Luo Xun carefully filled the bottle with diluted fruit milk and brought it to the baby's mouth. Before when he was drinking the rice soup, although the baby's body was weak, he still had the basic instinct of drinking up.
The baby was much smaller than average and did grow much during the past few days. So the amount of food was less than usual, they only fed him half a bottle of milk when he was full.
As for if eating this would have any adverse effects…Luo Xun and the others were not really sure. They could only carefully monitor the situation.
When the child fell asleep after eating, the team got together to discuss the matter of their next base excursion.
"Going out of base…what about the kids?"
Yu Xinran was older so there was no problem following Luo Xun out of base. Puppy has an ability so there were no issues either and she could gain experience using her ability. The dog has had a cushy life so far, since the end, she has never been outside of base.
But the question now was, who would stay home to care for the baby at home? Or would he come along?
Bringing along a young child was not something easy to do. As adults they had no problems, Yu Xinran's physique was also good but as for the baby…no way!
But if someone had to stay behind…who would stay? How would it work out?
The ability users in the team were not the same as the others, fewer people would reduce everyone's fighting strength. But if regular people were left behind, if something happened and they could not come back, what would they do? Besides, the two ladies and Luo Xun were the ones who knew how to take care of children…there was no way to leave them!
Luo Xun looked at the children asleep on the bed, then at the people sitting in the room before clapping his hands. "Wait a day, we'll go out together with the children."
This time, the team would spend at least a week or more outside the base. No matter who was left to stay at home, both sides would not be reassured about the other's safety. The size of the Otaku squad was too small. It was best to stick together whenever they acted so they could watch over each other.
As for the baby…
"Honey, I'll be troubling you for something…" Yan Fei felt a chill down his neck at Luo Xun's sugary tone when they returned home…Although he would always make what Luo Xun wanted anyway? Now with this flattering look…would this be a chance to get something good?
Luo Xun decided to have a day for everyone to rest, but no one was idle. Of course, there was rest but they also had to start preparing equipment, rations and s on.
When they swept the streets the other day, they found some people selling solar panels in a secluded area. These solar panels were taken from the empty homes from those lost during the zombie bird attacks. They were exchanged for other goods while leaving a little at home for themselves.
Now Luo Xun still could not go to the military exchange points since they were closed to the public. Even for the canteen, they agreed to drop off the food at a location for the other side to pick up.
And those exchange points were not selling this sort of thing, so Luo Xun traded with the people on roadsides. Now most of the solar panels on the outside walls were replenished. Now that everyone was leaving, they needed protective measures.
For example, there were traps on the roof and near the windows – weight triggered metal spikes. There would also be recorded sounds to frighten intruders. Although it might not be of much use, it was better than nothing.
These things were made with Yan Fei's metal ability, Li Tie and friend's designed programs and planned by Luo Xun. It was something painstakingly made by the entire Otaku squad.
As for Xu Mei and Song Lingling, the two ladies were mainly responsible for food, clothing and other resources they would need to bring.
It took around half a day to prepare everything. The Otaku squad set out on Feb 10 after staying indoors for the winter.
Three cars smoothly exited base – the waiting area was barely half full. These days, it seemed even teams who swept the nearby snow had other missions. In fact, the snow had been trampled by the last zombie horde revealing the land underneath. But even then few teams were willing to come out.
Luo Xun and team drove straight towards the avoided area on the west side of base. It was the public cemetery, the base moved unclaimed cars and dug a pit to fill up with ashes of the dead. Since it was cold, there was nothing but a half covered mass grave.
The group of people got out of the car and found an open space. Yu Xinran turned a patch of earth to sand and Zhang Yi moved it aside. Yan Fei put the urn down and the sand covered it to form a mound. Song Lingling created some water to condense the sand – this was a recently developed method.
Yu Xinran's level four crystal cores were also from the trading personnel. After raising to level four, her sand retained characteristics of the original material. It could be used as soil in a pinch by adding some water. In addition, the girl could turn any stone material into sand without issue.
After burying the ashes, Yan Fei placed a rough headstone and engraved 'Liu Xiangyu' with a sharp metal knife. In reality, it would be easier to create a metal tombstone, but it was now the apocalypse, leaving a block of metal in the wilderness…
Cemeteries were unlucky and grave robbers existed since ancient times. If there was metal here, one was afraid that someone would dig up the grave to see if there were any good things. Maybe even the metal urn holding the ashes would not be left!
After the grave was done, the team continued driving in the direction told by Luo Xun. Once the car could go no further, they stopped to cover it and take their modified sleds.
Puppy was excited since this was her first time outside of base. She ran around in circles in the snow while Yu Xinran tried to catch up; the two ladies could not hold them back.
Luo Xun and the others began to assemble the sled. The two children were obediently waiting on the sled. Luo Xun opened the car door and took out a small wrapped parcel in a strange bucket and moved it to the sled.
This bucket was what Luo Xun had asked Yan Fei to make. The metal was hollow with link to the car's heating. It was insulated, windproof and durable. The inner wall had a cotton lining and it was placed in the middle so the two could watch over the baby at any time.
It was simple to add the quasi-baby seat since there was some space next to the couple, enough for a baby.
Once the baby and other children were strapped, the team started the next leg of their journey.
Zhang Yi used his wind ability to probe the road ahead. Yan Fei continued to collect metal along the way. The metal ball slowly grew larger beside the car.
The line of four sled cars was not very fast as it headed towards somewhere new. They were not heading towards the city so there were not many buildings. Some houses had some metal that Yan Fei could collect through his rolling ball.
Each car had a walkie-talkie to ensure that communication would be faster in case of trouble.
As they advanced, the snow suddenly shook as some zombies burst out of the snow!
"Don't stop! Follow us and keep moving! Hold tight in the back." Luo Xun immediately picked up a walkie-talkie and barked orders to the others.
Luo Xun triggered a chain reaction, more zombies appeared along the road. Some crawled and staggered towards the sled. Some realized that they could not catch up and instead launched a variety of ranged ability attacks towards the team!