Chapter 55
writer:
Xī Zǐxù update:2022-08-09 14:41
Translator: StormFrost
Editor: Misogi
Doomsday Child Rearing Handbook [4]
As soon as the first snow melted, the plants of the earth grew wildly.
The low shrubs became taller than humans, which caused a lot of trouble for the team’s progress.
Fortunately, Zhang Mingfan’s team didn’t only have him and his thunder abilities, but a girl who could control fire as well.
When they left the city, the sound of car engines attracted a small group of zombies. This was Chen Liguo’s first time coming into close contact with them but he didn’t have the slightest discomfort.
The reason was simple, those badly mangled and mutated zombies had all been mosaicked out.
Chen Liguo exclaimed to the system, "This could be mosaicked out too?!"
The system responded with an indifferent expression, "This is not suitable for children under the age of eighteen to watch."
Chen Liguo: "……I’ve already grown up."
The system said, "Was your soul not eternally a baby?"
Chen Liguo was unable to respond. He looked out the window at the densely packed mosaic and inwardly shed tears. He found that if he continued to stay in this world, his eyes would probably be filled with mosaics and fight with people within the mosaic.
At first, Zhang Mingfan thought that Chen Liguo and Chen Xi would lose their bearing and, afraid that they would have an accident, specially sent out someone to help them drive.
As a result, said man saw Chen Liguo looking out of the window expressionlessly, and Chen Xi looking expressionlessly at Chen Liguo.
The scene was somewhat strange and completely unlike a normal person’s reaction.
The man felt a slight chill go down his spine. He opened his mouth, intending on finding a conversational topic to ease the strange mood, but then saw Chen Xi turn his head coldly and cast a glare at him, indicating to him that he should not talk.
It was reasonable to say that this driver had also gone through wind and rain, killing many zombies. However, he was unexpectedly scared by Chen Xi’s look, so he quietly shut up, and even more quietly continued to drive.
Chen Liguo’s party was particularity lucky. Although they attracted a few zombies, the number was small and not as troublesome as the plants that grew crazily.
The team slowly exited the city and when they reached the highway outside the city, their vision finally opened up. However, the area was still densely filled with shrubbery.
This sort of journey was very boring, but one still had to keep their wits about them, for even a slight moment of carelessness could claim their life.
Contrariwise, Chen Xi showed curiosity towards everything.
He clung to the car window and stared out at the zombies that were close by. There was none of the fear that normal people would have in his eyes.
It even made Chen Liguo wonder whether or not Chen Xi’s mind was also full of mosaic to help him block everything out.
Fortunately, this sort of thing only happened on the first day. Chen Xi quickly sensed that his attitude wasn’t normal and corrected his actions.
He stopped looking out of the window and began to turn over a book that was close at hand.
Originally, Chen Liguo wanted to talk with Chen Xi about the contents of the book, but once he discovered that it was about advanced mathematics, he immediately gave up.
Forget it, he’ll let this child be…… It’s not as though he could help with anything, Chen Liguo thought to himself lonesomely.
When they were cleaning up the roadside, Zhang Mingfan asked him how he was feeling.
Chen Liguo said that he was still alright and asked why he hasn’t seen his wife and daughter come out to eat.
Zhang Mingfan heard this and gave a wry smile. He said, "They threw up for the entire day."
Chen Liguo said, "So it was like this."
Zhang Mingfan asked, "This really is your first time coming in contact with zombies?"
Chen Liguo said, "Didn’t I come with you guys to find a water source before? This doesn’t count as ’first contact’, does it?"
Zhang Mingfan pondered for a moment and sounded an ’oh’. Thinking about that did make it seem more normal.
In fact, when they were looking for the source of water, Chen Liguo had only seen the zombie from a distance and didn’t have any close contact with it. However, as long as the zombie came close, it would become censored and mosaicked. He didn’t know if this function was a good thing or a bad one.
Chen Xi didn’t say anything all day and even ate a lot less at dinner.
Chen Liguo thought that he wasn’t feeling well and asked him about it.
However, Chen Xi asked, "Daddy, where are we going?"
Chen Liguo said, "We’re going to the south, to find a place where the climate isn’t too bad."
Puzzled, Chen Xi said, "But the climate here isn’t too bad either."
