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RLDRFH Chapter 54


In the apocalypse, there is no problem if someone has a space ability, but if they abused it on missions with the military and were not careful… The base management is not foolish. Having bad luck and not finding anything is acceptable, but if it happens time after time, and fellow travelers have seen materials being collected during the course of the mission… that’s just painting a target on their own back.

Receiving the same task, but paying much less because they have a space ability? Naturally, there will be no shortage of informants in the base. Moreover, space abilities were not unique to civilians; many people in the military also obtained abilities in the apocalypse.

While space ability users were not plentiful, it’s not rare either. There would always be a few people in the army who will develop such an ability.

After He Zizhong and Fang Hao drove past the gate to enter the base, soldiers with live ammunition quickly surrounded the two vehicles that had deliberately under-delivered on supplies. All the members of the vehicles were also quickly controlled.

A rather guilty voice deliberately asked loudly: “Why are you arresting people?!”

“Please cooperate with the inspection.” As the voice sounded, a gun hit the man’s temple.

Fang Hao, who was in the car came back to his senses with a nervous expression. “Did they find something?”

“Those two groups are too obvious.” He Zizhong suspects that the base has developed an instrument to detect space abilities. Although it may be a bit basic, it should be able to detect people with a space ability. If he remembers correctly, in his last life, it took about four months for the base to develop equipment that can detect space abilities and see the materials contained inside.

“Do you think…if they don’t comply, will those people shoot?” They are people coming from a peaceful era. No one wants the government shooting and killing people indiscriminately.

He Zizhong laughed. “Don’t worry, even if those people don’t comply, they can take them away without shooting. I suspect that they cooperated on military missions several times. But because they made the same kind of underhanded movements too often, were reported and targeted.”

The two drove inward slowly, and the road ahead was blocked by crowds of occupied tents and vendors on both sides. They could hardly drive the car.

Suddenly there was a cry of exclamation from the crowd, and many people pointed to a car in front of them, words buzzing around in surprise. There were two cars between that car and He Zizhong’s car, so they couldn’t see who was in the car. But a little bit could still be heard from the people talking on the roadside.

“…The big star!”

“What is that… overlord…”

The scattered comments made the corners of He Zizhong’s mouth twitch. That Allen’s movements were fast enough. He heard that the overlord was an old team established at the beginning of the outbreak, when base management just began to allow individuals to form a team. Many of the early teams were either successively annexed by other teams, or fell apart for a variety of reasons because they had too few people. Only the overlord team persisted in perseverance and fought against the later large and small teams, and gained a lot of right to speak in the base.

It turned out to be the same now, their reputation has already begun to spread.

He Zizhong knew that the boss of the overlord was Allen, but the think tank behind was the man who made Allen popular before the apocalypse. Before the end of the world, he used various methods in the entertainment circle to successfully promote Allen as a triple star. It was unexpected that he could also turn the overlord team into one of the few top mercenary groups in the apocalypse. It was really not easy.

Fang Hao listened to the discussion  outside, raised his hand to cover his mouth and yawned. It was the big star again. These people are really energetic to chase after stars before the apocalypse, but why are they still doing so after the end?

Randomly glancing at the crowd outside the window, his eyes suddenly stopped at a young man. This person was very thin, and should not be fat before the apocalypse either. It looks like he suffered a lot during the apocalypse, leaving behind a dry face with larger eyes.

Fang Hao did not know the person, but those eyes were a little familiar… The young man in his early twenties carried a big bag, looking excited, surprised, and expectant at— the car in front that was being pointed at.

Was he another star chaser? He should be yet another Allen fan from before the apocalypse…

Fang Hao retracted his gaze, looked at the front window, and suddenly realized why those eyes were familiar!

“My eyes…”

“What’s the matter?” He Zizhong saw Fang Hao suddenly took out a cell phone that he hadn’t used for a long time from the space, and took photos with the dark screen.

“No, I’m looking at my eyes.”

“Isn’t there a mirror in the car?” He Zizhong smiled and pointed to the rear-view mirror above them.

Fang Hao blushed, straightened his back, and looked at himself in the mirror. “Well, it’s a bit like, but not very like.” The man did not have much flesh on his face, and adding on that expectant gaze, his eyes were particularly large with a hint of provocation. While his own eyes were born like this…

“Zizhong, my eyes are so big… are they not not like a man’s?” Fang Hao returned to his seat, begging He Zizhong with a serious expression.

