Reborn in the Apocalypse: A Commoner's Survival Log

The more Zhou Yang thought about it, the stranger it seemed, as if he had overlooked something.

Before he could figure it out, he had already reached the end of the stairs.

Before them was a tightly closed iron gate, and behind that gate should be the base station they were looking for.

"This door was originally a password door, but after the power outage, an automatic protection device was activated, and you need a key to get in."

Lu Xingye paced anxiously, asking, "What should we do? Do we have the key?"

Shen Zechuan shook his head: "The key is probably in the hands of the highest-ranking officer at this base. If we can't find him, we won't have the key."

"What should we do? Can metal powers open the door?" Chai Jin was anxious and staring blankly. Then he remembered that metal powers might be able to open the door, so he asked the two soldiers, "Hey guys, do you two have metal powers?"

Both soldiers shook their heads immediately: "No, one of us is a fire elementalist, and the other is a power-evolved character..."

"Tsk, why didn't they send a metal one down? It's driving me crazy." Chai Jin scratched his head and punched the iron door in frustration, denting it badly. The loud noise made the entire basement tremble slightly.

*

Inside the base station door, just a door away, Song Lian and the others, who had been hiding for two days and two nights, felt that they were probably dizzy from hunger, otherwise why would they feel like there had been an earthquake just now?

He sighed, looking at Yan Fei, who was lying unconscious on the ground beside him, and felt a headache coming on.

That thing is too difficult to deal with...

Because of Yan Fei, they were able to open the door and escape into this place, but because of Yan Fei's serious injuries and unconsciousness, they cannot get out of here.

Moreover, almost all of the brothers were injured, and they couldn't bring in any food or medicine. All they had were two bottles of water, which was really a problem.

They did find the mission materials and packed them all into the matching storage boxes. Unfortunately, the team's only spatial ability user was attacked, so they had to leave them on the ground for the time being.

But they can't get out now. If they stay locked up for another two days, they'll probably die here.

He had considered contacting the security base, but damn it, there were jamming devices here, and he couldn't receive satellite signals.

Thinking about it, Song Lian lay back down in despair.

*

The people outside the door were oblivious, still lost in their own worries.

The two soldiers exchanged a glance, and one of them stepped forward: "How about... I go up and find a brother with metal superpowers?"

Shen Zechuan thought for a moment and it seemed that this was the only way, so he said, "Okay! Thank you for your hard work! But you two should go together. There might be something tough to deal with here. You can look out for each other if you go together. We'll wait for you here. Be careful."

The two soldiers nodded and went straight up.

After the two soldiers went up, the group found a place to sit down and wait.

Zhou Yang got a little bored while waiting, so he took a flashlight and started looking around.

There were indeed many branches and leaves of varying thicknesses on the stairs he had come down from. He picked one up out of curiosity and examined it.

The branch was still relatively fresh, not withered, and a tender green. The cut was clean, indicating it had been severed by a sharp tool. It was about the thickness of a thumb, somewhat like a tree branch, but green in color and covered with fine, soft thorns that were a bit prickly.

The leaves on it were also a bit strange; the leaves were green, but the veins were purplish-red. And the shape looked somewhat familiar, a bit like pumpkin leaves, but much rougher. It felt like I had seen it somewhere before.

Zhou Yang was thinking about plants with leaves similar to pumpkin leaves when he suddenly remembered the Virginia creeper. Then he looked down at the branch in his hand and felt like he'd been struck by lightning.

Isn't this exactly like a Virginia creeper?

But how could a common Virginia creeper vine be so thick?

Could it be... a mutation?!

The thought of this possibility made Zhou Yang's heart skip a beat, and a fine layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Mutant plants have appeared this early? And a mutated ivy that likes to suck blood? That's outrageous!

To verify his hypothesis, he hung a flashlight with his mouth, then took out a dagger and made a deep cut on the vine. Soon after, a few drops of dark red liquid flowed from the cut.

Zhou Yang caught it in his hand, then held it under his nose and smelled it. A foul, bloody odor immediately assaulted his senses, almost making him vomit.

Damn! It really is a mutated ivy! This is troublesome!

This thing is difficult to deal with and even harder to kill because it has roots everywhere. But unless you can find the real main root system and dig out its core, you can't kill it no matter what you do.

That's fucking damn good!

Zhou Yang was so angry that he threw the broken branch aside. Just as he was about to discuss countermeasures with Shen Zechuan and the others, he heard the broken branch hit something with a "thud".

He frowned, looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a large backpack in the corner, with an iron water bottle in the mesh on the side of the backpack.

That was a military-issue baggage; he had seen it on other soldiers at the base several times.

However, he wasn't sure if it was from Song Lian's team, so he called the others over to check.

"Take a look at that backpack, isn't it from Song Lian's team?"

Shen Zechuan and the others all gathered around upon hearing the noise, then squatted down and examined the contents.

Xu Zhiyi quickly pulled out a card from inside, looked at it in his hand, and said:

"It should be. There's also a points card from our base here. They probably left it behind when they escaped. There's also a lot of food in here. They probably brought so much for the sake of convenience. We need to find them quickly, otherwise they might starve to death even if they weren't injured."

"Didn't they bring a spatial ability user with them on this mission? Why didn't they put this in their spatial storage?" Shen Zechuan looked at the backpack on the ground, showing no joy whatsoever, but rather his expression grew even more somber.

"Um...maybe...it won't fit?" Chai Jin thought for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly.

“There’s another possibility…” Zhou Yang’s eyes flickered as he thought of another possibility, “That space ability user was fatally attacked, and this was thrown out before he died, while the others were too busy escaping to take it away…”

Several people:"……"

"But there's no blood here?" Lu Xingye asked, looking around with his flashlight.

Zhou Yang picked up the broken branch he had thrown over earlier and handed it to the man: "What if it's a mutated plant that lives by sucking blood?"

How many people: ? ? ?

Mutant plants? And they feed on blood? What the heck?

Shen Zechuan took the broken branch that Zhou Yang handed him and looked it over, but couldn't figure out what it was.

"Isn't this just a tree branch? It just looks a little strange."

"This isn't a tree branch; it's a Virginia creeper vine. It's just that it might have mutated, and it took me a long time to recognize it. The big cut on it is what I just made. You can smell it; although it has a foul stench, you can easily tell it's bloody inside."

"Besides, how could there be so many broken branches and leaves underground in a military base? That doesn't make sense, does it? Look at the cross-sections of these broken branches; they're all very clean, which means they were cut by a sharp weapon. Who would be so bored as to cut tree branches here in the apocalypse?"

After Zhou Yang finished speaking, he rolled his eyes at Shen Zechuan.

Shen Zechuan touched his nose, realizing he had been careless.

Xu Zhiyi then stood up and walked back to the door that couldn't be opened. He stroked his chin and said, "There's no way out here. The only place we can hide is probably inside. I reckon they're inside."

Zhou Yang nodded in agreement: "I think so too. We need to hurry. If it's a mutated plant, it might be difficult to deal with. We need to find someone to leave before it makes another move."

The group waited and waited, but the two soldiers didn't return with the metal superhuman. Just as they were about to get restless and go out to check, they heard Pea shouting from upstairs.

Worried about Wandou, Zhou Yang didn't think twice and headed straight for the exit up the stairs.

His peas are always obedient; they wouldn't bark for no reason. Something must have happened upstairs!