Chapter 188: Su Yan’s Plea for Help
They originally planned to throw those shelves out to make room for sleeping, but Zhuang Mingxu stopped them, looking intrigued as he wheeled over, gesturing with his hands.
“Brother Mingxu, what are we doing with this?” Bai Miao asked as she stacked a few shelves together to clear space for bedding.
“Put them in Xiaoyi’s space to store things. Otherwise, he’ll just toss stuff around randomly, and when he can’t find it later, he’ll just tell you… ‘It’s gone,’” Zhuang Mingxu smiled as he spoke, knowing how careless Lu Weiyi could be.
The storage racks in Lu Weiyi’s space had all been designed by Zhuang Mingxu before, maximizing every inch of space. Now that the space had expanded, the old shelves weren’t enough, and the newly acquired supplies were likely being dumped in haphazardly.
“What’s gone?” Lu Weiyi asked as he came back from patrolling.
“Take out all the supplies you’ve collected—we’ll organize them. Since we’ve got shelves here, might as well use them,” Zhuang Mingxu said instead of answering.
“Mutant fish! Brother Weiyi, come check out the mutant fish!” Bai Miao called excitedly, drawing the others over as well.
Lu Weiyi directly pulled out the container of mutant fish from his space. Though the container was large, the mutant fish were several times bigger than regular ones. The largest was a full meter long. Ning Yuan had greedily taken over half of them, but there were still more than a hundred packed tightly inside—enough to trigger trypophobia in some.
“They’re still alive—no wonder they’re mutant fish!” Ning Yuan squeezed in excitedly.
“What kind are these? They don’t look the same,” someone said. It had been so long since they’d had fish that even the fishy smell wasn’t unpleasant, and everyone gathered around.
“Grass carp, silver carp, black carp—the usual rural types,” Xiong Jie said.
“Can they reproduce? I asked Tao An earlier—he said mutant fish breed pretty fast,” Ning Yuan added. He had been thinking of breeding them and had personally caught samples of each species.
“This… should be possible, right?” Xiong Jie looked at Xi Shi, who also shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
“Then let’s separate them and let nature take its course—who knows, maybe they’ll start reproducing,” Wu Yue concluded, then asked Lu Weiyi, “Do you have any containers to separate them? That way we can kill and eat them as needed.”
Lu Weiyi frowned and searched his space but didn’t find anything. “No.”
Zhuang Mingxu smiled helplessly. “Third row from the north-facing sunny side, bottom shelf—there are fish tanks there.” The space was organized with the peach tree as a reference point, giving Zhuang Mingxu a way to define north and south. With that clue, Lu Weiyi could quickly understand where to look.
That really proved the saying: if you can’t find it, it doesn’t exist.
Lu Weiyi counted and pulled out a huge fish tank from the corner, showing no embarrassment at all despite being corrected. As always, if he wasn’t embarrassed, others would be.
Inside the several-meter-long tank were nine slightly smaller tanks nested together.
“Why do you even have this in your space?” Even Ning Yuan and the others were surprised.
“Planned to use them to replace broken window glass,” Lu Weiyi replied. He always followed Zhuang Mingxu’s advice from their previous life: if the conditions allow, take whatever you find. That’s also why, even though his space was large, it filled up quickly with all kinds of random things.
“Forward thinking. Let’s separate the tanks and add some water—these are freshwater fish,” Ning Yuan gave a thumbs up, rolled up his sleeves, and was ready to start catching mutant fish.
“Do these things bite?” Xu Sa and Liu Rui, while separating and cleaning the tanks, asked.
“Nope, they’re vegetarians. Things like corn kernels, leafy greens—they eat that. Supposedly have strong vitality and are really easy to raise,” Ning Yuan said, having already looked into all this. With a dozen people working, they quickly separated the entire container of fish into different tanks, and even then it still looked like a lot.
“It’s a miracle Tao An didn’t kill you—he must have a good temper,” Wu Yue laughed, shaking water off his hands and teasing Ning Yuan.
“I was scared too. That guy looks gentle but has a deadly core. That’s why I ran as soon as I could,” Ning Yuan replied, then turned to Xi Shi. “Brother Xi, let’s have fish tomorrow? We had this pickled fish dish there and I swear I almost swallowed my tongue, it was so good.”
“Mhm, very tasty,” Dean chimed in. Though he couldn’t eat much, even a little was enough.
“Cooking fish takes effort. We’ll need to wait until we have enough time,” Xi Shi said.
“Then let’s do it when we get to the Xiangning Base,” Ning Yuan replied.
“Alright, done admiring, time to put them away and get to work,” Zhuang Mingxu pointed at the shelves. “Put the tanks over here and let’s organize the spices Ning Yuan brought back.”
Lu Weiyi responded, packed up all the fish tanks into his space, then dumped out all the spices that had been hastily thrown in.
“Whoa, Ning Yuan, you really went all out—Laoganma, Doubanjiang, you brought back crates of the stuff?” Xu Sa looked at the boxes of spicy sauces and side dishes with awe.
“You flatter me,” Ning Yuan grinned as he organized and placed them one by one onto the labeled shelves.
