Chapter 379: People from Capital Arrive
“I’ll supervise everyone to get the machines repaired and running as soon as possible.” Han Jing armed each of his people with a gun and saw them off.
Eric and Qin Yu left with their selected group of ten or so people. Lu Weiyi took some earth-type users and all the women who wanted to leave, and together with Li Zhuang, began the return journey.
Just as the cargo ship turned around and began moving, someone shouted from the beach to wait.
“Stop!” Li Zhuang radioed the command to the cockpit.
Looking back, they saw Dong Hongyuan running toward them, holding He Mei—who hadn’t been seen for several days—in his arms. Ignoring the sea between them, he rushed straight into the water. Lin Mo, seeing this, dispatched a small motorboat to bring them aboard.
“Are you brain-dead? Trying to swim across dozens of meters of sea?” Qin Yu cursed.
“I didn’t think it through,” Dong Hongyuan said, his wooden face full of tension as he looked at Li Zhuang. “Brother Zhuang, do you have a doctor? She’s not feeling well.”
“We didn’t bring one,” Li Zhuang replied after seeing Lu Weiyi shake his head.
For the past few days, he had tried to persuade Dong Hongyuan to move to Moonbay, but the man had no interest—he had no desire to leave. After a lifetime of battle, many just wanted a quiet place to spend their remaining years.
He had now fulfilled his wish, and Li Zhuang was willing to go along with it. He even gave Lu Weiyi a quick greeting.
He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly.
“Tch, she’s faking it,” Qin Yu crossed her arms and sized up the neurotic-looking woman clutching her belly with shining eyes.
Dong Hongyuan looked down at her. The woman, like a startled bird, clutched her stomach and said, “It hurts, it really hurts, he’s turning over, he’s being restless…”
Dong Hongyuan looked down at her belly, which was visibly bulging beneath the long dress. Sure enough, a small protrusion showed for a moment before it gradually flattened again.
The cargo ship couldn’t wait forever, and with no doctor onboard, no one could say for sure whether He Mei was faking it or not—especially seeing how much Dong Hongyuan cared about the child.
Li Zhuang suggested, “Our base has a hospital. Let’s take her there for a check-up. She’s due soon anyway. It’ll be safer.”
He Mei’s hands clutched her stomach more tightly, and she looked hopefully at Dong Hongyuan.
Dong Hongyuan wasn’t a fool—just dull. Of course, he saw through her thoughts.
After thinking for a moment, he nodded, then suddenly asked, “You want to go to Capital?”
He Mei didn’t dare to speak. She feared that saying the wrong thing would displease him and she’d be taken back to that isolated hellhole.
“Once you safely deliver this child, I’ll let you go,” Dong Hongyuan said, placing her on a bench nearby.
He Mei stared at him in disbelief. His gaze was expressionless, but she somehow felt it carried a hint of ridicule—silently mocking her naivety.
She turned her head and looked toward the group of women huddled in the corner. Their gazes held envy, jealousy, and even schadenfreude laced with malice.
It only made her more confused, unsure if her choice was right or wrong.
But Dong Hongyuan had already walked off with Li Zhuang, paying her no further attention. Surrounded by the crashing waves, she became lost in the illusion of freedom.
Back at the base, it was nearly dusk.
That day, Dean was working at the hospital. Antonio had gone to pick someone up, but was intercepted by Zhuang Ai Yi, who clung to his leg, begging to tag along. So the return trip ended up being just him, carrying several bags of snacks and shepherding three kids holding grilled sausages.
“David!” A voice called from behind. Antonio stiffened instantly and grabbed Dean’s hand, breaking into a run.
A figure suddenly darted out from beside Lu Weiyi, chasing after Antonio.
“Wow,” Lu Weiyi watched the scene ahead—Dean, slowed by his short legs, got caught, and two strong men ended up in a tight bear hug. Clicking his tongue, he asked Li Zhuang beside him, “Is this the classic ‘he chases, he runs, and he can’t escape’ scene?”
“What weird stuff have you been watching lately? Should I mention this to the deputy base leader?” Li Zhuang asked.
Lu Weiyi pretended not to hear and quickly walked forward, calling out to Zhuang Ai Yi and Taotao who had gathered around Dean.
“Little Dad!”
“Father!”
The children’s voices rang out cheerfully as they ran toward him. Dean offered the half-eaten sausage to Lu Weiyi, “Handmade sausage, it’s really good.”
Lu Weiyi took a bite. “Hey, not bad.”
“Of course. I’ve tried all the street snacks,” Dean said proudly.
While the two shared food, the scene ahead had already changed. When they looked up again, the two men who were hugging earlier were now brawling, fists thudding heavily against each other, legs kicking in unison.
They were so in sync, it was like watching two people mirrored across a glass wall.
“David!” Dean cried out and tried to rush forward.
Li Zhuang grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. The boy shouted fiercely, “I want to help!”
