A Serious Problem in the Base and the Future of Mankind

"Greenhouses? Are you worried it would snow again, Che?"

The thought of the heavy snowfall still made Gu Mingxuan shudder. They would have suffered great losses if Che hadn't been prepared.

"Not only that. I think we should guard against anything that falls from the sky."

Yun Che nodded, recalling that since greenhouses were used everywhere for planting in his previous life, rainwater probably contained something harmful to vegetable production. Although greenhouse planting was a little more troublesome at first, it would get better going forward, but at least they didn't have to worry about the yield being affected by the climate. If the temperature was right, they could grow crops all year round.

"Hmm, you're right. I'll make arrangements tomorrow, but you gotta lend Chen to me first. He's experienced in growing crops and knows about farming better than us."

The elders were all sitting at the table on the other side together with Zhan Yafei, Yang Huai'en etc. Gu Mingxuan couldn't help smiling when he saw Yang Huai'en grilling for his future in-laws. Zhan Tianlong and his wife looked quite happy, and it seemed like there was soon going to be a wedding in Chaoyang.

"Haha…go tell Chen yourself, I think he would be more than happy to help."

Yun Che showed a broad smile on his face when he suddenly thought of how the elderly man had threatened him in order to go on a quest with them.

"I think so too."

Gu Mingxuan laughed—nothing could escape his eyes at Peak Squad.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Ye Xingchen and Jiang Shang each came back with a large plate of barbecued food. Smelling the aroma, Chenchen carried Xiaobai and ran over, "Uncle, I want meat…"

"You little foodie!"

Amused, Yun Che carried him up and placed him on the chair for kids. Seeing that the food grilled by Ye Xingchen and the gang wasn't spicy, Gu Mingxuan took two lamb skewers and a large garlic oyster for him, "Be careful, they're hot!"

"Thank you, Uncle Gu."

Chenchen started eating the lamb skewers right after taking them, and ended up with seasoning powder all over his mouth. Yun Cheng quickly handed him a pack of tissues, "Wipe your mouth, it's dirty!"

"Oh."

With his clean freak uncle around, Chenchen had no choice but to draw out a tissue with one hand and wipe his mouth casually, only to get his mouth dirty again when he took another bite of the lamb skewers. Seeing Yun Cheng frowning, Leng Yehan quickly took a grilled chicken wing and gave it to him, "Try this, Cheng. It's from Che's Space so you can eat it."

"Oh."

Only then did Yun Cheng look away, but he would still glance at Chenchen from time to time, and all he wanted to say was written on his face. Yun Che looked at the two of them and felt a little helpless. It seemed like Cheng's obsession with cleanliness was here to stay.

"Senior, try this!"

After a short while, Jiang Shang had already deshelled a crab leg and dipped it in special sauce before bringing it to Ye Xingchen's mouth. Ye Xingchen took a bite without any reservations, "Try it too, Jiang."

"Ok."

Jiang Shang ate what was left in his hand and went on to deshell the bottom half of the crab leg. The two of them acted really mushy, taking turns to share their food. No wonder Zhou Zeyu and the rest didn't sit at the same table with them right from the beginning.

"Your favorite grilled lobster."

While everyone was eating and drinking, Xing Feng came back with two big plates of barbecued food. He then made another trip and came back with a plate that only had a huge grilled lobster on it. The lobster looked really appetising with garlic and chili over it. Yun Che picked up his fork and knife at once, "Hmm, Chief Xing, you can go set up a BBQ stall."

Yun Che immediately gave a thumbs up after cutting off a piece of the lobster tail and putting it into his own mouth. Xing Feng shook his head in amusement before seeing Yun Che taking another piece with the fork and putting it into his mouth.

"I think it's not spicy enough."

Lobsters gotta be hot and spicy.

"It's fine. Go get some dipping sauce if you think it's not spicy enough."

"Okay."

Xing Feng said as he got up to get a dipping sauce. Gu Mingxuan also stood up at the same time when he saw that Yun Yao had grilled a lot of food and couldn't bring them over at one go. By the time they all sat down, the table was already full of various barbecue food such as grilled skewers, scallops, fish, shrimps and crabs, both spicy and non-spicy. The same went for the other two tables.

"What were you guys talking about just now?"

Xing Feng casually started a conversation while eating the food he personally grilled. The sky had gradually turned dark, and the lights in the yard were already on. Although there were several huge electric fans blowing at them, everyone was sweating all over.

"Just talking about opening up the wasteland and farming."

Yun Che said while chewing on his food and pouring each of them a cup of tartary buckwheat tea to rinse the grease from the food. Yun Yao had already taken over Chenchen. With her and Gu Mingxuan looking after him, Chenchen concentrated on eating meat and smacked his lips from time to time. Yun Cheng didn't care if his nephew was dirty anymore with Leng Yehan attending to him.

"Well, there's no urgency in opening up the wasteland. Just wait another two months for the weather to get cooler. We can start planting on the land in the base."

Xing Feng nodded and took a sip of the tartary buckwheat tea that his wife poured for him. He then took a raw oyster, picked out the flesh inside and put it on a plate before cutting half of it and feeding it to Yun Che.

"Um, that's a good idea, since the weather is too hot these two months. Let's start doing quests tomorrow. Joy Squad seems to be catching up with Peak."

