Ch. 20

Lou Ai parked the car and found the tent where Yang Yang and the others were.

Tent 305.
　　
In order to prevent people from turning into zombies during the 48-hour cooling-off period, which could lead to large-scale human-to-human cross-infection, the base stipulates that no more than two people may live in each tent at the second checkpoint, and that there must be three meters between each tent.

The double tent was not big, and Yang Yang and his friends squeezed in, making the small tent bulge.
　　
"Sister Lou Ai, I'm in the same tent with you." Yang Yang said, "When they heard you were coming, they shamelessly stayed in our tent and refused to leave."

Lou Ai looked around but didn't see Xia Xing: "Xia Xing is not with you guys?"
　　
"As soon as Xia Xing finished registering, his grandfather called him over to the biggest tent over there. He may not be back for long." Yang Yang said as he nudged the boy with glasses next to him, "Glasses, please sit over there and make room for Sister Lou Ai."
　　
When Lou Ai was walking back, she saw the big tent that Yang Yang mentioned. It was not only big, but also had the most soldiers protecting it outside.

Lou Ai sat down at the edge of the tent, facing the door, from where she could see people walking back and forth outside.
　　
"By the way, Sister Lou Ai, my mother came to see me just now." Yang Yang said with a smile, "I have already told my mother about you. She said that when the observation period is over, when she comes to pick me up, she should ask my aunt to come along. My aunt's family is fine. Sister Lou Ai, if you have anything you want to do, just tell my aunt tomorrow."
　　
"Okay, thank you." Lou Ai said with a smile.
　　
"Sister Lou Ai, you don't know, I just saw a Taoist priest who can tell fortunes just like you." The flat-headed man was unhappy, "I went to him to have our fortunes told, and he told Xia Lu and Yan Jing that I was not the one for him. It pissed me off, isn't it just that my problem is a little more down-to-earth?"

"How dare you say that? We were all asking about our own safety, but he just asked, 'Do you think my child can grow up healthily? How can that be the same?'"
　　
Glasses couldn't help but laugh, "Sister Lou Ai, we almost laughed ourselves crazy just now. If you can't help it, you can just give him the money. He's almost making his children feel depressed to death."
　　
"Taoist priest? Is he still outside now?" Lou Ai asked hurriedly.
　　
"He's gone. But in my opinion, the Taoist priest might be a liar. I've seen him tell fortunes for other people, and he always said good things like "every misfortune will turn into good fortune" and "everyone will live in peace and safety." He's just earning a bag of food for nothing." Yang Yang shook his head.
　　
Xia Lu nodded, agreeing with Yang Yang's statement.

"That Taoist priest has a round face?"
　　
"Yeah, the eyes are also round and smiling."
　　
It was Song Yi. Lou Ai felt that there was no other Taoist priest with a round face and who flattered others in the base.

If she hadn't just remembered the Taoist priest's name, she might have thought that the Taoist priest was a liar, but now the identity of this liar was in question.

The crewcut-haired guy sat on the quilt and sighed depressedly: "Forget it, I just saw the superpower team recruiting people over there, Yangyang, are you going? I wanted to go over there, but after asking for a long time, they said they don't want ordinary people. Ah, they didn't post a notice saying they didn't want ordinary people in the first place!"
　　
"The army is also recruiting people, why don't you go and take a look!"

"I've also signed up for the army. They've confirmed that I'll go for the training. I'll be provided with food and lodging for ten days, but no salary. Those who can be directly incorporated into the army will only get a bag of rice." The crewcut-haired guy covered his head with a quilt and fell on the man with glasses. "Ah, I'm so frustrated today!"
　
"You hit me too hard." The little man with glasses was knocked crooked by the hit.
　　
"Okay, I've calculated for you. If you live peacefully, you should be able to have a child in your 30s. But there will only be one, and I don't know whether it's a boy or a girl."
　　
Lou Ai's answer was not a random guess. By the time the crewcut-haired man was in his thirties, more than ten years had passed. Over the past ten years, the government's original goal was to end the war within twelve years and restore people's normal lives.

If the goal is achieved smoothly, the war will just end at that time, which will be the perfect time to get married and have children.

If he failed to achieve his goal, the crewcut-haired guy would not have the time to worry about how many children he would have. It would be a question of whether he could survive.

"Really!" The crewcut-haired guy suddenly got excited. He happily put down the quilt and sat up straight. "If it's true, then I hope it's a girl."

