Chapter 411: Uncle’s Getting Married
The base had two helicopters, each capable of carrying eight people. Since Lu Weiyi couldn’t fly, he took one chopper with Ning Yuan, Li Qing, and Li Yan. Antonio and Li Zhuang flew with Zheng Jun and Zhou He.
Considering that forcing several A-rank ability users to upgrade might result in injuries, they eventually decided to squeeze Dean into the chopper as well.
“Along the way, we may encounter all kinds of situations. Since we have no electronic equipment to give precise directions, accidents could happen at any moment,” Lu Weiyi explained that night as he handed each person a backpack. The bags included hand-drawn maps, food, crystal cores, and other potentially necessary supplies.
“If anything happens, the first priority is to find your teammates. If you can’t find them, head south to Anjiang Base. The commander there, Lin Minghong, has some ties with us—you can ask him for help contacting our base. Or head northeast to Heitu Base. Leave a message there, and we’ll try to find you.”
Seeing the others nod, Lu Weiyi concluded, “Your safety comes first.”
“Understood!”
Everyone replied in unison, and early the next morning, they smoothly took off in the helicopters.
To show off the base’s strength, Antonio flew a few loops above the base, drawing excited cheers from the residents below.
Before the apocalypse, a helicopter was just a novelty. But now, it symbolized the civilization they once had—many couldn’t hold back their tears.
Only when Li Zhuang urged him did Antonio finally change direction and fly off.
Each helicopter had limited fuel capacity and needed refueling every two hours. As planned, their first stop was Capital Base.
The two helicopters flew straight into the airspace over Capital Base. Lu Xiao had already received word and was waiting at the landing site.
While the others refueled, Lu Weiyi stepped forward to speak with Lu Xiao.
“Stay for a meal before you go—your uncle already had everything prepared,” Lu Xiao said, leaving no room for refusal as he slung an arm around his nephew and started walking.
“Uncle—wait…”
“I heard from scouts at Pingjin Base that your base was nearly overrun by zombies. I was worried sick. Tell me what happened.”
Lu Weiyi was small-framed and couldn’t resist his uncle at all. Especially after that statement, he didn’t have the heart to reject him.
Meanwhile, Chong Qing and Jin Diao, who were more familiar with the others, went to check and maintain the helicopters, leaving the rest of the team free to rest.
Not wanting his uncle to worry too much, Lu Weiyi gave a brief summary. But a few boastful teammates spilled more details—when Lu Xiao heard that an SS-rank zombie had reappeared, his expression turned grim.
“Were you hurt?” The higher the level, the greater the gap in power. At that time, Lu Weiyi would’ve had no choice but to take action himself.
“Just a minor injury. I healed quickly.” Lu Weiyi’s tone was calm, as if the one who’d been frightened into a cold sweat by the mirror monster and then hid for nearly two months wasn’t him.
The others, understanding the cue, didn’t add anything else. Lu Xiao, though clearly unconvinced, figured that if Zhuang Mingxu had let him out again, he must be okay.
He sighed and didn’t press further, changing the subject to their weapons.
That was partly why Lu Weiyi had stopped by. He handed over a batch of rocket launchers and crystal-core guns from his space to Lu Xiao—100 in total.
“Crystal-core guns are somewhat effective against A-level zombies, but useless against S-level and above. The rocket launchers work on SS-level zombies, but even then, one shot may not be enough. Use them wisely, Uncle.”
“They’re currently developing machinery over there to scale up future production. Once the output increases, I’ll bring you more,” Lu Weiyi said.
It was Lu Xiao’s first time handling a crystal-core rocket launcher. He was clearly enamored, hefting it with enthusiasm. Given the previous success of the crystal-core guns, he could already imagine the power of this new weapon—even without having used it yet.
“With these, the pressure on our ability users will be reduced a lot. The zombie levels around the Capital are increasing too. Also…” Lu Xiao pulled Lu Weiyi toward his own warehouse. “Your base’s purified crystal cores have probably leaked out. Now that communications are back, bases are exchanging all sorts of information. Some bases have even proposed holding a national gathering of ability-user bases.”
“A conference for ability users?” Lu Weiyi raised an eyebrow—he hadn’t expected to hear that term again in this lifetime.
In his past life, such a meeting had only been organized by Capital Base after zombies started besieging cities. This time, it was being proposed by multiple bases proactively.
“Yeah, the idea is to gather ability users from different bases under the guise of exchanging knowledge and learning from each other.” Lu Xiao sneered. “But let’s be real—a lot of those bases are hoping your team will participate.”
“As for what they really want to discuss…” Sensing Lu Weiyi might not fully grasp the politics, Lu Xiao laid it out plainly. “Pingjin Base already broadcast news about the zombie siege your base faced. The crystal-core weapons and the purified crystal cores you developed are drawing major envy.”
