Seemingly casual, Li Dayuan’s question revealed he wanted to learn two things: whether the person across from him had a base, and if so, whether they felt any sense of belonging or control over it.
Xin Xiaoru was young. If it weren’t for her composed, no-nonsense presence, an aura so strong that anyone seeing her first thought, “This is someone who can get things done,” rather than noticing her appearance, most people would probably have nodded and called her pretty.
Her frame was slim but not bony; even just looking at her arms and calves exposed by short sleeves and shorts, one could see smooth muscle lines. Her facial features were open and bright, with large, slightly slanted eyes. When she smiled, she appeared approachable, giving off no hint of aggression.
But clearly, Li Dayuan wasn’t a client she needed to “serve” with a smile, so most of the time her expression remained detached, indifferent, and aloof.
When she ate something tasty, a brief flicker of relaxed satisfaction would appear in her eyes; other than that, she acted freely and cared little about what others thought.
In the apocalypse, anyone like her must have their own leverage, Li Dayuan thought.
Xin Xiaoru, indeed, didn’t care.
In the end of the world, only interests and five-star ratings for the RV mattered. Anyone who disliked her but couldn’t touch her, whatever nonsense they had in their heads, was none of her concern.
“No base,” Xin Xiaoru said. “Only a farm. The people in the car are also headed to the farm.”
Li Dayuan asked, “Are you the one in charge? Any plans to turn it into a proper base?”
Xin Xiaoru shook her head. “I’m just a landlord, collect rent, earn some fees. I don’t bother with anything else.”
Just look at Yicheng to see how troublesome running a base can be.
So many people, each with their own ideas; managers at every level have their philosophies and personal interests. Any decision benefiting the majority comes with enormous pressure, requiring responsibility for everyone.
A base constantly worries about building walls, developing reagents, maintaining labs when supply chains are cut, cultivating abilities, ensuring food production, coping with high temperatures and worsening water shortages… and on and on.
The base exists to keep as many people safe as possible, while her goal was to get as many five-star ratings as possible.
Doing the hard, thankless work is exhausting; simply saving people directly earns far more love. Even a reckless movie-hero style savior, cleaning up threats for the people, though this is also part of a base member’s duty, is far more admired than a bald administrator worrying about livelihoods, making decisions, or managing regulations.
She was just an ordinary person; she couldn’t manage all that.
“…”
Wait—Xin Xiaoru suddenly remembered something!
She didn’t want to run a base, she didn’t need that many people, but the RV system’s upgrades were clearly aimed at covering more people!
Calculating it, at the current stage, just by saving people each day, the one or two hundred points of stamina she earned could cover the RV’s current consumption and still leave a surplus. If she let it keep upgrading, the consumption would grow, and the amount of work required would keep increasing. If that’s the case, why bother upgrading at all?
System: “…”
Suddenly realizing this, what could it do!
The system’s childish voice grew a little urgent: “Only by upgrading can you unlock more functions! The apocalypse is harsh, mutant zombies, mutated plants, and animals will increase. Without upgrading, in the future, wildfires, tsunamis, floods, extreme cold, volcanic eruptions will be very hard to deal with! Haven’t you experienced or heard about all of this in your previous five years?”
Xin Xiaoru paused. The tension in her shoulders slowly eased, and she returned from her lazy fantasies to reality.
That’s right. The apocalypse had only just begun.
Refusing to upgrade to avoid extra consumption would mean meekly sticking to the status quo.
The RV’s speed, defense, and stamina were sufficient for now, but what about later?
In her previous life, she had always followed the main group, hiding out in shelters. But when food ran low, she, supposedly a scarce and valuable nurse who should have been safely working in the rear, had to rush out of the base to search for food and eventually died in a supply scramble. That alone illustrated how dire the situation could be.
Starving people would desperately try to find farmland, risking everything to reach Youzhuang just to get something to eat.
Even if the RV moved into deep mountains, it would still face countless mutant animals and plants. Some of these were even more dangerous than zombies. When zombies came, you could clearly identify them, but densely growing plants, whether obvious or inconspicuous, how could one reliably tell which were harmful?
Moreover, it wouldn’t take four or five years, just by next year, the RV’s current speed would be insufficient. Speed-type or flying ability users, as long as they survived, would develop extreme survival skills and could catch up to the RV in minutes.
Everything around was getting stronger. If the RV stood still, it would fall behind.
Xin Xiaoru closed her eyes slightly, letting go of meaningless daydreams.
The upgrade had to happen.
However, establishing a base… that would require more thought.
Li Dayuan asked, “May I ask, your farm’s location, is it safe?”
By now, his intention was clear: he wanted to know whether joining was necessary or even possible.
