Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I snorted in amusement at her statement. "I hear you," I chuckled. In my first life, I wanted nothing more than to be out in the countryside, growing food and raising chickens, but instead, I was stuck in an apartment with a small balcony only big enough for two tomato plants.  I couldn't even get a pet chicken because my city had a stupid bylaw against it. 

"It might not be a traditional homestead, but let me see what we can do with what we have," I continued, thinking about what we could do to change an underground fight club into its own fully functioning city. 

We climbed up the six flights of stairs until we couldn't get any higher and opened the door to the roof, only to be brought up short by the human male standing in front of us. 

"Can I help you?" I asked, shifting my weight to hide my new friend behind me. I stared at the man. He was maybe 5'11" with 'stylish' black hair and dressed half decently given the zombie apocalypse. 

"I was visiting Lin Song when I heard a commotion downstairs. I figured that this was the best place to stay until things died down," he answered with a shrug and a smile that I was sure was supposed to be more charming than creepy. He was failing miserably with that.

"Who is Lin Song?" I asked over my shoulder, never taking my eyes off the man in front of me. 'Liu Yu Zeng, I might need some help up here, please, and thank you,' I added through the link. It was always to have more muscle than needed, then need it and not have it.

"The old club owner," came the whispered reply. "He is Gong Ling Xin, one of his good friends and a rich kid."The sourcᴇ of this content is ɴovelFɪre.net

She was definitely my type of people if she was adding in how I could use him. "Does that mean I should charge a ransom for him or feed him to the zombies?" I asked back, ignoring the look on the man in question's face. 

"I would go for asking for ransom first, and if that doesn't work, feed him to the zombies," she replied in a very pragmatic way. "However, according to my son, he is a bit of a dick."

"Yeah, I could see that," I replied, nodding my head and looking at the guy. "I am going to assume the second generation?" It always seemed like it was the second generation rich kids that caused the most problems. If they still had wealth by the third generation, then they knew how to keep it properly. 

I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs behind us, and I pushed my new friend to the side so that we weren't trapped between the idiot and my men. 

"We are going to be putting him up for ransom, and if that doesn't work, feeding him to the zombies," I said loud enough for Liu Yu Zeng to know my plans. 

"Understood," he replied. "We can handle this. You two just go talk plants."  See, now that was a perfect boyfriend/husband. 

"Hello, Gong Lin Xin," smiled the man coming up the stairs after Liu Yu Zeng. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Mao Jing," sneered the dead guy. "And here was me thinking that you would be dead by now, you know, after getting kicked out by your own family."

"I am not the one that needs to worry about dying," chuckled Mao Jung. "After all, if your Daddy isn't willing to pay for you, then you are nothing more than zombie food."

Right! I forgot to tell Liu Yu Zeng something that just popped into my head. And with all my luck, if I wait too long, it is just going to pop right back out.

"I want to build a cage or a room of some kind for the humans that are going to be zombie food," I shouted back at the guys even as I walked away. "I don't want them to get a stomach ache from eating too much but then have nothing to eat later!"

"Got it! There is something in the basement that will work," replied Liu Yu Zeng with a wave of his hand. Knowing that he had everything under control, I turned back around and looked around the rooftop.

"You know, I don't remember if you told me your name and I just forgot it or if I never got it in the first place," I said honestly. Hopefully, she took it as me being scatterbrained and not as an insult that I forgot it. 

"All good," she grunted. "I was worried about the same thing. I am Quan Ruo Gang," she continued, holding out her hand.

"Li Dai Lu," I replied, gripping her hand in my own. "Now, clearly, we are going to need raised beds, but what else are you thinking?"

It was a very typical rooftop with a bunch of covered vents but little else. There wasn't even that big of a barrier around the edges. 

"A fence of some kind so the kids and chickens can't just walk off of it," snickered Quan Ruo Gang as she started to walk around. "I think we will need to do medium-sized square boxes so you have access to all sides and the middle."

I looked out over the space and mentally calculated the number of boxes that could be built. "What are you thinking? 200 boxes? I mean, depending on the size of the paths you want."

"Yeah, somewhere around that," she nodded. "But I would also want some places to gather the rainwater. Maybe 50 barrels, if at all possible?" She looked at me, trying to judge where I was going to draw the line. 

"I have four 330 gallon tanks in my space. We could put one in each corner. Do you think that would be enough? If not, I can try to get something else; that is just all I have on hand," I said, my brows scrunching. The 330 gallon tank looked big when I first took it into my space, but now I was worried that it wouldn't be enough. 

"No, that should be good. Now, let's talk chicken coops."