Chapter 43: Supplies, Here I Come
The two of them tacitly ignored Lu Weiyi. One was used to making his own decisions, and the other subjectively thought Lu Weiyi didn’t have strong opinions and asking him might just lead to having to decide himself anyway.
As for Lu Weiyi, he really didn’t care. Since there were other people present, he couldn’t freely use his space anyway, so what was the difference between one or two extra people?
As long as they weren’t troublesome, he was actually easy to get along with.
“Gu Qingji?”
As soon as Gu Qingyue’s younger brother appeared, Antonio accurately called out his name.
“You know my brother? Are you his fan?” Gu Qingyue was clearly a brother-con. Seeing that even a foreigner like Antonio recognized him, he immediately started popularizing his brother to the other two. “My brother is a singer, quite famous. That particularly popular song ‘Daydream’ from a while ago was sung by him. He came back this time specifically for a concert…”
“Who would come to this godforsaken place to sing?” Antonio muttered in English, and when everyone looked over, he shook his head nonchalantly.
What was “a while ago” for others had already been several years for Lu Weiyi, so he naturally didn’t remember. Li Zhuang, who looked like he didn’t care about anything, just glanced at today’s companion and recognized the person.
Gu Qingyue promoted his brother for a long time, and when he realized the two of them really didn’t know him, he immediately said enthusiastically, “I’ll give you one of his albums to listen to someday, he really sings exceptionally well…”
Gu Qingji was tall with long legs, not the popular pretty boy type of the moment. He had a rebellious look and smooth muscles, looking like someone not to be messed with. Hearing Gu Qingyue’s constant praise, he tugged at his brother’s clothes, his ears red, and said fiercely, “Brother, stop talking.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t,” Gu Qingyue replied good-naturedly, turning to smile. “He’s just shy.”
Before Gu Qingji could get annoyed, Gu Qingyue quickly got to the point. “We’re going out together today, which can be considered facing a life-and-death test together. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Gu Qingyue, I’m a doctor, thirty years old. This is my younger brother, Gu Qingji, just twenty.”
The few people introduced themselves, a preliminary acquaintance. When they were preparing to leave, Li Zhuang drove over a big truck from who knows where.
Antonio was extremely satisfied with this. He walked around the truck bed, patted the side, and gave Li Zhuang a thumbs up. “Not bad.”
“The five people in the front are very crowded. We can drive another one,” Li Zhuang unfolded the drawn map and pointed to a place. “This is a long-distance freight company. There are many big trucks inside. We’ll take this street, avoid this hospital and go around here to get another truck, then go around the city to the north, trying to avoid the zombies in the city as much as possible. The question now is, who else can drive a truck?”
“I can,” Antonio said. Everyone thought that was normal.
“I can,” Lu Weiyi said. This immediately struck everyone as unbelievable.
“Trucks are different from cars, you know,” Li Zhuang reminded him.
“Yeah, I’ve driven them,” Lu Weiyi said very calmly.
In their previous life, they used trucks for transporting supplies. The extremely high chassis could directly knock down zombies without worrying about the bodies piling up and blocking the undercarriage. Even on slightly steeper roads, it wouldn’t be too bumpy. It was simply essential for travel.
“Two should be enough, right?” Antonio discussed with Li Zhuang.
“Three,” Lu Weiyi concluded directly. “Since we’re going so far, we should bring as much as we can.” It was perfect for him to have one truck to himself. Maybe he could secretly use his space to load it up later, Lu Weiyi thought gleefully.
On the way to get the trucks, Antonio kept trying to persuade Lu Weiyi that two trucks were enough, even trying to get Li Zhuang to help him convince Lu Weiyi.
“You don’t seem like a talkative person?” Li Zhuang remained nonchalant, crashing through a line of zombies with a bang, letting black blood splatter on the windshield without changing his expression.
“Oh, he saved my and my lover’s lives. I swore to be responsible for him until he leaves,” Antonio wasn’t a particularly warm person, even a bit impatient. But thinking about what Dean would have faced if Lu Weiyi hadn’t appeared or had pretended not to know, his gratitude towards Lu Weiyi made him incredibly patient with his safety.
It was less about high morals and more about valuing Dean.
Lu Weiyi squeezed into the back seat, manipulating the little green branch to search for bead cores among the zombies they had run over. Hearing him say “responsible,” it immediately reminded him of the discussion about responsibility after a one-night stand, and his lips twitched involuntarily.
Coincidentally, Li Zhuang also noticed the word, repeating it softly under his breath, “Responsible…” He glanced at Lu Weiyi through the rearview mirror and chuckled.
Lu Weiyi ignored him, still manipulating the little green branch with his eyes closed. The truck didn’t need to swerve and moved at a decent speed. The little green branch seemed to have a range limit. After Lu Weiyi noticed the circle on his wrist gradually disappearing, the little green branch also extended to its limit, estimating about thirty-odd meters.
