Mother Xu was enthusiastically organizing things with the two children. The small tree could lift heavy objects that ordinary people couldn’t. The oil fruits had completely dried out, and after Xu Song filled up the things that needed refueling, he asked Xiao Shu to clean up the empty shells of the oil fruits.
After a short while, the vehicle arrived at the location of the shopping mall Yue Zheng had seen on the map.
Abu and Xiao Shu were responsible for keeping watch, while Tiancheng and Tianyou stayed in the vehicle with Mother Xu.
The two of them carried Lily of the Valley flowers, which Tiancheng had just planted, in their pockets and cautiously entered the partially collapsed mall.
There were inevitably some mutated creatures and undead inside the mall, but the two of them skillfully cleared their way while progressing deeper inside. After about half an hour, the Lily of the Valley in the vehicle shook, and Yue Zheng’s voice came through, “Tiancheng, ask Xiao Shu to come to the third floor.”
“Oh.” Mo Tiancheng nodded and poked Xiao Shu. “Dad wants you to go to the third floor.”
Xiao Shu shook its leaf-covered head and twisted its waist in a strange manner before rushing into the mall, making “duang, duang” sounds along the way…
Mother Xu restrained the urge to twitch her mouth and asked the two children, “Are they okay inside?”
Mo Tianyou shook his head. “I can sense that there are a lot fewer mutated creatures inside. Dad and the others must have cleared them out.”
Mother Xu breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly remembered something. She quickly asked the two children, “What are you practicing with them every morning and evening?”
Mo Tiancheng tilted his head. “It’s kung fu!”
“Military-style boxing! That’s what Dad said!”
“It can be used to fight bad guys!”
Mother Xu was somewhat intrigued. These four boys practiced every morning and evening, but she was getting older after all… She would ask Yue Zheng about it when the children came out. Having some self-defense ability was better than worrying the children and becoming a burden.
After about half an hour, Mo Tianyou leaned towards the car window and pointed at the mall entrance. “Dad and the others are coming out!”
Sure enough, a short while later, Yue Zheng and the others walked out. Apart from the backpacks on their backs, they were also carrying a lot of things in their hands. And behind them, Xiao Shu was twisting and turning with a bundle of items tied to its branches, including a large refrigerator…
“What is all this?” Mother Xu was startled and quickly opened the rear car door to take the items from Yue Zheng and the others.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Qf obecv delaf j iba bo atlcur. Ycmf atbrf weajafv qijcar yfjg ogela, atfs jgf wemt ijgufg atjc yfobgf atf jqbmjisqrf. Ktja’r kts kf uba j ijguf gfoglufgjabg.”
Qlat ybat vbbgr bqfc, atf ijguf gfoglufgjabg kjr wjcfenfgfv lcab atf nftlmif klat atf mbwylcfv foobgar bo Tef Itfcu jcv Wljb Vte, qijmfv lc j mbgcfg atja kjr mifjgfv klat vloolmeias.
Even though the RV itself was spacious, it now felt somewhat crowded. Fortunately, they had a large number of solar panels on the vehicle. Otherwise, even if they felt the small refrigerator was insufficient, they wouldn’t have dared to bring this one along.
Being treated as a laborer to transport the refrigerator, Xiao Shu didn’t show any adverse reactions. On the contrary, it proudly climbed onto the vehicle and contorted its body, indicating that it brought the refrigerator up and that it was powerful…
In addition to the large refrigerator, their backpacks were filled to the brim, and they were also carrying several items in their hands.
“These are clothes, I got them in your size. The first floor of the mall is a supermarket, and these bags contain various seasonings and such that we collected.”
After returning to the car, the group discussed the direction they would move in. While Xu Song and his mother organized their belongings
Mother Xu then entered the driver’s cabin. She expressed her concerns and asked if she could still learn martial arts or other similar skills given her current physical condition.
After considering for a moment, Yue Zheng suggested, “Given your current physical condition, there’s no need to learn a complete set of techniques. I can teach you some simple self-defense techniques for close encounters. Also, in terms of offensive skills, I can teach you how to handle firearms.”
“Firearms? Guns?!” Mother Xu was startled. In peacetime, owning a firearm privately would result in imprisonment. Even now, although the base allowed explorers to exchange for firearms and ammunition, it was still difficult for ordinary people to get access to them.
“Yeah, we have guns.” Xu Song leaned in after hearing the conversation. “We didn’t know the extent of weapon regulation at the base, so we didn’t bring them out before.” He pointed towards Xiao Shu. “They’re all hidden inside it.”
Xiao Shu, swaying in front of the refrigerator, tilted its tree crown and awkwardly approached.
“Take out a weapon and show her how to use it. Later, when we stop to rest, we can practice shooting.” Besides being able to exchange for firearms at the base, they could also exchange for ammunition separately. This way, they wouldn’t hesitate to use the guns.
Of course, the exchange rate was still quite unfavorable and not affordable for ordinary people.
Thinking of this, Yue Zheng quickly searched on the GPS. Mother Xu, on the other hand, enthusiastically followed her son to the carriage to witness the legendary firearms and ammunition.
Pistols, sniper rifles, grenades, flamethrowers.
“Brother Yue, I think I can study this flamethrower. It should be possible to modify it into a new type of fuel. If we can modify it, we can use it!” Xu Song saw Xiao Shu pull out a set of flamethrowers and his eyes lit up as he leaned forward, excitedly sharing his thoughts.
