Rebirth: Leading Families to Survive in the Apocalypse

"So, Lu Hao's Special Ability Fire can't be used for grilling meat."

Su Jin looked at the plate of blackened stuff that Kou Ning had brought out and said speechlessly.

"If Uncle Lu wasn't here, I wouldn't have dragged Lu Hao into this mess."

Kou Ning tried to defend himself.

"Sis-in-law, he's so hungry he's not being picky, insisting Captain Lu light up a fire for him, hahaha."

Yin Chengtian and Shi Jin were laughing at the plate on the side, and even Local Tyrant Gold was holding his belly and laughing exaggeratedly.

"You little monkey, keep laughing and I'll roast you."

Kou Ning pretended to be angry.

"Did you finish all those snacks I gave you?"

Su Jin asked. Recently, they sorted out many packaged foods with expired labels, giving some to the people at the Research Department for free and some to Kou Ning.

Of course, those foods weren't actually expired.

"All gone~~"

Kou Ning looked pitiful.

"I'll heat some of the leftover pies from yesterday for you to snack on first. Tonight, I'll prepare a big meal for you guys, and tomorrow we have work."

Su Jin said.

"Is there another mission on Tang Xue's side?"

Lu Hao put down Xiao Lu Xi and asked.

Seeing the family looking towards her, Su Jin talked about Tang Xue's decision made this afternoon.

"We're only going halfway up?"

Xue Wanyi asked after hearing it, it seemed Tang Xue was still worried about the previous incidents, even after months, still only allowing them to go halfway up.

"Yes, our task this time is to collect snow water samples from halfway up."

Su Jin nodded and said.

"In that case, if nothing happens along the way, it should take around three days to go and return."

Xue Wanyi, having climbed M Peak before, said.

"We don't all need to go, it's just sample collection, and there aren't any zombies there, right?"

Lin Xiuyuan suggested that perhaps two or three people would be enough.

"Exactly, Xiao Jin and I can go, it will be quicker this way."

Lu Hao decided, in such places, more people might make it easier to lose direction.

"Su Jin, make sure to leave plenty of food for us."

Kou Ning shouted, feeling uneasy.

"Got it, you'd better find time to kill some zombies instead, last time you brought back so much meat, there's still a lot left."

Su Jin indicated for Kou Ning to get food from the microwave himself.

To be honest, the meat from variant animals Kou Ning worked hard to hunt was difficult to cook; no matter how it's boiled or stewed, it felt like chewing rubber. What Kou Ning enjoyed eating was mostly pork, beef, sheep, and poultry from the Space.

However, thanks to his appetite, Lin Yunguo got busy cooking in the Space, and the family occasionally sent some dishes to the Research Department's researchers.

Lin Tianhui mentioned that in high altitude areas like this, if one doesn't pay attention to nutrition, ordinary people's resistance can become very low.

"Yes, sir!"

Seeing Su Jin promise to leave lots of food, Kou Ning immediately nodded like a begging puppy.

...

The next day, before leaving, Su Jin reluctantly said goodbye to Lu Xi and Lu Wang.

"Just the two of us, we'll be back soon."

Lu Hao comforted, though he was becoming more unwilling to separate from the two kids.

"Yeah, if only the two of them could enter the Space on their own."

Su Jin knew she was just saying it; if Lu Xi and Lu Wang could enter the Space anytime, it would be a source of worry...

They had been to the foot of M Peak many times. Although the upper part was snow-covered, the lower part was full of Gobi stone fields, occasionally dotted with small mutated shrubs which both recognized and knew their habits.

At most, they extended thin vines to touch or trip passing people, though it was their fragile branches that often got hurt...

The two wore light hiking shoes and quickly climbed along the path they had taken before.

In the distance, torn blue or green tents fluttered in the wind; there weren't usually any zombies here. Initially, the place had strong mutated zombies, looking like climbers, but they've all been dealt with.

"I wonder if the vitality Lu Changfeng mentioned is in or related to M Peak."

Su Jin found climbing a bit dull; apart from their footsteps and breathing, the silence was eerie.

"He didn't specify. He only mentioned this area in Huaxia. If we don't find it in Y Autonomous Region, we'll need to slowly extend to surrounding regions."

Lu Hao held Su Jin's hand while walking and talking.

Roar!

As they continued climbing, a bluish-white zombie animal suddenly appeared before them.

A bolt of lightning shot towards them, surprising them with its identity as a Thunder Element mutated zombie animal, though its fur was gone, making its original appearance unrecognizable.

"It might be a snow leopard."

Lu Hao recalled information about M Peak's management and species.

Snow leopards were one of M Peak's unique species.

"Mm, whatever it is, be careful."

Su Jin noticed the variant zombie leopard seemed incredibly fast; in a blink, it leapt to the other side.

Lu Hao nodded, and the two started attacking the zombie leopard from left and right.

The zombie leopard hesitated briefly before dashing towards Su Jin. Smiling slightly, Su Jin summoned numerous wooden spikes from the ground, immediately restricting the leopard's movements.

"Now!"

Su Jin called to Lu Hao from behind.

Lu Hao immediately understood, as the zombie leopard jumped amidst the spikes, a raging sea of fire approached it from behind...

A moment later, the duo looked at the single large Thunder Element Beast Core remaining on the ground, both amazed.

The zombie leopard wasn't particularly big, yet the Beast Core was bigger than any they'd seen before.

"We've killed big zombies here before, their mutated crystal cores in their heads were large."

Lu Hao remarked.

"Could it be M Peak's influence? Tang Xue mentioned that bases near B City never saw Level Eight Zombies, but near here, they did."

Su Jin speculated wildly, considering that in Y Autonomous Region, mutant zombies outnumbered ordinary zombies.

"Possibly, there might be something up there."

Lu Hao agreed.

Together, they gazed at the snow-covered summit, and Su Jin, remembering their task, suddenly had an idea and said:

"Should we let Labi come out to help us climb?"