Apocalyptic Calamity: My Proficiency Panel

Chapter 103: Chapter 92: Life and Effort_1

Chapter 103: Chapter 92: Life and Effort_1

“Brothers, let’s step it up and finish the fence so that nothing can sneak in here. Once the fence is done, we can eat!”

On the giant tree construction site, the second batch of six trees had been nearly sawn by separate teams. The rest were planning to continue sawing tomorrow. Sun San was directing everyone to speed up the progress of fencing, waiting to have dinner before returning to the gathering place.

Sun San looked at the villas nearby. Any one of them could accommodate them, but he knew what Li Ming was thinking—he was trying to attract more people from the gathering place through them.

If they settled here, even if they lived comfortably with no worries about food and drink, nobody would know how good it is here. Some might even wonder if they were being tricked into risking their lives…

But if they returned from here comfortably, the contrast over time would make everyone in the gathering place long for this place, attracting people with a simple opportunity.

Sun San looked at the river bank and the hundred-acre gathering place across. He knew it was generous enough to accommodate and feed everyone, so he wasn’t worried about being tricked.

There was so much to do here.

As Sun San finished speaking, the men up front also quickened their work pace.

“Zssss…”

Zhou Cheng forced a stake buried in the pile of soil to stand up. A man working next to him immediately shoveled soil to fill the gap in the hole. They both stomped on the soil heap and sprinkled a little water on it, followed by adding more soil.

Seeing that the stakes were all well-fixed, he retired into the villa behind the iron fence walls, where he and others secured the pointed steel fence that they had cut out with thick tree trunks and wires.

A little while later, everything was done. Zhou Cheng watched their leader, Sun San, test the sturdiness of the fence. After Sun inspected it, Zhou Cheng followed behind the team to head back to where the dinner was.

After a day of hard work, Zhou Cheng felt a little fatigued. As he passed by a villa, he saw a robust man standing indifferently in the middle of the road. He paused, let others pass, and then slowly followed.

Inside the villa, the smell of food was tantalizing. Zhou Cheng didn’t see his wife—or rather, ex-wife—around this time, which oddly made him feel somewhat relieved. He sat down at the dining table with his coworkers, feeling a bit reserved.

After dinner, Zhou Cheng received his extra food serving: three packs of instant noodles, three ham sausages, and three loaves of bread.

While not much, it was enough to meet a person’s needs for a day in the short term.

Upon receiving the food, Zhou Cheng glanced at Zhao Wen. As he expected, Zhao had not received anything. He even responded with a smile when he saw Zhou Cheng looking over.

Zhou Cheng tightly tied the plastic bag of food and followed Sun San of the security team back to the gathering place in the car.

Or perhaps it should now be called the hard labor team since they were all doing heavy manual labor, not maintaining security at the gathering place like before.

Zhou Cheng pondered as he saw everyone in the car holding their food with satisfied smiles on their faces. Back in the gathering place, they only ate fast food. While it wasn’t enough to starve you, it was unpleasant and left people feeling out of sorts.

Today, despite doing heavy labor, they had porridge, bread, and pickles—an adequate meal that made their bodies feel relaxed again. When the body is relaxed, the mood improves.

Coupled with the additional food they received, it was only natural for them to feel happy.

Thinking about Sister Lin waiting for him in bed, a smile formed on Zhou Cheng’s face.

Wasn’t he too?

Looking out of the car window, Zhou Cheng felt that the short two-kilometer journey seemed unusually long. As he was lost in thought and enjoying the scenery, he suddenly noticed that the convoy had stopped abruptly. He was startled, then immediately heard shouts announcing the arrival of zombies and ordering people in the cars to stay put.

Zhou Cheng tensed and turned his gaze to the direction from which the calls were coming. He shuddered as he saw more than a dozen zombies rushing towards the convoy like mad dogs.

“Whoosh…”

Just then, a high-pitched sound came from the front, and a robust figure was suddenly in his view.

With swift and fierce movements, the man used a crowbar to kill over a dozen zombies in just a blink of an eye, as if he were mowing the lawn.

“Alright, let’s keep moving. Don’t floor the gas pedal, try to be quiet.”

It was not until the man up front called out that the convoy started moving again. Zhou Cheng finally managed to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat, his face a bit pale.

Clenching the bag of food in his hand tightly, he thought of the rushing horde of zombies. He felt a strange sense of gratitude.

Thank goodness for people like him!

The journey back became tense as a result. Zhou Cheng made it back safely without any more dangerous encounters and got off the vehicle with the crowd. Everyone greeted Brother Ming as they slowly dispersed. Zhou Cheng thought about it, and found himself echoing the sentiments. “Hello, Brother Ming.”

To his surprise, this won him Brother Ming’s attention. Zhou Cheng saw Brother Ming smile warmly at him, hastily smiled back, then sheepishly quickened his pace back into the gathering place.

