Chapter 205: Revenge
Lu Weiyi paused, not saying anything.
Though he had survived the apocalypse, his experience was limited. Retaliating was one thing, but actively killing was still something he hesitated about.
“They have B-level ability users similar to ours, and those able to upgrade are probably determined people. If they attack us, it’ll be a tough fight. Our numbers are few. Facing Liu Dali is like facing a whole base,” Antonio explained. As someone loyal to Lu Weiyi, Antonio avoided dissent and tried to analyze the situation clearly.
In situations like this before, Lu Weiyi usually looked to Zhuang Mingxu for guidance. But now, with just the three of them, he habitually sought support and finally looked at Li Zhuang.
Li Zhuang raised an eyebrow, pulled out a box of cigars from somewhere, tucked one in his mouth, and said, “He’s right. Passive resistance puts us at a disadvantage.”
“We’ve handled that now. We can’t leave tomorrow,” Lu Weiyi said.
“Then we finish up and leave immediately. We’ll take all their supplies with us. A small place like this won’t have enough resources. They’ll have to look for a new location, and their base will naturally collapse,” Li Zhuang said even more ruthlessly than Antonio. “At worst, we’ll take a detour—a big one.”
Antonio silently gave a thumbs-up to Li Zhuang for the large haul of supplies.
“Think about those waiting for us to come back. Ai Yi is still young and can’t afford to lose us,” Li Zhuang said finally, delivering a strong argument. Lu Weiyi, who was still hesitating, suddenly became resolute.
There are always some people you must protect at all costs.
“Then let’s take care of them all,” Lu Weiyi said.
“Then Liu Dali doesn’t deserve to live,” Li Zhuang said. “I’ll deal with him.”
“No need,” Lu Weiyi said quietly. Killing quietly was easy; he simply didn’t want to do it before. Now that the decision was made, he wasn’t the hesitant type. Manipulating the little green twig, he directly absorbed the remaining people in the villa into his spatial pocket.
The time in the space pocket froze as they were placed inside; the few people were still asleep.
*
The villa area where Liu Dali lived seemed specially chosen. Centered on his villa were four other villas arranged around it. Another eight villas formed an outer ring, almost completely enclosing the middle villa. Two teams of ability users patrolled the courtyard. Without Lu Weiyi’s mental shield, it would be hard to get inside.
The three circled the villa and absorbed all 82 people there, including patrols. Some were even asleep and were quietly removed from their places.
They moved past several warehouses without alerting anyone, arriving at the base’s weapons research lab.
Though called a research lab, it was actually an underground facility. The two floors above were probably living quarters.
“These research labs always hide underground, clearly because they want to keep things secret,” Antonio said, feeling like a mere tool on this trip with Lu Weiyi. He swaggered forward carelessly, without even watching the surroundings. “Do we go in?”
“Yes. All the data is on a woman named Zhang Qian. We need to find her,” Lu Weiyi said.
“I’ll go alone. I feel useless following you. Give me some explosives,” Antonio said, glancing at Li Zhuang. Li Zhuang immediately understood and cooperated, “And a walkie-talkie.”
“Explosives…” Lu Weiyi pursed his lips but still gave them to him. “Be careful not to blow yourself up.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in half an hour,” Antonio said, taking the gear and leaving.
Lu Weiyi and Li Zhuang stood in an inconspicuous corner. Lu Weiyi manipulated the little green twig to explore underground.
There were three basement levels. When built, earth ability users had hollowed out the area to create rooms with no bricks or stone, just metal beams overhead to prevent collapse. It looked like a ramshackle dangerous building.
All kinds of familiar and unfamiliar large and small instruments were scattered everywhere. Lu Weiyi collected them one by one with the twig. Nearby, the murderous Antonio was surrounded by flying knives, killing instantly on sight. Blood splattered on the walls and floors. Lu Weiyi glanced briefly and quickly looked away.
After gathering all the instruments and data, Lu Weiyi retracted the twig.
“Scared?” Li Zhuang teased, noticing Lu Weiyi’s grim expression.
Lu Weiyi pursed his lips and said after a moment, “Many people are innocent.”
“When an avalanche comes, no snowflake is innocent. If the weapons they’re researching are put to use, the truly innocent will be the dead,” Li Zhuang said. “He probably thought you wouldn’t take action, so he handled it himself.” After all, leaving these things to others was unsettling.
Lu Weiyi nodded. When Antonio went down alone, he had guessed what would happen. Now, he just felt the brutality was excessive but didn’t feel soft.
Having lived through two apocalyptic eras, he had seen countless vile things and long ago discarded useless softness.
Exactly half an hour later, Antonio came out carrying a woman who was unconscious, without a drop of blood on him. If not for Lu Weiyi glimpsing through the twig’s vision, one would think Antonio just went for a stroll.
