Chapter 102: Come On Then, Stir Things Up
“It’s probably firearms. Li Ji stockpiled a lot of weapons back in Dongshan County. For the Li family to challenge the government, they must have had enough in hand,” Ning Yuan said.
Wu Yue scratched his head and sighed again. “Sorry, I promised I’d keep things safe when you left…”
“What are you saying? As long as you’re still alive, that’s what matters—not the supplies. Mingxu would’ve said the same.” Ning Yuan gave him a light punch on the shoulder.
“What about Mingxu? What really happened to him? Why did he… send…” He glanced at Lu Weiyi. “To scout things out?” He already had a bad feeling once he learned Lu Weiyi had come as a scout.
They had known each other too long. He understood Zhuang Mingxu. If he hadn’t truly been unable to protect him anymore, he would never have sent Lu Weiyi in his place.
“Mingxu… got injured. Weiyi has the highest powers among us. Having him come gives us peace of mind.” Ning Yuan didn’t explain Mingxu’s condition in detail, but recounted what happened after they left the base, their abilities, and then asked, “Has anyone touched our supplies since we left?”
“Not yet,” Wu Yue replied. “But with so many of our people switching sides, even if I wanted to hand over large amounts, I couldn’t.”
“That guy who knocked on your door earlier said someone’s been stealing supplies. What’s that about?” Lu Weiyi, who had been silent until now, asked.
“Lately, every major family in the base has noticed signs of theft, but no one’s caught anyone. Some of the storerooms are well-hidden, so no one wants to make a big deal out of it. Still, the whole place is uneasy,” Wu Yue said.
“Any suspects?” Ning Yuan asked.
“…A lot of people suspect Li Ji. The only major group of ability users that recently entered the base is his team, so the military and government folks are secretly watching them.” Wu Yue paused, noticing Ning Yuan still staring at him, then continued, “I’m suspicious too. The night before the first theft, I saw two people go out with Cheng Hai and Song Yu and only return at dawn. The key point is—they both have space-based abilities.”
“So that’s how it is,” Lu Weiyi tapped on the bare bed board, then said after a while, “Then let’s use this opportunity to secretly collect all the supplies and frame them for it.”
“Who owns the villa legally?” Li Zhuang asked.
“It’s under Mingxu’s name; it was registered with the military and government back then,” Ning Yuan replied, looking at Li Zhuang.
Li Zhuang gave a wicked grin and said, “Once the supplies are gone, you can report it directly and stir up trouble. Use this chance to kick out anyone who won’t cooperate.”
“This…” Wu Yue turned to look at Ning Yuan, only to see him grinning and saying, “That’s a great idea. Two birds with one stone—we keep our supplies and get rid of the ingrates.”
“We have a lot of supplies. Even with a space ability, I doubt we can fit everything,” Wu Yue thought Lu Weiyi was being unrealistic, and that Ning Yuan had gone crazy with him.
“Don’t worry,” Ning Yuan patted Wu Yue’s shoulder and looked at Lu Weiyi. “So should we go collect the supplies tonight or tomorrow?”
“Tonight,” Lu Weiyi replied. “Do you know where the Ji and Jiang families—or any of the opposing families—store their supplies?”
“I know where the Ji and Jiang families store theirs. Ji Lin mentioned it to Li Ji, and when Li Ji passed it on to his people, I overheard it. The Li family knows one warehouse; the rest belong to minor families—not much of a threat,” Wu Yue said thoughtfully. “However, ever since that thief stirred things up, every family has posted guards at their storage sites. It won’t be easy to retrieve the supplies. Even our own warehouse is heavily watched, and I can’t just send everyone away.”
“Just give me the addresses, nothing else matters,” Lu Weiyi said. Then, thinking of Li Ji, he turned to Li Zhuang, who had been quietly hiding in the corner. “Find a chance to kill all of Li Ji’s men, alright?”
“No, killing is forbidden in the base. Anyone who does will be expelled and never allowed back in,” Wu Yue immediately rejected the idea.
“Then we wait until they leave the base,” Li Zhuang said. “Should we use a sniper rifle?” Since they couldn’t beat them with powers, that would be a better bet.
“That works,” Lu Weiyi replied.
“I’ll go gather the goods tonight. You two get a good rest. Tomorrow, go talk to Zhuang Mingxu, explain the situation, and ask who’s willing to join. The reward will be generous. Bring those people here. Once Li Ji loses his supplies, he’ll definitely go out to restock. Then we’ll follow them and take out all his powered people,” Lu Weiyi said, worried about the snowstorm that could hit any time. He wanted everything done quickly so they could ride out the snowstorm safely inside the base.
“You guys… have firearms?” Wu Yue wasn’t sure if the “sniper” Li Zhuang mentioned was what he thought it was.
“Li Ji stored them in Dongshan County—I took them,” Lu Weiyi didn’t hide it. “Try not to openly oppose them. Don’t let anyone suspect you before we act. Once they’re dead and you’re back, kick out the remaining troublemakers. When it’s all done, bring Mingxu back.”
