Luo Wen’an and Su Daji are familiar with the process of tidying up the firewood into a small mountain shape. Yue Zheng starts the fire, Xu Song brings out the ingredients and water for today’s meal, and Liu Shishi prepares the pots and utensils.
The people around them form their own small groups. Although most of these people only have basic survival skills, they do possess some special abilities. Some abilities are obvious and useful, while others are less practical and are looked down upon by those with more powerful abilities. These less powerful individuals are unwilling to join forces with ordinary people.
Among the group on the left side of the five, there is a person with enhanced leg strength for jumping, but apart from being able to jump high, he doesn’t have any other abilities. He is physically weak and unable to hunt for himself, so he was kicked out of the first group and is now trailing behind.
After the water boils, it takes Liu Shishi a good ten minutes before she puts the prepared meat into the pot.
This water is no longer the clean water provided by the small stream. It was collected by the group in the field ditch during the previous day. Who knows if it’s clean or contaminated with bacteria?
Yue Zheng said that when the water needs to be used, it is best to boil it more. It’s only now that the portable water purifier they obtained before leaving Y City becomes useful.
The little tree, taking advantage of the darkness, has already been secretly taken out by Xu Song and placed on the roadside to “have dinner” on its own.
The aroma of the meat spreads from the pot. The group has almost run out of their dried rations, so they have to rely on meat for now. After all, most of the plants have mutated, and they don’t know what is safe to eat anymore.
Even though there are some non-mutated crops by the roadside, none of the five can recognize them.
Even Yue Zheng, who has wilderness survival experience, mostly searched for high-protein and high-fat foods during his outdoor training to increase survival rates. He focused on animals and insects. However, now… it’s good enough to have meat. Why be picky?!
Meat soup and roasted meat.
The fragrance attracts the faint scrutiny of those around them, but anyone who has survived till this day is not simple-minded. These five people caught up with the others on the way. They had disappeared for a whole morning yesterday but returned to their previous location in the afternoon, and they brought back fresh meat, either from individuals with abilities or from powerful non-human beings.
Regardless of which type they are, they are not easy to deal with, so it’s better to observe the situation first.
“We are approximately at this location now. If nothing unexpected happens, at our current speed, it will take about five days to reach the S City urban area,” Yue Zheng explained to the four people around him, holding a map in his hand.
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.
“Five days? We are almost catching up to the Red Army’s 25,000 Li,” Su Daji rubbed his chin and sighs.
“Ktf egyjc jgfj…” Ole Vtlrtl uba ibra lc atbeuta. Vlcmf atfs rfqjgjafv ogbw atf wjlc ugbeq, atf atgff bo atfw tjnf yffc agjnfilcu bc obba. Pa tjr yffc jybea afc vjsr rlcmf rtf ijra kjrtfv tfg ojmf bg ygertfv tfg affat. Vtf offir ilxf rtf’r mbnfgfv lc yeur.
Mbgaecjafis, atf kfjatfg tjr yffc gfijalnfis mbbi gfmfcais; batfgklrf, klatbea yjatlcu jcv rkfjalcu qgboerfis, rtf kbeiv vfolclafis tjnf jc ecqifjrjca bvbg. Cr j kbwjc, rtf mjc’a jmmfqa tfgrfio rwfiilcu ilxf atja. Po atfs mjc gfjmt atf egyjc jgfj, wjsyf rtf mjc olcv j qijmf ab ajxf j yjat!
They distribute a few down jackets among themselves, with each person holding a can of cooked meat soup and a couple pieces of roasted meat. They quickly feel full and a bit overwhelmed by the meat, considering they have been eating it as the main food for days.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng lean against each other, sharing a jacket. They have gotten used to it these past few days. Luo Wen’an and Su Daji joked about it earlier, but the two of them didn’t react, and after getting used to it, the jokes stopped.
“It’s only early August, and it’s already this cold at night. I have a feeling that it’s going to snow earlier this year,” exhaling a breath, with a hint of white mist forming and dissipating above the fire.
“Exactly, this morning I saw ice forming on the leaves by the roadside,” Luo Wen’an took a big sip of soup and let out a satisfied sigh.
“It seems like the sky is getting dark earlier?” Xu Song looked around, puzzled.
They all quickly raise their heads. It does seem like the sky is darker than usual at this time, or is it getting dark faster?
“Let’s rest earlier tonight,” Yue Zheng furrowed his brow, feeling a vague sense of unease. When the two looked at each other, they both saw the same worry in each other’s eyes—what’s going to happen?
After eating and drinking their fill, they took care of their needs by the roadside and gathered around the campfire again to rest.
Xu Song leaned comfortably against Yue Zheng, covering himself with a down jacket. Yue Zheng’s arm passes under Xu Song’s neck, trying to minimize the gap between them. The weather is too cold now, and if they can’t keep each other warm, they will surely wake up freezing during the night.
The others did the same. Luo Wen’an has his girlfriend on his left and his best friend Su Daji on his right. According to him, he’s living like an emperor with two people on either side.
Xu Song woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that Yue Zheng had just been awakened by Su Daji. The two of them were having an intense conversation.
