Chapter 101: A Long Journey Ends in Reunion
“Liu Yang is right, Brother Wu. Since we’ve come to join you, we can’t just freeload. We have to contribute somehow,” another man agreed.
If Lu Weiyi were here and saw these two men from the front, he would have recognized them as two of the people from the group he encountered in Dongshan County—the ones he had injured with a zombie tooth—Liu Yang and Song Hui.
“How about you take them out for a spin tomorrow?” Li Ji suggested. “Even if they don’t manage to gather any supplies, it’s fine. You’ve been holed up at the base lately, and haven’t let anyone go out. Now everyone says we’re just living off our reserves. The other major factions have secretly joined forces to exclude us. If we stay passive, it’s going to hurt our future development.”
“Most of the people under me don’t have abilities, and they’re not very capable in combat either. Sending them out would just be sending them to their deaths,” Wu Yue replied with no intention of yielding. “I’ve made a training plan for them. Let them train for a few more days. Once I see results, I’ll take them out.”
He leaned against the wall and looked up, full of pride. “These are all people I’ve known for years. I have to do everything I can to keep them alive.”
He let out a deep sigh. Before the three could say anything more, he raised his head and downed the rest of his beer, then crushed the can and tossed it into a trash bin from a distance. He turned to the three and said, “Let’s go out and relax a bit. My treat.”
“I’ll pass,” Li Ji said with a half-smile, glancing at the other two. “You two go out with Old Wu and see the world.”
“Alright, thank you, Brother Wu!” Liu Yang immediately stood up and tugged Song Hui up with him.
Song Hui quickly caught on and said with a grin, “Thanks, Brother Wu!”
“No need,” Wu Yue waved it off. The three of them left the villa compound, taking a winding and rugged path that eventually led to a street bathed in dim red light.
Along the way, Liu Yang and Song Hui tried repeatedly to fish for information from Wu Yue, but he calmly deflected all their questions. As they neared their destination, Liu Yang finally asked, “Brother Wu, I heard you have a special little lover here you come visit all the time. Why not just take him home?”
“Heh… who told you that?” Wu Yue asked.
“Just… some guys in the team mentioned it. Said you’re super loyal—turning down all the others who came to you, and you go visit this one every few days,” Liu Yang said, trying to flatter him. But when he noticed the sarcastic look on Wu Yue’s face, he realized he might have said the wrong thing.
But it really was what Li Ji had told him—that Wu Yue kept a lover in the red-light district, one he didn’t let take clients and didn’t touch himself either. Li Ji had told him to find out what was going on.
“Heh… loyal…” Wu Yue let out a cold laugh, as if he’d heard a joke.
“I only heard it in passing, Brother Wu. If I got it wrong, don’t take it personally,” Liu Yang continued.
“Nothing to be offended about. Xiao Liu just looks a lot like someone I used to love. That’s why I keep an eye on him.” Wu Yue’s words hinted at a “stand-in” trope. Liu Yang and Song Hui exchanged glances and were about to ask more when Wu Yue said coldly, “Can’t let him live too comfortably, but I won’t let him live too badly either.”
That… Liu Yang didn’t quite understand. Song Hui narrowed his eyes and said nothing.
The three of them walked into a large, traditional-style building with red lanterns hanging at the entrance. As soon as they entered, a graceful woman in her forties came to greet them.
“Oh my, Brother Wu, haven’t seen you for days. Xiao Liu’s been waiting for you every day,” she said warmly.
“I’ll go see him,” Wu Yue said coldly, not looking particularly pleased. “These are my two brothers. Take good care of them.”
“Sure thing! What kind of companions do you two like? I’ll call some over for you to choose from…”
Meanwhile, Lu Weiyi had been waiting until nearly midnight before noticing someone climbing over the wall and onto the second floor. He sent out his spiritual sense and said, “He’s here,” instructing Ning Yuan to open the door.
Ning Yuan, who had been lying on the bed dozing, jumped up silently and opened the door just as Wu Yue reached to knock.
“Come in,” Ning Yuan said.
Wu Yue froze for a moment, only recognizing Ning Yuan’s voice when he spoke.
Upon entering, he saw three bare wooden beds. One person sat on the innermost bed, and another sat by the window. In the dark, he couldn’t tell which one was Lu Weiyi.
“What took you so long? I almost fell asleep,” Ning Yuan complained as he turned on a small flashlight.
“Had to shake off a tail,” Wu Yue replied. His gaze swept over the two people before landing hesitantly on the glasses-wearing “woman.”
“Lu Weiyi?”
“Yeah,” Lu Weiyi responded. “Tell me what’s going on at the base.”
Wu Yue looked at his outfit with an indescribable expression—not because it was particularly strange, but because seeing Lu Weiyi dressed like that was hard to process. In his memory, Lu Weiyi had always been a noble and untouchable figure. If he had to dress as a woman, he should have been a stunning beauty—but this was far from it. Wu Yue didn’t say anything more and turned to glance at the person lying weakly in the corner.
“That’s Li Zhuang. He came with us. He’s trustworthy,” Ning Yuan said.
