Author Archives: sandy

Shen Cheng didn’t know about the little incident between the “base staff”. When she went online, she only saw a new message pop up in the game:

[Xi Bei has awakened, preconditions for plant-type ability users have been met]

[Hydroponic room in the base enters working mode]

[Current supply: 200 servings/day (planting breadfruit)]

[Current number of personnel in the base: 45]

Self-sufficiency achieved!

Shen Cheng was quite happy and clicked on the little people’s heads in the base to check, but she found that the small people who were just starting to meet their basic food and clothing needs now had a new demand for meat (occasionally) in their food choices.

This is a bit of a problem!

After the end of the world, almost all animals mutated. Not only did their body size increase several times, but even ordinary pigs grew extremely thick skin that could not be cut with a normal knife. As omnivores, they occasionally even found some zombies to gnaw on… While mutant beasts can occasionally be hunted for meat, it is difficult to make it a long-term supply of meat.

Shen Cheng was worried about this, but Sun Yifei, friend of Xi Nan, who had returned with him, came to Li Weilan with the first suggestion he had after arriving at Noah Base and inspecting it: “Brother Li, we can raise some fish in the pool at the bottom of the base as a source of meat for the base. As for fish food, the remaining breadfruit bait is already enough for now.”

After arriving at Noah Base, Sun Yifei had been carefully observing the structure and layout of the base. As an auxiliary earth-based ability user, he was originally an architect, and his ability mutation was mainly in the aspect of assisting in the overall design and composition.

He had been walking around Noah Base for the past few days, holding a small notebook in his hand to write and wander around, not playing around, but recording the composition of the base, the design of the rooms, and security issues.

But the more he looked, the more alarmed he became. It was not just because the construction materials used for the base were a type of material that even his ability couldn’t probe, but also because the base’s sewage, circulation, and pipeline systems had made him, as someone who specialized in construction engineering, feel amazed from the bottom of his heart: This is definitely not a level that is just a few years or even decades ahead.

As for how advanced it is? In some of the designs and planning perspectives, he could only roughly guess at their purpose, but the technological difficulties involved in between, he dared to say, he had never even thought about before.

So the people in the base these days see Sun Yifei and think he’s a little crazy. Every day he just carries a notebook and runs around.

This is the fifth day Sun Yifei has been in the base, and he finally came up with his own design.

Li Weilan looked at his precise and complex composition, looking at the criss-crossing lines on it, and listened carefully to his explanation: “Our base’s wastewater goes through the purification room and enters this No.2 pool once again, where it will undergo another precipitation and sterilization before finally entering the drinking water tank. But I don’t know what kind of fish to raise yet. Mr. Fu will probably have to spend some time researching which species can produce meat without requiring too much feeding.”

“I’ll go talk to Fu Yanzhou.” Li Weilan nodded after hearing his report.

At this moment, Sun Yifei hesitated for a moment and asked Li Weilan in a low voice, “Brother Li, do you know who built this base?”

Li Weilan turned around in surprise.

Sun Yifei hesitated for a long time and asked, “Do you know who built this base? I really have so many questions.”

Li Weilan’s expression froze: Just by looking at the base sketch that Sun Yifei drew, he knew that this person must be knowledgeable.

An amateur just watches the fun, but someone like him knows that there are many unreasonable aspects to this base, but he can’t explain the reason for it.

Yes, since Sun Yifei is a graduate of architecture, can he see the architectural style and techniques used?

He felt a surge of excitement in his heart and asked eagerly, “What did you find out?”

Sun Yifei’s next words left him stunned: “Brother Li, all I know is that this is not technology of this world.”

Sun Yifei paused and pointed to the sketches and frameworks on the paper, saying earnestly, “Normally, a project this big would take thousands of people and various large machines several years to complete. And digging such a large project underground would certainly alert the government. Do you know if the person behind this has any official background?”

Li Weilan pondered for a moment and slowly shook his head.

She was not a person of this world. It couldn’t be.

“This goes against common sense.” Sun Yifei lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing some sleeping presence. “A project like this is beyond human capability…what we can do for such an existence may only be to pray.”

Li Weilan nodded slowly, Sun Yifei’s words shattered his illusions.

He wanted to know her world. Not just for himself, but also for the other people in the base.

Because as long as she had a thought, a mere flicker of electricity in her mind, it could mean catastrophe for them. With a single thought, they could be born or dead.

For such an existence, perhaps reverence and fear were the right path.

But for him, perhaps it was precisely because he was too close to “it” that he couldn’t tell himself, like Sun Yifei said, that “it” didn’t care, because he was as lowly as an ant, as light as sand, and nothing he did mattered to her.

He had to find a way to see this world clearly. If he hadn’t even seen it clearly, then there was no point in talking about crossing barriers.

***

Fu Yanzhou just wants to shut himself up and not speak.

Since the last time he went out and was surrounded in the middle of a “victory celebration,” he locked himself in the laboratory.

For him, immersing himself fully in his experiments is the only way to escape the noise and disturbance around him. When people talk to each other, they always spew out countless bacteria, and when people come into contact with each other, they also bring countless infectious germs.

It’s very uncomfortable.

However, contrary to his wishes, someone still knocked on the door when he least wanted it: it was his boss, whom he could not refuse.

“…” Fu Yanzhou stood silently in the room, silently watching his boss, hoping he would finish talking quickly and leave: didn’t he seem like he didn’t want to stay long last time?

Li Weilan put down the structural diagram in his hand and said to Fu Yanzhou, “The base needs some stable sources of meat, and we’ll use this fish pond. The size and dimensions are all indicated on it, and the composition of the inlet and outlet is also drawn. Can you see if you can improve the species to ensure the meat supply for the base? Once the meat supply is up, you’ll have priority every day.”

“!” Fu Yanzhou widened his eyes in silence: priority supply! It’s a good deal!

He slowly took the structural diagram and turned around silently, looking at it and nodding.

Li Weilan was about to ask something, but then there was a knock on the door, “tap, tap, tap.” Li Weilan frowned and went over to open the door, only to see a girl with twin ponytails standing outside.

It was Xi Bei.

She smiled and stood there, looking cute, but when she saw Li Weilan, there was a strange glint in her eyes. Then she spoke in a tone that Li Weilan couldn’t quite understand, “Ah, you’re here!”

“??” Li Weilan felt like her tone was a bit strange, making him inexplicably curious.

Li Weilan suspected it was just his imagination, and he nodded.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Fu Yanzhou peeked his head out from behind him and looked slightly at Xi Bei, his eyes revealing a clear “What’s up?” meaning.

“…” Xi Bei originally had something important to find Fu Yanzhou for, but now, she couldn’t help but whisper, “I feel like I’m glowing.”

Just then, on Shen Cheng’s screen, the “main character” switched to this scene, and a new task notification popped up:

[As the owner of the base, it is time to show your intimacy with the main character now that the base is forming. Remember, your cub will always be yours! Please interact to show your intimacy with the main character and display it to other ability users in the base. Currently displayed: 0/3, Envy: 0/3, task completed: 200G.]

“???” Shen Cheng was confused.

Show intimacy?

How to display it?

As a mother fan, she never had any improper thoughts about her own cub!

The reward for this task was very generous, but… she had no idea how to complete it!

Shen Cheng was at a loss, and just then, Li Weilan felt her arrival. He raised his head slightly and smiled towards the direction of the fluctuation in the void, “You’re here.”

[Triggered – Intimate Nickname Task: Please ask the main character to call you ‘Master’ once.]

Ah ah ah, Shen Cheng remembered the embarrassment play option she accidentally triggered when choosing the nickname, but now she felt like digging a hole and burying herself.

She looked around and fortunately, she was at home. She immediately put on her headphones to isolate any possible noise.

On the screen, feeling that she didn’t respond immediately, the little person tilted his head slightly, showing a slightly puzzled expression.

After greeting her, Li Weilan heard a soft response, “You have to call me ‘Master’ today.”

Unlike every other interaction before, it was heard by everyone in the room.

Fu Yanzhou looked confused.

Xi Bei, on the other hand, had a curious expression on her face.

She wasn’t mistaken: Brother Li, who was always calm, first showed a slight shyness, then a faint doubt, but surprisingly, there was no anger or dissatisfaction.

She then looked at Fu Yanzhou’s expression, he’s so socially awkward that he can’t even play the master and servant game happily!

How can Brother Li be so cooperative!

If it was me… I’d rather adopt a pet than adopt Fu Yanzhou!

Shen Cheng, on the other hand, had her face turned red as well. It seemed that she and her cub exchanged looks through the screen, and the little person stiffened for a moment.

But he immediately calmed down, and only a faint blush at the tip of his ear showed that his true feelings were not as calm as they seemed on the surface: “Master, good afternoon.”

[Intimate Nickname Task completed. Intimacy displayed: 1/3, Envy: 1/3]

[Challenge mode triggered: Ask Li Weilan about his wish!]

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Sandy: I’m a little confused by Xi Bei’s reaction. Did she think the voice came from Fu Yanzhou or something? What did “She then looked at Fu Yanzhou’s expression, he’s so socially awkward that he can’t even play the master and servant game happily!” mean? It’s not easy translating sometimes 🥲

Originally, Li Weilan didn’t plan to spend the night outside. They only took about 18 hours from Noah to Tenglong. But on the way back from the Tenglong base, due to the children, they had to slow down to some extent, and for some reason, the road they took back seemed unfamiliar and off track.

It seemed like they had to spend the night in this villa area.

The night in the villa area was particularly quiet.

Every building looked pitch black from the outside, as if the entire villa area was uninhabited at first glance.

Everyone knew that this was impossible.

Small villa communities like this one by the highway were actually very popular end-of-the-world bases. Once the iron gate was closed and the zombies inside were cleared out, each villa could accommodate at least ten or twenty people.

Mutual defense and patrol were common practices in small gatherings like this in the end-of-the-world.

But this villa area was eerily quiet. Li Weilan wasn’t afraid himself, but Chen Feng protected the children behind him, fearing that a crazy person would jump out from somewhere and harm the children.

Twenty children followed them silently from behind. Li Weilan walked quietly in the dark, and suddenly heard a small, tender voice from behind, “Shadow!”

He turned around abruptly and saw a girl named Xiao Ai in the team. She still had a look of panic on her face and whispered, “Just now, a dark shadow flashed by!”

It was silent in the darkness, as if nothing was there.

But Li Weilan knew that the girl was not lying because he also felt the energy wave just now. Whatever the shadow was in the darkness, it had been hunting them since they set foot in the villa area.

What should they do?

He hesitated for a moment, then looked at the beautiful Western-style villa in front of him, and kicked the door open with one foot!

With a loud bang, the door fell down.

The shadow inside was probably also startled. It didn’t expect that someone would choose to confront it head-on. With a roar, the monster crouching in the living room rushed straight towards Li Weilan!

With its roar, the people in front of it finally saw that all the animals that had emerged from those villas were actually pets from various families!

