Chapter 328

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Some things, once you do them long enough, become habit.

Just like killing mutant beasts — at first Shen Yao felt strong aversion, but later she realized she truly couldn't avoid taking action herself, and so she adapted quickly.

The appearance of this mutant beast was like a signal; over the next few days, new types of mutant beasts kept arriving in the uptown district, attacking the people living there.

Shen Yao's family had neither good nor bad luck — aside from the first day when they directly faced a mutant beast, the other days they were merely bystanders watching the commotion.

The residential complex they currently lived in wasn't large in area, but it had high floors and high population density; a mutant beast coming over and randomly attacking one building could eat its fill.

The building Shen Yao and the others were in had suffered damage, and although repairs were rushed afterward, only a temporary covering was put in place — in reality it served absolutely no purpose, fragile and unable to withstand a single blow.

Fortunately, over the next few days no mutant beasts came; the most dangerous moment was merely one circling their building once before leaving directly.

"This situation shouldn't last too long," the situation in the suburbs wasn't good, and they had never managed to suppress the massive mutant beast horde.

They were in the rear area of Hope City; the occasional mutant beasts that popped up were stragglers that slipped through the net. The officials currently had most of their forces deployed in the suburbs, and a small portion still had to maintain order in Hope City — naturally they had no attention to spare for dealing with this group of mutant beasts.

"Over the next few days, the mutant beasts appearing may increase more and more; we must prepare for a bitter struggle." Hiding was impossible — mutant beasts had keen smell and sight, and ordinary building materials couldn't withstand a few swipes of their claws.

For now the inside of the complex wasn't too chaotic; perhaps everyone couldn't help without burden, but lending a hand when one had spare capacity was no problem.

But once mutant beast numbers increased, they would only be able to look after themselves.

And this possibility grew larger the longer the suburbs remained deadlocked without victory or defeat.

Shen Yao's complexion was poor — perhaps she was envisioning the near future, the picture of them struggling to survive.

This was a possibility no one had anticipated at the start — the end of the natural disaster did not bring peaceful life, but a plight even more terrifying than the natural disaster itself.

"Rest assured, we've long had this weighed in our hearts; we only hope Mingyu and his father and son can be safe."

Mother Wei sighed. They were hiding in the rear, facing relatively less danger, but even so quite a few people had lost their lives to mutant beasts.

Then what about the suburban front line, even more dangerous than the rear? Just what kind of situation would it be?

Mother Wei simply dared not think further; she was afraid. Touching her wildly pounding chest, she gripped the weapon-tool in her hand, and her gaze turned firm.

Father Wei patted Mother Wei's shoulder, silently giving her encouragement.

Wei Minzhi sidled up to Shen Yao to keep her company; she felt deep heartache for her sister-in-law — this family had made it to today, and her sister-in-law had contributed a great deal.

"Sister-in-law, I will protect Chengen and Chengning well, absolutely won't let mutant beasts harm them." Wei Minzhi secretly resolved in her heart: if one day the mutant beasts' attack was right before their eyes, even if she had to sacrifice herself she would preserve the two children.

Four people stood in the living room, each with their own thoughts. But it couldn't be denied — they were all doing their utmost for this family.

The heavy topic came to a pause, and Shen Yao began her daily activity of holding binoculars to observe the surroundings — even though doing so was of negligible use.

Wei Minzhi and Mother Wei seized the time to exercise, bringing the two children along, doing exercises at home to enhance their own strength.

Father Wei held crude tools patching and mending; any place with a gap he would plug up. Including the previously damaged living room glass — outside it was covered with a layer of wooden boards, leaving only gaps that could let light through.

Of course, the main effect of doing this was merely psychological comfort; given mutant beasts' abilities, it fundamentally couldn't stop them.

The house was peaceful for a few days, then on a certain morning, mutant beasts came knocking.

This time it was a species without wings, but with eight long legs — an insect-type mutant beast.

It crawled extremely fast; in just a moment it had entered the house uninvited.

And this type of mutant beast didn't rely on flying in — it relied on a talent for drilling through sewers. Hope City District's pipes went every which way; how could they possibly be blocked?

Shen Yao expressionlessly flung the axe in her hand, splitting one squarely on the top of its head.

The white mark that appeared was obvious, provoking the mutant beast to howl in sorrow while its aggression grew even stronger.

Shen Yao dodged left and right, and at the end didn't forget to continue attacking the mutant beast with all her might.

Mutant Beast: ……

The mutant beast was very angry, its eight long legs (joints) brandishing claws and baring fangs — at a glance it looked very imposing.

