No Time

Chapter 17: Summer House

Our summer house is specially designed by me. It's chic, modern, creative, and has all the space you need. It has several secret passages that lead to different parts of the house that are hidden. Even the workers who redesigned the house don't fully know what it looks like since they were switched many times.

Anyways, here we are riding a taxi to our summer house. I decided to sell our warehouse and somebody bought it at a price higher than when I first bought it. I heard that the person who bought it was the new CEO of the famous online shopping company. I also sold my truck since Xiao Bing said we needed a newer and better-looking car. I agreed and decided to make a customized car and some motorcycles. I already had all the materials delivered to the summer house. When you live during the apocalypse, you pick up some pretty strange but useful skills.

From now on, we won't go back to the capital anymore unless it's for the cheetah I need to kidnap from the zoo. Mom already should have seen the letter that I wrote saying goodbye to her. With her signature(faked) and thumbprint(done while she was asleep), we were officially disowned as Dad had complied wholeheartedly. They really don't care about us at all just like the past.

Although we don't have any guardian, I'll try to find one soon enough. But first, I need to find some of the zombie meat.

We arrived at the house after about 6 hours from the capital. The airplane ride was 5 hours long and we rode the taxi for about an hour to get to our summer house. We stopped at the supermarket to buy some groceries too.

Since Xiao Lai blurted out hotpot, the others wanted to eat some too. I guess I wanted a little bit of it as well.

The taxi driver sighed at how lucky we were to live in such a big place, and beamed happily when we gave him a lot of tips. But, it's true, the summer house had become a lot larger because of the construction done on it. Xiao Lai was surprised because it didn't look like this when he had searched for summer homes before. He could have used satellite cameras but he was probably too lazy to look into it.

Xiao Bing squealed about how pretty the house was and Ge looked impressed at the size. They all ran in to explore while I looked for the kitchen to make the hotpot.

Honestly, I was impressed at my design too. I could become a professional architect/interior designer if I tried. But, that'd be rude to all the professionals since they work hard doing their job, meanwhile this was a one-time project.

The kitchen was mostly made out of clean and shiny stainless steel. The countertops were made out of marble and the burner/oven was made of another material, but it all fit in together nicely. I opened up the grocery bags and started unpacking the kitchen tools from boxes that were set nearby.

Pots, pans, utensils, everything came out in carefully wrapped piles. Finding the right tools, I turned the burners on to put them at the correct temperature while I washed and chopped the vegetables and meat.

I had already picked out my room, so I wasn't worried that the others would want to have it. Besides, I decorated each room very differently to suit everyone's tastes. Ge's was partly a training room and partly a lounge. He didn't like closed spaces so it was one of the biggest rooms. Since he liked training so much, I thought that it'd suit him.

Xiao Lai had a room that looked modern and full of electronic devices. Large screens that had several keyboards attached were one of the things on his wishlist anyway. He also has an aquarium in his room as his walls.

Xiao Bing has a very cute room with an Emporer-sized canopy bed. It has a huge sofa with lots of cushions on them and the carpet is very fluffy. Her closet is full of dresses, skirts, and the kind of outfits she'd usually wear. But, if she presses a certain switch in the closet, the floor turns into a slide that transports to the weapon room. Ge and Xiao Lai also have a switch in their closet that acts like that.

My room is directly above the weapon room by 3 floors, so I just designed a round staircase to lead down when I pulled the switch in my closet. There were many other rooms that I designed and reconstructed, but that should be saved for a later time.

Anyways, I called the three down after I finished adding all the ingredients needed for the hotpot.

Xiao Lai came down first and hugged me.

"Yu Ge, my room's awesome! Where did you get those huge screens? One of them was as big as a movie screen! Thanks!"

I smiled lightly and gestured to him to sit on the dining table. His eyes sparkled as he sniffed in the wonderful scent of our meal. Without waiting for the others, he dug in as fast as he could while pulling out most of the meat.

"Ah, Lai Ge! Don't steal all of the meat!" exclaimed Xiao Bing as she came down from the railings. Yes, she jumped from the railings. I was teaching her parkour since it would be very necessary for the future apocalypse. I was teaching all my siblings but Xiao Bing was most interested in it since she could use it for her thief job. She used it frequently around in the warehouse before too. Jumping around the place as she hung from the bars, poles, and lights from the ceilings. I was at first very worried that she'd fall, but she always landed like a cat when she did.

