Raising Children During the Apocalypse

 by Old Big White Cat

Chinese Information:重生之我在废土养崽

By: 老大白猫

Year: 2022

Genre: BL, abilities, children, step parents, adopted, apocalypse

Novel Status in Country of Origin: 93 Chapters + 4 Extras (Complete)

Translator: Addis

Editor: Karai

~~~~Brought to you by ExR~~~~

SUMMARY:

In his previous life, Jiang Rong and his son Jiang Xiaoheng died in the mouths of beasts after the Great Crisis mutation. Awakening from a deep slumber, he found himself reborn three months before the onset of the Great Crisis. Determined not to repeat the tragedies of his past life, Jiang Rong gritted his teeth and tirelessly stockpiled goods, making various preparations. He also bought books on judo, taekwondo, kickboxing, and karate in one go, hoping that his innate talent would turn him into a martial arts genius within three months.

After the Great Crisis, a small percentage of people would awaken special abilities. Jiang Rong was just an ordinary person in his previous life, so he could only hope to enhance his physical fitness and become a fearsome muscular man. But alas, being a softy at heart, Jiang Rong hadn’t achieved anything in the three months. Thinking he would have to spend his days hiding from those with abilities while taking care of his three-year-old son, he unexpectedly awakened a powerful ability—an ability to control mutated plants, a Wood-based ability!

Jiang Rong was ecstatic. Little did he know, beneath this unexpected surprise, there was another hidden bonus. Shortly after the Great Crisis, he found a handsome man unconscious at his doorstep, with a cold-faced infant beside him…

Note: The children and the men are not related as parent and child; there’s no relationship between them.

Chapter 1: Selling the House

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

On Wednesday, March 6, 2050, Jiang Rong was reborn. He was reborn three months before the Great Crisis, on his 25th birthday. At this moment, Jiang Rong was sitting on the steps in front of the real estate agency, with his back to the agency’s glass door. He had his legs crossed, holding a brown paper bag in his arms, while his right hand held a pen doodling on the notebook on his knee.

Although it wasn’t yet the peak hour for work, the streets were already bustling with people and vehicles, and the noise was incessant. However, no matter how noisy it was around him, it couldn’t affect Jiang Rong’s focus. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were filled with tiny blood vessels. When the cold wind blew, he couldn’t help but shrink his neck. He knew that he looked very unkempt right now, but he couldn’t afford to care about that at the moment.

Since waking up at midnight last night, he hadn’t been able to fall asleep. It wasn’t his fault. Anyone who knew that the end of the world would come in three months couldn’t stay calm.

Three months later, on June 6th, the Great Crisis would arrive. After one night, more than half of the world’s population would not wake up. Those who survived couldn’t break free from grief and naturally showed their fangs to the remaining humans.

Animals and plants underwent mutations, becoming extremely ferocious. Although humans also gained abilities through mutation, their speed was not as fast as that of animals and plants, nor were their abilities as strong. Moreover, only a small percentage of humans mutated, while more were ordinary people without any means of defense.

In his previous life, Jiang Rong was one of those ordinary people without any means of defense. After the Great Crisis, the government collapsed, and order disintegrated. He and his son struggled to survive, relying on the protection of their mutated pet dog Lele and the survivor base, as well as the protection of the old courtyard in the deep mountains. They only persisted for three years.

Three years later, Lele was bitten to death by a mutated animal, and he and his son died miserably in the mouths of mutated rats. When he woke up last night, the intense pain of being gnawed away dissipated like a tide, but the pain and fear of being gnawed remained deeply ingrained in Jiang Rong’s bones.

Fortune favored him, and he woke up three months early. In order to prevent the tragedy from happening again, he needed to plan well for himself and his son during these three months. That’s why he appeared early in the morning at the real estate agency. As an ordinary person, the biggest asset he currently owned was his two houses. After the Great Crisis, houses in big cities became worthless. But now, his properties could still fetch some money. This money would be their only reliance for survival after the crisis.

Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps beside him. “Mr. Jiang, right? I’m Xiao Zhou, whom you’ve made an appointment with. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Jiang Rong stood up, closed the notebook, and turned to see a young man in a black suit hurrying over. After packing up his notebook and pen, he also stood up.

Xiao Zhou extended his hand to Jiang Rong with a warm smile, but Jiang Rong instinctively took a step back. “Hello.”

Having worked as a real estate agent, Xiao Zhou had encountered many eccentric clients. He quickly withdrew his hand and opened the door of the Love Home Agency behind him. “Come in, Mr. Jiang, please.”

Love Home Agency had been operating in the prime location of the downtown area for decades. As a senior employee in the store, Xiao Zhou had a good eye for people. Clients who called him in the middle of the night usually had urgent needs. Just an hour ago, he was awakened by Jiang Rong’s call. Based on his judgment, Jiang Rong probably had an urgent need to sell his house.

The weather in March carried a chill, and Xiao Zhou placed a cup of hot water in front of Jiang Rong. “Please, have some water, Mr. Jiang.”

The hot water in the glass gently swayed, and Jiang Rong stared at the tiny bubbles on the cup’s wall, as if unaware that it contained water. Eventually, he couldn’t resist and reached out to hold the glass, drinking it all in one go.

After finishing a glass of water, Jiang Rong finally spoke, “I have two houses to sell, one is in the neighboring Xintiandi, 165 square meters, and the other one is a bit far, in Jiangbei, only 79 square meters.”

Xiao Zhou’s hand trembled, and his voice carried an urgency that he hadn’t noticed himself, “You want to sell both houses?!”