"But in such troubled times, boys still have the upper hand," said Glasses.
　　
"Then having a boy is not bad either."

"Roar!"

The expectant voice of the crewcut-haired man overlapped with the roar of the zombies. The smile on his face faded, and he looked out of the tent with worry. Yang Yang and the others couldn't help but slow down their breathing. Lou Ai sat by the door, watching the zombie not far away being beaten to death by the excited crowd. She slowly took out a piece of chocolate from her backpack, unwrapped it, took a bite, and a faint bitterness came out of her mouth.

"Roar!" Within forty-eight hours, more than one zombie mutated.

Panic calls, gunshots, and terrified screams rang out and faded away, and the sudden chaos was quickly quelled.

The excitement at the beginning faded away, and a bit of restlessness appeared.
　　
While Lou Ai was sitting in the tent writing down various questions about the zombie jammer, Yang Yang and a few others had also found their future destinations.
　　
Xia Xing and Sanshi entered the military training together; Yanjing entered the construction site in the city under the arrangement of his family, and after the observation period, he officially took up the post; Yang Yang signed up for the superpower team and went directly to the superpower team for training after entering the base.

Xia Lu went back and forth between various advertisements recruiting odd jobs, and finally wrote down a bunch of interview and field collection jobs for himself.
　　
On the third day, the observation period ended and the Wei army led the team to the Qiang'an base.

"You need a pass to register when entering or leaving the base. This small card is your only proof of identity in the base. If you lose it, you will need to go back to the second checkpoint and receive your own ID after a 48-hour observation period. You are not allowed to mix up your IDs. If caught, both people who exchanged IDs will be expelled from the base." The female soldier next to Wei Jun held a small loudspeaker and spoke clearly about various precautions in the base. "The map of the base is printed on the wall at the entrance, with various job application and room check-in locations printed on it..."

Lou Ai, Yang Yang and others walked behind the crowd, looking at the entrance of Qiang'an Base from afar.
　　
The entrance to the base is very narrow, it is a small door that only one person can pass through. There are four soldiers standing on both sides of the door, guarding it strictly.

Lou Ai handed her ID to the soldier in front of her, and after registering, she entered the Qiang'an base.

At a glance, there are buildings under construction everywhere, and they are working hard in the cold and windy weather.

The Qian'an base was far less functional than the bases she had entered before.
　　

But the various popularity and human touches are definitely incomparable to the previous base.
　　

Lou Ai looked up and saw a lot of people standing closely together not far from the gate of the base. The choking smell of dust did not hide the eagerness in people's eyes at all. These were people who were waiting for their loved ones.
　　

"Hey, little girl, do you know Ren Lihui? He's about your age, a boy, about this tall. Is he behind you?"
　　

Lou Ai had just taken two steps when she was stopped by an old lady. After the old lady finished speaking, she called out countless names, "Have you seen Lin Ran? She's my daughter." "Hey, my mother's name is Wei Cuihua, have you seen her?"
　　

Lou Ai shook her head, turned around to watch the old lady leave, and pulled Xia Lu who had just come in and asked the same question.
　　

"Sister Lou Ai, don't go inside. It's too crowded. Let's wait here for a while." Xia Lu gently pulled Lou Ai's sleeve.
　　

"Okay, where are Yangyang and the others? Why are you the only one left?" Lou Ai pulled Xia Lu back to a stone pier at the foot of the wall.

"They are over there. Sanshi's sister, Yangyang's mother, and the parents of Glasses are all here. Xia Xing was just called away by Officer Wei." Xia Lu pointed to a corner and said, "Sister Lou Ai, if you want to rent a house, do you want to rent next to Yangyang? Yangyang's mother found a house for the two of us. It's a two-bedroom apartment. The rent is paid with food and zombie crystal cores. We can share the rent."
　　

"Okay." Lou Ai nodded.
　　

"Okay, then I'll talk to Aunt Yang later."
　　

Everywhere she looked, she could hear the sobbing of relatives meeting each other. She and Xia Lu were like two travelers who had strayed into the crowd.
　　

Lou Ai turned her head to look at Xia Lu. Xia Lu was standing on a small stone pier. He was a head taller than her. He was smiling against the light and looked very happy.
　　

Yang Yang said that Xia Lu was raised by his grandparents, but after living with them for such a long time, Lou Ai had never heard Xia Lu mention his family. Not only his parents, but also his grandparents. Perhaps there were many bad things about them.
　　

