"Thank you for traveling with us on Pixie Airways. Hope you had an enjoyable trip and may you travel with us again in the future. Have a good day. "
Walking out of the airport was a beautiful family of three.
"Finally, we have arrived," Emilia said as she stretched her legs and arms
"We've only been on the plane for less than an hour mom, how could you possibly have gotten jet leg already."
Ling Qin asked his mother as he looked around the airport.
S City's airport was bigger and more beautiful than the one in A City. You could tell that lots of work had been put into its construction.
"Too bad," he sighed after taking a look at all the people moving to and fro. Even though the country had already implemented the lockdown two weeks before the end of the world airports were still one of the most affected places in the apocalypse because international travel was not banned therefore one could just imagine the tragedy that occurred once the apocalypse came.
"Alright guys, let's go," Ling Xiao said as he came towards them holding car keys. Ling Xiao had gone to hire a car from the airport. Therefore, it had been quite some time since they had landed.
They walked out of the airport and headed towards the car. As they headed out of the airport , Ling Qin retrieved little Snow out from the space and placed him on the seat .
Yes, after some contemplation and close observation of the puppy, Ling Qin had decided to name the little puppy Snow . Seeing as how the little puppy had a shiny white coat and Icy blue eyes, the name really suited him .
"It's a beautiful city," Ling Qin commented as he looked out the moving car at his surroundings
"It sure is," Ling Xiao responded, also taking a quick look outside. S City is Ling Xiao's birth place, so he had a greater understanding of the cities beauty. This understanding also brought about sentimental feelings towards the city.
"Too bad," Ling Qin said, removing his attention from the outside world and onto his phone.
After an hours drive with a quick stop for food, the family of three finally arrived at their destination.
"We've arrived," Ling Xiao announced as he began slowing down the car so he could open the community gate
Once the car was parked by the guard house next to the gate, a tall man came out holding a clipboard
"Morning, can I help you?" he asked Ling Xiao through the car window.
"Yes, I'm Ling Xiao, and this is my wife Emilia Lu. we both own houses in this new community, moving in there."
The guard looked at Emilia as she waved at him before he looked down on his clipboard to check for their names. After about a minute, he raised his head
"May I have proof of residence, please?"
"Here you are." Ling Xiao handed it to him, and they watched him return to the little guard house. Two minutes later, the guard returned with their papers and some keys and other documents.
"Sorry for the wait, Mr Ling. There have just been a couple of issues with some people trying to break into the community, so we have to do a thorough check on all the new faces."
The guard said as he handed Ling Xiao back their papers.
"It's alright, it's totally understandable,"
"Well, here are the keys for these gates and the codes as well. You can use these to open the community gates whenever you want to leave or enter. You can also give these to your guests when they come visit. But if that's the case please ring us here first so that we know. Our phone number is also stated there."
"Alright then, thank you," Ling Xiao said as he accepted the things being handed to him.
"Alright, have a pleasant stay," the guard said as he opened the gate for them
"Bye." Ling Qin waved at the guard as the car passed by him and entered the community.
"Great security," Emilia commented once they were far from the gate.
"Mhm, it should be able to reduce the number of people that wander into this area, at least for the next few days." Ling Xiao responded.
After turning for the second time, Ling Xiao finally arrived in front of Emilia's little fotress.
"Is this it?" Ling Xiao asked his wife as he gazed at the wooden fence that was three meters tall.
"Yep, this is it!" Emilia replied as she took out the key and opened the gate.
Ling Xiao immediately drove in, and the gate closed behind him. Once inside, Ling Xiao and Ling Qin were made speechless by the sight in front of them. The fence that looked wooden looked metallic from the inside, and the metal layer looked quite thick.
"This...?" Ling Qin began as he looked at his mom
"What? I thought it would be too conspicuous if the fence was metal, so I told my team to surround the metal fence with a wooden one to cover it up. So, the fence is actually made of two layers. Smart right, " she said as she opened the car door and got out.
"Though it seems I'll probably have to make it a three layer fence. This metal is quite conspicuous, and it really won't deceive anyone who makes it past the gate, " she mumbled as she rubbed her chin in thought
Once out of the car, the boys finally got a clear view of the house. Standing in front of them was a two story villa surrounded by a large garden filled with some plants. But looking closely, it seemed that only a few of the plants were real while the rest seemed to be fake.
'Guess she is guarding against mutant plants,' Ling Xiao thought to himself.
Just by looking at the house, Ling Xiao could spot some special places about it. The windows seemed to be bulletproof and also one-sided since he couldn't see what was going on inside.
Though the walls and the door looked simple just by lightly knocking on them, Ling Xiao could tell that there was a layer of metal in them. The roof also looked a little thick .
''That should be the extra layer covering the solar panels, " Ling Xiao said.
Once they got a good look at the front yard, Ling Xiao began walking towards the backyard with Ling Qin following closely behind. Emilia had already opened the door and entered the villa.
"You guys go explore. I'll head on in," she said
"Alright," Ling Xiao called back
As they rounded the corner, the first thing they noticed upon arrival in the back yard was the green house. From the outside, Ling Xiao could already see that there were quite a lot of plants growing in the greenhouse, but he couldn't see what plants were growing in there exactly.
The rest of the backyard was also filled with quite a number of vegetables and flowers. There were also a number of fruit trees and a lot of grape vines spread growing on the walls. As they entered the greenhouse they were greeted by a large variety of vegetables.
The greenhouse was spread out and separated into different sections by some glass walls. Each vegetable was in its own space, separated from the others. There was a clear path and a little distance between each little glass room.
