Chapter 141: Self-inflicted Destruction
At 5 a.m., the Xiang Ning City base appeared in their view.
Like the Qingyuan base, this one was also located on the outskirts, covering several surrounding villages. It looked quite large.
The three of them arrived at the entrance but didn’t go straight in. There were supplies to be handed over, but they could afford them, and it wasn’t necessary at the moment.
Lu Weiyi wasn’t good at finding people, so Li Qing directly took a few chocolate bars and asked the gatekeeper about the situation inside.
Su Yan, who controlled the entire police department, was indeed a powerful figure in the base, so finding him wasn’t too difficult.
Not long after, Su Yan drove out in a car, carrying someone with him. Upon seeing Li Qing, he quickly asked, “You’re here so early. Is something wrong?”
He hurriedly got out of the car and looked over Li Qing. Seeing no one was injured, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m fine. I came to see you about a small matter,” Li Qing said with a smile, then introduced Lu Weiyi and Lu Xi, emphasizing that Lu Xi was the son of Lu Xiao. He continued, “Lu Xi wants to collect some high-quality jade, and I was hoping you could help. It’ll only take a few days, and we’ll come to pick him up once we’ve gathered the supplies.”
“Jade?” Su Yan was initially happy to hear that Lu Xi was Lu Xiao’s son, but as soon as he heard the mention of collecting jade, his tone changed. He pulled Li Qing aside, lowering his voice, and asked, “You do know that some jade has space, right?”
He wasn’t worried about being tricked by Li Qing; he was more concerned that Lu Weiyi and Lu Xi might think he was unaware and take advantage of him.
“I know,” Li Qing handed Su Yan a cigarette. “You know after the instructor retired, he went to take care of a young master, right? He did it through Zhuang Mingxu’s connections.”
“Instructor Lin? I’ve heard a bit about it,” Su Yan replied.
“The pretty one, that’s Zhuang Mingxu’s partner,” Li Qing added.
Su Yan took a deep breath. After all, Zhuang Mingxu’s decision to give up a promising career for his partner had been widely talked about in the military.
Su Yan turned to look carefully at Lu Weiyi. “I don’t see what’s so special about him. He’s just good-looking.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. He’s ruthless,” Li Qing elbowed him. “There’s a mutated plant on the road ahead, do you know about it?”
“Yeah. By the way, how did you get here? The roads are blocked by mutated plants,” Su Yan asked.
“He took care of it, alone,” Li Qing exaggerated.
Su Yan was surprised and discreetly looked Lu Weiyi over again.
“He likes jade. Zhuang Mingxu has been collecting it all over the world, and even after the apocalypse, he hasn’t stopped. There’s always a trade for supplies. As long as the jade is of good quality, it doesn’t matter if it has space,” Li Qing explained.
“They’re on a mission to find things in the next city over and just happened to pass through here. They wanted to gather some jade in Xiang Ning City base as well. If your people have time, they could check out those jade shops and bring some back to sell to him. You won’t lose out on supplies,” Li Qing suggested, though he didn’t reveal their destination, as Zhoujia County’s location made it easy to find salt anywhere.
Su Yan was genuinely tempted. In the apocalypse, jade was far less practical than fresh bread. “Are you sure he has enough supplies?”
“Don’t worry. If you don’t cheat him, he won’t shortchange you,” Li Qing reassured him. “So, will you help?”
“It’s a small matter. I’ll have my people spread the word,” Su Yan replied. “But I can’t guarantee how many people will come to exchange.”
“Alright then, leave Lu Xi here to handle this. He’s still a minor, so look after him a bit. Don’t let anyone bully him,” Li Qing said.
“Don’t worry,” Su Yan replied.
Once they had reached an agreement, Li Qing walked over to Lu Weiyi and briefed him on the situation. Lu Weiyi then took a hundred unprocessed crystal cores from his space and handed them to Su Yan, followed by several pounds of apples and peaches that he had collected earlier.
“Lu Xi will be staying here for a few days. Please take care of him. If anything goes wrong, I’ll deal with it when I return. Of course, if I haven’t come back in over half a month, something must have happened, so please send someone to escort him back to Qingyuan Base. Zhuang Mingxu will definitely reward you with supplies.”
“Brother, stop saying weird things,” Lu Xi complained. “I’m just waiting for you to pick me up.”
Lu Weiyi patted his head without making any promises. Life in the apocalypse was full of life-and-death trials.
Crystal cores were now mainly used for upgrades, and they were highly sought after. Su Yan, seeing that Lu Weiyi could casually give away a hundred cores and even offer fruits, finally believed that Li Qing was telling the truth about having plenty of supplies. “No need to be polite. You can rest assured; while he’s here, I’ll make sure he’s well taken care of.”
“Thank you,” Lu Weiyi said. Besides what he gave Su Yan, he also left some extra supplies. “Lu Xi knows the prices. If it’s not enough, please cover the difference for now. I’ll pay you back with interest.”
After a brief exchange, Lu Weiyi and Li Qing drove off, leaving Su Yan to take the supplies and pay for Lu Xi’s temporary stay while bringing him into the base.