Just as the group was bustling with activity, Li Zhuang, who was keeping watch, suddenly shouted, “Someone’s coming!”
Lu Weiyi quickly put away the remaining scattered items. Looking down the road, they saw three people approaching in the dim light. With a bit of squinting, they could barely make out the figures—one was Wang Ming, one was Su Yan, and the third was unfamiliar.
“Hey bro, I’m looking for Lu Weiyi—can you call him for me?” Wang Ming shouted from a distance.
“What’s the matter?” Lu Weiyi walked out with his group.
“Lu Weiyi, I’m Su Yan,” Su Yan said directly, “Someone in my team is injured. Do you guys have a doctor and some medicine? I’d like to borrow them—I’ll return the favor when we get back to the base.”
He didn’t have much of a personal relationship with Lu Weiyi. Back then, when he asked for help, he had paid well, and the deal was settled fairly. Now asking for help again made him a bit uneasy.
Lu Weiyi hesitated for a moment—not because he didn’t want to help, but because they weren’t particularly familiar, and he had to ensure his people’s safety.
“Lend it to them,” Zhuang Mingxu said as he rolled out in his wheelchair, standing beside Lu Weiyi.
Lin Yimu followed, nodded to Lu Weiyi, then turned to Su Yan, “Su Yan, long time no see.”
“…Captain? Zhuang Mingxu?” Su Yan was surprised, but then it made sense. Back then, Li Qing had mentioned that Lu Weiyi was Zhuang Mingxu’s lover, and that he was chasing down healing-type ability users to heal Zhuang Mingxu’s legs. Seeing Zhuang Mingxu now, it looked like it had worked.
“Injured?” Lin Yimu stepped forward to greet him.
“I’m okay, but my wife is badly hurt, and some of the others are injured too. Can we borrow help? I promise we’ll return the favor,” Su Yan said, clearly more relaxed now that he saw familiar faces.
“What kind of injury? What do you need?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“External wounds—needs debridement, stitching, that kind of thing,” Su Yan replied.
Lu Weiyi looked at Gu Qingyue, who nodded. Just as Lu Weiyi was about to say he’d go along, Su Yan added, “Actually, it’s better if all of you come. This area… isn’t exactly safe.”
“Hm? What is it?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“Mutant bees. A lot of them. We were attacked by them,” Su Yan said.
The others looked at Lu Weiyi. He weighed the truth of Su Yan’s words, then assessed their respective strengths before nodding.
They quickly drove over to Su Yan’s camp.
The courtyard of the township government was small. Three cars and two trucks were parked inside, and with the two vehicles Lu Weiyi’s group brought, most of the yard was filled.
Four or five people inside were patrolling cautiously, their eyes scanning corners—not the usual alertness against zombies.
Lu Weiyi led Gu Qingyue and followed Su Yan inside, while Wang Ming guided the others to rest.
They entered the main government hall—spacious and mostly empty—where two people sat behind a desk. Upon seeing Su Yan, they greeted him and eyed Gu Qingyue and Lu Weiyi curiously. Passing through a row of offices, they reached a hallway where five or six people stood. Some were entering and exiting several rooms.
Su Yan led them into the nearest room. From outside, faint moaning could be heard. When they pushed open the door, inside was a small bed with a woman lying face down, seemingly in her twenties.
One side of her exposed cheek and arm were covered with red, swollen, shiny blisters. At the highest swollen spot, something appeared to be stuck inside, and even in her sleep, she moaned softly.
By the bedside stood a boy with a youthful face. When he heard them come in, he turned around. His eyes were red and clearly tear-streaked. “Brother-in-law,” he called out, then looked toward Gu Qingyue and Lu Weiyi.
Su Yan nodded and explained to Gu Qingyue, “This is my wife, Zhou Yan, and this is her brother, Zhou Cong. She was injured by mutant bees—both bites and stings. The wounds are badly swollen and very painful to touch. At first, she was conscious, but now she’s unconscious and screams whenever she’s touched. Can you do something to treat her?”
Gu Qingyue stepped forward to examine the wounds. Indeed, something was embedded inside—more than just bee stingers, it seemed. “Debridement is necessary, but…” He gently touched Zhou Yan’s cheek. The unconscious Zhou Yan appeared to suffer immense pain, her whole body trembled, and her voice choked with cries.
“I was going to hold her still to clean the wounds, but she screamed too loudly,” Su Yan admitted, hesitating, after all, she was a girl and his own wife.
“Give her an anesthetic injection,” Gu Qingyue said, looking at Lu Weiyi. “I need to perform a simple debridement surgery. Judging by her condition, these mutant bees must be poisonous. She’ll need an intravenous injection of other medicines as well.”
“Do you have anesthetics?” Su Yan asked Lu Weiyi hopefully, while Zhou Cong looked on eagerly.
Lu Weiyi nodded.
Gu Qingyue named several medicines and surgical tools needed. Without Zhuang Mingxu around, Lu Weiyi searched for a while before gathering everything.
“You all go outside first,” Gu Qingyue said after administering the anesthetic. Fearing the bloodiness of the procedure would be too much for the family, he asked them to leave and told Lu Weiyi, “Call me if you need anything.”
