Chapter 204: Killing and Looting
After they went upstairs, Xiong Jie immediately sealed the door with an earthen wall.
Upstairs, Lu Weiyi also took some animal blood from his space and scattered it in the hallway, then drove back to the base.
By the time they returned, it was already eleven at night. The temporary residence had no lights around; except for two people on night watch outside, the others sat in the tents cloaked in darkness, waiting silently for their return.
“When do we leave?” Li Zhuang asked.
“We leave right away.” As they approached the base, Lu Weiyi stored the van back in space. The three of them stealthily approached the base and chose a spot near the wall. Li Zhuang used his ability to build several steps. With Lu Weiyi’s mental shield as protection, the three entered the base openly.
“Where to first?” Antonio asked Lu Weiyi.
“To find Liu Dali.” After all, he was the main force, Lu Weiyi replied.
There was no curfew inside the base at night. The drunken revelry was in full swing: neon lights flashing everywhere, women’s laughter and men’s debauchery—it was like a carnival amid the apocalypse.
Antonio led the way, and soon the three arrived outside the villa where Liu Dali lived.
“Have you figured out what to do?” Li Zhuang glanced at the armed patrols inside and the well-lit area with no blind spots, then asked Lu Weiyi.
“Give him a dose of tranquilizer,” Lu Weiyi said as he extended the ever-growing little green twig to scout ahead.
He had already thought it through on the way: quietly administer a tranquilizer to Liu Dali, then smash his ability core. With the tranquilizer effect, Liu Dali wouldn’t feel pain, and when he wakes, without using his ability, he wouldn’t notice it’s gone. By the time he tries to use it, they would have long left.
If he thinks ordinary people are evolutionary failures, then let him experience failure himself. “But first, we need to find out where they store their supplies. We can’t come all this way for nothing.” Leaving everything to Liu Dong would just let him reap all the benefits.
“How will you ask? Torture will surely be discovered tomorrow, right?” Antonio asked.
“A mountain man has his own tricks,” Lu Weiyi raised an eyebrow. Knowing there might be B-level mental-type inside, he avoided broad mental scans.
Mental users are very sensitive to mental power and can quickly detect it, which could expose them. “The patrol has left, let’s go in.”
Liu Dali lived in a separated villa district, very easy to find. The central building was his. It was unclear how scared he was of death, but the entire complex was inhabited and patrolled by ability users, seemingly all serving him.
Only the central villa had wall lights on. The little green twig scouted around and returned. Two people lived on the first floor, looking like servants. Liu Dali lived on the second floor with a woman. On the left and right were men who appeared to be his guards.
Lu Weiyi briefed the others and told Antonio, “You cover here, Li Zhuang and I will go up.”
Antonio gave an OK sign and turned to watch the surroundings.
Li Zhuang climbed directly to the balcony outside Liu Dali’s bedroom window and looked down at Lu Weiyi. With no choice, he used his ability to build steps for Lu Weiyi to climb up.
Lu Weiyi supported their mental shield and told Li Zhuang to open the window. “Go in and knock that woman out.”
Li Zhuang nodded. As he entered, he immediately attacked the woman sleeping on the bed. Meanwhile, Lu Weiyi warned the little green twig to watch the ability users in the rooms on both sides and began controlling Liu Dali with his mental power.
mental users affect the mental domain of people. High-level mentals can control others’ thoughts and actions. Lu Weiyi was only A-level now and couldn’t fully control him, but since Liu Dali was still asleep, he could at least influence him.
Once the mental ability took effect, he woke Liu Dali. Li Zhuang stood nearby, alert and ready to support.
Liu Dali woke up looking dazed and confused, clearly something was wrong.
“Where is the wealthy squad’s supply warehouse?” Lu Weiyi asked quietly.
So direct, even Li Zhuang was surprised. Liu Dali didn’t hesitate and named several locations. Lu Weiyi pulled out their pre-drawn map from space and handed it to Li Zhuang to mark the locations while asking about the guards and defenses around the warehouses.
From this, it was clear Liu Dali was truly the mastermind behind the wealthy squad. He knew the warehouse locations and personnel arrangements of the four subordinate squads and even who controlled smaller warehouses in detail.
Li Zhuang took a pen and quickly marked under the streetlight outside the villa.
“Who is in charge of the weapons research institute? Where is the research data stored?” Lu Weiyi asked after covering the warehouses, focusing on tonight’s objective.
“Zhang Qian. The data is carried with her in her space,” Liu Dali answered briefly, apparently something he paid attention to.
“What weapons have you developed?” Lu Weiyi asked again.
“None,” Liu Dali replied.
“Do you still have any jade stones? Where are they stored?” Controlling another ability user consumed Lu Weiyi’s mental energy heavily, and feeling the drain, he asked anxiously.
