Chapter 85—Settling the new recruits
by Bocchan13
With the coming of winter and an additional 95 mouths to feed and house, the once idyllic villa was abuzz with work. In order to help Ming Ze’s base, Song Yu had to delve deep into his food resources, taking out the meat from 2 years ago, purifying almost expired items, and finding enough bedding to warm them in the winter.
Yu Hong and An Wei were in charge of the ice ability users, who spent every day up until it started snowing, icing the area with frost. The leaves had fallen and the branches were awash with icicles, and the bitter chill of the winter was ever so prevalent.
Song Yu and Lan Zhou came together to talk with Ming Ze about mobilizing her ability users and integrating them as a small army. Ming Ze at first was hesitant. She had always been in the lead, the people trusted her and she had spent almost two years being by their side.
However, she couldn’t ignore the strong presence Song Yu’s base had. Looking at their clean clothes, sparkling weapons, and most of all: how they didn’t look like they were on the verge of starving, it gave Ming Ze some peace of mind that if her comrades were treated the same way, she would relinquish her rights as a base leader.
Ming Ze’s worries were quite put to rest when she brought her ability users and Lan Zhou had them do a one-on-one session with him to determine their abilities. Seeing the gigantic blue flames scorching the earth in blistering heat, she sighed in relief that she hadn’t offended them before.
The twenty or so ability users didn’t reach up to rank 5, which was quite normal for being in the apocalypse for 3 years. Lan Zhou, as a general knew the exact way to mobilize them to the best of their ability. They had said before that the ability users would work in spring, but listening to Yu Hong and Ming Ze’s run in with the zombie king, Lan Zhou wanted someone to be on patrol in their area.
Of course, integration did not mean community. The villa would stay as a villa and not be encroached by anyone other than the eight of them. Song Yu wanted a complete separation from the base and his home. So still deciding to have the base an hour car ride from him was plausible. If Ming Ze needed them, then they could contact each other through the walkie-talkie and Lan Zhou would come for training every other day. By the time everyone settled down, they understood their roles and the rules of the ‘big boss’.
There were many curious people who wanted to go to the ‘headquarters’, but anyone who came within a few miles were instantly picked up and thrown out. Song Yu’s anxiety went up a few notches, but Lan Zhou kept his word and dealt with everything.
No one was going to take his home.
Alongside moving the other civilians, making a post tower, icing the area, and getting food for winter, Song Yu also had to deal with Xiao Zi’s insistence on making the cure. That day when Song Yu and Lan Zhou came back and told the rest of the group what Du Win said, they all set out to strengthen their variant abilities more.
Xiao Zi and Wang Cheng who had passive abilities didn’t have any variants so didn’t train. Xiao Zi was very interested in Song Yu’s purification ability and through several means and bribes (Lan Zhou’s childhood stories) he was able to get Song Yu on the operating table and drew several vials of blood as well as witnessed first-hand how Song Yu’s pure ability worked. Xiao Zi continued to work on the zombie vaccine as well as ability exhaustion during the winter, making a few breakthroughs here and there.
…
The ice ability users did their thing and snow started falling early. Ming Ze and Song Yu was able to settle all 95 people at a small village, each one having a storage area for food, water and enough wood chips to burn for fire. It was as if they had traveled back hundreds of years, when their ancestors could only brave the cold with the walls of a mud house.
Ming Ze recalled the last winter they experienced where many people starved and froze to death and couldn’t believe that Song Yu and Lan Zhou could be so selfless as to give them so much. This was something she could never repay back. Seeing the happy smiles of the remaining base led her to believe that her choice in trusting them was a good one.
Even if she was no longer a base leader, even if she had lost loved ones and sacrificed so much…it was all worth it. Just to see their smiles. Ming Ze laughed quietly to herself before looking at the direction Song Yu and Lan Zhou always came from.
It was a mystery where they lived, mystery where they came from and a mystery of what goes on in their base but the curiosity did not outweigh the gratitude. Maybe someday, she could be trusted enough to be divulged of Song Yu’s secrets, but for now she could only take care of her family.
The air was much crisper and colder higher up the mountain. The central heating in the villa had not been turned on yet, so the villa was quite cold. On as king-sized bed, there were several blankets topped on each other, each one warmer than the last. One lump was underneath the big pile, squirming around before a head popped out gasping.
“Stop touching!”
The room filled with small laughter as the lump separated into two and another head popped out of the blanket. Lan Zhou grinned mischievously as his hand continued his rhythmic touching on Song Yu’s bare body.
Song Yu shivered both in cold and in desire as Lan Zhou dropped his head to kiss Song Yu’s chest, trailing warm kisses down before kissing ‘there’. Song Yu blushed crimson as the warmth of Lan Zhou’s mouth expertly gave him pleasure.
“Didn’t you have your fill all of last night?” Lan Zhou let go of Song Yu’s member and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes,
“Cosm*** magazine Article #438: The best way to make your partner happy is to surprise them in the morning”
Song Yu giggled and kissed his sweet face, “One of these days, you’re not gonna have any more articles to prompt from. What will you do then?”
Lan Zhou took Song Yu’s hand into his and entwined their fingers together. Looking at his callused hands against Song Yu’s, he kissed each knuckle tenderly,
“I’ll just keep repeating them until you remember them too.”
Song Yu happily kissed Lan Zhou’s head and reluctantly got out of the bed.
It had started snowing a week ago. He had heard from An Wei and Yu Hong that the zombie hoard had slowed down significantly and would do a full-scale attack. Some had already frozen in hibernation whilst the zombie king had not been spotted.
It seemed that the zombie king had abandoned this hoard for warmer areas. That was a relief for everyone who was afraid of a winter ambush.
Song Yu and Lan Zhou did their morning routine and headed downstairs. It seems that no one was up since the kitchen was empty. Since the winter vegetables had already grown and harvested a few days ago, there was no need to go outside for farming. Lan Zhou put on a cotton jacket and went outside to deal with the animals whilst Song Yu got to work for breakfast.
Song Yu and Ming Ze had come up with a solution to the winter food shortage, and Song Yu was to provide breakfast every week. It always consisted of a soup with either meat or vegetables. For 100 people that was a lot, but Song Yu who had an abundance of chicken stock, broth, and soup base, it was easier than giving them grains, vegetables and meat once a week.
Song Yu took out eight large silver pots and boiled his purified water into them, when they started to boil; he put in the soup base and pre-cut vegetables. Stirring each of them, the kitchen filled with the smell. Lan Zhou, who had just come back inside, saw this and smiled.
Song Yu looked really happy.
Tamach_i· Jan 17, 2023
