Chapter 272: Insect Infestation, Everywhere in the House
"Shen Que, have you noticed that Eggplant hasn't been looking too spirited these past two days?"
That day, after Eggplant and Eagle returned from their outing, they both retreated to their nest, looking less energetic than before.
Usually, when Eggplant came back, he would always stick to Eagle.
Could it be that they're going through some kind of "seven-year itch?"
However, the real reason they were so exhausted was largely because, after sending Qiao Moyan to the military district, they were roughed up by those soldiers.
Eggplant sighed, expressing that being petted all day was more exhausting than killing a few zombies.
Upon learning of Meng Ci's thoughts, Shen Que sighed deeply.
Before, they were constantly fighting for survival, but now that they had some downtime, it was understandable that Meng Ci would feel restless and overthink things.
Thus, Shen Que involved him in activities that would keep him busy.
Of course, Meng Ci and Shen Que didn't forget to continue bringing soil from outside.
They did this for five days before stopping, after which they fell back into their lazy routine at home.
The West Mountain Wilderness Base originally had over 500,000 households. Despite undergoing a zombie outbreak, because the authorities had made thorough preparations, the total casualties among psionics and ordinary residents were less than 100,000. Around 400,000 residents remain in West Mountain Wilderness.
These residents had come to deeply appreciate that the safety within the base was far superior to the outside world and decided to stay.
To meet the growing housing demand, the authorities repurposed the planned residential area for villas.
Since no one was purchasing land to build houses, and to provide employment opportunities for the residents, they began constructing apartment buildings in the villa area.
Old craftsmen, masons, and builders skilled in brick-making became highly sought after in the base.
Buildings that had stood until recently but now lay in ruins became popular spots for scavengers.
They collected discarded steel bars and intact bricks, materials essential for building houses.
Meanwhile, the authorities actively organized numerous psionics to go out and gather various useful items, especially all kinds of mechanical equipment.
Half a year passed, and farming had shifted from manual tools to full mechanization, making planting easier and faster.
With professional equipment, brick production increased significantly.
House construction was no longer limited to within the base but extended outward, with infrastructure expanding.
The living areas became more spacious, with a thriving, prosperous scene.
That day, Meng Ci walked down the stairs from the second floor, yawning.
"Shen Que, if we can rebuild, maybe we should find a bigger place."
When they initially built the house, to avoid drawing attention, they made it smaller. Now that they could rebuild, they should upgrade.
"Alright," Shen Que agreed.
"Damn it!"
"Eggplant, what on earth are you holding?"
Before Shen Que could finish speaking, Meng Ci, already on the first floor, was startled by what was under Qiezi's paw.
Seeing Meng Ci's reaction, Shen Que hurried down and stood in front of him.
"What's wrong?"
Looking at Qiezi, he saw that there was a beetle as big as a cup under its paw.
Qiezi stood up at the sound of its owner's voice but kept the beetle pinned under its paw.
"Qiezi, get it out of here," Shen Que shouted.
"Ao-woo, ao-woo!"
Qiezi was unwilling; it hadn't finished playing yet.
The eagle, seeing how stubborn Qiezi was, came over and barked, "Wang-wang," urging Qiezi to get rid of the bug.
"Ao-woo!"
Qiezi felt wronged but kept quiet.
Since its "wife" had given the order, it had to obey. It then used its paw to push the beetle all the way out.
Seeing the beetle leave, Meng Ci felt relieved.
Meng Ci wasn't afraid of bugs, but it was startling to see such a large one all of a sudden.
Since they had woken up late in the morning, the two didn't plan on cooking.
Meng Ci took out two bowls of tofu pudding, two multigrain pancakes, and two tofu and scallion steamed buns from his spatial storage.
Since Qiezi and the eagle hadn't come back yet, they didn't need to rush to feed them.
"Damn!"
Meng Ci, holding a spoon in his hand, looked at his bowl and felt extremely unlucky today.
There were only about twenty servings of tofu pudding left in the spatial storage, and now, just as he had taken out two bowls, a thumb-sized bug dropped from the ceiling into his bowl.
Looking up, he saw that there were twenty or thirty bugs crawling on the ceiling.
Seeing one bug about to fall, Meng Ci didn't think twice and immediately put all the food back into the spatial storage.
Luckily, he had stockpiled plenty of insecticide in the space, which could come in handy now.
Ssssh!
Meng Ci took out two protective suits from his spatial storage, and he and Shen Que each grabbed two bottles of insecticide, spraying it toward the ceiling.
Bam, bam, bam!
The bugs on the ceiling fell down in a rush.
To ensure no bugs were left behind in the house, Meng Ci and Shen Que began to check everywhere in the room.
What they found was shocking—there were countless bugs under the sofa, behind the curtains, and behind various shelves.
"Is this... an infestation?"
Meng Ci took out two more bottles of insecticide from his spatial storage and sprayed them into every nook and cranny.
Shen Que was equally stunned, as he had died at this point in his past life and had no idea what was happening.
After finally exterminating all the bugs in the house, the two decided to step outside to clear their heads, planning to return once the bugs were dead to clean up the mess.
But just as they left the yard, they were shocked by the sight that greeted them.
The ground was densely covered with bugs crawling up the walls and trees, and in areas where there were no bugs yet, dark bugs were emerging from the ground.
Many bugs had already climbed up to the windows along the walls, and the densely packed scene was terrifying.
Meng Ci and Shen Que wasted no time and hurriedly held their breath as they returned inside.
They carefully checked all the windows upstairs and downstairs, and tightly closed the doors and windows.
However, in that short amount of time, quite a few bugs had appeared again inside the house.
"Hiss!"
The two picked up the pesticide again and sprayed the bugs fiercely until every last one was eliminated before they dared to go out again.
Fortunately, the doors and windows had been reinforced, so they didn't have to worry about the bugs getting back in.
Then, as they opened the gate of the yard, the scene in front of them left them stunned.
Qiezi, [brief description of Qiezi], was happily rolling around in a pile of bugs, while the eagle stood quietly on a pile of bricks, vigilantly observing the surroundings.
Whenever a bug approached, the eagle would quickly stomp it down.
The dirt road outside was crawling with bugs of all shapes and sizes—centipedes, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and strange creatures they had never seen before—all emerging from the ground and scattering in every direction.
Noticing bugs attempting to enter the yard, Shen Que quickly released his fire abilities to block them from getting in.