Doomsday America.

Chapter 274 Becoming a Matchmaker

Gavin smiled and tossed the noodles to the staff, then joined them in slurping them up.

Dinner was simple, but Lao Feng was a good cook; the fried noodles were delicious, and Gavin actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

After dinner, Gavin, as usual, lay down on the recliner, placing the radio beside him, ready to receive messages from the astronauts. However, at this point, the astronauts had no time to send messages.

Because at this moment, they have already begun operating the return capsule to detach from the space station.

This step was not difficult at all for Ivan. The return capsule and the thrusters quickly left the space station's restraints and entered its proper orbit on their own.

As the space station disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye, Charlie Duke sighed, then turned his head, gave Big Ivan a weary smile, and said...

"We've finally said goodbye to our last resort, Ivan. We really have no other choice now, haha!"

"Haha, yeah."

In response to Charlie's words, Big Ivan blinked, raised his right thumb, and continued speaking to Charlie.

"I'm glad you can still smile. A good mindset is the best tool for us to conquer the stars. Next, we will fly around the Earth eleven times, and then adjust our direction at the time we have calculated to complete the attitude adjustment and turn around."

"And once we separate from the orbital module, our journey home will truly begin."

"This time will be around 2:37 PM tomorrow. Hopefully, our calculations haven't gone wrong."

"Without external tracking reports, I don't even know where we'll end up, but I think that as long as nothing unexpected happens, we'll at least not end up in the Arctic."

At this point, Ivan tried to adjust his posture to make himself as comfortable as possible.

He has no right to rest for the next twenty-odd hours.

Charlie swallowed hard as he watched Ivan adjust his posture, then took a deep breath.

He didn't say anything more; he had already said most of what he wanted to say before entering the return capsule.

There was a time when he would hide in his cabin and weep silently.

He also had the delusion that he was doomed.

He had felt lost and desperate, but at least now, he had long since let go of those emotions, and all that remained was... going home!

He wants to go home!

No matter what, I have to get home!

On a nearby fixed object, several astronauts, strapped to each other, looked at each other.

Their gazes darted around, sometimes tense, sometimes relieved, but even as their emotions churned like a storm, their mouths remained tightly shut. No one wanted to add any more pressure to Ivan with their words at this moment.

Unfortunately, Gavin on the ground had no idea how the astronauts in the sky felt.

After resting at the temporary camp until around 10 p.m., Gavin threw away his cigarette butt, leisurely got up from the beach chair, and then stretched his arms and yawned.

Lake Livingston is just as beautiful tonight as it is during the day, with the cloudless sky making the evening stars exceptionally clear.

Especially in the past month, since Texas eliminated various carbon emissions, the air quality is much better than before, and the stars in the sky appear much brighter.

After taking a good look at the sky, Gavin put down his hands from stretching, then put his hands in his pockets and strolled over to Abraham, who was on guard duty.

Seeing Gavin approach, Abraham turned around with his rifle in his arms, twirling his white beard as he smiled at Gavin.

"Boss, why didn't you go play cards with them?"

"play cards?"

As Gavin listened to Abraham's question, he glanced at the tent about twenty meters to his right.

The tent was brightly lit, casting the shadows of five or six people who were gesturing and shouting excitedly.

As he watched, Gavin shook his head and said,

"A game where you can't lose money is completely pointless."

"Haha, boss, although you can't win or lose money with cards now, there are still things to gamble on. They're gambling on training time." Abraham said, shaking his head speechlessly.

Using training as a gamble would be even more boring for Gavin, since his boss is in such great shape!

Gavin did indeed purse his lips and chuckle.

"Betting on training time? That's even more boring. Let them play, I'm going to sleep."

"Go ahead, boss. I'll keep an eye on the camp. We all will."

Abraham nodded to Gavin, who responded and then left the post, heading towards his private tent. Pulling back the curtain, he slipped inside, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers, and, in his slippers, walked towards Livingston Lake.

Watching Gavin's retreating figure, Abraham lowered his gun and reached into his pocket to pull out a pipe.

After stuffing it full of tobacco, Abraham exhaled smoke and muttered something under his breath.

"This kid... heh heh."

After a brief mutter, Abraham took a deep breath and then looked up at the clear night sky.

How long has it been since he's properly enjoyed a Texas night?

It was probably after his wife died in that night that he lost the will to look at the moon in the sky.

