Chapter 123: Every Bit of Material Counts
“Lu Weiyi, what about us, those without powers? Do we get any crystal cores?” Xu Sa asked.
“Probably,” Lu Weiyi replied. These had been arranged by Zhuang Mingxu, and he wasn’t entirely sure.
“Can we choose the attributes?” Xu Sa asked again.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Lu Weiyi shot him a look and quickened his pace in collecting supplies.
Around eleven o’clock, the traffic on the road started to pick up as teams from other factions in the base went out to search for supplies. There were only a few main roads in the city, so it was inevitable that they would cross paths.
Since the team was new to the base, they didn’t recognize each other, and there was no greeting. They were all on guard, not yet comfortable.
With Lu Weiyi’s “cheat” abilities, most of their time was spent killing zombies while collecting a lot of supplies. Though tired, having supplies in hand gave everyone confidence. Even during their lunch break, they didn’t rest longer than planned. After a quick meal, they set off again in less than an hour.
With their group of determined individuals, they visited more than ten pharmacies throughout the day. Although all of them had collapsed, it meant that the supplies beneath hadn’t been touched.
They didn’t miss any surrounding shops either. By evening, they even cleared out a mall that had collapsed halfway. Due to the limitations of the small green twig, they could only clear part of it, which took more time. By the time they finished, it was already dark.
Even though they were full after lunch, they had been working hard all day, and on the ride back, most of them were exhausted and slumped in the car.
As they approached the villa’s entrance, a figure waiting under a lamp could be seen. The sight immediately lifted their spirits after the day’s fatigue.
“Dean, I’m back!” Antonio opened the car window and shouted from a distance.
“David!” Dean shouted excitedly, hopping around.
When the car stopped, Antonio quickly got out and hugged Dean, who was running toward him.
“Why are you so late?” Zhuang Mingxu, pushing his wheelchair, took a few steps forward and, holding Lu Weiyi’s hand, looked at him with concern.
“Little Daddy,” Zhuang Ai Yi called out.
“Mm,” Lu Weiyi yawned, poking Zhuang Ai Yi’s face. “I went to a mall and got delayed a bit.”
“Dinner’s already ready. We’ve been waiting for you,” Xi Shi looked Xiong Jie up and down, gently touching the places where he had been hurt by elemental powers, and said.
“It’s fine,” Xiong Jie grabbed Xi Shi’s hand and walked into the villa.
“Brother, I’ve already poured water for you. Feel free to wash up, and let’s eat first,” Lu Xi and Bai Miao had set up several basins in the yard and called out.
“Okay,” Lu Weiyi responded.
After everyone had freshened up, dinner was already set on the table, waiting for them to sit down. The feeling of coming home to a warm meal and people waiting on them made everyone who had worked hard all day feel much better. The lively atmosphere made them sit down quickly, diving into their food.
“Don’t wait for us to eat next time, you guys go ahead,” Lu Weiyi said after drinking a bowl of refreshing mung bean soup. He then looked at Zhuang Mingxu, who was serving him food, and continued.
“Without you, how could we eat?” Zhuang Mingxu, who had never been good at expressing his emotions so bluntly, now, perhaps because of his leg injury, found himself speaking more openly after receiving Lu Weiyi’s care. His heart was more settled, and many things naturally came out.
“It’ll be fine,” Lu Weiyi said, “Maybe in the future, we’ll go to far-off places and won’t be able to come back in a day.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Zhuang Mingxu responded nonchalantly, “Eat more.”
“The nearby pharmacies have mostly been searched. We’ve only been getting supplies from collapsed ones. We’ll need a lot of people to sift through and organize them,” Lu Weiyi roughly explained their journey and what they had gathered that day.
“I’ll have people arrange it tomorrow,” Zhuang Mingxu said, already thinking about finding reliable people to keep watch. After all, people might secretly steal supplies. Medicine, in particular, could easily be traded for food.
Zhuang Mingxu wouldn’t have cared about small thefts in the past, but seeing what Lu Weiyi had worked hard to gather, he felt it was wasteful for others to take it.
After dinner, Lu Weiyi took half of the medical supplies and loaded them onto the truck. He quietly spoke to Zhuang Mingxu about the crystal cores they had collected and told him to set a daily quota for everyone. Then he went to bed.
By the time Zhuang Mingxu had planned everything and arranged things for the next day, he returned to his room, hoping to discuss about Ji Heng with Lu Weiyi. However, Lu Weiyi was already fast asleep.
For the next few days, Lu Weiyi and his group were out early and returned late. Zhuang Mingxu didn’t find an opportunity to talk to him, and Ji Heng didn’t show up again, so Zhuang Mingxu eventually forgot about it.
It wasn’t until noon again that the military sent someone to say there was trouble at the trading hall and asked Zhuang Mingxu to come and handle it.
Once again, he borrowed a patrol car to go out, and he was considering whether he should exchange some supplies for a patrol car, as five pounds of rice wasn’t cheap per day.
After thinking about it, he decided against it. There were plenty of cars on the streets with no one around to monitor them. It would be easy to find a store with electric bikes and get one brought back when they needed it.
Zhuang Mingxu figured that with Lu Weiyi’s attentiveness to him, if he just asked, Lu Weiyi would find a way to get a patrol car the next day. Even if he couldn’t find one, he’d exchange supplies with the base for one.