Crouching in the living room of this house was a large cat that was half the size of a tiger, with blood-red eyes. The claws on its paws were outstretched and were two to three meters long and as sharp as knives, obviously a mutant beast.

The one that ran past the girl just now was probably a mutant dog. Its body was as big as a lion, but at this moment, it looked nothing like the cute and obedient pet it used to be. It was full of ferocity and viciousness, obviously wanting to tear the group of people in front to shreds!

“Ah!” Xiao Ai trembled in fear, watching the mutant beasts slowly approaching them and slowly backing away.

Perhaps her fear intensified the momentum of these mutant beasts. Even in these times, mutant beasts knew that they had to pick on the weak ones. Seeing Li Weilan’s appearance and the knife in his hand, the leading giant cat turned its eyes and immediately let out a roar, signaling its subordinates to attack the children!

The first one to pounce was a huge mutant dog.

This dog was covered in scars, with one eye blind and looking like an old injury. Even just a glance at it was terrifying enough to scare children.

Xiao Ai looked at the dog’s blind eye and its wide-open mouth drooling with blood. She was so scared that she fell to the ground and cried out “wahhhh”. The six-year-old girl had already lived in the apocalypse for a year, but had never faced such a terrifying monster before.

She even forgot that she was holding a mechanical doll in her hand: the life-saving mechanical doll fell to the ground when she crawled backwards with both hands and feet, and its cold mechanical eyes flickered, but without waiting for the owner’s command, it finally had to reluctantly shut down.

“Xiao Ai!” The boy, who was a little older than her and had been taking care of her, looked at the dog chasing after her like a cat playing with a mouse. He chased after Xiao Ai while Li Weilan and Chen Feng who were leading the team had already started fighting with several sharp-toothed and sharp-clawed big cats and couldn’t spare any attention to this side. Suddenly, the boy remembered something, threw his doll and shouted, “Pikachu, activate!”

This was a signal he came up with himself.

The original signal only needed the two words “activate”.

In the moment when the boy’s crisp childish voice dissipated in the wind, the doll on the ground suddenly stood up, and a red dot appeared in its eyes. With a loud bang, the red light in its eyes punched a huge hole in the dog’s body.

The dog yelped in pain, and its companions, who had seemed to be watching the show, rushed over. In the night, only pairs of eerie green eyes could be seen flashing in the darkness.

The children were surrounded in the middle, and the dog only yelped impatiently and scratched the ground, ready to pounce again.

But when the children saw the boy’s action, they all remembered their own toy robots.

There were twenty children in total, and nineteen of them had protective toys.

They all shouted “activate”, and the loyal “child protection toys” grew as soon as the wind blew, tightly protecting the children.

The big dogs repeatedly pounced, leaving only rusty marks on the robots at most–their saliva had a corrosive effect, and if it splashed on human skin, it would naturally cause wounds. But blocked by the robots, the children were unharmed.

Li Weilan, Chen Feng, and Xi Nan are facing a group of mutated cats, some as big as small tigers. Compared to dogs that act as a group, cats are much more agile in their movements. Sun Yifei, an earth-based ability user among adults, is surrounded by them. Although he is also an ability user, his ability is more inclined towards construction, planning, and assistance, so his combat effectiveness is basically like that of a burden.

Fortunately, the cats are not organized among themselves, and their fighting is not coordinated. Therefore, Li Weilan easily blocks their attacks while observing the situation on the children’s side. Seeing that the reinforced robots protect the children in the middle, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Weilan glanced at Chen Feng, who was already anxious, and whispered, “Do you think you can protect them forever? Children who grew up in the apocalypse will have to face these things someday.”

It’s not that they can’t save them, but if these children can’t even use their equipment and abilities to protect themselves, then even if they arrive at Noah, they will only be a burden. The Noah Base is small and cannot afford to support these idle people. Li Weilan thinks that giving these children some exercise on the road is necessary.

At this moment, Chen Feng finally let out a long breath. Although the reasoning is there, he is the one who raised these children, so he is the one who worries the most.

In a flash, a giant cat seized on his hesitation and the coordination gap between him and Li Weilan. With a roar, it pounced on him. With a “shua la” sound, Chen Feng staggered backward, and the attack left a long bloody scar on his back, tearing his clothes apart. The giant cat’s green eyes flashed with a cunning and triumphant light, and it shook its tail to leave another bloody mark on Chen Feng’s face.

Chen Feng groaned in pain, “What kind of cat is this? Even if it’s a tiger before the apocalypse, it’s impossible to directly hit me with its tail like this! I almost got a concussion!”

His head was buzzing, and under this tremendous force, he couldn’t even crawl up.

At this moment, a gap appeared in the formation formed by the three adults on the periphery. Li Weilan looked at the big cat that pounced over, and without holding back, a flash of spatial cutting light appeared. The tail of the giant cat fell off, along with a burst of blood mist.

His spatial cutting was an advanced spatial distortion ability. In the instant it was activated, it could cut open the space crack. The cut opening was neat and tidy. Before the giant cat could react, its tail had disappeared.

The severe pain of having its tail cut off, coupled with the anger that made its butt feel cold, made the giant cat lose the calmness it had before it attacked sneakily. Its whole body was covered in fur, its tailless butt lowered, and it stared at Li Weilan with resentment, roaring and pouncing crazily towards him.

Li Weilan was well prepared for this.

He stretched out his hands, and Thunder ignited a bright light as bright as day, hitting the giant cat at close range and making the sound of its fur being electrified.

The giant cat fell silent and collapsed. Obviously, it was the head of this group of mutated cats. Now that it had fallen, the other few beside it shrank back in fear and didn’t dare to come forward.

“Stop, stop, stop! You guys stop!” Suddenly, a woman’s scream came from the second floor of the villa. The sound of slippers going “thump, thump, thump” down the stairs could be heard. A woman in a white nightgown, clean and fair, ran downstairs. She ran to the big cat that was burnt by the electricity, wanting to reach out but didn’t dare. When she lifted her head, her long black hair revealed a beautiful face like a flower.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Even Shen Cheng, who had been watching the plot with great interest, made a light “hmm” sound: the Q version even more highlighted the girl’s beauty. She could still be so beautiful in the apocalypse. Could it be that this girl is my cub’s official partner?

Thinking of this, Shen Cheng, for some reason, felt a little uncomfortable. She furrowed her brows slightly, but when she looked at her cub’s face which was still indifferent. Even the hand holding Thunder seemed to have no fluctuations.

He said coldly, “Are these monsters that you raised?”

The woman glared at him angrily. In the darkness, facing a group of men, she leaned her body lightly into the burnt fur of the giant cat.

Her tears fell one by one, and Chen Feng and Xi Nan were shocked to find that the burnt fur of the giant cat was gradually recovering where her tears flowed!

They looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other’s eyes.

This woman… is the rarest and most precious healing ability in the end times!

Commonly known as a nurse!

And it seems that these giant beasts also listen to her, this woman can heal herself, and she also raised such a group of mutant beasts, she must be able to live comfortably in this world!

No wonder there is no one in this villa area, perhaps only this woman lives in this villa area!

The cat under the woman’s hand made a weak moan, as if it realized that its owner could support it. The giant cat, which was already listless, howled twice, apparently in a complaining manner.

Li Weilan’s expression had become impatient.

The woman with teary eyes looked over and said, “Why hurt my tiger? You were the ones who broke into our home, and Tiger was just protecting me!”

“…” They felt that something was not logical.

But what she said seemed to make sense.

Xi Nan and Chen Feng simultaneously had this thought: What’s wrong?

They couldn’t figure it out.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Sandy: I smell a white lotus, do you? 🫢

Li Weilan stepped into Fu Yanzhou’s dormitory. Before entering the room, he took a quick glance at the furnishings inside.

Clean, neat, and refreshing.

However, it was empty and lifeless, except for the man lying dead in bed in broad daylight, as if there was no sign of life or change.

When the other people at Noah Base moved into their own dormitories, they would inevitably decorate them with some personal style, even if it was just a flower, a piece of grass, or a photo, to bring some personal touch to their living space.

This showed their respect for their living space and their love for the base.

But Fu Yanzhou did not do that.

His personal belongings were in a small bag by the bed, as if he was ready to wander and travel at any time.

After taking a look around, Li Weilan immediately formed his first impression of this person named Fu Yanzhou: threat level (extremely low).

Perhaps hearing the sound of the door, Fu Yanzhou slowly got up from the bed.

Rubbing his forehead wearily, he didn’t have time to open his eyes and just said in a low, hoarse voice, “I’m not hungry, thank you for your concern.” It was time for lunch, but he didn’t want to eat. He couldn’t eat.

“I heard you have no appetite.” Li Weilan suppressed the acidity and hostility overflowing from his chest. When he saw the other person’s thin body and almost pale face, his first reaction was that he couldn’t die, “If you want to eat something, just say it, we will try to satisfy you.”

It was a man’s voice.

This was not the girl who had been coming to see him for the past few days.

Fu Yanzhou’s voice was hoarse: “It’s not because of those girls that I have no appetite… I…” He wanted to explain, but gritted his teeth and said, “Sorry for causing trouble to you all. I’ll eat whatever it is!”

Even pig food would have to do…

Li Weilan was stunned.

Did Fu Yanzhou think that they would punish Yan Hongyu for his lack of cooperation?

It seemed that he had a very high opinion of himself.

Hopefully, his real abilities matched his confidence.

However, there was still an unsolved mystery in Li Weilan’s mind. In fact, this was one of the main reasons why he came today. He looked down at Fu Yanzhou, who was swaying and pale, and his gaze became more scrutinizing, which made people uneasy. But his hesitant words came out, “How… did you meet her?”

Fu Yanzhou was taken aback.

Her? Who was she?

His heart skipped a beat. He had already figured out that the leader of this base was not the girl in the red dress who picked him up that day. Could it be that her actions caused dissatisfaction with her leader?

“I don’t know her!” he hurriedly explained. “The girl who picked me up that day, we had never met before! I don’t even know her name…”

Li Weilan was attentive in the first half, but in the second half, he realized that they were talking about two different things. This person didn’t look like he had received “Her” attention like he himself did. Judging from what he saw and heard, Fu Yanzhou didn’t seem like he was deliberately hiding something.

So… what did she want this person for?

Li Weilan’s gaze lingered for a moment on the other’s delicate and pale skin, as well as his particularly clean, almost peeling fingers. Finally, his gaze fell on the flat and smooth bed sheet that could almost trigger OCD, and he nodded, “It’s good that Mr. Fu is willing to eat. I’ll send someone to bring the food later.”

“… ” Why did this person’s emotions seem so peculiar?

Although Fu Yanzhou was not good at socializing, he clearly felt the slight fluctuations in the other’s emotions, from the initial hostility and scrutiny, to gradual dissipation, then sudden increase in attention, and finally relaxation. He suddenly felt that coming to Noah Base might not be such a good idea.

