Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi both badly wanted to know what was going on, but from Sang Wenhao’s attitude, they knew he would not explain. If they wanted answers, they would have to ask Fu Erdie.
But Fu Erdie was busy with proper business now, so they could not disturb her.
The two went to two separate bathrooms.
After confirming that there really was water, they practically wanted to drown themselves in the bathroom and wash away the bath they had not had for half a year.
While the two were showering and tidying themselves up, Sang Wenhao asked the house whether it could enter the bed they had just brought back.
The house was currently providing water for the two new friends’ showers and powering the desk lamp on Fu Erdie’s dining table, so it could not immediately enter the bed-box to test it.
But after all, it was searching for a new residence for itself and understood itself well enough. After merely touching the bed-box, it filled the wall with 【√√√√√】.
Sang Wenhao officially relaxed.
Actually, it was good that these two had come. When he and Fu Erdie went out to find people, this base needed someone to guard it. The two of them were partners, and with the plants’ protection, they should be able to guard this house.
The only real problem was water. Now, all containers that could store water—storage boxes, buckets, bathtubs, water vats—had to be filled. They had to make sure that even if he and Fu Erdie could not return for a while, the others would not lack water.
Sang Wenhao calculated the speed in his mind. If they were going to H City, fifteen hundred kilometres away, they would have to fly for about fifteen days.
However, on roads without congestion, they could actually look for an electric scooter or motorbike, place the metal bed-box on top, let the house charge the vehicle, and travel for part of the route that way. That would be a little faster than flying.
As Sang Wenhao casually trained his ability, he thought about how the inside of the bed-box should be designed. It needed a bed, a water outlet, a charging socket, and storage space for miscellaneous items.
After picking up the two elders, the space would need to be expanded, so they still needed to keep preparing more reinforcing sheet metal.
Right, long-distance flight also required rain cover. He wondered how she would design it.
Fu Erdie, whom Sang Wenhao was thinking of, had already drawn out an initial concept.
She needed to turn the bed-box into something shaped like a cable car. It needed a roof overhead and glass on all four sides, so they could block wind and rain while still observing the surroundings.
As for the dandelion balloon, at first she had planned to use waterproof rain cloth to make a sphere about three metres in diameter.
When taking off, the dandelions would stay inside the balloon.
But while the dandelion balloon could reduce the weight of the box-car, its large surface area would create more resistance. Even if the balloon’s forward speed matched Sang Wenhao’s box-car speed, the dandelions would still become much more tired.
Fu Erdie crossed out that plan. She decided not to use a balloon. Instead, they would directly increase the height of the box-car and reserve space for the dandelions, allowing them to gather at the top inside the box-car and directly apply upward force. As for moving forward, that would all be left to Sang Wenhao.
The little physics knowledge Fu Erdie had not yet returned to her teacher told her that when the box-car maintained uniform motion, the objects inside would also maintain that forward speed due to inertia. So the dandelions would not need to apply forward force either. They only needed to follow the box-car forward while pushing upward.
But this created another problem. Inside the box-car, the part where the house existed belonged to the metal bed and was only enough for the lower half. The steel and glass in the upper half were newly added. If they became damaged, the house could not cross beyond its own range to repair materials elsewhere.
Actually, the same applied now on the sixteenth floor. The house could repair damage to walls and windows and heal human injuries. But if a cup shattered, it could not glue it back together. At most, it could move the glass shards a little through the floor it was touching.
For non-living objects that did not belong to itself, the house could move them slightly, but it could not repair them.
So now, if they wanted the house to take care of both the upper and lower parts of the box-car, either they had to barely stretch the metal bed into the shape of the entire box-car, accepting that if the newly added glass broke, then it broke and there was nothing they could do; or they had to find another carrier that could also hold the house, such as the window from her grandmother’s home that had been used for over twenty years, and join the two carriers together. That way, when a certain part broke, the house could switch over to repair it.
Fu Erdie felt that the latter was feasible, but it needed practical verification.
She and Sang Wenhao needed to go to her grandmother’s home again.
But this time, whether it succeeded or not, she would go directly to find her grandmother.
In truth, yesterday at noon they had dealt with the ability-user team, then spent the evening organising things and testing the flight plan, then gone to her grandmother’s home overnight to collect many small items. This morning, they had rushed without stopping to pick up Cen Xiyang and bring back the metal bed…
All in all, everything had happened within only one day and one night, just over twenty-four hours. Their efficiency was already very high. But Fu Erdie was still anxious.