Too bad it faced Shen Yao — it couldn't arouse the slightest fear in her; Shen Yao even had the presence of mind to hack continuously at its eight long legs, directly giving the mutant beast a clean shave.

There, without long limbs as footholds, the mutant beast could only lie on the ground rolling, its ugly huge mouth gaping wanting to attack but unable to reach.

In a few swift moves Shen Yao directly chopped off the mutant beast's head. The mutant beast finally breathed its last, contributing its body to Shen Yao.

"Clean up, there are still other mutant beasts." This was a social animal — one comes, and there'll be a second, a third.

Shen Yao wiped her hands, and while there was time hurriedly downed several bottles of drinks.

Replenish, replenish stamina; recover, recover spirit. Shen Yao continued waiting for the mutant beasts that would barge in.

By the time night fell outside, the entire room was filled with the smell of mutant beasts.

Shen Yao was so tired she couldn't lift her wrists — so hacking at beasts by hand was this exhausting. She'd been busy all day, and even with Father Wei, Mother Wei and the others helping, she still couldn't catch up.

Fortunately the result wasn't bad — all mutant beasts that ran in died unnatural deaths, the floor covered with mutant beast corpses.

Father Wei and Mother Wei tidied them up and sent them downstairs, and by the way didn't forget to inquire with property management about the situation in other buildings.

The result was naturally predictable — aside from their building where Shen Yao worked hard to recover losses, other families being able to preserve their lives was already a victory.

The originally not-so-great complex instantly became even more dilapidated.

This wasn't the end — mutant beasts were like they'd discovered a new toy, coming wave after wave without end. Anyway, the axe in Shen Yao's hand never had a moment's rest; every day there were mutant beasts delivered to her door.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao was speechless. She called out the System to have it observe the suburban situation for her — if that side didn't solve the mutant beast problem soon, the uptown district would be overrun by the mutant beasts that slipped through.

The key was that the uptown district's combat power was insufficient — it fundamentally couldn't stop these mutant beasts. Relying on her alone was like a clever housewife unable to cook without rice.

System: ……

The System was also helpless. This time the number of mutant beasts was countless. The suburban side had already brought up large-scale destructive weapons, but it only stabilized the situation — it didn't let the barely balanced situation collapse.

To drive the mutant beasts back, or rather to resolve Hope City's crisis, they would have to deadlock for a period of time at minimum, because Hope City's weapon reserves were critically low — they could only wait for the factory side's output.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao had the system quickly think of a way, or rather, asked if it could secretly provide help.

"It can still get benefits from the World Consciousness; it surely wouldn't just watch humanity go extinct."

Humans have lived on this planet for a very long time; they may not be the longest-tenured residents, but they are the smartest batch.

The planet completed its self-evolution, and the World Consciousness would also screen the planet.

No matter how you compare, humans hold the advantage in this evolution.

Helping the side likely to win, placing a bet in advance to strive for benefits for oneself — this is the keen instinct every Tasker possesses.

Shen Yao quickly found the solution, or rather, she was just waiting for the system to propose it for her.

Some words were not suitable for Shen Yao to say herself; she still needed to disguise things a bit.

The system gave a perfunctory "mm-hmm," then turned around and secretly pulled small moves, making the weapon factories unconsciously speed up progress, even accidentally researching better disposable weapons targeting Mutant Beasts.

Weapon Factory: ……

The battle situation in the suburbs began to tilt toward humans because of the system's intervention.

Wei Mingyu and Wei Chengyan stayed together; these days the father and son could be said to be living in hardship, often having the illusion of hanging by a thread.

Wei Chengyan looked at the small hand grenade allocated to him, looking left and right; his pair of round, rolling eyes were indescribably cute.

"This little thing, the effect is this good?" Others sat beside him; the older ones couldn't help but mutter, after all, the place they were in was the battlefield — one careless moment and there would be no possibility of surviving.

"Heard the effect is extremely strong; that group of Mutant Beasts fears them greatly," even showing a faint tendency to retreat.

This was no easy feat; you must know that group of Mutant Beasts are existences that don't cast the net until they see the rabbit — looking at this group of people was like seeing meaty bones, wishing they could bite off a mouthful; fortunately they could still rely on weapons to defend and protect themselves.

"Prepare in advance; in a bit we'll move — you guys personally test them out." Useless things wouldn't be sent to the suburbs; this isn't some palace intrigue script — everyone is united as one, fighting for humanity's future.

………

Facts proved Shen Yao's help was very useful; the Mutant Beasts on the suburban side couldn't withstand the weapon bombardment and finally could only retreat with heads covered, moving away from Hope City.

