TN –
Thanks to “Crystal” for the donation on Ko-fi. This is the 3rd extra upload out of 4.
After a busy morning, Xu Song, having eaten and drunk his fill, rolled onto the bed, ready to take a nap.
The bed here wasn’t as soft as the one in the RV, and it wasn’t as large, but it felt fresher. That’s why he thought it was nice to occasionally change the place to sleep.
The bedding in the room was decent because it was in Area A, surprisingly new. The fabric was a bit rough, but it provided good insulation.
After throwing away the garbage, Yue Zheng also took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.
“Taking a nap?” Xu Song unconsciously snuggled into his arms, intending to sleep together with his beloved.
“Yeah, take a break for a while,” Yue Zheng said, rolling over to press down on him.
“Hey, what… what are you doing? Aren’t we taking a nap?” How could he say it’s good to take a nap and then suddenly decide to trouble himself??
“The soundproofing here is good.”
“…You pervert!”
“It’s not what you said, occasionally changing places is not bad?”
Tears filled Xu Song’s eyes. He tightly held onto the last piece of clothing that hadn’t been stripped off him, “I meant occasionally changing places to sleep is nice!!”
“Yeah, it’s changing places to ‘sleep.'” It was a matter of understanding verbs between the two, not like he hadn’t warned him in advance.
When an ordinary person encounters someone with a mutated physique, it becomes a tragedy, especially when… the ordinary person is the one being pressed down…
The unique sense of security brought by being underground, the morning’s battles, and familiar people in familiar positions lying on him… all of these left Xu Song powerless to resist and unwilling to resist. Consequently, the direct result was… after taking a nap, he sadly discovered that his voice was hoarse.
Actually, having an earth-element ability user was pretty good. The spatial structures they constructed with earth materials not only provided windproofing and warmth but also had good sound insulation. Living in the RV usually had some privacy issues, with the mother-in-law and two children living below. Xu Song didn’t dare to let loose and trouble someone freely. Today’s opportunity was rare… cough cough, just let him have his way.
In the evening, Xu Song lay on the bed pretending to be dead. Yue Zheng went out to the neighboring room to see if there was anything going on with Mother Xu.
Half-closed his eyes, silently criticizing someone’s beastly behavior in his heart, Xu Song released his mental power to sense the situation above ground.
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.
The twilight under the setting sun enveloped the relatively quiet base, making the deserted base seem somewhat lonely yet peaceful.
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Ca atlr wbwfca, atf klcur, ylu jcv rwjii, jiwbra mbnfgfv atf fcalgf rxs. Pc atf yfjealoei recrfa, atfs wbnfv rafjvlis abkjgvr atf cbgat.
Xu Song breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel that the number of migratory birds in the base was not that many anymore. The majority had already taken flight, joining the large army heading north. There were only some birds still hopping around the base. It seemed like they… really liked the look of this place?
Feeling that someone next door had already left the room, Xu Song snorted, covered his head with the blanket, and decided to ignore him when he came in. He wanted him to know the consequences of bothering him!
So, while silently sensing the footsteps of someone approaching, and preparing to ignore someone’s attitude, suddenly, someone not far away called out to Yue Zheng, and then… that jerk went away with them!
His head emerged from the blanket, his face reddened from being stifled by the blanket. Xu Song grunted irritably. Even though he knew someone must have had a reason for finding him, it still annoyed him that just when he was ready to give someone a piece of his mind, he was called away. It made him inexplicably frustrated.
Refusing to admit that he was the one being irritated, he casually took a bottle of mineral water from the bedside and moistened his throat. As a result, when someone walked in after about thirty minutes, Xu Song had already forgotten his subconscious decision to confront him and asked, “Someone’s looking for us? What’s going on?”
Yue Zheng knew, of course, that Xu Song could sense the situation outside. Holding a bag, he walked to the bedside and took out a pear, “Moisten your throat.” This pear was grown by Tiancheng in the car a few days ago. There were still many left in the fridge. After leaving the air-raid shelter, Yue Zheng planned to have his mother-in-law make some pear soup for Xiao Song to drink, so as not to ruin his throat… cough, really damaged by the shouting.