"Yu Ge, I love my room! It's so cute and pretty! My bed's so fancy too!" Xiao Bing gave a smooch to my cheek as she hugged me tightly. I smiled and told her, "There's another pot I made just in case, so don't worry about it but you have to properly eat your vegetables. And, I'm glad you like your room."

She sped away to compete for the meat just when Ge came down the stairs.

"Xiao Yu, thanks for designing our rooms. You did it, right? It's perfect. The jacuzzi on the floor of my room is so big that I was actually at loss on what to do!" he chuckled lightly and patted my head. I blushed again. Who couldn't help but blush if somebody complimented you? Although I was mentally older than him, Ge would always be my Ge. Although he didn't look like he did too much, he cared for us greatly and it was actually him who used to protect us from mom's abuse, and during the apocalypse, he was the one who tried to provide for us as best as he could.

"En, your welcome. Go eat while I bring the other pot out." Ge nodded and walked over to where the younger ones were squabbling over food. He lightly scolded them with a shake of his head and a sigh. He then scooped out even portions onto their plates as they complained who got more of what.

Seeing this normal but happy scene, I smiled bitterly since I knew what was going to happen in the near future. Hopefully, we'll still be able to live peacefully, but if not, I'll destroy whatever's in our way.

I brought out the other pot and they scrambled for it. Scooping out some soup, vegetables, and meat, I ate neatly and silently while listening to my siblings talk about the house.

I smiled as I asked, "So, have you guys found the switch that leads to the weapon room?"

Xiao Lai and Xiao Bing excitedly nodded while Ge gave a confused look.

"Ge, have you not checked your closet yet?" I asked.

"No, I took one look at it but it was full of clothes and too huge, so I wanted to look at it later," he replied.

"I see. Well, there's a switch at the end of the closet. Since we're all kind of OCD, I thought that you would notice one of the patterns on the wall being a little different. Just press your thumb into it lightly till a wall opens and you see stairs," I patiently told him.

"Ah? Mine had a slide!" Xiao Bing exclaimed.

"Do you not like it?" I asked with a worried look.

"No, I like it! It's just that, am I not too old to go down sliding?" she asked.

"If you want stairs, knock on the slide twice, it'll turn into stairs if you give it 5 seconds or so. Same for the stairs turning into a slide. I suggest you use the slide to go down fast and them come up with the stairs. The slide can't bring you back up anyway."

As soon as I finished saying the information about the stairs, I was asked by Xiao Lai, "Yu Ge, where's your room? And I've seen some of the other rooms, but what are they for?"

"I can tell you after you finish your vegetables," I told him and pointed with my chopsticks.

"Ugh, fine, I'll eat them," he exasperatedly said and made gagging motions as he stuffed them into his mouth.

"No throwing up in the toilet later," I warned. Xiao Lai looked even more devastated. "You too," I told Xiao Bing as she was giggling. She stopped and looked at the veggies on her plate with killing intent as if that would make them disappear.

Ge chuckled as he finished up his plate and went to the kitchen to put them in the sink. We take turns washing the dishes and it was his turn, so he waited for us to finish and then found the sponge and dish soap from one of the many boxes still strewn around.

I cleaned up the dining table and helped Ge wipe the dishes, pots, and other utensils.

"Ok, let's go up to my room. It's on the 3rd floor," I announced after we were done cleaning up.

"Hurry, hurry! Gah, everyone's too slow!" yelled Xiao Bing as she rushed up the stairs and jumped from one railing to another. If the long chandelier wasn't made out of metal, Xiao Bing wouldn't have used it to rotate herself around it and use it as a prop. Thankfully, I predicted this and made it sturdy and reach to the floor and stick to it.

I lightly chuckled and used the same movements as her to jump up at a faster speed than her. Ge and Xiao Lai weren't fond of jumping around in the air with a possibility of a huge fall, but seeing that they were lagging behind, chose to catch up quickly using martial art moves combined with parkour and whatnot.

