Chapter 420: Nightmare
Li Zhuang had dreamed of many comrades he’d once fought beside. He hadn’t thought about the moments of their deaths in a long time—but with Xu Yi’s bloody death flashing so vividly before his eyes, he had a very bad feeling.
“No way. We already sent word back. Zhuang Mingxu will definitely have put him in the central island. There are people there all the time, and multiple walkie-talkies are always on. If he calls out, someone will hear him.”
Li Zhuang nodded without replying.
Then he watched as Lu Weiyi’s usual reliable aura disappeared and he leaned in with a mischievous grin. “You two are together now? When did that happen?”
“Your curiosity’s out of control,” Li Zhuang said, shoving his head and turning him the other way.
“Tch, like I even want to know,” Lu Weiyi muttered under his breath.
“What’s going on?” Dean came over, gnawing on a bird leg on a wooden skewer. He held it out to Lu Weiyi. “Try this—koklass pheasant. David said it’s one of your national protected species. Tastes amazing.”
Lu Weiyi glared at him but still took a big bite. Before Dean could snatch it back, he quickly changed the subject. “Li Zhuang said he likes Xu Yi but doesn’t know how to confess. Got any ideas?”
“Wow,” Dean looked at Li Zhuang with surprise. “Then you better hurry. Xu the Healer has a lot of admirers.”
“Hmm?” Li Zhuang, still half-amused by Lu Weiyi’s teasing, suddenly heard this news.
“Girls are always bringing him food, making excuses to see him. People have even gotten into fights over him,” Dean said, waving his hands to mimic hair-pulling. “Seriously fierce.”
“Now that you mention it, Xu Yi’s not that young anymore. He’s at the right age to be dating. When we get back, we should organize some kind of mixer or matchmaking event at the base—to help you single guys out,” Lu Weiyi said casually to Ning Yuan and the others.
“Sure, I’m down,” Ning Yuan glanced at Li Zhuang as he spoke.
“You guys can’t compete with Xu Yi’s popularity. He’s one of only two healers in the base. Anyone with foresight would go for him—stick with him and you’ll eat well, drink well—Hey, ow—!”
Mid-sentence, Lu Weiyi felt a flick to the forehead. He turned around, but someone had already walked off in the other direction. When he looked back, his honey-glazed roast meat was gone.
“Li. Zhuang.” Lu Weiyi growled as he watched Li Zhuang take a huge bite out of it with great satisfaction. Grinding his teeth, he muttered, “Fine, we’re working all afternoon after all.”
Seeing Li Zhuang pause mid-bite, Lu Weiyi’s mood instantly lifted. “Dean, you and Xu Yi are coworkers—make sure to keep an eye out for him.”
“Brother Zhuang, let me help you,” Dean said enthusiastically as he approached Li Zhuang. When Li Zhuang looked over, Dean continued, “You can tell me the details of how you get along—I’ll help you plan your courtship strategy.”
“Guaranteed success.” He clenched his fist and made a cheering gesture.
With that earnest expression, if the team didn’t already know he was a top-tier gossip, he could easily fool people with his innocent face.
Though they said they’d get back to work after lunch, the group still boarded a helicopter.
Military transport helicopters weren’t a big deal for those with military backgrounds. They headed in the direction of Half-Moon Bay. Aside from having to stay alert for mutated birds along the way, the journey was uneventful.
“A Zhi-9 can reach up to 6,000 meters,” Liu Zhuo remarked, thinking that even if birds had mutated, their flight altitude would still be limited. If they flew high enough, they probably wouldn’t need to worry about aerial attacks.
“There’s no GPS nowadays, so we have to rely on visual navigation. Flying too high increases the risk of getting lost,” Li Qing explained.
“Oh, I see.”
“Once we return to the base, try to keep your stories consistent. Don’t talk about what happened at your base. Ours is relatively peaceful, but spies from other bases are everywhere now. If they catch wind of your situation, it could cause trouble.”
“Don’t worry, we understand,” someone replied.
After several reminders, a few hours later the helicopter arrived above Capital Base. Ning Yuan was the first to grab the rope and jump down. Antonio was still hugging Dean and giving him last-minute instructions. That left Lu Weiyi, who looked down from several dozen meters up, and silently took a step back.
“You scared?” Li Zhuang shouted over the helicopter’s roar.
Lu Weiyi didn’t answer. He leaned out again and peeked, remembering how back when he bungee-jumped, he had no fear or hesitation. Now, no matter what, he couldn’t get back into that headspace.
Turns out, there was something good about being emotionally shut off.
“Hurry up, don’t hesitate. I’ve got a bad feeling,” Li Zhuang urged him.
Lu Weiyi gave an “OK” sign. Just as he was doing one last round of mental prep, Antonio—having finished calming Dean—stepped forward, yanked the rope from Lu Weiyi’s hands, threw an arm around him, and jumped out of the helicopter.
The moment of free fall hit like a wave of darkness—like the kind that came with his mental issues, always lurking nearby. He struggled, but the gravitational pull dragged him closer and closer. Let go even a little, and it would be a plunge into bottomless despair.
“AHHHHH—!” Lu Weiyi’s scream cut through the air, louder than the whirring rotors.
