Chapter 169: Preparing to Head to the Capital
Lu Weiyi took out a few sets of clothes. After everyone changed, Zhuang Mingxu finally held Zhuang Ai Yi in his arms. “Big Daddy will feed you some porridge, okay?”
Zhuang Ai Yi shook his head and lowered his head, fiddling with the zipper on Zhuang Mingxu’s down jacket.
“If you don’t eat, your illness won’t get better, Ai Yi will feel worse later. Can we eat a little less, okay?” Zhuang Mingxu lowered his voice and coaxed. Lu Weiyi sat beside him, finally feeling reassured.
After Gu Qingyue checked the medicine Zhuang Ai Yi had taken and found nothing wrong, he checked on Xi Shi again. After using the medicine, he prepared a portion for Zhuang Mingxu as well.
“I don’t want porridge,” Zhuang Ai Yi rarely threw a tantrum, speaking softly.
“Then what do you want to eat? Little Daddy will have someone make it for you,” Lu Weiyi said, feeling that no matter what Zhuang Ai Yi wanted to eat, he would find it for him.
“… I want eggs, big cake, and I also want a hamburger, fries, and chicken wings,” Zhuang Ai Yi mumbled, leaning against Zhuang Mingxu’s chest.
As soon as he finished speaking, the others were still trying to figure out where to find these items when Lu Weiyi reached out his hand as if performing magic. Different kinds of cakes appeared on the makeshift table in an instant, as well as packed hamburgers, fries, chicken wings, and cola. They even looked like they were steaming. Finally, he held a carton of eggs, with a dozen eggs neatly arranged.
Everyone was stunned. Lu Weiyi gently asked, “How would you like to eat the eggs, Ai Yi? Boiled or steamed?”
In the end, Zhuang Ai Yi chose steamed egg custard. Of course, he just looked at the other things without eating, leaving the rest for everyone else.
After eating, Zhuang Ai Yi fell asleep. Although his fever was still high, his spirit had obviously improved, and Lu Weiyi finally felt at ease.
Zhuang Mingxu, holding the sleeping Zhuang Ai Yi, looked around. Although this was the only team’s house, besides the military personnel, the others they had saved were here. The three-story house was packed with people, noisy and chaotic. They had been assigned to a room that looked decent but wasn’t suitable for someone who needed rest.
“We should go back to the villa. The environment here is limited and not suitable for resting,” Zhuang Mingxu said. Although the villa was only three stories now, its area was bigger. If they cleared out the gym and the flower room, it would definitely be better than here.
“Now? It’s still raining outside,” Lu Weiyi said, thinking that Zhuang Ai Yi wasn’t suited to be out in the rain anymore.
“In your space, on the second shelf of the third row, there’s a set of raincoats. Wrap Ai Yi up. I’ll carry him. We’ll take the speedboat back directly,” Zhuang Mingxu’s spatial ability came into play, and while Lu Weiyi didn’t know where things were in the space, Zhuang Mingxu knew it all too well.
“Ning Yuan and Lu Xi, go downstairs and wait. Once they bring the speedboat back, we’ll leave,” Zhuang Mingxu ordered, then looked at Xi Shi, who was still sleeping on the bed, and asked Xiong Jie, who was guarding, “Brother Xiong, are you okay?”
“Yeah, just bring me a raincoat. I’ll wrap Xi Shi up,” Xiong Jie said, holding Xi Shi’s hand.
Lu Weiyi handed out raincoats to everyone.
Ning Yuan and Lu Xi had barely gone downstairs when Lu Xi ran back up. “The speedboat’s out of gas. There are two boats downstairs, but we can leave as soon as we have fuel.”
Lu Weiyi helped Zhuang Mingxu put on the raincoat and was about to carry him when Zhuang Mingxu held his hand. “Wu Yue will carry me. You hold Ai Yi. Protect him well.”
Lu Weiyi pursed his lips, nodded. Xiong Jie carried the tightly wrapped Xi Shi, Wu Yue carried Zhuang Mingxu, and Lu Weiyi held Zhuang Ai Yi. They were followed by Gu Qingyue’s brothers and Li Zhuang, who were last to leave. They arrived hurriedly, and they left just as fast.
Throughout this, no one thought of Yun Lu and her daughter, who had been dealing with burns. When they returned in the evening, they found that their room had been taken over by a new group. They didn’t even know when they had left.
*
At around 5 p.m., night had already fallen. If it weren’t for Ning Yuan’s good sense of direction from his military experience, they might not have been able to find their way back in the maze of identical villas.
“Someone, help me out,” Ning Yuan called as he stopped the speedboat near a window on the third floor of the room they had left from.
The pitch-black room didn’t look like anyone was there, but as soon as his voice fell, someone walked over.
“You’re finally back,” Antonio said, taking Zhuang Ai Yi and handing him to Lin Yimu, then helping the others get on board. Finally, Lu Weiyi stored the speedboat.
“Young Master, are you alright?” Lin Yimu asked, looking Zhuang Ai Yi up and down.
“I’m fine, but Ai Yi and Xi Shi both have a fever,” Lu Weiyi said, taking off his raincoat and shaking out his damp hair.
“Lu, if you hadn’t come back, we’d have starved. I didn’t expect you to take everything from the basement,” Antonio waved his hand and led the group to their temporary base, the empty flower room.
