Chapter 121: There’s Always Someone Trying to Break In
“So powerful,” everyone looked at Lu Xi.
Lu Xi felt embarrassed. “My level is too low to do those things.”
“Luckily, or that would be terrifying,” Ning Yuan said, patting his chest.
Zhuang Mingxu glanced at Lu Weiyi, wondering what level his mental power had reached by now.
“It’s not like that. Mental power is invisible, so it’s hard to defend against. You all need to practice more. As long as the opponent’s level isn’t too much higher, you can feel it. You can try sensing each other’s abilities and react when someone else’s ability touches you,” Lu Weiyi concluded.
*
Early morning, five o’clock.
Fourteen people, in two cars and one truck, checked their walkie-talkies and said their goodbyes to the people outside the vehicles.
As soon as they left the base, Lin Yimu drove the truck to the front, with Ning Yuan beside him holding the walkie-talkie and asking where they were headed.
Li Zhuang glanced at Lu Weiyi, who was resting with a lollipop in his mouth, seemingly indifferent. “According to the plan, we’ll check all the pharmacies along the street,” he said. When he saw that Lu Weiyi hadn’t reacted, Li Zhuang added, “Young Master, say something.”
Lu Weiyi opened his eyes, stared at the walkie-talkie for a moment, then said, “Zombies have abilities. Be careful. All crystal cores should be handed over to me. Don’t absorb them yourselves.”
Li Zhuang raised an eyebrow, about to ask something, but before he could, the reply came through the walkie-talkie, “Received!”
After a heavy snowstorm, the city had become more desolate. The ruins looked like they hadn’t been inhabited for half a century, exuding a sense of emptiness. As soon as they reached the outskirts of the city, they saw zombies appearing, quickly moving toward them.
“Damn, the zombies’ speed has increased,” Ning Yuan said into the walkie-talkie, observing through binoculars. He opened the car window and used his newly learned ice spikes to attack a nearby zombie’s brain.
With his marksmanship trained from military service, he expected to hit the zombie’s forehead accurately. However, the zombie clearly dodged and then threw a fireball toward Ning Yuan.
“Damn, I missed!”
“Damn, it dodged!”
“Damn, it’s a fire-type—”
The voice from Ning Yuan in the walkie-talkie went on for a long time. In the second car, Liu Rui signaled to Xu Sa to move forward, and Xu Sa maneuvered the car closer.
Liu Rui also saw the zombie that was throwing fireballs. He sent a fire dragon toward the zombie’s head, wrapping it in a fiery sphere. By the time Xu Sa’s car drove past, the zombie had collapsed, its head torn off with a dark red crystal core falling to the ground.
“666!” Antonio shouted from the backseat, throwing a throwing knife outside.
A throwing knife, along with fireballs, earth spikes, and ice shards, flew around the zombies. The approaching zombies didn’t hold back either, throwing their own abilities at them. One zombie even threw a water ball, which flew toward the car. If it weren’t for the car window, it would have hit with a chilling force.
“That’s crazy!” After taking out the six approaching zombies, Xu Sa slammed on the brakes. Liu Rui and Antonio quickly got out to collect the crystal cores. As they finished, Liu Rui, holding four cores, threw a knife to clear the meat off one of them and got back in the car.
“Look,” Liu Rui said.
“Maybe it will get even stronger in the future,” Lu Weiyi said, having refrained from making a move to allow them time to adapt.
“This is giving no chance for survival!” Xu Sa exclaimed in surprise, as Li Zhuang drove the car ahead.
Liu Rui, holding four crystal cores, wiped the rotten flesh off a knife, then got back in the car, saying, “Look.”
“Impressive! Maybe when you get that fire-type ability from Lu Xiaoyi, you might level up,” Xu Sa said, catching up with the car ahead and glancing at Antonio in the rearview mirror. “Aren’t you about to level up too?”
“It feels like it, but just a little more to go,” Antonio replied.
“Probably just a few crystal cores away,” Xu Sa said.
The truck in front cleared the path, and unlike before, there was no longer the situation where a few zombies were instantly killed with a single crash. Now, when a zombie was hit, it flew a distance but then got back up. Their bodies had been strengthened by their abilities and would only grow stronger in the future.
Lu Weiyi watched as zombies ran toward them, manipulating a small green branch to attack. With the upgrade of his abilities and the recent supply of jade, the green branch could now extend nearly 200 meters and was easier to control.
Although he still couldn’t pierce through bones or directly stab the brain to extract the crystal core, he could now pierce through rotting flesh, allowing him to manipulate the branch to stab through the eyes and reach the brain to collect the crystal core.
As a result, wherever Li Zhuang’s car passed, any zombies that approached fell silently, with no sign that anyone was using abilities. Xu Sa, following the car, didn’t notice at first. It wasn’t until some people in the car almost leaned out to look that they realized what was happening.
“Who’s using such powerful abilities?” Xu Sa asked.
The people in the car remained silent, until Liu Rui finally spoke up. “I… I think… it’s… Brother Lu.”
“No way, is wood-type ability really that strong?” Xu Sa glanced at Gu Qingji in the backseat through the rearview mirror.