“I think… Antonio’s about to get punched,” Li Zhuang muttered, never having seen Lu Weiyi this rattled. He turned back and gave Dean a sympathetic look.
Dean carefully leaned over and looked through the window.
Sure enough, the moment Lu Weiyi landed, he swung wildly at Antonio, flailing his fists in a completely uncoordinated way. He really was losing it.
“Ahem… hey… Base Leader, people are watching—your image, your image,” Ning Yuan quickly stepped in to block the chaos, trying to talk him down.
“Lu, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know you were scared,” Antonio said as he held back Lu Weiyi’s fists—not sounding very apologetic.
Seeing that Lu Weiyi was about to charge again, Ning Yuan shot him a warning look.
“It’s just that in my eyes, you’re so perfect—like a jack-of-all-trades. I thought you could do anything,” Antonio said sincerely.
“Exactly! No one expected this. Next time we’ll definitely ask first. Your uncle’s watching you, by the way,” Ning Yuan added hastily.
Not far off, Lu Xiao stood with two teammates, watching Lu Weiyi flail around. His eyes held a pleased light—he hadn’t seen this lively, youthful side of his nephew in over a decade.
“Haha, got spooked?” Lu Xiao stepped in to defuse the situation, ruffling his nephew’s wind-tousled hair. “Looked like a Zhi-8 just now. Your trip must’ve gone smoothly?”
Lu Weiyi glared fiercely at Antonio, who quickly raised his hands in surrender. Only then did Lu Weiyi take a deep breath and suppress his emotions. “It went fine.”
“Uncle, have the personnel gathered?” Lu Weiyi asked as he summoned a helicopter from the nearby helipad.
“I got word from Mingxu, and I had them prepped right away. I already sent someone to bring them over,” Lu Xiao said, then gestured for him to follow.
Once they were alone, Lu Weiyi told Lu Xiao about their findings. When he mentioned Qin Xing, Lu Xiao seemed to recognize the name. “He was a few cohorts before me. I remember hearing about him—he had a good relationship with Lone Wolf.”
“Considering Lone Wolf, you did the right thing not to grab things by force,” Lu Xiao said, knowing it was best to hold the initiative in their own hands. He thought for a moment, then added, “Last year when I went to Half-Moon Bay, Mingxu told us your base had a half-zombie and wanted to research zombie energy together. Zhao Qiang and I have been recruiting people in that field across all bases since then.”
“Now that we’ve reestablished contact with many bases, we’ve even brought back a few old experts—nearly fifty researchers. If there’s a central location, maybe sending them all there would be more effective?”
“That place is all ordinary people. Even one hidden ability-user could wipe them out. To outsiders, it might seem like paradise, but it’s not exactly safe,” Lu Weiyi sighed. “Let’s keep them at our base for now. We have a half-zombie who can help with the research. Once Qin Xing understands the situation outside, we can discuss letting them relocate.”
“Sounds good. We’re all military—help where we can.” As they spoke, Lu Xiao led him to a temporary warehouse. “These are the supplies we got in exchange for the crystal cores. The ones you left behind were gone in a day—Zheng Yi and Zhao Qiang nearly fought over them. They’ll probably show up soon.”
“This time we can’t stay. I’m taking the supplies and heading straight back. Our healer may be reaching a critical stage—otherwise we wouldn’t have come back early. I need to hurry,” Lu Weiyi said as he stowed the goods, not even checking them. Holding the supply list Lu Xiao gave him, he prepared to leave.
“Do you have any extra purification cores? Leave me a few if you do,” Lu Xiao said, leading him to another warehouse. “Also, do you have enough helicopters? If there’s a spare, maybe leave one for your uncle—it’ll be easier to coordinate something later.”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi said. After asking around, he made sure to leave one helicopter and some fuel. “Our crude oil refining equipment isn’t perfect, and fuel is limited.”
“As long as it’s enough to make the trip, that’s fine. I won’t have them move it unless necessary,” Lu Xiao said as he accepted a large bag of crystal cores Lu Weiyi handed over and stored them in his space. “At first I thought it’d be fine for us to go pick up the cores ourselves. But then I figured—with so many, it’d be risky for anyone to carry them. Better to let you bring them directly.”
“Alright. Now that we’ve got a light helicopter, once I learn how to fly it, it’ll just be a quick trip.”
The two didn’t linger. Lu Weiyi remembered what he’d said to Zhao Qiang and Zheng Yi earlier. He pulled a few bottles of premium liquor and cigarettes from his space and handed them to Lu Xiao. “I don’t have time to visit Zhao Qiang and Zheng Yi. Uncle, please deliver these for me as an apology—and keep this batch here for yourself.”
Noticing that the gift for him was of higher quality than the others, Lu Xiao smiled so widely that wrinkles formed around his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it gets to them.”
By the time Lu Xiao brought Lu Weiyi back to the helipad, Ning Yuan had already arranged for all the experts to board the aircraft. They were just waiting for him.
“Uncle, I’m heading out. Contact me if anything comes up,” Lu Weiyi waved.
“Alright. If Xiaoxi has time, have him come stay for a few days.”
“Got it.”
Lu Xiao helped close the cabin door. Antonio started the engine, and the rotors began to spin as the helicopter slowly lifted off the ground.
