Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 30

A red-eyed rabbit, as large as a dog, darted past the corrugated iron wall of the lumber mill and vanished into a burrow beneath the grass.

Rabbits love to dig burrows and reproduce prolifically. It was quite possible that the abandoned lumber mill, hollowed out from below, housed an entire warren.

Bai Xun sat in the driver’s seat, pondering for a moment, then turned to Cheng Wei beside him. “Do you know how to catch rabbits?”

A moment later, the passenger door opened, and a snow leopard landed lightly on the ground, trotting toward the grassy area.

Bai Xun waited in the vehicle. Soon, a group of rabbits burst frantically from the grass. One particularly foolish rabbit even slammed headfirst into the front bumper of the off-road vehicle, landing on its back with all four legs in the air.

The snow leopard emerged from the grass as well, holding a rabbit by the scruff of its neck in its mouth, a clear demonstration of making an example of one to warn the others.

The captured rabbit kicked its hind legs vigorously, its spinning kicks flailing uselessly in the air.

The snow leopard tossed the rabbit from its mouth. The lucky escapee immediately scurried after the main group, disappearing into the bushes.

The rabbit lying on its back received a swat from a large paw, stopped playing dead, scrambled to its feet, and vanished as well.

The snow leopard sat proudly before the car door, chest puffed out, its long tail curled and swishing back and forth, clearly seeking praise.

Bai Xun opened the car door, unable to resist giving Cheng Wei’s leopard head a good rub, while also brushing off bits of grass caught in its fur.

Cheng Wei didn’t revert to human form. With chest held high and tail swishing, he followed closely at Bai Xun’s heels as they walked toward the abandoned lumber mill.

Bai Xun held an entrenching tool, using it to clear away the weeds blocking their path. The once flat and open front yard of the lumber mill had been thoroughly churned up by the rabbits, leaving a pitted mess with holes at every step.

This lumber mill had likely been privately operated before its abandonment. It wasn’t large, and avoiding the ankle-twisting pits, they reached the rolling shutter door in less than ten minutes.

“Can this even be repaired? It’s so rundown,” Bai Yu, following behind, also arrived at the shutter door. Looking up, she worried the dilapidated building might collapse on her head right then.

“Let me see what can be done,” Bai Xun said, opening the Star Game System panel.

With an abandoned building right in front of them, he wondered if the Property Guru feature could be unlocked.

Clicking on the grayed-out Property Guru interface, a prompt immediately appeared: “Unlock conditions met: Crystal Cones (1/1), Abandoned Property (1/1). Unlock?”

Bai Xun clicked “Yes.”

[Game Name: Property Guru]

[Game Status: Unlocked (4/4)]

[Unlocked: Blueprint Presets]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement I ‘House Blueprint.’ Blueprints can recommend house renovation plans based on existing terrain and functional requirements, catering to various renovation needs.]

[Unlocked: Construction Engineer]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement II ‘Renovated 50 Houses.’ Provides basic construction functions such as removing walls, leveling ground, and establishing frameworks. Detail work requires manual effort.]

[Unlocked: Mixed Materials Guidebook]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement III ‘A Versatile Renovator.’ Provides functions for mixing and producing construction materials, such as synthesizing concrete, tiles, etc.]

[Unlocked: Furniture Catalog]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement IV ‘Complete Furniture Catalog.’ Allows synthesis of furniture using materials through the catalog.]

How should I put it? It was useful, yet also somewhat of a hassle, the abandoned lumberyard couldn’t be renovated immediately.

Bai Xun was the first to activate the blueprint function, but the game interface immediately displayed a warning: “Warning! Warning! No personnel are allowed to remain in the area during the transformation of this location using this blueprint.”

They had to retreat to the entrance of the lumberyard.

Bai Xun led the others out.

He opened the blueprint again, and a small rectangular plane, resembling a model display in a real estate sales office, floated in front of him. On it was a miniature panoramic view of the lumberyard, clearly showing the uneven ground and dilapidated structures.

He selected the house renovation function and input the requirements for insulation and protection against wild animal intrusion. The blueprint immediately generated a new design based on the existing layout.

The blueprint’s plan involved removing the external staircase of the two-story container house while keeping the exterior unchanged, relocating the staircase inside, enclosing the lumberyard with a wall, and dividing the area into functional zones with room planning.

Currently, the first floor was designated for the hall, kitchen, and bathroom, while the second floor was for bedrooms, with an additional basement included.

The space reserved for the hall was so large it could practically be used for horse riding.

However, the two-story container building in the lumberyard was already spacious, so the hall could be further divided for other functions.

The blueprint function could be used in conjunction with construction engineers, simply selecting “materialize blueprint” would instantly renovate the area.

Bai Xun felt there were no major issues with the blueprint plan and directly chose the materialization function.

Immediately, another prompt popped up: “Insufficient building materials: wood (0/150), stone (0/80), sand (0/40), steel bars (0/40), cement (0/30).”

Bai Xun had no choice but to first select the option to level the ground of the abandoned lumberyard.

In the next moment, the overgrown, rugged ground transformed into flat, bare earth. All the weeds vanished, and the ground was as smooth as if a steamroller had flattened it.

The container building now looked even more dilapidated.

