Chapter 187: Encountering Wang Ming Again
As the five trucks exited the base gates, they immediately drew everyone’s attention, especially since they were headed straight toward the group’s camping tents.
“It’s Ning Yuan and the others,” Li Zhuang said after glancing from afar.
Zhuang Mingxu turned his head quickly and immediately called out to the others, “Pack up now. We’re leaving right away.”
The others hesitated and looked toward Lu Weiyi. It was nearly dark, and based on the mutated creatures they had encountered along the way, traveling at night wasn’t a good idea.
Lu Weiyi looked at Zhuang Mingxu, paused for a moment, and then said, “We move.”
Everyone sprang into action.
“Captain, I bought everything we were missing. All of it paid for by Brother Tao and Sister Ping. If I’d known, I should’ve just brought the crystal core with me,” Ning Yuan shouted toward Lu Weiyi from afar.
Then he turned around and, putting on a righteous expression, said to Tao An, “Brother Tao, how many crystal cores did this cost? Do the math and I’ll go get them from the captain. Don’t worry, not a single one will be short.”
Lu Weiyi glanced over the five trucks, then looked at Tao An’s expression—he looked like he was about to cough up blood. Now he understood why Zhuang Mingxu had told them to pack quickly. In this situation, what else could they do but flee?
“No need. Just a small token—take it as a gesture of friendship,” Tao An said, trying to keep his composure despite his deep frustration.
“Ah, I feel bad taking so much,” Ning Yuan said.
“It’s fine,” Tao An replied, signaling for his people to start unloading the goods. He then asked, “About the crystal core you mentioned earlier…?”
“The crystal core? There’s no issue with that. Brother Tao, you used it yourself yesterday. We didn’t use any tricks. You’re not thinking of going back on your word now, are you?” Ning Yuan asked with a mock-surprised and suspicious tone.
“Not at all. I just wanted to ask what kind of crystal core it was. So I’ll know next time I come across one and won’t miss out,” Tao An said, knowing full well Ning Yuan was playing dumb, but he couldn’t afford to confront him directly.
“Oh, that!” Ning Yuan said as if a lightbulb had gone off. “No problem. Let me check with our captain.”
Tao An clenched his jaw.
Ning Yuan jogged over to Lu Weiyi and whispered urgently, “Pack up. We’re leaving now.”
“How much stuff did you scam off him to make you this panicked?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“One truck of mutant meat, one of mutant fish—all alive—another for condiments, another for medicine, and half a truck of potato and sweet potato seeds,” Ning Yuan said, then hesitated, “Did I take too much?”
Lu Weiyi gave him a speechless look.
“He asked what kind of core it was, and I said I’d check with you. Once they finish unloading, I’ll go tell him and then we bounce. Do you think… they might come after us with weapons?” Ning Yuan asked nervously.
“If they do, we’ve got weapons too. Worst case, mutual destruction,” Lu Weiyi replied.
“You’ve got to protect me. I did all this for the group!” Ning Yuan chattered on.
Once the unloading was done, Ning Yuan approached Tao An with a smug, mission-accomplished look. “This info was actually something we discovered ourselves. The base never told anyone about it. Our captain usually wouldn’t even mention it, but Brother Tao, you’re different. You helped us gather supplies when we needed them most. A piece of info is nothing.”
“Actually, it’s not some big secret,” Ning Yuan continued. “Brother Tao, have you ever heard of mutated plants?”
“Mutated plants? That crystal core came from a mutated plant?” Tao An asked.
“Yup. Different mutated plants have different crystal cores, but they all work about the same. We only managed to upgrade our team because we happened to find a few,” Ning Yuan said.
“No one probably knows this info yet, so you’d better head back to the base and see if you can track down any mutated plants. If your team upgrades smoothly, the base’s status will speak for itself,” Ning Yuan sweet-talked him, mixing dreams and nonsense until Tao An was coaxed away.
*
The piles of supplies outside—several truckloads—were enough to draw the envy of everyone watching. If their team hadn’t shown off their strength recently, others would’ve rushed in to grab things.
A large crowd gathered, including members from the base’s top factions—undoubtedly including Tao An’s people. After all, it was a lot to gamble on a piece of unverifiable information. Until he could confirm it, he had to keep an eye on things.
Dumping all the supplies out in the open was also a delay tactic. They only had two trucks, both already partially loaded. To haul everything out, they’d need more vehicles, and the quickest way was to trade at the base. Tao An figured as long as he watched them closely, he’d have time to verify the information.
But he was destined to be disappointed. Zhuang Mingxu ordered their own goods to be packed up, then had a few large tents set up around their campsite. The supplies were quickly moved inside, where Lu Weiyi, bored and idle, was stuffing everything into spatial storage.
Once all the supplies were packed away and the crowd dispersed, they leisurely had a meal. As night fell, they collapsed the tents, and Lu Weiyi, using his mental barrier, smoothly drove them out of the Peace Base.