“Sure, you can dismantle one set. I saw it in the base before, and they should have improved it already.” Yue Zheng agreed without looking back, giving his beloved troublemaker the go-ahead to tinker and modify.
Xu Song rolled up his sleeves and asked Xiao Shu, who was watching the scene, to fetch some tools.
With a handgun in her left hand and a sniper rifle in her right hand, Mother Xu looked around and carefully examined the bomb placed on the sofa. “Using these things will make a lot of noise, won’t they?”
“We have suppressors… Mom, it’s too dangerous for you to hold them like that…”
“But there are no bullets in them, right?”
“…But you’re pointing them at my head, and it’s still intimidating!”
“Xu Song, come with me.” The car had stopped at some point, and Xu Song had already opened the fuel tank and was studying it. When he was called, he quickly put down his things, got up and followed.
“Huh? Aren’t we going to the textile city?”
“Let’s check out this place first.”
Following Yue Zheng’s direction, Xu Song paused. “The police station?”
Yue Zheng nodded. “Let’s see if there are any weapons left inside.” This place was relatively close to the city center, so there might still be some leftover weapons and ammunition.
Xu Song’s eyes lit up, and he quickly rolled up his sleeves and followed Yue Zheng out of the car, cautiously entering the building.
There were no mutated creatures inside, but they encountered two zombies. With his insider experience, Yue Zheng quickly found the place where the weapons were stored. As expected, although there were no heavy weapons, there were still plenty of sniper rifles, assault rifles, ammunition, handcuffs, stun batons, and other light weapons available.
Yue Zheng was pleasantly surprised to discover a long-range rifle. Although he hadn’t received professional training with this type of long-range weapon, with his enhanced vision and familiarity with firearms, he knew he could effectively wield its power. However, the only concern was the ammunition. The quantity of sniper rifle bullets was not abundant, so he hoped they could acquire more at the base.
Together, they carried and loaded all the weapons from the room. With a substantial amount of ammunition, they could schedule live shooting practice soon. But for now, they needed to continue toward their next destination.
Inside the textile city, they found various fabrics, wool, and plenty of sewing materials. They kept a portion for their own use and planned to transport the rest back to the base for completing tasks.
Along the way, they encountered two more attacks from mutated creatures, which they easily dealt with, resulting in a significant haul of meat. They also obtained the corpse of another mutated creature with water-based abilities.
As they returned to the RV, they realized the unfortunate situation, they had harvested so much that there wasn’t enough space in the vehicle.
“Well, when we return to the base, we’ll try to trade as much as we can,” Yue Zheng sighed, surveying the fully packed interior of the RV. After all, the base had a high demand for meat, considering the time required for vegetable and grain production in the greenhouses.
“Yeah… I wonder if there will be enough space for the fabrics and other materials. Also, should we go to the farmland to find mutated cotton?” Xu Song also noticed the overwhelming amount of their harvest on the vehicle and expressed concerns about the upcoming journey.
“Definitely. We should at least acquire some seeds,” Yue Zheng agreed. Cotton was always in demand, especially when they could grow it in Mo Tiancheng.
“True, even if we don’t need to complete the tasks, at least we can be self-sufficient!”
The car stopped at the entrance of the textile city. Together with Xiao Shu, they entered the city while Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou coordinated with Abba to defend against possible attacks.
The building where the textile city was located remained sturdy, with minimal damage from the earthquake. They cleared out various creatures lurking in the darkness, circling the building. Frustratingly, they discovered that there was an abundance of items inside.
“There’s too much stuff. It’s hard to just take a portion back… it feels wasteful,” Yue Zheng lamented.
Currently, the base had a high demand for fabrics and cotton. Although they had a textile factory in the base, the production was limited due to constraints such as machinery, labor, and raw materials. Thus, the purchase price was quite attractive. If they could take back more items, they could easily complete the limited-time tasks for the month and even exceed the requirements, earning additional points.
Yue Zheng furrowed his brow and walked towards the window. During their journey, they had intentionally avoided areas with large concentrations of mutated creatures to reach their current location.
If those creatures had changed their habitats and gathered nearby, it wouldn’t be as easy to reach this place in the future. If they didn’t seize this opportunity to collect more items…
“Brother Yue, there’s a container truck downstairs!” Xu Song suddenly pointed downstairs and said.
A large-capacity container truck was parked below, and they weren’t sure if it contained any items. However, considering its size, if they could take it…
“You mean, drive it back?” That was indeed a viable option! They could drive both vehicles together, but they would need to split their manpower to operate the additional vehicle.
Xu Song furrowed his brow, contemplating for a moment, then headed towards the staircase. “Let me check it out!”
Saying that, he swiftly descended the stairs and went outside to inspect the truck.
Engineering is a must-have skills/knowledge in apocalypse…😄
Thanks for the update
Previously it indicated that the six-year-old twins were too small to handle a firearm, so they could only learn safety and not how to shoot. That’s incorrect. I started learning marksmanship at five, and I was a very small five year old. It may require a brace or prone position for long-barreled firearms (rifles, shotguns, etc), since the body weight isn’t enough to offset the firearm’s weight, but if safely and responsibly handled there’s no reason a young child – with supervision – can’t shoot. Knowledge, education and understanding the need for responsibility can prevent tragic accidents.