When Chen Liguo saw that no one was around, he leaned over to Chen Xi’s ear and said softly, "That’s because Dad has a space. Remember to keep it secret for Dad."
When he moved away, he found that Chen Xi’s ears had actually turned red.
Humming in agreement lowly Chen Xi said, "I’ll listen to Daddy." Then he moved over and kissed Chen Liguo’s face like he did when he was young.
Chen Liguo was a little embarrassed and said, "Xixi, you’re a big boy now, you can’t kiss Dad like this in the future."
Chen Xi asked in surprise, "Why?"
Chen Liguo said, "You……" He only finished half of his words and remembered once again that Chen Xi was actually only one year old……
Chen Xi asked, "Daddy, do you not like Xixi anymore?" He seemed to have been frightened by Chen Liguo’s words and tears began to form in the rims of his eyes.
When Chen Liguo saw his expression, he choked back the words he had wanted to say.
Upon seeing this, Chen Xi satisfactorily kissed Chen Liguo lightly.
Chen Liguo: "……" Alas, the path of parenting is obstructive and unyielding.
He also questioned the system about the daughter of fate’s situation over the past few days.
The system said, "Eat, sleep, fight Zombies."
This statement had hardly changed over the course of the year. Chen Liguo asked, "Has her ability upgraded?"
The system said, "Upgraded."
Chen Liguo asked, "Has she met with the scum male yet?"
The system said, "Met."
Chen Liguo: "……Why are you so cold to me suddenly?"
The system asked, "I was very warm to you before?"
Chen Liguo thought for a moment and realized that it made sense. Then he said, "You could be a bit warmer to me in the future."
System: "Hehe." AI also have dignity, thank you very much.
Zhang Mingfan’s team was very harmonious. This was because only he and a young girl had abilities, so there was no situation where the ability users bullied the ordinary people.
More than a dozen people supported each other, and even when they struggled, they could still make jokes to ease each other’s tension.
The journey was incredibly exhausting, driving constantly, cleaning up roadside plants, carefully camping and resting, in short, no matter what they did, it was very tiring.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Liguo taught Chen Xi how to drive.
No matter what it was, Chen Xi would learn it very quickly, driving was no exception. Chen Liguo only explained a few operations for him to get started on his own and not even ten minutes later he already mastered the skill. Although it was unknown as to what Chen Xi’s ability was, his physical capacity was superior to that of ordinary people.
Even if he drove the entire night, he still didn’t look tired.
Chen Liguo woke up in the morning, "Why didn’t you call me? Didn’t we agree to switch halfway through the night?"
Chen Xi said gently, "Seeing Daddy sleeping so soundly, I wanted to let Daddy sleep a little longer."
Chen Liguo said helplessly, "Even so, you can’t stay up all night by yourself. Driver fatigue makes it easy for accidents to happen."
Chen Xi said, "I’m not tired."
At first, Chen Liguo thought that he was acting strong, later he realized that Chen Xi really wasn’t tired. On the next day, he was actually still reading his book, spirit trembling with excitement. If it weren’t for Chen Liguo urging him to go to sleep, perhaps he might have continued reading for another day.
What perplexed Chen Liguo the most these days was the fact that he knew that Chen Xi had an ability, but not what it was.
Chen Liguo also asked the system.
The system answered, "The original world didn’t contain Chen Xi’s trajectory, so his abilities cannot be searched up."
Chen Liguo said, "Can’t you make an educated, reasonable guess?"
The system sneered and said coldly, "I think that his ability is mind control."
Chen Liguo: "Eh?"
The system said, "Because he has a mentally ill father."
Chen Liguo said sadly, "Devil, how can you talk about yourself in that way."
System: "……"
Bickering was useless, in any case, Chen Liguo still had no clue about what Chen Xi’s ability was. Said person also didn’t know, or perhaps one could say, he did have a theory but didn’t want to tell Chen Liguo. The child had particular ideas since he was young.
The team had been traveling for more than ten days. According to the road signs, they had crossed the provincial boundaries.
During this period, this group of over a dozen did not encounter anything particularly dangerous. At most, it was being chased by a few hundred zombies.
However, they had been driving for so long that the gasoline was just about used up.
So Zhang Mingfan decided to go find some at a nearby gas station.