The countryside her grandmother had gone to was the place Fu Erdie had lived as a child. Later, after they returned to the city, the rural house had been sold, but it was still one of the few places she was relatively familiar with.
And when the signal briefly recovered at the end of June, Fu Erdie had saved the route her grandmother took from the city centre to the countryside.
The entire route was a little over one hundred kilometres. At their speed, they could arrive in ten hours.
But it was now two in the afternoon. After eating, explaining the next steps, and modifying the box-car, they would set off at three.
Two hours later, they would arrive at her grandmother’s home, which meant around five in the afternoon no matter what. Then they would continue modifying the box-car. If they travelled through the night, they could reach the village her grandmother had headed to by three in the morning.
However, the place her grandmother had gone to was not as obvious and clearly targeted as Cen Xiyang’s office building. Fu Erdie was not sure whether, after half a year, her grandmother had safely reached the destination, encountered an accident midway and gone elsewhere, or if the destination itself had suffered some change.
Fu Erdie knew nothing. The next part of the journey could only be a gamble, relying on luck, hoping that her grandmother was currently staying safely in the countryside.
Fu Erdie took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. This kind of matter could not be rushed. They could not travel at night. They had to travel during the day while searching for all kinds of information related to her grandmother.
Today, they would first bring the house to her grandmother’s home and modify it. Tomorrow during the day, they would set off.
She also had to think about whether she should take a loudspeaker and search everywhere for her grandmother. If she did, what timing should she choose?
Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi finally finished showering and came out with wet hair, fresh and clean.
Grandma Zhang had already understood the situation. Knowing that, in addition to the expected girl, there was now also a grown young man, she temporarily added a large basin of stir-fried cabbage, set the food on the table, and called everyone to 16-8 to eat.
Fu Erdie was also hungry. She went out and called the two who were still drying their hair to come to 16-8.
At the dining table, Fu Erdie introduced everyone to one another and explained her next plan.
Suddenly, Cen Xiyang felt the food was no longer fragrant.
She had thought she could spend a couple more days with her close friend. She had not expected things to be this urgent.
But there was no other choice. Her grandmother was old and had several geriatric illnesses. She had left in such a panic that who knew whether she had forgotten some medication? And now, if the medicine had run out, what would happen? If they set out one day earlier to find her, then she could be treated by the house one day earlier and settle down safely one day earlier.
And then there were Fu Erdie’s parents. They might currently be waiting for rescue on some mountain surrounded by floodwater.
Fu Erdie must be under enormous pressure. She probably did not want to wait even one minute.
“Don’t worry. Han Zhi and I will do everything we can to guard this place! Han Zhi’s ability is mental-type, and his perception is extremely sharp. If enemies approach, we’ll discover them early and deal with them early.”
“Speaking of that,” Fu Erdie called all the plant cubs out and told them not to hide nearby watching the excitement. “When I first heard you mention Han Zhi’s ability, I had an idea. Now that I’ve heard about your ability, that idea seems even more feasible.”
During their introductions just now, Cen Xiyang had said that her ability was spatial distortion. Aside from directly distorting a certain section of space to cause destruction, she could also reduce the pressure in a section of space to zero, allowing that area to be directly flattened by external pressure.
For example, when fighting zombies, she could attack by direct contact or indirect contact through a weapon, sending her ability into the zombie’s head. With as little strength and ability consumption as possible, she could kill more zombies.
In the office building, the other ability users had thought Cen Xiyang was also strength-type. After all, the way she made zombie skulls cave in looked similar to smashing them inward.
But after Han Zhi noticed Cen Xiyang’s true ability and proposed that the two of them cooperate, the others realised there was something special about Cen Xiyang’s ability.
Han Zhi’s shared vision could help Cen Xiyang see the enemy’s weak points. Her spatial distortion ability could then directly strike the core through those weak points, instantly causing all the zombie’s brain tissue to shift toward the distorted fragile point. The brain matter would scatter into a mess. There was no need to explode the head or smash the skull; the target would directly be done for. It was very efficient and effortless.
With Han Zhi, Cen Xiyang’s combat power doubled.
That was also why those ability users had not allowed Cen Xiyang to leave. Their already shaky ability-user team would suffer a major blow because of her departure.
