In the morning, Shen Jin watched Shang Qian prepare breakfast with satisfaction, her curvy backside facing him and Li Moxiao, swaying gently.
Because of the call last night, Li Moxiao and Shang Qian, who had originally been somewhat at odds, had suddenly become close.
The two of them had taken the iPads Shen Jin gave them and watched romance movies all night.
Shen Jin had watched from behind the cameras as they laughed brightly.
Well, Shang Qian was the one laughing like a flower in bloom. Li Moxiao could only be considered a budding flower.
Then he kept sighing. When would he finally get a proper girlfriend?
Was his college first love doing well now?
Had her breasts sagged yet?
Had she developed corpse spots yet?
Had she evolved moss yet?
After breakfast, Shen Jin left from the second floor and went up to the roof.
"An area of 1,000 square meters... That's a bit troublesome. A square plot with sides of thirty-three meters is the size of five large villas."
Shen Jin was currently located north of Harbor District in Q City, right northeast of Q City's most prosperous downtown area.
That was also why he had been able to live here in peace all this time.
If he were in the city center, the Zombies wandering around every day would probably fill all his traps.
Around his villa, there were scattered villas and farmland to the north. A few more kilometers farther lay Huangnan Village.
To the west was an urban village with a fairly dense population. Those who could not afford housing in the city or wanted somewhere cheap would temporarily settle there.
The east had convenient transportation, so it was filled with various factories and low-density residential complexes. Wanyu Group and Kind Auntie were both in that direction.
The south was especially interesting!
The greatest fortune Shen Jin had obtained so far had almost all been looted from the south.
Right next door was a foreign trade company, whose warehouses were stocked full of export goods. There were also factory warehouses belonging to many other companies nearby.
That was because farther south was the train station, with both freight and passenger services, making transportation extremely convenient.
And six kilometers south was Q City's largest port!
That was why all sorts of manufacturers had placed their warehouses in this area. Land and water transport were both incredibly convenient.
Of course, after the apocalypse, everything in those warehouses and at the port belonged to Shen Jin.
Good grief! It had exhausted Shen Jin terribly at the time.
"What are you looking at? Where's Sun Can? Did he think my cooking was bad?"
Although Shang Qian wanted to maintain her aloof demeanor, a hint of ingratiation was hard to miss in her tone.
Shen Jin could not help but sigh inwardly. Back then, she had been the dream girl of every male colleague in the company, the object of countless late-night fantasies.
Yet now, just to survive, she had no choice but to act like this.
"He left yesterday. Didn't you hear him screaming? Hahaha~"
Thinking of how even an Ability user as strong as Sun Can had suffered under his carefully arranged traps, Shen Jin could not help feeling smug.
The reason humans could defeat animals was not muscle. It was brains!
"Th-This..." Looking at Shen Jin's smug expression, Shang Qian suddenly thought of a few idioms.
"Hiss~ charging boldly into men, men upon men, an endless desire filled by men!"
"Huh? Why are you suddenly reciting idioms?"
"Oh, oh. Nothing. If he left, then he left. I guess... he'll come back after clearing his head."
Shen Jin neither confirmed nor denied it.
"By the way, since you're up here, if you wanted to build a 1,000-square-meter base in the apocalypse, what places around us would you enclose?"
The mission rewards were generous, and Shen Jin decided to complete it next.
Of course, if it were up to him, he would definitely enclose land to the north. There were vast stretches of farmland and scattered houses, with few Zombies and even fewer people.
"1,000 square meters? Are you planning to expand the Gathering Place? I think it would be best to look east. Just enclosing any factory would be enough. Factories have employee dormitories and all kinds of living facilities. If you can clear out the Zombies, it would make the best Gathering Place!"
Shang Qian did not know whether Shen Jin was testing her or truly intended to expand outward, so she first voiced her own thoughts.
"To the east? But there are a lot of Zombies there."
"But the returns are the highest! Take that fertilizer company across the street to the east, for example. Its factory buildings cover a huge area, definitely more than 1,000 square meters of floor space. It has its own walls, factory buildings, and dormitories. The surrounding roads lead everywhere, making it convenient to reach both the coast and the railway. It has every living facility imaginable, and it might even have a backup power system."
Shen Jin thought about it and realized she was right. Although he had the ability to build matchbox-like structures, they lacked all kinds of living facilities. If people lived there in the future, it would be extremely inconvenient.
If he used his ability too frequently, someone attentive would soon notice.
It would be better to occupy a factory and solve everything at once.
"Good! Then let's go enclose a 1,000-square-meter plot of farmland to the north!"
Shang Qian: "???"
So all that earlier talk had just been her blowing rainbow farts?
Seeing Shang Qian wanting to get angry but not daring to say anything, Shen Jin laughed. "I never said I was going to take in other people."
"Then why are you claiming such a huge plot of land? Saving it as a family heirloom?"
Shen Jin merely smiled without answering.
The system only told him to claim land that belonged to him. It never forced him to take in anyone else.
Shen Jin could simply put up some walls around it and call it a day. At worst, he could use it as the villa's backyard later and grow some crops or something.
Claiming land meant clearing Zombies, so Shen Jin decided not to rush it.
To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools.
Ordinary Zombies posed little threat before his Blockify Ability.
But Evolved Zombies were different. They could very well ambush and kill him before he had time to react.
"All right, keep Li Moxiao company. I'm heading out. You two can cook for yourselves. Be frugal."
"Uh..." Shang Qian hesitated.
"Say it."
"But... Li Moxiao alone eats at least enough for three people."
Shen Jin's face darkened. Had he raised a gluttonous monster!?
"Tell her to eat fewer dishes and more rice and steamed buns!"
Shen Jin found Yang Ao in the underground room. He was going to search for the Gene Enhancement Serum 1.0!
Without confidence, Shen Jin would not try to awaken an Ability with Blood Crystals, nor would he put himself in an extremely dangerous situation to try to unlock his Gene Lock.
But he still wanted to grow stronger.
It was just like some girls before the apocalypse: afraid of pain, but still wanting pleasure.
So all that was left was taking drugs.
"Let's go. Take me to your father's laboratory. One dose of the serum per person."
Shen Jin ultimately decided this was the most appropriate way to distribute it. Even an emperor needed someone to test his food first!
With a fortune worth hundreds of millions, could he casually take some serum of unknown origin?
Although Yang Ao had cooperated quite well last time, one could never be too careful.
When Yang Ao learned that Shen Jin was going to the laboratory, he immediately became excited!
b(￣▽￣)d
"We should've gone ages ago! You have an Earth-based Ability, so it'll be ridiculously easy. Once we drink the serum, even if we don't become Superman, we'll at least be Captain America."
"Take this. Let's go."
Shen Jin tossed Yang Ao a backpack containing enough food and water for the two of them to last three days, along with a map of Q City.
"Got it, Brother Jin! If we find it this time, will there be roast chicken?"
"No."
Watching Yang Ao's dejected expression, the corners of Shen Jin's mouth slowly curled upward.
"Pork knuckles. Aren't they delicious?"
Yang Ao: (drools)
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