“I’m weak,” Gu Qingji replied bluntly.
“Compared to me, with no ability at all, you’re already impressive,” Xu Sa said with a smile, then added, “Maybe it’s because Lu Xiaoyi’s abilities have upgraded. Once you all level up, Antonio and Liu Rui’s abilities will definitely be more offensive than his. Oh, the car in front stopped.”
Finally, Xu Sa didn’t have to make excuses for Lu Weiyi anymore, feeling relieved. “The target is that pharmacy. I’ll park the car nearby, so there’s no obstruction, and we can leave easily when we’re done. How does that sound?”
“OK,” Antonio said, the first to get out of the car.
*
At the base, Ji Heng brought Ji Jin to the entrance of Longmen Community.
With Jiang Fu whispering in his ear and Ji Heng having lived a comfortable life without much hardship, at first, his family had plenty of supplies and didn’t need to go out. He was in charge of management, and that was enough.
Now, with supplies running low, he had to personally lead a team to search for resources. After two days, his body was exhausted, and naturally, his attention shifted back to Lu Weiyi. After all, this wasn’t the first time.
When you do shameless things often enough, you start to feel entitled to them.
The guards at the base gate noticed everyone who was stationed there. They knew the people living inside were not easy to deal with, so there was no major conflict—just a bit of delay. No one had an attitude problem.
Now, Ji Heng didn’t have the right to enter, but since he was looking for his son, the guards naturally wouldn’t make things difficult. However, when they heard his address, one of the guards reminded him, “Probably no one’s home. The Only Team left at around five this morning to look for supplies.”
“The base doesn’t open until seven. How could they leave that early?” Ji Jin doubted the guard might be in cahoots with Lu Weiyi.
“I don’t know, but they left as soon as it got light,” the guard said, seeing their disbelief. He didn’t want to go looking for them, especially with no communications and only foot travel in this hot weather—who would want to run around for nothing?
Ji Jin, inexperienced, didn’t catch the hint. Ji Heng, however, had been around long enough to understand. But he wasn’t willing to part with any money. “The Only Team’s leader is my son. They have plenty of supplies. If you go for me, they’ll reward you.”
The two guards exchanged a glance, and one of them said, “I’ll go run for you in a bit. Everyone’s heading out now, so we don’t have the manpower.”
Around 7 AM, it was time for all the teams to head out in search of supplies. All vehicles leaving Longmen Community had to be registered. Though the rule seemed to be a way to gather information about everyone’s movements, no one objected, and it was more or less accepted.
Ji Jin, who was also supposed to search for supplies, had convinced Ji Heng to find Lu Weiyi to get resources. Now feeling confident, he wasn’t too concerned about missing this trip and decided not to rush. As for Ji Heng, he hadn’t planned to go out again after this.
“That’s the Li family’s car, all off-road vehicles. That’s the tenth one out,” Ji Jin said sourly. “I heard those are all team leaders. Each team has ten small squads, and they all live in different places. I don’t know how many supplies they can find if everyone heads out.”
Ji Heng didn’t respond, lost in thought.
“Dad, didn’t Li Xiang like Ji Lin? Why not let her go with him…”
“That’s your sister!” Ji Heng turned to glare at Ji Jin. “Besides, Li Xiang is Li Xiao’s illegitimate son. Before the apocalypse, he wasn’t even allowed inside the house. Now that Li Xiao has become a zombie, they let him in. And he’s not serious about being with Ji Lin. He’s always messing around with different boys and girls. He’s obviously not reliable.”
Ji Heng had three sons, but he was very protective of his only daughter.
Ji Jin snorted, feeling disdain but didn’t say anything further. He looked at the vehicles being registered at the gate and said, “I wonder when we’ll get to move back in. I heard Zhuang Mingxu has four villas inside. Dad, can you get one for us? The place we’re staying is too small. We can’t even each have our own room.”
“They don’t have that many people now. Borrowing one to stay for a while should be fine,” Ji Heng said, covering up his desire with a “borrowed” excuse.
The two of them stood for over an hour, and by 8 AM, a group of people appeared at the Longmen Community entrance. After speaking to the guards, the guards checked their registration and let them in.
“Hey, who are they? Aren’t outsiders not allowed into Longmen Community?” Ji Jin, who had been waiting impatiently, saw a group of people dressed like beggars getting in just by registering, which naturally made him unhappy.
“Oh,” the guard said, remembering the two people as they spoke. “They’re the wood and water elementals recruited by the Only Team. If you have something to say, just leave a message for them. It’ll save us from running back and forth.”
“We can just go in with them, right?” Ji Jin said.
“No, that’s not possible. They’ve been registered by the Only Team. If we let more people in, we’ll be responsible,” the guard replied. “If you’re just leaving a message, then go ahead, but if not, move aside and don’t block the way.”
“…Fine.” Ji Jin gritted his teeth and looked at Ji Heng.
Ji Heng had never been given a cold shoulder by a guard in his life. His face darkened, but he managed to suppress his anger as he addressed the group, “I’m Lu Weiyi’s father. Tell him I’m here waiting, and have him come out to meet me.”
The group exchanged glances but finally nodded and walked into the community without saying anything.
