Chapter 63: Expansion of the Breeding Team

The corpse tide gradually receded, and the pale dawn slowly expanded at the edge of the sky, shifting from deep purple to silver-gray and tinting the eastern clouds like a softly stroked ink wash painting.

The wails of the zombies slowly evolved from initial disorder into a few sporadic roars, each one desolate and distant, sounding like lamentations for their own tragic fate.

The surrounding ground was covered in charred marks, the remnants of high-temperature burning from the earth spikes, bearing silent witness to the fierce battle that had just taken place. Spikes that had not yet fully cooled stood thrust into the earth like sharp blades.

A few half-charred corpses were scattered among them, their carbonized limbs occasionally venting wisps of faint steam, while an obnoxious smell of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air. Inside the perimeter wall, everything finally returned to a brief peace. Every hurried breath in the chest was magnified in the silence, like a taut string suddenly snapping, causing the air to vibrate with an almost illusory "swish—".

In an instant, those ragged breaths rose and fell one after another, resembling a gentle breeze stirring the quiet night, gradually blowing away the lingering smell of gunpowder.

Shi Chao leaned against the sniper platform, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Whew—it's finally over."

He raised a hand and forced an easygoing shrug, though the arc of his brow appeared stiff and rigid, like a thin disguise attempting to mask the turmoil within. The corners of his mouth twitched into a reluctant smile, carrying a deliberately concealed levity, yet his grip on the gun was deathly tight, his knuckles slightly white from excessive force. It was as if, should his hold slacken even slightly, the Level 2 zombie that had just leaped over the wall would pounce again and drive everyone to desperation.

"Good thing we had our earth spike traps, otherwise we'd have gone crazy relying solely on bullets." Zhang Qiang panted heavily as he bent down to pick up a few empty cartridges scattered around his feet, his fingertips still stained with the black ash from the battle, making him look exceptionally disheveled.

He shook his mud-spattered trouser legs in an attempt to brush off some of the filth, but his movements betrayed a certain instability, as if standing firm was a struggle. "We really cheated death this time..." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, yet it failed to conceal the lingering panic etched between his brows.

His tone forced a semblance of ease, but the slightly trembling pitch betrayed his state of mind, and the lingering fear was practically spilling over.

"The spikes are charred, and you still dare to go down and poke zombies? Are you out of your mind?" Shi Chao cast a sidelong glance at him with a look of disgust, then raised his voice and shouted, "We've made it through this round, folks! Don't rush to celebrate—clear the scene first! Don't let the venom in those Level 2 zombies' claws ruin anything and affect our watch next time."

Lu Yao was squatting behind Jiang Qiyue, his arms resting casually on his knees, his dark eyes staring quietly at her like an obedient puppy.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling steadily upon her as she shook out her blood-stained jacket and calmly brushed off the clinging dust, her fingertips turning slightly red from the force. Then, with a stern expression and a steady, low voice, she transmitted the next set of instructions clearly to the team via her headset. Her poise and decisiveness were impossible to ignore.

"Tally and take stock of the ammunition and the number of survivors, and then hand in the sentry rotation schedule," she said in a cool and calm tone, as if the narrow escape from the corpse tide just moments ago was not worth mentioning at all.

"Boss!" Suddenly, a cheerful voice came from behind. Zhou Yun ran over excitedly, the pallor on her face replaced by hot joy, followed by a group of people including several women like Liu Min. They looked at Jiang Qiyue with complex gazes, a mixture of gratitude and awe.

"Boss—thank you so much!" Zhou Yun stopped, panting, her throat catching on a few irregular breaths. The blush on her cheeks had not yet faded, and her eyes welled up slightly with unshed tears, as if the emotions she had suppressed for so long had instantly spiraled out of control. "If you hadn't prepared these defensive facilities in advance..." Her voice trembled, filled with irrepressible lingering fear and relief. Her hands nervously twisted the hem of her clothes, her thoughts too complex to express. "The consequences... we really wouldn't dare to imagine. We—we truly owe you our lives!"