Squad rankings were calculated based on points. Peak Squad hadn't been on many quests, but they usually went for difficult quests with higher points and hence was always leading. They were a small squad, unlike others which were divided into several groups to take on separate quests to earn points. Moreover, they hadn't been on any quests for almost 20 days, so they weren't leading by a significant difference.

"Haha…it's not easy for them to catch up with Peak. I heard that no one dares to go to the Central District across the river. We just gotta take up a few more quests there and our points will naturally go up.

The more dangerous the place, the more points they could earn. Quests in the Central District of Lingjiang City were a piece of cake for them.

"Yehan, you gotta take charge from tomorrow. Cheng can't go with you guys."

They could forget about training with him and Cheng around, for things would be too easy for them.

"Sure."

Knowing his reason for doing so, Leng Yehan didn't object, but Yun Cheng said unhappily, "Why can't I go?"

"'Cos you gotta stay at home to keep me company."

Yun Che said matter-of-factly. Yun Cheng tilted his head and thought for a while, "But what if I miss Hanhan?"

He simply wanted to go out—he had heard what Xing Feng said about doing things yourself and not relying on others.

"Bear with it!"

Knowing what his younger brother was thinking, Yun Che was a little amused that Cheng had become smarter and knew how to play tricks on him.

"Fine, I won't go then."

Yun Cheng bulged his cheeks unhappily and stared at his brother with sad-looking eyes. Leng Yehan quickly gave him a roasted chicken drumstick. Yun Cheng opened his mouth and even bit off the bone, chewing it loudly. Yun Che was tickled by him, "Come on, I'll be very busy too, so you won't feel bored with me. You will even be entertained from time to time."

His so-called entertainment was none other than playing tricks on Wei Kan and his men. Everyone present knew what he meant, with the exception of Yun Cheng and Chenchen who was gobbling down meat.

"Alright."

Although Yun Cheng was still a little unhappy, he didn't object since it was his brother who said so.

"By the way, I heard something serious happened in the military, what is it?"

Seeing this, Xing Feng quickly changed the topic. Gu Mingxuan was taken aback, saying after thinking for a while, "I'm not sure either. It seems that the authorities realized that there isn't any newborn in the base these four months since the start of doomsday? They are worried that doomsday has also affected fertility. What future is there if human beings can't reproduce? Major General Mo even went to our research institute because of this."

Only this could be considered something serious, and the higher management of the base seemed to take it very seriously. The authorities were already collecting data on whether there were pregnant women.

"Everyone is fleeing for their lives during the doomsday. The pregnant ones have mostly miscarried, and those who are not pregnant are probably not concerned about it. It's only been four months. Aren't they worrying excessively?"

Ye Xingchen chipped in calmly. He had experienced fleeing for his life in the early days of doomsday and knew very well how chaotic it was at that time. The elderly, children, and pregnant women were often the ones being left behind, and some dainty women were left to die unless they had family or friends who took them along. Not that he looked down on women. Most women liked stuff like wearing high heels before doomsday, but they were done for once doomsday arrived, and the number of women who had died or turned into zombies was at least 50 percent higher than men. Even if they had managed to go into a base safely, they would be struggling to get enough food for survival if they weren't as capable as Yafei or had relatives to rely on, let alone get pregnant and have children. Some of them even ended up as men's playthings and wouldn't be able to give birth even if they had gotten pregnant.

"I think so too, but from what I understand from Major General Mo, it seems that none of the women in the base are pregnant."

Gu Mingxuan nodded while eating. Although he also thought that the military was worrying unnecessarily, it could be a serious problem if no one had gotten pregnant. Suffering a miscarriage was one thing, but not being able to get pregnant at all was a different story.

"Do you know something that we don't?"

Seeing that Yun Che hadn't said anything, Xing Feng asked, tilting his head. Although it was impossible for the two of them to have children, mankind would be close to extinction if all human beings had no children.

"Huh?"

Caught by surprise, Yun Che looked up at them before taking a sip from his teacup and saying slowly, "The human body has mutated, and all genes have changed. Isn't it normal not to get pregnant?"

"What do you mean?"

Could human beings no longer have children?

"It's not that human beings can't get pregnant, just that the sperms gotta be stronger."

Yun Che didn't know how to explain this, for he wasn't an expert in this area after all. He only knew that superfunction possessors would have a longer lifespan after doomsday, and it would no longer be so easy for humans to have children. There would still be women getting pregnant, but relatively fewer. Also, children of two superfunction possessors would mostly be born superfunction possessors who would either inherit the superfunctions of the father or the mother, or both. If only one parent was a superfunction possessor, whether the child had a superfunction attribute was a matter of probability, just like having a boy or a girl. Similarly, children of two ordinary people could only be ordinary people, but they had a slightly higher chance of getting pregnant compared to superfunction possessors. As a result, almost all bases encouraged the union of a superfunction possessor and an ordinary person, betting on half the odds.

"Do you mean humans can still reproduce, just that it will be more difficult?"

Xing Feng probed as everyone stared blankly at each other. Che always liked to leave them hanging, so they had to ask him straight off if they had any questions. Otherwise he would forget about it the next moment.

"Yep, something like that. Oh, have I told you guys this? It seems like zombies are able to self-reproduce after they reach level-8, regardless of gender."

"Huh?"

Everyone was completely dumbfounded. Did he say it wrong or did they hear him wrong? Not only could zombies reproduce, they could self-reproduce regardless of gender? How scary was that? When could zombies be completely eliminated? What did the future hold for mankind?