Chapter 246: Arriving at the Capital
At noon, Lu Weiyi pulled out from his space a whole table of pre-apocalypse delicacies, along with a bottle of aged wine, instantly drawing everyone’s attention in the truck.
“Roast suckling pig!” Dean excitedly tugged at Antonio’s clothes repeatedly.
“Take turns eating,” Lu Weiyi counted everyone — including Lu Xiao and Xu Yi, they were exactly twenty people. He looked around and said to Xu Sa, “You and Liu Rui, join them later.”
“Is it the same food?” Xu Sa asked, eyes bright.
“The same,” Lu Weiyi confirmed.
Xu Sa made an OK gesture. The group quickly tidied up around, pulled the temporary table to two meters wide, and sat on both sides.
“No need to go to such trouble,” Lu Xiao said, never having seen food like this since the apocalypse, let alone eaten it. Seeing the feast, he was afraid Lu Weiyi was giving away their best stash. “We can just eat casually.”
“Uncle, don’t be polite, eat up! There’s more,” Dean voluntarily declared kinship, hurriedly pushing Lu Xiao into a seat, then happily sat down himself.
“Dad, you eat. Over there by the sea, we always have seafood. My brother even caught a shark. No shortage of food. We keep a few chickens in the backyard—they’ve started laying eggs. Soon we’ll have chicks too.” Lu Xi handed chopsticks to Lu Xiao and kept describing his life, placing a little pig leg in Lu Xiao’s bowl. “Try it quickly.”
Seeing everyone so happy, Lu Xiao stopped being reserved and, holding the wine poured by Lu Weiyi, enjoyed a lively meal.
At the truck door, Xu Sa whispered greedily to Xu Yi, “Look, roast suckling pig! You definitely haven’t had this since the apocalypse, right? Listen, the skin’s crispy—you hear that? Even moving the chopsticks makes a sound. Smell it, doesn’t it smell amazing? One bite, the meat’s tender, the bones are soft, and the taste… mmm, unforgettable.”
“Wenchang chicken—look at it, plump with golden, tight skin. One bite dipped in sauce—wow, perfect. Fatty but not greasy, meat tender and juicy…”
Xu Sa went on describing, and soon Xu Yi was swallowing audibly. Xu Sa continued brainwashing him, “Where else can you eat like this? At our base, seafood never stops—lobsters, grilled squid, mantis shrimp—you name it. If you get tired of that, there’s mutant meat to satisfy cravings. Isn’t eating the best thing in life?”
“Old classmate, don’t be rigid, enjoying life is the way, right?”
Before long, the table was cleared, and after replacements came for the guard duty, Xu Sa immediately took Xu Yi back to the table, frequently offering dishes and continuing the brainwashing.
Xu Yi rubbed his full belly, feeling like this kind of life wasn’t so bad.
*
Before leaving, Lu Weiyi took out a jade piece the size of a fingernail and slipped it into Lu Xiao’s hand.
It was the smallest jade piece in his space—about four square centimeters—and contained some weapons, left for Lu Xiao just in case.
Lu Xiao immediately understood. An ordinary jade piece wouldn’t be brought out at a time like this.
“Xiao Yi, keep this—”
Lu Weiyi pressed it back into his hand. “I put some weapons inside for self-defense. Uncle, if things get tough, just run. Our base will always welcome you.”
“Dad, you must stay alive,” Lu Xi said tearfully, hugging Lu Xiao’s arm.
“I know,” Lu Xiao said, accepting it. He patted Lu Xi’s head, then pulled out a treasured armband from his inner clothing and handed it to Lu Weiyi. “Take this. When you get there, find Cong Qing—he’s my squad’s deputy leader. He’ll fully support you.”
Lu Weiyi didn’t refuse. They were pressed for time, and having a familiar face would make things easier.
Lu Xiao patted his shoulder. “Don’t delay on the road. I’ll hold them off for you.”
“No need. Uncle, just keep your people away. Whatever they want to do, don’t get involved,” Lu Weiyi said, not wanting Lu Xiao to be affected.
The group packed their things.
Everyone around watched silently, no one approached.
The only way out was a narrow road just over three meters wide, almost destroyed by the earthquake. Vehicles were tightly parked along it, blocking it completely. The fields on both sides were overgrown with weeds and soft soil; heavy vehicles could get stuck.
The road they came by was covered again by mutated vines returning to their original places, so it looked like they truly had no other way out.
This was why the group was so reckless.
Lu Weiyi, Liu Rui, the fire-type Lin Tian, Li Zhuang, and another earth-type ability user Zhou Nan stood on top of the truck, assessing the roads on both sides.
“Everyone, are you leaving?” Zheng Yi and Zhao Qiang came forward with a few others to ask.
“Yes, going back,” Ning Yuan replied.
“Aren’t you taking the stuff inside?” A middle-aged man behind Zheng Yi asked.
“If we wanted it, would we ask?” Ning Yuan laughed, no one responded. “Since we can’t get it, no point wasting time. Good luck, everyone.”
“Ready?” Lu Weiyi asked.
Zhou Nan took a deep breath and nodded.
“Clear the way.” At Lu Weiyi’s command, Lin Tian and Liu Rui’s hands sparked with twin flames, flying toward the distance. As the fire touched the weeds, it instantly formed a fire dragon.
As the ground beneath appeared, Li Zhuang and Zhou Nan followed with their earth abilities. The soft soil surged and solidified, instantly forming a warm road.