After the zombie outbreak, the number of humans on earth dropped drastically.
They had been on the road for so long but had actually not seen another living person.
Today, however, was a little strange as they met a mother and daughter digging for sweet potatoes by the roadside.
Upon seeing this, they were all surprised because they both looked so weak. The little girl was no more than six or seven years old.
However, during the apocalypse, even things that looked weak would inevitably have their own way to survive. That is why Zhang Mingfan was very careful and greeted them from afar.
The mother and daughter were no less surprised than them when they saw the team. The mother stood up and asked, "Where did you come from?"
Zhang Fan said the name of their province.
The mother said, "From so far? How long have you been driving?"
Zhang Mingfan said a dozen of days and then asked if they knew of a gas station that they could use nearby.
The mother seemed to be a little puzzled and said, "Come a bit closer, I can barely hear you."
So Zhang Mingfan took a few steps forward. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his expression changed drastically and he rolled backwards. In the split second he moved away, a thin vine drilled out of the place where he had originally stepped on. These were definitely not made naturally, for they continued to wriggle around on the ground. At first sight, they looked a bit like snakes.
The woman saw that she had missed and, with a sneer, waved her hand in the air. In the next moment, a wide expanse of vines appeared around everyone.
However, as if these plants were afraid of something, they only dared to move around them and did not attack immediately.
"What are you doing?!" cried Hu Yurong, the girl with fire powers in the team. Upon seeing the vines, she used her ability without hesitation.
An instant later, they were set ablaze.
The woman didn’t think that there were actually two ability users within the team. Her expression changed slightly as she picked up the child and turned to leave.
How could Zhang Mingfan give her the opportunity? A bolt of thunder was shot at her.
The woman sensed the danger behind her and wanted to raise a vine to stop him.
Chen Liguo had originally thought that there would be a fierce battle, but the woman who should have resisted fiercely suddenly gave up all resistance, which made everyone surprised——It was as if she had been deprived of her abilities.
The bolt of lightning that Zhang Mingfan controlled directly hit the target. She shrieked and dropped to the ground with her daughter.
This surprised Zhang Mingfan. He and Hu Yurong looked at each other, as they saw the puzzlement in the other’s eyes.
He saw that the woman had suddenly been knocked down and even suspected that this was a trick to lure the enemy in. However, even after a period of time they still didn’t see any sign of movement from the woman and Zhang Mingfan cautiously and solemnly approached her. Upon taking a closer look, he discovered that the woman had really fallen on the ground, losing consciousness after being electrified.
"What’s going on?" Zhang Mingfan asked, "Did you do it?"
Hu Yurong was confused, "I, I don’t know either."
Zhang Mingfan scratched his head. In the end he went to the car to get a rope and tied up the woman and her daughter. In order to force the woman to submit, he specifically took her elsewhere.
Zhang Mingfan had deliberately controlled the strength of his strike to not take their lives. After two hours, the woman woke up groggily and, upon seeing that she was surrounded by a dozen of people, paled.
Zhang Mingfan asked, "What is your name?"
The woman gritted her teeth and said, "I’m called Tan Fei, where’s my daughter?"
Zhang Mingfan said, "She’s fine. When we found you and asked for directions, why did you suddenly attack?"
Tan Fei sneered at his words, "Ask for directions? Do you think I don’t know what your plans are? Even if you catch me, I will never tell you the way."
Hu Yurong, with her fire-related abilities, always had a violent temper. Upon hearing Tan Fei’s words, she kicked her leg and said with a sneer, "Alright then, we’ll just chop up you and your daughter together."
Tan Fei didn’t say a single word and suddenly attacked. If Zhang Mingfan was a normal person, perhaps his corpse would have already cooled down by now.
When Tan Fei heard about the little girl, pain appeared in her eyes, but more of it was still cold decisiveness. She said, "Okay, just kill us mother-and-daughter pair then."
Hu Yurong turned and left. Zhang Mingfan understood her very well and knew that she would not do anything to a little girl so he didn’t pull her back.
However, Tan Fei misunderstood the meaning of Hu Yurong’s departure and moisture appeared in her eyes as she started sobbing softly.
Zhang Mingfan said helplessly, "I haven’t cried yet, what are you crying about?"
