Chapter 296: Lu Xiao Shows Restraint
Lu Weiyi frowned. His mental power spread from inside the car and entered the villa. On the balcony of the second floor, he saw someone standing in Xu Sa’s room.
The car honked twice. The people on the ground didn’t respond. Lu Xiao called the nearby guards and had them dragged away.
“Uncle, send someone to give Qin Hu a message: as long as they’re alive, we’ll treat them like strangers. But if anything happens to them—if they die—then the Qin family doesn’t need to live either,” Lu Weiyi said softly as he looked in the rearview mirror at the huddled figures.
“Alright,” Lu Xiao agreed and drove toward Zhuang Mobai’s villa. Noticing that Lu Weiyi seemed in a low mood again, Lu Xiao changed the subject. “Not every squad is willing to trade resources. Some handed them over and called it done. Others, who were either unwilling or didn’t have enough, had to agree to a few exploration missions.”
“There are also some involved in internal power struggles, completely giving up. We’ll have to negotiate with them to see what they can offer.”
“You can take all the resources; the rest will be credited to Blazing Flame Squad. Sound good?”
“Alright.” Lu Weiyi didn’t even ask how much he’d traded for. He trusted it had been well considered.
Zhuang Mobai’s villa had half collapsed after the basement was stripped away, and no one had used it since. After heavy rain, it looked like it might fall apart at any moment.
Lu Weiyi tossed a few now fully recovered ability users inside after knocking them out.
When Lu Xiao opened the door, he saw a group of people asleep on the ground.
He quickly had the accompanying ability users restrain and wake them up.
Before anyone could even ask what was going on, Lu Xiao had already explained, “Those who paid supplies or agreed to terms, you can sign and leave. The rest — the ones abandoned by their teams — you must decide what you’ll trade for your freedom.”
Looking at the list that split them into different categories, some rejoiced while others despaired. The small room was soon filled with loud cursing. These were the ability users their teams had given up on.
Lu Weiyi quickly lost interest in listening. After saying goodbye to Lu Xiao, he returned to the villa early.
His crystal core still couldn’t integrate into his body. There was no way to fix it, and he could even feel his mental power starting to spiral out of control.
It hadn’t been this hard for Zhuang Mingxu in his past life!
Lu Weiyi sighed inwardly but showed nothing on his face. He turned his head slightly to glance at Zhuang Mingxu. It seemed he finally understood why, in his past life, Zhuang Mingxu had used every method to push a lazy person like him to grow — to ensure that even if one day he lost him, he could still live well on his own.
“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Mingxu pressed Lu Weiyi’s head onto his shoulder. His large hand covered the back of his head completely, fingers massaging in slow, firm motions.
“After we go back, how about you manage the base?” For the first time, Lu Weiyi made a request to Zhuang Mingxu. Without waiting for him to ask, he took the initiative to explain, “I don’t have the energy for it, and I wouldn’t feel at ease if it fell into someone else’s hands.”
Powerful ability users often had to go out with teams to search for essential supplies. As one of the main combatants, Lu Weiyi definitely couldn’t stay on the island long-term. Leaders of major factions usually appointed trusted individuals to manage things, but even then, they weren’t immune to betrayal. So the choice of candidate required special care.
Even if Lu Weiyi hadn’t brought it up, Zhuang Mingxu had already planned to take full control of the base. Now that it was mentioned, he readily agreed and asked Lu Weiyi if he had any plans for the base’s development.
Lu Weiyi thought seriously for a moment. “I want the base to be able to rival others in combat strength, even without ability users.”
That way, if something happened to him, Zhuang Mingxu—who had no abilities—could still hold his ground.
“In that case… we’ll need weapon development personnel. Lu Xi alone has too much on his plate,” Zhuang Mingxu said, pondering.
“Most of the talent in that field was controlled by the government. Now that the government has collapsed and the top brass is scattered, the only way to find those experts is to go to military weapon research bases. But those places…”
He suddenly turned to look at Lu Weiyi. “Maybe you could ask your uncle.”
“He’s been in the military a long time, served on the front lines and in command. He’s bound to have channels for that kind of information.” But now that they weren’t exactly on the same side as Lu Xiao, it would obviously be better if Lu Xiao kept that intel to himself.
“Uncle has always loved you most. If you ask, he might soften up and just tell you.” If Zhuang Mingxu were to ask, he figured Lu Xiao would just laugh in his face.
As he spoke, Zhuang Mingxu leaned in close to Lu Weiyi and whispered a few tips to him. Under Lu Weiyi’s suspicious gaze, he nodded firmly in encouragement.
So, when Lu Xiao finished dealing with most of the Hunter’s Guild and brought over supplies, he found his nephew looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.
That look was just like when he was a child and saw something he really wanted—next moment, he’d say sweetly, “Uncle, I want that.”
Every time that happened, Lu Xiao would end up handing over all his pocket money.
