Chapter 122: Crossing the Border
In the villa, Lu Xi and Dean were about to head to the trading hall when Zhuang Mingxu, after thinking it over, decided to make the trip himself. He realized that an unclaimed space, like the jade pendant containing supplies, could easily attract attention.
Zhuang Mingxu couldn’t push the wheelchair to the store, so Bai Miao had specifically rented a patrol car from the base. Afterward, he was followed by some hired elementals.
He handed the car over to Dean and instructed the group of people who came with him. Bai Miao was about to take them to a greenhouse set up for breeding plants.
“Excuse me, is there a Lu Weiyi here?” a man asked.
“What’s your business?” Bai Miao asked, looking at him.
“It’s not me, but there are two men outside looking for him. One says he’s his father and wants him to come out and meet him,” the man replied quickly.
Bai Miao looked at Zhuang Mingxu, who immediately understood what Ji Heng was here for. He nodded in acknowledgment and signaled the others to follow him as he left.
“I’ll… help you,” said the short Dean, standing between the patrol car and Zhuang Mingxu, gesturing.
“No need,” Zhuang Mingxu said as he maneuvered his wheelchair closer to the patrol car. Gripping the handles, he pushed himself up with effort. His arm muscles tensed as his weak legs slowly lifted onto the car. The effort caused his face to pale slightly.
Lu Xi, arriving late and unable to help, sat in the driver’s seat.
*
The road in the community had been fixed, so the patrol car wasn’t bumpy. In no time, the three of them reached the entrance of the community.
Ji Heng and Ji Jin, waiting impatiently, saw Zhuang Mingxu in the car. Both thought he was there to pick them up and raised their heads, waiting motionlessly.
However, Zhuang Mingxu didn’t look at them at all. Lu Xi didn’t know them and had no intention of getting closer. The car drove straight out of the community without stopping.
“Hey, Zhuang Mingxu!” Ji Jin shouted.
Zhuang Mingxu sneered when he heard it. In the past, everyone had been deferential, addressing him as “Mr. Zhuang.” Now, they dared to shout his name outright, even while begging for help.
“Brother Mingxu?” Lu Xi turned to look at Zhuang Mingxu.
“Just wait a bit,” Zhuang Mingxu thought to himself. He felt it was necessary to deal with them directly, but he wasn’t sure how Lu Weiyi felt about it. After all, he knew that Ji Zhong had been good to Lu Weiyi.
“Mingxu, where is my son Weiyi? Why hasn’t he come out?” Ji Heng, no longer bothering with formalities, asked directly, now that the apocalypse had changed everything.
“Weiyi went out looking for supplies. Our supplies were stolen, and we’re running out of food. Early this morning, Weiyi told me to go to Mr. Ji’s place for some emergency supplies. Fortunately, I met you. After all, father and son, Mr. Ji won’t be heartless enough to let us starve, right? How about we go to your house now?” Zhuang Mingxu didn’t wait for Ji Heng to speak and immediately turned the tables on him.
“I…” Ji Heng was left speechless, as Zhuang Mingxu was telling the truth. Everyone at the base knew the Only Team’s supplies had been stolen.
“Who doesn’t know you’ve opened a trading hall and traded a lot of things with the Li family? How could you not have supplies?” Ji Jin didn’t fall for it. “The one without supplies is us, right? Lu Weiyi keeps the supplies for himself and lets his father and grandfather starve?”
“How shameless can you be? A son of a mistress with no shame, occupying other people’s things, and still shamelessly asking for supplies,” Lu Xi, understanding who they were after listening to their conversation, was furious. He shouted to the crowd, “Everyone, look at this shameless father and son. They caused the death of the original wife, and now they’ve brought the illegitimate son to force the real son to give them supplies…”
The Longmen Community housed the base’s high-ranking members, and those who weren’t out looking for supplies were starting their work. Though they couldn’t gossip openly, they couldn’t help but glance at the scene. The guards and passersby, however, had no such concerns. In the dull and boring days of the apocalypse, any gossip was welcome, and a crowd of over ten gathered, curious about what was happening.
“What nonsense are you spouting? Who are you?” Ji Heng, still concerned with his pride, was furious and shouted as his face turned red.
“My father is Lu Xiao,” Lu Xi replied. “Don’t think just because it’s the apocalypse that your shameless acts are forgiven.”
Lu Xi turned to the crowd and said, “Do you recognize this man? If not, let me introduce him. This is Ji Heng, the president of Ji Corporation. He’s just a rural guy who became rich thanks to his wife, took over his father-in-law’s business, and caused the death of his original wife. He also abused the son she left behind. Now, he’s hoarding plenty of supplies while bringing his illegitimate son to force his real son to give them more supplies.”