Bai Xun remembered the wooden planks and steel bars produced by the resource cubes from the Ocean Ark and wondered if they could be used in Property Guru.

He retrieved the planks and steel bars and piled them in the open space, then opened the blueprint again to check. This time, the prompt read: “Insufficient building materials: wood (72/150), stone (0/80), sand (0/40), cement (0/30). Available building materials: steel bars (51/40).”

It seemed they could be used interchangeably.

Unfortunately, the garbage compressor and resource converter from the Ocean Ark couldn’t be taken out for use, or they could have saved even more effort.

Bai Xun opened another function in Property Guru to see if he could synthesize the required building materials.

In the building material production function, one log could be synthesized into 30 wooden planks. The main raw materials for cement were limestone powder, clay, and iron ore powder.

There were several logs at the edge of the abandoned lumberyard, so the wood supply wasn’t a concern.

There was a whole cabinet of clay in the Ocean Ark. Iron ore powder could likely be replaced by grinding iron ingots into iron powder. As for limestone powder, Bai Xun recalled the 3 tons of barnacles stored in the Kitchen Simulator.

Barnacle shells are composed of calcium carbonate, and limestone powder is also a white powder primarily made of calcium carbonate. Roughly speaking, wasn’t limestone powder already available?

Moreover, sand could be replaced with crushed barnacles. Indeed, everything kept for later would eventually find its use.

Bai Xun moved the barnacles out of the kitchen simulator, then took out clay and iron ingots to test the manipulable space of the property expert.

He selected the option to synthesize cement. The barnacles, iron ingots, and clay on the ground vanished. The material synthesis function seemed to stall for a few seconds before reluctantly spitting out 30 bags of cement for Bai Xun.

This really worked!

Bai Xun’s confidence soared. He then directed everyone to crush all the barnacles on the ground, picking out the meat and leaving the shells behind. The sand issue was now resolved as well.

All that remained was stone.

This was something that truly had to be sourced by quarrying rocks from the mountains.

With everything ready except for the stone, they would have to sleep in tents for the night.

After driving the two off-road vehicles into the logging camp, Bai Xun noticed it was still early, not even 4 p.m. yet, so he decided to explore the nearby resource points.

He had the forest map in hand and planned to sketch a copy for everyone to use when he had time. For this exploration, only he and Cheng Wei would go, while the others stayed behind to guard the base.

Bai Xun shouldered his backpack, armed himself, and opened the forest map, which indicated the direction of the nearest stone resource point.

The stone resource point was just over four kilometers from the lumberyard. The forest map advised against driving there, as walking wasn’t too far.

They treated it as a cardio workout.

Before entering the forest for the hike, Bai Xun checked his clothes for any loose openings. The forest was teeming with poisonous insects and ants, and failing to secure his sleeves and pant legs would result in large patches of red, itchy rashes.

They also changed into hiking boots, picked up a tree branch to use as a walking stick, and continuously tapped the shrubs and grass underfoot as they walked to avoid accidentally stepping on venomous snakes or insects.

This time, they didn’t need to constantly check the map. A small path stretched all the way to the stone resource point, likely a remnant from when the lumberyard was still in operation.

The path wasn’t too rugged. They only crossed one small slope before descending onto level ground again.

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy overhead, casting fragmented rays. The air in the forest carried a faint, sweet scent of greenery. Before the apocalypse, this forest reserve must have been an excellent place for hiking.

Bai Xun found the walk a bit dull, so he started chatting casually with Cheng Wei. Their conversation ranged from having one boiled egg for breakfast that morning to the enormous leap of wondering whether zombies would appear in this apocalyptic world.

Cheng Wei seemed to read his mind, seamlessly picking up every topic. Their conversations never grew awkward or fell into silence.

The four-kilometer journey passed in a flash. Bai Xun even felt the distance was absurdly short. Their conversation had just begun and hadn’t even reached its conclusion when their footsteps came to a halt.

This forest reserve had likely halted many economic development projects. The stone resource point they arrived at was an abandoned quarry, with ready-made crushed stone piled up there. Aside from the stone piles, only the exposed mountain structure remained.

Due to years of neglect, the area was overgrown with weeds, even more desolate than the logging camp.

Now that they had the stone, they could simply drive over tomorrow to haul a few loads.

Bai Xun circled the stone piles a few times and was about to head back the way they came when Cheng Wei suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He sniffed twice, his expression turning grave. “There’s the smell of blood.”

Bai Xun instantly grew alert. “Which direction?”

Cheng Wei pricked up his ears, his expression becoming uncertain. “Over there. I heard something, a whimper, but not human. I’m not entirely sure.”

Bai Xun hefted the hunting rifle hanging from the side of his backpack and made a decision. “Let’s go take a look.”

Following the scent of blood, they came to a shallow pit concealed by thick grass.

Inside the pit was a wolf, its front leg caught in a steel trap.

The gray-furred wolf’s front leg was stained with blood. As they approached, it bristled and bared its teeth, a low growl rumbling continuously in its throat.

Though clearly on the brink of death, it mustered its last strength to appear fierce, trying to scare them away.

Bai Xun’s eyes swept over the wolf’s body, and he concluded, “It has an owner.”

Around the gray wolf’s neck was a red leather collar, about a finger’s width.