From Fu Erdie’s perspective, now that she had brought these two away, she simply felt that these two were treasures sent by heaven.
“Xiyang, your ability can attack the enemy through indirect contact. So if you cooperate with the plant cubs’ extremely long branches and roots, you can achieve long-range attacks.”
“And Han Zhi, you can combine your ability with the plant cubs’ ‘vision.’ If I’m not wrong, while you share vision, your teammates’ vision will also be shared with you. That means you can become a relay station with x-ray vision, connecting your own vision, the plants’ vision, and Xiyang’s vision together, forming an optional, extremely broad field of view.”
“You transmit the situation from the plant cubs at the frontline of battle to Xiyang in sync, becoming Xiyang’s eyes. And Xiyang can then sit inside the house, sipping tea and humming a tune while outputting damage without taking any harm. Whether the people outside are humans or ability zombies, they won’t even know how many people are inside the building, or even whether there are people inside at all, before they’re killed by plants carrying spatial distortion ability.”
“You two can stay hidden inside the building the whole time, very safely. And as long as the plant cubs’ roots aren’t damaged, their branches and leaves can grow back, and they don’t feel pain.” Just thinking about it made Fu Erdie’s heart surge. “Our combination is perfect.”
Cen Xiyang’s heart pounded along with her friend’s words. “If it really works, that would be amazing!”
Han Zhi also finally turned his head and properly looked at his partner’s friend.
Perhaps in the future, she would also become a reliable companion?
No rush. One step at a time.
After eating, Fu Erdie and the others began to move. They filled every container that could hold water and charged every power bank that could be charged.
The rechargeable desk lamps were also kept fully charged, so they could be used for a while at night if needed.
In truth, Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi already thought this was very good. They adapted well, but the little old lady had lived comfortably for several months and was now somewhat flustered, afraid that she had become used to “wasteful” habits, such as turning on lights when it became dark or casually washing her hands whenever they got a little dirty.
Zhang Dongxuan reminded the two newcomers, and also herself, “Don’t use water to wash your hair. Let Spider Plant help. Afterwards, make something tasty for it. With this water, save wherever we can.”
Although they did not know what kind of operation “letting Spider Plant wash hair” involved, Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi still agreed readily.
Aside from collecting water, Fu Erdie also had to prepare for the long journey.
It was now late November, almost December. Although the weather was still above twenty degrees, in the apocalypse, this temperature could either become hot enough to kill people, or suddenly take a sharp turn downward and enter a snowball-Earth phase. It was not impossible.
Even though the house would protect them when they went out, they still could not be careless about hypothermia. After all, their purpose was to find people, not to hide inside the box-car the entire time.
Clothing, food, shelter, and transport: clothing was prepared; shelter and transport both relied on the box-car carrying the house. Next, they needed food.
For food, she planned to bring Potato.
Although Potato was becoming larger and heavier, because it always very actively wanted to act together with Fu Erdie, it had never rooted itself anywhere else. Now, it had twisted all its roots into thick strands, like an octopus with eight legs that could walk on the ground.
Fu Erdie was amazed. Even Pothos was somewhat impressed.
Potato Seedling’s current walking speed was already about the same as an ordinary person taking a slow stroll after dinner. When it needed to shrink down, it would “sit cross-legged,” winding its “legs” around its waist layer by layer, then draw in its lush leaves as much as possible. A potato seedling originally the size of a washing machine could actually turn itself into the size of a cushion.
Fu Erdie confirmed with it repeatedly, “Are you really not uncomfortable?”
Potato Seedling shook its head firmly.
So Fu Erdie decided that this trip would still include Potato Seedling. Along the way, they would rely on its non-toxic raw potatoes to get by.
Fu Erdie went to the storage room in 16-2 to look for all kinds of usable tools. Aside from hammers and daggers she could use in fights, there were also a loudspeaker, surveillance cameras, Bluetooth cameras, walkie-talkies, remote-control cars, and all sorts of miscellaneous devices that might be useful.
After finishing this, she took paper and pen to check and record everything one by one, then printed two more enlarged maps of the route before setting off.
“If everything goes smoothly, we should be back in three days.” Fu Erdie sat in the metal compartment with Potato Seedling and a large pile of dandelions, flying out of the balcony with Sang Wenhao. “Take care of yourselves.”
Cen Xiyang leaned against the balcony windowsill and waved at her. “You too. Have a safe journey!”
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