*
“Are we heading straight for Xiangning City Base, or should we find a place to rest?” Li Zhuang asked after they had driven for an hour.
Leaving so quickly might make Tao An suspicious that the info was false. If he sent someone after them, it would be a mess to explain. Lu Weiyi thought for a moment and asked, “How far is the new base in Xiangning City?”
“We said we were heading north to the capital. Xiangning’s in a different direction. They probably won’t suspect we’re going there,” Li Zhuang replied.
“…Then let’s find a place to rest.” Traveling at night wasn’t safe—smaller nocturnal mutated creatures could easily wipe them out.
The group traveled a bit further and finally decided to rest in a small town.
At a glance, in the ghostly dark center of the town, a few lights were on at the government building, casting a bright glow over the government entrance.
“There are people,” Li Zhuang said.
“Mm, let’s go somewhere else,” Lu Weiyi replied, scanning the surroundings. He chose a location not too far away—not because he didn’t want to go farther, but because the houses in this town were of worse quality than those in villages. Most of the roadside houses had partially collapsed. The only one that looked intact wasn’t far.
People tend to be wary of strangers getting too close at night—especially in the apocalypse, when robbing for supplies is common.
Before their vehicle even came to a full stop, someone on the other side raised a gun and fired a warning shot. “Hey, you guys up ahead—this spot’s taken. Find somewhere else,” a man shouted.
The unusually distinct accent immediately reminded Lu Weiyi of that “receptionist” Su Yan from the Xiangning City base.
Lu Weiyi stopped the vehicle and stuck his head out to look toward the distant doorway, where five people were standing and staring in their direction. It was too far to tell if it was someone he knew, so he shouted, “Wang Ming?”
“Eh?! …Eh? Who are you?” Wang Ming instinctively responded before realizing and asking.
“We’re from Su Yan’s team—Li Qing’s comrade,” Lu Weiyi said into the radio to Zhuang Mingxu in the truck, “Li Zhuang and I will go check it out.”
“Be careful. If anything feels off, get back immediately,” Zhuang Mingxu responded.
“Mm,” Lu Weiyi agreed, got out of the vehicle with Li Zhuang from the passenger seat, and motioned for Ning Yuan to take the wheel.
“I’m Lu Weiyi, from the Qingyuan City base,” he shouted as the two of them slowly approached.
A moment later, Wang Ming seemed to remember. “Lu Weiyi? The guy Li Qing brought along? How are you here?” A long-range flashlight beam suddenly shone over.
Lu Weiyi shielded his eyes from the light. “Li Zhuang and I are heading to your base.”
Wang Ming confirmed their identities and then moved the light to the ground to illuminate their path. “Looking for our base? Oh, right—you mentioned you were bringing your partner to get treated. Well, you’re late. Our base was washed away by the flood.”
“I know. That’s why we’re planning to check out your new base. Are the Xu family still there? What about Xu Yi?” Lu Weiyi asked as he reached them and glanced at the other four people, none of whom he recognized.
“The Xu family’s still at the new base, but Xu Yi disappeared,” Wang Ming replied.
“Disappeared? How could he disappear?” Lu Weiyi frowned.
“Who knows? He’s just gone. Whether he’s dead or something else, the Xu family hasn’t said,” Wang Ming said. Seeing that Lu Weiyi had traveled so far, he added comfortingly, “Don’t worry—word is other bases also have healing-type ability users now. You’ll definitely meet one sooner or later.”
Since he was already planning to head for the capital, Lu Weiyi wasn’t too disappointed by Xu Yi’s disappearance.
“What are you doing out here so late? I thought you didn’t have any powers? Where’s Su Yan? Is he okay?” Li Zhuang asked, not expecting Lu Weiyi to probe for information himself.
“…” Wang Ming was silent for a moment.
Just then, a woman’s scream came from inside, immediately making Lu Weiyi and Li Zhuang’s expressions darken. In the middle of nowhere, a group of men, and a woman screaming—there was no way this was something good.
They weren’t very close with Wang Ming to begin with—definitely not enough to know him well—so both Lu Weiyi and Li Zhuang took a step back, expressionless as they looked at the five men in front of them.
Wang Ming frowned and said to Lu Weiyi, “Since we know each other, feel free to rest here. We don’t have any supplies worth stealing anyway. Let’s not get any ideas. I’ve got something to do, so I won’t stick around to chat.”
“…Alright,” Lu Weiyi nodded and turned to leave.
As soon as he turned, Wang Ming told the others to keep watch and jogged back into the compound.
On the way back, Lu Weiyi and Li Zhuang didn’t say much. In the apocalypse, nothing was really surprising anymore. When they returned, they directed the group to get off at the chosen spot and did a quick perimeter check.
The house by the roadside had no courtyard and looked like it had once been a convenience store. All the goods were gone, leaving only bare shelves.