Not long after, the girl in red who had brought him in earlier brought food. Fu Yanzhou smelled an extremely pure scent of rice, and his stomach, which had already felt like it didn’t exist, suddenly made a grumbling sound. His brow and eyes, which had been dim, instantly lit up: this was nothing like what he had imagined!

It wasn’t that Fu Yanzhou didn’t want to eat, but his ability naturally amplified all his senses around him, including his taste. His spiritual power tendrils, like millions of tiny hairs, brought him not only expanded observational and analytical abilities but also extreme torment. For him, any food that wasn’t purified and any environment full of pollution were extremely painful to endure. Every second was a constant torture to himself.

But this bowl of rice porridge was different. It was lightly flavored, without many seasonings, but it nourished his heart and lungs. This was the first time since his ability had awakened that he had eaten without any pain.

Yan Hongyu looked at Fu Yanzhou eating loudly and wrote the word “disgust” all over her face.

What does this mean? Did they give him pig food to eat before? Is the porridge that Brother Li sent over now a divine dish?

How did this person survive in the wasteland?

He’s so picky… it’s been a year since the apocalypse started. Even if he’s a little princess, he couldn’t be that delicate, right?

However, Fu Yanzhou didn’t notice the disgust between her eyebrows. He felt energetic after finishing his meal and smiled, asking Yan Hongyu, “Where is the base laboratory?”

“What?” Yan Hongyu didn’t hear clearly and hesitated for a moment.

“The laboratory,” Fu Yanzhou paused, “The assignment I refused that day was for the laboratory.”

***

When Shen Cheng came online, the game displayed “Technology tree has been unlocked” and “Base research has been conducted”.

Huh?

She was stunned for a moment: What happened during the short time she was offline?

Calculating the time, cub should have returned to the base. Could it be that cub himself persuaded the crazy scientist who looked too skinny?

Wow, he really is a mature little cub who knows how to do the prerequisite tasks!

Shen Cheng happily flipped through the records and found that several logs were refreshed while she was away: “Li Weilan has gone to visit Fu Yanzhou”.

【Li Weilan cooked rice porridge and sent it to Fu Yanzhou】

【Fu Yanzhou ate his fill and set off for the laboratory to work】

【Reminder: The main character needs your positive praise, please compliment them and increase their mood index!】

“…” Shen Cheng looked at this prompt and couldn’t help but laugh.

Looking at how aloof and cold her cub usually is, it’s hard to imagine that he is such a cute person, who yearns for this old mother’s praises.

Well, well, but since it’s her cub raised at home, it’s not a big problem to praise him a little bit!

Shen Cheng first opened the main character page and greeted with a smile, “Good evening, Li Weilan.”

“Good evening, Cheng.” Cub, who seemed to be lost in thought, raised his head.

“I noticed that the base’s laboratory has started working, and you’ve managed to take care of Fu Yanzhou, you’re really amazing!” Shen Cheng only intended to praise him a little bit, but after speaking, she truly felt that he was impressive. Besides, she was really curious, so she couldn’t help but ask, “How did you get Fu Yanzhou to go to work?”

“…” Starting off with Fu Yanzhou.

Li Weilan faintly frowned.

Even though he had already determined that the relationship between her and Fu Yanzhou was completely different from her relationship with himself, and that she would at most just take a brief look at Fu Yanzhou, she wouldn’t talk to him, nor care about him like she cared about himself. But as soon as she opened her mouth, it was about Fu Yanzhou… He was still not very happy about it.

“He’s just picky about food. If you want him to work well, all you need to do is let him eat delicious food. However, his requirements for delicious food are different from others.” He spoke lightly, not wanting to bring up the topic again, and directly changed the subject, “Apart from Fu Yanzhou, Xi Bei is also recovering.”

When he said wanted to smash Dawn light before was just an angry remark.

Although it was a painful memory, since the medicine had already been made, the medicine itself was innocent.

Li Weilan did not plan to waste it like that. Dawn light could cure Xi Bei, and Xi Bei was the lifeline of Xi Nan.

One bottle of potion is actually the hearts of two ability users, and Li Weilan didn’t hesitate too much.

After Xi Bei drank Dawn light, she fell asleep.

Shen Cheng looked at Li Weilan’s mood index, which changed from “mostly cloudy” to “light rain”. Although it wasn’t as tense as thunder and lightning, it seemed that… her praise didn’t really have any effect?

Shen Cheng was a little skeptical of life.

She was not good at coaxing people in reality, but that was mainly because she was too thin-skinned in reality.

But this is a game! A game where she knows almost all the actions, personality, temperament, and hobbies of the characters!

Yet, she couldn’t even coax her own cub’s mood, sobbing, Shen Cheng almost felt like she had become a failed mother.

But at the thought of it, Shen Cheng’s gaze fell on cub’s earlier remark, “his requirements for delicious food are different from others”.

The reason why cub could make Fu Yanzhou go to work was because he knew what Fu Yanzhou wanted.

And in interpersonal communication, if you want to make the other person comfortable, it’s not about doing things and saying things to please them, but…thinking about what the other person wants!

Cub was able to get Fu Yanzhou to work because he knew what Fu Yanzhou wanted.

In human interactions, making the other person comfortable is not about speaking and doing things according to one’s own will, but… thinking about what the other person needs!

Each person in the game has their own core needs, so what is cub’s need? The task says he needs praise, but what exactly does that entail?

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

A lightning bolt flashed through Shen Cheng’s mind. She had never been taught these social skills in her life, but ultimately learned them in the game.

She thought for a moment and rephrased, “I’m not as sensitive to people’s feelings as you are. Sometimes I think, if we were in the same world, I could learn a lot from you.”

As she was speaking, the game suddenly froze.

Shen Cheng was stunned.

On the other end, Li Weilan heard a “ZZZ” sound in the middle of the conversation, and missed a section. He only heard “I’m not as sensitive to people’s feelings as you are” and “learn from you.”

He guessed what she had said.

Li Weilan’s mood wasn’t as bad as it had been in previous conversations.

Thinking back on the conversation, he even smiled slightly.

***

After unlocking the technology tree, the base had a huge number of tasks to complete.

There were three branches in the technology tree: military, life, and medical.

For her part, Shen Cheng could choose to invest her game points in any branch, and after a certain amount of time, Fu Yanzhou would be able to make a breakthrough in that area.

The final weapon in the military branch was the “Doomsday” missile, the life branch was “Wasteland Pollution Cleanup,” and the medical branch was “Zombie Serum,” all of which were incredibly tempting.

Shen Cheng felt that all three were incredibly useful, but considering the current situation of Noah’s base, she gritted her teeth and chose the “life branch” first.

There was no other reason except that the Noah base was currently an empty shell, and as ancient people knew, storing grain is more important than becoming king. What was important now was to start production and then focus on military strength.

After selecting “focus on the life branch,” Fu Yanzhou, who was working in the laboratory, quickly received notification from the base control room.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Li Weilan stared coldly at the scene of the person and the cat cuddling, with no expression on his face. He neither said that she was wrong nor softened his tone to apologize as she hoped.

The cold night wind blew by, and the woman’s soft sobbing gradually became weaker. With tears in her eyes, she held a faint resentment: What’s wrong with these people? Can’t they even coax a woman?

Just then, a soft voice like a kitten came from beside him. It was a child’s voice, innocent and lovely, but the content was not quite right in the woman’s ears: “Sister, your big cat can heal. My hand hurts too…” The little girl weakly raised her yellow and thin arm, which was bruised and scratched. It was injured when she dodged a mutant dog’s attack earlier, and the blood was mixed with mud. However, the little girl neither cried nor made a scene, only asking with wide eyes, “Sister, if we don’t fight anymore, can you heal my hand?”

Li Weilan crossed his arms and a faint hint of mockery flashed in his eyes. This hint of mockery was aimed at Chen Feng, who had a glimmer of hope in his eyes: unreliable.

The woman was stunned for a moment.

Then, a hint of anger flashed in her eyes as she hugged her cat tightly in her arms. “You hurt my cats and my dogs, and you still want me to heal you? Fine! Bring me some supplies in exchange!”

Chen Feng’s eyes showed dissatisfaction.

If this woman really wanted to turn swords into plowshares and didn’t want to fight anymore, it would be effortless to heal the child. After all, children were not the main combat force, and the children who survived in their team were not the kind who were stubborn and unreasonable. Ciao was even the favorite of the orphan group.

Moreover, Xiao Ai only had minor injuries, which wouldn’t require much energy. His excitement about encountering a rare healing ability user gradually faded. Chen Feng went over to pick up Xiao Ai and made a vaguely defensive posture. He didn’t forget that it was these mutant beasts who attacked people first, and they even went straight for the children!

Li Weilan looked coldly at the seemingly weak and gentle woman and only asked her one question, “All these mutant beasts need to eat meat, right? What do you usually feed them?”

The woman was stunned for a moment.

She didn’t answer, but Chen Feng and his companions’ expressions changed slightly.

If the mutated beasts hadn’t eaten humans before, why would they charge straight at the children?

Before the apocalypse, many cats and dogs were companions that grew up with children. However, just now, everyone could clearly see that the dog charged straight at the smallest child, Xiao Ai, in the group. They didn’t even bother to look at other slightly taller but thinner boys, and were quite picky eaters!

Such cats and dogs, if not trained by their owner, if they had not had similar experiences… it’s despicable!

Chen Feng was able to protect the children at the Tenglong base, but he was no saint. When Li Weilan’s words woke him up, he immediately realized where his logic had gone wrong earlier. Once he figured this out, his expression changed and he looked at the woman with only cold vigilance in his eyes.

The woman did not expect the handsome man leading the group to speak so directly and harshly. She had thought that she had shown rare talent in her abilities, and with her group of cats and dogs, even if these people didn’t regard her highly, she could at least exchange for peaceful coexistence. This was how she had dealt with several groups of ability users before. When she encountered weaker ones, she pretended not to know, and when she encountered stronger ones, she showed her face and used both hard and soft tactics to resolve things.

How could humans be compared to beasts?

She turned her eyes and then smiled at Xiao Ai in a gentle manner. “Sister is worried about Dali being hurt. I’m not really angry at you. Here, let me help you heal.”

“No need.” Li Weilan suddenly felt something added to his hand. He realized what it was, and a warm feeling rushed through his heart. There was even a hint of a smile on his cold face, which even stunned the woman who had previously felt endless hatred towards by Li Weilan.

Li Weilan gently extended his hand towards Xiao Ai, holding a bottle of light green ointment. “We have our own medicine.”

Xiao Ai obediently walked over, her voice soft and tender: “It doesn’t hurt much…” Before she finished her sentence, she was shocked by the sight of the wound on her leg, which healed visibly at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

Damn it! There’s actually such a medicine! If there’s medicine, why bother letting her heal it!

The anger in the woman’s heart grew stronger. She didn’t think she was wrong, but was angry that they had such a miraculous medicine that rivaled healing abilities. It seemed that her ability couldn’t earn too many points on their side.

