Chapter 215: The Mayor’s Daughter
“Why didn’t you mention that?” Lu Weiyi asked, glancing at Zhao Ji while the battle had already begun in the courtyard.
“I… I forgot,” Zhao Ji said, head bowed.
“Who else?” Lu Weiyi knew the capabilities of his own team’s espers. He simply extended his mental energy for support but didn’t act yet.
“She manages the women’s dorm. Besides her, there are a few others—lovers of Seduction Squad members. But they were all kidnapped. Some are unwilling, but they couldn’t resist,” Zhao Ji replied.
Lu Weiyi said nothing, continuing to observe the situation. The enemy had three B-level espers. The strongest was a metal-type esper named Jiang He. His abilities transformed rapidly, switching between offense and defense with ease. He held his ground completely. Antonio, who had been holding back at first, now fought with full force.
“Tell me about Jiang He,” Lu Weiyi said.
“I don’t know too much,” Zhao Ji said. “He wasn’t originally the team leader here. The team leader used to be that fire-type ability user who came two months ago. I heard he was from Anjiang Base, but he didn’t seem to have a close relationship with the people who arrived a few days ago.”
“How many people from the Dragon Tiger Combat Team came?”
“Two hundred, and I think more than twenty of them are B-level ability users,” Zhao Ji said, with a hint of envy on his face.
Ten percent. If that ratio applies to all bases, then they really needed to work harder to improve themselves.
While Lu Weiyi was lost in thought, the people outside had already finished up.
Lu Weiyi extended a small green vine underground and soon found a basement—it seemed there were only a few spots where people stored supplies.
After probing inside, he found not just some daily necessities, but also guns and gasoline. Without hesitation, Lu Weiyi collected everything into his storage space as compensation.
The men and women upstairs were all called down—nearly two hundred people. Many had injuries of various kinds. Some looked terrified, others numb. A few wept as they reunited with surviving loved ones.
Ning Yuan was giving a speech as if he were on stage. His message was simple: “You’ve been saved. Go run for your lives.”
“There’s a lot of supplies here. Looks like they robbed plenty of people,” Li Zhuang said as he returned from scouting around. Cigarette in hand, he asked, “Are we leaving now?”
“We plan to,” Lu Weiyi replied—but he couldn’t rule out unexpected situations, like…
“Take us with you! Some of them went out to scavenge for supplies. If you leave and they return, they’ll take it out on us.”
“Yeah, even if we have supplies, once they come back, we can’t hold this place. It’ll be useless.”
“Since you saved us, shouldn’t you be responsible for us too? There are so many zombies out there—how could we possibly survive?”
Their words grew increasingly accusatory, as if it would be the rescuers’ fault if they didn’t continue protecting them. Li Zhuang smirked, watching the scene from a distance.
“Damn, these people are unbelievable,” Xu Sa’s face darkened at the end of it. He pushed aside Ning Yuan’s long-winded explanations, and a crack of lightning exploded in front of the crowd, silencing everyone instantly.
“There are eight cars over there, and two buses. If you squeeze in, that’s enough for all of you to leave. There are supplies in that room—if you want to leave, load them up and go. We’ll cover you until you’re gone. But if you want to stay here, we’re not sticking around. You can wait for the ability users to come back,” Xu Sa said coldly.
After he finished speaking, the crowd exchanged looks, and some rushed toward the vehicles to claim good spots. Fights even broke out over cars.
“Can we follow you in the cars?” someone asked, still unwilling to give up.
“We’re heading to the city center—there are zombies everywhere. You think you’ll survive?” Xu Sa shot back. “Don’t expect anyone to save you on the way. But if you’re not afraid, then follow.”
“Aren’t you going to Anjiang Base?” A small girl, around eight or nine years old, asked calmly. Standing next to her was a girl around eighteen or nineteen. Compared to the other cleaned-up women, these two looked filthy.
“No,” Xu Sa replied.
“Can you escort us back to Anjiang Base? You can take half the supplies there,” the little girl continued.
“Little girl, they’re backed by people from Anjiang Base. I wouldn’t recommend going back—if they recognize you…” Xu Sa softened his tone upon seeing it was a child.
“My dad is the leader of Anjiang Base. If you take us back, I guarantee my dad will eliminate the squad behind them,” the girl said.
“Yes, our dad is the base leader,” the older girl added.
Xu Sa glanced at the others. Ning Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked, “If your father is the base leader, how did you two end up here?”
“We were kidnapped on purpose,” the younger girl said. “She wanted to marry my dad. I didn’t agree, so she secretly had my sister and me kidnapped and sold.”