It was much larger than Lu Weiyi’s mental coverage area, and perhaps because it was a plant, the little green branch could directly penetrate the ground and reappear where needed, which relieved Lu Weiyi’s worry about being discovered by ability users.
Compared to the few zombies before, now the road was almost covered with corpses. As the truck passed, a circle of zombies immediately surrounded it from the front and back. At the same time, more people were traveling, and cars carrying supplies and people wielding various weapons to hack at zombies could be seen everywhere along the way.
After driving for almost an hour, they circled around to the freight company. There were thirty-odd various trucks neatly arranged in the yard, including the four-wheeled trucks they were driving and twelve-wheeled container trucks twice as long.
“Ready?” Li Zhuang turned off the engine and asked Antonio in the passenger seat.
“OK,” Antonio said, looking at Lu Weiyi in the back seat. “You follow behind me.”
Li Zhuang looked at Antonio strangely, the same look Lu Weiyi had given him when he said he would protect his safety. Antonio thought they didn’t trust him and didn’t explain much, opening the car door first. As he swung his machete, he manipulated two small knives towards the zombies’ heads – this was the limit of his current ability.
Li Zhuang got out from the other side, timely diverting some of the zombies’ attention. The two of them worked together to push the surrounding zombies back a bit, clearing the direction of the car doors. The three people in the back seat then got out of the car.
Then—
Antonio understood the meaning of Lu Weiyi and Li Zhuang’s gazes. Were they silently saying, “Aren’t you a moron?”
The seemingly handsome and harmless Lu Weiyi wielded the watermelon knife even more skillfully than him. His movements were clean and didn’t require a second strike, accurately aimed at the head. Kicking, leaping, and spinning, all his movements were clearly specially trained. Antonio now understood the ancient Chinese saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The twenty-odd zombies attracted by the truck’s sound were quickly cleared by the five of them. Antonio drove the truck they had come in, Li Zhuang and Lu Weiyi each found a new one, and the Gu Qingyue brothers each took one. Gu Qingji, who was clearly the stronger fighter, gave his to Lu Weiyi.
The car keys were directly in the cars, saving trouble. The five quickly chose their respective vehicles.
Li Zhuang led the way, and Antonio originally wanted to bring up the rear, but Lu Weiyi took that position.
Only after the first two cars went out the gate did Lu Weiyi start his engine unhurriedly. Gu Qingji was constantly worried about his brother and became anxious when he saw the car disappear. “Can you really do this?”
“Won’t flip,” Lu Weiyi drove slowly. While Gu Qingji’s attention was on him, he directed the little green branch to put all the surrounding cars into his space, leaving only three twelve-wheeled trucks that were inconvenient to drive. Then, he suddenly accelerated and drove out the gate.
Gu Qingji was thrown back into his seat by the sudden acceleration, grabbed the roof handle with one hand, and looked at Lu Weiyi with even more wariness.
With some close calls but no real danger, the five finally arrived in the northern suburbs around noon.
Surrounding them were closed warehouses. The exteriors didn’t reveal what was inside, but there was already a team of people with two cars and three vans, halfway through moving things. Two lookouts stood at the entrance. When they saw the three big trucks appear, one shouted, “Someone’s here!” A moment later, a dozen or so people ran out with various weapons, looking over warily. Some still had half-eaten bread in their hands, their cheeks bulging.
Li Zhuang parked the truck not far away. As soon as he got out, he dealt with the few zombies that had followed. The remaining people also parked their cars and gathered together.
“We got here first, you guys go somewhere else…”
Before he could finish speaking, a man in camouflage came out of the warehouse last, smoking a cigarette. He carried a half-person-high stack of boxes and put them into a van. He slapped the back of the speaker’s head, signaling the dozen or so people around to lower their weapons and walk over here.
He took out a cigarette and handed it to Li Zhuang, asking, “Brother, where are you from?”
“South of the city,” Li Zhuang took it, and the two leaned in to light them, taking a puff. “How about you?”
“Peaceful Base,” seeing a few confused looks, he explained, “It’s the former Peaceful International Hotel.”
“That place became a safe base?” That was just a large hotel, not far from here, just a bit bigger than the Ruijing Hotel where Gu Qingji had stayed before.
“The entire surrounding area has been included, quite a large area,” the man replied, glancing at the cars they were driving. “Where did you get these cars?”
“From that freight company on Bridgehead Street. There were a few left. If you go early, you might still get some. What’s in this warehouse?”
“The replenishment warehouse for Jiajiali Supermarket,” the man grinned, blowing a smoke ring. “This warehouse is so big, we can’t take it all. It’s a waste to leave it for others. Let’s make a deal, how about half a warehouse for one truck?”
“Zhou Jie, we can get the cars ourselves,” someone who didn’t want this deal called out anxiously to the man.
The man ignored him.
Li Zhuang and Antonio exchanged a look and reached an agreement. “Vans in exchange.”
“Deal.”