He Zizhong smiled and looked at him, raised his hand and pinched his face. “Is there anyone who dislikes his own eyes?” He only heard people saying they disliked their own small eyes.

Fang Hao’s face was a little red, and he turned his head to the side. “Elders calling me cute as a child is okay… but being called cute after growing up…” Especially when he went to college, he was laughed at by the female students and teachers during his part-time job, making him feel he was not masculine enough.

“I like it.” Yes, he always liked it. Since graduating from high school, those eyes appeared in He Zizhong’s dreams from time to time, and could not be forgotten for a long time.

Fang Hao withdrew his somewhat tangled heart, with an unstoppable smile on his face. Quietly leaning his head on his shoulder, the playful dimple popped out again. Since Zizhong likes it, then he no longer dislikes it! Even if he is called feminine and cute, as long as He Zizhong likes it and thinks its cute, he will be cute!

As for the person he just saw on the roadside? Fang Hao had long thrown it out of his mind.

 

—–

 

“Serve brother well, serve brother comfortably, and brother will not let you suffer.”The man’s wretched hand touched the hair of the man kneeling in front of him, increasing the intensity of the sensation, comfortably squinting eyes.

Wearing a charming smile on his face, Dai Jun obediently served the man. This time he was unlucky enough to share the same dormitory with such a person. Overlord… overlord team… He wants to go to the overlord team! But he has no abilities and no ability to fight zombies. After the death of the previous people, although he got their backpacks and paid enough food to live in this room for a month, there is no follow-up income. How can he sustain himself until he meets the Prince Charming of his dreams?

He was a dodder flower before the end of the world, and could only rely on his family and a man with a career to support him. Now that this man says he wants to raise him, he’ll let him raise him temporarily…

It’s a pity. He Zizhong is probably already dead, otherwise if he was still alive, he shouldn’t have suffered so much… No! How could ordinary people with no ability in the last days compare to ability users? Even if He Zizhong is alive, as long as he has no abilities, he still can’t compare to someone like Allen!

Before the apocalypse, he was a star that millions of people watched. After the apocalypse, he was an ability user and captain of a powerful team. A man with looks, ability, and power is worth fighting to belong with…

The man in front of him let out a low growl, gasping for breath, pulling Dai Jun up and pushed him onto the bed, gnawing on him indiscriminately. “Fuck, if I knew that a man could be so energetic, I should have done so earlier…”

With sarcasm in his eyes, Dai Jun leaned in his arms and stretched out his hands to flame the fire. “Brother… don’t, it hurts…”

The occupants in another room shook their bodies involuntarily when they heard the sounds inside, and looked at the wooden door with extremely poor sound insulation with distorted expressions. Why were they so unlucky? Have to be busy all day, only to come back to see this kind of thing?!


“Report, report! The twelfth consecutive message was sent back. They’re besieged by mutant zombies and mutant animals, and are asking for support!”

“When was the message sent?” These days, with signals being disrupted, even military communications will encounter huge interference and delays.

“Should be six in the afternoon.”

“Six o’clock in the afternoon? It’s nine o’clock in the evening now! Why did we receive the distress signal only now?!”

Several persons in charge hurried to the temporary headquarters and ordered to contact them immediately.

“Reporting, captain! The tenth company has not been contacted for five consecutive hours. We don’t know the specific situation ahead…”

“Reporting, captain! There is news from the front investigation team that a wave of zombie rats is rushing towards the base!”

“Number?! How many?!”

“There are at least a few thousand by eye and visual inspection…”

“Which direction did it come from? Flamethrowers, let the soldiers garrisoned in front use flamethrowers! Turn the power grid on!”

One month after the end of the world, the base in city A ushered in its first zombie attack. The attacking animals were zombie rats. Because they were too small, the interception of the power grid was not obvious. Many rats rushed through the power grid to the garrisoned troops behind.

The soldiers garrisoned with flamethrowers began to sweep the defense indiscriminately, and finally blocked this wave of zombies outside the city wall, but because the zombies moved faster, they also caused considerable casualties. Many soldiers were bitten. In order to prevent zombification, most people who were bitten committed suicide on the spot or were shot by their companions.

