Chapter 254: Drama Queen Online
“Who?” Ning Yuan leaned back and gargled with the water he’d summoned with his ability, then swallowed when he heard the name.
The somewhat fastidious Gu Qingyue silently moved a little further away.
“Zhao Qiang, that short guy from the Zhao family in the police,” Lin Mo said, then glanced outside to make sure no one overheard, still looking embarrassed.
“Who came with him? When did they return?” Lu Weiyi asked, peering through the window.
Zhao Qiang was seated on a stool carried by his subordinates at the gate, not blocking the entrance but positioned perfectly to see inside.
“He just came over with his men and said he wants to exchange a plant-type crystal core using…” Lin Mo paused and looked at everyone, “…jade stone space.”
At those words, everyone turned to look at him, even Lu Weiyi looked surprised.
“Did he say how the exchange works?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
Lin Mo shook his head.
Zhuang Mingxu looked to Lu Weiyi. “What do you think?”
“Exchange,” Lu Weiyi answered without hesitation.
He was unusually sharp, with his just-awakened unwashed face, the marks left by sleep on his side face somehow making him look even better, not in the slightest unpleasant.
“We should first consider why he showed up at this hour. Is there a problem with the supplies?” Zhuang Mingxu thought more deeply than the impulsive Lu Weiyi. “If he’s certain we took the supplies, then offering the plant-type crystal core might only attract other forces’ attention.”
“Although our squad’s abilities aren’t weak, we can’t withstand the entire base targeting us.”
After he spoke, everyone in the hall fell silent.
Antonio broke the tension: “He’s blocking us, giving us no way out. Let’s gamble and leave quickly.”
Now jade stone spaces were mostly controlled by individuals. Finding a chance to get one from the jade stone was very low. Antonio had long wanted to get one for Dean.
Everyone exchanged glances and finally laughed in tacit agreement.
“Let’s gamble!”
Decision made, Lin Mo immediately brought Zhao Qiang inside. Lu Weiyi hadn’t even tidied up and asked upon seeing him come in, “Excuse me, Mr. Zhao, have you seen my uncle, Colonel Lu Xiao?”
“We were surrounded by a zombie horde on the way and got separated from Colonel Lu,” Zhao Qiang said halfway, then noticed Lu Weiyi’s sharp gaze.
He had seen Lu Weiyi move through mutant plants as if no one was there, naturally not believing the base’s claim that he had no abilities.
Especially since a few ability users under him could instantly ignite a fire and clear a path. Even the top ability users in Zhao Qiang’s team might not manage that, yet they were willing to be his team.
Zhao Qiang was not the type to make enemies without cause. He assured, “Captain Lu, rest assured. The zombie horde is heading toward the capital. Our police and military have enough personnel to resist alongside Colonel Lu. We came back early to notify everyone to prepare together for the zombie horde.”
Lu Weiyi nodded but didn’t say whether he believed it or not.
“I heard you want the plant-type crystal cores.”
“That’s right. Whatever you have, I want them all,” Zhao Qiang said generously.
“There aren’t that many,” Zhuang Mingxu interrupted cautiously, blocking his exaggerated claim. “We just don’t need them for now. I heard you want to use jade stone space to exchange?”
“Yes.” Zhao Qiang answered when he was cut off. Lu Weiyi didn’t object, and the others in the team looked used to this kind of talk.
“That’s possible. One B-grade plant-type crystal core can be exchanged for 200 square meters of jade stone space,” Zhuang Mingxu said. As soon as he finished, Zhao Qiang’s expression visibly darkened.
It was clear he wasn’t good at hiding his feelings, or maybe he simply didn’t want to hide them. His face turned serious. “Do you know the current value of jade stone space?”
“I know the value of a life,” Zhuang Mingxu calmly looked back at him.
Zhao Qiang was silent for a moment. He was already A-rank, and though his upgrade wasn’t long ago, it had been like escaping death multiple times. He didn’t want to go through near-death again.
Finally having made a name for himself, he hadn’t lived enough yet. That’s why when he heard they still had a crystal core, he came immediately to intercept without hesitation.
“You didn’t take down that mutant plant, right? Or maybe you did, but the crystal core never made it to your hands. Captain Zhao, I don’t need to explain the use of plant-type crystal cores—you must have experienced it yourself. For someone at your rank, it’s indispensable for further upgrades.”
“Currently, low-level plant-type crystal cores outside are of little use to high-level ability users like you. But high-level ones are rare and difficult to deal with. Are you sure you can get another one before your next upgrade?” Zhuang Mingxu advised and warned, successfully silencing Zhao Qiang.
“…If I offered 4500kg of jade stone, could I exchange it?” Zhao Qiang asked.
“That’s possible,” Zhuang Mingxu said. “But the quality has to meet requirements, and we’re leaving soon. In such a short time…”
It wasn’t that Zhuang Mingxu looked down on him. Before the apocalypse, millions worth of jade stones were counted by pieces. Even though squads had specially collected them, high-quality jade stones were still limited. It was impossible to gather that much in a short time.
