Chapter Ninety-Three: Preparations

After deciding on a plan, it was time to put it into action. The first problem was where everyone could relieve themselves. Human waste gave off heat and carried a strong odor, so it could not be done here. Yang Fan bought a hundred fire beads.

He then sent the humans off one by one to relieve themselves. With the fire beads on their bodies, the warmth they gave off was enough to let them barely withstand the bitter wind. In this way, the problem of bodily needs was solved. Next came training.

Among the more than five hundred heirs of the end-times system, most had never received proper instruction and fought in nothing more than blind, fumbling fashion. If their skills had not possessed a self-guiding ability, they would likely have long since died under the attacks of zombies and mutated beasts.

Yang Fan had no real method of drilling them. He merely told them that if they surrounded and captured one insect warrior, the others should act as they saw fit. On the nineteenth day, Yang Fan brought Lin Ling, Xiao Min, Xiao You, and the few ordinary maids into the Maid Painting.

To his surprise, one additional slot cost a full ten thousand end-times coins. Yang Fan suspected that the painting was gauging his current situation and gouging him accordingly. After painfully paying eight thousand end-times coins, he added one more slot. At that point, aside from the Giant Swallowing Python, ten goddess-level maids appeared exactly as they should.

The hundred ordinary maids had already been prepared. Yang Fan planned to begin the maid training program after Bai Chen and Fang Na arrived. The program would last one month. After that month, the ten goddess-level maids would become second-tier maids, while the ordinary ones would only reach first-tier status. This was the message conveyed by the Maid Painting.

Neither too many nor too few; everything was just right. After chatting with Liu Qiaoqiao and the others for a few moments, Yang Fan left the painting. The training method in the Maid Painting was actually the same as the martial artist training stone he had used before: enter a virtual space and continually temper oneself within it.

—

It was now three in the afternoon on the nineteenth day of the apocalypse.

After arranging everything, Yang Fan began to think through his plans. At the same time, he spent three thousand end-times coins to buy a first-tier death puppet. Such a thing could block one fatal blow, and it was meant for Wang Cheng and Fu Gaobin.

He was afraid that the two of them might suffer fatal injuries when the insects came, and so time passed slowly. Yet in the blink of an eye, he found the hours had slipped away quickly, and before he knew it, night had fallen.

Yang Fan sat atop the vehicle. Everyone was resting quietly, though from time to time he still saw many people training. It seemed none of them wanted to die meaninglessly.

Better to hone a spear before battle than sleep there like fools. At that moment, Yang Fan felt a bit nostalgic for Chen Ming, that damned bastard. If that guy were here, then with Zack's strength, the insect warriors on the ground would scarcely be a concern, and as for the insect warriors in the sky, Yang Fan had other means.

"Wait a moment!" Yang Fan suddenly thought of something and slapped his forehead. Then he found Liu Qiaoqiao within the Maid Painting and had her buy a Thousand-Mile Voice Talisman. Eight hundred end-times coins could precisely transmit a message to one person within a radius of five hundred kilometers. After buying it, Yang Fan immediately looked for those bastards Chen Ming and the rest.

—

【I’m at the Southern Military Base. Come at once. Coordinates: ...】

Yang Fan had originally planned to make a forum post and have them come find him, but doing so would have exposed his identity and invited unnecessary trouble. Now it was different; this voice talisman was directed at only one person.

The talisman turned into a streak of light and shot away, vanishing into the distance.

————

On the western side of the south, many refugees huddled inside a small supermarket. The surroundings reeked foully and were steeped in the smell of blood. They curled up where they were, shivering. The cold forced them to cling to one another just to gain a little warmth.

At the center of the supermarket stood a wooden dummy horse. Several people leaned against it to rest. There were men and women among them. Suddenly, one rather refined-looking young man stood up, immediately drawing everyone's attention. In the apocalypse, every movement would attract notice.

"What is it?" asked a somewhat fat middle-aged man, tightening his grip on a bone blade and scanning the surroundings nervously. A woman held a steel spear in her hands, gazing intently around them, while another woman clutched a silver longbow, also keeping watch.

"It's the boss! The boss sent a message! He told us to head for the Southern Military Base!"

"Really?" The heavier man broke into delight at once and said, "Then why are we still wasting time here? Hurry up! When tomorrow arrives, things that are even more terrifying than mutated beasts will come, and we'll all be finished!"

"All right, all right, all right, let's go, let's go!" Chen Ming exclaimed excitedly, flailing his arms in agitation. A two-meter-tall giant roused himself groggily, wiped at his mouth, and muttered, "What's going on? Is it time to eat? What about breakfast?"

Everyone: "...."

————

In another area, over a hundred rabid magic rats rampaged through a town, devouring everything in sight and hunting wildly. Several people stood at the town gate, laughing loudly. They looked like madmen. At their feet knelt several women, trembling.

"Tomorrow the insects arrive. We must capture a certain number of mutated beasts as quickly as possible, then devour them and turn them into our beast companions."

"Exactly. But before the insects arrive, let our pets enjoy themselves to their hearts' content. Hahahaha!"

These people laughed like lunatics, while from within the settlement came one scream after another. The women at their feet were even more terrified, kneeling on the ground and trembling all over. No one knew whether it was the cold or the fear in their hearts.

————

Elsewhere, a mysterious group in black robes was setting something up in a patch of snow.

"As long as we finish establishing the stronghold by dawn, we can grind monsters endlessly and advance directly to second-tier warriors!"

Their voices were filled with icy chill.

All across the world, in many places, mysterious people kept appearing. The arrival of the apocalypse seemed not to be as simple as it looked on the surface. Yang Fan sat on the roof of the vehicle, staring at the sky where almost no stars could be seen, saying nothing. No one knew what he was thinking.

Thank you to Reader 131019012752610 for your support and tip, and to the many friends who have supported Melon Seed over time, such as I Am God, A Legend Beneath the Crotch, and all the longtime readers who have stood by Melon Seed... Time to focus on writing...