Strictly speaking, they didn’t pass through Xiang Ning City—they took a detour. To catch up with the main group, they’d need to backtrack. Around noon, Lu Weiyi found a shaded spot to park and asked, “What do you want to eat?”
Li Qing saw that Lu Weiyi wasn’t joking, and immediately became excited. “Do I get to choose? I like braised pork, sauerkraut fish, cooked pigskin, blood hot pot…”
“Forget I asked,” Lu Weiyi replied, expressionless, and took out a portion of braised pork and a dish of stir-fried eggplant and beans. “Noodles or rice?”
“What kind of noodles?” Li Qing inhaled deeply, savoring the smell of the braised pork, clearly enjoying it.
“Zhajiang noodles, dapanmian, saozimian, or mixed noodles.”
With each type mentioned, Li Qing’s eyes brightened. By the end, he swallowed hard and made a tough decision. “Zhajiang noodles, I guess.”
Lu Weiyi handed him a serving of Zhajiang noodles and took a portion of mixed noodles for himself. On this hot day, the sour and refreshing mixed noodles hit the spot.
Li Qing’s appetite was incredible. Despite not looking overweight, he polished off an entire bowl of noodles and finished both dishes without leaving a single bite. He even drank the remaining soup, sighing in contentment afterward. “Delicious.”
“I haven’t eaten this well in ages. Is your team still recruiting? You should consider me,” Li Qing joked, now in the driver’s seat.
“We pick people based on looks. You… almost make the cut,” Lu Weiyi replied, knowing that anyone could leave the army, but Li Qing never would. Right now, everyone was relying on his father, Li Mu, and he had responsibilities to bear.
“I’m the star of the army! Your standards are just too low.”
The two continued joking as they caught up with the main group around 4 PM. After meeting up, they continued their journey and, by the next evening, finally arrived at the salt field in Zhoujia County.
The salt field covered a large area, located far from the city center. Surrounding it were a few small supermarkets and employee dormitories, which meant they would need to clear out the zombies in the area before they could stop.
“There’s no longer just a few zombies,” Li Qing said as he looked from a distance through binoculars. “There are over twenty just wandering around the courtyard. The residential building doesn’t show any signs of collapse—there must be more inside.”
Li Zhuang also observed through his binoculars, frowning after a moment. “Looks like someone’s already been here. There are bloodstains on the ground—signs of a fight.”
Li Qing followed his gaze and nodded. “No vehicles were left behind. Probably couldn’t hold out and had to retreat.”
After a day of being jostled around in the truck, Lu Weiyi was half-asleep. But when he heard their conversation, curiosity made him sit up and look in the same direction. His expression turned grave. “There’s a B-level zombie in there… and it’s locked onto us.”
More accurately—it had locked onto him.
There was a mental-type zombie inside. When Lu Weiyi raised his head to look, its mental energy swept over the area—and he sensed it immediately. In that silent mental clash, the zombie was stronger.
Just based on the range of its mental sweep, it was obvious. Lu Weiyi couldn’t even pinpoint its location, but its mental attack was already coming straight for his mind—targeting his crystal core. Fortunately, humans were clever, and with mental powers, skill and strategy could make all the difference. Lu Weiyi immediately countered with his own mental defense.
Li Zhuang and the others also sensed the mental probing and went on high alert. But Li Qing’s subordinates weren’t as lucky. After the attack on Lu Weiyi failed, a young soldier not far from Li Qing suddenly collapsed—his eyes wide open, a circular hole in the center of his forehead.
“Fall back!” Lu Weiyi shouted. But chaos broke out. The others didn’t recognize his command, and no one moved right away. Moments later, a few soldiers turned and started stabbing their comrades with knives.
“You…” One of the victims stared in disbelief as the attacker swiftly withdrew the blade and moved on to strike another person. The unit was instantly thrown into complete disarray.
“Retreat! Now!” Li Qing didn’t know what was happening, but he chose to trust Lu Weiyi and gave the order immediately. Meanwhile, Lu Weiyi rapidly used his mental powers to free the possessed soldiers and formed a light protective shield around the three vehicles.
They kept retreating until they had put a full kilometer between themselves and the danger. Then Lu Weiyi finally ordered a stop.
Li Qing checked on the other vehicle and returned, his expression cold. “Two dead. Three injured. What the hell was that?”
“There’s a mental-type zombie inside. It was controlling them,” Lu Weiyi replied, glancing at the soldiers, eyes red from grief, gathered around their fallen comrades. He didn’t feel great either.
“A mental zombie…” That was a complete unknown. Li Qing slammed a fist against the truck bed in frustration. Lu Weiyi added quietly, “Its level is higher than anyone here.”
“Even higher than you?” Antonio asked immediately. In his mind, Lu Weiyi was already the most powerful person he’d ever seen.
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi replied.
“Then we have to kill it,” said a man from the unit who had been quietly listening to the conversation. Cradling the body of the soldier whose crystal core had been dug out, his eyes were red, his voice choked and fierce. “Captain, Haozi was only eighteen. He can’t rest in peace like this.”
The words made Li Qing’s eyes turn red as well. “Zhang Wei, calm down. Let us discuss this first.”