Hope City's crisis was temporarily lifted; the people staying in the suburbs could finally return home in batches.

Because Wei Mingyu and Wei Chengyan performed excellently, they received rewards, and their return time was placed in the middle.

By the time the father and son arrived home, they saw the house decorated fresh yet dilapidated.

The description is rather contradictory, but that is exactly the word — after all, the destructive power of Mutant Beasts goes without saying, and the house they lived in wasn't built from any rare materials; constant renovation and refurbishment back and forth would naturally make it look weird and unrecognizable.

Shen Yao didn't want to say these things to spoil the mood; the family had reunited with great difficulty — eating and drinking heartily was the proper business.

Among them, Wei Chengyan even loudly announced his exceptional admission and promotion.

This made him very proud; Wei Chengyan was still young, at a stage where he especially cared about face.

The officials gave him many rewards, but the one that truly won his heart was the exceptional promotion.

Wei Chengyan happily held his chest out, accepting the envy from his family — especially the two little ones, Wei Chengning and Wei Chengen, lining up their small hands and clapping nonstop, very cooperative.

Seeing this, Shen Yao asked Wei Mingyu about the specific situation — Wei Chengyan was just a little kid, he wouldn't get the short end of the stick, right?

Wei Mingyu smiled. "It's a good thing; Chengyan is going to the Military Academy" — not directly into the troops; Wei Chengyan hasn't reached that level yet.

Besides, Wei Chengyan's character is still undetermined now; the officials also don't want to throw him directly into the troops — no matter what, he needs a sound worldview first.

The Military Academy is good; compared to Wei Chengyan's daily study situation, Wei Mingyu was also satisfied with this way out — even wishing he could directly send Wei Chengyan in to study for three to five years before coming out.

In a low voice, he explained to Shen Yao the ins and outs of this suburban incident, including what exactly he and Wei Chengyan did in the suburbs.

Wei Mingyu didn't spare his tongue; he said everything there was to say, downing three cups of water in a row before finishing certain inside stories.

Shen Yao listened while serving dishes for Wei Mingyu; everything prepared today was what the father and son loved most — Shen Yao kept piling food into their bowls.

Not only Shen Yao; Father Wei, Mother Wei, and Wei Minzhi, even the two little ones, kept sending dishes into the father and son's bowls nonstop.

They hadn't seen each other for a period of time; although they kept saying they were doing fine outside, Wei Chengyan and Wei Mingyu's bodies had grown thin — a result visible to the naked eye.

Mother Wei felt heartache for Wei Chengyan, a child having to leave home to study alone; her words were all about reluctance to part.

Wei Chengyan was embarrassed, scratched his head, and could only eat — striving to eat everything in his bowl clean, not letting down his family's sincere hearts.

"Have some soup; this time back you can rest a few days." No matter how much the officials want people to work, they must give proper benefits — can't treat people as tools.

Fresh and delicious chicken soup was brought by Shen Yao to Wei Chengyan's side. Wei Chengyan, happily, tilted his head and drank a mouthful — instantly conquered by the chicken soup.

With appetite wide open, he drank several bowls until his belly could hold no more; Wei Chengyan helplessly patted himself, stood up, and returned to his room to rest.

Wei Mingyu received the same treatment, except Wei Mingyu was an adult with ample energy — he first washed up and refreshed himself, then talked with the family for a good while, until the hour was late, then he and Shen Yao returned to their room to sleep.

The couple reunited after a short separation; both missed each other dearly — although considering their bodies they didn't do much groping, hugging and sleeping together was still effortless.

When she woke, the sky was already bright; Shen Yao got up and looked outside through the glass window.

The wooden boards nailed up earlier had already been removed, only leaving ugly traces by the window side.

Father Wei had already contacted the renovation team outside, planning to renovate anew these two days when there was time.

Houses in Hope City District were damaged too much; only now could they spare the effort to handle it — heard some good renovation teams already have orders booked to a month later; without a bit of connections you can't even get a number.

Shen Yao's family counts as having some connections — especially with Wei Mingyu still around, those wanting to curry favor and get ahead are not few.

Sure enough, just proposed it, and a day later a renovation team showed up at the door, even bringing their own renovation materials — they only needed to pay a labor fee.

Shen Yao poked Wei Mingyu's wrist; her hand was caught by Wei Mingyu in one grip.

"Don't make trouble; they're all villagers from the suburbs. This time the suburban damaged area is larger than imagined, yet our patch is relatively well preserved." The implication: these people coming to work now are thanking him — thanks to him helping guard it.