We quickly got to the 3rd floor. The hallways were bright as the sun shined through the huge glass windows. The floors were coated in a layer of granite, so I made ourselves put on slippers to not get cold feet. There were many doors but we didn't stop until we reached the end of the hallway.

The last door was made of wood and very sturdy looking. I open it without hesitation and walk in.

I very much enjoy my room's decor. It is full of plants and had a hammock outside on the balcony. My room is modern and very open. Huge windows make up one of the walls and the ceiling was also glass that would open whenever I press a switch next to the one for the light. My room's layout is simple and easy, very peaceful as it lets me see the ocean that is just by our summer villa, and it also showed me the garden outside with the cute small cottage I had designed for the pets. It was smaller compared to other rooms but it was my favorite and I barely had anything done to it as it was already the way I liked it.

"En, this seems like yours. Where's your closet?" Ge asked.

"Ah, it's over here," I muttered as I pushed one of the walls.

The wall overturned and a huge place was revealed. I did connect my room to several other rooms after all. On one side of the revealed room, there are several rows and stacks of clothes, shoes, and accessories. I like fashion after all. The other side is a lounge full of musical instruments. The piano, harp, viola, violin, flute, and bunches of other instruments that we play are there.

The floor is wood and the side for clothes had walls that were made into mirrors. The instrument side has plants in one corner and the walls were in a light shade of beige, creating a nice atmosphere.

"Yu Ge, you like fashion and music too much," Xiao Bing commented.

"It's the little things in life that you should enjoy," I told her.

I pressed a smudge on the mirror wall, and the mirrors opened up to show a round staircase. Down I went and the rest followed.

On the 2nd floor, I stopped and stepped out of the stairs. The 2nd-floor room that was right under mine was a library. I bought all kinds of books regardless of which and ordered them for everyone. Xiao Lai and Xiao Bing liked manhua, so I bought all kinds without even checking the genres. I decided to check them later. I liked Quantum Theory explanation novels and survival guides, so there was a corner for my pile of books. Ge likes to study psychology, acupuncture, traditional medicine, and martial arts, so those kinds of books were in another corner for him. There are several desks, chairs, and lamps to use if they didn't prefer the cushy beanbag pile.

I introduced them to where each type of book was, and they headed over to see which to read. After flipping through a few books, we left by going down the stairs once more.

This time, it was a garage. Xiao Lai really loves sports cars so I bought 7 of them for him. Xiao Bing wanted to get a motorcycle to ride when she got older, so I designed and assembled 7 of them. There were 2 limousines by the side and 4 armored cars next to them. There's one regular car for outings but even that was an expensive brand. The garage was closest to the beach and a road was right outside of it, so I also bought a boat for when we wanted to get some sea breeze.

"Yu Ge, I love them! Thank you so much!" exclaimed Xiao Lai as he ran over to one of the cars that were for him and lovingly hugged it from the front. That one was a shiny looking red sports car. But I really don't get Xiao Lai's obsession over branded goods and stuff. Xiao Bing curiously looked at the motorcycles.

"Yu Ge, when can I learn how to drive?" she asked. She then told me in a hurry, "It's not that I don't like your driving! I just want to try driving!" Girl, that just explained your whole reason...

"When you turn 13." was my answer. Xiao Lai grinned as he was closer to being 13 than she was.

"Xiao Yu, this is practically a parking lot. And do we need all these vehicles?" scolded Ge.

"Ge, we will need them soon enough. I didn't waste money on these. All these vehicles are armored and solar-powered. In fact, the whole house is solar powered and the water comes from the ocean through a filter. I used lots of money to make this happen, but this is very important for our future," I told him reassuringly.

"Fine, but please tell us what you are going to do before it happens," Ge said with a sigh.

After prying Xiao Lai away from the sports cars, we head down once more to the weapons room.

Ge was surprised at how the room had all sorts of weapons. Swords, guns, staffs, spears, tasers, shurikens, nunchucks, bows, arrows, spiked shoes, flexible and modern armor, whips, there was every weapon that would be useful in destroying the undead.

The whole room is a practice room but tuned more towards accuracy and marksmanship. Ge's room was for practicing solely on martial arts. The weapons room can allow us to move without any worry. I stocked up every kind of medicine and bandages there were, so it would be fine if we got injured.