Gavin walked over 300 meters before finding a spot by the lake, pulling his feet out of his flip-flops and shoving them into the water. After scrubbing them a couple of times, Gavin sighed and put his feet back in the lake, looking at the still, undisturbed surface with a melancholy and worry.

After watching for a good three or four minutes, Gavin finally left the lake, slapping his slippers as he returned to his tent.

After drying his feet with a towel, Gavin crawled into the tent and then unloaded some equipment and tools from his back.

Even the walkie-talkie that he used to clip to his waist was moved to the front of his body.

He didn't want to take off his clothes, especially his bulletproof vest. After all, this was the wilderness, and his cautious nature wouldn't allow him to let his guard down. So, he lay down fully clothed and fell into a deep sleep.

As Gavin entered the dream, he suddenly remembered something and then shook his head with amusement.

He actually found himself missing Nikita's body; this was truly... an experience unlike any other before the apocalypse.

I wonder what Nikita is doing right now...

Meanwhile, at Gavin Manor.

Sweating profusely, Nikita emerged from the gym, her secretary Bella following beside her, her arm around Nikita's shoulder as she said, "Nikita, the boss isn't here tonight. Want to come to my room and sleep with me?"

"We can also call Winnie and Doris over. My room can fit all four of us, and maybe we can even put on face masks for each other or something~"

At this point, Bella looked at Nikita expectantly, and Nikita nodded slightly after a brief moment of thought.

"Okay~"

She said.

"I was just thinking of sleeping with that brat Winnie for the night~"

"I wonder if Winnie, that little rascal, tries to find some of Gavin's scent on me when she's sleeping in my arms, haha~" With a light laugh, Nikita and Winnie walked through the corridor and arrived at the hall area.

As Nikita approached, she saw Li Qing, Wang Ling, Cao Xinyan, and Xiao Xiao Feng sitting together, chatting in Chinese. Cao Xinyan's English had been struggling lately, and she wasn't yet able to communicate normally.

However, Nikita, Hela, and others made significant progress in their Chinese proficiency.

Although Nikita still couldn't understand everything, she vaguely heard words like "astronaut".

So, Nikita patted her secretary Bella's bottom and said,

"Bella, go and invite Winnie and Doris. I'll go and talk to them."

"Okay, Nikita, but can you understand what they're saying? It's like listening to a spell to me. Chinese is so hard." Bella nodded to Nikita, then left her and headed upstairs without waiting for her reply.

Nikita tiptoed toward the sofa.

Noticing Nikita's stealthy movements, Wang Ling, who was facing Nikita, couldn't help but raise her head, wanting to greet her.

Unexpectedly, Nikita quickly put her index finger to her lips, making a gesture to the spirits to speak, and then carefully approached Cao Xinyan and Xiao Xiaofeng.

Cao Xinyan was talking at that moment; after all, she had been silent for days and was almost numb.

Aside from chatting with these few compatriots, Cao Xinyan was mostly silent; she was practically going crazy with pent-up emotions! She was currently rambling on to Wang Ling and Li Qing in low spirits.

"I wonder if Lao Feng slept well tonight. Oh, Eugene, don't drag Lao Feng out for a big drink, he's not much of a drinker." "And another thing, it gets quite cold at night in Livingston Lake. When we were on vacation there, we didn't dare take the kids out much at night. Lao Feng didn't bring many clothes either. That old man is really driving me crazy. I told him to bring two more down jackets, but he wouldn't!" "He said if he brought too many clothes, there wouldn't be room to carry bullets, but bringing so many bullets... I'm more worried about him."

"I used to be quite fortunate that when I met Lao Feng, he had already left the army, so I didn't have to worry about whether he would go to war every day."

"Now, I'm even more worried. It feels like we're at war every day. I... how am I going to explain to my son when he grows up that he has to live in this kind of world? Will he have to fight with swords and guns too? I'm just... oh my god?!"

Just then, Xiao Cao's eyes widened in surprise, and he jumped up from the sofa in a flash.

Nikita then blindfolded her and spoke to Xiao Cao in her cunning voice.

"Guess who's holding the four?"

"what?"

The comical Chinese made Xiao Cao calm down. Although she couldn't tell who was speaking, she could tell that the voices were male and female.

So she sat down cooperatively, smiled, patted her hands covering her eyes, and said.

"Winnie?"

"No, no, it's Niki!"

Nikita smiled and let go, wrapping her arms around Xiao Cao's upper body and reaching out to pat Xiao Feng's head.

Little Feng turned around excitedly, looking at Nikita with babbling incoherently, repeatedly muttering the words "County Magistrate's Wife".

