Chapter 191: Su Yan Pretends to be Poor
While Lu Weiyi and his group were eating, Xu Sen was thinking about how to get this information. The squad was poor now, but only in supplies; crystal cores—essentially currency—were carried on their person. Five thousand was a lot but not unaffordable.
He wasn’t sure if the info was true. Also, if he paid for it alone, he didn’t know whether Lu Weiyi would tell Su Yan privately, which would make his money spent worthless.
After much thought, he decided to discuss it with the base’s major factions.
Besides the Xu family, there was Su Yan from the police, the Wolf Warriors squad led by Gao Tianpeng, and the dark-night king Meng Da, who was somewhat childish.
Base management was imperfect. The four factions occasionally clashed, but external threats weren’t resolved either. Yet things hadn’t escalated to a standoff.
Xu Sen had people notify them, and soon all parties arrived.
“Young Master Xu, we’re eating now. Is this so urgent you have to say it now?” Meng Da complained before even entering.
“Is this about upgrades?” Su Yan asked after hearing Wang Ming mention it. Xu Sen then invited them in, and it seemed it was the only topic.
Unlike others who came with men, Gao Tianpeng had a young girl with him who looked delicate. He raised an eyebrow, glanced at Xu Sen and Su Yan, and asked, “What upgrades?”
Xu Sen invited the three parties to sit, then said, “Someone passed me info on how to survive upgrades, but it costs five thousand crystal cores. I wanted to ask if everyone wants to buy in together.”
“How reliable?” Gao Tianpeng squinted.
Xu Sen glanced at Su Yan. “Not certain, but at least 80%.”
“Feel? Ha…” Meng Da scoffed. “I think it’s not reliable.”
Xu Sen ignored him and looked at Su Yan, the easiest to get free info from. “Chief Su, what do you think? Want to cooperate?”
“Sure,” Su Yan answered promptly. Right now, the various squads were short on supplies, but they weren’t lacking crystal cores. Each person could only absorb a limited amount daily, and most of the cores were kept in circulation.
Even if he had to pay the five thousand crystal cores himself, it wouldn’t be too difficult, especially with joint contributions. Of course, he could buy it alone, but with such sensitive information, it was risky to keep it secret; better to cooperate openly.
Gao Tianpeng looked at the two of them again and considered, “Do you know the person providing this information?”
Su Yan and Xu Sen nodded.
“I’ll think about it. After all, our squad is a bit short on funds,” Gao Tianpeng said with a smile, feeling no shame about it.
“What about the authenticity? What if it’s fake?” Meng Da looked at the three who had already implicitly agreed to cooperate, clearly anxious.
Fang He, who was following Meng Da, stopped him from making more noise and said, “Even if it’s someone we know, we still need to verify the info’s authenticity. It’s not the fake info we fear, but the harm that fake info might cause. What if the experiment ends up causing damage…?”
Looking at Xu Sen and Su Yan’s expressions, he pondered their closeness and continued, “We can pool money to buy the info, but asking them to verify whether it’s true shouldn’t be too much. Why don’t we all discuss it together?”
Verify? How? Have someone upgrade?
Su Yan and Xu Sen both thought it was unreliable but didn’t voice disagreement since they were now partners. The four parties then set off in a grand procession toward Lu Weiyi’s place. Along the way, Su Yan quietly told Wang Ming to bring more people.
Outside the base, there was only one place where people stayed. As they came out, they saw two trucks parked around a large field tent, surrounded by a rope with clothes hanging on it to dry. They could even hear the washing machine humming.
Everyone exchanged looks.
Finally, Su Yan led and called out from a distance, “Captain? Lu Weiyi?”
“Big Brother Su!” Lu Xi was scrubbing clothes in a large basin. Hearing the voice, he looked up and shouted inside, “Brother, Brother, Big Brother Su Yan is here to see you!”
“How’s your wife doing?” Lin Yimu, who was unloading clothes from the washing machine, asked without stopping.
“She’s awake now, thanks to the medicine Weiyi brought out. I don’t have those drugs here. I wanted to ask, captain, if you’re short on anything? Whatever I have, I can give,” since the hospital’s medicine was insufficient, it was Lu Weiyi’s own money that saved them.
“No problem, the young master said it was a gift. We left in a hurry last time and didn’t thank you properly,” Lin Yimu said, then called inside, “Bai Miao, any more dirty clothes over there?”
“No more. Just a bunch of smelly shoes. Whose are these? They stink so bad! Hurry up and claim them and wash them yourselves. I’m about to pass out,” Bai Miao called, covering his nose.
“Then I won’t be polite,” Su Yan said, now short on supplies, he didn’t bother with the big head (referring to someone). “Captain, are you guys… doing a big cleanup?”