“What do you want to do?” Since they had come to this point, the woman didn’t bother pretending anymore. She stood up in anger and protected the cats and dogs behind her, saying, “I’m not afraid of you, but these are all stray pets that I’ve taken in. Even if one dies, I’ll be heartbroken. If you want something, just say it directly. There’s no need to put on airs.”

Li Weilan’s deep brown eyes fell silently on her face, and after a while, he smiled lightly and said, “We’re just looking for a place to stay for one night. Find us an empty villa and we’ll stay for the night and leave.”

**

The villa the woman pointed out was really clean, but it was also bare and empty. However, it had windows and a roof, and the children found some sheets to lay on the ground and slept. In the apocalypse, children were no longer like the little princesses and ancestors of the past, and they all had strong self-care abilities. Li Weilan leaned against the window in the living room, looking at the darkness outside, while Xi Nan looked at his contemplative profile and couldn’t help but whisper to him, “Brother Li, is that it for this matter?”

“Is it?” Li Weilan hooked his lips and asked the other two adult men, “What do you think?”

Xi Nan brought along Sun Yifei, an earth type ability user who was not a combat-type but rather useful for logistics. At this moment, he was listening to their conversation without rushing to express his own opinion. He didn’t interrupt.

Chen Feng paused, looking at the children sleeping in the living room in all sorts of positions. “Shall we just… forget it?” he suggested.

“We can forget about people,” Sun Yifei whispered. “But not about those mutant cats and dogs.”

Chen Feng and Xi Nan turned to look at him.

With Li Weilan’s deep and penetrating gaze on him, Sun Yifei hesitated before continuing, “Even the pets that were accustomed to eating human flesh before the apocalypse and would attack humans for no reason are not suitable for coexistence with humans.”

Li Weilan nodded slightly, encouraging Sun Yifei to go on.

He continued, following the logic of a science and engineering man, “She didn’t hurt us, so we can’t resort to vigilante justice against her. But if we let the mutated cats and dogs that attack children live, we’ll be accomplices if another ability user comes here in the future.”

“But…” Chen Feng couldn’t follow his logic. “She is a healing-type ability user after all. If we kill her pets, won’t she become our enemy? Isn’t that creating unnecessary trouble for ourselves?”

To him, either they should eliminate the potential threat or make peace with her, and part ways tomorrow. It didn’t make sense to kill the mutant pets and leave themselves with a bunch of follow-up problems.

However, Xi Nan already understood Sun Yifei’s point of view. Even though this was already a lawless post-apocalyptic world, rules were necessary in a large base.

He was already… faintly imagining himself in the role of a base administrator!

“It seems that my good friend has a high opinion of Noah, otherwise, with his low-key personality, he would never speak up about this on the road,” Li Weilan thought and nodded, his gentle gaze falling on the children who were already asleep in the room, and whispered to someone, “Can you watch over the children for me?”

Shen Cheng knew clearly that she was the one being addressed.

A hint of pride curled up at the corner of her lips: how come cub I raised have such good values? Ah, this game is really well-made!

Her cub, who had principles and bottom lines in both values and methods, and had not been consumed by the abyss despite experiencing it firsthand, really made her heart skip a beat.

Mom would be willing to spend any amount of money on such a child!

The scene fell silently into the peaceful, serene darkness of the room.

A flickering flame illuminated the peaceful side faces of the boys and girls, as if it were a sweet dream at night.

Outside the frame, there was a faint sound of animals howling and fighting, as if it was another world.

The woman curled up in her room, hating so much that her gums bled. She never thought that these people would be so ruthless. Just now, she only took a sneak peek at the window and saw the mutated beasts she raised dying one by one under the leader’s hands. Her heart felt like it was being cut with a knife repeatedly, but she couldn’t summon the courage to go down and stop them.

Looking at the leader’s cold gaze, she knew that he would not spare her because of her ability. He just probably thought that she didn’t deserve to die and let her go.

As for the concept of whether or not she should be treated differently because of her abilities, it seemed like it never crossed his mind!

Why would there be such a nemesis?

Her tears rolled down one by one, whimpering like a small animal, the woman was tremling all over but unable to muster the courage to leave the house.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

***

Li Weilan got rid of the last big dog.

In the woman’s backyard, they found many human remains and bones in the dog and cat kennels, the stench was overwhelming, like a battlefield in hell.

Looking at these horrifying scenes, even Chen Feng, who had the softest heart, could not say a word about “not hurting animals.” He didn’t even dare to think about what would happen if they were defeated today. What about the children? What about themselves? Would the healing ability user he thought highly of give them even half of her sympathy?

Li Weilan quietly lit a fire.

Watching the fur of the animals and the human bones gradually being engulfed by the flames, he glanced at the blacked-out windows and sneered: If she had the courage to come down and argue, and take responsibility for this scene of carnage, he would respect her for being daring.

But now, she turned a blind eye to the slaughter of her beloved pets after saying a lot of empty words about pampering and loving them.

Their Noah would not want such an ability user.

Even if her ability is rare, what he needs is a companion with a heart towards the light, a teammate who can entrust their back in life and death on the wasteland, not… a coward who only dares to stab in the back and has no courage to bear their own sins.

The next day, when Li Weilan and his team set off, there was still a faint smell of burnt flesh in the air. The woman’s small building seemed to have been burned down by herself, and the person inside was naturally nowhere to be found.

At noon that day, Li Weilan and his team returned to the Noah base.

As soon as they arrived at the base, Li Weilan heard from Yan Hongyu who came up to meet him about the siege of the Noah base and the arrival of a strange man sent by the boss.

“What’s his name?” His pupils shrank.

“Fu Yanzhou.” Yan Hongyu didn’t expect Li Weilan to have no idea about this matter, and immediately added, “This person is really difficult to deal with… Fortunately, Brother Li, you’re back.”

Li Weilan’s eyebrows faintly furrowed: Difficult to deal with?

He paused and said casually, “Let me go see him.”

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Sandy: I have a feeling that woman will show up again later. She seems like a small antagonist enough to creat small troubles. Let’s see.

Fu Yanzhou was somewhat shocked when he received the order to prioritize the study of the “life branch”.

There is nothing more important than weapons in the wasteland, except for advanced abilities. This is the only way to ensure the survival rate of the base personnel.

This Noah Base… they recruited him to study the life branch first.

Fu Yanzhou is not a vegetarian. He does not reject research on weapons, but he is somewhat pleased to receive the order to prioritize the study of the life branch.

He only worries about one thing: will others have objections?

No one else had objections.

When he occasionally brushed shoulders with others, some of them knew that he was currently studying the life skills, and although they clearly didn’t understand what he was talking about, they still showed him enough respect.

A new mission prompt popped up on Shen Cheng’s screen:

[Fu Yanzhou’s current research direction is: wasteland fabric (life-oriented). Please provide him with reed seeds.]

Reed seeds?

Shen Cheng searched the store and found that they couldn’t be purchased directly. The only way to get them was to buy a 10-yuan gift bag in the “seed” category, with only a 2.5% chance of getting the seeds.

Shen Cheng had recently worked hard at her stall and earned some money, so her financial situation had improved somewhat. But every penny was hard-earned, and she felt a little bit reluctant to spend it all at once.

After thinking about it, she decided to buy one and put it in her inventory. Surprisingly, this worked?

A small golden bag floated in the space, lying quietly, waiting for someone to open its seal and see what’s inside.

Shen Cheng saw that this was a feasible option, so she directly pulled Li Weilan into the space.

“???” Li Weilan was stunned when he saw the pile of bags in his space.

Those golden bags floated up as he approached, lively like little elves jumping up and down in the air. At the moment his fingers lightly touched them, he could feel the inner excitement and vitality.

He didn’t know what these were.

Was today a special day?

He couldn’t think of any special day today.

Shen Cheng smiled and said, “Li Weilan, can you help me open the bags?”

“These are…” He finally found his voice.

“They’re treasure boxes, and I want to open one with a reed seed.” Shen Cheng made a sincere wish: she had bought ten of them, and if she couldn’t get what she wanted, she would buy ten more. The chance of getting what she wanted in a ten consecutive draws would be slightly higher, and she hoped she could get a reed seed in the first ten draws!

A reed seed?

This is for Fu Yanzhou.

Li Weilan frowned slightly, picked up the first bag, and opened it: [Contaminated Coffee Tree Seed].

Not reed seeds.

Shen Cheng never thought she could get what she wanted with just one bag. For seeds like this with such a low chance of success, she was actually prepared to open at least twenty or thirty bags.

The second bag was a “pear seed that may not sprout.”

The third bag was a “moldy lotus seedpod.”

…

It wasn’t until the ninth bag that she finally got something useful, a “peach tree seed” worth 200G, but everything else was just trash.

“Wu wu wu, why is my luck as bad as my baby’s!” Little demons in her heart were almost crying.

She spent 100 yuan, which isn’t a lot, but only getting one useful item made her feel like she was losing out.

“As for this seed,” at ten o’clock, Li Weilan suddenly looked at her in the void and asked softly, “how much do you want it?”

Shen Cheng did not think much and blurted out the truth, “Of course it’s ten points! Otherwise, the research will be stuck there! And if we have reed seeds in our base, we can start making clothes ourselves, and then you don’t have to keep wearing dirty pajamas…”

“…………” Li Weilan’s ears turned slightly red.

Dirty pajamas.

Dirty pajamas.

That’s not what I had in mind.

This sentence flickered in his ear several times, and he felt his earlobe itch. He reached out and grabbed the bag in the void, opening it heavily to cover up his embarrassment.

Her happy voice came through the air, “Ah! Reed seeds!”

Shen Cheng sat in front of the screen and was happy for a while, glad that she didn’t have to spend another 100 yuan.

After giving the reed seeds to Fu Yanzhou, the progress bar ran for three days and the “Basic Textile Planting” and “Basic Textile Industry” of the base were unlocked.

At this time, the phone prompted another piece of good news, Xi Bei’s ability had advanced, and she had become an intermediate plant-based ability user, and regained consciousness.

**

When Xi Bei just woke up, she had no idea where she was.

The last thing she remembered was her brother carrying her and running frantically.

But now, she was facing a bronze wall, and the white light above her head shone on the wall, revealing a simple line.

They were no longer in that base.

This was Xi Bei’s first impression upon waking up. Her back was no longer tense, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Xiao Bei!” Xi Nan noticed the movement behind him and saw Xi Bei open her black eyes, he happily pounced on her like a big dog and spun around her. “You finally woke up!”

“Brother, we are in…” Xi Bei lowered her voice and asked softly.

“We are in Noah.” Xi Nan said happily. He handed her the meat paste in his hand – he had no patience to feed her, but it was just slightly cool when he handed it over. Xi Bei rolled her eyes and took it to eat.

Noah?

She looked around the room where she lived.

There was only a curtain separating Xi Bei’s bed from Xi Nan, and there were no windows, but it wasn’t dark and was very clean.

There were no traces of anyone else living in the room, and it was clear that about ten people could live in it, but since it was given to them, did it mean that there weren’t as many people in this base as there were in the previous ones?

