Chapter 51 - Momentum
With so many people in the migration team, everyone couldn’t possibly have their own room at night. In fact, many people didn’t even have a place to lie down and could only sit in the car seat to sleep.
However, Nie Yi always had a separate room to sleep in. Ping Shengchao and the others, as well as the 2000 subordinates he recently trained, fared a little worse than him, but still ate and slept far better than the others. For example, tonight, aside from the patrolling team, they had a good rest in a small neighbourhood.
Even if there were people who were dissatisfied, when Fei Xuelei expressed that they could go and clear out a room for themselves if they wanted to sleep more comfortably, they promptly shut up.
Nie Yi had never mistreated his subordinates. The first pick of the various supplies they found every day was always given to his subordinates, and the leftovers would be given to the rest… Since he wanted his subordinates to be loyal to him, he naturally couldn’t let them be wronged. Instead, he had to instil this mindset— As long as they followed him, they could annihilate zombies and live well.
Since Nie Yi wouldn’t mistreat his people, he naturally wouldn’t mistreat himself…
After carrying Qi Jingchen back to the best room he had picked, Nie Yi filled the bathtub with water while sourly saying, “You smiled at that girl just now!”
“En?” Qi Jingchen looked at Nie Yi, puzzled.
“You can carry the lettuce, and things like flowers and plants, but don’t ever treat other people too well…” Nie Yi said, “I’ll feel jealous.”
While speaking, Nie Yi placed the lettuce Qi Jingchen liked to carry and play with into Qi Jingchen’s bosom. He wouldn’t be happy even if Qi Jingchen was just carrying a small animal. However, if Qi Jingchen was carrying lettuce he would be eating in the future, then that was fine.
“…” Qi Jingchen stood up and went to take a bath while holding the lettuce. In passing, he watered it too.
Nie Yi waited for Qi Jingchen to finish up before he took a bath. Afterwards, he discovered that Qi Jingchen had actually fallen asleep holding the lettuce planted in the coffee jar.
It was fine if Qi Jingchen didn’t hug him while sleeping, but he actually hugged the lettuce!
Seeing that the lettuce would be eaten by Qi Jingchen sooner or later, he’ll endure it! When that time comes, he might… might as well take a few bites of the lettuce too?
Nie Yi was dissatisfied with the lettuce, but after a moment, he couldn’t help smiling happily— Qi Jingchen hugging this lettuce in bed should be because he was throwing a tantrum at Nie Yi, right?
Nie Yi kissed Qi Jingchen, who could be sleeping or pretending to, and laid down by his side.
His beloved was sleeping next to him, but he couldn’t do anything to him… As it was, Nie Yi restrained himself for the night. When he woke up the next morning, he realised with embarrassment that his pants were wet!
He would pleasure himself in the past, but since he had been lying by Qi Jingchen’s side, where would he get the nerve to do that? As a result… He actually couldn’t restrain himself…
Nie Yi hastily entered the bathroom and cleaned his pants. While washing, he suddenly recalled something.
Qi Jingchen always laid down with him. Even though he hadn’t done anything to Qi Jingchen, he still touched and rubbed him. Every time he did so, he couldn’t help becoming excited, but Qi Jingchen… had never reacted before.
Nie Yi suddenly felt a little defeated. He knew that Qi Jingchen valued him very much, but never dared to confirm whether Qi Jingchen liked him… If Qi Jingchen didn’t like him and only indulged his actions because he was so pessimistic about this world…
He suddenly couldn’t help hesitating… Nonetheless, even if Qi Jingchen didn’t like him, he had already made the decision to entangle with Qi Jingchen for the rest of their lives.
Furthermore, while he was around, he would never give Qi Jingchen the chance to interact and fall in love with other people!
Brimming with confidence, Nie Yi washed his pants and dried them with his ability, then went to prepare breakfast for Qi Jingchen.
He must make Qi Jingchen inseparable from him!
Speaking of, though both water and fire abilities were very common, together, they were abilities with great utility for everyday life and travelling.
While Nie Yi was preparing a meal for Qi Jingchen, Zhang Zihai suddenly looked at Qi Jingchen. “Nie shao is probably very amazing ba, how do you deal with it? How do you guys do it?”
Yesterday, Nie Yi had carried Qi Jingchen away, probably bringing him upstairs and spending a &#k2018;delightful’ night, right?
Qi Jingchen was small in stature, and his skin was so tender. Could he even handle Nie Yi&#k2026;
Zhang Zihai couldn’t help thinking, Qi Jingchen was probably always being carried around because he was tossed about too ferociously at night, right? He reckoned this was why Nie Yi was so willing to endure all of his whims.
That’s right, Nie Yi only made him all sorts of mild food and never gave him food with rich flavours; this was also to make things easier at night, right? Speaking of, if someone compelled him to eat like that, he wouldn’t be able to endure, and become picky over food as well!