“It’s not just one enemy that’s dangerous—it’s when everyone becomes your enemy. Be careful.”
“I know. Part of the reason I came by was to spread out the risk,” Lu Weiyi replied, pulling several sacks of crystal cores from his space and placing them on the ground.
Lu Xiao opened one and was immediately dazzled by the gleaming cores. He quickly covered the bag again, though the sound of Jin Diao gulping could still be heard.
“Scram!” Lu Xiao barked.
“Yes, boss!” Jin Diao spun and ran at full speed, like he feared he’d be silenced on the spot.
Lu Xiao gritted his teeth. “Why’d you bring so many purified cores?”
“To spread the risk,” Lu Weiyi answered. “These fifty thousand purified cores are for the various powers within the Capital.”
He pulled out a long handwritten list. “These are the supplies we need. We’ll exchange crystal cores for materials. Core-for-core trades are also acceptable, though they’ll cost more.”
Lu Xiao glanced at the list—it covered every aspect of life, including some rare metals.
“Zhuang Mingxu wants to set up a weapons manufacturing plant quickly and reach mass production. But we lack the talent to build it directly, and a lot of the resources can’t be acquired in the short term. So we decided to use purified cores to exchange for what we need.”
“At first, we considered posting bounties at each base and having them find the resources for us. But I thought it’d be better to bring Capital in first.”
“Oh?” Lu Xiao looked up at him.
“Among the surrounding bases, Capital, Pingjin, and Half Moon Bay are the closest. When we faced the zombie siege, there were at least 500,000 zombies. Given the current strength of most bases, none of them could handle that number alone. So whether it’s Capital or Pingjin, they’ll have to choose to support each other.”
“Our base has the highest-level ability users and the most advanced weapons. From any perspective, we’re the ideal partners. Rather than dealing with other bases who’ll try to undercut us and waste our time, we might as well cooperate directly and achieve mutual benefit.”
“That’s true,” Lu Xiao nodded. “But if they teamed up with the other bases, they might take what you have without needing to keep giving back.”
“You think it’s that easy to take us down?” Lu Weiyi asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do you really believe ability users are stronger than 500,000 mutated zombies?”
“Humans have brains. We can outsmart them.”
“Sure. But the core tech is all controlled by Team One. That team… has ten S-ranked ability users.”
Lu Xiao gasped. Then Lu Weiyi casually added, “Not including me.”
“I’ll convince them,” Lu Xiao declared immediately.
Before reaching S-rank, Lu Xiao had believed the power gap between ranks was manageable. But after upgrading, he deeply understood: high-ranked ability users were no longer something ordinary weapons could fight against.
He remembered when Zhao Qiang tried to threaten Half Moon Bay with weapons. Back then, Lu Weiyi had casually exposed the ploy. Lu Xiao and Zhao Qiang had assumed he didn’t care because he was a man of his word. Only after their own upgrades did they realize: weapons were useless.
Those guns didn’t even require an SS-ranked to neutralize them—just one S-rank metal user could twist them back around. Lu Weiyi had known that from the start—and simply never took it seriously.
“These are yours now, Uncle. You decide how to distribute them.”
Lu Xiao immediately understood: his nephew was elevating his political capital. With this leverage, his base’s standing would only grow stronger.
“Alright. Uncle won’t let you guys suffer any losses.” Lu Xiao dropped all pretense and got to work.
After retrieving the supplies Lu Weiyi had prepared for him, Lu Xiao brought him back to his house.
As they entered the villa courtyard, the first thing they saw was a young woman. She smiled brightly and walked up eagerly—so eager that Lu Weiyi’s good mood immediately soured.
He couldn’t help but glance at Li Qing.
Li Qing, sensing the look, immediately straightened up—only to see Lu Weiyi turn and ask quietly, “Uncle… did you find me an aunt?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Lu Xiao gave him a light smack on the head.
Jin Diao, watching nearby, judged the slap to have only grazed Lu Weiyi’s hair—nothing like the full-handed smacks they usually got.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind. If it’s raining and Uncle wants to get married, I can accept it,” Lu Weiyi said childishly, puffing up. “I’ll even help you talk to Xiao Xi about it.”
The people following behind immediately tried to stifle their laughter. Li Qing covered his face helplessly, while Li Yan whispered to Cong Qing and the others about the recent happenings. Lu Xiao also overheard and looked exasperated.
“You little brat, if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll really smack you.”
As he spoke, the woman at the door had already come forward. “Hello, Captain.”
After that polite greeting, she turned directly to look at Lu Weiyi. “Hello, Base Leader Lu. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Luo Feifei of the Blazing Flame Squad, B-rank Healing-type.”