Thinking about how much Lu Weiyi cared for him, Zhuang Mingxu’s heart warmed, even more so than in the heat of summer. After waiting for seven or eight years with no response, now, in the apocalypse and disabled, he was receiving more than he had ever hoped for. It truly proved the saying: hardship reveals true feelings.
“Mr. Zhuang,” Ji Lin’s voice interrupted Zhuang Mingxu’s thoughts, and the smile on his face disappeared as soon as he saw the two people opposite him.
Being so familiar with Lu Weiyi’s companions, he instantly recognized his troublesome younger sister Ji Lin and her follower, Fang Wan.
The military’s office and patrol area had been converted from a hotel on the street. The front desk served as the duty station, and the nearby hall had two tables, which served as a temporary resting place for the patrol officers.
At this moment, four men in military uniforms were sitting there. Lu Xi was chatting energetically with someone, while the two girls stood in the corner, looking somewhat pitiful.
“What’s going on?” Zhuang Mingxu glanced at Ji Lin before turning to look at Lu Xi.
It wasn’t anything major. After Ji Heng had lost face that day, he didn’t dare show it in front of Ji Zhong. Naturally, his anger was taken out on his wife and children. Additionally, with Ji Jin stirring the pot with indirect remarks, Ji Heng began to soften his attitude toward Li Xiang and Ji Lin, even hinting at Ji Lin twice.
Ji Lin, having been pampered and spoiled, looked down on Li Xiang and resisted him strongly. When Ji Heng brought it up again, she argued with him, and he ended up scolding her.
When Fang Wan mentioned Lu Weiyi’s space, Ji Lin became upset. She went straight to the trading hall, hoping that if Lu Weiyi lost some supplies, her family’s situation would improve and they would stop trying to match her with Li Xiang.
The trading hall was now run by Lu Xi and Dean. They certainly wouldn’t let anyone take advantage, especially someone Lu Xi disliked. Lu Xi didn’t care that the intruders were two girls; he directly made them feel worthless.
Ji Lin couldn’t take it and decided to take matters into her own hands, causing damage to the supplies. Now, there was no turning back. Dean immediately called in the patrol officers from the street and had them arrest the two.
“They’re shameless! The old man has no shame, but a girl acting like this—what a joke!” Lu Xi had heard about Lu Weiyi’s family situation since he was young and had grown up with this older brother, so their bond was strong.
Later on, he developed some psychological issues. He still cared, but since they hadn’t been in contact for a long time, and as he got older, he gradually forgot. Now, in the apocalypse, his dependence on his brother has returned, and naturally, he won’t tolerate anyone saying even a bad word about him.
“It was originally my family’s. Before the earthquake, Lu Weiyi swindled a whole set of antique jewelry from my mom. Those were the only surviving antiques, worth several billion,” Ji Lin, having been stewing in frustration at home, refused to back down now.
Zhuang Mingxu ignored her and asked Lu Xi, “Do you have records of the damaged goods?”
“Yes, I even had this soldier brother inspect them. I brought everything,” Lu Xi pointed at the broken fruits on the table and said, “A 2.1kg watermelon was smashed, 500 grams of watermelon is worth three crystal cores so that’s 15.3 crystal cores. Eight bruised apples, weighing 2.1kg, and 500 grams of apples is worth two crystal cores, totaling 10.4 crystal cores. Pears, four of them, weighing 1.25kg…”
Most of what Ji Lin damaged were fruits and vegetables, which wouldn’t have been worth much before the apocalypse. But now, they’re extremely valuable. Though there are wood-ability users who can accelerate plant growth, not all of them can do it — only a rare few.
With a large population at the base, the trading hall is filled with vegetables, fruits, and meat. A day’s trade can earn dozens of crystal cores — and this is just the beginning when most people have only just started killing zombies. Zhuang Mingxu believed things would only improve from here.
Lu Xi even included the decimal points in her calculations, listing everything in detail. She concluded, “Altogether, that’s 126.8 crystal cores. According to current base prices, one core trades for 1.5kg of rice or flour, so that’s a total of 190.2kg.”
After finishing, Lu Xi tilted his youthful face toward the soldier. “Brother soldier, did I calculate correctly?”
“Yes,” the soldier nodded. He had already been informed by his superiors to look out for Lu Xi and Dean. They were thoughtful — handing out popsicles whenever patrols passed by. Though it wasn’t worth much, in this hot weather and with not every place having a fridge, even a cold treat was appreciated.
“Good,” Zhuang Mingxu waited until Lu Xi finished before turning to Ji Lin. “First of all, Xiao Yi’s space ability was self-awakened. It’s not some jade pendant space and has nothing to do with you, so there’s no question of compensation.”
“You… you’re lying…” Ji Lin had almost become a sacrifice due to a lack of supplies at home. Now, hearing that such a large batch of goods might require compensation, she refused to believe it.
“You probably told your parents about compensation, right? Do you know why they didn’t dare come and demand it?” Zhuang Mingxu spoke indifferently, staring at Ji Lin. “Because that jewelry originally belonged to Xiao Yi’s mom. Your mother was a mistress who forcefully took it for years. Now that it’s been returned to the rightful owner, not even your dad dares come and ask for it.”
