Chapter 273: Near
Translator: Insignia Editor: Svjohn
Officer Liu returned to his room and sat on the bed. It was only a short distance but it seemed to have consumed all his energy. He naturally took out his cigarette and lighter and then tried to light his cigarette. Only after a few attempts did he succeed and he then took a heavy drag on his cigarette. The smoke from the mutated tobacco was inhaled into his lungs and his brain immediately felt dizzy. It took him a while to recover.
He suddenly felt cold and realized that his body was wet and his undershirt was soaked due to heavy perspiration. As one of the important decision makers of Desert City, the place he was staying in was a lot better than other peoples. The room was bright and spacious with numerous electrical appliances. It was almost the equivalent of a three-star hotel before the end of the world.
However, the cozy place he has did not bring any security to him and he hated it a lot. He wondered why the management arranged a single room for him because even a dorm with eight people is much better than being alone. He started to shiver once he recalled Luo Yuan's glare at him earlier. It was like an immeasurable amount of fear which could suffocate him. He has never felt so close to death in his life. Even thinking about it made him fearful.
Officer Liu had no doubt in Luo Yuan’s ability to kill him even if he had armies under his command. What more when he was alone in the room. There were only two security guards and no one else. Those guards would totally useless against the likes of Luo Yuan.
"What if he comes and kills me today?" Officer Liu thought to himself.
The frightening and scary appearance of Luo Yuan had been magnified and Officer Liu’s body started to tremble. He even struggled to stand up and felt hopeless. The feeling lingered with him in his room along with a lot of frustration. It is one thing to feel stressed or worried but it is worse to know that there is nothing you can do about it.
The next morning, breakfast was delivered to him by a security guard. Only then did he realize that a night had passed and he was still alive! But his excitement quickly faded as he felt this could just be temporary. He proceeded to wave his hand to ask the guards to leave. He looked at the cigarette butts on the floor and massaged his face. His eyes were bloodshot and he thought to himself, "I must fix the relationship between us before he takes any action. The best thing to do is to transfer him to somewhere where he cannot hurt me!"
His eyes were blinking rapidly as he thought of this idea. Wanting to act hastily, he shouted, "Little Hu, call Huo Dong from the logistic department to see me."
He looked at the cigarette butts on the floor again and frowned. He then continued speaking, "Wait! Ask someone come and clean my room first."
…
Compared to Office Liu who had not slept well the entire night, Luo Yuan was not affected at all. He was awake on time from his biological alarm. However, he did not go for training immediately like how he used to. Other than the granary, there was a corridor in the basement two. The room was very small; other than the beds on the both sides there was only a meter wide walkway. That was too narrow for him to go on with his usual training. Thus, he only relied on his Will to train his physique.
He suddenly touched his front teeth and smiled awkwardly. His teeth had grown extremely strong to the point where he could easily break the bones of a mutated beast by biting hard on them. However, it started to shake recently. Similarly, his other teeth have also started shaking and degenerating. "What’s wrong with them? Should I remove them?" Luo Yuan wondered in his mind. He felt embarrassed to do so because when people see that his front teeth are missing they would laugh, especially Wang Shishi.
He was not concerned about why his teeth were loose as he always checked his body carefully with his Will. He was already familiar with the human body and understood that he was in the process of growing new teeth. Humans usually undergo teeth growth twice in a lifetime. Once when they are born, and another when they are around 10 years old. However, this is going to be the third time this will happen in his life!
Since he became an evolved human being, he has experienced multiple physical changes. His properties have been continuously strengthened by the system, but since this process is gradual the effect was not so obvious. However, his Strength has been increased by 60-70% while his Dexterity has been increased by 20%. His Physique has increased by 30% but he could not estimate the current level of his Intelligence. Nonetheless, he could perceive that his thought process was more analytical nowadays as he could clearly analyze the cause of his problems. Based on his current abilities, he could easily kill three or more people who had the same strength he had one month ago.
…
Coming back to deciding what to do with his teeth, Luo Yuan finally decided to keep his front teeth until the day it falls off naturally to maintain his image. Based on the speed that his new teeth were growing, it should happen in the coming few days. Suddenly, everyone started waking up one by one and Luo Yuan no longer wanted to continue lying in bed. He did not take off his shirt as both males and females were staying together now. He removed his blanket and jumped down from his bed.
Huo Dong came in when he just finished washing his face. He called for Luo Yuan with a strange expression on his face. He took out a stack of food stamps and said awkwardly, "Brother Luo, this is from Officer Liu to express his apology. He would like me to tell you that it was just a misunderstanding. He hopes you can accept his sincerest apologies."
Luo Yuan had the impression that his efforts yesterday were quite good. It was such a big stack of food stamp; there were at least 10,000 pieces! He was so impressed that he did not even suspect Officer Liu could have been involved with bribery to be able to have such a big amount of food stamps. This was also because Officer Liu has partial authority to trade in the meats of mutated beasts. Thus, he must be very stupid if he needed to be involved with bribery to get these food stamps.
During the end of the world, some second-tier soldiers would travel to the outskirts to practice against many mutated beasts. Although they could not be compared to the frontline, they made quite a lot from those meats. Luo Yuan accepted the food stamps happily and said, "Please help me pass a message to Officer Liu. We will see how things go later."
"Alright, Brother Luo. How did you manage to pull this off? I think Office Liu did not sleep the entire night. His eyes were as red as a bunny’s." Huo Dong asked curiously. Huo Dong did not sound like he had any respect for Officer Liu. Perhaps he was being pretentious in front of him. Luo Yuan looked at Huo Dong for a while and said, "I can tell you if you want to try its effects." He was hinting to Huo Dong that he could brainwash minds and make them follow his every instruction. That kind of power was sufficient to bring out fear from the bottom of their hearts.
"No, please." Huo Dong was frightened and quickly shook his head. Brother Luo was getting more mysterious these days; who knows what other scary powers he had. Huo Dong felt that he did not want to be a victim to anything dangerous from Luo Yuan.
Zhao Yali looked upset and pulled Luo Yuan aside. She whispered, "Little Yuan, it doesn’t feel right to take other people’s money. Shall we return it?" She looked tired as she probably did not sleep well last night. Luo Yuan tapped on her shoulder and Huo Dong immediately spoke before Luo Yuan could say anything to her, "Sister Zhao, don't create any problems for me, please. I wouldn't have a single good day if I fail to complete my mission."
Huang Jiahui was smiling beside him but she did not speak. She was not as weak as Zhao Yali and she has a lot more experience. She did not think it was a big deal to offend Officer Liu. Besides that, she believed Luo Yuan could handle the situation properly. Worst come to worst, they would just have to move out and wander around. They have gotten used to that life anyway.
"Don’t worry, Sister Yali. He would worry if I don’t accept it and we would be in even more trouble at that time." Luo Yuan explained.
"He is right. Yali, it’s alright. Don’t worry." Huang Jiahui tried to convince her.
Zhao Yali finally felt relieved when Huang Jiahui told her it would be fine. She then said to Huo Dong, "Since you’re here, join us for breakfast?"
"Oh, no. I need to go. I have to report to Officer Liu, he is waiting for me." Huo Dong waved his hand apologetically and smiled awkwardly. He quickly left after a short chat.
Suddenly, Luo Yuan sensed the ground was shaking ever so slightly followed by a sound of two objects colliding. The sound was dull but heavy, just like thunder before the rain. It was very difficult for those who have experienced the apocalypse to forget that sound.
"Cannon! That’s a cannon! The bugs seemed to have conquered the peripheral defense circle!" His expression changed immediately.