Chapter 206: The Complete Destruction of Dali
“We’re outnumbered. If they attack, we’ll definitely suffer,” Zhuang Mingxu understood their approach. If it were his decision, he’d choose the same plan. “It’s the least damaging method.”
Antonio gave a high-five to show he appreciated someone’s agreement.
“Do they know you left?” Lin Yimu asked.
“We left quietly, but someone’s been watching us. Not sure how long we can hide it, so it’s best to hurry,” Xu Sa replied.
With unknown threats looming, no one could sleep. They chatted casually to pass the time, keeping an eye on the surroundings and the rear.
Around 7 a.m., just at dawn, several consecutive explosions woke everyone up. Various factions immediately mobilized.
“What’s going on?” Liu Dong stood at his doorstep holding his wife, He Mei, watching He Kai who was braking hard to stop.
“The lab exploded. Everyone inside died in the blast,” He Kai said after greeting He Mei, panting.
“Lab?” Liu Dong frowned. “What was being researched there?” He didn’t even remember there was such a place in the base.
He Kai shook his head and said, “He Jun works under Liu Mo. His girlfriend was a researcher there. Before the apocalypse, they worked on weapon manufacturing.”
“Weapons?” Liu Dong looked at He Kai in surprise.
He Kai nodded and continued, “I asked people working inside. There was explosives and a lot of white phosphorus. After the blast, some were affected by the white phosphorus.”
“White phosphorus, explosives…” Liu Dong murmured softly. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly looked at He Kai, “White phosphorus bombs!”
“…Could this be what Liu Dali was hiding?” He Kai asked.
Liu Dong didn’t answer but instead asked, “What’s Liu Dali’s response?”
“No response,” He Kai said. “Since the explosion, no one from his group has appeared. Only other squads have come to investigate. I’ve already had people watching the villa area.”
“Captain He, Dong, something’s happened… something big…” While they were talking, a clearly exhausted ability user came running over quickly.
He Kai steadied him and asked, “What is it? Take your time.”
“The entire villa area is empty. Not a single person left,” the runner said breathlessly and terrified.
“What do you mean?” Liu Dong frowned.
“Literally, all disappeared. Not a single living person left inside,” the ability user said.
He Kai and Liu Dong exchanged a glance. Liu Dong went into the house to grab a coat, told He Mei to go home, and quietly said to He Kai, “Go check what’s going on with the people outside the base.”
He Kai nodded, got in the car, and drove off. Liu Dong took some men and headed toward the villa, asking about the situation along the way and thinking about how to handle things next.
By the time the two arrived, a crowd had gathered at the villa. It included almost all of Liu Dali’s sons and daughters, and even a few lovers. The people left guarding the place saw Liu Dong arrive and immediately hurried over, quietly explaining the situation.
“There isn’t a single person left in the entire villa. No signs of any fight—it’s like they just vanished. Some beds still have blankets folded on them, and there are signs that people had been lying there.”
It sounded like a supernatural event, but this was the apocalypse—abilities and strange phenomena had appeared, so nothing was truly surprising anymore. Liu Dong asked, “Did anyone come inside?”
“No, the guards said they didn’t see anyone.”
Liu Dong nodded, glanced around at the fake grief on everyone’s faces, then got up and headed upstairs to Liu Dali’s room. A man who looked five parts like Liu Dong approached him and said, “Big brother, I’ve already had people investigate this. Do you have any leads?”
Liu Dong shook his head and entered the room. He saw the bed was unmade, with clear traces that someone had slept there—the sleeping posture was even visible—but the person was gone.
He checked a couple more rooms but found no clues. Coldly, he went downstairs and told the few “brothers-in-law” watching him, “Have your people search on their own.”
After speaking, not waiting for any further argument, he immediately left with his men.
Meanwhile, He Kai, who had gone to check the base entrance, also returned. The two met at the doorstep. He Kai got straight into Liu Dong’s car.
“The people are gone. We don’t know when they left.”
“No one noticed?” Liu Dong asked. If Liu Dali had an idea, he wouldn’t fail to assign watchers.
“No. Liu Dali originally had one water-type ability user watching, but he stayed up half the night, then the lights went out and he went to sleep. After that, he ran off to fool around with women. He had no idea when they left,” He Kai said, clearly disgusted with Liu Dali’s subordinates.
“Also, Liu Mo’s people—they fell asleep in the middle of the night. Our people were watching and said the lights went out around nine yesterday. After that, nothing was found. Other factions aren’t paying attention to them. Also, Liu Mo and Jing Yang seem off.”
“How so?” Liu Dong raised his eyes at He Kai. He Kai was hurriedly getting up, with no bead bracelets on his wrist, rubbing two fingers nervously.
“I can’t explain it exactly. Liu Mo usually acts arrogant because of Jing Yang’s powers, but today he’s timid, avoiding interaction. Jing Yang normally doesn’t even acknowledge us, but today he’s unusually approachable. It’s a strange feeling, like they’re insecure. Something’s definitely not right,” He Kai said, unsure how to describe their behavior. “I’ve had people watch them. What about your side?”
