“Come on! Let’s wish that the new year will be more prosperous and peaceful, free from illness and disaster for all of us!” Mother Xu raised her beer, and Xu Song and Yue Zheng also held beers, while the two children had colas in their hands.
These drinks were brought back with them in the shipping container truck from before, and they were just right for the festive atmosphere now.
The table was filled with a variety of dishes, and Mother Xu showed off her culinary skills, frying, sautéing, steaming, boiling, and stewing, leaving nothing out.
The two children preferred sweet and sour fish slices, tangy and sweet, with hardly any bones. Xu Song and his friends liked green vegetables – they had had enough meat, and they were getting tired of it.
For the sake of health, the New Year’s meal in the car was scheduled for noon, and in the evening, they would prepare some vegetarian dishes and dumplings for the occasion.
Inside the RV, there was a radio playing various programs from the base. The comforting words reassured the people living in the base, even if they knew it was deliberately concealing the real situation. They still tried to believe those words and held on to the will to survive.
It was said that there would be a New Year’s program this evening!
Although Mother Xu sighed that the programs had returned to the days of New Year’s Eve celebrations, like they used to be when there were radio broadcasts, having such programs was better than not having them. They couldn’t watch live broadcasts, but listening to the sound was still good.
Throughout the day, almost no one dared to venture outside the base. Most people stayed at home or gathered in others’ homes to listen to the programs. When Chinese people celebrate the New Year, they seek unity and festivity. Even if the people around them are not their own family, being together is better than being alone.
In the evening, as everyone listened to various programs on the radio, the once scarce comedy shows had returned in abundance. However, most of the old classic sketches that used to satirize real-life and social phenomena had now shifted their humor to the mutated beasts and plants.
Xu Song listened and said in amazement, “This singer is still around? Oh! This comedian hasn’t died either?”
Indeed, in today’s world, hearing that someone is still alive and well in the base is already a great surprise and joy.
Around midnight, faint firecracker sounds came from the base, making those who heard them think someone was shooting guns. Only when they confirmed that the flashes were from firecrackers did they relax, but their hearts couldn’t help but be filled with sorrow again. How long had it been since people had heard more gunfire than firecrackers?
With two growing boys at home, Mother Xu was satisfied with the speed at which they consumed food. Although her own son occasionally complained about getting fat, Mother Xu pretended not to see or hear it – in this day and age, being chubby is considered beautiful. It’s not like everyone can worry about becoming a ball like him!
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.
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On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, the whole family was sitting around the dining table having breakfast. Mother Xu didn’t know where she had heard the rhyme, “Dumplings on the first day, noodles on the second…” She recited the entire set of rhymes and was determined to make them a reality these days.
“Later, Tiancheng, help grandma plant some chives, okay?”
Tiancheng nodded vigorously, “Okay!” He and Tianyou had never eaten anything called a “box” from birth to their current age.
Mother Xu was fortunate that, for her small restaurant business, she had traveled and encountered a variety of food items, so even if she hadn’t personally made some dishes, she had at least heard of, seen, or even tasted them. Therefore, now she could replicate these dishes, making them look just as they should.
Tianyou was enjoying his breakfast when he suddenly felt something moving under his feet.
“Ah, Achi!” he exclaimed, picking up Achi and placing it on his lap.
Tiancheng also abandoned his bowl and spoon and reached out to pet Achi.
“Is it awake?” the three adults looked surprised. They had assumed that this little fellow would sleep through the whole winter.
Just as they were pondering this, a small green creature flew in with a soft “whoosh” and landed gracefully on a plate of lettuce leaves on the table. It started nibbling eagerly, looking like it had been starving for a long time.
“The grasshopper is awake too?” The three adults were even more astonished. If they thought Achi would sleep through until spring, they assumed this grasshopper wouldn’t wake up again.
It wasn’t that they cursed it to stay asleep, but it was rare for insects to survive the winter and make it through to midsummer. It seemed that mutated animals and plants had their extraordinary sides.
However, if the grasshopper had been active outdoors before those days and had also been outdoors when it didn’t want to move, it would have ended up like the creatures found outside the base, dead beyond recovery. But it had been in the RV, sleeping in Tiancheng and Tianyou’s cozy spot.
Additionally, the RV was always filled with bags piled up, so…
“They both have powers!” Tianyou happily raised his little hand and, when nobody was looking, discreetly passed the egg yolk he didn’t like to eat over to Achi. Achi, who hadn’t eaten much during the winter, didn’t mind and started eating it eagerly. The taste was pretty good!