Ping Shengchao, Shao Zhenglan, and the others all knew that Nie Yi truly treasured Qi Jingchen very much, that Qi Jingchen had a delicate appearance from the beginning, and that Nie Yi likely had yet to succeed. But Zhang Zihai didn’t know any of this, and naturally was overthinking.
“Zhang Zihai!” Ping Shengchao yelled. Was this person crazy? Actually asking Qi Jingchen such a question… wasn’t he afraid of being crushed by Nie Yi?
“Something wrong?” Zhang Zihai looked at Ping Shengchao.
“…” Ping Shengchao looked at Nie Yi who had just returned and didn’t speak. He couldn’t do anything since Zhang Zihai himself was looking to die…
“You think of quite a few things. It’s probably because you’re too free… Tonight, you lead the patrol.” Nie Yi smiled at Zhang Zihai. He still hadn’t gotten Qi Jingchen, and Zhang Zihai’s words were simply digging at his wounds!
Night patrol was absolutely the most tiring work! Zhang Zihai cried without shedding tears. He clearly knew that interacting with Qi Jingchen would cause the large vinegar pot Nie Yi to become unhappy, so why did he run over to ask such a private question on impulse?
Ping Shengchao also felt extremely helpless. He decided to pay attention and watch over Zhang Zihai to prevent him from divulging Nie Yi’s secret, so now, he naturally couldn’t let Zhang Zihai have any complaints about Nie Yi…
Seeing that there was no one around at the moment, Ping Shengchao said, “You already knew how much Boss treasures him, so why did you still go provoke Qi Jingchen? But Boss sending you to patrol at night isn’t a bad thing. Zombies are more powerful at night, and we can learn from the experience… When the time comes, I’ll go with you.”
Zhang Zihai’s expression immediately became complicated. Ever since they shared their tribulations, Ping Shengchao always stuck by his side and treated him well. And now, he was even willing to accompany him in a bitter job such as patrolling; this definitely meant he’d fallen for him, right? But he didn’t know if he himself liked men yet, and just now he had wanted to ask Qi Jingchen but didn’t manage to get an answer…
But Nie Yi had no idea someone in his team was tangled with feelings, and as they got nearer and nearer to B City secure base, his control over the 2000 people also became tighter and tighter.
He didn’t handle this all on his own; instead, he had Zhang Zihai, Ping Shengchao, and the others weave into the group and keep an eye on them for him.
He didn’t dare be certain that these 2000 people were already loyal, but he was rather trusting of Zhang Zihai and the others.
Nie Yi dared not be a hundred percent certain of these people’s loyalty, but Qi Jingchen, with the detached gaze of a bystander, knew that they had already accepted Nie Yi.
It wasn’t easy to survive during the apocalypse, and many wanted to attach themselves to the strong or become stronger. Nie Yi was worthy of being depended on, and he could make them stronger. Naturally, they accepted him wholeheartedly.
Moreover, humans were easily influenced by emotions. For instance, someone who was inherently skilled, but had no self-confidence or optimism, would inadvertently screw up matters he was capable of handling. Killing zombies was also like this.
If the human side’s morale was low and they thought they couldn’t defeat zombies, then they would flee upon seeing zombies, and wouldn’t even dare fight. But if they believed that they could beat the zombies, everything would be different.
Nie Yi had formed these people into a team, and given them ample confidence, allowing them to annihilate countless zombies in high spirits. This turned them stronger and stronger, braver and braver in the face of zombies, and faster and faster at obliterating them.… Since these people had obtained such good results, how could they not become loyal to Nie Yi?
At first, these 2000 people cleared the road in the front, but later, when they gained more vehicles, it gradually became the trucks and ability users not part of the 2000 that led the way. The two thousand people instead patrolled both flanks of the team, finishing off the zombies that were drawn over.
Once a group of people destroyed many zombies, they wearily climbed back into the resting trucks provided to them and began to drink sweetened soup that had been prepared to replenish their energy and regain their strength.
“Nie shao is really too amazing, and his ability is powerful as well!” someone exclaimed in worship.
“I think we’ve already become much stronger, but we’re still incomparable to Nie shao!”
“That’s right, but if we follow Nie shao, we’ll be able to to become even stronger in the future, right?”
…
Everyone began to discuss spiritedly.
“Nie shao really is very amazing, but why does he always bring that youth?” Finally, someone asked this, puzzled. They weren’t very close to Nie Yi and didn’t know Qi Jingchen very well either. However, they could still see Nie Yi carrying Qi Jingchen around 24/7.
“Nie shao is so amazing that it’s nothing for him to bring someone. It doesn’t have anything to do with us, anyway,” someone else said. Qi Jingchen’s existence didn’t hinder them or anything, instead, it made them even more confident of Nie Yi’s strength…
These people soon began to gossip about Nie Yi. The more they gossiped, the more they felt that Nie Yi was very powerful, and the more respectful they were of Nie Yi’s ideology. “We will have a day when we eradicate all zombies!”
