307: Chapter 307 Baby

The upgraded The Ark gained many new functions, and the first to be discovered was "Subspace Jump."

Qin Lin found the detailed instructions for this function in the System:

Capable of instantaneous movement within interstellar distances, with a maximum jump distance of ten light-years and a cooling time of twenty-four hours.

In other words, it only takes one jump to get from Earth to any nearby star.

When Qin Lin told everyone in the living room about this function, Li Ying was lying on a massage chair, and Qin Xu was lying on her chest sleeping.

She listened and remained silent for two seconds, then said, "Isn't this just a teleportation array?"

No one paid her any attention.

The second new function to be discovered was the "Gravity Adjustment System."

Qin Lin found that control panel at the end of the corridor on the first floor of the The Ark.

There were two knobs on the panel, one labeled "Intensity" and one labeled "Range."

He tried setting the intensity to fifty percent and the range to the whole ship.

In an instant, everyone's body became lighter.

It wasn't that weightless floating feeling, but rather every step felt like walking on clouds.

Han Yurou ran over from the end of the corridor holding Qin Yue, her steps as light as if she were flying.

“Brother Qin Lin! I've become lighter!”

She ran in front of Qin Lin and hopped twice; her landing was almost silent, as if she had springs on the soles of her feet.

Qin Lin adjusted the gravity back to normal, and she became heavy again.

“Adjust it again!” Han Yurou's eyes were sparkling.

Qin Lin did not adjust it.

Han Yurou pouted and walked away holding Qin Yue.

But after two steps, she turned back and said with a smile, “Adjust it again tonight; I want to try the feeling of flying.”

The biggest change brought about by the improvement of the entire crew's Physique was not an increase in strength, but an excess of energy.

Su Yuran woke up punctually at 5:30 every morning; she was no longer woken by Qin An's crying, but woke up on her own.

After waking up, she was full of energy, not at all like someone who had gotten up three times during the night to breastfeed.

She fed Qin An, changed his diaper, coaxed him to sleep, and then found she had nothing to do.

She sat by the bed in a daze for a while, then stood up, cleaned the room, refolded the clothes in the closet, and rearranged the parenting books on the bookshelf by publication year, and still had nothing to do.

She went to the kitchen; Aunt Qing was already there, preparing the day's milk powder for the thirteen children.

Over a dozen baby bottles were warming on the stove at the same time, but Aunt Qing's movements were steady; she poured water with one hand and checked the temperature with the other, each bottle precise to the scale line.

“Aunt Qing, what time did you get up?” Su Yuran asked.

“Four-thirty,” Han Qing replied without looking up. “Couldn't sleep.”

Su Yuran went over to help her wash the baby bottles.

The two stood side by side in the kitchen, one washing and one rinsing, neither speaking, but coordinating perfectly.

After washing the last bottle, Su Yuran wiped her hands and looked out the window.

“Aunt Qing, do you think since our Physiques are so strong now, we won't need to sleep in the future?”

Han Qing thought for a moment: “It's not that we don't need to sleep, but we don't need to sleep that much. With the body's fast Recovery, four hours of sleep is worth eight hours before.”

Su Yuran nodded.

Then she asked another question: “Then what do we do with our extra time?”

Han Qing did not answer.

Because she didn't know either.

This question soon ceased to be a question.

The women with excess energy began to find things to do for themselves.

Wang Xiulan opened up a new piece of land next to the flower bed and planted sunflowers.

Lin Wanwan said she would knit a sweater for each of the thirteen children.

Not just one, but one every year, from age one to age ten.

Xu Xue's drawing boards increased from one to three; she painted on three at the same time, from morning until night.

Xia Qiuyan found a small empty space in the climate simulation zone of the Ecological Plantation and bought a loquat sapling from the System Store to plant, saying that when the children grow up, they can pick loquats to eat.

...

Qin Lin decided to stay in the Peach Blossom Spring for another half year.

It wasn't a whim; it was after careful consideration.

When he told everyone the decision, not a single person objected.

The infants' smiles were more persuasive than any reason.

The days passed one by one, as mundane as any ordinary family's days before the apocalypse.

It wasn't the apocalypse, it wasn't survival, it was life.

When Qin An was two months old, he learned to lift his head.

He lay on the bed, straining his neck upward, his face turning bright red, and the veins on his forehead bulging out.

Su Yuran watched from the side, not reaching out to help him, just saying softly, “Go, Qin An, go.”

Qin An shakily propped up his head, glanced at his mother, and then fell back onto the bed with a "thud."

Su Yuran picked him up and kissed him on the forehead.

Qin An laughed, his toothless mouth widening, and saliva got all over Su Yuran's face.

Qin Yuan was much quieter than Qin An.

She rarely cried or made a fuss, spending most of her time sleeping.

She wasn't noisy when awake either, just looking at the world with her big eyes, occasionally showing a half-smile.

Lin Wanwan said she wasn't inactive, but was observing and thinking.

Li Ying said, “What is a two-month-old baby thinking about?”

Lin Wanwan couldn't say, but she stuck to her judgment.

Qin Yue was the one who loved to laugh the most.

She laughed at everyone and could even laugh out loud at a lamp.

Han Yurou said her "Warmth" talent had already started to take effect; when she carried Qin Yue into the room, even the air was warmer than elsewhere.

Han Qing said she was talking nonsense, but every time Han Yurou passed the Medical Room door holding Qin Yue, Aunt Qing would poke her head out from inside to take a look, then retract it.

Qin Xu was the strongest one.

At two months old, his weight was two catties heavier than Qin An of the same age, his arms and legs as round as lotus roots.

Li Ying said he would definitely be the best fighter on the The Ark in the future.

Qin Lin asked why.

Li Ying said, “Because his talent is Blazing; Blazing means he's great at fighting.” Qin Lin did not refute.

Qin Xue rarely cried, rarely made a fuss, and also rarely laughed.

Most of the time, she lay quietly in the baby basket next to Xu Xue, her eyes open watching Xu Xue paint.

The four children, Qin Yao, Qin Yang, Qin Xiaoxing, and Qin Xiaoyue, lay side by side in Zhou Lingling and Zhou Yueyue's room.

Zhou Lingling's two sons looked very similar; the way to tell them apart was to look at their hair.

Qin Yao's hair was parted to the left, and Qin Yang's hair was parted to the right. Zhou Yueyue's fraternal twins looked very different.

Qin Xiaoxing looked like his mother, and Qin Xiaoyue looked like her father.

Qin Xia was the quietest child on the The Ark.

She rarely cried and also rarely laughed.

Most of the time she was sleeping, and when awake she made no sound, just lying quietly in Xia Qiuyan's arms, looking at everything around her with those eyes like black grapes.

When Xia Qiuyan held her, she did nothing but look at her, able to look for a whole day.

Qin Lin once passed the door of her room and saw her sitting by the window holding Qin Xia, with sunlight pouring in from the Projection System, shining on the mother and daughter like a still painting.

Qin Yi was the most active. At two months old, his hands and feet were never still for a moment.

Lin Xiaoyue said he moved like this when he was in her belly, tossing and turning from morning to night; she once thought the child had ADHD.

Now that he was out, it was a bit better.

But it was only “a bit.”