How could Tan Fei listen to Zhang Mingfan’s words? She said, "You, you animals, you will not get a good ending!"
Everyone heard this and looked at each other. They haven’t even done anything yet, how have they become beasts already?
Zhang Mingfan said, "I don’t know what you’re misunderstanding. We are just passer-bys who want to ask you for directions but you suddenly attacked us."
Tan Fei was still unbelieving. She said, "Hehe, don’t seek excuses. You just want to deceive me into finding the entrance to Taoyuan Township."
Zhang Fan was bewildered, "Taoyuan Township?"
Tan Fei gritted her teeth and refused to speak.
At this time, the sound of a little girl crying ’Mama’ sounded from not far away.
Tan Fei’s expression tensed. She said, "You, what do you want to do to me and my daughter?"
Zhang Mingfan glanced back and then smiled, "Take a guess."
In the end, Tan Fei was a woman. Hearing her daughter crying, her tears fell even more heavily.
Chen Liguo stood nearby and watched the interaction between Zhang Mingfan and Tan Fei. Chen Xi stood next to him, but looked down at his hands the entire time, as if studying something.
Chen Liguo said, "Xixi, what are you looking at?"
Chen Xi tilted his head and said gently, "I’m not looking at anything."
Chen Liguo had simply asked casually and, upon hearing Chen Xi’s answer, shifted his attention elsewhere.
On the other side, Zhang Mingfan was still trying to explain to Tan Fei.
Chen Liguo looked for a little while and figured that they would probably go at it for a long time, so he went somewhere nearby to smoke a cigarette by himself. When he came back he found that the two had finally come to an understanding.
Originally, the Taoyuan Township that Tan Fei had talked about was a place where only women and children were taken in. Before, a woman was soft-hearted and brought back a wounded man. However, she didn’t expect that the man had evil intentions and actually spread news about the place.
The weak people in Taoyuan were very well protected. It was rumored that there were no zombies there and therefore very safe. As a result, more and more people yearned for it.
Zhang Mingfan also explained their intentions to Tan Fei, who then said, "I can provide you with gasoline, but you have to let me and my daughter go first."
He agreed, as he hadn’t hoped to obtain anything from the mother and daughter in the first place.
After being released easily, Tan Fei’s expression was somewhat strange. However, she didn’t say anything and took her daughter with her to leave.
Distrustful, Hu Yurong asked, "Will she really come back to give us the gasoline?"
Zhang Mingfan said, "It’s alright if they don’t come back, we could ask some other people."
Hu Yurong said, "Where will these ’other people’ come from?"
Zhang Mingfan made a helpless expression.
As a result, Tan Fei actually came back the next day, which surprised them. Not only did she come back, but she actually hurried back. She said, "The gasoline has been given to you, what on earth have you done to my body?"
Zhang Mingfan’s wife heard this and directly turned her head to look at her husband. Her expression was: you better give me a proper explanation of .
Zhang Fan was bewildered, "What?"
Tan Fei grit her teeth and said, "My ability is gone."
The crowd was horrified.
Ability is gone? Zhang Mingfan couldn’t understand the words coming out of her mouth, so they started quarreling again.
Finally, it was Hu Yurong who said, "Give us a break, if we could make your ability disappear, would we still scheme against you?"
Tan Fei glared at Hu Yurong, who said, "Don’t put the blame of you getting hurt on your own on our heads."
Tan Fei was destined to be unable to get an answer from Zhang Mingfan. She saw that the expressions of the crowd did not seem false and if these people really did harbor evil intentions, wouldn’t a powerless person like her be easier to deal with?
Tan Fei sighed and turned away.
Zhang Mingfan looked at her retreating back, unable to make heads or tails of this and wondered, "A person could suddenly lose their ability?"
Evidently, Hu Yurong didn’t believe Tan Fei’s words and said with disdain, "Who knows whether or not she’s lying to us."
Chen Liguo stood aside and watched with relish. Chen Xi gently called out ’Daddy’ but he didn’t respond. It wasn’t until Chen Xi reached out and put his arm around his shoulder that he suddenly snapped out of it and asked, "Xixi?"
Chen Xi said, "Does Daddy like that Tan Fei?"
Chen Liguo was baffled and said, "Don’t like, why are you suddenly asking this?"
Chen Xi asked, "Really don’t like?"