This situation was a bit complicated. If they agreed, they’d have to stay and take out any returning ability users to ensure safety for the Anjiang trip. But what if the girls were lying?
Everyone looked at Lu Weiyi, waiting for him to decide.
“What proof do you have that you’re telling the truth?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“If you take us there, won’t that prove it?” The older girl sounded a bit naïve. Her response left everyone unsure how to reply.
But the little girl said, “Before the apocalypse, my dad was the mayor of Anjiang City. His name is Lin Minghong. If you don’t believe me, you can ask around.”
“Go ask Zhuang Mingxu,” Lu Weiyi said to Bai Miao, who was munching on chips and watching the drama.
They had all taken a lap around the warehouse and come out with snacks.
Bai Miao ran off, and a few minutes later returned pushing Zhuang Mingxu in a wheelchair. Antonio had already driven the car up to the gate outside.
Lu Weiyi frowned and walked over, tugging the scarf around Zhuang Mingxu’s neck up. “Why are you down here?” The current weather was brutal for normal people. Lu Weiyi had almost stopped asking them to do anything and let them stay in the truck.
“I heard about it and came to see. Lin Minghong—I happen to know him. Who are his daughters?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
Lu Weiyi pointed at the two girls, who stepped forward.
Zhuang Mingxu looked them over but didn’t recognize them by appearance. “How did your mother die?”
“From illness,” the younger girl replied.
“My mom…” the older one hesitated, glanced at her sister, and walked toward Zhuang Mingxu. No one stopped her. The younger girl looked confused.
Once close, she whispered, “My mother died during childbirth. My dad chose to save the baby. Mom didn’t agree, and in the end she gave her life for my sister. My sister doesn’t know. Please don’t tell her, okay?”
“Mm,” Zhuang Mingxu nodded and looked at Lu Weiyi. “She is indeed Lin Minghong’s daughter. When his younger daughter was born, I happened to be visiting a comrade at Anjiang City Hospital and came across the argument, so I inquired about it.”
“So we’re sending them back?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“Let’s go now and drop them off directly. Let them handle the rest on their own,” Zhuang Mingxu replied. He didn’t think it was worth exhausting their energy helping others clean up internal problems.
Seeing that Lu Weiyi didn’t object, Ning Yuan turned to the crowd. “We leave in one hour. If you can keep up, follow us. If not, stay behind.”
As soon as he said this, chaos broke out. People scrambled for cars and supplies. The squad wanted to maintain order but were wary of these morally compromised people, so they eventually stood aside, silently watching the arguments—some even whispered about who was stronger.
An hour later, the convoy set off on time. Every vehicle in the courtyard was packed with people, and the selected supplies were scattered all over the ground. Fortunately, everyone had managed to board.
Anjiang Base was located in the suburbs of what used to be Anjiang City, about a six-hour drive from their current location. Lu Weiyi’s two vehicles led the way, with a line of cars trailing behind. Any zombies that appeared were swiftly dealt with. There were no mutant beasts, so the journey wasn’t particularly dangerous.
By 6 PM, the group arrived at Anjiang Base.
A dozen or so vehicles pulled up at the gates of the Anjiang Base, immediately drawing curious looks from returning patrols. To avoid any leaks, no one was allowed to get off until the two girls had met their father, in case news got out and implicated them.
Ning Yuan took Lin Ying—the younger and clearly more clever of the two—into the base.
They waited for over half an hour. Then the gate opened, and Ning Yuan returned with a man in his fifties, followed by a dozen others.
“Uncle Zhong!” the older girl, Lin Jiao, called out excitedly.
“Jiao Jiao!” the man known as Uncle Zhong was equally delighted. He walked forward and looked her over. “Child, ever since you went missing, your father’s been sending people to search for you. You’ve suffered. Your father knows now and will make things right.”
“Mm-hmm,” Lin Jiao nodded.
“These are your saviors,” Uncle Zhong said as he approached the lead truck. Xu Sa got out. “Hello, I’m Chen Guozhong. Minghong just learned about his daughters and is busy organizing affairs, so he asked me to come and invite you all to the base to express our gratitude.”
“No need for thanks, we just happened to cross paths. We won’t stay; we still have a long journey ahead,” Xu Sa replied.
“It’s already late today. Please stay the night and leave tomorrow morning. Also, Yingying said Mr. Zhuang is with you, so you must be heading for the capital. There are people here from the East as well, and they can tell you about the road conditions, areas heavily damaged, and places with dangerous zombies. It’ll help you avoid detours,” Chen Guozhong said sincerely and to the point.
Xu Sa was about to ask Lu Weiyi for his opinion when Liu Rui, sitting in the passenger seat, said, “We… we can.”