“What is it, Xiaoyi?” Lu Xiao asked.
“Uncle, I have something I want to ask you…” Lu Weiyi hesitated, looking like he didn’t know how to begin.
“There’s nothing you can’t say to your uncle,” Lu Xiao said, ruffling his hair.
Lu Weiyi hesitated for just a moment, then nodded as if making up his mind and led Lu Xiao to a room.
In the living room, Zhuang Mingxu feigned complete confusion. When Lu Xiao glanced back at him, he even made a puzzled face, pretending not to know anything.
Lu Xi came over, glanced at the two heading into the room, hesitated, then leaned over to Zhuang Mingxu to ask what was going on.
Zhuang Mingxu whispered the situation to him. “If your brother can’t pull it off, then maybe you could talk to your dad…”
“I won’t!” Lu Xi stood up and declared loudly, “I think I’m capable enough on my own—why should we look for someone else?”
His voice was loud, immediately drawing others’ attention. Zhuang Mingxu quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and pushed him back onto the sofa.
“Do you think your ability is strong enough?” Zhuang Mingxu asked seriously.
Lu Xi pursed his lips and stayed silent. His focus had never been on that area.
“Your brother is having issues with his ability now. If he ends up being unable to use it in the future, can we rely on your research to keep our place in the base?”
“People follow your brother not because of who he is, but because of how strong his powers are. We’ve worked so hard to build a secure fortress. Without real power to hold it down, what do you think will happen?”
“This is about creating a backup plan for us.” Zhuang Mingxu made the situation sound very dire, which stunned Lu Xi. Then he softened his tone. “Besides, nobody said you can’t keep doing research. Does your school only allow one person per project?”
Lu Xi was still young and considered a genius. After the apocalypse, he had always followed Lu Weiyi. Though not spoiled, he had certainly been doted on.
Suddenly hearing they needed to find new weapons researchers made him feel like he’d disappointed his team.
“Am I not doing well enough?” Lu Xi asked dejectedly.
“No, you’ve done extremely well,” Zhuang Mingxu comforted him. “But Xiaoxi, a hundred flowers blooming is the norm—one alone can’t last.”
“For example, your body’s having issues now. If we only have you, our weapon production has to stop. But if we have others, we wouldn’t be affected. We wouldn’t have to worry about other factions targeting us.”
“Even if our team’s ability users have problems, we can still safely return to base with our weapons. We wouldn’t need to hide here, waiting to recover abilities under protection.”
“You’ve seen it—your brother’s carried all the pressure on his shoulders since the beginning. Now that he’s having issues with his powers, he still won’t admit it to us. Isn’t that because he’s afraid we’ll worry?”
“I want to build a team that can shine with just weapons, even without abilities—so that he’ll always have support. Will you help?”
The Lu family cared deeply about each other. Along the way, Lu Xi had grown very attached to his brother. At first, it might’ve been dependence, but over time, the bond became real.
Hearing Zhuang Mingxu talk about everything Lu Weiyi had done, Lu Xi couldn’t stay upset.
After a moment, he grumbled, “Fine, I’ll go butter up my dad.”
“But I still think I’m the best,” he added proudly.
“I think you’re awesome too,” Zhuang Mingxu praised with a smile.
While Zhuang Mingxu was persuading Lu Xi outside, inside the room, Lu Weiyi was already gently probing Lu Xiao with his questions.
“The weapons research base? There’s one in Pingjin City—it’s the closest. Why are you asking about this?” Lu Xiao asked, instantly on alert.
“I’m looking for one of those large national-level research facilities that could survive an earthquake and still have surviving researchers.” They had already been to the Pingjin Weapons Research Center, and all useful materials had long since been taken.
“You want research personnel,” Lu Xiao said with certainty.
Lu Weiyi nodded. “I want to recruit a team of weapon development specialists to help me with research and development.”
After speaking, Lu Weiyi paused for a moment, then as if making up his mind, said to Lu Xiao, “I forced myself to upgrade from S-rank to SS-rank in just three months. I think there’s a problem with my crystal core. I’m afraid that one day, if I lose my ability, the base will fall out of our control. I want to be prepared.”
“Zhuang Mingxu and Brother Mu don’t have powers. Xiao Xi’s powers are too weak. Ai Yi and Taotao are still too young. If I lose my powers and someone makes a move against our base, we wouldn’t even be able to escape.”
Lu Xiao hadn’t expected it to be so serious. He thought for a moment, then said seriously, “You could stay at the Capital base. With my current influence, I can protect you all without issue.”
Lu Weiyi shook his head, eyes firm. “That’s a base I built with my own hands. Even if it’s destroyed, I’ll never hand it over to someone else.”
Then, his expression shifted. Looking at Lu Xiao with anticipation, he asked, “Uncle, do you know of any leads?”
Lu Xiao fell silent for a moment, then clicked his tongue at his nephew. “You really do know how to time things.”