There was a section of with cabbage growing, another with tomatoes, onion, peppers, carrots, some cauliflower and broccoli, spinach lettuce, potatoes, cucumbers, Chinese cabage, sweet potatoes, some radishes, squash, eggplant, cucumber, lettuce, green onions, asparagus and a few others Ling Xiao couldn't recognise.
At the back of the greenhouse, there were some shelves that held a few potted plants and an area that was quite hidden, growing some medical herbs. The potted plants all had some common spices growing in them.
"Wow, she's been preparing. Everything is prepared so meticulously. This is incredible, " Ling Qin exclaimed in shock.
"Ya, she's prepared everything to the last detail," Ling Xiao resonated and was also shocked.
Emilia had planned everything so meticulously and had even arranged things that they would have never thought of.
"Having a wife was still the best!"
Thank God that she was also reborn and that they hadn't ended up in his safe house.
"Come on, let's go inside," Ling Xiao said to Ling Qin as he headed out.
The two returned to the front yard and entered the house from there since the door in the backyard was locked.
The inside of the house didn't look much different from other homes. There was nothing special about it except for the fact that the house was beautifully furnished. If it wasn't for the apocalypse, Ling Xiao could guess that Emilia had arranged it according to how she would have designed her dream house. The little details attested to this.
As you enter, one is greeted by the living room and kitchen. It was arranged in an open-plan way.
"Oh, you guys are in. Have you seen everything? " Emilia asked as she came down the stairs.
"Mh, we are done looking around outside," Ling Xiao replied. "I have to say your greenhouse is and garden is incredible."
"Well, thank you. The growth of plants is part of my line of work, so I can still manage a growth project of its size"
Emilia replied as she came to stand in front of Ling Xiao and Ling Qin
"How were you able to keep the plants alive if you stayed in A City" Ling Qin tilted his head as he inquired quite puzzled
"Well, I asked one of my friends from Old Man Yang's farm to check on them twice a week for me. Plus, the drive from A city to S city during traffic, less work hours is quite short, so I was able to come up here once a week." she replied, moving to place down the things on her arms.
Ling Xiao had also begun to move around the living room and kitchen while paying attention to the mother and sons conversation. The house, having been designed in an open plan way helped in not creating divisions and barriers.
"Even so, I don't think your boss would have been happy to allow you to take such long brakes during work hours," Ling Qin said to his mother
"Of course he wouldn't," Emilia rubbed Ling Qin's head. "I'm not just coming up here to check on my plants. The main reason I drive up here is because we still have an ongoing project with Mr Yang, so I come up here once a week to check on its progress. I just take advantage of that to check on my plants as well as collect some supplies and store them here. " she smiled at him
"Plus seeing as how I was transferring down here my boss thought it would be a great idea to place me in charge of inspection that way I would get used to the city and office and not embarrass him once I did officially begin working here so I had that going for me."
"Oh," Ling Qin hummed and also began to look around the house.
"How about I take you guys on a tour?" Emilia offered as she looked at the two males.
"Sure," Ling Xiao responded as he walked back into the room.
"Alright, follow me," Emilia said as she led the way to the hallway bypassing the staircase.
"Over here we've got a guest room and here as well," Emilia said, pointing towards the two doors facing each other . "Down here we've got a bathroom, and right here is the entrance to the basement," Emilia said as she stopped in front of the wall just two steps away from the guest room door.
She looked at the flower patterns that lined the wall and placed her hand on a yellow plumeria. She then slightly pressed her hand into the wall, and Ling Xiao and Ling Qin immediately heard a click and a part of the wall right next to where Emilia pressed stuck out.
The little piece that had popped out was a black door handle
"This..." Ling Xiao began as Emilia twisted the door handle and pulled it back with a section of the wall opening up to reveal a staircase
"Huh! What do you think. It's a hidden door!" Emilia said excitedly
"It's incredibly genius," Ling Qin breathed out
"Did you arrange this?" Ling Xiao asked as he looked at the door and placed his hand on the wall.
"Mhm, I didn't think it was a good idea living the basement door so exposed. With the amount of crime that will appear during the end days, I will feel reassured if my resources are not out in the open. It's a safety measure. It's great, right? " Emilia explained with a smile
"It is a great idea!" Ling Xiao continued to observe the door. "How do you know where to press in order for the hidden mechanism to work?" Ling Xiao looked up at her as he asked quite curious
"Well, it's quite simple, really. If you look at these flower arrangements, you can see that there is only one plumeria. This flower looks quite similar to other flowers on this wall, so most would not be to tell that there is a problem, but I work with plants, so it's impossible for me to make that mistake. Just look here!" she said as she pointed at the plumeria.
"The plumeria is the only flower here with curved petals while the others are slightly pointed. But if that's too complicated to remember, then you just need to remember that of all these flowers that look the same, it's the only one that's yellow with white spots in its petals.
"This is really clever!" Ling Qin commented
"It is!" Ling Xiao responded with a nod
With this hidden mechanism, they wouldn't have to worry about people breaking in and stealing their resources when they were out . It was also a great way to keep prowling eyes at bay while acting with more ease.
"Of course it's clever. Who do you think you got your IQ from?" Emilia said
"I'm sure it came from me," Ling Xiao commented
"You...! What you trying to say!" She pointed her finger at him accusingly
"Ok, come on, didn't you want to show us the basement?" Ling Qin quickly cut in. He wasn't in the mood to watch them begin flirting right in front of him. How could they not take into consideration that there was a baby in the room.
"Hmpf! Okay, let's go! " Emilia snarled at Ling Xiao and turned around to head in while he just laughed. Ling Xiao quite enjoyed seeing Emilia all riled up.