“Eradicate the zombies!”
“Eradicate the zombies!”
…
“Eradicate the zombies!”
“Eradicate the zombies!”
A team of soldiers from B City secure base were repairing a bridge that had collapsed nearby when they suddenly heard deafening shouts from far away.
Simultaneously, a few trucks filled with people drove over.
The people shouting were undoubtedly those in the truck, but these messily dressed people were actually very unfamiliar… While the soldiers felt suspicion, they saw the trucks abruptly turn around and come back.
“What’s going on?” A soldier looked at his comrade, suspicious.
“How would I know?” His comrade was also at a loss, and not long after, he saw a large fleet come over. This fleet seemed almost endless; aside from the cars in the centre, there were many patrol members on motorcycles or bicycles in the surroundings— In the wake of the growing numbers of vehicles they found, there were increasingly fewer people walking among the entire migrating team.
There were many people in this fleet, but they looked very beaten and didn’t have the energy with which they were shouting the slogan just now.
“Who are you guys?” A soldier yelled.
“We’re from the western secure base! Are you guys from B City secure base?” Quite a few people from the fleet became excited.
“Yeah, we’re from B City secure base!” The soldiers replied. They had all heard about the situation at the western secure base, and also knew that their lives there weren’t good. They hadn’t thought that they’d arrive already.
“That’s awesome! We’re finally here!” Someone in the team became emotional, and the car slowed down a little.
“What’s going on in front! You’re not allowed to slow down! Hurry up and go onwards!” Someone at the back held a megaphone and yelled.
The soldiers repairing the bridge were dumbstruck when they saw this. Someone even called out, “You’re using a megaphone to yell? Aren’t you afraid of attracting zombies?”
Even though B City secure base had always been killing the zombies, there were too many, and they couldn’t thoroughly wipe them out!
“Team, onwards at full speed; you’re not allowed to stop! If there’s a problem with your vehicle, then stop at the roadside!” The man holding the megaphone yelled again, as if he wasn’t afraid of zombies at all.
The soldiers were bewildered, but then abruptly heard the chant, ‘Eradicate the zombies’. At the same time, they realised that some people had gathered in groups and were battling with the surrounding zombies.
Zombies were extremely terrifying; their characteristics of causing death simply through their scratches or bites made everyone avoid zombies. Yet, these people took the initiative to rush towards the zombies…
When the soldiers repairing the bridge heard their chant and saw them decimate all the zombies that were drawn over, they suddenly felt fired up.
In truth, it wasn’t just them who had this feeling. Almost everyone on the road who had bumped into their team felt this way.
In this team, so many people were adept at killing zombies!
Most people left the secure base just to collect supplies, but these people… Seeing their appearance, they seemed to like killing zombies even more!
Truly a bunch of weirdos!
When they approached B City secure base, Nie Yi went to the very front.
It had been over two months since the start of the apocalypse, and B City secure base had already constructed the framework for the outer city.
B City secure base was very large, but because more and more people fled here, there still weren’t enough places to live. Let alone the fact that the secure base still wanted to clear out an area to plant crops…In fact, the outer city was constructed at the perfect time.
With the overcrowding in B City secure base, the speed of the outer city constructions was naturally very fast as well. It was just that, though the framework for the outer city was already done, not many were willing to live outside— Everyone felt that it was safer in the inner city.
“What do we do now?” In the office building at the centre of B City secure base, a group of leaders were having a meeting.
“Why not forcibly move people? Or subsidise those who are willing to live in the outer city? There are too many people in the inner city right now; some houses have a few dozen people crammed inside. If this continues on, a disease might spread,” Nie Boyuan said.
“Surnamed Nie, still thinking of giving a subsidy? Aren’t you afraid that doing this would give everyone a greater impression that the inner city is safe and make them more unwilling to leave?” Someone coldly sneered.
“I have an idea.” Zhao Chengqi suddenly spoke up, “I previously dispatched someone to the western base Fei Xuelei was overseeing; the people from there have already arrived. We can let them live outside first.”
“They’ve already arrived?” A bigshot was somewhat pleasantly surprised. “How’s the casualty rate?”
“The casualty rate is less than seven percent, including deaths from illnesses and such.” Zhao Chengqi was a little proud.
“Who was handling this matter? It was done too perfectly! Hold on, I don’t think your troops left yet?” Someone was puzzled.
“They never left. Someone brought a team of about twenty people and successfully completed this mission.” Zhao Chengqi smiled and looked at Nie Boyuan. “This is thanks to Chief Nie’s good son.”
Baobao Notes
I’m guessing that the base’s current design is similar to Attack on Titan’s district layout, like this.