Chen Liguo nodded his head.
Chen Xi saw that Chen Liguo wasn’t lying and a brilliant smile burst forth between his brows. He said, "I like Daddy the most."
Chen Liguo nodded, "I like Xixi the most too."
Chen Xi had grown up to be handsome, which, even during the apocalypse where strength was the main focus, attracted the attention of many people.
In any case, from what Chen Liguo could tell, there were two or three of them——there were six girls in the team, one was Zhan Mingfan’s wife and the other was Zhang Mingfan’s daughter.
Chen Liguo had also discussed this with the system and has asked it which daughter-in-law it liked.
The system said in the tone of one who had already broken away from the world of mortals, "As long as they’re a girl it’s fine."
Chen Liguo: "……"
Tan Fei brought a lot of gasoline to the team. After she left, the team set out on their journey once again.
At this time they were entering the middle of spring and the land above the earth was thriving with life. This would have been a good thing before the apocalypse, but now it brought about other problems.
Spring was here, leading to the insects increasing in number.
Chen Liguo had been brushing his teeth that day when he saw an elder brother in the team roll and crawl out of the bushes, shrieking, his pants still at his feet. Evidently, he had been using the pit.
However, what attracted people’s gazes was not his bare behind, but the giant slugs hanging from a certain part.
Chen Liguo glanced over and sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling a kind of nausea as if it happened to himself.
When the people removed the slugs from a certain part of that brother, he was already at the gate of death.
One of the people who had helped him take the slug off laughed and said, "It’s okay, it’s not poisonous."
The big brother covered the place under his stomach like a defiled young woman and said, "I’m finished."
That person asked, "Why are you finished?"
The big brother cried ’yingyingyingying’, "I’ve been traumatized by soft living things, how could I get hard???"
That man heard this and, unable to hold back, burst into a hearty laughter, it turned out that this person had gone into the bushes to solve his desires. As a result, a slug as large as an arm fell onto his head, then stuck onto his little brother.
Chen Liguo was very sympathetic and thought,
After this thing happened, going to the toilet became a two-person thing. One person went, and the other kept watch.
Chen Xi and Chen Liguo naturally became a team.
When Chen Liguo went to the washroom, he found Chen Xi staring at his little brother and asked, "Xixi, what are you looking at?"
Chen Xi asked in puzzlement, "Why is Daddy’s and mine different?"
At first, Chen Liguo wasn’t sure what he had meant, but when Chen Xi took off his pants and revealed his eighteen centimeters, Chen Liguo understood what he meant by ’different’.
Chen Liguo silently dug out a cigarette from his bosom and lit it wearily.
Chen Xi finished peeing and asked for them to go back.
Chen Liguo told him to leave first because he wanted some peace and quiet.
After Chen Xi walked away, Chen Liguo said to the system, "Tong-er, you and I should have a talk."
System: "What?"
Chen Liguo let out a puff of smoke and said profoundly, "I am also a man."
System: "……"
Chen Liguo continued, "You said there weren’t any eighteens, but at least give out a twelve ah."
System: "……"
Chen Liguo said, "Why not even a twelve?"
Then he clearly heard the system’s sneer, as it said, "It’s no use giving you that."
Chen Liguo: "……" Was he the first man in history to be ridiculed by a system for being small?
The system said, "Giving you one is already pretty good, yet you’re still being picky."
With a single breath, Chen Liguo smoked the cigarette to the butt. Feeling sad, he said, "That wasn’t what you said last night in bed."
System: "……"
Chen Liguo said, "Who was that little coquettish girl who had said, ’more, stronger, don’t stop’?"
System: "Have you woken up yet?"
Chen Liguo said, "We’ve already had children and yet you’re still saying such things to me?"
System: "……"
When Chen Liguo emerged from the bushes again, an advertisement appeared in his mind: Old Chen could never rise to the occasion, his wife always rolled her eyes at him.
Chen Xi saw that Chen Liguo was in low spirits and asked, "Daddy, what’s wrong?"
Chen Liguo looked at him with hidden bitterness. This man, he was still tolerable without comparing, but once they did, life felt colorless.
Chen Xi was baffled at his stare.