Was it a small base?

How did she wake up?

Xi Bei’s mind raced, but just as she tried to determine their location, the door opened from outside.

In came a tall, pale young man.

He didn’t even look like he had much fighting power: tsk, a weakling.

The man’s eyes were even a little unfocused, and his voice was soft, “Xi Nan, your sister is awake?”

Xi Nan was extremely happy, nodding vigorously, while the man’s gaze only met Xi Bei’s once and then went down, nodding and saying, “I left the seeds behind. I’ll leave the planting to you guys.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Xi Nan smiled happily – for the ability users who were unconscious due to an ability riot, their “illness” would be cured when their ability core stabilized. So Xi Nan wasn’t unhappy that Fu Yanzhou came to give seeds to Xi Bei after he heard that she woke up. On the contrary, he smiled with his small white teeth, “We’ll take care of the planting.”

The man nodded and lazily walked away.

“Brother,” Xi Bei looked at his back and asked Xi Nan curiously, “Who is he? He looks pretty handsome, just a little skinny.”

“…” Forgot, my sister is a face con.

Previously, the second generation of Tenglong base was refused by his sister because he was too ugly.

Although Fu Yanzhou was a little thin, he still looked good!

Xi Nan’s alarm bells rang in his heart, how to dispel his sister’s thoughts?

“Sister, don’t forget that we still owe a big favor to the leader of the base because you woke up,” Xi Nan quickly said, “if we haven’t paid off the favor, we are still just low-level workers. If you plan to harm him, aren’t you asking for trouble?”

Fu Yanzhou: Slandered.

Xi Bei curled her lips: her brother was just a worrier. How could she not know that she owed someone a favor when she woke up?

But she just asked a question because the tall and thin man she saw earlier was handsome. She is not even an adult yet!

What is her brother worrying about?

“Oh,” she immediately said, “please tell me about the favor we owe, brother.”

After Xi Nan explained what happened on the way to the Tenglong Auction last time, Xi Bei nodded thoughtfully.

After taking another look around, she was no longer as careless as before.

After finishing the mushy meat in her hand, Xi Bei wiped her mouth and said, “Let’s go, brother, let’s get to work.”

Xi Bei walked into the “hydroponic room.”

Inside the hydroponic room, seeds had already been planted and soaked in an unknown liquid. Xi Bei tried to immerse her own plant-based ability into it, closed her eyes, and carefully outlined the process of seed germination, sprouting, and slow growth in her mind.

At the moment when her plant-based ability was inserted, Xi Bei could already feel the great vitality contained within each and every seed. The water surrounding them was not like ordinary water, but rather it seemed to respond gently to each drop of water and seed, waiting for her to inject the first strand of ability so that their lives could be revived.

It was a kind of natural and upward-spiraling power.

This living power was completely different from the power of “pollution” and death at the places she had previously worked on in the wasteland.

After the apocalypse, almost all bases relied on plant-based ability users to provide food, but after working for a period of time, many of these ability users experienced ability riots.

The lower and more massive the exposure to plants, the more frequent these ability riots became.

Xi Bei and other plant-based ability users had discussed the reasons behind this, and their common unspoken guess was that the greatest possibility was due to the violent energy contained within the seeds.

This energy infiltrated their abilities as they communicated with the plants, like water mixed into oil, causing extreme discomfort in their abilities. This discomfort’s tangible expression was ability riots.

Xi Bei originally thought she would feel uncomfortable again.

In every communication before, every cycle with the plants, she felt pain, exploitation, and helplessness.

But this time was different.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

What she felt from the plants was the stretching of rooting and sprouting, the joy of life’s continuation, and the pleasure of finally being able to absorb more nutrients and grow.

The joy of the plants was reflected on Xi Bei’s face, but what she didn’t see was that the plants in front of her were growing taller and taller, quickly producing large clusters of fruit.

Fu Yanzhou, who was originally standing outside the hydroponic room worriedly, watched her smiling face with a slight pause in his gaze before finally curling his lips and smiling as well.

It’s really great to see that his research is bringing comfort to people’s lives instead of pain. Fu Yanzhou felt that the wound in his heart had healed a little.

As he turned around, he froze.

Why were there so many people around him?

His social anxiety was almost suffocating!

Those people looked at him with such eagerness and intensity that Fu Yanzhou felt like he was being hit hard and almost wanted to retreat.

The people in the base had all heard the good news that the hydroponic room had officially started operating, so they came to see.

What was slowly growing and blooming in Xi Bei’s hand was a tree called the “breadfruit”, which looked a bit like a coconut tree before the apocalypse, but instead of coconut juice, its fruit contained heavy starch.

But this tree was very aggressive, with very, very many vines on its trunk, like human hands, which would whip out when someone got too close.

However, almost everyone who saw the tree growing slowly under Xi Bei’s care noticed that the vines on it were gone!

They all thought that this improvement was Fu Yanzhou’s credit, and at this point they almost surrounded him and threw him up high – after all, a growing tree meant a stable supply of food!

Fu Yanzhou did indeed make some improvements to the tree species, making its fruit bigger and requiring less ability user energy, but… he would rather bury himself in the lab for 24 hours than face the siege of so many people for a second!

He almost passed out.

It wasn’t until the girl inside the hydroponic room heard the commotion and came to open the door that she realized his predicament.

“Excuse me, please make way,” her angelic voice came, “He doesn’t seem to be feeling well.”

Fu Yanzhou felt the fresh air and turned to look at Xi Bei, nodding slightly gratefully at her before returning to his own lab.

Xi Nan, who was working in the water purification room next door, also saw this scene and continued to remind his sister in a low voice, “Don’t forget the ban on meat.”

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Sandy: I think what Xi Nan meant by “Don’t forget the ban on meat” is that Xi Bei is not allowed to touch Fufu lol

After receiving the daily task reward, Shen Cheng spent 160RMB to buy the acceleration with a heavy heart. After closing the game, she looked at her simple room and felt a little bit heartbroken.

It was like returning from a fairytale world to reality. The momentary gap made her feel empty inside.

Looking back, she seemed to have spent so much money playing games for the first time – adding up to 261 yuan so far, enough for a week’s food expenses.

Although the game experience was great, both the characters and the plot made her feel the joy of earning game coins and the fun of helping her cub, but if she spent money at this rate… Shen Cheng was sure she would go bankrupt in real life.

It was impossible not to play the game, and it was impossible to make the cub suffer.

She didn’t want to give up the game like that. For some reason, after watching the Tenglong Base, Shen Cheng suddenly felt that she had a responsibility for her own cub – whether he could live well, whether he would always live in the darkness like the ordinary people in Tenglong Base, all depended on the degree of participation of his own mother.

Shen Cheng wanted to see him grow up, to know the story behind his occasional expressions of melancholy, hesitation, and fatigue, to soothe his sadness, and to watch him achieve a successful life in the game.

However… she needed a lot of money.

She couldn’t save any more, the only way might be to start her own business.

But how?

Shen Cheng researched for a long time until she saw a news story: the country has opened up street stalls!

Shen Cheng suddenly remembered the small stalls she saw in Tenglong Base in the game.

**

Li Weilan felt his sleeve being pulled again.

His originally irritable and gloomy mood almost instantly turned bright.

Where was she going?

Feeling her light and slightly excited tentative tug, like a little girl, Li Weilan’s mouth unconsciously broke into a smile.

She wants to go for a walk on the street?

But didn’t they just go out during the day?

Li Weilan was a little puzzled in his heart, but still followed her intentions and walked into the night market.

The street market of Tenglong Base is more lively at night than during the day.

Shen Cheng thought for a moment and guessed the reason: the ability users in Tenglong Base had to go out with the team during the day to kill zombies and collect crystal nuclei, or work in their own respective departments. At night, the zombies became particularly active, and the overall dark environment was unfriendly to humans, so they naturally returned to the base to recharge.

This point is completely logical.

She didn’t expect that a mere game would have such meticulous details! No wonder it’s a five-star rated game!

This thought flashed through Shen Cheng’s mind, and she blinked her eyes, suddenly feeling a strong sense of immersion: the immersion of this game comes from its details, and perhaps the reason why people like her who usually play games for free cannot help but spend money is not only because of the exquisite characters, but also because of the world behind the story, which is so meticulously crafted that every detail is seamless.

Shen Cheng enthusiastically pulled Li Weilan and carefully looked at each stall.

This time, unlike during the day, she was not just thinking about buying, but observing the vendors from another perspective.

For example…how do they call out to sell their products?

And what do they sell, which stalls have the best business?

Her perspective was limited to one or two meters in front and behind Li Weilan, and Shen Cheng often had to look carefully for a while and then pull his sleeves. The little guy in her phone screen was obedient and considerate, following her every whim, even for these trivial requests such as asking him to step back two steps and walk forward two steps.

Shen Cheng looked at the system’s introduction to the items on the stall while feeling particularly warm in her heart: her family’s little cub is really well-behaved. Mother will definitely spend a little more money on you!

Li Weilan, who was being pulled by her, could feel that she was particularly focused this time.

During the day, she was more urging him to buy, but this time, she seemed to be curiously and attentively observing every detail on this street.

She stayed at two stalls longer than the others.

Are these two stalls special?

Li Weilan frowned slightly.

The first stall sells fruit: it displays some cut and fresh-looking fruits on its chopping board. Some girls with abilities who pass by usually buy one – the price tag is clearly displayed on each fruit, with only two prices – 5 credit points and 10 credit points.

Li Weilan’s shrewd brain almost instantly calculated the profits in it.

But even if there is profit, for someone who can easily give herself a hundred thousand credit points, such a small profit is nothing!

Or is it because she just craves for it and wants to have one?

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Yes, this “Guardian Angel” has only spoken once, but from her voice, she is still a young girl. Li Weilan thought that those who are less sensitive to prices are mostly women, and thought he had figured something out.

Without hesitation, he said to the man behind the stall, “Give me one with 10 credit points.”

“……?” Shen Cheng looked at Li Weilan, who bought a 10-credit-point fruit but didn’t eat it, and held it in his hand for a long time. A strange smile appeared on her face.

“…” Where did the energy go that you didn’t buy anything during the day, but smiling so strangely after buying a fruit?

Forget it, if Zaizai wants to buy it, let him buy it.

Shen Cheng didn’t take this little episode to heart, thinking that her cub was tired from walking and craving for food. She turned her gaze to the stall across the street: both stalls sell clothes, but one obviously has more customers than the other, while the other can be said to have no customers at all.

The stall owner who has no customers is yelling loudly, and Shen Cheng sees a small bubble popping up on her head every second, and sweat is dripping off her face, but the goods in front of her do not seem to be reduced at all. The other stall that is always busy, on the other hand, has only half of its clothes left.

Why is it like this?

Shen Cheng put her finger on the items they sell.