“What’s going on?” Rubbing his eyes, Xu Song looked over to his side. It seemed like a trick of the light from the campfire, but he had a hard time seeing Yue Zheng’s face clearly. Maybe he wasn’t fully awake yet?
“It’s foggy,” Yue Zheng’s familiar voice replied. As he spoke, Xu Song could feel the slight vibrations in his chest. After spending these days together, Xu Song had become accustomed to Yue Zheng’s warmth, breath, and voice.
“Fog?!” Xu Song rubbed his eyes harder, looking around in confusion. Everywhere was shrouded in a hazy gray mist. Even on moonless nights, it was difficult to see the surroundings clearly. But the current situation was even more terrifying, even the usually visible outlines of plants in the distance and the flickering light from the campfire were barely visible!
Xu Song remembered that there were several other campfires nearby, but now he could only make out a faint, orange glow not far away. The campfire itself was completely obscured!
“What time is it?” Xu Song asked as he pulled his arm back.
“It’s four o’clock.” The night watch was divided into three shifts: Luo Wen’an from 10 pm to 1 am, Su Daji from 1 am to 4 am, and his own sift from 4 am to 7 am.
“It might be morning fog.”
“Luo Wen’an said it started around midnight.” Su Daji shrugged, not too concerned. “Maybe it will clear up once it’s daylight.”
“Okay.” Xu Song nodded uncertainly and looked at Yue Zheng with worry.
“It’s fine.” Although Yue Zheng was awake, he hadn’t moved and was still holding Xu Song in his arms, just like before they fell asleep. His large hand patted Xu Song’s back gently. “Go back to sleep for a while.”
“…I’m fine now. Let me help you with the night watch.” In theory, with four men taking turns, each person would have more time to sleep. But Yue Zheng insisted on letting Xu Song rest and recover from his injuries. Until now, Xu Song hadn’t taken a single night shift.
“It’s okay. It’s better for one of us to sleep than both of us being sleep-deprived. You can sleep for now. If the fog is still heavy when it’s daylight, we can rest a bit longer, and then it will be your turn.”
Xu Song rolled his eyes at Yue Zheng’s words. He knew that Yue Zheng meant well, but it was uncomfortable to feel like he wasn’t considered a combatant!
“You sleep today! I’ll take the watch!” Xu Song declared, not waiting for Yue Zheng’s response. He reached up and covered Yue Zheng’s eyes with one hand while pressing his other hand against Yue Zheng’s mouth.
Yue Zheng was taken aback but didn’t resist. He stayed still for a moment and then slightly moved his neck, mumbling incoherently through the hand covering his mouth, “air, air…”
Xu Song realized he was pressing too hard, almost squashing Yue Zheng’s nose. His face turned red, and he quickly released his grip, stammering, “You sleep today. Don’t sleep if you have the ability.”
A deep chuckle rumbled from Yue Zheng, causing Xu Song’s chest to tremble. The laughter made Xu Song’s face even hotter.
Before the person in his arms could become hysterical, Yue Zheng turned his body to make their sleeping position more comfortable, adjusting Xu Song in his embrace like a body pillow. “I’ll sleep. Wake me if anything happens.”
Warm and familiar breaths brushed against Xu Song’s neck, rising and falling rhythmically. It made his already flushed cheeks even redder and hotter.
Xu Song felt like he couldn’t even make a sound and could only nod his head dumbly, his mind feeling a bit numb as he stared blankly into the mist-filled air.
He remained stiff for about half an hour until he gradually adjusted his state and returned to normal.
The surroundings were quiet in the darkness of the night. The fog acted as a barrier, muffling both visual and auditory cues. Even if someone were moving or making noise nearby, the others would hardly notice without good vision or hearing.
Their belongings and supplies were gathered near the campfire, not far from where they slept. Xu Song could easily see with just a slight adjustment of his position, without even needing to get up.
But the warmth by being embraced was too cozy, and the rhythmic sound of heartbeats and breaths in his ear gave him a drowsy feeling.
However, at the same time, the ambiguous atmosphere in the confined space beneath the warm down jacket kept Xu Song on edge. His mind was in chaos, making it impossible for him to sleep as he usually would. The sense of responsibility for being on night watch reminded him that he couldn’t fall asleep.
Yue Zheng… Yue Zheng… His mind was filled with thoughts of the man beside him. Since the mutation, it seemed like Xu Song had become overly reliant on him. This level of dependence was something he had never experienced, even when facing his parents.
And this level of dependence, to ordinary people, might seem too intimate, too ambiguous…
He suddenly remembered the teasing remarks from Luo Wen’an and others. He clearly heard Liu Shishi say, “Your husband.” He clearly saw and heard the suggestive glances and comments from those two mischievous guys, but he didn’t argue back… Was it because he didn’t want any unpleasant arguments within the team? Or was it actually because he didn’t want to argue?
Wait?! Didn’t want to argue?!
Thank you for the chapter
Not arguing…heh. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️
The drawing of enlightenment…. Thank you
Hehe, an early marriage is best for the apocalypse… Husbands are good for safety.