Chapter 416: Demonstration
“Colonel Qin Xing is at the main base,” Wang Qing said with a pained expression. “All our remaining comrades are buried underground.”
The man who first spoke looked bitter. “We lost 2,382 soldiers.”
“Has the country… forgotten about us?”
More than fifty soldiers gradually stepped out from the courtyard behind them. They looked at the newcomers with a mix of hope and sorrow, silently asking: Why didn’t you come sooner?
“The country…” Ning Yuan’s voice grew hoarse.
“No longer exists.”
He didn’t explain further, only requested to meet their highest-ranking officer.
“Qin Xing, 41 years old? Former special forces?” Li Qing suddenly asked.
“Yes. You know our colonel?” Wang Qing replied.
Lu Weiyi and the others turned toward them—having a mutual acquaintance would make communication easier.
Li Qing shook his head. “Only heard of him. But he and my instructor were comrades. They probably knew each other.”
He turned to explain to his teammates, “My instructor mentioned him before. They were in the same special ops unit. They went on a lot of missions together. On my first mission, Qin Xing even supported us as backup.”
“Brother Mu?” Lu Weiyi asked.
He had never heard Lin Yimu mention anything about the military. The glory of the past was something he only learned from people who had encountered those units after the apocalypse. That’s when he came to understand that Lin Yimu had once been a shining figure—but for various reasons, he was now confined to a villa, caught up in petty drama with housewives.
It left Lu Weiyi with a sense of regret, like watching a valiant general being caged in a deep courtyard.
He turned to look at Li Qing, who was chatting with others. This man was still young—despite all he’d been through, he remained warm and enthusiastic, completely different from the calm and reserved Lin Yimu. But maybe that was what made them compatible.
Having someone so lively accompany him through the rest of his life… perhaps that was a good thing.
Suddenly, Lu Weiyi didn’t feel awkward anymore.
He truly cared about Lin Yimu, and he hoped he would be happy.
“W-What is it?” Li Qing noticed Lu Weiyi staring at him and asked nervously.
“Nothing.” Lu Weiyi patted him on the shoulder and said mysteriously, “Keep up the good work.”
Li Qing looked at him in alarm, completely confused. He glanced around at his teammates, only to find most of them watching the scene like an audience—Dean was even laughing so hard he nearly bent over.
He wanted to ask, but was afraid to provoke this big shot, so he kept his questions to himself.
Before long, Qin Xing arrived jogging with a dozen men in tow.
Unlike Lin Yimu’s lean build, Qin Xing was all muscle—his physique rivaled even Antonio’s. But his sharp features and presence gave off the vibe of an old-school Northeast gangster.
His sharp gaze scanned the group and finally settled on Li Qing. Squinting slightly, he asked, “Li Ming?”
“Here!” Li Qing instantly stood at attention and saluted. “Good day, Colonel Qin!”
“Hello.” Qin Xing returned the salute. “You’re one of the support team?”
“…” Li Qing fell silent.
“Just now, Wang Qing’s men told me the country… doesn’t exist anymore. What’s that supposed to mean?” Qin Xing, sensing something was wrong, asked again.
Li Qing sighed and pulled him aside to briefly explain what had happened outside over the past two years.
Someone in Qin Xing’s group scoffed, “Are you joking?”
“Zombies? What era do you think we’re in?”
“Watched too many movies, huh?”
Ning Yuan simply looked at them with pity. He raised his right hand, and a drop of water slowly condensed in the air, growing larger until it was the size of a soccer ball, then instantly froze into solid ice. With a squeeze of his hand, the ice ball shattered into shards.
Everyone stared in shock. Then fireballs appeared in Li Qing’s hand, dancing between his fingers. “This is called an ability. Nowadays, some people, zombies, even plants and animals have these powers. And with them came endless conflict. As for how many people are still alive in the country—we don’t know. Communication has only recently begun to recover, and we haven’t reconnected with all the bases yet.”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
“How did you end up here?” Qin Xing was the first to regain composure.
“Major General Lu Xiao of the Northwest Command said there was a stockpile of military supplies here.”
“You came to take them?” Qin Xing looked over the group calmly.
Ning Yuan said nothing, looking slightly awkward.
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi answered bluntly.
He had been scanning the area with his mental power along the way. Aside from the geological fault that split this place from the surface, there was almost no damage. Many pieces of military equipment were still intact—he had already spotted several.
But there were still quite a few soldiers here. Lu Weiyi didn’t want to create conflict. If they refused to hand over the supplies, there wasn’t much he could do immediately.
“This is the only place I’ve found that’s remained completely unchanged since before the apocalypse. I hope you’ll try to keep that balance intact.”
He pulled out a phone from his spatial storage. It contained archived photos and videos taken over the years—mutated plants and animals, even footage of battles.