“Zhang Qian,” Antonio said proactively.
Lu Weiyi wrapped her in mental energy and found a spatial pocket near her chest—about twenty square meters—filled mostly with data except some food. This confirmed she was the one.
After taking her into space, the three toured Liu Mo’s territory. Rather than killing them, Lu Weiyi only took their space, supplies, and nullified their abilities.
In less than two hours, the three returned fully loaded.
*
“Who’s there?” Gu Qingji, on night watch, discovered them as they approached. The mutant ivy had grown around the residential area, and no one could approach unnoticed.
“We’re leaving tonight,” Antonio replied. “Where are the others?”
“All awake, just waiting for you,” Gu Qingji said, wiping dirt as he walked toward the tent. Inside the pitch-black tent with no lights, people sat or leaned together—none asleep.
“Leaving now?” Ning Yuan asked. “Not waiting for daylight?”
“The supply warehouse’s half of it’s been raided. Let’s get out fast,” Antonio said excitedly, clearly pleased with their haul.
“How do we get out?” Wu Yue asked.
“Follow the road to the Capital. The next stop is Shangyang City. We’ll go the other way, return the way we came, pick up the others, then detour around without going to the Shangyang base. We’ll take mountain roads around Anjiang City—it’s not on the the Capital route. No one will expect us to go there,” Li Zhuang explained their plan to everyone.
“Just a weak question—are we being chased?” Xu Sa’s gaze shifted across the three, finally settling on Lu Weiyi, who seemed the most normal among them.
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” Liu Dali’s group went missing, and the first thing this would trigger was internal power struggles among the lower ranks. But without supplies, wouldn’t everyone unite in pursuit?
The group quickly arranged their seats. Under the watchful eyes of various factions, two vehicles quietly left the base, leaving only empty tents behind.
About forty minutes later, they arrived at the place where Zhuang Mingxu and the others were hiding.
“Zhuang Mingxu!” As soon as they were within walkie-talkie range, Lu Weiyi called out immediately.
“Xiao Yi?” Zhuang Mingxu’s voice came through right away, completely awake—probably hadn’t slept at all. “What happened?”
“We’ve handled it. We’re leaving immediately,” Lu Weiyi said, controlling the little green twig to quickly dispatch zombies at the building’s entrance.
“Why so many zombies? Are they okay?” Wu Yue got out to help.
Antonio and Li Zhuang exchanged looks but said nothing. Finally, Lu Weiyi explained, “I spilled some blood on the ground when I left.”
“…And now it’s blocking our way,” Xu Sa struck with a lightning bolt, and a circle of zombies immediately collapsed to the ground. After finishing the task, Gu Qingji used the mutant ivy to harvest the zombie cores.
By the time they finished clearing the zombies outside, the sealed door downstairs had been opened and their things packed up. Xiong Jie cautiously surveyed the corridor and asked Lu Weiyi, who had just come down, “Shall we leave now?”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi said, storing everything they couldn’t carry in the spatial pocket, crouching down to carry Zhuang Mingxu on his back. He glanced at Lin Yimu, who was holding the sleeping Zhuang Ai Yi, and the group hurried upstairs and into the truck Lu Weiyi had just brought out.
There was only one truck. Lu Weiyi took the wheel and started driving. Watching the road behind, Zhuang Mingxu finally asked, “What’s going on?”
Most followed orders and didn’t know the details, so they all looked at the only one in the vehicle who knew the situation—Antonio.
Antonio sat cross-legged on the bed holding Dean, tying himself to the “safety rope” by the bedpost, first reminding, “Buckle up. We’re running for our lives.”
Everyone quickly secured themselves and looked back at him.
Antonio dramatically acted out the three of them sneaking away, then summarized, “That’s how it is—we have to leave quietly.”
“What about their research data? Did you take it all?” Lu Xi was most concerned about this.
“Oh, of course. Your brother moved all the instruments he could find, and brought along your researcher classmate,” Antonio said, his face flushed with excitement like he was drunk.
“Her?” Lu Xi had no interest in the living, especially those who had once betrayed and abandoned him.
“We also got revenge for you. All three of them have been turned into ordinary people,” Antonio waved his hand. The truck jolted sharply, and he hurriedly held onto Dean.
Everyone in the truck was jostled. Sleeping Zhuang Ai Yi hit the truck wall and woke up crying softly.
“I never cared about them anyway,” Lu Xi said as he reached to hold Zhuang Ai Yi and gently rocked and soothed him to sleep again.
“You guys are way too bold. Weren’t there a dozen or so B-level ability users?” Xu Sa thought it was dangerous they went quietly to handle it.