“In the basement under the villa,” Liu Dali answered.
“Where do you keep your spatial jade stones?” Lu Weiyi asked again.
“In the safe in the basement,” Liu Dali replied.
“What abilities do the two people next to the room have? What level?” Lu Weiyi asked last. Actually, he wanted to know the location of the mental ability user. Later, he figured mental-type usually stay close to those in power, so he asked this way.
“A B-level mental and a B-level earth ability user,” Liu Dali answered.
When he finished speaking, Lu Weiyi quickly stepped forward and injected a syringe of tranquilizer into him. Watching Liu Dali’s eyes slowly close, Lu Weiyi exhaled in relief.
He took out a crystal core from space, quickly absorbed it to replenish his depleted mental energy, then used his ability on Liu Dali’s forehead. After a moment, he locked onto Liu’s core and crushed it.
This was the second person whose ability Lu Weiyi had nullified, after Ji Jin.
After completing these actions, Lu Weiyi nodded at Li Zhuang, about to speak, when he suddenly sensed a strong mental attack sweeping over. He quickly pointed to the adjacent room and made a throat-slitting gesture, then sent the replenished mental energy to attack the ability user next door.
Li Zhuang received the signal and immediately used his ability to create a door in the wall between rooms and entered.
Inside was a middle-aged man. While struggling with Lu Weiyi’s mental attack, he was surprised to see Li Zhuang enter. Just as he was about to call for help, Li Zhuang’s ability struck again. The man hastily withdrew a thread of mental energy to form a shield.
His ability was weaker than Lu Weiyi’s, and now with Li Zhuang attacking, during his momentary hesitation, Lu Weiyi’s little green twig quickly moved in and bound him. As he struggled, an invisible mental blade slashed across his neck. The man’s eyes widened in shock and he barely twitched twice before Lu Weiyi swiftly took him into space without a drop of blood spilled.
Lu Weiyi raised his chin toward the window, signaling it was time to leave. After Li Zhuang tidied the disheveled bed, the two hurried downstairs to meet Antonio.
“How did it go?” Antonio, who had sensed the mental fluctuations upstairs but hadn’t gone up himself, asked. After all, mental power is useless for defense except to kill someone.
Li Zhuang nodded. Lu Weiyi sent the little green twig deep under the soil to investigate the basement Liu Dali mentioned. Soon it reported back: about 200 square meters under the villa was a basement, but made entirely of metal. The twig couldn’t penetrate it.
“There’s a metal basement below. Make a hole,” Lu Weiyi whispered to Antonio.
The basement had an infrared anti-theft system. Using such tech in the apocalypse showed that valuable things were definitely stored there.
The 200-square-meter basement had a corner piled with various crystal cores, looking almost worthless as they were just heaped on the floor like a small mountain. Lu Weiyi guessed there were tens of thousands of them. For a small county base, storing so many must have been the result of everyone’s combined efforts.
Nearby were some top-quality jade antiques, clearly very old with no modern workmanship. Among them, Lu Weiyi recognized one: a phoenix-patterned bronze cauldron from the Yin-Shang period. It had sold at auction in the U.S. for about 200 million yuan, reportedly bought by a Chinese collector. He never expected to see it here.
Truly extravagant!
Lu Weiyi felt impressed and mercilessly stored them into space. Following the little green twig, he then found neatly stacked gold bars occupying half the room, shining brilliantly. Lu Weiyi understood this well.
Though supplies were most important in the apocalypse, those who had plenty needed to plan carefully to store items valuable after the apocalypse stabilized. Gold and antiques from a golden age in chaotic times—Liu Dali was indeed forward-thinking.
Between the gold and the walls was a sizable safe. Lu Weiyi couldn’t open it and wasn’t sure if it held the spatial jade stones. He stored it in space and handed it to Antonio, who was an earth ability user, to open.
Antonio, now unfazed by surprises, calmly examined the suddenly appearing safe and used his ability to make a hole beside it.
Only two pendant-sized jade stones were inside. After Lu Weiyi collected them, the three carefully left the villa.
“Where next?” Antonio asked.
Lu Weiyi looked at Li Zhuang, who took out the “map” he had filled in and pointed to a street ahead. “Turn here. That’s Liu Nan from the Second Squad’s warehouse.”
“A warehouse? Gathering supplies?” Antonio perked up immediately.
Li Zhuang looked to Lu Weiyi.
“We emptied two from Liu Dong’s squad, one each from Liu Xi and Liu Nan, and took everything from Liu Mo,” Lu Weiyi said. At least they worked for Liu Dong, who should pay them. As for Liu Mo, the matter with Lu Xi wouldn’t just be let go without some price paid.
“This complex must be where Liu Dali’s ability user subordinates live. Should we strike first under the cover of night…” Antonio made a throat-slitting gesture.