“These files are for your reference, in exchange for the supplies. Any random ability user from the outside could wipe this place out. You’d best make sure this village remains hidden.”
“When did I say you could take the supplies?” Qin Xing’s gaze was sharp.
“Realistically speaking, do you have the power to stop us?” Lu Weiyi stood, and his mental pressure suddenly spread, making it hard for everyone in the room to even straighten their backs.
“Captain, for the sake of the instructor, please…” Li Qing quickly tried to intervene.
“Lone Wolf?” Qin Xing asked.
“He’s… kind of like family to our instructor,” Li Qing explained tactfully.
“Lone Wolf has a son this old?” Qin Xing asked, completely unfiltered.
“Uh… half-son,” Li Qing mumbled, winking at Qin Xing in secret.
“These supplies belong to the country. We don’t have the authority to give them away,” Qin Xing said, then added, “Lu Xiao is your commanding officer? What about General Zhuang?”
“The Zhuang family was using ability users for experiments at the Capital Base. They even kidnapped Major General Lu Xiao’s son… They’re gone now,” Li Qing replied, then pointed to Lu Weiyi. “This is our base commander, Lu Weiyi—Lu Xiao’s nephew. For certain reasons, he was raised by our instructor.”
“Oh, then I’m your uncle. Come on, call me Uncle!” Qin Xing’s mischievous tone suddenly reminded Lu Weiyi of Li Zhuang.
He was left speechless.
Qin Xing was amused by his stunned expression.
Ning Yuan quietly patted Lu Weiyi’s shoulder, signaling him to step out. Lu Weiyi got up and headed outside.
Qin Xing took a cigarette from Ning Yuan, and after seeing Antonio and Dean head into the courtyard and Li Zhuang follow Lu Weiyi out, he finally sobered up and seriously asked more about the outside world and their recent experiences.
“Time doesn’t pass in the mountains. Has the outside really turned upside down?” Qin Xing took a deep drag on the cigarette, speechless for a long moment.
“…I can’t let you take all the supplies,” Qin Xing said. Having lived through many things, even though the information he received today was overwhelming, he quickly regained composure. Before Ning Yuan could respond, he raised his hand to stop him. “If the outside world is really as you say, then I need to keep weapons here to protect the people.”
“There are still over 7,000 soldiers and more than 8,000 villagers living here. If mutated animals or plants like the ones in your videos attack, these weapons are their only hope of survival.”
Ning Yuan didn’t want to have conflict with fellow soldiers either. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Actually, pre-apocalypse weapons are almost useless against mutated creatures. What we use out there now are crystal-core weapons.”
Seeing that Qin Xing didn’t understand, Ning Yuan handed over his crystal-core gun.
It looked no different from a pre-apocalypse firearm, but as an expert, Qin Xing immediately noticed the weight was off. He opened the magazine area and saw a strange-looking mechanism holding a shiny, gem-like crystal in the center.
“This is a kind of new-energy weapon. The energy cores, which we call ‘crystal cores,’ are found in mutated creatures and zombies alike,” Ning Yuan explained, handing over an unused crystal core for him to inspect.
Qin Xing examined it and then passed it to the soldiers behind him.
“If mutated creatures really attack, the weapons you have probably won’t be useful. In fact…” Ning Yuan paused, “They won’t do anything to high-level ability users.”
Seeing some of the soldiers still skeptical, Ning Yuan borrowed Qin Xing’s sidearm and shouted into the courtyard at Lu Weiyi.
Then, without hesitation, he raised the gun and fired.
Bang—a shot rang out. Several soldiers jumped up in shock, even Qin Xing’s calm expression broke.
They watched the bullet freeze mid-air in front of Lu Weiyi, as if stopped by an invisible force field.
Lu Weiyi turned his head, confused.
Ning Yuan smiled awkwardly. “Just a demonstration.”
Lu Weiyi smiled back and called, “Antonio.”
“On it,” Antonio replied, snapping his fingers. The suspended bullet suddenly spun around and shot back toward Ning Yuan.
“Damn, this guy really holds grudges,” Ning Yuan grumbled. He quickly formed a block of ice to catch the returning bullet, then grasped it in his hand. In an instant, the ice disappeared, revealing the completely intact bullet inside.
Qin Xing and his soldiers were dumbfounded. They looked at each other in stunned silence.
“If it’s useless, then why are you here asking for equipment?” Qin Xing asked, cutting straight to the point.
“It’s easier to remake new weapons using old ones. But our main goal is transportation equipment,” Ning Yuan replied.
“I know this may sound unpleasant, but the truth is: it was us who first made contact with your village—you’re lucky it was us.” Seeing their expressions darken, he added with a shrug, “Out there, fighting and looting between bases happen daily. If someone else had found this place…”