Seeing Zhao Qiang clearly reluctant to part with jade stone space but unwilling to miss out on the crystal core, Zhuang Mingxu worried he might act tough and forced a hard bargain, giving him a chance to negotiate.
The two went back and forth for a while, finally settling on 100 square meters of jade stone space for one plant-type crystal core.
With Zhuang Mingxu’s eloquence, by the time Zhao Qiang saw the crystal core, the two were already calling each other brothers in grand fashion.
The group in the living room who had been watching all along had never seen Zhuang Mingxu act like this and were somewhat surprised.
Only Ning Yuan didn’t find it strange and lowered his voice: “He started from nothing. Talking to people in their own language is a basic skill.”
Afterwards, he sighed, “That old injury still bothers him a bit.”
Fortunately, things were now moving in a better direction.
After the transaction, the few invited Zhao Qiang to breakfast. Unfortunately, Zhao Qiang wasn’t naive enough to reveal too much to Zhuang Mingxu, but before leaving, he gave them another piece of news.
“Li Ji is back,” Zhao Qiang said, holding a seafood gift specially brought by Zhuang Mingxu, standing at the door to say goodbye to Zhuang Mingxu and Lu Weiyi.
“We encountered them on the way being attacked by the zombie horde. During a casual chat, we learned about your grudges. You’d better make plans soon.”
“Got it. Thanks for the heads-up, brother,” Zhuang Mingxu waved goodbye. As he stepped outside, he saw Zhuang Mingwu being blocked not far away by Zhao Qiang’s men.
Hearing Zhao Qiang was here, Zhuang Mingwu rushed over, but the other party dared to blatantly block him and wouldn’t let him near the villa.
Zhuang Mingwu nearly cried when he saw Zhuang Mingxu. He had barely convinced his family to buy this crystal core—it was basically his lifeline.
If Zhao Qiang intercepted it…
Zhuang Mingwu didn’t dare confront the leader of such a big force. He could only spit out a couple of meaningless harsh words. Zhao Qiang didn’t even bother to respond, treating him like an insignificant kid.
“Brother,” after Zhao Qiang walked away, his men finally let Zhuang Mingwu go. His voice was choked with emotion.
Zhuang Mingxu frowned and scolded him, “Speak properly!”
Zhuang Mingwu sniffled and looked at Zhuang Mingxu with reddened eyes, hoping, “Brother, you didn’t sell it, right?”
“…” Zhuang Mingxu was silent.
Zhuang Mingwu flared up immediately. “You promised to save it for me until this morning. I clearly greeted your team members this morning. How could you sell it to someone else halfway through?”
“The jade stone space he offered,” Zhuang Mingxu’s words were like a chokehold on Zhuang Mingwu’s neck, freezing the furious man in place.
The Only Squad had been loudly collecting jade stones, but secretly the Zhuang family suspected jade stones had some unknown function and had even sent people to test it in various ways.
Old Master Zhuang knew his grandson well—he wouldn’t do a deal without benefit, which was also why they were reluctant to give up this jade stone.
But no matter how good the jade stone, it couldn’t compare to jade stone space. That was unquestionable.
“…But… I’m your brother,” Zhuang Mingwu said. His words caught the attention of Zhao Qiang’s men nearby. Their surprised looks made Zhuang Mingxu feel embarrassed.
“Several years without seeing you, and how did you grow into this?” His disdain was undisguised in his tone.
At this moment, Zhuang Mingwu had no thought of opposing him. He clearly knew that even if plant-type crystal cores were sold in the capital base, they wouldn’t get to him. This was his only chance to grab it.
“Brother, I really don’t want to die.” He had seen how fragile people were in this world and had grown more afraid of dying.
Zhuang Mingxu silently looked at him for a moment, then his gaze shifted slightly toward Lu Weiyi.
Lu Weiyi, having not picked up on his signal, gave a puzzled “?”.
But Zhuang Mingwu suddenly got smart, noticing his hesitation, and quickly knelt down, losing all dignity as he tearfully pleaded, “Brother, I’ve seen people get blown to bits while upgrading, no corpse left at all. My powers are getting out of control, please save me.”
“…What… what can I do?” Zhuang Mingxu looked genuinely troubled, which left Lu Weiyi a bit confused.
That so-called “plant-type crystal core” was basically worthless in their team—there were plenty to go around, so why was it such a big deal to him?
“Brother, you’ve protected me since we were young—I know it. You watched me grow up. Are you really going to watch me die now? Brother…”
For some reason, those words seemed to move Zhuang Mingxu. He looked painfully conflicted but finally reached out and firmly grabbed Zhuang Mingwu’s shoulder. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at Lu Weiyi, struggling to say, “Xiaoyi, could you… lend me that plant-type crystal core?”
Hearing that, Lu Weiyi was stunned.