Xia Lu noticed Lou Ai's expression and patted her on the shoulder: "Sister Lou Ai, don't be sad, I'm with you."
　　

"You accompany me? Am I not accompanying you?" Lou Ai said in shock.
　

"Okay, you'll be with me." Xia Lu smiled, and looking at the figure of the old lady in front of him looking for her relatives, he couldn't help but say, "Sister Lou Ai, I know you are all curious. Yang Yang and the others often test what my family is like, but it's not as hard as you think. I was born when my parents got pregnant before marriage. They can't even support themselves, how can they support me? My grandparents took on the responsibility of raising me, but there is one bad thing. My grandparents don't have a pension, and they live on my uncle's living expenses. My uncle has two children, my cousin, and my grandparents take care of the three of us at the same time. They are both sweet-mouthed and have money, so my grandparents naturally prefer the younger generation with sweet mouths, and don't like me very much."

"They didn't like me, but they took me with them. I also attended the remedial classes I was supposed to attend." Xia Lu said, "I didn't go back because I received a call from my cousin at the beginning of the apocalypse. She said that they were all bitten by zombies and asked me not to go back."

"That night, I heard the sound of all my family members turning into zombies little by little on the phone." Xia Lu said calmly, "But it can't be said that not experiencing this apocalypse is not a bad thing. I often think that I received a call from my cousin at that time, so I was also lucky."
　　

"It's lucky enough."

"Phew, I feel much better after talking it all out."
　　

Lou Ai patted Xia Lu's arm: "Come, let me show you my mother, my lucky goddess."
　　

Xia Lu leaned over to look at the photo on Lou Ai's necklace, smiled, and narrowed his eyes into small crescents: "Sister Lou Ai, your mother is so beautiful."
　　

The family recognition meeting at the gate of the base lasted for more than two hours before the crowd gradually dispersed.
　　

The man with glasses and the man with the flat head said goodbye to Lou Ai and went back home with their families.
　　

It was already noon when Yang Yang took Cong Fanghua to find Lou Ai.

"Hello, thank you for saving our Yang Yang. You said you wanted me to help you with something. May I know what it is?" Cong Fanghua looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman, wearing glasses and looking very kind. "I am good at mechanical research. As for biology, I really have no experience in that."

Lou Ai took out a piece of paper from his backpack: "It's just a design concept. Auntie needs to perfect it in detail."
　　

Cong Fanghua took the paper and her aura changed as she looked at the blueprint. She flipped through the contents on the paper and asked, "Is that all?"
　　

"Yes, these are my friends' ideas. I just sorted them out and don't quite understand them." Lou Ai said seriously.
　　

The paper only vaguely described some theories on designing zombie interference equipment. These theories were all said by Cong Fanghua herself in her previous life. She racked her brains to sort them out over the past two days. If there were any important theories missing, she couldn't think of any for the time being.
　　

Lou Ai stared at Cong Fanghua's expression nervously, watching her silently reciting parameters while flipping through the information in her hands.
　　

"Your friend is amazing, but the prerequisite for making this is a six-sided crystal core with psychic power. These days, my laboratory is trying to use zombie crystal cores as energy to study some common equipment. After seeing your drawings, I think my experiment can be further developed." Cong Fanghua said, "But this research lacks an important parameter. I have never studied this psychic crystal core. I don't know what kind of energy it is, what it can bring to me, and don't even think about vibrations of a similar frequency."

"Is there no solution?" Lou Ai asked.
　　

"There are two ways. First, give me a hexagonal crystal core like this, and I can start researching it now." Cong Fanghua shook the blueprint in his hand. "Second, give me some hexagonal crystal cores, and we can start researching and experimenting from scratch. However, the period of time required may be very long, two years, ten years, or even twenty years. I can't say for sure."

Lou Ai couldn't help but look at Yang Yang. In the previous life, it was because of Yang Yang's crystal core that the zombie jammer was able to come into being.
　　

But in this life, Yang Yang lives a good life.
　　

Yang Yang saw Lou Ai looking at her and smiled: "Sister Lou Ai, my mother cooked some food at noon. It's been a long time since we had some stir-fried food. You and Xia Lu can come over to eat at noon. My mother has already taken Xia Lu to arrange for a room. We will be neighbors from now on."

"Okay, Aunt Cong, let's start with the second method." Lou Ai said.

Bonus chapter! It's SEVENTEEN Jun's birthday 😻

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