Reborn in the Apocalypse: A Commoner's Survival Log

Yan Fei shook his head: "That shouldn't be the case. We have Qing Tang here, who has a mental ability. If the other party releases their mental power to probe, they will be able to detect it to some extent."

"Tsk, psychic abilities are so annoying!" Lu Xingye stomped his foot, then turned around and saw Xu Qingtang looking over at him. He quickly corrected himself, "Ahem, I wasn't talking about you, I wasn't talking about you. Little Qingtang is the cutest!"

Xu Qingtang then gave a soft hum and turned her gaze away.

“But Qingtang needs to level up quickly. You should aim for level 4 first, and we’ll go ask Uncle Gu later if he has any level 4 mental crystal cores we can exchange for.” Shen Zechuan said after thinking for a moment.

Xu Qingtang, fully aware of her importance, immediately nodded.

"And you guys who have level 4 crystal cores, hurry up and level up!" Yan Fei said, glancing at Lu Xingye, Chai Jin, Zhou Yang, and Lu Yanwen, before looking at Shen Zechuan, "And you too, aren't you already at the late stage of level 4? How long have you had that lightning-type crystal core? Why haven't you leveled up yet? What are you dawdling for?!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanwen, Lu Xingye, and Chai Jin nodded in agreement.

Zhou Yang and Shen Zechuan both lowered their heads.

Zhou Yang felt awkward because he didn't need to upgrade at all, but he couldn't say it outright. He planned to find an opportunity later to tell everyone that he had already upgraded.

As for the crystal core, he planned to save it for Chai Yi later.

Shen Zechuan, on the other hand, was simply feeling guilty. All he could think about was getting close to Zhou Yang, and he completely neglected the matter of absorbing the crystal core.

That night, Zhou Yang threw Shen Zechuan into the space to focus on leveling up and ordered him not to come out until he had reached the threshold.

Zhou Yang stayed outside, occupying the entire bed by herself, and slept soundly.

So when Zhou Yang woke up the next day, the first thing she saw was Shen Zechuan's handsome face, which was full of resentment. He was sitting pitifully at the foot of the bed, looking like a big, abandoned dog.

"Um, when did you come out?"

Shen Zechuan looked at him and said, "An hour ago."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang was taken aback: "Ah, you've been in the space for so long and it's only now that you've even scratched the surface?"

"No, I absorbed the crystal core directly and didn't emerge until I reached the mid-stage of level 5."

Zhou Yang was completely baffled: "Then why do you have that resentful look on your face?"

Shen Zechuan glanced at him, looking very aggrieved: "I came out and saw you sleeping so soundly outside, as if you weren't worried about me at all..."

Zhou Yang: "..."

I've given you so much spring water, and you're only leveling up 5 times? What's there to worry about...?

That's what he was thinking, but he couldn't say it out loud, otherwise the person would continue to cause trouble.

"Ahem, I've been waiting outside for over half an hour. I didn't expect you to be so slow at touching the threshold. I couldn't help but fall asleep," Zhou Yang said sincerely, pulling Shen Zechuan's hand over.

"Alright then." Shen Zechuan thought for a moment and realized that he had indeed taken too long, so he didn't say anything more.

"You haven't slept all night because of leveling up, you must be exhausted. Why don't you take a nap now?"

After Zhou Yang finished speaking, he pulled the person aside and pressed him onto the bed, then pulled his own thin blanket over him.

Shen Zechuan, however, kept his eyes open, showing no signs of sleepiness: "I can't sleep right now either. I just leveled up not long ago, and I'm still very excited."

Seeing this, Zhou Yang shrugged and didn't press him.

Since they weren't going to sleep, the two of them got up and went out.

Outside, Yu Jing had prepared breakfast early in the morning, and everyone was already sitting around the table, except for two people.

"Hey, finally leveled up? Pretty efficient! What's level 5 now?" Yan Fei teased, realizing he couldn't tell Shen Zechuan's level as soon as he saw him.

Shen Zechuan raised his eyebrows: "That mutated tiger's core energy was very strong. After I absorbed it, I directly reached the mid-stage of level 5. Now I'm much higher than you."

Yan Fei rolled his eyes at him, completely unconcerned: "You're the captain, and I'm just the vice-captain. What's so great about your superior abilities? Isn't that what you should be doing? Oh, by the way, Captain, after you finish eating, remember to clean up and tidy up our store in the market. We're planning to start normal business tomorrow."

Shen Zechuan was speechless: "..."

Haha, I'm the team leader, so I deserve to be treated like a beast of burden. Do you want this job?

Although reluctant, Shen Zechuan still dragged Zhou Yang out after breakfast.

Zhou Yang had no objection to this. After all, staying at home didn't mean he was idle, since there was still a lot of work to be done in the two apartments downstairs.

When the two arrived at the trading market, they found that many more shops had opened there, but they were all very similar, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

Upon opening the door of their shop, the two saw that it was already covered in dust.

Fortunately, they had taken everything they could, so all they had to do was sweep the floor and wipe the cash register.

The two of them worked quickly, one sprinkling water and sweeping the floor, the other wiping the table. They finished cleaning in no time, then took out the empty containers stored in the storage space and arranged them neatly. As for the goods, they could add them when the store opened tomorrow.

Although the Baijishan base is quite strict in its management, there are still quite a few people who steal chickens and dogs. Therefore, the shops in the market all tacitly agree not to leave any goods behind, and only put the goods on display when they open each day.

After tidying up, the two were just about to close the door and go back when a regular customer walked in.

The visitor was Liu Wu, the vice-captain of the Sky Eagle Ability Team at the base. He was a level 3 earth-type ability user with no other hobbies except for being a heavy smoker; he felt uncomfortable if he didn't have a cigarette for a day. Since other shops basically didn't sell cigarettes, only the Hidden Dragon Squad had all kinds, so he had been buying from Zhou Yang and his group.

This time, Zhou Yang and the others suddenly left for more than a week, and he happened to run out of cigarettes again, so he had been holding back his craving for several days.

As soon as Liu Wu entered, he said, "Oh? You've finally opened your shop. Your mission has been going on for quite a while; I've been waiting for days."

"Haha, Brother Liu Wu, long time no see! We had some business to attend to and made a last-minute trip to the capital base. We just got back late the night before last, so we're just here to do some cleaning up. We'll reopen for business tomorrow." Zhou Yang greeted Liu Wu with a smile.

Although Shen Zechuan recognized the person who came, he was not familiar with him, so he obediently stood aside and watched Zhou Yang talk to the person.

"Ugh, it's not open today?!" Liu Wu scratched his head, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Zhou Yang immediately understood and teased, "Brother Liu, are you craving a cigarette again? How about I get you a pack today?"

"Okay, one pack first, same price as always?" Liu Wu said, taking a large bag of crystal cores out of his bag.

"Okay, same price as always." Zhou Yang nodded, tapped the crystal core in his hand, and then took out a pack of red-packaged cigarettes and handed it over.

Liu Wu's eyes lit up when he saw the pack of cigarettes: "These are good stuff! They must be more expensive than the ones I bought before..."

Zhou Yang waved his hand and said, "Hey, it's nothing. You're a regular customer, so consider this a treat. I won't charge you extra!"

"Hehe, then I won't stand on ceremony. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know! I'll definitely help if I can!"

"Alright, thanks in advance, Brother Liu!"

Liu Wu happily put away the cigarettes, greeted Zhou Yang and the other man, and then turned to leave.