—at least one to two hundred taels. Lian Ou nearly dropped it in shock.

The monk quickly caught it and, in doing so, also grabbed Lian Ou’s hand.

“I heard…” His voice was a little unsteady. “I heard that the most capable person in your village, Qing Ge’er, his husband has returned… and he’s a monk who left the temple. He even had his legs broken by the abbot because of it.”

Lian Ou: “Ah…” That was just a wild rumor, and who knew if Lian Rong had helped spread it. Qing Ge’er’s husband had already explained—he was a traveling merchant, not a monk.

But the monk’s gaze burned into him. “I thought about it all night. If he can do it, why can’t I? Inside this bundle is all the silver I’ve saved over the years. Even if the abbot breaks my legs, I… You, would you be willing?”

Lian Ou looked back at him, speechless.

---

In the past few days, another event had taken place in Lantang Village.

Shen Qing’s grandparents had passed away. That day, Shen Qing’s grandmother had dragged her paralyzed husband to Shen Qing’s house to make a scene, only to be scared off by Miao Chunlei. She collapsed at her own doorstep.

Now, the Shen family consisted only of Li Jiaofeng and her two sons, Shen Qiang and Shen Zhuang. Shen Zhuang was never home except for meals.

The day when Old Lady Shen collapsed, Li Jiaofeng wasn’t completely heartless, she had dragged the old woman back home and called a barefoot doctor from Xiahe Village.

They couldn’t afford a city doctor, nor did they want to. If they had that kind of money, Li Jiaofeng would rather save it for her own son’s medicine. But the barefoot doctor could only treat minor illnesses and injuries—things like colds, cuts, or dislocations. More severe conditions were beyond his ability. After checking her pulse, he could only shake his head.

Old Lady Shen was dying—completely drained. Even if they had a city doctor, unless they used the same expensive treatments as Shen Qing’s family, keeping her alive with ginseng and bird’s nest, it wouldn’t matter.

Ordinary families couldn’t afford that kind of care.

Li Jiaofeng had never gotten along with Old Lady Shen, but for some reason, she changed. She bought a chicken and made broth for several days. When the chicken was gone, Old Lady Shen shed two tears and passed away.

With her gone, no one was left to care for the paralyzed Old Man Shen. Any sympathy Li Jiaofeng had for his wife did not extend to him. She left a bowl of coarse millet porridge by his bed—if he wanted to drink it, fine. If not, she didn’t care. Wiping him down and tending to his bodily needs was out of the question.

For the next four or five days, Old Man Shen lay in bed, cursing and shouting. He had spent his life commanding his wife to fight his battles while he hid behind her. Now, with no one left to speak for him, his dignity, his authority as head of the household—everything was gone. He probably spoke more in those few days than he had in an entire year, but no one listened.

After a week of yelling, he fell silent.

Li Jiaofeng didn’t even buy a coffin. She wove two straw mats, wrapped his body, and buried him in the Shen family’s ancestral plot.

Then, she went to find Shen Qing.

---

She arrived just as Song Kaiji was awake, playing with their daughter. Quan Jie had no fear of strangers; she accepted her father immediately, staring up at him with her big, bright eyes.

Song Kaiji was reluctant to let go of her but listened carefully to the conversation in the next room. It was his first time seeing how Shen Qing interacted with people from his world, and he was extremely curious.

Li Jiaofeng nervously clutched the hem of her clothes. Miao Chunlei had prepared snacks for her, but she didn’t dare touch them. She had no one else to turn to, so she forced herself to come.

“…Both of the elders in our family are gone. Now it’s just Shen Zhuang left. I was thinking… I was thinking…”

Shen Qing’s expression was unreadable, but he let her inside instead of turning her away. He even served tea. It was because, on the day of his childbirth, Li Jiaofeng had been the first to bring news of his father’s scheme. Though Shen Qing still didn’t understand why she had suddenly changed, he asked, “What do you want?”

“I want you to help me speak with Wu Guixiang about separating the family.” Li Jiaofeng bit her lip, summoning her courage.

Shen Qing had expected her to ask for money or a job at the workshop, but this request surprised him. After a moment of thought, he agreed. “Alright.”

Li Jiaofeng’s eyes lit up, and she thanked him repeatedly.

Now that their lives had improved, everything about the old Shen family—their suffering, those people—had long become distant memories, mere passing smoke in the wind.

That same afternoon, Shen Qing spoke to Wu Guixiang. Zhao Youdang, feeling some pity for Shen Zhuang, hesitated. “He’s still just a kid, not even grown yet. If they split the family, how’s he supposed to survive?”

Wu Guixiang immediately scolded him, cursing him out so thoroughly that he couldn’t even lift his head. “So just because he can’t survive, Li Jiaofeng has to take responsibility for him? Why? Are we women supposed to be the safety net for men, no matter what? Even when his father tried to kill Li Jiaofeng’s son? Why are you always so worried about other men’s hardships? What about Shen Qiang? He’s just a boy too. And with the grudge between them over Shen Zhiwei’s death, do you think Shen Qiang will even survive when Shen Zhuang gets older?”

Zhao Youdang had no comeback.

Good-natured kindness that didn’t distinguish right from wrong was nothing but cruelty. Wu Guixiang huffed. “Li Jiaofeng has finally started acting like a decent human being. Anyone would live better after getting away from that mess of a family.”