Standing there looking somewhat disheveled did nothing to diminish her awe of Jiang Qiyue, yet her opening words carried a stiff, self-reproachful vexation. Overwhelmed by surging emotions, she suddenly lowered her head, swept her gaze across the team members behind her, and then looked back up, fixing her tear-rimmed eyes on Jiang Qiyue like a child who had just escaped a nightmare.

"This time really... thanks to you, Boss." She bit her lip, took a soft breath, and tried hard to swallow back the surging emotion.

Jiang Qiyue didn't even turn her head; she simply lowered it to continue untying the protective gear on the back of her hand, uttered a cool "Mn," and casually tossed out two words: "Go back and do a good job."

Although this nonchalant response carried a cool tone without sounding detached, and her gaze did not linger for even a second, it pierced through everyone's psychological defenses in an instant. That calm and collected demeanor possessed a deterrent force far greater than any reprimand. Liu Min only felt a tightening in her throat, her lowered gaze touching the ground. She bit her lip again, hesitated repeatedly, and ultimately swallowed her words back down, not daring to interrupt rashly.

Lu Yao chuckled inexplicably at that moment, blinked, and said to Jiang Qiyue in a soft, smiling tone, "Big sister, if you don't smile again, you're going to scare the wits out of them."

Jiang Qiyue shot him a sideways glance, the corners of her eyes lifting slightly with a hint of teasing. "I don't recall teaching you to butt in, hmm?"

Hearing this, Lu Yao instantly fell silent and straightened his posture like a well-behaved student receiving a lesson, though the trace of casual amusement at the corners of his mouth refused to be hidden.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yao immediately reined in his smile, straightened his spine, and sat up as upright and well-behaved as a student being reprimanded by a teacher. Yet the irrepressible trace of carefree amusement at the corners of his mouth still betrayed his currently joyful mood.

*

Fine!

Zhou Yun casually twisted her hair into a messy bun, rolled her sleeves up high, and squatted to the side, poking at the small fish and shrimp in the pool with a thin wire. Yang Zhizu stood beside her, lowering his head to wash his fishing net while repeatedly glancing at the slightly shimmering water in the pool, his eyes filled with an unstoppable sense of novelty and nostalgia.

"Sister Zhou Yun, do you think the little things we're raising can make it to next year?" Yang Zhi asked carefully, his tone tinged with a mix of unease and hope.

Zhou Yun snorted and said, "Don't worry. As long as we take good care of them every day and supplement them with vegetable leaves grown in the space, there will be plenty of chances to eat fresh shrimp and grilled fish next year." She looked up at Yang Zhizu, the corners of her mouth curling up. "What, are you afraid your fishing net will have no place to be used?"

Yang Zhi scratched his head and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "No, it's just that it feels... raising fish and shrimp in the apocalypse feels like a dream."

Hearing this, Zhou Yun's movements paused. She turned to look at the pool, the shimmering water reflecting tiny, scattered starlight in her eyes. "Yeah, who would have thought? Back when we were starving, we treated a single vegetable leaf like a treasure. Look at us now—our boss not only gets us hot meals, but also thinks to raise these little creatures. You tell me... doesn't even the heavens have to bow down to her?"

Yang Zhi nodded heavily, his expression turning rare in its seriousness. "Yeah, Sister Jiang is just different."

Zhou Yun smiled, a sense of relief washing over her features. Watching the slow-moving fish and shrimp, she seemed to glimpse a faint yet resilient hope. She clapped her hands and stood up. "All right, back to work, no slacking off. These little guys are counting on us."

The efficiency of the agricultural team had also improved visibly. Within Jiang Qiyue's territory, cultivation had expanded from the initial few cherry tomatoes to dozens of different vegetables. These crops swayed with vitality in the sunlight, dressing the entire farmland like a new oasis.

Zhou Yun, serving as the head of the agricultural team, was currently squatting by the edge of a field ridge, carefully observing the flowering and fruiting of the tomato plants. In her hand, she held an agricultural book salvaged from a supermarket, its pages slightly yellowed by age and dampness, yet still bearing the most fundamental wisdom of cultivation. Team members gathered around Zhu Zichiu, listening intently as he explained the key points of pruning and fertilization, exchanging techniques with one another.