“Go!” Lu Weiyi ordered, and the vehicle slowly moved forward.
The four ability users who had just put on a show of power returned inside, collapsing exhausted. Only Lu Weiyi and Lu Xi remained on the truck roof, waving to Lu Xiao from afar.
“You can’t leave—Xu Yi is still on a mission…” Li Xiuyin said with no calm left in his voice. He wasn’t yet the composed strategist Lu Weiyi remembered but just an ordinary person struggling to hold his ground.
Lu Weiyi watched as Li Xiuyin chased after them for a while before his own ability users brought him back.
The vehicles disappeared from sight, and everyone quickly got off to switch to off-road vehicles.
On the bumpy roads, trucks provided more comfort, but off-road vehicles were faster.
They took the same route the Capital forces had used, so the dangers had been cleared. Four vehicles traveled day and night at high speed.
On the afternoon of the third day, the gates of the Capital base appeared before everyone.
Lu Weiyi, sitting in the front passenger seat, stretched lazily, his joints cracking. He opened the door, and the people from the vehicles behind immediately gathered, forming what was essentially a truck full of supplies in the middle.
Xu Yi and Xu Sa sat together in one vehicle. The fuel from the past few days had run out, and the simple meals along the way made Xu Yi lose any illusions about traveling with this group. Seeing the Capital base gate, his eyes lit up.
“Bro, be smart—don’t do that thing with your hand…” Xu Sa patted his shoulder, gesturing at Xu Yi’s injured hand, “Taking someone else’s hand wouldn’t be appropriate, think about the scene… tsk tsk tsk…”
“Xiao Yi, we’re going straight to the Zhuang family,” Zhuang Mingxu poked his head out of a half-open door.
Lu Weiyi pursed his lips, clearly unwilling. He didn’t want to get involved with the Zhuang family at all.
“Surgery needs experts, finding people needs connections, and we plan to exchange some jade pieces. These aren’t things ordinary people can solve quickly,” Zhuang Mingxu laid out the problems they faced.
A dying camel is still bigger than a horse — Lu Weiyi understood this well. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Zhuang Mingxu seriously and said, “Don’t get involved with the Zhuang family’s affairs.”
“I don’t have that ability,” Zhuang Mingxu laughed. “After the surgery, we’ll leave.”
Lu Weiyi sized him up, seeing he didn’t look forced, then nodded and looked at others. “Lin Tian, Huang Rui, Lin Mo, Liu Yang, Zhou Nan—you five are responsible for finding people. Don’t split up, in case someone targets ability users.”
“Yes,” Liu Yang responded.
“Xu Sa, Liu Rui, Gu Qingji, Gu Qingyue—you four are in charge of selling our seafood. Set the prices yourselves.”
“Antonio will protect Dean, and Lu Xi will take care of Zhuang Ai Yi. Don’t let him have too much contact with the Zhuang family,” Lu Weiyi said without sparing Zhuang Mingxu’s feelings.
In his mind, if relationships were a circle, he and Zhuang Mingxu were at the center, one entity; everyone else was an outsider.
Besides, his impression of the Zhuang family was really bad.
Lu Xi glanced at Zhuang Mingxu and saw no emotion on his face, then nodded. “I will definitely protect Ai Yi.”
“Ning Yuan, go check on Li Ji’s situation. Qi Lin will follow me. I’ll need you to send messages at any time.”
After finishing, Lu Weiyi looked at Li Zhuang. “Protect our medical ability user.” His gaze shifted briefly to Xu Yi.
Li Zhuang turned to Xu Yi, a sly smile with a hint of mischief on his face. Xu Yi shrank back into the vehicle like a timid wife.
With a “professional” like Xu Yi, there was less need to gather intelligence or bring city supplies. The group headed straight for the city gate.
“One ability user gives 10kg of rice per day when entering temporarily; normal people give 25kg. We’re eighteen people—how does that add up?” Ning Yuan calculated and asked over the walkie-talkie, “What about Xu Yi? How is he counted?”
As a top medical ability user, many people knew Xu Yi. If he appeared here during a mission, it could cause trouble for everyone. Especially since he didn’t want to be here—if no one provoked him, he might cause problems on his own.
“I’ll handle it,” Lu Weiyi replied. “If his ability can be detected, write it down low. If not, pretend he’s a normal person.” Playing dumb to fool others was the best trick.
In an ordinary base, Lu Weiyi could simply use mental power to hide him and bring him through. But the Capital was a place where top scientists gathered; even a simple infrared detector could expose him.
Lu Weiyi looked at Xu Yi beside him. Xu Yi was hiding, squeezed against the door, keeping half a person’s width distance from the three people behind him.
“Bear with it. Whether you live depends on your luck,” Lu Weiyi said, and with Xu Yi’s terrified gaze, put an eye patch over his eyes, tied him up with a small green vine, and threw him into the space.
Only a few small white mice and mutated fish had ever been inside his space. Never a living person. Xu Yi was the first experiment.
Would he live or die?
That was no longer Lu Weiyi’s concern.
Maybe he just wanted to try something with Xu Yi.
Medical ability users were useful, but they weren’t short of them right now. Xu Yi wasn’t that valuable to him—he could tolerate him only as long as he didn’t cause trouble.
After Xu Yi entered, the space started to crack again, slowly. The good news: Xu Yi was still alive.
Lu Weiyi got the result and stopped paying attention, turning to the person inspecting outside.
His poor space… Constantly cracking….