Translator Note: So I planned to release two chapters to kick off the month of December, then I finished early. I am going to be busy over the weekend with assignments to do so I am posting chapters 4 and 5 early.
Also, this chapter introduces *cough* new/mysterious/unnamed male character *cough*
In the city, the night is more prosperous than the day. Men and women were enjoying night time festivities in a bar. A flirtatious woman wearing a tight-fitting miniskirt highlighting her tiny waist and curves stalked forward like a cat towards a sofa in the corner.
"Hey handsome, want to drink with me?" The woman fluttered her eyelashes but the man leisurely walked away. He had a pair of peach eyes with a mole in the corner of his left eye. He lounged on the sofa, his appearance and temperament attracting the attention of all the women in the bar.
"Leave." The man's eyes narrowed as if laughing but had a cold gleam while he mercilessly spat out a response. The woman was stunned and did not hear what he had said.
A hand grasped her shoulder. "Woman, there is no place for you here."
She spun around but saw a 40-50 year old man with bodyguards. Those near the sofa quickly cleared the premises cursing tonight's bad luck.
"There's a million yuan on this card to give to your mother." The middle-aged man sat next to the young man and slid a card on the table.
"Why bring the matter to me? Why don't you call her?" The young man sneered while dialing the numbers. "You called me out for this?"
He drawled, "Isn't it better to give this to her directly to ensure all the money goes through?"
The older man pinched his temple, "Tell her your uncle has been laid off and to watch out for trouble."
The young man pinched the card with a mocking smile. "You will not divorce yet you need me to deal with a trifle during the middle of the night? Yan Han I am not your subordinate. I don't care about this matter, send one of your lackeys instead."
He dropped the card on the table and turned to the door.
Yan Han's face sunk into an ugly expression. "I also wanted to see you…"
"I am alive, no need to worry." The young man exited the oppressive bar atmosphere in favor of outside.
The next morning Luo Xun was awakened by the doorbell ringing. His orders had already arrived? So fast!
Luo Xun sighed and shook his head. Deliveries for online shopping in M-city were never like this. Some package deliveries dragged on for ten and a half months on average. He did not expect express city delivery to be so prompt. He checked the numerous order statuses on his phone and found most had 'delivery' status with some still in 'dispatch' phase. Luo Xun prepared to finish up at home.
Luo Xun surveyed each room and began to plan the layout while waiting for deliveries to arrive. Needless to say the terrace must be used for cultivation, the kitchen and storage room are self-explanatory. The storage room without windows could be turned into a nursery and breeding room. The living room was relatively large so it could be separated to store things. The two smaller bedrooms could be used to store food and tools. The last would be his personal bedroom; he also does not need to move any bath and shower equipment. He though back on something that turned out useless since nobody found it necessary.
The doorbell continued to ring, followed by a stream of packages.
*Zi…zi…* The drilling sounds gave people headaches. The electric drill rang though building 7 for over half a month. The 16 th floor house was now filled with tools, boxes and remodeled items.
By October 22, everything Luo Xun had ordered had been delivered to his home. The living room was now split in two. Tools and upcoming modification projects were near the balcony with bought furniture in the hall.
All foodstuffs, seeds, stocked supplies ad processed foods were sorted in the first and second floors. He still needed to buy some furniture, at least a table, chairs, sofa and bed. Luo Xun hammered his sore waist and entered the bathroom after setting aside a newly modified non-toxic PVC pipe. He washed his face and took a big bite of a meat bun warmed in a microwave oven.
The day after the microwave oven arrived, Luo Xun removed the sounding device after checking for quality issues. Noise was dangerous during the apocalypse.
Luo Xun leaned against the sofa, glancing with satisfaction at the room. Now that he has refitted all the needed equipment, the rest of the day can be dedicated to preparations. For example preparing rice and wheat for the nursery in advance. Procrastination is not a good habit at all.
He threw the used plastic bags into the trash. Luo Xun cleaned up the remaining waste since all the useful things were already in the second floor storage bedrooms. The balcony and terrace now had sturdy hydroponics shelves and nursery boxes. The room was now completely clean.
Luo Xun pushed the sofa and fish tanks into the living room. He relaxed on the sofa, took out his cell phone and frowned. With the 50,000 left he could go buy some food and medicine, or possible raise some animals at home.
Some animals, not just humans also became zombies once the apocalypse started. Later in addition to zombie animals, come became mutants instead. The mutant animals could be considered more dangerous to humans than zombies.
However if an animal was domesticated prior to mutation, it would not go rabid and instead became a helper with strong combat effectiveness. At the very least, a dog could watch the house when one went out scavenging for resources.
Luo Xun remembered how zombie animals became more dangerous than human ones, as a result people became wary of any animals.
While in M-city, there had been an old man with a minibus. The old man's dog did not turn into a zombie and scared away intruders. The apocalypse caused social order to collapse, people broke into other's homes to loot.
Although Luo Xun wanted to raise one, a dog had costs: food, bones etc. Second, what it if turned into a zombie? Even if not initially, if the dog went out of control he could be unlucky and lose his life.
"I'll wait for now." It would be the same for any animal. If you had some chickens, you could get eggs and meat but the chirping noises could attract the attention of thieves. Luo Xun's desire to avoid trouble clashed with his wish to raise a dog.
Luo Xun planted some seeds in the nursery room box. The previous storage room had been modified so that the temperature and humidity caused germination after a few days.
Since winter is approaching, he dared not cultivate too much even if he could regulate room temperature. First reason was he could not eat or sell the plants for now. The second reason was plants and animals could mutate. If the plants were only seedlings, Luo Xun could quickly dispose of them, but if left for too long he would need alternative methods to destroy without requiring physical contact.
Even thogh it is convenient to plant on the terrace, Luo Xun prefers the hydroponic crops. Of course he also planned to plant some soil-based crops. Tomorrow he would head to the nearby fields to acquire the dirt.
Hydroponic crops are easy to raise and space efficient, no problems so long as there is good nutritional solution. The nutrients could be purchased directly online but had to be self-made after the apocalypse. Fortunately Luo Xun had experience in the matter.
At the moment he only cultivated some parsley, cabbage and rapeseed seedlings. He also had some orange, apple, cherry and other fruit saplings in a basin. For the rest he would wait until a few days prior to doomsday, the time would be enough for green bean and soy bean sprouts amongst others. After a few days most of the seeds had germinated in the nursery box, there was no way to discern the dead seeds.
Luo Xun carefully cut up a sponge and placed it into the modified hydroponic cultivation tube with oxygen from a small aquarium pump to add nutrition. The small hydroponic planter was now complete.
Since these are to be grown during the apocalypse, Luo Xun ensured that the small shelves only had a dozen plants with groups of shelves sharing a water tank. The fifth solar battery had long since been charged and the rooms had been tidied up. Luo Xun confirmed by walking around the house four or five times.