Inside, he saw many people silently watching the entrance. Seeing them return with so much food, the assembled people’s eyes lit up. Instantly, they were the center of attention.

Zhou Cheng exchanged glances with the other men from the hard labor team. They saw joy in each other’s eyes and each went to their bunks holding their food.

Once at his spot, Zhou Cheng saw, as expected, Sister Lin waiting for him on his bunk. Seeing him return with the food, she sat up excitedly.

“You earned so much food today, Zhou Cheng. Good job. I told you it was right to follow Brother Ming.”

Sister Lin said excitedly to Zhou Cheng. Thinking of the man who had slaughtered the zombies with impunity, Zhou Cheng couldn’t help smiling too. He nodded slightly and seeing Zhao Wen returning to his bunk alone, he was even more satisfied as he gently pushed Sister Lin onto the bed.

“Zhou Cheng, take it slow this time. I’m hungry. After dinner, we can…”

With Sister Lin softly murmuring, Zhou Cheng once again found himself lost in her tenderness.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhou Cheng took a comfortable breath, then took a bath with Sister Lin. He cooked the instant noodles for her. After she finished eating, Sister Lin was once again led by Zhou Cheng back into bed.

“Zhou Cheng, I’ll wash and sun dry the bedding tomorrow, so it will be more comfortable for us to sleep on. I will also wash your clothes. Maybe you should take an extra set of clothes to work tomorrow. Seeing you sweating so much while working during the day must be uncomfortable.”

In a long while, Sister Lin, though she had not had a full meal, was more gently and genuinely embracing Zhou Cheng, while also speaking to him in an irresistible manner.

“Okay.”

Zhou Cheng nodded and carried on with his effort.

Half an hour later, Zhou Cheng laid in bed comfortably, cuddling Lin while looking up at the sky, suddenly feeling satisfied with life.

Thinking of that man, he felt fortunate to have him around. Otherwise, wouldn’t he be even more engulfed in a terrifying vortex of suffering?

“Let’s sleep.”

With a sigh, Zhou Cheng gave Sister Lin a gentle kiss and drifted off to sleep.

………

………

………

[Swordsmanship Skill +1]

Another line of information floated across Li Ming’s vision as he sheathed his sword. Looking at the freshly increased skill proficiency, his face broke into a satisfied smile. He then went upstairs to take a bath.

Having just returned them back to the gathering point, Li Ming couldn’t help but stress over how the swordsmanship skill would take another four days to level up.

After some thought, he put in all his effort and once again stabbed a hundred times, raising his swordsmanship proficiency by a further ten points.

Swordsmanship (Slight proficiency 31%)

Looking at his proficiency index, Li Ming breathed a deep sigh of relief. The hundred stabs had left him physically exhausted, but thankfully, practicing the [Secret Scripture] did not consume too much stamina.

Even after several intense rounds, he found that his energy consumption was minimal, making it possible for him to diligently practice the top-notch technique of [Secret Scripture].

[Secret Scripture (Beginner Level 13%)]

Looking at the proficiency level of the Secret Scripture, Li Ming sighed. He had been neglecting the practice of this technique!

A proficiency level of only 13% was a waste of his industrious heart.

However, he considered that Xu Xiu was also quite tired.

“It’s alright. Zhang Yuan and Chen Li will recover in a couple of days. By then, Xu Xiu won’t have to work so hard. Plus, the effect of [Secret Scripture] ensures their recovery will be swift.”

Li Ming secretly thought, a smile playing on his lips. Thinking of Xu Xiu, he knew she must be waiting for him in bed, freshly bathed.

She had been prepared since he started working out after dinner. She must have taken a bath by now.

Li Ming steeled his heart and accelerated his pace, emerging from the shared bathroom on the second floor. He marched to Xu Xiu’s room on the third floor and, sure enough, she was already obediently lying on the cool mat.

Under the lamp light, her delicate white body was incredibly tempting. Coupled with her coquettish expression, one couldn’t help but want to pull her into a tight embrace.

Li Ming flashed a smile and slowly closed the door.

“……”

Cherish.

[Secret Scripture Proficiency +1]

Cherish.

[Secret Scripture Proficiency +1]

Cherish.

[Secret Scripture Proficiency +1]

“…”

[Secret Scripture (Beginner Level 16%)]

The night stars were sparse. Li Ming, holding Xu Xiu, went to the bathroom for another leisurely clean-up and breathed a sigh of relief.

Resting in Li Ming’s arms, Xu Xiu wore a sweet smile and soon fell asleep as comfortably as a kitten.

………

Next day in the morning.

Zhang Yuan woke up and turned the page on the calendar. Seeing the date ‘September 5th’, she realized that it had been a whole month since the world had changed drastically.

Everything from the past had turned a new page.