As for the deaths of Shen Qing’s grandparents, few in the village even mentioned it. And if they did, it was mostly to say that Li Jiaofeng had been unseemly, not giving them a proper funeral. But living to that age and dying was natural—who could afford to hire city doctors for every old person? No one.

In the end, all that was left of the Shen family was two acres of land, a house, and a small amount of silver found in Old Lady Shen’s room. The land was split—one acre each. Li Jiaofeng refused to take any of the silver, even adding two taels of her own and giving it all to Shen Zhuang. The house went to Li Jiaofeng.

Of course, this was a better deal for Li Jiaofeng, but she wailed that they were the main family, that they were the eldest son’s lineage, and that Shen Zhigao wasn’t even dead—who knew if he’d return in a few years? Even Zhao Youdang had nothing to say against that.

Shen Zhuang was practically thrown out, clutching a few taels of silver and a land deed, crying and wailing at the door for half the day. Li Jiaofeng shut the door tightly. He then went to cry outside his maternal grandparents’ house, but the Zhao family, though eyeing his silver greedily, didn’t let him in.

After that, Shen Zhuang left the village. Some said he had gone to the mountains to find his mother, Zhao Aiye, but no one knew if he even knew where he had been married off to. No one saw him again.

Song Kaiji watched in amazement. Village justice was something he had never seen before, completely different from his own world. Seeing how Shen Qing handled things so efficiently, with such authority, was also something new—there was a sharpness to him that Song Kaiji had never fully witnessed before.

As Shen Qing changed his bandages and cleaned his wound, he asked with a hint of hesitation, “Do you think I was too ruthless?”

Shen Zhuang was only fourteen. In this world, that was old enough to be engaged, but in Song Kaiji’s world, he would still just be a middle schooler, barely a teenager. Now, he had lost both parents and had been driven out of his own home. It was practically an exile from the village.

Before Song Kaiji could answer, Shen Qing continued, “I’m his cousin, but he never once called me that. He always called me ‘big idiot.’ The morning of the family split, he even threw mud at me.”

Song Kaiji immediately grew indignant. “Who’s a big idiot? He’s just jealous because he’s short. In my world, people over 1.8 meters tall practically want that engraved on their tombstones as a badge of honor.” He leaned in and kissed Shen Qing on the cheek. “Being ruthless is a good thing. The soft-hearted always end up getting bullied.”

After much persuading, Song Kaiji finally got Shen Qing to agree not to follow him back to the apocalypse. “Things are too complicated right now. Let me go first and see how things stand. Once it’s stable, I’ll come get you.”

He patiently explained everything about their newly built base. “Driving there takes a long time, and I have to clear out zombies on the way. My shoulder is still injured, which makes me attract even more zombies. Teleporting people isn’t easy either. Just stay here and wait for me.” He kissed Shen Qing, then kissed Quan Jie. “Stay with the baby and wait for me.”

Only then did Shen Qing agree.

---

When Song Kaiji returned to the new base, Qu Weiwei nearly lashed him with her vines. “Oh, so you do remember how to come back?! You nearly scared us to death!” But then she saw the wound on his shoulder and held back.

She glanced behind him. “Where’s Little Boss Shen?”

“He went back. He’s somewhere very safe,” Song Kaiji replied.

Qu Weiwei opened her mouth, wanting to ask if Shen Qing really was from another world. But in the end, she didn’t say it. She had heard bits and pieces about why the research institute was after him. At first, she had found it unbelievable. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

She had been with Shen Qing longer than anyone except Song Kaiji. There were always strange little things about him that she had never questioned before. Now, when she pieced them together, everything clicked.

But what was the point of asking? It would just make her seem like she had no sense of boundaries. So, she kept her mouth shut.

Song Kaiji’s wound, after multiple teleportations, had split open again, seeping more blood. Qi Zhan, yawning, hovered his hand over the wound, a soft white glow appearing. “Not bad. You survived three days with a wound like this.”

Under his healing ability, Song Kaiji’s injury quickly closed up.

While he had been away, the new base had been running smoothly. Chen Jiaxi and her husband, perhaps workaholics, had thrown themselves into base construction the moment they arrived. Her husband had even resumed his old profession—already organizing the building of a defensive wall comparable to Red City Base.

“We need to be prepared—not just for zombies, but also for those people from Red City Base,” he said grimly.

Song Kaiji agreed, but his attention was drawn to Chen Jiaxi’s hands. Her inhibitor cuffs were gone.

“Shao Nan gave me the key,” Qu Weiwei said, explaining how she and Tang Wenjie had encountered him while gathering intel.

Song Kaiji was deep in thought. “If Shao Nan’s acting like this, we might be able to use that to our advantage…”

“For what?” Qu Weiwei asked. They had already escaped. Shen Qing knew the location of the new base and wouldn’t be returning to Red City Base. Weren’t all their problems solved? All they had to do now was keep building and stay on guard against any retaliation from Red City.

Song Kaiji hesitated for a long moment before finally speaking. “Well… Qing Qing asked—why should we keep running? Why don’t we just take over Red City Base?”

Qu Weiwei: “?”

She pointed at herself. “Who? Me? Us? Take over Red City Base?”

“Do you even hear yourself? That’s like sending a low-rank demon to take down the entire Tang Monk’s group!”

Song Kaiji: “…”

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