“Zhou Jie, you’re just giving up half a warehouse like that? Aren’t you afraid Brother Lin will give you trouble when you go back?” the man shouted angrily.
The man called Zhou Jie picked at his ear and raised an eyebrow. “Afraid of him? If you shout any louder and attract the zombies, I’ll throw you into the zombie pile.”
Hearing this, the man looked around warily and took two steps back into the crowd.
Zhou Jie scoffed and said, “Waste.” He nodded his chin at Li Zhuang. “Inspect the goods.”
Li Zhuang followed Zhou Jie into the warehouse. Those who remained outside no longer looked tense. Gu Qingyue friendly started chatting with them, casually inquiring about the situation of that safe zone.
It was actually similar to where they lived, just a few large hotels merged with the surrounding residential areas. However, there were several police stations and government offices located there. After the earthquake, this group of people had been in control of the situation. When the apocalypse arrived, the person in charge discussed it and directly forced the surrounding people to merge into one place, creating a safe base. After spending a few days clearing the surrounding zombies, they had just started coming to more distant places to look for supplies. Today, this team was just out scouting.
They chatted for a while, and then Li Zhuang and Zhou Jie came out. He nodded towards their group to indicate that the goods were fine, and Zhou Jie called out with a smile, “Liuzi, drive the car over.”
“Alrighty!” The little boy who had been chatting with Gu Qingyue looked over with a grin. Lu Weiyi glanced away, pretending not to see, so Antonio had to throw his keys over.
“I’ll go open a back door,” Li Zhuang said to Zhou Jie, asking someone to drive around to the back of the warehouse and directly ram the big truck into it.
After a loud crash, Li Zhuang poked his head out. “Little friend, guard the door, watch out for zombies. Everyone else, move the stuff.”
Just as Lu Weiyi was leaning against the warehouse wall, looking up at the sky, a dusty and weary man appeared at the entrance of their community. His impeccable figure was barely concealed by his blood-stained clothes. The car he drove looked like it had been through something terrible, completely battered. But when he got out and saw the peaceful and tranquil scene of the community, he slightly relaxed.
Since the community had unified management, although they had always said they wanted to absorb outsiders, no one had ever come. Now, when the guard at the gate heard he wasn’t from the community, he immediately made an exorbitant demand. “One box of instant noodles.” Seeming still not satisfied, he added, “That’s only to let you look around to see if anyone’s here. If you want to go in, add two more boxes.”
“I don’t have that many things,” Lin Yimu glanced at the only half-bottle of water in the passenger seat and the few packs of biscuits in the back seat, frowning.
Lin Yimu was Lu Weiyi’s personal bodyguard and also a former comrade of Zhuang Mingxu’s in the army. On the eve of the earthquake, he received a call from Zhuang Mingxu, telling him to rush to Lu Weiyi’s side in Wutong City overnight. He had just driven out of Qingyuan and onto the highway when the earthquake struck.
Many roads were destroyed along the way, and he took many detours. He was also sick for a few days. He finally managed to get here after rushing all the way. He had been making do with food himself along the way, with no time to look for supplies.
“Then get lost!” the young guard waved impatiently, but was pulled by the person beside him, who was none other than the little green-haired guy. “The zombies around our safe zone have all been cleared, and the community inside is also very safe, so if you want to settle down here, the entry fee is a bit expensive…”
“I’m not here to settle down, I’m looking for someone,” Lin Yimu interrupted before he could finish.
“Looking for someone? Does your family live here?”
“…Mm!”
“Which family? Let me see if I know them.” Those who could live here were either rich or noble, and the little green-haired guy didn’t want to offend anyone, so his attitude improved a lot.
“631, Lu Weiyi.”
As soon as he heard “Lu Weiyi,” the little green-haired guy immediately thought of his half-carload of supplies, thinking that if he took someone over, he could definitely get a tip for his trouble. He immediately said with a smile, “Oh, it’s Brother Lu! I know, I know, I’ll take you there.”
Antonio wasn’t home, and Dean wasn’t sleeping soundly at home. After eating a bit of food at noon, he was alone at home, lost in thought, when he heard someone knocking on the door. He held his pistol and looked out through the peephole, asking, “Who is it?”
“Brother Lu, open the door! Your family is here looking for you!” The little green-haired guy seemed to see food waving at him, and he knocked on the door with extra enthusiasm.
The sound of door slamming frightened Dean even more.
“Brother Lu, Brother Lu…”
Lin Yimu had seen someone looking out through the peephole. Seeing that no one opened the door, he became wary. After stopping the little green-haired guy, he knocked gently. “Young Master, it’s Lin Yimu. Are you home?”
Inside, it was quiet with no sound.
“Young Master, Mingxu asked me to come protect you. Can you open the door?” As Lin Yimu spoke, he opened the fire hydrant door by the door and reached inside, feeling around. He pulled out a key, silently signaled the little green-haired guy to step back, quickly inserted the key, twisted it, and opened the door.