He showed good faith, and when he learned Xin Xiaoru didn’t want to leave the RV, he had his people at the factory clear the obstacles so the RV could drive directly inside for a look.
Xin Xiaoru didn’t fuss and agreed to go in: “No need to clear obstacles. The RV can fly in.”
Li Dayuan hesitated slightly: “…fly?”
Xin Xiaoru nodded.
On the way to this fertilizer factory, the RV had traveled on the ground, so it wasn’t surprising that Li Dayuan couldn’t quite imagine it.
After finishing their meal, they returned to the RV. Xin Xiaoru and He Guying sat in the cockpit, while Li Dayuan and Zhao Changyue stood behind the co-pilot seat, watching the RV rise into the air.
By now, it was completely dark. But the RV’s headlights were extremely bright. After boosting the wattage and adjusting the beam angle, it practically illuminated the entire factory.
The men, women, and children at the fertilizer factory had been alerted beforehand. They weren’t afraid, they stepped forward, shocked, staring at the flying RV.
From the outside, they could barely see the people in the cockpit. The rear space was distorted and blurred, invisible to outsiders. Only those inside the RV could see out clearly.
Li Dayuan was astonished, but he spoke calmly, quickly explaining the current situation of the factory.
Li Dayuan was the equipment maintenance worker for several nearby factories. Because he had dealt with many plants, he knew a lot of people and had a good reputation. After awakening his earth-based abilities, he gathered all the local awakened individuals to this fertilizer factory, which had relatively few zombies, using it as a base to collect surrounding resources.
“The sandbags we piled up as walls were made using my ability,” Li Dayuan said, a little embarrassed but also proud. “My powers are limited, not strong enough to shape a proper earth wall, so I spent most of my energy each day filling sandbags and stacking them bit by bit into walls.”
Zhao Changyue gave a thumbs-up: “That’s already impressive!”
Xin Xiaoru nodded in agreement.
“There are eight awakened people in the base, men and women, old and young. As for the ordinary people, some were rescued while gathering supplies, others came because they had relatives among the awakened,” Zhao Changyue explained, pointing to the elderly man sitting on the ground near the RV door. The floating scissors still hovered at his neck. “His in-laws are a small local boss, and he used to be my client, so we kept him here.”
Xin Xiaoru asked, “The people he knows here are awakened?”
“No, no,” Li Dayuan quickly reassured, worried the old man might ruin the plan. “They’re all irrelevant.”
Oh, that’s good.
Xin Xiaoru felt a lot more at ease instantly.
The old man, hearing this from behind, trembled with fear and anger.
Li Dayuan whispered, “To be honest, we awakened people originally just wanted to survive on our own. But we couldn’t bear it, so we gradually rescued over sixty ordinary people. Now, these people just do small tasks, weeding, planting crops. After a month or two, they’ve wasted seeds and barely grown anything. They don’t even dare to go out for supplies.”
Obviously, the people around here and the zombies are already relatively few. They didn’t move fast before, and even when they went out to grab a few supplies, they’d see zombies and immediately run back, never taking risks. The stuff they brought back was only enough for themselves for two days; the rest of the time, we, just the few of us, had to provide for them, which was exhausting.
And the bigger problem is that there are only a few factories here, a few cafeterias, a few supermarkets. If the vehicle makes a few more trips, it runs out of fuel, and nearby gas stations can’t supply more. Later, it’s either starve or walk with your own two legs to faraway towns to find food…
Li Dayuan trailed off; the tension between his brows didn’t ease no matter what.
Zhao Changyue patted his shoulder, understanding his meaning.
Those who understand, understand.
There might be more supplies in town, but there are also more people. Going there isn’t collecting supplies, it’s looting. Anything could happen, and no one can predict the outcome.
And, most importantly, keeping this bunch of freeloaders alive is pointless. Any goodwill or pity they had has already been worn out after two months of feeding and tending them.
Li Dayuan gathered himself: “This place is very far from the official shelters; the vehicle has no fuel to get there. And we both know how the shelters really are, probably not very good. What about your side? Is it possible to join, or… is there a way?”
Xin Xiaoru replied, “It’s a patch of wasteland, originally belonging to a few nearby mountains. Only a few households farmed there. Later, they moved to the city, and the land was left empty. Now I’ve claimed it.”
Few people, few zombies, plenty of land, and it used to be terraced, good soil quality.
Li Dayuan picked up these key pieces of information, eyes lighting up: “Can we come take a look?”
“You can,” Xin Xiaoru said, looking at the feedback in her mind showing Li Dayuan’s four-star satisfaction. “Your friends… want to talk to me?”