【Cleaned down jackets】

【Cleaned woolen coats】

【Cleaned fur coats】

This is the merchandise of the person who sells well. Her prices are also particularly cheap, with one item costing only about 5 credit points. Shen Cheng was quite curious about the prefix of these goods, and after thinking about it, she didn’t quite understand why the game had to specially bolded the three words “cleaned.”

“Their clothes…” bubbles popped up over Li Weilan’s head. “They’re all taken from dead bodies and cleaned up.”

Perhaps realizing her confusion, Li Weilan suddenly whispered something.

“!!!” Shen Cheng was stunned.

She turned her gaze to the other booth.

The same clothing was twice the price of this booth.

Perhaps for people in the game world, whether or not the clothes had been worn by dead people was not important. What was important was the scarcity of credit points, so the system particularly emphasized the three words “cleaned.”

For some reason, Shen Cheng’s mood was a little down.

However, she really couldn’t do this business of selling clothes. The reason she could make a fortune in the game world was mainly because there was almost no manufacturing industry for humans after the apocalypse.

With no new production on one side and the needs of the living on the other, surviving humans would naturally not be as picky as they were when resources were abundant. Even if the clothes had been worn by dead people, as long as they were warm and good enough, they would buy them.

Comparing it this way, the business of the fruit she had just seen…seemed more suitable!

Shen Cheng thought for a moment. She had originally wanted to drag Li Weilan along to take a closer look, but Li Weilan had already turned and entered a small alleyway next to them that seemed to have few people. He put down the small fruit box in the dark and smiled lightly at the empty space where no one was there. Another speech bubble appeared over his head: “Do you want to eat it? This is the one I bought for you.”

He stood quietly in the dark alley, looking at the fruit that had yet to move, and did not feel disappointed. He just smiled slightly and turned around. “I left it here, you can take it yourself. Don’t envy them. Whatever you want, I’ll buy it for you.”

“???” Mom….can’t eat it.

Shen Cheng widened her eyes and only heard her heart pounding at that moment. She almost felt her face burning hot in an instant. She touched it and found that it was flushed. Was her son too good at teasing her?

But after a few minutes, that heartbeat turned into a sour satisfaction: she was not as good as her cub. Her cub would spend money on her without hesitation, but she even felt reluctant to spend 1 yuan initially!

“Ah, mom is sorry!”

Li Weilan quietly glanced at the corner of the wall, smiled slightly, and turned to leave.

Shen Cheng, on the other hand, was reluctant to leave, and the camera kept focusing on the fruit box in the dark.

Not long after, a teenager with cat ears suddenly appeared from the darkness, he looked around cautiously and then quickly grabbed the fruit box on the ground and ran away, his agile figure melting into the shadows at the end of the street.

“!!! “That was a gift my cub gave me! Put it down! Thief!”

“Who let you take it?”

Shen Cheng widened her eyes. She was sure that her cub was talking to the empty air just now. Who was this wild child who would steal things like that? What’s worse, he didn’t even say thank you!

Ah, poor me, growing up to this age, I received a gift from my cub for the first time!

But a few minutes later, Shen Cheng’s sadness had not subsided yet, while Li Weilan appeared with a dark face, dragging the cat-eared teenager to the end of the alley.

He angrily asked, “Who let you take it?”

“Isn’t it you?” The cat-eared teenager kept talking with a mouthful of food, red liquid flowing down his mouth, “You just told me not to envy others!”

“… “Li Weilan was speechless for the first time.

He looked at the empty air and gradually became sad.

Looking back at the cat-eared teenager, he felt a little disgusted.

“Hey hey hey, big brother, don’t go!” The teenager grabbed his hand, “You promised to buy me something! Take me with you!”

“??? “

Both the person in front of the phone and the person inside the phone showed the same expression of having a headache at the same time.

Shen Cheng was originally watching the plot with a smile, but when she saw the person with the ID card that read “Li Mo” say these words, she frowned slightly and began to dislike this character: “Cub, no wonder this guy is a red-blooded NPC instead of a neutral or friendly NPC. Listen to what he’s saying! Don’t learn from him, otherwise one day you’ll be all about self-interest, selfishness, and have no bottom line. Mom won’t like you then.”

A person who thinks that anything can be traded as long as the price is right will also betray their friends and relatives for sufficient benefits.

Instinctively, Shen Cheng felt a little disgusted with this person who always smiled on the screen and seemed quite affable.

In the scene, although Cub’s face was smiling, a dark cloud appeared above his head.

“Oh, Cub doesn’t like him either, just like me,” Shen Cheng said inexplicably happy about her and Cub’s similar values.

Li Mo originally was this kind of person, Li Weilan knew it a long time ago.

He guided Li Mo to say these words just because he suddenly wanted to learn more about the person who saved him.

If she was a good person, then he had to force himself to do better. If she was as dark as Li Mo, or even darker, then he could be more unscrupulous.

At first, the person didn’t react.

It was just that Li Mo, who was walking steadily in front of him, suddenly stumbled and almost fell!

“!!!”

The corner of Li Weilan’s lips hooked up.

Li Mo had no idea why he almost stumbled, and only when he saw the small stone under his foot did he realize it. Feeling embarrassed that he almost made a fool of himself in front of the distinguished guest, Li Mo kicked the small stone and awkwardly said to Li Weilan, “My office is just ahead, let’s talk inside.”

The two sat down.

Li Weilan’s intention was actually clear to Li Mo during their short exchange just now.

Noah Base, as mentioned by him, lacked food, especially low-pollution food. In fact, this is a common problem faced by many major bases in the apocalypse. The lower the pollution level of the food, the higher the level of plant-type ability user needed to produce it. Ordinary people who consume highly polluted food will experience various side effects, while ability users who consume it will increase the possibility of ability riots. The food sold in the black market of Tenglong Base is all exploited from the ordinary people.

“How much do you need?” Li Mo cut to the chase as they sat down.

Li Weilan smiled, “The more, the better. Let’s start with 5 tons.”

Li Mo’s pupils contracted.

He hesitated before naming a price, prepared for Li Weilan to haggle. “The purchase price… 20 credits per 1 kilogram?”

This is a rather expensive price, 50% higher than the market price. Li Mo quoted this price while being ready for Li Weilan to haggle, but unexpectedly, the latter just smiled and said, “Okay, but the pollution level must not exceed 10%.”

Li Mo nodded in a daze.

Li Weilan put down his black crystal card and calmly smiled, “Here’s a deposit of 100,000 credits. Just go and make the purchase. Contact me when you have at least 5 tons.”

Li Weilan and Li Mo concluded a big deal. Almost at the same time they confirmed the transaction details and price, the system task progress updated:

“[Black Market Series Hidden Mission 1 Triggered: Li Weilan wants you to store all the rice produced in your recent space. Currently stored: 0/4000 Remaining time: 30/30 days Note: If this mission fails, the series mission will fail, and the hidden mission will be permanently deleted.]”

“??? My son wants 4,000 portions of food? This… this…”

Shen Cheng’s mind went blank. After calculating with her fingers, the current cycle of rice is 24 hours/period, with 20 fields in total. Each field yields two portions per harvest, one for seed preservation and one for continuation. If she wants 4,000 portions, she would need at least 200 planting cycles, which is 200 days!

Her cub wants 4,000 portions within 30 days! He really is a handful. He never makes any demands, but when he does, it’s always an insane amount.

Well, even though she knows it’s a scam to get people to spend money on the garbage game, Shen Cheng thought about how obedient and sensible her cub usually is, and she also remembered that the NPCs she encountered at the black market location of this hidden quest were all markedred. She completely gave up her attitude of carefree questing, but at the same time, she didn’t want to disappoint her cub.

Thankfully, this task is quite long, with a full 30 days to complete, and there’s still some buffer time to spend some money if necessary.

Shen Cheng didn’t want to let her cub down, so she couldn’t help but bite her finger and look through the game store.

Suddenly, she saw it!

There was an item in the store that produces “acceleration” in the space, which costs 200 gold coins and lasts for 30 days, multiplying the growth rate by four. This meant that 200 days of growth could be condensed into just 50 days. The only problem was that she had to harvest the plants every six hours, which was manageable during the day but would be difficult at night.

But 50 days still wasn’t enough. She had to double the 20 plots of land to 40 in order to complete the task in 25 days. The number of plots had already been upgraded once, with the first upgrade costing 100 gold and the second upgrade costing 400 gold. The third upgrade would require a staggering 1600 gold. This game was really pushing players to spend money.

Just thinking about it, a normal daily task would fluctuate between 20-50 gold coins, and even if she just grinded daily tasks, it would take at least 7 days to save up for the second upgrade. Shen Cheng knew that she had fallen into the game’s trap – the game was basically telling her to spend money to complete the hidden quest, to manipulate her into feeling guilty for not spending money on her cub. What could she do? It was her child’s hidden quest after all, and even if it meant crying in her heart, she had to buy buy buy for him!

This task was irreversible, and Shen Cheng was sure that if she failed it, Zaizai would be very sad.

She checked her balance, and she had only received 20G from the daily task “check status” today. After completing the interactive tasks, she was only 160 gold away from purchasing the “acceleration” item. That was roughly 160 RMB. Although it was more expensive than the monetary conversion of other games, her cub was worth it! But her wallet was really getting empty, so she had to think of ways to make money.

Shen Cheng was lost in thought for a moment: “Interaction, interaction. Actually, from this task, it’s very clear what the cub wants to do now – store a large amount of food, fill up the granary, and then… I don’t know what bad things he wants to do with it.”

Since she knew the cub’s intentions and also planned to help him fulfill his wish, this interactive task would be easy to complete – that is, to convey her assurance to the cub and let him be at ease.

Shen Cheng thought for a moment, took out a small handful of grain from the warehouse, took it out of the space, and placed it in the cub’s hand.

Li Weilan suddenly felt something being stuffed into his hand.

It was a bit rough and calloused.

He brought his hand to his eyes and saw that it was a yellowish grain. With just one glance, he knew that it was the unthreshed grain produced in his own space.

As Li Weilan looked at the almost magically appearing grain, the corners of his mouth curved higher and higher. Even his eyes seemed to be rippling with gentle waves of joy.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Since it was rice from his own space, it was obvious who gave it to him.

He also clearly understood the person’s intention, which was to tell him that he didn’t have to worry, no matter how much rice he wanted, it was all there for him.

Li Weilan suddenly smiled. Xi Nan, who was sitting in front of him in the meeting, was startled by his sudden laughter while looking at the rice in his hand. He stared blankly at the rice, lost in thought for a moment, before cautiously asking, “Brother Li, Brother Li? Are you okay?”

As Li Weilan’s eyes were as gentle as the spring breeze, and the pleasure he felt was indeed from the deepest part of his heart, there was no trace of pretense. Xi Nan couldn’t help but glance left and right at the handful of rice in Li Weilan’s hand, almost suspecting that his eyesight was failing and he couldn’t see the peculiarities of this small amount of rice.

He looked at it carefully for a while and suddenly realized something. He exclaimed in a low voice, “Brother Li, is this rice pollution-free?