The greenhouse set up not far from the farmland resembled an entirely new experimental base. The books brought back from the supermarket certainly did not disappoint; not only did they learn traditional soil cultivation knowledge, but they also grasped greenhouse farming and hydroponics techniques.

The agricultural team experimented with applying new techniques to practice by utilizing the cultivation rewards provided by the system, successfully using hydroponics to achieve rapid growth for several types of vegetables.

"The cucumbers and tomatoes grown over at the greenhouse, harvested this morning—the taste is absolute perfection," a team member wiped away sweat and said with some excitement. "I'd almost forgotten how common these things used to be in normal days. Looking at them now, they feel more valuable than precious treasures."

"We should be able to expand to small spice crops this month, right?" another team member asked, full of expectation.

Zhu Zichiu flipped through the book, his fingertips tapping a page. "According to the current progress and the vegetable crop rotation strategy in the greenhouse, growing things like cilantro and mint is totally fine, and we can even try drying and storing some spices."

The farmland had now expanded to eighty mu, and the operation of the entire base had become much more orderly. Within the territory, aside from the infrastructure and logistics teams, the agricultural team had gradually become an essential lifeline. After all, in an apocalypse where food had become scarce, the ability to be self-sufficient meant an incomparable survival advantage.

Standing on high ground overlooking the busy figures in the farmland, Jiang Qiyue felt a slight easing in her heart.

Inside the greenhouse, several young people in white lab coats were busy surrounding a small experimental plot. They carefully tended to the seedlings, occasionally using instruments to measure soil moisture and pH levels.

"Teacher Liu, look, the growth of this batch of rice seedlings is much better than the last!" a girl wearing glasses pointed excitedly at the rice paddy in the field.

The middle-aged man addressed as Teacher Liu nodded, a gratified smile appearing on his face. "Mm, it seems our previous improvement plan was effective. This batch of rice varieties is more drought-resistant and better adapted to our base's soil environment."

Teacher Liu, named Liu Wei, was a professor at the agricultural college. After the outbreak of the apocalypse, he brought several students to the coastline base. Knowing they possessed rich agricultural knowledge, Jiang Qiyue had specially allocated a plot of land for their research and provided quite a few special fertilizers and seeds rewarded by the system.

"Teacher, when can we start large-scale rice cultivation?" another boy asked, his tone filled with anticipation.

Liu Wei pondered for a moment. "Once the yield of this experimental plot stabilizes, we can gradually expand the scale of cultivation. As more and more people come to the base, vegetables and meat alone won't be enough; staple foods are the most important thing."

"That's great!" Several students cheered, knowing that successfully cultivating rice would provide a stable food source for the base and allow more people to survive.

Looking at these energetic young people, Jiang Qiyue's heart was filled with hope. In the apocalypse, knowledge and technology were the most precious wealth. She believed that as long as these people existed, the coastline base would surely overcome numerous difficulties and ultimately welcome the dawn.

Just then, Shi Chao's head popped out abruptly from the other side, smiling with a hint of craftiness. "Doing well over here. The boss wants you all to come up."

Standing at the highest point of the base, Jiang Qiyue looked out into the distance through a high-powered telescope. She saw scattered corpse tides pouring in from the direction of the highway, the zombies spreading deep into the city. Those low-tier zombies moved with stiff gaits.

The origin of the corpse tide turned out to be the university town, a gathering place for young people before human civilization collapsed.

Jiang Qiyue immediately associated it with the possibility that the university town still harbored massive amounts of food, books, research materials, and even undiscovered resources. Perhaps, once the corpse tide retreated, that place would become a massive treasure trove.

"The university town." She stroked the edge of the telescope, a cold glint flashing in her eyes as she murmured softly, "Once this wave of the corpse tide passes, it's time to go take a look."

Several young people walked up to the rooftop, seeing Jiang Qiyue looking down from above at the remnants of the corpse tide. Filled with doubt and unease, they couldn't help whispering to each other: "I heard she wanted to see us about something... Is she that legendary boss?"