“They’re just playing,” Li Zhuang said with a lift of his chin, gesturing for him to look.
Dean then noticed that even though they were fighting, Antonio hadn’t used any powers. If it were anyone else, the place would already be full of holes.
“Is that Eric?” He remembered the purpose of their visit.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” Dean calmed down and took another bite of the sausage—he hadn’t even dropped it in his panic, clearly a true love.
People around them had instinctively cleared the area, making room. Security officers came to intervene but were waved off by Li Zhuang—they stood aside to watch the show.
Dean quickly finished his sausage and took three pairs of baby rattles from his spatial storage, handing one each to Zhuang Ai Yi and Taotao. Then, pulling them forward, he waved his rattle and shouted, “David, go for it!”
“David, go for it!” Zhuang Ai Yi echoed.
“Go for it!” Taotao chimed in.
The clear jingle of the rattles, combined with Dean’s energetic hopping, made for a comically joyful scene.
Antonio couldn’t help but laugh. In that moment of distraction, Eric landed a punch to his stomach, causing him to stumble back while clutching his gut.
Eric burst out laughing and moved in for another hug—only to freeze as a cloud of small flying knives materialized around Antonio, swaying threateningly.
In shock, Eric watched Antonio hold Dean close and whistle playfully, the smug look on his face begging for a punch.
Eric finally raised his hands in surrender. The flying knives returned to Antonio, morphing into various metallic accessories.
“That your little boyfriend?” Eric asked, bumping shoulders with Antonio and looking at Dean.
“Yeah, my sweetheart, Dean,” Antonio said proudly, then shot back, “Still single, huh?”
Eric clearly wasn’t as fluent in Chinese and took a moment to react. Then he raised an eyebrow and asked Dean, “Little sweetheart, are you of age?”
“I’m seventeen,” Dean answered cheerfully.
“Oh, underage abuse…” Eric sighed with exaggerated pity.
“…” Antonio.
Everyone nearby suddenly looked at Antonio strangely—as if he were some kind of pervert. A few adults even pulled their children a couple steps back.
“As expected, I still hate you,” Antonio said, pulling Dean around to leave. Behind them came Eric’s hearty laughter.
Li Zhuang stepped forward with Qin Yu, Dong Hongyuan, and He Mei, who had come in with them, kindly reminding them, “The base requires crystal cores or supplies for any purchases. If you don’t have any, you might not even find a place to rest.”
Eric’s laughter abruptly stopped. He quickly turned to look for Lu Weiyi, only to see Lu Weiyi already running off with the two children toward the central island, not paying them any attention at all.
“Hey, David, my dear brother, you and your little sweetheart are just too perfect together…” Eric shouted cheerfully, chasing after them.
They stayed at the base for a day. Eric quickly familiarized himself with the power level upgrades and the current status of the various bases. He also started to feel he was at a disadvantage with the weapons he had.
Faced with Antonio’s unapologetic mockery, Eric could only put his weapons away. That very day, he rented a vehicle and led a dozen people out to fight zombies.
The women they brought back were all settled at the plantation to help harvest potatoes. Dong Hongyuan rented a place near the hospital to stay with He Mei.
Thanks to Dong’s earlier promise and his connection with Li Zhuang, a psychologist was arranged for He Mei. The environment around her was also normal, and her condition had stabilized significantly. She no longer showed any signs of hysteria.
The next day, Lu Xiao and Zhao Qiang arrived as scheduled.
Zhuang Mingxu received the news right away and sent a team to meet them. Lu Weiyi called Lu Xi out from the lab and waited at the base entrance.
At the base gate, an SUV with the base insignia led the way. Xu Sa, driving, rolled down the window and waved at them before quickly heading into the inspection zone.
“We cleared the road they said they’d take beforehand, didn’t run into any high-level zombies,” Xu Sa gave a quick status report to Lu Weiyi. “Brother Li is holding the rear,” he said, turning to glance at the twenty-something vehicles behind them. “They should be here soon.”
The vehicles behind Xu Sa stopped after entering the ship bridge. People began getting out. At the front was Lu Xiao.
“Dad!” Lu Xi ran over the moment Lu Xiao got out.
“Hey, Xiao Xi!” Lu Xiao gave his son a hug and measured his height. “You’ve gotten taller again.”
“Really? I haven’t measured recently,” Lu Xi said proudly, holding his father’s arm. “Dad, what do you think of our base?”
Lu Xiao began to look around. The only path onto the island was guarded by a hollowed-out ship hull turned into a checkpoint. The ship structure overhead seemed to serve as a guard post. Before even getting close, Lu Xiao saw someone leaning out of an opaque window, talking to someone below, a rifle clearly slung over their shoulder.
Even more surprising was that the mental-type ability user traveling with them said they couldn’t probe inside with their powers—it was impossible to “see” what was going on inside.
At that moment, all the small windows were shut, making it impossible to tell how many people or devices were inside.