Tiancheng also secretly passed his egg yolk to his little brother, piling it up in front of Achi.
In fact, they didn’t dislike eating it very much. It was just that eating it every day had made them a bit tired of it. Moreover, for kids with somewhat weak swallowing abilities, the egg yolk always made their throats feel sticky. Swallowing it with water was fine, but eating it dry was quite a hassle.
Because of this, they didn’t particularly like it.
The three adults noticed their little actions but didn’t pay much attention this time. There would be eggs in the chive dumplings for lunch today, and having an excess of nutrients wasn’t a problem.
After Achi and the Grasshopper woke up, they unexpectedly acquired powers.
Achi had a Metal-based ability, and the spikes on its back could indeed turn into “metal spikes” when it activated its power, making it almost indestructible.
The Grasshopper had Wind-based abilities in addition to Corrosion-based abilities. Its Wind abilities allowed it to fly extremely fast, and it could secrete a corrosive liquid from its mouth. After some testing, the Grasshopper could corrode a five-centimeter thick steel plate, creating a hole and gracefully flying through it.
The three adults couldn’t help but marvel, “Who would have thought that another creature with dual abilities would be a grasshopper…”
Yue Zheng, Xu Song, Tiancheng, and Tianyou all seemed to have acquired dual abilities because of the crystals. Xiao Shu’s situation was too strange to serve as a reference. As for the Grasshopper, it was currently the creature that had spent the most time with them, though the reasons were unknown, and its Corrosion-based abilities couldn’t perform long-range attacks. But now, the Grasshopper had an extra life-saving skill.
The awakening of the two little creatures added extra excitement to the twins’ day. Xu Song and the others didn’t mind, letting them take Achi and the Grasshopper outside to greet the new ostriches.
“Do you think… the ostriches might consider Achi as a snack?” Xu Song asked with some concern as he looked out the window.
“They won’t; it’s not enough to get stuck in their teeth,” Tiancheng assured. Given the size of Achi, who would pay it any attention among the mutated giant ostriches?
“…Your ostriches grow teeth?” Xu Song’s focus had clearly shifted in an unexpected direction.
During the Lunar New Year in the base, people were very busy. After celebrating the Spring Festival, they once again entered the routine of going out, hunting, and making a living.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng were busy studying maps and preparing to drive to the city as soon as the snow melted, so they could live outside for a while.
“Also, that container truck needs to be modified. It’s best to make all three vehicles work together since we have more things to carry,” they discussed for a while and realized that going out of the city was quite an endeavor. They needed to take both of the rear containers with them; otherwise, there would be no space for the prey they hunted.
Fortunately, Xu Song’s mind was increasingly useful in this regard, and before long, he had drawn up a design. Even though they lacked some materials and parts, with their reputation as a B-level team in the base, they could easily get help from the base’s official authorities.
They still had plenty of energy bags, enough to last until early March. By then, the weather was expected to warm up a bit, allowing them to go out for hunting, search for books, and take a vacation.
While Xu Song and the others were busy modifying the vehicles, people in the base were busy going out to hunt and collect energy bags, as well as enhancing their activated abilities. During this time, a group of people who appeared to be refugees arrived at the entrance of Base B in City B, covered in dust and in a state of distress.
“We’ve finally reached City B… Base B!” The group of people cried out in relief and exhaustion, startling the staff members who were registering at the entrance.
The on-duty soldiers rushed over to persuade these excited individuals and directed them to the front to register and provide information. Before the arrival of the harsh winter, there were still occasional people seeking refuge and entering the base, but during the long winter, no one had arrived from outside except for their own team.
Today, within the base, due to natural disasters and human conflicts, the death toll has risen to a level that deeply worried the higher-ups. So, having people seeking refuge was definitely a good thing.
In the group of twenty-four people, surprisingly, eighteen of them were individuals with abilities, and among those eighteen, five were second-level ability users!
This ratio astonished the staff responsible for registering them. Even among the well-known teams of ability users within the base, they didn’t have such a high percentage of ability users! The number of second-level ability users had indeed increased recently, but this was only achieved in the past few days due to the promotion of energy capsules. So now, these newcomers…
So that’s where the hedgehog and grasshopper were! 🦔 💤
Thank you
Oh so both the hedgehog and grasshopper had gone to hibernation mode…Hm, newcomers? Will there be old familiar faces among them?