“Everyone in the base knows the Only Team’s supplies were stolen. Now we’re starving, but Ji Heng keeps all the supplies for himself and forces his son to give him more…”
“You…” Ji Jin, who hated being called an illegitimate son, was trembling with anger as he pointed a shaking finger at Lu Xi. “You’ll regret this.”
After throwing those harsh words, Lu Xi didn’t care about Ji Heng anymore. He covered his face and ran off. Ji Heng, too, was furious and didn’t care about the supplies anymore, immediately following Lu Xi.
Watching the two leave in a huff, Lu Xi muttered angrily, “What a bunch of trash. If we were in the Capital, I’d have someone break their legs.”
Zhuang Mingxu, covering his head, was helpless. When the crowd lost interest in the drama, they dispersed. Lu Xi started the car and resumed driving. Zhuang Mingxu hesitated for a while before speaking, “Xiao Xi, don’t say things like that in front of your brother next time.”
“…Brother Mingxu, did I do something wrong?” Lu Xi realized, now that he thought about it, that airing personal matters in front of so many people didn’t seem very appropriate.
“No, but Xiao Yi…” Zhuang Mingxu paused, then said, “He’s very sentimental.”
*
The pharmacies closest to the base had mostly been cleared out, except for a few collapsed ones.
Lu Weiyi had initially planned to have the earth elemental users move the collapsed debris, but the zombies kept approaching. With just their dozen or so people, they couldn’t protect others while clearing the debris. In the end, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, Lu Weiyi directly used a small green twig to explore the ruins, collecting supplies into the space.
“Lu Weiyi, are you God’s son or something?” Xu Sa thought Lu Weiyi was cheating. With just that one move, it seemed like he had claimed half the city’s ruins.
“I agree,” Antonio said as he forcefully threw a dagger at a water zombie’s head, splitting it in half.
” +1,” Li Zhuang chimed in.
” +1,” Gu Qingyue added.
” +1,” Gu Qingji said.
“I feel kind of useless,” Ning Yuan commented.
“You guys can kill zombies,” Lu Weiyi said seriously while tossing out the small green twig, which swiftly and accurately pierced through four zombies in front of him. The zombies immediately collapsed to the ground.
“Is he mocking us?” Ning Yuan asked in disbelief.
“Maybe,” Wu Yue laughed.
Lu Weiyi looked toward the smoke and alcohol shop beside the collapsed pharmacy, “Do we need any alcohol?”
“Yes!” Li Zhuang.
“Yes!” Ning Yuan.
“Yes!” Xiong Jie.
The three of them answered in unison, exchanging smiles.
“Take whatever you can. We don’t need to go back and put it in the trading hall. Someone might want it, and we can trade for some crystal cores,” Lin Yimu said.
“Okay,” Lu Weiyi replied, collecting the items from the smoke and alcohol shop, then moving to the nearby convenience store. They walked down the street, collecting items from a clothing store, hardware store, small appliances, printing shop, and more. The rest of the group protected him from the zombies and even assigned some people to specifically dig for crystal cores.
The original plan was to clear out the pharmacy first, but as they went down the street, they ended up cleaning up the whole area. They drove to the next pharmacy, even intentionally choosing collapsed locations to ensure the supplies hadn’t been taken yet, while also grabbing useful items from surrounding shops.
“I feel like we’re just cleaning the streets,” Xu Sa, who didn’t have powers, could only use a knife to deal with zombies nearby. Among the other elemental users, he was at a disadvantage.
Xu Sa had some clothes singed by fireballs, some parts of his drenched by water balls, and even scratches from earth spikes, with blood mixed with dirt. Despite all this, he was still cheerfully chatting.
Others weren’t in much better shape. After all, they were all flesh and blood, so injuries were inevitable. Besides Lu Weiyi, who remained untouched, the others had some signs of injuries from elemental attacks.
“Who cares if we’re cleaning the streets? As long as we get something, it’s worth it,” Xiong Jie said. His powers had only just awakened, and he was already exhausted, relying on his physical strength now.
“The car has brought over quite a few zombies, we should retreat,” Li Zhuang said, scanning the distance with binoculars and informing the group.
“Get in the car,” the group quickly boarded the vehicle, driving out before the approaching car could get too close.
After nearly three hours of exhausting elemental use, the newly awakened people were nearly out of energy. Lu Weiyi asked everyone for their crystal cores, then quietly manipulated them in the space, soaking them in the snow water he had collected earlier. After a moment, he took them out, and the crystal cores were now translucent, with the grey-black impurities gone.
When they reached another planned street, Lu Weiyi asked, “Whose powers are almost gone?”
“I am,” Ning Yuan said.
Xiong Jie raised his hand, along with several others who had awakened after the snowstorm.
Lu Weiyi took out two crystal cores for each person, “Consider it part of today’s earnings. If you’re feeling a headache from energy depletion, just absorb these later.”