From its shape, size, grain, and color, I can’t be wrong! Or did my eyes deceive me? How is this possible?”

After the apocalypse, due to the dual stimulation of viruses and meteorite radiation, rice had mutated greatly. There were all kinds of colorful and odd-shaped rice, and there were also large grains the size of small fingers, but they were tasteless and lacked nutrition. However, Xi Nan was sure that he had not mistaken it. The rice that Brother Li had just held in his hand was the kind that existed before the apocalypse, as normal and common as it could be.

In this era, this ordinary thing is actually more extraordinary!

Xi Nan said excitedly, “Brother Li, with this rice, why do we still need to ask Tenglong to buy it? They are offering such a high price, they are clearly taking advantage of us! Brother, I originally thought you were worried that our food supply would not be able to keep up with the new recruits we’ll have later on, but now that you’re wasting money like this, even if the big boss doesn’t care, I can’t help but feel sorry!”

Li Weilan stood up, gazing solemnly outside the window of the small building, at the streets covered in a gloomy haze and a sense of despair. Looking at this base, where people came and went but lacked vitality, he couldn’t help but smile faintly. He didn’t answer Xi Nan, but instead asked him a question, “Why do you think that in Tenglong, even though ordinary people are living almost impossible lives, the leaders of the base can still continue to thrive?”

His gaze became sharp as he continued to ask Xi Nan, “Even after you and your sister were humiliated and coerced by those people, why did you only think of fleeing as refugees instead of rising up in rebellion?”

Xi Nan lowered his head.

He pondered for a moment before answering softly, “Because at least here, we have a bowl of rice to eat.”

“Yes,” Li Weilan nodded, “Money can influence people’s hearts. The black market has been able to exist for so long, it’s naturally because the leaders of the base allow it and even support it behind the scenes. Do you think that for them, it’s more important to make money for themselves or to distribute benefits to others?”

Xi Nan suddenly understood, “Brother Li, are you suggesting that…”

Li Weilan nodded, “Our base needs more people, but we can’t just recruit anyone we want. I have to act as a gatekeeper for the boss.”

If that person has a good heart, he would help her eliminate all the unstable factors and ensure that those things that can only exist in the mud will never reach her.

News quickly spread in the Tenglong Base that a very arrogant second-generation rich kid named Lan Li had come from a little-known small base named Noah. He claimed that he was there to buy food from their Tenglong Base.

No one had heard of the name Noah before, so it was likely not a big deal. It could be just a gathering place for a few people, who were calling themselves a base to make themselves look important.

But there was one thing that made people at Tenglong Base jealous: the person from the unknown base actually had a Black Crystal Card, which was a proof of identity that required at least 100,000 credits!

Since he had a Black Crystal Card, it was unlikely that his “shopping” would be for a small amount.

In the afternoon, when Li Weilan took Xi Nan to the shopping street, Xi Nan was surprised by the warm welcome from the vendors. He wondered if it was because these people were so enthusiastic toward potential big spenders. Maybe the reason why he was treated so coldly before was because his poor nature was exposed.

For Li Weilan and Xi Nan, the market in Tenglong Base was considered orderly compared to other bases in the post-apocalyptic world. At least there was no situation where people would draw their swords and kill each other over a disagreement during bargaining.

However, from the perspective of Shen Cheng, who was not in the game, everything in this map was vastly different from the only other base – Noah – she had seen.

The base color of Tenglong was a green-gray, as if all the buildings were covered with a layer of gray mist and veil. However, this mist looked uncomfortable in the game, as if the whole Tenglong was covered with a debuff.

There were not many people buying things in the market, but there were more red lanterns hanging on the roadside buildings, shining with red light in the mist.

This market in Tenglong Base really looked gloomy!

In this environment, Shen Cheng had to spend more money and buy more to make herself feel better!

If I command Zaizai to buy more, would that count as completing an interaction?

Shen Cheng tried clicking on the various items displayed on the roadside, and the game gave her a flood of messages:

【Li Weilan refuses to buy instant noodles】

【Li Weilan refuses to buy beef jerky】

【Li Weilan refuses to buy used underwear】

“… Oops, it seems like I clicked on something by mistake.”

“Waaah, today’s interactive task seems a bit difficult!”

“What exactly is this kid coming to buy on this street?”

“You have a hundred thousand credit points, why don’t we buy something other than European and American brands? Although I can’t buy things for you directly, we can use this discounted shopping card (Black crystal card) that only costs one yuan. If we spend it quickly, maybe we can even get another one?”

Li Weilan’s hand was carefully pushed by someone, and he turned towards the direction of the small stalls, as if he was being followed by the person behind him, who was very interested in these little things that were worth nothing.

Although Li Weilan’s guardian angel sometimes spent money extravagantly, and sometimes behaved like a curious little girl, he actually felt the itch and wanted to just buy everything according to her finger’s direction. After all, it was normal to make the sponsor happy with the sponsor’s money, right?

But he brought Xi Nan here to “go shopping” for a big deal, and now that the little hamster had yet to be satisfied, the big deal at the back would have to be postponed. So even though the light push in his hand was so tempting, Li Weilan… suppressed the itch in his heart like a feather, and obediently followed the direction she pushed.

“How much is the instant noodles?” He said in a tone that was cool and indifferent, as if he didn’t know how much he deserved to be beaten.

“Ten credit points?” The stall owner asked tentatively.

“Tsk, it looks so unappetizing.” He sneered and glanced around other items. “Do you have any from X Valley’s martial arts dojo?”

“Well…” The stall owner was at a loss for words.

After the apocalypse, he was the first person she had ever seen who was so picky. He was simply a terrifying young master who knew nothing about the hardships of life.

At the next stall, Li Weilan continued to pick and choose, asking, “How much is this beef jerky per pound?”

“This is mutated beef,” the stall owner hesitated for a moment, “I’ll give it to you for 30 credit points per pound if you buy the whole thing.”

“What level is it?”

“Level One…” The stall owner looked at the young master who immediately dropped the beef jerky and turned away. He quickly said, “Don’t go, we can still negotiate the price.”

“What do you mean?” Li Weilan suddenly turned his head and stared at the stall owner with a cold gaze. “Do you think I can’t afford it?”

“Hmph,” Li Weilan sneered and turned away.

He stopped in front of another stall, his face seemed a little pale, and pointed to all the underwear on the stall. “How much are these?”

“10… 10 credit points,” the stall owner replied nervously, not knowing why he felt particularly scared of this Mr. Lan in front of him.

Li Weilan picked up a pair and flipped it over, murmuring softly, “Too small, I can’t wear it.”

Then he left.

He walked around all the small stalls and had no chance to spend any money. He was so picky that he went from the beginning of the street to the end, and all the vendors looked at him with resentment, but they all swallowed their unsatisfaction. This man with a handsome but somewhat punchable face lazily stretched and spoke to his follower who followed him step by step, “It’s not interesting. I thought we could come out of our base for a rare trip and buy some good food, drink, and fun, but after seeing it all, it’s just ordinary stuff. It seems that although the Tenglong Base is known as the largest base, it’s just like this.”

…Even though he clearly knows Li Weilan’s intention is to provoke hostility, almost at this moment, Xie Nan felt the angry glares from all directions.

Big brother, you’re really something else. I know you’re not afraid, but I’m a little scared.

Xie Nan felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He watched as Li Weilan’s words had incited so much anger. He swallowed his saliva, but the corner of his eye caught sight of someone quickly approaching from behind.

“Wanna make a big deal?” The man’s voice was like a snake, with a slight hiss.

Li Weilan’s body trembled slightly.

He turned around, his face already showing the devilish charm that belonged to Lan Li, but on the screen in front of Shen Cheng, she clearly saw the dark cloud that seemed to have solidified on him in an instant!

Li Weilan looked into the man’s eyes, his hand gradually tightening and then relaxing, and in just a few seconds, he controlled his expression.

What he didn’t know was that in his mother’s eyes, the person in front of him was an NPC with a red bar above his head!

In other words, it was an enemy!

Li Weilan had been walking around the entire street, but this was the first red-blooded character that Shen Cheng had seen on the street.

She curiously looked at it and didn’t notice anything unusual until she saw a dialogue bubble pop up above her cub’s head:

“Yes, a billion-dollar deal.”

When Shen Cheng saw the dialogue, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “Hahaha.”

A billion-dollar deal?

What does my cub want to do?

Her cub was speaking boldly and the man hesitated before suddenly asking Li Weilan, “Can you make decisions on a billion-dollar deal?”

Li Weilan suddenly paused!

The mission prompt appeared again on Shen Cheng’s screen:

[“Do you agree to let Li Weilan enter the black market independently? Please note that this is a hidden mission map and may trigger the protagonist’s unique hidden mission (difficulty: extremely high). You cannot re-enter if you fail. Please confirm: Y/N”]

“!!!”

Shen Cheng looked at the two blood-red words ‘extremely high’ on the NPC’s head and hesitated.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

She had clearly seen that when the man approached, Li Weilan’s behavior was somewhat abnormal. And this map called the black market was obviously not normal.

On one hand, there was the safety of her cub, and on the other hand, there was perhaps a rich reward for the hidden task…

Shen Cheng was a bit hesitant.

Her finger hesitated on N, but for some reason, at this moment, she suddenly noticed a hint of pain hidden under her cub’s sinister face.

Is the hidden task related to his past?

His attitude is strange, and if this hidden task fails, will it once again cause him to feel uneasy, even becoming a long-lasting shadow?

She herself is like this. If some rotten flesh cannot be cut off, over time, it will become a festering scar.

Even though she is just a newbie in the game and has few friends in real life, Shen Cheng put herself in the other person’s shoes and hesitated for a moment before ultimately clicking “YES”.

If this is what Zaizai hopes for, then let’s do it. She just needs to be a responsible sponsor.

The smile on Li Weilan’s face almost came to life in an instant: “Of course, I can definitely make the decision.”

The man glanced at Li Weilan and nodded after a while, “Alright, follow me.”

Li Weilan followed behind him. At this moment, if anger could materialize, the man’s back would have been covered in arrows.

Yes, who could have thought that someone who had already been in hell would climb out again, and that someone who was thought to be dead would come back with a new face?

Not to mention them, even Li Weilan himself couldn’t help but exclaim that he was quite lucky.

Although this luck all came from the mysterious person’s gaze.

A faint smile appeared on his lips, and his gaze turned towards the void: If her gaze was just out of interest, may heaven bless that this interest lasts longer and comes more often.

This was also the only stroke of good luck in his life.

“Where exactly is your Noah Base located?” The man walking in front had the words “Li Mo” clearly displayed on his chest, and he casually asked without realizing the look in Li Weilan’s eyes behind him.

Li Weilan smiled and opened his mouth, “In the south, we are a new base with tens of thousands of people.”

“Tens of thousands of people?” The man repeated the words and smiled, “Then, what you must be lacking the most is…”

“Food.” Li Weilan nodded, “We don’t lack anything else in our base, but we need a large amount of low-pollution food for our ability users. I heard that you have a special channel, and I hope we can purchase a large quantity of food from you.”

