Chapter 581: Chapter 581: The Joy of Hoarding Private Crystal Cores
The Bai Family and everyone else, without any hesitation, rushed towards the periphery of the safety base.
Bai Zhengxuan ran the fastest, as he had already registered with Song Hongfei. He was a superpower user with water, wood, and fire abilities, capable of cooling down the scorching charcoal-like material with water.
He could earn some extra money.
Bai Xiqin walked side by side with Leng Yebai. Even though Bai Xiqin’s memory held nothing about Leng Yebai, her body instinctively leaned toward him.
So familiar, yet so strange.
"If you’re scared, we can go back together. I’ll make you some barbecue."
Leng Yebai said indulgently.
"No, I’m not hungry."
Bai Xiqin’s eyes lit up for a moment, but she still refused.
She wanted to see what the outside world looked like now. Her understanding of crystal cores wasn’t comprehensive, but she knew they were definitely valuable in the apocalypse.
Now, lacking any superpower, she decided to do whatever she could manage!
Fortunately, the bus usually had some daily tools that could be used, so even when Bai Xiqin couldn’t get into the space, she wouldn’t be short of supplies.
The Bai Family was well-prepared, each person wearing a thick mask, rubber shoes, gloves, with a sharp dagger strapped to their thighs, the best-equipped among everyone.
Through the thick mask, Bai Xiqin could smell a strong burnt odor, and as soon as she stepped out of the safety base, everything turned black before her eyes.
All she could see was black, unable to distinguish between ashes, plants, or charred earth.
Bai Xiqin’s first reaction was that it was too hot and too smelly.
Among the black ashes, faint traces of orange flames could still be seen, glowing and generating heat beneath the ashes.
If you accidentally stepped on the ashes, your shoe soles would definitely get burned.
The pervasive stench indicated that the area had been full of zombie corpses, and any accidental scratch would surely lead to infection.
Bai Xiqin swallowed a gulp, barely suppressing the churning in her stomach.
"Here, eat this!"
Out of nowhere, a light green mint candy was handed to Bai Xiqin. Looking up, she saw it was Leng Yebai.
Leng Yebai, too, wore a thick mask, his cold, stern eyes slightly curved, showing that he was smiling.
Bai Xiqin instinctively reached out to take the mint candy and put it in her mouth without a thought.
The subtle mint flavor filled her mouth, significantly diluting the overpowering burnt smell.
"Sis, what are you eating? Do you have more?"
Bai Yifan tilted his head to look at Bai Xiqin eating the mint candy, blinking and holding out his fingers.
He planned to eat as much as he could now because once the scavenging for crystal cores began, there would be no time for food.
"Eat this, all for you."
Leng Yebai calmly filled Bai Yifan’s hands with various snacks, except for the mint candy, which he reserved for Xiao Niu.
"Thanks a lot!"
Bai Yifan grinned, quickly unwrapped the snacks, and tossed them into his mouth without caring what they were, rapidly replenishing his energy.
Crackle, crackle—
The water ability users had begun cooling the fiery charcoal material, with only a few ice ability users assisting, while the main force was still the water ability users.
They were afraid of freezing the bones and ashes together, making it difficult to dig.
The superpower users stood at intervals, each emitting a faint blue light, with water conjured from thin air beside them, gathering into streams and rushing toward the black charcoal.
When the water met the charcoal, a sizzling sound was instantly produced, and grey water vapor rose immediately.
This water vapor contained zombie ashes, but fortunately for the human survivors, the wind blew the vapor in the direction opposite the safety base.
Bai Zhengxuan stood right in front of the Bai Family, looking like the oldest of the water ability users, yet producing the most water.
Even the young genius, Song Ning, couldn’t generate as much water as Bai Zhengxuan.
To pick up more crystal cores, people tacitly spread around the safety base rather than clustering together.
The safety base was quite large, and seeing the Bai Family so well-equipped, others instinctively distanced themselves and went elsewhere to find spots.
Despite that, many people still stood near the Bai Family, but there was no need to worry about running out of crystal cores; with so many zombie bodies, it would take a day and a night to finish picking them up.
People instinctively glanced towards the Bai Family. Apart from their complete gear, the most noticeable figure was Bai Zhengxuan.
The old man appeared white-haired, but his power was formidable. While other superpower users paused to rest when summoning water, the old man remained vigorous throughout.
He showed no signs of fatigue, instead exuding a bright intensity in his eyes.
These people seemed to be witnessing the joy of a husband secretly saving up some money during pre-apocalypse oppressive times.
Only those who have been married can understand this feeling.
Crackle, crackle—
The amount of water vapor increased. For this massive zombie horde, many areas still hadn’t been cooled and remained dangerously hot.
But areas closer to the safety base had cooled down and were now ready for collecting crystal cores.
"Xiao Fan, Xiao Hai, it’s about time! Hurry and collect!"
Bai Zhengxuan quickly moved aside, signaling to the Bai Family father and son to collect from the area he had cooled.
Bai Yifan immediately placed his snacks into Bai Xiqin’s hands, mumbling, "Time to get to work."
He then quickly dove into the dark, indistinct ashes of zombie parts to scavenge.
Bai Anhai seemed calmer than Bai Yifan, though his feet moved no slower, quickly picking up crystal cores and loading them into bags.
The men of the Bai Family still feared the zombie bodies, but now that they had turned into charcoal, under the bright sun, there was nothing to fear!
The main motivation was that the more they collected, the more private crystal cores they could have.
For the first time, survivors scavenged for crystal cores on the ground, too focused on these cores to speak, their eyes only on the crystal cores.
Bai Xiqin adjusted her gloves and stepped onto the ash.
Some zombies hadn’t been completely burned away, and occasionally Bai Xiqin would step on a hard bone, even spotting some black muscle tissue.
Bai Xiqin tried not to think about these things, gingerly using her gloved fingers to scour the blackened mud for crystal cores.
Honestly, this scene made Bai Xiqin never want to drink sesame paste again.
"Xiao Niu, you hold the bag, and I’ll pick the crystal cores, dividing the tasks is faster."
Leng Yebai pulled Bai Xiqin’s hand from the black charcoal and carefully wiped her gloves clean with a tissue.
To others, this seemed unnecessarily fussy, worrying about dirt even with gloves on?
But Leng Yebai was thorough, and after cleaning, he handed the bag to Bai Xiqin. Without waiting for her response, he started tossing crystal cores into the bag.
Bai Xiqin’s ears turned slightly red, as she silently followed behind Leng Yebai, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Underneath his mask, the corners of Leng Yebai’s mouth lifted slightly. Despite this, his hands moved swiftly, tossing one crystal core after another into the bag.