“We can’t go on, the casualties are too great.”

“Aren’t there many ability users in the base? Why weren’t they called to protect the base?!”

“We found out too late, and…” And even if they were called, could those people be so obedient like soldiers?

“This is a major matter for the survival of the base! If this is repeated many times, the foundation of the base will be shaken.” After one person finished speaking, the room fell silent.

“But if those people are required to participate in the defense… they will definitely speak loudly.”

“That’s better than nothing. As far as I know, the abilities of trained fire ability users are comparable to a small-capacity flamethrower. And there is no equipment burden, so their actions will not be affected…”

 


Zombie rats. ’nuff said.

 

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komorebi

Cat lover, MTL novice, BL writer/enthusiast, and KnoxT translator. Fun fact: komorebi (木漏れ日) means 'sunlight streaming through the trees' in Japanese. See: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/木漏れ日

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Comment

  1. Hancock23 says:

    The plague.

  2. Robi says:

    This is one thing I don’t usually get in apocalypse genre. The military are only strong at the start and slowly get overtake by the mercenary teams. I do get that the mercenary team gather ability users but the military definitely didn’t lack them. Plenty of abilities will grow in the military. Plus they’re train so even at the start, they have better fighting abilities. Also, they would have their own resources. I do get that the political aspect will weaken them, but a politician won’t be totally idiotic to make the soldiers as cannon fodders. I did remember one novel, it’s the mercenaries that they made as cannon fodders. Yes, putting them in the front line will give them ‘speaking power’ but whenever they were put on the front line, their numbers will lessen. So in the end, mercenaries cannot over power the military. But I only see such thing when the protags happen to have a military background, the rest? The whole military/government are full of corruption and is dying.

    1. thatonecat says:

      Irl, the military would become the new government, it’s not uncommon. Take Egypt during the Arab Spring. “Yay, the military has overthrown the cruel dictatorship, now we can finally have democracy!” 5 minutes later: “The military bluntly refused to give up power and is the new cruel dictatorship!”

      Even ability users wouldn’t be able to step out of line. The whole team thing wouldn’t work well, and the military would provide great benefits to them. No ability user can survive a group of trained soldiers with firearms. Kind of like how every single superhero setting is wildly fictitious, because guns > almost every power. You could take out almost all the Avengers one by one with 1 sniper.

  3. Son says:

    About as bad as zombie bees. Definitely worse than zombie fish.

    Ability users in the military are clearly a rarity, for some inexplicable reason. 😴 /s

    1. komorebi says:

      Can there be zombie bees? Thought a mammalian nervous system was needed.

  4. Sega says:

    Quick thought. Do zombie rats… have zombie fleas?!?!
    If insects can become zombies too (well I mean plants can also become zombies, so that doesn’t bode well) then when there’s zombie gnats and mosquitos humanity’s basically screwed 💀

  5. starosta says:

    to the comments above i think its about the amount of people in groups and statictics. for example lets say that every 10th person in the population got an ability. imagine that the current military group have around…. 3000? people. yeah. the higher ups were quite upset about losing a hundred people so we will not put too much. so at best we have rougly 300 ability users. not even counting deaths in fights or other things.

    then lets take the civilians in the nearby cities. the number of general population is fking HUGE. its in MILLIONS. lets say that we are taking only surrounding suburban areas in a nearby cities with low density population that are easier to get out alive. put it around 2 million total of living people. its 200,000 potential ability users. lets half it bc huge amount of ability users are fking dead before they even discovered their abilities and from general fights with zombies or people. 100,000 ability users in the surroundings. the base in city A is one of the biggest and placed in the capital, so the amount of population going there should be around 1/10 at least.
    10,000 ability users vs 300. even if we kill off 90% of civilians on the road its still fking 1000 vs 300.

    also the important thing is that because the army is acting as a group and are trained, the amount of death is incomparable with civillians. the millitary numbers are stable and a lot of surviving members are ordinary people, while the survivors in the civilians group are generaly ability users that have strenght, at least in half cases. so even if we put these two groups in the same numbers the percent of ability users in the civilian group will be a lot higher than in the millitary.

    by the way its all the rough estimate, but the general tendency should be like this just based on the provided information and common sense

    1. komorebi says:

      r/theydidthemath ^^

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