“Sorry, I forgot,” Lu Weiyi said. When the flood came, he had planned to leave by car, so he had packed all the food into his space. “Have you eaten?” They had only had breakfast together earlier that day.
Xu Sa shrugged, “I went diving to grab everyone’s backpacks and grabbed some food from there.” Each person’s backpack contained emergency supplies, with plenty of food and drinking water. Some instant meals hadn’t even gotten soaked in the flood.
“That’s good. Let’s tidy up the rooms and make a resting place,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
Lu Weiyi took out several sets of bedding from his space, had the room cleaned up a bit, and managed to create a temporary resting area. Looking at the bedding spread across the floor, Lu Weiyi thought it might be necessary to add a few beds to his space.
Once the generator was connected, the lights in the villa flickered back on. The gas stove and induction cookers kicked into action, and within a short time, they had made a pot of ginger soup. Of course, it wasn’t as spicy as before since Lu Xi had generously added a lot of brown sugar, making it sweet yet spicy. Everyone drank a big bowl, sweating a little from it.
Lu Weiyi then took out some mutated fruits, giving them to the ordinary people, while for the enhanced individuals, there was some mutated meat for stew, ensuring everyone had a decent meal.
“Are you okay?” Lu Weiyi asked, bringing a bunch of mutated grapes to Zhuang Mingxu, checking his forehead. He didn’t have a fever.
“I’m fine,” Zhuang Mingxu replied, leaning on the bed where Lu Xi had originally been, with Zhuang Ai Yi sleeping beside him. He smiled and held Lu Weiyi’s hand but still felt weak. Despite wearing a down jacket, he couldn’t seem to warm up after being caught in the rain.
Lu Weiyi brought a bowl of ginger syrup to him, along with some cold medicine. After he took it, Lu Weiyi covered him with a blanket and handed him the grapes. Zhuang Mingxu just lay there, loosely leaning against him under the blanket.
“The Qingshui base must have been flooded too,” Lu Weiyi murmured.
Zhuang Mingxu paused, then quickly recovered, “Mm.”
“We can’t stay here. We have to leave,” Lu Weiyi said. “How about we go to the Capital? They must have healing ability users there.”
Zhuang Mingxu gently stroked Lu Weiyi’s spine, as if petting a cat. “Did you predict this would happen?” Zhuang Mingxu remembered Lu Weiyi saying that they wouldn’t stay here long.
“…I wasn’t sure,” Lu Weiyi replied. After all, this time was different from the last life.
“The Capital…” Zhuang Mingxu thought about the place where he was born. When he had to leave, he had imagined returning countless times. But after the apocalypse began, he had been too preoccupied to think about it. Now, months after the apocalypse, he was returning in a crippled, exiled state.
Life is unpredictable, as always.
Zhuang Mingxu chuckled softly, responding, “Okay!”
Around 8 PM, the rain outside stopped.
After everyone had eaten and drunk, they sat in pairs on the large floor bed, chatting. Zhuang Ai Yi, feeling insecure, clung to someone and fell asleep. Lu Weiyi, concerned about Zhuang Mingxu’s leg, held him in his arms.
Sitting on the floor bed, a blanket covered both of them. Zhuang Mingxu sat beside him, occasionally nibbling on mutated fruit.
“The Qingshui base might be destroyed, and I’ve decided to leave here and go to the Capital. Think about it and decide if there’s anywhere else you want to go,” Lu Weiyi suddenly said as everyone was enjoying their moment of safety and warmth.
“That’s sudden…” Wu Yue was confused about his decision. His first reaction was to check Zhuang Mingxu, who looked calm, suggesting he had known about it. He then looked at the others, including Antonio, Dean, and Li Zhuang, none of whom seemed surprised. “You all knew?”
Antonio shrugged, shaking his head, “He’s mentioned it a few times.”
The others smiled but said nothing, exchanging glances with the people closest to them, trying to gauge each other’s thoughts.
“You… hmm… can’t we just wait for the reconstruction here?” Xu Sa asked, not particularly wanting to return to the Capital, as it carried unpleasant memories for him.
“If the flood can submerge the entire base, it means the terrain here is low-lying, and the base’s location was poorly chosen. The weather in the apocalypse is unstable. No one knows if there will be another flood after this one. We were lucky this time, but next time we might not be.” Lu Weiyi, usually patient, took the time to explain. He quickly reassured Zhuang Ai Yi when he stirred in his arms by gently patting him.
Zhuang Mingxu reached out to take Zhuang Ai Yi, but Lu Weiyi pushed his hand away and threw several mutated peaches to him, then tossed some to the others.
“…Is there no other choice?” Xu Sa lowered his gaze, his emotions unreadable.
“Zhuang Mingxu’s leg is deteriorating. We need to find a healing ability user quickly. The Capital is the only place where we can try our luck,” Lu Weiyi said, then recalled the things Xu Sa didn’t want to face and added, “You can choose where to go. For those of you who decide to leave, I will give you some supplies and crystal cores to make sure you won’t struggle in the short term.”
Zhuang Mingxu was slightly surprised. Lu Weiyi was usually busy, and when they returned to the base, he mostly rested. He spent little time with Zhuang Ai Yi. They slept in the same bed, but rarely talked. He didn’t expect that Lu Weiyi had noticed his leg deteriorating.