Xiao Bing immediately headed towards the whips while Xiao Lai went to the swords. Ge simply moved towards the staffs and spears. The whole room was like a mini-stadium. One side of the room is a small medication center for when we became injured and had to treat ourselves. That's where all our medicine, crutches, bandages, and casts were stored in as well.

Next to the small medication center is a shooting range and next to that is a small room for smithing.

During the apocalypse, ability users could create great weapons if they knew how. There was this one old man that was a jewelsmith with an earth and metal ability and taught me how to make jewelry. Everyone scoffed as he wasn't a weaponsmith, but he was very great at making hidden weapons. Bracelets that contained small but very sharp needles, rings that contained poisonous needles, and many other beautiful but dangerous jewelry were made by him and the methods were taught to me. But, his greatest creation would be the obsidian string.

The old man had dedicated his whole life to jewelry making, so he had no other family members, he focused solely on his job and searched for the best metal and gemstones. He was very famous and was one of the highest-ranking people in the famous jewelry company, GEM, which stood for, "Glamorous, Enchanting, Mesmerizing". Anyway, he had an affinity for finding the best gemstones even before the apocalypse. When the apocalypse happened, every precious stone within a mile of him could be sensed. But being the apocalypse, there were no uses for gems. Fresh food and water were more precious.

The obsidian string was made after he got help from an unsuspecting fire user to melt it. I helped him cool it down with my water and he used his earth ability to shape it into an incomparably sharp black string. Just by touching it, my finger was cut. Obsidian is the sharpest material in the world after all. The old man was so joyful that day, he even cried. He gave half of the string to me and kept the other half. Before I was used as bait, the old man had a premonition that I'd be in some kind of danger with all the looks that our groupmates were giving, so he gave his half to me.

Thinking about him, the gem fanatic, giving his most prized creation to me without hesitation because of his worrying, I smiled bitterly.

'Old man, I'll pay you back soon. Although the string only kept me alive for a few minutes at most, your worries were felt. Thanks.'

Haizz, I guess I might start crying if I think of him a bit more. I fanned my eyes to get the little moisture that was squeezed out back in.

But of course, my sibling being trained by me to notice anything anywhere saw me dry my eyes.

"Yu Ge, what's wrong?" asked Xiao Lai.

"I was thinking about a friend. I'll introduce him to you guys later," I said with a mirthful smile.

"Yu Ge, you actually have a friend? Who is it?" asked Xiao Bing with wide eyes. Well, she must've been surprised by how I actually cared for somebody else rather than them.

"It's an old man who makes jewelry. I'll take you to him so you can see how pretty the stuff he makes is."

"If it's Xiao Yu's friend, I doubt that the only thing he does is make jewelry," said Ge.

I giggled lightly and smiled mischievously.

After training ourselves for 4 hours, we decided to order some dinner. The little ones voted for pizza since they said that they ate too healthy today.

So we ordered pizza from Mama Jane's and trained some more while waiting for the delivery man.

I was watching as Xiao Lai and Ge dueled with Xiao Bing shooting at them with rubber bullets every 10 seconds.

A stray bullet flew too close by me so I caught it with my hand.

"Yu Ge, sorry! Did your hand get hurt?" anxiously asked Xiao Bing.

"I'm fine," I said, hiding my trembling hand behind me. I handed her rubber bullet back and told her to keep practicing her accuracy.

Haizz, I'll fix these kinds of stuff up with the water power I get after eating some zombie meat in the future.

Dingdong! Dingdong!

"Hello, is anyone there? You ordered pizza!" came an annoyed voice.

Service isn't great it seems...

"Xiao Lai, go and get it. I won anyway," said Ge.

"Ah, fine. But I get to have half of the pizza!" exclaimed Xiao Lai as he ran up the stairs.

When Xiao Bing and Ge looked at me, I reassured them, "I bought 3 pans, don't worry."

So we slowly went up with the hidden elevator that Xiao Lai didn't find out about yet. It's bullet speed and can travel up all floors. I only installed it to move heavy things easier. We got to the 1st floor quickly and saw Xiao Lai standing still in what seemed to be from shock.

"Z-zhang Xing!"

"Delta! And how the fuck do you know my name?!"

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