“The young master said you’d be here this afternoon and wouldn’t leave, so we took the chance to wash the dirty clothes piled up recently,” Lin Yimu explained. At that moment, Lu Weiyi came out pushing Zhuang Mingxu.
Seeing the group behind Su Yan, he understood and asked, “You want to buy it together?”
“Is the information with you?” Su Yan asked before answering, while Meng Da studied the group and asked.
Lu Weiyi nodded.
Gao Tianpeng quietly sized up the group too. A wave of energy fluctuations passed through the group; all were developed by mental-type abilities, and almost every ability user noticed. They glanced at each other; seeing Lu Weiyi said nothing, they silently pretended not to know.
“We’ve decided to buy the info, but Captain Meng doesn’t trust its authenticity and wants to verify it,” Xu Sen’s words shifted the blame to Meng Da as the main instigator.
Meng Da didn’t notice this at all, but Fang He’s eyes flickered, saying nothing.
“How to verify? Have us upgrade you?” Lu Weiyi gave a cold glance at the people present, paused, then said, “Sure, one crystal core only. You decide which team member will be the test subject.”
“Why don’t you just steal it?” Meng Da voiced what everyone was thinking.
Even the lone squad member thought it was ruthless, but since the benefits were for themselves, no one objected. There was a faint excitement.
Wu Yue snorted, crossed his arms, stood behind Lu Weiyi, and sneered, “Can’t pay? Then get lost.”
“Damn!” Meng Da almost acted, and people around began to gather. Before conflict could start, Su Yan stopped him.
“If you want to buy, speak properly. If not, leave immediately,” Su Yan said coldly. Then everyone noticed many ability users standing nearby, all from the police.
Clearly, they were here for protection.
Gao Tianpeng raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Xu Sen remained calm, as if expected. Fang He caught Meng Da and apologized on his behalf: “Sorry, sorry, our captain is impulsive.”
Impulsive? They thought he was just an idiot.
The group thought quietly but said nothing. Lu Weiyi looked at the others and said, “We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Decide by tonight.” Then he ignored everyone else.
Meng Da was displeased and immediately left with his people. Su Yan stayed behind to chat with Lin Yimu, while Xu Sen greeted Zhuang Mingxu and left with Gao Tianpeng.
“Chief Su seems to have a good relationship with them,” Gao Tianpeng suddenly said on the way.
“There are captains and comrades from Chief Su’s police unit inside,” Xu Sen smiled like a mask, implying, “So no conflict could happen.”
“Oh?” Gao Tianpeng pondered as the two walked back to the base. “Young Master Xu, do you think the five thousand crystal cores are worth it?”
The Wolf Warriors and Dark Night Kings squads had risen after the flood and didn’t store crystal cores as well as the deeply-rooted Xu family or the police. Neither side could easily afford five thousand cores. To maximize profit, they had to find another way.
Seeing that things weren’t working with Su Yan, they thought to test Xu Sen’s attitude.
Xu Sen’s gentle expression gave nothing away. He replied calmly, “If it can successfully upgrade, then it’s worth it.”
“Time is limited. I’ll go back and discuss with the squad first. Captain Gao, please proceed as you wish,” Xu Sen naturally realized Gao Tianpeng was probing for cooperation. But facing Lu Weiyi and his group, he instinctively wanted to avoid conflict.
Before the apocalypse, his abilities were inferior to Zhuang Mingxu’s; after the apocalypse, he even suffered losses at Lu Weiyi’s hands. Now that they held the secret to upgrading, the priority would definitely be their own people. Attacking without knowing the opponent’s strength would be foolish.
After bidding farewell, Gao Tianpeng leisurely walked back to his residential area. The girl following him caught up and lowered her voice to ask, “Qingya, did you hear any news?”
Lin Qingya frowned and shook her head. “Just trivial things, nothing important.”
“Try going again now,” Gao Tianpeng said.
Lin Qingya nodded and slipped into the crowd, disappearing shortly after.
*
Outside the base, Su Yan shamelessly complained to Lin Yimu, “Captain, this flood really wiped out all my resources. You don’t know—so many supplies bought with the brothers’ lives were just swept away. It breaks my heart.”
Lin Yimu listened amused as he continued his act.
“I barely got my footing in the base, and now I have to start over. Look at that Meng ‘two-brain’ from earlier. Before, he didn’t dare fart in front of me. Now he dares to confront me, even openly stealing my supplies outside. My life right now… sigh.” Su Yan wiped his face and sighed heavily.
Wu Yue and Ning Yuan finished cleaning their shoes. Li Zhuang, who was sitting on the truck’s cab scanning around, tossed some sunflower seeds over to Lin Yimu. The two stood opposite Su Yan with slight smirks, cracking seeds as they said, “Come on, continue. Let’s see how much the field camp can lose face.”
Is there Chaper 190?