He wasn’t familiar with the houses in Jiangbei, but Xintiandi’s neighborhood had an average price of over a hundred thousand. It was one of the best improvement projects in City C, both in terms of layout and location. Selling such a house would definitely earn him a considerable commission.

What Jiang Rong said next plunged Xiao Zhou into immense excitement, “I need to sell them urgently, and I can be flexible with the price.”

Xiao Zhou sat down behind the desk, his heart pounding with excitement. There weren’t many houses like Xintiandi, and although property moguls were now saying that real estate would depreciate, good houses were still in short supply. If this house were listed for eighteen million, it would soon be sold. And now, the seller has offered to lower the price by nearly three million… It felt like a windfall.

After the excitement, Xiao Zhou hesitated again. He scrutinized Jiang Rong, wondering if he was dealing with a scammer.

As if reading Xiao Zhou’s thoughts, Jiang Rong opened the brown paper bag and pulled out two bright red documents. “These are the property deeds.” Then he opened his phone and scrolled to the photo section. “Here are the interior photos of the house. You can arrange a viewing at any time. May I ask, based on your experience, when can I expect to receive the money for this house?”

After carefully examining the property deeds and looking at the photos, Xiao Zhou said, “The house has a good layout, location, and decoration. I believe it will be sold quickly.” If he weren’t broke, he would also want to buy such a house. This was a high-quality property. Typically, such houses would be taken in by their company and then resold to other sellers. This way, they could earn both commission and price difference.

But out of professional habit, Xiao Zhou wanted to negotiate the price further. “Mr. Jiang, you see…”

At this moment, Jiang Rong’s phone in his pocket rang, and he picked it up casually. “Hello… Are you here to see the house? Okay.”

Other people coming to see the house? Xiao Zhou became anxious and quickly reached out to grasp Jiang Rong’s hand on the table, “Mr. Jiang, these two houses are ours, don’t sell them to anyone else. We’ll get back to you this afternoon!”

As a senior agent, he still had some say in the company. He had a feeling that if Jiang Rong left today, he would regret it. Good houses don’t wait for people; when the time comes, you have to act!

Jiang Rong closed his phone and replied calmly, “Okay.”

Although Jiang Rong had already lowered the price by three million, according to his understanding of the real estate industry, agents would always try to find reasons to lower the price. He wasn’t good at bargaining, so he set an alarm to create the illusion of someone coming to view the house. Now it seemed that this trick worked.

The real estate agency was right next to the Xintiandi community, only a fifteen-minute walk away. When Jiang Rong left the agency, the sunlight had just poured down from the treetops on the roadside. The sound of car exhaust lingered in the air. Jiang Rong looked around nostalgically: such a bustling and ordinary morning wouldn’t last long.

After the Great Crisis began, the big cities fell first. Whether it was the dead who had nowhere to be placed or the suddenly mutated plants and animals, it all caused panic. After the collapse of the regime, violence and crime followed…

Jiang Rong took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. In fact, he was also gambling. No one could be sure what the future held. If this was just a dream, he would lose everything he had accumulated in City C from now on. But if his previous life was indeed just a dream, he was willing to lose everything.

As an improvement-type community, Xintiandi had only six buildings. The community was well-landscaped, resembling a forest upon entering the gate. Jiang Rong’s home was on the seventh floor of the second building, on the east side. At that time, in order to buy this house, he sold two other houses in his family. Of course, the house prices were not as high as they are now when it was first opened. Selling for fifteen million would still earn him over two million.

Carrying a small basket of meat buns and soy milk, Jiang Rong walked to the elevator. The sensor at the elevator automatically opened the door when it sensed him. Perhaps because he woke up early, when the elevator reached the eighth floor, he didn’t encounter any neighbors.

As the elevator door opened, a chubby corgi rushed towards Jiang Rong. Unlike the corgis with peach-like buttocks most usually seen, Jiang Rong’s dog had an intact tail. At this moment, the corgi’s tail was wagging high, leaving a trail of shadows. ¹ Jiang Rong gently touched the corgi’s head with a tender gaze, “Good boy, Lele.”

Although the property deed stated 165 square meters, including the gift area, the actual area of the house exceeded two hundred square meters. After leaving the floor elevator, all the spaces could be controlled by the owner of this floor. Jiang Rong had converted this gifted area into Lele’s exclusive space.

Lele circled around Jiang Rong a few times, then stared eagerly at the meat bun in Jiang Rong’s hand. In the past, Jiang Rong wouldn’t let it eat meat buns, but after experiencing a lifetime of struggles in the cruel natural world, he had changed. So he pinched two small meat buns from the plastic bag and put them in Lele’s bowl, saying, “Here, eat up.”

Lele happily wagged his tail and plunged into the bowl. Jiang Rong touched Lele’s head, saying, “Enjoy your meal.” Lele’s fur was smooth, and it felt particularly good to touch. Jiang Rong couldn’t help but touch it a few more times.

After passing through the entrance, Jiang Rong’s living room appeared before him. Jiang Rong was an interior designer, and he was very satisfied with this house that he had designed himself. He used to like the feeling of seeing through everything at a glance, so his home was very transparent, with hardly any cabinets. But now his aesthetic has changed. If given another chance, he would add more storage space in his home, and the row of cabinets must be installed. At this moment, he heard a milky voice calling out, “Daddy.”

Following the sound, he saw a crack in the door of the bedroom on the east side. A sleepy-eyed child stood at the door with a stuffed toy in one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other. This was his son, Jiang Xiaoheng, who was three years old this year. Children grow up fast. He still remembered when Xiaoheng was brought home, he was only half the size he was now.

 

 

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