Seeing the pear, Xu Song suddenly remembered his decision from a moment ago. He reluctantly took it, took a hateful bite, and decided to temporarily let him off—never mind how many times he had made the decision to “temporarily let him off” since they got together. Anyway, he had never retaliated.
“They just received the latest satellite photos. The main force of the bird swarm is estimated to move north from here by the day after tomorrow. Early the day after tomorrow, the base will send out the vanguard to clean up the remaining migratory birds in the city.”
“Do we have to join the operation?”
Seeing Yue Zheng nod, Xu Song took a deep breath, “Tonight… and tomorrow, no more… that…” Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed even if he beat him to death!
Yue Zheng looked at him deeply, the heavy regret in his eyes couldn’t be blocked. Xu Song, annoyed, stuffed the half-eaten pear into his mouth.
This time, the bird invasion, although it had a considerable impact on the B City base, was not as disastrous as imagined. Some defensive personnel had accidents during the defense, but most of the ordinary personnel had already evacuated early, entering the underground air-raid shelter. Therefore, the losses were limited.
After confirming that the bird swarm outside had started to migrate, the news was released, and orders were simultaneously sent to other air-raid shelters, instructing them to open the gates early the day after tomorrow and let the vanguards from each shelter go out for the cleanup mission.
Cheers echoed in each air-raid shelter. Although there were casualties among relatives in this defense, the stability of their homeland made everyone look forward to the future.
A certain guy, lying on the bed like a big shot “recovering from injuries,” was disturbed by his own mother and two sons who came to visit. Xu Song, annoyed, covered his head pretending to be dead.
“When we go out the day after tomorrow, Mom will stay with Tiancheng and Tianyou in the RV. After confirming that it’s safe outside, they’ll move out with the main force.” Yue Zheng arranged for the early morning of the day after tomorrow, and Xu Song still covered his head pretending to be dead until his mother slapped his lower back…
“Alright, that’s it.” After slapping her son, Mother Xu got up and said, “Enough, don’t be sulking. We’re already underground; don’t make it worse.” After saying that, she swaggered out of the room and went back to the neighboring room.
“I sometimes really doubt whether she’s really my biological mother…” After his own mother went out, Xu Song emerged with a look of resentment.
“You look a lot like her.” Yue Zheng locked the door, sitting back next to him with a smile.
“Sigh… Have you ever seen such a tough mom?” Xu Song leaned his head on Yue Zheng’s shoulder, almost biting the bedsheet in resentment.
“Well, she’s optimistically spirited.” In the current society, someone with Mother Xu’s personality could live well. If she were always sentimental and self-pitying, she might not be able to endure and end up committing suicide.
“She’s overly optimistic!” Rubbing the area where his mother had slapped, his back still aching! She clearly had seen through what happened to him… cough, anyway, it was intentional!
Yue Zheng gently massaged his waist, his hands’ elasticity and flexibility making someone feel that the more he massaged, the harder it was to let go. When Xu Song realized that someone’s hand had moved from on top of the blanket to outside his clothes, and from outside his clothes to directly pressing onto his skin, he was already sadly unable to resist…
“Boss, the higher-ups have tentatively set the operation for ten in the morning the day after tomorrow.”
A man, covering his injured eye with a piece of cloth, frowned upon hearing this, “The day after tomorrow? Are all the birds outside gone?”
“I heard they are. The bird flock has already flown north, but there might still be some birds remaining. Otherwise, why would we go out for cleanup?”
“Damn, can’t we live in peace? Just staying in the base and encountering such things. ” One person spat out in frustration.
“No choice, who asked us to be unable to survive without this place.” The boss leaned against the earthen wall with a gloomy expression.
“Why are you crowding over here? Can’t you see the line has been crossed?!” A team member pointed at someone in the adjacent area and scolded loudly.
