Chapter 159: Yun Lu Digs Her Own Grave
“No. Big Daddy said I’m not supposed to play with strangers,” Zhuang Ai Yi said. Seeing that she didn’t move closer, his wariness dropped a little, and he went back to building his LEGO.
“You—”
“What are you doing?” A sudden voice behind her startled Yun Lu, and she dropped the chips to the floor.
“Big Daddy!” Zhuang Ai Yi ran over happily and said, “She said she wanted to play with me and eat chips with me. But I said no. You told me not to talk to strangers.”
“Good boy,” Zhuang Mingxu patted his head, then expressionlessly looked at Yun Lu before turning to Bai Miao behind him.
Bai Miao was already annoyed to see Yun Lu in Zhuang Mingxu’s office. Now, under Zhuang Mingxu’s gaze, he immediately asked, “Have you finished your work?”
“My mom’s helping me with it,” Yun Lu replied, but her eyes were fixed on Zhuang Mingxu, her face full of undisguised disgust.
“…,” Bai Miao was speechless. He thought to himself he’d increase their workload tomorrow. “This area is off-limits. Consider this your warning—next time, you’ll be kicked out.”
“I know what’s going on between you and Weiyi. I know you’re the reason I can’t see him—you’ve been doing everything to keep us apart,” Yun Lu ignored Bai Miao and spoke directly to Zhuang Mingxu.
Zhuang Mingxu remained calm, as if what she said wasn’t worth reacting to. Many people already knew about his relationship with Lu Weiyi. He hadn’t hidden it before the apocalypse, and he wasn’t going to hide it now.
He’d long expected someone to eventually tell her. What caught him off guard wasn’t her knowing, but the self-righteous tone and indignant expression she wore.
Not getting a reaction from him, Yun Lu grew angrier. “You’re a disgusting pervert! A gay freak who forced Weiyi to be with you. But heaven has eyes—now that the world’s ended, Weiyi has powers, supplies, and strength. And you? You’re just a cripple with no powers. How do you expect to keep controlling him?”
“Yun Lu!” Bai Miao was stunned that someone dared to speak to Zhuang Mingxu like that. He’d been so shocked that he forgot to interrupt her. By the time he snapped out of it, she had already let loose a stream of hateful words. He scolded her while glancing nervously at Zhuang Mingxu, who remained expressionless—making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“Let her finish,” Zhuang Mingxu said quietly. He didn’t know why, but his heart felt like it was being squeezed painfully by an invisible hand. It hurt terribly, and yet—almost masochistically—he wanted to hear the rest.
“Brother Mingxu…” Bai Miao didn’t know what to say. He suddenly wished someone closer in age and relationship to Zhuang Mingxu were here. As someone younger, someone Zhuang Mingxu saw as a little brother, nothing he said felt appropriate.
“Did I hit the nail on the head? If you still have any self-respect, you should leave right away. Stop clinging to Weiyi. You’re driving a wedge between him and his family and ruining his reputation. Are you really going to wait until he kicks you out himself?” Yun Lu declared righteously.
From Ji Lin’s descriptions, she already knew how Zhuang Mingxu had used his wealth and power to force Lu Weiyi into a relationship before the apocalypse and even caused a rift in Lu Weiyi’s family. At this moment, she truly believed she was helping Lu Weiyi by eliminating a problem.
“Weiyi is soft-hearted and kind. Now that you’re disabled, he just feels bad about driving you away. He only pities you. Before the apocalypse, you used your power to force him. And now you want to keep dragging him down by using his sympathy…”
Cough, cough, cough… Zhuang Mingxu, who had been silent, suddenly started coughing violently. He clutched his chest, his face pale, his body trembling slightly as he slid down from the wheelchair, powerless.
“Daddy!” a childish voice cried out with a sob.
“Brother Mingxu, what’s wrong?” Bai Miao panicked, rushing forward to pick up Zhuang Mingxu from the floor and carrying him toward the military base. Before leaving, he glared back at the stunned Yun Lu and snapped, “If anything happens to my brother, you better be ready to die.”
“Gastric spasms—his stomach wasn’t good before, was it?” asked the military doctor after the diagnosis.
“It’s just from being pissed off. I’ll go back and give them more work. Clearly they’re too idle,” Bai Miao was seething.
“It’s fine, an old issue,” Zhuang Mingxu said with a smile after taking painkillers and calming down. He took the clearly frightened Zhuang Ai Yi into his arms to comfort him.
“Then you need to take care of it. Gastric problems require proper rest and diet—avoid cold or harsh foods,” the military doctor reminded him before leaving.
“Don’t bring up what happened today in front of Ai Yi,” Zhuang Mingxu instructed Bai Miao. Yun Lu’s words had reminded him—it was time to talk things over with Lu Weiyi. Avoiding it like this wouldn’t solve anything.
Bai Miao stared at Zhuang Mingxu for a while, then reluctantly agreed, “Okay.”
Zhuang Mingxu might’ve said not to bring it up, but the Greenfield compound wasn’t big. Almost everyone saw him being carried off after falling ill. Even though Guan Tong quickly took Yun Lu away and didn’t let anyone see what happened, rumors spread fast.
