Chapter 465: Underground City
"It’s not much time, but at least we have foreknowledge. Ouyang Jin should have his generals bring back their recruits here. I don’t think there is any place that is more secure than where we are." Leng Pan said this because the buildings around them had been reinforced by th strange stone.
She didn’t believe that the grasshoppers could eat the stones on these buildings.
"Just to be safe, we should add some living space underground." Lu Zhen suggested.
Won’t those things that crawl through the sewers gain access to us then?" Lu Tao asked with unwillingness.
Some of the creatures hiding below were too unsightly.
"We have to eliminate them and build an underground city in those tunnels. If we use that stone to reinforce the newly build walls, thos things would probably not be able to get through." Uncle Li added.
Indeed, this was something Leng Pan hadn’t considered.
"We collected many building materials before, they can be used now." Leng Pan and Lu Zhen collected a lot of things during the early days of the apocalypse. So, they did lack enough materials to build a city.
"It would be better to engage earth ability users. They will do a better job of integrating the building materials and the surrounding environment better than machines." Lu Zhen suggested to his wife who nodded in agreement.
Indeed, that was true.
"How about we integrate that stone into the foundation? I think it will work better to strengthen the whole underground compared to placing it in a room." Leng Pan suggested this because she was also worried that someone might leak the secret of the stone eventually and it would be stolen.
Moreover, she believed that including it in the foundation would indeed provide better results.
"That’s a good idea, but it would be better to do it discreetly. Don’t let anyone find out. Let them think that it is just one of the stones us d for the foundation of the buildings unground." Lu Zhen as always supported his wife.
"Okay, it’s been decided then. Ah Zhen, talk to Ouyang Jin so that as soon as the flood water dries, he would bring the people back." Uncle Li said as he stood up and headed to the kitchen to continue cooking.
Over the past week, he had spent almost all the time in the kitchen cooking different dishes and making desserts.
His talent had improved significantly and now even taking a bite of his food could restore energy immediately.
This had surprised everyone, but is had also made them happy.
Now even if they gave the soldiers a bar of homemade chocolate, taking a small bite could restore energy even in the midst of a fierce battle.
Moreover, one bar of chocolate could last for a long time.
Without saying a word, uncle Li made more snacks that are easy to carry in the pocket.
On the day they woke up and found all the flood water had miraculously dried up, good knews also came from the laboratory.
The research team had made a breakthrough.
The DNA of the alien with regeneration abilities had been deciphered and a type of protein was extracted.
It could be made into pills, but it needed a binding agent which wasn’t available at the lab.
After discussing with Leng Pan and Lu Zhen, they both thought of Uncle Li.
"Is it possible to use food as the binding agent?" Lu Zhen asked the researchers.
"Food?" One of the researchers asked.
Leng Pan took out a bar of chocolate from her pocket and gave it to the researcher while explaining its properties.
When they heard about the ability of the chocolate that could instantly restore energy with a small bite, the leading researcher laughed heartily.
"This will do. But we have to work together to determine the amount of regenerative protein that should be used in one chocolate bar. And we will have to separate them. The chocolates used for healing through regeneration can’t be used to simply restore energy." He explained.
"Okay then, we will tell Uncle so that he can come to the lab to work with you." Leng Pan promised before leaving with her husband.
"This apocalypse is going way better than the last one. Even though technology is still far behind, humans have evolved in a different direction. Those researchers were able to get results in such a short time." Leng Pan commented as the two walked around the community that had been cleaned in a short time after everyone woke up.
Wood ability users were working together with wind element espers to sweep and clean all the debris within the community.
In no time, the place was clean again.
To avoid diseases from sprouting from the places where corpses had been dumped by the flood water, Leng Pan provided a large amount of disinfectant which was spayed everywhere even on the square.
Not a single spot was ignored.
After all this was done, Ouyang Jin communicated with his people and by the afternoon, soldiers wearing worn out uniform started trickling into the community.
A registration station was erected near th gate where everyone registered themselves and families before gaining entry.
This was now not a simple community, but a base.
It was named the Rebirth Base. No one knew why it had been called that way, except for those who knew about Leng Pan and Lu Zhen’s rebirth and thos who fought with them in the first apocalypse.
Because time was tight, the construction of the Underground City started as soon as the soldiers settled in.
All the earth type ability users, metal type, and water type worked together to excavate and build walls underground.
Because Leng Pan is also a water type, she followed the first batch of people who were laying the foundation and added the strange stone into the mixture while no one was paying attention.
As such, when the structure that included not only stones and cement, but also metal was completed, even the strongest hammer could not dent it.
Just as she had been expected, adding the stone to the foundation strengthened the whole underground city and even the buildings above as a whole.
Now if those grasshoppers showed up and tried to bite the buildings, their teeth would break.