“Oh,” Li Mo’s smile deepened slightly, “But you also know the price of low-pollution food.”

“Yes,” Li Weilan nodded, her gaze becoming slightly sharp, “Don’t tell me that Tenglong can’t produce enough reserves?”

“That won’t be the case.” Li Mo smiled, and a shrewd light flashed in his eyes. “Everything can be bought and sold as long as you can offer a suitable price.”

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.”

To err is to be human, and to change for the better is responsible behavior as a good mother. If you know that your cub is feeling jealous rather than something else, you need to give it enough security to make it feel comfortable.

If your cub’s mood remains low, it’s not just a minor task uncompleted, but the debuffs in the game will continue to wreak havoc. But how can you make it feel better?

During lunch break, Shen Cheng sat holding her phone, thinking hard. The lady next to her looked at her with a worried expression. She wondered why the young girl had been holding her phone every lunch break with a sad expression. She asked, “Shen Cheng, are you playing a game? Why are you so unhappy when you play?”

“Sister Ma,” Shen Cheng smiled shyly. She was usually a gentle and obedient girl in the company, soft and weak, and the older women loved to take care of her. Suddenly, she thought of Sister Ma’s cat at home, which she often posted pictures of in her circle of friends, and which looked so beautiful and enviable. It was said that Sister Ma was an expert at training pets. “Does your cat sigh and feel unhappy?”

As soon as she mentioned her beloved cat, Sister Ma became excited. She looked at Shen Cheng with a little appreciation, thinking that the girl had finally started a small talk. She said, “My cat is very proud. Sometimes when I feed the stray cats downstairs with the leftovers it won’t eat, it scratches my face if it finds out.” She stretched out her hand to show two shallow white scratches on her face. “But it’s also very well-behaved most of the time. One time, my husband and I had an argument, and it jumped up and meowed at him, not allowing him to speak loudly to me. Come to think of it, when it’s unhappy, I just have to coax it.”

Shen Cheng smiled at the thought of the cat being jealous. She asked Sister Ma, “How do you usually coax it?”

“Well, if it’s hungry, you have to feed it some small dried fish. If it’s unhappy, you have to stroke its fur more. If it’s just being difficult, you can sleep with it for a while. In short, you have to understand its mood,” Sister Ma said with a smile. “Personally, I like cats because of their pride, but cats are like masters, and everything has to be done according to their wishes. In short, you have to give it what it wants, not what you think it wants.”

It sounded a little convoluted, but it was still understandable.

Shen Cheng finally understood. In any case, she just needs to coax her cub well and treat the problem specifically. She can’t generalize.

Shen Cheng was lost in thought and couldn’t help but start thinking about something: what is the equivalent of the “small dried fish” for her cub?

In fact, from the fact that sending black cards and incense burners didn’t work, it can be seen that their own cub is not like those in other games who are happy the more expensive the gift is. Instead, the cub is so proud that he doesn’t care about the value of the gift, but only care about whether it’s thoughtful or not – for such a cub, you need to put your heart into it!

After thinking about it, Shen Cheng suddenly understood something and smiled brightly at Sister Ma, thanking her sincerely, “Thank you, Sister Ma! I understand now!”

“???” Sister Ma was startled by her heartfelt thanks and was silent for a moment before coming to her senses. But in her heart, she couldn’t help but think: this girl’s smile is really sweet, but it’s a pity that she’s an orphan in this big city with no one to rely on, it’s quite pitiful.

What’s there to thank for… she didn’t do anything special, she just chatted a bit… forget it, if there’s anyone else in the company gossiping about the little girl behind her back next time, she’ll speak up for her a few more times, which could be considered repaying this kindness.

Shen Cheng didn’t know what Sister Ma was thinking behind her back. She opened the game interface and clicked “home.”

Looking at the golden rice waves, Shen Cheng controlled the cursor with her fingers and drew a special pattern during harvesting.

“If this still can’t coax him, then it’s definitely a problem with the game mechanism…” Shen Cheng muttered to herself in front of her phone, checked the time and saw that her lunch break was over, and turned off the game.

**

In the afternoon, Li Weilan entered the space.

As soon as he opened the warehouse door, he saw that some rice had already been harvested in the golden wheat waves. From his perspective, he could only see that a few rows were missing in the middle, but he couldn’t see the pattern clearly.

There was no doubt that it was the credit of that person for cutting the rice like this.

Li Weilan didn’t know what she had done, but he couldn’t resist the tingling sensation in his heart like a cat scratching, and walked into the rice field.

He followed the cut rice stalks and gradually sketched out the outline of the lines in his mind.

From the clasped hands to the tiny bottom to the chubby middle, Li Weilan’s heart became more and more clear as the pattern in his mind became clearer and more precise. It was a heart formed by two hands clasping together, she was telling him that she was wholeheartedly devoted to him!

This was her explanation.

What he actually wanted wasn’t for her to coddle him or expensive gifts. For some reason, Li Weilan suddenly felt sweet and filled with honey in his heart, and his lips couldn’t help but curve into a smile.

He cut the remaining rice and piled it up in the warehouse before leaving to prepare for his journey.

Tenglong base still owed him a debt, and his intention in going to Tenglong was to make good use of the black crystal card.

He didn’t know how she had managed to save up 100,000 credit points, but his plan was to spend as much as he earned on this trip to Tenglong.

With such a large sum of money, if he let those unscrupulous merchants take even a half-percent advantage, he would be too incompetent.

Li Weilan’s plan was not only to dig into Tenglong’s secrets, but also to turn the tables and profit from it, so that he could demonstrate to that person that this “start-up capital” was only a small part of what he was capable of.

Because of this plan, it was worth discussing what supplies, personnel, and identity he should bring to Tenglong.

When Shen Cheng logged into the game, a new prompt popped up from the system.

【Daily Quest 2: Raise the main character’s mood to happy or above. Completed.】

Gold coins: 50.

“Ah, has the cub’s mood improved?” Shen Cheng was quite happy about it. “It seems that as long as you use the right method, cub is easy to please.”

After clicking on the completed button, another system prompt appeared:

【It seems that there is a meeting going on in the base. Go see what they’re talking about.】

“Huh?” Shen Cheng searched around and found the little people in the base sitting in a meeting room.

“Brother Li, if you do this, you might greatly offend the management of the Tenglong Base…” What Xie Nan wanted to do was to go to the Tenglong Base, pick up his friend, and buy medicine for his sister, so when he heard Li Weilan’s plan, he almost instinctively showed hesitation.

Tenglong Base had nearly 100,000 residents, a number that was worlds apart from their Noah Base, which only had a few people although their Noah Base had all kinds of black technology.

Xie Nan had discovered something in recent days. As long as they paid a little attention, zombies couldn’t even find this underground base. The only thing they needed to worry about was the possibility of mutant beasts burrowing out from underground.

But even so, Noah’s security was much higher than any other aboveground base, giving people a sense of safety that was even greater than that of city walls.

Xie Nan was certain that as long as they opened up recruitment, the twenty small rooms in Noah Base would soon be overcrowded.

So Xi Nan thought that there was no need to have a direct conflict with the people from Tenglong at this time. They should focus on making Noah’s security, technology, and talent top-notch first. They should only confront Tenglong when there is a fundamental conflict of interest, right?

Why use economic means to “sanction” Tenglong now?

Li Weilan looked at him quietly, did not speak directly, turned to Yan Hongyu and asked, “What about you? What do you think?”

Yan Hongyu hesitated for a moment.

She had also been living in the end times for more than half a year before she was caught by those people. But because she had not been to Tenglong, she had no idea about the size and strength of this base.

Ignorance breeds courage, not to mention that for her, Li Weilan was the god who saved the remaining twenty women.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

She lifted her chin and said, “I’ll listen to you.”

Xi Nan hesitated for a moment, “Brother Li, I’m not trying to oppose you. It’s just that there are only two of us going on this trip. I’m afraid that something might happen, and I don’t mind, but if you get trapped there and can’t get out, Tenglong is a big base. Also, since we’re gonna be buying ‘Dawn light’, it will attract attention.”

Li Weilan’s dark eyes lingered on his face.

Xi Nan and Yan Hongyu couldn’t be said to be good or bad. Their different behavior at present was only due to different standpoints.

For Xi Nan, perhaps the most important thing in his life was his sister. For this purpose, he sought stability and did not want to take risks.

But Li Weilan was different.

What he wanted was to get all the “Dawn light” and then destroy them all!

This thing should not be passed down in the human world!

Because those who have gained fame and fortune because of it are not worthy!

He came back from hell, and he will definitely make them pay.

Shen Cheng looked at their conversation and probably understood the plot.

Now, her own cub is ready to cause trouble at a base called “Tenglong.” She understands that it’s probably a game preparing to open up new maps and gameplay for her. But the subordinate next to him is worried about his safety, afraid that he will get caught up in Tenglong base.

Since it’s a new map and her own cub wants to go, of course, she agrees!

Shen Cheng thinks this should be a series of tasks, and the hint the game is giving her now should be translated as: Is there any pay-to-win task props that can reduce the danger of your own child in the new map?

Shen Cheng looked for it and actually found this item in the system store:

[A mask that can be transformed at will: This is a new “human skin mask” made by a shape-shifting ability user, for only 299, it can give you any face you want. Of course, no face is also possible! Remaining uses: 10/10]

“…” The last introduction is a bit gimmicky, but looking at the description, it should be something like the ancient “human skin mask”! With this, her own child won’t be recognized anymore!

Zaizai, don’t worry about causing a ruckus, mother will earn money and buy you a mask!

Shen Cheng looked at the price below, which is labeled [300 gold coins], and counted her remaining gold coins. She had a little hesitation: she didn’t have enough gold coins to buy this mask.

Shen Cheng currently has a total of 199 gold coins left.

She only hesitated for a moment before recharging 100 yuan – first recharge 100 yuan and get 100 yuan bonus, leaving 100 gold coins to buy the mask and placing it directly on the table in front of cub.

Hey hey hey, with this, you can be as reckless as you want!

Shen Cheng rubbed her hands and sat in front of his phone, watching the little person in the screen seemingly stunned by the mask that appeared out of thin air on the table, with a happy smile on his face.

Except for Li Weilan, the other two little people all had “!!!” exclamation marks on their foreheads, their eyes widened, and their faces froze.

Looking at their expressions, Li Weilan didn’t know why he felt a little delighted in his heart. He coughed lightly and took the mask, which appeared out of thin air. It felt like human skin, even with a hint of warmth. He said to the two people in front of him, “Don’t worry, our base owner just has this kind of style. It’s good to get used to it early.”

Xi Nan and Yan Hongyu looked at him in shock, completely unable to understand what “getting used to it early” meant.

To be honest, this kind of boss who appears out of nowhere and may stare at you at any time to see if you are working overtime properly… is super terrifying!