Upon hearing his son call Nikita County Magistrate's wife, Xiao Cao chuckled and patted his son's head, saying...

"What county magistrate's wife? This isn't Goose City. Call me Auntie, Auntie!"

"Aunt!"

Little Feng gave a sweet cry and grabbed Nikita's finger, shaking it gently.

Seeing Xiao Feng's actions, Nikita walked around the sofa and sat down next to Xiao Cao, asking Li Qing and Wang Ling a question.

"What were you guys talking about just now? It didn't sound like you were having a very pleasant conversation. Cao sounded a bit melancholy."

"It's nothing, madam. We were just talking about the men who haven't returned yet. We're a little worried about them."

Li Qing greeted Nikita with a pleasantry.

Upon hearing this, Nikita remained silent for a moment, then smiled and said.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. Nothing in the world can defeat my love, and the legends of Texas never let us down!"

"Once they return tomorrow, we'll finally welcome the astronauts we've been waiting for!"

"It's quite exciting to think about. Each of them is an elite among elites. Their return will definitely allow the camp to develop even faster." "I think they'll probably be back by six or seven o'clock tomorrow at the latest. Instead of worrying, let's think about what kind of party we should prepare for them tomorrow. I heard Doris has already started making preparations~"

As soon as she finished speaking, Nikita looked at Xiao Cao questioningly, while Xiao Cao tilted his head in confusion.

She understood many words, but she still couldn't understand their meaning or context when they were put together.

Seeing this, Li Qing had no choice but to translate for Xiao Cao.

After chatting and translating for more than ten minutes, Nikita waved goodbye to the Asian group resting in the lobby and went back to her room to rest. Watching Nikita's back, Xiao Cao pondered and said to Wang Ling.

"I have a feeling that the county magistrate's wife is also nervous, otherwise she usually doesn't talk much."

"Yes, you can tell that Mrs. Jin is quite nervous."

Wang Ling nodded noncommittally and continued.

"But I'm too lazy to waste my energy on these things. Let me see, it's already ten o'clock, I should go to my post."

"You all chat, and by the way, goodnight, sweet dreams, my fellow countrymen."

At this point, Wang Ling waved to her men, then picked up her gun and went upstairs to the second floor, where she and her group of sentries replaced the previous sentries.

Seeing that Wang Ling was already strolling around in the second-floor corridor, and that her son in her arms was clearly showing signs of sleepiness.

Xiao Cao yawned with her child, and then said to Li Qing as a final word.

"Old Li, I'm taking the kids home to sleep now, you should go to bed early too."

"By the way, what do you think of Wang Ling? Do you need me to stand up for you two? There aren't many East Koreans in the camp, you two are such a lucky match!"

"If you ask me, you should stop spending all your time on your research projects. I mean, if you just spare a tenth of your research time and focus on pursuing Wang Ling, wouldn't you two be a perfect match?"

"Oh no..."

Seeing that Cao Xinyan had immediately switched to matchmaking mode, Li Qing gave a wry smile and then quickly ran away.

He... he actually quite liked Wang Ling. After all, the fact that he could sit in the living room and chat with her instead of staying in the makeshift laboratory to deal with the fungi already showed that he was making an effort.

but……

Li Qing was a little discouraged for a moment because Wang Ling was so popular in the camp.

Her dashing personality and superb knife skills often attracted a large crowd of cowboys during training. According to Li Qing's research, at least seven or eight cowboys in the camp were pursuing Wang Ling.

Thinking of this, Li Qing silently pushed open his bedroom door, and before entering the bedroom, he took one last look at the spot where Wang Ling was standing guard.

After trying to etch Wang Ling's cold, thin figure into his mind, Li Qing silently went into the bedroom and sat down at his desk again. He couldn't sleep yet; he still had two simple experiments to do that night, as well as many records to organize.

After working tirelessly until 1 a.m., Li Qing finally finished her work and fell asleep contentedly.

Meanwhile, in Thomas's room, Li Qing was fast asleep.

Thomas was woken up by the alarm clock and lazily got out of bed.

After quickly washing his face, he took his weapons and flashlight and patrolled the manor, checking the field guards on duty that night. Then, he took one of the field guards with him and rode to the guard post next to the farmland to check on the guard.

After making sure everything was done, Thomas finally returned home and slept intermittently until dawn.

As the sun rose once again, at the temporary camp by Lake Livingston...

Gavin and his men also got up from their dreams and began the final preparations for the welcome.