Wu Yue nodded toward Li Zhuang, then began to explain the current state of the Qingyuan Base.
Back when Zhuang Mingxu left, Qingyuan Base already had a basic framework. Since then, it had expanded a bit more.
The base was originally built with the support of the nearby Third Army Corps, the Qingyuan city government, and the wealthy families of the area. Zhuang Mingxu had hoarded supplies early on, gaining an upper hand and becoming a significant force within the base.
But when he left during the base’s development to search for someone, it created a power vacuum. His people failed to secure government influence in time. Apart from the military, which didn’t involve itself in base management, the other major faction was the Li family. The Li had been a powerful clan even before the apocalypse, involved in both politics and business. This gave them substantial influence at the base.
There was also the Gu family—similarly entrenched in both politics and commerce—and they served as a counterbalance to the Li family.
Other families like the Ji family, Jiang family, etc., are not major powers. They either have relatively strong ability users or have stockpiled a fair amount of supplies, so they can just barely have a say in things.
“Has Li Mingli come back? Is that bastard Li Ji still in our villa?” Ning Yuan had no interest in hearing more about the base’s situation; he only wanted to settle Zhuang Mingxu’s score as soon as possible.
“Yes, he’s the one who betrayed you, right?” Wu Yue’s tone was very calm, as if he had known all along.
“You…”
“I figured it out,” Wu Yue continued. “Back when Brother Li Mingli returned with Li Ji and the others, they said you all had been bitten by zombies, and that Mingxu was injured and recuperating at Li Ji’s base, unable to move for the time being. So they came back first. I immediately felt something was off.”
Ning Yuan looked at Wu Yue in surprise. Wu Yue said frankly, “Knowing Mingxu’s personality, as long as he wasn’t dead, he’d have made sure someone went to fetch Lu Weiyi first rather than just return.”
Ning Yuan had nothing to say to that—it was exactly what Zhuang Mingxu would have done.
“I was only suspicious at first. After all, we’ve known Brother Li Mingli for a while. They didn’t show anything unusual, even took the initiative to lead teams out to collect supplies, and returned with decent results daily. But later, I noticed they were gradually getting in contact with the guards in charge of the supplies, which raised my alertness.”
“But they all have powers, while us leaders don’t. Naturally, some of the powered folks below started feeling discontent, which only gave them more leverage. Then we started seeing casualties during the missions—three days in a row, it was all veterans from our company. That’s when I started suspecting something. Then Li Dongsheng, who they claimed had died, secretly found me. He said most of those who ‘died’ didn’t obey their orders and were fed to zombies behind the scenes. He was one of them, but he survived and awakened powers.”
“I used the excuse that our medical conditions were better here to ask them to bring Mingxu back. At the same time, I claimed the rest were too weak and kept some behind in the base for training instead of sending them on missions.”
“No wonder he suddenly agreed to send Mingxu back?” Ning Yuan remarked.
“So why hasn’t he arrived yet?” Wu Yue had always thought Li Ji saying someone was sent to fetch him was just a pretense.
“We intercepted them halfway,” Ning Yuan replied. “What’s the situation with the team now?”
Wu Yue sat on the bed, hands covering his head, sighed, and shook his head. “Fewer than five people still listen to me. Most have started siding with them. The villa we controlled is basically their turf now, and I’m being closely watched. Especially after a few more of their people arrived at the base yesterday—I think Li Ji is about to make a move on me.”
“A few more came yesterday? Who were they?” Lu Weiyi recalled the remaining ability users from Dongshan County. He had only slashed everyone with a zombie tooth at the time. If some of them had powers, they might have survived.
“They claimed to be old friends, but I overheard they came from Dongshan County. That’s why I kept pressuring Li Ji these past two days, asking why Mingxu hadn’t arrived yet. That’s also probably why he’s rushing to deal with me,” Wu Yue said.
Lu Weiyi immediately felt it was possible. He turned to look at Li Zhuang—he had taken most of the supplies from Dongshan County. If someone had survived and made it here, combined with the ambush on Zhuang Mingxu, it wasn’t hard to guess it was their doing. They’d likely also report his spatial ability to Li Ji.
“It’s fine. As long as we resolve it all in the end,” Li Zhuang said reassuringly. Lu Weiyi nodded.
The other two didn’t understand, and since the pair didn’t explain, they didn’t press further. Ning Yuan, thinking of what Wu Yue said, frowned, “He brought only a dozen or so people. That’s enough to sway over a hundred of ours?”
“He’s made private deals with the Li family. I don’t know what benefits he promised Li Daoyu, but lately Li Daoyu’s been fighting the military over supplies. The army isn’t having an easy time either. And somehow, Li Ji managed to charm Ji Lin into being his girlfriend. Now the Jiang and Ji families have joined forces and are subtly supporting Li Ji.”
The Ji family was Lu Weiyi’s father’s side of the family. Ji Lin was Ji Jin’s younger sister—Lu Weiyi’s half-sister. Wu Yue glanced in Lu Weiyi’s direction, but couldn’t make out much in the dim light. He continued, “Now when going out for supplies, I hear the Ji family’s team always targets us.”
