Rebirth: Leading Families to Survive in the Apocalypse

Huang Yunxiang had originally planned to participate in the base construction, but Su Jin said that they intended to hunt mutated beasts in the North Mountain of City S soon, so she decided to go with the team. After all, it’s quite inconvenient for a team to be without someone with a water element ability, even cleaning zombie crystal nuclei would be troublesome.

Su Jin agreed with this, a water element ability combined with thunder and ice elements could create an area of effect attacks. If they encountered groups of mutant animals, other than the fire attack, thunder and ice elements would also be effective, and the water element could further enhance the attack effect.

However, at the moment, everyone was sitting on the steps in front of the shop, spacing out.

Why were there no customers coming in?

Not only that, but there were hardly any pedestrians outside either.

“The survivors haven’t moved over yet, it might get better by tomorrow,” Su Jin comforted Guo Yang.

Previously, they had heard from Liang Jiuqing that the refuge would start relocating a small number of survivors in the next few days. The situation there was quite bad, with small groups of zombies frequently causing trouble, and daily sacrifices. Due to its remote location, City West originally had a sparse population, and the zombies influenced by Liang Jiuqing and the daily cleaning by Su Jin’s team, it had become a relatively safe place.

Guo Yang didn’t actually show any impatience, the only one who couldn’t stay calm was Liao Yifan. She felt anxious that the shop had been open for two hours without a single customer, pacing back and forth in front of the door.

Seeing this, Guo Yang pulled her into the shop and took out a bottle of lemon-flavored soda from his space for her to drink.

“Cool your jets, it’s okay, things will pick up,” Guo Yang comforted.

Liao Yifan took the soda, nodded her head, and it seemed that she was the only one in a hurry; Mao Qiqi was just sitting inside the shop, amusing herself with Local Tyrant Gold.

The space inside the shop was quite large. Because there was no need to display goods, on the side against the wall, as per Su Jin’s suggestion, they placed some tables and benches. Although everyone was a bit puzzled — they weren’t running a restaurant, they didn’t understand why to arrange these — now everyone felt good having seats in the shop, watching the movie on the tablet that Su Jin brought out. Liao Yifan also stopped being anxious and joined everyone in watching the movie.

That’s when Su Jin realized she hadn’t seen Lin Xiuyuan.

“Him? He locked himself in his room, said he felt like he was about to level up today, so he went into seclusion,” Huang Yunxiang said with a smile. Her son’s special ability was due for an advancement, after all, he awakened it earlier than she did.

Su Jin nodded her head, guessing that Lin Xiuyuan must be waiting to advance in his space, because she had told everyone last time that Lu Hao advanced faster when he was in his space, though absorption of crystal cores was not possible there.

Just as Su Jin guessed, Lin Xiuyuan locked his room from the inside and entered his space, where he was now sitting cross-legged by the creek, while Lin Yunguo sat fishing nearby, not disturbing his grandson’s important moment.

Maybe because Lin Xiuyuan’s special ability had manifested in the creek, he felt a natural connection to it, so he simply chose to sit there and wait to advance.

Nie Qing and Lu Guanhai were also in the space, watching television with Li Xiuying. The Kangxi Dynasty series they discovered was quite long, and these past few days they were all engrossed in it. Moreover, Guo Yang’s shop didn’t need so many people, so they didn’t all go there.

It wasn’t until the afternoon that the shop welcomed its first customer, a little boy who looked to be only five or six years old.

The little boy looked eagerly at the crowd inside the shop and asked, “Is this a convenience store?”

“…”

“Hello, little friend, yes it is. What would you like to buy?” Guo Yang asked, squatting down.

“I, I only have two crystal cores, can I buy something?” The little boy said, feeling uneasy. The two crystal cores were given to him by his dad to pass the time while alone at home. But when his dad hadn’t come back by noon, his little stomach had started to growl with hunger.

“Of course, you can look at the pictures over there and see if there is anything you’d like to buy,” Guo Yang said through gritted teeth. This was their first customer, and if it meant taking a loss, so be it!

The little boy’s eyes lit up at the mention of being able to buy something. He trotted over to the shelves and began to pick from the various colorful drawings displayed there.

“I want this chicken leg, can I buy it?”

The boy asked as he pointed to a picture of a soap bar, a longing for meat evident in his voice. It had been so long since he’d tasted meat.

“That’s not…”

“Of course, you can. Are you hungry?” Su Jin interrupted Guo Yang, to avoid bringing down both children present.

“Yes, sister, my dad went to work. He said he’s going to build a big castle to protect me,” the boy said proudly; his dad was the best.

Su Jin smiled and patted his head, pretending to take out a packet of chicken legs marinated by Lin Yunguo from the opaque counter. There were four big legs in the pack, and she could see the boy’s eyes turn into sparkling stars in an instant.

“Thank you, sister. I’ll pay you,”

The boy took out two ordinary crystal cores from his pants pocket and handed them to Su Jin.

Su Jin then took a black plastic bag, put the chicken legs inside, and handed them to the little boy. Although there weren’t many disorderly people in the villa area, she still gave the boy a few words of caution, just in case.

“I know, thank you, sister,” the boy said, tucking the item into his waistband and covering it with his jacket, which made it inconspicuous from the outside.

Su Jin and the others gave him a thumbs up; the kid was very sensible.

So, the first transaction in the store that day was finally completed. Although everyone felt it wasn’t very profitable, they decided to treat it as a grand opening gesture.

Zhou Chengzhi ran all the way back to where he lived. The base provided food and accommodations, and he had taken two steamed buns and a bowl of soup intending to eat at home. His son had been alone all day without lunch, and he wondered if the boy had gone hungry.

As soon as he opened the door, a little bundle of joy threw himself at his legs and shouted, “Daddy! You’re back!”

“I’m back, Yangyang. Have you been a good boy today?”

Seeing his son safe and sound, he felt relieved. Remembering that his son hadn’t eaten much today, he quickly pulled out two yellowish steamed buns from his bosom. The base’s food was decent, with the buns made from wheat and corn flour, a significant improvement over the refuge’s meals. Moreover, the soup had streaks of egg in it, and although the vegetables were dehydrated, their color alone was appetizing.

“Daddy, Yangyang bought some meat today, and I saved some for you,” the boy said mysteriously, pulling a black package from under his pillow and handing it to him.

Zhou Chengzhi was nearly scared out of his wits. What was this about eating meat? He hoped his son hadn’t picked up something filthy to eat.

He hurriedly unwrapped the black plastic bag and sighed in relief upon seeing the contents. However, he was amazed that his son had managed to get hold of chicken legs and there were still three left!

“Yangyang, tell Daddy, where did these chicken legs come from?” They couldn’t possibly be stolen, could they?

“I bought them from the canteen with the crystal cores Daddy gave me,” Yangyang said, beaming with joy.