“Alright.” Wu Yue didn’t fully grasp the plan, but it was better than being completely clueless. “Are you sure you can take all the supplies? Even if we can’t kill them, taking the supplies and starting fresh elsewhere is better than letting them have it.”
“I can,” Lu Weiyi replied, taking out a sheet of paper and pulling up a map of Qingyuan City on his tablet. He asked Wu Yue to mark all the known storage locations of the various families.
Wu Yue didn’t hesitate, quickly marking everything on the map. He even estimated the number of guards at some locations. Lu Weiyi glanced over it, asked again about any unclear areas, then pulled out a zombie crystal from his space. “Is anyone collecting these in the base?”
Wu Yue examined it and recognized it as a crystal from a zombie’s brain. “At first, people thought it was like a crystal core from novels, and that it could awaken powers. It became popular for a while—until some idiot ate one and turned into a zombie. After the research institute studied it, they released a report saying it contains stuff that can zombify people. Since then, everyone avoids them.”
“Find someone to collect them—just don’t let it lead back to you,” Lu Weiyi said, then remembered the jade pendant space. “What about jade? Anyone collecting that?”
“Yeah, some people in the base have jade pendant spaces. Jade was rare at first, but now that many realize it’s mostly useless, they’ve started selling it—but no one’s buying,” Wu Yue said.
“Jade pendant space?” Ning Yuan, who had never heard of that, was surprised.
“Yeah. Some people’s pendants developed spaces after being soaked with blood. Cheng Hai in our team has one. So does someone under Li Ji. They’re the most sought-after in the team now,” Wu Yue sneered, clearly unimpressed with either of them.
“So the jade you were collecting before?” Ning Yuan turned to Lu Weiyi. “Did you already know? Is your space one of those jade pendant spaces?”
“…” Lu Weiyi had been collecting jade since the start of the apocalypse. If he said yes now, who knows what Li Zhuang would think. “No, I just liked it at first. Later, when I heard someone on Li Ji’s team had a space ability, I thought it might be like mine and asked about it.”
“Then…” Ning Yuan wanted to ask if any of the jade he collected had space abilities, but since Li Zhuang was also present, he held back and instead said, “We should keep collecting it—maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Mm,” Lu Weiyi responded and looked at Wu Yue. “Whether or not they contain space, I want all the jade stones. The higher the quality, the better. Drive the price down as much as you can.”
“Li Dongsheng is in disguise and I’ve hidden him somewhere else in the base. I was originally waiting for Mingxu’s return to bring him back to the team. I’ll send him to collect the crystals,” Wu Yue said. “But what about the supplies? If I take them, it’ll be too suspicious.”
“Have him come to me,” Lu Weiyi said.
“Alright.” Wu Yue checked the time, realizing he had to go before people became suspicious. “I’ll head back now. You all be careful.”
Wu Yue left not long after, and Lu Weiyi also began preparing to leave. Zhuang Mingxu had already told him the locations of his own supplies before leaving. Now, Lu Weiyi was focused on the warehouses belonging to the Ji, Jiang, and Li families.
Ning Yuan saw him comparing the positions of the various families on the map. After hesitating for a moment, he tried to comfort him, “Maybe Ji Lin was just deceived by Li Ji. Maybe the Ji family was just confused for a while. Don’t be upset…”
Before the apocalypse, he had already disapproved of Ji Heng selling off his son for personal gain. But regardless, he was still Lu Weiyi’s father. Although Lu Weiyi always seemed indifferent, he had tacitly accepted it for so many years—he must have had some feelings.
Now that they knew full well Zhuang Mingxu had gone to find Lu Weiyi, yet still colluded with Li Ji behind his back, Ning Yuan felt utterly disgusted. But Lu Weiyi had taken care of him a lot along the way.
“My mother was pushed down the stairs by Ji Heng and Jiang Fu,” Lu Weiyi said calmly after verifying the map’s positions. He looked up at the stunned Ning Yuan and added, “Right in front of me.”
“Then… you…” Ning Yuan didn’t even know what to say. Li Zhuang, hearing this, also sat up straight on the bed.
“They thought I didn’t know.” Lu Weiyi sneered, thinking back to how he had let them live so freely in his past life.
But he had already taken revenge in that lifetime. In this one, if they didn’t bother him, he was willing to let it go once. If they lacked self-awareness, he wouldn’t mind striking again.
Leaving the two shocked people in the room, Lu Weiyi quietly slipped out and followed his planned route.
*
The next morning, as the first rays of sunlight touched the base, the administration office was already surrounded by a crowd.
The first ones to appear were people from the Ji and Jiang families. Their affiliated squads, along with their leaders Ji Heng and Jiang Ye, had all shown up, claiming that over half of their supplies had gone missing and demanding an explanation from the base authorities.
Once the news got out, all the families quietly began checking their supplies. Soon after, Wu Yue—who had been out with Liu Yang and Song Hui—was called back to the villa. Hearing that only a small portion of the supplies remained, Wu Yue was secretly delighted that Lu Weiyi had succeeded, though on the surface, he pretended to be anxious and hurried back.
He immediately summoned all the guards for questioning, but none of them admitted seeing anything. After a long silence, he joined the others heading to the administration office.
I’m so excited to see what they do next