Chen Liguo felt that his life was really like salted fish. Since getting in the car with Chen Xi, he hadn’t ’rubbed’ himself even once, as doing such things in front of a child didn’t seem too good. Moreover, the key point was, Chen Xi was only one year old…… one year old…… one year old……
If Chen Liguo said to someone,
, that person might ask in curiosity,
Chen Liguo: "……" It’s all the system’s fault.
Because of this thing he was depressed for a long time.
The reason his mood rose again was because one of the girls began to openly pursue Chen Xi.
Chen Liguo thought,
Hu Yurong, the sister with fire abilities, was Chen Xi’s suitor. She had such a big advantage that as soon as she took a shot the other girls could only fall back.
Hu Yurong’s character and abilities were very similar, very hot. Once she decided to pursue Chen Xi, her first words were, "You look very good, I like you."
Her second sentence was, "If you don’t like me, that’s okay too, we could develop a physical relationship first."
Chen Liguo was shocked by Hu Yurong’s openness. He clearly felt that she was not interested in Chen Xi’s inner feelings at all and just wanted to sleep with him.
Chen Liguo thought to himself,
Towards Hu Yurong’s enthusiastic offense, Chen Xi was very cold. The answers he gave Hu Yurong were, "I don’t like you" "I don’t want to sleep with you."
However, she still didn’t give up hope and said, "You won’t suffer any losses from sleeping with me ah! I still haven’t had a boyfriend yet." In the apocalypse, it was unknown when one would bite the dust and if she died a virgin, it really would be tragic.
To some extent, Hu Yurong and Chen Liguo…… Were really similar.
Chen Xi said, "You won’t lose anything, but I will."
Chen Liguo stood beside him, as quiet as a chicken. The only thought in his heart was:
Hu Yurong was also shocked by Chen Xi’s calm demeanor and asked, "You really don’t have the slightest interest?"
Chen Xi slowly said one sentence, "Do."
Hu Yurong said, "If you do then that’s fine."
Then Chen Xi said, "Unfortunately, not towards you."
Hu Yurong: "……"
She had happily confessed and happily been rejected. The next day she was still a lively dragon and animated tiger.
Chen Xi asked Chen Liguo in private, "Does daddy want me to date?"
Chen Liguo said awkwardly, "Logically speaking, based on your age……" you haven’t even been to kindergarten.
Chen Xi said, "Hrm?"
Chen Liguo said, "As long as you’re happy."
Chen Xi was a bit upset by this sentence and said, "Daddy, I don’t want a new Mommy."
Chen Liguo heard this and said, baffled, "Where would I go to find you a new Mother?" The people in the team thought he was a forty-year-old divorced man with a son. Currently, there was a lot more interest in his son compared to him.
Chen Xi said, "I do not care, you are not allowed to look for other women."
Chen Liguo quickly took out a cigarette to fit with the family drama atmosphere, he said, "Xixi, as long as you’re happy, Dad’s okay with anything."
Chen Xi rested his chin on Chen Liguo’s head and rubbed it slowly. He said, "Daddy’s the best."
Chen Liguo who had his back towards him didn’t notice that after Chen Xi said these words, vines slowly grew out of the ground where he stood——these were exactly the same as the ones that Tan Fei had used.
The overall atmosphere in the team was still good, there were no issues with bullying.
Zhang Mingfan saw that the food was about to be used up and began to organize the menfolk to go hunting in groups.
Chen Liguo registered and said that he would go, but Chen Xi stopped him and said, "I’ll go."
Chen Liguo said, "Xixi, don’t make trouble for Dad."
Chen Xi looked at him and then compromised. He said, "Okay."
Chen Liguo thought that he had given up and his heart relaxed.
As a result, he overslept the next day. When he woke up, all that was left of the team were the women and a few guards.
Chen Liguo was stunned and asked, "Where are they?"
One of the people replied, "You’ve only gotten up? They left early in the morning before the sun came out……"
As he heard this, he became worried. He still hadn’t found out what Chen Xi’s abilities were and the apocalypse was dangerous. Hopefully nothing would happen……
The Author Has Something To Say:
I feel like the last sentence is like a flag, rubs chin.
Humph, you little girls, want to eat meat but also aren’t willing to leave messages, humph!!!!
Thanks to the following little angels for the mines, grenades, and rocket launchers, love you all = 3 =