The person with a stern face quickly retreated to his original position. Several people in the same area murmured quietly, “What’s with the arrogance? Just having an ability…”
Unexpectedly, these low voices were heard clearly by an ability user with enhanced hearing. That person stood up and pointed at the murmuring group, cursing, “Arrogant? I can go out and fight the birds, while you all cowardly pretend to be dead inside. Why so much nonsense?! If you have the guts, open the door early the day after tomorrow and rush out first. Show me how arrogant you can be?!”
The nearby ordinary people cowered on the ground, each lowering their heads, hiding resentment in their eyes. However, none of them dared to retort.
Since there was no resistance, the cursing person ranted for a while and angrily sat back down. Such matters couldn’t be discussed openly. Even though there were so-called ability drugs in the base now, people sadly discovered that not everyone benefited from taking these drugs.
Many ordinary people, after taking the drugs, only a small portion gained abilities. And because their abilities were triggered later, the effects and improvement speed were far behind those who had abilities from the beginning of the apocalypse.
Not to mention, these valuable ability drugs were absolutely unattainable for those who lived in the base, muddled through each day and were content as long as they could eat well.
As a result, this group harbored more resentment and jealousy towards ability users. They were frustrated with the power imbalance and had to suppress their feelings. They could only vent their frustration quietly, making small moves when the situation was inconspicuous.
At this moment, due to the migratory birds transferring all the survivors into the air-raid shelter, the conflicts between the ordinary people and ability users, who had been hiding under calm exteriors, inevitably collided.
Like the minor altercation just now, conflicts occurred in almost all ordinary areas.
These ability users, because this mission was a compulsory one—once encountering a mission that threatened the survival of the entire base, all squads must unconditionally support it. If a squad made excuses or intentionally didn’t participate, they would deduct a large number of points and undergo demotion processing.
Facing the ferocious bird swarm outside, witnessing teammates getting injured or even dying, and then having to deal with ungrateful ordinary people who think their sacrifices are justified – who could endure such a situation?
In a certain air-raid shelter in Zone C, during the night when there was almost no lighting in the shelter, an ordinary person quietly got up and sneaked into the vicinity of a team of ability users to steal something.
In the confined space, stealing from an ability user team required considerable courage.
Upon discovering someone approaching, the members of the ability user team woke up. Seeing the thief, who had interrupted their sleep after a morning of intense battles, their temper flared up instantly.
A swift kick sent the thief flying, and one person rolled up their sleeves, cursing loudly, “Damn! Stealing from grandpa’s head, are you looking for trouble?!”
Several people who were already frustrated rushed up, without even needing to use their abilities, and almost beat the person to half death.
Someone in the dimly lit area shouted, “Are ability users so great? Can ability users just beat people?”
“I’m indeed great. What’s the matter with beating you?” A shoe flew out of the crowd and was instantly knocked away by a water arrow. The group of people, ready to roll up their sleeves and go in to catch the thief, heard another voice saying loudly, “Damn it! I can’t stand it anymore! Acting like big shots all day long. What’s so special about having abilities? If I didn’t lack abilities, I wouldn’t be hiding here and taking this crap!”
“That’s right, really, if you’re so capable, why don’t you leave the base? Go live on your own!”
“Exactly, why should we leave? Without ability users, you couldn’t even establish this base!”
“Without you, we could still build it, just a bit slower!”
“That’s right!”
“Get out! If you’re so capable, why are you hiding under us? Go fight your own birds!”
The situation escalated, and apart from a few air-raid shelters, in Zones C, D, G, most of the air-raid shelters experienced similar incidents.
Since most of the military had evacuated to other designated air-raid shelters, these shelters with more intense conflicts had fewer people. Only a small number of armed forces were left inside, responsible for maintaining order, as well as distributing water and food daily. They couldn’t prevent the inevitable outbreak of violent incidents.
The news reached the underground base in Zone A. Given the unclear situation outside and the darkness of the night, it was not easy to send people to maintain order.
By the next morning, after a night of turmoil in those air-raid shelters, when emotions had somewhat stabilized, another unexpected event occurred, completely severing the already tense nerves of the people.