Liu Dong briefly explained the situation.
“Do you think they did this?” He Kai imagined the empty villa, even the B-level ability users missing, and felt a bit uneasy.
“If not, why did they leave at night?” Liu Dong said.
“Maybe they did something wrong and are afraid of being found out?” He Kai recalled how Ning Yuan and Xu Sa were extremely careful. “But there’s no evidence. If they left during the day, no one could prove anything.”
“Hah, does anyone here operate on evidence?” Liu Dong laughed sarcastically. “But they don’t seem like cowards. Let’s check if there’s anything else we missed. Also, have your people get ready to deal with the others anytime.”
“Got it,” He Kai immediately agreed.
It wasn’t until night that everyone at the base learned about the missing supplies, through rumors spreading in Liu Mo’s team.
The cause was that Liu Mo and Jing Yang realized their abilities were gone, knew they couldn’t control their people, so they planned to quickly take some spatial ability users and some supplies and leave, dealing with the others later. The supplies would still be theirs. But when they opened the warehouse, it was empty, causing panic among their people, which soon spread to other teams.
At first, everyone blamed each other, but when they realized all teams had losses, and after counting, only Liu Mo’s supplies had completely disappeared. Liu Dong had the next most supplies—two warehouses—and everyone else only had one.
“They’re probably retaliating, right? I heard Liu Mo and Jing Yang had a grudge against a kid in their squad,” He Kai looked at the missing supplies from the two warehouses, feeling sorry. “But what does this have to do with us?”
Liu Dong smiled, “Maybe they were paid. Just letting their people do the dirty work. My brothers have been arrogant for too long.”
“Aren’t we waiting for Liu Dali’s exact news?” He Kai’s group didn’t act immediately because they were still cautious about Liu Dali’s power.
“He’s not coming back,” Liu Dong said, recalling Zheng Guohui’s warning. “When you have time, send someone to spy on Jing Yang and Liu Mo. Uncle Zheng said he can’t sense the energy waves of ability users from them, wondering if they’re even ability users anymore.”
“Abilities can disappear?” He Kai was truly shocked.
“Strange things happen everywhere,” Liu Dong said happily, brewing some treasured tea. He sniffed the aroma and spoke slowly.
*
Lu Weiyi and his group kept traveling without stopping until they reached Anjiang City territory, where someone finally insisted on finding a place to rest.
“Either it’s for bathroom breaks or staying inside the car—I feel like I’m back in prison,” Xu Sa looked out the small window of the truck and theatrically stretched out a hand, singing, “Iron gate, iron window, iron chains, holding the iron window looking outside…”
“Let’s find a proper place to rest. We’ve come so far—they can’t catch us now,” Zhuang Mingxu said, feeling sorry for Lu Weiyi, who had been driving all night.
“I’m leveling up,” Li Zhuang, who was driving ahead, calmly gave a better reason.
Across from him, Lu Xi, who was on the upper bunk reviewing the research materials they had brought back, put down the documents and also came over, a bit embarrassed, saying, “I think I’ve nearly there too.”
Lu Weiyi calculated the time, took the map from Zhuang Mingxu, and wanted to see if there was a suitable place to stop. Zhuang Mingxu had already marked the next village as their destination.
The village was small in area. Before they even got close, Li Zhuang sent a message first: “Looks like there are people.”
“There really are people. I see lights,” said Gu Qingji, who was on top of the vehicle keeping watch.
Hearing this, Lu Weiyi immediately got out of the vehicle and climbed onto the roof.
Compared to the desolation of other villages, this one was well-organized. A fence about several feet high blocked the road, with no gate. At the roadside, a small elevated house stood, like a watchtower, with a faint light and someone keeping watch.
“Who’s there? Don’t come any closer!” someone shouted at them through a loudspeaker.
The road was blocked; even detouring offered no way through.
Xu Sa, as the ever-reliable diplomat, jumped down from the truck first, followed closely by Liu Rui. Under the truck’s headlights, their silhouettes were clearly visible, showing no aggression.
“Brother, we’re just passing through. We want to borrow the road,” Xu Sa called out.
“This road’s closed. You’ll have to take another way,” the person inside showed no sign of relenting.
“Brother, it’s late at night. It’s really inconvenient to go out now. We have both elders and kids with us. Could you please show some mercy?” Xu Sa tried the pity card. Returning the way they came would take at least three hours before another road was available. According to the map, any other route would be even longer.
“No. You better leave now. If you don’t, I’ll shoot,” the voice warned, and a gun barrel was seen sticking out from inside.
Xu Sa probably couldn’t see it clearly, but Lu Weiyi, looking through the nearby leaves, saw it clearly — an old-fashioned but powerful hunting rifle, common in remote villages.
