After paying respects to his grandparents, Lin Yuan returned home with Lin Shouyi.
“Son, are you sleeping with us tonight or staying here?” Wang Yixin asked, stopping Lin Yuan as they parted.
Lin Shouyi quickly nudged Wang Yixin. “Our son is all grown up, why would he sleep with us? We can sleep alone.”
Didn’t he see his son was in a relationship?
Lin Yuan scratched his head, unsure how to respond. Finally, he said to Wu Tian, “Meng Yue, you go down and organize the team to rest first. I’ll chat with my mom for a bit.”
“Okay, okay, you go ahead. I’ll wait for you,” Wu Tian, being understanding, readily agreed.
After watching Wu Tian go down the slope, he followed Lin Shouyi and the others back.
Returning to the familiar home, Lin Yuan felt a sense of comfort.
Yong Zhi’s two children were still playing downstairs and hadn’t returned. With Wang Zhihai watching them, there was no problem.
“Sit down, I’ll get cups and pour some tea.”
Lin Shouyi went ahead. Lin Yuan knew what his father wanted to do – to confiscate the tea he brought back. Like Lin Yuan’s grandparents, he preferred light tea.
When Lin Shouyi returned, he was holding a can of tea, but it wasn’t Tianshan Xue Zhen or Mingqian Longjing.
It was Biluochun.
“What are you looking at? Your dad isn’t someone who’d take good tea just because he sees it. You brought so many people back, they need to drink too. This Biluochun is good as well.”
Lin Yuan smiled and said nothing. It was true, although his father loved tea, he wasn’t someone who didn’t know how to share.
“Son, tell mom how you’ve been these past few days. After communication was cut off, I couldn’t sleep a wink every night.”
Seeing Wang Yixin’s dark circles, Lin Yuan felt heartbroken and quickly recounted his experiences to Wang Yixin.
Hearing that her son had nearly died several times, Wang Yixin couldn’t stop crying and even blamed Lin Shouyi for helping out.
Lin Shouyi didn’t argue but kept comforting her.
Fortunately, the outcome was good. Lin Yuan was alive and standing before them, not missing a limb, and had brought back a daughter-in-law and a group of survivors who had shared life-and-death experiences.
They chatted until very late. Lin Yuan and Lin Shouyi finally managed to coax Wang Yixin to sleep. Seeing her finally sleep with a smile, Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said to Lin Shouyi, “Dad, you should rest early too. I’ll head down now. My team members might still be waiting for me.”
Lin Shouyi checked the time; it was almost eleven o’clock. He had a mechanical watch, a gift from a comrade when he was in the army, which had served him well for many years.
“Alright, you go down. I’ll come to help you stand guard after 12. You all get a good rest today. Your uncle and I will take turns on watch.”
Lin Yuan didn’t refuse. Normal humans now had all undergone some form of spore reinforcement. While physical fatigue was bearable, especially staying up late. The significant increase in cardiopulmonary function greatly reduced the probability of acute illnesses triggered by staying up late, such as heart attacks, acute myocardial infarction, and strokes.
“I’ll be going then, Dad. Call us if there’s any movement tonight.”
“Yes, go on, go on.”
Lin Yuan: “……”
Why does this feel a bit like Pikachu…
Going down the slope, Lin Yuan returned to their current residential area, Number Two. Residential Area Number One was naturally Lin Yuan’s home.
The team members hadn’t slept yet and were gathered in the supply depot, inventorying the supplies.
“Comrades, pause for a moment, don’t count anymore. Mark the area you’ve counted, record it, and then come out to prepare for rest,” Lin Yuan said from the doorway.
Although the team members wanted to finish counting quickly, there were quite a lot of items, and categorization was troublesome. They brought not only weapons and ammunition but also other things, so they could only rest up and tackle it tomorrow.
All these items would remain here and wouldn’t disappear. They couldn’t sleep anyway.
So, upon hearing Lin Yuan’s voice, they all marked their spots and came out. This place couldn’t accommodate so many people to sleep.
“Let’s go organize our sleeping arrangements first. Today, we’ll all sleep in the main hall on the first floor. It seems we’ve never slept in a communal dormitory before. Let’s experience it tonight.”
“Hooray!”
Jiang Ziqi was the first to raise her hand and give a thumbs-up. She had been groggy that afternoon and was pushed into this place in a cart. They had never done this formally before.
In the apocalypse, everyone’s bone density and muscle density had increased, and their weight had increased accordingly. The stronger the person, the more pronounced the weight gain.
Lin Yuan, for instance, weighed over 200 pounds.
Jiang Ziqi and Wu Tian, whose reinforcement was second only to his, were close to 180 pounds.
Lin Shouyi and Lin Qingshan, when they reached the point of not wanting to carry anymore, simply put them into a wheelbarrow, saving effort and feeling comfortable.
The others had no objections. Everyone took off their combat uniforms, which they had worn for an unknown period, and changed into new clothes they had brought.
“Hasn’t everyone taken a bath yet…” Jiang Ziqi suddenly smelled something and said with a whimpering tone.
“Hahahaha, indeed. It’s been a long time since we’ve properly bathed.”
Lin Yuan also burst into laughter and quickly told them to fetch water. In the small mountain village’s Second Group, every household had a well.
So, the situation now was that the girls were already lining up in a large room, dividing into groups to bathe in hot water and scrub each other.
The boys, like Lin Yuan, were more rough, taking cold showers, only using warm water to wash their private parts to ensure hygiene.
After showering, they found Jiang Ziqi standing alone outside, still getting rained on. Lin Yuan thought, something is wrong, could she have been neglected?
Such things shouldn’t happen within their team.
So many days had passed, and this still couldn’t be overcome?
He quickly went over and asked, “Ziqi, why are you standing in the rain?? Who bullied you, tell me, and I’ll get them back for you.”
Jiang Ziqi shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay, Lin Yuan Ge. I was just afraid that my appearance would scare the sisters, so I’ll just get rained on. I won’t catch a cold.”
Lin Yuan knew that half of this girl’s body had mutated. He didn’t know what to say. After thinking for a long time, he pulled Jiang Ziqi back. “Ziqi, don’t worry, no one will be scared of your appearance. We’ve come through so many days, who would be afraid of you? Even newcomers like Yan Ru Yu and Liu Meng Meng haven’t been afraid of you, so why are you scared?”
Then he led Jiang Ziqi towards the place where the girls were showering, which surprised Jiang Ziqi.
No way, the captain is going to break into the girls’ bathhouse for me tonight?!!!
Hehehe (º﹃º)
Lin Yuan certainly wouldn’t do that.
He just asked at the door, “Ziqi wants to shower too!”
There was a moment of silence from inside, and then Wu Tian poked her head out, glared fiercely at Lin Yuan, and said grumpily, “Ziqi wants to take a shower, why are you joining in the fun? Go back and make the beds!”
Then she pulled Jiang Ziqi inside.
Immediately after, sounds like:
“Ziqi! Your armor looks so cool!”
“Yeah, yeah, and it has patterns, and it glows! It’s my favorite black and red color scheme!”
“Uh, am I the only one who thinks Ziqi’s chest is particularly…”
The sound stopped abruptly, clearly indicating someone had covered her mouth.
Lin Yuan: “……”
Hmph, if you don’t say it, then don’t say it. I don’t want to know anyway.
(｢･w･)｢Hey!