After three retellings, the story had warped into “Yun Lu succeeded in taking the top position, strutted in front of Zhuang Mingxu, and angered him so much that he fainted on the spot.”
Regardless of the gossip, Guan Tong couldn’t ignore what her daughter had done. When she found out what Yun Lu said, she insisted on taking her to apologize to Zhuang Mingxu.
“I’m not going! I didn’t say anything wrong!” Yun Lu felt completely wronged and even suspected Zhuang Mingxu had faked it.
“Don’t you realize we’re relying on others to survive now? He’s in charge of all logistics—we can’t afford to offend him,” Guan Tong said helplessly at her daughter’s stubbornness.
“What’s to be afraid of? Worst case, I’ll take it to Weiyi himself,” Yun Lu said, eager for that outcome.
“Lu Lu, wake up. If Lu Weiyi had any interest in you, he wouldn’t have left you here, ignoring you for days on end,” Guan Tong said frankly. She could tell Lu Weiyi had no intention toward her daughter. She was even hoping he’d forget about them entirely so they wouldn’t be used for something unpleasant.
“Mom, there were so many girls back then. If he didn’t like me, why would he have brought me back? And besides…” Yun Lu said shyly, “His family really liked me. They even invited me over for dinner.”
This was exactly the part Guan Tong couldn’t understand, and she had no idea how to respond. “You two aren’t even in a relationship. Don’t throw yourself at him—it makes people look down on you.”
“Got it, Mom. Ji Lin asked me to check out the trading market with her. I’m heading out,” Yun Lu said, changing her clothes and rushing off, not caring that her work wasn’t done.
They didn’t go to apologize, and Zhuang Mingxu didn’t pursue the matter either. Everything returned to normal, which made Yun Lu grow bolder and gave Guan Tong some relief.
Lu Weiyi and his group, as per Zhuang Mingxu’s suggestion, spent most of their days killing zombies. When it rained heavily, they drove around the city. The truck’s cargo bed had been modified with a roof for rain protection, while the sides remained open.
As Lu Weiyi used his green vines to retrieve supplies buried under collapsed debris at slower speeds, the others in the truck could handle approaching zombies. Four high-powered floodlights were mounted on the roof corners, making the vehicle glow like a giant bulb in the dark. Thankfully, zombies didn’t rely on vision.
“It’s getting late. There’s a snack wholesale market on the next street. Let’s rest there,” said Lin Yimu, who was driving. He glanced at his wristwatch—it was already 9 p.m.—and checked in with the others in the truck.
“Sounds good. We might even find something useful,” Antonio replied from the back seat, flicking flying knives at zombies through the rain. He estimated the distance and gave the okay.
From the passenger seat, Lu Weiyi, who was operating the green vines, said flatly, “There’s a fight happening over there.”
“Fighting over supplies?” They had learned during these days outside that not all teams got along.
While killing wasn’t allowed in the base, outside its walls, if rival teams crossed paths, ambushes and sneak attacks weren’t uncommon. Some entire teams had even vanished, their fates obvious without explanation.
They’d once run into a team that made a living robbing others. Unfortunately, that team had tried to rob them—and not only failed, but lost their own supplies. Hearing Lu Weiyi’s comment now, Antonio got excited, assuming someone was about to “deliver” more resources.
“Seems like it…” Lu Weiyi had only extended a thread of his mental power about a kilometer out. Since the opposing group was large and using powers, getting too close might disrupt his scan, so he could only get a general sense.
“Let’s not get involved. It’s already late, and we’ve all only had a couple crackers for dinner. Let’s rest and eat first,” Lin Yimu said cautiously.
“Alright,” Antonio replied, his hunger starting to outweigh his excitement.
Once Lu Weiyi finished gathering most of the roadside supplies, Lin Yimu drove them around the conflict area to the back entrance of the snack market.
After a long day, even with dozens of shops nearby, no one had the energy to search. They cleared out a half-collapsed building beside it. Li Zhuang left a person-sized gap for entry, sealing the rest with earthen walls to keep out zombies—ensuring safety even if some approached.
On the second floor by the window, Xu Sa and Liu Rui occasionally scanned the surroundings. In the cleared-out hall, two tables had been set up. Lu Weiyi placed the dishes he had prepared on the table, and the aroma of meat instantly filled the room.
“Listen up. Leave your supplies now and we’ll let you go. If you still don’t leave, then you’ll be leaving your lives here.”
A woman’s voice suddenly came from the first floor, drawing everyone’s attention to the window. Though it was dark, they tried to look outside.
“Why are there women out there?” Lin Yimu asked. In the apocalypse, aside from the elderly and children, women had the highest death rate. Most of the surviving women lived under the protection of men in the base. It was indeed rare to see women outside this late at night.
“They came out from the back door next door,” Xu Sa, who had been watching the outside, replied. “Seems like… two teams are having a conflict.”
As they spoke, it quieted down outside. It seemed the light from the second floor had caught the attention of those below. After a moment of silence, someone shouted up, “Friends on the second floor! Want to work together? We’ll split the supplies half and half.”
“Uncle! That’s our last stash!”
It was Ji Jin’s voice. Lu Weiyi raised an eyebrow.
